Church Taboo's

On my facebook page I recently asked the question:

What 'taboo' subjects are not spoken about at church but should be?

The responses from people were fascinating. Personally I didn't find anything (other than a refernce to quiche at church lunches) that was off limits from the pulpit. However I did have to recognise that maybe we don't provide enough teaching on some areas. Probably because they are tough to speak about, and tricky to make sure you are provide meaningful answers that are both full of grace and totally biblical.

As a leader in my church I have to evaluate whether we have left some gaps in our preaching that have left people with unanswered questions. I should hope overtime we could redress that.

But I am so encouraged that while our church (small 'c') may need to pick up on a few areas we are part of The Church (big 'c'), the body of Christ. Across this church there are some great preachers and teachers who have the kindness to make their resources available to others.

So in order to address some of the "taboo's" raised I have attempted to find some really good resources to answer peoples questions. I would commend each of these sources and indeed taking the opportunity to listen to other preaches from these sources.

Some of the responses from people were as follows:

Sex - Homosexuality, Sex before marriage, Pornography, Masturbation, Contraception, Teenage pregnancy, Sex for pleasure and not just for reproduction!!

The best teaching I have heard is from Gateway Church, Austin, Texas. They did a five week series on Sex that covers most of the issues raised. I would highly recommend the teaching on "Same Sex" as the most sensitive I have ever heard. You can listen to them individually but they really work best as a series.

• God Sex
• Married Sex
• Single Sex
• Unfaithful Sex
• Same Sex

An alternative source would be from Willow Creek. Go to their media player and look for "What intimacy requires" under the Summer at the Creek 2010 series.

For specific teaching on Porn visit the teaching from lifechurch.tv with their Porn Sunday message.

Debt

The best practical and spiritual teaching on money and debt is from Dave Ramsey as guest speaker at Lifechurch.tv. Listen or watch their series on Life, Money, Hope.

Violent films

There was a series from lifechurch.tv called Toxic. This covered many subjects but the week on Toxic Influences specifically dealt with this subject.

Hell

The classic question "How can a loving God send people to Hell" is answered in a sermon by my brother from Hope Church, Orpington.

Others I am still looking for are as follows:

• Leadership vs empire building (I am sure I have heard some good teaching on this but need to find it!)
• Politics
• Child protection
• Suffering, Sickness, Healing, Disability (I am sure I have heard some good teaching on this but need to find it!)
• Calvinism (Plenty of sources for this just looking for the best one)
• Consequences of sin as Christian.
• Christian divorce
• Swearing

If you listen or watch any of the above then I would really like to hear if you found them useful or not. Comment here or on Facebook. If you want to recommend any good teaching for the above topics then let me know also.

Left to soak

Romans 2:4 "Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?"

In our house we have a few consistent meals that we will cook on a regular basis. One of those that is a favourite with everyone in the family is Chicken Breast cooked with Sage & Onion Stuffing. Without turning this into a recipe blog you cook fillets of chicken breast covered over by a thick layer of stuffing in the oven for about 2hrs until everything is cooked and the stuffing forms a nice crisp surface with a soft texture underneath. While this tastes wonderful the major draw back is cleaning the dish this was cooked in afterwards. Due to the way it's cooked you get a rim of stuffing almost welded to the dish afterwards.

You have two choices. You either scrub away at this for about an hour afterwards, wasting all your effort, scoring (and probably ruining) the dish and deciding never to cook this again, or fill up the dish with warm soapy water and leave overnight to soak. In the morning the dry burnt on stuffing is saturated with the water it simply falls off and can be thrown away and cleaned with ease.

I have seen people who are exploring Jesus start to come to church. They come under the sound of the gospel. They become part of the social life of the church. They form friendships with people in the church. Maybe they join a home group or start to socialize with people in the church. In fact they are watching, listening, waiting to be convinced. If you dearly love this person its a frustrating wait. You look for minor sign of change, or a "damascus road moment".

In fact, God has them in soak. He's just working on them in His own way and His own time. His kindness leads them to repentance. Be patient. He doesn't want to attach them with the spiritual scrubbing brush and ruin the wonderful person he placed inside of them to be. He wants to prepare them. Lavish his love and get them to the point where a mild soaking causes the pain and ugliness to melt away under His grace.

On YouVersion

Dangerous Prayers

If God answers prayer (which He does by the way) then I've been looking through the Bible for the most dangerous prayers to pray.

As I find them I shall add them here:

#1: "SEARCH ME, O God, and know my heart, TEST ME and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and LEAD ME in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24

#2: Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. SEND ME!” Isaiah 6:8

#3: "yet NOT MY WILL BE DONE but yours." Luke 22:42

#4: 'GIVE ME AN EAGERNESS FOR YOUR LAWS rather than a love for money!' Psalm 119:36

#5: 'TEACH ME TO DO YOUR WILL, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.' Psalm 143:10

On YouVersion

Eat the cookie?

Galatians 5:13

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.


Just had a lesson of greatest frustration. Went to get a pile of biscuits (cookies to those in the USA) and a drink of milk (a too frequent indulgence). Started eating one of the four biscuits and felt the Holy Spirit say "so you want to thank me for healing your tooth ache and then carry on eating the very thing that caused it?"

After 30 seconds of arguing with God (you know you're going to lose that one) I gave up and put the uneaten 3 back.

God's grace is that He puts things right even if they were caused by our mistakes. But grace is not a license to carry on doing wrong while in the back of the brain saying "God, get ready to mop after this one!"

Boy, I hate being wrong. Galatians 5:13 says "Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh".

I know Joyce Meyer says "Eat the cookie" (http://www.joycemeyer.org/cookie) but she wasn't in the kitchen with me!

On YouVersion