DRIVEN TO THE WILDERNEST

July 12, 2019
Ptr. Sam

- our character often time determines our usefulness.
- God is going to use the isolation of the desert to work on our character.
- God often uses isolation and pain to get our attention in ways success never can. 
- He uses life’s pain to teach us, to mold us, to make us useful.
- The pain isn’t for nothing. God will use it for His glory.

1. A person must be driven from self-centered pursuits.

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16:24‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://www.bible.com/111/mat.16.24.niv

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭2:20‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://www.bible.com/111/gal.2.20.niv

2. A person must be driven from many gods to one God.

““No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:24‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://www.bible.com/111/mat.6.24.niv

“Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭4:39‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://www.bible.com/111/deu.4.39.niv

““You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭5:7-9‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://www.bible.com/111/deu.5.7-9.niv

3. A person must be driven from independence to dependence on God.

- there will be times in our lives that God will tale away things and people around us that we depend on. 

- God will move out on our comfort zones, and people and things that we are depending on will fall.

“Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭8:2‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://www.bible.com/111/deu.8.2.niv

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭8:3‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://www.bible.com/111/deu.8.3.niv