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Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP221112S
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00:13 ♪♪ >> We invite you to 00:17 stay standing for our first song. 00:18 ♪♪ >> We would like to introduce 03:29 a new song based on Revelation 19:6. 03:33 And as we sing this chorus through once, we invite you 03:35 to join us the second time and enjoy the words 03:39 that one day, we will see the Lord Almighty reigning. 03:43 ♪♪ 08:34 >> The scripture reading this morning is from 08:36 Second Corinthians 10:3-5. "For though we live 08:40 in the world, we do not wage war 08:42 as the world does. The weapons we fight with are 08:45 not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, 08:48 they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 08:51 We demolish arguments and every pretenses that's set itself up 08:55 against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every 08:58 thought to make it obedient to Christ." 09:08 ♪♪ 09:12 ♪♪ 13:23 >> At the name of Jesus. every knee shall bow in heaven, on earth, under the earth, 13:33 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father. 13:42 How about an amen to that? The day's coming. It's coming. Let us pray. 13:48 Oh, God, our knees are bowed up here, we are bowed low before you. 13:56 It is the living Christ who is present through the mighty spirit. 14:00 Let Him be seen and heard. Hide the noises inside of us and around us. 14:06 Hold our attention with his eyes, we pray, in his name, amen. 14:16 As we wrap up the series that ends right now -- I have an on-again-off-again 14:22 series this semester on purity, sexual purity. Blessed are the pure in heart. 14:28 Sexual addiction. I'm want to read 14:31 three emails to you and then tell three stories, 14:33 and then I'll sit down. Okay, so here we go. 14:36 Email number one. 14:37 "Pastor Nelson, as a recovering pornography addict myself, 14:42 I can attest to its dangers and the difficulty 14:45 in experiencing freedom. You were absolutely correct 14:48 when you said you cannot break this yourself. 14:50 I certainly could not. I finally found a path 14:54 to recovery." We'll take a look 14:56 at that in a moment. Email number two. 14:59 "Pastor, God has blessed me with 36 continuous years of 15:05 sobriety with drugs and alcohol." 15:07 Time out. Wait a minute. 15:10 You're saying, this is not a series on drugs and alcohol, This is on sexual addiction. 15:14 And guess what? An addiction is an addiction. What works for one 15:20 will work for the other. And by the way, we're all addicted. 15:23 And the most potent addiction is what you have and what I have, the addiction to ego and self. 15:30 One more email. "I am addicted to smoking vapes." 15:38 That's an electronic cigarette that produces a vapor. You become addicted to nicotine. 15:44 "I'm addicted to smoking vapes. I spend time with Jesus every morning, 15:48 and I have literally wept for deliverance from this addiction, and I can't unlock 15:53 these handcuffs. Please pray for me. I desperately want to be 15:58 in the kingdom and I know I will be shut out unless I have been freed from this. 16:02 Please help me." I want to say to you, young man -- or not so 16:08 young man, whoever you are. Thank you for that vulnerability and that transparency. 16:18 By the time we're through here this morning, I pray that you have in your hands 16:25 what you've asked for. 16:29 Three e-mails. There they are. Three stories. Here we go. Story number one. 16:34 Once upon a time, Jesus went to church and an impure spirit 16:38 went to church with him. I never knew impure spirits went to church. 16:42 It's possible there's an impure spirit right here, right now. 16:48 Because in the middle of Jesus' homily, a worshiper jumps to his feet 16:53 and starts screaming. Imagine the cold-blooded chill in that packed 17:00 Capernaum worship space. Oh, let's go to the story and put it on the screen 17:07 for you here, Luke 4. Here we go. Luke 4. 17:20 Just hit the pause button right there. You know what, I'm glad what 17:25 modern translations have done. The archaic King James calls it an unclean spirit. 17:29 They have a hard time with that one, but contemporary translations 17:33 render that "impure spirit," the perfect way to phrase it for a culture that is possessed 17:39 by impurity today. And a man filled with an impure spirit jumps up. 17:45 Come on, we don't need to be reminded, but let me do so anyway. 17:49 Once upon a time -- Once upon a longer ago time, one third of 17:53 the angels in heaven said "No way, Jose," to the King of Angels, 17:58 and they were expelled from heaven, cast out into this earth. 