The Skin, The Body And Baptism At Ecclesia Church

Pastor Joseph has started a wonderful 6 part series called Skin: The Body Matters at at Ecclesia Church. It coincides with our prayer vigil for sexual brokenness that we had last week, where we prayed for the sexual healing of Hollywood. This new series is about sexual healing, too, especially how we should honor our bodies and our sexuality as Bible-believing Christians. It is based mostly on Paul's writings in I Corinthians and it is very relevant to the young people today and to anyone who wants to live a cruciformed life. With titles like "Thank God for Sex", "Lies We Believe", "The Sexual Charade" and "New Skin", it's bound to be an interesting listen.

Check the sermons out at www.churchinhollywood.com or download them for free at iTunes.

Update: 2/13/11
The last of the Skin: Body Matters series entitled, New Skin, ended and kudos to Pastor Joseph! I'm a Bible-believing Christian and an M.D. and I've waited for years to hear a pastor say these honest Biblical truths (said eloquently and with humility) from the pulpit. I've said similar things to many of my patients over the years and it has resulted in sexual restoration that even conventional medicine and therapy could not provide. Praise God!

I know first hand that sexual and spiritual brokenness is not limited to Hollywood but just walking down Hollywood Blvd. en route to church (or even sitting at home watching network TV) reveals that there is a massive problem here industry-wise and city-wise, as a whole. I was told that things were even worse along Hollywood Blvd around the time that the movie, Pretty Woman , was filmed there, and that I should feel lucky. I do not believe that it is God's intention that we should accept any level of sexual brokenness ( I Corinthians Chap 6 "we are not our own") and so we must keep praying for change and healing here!

As I said, all the series was great but especially listen to the last 2 in the series, "Symmetry" and "New Skin".


Baptism:
So many things keep me eternally hopeful about Hollywood and how God is moving in Ecclesia church. In fact, the family of believers here continues to grow as the church membership continues to increase. This past Sunday, Pastor Joseph wrapped up his Skin: Body Matters series and then he ended the service with a splash(literally), as numerous believers were baptized in a modest fiber-glass shaped soaking tub on the altar. As I Corinthians Chap 6: verse 10-12 says about salvation and the unrighteous (fornicators, thieves, drunkards...) "but ye were washed".

I was a bit emotional as my own baptism last year is still fresh and tingly for me but I have never been able to hear confessions of faith and baptismal submersion without a bit of water-works of my own. I was not alone in my emotions as, when the wet and newly baptised believers emerged, there was many whoops, hollers of "Hallelujahs", hugs and tears from the baptized, the congregation and the church elders. Hallelujah!