Publisher's Synopsis
At the beginning of His earthly ministry, Jesus recognized that in addition to the kingdom of God, another kingdom was operating here on the earth, the kingdom of Satan. The two would be in conflict with each other. While in heaven, as the angel Lucifer, Satan, tried to usurp Jesus's power and position. God removed him from heaven, but not before he had drawn away a third of the angels. Satan continues his battle today, but now it's for the hearts of God's people. Many Christians are drawn away from their godly spirituality through Satan's deceptions and their own lack of biblical knowledge and the stability of a viable biblical worldview. In Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus demonstrated how we are to interact with both kingdoms and counter Satan's ungodly brand of spirituality. First, He showed us that He lived to please God. Second, He defeated Satan through dependence on the Holy Spirit and the spoken Word of God. Third, He made that same authority and power available to us corporately and individually. We must never attempt anything for God with them (see Acts 1:8). As His church, our evangelism must seek authentic salvation for our converts that consists of two components: conversion and conservation. We encourage our new converts to come to Jesus just as they are, but we are not to allow them to remain that way. They must grow up into mature disciples. The church is to carry His commission and "make disciples" (see Matthew 28:18-20). Jesus emphasizes the church's obedience and completion of two activities before any amount of success can be measured: "baptizing" and "teaching." Here again, we find Satan trying to defeat God's purpose. As mature disciples, we are to victoriously and gloriously live and practice a true godly spirituality in all areas of our lives as examples before the new disciples that counters Satan's ungodly spirituality.
