The Anatomy of a Temptation

Thank You incentive about a say Amen the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting it endureth unto all generations I am thrilled to be in Birmingham I could not have picked a better weekend to be with you we got eight to ten inches of snow possibly a little bit more in Wichita last night toppled five inches of ice that was already highways this morning talked to my wife she would read the paper to me we've had people killed it's cold it's right it's dangerous the green green grass in Alabama you can always tell redneck we have them and Wichita I called one of my elders this morning we put on the radio last night that we would canceling Church to me and I said what are you doing up so early well I got a bird I said what are you doing he said I'm on the river I said who you got with you another young man and they were duck huntin and the snow was still coming down my bench is ice on the highway ain't ten inches on our parking lot and I said I want y'all to go to church if y'all go duck hunting y'all go to church we got four wheel drive I said use it for God praise God I'm glad to be with brother and sister young I wish them well in their work in California I thought brother young left Alabama he was gonna retire but evidently he just refires I would not be anywhere else or Sunday morning except Birmingham you're not to tell anybody I prefer yellow this morning he meant for the wheel bank snuck in here last night found out I was going preach this morning I turned him down here a few weeks ago he's a friend a lot he's a great friend there's no friend like brothers second their children the Lord blessed brother Sutton by giving him three wonderful daughters three wonderful son-in-law however all these boys they definitely over married they over marry praise God and now brother Sutton is joining the ranks of us grandfathers I think sister Sutton is gonna make a fine grandmother so you gonna make a fine fine grandmother my wife always sits on the second road to my right all the grandkids sit with her they ranged from 1 year to 9 years old

they love their pawpaw they think they own him and I don't dare look in their direction because when I look in their direction they go holler at me amen I want you to open your Bible to the book of Matthew chapter 6 and verse 9 and then first Corinthians chapter 10 and verse number 1 amen if my family lived anywhere in the area of Alabama I want them to attend you life United Pentecostal church first of all I know that the word is preached here I could not have the Liberty that I have if the truth had already been preached in this portal secondly y'all have a great spirit of worship don't ever lose that spirit of worship praise God amen I enjoy sitting down front and watching y'all worship and I like the flipper a little ooh I like the runners I like it all I like every bit of the praise gun and if the world ask you what you're doing just tell them you're doing what you like amen after this manner therefore pray ye our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and then verse 13 is the key verse when he says and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever Ament first Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 1 moreover brethren I would not that you should be ignorant how that all of our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea and were all baptized and to Moses in the cloud and in the sea and it all eat that same spiritual need and it all drank the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ but with many of them God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness now these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted and then he gives us four neither's neither be idolaters as were some of them as is written the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty thousand neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer we are not reading in the Old Testament we're reading under the New Covenant when somebody says I don't want any doctrine and I don't want any long in my life they have opened themselves up to such great temptation that there will be no way that they can will be able to resist the wicked one the law of the Lord is our strength the law of the Lord does not stand between you and God the law of stand between you and a Hale we are not under bondage when we are facing Christ we have the perfect law of

Liberty God does not hinder anyone from moving closer to him there's no obstacle between you and God but if you turn around and you are facing the world and you are facing the devil and you are facing him the law of the Lord stares you in the face and shouts at you very loudly and the reason they say that we're under bondage is they think we are facing the same direction that they are facing we're not facing hell and the devil and the world we're facing heaven and Christ you may be seated I want to talk about the anatomy of a temptation none of us like the idea that we can be tempted with things that we know we ought not to do I think we ought to be careful by saying I will never do such and such but I think we got to say if the Lord will we will not do those things you see we have not yet got to heaven or a perfect body we're still in our flesh unfortunately praise God and because we're in our flesh we are subject to everything that the devil can dish out but by the grace of God we are overcomers through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ praise God there's no such thing as being too old to be tempted there's no such thing as being too young to be tempted there's