TEMPTATION IS PART OF THE FORMULA

It is amazing when you discover that GOD really wants us to prosper and stand out as heads or rather as KINGS in His Kingdom. Truly that is why we declare him KING of KINGS

How then do we become kings?
We become kings when we have a domain. As longs a man/woman has a domain they are crowned kings.

Domain – comes from the word DOMINION: an area of Jurisdiction. Sovereignty.
DOMINATE means to have a commanding influence over something.

Examples:
• Bill Gates is the KING of Microsoft because he DOMINATED it.
• Michael Jordan - Basket ball
• Michael Jackson – King of POP
• Muhammad Ali – Boxing
• Tiger Woods – Golf
• Michael Phelps- Swimming

How do you become a king/ dominate an area/skill… etc?

1. The only way to dominate an area is stop treating failure in this area as a RESULT but as part of the FORMULAR. Bill Gates dropped out of school, M.J was told that he was too weak and too uncoordinated for the sport, MJ had a troubled childhood and continues to have an unstable adult life, Mohammed Ali, had issues with identity, Tiger woods, was too black for the sport of golf, Michael Phelps was un focused and “hard work”

DID THIS STOP THEM? NO!

As believers, when we become numb to trials and temptations knowing that the reward is far greater, we become kings over SIN and hence we are crowned with the crown of LIFE.
Deuronomy: 7: 16-19

16. You shall consume all the peoples who God your God shall deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them: neither shall you serve their gods; for that will be a snare to you.

17.If you shall say in your heart, these nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?

18.you shall not be afraid of them: you shall well remember what God your God did to Pharaoh, and to all Egypt;

19.the great trials which your eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which God your God brought you out: so shall God your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.

MATHEW: 3:16, 17– 4:1
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Matthew 4:1. Then was Jesus led/driven up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. After the Glorification of GOD came the purification by Fire.
Jesus was tested in EVERY way and yet without sin.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn't the Father's, but is the world's. [1 John 2;16]
Lust of the flesh: (Mathew 4:3).

The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." We all get tempted with the last of the flesh, when did you last fast?

In the west the number one killer has become obesity, because people cannot control their appetites. Many Great men have been brought to their knees not by a woman but by lust of the flesh. Eg. Swaggart, Haggrard, Bill Clinton, Spitzer , John Edwards.

Lust of the eyes: (Mathew 4:8-9).
Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory. He said to him, "I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me."

Observation:
The kingdoms of the world that we are often showed by satan, in their glory actually belong to us but the promise is instant gratification.
Our eyes often wonder and we find ourselves “checking stuff out” . That car, that house, that phone, that sister, that brother…etc.
(And then the law of attraction comes into play. We hold mental pictures and start plotting how to have it now!)

Pride of Life: (Mathew 4:5-6).
Then the devil took him into the holy city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, 'He will give his angels charge concerning you.' and, 'On their hands they will bear you up, So that you don't dash your foot against a stone.'
Satan’s suggestion to Jesus was “PUT ON A DISPLAY” such that they may see and marvel!
We are always compelled if not by our desires by our peers to put on a display.

➢ When you feel like showing, hide and when you feel like hiding show.
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one other, that you may not do the things that you desire. Gal:5:17

Mathew 6:13a.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
In the Lords prayer we are asking the lord to deliver us, and not to lead us into temptation. This means that when we temptation comes. God should deliver us and but may it not be his hand orchestrating the trial as was the case for JESUS.

JOB: 1:6-12
In the accusations that the devil brings to God about Job was the issue of purification.

6 Now it happened on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before God, that Satan also came among them.

7 God said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Then Satan answered God, and said, "From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."

8 God said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil."

9 Then Satan answered God, and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing?

10 Haven't you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

11 But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face." In 9-11 of Job, the message is “ Without testing, and scars to show you cannot claim to have a soldier in Job.” What battles has he fought to front him as one to contend with?

12 God said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don't put forth your hand." So Satan went forth from the presence of God.
God knowing the HEART of JOB, doesn’t lead but lets trials come to Job.
But again, Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.

Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.

Don't be deceived, my beloved brothers.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. (James 1:13)

At the end of it Job is blessed 10 fold in places because one of the ingredients of increased blessing had been added to the equation.
What was Job’s “SIN”? (Job 1:1-5)

1. There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil.

2. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.

3. His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she-donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east.

4. His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

5. It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts." Thus did Job continually.

James 1:2-4
2. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations,
3. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4. Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:12
Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.

1 Peter 1:6 - 7
Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in various trials,
that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