Luke 4:1-13 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.
3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”
8 And Jesus answered and said to him,“Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:
‘He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you,’
11 and,
‘In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”
12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”
13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
In today’s world there are things/people wanting you to bow down to them. You’ve got special interest groups, and diseases, etc. demanding that you bow down to them. If you bow, you’re compromising. There’s immense pressure and it’s only getting started. Every time you bow, you will be pressured with even more.
Whatever you worship continually, you become like! You take on more characteristics of whatever you bow before, and if you continue to do it, you begin to serve that. If you worship God, you’ll become like God. Everything goes back to worship.
Daniel 3 – The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego
3 men out of the whole nation wouldn’t bow down. What does this show us? You can’t follow the crowd and worship God. This whole chapter is a picture of worship.
Revelation 4
What we learn from this is, people can go their whole lives and never discover their purpose. There is a difference between your purpose and your call. Most people chase their call and not their purpose. This is a mistake. Your purpose is the same as every believer, but everyone has a different calling. The purpose that you’re breathing air for right now, is to give glory and honor to the one who created you. Why? Because He gave you life! If you don’t keep God in His proper place, nothing else in your life will be in its proper place. If you won’t worship God, it’s because you’re full of pride. This was Lucifer’s problem. He wanted the glory and honor instead of giving it to God. So, when you aren’t worshipping Him, you’re more like Satan than you are God. But, when you bow down and worship God, you’re doing what He created you to do! Everyone on this planet is worshiping something.
Leviticus 26:1 You shall not makeidols for yourselves;neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves;nor shall you set upan engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am the Lord your God.
An Idol is nothing within itself. God is the only one in existence that can give you what you need to become who you are supposed to be.
Leviticus 2:2-9 2 You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary:
I am the Lord.
3 ‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,
4 then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
5 Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing;
you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid;
I will rid the land of evil beasts,
and the sword will not go through your land.
7 You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.
8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight;
your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.
9 ‘For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you.
What He is saying here is, I’ll treat you like you treat me. If you respect, revere, and honor me, I’ll do the same. Isn’t that how we are to live our lives with each other? He has set you totally free from darkness, all you need to do is worship Him. When are you going to make up your mind? When will you establish a daily time of worship with God? This is more important than ANYTHING!