Key Point: It’s often in those times where we learn about dependence on God and where our relationship with God is forged in new ways.

Luke 4
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’

Key Point: When the Holy Spirit leads you into the wilderness or to fast, then it’s the Holy Spirit that needs to lead you out of it.

What was Jesus quoting?

Deuteronomy 8- talking about the 40 years of God’s people wondering in the wilderness.

2 Remember every road that God led you on for those forty years in the wilderness, pushing you to your limits,

testing you so that he would know what you were made of,

whether you would keep his commandments or not.

He put you through hard times. He made you go hungry. Then he fed you with manna, something neither you nor your parents knew anything about, so you would learn that men and women don’t live by bread only;

we live by every word that comes from God’s mouth. MSG

Jesus 40 days in the wilderness was a personal journey that reflected Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness.

Key Point: God led Isreal in the wilderness for 40 years to form in them  a deep trust In God that would mark a whole generation’s relationship with the God that would provide for them in dark wilderness times.

Key Point:  it’s what we do in the wilderness that determines what we carry out of the wilderness

Jesus didn’t merely survive the wilderness experience, but actually emerged from the wilderness walking in greater intimacy with God and greater power.

How?

Jesus was sustained by God as he fed on God’s Word’s.
Jesus learned how to draw life from God’s words to him in the same way we feed off of food, Like bread.
Jesus is our model for life.
Jesus demonstrates what’s available for mankind living in right relationship with God.

What’s the point?

** quarantine-Latin=40 days. In the Bible 40 days/years- is always about a “reset” or establishing a new way of living.

I believe that we are all experiencing a wilderness experience.

Not just one person, or even one nation, but the whole globe.

I am NOT saying that God made the COVID-19 virus or agrees with everything people have decided in handling this situation
However, I believe that we, as God’s people, can learn a new way of encountering God and a new way of living in this wilderness experience, just like Israel and just like Jesus did.

This starts with feeding on God’s Word.

Kerrie:

1. Take a heart posture of knowing more of God and being known by God, not just knowing more about the Bible.

A wilderness is a place where all previous coping mechanisms and life skills won’t work so you can learn a whole other way to live.
A place where you come to the end of yourself to find out who your really are in Dependance in God.

3 questions to ask to encounter God in His Word.

1. God, what does this passage say about who you are?

2. God what do you want me to know about who I am?

3. How do you want me to respond in obedience?

Hints:

Be yourself

Be real

Go at your own pace. Don’t rush.

You can read the same passage everyday for a week.
Key Point: It’s often in those times where we learn about dependence on God and where our relationship with God is forged in new ways. Luke 4 1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days,…