Fleeing Idolatry

Good morning.

Sorry, somebody was playing with this mic, so you guys do what you need to do to hear me less or more sound, guys.

I'm not sure who sent out the message yesterday for Daylight Savings Time. Thanks a lot.

I got it last night, like 7, 8 o'clock, and that's the first time in a long time I remember being caught off guard by Daylight Savings Time.

So, thank you, but thanks a lot.

This morning, we're going to be hitting 1 Corinthians 10.

What I'd like to do is just go back and do a quick summary just to bring us up to this point.

Chapter 8, if you remember, Paul was exhorting the Corinthian believers.

Am I fading in and out? Is that okay? Okay.

If I am, somebody just throw your hand off and I'll just grab the other mic because I don't want to be a distraction.

We have Paul exhorting the Corinthian believers not to eat meat sacrificed to idols,

and the big reason being that they won't cause newer Christians, new believers, to stumble and cause them to fall back to some of their old practices,

possibly pulling them back into sin and out of the salvation that they may not have been part of yet because of that.

So, he says the main point being Christian love requires that we forego or give up our rights and not to insist on our rights at the expense of others.

Last week, Sean brought to us chapter 9, a difficult passage for a pastor,

and that was Paul telling us about how he had a right to get paid from the church,

or in his preaching of the gospel, he had that right, and yet he intentionally gave that up for the sake of the gospel.

And then at the end of the chapter, if you remember, he's talking of self-control, practicing self-control.

So, like an athlete, like someone who is going to the Olympics, there's a focus on the goal.

There's a specific goal that a runner is to be aiming for.

So, Paul calls us to run as if we're going for that prize and doing with purpose and not to settle or just to coast through life.

So, now that brings us to chapter 10 this morning, and it starts out with the word for.

However, Paul is connecting this passage back to these last two chapters because he's going to be building on the idea of idolatry

and not falling back into former sins.

And in thinking of that, there's three points that we're going to be looking at this morning, and we'll go through those.

But the main idea is that there's blessing and there's strength that we get from following the Lord.

There's also defeat and death that comes from following idolatry or following after the world.

So, our first point this morning is past warnings.

These are some warnings that Paul starts out talking to the church of Corinth about.

So, if you take a look at verse 1, he says,

For, because of what I've been talking about, I don't want you to be unaware brothers, translated brethren or brothers and sisters.

For our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea,

and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,

and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink.

For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

In these first couple verses, we see Paul laying out this interesting package for us, if you will,

where he's making a connection back to the Old Testament.

He's making a connection for the church in Corinth back to the Old Testament,

and he does that to encourage them and also to show them that they are part of the family of God.

He's also making that connection for us.

As we're reading this, we're not just spectators,

but we're part of the congregation as well that he's speaking to.

First, he says in verse 1,

Notice Paul doesn't say,

It's not his Jewish lineage,

but it's our Jewish lineage that he's connecting to,

referring to the Israelites that followed Moses out of Egypt.

Those were God's chosen people.

Paul is calling them our fathers,

highlighting the fact that salvation has come to all who believe in Christ.

It's not just the special Jewish select group,

but it's now open to Jews and Gentiles.

So let's listen to what Paul else,

what else Paul unpacks for us here.

He says,

Our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea.

They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

A reference to God protecting the Israelites,

leading them through the cloud.

If you remember,

the cloud stood in their way when the Egyptian army was coming.

The cloud also provided a way for them to follow where they should go in the wilderness.

And it was also used when they were miraculously brought through the Red Sea.

And check out the next part in verse 3.

And all ate the same spiritual fruit,

and all drank the same spiritual drink,

for they drank from the same spiritual rock that followed them,

and the rock was Christ.

Now that sounds a lot like the Lord's Supper,

a communion that we take part of now.

So Paul is making a connection for us.

Back to the Old Testament,

to a type of Lord's Supper,

to a communion that the Israelites were part of.

If you remember,

manna was the physical food that fed them.

But we know it didn't come from Whole Foods or Stop and Shop.

It was given to them supernaturally by God.

The same with the water.

The water didn't come to them in bottles that they brought from Egypt,

but it came from a rock.

I don't know how many other people have seen water come from a rock,

but that's a pretty supernatural thing.

So we're reminded here that that rock that was with them was Christ.

So we have the Israelites.

They believed Moses.

They followed him.

They're baptized into Moses

as he takes them through the cloud and through the Red Sea,

and they're delivered from the Egyptians.

