Freedom from Sexual Addiction

[Music][Music][Music][Music]this is mystory this ismy praising my[Music]this is myglory this is[Applause][Music]my I am my[Music][Music]my[Music]okay take a seat I'll let you sit downeven if he doesn'tthere a couple of updates on the onthese um blue Bibles there's a lot ofinterest in these blue Bibles which isexcellent thank you so much cuz we can'tget them all out but you can um so we'relooking to bring a bulk up to the northisland so get in touch with us us ifyou're after a bulk but we've figuredout if you want one box we can send itin the mail and they only end up costing$680 each so if you just want one boxget them ordered and we can get them upto you quick and soon how many in a box20 in a box so they come down to $5 eachby the times Freights on it it's only$680 so still cheap and quick to getthem to you so um and we can just domultiple boxes at that same Freight ratebut if you're wanting heaps um we willlook to just bring a huge amount up tothe north island so keep in touch if youafter more than that now we got a tablethere with DVDs and DVDs are starting tofade but you know what I was checkingand we still sell a lot of DVDs butwe've got we've got a table load of themwe've got them half priced because wewant them in other people's hands not onour shelves there and we're starting toproduce DVDs on demand as people wantthem rather than sitting there so somepeople have said to us DVDs areimportant cuz the internet's cut offeverything else is cut off I've stillgot somethingphysical grab them because we don't wantthem there they're all half priced onthis table here if you want more thanfive talk to me and we'll do deals cuzwe want we want you to have them andshare them this particular set here byDennis prey one of the best you'll hearon righteousness by faith and we got aheap of them there four discs in here orfour presentations on two discsexcellent if you haven't heard one ofthose presentations before and I've gota stash of themSOG is$20 that's that's four bi exactly yeahabout it'sabout5 only get you down the road getyou toEternity just your perspective justneeds to change a little bit and realizehow valuable these are to give to peoplewith a full set of studies it starts offwith where to get started and itfinishes off what to do from here andit's got two chapters of the greatcontroversy in the back of it as wellplus quick links to audio versions of itand pdf version so it's a power packreal cheap we just need you to help getthemout I'm not sure what set of studies doyou know what set of studies it isyeah I'm not 100% sure on what studiesit is in the back of[Music]it we're looking atMarch can't do it in February we'redoingOutreach our local church mostMarch yeah we'll start organizing itover the next month or so and and keepin touch yeah but if you want themfaster the Cur will come to you yeahexcellent Conrad we'll put it in yourhands we'll leave you to start off witha word of Prayeruh good morning everybodymorning let's bow our heads and ask forthe presence of the HolySpirit Heavenly Father We Gather in yourpresence once againtoday Father we're grateful that it'sthe day of preparation the Sabbath oursare almosthere I'm grateful father for thereminder that the even though we livefor seven days of the week we only needto work for six and that our life is agift of Grace from yourhands so Lord as we share these momentstogether I pray for the presence of yourspirit to bring us Comfort conviction orconversion as needed by eachheart I ask Lord that you speak for meand through me this we ask in jesus'nameamen so I don't have a PowerPoint forthis talk I did have another talk readyto gobut um when you come to a camp meetingyou're kind of praying about things andyou get to meet people and you talk withthem outside and you talk with them inthe in the cafeteria and uh therecertain themes keep coming up in thoseconversations and so I'm going to talktoday about a theme that has come uprepeatedly to me in the last three daysand um you may say why is he talkingabout this I'm going to talk about thistopic because um so many of you haveraised it to me and I'm going to talkabout um sexual Brokenness and sexualhealing and uh one of the reasons I'mgoing to talk about this is because pornis a Scourge in ourchurch let's just be honest about thisporn addiction is rampant in ourchurches and this is having adestructive effect not just on the olderpeople but on our children our sons andour daughters are being destroyed bythis our marriages are being destroyedby this and so I want to talk about thistopic today because even though it'svery sensitive topic um it's uh soenough of you spoke to me about this Irealized okay I need to say somethingabout this topic because this is what'sreally act motivating people it'sconcerning people right now um in thiscamp meeting so um I've entitled TheTalk sexual freedom in Christ and umthis is I was just sitting this my roomthis morning at 9:00 I'm going to changethe sermon for today so I meanfrantically typing and editing and soforth for the last two hours so I'mhoping and praying this comes out okayall right so let's start out um withsome some basic principles here so inthe beginning in Genesis chapter 1 2 and3 when God engaged in his Act ofCreation the formation of male andfemale was designed to reflect God'simage his goodness and his Beauty thusit was at the Sabbath and the marriagethat God designed to be beautiful andbonding and reflection of his love toone another and to him has become thesubject of Satan's attacks the Sabbathand human sexuality in marriage sincethe fall in Genesis 3 with theintroduction of sin and shame Satan'sdestructive role in our planet has beenrunning rampant ever since and thesegifts of the Sabbath and marriage andhuman sexuality have been specificallytargeted with the purpose of destroyingthe image of God that is imprinted uponevery human being and inherent withinthe gift of creation and the nature ofman being created in the image of God isthe gift of humansexuality so given the attacks of Satanand his demonic forces upon marriage andhuman sexuality today in our churchesand in our marriages we are dealing withthe pain the suffering and actually ThePossession related to Satan's systematicattacks on the sexual side of our humannature so while sexual Brokenness andsexual sin exist in different degreesall are understood to be all areunderstood to be the all are understoodto be an expression of the impact of sinupon Fallen humanity and the scripturesare very very clear on thisthat adultery sexual immorality andfornication are sins no matter how bignor small and if unconfessed unrepentedof will keep us out of eternal life it'svery very simple we find that in Exodus20:14 all the way through Leviticus 18 achapter on sexual Holiness Matthew 527-30 the teachings of Jesus in TheSermon on the Mount 1 Corinthians 6112-20 and Colossians35-10 so sexual Brokenness in itself isa general impactperceptions and attitudes towardssexuality that are perverted from God'soriginal intent for us in the Garden ofEden it is when a sexuality ismisunderstood and it is either developedbecause of our actions that we've takenourselves or this sexual Brokennessoccurs because of the impact of traumaimposed Upon Us by somebody often whenwe were children sexual Brokenness canbe the result of a sinful action actiondone towards a person by another or thewrongful teaching in society and cultureat on sexual issues in general or by ourour own pursuit of immoral and illicitsexual activity which dorts God'soriginal perfect intent for humansexuality within the gift of marriage sosexual sin exists within the heart of aperson firstly through lust and theobjectif objectification of anotherperson for their own pleasure we findthat in Matthew 5:27 through3 and Jesustaught in Mark 7: 20-23 that is from theheart that flows the words and actionsin in life the sexual sin of a personoften begins as internal lust or fantasyand the objectification of another andit may be introduced to you through theuh the act of sexual violation as achild or maybe rape as an adult and whatmay begin as a curiosity or a culturalum introduction to sexuality as a childcan grow into various forms of sexualcomp sexual compulsive behavior thatmight be an eager desire for porn selfharm or other sexual acts or it mayevolve into sexual addiction that iswhere somebody has an inability to stopthe use of sexual acting out despite theconsequences to self marriage family orthe church or their wider community sohelpful means to recognize the presenceof sexual comp compulsivity or Addictionin your life is to ask three questionsnumber one how long has this been aproblem number two how many times haveyou tried to quit but then keep goingback to it number three is this causingpain to yourself or the those closest toyou in your life those are three simplelike quick and dirty questions forasking yourself whether you have aproblem in this area now the impact ofsocial sexualBrokenness um in a person's life oftenleads to relational consequences it doeslead to to divorce it leads to parentsbeing alienated from their children inmany instances but it often leads to umneurological damage and it requiresneurological and social structures thatare supportive in order to providehealing um pornography as a or othermeans of sexual acting out physicallychanges the structure of the brain andhow your brain operates you can tell aporn user from an MRI scan as opposed tosomebody who is not using porn theimpact on the brain as a result of pornuse is similar to that of someone who isusing cocaine and it physically rewiresthe brain a person with brain damage