no such thing as being too educated to be tempted there's no such thing as being too beautiful to be tempted you see we're all in this world and the devil is going to throw temptation at us on every hand you see we have received the baptism of the Holy Ghost we have been born again of the water and of the Spirit we are not walking in death anymore but we are walking in life and and and as we have lived for God we have learned how to overcome certain things in our lives when I was in college and and I was in the alcohol and the drug world I was I was not only tempted with alcohol and those kind of things but I yielded to that temptation and consequently it was having some bad effects in my life and so when I went to church and I received the Holy Ghost and God delivered me from that I was still tempted to drink I was still tempted to cuss I was still tempted do the things I had done before and the preacher said I've got to learn how to overcome by the grace of God through the power of the Holy Ghost and by the blood of the Lamb and so as I matured in Christ there are some things I put behind me amen I can go into alcoholics home and teach a Bible study and and sit at his table while he drinks his Budweiser and smokes a cigarette and we can learn the Bible together and I'm not tempted anymore to drink because I have overcome the temptation to drink anymore praise God I thank God for that he said come out from among them and be separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you praise God I don't come out of the world to be holier than you I come out of the world so that I might go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature praise God we have got to be over commerce praise God if we have a weakness in our life we have to work on that until we overcome that situation because God wants to send this church back into the world he said go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature but until we have come out and until we have overcome it would be very dangerous to go back into the world praise God the Holy Ghost is in this place praise God now temptation comes that time that we don't expect it to come I have made a list of ten areas that we ought to be very careful of in walking with God number one when we face disappointments in life and we become disappointed if we have opened our self up to the wiles of the devil we've opened ourselves up to being greatly tempted to the place that we cannot overcome and so when we are

disappointed we better learn to take that disappointment to Jesus Christ and say lord I am disappointed but I am not disappointed in you and help me O Lord to overcome the spirit of disappointment praise God amen secondly we are can be greatly disappointed after we go through a major trial in our life amen when you are facing great trials and maybe some of you feel the Holy Ghost somebody's going through some of the trials of life right now praise God and as you battle the trials of life and you become weak the devil is gonna come to you and say what's the use so you'reyou're going through the trials and you're never gonna go through this trial and you're gonna fall and you're gonna be hurt through this trial let me offer you a alternative in a way out you need to be careful when you go through the trials of life because when we're tried we shall receive the crown of life that our Heavenly Father has for us praise God my lord I feel the Holy Ghost in this house praise God amen thirdly after we do great things after we have had great accomplishments I've known a pastors and saints that have struggled most of their life and all of a sudden they have a great breakthrough praise God I have one friend that had a tremendous breakthrough they had run about 35 in Sunday school and and had run 35 and 40 in Sunday school for almost 15 years and God gave him a breakthrough and in that breakthrough they went from 35 in Sunday school and in less than one year they was averaging almost 300 and Sunday school and and and it was such a fantastic outpouring of the Holy Ghost before that time the man was a faster and a prayer warrior you could find him in the prayer room and he would fast 10 and 14 and 21 days at a time and and and he was struggled and he fought every edge of the way but when the breakthrough came all of a sudden he found himself too busy too fast anymore and too busy to visit a prayer room anymore and too busy to do the things that he had what's done to maintain his life with Christ it's more important that you live for God than it is that you win a thousand souls to the Lord it's more important that you give your life your personal life to Jesus Christ than anything that you can accomplish in this life but when God gives you great victory you need to be aware that you open yourself up to great temptation and if you are aware that you can be tempted you can overcome the wicked one praise God I had a man tell me one time we was we had just come to Wichita and the church was in shambles and we had a lot of problems and the church had gone through three major splits and it was just a handful of people left in the congregation and when I got there we started prayer meetings we started fasting and we started preaching and and I started calling prayer meetings night after night after night praise God and they got sick of prayer meetings and finally one of the elders came to me and he was fighting man he said preacher we are tired of you calling prayer meetings all the time he said don't you know we are busy people and and and and there's no sense and all this praying he said I'm sick of it he said I'm not