Website Design, Hosting, Maintenance and SEO Provided By
Sparks Fly Internet Services
Sparks Fly Internet Services
Here's our text for Sunday, May 27, 2007:
"Everything is permissible for me" - but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me" - but I will not be mastered by anything. "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. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do 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! Do 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." But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do 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; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
"Oh boy! Another sermon all about SEX!" :) Or, "Oh NO! Another sermon about SEX." :(
Well I have news for you... both of you. This message is NOT about sex. It's about RESPECT. Self respect. The kind that God has for you and you should have for yourself. The problem is, so often we don't have enough self respect so we end up treating ourselves like, well... dirt.
And that's all wrong! And where we are sexual as human beings were meant by God to be, we end up making one of the greatest gifts of God, along with so many others, dirty too.
Paul is telling the Corinthians, and me, and you, that we have such value we should not sell ourselves out, our very bodies, for cheap thrills. And some of those thrills aren't so cheap are they? With costs that far outweigh the dollars we spend initially getting them.
Here's the kicker, and the reason no one should miss the message this weekend: God loves you. He values you as the greatest of all His creations and He does not value a rock, sport, movie, or soap star any more than He values you!
Self respect is God's plan. And who should have more of that than we who believe we are God's kids, and His creation?
Sort of like my Mama used to say to me, "Have some respect for yourself boy! Put on some clean underwear in case you are in an accident out there!"
I hope you'll come join us on Sunday for "The Rest of the Message!"
Pastor Ken
NOTE: Unless otherwise stated, all Bible verses quoted in this website are from the New International Version (NIV). Any words from those verses that are in "red" are words spoken by Jesus.
Pastor Ken sends a Weekly Newsletter that includes his devotional message for the week and an update of the current happenings at Hope Church. If you would like to receive his newsletter, just click below and he'll add your email address to his list of subscribers.