Somewhere along the way you will be presented with an opportunity to jump ahead, to take a 

shortcut, to move closer to that goal you are chasing. And the only catch is that you will have to 

temporarily abandon your values. So what will you do? It turns out that Jesus was made just such 

an offer in His third temptation. Examining His response will prepare you for your moment of 

truth.  

Every day people fall into the temptation of presuming on God. You see it in the young couple that spends irresponsibly and then asks God to bail them out financially. The young single who says, "I’ll marry him, then pray for him." But what’s wrong with that? Hasn't God promised to take care of us? In this session we'll discuss the second of Jesus' three temptations in the desert and what it teaches us about presuming on God. 

It is tempting to feel that God is in no hurry to take care of your needs—like the direction your 

marriage is headed, the fact that you are still single, or the speed at which your career is 

advancing. Jesus too was tempted to take things in His own hands and His response reveals a lot 

about what is really at stake when we are tempted to act independently of God.