18:02 And when Adam and Eve come to that tree and they choose the dark lordship of the fallen 18:06 Lucifer, the induction into his Lordship is addiction -- every single time, 18:11 it's addiction. What was that third e-mail? "I'm addicted to smoking vapes. 18:18 I spend time with Jesus every morning, and I have literally wept for 18:21 deliverance from this addiction, and I can't unlock these handcuffs." 18:25 I'm telling you. "Please pray for me. I desperately want to be 18:30 in the kingdom and I know I will be shut out unless I've been freed from this. 18:33 Please help me." That's what that impure spirit-filled man is crying out. 18:40 "Please help me." He can't even word it. The spirit speaks inside of him. 19:17 Only the physician, Luke, adds that phrase, "without injuring him." 19:25 Some of you might be spooked with this idea of sexual addiction being 19:29 some sort of demonic possession. You mean I've got demonic warfare going on inside of me? 19:34 Listen, point one -- no need to be spooked. Point two -- 19:39 no need to be duped either. Duped into thinking, this addiction is no big deal. 19:44 I get it. I'll get rid of it when I'm ready to get rid of it 19:47 and not a day before. Wrong. No, no, no, no. 19:53 This is a deadly battle. I don't have to remind you, this verse, Ephesians 6:12. 20:09 Pretty graphic and pretty clear, but it's just as dramatic for the flip side of the coin, 20:14 the side of God. Oh, love this Proverbs 18:10. You remember this verse? 20:25 What's that word? Safe. You don't have to be spooked. This is a war, to the death, 20:34 but you can be safe. And as we're finding out, you can get delivered. 20:42 Without injuring you, by the way. Now, hold on. 20:45 Giving up what is killing you will not hurt you at all. Give it up. 21:05 Let me have a hallelujah for that ending. And they come out. 21:09 They come out. You are not hopelessly -- you are not hopelessly bound 21:15 in this bondage, and it doesn't matter what your addiction is. 21:18 Is it vaping? Is it sex? Is it food? Is it gambling? What is it? 21:22 It doesn't matter what it is. They come out with this same Jesus. 21:29 My, oh, my, oh, my. The compelling question is, how do they come out? 21:35 So that's why we need story number two, okay? So that's story number one. 21:38 Here we go to story number two, Jesus is in trouble, because he has been driving out 21:42 the demonic forces that have been holding the culture of his day hostage, 21:46 just as the culture of our day is being held hostage by an impure spirit. 21:51 The authorities are jealous of this popular young liberator to whom people are turning, 21:57 not realizing the authorities, that they are possessed with a darker spirit themselves. 22:03 So I'm going to put this on the screen for you. I want you to go in your Bible 22:07 the old-fashioned way. Find Luke 11. It's been so long 22:11 since you've opened a Bible, that's in the New Testament, just to help you. 22:13 Luke 11. Drop down to verse 14. I'm gonna just read it 22:18 right here. Here's another story. This isn't story number two, 22:21 though. Jesus will tell us story number two. 22:24 This is verse 14. "Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute, 22:29 and when the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. 22:33 But some of them said, Oh, by Beelzebub, the Prince of Demons, 22:37 he's driving out demons.' Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven, 22:41 and Jesus knew their thoughts. And he said to them --" Here's verse 17. 22:45 "Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided 22:50 against itself will fall. Look, if Satan is divided against himself, 22:55 how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons 22:58 by Beelzebub, another name for Satan. Now, if I drive out demons 23:02 by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? 23:06 So then they will be your judges." And now here it comes. 23:09 Oh, I love this verse 20. "But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, 23:15 then the kingdom of God has come upon you." That is so good, I'm putting it 23:21 right on the screen. 23:32 I say, let the word go out that the Kingdom of God has come upon Andrews University. 23:39 Let the word go out that the Kingdom of God has come upon the Pioneer Memorial Church. 23:44 That the Kingdom of God has come to stand at your heart's doorway, 23:48 to stand at my heart's doorway, and when the kingdom of God comes, 23:55 there is a finger of God that will deliver. Oh, I like that. 24:02 Deliver us from our strongholds. There is one in our midst who can deliver us 24:06 from our strongholds. You say, "Dwight, what are these strongholds? 