Hawkins - The Unbroken Cord: Celebrating Kingdom Sexuality

A FRIEND OF MINE, songwriter, and worship leader asked me to write a song for her.She had the music but wanted to me to write the lyrics. As I considered this prayerfully,my thoughts went to Jesus, the heroic healer and raiser of the dead who, hours laterat His crucifixion, was considered to be the scum of the earth.

As you read these words please be encouraged that He saw you as He endured the Cross.

WORDS BY STEVE HAWKINS MUSIC BY LOUISE LEEDELL

How could it all change, in the blink of an eye, hero to zero and lower?

He who spoke with one look, fire, and love, suddenly now it seems over.

There, as He now dies, He opens my eyes, this is the man who is love.

I look to His cross, ground stained in blood, this is the Son from above.

How, in His cruel death, I find new life, something is transformed within me,

He has done it all, I simply believe, never been surer of anything.

From the album True Love by Louise Leedell

CHAPTER 1IT

Jeanne Guyon, The Song of Songs (The Seedsowers, 1990).

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Ted Roberts, Pure Desire (Regal Books, 1999).

T D Jakes, It Is Time to Reveal What God Longs to Heal (Treasure House, DestinyImage Publishers, 1995).

CHAPTER 2VIRGIN

Roberts, Pure Desire.

Edwin Louis Cole, Sexual Integrity (New York, NY: Albury Publishing, 1997).

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.

.

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Elizabeth Elliot, The Path of Loneliness (Servant Publications, 2001).

.

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CHAPTER 3DAMAGE IN THE GARDEN

Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (New York, NY: Dover Publications, 2001).

Mike Bickle, The Pleasures of Loving God (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma Media, 2000),125.

Ibid.

Rick Joyner, Facebook post, February 7, 2014.

.

CHAPTER 4 LEARNING ABOUT REAL INTIMACY

Kris and Jason Vallotton, Moral Revolution (Destiny Image Publishing, 2010).

CHAPTER 5COVENANT

Alistair Begg, Lasting Love (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2002), 143.

CHAPTER 6 RESTORING THE GLORY

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John Eldredge, Wild at Heart (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2001), 5.

John Eldredge, The Ransomed Heart (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2005), Reading316.

Eldredge, Wild at Heart, 51.

Ibid., 38.

Ibid.

Jakes, It Is Time to Reveal What God Longs to Heal.

CHAPTER 7 MEDIAS MANTRA

.

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Wendy and Larry Maltz, The Porn Trap (Harper Collins Pub, 2008).

CHAPTER 8CONVERSATIONS

John Eldredge, Beautiful Outlaw (New York, NY: FaithWords, 2011).

Wendy and Larry Maltz, The Porn Trap.

Eldredge, Beautiful Outlaw, 45.

Ibid.

Edwin Louis Cole, Sexual Purity (Tulsa, OK: Word and Spirit Resources, LLC, 2001).

Wendy and Larry Maltz, The Porn Trap.

John White, The Fight (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2009), 141142.

CHAPTER 9I DO

Rick Joyner, Facebook post, January 8, 2014.

I heard this anecdote, which I have extended and amended, from Matthew Ashmolowofrom Kingsway International Christian Centre in London.

Larry Koenig, Happily Married for Life (Life Journey, 2006).

Ibid.

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CHAPTER 12KING OF PLEASURE

Bickle, The Pleasures of Loving God.

CHAPTER 13TURNING BACK THE CLOCK?

John Newton, Amazing Grace, public domain.

John and Carol Arnott, Grace and Forgiveness (New Wine Press, 2009).

EPILOGUEHAVE WE MET?

Eldredge, Beautiful Outlaw, 68.

Jakes, Its Time to Reveal What God Longs to Heal, 51.

S TEVE HAWKINS TEACHES English as a Second Language in London and is part of the NewZion Christian Fellowship family in Welwyn Garden City.

Having served the body of Christ for some time, he came to see that he was boundby degrees of legalism through a visit to Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship. Herehe was strongly impacted by the Fathers love and now longs to see others enjoy genuinefreedom in Jesus Christ.

Previously employed in both the catering and financial services industries, he nowteaches students from all over the world in a large college.

The author of From Legal to Regal and Blood and Glory, he ministers today with agrowing prophetic edge in leading worship, preaching, and teaching.

Steve Hawkins is excited to see believers move further into the freedom of the Cross.If you are interested in having him speak or minister at an event, he can be contactedat .

Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers oflight cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God,nothing two-faced, nothing fickle.

[JAMES 1:17, THE MESSAGE]

T HE BIG IT was given to us by God. As with everything from Him, it is very good.Sex and our sexuality are good things.

In these pages we are discussing sexual activity in marriage between a man and awoman and our God-given sexuality, regardless of whether we are married or not. Bysexuality we include our make up as men and women and our capacity and desire toexpress ourselves as such. That includes sexual expression and, of course, the verymuch related arena of intimacy. In my terms of reference we are all sexual as growingand/or mature adults, regardless of whether we have married and are sexually active.

We were created to enjoy sex, but as with many of Gods gifts to us, this one hasbeen spoiled in the fallen world we are part of. It has been distorted and twistedin many quarters and in the mass, popular media. We are going to see that thereis a spiritual agenda behind this too. But that does not change the fact that Hegave us something that is very good. We should not allow ourselves to be robbed ofHis gift and those blessings that pertain to it; there is no need for us to moveout of His blessing to merely settle for a compromised shadow of its reality.

Likewise, the pre-marriage state of virginity is very good, but we need to considerthe nature of intimacy and how we wish to express it. I think it is safe to say thatmost people will want to express intimacy sexually. If that is the case, God hasgiven us the gift of marriage, which makes ample room for that expression amongstits many facets.

Whatever the multiple messages around us, I hope we will see that sex outside marriagemakes no sense when you consider its precious nature and, as importantly, the natureof the Giver.

INTIMACY

Sex is all about intimacyour desire to live in it, express it, and experience it.This remains true although the media has tried, and tries, to communicate that pleasureis the primary issue. Apparently, pleasure will satisfy us. But God made us to livein relationship with Himself, a relationship that can mirror the intimacy withinthe Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This relationship with Him was nevermeant to be devoid of expression.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine.

SONG OF SONGS 1:2, ESV

Yes, that was the Bible, folks.

Jeanne Guyon comments:

What is this kiss? It is complete spiritual union: a real, permanent, and lastingexperience of Gods nature. The kiss is the union of Gods spirit to your spirit.

The kiss. Kissing is well down the list when the world considers its intimacy boundaries.Kissing is just kissing. And, of course, there are different types of kisses fordifferent relationships. However, I think we underestimate the value of a kiss interms of courting relationships. Kissing communicates a real closeness, so we needto make sure, ladies and gentlemen, that we mean not only what we are literallysaying to someone but also what we are kissing! Kissing brings a measure of union,as we have read in Song of Songs.