Welcome to Sunday Fuel! This series of questions is designed to assist your personal reflection and fellowship with others about the sermon from this past Sunday.

Go to This Sunday’s Sermon (start at 20:50)

Bringing Your Temptation to God

• What are you in need of today: hope for the fight against sin or hope for your failures? 
• What sin are you struggling against: something you do that you hate, an area of discontentment that takes your eyes off Him, a good longing that you struggle to entrust to God, a command from God that you struggle to obey? What temptation do you keep failing to resist? 

Will you humbly and honestly confess your need for help to the Lord? Entrust yourself to Him who gives us hope both in our fight and in our failures.

Understanding Your Temptation

Pastor Kim points out that all temptation is rooted in the pursuit of our own happiness outside of God’s good design. Every other competitor or kingdom other than Christ is a form of idolatry, even if you may not bow down before it. 

• What prospect of happiness does this other king promise? Honestly evaluate: when you give in to these temptations, what pleasure does it give you? How long does it last?
• How is your sin, by commission or omission, your way of attaining happiness through your own means? What cross are you trying to avoid in your pursuit of happiness? How are you taking the worship Christ alone deserves and giving it to another?
• Count the cost of living for Christ: What will it cost you to worship Christ instead of bowing to Satan in your moment of temptation?

Look to Our Savior in Temptation

Satan’s intention was to tempt Jesus to worship him, that he might be disqualified from becoming our substitute. God’s intention was to test Jesus, that he might be proven to serve as the only worthy substitute for sin. Jesus’ victory in the wilderness prepared Him to face the greater challenges of the cross. All this He did for us, that we might experience forgiveness for our sins, receive power to fight sin, and rest in hope that one day, we will ultimately be victorious over sin, as He was. 

• How might Christ’s victory over Satan’s temptations give you hope today when you are being tempted? Or when you fail to resist and succumb to sin? 
• As you anticipate moments of temptation, what might you do to turn your eyes away from temptation or remove them from your path? How might you look to Christ instead through His Word?