Every Future Leader

We closed off our sermon series, Cow-Tipping last Friday with the topic of the ‘S’ word, SEX! This isn’t an easy thing to talk about in church. However, I managed to bring across some valuable insights concerning the subject to the people as much as I could. So I believe that God spoke to many hearts there. Since the nature of this subject can be quite broad, it would be impossible to cover everything within one sermon (at least I didn’t even try). So in this week’s Ezine, I hope to address some more things you and your friends in our service have asked in the recent sermon series survey. I hope the following would answer some of the questions you may have asked.

Many of us find ourselves struggle at times with our sense of security. We can be insecure at times when it comes to the area of romantic relationships. Sadly, the world tries to make us feel stupid, weird, ugly, undesired, or unimportant if we don’t have a guy or girl under our arm at all times.  Due to this, often times we try to impress others and are not ourselves. We, God’s children have lost a sense of identity, as we should. Many people, young and old look for love in a wrong place and allow their hearts to get attached to the wrong one. And it leads to break ups and hurt feelings.
 
God created sex to be wonderful and meaningful!  It is NOT as meaningful if you are not sharing it with your spouse for the first time.  If you are having sex before marriage, the chance is that it will leave you feeling used and empty.  God wants your sex life to be the best it can be so you should listen to what God says on the subject since He knows more than anyone about it! After all He invented it and it is for our own good.

Many weeks ago, I said in one of my sermons that “Purity paves the way for intimacy (intimacy is to know someone fully and be fully known without the fear of comparison or rejection)”.  If you are not pure when you get married, you will not achieve true intimacy with your spouse because there would always be that comparison factor.  Impurity erodes the capacity to experience intimacy and therefore diminishes the satisfaction of sex. Some asked me “So what happens to those who have already slipped in this area?” The good news is that our God is a God of the second chance and He can restore what once was broken, including our past sexual sins! (“How to” will be discussed at some other times or it may be best if it can be dealt in person and private.)

¹²“Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything. ¹³“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food”—but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. ¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” ¹⁷But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. ¹⁸Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. ¹⁹Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:12-20)

This scriptural passage commands us to flee from sexual immorality.  God knows that the damages and consequences of sexual sins are great and should be avoided at all costs. When we sin sexually, we damage ourselves and the potential for satisfying sex with our (future) spouse. It will not physically kill you to wait until marriage for sex.  No one has died because they waited to have sex until marriage.   I heard some preacher once made a very strong statement, “Which is more important to you, fitting in with the world and risking eternal damnation in Hell or not fitting in with the world in this regard and retaining your chance at eternal life in Heaven with Christ?!”

Some observed facts that I would like to warn girls and guys.

In general, girls want intimacy. You want to fall in love and know you can trust that person completely. And if you marry someone who has “experience” how do you know they won’t continue that when you get married?  If they don’t have respect for women while dating, they will not have respect for you. So bear in mind and don’t let such men fool you into thinking so.  Your body is meant for your husband alone.  Don’t forfeit it for empty promises.  Girls are a beautiful creation and should never forget God gave different eyes to different guys.  You are special to someone out there so be patient and wait for God to direct and guide you.  After all you are worth waiting for.

In general, guys want great sex. You want to meet someone you are physically attracted to, fall in love with her, and never lose that physical attraction.  The best way to insure you will not get stuck with someone you are no longer attracted to is to FOCUS ON INTIMACY.  Guys are turned on by sight.  You have to discipline your eyes and mind from media, entertainment, conversations and seek after God wholeheartedly!

Someone said “If you don’t want to marry a used car then you can’t live a life of any less purity than what you would expect out of your future wife. It is a two way street. You don’t want your wife comparing you to someone they were too physical with in the past. Remember, the person you are dating or have a crush on will be someone’s wife some day so treat her with the same respect you would want guys to treat your future wife.”

To be fair here, I think girls have to help the guys in whatever possible way. Think twice when dressing or acting in a way, which will cause guys’ minds to wander or be in the gutter.  It would be best to cover up and be modest and never cause a guy to stumble.  If you dress immodestly, you may be doing it (either intentionally or unintentionally) because you want someone to notice you for your body, not your mind.  It’s true that we attract who we are. If we have no desire for a destructive, ungodly, and unfulfilling relationship, we should begin to do what it’s right before God, which is holy, pure and beyond reproach.

As said before, if you have gone too far in this area, it is NOT too late and you shouldn’t just give up.  Never let Satan keep that foothold he has on you.  Ask God for forgiveness, REPENT of your sin, and make a change.  Don’t put yourselves in those situations anymore.  If you haven’t gone too far, stay clear from sexual temptations and save yourself for marriage.  You will not regret it.

SEX IS GOOD AND HONOURABLE IN THE CONTEXT OF MARRIAGE, PERIOD. It is worth the wait!

read comments (2)

Not sure about you, I have been saying ‘Merry Christmas’ non-stop to everyone that I have met over the last week. This is not uncommon. After all it is a season of giving and celebrating together with our loved ones.

In the midst of this, let us remember that Christ is the reason of this season and God is with our family, friends, His church and us.

When looking around, we may realize that there are also many who are in need of encouragement at this time of year. They don’t need a Christmas present; they need “His Christmas Presence”. They need to be reminded of what this season is all about. It is not about things. It is not about presents. It’s about experience HIS presence in their lives.