24:09 What are you talking about?" I'll tell you what the strongholds are. 24:12 Homoerotic behavior is a stronghold, but we can be delivered from it. 24:20 Pornography addiction is a stronghold, but we can be delivered from it. 24:25 Premarital sex is a stronghold, but you can be delivered from it. 24:28 Extra-marital sex is a stronghold. You can be delivered from it. 24:35 Dr. Neil Anderson, the noted Christian counselor in his book, "Victory Over Darkness," 24:40 defines a stronghold this way. This is good. 24:53 Keep reading. 25:01 Keep reading. 25:12 He says it's like driving an old, beat-up pickup truck. Anybody been on farm? 25:17 Country land? Of course. And it's old dirt road. If you're driving that old, 25:22 beat-up pickup truck up up and down the same pathway, the same road every single day, 25:26 dirt road guess what you're doing? You're building ruts. 25:30 And the longer you drive that same pathway, the deeper the ruts go. 25:35 And anybody who has driven, and I have, a road like that knows that when you 25:39 turn a little this way or you turn a little this way, guess what? 25:42 It doesn't work. You don't move. You have to yank 25:45 that steering wheel, boom, to get out of that rut, or you're stuck in that rut 25:48 for a long, long time. That, Dr. Anderson says, it's what a stronghold does, 25:57 embeds the ruts deep. He goes on with this definition. 26:15 Now, hold on here. This is something important. We all have some trauma 26:21 in our past, I'm sure of it. Can't live on this planet and not have trauma, 26:26 but some of us have faced more. And I'll be the first to recognize this. 26:30 Some of you have faced more traumatic trauma than others. What are you talking about? 26:37 Well... 27:03 Watch this. 27:14 That's why I'm telling you we must not judge one another. I have no clue what you're 27:22 going through, and you have no clue what's in my past. And when I sit high and mighty 27:27 on that lifted-up chair and I'm clucking my tongue at you, I'm doing 27:32 a huge disservice to you. And I mean, I am describing, telling the truth about me. 27:37 Jesus says, Judge not that you be not judged. You'll be judged 27:39 by that same standard. You have no idea what that girl has gone through. 27:43 Look at you. You got to get over this, girl. You got to get over this, boy. 27:48 Trauma has happened, and sexual addiction and other addictions are responses to trauma. 27:57 I asked a friend of mine who has been battling pornography addiction 28:06 to write a description here of how he got into it. Let me read it to you. 28:13 "Through prayer, counseling, and resources on pornography addiction, 28:16 I have realized that the root cause of why I and many become addicted is loneliness. 28:22 Loneliness is a lack of real connection and relationship with God 28:26 and others in your life. I can't say exactly how or a specific time 28:29 when I turned to pornography, but I do recall feeling lonely from my teenage years." 28:35 My friend has been addicted for decades. He goes on. 28:40 "The problem with pornography addiction is that it offers a false connection 28:44 that satisfies temporary feelings of loneliness, but only further separates 28:49 a person from God and others. It's kind of this vicious cycle, the feelings of shame 28:53 and never-ending guilt, even after confession, lead to hiding who you really 28:57 are from even the closest people in your life." Some of our strongholds 29:04 are defense mechanisms to shield us from hurt, to comfort us from loneliness, 29:08 as we just heard, to provide for us an intimacy we never experienced 29:12 as kids growing up. I understand that. Mental habit patterns 29:18 burn their ruts into our minds and then our souls, but it was trauma 29:22 that started it. It was that igniting. And we can't break free. 29:26 We want to be free, but we can't break free. The good news is we can. 29:31 We can. Don't bail out now. In fact, Jesus describes our desperation 29:37 with story number two, and we're going to read it here. If we kept going in 29:42 this passage, I'm going to go back to the screen here. Here's story number two. 29:51 That's a no-brainer, right? Sure. Keep reading. 30:03 The end. It's a short story. The only way -- listen, listen. The only way a strong man 30:10 can be conquered, Jesus reminds us, is if an even stronger man, 30:15 capital M, Man, comes along to bind the strong man that has been binding us. 30:21 Does this make sense? Are you following it? Are you? 30:28 Because of our submission to the dark Lordship of Lucifer, whether it's trauma-induced 30:33 or not, we no longer have an innate power to throw off Satan's bondage. 