WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.759 But uh today we're gonna continue on in First Corinthians. 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:06.480 We are in First Corinthians six, twelve through twenty. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:08.880 And I am gonna read it. 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:18.960 Um, but before we go on, um this passage, you're coming to this passage. 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:22.239 You're gonna come to the Bible, like when we read scripture. 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:25.839 You're coming with all of you, right? 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:35.200 You are coming with your beliefs, you're coming with your experiences, you're coming with your trauma, you're coming with the understanding that you have built over the years of life that you have had so far. 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:43.759 So you will have opinions, you will have reactions, you will have things that you like and don't like about this passage. 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:47.679 But this passage is good news. 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:54.560 It may be challenging, it may be convicting, but at the end of the day, this is good news. 00:00:54.799 --> 00:01:15.519 So before I even start, I want us to take just a couple of seconds, partially because I need it, and also because I think we all need it, to think about what is happening and be aware and commit to being aware of what's happening inside your brain, your body, your heart as we go through this today. 00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:21.840 And this is we're not condemning anyone for any reaction that they have. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:36.959 What we're doing right now is I'm hoping that altogether we're gonna commit to growing, to the process of growth, which is uncomfortable sometimes, and we're gonna commit to being sensitive to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:44.239 So I'm actually gonna pray, and then we will read, and I'm probably gonna pray again because we need it. 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:56.319 Gracious Holy Father, you have created and formed and shaped each one of us. 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:06.640 You are eternal and you have seen all things and you have been present for all things, and God, you will continue on until the end of the age. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:18.719 And so, Holy Spirit, as we approach your word with reverence, but also with junk that exists inside of us because of the sin that is in this world. 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:22.080 God, I just ask that you would lay us bare. 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:36.080 I ask that you would allow us to open our hearts, to crack through the armor that we've created because of the hurt that we've experienced, because of the lies that we believe, and just that your Holy Spirit would break through today. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:40.639 We thank you for the opportunity to gather as a church body. 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:44.639 We thank you for this time that you've given us. 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:48.879 We thank you for this day as cold as it might be for spring. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:03:07.840 And we just ask that you would be so present that you would you would just dig deep into our souls and that you would expose the truth about who we are, the good truth of the Lord. 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:09.759 In your precious name. 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:10.479 Amen. 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:15.039 All right, I'm gonna be reading from the NLT. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:19.759 Um if you have another version, we'll have some other version options up here. 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:24.800 This is 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 12 through 20. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:31.759 You say, I'm allowed to do anything, but not everything is good for you. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:37.439 And even though I'm allowed to do anything, I must not become a slave to anything. 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:41.759 You say food was made for the stomach and the stomach for food. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:45.439 This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them. 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:50.400 But you can't say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. 00:03:50.639 --> 00:04:00.879 They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies, and God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he has raised our Lord from the dead. 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:05.039 Don't you realize that your bodies are actual parts of Christ? 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:09.280 Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:10.159 Never. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:16.399 And don't you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:20.160 For the scriptures say the two are united into one. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:24.639 But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. 00:04:25.279 --> 00:04:27.199 Run from sexual sin. 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:30.879 No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:34.160 For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:41.360 Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:45.759 You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:48.800 So you must honor God with your body. 00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:57.199 Now, reading something like this, there's a good chance that we have a couple of different reactions. 00:04:57.279 --> 00:05:02.399 And as we continue to kind of go through this, I want you again to be aware of your reactions. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:03.120 Okay. 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:08.319 We may come with two general reactions. 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:16.639 One of them might be uh like I you know what I mean? 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:23.439 Like you might read one of these verses, just go, I mmm okay. 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:27.519 So if if you feel that, let's sit with that tension. 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:34.399 If we read this and you go, mm-hmm, obviously. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:35.279 Mm-hmm. 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:35.759 Thank you. 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:36.560 I heard it back there. 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:37.199 Mm-hmm. 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:37.680 Okay. 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:39.680 We're gonna we're gonna look at that too. 