Our series during Ordinary time will explore the revelation of God’s Kingdom through his Son. We will look specifically how the incarnation—the ministry, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ—reveals the long-promised Kingdom of God breaking into human history demonstrating God’s love, destroying the powers that ravaged creation, and displaying the Messiah’s promise (to continue reading this essay, click on image above).
Click on image above to access our Church Year Calendar
YOUR KINGDOM COME
Pastoral Resources | 2025-26 Themes At-A-Glance
Week 31: Holy Spirit — The Messiah’s Temptation: The King’s Victory Over Satan, Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13
Driven by the Spirit into the wilderness, Jesus confronts the tempter where the first Adam and faithless Israel fell. Hungry, alone, and assailed at every point—appetite, ambition, and allegiance—the Messiah answers each assault with the written Word, refusing to yield to the tempter’s lies, persevering through the Word of God. As the true and obedient Son of the living God, Jesus the King won the decisive opening victory over Satan, proving his readiness to inaugurate God’s Kingdom and reclaim what the devil had taken through the rebellion of the first human pair and Israel the nation. The Lord Jesus recapitulated (relived and restored) the failing journeys of Adam and Israel, establishing a new humanity based on his obedience to the will of the Father.
Our Focus Today
The Tempter’s Retreat and the Aftermath of Victory, Mark 1:13 and Luke 4:13
With the failure of his third temptation, the devil departed from Jesus, defeated and dismissed, “until an opportune time,” signaling this as a decisive triumph but not a final rout. Attended by the angels, the victorious King won his opening battle with the strong man. Now, the Lord would commence his work to plunder his house and proclaim the deliverance of the Kingdom.
Invocation
Almighty God, I invite your holy presence into my life today as I celebrate the remarkable and decisive victory of your Son over the powers of darkness. Jesus is the Messiah, the King who triumphed over the tempter in the wilderness. I pray that his triumphant spirit would shield and empower me as I seek to glorify you in all I am today. Grant me discernment to recognize the enemy’s tactics and timing, and give to me the same unwavering faith he possessed so that I might learn to stand secure in your truth, wherever I go. Amen.
Gloria Patri
Glory be to the Father,
And to the Son and to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning,
Is now, and ever shall be,
World without end. Amen, amen.
Chronological Scripture Readings for Today
These Scriptures allow us to read through the entire Bible in one year in chronological order.
Saturday: Jer. 25; 36; 45-46
Psalms and Proverb for Today
These Scriptures allow us to read through the Psalms and Proverbs each month.
Saturday: Psalm 4, 34, 64, 94, 124 and Proverbs 4
The Tempter’s Retreat and the Aftermath of Victory, Mark 1:13 and Luke 4:13
With the failure of his third temptation, the devil departed from Jesus, defeated and dismissed, “until an opportune time,” signaling this as a decisive triumph but not a final rout. Attended by the angels, the victorious King won his opening battle with the strong man. Now, the Lord would commence his work to plunder his house and proclaim the deliverance of the Kingdom.
Reflection
In recapitulating the experience of Adam and Israel, Jesus triumphed in temptation where they failed. In his victory over the enemy in the wilderness the Lord demonstrated that while spiritual temptation is inevitable, the enemy is a defeated foe who must flee when resisted by those under the banner of the Lord. Through unwavering reliance on Scripture and the Holy Spirit, disciples of Christ and his Kingdom can withstand and persevere in times of intense spiritual warfare. As believers we must learn to stand firm in Christ’s authority, knowing that his triumph alone can secure our deliverance and ultimate victory.
Engaging God’s Word Today
Reflecting on Jesus’ experience in the wilderness, in what specific areas of your life do you feel the enemy has been waiting to attack you, waiting for an “opportune time?” In light of what you have seen here, how can you actively rely on Christ’s proven authority to stand firm against both direct attacks and subtle compromises?
Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, The Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.
We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Begotten Son of God,
Begotten of the Father before all ages,
God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God,
Begotten not created, of the same essence as the Father,
through Whom all things were made.
Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary and became human.
Who for us too, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried.
The third day He rose again according to the Scriptures, ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and His kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and life-giver,
Who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Who together with the Father and Son is worshiped and glorified.
Who spoke by the prophets.
We believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sin,
and we look for the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the age to come. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever. Amen.
Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him all creatures here below;
Praise Him above ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Benediction
Thank you for the remarkable way your Son inaugurated your Kingdom rule so many centuries ago. He truly is the Son of God, the King of the coming Kingdom of God. May the victorious Lord, who commanded angels and dismissed the tempter, go before me today that I may stand against every stronghold of fear and doubt in my life. Grant me, heavenly Father, strength for every spiritual battle and fill me now with the peace of your established Kingdom. I rise from this place in his authority, delivered, sustained, and deeply blessed. Amen.
Scripture Memory for this season
Colossians 2:13-15 (ESV): The Messiah on the Cross: The Kingdom’s Triumph Over Sin.
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Scripture Engagement
As disciples of Jesus, the Churches of Christ the King strongly seek to engage the Scriptures to discover the centrality of Christ and his Kingdom in the prophetic and apostolic writings. You will find a rich treasure of resources on engaging Scripture at the Center for Scripture Engagement of Taylor University.
Books We Are Reading this Church Year, and When
• The Most Amazing Story Ever Told, Dr. Don Davis (during season of Advent)
• Get Your Pretense On, Dr. Don Davis (during season of Christmas)
• Destined for the Throne, Paul Billheimer (during season of Epiphany)
• The Presence of the Future, George Eldon Ladd (during seasons of Lent, Holy Week, Easter and Ascension)
• Who Gets to Narrate the World?, Robert E. Webber (during seasons of the Coming of the Holy Spirit, and Headship)
• Thy Kingdom Come, Rev. Terry Cornett and Dr. Don Davis (during season of Harvest)
• The Gospel of the Kingdom, George Eldon Ladd (during the seasons of Hope and Remembering the Saints, Exalting the King)
Book Reading Reflection: Destined for the Throne
(Reading “Who Gets to Narrate the World?” during season of Coming of the Holy Spirit and Headship)
Humanity, as I have already indicated, has rebelled against God’s purposes, not only personally but also in respect to the God-given task to unfold creation after God’s purposes. Men and women are in a horrible situation. There is nothing we can do to repair our relationship with God. We are bent toward living in rebellion against God. The only hope for humanity is in God. Only God can come to our rescue. Only God can restore the Garden. But God chooses to restore humanity not by a decree of reconciliation, not by a sentimental forgiveness, not by a soft love, but by entering into union with humanity. In Jesus, God comes in human skin to reverse the human condition and reconcile humanity to the Father. The reversal of the human plight of separation between God and humanity already began when Mary, called of God to bear the Christ, responded to the angel’s announcement “May it be to me as you have said” (Lk 1:38). In those words the reversal of sin began. From the moment of conception, the child conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary began to reverse the revolt of Adam and his entire posterity.
In his humanity as Jesus, God took into himself the rebellion of the first Adam and the consequence of his sin, which was death for us all. Not only was the decomposition of the human body taken into the humanity of Jesus but also the death that hung over all the earth, all culture-making, all cities and civilization. The violence that proceeds from the human heart and extends into the political, economic, institutional, familial and personal life of us all was received in the human body of Jesus. For he who was without sin was made sin for us all.
~ Webber, Robert E. Who Gets to Narrate the World?: Contending for the Christian Story in an Age of Rivals. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL: 2008. Electronic Edition. Location 362-70.
On Eagles Wings Prayer Focus: A Long Time Comin‘
God’s Love, Christ’s Grace, and the Spirit’s Fellowship, 2 Cor. 13:11-13.
Visit our Church App for more information: Scan the QR Code below (if you have difficulty loading the app, click here for instructions how to get the app on your iPhone or Android)
