Participants: Timothy Lawson (Host), Xavier Morales, Brittany-Hill Morales, Myesha Lawson, Jacques LaGuerre
Series Code: PC
Program Code: PC000091A
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00:01 The following program discusses sensitive issues.
00:04 Parents are cautioned that some material 00:06 may be too candid for younger children. 00:42 Welcome to the Pure Choices, 00:44 and I am your host Timothy Lawson. 00:46 And I have some friends with me here today. 00:48 I am going to get right into introducing them. 00:51 We have right here on my right Brittany Morales, 00:54 and this is her husband Xavier Morales, 00:57 this is Jacques LaGuerre, 00:59 and this is my lovely wife beautiful Myesha Lawson. 01:02 Now before we go any further, this is a spiritual show, 01:05 so we want to ask God to be with us in prayer 01:09 so if you bow your heads with me. 01:11 Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You again 01:14 for bringing us again here today 01:16 and blessing us and keeping us, in Jesus' name, amen. 01:20 Amen. 01:21 All right, the topic of today's program 01:23 is an interesting one. 01:25 We're going to talk about hip-hop and sexuality. 01:28 Does hip-hop affect your sexuality? 01:30 Does it teach you about sexuality? 01:33 And are those effects negative or positive? 01:36 But before we get into that, let's... 01:38 Once again I love definitions. 01:40 Defining what we are talking about. 01:42 What is hip-hop? 01:45 Or just what do you guys think hip-hop is? 01:48 I think hip-hop, it's a culture. 01:52 Hip-hop, it's a way of thinking, 01:54 it tells you how to dress, it tells you how to act, 01:57 it tells you how to talk, it tells you how to walk. 01:59 I think hip-hop is a package. 02:01 It's a whole package deal. 02:02 Yes. Okay. 02:04 I like to say that it's a religion, 02:05 their religion. 02:07 They want to push what they believe that you... 02:11 How you should be, how you should live. 02:14 So it's a spiritual kind of movement, 02:16 and it affects your spirituality. 02:18 Yes, most definitely. Okay. 02:19 Yes. Okay. 02:20 Anybody else? 02:22 Was it... Go ahead. 02:23 When I think of hip-hop, 02:25 well, my first thought is the John Wayne music, 02:29 the different beats, 02:31 probably, the different rappers. 02:32 That's the first thing that comes to my mind 02:33 when I think of hip-hop. 02:35 Well, I was listening to one of the, you know, 02:39 main voices in hip-hop describe what it was, 02:43 and I like the way he put it, 02:45 and it ties into what all of you guys said. 02:47 The rappers, the cultural movement, 02:50 and how it affects your spirituality. 02:52 He said the word hip, it means to know something. 02:55 If you're hipped to something, 02:56 then you have knowledge of that event. 02:58 And if you hop, that means you are in movement, 03:00 and so it's an intellectual movement. 03:03 And so what it's for is, like you said, 03:05 to teach you a certain culture 03:07 and that is done through music, 03:09 and the people that use it, 03:11 and this also affects your spirituality. 03:13 And so that's what hip-hop is, 03:16 even though, some of you watch it, 03:18 may listen to it, and enjoy it, 03:20 its purpose is also to teach you something. 03:23 And so what is sexuality? 03:25 Just what is that, human sexuality? 03:28 It's trying to just be in a, you know, 03:30 it's about sex, you know, like sexuality in the sense of, 03:33 you know, who you are. 03:35 It can go anywhere though, 03:37 it could be a gender, it could be lifestyle, 03:39 you know, it's a very broad term to define. 03:43 I like to think of another word as being desirable. 03:48 It's another form of sexuality, 03:51 you know, you want to look the par, 03:53 you want to be looked at, you want to be lust after. 03:58 Lust after, sexuality. Yeah. 04:00 Well, there's good and bad sexuality. 04:03 So some of it's used to lust, 04:05 and I think some of it is just the attraction 04:10 from one person to another person. 04:13 Okay, now I know in hip-hop, there is a lot of pride. 04:16 You know, battle rap is popular, 04:18 everybody's trying to be the best as it were, 04:20 that's one of the main tenets. 04:22 So if you listen to hip-hop, and it's teaching you things, 04:25 how does the pride that it instilled, 04:27 how can that affect your sexuality? 