Christ was that rock that sustained them.

And now we as believers of Christ,

we get baptized into him,

similar to how they were baptized in Moses

as he led them through the wilderness.

So what's the point?

What's Paul trying to say?

The Israelites were rescued from Pharaoh in slavery,

and they were brought across the Red Sea.

They were delivered from the Egyptian army.

They were provided for in the wilderness.

However, what's verse 5 say?

Nevertheless, with most of them,

God was not pleased,

for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

That brings us to our first point,

which is past warnings.

It's what Paul is giving us here,

is warnings for things that have taken place.

Now these things took place,

verse 6, as examples for us,

that we might not desire evil as they did.

The NIV translates that

to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things.

You know, as a parent,

you do these things.

That is, you warn them of things

that can cause danger to them.

Don't do that.

You might fall.

Don't touch that.

It's hot.

Right?

Hopefully they don't touch it.

A lot of times they touch it.

That's how they learn.

They got burned.

You're starting off college.

You're starting a job.

People warn you of things.

But what tends to happen,

we think that we're a little smarter.

Maybe we're a little quicker.

I won't fall into that like you fell into

because I'm special

or whatever the reason is.

I remember doing that in college.

I needed to make up some courses

and I took three courses over the summer.

And everybody told me,

don't take that many.

Summer is short.

Everything is packed.

You know, most of the time

you only want to do one,

two at the most.

It's fine.

I got plenty of time.

Most of the courses are easy.

One of them was a religion class.

That should be cake.

So what ended up happening

is I took all three

and I ended up dropping

one or two of them

or I at least dropped one.

I don't remember if the second one

I just did really poorly at

or if I finally gave up and dropped it.

But I thought I was different.

I thought I could do it

and I couldn't

and I didn't heed the warning

and I failed at it.

And that's what Paul

is doing for us here.

He's giving us warnings

based on failures

that the Israelites

went through

in the Old Testament.

Verse 7.

Do not be idolaters

as some of them were.

As it is written,

the people sat down

to eat and drink

and rose up to play.

That doesn't sound so bad

just looking at that quotation.

But it's a reference

back to the time

when Moses went up

on the mountain

to get the Ten Commandments

to meet with the Lord

and what happens?

The Israelites

get impatient

and they decide

to make for themselves

a golden calf.

Their God,

their new God,

little g,

they even said

that this new God

delivered them

out of Egypt

and they worshipped it.

They gave,

they offered burnt offerings

to it

just like

the burnt offerings

they offered to God.

They stopped believing

that fast.

They stopped believing

in God,

the one who had

rescued them

out of Egypt

and they started

following after

something that they made

with their hands.

Paul says,

watch out,

don't be an idolater.

Verse 8.

We must not indulge

in sexual immorality

as some of them did

and 23,000 fell

in a single day.

This is a reference

to Numbers 25.

When the people

of Israel

began to mix

with the people

of Moab,

the Bible actually

says that they began

to whore

with the daughters

of Moab.

That sounds pretty rough.

Why would God

use that terminology?

Because the people

worshipped Baal

and Israelites

were called

to worship God.

What happens

when they start

to intermingle

and their families

start to begin

and grow?

You worship God

and somebody else

worships an idol

and you have more people

that are following

after an idol

than they are

following after God.

So their focus

was quickly changed

from being

the people of God

to a people

that just worships

another idol

in this world.

This sexual immorality

is,

I don't have to tell you

that that's

a big area,

a big pitfall

that we can fall into.

If you're not married

this morning,

be careful.

You want to make sure

that the person

that you look for

or the person

that you're with now

their heart

belongs to Christ.

Because if not,

if their heart

belongs to the world

and your heart

starts to become

connected to them,

guess where your heart

is going?

It's generally not

to God

and bringing them

with you.

It usually will pull you

both towards the world.

God warns about that.

Moses warns about that.

Here Paul is warning

about that.

So I'm telling you,

don't go there.

Verse 9,

another warning.

We must not put Christ

to the test

as some of them did

and were destroyed

by serpents.

If you remember

the story of the serpent,

this is referring to that

in Numbers 21.

It says this

in verses 4 to 6,

and the people

became impatient

on the way

another time

where they just

couldn't wait

on the Lord.

And the people

spoke against God

and against Moses.

Why have you brought

us out of Egypt

to die in the wilderness?