30:38 That's the truth. Our only hope is for a strong, strong man, 30:43 a stronger strong man to bind the weaker strong man who has been binding us. 30:50 That's what Jesus is saying. That's why Paul comes along in our scripture reading 30:55 we had just a moment ago and reminds us we have access to super power 31:00 un this battle we've engaged. Oh, boy. Calvary. "And having disarmed 31:04 the powers and authorities, Jesus made a public spectacle of these impure spirits, 31:10 triumphing over them by the cross." And that's why we heard 31:15 2 Corinthians: 10:4-5 -- "The weapons --" Paul's reminding us -- "The 31:19 weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, 31:22 they have divine power --" The root word is dynamite. "They have divine power 31:27 to demolish strongholds." Now, keep reading. "We demolish arguments 31:31 and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God." 31:37 And here it comes. "We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ," 31:43 end quote. Demolish strongholds means we can demolish 31:50 these terrible ruts that we've ground into our minds by our repetitious 31:56 and addictive behavior. Guess what? They call it 31:59 this marvelous capacity the creator is put in our brains -- 32:01 it's called plasticity. That means your brain can actually change. 32:05 You can put these deep ruts into your brain. 32:07 But if you reverse your behavior, those ruts 32:11 can actually be effaced, physiologically and spiritually 32:15 can be effaced. Every neuroscientist will tell 32:19 you that. You're not stuck 32:21 by those ruts. You can create new pathways. 32:29 But Paul's writing -- "Oh, no, no, Dwight, Dwight. 32:32 You got to take every thought captive 32:35 and make it obedient to Christ. You got to start with that 32:40 thought," because it always starts with a single thought, 32:42 doesn't it? 32:44 There used to be a cartoon strip. You had to be a little older to 32:46 remember that cartoon strip. But it was called "Cathy". It's kind of a girl's thing 32:52 cartoon strip. So Cathy is -- I got the cartoon strip here. 32:57 Ten frames. Kathy is wanting to go for a drive, okay? 33:03 So here we go. Frame number one. "I will take a drive, but won't 33:07 go near the grocery store." Oh, now we know. We know what's going on. 33:12 Frame two -- "I will drive by the grocery store, but will not go in." 33:16 Frame three -- "I have a go in the grocery store, but will not walk down the aisle 33:20 where the Halloween candy is on sale." Frame four -- 33:27 "I will look at the candy, but not pick it up." Frame five -- "I will pick it 33:32 up, but not buy it." Frame six -- "I will buy it, but not open it." 33:35 Frame seven -- "I will open it, but not smell it." Frame eight -- 33:38 "Smell it, but not taste it." Frame nine -- "Taste it, but not eat it." 33:41 Frame ten -- "Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat." [ Laughter ] 33:46 Come on. That's exactly what happens. And you know it. 33:49 That's why you're laughing. It starts with a thought. And you keep negotiating 33:55 with that thought, right? Dr. Anderson commenting on this. "Cathy lost the battle 34:01 when she decided to go for a drive --" because she knew where she was going. 34:06 "If you don't take captive the initial thought, you will probably lose 34:11 the battle to temptation. We all have to learn how to practice threshold thinking." 34:16 I like that phrase. Threshold thinking. Before you go in that room, 34:21 think right here, think right here now. Don't go in. 34:24 Think here. We have to practice threshold thinking. 34:27 "We need to take the way of escape." Hey, what's that word, escape? 34:31 1 Corinthians:10:13. "There is no temptation come to you 34:34 that is not common to the human race, but with every temptation, 34:38 God will provide a way of -- a way of escape." That's the word. 34:41 There's a way out. Go! Go. Vamoose. "We need to take away of escape 34:47 the moment our thoughts are contrary to the truth and righteousness." 34:52 Hmm. Which means, by the way, if you're battling 34:55 sexual purity, it would go like this. Anderson again on the screen. 35:02 "For example, a man struggling with lust sees a pornographic picture. 