Turining Point Church

It’s Stock Show Sunday, a day we recognize the rugged old west, of which Fort Worth was certainly a part. I can’t think of that time period without images popping into my head like the famous “Gun fight at the O.K. Corral” which occurred on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in the Tombstone, Arizona Territory. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Virgil and Morgan Earp fought the Clantons and McLaurys in that well-known gunslinger showdown.

But an even more famous showdown took place over 2,000 years ago in the lonely wilderness of Judea between Jesus and His arch enemy, Satan. Having just been baptized by John, and the Spirit of God descending upon Him like a dove, Jesus was led by that same Spirit into the wilderness to do battle with the tempter.  Far more hinged on this battle than in any old western. Satan did all that he could to thwart the mission of Christ—to die for our sins on the cross.

Three times Satan drew his sinister gun of temptation at Jesus and fired. “Turn these stones to bread,” he hissed. “Jump off the pinnacle of the temple, God will hold you up,” he fired again. And finally, “Bow down and worship me. I will give you all the kingdoms of the world if you do,” he brazenly spoke. Each time, Jesus deflected the fiery bullets by quoting the scriptures.

After this spiritual Showdown in the Desert, Jesus emerged in the power of the Spirit to begin His incredible ministry. Let us remember today that we, too, have no better method to defeat the ultimate gunslinger, Satan, than to draw the gun of the Word of God and fire back with a well-aimed “it is written”!