We’ll have prayer at the end tonight. So if you’ve got your Bibles, turn with me to One Corinthians, chapter number ten. First Corinthians, chapter number ten. If you are a teenager, you can go down. And we are not doing if you are identifying as a teenager or if your spouse identified you as a teenager, just if you are a teenager age, you can go down. All right, everybody else has to stay upstairs. All right. You say my spouse will identify me as a teenager, she identifies me as twelve. Not quite a teenager yet. Well, that may be, but still stay up here with us. Okay, first reading, chapter number ten. We’ve been studying through One Corinthians and seeing some things how God is dealing thank you, Brother James. Try this again, how God is dealing with a church that has all the things that they need to make them a successful church, and a church that’s a blessing and going forward for the Lord being fruitful. But they’re struggling, they’re getting hung up with some carnal things. So God is using Paul to address some of these carl things in their life so they can get past this. And we want to the deeper spiritual things. And before long, believe it or not, in our study, first screenings, we’re going to get into some more spiritual things and some more spiritual meat. But God is continuing this thought in chapter number ten that we looked at in chapter number nine. And chapter number eight about things that are lawful may not necessarily be expedient for us to do. We may have liberty in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, but it may not be the best thing to do for the Lord’s sake and for the Gospel sake, for the sake of others looking at our lives, there are lessons from the Old Testament that we can learn matter of fact. The Bible says that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for correction, for instruction, righteous. And I think I’m getting those out of order. So two Timothy 316, let’s look at that together. Saint Timothy 316. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and it’s proper for doctrine, for reproof. For doctrine is for the teaching of what’s right. Reproof is showing us where we have aired for correction, getting us back in the right way, and for instruction in righteousness, that we may continue to walk in the right way, that the man of God may be perfect through the furnace and all good works. That’s all Scripture. It’s Old Testament, and New Testament is there for our learning. So you and I are not saved by good works. We’re saved because of what Jesus Christ did on the Cross of Calvary. If we put our faith and trust in Him, it’s a finished work. But we’re created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Our lives should be different once we’ve been saved. Matter of fact. Turn with me in one Corinthians six, chapter number six, verse number nine, it says, know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived. And look at this list of names. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves, of mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. What a list. What a label. And you and I may have carried one of those labels with us before we were saved. But once we’ve come to Lord Jesus Christ and asked for forgiveness of our sins by faith, we’ve trusted Him to save us. Then we have. Those labels erased were washed from that old life. We’ve been made new creation in Christ Jesus. The Bible says, and search for some of you, but ye are washed all that’s gone, ye are sanctified. You’re set apart now for the Master’s use, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. So a Christian who may have used to struggle with that sin is now no longer considered a drunkard or an adulterer or a fornicator or abusers of themselves, of mankind. He’s been given a new label in Christ. That also means that you and I, as Christians, we should not continue to live in that sin, that’s part of our old life. God’s freed us from that. He’s given us the victory over that and he’s given us the help to overcome that going forward. So he said first, granted ten. We’re not talking about moral issues here, but we’re talking about things that may not be a sin in themselves, but by their association, they bring question upon the testimony that we have. It may bring into question our witness for the Lord. There are some things in Scripture that are hard and fast, yes or no, right or wrong, and there’s no negotiation there. But then there are some other things where we’ve got to consider, what is this going to do to my testimony? Am I going to lose my witness? If I walk into a bar and sit down and order a Coca Cola? I don’t have to partake of the sin of drinking. But if I walk in and sit down at a bar, that’s going to harm my testimony as a Christian. And that’s going to bring reproach upon the name of Jesus Christ. And John says, we don’t want that. We don’t need to do that. So let’s pray and we’ll get into it. Heavenly Father, we love you because you first loved us. And Father, we are thankful for what you have saved us from what you have saved us unto what you’re doing with our life and how you’re working in our church. And Father, we pray that you continue to work, have Your hand upon us and move in a great and mighty way. Father, help us tonight as we study this chapter, open our hearts to what you’d have for us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Chapter number ten, verse one, says, More over. Brethren, we stop there. When he says More over, it’s referring back to chapter number nine. Let’s look at verse number 26 and 27. He said, I therefore so run not as uncertainty, so find aid not as one that beat at the air, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest I by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. The apostle Paul saying, I don’t want to be put up on a shelf no longer usable for God in his ministry. He’s given me