Winning Like Jesus, Part 5

Welcome to Leading the Way Audio with Dr. Michael Yusef. In just a moment, listen as Dr. Yusef continues his life-impacting series, Winning Like Jesus. He's offering a deep dive into what the temptations of Jesus and his responses to Satan show you today about experiencing victory in the spiritual battles, all in today's upside-down culture. So listen with me for practical works straight from the pages of the Bible. If you turn with me, Luke chapter 4, I'm particularly going to look at verses 13, 14, and 15.

Look at Luke 4, 13 with me please. And when the devil had finished every temptation, every temptation, they're all codified in those three, pleasure, popularity, and power, he departed from him, that is departed from Jesus, until an opportune time, until an opportune time. Four words added here by Dr. Luke in his account that exposed to us Satan's strategy, exposed to us his techniques, he exposed to us his perseverance and waiting for the right time before he attacks.

And as I look back in my own life, this is absolutely the truth. He is constantly looking for opportune time. Satan does not give up just because you had one victory. He does not sit there and say, oh man, I got defeated, that's it, I gave it my best shot and I failed, I might as well give up.

No, it doesn't work that way. He does never do that. In fact, I'm going to show you in a minute that after a great victory, not only Satan does not give up and get away, but these are after a great blessing from the hand of God that is clearly the work of the supernatural.

Those are the times when you and I need to be absolutely on our guard. You see, when Satan left Jesus, Luke said, Satan began to look for new opportunities to tempt Jesus. He began to look for an opportune time. He began to look for a new timing in which he can try to ambush him.

He began to strategize what his next step is going to be. He failed to get Jesus when he was hungry and tired and in the wilderness. He said, now there could be other opportunities and I'm going to try again. As if to say, I failed to get him to go against the will of the Father, I failed to get him to doubt his Father, I failed to get him to take what is already his but take it now before the cross.

Now that I failed with all those three things, I'm going to keep on trying. I'm looking for an opportune time. I'm going to look at taking another shot at him and then another shot and he does, again and again. Now you and I know he does that to us. Now just because you got a great victory, you got a great blessing and you say, okay this is great now.

No, no, no, no, that's the time when you need to be careful. He will try again and again and he did it with Jesus. When twisting the scripture did not work in tempting Jesus, he basically tried to use the chief apostle, Peter. Be very careful, sometimes non-discerning believers can be a source of trouble because they're not aware, they're not on their guard, they can say things and they can do things that can discourage us and disappoint us and may even hurt us.

Some non-discerning believers cause more harm and more havoc than those who are outside of the church. And that is why in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 16, we see the very man, the chief apostle, the very man Peter, who said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God in Caesarea Philippi, is the same man. In the next breath, he was trying to keep Jesus from going to the cross and what did Jesus call him? He said, get behind me Satan. He called his chief apostle Satan. He said, oh, this is harsh.

In this politically correct environment, this is harsh. How can Jesus call Peter Satan? Yeah, because he was not discerning and he allowed Satan to use him.

Why? Jesus called Peter Satan because unwittingly, Peter was doing Satan's bidding. No doubt Satan showed up again and again. No doubt in my mind that he showed up in Gethsemane when Jesus was sweating blood and saying, father, if there's some other way, probably Satan said to him, and I'm speculating it's not in the word of God, I offered it to you.

I told you he can have it all now. He didn't have to go to the cross. But again, Satan was defeated again and again and on the cross, he was disarmed. Even finally in John chapter 13, we read that Satan entered into the heart of Judas Kariot. You see, he can use an undiscerning brother or sister, but then he can really enter into a false brother or a false sister in order to do damage. You see, when the Bible said that Satan is like a hungry lion, he's prowling around looking to whom he can devastate, he's looking for an opportune time.

It's exactly what he's doing. When he's going around looking for an opportune time, time when you and I are not alert, time when you and I are not watchful, times when we let our guard down, times when we are flushed with victory or great blessing from the hand of God. He may write on this one, those times are when you and I get ourselves in Satan's direct firing line.

And that is why the Bible said that we must always be sober. What does it mean? That we always must be on our guard. We cannot let our guard down particularly after a great blessing, particularly after a great victory, particularly after God answered our prayers. Those are the times in our lives when we need to be doubly sensitive in hearing the alarm bells. According to Luke 4.13, Satan does have an opportune time. There are times more opportune than others. So the question is, what are Satan's opportune time? What are these favorable opportunities, favorable condition in our lives that give him a chance to attack us and tempt us? Listen, Satan is always looking for opportunities to ambush us, especially when our guard's down.

He works with the element of surprise. That's his opportune time. Satan always uses some of the most unlikely people unfortunately to ambush us. Again, what are these favorable times? What are these opportune times which the enemy attacks us and try to tempt us and bring us down?

I'm glad you asked because I really want to tell you. Opportune time number one for Satan is after a great blessing. After a great blessing, after a great victory, immediately after a great victory. Look again, chapter 4 verse 1. It's the same thing in Matthew, but here in Luke chapter 4 verse 1. He said, and Jesus full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan. Now we've been seeing this.