These things have their place, but we need to remember the essential message of Christmas, which is Immanuel—God is with us. And for the hurting person, the lonely person, the sorrowing person, this is the time of year to bring the gift of encouragement to them and say, “The message of Christmas is: God will be with you. God will help you. God will strengthen you.”

So look for opportunities to share the love of God during this season, because it is a time when we seem to be more open to engaging in conversation with others. Now is a great opportunity for you to bring encouragement to someone who is struggling. So who needs your encouragement today?

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name ‘Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’ “

Matthew 1:23

Please note that there is our service per normal this Sunday. Ablaze Service will be joining us for this week. So see you there!!!

read comments (0)

Most kids grow up thinking that dating is an essential part of being a teenager. To them, life is a series of one-girlfriend (or boyfriend)-after-another, which really amounts to one-heartache-after-another. A two-year relationship seems like a long-term commitment. Even those who make it through the junior-high and senior-high years with their sexual purity intact will often emerge with damaged emotions, bitterness, and cynicism. To be sure, much of the damage may have been inflicted by the individuals involved, but likewise the system itself is faulty. There must be a better way to interact with members of the opposite sex, a less hurtful means to find a suitable life partner.
 
In “I Kissed Dating Goodbye”, Joshua Harris, said that he himself was no stranger to the hurts and pitfalls of dating and shared a solution–something he calls “Smart Love”. Smart love begins with the desire for God’s best, and, by default, requires knowledge of and a willingness to obey God’s rules. Smart love is revolutionary; its object is God and others, never self. Harris describes it against the backdrop of his own form practice of (what else?) “dumb love”: “I was primarily interested in what I could get, such as the popularity a girlfriend could give me or the comfort and pleasure I could gain physically or emotionally from a relationship…. I lived ‘dumb love’–choosing what felt good for me instead of what was good for others and what pleased God.” He follows this admission with two piercing questions:
 
- Does love motivate the guy who sleeps with his girlfriend when it will scar her emotionally and damage her relationship with God?
 
- Does sincerity motivate the girl who leads a guy along then breaks up with him when she finds someone better?
 
The answers are obvious. Smart love is a sincere, God-focused love that is concerned for others. “Dumb Love”, on the other hand, is self-centered and flirtatious. Unfortunately, little to nothing is being said to teenagers about smart love these days, even in church. Many lives and homes have been damaged, if not devastated, due to the neglect of smart love.

At this week’s Ablaze Service, Lisa Toh will share on the subject of ‘Relationships’, the third installment of our current sermon series, Cow Tipping. It is said that the journey toward marriage cannot be reduced to formula, nor should it be. Relationships are as unique and varied as the people who are in them. God is creative in building lives and even more so in bringing two lives together as one.
 
However, while there is no formula, there are principles to help navigate a relationship through the major stages of romance — from casual friendship to deeper friendship, to purposeful intimacy with integrity, to engagement and to a lifelong companionship & commitment in marriage. These are suggestions for determining if the relationship should be moved along and how to move it along.
 
The journey of finding the right life partner is a matter of working to become ‘the right life partner’, trusting God to cover the “who” and “when” issues. Purposing to remain pure, taking proper advantage of singleness, and building wholesome relationships that cause one to treat younger men as brothers and younger women as sisters–that’s a big enough assignment for anyone. While waiting for ‘the right person’ and at ‘the right timing’, developing basic life skills (e.g., cooking, child care, home-repair tasks, vocational training) can further prepare one for building his or her own household some day. Since we tend to associate with those who share our values and goals, by concentrating on becoming a faithful, diligent, industrious, and skilled man or woman of God, are we not more apt to attract the same?
 
After all, let’s remember that it was God who constituted relationships. By His gracious provision, He gave Eve to Adam.
 
Have a great week ahead

read comments (0)

How are you doing? Justin, Lisa and I have been having a great time over here. Though it’s been just a week, it seems like a month already for us. We miss home, Ablaze and our Friday service

Anyways, I heard that Chris preached a storm last Friday! So I just thought to share the article by Pastor Greg Laurie that I have recently read and thought that it would echo what God has for our group during this season of our ministry as we are in the series of ‘Cow Tipping’.
 
So here it is…
 
The Question of Liberty   

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
— 1 Corinthians 6:12

Sometimes I am asked what I think about Christians drinking alcohol. Do I think that is a good idea? I think it is a dangerous thing for a Christian to drink, because the thing with drinking is that if you drink, there is a possibility you can get drunk. But if you don’t drink, you never will get drunk.
 
I was raised in an alcoholic home where I witnessed the devastation that drinking can bring. And over the years of being a pastor, I have seen the destructive nature of alcohol in people’s lives. I cannot think of a single good thing about it, but I certainly can think of a lot of bad things.
 
The Bible warns us many times of what alcohol can do in our lives. Proverbs 23 says of it, “At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things” (verses 32–33). That is an accurate assessment.
 
Here is something else to consider. If you are drinking because you supposedly have the liberty as a Christian, what if it causes someone else to stumble spiritually? Romans 14:15 says, “Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died.”
 
It comes down to this: none of us live or die to ourselves. What we do and what we are have a direct effect on others, not only for our lives now, but for time and eternity. We need to be conscious of God’s presence, and we need to live our lives with the consideration of others.

I hope that provides some fresh perspectives for some of us. Nick will be preaching this Friday on the subject of ‘Money’ and it is surely exciting!!! Please give him full support.
 
Remember you all in prayer.
 
God bless

read comments (1)