something to do. I don’t want to be a castaway. His greatest desire was to please God. His Savior should be all of our greatest desires, shouldn’t he? Did not want to lose the power of the Spirit of God upon his life. Not that he would lose the Spirit of God because when God moves in, he keeps us until the day that we’re taking up to be with him, and then we’re forever with Him. But we can lose our effectiveness as Christian testimonies, Christian witnesses. He said, I don’t want to lose that. I’m fearful of that. Chapter ten, verse twelve. We’ll go back to verse one in a minute. Verse twelve. He said, Therefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest he fall. You know, those who are in the greatest danger of falling are those of us who think of ourselves higher than we ought to think. You ever get to the point? Simple illustration. But driving down the highway and you look over at your wife and you tell her, I know exactly where I’m going. And then a few minutes later you’ve got to eat a little bit of crow and say, all right, can you pull it up on the map? I was wrong. I don’t know where I’m going. The same with our life project before a fall, and a hottie spirit or pride comes before destruction and a hottie spirit before fall. So we’ve got to be careful. What if we let him think of these things? He lets you fall. In verse number 23 all things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. We’ve heard that before, haven’t we? All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not say, it may be lawful for me to do, but if it’s not building up somebody else or if it’s causing a hindrance of the Gospel, then I should not be involved in that. Look at verse number 31. He says, Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. No, that’s a high aim and that’s you’re human, just like I’m a human. That is almost a lofty goal. We’ve got to be on top of that every day, don’t we every hour of the day, whatever we do, whether we go to Walmart or go to Kroger, and Brother Frank at Kroger today. And you know what? I didn’t have to worry about Brother Frank’s testimony. I knew that he was going to handle himself well. Now, Sister Bev, on the other hand, I didn’t have to worry about Sister Bev either. I knew that they were going to handle themselves well and have a good testimony witness and carry themselves well. But wherever we go, whether we’re shopping, whatever we’re doing, that’ll be to glorify our heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, if for no other reason all that he’s done for us. The Bible says that he loved us with an everlasting love. He washed us from our sins in his own blood on Calvary. If he died for me, he gave his life for me, I should be willing to give my life to Him. Right? Verse number 33. Even as I please all men and all things not seeking my own prophet, but the prophet of many, that they may be saved. The Bible says there is no salvation, there’s none of the name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved other than the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Persons only saved through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, verse number one. Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant. He said, don’t be ignorant, don’t be dumb, don’t be stupid. I know it’s a little loose with my language, but he said there’s no reason to not know. And then he’s going to go proceed. He said how that? All our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea. Now, think about it. When the nation of Israel came out of Egypt, god took them through the Red Sea, right? And he went with them in a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. He was with Him through all of this. He wanted us to see the privileges that this people had. He’s going to relate that to our privileges. What you and I have in Jesus Christ. He said all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea and were all baptized under Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And they all eat the same spiritual meat, and it all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. One thing that stands out in these four verses is one little word, three letters. You know what that is? All. AW. Someone said I think it was his dad, I’ve heard. Dad said, all means all, and that’s all. All means all means every single person, every single person that came out of Egypt went through the Red Sea. It didn’t matter their social standing. They were slaves, they were servers. They had no social standing, but it was open to every single one of them all went through the Red Sea. They all saw God work in miraculous and glorious ways. They saw Him part the waters they walked through on dry ground. They saw Him provide over and over and over again, every single one of them, from the least to the greatest, from the youngest to the oldest. Look at verse number five, though. But with many of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. God did so much for them and yet he wasn’t pleased with them. One of the commentators I read after, he said, if I can say it this way, he said, this is one of the ironic understatements of the Bible. He said, but with many of them, God was not well pleased. How many was God not pleased with? Well, out of almost 3 million that came out of the land of Egypt, how many made it over in the canaan of that group that was 20 years old and over? Two, right, too. And so God wasn’t pleased with many of them. With most of them. Right. Only two. You remember who those two were? Joshua and Caleb. Why? Because they believed God. They were ready to go in and do the work that God wanted me to do. So that goes to show me that even though I consider myself to be a privileged person because I grew up around good Christian teaching, I had good Christian parents, good Christian family, even if it didn’t have that. We got a great church here, a