Of the many issues raised and many things said on the topic of Sexual Purity over the Easter weekend conference, one thing that underlied everything else was the central role the word of God plays in living sexually pure lives.
The enemy would have us believe that it is nigh impossible to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of our calling (which is to Holiness – 1 Thessalonians 4:3) in this day and age where sex seems rampant and common place. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus exposed him (the enemy) for who He truly is – a murderer from the beginning, one who always hated truth because there is no truth in him, a lying character and the source (father) of all lies – John 8:44. As the late Catherine Booth, wife of the founder of the Salvation Army, General William Booth once remarked of the devil, “I knew him of old as a liar”. We too should keep a constant awareness of the lying nature of our enemy and not give ear to his lies but to the voice of truth that states ….the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
Tit 2:11 — Tit 2:12
The grace of God has been revealed to empower godly and self-controlled living in “the present age”, here and now. The conference demonstrated the importance of continually tapping into the grace of God that has been purposefully revealed with the objective of instructing us in godly living having empowered us to reject ungodliness and sinful desires. In as much as we have believed in and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ, the onus is upon us to do likewise and actively embrace this grace He embodied. You see, one cannot accept the Son of God and yet, in practice, reject this grace which He brought with Him. So embrace this grace by tapping into and accessing it regularly.
And one of the major avenues of tapping into and accessing that grace in order to live sexually pure lives is by regularly engaging with God’s word. Listen to how the psalmist puts it: How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. (Psalms 119:9)
It is undoubtedly sexual purity the psalmist has in mind here as it has to do with a young man whose age naturally inclines him or who by virtue of his age is prone to sexual sin. So even in this period of a person’s life where the natural predisposition to sexual sin seems to be intense, it is perfectly possible for the young man (or woman) to live pure lives by guarding their lives according to God’s word.
Further proof of this truth – if any is required – is found in the personal testimony and experience of the psalmist who shares the secret of his victory over sin in Psalms 119:11 – I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
It is in taking in and storing God’s word in our hearts that we build an impregnable fortress against sin in our lives. So make sure you plan to do that as a matter of lifestyle. You must plan and make the time to regularly engage with God through His word and there access the grace required for righteous living. Therein lies your victory. Otherwise, if you don’t plan for it and factor it into your daily life, you will find that the common adage of “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail” will, unfortunately, apply to you.
In conclusion, we have to take care not to dismiss this subject as irrelevant or unimportant to God – it is of utmost importance to Him, His desire is for us to be sanctified (Thessalonians 4:3) and live holy and sexually pure lives, to honour Him with our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:20). Furthermore, we must understand and accept that holy living is indeed possible in this present day and age as attested by scripture but by His powerful grace alone. We are not to undermine the power of God’s grace to keep us pure and holy in this present evil age based on our own personal experiences only. Keep in mind that the fact that we may not have discovered the power of grace personally, in our own lives, does not in any way deny its power.
Finally, if you are struggling with sexual sin in your life, do not despair or hold back but seek help from godly and mature christian men and women to whom you know you can confess your sins (James 5:16) and share your struggles with without being judged in order to find healing and ongoing victory by voluntarily putting yourself in an accountable relationship. Never throw in the towel when it comes to your struggles with sexual immorality in your life however prevalent it may be in mainstream society recalling always that …he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).
grace unbound 
Me and my cell group all said that it was very informative, and for some of us whom didn’t know much of what the bible has spoken of romantic relationships it really opened their eyes.
My cell groups response as a whole:
There was definitely relevance in the topic of sexual purity in our lives today and although there were explicit things being said, it was most definitely something that we hear in the world anyways. We hear about sex in all forms of media and so if we are exposed to it elsewhere then we should be exposed to the truths about it from a biblical perspective which is what we got on the two day seminar.
Yes, the teaching was very enlightening. It was a well-needed reminder that sexual purity is fundamental aspect of Christianity. As pointed above, the word of God, which is sharper than any double edged sword is a useful weapon. As Missy said, we might not see the effect of reading the Bible immediately but storing it in our heart regularly will do us good, also it will shape our identity helping us not to conform to the ways of this modern society.
We have to strive to live righteous lives before God, in all areas. As children of God we have a right to the power and the victory that we can get over sin by the Spirit living in us. Sometimes we may think that this doesn’t apply to sexual sin, however this is a lie straight from hell! The light of Jesus in our hearts is powerful enough to drive out ALL darkness! However, like Meskerem said, let us also be cunning and wise about our strategy in order to get different results. Wisdom has a massive part to play in this fight, heeding practical advice such as learning from one anothers struggles and hiding the word of God in our hearts is a great place to start. Thank you brother Ephrem for sharing!
On the whole my cell group and I thought it was informative and above all relevant particularly in this day and age when young people are super exposed to sex and all that comes with it. What particularly stood out to people was the idea we should be fleeing from sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18) way before we can possibly be tempted by it. They would love the small groups and sessions that Missy suggested to come to fruition and have teachings on these types of issues to be more regularly instilled into Sunday teachings.
