NoelHeikkinen.com

On some Tuesdays, I go back into the archives and dig up something that still relates today. For the next 5 weeks, I am going to repost the Top 5 Posts from 2011.  Today’s post is #3 and it comes from November 7, 2011.

Sex.

There are few topics that are trickier to teach on in the church.

As I walked to the stage at Riv this past weekend, I knew I would be addressing miserably married couples, adulterers, virgins, porn addicts, engaged couples, and happily married couples to mention just a few.  And they all have one thing in common: it’s as uncomfortable for them to hear me talk about their sex lives as it is for me to do it.

It’s funny that in a culture that is so obsessed with sex, we find it difficult to honestly talk about it in the church.  Quite frankly, there is no better place since we worship the God who invented the thing.

I snuck a peak at my email and Facebook messages last night (something I try not to do until Tuesday) to see if the email traffic matched the in person conversations I had this weekend… It did.

I had the requisite conservative Christians who were concerned I talked too frankly.

I had the standard response from the parent of a gay man who emails me each time sex is mentioned during the sermon.

But the overwhelming response seems to be coming from two groups of people:

Young people who are making big time commitments to sexual purity. - It has been incredibly encouraging to hear the stories from single people, dating couples, and engaged couples who spent time this weekend crafting plans to keep their marriage bed pure.  Most inspiring are those who have been sexually active but are taking the Bible’s words to heart and are making a change.

Old married people who said, “Amen!” - A stream of married couples shared both their stories of failure and their stories of success.  The constant refrains were, “I wish I had heeded this message,” “I wish I had heard this message,” or “I am so glad to be married to my best friend who I get to have a lot of sex with!”

What an exhausting and encouraging weekend.  And it’s just the start; we have three more messages to go dealing with singleness, marriage, and divorce.  I’m looking forward to seeing what God does at Riv through his Word.

If you didn’t get a chance to hear this weekend’s message on sex, you can download the audio here or watch the video here.