Below are some thoughts of mine about feeling too weak and inadequate for God to use you, based on a sermon I preached on September 4th out of Judges 6 and 7. I truly hope you will be blessed and encouraged.

The last few weeks have really tested my faith in God and his leading in my life. I don't think I have ever felt so inadequate or under prepared for God's mission than I have in my entire life. I have felt weak. I have felt out of place. I have felt maxed out, running on overload, and sprinting toward burn out just because I am trying to pursue God's calling in my life, but feel like I don't have what it takes to really succeed. And in my conversations with people lately, I have discovered that I am not the only one who feels this way.

This idea of being inadequate has been quite overwhelming to me until I rediscovered the account of Gideon in Judges 6 and 7. This narrative describes the situation of Gideon's almost laughable weakness and the impossible mission God had called him to.

I love this because God asked the most obscure and under-qualified person in all of Isreal (literally) to free his entire nation from serious oppression by a neighboring country. As the scene unfolds in this passage, the reader slowly becomes aware of the depths of Gideon’s inadequacy for the task, even to the point of God removing the little adequacy he does possess - the small army of Israel. The tension slowly begins to build as the storyline rolls out.

When we get to the climax of the tension in Jdg. 7:7-8, God adds one final level of impossibility to the mission: "Win this battle with only 300 soldiers...and they will be the worst soldiers in your army." Here, we are given a view of Gideon at his most inadequate point.

But at the height of Gideon’s inadequacy and weakness, God shows his awesome power and takes over the scene. When Gideon goes to fight against the enemy, God completely spooks them and they start fighting themselves until there is literally no battle left to fight. God won the day as Gideon looked on. I love this because, throughout this whole ordeal, 0% of the solution to Gideon’s crisis came from Gideon. Gideon wasn’t the savior; God was! But Gideon's victory was on the other side of faith (cf. Heb. 11:32-33).

One of the most amazing things that I have learned from this passage is that God wins with the weak. He wins with those who are inadequate and unequipped. For Gideon, God's victory was much closer than he realized because it was right in the middle of his weakness. And the same is true for you. His victory in your life and in your situation isn’t missing. God never passed you up. But maybe there is something that, by faith, your hands need to let go of. His victory is on the other side of your faith. And his victory will be accomplished through your weakness...not in spite of your weakness.

Maybe in your life right now, this very week or month, you have been given way more than you can handle. And you feel like you’re crumbling under the weight of it all. You feel inadequate. You think that no one cares what you say, or that you're not strong enough to handle all of this, or you don't have the right training to handle it all.

I am here to tell you today that victory and hope are here! God wants to open your eyes to the spiritual reality all around you. Your victory is much closer than you think! God saw Gideon and called him a mighty man of valor before the victory was ever manifest or visible. God looked at Gideon and saw his victory, not his fear.

And he looks at you and sees your victory. He sees your sufficiency. He sees your power. He sees your beauty. He calls you victorious and mighty! And he will win in your life! In Christ, you are more than a conqueror. But you need to embrace your weakness and inadequacy because it is only in your inadequacy that you will experience God’s victory and freedom. 

The victory comes only when you let go of your own adequacy. The confidence comes only when you let go of your worry and anxiety (cf. 2 Cor. 3:5) because comes God wins with the weak.

So Pokemon GO happened...

Wow! I have never seen such an outburst of communal gaming in my life. I am honestly shocked at the amazing popularity of Niantic's new Pokemon GO app. In fact, according to Forbes Tech, as of the timing of this post, "Pokemon GO was installed on 5.6% of all Android devices in the United States... Not only that, but on average users are spending twice the amount of time engaged with Pokemon GO than they are on apps like Snapchat." Talk about viral!

But to be honest, I have always felt like I was on the outside of the Pokemon crowd looking in. My wife recently started playing, and now goes on Pokemon GO walks with her students (deserving the youth leader of the year award). Even when I was younger, I played with my baseball cards while a lot of my school friends played with their Pokemon cards.

But something struck me today as I watched my wife leave for one of her Pokemon GO walks; I think there is a progression in the Pokemon experience that the Church can learn from. It all began on some cards. And people would sit around playing with the cards, simulating in their minds what it would look like if they were in a real Pokemon battle. And then, Pokemon came out with movies and shows about the original card game. But it wasn't until Pokemon GO that people actually got out into the world and got in the game, so to speak. Pokemon GO has inspired a huge following because players are now players in a real-time experience, where every move they make matters.

Like I said, I think the Church, the collection of the people who follow Jesus, can learn from this progression. Too often, we sit in our nice buildings and talk about what it would look like if we could actually experience what others have written about. And we have even progressed to making movies and skits and shows about others who have experienced what the Bible talks about. But for the vast majority of us, we have yet to get off our seats and get in the game.

Yet, this isn't because it's not possible yet. In fact, this kind of life is ready and available for all of us...and the servers never crash. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..." Every single one of us can experience the most thrilling version of God's activity possible, one where God works through us. We don't have to simply settle for reading about God moving in and through someone else, we can experience it for ourselves.

However, even though making disciples happens while we are going, it doesn't happen on accident. Making disciples in an intentional process. It doesn't happen unless we plan on making disciples; we have to make a decision ahead of time to make disciples and grow disciples. Otherwise, it never happens...kind of like catching Pokemons in Pokemon GO.

So let's make a decision together today. Let's Pokemon GO... and make disciples!

I'm not a huge movie guy, but I am pretty excited for the upcoming release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (TMNT Trailer #1). Being a 90's kid, the Turtles bring me back to some of my favorite childhood things like TMNT pajamas and the coolest action figures in school. So, I obviously loved the first TMNT movie from Paramount Films, and I'm pretty stoked for the second one.

So, for reminiscence sake, these are some of my favorite TMNT toys ever made:

• The Technodrome
• The Turtlecopter
• And the best of all...The Pizza Thrower!

I have always been fascinated by turtles...especially turtles that eat pizza, ride skateboards, and say "Kawabunga, dude!", and were born out of the 90's. But the very idea of an animal that comes fully
equipped with a personal bomb shelter on its back is so sweet! When a turtle is threatened, or feels in danger, it is able retreat within its shell and find safety and a relative level of camouflage. This is amazing! Seriously, the way God has created turtles is so fascinating! Their ability to protect themselves is fascinating.