35:06 He has the opportunity to respond by thinking, 'My relationship with sin 35:10 has ended. I don't have to give in to this. I choose right now 35:15 to take this captive to the obedience of Christ. I'm not going to look at it and 35:21 I'm not going to think about it.' And he stops 35:23 looking at the picture. He gets rid of the magazine or shuts down his device 35:26 or leaves the place of temptation. If he hesitates 35:29 at the threshold --" looks back one more time, look out, and "stares 35:33 at that picture and begins to fantasize about it, he will trigger 35:37 an emotional landslide, producing a physical response that would be difficult to stop. 35:43 He must capture the initial tempting thought, or it will probably capture 35:49 him." That's a profound line. You either capture that line, 35:54 that thought, or it'll capture you. One of you is going to be 35:59 captured in this moment. Whoa. 36:09 And that's Paul's point. It's a huge point. The weapons of our warfare 36:15 have divine power to -- [imitates explosion] -- demolish strongholds. 36:20 If -- hold it -- if we will take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ, 36:28 if we take captive our thoughts. You know what? Most people -- 36:32 This is true, isn't it? Most people conclude that sexual temptation is only for the young 36:36 or the middle aged. But a friend of mine the other day, we were talking 36:41 about this, and he said, "Dwight, you need to tell the people, 36:45 men can be in their seventies or even their eighties and still experience 36:50 the power of sexual temptation." And I said to him, "You know what? 36:56 I'm beginning to realize that I don't know where." I'm sitting there, 37:02 I'm standing there, I am minding my own business and -- [imitates explosion] -- 37:08 and I am so embarrassed. My Lord, Where did this come from? 37:14 I wasn't the thinking about it. It's got to be an impure spirit. Injects it in. 37:20 Poof. And I bow before God. How embarrassing. 37:25 But here's what I'm doing now. 37:31 Because you need to know -- Well, you already know this. Everything in our pornified 37:37 culture is gauged to plant the first thought in your brain. That's all the enemy asks. 37:47 "Give me that first thought. I'll breathe it. It'll be on a billboard. 37:51 You open a magazine, on your cable TV. Boom, boom, boom. 37:56 Everything is geared to get the first thought. And I'm realizing, 38:02 "Whoa --" hey, by the way, by the way, by the way, is it a sin to have that first 38:07 thought? The answer is no. It's not a sin. 38:11 I mean, you can't help it. [ Imitates explosion ] Like your mother used to say, 38:19 "You can't stop the birds from flying over your head." Right? 38:25 But then she said, "You can stop them from building a nest in your hair." 38:35 Get out of here. So here's what I do. Because I'm not 80 yet. 38:43 Here's what I do. The moment I see that thought, because I can see it 38:49 or sense it, the moment I do, I literally grab that thought and I run with it, because I 38:57 have a cross that's in my mind. I can see the cross and Jesus is hanging on the cross 39:02 and I run to the cross and I grab a hammer that's there. Bam, bam, bam, bam. 39:06 I nail that thought up right beside Jesus, and I say, "That's your business, 39:10 not mine," and I'm gone. I bring that thought to Christ, to obey him, 39:21 and I leave it. Threshold -- Remember, threshold, threshold. 39:26 You got to leave it. Gone. "You're can have this, Lord. 39:34 You can have it." "I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not 39:41 I --" How's it go? "Yet not I, 39:43 but Christ lives in me and the life I live in the flesh, 39:48 I live by the phase of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." 39:52 Is there a verse in the Bible that goes like that? "I'm crucified with him." 39:57 Take every thought to Calvary. Just take it. Nail it up in your mind 40:02 and leave it. You're in a war. And this battle is intensifying. 40:07 I don't need to tell you. Impure spirits operate 24/7, which is pretty much always. 40:17 There's never a break. You are never... 40:24 ...too far away. That's why we need story number three. 40:30 Short story number three. We need to get a little variety in this, so we won't 40:33 read it from the NIV. Let's read it from Eugene Peterson's "The Message". 40:37 And Jesus is telling this story. These are all back to back. "When a corrupting spirit 40:40 is expelled from someone, it drifts along to the desert looking for an oasis, 40:45 some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. And when it doesn't find anyone, 40:50 it says, 'I'm going back to my old haunt.' 