Mr. & Mrs. Wrong
Hey Church Family,
I want to give you a heads up about the subject matter of this week’s sermon. We are going to be finishing out our marriage and relationships series, Mr. & Mrs. Wrong, by talking about lust.
More specifically, I will be diving into what God’s Word says about sexual lust in particular and how we can keep lust from killing our future and current relationships. This will be my first time diving into this topic as your pastor, so I just want you to know that I plan on delving into the realities of issues like pornography, sexual addiction, masturbation, abortion, cohabitation, and potentially other issues that aren’t the norm during my messages.
I know upon hearing that, some of you may be wondering, “why would we talk about those things at church?” My simple answer to why we will talk about these things is because the Bible talks about these things. For many years, the Church’s silence on these “taboo” topics has led to hurt, confusion, and silent suffering for many. My desire from day one as your pastor is to talk about God’s real words, in a real way, that can help real people, with things with which they are really struggling.
To those of you who have kids who are in preschool to 5th grade, I strongly encourage you (as I would every Sunday) to put your child in Children’s Ministry so that they can learn about Jesus on their level. Unless you’re planning on having “the talk” in the minivan on the way home, please do not have your elementary-aged child listening to the message with you.
To those of you with students ages 6th through 12th grade, things may not be as cut and dry. As a guy who spent many years serving in Student Ministry, here is my suggestion.
If you have a middle schooler: attend the 11a service so that your middle schooler can take part in our Sunday Middle School Service led by Tim Schanie, our Youth Pastor, in room 202/203 during the 11a service. After you’ve heard the message, you can choose how much or how little you’d like for them to hear. It may be all of it, it may be some, it may be none. You’re the parent; you know best. Tim and I would love to help you navigate what’s best if you need our help.
If you have a high schooler: I’m going to go out on what I think is a pretty sturdy limb and say your high schooler will have heard all of the terms and topics we will discuss on Sunday. What they may not have heard yet is a Biblical take on these topics. I would say this is a message that every high schooler needs to hear. Again, you’re the parent, so you know what’s best for your child.
Last thing, please be in prayer that God uses the power of His preached Word to set people free from the bondage of lust, sexual sin, and shame. I believe it’s going to be a powerful weekend and I hope you’ll join in online or in person.
Grace+Peace,
Pastor Trent