asa result of sexual compulsive behaviorsor addictions often needs more definedneurological and social structures andspiritual structures in order for thebrain to heal it requires a veryspecific defined uh definite approachsecondly in of even greater consequencessexual compulsivity leads to emotionaland spiritual numbness leads tospiritual immaturity leads to a declinein faith in the Lord and it leads to acorresponding increase in religiousdoubts and people drop out of theChristian Life to the individual who isa victim of sexual sin the impact oftrauma received from that event alsoaffects their ability in their own adultlife to in turn develop healthy sexualrelationships uh marital relationshipsand a walk with the Lord victims ofsexual abuse assault or harassmentreally need the support of a lovingChristian Community where they canopenly and honestly process and workthrough the pain in order to findHealing I'm just going to say from mypastoral experience I've come across somany marriages so many marriages wherethere is is complete dysfunction andwhen you kind of drill down into whatare the causes of that dysfunction moreoften than not uh particularly the womanwas abused as a child and it leads to aninability to form healthy adultrelationships in adult life this is whythe biblical practices of prayer thestudy of scripture and the provision ofa safe and supportive community in yourlocal church plays a really importantrole in helping people caught up in thevictim the cycle of Brokenness to findFreedom in Jesus Christ so that's justsome general thoughts as we open up heretoday so I want to talk about sexualbonding for a few minutes so sexualbonding occurs both SP physically andspiritually physically sexual bondingoccurs in the brain as the two brainsconnect through the release of dopamineendorphins oxytocin and other brainchemicals either through the sexual orconjugal act or when looking at pornengaging in lust or other sexualactivity spiritually when two peoplebecome one via the sexual act they openthemselves up to all the spiritualinfluences in the other person's lifethat may be for good or it may be forbad you may find yourself openingyourself up to the Demonic influence ofsomebody else because when you becomeone you open your life and your mind upto the Demonic influences that areaffecting your sexual partner thussomebody May confess all their sins andyet be puzzled at why they experiendemonization in the form of sexualharassment that sexual harassment is notnecessarily done by humansit may be um people experiencing sexualharassment harassment by demonic beingswhen they're trying to sleep at night inthe Middle Ages this was known asIncubus or succubus but we hearrepeatedly in AFM stories from men andwomen who are terrified to go to bedbecause they face sexual assault by anunseenbeing so inreality via their sexual immorality orthrough ilicit sexual activity orthrough sexual abuse and the process ofbecoming one with another individualpeople open themselves up todemonization from the demons that wereinfecting their sexual partner's lifethey themselves are not guilty of thesins of their sexual partner from thepast but they now opened their sexualpartner's malign spiritual influences asa consequence of their ilicit sexualactivity the breaking of sexual bondsneeds to happen at the spiritual leveland in the brain through a steadycommitment to discipleship in the areaof human sexuality in which a personfinds accountability in a Christiangroup they seek to be authenticauthentic and honest about the factorsthat are informing influencing orinitiating their lust their porn usetheir self harm or other illicit sexualactivity and in Africa there is such athing as a spirit wedding I'm not sureif you have Spirit weddings here in NewZealand but in animistic societiespeople are often married at an early ageto a spirit and when Ministers of theGospel come across this they findmembers in their Church who are marriedwhether they want to or not often bywith by by their parents to a spirit inthese situations the minister of theGospel actually leads the victim througha simple process of divorcing the spiritand affirming that they are the bride ofChrist married to Jesus Christ so let'stalk for a few minutes about thespectrum ofdemonization and demonization does comeabout through illicit sexual activity soalthough sexual Brokenness exists in thephysical and the relational realm it'simportant to keep in mind the cosmicconflict between Jesus Christ and Satanover the Eternal outcomes of everybodyin this room today and those who arewatching online it's important torecognize there is a harmful spiritualcomponent that comes with sexualBrokenness and sexual compulsivity orsexual addiction and much sexualaddiction or compulsive behaviors arerooted in trauma or in emotionalwounding to the victim of sexualviolence the presence of trauma oremotional W wounding goes alongside thethe trauma of the the violence itselfand the presence of emotional woundingand Traumaattracts the presence of demonic forcesas buzzards are attracted to a carcassso addressing the spiritual side ofdemonization and the trauma of elicitsexual activity is just as important asaddressing the physical side that is therewiring of the brain and the creationof new neural neural Pathways both areneeded spiritual healing and physicalhealing for the transformation of themind and Romans 12 1-2 to be exexperienced by the individual and forthem to be set free from their sexualual past an individual can experience arange of demonization in the area ofsexuality one way of looking at this isto say that you are either affectedAfflicted restricted or dominated sowhat are those four things a person whois affected in the area of sexuality hasbeen impacted by the ongoing nature ofsexual Brokenness in our wider societyand the Demonic activity behind itwhether by direct Association or just bybeing present in a sex saturated and sexaddicted Society where sexual OBobjectification is every present allaround us so for instance when I driveto the airport in O'Hare in Chicagoalong the way there are big Billboardsoffering gentleman's clubs all the waythose arebrel and you see it every 5 miles is isa big ad for abrothel and so you can't avoid this andwhen you're driving say with childrenyou try and divert their attention everytime you pass a billboard because youdon't want them to be seeing that kindof stuff and we all live in a societywhere we are surrounded by sexualimagery sex is used to sell almostanything and um this is something wecan't avoid so in a sense we're allaffected by the the sexual immorality ofour widest Society but you can also beafflicted in the sexual sense so aperson who's Afflicted has been causedharm and hardship by the attacks ofSatan and the condemnation of oursociety and our culture and from ourwithin ourselves that comes from beingbound physically spiritually sexuallyand emotionally to our own sexual actingout or in the sexual violenceperpetrated against us a person who isrestricted has what we call strongholdsin the mind the Apostle Paul talks aboutthese strongholds in 2 Corinthians 103-5 in fact why don't we turn to thatpassage while we're just talking aboutthis topic here 2 Corinthians10 the Apostle Paul talks about thesestrongholds in the mindan important point to recognize here isthat healing from sexual addiction andporn addiction and all the rest of ithealing primarily takes place in themind not between the legs it takes placein the mind that's where the battleresides so 2 Corinthians chapter 10verse3 the Apostle Paul says for thoughwe walk in the flesh we do not war afterthe flesh second Corinthians 10:4 saysfor the weapons of our Warfare are notcarnal But Mighty through God to thepulling down of strongholds those arestrongholds in the mind casting downimaginations in every High thing thatexalteth itself against the knowledge ofGod and bringing into captivity everythought to The Obedience ofChrist and so part of the Warfare thatwe engage in as Christians is is castingdown the strongholds that exist in ourminds those are strongholds implanted bySatan a stronghold could have beenimplanted in your mind by a parentsaying something asked you negative youas a small child and those negativeRoots take root in your soul and theyactually affect you for the rest of yourlife if you're honest about it you becareful what you say in fronts ofchildren and grandchildren those sexualstrongholds may be placed there throughan act of sexual abuse or elicit sexualactivity as a young person and you livewith the consequences for the rest ofyour life I've noticed in my pastorallife that um young girls who've beenabused as children attract throughouttheir life Predators it's like they'regiving off the chemicals signal andpredators can understand that look thatgirl's been abused she's easy prey yousee this time andagain and so um this passage here talksabout the fact that our primary battleis through is pulling down of thesestrongholds in the mind and bringinginto captivity every thought to TheObedience of Christ that means turningaway from lust and objectification ofanother person in a sexual sense in thisparticularcontext so um this battle the battleagainst um you know for Spiritual hehealth and wholesomeness the battleagainst spiritual Brokenness needs to beaddress addressed spiritually beforeanything else is through the use ofPrayer in the scriptures in order forthe heart and the will to be brought tosurrender to Christ there are somethings that are really important in thisprocess one of this is very simple it'skindness rather thancondemnation Romans 2:4 it is it is thekindness of God that leads us