Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”
 
—2 Corinthians 6:12-20
 
We’re living in a sexed-crazed society.  We’re living in a society in which now operates sexually like an open sewer and it’s been called a sexual revolution and even called by some, including some ministers, the new morality.  But the fact is, it’s not a new morality at all.  It’s just the same old immorality that’s been around for thousands and thousands of years.
 
David is the perfect example.  King David, a man after God’s own heart, loved God more than most of us.  He fell to sexual sin because he did not watch and guard himself.  And as a result even though he was forgiven, even though he was cleansed, even though he’s in heaven today at the throne in the presence of God, he paid in his life some consequences as he reaped the bitter fruit of his sin all of his days.
 
Today, many want to know, “How can I be morally pure?”
 
The best way to deal with this sin is not to debate it, not hang around to try to discuss it, but get your shoes on and run, run, run! Every Christian ought to run just a little bit scared today. Everywhere you go, there are these temptations…in our music, in the media, our television, our movies. The scripture says, “Flee sexual immorality.”
 
Jesus saved us that He might deliver us from our sin. He saved us that we wouldn’t have to be destroyed and defeated by this sin or any other sin.
 
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“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
—John 10:28

How much sin does it take to sin away your salvation? Ten sins? Twenty sins? Fifty? One hundred? Or you might ask, “What kind of sins sin away your salvation?” Big sins? Little sins? How much sin sins away salvation?

The Bible says by the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, we are forgiven of all our sin. Every sin. Past sin, present sin, and future sin. The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin! The perfect, complete sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ assures us that we belong to Him because of His perfect work at the cross.

If it were possible for you to lose your salvation, then it means that Jesus Himself would have to go back to the cross and die all over again for your sins.
God’s not going to let go of you. You belong to Him. Count on it. We are eternally, forever secure. Not because of what we have done or because of what we are doing, but because of what He has done and continues to do until we stand in His presence complete.

Enjoy your salvation and relax in the eternal security that we have in Jesus Christ. This ought to prompt us to love Him more and to serve Him better.

Our eternal security is not in getting to heaven; it’s getting heaven in our hearts.

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“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
—Genesis 1:1

Mankind…are we the product of natural selection, the survival of the fittest? Or are we the handy work of a personal God who created us individually?

It is the Bible, not Darwin, that tells us not only about the origin of the species, but the destiny of the species. Origins are important because the fact is, how we got here and why we are here greatly affects where we are going.

Evolution is the attempt to explain the origin of life without a Creator. I reject it for the following three reasons:

Number one, I reject it on the basis of logic. Evolution theorizes that nothing times nobody equals everything. Many intelligent and well-trained scientists are moving away from this theory. Not because they are Bible believers, but because they realize that there is a lack of evidence to support the theory.

I also reject this theory on the basis of morality. If there is no God, then there is no need for morality. When you begin teaching people that they came from animals, it won’t be long before they start acting like animals.

Finally, I reject evolution for theological reasons. The Word of God simply doesn’t teach it. Be careful about trying to accommodate the Scripture to this theory. I don’t believe you can have it both ways and remain consistent.
You are not here by accident today. This isn’t by chance. I don’t believe that anything has ever happened by chance, but by the governing, guiding hand of God.

God created you to know Him. He set eternity in your heart.

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“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”

We live in a world where that old money monster can chew us up if we’re not careful. I mean, how big of a house is big enough? What kind of car is good enough? What kind of clothes for me or my kids?

If we care about spiritual things, we have to ask ourselves these questions. How much should I keep, and how much should I give?

I want to give you a threefold test to help you evaluate the demands upon your life and upon your resources.

1. Anything that I give to, it must be initiated by the Lord. God blesses what God begins. All charitable giving in my estimation should be to advance the work of Jesus Christ!
2. It must be redemptive in nature. God never supports a cause that does not fulfill His primary purpose, and His primary purpose is to seek and to save that which is lost!
3. Always ask: Does this ministry exist to the glory of God rather than the glory of man? God is committed to one grand purpose: to glorify Himself through His son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will not share His glory with another!

Do you want to be miserable? Then be miserly and hoard for yourself the blessings of God. Do you want to be happy? Instead of a greedy getter, become a gracious giver. It is out of the generosity of the heart of God that we are caused to praise Him.

YOU ARE NEVER MORE LIKE CHRIST THAN WHEN...

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“My God shall supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory in Jesus Christ!”  Philippians 4:19

God meets our needs when we face impossible situations. And sometimes we face overwhelming obstacles, situations in our lives that seem impossible. We are over our heads, beyond our pay grade, beyond our ability.

And when this happens, these are tests for our faith so that we won’t be satisfied where we are, but that our faith can grow. God may put you in the middle of a test. God uses tests and trials of all kinds to develop our faith, to grow our faith!

Some of you are facing perhaps a domestic crisis, an impossible situation in your marriage where it seems it’s never going to work. You may be facing something with your children. You don’t know the answers, you don’t know how to handle it. But in times of testing what we have learned is to trust God, to believe God has an answer!

Whether it is a mountain or a mole hill, you know Jesus is interested in big things and little things. Sometimes we have the attitude that, “Well, the big things I’ll bring to Jesus, but the little things, I’ll handle myself.” No, everything big and small, we are to bring to Him! For whom all things are possible.

