We live in a society today, that wants nothing more than to blame others for their problems.
It's their parents fault. Their spouses fault.
That company who sold them exactly what was advertised fault!
Anyone's fault but their own..
Accept responsibility for yourself.
The main reason people remain in bondage is that they refuse to follow directions!
They make the false assumption that we can never change our actions until we first experience a change of feeling.
The formula is changed feelings = changed thinking = changed behavior.
But the practical truth for someone in bondage the formula is reversed!
Changed behavior = changed thinking = changed feelings.
Remember the effect on your family.
"You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."
Exodus 20:5-6
ARTICLE FROM USA TODAY: Absent dads scar daughters for life.
Run!
The Scripture does have one word for sexual temptation.
Anyone happen to know what that word is?
It's RUN!
"Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart."
2 Timothy 2:22
"Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
1 Corinthians 6:18-20
Joseph RAN when it came to sexual temptation. He didn’t try to see how strong he was.
He didn’t play around with it. Instead, HE RAN! LEAVE YOUR COAT! Get out of it NOW!
Now, if any of you have messed up, that’s what the grace of God is for.
START NOW! Don’t go back to your sin. Don’t even look back.
LEAVE YOUR COAT!
AND RUN!
Now, let us begin part two of our Faith Under Fire Series - Leave Your Coat.
"Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate.
Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.
And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her.
But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside."
Genesis 39:6-12
Why did Joseph run?
Anyone?
Because CHRISTIANS MUST LIVE PURE LIVES!
Say it with me:
CHRISTIANS MUST LIVE PURE LIVES!
"I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting."
1 Timothy 2:8
BENEFITS OF A PURE LIFE:
SALVATION – Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
CONFIDENCE – Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
ANOINTING – Hebrews 1:9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”
THE WORLD TEMPTS ME TO HAVE AN IMPURE MIND AND LIFE.
While I am trying to lead a decent, restrained Christian life, TV and movies propagate the notion that everybody else is having a wild, debauched time and that I may be missing out on something.
That is the true power of mass media – The power to redefine normal.
The harmful self-destructive behavior that we see glamorized not only conveys powerful messages of what’s ACCEPTED, but what is EXPECTED. The unreal world of the media becomes, over time, a self-fulfilling prophecy.
About television 350 characters appear each night on prime-time TV, with an average of 7 of them murdered every night. If this rate applied in reality, then in just two months, everyone in North America would be killed and the last one left could turn off the TV!
Am I right?
Every year on prime-time TV, there are 65,000 sexual references. Seven out of eight of the sexual encounters in TV dramas involve extra-marital relations. Reality? A 1994 University of Chicago study showed that both sexual satisfaction and frequency is greater among married people than among single people. But in Hollywood, the only kind of sex that seems to be banned, that is improper to display is intimacy between husband and wife!
UCLA sociologist James Q. Wilson points out a very curious fact:
On city streets where broken windows have gone unrepaired, the crime rate immediately soars. Why? The broken windows make an announcement to the public: Here, standards have broken down. Here, no authority applies. Do what you like, without fear of consequences.
TV and movies have become today's society's gigantic broken window of the world.
The portrayal of life without standards and behavior without consequences sends out a message that impurity is normal!
While simultaneously sending out a message the purity is not only abnormal, it's down right repulsive!
This is what mainstream media, TV and movies and magazines are teaching the youth of today!
Even the ones that at first glance, may appear to be harmless!
Is it any wonder why their minds are so messed up and confused as the what's right and wrong?
This is why it's crucial for parents to be involved in the day to day activities and events
of their children's lives!
News Flash Folks!
It's not the schools job, the teachers job, the Pastors job!
The media is a seducer! In the film “Indecent Proposal,” a character is offered a million dollars to spend one night with a billionaire. It became the topic of conversation on talk shows, in offices and schools. The film implied that everyone has a price!
You just have to determine what that price is and make the offer!
And you can have anything or ANYONE you desire!
And it’s not just in movies! Some previous Jerry Springer Show topics included:
The Babysitter Stole My Husband!
I’m Having A Lesbian Affair With My Niece!
Baby, I’ve Been Bad!
Prostitution Sex Scandals
I Want To Marry My Daughter!
I’m Sleeping With My Brother .... And My Sister!
My Daughter Married My Husband!
My Dad Stole My Wife!
I’m Cheating With Your Dad and Sister!
Lovers Battle It Out!
I Will Break The World’s Sex Record
War Of The Wounded Lovers!
Explosive Transsexual Affairs
I’m Marrying My Sister!
My Mom Is Sleeping With My Boyfriend!
Revenge Of The Jilted Lovers!
These show titles would be laughable if the effects were not so tragic on our society!
The sad thing is that the church has not escaped!
The distinction between the world and so-called “Christianity” is quickly evaporating!
19% of Christians watched MTV this week (24% of non-Christians)
70% of Christians subscribe to cable television (70% of non-Christians)
76% of Christians watched a PG-13 or R-rated movie in the last three months (87% of non-Christians)
9% of Christians watched an X-rated movie this quarter (16% of non-Christians)
27% of Christians have been divorced (23% of non-Christians)
The Single Adult Ministry Journal reported in January 1991 that, of Christian single men who attended church faithfully, only 33% were virgins. 35% had had four or more sexual partners, and 23% had been sexually active in the past six months.
IF I’M GOING TO HAVE A PURE MIND, I NEED GOD'S WORD!
Not just on Sunday, not several times a week. but EVERY DAY!
"Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You."
Psalms 119:11
"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
Romans 12:2
Now, I know YOU don’t need this, but the person beside you desperately does!
So look at the person sitting beside you and tell them,
"I’m taking notes for you right now!"
(laughter)
I want each and every one of you to write this down..
The Bible teaches that there are five major kinds of sexual immorality:
- Sex before marriage with anyone (fornication).
- Sex after marriage with anyone but your spouse (adultery).
- Sexual activity with anyone but your spouse.
- Sexual activity by oneself for the purpose of sexual arousal. (masturbation) I know the Bible, doesn't explicitly talk about masturbation, BUT Sexual lusting in the mind is the primary reason or trigger for masturbation.
"Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body." 1 Corinthians 6:18 The more he indulges in his dependency, the more enslaved by addiction he becomes. This is the nature of all sin. That is why Jesus declared that all who sin become a slave to sin John 8:34 - Lustful thoughts.
Matthew 5:28
SEVERAL WAYS TO AVOID SEXUAL TEMPTATION:
Realize that sexual sin hurts God.
The prevailing attitude of today seems to be, “I love to sin, and God loves to forgive!”
So sin is no BIG DEAL!
WRONG! That attitude breaks the heart of God!
We must learn to:
Recognize the consequences of sexual sin.
"Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding;
He who does so destroys his own soul."
Proverbs 6:32
Sinful lusts take over at the moment when God becomes unreal and unimportant to you!
The question then becomes:
How real, how important is God to YOU?
And now may the the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Brian Monzon Ministries