15 - Lesson 7: Testing, Part 2 Temptations

Well, welcome to the Striving for Eternity Academy's School of Discipleship.

We are glad that you are with us.

This is the class on an Introduction to Discipling.

We're going through a book called Growing in Grace.

We're using this as a tool to disciple.

In other words, this class is really on introducing you how to go about discipling another individual.

However, we're using a tool.

You can use many tools.

You can use running, weight lifting, knitting, things that you have in common with

somebody.

We happen to be using this.

It is because it is basically a principles of Bible study, principles of Christian belief,

so that a new believer, which is what we're really targeting, would be able to

enjoy learning God's Word while you are discipling them.

We've been going through this book, and as we've been going through, we talked about the fact that there were several

lessons.

We're kind of halfway through those lessons.

Although each of the lessons are going to be gold, the goal is going to be toward teaching them

basic principles of God's Word.

However, the first half are really educational, just instructional.

Now we're getting into the tough life lessons.

This is where discipling really is important.

This is also where it really gets tough.

Last week, we started our lesson, this lesson, on

testings, lesson 7 on testings.

In that, we looked at last week, trials, those we've defined as

testings from within, testing from within.

Let's do a quick review of them.

That's nice, the black background behind that.

We got it working.

We see here that a testing from within, which we're calling, or sorry, from without,

did I say within?

Yeah, thank you, without.

That's called a trial, focused on this week's lesson, which is going to be on top, testings from within.

Testing from without is called a trial.

We see here that the mechanisms of a trial is a testing from outside

ourselves.

We have some verses for that, but look at what you see here.

You see the surety of a trial.

We looked at that.

We saw the sources of trials being the origins and the instruments.

This was something we didn't break down in the class, but this was a way that the individual Wayne Smith, who had put these

slides together, had done it, which is to see that there's actually a difference between the origins and the instruments.

Origins being that generally, you see there general, under

the origins, there's a little block there.

General trials, which come from living in a sinful world.

The effects of God allow to come into our lives

and then some chastisement from when we do things wrong.

Then the instruments, he has unbelievers, disobedient Christians, Satan, ourselves based on our

choices, and nature, sickness, storms, things like that, some things we didn't actually cover in the class.

This is why some of these slides might be good to go over with a student as well.

You can get those from us, give you an email address at the end of class to tell you where you can email to request these and

I can send those to you.

You're seeing though also then a direction, meaning that's outside of us as opposed to

inside of us, and then the strategy.

The strategy of praying, hanging on to God's Word, call for support,

we see the effects of it.

You also see how a trial at the bottom left there, he says, how a trial and

temptation are linked.

Both are testings, both are opportunities for Christians to demonstrate the same, to

demonstrate godly effects.

If you're in a trial, do you seek out a temptation?

No, you shouldn't.

This is just a quick review that I hope would be helpful.

Now we talk about trials and there are sometimes trials of life, some that

are going to be more difficult than others.

We just get done with the lesson on trials and I would be remiss

in not bringing up a trial that one of our very

faithful students has undergone.

I know that these classes are recorded over time and sometimes people say, well if you

years later, how is this going to, it's no longer relevant, well it's still relevant because

it's still people that have major things happen.

We're going to talk about this toward the end of class.

We had a brother, Joe Conkle, who is a student here at the academy, who woke up

this Sunday morning just four or five days before Christmas morning to his house on

fire.

He woke up to make breakfast for his family and discovered that his

house was on fire.

He quickly grabbed everyone, got them out of the house just in time, but watched his house

burn to the ground.

He said he couldn't believe how fast it went.

Joe had lost everything, literally.

His daughter's car was lost in the fire because it was near the garage.

All the memories, think about that, all the memories that you have in your house.

He may not even be able to watch the class live because he's got no computer.

I mean, basic things.

That is a major trial and that's different than what some people call trials when they

stub their toe and they think it's a trial.

There's different levels, different degrees of trials and we need to take that into

account.

When you're discipling an individual, no matter what degree, they're going to come up with

things in their life that are trials.

Don't discount the degree of their trial.

It is a suffering for them.

It's not having your house burned down, maybe.

Maybe it's more in the line of stubbing your toe, but to that person, that may be a major issue and you

need to help them to see past the trial.

One of the things that I was greatly encouraged when I saw a newspaper article written about Joe and how he

lost his entire house and everything that went on, they wanted to take a picture of him and he was

smiling for the photo.

And the article even mentions that the reason he could even smile for the photo, he

credits to his belief in God.

That's an amazing testimony.

I talked to him on the phone a couple times and he's of good spirits, although he's just getting over a cold and

sounds really bad, but he's of good spirit even though he's kind of in shock.

