Participants: Pr. Joshua Nelson (Host), Ja'mon Johnson, Jeanne Mogusu, Kean Baxter, Kory P. Douglas
Series Code: PC
Program Code: PC000026
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00:01 The following program discusses sensitive issues.
00:03 Parents are cautioned that some material 00:05 may be too candid for younger children. 00:40 Hello, welcome to Pure Choices. 00:42 I am your host, Pastor Joshua Nelson. 00:44 And again, I am happy that you decided to join us. 00:46 We have another good topic for you. 00:48 We're talking about Purity Restored. 00:51 And before we go into our discussion, 00:54 I am gonna introduce again our panel. 00:57 To my left here now I have Pastor Kory Douglas, 01:00 who is the pastor 01:02 of the Grand Avenue and New Life Fellowship 01:05 in Southeast Missouri, Central States Conference. 01:08 Over here, to-- on the couch here, 01:10 we have Ja'Mon Johnson, 01:12 who is the theology graduate from Oakwood University. 01:17 He is doing some Bible work now, 01:18 and conferences said that he needs a core, 01:20 he needs a core. 01:22 He is a good man. 01:23 And we have over here Jeanne Mogusu, who is currently 01:26 in the Andrews Seventh-Day Adventist theological seminary, 01:29 she is there-- she is also the BSA 01:32 or Black Students Association president, 01:34 happy to have her here. 01:35 We also have Kean Baxter, who has just graduated 01:38 from Andrews theological seminary, 01:40 and he is our scholar with his MDIV already. 01:43 So we're happy that he is here. 01:44 And I myself, I'm a pastor 01:45 in the South Atlantic Conference. 01:47 And I am in the Marion 01:49 in Lake City district in South Carolina. 01:52 So we are all happy to be here and this is a very important 01:56 topic for us to really dive into, 01:58 because there're a lot of people out there 02:00 who, like myself, have done things, 02:02 may be that were not that pure in the past. 02:05 And trying to get over those things, 02:06 trying to get pass those things, 02:08 it can be pretty tough. 02:10 And I'll just be honest and vulnerable and say, 02:11 I know, there's probably some people watching saying, 02:13 "What in the world 02:14 is Joshua Nelson doing on this show?" 02:16 You know, "What is he doing on this show?" 02:18 Because people know me, know my life, 02:21 and how then can someone like me 02:23 sit here or even try to move on in their life and say, 02:27 you know, I've done things in the past, 02:28 I haven't made pure choices, 02:30 I've messed up, but is there a hope? 02:32 And that's we are starting out with, 02:33 "Is there hope?" 02:36 I think that's a very important place to start, 02:39 because hope-- if without hope, we are literally hopeless. 02:44 You know, we don't have any way to-- 02:48 That's true. Yeah. 02:50 Yes, we don't have anywhere else to go, 02:52 because there is no life without hope. 02:55 We wake up in the morning with the hope of, you know, 02:58 that we will be alive to make it through the day. 03:00 We, we hope-- we eat with the hope of we'll be full 03:04 and we'll have enough energy, to eat. 03:06 So without hope, we really cannot do anything. 03:08 And it's really important for us to recognize that 03:11 God is a God of not just restoration, 03:13 but most importantly, He is a God of hope. 03:15 He wants to give us hope 03:17 that no matter how badly things have gone for you in the past, 03:20 no matter how poor your choices have been. 03:23 You can now rise and make pure choices. 03:28 Over here. That's so true. 03:29 Hope is so important, because without it, 03:32 like you said, we get stuck. 03:34 But Jesus said that He's come not to condemn, 03:40 but He's come that we may have life 03:42 and life more abundantly. 03:43 So not just this average life that we see on this earth, 03:48 but He is saying, more than you can even imagine. 03:51 I am-- I've come for that reason. 03:54 And the issue with the sexuality 03:57 and it's hard to talk about, 04:00 because virtually everybody's gotten it wrong. 04:04 Most majority, a vast majority 04:06 have gotten it wrong, in the church. 04:08 And this is why we don't really like to talk about it 04:10 because it starts that, you know-- 04:12 it's connected to us. 04:14 But Jesus on the mount of a-- sermon, 04:18 when He was giving a sermon on the mount said that 04:22 adultery starts in the spirit, in the heart. 04:25 And if it starts there, then that's where 04:28 the combination-- that's where the healing starts. 