- Hey, this is Pastor John Ryan Cantu from PNEUMA Church in Houston, Texas.

Thank you for listening to the message today.

I hope that it blesses you and all those that you share it with.

God bless you. - Are we ready?

Amen.

For those of you who don't know me, 'cause I do see a lot of faces, my name is Pastor Damaris.

Nice to meet you.

Welcome to PNEUMA.

Let's go ahead and open our Bibles.

Maybe they're looking at it like, wait, doesn't she usually lead worship?

Yes.

Worship is my first love.

But I also love to share the word of God.

We're gonna open the word of God to Luke chapter four.

And we're gonna read from verse one to 13.

Luke chapter four, verse one to 13.

And I will be reading out of the NIV version.

I'm old school, so please tell me amen if you have it. - Amen. - And if I need to wait, tell him give me a minute.

Okay, I heard one, give me a minute.

I'll wait for you.

Luke chapter four, verse one to 13.

And the word of God reads, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil.

He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

The devil said to him, if you are the son of God, tell this stone to become bread.

Jesus answered, it is written.

Everybody say, it is written.

It is written.

Come on.

Man shall not live on bread alone.

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.

And he said to him, I will give you all their authority and splendor.

It has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.

If you worship me, it will all be yours.

Jesus answered, everybody.

It is written.

Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.

The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.

If you are the son of God, he said, throw yourself down from here, for it is written.

He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

Jesus answered, it is said, do not put the Lord your God to the test.

When the devil had finished all his stunting, he left him until an opportune time.

Let's go ahead and pray.

Thank you, Father God, for allowing me to be here this morning.

Thank you for waking us up.

Thank you for allowing us to be here to praise and worship your name together.

Lord, I ask my God that as I deliver the word, that you gave me, Lord, that it'll be you speaking through me, Father, not an ounce of me, Lord, but it'll all be you.

I ask, Father, that you may open our ears and our hearts and our understanding to receive what you have for us this morning.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

You may be seated.

So a couple had decided that they should do something to strengthen their marriage.

They decided to go duck hunting.

So they had seen and heard other people going duck hunting and that they would usually take a hunting dog with them.

So they decided to get a dog.

They went out, they bought a hunting dog, and they got all their equipment and they headed out to do some duck hunting.

They had spent all day duck hunting and they had not gotten not one duck.

So the husband turns around and tells the wife, "Honey, I think we're doing something wrong.

"We've been doing this all day "and we have not gotten one duck."

So the wife said, "You're right.

"So maybe next time when we do it right now, "we'll throw the dog a little higher "so maybe he'll be able to catch a dog this time." - A duck. - A duck.

Isn't that what I said?

We'll throw the dog a little higher so that he can catch a duck this time.

So the moral of this story is that that's a lot of us are doing.

We're trying to get a dog to do what only a gun can do.

We're trying to accomplish things in our lives with tools that don't work or simply they don't make any sense.

A dog is not the right weapon to get ducks.

You need firepower, right?

For those of you who go hunting, you know that you need fire to hunt a duck.

A lot of us have hunting dogs trying to fix our marriages.

We're on the phone with hound dog girlfriends or guy friends and all they're doing is barking us into more of a mess.

We're doing everything but using firepower from heaven.

It is not that we are not trying.

The question is what are we trying?

The word of God, the word of God, must dwell in us richly.

It has to be the basis of all of our decision making.

For some time now, the Lord has been ministering to my life and my heart the importance of knowing our word, not just bringing it on Sundays and Wednesdays and opening your Bible and oh man, that scripture was nice, it was pretty, let me highlight it.

That's good right there.

I'm gonna go ahead and take notes.

And then you put it up and then you don't pick it back up until Wednesday or Sunday when you come.

And God has been to me, preaching to me first that it is important for us to know scripture.

It's not just good enough to read it when we come or to know one or two.

It is important for our everyday battle to know the scripture.

And the scripture that we read, we see that the devil was tempting Jesus and he tempt him three times.

And every single time, how did Jesus respond?

It is written.

And I know that you guys have probably heard messages on this scripture and it mostly can speak about the temptation of Jesus.

But when I was reading this, 'cause I've been reading this scripture for a few weeks now, God was like, no, shift it.

Yes, Jesus was tempted, but how did he defeat him?

With scripture.

It is written.

And so that's what I've entitled my message this morning.

It is written.

Verse one says that Jesus, but the NLT version says, then Jesus.

If you have the NLT, that means that something happened before we came to look for.

'Cause it starts with then Jesus.

What happened before?