Why?

Because he has an eternal hope.

You see, even when you can lose an entire house, you can have a right attitude where you can

look past the trial and look forward to Christ.

Where some people stub their toe and you think the world is coming to an end, or a girlfriend or boyfriend breaks up with them and they think

that's the end of the world.

We got to keep in mind how severe these things are, but as a discipler,

you don't want to make light of their trial.

Okay, so let us start this week with temptations.

With temptations, these are testings from within.

A testing from within.

We are going to start very much like we did with the last one on trials by talking about the

surety of temptations.

The surety of temptations.

When we look at that, as my syllabus drops, my notebook,

temptations are a trial from within us.

Something that is not external to us.

We like to blame the external because that just makes it easier.

We don't have to blame ourselves, but the reality is most of the testings we have come from within

us and we create some of them ourselves.

We meditate on things we shouldn't be meditating on.

But, if you look in your Growing in Grace book, each believer must

regard temptation as an unavoidable experience.

You're not going to avoid temptations.

Jesus didn't.

That's one of the things that's amazing about Christ and this is something to encourage the person you're discipling with.

Jesus Christ suffered every temptation that you and I suffer to the fullest extent.

What do I mean by that?

When you and I suffer a temptation, we are tempted to give into whatever that

testing is.

Whatever that temptation is.

Once we give into that temptation, it is over.

Have you noticed that?

I noticed when...

Okay, I'll admit it.

I have a problem with food.

I'm a glutton.

I understand that.

I've been working on it for years.

I've gotten much better.

I used to run very often so that you couldn't see the sin of my gluttony.

But, I used to...

I remember a time where there was a bakery right by where I'd go to church

and you'd go over this hill and, man, you could smell that fresh baked

bread.

I mean, it just was right at the right level to as you go over this bridge, you could smell it.

I remember there was a time I just smelt it.

I was alone because I've smelt it going to church every morning, every evening.

I'd go with my wife and I'd be like, oh, we should stop by.

She goes, you don't need it.

I know, but you don't need it.

I would avoid it because I had a voice of reason sitting right next to me ready to smack

me if I turned down that road to get the fresh baked goods.

And so, I was able to avoid that because of the voice of reason in the car.

One time, my wife was not with me.

I was alone going to church and I smelt it.

You know what?

I just want to park near there and just look in the window, see what it is.

Have you ever done that?

Instead of just turning away from the temptation, you say, I'm not going to eat.

I just want to get a little closer.

And we get a little closer.

And then we say in our minds, I'm just going to walk in the store, but I'm not going to buy anything.

I'm just going to walk around.

In the back of my mind the entire time, I know I'm going to buy something.

I know I'm going to eat something.

But I'm trying to convince myself that I'm just getting closer without sinning.

And this is why this is giving into temptation.

You've already lost when you started doing that.

Now, granted, you can at some point turn away from that and still fight the temptation.

But often when we've gotten to that point, we've already given up.

Because we're thinking about it.

That's what we do.

And so I got close and I got in the store and I got to the counter.

Boy, this looks so fresh and smells so good.

And I ordered something and I bought it and I walked out of the store eating it.

And the temptation was immediately gone.

And you know what?

It didn't taste as good as I anticipated.

Temptation was gone.

All of a sudden there was no more battle and it was gone.

There's another way to battle with temptation.

That's the way Christ did it.

That is, He suffered the temptation.

The temptation got greater and greater and greater until it dissipated completely.

That's how we're supposed to pass the tests.

I can't really give you examples of that.

I'm not so good at that, I guess.

I'm good at going into the bakery.

But there are times where we suffer and that temptation gets greater and greater and greater.

And then it disappears.

Just as it did, would have disappeared when we gave into it.

But the problem is we often give in because it's easier than the struggle of dealing with the temptation.

And we're going to give you some things at the end of class that will help you with how a strategy to battle that so that you can

have it dissipate without giving in.

But Christ suffered every temptation to its full extent.

Just something to think about.

But these are unavoidable.

A Christian can be tempted because he has many natural

desires with which to be tempted.

But what happens, and by the way this is a point, Jesus was tempted but did not sin.

So we have to keep that in mind.

The temptation is not a sin, giving into it is the sin.

Jesus was tempted, did not sin.

Okay, but 1 John 1 .8 gives us something,

explains to us what happens when a person claims to not have a sin nature.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

So you notice that?

If you claim you don't have sin, you deceive yourself.

Now I say this because there are some who believe in what's called sinless perfection and they believe

that they do not sin, that they are without sin.

And some will argue that if you do sin you lose your salvation.