But there's no food

and no water

and we loathe

this worthless food.

So the Lord

sent fiery serpents

among his people

and they bit them

so that many people

of Israel died.

They tested God

because they became

impatient

and as a result

many of them died.

Verse 10,

another warning.

Nor grumble

as some of them did

and were destroyed

by the destroyer.

There were several

occasions that we

can go back to

in the wilderness

where the people

of Israel

grumbled against God.

They grumbled

against Moses

which ultimately

is against God

and they also

grumbled directly

against God

and what his plan

for them was.

And this was met

with serious consequences.

In verse 11,

Now these things

happened to them

as an example

but they were written

down for our instruction

on whom the end

of the ages has come.

Sounds a little weird

but it's really pretty simple.

Who is that?

The end of the ages

has come

to all those

that are right now.

Anything on,

anybody on this side

of the cross

and until eternity

until the Lord comes back

is the end of the ages.

So that's us.

These are examples

written down

for our instruction.

And why is Paul

writing down

these things

for our instruction?

That brings us

to our second point.

These were warnings

that took place

many years ago

but the dangers

are still here

for us now.

Our second point

is present dangers.

These are dangers

that the Corinthian believers

had.

They were also dangers

that we currently have.

They may look

a little different.

Our lives may look

a little different.

Things around us

may look a little different

but the dangers

are still there

nonetheless.

Verse 12 says this,

Therefore let anyone

who thinks he stands

take heed lest he fall.

Don't be overconfident.

This is what we see

taking place

in the previous chapter

with people thinking

that they can,

they're strong enough

to go back

to the pagan temple

and worship

the same way

they used to worship

before they knew God.

Don't think that you

can stand strong

and face sin

and it not affect you.

It's going to affect you.

The idea,

the point isn't to see

how close to sin

you can play with.

The point is just

flee sin.

It's like with a fire.

Don't see how close

you can get.

At some point

you're going to get burned

and realize

you got too close.

Verse 13,

No temptation

has ever taken you

that is not common

to man.

When you're tempted,

what you're tempted with

is not anything new.

Basically,

it was what Paul

is saying.

There isn't a new

big temptation

that you're going

to meet tomorrow

that isn't something new

that thousands of other

people haven't struggled with.

It isn't anything new.

It wasn't anything new

for the Israelites,

the people in Corinth,

and it's not for us

as well.

But,

and we got verse 13,

God is faithful.

Amen to that.

God is faithful.

And he will not let you

be tempted beyond

your ability.

But with the temptation

he will also provide

the way of escape

that you may be able

to endure it.

God is faithful.

Start with that.

Before you deal

with the temptation

and how you're going

to get out of it,

remember that God

is faithful.

God is faithful.

He was faithful

to the Israelites.

He was faithful

to the people

in Corinth

and he's faithful

to his people

here in 2018.

Now,

if we focus in

on the last part

of that verse,

but with the temptation

he will also provide

a way of escape

that you may be able

to endure it.

Notice Paul doesn't say

that you may be able

to skip over it.

as you walk

through your temptation

or as you walk

through your day,

whatever that looks like,

and temptations

slowly approach you

as some do,

there may be also

those temptations

that just stand

right in your way.

And God's not saying

I'm going to pick you up

and I'm going to lift you

over top of your temptation

so you don't have

to deal with it.

There's not a secret

secret tunnel

that might be opened up

for us

where we slide underneath

and we can pop out

the other side

and,

whoo,

I didn't even have

to worry about that.

That was pretty cool.

No.

He says he will provide

a way of escape

that you can endure it.

When we face temptation,

he does provide

that way of escape,

but it requires

something of us

as Christians

to endure that.

And then we fall back

on the beginning part

of that

that we're reminded of

where God is faithful.

verse 14,

therefore,

my beloved,

therefore,

we get kind of

a connecting back

to what he was

talking about.

Therefore,

because our fathers

who desired evil

were idolaters,

who indulged

in sexual immorality,

who put Christ

to the test,

who grumbled,

don't be overconfident.

These are all the things

he's been saying

so that you aren't

overtaken.

he says,

flee from idolatry.

Flee from the desires

of the flesh

and run to God's desires

for you.

We're going to get back

to that.

That's a big one.

We're going to come back

to that in just a minute,

but we're going to go on

with these verses

just to break them up

a little bit.

Let's look at verse 16.