04:31 How can something that's teaching you pride 04:34 be used, you know, 04:36 and how you view your sexuality? 04:39 Well, part of the thing with sexuality 04:43 is just that it's supposed to be an expression of love 04:46 because it's supposed to bring us closer to God. 04:49 It's supposed to be an act of worship. 04:50 But when you feel pride in the mix 04:52 which was the first sin, 04:54 then that bleeds into your sexual life, 04:58 and instead of your sexual expression 05:01 being holy and pure, 05:02 it's all about conquests, 05:04 and how many girls, or how many guys, 05:08 or how many looks, or how many likes, 05:11 or how many, you know, followers that I have. 05:15 And it stops being about worship 05:17 and it starts being about self, 05:19 and that could be because of the pride you're receiving 05:21 in hip-hop, 05:22 you know, you have all the women dancing on stage 05:25 and all these different things, 05:27 and a man feels like he's more of a man 05:29 because he has all these women around him 05:32 and that is one of the core tenets of hip-hop 05:35 is having a lot of women. 05:37 Right. Having a lot of women and... 05:39 I want to say the same thing about... 05:40 For women, I mean, it's the same thing, you know, 05:44 women, we want to be, like I said, looked at, 05:48 we want to be lust after, we consider ourselves sexy, 05:52 you know? 05:54 And that is exactly what hip-hop teaches women nowadays 05:58 that you can be sexy, that you can be... 06:02 Basically, you can be nasty, it's okay. 06:05 I mean, I grew up hearing about if men can do it, so can women. 06:10 And so yeah, that's what I get from it. 06:14 Now does hip-hop have any... 06:18 has it had any negative effects on the majority of culture 06:22 that people that listen to it? 06:24 And I know there's a broad culture 06:25 now out there in the world 06:26 and a lot of people listen to hip-hops, 06:28 but I want to hear some of the negative effects, 06:30 as it relates to sexuality 06:32 that it's had on inner city communities. 06:35 It's pretty much incarcerated or enslaved them. 06:38 You know, the very slavery there, 06:40 you know, we talk about 06:41 they're in it 06:43 because it enslaves you to an agenda, 06:46 an underground agenda, you know, 06:48 you have to be rich even if you go bankrupt, 06:52 at least you got to look the par. 06:54 You know, like Jacques was saying, 06:56 you got to have the girls, you know? 06:58 Even if you're messed up, you know, 07:00 and a lot of times we see that, 07:01 we see them smiling and dancing and everything, 07:04 but behind the scenes, we don't see what's going on, 07:06 that depression, you know, the self-worth. 07:09 You know, hip-hop, in its essence, 07:11 has destroyed the inner city, 07:14 you know, ethnic inner city communities, 07:16 the lifestyle because we talk about MLK, 07:20 but yeah, we follow other people 07:22 that are not from that persuasion 07:25 that are not good leaders, you know, 07:26 and essentially it's from the hip-hop community 07:29 that teaches us, you know, 07:30 we need to have the bling-bling, 07:32 we need to have the jewelry, the cars, the money, 07:35 the women, the power, 07:36 when essentially we're nothing, we don't have anything 07:39 but at least if we look like we do, 07:41 then we fit in, then we look good, 07:43 then we act the par. 07:44 So do you think... Go ahead, Jacques. 07:46 And I know you're asking about how does it affect 07:48 the inner city, 07:50 but I feel like with hip-hop, 07:52 the devil has been able to take that culture 07:56 that Xavier was just talking about 07:58 and transport it anywhere. 08:00 And so a lot of parents, they might leave the cities 08:05 and go to a more rural setting to raise their child 08:07 in a more healthy environment, 08:10 but yet that child is now being exposed 08:12 to all the filth of hip-hop. 08:14 And so in essence, 08:16 you have a prodigal who's living at home. 08:19 And so you thought that 08:20 you could bring them out of the city 08:22 but then the city kind of crept into the back door, 08:25 and then all the vice and crime... 08:27 And I speak from personal experience 08:29 'cause I lived in the suburbs 08:31 but then I love listening to rap, 08:32 and I loved hip-hop, 08:34 and I loved doing all these things, 08:35 and my clothes were four sizes too big, 08:38 my parents were sagging, I was cursing, I was swearing. 