They'll argue that you can actually lose your salvation if you do any willful sin.

And they throw the willful in just as a catch -all so that they can say, because they know that they're going to sin,

they're just going to say it wasn't willfully.

Well, every sin is willful.

You chose to sin.

Even if it wasn't something you thought through, okay?

Me going in the bakery was thought through, I planned it.

There are other sins where something happens and I just lie.

I mean I don't plan it, I don't think about it, someone challenges me, boom, out comes a lie.

Now people argue that's an unwilling sin, it's without thinking.

No, that's not true.

It was a willful sin that you're used to doing and that's why it happened so

quickly because it was your first response.

It was your kind of without thinking response.

It is the immediate response you did under pressure.

And what that shows is how you naturally are thinking.

If the lie comes out immediately, it's not because it wasn't willful.

No, it was willful.

It's that you did it because that was your immediate response.

And you need to change your way of thinking so that your immediate response is no

longer to tell a lie.

But we deceive ourselves when we think that we are not

capable of sin or that somehow we're not sinning.

We are going to continue in sin and 1 John 1 .10 has an

answer for the person who still has a capacity for sin.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make

him, him being God, a liar and his word is not in us.

So the question that we have is when

we read 1 John 1 .10 and answer whether a believer still has the capacity to sin.

Well, the answer to your blank there is yes.

Did I give the blank?

The blank for the previous one is they deceive themselves.

That's your previous blank for number one.

Number two, the answer is yes.

We still have a capacity of sin.

Just because we get saved does not mean we lose that capacity.

It means that we now have a true freedom in Christ that we can choose whether to sin or not.

An unbeliever does not have that.

They choose to sin.

In other words, even when they do something good, they do it for selfish reasons.

Okay, there's still self in there.

We have the Holy Spirit so we can actually choose to not sin because it glorifies God and not

self.

That's a difference.

That gives us a true free will.

All right, we then look at number three.

It is not a sin to be tempted.

I mentioned this.

It is a sin to yield to the temptation.

Now, who was it that was

tempted and did not sin?

Well, Hebrews 2 gives an answer.

And we're also going to have Hebrews 4.

Hebrews 2 .18 says, because he himself has suffered when tempted,

he was able to help those who were being tempted.

So Jesus suffered the temptation.

That's how he can be a sympathetic high priest with us.

This is important because this is how he's able to help us who are tempted.

And then it says in Hebrews 4 .15, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to

sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has

been tempted as we are yet without sin.

Do you notice that's the difference?

Tempted as we are yet without sin.

This talks about the surety of the temptations.

They are going to come.

Explain that to the person that you're discipling.

Some people have wrong understandings.

Maybe they are not new believers.

Maybe they grew up in a church.

Maybe they're new believers, but they grew up in a bad church, a church that had bad doctrine.

And they're under the belief that when they became a Christian, everything's supposed to get better.

You need to explain to them the surety so that they're not surprised when they're tempted.

So, let us look at what is the source of temptation, the source of temptation.

As we look at this, we notice that according to James 1 .13,

does God ever tempt his own children?

Well, let's look at that in John 1 .13.

Alright, the question is, does God ever tempt

his children to do evil?

James says, let no one, that means actually no one,

let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God.

For God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts

no one.

Gee, that almost sounds like James is trying to say the answer to that question is

no, God does not tempt us with evil.

And that's the answer to your blank there.

No, God does not ever tempt with evil.

So, where do the temptations come from?

What is the source?

Well, let us look at 1 John 2.

Now, notice many of these are based out of 1 John.

Why is that, you may ask?

Well, that's a good question.

Let me answer that.

The reason is that what 1 John is dealing with.

1 John is dealing with an issue of basically this

idea that was a Gnostic thinking and the Gnostics were believing that

people could sin in their flesh but not in their spirit and therefore it wasn't a sin.

So, if you went with a prostitute, this was a common example given kind of by those that were

arguing against Gnosticism and use this as the example, the extreme example maybe, but

maybe this was the example that some actually were doing.

We seem to think so, that this was actually an argument they were making was they were going to be with a prostitute and

they were sleeping with a prostitute but saying it wasn't a sin because I only did it in my

flesh and not my spirit.

We see people that argue that today.

Well, it wasn't a willful sin, therefore I didn't really sin.

No, you sinned.

And so, 1 John deals a lot with that and that's why so much of that focuses on this.

So, do not love the world or the things of the world

for if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of

the eyes and the pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world and the world is passing

away along with its desires.

Whoever does the will of the Father, whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Now, let me break this down a little because this is a great passage.

