Laptop: Hey, good afternoon Waterway. This is Jesse. I'm one of the pastors here at Waterway Church. This is Jevon. He's one of the other pastors here at Waterway Church. That's right. And right now we're recording this on Wednesday, July 15th. You're probably getting this somewhere around July 16th. Right. Here we are. We're in the middle of summer. It's getting hot outside and we are ready to talk about the wilderness. What are we doing talking about wilderness today? Well, first off, speaking of summer, mean, you came fully dressed and ready to hit the summer vibe, didn't you? Yeah, I kind of forgot that we were podcasting today and I hadn't this shirt in a while and threw it on and it's not what I would have chosen if I were it fits it fits it fits and it was clean but it's not what I would have chosen if I remembered that I was gonna be on camera he's gonna talk to me afterwards about bringing that up I think Here we are. There's grace and forgiveness for all. There you go. Or I might just be blowing somebody's mind and this might be the best decision I ever made. Well anyway, wilderness. So thinking about wilderness, this is a theme that I would say probably is repeated in the Bible quite a bit. When you think of wilderness, what comes to your mind? Different instances. I think about Israel wandering in the wilderness after they left Egypt. Jesus was in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry. I always get some of the events of Elijah and Elisha but both of them spent a fair amount of time in the wilderness wandering and so forth. And there's like Haggar too after she because of someone else's sin she's kicked out into the wilderness. Correct. God meets her there. David runs in the wilderness too. yeah. And Paul. Paul actually spends some time, interestingly enough, I don't know how much of a strong connection with everything we're to talk about today there is with Paul, but he goes to the Wanderers of Mount Sinai I bet before he begins his his missionary journeys as we as we know it so yeah anyway I forgot about that yeah, so milk wilderness motif It's something in the Bible that that's common and and I think When we see wilderness in the Bible, we shouldn't just think place there's There's a theological theme, a spiritual theme that can run with wilderness in the Bible. Like a condition. Right. Condition, themes of exile, and we'll dig into it. But before we get to an explicit reference to the wilderness, I think I'd like to start by talking about the beginning. Because what better place to start than the beginning? Start in the beginning. But... Very fine place to start. boy. I don't think singing will go good on our podcast, you and I. That's why I said it. So in Genesis 2, it's interesting to me that we are told, we're introduced to this earth. There's seeds on the ground, but we're told it's kind of, it's barren, there's streams. but nothing's growing yet because no one's been placed to cultivate it. Right, right. And God makes Adam out of this dust. So in a sense, there's this like, there's a kind of barrenness, almost maybe wilderness-ish idea that Adam is being brought up out of and this garden is being cultivated out of. Okay. And then... chapter 3 we get this passage about the fall of Adam and Eve and You know, they're supposed to stay in the garden and listen to the voice of God but then this other evil voice comes in right and tempts them to Really distrust their relationship with God and what God has said and says like hey You could have power on your own if you just if you just took Life on your own terms and not God's terms and that's exactly what humanity does and when they do we're told that they are kicked out of the garden and the land, because of their sin, will produce thorns and thistles and... It'll be kind of wild, right? Right, yeah. Kind of this wilderness experience, again, kicked out of this garden, moved away from this just really real experience of God's presence. And it's not that they're abandoned, but the relationship with God has totally changed from what it was. And so they find themselves almost, in a sense, in this exile from the Garden of Eden. Moving ahead... So now we got Israel right and Moses is a character who kills a man because he's afraid of Pharaoh runs into the wilderness sure and in the wilderness he meets God and What does God do? Calls him out of the wilderness to go bring God's people to the promised land and I've got a mission for you leave the wilderness right leave and bring these people bring these people out of their slavery into a land of promise and a land of hope and and just blessing. And so Moses does, he goes back and we know all this, we've gone over all the stories of the exodus. The Israelites come through and the question that if we look at the map and ask ourselves, why did God not just take the people straight to Israel, to the land? They do this trip. You know, right like if this is like you're not following the blue line on GPS anymore, know Like you're just doing whatever you want, right? So why did God feel like he should take them through the the desert and we're told actually in Deuteronomy chapter 8 We're given some reasons and the reasons are that he he wanted to humble them. Okay, he wanted them to