But too, often people act like turtles when it comes to their own emotional protection. In fact, I do this fairly often, as well. And this is not good. When turtles do it, it is good. When humans do this, it's not.

What do I mean? How do humans act like turtles?

I'll give you an example, but be nice to me. I'm going to be a little vulnerable with you here.

The other day, I was talking to a friend and he asked about how he could pray for me. And if I was being completely transparent, I would have told him about the multitude of burdens that were on my heart at that very moment. But if I had done that, I would have opened up the possibility of a few things:

• By sharing the actual burdens on my heart with him, he would have seen the mess I was in and would have plenty of chance to judge me and crushed my confidence.
• By sharing real prayer requests with him, I would have been reaching for the hope that my heart would be healed in a context that both of us shared...a hope that was easier crushed than realized.
• And by inviting him into the truth of my situation, I would have had to find a way to insert him into my life in the contexts of my burdens.

And if I am being honest, all of those things scared me. They scared me because it meant I would be opening up my heart to hope in a person I barely know to be there for me. And by doing this, I would take a huge step toward my hope being dashed and my joy being diminished.

So instead, I just told him some kind off vague prayer request like, "Pray for strength."

I acted just like a turtle. Because of my fear, I retreated within myself and avoided the freeing truth and sanctifying vulnerability. I hid behind the shell of vague "Christianese". And many of do this so much more than we realize. We all have pains and burdens. But we hide within ourselves, never finding freedom, because we are too scared.

And as the Lord has been speaking to me about this recently, he has been revealing to me the path to finding real freedom from these burdens and the pains in my heart. And I want to share them with you.

Here are 2 secrets to find lasting freedom from your pain and your burdens.

1) Come out of your shell. Be ok with the mess in your own heart. You're not alone in your mess! It's only when you are honest and at peace with your own mess than you can let someone else in and give you the real love that you need.

Allow me to let you in on the best-kept-secret of finding freedom: we can't find freedom by ourselves; we need another to help us as we search for freedom. In our pursuit of true freedom, real love from another person is a necessary ingredient. In order to enter the promised land called freedom, we must pass through the tunnel of real love. But this is where we tend to retreat into our shells. We are scared of receiving real love.

Why are we scared of receiving real love? Doesn't everyone want real love?

Receiving real, liberating love, requires that we come out of our shells, honestly admit our pain, and open up about our fears to another imperfect human being. It is only when we are vulnerable with another about our current reality that we can receive true love and find lasting freedom.

So why are we so scared to receive love and pursue freedom? Because we know the depths of our own hearts, and we are so scared to let someone else into it. We fear that they will see it and run the other way.

So we never find real freedom. Fear opposes love. And thus, it opposes freedom. We want freedom from our pains and burdens, but our fears tend to get in the way. This is why 1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear..."

Love requires you to open up. Like a turtle coming out of a shell.

And love will bring you to a place called freedom...outside of the shell.

2) Jump into someone else's shell. Be courageous enough to love someone sacrificially...despite the mess in their heart, and despite the amount of times they retreat inside their shell away from you. Real love casts out fear. (1 John 4:18).

Anything else called "love" that is too scared to enter the dark realities of the human heart for another is not love at all. Love bears all things with and for another (1 Corinthians 13:7). Mushy feelings never do that. That's because love isn't a feeling. Love is a self-sacrificing, daily-deciding commitment to the holistic well-being of another without regard for personal safety.

You can only offer this kind of love to someone else by committing to sacrifice and unselfishness. And by giving this real love to someone else, you will bring them to a place called freedom...outside of their shell.

(P.S. Love is a two way street. When you are courageous enough to love someone else, you will begin to find love and healing for your own heart.)

So here's to you! Here's to starting the journey to finding lasting freedom from your pains and burdens! "Kawabunga, dude!"

(Just for fun, here is another trailer...becasue I couldn't resist...)

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There is a lot being said as of late about the transgender issue.

What if a guy wants to identify as a woman? What if a woman wants to identify as a man? What if a woman wants to identify as a cat? What if a female-identifying man wants to use a female restroom at a certain supermarket? What if a person wants to identify as a 7 year old version of himself?

And frankly, this is a conversation that makes me very anxious. I have loads of anxiety in me because I don't know how to respond. I am a pastor and there are lots of people who, if not yet, will soon look to me to provide a godly answer about how to respond to a transgender person as Jesus would. This scares me because there are so many bad ways to respond, but not a lot of good ways. On the one hand, I would never want to disagree with God's commands in what I say or do; on the other hand,  I would never want to tell someone who does not yet know Jesus that he doesn't love them or that he didn't die for their sins too.

In this conversation, there are lots of Christians who error on either side of this discussion. There are some Christians who will say that if a person chooses to deny the way that God created them and become transgender that they are no longer worthy of love or kindness. But there are other Christians who will not say anything at all and choose to defend man's desires over God's genius in creation. And this is not godly either.

So how do I respond when my response could very easily misrepresent Jesus?

I don't know. But I do know a few things:

First, those who identify as transgender are doing so because they they need love. They believe that they will receive more love (if even from themselves) by doing so. They are human beings who are created in the image of God. They are human beings who are created with a need to be loved, but have been hurt at some point in their life.

Second, Jesus died for them. They are human, and as such, are sinners. And because of that they are human beings for whom Jesus died. And God doesn't wait for someone to clean up their life before loving them. For example,

"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Romans 5:8

"And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, 'This man (Jesus) receives sinners, and eats with them...'"

Luke 15:2

Jesus identified with sinners because he was more concerned with seeking them and saving them (cf. Luke 19:10) than condemning them (cf. John 3:17). He identified with me, a sinner, because he wanted to start a relationship with me that lasts forever. And I am eternally grateful.

I don't really know how to respond to the transgender frenzy and the anger that is being stirred up on either side. I wouldn't know what to say to the little girl who identifies as a boy. I wouldn't know what to say to Bruce who identifies as Caitlin. And I definitely wouldn't know what to say to the woman who identifies as a cat.

But I do know this: I identify as a sinner...just like everyone else that has ever lived.

And Jesus receives sinners.

Allow me to confess something. I have a history of depression. It comes in waves and at different times. But usually it's unexpected. And when it grabs a hold of me, it can cause me to question my calling; it can make me doubt my understanding of reality; it can influence me to give up on all God has in store for me.

