Church

1 Corinthians 6:14-18 … 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Prostitution was both legal and acceptable in ancient Mediterranean culture. More so, Mediterranean society did not consider it adultery for a man to sleep with a prostitute. Now here's an amazing thought: God wants…

Curt Flood changed baseball forever. In 1969, Flood was traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Phillies. But there was one problem: he refused to go. In fact, he went as far as to sue Major League Baseball. In 1969, there were no free agents. Players were contracted to a team for life by the reserve clause. Essentially, their career belonged to the team. His suit opened the door for players to become free agents. Is there such a thing as a "free agent Christian"? When a person becomes a Christ-follower, it is a voluntary decision that carries an eternal obligation. The apostle Paul put it this way: "You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Giving your life to Jesus means giving him ownership of your life. If you own your house, it doesn’t belong to me. I…

I have never been much of a golfer, but if I did golf more often, I think I’d like to golf with Willie Nelson. For many years, Willie has owned the Pedernales Cut and Putt Golf Club near Austin, TX. I also wrote this Titleist ap3 review if you're thinking of buying new clubs this year and ones that I and Willie have used before, so you know they are great. However, here are a few of Willie's golf rules … A ball hitting a tree shall be deemed not to have hit the tree. Hitting a tree is simply bad luck and has no place in a scientific game. The player should estimate the distance the ball would have traveled if it had not hit the tree and play the ball from that point, preferably atop a firm tuft of grass. There shall be no such thing as a…

Do you remember the Newlywed Game? They would ask newly married couples questions like, "Where was your first date?" or "What would your spouse say is your favorite food?" What made the show fun to watch was to see how little newlyweds actually knew about each other. Prior to seeing the light on the Damascus Road, the apostle Paul had heard about Jesus -- but he didn't really know Jesus. In fact, his name wasn't even Paul. He was Saul, the one-man persecutor of Christians. But then he met Jesus and everything changed. Before, he had known Jesus had been crucified; now, he knew Jesus had been raised from the dead. That's why he would write to the Corinthians these words: "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human…

"I've experienced how none of us go through life without mistakes." These words were spoken by former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford in reference to a scandal that happened during his second term in office. In 2009, Sanford headed to Argentina without telling his family or any of his staff members. Reporters and others were told he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. He also didn't tell them he was going to see his mistress. The trip and its aftermath led to his divorce. I'll let you decide if he mistakenly packed his luggage and purchased an airline ticket. Do you think he ended up in Argentina by accident? Our culture is comfortable with mistakes. What we don't talk much about is sin. That's unfortunate. If we only make mistakes, then all we need to do is try harder or be a better person. But mistakes aren't our real problem; sin…