great bond with one another in Jesus Christ. We’re born in America. We are Americans. We are privileged people. Just because we’re privileged people doesn’t mean that we can just take it easy and that we won’t. I don’t know how to say it, but sometimes we get so privileged we think that I’m fine. I don’t have to keep on going for the Lord. I already please God because of my entitled position. We might say, and we got to be careful, but we are privileged people. But with privilege comes responsibility. And I think Americans themselves would do well to realize that with great privilege comes great responsibility. So the Christians as well not preaching to America, we’re preaching to the church this evening we ought to realize that we’ve got responsibilities as well. The scriptures are timeless. Now, look at verse number six. Now, these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. He’s going to go into a list of some things that they did that we should watch in our lives to stay away from, he said. Now, these are our examples. Look at verse number eleven real fast. Now, all these things happen under them for in samples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are coming. So all these things happen in the nation of visual I enjoy reading history. I don’t remember a lot of it, but I enjoy reading history. My brother James enjoys studying history. And there’s lessons you can learn from history. Someone once said, if those lessons aren’t learned, history will repeat itself. And I think there’s some truth to that. But everything that’s recorded in the word of God is there for a reason. There are many, many things that happen in history that aren’t recorded in the word of God. When God was using men to write down the words of Scripture, he had them leave off many events, many details, and only put down what would be relevant for us and for generations before and generations after, only what he wanted. So that means that everything in the word of God is selected for a reason. We just read all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. All scripture is profitable. So we can learn from, even from the nation of Israel. We can learn nation of Israel is not the church. We don’t believe that. But we can learn lessons from them. Okay, so go back to verse number, verse number six. Let’s start in our list of things here. Let me find out where I am in my notes so I don’t get too far ahead. All right. They had great privileges, but they also had a great downfall. They had a great failure. They disobeyed and they didn’t please God. You know why they didn’t please God? They followed after themselves, after their own flesh. Verse number six is the first thing that God lists that we ought to be careful of as Christians in our day, to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted now in our day. When you use that word, it often has a connotation of immoral behavior or immoral things. But it’s not just those things. It’s desiring for something or anything other than what God has planned for us. And in that immoral conditions and those immoral things that we automatically think of. God has designed us for a specific purpose and for specific reasons. He’s given us certain desires and certain avenues to accomplish those desires in his will. And lusting is one of those things that are outside of his will. And that goes beyond sexual purity. It goes beyond those things, but it also includes those things. There would also be possibly lusting after a fourwheel drive truck when God gives you a minivan to drive around, right, design anything other than what God has planned for you. And we just not forget. So you know what God wants us to do? He wants us to be content with what he’s given us, what happened to the nation of Israel. Let’s turn, hold your place here. Turn the numbers, chapter number eleven. That’s in the Old Testament numbers chapter number eleven, verse four through 35. We’re not going to read all of it. We’re going to see what happened and the mixed multitude that was among them fell illustin. And the children of Israel also wept again and said, who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic. But now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all beside this mana before our eyes. Listen, let me ask you a question. Did God provide for them to eat? Yes. Damage? Say yes. Yes, he did. Absolutely. Did God provide enough for them to eat? Yes. Should they have asked for anything else outside of God’s will? No. Now, it may have been okay to say, Lord, we appreciate this man. Approach it in the right way. Go to Moses, say, Moses, will you pray for us? We appreciate the mana, but maybe a little meat on the side would be okay. But they demanded of God. They questioned God. They complained against God. And if God would have said no, then they should have been fine with that. You and I get the same way. Don’t we lose? We thank you for what you’ve provided for us. Thank you that we’ve we got may not have steak and salmon every night. Matter of fact, we may only have it once a year. But we’re thankful for what you’ve given us. And don’t go grumbling and complaining because you don’t have what your neighbors have. You don’t have what somebody else has. You’re becoming discontent with what God has given. God provided all the food they needed, but they wanted something more. They wanted something more. They asked for something that was not provided for them in the plan of God. He knew what was best, but they demanded their way. Psalm one six, verse 13. Said they soon forgot his works. They waited not for his counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert. And he gave them their request. Think about that. There’s another part of that verse I’ll read that in a minute. They demanded of God that they would have meat, and he gave them their request to listen to the last part of that verse, but