I've been showing you this. Every message I've been showing you that right after heaven opened and the voice of God the Father spoke. I mean, imagine hearing the voice of God the Father. All these thousands of people are coming in to be baptized by John the Baptist and right there at the River Jordan, the voice of the Father dramatically proclaimed the identity of Jesus. He is not just a Messiah. He is not just a prophet. He is not just this or that. He is the eternal son, my eternal son who coexisted with me before eternity. You can only imagine the drama. You can imagine the incredible drama that has been created in this incredible victory. And very soon while Jesus still in one ear hearing the voice of the Father saying, this is my beloved son, in the other ear Satan was saying, if you are the son of God, or since you claim to be the son, or because you are the son of God, prove it by sinning against the Father.

Here it is. While Jesus spiritually is on top of the world, as it were, spiritually speaking, Satan is plotting to bring him into crushing defeat. This is always Satan's opportune time, number one.

Right after receiving a great blessing, right after receiving a great victory, right after experiencing the thrill of answered prayer, right after where you have been on fire for Christ, right after that time, he comes in and he pours water on your fire. Satan is always strategizing at which pin to use in order to burst your spiritual balloon. He takes details very seriously. While Satan attacks us at our weakest point, when we're physically not well, when emotionally we're not well, he did this to Elijah. While this is always expected, always anticipated, and yet he reserves his deadliest arsenals after a great blessing, after a great victory. He waits until your spiritual is speaking on top of the world.

Why does he do this? Why does Satan reserve his deadliest arsenal for when we are on top of the world? Please listen carefully. Times immediately after a great blessing. Times immediately after a great victory. These are the times when we feel least dependent on God.

Boy, you made it big. Boy, you just don't have much needs now. You don't need anybody. You're independent. You're self-sufficient now.

You're okay. These are the times when you're not desperate for God like you were when you were praying for, petitioning God, begging God to answer your prayer. These are the times you are not crying out to God. These are the times when you are not pouring your heart out to God. These are the times when you feel least vulnerable. These are the times you feel invincible. You notice I've been saying, using the word feel, feel, feel.

I did this for a reason. Let's get real with each other, okay? None of us. Can you say none of us? And your pastor included. None of us handle blessings, whether they are spiritual or material, very well. None of us handle victory very well.

And here's the problem. Satan knows it. He knows it. And that is why he's always watching to see what are you going to do after a great blessing? What are you going to do after a great victory? What are you going to do after God give you an answer to prayer that you have prayed for?

And that's why Proverbs 16, 18 said, pride goes before destruction and the Holy Spirit before the fall. Let me ask a question. Where are you now?

Where are you now? Are you riding high? Has God blessed you in some way? Have you just experienced victory over sin?

Whatever you are right now at this very moment, have you done something great for God? Then I want to tell you, watch out. Watch out. You are on Satan's firing line. You are in Satan's opportune time zone. You are on Satan's most wanted list. Say, Michael, how do I watch after a great blessing, after a great victory, after a great answer to prayer? How can I really be on my guard? How to watch?

Listen, I want to answer that very quickly. You must take as much time in prayer after victory as you did when you were petitioning God. Spend more time in thanking and praising God for the victory and for the blessing than you did when you were crying out to God in prayer.

That's the only way I know. Satan's opportune time number one, immediately after a great blessing or victory. Satan's opportune time number two, immediately before a great blessing, immediately before receiving a great victory, immediately before receiving a great success in whatever your endeavor.

Whenever you purpose in your heart to do something great for God, whenever you go about purposing in your heart and working about to bring glory to God, whenever you're about to do something that you know in your heart has God's favor all over it, whenever you're about to receive an answer to long awaited prayer, Satan will tempt you to sin. He will. Why?

So that he may hinder you from receiving that blessing. I did not say that he succeeds. I didn't say that.

Okay? I didn't say that he will succeed. I'm saying he will try. He will try to get you to give up. He will try to give you to quit. He will try to give you to give in. He will try to get you to stop praying. And I said, I prayed long enough and God is not answering. I'm going to stop.

He will try to get you your train derail just before you get to the station. Look with me again. Luke chapter four. Jesus was tempted immediately after a great blessing and the declaration of God, the father, this is my beloved son. But if you look at verses 14 and 15, same chapter, you will see that was immediately prior a great success prior to a great victory.

Let me read it. Jesus returned to Galilee. Friends from the wilderness after he went to the wilderness, went back to Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Can't get better than that. And the news about him spread to the whole countryside. He taught in the synagogues and here it is. Everyone praised him.

Let's say that together. Everyone praised him. The greatest blessings on Jesus' ministry was awaiting him after the wilderness experience, after the wilderness temptation, after his victory in the wilderness. The greatest victory in terms of healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons were around the corner after Jesus' victory in the wilderness. Beloved, listen to me. Your greatest blessing is awaiting you after a great trial and test.

