I wanted to let you know about an article my friend Jessica wrote called “Sex and Church” in response to a pastor’s challenge to both couple and singles…for the couples to have sex for 30 straight days and for singles to abstain from sex.

Here is an excerpt from her article, which you can find in its entirety here:

“This is a very interesting topic. Sex. Church. Two of the most controversial, I’d say. I love it. I think We shouldn’t be silent about this…. church or no church. Our society is remarkable at devaluing sex. We are constantly bombarded with messages that sex is casual, that sex is meaningless, that sex should be had by anyone and everyone, no matter what the age, what the circumstances….if it feels good, do it. Right?”

I appreciate Jessica sharing this. In a way, I like the challenge this pastor gave for both singles and marrieds. He shows that sex in marriage should be viewed as a beautiful act that can be experience without guilt or fear. For the singles, he seems to challenge those who may be having sex outside of marriage and urging them to abstain for a season. But, yes, if that’s as far as he goes, he is selling the beauty of sex and the love of our God and King far too short.

And, this bodes the question, How do we communicate this well to a sex-crazed culture you’ve described? I grew up in the “Don’t” and “Thou Shalt not” type of church…very reminiscient to the pharisees of Jesus’ day that he scolded. Over the last few years, I’ve seen a truer picture of how God views sex and the beauty of waiting for marriage…reminding me of Jesus’ loving interaction with the prostitute and his grace-filled charge to go and sin no more.

We may be laughed at by our culture for this stance on marriage and sex, which could be like my encounter with a swedish girl who thought I was crazy for being almost 30 and still a virgin. But, with this knowledge requires great responsibility. For those who have seen the beauty of Jesus, desire to follow him, and declare his Lordship of our lives, we have a great high priest, a friend, a lover and a King who will be our mediator in such a charge. And for those who need strength to follow this call, God’s promised the power of the Holy Spirit to all who call upon him for help in our “Sex Sells” culture. The key though I’ve learned as I get closer to be coming the 40 year old virgin is…

Treasure Jesus and share Jesus with everybody!
As a bonus, I wanted to include a video about how our culture views sex and pornography…I hope this will give you more of a taste for how to reach our culture and how to live a Spirit-Filled, Holy-Filled life for all the world to see!

How do you view sex today in our culture and how are you combating it as a follower of Jesus?

12“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. ”

And, I have checked my heart as to the reason I am going to this conference. I want to be used by God to display the fame of Jesus and if people will come to Christ through his supernatural power of raising people from the dead, than I want to be on board with what God can do. And to show you more confirmation, today’s article in Charisma Magazine features a story of a young girl being raised from the dead in India and how she praises Jesus for this miracle in her life. See the article here!

Excerpt from Charisma Magazine’s Fire in My Bones article from J. Lee Grady:

“I know Jesus is a great God because he raised my daughter to life,” Suribabu said, wiping away tears. He was already a new Christian when the miracle occurred. His brother and two more of his Hindu family members converted to Jesus after they heard the story and saw the revived girl.”

Description of “Raising the Dead” Conference at ExtremeProphetic.com:

“Jesus told us that we are to release the Kingdom everywhere we go. That includes seeing the sick healed, the demons cast out, and the dead raised! This conference will focus on seeing dry bones come to life … in both the physical and spiritual. Every one of the speakers has an inspired level of faith to see each of us walking in the fullness of the Kingdom … including raising the dead. Many of the speakers have raised the dead. Some have even been raised from the dead. If you have felt dry of late, or there is a dream or calling in your life that seems dead, come gather with the prophets and hear the word of the Lord proclaimed. Your faith will be stirred. And you will be reminded that the entire Kingdom is for you. You are meant to heal the sick, cast out demons, and raise the dead!”

They also have a special website for the CD that is well done, with special video footage about the cd from Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin, and Matt Redman:
http://ecards.emicmg.com/passion/godofthiscity/

You will love the new ‘God of This City’ song by Chris Tomlin, ‘Hosanna’ by Christy Nockels, ‘God of our Yesterdays’ by Matt Redman and more…

Passion’s Website describe the CD below:
Uniting thousands of university students in an effort to make God’s fame known in the campuses and churches of the nation, the Passion movement continues to gain momentum. This fall, the movement has launched Passion Regional:: USA gatherings across the country. These gatherings happen in Boston, Chicago in the fall and continue in Los Angeles, Dallas, Washington DC and Atlanta through spring. In celebration of this moment and in preparation of Passion: World Tour 2008 set to begin in May ’08, sixstepsrecords presents Passion’s latest disc.

Highlighting some of the best moments of both Passion’07 in Atlanta (with over 23,000 university students) and the USA regional events, the album will feature new music from Chris Tomlin, David Crowder Band, Charlie Hall, Matt Redman, Christy Nockels, Kristian Stanfill and more.