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:49.519 But again, be aware of what your immediate reaction is to this, because I think that's gonna be very revealing to what the Holy Spirit's trying to tell you. 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:54.879 So, the next thing I'm gonna do, yeah, stay here, thank you, on this slide. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:06:08.480 The next thing I'm gonna do, I'm gonna give a quick just when we say sexual immorality, I'm not gonna necessarily, I'm gonna try my best with this passage to say this is this is what I think Paul is saying, um, this is the truth. 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:10.720 I have lots of opinions as well, right? 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:15.279 Like, just like you, I'm gonna come to this with lots of opinions and experiences, and I will share some of those. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:32.319 But when this passage is saying sexual immorality, this is what it's saying, this is the word, this is the what the Bible, what Paul is saying, illicit sexual intercourse to prostitute one's body to the lust of another, indulge unlawful lust. 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:36.160 Okay, you can put a lot of different things in our current culture within that category. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:38.399 I'm not necessarily going to hand you that list today. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:41.120 I think I'm hoping that's part of what the Holy Spirit will do. 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:42.959 So I want to give a little bit there. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:45.199 Now, the context of this passage, okay. 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:53.120 Paul is writing to the church in Corinth, who we know from looking at previous chapters, is starting to look a little too much like their culture, right? 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:58.800 Earlier in this chapter, they he was Paul was urging them not to settle disputes in a secular court. 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:02.879 He also had to say, do not have sex with your stepmother, right? 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:10.639 Like that's something that even the people in Corinth were like looking at the church, going, I can't believe you guys are doing that because we're not even doing that, right? 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:13.600 So Paul is writing to a mixed group here. 00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:17.279 There are some people in the church in Corinth who are Jews. 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:23.600 They have grown with this rich history of the Jewish faith and tradition, and there's also some converted Gentiles. 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:29.040 So people who are like, I just heard about this Jesus, and this guy seems to make sense. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:35.279 But they have not had the richness of the traditions that the Jews have grown up in. 00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:47.360 They have not had the heaviness of the law that was the old covenant, and we are 20 to 25 years after Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. 00:07:47.439 --> 00:08:06.480 So we're undergoing the shift right now, where we're we're kind of redefining going from this old covenant of law and of follow the rules, and we're we're undergoing what that means into the new covenant that Jesus came to establish and to fulfill the law and more, and to bring the kingdom. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:08.800 So that's kind of where we are right now. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:11.759 That's that's who Paul, how Paul is speaking. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:12.399 Okay. 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:17.040 Now that we have that established, let's dig in a little bit. 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:18.959 All right, so verse 12. 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:24.879 I provided a couple different versions because I think this is fascinating to look at it in a variety of ways. 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:26.560 So the NLT is what I read. 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:29.120 The NIV, I also provide the Amplified Bible. 00:08:29.199 --> 00:08:36.639 We have somebody in our small group, thank you, Emily, that's been bringing her amplified, we call it the bracket Bible in our life group, and it's been very illuminating, I think. 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:39.039 So I thought, oh, this would be great to include. 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:41.440 Um, so here's verse 12. 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:47.679 And so you can read it kind of in those um kind of those different flavors of the Bible. 00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:51.759 Um, and I can go to the next slide. 00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:52.799 So here's the truth. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:09:04.159 Okay, here's again, I'm I'm trying to pull out what I think Paul is saying is the foundational truth that's like not Christie's idea, and then I'm gonna have some implications on what I think that means for us. 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:07.759 So here's the truth there is a difference between legal and holy. 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:15.360 Okay, so Paul starts out in verse 12, I'm allowed to do everything, or I have the right to do everything, kind of depending on the version that you're reading. 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:17.360 There's a difference between legal and holy. 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:21.519 If you're concerned about your rights or what you deserve, you're missing the point. 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:22.480 Right? 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:30.799 So Luke 9, 23 says, if anyone wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:36.080 How does that sound for a but I get, I deserve, I have the right. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:50.639 Romans 14, Paul actually talks a little bit, we're gonna get into the verse about the eating, you know, food for the stomach, but in Romans 14, Paul also talks about how our choices in eating can honor each other, right? 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:59.039 We can actually burden our brothers and sisters in Christ with the choices that we make in our eating, how much more will that impact our bodies? 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:12.480 So one of the one of the fascinating things that I have, I'm married, my husband Travis is over here, and um and I've gotten permission to you know throw out a little dirt on us. 