rely on on him he wanted them to He wanted to test them, kind of put them through this field of testing, all with the goal of making their hearts turn towards God, rely on God. And it's also where God establishes his presence and his laws and just defines who they are as a people in that wilderness. It's just such a defining moment for the people of Israel. And now jumping ahead even more. Okay, well, with you, go ahead. Actually, I'm taking you too far backing up one step. All right, go with it. The Israelites, what do we know about the Israelites in how they were obedient to God? Not very. Not very, right? So they're called or at least in fits and starts right? they were exactly sometimes they're yeah We're ready and then other times they just do and often complaining and just not relying on God's and God's provision and They're taking them to the land and they worship other gods and eventually their sin leads them into exile Sure this place of exile again kind of wilderness exile themes going on So Israel is incapable of doing themselves this thing that God is calling them to do. So now we're introduced now Let's get to Jesus We know Jesus was baptized and he was brought into the wilderness to be tempted by the Spirit. The Spirit brought him into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Right. To be clear. Sure. And just as the Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness, Jesus fasted and was in the wilderness for 40 days. 40 days. And then Satan, and we're going to be in Matthew here, chapter four, Satan tries to tempt Jesus into sinning. Right. And each time you will find if you look at if you have a study Bible or even a Bible with notes You will see the responses that Jesus gives are related to scripture and they're all scripture from Deuteronomy often Deuteronomy, which is where hmm the Israelites were in the wilderness I never put that together before so he is being told Or so for instance the first one Jesus quotes man shall not live by brolom, which is from Deuteronomy 8 I think about the Israelites they were given manna And god provided for their needs and what did they do? Complained they didn't trust in god's sustenance. Well here jesus is saying look I it's been commanded in deuteronomy trust in the lord trust in his provision He tells them quotes deuteronomy six by saying do not put the lord your god to the test when satan asks him to jump off and Trust that god will send angels to protect him. Yeah and And actually that word, do not put your Lord your God to the test. If you go back to Deuteronomy six, Deuteronomy six is referencing Exodus where the Israelites were at the rock and they told Moses we're thirsty. They complained. They didn't trust God's provision. Gotcha. And strike the rock. Went to strike the rock and called it Massa, I believe, because that's where they complain. Then Jesus also, after being tempted to control this kingdom that Satan is proposing. He says, tells them away from me, saving for worship the Lord your God and serve him only, which is also in that same Deuteronomy chapter six. So there in Matthew four, as Jesus is in the wilderness, right? Being tested by Satan, all of his responses are going back to Deuteronomy when the Israelites were in the wilderness. So there's a kind of a double wilderness connection right there. Right. And what does Jesus do that Israelites do not do? Well, he He fights that testing and he emerges out of the wilderness victorious. Right. So what Israel could not do to provide victory for themselves in this tempting trying period of the wilderness, Jesus was able to come to be tempted in the same way as we are. And he had victory. And the good news for us is that we in our wilderness, in our temptation and our times of need, we can have victory in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ gives us the hope. to be able to overcome Satan and the evil one. But we need to trust God's provision. We need to that God's presence is with us. We need to worship him and worship him alone and nothing else. And you'll see too, in the beginning of this temptation, the beginning question by Satan is, if you are the son of God, tell these stones to become bread. What is the primary thing that Satan's challenging here for Jesus? What's your identity? What's, right. Who are you really? What do you really? What are you made of and do you feel like Satan does the same thing for us? yeah all the time. Are you really a son of God? Are you really following God? Are you really a Christian? Right. Did you really repent? I mean, there's there's a whole lot of that. Are you really right and we need to remind ourselves of these promises that God makes and that fact that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit that Jesus for those who believe Jesus Christ There's nothing that can separate us from his love. We are children of God He is with us and our identity is in him and not in these other things not in trying to find power on our own like they did in the garden But by trusting in Jesus in God and in Jesus Christ. So while while we may not literally be in the wilderness geographically if we fall for Satan's Temptations to question our identity to question who we are we can find ourselves in kind of a