Track Listing
Let God Arise - Chris Tomlin
You Are God - Charlie Hall
God Of This City - Chris Tomlin
O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing - David Crowder*Band
Hosanna - Christy Nockels
Sing Sing Sing - Chris Tomlin
Beautiful Jesus - Kristian Stanfill
Walk This World - Charlie Hall
We Shine - Steve Fee
God Of Our Yesterdays - Matt Redman
Glory Of It All - David Crowder*Band
Shine - Matt Redman
Dancing Generation - Matt Redman
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) - Chris Tomlin

I love Louie Giglio and Francis Chan’s authenticity, their pursuit of biblical truth, and passion for my generation. They don’t back down from calling us to surrender our lives to Jesus and to take risks for His Kingdom. They speak honestly about the ills of our culture and the dangers we as Christians find ourselves in if we don’t strip ourselves of clinging to the pattern of this world. They care passionately about seeing our generation spend our lives following Jesus and not a religion, and living fully surrendered and not half-hearted like many young people that put on the falsehood of christianity.

I’m excited about Passion’s World Tour to over 15 countries and that they are so focused on helping young people to think Globally as Followers of Jesus. I truly believe the Church in America needs to embody more of this Call to care about the unreached around the world and taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Nations around the World.

To Read more about Passion’s World Tour, click here:
http://www.268generation.com

To Listen to more of Francis Chan’s messages, click here:
http://www.cornerstonesimi.com

Louie Giglio on Passion:LA (Stories and Pic)
http://268blog.blogspot.com/2008/01/la-love.html
http://268blog.blogspot.com/2008/01/beautiful-la.html

Matt Redman’s Experience at Passion:LA
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=120781688&blogID=353383281

Check out Jake Charles’ Experience at Passion:LA:
http://jctheology.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-do-we-change-world.html

More and more peope are realizing that we are called as followers of Jesus to think Globally, to care about the needs of the world, and to make Disciples of ALL NATIONS.

My first encounter with Passion Conferences was in 2000 for ONE DAY - 20,000+ college students gathered together in a field to worship the Living God, hear solid biblical teaching from John Piper and Louie Giglio, and pray for our generation to follow Jesus and make Him known around the world. Passion is comprised of worship leaders Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Charlie Hall, David Crowder Band. Other speakers have included Beth Moore, Francis Chan.

God has used Passion’s ministry and vision to open my eyes to the HUGENESS of GOD, HIS GLORY, and to understand that WORSHIP IS HOW I LIVE MY LIFE. Since 2000, I have been to One Day 2003, Thirsty Conference, and Passion 2007.

I began to share with her about how Jesus has healed me both physically and spiritually, how I’ve seen His Power in so many ways. But, the comment she made in response, I will never forget.

“I don’t need to be healed.”

I was taken aback by this comment. I should have been ready to respond about her need for spiritual healing. But, I wasn’t. I should of told her about her need for a Savior. But, I didn’t.

Instead, I simply left her with a picture of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that I hope was more accurate than she has probably ever known, one that I hope she will never forget. But, even with thoughts on what else I could have said, I need to trust her to the Power of the Holy Spirit to bring conviction, show her God’s love, tear down the walls of religion, and bring her into an intimate relationship with the Living God - Jesus of Nazareth.

I’m reading a book right now about “Freedom from the Religious Spirit”, which I highly recommend, as it analyzes what this religious spirit is and how it has seeped into the church very intentionally by the Kingdom of Satan. Let’s fight against the religious spirit in our churches, our communities, and in our personal lives. It will steal our unity as a body, our love for Jesus and the world He loves so much.

My friends, Jesus is alive today and wants to move in Power through His Church and through His People. If you’re open to it, He will show you amazing things. You will be used by him in some amazing ways. But beware a religious spirit that seeks to steal the Healing Power of God from your life and your hearers.

One such demonstration of God’s Power is from an acquaintance of mine named Fabian who has a website called FreedomToCaptives.com. He shares a healing testimony in his newsletter below:

Another encouraging testimony is from a lady that we have been ministering to over the phone. She has been bed ridden and had to use a wheel chair for over 24 years. She was bound by a spirit of infirmity. Doctors named this one Fibromyalgia. She called me a few days ago excited to share with me that she is healed. She believed that Jesus took her infirmity by the stripes He took on His body. She refused to believe the devil’s lies. Now she is walking, driving her car and ministering to other sick people to be healed. - Fabian from www.FreedomToCaptives.com

Since sharing this story on my Myspace page, a few friends have responded with similar testimonies. See them below:

http://blog.myspace.com/KJF

How have you been healed by God? Please share with the Missionary Road community how God has been moving in your life or those you’ve been privileged to minister to!

“Go and make Disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19),

“You will be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8),

“You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation“(Revelation 5:9).

These verses are clearly calling us to think farther than our immediate sphere of influence, but I wonder if the Church is embodying this as opposed to putting on a facade of this through short term missions trips that give you a glimpse into another culture without really making a dent in living out even 3 of the countless verses in the Scriptures that call us to go around the world with the Gospel of Christ.