40:52 On return, it finds the person swept and dusted, but vacant. It then runs out and rounds up 40:59 seven other spirits dirtier than itself and they all move in, 41:05 whooping it up. That person ends up far worse than if he had never gotten 41:10 cleaned up in the first place," end quote, the end. Hmm. 41:17 Wow. Jesus' point is inescapable. What you remove, 41:25 you must replace. You must replace it. If you kick that addiction out, 41:32 but it's left in an empty mind and an empty heart, it's over. It's over. 41:38 You have to replace what you remove. In the end, it was Joe Dallas 41:46 in a piece he wrote for the Internet, in which he offers three simple 41:50 steps for freedom from addiction. Pornography, any addiction, 41:54 you name it. All three of these steps are operationalizing 41:57 Jesus admonition. What you remove, you must replace. 42:03 You ready for these? By the way, I'm going to give you a link 42:06 to his article, because you're going to want it for yourself, or you're going to want it 42:09 for somebody else. I know, okay? So let's go. 42:12 Three steps. Here they come. These are short. 42:14 Number one -- step number one -- he calls it repentance. What do you mean by repentance? 42:18 An interesting definition here. "Reject the behavior --" your addictive behavior -- 42:24 "by separating yourself from it. If you have not separated yourself from it, 42:30 you have not repented." If you're addicted to chocolate and you have chocolate 42:34 in every drawer, you say, "I'm off chocolate now," and it's in every drawer, 42:43 you have not repented. It's there. You know, 'cause I'll need it 42:48 someday. No, you can't do that. Separate yourself 42:53 from the paraphernalia of that behavior in which you've become dependent. 42:56 Online pornography, paraphernalia. Include the Internet. 43:00 Some of us, that may be the most significant cut we can make. No Internet. 43:05 "Oh, it'll kill me." Well, choose your method of death. 43:11 Because pornography is going to kill you. I promise you. 43:16 It may be the Internet. It may be cable TV. You don't need cable TV. 43:20 There's nothing you can get on cable TV that you can't get with your brain. 43:26 You have to cut off the dark web for sure. And you know what? 43:29 Your smartphone. A friend of mine told me that -- "Hey, Dwight, 43:33 you know, on the smartphone, you can be looking at the smartphone, and 43:35 everybody thinks you're checking up on your mail and you're looking at pornography." 43:42 So I went online and said, "Can you get a smartphone without the web on it?" 43:45 You can. They're cheap. Flip phones. 43:50 I'm sorry. It's the technology that really entices us. 43:54 You know that's the truth. We're addicted to the technology. 44:01 You can get a phone that will not connect you to the 44:05 wide world of the Web. Joe Dallas' point is to separate yourself, 44:11 separate yourself from those domains that have possessed your mind and your spirit. 44:15 Of course it's hard. But if I don't separate myself... 44:23 ...the outcome is even worse. What you remove, you must replace. 44:27 Okay, step number two. He calls it discipleship. "Establish yourself in 44:31 the daily discipline of prayer and Bible study..." This is good. 44:34 "...which are requirements for anyone wanting to renew his or her mind. 44:39 They will diffuse the power of deeply ingrained sexual images." Because that's part 44:46 of the devil's bargain. "I'm planting this in you forever." 44:50 No, he's not. It can be accessed in your memory, 44:56 but it does not have to trouble you again. It's just discipleship. 45:03 What you remove, you must replace. What if you replace Jesus? 45:06 What if you had a method that you could use every single morning first thing 45:10 before you head out into the day and you have Jesus inside and then you go? 45:14 I'm going to send you a link and you're going to be able to do that, if you want that. 45:18 Step number two is discipleship. Put Jesus in. Come on. 45:21 Replace the addiction, put Jesus in. There are only three of these, 45:24 and here's number three. Step number three. This one's 45:26 going to be a bit tougher. He calls it accountability. "Start a relationship with at 45:32 least one believer --" who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and his redeeming 45:37 power -- "with at least one believer who knows about your use 45:40 of pornography." Alright? "Have this person ask you 45:45 on a weekly basis, whether you've repeated this behavior and how well you've resisted 45:50 the temptations to repeat it." You got to replace it. When you remove something, 45:55 put something in. Make that something that you put in 45:58 also another human being. Probably not your parent. An older adult, 46:04 a respected adult in your life. It can be a counselor. It can be a chaplain. 