En Vivo #11 – SEX!!!

[The main event of our week here at El Pozo is what we call El Pozo “En Vivo” (which means El Pozo “Live!”), our Tuesday night all-community Bible study. It typically comes complete with preaching, music, videos, skits, free food, the whole deal. After each En Vivo, I hope to blog briefly about the night – what we taught, how it went, etc. Enjoy.]

This week we taught on the topic of SEX. There were 91 people present, the most we’ve had on a Tuesday night in probably three semesters. Coincidence? I think not. Some folks showed up very early to get good seats. One guy – who hasn’t come to “En Vivo” in a looooong time, rarely comes to El Pozo other than to play video games, and openly mocks what we do here – showed up and even brought a friend! All of which served to emphasize what I was already feeling for days leading up to the event – that this was an extremely IMPORTANT night.

Leading up to the evening, I felt unusually nervous and emotional. Several times during the day, as I read through and changed and prayed over my talk, I nearly came to tears as I thought of all of the PAIN associated with our sins and errors in the area of sexuality, and as I thought of the enormous need for GRACE in our sexual lives. Every week, I am humbled and honored by awareness of the importance of the preaching task, but this week was like that usual feeling on steroids. It was strange and exciting and nerve-wracking. And it kept me on my knees.

When all was said and done, the talk went very well. We’ve been getting a lot of good feedback from the students, and I’m hoping and praying that it was just the beginning of lots of conversations and prayers that will lead to many young people turning more and more of their sexual lives over to God’s will and glory. Rather than recap the talk here, I will just suggest that you listen to a sermon by my friend Ben Cachiaras at Mountain Christian Church entitled “What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas”. This talk was the first in a three-week series called “Pure Sex”, and Erin and I were present the week Ben gave it. It impacted us greatly and as I thought and prayed and studied about what our students most needed to hear on the topic of sexuality, I kept coming back to the four points that Ben made, which were:

1. Sex is POWERFUL.
2. God has a PLAN for sex.
3. Sex is PRECIOUS.
4. PURITY is possible.

So I basically used Ben’s same outline and adapted the talk he gave to all ages in Maryland for a bunch of college students in Mexico. I’d also like to highly recommend a couple of books and another sermon series that all helped shape my thinking and added bits and pieces to this talk:

* SexGod by Rob Bell
* Loving Homosexuals as Jesus Would by Chad Campbell
* LetSEXpress – sermon series by John Burke and the teaching team at Gateway Church in Austin, TX.

Let me know if you want to hear the preacher joke about sex and water skiing that I told, and here's a bonus link to blog readers - a video that didn't appear in the talk but that nicely illustrates the importance of purity. You can always check out the videos I like on my YouTube "Favorites" page - www.youtube.com/nathanmcdade.

Next week’s theme: SILENCE. Here’s the logo I made for the talk, which I’m simply calling “Shhh...”

Thanks for your interest in the ministry of El Pozo! We covet your prayers and support of all kinds. God bless.