torepentance it is not the condemnation ofGod that leads us to repentance and soif we're working with somebody who'sgoing through this kind of dealing withthis kind of trauma or Brokenness intheir life and the chances are peoplehere dealing with it and those watchingonline are also dealing with this showsome kindness because there but for thegrace of God go I in you show some humankindness secondly a willingness to helppeople explore both their past andpresent emotions thoughts and actionsin relation tosexuality for many people the gift ofsexuality has become so tarnished thatthey hate it it's just a source of painin their life and because it is somehowa gift from God therefore they assumethat God is a giver of bad gifts andpainful gifts and so helping people tounderstand that human sexuality is apositive gift from God um is a is ahelpful step in um kind of reconfiguringtheir relationship with their creator sowe talk about um kindness the willing toexplore our our thoughts and feelingsthirdly compassion towards somebody elseas they try and understand the whats andthewise umcompassion compassion occurs when thereis relationship of trust and love andhonesty so when somebody trusts you theyfeel they can open up to you and it'snot going to get to the church board ornominating committee it's not going togo on Facebook and you're going to walkwith them helping them clean out thegarbage of their life people will nottrust you unless they people will notopen up to you unless they trust you andif they're going to trust you they'regoing to trust that you're never goingto share with anybody anything even ahint at the things you're having to dealwith from your past or maybe in yourpresenttoday then the courage to face the fearand the spiritual forces that help thatkeep somebody in bondage it takescourage to recognize you have a problemin this area because many people live inself-denial andself-justification and it's okay I havea high stress job God understands if Iengage in this Behavior there's anacronym that we use halt hungry angrylonely tired and people who engage inporn use often do when they are hungryangry lonely or tired and when yourecognize the triggers in your own lifeit's important to say okay when thattrigger comes how do I replace the thethe choice to go straight to porn with achoice do something that's spirituallyhealthy and recognizing the triggers inyour life is an important part of thehealing process but halt hungry angrylonely tired um those are the mostcommon triggers we find for the use ofporn particularly among young men andthen we come to the the sense of beingdominated this is the most severe formof demonization somebody who isdominated by spirits in the sexual realmof Life Experiences compulsion wherethey have out of control sexual behaviorthat they know is destructive for themsand for their family but they don't careall they care is about getting the nextfix consequently this only not onlycauses pain to the the person who'sdominated by the spirits but it alsocauses the most pain to spouses andchildren and to our widercommunity and in relation to this thespouse of someone who is watching pornor who is sexually compulsive oraddicted the the the impact on a spouseis prettyprofound because if somebody commitsadultery once then a spouse goes goesthrough an entire emotional response toadultery that's kind of well definedthere is grief and there is anger andthere is Rage etc etc but when you havea spouse who is watching porn on arepeated basis so that that the spousegoes through that emotional responserepeatedly not just once it's an ongoingtrauma for the spouse knowing that thisis happening within their own marriagethe impact of betrayal has both physicaland spiritual repercussions we call it abetrayal trauma it's a form of PTSD itphysiologically affects the brain theheart and the spirituality of the spouseof the one who is playing aroundsexually demonic forces can use theimpact of this trauma to createspiritual doubt emotional distance and aform of dominance between the the spousethe two spouses when one is is engagingsexually immoral behavior and so whensomebody's dealing with with a spousewho has addiction to porn or othersexual behaviors it's important torecognize that a it's not their faultit's never their fault and we shouldn'tbe victim shaming in this process andthat person is living through an ongoingtrauma and they will have a wide rangeof emotionalresponses and you may say well it'sobvious that he's watching porn becauselook at look at her she's an emotionalBasket Case no she's an emotional basketcase because of the repeated porn useand that's her emotional response sosomeone who is either a victim of sexualviolence or addicted needs to recognizethat there is a spiritual realm whichGod wants to heal and bring Deliveranceto and the power and Grace of Jesusthrough prayer can break the Demonicstronghold in a person's life turn yourBibles to Romans 12 1-2 you're all veryfamiliar with this passage here at leastI hope you are and um Romans 121-2 Romans 12 1-2 reads this it says Ibeseech you therefore Brethren by themercies of Godthat you present your bodies as a LivingSacrifice holy acceptable unto God whichis your reasonable service and be notconformed to this world but be yetransformed by the renewing of your whatyour mind that you may prove what isthat good and acceptable and perfectwill of God and so in the first in thefirst verse there we are to present ourbodies as a Living Sacrifice toGod this is part of the Christian walkit's part of our an expression ofworship of God God has given us thisincredible body and we we we worship Godthrough how we honor the body Templehe's given us and so we present ourbodies as a Living Sacrifice that isHoly and acceptable to God and if youlook at Leviticus 1819 and 20 in thosechapters there God very clearly defineswhat sexual morality looks like and whatit doesn't looklike and then the second verse there donot be conformed to thisworld but be transformed the word ismetamorphosis the word metamorphosis weuse when a a slug what you call it acaterpillar turns into a butterflythat's themetamorphosis when you see a butterflyif you did not know that it previouslywas a caterpillar you would never knowthat it was acaterpillar is that true okay so this isthe Apostle Paul is talking about thatkind of transformation in themind that that there is no hint of whatwent beforethere is there is nobody would ever knowtoday that that was the person who usedto be yesterday and we do this throughthe renewing of ourminds and part of this is through I meanon a biological level it's the creationof new and healthy neuralPathways so what happens is if if a manor a woman let's say I'm going to useman in the generic sense here becausemen and women struggle with porn if aman has watched a certain porn moviemany times and a lady is carrying acertain handbag or set of shoes or shehas a let's say a purple dress onhypothetically then as he goes throughlife and he goes to town and he goes tothe mall whatever he does and he sees adress the same color that acts as atrigger and sends his mind straight backto those stored memories in his brainand the more you watch Palm the moretriggers you have in your brain so asyou as you walk through life on a dailybasis your brain is continually it seesa red handbag it sees purple shoes itsees a brown car it sees Golden Hairwhatever it is and the Brain immediatelysees the trigger and takes you through awellestablished neural Pathway to thestored memory which is the pornographicscene and so that is why porn addicts asthey're walking through the daily lifethey find themselves inundated withimages even just going about daily dailylife because the brain is connectingtriggers with memories and those areunhealthy neural Pathways and thoseneural Pathways have been burnt into thebrain and those neural Pathways need tobe disrupted so that when you see thetrigger you go to a spiritually healthyresponse rather than a spirituallydestructiveresponse so in the um we are toexperience we are to be transformed bythe renewing of our minds the battle forsexual Purity resides in the brain notin thegroin that's where the battle begins andthat's where the battleends so there are certain lies thatSatan teaches in the area of humansexuality and I want to talk about someof God's antidotes to Satan's life lieshere there are four underlying truths inScripture that are really important fordealing with people experiencing demoniccontrol and sexually compulsive Behaviorthe first is this Jesus is more powerfulthan Satan as and Satan is more powerfulthanus so if we only focus on Satan and hiscontrol over us we're going to lose thatbattle but if we turn our Eyes UponJesus he can give us victory in thisbattle because Jesus has never lost abattle withSatan and so when we think about gainingvictory in the area of sexual um umimmorality sexual compulsory Behavior oraddictive behavior an important thing todo with people is to encourage them toturn their eyes to Jesus and to thinkabout him and his promises and his powerand the beauty of his character and thepurity of his character rather than tobe dwelling on the fact that that thisthing has me in a Stranglehold and someguys literally all they think about isthis power that s has over them and guyswrite to me talk about you know thedespair they feel because they'readdicted to this thing and they knowit's destroying their marriage they seethe impact on the wife they love theysee they see they feeling alienated andseparated from their children and uhthey they just say I can't help it itsays this thing has it's got me by theneck I'm in a strangle hold here