And when you face impossible situations and when you don’t know the way in, the way out, or the way through, that’s when you trust in a God who will make a way when there is no way.

Trust God! He will meet your needs.

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“And Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.”
—Matthew 14:28-29

How do we walk on the water with Jesus? How do we walk through the storm?
Storms will come in life. Now by storm I don’t mean a physical storm, but the difficulty and danger and disasters that may come our way.

You’re having a good day, the sun is shining, and then the phone rings, and you’re in the middle of a storm. Or you find yourself facing a collapse in your career. You get a pink slip, a dismissal. Or your child gets a bad doctor’s report.

The fact is no one is immune. Christianity is not immunity from problems and trials and struggles and storms in our lives. Storms are inevitable. The good news is that what comes to pass doesn’t come to stay. We are able to learn how to have an unshakable, unsinkable faith in times like these.

When God is perfecting us, He actually allows the storms or sends the storm into our lives. Jesus knows when the storms hit us, and He uses these storms in our lives…turbulent times in our lives to maybe turn our lives upside down so that we can grow closer to Him. He uses these winds that blow against us in our lives as a way to drive us closer to Him.

He has authority over all the storms that assail us!

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“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”
—Matthew 6:25

Chronic worry, fear and anxiety can consume our lives if we allow it, and rob us of our joy and our peace and make us absolutely miserable.

Worry is such a waste! It’s as though you’re in your car, putting it in neutral and revving the engine. You know what happens when you do that? You just waste fuel, stress the motor, and you’re going nowhere. That’s what worry does!

God knows that we are going to be tempted to worry, that there will be some scary things that we have to confront in life. But the psalmist said, “When I am afraid, I will trust in God” (Psalm 56:2), so we don’t allow our fears, our anxieties, our worries to become chronic, or to control us.

We can trust God because God only knows that He provides for us abundantly, and everything that we face in life is filtered through the Father’s hands. He cares deeply about what we face and therefore His providence protects us. His love never lets us go.

THE ANTIDOTE TO ANXIETY IS FAITH IN GOD!

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“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly!”
—John 10:10

We can’t change the fact of death. It’s an issue that psychology cannot settle, and philosophy cannot solve. And the reason is because the ultimate problem is the problem of sin.

The good news is that we can have a new life because of Jesus and His resurrection! It’s not religion that we are preaching, but the resurrection, the risen One.

If your marriage is dead, invite Jesus into your marriage, and it will come alive again. If your dreams, your career, your future seems dead, invite Jesus into your life, into your world! I’ve observed over the years if a church is dead, welcome Jesus into His own church, and that church will come alive! He is alive!

And therefore we are alive in Him!

Jesus paid the price for our sin! He died so that we could be forgiven, and he rose again so that we can live again. And I mean really live! Life with a capital “L”.

But ultimately only Jesus Christ can change the human heart. And Christ and Christ alone can change us when we have a living faith in Him!

The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is alive in us! Resurrection power!

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“Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’”
—John 21:15

Now there’s no better comeback story in the entire Bible than the story of Simon Peter and his comeback after an epic failure of denying Jesus. Not just once, but three times. Something that he said he would never do, he did, and he felt that he could never undo it. He felt that he was done.

Not only did Simon Peter deny the faith, but he denied Jesus Himself. If anyone ever needed a second chance, another opportunity, it was Simon Peter, because he failed so terribly, and he thought he could never come back.

The potential for evil is in every one of us. You are capable of any spiritual failure. We’re all vulnerable to temptation. The potential for evil is in all of us, coiled like a snake, ready to strike. And if we neglect spiritual discipline… if we live in self-confidence rather than in faith, then we are in danger of defeat.

If you need a second chance, hear this. You can rebound. You can recover. You can be restored. It’s never too late for a new beginning.

So don’t stare at the past, don’t live your life looking through the rearview mirror. That’s dangerous. It’s okay to glance at your rearview mirror, know what’s going on to your side or behind you, but don’t try to drive your car looking through your rearview mirror! Look through the big screen, the windshield! It’s a lot bigger and hopefully a lot better going forward.

Glance at the past but gaze at Your...

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“Call unto me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know… or you have not known.”
—Jeremiah 33:3

There’s a great Christian of yesteryear by the name of E. M. Bounds and he wrote a number of books on prayer. Here’s what Bounds said: “When faith ceases to pray, faith ceases to live.”

Prayer is the most powerful force on earth because it enables us to link with the power of God. It’s the key to everything. It’s the key to joy. It’s the key to open doors of blessing upon our lives. It is the key to victory over sin, sorrow and death. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith!

We’re not talking about praying to the “Man Upstairs.” We are praying to Almighty God, the Great I AM! He is available. And through prayer He is accessible to us.

Don’t limit God, because God is limitless. So often our prayers are too small because our god is too small. Have faith in God! He is great and gracious!

How are you trusting Him right now? Are you praying? Are you asking? Are you believing God to do great and mighty things in your life? Or are you settling?

Too many Christians are settling for less than God’s best in their lives. It’s a simple command. If you have a bold, daring faith, you must pray, and if you will pray, you will have a bold and daring faith.

Pray, believe, and receive.

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