gonna be at prayer meeting because I am too busy to pray and I thought when you go through times a busy we all can get busy but you cannot forsake your life in Christ praise God you're never too busy in the morning time to open this book and read from that book you're never too busy to bow your head in the morning time at noontime at the meal time before you go to bed and say Lord I'm still here and I still need you and I praise you praise God you cannot forget the Lord no matter how busy you get praise God we can have great temptations in weak moments we all can go through our weak moments amen someone asked me one time how often should I speak in tongues and I know why they was asking because they was trying to justify the fact that they had not spoken in tongues in 25 years and I knew what they were doing and I went home and I sat down at my desk and in my computer and I got to studying and I got to praying and I asked myself the question how often should a man pray through and I found the scripture where it says we're not saved by works of righteousness which we have done but by

the renewing of the Holy Ghost and I thought how often should I be renewed in the Holy Ghost and when I got to studying and putting a sermon together I realized that temptation comes up at our most sweet times and I ask myself why do we allow ourselves to become weak and I realize there's a lot of things that would cause us to become weak and it's not wrong to become weak it's wrong to stay weak and I realize after every major change in your life you need a renewing of the Holy Ghost how many got the Holy Ghost as a child can I see your hand you got the Holy Ghost of the child if you know anything at all about God the Holy Ghost you have now is not the same Holy Ghost you had as a child when I got the Holy Ghost as as a older teenager a young adult and the Holy Ghost I have now it is so greatly different praise God the Holy Ghost keeps me from things that I faced today and I don't face anymore that I face back then praise God so when you go from childhood to adolescence you ought to have a renewing of the Holy Ghost and when you go from adolescence to teenage years you ought to have a renewing of the Holy Ghost and when you go from your teenage years to a young adult you need a renewing of the Holy Ghost when you go from a young adult to a merited bill my god you need a double potion of the Holy Ghost and when you go from being a a husband and a wife to becoming a parent you need a renewing of the Holy Ghost can I have an amen when you time a face of a face of time of sickness and you're in the hospital and you get out of that hospital you need a renewing of the Holy Ghost when you change jobs you need a renewing of the Holy Ghost when you have a battle with the devil you need a renewing of the Holy Ghost why because we can become weak but we cannot stay weak and we're only strengthened as we are renewed in the power of the Holy Ghost praise God the Holy Ghost spoke to me and said that this church was going to have a mighty outpouring of the Holy Ghost but not everybody is going to enjoy that great outpouring of the Holy Ghost because along the way the tempter is going to come to you in a weak moment but instead of being renewed you're gonna ride though with the crest of glory that the congregation is producing you got to produce it for yourself praise God you've got to be personally renewed in the baptism of the Holy Spirit praise God one of the greatest phenomenas of our hour is when you look around and see who is backsliding and it's not the person that's struggling this backsliding but it's that person that has lived for God for 15 years in 20 years and suddenly they are backsliding because they don't understand this principle of change in their life you're not the same person as a middle as in your middle age as you were as a young man your face different things your ideals change your body changes your mind changes and if you don't get renewed in the Holy Ghost as a middle-aged er as a as a in your mid years you're gonna lose out with God because you're not gonna know where God is that how many times I've I had to go to the prayer room and say Lord there's something strange I remember I made a list of 10 things that I wanted to accomplish in my life and I thought when I made that list they were astronomical situations that I couldn't even envision how that they were ever going to come to pass and so one day I woke up and I realized that I had already accomplished nine of the ten things that I had set out to do and I found myself with Idol timing and and not knowing where to go and what to do and and and I was confused and I was I was kind of spaced out and and I I didn't have a vision didn't have any goals and I realized that I had accomplished everything that I had worked all of my life to accomplish and and and I needed a new set of goals praise God and I sit down and I spent one month in a prayer room praying and fasting and seeking God and I'll never will forget the night that the Holy Ghost came upon me as I'm in a middle aged person and God renewed me in the power of the Holy Ghost and he opened my mind and gave me some new goals and some new ideals and I thank God for that praise God but if I hadn't have done that I'm sure that I would be back slid and

