First of all, I want to thank each and every one of you for the great support that I have received from these articles. Your comments have encouraged me to keep on writing. If you have missed the other two parts of this series, please contact the paper. I am sure they will help you get the other two articles. To refresh your memory about these temptations, we learned their purposes by the story of Job in the Bible. Job was a righteous man and considered blameless. The devil had one purpose and that was to get Job to curse God and quit, to give up. The devil uses the same purpose for each one of us. Remember these temptations are the small ones, the little foxes that spoil the vines. The first temptation I wrote about was to have forgiveness in the church. The second temptation I wrote about was we are afraid to have friends in the church.

This week’s temptation is the grass is always greener on the other side. We have become a group of believers that are always looking for something better. There is nothing wrong with looking for a deeper relationship with the Lord. That is great! But we can become very disgruntled with the church. For example, we will get in our car and drive to go see a Gaither’s concert, or clear down to Sugar Creek to Amish country to enjoy some singers down there. In itself, there is nothing wrong with that. But then we go home, and we say our church is too boring. We start to hop from one church to another, looking for excitement. We may live in our hometown, but we are willing to drive 45 minutes to go to church because they have fancy lights, a big stage, a big screen with pictures, and a coffee shop. Oh, what excitement! But your town needs Jesus too. What are you doing to help people find Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior in your own town? Are we going to leave Lisbon to drive to East Liverpool, Salem, or Canton just because they have a bigger church? Maybe your pastor preaches that you have a lack of dedication, or you are upset because he preached a little too close to home, revealing that we have a carnal nature, a fit of rage, or malice. So you go looking for something better. You know what I have found out when you are upset? The other side of the fence always looks greener. However, when you cross the fence, the original side looks just as green. Hello, don’t you get it? We just came from that side. How can we live in a community and not care about the souls that are there around us? How many of us have family members that are not serving God? They have not found Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, but we leave the community to worship somewhere else. When Jesus and the disciples preached, there were many times they were rejected, but they preached where they were at! The only reason that I can think of that you would not support your local church is because it is teaching heresies, or it is teaching the Bible says sin is OK. Church is work. The disciples were willing to die to deliver the message of Jesus. We can surely learn how to find the right church in our community and grow, to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Quit going to church to be entertained. Go to church and find a relationship that helps you grow closer to the Lord. Without the Holy Spirit in your church, there is no God. May God help you to bloom where you are planted. Help save souls for Jesus. Don’t be tempted to look for greener grass. The devil wants you to quit.