Violence & Sex - II

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Can a man take fire into his lap and not be burned? No, but that's what lost his life. Oh, I can't control this. Oh, this will get the best of me. You'll get her telling you.

Today, Pastor Greg Laurie warns us of the destructive power of lost and how to keep it from invading and igniting our lives.

The best way to overcome lust and protect your mind is to fill up with something that cultivate your relationship with Jesus Christ.

Tambra, glad you're joining us today here on a new beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie and Pastor Greg. We'll begin today's message in just a moment.

Our life is like a movie and where the star evangelist Craig Lord, we have questions about this movie we're in. Is it a love story?

Is this movie a tragedy? What is the meaning of my life? An online event is coming that can change your life. We can all use a rush of hope.

Russia called the world's first online cinematic harvest crusade on your favorite social media platform, Labor Day weekend, September 4th, through September seven. Invite a friend to tune in for a message of hope from evangelist Greg Laurie and exclusive performances by Jeremy KAB.

Mercy me. And for King and country.

Rush Holt coming to a screen near you. Labor Day weekend details at Harvest North.

If there's some liquid left in the bottom of a drinking glass, milk, juice, soft drink, what's the first thing we do to get a clean rinse it outright, runs some water in it and flush it clean? Well, today on a new beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out that same approach works well with all the stuff that needs to be cleaned out of our minds. We'll see how to wash it clean with a renewed mind and a renewed passion to draw closer to the Lord. It's a message from Pastor Greg series simply called Ten.

All right. Let's turn in our Bibles to two passages today. Exit is Chapter 20 and Matthew, Chapter five. How's this for a sermon title? Violence and Sex. That is my message title. You've seen warnings on this screen before. A TV program is about to play a word of warning. The topic you're about to explore may not be suitable for young listeners or you see a movie down at the theater and you're thinking, well, do I want to go see this? And that might warn you that there's violence and sex in the film. Well, that's what I want to talk about, but I don't want to glorify it, as is often the case. But I want to tell you what the Bible says about these topics as we're looking at the Ten Commandments. Now, if nothing else comes from this series on the Ten Commandments, part of a larger series on the life of Moses called Walter Firestone, I hope you'll memorize the Ten Commandments in order K commandment number one, you shall have no other gods before me. Commandment number two, you shall have no graven images. Commandment number three, do not take the Lord's name in vain. And commandment number four, remember the Sabbath day. Keep it holy. There's two tablets. Four of the commandments are on tablet. One the final six are on tablet two. So tablet two. Commandment number six, you must not kill or you shall not murder.

And then the next one is you shall not commit adultery. Let's talk about that. Heard about a little boy then went to Sunday school and the teacher was speaking on the Seventh Commandment. He seemed to have misunderstood her. He went home to dad, said dad. It teacher was telling me on Sundays, go today, thou shall not commit agriculture.

What does that mean? Dad was smart without missing a beat. He said, Son, that means you're not supposed to plow the other Mansfield so that when you get some pretty good summation, what is adultery?

Let's just get Tector go for a moment. Adultery is sexual relations with someone beside your spouse. We hear the word fornication. That would be premarital sex. Adultery is primarily extra marital sex, the only place for sex to be right and indeed blessed by God who created it is in a marriage relationship between a man and a woman living together, committed to each other in a monogamous relationship. Imagine how different our nation would be if we obeyed the Seventh Commandment. How many divorces would have been avoided? How many families would still be together? How many fathers would still be home to raise their children? It's such a devastating sin. Sex is not evil. Sex can be good when it's in its right place. That's in marriage.

He was 13 four says give honor to marriage and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those that commit adultery. Another translation of that same verse goes as follows. Guard the sacredness of sexual intimacy between wife and husband. God draws a firm line against casual and illicit sex.

So sometimes we will think, well, you know, but we need to get to know each other, find out for compatible. So we'll have sex before marriage. Maybe live together and then we'll later get married. Well, that's how to sabotage a marriage.

