Participants: Joshua Nelson (Host), Brittany Hill-Morales, Kimberly Douglas, Kory Douglas, Xavier Morales
Series Code: PC
Program Code: PC000086A
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00:01 The following program discusses sensitive issues.
00:03 Parents are cautioned that some material 00:04 may be too candid for younger children. 00:38 Hello, and welcome once again to Pure Choices. 00:41 I'm your host Pastor Joshua Nelson. 00:43 I'm so glad you decided to join us once again. 00:46 We have a great one for you today as usual 00:49 and this one is entitled, Pure Life. 00:52 We're going to talk about how to live the life 00:54 that God wants us to live, all right? 00:56 So before we get into this powerful discussion, 00:59 let's just pause for a moment to pray. 01:01 Heavenly Father God, we just ask 01:03 that you will be with us now as we discuss this topic. 01:06 In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. 01:08 Amen. Amen. 01:10 All right, let's introduce our panel. 01:11 To my left, I have chaplain Xavier Morales, 01:14 so glad he's here with us today 01:15 and his wife, Brittany Hill-Morales, 01:17 so glad she is here. 01:18 Also, we have the Douglas Family, 01:20 Pastor K.P. Douglas, 01:21 and his wife, Kimberly Douglas. 01:22 So glad you're all here for this discussion 01:25 because we really want to talk about 01:27 what are the ideals, okay? 01:28 That's the first question. 01:31 What really is the life that God wants us to live? 01:33 You know, we talk about purity all the time, pure choices, 01:38 what is the ultimate choice? 01:39 What does the ultimate pure life look like 01:42 and so let's just start there and maybe just all of us can, 01:45 I guess, expound on what we feel, 01:47 according to God's word of how he wants us to live. 01:51 Let's start with... 01:52 I'll start with Xavier and we'll work around. 01:56 There is a lot of... 01:57 KP said about that, living a pure life. 02:00 You know, perfectionist are way out of the question 02:01 until the Second Coming 02:03 but I think for me, for example, 02:06 my steps towards a better life or pure life 02:10 was to remove elements 02:11 that were obstructing my view of God 02:13 or my relationship with him 02:15 such as, you know, certain movies I used to own, 02:18 certain CDs or music that I used to have, 02:21 the elements that completely hindered me 02:23 or kind of stunted my growth with Christ. 02:26 Okay. 02:28 So there were some things 02:29 that you had to cut out of your life. 02:31 Okay. All right. 02:32 I would also add 02:33 as another thing of living the pure life 02:35 is being careful of your body, being mindful of it, 02:39 avoiding the substances that will pollute it 02:42 and not make you be pure 02:44 and that will kind of distort the way you think 02:46 or how you act or even how you just simply live, 02:50 that's also important according to God's Word. 02:52 Okay. 02:54 For some reason, the first word 02:56 that came to mind for me was joy. 02:58 Making those decisions and doing those things 03:02 that are in line with God's Word 03:05 that brings joy 03:06 and that's just, you know, 03:08 happiness that comes and goes with joy that's... 03:09 Amen. All right. 03:13 I think that of course, purity is a two-sided coin. 03:17 On one side, God does the real purifying. 03:21 He is the only one who can truly clean. 03:23 On the other side, I am reminded that God says, 03:25 you know, to Aaron and his sons, 03:27 "Purify yourselves." 03:28 You know, "Consecrate yourselves," 03:29 which is remove all things that, 03:32 you know, will defile, you know. 03:34 And I know for me 03:35 that didn't necessarily mean that, 03:37 you know, my purifying myself 03:38 equals God's purifying or righteousness. 03:41 To me living the purified life means 03:43 doing whatever is necessary 03:45 to put myself in a position 03:47 for God to do the work that He has to do in my life. 03:50 Amen. 03:51 I think for me, you know, 03:53 ultimately a pure life has come in, 03:55 you know, for me in making a pure choice 03:57 which would be to choose Jesus every day. 04:00 And the practical thing, of course, is that 04:02 we kind of make mistakes, 04:04 we're going to live broken lives. 