46:09 It can be a pastor. Somebody that you've known and you trust. 46:14 "Hey, would you be willing to -- It's kind of embarrassing, but I need somebody 46:19 to hold me accountable. Would you?" "Sure." 46:23 The person would be honored. "Of course." "You won't tell anybody, will 46:26 you?" "Of course not." Accountability. 46:34 Joe Dallas, by the way -- "Remember, sexual sin thrives in the dark. 46:38 A large part of recovery from it lies in your willingness to keep your private behavior 46:42 in the light of another believer's scrutiny and prayer." And I thought, "That is 46:47 well-put." You know what? You can get 46:48 in touch with Dr. Brad Hinman. Brad Hinman is a professor here at Andrews University, also has 46:54 the Hinman Counseling Services in town. So he's a counselor. 46:57 So I go to his website because my friend that shared that little testimony, he's 47:02 being helped hugely by Brad Hinman. So I go to the website, 47:06 and I'll send that to you if you ask for it. "Hinman Counseling Services 47:09 is now conducting a weekly support group for men who are addicted to pornography. 47:16 Dr. Hinman's dissertation was on pornography addiction, and he is presented locally, 47:21 regionally and nationally on this topic more than a dozen times." 47:26 I'm telling you, there's help if you want it. 47:30 There's help. Somebody to whom you now 47:33 become accountable. You can't 47:36 do it without step three. You say, "I'm just doing steps 47:39 one and two." You won't do it. 47:42 You have to become accountable to somebody. 47:48 And by the way, I'm going to say this not to a person 47:50 of the same -- opposite gender. You're better off 47:55 being accountable to somebody who's like you. 47:58 Alright, come on, that's a no-brainer. 48:00 But I say it anyway. 48:04 Three simple steps to set us free from the addiction that has bound us, 48:09 whatever that addiction is. And guess what? All three steps are designed -- 48:12 all three steps move us into the open embrace of our forever friend 48:18 and savior, Jesus. I'm telling you. He's the winner for you. 48:25 I want to end with this quotation from "Steps to Christ", 48:28 this little book that saved my life. It saved my life. 48:31 "Steps to Christ". Oh, this is beautiful. "We shall often have to bow down 48:35 and weep at the feet of Jesus because of our shortcomings and mistakes." 48:40 If you're planning to bat a thousand in the Major League -- you know, 48:43 the World Series is over, but if you're planning to bat a thousand, it's impossible. 48:48 What I'm saying is the greatest hitters on earth can't bat a thousand. 48:53 That means you get a hit every time you step up. There are going to be times 48:55 when you miss. There are going to be times when you stumble and fall. 49:00 The good news is, God says, "That hasn't changed my attitude towards you. 49:03 I'm still loving on you. I haven't changed. Come on, get up. 49:06 Hold my hand. Let's do this again." "We shall often have to bow down 49:10 and weep at the feet of Jesus because of our shortcomings and mistakes. 49:14 But we are not to be discouraged. Even if we are 49:18 overcome by the enemy --" crash and burn. Even then, "we are not cast off. 49:26 We are not forsaken. We are not rejected of God." "That's the third and final 49:31 time. I'm not being in touch with you, Dwight, anymore. 49:34 None of that." Keep reading. "He desires 49:38 to restore you to Himself, to see His own purity --" oh, I love that -- "and holiness 49:43 reflected in you. And if you will but yield yourself to Him, 49:47 He who has begun a good work in you will carry it forward until the day 49:50 Jesus Christ comes back." And he's coming back for you, sister. 49:53 He's coming back for you, brother. He's coming back soon. 49:57 This would be a good time to start calling on him. Remove what's in your life 50:02 and replace it with the Lord Jesus Christ. This would be the good time. 50:07 "All to Jesus, I surrender. All to him, I freely give." Wow. 50:14 "I will ever love and trust him, in his presence, daily live. 50:20 I surrender all. I surrender all." We're going 50:25 to sing that in just a moment. But I promised you some websites, so come on. 50:29 Let's do the ConnectCard thing. If you're a visitor here, pull your phone out. 50:32 You're going to type in -- This is the number you want to go to. 50:37 269-281-2345. We'll wait for you. Somebody came up to me, 50:41 a visitor, afterwards and said, "What was that number again?" So I'm just -- I need to not 50:44 hurry through that number. So I'm leaving that for you right now. 50:47 Don't worry about it. You just put that number on. Nobody knows why you're 50:51 putting that number on and nobody knows how you're going to respond. 