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Without any question - without any question at all, the biggest problem that Christians have is temptation. By far, it's the biggest problem. If you can eliminate temptation, you can eliminate sin.
A pastor once told his congregation, "I learned a great lesson from a dog." He said, "His master used to put a bit of meat or a biscuit or some kind of food on the ground, and he'd say to the dog, 'Don't eat that,' and the dog would run over and eat it, so he'd hit the dog. And he put another piece of meat on the ground. He'd say, 'Don't eat that.' The dog would go over and eat it, and he hit him again. Well, after awhile, the dog got the message: eat meat, get hit. So the dog decided he wouldn't eat the meat." But the man telling the story related how that the dog never looked at the meat. The dog evidently felt that if he looked at the meat, the temptation to disobey would be too great, and so he looked steadfastly into his master's face and never took his eyes off him, and thus the temptation never caused a problem.
Now, temptation works like that. As long as we stare at it...as long as we look at the baubles or the bangles that Satan dangles in front of our eyes...as long as we entertain ourselves on that and feed on it, we're susceptible, obviously. And temptation is a very common problem for all of us, and perhaps, victory over temptation is not so common. And the problem is the same problem the dog had. The problem is we entertain ourselves by looking at the temptation rather than staring into the Master's face.
And tonight I want us to get our eyes off temptation in a sense, and I want us to focus on the Master, Jesus Christ. And in order to do that, I want you to turn in your Bibles to the fourth chapter of Matthew. And I wanna show you how to overcome temptation by showing you the perfect example of one who did, Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 4, and we'll consider verses 1 through 11. Now, this message tonight is sort of slipped in the slot between the conclusion of Revelation and the beginning of our series on the body of Christ and the book of Ephesians, but it's one that we feel is very important and have been a long time waiting to give. We believe God has led us to this subject for tonight because this, as I said, is the number one problem that we face as believers.
Now, as I said before, in order to be victorious over temptation, we have to put our focus on the person of Jesus Christ. We cannot entertain ourselves with the temptation and then wonder why we get into problems. There was an occasion where a girl became pregnant, and she came to the person that she was talking to...it was a youth director...and she said, "I don't understand it. How could it happen? We prayed before every date." The youth director said, "What'd you do after you prayed?" See, real good. Started out with prayer and then proceeded to get involved like that. Evidently they started out with their eyes on the Lord and then took them immediately off the Lord, put them on each other, and the problem was obvious.
The only way to overcome temptation is to look at Jesus Christ. It's the only way. Get your eyes off of temptation, and get them on Jesus. You say, "Why should we look at Him?" And the answer is in the Book of Hebrews in several places, if you remember it. The Bible says in Hebrews 3:15, "For we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities but was in all points"...what..."tempted like as we are, yet"...what..."without sin." The reason we wanna look at Jesus Christ in temptation is because we know He's been there, and we know He's wise enough to show us the way out. Why, Hebrews 2:18 says this, "For in that He Himself was tempted, He is able to help those that are tempted." See, he's been there.
And so in the midst of temptation, we're to fix our eyes upon Jesus Christ, not only for sympathetic understanding, but for victory, for He knows the victory. And the Apostle Paul said, "There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able but will, with the temptation, also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." You're never tempted above that you're able...never...not one time in your whole life after Christ, not one time.
We wanna look at Jesus Christ. If you have trouble focusing on Jesus Christ in the midst of temptation, you haven't learned how to live the Christian life. The Christian life, my friend, is nothing more than practicing the conscience presence of Jesus Christ. That's all it is. Beautiful thought. That's all it is. Just constantly practicing the presence of Christ. It's never taking my eyes off Him. Why do you think Paul says, "Pray without ceasing?" Because he wants you to keep your focus where it belongs. Why do you think he says, "Set your affections on things above and not on things on the earth?" Because he wants your mind to be _______ with God. Constantly, constantly, constantly. And we're gonna see this.
And I want you to see Jesus Christ when He was tempted so that you'll understand why to keep your eyes on Him. Now, in His temptation, in Matthew 4:1-11, we see some tremendous things. I wanna pull out three points: the preparation, the temptation and the triumph. And having seen Jesus in His temptation, we're going to see victory, the possibility of victory, and we're gonna understand why and how Satan operates. And I trust we'll learn to keep our eyes on Christ.
First of all, I want you to notice the preparation. Chapter 4, verse 1 through the first part of verse 3: "Then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the Devil. And when He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, He was afterward hungry. And when the Tempter came to Him..." We'll stop right there. Now, here we get the background. The first event in our Lord's ministry, which Matthew records, after His baptism is His temptation. Immediately after Christ's baptism, which you remember was a declaration of His ministry, the Spirit of God descended like a dove, anointing Him. God's voice came out of heaven saying, "Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," and Christ began His ministry. And immediately after the exaltation and the anointing at His baptism, He immediately went into direct confrontation with Satan.
And it's an interesting thing that it is a very common experience of men. The times of special spiritual endowment or exaltation are followed immediately by occasions of special temptation. That's exactly what the Bible means when it says, in one sense, "Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall." Satan knows that when we are at the highest pinnacle, we are most easily deflated.
Arnold Coinby, the historian, made it clear in one of his books that the most dangerous period for a civilization is when it thinks it's safe and no longer needs to face further challenges. Same thing is true of an individual. Same thing is true of Christians who have experienced some spiritual victory, and they're misled to think that they can bask in that spiritual victory for an undefined amount of time. They cannot. The Christian life is lived one moment at a time with focus upon Jesus Christ. And just because you have reached a point of spiritual victory at one time doesn't guarantee your spiritual victory even for the next moment. In fact, it almost always assures you that Satan's gonna hit harder than he has before. It's the very precise point when we think we stand that we have to evaluate ourselves lest we fall.
This was graphically illustrated to me in highschool. We had a third-string halfback whose name was Henry, and Henry wasn't really too good, but his father gave a lot of money to the school. Anyway, he was on the team, and I remember we were winning this game 36-0, and there were just a couple of minutes to go, so they put Henry in the game. And he came into the huddle; he was so excited, just _______, excited, first time all year. So we kinda, "Just calm down, Henry." Got in the huddle, and we called a play for Henry. We're on about the sixth yard line, and we're gonna go in for a touchdown. The quarterback got the ball, handed the ball to Henry. The hole opened...the hole was so big you coulda driven the fifth armythrough it...just gigantic, see. Henry grabbed the ball, right into the end zone. He was so excited when he crossed the goal line. The glory of it all hit him. Now, I'll never forget this as long as I live, standing right there in the field. With the thrill of going over the goal line, he was overwhelmed. He had the ball tucked under his left arm, and as he was racing through the end zone in all the glory, he was waving to the stands. And he ran right through, waving to the stands, hmm, he hit the goal post dead center. The whole goal post went like this, (ringing sound). Split his helmet clear down the side, knocked himself completely cold, and the ball squirted up in the air and fell down.
I looked back on that and thought, "Now, that is a perfect illustration of the moment of victory turning to abject defeat." You know, the same thing has happened in your life and mine, hasn't it...spiritually speaking? We just get up to the top, and all the sudden, Satan starts firing away, and we just come crumbling down. That's the way he works. He likes to find us in the moment of glory when our defenses are down. You see, that's why Jesus said, "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation." Don't ever take your eyes off the adversary. How graphically this is illustrated by the temptation of Christ. In full cognizance of His divine mission, just having experienced His baptism, His sacred human nature was filled through and through with the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. He was moving out to His great and glorious messianic ministry. His soul was aglow with the warmth of the Spirit of God, the job of communion with the Father, the contemplation of a blessed work that lay before Him. Finally, after 30 years of obscurity, He was gonna step into the limelight.
But it didn't last very long. No sooner was He anointed by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit Himself drove Him into direct confrontation with Satan. Now, I want you to understand one thing that I believe with all my heart. I do not believe that Christ went into that wilderness on defense. I think He went in there on offense. My Bible says this, "Jesus was led up by"...whom..."the Spirit." Listen, I don't think Satan wanted that confrontation. I think he would have liked to avoid that as long as he could. I think the Spirit of God made that happen, drove Jesus Christ into direct confrontation with Satan to establish his victory over Satan at the beginning of his ministry. And so Jesus Christ was put into direct and fierce conflict with Satan.
Now, we have no right to assert that during the first 30 years of His ministry He was never tempted because He was. Matthew 16:23, He says, "Get thee behind me, Satan." He evidently recognized Satan. He understood what Satan was doing. And you can go back when He said to His disciples, I think it was Luke 22:28...He says, "Ye are they who have continued with me in my temptations." Satan worked on Christ for a long time. He said, "You are the ones who've been with me in my temptations," and they weren't up there in this place when He was tempted. I don't think Satan ever let Christ alone. I think he tempted Him right down until he had Him sweating great drops of blood in the garden. Satan never let up on his attack. He wanted to overthrow the Messiah, and what better time could he take than this time, perhaps. If God was gonna put him in confrontation, he'd use this time to overthrow Messiah at the beginning of His ministry. So the Holy Spirit leads Jesus Christ into conflict with Satan to prove victory.
Notice the character of the area. It says, "He was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness." Now, the wilderness is an interesting place. The Old Testament calls this area, which is down between...well, Jerusalem is a plateau and then the Dead Sea. And down on the edge of that plateau is called the Devastation, and that's this area. George Adam Smith described it this way: "It is an area of yellow sand, of crumbling limestone and of scattered shingle. It is an area of contorted strata where the ridges run in all directions as if they were warped and twisted. The hills are like dust heaps. The limestone is blistered and peeling. Rocks are bare and jagged. Often, the ground sounds hollow. It runs right to the Dead Sea, and there comes a drop of 12,000 feet down to the Dead Sea. In that wilderness," says Smith, "Jesus would be alone, more alone than anywhere else in Palestine."
But Jesus went there, first of all, to be alone because prior to His direct conflict with Satan, He was alone with God, a time for sustained prayer, a time for solitary preparation for His task, a time for communion with the Father. And you'll remember that Moses had to spend some time. Elijah had to spend some time. Paul even spent three years. These men had to spend time in preparation before God, in meditation, before they engaged in their ministries. And so does Christ. And He spends this 40 days preparing His heart before God. In His perfect humanity, He needed that. He needed time for quiet thought. He needed time to collect Himself. He needed time to brace Himself for the life that was coming, to realize the tremendous change that was on hand from the obscurity of Nazareth to the limelight of Jerusalem. It was a time of preparation.
And you know, this was His strength. He was so prepared for the conflict with Satan that by the time it came, Satan was hopeless, didn't have a chance. Jesus had spent that time with the Father as an example to us, that when we are in time with the Father, preparing ourselves for the conflict and the contention of the adversary, it is certainly ineffective. That's why the Bible says, "Watch and pray." Not only watch for Satan, but be in communion with God all the time prior to Satan's temptations. And so Jesus was.
I might add at this point just a thought that fits into this point, and that is that the greatest enemy of the Christian is spiritual unpreparedness. It's a failure to be ready for temptation. That's our greatest enemy. We're just not ready for it. We're not ready for it because we're not watching for it. And secondly, we're not praying. We're not in constant communion with God. Peter illustrates this graphically...so perfectly. Peter was just a tremendous apostle, and he loved to be where Jesus was. But when he got removed from the presence of Christ, he faltered and fell and stumbled and denied Him. And the same thing is true with us. As long as we're focusing on Jesus Christ, there's resource. But as soon as we stop praying...that is, we stop that constant communion with Him...we are vulnerable.
Now, I want you to notice the tempter. It says He was led into the wilderness to be tested by the Devil, by the Devil. Satan is real. There's no question about it. I'm sure you remember the old story of the ink stain on the wall of Martin Luther's room in the castle of Wartburg in Germany. There's a great big ink stain there, and it was caused by Luther one night was being tempted by the Devil, and he picked up his ink well and threw it at him. That's how vivid the Devil was to Martin Luther. He's a vivid adversary. He's real. He is the tempter in every case. God never tempts. No man is tempted of God. The Devil goes around doing the tempting.
So we see the place and the person. The place: the wilderness. The person: the devil. Notice the plan. Here comes the strategy. Verse 2, "And when He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, He was afterward hungry." Now, Jesus had been fasting for 40 days, and as Luke puts it in his gospel account, "When they were quite ended, He was afterward hungered." Evidently, what this means was that Jesus never even sensed hunger during those 40 days. 40 days without eating anything, and He had no hunger. You say, "How did that work?" I believe God gave Him supernatural endurance, supernatural endurance. During those 40 days, He was tempted...not just at the end of it, but during those 40 days...for both Mark and Luke say that He was tempted for 40 days. All that temptation, in the midst of His communion with the Father and His tremendous hunger, and He never sensed it. He was never conscious of it. I believe God gave Him a supernatural ability to sustain Himself without hunger.
