True Love Waits - Session1

April 26, 2010

We kicked off this topic last Sunday night with a great conversation with youth and parents together.  I laid out the plan and described my approach to this topic and last night we started in with some specifics.  Thanks to all of the youth who came and participated in the conversation.  Thanks to the parents who read my notes and followed up with your kids.  I think that this is really something that God can use to bring LIFE to our children.

We started off our conversation talking about the concept of “purity” and what we mean by this particular word/term.  We mentioned the ideas of something that’s PURE being “blameless, innocent, clean, abstinent, untouched, filtered or raw.”  (Hover over PURE for Webster’s Definition.)

Once again as we talk about being “sexually pure,” I’m not interested in offering us a long list of “do’s” and “don’ts” but rather pointing us toward God and “God’s best for our lives.”  Continue to reflect with me on the words of Jesus from John 10:10 “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that [you] may have life and life to the full.”  This is my heart for each of you.  This is why we’re talking about this topic.

You can click here for an outline of the lesson from last night if you’re interested, but I thought we could focus on the following 10 statements.

Last night we allowed youth to respond to the following statements by physically moving to one side of the room or another to indicate the extent to which they AGREED or DISAGREED with each statement. I was surprised (perhaps naively) by how little consensus there was regarding positions on any of these statements. 

• There is no problem with having sex with someone you plan to marry.
• Kissing can lead to further sexual activity.
• The movies, magazines, web sites, and books you consume can directly affect your sexual purity.
• Remaining abstinent helps you have a clear conscience before God.
• You can do anything in a dating relationship except sexual intercourse and still be sexually pure.
• Remaining sexually pure is God’s plan for your life.
• Everyone is having sex.
•  It is impossible for teenagers to remain pure in the 21^st century.
• If you never have sex but you look at pornography, you have remained sexually pure.
• If you have already had sex, you can never be sexually pure; you might as well give up.

What do you think?  What are the important issues for you?  Can we have a conversation where we respect and value each other as people created in the image of God?

Thanks for reading, our community is honored and encouraged by your input.

Sincerely,   Pastor Adam

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