Good morning, Sweet Sisters!
How are you this week? Are you ready for another week soaking up God's Word? We are knee deep into I Corinthians and my prayer is that we are learning so much. Paul wrote these letters to the church in the city of Corinth. As I have been reading through these books, I see some strong similarities to today's church. How relevant is God's Word! Do you know what the Corinthian church's most serious issue was? Worldliness. Did you hear that? Worldliness. They just couldn't let go of the culture around them. They struggled, as believers, to let go of their old, selfish and immoral ways. Their sin had a stronghold and they couldn't let it go. Does this sound familiar? It does to me. Every where I look, worldliness is pushing in. It's on our tv's, coming through the radio, all over the web, it's in our work places, it's at our schools and it's even found inside of our churches. Wow! It's hard to let go! The world and it's ways are trying to catch us believers. Some things seem okay, even acceptable, but if everything we see, watch, do or go- does not line up with God's word, then we must let go of it. Walk away and pursue God's way. Please note: Paul is writing here, to the church. He is writing to believers. One of the first things he covers in I Corinthians is unity of the church. Oh how important is unity among believers! I have been a part of churches that have fallen apart because there was no unity. I've seen it with my own eyes. I've watched as people get hung up on what "they" want instead of looking at what God wants in their church. After all, the church is not ours, it's God's. If we can't work together as God's church, it will be awful hard to reach a dying world. "I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather be of one mind, united in thought and purpose." ~ I Corinthians 1:10 Be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. Yes, this should be the heart of the Church. As we continue to read, we see that the church in Corinth struggled with sin within the church and we are told how to handle it. (Chapter 5) Chapter 6 brought light to injustice for me. Here, Paul rebukes the church for taking disputes between believers to the secular court. Verses 7 and 8 brings a great challenge to us: "....Why not just accept the injustice and leave it at that? Why not let yourselves be cheated?..." ~ I Corinthians 6:7 (Please note, this verse is addressing disputes between believers, not disputes between believers and the unsaved.) The most prevalent sin at that time and, I believe, today, is sexual sin. The temptation of sexual sin is around every corner or behind every click. Standing in line at the grocery store with my sons has become a workout for me just trying to hide the half-naked women on the magazine covers. If the image is enough to grab my attention, I know my young and teen sons' eyes are going to notice! We are living in an age where sexual sin is okay, accepted and even overlooked by Christians. I want to teach my children differently. I want to teach our youth how important purity truly is. I want them to know how important their bodies are to God and I want them to desire to be pure. Chapter 6, verses 12-20 were astounding for me. Oh how I wish this was taught to me when I was young! Yes, I was taught to be pure til marriage, but I was never taught why. Paul covers it in these verses. We are to stay away from ALL sexual sin for three reasons: * Because our bodies were made for the Lord. (I Corinthians 6:13) * Because our bodies are a part (a piece) of Christ. (I Corinthians 6:15-17) * Because our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. (I Corinthians 6: 19) So this is the one that really got me. If you wouldn't commit sexual sin in the church building, you shouldn't commit it at ALL. For our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit! Our bodies (as believers) are the Holy Spirit's "church building". Just think about that for a minute. "For God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body." ~` I Corinthians 6:20 Well, my review has become quite long, so I'll stop here, but I would love to know how God spoke to you this past week through His Word. What stood out to you? Here is this week's reading plan: Monday- I Corinthians 9 Tuesday - I Corinthians 10 Wednesday - I Corinthians 11 Thursday - I Corinthians 12 Friday - I Corinthians 13 I'm praying for each of you this week! Keep reading God's word! Joyfully His, Andrea
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For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. " AuthorHi! I'm Andrea, wife to my handsome hubby, homeschooling mama to my 7 amazing blessings, and daughter of the King of kings. I am so glad you have stopped by my little piece of the web. My prayer is that the Lord will use this blog to encourage you in your personal, daily walk with Christ. Archives
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