04:32 You, you-- we sin in the spirit 04:36 and then there is restoration in the spirit. 04:39 So that gives me a lot of hope. 04:43 Okay. 04:44 So now thinking about this thing in lines of-- 04:47 okay, may be what you did, 04:49 you're saying, "I am gonna get over it, 04:50 I am gonna seek forgiveness from God." 04:52 But what if what you've done in the past 04:54 has really affected someone else? 04:55 Does God forgive that 04:57 and what you may have done to someone else? 05:00 I believe He does, you know. 05:02 And if just operate out of what we know about God, 05:05 and Salvation, you know, 05:06 and what the whole point of Christ coming to earth is. 05:09 I mean, He comes to restore. 05:11 I think that part of our problem 05:13 is that God has been painted for so long, 05:15 as a angry father, you know, 05:18 who is just waiting to punish you, 05:20 you know, He makes the rules 05:22 and then He waits for you to break them, 05:23 simply so He can tell you, 05:25 go break the switch off the tree, 05:26 now go get the bell 05:27 and bring it back to me, you know. 05:29 But what we need to realize is that God is not out, 05:32 just like he said that earlier, 05:33 He is not out to just condemn us, 05:35 the point is to restore us. 05:37 And even those moments of condemnation are-- 05:39 the Bible says, you know, "I chasten those I love." 05:42 You know, it is for our betterment, 05:44 it is so that we may have hope. 05:46 I believe that, you know, 05:47 what that we need to understand is that, 05:49 you know-- yeah, God may, He will be disappointing, 05:51 He'll be angry about it, you know, 05:53 but just as, you know, 05:54 as quick as the anger might have come, it will go. 05:56 You know, as soon as we are repented 05:58 of what we have done, you know. 06:00 And decide that we now want to be pure, 06:01 that God will honor that. 06:03 And you know, there's a saying when we were kids, 06:06 as far as the east from the west, 06:07 you know, God will take my sins away from me, 06:10 and to cast into the sea of forgetfulness 06:13 and He will operate now as if you are pure 06:15 as long as you make that choice to be pure. 06:18 Because the issue is that, not that 06:19 Jesus hates you or hates me, 06:22 but He's really mad at the sin that caused it. 06:24 Because it was-- and that was really what got me, 06:26 was while I realize it was the same, 06:28 the same sin that I was engaging in, 06:29 was the sin that puts Jesus on the cross. 06:32 That was what, that was the cause of it. 06:34 Now go ahead, Jeanne. I want to get him. 06:36 Yeah, I just want to get off of what Kory just said. 06:39 It's really important for us to recognize 06:41 that God-- once God forgives us, 06:43 He has already erased those sins 06:46 from His mind and from His memory. 06:48 It is us who go back and get it from He's, 06:53 you know, where He's thrown it 06:54 in the depths of the sea and drag it. 06:57 So, and, you know, it's always a struggle 07:00 to recognize that God has truly forgiven, 07:02 you know, all the things that you have done, 07:05 no matter how dark and bad, whatever you did was. 07:10 And it's good to always keep it in your mind that, 07:15 you know, God has really forgiven 07:17 and He has wiped your slate clean, 07:20 you know and move on from that, from that point. 07:23 I want to talk about a little about restoration 07:25 and what we are talking about, God restoring us 07:27 and Ja'Mon, may be you want to add on something 07:28 to what she said and also do with that. 07:30 What does it mean when God restores us? 07:33 I just want to agree 07:34 what you said and what Jeanne said. 07:37 It is very hard to, to move forward, 07:41 because you feel so bad about yourself, 07:43 you know, once you done it, you know 07:45 and-- I've always been taught, you know, committing the act 07:49 is wrong in it of itself, you know. 07:52 And that, you know I was always made to feel bad about it. 07:55 Yeah. Yeah. 07:56 So committing the act, I just felt like so wrong, 07:59 like disgusted about myself. 08:01 Like, God, you truly like, You hate me right now. 08:04 You know, but in all reality He doesn't hate me, you know, 08:08 of course, He doesn't like what I did, you know. 08:11 And so it's very hard to, to move forward from then. 08:14 And I think, you know, to be restored is a process, 08:17 you know, what everything-- 08:19 it's not something that happens overnight, 08:21 it's not something that happens tomorrow, 08:23 but it's something that's a process. 