Now, I want you to notice Satan's approach. The temptations that Satan brings Christ...and there's gonna be three of them, and I'm gonna open up some new areas of it, I hope, to you tonight. But the temptations that come could only come to Jesus Christ. They couldn't come to me or you. I would not accept the temptation to jump off the pinnacle of the temple. No way. I could not possibly accept such temptations because I can't make stones into bread, nor could I possess the kingdoms of the world. They are not temptations that are universal for all of us. But I want you to see a fantastic lesson here: Satan tempts us at the point of our own abilities. Did you get that? Well, that's important. We are tempted through our gifts. The temptation was the problem, for Jesus, the temptation was the problem of what to do with supernatural power. And so it could only come to one who was supernatural. The temptations that come to us are what to do with our gifts and our abilities. We're always tempted according to our gifts and our abilities.
For example, the person who's gifted with charm will attempt to use that charm to get what he wants. The person who's gifted with the power of words will be tempted to use his command of words to produce glib excuses to justify his conduct. The person with a vivid and sensitive imagination will undergo agonies of temptation that a more stolid person will never experience. A person with great gifts of mind and intellect will be tempted to use them for himself to become the master, not the servant, of men. And this is even true in spiritual gifts, my friends. If a person has the spiritual gift of teaching, he will be tempted to lord it over others. If a person has the spiritual gift of whatever the case may be...the spiritual gift of healing, even, in the New Testament, he would tend to exalt himself. Some of them in Corinth, evidently, had the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues, and they turned it into a joke as they made a mockery out of it. We can take the spiritual gifts that God gives us, and we will find that Satan will tempt us right at the point of our gift to misuse it, because it's the one thing we do effectively, to misuse it for our own glory.
It is always the fact...and the grim fact it is...that in temptation, it is where we are the strongest that we must forever be on the watch. Satan does not want to lessen our strength at the point of our gift. He wants to use our strength for his advantage, see. If you do something well, my friend, that's exactly what Satan wants you to do, only he wants you to do it for him.
Now, we've seen the preparation. Let's look at the temptation beginning in verse 3. "When the tempter came to Him, he said, 'If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.' But He answered and said, 'It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.'" Now, there's temptation number one, Satan gets Him. First of all, Satan says "if". He always plants that doubt. "If you are the Son of God, then do this." And the if could just as well be translated since. I mean, "If You're making these claims or since You're making these claims to be the Son of God, why don't you prove it." That's the way he always does it, sticks the doubt in there, "Oh, you better prove it. You better verify it. It might not be so." If he can create doubt, he's got a foot in the door. He tempts us to doubt. He suggests again and again to our minds that terrible if, harassing our souls with fear, the doubts of God's love, the doubts of God's revelation, the doubt that we're really saved and many other doubts.
Now, he knew that Jesus was God's Son, and Jesus knew that Jesus was God's Son, but Satan still began with a seed of doubt, and oh, he uses doubt. Then comes the temptation itself, and look it, he told Him to make bread, "Turn those stones into bread." Now, it has been said that this is a temptation of the flesh, that what really is involved here is he's saying to Christ: "You're hungry, so make some bread." Well, the only problem with that is, if that's all there is to this temptation, it's no sin. What's the sin of divine power making a little bread and eating it? There's no sin there. Nothing wrong with eating. It's not the lust of the flesh to have a little bread. There's far more to this. If the only temptation was the temptation to eat bread, then there's not even a temptation there because there's no sin involved unless of course it was gluttony, and Jesus was gonna stuff Himself with bread, which is highly unlikely.
But let me show you what Satan's saying here. You might word his temptation like this: "Jesus, did God say, 'Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased?' Did He say that? And then did God say, 'You shall not eat?' Why, that's really strange, Jesus, that God would say, 'Oh, You're my beloved Son,' and then He would deprive You of food. That's kinda strange. I mean, no loving father's gonna deprive his child of food. Why should you starve in the wilderness, Jesus? Why, you have the power as God's beloved Son to turn the stones to bread. I mean, didn't history justify it, Jesus? Didn't God give His people manna in the wilderness? Didn't God say, 'I will rain bread from heaven for you'? Did God, through Isaiah, say, 'They shall not hunger or thirst'? Didn't God feed His people by repeated miracles in the wilderness? If God did all that for His people, my, couldn't You do one little miracle and make a little bread? It seems like no big deal. Well, what would've become of God's plan for Israel?", Satan's thinking. "If they'd all died in the wilderness. God had to feed 'em, you know, gotta take care of 'em. I mean, what would become of God's plan for the Messiah if you just die out here without food. You better make some bread there, Jesus."
You see, the point of the temptation is not the feeding of the hunger. It's the suggestion that what is going on is incompatible with Jesus being the Son of God. Do you see that? Satan is saying, "If you're the Son of God, what are you doing being hungry? God has fed His people all throughout the centuries. You're out here starving, and You're the most beloved of anyone." You see, here's what Satan's trying to do...watch it, mark it down. This is a temptation to exercise personal, selfish authority to do what would satisfy His own wants. See, He felt hungry at this time. He was hungry. And this was a temptation to be selfish. Satan was saying, in effect, "You were born in a stable, but You're the Son of God. You were hurried off to Egypt for fear of Herod's wrath, but You're the Son of God. A carpenter's roof supplied You with a home in the obscurity of a despicable town in Galilee. You spent 30 years, but You are the Son of God. A voice from heaven proclaimed it in Your ears at the Jordan. You're the Son of God. Listen, Son of God, what are You doing hungry? See? You've suffered enough indignity, Son of God. If You're the Son of God, grab some satisfaction. Why linger for weeks in this desert, wandering among these wild beasts and craggy rocks, unhonored, unattended, unpitied, ready to starve for the necessities of life. Is this befitting the Son of God? Use Your authority. Make some bread."
And after the temptation, Jesus says, "It is written," - He always used the Scripture, didn't He? "It is written," - the Son of God, full of the Holy Spirit...mark it...uttered the first words of His ministry, three words. You know what they were? It is...what? Written. Isn't that what anybody's ministry ought to be. That's how He began His ministry. "It is written." That's a biblical ministry. He relied on Scriptures. What did David say? "Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee." "He answered and said, 'It is written: man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.'" What's He saying here? What's He saying here? Listen. He's pointing to the fact that food won't keep a man alive unless God says he's to live. You know that. You can eat all the bread you want, and if God says you die, you die, with or without bread. And you can eat no bread, and if God says you live, you live. Right? You don't live by bread. You live by every word that proceedeth, what? Out of the mouth of God. God determines whether you live or die, not bread. Boy, what an answer. What an answer.
Jesus was saying this: "God wills that I live. And if God wills that I live, I will live, bread or no bread." See? Tremendous truth. Jesus says this...now, here's His answer: "I will not work a miracle," - you get this - "which God has not willed in order to effect what God has willed." See? "I will not take God's control out of His hands and control my own life." That's what Jesus says. "I await my Father's divine supply. When God's ready to give me bread, I'll have all the bread I need and not until." You see, Jesus will not exercise His own will to supersede the will of God. You see it there? That's it. that's the whole key. Christ said this: "My food is to do the will of Him that sent me. I don't need bread. If God says I live, I live if I never eat another loaf." That's tremendous truth.
The lesson is simple. Philippians 4:19, "But my God shall supply all your needs." That's it. We don't need to get uptight about it, say, "Oh, God, I don't have all my needs, God. I'm gonna have to grab a little satisfaction, God. _______ getting rough out here." Jesus said, "No, my circumstances may be terrible. My life may be going down the drain." Satan comes and says, "Hey, Your life's really messed up, man. It's a sad life, lots of tragedy. Whew, it's not going good. Grab a little satisfaction. Live it up. Go over here. Mmm mmm, looks good." See? And _______ steps back and says, "No, sir, Satan. I will never supersede the will of God. He'll supply."
Oh, how many times have we been tempted to run ahead of God, huh? How many times? "God, this is what I need. I'm gonna go get it." See. "My God shall supply half of your needs," right? All of 'em. All of 'em. God's end does not justify any means. No, it doesn't do it.
The lesson in this temptation is a beautiful one, so simple. "In God's time, and in God's way, He'll supply. And it's not for me, even the Son of God, to presume on God's supply. I cannot do it. It is not my prerogative. I will live by the mouth of God, not by my own making of bread." Now, Satan'll tempt you that way. That's the lust of the flesh. Did you know that? That's exactly what it is. You know what the lust of the flesh is? "Oh, I need that. My body needs that." See? And you stop trusting the supply of God, and you grab for something that God doesn't want you to have.
Now, watch the second temptation and how he builds it on the first one. The second temptation comes in verses 5, 6 and 7. "Then the Devil taketh Him up into a holy city, Jerusalem, setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple and saith unto Him, 'If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down, for it is written: He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee, and in their hands, they shall bear Thee up lest that any time, Thou dash Thy foot against a stone.' Jesus said unto Him: 'It is written again: thou shalt not put the Lord thy God to the test.'" Oh, this is tremendous. The Devil comes back, and the Devil is sharp. He is really sharp. He's the second sharpest. He knows what he's doing. And he comes back with this very subtle approach.
Now, watch this. The Devil, once again, insinuates the doubt about Christ being the Son of God by adding the word "if" there in verse 6, though he knows it, and Christ knows it. But he says, in effect...here's what's in the Devil's thoughts, "If Christ will not prove His messiah-ship by working a miracle to save Himself from starving to death...if He won't do this Himself, maybe He'll prove His messiah-ship by letting God work a miracle." Mmm. You see the problem in the first temptation was Christ would be doing a miracle independently, right - independent of God's will. So He wouldn't do it. So Satan comes back and says, "Hey, Christ, why don't You just get God to do a miracle Himself? And see, that eliminates the problem with the first temptation, doesn't it? You don't have to do it, Jesus. All you gotta do is just, hmm, swan dive off the pinnacle, and God will do the miracle." Mmm, that's a pretty subtle temptation because it eliminates the problem with the first temptation.
But you wanna know something? This is a worse temptation. This is a worse sin. This is a terrible sin. You say, "What's the sin here?" Well, in eliminating the problem with the first temptation, you know what you've done in this case? You've put God to the test. You've said, "Okay, God, here I go. You better do it." You ever done that with God? "God, I'll give you 'til next Tuesday. God, the phone rings in the next two hours, I'll know it's Your will." You ever put God to the test? You say, "But I put out a fleece." Don't get upset about that fleece thing. That happened once. Special miracle God took care of. Not all of us can put out a fleece. Listen, you don't...that's called presuming on God. "God, I got myself into this mess. Now, get me out."
You see, Jesus would be tempting God. He would be putting Himself in a position where God had to get Him out of there, and that is the gross kind of sin. As the psalmist prayed, "Lord, keep me back from presumptuous sins." Don't ever test God. Don't ever test God. This is the sin of presuming on God. Don't ever push God into a corner and say, "Now, God, you've gotta get me out of this." Don't tempt God. So many times as Christians, we do that. We go some place where we don't have any business being. You say, "Well, I'm here God. Could you get me out of this mess." See? What are you doing there in the first place? Or, "God, I've really been going down the drain. Here I am down here at the bottom level of the drain. God, will you get me out of here?" Well, what are you doing down there to start with? You're doubly sinning, not only in the sin but in the presumption that you put yourself in that place willingly and then with the thing in mind, "Well, God will get me out of this." Don't presume on God. God is not your utilitarian genie.
There's another thought here too. This temptation is not only presuming on God, but it's taking the easy road to success. I mean, let's face it. A prodigious sign like, you know, diving off the pinnacle of the temple and just coming to a nice soft landing on your feet carried down by angels would...you know, I mean, that would do it. You know, the whole town would say, "Ooh, ooh, that's the Messiah." There wouldn't be any doubt about that. Because, you see, the Jewish people knew that Malachi said, "The Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to His temple." And you can just imagine, you know, they knew Malachi's prophesy, and there He comes, see.
And all these false Messiahs promised to do that. Theutusled the people out, and he was gonna do a great miracle. He was gonna split the Jordan. He led the whole population of Jerusalem out and made a great motion to split the Jordan, but it didn't split...obviously. Then the famous Egyptian pretender in Acts, chapter 21, I think it is, promised with a word that he'd lay flat the walls of Jerusalem. That didn't work either. Simon Maguspromised to dive off the pinnacle of the temple. He did, and there was nothing wrong with the dive, but the landing messed him all up.
But you see, Jesus could have come off the pinnacle of that temple, and He would have been immediately accepted. But you wanna know something? Now, listen to this...He didn't come to be accepted. He came for one reason - to die. He came to be rejected. You read Isaiah 53. He came to be rejected. He didn't come for a popularity contest. He came to be killed. So if he'd had fallen into this temptation, He would have bypassed the cross. He would have sinned in perverting the reason of His coming. Public acceptance would have been what He was after, and that's not the case.
You know, whenever you attract a crowd with sensations, all you get is a sensation-seeking crowd, and you gotta have a bigger one tomorrow, or you can't keep 'em. His followers would have been lovers of sensation and not lovers of God. Remember in John 6:26, when the multitude followed Him across the Sea of Galilee, they all came running up, and Jesus said to them, "You seek Me because you want the food."
You don't use God's power to test God. Oh, no. There's no point, my friends, in seeing how far you can go with God, no point at all. There's no reason to put yourself deliberately in some threatening situation, do it recklessly and needlessly and expect God to rescue you from it. That's tempting God. God expect the Son of Man, and God expects you and I to take risks for Him, but He doesn't expect us to take risks just to enhance our own prestige. Faith which depends on signs and sensations isn't faith at all. If you can't believe without sensations...if you can't just trust God without putting yourselves in strange positions and then begging God to get you out, then you don't understand what faith is. Faith that doesn't believe without sensations isn't faith; it's doubt looking for proof and looking in the wrong place. So Jesus refused the way of sensation, and He refused to put God on the spot. He refused to say, "God, if you don't act by this in this way and this way and that way, I'm not gonna believe You." He would not do that. He didn't want to pervert the plan of God and didn't want to tempt God.