there'snothing I can do about it and so liftingpeople's eyes from the the grip of Satanto the grace of God is an important partof the healing process the the secondimportant truth from scripture is thereis no room for both Jesus and Satan todwell in somebody's life mind or bodyyou are either sold out to Jesus Christor you have surrendered to Satan and hisattacks and we can invite Jesus into ourlives and we can ask Jesus to fight thebattle for us and we can ask Jesus torebuke Satan on our behalf and drive himout but you cannot coexist with bothSatan and Christ um claiming control ofthe mind at the same time time you haveto choose which side of the greatcontroversy you're going to stand on inthe Battle of Life the third truth ofscripture is that Satan is both a liarand amurderer he lies about our Biblicalidentity he lies about our mission asChristians he lies about ourselves aboutGod and himself he claims to be an angelof Light and insinuates lies about usthat we are worthless or that we areworthy to be adored and therefore wedon't need God and Satan attacksChristians often with something calledfalse guilt false guilt is where you hada sin in your life you've confessed itand you received God's forgiveness by byfaith but then Satan keeps bringing itthrowing it back in your face and saysyou know God could never forgive youjust you think of what you did the otherday and it's false guilt because youknow that you've been forgiven by God uhthe answer to that is to rebuke Satansay no it is written if we confess oursins he who is faithful and just willforgive us and cleanse us from all ourunrighteousness or you quote some of theother Promises of forgivenessparticularly in the book of Isaiahsometimes Satan attacks us with trueguilt that is where you have a hidden ora cherished sin and you know it's ahidden and a cherished sin and eventhough you're battling to gain victoryover that hidden cherished sin Satankeeps attacking you he says you see youcan't gain Victory and this sin is sobad that God can forgive everybody elsebut God could never forgiveyou and it's not just stuff that you doit's that some people have been so sotraumatized by what has happened to themthat they genuinely believe that Godcould not love a person such as themthis is a lie that Satan has implantedin their minds and those Lies when youwhen you work with somebody who's goingthrough this kind of trauma you need toidentify what the most common lies arethat they're hearing asking somebodywhat are the most common thoughts thatcome into your mind you can quicklyidentify the lies of Satan then youidentify the promises of scripture thatrefute those lies so when the lies comeinto their mind they know there is apromise of scripture they're literallygoing to say out loud and say I rebukeyou Satan in the name of the Lord for itis written then they give the truth ofthe matter that that the God hasrevealed in the word of God and soidentifying the lies of Satan is animportant part of helping people gainvictory over those lies because once yourecognize it as a lie and you know whatthe truth of scripture is then when thelie comes into your brain and when Satansuggests it to you you've got you'vecreated a new neural pathway waspreviously when the LIE came into yourbrain you your brain went to Despair anddoubt and depression now when the liecomes into your brain the brainautomatically takes you to the promiseofGod and your mind is fortified with theword of God against those lies of Satanis this making sense yes okay the fourthlie or the antidote to Satan's lies isthat Satan gains access to us throughour fivesenses that is true he gains access tous through our five senses you watchporography you touch things you tastethings you hear things and so forth youhave five senses and so as we are healedby God so our senses are reclaimed for aholypurpose and so the process of healinginvolves healing of our five sensessometimes when we're working with peoplewho have demons they've been watchingpornography we literally we take theglass of we anoint them on the eyes withoil is there anything biblical aboutthat not particularly other then the oilrepresents the sealing of the HolySpirit and we're we we are setting asidethose eyes only for Holy purposes we'reasking the holy spirit to guide thatperson's eyes which is where the sin wasentering theirmind so as in Matthew chapter 12 in thehealing of the blind sight is restoredand for the mute and the deaf when Jesusheals the tongue is loosened and thehearing isrestored so healing for the brain andthe mind actually takes time because thebrain's neurological structure thoughtpatterns and neural Pathways andmemories need to be transformed throughrenewal into new god-honoring neuralstructures thought patterns and memorieswe have to create new neural Pathways aswe partner with the holyspirit so just talking for a few moreminutes here on on what is the actualimpact of porn on somebody and becausethat's the most common sexual sin outthere today and there's probably a bunchof us in this room here today who areaddicted to porn so let's talk about theimpact of porn number one porn isaddictive it is not just a sin in amoral sense but it creates aneurochemical Addiction in the brainit's it's a similar to being beingaddicted to crack cocaine it creates thesame neurological need for fulfillmentbecause of porn's addictive natureviewers usually seek an ever increasingdosage over time in order to feel thesame level of enjoyment and they oftenseek out ever more extreme and hardcoreforms of porn to get the same emotionalresponse that they had when they startedwatching maybe um erotic material ratherthan hardcore porn and this is the awfulirony of porn addiction that the userwants it more and more even while helikes it less andless you have what the economists calldiminishing marginal Returns the moreyou watch it the less return the fewerreturns you get the second thing aboutporn is that it leaves you verylonely porn promises you immediatesatisfaction endless excitement easyintimacy and a relationship where nobodywill ever refuse you and for people whowho' dealt with rejection in their lifein various ways porn offers the chanceof a kind of a relationship without thepossibility of rejection but in the endporn robs you of satisfaction excitementand intimacy the more porn you consumethe more you will withdraw emotionallyfrom real people and rely on porneventually it becomes more difficult tobe aroused by a real person or to form areal relationship and the resultingisolation and loneliness only fuels theneed for more porn yet so porn leavesyou lonely and isolated even within amarriage the about third thing aboutporn is porn is devastating for yourspouse it's very common when wives foundout their husband has been watching pornthat for them to go through a wholerange of negative emotions includingrejectionhumiliation abandonment isolationloneliness jealousy anger and shame evenif your spouse doesn't believe that pornis the same as physically cheating theystill experience a deep sense of loss oftrust betrayal and respect for theirpartner and if you love your spouse whywould you ever put them through thatongoingtrauma porn therefore kills love studiesin this area have shown that most womensee no acceptable role for porn withintheir own marriage the evidence thatporn destroys marriages isoverwhelming those who view porn makethem more critical of their wife ortheir husband and less satisfied withtheir relationship and the conjugal sideof their marriage real love requiresreal commitment to a real humanbeing porn destroys families itundermines the trust the respect thelove Mutual sacrifice and communicationthey The Cure the core of a healthyfamilybecause it destroys families po corrodeSociety porn corrode society as Internetporns become more popular it has turneddarker more graphic and more extreme andthey're constantly pushing theboundaries with so much porn availablewith literally billions of hours beingwatched on a daily basis around theworld pornographers Tred to compete fortension by constantly pushing theboundaries porn has Erol Erol evolvedfrom soft eroticism and merelysuggestive material through explicitacts to materials dominated by sidommasac sidom masochistic themes involvingum uh fusing sex with hatred andhumiliation promoting the degradationand humiliation of females andultimately leading to pedo sadism therape torture and murder of infantsonline and this is what happens whenpeople keep pushing the boundaries toget the same results from porn porn andI was mentioning this to the youngpeople last night because they asked aquestion about this por porn C porncauses erectiledysfunction and I was saying to theyoung guys like if you want to be Mhappilymarried why would you watch porn beforemarriage then discover a erectile youhave erectile dysfunction when you getto the marriage bed why would you dothat watching porn is a very powerfulexperience that leaves a strong andLasting Impression on the brain everytime you watch porn you're strengtheningthat part of your neural Pathways thatconnects arousal to porn meanwhile thepathways connecting arousal sort ofthings such as seeing touching orcuddling with a real human being aren'tgetting used and eventually they fadeaway pretty soon a living human being isis not enough for you and many pornusers find they cannot um becomesexually performative you might say byanything other than porn and you find umamong young young men in particulartoday when you talk with couples beforemarriage um the men will often talkthey're worried about the marriage nightbecause they think they can't performthey've been watching too muchporn and their Mar