A University of Tennessee study among young women said there seems to be a correlation between illicit sexual behavior and serious emotional problems. And then another study done by the University of Oregon found that those who engage in premarital relationships make poor marital risks.

And so it doesn't help you. It actually hurt you. Now, let's see what Jesus says about this. Matthew five, verse 27. Jesus says you've heard the commandment that says you must not commit adultery. But I say anyone who looks on a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Wow. The word that Jesus uses here for looking is not speaking of a casual glance. It refers to the continual act of looking. It's not an incidental or involuntary glance, but an intentional and repeated gazing with a purpose of lusting. It's not just someone that notices someone's attractive. You might see a woman and say that's an attractive woman. Or you might see a man and say, that's an attractive man, as you would say right now.

About your husband that you're sitting next to or somebody else? Not me.

So that's one. There's nothing wrong with that. That's that's sinful to notice that someone is attractive. It's sinful when you take that thought and let it go into another arena, so to speak. And you begin to look at them with the purpose of lusting. So it's an intentional repeated gazing at something with the purpose of stimulating lust for that person. Listen, you don't feed lust, you starve it. It's certainly one way you can feed lust is by looking at pornography.

Actually, the word that is used here for adultery are the original root. Word by Jesus is the Greek word. Poor Nezha. Guess a word we get from that pornography. Porn, as it's often called. Seventy nine percent of 18 to 30 year old American men watch Internet porn at least once a month, say, well, young guys are all twisted and perverted. Doesn't surprise me, really. Seventy six percent of 18 to 30 year old American women watch porn once a month. One expert described it as the Port of Vacation of America. It's joked about in sitcoms. It's come into the mainstream. Films like 50 Shades of Gray have brought it to a much larger audience. So it's everywhere. So you don't want to feed that flame. And I would compare sexual desire to fire. And fire is not always bad. Fire can be good. It's nice to sit around a fire ring in front of a fireplace. It's nice to use fire to cook your food. But then fire can be destructive. It can take property. It can take lives. So we want to have fire in its right place. The Bible asked that question and Proverbs six twenty seven. Can a man take fire into his lap and not be burned? In case you're wondering what the answer to that is, no. Don't try this at home. Let's start a fire in my lap and see if I get burned. No, you'll get burned. I'm telling you, it's an obvious question, an obvious answer. You can lose control of fire. When I was a little kid, I don't know what the deal was, but I seem to be some sort of a junior pyromaniac. I like to set things on fire. And one of my favorite things to do. Now, big things. Just little things. And I like army men. I'd buy like 50 Army men and a package zero green. Remember those? And they'd be in different positions. There's a guy with the binoculars, you know, and then there's another guy kind of with a machine gun down here and then a guy with a long rifle pointing it.

He was my favorite guy because I would light the end of his rifle with the lighter and the flame would kind make it through and he would start melting like this and melting. Melting. He'd be a little flaming puddle.

So one time I lady my army man on fire did a more than once. And they were a newspaper really about idea. So the army man melts puddle of green. All of a sudden the paper a little fire. So I scoop up all these papers in a panic. I'm running around. I'm just a little kid. I throw them into a trash can made out of bamboo. The trash can at night. Thankfully, I got it out, but touch lost his life. Oh, I can't control this.

Oh, this will get the best of me. But it starts with looking that voluntary, looking like I'm looking with this purpose. A great example of this or maybe a tragic example would be a better way to say it is. David was up on his rooftop. Now, back in biblical times, the rooftop would be flat. They might have a patio up there. And David, being the king of Israel, was on the rooftop of his palace. He had a great view of everything below.

And we read that he was up on his rooftop after he'd been sleeping in all day. And he looks and sees a beautiful woman. Bathing herself, whose name, ironically, was Bath Sheba.

Now he saw that I guess he couldn't have avoided seeing that the first time. And then he acted on it and gave the order that she be brought up to his bedroom and they had sexual relations and she became pregnant. Instead of admitting that to the Lord and repenting, he tried to hide it, so he called her husband, Uriah, who served in David's military back home, hoping he'd spend a night with his wife and think that was his kid, not David's.

