My heart goes out to Michael Guglielmucci in so many ways.  For the past two years, he has been faking a terminal illness, written a top selling song about belief in God to heal him, and living in internal shame as he did this all to cover up his addiction to porn.

When I first heard about his deception, I was outraged.  Mainly because of the pathetic testimony his life has on the Kingdom of Jesus on earth.  An unbelieving world doesn’t need much to condemn what we believe in as crap.  And his lies made us all look like a bunch of fools.

But if we think that we are immune to such depravity for a single second, we are deceiving ourselves.  As people who have decided to follow Jesus, we also inherit an enemy hell bent to destroy our salvation and joy in our King.

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

Mike was snared into this trap because of his addiction to porn.  Something I was a vulnerable to for a long time.  And the enemy of his soul pounced on this opportunity and kept him in bondage and deception for over two years.

I can only imagine the inner turmoil Mike felt as he fronted up to large gatherings and spoke of his battle with his “fake cancer.”  The demons he endured during this time is beyond me to comprehend. But God in His mercy, wanted to free Mike from this battle and made him pay the ultimate consequence and inspired him to come clean.  In doing so, He shattered Mike to his core.

Now instead of outrage, I am humbled by the discipline our Father dishes out to His children.  I’m a dad and sometimes I need to be cruel to be kind.  This shatters my heart as I see my kids crumble under an authority they have no capacity to understand – nor understand why.

But as a father, I have the “bigger picture” in mind and am willing to endure the hardship of hurting my kids feelings in order to teach them valuable life lessons.  In a much bigger way, our Father does this to us in order to bring out the best in us:

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives…

…but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Heb 12:5b-6, 12:10-11

Right now, Mike is feeling the discipline of his Father.  Because he was such a public figure, his discipline is being played out in a public way.  And this must cut him to the core.

But in the end, it will yeild the “peacful fruit of righteousness” – Mike’s torment will end – eventually.  So in the mean time, who am I to judge him?  God’s Kingdom is way too big to be thwarted by the actions of a son in discipline.  And what discipline it is!  Check out this video to see his lies confessed to all…

Like I said, my heart feels for the guy. He knows how massively he has screwed up – and he is paying the consequences right now and is being crushed by the discipline of his Father.  As I think about these things, I can only hope that I don’t find myself in a situation where I am also disciplined by my Father.

It’s times like this where the words of Paul ring true:

“..work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Phil 12:12b-13

I feel a kinship to Mike as I, and you, are equally as vulnerable to our enemy’s attack.  I pray that Mike repents and is restored.  And I pray that I and you don’t ever find ourselves in his shoes.  And my “outrage” has been subdued by the fact that the Kingdom will easily absorb this event.  Jesus is in control.

In case you’re wondering, I’m not going to post every sermon I do on my blog. What’s the point huh? This is not a platform to elevate what I do. Rather I want to use this opportunity to get feedback – pro and con – on what I shared on Sunday.

I am new to this art – and I do mean that with all my heart – preaching is a form of art. It’s a tough gig and unless you’ve done it yourself, you have no idea how intense it is to prepare, organise and deliver a sermon.

While studying, you get bombarded by vast amounts of views and ways of tackling a text. You see things from a million perspectives and your mind explodes with all the thinking it takes to connect the dots. Then to organise this into a single channel of thought and to communicate it clearly and in a way which engages your audience, is a challenge.

So this is my second attempt at it. We are in a series called Kingdom Come – which is an expository on the Sermon On The Mount. My text was Mat 5:27-30 and it had to do with the topic of adultery. I’d love for you to listen to it and give me honest feedback – good or bad.

The slides to the message are here and below is the audio and video links used in the presentation.

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Constance Video

Noelle Video

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Every now and then I come across a ministry  which I seriously like.  What I don’t like are self inflated “look at me” type ministries or personalities with the sole goal of boosting someone’s ego or profile.  And in the ‘Christian” world, there are heaps of these.

In researching for an upcoming sermon on adultery and pornography, I revisited a site I checked out a couple of months back.  xxxchurch.com is a site/ministry which tackles head on, the issues of porn in our society.

What I love most about this ministry is their approach to getting “out there” to the porn industry and tackling head on the issues it creates in society.  Sometimes they get heavily attacked by more conservative Christian groups because, for example, they attend porn conferences and expo’s.

But like Jesus hanging out with prostitutes and tax collectors, these guys, led by Craig Gross, are making an impact.  Have a look at the following documentary “Missionary Positions” for a fascinating and in-depth account of their ministry.

They have a bunch of video’s available on their website and on their YouTube Channel – so be sure to check it out. But two of their clips which I really appreciate and will use in my sermon are below.  The first is about a guy who was once addicted to porn and the effect this had on his life.

The next clip is a music video called ‘Constance’.  A great song about a devastating reality for so many people.  Next time you are tempted to looking at porn, remember that the girl is somebody’s daughter.

xxxchurch.com also provide free accountability software to help you deal with  your issue.  A simple program running in the background monitoring your surfing patterns and emailing your accountability partner every two or four weeks of any dodgy sites you visit. Is it fool proof?  No.  But it’s a great tool to use if you want to change you addiction to porn.  Here is the link.

I strongly suggest you check out xxxchurch.com even if you don’t have an issue with porn.  A simple, yet in your face, approach is used for this whole area of sexual addiction.  For example, on the topic of masturbation, they say:

What is XXXchurch’s stand on masturbation?
We have had literally thousands of emails about this particular issue. We have heard all the scenarios. “Well if I think about fruit while I’m masturbating, then that is not a sin.” Well isn’t that clever. Or…”If I’m giving glory to the Lord while I’m doing it, then that can’t be wrong.” Hmmm. Why don’t we just make that part of our Sunday morning services then? We have heard all the Pro-masturbation Christian arguments and we wonder if these people are really dealing in reality. It’s all very intellectual and quite scholarly, but we still don’t get it. Sorry.

Our stance is simply this: you want to live a life that is honoring to God then start pleasing him and stop pleasing yourself. Stop making excuses and get some control over your life. Yes, it is tough. Yes, we know hormones are raging. However, God is calling us to holiness. Live an extraordinary life. Masturbation will leave you hanging every time!

Gotta love their style.