The Apostle Paul evangelized a city rampant with sexual
immorality and sin, proclaiming an uncompromising message ~
"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."
(1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NLT)
Proclaiming the truth of the Gospel, his ministry changed
lives ~
"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 Corinthians 6:11 NLT)
He knew who the enemy was ~
"Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the
minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of
the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ,
who is the exact likeness of God."
(2 Corinthians 4:4)
That determined his strategy in ministry ~
"We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We
use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of
human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle
that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach
them to obey Christ." (2
Corinthians 10:3-5 NLT)
He had learned from personal experience ~
"Once you were dead because of your disobedience and
your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world,
obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the
spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to
live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful
nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone
else.
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that
even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised
Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For
he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the
heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:1-6 NLT)