08:24 And I think, for me, 08:26 the process was to get closer to God, 08:29 because at that moment 08:30 when that happened, I was away from him. 08:32 You know, so it took me realizing 08:34 that what I was doing was 08:35 because I was out of connection with Christ, 08:39 so I had to come back to that connection. 08:41 You know, I think, one of the things 08:42 we need to remember about restoration, 08:44 is that restoration is God's job, 08:47 it's not our job. 08:48 An old car cannot restore it self. 08:51 You understand what I am saying? 08:52 Someone has to come in and restore it. 08:53 And I will tell it like this. 08:55 I had my experience with God 08:56 was that I would struggle with something 08:58 and I would say, "God, I am not doing this again." 09:01 You know, the preacher will get up here, 09:02 he will preach, I will get emotional, 09:03 I go down to the front, "I'm not doing this again!" 09:05 And I wrestle with it, I'm telling you, 09:06 a month, two months, three months, you know, 09:08 by the power of my will and through prayer, 09:10 I am not doing it and then I will fall. 09:12 And I will be upset, you know, I thought I was restored, God. 09:16 And I'll be mad at myself, 09:17 "How could you do this again, Kory? 09:18 You know better, you went down for the appeal. 09:20 What you gonna do, going off for the next one?" 09:22 You know, and something God had to remind me was that, 09:25 "Kory, you know, 09:26 if you are stressed out about it happening again, 09:29 that means you never turned it over to Me in the first place. 09:31 You know, it is My job to restore you." 09:34 And our problem is that we are-- 09:35 you should feel unclean, 09:37 you should feel bad about what you do, 09:39 but after you give it to God 09:40 that should not be your sentiment. 09:42 You should now walk-- the bible says, 09:44 "In the newness of life, as if it had never happened," 09:47 just like Jeanne said, 09:48 because God has forgotten it already. 09:50 But when we continue to think about it, 09:52 we make ourselves, you know, 09:54 we are more liable to fall back in. 09:56 And one of the things I noticed, real quick, 09:57 is that the biggest things I struggle with when away, 10:00 when I was not paying them any attention. 10:02 I might have cursed a little bit 10:03 and I didn't even think about it, 10:05 but after a while I was like, "Hey, you know, 10:06 I don't even say that anymore," you know. 10:08 And so you got to allow for God to do the restoration 10:11 in you, as you walk with him in relationship. 10:13 Yeah, and that's the beauty of it 10:15 with righteous by faith, 10:16 because you have been justified, 10:18 you have been restored, you are saved, 10:21 but yet you're still being saved, 10:23 yet you're still being restored, 10:24 it's still that process, it's still that process 10:26 that God Christ somehow-- 10:28 He is able to stand in front of you 10:30 and you appear righteous in front of the father 10:31 but also in the-- behind you, 10:34 He's actually fixing you, making you up. 10:36 It's a good illustration, we could do that. 10:38 But I love that, I love that. 10:39 There's a scripture that I really love in Romans 8. 10:42 It's one of my many favorite verses where it says, 10:46 "Nothing can separate you from the love of God." 10:48 Nothing in heaven or earth or principalities 10:51 or powers or nothing, literally 10:53 nothing can separate you from the love of God. 10:55 So, you know, my sin will not separate, 10:58 it severs my relationship with God, 11:02 but it does not stop God from loving me. 11:05 You know, as much as I, as I hate to admit it, 11:08 when I was younger, I'd get into a lot of trouble. 11:11 Me and my mother-- my mother and I, I should say, 11:14 were always at loggerheads. 11:16 And it's funny, she, you know, she spanked me like, 11:20 you know, anyway we're not gonna go into that. 11:22 That's, that's all. 11:25 You know, God is restoring. 11:27 So-- but one thing that was always consistent 11:32 is that whenever I did something wrong, 11:34 she would always try and get me to get to where I needed to be, 11:39 you know, by whatever form. 11:41 Sometimes she would need to talk to me, 11:42 sometimes she would need to spank me, 11:44 sometimes she would need to-- but whatever I did, 11:46 she taught me 11:47 that one of my actions had consequences. 