The Upside Down Kingdom | The Kingdom of God and Sex | Brian Pacheco | Flatiron Church

Flatiron Church moves forward with a clear, kingdom-driven strategy that marries practical stewardship with pastoral urgency. The children’s ministry is being redesigned for growth: a simplified lobby flow, new classroom dividers, sound deadening, and added staffing hours to care for roughly 150 kids. Volunteers are sought to join a growing team so that childhood encounters with Jesus become lifelong formation. Worship receives a season of leadership investment as an experienced interim worship leader helps cultivate the church’s corporate posture toward God.

Offsite HQ development anchors the midweek vision. A recently purchased property three miles east has been transformed from an RV garage into a near-complete 200-seat midweek space for youth, young adults, and groups, with parking and a planned green space for gatherings and recreation. Generosity has funded construction and created a reserve toward a longer-term goal: purchase of 10–20 acres and a permanent facility to sustain ministry across generations. Staff-support fundraising, pastoral partnerships, and one-time gifts made the property purchases possible; careful budgeting and donated labor lowered renovation costs and preserved funds for land acquisition.

The theological center of this moment reframes sexual ethics around creation. Sex is portrayed not as utility to meet impulses or secure relationships, but as a creational gift that creates unity—one man, one woman, one lifetime—grounded in Genesis 2 and reinforced by Jesus’ deeper call against mere legalism. Lust, pornography, cohabitation, and emotional affairs are treated as heart-level breaches that fracture covenantal unity and demand decisive response. Practical pathways forward emphasize honest confession to God, repentance, community accountability, and LifeGroups as the soil for authentic change. The congregation is invited to steward what God has entrusted—time, finances, and relationships—so the present fruit can seed a future presence for Jesus in the East Valley and beyond.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Children’s ministry configured for growth The kids space will be reshaped to offer one clear entry, visible classrooms, and improved sound and staffing. This redesign intends to make drop-offs simple, to protect worship spaces from noise, and to position the ministry for sustainable expansion as more families arrive. Volunteers are essential; careful background checks and training ensure both safety and spiritual formation for children. [00:48]
• 2. Stewardship undergirds long-term mission Recent purchases and renovations were enabled by intentional fundraising, staff support networks, and sacrificial gifts, showing how financial faithfulness advances ministry capacity. Stewardship here is presented not as an obligation but as a strategic partnership: giving today purchases space and stability for future generations. Remaining reserves are being preserved expressly for land and a permanent facility—casting a horizon beyond the current rental context. [06:34]
• 3. Sex is creationally for unity Sex is taught as a gift meant to create oneness between one man and one woman within covenantal marriage, not as a tool for satisfying desire or securing identity. Re-centering sexual ethics on Genesis 2 reframes debates about rights and divorce into questions about how human intimacy reflects God’s design. This view calls the church to guard the sacredness of sexual union and to recover language that forms young people toward healthy anticipation. [16:38]
• 4. Lust calls for radical boundaries Jesus’ call to “tear out” what causes sin is hyperbolic but urgent: sexual sin demands decisive removal of occasions and patterns that lead the heart astray. Because sexual desire so quickly entwines soul and body, the command is to flee, not to negotiate; practical barriers (filters, distance, accountability) are spiritual necessities. This is pastoral care as prevention—the aim is not punishment but the preservation of what is most life-giving. [41:31]
• 5. Repentance lived in community True freedom begins with honest confession to God, followed by repentance and public steps of restoration within the body. LifeGroups are not optional add-ons but primary contexts for transparency, mutual correction, and sustained spiritual growth. The pathway away from secrecy toward healing is communal: bring struggles into trusted circles so grace can be applied and faithfulness reinforced. [43:14]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [00:48] - Flatiron Kids: New flow and design
• [01:38] - Classroom strategy and staffing needs
• [02:23] - Investing in kids ministry leaders
• [03:44] - Jin: Interim worship leadership
• [04:23] - HQ property location overview
• [05:08] - HQ renovation and seating capacity
• [06:34] - Long-term land and vision
• [07:36] - Ministry fundraising and finances
• [09:49] - Property purchases explained
• [16:03] - Transition: teaching on sex
• [17:44] - Jesus’ words from Matthew 5:27
• [23:08] - Lust, intent, and modern pitfalls
• [29:31] - Divorce debates and Deuteronomy
• [33:23] - Genesis 2: Creation and union
• [41:31] - Radical call: flee and cut off
• [43:14] - How to move forward practically
• [46:11] - LifeGroup and community support
• [48:26] - Closing prayer and benediction

Bible Reading

Matthew 5:27-32 (ESV)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the grounds of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

Genesis 2:24 (ESV)
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Observation questions

1. According to the ministry update at the beginning, what is the long-term goal for the church regarding the "HQ" property and the funds currently being saved? [06:34]
2. In Matthew 5:27-28, how does Jesus expand the definition of adultery beyond just the physical act?
3. The sermon distinguishes between sex as "utility" versus sex as "unity." How were these two concepts defined? [16:38]
4. When discussing divorce, the sermon contrasts having "Deuteronomy 24 conversations" with having "Genesis 2 conversations." What is the difference between these two approaches? [33:23]

Interpretation questions

1. Jesus commands us to "tear out" an eye or "cut off" a hand if it causes sin. While this is hyperbolic language, what does it teach us about the severity of sexual sin and the intensity of the boundaries required to fight it? [41:31]
2. The sermon suggests that we often try to narrow God's commands to specific rules (like the Pharisees did with divorce certificates) rather than looking at God's original design. Why is it important to look at the "creation design" in Genesis 2 rather than just looking for loopholes or rights? [33:44]
3. Lustful intent is described not just as noticing someone is attractive, but as a desire that matures into wanting to possess or be intimate with someone other than a spouse. How does this definition change the way we evaluate our thought life and media consumption? [23:55]

Application questions

1. We are called to steward our resources to plant a permanent location for future generations to worship Jesus. How does viewing your financial giving as a "strategic partnership" for the future change your attitude toward generosity today? [06:34]
2. Sex is a gift meant to create oneness between one man and one woman within a covenant. If you are married, are you approaching intimacy as a way to get your needs met (utility) or to build a deeper bond (unity)? If you are single, how does this view of "unity" change how you date or prepare for marriage? [16:38]
3. Jesus warns that lustful intent creates a breach in the heart. Are there specific environments—such as work relationships, hobbies, or the gym—where you have allowed emotional connections or wandering eyes to go unchecked? [26:15]
4. Sexual sin is the only sin in the New Testament where the command is to "flee" rather than fight. What practical "radical boundaries" (like filters, deleting apps, or changing routines) do you need to install this week to "tear out" the source of temptation? [42:11]
5. Freedom begins with honest confession to God and then stepping into the light with others. Are you currently hiding a struggle or a past hurt because of shame? Who in this group or in your life can you speak to this week to begin the process of healing? [46:11]