But this husband of Uriah was such a loyal soldier, he couldn't bear the thought of having such a pleasure when the fellow soldiers were out on the front lines so he wouldn't go along with David's game plan. So, in effect, David had a murdered. He sent him out to battle, leading a charge. Everybody felt back. Uriah was killed. And David Mary Bathsheba thought he had covered it all up. But then it all came out and everybody found out.

And he even saw this same behavior repeated in his own children.

So it starts with what you look at.

Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.

We're so thrilled when we hear from listeners that join us from every background, every profession, every age.

Hi, best to break. I just want to let you know that I am a huge fan of you and so thankful for how God has used you through your ministries. Me and my family are originally from Southern California, but we moved to Texas when I was 12. I am now a teenager. I am also a fan of your good friend Phil Wickham's music. I'm praying for you all.

Well, it's really great to know that Pastor Greig's teachings are reaching this young man and many more like him. Would you like to share your story? If so, why not? E-mail Pastor Greg. His email address is Graig at Harvest dot org. Do it today. That's Graig at Harvest dot org.

Well, we're considering the dangers of lost today as Pastor Greg brings a study based in the Ten Commandments titled Violence and Sex. Let's continue.

Try to guard your mind. Job 31 one says, I've made a covenant with my eyes to not look lustfully at a girl ever seen comes on your TV or in a theater or on your phone or wherever it is.

You don't want to expose yourself to that thing. You want to do whatever you need to do to not be looking at that sort of thing. And obviously, an older guy need to say this, but I'll say it anyway. A popular trend is sex. Teens sending naked photos of yourself. Worst idea of all time. There's something now called revenge porn where people who get photos of someone they were involved with and then they break up. Then they post it. And it's out there in the Internet effectively forever. Just, you know, simple thought. Never, ever take a picture of yourself naked. Just don't and don't carry it around in your phone. You got had to the up. What are you, an idiot? I mean, these are such no brainers. But these things happen to people and we want to be careful and we want to guard our minds.

Listen to this. As I wrap this up, the best way to overcome lust and protect your mind is to fill it with something better. Before I tell you what that is. Let me just make this one statement. For every temptation you've ever had. There was always a way out. Am I right? Always.

First Corinthians 10 13 says there is no temptation taken you. But such is as common a man. But God who is faithful will not allow you to be tempted above which you are able bode well with the temptation. Make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. Let me just paraphrase that. There's always a way out of every temptation, always. Sometimes it's turning off the TV. Sometimes it's terminating the conversation. Sometimes it's closing the laptop. Sometimes it's walking out of the room.

Whatever you got to do, do it. Now, let me come back to the thing that you should do instead of fighting lust all the time, fighting, lust, fighting, fill your mind in your heart with something greater than old Puritan.

Put it this way. We need the explosive power of a new affection.

We need the explosive power of a new affection. Here's what it comes down to. Cultivate your relationship with Jesus Christ. See, that was David's problem. He was known as the man after God's own heart. He was known as the sweet psalmist of Israel. Many of the great psalms that we read and memorize were written by David, his love songs to God. But as we find him later in his career in his 50s, he wasn't singing love songs to God anymore.

He was sort of on what you might call a spiritual vacation home when the troops were in battle instead of leading them, as he had done in the past. David was kicking back at home, sleeping in and wandering around looking for trouble, and he found it in his own backyard.

And this happened to us. We back off from our study of the word of God. We back off from attending church. We back off from prayer. We don't hang around our Christian friends anymore. We get into these other relationships that are hurtful to us that can drag us down. And we find ourselves giving into something we said we would never give into. You need the explosive power of a new affection. If you love the Lord with all of your heart and your mind and you're focusing on him, it will bolster and strengthen you and give you the power you need to resist that temptation.

The Bible says blessed is the man that endures temptation for when he has tried to receive a crown of life. God will give you the strength to do it. But it all comes down to our need for Jesus. You know, sometimes people say, well, you know, Christianity, that that's like a crutch. Crutch. Christianity is a whole hospital man. And I need all the help I can get. I don't know about you. And we can turn to the Lord and he'll help us.