sent leanness into their soul. They may have said, I got what I wanted. I got what we got, what we wanted, what our flesh desired. But I would say you would say, but at what cost did that come? Think about that. In our day, in time. You can’t watch a college football game if that’s your thing. You can’t watch a college football game on television without Pizza Hut commercials. I mean, with Car commercials, with everything under the sun. You know what they’re gearing towards making you want those things, right? They know how to do that. They know what they’re doing. But let’s just stop and think for a minute. Has God been good to us? How many of you know that God has been good to you? How many of you? God has provided everything that you need to agree with that I agree with? That all of us. He’s given us what we need. So let’s be careful not to get ahead of God or outside of God’s design plan. God’s design will. We may eventually get what we want if we press it hard enough, but at what cost will that come? Look at verse five. Go back with me if you want one. Phantom Ten, verse number seven. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Now, you don’t have to turn here, but that’s going to be found in Exodus chapter number 32. Let me move my markers here so I don’t keep getting confused. Exodus 32. When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mountain, the people gathered themselves together in the air, and instead of him, up made us gods which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we what not? What has become of him? And Aaron said of them, break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people break off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them under Aaron, and received them at their hand, and threw them into the fire, and out came this calf. No, that’s not what it said. It said they received them at their hand and fashioned it with a gravy tool. That was his excuse, though, wasn’t it? He? So I just threw them in the fire, and out came this calf. He received them at their hand and fashioned it with the gravy tool after he had made it a molten calf. And they said, These be thy Godzilla, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt. When Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And you just have to stop and wonder what was Aaron thinking? And Aaron made proclamation that said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early on the mall and offered burn offers and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and the drink and rose up to play. And that’s exactly the reference that’s found in our reading. Neither the dollar’s, as were some of them, as it is written to people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. They substituted what time they should have had for the Lord with playtime. They were idolatrous. Now, you and I, I would not be so foolish to think that you and I have false idols set up in our house. I don’t think anybody in here does. But we can set up idols in our heart, can’t we we can set up ourselves to be in the place of God. And idol is anything that you put ahead of God. You can put yourself ahead of God. When we decide to do something that we want to do, as opposed to what God would have us do, we’re committing idolatry. We’re putting ourselves in place of God. He said, don’t be an idolater. Don’t worship somebody other than God. Verse number eight, neither let us commit fornication some of them committed and fell in one day, three and 20,000. God takes this sin seriously. You ever noticed that? Many times in one corinthians, he mentioned fornication and the impure, immoral sin that this is. But he said, I’m going to read just a little bit in Numbers, chapter number 25, verse number verse number one. And Israel bode and Chitam, and the people began to commit hoardam with the daughters of Moab, and they called the people into the sacrifice of their gods and the people did he and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself on the Belor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. And Moses, seven of the judges of Israel slay you, every one his men that were joined in the belt. Now listen, I know America’s standards is not God’s standards, but God’s standards haven’t changed. What’s right in God’s word is always right, regardless of the times. What’s wrong in God’s word is always wrong, regardless of the times. And it’s wrong. It’s a sin to commit fornication and commit adultery. And God says in one chapter ten, verse eight, neither let us who’s us, by the way, who is he talking to? The Christians, right? The church. I got to remind you, church brethren, those that are saved, we can’t impose our standards upon the world, right? They don’t know Jesus Christ as their savior. Until they know Jesus Christ as their Savior, there’s no power in them to abstain from those things. And you remember what we just read earlier in one corinthians. Those that have that label or those that are involved in that sin can be delivered from that sin. Amen. By the power of Jesus Christ, when they turn and trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior, he can give them the victory over that sin and they can become Christians and live a victorious Christian life over that. But he’s talking to Christians. He said, don’t get involved in that. God takes that seriously. God takes marriage vows seriously and fell in one day. Three and 200. Verse number nine, neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. That’s in Numbers 21, verses four through nine. We’re not going to read that. Do you remember when they murmured against God, murmured against Moses. And God sent fiery serpents in their midst. And God told Moses, I want you to make a brazen serpent, a serpent wrapped around a pole made of brass and lifted up. And if they have faith enough to look to that serpent, I’ll heal them. But if they