04:06 We're going to always make the pure choice, 04:10 but I look at, you know the verses like, 04:12 you know, if you confess your sins, 04:13 he is faithful and just to forgive your every sin 04:16 and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. 04:17 You know, I think that, 04:19 Ellen White says in Steps to Christ 04:20 making that initial choice 04:22 for God to clean you up, you know, 04:24 and allowing Him to be the one that's cleaning you 04:26 and if you are, you know, ultimately, 04:28 that's going to be the question, 04:29 "Are you saying yes to Jesus every day?" 04:31 You know, and that's what He is looking for, 04:33 people who are just saying yes to Him in the morning 04:36 when they arise, "Give me, Jesus," you know, 04:38 and when they go to sleep, 04:40 is that the circle of your life? 04:43 Are you looking for him for the parameters 04:44 of how you live your life? 04:47 And I think we want to be careful 04:48 even in the way we say it 04:50 because we don't want people at home to think 04:52 it's about getting up and literally every morning 04:54 and saying, you know, "I give myself to you, God," 04:57 which, yes, we are doing 04:58 but, you know, Christ is more concerned 05:00 about our heart posture, 05:01 you know, he is not really concerned about 05:03 you rehearsing lines that work for someone else. 05:05 You know, it's just all about that mindset that says, 05:08 "What do you really think of yourself 05:09 in a relationship with Christ?" 05:11 Now, just like Ellen White says, 05:12 as a matter of fact, you know, we talk while 05:14 what it looks like, Ellen White says, 05:15 "The closer you get to God the more, 05:17 you know, it is revealed to you just how messed up you are." 05:20 And so a person who is close to God 05:22 who is living that pure life, 05:24 to me, may look more humble, be more humble, 05:27 because they realize who they are 05:29 but they would still seek out the joy 05:31 because in seeing who they are, 05:33 they are encouraged knowing that God still works with them 05:37 knowing just how blessed they are. 05:38 Yeah, that's just good 05:40 because could you ever really say, 05:41 "I'm living a pure life?" 05:42 I don't think anybody can really say that 05:44 because you're saying. 05:45 You're going to look at yourself and say, 05:46 "Man, I'm not all that great." 05:48 But if you're practicing making pure choices, 05:50 then, you know, that you will be reflecting the life 05:52 that God wants you to live. 05:54 Did I... Do you want to say... Okay. 05:56 All right, so let's go ahead and talk about 05:57 this brokenness. 05:59 Let's talk about 06:00 what are some practical steps that people can take to truly, 06:04 you know, get in position if you would 06:07 or to be able to overcome all the struggles 06:10 that we know we have faced and are facing even now. 06:13 What are some steps? 06:15 Let's start with one of the ladies. 06:16 Yeah, tell me, give me some steps, tips, I guess. 06:20 Tips. 06:21 When Xavier and I were dating, 06:23 one of the things that we did 06:25 was to refrain from kissing on the lips. 06:29 That's what we did because we both knew our pasts. 06:32 We knew that we would be more, I guess, more inclined to fall 06:38 if we were kissing 06:39 because it always leads to just wanting more. 06:42 So we decided not to do that 06:44 so that we would be, I guess, in a better position 06:47 for when we got married to be more pure 06:49 because we had that moment of celibacy. 06:51 So basically staying away from like triggers. 