Morning Message Text: 1 Corinthians 10: 1-13
Warnings From Israel’s History
1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.
2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
3 They all ate the same spiritual food
4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.
7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”
8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.
9 We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes.
10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.
12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Morning Message:
Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1: 9. We are reminded often in scripture that the Lord is with us. God, in his wisdom, understands how much we need that reassurance. In our Lenten devotional, Henri J. M. Nouwen says this, “Please Lord, keep calling me back to you, by day and by night, in joy and in sadness, during moments of success and moments of failure. Never let me leave you. I know you walk with me. Help me walk with you today, tomorrow, and always.” This prayer is a poignant plea for our faithful Lord to keep us faithful in our daily walk with him. We probably don’t notice but we ask this of God every week when we pray the Lord’s Prayer. What do we say? Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. That is better defined and translated from the Greek text to say keep us from temptation. God does not lead us into sinful places, but he does allow us to fall according to his will, for the purpose of our growth. God doesn’t have to push us, and he never tempts us; we willingly, in our own power, expose ourselves to temptation. In times of spiritual stumbling, Jesus calls us to repentance, assuring us of his unlimited forgiveness. In moments of weakness and failure, he empowers us to be strong and courageous. In times of success and egotism, he calls us to humble ourselves and give him glory. And if we are tempted to leave him and stray from his Word and worship, he calls us back to him with a heart of love that is longing to welcome us home. I think that we should spend some time on that this morning: Straying from worship. What causes us to stray from worship? Now this is not the point of the sermon, but it has been on my mind for several weeks. I am honestly sometimes at a loss how we can have roughly 60 members in this church but hardly ever see one third of them in worship. There are good reasons why we can’t always be in worship, but let’s be honest, there are also a lot of excuses that just don’t measure up to a loving Savior who is waiting to welcome people back. This pandemic might be as under control as it will get, and with everything that’s going on in the world, the churches should be full.
We must first want to overcome temptation before we can start to. The truth is: Can we handle the truth this morning? The truth is, in many situations, we like to keep temptation around. Do you disagree with that? I’m going to give you five simple words to help you overcome temptation. The question is: Will you use them? They all start with the letter F.
The first word is fight. Once we realize that we are being tempted we must battle the temptation. This sounds simple but it’s not. It’s temptation precisely because it’s something that we want or think that we need. It takes will power and a strong faith to fight against it.
The second word is follow. Follow the example of Jesus. In order to follow his example you must study and know how Jesus was tempted and what he overcame. Jesus was tempted in all of the same ways that you and I are, and yet he never once sinned. As Christians, when we are confronted be temptation, we can follow what the world would do, because we still have free will, or we can take the time to ask ourselves this very hard question: What did Jesus do and who will you emulate?
Number three is flee. Not the insect. Do not remain in the presence of temptation. There is no shame in running the other way. When Joseph was confronted by Potiphar’s wife and had no other recourse to avoid the temptation, he ran leaving his cloak behind. He was still falsely accused but he did not sin, and God honored him for his strength of character and resistance to temptation. As humans we think that it might make us look weak to run away from trouble, just the opposite, it takes way more strength to avoid trouble than to enter into it.
The fourth is fellowship. Isolation is the ideal environment for temptation. The community of believers is a save harbor. Coming to worship, fellowshipping with Christian friends helps. This is what the bible means when it says confess your sins to one another. When you spend time together you can talk through these temptations and defeat them together. The devil, just like any other thief or crook, attacks when we are alone, even when we are alone at home watching worship on TV.
The last one is feed. The Word of God is the Christian’s daily bread. There is no substitute for knowing the Word of God. When Jesus was tempted three times in the wilderness, all three times he answered with God’s Word. Satan has no real answer for God’s Word. That is your formula for overcoming temptation. God has provided everything that you need. Will you use it?
In Christ’s Love and Peace
Pastor Bob
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