Only 10 days until we kick-off the Christmas series at Flamingo! I wish I could tell you more about it but it's a secret. All I can say is: DON'T MISS THE WEEKEND OF NOVEMBER 21/22!!!!

For all our NOC '09 friends, thanks for the opportunity to meet with you today. As I mentioned in the session, here are a few tools we use at Flamingo Road Church:

Internet Campus

The Gift Revolution

Campus Card

Ethos

XL7

1)  Sometimes we get stuck.  Our jobs, our relationships, our thinking... why is that?  Better question is - how do we get out?

2)  Are you predictable?  Or do you take  r - i - s - k -s  and do things differently? 

3)  How does U2 stay together after going through so much?  Is there a leadership lesson somewhere in the history of this band?

Thanks for checking out the links!  See you this weekend as we start "The Series BEFORE the Series" -  HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT at all campuses this weekend...  And if that isn't enough, the Christmas series launches November 21-22 weekend...are you ready? 

Q:  Good evening.  I want to know is it a sin to perform masturbation? -Anonymous

A:  Masturbation is predominantly solo sex.  I believe that God created sex to bring two flesh together as one through marriage (Genesis 2). Sex is not just a physical act, yet with masturbation, there is no sharing of the souls, no pleasing someone else.  And what is happening in the mind during masturbation, when there is not a marriage partner?  Jesus is always concerned with the mind and the heart.  Some verses that reference that are Proverbs 23:7, Mark 7:21-23.  The question I believe we need to ask ourselves is what is happening in the heart and mind for this to occur. And just like any sin or mistake we make, God sent His Son to die for it, so the price has been paid.  Do not live in any guilt.  Remember sex was created within the design of marriage, so do your best to experience the sex act the way God created it to occur; and the heart, mind and soul can be connected and free in God!

Two weeks ago, we did a teaching on sex and asked you to text message your questions. Last week, we answered those text questions via video. This week, we will be answering some of the questions that came in via email.  Thank you for your questions, your willingness to submit them and giving us the honor to answer them.


Q - "How do you propose to keep the [sex] challenge going if a spouse is deployed for weeks or months with the military because I am sure there are others not in the military but who have spouses who travel very frequently... Though we do find ways to have our "alone intimate moments" how would you propose to do some special things for each other in between many daily hours of therapy and managing the other 2 children while he is not deployed?"

 A -Thank you for your question.  First I must say that God is so proud of you guys for your amazing commitment and faithfulness to each other with all that absence.  I know God smiles down at that kind of integrity and God-centered love.  You definitely have a unique circumstance but I would say make the most of what time you do get.  To make sure that you LEVERAGE the moments when you get them with deep, intimate communication and that there is an intentional studying of each others CURRENT needs as they may have changed since the last visit.  I would also say that there is probably a temptation to center everything around the children when the deployed spouse returns home but the Bible is clear that the marriage relationship comes first and the children come second.  The children of course need attention but a tremendously healthy marriage will do much more for them then ice cream and the park.  Lastly, both parties should journal all the times they thought about the other while gone and the little things that they missed while gone as well as written prayers for the distant spouse to assure that emotions were engaged all along and intimacy can pick up quickly and naturally during the short return trips.