This last month has been like that for me. I was so busy with so much that I didn't even realize that I had become depressed again. When I began to slow down and was able to process stuff again, I realized that I had started to question my calling and dread waking up to take on the day.

And then the Lord brought me to Ephesians 6. And through it, he spoke life back into my sleeping heart. Ephesians 6:10-13 says,

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore..."

And as I read this, the Spirit of God began to hover over the chaos in my heart (cf. Gen. 1:2). It was almost as if the Spirit was telling me that I had been looking at this life all wrong. It wasn't about me fighting for God or working hard to produce something God could use. God was already doing the work. He just needed me to stand firm.

And he just needs you to stand firm. The secret to being strong in the Lord and with the strength of his might is simply standing firm. Don't back down. It's not your strength that he needs. It's not your skill that he is looking for. It's not your cunning wisdom that he is relying on. What he needs is for you to stand firm against the devil, and not to run away.

When you're discouraged, stand firm.
When you're beginning to doubt, stand firm.
When you're getting impatient, stand firm.
When you're feeling hopeless, stand firm.

This is not a battle against things we can see. There are greater forces at play and you are a crucial part to God's plan. He is looking for you to simply be present in the battle. This is God's battle. And we are using his weapons. And we are fighting on his turf. He needs us in the fight, and he needs us to simply stand firm. He will win the fight through our stand.

It's the season to make New Year's resolutions. We hope for great things in 2016 and expect great changes. But between the hopes and the desires, what is the key to actually seeing real change?

Maybe the key to change isn't found in trying something new, but in consistently doing something over and over again.

Are you a real leader or just a rockstar who can attract a crowd?

I have been challenged to rethink what I used to know about leadership. There have been a few people recently, who have caused me to wonder if the amount of followers leaders have is even that important. See, I had always (secretly) hoped that someday I would be a leader who had thousands of people flocking around me to hear what I had to say. That was what my dream of greatness looked like - me, on a stage with a sweet light show and wearing a trendy outfit while spewing my buckets of wisdom... Sounds real biblical, huh?

But then I met some people who had all of that. They seemed like the perfect leaders, but somehow they weren't leading anyone. In fact, they refused the leadership opportunities that were placed right in front of them because it involved service more than spotlights. For them, the idea of leadership was less about actually leading people to something greater, and more about attracting people to themselves. 

When I saw this in other people (because it was easier to see it in other than see it in myself), I learned something very important: Leaders lead, and great leaders lead to great places. Notice what I didn't say: Leaders attract, and great leaders attract more. A rockstar does that, not necessarily a leader. Leaders go somewhere and people follow them to that place. And the place that leaders take people is far more important than how many people they are taking there. When it comes to leadership, it doesn't matter how many people are following you as much as where you are going.

Jesus has called his people to lead others to him. This is the greatest form of leadership: making everything in your life about leading others to Jesus. And this form of leadership is starkly contrasted with what lots of people (and I used to be one of them) think of as leadership: being a rockstar and attracting loads of people to themselves. This may be the American Dream, but this is not Jesus' dream for his people. Jesus has called you to lead others to him. And if you are leading people, Jesus makes it clear that this road is paved with service and sacrifice, not power moves and popularity.

Jesus said,

"The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." Matthew 23:11-12

And then he modeled this kind of leadership. On the one night that he could have afforded to take a little bit of pleasure in for himself - the night that he was going to sacrifice his very self in the greatest act of leadership EVER - he chose to serve rather than be served. Check out John 13:3-14 for this account. For Jesus, it was less about how many people saw him do that, and less about power moves and popularity, and more about leading his followers to something greater.

So my question to you is: are you leading or just attracting?

Don't waste the gift that God has given you today. Lead others. Lead them to him.

I was recently given a waterproof Bible for my birthday. I love it! It has pages that are made of a flimsy plastic, making it able to shed water instead of absorb it. Its cover is made out of a waterproof synthetic leather. It is so fun to take it to places that had previously been "no book zones" just because they are wet places.

For example, I love showering with my new waterproof Bible. I usually do my best thinking in the shower (don't you?), and so spending time in the Word of God in the shower has been very eye opening. With my mind so clear and with my thinking so sharp in the sanctuary of my shower, God has been revealing some pretty awesome things to me lately.

The other day, I was reading my waterproof Bible in the shower, and I was spending time in Hebrews 11 (I'm sure those faith heroes would have loved to read a Bible in a shower...hehe). While there, a passage in particular hit me. Hebrews 11:13 says about the people in the Old Testament who had great faith,

"These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth."

Translation: the lifespan of their faith was lot longer then the span of their lives. Their faith lived longer than they did. Not even death could shake their faith in the coming Messiah.

So God began to ask me about my faith. How long is the lifespan of my faith? Will my faith outlive me? There isn't necessarily a way to answer this question other than proving it. There isn't really a good way to know other than living everyday with a faith that is stronger than my fears, quenches my doubts, emboldens my life, and encourages others until I take my last breath. I want to live my life with a faith that will outlast me.

So what about you? What is the lifespan of your faith? Is God more secure to you than your stuff? Could you leave everything you have in order to follow God's call on your life?

Just this morning, I was praying for my wife - like I do every morning. And as I was, something hit me hard. God gave me a realization that what I was doing was absolutely amazing. I was talking to God! And when I realized this, I was fascinated! God gave us the ability to talk to him, and we should never take it for granted. Here are 3 things that make prayer so awesome:

1. Prayer is an awesome thing.

Think about it. When you pray, you talk to the Ruler of the Entire Universe. You aren't just uttering a quaint pre-dinner phrase. You are entering the throne room of heaven to lay your humble request at the feet of the Lord of All. And the thing that is really amazing is that, in Hebrews 4:16, He calls us to do this with confidence!

2. Prayer is amazing thing.

Not only is prayer a high privilege, but it is uniquely special because it opens the door for us to have a living, breathing relationship with the One who breathes stars. Psalm 33:6 says,

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And their starry hosts by the breath of His mouth.

The moment you cease to be amazed by the fact that you are known and loved by this God is the moment you have lost sight of Him altogether. You can't relate to God without having your mind blown consistently. He is infinite in His glory, splendor, and desire for you!

