Birkdale Baptist Church

Life, Heart and Hope in Jesus

I've been reading The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Things Done and this morning i came across this analysis and advice:

What, then, makes one company or one branch more productive than another?  A growing number of human resource professionals point to the passion that prevails within the organization. ...

Be on the lookout for ... "purpose by default." If your purpose fails to reflect your true, underlying passion, this can lead to a lack of focus and less-than-desirable performance ...

For those who have been wondering why they couldn't get to our Battle for Purity blog, it wasn't you - it was us!  I've discovered and fixed the issue, and now you should be able to get to it by all the usual methods, including RSS & Google (see the welcome page for more info).

Yo men!  Gee some TV ads are cheesy!  Have you seen the one where the father sends his son to the fridge to grab him a beer, and when the sons gets there, he turns into a grown man, a dad himself, takes a big swig of the beer, then sends his son to go get him another?  If you’ve seen the ad, you know exactly what I’m talking about.  If you haven’t, then you’ve read that sentence and wondered what drugs I’m taking today… 

Hey men
I want to ask you a question this week, “When it comes to your sexuality, who do you believe?” What I mean is, do you believe what the world tells you about your sexuality? That if it feels good, do it! That women are hot and you have a right to ogle them and lust after them, because after all, they’re showing it for that reason, so what shouldn’t I watch? That sex is the spice of life and the best sex life is when you’re with someone different each weekend?

Yo men
This week’s email is an excerpt from the Every Young Man’s Battle Guide – A Biblical Arsenal of Truth for Young Men…
Tyson tells it exactly like it is, declaring, “It’s no secret. Most guys just want to have sex or get some kind of action. They don’t care about the relationship part of things, like the girls do. Guys like to see girls with little or nothing on, that’s the bottom line. Even us Christian guys.”

Hey men

Sorry for the failure to deliver you your weekly Battle email – I’ve been away on holidays – I trust I have your forgiveness…

It’s interesting…I’ve spoken to a few guys in the last week or so about their lives and it came with little surprise that their greatest struggle is with sexual impurity.  It reminded me of difficulty of this battle that each of us are engaged in.  So I hope this email encourages you…

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How well are you doing in the battle for purity?  See how you go on the following questionnaire:

Hey guys,

Sorry the email (now blog post) is late – I’ve been at a conference…and lo and behold, in one of the sessions, the speaker spoke about…yep…you guessed it…sexual purity!!  Here’s what he said…

The speaker, Chris Chia from Singapore, outlined the reasons, from 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, why we should pursue sexual purity. 

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In Ephesians chapter 5, the Apostle Paul wrote about the reason why we must pursue purity.  It is simply this: because we are God's holy people.  Ephesians 5:3-7 says:

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them.

That's a pretty serious statement, so let me make sure you've caught it: No immoral, impure, or greedy person has any inheritance in Christ's kingdom.  I don't know about you, but that scares me.  (I don't think Paul is trying to say anything one way or the other about "once saved, always saved" [1], so let's not get distracted by that.)  What Paul is getting at is: God's people are pure!  God is preparing us "as a radiant church, without any stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless" (Eph 5:27).  How many times have we failed to be that spotless bride that Christ is seeking?

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