The cup of blessing

that we bless,

referring to communion,

referring to the Lord's Supper

here when the Lord's Supper

started,

if you remember,

Jesus broke the bread

and he blessed it.

When we have communion,

we also give thanks

and bless it as well,

just like Jesus did

as he started the Lord's Supper

back before his crucifixion.

But Paul says,

is it not a participation,

this is verse 16,

is it not a participation

that is a fellowship

or a sharing

in the blood of Christ?

The bread that we break,

is it not a participation

in the body of Christ?

So here we pick up

that Paul uses this word

participation twice here,

and that's the sharing

of one another

as we participate

in communion.

We are sharing that

with one another.

It's founded in Christ.

It's founded on his death

and resurrection.

And we as believers

get to share that

with one another

and we get to be

a part of that.

Verse 17,

because there is one bread,

we who are many

are one body,

for we all partake

of the one bread.

The one bread

that he's talking about here

is the body of Christ

that was broken for us.

The many that he is talking about

is us as believers.

We are the church,

but we're one body in Christ.

There are many believers

in Christ,

but there's just one body.

One body in Christ

is what he's talking about.

And we partake

of the one bread,

the one bread being Christ.

Let's look at another

couple verses

that might be helpful for this

if it's not quite clear.

If you flip over

to 1 Corinthians 12,

just ahead two chapters,

I know somebody else

is going to preach this.

I'm just going to,

I won't stay long,

take what you're going

to be speaking on,

but I find it's really helpful

for this as well.

Chapter 12, verse 12,

For just as the body is one

and has many members,

and all the members

of the body,

though many,

they're one body.

So it is with Christ.

Christ is one body

of which we,

who are many,

are part of.

You are part of the body

of Christ.

This is very important,

so I just want to hang out

here for a minute.

If you're standing

this morning,

you're sitting,

I know I'm not talking

about that,

I'm talking about

where you are,

where you find yourself,

this morning.

If you believe

in Jesus Christ,

they died on the cross

for sins that you

couldn't pay,

and you've asked him

to forgive your sins

and to be your savior,

you're part of that

body of Christ.

That's something

to rejoice in

this morning.

because you have a life

in Christ,

you have a future

in Christ,

you have a hope

in Christ,

you have a strength

in Christ,

you have a savior

in Christ,

you have freedom

from sin in Christ,

you have a relationship

with God in Christ,

you have an eternity

in Christ.

Praise God

if you are in Christ

this morning.

now if that's not

where you stand

this morning

and you don't believe

in Jesus Christ,

maybe he's just a good

person to you,

then those statements

that I just make

become questions

for you.

Where's your life?

Where's your future?

Where's your hope?

Where's your strength?

What is your savior?

What is your relationship

with God?

And what is your eternity?

You can answer those

with a lot of things,

but if it isn't Christ,

they're going to end.

They're not going to,

they're not going to keep you

through to eternity.

They're going to leave you

at death.

We're still in the same passage.

Chapter 12,

look at verse 13 with me.

For in one spirit

we were all baptized

into one body,

Jews and Greeks,

slaves,

free,

covering everybody here,

and all were made

to drink of one spirit.

That's why we have

believers baptism.

We believe in Christ

and we're baptized

into one body.

One body believers,

one body in Christ.

Christ.

That last part of that verse says,

and all were made

to drink of one spirit.

All right,

now let's jump back

to chapter 10

where we were

and take a look

at verse 4.

We're going to see

some connections here

that I think are helpful

for us.

And all drank

of the same spiritual drink.

For they drank

from the spiritual rock

that followed them.

The rock was Christ.

Christ was the spiritual drink.

Christ was the rock

that followed them

and sustained the Israelites

through the wilderness.

He's also the spiritual drink

and the spiritual rock

that sustains us

as believers.

So Paul's reaching back

to a time

way back.

This is like

2,400 years

before Christ.

He's reaching back

to the Israelites

and he's letting us know

that Christ

was there

and Christ was their rock.

Now Paul is speaking

and he's a little bit

past the crucifixion

so we'll roughly say

about 2018 years ago.

He's talking to the church

and he's reminding them

of that

and Christ is still

their rock.

And we find ourselves here

over 2,000 years later

and Christ is still

our rock.

That will continue on

until the end of time

when we get to go

to heaven

and be with Christ

our rock.

because Christ

is faithful.

Alright, so

we're done with that passage.

Let's jump back.

We are back to chapter 10.

Let's move down

to verse 18

where we left off.

