Pastor Ricky Powell

It Came From Within (Recognizing the Lure of Temptation)

Hollywood was notorious in the 1950’s and 60’s for producing low-budget horror movies. Many of these B-movies featured creatures or aliens invading the earth or a city. The movies played on the natural fears people have about the unknown and often carried overtones of current political fears such as the threat of communism.

The movies were advertised with graphic, over-the-top movie trailers and posters.

• “It came from beneath the sea.”
• “It came from outer space.”
• “It came from the desert.”

If Hollywood wanted to make a movie about temptation, they would call it, “It Came From Within.”

Playwright Oscar Wilde once jokingly remarked, “I can resist anything except temptation.” We can all relate. We all face temptations of one sort or the other. 

• Tempted to lust and to sexual immorality
• Tempted to hold grudges and be unforgiving
• Tempted to lose our temper in outbursts of anger or foul language
• Tempted to laziness and procrastination
• Tempted to disobey and disrespect our parents
• Tempted to stretch the truth and tell a lie to gain an advantage
• Tempted to abuse alcohol
• Tempted to compromise your Christian integrity
• Tempted to love money and cheat or steal to get it
• Tempted to disobey God and not put him 1^st

What is going on when we are tempted? We find the answer in the Book of James 1:13–18.

“And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.” (James 1:13–18, NLT)

James gives us the bad news first. Then he gives us the good news. The bad news is about our flawed character. The good news is about our faithful God!

It is not a sin to be tempted, but how we respond to the temptation makes all the difference.

The bottom line of James' instruction is this:

Temptation comes from within, but triumph comes from above. 

Click the link below to hear the message I preached to our congregation a few weeks ago from James 1:13-18. 

It Came From Within

What did you learn from what James wrote concerning temptation? Leave me a comment below. Praying for you!

A Sermon From Genesis 3:1-8 (Bait-and-Switch)

We all face temptations of one kind or another. How can we find victory over temptation?

Yesterday I preached the first message in our new series, "Filters: Temptation Is Never What It Seems." In this message, we examined the first temptation humanity ever faced. We discovered that all temptation follows the same strategy. We can learn from the fall of Adam and Eve how to see the temptation for what it is and realize that there is far more at stake than what we think. We also discovered that God provides grace when we have failed.

Here is the audio of the message, as well as the notes. 

Bait and Switch

Bait-and-Switch

Genesis 3:1–8 (ESV)

Like the first temptation in the Garden of Eden, all temptation is deceptive: it offers something good, but only leads to hurt, guilt, and death.

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

²And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,

³but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

⁴But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.

⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

⁷Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

⁸And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

 

In every temptation, there’s more at stake than what you think.

 

Life Application:

1. God’s Word: Are you standing firm on the truth of God’s Word? Or are you looking for loopholes, and doubting if God meant what He said? What does the Bible say about the area of temptation you are facing?

2. God’s Judgment: Do you believe God’s warnings that sin hurts and destroys? Have you thought beyond the immediate pleasures of sin to the lasting consequences if you give in to this temptation?

3. God’s Goodness: Do you really believe that God is good, and that He is enough? Or do you feel that God is holding out on you something that you really need or that will make you happy?

 

Be Known For Something