Jesus In The Wilderness

In one paragraph

Brian and Lissa Hunter were out of town this week, so Amanda Lack, who is on staff at Tribe, brought the message. She walked through the story of Jesus in the wilderness from Matthew 4:1-11, setting it alongside the Israelites' forty years of wandering to ask a simple question: when the wilderness comes, how do we handle it? Amanda opened by asking the room whether the wilderness is good or bad....

Read together

1. Luke 6:24-27 Jesus saying 'Woe to you' regarding comforts
2. Matthew 4:1-11 the full account of Jesus being led into the wilderness and tempted by the devil
3. Matthew 3 (closing verses) the heavens opened at Jesus's baptism and God declared 'this is my dearly loved son'
4. Matthew 4:12 Jesus begins his ministry after the wilderness
5. Deuteronomy 8:2-5 God led Israel forty years in the desert to humble and test them
6. Psalm 139 (end) David asking God to test him and know his heart
7. Psalm 91 Satan partially quoted it during the second temptation about angels bearing Jesus up
8. James 4:7 submit yourself to God, resist the devil and he will flee
9. 1 Corinthians 10:13 no temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind, and God provides a way out
10. 1 Peter 4:12 do not be surprised when trials come and test you
11. John 16:33 in this world you will have trouble but take heart, I have overcome the world
12. Romans 5:3 we rejoice in suffering knowing it produces endurance, then character, then hope
13. James 1:4 trials produce patience and having its full effect makes us complete and lacking nothing
14. 1 Kings 19 Elijah under the broom tree saying he had had enough and asking God to take his life
15. Psalm 34:18 the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit

Talk about it

1. Amanda said that being uncomfortable is not the same as being abandoned. When have you confused the two, and what helped you tell the difference?
2. The sermon looked at how Satan attacked Jesus right after God publicly declared his identity at the baptism. Where do you find your own sense of identity, and what tends to shake it most?
3. One person in the group pointed out that the first temptation, turning stones to bread, does not seem obviously wrong on the surface. What are some temptations in your own life that feel innocent at first but lead somewhere you did not want to go?
4. Amanda said God does not waste the wilderness, and the passages from Deuteronomy and Romans both point to testing producing something in us. Has a hard season ever produced something in you that you are genuinely grateful for now?
5. The sermon ended with the observation that the devil came to Jesus when he was alone, and Amanda urged people not to go through the wilderness by themselves. What does it actually look like in your life to not do hard seasons alone?