Don't Get Stuck! Series

Don’t Get Stuck!

1 Cor. 10

Introduction: Have you ever been stuck somewhere? I have been stuck in traffic, stuck in the mud, stuck working with people that are belligerent, stuck in situations that you know the moment you are in them you want to run. I’ve been stuck in fights both with my fist because my brother would not be able to finish them, as well as gunfights that you kept your head as low as possible to not be headless. However, the one time that I was stuck that frighten me the most was when I had a mother cow chasing me and I had to dive under a barbed wire fence to get away and the barbs cut into my back pretty deep and I thought for sure that I was going to become ground human. Being stuck though is something that no one wants to to be.

Sometimes we get stuck in our ways and no matter how much someone talks to us we bow our neck and we aren’t going to change our minds. Some of you know what that’s like right! In fact some of you are probably there even now.

Paul is talking with the church of Corinth and he’ telling them to remember the past, but don’t get stuck there. Learn from what had happen and don’t repeat the same mistakes.

As we contemplate todays message let’s explore things that we can do to keep from getting stuck.

1. Keep Grounded!

1 Cor. 10:1-4 "Don't want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. 2 In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. 3 All of them ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ" NLT

a. How many of you remember “Knob and Tube wiring” Lucy and my first home had that kind of wiring and my dad wired numerous houses that had that kind of wiring. In fact, a third of my house I live in now the original wiring was the Knob and tube. When something went out you had to replace a fuse that would just screw in. The greatest issue with that wiring is there was no grounding throughout the house and when an appliance would go bad it would actually cause an electrical fire.

One house my dad and I remodeled you could actually see the wiring that had burned through the wall all the way back to the breaker box.

You see being grounded represents not only where our confidence lies, but also the first place we go when we are going through a real tough struggle.

b. As believers, we are going to struggle. Paul is saying even the ancestors that many had struggled and they had the overwhelming presence of this cloud that moved ahead of them by day and they had this fire that was right in front of them at night. They were given food that came from heaven daily, as well as enough meat to from quail that flew in daily. He says all of that was the preincarnate Christ. That foundation that they so quickly bring to remembrance was Christ showing them that they needed Him to make it through their daily life.

That is the same Christ that we need to dwell inside us now so that we can stay grounded. The difference is now His Spirit resides in us as believers to guide us daily if we choose to allow Him to do so.

T.S. However, in order to do that we have to set our hearts on things that give God glory not on the things that give man glory.

2. Set your hearts on pure things.

1 Cor. 10 5-10 Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, "The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry." And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day. Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites. And don't grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death NLT

a. Aren’t you thankful that when we disobey today God doesn’t just send snakes to kill us or a plague to wipe out a bunch of us. However, we can’t allow that Grace to give us a license to do whatever we choose.