Restored Sexuality

God created sex to be a beautiful gift. In Genesis 2, God says it was not good for man to be alone so God created the perfect partner, a woman, so they could become one flesh. The chapter closes with the statement, “they were both naked and felt no shame.” Sex creates a unique relationship that involves physical, emotional and mental unity and completion.

If sex is blessed by God, what makes it immoral?

Blessings Lost

When we forget God has authority to set limits, blessings are lost. “Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.” (Romans 1:28). Your phone works best when you use it the way it was designed. In the same way, God designed sex to work a certain way. Rejecting His design leads to darkness, confusion, secrecy, shame, and judgement.

Blessed Design

God used His infinite wisdom to design sex in the beginning. God does not need to “evolve.” He does not change his mind based on our opinions. Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation give a very clear picture of the kind of sex that pleases God. “This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24). God approves of sex when it is between one man and one woman who have made a lifelong commitment to marriage. Jesus confirmed this to be an unchanging truth in Matthew 19.

Are you willing to trust God’s wisdom and love and follow his guidelines?

Blessing Restored

“He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him.” (Colossians 1:13-14). We no longer have to sit in the darkness of shame and confusion. Jesus has made us children of light! (Ephesians 5:8-11)

“You cannot say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies...If we belong to Christ our body is not our own but a temple of the Holy Spirit and therefore we should honor God with our body.” (1 Corinthians 6:13,19-20). Obedience to God’s plan for sex is a choice we make when we want to please God, not ourselves (Colossians 3:1-17). God has given every Christian the Holy Spirit to teach us truth and empower us to obey it.

Are you going to find out what pleases the Lord and choose to live by it?

Did God Put a Hole in My Pocket?

On a hot summer day you can actually see water evaporating from a stream. Does your money appear to be vanishing? Are you constantly spending more than you earn? Maybe the solution is not getting more money into your hands. Let’s go to God’s word to see what the Scriptures say about money. Do you believe God cares about what you do with the money you earn?

What has first place in your life, God or money?

For one month, try writing down all of your purchases. This is a good way to reveal where your money is going and what has first place in your heart. Does God have first place, or do you spend most of your money eating out or buying clothes and other material things? Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “…first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing…the attitude and character of God), and these things will be given to you also.”

How often do you help those less fortunate than you?

Selfishly using money we earn is the opposite of what the Father has instructed us to do. Do we forget to help someone else or help the church we attend?“Give, and it will be given to you…running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” (Luke 6:38)

At some point in my walk with Jesus, I realized that it was part of my obligation as a Christian to give a portion of my income to my church. The Apostle Paul told the church he planted in the city of Corinth, “On every Lord’s Day each of you should put aside something from what you have earned during the week, and use it for this offering.” (1 Corinthians 16:2)

What’s Keeping me From Finding My Dream Job?

Did you know that "God helps those who help themselves" is one of the most-quoted phony Bible verses out there? Remember this: God “know(s) the hopes of the helpless” (Psalm 10:17) and His “power works best in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) If you’ve been praying for a job for a long time, here are a few things to consider.

Consider God’s Calling

Does God have a plan for you? Yes. The bigger question is, "What is God’s plan?" We all have dreams for our life, but God’s plan is first. He does not want to just be a part of the plans I make for my life. God’s plan involves His “Kingdom” because He is the King, and we owe loyalty to Him. Sin is disloyalty to Him, and “The Lord will not hear me if I hold on to sin in my heart.” (Psalm 66:18) But there’s more to think about as you wait for an answer to your prayer for a job.

Consider How God Created You

Ephesians 2:1-10 shows that it’s God’s work, not ours, that is most important. “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10) You are unique for God's purposes. Sometimes it's hard for you to see your uniquenesses. Ask a trusted Christian friend to pray with you. Together, you can think through the things that make you different from others. This may open some doors you hadn’t thought about before.

Consider the Importance of Patience

Sometimes you might pray and submit yourself humbly to God, but still have to wait a while. Waiting for fulfillment makes the eventual answer unforgettable. The Bible says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life." (Proverbs 13:12) God’s calling for you is a holy calling, no matter what your job is. If you are certain you are where He wants you to be, you can be a grocery clerk, a truck driver or a dog catcher to the glory of God just as much as the preacher or full-time Christian worker can! “Whatever you do, do it from the heart for the Lord and not for people.” (Colossians 3:23)

Jesus Can Heal Addiction

We all have wrong desires and are tempted, but God has given us an Advocate who will help us resist sin if we are willing. Are you tired of being addicted to alcohol, sex, drugs, pornography or greed? Jesus has made a way for you to be free. This is how you can resist temptation and allow Jesus to heal your addiction.

There are countless people who are enjoying an addiction because they have not faced consequences yet. Galatians 6:8 tells us if a person “sows to please his own wrong desires, he will be planting seeds of evil and he will surely reap a harvest of spiritual decay and death; but if he plants the good things of the Spirit, he will reap the everlasting life that the Holy Spirit gives him.” There is no peace or freedom found in loving an addiction or sin. If you want to be healed, you have to turn away and renounce the addiction or sin.

