Sermons Christ Community Church: Daytona Beach, FL

The secular world view of sexuality seems to "shout" its position while the Christian culture is mostly silent on the subject. We need to take a look at the differences between the secular view and the Christian view of sexuality in order to clearly see the problems presented by the secular world view.

What Jesus says in John 6:48 is powerful and poetic. He says, "I am the bread of life". In some ways it doesn't sound very dramatic or impressive. He doesn't say, "I'm the freshest sushi of life" or "I'm the caramel macchiato of life". He says, "I'm the bread of life". That means that he is not a luxury, he is essential.

What we need to do is look at sex and the sacred journey. What I mean by the sacred journey is a life in which we follow Jesus. How does sex relate to following Christ? Our sexuality is one of the primary areas of life where we experience the ravages of sin, therefore it is also one of the main issues in life that Jesus came to redeem. What does it mean to follow Jesus in this aspect of life?

Wisdom and Righteousness are not just high-sounding spiritual terms that we read about in the Bible. Wisdom and Righteousness are meant to be worked out in the practical, every day parts of our lives, especially as they pertain to how we see and relate to others.

Jesus wanted his followers to live the same way he lived; not to worry but to live in faith as we follow him. One thing that means is that when Jesus talks about our money, it really isn't about the money. It's about something more basic. It's about faith and what it means to follow him. There are three things he tells us in Luke 12: Don't worry about your life, trust in God & be fearless.

We want to understand what it means to follow Jesus, especially as it relates to our contemporary culture, and one thing we've got to look at is the issue of money. How does following Jesus relate to money and financial issues? If you read through Luke, or any of the gospels, the thing that might surprise you is that Jesus talks about money more than any other single subject.

Someone has said: "Life is a search for a voice we can trust - a single voice that puts all other voices into quiet perspective, a voice that settles the loudness around us and speaks peacefully, yet clearly and confidently. A voice we can follow." What the Bible tells us is that in Jesus Christ we have that voice we can follow.

Jesus made great promises to people who would follow him. He promised freedom and fulfillment to his followers. The question is, "Are we really following him?" What if there is far more freedom and fulfillment than we have yet experienced? Is it because we have somehow slipped away from the understanding that following Christ is the necessary requirement for the experience of his freedom & fulfillment?

One reason we've spent so much time on The Lord's Prayer is that there is no better place to go to get into the heart of spiritual life for today's world. As we conclude this series on The Lord's Prayer, the hope is that many will use this prayer in very practical ways to deepen their spiritual life and prayer life.

To paraphrase this part of the Lord's Prayer, we could say,