Satan tried a third temptation, verses 8 and 9. "Then the Devil taketh Him up into an exceedingly high mountain and showeth Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them and saith unto Him, 'All these things will I give Thee if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.'" Now, asJesus came to save the world. That's right. Didn't God say in Psalm 2:8, "Ask of me and I will give Thee the heathen for Thy inheritance and the uttermost part of the earth for Thy possession"? Didn't He say that to His Son? Didn't God say, "I'll give You the world"? Came for the world. Satan says, "I'll give You the world. Here it is. You want the world? See it all? You can have it." "What do I have to do to get it?" "Bow down to me."
You see, that's getting the right end but the wrong way. That's called compromise. Compromise. Satan says, "Come to terms with me, and I'll give you the same thing you're looking for anyway." Oh, boy, compromise. Satan tempts to compromise so often. So many Christians compromise, flirting with Satan and flirting with the world and entertaining the world and the world's attitudes and the world's desires and the world's objects. "Come to terms with me," Satan says, "and I'll give you what you want. Don't put your demands so high. Wink a little bit at evil and questionable things. You know, lots of people are doing 'em." The temptation was to advance by retreating, to change the world by becoming like the world, and it doesn't work.
Satan is saying to Jesus, in effect, "Look, why fight it all Your life. Why don't You have me as an ally?" See? A triumphant progress to supreme earthly power and such glory as no Jew or Gentile ever dreamed of could have been Jesus that day. All He would have had to do was bow to Satan, and He wouldn't do it, of course because God only should be worshipped. Verse 10, "Then saith Jesus unto him, 'Be gone, Satan. Get out of here. For it is written: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.'" Jesus wouldn't take any shortcut to the kingdom, not at all.
And I'll tell you, friends, Satan will tempt you to shortcut. He'll tempt you so often that way. He'll tempt you to bypass the consistent Christian life to get something that you don't need until God's good time and God's good way to give it to you. There's no shortcut to God's will.
Just wrapping up our thoughts: Jesus experienced the ultimate in temptation, and I wanna show you why. Satan tempts us until we yield. You know that. He just keeps tempting and tempting and tempting until we finally collapse. Now, watch this. Jesus never yielded. You know what that means? That means because He never yielded, He took all the temptation that Satan could possibly give. Satan kept tempting; He never yielded. You see, as soon as you yield, the temptation stops, right? Because Jesus never yielded, He took all the temptation that was possible to give. He took every bit of it. He had the ultimate in temptation. He declared His trust in God and said, "God will not let me starve. I don't need to make bread."
The evil one then suggested, "You show Your trust in a stronger way. You trust God; oh, that's terrific. Show how much you trust Him by diving off here," and the Lord says, "I will not put God to the test. I already trust Him. I don't need to test Him." Do you get that? Any Christian that comes along and says, "Well, God, You gotta prove Yourself by next Thursday or this by two hours by now or You gotta show me this or something's gotta fall out of the sky or let the phone ring or have a card come in the mail or this...", you're just putting God to the test and indicating you don't believe.
And then the evil one comes and says, "Well, why don't You just align with me, and You won't have to fight it?" And Jesus says, "No, I'll worship God, and I'll face the peril of death." He refuses an alliance with Satan, chooses obedience and loyalty to God, whatever the cost may be.
Now, what are the lessons for us here? Three lessons. Number one, Satan tempted Christ, and He'll tempt you - watch it - to distrust the providential care of God. Did you get that? He'll tempt you to distrust the providential care of God and make you think you've gotta get it all in yourself, provide for yourself, make sure you got it all in control, to distrust the providential care of God. God'll take care of you. He promised. How stupid to take up your own problems. How stupid to become neurotic. Every time I get an ad comes on my desk, and it has on it, "Christian Counseling Clinic," I say, "No, that's not right." It oughta be called the "Doubters Counseling Clinic" because if you trust God, what are you gonna worry about? Satan will tempt you to distrust the providential care of God.
Second thing he'll tempt you to do - get this - he will tempt you to presume on God. Presumption or wanton appeal to promised safety. I always think of the illustration of 1 Samuel 4. Remember the children of Israel fighting the Philistines, a big war, conflict. Israel was losing, hadn't paid attention to God in years. But they were losing badly. You know what happens when you really get into a bad thing, and you start losing, all the sudden you think about God. "Whoa, we've gotta get God? somebody...where's God? God's over there in Shiloh where the Ark is. Oh, go get God." They run back to get the Ark, run out, the Ark is here, "Hooray, hooray," and everybody's yelling, "Hooray, hooray, hooray." Guess what happened? The Philistines stole the Ark. God doesn't operate like that, see. God does not operate like that. You do not presume on God. God wrote one word over Israel in that chapter, and that word was Ichabod, and that means "the glory has departed." God says, "I'm not there anymore, folks. Sorry. I'm gone."
The third thing Satan's gonna tempt you to do is this - listen to it. Satan will tempt you to ambition and to fulfill that ambition in his way, not God's way. Remember James and John sent their mother to Jesus. Real, mmm, men's men. "Mother, would you go ask Jesus if we could be if we could be on each side of Him in the Kingdom?" So mother comes to Jesus, says, "Can my boys on each side of the Kingdom...each side of You in the Kingdom?" Jesus says, "Do you think they could bear what I'm gonna bear?" You see, that wasn't the way to get the goal. Jesus said, "He that is least among you shall be greatest in the Kingdom." You don't seek the elevated position. God's way is to be humble.
Judas...Judas wanted the Kingdom. He wanted to be part of the Kingdom, only he went the wrong way. He went Satan's way to get what he thought he wanted. If he'd done it God's way, he would have inherited the Kingdom forever, wouldn't he? Instead, the Bible says he hanged himself. The rope broke, and he dashed his body against the rocks below, and he went to his own place. That's hell.
And so Satan will tempt you to distrust the providential care of God. He will tempt you to presume on God, and he will tempt you to ambition to fulfill it in his way, not God's way. Isn't it easy to do that? Even good things, like wanting to be a success in the ministry, and Satan will try to get you to do it your own way with your own ideas and your own message, bypassing the faithful ministry of the Word of God and the things that the Spirit leads.
Well, in this kind of temptation, to whom do we turn? We're gonna get this temptation. We get it everyday. Well, where do we go? We go to Jesus Christ, whom on all points was tempted like as we are, yet was without sin. And as long as we keep our eyes on Him, we know He's got the victory for us. Get your eyes off the things of the world. Keep 'em on Jesus Christ. You say, "We can't go through the world with blinders on." Oh, yes you can. You don't need to stand around drooling at the world's entertainments, the world's baubles, the things that Satan dangles in front of your eyes, then wondering why you fall.
Well, we see the preparation and the temptation. Look at the triumph, very quickly, verse 10: "And said Jesus unto him, 'Be gone, Satan.'" Boy, who was in control of this one? "Be gone, Satan." Remember another time, He said, "Get thee behind me, Satan." He had pretty good control over Satan. "For it is written: thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. Get out." Oh, I like it. Remember, Romans chapter 16 tells us that for the believer, you know where Satan is? The Bible says in Romans 16, he's under your feet. I don't know what that does to you, but it makes me wanna go stomp about ten times every minute. Whenever Satan gets on me...I kinda have practical about that. Whenever Satan gets going on me, I just get out of my chair and start stomping on the floor. Take that. And I say, with Jesus Christ, "Be gone, Satan. Get out."
May I add this thought? Jesus and Satan don't occupy the same heart at the same time. You know that? If your heart and mind is filled with the presence of Jesus Christ, there's no room for Satan there. See, that's why the Christian life boils down to that: Christ-consciousness, keeping your eyes on Him, focusing on Him, thinking about Him. You say, "Can you do that all the time?" No, you just do it one moment at a time. That's all. That's all. When my wife says to me, "Do you love me?" She doesn't want me to say, "I don't know. Hit me in five years." No, she wants to be loved right now. God doesn't want you to say, "Some day, God, I'm gonna..." No, right now, right now, right now. Your whole life is lived now. When I got married, went down the aisle, "Do you promise to love this woman 'til death do you part?" I mean, I could say I promise, but I don't know. I might not like her in two weeks. I haven't even lived with her. So I thought to myself, "Well, I can't love her forever 'cause I...I don't know. I just love her right now." You know what, that now is still going on, and it's better than it ever was. And you know, she doesn't wanna be loved in the past or the future. She wants to be loved now. And the Christian life is practice the presence of Jesus Christ. When? Yesterday? No. Tomorrow? No. What? Now. Now. Set your mind on Him right now. That's all. Keep your eyes on the Master. And you can say with Him, "Be gone, Satan. Be gone."
Oh, and then I love verse 11. Oh, this is so good. "Then the Devil leaveth Him." What else could he do? And watch this: "And behold, angels came and ministered unto Him." See, what did they have? Bread. Lots of bread and other delicious things. And they must have cared for His physical needs and just gave Him rest and comfort. Listen, don't worry about God taking care of you, brother. If you can just bypass the temptation, in God's good time, He'll minister to you, every need you have in this world. So Jesus dismisses Satan. He's defeated but not destroyed. He'll be back. He'll be back. And the Word of God says, "The angels came, and they ministered to Him." Listen, God takes care of His own. In God's good time, every need of Jesus was met. And so will yours be, won't they. All in God's good time. Don't presume on Him. Don't distrust His providential care. And don't try to get there your own way or Satan's way. Just wait. Trust Him. He'll bring it to pass.
Jesus Christ was then exalted and lifted on high. At the end of His ministry, all the temptations ceased, and someday that will happen to us. We'll be exalted to be with Christ, and all temptation will pass away.
Now, remember this passage, and remember this: this is Jesus' spiritual biography. You know how we know about this passage? Jesus must have told Matthew and Mark and Luke. He must have told them His personal conflict with Satan. Nobody else was there, were they? This is Jesus' spiritual biography. He was laying bare the inmost attitudes of His heart. And Jesus was saying, "I've been there. I've been there. And I can take you, in the midst of your temptation, and I can help you because I've been there." Jesus draws the veil back from His own struggle, that we may see Him in His glory and that we may join in His victory over temptation.
Watch, your eye on Satan. Pray, constant communion with God, never ceasing, the presence of Jesus Christ pervading my thoughts. That is how to overcome temptation. You say, "Well, I can't seem to keep Jesus in my thoughts. I can't think about that all the time. I mean, I...how do you keep it in your mind?" I'll tell you how. You see this book? You hide it in your heart. You know something, the more you read this, the more it's running around in your brains, you know that. You know, I have just realized this in the last few years of my ministry. Just about 24 hours a day, my brain is jammed with biblical truth. It's running around in there all the time. And I praise God for it because the hardest times that I have as a believer is when I go on vacation, both days. And I just have to get away from the Word, and other thoughts start coming into my mind that Satan can use to begin to apply temptation. And I am driven back to the Word of God to begin to read it, that God's thoughts might be in my mind.
Listen, folks, you start the day with something of God's book. Get some of God's thoughts in your mind. Then go out to meet the adversary. Makes all the difference in the world. A believer's watchfulness is like a soldier. A soldier's on the sentinel, let's say, and he's outside, and he's watching the enemy, see. The enemy's coming toward the fort. What does the guard do? Does he stand out there and fight the whole army? Not if he's smart, he doesn't. He runs inside and reports to the commanding officer. You know what a Christian does? The same thing. That's what I've learned to do. "Hey, Lord, here he comes again. Get him." See? "I can't do it, Lord. I can't do it. But You can." I'm gonna get in on it if I can. Watch. As soon as you see him coming, "Lord." Watch and pray. See? "God, here comes the adversary." So the Christian doesn't attempt to fight temptation in his own strength. His watchfulness is an observing the approach of the enemy and reporting to the commander. That's prayer. And He can give the victory, can't He? Let's watch, and let's pray.
And then James adds this, "Resist the Devil...", if you've gotten to him, and you've resisted him, "and he will...", what, "flee from you."
This sermon series includes the following messages:
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This imposing ceramic table lamp by Alan Wanzenberg for Remains Lighting has the historic look of a hammered milk pail, pulled into the modern world with hand-applied glaze, sharp metal details, and a fine handcrafted handkerchief linen shade.
Overall: 32" h.
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[quote user="Kase-1"][quote user="DavenIII"][quote user="Kase-1"] Let me preface this with, you and MH may call me a bleeding heart liberal, but I think Ron Paul is hands down the most competent republican candidate out there, its really a shame how he's almost treated like the black sheep by the media, its wierd.
Romney will never win presidency, he's got the Tony Romo disease, he folds under pressure
I Agree with much of what RP says but, even more important, I KNOW he means what he says...he understands all the implications and consequences and has accepted them and is solidified in his positions....and that's almost as important to me as the positions themselves.
the only hitch I get is that I am Jewish and I do have an interest in the welfare of Israel, and he'd straight up leave em hanging no doubt in my mind that's what he'd do, but on the other hand...it is a possibility that that would be good for Israel, I think we do probably make their job more difficult by placing limitations on what they can and can't do.
[/quote]One of my buddies is a die hard conservative and he showed me some stuff on RP and a few interviews and he's far and beyond all of those other clowns out there on the right. Its seems like he actually has a head on his shoulders and believes what he says, rather than just spewing garbage and blind conservative nonsense like many of the candidates
....Then again take what I say with a grain of salt, Im firmly on the left, LOL
Ron Paul is not a conservative. He's a Libertarian. Now we can use some good Libertarian ideas these days (smaller government, reform of SS and Medicare and a smaller military footprint abroad), but a purist Libertarian is not what we need.</P>