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:25.600 Um, but one of the fascinating conversations that we had, especially earlier on in our marriage, thankfully not so much, we're both growing as people, hasn't not so much anymore, but we would have conversations where I would say, hey, this thing happened and I didn't like it. 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:33.360 Like I didn't like how it made me feel, or I didn't I didn't like how like we tried to kind of resolve that, or I I I didn't feel good about that. 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:36.159 And he would say, I didn't do anything wrong. 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:39.600 And I would say, Okay, but I didn't feel honored. 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:41.279 And isn't that the point? 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:56.559 And so we've had to have conversations where it's like there's a fundamental difference of I didn't do anything that goes against the Ten Commandments, and I'm actually serving and loving my God and the people around me. 00:10:56.879 --> 00:10:58.879 That is a it's a different attitude. 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:04.000 So if you want to come with a, I have the right, you're missing it. 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:11.360 And and you're not missing the like what you're missing is the fullness of what God's calling you into. 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:12.960 You're not missing out on fun. 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:13.759 Come on. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:28.000 Okay, so you're you're missing on the richness that being a part of this body, of the church, of what God is asking for you, because he knows what our relationship with him is like, how meaningful that is, right? 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:30.559 So here's this, this is verse 12. 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:39.200 We're gonna go next to verses 13 and 14, and we're gonna look at, again, I read you the NLT, NIV, these are fairly similar. 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:42.480 I like the little brackets in the amplified. 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:47.120 Uh, food is for the stomach and stomach for food, but God will do away with both of them. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:56.320 The body is not intended for sexual morality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body to save, sanctify, and raise it again because of the sacrifice of the cross. 00:11:56.559 --> 00:12:02.799 And God has not done a God has not only raised the Lord to life, but will also raise us up by his power. 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:07.360 So, these verses, let's go to the next slide about the foundational truth. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:07.679 Okay. 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:15.120 Eating to satisfy hunger is not the same as having sex to satisfy sexual desires. 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:17.519 This was the argument. 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:19.200 But I need food. 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:26.000 I have to eat, I have this urge to eat, I have these other urges, I must be okay to fulfill them. 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:28.080 And Paul is saying, nope. 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:32.559 Our body's need for food is different from our need for sex. 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:38.320 Okay, we need to eat to live, we need intimacy and connection with others. 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:41.039 Sex is not the same level of need. 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:48.799 Intimacy and sex is a way to have intimacy within the covenant of marriage. 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:54.720 It's not the same kind of need as the connection that we need with other people, right? 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:59.600 We need intimacy because we're creating God's image, and God's a triune God. 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:07.919 Like God is intimate within himself, and then wants intimacy with us and has created us in his image so that we want connection with other people. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:10.000 We don't have to do that through sex, though. 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:10.799 Come on. 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:11.360 Okay. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:26.320 So we have you there are some studies where there are you know babies who have either been given up for adoption or in some you know scenario where they are fed, diaper changed, you know, given kind of what is identified as the basics. 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:37.279 Without the cuddling, the talking to them, the human connection, these babies slow their development, their growth slows, they have a higher infant mortality rate. 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:42.879 We are wired, as made in God's image, to need connection with other people. 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:47.759 This is not a you in your room alone with no one else kind of experience. 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:57.039 So we do, we need connection, but sex, you can have a fulfilled life without it. 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:04.639 Which may sound a little sucky, but I know people who have done it. 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:07.039 It's possible. 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:12.320 So let's move on to verses 17, 15 through 17. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:15.600 Again, I'm providing the NLT, which is what I read from. 00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:19.440 I'm giving you the NIV, and I'm giving you the amplified. 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:21.440 They're fairly similar. 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:27.360 Um, I'll give you a second to kind of just preview that while I get a quick drink of water. 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:37.519 All right, so what is the truth we're gonna pull out of these three verses? 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:39.279 Let's go to the next slide. 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:40.559 The truth. 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:43.600 Your body is Christ's. 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:47.679 So say no to what opposes him, which is in this case is prostitutes. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:58.000 Originally on this slide, I said say no to prostitutes, like say no to drugs, and I was like, maybe that's not as refined as it needs to be, but now I'm telling you anyways, so it doesn't really matter, but you know. 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:00.559 Okay, so here's the next thing. 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:03.840 Sex is uniquely unifying. 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:13.600 Something about it, I'm not gonna get into all of the anatomical things here, but is uniquely unifying in body and in spirit. