Nasah (Hebrew) & Peirazo (Greek). Both words carry a wide range of meaning that can be translated as either “temptation” or “testing.” In temptation, the word points to an enticement to do evil, or also serves both as a kind of test of the depth and strength of our faith, and as an opportunity to hone our skills and deepen and purify our FAITH by God’s grace. But in testing the connotation is of something that proves our character and shows the depth or integrity of our commitment to God.
 

TEMPTATION comes from the LURE of our own evil desires. These evil desires lead to evil actions, and evil actions lead to death. James 1:14,15.

SONG: churchie shark -doo doo doo doo doo doo
: heathen shark - doo doo doo doo doo doo
: fence-setter shark - doo doo doo doo doo doo
: pastor shark - doo doo doo doo doo doo
: intercessor shark - doo doo doo doo doo doo
: elder shark - doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
: bible teacher shark - doo doo doo doo doo doo
: worshiper shark - doo doo doo doo doo doo
: hypocrite shark - doo doo doo doo doo doo

Pretend you’re a lean, mean, fighting, eating, shark machine. Being gigantic, you go wherever you want and eat whatever you can gather into your wide jaws. Gliding fearlessly through the deep, you spot a delicious morsel just ahead and above. So, you grab it in one big swallow. Then wham! You feel the hook. TEMPTATIONS like stealing, lying, smoking, drinking alcohol, gossiping, and other “tasty morsels” may seem OK, but they come with hooks. So, when you spot something that looks good but you think it may be bad, or you’re not sure, don’t take the bait. Leave it alone and “swim” away as fast as you can. SAFE AT LAST! DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO. 2x Jesus delivers from evil.

Faith (Strong’s 4102: PISTIS) is always a gift from God, and never something that can be produced by people. In short, faith for the believer is “God’s divine persuasion,” and it is therefore distinct from human belief (confidence), yet involving it. The Lord continuously births faith in the yielded believer so they can know what He prefers, I.e. the persuasion of His will (1 John 5:4).

A Lesson from the Life of Helen Keller
Instead, God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful. (1 Cor. 1:27)

Helen Keller was born as a normal baby. But a fever left her blind and deaf. Helen became frustrated, smashing dishes & lamps, screaming and throwing temper tantrums.

At the age of 6, she was taken to a specialist that believed Helen could be taught. The parents were advised to visit a local expert on the problems of deaf children. This expert was Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone. Then Helen was put in touch with Anne Sullivan, who, through a long and difficult process, taught Helen how to communicate.

Helen Keller proves that every life is valuable, even those who we think have no possible use in society. How much hope, for example, could anyone have for a baby who couldn’t see or hear? Yet Helen Keller went on to write, teach, and inspire millions with her story.

So don’t give up on anyone. See each person as a valuable creation of God and treat him or her as such. And who knows, God may surprise you with what he will do with that life. Put your FAITH TO WORK.

CHOOSE LIFE! Helen Keller was born in 1880.

LOVE - (Greek) four types: Storge: empathy bond; Philia: friend bond; Eros: romantic love; Agape: unconditional “God” love.

(Hebrew): LOVE stands for more than just romantic attraction or strong feelings towards those close to you; it also stands for the truth, respect and obedience Christians hold for God.

God is Love (1 John 4:7-16)

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

12 No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.

13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

14 And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 Whoever confesses the Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.

16 And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Greek PALE (pawlay)—primary meaning is “to wrestle” or “struggle”. The word “wrestle” is a very good translation, even in this context of a soldier’s armor.

Recommended Reading: Rick Renner’s teaching called Spiritual Warfare is Real.

Ephesians 6:12 wrestle = the most vicious, brutal of all the sports. Everyone in the first century knew about this sport. Wrestling was a PALE CULTURE, SUCH AS FOOTBALL IS A CURRENT “PALE” CULTURE.

There was a palace of combat sports. Only 3 kinds of sports: boxers, wrestlers, pankration. Not like what we have until today. You fought until one lived and one died. Boxers took hides 16’ long hides and wrapped it on themselves from elbow down and down their arms to their knuckles. Then attached/wrapped serrated nails, sharp like hunting knives to their knuckles. That is how they boxed.

