Charles Metcalf’s Introduction
- Some of us really like sauces with our food
- A good sauce can change the whole meal
- Sometimes life can feel a little basic, but there’s a sauce you can put on anything, that changes everything. That sauce is prayer.
- Today we’re talking about prayer.
- Our church is built on prayer.
1. Prayer is The Sauce That Goes with Everything
Marriage going bad? Pray about it.
Philippians 4:6-7
New Living Translation
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
In a moment, your prayer can change things.
Our prayer has power.
You don’t need a specific person, Playlist, or duration. You don’t need to be loud. Your prayer works. Our father hears us. He’s a good father and he answers us.
He hears your prayers. Your prayer has power, and it works.
The same power that got Christ out of that grave lives on the inside of you.
Matthew 4:1-11
New Living Translation
The Temptation of Jesus
4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. 2 For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.
3 During that time the devil[a] came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”
4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,
‘People do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[b]”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, 6 and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,
‘He will order his angels to protect you.
And they will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’[c]”
7 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’[d]”
8 Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”
10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,
‘You must worship the Lord your God
and serve only him.’[e]”
11 Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.
Message Title: Dessert in the Desert // The Sauce (Part 1 of 2)
Some of us always find ourselves at the dessert table. Some of us can eat dessert any time.
The desserts may be good to you, but they’re not good for you. After a while, they have effects that you don’t desire.
2. Dessert Is Never Good for Your Development
When you’re on a workout plan, you know that certain desserts are off limits. You try to convince yourself and “treat” yourself.
For some, the desserts are gossip – that’s your comfort food.
For some, it might be lust and pleasure. It may just be the things that make you feel good or significant. For some, it might be pride.
It may feel good in the moment, but it’s not good to you in the long run. Like a dessert, lust, gossip, pride, can’t provide true satisfaction.
God develops in the desert, not with dessert.
3. The Desert Isn’t Always the Devil
Matthew 4:1
New Living Translation
The Temptation of Jesus
4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness…
God always develops His children in the desert. God sent Jesus to the desert. We like to blame it on the devil if it’s not flourishing or if we’re not fulfilled.
Sometimes God will take you into the desert to develop you.
God doesn’t isolate you, but separates you. The enemy tries to convince you that you’re deserted. You’ve been set apart, made different, and God is trying to put something on the inside of you.
You have to let God develop you in the desert.
Why do we always assume it was the devil and not God’s design?
In the story of Joseph and his brothers, God “meant it for good” even though the enemy meant it for evil (God didn’t “turn it”). We have to let God develop us, even if it comes in a package we’re not comfortable with.
The devil immediately questions what was just affirmed. The devil will ask, were you really supposed to move? Were you really supposed to give that much? The enemy comes to question the very thing that God told you. As we step into a new year, we have to acknowledge that, “God, I am open and available for what you want to do in me.”
4. The Desert Develops Your Humility
Some of you glowed up in 2022.
The desert will come to remind you about who gave it to you. You have the job, family, spouse, and money you always wanted – but sometimes, God will take you into the desert to remind you of who your source is. Every good gift comes from God.
Deuteronomy 8:2-3
New Living Translation
2 Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. 3 Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Have you parents ever not given you something you wanted? They wanted you to grow. Sometimes God takes something from us to develop something in us, for example, humility.
All of a sudden, it might feel like you’re in a desert season. Maybe God is trying to humble you. Humility is a qualifier. God opposes the proud. He doesn’t interact with pride.
Deuteronomy 8:3-4
New Living Translation
3 Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 For all these forty years your clothes didn’t wear out, and your feet didn’t blister or swell.
He reminds them that their clothes didn’t even wear out. It had been 40 years – no blisters. Find yourself in a place to be grateful for even waking you up. God has been more than faithful.
There are things in the desert you would have never known about – a level of provision you wouldn’t have understood until going through it.
5. The Desert Develops Your Character
Deuteronomy 8:2
New Living Translation
2 Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands.
There are certain things in your life that you’re praying for that are way outside of your character pay grade.
The spouse, the finances, some of these are not conducive to the character you have right now.
There are some blessings, some relationships, that you don’t have the development for and you may revert to an old way. There are some things in you generationally that you may need removed from you.
We live in a world where it’s all about being comfortable. God is not your air conditioning system that you get to adjust when you don’t like the temperature.
God develops us in the desert.
6. The Desert Develops Your Obedience
Sometimes God takes you to a season to see if there’s true obedience. Delayed obedience is still disobedience.