If you go before, we always say, go before we preach about scripture.

Go read before and go read after.

So before what had happened, it was that John the Baptist was baptizing people and Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.

And if you read the story, you know that the Holy Spirit descended like a dove and then the heavens opened and there was a voice from heaven that said, this is my son whom I love.

So that was the Trinity all together.

So then that incident happens, then we come to look for, then Jesus.

And if you keep reading, and I'm gonna ask you to keep your Bible open, it says full of the Holy Spirit.

Full of what?

Full of the Holy Spirit.

Left the Jordan and was led by.

So he was full of the Spirit and he was led by the Spirit into what?

The wilderness.

Full of the Spirit, led by the Spirit.

So when I read this, I'm like, that's so interesting that he stepped into Luke 4, full of the Spirit 'cause he had just been baptized, but then the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness.

The Greek word for tempted can also mean tested.

Jesus was being tested before he started his public ministry.

This is before he did anything.

Luke 4 is before he stepped into everything that he did.

He gets baptized, he gets tempted, he starts his public ministry.

If you like to take notes, I want you to take this one.

Not every wilderness is from the devil.

Sometimes God puts us there to test us.

To test us how, you may ask, to see how you're going to respond.

Are you gonna respond full of the Spirit?

'Cause Jesus responded full of the Spirit.

Or are you gonna respond full of yourself and what you think and what your friends said or what you heard, because that's the way they did it.

How are you going to respond when God is the one that puts you in the wilderness to be tested?

Number two, I want you to write this down.

Before you can be used in public, you must be molded in private.

You can wanna be on the platform if you haven't been molded in private.

A few weeks ago, we had the Women's Conference.

If you were here, it was amazing.

And one of the questions that, you guys submitted questions, and one of the questions that was submitted was, how come you guys look like you have it all together?

And we were with Jesus at the table, talk, it was Pastor Melissa, Pastor Maritza, myself and Andrea, and we laughed when we read that question.

Because we're like, oh, they have no idea.

Because we're not.

But you know what you don't see?

You have not seen the private battles.

You have not seen the times we've cried by ourselves.

You have not seen the shaping and the molding that God has done in the private when none of y'all see, when not even our spouses see.

And I know that all of the leaders, if I were to ask you, has God molded you before you got to where you're at today?

They're gonna tell you yes.

Because there's a lot of breaking that has to happen before you go into the public, what you're gonna do in public.

So, we see on verse three that says, and the devil said to him, and this is interesting, if you are the son of God, if you are the son of God.

I read that and I'm like, this fool.

Did the devil not know that Jesus was the son of God?

Of course he did.

But he still had the audacity to ask if you are the son of God.

But isn't that what he does though?

He tries to make us doubt whose we are and who we are when we're facing situations.

By show of hands, how many of you can say that the devil has whispered in your ears at some point, but aren't you a daughter of God?

Aren't you a son of God?

So why is he allowing for you to go through this?

Why are you going through this?

Aren't you like, at Sunday, every Sunday at church, like singing, but he's like, if that's your dad, isn't that what he does?

The devil has been doing this for centuries.

He started back in Genesis.

What did he tell Eve?

This is Genesis three, if you can put it on the screen.

Genesis three, verse one, it says, "The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals "the Lord had made.

"One day he asked a woman, did God really say "you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees "in the garden?

"Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, "the woman replied.

"It's only the fruit from the trees in the middle "of the garden that we are not allowed to eat.

"God said, you must not eat it or even touch it.

"If you do, you will die.

"You won't die, the serpent replied to the woman.

"God knows that your eyes will be open as soon as you eat it "and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.

"Verse six, just at the beginning, "the woman was convinced."

We know what happened after this, right?

Eve eats of the fruit, he convinced her.

You know what, you're right.

Convinced her, ate of the fruit.

Not only did she eat it, but then she went and shared it with her husband, Adam.

And I know that a lot of us, especially the men, like to blame Eve, right, for sin entering the world and saying, you know, she's the one that ate of the fruit.

My question, I have two questions.

One, where was Adam when the serpent was tempting Eve?

See, all the ladies say amen, one.

And two, as a priest of his home, why was he so easily convinced?

Right, why didn't he stand on what God had said and said, no, Eve, that's being loco, that the Lord said no, God said no.

So no, like, I'm not sharing that.

But see, that's a message for another time, okay?

Invite me when you guys want that message, I'm just kidding.

So see, the enemy's tactics have not changed.

He still uses the same tricks.

He sows doubt and then waits to see if it takes.

Jesus had been without food for 40 days.

