July 1, 2025 • 13 mins
Temptation is real. But so is God's faithfulness.
In this episode, we unpack one of the most hope-filled promises in Scripture: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man…” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Whether you’re wrestling with sin, stress, or spiritual discouragement, this verse reminds you that you're not alone—and you’re never without a way out.
🔍 We’ll explore:
-
Why your struggle isn’t unique—and that’s good news
-
How God stays faithful even in your weakest moments
-
What it really means to “not be tempted beyond what you can bear”
-
How to recognize and take the way of escape when it appears
💡 Bottom Line: Temptation doesn’t define you—your response does. And through God’s strength, you’re not just called to endure, but empowered to overcome.
📲 Don’t miss this practical, grace-filled episode that will equip you to fight temptation in a world full of it—with courage, clarity, and confidence in God’s faithfulness.
#OvercomeTemptation #1Corinthians1013 #GodIsFaithful #FaithInTheStruggle #BiblePodcast #ChristianEncouragement #WayOfEscape #YouAreNotAlone #fightaddictions #recovery #sevendeadlysins #
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Temptations are everywhere.
It used to be that the temptations that would happen in a Christian community would be very rarely talked about.
It would be something that was almost shunned or hidden away.
And then we've come to a time where everybody talks about the temptations and they talk about falling and all these different things.
(00:22):
But what's really actually happening?
Welcome to the HHP Podcast.
My name is Chris Franke and I am the Senior Pastor of HFF Church in Oklahoma City.
Join me and others from around the country as we talk all things Bible, Church and family.
We may be right, we may be heretical, but that's for you to decide.
(00:43):
Drop a like, a share, a comment, subscribe and let's get to it.
Whenever we start talking about Bible verses that are taken out of context or any of those types of things when we get into temptations or sins,
the last two years we've gone through the orphan spirit, we've gone through the seven deadly sins, we've gone through these different types of things.
(01:04):
A lot of people will feel a lot of guilt, shame, condemnation.
And that's not what we're trying to do.
We're not trying to place you under guilt, shame or condemnation.
That's what the adversary does.
But we are trying to ask you to repent, turn and thrive.
And anytime we look on the negative, we can say, oh, you're just trying to guilt me, shame me or condemn me.
(01:27):
No, we're trying to hold you accountable to what the scripture says.
And that is where we are today.
First Corinthians 10 13.
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man.
And God is faithful.
He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.
But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure temptation.
(01:54):
Isn't unique to you.
It's not unique to me.
Paul is telling the Corinthians and to us in the twenty first century that the temptations we face are common to all humanity.
If you think this is like new or nobody's had to overcome this or nobody's ever wrestled with this nonsense,
the Bible tells us that these temptations are absolutely common to humanity.
(02:16):
And Paul is telling this to the Corinthians.
You're not alone.
The enemy loves to isolate people.
I want I want you to let that sink in for a second.
The enemy loves to isolate people for multiple reasons.
One, if he can isolate you, you can't thrive.
If you don't go to church, if you're not walking with believers, if you're not having fellowship with believers and worship and all those things,
(02:41):
you're not under submission to a group of Jesus loving people to walk towards thriving.
The enemy is one. He is isolated you so you cannot grow.
You cannot thrive.
Also, the enemy loves to isolate so that you can be kept in shame.
But the reality is other people have faced what you're facing and they have overcome many in our current world.
(03:09):
Choose not to overcome many in our current world.
Choose to live in that temptation.
That's sin and that bondage.
This is where a lot of people like to get together and like, oh, until they turn on each other, you eradicate sin.
You do not cooperate with sin.
You eradicate sin.
You do not cooperate with sin.
(03:31):
This is the difference of what our culture has become with the adversary.
Why?
Because first Corinthians 10, Paul says, God is faithful in the struggle.
God doesn't abandon you in your moments of weakness.
He doesn't leave you to fight the temptation alone.
He's also not going to do it for you.
His faithfulness means he is present, aware and active in giving you strength when you might need it the most.
(03:59):
But you have to be looking for his strength, not for your own.
You are not powerless.
The phrase he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear doesn't mean that life will never be heavy.
Life is almost always heavy.
It means God will never allow you to face temptation without giving you the ability to choose obedience.
(04:20):
And through the obedience comes overcoming.
