Matthew 4 – 6

Matthew 4:1-3 “Then was Jesus led by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the demon. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward hungry. 3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou art the son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”

You need to know that the earth was overtaken by darkness and before you delve into the affairs, you need to be led by light. God deed not start His work in the beginning without first introducing light.

The Ministry of Jesus demonstrated the procedure of starting a ministry. First, He ensured all righteousness was fulfilled by submitting Himself to John The Baptist’s ministry. That was not Jesus’ ministry, but John’s and it was required to be enlisted in the Kingdom to which Jesus represented. Here we must respect jurisdictions and understand submission and obedience. John recognized Him as a Kingdom factor far higher than himself. He said”

Matthew 3:11 “I indeed baptize you with water to repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire:”

Kingdom principle is very vital in our disposition to starting a ministry. As mighty as the Lord Jesus Christ is, He still submitted Himself to the baptism of John The Baptist. For John, his baptism was unto repentance. And for the Lord Jesus, His baptism was with the Holy Ghost and with Fire; the both of them maintained their various jurisdictions.

The second aspect of the beginning of His ministry was to be led BY THE SPIRIT (not by anger, disgruntlement or bitterness) into the wilderness to be tempted by the prince of the darkness of this world. Satan was at the gate of the world. He scans every entrance into the world. He knew Jesus entered the world and hunted Him with the sword of Herod. When it was time for Jesus to start His ministry, the Spirit led Him to meet Satan and Satan took Him through three stages of his temptations which he gives every man.

1. Authority
2. Power and Position
3. Pride

Note that Jesus did not go to the wilderness to ask God for ministry. He did not choose the number of days to fast Himself. He did not choose the time to fast Himself. He did not choose the place to stay to fast Himself. All His steps were controlled by the Spirit for a venture, “to be tempted of the devil.” Jesus was already connected to His purpose on earth. He knew He was not of this world. He knew the Kingdom He belonged to. As a matter of fact, the tempter, himself, knew who Jesus was.

The tempter charged Jesus on two grounds.

1. His Sonship to the Almighty and the authority He has, “if thou be the Son of God,”. On first occasion, he requested Him to use His authority and then, in another case, he used the WORD to address Jesus to use His power and position. These two phrases were not used on the third occasion which took place on an exceedingly high mountain, the peak of pride.
2. On the peak of pride, he showed Jesus two things; kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. All these were under the tempters jurisdiction and they are still there. He made only one request, “worship me”

You need to know, beloved, that Satan is in charge of everything that carries pride.  The precious stones of the world are under his control; jewelries and worldly splendor. Precious stones are to be mined and, in all places, where mining takes place, they make sacrifices to appease the gods of that land. Otherwise the precious stones get farther away from exploitation.

Ezekiel 28:13 “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.”

These are what Satan presented to Jesus. Without any doubt, money is attached to these precious stones. These are what many see in the world and they answered their calling. Jesus did not answer the calling of the glory of this world. He came in the glory of the kingdom of heaven. A lot of places of worship are places to display expensive jewelries and seductive attires. They worship in the pride of what they wear and ride. A lot of indecent dressings have taken over places of worship.

This world is divided into kingdoms and all the kingdoms are under his control through the fall of man. Kingdoms in terms of:

1. Continents
2. Nations
3. Empires
4. Ethnics
5. Clans and wards
6. Kindreds
7. Industries

They all have their various spiritual atmosphere carrying the network that monitors and controls them. Every man is connected to the root of the father’s house. This is the reason you cannot stop praying to break yourself off the demonic anchor.

Jesus did not start His ministry with the thought of building the biggest church auditorium on earth but a body without blemish. He did not think of the most beautiful auditorium; He even said the existing one in His time would be destroyed and He would build another one within three days. His message was not to enrich with material things, but to have heavenly wealth. He did not encourage us to associate with the world but to be separated from the world whilst in the world. The whole world was in total darkness according to Matthew 4:13-16. And Jesus brought the message of light.

Matthew 4:13-17 “And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim; 14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, 15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: 16 The people who sat in darkness, saw great light; and to them who sat in the region and shades of death, light hath arisen. 17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Matthew 4:23 “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people.”

His message is very clear, even though it was not comfortable for the leaders of those days. Demons in charge of various jurisdiction were not comfortable with His teaching and preaching to the extent that they revolted openly. Instead of wasting His power and authority to change stone to bread and commanding angels who were already at His service to impress or prove to Satan of His Sonship to the Almighty, He used them in liberating people that were bound and commanding the rebellious demons out of their closed places. Demons could not resist His authority because He did not start His ministry by Himself but led by the Spirit. Many are led by their thoughts, mind, and what Satan presented as the glory of this world, mammon, pride and fame. The gospel of the kingdom is missing in their messages because they send or called themselves; no message from heaven.

In Jesus’ teaching, He taught:

1. The Beatitudes
2. Salt and light
3. Anger and reconciliation
4. The higher righteousness
5. Adultery and divorce
6. Oaths and retaliation
7. Piety and alms giving
8. Prayer and fasting
9. Possessions and Masters
10. Anxiety and God’s kingdom
11. Judging and hypocrisy
12. The strait and wide gates
13. The operation of false prophets
14. The wise and foolish builders
15. Others with miracles being performed.

Remarkable in His teaching was the emphasis that He did not come to destroy the law. Rather, He came to give the grace to fulfill the law. A lot of ministries are breaking the law thinking that grace will cover it just to maintain membership. All our works will be tried with fire.

Matthew 5:17-20 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. 18 For verily I say to you, Till heaven and earth shall pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whoever shall do, and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

If you are starting, start well, so that you can end well.

1 Corinthians 3:13-15 “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”

1 Peter 1:7 “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found to praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”

Jesus is coming soon. Amen. But will He find the FAITH built on His Words?

KJV-R (Webster) Luke 18:7-9 “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? 9 And he spoke this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:”

Supo Abayode

Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries

Delaware, USA