Are You Already Hooked?

the bible tells us to be fishers of men but have you ever considered how satan fishes for us as well hi my name is lex and welcome to unlearn have you ever been fishing if so you know you can't just throw an empty hook into the water and expect a fish to bite it you either need bait or you need a lure the bait usually has a smell that attracts the fish and makes them think it's food and a lure is designed to look like food as it moves in the water the point of both the bait and the lure is to hide the hook and at the same time convince the fish to take a bite it's a cleverly disguised trap now imagine that temptation is the bait and sin is the hook the temptation is there to make sin appealing to us now think about how often satan casts his bait in front of you what lure is the most attractive to you let me give you a few possible scenarios you're driving to work and someone darts into your lane and nearly runs you off the road the bait is cast now do you take the bait and let your anger cause you to sin or do you praise god that he kept you safe what about this lure you're scrolling on your favorite social media platform and a seductive image finds its way into your feed the bait is cast do you let lust get the best of you or do you resist temptation and flee when someone comes to you with a juicy bit of gossip the bait is cast do you listen to it or do you tell them you don't want to hear about it do you tell it to others after hearing it or do you tell that person to stop talking about other people do you stand up for the person who's not present to defend themself or do you chime in with your own negative words about them gossip is a big one but most people take the bait without even thinking about it what about when someone offends you the bait is cast what will you do or when you have an opportunity to cheat or steal and you know you won't get caught the bait is cast how will you respond there's so many times in our lives when satan casts a lure right in front of us do we take the bait or do it run the other direction listen to how the bible describes temptation but each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed then when desire has conceived it gives birth to sin and sin when it is full grown brings forth death a temptation is only tempting to you if it's something you desire if money is not a temptation for you then greed won't be a struggle in your life if you're content with what you have then covetousness and jealousy won't be a struggle for you sin is only tempting if it looks appealing to you for some reason it's just like that fishing lure it's designed to attract hungry fish but if a fish isn't hungry then it won't bite the bible tells us that sin leads to death again it's just like that fish when the fish takes a bite of that lure the hook is set in its mouth and the fisherman reels it in later that night the fish is in the frying pan that's how sin works it lures us in and when we give into temptation we eventually end up in the frying pan that's why the bible says we are blessed when we endure temptation and do not give into it blessed is the man who endures temptation for when he has been approved he will receive the crown of life which the lord has promised to those who love him overcoming temptation keeps us out of the frying pan when we overcome temptation we avoid sin and we're able to live a holy life filled with the joy of the holy spirit and we no longer have the shame and guilt of sin holding us back overcoming sin and temptation is a daily habit we need to develop because the devil is always looking for something he can hook us with he's out there every day throwing different lures to see what we might bite on today if you don't buy it on the gossip then you might cast a lust lure and if you don't bite on that he might cast an anger lure we need to continue to be aware and diligent in our lives so that we don't get hooked on the bait that satan is throwing on our direction the bible says walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh this is a daily discipline that we need to develop in our life every day when you get up decide today i'm going to walk with the holy spirit and not give into my flesh and tomorrow when you get up make that same decision again and keep making that decision every day for the rest of your life because when you are walking with the spirit you are not gratifying the lust of your flesh if this video was helpful then share it with your friends and family if you're new to this channel welcome and i want to invite you to check out some of my other videos maybe this one i also want to say thank you to the people who financially support this ministry we couldn't do this without you thank you so much and remember the truth will set you free we'll see you next time