11:50 And that is always something good to remember 11:53 is that God does restore. 11:56 Sometimes we have to live 11:57 with the consequences of our actions, 11:59 but it's not because God is punishing us 12:00 for what we have done, it's just that those-- 12:03 sin has so influe-- it's saturated our lives, 12:08 that there are natural consequences. 12:11 It doesn't mean that God is mad at you 12:13 for having sex or you'll have a child, you know. 12:16 It's just a natural consequence of sin. 12:20 God doesn't punish us, you know for the things like that. 12:23 He's already forgiven you. 12:24 You may have to live with the consequence, 12:26 but He has already forgiven you. 12:29 It's a beautiful thing to which the illustration, 12:31 you know if you do have a child out of wedlock, 12:33 there is a way that God can restore. 12:35 He can make that thing beautiful 12:36 because we don't want, of course, penalize the child. 12:39 But you know, we are saddened by, 12:40 may be how it occurred, but still, again, God restores. 12:44 He's able to make things new, 12:46 even though we may have deviated, 12:47 because all of us no matter what it is, 12:49 we have gone may be to different extremes of what-- 12:52 against what God wanted us to do 12:53 but God finds a way to bring us back still. 12:56 Important point, there is no illegitimate children, 13:00 there is only illegitimate axe. 13:02 And I want to go back to what Kory said, 13:05 because I think it's very important. 13:07 You see, you've mentioned, Kory, 13:08 that you-- you all of a sudden you noticed 13:12 that you don't curse anymore when you stop focusing on it. 13:17 And it's Biblical, the Bible says, 13:19 "By beholding, we become changed." 13:22 So while you are looking at, 13:24 while you're focusing on this sin 13:26 even if you don't like to say, I want to overcome this, 13:28 I need to get over this, 13:30 you are still focusing on the sin 13:33 and you are still focusing on yourself. 13:35 So it perpetuates the cycle, it becomes a vicious cycle. 13:39 You might be able to by just sheer grit 13:42 and white knuckling it, 13:44 you might be able to go a period of time without, 13:47 you know, falling, whether it's sex or pornography 13:50 or masturbation or whatever it is, 13:52 but you're not changed. 13:54 We, this is-- and this is what the devil, 13:56 this is how we get us, focusing on ourselves and sin. 13:59 And this is a picture of Romans Chapter 7, 14:02 where it says, "I wanna do what's right, but I can't." 14:05 You know, what I would hate that's what I do. 14:08 And this is-- this is Paul describing somebody 14:10 who knows the difference between right and wrong, 14:14 wants to do right but his focus is not on Christ. 14:18 So we have to get our-- shift our focus. 14:20 And that's really what I, what I was down to the fact 14:22 that the ultimate pure choice is Jesus. 14:25 You know, you have to keep making Him your choice. 14:28 If you keep focusing on that 14:30 as you continue through your life, 14:32 it's-- you know, you're gonna-- 14:34 you know, just like you're talking about it. 14:35 You know, your gonna-- you're not gonna 14:36 want to listen to that, that kind of music, 14:38 you're not gonna even want to do this type of stuff 14:39 because it just all falls off, 14:40 because you just been looking at Christ 14:42 and you wanted to recognize yourself, 14:43 you know, well, yesterday, you know. 14:46 You guys may be want to sing a song right. 14:48 I am so serious. 14:50 I am over here my mind, I can't get off my head, 14:51 turn your eyes upon Jesus, 14:53 look full in His wonderful face, 14:55 and the things of this world will grow strangely dim. 14:57 You know, we want to follow Christ 15:00 but we want to look to the left and the right. 15:01 And how can you follow that which you don't look at? 15:05 We're looking down. So here we go. 15:07 We're talking about purity and really doing it, 15:10 really having Christ, you know, 15:11 leading us into this new life and everything, 15:13 but the fact of matter is amongst the generation 15:16 and Ja'Mon, you can't talk to us about it, 15:18 I mean, it's not cool to be pure, you know. 15:20 So how can you really, I mean, make it cool, 15:23 I mean, you know, it's not a part of our culture. 15:27 Yeah, I think, when you really look at you know-- 15:30 what Kean said is, well, it's not just the world, 15:33 but it is our church, you know, where having sex 15:37 and be, you know-- It's what everybody wants to do 15:42 or what everybody is doing. 