08:41 And I didn't learn that at home, 08:42 and I didn't learn that from the people around me, 08:44 but I learned that from hip-hop. 08:45 Learned that from the music. I learned it from the music. 08:47 I like what you said about 08:48 something that the devil is trying to use. 08:50 Now we know in anything, 08:53 nothing is "hundred percent bad" 08:56 or there's some good in everything. 08:58 You can listen to some songs, I guess, 08:59 and they can be positive 09:01 'cause I know some of you viewers 09:02 might be thinking out there, 09:04 "But there's some songs I listen to, 09:05 and they don't tell me to do these bad things 09:07 or say these bad things, they're positive." 09:09 But the overall message you guys are saying 09:12 or at least what's being promoted 09:13 from the overall message is having a negative effect. 09:17 Do you think that's by design? 09:18 Do you think that's on purpose? And if so, why? 09:23 That what mostly you see is negative 09:26 and not the positive. 09:28 I think it is intentional. 09:30 And why do you think so? 09:32 I think because the devil's trying to keep us down. 09:35 He's trying to get us to reflect his image. 09:38 He's trying to mar the image of God in us. 09:41 And if you could use music to do that, 09:44 then I believe that it's very intentional, 09:47 that he knows exactly what he's doing, 09:49 and he's very familiar with music, 09:51 and so that's the medium he chooses 09:53 to get through our subconscious 09:54 and to influence us 09:56 without us even really consenting a hundred percent. 10:00 Now that's beautiful 10:01 because music is one of the greatest teaching tools 10:04 you can use. 10:05 I have whole... 10:07 I haven't listened to that kind of music in a long time 10:09 and I have still whole albums in my head, that's memorized, 10:12 they're just still there. 10:13 You know, you can recite a verse, 10:15 but it seems like you are saying 10:17 that this music focus on a lot of that outward display 10:21 and outward show, 10:22 and inwardly it just wants you to do 10:24 what you want for yourself. 10:25 And so how does this music genre 10:29 affect the self-worth of so many people 10:32 all across the world? 10:34 Now I don't want everybody to chime on in on this. 10:36 So how does seeing a person up there, 10:38 with all this money, with all these cars, 10:40 saying he's important, 10:42 what do you think that does 10:43 to the person who doesn't have it 10:44 in seeing these women up there that are "desirable," 10:48 what does that do to young ladies 10:49 who don't look like that? 10:50 How does it affect the self-worth? 10:53 Well, for one, 10:55 that person don't know who they are 10:57 because they're not with Christ, 10:59 they don't know their self-worth. 11:00 So when they're looking at these people 11:02 that have, you know, all the glitz and glam, 11:06 you know, they want that, 11:08 they're like, "Oh, I want to be just like them," 11:10 'cause everything looks good out on the surface, you know, 11:13 but like you said we don't know what's going on in the inside 11:17 or behind the scenes. 11:19 So like I said, it has to start with 11:22 do you know yourself, who are you, 11:24 you know, you have to just ask yourself that. 11:26 Okay. Anybody else? Jacques, what do you think? 11:30 I would say it does affect someone's self-worth 11:32 because if you're seeing all these people with money, 11:34 and cars, and girls, and jewelry, 11:37 and then you look in the mirror and you don't have all that, 11:40 then you might feel like you're less of a person, 11:43 and then the devil will then try to tempt you 11:45 to try to go and get that stuff. 11:47 And whether you have the money or not, 11:49 you might resort to petty crime, 11:52 you might resort to selling drugs 11:54 or you might resort to any measures 11:57 so that you can get that so you can "be somebody." 12:02 What do you think, Xavier? 12:03 I think we forget that the devil was, originally, 12:06 the one who directed the music in heaven. 12:08 Oh, all right. You know what I mean? 12:10 And coming from that kind of background myself, 12:14 I understand, you know, 12:16 I lived that lifestyle like that. 12:17 I had brand new car, 12:18 I had a house on an acre of land, 12:20 it was wow. 12:22 You know, I had the money, I had money in my pocket 12:24 and everything like that, 12:25 I had the girls, I had the women. 