06:53 Staying away from triggers, yes. 06:55 Yeah, you got to know yourself 06:56 and what it is that triggers you 06:58 to go down that dark place that you don't want to go down 07:01 and you have to really be honest to yourself and say, 07:03 "I don't want to go down that road 07:05 and I need to put some safeguards in." 07:07 'Cause I mean, that takes some maturity 07:08 but you already know, so real, 07:09 I mean, let's be honest, that's tough, 07:11 I mean, I don't know. I don't think it was hard. 07:13 You're doing yourself a lot, okay. 07:14 'Cause I had to pray every day. 07:18 Fasting and prayer, some things only come by that. 07:21 I think, you know, in looking back at, 07:24 you know, I guess, pure choices 07:26 and how to make pure choices in relationship, 07:29 I really have to say, "Thank God for my parents" 07:32 because, you know, they set that example. 07:38 They're not perfect but they set the example of 07:42 what a healthy relationship looks like 07:46 and they gave me some things to aspire to. 07:48 Sure. 07:50 And so, you know, 07:51 I guess in looking at their relationship now, 07:55 I started to identify different things 07:58 that I would like in my own relationship 08:02 and saying yes to some things 08:04 and saying no emphatically to some things, 08:07 you know, helped with, you know, maintaining purity. 08:10 Sure. Yeah. 08:11 And I'll just say that, 08:13 I thought, well, my parents started about, 08:14 you know, the prayer, they prayed for me 08:16 and also there's another tip 08:17 I guess the concept the prayer you have to be in, 08:19 you know, you have to create the habit of praying 08:21 and a habit of, you know, even looking at others 08:24 you know are doing what you want to do, you know, 08:27 and to be intentional about this thing 08:29 because it's not going to come easy, 08:30 no, it's tough, it's tough. 08:32 One thing that I'm learning right now 08:34 in my journey with Christ and especially pastoring is, 08:37 you know, I don't think, 08:39 you know, I don't know how to say this, 08:40 don't really take everything so seriously. 08:45 You know, I think part of why we mess up 08:48 is that we give a lot of attention to our faults. 08:51 We give a lot of attention to where we mess up. 08:53 You know, for me, 08:54 I'm the kind of person that says 08:56 if I know I have a problem now, 08:57 I pray about and give it to God. 08:58 I don't want to get up every morning 09:00 and think about that problem. 09:01 You know what I'm saying? 09:02 Matter of fact, the more I think about it, 09:04 the more I may be inclined 09:05 to be given over to and so, yes, 09:06 as I do get up and pray that pray to God, 09:09 "Today I'm praying, you know, let you crucify my flesh 09:12 and help me to make these decisions." 09:14 I also go to the living victoriously 09:17 if you will 09:18 as if God has already given me the victory over that thing. 09:21 Because He really... 09:22 And if I fall like you said, I know that I have an advocate. 09:25 You know, I think, sometimes even in living a life of purity 09:28 we forget, you know, that all we have is an advocate. 09:31 We no longer have somebody 09:33 that's pointing our flaws to God. 09:34 Yeah. You know, God knows our flaws. 09:36 He wants to acknowledge them, but you know, Paul says, 09:39 "Now you walk in newness of life. 09:41 Don't just talk about your death and burial 09:44 and focus on resurrection and a new life." 09:47 You know, sometimes we focus on the sins more 09:48 than we do the victory over them. 09:50 And more often the ones that accuse ourselves, 09:52 put ourselves down, 09:54 and measure all the things we did wrong. 09:55 Xavier, go ahead. 09:57 I think one of the things that I had to accept was pain. 10:00 You know, brokenness equals pain, you know. 10:02 It's like if you've ever been in an accident, 10:05 if anybody's ever been in a car accident situation 10:07 where there is glass inside of you 10:08 or something that they got to pull it out, it's painful. 10:11 You know, sometimes we paint the walk 10:13 to be so fluffy, hazy should I say 10:16 No, you know brokenness equals pain 10:18 and this is one thing I had to accept. 10:20 But what brought me joy was because I grew up in the church 10:25 and leaving and then coming back, 10:27 I've always been presented to God that is, 10:29 you know, fluffy, you know, 10:31 and when I reread the Bible for myself, 10:33 I saw there's God of, you know, justice, of war, of, 10:38 you know, saying the war's already won. 10:40 And I was excited because, you know, 10:42 it's a battle for the flesh, it's a battle for the mind so, 10:45 you know, for me it was just a matter of my brokenness. 