wilderness of the soul, right? Right like sort of separated from the Lord if If we don't really believe that Jesus is our savior, that God is our perfect father, that we are, that we are his children. There's a, there's like an exile, right? But then also additionally, not that God goes anywhere, but we find ourselves in a spot of feeling separated, feeling apart. Okay. And now all that to say though, we live in a time right now where we are still looking for that final return to the new heavenly earth, promised land. So even now as we live we find ourselves in this kind of wilderness experience where we're facing temptation from our flesh from the world around us and Again important to rely on God's provision to rely on his word as Jesus does to rely on his presence to rely on our identity in Christ As we face this world just filled with snares from the evil one so Just think about I want to rest on this kind of wilderness concept as as you and I have experienced life I mean when you're going through a wilderness season in your own life What do you think what is it revealed what do you think those moments revealed to you about your circumstances or about who you are who or what you are trusting or is there anything even just in being in the wilderness being the going through the trials of this world that you can reflect on about how to face it. Yeah. I like what you said earlier about, you know, relying on ourselves. I think one of the temptations when I find myself in these wilderness spots, you know, when you're in a literal wilderness out in the woods, you know, far away from anyone else's help and I don't find myself there very often. That's not, that's not where I live or have my adventure. but But I know a lot of folks and I can be the same way we are. We are proud of our ability to overcome based on my cleverness and my experience. And I know how to deal with this and I know how to I've mastered this, this realm, you know, and I think, in the times when I have felt farther away from God, there's a tendency in me to want to fix it. I can do this. I can get through, can discipline my way through where I can think of my way through. but, but there's There's still that call God says no come to me rely on me. Let me deliver you so I I think there's a great temptation to try to Get through those dry spells on our own strength when I think to like to add to that I think Recognizing that God has a plan. I mean, can you imagine going through a wilderness like that for 40 years and God's like I'm taking to the promised land taking the promised land. Just trust me. Just trust me and I think for for me, it's like I need to be reminded that God has a plan. His plans are good and he's working them out. And even like when he was giving manna to the Israelites in the wilderness too, he gave them what they needed for the day. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and I, I don't want, I often find myself wanting more than that, but all I need is my daily provision and trusting God with that. I think in the wilderness can be so difficult. Well, because the wilderness looks as if there are no guarantees. Right. Right. And I better enjoy this now because it might not be back again tomorrow. But okay. Do we trust God's provision? Right. No matter where we are, no matter what situation we're in, do we really trust that God will, will come through? That's a big question. Yeah. So I want to do something a little bit different than we've done in our podcast just to close us out here. We're going to just be silent for a minute. And I want to invite you to just enter. I guess a space as it were, a head space and just think about what is the wilderness that you find yourself facing in this moment today? What are you feeling? Is it for some of you, is it that you're battling a certain disease or pain or something that won't go? Is it a temptation that you've been struggling with? I invite you to rest on that for a minute, identify what that is and then I'm gonna read a Psalm here and then we'll end with a close with some prayer. Does that sound good? That sounds good. Let's just quiet our minds and think about what is the wilderness that we're going through right going to read from Psalms 23. The Lord is my shepherd. lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever forever let's let's pray mmm dear Heavenly Father thank you that your son came and did what we could not do he overcame sin and death Lord, thank you that through his death and resurrection Lord that now we can have victory over Sin and over these evil forces that are all around us in this world Lord, we're at war. We're in a war and we're in a wilderness And Lord, you have not left us alone. You have given us your spirit. You provide for us. We can trust that your plans are good. Lord, help us. Give us the strength that we need to face this wilderness. Give us the trust that we need, the faith that we need to believe in you and to put our hope in you and to not wander. and go into the complaining like the Israelites did would help us to find the abundance of joy and hope that your provision and your presence brings. Jesus name. Amen. Amen. See you next week. Thank you for guiding us through the study on the wilderness. Yeah. Next time.