November 29, 2012 … The Bugaboo of Sexual Sin

Chronological Bible Reading Plan - Day 334

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 1st Corinthiians, Chapters 5-8 To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passages: 1st Corinthians, Chapters 5 - 8 … Please take the time to use the link above and read this letter to a church who needed some direction. : [NLT] … {A number of challenging issues were covered in these chapters, including church discipline, the handling of lawsuits among church members, Christian marriage and singleness, the church handling rituals or personal habits, like eating behaviors, and importantly, the church dealing with Christians involved in sexual sin, all critical issues in the church in Corinth and as I’m sure you’re aware, in the church today. I hope you read the entire four chapters in 1st Corinthians; but my entry today will focus on Chapter 6.} …
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Highlight Passages: 1st Corinthians 6: 9-12; 18-20 : [NLT] … { These passage, from Chapter 6 of 1st Corinthians are the focus for my journal entry today because they deal so closely with the ministry which God called me and my wife to found and lead years ago. You can see about this effort for God’s kingdom, Battle Plan Ministry, by going to this website:  … and it has become a ministry passion for me personally because of how God delivered me from habitual sexual sin and how Christians must deal with this very personal and very-VERY common form of sin against God in our culture. } …  
9 Don’t you know that those who do wrong will have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, who are idol worshipers, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, 10 thieves, greedy people, drunkards, abusers, and swindlers — none of these will have a share in the Kingdom of God. 11 There was a time when some of you were just like that, but now your sins have been washed away, and you have been set apart for God. You have been made right with God because of what the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God have done for you. 12 You may say, “I am allowed to do anything.” But I reply, “Not everything is good for you.” And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. … 18 Run away from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Or don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. 

Reference Passage: Romans 12: 1-2 : [NLT] … {Today’s journaling again takes me back to the passage on worship by Paul to the Christians in Rome; and like I explained yesterday, it becomes an exhortation to Christian and Church living today.} …  
12 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. 

My Journal for Today: Okay, four more Chapters in Paul’s pointed and powerful letter to the Church in Corinth are covered today; and as I indicated above, a number of issues pertinent to the church then are still pertinent to the church today; and I have singled out one of those issues from Chapter 6 of 1st Corinthians because the issue of sexual sin has become a social plague – or as I’ve heard it called, “a spiritual tsunami” – in our culture and church today.

For my readers, go to this website –  and take in some links to compelling statistics, documenting just how prevalent and perverted sexual sin has become in our world today. Sexual sin was a big enough issue for Paul to write about it specifically to the church in Corinth, a city where perverted sexual idolatry was a BIG part of the culture. But Satan and the world have refined this area of humanity to where it has become a SUPERWEAPON for Satan in our times. And many believe, as does the Christian apologist, Josh McDowell, (see this website) that habitual sexual sin, especially internet pornography has become the biggest spiritual threat to Christian families and children in our world today.

Years ago, before I became a Christian, my life was consumed by habitual sexual sin; but when I became a Christian, God, through a number of discipleship tools, brought me to deliverance from this personal plague and ultimately led me (and my wife) to found and lead Battle Plan Ministry, the website I’ve linked you to above. And now, every day, my wife and I are on the front lines of battle against this sin-driven Satanic super-weapon stronghold in our world; – and it is a world-wide issue, especially with the beachhead of INTERNET PORN making sexual sin so tempting and available to anyone – yes, even the kiddies in our culture.

And I’m astounded at how ignorant or ill-informed Christians seem to be about this issue – or maybe we’re just super-duped and desensitized by Satan and the world to think that this is not the spiritual horror that some of us think it is. My friend, every day Battle Plan Ministry goes to war for Christ on this issue; but sometimes I feel like the proverbial Christian trying to empty the ocean with a teacup as we battle to help Christians walk free from habitual sexual sin. This is a winnable war [!!!] … because we have the power of God on our side [see 1st John 4: 4]; but one first has to recognize and realize that it is, in fact, a war to be able to go to battle; and so many Christians today will not or cannot recognize that our Christian world is being engulfed by a super-weapon system developed by Satan and employed by his world.

I could go on and on and on about this matter. It is so personal to me; but today let me just charge any reader with me here to take in the passages in 1st Cor. 6, copied above, and meditate on what you’re feeling; and then ask yourself, … “Am I doing all I can to go to battle against the world and Satan in this area of spiritual warfare?” And if you answer is “NO” … then go to the website links above and pray to God to lead you into battle.

You can be a force for God in doing what Paul wrote about in 1st Corinthians 6!! But you’ve got to decide to get in the battle.

My Prayer Today: … Lord, I beg You to wake up the Christian world to what Paul was writing about in his letter to Corinth, which has become so pertinent in our world today! Amen