Next Level

Click to download as a PDF

Luke 4.1-14 – The Next Level

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’ “

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendour, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’ “

The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: 
” ‘He will command his angels concerning you 
to guard you carefully; 
they will lift you up in their hands, 
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ “


Jesus answered, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ “

When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.

The Next Level

To get to the next level, we have to overcome. We have to face challenges, temptations and trials. As we face them and go through them / overcome them, we move through into the next thing God has for us, the next level. We follow the example of Jesus by doing this through the Word. Joyce Meyer says, ‘new level, new devil’. As we overcome in the power of Jesus, we are released into what God has for us.

Jesus ultimately won the victory. Where Adam failed, Jesus succeeded.

Romans 5.19 in The Message says, “Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man (Jesus) said yes to God and put many in the right.”

The end result of Jesus overcoming the devil was that, “Jesus went back full of and under the power of the [Holy] Spirit into Galilee, and the fame of Him spread through the whole region round about.”

In verse 1, we read that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. By verse 14, we find that Jesus was full of the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was working in the power of the Spirit. In a sense, his ministry car had been turbo charged with supernatural energy. We need this! We need to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, which we allow to flow out from us to others.

Micah 3.8 – “But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might. Let’s look at what happened for Jesus.”

Luke 6.19 – “..and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.”

Do we want a life like this, a church like this? A church filled with power, a place where people are healed? A place where all the people were trying to touch Jesus because of his power? Do we want to be a church where people want to be, because they can touch Jesus and feel his power, his healing power? What a place!

Earlier, we looked at the time of prayer and fasting and said it mustn’t stop there. Why?

Luke 6.12 – “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles.”

Out of the place of prayer and getting away with God, the disciples were chosen who would ultimately change the world, in the power of the Holy Spirit. The same is true for us in church today.

But the way through is the same as the way through for Jesus – times of battle, testing and overcoming through knowing and using the Word of God, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Whatever you are personally facing today, this is what God says to you:

Isaiah 43.1-3: But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.

Keep moving forwards in God. He wants you to. Question is, do you want to keep growing in God – and what are you prepared to do / allow God to do in order to get there..