Pure Choices

Guilty Pleasures

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Joshua Nelson (Host), David Anderson, James Brandon, Jeremy Anderson, Kyle Scarlett

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Series Code: PC

Program Code: PC000052


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.
00:38 Hello, and welcome again to Pure Choices.
00:41 I'm your host Pastor Joshua Nelson.
00:42 And I'm so glad and excited that
00:44 you decided to join us again.
00:45 We have a good one for you today.
00:47 We're talking about Guilty Pleasures
00:49 and we're gonna talk, really talk about
00:51 pornography, masturbation.
00:53 And so before we get into this serious topic,
00:55 let's just bow our heads for prayer.
00:58 Dear heavenly Father, we just ask that
00:59 as we speak about these things that You would guide us
01:02 and that You would just be here.
01:03 Reside with us heavenly Father. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
01:05 Amen. All right.
01:07 Well, let's go and start and introduce
01:09 our panel for today.
01:11 To my left we have Kyle Scarlett
01:12 who is a Oakwood University theology student,
01:16 Huntsville, Alabama.
01:17 And then across from me here we have Jeremy Anderson
01:20 who is a Christian author and speaker
01:22 from Madison, Alabama.
01:24 And next, in the middle there we got James Brandon
01:27 who is a university chaplain in Tampa, Florida.
01:30 And next to him we have David Anderson
01:33 who is an also Oakwood theology student
01:36 in Huntsville, Alabama.
01:37 So we have all men today.
01:40 We're going to talk about this subject
01:41 that really a lot of us are facing.
01:43 And really just want to start off with simply,
01:46 is masturbation a sin?
01:49 Yeah.
01:50 That's a good question and it absolutely is a sin.
01:54 When you look at the word sin, you understand that
01:56 the definition as given is a transgression of the law.
01:59 So we're going to say that the God has a law,
02:00 God has a order of the way things should be done.
02:03 And the way that God ordered or ordained sex
02:07 in the marriage union is to have two people involved
02:12 so that they both get the maximum benefit
02:15 and result and, you know, it's like glue to them
02:18 and it's just how God ordained in order to happen.
02:22 So going against that order, masturbation,
02:25 you're kind of take it upon yourself
02:26 to self stimulating, self pleasure
02:29 and what's actually goes against the law of God
02:31 which is the law of love, which is other centered.
02:35 So you're really being selfish and pleasuring yourself
02:38 rather than waiting until the time
02:40 when you can really experience that gift and that pleasure
02:43 in the right context of marriage.
02:45 So yes, it absolutely is a sin.
02:46 Okay, well, it couldn't be clearer.
02:47 And just going to challenge that a little bit
02:50 because, you know, a lot of our society and things
02:52 we hear a lot of times is that, "Hey, you know,
02:54 masturbation is okay to do
02:55 because it's another part of who you are
02:57 and everybody should just do it.
02:58 It's okay to do."
03:00 So what do we say against that?
03:02 Do we still say it's wrong even though society may say
03:05 that it's okay to do?
03:08 To answer your question, yes, we can say that.
03:11 God presents sex as a form of worship in the Bible
03:14 and once we indulge in masturbation
03:16 that is now self-worship.
03:18 And our bodies were made to compliment the other
03:22 like a male's body is supposed to be touched
03:25 by a female in that form.
03:28 And once we're doing masturbation,
03:31 it's now being touched by a male.
03:33 Interesting, interesting.
03:34 You know, to bring that point further home,
03:37 that's how a lot of people tend to move
03:40 into acts of homosexual relationships.
03:43 Here you have a man who is taking advantage
03:46 of his self and now he's used to a manly grip.
03:50 You know, we have to think about
03:51 what it does to us psychologically.
03:53 And so, you know, the enemy would try to find
03:55 whatever way that he can defile what God made pure and holy
03:57 between a man and a woman.
