Back Talker: Spiritual Sass: Matthew 4:1-11

 

How to sass the devil…

1. Know God’s word

Then the tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”⁴ He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Matthew 4:3-4 (CSB)

Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶ and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will give his angels orders concerning you, and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” ⁷ Jesus told him, “It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.”
Matthew 4:5-7 (CSB)

Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ.
Colossians 2:8 (CSB)

2. Get filled with the Spirit

When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him.
Matthew 3:16 (CSB)

Then Jesus left the Jordan, full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness.
Luke 4:1 (CSB)

3. Understand the schemes of the enemy

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³ Then the tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Matthew 4:1-3 (CSB)

4. Believe you will overcome

Then the devil left him, and angels came and began to serve him.
Matthew 4:11 (CSB)

Blessed is the one who endures trials, because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
James 1:12 (CSB)

source https://edgechurchcolorado.com/back-talker-spiritual-sass-matthew-41-11/

Storyline: Celebrate Your Story: Esther 9:20-10:3

 

When I follow God’s plan I can…

1. Celebrate the Past—What God has done

Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all of King Ahasuerus’s provinces, both near and far. 21 He ordered them to celebrate the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar every year 22 because during those days the Jews gained relief from their enemies. That was the month when their sorrow was turned into rejoicing and their mourning into a holiday. They were to be days of feasting, rejoicing, and of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.
Esther 9:20-22 (CSB)

2. Celebrate the Present—What God is doing

They fought on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar and rested on the fourteenth, and it became a day of feasting and rejoicing.18 But the Jews in Susa had assembled on the thirteenth and the fourteenth days of the month. They rested on the fifteenth day of the month, and it became a day of feasting and rejoicing.
Esther 9:17-18 (CSB)

3. Celebrate the Future—What God will continue to do

…the Jews bound themselves, their descendants, and all who joined with them to a commitment that they would not fail to celebrate these two days each and every year according to the written instructions and according to the time appointed. 28 These days are remembered and celebrated by every generation, family, province, and city, so that these days of Purim will not lose their significance in Jewish life and their memory will not fade from their descendants.
Esther 9:27-28 (CSB)

For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11 (CSB)

Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus. He was famous among the Jews and highly esteemed by many of his relatives. He continued to pursue prosperity for his people and to speak for the well-being of all his descendants.
Esther 10:3 (CSB)

source https://edgechurchcolorado.com/storyline-celebrate-your-story-esther-920-103/

Storyline: Reversible: Esther 8:1-17

1. God Reverses My Sentence

Letters were sent by couriers to each of the royal provinces telling the officials to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jewish people—young and old, women and children—and plunder their possessions on a single day, the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month.
Esther 3:13 (CSB)

The king’s edict gave the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate every ethnic and provincial army hostile to them, including women and children, and to take their possessions as spoils of war.
Esther 8:11 (CSB)

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 (CSB)

2. God Reverses My Sorrow

When Mordecai learned all that had occurred, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, went into the middle of the city, and cried loudly and bitterly. 2 He went only as far as the King’s Gate, since the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering the King’s Gate. 3 There was great mourning among the Jewish people in every province where the king’s command and edict reached. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
Esther 4:1-3 (CSB)

Mordecai went from the king’s presence clothed in royal blue and white, with a great gold crown and a purple robe of fine linen. The city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.
Esther 8:15 (CSB)

…weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.   
Psalm 30:15 (NIV)

3. God Reverses My Situation

Have them bring a royal garment that the king himself has worn and a horse the king himself has ridden, which has a royal crown on its head. 9 Put the garment and the horse under the charge of one of the king’s most noble officials. Have them clothe the man the king wants to honor, parade him on the horse through the city square, and call out before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king wants to honor.’” The king told Haman, “Hurry, and do just as you proposed. Take a garment and a horse for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the King’s Gate. Do not leave out anything you have suggested.” 11 So Haman took the garment and the horse. He clothed Mordecai and paraded him through the city square, calling out before him, “This is what is done for the man the king wants to honor.”
Esther 6:8-11 (CSB)

The rest of the Jews in the royal provinces assembled, defended themselves, and gained relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them, but they did not seize any plunder.
Esther 9:16 (CSB)

source https://edgechurchcolorado.com/storyline-reversable-esther-81-17/

Storyline: Right Person, Right Place, Right Time: Esther 3:1-7:10

 

1. Right Person God’s Person – Am I God’s Man or Woman?

The entire royal staff at the King’s Gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, because the king had commanded this to be done for him. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage.
Esther 3:2 (CSB)

When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down or paying him homage, he was filled with rage.
Esther 3:5 (CSB)

“All the royal officials and the people of the royal provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner courtyard and who has not been summoned—the death penalty—unless the king extends the gold scepter, allowing that person to live. I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the last thirty days.”  …Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my female servants will also fast in the same way. After that, I will go to the king even if it is against the law. If I perish, I perish.” So Mordecai went and did everything Esther had commanded him.
Esther 3:11; 15-17 (CSB)

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2 (NIV)

