406: Isaiah Small – Exhortation: Keep Ya Hands Up

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Welcome to good Christophian
talks.

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Thank you for joining us this
week.

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On this podcast, we select one
talk a week to help us get the

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Bible in our Daily News feed.
Each week we post a talk that we

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previewed from suggestions sent
in by listeners from around the

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world.
Then we record a short intro

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beforehand as a personalized
recommendation to you on why we

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are sharing the talk.
And now let’s talk more about

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this week’s talk.
Welcome to the good Chris

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Adelphian Talks podcast.
This is brother Brian.

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This week’s talk is a recent
exhortation titled Keep Your

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Hands Up, given at the Marlton
Ecclesia in New Jersey by very

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good friend of mine, brother
Isaiah Small.

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I’m sure that you’re just like
me and that when you think about

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the temptation of Christ and His
test of will in the wilderness

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that you immediately are
reminded of boxing, right?

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Or vice versa.
That 12 rounds of ducking,

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dodging, bobbing and weaving
surely gets you amazed about the

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grace of our God and the
dedication of His Son.

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And if you’re not seeing that
connection yet, then hopefully

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you will appreciate it after
this talk.

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It was one of the funnest talks
I’ve ever heard live in that it

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really took something so out of
left field, which was brother

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Isaiah’s hobby of boxing
training.

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And he placed it so perfectly as
a metaphor for how the Lord

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Jesus overcame his temptations
in the wilderness after 40 days

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of starvation and isolation,
running on fumes in every way,

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and still he didn’t let his
guard down for a second.

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What a model for us, and what a
humbling reminder that we need

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to brace ourselves for the
danger of sin.

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And giving into temptation is
not a haymaker that we see

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coming from a mile away.
It’s a subtle love tap in the

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12th round that can drop us to
our knees.

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And not because we aren’t trying
to resist, as Brother Isaiah

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says, it’s not for a lack of
character.

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We don’t fall because we aren’t
convicted enough.

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We give in when we already are
exhausted, when our buckets are

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empty, but thanks be to God that
we are not meant to rely purely

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on our own limitations.
The grace and the power of the

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peace and security that God
provides us is more than enough

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to wipe the slate clean round
after round.

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Christ already has the victory.
Your job?

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Well, you know the title by now.
As always, we hope this

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strengthens your faith and
brightens your day.

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Brother Isaiah Small, keep your
hands up.

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So I titled this excitation Keep
your hands Up and after I tell

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this story y’all will eventually
come to see why.

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So a couple of weeks ago my
brother Ishmael gave an amazing

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excitation and he talked about
picking up an old hobby again

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and the lessons he learned from
paying what he calls wood tax at

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the roller skating rink.
So after I heard his excitation,

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it actually inspired me to
reflect on a hobby that I picked

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up and the spiritual lessons
that I learned from that as

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well.
So unlike my brother, I am not a

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roller skater.
I don’t like it.

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But my hobby came a little bit
later in life.

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So after high school, after I
had stopped doing a lot of

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sports, I decided that I wanted
to try boxing.

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My grandfather used to coach it.
He used to talk about it all the

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time and it interests me.
So I was extremely excited to

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start.
So, you know, it was always nice

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seeing the boxers on television
and it inspired me to get in the

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gym and get started.
But the one thing that I was

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looking forward to the most when
it came to boxing, it was the

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pad work.
And that’s what you see when all

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the boxes look their best.
It’s when they stand across from

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their trainer and the trainer
holds the pads up and they call

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out the combos and the boxer
hits the pads and it looks nice.

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It looks fast, it looks
effortless.

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So I started in early 2020 at a
local gym and by the summertime

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I had gotten cool with a
professional coach and the

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coach’s name was Mr. Abdul.
So in a beginner gym, usually

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the pad work comes at the
beginning.

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So when you first walk into the
gym, you stretch, you get your

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sip of water, and then they line
everybody up and everybody does

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their own individual pad work
with each of the individual

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coaches.
So Mr. Abdul, because he was a

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professional coach, did things
differently.

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The pad work always came at the
end of the workout.

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So I would go in, it’d be 20
minutes of jumping rope, 6

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rounds of shadow boxing, heavy
back for 45 minutes, speed back

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for 15 minutes, and then he
lines you up to do the pad work.

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So the reason for that is that
the most important part of pad

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work isn’t, you know, looking
nice or how hard you can hit or

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how accurate you are.
It’s about keeping your hands

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up.
So in my case, it was towards

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the very end of my first workout
and I was, it was a hot gym.

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I’m drenched in sweat, like I’m
I’m breathing heavy, I’m

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heaving.
And he calls me up for the pad

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work and I’m standing from the
side of the ring, my knees

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buckling, my shoulders burning,
and he’s calling out the combos

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and I’m throwing the shots that
I’m doing pretty good, at least

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I think so.
And then he keeps constantly

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telling me he’s like, keep your
hands up, stop dropping your

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hands, keep your hands up, stop
dropping your hands.