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Discussion in 'Pistons and NBA' started by markie8002000, Jun 2, 2009.
I hope its head fakes. Lately he has mainly been walking into the punches.
I would like to see Amir move too just because on how he hasn't lived up to all his potential. I mean we can't sitting around to see if dude is going to pan out. The Darko pick, picking up inconsistent bench players, and bad coaches have set us back 2 more titles.
I'd agree, except that Joe hasn't really shown much acumen in judging how much a player is worth. See Nazr, JMax, Kwame, and Amir. No matter who Joe signs, I bet Joe overpays. Wouldn't be surprised if he does an Otis Smith and offers Boozer the Max, when no one else is even close.
Not one of them got more than a league average salary. He convinced Billups, Rip and Tay to all take modest deals. I don't agree. If there is one thing Joe is good at, it is not paying anyone a lot of money.
Okay Trade...but now with OKC unless Joe gets someone like Jeff Green. (I'm aware Kevin Durant is untouchable.) I'm guessing he wants Marvin Williams to trade Tay. If I'm Chris Paul + Deron Williams. I'm kicking myself.
Good points. Which is exactly the direction JD will take. You can bet, one trade has all ready gone down.
This is my main concern with JD. When things are drawn out, he panics. He should have two solid deals done by the end of July. With this, he builds upon his strengths. This time around, JD will have a comfort zone of like minded GM's in high panic mode. Since he will be a major player, longer time frames work against him when applied as a strategic partner. Put serious offers out there in the beginning and then shake everything loose by getting a quick deal done first. It can be a little one, but it starts the herd effect.
You can put Sheed in there as well and when Ben wouldn't take the modest salary he was gone. If anything, Joe is more willing to overpay modest talent than actual talent.
Or judging coaches skills~~ see Saunders and Curry With that being said, I am still worried that whomever Joe brings in, Curry will not utilize them properly anyway....
At the time of the signing I thought Sheed's contract was quite reasonable. He had come in months ealier and we won the championship. He was also arguably the most talented guy we had on the team. I think Ben's contract offer had more to do with compensating for his past achievements as much as how much he was going to provide in the future. Maybe not the best way to pay a guy, but he didn't end up taking the contract so it didn't really hurt the team. I've always thought Joe handed out reasonable contracts for modest talent. Still always modest talent though.
We shouldn't even talk to Oklahoma City if Kevin Durant isn't in the discussion.
I totally agree. It's like cooking your Thanksgiving Turkey just short of being done, and then throwing it away because one person in the house says they're a vegetarian. Amir has a minimal contract, and we've worked with him for the past 3 years, lets ride him out for the final year of his contract and maybe he will learn to stay on the ground and stand straight up!
By the way, did anyone here see Birdman playing fundamentally sound bball? He leaves his feet and goes for the block every single time. He has no jumpshot, no post moves, and doesn't really box out. Yet he is highly effective. The only differences that I can see between him and Amir is that birdman gets more respect from the refs... and draws more attention to himself by having a funny haircut and flapping his wings.
Seems like Amir is just as skilled (or more) than birdman. I suppose CA's status as a fan favorite helps him get some calls, while Amir has the reputation of smelling like kitty litter which probably doesn't help.
Maybe the refs are more dog people than cat people.
Separate names with a comma.


