| Life B-P Church Weekly - 6 May 2007
Scripture Memory: Knowing God.
VERSE : Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be
exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."
* * *
O Worship the LORD in the Beauty of Holiness
6 May 2007
8.00 am Worship Service:
Eld Sherman Ong (Be Still And Know That I Am God)
10.45 am Worship Service:
Rev Charles Seet (Finding Him Who Found You), Lord's Supper
6:00 pm Rehoboth Evening Service:
Mark Chen (Biblical Mummification)
13 May 2007
8.00 am Worship Service:
Rev Colin Wong (Lessons from Ephesians), Lord's Supper
10.45 am Worship Service:
Eld Sherman Ong (Be Still And Know That I Am God)
6:00 pm Rehoboth Evening Service:
Rev Jack Sin (Adding New Spice to the Old Spouse)
* * *
My dear Reader,
CASUAL SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS
God has made us sexual beings. We are sexual
creatures. We have sexual urges and drives. They are real. Sexual
experimentation takes place from an early age. Teenagers have many
sexual expressions. Adults also.
As a Christian, what am I going to do with my
sexuality? Am I going to believe the soap-opera version of sex which
reduces it to no more than a biological act, motivated by expediency,
lust, lies and carnal love?
Dr M.O. Vincent, in his book "God, Sex and You"
underlines the worldly view of sex in six sentences:
• Sex is nothing but freedom.
• Sex is nothing but security.
• Sex is nothing but fun.
• Sex is love.
• Sex is nothing.
• Sex is nothing but status.
Is it not true that Dr Vincent’s suggestions
represent the prevailing mood of our time? Is this not the mentality of
this generation? I once met a professing Christian telling me that it is
alright to sleep with another woman. As a Christian, I cannot accept the
world’s casual view of the sex act. Sex is much more than a biological
act.
However, the unfortunate truth is that many of our
teenagers do not know that pursuing casual sexual relationships in an
attempt to find companionship only results in guilt, misery, futility
and unsatisfying feelings. As a Christian, you must say no to casual sex
because you will never find love and fulfillment by a sexual affair that
is outside of marriage (Hebrews 13:4). Interestingly, even
non-Christians also discover this sooner or later. God has not created
us to operate in this way. He hates promiscuity.
Furthermore, casual sex goes against your spiritual
interests and conscience, and it also ruins your Christian testimony.
The Christian identity you have painstakingly built up over the years
will crumble in no time. Bridges you have been building with your
unsaved friends will come tumbling down. And it may take years to regain
what you lose overnight.
You know, for many people – executives, politicians,
professionals, secretaries and even Christian leaders – casual sex has
become a substitute for a fulfilling committed relationship. The
following letter to a Christian magazine is a sad admission of the truth
that casual sex is futile and unsatisfying. Read the sobering story of a
sad woman who signed her letter – "Faded and jaded."
Once upon a time I too was a flirt; young, a sexy
single, who didn’t want mortgages, maternity and monotony, just the lend
of a man, a good time partying, and interesting weekends away.
I had a ball, thanks to all these silly, whining,
defective women whose husbands needed the services of an intelligent
flirt who wanted no commitments nor any snot-nosed brats to cement
relationships.
I worked in a large law firm and I heard it all:
boring wives who didn’t understand, demanding wives who spent
hard-earned cash, uninterested, non-sexual clinging wives who wouldn’t
let go, etc.
But as the years went by I was treated with more
disrespect, even shared among my men’s business associates and visiting
friends, in short a callgirl who worked very hard on her back to retain
her office position.
I suppose the short of it is that I was not very good
at my job and knew that, so I supplemented my secretarial efforts with
my body, which in the end was no big deal either because nobody ever
wanted to share mortgage, maternity and monotony with me on a permanent
basis.
I was used, and because I never had charged for my
services I had to continue to offer them free while the wives were given
expensive gifts.
I wanted a man of my own so I increasingly stuck with
one who scored massively in the freebie department: free sex, free
meals, free office work over weekends, free psychologist, everything
free. With help from me the wife eventually found out about the
relationship and left him.
To my huge surprise he tried everything to stall. I
did everything to help him win over the children, and he played dirty to
buy their sympathy. His wife filed for a divorce but gave him custody.