Such an amazing weekend! I have learnt many things from her teaching and truly was an eye opener. What I want to do in the future, where my passion lies on is very similar to hers. She made my passion grow more and shaked it so I can strive high and work hard to get there. I believe this is for a reason! We sure most of us have been touched by her teaching, I had few questions to ask but she answered it before i even asked, how funny is that! Man, God is good!
Have a blessed week guys!
The teaching was a great reminder, that sexual purity is a must. That the world we live in now is dangerous and succeeding in feeding lies, driving most into sinful nature. We must not give into this but really keep intact with our faith so we may not be blinded.
It was refreshing to see her be open and wanting to speak about a topic that is shoved aside in our community not just in the church, whether it be about the beauty of sex in marriage or the danger of it ouside of marriage. Everything that was mentioned was appropriate and one everyone needed to hear.
The conference and what Meskerem said was a very heavy topic as I feel like she fed a lot of wisdom on us all at once on this topic area. What stood out for me was what she said about any sexual sin or any other type of sin being something that we cannot overcome on our own strength and will power but only with the help of the holy spirit, furthermore I feel like she gave us the tools that can help us, like repetition and reading the word even tough at times , at the moment we think I not having any effect on us or is not changing us , because in the moments when we struggle in different areas of our lives the word stored in our hearts can help us overcome anything. Overall it was nice seeing someone in our community not afraid to talk about this topic.
Great post Ephrem, God bless you for sharing. The topic of sexual purity as Meskerem mentioned last weekend is a foundational topic and our lack of discipline in this area is what has placed a lid on many of us (me included) spiritually. I believe the root of all sin including sexual immorality lies within self, so unless we learn to deny ourselves and carry our crosses daily, sexual purity will always be a struggle for us especially as young men and women.
What stood out for me the most during the conference was the scripture Colossians 3:9-10 which speaks on the process of putting to death our old man and training our inner man. The problem is as mentioned last weekend, this can only be done through the power of the holy spirit as stated in Zacharias 4:6, the Lord said ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit’. We need to be constantly filled with the spirit through dwelling in the presence of God not just visiting during our Friday empowerment meetings every 6 weeks or whenever else we feel like it. I believe beginning every single day by meditating on the word and hiding it in our hearts as you mentioned Ephrem is so important as it what quickens us in the spirit. And then of course earnestly seeking God through prayer and exalting him for who he is through worship are also vital.
Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Meskerem for coming down and talking about this sensitive and much needed topic for this generation! Also I would like to say thank you to you brother Ephrem for making this possible.
During the two days with Missy I gained alot of insight and something that was necessary for me to listen to because as a Jesus Christ follower it is essential to live a holy life and especially being pure sexually. As it says above “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.” Weather your young or old the word of God is important, however as the verse says it is very important to guard myself by the Word day in and day out to live a righteous life.
The teaching was very informative and opened my eyes about relationships and what the Bible teaches us about it. Especially as it has relevance to our lives today as Missy said, we should be fleeing from sexual immorality.
I really felt it was something that isn’t addressed too often within churches unfortunately. For me, I think accountability groups was a great suggestion Meskerem put forward and I’ve started having those tough conversations with fellow brothers in Christ. Even though I have had exposure to this sort of teaching before, it’s always good to remind yourself of the importance of sexual purity and what the bible explicitly says about it. One thing that particularly struck me was Matthew 5:28, which really addresses the root of our sexual desires. So often we can take a ‘how far can we go approach’, which is completely misguided and counterproductive.
In conclusion, I took away that we can’t overcome our condition by our own means, but require the grace of God and our helper (The Holy Spirit) to continually renew our minds and set our hearts on the things of God!
But what’s as crucial, is that if we are serious about this, there must be practical measures we take to ensure our flesh has no avenue to overcome our ‘inner man’.
The teaching was very informative in all areas of sexual purity. Although I knew a good amount of what was preached, hearing it again was very helpful as it gave me a better perspective & understanding of sexual purity. It was also helpful as lots of questions were answered that I myself wanted to know.
What a great teaching it was for someone in our community to open up about the matter of sex . One thing that I strongly believe is that we need to have someone that we can be vulnerable towards and let our guards down so we can be healed by confessing our sins like the bible says in James 5:16. However, the devil wants us to live in darkness and never come out of it. one of the tools he uses is to make us feel we are the only one in the entire world going through what we are going through so we become secretive. I have seen the power of confessing my sin to others ( someone I can trust) , there is unexplainable peace and liberation in doing it. May God bless both Dr Messy and Dr Ephrem .
I am Isaac in Uganda. Thanks for the piece about sexual purity, I am struggling with sexual sin in my life yet am in a committed relationship. I have fasted and prayed over it but am struggling. But I thank God because I raised my hands for freedom from heaven and landed on the Website. I am sure it was the holy spirit leading me.
I request each one of you to pray for me so that I win the battle of sexual immorality in my life. I love Jesus and desire to go to heaven. God give me the grace to over come. Amen
I’m not sure I replied to you brother Isaac but I trust you’re doing well and being encouraged by the latest two blogs I posted. There Lord bless you.