2. Right Place – Am I Where God Wants Me to Be?

On the third day, Esther dressed in her royal clothing and stood in the inner courtyard of the palace facing it. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the royal courtroom, facing its entrance. As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard, she gained favor with him. The king extended the gold scepter in his hand toward Esther, and she approached and touched the tip of the scepter. “What is it, Queen Esther?” the king asked her. “Whatever you want, even to half the kingdom, will be given to you.” “If it pleases the king,” Esther replied, “may the king and Haman come today to the banquet I have prepared for them.”
Esther 5:1-4 (CSB)

3. Right Time – Am I Following God’s Timing?

Who knows perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.
Esther 4:14 (CSB)

That night sleep escaped the king, so he ordered the book recording daily events to be brought and read to the king. They found the written report of how Mordecai had informed on Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, when they planned to assassinate King Ahasuerus. The king inquired, “What honor and special recognition have been given to Mordecai for this act?”
Esther 6:1-3 (CSB)

Again, on the second day while drinking wine, the king asked Esther, “Queen Esther, whatever you ask will be given to you. Whatever you seek, even to half the kingdom, will be done.” Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if the king is pleased, spare my life; this is my request. And spare my people; this is my desire. For my people and I have been sold to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept silent. Indeed, the trouble wouldn’t be worth burdening the king.” King Ahasuerus spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?” Esther answered, “The adversary and enemy is this evil Haman.”
Esther 7:1-6 (CSB)

source https://edgechurchcolorado.com/storyline-right-person-right-place-right-time-esther-31-710/

Storyline: God Is My Elevator: Esther 1:1-2:23

 

1. God elevates me through sizable setbacks

Mordecai was the legal guardian of his cousin Hadassah (that is, Esther), because she didn’t have a father or mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was extremely good-looking. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter.
Esther 2:7 (CSB)

Esther did not reveal her ethnic background or her birthplace, because Mordecai had ordered her not to.
Esther 2:10 (CSB)

2. God elevates me through strategic relationships

Every day Mordecai took a walk in front of the harem’s courtyard to learn how Esther was doing and to see what was happening to her.
Esther 2:11 (CSB)

3. God elevates me through significant time

During the year before each young woman’s turn to go to King Ahasuerus, the harem regulation required her to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months and then with perfumes and cosmetics for [another] six months.
Esther 2:12 (CSB)

4. God elevates me through substantial favor

The young woman pleased him and gained his favor so that he accelerated the process of the beauty treatments and the special diet that she received. He assigned seven hand-picked female servants to her from the palace and transferred her and her servants to the harem’s best quarters.
Esther 2:9 (CSB)

Esther was the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai who had adopted [her] as his own daughter. When her turn came to go to the king, she did not ask for anything except what Hegai, the king’s trusted official in charge of the harem, suggested. Esther won approval in the sight of everyone who saw her.
Esther 2:15 (CSB)

The king loved Esther more than all the other women. She won more favor and approval from him than did any of the other virgins. He placed the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.
Esther 2:17 (CSB)

During those days while Mordecai was sitting at the King’s Gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two eunuchs who guarded the [king’s] entrance, became infuriated and tried to assassinate King Ahasuerus. When Mordecai learned of the plot, he reported it to Queen Esther, and she told the king on Mordecai’s behalf.
Esther 2:21-22 (CSB)

source https://edgechurchcolorado.com/storyline-god-is-my-elevator-esther-11-223/

Panic Attack: Praise > Panic: Psalm 146

 

3 Stages of a Life of Praise

1. Determination Phase—I’m deciding to praise

Hallelujah! My soul, praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.
Psalm 146:1-2 (CSB)

2. Distraction Phase—I won’t let people take my eyes of the Lord

Do not trust in nobles, in a son of man, who cannot save. 4 When his breath leaves him, he returns to the ground; on that day his plans die.
Psalm 146:3-4 (CSB)

Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.
Psalm 146:5 (CSB)

3. Developmental Phase—I will build a life of praise by getting to know God

The Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. He remains faithful forever, executing justice for the exploited and giving food to the hungry. The Lord frees prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises up those who are oppressed. The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord protects resident aliens and helps the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
Psalm 146:6-9 (CSB)

He’s Creator

The Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them…
Psalm 146:6 (CSB)

He’s Faithful

He remains faithful forever…
Psalm 146:6 (CSB)

He’s Just

…executing justice for the exploited and giving food to the hungry. The Lord frees prisoners.
Psalm 146:7 (CSB)

He’s Powerful

The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises up those who are oppressed. The Lord loves the righteous.
Psalm 146:8 (CSB)

He’s Protector

The Lord protects resident aliens and helps the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
Psalm 146:9 (CSB)

The Lord reigns forever; Zion, your God reigns for all generations. Hallelujah!
Psalm 146:10 (CSB)

source https://edgechurchcolorado.com/panic-attack-praise-panic-psalm-146/

Panic Attack: Don’t Worry About Tomorrow: Matthew 6:24-34

 

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2 (ESV)

1. Does Worry Make Sense?

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Matthew 6:24-26 (NIV)

2. Does Worry Make Things Better?

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Matthew 6:27 (NIV)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)

3. Does Worry Bring Me Closer To God?

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life…
Matthew 6:25 (NIV)

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Matthew 6:31-32 (NIV)

Who among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.
Matthew 7:9-11 (CSB)

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7 (ESV)

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:33-34 (NIV)

source https://edgechurchcolorado.com/panic-attack-dont-worry-about-tomorrow-matthew-624-34/