The Worst Advice

We say it all the time. Books with this advice sell millions of copies. Speakers and preachers proclaim it all the time. We tell it to our children. The truth is, it might just be the worst advice we can give someone. There is something better. ©2018 Mike Kerby & Jesus' Outsider Ministries

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This episode was very challenging. I knew that by taking on the whole "chase your dreams" mentality that permeates our culture and the church that I was doing something unpopular. Given the number of messes that our team has cleaned up in the wake of a conference, book, or what passes for revival in some churches, I couldn't keep silent.

The longer I follow Christ, the more that closer adherence to what the Word of God actually says becomes important. Fast and loose interpretations or subtle worldly influences drop away in the light of His real truth. Finding who we are called to be and the good works prepared for us ahead of time is far more important than dreaming big dreams and chasing them. Like it or not, most of us are not called to do what we would consider large and important. However, God is often in the things we see of little impact in our fleshly mind but are huge in His Kingdom.

Subcultures and The Church

We're considered a subculture ministry and part of a much larger network (KMMG) with a large number of ministries. Just what is a subculture? Is this something that needs to be abandon when someone comes to Christ? How do we develop our expectations?These may seem like small things but they go to the heart of church unity and what we expect a Christian to be. ©2018 Mike Kerby & Jesus' Outsider Ministries - Recorded and Produced in The Deep Mystery Studio

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Sexual Integrity

While taking a break from working on a short promotional video for the upcoming Out of The Shadows Conference, I saw a another series of posts on Facebook about various sexual scandals, the #MeToo posts, and a couple of memes about about them. Most of the posters were Christians expressing concern and outrage about what was happening in the world. (One of the memes made me laugh out loud but I'm not going to post the pic with the statement.)

Before I go further, if you're surprised that people who don't know or follow Jesus live in sin and selfishness, step back and think about that. We cannot hold those who are still living in the flesh to the same standard we are supposed to hold. Sinners will sin. Sexual sin is easy to fall into and hard to break free from especially when trying to do it through your own strength. These scandals are not new but their growth is part of a much larger problem. We are now ministering and striving to live for Jesus in a sex obsessed culture full of pornography in all its forms, dropping sexual standards, and sundering of relationship (especially marriage) from sex.

Do we need to be concerned about this? Absolutely. At a conference in Peoria, IL in November of 2015, Josh McDowell called pornography one of the two greatest obstacles to the spread of the Gospel. However, we can't stop the slide amongst the lost until we deal with it inside the Body of Christ. How can we go forth and bring the redemption of Jesus to a lost and dying world if we have surrendered so much ground to the sins of the flesh? If we're not walking according to the freedom we have been given in Christ, how can we offer it to those who are trapped in that cycle and are hell-bound?

I wasn't a follower of Christ yet when Jimmy Swaggart fell but I remember it well. I remember the jokes, the thoughts that Christians really didn't believe the stuff they said, and the prostitute's spread in Penthouse. I remember all of that. I shudder to think what that did to the church's ability to witness in those days. I wish we had learned our lesson but we didn't.

While doing the research for the conference, I have read a lot of articles and posts about sexuality and porn in the church. I've read Whisper confessions from youth pastors talking about the young women (and in some cases young men) in the group that they's slept with while serving in ministry. I've seen the numbers on porn use amongst Christian men and women. I've seen the slide in morals and moral understanding of sexual integrity inside the church, especially in the younger generations. High profile affairs from pastors in churches both large and small break on the news. The morass of the world's falling morals is sinking into the church.

Sin, of any kind, draws us further away from the Lord we are called to follow. Shame, guilt, or, in later stages, pride all serve to block the channel of hearing the Lord's voice and our willingness to listen to His voice. Our sin, the flesh, can consume us when we allow it. If that sin remains in the dark, how can we be free?

It is written:

For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth) finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light"

Ephesians 5:8-14

And:

Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:1,2

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

I John 1:8,9

When we bring a sin into the light, it is for the purpose of redemption. That's why we put on conferences, teach, and reach out to the church. Restoring the sexual integrity of the church is essential on the path to holiness we are called to walk. If we act like the world, dress like the world, allow the world's graphic entertainment into our homes and minds, and talk like the world, how will they see the difference made by Jesus? Why would they want Him if we aren't changed?

These are difficult issues to take on inside the church. Since it's been left in the dark for so long to fester, few pastors, leaders, and congregations even know where to start once they see the issue clearly. The fundamentals are the same but getting there is a little tricky. There's a level of shame and guilt involved that few other sins bring. Add the addiction component and you've got a mess that needs to be sorted. We're here for you.

If you're in Central Illinois, join us May 19th for the Out of The Shadows Conference to be equipped to handle sexual sin, pornography, and their consequences such as adultery and divorce. If not, please contact us about how we can come to your community. We can bring our resources and help you discover what you have on hand that can help.

Restoring the sexual integrity of the Body of Christ is essential to our mission to bring Jesus to the world.

Those Pesky Prejudices

We like to believe that we live out lives free of prejudice, especially as Christians. That is part of Kingdom living. After listening to a talk about racism at a Christian Men's gathering, my thoughts ran to all of the mistrust, misunderstandings, and prejudices that trouble the Body of Christ today. It's more than racism and more than you might think. ©2018 Mike Kerby & Jesus' Outsider Ministries, Produced in The Deep Mystery Studio

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To Walk in Integrity

Walking in integrity is more difficult now than it has been in our memory. Many of us don't even have a good grasp on what having integrity means. What is it to walk upright before God? What benefit it is to us? ©2018 Mike Kerby & Jesus' Outsider Ministries

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Reflections and Moving Forward

The starting of a new year is a good time for reflection and for moving forward. How do we see God using Jesus' Outsider Ministries in the coming year? What is Phase Two and what can it mean for you and your church? ©2018 Mike Kerby & Jesus' Outsider Ministries

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