on the ash heaps of ruin because in a weak moment I could have fallen praise God but thank God for the renewing of the Holy Ghost listen to me Birmingham let's give you life God has great things ahead for this church you have not even began to accomplish everything that God has for you at the same time you want to be here when God does it and you got to be renewed I said you've got to be renewed you've got to be renewed you've got to be renewed you've got to be renewed you've got to be renewed and the Holy Ghost temptation comes when we let our guard down temptation comes when we face major setbacks in our life and be aware of this we all have setbacks in our life and God sets us back it's a set of sup somebody said Amen we have to be careful when we get lifted up in Pride we can all face pride in our life temptation can come when we lose a loved one and we become very lonely we can be tempted when the spirit of anger comes to us it's very important that these areas of our life we become very vulnerable to the attack of Satan somebody said Amen now let me just see if I can share something with you in 1973 in the state of Louisiana we had a hundred and fifteen inches of rain I was in revival in our home church and during that time and we had two tornadoes passed directly over the church we didn't have a parking lot we had just built a new building there was 18 inches of fresh field dirt that we was going to compact and build a parking lot on but it started raining and so you can imagine when it rains and rains and rains and rains and rains and rains and rains and rains and rains on 18 inches of fill dirt it turns into a quagmire and so we built a plywood ramp from the street to the front door of the church and we had foot washing every night we had pans and and we had people designated that when people come in we'd have to wash their feet because that plywood would sag and the water would rise in the mud and we had to put a bit of plywood wrap on top of the plywood ramp and it was just a big mess and everybody was saying we can't have revival the circumstances are too bad bla bla bla but in the midst of all that we had tremendous outpouring of the Holy Ghost and you have to learn how to overcome situations they meant nothing there's no ideal situation and so the ladies Concordia parish has an 80-foot ring levee that encircles the entire county or the parish and Concordia parish is kind of in a bowl and Kokoda bayou flows to the middle of the parish and at the lower end of the parish they have these huge turbines that pump water out of the parish and that is our drainage system it rains and the bowl starts filling up the turbines kick called it starts pumping water out and and there's four huge turbines that pump the water out into the river and but as the water begins to rise in the Mississippi River it got up I had where the levee and the Corps of Engineers got worried about it and so they started hauling in special sand and they brought in a million of sandbags and the got volunteers the National Guard and the local people got the sandbag into that levee and they built that levee up four more feet high and and the water got almost the very top of the levee and and and they said it's going to start falling but it may get all the way to the top of the levee and and the river was supposed to crest at the same level that the top of the levee was and so we sandbagged that levee and and and somebody said well is the levees gonna be able to hold all of this water back and I never will forget one of the Corps of Engineers one of

their engineers said if we can keep the water from trickling over the levee the levees will hold but if the water gets high enough and just a trickle of water goes over the levee and starts down the other side the entire levee will give way and the deluge will feel the parish up that's what happened in 1927 in 1949 we got pictures of my family in a motorboat right downtown ferdi and all you can see is the top of the hotel on the main intersection the water was about 25 foot high at that intersection because the levees broke and they had to rebuild the levees and the levees broke because just a trickle of water went over the levee and when the trickle went over the whole thing gave way praise God that's what's so dangerous about temptation that's what's so dangerous about yielding to the slightest of temptations it's because once you're tempted in one area another area would be tempted and what that area is tipped in another area will be tempting them it's very important that we reinforce ourselves in 2007 this is God's here God is going to do great things in 2007 and we must undergird ourself and prepare for the old slow not only of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost but from the panel of the devil himself praise God but takes me under God he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ hallelujah and I making any kind of sense hallelujah praise God Jesus knew that there's no such thing as social strata when it comes to temptation you know you don't get in a social strata that's not tempted neither do you get in a financial strata where you are not tempted neither can you get in a religious strata that's you're not tempted it doesn't matter who your preacher friends are doesn't matter who your saint friends are they're not going to prevent you from being tempted your finances will not prevent you from being tempted your social status will not keep you from being tempted somebody said Amen every one of us rich and poor bond and free black and white red and yellow on breath we have must guard ourselves I guess the temptation of the enemy praise God in Matthew chapter 4 Jesus was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil and when he had fasted forty days and forty nights he was afterward hungry and we are not if and when the tempter came to him now it's very important to understand that your victory