10:48 You know, I'm tired of it. 10:50 I'm going to strive every day just to wage war, 10:53 you know, against my own flesh. 10:56 It's a tricky thing and it's painful at times 10:59 but just accepting the fact 11:01 that pain comes with the territory 11:03 because of sin, but it's joy, 11:05 you know, happiness happens, joy sticks. 11:08 Yes. Amen. 11:09 I like that, you know, 11:10 and I know for me in kind of transitioning 11:12 also what you all are saying, 11:14 you know, I don't really have a motivation 11:16 to live a pure life, you know. 11:18 I didn't really want to. 11:19 I kind of was afraid of how it would look. 11:21 I was afraid to let go of the pain I was holding on to 11:24 because it was kind of a safety net for me. 11:26 And so what do you just say to someone, 11:28 you know, what is the value of living a pure life? 11:32 What can you expect 11:34 and what joy can you receive truly 11:37 from actually exercising these principles 11:39 and these practices that we've been talking about? 11:43 I was going to say, from a teacher's perspective, 11:49 you know, having high school boys, 11:52 it's not always what you say, high school girls too. 11:56 It's not what you say. 11:58 They're going to watch 11:59 what you do and how you think about, 12:02 you know, the life you live 12:04 more than they're going to listen to what you say. 12:07 And so, you know, when I think about 12:09 getting through to friends or other people, 12:13 I'm very intentional about the words I say 12:17 and I make sure that I nurture certain relationships 12:22 because I know that those individuals 12:24 might be struggling with certain things 12:26 and so I try not to 12:28 because sometimes it comes across your lecturing 12:29 and that you know more than they do 12:32 and then that's definitely not my intention, 12:34 I don't want to come across as some, 12:36 you know, expert or anything 12:37 so I just try to live that life and show them 12:40 and be honest about, you know, the stuff I struggle with too. 12:44 Yeah. 12:45 So really it gives you motivation 12:47 to want to be an example for someone else 12:51 so you live your peer life 12:52 to be an example for someone else. 12:54 Okay, I like that. And, Pastor, go ahead. 12:56 I think one of the biggest benefits for me 13:00 is no more guilt. 13:03 At least the guilt, you know, dissipating. 13:04 I mean, you're always going to feel guilty in some regards 13:08 but the guilt is so much less. 13:09 Freedom. It's so much less, man. 13:11 And that's one of my biggest things 13:13 I'm learning in my walk with Christ 13:14 is if I have to always look over my shoulder 13:17 and, you know, thinking if, you know, 13:18 "What's God thinking?" 13:20 That to me, like you said is not freedom, 13:22 that's slavery, man. 13:23 I praise God that when you're living right, 13:26 you don't have to deal with guilt. 13:27 Yeah. 13:28 "If the Son sets you free, you're free indeed." 13:30 Free indeed. Yeah. 13:31 I would also add that you also feel more at peace 13:35 because when you know you're doing things right, 13:38 you're not scared of repercussions 13:40 or is this going to happen to me now 13:42 because I did this 13:43 or what if the church member finds that 13:46 what's going to happen, you feel more at peace 13:48 because you're really not doing anything crazy 13:50 for anything out of order to happen, 13:53 so you feel more relaxed. 13:55 You can be like okay. That's just my life. 13:59 I know it's good right now, 14:00 I don't have to stress about other things. 14:03 Okay. 14:04 The other thing is like 14:06 sometimes we blame the devil a lot. 14:07 And I think that the biggest enemy 14:09 is actually yourself. 14:11 You know, when you give 'cause there's the time 14:13 where you're doing so much recklessness 14:15 that the devil will not want to deal with you. 14:17 They don't have to deal with you no more. 14:19 And I think that come to a point 14:21 where, you know, you get released 14:23 from that impure life, 14:25 not into perfection but into salvation, 14:28 you know, into living better. 