03:59 And then when we go and we say,
04:01 "Hey, I'm going to, you know, abuse myself
04:03 and take advantage of myself
04:04 and have expressed my own pleasure."
04:06 Then we get used to a certain type of touch,
04:09 and then our brain goes to a whole another place.
04:10 Wow. That's deep.
04:13 Now just wanting to still go a little deeper and further
04:16 talking about some of the dangers of masturbation
04:19 and, James, I want to have you talk a little
04:21 about the emotional side of it.
04:22 Yeah. Absolutely.
04:26 Well, I think that with anything
04:30 overdoing something...
04:31 Well, this is something that we shouldn't do, that's clear.
04:35 But abuse of anything can cause and lead to an addiction.
04:38 Right. Right.
04:39 So having that addiction is, it kind of has a grip on you
04:46 because it's something unnatural
04:48 that you're now kind of predisposed to do
04:52 or you're leaning towards doing that.
04:55 Just like, you know, smoking, you know,
04:57 smokes that go into your lungs,
04:59 our bodies were meant for clean air
05:01 to come out of our lungs
05:03 and in the same way with the masturbation piece.
05:06 So I think that the addiction...
05:10 When you get addicted to anything,
05:11 it's just hard to break.
05:13 And it takes a toll on you psychologically,
05:17 it takes a toll on you physically,
05:19 and in essence you won't be complete
05:25 when it's time to really give that thing to your wife.
05:28 Yeah, yeah or vice versa, yeah.
05:30 Right to your husband. Yeah.
05:32 That's so serious, I mean, and a lot of people,
05:34 a lot of us, now we're all men on the set
05:37 but a lot of us men have developed, you know,
05:39 sexual addictions and don't really realizing.
05:42 So, excuse me, one of the questions then
05:45 and as Kyle here is,
05:46 once you have started down this road, can you stop?
05:49 Yes, you can.
05:50 Philippians 4:13 says,
05:52 "I can do all things through Christ
05:53 who strengthens me."
05:54 And so we should dedicate
05:57 whatever the struggle is to God and give it to Him
06:00 and He will help us to stop whatever it is
06:02 because we can't do it of our own power.
06:04 And so if we give it to Him and let Him handle it,
06:07 it's going to be put away properly.
06:09 Yeah. Amen. Amen.
06:11 You know, denial of self is huge here, you know,
06:13 that's the number one battle is denial of self saying,
06:16 "Not what I want to do, not taking advantage of myself,
06:19 not my will but thy will be done."
06:20 So a lot of times, you know, a man or woman
06:23 that deals with masturbation,
06:25 they're looking to please themselves.
06:27 Yeah, talk about that.
06:28 So as opposed to the delayed, gratification waiting to,
06:31 you can get connected with the spouse
06:33 that God intended to connect where you want things now.
06:36 You know, and so I think that's a strong problem
06:39 that a lot of people are dealing with.
06:41 And, Jeremy, I want to ask you this
06:42 but even though I know you're married
06:44 so I don't know if you can...
06:45 I don't know if maybe those younger guys
06:47 who are not married yet should answer this.
06:49 But the question is, in saying that now,
06:54 a lot of us guys have strong,
06:56 you know, drives for sex, you know.
06:57 And we're not married yet, you know,
06:59 maybe we're not even engaged or whatever
07:02 and we're trying to say, "What do we do now?
07:04 You know, what do we do in the meantime, how do I...
07:06 What I do with these hormones, these sexual drives?
07:08 What do I do with this tension that I have?"
07:09 You know, it seems it's easy just to kind of masturbate
07:11 and end that, you know, I'm okay for a little while.
07:14 You know, the battle once again is in your mind.
07:15 And so, you know,
07:17 just be plain with you all as to speak frankly,
07:19 I was in a relationship and then me my girlfriend
07:23 decided to get married and we say, "Hey,
07:24 we're going to do this in the right way.
07:25 So we're not going to have premarital sex.
07:27 We're going to keep our bodies holy.