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But because it was the end of
the workout, I was really just

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trying to get through it all.
Like I was, it was the last of

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it.
I was ready to go home.

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So I was just kind of going
through the motions somewhere in

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the middle of those combinations
for like, I blinked a little too

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slow.
I felt the side of the pad

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smacked me in my face and I was
tired.

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I was so tired.
My knees like buckled and I fell

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to the ground a little bit.
And I stood there for a little

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bit and I looked up and my
coach, he was like, I told you

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to keep your hands up.
So the most interesting about

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that, you know, my first
workout, let me say Abdul, was

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that I didn’t really fall
because he hit me hard enough to

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be knocked out.
But it’s that my body was so

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tired that this little love tap
from a cushion pad was enough to

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bring me to my knees.
I feels like when you’re working

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for that long, you almost feel
like now, but after a while, it

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feels like weights are tied to
your elbows and keeping your

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hands up becomes the hardest
thing in the world.

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So that’s what I want to talk
about today because the world

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and its way of thinking and its
influence, it doesn’t wait for

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us to be energized and
spiritually charged to come at

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us and influence us.
It waits for when we’re tired.

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It waits for things like when
the bills are piling up and you

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don’t have enough money to cover
them all, or a waste.

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For if you’re going through a
rough passion, your relationship

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and walking away feels like the
easiest thing to do in that

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moment when you’ve taken loss
after loss and that breakthrough

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that you’ve just been waiting
on, it just, it seems like it’s

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not coming fast enough and you
start to get frustrated or

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stressed out with the process.
The world waits for you to drop

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your hands.
So the real question is, how can

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we keep our hands up?
How can we stay spiritually

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sharp in a world that looks for
the perfect moment of spiritual

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weakness and exhaustion to
attack our character?

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So I found the answer in Matthew
chapter 4 in Jesus Christ.

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So 1 chapter before in Matthew
chapter 3 we read about Christ

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being baptized by John the
Baptist.

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And at the end of the chapter in
the last two verses, verses 16

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and 17, this is what it says.
It says when he was baptized

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Jesus, he went up straight away
out of the water and lo, the

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heavens were opened up to him
and he saw the Spirit of God

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descending like a dove and
lighting upon him.

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And lo, a voice from heaven
saying, this is my beloved Son

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in whom I am well pleased.
So Christ was coming off of 1 of

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the highest spiritual moments in
his life.

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But in the next chapter, in
chapter 4, he wasn’t LED into

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comfort.
He was led into the wilderness

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and a place of isolation, a
place of hunger, a place of

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testing, and a place that
exhausted him in every single

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aspect of life.
And it was there when he was at

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his weakest that the temptation
came.

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And verse 4, it says then was
Jesus LED up of the Spirit into

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the wilderness to be tempted.
And when he had fasted 40 days

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and 40 nights, he was afterward
in 100.

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And when the tempter came to
him, he said, If thou be the Son

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of God, command that these
stones be made bred.

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So when that temptation came to
Christ, they didn’t come to him

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on day one.
They didn’t come to him on day

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three or day 5 or not even week
one.

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They didn’t come to him when
everything was clear and when

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his mind was sharp and when his
body still had.

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The strength came later, and
came after the time had passed,

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after the days had turned into
weeks and his body had been worn

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down little by little, day by
day, and that strength was being

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chipped away, not all at once,
not in one dramatic moment, but

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just quietly, Gradually.
He was getting more and more

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hungry, at first, almost
unnoticeably, but with each

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passing day, he’s getting more
hungry.

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He’s getting more drained, more
exhausted and worn down from the

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fast.
And by that time that the

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temptation came to him, he
wasn’t at his peak anymore.

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He wasn’t operating at full
strength.

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He was tired, his body was weak,
his mind was under strain.

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After 40 days with no food,
nothing to sustain his body, no

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strength left to rely on, he was
running on empty.

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Every part of him was worn down
and his thoughts were under

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pressure.
And something as simple as a

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pile of rocks draws his
attention.

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Not because the stones had any
value, but because in that

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moment, he knew that he had the
means to end his hunger.

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And in that moment, looking from
the outside in, turning those

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stones into bread probably
didn’t seem like a big deal.

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He was hungry.
He had every reason to eat.

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And it would have been the most
natural thing in the world.

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Would have been quick, would
have been easy, would have

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satisfied exactly what his body
was craving in that very moment.

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But spiritually, that would have
been the moment that he let his

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guard down.
That would have been the moment

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that he stepped outside of
discipline and the moment that

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he chose relief over obedience,
not because he lacked character,

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but because he was worn down.
And that’s what it means to drop

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your hands.
It’s not some big obvious

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decision where you can clearly
see that danger.