14:30 And I guess Pastor K. Douglas said, 14:32 you know, not looking over your shoulder, 14:33 you know, having peace like you're, 14:35 you know, I know where my head lies 14:37 and I can go to bed resting peacefully... 14:41 Let me say that correctly resting peacefully 14:45 because I know that even though, you know, 14:48 we're going to not always getting right 14:49 but because I'm striving to do what the Bible says, 14:52 you know, go from glory to glory, 14:54 I'm struggling to do the best 14:55 that I can each day, I don't have to... 14:57 no longer do I have to worry, I'm free, 15:00 It's a freedom that I can't even describe. 15:03 Amen. Yeah. That's awesome. 15:05 So, you know, this impurity 15:08 if you choose to live an impure life, 15:10 it has a lot of effects on your relationship with God. 15:13 You know, when you are just saying, 15:15 "Well I'm going to 15:17 just do a little bit of sex today. 15:18 I'm going to be you know, engaged in going to this club 15:21 and doing this with this person and this person here, 15:23 I'm going to have these casual dates." 15:25 And all of the things that, 15:26 you know, we engage in that we think may be harmless, 15:30 but how do these type of things really take us away from God 15:34 and really affect our relationship with God? 15:37 Because a lot of people will say, 15:38 you know, "I can do that and I can go to church, 15:40 you know, I can do this stuff I want to do 15:41 but I can do the church thing as well." 15:43 It's kind of like Adam and Eve. 15:46 You know, when they sinned, 15:49 you know, their first thing was to hide. 15:52 And I think 15:54 when you're living outside of God's will, 15:59 there is that inclination to hide, 16:04 you know, so you run from church 16:07 or you don't really want to have 16:10 to listen to those friends 16:11 who will point out your nonsense. 16:14 They're being honest, they're being truthful, 16:17 but yet, you're defensive because you know they're right, 16:22 you know what you should be doing, 16:23 so there is that tendency to run and to hide. 16:27 I think living those two lives is... 16:29 I got to commend those people who live those two lives 16:31 because that take a lot of work, I'm sorry, 16:34 takes a lot of work to you know, 16:35 be praising, you're like... 16:37 like the Bible says, you know, 16:38 "They honor me with the lips 16:40 but their hearts are far away from me." 16:41 How does that work? 16:42 How can you, you know, no one can serve two masters, 16:44 I mean, it's all over the Bible. 16:46 It takes a lot of effort to be in the church 16:48 and be doing things 16:50 and I hate to even say 16:51 the terminology being at church. 16:53 Being and, you know, 16:55 trying to walk with Christ and living a double life, 16:57 you know, it takes a lot of effort 16:58 and either one way or the other, 17:01 you're gonna choose a path. 17:04 And most of the time, unfortunately, 17:06 you know, as they say, 17:07 the default setting is not Christ. 17:09 And so that said, 17:10 because you really put an effort 17:13 into being a Christian in vain all this time. 17:17 So it may not be as glamorous to be a Christian 17:23 but I think, you know, 17:24 one of the things that hinders you 17:25 is actually you know, 17:27 living to the stigma or whatever society says so. 17:30 Yeah, I mean, I'll just be honest in all 17:32 'cause you all as well that, 17:35 it just tears your relationship with God. 17:37 I mean, you know, 17:38 when you're trying to be on the fence, 17:40 you're trying to do both, 17:42 I mean, it is just so tough to keep it together, 17:43 it's like kind of keep that lie together. 17:45 It is just hard to really be the Christian 17:50 that you want to be, you know, it's like Paul says, Paul says, 17:52 you know, I'd strive to do, it's just a struggle, 17:55 it's a war inside of me, you know. 17:57 And that war if you're not actually fighting the war, 17:59 if you're just saying, "I'll just do whatever," 18:01 you know, it is hard 18:03 when you don't give your life over to Jesus. 