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Charles P. Smith (Brent Askari) is in trouble. He has, according to his own closest advisor (Mark Rubin), "fucked up everything he's touched." The chair of his party has cut off funding, the election is but two days away, and his wife is going to go batshit when she learns that there's barely five grand in his Presidential Library fund. But might there still be a chance for Charlie to see the democratic light, to forswear his own petty and profane self-interest, even as turkeys-to-be-pardoned wait in the anteroom to smell his hand? This play might sound like a Frank Capra film, if not for the dazzling ubiquity of the word "fuck." So, no: it's David Mamet's madcap November, a breezily glib election-year comedy, and under the direction of Christine Louise Marshall, it's the first production staged by Mad Horse Theatre in its new home in South Portland.
The new theater, following relocating from the former Lucid Stage, is in the front room of Mad Horse's rehearsal space, the Hutchins School, and it is cozy and intimate. For November, it's arranged as Charlie's Oval Office, richly appointed in dark wood, with a fireplace and orchids at the north end of the theater, his desk to the south, and audience arrayed in rows to the east and west, facing the stage and each other. It's a promising space for Mad Horse's future, even given a support pole in front of each audience section: these at first seem regrettable, but are so ably circumvented by Marshall's blocking that they recede by the time Askari has spat his first few expletives.
Mamet's script includes many more of them, and it manages to be all-inclusive in its insults; Charlie needles Iran one minute, and the next addresses a memorable quip to the Israelis: "Listen, you people got along without a country for two thousand years," he sneers into the phone. "You're gonna be fine." As Charlie barks at and demeans everyone around him with creative panache, the excellent Askari is in prime form: I don't know another actor who could so pace Mamet's indefatigable derision and spleen. His Charlie torments with particular gusto the poor Representative of the National Association on Turkey and Turkey By-Product Manufacturers, who in Burke Brimmer's capable hands is pale, earnest, and brilliantly uncomfortable; he smiles and swallows as if interactions with Charlie continuously bring fresh bile into his mouth.
The show adopts the tropes of the classic screwball film comedies, and nowhere is that golden age movie ethos more consummate than in Lisa Van Oosterum's marvelous Clarice Bernstein, Charlie's long-suffering speechwriter and, with her partner Daisey, new mother of an adopted child from China. Van Oosterum has the verve, intelligence, and stick-to-it-ive-ness of the quintessential Girl Friday. Her character's clarity and integrity are never diminished by the over-the-top hijinks and caricatures into which Mamet's script devolves (including an appearance by James Herrera's gleefully ham-handed Navajo chief), which it does at the expense of the some of its more genuine feeling, social relevance, and currents of real-life politics and the electorate.
Ultimately, Charlie does, in true classic comedy style, come around, and it's perhaps appropriate that it comes about as a result of looking out for number one, in a sort of twisted take on Tocqueville's "self-interest rightly understood." It's a plewasure and relief when Askari's Charlie finally brings his act and his ego down to earth, and takes honest looks both at the other guy (or gal) and at himself.
NOVEMBER | by David Mamet | Directed by Christine Louise Marshall | Produced by Mad Horse Theatre, in South Portland | through October 28 | madhorse.com
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My top 5:
1) Mingo
2) Ansah (very little chance)
3) Rhodes
4) trade back (Carradine, Arthur brown, Trufant, etc..) (possible teams: falcons, 49ers)
5) I'm warming up to the idea of Warmack or Cooper if we can't trade back. In this draft with the lack of elite talent, it might be the right time to take a G. Wouldn't be crazy about it but I wouldn't hate the pick. Flukers pass protection scares me this high in the draft. Admittedly, I haven't watched many videos of him, just going by what I hear.
If Richardson was available I'd think about that as well. Although maybe someone would be willing to trade up for him.
Last edited by DarceChoke; 04-18-2013 at 12:01 PM.
But that's the beauty and the emotion that goes thru the moment. Waiting until the last moment to field calls, hearing out trade value and what teams are willing to " overtrade "or " overpaid " to move up.
" Success is never final, but failure can be " B.P.
Ogletree would be nice, and a reasonable expectation @ 19
Ziggy would be great but will be long gone, not worth trading up for
or if our guy any guy in a position of need, a true stud not there trade down get more picks IE: ATL
Last edited by stormin normand; 04-18-2013 at 01:32 PM.