Maybe there's someone here today that is hearing this message and he don't have a relationship with God, have been talking about cultivating this relationship with Jesus here. You think, oh, what are you even talking about? How does that even happen? It happens when you say to God that, you know, the tourist center and you're sorry for your sin. And you realize Jesus Christ died on the cross for you as we look at these commandments.

Don't take the Lord's name in vain. Don't have another God before him. Honor your father and mother. Don't steal. Don't lie. Don't commit adultery. Don't murder. Don't hate.

Who among us has not broken some of these commandments? Every one of us has. The commandments were not given to make me holy. They were given this. Show me how unholy I actually am. The commandments are given this. Show me how much I need Jesus and listen to this. Jesus stands here now, ready to forgive you of any sin you've ever committed. And there might be someone here today that needs Jesus in their life. You need your sin forgiven. You want to begin this relationship with him. But there might be somebody else who was walking with the Lord.

But you've given in to some of these things and it's hit home. And you realize it, but you can come back to him. And that's what you need to do. You need to turn from that sin and start walking with him again.

So we're going to close down with a prayer domino, extend an invitation for you to either ask Christ to come into your life if you need him to come in today or an opportunity for you to recommits your life to the Lord if you've fallen into some kind of sin. Let's all pray, Father.

Now we thank you for your word, which is so true and it hits home.

And I pray for anyone here who does not yet know you. Anybody here who does not have a relationship with you.

Anybody here that needs Jesus. Lord, I pray your Holy Spirit will convict them and convince them of their need for Christ and help them to come to you. Now we pray a.

Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer. And if you'd like to make a change today in your relationship with the Lord, Pastor Greg will help you with that in just a moment. Before we wrap up today here on a new beginning. If you weren't able to hear the whole presentation today, you can go on line for a replay. Just go to harvest dot org and look for the title. Violence and Sex or for a copy on c.D. Call one 800 eight to one 30 300. That's one 800 eight two one three three zero zero. And then we want to recommend a brand new book about a real life hero. The author is our friend, John Irwin. And it's the story of how his grandfather was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor during World War Two for his heroism when a live phosphorus bomb began spewing 2000 degree flames inside a B 29 super fortress off the coast of Japan.

The plane was in a dove. They were gonna crash into the ocean or the entire plane was going to erupt because the bomb would work its way down the Bombay. And instead of saving Ken himself in a superhuman act of strength, he went for the boss, clutching it like it took and making his way to the front of the.

With just seconds left, he threw it out the copilot window and smoke cleared the plane and they pulled up at 300 feet just seconds from disaster. You didn't just save twelve people.

He saved generations of people. Their family wouldn't be here today. Our grandchildren wouldn't be here today. You wouldn't be here today and same time.

The rest of the. I'll never forget that. John is with us today. John, of course, is the director of many movies, including I still believe in I Can Only Imagine. And he is the author of this new book about his grandfather's heroism. But it seems, John, the main point of the book is that it was deeper than that. It's not that the World War Two experience made him what he was. It's more that it revealed what kind of man he was. Explain that.