18:04 It makes things so much tougher 18:06 and you get to a place in your life 18:07 where it'll be like, 18:09 "Man, where is God, you know, what happened? 18:11 Where did I leave him at?" 18:12 You know, and that's a scary place to be. 18:15 Honestly living a double life 18:17 makes you have a very stagnant relationship with God. 18:21 You don't grow any closer, any deeper 18:24 because you're doing that double life 18:26 and I've noticed even with some of my friends 18:29 living the double life 18:30 drew them further and further away 18:32 where this Jesus 18:34 who they love so much, is just God 18:36 and this God who is their Father 18:39 is now just this divine being 18:41 and it goes from divine being to, 18:43 "Oh, maybe he exists. 18:44 I'm agnostic. Well, you know what? 18:47 He doesn't really exist 18:49 because of XY and Z phenomena ages like, 18:50 I've seen this just keeping on decreasing and decreasing 18:55 and if we spoke to them maybe five years ago, 18:58 they would have told you that would never happen. 19:00 They were hardcore, dedicated with God 19:04 and now it's just what happened and that's usually how it goes. 19:09 Wow. 19:10 I think that's because even the question 19:12 we're asking is kind of a misnomer, 19:14 I'm not sure if I'm using it right 19:16 or paradox really. 19:17 We're asking does impurity affect your relation with God 19:22 when the cult of purity is also the cult of relationship. 19:25 You know when God says to Abraham, 19:27 you know, "I want you to be perfect," 19:29 He really says, 19:30 "I want you to be correct in relationship to me, 19:33 you know, not I want you to go about doing things," 19:36 But He is saying, "I want you to be in Me." 19:39 Just as Jesus described it, 19:40 you know, "I am in you and you're in Me. 19:42 I want them also to be the same." 19:44 And so that cult of purity is a cult of relationship. 19:48 So, does impurity affect your relationship? 19:50 Of course, it does 19:51 because impurity is a lack of relationship. 19:54 You know, what I'm saying? 19:55 And so you know, what God is saying is, 19:57 "Listen..." 19:58 And the thing about relationship is 19:59 if I could too 20:01 and this is maybe where people get caught wrong. 20:02 In my relationship with my wife, 20:03 we arguing we still in a relationship, 20:06 we agree, we're in a relationship, 20:07 we fight in a relationship. 20:09 And God is saying, 20:10 "Listen, you don't always have to understand, 20:11 you don't have always to agree, 20:13 you know, you don't always have to get it right, 20:15 you just have to stay in relationship." 20:16 Yeah. Yeah. 20:17 You know what I'm saying. That's good. 20:19 And if you stay in relationship, 20:20 I am so gracious, I will count that as purity. 20:22 Mercy. 20:23 And that's so beautiful because that's what God wants. 20:27 I mean, He knows at the end of the day, 20:29 you know, He is just trying to get us to heaven, right? 20:31 He knows that we're starting to make mistakes, 20:33 but He loves us so much, 20:34 you know, "Just stay by me, just stay with me." 20:36 You know, and I think that nowadays 20:38 because of the mentality of today, 20:41 especially the young people of, "I'm just going to do me." 20:43 You know, "I'm gonna do what I want to do, 20:45 you know, I don't want to worry about living a pure life 20:48 or what God wants me to do, I have my own agenda." 20:51 You know, that's not the relationship 20:52 that you have with your friends or with your spouse, 20:55 you know, the relationship with God is, 20:57 "God, I need to know, I want to seek after your face. 20:59 I want to seek after what is it you want me to do 21:02 and how I can really do the thing?" 21:04 God will do that for us 21:06 if we're open to letting Him do it. 21:08 I think also you mentioned, 21:10 you know, the young people and society 21:12 as a whole one of the things that hinders us too 21:15 is these cliche sayings, 21:17 you know, "Only God can judge me." 21:20 We've been to bathroom yesterday. 