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:16.000 So be united with Christ. 00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:22.960 The implication, we bring Christ into every encounter we have, including sex. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:26.399 I was processing with a friend recently. 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:34.799 Um, he had some stuff go on in his life where he tried to kind of escape, move locations, tried to get away from the craziness that was his life. 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:38.799 And so I was kind of talking to him, kind of going, so how's that going, you know? 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:42.720 And he said, you know what's funny because wherever I go, I am. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:44.799 And I'm part of the problem. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:53.279 And I when I thought about that, I was like, man, and that sometimes we think like, oh, here I am sitting alone at my computer. 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:54.639 God's not here. 00:15:54.879 --> 00:16:03.919 Here I am, you know, trying to go out to I want to be really careful here because I want to be very, I want to be very careful about what I say here. 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:05.919 It's just we'll just leave it at that. 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:11.679 Um we don't often process that we like God is everywhere. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:14.879 There is no such thing as hidden. 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:18.399 There is no such thing as I'm just alone. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:23.200 There is no such thing as I'm the only one that's gonna experience the consequences of this. 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:24.799 Okay? 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:29.440 You are not yours anymore when you agree to be part of this. 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:34.559 And even before you agree to be part of the church, God's still with you and he still sees everything. 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:37.120 But again, that's good news. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:38.639 You're never alone. 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:41.759 That's good news. 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:49.120 There is nothing beyond God's reach, there is nothing beyond his vision, there is nothing beyond what he can see and redeem for you. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:52.799 Yes. 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:54.879 Let's go to verse 18. 00:16:59.600 --> 00:16:59.919 Okay. 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:13.599 This is where you might find yourself going, I hold that tension. 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:15.279 Hold the tension. 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:16.880 This is a both and passage. 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:17.920 This is a what? 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:24.319 I just you're bringing yourself, your experiences, the people that you know, your story, their stories, your trauma. 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:26.640 You're bringing it to this passage. 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:28.880 Run from sexual sin. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:31.519 The NIV says flee from sexual immorality. 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:34.160 All other sins a person commits are outside the body. 00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:37.440 But whoever sins sexually sins against their own body. 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:46.160 So here's the foundational truth. 00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:49.759 Sexual morality has a different impact. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:54.960 Here's what this is not saying. 00:17:56.400 --> 00:17:59.599 It is not saying sexual sin is worse than other sins. 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:02.559 It's not saying people who sin sexually are worse than other people. 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:05.440 It is not saying that sexual sin is beyond God's reach. 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:07.680 Sexual sin is redeemable. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:09.279 It is a different journey. 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:11.920 It requires a little bit, a little something else, though. 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:12.480 Okay? 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:19.119 It's a different kind of self-betrayal than the other sins. 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:27.920 Paul is not saying y'all just need to congregate over there because you're not holy enough for the rest of us. 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:29.200 Oh no. 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:30.480 Nope. 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:32.559 That is not what he is saying. 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:36.000 But it hits different, it feels different. 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:39.680 Some of you know um a little bit about my story. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:46.640 The first memory that I have, and I'm gonna, again, I'm gonna try to be careful because I know there are some younger ears in the room. 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:49.759 The first memory that I have was self-pleasure. 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:53.759 And I carried that for a long time. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:19:02.960 I had multiple instances where, regardless of whose fault it was, my fault or somebody else's fault, I was taken advantage of. 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:12.640 And I, for a long time, I felt that darkness because I also was growing up in the church and I went to Indiana Wesleyan and I was doing all of these other things. 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:18.000 And I felt the weightiness and the heaviness, and I hated myself for it. 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:19.039 Absolutely. 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:29.680 I I would go spend the night somewhere and tell all of my roommates that I had spent the night at home because my family's home was 10 minutes from Indiana Wesleyan, and I would always tell them the opposite. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:37.920 And I lied through my teeth to people constantly to try to cover up what I was so stinking ashamed of. 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:45.519 Because I could not in my reality figure out how I could hold both of those things. 00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:51.359 I I was so dirty, I felt so used, I felt, I just I hated it. 