You're listening to Mountain View Church Audio, Christ-centered teaching from the Wilderness City Whitehorse UConn. Here's this week's message. Temptation is an everyday part of the human existence. Although the object of our temptation changes from person to person, everyone is tempted by something that deep down, if they're honest, they don't really want. Temptation can be a battle that wages inside of us. Every temptation is a battle. And every battle ends in one of two ways, victory or defeat.
To achieve victory in any battle, there's a process that begins long before the battle takes place. There's a strategic plan that's developed and maybe memorized before it's ever implemented. There are also backup plans established in case unforeseen challenges are faced during the battle, right in the middle of it. In many ways, victory in the battle is achieved before the battle ever begins. Did you catch that? The battle that wages inside of us against temptation isn't any different.
Welcome to Mountain View Church. My name is Jeremy. Over the next six weeks, we're going to explore the battle of temptation. We're going to unpack six strategies based on scriptural principles to help us master temptation. These six strategies will follow an acrostic, M-A-S-T-E-R, to help us remember them, to help you remember them. Before we jump into today's content, I'd like to invite you to connect with us by clicking the connect tab at mountainview.church.
or by texting Connect to the number on the screen. For those listening on the radio or on our podcast, that number is 867-322-8001. If you're watching in-house, you can find a Connect card under the seat in front of you. Once you complete that, hand it into the welcome desk. If you have children, we offer a kids program called Base Camp every Sunday morning, either in-house or online. Visit mountainview.church slash children or text children to the number on the screen to access all this week's lesson and activities. For the students out there, we offer a youth program every Sunday evening, starting up again after a break during August in September.
We're also looking for a couple of ministry leaders, one for junior youth and one for senior youth. Visit mountainview.church slash youth or text youth to that same number, 867-322-8001. Now let's jump back into our content and continue learning about the battle of temptation. Now I want you to remember this. Temptation is not a sin. You can be tempted, but that's not a sin. Satan does the tempting. God never tempts anybody. All of us are tempted. The Bible says that Jesus was tempted in every point. You say, do you think that Jesus was tempted along this line?
The Bible says he was tempted in every point, like as we are, yet without sin. He showed us how it's possible to resist these temptations. Now, when temptation comes, don't get discouraged and say, well, I've already failed. No, you haven't. The temptation itself is not the sin. The thing that is the sin is when you yield to the temptation.
My name is Rachel, and today we are reading from James chapter 1, verses 12 to 18. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 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. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. James tells us that each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire, or her own desire. Then desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.
Temptation always starts with desires, or you could call them cravings, that every human being has. You have them, I have them. They're different from person to person, but we've all felt that moment where we're being lured in, where we're being enticed by something. It's that moment of desire and enticement that we haven't yet indulged in a sinful behavior. As James puts it, sin has not yet been conceived, but that's the moment when the battle in our mind has begun. To win the battle and master temptation, the best strategy starts before the moment of desire and enticement begins, before we're ever lured in.
We all know, or should know, that desire pulls us in. And we should be able to anticipate when and where it's going to show up, or the temptations are going to show up. We should know that. This concept is rooted in our first strategy, represented by the letter M of master for monitoring the nouns. We want to monitor the nouns that drag us down. Monitor the nouns that drag you down. You heard that right. I said monitoring the nouns. This is a throwback to grade school. Those grade school nouns used to identify people, places, or things, according to the Oxford Dictionary.
The first strategy in the battle against temptation is to monitor the people, the places, and the things in your life, because nine times out of ten, it will be a person, place, or thing that initiates that desire and enticement that James wrote about. But what about the concept of monitoring? What does it look like to monitor people, places, and things? What does it monitor these things that drag us down into temptation? Let's do a bit more defining. To monitor is to observe and check the progress or quality of something or somewhere or someone over a period of time to keep under systematic review and maintain regular surveillance over. Again, according to the Oxford Dictionary. Related to temptation, as we journey through life, it is wise to observe, to review, to assess the people, places, and things that we come across. And we need to determine in advance.
Will this noun drag me down a road of temptation? Will I be enticed towards sin by this person, this place, or this thing? The obvious next question is, what if it's a noun that's going to drag me out? What do I do? If you identify or if I identify a person, place, or thing that would consistently lead us down the road of temptation, well, this is where we need to move from James to the Apostle Paul's letter in Corinthians. He gives us some insight. In 1 Corinthians 10, 13, Paul writes, No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man or women. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.
But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. There are a few really great reminders there. First, you're not the first human being to be tempted by that noun, person, place, or thing. It is common for all people to be enticed and lured in. Second, God is faithful, and his faithfulness will be evident in your monitoring of that desire. And third, he has provided a way of escape if you're willing to look for it, or it might just be really obvious.
