[0:00] This is the morning service at Holy Trinity on the 29th of June 2003.
[0:10] The preacher is Paul Dudley. His sermon is entitled Operation Desert Storm. It is based on Luke chapter 4 verses 1 to 13.
[0:30] Imagine what type of grumbling noises would be coming down from that bin in there. Oh my gosh, you're going to be terrible.
[0:40] Sorry Paul. That's alright. Do you know, when I get very hungry, I get very weak and oh, I can't concentrate very well. I don't say the right things and in fact, when I used to go bike riding, if I hadn't eaten anything for a long time, what would end up happening was, you could ask me anything and I'd just say, Dad could say, oh look, Paul, can you give me $10?
[1:06] Paul, you know, how about we do a little bit more? Yeah. And that was only just on short rides.
[1:17] But here Jesus is in the wilderness for 40 days. Well, the Bible tells us that Satan then tested Jesus.
[1:29] Listen to these words. The devil said to him, If you are the Son of God, command this stone to be a loaf of bread. Can you imagine being so hungry?
[1:42] But the devil said, hey, how about you turn the stone there to be bread? Now Jesus, he's very powerful. We've just heard about that in the story before this story.
[1:54] You heard about it last week, the mums and dads. And they heard how Jesus was given God's spirit. He had God's authority. He could have turned that stone into a bit of bread straight away.
[2:07] But what the devil was really trying to say was, Don't trust God to care for you. Look after yourself. Go on, you turn it into some bread.
[2:18] You make it turn. Turn it there. Don't trust God. God's not going to care for you. Well, Jesus, he decided that he would tell, he would answer the devil back.
[2:30] And so we have here in the Bible, Jesus said, it is written, one does not live by bread alone. Jesus knew it wasn't the right thing to do. Jesus knew that trusting God was where life was about, not by turning bread into, by bread, having bread to give him strength.
[2:51] He needed to trust God. Well, the devil and Jesus started walking around. And the devil took Jesus to a very high hill. Here we go.
[3:04] Up they go. To the very top of the hill. Oh, I don't see what they did. Hit the roof, did he? Oh, goodness me, don't hit the roof. There they were.
[3:18] Up the top of a very large mountain, the Bible tells us. And then, all of a sudden, the devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, all the great things, all the beautiful things, all the buildings, everything.
[3:36] Now, Paul Barker, who knows where Paul Barker's just been recently? He's been on holidays. Anyone know where Paul Barker's been? Yeah? He went to New Zealand. You should see his photos.
[3:47] They are so good. He's been to Europe. Paul has seen some great places. Some absolutely fantastic. But Jesus was able to see them all at once.
[3:59] We're about to go on holidays and we're going to Rosebud. And then we're going to catch the ferry. We've got all our passports ready and everything. We're going to crash the... And we're going to go across over to Point Lonsdale.
[4:11] We're going to have a slideshow if anyone wants to come along and you can have a look at our great photos and everything. But that's a bit later on. There was Jesus standing and he looked out and saw all the kingdoms with the devil.
[4:24] And the devil said these words to him. Let me read it to you. To you I will give their glory and all this authority for it has been given over to me.
[4:36] And if I give it to anyone I please. If you then will worship me it will all be yours. The devil told Jesus that if he bowed down and worshipped him then the devil would give him all the authority and all the glory.
[4:55] He would give him so much. Can you imagine that grudge? Being given authority over everything. Including the Tim Tams. Including the Tim Tams. Oh.
[5:06] Imagine that. Imagine. But Jesus knew that this was a shortcut. Jesus knew that this wasn't the way that God really wanted him to do. So Jesus said back to the devil.
[5:20] It is written worship the Lord your God and serve only him. Jesus knew that he doesn't worship anyone else but God alone. Well after being on the mountain for a little while we'll take those things off there Shadow.
[5:36] Thank you very much. Welcome Paul. Satan and Jesus came off the mountain and Satan took Jesus into Jerusalem. And as they went into Jerusalem Satan took Jesus right to the temple and put him right up on top.
[5:53] There they are up on top of the temple. They hit the roof again did they? Goodness me. So tall. There we go. I think Shadow's got it right now. There they are on top of the temple and it was very very high point.
[6:08] It says here in the Bible that it was the highest point. And then the devil said to him look Jesus throw yourself off from the top of this building. Just throw yourself off and you know what will happen?
[6:20] God will look after you. He'll care for you. Put him to the test. Go on it's okay. God has his angels and they'll look after you. In fact the devil quotes some of the Bible back at Jesus.