12:27 But at the end of the day, 12:29 my self-value was placed on that. 12:32 And when I would look in the mirror, 12:34 I wouldn't know who I am, I don't know who I was, 12:36 I just couldn't even look in the mirror for too long 12:39 because you had to find the next habit, you know, 12:41 you've got to find the next, you know, 12:43 that will makes you feel good. 12:44 So, you know, you look in the mirror 12:46 you have to face reality 12:47 but then when that doesn't feel good 12:50 then you go out and try to do, you know, get the money, 12:52 and go ahead and get those girls, 12:53 and get those numbers, and, you know, 12:55 live the life that you see on TV, 12:57 which looks so good. 12:59 Live that lifestyle because you want to feel good. 13:02 And it wasn't until I find out value in Christ that... 13:05 Not only that I started feeling better 13:07 but I got even better stuff than I had before, so... 13:12 Mrs. Morales? 13:13 I was just sitting down and thinking 13:16 'cause every time I've heard hip hop music, 13:17 like the first thing that has always come to my mind 13:20 is who's better at it? 13:24 As in 13:26 when it comes to performing sex, 13:28 you hear the guy is saying, "Okay, I do this with the girl 13:30 and I make her go crazy." 13:32 Or you would hear a girl say, 13:35 "I'm the best versus the other girls, 13:36 I know what..." kind of like, "I know what I'm doing." 13:39 So it's like you hear these little songs, 13:41 little tenets of competition of what it means 13:44 to that you've actually accomplished, 13:46 quality sex in their minds. 13:49 If the neighbors down the street don't hear her, 13:51 that means, it's not good 13:53 or if the guy is not doing crazy stuff with his feet, 13:58 then it's not good. 13:59 Like these different ideas and concepts of this 14:01 this is what it means to have quality sex 14:06 in your relationship 14:07 whether you're married or not, 14:09 these sounds are called like babymaking music. 14:11 This is what it is, or you should probably, dance, 14:14 and be up on the corner somewhere, 14:15 and that's what it is to have that full pleasure 14:18 when it comes to sexuality. 14:20 I know from personal experience, 14:23 especially not growing up without a father, 14:25 and growing up... 14:27 And so what you do is 14:29 things that you don't get taught 14:31 that a father is supposed to teach you, 14:33 you listen to him, and try to hear from anywhere. 14:36 And so what I thought 14:37 a man's self-worth was supposed to be 14:39 is just what was in the music, you pose to be tough, 14:42 you pose to be successful in some kind of way, 14:46 and success means that you have money. 14:48 You know, not necessarily how you look at yourself 14:51 or how you treat others but that you have money. 14:54 If you don't have it, 14:56 you need to either go take it 14:58 or create some kind of atmosphere 15:00 where you can make it. 15:01 And I know at an early age that got me into, 15:03 you know, selling drugs, and marijuana, and cocaine, 15:07 and these things looked acceptable 15:09 because it was all in the music I was listening to, 15:11 and coming to find out 15:12 that half of the guys I was listening to 15:14 never did that in the first place. 15:16 You know, when I was listening to something that was fake, 15:20 but not... 15:21 I'm thinking I'm listening to the music 15:23 because I like it, because I enjoy it, 15:25 but actually it was teaching me about manhood 15:29 and never taught me about anything inner, 15:32 about what I was worth in Christ, 15:33 about being kind to people, 15:37 it just only taught me about, 15:39 you know, maybe taking care of my family 15:40 but never being self-sacrificing. 15:43 And this is really important 15:44 because I think that the devil 15:47 is going to use sexuality and perverting in the last days 15:51 to really confuse people. 15:55 Now if you think that, 15:57 tell me exactly 15:59 what the devil's purpose for sexuality 16:01 in these last days right before Jesus comes back, 16:03 how does he want to use it 16:05 against people who are Christians 16:07 and people who aren't Christians. 