Porn and The Gospel

The Mission Is Simple - Seek And Destroy

Our Mission is Simple
God has commanded us to put to death whatever is sinful in us and set our minds on things above where Christ is seated in victory. Colossians 3:1-5
It is a very similar command that God gave King Saul, and yet he believed that partial obedience was good enough for God.
Where in your life...and in my life...are we holding on to sin and pretending that God doesn't care? For a lot of men, pornography is one enemy of God we keep alive like Saul kept king Agag alive.
1 Samuel 15:2-3
2 Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt.
3 Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”
1 Samuel 15:7-9
7 And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt.
8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword.
9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

Want Freedom From ? Listen to This...

As men...as God's people...we are always doing something or not doing something based on WHO we believe ourselves to be.
God's people throughout history have struggled with their identity. And because of this, they struggled with sin.
In this episode, we will look at how Israel's request for a king to look 'like all the other nations' was not only a rebellion against God, but it was a refusal of the identity He gave them when He called them out of Egypt.
Are we any different today?
When we choose NOT to be identified as God's people - set apart as holy - it's easy to see as a part of who we are. When this happens, we remain trapped.

Do We Take God Lightly?

1 Samuel paints a sobering picture of God's people...even His judge Eli...taking His Word lightly.
The result is disastrous for the people.
But God raises up Samuel who ministers before the Lord and grows in both stature and in favor with God and the people (sounds familiar).
But Samuel's word is not enough...the people must suffer a humiliating defeat by their enemies before they repent, put away their idols, and call on God to save them from their enemies. In this case, as in many times throughout God's Word, purity precedes power.

What Does Prayer Matter When it Comes to ?

Do your prayers reveal....
I live in comfort and ease as far as the eye can see...I am content to offer the customary prayers of a comfortable Christian.
I live as if I were in an orphanage where my father is absent and he will not hear my cries or answer my calls to Him.
I live in desperate need of my Father's help. My cry of prayer is a cry of faith and arises because I believe God is a Father who is able (powerful enough) and willing (loving enough) to answer.
"What creates great praying? A deep sense of our need and a deep sense of God's care." - Tim Chester

Are You Willing To Do The Difficult Work?

1 Thessalonians 3:1-5
Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone,
and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith,
that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.
For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know.
For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.

URGENT

You and I don't have much time.
In fact, we don't know the day or hour we will draw our last breath.
Yet we live as if we are never going to die. Never going to meet Christ face to face and give an account of how we spent our lives.
In this episode, I want to remind you of the urgency with which we must live our lives.
We cannot afford to waste another day, week, month, year, or decade on and masturbation. You must resolve to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to replace with the far surpassing joy of the gospel.
It does not happen overnight, but it will have it if you don't give up.

You Received the Word

YOU and I need to receive this Word if we desire it to Work in us.
1 Thessalonians 2:13:
And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

Do These 3 Things

If you are a true follower of Jesus Christ, Paul charges you to 'walk in a manner worthy of God.' (1 Thessalonians 2:12)
What does that look like? What does it mean?
In this episode, I point to three imperatives for every man who wants to live a significant life for Christ...for the man tired of his addiction to and masturbation...for the man who desires to walk in a manner worthy of God.

It’s Time For You To Get Serious

There is a Psalm I love that says: "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." Psalms 90:12
Numbering our days is just a way of remembering that life is short and we're not guaranteed tomorrow.
John Piper says great wisdom...life-revolutionizing wisdom...comes from thinking about these things from time to time.
I like to think of the end of a year like the end of a lifetime.
As I look back on 2021, I can ask questions like...
Did I live this year well?
What needs to change?
How do those I care about most feel about how I spent 2021?
Don't waste 2022 on resolutions that are promised today and forgotten tomorrow. Spend time thinking and praying deeply for a life-changing 2022. One in which you finally become serious about killing this sin in your life.
In this episode, we explore 1 Thessalonians 1 and Paul's encouragement to the church at the gospel-centered change that had taken place in their lives. There are lessons for us all over these first several verses. Be encouraged...God is greater and more powerful than your problem with . But it requires you to become deadly serious about transformation.

Make This Your Daily Priority

Galatians 5:17For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
“Sin is always acting, always conceiving, always seducing and tempting.
Who can say that he had ever anything to do with God or for God, that indwelling sin had not corrupted what he did?
Do you kill sin?
Do you make it your daily work?
Be always at it while you live;cease not a day from this work;be killing sin or it will be killing you.”
John Owen