Week of September 29, 2024
- WEEKLY MEETINGS AND SERVICE
Tuesday 7:30 p.m. Prayer meetings in person and on Zoom by area
Lord’s Day 10:00 a.m. Lord’s table and prophesying meeting
Lord’s Day 12:30 p.m. Hall cleaning by the saints with last names of D – J
- OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS, CONFERENCES, AND TRAININGS
HWMR: Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (1), Week 1, $5.00 each Sep. 30 – Oct. 6
Read Life-Study of Matthew, Messages 13 & 14 Sep. 30 – Oct. 6
Read The Economy of God, Chapter 11, $14.00 each Sep. 30 – Oct. 6
December 2024 Semiannual Training, Anaheim, 12/23-28, $205 each, by Oct. 27
Florida College Conference, Tampa Nov. 8 – 10
Thanksgiving Blending Conference, Atlanta, GA Nov. 28 – Dec. 1
Florida Young People’s Conference Dec. 13 – 15
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“After the heavenly King was anointed and appointed. He was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tested. He did not go to the wilderness on His own; He was led there by the very Holy Spirit who had descended upon Him. The Lord tests us not only in married life, but also in the church life. In God’s economy, after we have been appointed to something, we shall always be tested. After being baptized in water and anointed with the Spirit of God, Jesus, as a man, moved according to the leading of the Spirit. This indicates that His kingly ministry in His humanity was according to the Spirit. First of all, the Spirit led the anointed King to be tempted by the Devil. This temptation was a test to prove that He was qualified to be the King for the kingdom of the heavens. The Greek word translated Devil is diabolos, meaning accuser, slanderer (Rev. 12:9-10). The Devil, who is Satan, accuses us before God and slanders us before man.
The first test was in the matter of human living, in the matter of making a living. Our relatives and in-laws, especially those of the older generation, are always concerned about how we shall make our living. The matter of our living touches us deeply, and even the Lord Jesus was tested regarding it.
After these forty days and forty nights, He was physically hungry, and the tempter came to Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, speak, that these stones may become loaves of bread” (v. 3). To this proposal the Lord replied, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God” Many Christians think that because the Lord was fasting during this time He did not eat anything. However, this word reveals that while the Lord Jesus was fasting, He was eating. Physically He was fasting, but spiritually He was eating. In the Lord’s ministry and economy, if we do not know how to lower our physical demands and take care of the spiritual demand, we are not qualified for His ministry. The first test we must pass is the test regarding our living.
Defeated in this, he turned his second temptation to religion, tempting the new King to demonstrate that He is the Son of God from the wing of the temple. If the Devil does not tempt us in the matter of our living, he will tempt us in the matter of religion. You may desire to be a great one in religion, to be recognized as a powerful person.
The third temptation is a matter of worldly glory, promotion, ambition, position, and a promising future. All this is the glory of the world. In verse 10 the Lord Jesus said, “Go, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. This temptation involves the matter of ambition and promotion.
Nevertheless, if we would defeat the enemy, we must be a nobody. Never do anything to prove that you are somebody or something.” (Life-study of Matthew, Message 11)