16:08 I think to have that now you see it, 16:10 and don't get married, just go have sex. 16:13 You know, getting married is now an anomaly, it's taboo. 16:17 You don't get married anymore, 16:18 you're supposed to just go out there and get it, 16:20 and that's it. 16:21 And, you know, 'cause people say, you know, 16:23 "Why get divorced if you just don't get married?" 16:26 And that has to lots to do with our society, you know, 16:29 if you see hip-hop the way it was 16:31 to the way it is now, it's more over sexualized, 16:34 there's more and more sex in the media, 16:36 more and more sex in hip-hop 16:38 because sex sells. 16:41 That is what it's about. 16:42 And with the sexuality and hip hop, 16:44 you know, it teaches you, that's what it teaches you, 16:47 you know, to what moves are supposed to be the right ones. 16:51 What are the "right words" to say? 16:52 And I used this right here because obviously we know 16:55 what God says is different. 16:56 But, you know, it feeds, 16:59 it just feeds that pleasure center 17:01 of your brain 17:02 so you can never get enough and that's the issue. 17:05 It's not that issue is utterly wrong, 17:08 it's also that you will never get enough, 17:09 so where is your limit? 17:11 You know, if the limitation going to be like 17:13 the rest of a lot of those hip-hop artists in jail, 17:17 is that going to be your limit? 17:18 You know, like what is it? 17:19 What are you trying to seek out of it? 17:21 I like to say that the devil is using music 17:24 to insult God's character. 17:29 I mean, what's that scripture "By you behold..." 17:34 "By beholding you will become changed." 17:35 become changed, yeah. 17:37 So what we're also listening to, 17:38 we're also seeing on these videos. 17:42 It's totally opposite from God's character 17:44 and how we should be, you know. 17:47 So I think that's what the devil is using, 17:48 he's trying, you know, he's using the music 17:53 to, basically, for us to act like him 17:57 and to be what he want us to be, 17:59 which is totally opposite from God. 18:01 Go ahead. 18:02 I was going to say, well, if you go to the story, 18:04 the children of Israel, you know, 18:06 they were on the borders of Canaan, 18:07 they had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, 18:11 and they were finally about to go in, 18:15 and the devil used music 18:18 and used women 18:20 to get them to commit the apostasy Baal-Peor. 18:22 Wow. 18:24 And I think, as long as we can be sidetracked 18:27 with music 18:29 and a false expression sexually, 18:33 then we won't be ready to go into Canaan, 18:36 and we won't go into Canaan. 18:38 Myesha and Brittany, 18:39 how do you feel women are mostly portrayed 18:42 in hip-hop? 18:43 Like do you watch hip hop video 18:45 and you see like a lady who's a lawyer, 18:47 and she's got a lawyer job, 18:48 and you see a lady who's a doctor, 18:50 or do you see a girl studying hard for her exams? 18:52 What kind of women do you naturally see? 18:55 And is that reality 18:57 and how does it make, you know, like a woman who feels, 18:59 especially is a black woman that you see in it? 19:01 Well, for one, 19:03 we see a woman whose image is totally fake 19:07 because she is, 19:09 well, nowadays, we know that 19:11 they're getting surgery nowadays, 19:12 so don't know how real, 19:14 they're getting hair extensions. 19:15 And no, we don't see lawyers and doctors on these videos 19:20 or on these televisions. 19:21 We're saying women who are for, one, exotic dancers. 19:26 We also see women who are degrading themselves 19:29 by shaking their behinds in front of the camera 19:35 and think that is okay. 19:36 We're seeing women, 19:38 who are allowing men to touch and feel on them 19:41 and even grab on them or abuse them. 19:44 We're seeing all these things 19:46 and it's just... it's not right. 19:48 And it's put it in a woman's mind 19:50 that it's okay for her to act like this, 19:53 to accept these things from a man, from one, 19:56 to even degrade her ownself. 19:58 Call herself out her, you know, out of her own name, you know, 20:02 something that is totally not good. 20:04 You know, I am guilty for that, you know, 20:07 I used to call myself, what, a female dog, 20:11 and thought it was okay. 20:13 I am the baddest, you know, female dog. 20:15 And I would... 