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:54.160 I hated the double life that I was living. 00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:59.519 I hated the darkness that I that I was I just was overcome by. 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:04.559 And I knew the weightiness of my sin, and I could not get away from it. 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:11.920 And for so long I tried to find ways to punish myself. 00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:15.440 No, I can't have that, I can't do that, I can't be that. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:23.200 I won't be ever able to have this joy, this promise that God has given me because of whatever stuff I did or was done to me. 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:26.240 And it was a combination, if I'm honest. 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:37.440 And I knew, I knew, I knew the weightiness of the choices, I knew the weightiness of the silence, and I didn't know how to get out of it. 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:42.160 I didn't, I didn't know how to talk to other people, I didn't know how to open up, I didn't know how to be raw. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:53.359 And as much as I had never done an act of sexual immorality in my life that didn't stem from a lie, right? 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:59.519 So this is not just a my behavior was doing something, my perspective was was skewed. 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:05.680 My my internal life was believing crap that Satan was feeding me about myself, right? 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:09.920 So the behavior was a symptom of what was going on internally. 00:21:10.640 --> 00:21:16.880 But the behavior, this behavior, this sexual immorality behavior, it's different. 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:18.799 It has different kinds of consequences. 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:24.559 Not worse, doesn't mean I was any dirtier or more sinful than anybody else, but it was different. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:26.000 And I knew the weightiness. 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:28.079 You did not have to convince me of it. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:32.480 Now, again, Travis has given me a little some permission to share a little bit about his story as well. 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:36.880 Travis didn't know the weightiness of his choices as a high school boy. 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:39.119 So he made a lot of choices. 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:43.599 And he didn't realize because nobody ever talked to him about it. 00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:46.960 Nobody told him this is not the way, or this is the way. 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:49.920 I'm feeling a little Mandalorian right now, this is the way. 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:57.680 Um he didn't have that conversation with people, and so he didn't really feel it. 00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.599 But you know when he did feel it? 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:05.440 He felt it when we started dating, and he had already kind of committed to living a different life. 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:10.640 But he realized he was becoming the kind of person who had hurt me in my past. 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:14.160 And that weightiness hits different. 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:19.119 And so we experience the weight of our choices. 00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:30.880 We experienced the weightiness of this particular sin, and we're still experiencing it, but by God's grace, not nearly as much as we once used to, and we are becoming victorious. 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:31.519 Right? 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:35.279 This is not something we are just absolutely stuck in forever. 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:50.640 We still have moments when I'm like, not tonight, because I'm I'm uh Satan's attacking me a little bit, and I want to make sure that the intimacy that we have is between the two of us, and I still am processing through that 10 years later. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:55.839 So this is not a point A and point B, and we're done journey, right? 00:22:56.319 --> 00:22:58.079 But there is freedom. 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:04.240 This is not something that you have to stand up under the crushing weight of forever. 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:07.119 There's freedom, but it's different. 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:16.559 And if we don't acknowledge that it's different and we don't talk about how it's different and what it does to us, that has implications. 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:21.359 Okay, so this is not just a physical act, it is spiritually formational. 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:27.599 I gave Satan a stronghold in my life because of the things my body was doing. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:35.440 I opened myself up for more of an influence from the devil because I was allowing my body to be used in certain ways. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:37.839 That's just what Paul is saying here. 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:39.119 That's it. 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:40.880 Again, not worse. 00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:44.640 It has a different level of seriousness and it has different implications. 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:50.640 Let's go to verses 20 to 20, 19 to 20. 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:51.920 19 to 20. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:24:00.880 Don't you realize that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you and was given to you by God? 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:04.799 You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. 00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:07.920 So you must honor God with your body. 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:10.720 Here's the truth. 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:15.200 Your physical body is not your own. 00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:19.920 You were bought at a high price, so honor God with your body. 00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:25.759 So here's the implication: your body has a God-given purpose and dignity. 00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:30.240 Purpose and dignity. 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:32.720 Now that's also weighty. 00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:33.759 Right? 00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:36.559 And again, this is good news. 00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:40.000 You were bought at a high price. 