don’t look to that serpent, then they’re going to die. They may not be able to see the serpent. They may be so far in the camp they can’t see the serpent. But if they look towards a serpent, they’ll live. It’s what God was saying. And by the way, we still have that symbol today. You ever seen that? On the ambulance, there’s some kind of exercise and then there’s the pole and the serpent wrapped around and that’s still remnant from back then. He was testing their faith. They tempted God. It’s an awful thing to tempt God. Now, how can you and I tempt God? Well, they presumed on his mercy and his goodness. Now, God’s mercy is everlasting to everlasting. He is good all the time. But we can live so close to the edge of a questionable life that we can take for granted his mercy and his goodness. We can presume his forbearance. The commentator said he can say, well, I know God is going to take care of me. I know I’m safe, I know I’m on my way to heaven and God will look over that. Or God doesn’t care if I do this or do that. We can live so close to that edge. That’s tempting god. And I don’t want to tempt God to you walk out in front of a mack truck and tempt God. But you know what? God may just take you up on that. So I’m not going to tempt god. Okay? All right, verse number ten. Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the Destroyer. You know what murmuring is, don’t you? Complaining and grumbling. It’s when you have to get up too early and go to school for our kids that aren’t in here have to get your kids up and get them go to school. Murmuring, complaining. But even adults can murmur and complain when we don’t get things to go our way. We can act like a child and throw a temper, throw a tension. The Bible says that they were destroyed of the Destroyer. Neither murmur ye you and I as God’s people really have no place to complain or murmur. God has been better to us than we deserve. Listen, I’m not going to the devil’s hell because God has saved my soul. He’s set my feet on a solid rock. He’s established my goings. I’m not perfect. I fail God miserably, but he loves me. His mercies are new. Every morning his compassions fail not. I know where I’m going. I know that he’s going with me. He’s blessed us beyond all measure. He’s given me a. Place to live. He’s given me electricity, so I probably shouldn’t complain about how high the electricity bill gets, right? He’s given me a car to drive, so maybe I should quit complaining so much about the price of gas because he’s given me the means to buy the gas. And that hits your preacher too. Neither of murmur he because God has been good to every single one of us. And if gas gets so expensive that we can’t afford it anymore, then God will provide another means to get his work accomplished, to get things done. He’ll still be good. He’ll still be gone. I know my wife. I think she’s watching at the house with the boys, so you remind me of that, honey. Okay. You let me know. And don’t complain next time I complain. And neither murmured ye, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happen unto them, for in samples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come, wherefore let him that thinkthe standest, take heed, lest the Father’s lessons that God wants us to learn and learning the lesson from somebody else’s experience saves us from having to learn it in our experience. I guess someone said, experience is the best teacher, but I think the end of that is experience is the best teacher for fools. I think that’s the way that goes. You learn a lot of things by experience. We all learned a lot of things by experience. But the better way to learn is not to have to go through those things to begin with. So let’s learn the lessons from Scripture, then. Number two, let’s be careful not to be overconfident in our ability. Because we’re nothing. We need God’s help in everything. Samson was a man of strength, and yet he failed in weakness. Moses was a man of meekness. He controlled his temper. He was full of self control. And then one time, he failed in presumption. He did more than what God commanded him to do. Abraham was a man of faith. And where was his failure? And unbelief. He didn’t believe God enough to fulfill that promise that he had made. So our strongest points could also be our downfall. Every single one of us. So none of us have arrived yet. None of us are there yet. I think we understand. Let’s depend upon God for his help. Verse 13. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. But God is faithful. I like that, don’t you? Every single one of us, whether it’s temptation to sin or a trial that comes upon us. There’s nothing that’s come upon you that hasn’t come upon somebody else throughout the ages. Somebody else right now, I’m sure. And such as it’s common to man, it may hit your weakness, it may cause you to be weak. But our strength is not in our self. Look at the middle part of that verse again. But God is faithful. That’s where our strength lies. That’s where we can depend upon God being faithful. God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you’re able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. So when you james says let me find it. Let’s just turn there, james, chapter number one, verse number 13. Let no man say when he is tempted, tempted to do sin. I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. This is referring to temptation to sin. But every man is tempted when he has gone away of his own lust and enticed. You and I are tempted to sin when our own hearts pull us away. Our own hearts are going after something else and we’re enticed to sin then when lust have conceived bringing forth sin, or sin when it’s finished bringing forth death. But God says when we are in that area of temptation, he’s always made a way to escape. That way to escape, I believe is looking to God. It is fleeing from the presence of