15:44 And so to be pure is like, it's like you're the outcast. 15:48 You know, everybody look at you different 15:49 when you say that you are virgin, you know. 15:52 And it's very difficult, because, you know, 15:55 nobody really understands why, 15:58 you know, you're the outcast, you know. 16:01 And for so many years, I felt like I was the outcast. 16:03 And I had to live up to everybody else's standard, 16:07 so-- because they were doing it that meant I had to, as well. 16:12 And so I think, one of the things 16:14 that we can do is what we are doing now 16:16 is really get to the root 16:19 and get to the heart of the problem 16:21 and, you know, discuss it, expose it, 16:23 because so many people are scared to talk about it. 16:26 Yeah, yeah. That's important. 16:27 But really to have others who watch us 16:29 to have conversations just like we are having, 16:31 you know, to really discuss it. 16:33 Yeah, and another thing that we need to recognize 16:35 is that, it's cool for who? 16:38 You know. Who defines coolness? 16:41 You know. 16:42 So I-- what is more important for you? 16:46 Is it imp-- is it more important 16:48 for you to be cool with God, or is it more important for you 16:51 to be cool with, you know, my buddies? 16:53 Because buddies come and go, friends come and go, 16:56 but God, I mean, He is the ultimate friend. 17:00 Because He, you know, whatever happens, 17:03 He is always there with you all the time. 17:06 And until we get to the place where it's more important 17:10 for us to have that relationship with God, 17:14 to where you and God are not going 17:18 to let anything else detract from that relationship, 17:21 then all we do is in vain. 17:23 It's, it's just-- it's just passing, you know, wind. 17:27 And what you're saying is true 17:28 and honestly that should be the question 17:30 who determines who is cool. 17:33 But I mean, you know, in reality, a lot of us, 17:35 you know, especially as young people, 17:36 we still crave to have relationship 17:38 after the affirmation of others, you know. 17:40 And so, really, I think, 17:41 that we should be demanding in our churches, 17:43 in our youth groups, hey, we need a community 17:46 that will call this cool to be pure, 17:49 you know, we need that, that's what we need. 17:51 Well, if I could, you know, 17:52 I'm thinking about it and-- one of 17:54 my favorite basketball players Russell Westbrook. 17:56 When he dresses for press conference, 17:58 he wears the weirdest clothes. 17:59 But it's one of the fads of today to mix things 18:02 that don't really go together, together. 18:04 The young people doing things like wearing book bags 18:06 for absolutely no reason, 18:07 were going back to the high-top, 18:09 you know and with the gumby hair 18:11 and we're doing things that don't make any sense. 18:14 They are not necessarily cool but if you give it 18:16 a couple of months, everybody does it. 18:19 Why is that? 18:20 Well, well, the point I'm trying to make is this, 18:23 but we're, but we're preaching that this purity 18:25 and being different, and you may be different 18:28 but it only takes one person to make something cool. 18:32 Do you understand what I am saying? 18:33 So you don't have to wait for the masses to jump on you, 18:37 you know, to do it for you to-- you can buy the bandwagon, 18:41 you don't have to jump on the bandwagon. 18:43 You know what I'm saying? You can drive the bandwagon. 18:45 One of the things-- and one of 18:46 my favorite Bible verses-- the Bible says 18:49 that God uses the foolish things 18:52 of the world to confine the wise. 18:54 And something that God has convicted me on recently, 18:56 is a fact that I am not-- we talked about this earlier, 18:59 I am not perfect for a reason, I don't fit in for a reason, 19:02 because through my imperfection, 19:04 through the things that are wrong with me, 19:06 through the fact that I struggle with this stuff 19:08 every single day, 19:09 through the fact that I have declared 19:11 war on sin and struggle, 19:13 through that fact, I make the gospel real, 19:15 because I am able to-- I am living proof 19:18 that you-- that is possible even though I am not perfect, 19:22 that the gospel can be shown perfect through my life 19:24 and through my relationship with Christ. 