Then my duties expanded to include free housekeeping
for a very demanding family pining for the woman who had thrown them
away! The children’s love for their mother makes them abhor me and
tolerate their father.
Oh yes, we married – he’s ill and needs a free nurse
who has yearly HIV tests.
The moral of the story: flirts flirt because they
have nothing else to offer so they share their g… with Dick, Tom and
Harry. Should this be a winning letter, donate the prize to an Old Age
Home for Faded Flirts; the saddest race under the sun. (You,
24 December 1992)
May this letter act as a timely warning to all of us
– young and old – who in our loneliness and disillusionment, may be
tempted to abandon all Christian standards and throw caution to the wind
(i.e. to be reckless).
Are there biblical guidelines for our sexual
behaviour? Let me share with you briefly three biblical safeguards
against casual sexual relationships:
1. Do not deny our sexuality. We are sexual beings.
Therefore, do not pretend that we do not have sexual urges and drives
(Genesis 4:1; Matthew 1:25).
2. Acknowledge that God is the designer of sex.
Fulfilling, satisfying sex is best enjoyed within a marriage
relationship (Hebrews 13:4; Proverbs 5:18, 19). Therefore, sex is to be
practiced according to the rules of the Creator. Do not yield to
temptation, for yielding is sin (1 Corinthians 10:13).
3. Self-control (Galatians 5:23). If you are a
Christian, you have the Holy Spirit in you (John 14:16, 17; Romans 8:9).
One of the aspects of the fruit of the Holy Spirit is self-control.
Therefore, as a Christian, you can exercise self-control. Be filled with
the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).
My dear Lifer, all of us are vulnerable sexual
beings. We can fall into sexual temptation very easily all the time
(Matthew 5:27, 28). However, you and I have the sword of the Spirit
which is the Word of God to keep us away from it (Ephesians 6:17).
Therefore, let us be warned of the deadly consequences of a casual
sexual relationship by reading Proverbs 5 to 7 prayerfully and
meditatively.
May God help us to walk the truth! Amen. —CW
* * *
A DVD Screening
Saturday, 26 May 07.
6:45 pm to 9:15 pm
Life B-P Church Sanctuary
(1) THE FANNY CROSBY STORY
(2) HARRY POTTER, WITCHCRAFT REPACKAGED
Please invite your friends to come!
* * *
1) Sunday Lunch Fellowship: Lunch
Coupons for the Sunday Lunch on 20 May 07 will be on sale today
at $2.50 a packet (nasi lemak, vegetable rice and chicken rice).
2) The Church Directory 2007 Preview will be
on display outside the MIS Office on two Sundays, 6 May 2007 and 13 May
2007, between 9am and 12:30pm, for members to do a final check before it
goes to the printing press. For any updates/corrections, please fill in
and submit a Membership Roll Update Form to the MIS Office. Cut-off date
for final updates will be on Wednesday, 16 May 2007 at 4pm.
To minimize third-party misrepresentation, Membership
Roll Update Forms submitted without NRIC/Passport Number will not be
processed. NRIC/Passport Number is required for verification before any
updates/corrections can be applied to member’s record. This safeguard is
necessary to ensure only authorised updates/corrections are effected in
the final press of the Church Directory 2007. Thank you for your
cooperation.
3) LF Retreat CD is ready for collection from
the Reception Counter after today’s worship services.
4) Son-shine In My Soul! Vacation Bible
School is here again for kids in K1-P3. Date: 30
May-1 Jun ’07. Sign up your child or bring a friend.
Teachers and helpers needed. Register at front entrance or online:
www.lifebpc.com/vbs. VBS closing date is 13 May 2007.
There will a briefing for all teachers and helpers on 20 May 2007 (Sun)
at Chinese Service Hall 12.30pm-1.45pm.
5) Life BPC Bible Camp 2007: 11-14 June 07
at Harris Resort, Batam. Speaker: Rev Christopher Sidwell from B-P
Church of Apollo. Registration for the camp has closed. Please check the
camp notice board for 3 alternatives.
Preaching appointments: Rev Seet at JB Sunset
Gospel Hour, 6.00 pm. Rev Wong in Batam.
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