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Brainfeeder is a musical collective and record label based in California, USA. Its output is generally innovative music based in hip-hop and electronica, though often avoiding precise pigeon-holing. Flying Lotus is generally considered to be the group's leader. The Brainfeeder sound is associated with the terms wonky, glitch and glitch-hop, though it is often simply referred to as beat music or just beats.
Artists associated with Brainfeeder include Flying Lotus, Gonjasufi, The Gaslamp Killer, Tokimonsta, Ras G, Lorn, Teebs, Samiyam, Daedelus and Mono/Poly.
by backpacker_x2 March 07, 2011


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Right now there are thousands of singles in Coachella Valley waiting to meet you. And Loveaccess.com makes it easy to introduce yourself with their full featured, online dating website designed for your busy lifestyle.
Start today with a quick search of singles in your city by using the search box below. Sign up is quick and free - Join Today


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A Neighborhood Success Story
Avondale/Glen Elder Neighborhood leaders will discuss grassroots effort to stop building of a natural gas storage facility under their homes, shops and schools. The community prevailed against powerful corporate interests. See www.walkingongas.com [2] for more on the story. A group discussion will end their presentation. As always, our community events are free and open to the public.


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Nokia Astound C7-00 Chargers
Purchase an extra Nokia Astound C7-00 charger to bring along with you to your destinations! If you are the type of person to travel a lot, and you are afraid of always forgetting your charger, a Nokia Astound C7-00 charger is the perfect companion for you on your trips! Travel Nokia Astound C7-00 chargers at AccessoryGeeks are compact, and they will not take up much space in your luggage. By having a travel Nokia Astound C7-00 charger always stored in your luggage, you will have one less thing on your check list! Have you ever been stuck in traffic? Being stuck in traffic is a hassle, and your thoughts often wander to what you could be doing if you weren't stuck in traffic. With the Nokia Astound C7-00 car charger, you can be accomplishing something productive, rather than just idly sitting there becoming aggravated with your current situation. You can charge your cell phone and relieve yourself of the stress of having a cell phone on low battery! You could be stuck in traffic and have an important meeting to attend to. If this is ever the case, and your cell phone is about to run out of batteries, you can simply charge your cell phone in with the Nokia Astound C7-00 car charger, and have a conference call. You don't have to miss that vital meeting! Do you often spend nights at another place? The Geeks at AccessoryGeeks know you are not always in your home, and you might at times spend time at another place. How discerning is it to reach wherever you are going to find out you had forgotten your cell phone charger? By purchasing an extra Nokia Astound C7-00 charger, you can avoid having to deal with no cell phone usage because you had simply forgotten your charger. If you often spend the evening at another location, the additional Nokia Astound C7-00 charger can be left there. window.setTimeout('custom_collapse();', 0) Sometimes the charger you have isn't holding up anymore. It happens; you could have had a pet who chewed up your cell phone charger. The Nokia Astound C7-00 Astound C7-00 chargers at AccessoryGeeks are good quality and can be trusted. It couldn't hurt to always have an added Nokia Astound C7-00 charger with you. It's better than risk having your cell phone die on you because you will never know when your cell phone is needed the most! With AccessoryGeeks competitive prices and free shipping, you don't ever have to take that risk again!
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MissionTo train community member around the State to ensure the health and safety of friends and family by integrating into Radiation Protection Services operations at a community collection point. Population MonitoringPopulation monitoring is a fast and efficient operation for potential contamination detection of community members and dissemination of valuable radiation information after a radiological event.
A Collection Point is a controlled access area set-up in a community expressly for post-event radiological operations. About the Public Health Radiation Response Volunteer CorpsAs a volunteer radiation professional, you can help protect the health and safety of Oregonians during a disaster.
Oregon is a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Agreement State responsible for public health and safety through regulating the use of radioactive materials. While the national Response Framework has identified population monitoring as a local and State responsibility, our funding sources are limited and must be dedicated to the inspection and licensing of radiation facilities to protect public safety.
In the event of a major radiological incident, RPS and other local radiation response resources would be quickly overwhelmed by the large number of citizens needing evaluation for contamination.
Funds from a grant by the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors Inc., (CRCPD) are now being directed to supplement our resources through the use of local volunteer radiation professionals and Oregon AmeriCorps VISTA//Medical Reserve Corps who could provide assistance at community reception centers, shelter for displaced populations, emergency operations centers, hospitals, and communication facilities.
Support local public health initiatives, while advancing the priorities of Oregon's Radiation Protection Services (RPS):
Assist local hospitals and health departments with surge personnel needs
Participate in community preparedness activities, such a exercises for radiation monitoring, shelters, mass prophylaxis, vaccination clinics, and other emergency scenarios.
Train with local emergency response partners
Radiation professionals who wish to volunteer in the event of a large-scale health care emergency or mass casualty event.
Submit your request to Sudhir Oberoi, email email@example.com or mail:
Radiation Protection Services800 NE Oregon Street, Suite 640Portland, OR 97232
Include the following information:NamePhone NumberAddressEmailOccupationAvailability
* Registering does NOT obligate you to respond during any given emergency
Promoting health and preventing the leading causes of death, disease and injury in Oregon.