You just need to be humble and submissive enough to embrace that way of escape that he's provided. Embrace that escape route. It takes humility and submission, I understand, but that's the road out of the temptation that he's provided. Now, truth be told, sometimes these moments of desire and enticement are complicated, and a better word would be convoluted. I would call them situational temptations because they come up when you're with a certain person or because you've gone to a particular place or because you're using or you're in the presence of a specific thing. They kind of come up out of nowhere. In your monitoring of the nouns, you should prayerfully make some decisions on whether or not you're able to enter into those situational temptations. It's a sad reality, but you may have to remove certain people, places, and things from your life.
To give a bit more context, I'm going to unpack three situational temptations and then how to identify the hinge point of temptation. Then I'll break it down into manageable steps along with the alternative decisions or choices. All right, let's begin. First, monitoring the nouns of people. Ask yourself, is there a certain person in my life who drags me down toward temptation consistently? Are you able to identify individuals that lead you into temptation? These could be colleagues, friends, or even family members who knowingly or unknowingly influence you toward sinful behavior. Let's use an example of a friend who drinks heavily, and you tend to push your limits on alcohol consumption when you're with that friend. The next day, you have shame and remorse as you assess the physical, the financial, and the spiritual cost of your decisions the night before. You might assume that the noun of temptation is a thing. It's the alcohol, right?
and not the person, your friend. On some level, yeah, that might be true, but the evidence suggests that it's your friend that's actually the hinge point for your temptation. Because with your other friends and colleagues, you might have a drink with a meal or even a non-alcoholic beverage, but when you're with those people, you consistently just drink normally. You never overindulge when you're with them, just that other friend. So, in your monitoring, as you consider the warning in James' letter, you only are tempted, lured, and enticed by the desire for alcohol when you're with that friend.
It's a harsh reality, but that's the deal. You only fall into sinful and self-destructive behavior when you're with that friend. He or she is the noun that brings you down. Now, I am not saying that you automatically have to cut them out of your life. That's not what I'm saying. We're still called to show the love of Jesus, but we're also called to lead a life for Jesus, apart from sin.
It's a hard balance. So depending on your friend's receptivity, you could suggest an alternate activity that doesn't involve consuming alcohol. Maybe there's a hobby or recreational activity that you both enjoy. Do that instead. That being said, if your friend isn't open to an alternative hangout, you might be faced with a difficult choice. You really might have to draw a line. And you might have to limit your time with that friend or purposefully choose settings where alcohol consumption isn't permitted. And you'll only meet them at those places. And if all that doesn't work out, you might have to seek an alternative friendship with someone who supports your commitment to avoid alcohol.
All right, let's move on to our second scenario, monitoring the nouns of places. Is there a certain place in your life that drags you down toward temptation? Consider the locations that trigger your temptation. These could be specific environments like stores, restaurants, certain neighborhoods, or even a certain home. It might even be a specific time of day when the temptation is stronger in that place. This one hits close to home for me, so I'll use my struggle to explain this one.
I find that eating out at certain restaurants during certain times of the day leads me down a road toward gluttony. And I feel shameful about it. As an example, we have a certain pizza place in Whitehorse. At lunchtime, nine times out of ten, I choose the, quote, chicken pecan salad with oil and vinegar dressing. And I enjoy it. I'm happy with my choice. However, this same place at dinnertime is a totally different story. It's a nightmare for me. I am a sucker for the, quote, classic nachos. Which is designated as an appetizer, by the way, and probably supposed to be shared with someone else. But I order it as a meal. I say to myself, I'll just eat half and I'll bring the rest home.
But then, seemingly out of nowhere, the plate only has a few nachos left on it. Later that evening, and especially the next morning, I feel physically unwell. I feel spiritually ashamed that I was a glutton. I overindulged, and I'm not happy with myself. I'm not happy with my decisions. Remember in our first situation, the friend was the hinge point for the alcohol consumption.
You might automatically assume that the temptation is the nachos or food in general, which in part it is. It's a struggle for me. But in my monitoring, I have realized that the place, a restaurant, and specifically the times between 5 and 7 p.m. is the hinge point for my temptation. For me, dinner time at a restaurant is a place that will drag me down the road to glutton because I'm hungry. But more importantly, I'm typically run down from the day and my willpower is shot. If I come back to Paul's exhortation for the Corinthian church, I'm reminded that no temptation has overtaken me. That is not common to other people.
I know God is faithful in not letting me be tempted beyond my ability. He will provide the way of escape so that I'll be able to endure it. Maybe my situation hits close to home for you. And home is the key word, isn't it? Planning and preparing meals at home is always, always the healthier option. And quite often, it's the less gluttonous option. We all know that. Maybe not all the time, but most of the time. I don't know about you, but I eat way less when meals are prepared at home.