You may feel weak, but through him, you're strong in the temptation.
There's always a way out.
God promises to provide a way out, a path of an escape.
Now, this escape means you still have to do something.
This isn't some I'm going to float you away on a magic carpet or you're just going to wake up one day and your temptation is going to be gone.
(04:43):
And by the way, this this literally is for all temptations, whether it's sexual sins, whether it's substance abuse, whether it's gluttony, food abuse, whether it's pride, anger, whatever, jealousy, whatever it is, any temptation that comes to you.
You are not powerless.
God will never leave you alone to face that temptation without giving you the ability to choose obedience.
(05:07):
But if you don't choose obedience, God isn't going to make you obey.
God is not going to violate your free will.
So when you feel weak, you are stronger than the temptation.
If you can focus on God and do something about that, God always provides a way out.
There's a path to escape in a moment of clarity or a conviction in your spirit.
(05:31):
Maybe it's through your friend's words or even a legit physical exit.
The question is, is will you take it if you are a part of a church community?
If your friends, whether they're online or in person, whatever.
I mean, the world is very different today than when the Bible was.
But if your friends or the ministries you follow are not teaching you how to find ways out of your sin and hold people accountable for their sin in a loving and just way so that we can be a kingdom of priests that overcome these things, you're in the wrong place.
(06:06):
Jesus isn't the center and the Holy Spirit isn't the center of that place.
We should be through obedience, taking captive the temptations and the thoughts of our life and eradicating them.
Anything short of that is absolutely unnecessarily dangerous to your life.
So in short, temptation is real.
(06:29):
But so is God's faithfulness.
And so is God's power.
So you may feel like you're defeated. You may feel like you're surrounded, but you're not.
There is always a way forward that honors God.
He doesn't just call you to endure in situations.
He actually equips you to overcome the way out is there.
(06:53):
But you have to ask God to help you see it.
And then you actually have to do something.
In my years of being in pastoral ministry, it's not that there aren't ways out, it's that the people aren't willing to do it.
And I know that's hard.
And maybe you feel like I'm giving you guilt, shame and condemnation.
That's absolutely not the case.
But God isn't going to take care of your problems for you.
(07:14):
You have to do something.
He's called you to thrive.
You're not going to thrive because God just walks in and does it for you.
In fact, that's the opposite.
If you look at trust fund babies, most of them have no work ethic.
They squander their riches.
So if God came in and gave you everything you wanted, you overcame your gluttony or your pride or your sexual addictions or your substance abuses or whatever these things are that are the temptation for you.
(07:43):
If he just popped the magic dragon and you had the ability to just get out of those things, you'd fall right back into something else.
Because you would replace that type of habitual pattern of behavior with something else because the temptation is always going to be there.
You have to learn how to walk in a lifestyle of repentance and empowerment from God.
(08:05):
That's something that is taught.
He does that by teaching you and then he gives you his spirit in order for you to overcome that.
So what do we do?
One, temptation is everywhere.
From from your phones to your social media advertising to the workplace culture, you literally cannot drive down the road or watch television.
(08:26):
Temptation is no longer something that you might just stumble across is often something that follows you.
And this verse reminds us we're not helpless and that temptation is not new or unbeatable.
There is a mental and emotional pressure in an age riddled with anxiety and comparison and burnout that people are tempted to give up, escape or be numb to the pain.
(08:50):
Paul's words reminds the Corinthians in us today, you're not alone and God will never leave you.
He will never leave you.
And not only will he not leave you, he will never leave you without a way to endure, whether that's mentally, emotionally or physically.
If you're in an abusive relationship, God hasn't left you.
Maybe you need to leave them.
If you're looking at ice cream every day and you're you're lusting after ice cream through gluttony, God hasn't left you.
(09:19):
He's giving you a way to not buy ice cream.
Like, and I know those are two very, very different in severity situations, but not everybody is going through some really, really abusive situation.
But we do have the opportunity to overcome those temptations, too.
And most of the time, small temptations lead to large enslavements.
You're not alone.
(09:41):
The verse speaks to our deep human fear of I am the only one who's struggling with this.
I am the only one who understands this.
This is a lie from the adversary.
You are never alone in the highs and the lows.
You're never alone.
You're not the first one.