19:26 And isn't that the great thing about God, 19:28 is that he will take, he will take 19:31 our imperfect selves and make us into His part, 19:35 you know, and help us to do His perfect will, you know. 19:39 None of us are authorities on this, you know. 19:42 The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory 19:45 and it's so easy for us-- 19:46 see this, this is the fallacy of the enemy 19:49 is that he will make us believe 19:51 that there are categories of sin, you know. 19:54 So if I am not having sex, 19:55 if I am not sleeping with somebody, 19:58 then I am, I am somehow more righteous 20:02 than the person who is. 20:03 You know, if I'm if I steal a dollar, 20:06 I am somehow not as a thief 20:09 but unless I steal a million dollars 20:11 or I rob a bank. 20:12 But stealing is stealing is stealing, 20:14 you know, sin is sin. 20:16 And until we recognize that, we have all sinned, you know. 20:19 And God is a God who recognizes that, 20:22 not only are we all sinners 20:24 but he has already made provision, 20:26 he loves us so much. 20:27 He gave His Son so that we can say that 20:30 Lord, I am now restored. 20:32 So we can all sit here on this, you know, on this set 20:35 and talk to other people about making pure choices. 20:38 All right, so let's make it, let's make it even more real. 20:40 Because we're talking about this purity restore, 20:43 we're saying that now as you've gone through these, 20:45 these steps you have asked Christ to live in you, 20:48 and now you are acting as pure. 20:50 But now, what's going to happen, 20:51 now when that temptation comes, 20:53 what are you really going to do? 20:57 Someone talk now. 21:00 I hope this answers it. 21:01 But going along with what you said Jeanne, 21:05 sin, sin is action, yes, 21:09 but primarily sin is a condition. 21:13 We are defective at birth. 21:15 There's a recall on the entire human race. 21:20 We come out messed up, 21:22 because of our parents, Adam and Eve. 21:25 And this is what God wants to do in order to restore us. 21:29 We were born defective. 21:31 But if we have faith in what Jesus did at the cross, 21:35 that He, He died and in Him we also died 21:39 to that sinful flesh, 21:41 because the wages of sin is death, 21:43 if you commit one sin, you deserve to die. 21:47 We died in Christ. 21:49 And then He was in the grave for a day, 21:52 and on the third day He rose again 21:54 and we rose with Him, 21:56 and this is how purity was restored, 22:00 new life in Christ. 22:02 If we have-- if that faith in what he did, 22:05 we are restored spiritually 22:06 and then God is able to work in us 22:08 and we become new creatures. 22:10 Well, you know, one of one of the beauties of the gospel, 22:14 is that the gospel does not end at the cross, 22:17 like most people teach it, you know. 22:20 We're not just justified by faith. 22:23 We are sanctified by faith. 22:25 You know, part of the message that makes us special, 22:27 is what happens, where is Christ now, 22:29 what is he doing. 22:31 And, you know, we're going to make mistakes, 22:33 you know-- as hard as you try and with Christ working on you. 22:36 This is why, this is in Romans 7. 22:38 There's always going to be the struggle 22:40 as you follow Christ, you know-- 22:42 Sometimes, I want to do good today, 22:43 but I'm just not gonna, I'm not gonna feel it. 22:45 And today, I am gonna, I want to do, you know, 22:47 and, you know, I'm just not gonna feel it, 22:48 it was gonna be the struggle, but the beauty is, 22:51 is that the salvation of Christ offers, 22:54 allows for mistakes to happen, right. 22:56 Not that God will have you fall, 22:58 but if you fall, the Bible says, 23:00 "We now an Advocate with the Father." 23:02 We have a high priest, who while our Christian journey 23:07 is that same sanctuary service 23:09 that we are not the only ones performing it, 23:11 we are not the only ones reading and praying 23:12 and we are not the only like, Christ is our high priest 23:15 making sure that when something happens, 23:17 he is like, "Hey, God, I know he fell, I got it." 23:21 You know what I am saying? 23:23 And so, so this due to my restoration. 23:25 Restoration has just happened at the cross, 23:27 restoration is-- it happens all through our life. 23:29 Christ is there ready to restore you 23:31 the minute you recognize 23:34 that you need it and you ask for it. 23:35 I want a just clarification, you said sanctification, 23:38 what does that mean? 23:39 Well, sanctification, I mean the process of being made holy. 23:42 That's what I mean, sanctification. 