their new wifediscovers on her wedding night that thehusband is useless in bed I'm talkingopenly here okay but he's been watchingtoo much porn and the problem is notthere the problem is this organ herethis organ has been so perverted thatthis organ down here can no longerperform porn leads to sexual violenceporn is packed full of women who havebeen disrespected coerced physically andphys verbally abused and that is shapinghow Society thinks about our young womentoday if you've got a daughter youshould be very concerned about her firstsexualexperience because you have no idea whatyoung boys are thinking of today andit's nothing that moral or healthy porndoesn't just change attitudes it shapesactions multiple Studies have shown thatusers of violent and non-violent pornare more likely to use verbal coerciondrugs and alcohol to push women intounwanted sex multiple Studies have shownthat exposure to violent and nonviolentporn increases aggressive behavorBehavior including violent fantasies andactually committing violent assaults andrape on women so porn contributes to theepidemic of sexual violence in our worldtoday and porn at its most fundamentalproblem denies eternallife for many people porn is anaddictive yet a cherished sin while thatsin remains unconfessed and unrepentedof it will keep you out of Heaven justas surely as Moses won sin in StrikingThe Rock kept him out of the promisedland and Adam and Eve's one mistake atthe foot of the tree cost themParadise so take it deadly serious ifyou are concerned about eternal life youhave to deal with these issues in yourlife you have no choice otherwise youare living the Christian Life today butyou have the promise of Eternaldestruction unless you deal with thesesexual sins in yourlife so in terms of healing frompornography and sexual addiction if aperson watches pornography which is aform of modernidolatry through the subsequent hardnessof their heart and spiritual declinethat occurs through the repeatedindulging in this particular sin theyreduce their capacity to perceivespiritual truth and to maintain acommitment to biblical values andbehavior being set free from pornographyor other unwanted sexual behaviorsallows somebody to experience emotionalmaturity it encourages people to growthin christlikeness and to more spiritualmaturity when we invite Jesus in he comcomes in and he renews our senses ourbrain our heart and our spiritualmaturity and this renewal from unwantedsexual behaviors sexual sin and sexualBrokenness it doesn't happen overnightit takes time prayer can set somebodyfree from the influence of demons todaybut transformation is a result of threethings grace truth and time you needgrace truth and time when you combinethose thing those three things peoplefinally experience a transformation thatthe Apostle Paul talks about in Romans12 1-2 from a pastoral perspective thereare four things we need to address thefirst is the root of the problem theroot of the problem is often found inthe family of origin not the family ofchoice your family of origin is thefamily you were raised in it may bethrough trauma in that family physicalor sexual dysfunction or abuse orspiritual practices that lead towardsdemonization you also deal not just withthe roots of the problem but with themindset of the problem the mind mindsetof the problem is through uncovering anyand all destructive core beliefs aboutsexuality or about the individual suchas I'm worthless I'm doomed to be lonelyand identifying the chemicalassociations in the brain Associateswith those behaviors many people recitelies to themselves in their selft talkall the daylong and when we recite these lies toourselves night and day thank you sisterwhen we recite when we everybody has aform of selft talk yeahwe all talk to ourselves we all have aself-image we have an ideal self-imagewhich is what we put on Instagram andSnapchat on Facebook then we have thereal self-image that is somewhatdifferent and because there is adifference between the real the real meand the idealized me people who areaddicted to social media they withdrawfrom social contact why because theydon't want people to see that the realperson is difference the idealizedperson they see on social media thisparticularly affects teenage girls whopost these idealized pictures on theinternet but then withdraw from socialcontact because they don't want peopleto see the real me and so um where as aspastors we need to deal with the root ofthe problem but also the mindset of theproblem what are the lies that arerunning through this person's head andwho put those lies there and how can werebuke and refute those lies in thatperson's head because people believe themost awful things about themselves andit's often not true at all but it's beenput there by somebody else the thirdthing we have to deal with we have theroots of the problem the mindset of theproblem then the lifestyle of theproblem this is this is what keeps aperson in a cycle of Shame throughfantasy rituals acting out keepingsecrets and shame and guilt and so weneed to address honestly with peoplewhat is the lifestyle that is resultingfrom your immoral sexual behavior andhow can we change that lifestyle aroundthe fourth thing we deal with is thehiding of the problem because manypeople hide the problem they try andhide it from their spouse they try andhide it from their children andsometimes they're living in denial of itthemselves that the hiding of theproblem exists in denial minimization ofthe moral impact of of pornself-justifying Behavior blame shiftingI'm doing this because you did this tome gaslighting of our spouses or justsheer self- delusion and porn addictsengage in all of these behaviors to agreater or lesser extent and so aspastors we have to address these fourproblems the root of the problem themindset of the problem the life style ofthe problem and the hiding of theproblem and you have to address all fourof those things in order to helpsomebody find a path to Healingincluding in tips for healing we say GapGap g means guarding the Avenues of thesenses and the Heart through both actionand thought againstlust so what does that mean it meansthat you're intentional about guardingyourlife so my 22y old boy is with me onthis trip why is he with me on this tripso I've got my boy sleeping in with myroom every night it's that simple it'snot because he wants to see NewZealand he's supposed to be starting hisbusiness in Chattanooga right now saidDavid I need someone with me on thistrip I have to be intentional aboutguarding my life from any sexualTemptation or false accusations andthat's just an example of the fact thatwe have to guard Our Lives againstsexual Temptation and take specificconcrete actions so we are never placedin a position where we may becompromised IED or false allegationsbrought against us or when we findoursel in a position where we may um youknow fall into sexual sinunintentionally and then live withregret for the rest of our lives so weare to guard our lives and guard ourmarriages that means choosing who youspend your time with and who you don'tspend time with it means making surethat you're not going to be alone in aprivate place with somebody of theopposite sex if you are going to speakwith someone of the opposite sex do itin the foyer out there in front of to 20people but don't do it in a private spotum so there is there's a need forintentionality to guard our marriages toguard our minds to guard our hearts toguard against any possible Avenue wheresomebody could gain access to our heartand lead to lust objectification andimmoral Behavior Uh the a in gap standsfor addingaccountability um it's possible thesedays to use accountability software onyour devices there are many packages outthere and uh you you can install thoseon your smartphones on your computersand so forth um I'd really recommendthere some great packages out there likeCovenant eyes is one but there areothers and that means that everythingthat you watch somebody else will see ontheir phone aswell so it links your your device tosomebody else's device it's notrecommended you put your spouse as theyour accountability partner why becausethey're just going to be traumatized bywhat they'reseeing and if and if the behavior isslowly going down over time as Godbrings youhealing it's better to have a trustedfriend who can hold you accountableevery week and said this is what I'mseeing you're watching why is thishappening so it's not a good idea foryour spouse to be your accountabilitypartner because you're just going totraumatize them it's better to havesomebody that you trust healthy smallgroups really are the gold standard forhealing from sexual Brokenness or sexand porn addictions um many guys taketake part in a program called theconquer series it's done online iswritten by a former Navy fighter pilotswho flew in Vietnam and it's kind offull of testosterone you might say butum it's actually a very helpful programfor guys to work in a small group withother guys who are experiencing the sameproblems and when they when you'reworking in a group with about 10 otherguys there's accountability there'sencouragement there's practical tips andthere's um mut spiritual support it's aChristian program and I'd encourage youeven as a church in your localcongregation to maybe run the conquerseries as a form of evangelismbecause this is how people G come intocontact with God himself it is anexplicitly Christian program and justlike alcoholic synonymous the 12 stepprogram was originally Christian and hasbecome secularized over the years theytalk about a higher power and nottalking about God the conquer series isexplicitly Christian and it is talkingabout