07:28 I respect you, you even respect me."
07:30 And so that was a shock for me because I've spent years,
07:33 and years, and years of dealing with fornication.
07:35 So here I am now all of a sudden cold turkey,
07:38 having to stop and keep my body pure.
07:40 And so there are a few things I want to point out.
07:41 For one, when I would struggle at nighttime,
07:44 God quickened me in the mornings
07:46 that it was because of what I watched that night.
07:48 So there were specific TV shows I was watching in the evening
07:51 and I was seeing, you know, the sexual acts
07:53 and then it will stimulate me in a certain way
07:56 so now at night time I'm actually battling
07:58 with sexual demons.
08:00 You know, and I want to take advantage
08:01 of myself, so it was a struggle.
08:02 So God said, "You'll get the victory here
08:04 when you keep your mind pure."
08:06 So I had to start having worship in the morning
08:07 and in the evening.
08:09 Right, right.
08:10 And so, you know, some people say, you know,
08:11 taking a cold shower.
08:13 For me that was too cold, like cold showers didn't work,
08:15 you know, but I will go out for a run,
08:16 I did go out for a jog, I would work out,
08:19 and then you have to take it to the next level, right?
08:21 So when the temptation comes in,
08:23 you've got to go to prayer instantly,
08:24 you got to go to worship.
08:26 Sometimes you may not have that,
08:27 maybe looking at the picture of Jesus on the cross
08:29 because what happens is, this is the battle of the mind,
08:31 "Am I going to please myself right now
08:33 or am I going to please God?"
08:35 We have to make that choice.
08:36 And so we're dealing with sin here,
08:38 and so at the end of the day we have to choose and say,
08:39 "Not my will, but thy will be done."
08:41 And we have to fight it that way.
08:43 Yeah. That's so good.
08:44 And another thing that, one thing that I've done
08:45 is just putting up Bible text
08:47 like, just in your room or in places, you know,
08:49 that you're going to be tempted to go to that area, you know.
08:52 Some of the things that, what do you all think?
08:54 Yeah.
08:56 I heard some great advice just struggling with sin
08:59 or anything that you're struggling with
09:01 and it's basically the universal law of life,
09:04 whatever you feed, grows, whatever you starve, dies.
09:08 So like Jeremy said when you feed these images,
09:11 whether it be something you look at,
09:13 it could be something that you put in your ear,
09:15 something that you hear,
09:16 some music that you're listening to
09:17 that has, you know, explicit,
09:19 you can visualize things that are going on, you know,
09:22 talking about sexual things.
09:24 It could be, you know, your surroundings, you know,
09:27 a group of friends, you know,
09:29 that talk about things like that
09:30 or just commercials, anything.
09:33 So you have to make sure
09:34 you don't put yourself in a position
09:36 to absorb these things
09:38 that you would then want to act upon.
09:40 And I think that, you know,
09:42 just like if you're struggling with...
09:43 If you're struggling alcoholic, you can't go to a bar and say,
09:47 "God help me not get a drink."
09:49 You know what I'm saying?
09:50 So if you're struggling with pornography, masturbation
09:54 you have to not even put yourself in a position.
09:57 You know, have an accountability partner,
09:59 you know what I'm saying, for a certain hour at night,
10:00 you know, you have to, you know,
10:02 take things out of your room, you know what I'm saying?
10:03 Whether, you know, we were at a ministering
10:07 and a friend of ours shrug on with his very thing.
10:11 And whenever he goes on tour,
10:14 whenever he's on the road he said,
10:15 he's going to have to from certain hours,
10:17 he's going to have to be in the lobby.
10:19 You know, when he looks on the computer
10:20 he needs to be in the lobby,
10:22 you know, because that accountability.
10:23 So putting yourself not in a position
10:25 where you're secluded,
10:27 where ultimately you kind of want to do it
10:30 but you don't want to do it, you know it's wrong
10:33 but putting yourself in a position
10:35 where of optimal success.
