Live Free with Josh Howerton - How Temptation Can Strengthen Your Faith • Pastor Steve Stroope | Ep. 132 | Tuesday, August 8, 2023

Episode Date: August 8, 2023

In today’s episode, Pastor Steve Stroope discusses the concept of temptation and why we should find joy in it. He explains that temptation is an opportunity for growth and strengthening our faith. The story of Paul and Silas in Philippi, who trusted God and sang praises despite being imprisoned, emphasizes that enduring temptation makes us spiritually stronger. Their faith, like our own, grows stronger with each trial faced. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.combe. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hello, my name is Steve Strupe, and I want to welcome you to Daily Drive. You know, there's a very interesting scripture in James 1, 2, through 4. It says there, consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various temptations,

knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result that you might be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Now, here's a good definition of temptation. Temptation is when we are being enticed to step outside of God's will. This is interesting. Why should I count it joy when I'm being enticed to step outside of God's will? You would think that would be a negative thing. Yet the scripture says that we can count it joy when that trial or that temptation comes our way.

And I think there's several reasons that are obvious and are explained in the Bible. First of all, that when we are tested, it produces a product endurance that makes a product, endurance, that makes us stronger. If you never lifted anything, what would happen to your muscles? Well, your legs or your arms or whatever muscle that you weren't using, it would atrophy. In other words, it wouldn't strengthen. By the same measure, if you exercise, your muscles become stronger. When I was in high school, my older brother is about a year and a half older than I am.

Used to go out in the garage, and he would lift weights all the time. And I noticed a phenomenon. Girls were being attracted to him. And so I thought, well, this, this is. This is a pretty good idea. I think I'll do some of that myself. And so I remember I went outside and I took some weights off from what he had been lifting. And I lifted the weights over my head twice.

I ran around the house once and I got to beat a sweat right here on my brow. And I had a regular though regimen of working out. I would do that complete workout about once every month. Now, what would happen is because my brother was doing it six days a week. I noticed something. He was adding weights to his lift. Sometimes I was taking weights off. from my last lift from a month ago.

We know that in the physical realm, that when we exercise our muscles, they get stronger. But it's also true in the spiritual realm. Every time you look at Satan and you say, no, God loves me, God created me, Jesus died for me. I'm not going to step outside of God's will. God knows what's best for me.

There's a strength that comes, and as a result, you become stronger. The Bible tells us that Paul and Silas were pre-year. They were doing exactly what God had called them to do in Philippi. And as a result, they were thrown into a prison. In fact, they were thrown into the inner dungeon. And they didn't know whether they were going to live or die, but they trusted God. The Bible tells us that they were singing praises to God,

and they were praying to him in the middle of the night. And in the middle of that night, God took his mighty hand, and he put it on that jail, and he shook it, and every single door opened up. And Paul and Silas could have walked outside of that prison. Now here's a question I have for you. The next time that Paul and Silas had to trust God, they were going through a trial, which, by the way, is a form of temptation.

And the next time that they were in jail, do you think they were as worried as that first time when they were in that jail and God, in the nick of time, came through? Of course not. Why? Because their faith was stronger. And you may be going through something today that seems just overwhelming. And yet God says that he will not. suffer that you be tempted above that which you were able, but with the temptation, provide a way

of escape that you might be able to bear it. And if you bear it, if you bear up underneath it, what will happen is you will become stronger and you will be able to take on greater challenges in this lifetime. So we're to count it joy when we're tempted because it strengthens our faith. But the second reason is it gives us an opportunity to witness. And that same encounter at Philippi, what happened was the jail doors flew. open and the jailer thought he was going to have to sacrifice his life because of the prisoners escaping and paul cried out and he said do yourself no harm for we're all here and he came in that jailer did and he said tell me how i can be saved well he wasn't talking about theological salvation

he was talking about saving his life but you know isn't it interesting that when paul and silas stood out among the other prisoners he didn't go to the robbers he didn't go to the murderers to say what can i do to save myself. He went to those two crazy guys singing their version of amazing grace in the dungeon, and they said, he said, you've got something that I need, you've got an answer that I don't know about. And when you and I are tempted, when we go through trials or any other kind of temptation, and we resist, we are a light shining in a dark world. And people will move toward that light when they need help. They'll move toward that light when they're lost themselves. So it gives us a chance to grow it gives us a chance to witness but perhaps the greatest privilege when we resist temptation

as it gives us a chance to tell our God how much we love him you know the bible tells us in revelation that we're going to receive rewards we don't we don't get to heaven by reward we get to heaven because of the death the barrel and resurrection of jesus christ that's a gift but the bible says that the life that we live from the moment we're saved to the moment we stand before the lord again is a gift back to the Lord. And it will come in the form of a crown. I don't know if that's a literal crown or if that's just a symbolic metaphor there.

But the Bible says that some of our crowns will be gold and it will be diamonds and there will be precious stones. Others of us will have not so impressive of crowns. What will we do with those crowns? Will we put those crowns on our heads and walk around until we find somebody who has a smaller crown or less a laxia?

vibrant crown that us and say well mrs brown what happened to your crown no the bible says that those crowns will never touch our heads the bible says that we'll take those crowns and we will lay those crowns at the feet the nail-scarred feet of jesus christ because it is because of his death and his life in us that allows us to say no to satan and yes to god and the life you're living today and the temptations that you're resisting today is a love gift back to the one who made it all possible. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you,

would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.combe.com.