There's a lot here that I'd love to go over, but do you see what he's teaching in there?

What we've been trying to explain to you through this class and the whole idea behind striving for eternity is having

that eternal mindset.

These temptations that we suffer, they come from desires from within, but they are passing

away.

Focus on the eternal.

Don't focus on the temptation.

So, we have three sources that we have given here.

The world is the first one.

The world, the flesh, the devil is how we have it listed in our book here.

The world.

What is impossible to love at the same time that you love God?

According to what we see there, and we also see it in James 4 .4, you adulterous people,

do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself

an enemy of God.

So, it is impossible to love God and the world, and that's your blank there, the world.

You can't love the world system.

You can't love, you can't have a greater desire for the things of the world than you do God.

Now, that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the things that God has provided in this world, but you can't have a

loving desire for those things more than God.

Okay, I remember when here in America there was a guy who had a Ponzi scheme

and I can't remember his name now.

Yeah, okay.

So, basically he defrauded millions of millions of millions of dollars from very wealthy

people.

Remember there was a woman who was worth hundreds of millions of dollars and she

killed herself, because I think she lost like 20 million in this Ponzi scheme, and she

took her life.

She had like another 250 million, I think it was, but she

lost 20 and took her life in despair.

Now, to you and I we'd be like, that is crazy, but she had a love for the things of this

world and losing that money drove her to despair.

She didn't focus on how much she still had.

She focused on that loss so much, which boggles my mind.

But when we look at this, to what, let her be there, to

what do the things of this world appeal?

We saw that in 1 John 2.

We also see that again in 1 John, we saw 1 John 2,

15 specifically.

Let's look at 16, because we looked at this passage.

For the things that is in the world, the desire of the flesh,

that's your first one, the desire of the flesh or the lust of the flesh, depending on your translation, the desire of the flesh or lust of flesh is

number one in your blank there.

The desire of the eyes or the lust of the eyes, whichever one you want, your translation has, the lust or desire of the

eyes, and then the pride of life.

Those are your three blanks there.

The lust of the flesh, the temptation for their thought life,

for the things that appeal to you, the fleshliness

of it, the things that appeal to you, the physical, the lust of the eyes, that's more actually

the thought life, the things you look at and you covet, you have sinful desire for,

or just the pride of life.

You want that position, you want that prestige, you want that respect from people, you want

people to look up to you, those sort of things.

You need to define those for the person you're discipling and take the time, work through those.

You're going to need to identify, and actually you want an example, just ask the person you're discipling if they watch TV

and watch commercials, and you're going to see.

My first pastor used to play a game with his kids when they would watch TV.

He didn't watch much TV, actually the only TV he would watch is sports, and what his wife would do

is during the commercials, because this is before DVRs when you could zip through commercials, but during

commercials his wife would turn off the sound and the kids would play a game and they would

look at the commercial and identify lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride

of life, and they would identify which one they thought the commercial was displaying.

That was doing a great thing.

What this pastor was doing with his kids was showing them that basically all the marketing that we see in

America is one of those three, or more of them, multiple sometimes.

But you'd see, it's like you see a car commercial with some poorly dressed

woman.

What does she have to do with the commercial?

Well, truthfully, nothing.

I mean, what does she have to do with the car, I should say, nothing.

She, having her there doesn't show that the car runs faster, runs better, is better built, none of that.

It's the lust of the eyes.

It's trying to say, hey, if you have this car, you could get this girl.

That's what it's doing.

What was my pastor doing?

He was training his children to identify the way the world tries to tempt us so that they

would be quick to spot it.

And so, that's one of the things he did.

Um, we saw in 1 John 2, 17, the answer to this question, letter C in your book.

Can the things of this world provide eternal life?

No, they can't.

That's the answer, no.

And that's the whole thing.

They're passing away is how John puts it.

Don't put your trust and your faith in something that's passing away.

These desires are going to pass away.

Number two, the flesh.

James 1, 14 and 15 also mentions about the

flesh.

Um, let's just read it.

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by what?

His own desire.

That's, and that's actually, stop right there.

What provides the enticement to sin when you are tempted?

Well, verse 14 says, our own desires.

That's the answer to your blank there, our own desires.

What does sin produce if it's harbored in our hearts?

Well, verse 15, then desire when it's, when it has conceived gives birth to

sin and sin when it's fully grown gives birth to death.

The answer to that blank there is death.

Do you notice how he does that?

James, James does this throughout.

He does these linking phrases.

That's his style.

He talks about sin as if it's a birthing process.

It's born.

And what does it conceive?

It conceives and gives birth to sin.

Sin, when it's fully grown, gives birth to death.