A strategy for special occasions is to invite friends over for dinner instead of going out to a restaurant. If you do go out for dinner, bring someone who knows your struggle. For me, when Nicole's with me, her presence can help me stay mindful of my struggle, helping me stop eating before I've crossed that line of glutton, when I've just had enough. I've enjoyed it, but I've had enough, and I don't push it. Let's move on to our third scenario, monitoring the noun of things. Is there a certain object in your life that drags you down toward temptation?
access and recognize the things or maybe activities related to certain things that lure you into temptation. These could be related to substances like food we've discussed already and maybe alcohol, I don't know. But it can also be technology. It can be usage of other things, tools, devices, gaming, gambling, shopping, social media, entertainment. It can even be things like your trade or your work. It can be fitness and working out and a wide variety of other vices that center around the use or consumption of a thing. And we can be addicted to it.
And it can lead us into temptation and sinful behavior. So here we go. As a common example that impacts almost every age demographic, let's talk about our cell phones. That's right, our cell phones. Specifically, I want to talk about using our phones late at night.
in bed. This activity is extremely tempting, but it can cause us a lot of damage. It starts with texting a friend, one last conversation before the night's over, and then you start down a road that can easily become excessive online shopping, excessive streaming, social media binging, late night gaming, maybe gambling online, or perhaps pornography, or even a digital sexual activity with someone. Remember, our previous two examples, where in our observation and assessment of the situations, there's always a hinge point of the temptation related to our sinful decisions and behavior. The automatic assumption is that the phone and its apps are the problematic thing.
Which holds some truth. Your phone is designed to be addictive. And there's lots of research on the destructive social, mental, and spiritual outcomes of excessive phone usage. Let's get that out of the way. That is true. However, the phone and the apps can also be helpful, depending on the circumstances surrounding its usage. During the day, you might find that your phone is a great tool for productivity and connectivity. But at night, your phone might consistently become a gateway to temptation. So in your monitoring, the evidence reveals that the thing, your phone, when connected to your bed, in your bedroom,
it becomes a massive hinge point for all sorts of regretful decisions leading to shameful behaviors. In Matthew's gospel, he recorded Jesus' teaching to, quote, watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. I get it. You might bring your phone to bed and your spirit is set on doing the right thing. You might even tell yourself, I'm going to put it on airplane mode before it gets too late so I won't get too tempted. It'll be fine. But every hour that ticks by, your flesh gets weaker and weaker and weaker. The later it gets, the weaker you get. Then before you know it, you've been dragged down the road again.
Those who know me know I'm an avid user and promoter of technology. That's who I am. I love tech. And I have witnessed a lot of good come from digital devices in my personal and my past oral life. And yet, I am also very aware that in certain circumstances, the risks are greater than the rewards. The risk of cell phones in bed is greater than any reward you might get. Now, for teenagers and young adults, your brain is still in the development phase. I'm not picking on you. I'm just talking about the science of how your brain is developed. And just hear me out. This is important. If you can't go to bed without your cell phone,
And if you can't not touch it for eight hours while you're in your bedroom and you're sleeping, hopefully you're getting eight hours of sleep, I'm telling you, you've already developed a cell phone addiction and you are damaging your cognitive abilities. In a key time of your life where you're developing, your brain is growing and you need all that for the rest of your life and that cell phone is damaging it, especially those late night windows. You have got to give your brain a break. Statistics show that teenagers aged 13 to 18 have the highest rate of smartphone addiction, with 50% of them feeling that they are addicted to their phones. Adding to that, young adults aged 18 to 24 also have a high rate of smartphone addiction, with approximately 36% of them reporting symptoms of addiction. If you fit into these statistics, perhaps it's time to try a different strategy. Why not leave your phone on a charger in the kitchen and replace late-night scrolling with a physical book or Bible, journaling, drawing, maybe a physical notepad and a pen to make some plans or do a to-do list for the following day. Perhaps spend some time in prayer and reflection, whatever you need to do. And for older adults who can't go without your cell phones,
you're also likely addicted. It's not just 18 to 25 year olds. Let's be real. You will be having negative cognitive effects as well. And your relationships are likely suffering in the same ways. We've been talking details for a while now, okay? We need to kind of bring this message to a conclusion. And to do that, we're going to take a 30,000 foot spiritual perspective. We're going to pan right out, okay? For those of us who profess to be Christians, this strategy of monitoring the nouns that we've been talking about is incredibly helpful for our mind and body, but it's also good for our souls. It can help us lead a life that honors Jesus and is more aligned with being one of his followers. For those of us who profess to be Christians, monitoring the nouns is just a good thing for us.