Sometimes God is testing to see if you still have true obedience.
It’s not true obedience until you have options. Some of you just don’t have other options. Some of you might not even be obedient to purity, but don’t have no other options. Some of you might even only be praying because it’s your last resort or option. True obedience is when you have options, but you still choose to obey God.
How is your obedience when you have other options? What about when you have the option to talk to a person on the side, or take a crooked business deal?
God calls people to fast outside of January and the fall. You have to have a relationship with God that understands that He is your source.
As we go into a time where we will be in 21 days of prayer and fasting, God wants to do a lot. We have to be willing to go to the desert.
Many of us don’t like going to the desert because someone convinced you that it might be your final destination.
When God calls you to be single, you may wonder if you’ll always be single. You may think you’ll always be broke when being called through the desert.
He calls us through it, not to it.
There are decisions that we make that delays the journey.
The lack of humility, character, and obedience can’t be carried to where God is going. There are some traditions in your family you can’t take where God is taking you – some shows, some friendships that make you feel good about yourself. We can’t take all of our desserts into the desert.
We get friends to start helping us pack up desserts for the desert. Then we start praising God and praying for God to move mountains. He would love to do all of it, but when we have desserts all over us, how could we carry it? There are things we have no room for because we’re loaded down with desserts like childhood trauma. If God gave you a spouse, you may have no grace for it.
Do you want your dessert, or do you want to be developed? You can’t have both.
7. You Can Have Your Dessert or You Can Have Your Development, but You Can’t Have Both
You can’t keep the same patterns of your family. You can’t do what’s comfortable. Trust God and go to Him. In the desert, out there, there’s nobody else to talk to except God. He can speak to you clearly out there. You don’t have the voices of your family and how they did things. There’s vision, ideas, peace, and security in the desert with God. Go there without the lust, envy, greed, and your desserts. He wants to give you so much, but He can’t when you’re holding onto your desires.
He can’t give you peace when you’re holding on to a bottle that’s actually a façade for peace – or contentment when you’re still trying to gather and acquire things to make you feel significant.
Today, there’s only one goal – what’s in your bag?
8. What Desserts Have you Been Trying to Take Into the Desert?
When you read Matthew, it’s a replay of a different story. In Genesis, there’s a perfect place God has set up, and the devil offers three very similar things to Jesus like he did with Eve.
Matthew 4 is a beautiful replay of where God redeems the garden. Jesus was fasting for 40 days. It wasn’t that Jesus wasn’t hungry, but He was connected to something bigger than what He desired in the moment. The biggest misconception is that the enemy attacks us in the desert when we’re at our weakest. His flesh may have been weak, but spiritually, He would have been stronger than ever.
We will not go into the desert still trying to take all the stuff that made us feel good and provided a false sense of comfort, instead, we will say, “God, whatever you want to do…” have Your way.
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SUMMARY NOTES
- Prayer is The Sauce That Goes with Everything
- Dessert Is Never Good for Your Development
- The Desert Isn’t Always the Devil
- The Desert Develops Your Humility
- The Desert Develops Your Character
- The Desert Develops Your Obedience
- You Can Have Your Dessert or You Can Have Your Development, but You Can’t Have Both
- What Desserts Have you Been Trying to Take Into the Desert?
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Abby Olurin Dames
I love Jesus, my husband, Will, my toddler daughter, Sola, and the beautiful friends and family in our lives. Me and Will are from the Bahamas, but we currently reside in Austin, Texas. We joined TC Nation as online members of Transformation Church in 2017 when we moved to Austin from Miami, Florida. In 2020, we also happily took on a more active role with the E-Fam of Elevation Church by fellowshipping with other married couples and were pleased to have the opportunity to join TC Beta Belong Groups. I believe that representing God doesn’t have to be done in “traditional spaces”. After listening to Pastor Mike's sermon, "Who's the Minister Here?", it became my mission to shed light on Christ in all arenas, including, but not limited to, corporate America, marketing, technology, and finance. I'm not perfect, but I'm progressing. I am a marketer, but first, I am a Christian, and the aim of this blog is to publicly share my sermon notes as a form of stewardship. I hope that these message notes can bring clarity to anything you may be seeking and help you to experience the peace and glory of Jesus Christ. I'm happy to pray for you as well if you ever wanted to shoot me an email. The effectual fervent prayers of many of you have helped countless circumstances in my life and in the lives of those around me. Thank you! Also, for any Amazon specific links that you see, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