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Have you ever purchased from PartSelect.com before?
Thank you for helping make our site better.
Below is a list of all parts for the Hoover Range 4755. To find the repair part you need, you can browse the list below or you can narrow your choices by searching for a part by name or description.
This screw is sold individually.
Sold individually. Lock washers are used with screws when vibration from an appliance may cause the screw to loosen. Lock washers are also used in the electrical components of an appliance to ensure an electrical connection is not lost.
This jar is a little over five inches long. It is made of glass and is used for collecting the grease drippings of gas ranges.
All brand logos are trademarks of their respective owners.
The PartSelect logo is a Registered Trademark of Atlantic Laundry Centres, Ltd.
Copyright © 1999-2017 , Eldis Group Partnership. All rights reserved.


text: Need to sell my truck -- spouse has health issues forces the sale It's a 2008 Silverado Ext. Cab 2wd -- 17900 miles 5.3L v8 w/D.O.D Automatic with tow package and trans. cooler Power windows/locks/mirrors Cruise MP3/CD and XM Radio Onstar Black with black/gray interior Tinted windows WT Package with upgrade front seat with fold down arm rest Bedliner Chrome factory grille -- also comes with original black grille Has two inch lowering shackles (have factory shackles also) Excellent condition Price -- $19900 or make offer WILL POST PICS LATER TONIGHT OR WEDNESDAY


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Passion Passport
An entire world is waiting for you out there. Are you ready to discover it?
May 16, 2017
Aiming to elevate the conversation from talking about things to talking about experiences. Driven by a community of storytellers, photographers and explorers united by the transformative power of travel.
© Passion Passport 2017. All Rights Reserved.


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I've a garden that I try not to water too often, if it is really hot and dry then I will water 2 or 3 times a week, but other than that, I let them be. They grow well, but there are a lot of fungal diseases that occur, at least partly because the plot has been used as a garden for many years, and I can't move it.
Primarily tomato blight and powdery mildew on the cucurbits. I know that the blight is from splashing, and plastic under the tomatoes has gone a long way to controlling that. Other than spraying, I don't know what can be done about the mildew on the pumkins.
Then I visited my sister's garden, and everything that she had there was almost 2x the size (not necessaryily 2x productive, but more so than mine). She has automatic watering which she has water for 20 minutes 2x a day (40 minutes per day total). No visual signs of disease, she also has a spot not used before for a garden.
I was thinking that that much water would cause the funguses to spread since they like it moist, but then I thought that more water would result in stronger plants which could fight it off better.
Would I be better off watering more often (as in automatic) or would this cause more problems than it would solve?


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From the schism between Rome and Constantinople to the rise of the T'ang Dynasty, from the birth of Muhammad to the crowning of Charlemagne, this erudite book tells the fascinating, often violent story of kings, generals, and the peoples they ruled. In her earlier work, The History of the Ancient World, Susan Wise Bauer wrote of the rise of kingship based on might. But in the years between the fourth and the 12th centuries, rulers had to find new justification for their power, and they turned to divine truth or grace to justify political and military action. Right thus replaces might as the engine of empire. Not just Christianity and Islam but the religions of the Persians and the Germans, and even Buddhism, are pressed into the service of the state. This phenomenon---stretching from the Americas all the way to Japan---changes religion, but it also changes the state.
©2010 Susan Wise Bauer (P)2010 Tantor
"[A] witty and well-written examination of world history...that is rich in detail and intriguing in anecdotal information." (Publishers Weekly)
Say something about yourself!
"The First Half of the Medieval World"
The sequel to this book is The History of the Renaissance World, which picks up where this one leaves off and stops right before the actual Renaissance. To my mind then, this book is only the first half of the Medieval world story. That irks me, seeing as how the Renaissance story is not actually told in this series. And that's too bad because like the previous volume dealing with the Ancient World, this volume is pretty freaking spectacular in terms of scope and depth. It says something when the worst I can say about a series is that I want more.
As with the Ancient World volume, this book covers every corner of the globe: every continent (except Antarctica), both hemispheres. Every major culture from the Mayans to the Chinese and everything in between are put on the timeline for comparison and contrast in the course of civilization's rise and fall. It's the kind of eye-opening overview presented in a way that really should be taught in schools, where focus is not on any one given civilization, but rather on parallel development between cultures. As different as the cultures are, the underlying patterns of humanity are revealed, showing that, regardless of where on the map we spring up, we're all capable of some amazing and equally devastating things.
"A great place to continue--a tough place to start."
The book does an excellent job of connecting world events together, instead of focusing on one specific land/nation/continent. That said, that is a monumental task and a listener can easily get overwhelmed by such a perspective--especially when
As an American of Western European stock, I found it useful to hear about the developments on the Korean Peninsula--as that drama continues to play out today.
No--one chapter at a time. The listener needs time to absorb the content of this book
This is one of the few audio books I have downloaded where I fully intend to listen to it--not one more time--but two more times. The topic is that heavy.
Historys Hammer
"An Excellent Overview"
This book is an excellent overview of the transition from the old Roman and Persian world of late Antiquity into the the Feudal/Crusader period. It also provides the reader with much information on the Orient/Indian/North American civilizations and their highs and lows. It is really quit fascinating how much the history of nearly all peoples is linked. For every action there is a consequence, a ripple effect that may not affect the peoples performing said actions, but can cause mass chaos half a world away.
While this book by no means goes into any great depth on a particular people, it provides the reader with a great stepping stone for further investigations into history. As a Christian, I particularly enjoyed the look into the founding of Islam and the conquests following the death of Muhammad, a subject slightly difficult to find in audio format.
John Lee is a fine narrator, one of my favorite voices, and he really brings this book to life. He certainly is not monotone in his reading, as one reviewer suggests. I find that his pronunciations are spot on; he clearly has much knowledge of history himself.
So if you are interested in Medieval history but do not know where to start, this book will provide you with an excellent overview of the subject and act as a stepping stone into further reading.
This book has a very balanced treatment to middle age by presenting political history of Western Europe, Americas, India, China, Japan, Byzantine, Islam and Turks, and because the focus is on political history, it's infinitely readable and interesting. We however get no social history, no great thinkers, no technology, no class analysis only time they were mentioned was if they have tangent with political narrative.
Also the decision to end the book at First Crusade, (1096-1099) seem entirely arbitrary.
Miss Construed
"My Kind of History Book"
Bauer's book is a narrative of medieval history. It covers facts without a lot of fluff. I like how it travels the globe to give you an idea of what is going on all over during a time period. I learned a lot about Indian and Korean history which I'd never encountered and was able to line up events on different continents and see the relationships. Well worth the credit.
"Worth a Listen for the Details and Narrator"
This book is a detailed account if medieval history throughout the world. A valid criticism is that it does tend to be a list of people, events, and dates, exactly what some people don't like history to be. In spite of that, I found it to be incredibly interesting and useful, giving a fantastic review of all the important (and some not-so-important) things that happened in this period.I especially like the way it includes what was happening in China, Japan, India, and the Near East during this period, interweaving this with the events of Medieval Europe that most books limit themselves to.If nothing else, it's worth listening to if only to hear the narrator seamlessly switch from jaw-dropping pronunciations of Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Scandinavian, Persian, Arab, Frankish, Germanic, Spanish, Greek, Anglo-Saxon, Italian, and other place names and person names. I don't know if he's pronouncing the all correctly, but it sure sounds like he is.
The book starts rather abruptly, but that wasn't a huge obstacle to becoming absorbed in it. Of necessity, it gives only summaries of large periods of time, but it discusses pretty much the whole world. There is quite a lot of discussion of Asian history at this period, including what are now Japan, the Koreas, China and India, so it's not just a book about Europe.
"A tough one to get through"
I tried. I really tried with this one. I think the idea of the author is a good one, but without enough personalized accounts or a contiguous narrative, this book just becomes the thing that everyone who hates history dreads: a long list of events, dates, names and places that have no coherent connection.
One strategy to get through this book is to just listen to the different segments based on the civilizations followed. For instance, just listen to the segments about Rome and the West, then go back and listen to the segments about China and Korea and then finish up with the segments about India. It does make it easier but still, since there's very little meat presented to hang on the historical bones of events, the book is still not much fun to follow.
"Well-written cross-continental coverage but..."
Well written, grand panoramic sweep of world history during the Medieval period.
Too narrow a focus on the military exploits and schemings of kings and wannabe kings.
I had no idea how much murder and destruction man could bring about. Why do men lead ? It's scary how much of history is filled with men willing to destroy and murder to get to the top. Save us from men with aggressive personal.agendas. Money and Power are the roots of our own destruction. The only saving grace is that they are mortal. and with luck, sterile. The information in this book is relevant to what is happening in our country today.
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Image Library
The images found in this library are available free of charge for journalists to use in editorial coverage of travel and tourism in Virginia. Advertising, commercial and any other use not related to the promotion of tourism in Virginia is prohibited.
Browse the image library by keyword or category. Each image includes key details including description and photo credits. Select the desired images and choose the appropriate resolution. When ready, click Submit Request to send your image request(s) to the Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC).
Once a request has been approved, VTC will send an email with instructions on how to download the selected images. VTC will review and respond to image requests within two business days or less.
Please credit: Virginia Tourism Corporation (Virginia.org), in addition to any required photographer credits.
Contact Andrew Cothern for image questions.