21:21 Yes. 21:23 Or "God loves me the way I am." 21:24 And I think people often forget that. 21:27 Yes, He loves you for who you are 21:29 but He doesn't leave you where you're at, you know. 21:32 And "Only God can judge me." 21:33 I'm excited but that scares the mess out of me. 21:35 Only God can... 21:37 I'd rather judge jury judge me. 21:40 Only God can judge me that means 21:42 I ultimately gotta go before the perfect maker 21:46 who made me and tell Him 21:48 how reckless I've been with my body, 21:50 with my decisions, 21:51 all because I want to live for me. 21:53 I want to do me and that's a scary place to be, 21:56 you know, so I think that's also, 21:58 you know, an aspect of, 22:00 you know, living an impure life 22:02 hinders your cognitive ability for commonsense. 22:06 Wow. 22:07 So let's talk about that, 22:09 you know, that whatever happens to you 22:12 when you're in that rut and you just can't get out, 22:13 how does it not only affect your relationship with God, 22:15 but how does it affect your relationship with people, 22:17 your spouse, your relationships, 22:19 what does that really do in damage in those areas? 22:23 I have a friend who says the same way that you would 22:26 cultivate a friendship or a regular relationship 22:30 is the same way you would cultivate 22:32 your relationship with God. 22:34 You know, you spend time, you get to know one another 22:37 but some reason, for some reason 22:40 when it comes to God we just freeze 22:42 and we think it's some totally different, 22:44 you know, approach 22:46 and so the principles that work over here, 22:47 we assume they don't work here when, you know, that's not so. 22:53 When we're off in our relationship with God, 22:56 chances are you're going to be off 22:58 with other people and yourself also 23:02 because it's the same principles. 23:04 All right. Amen. Like, that? I definitely agree. 23:07 As you're saying it's off that even when you have friends 23:11 who are trying to tell you to do something that is right 23:14 you feel like they're against you. 23:16 You don't want to talk to them anymore. 23:18 "No, don't tell me this." 23:20 As you said, "I'm going to do me." 23:21 So you end up breaking off all of the quality relations 23:24 that you have with people who would be, 23:28 you know, I would say probably ride or die 23:29 who would do anything for you to connect with people 23:32 who may have the same philosophy as you 23:35 but they are not going to do everything in their powers 23:38 to be quality friends and you go down a path of, 23:43 "I'm going to do this because it makes me feel good." 23:46 And no matter how much 23:47 these good people are trying to help you, you just... 23:51 Yeah. 23:53 I know individuals, you know 23:54 who would just alienate their family, their friends, 23:57 all the people that truly love them, 23:59 just because they want to be with an individual, 24:01 they want to do what they want to do, 24:03 you know, even though 24:04 everybody is telling them the contrary, 24:06 "This is what you should or should not do." 24:08 They're just so anti to what people tell them to do 24:10 and they're going to mess their life up 24:11 and just do what they want to do, 24:13 you know, and it messes up the relationship with those 24:15 who really love them and trying to have 24:17 their best interest in mind and at the end of the day, 24:19 they look back and there's nobody there. 24:25 I've seen that with friends and family of mine that, 24:26 you know, it's not that you kick them to the curb 24:29 or anything like that or ride them off, 24:30 you know, you try to be there 24:32 but, you know, you try to be as Christ-like 24:35 and loving as possible you know to them 24:37 but it's like, you know, you can't force yourself, 24:41 you know, you can't force yourself on them, 24:42 you can't force them to follow whatever you follow. 24:45 You can only love them and sometimes 24:47 that cause you to love them from afar. 24:49 So a lot of times, you know, 24:50 this causes isolation 24:52 and not because they're not choosing to follow God 24:54 but because not following God 24:57 starts causing erratic behavior 24:59 that are detrimental to those relationships. 