3. Prayer is an affecting thing.

Prayer has a great effect. Prayer affect God, ourselves, others, and our world. How cool is that??? God has specifically given us, as fellow heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17), the ability to reach into the storehouses of heaven and affect God and his activity here on earth. THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!

Andrew Murray said in his book With Christ in The School of Prayer,

"Lord, teach us to pray." Yes, to pray. This is what we need to be taught. Though in its beginnings prayer is so simple that the feeblest child canary, yet it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which man can rise. It is fellowship with the Unseen and Most Holy One. The powers of the eternal world have been placed at its disposal.

So I want to challenge you today to reach into the heart and hands of your heavenly Father and experience the wonder and power of prayer. This is the unique privilege and plan God has given to you in this very moment. Don't let today end without laying hold of this amazing blessing.

This week, the Lord really impressed upon my heart the need to ask big things of Him in my life.

I have been journeying through the book of 1 Samuel and I was spending time in the account of the battle between David and Goliath. And I think that the main thing that we always notice in this narrative is the truth that you can overcome any giant in your life when you fear God more than the giant in front of you.

However, something I didn't notice until the Lord showed me this week was that David could have been in my youth group. He was the same age as my high school students. He was the young guy on the outskirts of the circle. He was the kid that his youth leader didn't notice too much. He was the dude who was trying (however unsuccessfully) to get his crush's attention. He was the student that nobody ever noticed.

And yet, what happened? God chose little David to change the course of his nation's history and to bless the world for eternity through his Messianic seed. Could anybody have seen this when he was fifteen? Absolutely not! But as God revealed to Samuel at the anointing ceremony,

"Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." ~ 1 Sam. 16:7

So what is the difference between what people see in a person or situation and what God sees? The difference is the unpredictable power of the Holy Spirit.

And what is the difference between what I see in a student or a situation with at work and what God sees? The difference is the unpredictable power of the Holy Spirit. He can do "far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think" (Eph. 3:20) with every single impossible situation or person. Anything I could possibly dream of God doing pales in comparison to what he can actually accomplish. My biggest dreams are small potatoes compared to His divine ability.

What's left for me to do is to "ask big." James 4:2 says, "You have not because you ask not..." So this week, I was convicted to ask huge things of God - things that I don't see ever happening - because I know that that is the place where He loves to show Himself off. I need to ask big, hairy, audacious things of God.

God operates in the realm of big, hairy, audacious prayers (BHAPs). That is His happy place. Things that occur naturally, and thus don't require a miracle, don't fall into that category. Faith is asking God for the impossible, and then acting as if the answer is on the way. That is what it means to pray BHAPs to God. And when the answer comes, it will be obvious that God was the only one who accomplished it.

So I prayed some impossible prayers this week. I prayed that thousands of souls would be saved as a result of our youth ministry. I also prayed that God would do something so big in and though our students that it would still be affecting people hundred of years from now.

Only God could be responsible for such an amazing outcome. So I continue to pray that way, and I continue to pray BHAPs because I have to believe that God is still in the business of doing huge things on planet earth today.

So what about you? What's the most impossible thing you could pray for this week?

This is an expert from a sermon I recently preached.

We complain about the dumbest things sometimes. I am just as guilty as anyone. During last spring break I flew down to Chicago from Bismarck on Delta. And I have never experienced this before, but we were in a traffic jam on the runway. So we waited there…on the runway…for an hour and a half. And the sad thing is that this is an actual story here in our world! People will sympathetically get mad with you because of a story like this, saying something like, "Oh my word! How long did you wait?? What is this world coming to???"

Really, Brant, what happened to you after that? Did you fly through the air incredibly?? Did you soar into the clouds like a bird?? Did you partake in the miracle of human flight and complain about the entire you were up there?

"I’m never flying Delta again…"

You’re flying!!!! Look out the window. You are looking DOWN onto the tops of clouds that previously only angels and birds could see before airplanes!!! This is a crazy! You’re sitting in the chair in the sky!

I had this choice: I could choose to be frustrated or I could choose to be fascinated. And everyday you have this choice, as well.

One of my favorite feelings in all of my life is that feeling you get when the pilot kicks it into 100th gear and your begin to lift off the ground and you are no longer tied to this planet by gravity. Blood rushes to my head; my heart skips a few beats; I grin without meaning to. I am fascinated!

When you are fascinated, you momentarily lose sight of yourself because you are lost in wonder. You were made for wonder!

[You can watch the full message below.]

This post is sort of unusual compared to then content I usually post. Typically I am posting reflections on my personal journey with the Lord and things that can others can relate to. This post, while still reflecting on my personal journey, however, reflects more on the cognitive side of this. rather than the affective. It is meant to display God's grace in not only my growth in his Kingdom, but also on my professional development.

I have been doing youth ministry for over 5 years now, but this last month marked my the end of my first year of full-time youth ministry. So these are the 5 Things I Learned in My First Year of Full-Time Youth Ministry:

1. You have to use words, but your life is what students listen to the most. I think one of the most depressing things that I had to get over was that my words were not very memorable. One of the coolest things ever is when a student grabs ahold of your message, and journals it, or tweets it, or videos it, or talks about it. But the reality is that this doesn't happen very often. Standing alone, my words don't really do much.  In fact, almost every student I have ever spoken to do not remember 95% of what I have ever said in talks. Talk about de-motivation! But here is the thing, even though not memorable, many of my talks made a big difference in lives thanks to two factors: 1) the power of God working behind my capabilities, and 2) the time that I spent with all of my students showing

them what it looked like to follow Jesus. Though the message in my talks may not have been retained very long, the message of my life was much harder to forget.

2. Parents are not the enemy. Maybe this is an age thing or just very common in youth ministry, but there always seems like there is a cold war going on between parents and the youth ministry. Though no shots are fires, it feels like there is a stand-off for the rights to time and attention of their students. And though we both want the same thing - that the student would grow up to love and serve Jesus with his/her life - there remains this awkward tension sometimes when we meet in hallways on in an email because we don't exactly know what the other is thinking about us. (Maybe I'm way off, but that's the way it appears from my end sometimes.) But one of the coolest things that I have learned in youth ministry is that when that communication gap was bridged, and I could develop relationships my your students' parents, I realized a shocking truth - that parents were actually cheering for me and that they were actually really cool people. They just wanted to make sure that their student was getting the best ministry possible. And when I actually took the time to listen to them, what I heard were stories of fear, joy, pain, success, and longing. Parents want the best for their students and so do I. A little professionalism, a lot of communication, and a little time went a long way to gain their trust and something even greater - a group of some of the greatest cheer leaders on the planet!