That's the idea there.

In other words, sin is going to kill.

Now it's, for a believer, it is not going to, it may physically kill them.

That's, it could.

It's not always going to bring a physical death.

It's not going to bring a spiritual death.

This is a flaw something is that if they sin, it brings a spiritual death.

No, but it is, as a believer, it's going to bring consequences.

It is going to bring consequences.

And James is arguing that we should not be giving ourselves over to these temptations.

What good do they have?

They, they will, they will bring a, a deadening to our sanctification.

That's different than our regeneration.

If you don't know those terms, then you should partake in our class on systematic theology.

Our, our school of systematic theology, and we have a class on there, several

classes, but it's on the doctrine of salvation, where we'll go over the, those if you don't know those terms.

But I don't think this person you're talking to, that your discipling is really going to bring that up, but they may.

The devil is the third.

The devil is the third means that we have.

And let's look at the devil.

We have in 1 Peter 5, 8, be sober minded, be watchful.

Your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom

he may devour.

So what is Satan continuously doing?

Well, your blank there is he's walking around like a lion seeking to devour.

You could put any phrase like that.

I mean, you're, you may just say he's seeking to devour.

Um, if your student says he's walking around like a lion, that's not really the

emphasis.

That's the illustration.

So you want to challenge him.

What's he, what's, what's it mean to be like a lion?

Why is it like a lion?

Well, you know, he, he's walking around roaring.

And I don't know if you ever heard a lion roar.

Maybe you've gone to a zoo.

And I've been in a, I remember being at a circus and we were, because of friends of

ours, they got right down in the second row of the circus, right.

I mean, really, really close.

And we were right near where they had the lions.

And when there was a lion really close to us and we were kind of looking over at the center ring and all of a sudden this

lion let out a roar.

And I mean, all of us just froze.

I mean, we were, we just stopped dead and we just all and looked at the lion

and it, it just had a stunning, literally a stunning, because we were stunned effect on us.

That's one of the things that some argue with the lion's roar is that the roar is there to stun

and then attack.

And it just had this effect that just froze us and captured the attention.

But that's what he's doing.

He's, he's looking to, to use that roar to stun us and then pounce on us, devour us.

All right.

And James 1 .15 says, it said, what

does, what does sin produce if it's harbored in the heart?

We, sorry, I'm reading the wrong one.

I was in the wrong spot in the book.

So, the second thing is why is it, why is the

Christian struggle with sin so strong?

The answer is in Ephesians 6, that's a spiritual battle.

It's a spiritual battle.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers,

against authorities, and against, this one says cosmic powers.

It's an interesting translation, but over the present darkness,

against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places.

So, the reason we have this struggle is it's a spiritual struggle.

It's the same reason that some people don't believe.

People don't refuse Christ because they, they don't have enough evidence.

It's a spiritual battle.

Just like our temptations is a spiritual battle.

And so, you need to, to help your student, the person you're cycling, understand that

they are in a spiritual battle.

Let us also notice, as we now see the surety of temptations, the source of

temptations, we can also look at the strategy for temptation.

Let's, let, that is an important thing.

We need a strategy against temptations.

So, is there ever a temptation that enters into life that we

cannot conquer?

Well, Corinthians has an answer, 1 Corinthians has an answer for us.

It says there, no temptation has overtaken you.

That is not common to man.

God is faithful.

He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, He will

also provide a way of escape that you may be able to endure it.

All right.

So, the answer to your blank there, is it ever, is, is there ever a

temptation that enters into our life that we cannot conquer?

As Christians, the answer is no.

Why?

Because the Holy Spirit indwells us, and we now have an ability to conquer all temptation.

What does God provide in our life, when, when

temptation enters our life?

Well, the answer to that, in your blank there, is an escape.

He provides an escape.

But let me explain to you what we often do.

I had an escape with the bakery.

I could have kept driving and been to church, well,

early.

I'm usually early, but I got there on time, that time.

Why?

Because I stopped at the bakery.

I could have kept driving.

I did not.

Therefore, I avoided the way of escape.

You know what I could have done when I stopped the car and parked outside just so I could smell it?

I could have started the car back up and kept driving.

I didn't.

Do you know what I could have done as a way of escape?

When I walked in the bakery?

I could have walked out of the bakery.

I did not.

You know what I could have done when I asked to see the baked goods?

I could have said no and walked out.

I did none of those things because, quite frankly, I didn't want to.

Desire had already been conceived in my heart and gave over to sin already.

This is why when people come to me, they're not married, and they're like, how much can we

do without sinning?

I mean, can we touch hands?

Can we kiss?

Can we touch one another?

