The Chácara Study - Continued

Yesterday we had our first official study at the Chácara. It was an incredible experience. The men there know all about fighting temptation and evil desires. They are already starting to understand that sex is something to be honored. It is a gift from the Lord that is only meant for a husband and his wife. Like drugs and alcohol it has the ability to drown you in addiction. The guys had tons of questions and they were very open and shared a lot about some of their experiences and what the streets of the city are like here in Porto Alegre.

There are a lot of sad facts about sexual sin. I had heard horrible stories about 11 and 12 year old prostitutes here in Porto Alegre when we first moved here. I also remember an article that was published in the newspaper that talked about fathers taking their young sons (12 or 13 years old) to prostitutes so that when they had a girlfriend they would know what they were doing when it came to sex. That made me sick. The guys at the Chácara were telling me during the study yesterday that there are girls who will do anything for R$5 (less than $3) to feed their drug addictions. That really made me tear up. How is it that people are so willing to give their bodies up like that? There are a lot of things that I don't understand about the world. I don't understand the chains that can hold a person down like that. Only the love of Christ can penetrate something so dreadful, but how do we share Jesus with someone who is so sick with addiction that they don't know right from wrong anymore - or ever care about right and wrong.

I am seeing with fresh eyes that the Lord calls us to pray for and be advocates of Jesus to all people - addicts and prostitutes need Jesus too.

Well, back to the study. We had a great time of discussion about the first 3 chapters of the book we are reading, "Every Man's Battle". Then we broke up into our accountability groups for more discussion and prayer through a few verses of scripture. The guys read and prayed through Romans 13:13 (freedom from sin in Christ), Philippians 2:1-3 (fellowship with brothers in Christ), Psalms 143:7-9 (the Lord is our shelter and strength) and I Peter 3:7 (showing love and respect for women will bless our prayer life). We then met back together to close out our time in a group prayer.

I could tell as I looked in on the accountability groups that it was a blessed time for the men. Here are a few pictures of some of the groups for you to get an idea of what they look like.