An Idol Participant Series

AN IDOL PARTICIPANT

I Corinthians 10:1-11:1

S: Idolatry

C: God is to be our priority.

Th: Live the Difference

Pr: THE LORD COMES FIRST, PERIOD.

?: How? How do we do it?

KW: Insight

TS: We will find in our study of I Corinthians 10:1-11:1 three insights that will help us keep the Lord first in our lives.

The _____ insight is to…

I. BE SHARP (1-13)

II. BE SINGULAR (14-22)

III. BE SUBMISSIVE (15-33, 1)

PA: How is the change to be observed?

Version: ESV

RMBC 11 July 04 AM

INTRODUCTION:

How about you?

Are your priorities straight?

ILL Notebook: Priority

At the church that Brenda Rodriguez attended, there was a singles group for people over 35, so she decided to tempt fate and attend a lunch. As she entered the dining room, she noticed about 300 people - most of them, like her, female. Since she didn’t know anyone, she sat at an empty table near the front.

Soon six men walked up and joined her - all of them young and good-looking. She was stunned, and thought, “Well, maybe it’s my new dress.” They were friendly and introduced themselves as they sat down. Then the man to her right enlightened her: this was the first table to go through the buffet line.

For these young men, it is certain that they had their priorities straight.

It was food.

TRANSITION:

Well, in our study today, we will be considering what and who should be acting as priorities in our lives.

As you may remember, in this portion of the letter to the Corinthians, Paul has been answering a series of questions.

In this portion, Paul is answering questions the Corinthians had about food offered to idols.

Was it okay to eat such food?

Or should it be avoided?

You see, there were some that felt that the idols were nothing but pieces of wood, stone and marble.

They had no power.

So go ahead and eat.

There were others that felt that this was an abuse of the freedom we have in Christ.

It was going too far.

We should have nothing to do with anything that has to do with idols and idolatry.

Last week, we discovered that…

1. We are to be uncompromising when it comes to our purpose.

When it comes to the Christian life and communicating the good news about Jesus, we are to run all out.

We are not to put out some half-hearted effort.

Instead, we are to run to win, with this in mind…

2. Our purpose is to make committed followers of Jesus.

Paul wanted to win as many people to Jesus as he possibly could.

So what he wanted and how he wanted to live was secondary.

The only thing that really mattered was his neighbor’s eternal destiny.

He wanted every person to know the joy of following Jesus, of being one of His true disciples.

Paul does this because he is motivated by gratitude.

The Lord Jesus had graciously appeared to him and changed him from a hateful, spiteful man to a man that God could use.

So, Paul lives this principle…

3. We are disciple-makers because we love God (Deuteronomy 6:5).

The first and foremost command of Scripture comes from Deuteronomy…

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

You see, when we love God for who He is, it is then that everything falls into place for us.

We begin to gain the perspective that we have needed for so long.

We see life as it really is and as it is meant to be.

These concepts are so crucial, you may notice that are a part of our purpose statement (on the back part of the bulletin).

These last two points we have just made are especially reflected…

Randall Memorial Baptist Church is a fellowship of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who are determined to love God and make committed followers of Jesus Christ…

So what are we trying to say here?

It is this.

The Lord must be our priority.

4. THE LORD COMES FIRST, PERIOD.

This being so, how do we get this accomplished?

How do we apply the Lord coming first?

Well…

5. We will find in our study of I Corinthians 10:1-11:1 three insights that will help us keep the Lord first in our lives.

OUR STUDY:

I. The first insight is to BE SHARP (1-13).

(1) I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, (2) and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, (3) and all ate the same spiritual food, (4) and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. (5) Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. (6) Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil 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 rose up to play." (8) We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. (9) We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, (10) nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. (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. (12) Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. (13) No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. 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.