That's exactly right. I got really interested in just the psychology of these heroic acts. Who is able to, you know, grab a bomb and marched to the front of a plane and, you know, am I, you know, and who's able to jump on a grenade or just do these extraordinary things like Desmond Doss, you know, from that for the movie X origin and just keep going back. And it was very interesting. I was talking to Gary, the troll who was president, the Medal of Honor Society of the time at their museum in Charleston on the aircraft carrier and the Medal of Honor Museum. And I just said I asked him that question, like, how do you decide to do these things? And he said something so interesting. He said it's not a decision. It's a moment where it's too quick to be able to decide. So what's ever in your character is just revealed in that moment? Yes. And in the moment, that is too quick for a decision. You know, you find out who you really are. And I thought that was so interesting because like with my grandfather, you know, he had had such a pattern in his life because his dad died so early. Of sacrificing his own needs for the needs of those that he loved. And in every instance, I feel like love of country is what made them join. But love of each other is what empowers these extraordinary acts. It really is doing these things because you love the person beside you. Yes. And I thought that was interesting. And in a moment, too quick to decide that character that he had was revealed and he did what he always did, which was to sacrifice his own needs and his own well-being. And, you know, what was nearly his own life for those people around him. And to save them. And I thought that that was very interesting and very relevant to our time. You know, we live in a very narcissistic time. And the other thing that I thought was interesting was Gary said, you know, your generation, like America, is a nation bound together and held together by ideas and ideals and by faith. And and he just said, you know, your generation has no concept of what the Medal of Honor is and what it means and what going above and beyond the call of duty means. And how important that is to the fabric of our nation. And I think there's a lot to learn just through studying heroes and what empowers them to do what they do.

Folks, have you want to read a powerful, inspiring story, a real page turner, as they say, but not a fictional work, a true historical story, but told in a powerful way by expert storyteller John Irwin. Then he went to order a copy of this brand new book, Beyond Valor, that we will make available to you for your gift of any size. They help us continue to bring the gospel to people and teach the word of God to people all around the world.

Yeah, that's right. Is such an inspiring book. And we hope your request a copy from us right away. And thanks so much for your investment in this important work of teaching believers and sharing Christ with those who don't yet know him. Please send a generous donation today. And be sure to ask for this brand new book called Beyond Valor. You can write a new beginning box 4000 Riverside, California, nine two five one four. Or call one 800 eight to one thirty three hundred. That's one 800 eight two one three three zero zero. Or go online to harvest dot org. Well, Pastor Greg, you've mentioned how someone can become a Christian with just a simple prayer. That's right. Maybe somebody would like to do that right now. Could you help them with that?

Sure. I'd love to. A simple prayers, right. In fact, I would like to just pray a prayer and I would ask you to pray it after me right now. Pray these words. Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, but I also know that you are the savior because you died on the cross for my sin and you rose again from the dead. Jesus come into my life and forgive me of every sin I've ever committed. I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for hearing this prayer. Thank you for answering this prayer, Lord. And I pray all of this in Jesus. Name a man. If you just pray that prayer and Menta, I want to know. On the authority of Scripture. God Almighty has heard your prayer and he will answer this prayer. You are now a newly minted child of God. So congratulations. You've made the right decision. And welcome to the family of God. I want to send you a special gift because of that prayer, you've just prayed. It's called the New Believers Growth Packet. And in it is a copy of the New Testament in a very understandable translation called the New Living Translation. It also is filled with hundreds of notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this commitment you've made to follow Christ. And there's some other outstanding materials in this little packet I'll send you as well. So order your copy today. And let me be the first to say to you, congratulations and welcome to the family of God.

Yeah. To get that new believers growth packet. Just get in touch and we'll be glad to send it right out. You can write us at a new beginning. Box 4000, Riverside, California. Nine two five one four. Or call one 800 eight to one thirty three hundred. That's one 800 eight two one three three zero zero. Or go online to harvest dot org and click the words No God.

Our life is like a movie. And where the star evangelist Craig Lord, we have questions about this movie we're in. Is it a love story?

Is this movie a tragedy? What is the meaning of my life? An online event is coming that can change your life. We can all use a rush of hope.

Russia called the world's first online cinematic harvest crusade on your favorite social media platform, Labor Day weekend, September 4th, through September seven. Invite a friend to tune in for a message of hope from evangelist Greg Laurie and exclusive performances by Jeremy Camp, Disaster of Mercy Me.

And for King and country.

Russia hold coming to a screen near you. Labor Day weekend details at harvest doors.

Well, next time, a special edition of the program as we visit with John Irwin and take a deep dove into his grandfather's story about heroism and faith.

Join us next time for a new beginning with Harstad Greg Laurie.

The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by harvest partners helping people everywhere, no God sign up for Pastor Gregs free daily email devotions at Harvest StarTalk.