How close can we come and not sin?

My answer to that, whatever it is, alcohol.

How much can we drink before we're in sin and drunk?

Whatever it is, when you ask that question, my answer usually is, it's too late.

You've already, I mean, in asking the question, you reveal what your heart is.

That's the issue.

This is a heart issue.

And we need to be aware of that.

We need to know what the heart issue is.

So with that, we need to not say, how close can I come to the temptation

without giving into sin?

No, we flee it and we avoid it.

We look for the escape route.

And the reality is, this verse is one that I've memorized because you're going to be asked to memorize it as

part of the class, right?

But I've memorized it.

And yet, you know, this verse comes in my head at times and I'll think about it.

I can walk in the bakery like I did.

And I actually thought of this verse and I actually thought the way of escape.

I knew what the way was and I avoided it.

That's okay because we're going to talk about what we should do when we do give into sin.

God provides a way when we do give in to that temptation, we yield to that temptation.

God has a plan for that as well.

It doesn't surprise Him at all.

Remember, God's omniscient.

He knew you would do it before He saved you, okay?

So, how can we resist Satan?

How can we cause Satan to flee?

Well, James has an answer for us.

James says, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist

the devil and he will flee from you.

So, the answer to your blank there in your book is submit, submit to God and

resist the devil.

Submit to God and resist the devil.

What are the two steps we could take to prepare for temptation?

Well, Mark 14 has the answer to that.

Watch and pray that you do not enter into temptation.

The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak.

So, what are the two things?

Watch and pray.

Watch and pray.

Those are the answers to your blanks there.

Be watchful.

Be mindful.

Don't be surprised.

Don't be caught off guard.

Expect that temptations are going to come.

And I got news for you.

Temptations usually come after a spiritual high.

Peter had that.

Lord asks him this, you know, who do men say that I am?

He has this great thing.

He says, you know, you're God, you know, you got it right.

And then just a little bit later, you know, Jesus is saying to him, to Peter, get behind me, Satan, because

Peter's now sticking his foot in his mouth.

I often find this, that after a spiritual high, I got to keep my guard on.

It's one of the reasons I, as a, and some feel that this is a problem I have.

I'm not good at receiving praise.

When people say, if I get done speaking at a conference or a church and someone, hey, that was really good.

I'm uncomfortable with it.

I don't take compliments well.

I have a dear friend of mine, a sister -in -law who really gets on me for that.

And she means well, and I understand why she does it.

But why do I have such a hard time?

I know myself and I know how pride works.

And I'm on guard because I don't want, I know that kind of spiritual

high can be the temptation for the pride.

And I'm trying to avoid that.

I need to find a way to do it without making people feel that, you know, hey, I appreciate what

you're saying, you know, type of thing.

We need to be mindful.

We need to be on guard and we need to be praying.

You know, most people that come to me with struggling with great temptations in their life, usually the things I'll ask them is how much

do you're studying the Bible and how much are you praying?

And the answer to those are not much.

Those are what we must do.

We need to be watchful.

We need to be in the Bible.

We need to be studying, preparing and praying.

All right.

Those are the things that we should be doing.

Actually, I guess I got jumped ahead.

Psalm 119.

What can we do to prevent yielding to temptation?

How can a young man keep his way pure?

By guarding it according to your word.

That's the answer.

So heed God's word, read God's word, study God's word, meditate on God's word, have God's word

flowing through you at all times.

It's going to help you.

So be in God's word, be praying, be watchful, be mindful.

Those are the things you do.

Now, we're going to sin.

And let the person you're discipling know you're going to fall.

We all do.

What do we do when that happens?

John 1 9.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from

all unrighteousness.

Proverbs 28 also talks about this.

Whoever conceals transgressions will not prosper, but whoever confesses and

forsakes it, to them will obtain mercy.

So the answer to your blanks there is confess and forsake or confess and repent.

We are to confess our sin and turn from it.

That is what we should do.

That is the solution.

So when you struggle with these things,

understand that God's omniscient.

He knew this was going to happen.

Confess the sin to God.

If it is a life dominating sin, in other words, a sin you do very often, what you will find is that people often

do these things and then they feel shame to go to God.

They feel they can't go to God and ask forgiveness because they are too ashamed.

That shame is the very thing that will keep them

from the very thing they need most, God.

That shame is a way that our pride works to keep us from confessing our sin

because we need to confess it and then repent.

And if we don't admit to what we're doing as wrong, we're going to be more likely to repeat it.

This is going to be different depending on who you're discipling.

Earlier believers, you're going to see more outward things.

Foul language, smoking, drinking, sleeping with their girlfriend or boyfriend, things like

that.