connecting with God to give youthe power to gain victory over the thescourge of sexual addiction and so it'scalled the the conquer series and if yougo to conquer series I.C I think it isor conquer series.org you can look at itforyourself then the p in gap and G isguarding the Avenues of the senses andthe Heart a is adding accountability andP is pursuing practices that arepure and so part of the healing processis is not just ridding your mind of theimages that you're filling with on adaily basis you have to fill your mindwith that which is honoring ofGod and you fill your time with thatwhich is honoring of God so for instancelistening to God honoring mmusic memorizing of scripture createsnew neural Pathways choosing friends andactivities that encourage Purity overperversity avoiding any practice orappearance of evil in public and privateassociations reading spiritually healthybooks like the spirit of Prophecy or theword of God that encourage spiritualgrowth as a replacement forFantasy as putting away social media oror any other online usage that leads theheart astray into lust from that whichis pure true holy just andgood so um The Gap is a useful acronymto remember guarding the Avenues of theheart adding accountability and the Pstands for pursuing practices that arepure um you can't just tell somebody toleave somebody beh something behind youhave to fill their life with that whichis god-honoringand so for instance if somebody whensomebody islonely if that's the trigger for them togo to porn you have to find a way forthem to address loneliness in aspiritually healthy way so if you'relonely I'm your friend give me a call ifyou're feeling lonely give me a callwe'll go for awalk if you're feeling lonely on acontinual basis Why Don't We join aBible a book reading club a Cycling Cluba chess club get involved in local advencommunity services do something thatputs you in contact with other peoplewhere you build trusting relationshipsand that so that when you're feelinglonely you know that rather than goingto porn your brain is going take you tothose positive thoughts and thosepositive associations and positivememories if you are if you're feeling umif you turn to porn when you're tiredwhich is a common trigger then whenyou're feeling tired go tobed I mean soundsobvious but you know in my life um uhSatan attacks me with discouragementwhen I'mtired okay I I lead a faith-basedMinistry there's stuff happening allaround the world Satan's attacking everyday and when I go to bed at night it'seasy to like oh Lord we're not going tosurvive in this so I recognize over thecourse of my life that when I'm tiredSatan attacks withdiscouragement what do I do when I'mtired I go to bed I'm just shutting downmy brain I'm not going to give Satantime and space to run discouragingthoughts through my brain and so whenyou recognize the triggers you replacethem with a spiritually healthy activityit may be a memorized scripture it maybe listening to um shopan it may be umlistening to a chapter From Desire ofAges online it may be going for a walkwith your friends in the park and soyou're whenever you get those triggersyou're intentionally rep going toanother place other than porn and it's avery deliberate Choice you're making andthis requires the help of your friendsaround you because often times thoseactivities involve Christ Christianfriends as well so when we work withpeople who have sexual addiction we needto remind them that we have a newidentity in Christ uh second Ro 2Corinthians chapter 5 you want to turnthere 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse17 talks about this new identity inChrist and just as Romans 121 and2 talksabout the process of metamorphosis thatwe are completely transformed by therenewing of ourminds um 2 Corinthians chapter 5 andverse17 says this it says therefore If anyman be in Christ he is a what a newcreature old things have passed passaway behold all things are become whatnew okay it doesn't say some things arebecome new does it it says all thingsare become new that's everything in yourlife and in particularly everything thatis important to you and the things thatare causing you self-destruction are nowgoing to be turned by God into thingsthat caused are a blessing for you andfor your family and for your loved onesso if we are in Jesus Christ we are anew creature old things are passed awaybehold all things are become new whenwe've given permission to Satan or otherdemonic influences to watch porn orengage in illicit sexual activity wehave surrendered our body and mind toSatan and hisTemptations and if demonic oppressionoccurs due to the choices of othersagainst us maybe our sexual Purity wastaken away from us in childhood orthrough verbal physical or other formsof abuse the demons claim us as theirown and they think they own our mindsand our bodies but as a as a follower ofJesus Christ we have a new identity inJesus Christ and helping peopleunderstand they have a new identity inChrist that whatever Satan may be sayingabout them is not true you now adisciple of Jesus Christ it helps peopleregain control over their mind and theirbody and why is that well we help peoplerecognize that because they fully belongto Jesus every aspect of their body andbeing belongs toJesus everything belongs to Jesus yourspare time your choice ofentertainment you're addictive or semi-addictive behaviors your relationshipand how you deal with your spouse andyour children all of those things belongto JesusChrist and if you put Jesus into thosebehaviors and ask how's he's going torespond to it that'll give you a goodindication of whether what you're doingis what you should be doing or not so wehelp people recognize that they fullybelong to Jesus and he owns every aspectof our body we were bought with aprice and we use these argu arguments inthe pandemic we were bought with a pricethere we honor God with our bodies weuse those arguments to write you knowvaccine waiver requests the sameargument is used for gaining victoryover sexual impurity and immoralitysecond thing we help people recognizethey can ask Jesus to give them freedomfrom any ownership that Satan may claimover theirbodies Jesus can fight that battle forus when we cannot fight it ourselvesthird third thing we do with people iswe ask Jesus to give them a new purposein lifemen need mountains toclimb if a man does not have a mountainto climb he lapses into depression andself harBehavior it's why unemployment isparticularly devastating for men becausemen get their identity from their joband when men don't have that job they'renothing and so as Christians as pastorsas fellow Christians in the Walk of Lifewe help people understand that God orthat Jesus by the Sea of Galilee gave usa new purpose to be fishes of men andwith 40% of the world yet having heardto hear the name of Jesus Christ thereis space for everybody to claim thatspiritualEverest and so we're telling to peopleum no matter what else has happened inlife God has a spiritual purpose for youand this is part the Great Commission isnot a suggestion it's a command to beobeyed you don't need a second visionfrom Jesus Christ to tell you that youneed to be involved in gospel work hehas given us all the Great Commission wedon't need a second Great Commissionwe've already got the gospel Commissionin Matthew 28:18-20 and when we helppeople understand that God has a newpurpose for them then their energies andtheir focus switches away from self andself-loathing and self-hatred to how isgoing to how is God going to use me tobless other people and that which wasonce a curse in your life now becomes ablessing inMinistry why do I say that well once Iin 2017 I broke my leg I was climbing inthe Canadian rocket went up to see theburer Shale it's the most famous fossilsite in the world for intelligent designpurposes and um you go up with the Gadea guide from the Canadian Park Servicewent up with 10 other people it's a 15 MTrek up and down in the Rockies andabout a mile uh from getting back at theend of the evening it was wet it wasraining we were crossing a scree slopethere was a narrow little path across ascree slope and I slipped and I slid onmy rear end down the slope and I came tothe tree and there was a branch there myfoot went under the tree my my left Wwent all the wayover and it wasn't a pleasant experienceand that was the day before I was du tospeak at the Hope camp meeting so Icanceled the meeting and they dragged medown into the tree line they brought ina helicopter and they helicoptered meout and um they couldn't land because itwas too steep so they they just tied meto a rope and they flew down the valleyand I was swinging underneath thehelicopter like this um I actually got avideo of this the guide took a pictureof that he thought it was a cool thingand when I when they got to the transCanadian Highway which goes through thenational park there in uh BritishColumbia they dropped me into thehighway then parked the plane helicopternext to me they pulled me into thehelicopter and put me in and took me offto ban uh where there was an ER thatturned out to be closed and I was as Iwas Tech I was in the plane I texted mywife and said something like um in a ina helicopter going to an ER in ban umhad a bad fall in the Rockies don'tworry I'll be fine andum my wife texted back so what do youmean don't worry they're Tak taking youto ER in a hospital that sounds seriousto me so anyway um why am I talkingabout that trying to think oh yes I'mthis why I'm talking about this um forthe next uh 3 months I was in awheelchair with my leg stuck out infront we had multiple breaks had 17 pinson Tib and fibula and it took me about 5years to be able to