[6:32] He will command his angels concerning you to protect you. On their hands they will bear you up so that you will not dash your foot against the stone. But Jesus knew that this wasn't the right thing to do either.
[6:45] He knew that he really shouldn't do this because he was testing God and it wasn't the right thing to do. So Jesus said quoting from the Bible again do not put the Lord your God to the test.
[7:01] Well that was three times that Jesus was tempted and after the devil tried his hardest on those three times the devil gave up.
[7:12] And it says here when the devil had finished every test he departed from him for a more opportune time. Jesus won the victory.
[7:25] As we look through the rest of the book of Luke we see where Jesus wins the greatest victory over Satan. Does anyone know where Jesus won the greatest victory over Satan? Satan thought he won but he didn't really.
[7:37] Where do you think Satan might have thought he had beaten Jesus? When Jesus died. Satan thought that he could get if he could kill Jesus and that would solve all the problems.
[7:52] But that was all a part of God's plan. And it's at that point that Jesus won the great victory for us. And now Jesus is in heaven and all the power and all the authority is his now because he's won the victory for us.
[8:08] Grunch. Yeah Paul? You know those Tim Tams you have? Yeah. And you know how you really are very tempted by them. Oh yeah. But you know it's the wrong thing. Yeah. It's hard being tempted by things isn't it?
[8:21] It is Paul. So how do we get around this problem? Well the way we get around it is by realising that Jesus has won the victory for us. Jesus has won the battle.
[8:32] We don't have to worry about these temptations. You know the devil will come and try and make us do the wrong thing time and time again. But because of what Jesus has done we know we can do the right thing.
[8:43] And we can trust what God has in store for us. Isn't that great? That's great Paul. So we need to be a little bit more like Jesus when we're dealing with temptation.
[8:54] Do you know that's the other great thing that we do need to be like. We need to be like Jesus. Because the other great thing is did Jesus give in to the temptation? No. Jesus trusted God.
[9:06] He was obedient to God. And we need to be the same you know Grunch. So you know what? What Paul? I don't think you should do eat those Tim Tens if your mum tells you not to do it. Yeah you're right Paul but what do I do with my little sister when she wants to pinch my daddy?
[9:22] All I want to do is grab her back and thump her. I'm so tempted to do it because Teddy's really special. Do you think that's the right thing to do? To hit your sister when she takes your teddy?
[9:34] No I don't think God I don't yeah you could ask her to give it back that's right. I don't think God would be very happy about that if we we do those wrong things. So I don't think we should do that.
[9:46] What else? Well what about my vortex Paul my vortex yo up she goes up down there somewhere Paul here we go can I have that Christopher thanks thanks mate oh there you go oh thanks very much.
[9:58] It's really hard Paul though when I don't want to share kids are saying oh can I play I want to share I want to share and I'm really tempted just to say nah. do you think that's very nice?
[10:12] No. Do you think he should share? Do you know what I think God would like it very much if he would share grunge and you know it is tempting not to share sometimes because you know you want to keep it yourself don't you?
[10:24] Oh well and truly Paul. You know I think we really should share. There's only one other thing I like more than Tim Tans Paul. What's that? Chocolate. Oh chocolate lollies.
[10:35] Just sit down on the floor there just sit back Christopher. That's the way you like chocolates. I love chocolates Paul. These have been sitting there for the last week and it's been so hard as you can see it's not open but boy am I being tempted to have them.
[10:49] Yeah. Stealing things it's not very good. You better not drop a betty otherwise they might go all over the place. No that's right grunge we need to make sure that we are loving in what we do and that we do not be tempted by these things to do the wrong thing because Jesus shows us that it's better to obey God than to do what we want to do.
[11:12] Makes sense Paul it makes sense. It does make sense doesn't it. Well grunge I hope that helps a little bit. I hope it helps us also think about when we tempted to do the wrong thing when you remember we need to be more like Jesus and not do those things.
[11:28] Well why don't I pray and then we can say goodbye to shadow and also to grunge. So let me just pray and thank God for the story that we've just had. Dear God we do thank you for the Bible so we can learn more about you.
[11:42] We thank you that Jesus was the obedient son and that he has won victory for us so that we can be a part of your family. We do pray that you help us to be more like Jesus every day.
[11:54] That you will help us to do this by reading your word, by coming to Sunday school, by doing the right things that you want us to do. We pray all these things in Jesus name.
[12:06] Amen.