is not within yourself your victory is in the Holy Ghost you cannot fight the devil in your flesh you must be yielded to the Holy Ghost can I have an amen sometimes today men here's the beauty of it it does not matter who you are it doesn't matter how weak you become the weakest child of God in this tabernacle is stronger than the devil Jesus went in the wilderness to be tempted and and he purposely weakened himself he fasted 40 days what a diet program 40 days was the maximum that you could fast because then the body starts eating itself and he was as weak as a human being would ever become and he sat and he waited and when the tempter came he caught Jesus at his very weakest moment and he said if thou be the Son of God command these stones to be made bread and jesus said it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God it lets me know that the devil has no argument against the word that's in your mouth

somebody shout Amen praise God that wasn't even a temptation and so the devil takes him to the pinnacle or to the highest mountain and shows him all the kingdoms that the devil was so proud of instead if you're bowed down and worship me I'll give you all these kingdoms and Jesus said you know you don't have to give me anything I'm gonna take them do you remember when you was a kid in the summertime and you wanted a watermelon you can went the store and bought one for 50 cents but oh it was so much more fun to crawl under the farmers fence and steal that watermelon take that watermelon there's just something more juicy about a stolen watermelon then there is a bought watermelon the devil the Lord said you're not gonna give me anything devil I'm gonna take back what she stole from me that wasn't a temptation but when Jesus when he took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and he said cast myself down for it is written he shall give his angels charge over thee now even the devil did not understand what he said or what he'd done but all of a sudden Jesus understood because as he looked across the span of time and he saw the cross and he saw the nails and he saw the cat-o'-nine-tails and he saw the rod in the crown of thorns he saw the suffering of the humiliation and he saw his death he was tempted all he'd have to do was step off the pinnacle of that temple and that and the angels would instantly catch him and he would not - his foot against the stone but then he understood that if he stepped off and the angels ever caught him then the angels would never allow him to die and for the joy that was set before him he dude the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God can I have an amen it's very important to understand Jesus was tempted and he was tempted in his very weakest moment if you're a child of God me tell you something just because you're a weak reach up and call on the name of Jesus rebuked the devil and he will flee from you praise God it doesn't matter how weak you are in your weakest moment you are stronger than the devil I said you are stronger than they hit I mean praise God I don't care how weak the church may think it is or how strong they may think it is in Christ Jesus we have victory we have victory we have victory we have victory hallelujah praise God if we're going to overcome if we're going to overcome temptation there are three areas that we must have to overcome temptation number one if we neglect the word one of the things that helped me immensely when I was in college is Bible quizzing and I was one of the first Bible quizzers in fact I was I was in Bible quizzing the first year it came out it was on the book of st. John and I asked the pastor I said how can I win the Bible quizzing he said if you memorized every word of the book of st. John he didn't think I'd do it that's why I sent down can i memorize every word in the book of Saint John in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god and I started memorizing the book of Saint John I did not realize then that in years to come that when I would get weak and I couldn't didn't have a Bible in my hand and I was being tempted of the enemy I can start quoting that which I had put to memory praise God and I put the fly the armies of the aliens praise God you cannot forsake the Word of God if you don't have the ability to memorize then you ought to have that Bible closer and read something of it every day of your life give us this day our daily bread can I have an amen secondly secondly I there's a that has happened in Wichita and I I'm a personal person and on Sunday night when I get through preaching and I want to walk off a platform I am surrounded by kids and I use I've got one on each foot they have taught so many linings out of my jackets that I'm embarrassed I've got safety pins in the back Rock I keep them pinned up until they come completely out then I take them to the laundry have a put in a new line and praise God and I my handkerchief a lot of times on