25:03 I think one of the things if I could that we forget 25:06 is that all relationships begin with God. 25:09 Not just that God gives us relationship, 25:11 we only talk about marriage 25:12 but that relationship existed in God 25:15 before man existed, 25:16 you know, He said, let us make man 25:19 and so there really is, as far as I'm concerned, 25:21 can be no successful relationship to avoid God 25:24 and even the ones that appear to be successful to avoid God 25:27 are only successful by His grace, 25:29 and so how will it affect your relationship, 25:32 without God, there is no relationship. 25:34 Okay. That's deep. 25:36 There was something that Xavier said 25:37 before that made me think 25:39 of the parable of the ten virgins. 25:41 At one point, five had to say, 25:43 "No, we can't give you any oil." 25:46 You know, and that might seem 25:49 unchristian-like or unchrist-like 25:52 but there will come a time where you're gonna have to, 25:54 like you said, guard your avenues 25:57 because of what might be erratic behavior. 26:01 And I think there's something he said before that about 26:07 it messing with your commonsense. 26:10 You know, and that's major 26:11 because that grows 26:13 to the breaking off of friendships, 26:15 isolating yourself, leaving family. 26:18 "Pure choices, why would I want to make any, 26:20 you know, pure choice? 26:22 How is that going to help me now? 26:23 It looks more fun to do X, Y, or Z." 26:25 Sure. Yeah. That's good. 26:27 Your comment reasoning is just totally 26:29 it's plain game if you think about it. 26:31 So let's real quick, somebody give, you know, 26:32 maybe a few seconds of motivation to someone 26:35 who is on the ledge, they're just not sure 26:38 if they want to really live that life, 26:40 what can we say to motivate them, 26:41 a heartfelt motivation to get them on the right track. 26:45 Brittany, want to try to motivate somebody? 26:49 Okay. 26:50 I would say that 26:53 it may seem like it's going to be fun 26:56 and it may seem like 26:57 it's going to be a great experience 26:59 but honestly, it's not. 27:01 A few years from now, 27:03 you're going to look back and wish 27:04 that you did differently. 27:05 And why have that heartache 27:07 when you can just make the right choice now? 27:10 Amen. 27:11 That's what I would really say like just don't do it 27:13 because there is so much heartache 27:14 and it's so much effort to try to recover. 27:17 I've spoken to so many other females 27:19 who are trying to recover from their past mistakes 27:21 and it takes not a day or two, 27:23 it takes years to recover, so just don't do it. 27:26 Amen. 27:28 All right, somebody else, real quick? 27:29 Well I would just say, Man, don't give up. 27:31 You know, the song we always sing, 27:33 Don't Give Up on God, He Won't Give Up on You. 27:34 Yeah. But just don't give up. 27:36 There's always hope 27:37 and everything we see on the show is not to, 27:39 you know, make you feel bad 27:40 or to make you feel like you're far 27:42 but just to let you know that there is hope. 27:44 You know, if God can do it for me, 27:45 if He can do it for Kim, 27:47 if He can do it for anybody on this panel, 27:48 He can definitely do it for you. 27:50 Praise God. And He is so powerful. 27:52 You know, He has done it for me, 27:54 He has done it for many of us on here and He is not done yet. 27:57 He is still working on me. 27:58 Please, know that He is still working on me. 28:00 He is still allowing me to live a pure life 28:04 because I choose every day 28:07 to make my choice Jesus, to make my choice Him, 28:10 and because of that He is honoring that 28:13 and cleaning me up. 28:14 I'm so thankful for that. 28:16 It's a powerful and beautiful and wonderful place to be. 28:19 I just want to leave that to you guys. 28:20 Motivation, like my Pastor Douglas says, 28:23 don't stop, keep pressing forward, 28:24 keep trying and know that you can make Pure Choices. 28:28 God bless you. |
Revised 2018-01-18