3. You cannot possibly over communicate. I don't know how many times it took for me to learn this one. In fact, there are still times where I have to re-learn this lesson. Communication that is well in advance, thorough, and accurate is the goal. Obviously, there are last minute changes that come up, but I have learned that the more people that I tell and the more information I give, the more successfully everyone will be informed. And once of the only complaints I receive with somewhat regularity is that so-and-so didn't know about my well-planned event and really wished they had so they could be there.

4. Lead your youth leaders well and you will in turn lead your students well. I figured this one out very early on. I can only connect with so many students in a spiritually significant way. But when I make an intentional effort to disciple my leaders and lay out clear expectations, I am multiplying our ministry into something greater than I was ever capable of on my own. So now I love to take leaders out for coffee, or invite them to our house, or text them during the week to see how I can pray
for them. And as I am pouring into them, I explain that this is what I expect them do be doing with their small group. Ministry modeled. Ministry multiplied.

5. You're not alone! Man, I tell you what... One of the biggest lies that youth pastors believe is that you have to be the superman of your ministry. You have to know exactly what God's vision is for your ministry, know everybody in the ministry, be super engaging, create an Hillsong Young & Free environment, lead thousands of kids to Jesus, and do all of this under budget. And on top of that, there is the pressure to communicate all of this to your volunteers and train them on how to achieve this. And after some time of believing the lies about how inadequate I was to achieve all of this on my own (despite how noble these aspirations were), I began to become extremely overwhelmed. But one of the most freeing things ever was when I realized that my youth leaders were with me in this. They actually wanted to make a difference too, and they were really good at youth ministry already. All I had to do was give direction and lead on. I didn't have to do everything. I have hands on leaders, other youth pastors, parents, articles and blogs, and my own fellow staff members all to lean on. They are so incredible. I just have to trust that in all of our joint efforts, Jesus is receiving just as much glory as those flashy ministries I follow on Instagram.

(6. BONUS! Google apps are WAY better for working, creating, and collaborating than Microsoft apps! This one speaks for itself.)

So many people have so many perspectives...

I don't think I have experienced so many emotions as a result of internet browsing in quite a long time. The recent Supreme Court decision to legally recognize gay marriage in all 50 states has produced the largest mixture of reactions that you could imagine. And unfortunately, a lot of it has gotten ugly, especially on the internet.

You have people saying what they feel, what they think, what they think they should think, and stuff that they don't even really know much about. It's like people have no filter when it comes to what they say online, in posts, in comments, and in direct messages even! And in the midst of all the proverbial dust that is getting kicked up, somehow we have begun to see so many different types of people saying all sorts of different things to other people "in Jesus name." And as I look through all these comments, it is obvious that Jesus couldn't have said all of those things, and most likely wouldn't say most of it. At least not the Jesus I read about in the Bible. And as a result of these kind of people, Jesus is made to sound a lot like a judgmental, cold-hearted, hateful person who pushes others away when he doesn't like them. And who is going to listen to or follow someone like that?

So I was super happy when my wife began to write down her thoughts on this complex issue. And with her permission, I would love for you to soak up her God-inspired wisdom.

                                                            

Since when has our culture come to a point where you have to be perfect to be accepted in a church? If this is the case then, somewhere along the line, we have interpreted the Bible incorrectly. We have not gotten past the Old Testament to see the good news in the New Testament. Mark 2:15-17 recounts the dialogue Jesus had with the Jewish religious leaders. All they said was “How could he stand it, to eat with such scum?” (The Living Bible). Jesus replied by saying, “Sick people need the doctor, not the healthy ones.” But yet the Christian culture has been acting a whole lot like the religious leaders who condemned “such scum.”

I was raised in a Baptist church and background. I don’t have anything against Baptists except the fact that I feel like they taught me to condemn the sinner and not the sin. I still cringe when I hear that somebody is gay or has gotten a divorce. But what I have been learning is that Jesus would never do that. He would love them first. Brant always says that all we ever do is to get people to change their behavior before they ever know Jesus, and they die without Jesus, all we have done is sent them to Hell better behaved than before. We must focus on showing them the love of Jesus before we ever try to change their behavior.

I have also learned that a denomination should not define you. We are followers of Christ. No matter what church you come from, we should all work towards the same goal and that’s to bring lost souls to Christ with love. I can see that our culture is changing a lot but I also see the church changing. Christians are starting to realize that we need to end our bad reputation of hurting people and instead love people for who they are.

Now to understand love you need to know God. Did you realize that if there were no God, there would be no understanding of love? “God is love” is what we hear but for some reason I didn’t ever take it seriously. Real love is not the conditional kind – “If you do this for me then I will love you.” Real love is the sacrificial kind where no matter if they take it or ignore it, you still love them. Maybe all of the divorces and all the hurt in our world are because people don’t know what love really means.

I want to encourage you to take one step as a Christian and love somebody without knowing his or her background. That should mean that we treat everybody the same no matter what. And maybe…just maybe that will change how people view Christians, and in turn bring people to Christ.

I love visiting people in their homes. There is something so natural about human beings when they are home and in their natural setting. Their barriers are down, their boundaries are not as much of an issue, and their self-perceptions are not as heightened because they don't really have to impress anyone.

When we are home, we are not quite as concerned with being that cool. Almost cool is cool enough. I love that! There is something so pure and free about being home and almost cool.
In John 15:9, Jesus said,

"Just as the Father has love Me, I have loved you; abide in my love." 

In other words, You should feel at home in my love. And like when you are at home and your barriers go down, the more you live in the Gospel, the more you will find safety and security. The more you make yourself at home in God's love, the less important it becomes to be cool and important.

Realizing this has taken so much pressure off of me. I don't have to try so hard to fit in. I don't have to work so hard at polishing my image. I don't have to kill myself to prove that I matter. Because at the end of the day, I am always home in the love of God and that is what really matters.

The truth is that I have never really been cool. I have always just been "almost cool." And for some reason that always bothered me. I guess it had to do with the fact that I have always looked to the opinions of others to guide me into acceptance. But all that pressure is gone now. When I am finding my approval and acceptance in God, the opinions of others don't even compare! My adequacy is from Him alone (2 Cor. 3:5)!