20:16 My friend's nickname was "My female dog," 20:19 like, you know, it's just totally wrong, 20:22 and that's just not how it should be. 20:27 I would add that... 20:29 For me, it has been in some videos 20:31 but not all... Right. 20:33 Hip-hop videos. 20:34 The most of them and, unfortunate as well, 20:37 most young people gravitate to 20:39 is the ones where they have the girls, 20:42 as she said, it's dancing all crazy, 20:44 and, you know, provocative clothes, 20:47 but they do have some songs which really do have, 20:50 you know, good messages. 20:52 Relationship songs, I guess, you saying? 20:54 You can kind of say relationships songs 20:55 where I remember one artist, 20:57 he was telling young girls to value your body and to wait, 21:03 but that's like one song 21:04 compared to like all the other songs 21:06 that you're always hearing. 21:07 Or you see in some videos where you have... 21:10 And there are artists that don't really make it 21:12 into hip-hop culture, 21:14 the artists that talk about strong women 21:16 and how they're attracted to her 21:18 and how she walks and how she's handling business, 21:21 but unfortunately, those are not the individuals 21:24 that make the most income. 21:26 They're not the ones that are touring all over 21:28 and, as they say, making money, 21:31 it's those who are talking about, 21:32 "Just shake, just shake it," and all that different stuff. 21:35 They're the ones who are giving out this idea 21:38 that this is what a woman's sexuality is, 21:41 this is how she's supposed to be portrayed. 21:44 And I think if I didn't have some of my values 21:46 that I had growing up as a child, 21:48 I probably wouldn't even have known about those, 21:51 you know, little underground, 21:53 people who try to use the culture 21:55 for something good 21:56 but can't thrive in it. 22:00 So what about me, as a Christian, 22:03 can hip-hop be used as a vehicle 22:06 to get me closer to Christ, 22:09 to teach me about the culture 22:12 'cause there's people who are Christian hip-hop artists 22:14 as well, 22:16 so can it be used to teach me positive things 22:18 about my sexuality and my relationship for Christ? 22:22 What do you guys think? 22:23 Now you're shaking your head. 22:24 I don't think so. No. No. 22:27 Why? 22:28 Well, for one, 22:30 you can't serve two masters, okay? 22:33 So you need to... 22:36 There has to be a separation. 22:37 I mean if I'm going to listen to rap music out in the world 22:41 and I'm listening to all these beads 22:43 and all these catchy verses and choruses 22:48 and all that thing, 22:49 it has to be different from, you know, God's music. 22:54 You know, I feel that, you know, it has to be pure. 22:58 You know, it shouldn't have, you know, I can listen to words 23:01 but, you know, again, 23:04 it's the beat too that goes with it. 23:06 And, you know, you can nod your head, 23:09 and you can... 23:10 I mean it's no different 23:11 from the music you will hear in a club, 23:13 and I think there should be a difference. 23:14 Right. Okay. 23:16 You were going to say something? 23:17 I'd probably say the same thing as well, 23:20 like the actual music, the actual bed, 23:26 the actual, like, the beat, 23:28 and the rhythms, and everything that comes in, 23:32 it is highly sexual in and of itself. 23:35 And it's meant to inspire us to do sexual acts. 23:39 And if you'd go to any city institution, 23:43 even if the music doesn't have words, 23:45 it's going to have a certain beat 23:47 and a certain rhythm 23:49 to try to help encourage sexual behavior. 23:52 And so to take that music 23:53 and just to throw Jesus' lyrics on top of it, 23:56 I think you're mixing the holy with the profane. 24:00 I would have to actually disagree. 24:02 Okay. 24:03 Because I mean, I guess, I'm biased 24:05 because one of my best friends, 24:06 he's a Christian hip-hop artist. 24:07 And I believe it depends on where your stumbling block is 24:11 in discernment 24:13 because, for example, 24:14 there's people that I know that listen to Christian rock. 24:17 I don't because that was my stumbling block 24:19 before that was what I fed off of 24:22 because I can't say everything Christian 24:24 is inherently good 24:26 just as everything secular is inherently bad, 24:28 you know, in the sense of 24:29 you have to really use that discernment 24:31 to really understand what the message is 24:33 being portrayed. 