And if we don’t even have a clear mission on our homefront, how could we ever have one abroad?  I mean, do we really have a clear understanding of why we even “do church”. Is it simply a place to fellowship or meet people? John MaCarthur wrote a great blog about the mission of the church, that simply put is ‘to seek and save that which is lost’ as Jesus modeled to us. When Jesus said to his first disiples,

“Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

I see from this statement a mission and a plan. Unfortunately, for some reasons many churches today do not have this on their priority list.  And, the Church shouldn’t have to depend on Christian organizations like Campus Crusade, Navigators, OM, Way of The Master, etc. to show us the way in this! Now, I love all these organizations and, in fact, I am humbled by what they do to live out the commands of Jesus and fulfilling the Great Commission, but the Church should be leading the way to model following Jesus and making disciples to become fishers of men and women.

To close,  I started by asking if you pray Global Prayers, but what I’m really asking is do you have a mindset that seeks to embody making Christ known starting in your sphere of influence and extending around the world. After all, if you are not modeling this now in your own backyard, why would you ever want to do this in a foreign land.

Here’s a strategy from Operation World that may assist all of us in this charge:

Missionary vision. An Acts 1:8 strategy is needed for every church and denomination. Amazing results have been achieved by a dedicated few. How speedily the world would be evangelized if all believers and every congregation obeyed the commands of Jesus in Acts 1, and believed His promises for enablement through the Holy Spirit! Pray for the awakening and growth of missionary concern. Pray for effective and practical missionary involvement in praying, giving and going and for the following:

a) The speediest possible completion of the goals given in the Great Commission by the Lord Jesus to His Church.
b) All churches to make obedience to the Great Commission their primary ministry objective. Only through this will the resources be available to bring the task to conclusion, or closure, in our generation.
c) All leadership training institutions and programmes to ensure that missions be a fundamental and essential core component of every course. It is failure to do this that has caused the centuries of neglect and marginalization of world evangelization in churches and agencies.
d) Mission agency prayer, planning and deployment to emphasize reaching unreached areas, peoples and cities. The Adopt-a-People Clearinghouse and the AD2000 and Beyond Movement have compiled a list of over 6,000 unreached and adoptable peoples submitted by agencies as targeted for entry. Many are those included in our World A totals, others are World B and C peoples. (See Appendix 2 for addresses of these organizations and agencies who can provide further information.)
e) The adoption of unreached peoples by churches, Christian groups, prayer circles and individuals. The task can be completed only as Christians take responsibility in earnest intercession until believers are won and churches planted in each people group.

To Summarize:

1. The gospel is Christological.

2. The gospel is theological.

3. The gospel is biblical.

4. The gospel is thus apostolic.

5. The gospel is historical.

6. The gospel is personal.

7. The gospel is universal.

8. The gospel is eschatological.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-19)
by: D. A. Carson
article url: http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/articles.php?a=81

Many have commented on the fact that the church in the western world is going through a time of remarkable fragmentation. This fragmentation extends to our understanding of the gospel. For some Christians, “the gospel” is a narrow set of teachings about Jesus and his death and resurrection which, rightly believed, tip people into the kingdom. After that, real discipleship and personal transformation begin, but none of that is integrally related to “the gospel.” This is a far cry from the dominant New Testament emphasis that understands “the gospel” to be the embracing category that holds much of the Bible together, and takes Christians from lostness and alienation from God all the way through conversion and discipleship to the consummation, to resurrection bodies, and to the new heaven and the new earth.

This changed the course of the rest of my life. Since then, I’ve not only come across books on evangelism, but resources and people specifically with a similar passion. Specifically, “One Thing You can’t do in Heaven” by Mark Cahill has lit a fire in my belly for the lost and has also given me many practical tools to share my faith. Now that I’ve become equipped and have realized that evangelism is largely missing from the body of Christ as a spiritual discipline, I’ve made it the course of my life to want to equip people to share their faith.

But, this has been a tough journey, full of disappointment and discouragement as I’ve ran into apathy from other believers, lots of excuses about just being called to show christ’s love and “if necessary use words”, and plain heresy that only certain people are called to do “evangelism”.

So, I’m hoping for your help, whomever may read this blog, because God wants to raise up leaders to stand up for His Truth in the Sciptures and the clear call and command for all Christians to both live and speak the Gospel.

About Mark Cahill

Mark Cahill has a business degree from Auburn University, where he was an honorable mention Academic All-American in basketball. After spending a few years in the business world, he surrendered his heart to Jesus Christ and asked God to place him where he could touch as many lives as possible. Within a year, he was teaching school. Although Mark planned to teach for the rest of his life, God moved him from teaching at a Christian high school to devoting a year to full-time evangelism. He then embarked on a speaking career. Mark speaks to over 25,000 people per year at churches, retreats, conferences, camps, etc., equipping and challenging the saved to go out and reach the lost. As one of his students noted, he’s still teaching, but in a much bigger classroom.
His true vocation is witnessing, whether at malls, music and art festivals, beaches, sporting events, bar sections of towns—wherever the lost can be found. Mark is the author of One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven which has been translated into Russian, Chinese, Spanish, Romanian and is being translated into Nepalese, and One Heartbeat Away. Mark lives in Stone Mountain, Georgia.