So what did Satan do?

He magnified his problem, right, which in this case was his lack of food, and he was trying to persuade him to use his power as the son of God to meet that immediate need that he had.

Tell that stone to become bread, right?

And then Jesus responds with, it is written.

So Jesus was quoting a scripture that we find in Deuteronomy 8.3, and he says, man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

He only quoted half of it.

But on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord, where do we find the words that come from God's mouth?

[audience member speaks faintly] In the Bible.

If we are not living, church, in the word of God, then we are going into battle, I'm sorry to tell you, blindfolded.

You're trying to fight the enemy in the battles that he throws your way, blindfolded, because you have no idea that the secret to defeat the enemy, it's all in here.

Jesus did it.

He said, it is written.

It is important for us to know that when the enemy comes to whisper lies, he is fighting from a defeated side.

Understand that.

He's fighting knowing that he will and has already been defeated.

Not only that it's the defeated side, but that his time is running out, 'cause we know that his time is running out.

So why do you think that he wouldn't just try to throw everything to see, let's see what sticks.

Let's see what sticks.

Let's see what sticks.

Let me just throw whatever I have my way.

Now, I don't know if a lot of you guys know this, but my son Brandon, I don't know where he's at, he's into arm wrestling.

He picked it up, I don't even know from where.

But he's into arm wrestling.

If you see him, I don't know where, where's he at?

Ooh, he's gonna be in trouble.

Okay, okay, so he's into arm wrestling.

My son Brandon, it's not tall.

And if you see him, you will think that he could be easily defeated if you arm wrestle him.

And so he has won against like men that you see them and is like, how in the world did Brandon beat you?

Like, how did he do that?

But I'm sure, and it reminded me of this, because I'm saying, man, I'm sure that if some of the men that he's wrestled that are strong, even men that work out and like all that stuff, and he has beat him, I'm sure that if they knew that Brandon was gonna beat him, they will probably be like, okay, let me see him arm wrestle like two, three people before I go.

So that way, like, I know, like, does he do something different?

Does he have a trick?

Does he like, you know, so they will study him before going against him.

That's what the devil does.

He studies us, our every move, because he knows that he's gonna be defeated.

So he pays attention to, let me see what upsets him.

Let me see what gets under his or her skin.

So that when I come against them, they're an easy target because I already studied them.

If you like football, my husband and I love watching a show about the, you know, the microphone.

I don't know what it's called.

They have the microphone so you can hear everything they're saying.

And we see that they study the other team, the moves, what they're gonna do, what plays they're gonna make.

And so that's what the enemy does with you and me every day.

He studies us to defeat us.

Jesus answered, it is written, right, when he took him to the high place and show him an instant all the kingdoms of the world.

And he said to him, I will give you all their authority and splendor, it has been given to me, so then I can give it to you.

And then Jesus answered, it is written.

You guys are gonna dream about it is written.

But then Jesus comes back with it is written, which I absolutely love how Jesus did not entertain his words.

He didn't pay attention to him.

He was like, oh yeah, well tell me more.

He didn't.

He said, it is written, he quoted Deuteronomy 6.13, for the Lord your God, fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.

Satan said, all their authority and splendor has been given to me and I can give it to anyone I want to.

How are the kingdoms his to give, I was wondering.

And then I realized that it's because although this is God's creation, God created everything, the one that has domain over the world is Satan.

So that's why we're in his creation, but Satan is the one who rules over the world, again, for now.

Second Corinthians refers to Satan as the God of this world, Lord G.

Ephesians 2.2, as the commander of the powers in the unseen world.

You might be saying, okay, Pastor D, but that doesn't apply to me because I am not gonna bow down to Satan.

I'm not, there's no way that's gonna happen.

But what has he presented in front of you in life that just looks good and you wanna go after it?

Having the nice house and the nice car and the nice things, it is not a sin, it is not bad to pursue it, but if it's taking God's place, one, if it's taking fellowship with believers, two, then the enemy enticed you with, look, you can have more, and you went after it, and now you see yourself and you're not even close to where you were with God at some point because he enticed you with a little bit and you went after what he presented.

So he presented the kingdoms and you went after, I can get more and I can have more and I can accomplish more.

I heard an analogy about a frog and it says that if you put a frog in boiling water, it's going to jump out immediately.

But if you put it in water first and you gradually bring up the temperature, the frog is gonna die in the water.

So that's exactly what the enemy does to us.

He's not gonna make it obvious to you, like, look, Pastor Heather, use this so you can fall.

