Straight A's

Labels

By Dean Fulks, May 22, 2022

The Gospel calls us to a life above labels


Your labels can become your limits


Jesus fights temptation in three areas: appetites, ambition, and approval



Luke 4:4b – “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone’.”

Luke 4:8b – “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve’.”

Luke 4:12b – “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’.”


Good temptation fighters:

1. Be wise to the enemy, but don’t be consumed with the enemy


2. Be wise about your own soul and don’t depend on it


3. The best fight against temptation is a strong, healthy relationship with Jesus



Luke 4:14-15 – And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

Luke 4:16-22a – And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth.



Luke 4:28-29 – When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.



Luke 4:24-27 - And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”


We are hopeless without Christ and unstoppable with Him