Sex, God, & the Ache for More
Desire isn't the problem—it's the pointer.
What if your deepest longings aren't something to suppress, but signposts to follow? Join us for an 8-week journey through the Song of Songs—an ancient love poem that hints at something surprising: your ache for intimacy isn't an accident. It's a clue about what… and WHO you were made for.
Week 1: Biblical Sex Ed: What Your Youth Group Never Told You
Most of us were told what not to do with sex.
Very few of us were ever told what sex is actually for.
In this message, we'll revisit a question my friend David asked in youth group: "What is sex?" It sounds simple, but the answer is anything but.
Drawing from Genesis 1-2, 1 Timothy, and Colossians, we'll explore four overlooked truths: sex is essential, sex is God's idea, sex is an icon, and sex is a signpost. Along the way, you'll have a chance to wrestle with why sex matters so much, why it wounds us so deeply, and what it's designed to point us toward.
This isn't about new rules. It's about a vision of sexuality that's both ancient and desperately needed today—one that refuses puritanical shame and consumeristic self-indulgence in equal measure.
If you've ever felt torn between following Jesus and your sexuality—this message is for you.
Week 2: What Sex Reveals About Heaven, Hell, and You
What happens when we ask sex to do what only God can do?
In this message, we explore why sex can feel like heaven—and why it can so easily turn into something painful, confusing, or enslaving. Drawing from the Scriptures, church history, and our own lived experiences, we'll wrestle with desire, limitation, marriage, loneliness, shame, and hope.
Sex can’t save us—but it reveals something profound about who we are, what we’re longing for, and where true healing and union are ultimately found.
This message explores sexuality from a Christian perspective, looking at how our desires, our bodies, and our faith are deeply connected in real life.
Week 3: The Stories Shaping our Sex Lives
We live in a world where there are narrative tensions (4 of them) that are at play in what story of sexuality people are telling, or inhabiting. Caught within a mixture of pleasure, shame, longing, and confusion, this sermon explores the pertinent question at the heart of it all: what does our sexuality have to do with God?
Drawing on the insights of many, we look at the different stories shaping our understanding of sex -- and why so many of them leave us restless. Jesus doesn't start with shame or easy answers. He offers a subversive vision of humanity where our bodies matter, our desires aren't dismissed, and our deepest ache finds meaning in the Kingdom of heaven.
This message invites you to wrestle honestly with desire, identity, and faith -- and to consider whether Jesus might be offering a better story than what's been inherited or that's on offer.
Week 4: Why Is There an Erotic Poem in My Bible?
Why did God put an erotic poem in the middle of my Bible? I grew up in church. Sat through thousands of sermons. And somehow never heard about the Song of Songs—one of the most beautiful, confusing, and ignored books in the Bible.
It's a collection of erotic love poetry. And it's right there in your Bible, sandwiched between the Psalms and the prophets.
So... why? Is it just ancient relationship advice? A guide to dating and marriage? Or is there something deeper going on—something that points us toward the greatest love story ever told?
In this message, we explore:
Why churches have historically avoided this book (and why that's a mistake)
How celibate monks became obsessed with these love poems
Why ancient rabbis sang the Song of Songs at Passover
What this book reveals about desire, intimacy, and being truly known
How it all points to the Cross
This isn't just for people who are dating or married. It's for anyone who's ever longed to be loved, pursued, seen—and wondered if that ache means something.
Week 5: Understanding Identity through the Lens of the Gospel with Dr. Mark Yarhouse
How do identities form in contemporary settings? How are identities formed in relation to our sexuality and experience of gender? This message engages historical, social, and linguistic changes that have influenced young people’s understanding of sexuality and gender. Rather than offer simple formulas, Christians need tools for caring, respectful, and effective engagement with youth who are navigating sexual and gender identity in contemporary culture.
Week 6: Better Than Dating: A Biblical Vision for Attraction and Romance | Song of Songs Chapter 1
A man tells a woman she looks like a horse. She swoons. This is Scripture.
This sermon starts our journey through the Song of Songs—exploring attraction, romance, consummation, conflict, and unbreakable commitment.
In this first movement (Song of Songs 1:1–2:7), we step into a love song tucked right into the heart of Scripture. It’s playful, sensual, awkward, tender—and radically countercultural. A woman speaks first. A man compares his lover to a warhorse (and yes, that's romantic). Desire is named without shame. Attraction begins with character, not chemistry.
This song refuses both sexual repression and casual, consumeristic sex. Instead, it offers a vision of love that is intoxicating and wise—one built on friendship, safety, and the courage to wait. It asks hard questions about timing, trust, vulnerability, and what it really means to give yourself to another person.
Whether you're single, dating, married, wounded, or just curious, this sermon invites you to wrestle with a deeper story of intimacy—and to see how human love ultimately points beyond itself to the faithful, healing love of Jesus.
Week 7: Real Intimacy Should Make You Want to Puke | Song of Songs 2-3
Most of us want real intimacy. And most of us are terrified of it.
In Song of Songs 2–3, love calls a woman out from behind the walls — and she hesitates. In this sermon, we'll explore why we hide, why vulnerability feels so risky, and how we are made to be fully known and fully loved. From the poetry of the Song to the story of Jesus calling Mary by name, this message invites you to wrestle with what it means to come out of hiding and receive a love strong enough to heal.
Week 8: Why the Best Wedding Night Ever… Still Isn’t Enough | Song of Songs 3–5
Why do the very best moments in life still leave you wanting more?
In Song of Songs 3–5, we come to the moment everything in this relationship — this song, this couple — has been building toward: the wedding night. It's beautiful, joyful, intimate, and holy. And yet, even this moment carries an ache that lingers.
In this sermon, we wrestle with why our most beautiful moments don't fully satisfy, what the "thin places" of life are trying to show us, and how marriage and sex function not as ultimate destinations, but as signposts pointing beyond themselves.
If you've ever felt the quiet longing that follows your best days — this message is for you.
Week 9: Your 3,000-Year-Old Marriage Problems | Song of Songs 5–6
He wanted intimacy. She didn’t. They fought.
In Song of Songs 5, a husband and wife have a painfully familiar moment. What begins as a small conflict quickly spirals into something deeper—and raises a question every relationship eventually faces: What story will you tell yourself after the fight?
This ancient love poem doesn’t idealize relationships. It shows us how conflict actually works—how it can slowly build walls between two people… or become the very thing that deepens intimacy and trust.
Week 10: Why Does God Treat Sex Like It's Nuclear? | Song of Songs 8
You've probably wondered why God makes such a big deal about sex. (So have I.)
Song of Songs chapter 8 doesn't give you a list of rules. It reveals something stranger and more beautiful — that marital love, the kind expressed in sex, carries within it the actual power of God. That it's stronger than death, stronger than chaos, stronger than anything that seeks to destroy you.
In fact, it's so powerful that — without a proper container — it could destroy you. Like a radioactive isotope.
In this sermon, we'll explore the awesome power of love, uncover the ancient story behind one of Scripture's most stunning passages, enjoy an Andrew Wyeth painting, consider what happens when sex has no container, and wrestle honestly with desire and its consequences.