You definitely won't be the last one.
And so this brings hope and permission for you to reach out for help from other people.
(10:03):
Many people don't want to reach out for help for other people.
And then even more people, when they do reach out for help, don't want to go and actually do the work that's necessary to overcome.
There's always a way out, whether you're in a toxic relationship, whether you signed up for a cult.
I was in a cult for almost 10 years.
God led me out of there.
(10:24):
There is literally always a way out.
Maybe it's a private habit.
Maybe it's a spiritual rep.
This verse, Paul writing to the Corinthians, is telling you that you're not stuck.
God actually promises there is a way out.
(10:45):
Your job is to trust him enough to look for it and to take it.
I like to tell the deacons and the pastors and the elders of our church when we're talking about, you know, what are we going to do?
What's this going to look like?
How like what are we trying to do?
I want to be an opportunistic person spiritually.
I want to be eradicating sin.
(11:07):
I want to be learning the word.
I want to be meditating.
And I want to be in a place where I am emotionally, physically, spiritually healthy so that no matter what opportunity God brings to me, I can be opportunistic and say, yes, Lord, here I am.
And then let the Lord tell me, well, this this this was a test or this was your opportunity or whatever.
(11:33):
So that requires of me to take my thoughts captive.
That requires me to take my eating habits captive.
That requires me to take my anger captive.
That requires me to do things on a regular basis to try to become more like Christ.
God promises there is a way out.
(11:54):
Your job is to trust him enough that you will be willing to look for it and you will be willing to take it when he tells you to take it.
This verse is a reminder that temptations shouldn't and do not define you.
But your response does.
(12:15):
Oh, I was introduced to to some really bad stuff when I was 10 years old.
OK, stop whining in your 30s.
You're responsible for what you do.
Oh, well, you know, I was in a really, really bad marriage.
Well, did you placate to that and also become a part of that?
Or did you overcome that?
What your response is as an adult is not somebody else's responsibility.
(12:41):
You know, I pastor this church with with Bram and I'm not responsible for for what Brent does in his own life.
Brent's not responsible for what I do in my life.
My response to the things that happen in my life are between me and the Lord.
And he is there to guide me and help me through those.
(13:02):
He can't do it for me, just like I can't do it for him.
This is the same thing in any of our relationships, your marriages, your friendships, whatever.
You are never without help.
You're never without strength and you're never without hope.
In today's culture, temptations have become modern, but God's faith has always been eternal.
(13:27):
If this podcast has blessed you, please consider supporting by visiting our website and making a donation.
For more resources, blogs, podcasts, please visit us at hff.church.
Looking for a church home?
Join us for Saturday Church in OKC every Saturday morning, starting at 1030.
Temptations are everywhere.
It used to be that the temptations that would happen in a Christian community would be very rarely talked about.
It would be something that was almost shunned or hidden away.
And then we've come to a time where everybody talks about the temptations and they talk about falling and all these different things.
(00:22):
But what's really actually happening?
Welcome to the HHP Podcast.
My name is Chris Franke and I am the Senior Pastor of HFF Church in Oklahoma City.
Join me and others from around the country as we talk all things Bible, Church and family.
We may be right, we may be heretical, but that's for you to decide.
(00:43):
Drop a like, a share, a comment, subscribe and let's get to it.
Whenever we start talking about Bible verses that are taken out of context or any of those types of things when we get into temptations or sins,
the last two years we've gone through the orphan spirit, we've gone through the seven deadly sins, we've gone through these different types of things.
(01:04):
A lot of people will feel a lot of guilt, shame, condemnation.
And that's not what we're trying to do.
We're not trying to place you under guilt, shame or condemnation.
That's what the adversary does.
But we are trying to ask you to repent, turn and thrive.
And anytime we look on the negative, we can say, oh, you're just trying to guilt me, shame me or condemn me.
(01:27):
No, we're trying to hold you accountable to what the scripture says.
And that is where we are today.
First Corinthians 10 13.
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man.
And God is faithful.
He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.
But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure temptation.
(01:54):
Isn't unique to you.
It's not unique to me.
Paul is telling the Corinthians and to us in the twenty first century that the temptations we face are common to all humanity.
If you think this is like new or nobody's had to overcome this or nobody's ever wrestled with this nonsense,
the Bible tells us that these temptations are absolutely common to humanity.
