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Being tempted is not a sin. Acting on temptation is a sin. Matthew 4 says that "Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." So I believe he was tempted. The Bible lists three sources of temptation: Satan's kingdom, our carnal selves, and the world.

I like the list so far. I would add obedience to the list. God doesn't hang around with sin.

Are there evil spirits that influence people to do evil? Yes. Do evil spirits have names? Probably. Is there any indication in the Bible that the Jezebel in the old testament or the Jezebel mentioned in the new testament were somehow connected to a spirit of the same name? No. Is there any...

There are lots of home churches. There are also lots of churches meeting in rented meeting space, school gyms, barns, and community rec centers. One near us meets in a car dealerships show room. The church is the people, not the building. Having a dedicated building makes many things...

The Lords prayer in the post above is a good guide to what to include in a prayer. Recognize God's majesty. Pray that God's plans are realized. Ask that your needs are met...without treating God as a wish granting genie. Ask for forgiveness for the things you have done that God does not...

I've been there before. I now have about 100 people working for my dept and hire a many people every year. I suggest.... Get out there doing something, anything. Call Labor ready or some other temp labor company who will send you out do different companies to work at odd jobs every day...

There are good churches and churches that have lost their way. God had a message of correction for many churches in the entire new testament letters to the churches. The book of Revelation opens with instructions to 7 churches who were making different kinds of errors. Nothing is different...

Albanzas: Neither the Baptists nor the Catholics have any kind of God-ordained right to be God's church. Neither do the Methodists, Nazarene's, or anybody else. Every Protestant church I've been to gets most of it right but none are perfect. The Catholic church, unfortunately gets some...

At my church kids find Christian friends by coming to our youth group once a week. I've seen lots of kids become a part of the dozen or so casual friends groups that naturally form. And I've seen some close friendships develop. Find a local medium sized church and check their website for youth...

It's simple but very hard to do. You can not be unequally yoked. I was there a long time ago and the battle between following God and being with someone you love is a hard battle. Sometimes following God requires making difficult sacrifices. I feel for you. You already know the right thing...

It was a long time ago but I have been there too. My wife also has been there for a few months after having our children. So, I am convinced that depression has a chemical / hormonal component. My experience with it convinces me that there is also a spiritual component. And knowing others...

I realize I missed something in my post above. I said to invest in something that will make money. I should have added: something like an S&P 500 or NASDAQ 100 mutual fund. Simple. Every week. Never touch it. Be rich 45 years later. Those who know about this stuff recommend investing...

Investing in an S&P 500 mutual fund (or just about any other common mtual fund) would have beat gold by 5x in the last 50 years. Gold fluctuates wildly but in the long run does not beat inflation. That means that in inflation adjusted "real dollars" gold loses money. During the great...

I attend a small country church and my wife and I started a teen youth group about 4 years ago. I was the teen Sunday School teacher and our church closed for COVID. During the shut down, invited my class out for a day of crabbing on the water and before we left the dock, my boat broke down...

At 80 hours a week, she's been abandoned. I understand her resentment. Marriage is hard. She needs less stuff and vacations and more attention and time. We also wanted my wife to be home to raise our kids and we were able to do it. I worked a job and a part time job, sometimes I had a small...

And in Jesus time, many of those who heard the gospel from Jesus himself rejected the message. Spiritual is not our measure of success. Our measure of success is whether we are teaching the correct message. God handles the outcome. Mark 4:26-29. Qualifications to be a pastor is more than just...

It was part government overreach but mostly poor planning and poor execution of what could have been a nothing investigation. Big screw up, innocent people were killed. But I don't think it was more than that - just some run-of-the-mill government incompetence and overreaction.

And...when something shows up in the Bible in only one place that is not supported anywhere else and that seems inconsistent with the rest of the Bible (God's overwhelming grace and mercy so big that he would send his son to die vs. someone being locked out of salvation) - I am comfortable that...

I think the Bible is obvious that Giant's existed. We read about Og king of Bashan who's bed was 9 cubits long. There are several references to the Rafiates who seem to be a family line of giants. The reports of the Hebrew spies about Canaan tells of giants. Goliath and his brother Lahmi...

The same Greek word translated as "impossible" in Hebrews 6:4 (adunatos) is used in Acts 14:8-10 to describe the helpless condition of the crippled man's feet just before he "sprang up and began to walk." You're good. No worries.