Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. I am so glad to have the opportunity to share this series with you. I appreciate all the praise reports and testimonies, hitting me up on twitter and Facebook and just letting me know that you are being blessed by this series “The view from the top”. We’re going to go deeper this time. I have a message that I think is going to encourage you and strengthen your life. The message is entitled “You can’t give me what I’ve already got”. This is going to bless in you a supernatural way.
This Jesus that I want to talk to you about this morning has just come from an explosive celebratory moment, a moment of defined divine distinction. His clothes are still damp from the rivers of Jordan, baptized in the river of Jordan. One swoop of God’s hand and he’s gone from obscurity to notoriety. Baptized in the river Jordan and coming up out of the water the heavens opened up for him. The spirit descended like a dove and the father spoke from heaven saying this my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Back up, haters. When God endorses you, who can hinder? When God puts his hand on you and establishes you and points out that boy right there is my son, in whom I am well pleased, no question about his integrity. I’m pleased. I don’t care whether you are pleased or not. I’m pleased with him. That’s a great moment.
The same Spirit that descended on him like a dove celebrating, authenticating and validating that he is the Messiah, same Spirit leads him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. The devil didn’t lead him. The Spirit led him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. But the devil didn’t lead him into the wilderness. The Spirit led him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. The Spirit will arrange an attack. You need to know that. I know it’s not popular. It’s out of style. They don’t teach that today, but you need to know that. They don’t teach that today because it doesn’t make people shout. It’s true nonetheless. You have to know that to survive it. You have to know it. You have to know it couldn’t have happened to me if God didn’t allow it.
Y’all don’t pray like that. That’s a T.D. Jakes kind of prayer. Lord, if this happened to me, you had to allow it to happen. My steps are ordered by the Lord. And if I had to walk into this, you ordered it. You led me into it. I talk to him like that because I know that if you led me into this wilderness, somehow it’s going to work for my good. Yes. It doesn’t feel good. You see, this is the kind of praying you do with tears running down your face. It doesn’t feel good and I don’t like it and it hurts me in places I didn’t even know I could be hurt. But if you allowed it! It must be for my good. It must be. Because all things work together for the good of them that love the Lord. It must be for my good. It don’t feel good, Lord, but it must be for my good.
And then number two, if you led me into it, you will lead me out of it. I know you will because you’re not just Alpha, you are Omega. You’re not just the beginning. You’re the end. You’re not just the first. You’re the last. Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we may ask or think. God doesn’t start anything that he can’t finish. Yes. You understand that Jesus has just had this amazing experience down at the Jordan river with John the baptist. You understand that the Jordan river is the place where the children of Israel had to cross over with Joshua to go into the Promised Land. After years and years of being into the wilderness, the Jordan river is standing in between them and the promises of God.
Because I have been to the Jordan and because I have been in the wilderness and because I have physically been to mount Nebo, let me try to illustrate to you what this location is. On one side it is totally desert, dry, parched, sand. And the wind blowing in your face. Hot, destitute, barren and desolate. All the way up to the Jordan, you can taste the dry sands blowing in the air. In your eyes. In your mouth, in your nose. Everywhere. It’s everywhere, totally dry. Nothing green, nothing brilliant, nothing bright. And then you come to the Jordan river. And when you look across the Jordan, everything is green and plush and beautiful trees and vegetation. Crops growing.
Now, Jesus is about to bring forth… this is the coronation, the release of his ministry, to birth the church. He is I submit to you the New Testament Moses. Moses brought the Old Testament church and where we first get the word Ekklesia, called out. Moses, the one who was drawn out of the water has now called out the Old Testament church and he brings them through the wilderness. Moses in the Old Testament in many ways is what Christ is in the New Testament in that he is the deliverer, having delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land. In the same Spirit Christ comes to deliver the church out of the Egypt of our sin into the Promised Land of our destiny and purpose.
And now Christ has been led into the wilderness. And certainly I recognize that God has unfinished business with the devil. Moses has led the children of Israel in the Old Testament all the way up, all the way up to right on the edge of the Jordan river. Got very close to crossing. Got to mount Nebo and saw the other side. Didn’t go to the other side but saw to the other side. Moses didn’t go in part because Moses faced a temptation that threw him over. The murmuring of the people tempted Moses with anger and frustration.