10:39 Yeah, yeah. That's good. That's good.
10:41 Okay.
10:42 So let's now talk about those type of things,
10:45 those triggers I guess we would call it, you know,
10:48 how do you then avoid triggers
10:51 or, you know, basically when we're saying triggers,
10:52 it's something that's going to trigger
10:54 or get you down that road again
10:56 where you're going to start masturbating again.
10:57 How do you best avoid triggers?
10:59 You mentioned a couple good things about avoiding,
11:02 you know, various, you know,
11:04 making sure you're around people whatever the case is,
11:06 is having accountability partners.
11:07 Is there any other things, Kyle,
11:09 maybe that you want to add to that?
11:10 Again, it goes back to subjecting those thoughts
11:13 to God and allowing Him to have control of them.
11:16 Once you give control of those things
11:19 and put your mind on things above,
11:21 it makes it easier for you to resist the acts
11:25 that are impure.
11:27 And just give your, ask God what best way, what tools,
11:31 what ideas because He's, you know, maker of everything,
11:34 He knows this intimately.
11:36 And so He would be the one best to ask,
11:39 "Hey, this is what I need help with.
11:40 I'm struggling with this.
11:42 Take control of this and help me figure this out."
11:45 And I think that's the best way to do.
11:46 Okay. All right. Very good, very good.
11:48 Let this mind me in you that is also in Christ Jesus.
11:51 He will keep you in a perfect peace
11:52 whose mind is stayed on Him.
11:54 I mean, that's our rock like, He has to be our strength,
11:57 our fortress, our area of solitude.
12:00 And so when that urge come, when we see that picture,
12:02 we feel it, we know what's happening.
12:04 We can either harbor on it or we can listen to that voice.
12:07 So somebody may pull the scriptures,
12:09 somebody may pray,
12:10 you may take your accountability partner,
12:12 you may look at that picture of Jesus on the cross,
12:14 you may start worshipping like, whatever you do,
12:16 you have to nipped in about at that moment
12:18 because triggers will always come.
12:19 The question is, are you going
12:20 to pull the trigger when it comes?
12:22 That's deep.
12:23 So, in this subject of masturbation, you know,
12:27 we have to now bring in what causes this kind of
12:30 really to pull that trigger to go down that road
12:32 and that's pornography, you know.
12:34 Pornography is a, first of all huge industry
12:37 and it has caused a lot of men...
12:39 A lot of men are struggling with it, you know.
12:42 So I guess we talked, we said masturbation is bad,
12:46 so let's just talk, is porn bad?
12:49 Without a doubt, without a doubt.
12:50 You know, I think the scariest thing
12:52 about the pornography industry now is it's so broad,
12:55 it's so vast, it's so open.
12:57 You know, 10-20 years ago
12:58 you would have to know somebody to get DVD or, you know,
13:00 have to pay a whole bunch of money.
13:02 Nowadays you can go to YouTube, you know, you can Instagram
13:05 what people are posting pictures, you know,
13:07 it's everywhere you turn, a regular TV, it's everywhere.
13:10 And so, you know, I just think that
13:12 shows like these are important
13:13 because with programs like this,
13:15 we're addressing the problem especially in a society
13:19 where a lot of people are focusing
13:21 on what's actually out here, like, pornography is out here,
13:23 everybody's watching it.
13:24 It's everywhere, so vast, you know,
13:26 programs like these are important
13:28 to really target that issue there.
13:30 So, you know, that thing is wrong, man,
13:31 we've got to be real aggressive in the area.
13:32 And so I want to go then further and say, well,
13:34 what is really wrong with it, you know, what are the dangers?
13:36 Go ahead, David.
13:38 Well, the dangers with pornography is
13:40 our brains were designed to only be intimate or see
13:44 one person in that light.
13:46 And so once you see pornography,
13:48 you're now seeing a multiple people
13:50 in multiple different situations
13:53 when we're supposed to get married
13:55 and only see for us, our wives in that light.