As a result, I have committed to two things:

1. I will find my home and my security in the love of God.
2. I will be content to be almost cool.

Almost cool is now cool enough for me, and I pray that it is cool enough for you too.

This morning, Psalm 46 was read over me, and it was exactly what I needed to hear.

Recent events have been sort of difficult for my wife and I. And I often find my heart filled with heaviness and anxiety and confusion. The things that I thought were pretty certain have turned out to be rather uncertain and shaky.

So when the eternal, unchanging words of God found in Psalm 46 washed over me this morning, it hit me hard. It didn't change anything, but it changed everything, if you know what I mean.

It says in the first 3 verses,

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change, and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride." (NASB)

It reminded me that there are only two things that are constant in this life: God and trouble. And when God is our constant, there is no amount of trouble that can shake us.

I have a lot of mountains in my life - things that I see as secure and constant. And I have lots of oceans in my life, too - things that hold me up and carry me along. And I tend to rely on these a lot...like humans do. But the reality is that there is nothing as secure and constant as my God. When my mountains begin to tremble and my oceans begin to roar and rage, I will not be shaken because God is my refuge.

So today, everything changed...even though nothing changed. My mountains and my oceans are moved, but my God is not. And because of that I have a new perspective. I don't see the storm and the clouds anymore. I see the extremely great potential for God to show how great he really is. Because when I actually live out Psalm 46:10, I realize that God is glorified in a greater way when I am still and let him do his thing.

"Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." (NASB)

I was up late last night thinking about what it really means for me to follow Jesus and why it even matters. I was processing what the point of it all even is and how I could articulate this to someone who doesn't quite get the point of following Jesus. And though I feel like it's kind of weird for me to share this simplified story on a blog post, but I think it is important to be able to have a version of your own story that you have processed and then condensed so you can genuinely talk about it anywhere.

This is my story...in a very, very small nutshell:

I was 3 years old when I became a follower of Jesus. So my life before Jesus consisted of learning to walk, run, and ski. However, I distinctly remember the exact time and place when and where I put my trust in Jesus. I was in the hallway between my bedroom and the kitchen. I was there on the ground talking with my dad about Jesus and salvation and I decided right then that this was a life I wanted.

Even though, I was young when I became a follower in Jesus, that simple decision has had a profound impact on my life. I can’t claim that I was messed up before Jesus began to rule my life and then I changed because I didn’t have a ton of will power before 3 years old, and because I have been messed up pretty much my entire life - even after becoming a follower of Jesus. 

But the thing that has profoundly impacted my life is the reality of grace in every space of my life. I can never outrun the grace of God and I can never out-sin the grace of God, no matter how many times I think I have. Knowing that there is a God with a love so vast and inclusive as to love me to the point of death has captured my fascination and continually draws me to Jesus. 

Even though it is taking me a long time and the process is very messy, I am slowly becoming more like Jesus and I wouldn’t trade this life for an easier one. I can be real with a God who will never give up on me. I can have the hope of glory. And I can walk in confidence, knowing that my massive list of imperfections has already been forgiven and forgotten. And now I can know the God of the entire Universe...on a personal level! And this makes it worth it all.

The verses that have left the biggest mark on my life are Romans 5:8...

"God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!"

... and 2 Corinthians 3:5...

"Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God!"

What's your story?

Freedom.

We all want freedom. We want to be unchained, unbound, and unharnessed.

But freedom isn't what we often think it is. And it doesn't come from where we often think it comes from.

This is the definition of a paradox:

A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

Often the concept of freedom can be a paradox. We think it seems obvious to understand, but the lived reality is actually the opposite of what we first thought. It is counter-intuitive.

Here are 3 paradoxes of freedom:

Paradox #1 - Freedom does not mean doing whatever you want. The thing we usually hear in our culture is that freedom means doing whatever you want to do. It means living it up without any restrictions. It means not listening to anybody tell you what to do. It means creating your own destiny. But this couldn't be further from the truth.

Imagine a sleek, new train moving down the tracks at top speed. It is exhilarating to watch. But if that train got it in its train mind (it that were possible) that it wanted to be like the tractors in the nearby field, and jumped the tracks to turn up the sod in the field, what would happen? It would get stuck. Is that train free, even though it did exactly what it wanted to do? No. Why? It wasn't made to go on the land. It was made to move down the tracks at top speeds.

Freedom does not mean doing whatever you want to do; it means doing what you were made to do. You will never find freedom from a wild, limitless pursuit of all kinds of pleasure. You will only end up dissatisfied, empty, and still wanting more. You will only ever find freedom when you begin to live your God-defined calling and when you find satisfaction from a personal relationship with Jesus. That is what you were made to do; that is what will give you true freedom.

Paradox #2 - You can be a slave to your misconception of freedom. The pursuit of greater and never-ending pleasure is capable of sucking you in and enslaving you. As stated above, you cannot find freedom from a wild, limitless pursuit of all kinds of pleasure. Why? It leaves you dissatisfied, empty, and still wanting more. Why? Because pleasure wasn't created to fill the God-sized void in your heart. It was merely meant to point you to an all-loving and good Creator.

Only Jesus can fill that void in your heart. And the more you run in circles, trying to find that perfect experience to set you free and the more you throw the shackles off and try to find your freedom on your own, the more you will become caught up in the pursuit of pleasure. When you look back, you will realize that you were sucked in and that you were indeed, enslaved. How can I be so confident? I have been there. I was a slave to my pursuit of the ever-elusive experience of freedom...until I got to know Jesus.

Paradox #3 - Our freedom isn't free. Much like the freedom enjoyed in the USA was not just handed over to us but earned through great sacrifice, our personal freedom was not free and isn't held onto easily. Jesus gave up everything to purchase our freedom for us (cf. Gal. 3:13, Col 1:14, 1 Tim. 2:6).

I think we often take this concept of freedom very lightly. After all, you shouldn't have to worry about anything when you're free, right? Not really... There is an enemy who hates us and wants to screw us over as much as he possibly can while he still exists. And there is no end to which he won't go to try to ruin this relationship we have with the Creator. It was bought with a great price, and sometimes it requires a great effort on our part to stay close to our Creator.

