18-Feb-24 (Mark 1:9-15)

How many of you are in school already? Let me ask you something: What is your favorite thing about school? [wait for answers]
I notice that none of you said that your favorite thing was tests. Don't you like tests?
It probably won't surprise you to know that no one really likes tests, but we all have to take them.
Even Jesus had to take tests. In Jesus' case, his tests were temptations. He was tempted to do things that weren't right in order to get what he wanted. That's one test we'll all have to take. We'll all be tempted to do things that aren't right in order to get something we want.
But Jesus passed that test and Jesus can show us how to pass it too.
Let's pray about that.

Prayer:

God, we all need to pass the tests of temptation. Thank you for sending us Jesus to help us to know how to do that. Help us to follow him and help us to lead others in the right way too.
In the name of Jesus, our Christ, AMEN