24:34 Yes, the beat has to do a lot with it 24:36 but also the lyrics have to do a lot with it 24:38 to the message that's being portrayed. 24:40 That is beautiful. 24:41 I love what you said 24:42 'cause I know I got another question. 24:44 All right, I've been listening to this. 24:45 I don't really see anything wrong with it 24:47 but I kind of see what you're saying 24:49 about, you know, it teaches me about sexuality 24:51 and the images I see. 24:53 And like, Brittany, you mentioned, 24:54 you had a lot of training when you were younger 24:56 that helped you see some of those things. 24:58 I don't have that, you know, I agree with you. 25:02 So how do now I begin to regain my sexuality, 25:05 regain my self-worth now? 25:09 What are some steps I can take? 25:11 As it relates to I stop listening to the music, 25:14 do I listen to better music, do I... 25:17 How do I do that? 25:19 Well, I'd say the best way to combat error 25:21 is with truth. 25:23 And so as Christians, 25:26 our worth can be found at the cross 25:30 because Jesus literally paid for us 25:33 with His own life at the cross. 25:35 And so in order to repair your self-esteem, 25:39 you have to go where Jesus paid it all, 25:42 and so you have to get into the Word, 25:44 you have to study the Bible. 25:46 You know, if you're a beginner 25:47 and you have a lot of questions, 25:48 I suggest the amazing little book 25:51 called Steps to Christ. 25:53 And when you read books like Steps to Christ, 25:55 when you go to the gospels 25:57 and you read about the sacrifice 25:58 that Jesus made for you, 26:01 then slowly but surely, 26:02 it will start to make yourself... 26:05 It will start to make you 26:07 a little bit more self-confident. 26:09 About who you are. About who you are. 26:11 Now you said you had been in this 26:13 with all the money and the cars 26:14 and the things like that, Xavier, 26:16 is the steps you talking about, 26:17 are these some of the steps you used? 26:19 Was it a gradual process? 26:20 Was it just night and day 26:22 or did it take, you know, a process for this to happen? 26:24 God knows His creation. It depends on the person. 26:28 But He pinpointed right there, I did read Steps to Christ. 26:31 I did read Steps to Christ, you know, I did. 26:33 It's a little book, you know, 26:35 nobody wants to read all these other books I got. 26:36 You pick up that little book, it does, it's not magic, 26:40 God's not magic, but it works to reveal your character 26:43 and what, you know, there's nothing wrong with you, 26:45 like you're not a bad person, 26:47 you just got to make some changes. 26:48 And I prayed, and I just asked God, 26:50 you know, "Help me to... 26:51 Whatever music I have and movies and games, 26:54 whatever might be blocking me from getting to you, 26:57 help me to remove it." 26:58 I ended up with pretty much nothing in my collection 27:01 and selling my gaming systems and everything because of it. 27:04 So what he said was true, 27:05 you know, that little book, Steps to Christ, 27:08 you know, does change your life. 27:09 And praying, you know, asking God, "Help me," 27:13 you know, 'cause it's easier said than done, 27:15 just asking for help. 27:16 So you prayed to God, you read the Bible, 27:19 and almost it's like 27:22 you went on a fast from that thing for a while. 27:25 You changed some things 27:26 and didn't have anything for a while, 27:28 and then God taught you the right way 27:30 and the right way to go. 27:32 Well, friends, we just want you to know that, 27:36 just like our friends mentioned earlier, 27:38 Christ is the right way to go. 27:40 And it doesn't matter what you've done, 27:42 before you watched this program, 27:44 we want you to know now that God can come to change you, 27:47 He can come to restore you, 27:48 and that what God has for you, what He thinks about you, 27:52 and how He wants your sexuality to be is not filled with pride, 27:56 it's not filled with who is better, 27:58 it's not filled with any competition 28:00 for anybody else 28:02 because Jesus made you unique. 28:03 And He wants you to live out your unique life in Him, 28:07 dedicated to Him, serving Him. 28:10 And so we implore you, 28:11 when you make your music choices, 28:13 as always, we want you to make pure choices. 28:17 I'm your host Timothy Lawson. |
Revised 2018-05-02