No, it's gonna be like, here's a little bit, and then here's a little bit more, and then here's a little bit more until it's too late.

And I love how Pastor Ryan preached about temptation last week, and when I was hearing his preaching, I'm like, man, God, you're wanting to tell your people something because you're talking about temptation and overcoming temptation and how the devil's tempting us, and you're giving me a word of like, okay, let me help you a little bit more.

Here are some tools, but then here's more.

There are more tools that you can use.

Here it is.

The devil, on verse nine, says, "The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand "at the highest point of the temple.

"If you are the son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here."

And then, this is interesting.

Verse 10, the devil says what?

For it is written.

For it is written.

For it is written.

That tells you what?

The enemy also knows the word.

He knows scripture.

So he's like, oh, so you're quoting this one?

Okay, you didn't fall for it.

You quoted this one and you didn't fall for it?

Okay, well, guess what?

The Bible also says that he will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

He was quoting a scripture, a verse from Psalms 91.

Psalms 91 in living.

Church, we cannot expect to defeat the enemy with our words.

You have to be full of the spirit and know your scripture.

Full of the spirit and know your word.

The best way to recognize a lie is to be familiar with the truth.

Why did Jesus not fall for it when the enemy said it is written?

Throw yourself.

He's gonna send his angels because Jesus knew the word of God.

He also knew it.

Although he busted out with it is written, Jesus recognized that it was just a lie.

The best way to recognize a lie is to be familiar with the truth, and Jesus was familiar with the truth.

And then he quoted Deuteronomy 6, 16.

Jesus said, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."

The enemy then left him alone until when?

Until an opportune time.

NLT says he left him alone until the next opportunity came.

The enemy is not gonna leave you alone.

You may have won today's battle.

You might have won yesterday's battle, but he's not gonna leave you alone.

When he sees another opportunity, he's gonna go for it.

And you need to stand in the truth of God and in the knowledge of the word of God if you wanna defeat the lies of the enemy.

In the beginning, I told you that his tactics have not changed.

John 8, 44 describes Satan as the father of lies.

The enemy's not going to stop coming after us.

The word says that he's like a roaring lion, and he's here to what?

To steal, to kill, and to destroy.

So why are we playing with him like we can take him on our own strength?

Know your word.

Learn your word.

Live the word.

Do not entertain conversations with the enemy.

The minute you do it, you're going to regret it, church.

It's like those ladies at the mall.

You're gonna relate.

With the creams.

Let me try this on you.

Look, all the dry skin's gonna be gone.

Look at all the dead skin.

The makeup.

Oh, let me try, let me try this little.

Sit down, sit down.

It's gonna take five minutes.

And an hour later, you spend $250, and you spend all your shopping just in that one entertaining conversation.

All the energy, electric companies that are inside Sam's.

Who do you have?

You guys, bye.

Because if you entertain it, that's it.

You know what I'm talking about, 'cause I know all of you guys have ways.

Oh, let me clean your shoes.

Can I clean your shoes, man?

Man, those are some nice kicks.

Let me clean them for you real quick.

I've heard them all.

And then once you take the time, they got you.

They got you.

And that's the same way the enemy works.

Once we fall for it, not only did we fall, but he turns around and he accuses us.

Revelation 12, 10 says that he is accusing us day and night.

Not just for a little bit.

He's accusing us day and night.

And you may be asking yourself, how do I identify his tactics?

I'm gonna ask the worship team to come up.

How do I identify that the enemy's trying to get to me?

You already know your weakness, first of all.

Don't put yourself in a situation where you're just gonna make it easy for him.

If you already know that you get hangry and your husband's messing with you and you're really hungry, don't entertain that conversation when your husband is gonna mess up your whole Sunday.

I'm not saying that's nothing personal.

I'm just saying some of us get hangry.

So if you already know that that's gonna steal your blessing from Sunday, then just tell your husband, I love you so much, babe, but can I just, can we just get a cookie and then we'll, I promise we're gonna talk about this.

If you already know that's your weakness, then don't entertain.

If you know that your weakness is staying on your cell phone too late at night, then put your cell phone up late at night.

Don't put yourself in situations where you just make it easy and all he has to do is like, bam, done, you fail.

Don't put yourself in those situations.

You know your weaknesses.

Get you an accountability partner that is gonna help you.

You know what, I'm struggling with this.

I'm dealing with this, can you help me pray?

Do you love doing something?

Do whatever it is that you absolutely love that is gonna keep you from falling and doing what the enemy wants you to do?

Let me tell you that if you find yourself dwelling more in the past than in the present and the future that you have in God, the devil is trying to distract you.