If we come back to Jesus' teaching in Matthew 16, the concept of watching and praying to avoid temptation is a form of spiritual monitoring. In our watching, in our praying, we choose a humble, submissive position under Jesus' authority. We put him first as our king. We acknowledge and accept that our flesh is weak, like he said. That we, in our human bodily form, we're weak. Even though our spirit wants to make the right choices and wants to do the right thing, we're weak. True, lasting spiritual strength is only available through God's Holy Spirit, which is only received through faith in Jesus. That being said, perhaps you're new to Christianity and you're just exploring the concept of faith in Jesus. That's amazing. If you're doing that, thank you for watching and listening and trying to figure all this out. Allow me to fill in a few more key details.
If you remember from the beginning of this message, that first passage written by Jesus' younger brother, James, we talked about how desire leads to sin. When sin is fully grown, James says it brings forth death. You're likely wondering, what's that all about? Well, under a holy, righteous God, the penalty for our sin is death, specifically eternal death and separation from God. It's hard, I know, but this is truth. Thankfully, God loved you and me so much that he made a way for us to be freed from sin's death penalty.
As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman Church, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. You see, 2,000 years ago, God's Son, Jesus Christ, became the perfect sacrifice, taking the punishment for your sin and my sin. He was both fully human and fully God, the only person to never sin. He was perfect. Though he was perfect, he was sentenced to death on a cross, then buried. But his death was only for a moment.
Three days later, God raised Jesus from the dead, overcoming the spiritual power of sin and death. In Christ's death and resurrection, God made a way for all who would believe in him to be forgiven of their sins and receive eternal life. Every human being will face a physical death, but those who have chosen to follow Jesus will receive a spiritual eternity with them in heaven. In this life, we will continue to be tempted. And truth be told, we're going to fall into temptation. And that temptation will continue to lead to earthly consequences when we choose sin. But our faith in Jesus becomes a guiding light.
More importantly, our faith in Jesus protects us from the eternal punishment that we would otherwise face in the next life. Whether this is your first time hearing this and exploring Christianity, or you've been a follower of Christ for many years, let's take a moment and ask God to reveal himself to us. Let's ask God to help us in our battle against temptation. So whether you're watching or you're listening, I'd encourage you to close your eyes, bow your heads, or read along on the screen, but let's say this prayer together. Dear God, you know the areas of sin and struggle that I battle with.
You know the temptations that entice me and drag me down. I believe that you sent Jesus to pay for my sin on the cross, that he was buried, and that you raised him from the dead. Please forgive me and send your Holy Spirit into my life. Reveal to me the people, places, and things that lead me toward temptation. Thank you for loving me and rescuing me from sin's penalty. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
If you prayed that, please reach out to us, send us a DM, an email, connect with us, please. And please come back next week as we move on to the next strategy in the battle against temptation and sin. Represented by the A in master, we're going to focus on accounting for our struggles. You'll learn how to account for your struggles with a mature believer. This will include how to develop an accountability or mentoring relationship with a trusted brother or sister in Christ. Please come back next week for this second strategy. But before you go, we have a couple of important updates. Then we'll be back with our closing discussion and prayer focus.
Hi, I'm here with an update on Mountain View's next monthly Young Adults event. So the next Young Adults event is going to be a park day right across the street at Rotary Park. We're going to have some lawn games. We're going to have a water balloon toss competition, which I'm super excited for. And there'll be prizes for the winners, so you better be there. And yeah, we'll bring some cold drinks like pop and soda water. And otherwise, this is a great opportunity to meet some new people. So it's open to anyone, even if you're brand new to church. We'd love to see you there.
The details are that it will be next Sunday, August 11th at 1230 p.m. So right after the second service. And that's it. We hope to see you there. Last but not least, let's move into our discussion and prayer focus to help you get a bit more out of this message content. We don't just want to listen to stuff. We want to talk about it. So ask the person beside you or drop a comment in the stream below. What are the nouns in your life that have become hinge points for temptation?
What are the nouns in your life that have become hinge points for temptation? After you've discussed that and maybe got honest with each other, had some vulnerability, but good vulnerability, pray with that person. Pray for God's wisdom to identify and monitor the people, places, and things that lead you to temptation. Pray for wisdom to identify and monitor the people, places, and things that lead you to temptation. Thank you so much for being a part of Mountain View Church today. Please connect with us or leave us a prayer request at mountainview.church.com. Again, you can always connect with the number on the screen or fill out that Connect card if you're in-house, and we'll see you next week for accounting for our struggles.
If you prayed to receive Jesus today or would like to connect with our church community, visit mountainview.church and click the connect link. If this podcast and radio ministry has been a blessing to you, please consider partnering with us or making a tax-deductible donation at mountainview.church. Thanks for listening to Mountain View Church Audio. Join us next week for more Christ-centric teaching from the wilderness city of Whitehorse UConn.