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It’s always subtle.
It’s something small and

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sometimes it even feels
justified, something that seems

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reasonable in the moment.
You always try to reason with

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yourself, but without realizing
it, it creates an opening and it

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leaves you exposed to be hit.
But listen to how Christ

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responds to his own thoughts.
But he answered and said this is

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in verse 4.
In Matthew 4 He answered and

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said, it is written, man shall
not live by bread alone, but by

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every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God.

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So even in that moment when he
was hungry, when he was craving

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that relief, he chose not to
give in.

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He chose not to allow his
circumstances to control his

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response.
He didn’t let his physical

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condition dictate his decisions.
And instead, he actually leaned

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into his faith even more.
And instead of trying to fight

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that battle on his own, he
allowed his relationship with

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his father to alleviate the
battle that was going on within

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his heart and in his head.
So if we keep reading in

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Matthew, he gets tested again
and he finds himself in

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Jerusalem, standing on the
highest point of the temple.

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And another thought comes into
his mind.

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If you’re the Son of God, throw
yourself down.

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Jump.
And even Scripture is brought

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into this line of thinking
because it says that angels will

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catch him and keep him from
harm.

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And this is where the temptation
becomes subtle, because it’s not

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about the physical need, it’s
about reasoning.

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00:15:07,200 –> 00:15:12,440
It’s about a way of thinking
that begins to justify itself, a

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thought that sounds right on the
surface.

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It uses Scripture, but it
ultimately leads in the wrong

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00:15:18,080 –> 00:15:22,560
direction because at its core,
it’s about testing God.

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It’s about acting on impulse,
putting himself in a situation

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and expecting God to respond.
And when you’re tired, those

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00:15:32,240 –> 00:15:35,120
intrusive thoughts feel
convincing and it can feel

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00:15:35,120 –> 00:15:41,080
reasonable in that moment.
But once again, he doesn’t

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00:15:41,080 –> 00:15:45,480
accept that line of reasoning.
He doesn’t act on impulse.

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He doesn’t try to prove
anything.

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00:15:48,920 –> 00:15:51,640
Instead he responds with
clarity.

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00:15:51,960 –> 00:15:55,000
Once again he grounds himself in
the word.

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It is written again, Thou shalt
not tempt the Lord thy God.

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And in that moment he keeps his
thinking a line.

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00:16:04,000 –> 00:16:07,240
He leans on the word again to
maintain his focus.

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And he refused to let the
pressure of that moment dictate

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what he did yet again.
And we come to the final example

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later on in the chapter and
verses 8 to 10.

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Christ goes high up on the
mountain top and he sees all the

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kingdoms of the world and their
glory.

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And the final thought is
presented to him.

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All of this can be yours.
You can have this if you bow

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down.
And this temptation wasn’t about

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00:16:40,160 –> 00:16:42,480
any type of physical hunger like
the first.

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00:16:42,480 –> 00:16:46,360
It wasn’t about any type of
mental intrusive thoughts like

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00:16:46,360 –> 00:16:51,200
the second This temptation
attacks him on a spiritual level

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00:16:52,040 –> 00:16:54,600
because everything that was
being offered to him in that

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00:16:54,600 –> 00:16:58,800
moment on top of that mountain,
it was already in God’s plan for

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00:16:58,800 –> 00:17:04,119
him to have it.
But here he’s provided with a

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00:17:04,119 –> 00:17:11,920
shortcut, an elevator to
success, a way to achieve

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00:17:11,920 –> 00:17:15,040
everything that he already knows
will be his.

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00:17:16,599 –> 00:17:21,400
But not like this, not without
obedience, not without going

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00:17:21,400 –> 00:17:24,240
through the process that God set
before him.

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00:17:28,800 –> 00:17:33,520
And in a situation like this,
it’s where the reasoning becomes

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00:17:33,520 –> 00:17:38,320
dangerous.
It’s where that thought can

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00:17:38,320 –> 00:17:43,080
sound justified because anybody
could say, well, why go through

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00:17:43,080 –> 00:17:45,840
all of this when there’s an
easier way?

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00:17:46,520 –> 00:17:48,480
It’s in the palm of my hand
right here.

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00:17:49,880 –> 00:17:53,600
Why endure when the outcome is
already guaranteed?

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00:17:54,920 –> 00:17:58,000
When you’re tired, that thinking
sounds like fact.

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00:18:00,200 –> 00:18:06,520
The long road feels heavier, the
hard path, the stairway to

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00:18:06,520 –> 00:18:11,520
success feels unnecessary, and
the shortcuts feel reasonable.

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00:18:12,920 –> 00:18:15,720
But once again, Christ keeps his
hands up.

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00:18:17,000 –> 00:18:21,120
He doesn’t allow that thinking
to take root in his mind.