(02:16):
And Paul is telling this to the Corinthians.
You're not alone.
The enemy loves to isolate people.
I want I want you to let that sink in for a second.
The enemy loves to isolate people for multiple reasons.
One, if he can isolate you, you can't thrive.
If you don't go to church, if you're not walking with believers, if you're not having fellowship with believers and worship and all those things,
(02:41):
you're not under submission to a group of Jesus loving people to walk towards thriving.
The enemy is one. He is isolated you so you cannot grow.
You cannot thrive.
Also, the enemy loves to isolate so that you can be kept in shame.
But the reality is other people have faced what you're facing and they have overcome many in our current world.
(03:09):
Choose not to overcome many in our current world.
Choose to live in that temptation.
That's sin and that bondage.
This is where a lot of people like to get together and like, oh, until they turn on each other, you eradicate sin.
You do not cooperate with sin.
You eradicate sin.
You do not cooperate with sin.
(03:31):
This is the difference of what our culture has become with the adversary.
Why?
Because first Corinthians 10, Paul says, God is faithful in the struggle.
God doesn't abandon you in your moments of weakness.
He doesn't leave you to fight the temptation alone.
He's also not going to do it for you.
His faithfulness means he is present, aware and active in giving you strength when you might need it the most.
(03:59):
But you have to be looking for his strength, not for your own.
You are not powerless.
The phrase he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear doesn't mean that life will never be heavy.
Life is almost always heavy.
It means God will never allow you to face temptation without giving you the ability to choose obedience.
(04:20):
And through the obedience comes overcoming.
You may feel weak, but through him, you're strong in the temptation.
There's always a way out.
God promises to provide a way out, a path of an escape.
Now, this escape means you still have to do something.
This isn't some I'm going to float you away on a magic carpet or you're just going to wake up one day and your temptation is going to be gone.
(04:43):
And by the way, this this literally is for all temptations, whether it's sexual sins, whether it's substance abuse, whether it's gluttony, food abuse, whether it's pride, anger, whatever, jealousy, whatever it is, any temptation that comes to you.
You are not powerless.
God will never leave you alone to face that temptation without giving you the ability to choose obedience.
(05:07):
But if you don't choose obedience, God isn't going to make you obey.
God is not going to violate your free will.
So when you feel weak, you are stronger than the temptation.
If you can focus on God and do something about that, God always provides a way out.
There's a path to escape in a moment of clarity or a conviction in your spirit.
(05:31):
Maybe it's through your friend's words or even a legit physical exit.
The question is, is will you take it if you are a part of a church community?
If your friends, whether they're online or in person, whatever.
I mean, the world is very different today than when the Bible was.
But if your friends or the ministries you follow are not teaching you how to find ways out of your sin and hold people accountable for their sin in a loving and just way so that we can be a kingdom of priests that overcome these things, you're in the wrong place.
(06:06):
Jesus isn't the center and the Holy Spirit isn't the center of that place.
We should be through obedience, taking captive the temptations and the thoughts of our life and eradicating them.
Anything short of that is absolutely unnecessarily dangerous to your life.
So in short, temptation is real.
(06:29):
But so is God's faithfulness.
And so is God's power.
So you may feel like you're defeated. You may feel like you're surrounded, but you're not.
There is always a way forward that honors God.
He doesn't just call you to endure in situations.
He actually equips you to overcome the way out is there.
(06:53):
But you have to ask God to help you see it.
And then you actually have to do something.
In my years of being in pastoral ministry, it's not that there aren't ways out, it's that the people aren't willing to do it.
And I know that's hard.
And maybe you feel like I'm giving you guilt, shame and condemnation.
That's absolutely not the case.
But God isn't going to take care of your problems for you.
(07:14):
You have to do something.
He's called you to thrive.
You're not going to thrive because God just walks in and does it for you.
In fact, that's the opposite.
If you look at trust fund babies, most of them have no work ethic.
They squander their riches.
So if God came in and gave you everything you wanted, you overcame your gluttony or your pride or your sexual addictions or your substance abuses or whatever these things are that are the temptation for you.
(07:43):
If he just popped the magic dragon and you had the ability to just get out of those things, you'd fall right back into something else.