something I cannot get through it's not only sweaty but it's snotty because I just can't pass up a little snotty nosed kid without reaching down and cleaning their nose to say blowhole praise God and I I have to tie tennis shoes and and and and I get more kisses and more hugs and one night one night I was locking up the church out in the foyer and everybody was gone and the lights pulled into the parking lot and shined through the glass doors and a man walked in he said can my daughter kiss you I said sure she was about two and a half years old and I leaned down and I give her a hug and the kids and he said now maybe she'll go to bed she said I took her home put it in pajamas on she said so she had to bring him he had to bring her all the way back to church give me a kiss I know I'm just irresistible praise God but I've done that for 30 years I'm dedicating the children of the grandparents that I prayed through 30 years ago and somebody comes to me and says well brother horn when we need to tell about our young people they're all backsliding I said name them I said name them you always want to blame the preacher for your young uns backsliding I challenge you to name the young people that's back slid out of this church he didn't tell me to say this but I they'll start giving me names of young people and I said what do you wants to do different I said because nothing we that they haven't participated anything else we've done why would they participate in that huh but I promise you we don't have one young person in our church and thirty years that has back slid that has built a relationship with the man of God but it's the parents that keep their children away from the man of God that you had your children from the man of God and you give your children permission do that with the man of God preaches against I want my children to have a relationship with men of God when I bring a preacher to my church I want my kids to sit with that preacher and I want them to feel the heartbeat of that preacher I want to know that they're human and they're normal but at the same time they've got an anointing on their life and they're chosen of God to lead and guide and instruct there's no way you're gonna live for God without one day having some kind of a relationship with America and number three the Spirit of God it tastes something when you praise God you bring the presence of God to you can I have an amen even when you don't understand the preaching of the word you've got to say thus saith the word Lord it's the word can I have an amen and if you'll obey his word he will give you revelation induced time can I have an amen when we when we are tempted we're usually tempted by the sins we had before we were delivered it's amazing in it praise God I'm not tempted by some things because I don't know about them but I'm usually tempted by that which God delivered me from in the world if he was a drinker and a rabble rouser and a party goer first thing you're gonna do is you're gonna go back to a bar stool if he was a smoker the first thing you're gonna do is smoke if you had rebellion in your life and you was a rebel the first thing you're gonna do is you're gonna buy yourself a pair of scissors if you was into pornography the first thing you're gonna do is go back to a book store if he was a thief you're gonna go back to stealing if you was a liar you're gonna go back to lie and there's a myriad of other temptations you got to be careful that you need to cause to be aware of that which you came out of and when you find yourself tempted to go back to where you came from open your eyes and say wait a minute I can't go back again Joseph is the greatest analysis of temptation that the world shows up is hurt and disappointed in a week time but he was a blessed man he grew up with privileges he grew up with great expectations he had some serious setbacks his life Joe has suffered from disappointment so he suffered from loneliness he suffered from great wrongs done to him he had every right to be tipping but at the same time he undergirded himself and said I cannot Sienna against my god then he takes them if you make God first in your life and put God ahead of everything else in your life you'll be able to overcome the temptation when it comes your way let's all stand father in the name of Jesus I give myself to you would you lift your hands say Lord you're the most important thing in my life I give myself to you thy will be done in my life let's raise your hands and let's praise the Lord together if you're here this morning and you need the Lord in your life you need protection from temptation I want you come down this aisle right now I want you come right now first it's beginning of a new year for setting goals my goals have to be geared towards strength in the Word of God a new infilling of the Holy Ghost strength against temptation come on offer yourself up fresh and new to God new vision a brand new dream say what the preacher preached to you this month God you're gonna be the most important thing in my life praise you're in this all - this morning and you know about the truth of God you look around you make sure but there's not somebody right by you that he's the Holy Ghost this morning you want to be sure to help somebody and be a facilitator their brain boys every learn in real life lifted up to God again lead me not into temptation big be strong in your work none of us stand on their own gotta have that whole ego after you've said what you need to say let that Holy Ghost begin to pray a prayer for you come on you're not your own you've involved with the price you need to let God begin to pray three FS on this moment you got a nobody heartbeat you gotta make a declaration about them today start this new year saying I'm gonna be found

praise God old everybody that's made a declaration and in your heart it's your greatest desire to live for God lift up your hand and say Amen I want you to turn to somebody by you just get one right by it and tell them I'm gonna pray for you that you be strong and that you stand and when the enemy comes to you not if he comes to you but when it comes to you that you're going to be bold in the Holy Ghost you're gonna have the word of God in your mouth come on pray for them pray anointing a blessing on their life