Wow. What does that have to do with Jesus? I’m glad you asked. Got everything to do with Jesus. As soon as Jesus comes up out of the water, the Spirit says if you are going to bring the New Testament church into the promises of God, we’ve got unfinished business with the devil. You’ve got to pass the test that Moses flunked. You’ve got to pass the test that Moses failed. He led him in the wilderness to be tempted. And the Bible says that after Jesus had fasted 40 days… not during. After the fast. The fast is over. He now had the legitimate right to eat. Satan comes and says if thou be the Son of God, turn this stone to bread. There we are at the stone again. Only this time the temptation is not to smite the stone. It’s to use your power to turn the stone.
Now, think with me. I’ve got a thinking church. Think with me. See, I told you several months ago, your greatest temptation is not what you do with weakness, what you do with failure. The greatest test is how you handle power. The great test in your life is how you manage power. See, I don’t worry about what you do when you have no power. You’ve got no choice but to lay there. You’ve got no choice but to stay here. You’ve got no choice but to rent here. The less power you have, the less choices you have. But the more power you have, the more options you have. Oh, so you can’t really be tempted good when you are powerless. The real temptation comes with power.
That’s why powerless people, if they get ready to do something evil, they will have to go out and steal some power, a gun, authority or something because you can’t do wrong right without power. I’m going to break that down again. You can’t do wrong right without power. The real test is how you handle power. How do you handle favor? How do you handle influence? How do you handle having somebody’s ear? How do you handle an opportunity? All of that is the real test. I don’t have to test you on how you handle not having an opportunity. You don’t have no choice but to take it. How do you handle a chance? An opportunity, an influence with somebody. How do you handle favor? How do you handle?
Moses, you’ve got this stick. How do you handle having this stick? Will you use it for you? Or will you use it for God? Jesus, you’ve got this power. How do you handle this power? Will you use it for you? Or will you use it for the purposes of God? If thou be the Son of God, turn the rock, the stone into bread. One of the things about being hungry is when you get real hungry, you have the tendency to want to turn things that are not into something that you need. Just because you need it doesn’t mean you can make me be it. But when you are hungry and destitute, you will turn people into things that are not. You will turn stones into bread. You will turn godly opportunities into places of manipulation. When you are hungry, you will pervert a friendship into something that it’s not. When you’re hungry.
See, if it’s about the hungry, it’s not about the rock. It’s about the hunger that drives you, the fleshly hunger to use your power. Oh, to get what you want. I want to ask you this morning, you know, how do you handle power? Uh-huh. Yeah. It got quiet in here. Is it all about you? Or is it about us and we? Oh, are you so mellow in your thinking that you can only see it from your perspective? Because you’re getting ready to lead and to live and to die for them. But you can’t do it for them when you’ve got a me-mentality.
Location. So we’re back on the same location, in the same situation, with one that is greater than Moses being tempted like Moses. As Moses leads out the Old Testament church, Christ now prepares to birth the New Testament church. But the real test of great leadership is how do you handle power. It is not how you handle being broke. 10% of zero is nothing. Yeah. It’s how you handle power. It’s when you’ve got the edge. What do you do when you finally get the edge and you get the drop on somebody? How do you handle power?
So here he comes and Jesus said man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the word says he took him up to the high pinnacle and said cast yourself down off of this pinnacle for it is written the angels will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against the stone. In other words, show off so everybody can see who you are. Make a name for yourself. Show them who is boss. Climb up to the top of the temple church and fall off and let everybody see how great you are. Jesus says wait, devil. Why would you get me to throw myself off the temple to show who I am when the father just said?!
Come on, somebody. You want to give me something, but you can’t give me what’s already mine. You can’t give me what’s already mine, devil. If I didn’t know what I got, then you might make a deal with me. But you can’t give me what’s already mine. And about this bread stuff, don’t you know that I am the bread of life? My Father made manna in the wilderness and they perished with hunger. But I am the true bread! So don’t be talking to me about this bread stuff. Yeah. Touch somebody and say you can’t give me what’s already mine. I am what I am hungry for.