walk again properlyand um so I i' would go to a church andthey say you're you're preaching todayand they they'd Lift Me Up um they'dhave like an easy chair they put me intoeasy chair and lift me up onto theplatform and then they they'd rock meback in the easy chair so my left legwas higher than my head and and that wasmy posture for preaching it was reallyinconvenient and I went to one churchnot expecting to preach and I I waswearing shorts at the time and I can'tremember why I was wearing shorts andthey said oh you're here you you'regoing to preach I said no no no no noyou're going to preach so they put me upon the front and they put me in anothereasy chair they put my head back and Iwas sitting in front of the wholeaudience with my shorts on when I R uplike that and um why am I saying thisI'm saying this because a because it wasa traumatic experience but I I'm sayingthis um I'm saying this because fromthat moment on I looked at churchbuildings in a new way I thought ofpeople who are visually impaired andthey can't see they can't see where thehandrail is because there's nodistinction in color and we have manypeople in our churches I realized whohave physical disability ities butincredibly mature spiritual gifts andbecause they have physical disabilitieswe kind of assume they have no spiritualgifts and therefore we don't providespace for them in Ministry because of aphysical disability and I realized inthat as I went through that process thatI need to be more intentional aboutmaking sure that those who have visualimpairment audio impairment maybe walkWalking in the frame whatever it is thatthere's nothing wrong with the mind orthe heart because the body has beenimpacted by the by sin and the the youknow the consequences of life and and soum that experience of my broken leghelped me ever since then to talk withpeople and talk with local churchesabout this is what you need to do foryour disabled members okay and likewiseif you've gone through a cancerdiagnosis and a cancer treatment andyou've survived you can actuallyempathize and minister to people who Gthrough the same process much betterthan I have I can because I've nevergone through that so that which was acurse in your life God can turn into ablessing for other peopleand that is why we talk about when youask Jesus to give you a new purpose partof gaining victory in the area of sexualBrokenness is sharing what God has ledyou through because it encourages otherpeople to start on the sameJourney the the fourth thing weencourage people to do is to ask Jesusto give us the peace and to make ourbodies a barrier against furtherdemonization such as through Godlyactivities uh such as helping otherpeople we also ask people to preservehealthy boundaries in thought and intouch that seek the respect the thatseek to respect the image of Godembodied in every other person so we'redoing away with theobjectification sexual gratificationturning people into sexual objects inour minds asking God to give us victoryover lustful thinking um preservinghealthy boundaries being careful of whowe drive within the car who we don'tdrive within the car making sure there'salways three people present in a room ifthere's a sensitive discussion etc etcEtc these are all thing littleboundaries that we need to be thinkingabout in order to preserve that which isgood and true and pure and moral and topreserve our marriages because once welet our guards down in these boundariesSatan strikes like a Viper when youleast expect it we also ask Jesus to sotransform our mind through engaging innew spiritual practices that our mindstruly are transformed such as spiritualdevotional habits um sexual discipleshipwhich includes sharing your story ofBrokenness and healingand creating a culture of Grace in yourchurch whereby other people may beencouraged to start a similar journey ofhealing if somebody stands up in churchand says I'm battling porn please prayfor me I'm not sure what the church'sresponse is going to behonestly but you know the courage it saytakes to stand up and saythat and it gives encouragement tosomebody else okay that person's goingthrough the Journey maybe I can followthem on the same Journey aswell and so Victory from pornography isnot what people commonly think is not somuch a physical issue as a spiritualissue and Satan does not give up thebattle for the Mind easily and so thereneeds to be a daily Consecration and arehabbing of the brain away from apornographic mindset and a pornographicstyle of relating to others and thisdoes occur through individual and groupum resources and in my experienceworking with guys in this area mostpowerful way for healing is is is agroup accountability process you'reworking with a bunch of other guys or abunch of other ladies for the ladies umbut it's rare that you see somebody gainvictory over sexual immorality and pornaddiction just through their ownwillpower it almost neverhappens you find accountability andencouragement in a small group settingit's important that as healing occursthat The Afflicted individual begins toshare his story of healing and hope withothers turn your Bibles to Revelation 12very famous verse that many of us arefamiliar with it it's already beenquoted here I had I heard it yesterdaymorning in the morning devotional uhRevelation 12 and: 11 and it talks aboutthose who overcome in the greatcontroversy and those who overcome itsays they overcame him that is theaccuser of the Brethren by the blood ofthe lamb and by the what word of theirtestimony and they loved not their livesunto the death and so weovercome by the blood of the Lamb butalso by the word of OurTestimony that when we can testify towhat God has done for us what God isdoing for us it's we we need to hear forourselves that that that that forwardprogress we need to recite for ourselvesthe victories that God has given us weneed other people to know the journeywe're on so they know how to relate tous as we go through thisjourney you know if you're battling pornaddiction and you're dating young ladyand you're not being honest with heryou're setting yourself up for faithfailure in marriage you need to behonest aboutit and in achurch ideally our churches are placeswhere people can share the word of theirtestimony I once was asked about ayounger man I was studying with inLondon he asked to be baptized he hadbeen living on the streets he wasaddicted to heroin and marijuana tobaccoand alcohol and over the space of abouta year of studying with him he gainedvictory over tobacco over alcohol overheroin but he struggled withmarijuana and he asked can he ask theboard if I can bebaptized so I we discussed the marijuanaand he took the marijuana um forpainkillingpurposes sorry that's okaybrother so he took the marijuana forpainkillingpurposes and I knew that some of myboard members were on you knowpainkillers they were semi addicted tothemactually and that little white pill wasan acceptable version of painkilling butthat spliff of marijuana was not anacceptable form ofpainkilling and it was a long debate atour church of whether this man should bebaptized ornot because if you're going to say no tohis baptism because he smokes marijuanabecause of he's in constant physicalpain why are you who is saying no takingyour painkillers everyday and what was when you're workingwithpeople um you can either view them as amovie as a film or as aphotograph so if you view somebody as aphoto photograph you take a snapshot oftheir life just where they are today andyou say he gained victory over X Y and Zbut he's struggling with d therefore hecan't be baptized because there's thatproblem there and that he may probablynever be baptized if that's the attitudeof the church on the other hand if youview somebody's um view them as a movierather than as a picture and you seewhere they've come from and thestruggles they've gone through and thevictories that God has given them andthe work of the holy spirits in theirlife and you chart them from a all theway through to Z then when people seethe trajectory that life and you seethat they are truly repentant and theyare God has given them victories overthings that the people on the boardwould never gain victory over then youhave a different attitude to people andthat is why we overcome by the blood ofthe lamb and by the the word of theirtestimony we we in as people go throughthe process of sexual healing it'simportant to testify and in our churchesto listen to that with respect becauseit takes raw courage to stand up and saythat and for the spouse to agree withyou to say that in public takes courageon The spouse's part aswell but it also encourages others withthe reality of the grace of God at workin one of the members lives and itencourages others to start on the sameJourney themselves the Deliveranceprocess for from demonization fromelicit sexual behavior you know we wetalk about this and in AFM with ourmissionaries we follow some of theseprocesses um one of the things weencourage people to do in the process torepudiate Satan and all his work worksthere has to be a conscious repudiationof Satan we encourage people toarticulate openly to confess and repentall their known illicit sexual unions orcontacts that may include lust adulterypromiscuity premarital sex porn usetelephone sex samees seex activityhookup culture rampant narcologistincest prostitutionmochismo and bestiality and the listgoes on from that and I've discovered asa pastor that many Adventists have got abunch of those things in theirclosets more than youthink and then we wonder why we have disdysfunctional marriages and maritalbreakup in our churches and it'simportant that people explicitly confessand repent of these