evil. When you find yourself in that temptation, the best thing to do is to drop and run. Get out of it, get out of that situation. Depend upon God in his strength, he said. But we’re with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. I don’t believe there is any temptation to sin that God hasn’t provided the way out of. Now we may take ourselves so close to the edge of that temptation that the only alternative is to get over into that sin. We’ve got to be careful to stay away. That way of escape may have been stay away from that temptation. You know what I’m saying? If you have a temptation to drink, then don’t go near the places that sell alcohol. Don’t put yourself in that position, don’t prove yourself. And I’m strong enough, god is able to give me victory. You’re tempting God to do that, okay? So don’t do that. I think we understand that our trials are common trials, our temptations are common to all men. But the faithfulness of God is the foundation and promise of our security and victory. We may not always be shielded, but God will sustain us if we depend upon Him. Verse 14. I think we’ll stop here tonight. It says wherefore my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. Say we have no business. You and I have no business. Christians fallen down a worse than an idol. A statute. A statute can’t do anything. The idol can’t do anything. You and I know that we serve the living God, the Creator of the universe, the risen savior and soon coming king. We serve a God who hears and answers our prayers and he’s a living God. I’m not getting him to do my will. I’m trying to get me to do his will, trying to find out where he’s leading me. So we have a living God. We should not build up any false idols but say on the same hand, we shouldn’t put anything else in front of God either. Let’s not be all sanctimonious and pretend that we never put anything ahead of God. If all of us know that there’s been times in our life we put our own desires, our own wishes, something else in that place where God should have the first place. Our Bible reading time, our prayer time, our church attendance, whatever it may be. He said flee from idolatry. Don’t worship anything other than God, including yourself. Okay. So there are some practical things to stay away from. Be careful what your heart desires. Don’t go lusting after things outside of God’s will. God may give those to you and you realize, hey, that’s not what I needed. That’s not what I wanted. Look at what it cost me to get that said. Don’t need to be idolaters. Need to let us commit fornication keep your bodies pure. It is the temple of the spirit of God. Neither tempt Christ, neither murmur ye let’s stop complaining and grumbling all the time. Amen. Even the preacher, you tell him and you know how you stop grumbling and complaining as you list things to be thankful for, you start listening. His brother Jim said, I’m thankful that God saved me all over. When brother Jeremy prays, he starts thanking God for the beautiful weather that we have, the beautiful sunshine that’s shining, all of this. We have many things to be thankful for, so let’s be thankful. Okay? All right. Let’s stand and let’s bow our heads in prayer.
Appreciate you listening tonight. I hope you’ve received something here in a minute. We’ll have our prayer time with everybody. But let me ask you this. With nobody looking around, how many of you know for sure? You’re sages slip your hand up. Good. You can put your hand down. Is anybody here not sure that you’re saved? Just slip your hand up. I’ll pray for you. Not call your name and just pray for anybody like that. Just not sure I’m saved. On my way to heaven. How about you say preacher, you pray for me? I’m just going through a hard time right now. Difficult time right now. Just slip up your hand. I see that hand. See that hand? Anybody else see that hand? We are to pray for one another. Amen. We are going to pray for one another. Try to help one another through this. Let’s be thankful for what God has done. I could ask how many of us would say and I’m going to raise my hand. Who. All of us could do a better job at thanking the Lord for what he’s done rather than complaining. I agree with that. I raised my hand on that. Let’s pray. Say, Lord, with Your help, I want to praise you for what you have done, have given, and I want to look past that. Lord, thank you for what you’ve done. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father lord, thank you for your word tonight And Lord, how it spoke to our hearts. And I pray, Lord, that did speak to our hearts, and I know it spoke to my heart, showing me some things. Lord, I thank you for what You’ve done, what you’re going to do. I pray that you would help Your people to be thankful for what You’ve done and who you are, what You’ve given. Realize that we’re not worthy of any of it, but Lord, we sure are thankful for it. Thank you for loving us, giving us a home in the heaven, giving us a church to worship. None of us are perfect. We all have problems. We all have difficulties, and we all have different personalities and different things. But Lord, we sure are grateful for the Savior that we have, for the God that we have, for the heaven where we’re going, for the work You’ve called us to, and for what You’ve given us to do. What I pray is you’d help us to continue forward for You, Lord, as we get into these more spiritual things that go through one corinthians, help us to make sure they’re part of our life. But first, help us to make sure that these things are out of our life, that we’re no longer committing these things that we once were once were involved in. But we’re a new creature in Christ jesus, I pray that you meet the very needs of each heart tonight according to Your will and way. Lord, we want to give you the glory and the honor through it all. And you’re jesus name we pray. Amen. You may be seated.