14:00 Yeah. Yeah.
14:01 And so it destroys the mind.
14:03 Yeah. Absolutely.
14:04 And to add on to what you're saying,
14:07 I agree totally with that but it's also the fact that
14:11 there's a, I guess there's a...
14:14 It's called the paradigm of choice,
14:16 the paradox of choice.
14:18 And it basically states that the more options that you have,
14:22 the less satisfied you will be with your final option
14:25 that you choose.
14:26 So when you look at pornography,
14:28 you have all these different, you know,
14:30 different types of women, different colors,
14:33 different ethnicities, everything,
14:35 you can kind of narrow down exactly what you want.
14:37 Then when it's finally time for you
14:40 to have be intimate with your wife,
14:43 you know what I'm saying?
14:44 You get what you get
14:46 and that's the beautiful thing about it.
14:47 You know, if two people stay pure, that's it,
14:50 and it's beautiful, and it's lovely.
14:52 But you're never truly satisfied
14:56 with that person that God has given you
14:58 because you have all these images
14:59 and you have all these choices that you've had
15:02 that have really been facades, that have really not been real.
15:06 And then in real life, you suffer because of it.
15:09 Yeah, and it really begin to destroy then
15:11 what God has for you, you know.
15:13 And really my good friend was actually a chaplain for...
15:17 Also he, you know, he was talking about how...
15:21 There's a lot of ramifications when it comes to psychological.
15:24 When you masturbate to pornography, let's say,
15:27 you, it begins a chemical reaction that,
15:31 basically your brain looks like the brain of a heroin addict,
15:35 you know, where you're just...
15:36 And so your mind kind of takes a snapshot of everything
15:38 you are experiencing at that moment.
15:41 And so as you do that,
15:42 now you put imprint of what you like,
15:44 and what you want, and what you...
15:45 That's not the ideal.
15:47 You do that again with somebody else,
15:48 another image, it's another person.
15:49 Now you have all these compiled images
15:52 of this just crazy individual who doesn't even exist now
15:56 because you have a blonde haired person here,
15:59 brunette haired person here, this person there,
16:02 all the shapes and sizes and now you're trying to find
16:04 a wife or husband per se, that person doesn't exist.
16:09 And so now you're trying to compare,
16:11 you're trying to find that person
16:12 that really doesn't exist.
16:13 Go ahead, David.
16:15 Yeah, I was going to say exactly
16:16 what you just said, compare.
16:17 Yeah.
16:19 In pornography, it doesn't only destroy the mind
16:22 but it destroys the body too because most of the stuff
16:25 that they're doing isn't even physically possible,
16:27 if you want to be technical.
16:30 And with anal, and things
16:33 that they're doing within pornography
16:35 that wasn't designed for the body to take part of.
16:38 And then you compare.
16:39 So when you're actually intimate with somebody else
16:42 or when you're looking at other people,
16:44 you're like, "Okay,
16:45 what can I do to match up what I saw."
16:48 And what they don't tell you in pornography is,
16:51 in between cuts they're taking breaks
16:53 and the guys are popping Viagra pills
16:56 and stuff like this to keep going
16:57 for hours and hours,
16:58 when in reality, that's not the case.
17:03 Well, facade is being made for us as well.
17:07 So this pornography thing is serious.
17:09 And I just feel like, we want to talk a little about the,
17:13 what's the danger that's really behind it.
17:15 You know, the demonic possession
17:16 that takes place even in,
17:18 you know, your own privacy of what you think is,
17:20 you know, just you and yourself
17:22 but there's something else happening in those moments.
17:26 Someone want to talk about that?
17:28 Yeah, you know, this is a spiritual battle,
17:31 you know, that we're dealing with.
17:32 And, you know, when we lay down and we have sex with someone
17:35 we are giving them a part, you know, of us.
17:38 Yeah.
17:39 So we have multiple, and multiple,
17:41 and multiple partners.