Because you would replace that type of habitual pattern of behavior with something else because the temptation is always going to be there.
You have to learn how to walk in a lifestyle of repentance and empowerment from God.
(08:05):
That's something that is taught.
He does that by teaching you and then he gives you his spirit in order for you to overcome that.
So what do we do?
One, temptation is everywhere.
From from your phones to your social media advertising to the workplace culture, you literally cannot drive down the road or watch television.
(08:26):
Temptation is no longer something that you might just stumble across is often something that follows you.
And this verse reminds us we're not helpless and that temptation is not new or unbeatable.
There is a mental and emotional pressure in an age riddled with anxiety and comparison and burnout that people are tempted to give up, escape or be numb to the pain.
(08:50):
Paul's words reminds the Corinthians in us today, you're not alone and God will never leave you.
He will never leave you.
And not only will he not leave you, he will never leave you without a way to endure, whether that's mentally, emotionally or physically.
If you're in an abusive relationship, God hasn't left you.
Maybe you need to leave them.
If you're looking at ice cream every day and you're you're lusting after ice cream through gluttony, God hasn't left you.
(09:19):
He's giving you a way to not buy ice cream.
Like, and I know those are two very, very different in severity situations, but not everybody is going through some really, really abusive situation.
But we do have the opportunity to overcome those temptations, too.
And most of the time, small temptations lead to large enslavements.
You're not alone.
(09:41):
The verse speaks to our deep human fear of I am the only one who's struggling with this.
I am the only one who understands this.
This is a lie from the adversary.
You are never alone in the highs and the lows.
You're never alone.
You're not the first one.
You definitely won't be the last one.
And so this brings hope and permission for you to reach out for help from other people.
(10:03):
Many people don't want to reach out for help for other people.
And then even more people, when they do reach out for help, don't want to go and actually do the work that's necessary to overcome.
There's always a way out, whether you're in a toxic relationship, whether you signed up for a cult.
I was in a cult for almost 10 years.
God led me out of there.
(10:24):
There is literally always a way out.
Maybe it's a private habit.
Maybe it's a spiritual rep.
This verse, Paul writing to the Corinthians, is telling you that you're not stuck.
God actually promises there is a way out.
(10:45):
Your job is to trust him enough to look for it and to take it.
I like to tell the deacons and the pastors and the elders of our church when we're talking about, you know, what are we going to do?
What's this going to look like?
How like what are we trying to do?
I want to be an opportunistic person spiritually.
I want to be eradicating sin.
(11:07):
I want to be learning the word.
I want to be meditating.
And I want to be in a place where I am emotionally, physically, spiritually healthy so that no matter what opportunity God brings to me, I can be opportunistic and say, yes, Lord, here I am.
And then let the Lord tell me, well, this this this was a test or this was your opportunity or whatever.
(11:33):
So that requires of me to take my thoughts captive.
That requires me to take my eating habits captive.
That requires me to take my anger captive.
That requires me to do things on a regular basis to try to become more like Christ.
God promises there is a way out.
(11:54):
Your job is to trust him enough that you will be willing to look for it and you will be willing to take it when he tells you to take it.
This verse is a reminder that temptations shouldn't and do not define you.
But your response does.
(12:15):
Oh, I was introduced to to some really bad stuff when I was 10 years old.
OK, stop whining in your 30s.
You're responsible for what you do.
Oh, well, you know, I was in a really, really bad marriage.
Well, did you placate to that and also become a part of that?
Or did you overcome that?
What your response is as an adult is not somebody else's responsibility.
(12:41):
You know, I pastor this church with with Bram and I'm not responsible for for what Brent does in his own life.
Brent's not responsible for what I do in my life.
My response to the things that happen in my life are between me and the Lord.
And he is there to guide me and help me through those.
(13:02):
He can't do it for me, just like I can't do it for him.
This is the same thing in any of our relationships, your marriages, your friendships, whatever.
You are never without help.
You're never without strength and you're never without hope.
In today's culture, temptations have become modern, but God's faith has always been eternal.
(13:27):
If this podcast has blessed you, please consider supporting by visiting our website and making a donation.
For more resources, blogs, podcasts, please visit us at hff.church.
Looking for a church home?
Join us for Saturday Church in OKC every Saturday morning, starting at 1030.
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