Do We Believe God Leads Us into Temptation?

Greetings in the Name of our Lord,

Every day someone stops me to talk about the Lord’s Prayer. It is exciting to see our congregation digging deep into the scriptures to understand one of the most important passages from Jesus’ ministry – the Lord’s Prayer. Each Sunday, I have been preaching on the petitions from the Lord’s Prayer. Each week we have several groups studying Adam Hamilton’s book, The Lord’s Prayer: The Meaning and Power of the Prayer Jesus Taught. 

This Sunday we deal with the petition, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” The sermon is about avoiding the problem of temptation and evil. In the Lord's Prayer, when we pray: "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," we are praying for a way out of life’s deepest problems and asking God for deliverance.

One of the great debates of the Christian faith is that to ask God to not lead us into temptation reads like it is God’s nature to lead us into temptation. Is this right? It seems to fly in the face of what we believe about God – that God is good. If God is good, then God should not be tempting us. Surely there is something wrong with the wording of this phrase. Is there?

Do we believe God leads us into temptation? Do we really believe that God intentionally puts temptations in front of us, to entice us to do wrong? The answer is no. God does not tempt us as some kind of cosmic test. 

Further, when we pray, “deliver us from evil” we are asking for God to stand between us and the forces of evil. When we pray, “deliver us from evil”, we are praying that God will take us into God’s arms for protection and victory over the forces of evil. When Jesus gave his life on the cross of Calvary, he was literally putting himself in the way of evil, taking the full force of evil and defeating it once and for all for us.

In closing, I want to share two items. First, August and September were very slow months for our offerings. I would like for you to consider “Bringing a Tithe Offering” (10% of our income) on at least one Sunday in October. Through the first six months of 2024, our finances were great. Let’s keep up the great work and continue to pray, “Lord, what do you want to do through me?”

Second, we have almost completed the first two challenges in Making Stonebridge UNSTOPPABLE. The landscaping is finished. It is beautiful! Thank you. The improvements to the children’s area are done. The youth area is almost done, and we have raised the funds to double our youth pastor’s hours. Finally, we have increased our participation in adult studies to over 125. Next week, I’ll be addressing our next challenge for Making Stonebridge UNSTOPPABLE… we are challenging everyone to find a place to serve at Stonebridge UMC. We are calling it… Unstoppable – I’m ALL IN!

Sunday is going to be GREAT! Invite someone to worship. I look forward to seeing you. 

Pastor John Allen