Follow the Yellow Brick Road
Scripture Lesson: Psalm 11
Follow The Yellow Brick Road
The Wicked Witch Is Dead
There’s No Place Like Home - Week #4
- Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my!
Or Sin, death, and the devil! Oh My! The road through life is a dangerous place. Last week we looked at the fact that we’d be the target of ridicule for being Christians. Now we’re looking at how our road is dangerous for Christians and non-Christians alike: the temptations of sin, death, and the devil.
“If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” - Genesis 4:7
Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. - 1 Timothy 6:9
- Are you a good witch or a bad witch?
When we meet these adversaries on life’s road, we must cultivate the virtue of discernment. Even as Christians, our choices can affect what we might lose and become.
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. - 1 Corinthians 10:13
But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” - Joshua 24:15
- We’re off to see the Wizard.
Why make the journey? Why struggle our lives against temptation? Why strive to please Jesus for our good works? Because our real home awaits us, and our real king that has set us free from the bondage of sin, death, and the devil.
Wizard of Oz: “Oh no, my dear; I’m a very good man; I’m just a very bad wizard.”
The man we’re going to see is not like the Wizard of Oz, the man behind the curtain.”
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh. - Revelation 19:11,15 & 19-21
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. - Matthew 20:28
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. - Revelation 21:2
Points To Ponder
- Has there even been a time in your life that you have been made fun of for being a Christian? If so, how did you react? Looking back what have you learned?
- Have there been times in your life that you just felt like saying, “Lord, just take me home?” If so, why?
Matthew 24-25