17:42 And so a lot of times, possession takes place there.
17:46 And then when you have the pornography,
17:48 now you're watching this,
17:49 you're programming your mind in a certain way,
17:51 you're seeing it, you're lusting for it,
17:52 you're desiring for it, like you said before,
17:54 it tends to trigger.
17:55 And so those spirits tend to jump into your mind.
17:58 It's not, my hands don't connect with God,
18:00 right, it's not my heart, it pumps blood
18:02 but it's not my back, it's my brain...
18:04 Brain, yeah. That connects with God.
18:05 And so this brain, this amazing device
18:07 that God has given us that connects us to Him.
18:10 When we begin to feed and default things there,
18:13 we're inviting other spirits into our marrying
18:15 and into our mind.
18:17 So those are some things that we have to be aware of.
18:19 Yeah, definitely need to be aware of those things.
18:22 Especially, as, you know,
18:23 we're all men here trying to be godly men,
18:26 trying to keep ourselves connected to God,
18:28 connected to the vine, you know,
18:29 we don't want to disturb or disrupt that connection
18:33 that we have.
18:35 So in saying that a lot of, you know,
18:37 even us here looked at these things
18:39 and gone down these paths, you know,
18:42 can these things be erased?
18:44 Can you get past these type of deviant sexual behaviors?
18:49 Well, an addiction replaced with another addiction
18:53 results in relapse.
18:54 So you don't want to necessarily say,
18:58 "Okay, I'm addicted to porn.
19:00 Now let me do something else in place of it only."
19:04 Because that's going to associate like,
19:07 when you're going for a jog and I like what he said,
19:10 and he went deeper, Jeremy went deeper into it
19:13 as in you have to have that relationship with Christ.
19:15 You can't only do something and replace it
19:18 because you're going to eventually result back
19:21 to your pornography ways.
19:23 Yeah, yeah.
19:25 I think I can go ahead and piggyback off of that.
19:28 Go ahead.
19:31 It all starts with the mindset you go into
19:37 about erasing it.
19:39 You can't do anything of yourself like I said before,
19:41 you have to give those thoughts,
19:44 those acts to God, and allow Him to baptize them,
19:48 so to speak to recreate what you have inclination to.
19:54 We all have proclivities and things
19:57 that we are attracted to because we are born in
19:59 and shaped in iniquity.
20:00 And once we allow God to baptize the thoughts,
20:04 everything can be erased, everything can start anew,
20:06 it's like a fresh new piece of paper,
20:08 and just start all over again.
20:10 So I think, yeah, it can be erased by God in His grace.
20:13 You know, something interesting,
20:14 you know, I found myself praying
20:16 just about led by the Holy Spirit,
20:18 I mean, one time I was praying, I was like, "God,
20:20 brainwash me.
20:21 Just wash my brain."
20:23 I've spent years, and years, and years
20:25 of putting filth into my brain, into my mind,
20:28 I said, "God, wash my brain.
20:30 Brainwash me so that I have a pure mind.
20:32 So I have pure thoughts.
20:34 So that I can hear Your voice clearly
20:35 and then be strong enough through Your power
20:37 to execute the plan that You're telling me
20:39 through Your voice."
20:41 And so that power, that brain is serious,
20:42 so when I talk to people and they say, "Hey,
20:44 I'm dealing with masturbation.
20:45 I'm dealing with pornography," you know,
20:47 you have to be really extreme and release the point
20:49 in some different areas that you want to go about.
20:52 So break out that cycle
20:53 and to get broke free from that addiction.
20:56 Yeah, create me a clean heart
20:58 and renew a right spirit within me.
20:59 That's right.
21:00 So that's really what you have to do
21:02 and God can do that, you know.
21:03 Oh, man, He did it for me.
21:04 Yeah, amen, amen. Yeah.
