Sermon Recap: Luke 3

What do you need?

Sunday's service was full of promise and we sure hope you felt it. Whether you were able to join us in person for the 8:45 or 10:30 service, or joined live on YouTube, the whoops and hollers of joy were numerous and there were so many reasons for celebration. After months and months of discerning prayer over who God would provide for the Kids Ministry Director position, we were so thrilled to announce that Mrs. Rachel Tidwell has joyfully accepted this position! Together with her family, the staff and Elders, Rachel was introduced and prayed over as she begins again in ministry. You'll hear more of her heart on the blog this week as she'll share the loop that God has brought her through with Sierra Bible Church, beginning in childhood and continuing now as a mom. Be sure to check that out when it goes live!

Pastor Bryan and his team led us in worship, including the songs House of the Lord and Gratitude, with lyrics singing:

I've nothing left fit for a King, 
except with a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah ...
Come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me. 
Lift up your song, 'cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs. 
Get up and praise the Lord!

With Rachel being announced as the new Kids Ministry Director, there were a few young families with their children present and their sweet, little voices sang louder than many of the adults. It was magical. At one point I had to just listen and then began praying that these children would always know that, indeed, there is a lion inside of their lungs that gives them confidence in preaching His name forever. If only I could have that childlike confidence!

We then jumped right into Luke 3 where we see the baptism of Jesus and then His genealogy is played out all the way back to Adam. Pastor Steve commented that from the beginning, there has been a wrongness in our world. With the baptism of Jesus and the ministry He begins, we are graciously entered into the Savior-ship, if you will, that makes everything right.

The beginning thirteen verses of Luke 4 show us three ways the Devil attempted to tempt Jesus to turn away from God the Father. Here, Jesus is in the wilderness, fasting for forty days. Prior to this, the Devil knew and had seen the fullness of the glory of God, which we see in Job 1 when the sons of God presented themselves to Him, and along with them was Satan who claimed to be roaming the earth. Doesn't that just give you the creeps to think of Satan roaming the earth? Ugh.

As Satan was tempting Jesus, he recited Scripture. Even he knew the truth of the power of God and that Jesus was indeed the Son of God. Satan isn't tempting Jesus as though he doesn't know. Pastor Steve made a reference to the Greek word for is meaning for and indeed. Satan wasn't doubting Jesus. He was simply wondering why now. Why now was Jesus alone, starving himself? What could this possibly mean?

What Satan saw as humiliation in Jesus being alone and hungry in the wilderness, we know better as intimacy. Can you think of a time when you were in such desperation, that the nearness of God was incredibly present? As though you couldn't breathe without acknowledging His mercy in your lungs? You felt the closeness as life itself. In the ways that Adam couldn't, Pastor Steve reminds us that here in Luke, Jesus walks humbly and perfectly with the Father. Having withstood the temptations of the Devil, Jesus can empathize with us in whatever we're going through, advancing our intimacy with Him. So what do you need? 

This question has been rolling around in my brain like a bowling ball for the last twenty-four hours. What do I need? What do I really need from Jesus and the hope of intimacy He brings? For a moment I considered how grumpy I can be over the most ridiculous situations, and for that, I need a perspective of joy and gratitude. Other times I need to be reminded of how loved I am when I'm feeling insecure. More and more, as I considered what I need, I realized how selfish I am to the core. I am sinful. I need a Savior. The ultimate atonement for what is wrong in me will never be made right by my own doing, living with confident and joyful mantras. Everything will only be made right by the blood of Jesus. That's what we've needed all along. Of course Satan would try his best to tempt Jesus into walking away from that. How fearful Satan must have been to know what was coming. To know his fate. To know how much harder he was going to have to work to tempt the rest of us to walk away from what we know we need.

Church, my prayers are with us all this week as we root ourselves deep in the need of Savior-ship. May you walk in the hope He brings, the life He's restoring and the promise of His blood. Amen.

If you would like to speak to a pastor, please do not hesitate to reach out. You can call the church office at 209-532-1381 or email, info@sierrabible.com.