Outward things.

They're going to struggle with those more and they're going to maybe struggle with that earlier on, but as they walk with the

Lord more years and maybe they've given up those outward things, you're going to see more that the struggle is in here.

They're going to start talking about their thought life.

They're going to talk about the things they're looking at, the things they're

desiring.

Maybe they're struggling with pornography, even not viewing it, but just pornography that they viewed

years ago.

Or they look at that poorly dressed woman.

There's a reason I didn't go to the beach even though I live by the beach.

I wouldn't go to the beach for years in the summer.

Why?

Because of the way women would dress.

And seeing that would bring back memories of other women that I saw that were not dressed.

And that would be the problem.

So maybe it's coveting.

Maybe you just have this desire to have things and you can't look at a magazine.

Maybe you need to get rid of those catalogs.

Why?

Because they have a bunch of things you go, oh, I really want that.

I really want that.

You'll see people that start struggling in the mind with things like that.

Understand that the person you're discipling is not you.

Their struggle is not going to be your struggle.

And your struggle, you may not struggle with that at all.

And that's why you need to go to someone who does, or if you struggle with something, you go to someone like that,

that doesn't struggle with it at all.

And so that's what you end up doing.

I remember going to the UK with a bunch of brothers and we were evangelizing at the

Olympics.

And I was flipping through TV.

I don't sleep much.

We're in this YMCA and we had this really small room.

There was really nowhere to sit but the bed.

And they didn't have a really comfortable lounge.

And we really didn't have a place for the brothers to kind of fellowship.

So we kind of just all went to our rooms, which after 12 hours of evangelism, we were exhausted by

the time we got done with dinner.

And a lot of us just, I didn't have a computer and I wasn't too wise on

that.

So I didn't have a way to really connect to the internet.

I had my iPad with me, but I couldn't connect to Wi -Fi was the problem.

And so, you know, I just sat and I was flipping through the TV.

Now, UK TV was different than American TV.

And I saw things on the UK TV that I guess are legal that just was like, whoa, whoa, you know, two in the morning.

I'm like, I know, you know, and I didn't want to even have the temptation,

even though most of the time I was watching the news, but during the commercials, I was flipping because I don't want to see the commercials.

Well, I flipped to something I saw worse than the commercial.

And I, at that point, shut it off and did not even want to watch the news.

So what did I do?

Well, these TVs were ones where you only could control with a remote.

So I walked across the hall in the morning and asked a brother of mine who I know doesn't

struggle with that.

And I said, hey, can you, can you hold my remote?

Can you take this?

Because if I don't have the remote, I can't turn the TV on.

And I don't, then it's not an issue because now I'm done with it.

Right?

Because what would I have to do if I am, if I am even a little bit tweaked to give into the yielding of that temptation?

I got to go across the hall, ask for my remote back.

What's my brother going to do?

Why do you need it?

Right?

So I gave the remote to someone I knew was going to be keeping me accountable.

And that's what we need to do.

But we need to understand that if we don't struggle with something, it doesn't mean that the struggle that a person we're discipling isn't real

and serious.

There are things I have no struggle with at all.

I really don't.

It's not a pride issue.

It's, I just, I'm not tempted by it.

I mean, I know others who come up and they're like, man, this is such a great struggle.

It's just not my temptation.

Food would be, but for you, maybe food's not a big deal.

You just eat.

So you have to understand where they're at and you need to

be mindful that their struggle is real.

Okay?

And you need to think about that and know that because you need to,

you're acting in the position of a counselor now.

And when you're discipling them, you need to really take care in how you speak with them and

how you talk with them because you need to be compassionate

with their struggle.

All right?

So I said I'd give you an email where you can get those slides we looked at earlier.

We have another slide that we won't put up that we'll look at next week on a review of this

class because we're out of time.

You can email us at academyatstrivingforattorney .org.

There would be a place you could go to pick that up.

You can also go to our store and you could pick up the book, the Growing in Grace book, and pick up a

copy of that at our store.

That's there for you.

Lastly, as we do, I mentioned a brother who is struggling.

Those who attend this class regularly, we thank you, but we want to always be encouraging you to encourage others.

I am greatly encouraged.

I started a thing on Facebook where I'm starting to name people by name and encourage them and state why.

I'm doing it publicly because I want to encourage them publicly and encourage others to

encourage others.

I am so grateful.

Sisters like Angela Braxton who started doing that and then others were encouraged by her

encouragement and stating that, and others, my brother Ricky Gantz

did it, and others who are starting to encourage others.

We are Christians.

Let's be known by our encouragement.