Resist the Temptation

2 Timothy 2:22 tells us to “Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.”

• Temptation happens to everyone; no one is being singled out
• Learn to recognize the people, things and situations that overtake you
• After recognizing the tempter, resist him
• It’s your choice, so choose to do what pleases God
• Pray for Jesus to help you
• Seek friends who love God, have resisted temptation and can help you

There is Healing

Jesus is able to heal every kind of addiction, even those we willfully sought out. Jesus is able to "restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten" (Joel 2:25), even if suffering is His chastisement to a person for sinful behavior. God's purpose is never to tempt us to sinful despair but to make us holy and useful. (James 1:13; Hebrews 12:11-13) David, who knew something about God's chastisement, said, "Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me—now let me rejoice." (Ps. 51:8) Ask Jesus to heal physical or emotional pain from an abusive parent, the brokenness of losing a child, the loneliness of the death of a spouse, or being orphaned.

An addiction is not going to heal you. Letting a sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting God’s Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. Romans 8:6

Eternal Healing

In Bible times, leprosy was a dreaded, incurable skin condition. It caused physical deformity. It meant victims couldn’t come to worship meetings. They had to live by themselves. It made a good picture of what sin does to us. Sin is a disease that affects young and old, great and small. It cuts us off from God and from others.

Sometimes We’re Reluctant

The Old Testament book of 2 Kings tells about a man named Naaman. He was a great army captain in the time of the prophet Elisha. Naaman had been told the prophet could heal him of his leprosy, and paid him a visit. Instead of meeting him, Elisha sent a messenger instructing Naaman to wash himself in the Jordan River.

Naaman was insulted, saying, “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!…Aren’t the rivers of Damascus (his home country)…better than any of the rivers of Israel?” (2 Kings 5:12)

Humility is Part of the Cure

At first, Naaman he was too proud to accept Elisha’s “prescription.” In the same way, many people today let their pride stand in the way of accepting God’s plan of salvation.

It was a good thing that Naaman’s officers had better advice. They convinced him to take the treatment: “So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child, and he was healed!” (2 Kings 5:14)

When You Hear His voice, Don't Harden Your Hearts (Hebrews 3:15)

From birth, we’re all “infected” with something worse than leprosy. It’s sin. It is our very nature, not just our actions, that offends God’s holiness. “You are not a God Who is pleased with what is bad. The sinful cannot be with You.” (Psalm 5:4)

What is the result of sin? “When sin completes its work, it brings death.” (James 1:15) -- not just physical death, but eternal separation from God. When heaven is described in the Bible’s final book, it says, “No one who is sinful-minded or tells lies can go in.” (Revelation 21:27) Fortunately, this verse continues: “Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life can go in.”

God’s way is not just the best way: it is the only way. Naaman’s leprosy was washed away when he humbled himself and submitted. Jesus, the Lamb of God, is willing to wash away your sin. Are you willing to trust Him today?

Receiving Blessings from God

God has already done it all!

If God has already provided all of His spiritual blessings for us, how do we get those blessings? Ephesians 1:3-4 and 2 Peter 1:3 say we have what we need already. “We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God’s own power, when we learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness.” His provision is here - now. We need to understand and use the blessings He has provided. How do we do that?

How do we receive blessings from God?

You receive God’s blessings from His spirit. We must remember that spiritual blessings aren’t usually what we picture. The purpose of spiritual blessing are to make us “holy and blameless.” You have to know what pleases God before you can put His spiritual blessings into practice.

The “Fruit of the Spirit” is a great example of this: “God’s Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled…” (Galatians 5:22-23) I Corinthians 13:4-8a tells us “Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…” Do you want to love like that? You can! But it is not the fruit of your own heart. It is poured out by God’s Spirit. It is literally His fruit.

God’s Work, God’s Way

Think of it this way: if you own a business, paying all its expenses, you would not let your business sell a product people should not have. In the same way, God’s promised blessings are for living the life that pleases Him, not a life that opposes Him. Living by faith (1 John 5:4) means understanding what pleases God (Ephesians 5:10) and counting on Him to “hold back nothing good from those who walk in the way that is right.” (Psalm 84:11)

3 Reasons to Love Your Enemies

Last week we saw that Jesus demonstrated how to love and forgive our enemies. Here are three more reasons we should love our enemies:

Vengeance is God’s Business

Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. (Romans 12:19)

When we have been hurt by someone, we naturally want to hurt them back. But God says to let Him take care of it. First of all, He knows, much better than we do, what someone did wrong and what he or she deserves. He is totally just, and his judgments and decisions are 100% correct.

When imperfect humans try to take revenge or carry out “justice,” a never-ending, escalating cycle occurs. In its fullest form, it is known as “war.”

It’s About Eternity

The verse above from Matthew shows that our main concern is not this earthly life (which is like a “vapor” according to James 4:14). Rather, it is eternity. If someone hurts you, steals your property, or even kills you, that is not important in light of eternity.

God has promised His children that we will live in a perfect place, free from want, worry, fear and mourning. No human can take that away from us; so there is no reason to strike back at someone who attacks us.

We Will be Rewarded

“Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.” (Luke 6:35)

Again, God sets the example: HE is kind to the unthankful and wicked. What right do we have to be less kind than God?

We know that heaven will be wonderful, but God's children will enjoy greater rewards there if we've lived God's way here on earth. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we can live God’s way, treating people with love and kindness, especially our enemies. And we can trust Him to glorify Himself and to bless us with heavenly rewards.