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Jane McGonigal:
The game that can give you 10 extra years of life
When game designer Jane McGonigal found herself bedridden and suicidal following a severe concussion, she had a fascinating idea for how to get better. She dove into the scientific research and created the healing game, SuperBetter. In this moving talk, McGonigal explains how a game can boost resilience — and promises to add 7.5 minutes to your life.
This talk was presented at an official TED conference, and was featured by our editors on the home page.
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This is a MIRACLE!!! Mod J finally locked a thread over in TAGF.....YES!!!!! There are some kids with absolutely NO impulse control, and they keep spamming and trashing the forum. This is unbelievable....some fans LIKE to argue with the trashers....they must really be bored with life!!??

Are you watching CMA's? I don't really like country....but I like that one that always wins on Dancing with the Stars.....Jullianne Hough (sp?)....geez, can she DANCE!!!! But her singing?????? I don't get it. I even got one of her songs free on my iPhone, and I never play it. She sounds like a whiney kids voice to me.

This is my message that got goofed up.....now I am kicking myself for watching the stupid CMA's, instead of the GB game.

You sure did make me feel better, by goofin' up your quote, as well......[]

Mikie is on Jay Leno....is that on too late, in NY?


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Medium roasted coffee for espresso machines. Each can contains 8.8oz of coffee. Standard ground shipping is included in the price.
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California Mission Riders Arrive in Santa Barbara
Group will finish mission journey by horseback in San Diego on Oct. 20
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The California Mission Ride team made their way to the Santa Barbara Mission this weekend and are on their way to Ventura.
The group of 11 riders and two children decided to ride the mission trail just as people did years ago by horseback.
After their two-day trek from the Santa Inez Mission, they arrived in Santa Barbara and were greeted by a priest and dozens of visitors.
"Bless these beautiful horses that have carried them, that are so representative of this great history of California," said Fr. Larry Gosselin as he sprinkled holy water on the riders and their horses.
The group was tired after their harrowing trip down the Tunnel Trail, off East Camino Cielo.
"And the Tunnel Trail is not for the weak of heart, I'll tell you. I don't know when the last group of people rode through there on horseback. I'm guessing at least 50 years," said Rod Rondeaux, a mission rider.
Tourists at the mission were delighted to see the group.
"It was the perfect time because we got here right when the horses came in. I'm glad I didn't miss this. This was great. This was awesome," said Tonya Smith, a Modesto resident.
This September kicked off the second leg of their journey.
"We started last year in Sonoma, and it took us 30 days to go from Sonoma to San Miguel," said Gwyneth Horder-Payton, the group's co-founder.
The riders are traveling down the coast, learning about California's history and sharing their experiences.
"I think that it's just incredible that I get to be able to ride California and experience everything in a different way. People drive it, but we actually get to walk on it," said Daisy Payton.
"It comes with a lot of endurance, a lot of fortitude and a lot of treacherous elements that they have to enter into. I think it makes us realize the significance and the dedication of the first missionaries of California," said Gosselin.
The ride will end on Oct. 20. After they arrive in San Diego, they will have visited every mission in California, all by horseback.
"The history is in the land. That's the most amazing thing about this journey -- to go from mission to mission -- because you can actually see the history shaped by the way the land is," said Leslie Dunton-Downer.
The group will arrive in Ventura on Tuesday.
For more information, go to the California Mission Ride websiteSlideshow: California Mission Riders Arrive in Santa Barbara
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Copyright © 2017 NPG of California, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Copyright © 2017 NPG of California, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Copyright © 2017 NPG of California, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Family Fun in Magical Florida
Orlando Vacation Packages USA • Kissimmee, FL
Escape Kit
- A Three-Night Stay for Up to Four Guests in a Standard King or Double Room at Seralago Hotel & Suites
- Daily Breakfast Buffet for Two Adults and Two Children 10 and Under
- Two Tickets to the Arabian Nights Dinner Show, Plus Unlimited Beer, Wine, and Soft Drinks
- Complimentary Shuttle to Disney World® and Universal Studios Orlando®
Walt Disney World®. Mention these three words to kids across the globe, and you're bound to elicit a YouTube-ready outburst of unbridled joy. Which is why you'll want to make sure the camcorder has batteries: This week's Escape sends you to the Seralago Hotel & Suites, just a shuttle ride away from the magic of the planet's most-visited theme park.
Embark on a three-night stay, courtesy of Orlando Vacation Packages USA, for up to four guests at this 614-room resort ($332), replete with two Olympic-size swimming pools and whirlpool spas, a playground and kiddie pool, a full-service restaurant—even complimentary family-film screenings nightly.
Your Escape also comes with two tickets to the Arabian Nights dinner show—where you'll have access to unlimited beer, wine, and soft drinks—plus complimentary shuttle rides to the theme parks.
Standard King Rooms feature king-size beds and pull-out sofas, while Double Rooms offer two double beds. Your accommodations come equipped with a 25-inch TV and complimentary wireless Internet—but let's be honest: With all the excitement right outside your door, the only attraction in your room is a good night's sleep.
After a buffet breakfast at Seralago (included each day for two adults and two children 10 and under), board a shuttle for the ten-minute ride to Walt Disney World®, where four theme parks and two water parks await with fantastical, exhilarating entertainment for the whole family. Or venture to Universal Studios Orlando® and the other amusement parks for roller-coaster thrills and Hollywood-like performances.
Come sundown, gallop over to the most-popular dinner show in Orlando: Arabian Nights. The 90-minute program—featuring more than 60 horses—tells the story of the beautiful princess Sheherezade. As she searches for her prince, guests accompany her on an enchanting journey of music, lights, and acrobatics, from genies to Gypsies and so much more.
And while the kids drift to sleep on the return trip to Seralago, you'll have that priceless moment of peace and quiet. You know, the one when you realize you've done it again: a family vacation to both kids' and parents' delight.
"Location (it's just down the road from Disney) and price are some of the perks at this former Holiday Inn. The hotel is bright and colorful ... [and] there are plenty of recreational activities, from swimming to tennis."-- Frommer's
escapes 30-day promise
LivingSocial gives you up to 30 days to return your unused voucher for a full refund. Once you've made a reservation, you are subject to the merchant's cancellation and refund policy. If you want to secure your preferred dates of travel, we strongly recommend that you complete reservation with the merchant within 30 days of your purchase—after that, LivingSocial will not issue any refunds.
the fine print
- Up to two vouchers may be combined during one stay
- Valid for travel between May 15 to December 21, 2012
- Reservations required and subject to availability
- Not valid on group or existing reservations
- Merchant cancellation/re-scheduling policy applies; voucher subject to forfeiture
- Vouchers are valid for up to 4 people; daily breakfast buffet is valid for two adults and two children 10 and under
- Additional nights available for $75 per night plus $8 tax; subject to availability at time of booking
- Tax and gratuity for breakfast are not included; tax and gratuity of 18% will be added to bill
- Room tax totaling approx. $8 per night is not included and will be collected at redemption
- Nights must be used consecutively
- All deal components must be redeemed during one stay
- Other conditions apply • PAID AND PROMOTIONAL VALUES EXPIRES ON December 21, 2012 • PAID VALUE DOES NOT EXPIRE • PAID VALUE EXPIRES ON December 21, 2017 • PROMOTIONAL VALUE EXPIRES ON December 21, 2012 • Enjoy By December 21, 2012
Other conditions apply
Except where noted in the fine print:
• Cannot be combined with any other offer or promotion
• Tax and gratuity are not included
• Merchant is responsible for the quality of the products or services provided to you at redemption
• LivingSocial Terms and Conditions - https://www.livingsocial.com/terms
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Quality CareFind out why Mayo Clinic is the right place for your health care. Make an appointment.
Meet the StaffFind a directory of doctors and departments at all Mayo Clinic campuses. Visit now.
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The city where there are no boundaries or limits
Where anything is possible
Keeps everyone California dreamin'
People came to Cali since the 60's
When Haight-Ashbury was the place to be
And there were drum circles as far as you could see
When images of psychedelic dreamscapes were common
Cali seemed like a haven of new ideas and peace
Where guitar gods rose to fame and Beatles disembarked in need for a change
Get lost in the concrete jungles of L.A.
Go catch a Lakers game at Staples and watch Kobe dunk on the Celtics
Chill with Pac and Snoop on Crenshaw and share some Cali Love
Later on, hang with O'shea and Chris on their porch
Dreamin' of another Cali Friday
— Sebastian Garcia
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