"Keep on working to complete your salvation with fear and trembling, because it is God working in you to help you to want to do - and to be able to do - what pleases him." Philippians 2:12-13

I was recently reading in John 1 about the Word that became flesh (Jesus). And John said something in beginning of the chapter that I haven't been able to get out of my head since. He said in John 1:17,

"For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ."

A slave only knows the Law. He only hears the voice of the Law - telling him he either succeeded or failed. He only feels the affirmation of the Law - what the Law keepers defined to be good or bad. It is slavery to be defined by the Law and the Law keepers - even if you are doing a good job!

But the free person knows something greater than the Law. The free person, knows Grace and Truth. The free person lives in Grace and Truth. The free person finds his affirmation in the unchanging Truth and lives with an unreasonable Grace. The free person might know the Law, but chooses to be defined by a reality that is far superior - a relationship with Jesus - the personification of Grace and Truth.

This sets him free.

Jesus sets him free.

For those of you struggling to be free, realize that your freedom comes from Jesus. You can't just fight the darkness around you. It doesn't work that way. You need to turn the light on. You need to turn to Jesus.

And in your journey of freedom, I would love to be an encouragement to you as much as I can! So drop me an email, or leave a comment below. I would love to get to know you and hear your story. Until then, God bless!

Recently, in our youth ministry, we went through a short series about knowing who we are and how God sees us called Identity Crisis. And even though it seems like such an obvious thing - knowing who we are - we often lose sight of our true identities in the plethora of images of everything our culture expects of us. We are called to love God and change the world, but everything in our culture says we should make our lives comfortable - all about ourselves. And the moment we begin pursuing what culture gives us instead of pursuing what God has called us to, we have settled for something far less than greatness.

But the enemy wants anything for us than to attain to what God has for us. He wants mediocrity for us. Because of this, he has waged war on us. And his target is our identity in Christ. If we can be knocked away from a healthy self-identity, then he can tempt us to do just about anything that will steal glory away from our God with relative ease. And the crazy thing is that we need to know who we are in Christ to fight against this. In order to remain close to God, we need to be confident in Him.

See, we will always fight FROM our identity. The way we perceive ourselves in this world will greatly affect how we pursue changing this world. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but we are always in a fight. The question is just what we are fighting for. Are we fighting for things that matter or things that don’t? We will always avoid the fights that matter until we are confident of the One who fights for us. And the way that we perceive God is really important because it changes how we see ourselves.

Big God --> Strong, Confident Me.

Puny God --> Weak, Scared Me.

We see this truth illustrated very beautifully in 1 Samuel 17. When David walked onto the battlefield to fight with Goliath, do you think he was worrying about how weak he was? No. He was confident in how strong his God is. And that made him realize that he was invincible! Did you catch that? The way that he perceived his God was the difference between slavery to Goliath and victory for Israel.

The way that we perceive our God, and how He lives and works in us is the difference between agitated losing and abundant living. Agitated losing. Abundant living. This is what hangs in the balance.

So we must know how God sees us. For those of us who follow Jesus, this is how God sees us:

John 1:12 - We are children of God!
Ephesians 1:5 - We are adopted children who bring him pleasure!
Romans 15:7 - We are accepted by Jesus!
Colossians 2:9-10 - We have the fulness of Christ!
1 Corinthians 6:17 - We are one with the Lord in Spirit!
Romans 6:6 - We are no longer slaves to sin!
Genesis 1:27 - We have been created in God’s image!
1 Corinthians 12:27 - We are a part of the body of Christ - the Church!
1 Peter 2:9 - We are a chosen people! We are a royal priesthood! We are a holy nation! We belong to God! We are no longer in darkness!
Galatians 3:27-28 - We are no longer identified in the way everyone else identifies us!
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 - We are a temple of the Holy Spirit! We have been purchased at the highest price!
Colossians 3:1-3 - Our identities are hidden with Jesus so much so that God sees us the same way he sees Jesus...as a perfect child whom he adores!

The way we perceive ourselves in this world will greatly affect how we pursue changing this world. And in order to change our world, we need continually fight to protect our identity in Christ.

My prayer for you is that you know Jesus, you know who you are, and that FROM your identity, you will be able to change your world for God's glory!

Recently, I was asked to share some of my thoughts on the book-based movie that was released on Valentine's Day, Fifty Shades of Grey. I was hesitant at first because I didn't have any thoughts... I didn't know much about it, not having read the book or watched the movie. This led me into some uncomfortable research about the characters, the message, and the implications of this twisted story. What I came to in the end was the horrifying realization that, more than ever before, our culture loves

to define its own morality based on its desires, and then celebrate that form of pseudo-morality as its greatest form of consciousness. Consequently, those who dare stand up to this twisted morality are automatically labeled as haters because they happen to believe that morality comes from Someone besides the self or this messed up society.

Therefore, I believe it more imperative than ever for Christians to have a proper framework for thinking through sexual and moral issues and to come to rock-solid convictions that won't be tossed about by mere desire. It is with this kind of daring candor that I offer up some of my thoughts on the cultural phenomenon that is Fifty Shades of Grey.

If someone dares to orient their sexuality around God's design, they must understand a few things...

Truth #1: Your Most Powerful Sexual Organ is Your Brain*

“So really it happens that the more sexual a person is, the more inventive he can be. The more sexual a person is, the more intelligent. With less sex energy, less intelligence exists; with more sexual energy, more intelligence, because sex is a deep search to uncover, not only bodies, not only the opposite sex body, but everything that is hidden.” — Osho

It’s my hope that I can accurately think about not only Fifty Shades of Grey (FSOG) but also about BDSM, because if there’s one thing that the phenomenon known as FSOG has proven, it’s that sexual fantasy never has and never will be just a man’s world.

I actually just skimmed a piece last night featuring actress and documentary director Rashida Jones, who has a film that talks about the amateur porn industry coming out soon entitled Hot Girls Wanted. Basically it addresses how more and more 18-19 year-olds are getting into the field and how it affects them. According to Rashida “It’s performative, women aren’t feeling joy from it…This would be a whole different conversation if women were like ‘we were having sex, we love it so much. We want more of it. We feel so good about our bodies and ourselves…’ It’s fulfilling a male fantasy.”

Based on the millions of women who ate up FSOG like it was a hot fudge sundae, I’m not so sure I can 100% agree with Rashida. Even if I wanted to.