Wrestling was in the nude and there were no rules. A tactic was to grab the opponent’s hand and break his fingers. Another tactic was to take the thumb and gouge the opponent’s eye out. So he could no longer see to wrestle. And to finish the opponent off was to get behind him, wrap his arms around his waist and throw him up on the air and throw him down to the ground and snap his back. Leaving the opponent paralyzed.

If you survived the boxing match and the wrestling match then you were invited into the Pankration. Pan means ALL and kration means POWER. It meant a Pankration had more power than anybody else. They were the men that had won the boxing and wrestling match. They had more power than anybody else. They entered the ring and fought each other as boxers, wrestlers, and with spiked clubs until one died and one lived. All of that is inside the one word “wrestle”.

Paul was describing a major warfare: no rules. Satan doesn’t play fair. And no one is exempt. Jesus has given us POWER OVER ALL THE POWER OF ENEMY. WE ALWAYS WIN!

SACRIFICE: 1. An act of offering to a deity something precious, especially the killing of a victim on an altar; 2. Something OFFERED in sacrifice; 3. Destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else; 4. Something given up or lost the sacrifices made by parent(s)

(Hebrew) = meaning to save, rescue, savior. In liturgical context, it refers to a cry expressing an appeal for divine help. Also, it was the shout of praise or adoration made in recognition of the Messiahship of Jesus on His TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM.

Palm Sunday is celebrated as the TRIUMPHAL ENTRY into Jerusalem. It is the last seven days of Jesus’ earthly ministry here on earth. He was being honored as The King.

In Luke 19:30 Jesus instructs two of his disciples to go into the village Bethphage and where to find the colt. They bring it to Him - a donkey that has never been ridden before. The disciples laid their coats on the donkey, then Jesus sat upon it.

And most of the crowed kept spreading their garments on the road, and others kept cutting branches from the trees and scattering them on the road. (Matthew 21:8)

And the crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed Him kept shouting, HOSANNA (O be propitious, graciously inclined) to the Son of David, the Messiah! Blessed (praised, glorified) be He Who comes in the name of the LORD! HOSANNA (O be favorably disposed) in the highest (heaven). (Matthew 21:9)
[see also Psalm 118:26]

RESTITUTION: An act of restoring something to its rightful owner; recompense for injury or loss; a legal action causing to serve restoration of a previous state.

"Nothing impure will ever enter [the city] (the New Jerusalem), nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life."  Revelation 21:23

Jesus has made restitution for you [mankind]. by Him willingly going to the cross, He restored back to us what was stolen. Jesus has given you [mankind] the opportunity to receive and accept the result (restitution).

There is power in the blood Jesus shed on the cross. You now have the right to receive back eternal life in the New Jerusalem by letting the blood of Jesus cleanse you through repentance. Jesus then restores back to you eternal life. Then revival takes place in your heart as you get renewed by the Word in your mind (Romans 12:2). Be blessed in Jesus' name!

JUDGE (verb) - pass judgment

The mountain of the house of the LORD will be established ... Come let us go up to the mountain of the LORD… that He may teach us concerning HIS ways, And that we may walk in His paths. For the law will go forth from Zion … He will judge between the nations, and will render (inflict, repay) decisions for many peoples. (Isaiah 2:2-4)

Redeem: exagoridzo = permanent removal from captivity

Because this word is used in connection with Jesus redeeming us from the curse of the law, Paul is telling us plainly that Jesus’ sacrificial death didn’t only pay the penalty for our sin; His death removed us from living under the curse henceforth!  His ultimate plan was to buy you out of [your] miserable condition and then to place you in His family as His own child.  You are forever removed from the curse of sin and the law.  

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, “Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.”
Galatians 3:13

Vigilant: to be on guard, watchful, attentive

You don’t have to fall victim to the devil’s attacks!  Peter tells us, “Whom resist steadfast in the faith…” (1Peter 5:9)

If you’ll resist the devil, you can run him clear out of your mind and your life.  He doesn’t know how to deal with those who stand up to him, so he runs in fear when a believer challenges him!  If you can’t resist by yourself, find people who know how to pray and let them help you!