We are all voluntary victims of Satan’s seductions. Look at your life and you’ll find far too many times of shame and sin when Satan successfully placed a temptation before you and you didn’t say no. You may wonder why you did it, but the truth is you did it. Satan knows our every weakness. He custom tailors temptations for individuals. This Lenten season, we examine some of those tailor-made temptations. We also examine how the Holy Spirit specifically equips us through Word and Sacrament, and by applying forgiveness and teaching sanctification, that we are able to fight those temptations.
Join us for the next six Sundays as we address these temptations:
Lent 1: Joshua 7:16-26 Wanting only what you want
Each of us battles with temptation every day. God tells us “no.” We say “yes.” He tells us to stay away from something. We go directly toward that something. We want only what we want. Christ was no stranger to temptation, either. He battled, yet was without sin … for us and for our eternal righteousness. Christ is with us fighting temptation so that we want what He wants.
Lent 2: Jeremiah 26:8-15 Refusing to change
Jeremiah was rejected because he did not tell the people what they wanted to hear. We often reject God’s Word and God’s messengers because we are like the people who rejected God’s prophet. We refuse to listen and change. Despite our refusal to listen, the Lord keeps coming to preach sin and grace, Law and Gospel.
Lent 3: Numbers 16:23-40 - Grumbling against God
We aren’t satisfied with what God gives us. We aren’t pleased with what God tells us. We aren’t content with God’s expectations for us. So we grumble. We grumble against God. We grumble against God’s called workers. We grumble against God’s public servants. Yet in the midst of our grumbling, Jesus enters with warning and mercy.
Lent 4: Judges 10:6-16 - Continuing the cycle of sin
We sin. Things get difficult. We plead for mercy. God is merciful and things get better. We fall back into the same sin. Things become more difficult. We plead for mercy. God is merciful and things get better. And so it goes. God calls us today to repent and break the cycle of sin.
Lent 5: Isaiah 43:16-24 - Living with past guilt
We know that Jesus has taken away our sins. We think that is too easy. So we beat ourselves up over our past sins by carrying present guilt. Jesus wants it all – our sins and our guilt.
Lent 6: Isaiah 45:22-25 - Not bowing the knee
Every year on Palm Sunday we celebrate Jesus entering Jerusalem as King. But what if we don’t want Him as King? What if we still want some say in our lives? What if we refuse to bow the knee to Jesus? The Lord promises that every knee will bow before Jesus – either in joy or in judgment.