things before Godand sometimes you have to lead peoplethrough a series ofPrayers And they're they're confessingit and when they confess it the traumais coming back and the tears are flowingbut they're confessing this before Godand they're asking God and receivingfrom God his full forgiveness and it's abeautiful process when somebody thing tosee when somebody goes through that kindof process we're encouraging people torepudiate those demons who may bedemonizing them as a result of theirelicit sexual behavior and to articulatethat they are divorcing from those defrom thosedemons that we are married we are thebride of Christ we are betrothed toChrist we are not joined illicitly tothese demons and we're encouragingpeople to express their faith that theyare part of the bride of Christ thatChrist is theirbridegroom and that they wish theirbridegroom to take full possession ofevery aspect of their mind body andspirit now we don't talk much aboutbeing the bride ofChrist but um we are encouraged throughthe washing of the water of the words toprepare ourselves so we are with we arewithout wrinkle for the marriage supperof the lamb and if I may just find thatpassage that talks about that you knowwhen I got to O'Hare Airport the otherday I realized I forgot my all my talksand my Bible and it just feels justfeels you know like I'm naked without myBible um so yeah if you turn toEphesians 5 Ephesians5 verse25 because I remember what things are inthe Bible from where they are on thepage and they're all marked up and it'sa different translation so it feels likeI'm on a Strange Land right now soEphesians chapter 5 verse 25 husbandslove your wives even as Christ loved thechurch and gave himself for it sohusbands we are to have aself-sacrificing love for ourwives the H our wives need to know thatwe will sacrifice ourselves forthem next verse says that he mightsanctify and cleanse it that Christwants to make holy and to cleanse hischurch by with the washing of Water byby theword so when I get up every morning Ihave ashower I physically wash my body and Ialso read the word of God I run the wordof God through this polluted gray matteruphere and it's like a daily shower forthebrain God you do that every single dayand God washes away the sinful thoughtsand the sinful proclivities andinclinations and he replaces it withsomething beautiful and so we prepareourselves we cooperate with God in theprocess ofsanctification um through the washing ofthe Water by the word verse 27 that hethat is Christ might present it that isthe church to himself as a gloriouschurch not having spot or wrinkle or anysuch thing but that it that is the brideof Christ should be holy and withoutblemish and that's God's will for usthat we should be holy and withoutblemish and so part of the healingprocess uh from sexual illicit sexualbehavior and sexual demonization is theintentional partnering with Jesus Christin the cleaning process the washing ofthe water of the word on a daily basisand as you do that on a daily basis Godchanges how you think about things andhe fortifies your mind with his word sothat when The Temptations come your mindgoes to the word of God rather than tothose memories uh those immoral memoriesthat you've packed into your brain fromthe past some of the prayers we offerwith people go like this says I confessmy sinful involvement in let's sayadultery with so and so his name Irepent and renounce offering my body asan instrument of wickedness I break bythe power of jesus' name all bonds withthis individual I offer all aspects ofmy body including my sexuality asinstruments of righteousness to myheavenly father I ask you Lord Jesus totake back the ground given to the enemythrough my involvement and I yield thatground to your full control holy spiritplease come and dwell Within Me fillingevery aspect of my being in in the nameof Jesus I pray amen all people may saya prayer like this Lord I acknowledgeand renounce the kind of abuse thatsomebody perpetrated against me and Iask you to break that stronghold andsexual Bond it created in my life I askyou Lord Jesus to take back the groundgiven to the enemy through that abuseand I yield that ground to the fullcontrol of your Holy Spirit Holy Spiritplease come and dwell Within Me fillingevery aspect of my being in the name ofJesus my Lord and Savior I ask amen Iwant to concl conclude with a quote fromsteps toChrist and this emphasizes that thefirst step in healing and deliverancefrom sexual abuse and elicit sexual backbehavior is a mental choice to acceptJesus as Lord and savior of your lifeit's a choice you make if the person haslost the power of choice because they'reso controlled by demons then we need topray for them that their power to choosefor God is restored and this is thequote from steps to Christ page 47 itsays this many are inquiring how am I tomake the surrender of myself to God youdesire to give yourself to him but youare weak in moral power in slavery todoubt and controlled by the habits ofyour life of sin your promises andresolutions are like ropes of sand youcannot control your thoughts yourimpulses your affections the knowledgeof your broken promises and forfeitedpledges weakens your confidence in yourown sincerity and causes you to feelthat God cannot accept you and that welldescribes people who are caught in thechains of sexual immorality she goes onto say but you need notdespair what you need to understand isthe true force of the will this is thegoverning power in the nature of man thepower of decision or of choiceeverything depends on the right actionof the will The Power of Choice God hasgiven to men it is Theirs to exercisenow listen to this quote here you cannotchange your heartyou cannot of yourself give to God itsaffections but you can choose to servehim you can give him your will he willthen work in you to Will and to doaccording to his goodpleasure thus your whole nature will bebrought under the control of the spiritof Christ your affections will becentered upon him and your thoughts willbe in harmony with him so the startingpoint for the healing process is not tosay I'm going to gain victory of this InMy Own Strength the starting point is tosurrender our will to JesusChrist we cannot choose and andintellectually we don't have the powerto gain victory over these forces ofSatan that beset us we cannot change ourheart but we can choose today to serveJesus and to yield our hearts and ourwill to him so that he can work and willhis good pleasure in us from this dayforward so the battle for sexual Puritystarts in the mind and it be ends in themind and it starts and begins when weyield our mind to the control of JesusChrist we ask him to work and to willhis good pleasure in each of ourlives so I don't know whether you'vebeen affected by this kind of stuff inyourlife statistically there's a bunch of ushere that have maybe in the past maybedealing with it today we encourage youin the words of that hymn to Turn YourEyes Upon Jesus look full look f fulinglook was itlook yes and the of Earth will growstrangely dim in the lights his andGrace and so turn your eyes toJesus um gaining victory in this kind ofprocess requires somebody you trust atleast one person that you can talkthrough this stuff with and who willwalk with you through this difficultprocess of healing but in my experiencemany people do gain healing but itstarts with an act of the will to yieldour will will to Jesus Christ let's bowour heads and close with prayer heavenlyfather father we've talked about a verysensitive topic thismorning and father in this congregationand certainly watching online there arepeople who are in the caught in thechains oflust with those chains of lust comesdemonic control of their body and oftheirmind and father I thank you that yourson Jesus Christ has never lost a battlewith SatanI thank you that when there was war inheaven Michael and his angels cast outSatan and his angels when there was ashowdown in the wilderness in Matthew 4Satan was driven away defeated then inMark 3 when Jesus was asked by whatAuthority he cast out demons he said youcannot plunder a strong man's house asfirst you've entered and bound up thatstrong man I thank you Father that Satanindeed is a bound strong man and thatJesus has the authority and the power toset us free from this particular form ofdemonic bondageso father today I'm praying for everyheart for every marriage for every homethat is represented here today andonline I'm asking that those involved inthese situations will indeed choosetoday to yield their will to JesusChrist I'm asking father that your sonJesus will fight the battle for thesepeople these Brothers and Sisters inChrist that they will indeed gainVictory and healing and you will bringhealth and healing and hope back totheir marriages to their homes to theirchildren and to to their own inner walkwith you father we pray that you willrebuke the claims and attacks of Satanupon this church upon her members I prayLord that you will so work in us andthrough us that you will indeed presentus faultless without blemish upon thatwedding supper of the Lamb so fatherplease continue to Will and to and towork your Good Will in each one of uschange us transform us may Our Livesindeed be a Living Sacrifice to you maywe no longer be conformed to the ways ofthis world but may we be transformed bythe renewing of our minds and I praydear heavenly father that maybe the nexttime we meet some of us will have atestimony of your goodness your mercyyour power to take us from a mighty pitand set our feet on a firm Rock Sofather thank you in advance what yougoing to do in our homes hearts andmarriages in jesus' name we pray amenamen[Music]for