Australia’s Largest Christian News Site

Intention

To love the truth and people by praying in expectation for the Australian Sexual Integrity Creed.

Scripture

“If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

– John 8:31–32

Reflection

For the past few months, I, along with a team of people, have been working on the Australian Sexual Integrity Creed.

I believe the Spirit led us to create a new creed to buttress the orthodox biblical and Christian position on sexual ethics. 1 Timothy 3:15 calls the Church “a pillar and buttress of the truth.”

While still in draft form, the first two paragraphs read:

We believe in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who designed sex as part of His loving plan for humanity, and whose will for sexual integrity is clearly revealed in Holy Scripture.

We believe God created each person in His image as male or female, and any person’s attempt to deny or change this distorts God’s good design.

We have all been deeply influenced by the Nicene and Apostles’ creeds. But as magnificent as these wonderful creeds are, they don’t address the major problems of our time.

Despite our inadequacies, we proceeded, growing in faith-filled expectation of what God could do as we prayed and believed in Him. We strongly sensed that this was God’s idea, that He loves the truth and that He would finish what He started – if we would simply pray and believe.

It is our steadfast belief that the Lord is actively establishing and reinforcing truth on the earth, in an age of sneaky deception and catastrophic ‘progressive’ theology.

Let’s consider why establishing the truth is the battleground of our age.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus informs us that the path to freedom is truth. Freedom is attained by “abiding” in His Word and holding to His teaching (John 8:31–32).

The application is extraordinarily simple. Love the truth. Demonstrate it by remaining constantly in God’s Word. By doing so, you will remain a disciple of Jesus.

The world has become increasingly complicated and confused about sex. The obsession and confusion have engulfed entire generations (and denominations). Tragically, the confusion has clouded many in mainline churches too. This shouldn’t surprise or concern us. Jesus identified the reason for confusion two millennia ago:

“Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot listen to My word” (John 8:43–44).

Those who can’t listen to God’s Word don’t understand. Consequently, they become confused.

But what a wonderful privilege to humbly and prayerfully partner together for God to do the impossible through us: develop a short creed to adequately and truthfully summarise God’s Word regarding human sexuality.

It is too important to let this impossible task go undone. The lives and souls of our children are at stake.

We echo Christ’s words in John 8:31–32 with simple confidence. We will continue in His word, and we will help the Church remain unconfused and free.

Let us boldly decree the truth of His Word. May we bring clarity to the confused, simplicity to the complications, truth to subtle lies, and light to the darkness.

Please continue to pray for The Australian Sexual Integrity Creed.

Video

Prayer

Father, our simple prayer is that You would continue to lead the development of this creed. We ask that nothing You don’t want in it will stick, and nothing You do want in it will be omitted.

Lord, please let this creed be established throughout the world for Your glory and to purify Your bride.

We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

Author Bio

Paul Joshua ‘PJ’ Bedwell was a medical doctor. But after being born again and set free from addiction, he now works at Youth for Christ Australia.

PJ is the ministry director for What’s Normal?, a ten-week video-based curriculum equipping young people to live as disciples of Jesus in a pornographic and hyper-sexualised culture.

He lives with his wife, Mikaela, and young family south of Sydney.

Prayer Points and Purpose for October 2024

1. Revival and restoration of sexual integrity to renew the individual, revitalise marriages, restore families and protect children. Hebrews 13:4
2. Revival, repentance and reformation of Australia. 2 Chronicles 7:14
3. Revival, repentance and reformation of America. 2 Chronicles 7:14
4. The Lamb that was slain may receive a reward for His suffering. Revelation 5:12

We invite you to support this prayer campaign by ordering your FREE copy of Break Through: 15 Keys to Supernatural Breakthrough, a book on prayer written by Warwick Marsh. Reading this book will multiply the effectiveness of your prayers. You can make a donation to the Canberra Declaration to help pay it forward and bless someone else to receive a free copy of Break Through.

Join us for our nightly Zoom prayer call:

DATES: Every night in October

TIME: 8 PM (AEDT); 7 PM (QLD); 7:30 PM (SA); 6:30 PM (NT); 5 PM (WA)

ZOOM LINK: zoom.us/j/776881184

Daily devotions are brought to you by the Canberra Declaration.

View October 2024 Daily Devotionals: dailydeclaration.org.au/tag/sexual-integrity-2024

Photo courtesy of Adobe.