Does that mean that I think porn is a beautiful, special and holistically fulfilling experience for everyone involved?

Absolutely not.
It’s not even close.

But every day, there are women who watch porn. And a large majority of them got their start by reading erotica. And many of them don’t want to stop.

So there goes another theory. Apparently sex is not about “men being visual” and “women being emotional” when it comes to their needs and how to meet them. It would appear that the book (well, the trilogy) was not enough for the ladies. There had to be some kind of visual to feed into the fantasy. It would seem that the book could only “scratch the itch” but so far. (Which is why I see erotica more as a “gateway drug to porn” more than anything else.)

And yet, as I was reading one of the interviews from the actors about the film, I found something that Jamie Dornan, the guy who is portraying Christian Grey, said to be fascinating. When talking about shooting scenes in the sex dungeon with his co-star Dakota Johnson (who portrays Anastasia Steele), he said this:

“Some of the Red Room stuff was uncomfortable,” Dornan admitted. “There were times when Dakota was not wearing much, and I had to do stuff to her that I’d never choose to do to a woman.”

Things in the room made him uncomfortable. Some of the things that he had to do, “the real him” would never do to a woman. Hmph. Doctors, scientists, and therapists alike will agree on two facts:

1. Sex can be a complex topic.
2. The most powerful sexual organ is not our genitalia, but our minds.

Therefore, I have to ask. What is going on with so many of us that our minds are stimulated by what the BDSM world brings? Whether we choose to actually participate or simply watch Christian and Anastasia do it, why do so many of us find that it drives our senses rather than disgusts us?

Married people trying something new is one thing. But whether married or single, when we are stimulated by the thought or sight of people totally overpowering another (sometimes to the point of complete humiliation) or physically harming each other, then what does that say about us? About our views of sex? Deeper yet, about our views of the purpose of sex?

The Osho quote at the beginning of this post says that more sex can make a person more intelligent. Some may agree and some may not. I’ll say this: even Scripture says that husbands and wives need to engage one another regularly (I Corinthians 7:5) and being that God came up with sex. I get that it, within his boundaries, should only make a person better.

And I guess that’s my bottom line point...

Since the mind is the greatest sex organ and sex, in its original design, was created to make us better people, even mentally.

How is 50 Shades doing that exactly?

Truth #2: Sex is a Spiritual Experience

“Sex is the closest that many people will ever come to a spiritual experience. Indeed, it is because it is a spiritual experience of sorts that so many chase after it with a repetitive, desperate kind of abandon. Often, whether they know it or not, they are searching for God.”—M. Scott Peck

A Scripture that I love is 1 Corinthians 6:16-20, in the Message paraphrase:

“There’s more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in Scripture, ‘The two become one.’ Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever—the kind of sex that can never ‘become one.’ There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for ‘becoming one’ with another. Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.”

Sex is not just about two (or more) bodies getting a sexual release from/with one another. (See above discussion.) Sex brings about spiritual mysteries as well as physical facts. And when sex avoids commitment and intimacy, it tends to leave us lonely. It keeps us from fully knowing what “becoming one” is really all about.

That’s not what the world says. Of course not. That is what the Bible says, though.

Maybe I missed it in the middle of skimming articles about FSOG, but I don’t recall a Bible being inside of Christian Grey’s Red Room (or outside of it, for that matter). However, there’s no way I can address this topic without talking about the spiritual side of it. Or the lack thereof.

I find it quite poetic that the leading male character’s name is “Christian Grey” and that one of the quotes used in the trailer is “Love is not black and white.”

Um, yes it is. Biblically speaking, anyway.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8, the great love chapter of the Bible, tells us exact what and how love is. Kind is the second adjective. Some definitions of kind are gentle, considerate and tender. How many people are able to say that their relationship is filled to the brim with kindness—both in and out of the bedroom.

1 John 1:5 tells us exactly how God is as well: “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”

He’s crystal clear. There’s no darkness, no “shadiness.”

And yet, aren’t a lot of us like Christian Grey? One way or another? Christians, yet “grey” on so many issues that we shouldn’t be?

There are going to be a lot (and I mean, a lot) of people who will be flocking to see FSOG. Personally, I can’t help but wonder what they’ll be looking for on the screen. You can just peep the trailer and know that Mr. Grey has some, let’s just say “deep issues.” And as I talked about above, I find it pretty tragic that Anastasia gives him her virginity. More than anything because of what the Bible says about the purpose of sex (celebrating the love between a husband and wife) and how we are to see our bodies (sacred).

I get that many individuals will simply say, “Brant, what’s the big deal? It’s just a movie.” But I don’t know... Is it? Consider the fact that we are not only physical beings, but spiritual ones too, and look at the word “spirit” from the angle of being our “life,” our “essence,” and our “nature.”

For the married people who may get down like that, am I saying it’s wrong?

Umm... Life has taught me that you can get to the bottom line of a lot of things in life if you’re honest about your motives (Proverbs 17:20, Proverbs 21:2, Proverbs 21:8 - The Message). Only you know what those are.

But what I am saying is that John 4:24 tells us that “God is Spirit” and so there’s no way that he was going to invent something like sex and want it to be void of spirituality. Therefore whatever we decide to do with our mates – our lives and their lives, our essence and their essence, our nature and their nature – should ever remain on the forefront of our minds.

Based on what I’ve read and researched about FSOG, spirituality in the story is an afterthought at best.

In the meantime, you know, I really like M. Scott Peck’s quote on sex above. That in his mind, sex is the epitome of a spiritual experience while at the same time, a lot of people do not realize that chasing after sex is really about longing to be in a closer relationship with the Creator of it.

Based on the numbers that FSOG is projected to have its opening weekend, perhaps that’s the silver lining to all of this. It shows those of us who have found satisfaction in the love and tenderness of the Savior are actually on to something. It shows that millions and millions of people need to be reminded of the fact that they don’t have to chase after erotica or porn or sexual fetishes to make themselves feel complete.

They just need to put the Spirit and their spirit first; everything else will work itself out. For their good. The good of their mind, body and spirit.

Yes, in and out of the bedroom.

That kind of truth really is black and white.

No grey.

*A lot of my thoughts have been influenced by www.xxxchurch.com. Go check them out! They are awesome people who love Jesus and who love all kinds of sinners.