50:55 But you do it. Don't worry about the people sitting around you. 50:59 269-281-2345. And today, you're going to text the word 51:05 "Triumph1". "Triumph1". Yep. 51:10 And when you do that, you'll see a page that will open up. 51:15 And then you'll have these options, and you'll hear from me directly 51:19 in the next split second. Let's go. 51:22 So my next steps today are -- and it's a roll-down scroll. 51:26 So you'll just pick them as you go. 51:28 Box number one -- I want to replace what I remove 51:30 from my life and fill it with Jesus. 51:32 Me too. And I'm going 51:34 to put a checkmark right there. And you'll get a note from me. 51:37 Box number two -- Please send me Joe Dallas' essay 51:40 on the three vital steps to overcome addiction. 51:44 As I said, you're going to want this article and you're going 51:47 to share this article. If you work with human beings as 51:50 a way of life, get this article. The people you're working with, 51:55 90% chance will need what this article 51:59 brings to your life. Okay? 52:02 I'll send you the web link. Box number three -- 52:06 Please send me a simple but doable way to begin a fresh 52:09 devotional life with Jesus. You put a checkmark there, 52:12 and I'll give you a way where you can be -- 52:13 20 minutes in the morning, you will be on your way. 52:16 Replace what you remove. So you're 52:19 going to replace by bringing Jesus in what you're asking him 52:22 to keep, remove from your life. Put a checkmark there. 52:26 And finally, I want to follow Jesus and be baptized. 52:30 I got baptized once in this hymn. 52:33 That's how old this hymn is. They sand it when I got 52:37 baptized. Teenager. 52:39 It's okay. If you haven't been baptized 52:41 yet as a teenager, put a checkmark there. 52:43 We'll be in touch with you. You're a college student. 52:44 Whoa. No. Good. 52:47 There's not a certain age you got to come to. 52:50 You just make a decision. You put a checkmark there, 52:53 we'll be in touch with you electronically. 52:55 That was a beautiful baptism just a moment ago. 52:58 You can be up there one day in front of all your friends. 53:01 It's a beautiful testimony. Alright? 53:06 I'm going to sing this song. Come on. Come on. This is such a wonderful song. 53:08 Stand to your feet and we're going to sing a few stanzas of this wonderful hymn. 53:14 It's 309, if you prefer a hymnal. "I Surrender All". 53:20 And we'll just take that chord and we'll sing with it. 53:25 Alright. Let's sing it out together. 54:20 Alright, now we're gonna sing the second stanza. 54:21 It sings about, "Humbly at his feet, I bow." 54:23 We're going to pick up the speed just a little so that 54:27 you can lift your heart up. You're praying 54:31 through these words. Alright. 54:32 That second stanza. 54:57 Alright, sing it out. 55:22 Let's sing last stanza now. 56:19 And so, Lord Jesus, you may have it all. Remove it. 56:26 We give you permission. Replace it. Come in, please. 56:32 The best is yet to come. We are on the cusp of a new chapter with you 56:36 that we have never lived before. Honor every decision that's been made. 56:41 Every heart that is wrestling, "Shall I make this decision?" You let him know. 56:45 You let her know. This is the decision. You will assist her. 56:50 You'll help him. And we give it to you with gratitude in the name 56:56 that is above every name. Let all the people say, amen. Amen. 57:15 I want to take an extra moment to thank you 57:17 for joining us in worship today. It's by the continued support 57:19 from viewers like you that we're able to bring you this program. 57:22 Today, I want to invite you, though, to share with us how 57:25 this ministry has blessed you. I get inspiring notes, 57:28 e-mails from viewers literally all over the world 57:30 telling me, "Look, Dwight, God has been blessed me this way. 57:33 He's been doing this." I would love 57:34 to hear from you as well. Just visit our website -- 57:37 you know it -- newperceptions.tv, 57:40 and click on the contact link at the top of the page. 57:42 Send me a note. Let me know what God has been 57:44 doing right now in your life. 57:47 Once again, thank you for being with us today. I hope you'll join us right here 57:51 next time. And until then, may the God of grace journey with you 57:55 every step of the way. 57:59 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ |
Revised 2022-11-22