21:07 You know, still thinking about and talking about
21:11 this whole issue of pornography and we were saying
21:12 it's kind of a way the devil uses this porn
21:16 to kind of get in the way of your relationship with God.
21:20 So I want to just talk a little bit about, you know,
21:24 just still talk a little more about that.
21:26 You know, the fact that this is a device, a plan,
21:30 this is the great controversy we're dealing with now.
21:32 This is a plan of the devil to use this thing
21:35 to really get in the way of our relationship.
21:38 So how can we kind of then as men stay away from the idea
21:42 that or kind of compromising and kind of say,
21:45 "Okay, well, no, just a little bit is okay,
21:46 a little bit here and there is okay.
21:48 I know I did it once, you know, this month."
21:50 Or something like that you know.
21:52 I think it goes into, you cannot serve two masters,
21:56 you either pick the good side or you pick the bad side,
21:59 there is no gray.
22:00 You have to decide God all the way,
22:03 decide His thoughts, decide His actions,
22:05 decide His character on the things that He is about
22:08 or you can go all the way to the left and decide,
22:11 "Oh, I'm going to be this way."
22:12 You can't dapple your feet in two different pools
22:14 and expect a different experience.
22:16 And what has to happen is you go all the way to God
22:20 which is full hot or you go lukewarm
22:22 and God will spew you out of His mouth.
22:23 So that's...
22:25 That's a message to the church of Laodicea.
22:26 Wow. Yeah.
22:28 That's a Revelation 3:16,
22:30 and we have to be completely committed.
22:32 And so that's why I tell people don't just say,
22:34 you're not going to, you know, watch porn,
22:36 you're not going to masturbate anymore,
22:37 but you watch other regular shows
22:39 and you're listening to other music and stuff like that.
22:41 Like you have to be 100% committed to Christ.
22:45 And it takes a big man, it takes a strong man,
22:47 it takes a godly woman, a woman of virtue.
22:50 And, you know, I tell people all the time,
22:52 if you made mistakes in the past, don't worry,
22:53 God can restore you.
22:55 But don't use His powers of restoration as an excuse
22:58 to keep on playing, you know.
23:00 When that conviction takes place
23:01 at that time, at that moment
23:03 that's when we have to be in 100% with God.
23:06 But He can make you new again, I've experienced that
23:08 in my life personally but it was rough, it was hard,
23:14 it took a lot of self denial on my end.
23:16 You know, a lot of prayer, and a lot of sacrificing,
23:19 a lot of fasting.
23:21 You know, the Bible says
23:23 that only certain power comes from prayer and fasting.
23:25 And so I believe that when we have specific strongholds
23:28 that we've been battling with for long time,
23:30 it's time to move past just praying about it.
23:32 Let's start fasting, denying yourself of food,
23:36 or beverages, or TV, or sports, or whatever it is
23:39 but start the fasting
23:40 because a lot of times we say, "God, I want
23:41 more of Your power, more of Your power."
23:43 He's like, "Okay, I'll give it to you.
23:44 I'll give you more of me but would you give me some of you?
23:46 Would you deny yourself?"
23:47 So there's power there in prayer and fasting.
23:49 Amen. I think that...
23:51 I definitely appreciate that point.
23:55 One of the other things that we, kind of,
24:00 in the other positions that we find our self in,
24:02 is we always, it seems as we're always on the defensive.
24:06 You know, we talk about these things like
24:07 pornography, masturbation
24:09 like they're out to get us, you know.
24:11 But, you know, the Bible tells us
24:12 that greater is the God, the Spirit of God that's in us,
24:15 you know, than the enemy that's in the world
24:16 that is trying to cause us to sin
24:18 and turn our back towards our master.
24:20 So I think that we have to get into the mentality that
24:23 we're more than conquerors.
24:25 You know, we have the Spirit of God within us
24:27 and we shouldn't be cowering back
24:29 from all these devices, we know them,
24:31 we have to be watchful and we have to pray
24:33 because, you know, that the enemy is as a raging lion,
24:36 you know, seeking whom he may devour.