If you're constantly thinking about your shortcomings and how you're never gonna be good enough and how you're never gonna be like so and so and how you're never gonna reach this or that, the devil is trying to distract you. (gentle music) Speak Romans 8, one over you.

So there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus and make it personal.

So that now there is no condemnation for me because I belong to Christ Jesus.

Put it in sticky notes all over the place if you need to.

If you're constantly worried about provision, then speak Matthew 6, 26.

Look at the birds of the air.

They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not much more valuable than they?

Am I not much more valuable than they?

Purr it personal.

If you are going through a hard time, speak Jesus over it and hold on to the promise that we find in Proverbs 18, 10.

The name of the Lord is a fortified tower.

The righteous run to it and are saved.

I will run to it and I will be saved.

Are you struggling with anxiety?

Speak Philippians 4, 6, 7.

I will not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, I will present my request to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard my heart and my mind in Jesus Christ.

Do you feel under attack?

Speak Isaiah 54, 17.

No weapon fought against me will prevail.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and I am a servant of the Lord.

Do you need more?

'Cause there's plenty.

I promise you, there's plenty.

For every situation that you may be facing, he left us some encouragement in John 16, 33, and he said, "I have told you these things "so that in me you may have peace."

Listen, in this world, you will have trouble.

He didn't say you weren't gonna have any, but then he backs it up with, "But take heart, "because I have overcome the world."

He came to live in this world to show us that it is possible, we can do it.

But it is time, church, for us to use the greatest weapon that he left for us and we will ever need.

Hebrews 4, 12 says, "For the word of God "is alive and active, is sharper than any double-edged sword.

"It penetrates even the dividing soul and spirit, "joins and marrow, it judges the thoughts "and attitudes of the heart."

It even helps us check our hearts.

Is what I'm thinking aligning with the word of God?

Is what I'm feeling aligning with the word of God?

And I can tell you, I'm gonna ask you to stand.

I had the hardest time getting this word, because the Lord ministered to me first.

But I'm gonna tell you why I had the hardest time.

And I tried to get away from it and try to look for something else, and I prayed, and I said, "God, give me something else.

"God, give me something else."

And he wouldn't.

He said, "No, that's it, Damaris."

It's because when we know that in the word of God, we find the answers, that it's in the word of God that we can find encouragement, and we can find peace, and we can find joy, then it's like you took the mask off the enemy and you exposed him.

And I told God, "I'm exposing him, Lord.

"With this word, I'm giving the church the weapon.

"I'm exposing him, Lord, how Jesus defeated him.

"That's what I'm doing."

And the Lord said, "So be it, Damaris."

And Pastor Danny was preaching in Spanish, and he was saying that sometimes we hand over territory to the enemy because we're scared of facing the giant, because we're scared of what's gonna come from it if we come against that.

And that spoke to me, 'cause I said, "Man, I was so scared to prepare this word, "because I knew what I was coming against.

"But I know that I can open this word, "and God's gonna give me the next word "that is gonna get me through the next battle, "and the next battle, and the next battle.

"Because in him, where are more than conquerors?

"It's right here.

"It's right here."

Go home, study the word of God, fall in love with the word of God.

This is the manual, this is the guide, so stop trying to struggle like this.

Stop trying to fight with your eyes closed.

When the Lord is telling you, "I left you the manual," pick it up, pick it up.

Fight the right way.

Stop trying to fight on your own.

Stop trying to fight on your own, the Lord says.

Stop trying to defeat it on your own, the Lord says.

I have given you the manual, pick it up.

I have given you the manual, pick it up, says the Lord.

So worship team ministers, I'm gonna ask you to come to the front.

Because I've been a Christian for a very long time, and I've been a leader for a very long time, and it's not until recently that I began to really soak up the word and learn the word and look up for a verse that was gonna help me.

So I know that we're all guilty, or sometimes fight it on our own.

So I'm gonna ask you to come to the altar, and I'm gonna ask the prayer team to come.

If you need a specific prayer, they're here to pray for you.

But I want us to come to the altar and just tell God, "I'm sorry, God, because perhaps I have not been using the greatest weapon that you left for me to use, because perhaps I've been fighting on my own.

I know more.

I will pick up my weapon, and I will fight the battles that ride away from this day forward."

Come on, church. - Thanks for listening.

If you'd like some more information on PNEUMA Church, visit us on our website at mypneumachurch.org.

If you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe or share it with your friends on social media and tag us @mypneumachurch.

Thanks again, and God bless. (gentle music)