From this Day Forward... Stay Pure

19 The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. 20 I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. 21 Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: 22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. 23 Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

God is always willing to show us mercy. The best part of his day is when he can show you some mercy. We all know what we have done in the past, but we are calling you to make 5 commitments today from this day forward.

1. Seek God

Seek the 1 with your 2… Relationship with God is the foundation of any good relationship.

2. Fight Fair

We will always have conflicts, but we learned how to fight fair…

3. Have Fun

4. Stay Pure

5. Never Give up

Every Relationship must Stay Pure if it’s going to last

Hebrews 13:4 NLT

4 Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.

Honored as God has defined it. Stay faithful to your spouse.

Our culture says to live however you want to live. But we have to come back to God’s standards if we want to have awesome relationships.

Ephesians 5:3 NIV84

3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.

hint of it… there can’t be any.

1 Thessalonians 4:3–5 NLT

3 God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. 4 Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor—5 not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways.

sexual immorality - pornea - any sex outside the marriage bed… lust, adultery, porn, homo-sexuality, living together outside marriage.

1 Thessalonians 4:7 NLT

7 God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives.

Pro 5,6,7 - read it. Shows how you will lose everything.

Proverbs 5:8 NLT

8 Stay away from her! Don’t go near the door of her house!

Stay away. Do you see that this matters to God?

1 Corinthians 6:18–20 NLT

18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

You don’t belong to yourself… As Christ followers we don’t own our bodies. He gave us his best and paid for all of our sins. Salvation is surrendering your life to the Lord. I don’t base my decisions on what God says, not on what I think.

Fire illustration - stacked a fire to be lit… the concern is not the fire, but the location of the fire. It’s not so much the thing (fire), but whether or not it can be contained where I am choosing to use it. If it’s outside you are fine with it… right now some of you are wondering about my mental health.

It’s the same way with passions. In the church this has been communicated poorly. Church messages… stop… don’t have a fire at all.

The bible says to have a fire. as a matter of fact he gave you those passions. Passions are not the problem, containment is. God never said don’t have passions, just use them in the right place. God doesn’t condemn you for how you feel. He put the feelings inside you. The enemy is the one who tells you to take these passions and use them in the wrong places.

Youth Pastor - we see most teens as rebellious. I would tell them to remain rebellious. But rebel against the devils plans for your life. One of the ways to help with this is 1… bring them to church. go on a mission trip. Capture the emotion and put it towards something powerful.

Don’t stop the passions, just use them in the right place.

Passions need parameters

God has a standard that makes that passion burn hotter and brighter.

Galatians 5:24 NLT

24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.

The only difference between us and the culture is that we let God determine the parameters of passion.

When you get this message right, your life will burn brighter than ever before.

70% porn

50% divorces

No one when they were young said I want to be married and divorced 3 or 4 times and addicted to porn… No one said that, but too many people end up there. Why? Because we put the fire in the wrong place.

Purity Parameters

1. Make a commitment to God’s Standards

If you are a Christ follower, you need to come back to this… to commit to living by God’s standards. Everyone of us will have opportunities where you have to choose… do you follow culture or do you follow God? It’s at the point that determines whether or not He is your God. He is not your God when he says something you don’t agree with and you decide not to do it. He is your god if he tells you to do something you may or may not agree with but you choose to do it because he is your God.

God has exclusive rights to determine containment

That’s what makes him God.

People ask me and they will ask you about some of the moral issues of today. It doesn’t matter what I think. I am committed to God’s standard. He has the exclusive right to determine containment. Maybe we all need to stop having opinions. People have too many opinions … the fact is God’s opinion is the only one that matters.

We have to get back to God’s standard.

Psalm 119:9 NLT

9 How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word.

That’s how you keep your way pure. Commit to follow God’s way. He is for you so it’s best for you.

2. Manage my mind

All impurity begins in your mind. No such thing as a one night stand… you were thinking about it way before that night. 2 week stand… it might have happened on one night.

You have to monitor your media intake. It make look good, but it’s got a hook in it. Make a plan now because it’s coming your way.

Job 31:1 NLT

1 “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman.

Psalm 101:3 NLT

3 I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar. I hate all who deal crookedly; I will have nothing to do with them.

These are parameters that will keep you from ruining your life.

It takes a life time to build something good, but it takes 1 second to be looking for another place to work. All of us are about 1 step from stupid. So don’t let it come to you and then figure it out, prepare ahead of time.

3. Magnify the consequences

In those chapters of Pro 5,6,7. These verses magnify the consequences of sin.

Proverbs 6:32 NIV84

32 But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.

Passions are not the problem. Containment is.

4. Maintain proper relationships

The more I am in love with Kathy, the less I struggle with any temptation. Maintain proper relationships with your spouse and others you allow into your life to hold you accountable.

We can fool ourselves… our hearts are deceitful and we cannot trust them.

Proverbs 13:20 NLT

20 Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.

I don’t know what you might be thinking, but here are three possible responses.

Three Responses

Defensiveness

Maybe you think it’s ok to see a little skin...

Maybe you think… we are in love… it’s ok for us to live together…

I am not trying to hurt or limit anybody, but here is what I know…

When you do things God’s way, life is better

Remorse

This is just as bad. You feel BAD.

Condemnation comes from the devil. He says, you are a sinner and there is no way out.

Conviction comes from God and says yes, you are a sinner, but Jesus paid your price.

Repentance

God, you are right so I change the way I think to agree with God.

Repent - change your mind

2 Corinthians 7:10 NIV84

10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

If you repent, there is no regret. If you don’t, it will eventually destroy your life.

Prayer time

Pray for everyone hearing me.

Give the Holy Spirit time to deal with people. HS speak to us… give courage… give wisdom… give accountability.

Improper relationships… get out

Maybe you need to get an accountability partner with your internet… that’s happening with some of our men and women in the groups.

Maybe you need to give your self to the Lord tonight… first time or another time…