24:38 But, you know, being intentional,
24:40 being pro active about having the victory,
24:43 and I think that, one of the thing that is a major
24:45 that sometimes we overlook and we've touched on this
24:48 but scripture memorization,
24:50 really hiding that word in our hearts and our minds,
24:53 really because when those things come up,
24:56 if we don't have anything to resist,
24:58 that instantly comes up.
25:00 You know, by the time you try and go
25:02 and find something to counteract that,
25:03 we've already found ourselves sinking into that,
25:06 into sin, in that thing.
25:08 Yeah.
25:09 I mean, it's easy for us to compromise,
25:11 if we have nothing to counter that?
25:12 Yeah.
25:13 So, you know, you just kind of go right into it
25:15 and that's really, I think about Ephesians 6
25:19 putting on the whole armor of God.
25:21 You know, and as men being on here,
25:23 that's something that, you know, we like to think
25:24 and really visualize that,
25:26 putting on the armor every morning waking up
25:27 and put that mesh on, you know,
25:28 putting that helmet on and really saying,
25:30 "You know, I'm about to do war.
25:32 This is a struggle, this is a fight,
25:34 it's going to be hard, it's going to be tough.
25:36 You know, I know that the devil is going to come
25:37 like that roaring lion trying to take my attention away
25:40 but guess what, I'm going to stand firm
25:41 because I'm putting on the armor of God."
25:43 And the sword is the Word of God...
25:46 Word, yeah. Which can defeat the enemy.
25:48 You know, that's a memorizing scripture and whatnot,
25:50 so having that in your mind that's a great solution.
25:54 You know, it's funny because when I got converted
25:57 and I got re-baptized and I had a nice long period
25:59 until I got married.
26:02 I don't know who it was, it was maybe my pastor,
26:03 maybe my dad that said, "Don't worry about it,
26:06 but don't go into this thing saying
26:08 it's going to be the next six months
26:09 or the next year and I can't do anything.
26:10 Just say today God, I'm gonna live for you."
26:13 Today, you know, January, whatever or February,
26:16 whatever the day they say, "Today,
26:18 I'm going to live for you.
26:19 I'm going to be righteous. I'm gonna be holy.
26:21 I'm gonna keep my body pure today."
26:22 It's a walk, it's not a race.
26:24 Daily. Daily.
26:25 Die daily, yeah.
26:27 Just man falls seven times but he gets back up again.
26:30 So we understand in this life we will fall
26:34 but we are also given the promise
26:38 that God can keep us from falling.
26:42 So, you know, I would encourage anyone
26:43 who is really trying to fight this thing,
26:46 first, don't fight in your own power,
26:48 don't step into the ring with that sin, with Satan
26:52 and think you're going to come out a victor.
26:54 And at the last minute try to tag in Jesus on the side
26:57 and say, "Okay, I'm dying, I need You to help me."
27:00 But you know it's little too late.
27:01 It's a little too late, you know,
27:03 so before the spirit and let God
27:05 really take control of your mind and your heart
27:08 that you want to be in subjection with His will
27:11 and that we can get to the point
27:12 where we actually hate sin as Christ hates sin
27:16 and we love righteousness and we love pleasing
27:19 and being in right standing with God.
27:21 Amen.
27:23 Man, I really want to just say to some young person out there
27:26 who is struggling that you can have victory in Jesus.
27:30 You know, this is a serious struggle that,
27:32 you know, we all have faced.
27:34 We all are striving to be perfected by Christ.
27:37 And when you stay connected to Him,
27:40 when you stay close to Him, He will give you victory.
27:43 Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6:12,
27:45 "Everything is permissible for me
27:47 but not everything is beneficial.
27:48 Everything is permissible for me
27:50 but I will not be mastered by anything."
27:53 So look, make pure choices, you can do it by Christ,
27:56 by His grace you can make pure choices.


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Revised 2017-10-09