23:44 So that's-- That's the process. 23:47 And it's not, it's not up to us. 23:49 No, that's Christ's work. That's Christ doing it in us. 23:52 And that's the process that we are 23:53 on right now, as a Christian. 23:55 And, in fact, the matter is, it is going to be hard. 23:59 You know, it's gonna be tough. 24:00 As a Christian, as we, you know, we want to-- 24:03 as a Christian, it is tough, it's gonna be hard, 24:05 it's gonna be the fight, it's war. 24:07 We are in the great controversy. 24:09 So being pure, making a pure choice 24:11 is gonna be hard, is gonna be tough. 24:13 But with Christ, it's possible. 24:15 And I think, the scripture that best reflexes 24:18 is when it says, if we confess our sins, 24:21 He is faithful to forgive us, 24:24 you know, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 24:26 So this is the sanctification process. 24:29 So it's-- I don't have to, 24:31 I don't have to wear my little head out 24:35 trying to figure out how to be holy, 24:37 I need to confess my sins and trust God, 24:41 trust-- see that's a biggie right there. 24:44 That's a relational term. 24:46 It's a-- yes. 24:47 Trust, you know. 24:49 I need to trust Him enough to do in me, 24:52 the things that I know He desires for me to do. 24:55 So I need to be in relationship with Him, 24:58 I need to be spending time with Him, 25:00 as I learn him and get more and more 25:04 in the place where I trust Him more, 25:06 or for grace to trust Him more, you know. 25:08 So that He can do that which He desires to do. 25:11 I was just gonna say, the interesting thing is 25:13 the reason why I love God so much 25:15 is the fact that even now while I am being restored, 25:20 even if I fall again, He picks me up. 25:23 There you go. 25:24 He doesn't beat me over this out of head, you know, 25:26 He doesn't say, 25:27 "Look at what you did again, I told you," 25:29 you know, but instead, He picks me up and He says, 25:32 "Let's try it again," you know. 25:33 And what Satan does is, 25:35 you know, I hear him all the time in it here, 25:37 if I see something on the-- on the internet or something, 25:40 you know something pops up, He'll be like, 25:43 do it, look at it, look at it, look at it. 25:45 You know, he want's me to believe 25:46 that if I fall then that's it. 25:49 You're lost, but you're not. 25:51 Along with those same lines, I just-- it came to my mind 25:53 that we may believe that because of how our parents 25:59 may have raised us. 26:00 And, I mean, we don't have perfect parents. 26:03 We're all falling. 26:05 Sometimes the way that we are raised 26:09 could have an affect-- actually, often, 26:11 it affects the way that we view God. 26:15 If our parents didn't have a lot of grace, or very harsh, 26:20 or just waiting for us to mess up, 26:22 or instilling a lot of rules, establishing lot of rules, 26:26 but no relationship, 26:28 these things will affect the way that we look at God. 26:32 So that's another thing we have to do. 26:34 We have to, we have to consider how our parents have, 26:38 have informed our view of God, who God is. 26:42 Yeah. Yeah. 26:44 And I think that's why 26:45 in the scope of pure choices, plural, 26:49 that we have to make sure that we highlight 26:51 that the purest choice we can make 26:54 is to accept that restoration 26:56 that God has offered through Jesus Christ 26:57 and that relationship that ensues. 27:00 That is the number one choice 27:01 towards every other choice will, will be born. 27:05 You know, if that's not the heart 27:06 and the crux of the matter, 27:08 if that's not the foundation on which my choices are build, 27:11 my choices are not gonna be pure 27:13 even if my choice is 27:15 "don't watch pornography, don't have sex." 27:17 If my first choice is it, 27:19 me and Christ all day, everyday, 27:22 it's not gonna matter. 27:24 And that sums it up. 27:25 The ultimate choice you can make is Jesus Christ, 27:29 making Him your first choice. 27:31 And really, when you do that, it feels so great. 27:33 It feels so much peace than it will be. 27:35 The Bible says in II Corinthians 5:17, 27:38 "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, 27:40 he is a new creature. 27:42 All things are passed away. 27:43 Behold, all things become new." 27:45 You can be a new creature today. 27:47 You can have your purity restored. 27:49 You can do it, through Jesus Christ. 27:53 That's our program for today. 27:54 Make pure choices. |
Revised 2016-02-11