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00:18:22,440 –> 00:18:27,200
It’s written, thou shalt worship
the Lord thy God, and him only

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00:18:27,720 –> 00:18:31,080
shalt thou serve.
He stays grounded.

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00:18:31,760 –> 00:18:35,800
He stays disciplined.
He chooses obedience over

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00:18:35,800 –> 00:18:40,240
convenience, even when the
easier option is sitting right

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00:18:40,240 –> 00:18:45,400
there in front of him.
So when we bring this chapter

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00:18:45,400 –> 00:18:49,240
together, this story together,
this lesson becomes real for us.

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00:18:50,400 –> 00:18:53,400
Because just like Christ was
tested physically, mentally, and

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00:18:53,400 –> 00:18:58,640
spiritually, we’re going to be
tested the same way in our daily

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00:18:58,640 –> 00:19:02,160
lives.
We get physically tired from

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00:19:02,160 –> 00:19:06,400
work clocking in, going in every
day, and lack of rest.

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00:19:07,240 –> 00:19:11,480
We can get mentally worn down
when our thinking becomes more

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00:19:11,480 –> 00:19:15,520
reactive instead of more
reflective, and we face those

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00:19:15,520 –> 00:19:19,920
moments where sometimes
shortcuts and the easier options

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00:19:19,920 –> 00:19:24,320
just seem like they’re the right
path to go on.

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00:19:27,720 –> 00:19:34,440
And the truth is that most of
the time, we don’t fall when

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00:19:34,440 –> 00:19:40,040
we’re at our strongest.
We slip when we’re tired, when

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00:19:40,040 –> 00:19:44,520
our guard is already low, and
when we don’t even realize how

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00:19:44,520 –> 00:19:49,160
close we are to compromise.
But what’s important to

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00:19:49,160 –> 00:19:53,520
understand is that Christ didn’t
just rely on his own strength to

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00:19:53,520 –> 00:19:57,880
keep himself steady.
He didn’t simply just try harder

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00:19:57,960 –> 00:20:01,160
to keep his hands up and those
moments of pressure.

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00:20:02,320 –> 00:20:04,040
Instead, he leaned on his
father.

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00:20:04,880 –> 00:20:07,680
He grounded himself in his
Father’s word.

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00:20:08,880 –> 00:20:11,560
When he was physically drained,
mentally strained, and

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00:20:11,560 –> 00:20:14,720
emotionally under pressure, he
didn’t depend on his own

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00:20:14,920 –> 00:20:18,840
exhausted strength.
He depended on God to sustain

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00:20:18,840 –> 00:20:22,120
him.
And it was God’s word that held

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00:20:22,120 –> 00:20:25,800
him steady when his human
strength would have failed him,

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00:20:25,800 –> 00:20:30,680
and in the moments when dropping
his guard would have been the

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00:20:30,680 –> 00:20:34,200
easiest, chose to lean on his
father instead of relying on

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00:20:34,200 –> 00:20:39,280
himself.
When we take all of this and

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00:20:39,280 –> 00:20:42,560
bringing it to our own lives
brings us right to the table of

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00:20:42,560 –> 00:20:45,040
the Lord.
Because at the end of the day,

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00:20:45,200 –> 00:20:48,720
it’s not just about boxing and
it isn’t just about discipline,

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00:20:49,680 –> 00:20:53,400
It’s about dependence.
Just like Christ didn’t rely on

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00:20:53,400 –> 00:20:56,240
his own strength in the
wilderness, we are not meant to

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00:20:56,240 –> 00:21:02,320
rely on our own strength either.
He leaned on his Father, and

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00:21:02,320 –> 00:21:05,880
that’s what carried him through
when he would have failed.

299
00:21:07,080 –> 00:21:10,840
And in the same way, when we
come to this table, we’re

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00:21:10,840 –> 00:21:14,520
reminded that we are not strong
enough on our own.

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00:21:15,800 –> 00:21:19,040
We are not meant to keep our
hands up by ourselves.

302
00:21:19,480 –> 00:21:25,040
We are meant to be sustained by
our God, by His Word and the

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00:21:25,040 –> 00:21:32,720
sacrifice that was made for us.
So we take this bread and this

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00:21:32,720 –> 00:21:36,760
cup.
Let’s be reminded of the One who

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00:21:36,760 –> 00:21:41,240
never dropped his guard, even
when he was tired, when he was

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00:21:41,240 –> 00:21:44,160
tested, and even when he was
under pressure.

307
00:21:46,080 –> 00:21:49,840
Let’s be reminded that our
strength doesn’t only come from

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00:21:49,840 –> 00:21:55,040
within ourselves, but from what
God has already provided for us

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00:21:55,920 –> 00:22:11,760
through His Son.
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00:22:11,760 –> 00:22:13,360
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00:22:14,160 –> 00:22:16,600
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