And you might be going through one right now. I don't know. Only you and God know. Your greatest blessing is around the corner from the desert experience, from the wilderness experience that you have been walking through in victory and in trusting of God. It's around the corner and Satan knew that. And that's not because he knows the future, but Satan knew that it's coming, what's coming around the corner for Jesus and that success and the victory he had in the Galilee because he reads the Bible and he believes it. It's in the prophecies. And he wanted to derail Jesus from his greatest blessings of ministry and serving and proving his messiahship.

He wanted to sabotage his messiahship. He will try to do the same thing to you and me. He tries to get you to throw in the towel just prior to the time of your greatest blessing.

Here's a fact. Satan will try to discourage you from going into your graduation ceremony. Satan will work doubly hard just prior to God answering all of your prayers that have been bottled up in heaven. In fact, the reason you may be in Satan's line of fire right now is this.

Listen carefully. Because he knows that the blessing is on its way. Because he knows that the answer to your prayer is on its way. Remember what he did with Daniel? Remember the book of Daniel, chapter 10, verse 13? He got in the middle and he stopped the answer to Daniel's prayer. How long?

21 days, 3 weeks. He tried to hinder the answer to prayer. Why? Why? Why did he do that?

What does he do that? Because Satan knows that you have waited faithfully. Because Satan knows that you have waited patiently. Because Satan knows that you are about to receive victory that you have prayed for for so long. Because Satan knows that the blessing is around the corner. And he's trying to get you to forfeit the blessing.

He's trying to get you to forfeit it before you receive it. Florence Chadwick was the first woman to swim the English Channel. And she did not only swim one direction, as most people do, she swam in both directions. And was renowned in her day. On the 4th of July, 1952, she was going to swim from the Catalina Island to the coast of California. On that day, everything was ready for her to swim across to the California coast. The challenge that Miss Chadwick was facing that day, it wasn't the length of the swim, but on that day it happened to be the bone-chilling waters of the Pacific. To add insult to injury, to add to the problems, to complicate matters. On that particular day, there was a dense fog that had fallen on that area.

Only that does not know that area it can happen. Made it impossible for her to see land as she was swimming. So after 15 hours of swimming in these cold waters within half a mile of the California coast, she gave up. Her trainers and her people in the boat next to her kept on egging her on, tried to encourage her and tried to tell her to keep going and keep going, but to no avail.

All she could see was fog. In the end when she came out into the boat, she said the following and I'm going to read it so I don't mess it up. She said, I'm not making excuses for myself, but had I only been able to see land, I might have made it. Had I only been able to see land, I may have made it. Well later on, she went back and she made it across. Even though the conditions were exactly like the time before. When they asked her how come she was successful this time.

In fact, she broke the men's records. Here's what she said, I kept on saying to myself, there is land out there, there is land out there, there is land out there. Now my beloved, listen to me as I conclude, you have no less than the Lord Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit cheering you on and saying don't give up, don't give in, don't surrender to your circumstances, don't surrender to the temptations. Land is out there.

Land is out there. You can win like Jesus. A great reminder that Satan is always on the lookout for an opportune time to attack. Looking to defeat you with temptation, defeat you when you are most vulnerable. We thank you for joining pastor and author, Dr. Michael Youssef for Leading the Way Audio. The Muslim world is home to 68% of the world's unreached people groups. Since Leading the Way first began impacting the Muslim world through dual language programs in 1996, the ministry has had unique access to one of the most challenging regions in the world and seen an incredible harvest of souls. Growing up in the Middle East under severe persecution, I have seen what happens to compromise.

I grew up hearing that Islam would enslave the infidels in the decadent West. God began to burden my heart that the answer is not fear, is not anger, is not retaliation, but proclamation of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ uncompromisingly. Through Dr. Youssef's Middle Eastern background and unique 24-7 outreaches like the Kingdom Set, God has given Leading the Way an unprecedented open door to proclaim the gospel directly into the Muslim world. Over the next five years, your partnership will enable us to deepen our reach in regions inaccessible to most ministries through the Kingdom Set television network, our biblically trained field counselors, dual language audio programs, evangelistic literature and discipleship courses, global digital platforms including ltwglobal.org. Leading the Way's work in the Middle East extends beyond broadcasting. We are on the ground providing support and discipleship through our network of biblically trained counselors and underground churches. Our efforts are breaking down barriers and bringing the light of Christ to some of the darkest places in the world. Through your support, we can continue to create innovative programming that uniquely ministers to a Middle Eastern audience. Join Dr. Youssef and go through the open door of opportunity to reach the Muslim world for Christ through Leading the Way. You're invited to become a part of the Open Door Campaign. Call a ministry representative right now at 866-626-4356. Or you can check out the details by going to ltw.org, ltw.org. And please do remember, Leading the Way is listener supported, relying on your generosity to keep the sound teaching of Dr. Youssef right here in this area and going beyond to reach the world.