I got someone I want you to encourage this week.

I'm going to give you a specific way.

I know last week we asked you to encourage Brother Mitch and encourage you to fund the removal of

his tattoo so that he could get rid of that.

We explained that.

I don't ask for money for our ministry as much, but we'd be grateful if you give it.

You can donate and help put this together, put this on, but I got a brother I really,

really, really, really want to encourage you to encourage right now.

That's Brother Joe Conkle.

What you're looking at there is a picture of what is left of his house

when the firefighters were there.

You see the email there that we have?

That is an email where you can send PayPal.

You can send PayPal money directly to him.

If you don't want to send it to him, you can contact us at the email.

After we get done, I'll put the email back up for the academy.

You can email us and someone will give you my PayPal account that we've set up for

anonymous giving to him.

If you don't want to give, if you can't donate PayPal, you can go to our website and just

send a check to Joe's name.

If you want it to be anonymous, make it my name.

I'll cash it and I'm right with check to Joe and mail to Striving for Eternity Care of

Joe Conkle, PO Box 189,

Jackson, New Jersey 08527.

You can use PayPal to Jconkle at nero .rr .com

or you could do it to mine that I set up for this which is rapdrew, R -E -P -P

-D -R -E -W at hotmail .com.

So we set those up so that we'd be able to receive money to go to Joe.

Take a good look at his house.

What you're looking, I actually stayed in that home.

I had the privilege of being able to stay with his family.

You're looking there at the back of his garage and you can see only the frame left.

It burned completely down.

Joe woke up to make breakfast for his family.

The fire started.

They think in his garage and he discovered it and was able to get his

family out of the house in time but got his dog out.

They couldn't find the cat.

We don't know what happened to the cat but you could see the devastation.

I really want to strongly encourage you if you can give anything.

There's nothing too small for this brother right now.

He's lost everything.

There's nothing left of this house.

It burned to the ground.

If you can possibly help him, you can see the car there.

It's his daughter's car.

This is right before Christmas.

They lost all of the presents that they had given for Christmas.

It's going to take a long time for insurance to kick back in.

He can use some encouragement right now.

His wife, Brenda, can use encouragement.

It seems to be harder on women, the shock because of the loss of memories.

That's really what happened.

They've lost all their memories.

Just think about that.

As you look at this picture, as you put yourself in that position, can you go without coffee

for a week and maybe give $5 or $10 to him to help him out?

He's going to need money right now.

Think about it.

He was graciously provided.

One of his neighbors, two doors down, had a death in the family.

They had an empty house they didn't put up for sale yet.

They allowed Joe to move in there with his family, but he had no clothes.

They left in their pajamas.

They watched their house burn down in their pajamas.

This couple went out and got them some clothes.

They got to restock a refrigerator.

They didn't have no food.

They got to get the food back in this neighbor's refrigerator because the neighbor didn't have food in the fridge when the person died.

They cleaned it out.

Think about these basic necessities that he now has to provide for.

Insurance isn't going to come up and give them money right away.

Think about if you could go to PayPal and send it as a gift to

a friend.

That way there's no charges.

If you do it from your bank account, there's no charges there.

Think about that.

It would be a great help to him at this time of need.

Just put yourself in that position.

Think about what would happen with you.

If you need to get more details, you can email us at academyatstrivingforattorney .org.

Be happy to get back to you and explain to you his situation and what's going on.

So we just want to encourage you with that.

It's a sad, it's a tough time.

He's a dear brother, a dear friend.

I love him and his family greatly.

He and his wife are students of the academy.

His daughter is a student of the academy.

I've gotten to know even his grandson who is just great to be around.

I really want to encourage you to encourage him this week.

One way you can greatly encourage him is really with a gift, a financial gift, to help

provide for his needs right now.

Even if you're seeing this weeks after the live show, it could still be an encouragement

to him.

Joe was forced into retirement because of a knee injury.

He was working for the state as a corrections officer and he doesn't have

much of a pension.

He was forced into retirement because of his health and he was struggling beforehand.

So any gift would be greatly appreciated, I'm sure.

It's going to be a long time before he can recoup from this.

If you've ever gone through things like this, insurance never covers everything that was lost.

Just some.

If not, you can always encourage him online.

I want to just thank you for participating in the class.

I understand that when we go through a class on testings, you're going to be more aware of it.

You're going to see them more and it's going to be a greater trials in your life, temptations in your life.

I don't teach this class so that you'd have more of it, but I teach it so that you could, as we're going to learn

next class, be more obedient.

That's going to be next class is on obedience.

Look forward to seeing you then.

And remember to strive to make today an eternal day for his glory.