Consider the people

of Israel

are not those

who ate the sacrifices

participants

in the altar.

See, the altar

in the Old Testament

if you remember

was where the priest

would make sacrifices.

Different sacrifices.

A lot of times

they involved animals

but the priests

were able to take part

in the sacrifices.

They were able to

eat of the food

that was offered.

That was part of

their

benefits

of the job

I guess you could say.

That was part of

their livelihood

that they could do that

but all of it

was a worship

to God.

The sacrifice,

the altar,

the altar,

what they had to do

to clean everything

and get it ready.

Making that blood

sacrifice

to cover the sins

of the people

and then them

being able to eat

that meat later

as part of their

livelihood.

All that was done

in worship to God.

So Paul here

is building up

his previous arguments

about

attending events

in pagan temples,

worshiping idols,

thinking that you

can eat food

offered to

sacrifice to idols

and that be okay.

Verse 19,

Paul says,

what do I imply?

That food offered

to idols is anything

or that an idol

is anything?

If you remember,

Paul earlier said

idols aren't real,

they aren't anything.

Food is food,

enjoy it.

That's how he started out

but as he progresses,

he wants us to know

the warnings,

the dangers

of thinking this way.

verse 20,

he says,

no,

I imply that

what pagans sacrifice,

they offered to demons

and not to God

and I do not want you

to be participants

with demons.

The priest

in the Old Testament

participated

in the sacrifice.

They ate the food

and that was done

as worship,

like I said.

The same applies

to those who go

to the temple

where idols were worshipped

and participate

in those meals.

All that was done

is worship to an idol,

to a god,

little g.

And Paul points out

not only are they idols

but there's demons.

There's demons

that you're worshipping

because if you're not

worshipping God,

you're worshipping Satan

and whoever is

on Satan's side,

there isn't more

than two sides.

It's God

or everything else.

Verse 21,

you cannot drink

the cup of the Lord

and the cup of demons.

You cannot partake

of the table of the Lord

and then turn around

and take the table

of demons.

Shall we provoke

the Lord to jealousy?

Are we stronger

than he?

That reminds me

of,

I don't know,

I don't know

if you guys did that,

this when you were a kid

but,

did you ever have

a large dog

chained up

behind a fence

and you kind of

had that temptation

that you wanted

to kind of

taunt him a little bit?

Maybe see,

just get him angry

a little bit,

kind of growl at him?

I didn't do that.

My brother did.

But,

also,

thinking of

if you ever went

to a zoo

and you saw

a strong,

kind of ferocious animal

and you knew

he was behind

a fence,

behind a glass wall

and he couldn't get you,

you might toy with him,

make faces at it.

God's not like that.

This is something

that God takes seriously.

Let me just read

a couple verses

from Exodus 20

as he's given

the Ten Commandments

and God spoke

all these words saying,

I am the Lord your God

who brought you

out of the land of Egypt,

out of the house of slavery.

You shall have

no other gods

before me.

Deuteronomy 5, 9,

speaking of idols.

You should not

bow down to them

or serve them

for I, the Lord your God,

am a jealous God.

This is not jealousy

like our sinful

human jealousy.

This is,

this is a holy,

righteous jealousy

based on God

protecting his name

and his image

of being the only

true God,

the creator

of heaven and earth

and there are

no other gods,

little g,

that are worthy

of his worship.

So,

Paul says,

don't provoke

the Lord to jealousy.

are we stronger

than he?

The question,

the answer to that question

being you're not

stronger than God.

Don't go there.

Some of the Israelites

did it

and it ended

in death.

Now,

by now,

some of you

might be thinking,

okay,

all this stuff

makes sense,

this sounds really good,

but I don't worship idols.

On top of that,

I don't remember

the last time

I ate any food

that was offered

to idols.

idols.

It's a good point,

but we need to be serious

here because we're not

talking about just idols.

Idolatry

is anything

that we worship

that's not God.

So,

while Paul is talking

here to the Corinthians

about idols

and pagan temples,

the same applies

to us,

it just looks

a little different.

Back in verse 6,

Paul says,

now these things

took place

as examples

for us

that we might

not desire evil.

And again,

the NIV

translates that,

which I think

is a little better

helpful translation.

Now these things

occurred as examples

to keep us

from setting our hearts

on evil things.

As they did.

What things

were they?

They followed

after other gods.

What else?

Sexual immorality,

testing God,

grumbling,

complaining.

