Author: David Worcester

From my reading in 1 Corinthians 7:1-19 in the One Year Bible New Testament.

Marriage  is the only legitimate place for sexual activity.

Because of this, Paul recommends those who have strong sexual temptations to get married and find their sexual fulfillment there.  The reason Paul gives for this is…

Regular married sex helps each other avoid temptation to find fulfillment elsewhere.

“But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband.The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. ” 1 Cor 7:1-2

When you are having your needs met by your spouse, outside temptations are not as appealing. Because of this Paul encourages married couples to have sex regularly.

Don’t deprive your spouse.

“The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife. Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command.” 1 Cor 7:3-5

Prayer is the only reason Paul gives for not having sex, but even then, he says that it should be short time so that Satan isn’t able to tempt you.  Paul says this as advice and we would be wise to listen to him.

If you are not married you should not be having sex for any reason with anyone.

For who are married let this be a reminder to enjoy your spouse regularly.

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From my reading in 1 Corinthians 6 in the One Year Bible New Testament.

Paul specifically tells us to run from sexual sin!

“Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body.” 1 Cor 6:8

The solution to temptation is to get out of that situation. We are to avoid tempting situations if at all possible. No other sin affects your body in the same way sexual sin does. Because of that, we must be very careful to take it seriously.

The next few verses are often quoted in context of eating right and excising. But the actual context of these verses is referring to sexual sin.

“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” 1 Cor 6:19-20

We should seek to honor God with our sexuality because our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.

God has given us our bodies to glorify him. Jesus bought you with the high price of his blood.  If you are a Christian your body is not yours to do whatever you want with. It belongs to God and is a tool to be used for honoring him, not sexual sin.

If you have messed up there is forgiveness. Earlier in this passage Paul shares a list of many sins including several sexual sins.  Each of them can be forgiven by Jesus.

“Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Cor 6:9-11

I love the phrase, “some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed.”

No matter what sexual sin you have done in the past God can cleanse you and make you right with him through Jesus.  Also the phrase, “you were once like that” implies that you don’t have to continue sinning in the same way.  God can give you power to change!

Notice that the list of sins includes sexual and non-sexual sins. All sin can be forgiven by Jesus!

If you have been struggling with sexual sin the good news is that Jesus will forgive you if you turn from that sin and ask him to forgive you.

Every warm blooded human at some point deals with sexual temptation. The message here is RUN! Run from sexual sin and in the process you will be getting some exercise too!

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From my reading in 1 Corinthians 5 in the One Year Bible New Testament.

Paul had a strong word in regards to a man who was a part of the Corinthian church and was openly disobeying God sexually.

He had warned the church earlier to not let unrepentant sin go unchecked among the members.

“When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.” 1 Cor 5:9-11

Notice the difference between how we are to treat unbelievers and believers.

We are not to try and hold an unbeliever to a standard that they have not agreed to.  For the believer who is openly choosing a life of sin we should not associate with them.  Paul continues,

“It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.” 1 Cor 5:12-13

It is not our responsibility to judge people outside the Church.

Non-believers need to know that they can come to Jesus anytime for forgiveness. Believers need to be held accountable for their actions. In extreme cases it is right to remove the person who is unwilling to repent from fellowship.

I pray that God would give the leaders in churches wisdom on how to lovingly deal with disobedient people inside the Church and how to love those outside the church.

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From my reading in 1 Corinthians 4 in the One Year Bible New Testament.

Everyone struggles with the desire to please others.

Social media has made this more obvious, because people can give you an actually “Like”on Facebook or “Favorite” on Twitter. Those of us doing ministry must be careful that we are not living for the likes and favorites of others but the like of God. The Apostle Paul said,

“As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.” 1 Cor 4:3-4

God is the only one who can give the ultimate approval.

Living for God’s approval frees us up from worrying about how we are perceived. It allows you to obey Jesus even if what you are doing is unpopular or misunderstood.

Another interesting thing to note is that Paul wasn’t even living for his own approval!

He was humble enough to realize that even though he was convinced that he was doing the right thing that he could be wrong. God had the final say. God is the final judge for ourselves and for others. Knowing this will free us from the approval addiction and trying to be the judge of others.

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From my reading in 1 Corinthians 3 in the One Year Bible New Testament.

Largely because of the internet and the Christian book industry there has been a rise in “Christian celebrities.”

Often these are pastors with over 5,000 members in their church who are extremely gifted at writing and teaching. Also some especially gifted writers who have little to no ministry experience can become famous if they are gifted enough at speaking and writing.

I have caught myself becoming a “fan” of several celebrity pastors.

At some conferences I’ve even had chances to meet some of my “heroes.” I would get nervous as if I was meeting a rock star or sports star.

Even though the expression of this phenomenonm  is very modern and western, a similar thing was occurring at the Church in Corinth.  Some people considered themselves followers of Paul and others followed a leader named Apollos. Here’s how Paul addressed the issue.

“After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work.” 1 Cor 3:5-8

Celebrity pastors are first and foremost servants of God.

These men have been given a lot of influence, but at the end of the day GOD is the one who gets the glory for whatever good comes from their ministry. Unfortunately, some of these celebrity pastors get sucked into the marketing machine and as I have heard someone say,

“They start with a  message that needs an audience, and they find themselves with an audience that needs a message.”

These men endure a lot of criticism and pressure because of their fame.

If God has promoted them, their fame is not a bad thing, but an opportunity to be used for God’s glory. I have seen good examples of men using their influence well.

Unfortunately, there are those who do not handle the influence well. Their popularity often grows faster than their maturity and they end up falling morally or just do stupid things.

One thing that I have noticed about being famous is that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be!

If it is something that God wants to give you then use it well but don’t pursue it unless you are ready to suffer! This is also an encouragement for those of us who are not famous and have thousands at our churches.

God is the one who makes ministries grow.

It is not up to us to make the seed of the good news grow we are to simply plant and water it and see what happens! This frees us up to just obey Jesus and leave the results to him. He can raise us up when we want.

In the mean time we should seek to be faithful with the ministry we have been given and pray for the celebrity pastors to use their fame to glorify God and not themselves!

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From my reading in Romans 15:14-33 in the One Year Bible New Testament.

My wife and I have a bucket list.

It is cheesy but we have already checked a few things off.  Skydiving was one of them. But I think the most meaningful of all my goal was this…

To share the gospel with someone who has never even heard the name Jesus.

I long for the day when I can look someone in the eyes who has gone their entire life with out even hearing who Jesus was. Paul shared a similar passion.

“My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. I have been following the plan spoken of in the Scriptures, where it says,“Those who have never been told about him will see, and those who have never heard of him will understand.” Rom 15:20-21

There are still people groups in the world that have never heard the name Jesus.

Currently God has called me to reach college students in the USA but I have a passion to send them out all over the world including unreached places.

 My prayer is that some of the students that are reached through my ministry would go to these unreached people groups! I hope that one day I will get to look that person in the eye and tell them where they can find hope and healing in Jesus name!

 Have you ever considered giving your life to reach the unreached? God may be calling you to do it!

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