They stopped

believing in God.

Even though God

was in their midst,

they saw God work.

They saw God

perform miracles

that they were

a part of,

and yet they set

their hearts

on evil things.

So the question

this morning

is not whether

or not

you worship idols.

The question

about is

where your heart is.

Because that's

where our worship

comes from,

right?

It comes from

what's inside our heart.

It's not just

the activity

of bowing

to something.

It's just,

it's not the

actual physical

idol.

It's not the

actual TV

that you spend

time in front of.

It's not the

actual magazine

that you might

look at

or the conversations

you have

that are not

Christ glorifying.

Those physical

things aren't it.

It comes from

a heart

that's not

focused on God.

So what do you

desire?

What do you worship?

Some people say,

well,

it's where you

spend all your time

that's what you

worship.

Maybe.

Well,

maybe not.

If you have a job

outside the house

and you spend

on an average

of 45 to 55

hours a week

commuting

and working

at a job,

that's a large

chunk of your time.

It's not

an idol,

but it could be.

Your job,

your status,

your money,

that could be

an idol.

if God's here

and your job

is up here.

Staying home

with kids,

that's a full-time

job.

Right?

That's not an idol.

Could be.

I've seen it happen.

You can make your

kids an idol.

You can put God

down here

and make your kids

the most important

thing in your life.

The problem is

is when we get

them flipped,

everything else

is going to let

us down.

The God who is

faithful,

who is always

there,

will not let us

down and he

calls us

to be on him

and not on

other things.

So how about

other things?

We have sleeping,

video games,

food,

TV,

hobbies,

shopping,

sports,

drugs,

alcohol,

pornography,

gambling?

Now obviously

some of those

are pretty obvious.

That's a pretty

bad idol.

But it's possible

for us to set

our hearts

on the idol

of things

that are not

God.

It can be good

things that we've

made God things.

So we want

to make sure

from what Paul

is telling us

here,

from the warnings

that he's given

to us,

that our hearts

should be placed

on the altar

of Jesus Christ,

our Savior and

King.

That's where we

put our hearts.

And that brings

us to our third

point.

You're probably

thinking third.

It's okay,

this one's short.

It's also the most

important one.

The last point

is our future

success.

And by now

you should be able

to guess that our

future success

is Christ.

Christ,

the same Christ

that loved his

people enough

to save them

from slavery

and bring them

through the wilderness,

the same Christ

who loved us

enough to die

in order to save

us from death.

Paul is telling

us that our success

is Christ,

it's not idols.

But you still

got to watch out

for them.

Christ was available

to the Israelites,

Christ was their

rock and yet

they turned to

the world instead.

And God

left them,

God cursed

most of them,

the older ones,

20 and older,

to remain in the

desert until they

died off and their

kids got to go to

the promised land.

So we're warned

not to follow

after anything

besides God.

We're told to

flee idolatry.

It's helpful,

it's a very

helpful tool.

It's short,

it's easy to

remember,

you don't need

a five-step program

when you run

into a problem

if you don't

know what to do,

if you're stuck

in sin and

you're being

tempted,

flee from

idolatry.

Flee from

fill in the

blank.

Here it says

idolatry,

you can put any

sin you're

struggling with

in that spot.

The problem is

when we're

struggling with

a sin,

we say we

can't overcome

of it a lot

of times,

we kind of

want to bask

in that sin

a little bit

because we

don't want

to give it up.

We struggle

with sin

because we

like the sin.

Paul says

watch out

because it's

going to

overtake you.

So let's

keep our

hearts focused

on Christ

because Christ

is faithful,

because Christ

is our rock,

because Christ

is our savior.

Christ is the

one we follow,

Christ is the

one we serve.

and he's

faithful to

protect and

to keep us.

Lord, we ask

your help

with life

because life

is rough.

There's

temptations,

there's sin

that's all

around us

and we're

in a world

that looks

so good

from so many

different angles.

There are

idols all

around us

to pull us

in.

Lord, help

us to keep

our mind,

our hearts

focused on

you.

Lord, protect

us from

falling into

temptation

for your

glory.

What I'm

going to do

is just

take a

minute

just to

think about

the passage.

There's an

area that

the Lord

has laid

on your

heart.

Don't

cover it

up.

Don't let

the next

part of

the service

just push

it around.

Just let

that work

in your

mind.

Think

about how

you can

lean on

Christ,

your rock

to get

you through

that

temptation.