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:46.319 This was not some backyard garage sale haggle, right? 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:49.440 This is not a well, I guess I'll give you a buck for this one. 00:24:50.160 --> 00:24:58.559 No, Jesus has died on a cross for your spirit and your body. 00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:04.640 And so because he has purchased you, your body, your body's not your own. 00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:06.880 But again, this is good news. 00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:10.960 Okay, before we move on, we're gonna check our reactions a little bit. 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:16.720 Okay, like I said, maybe we'll have a uh but I can't, I just have a problem with it. 00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:17.119 Okay. 00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:20.319 That might be that might be part of what's in you. 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:24.880 If you have a little bit of a, check that too. 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:25.440 Okay? 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:30.559 If you're resisting what Paul is saying, ask yourself why. 00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:34.160 Here's here's part of the some of the reasons why you might be resisting. 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:35.599 Let's look at this next list. 00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:36.160 Okay. 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:39.519 This passage it confronts personal autonomy. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:42.400 Our culture says, you be you. 00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:43.839 This is me. 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:46.319 I can choose, I can do what I want. 00:25:46.559 --> 00:25:52.319 Okay, and that personal autonomy doesn't necessarily exist as much in the church. 00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:56.079 We also, as Pastor tells us, it connects our spirituality to our bodies. 00:25:56.160 --> 00:26:00.079 Some of us like to live a little disconnected, is not the way. 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:03.359 It also feels a little intrusive on our innermost lives. 00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:08.400 Okay, again, our sexuality is connected to some of the deepest parts of us. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:12.720 This is why we have a lot of conversations, even in our secular culture, around it. 00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:19.119 This is why when people talk about their identity as a person, it feels so wrapped up in their sexuality as a person. 00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:20.880 It's deeply connected. 00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:24.160 And so it feels like intrusive. 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:26.400 It feels a little extreme or shocking. 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:29.920 It removes neutrality from our choices. 00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:36.880 You don't get to go do whatever you want with your body and it not have implications on you and other people and your relationship with God. 00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:41.200 It redefines identity and ownership. 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:45.359 Your body is the Lord's, and it can trigger shame. 00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:49.839 So, what are some of the possible reactions? 00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:59.200 This is not the full spectrum, but sometimes when we read passages like this, if you've grown up in the church, you might be going, I would never. 00:27:01.680 --> 00:27:06.000 And I'm gonna say, yet, because pride goes before the fall. 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:10.319 Some of you might say, like me, I have, but I won't ever again. 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:12.000 But you know what? 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:16.079 You cannot will yourself into holiness. 00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:29.920 So if you're trying to work on your own actions and you're not allowing the spirit to consistently renew you daily, you might not just be able to abstain from sexual morality all on your own. 00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:33.920 Some of us might be saying, I have. 00:27:34.559 --> 00:27:37.119 I'm so ashamed that I can't get out. 00:27:37.359 --> 00:27:38.960 I'm stuck in the cycle. 00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:40.799 I have things that I want, like Paul said. 00:27:40.880 --> 00:27:47.839 I do what I don't want to do, and the things that I want to do, I know I the things that I want to do, I don't do, and the things that I don't want to do, I do. 00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:50.640 Some of us are just stuck. 00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:58.799 I I I I know, like my brain knows, and I just can't get myself out of it, and I'm so ashamed. 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:03.759 And some of you might be thinking, I have, and don't tell me what I can and can't do. 00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:07.519 Well, good thing I'm not, it's it's Paul in the Bible, actually. 00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:11.440 So take it up with the original messenger, right? 00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:13.359 Here's the good thing, though. 00:28:13.519 --> 00:28:14.799 Here's the good thing. 00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:20.559 This passage isn't about praising you for what you haven't done, and it's not about shaming you for your past, your current struggle. 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:22.000 It's about your identity in Christ. 00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:27.359 You were made for and you belong to him. 00:28:28.079 --> 00:28:29.920 We won't talk about weighty. 00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:31.519 That's weighty. 00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:33.279 So what now? 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:34.240 What now? 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:35.119 What do we do? 00:28:35.359 --> 00:28:38.960 Okay, shed the shame. 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:42.319 We have to talk about it. 00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:47.279 The longer I sat in isolation, the deeper the darkness got. 00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:51.359 And the only way that I started to see the light was I started talking to people. 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:52.319 I went to counseling. 00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:55.119 Indiana Wesleyan still has free counseling, as far as I know, right? 00:28:55.279 --> 00:28:56.079 Somebody affirmed that? 00:28:56.160 --> 00:28:56.799 Yes, thank you. 00:28:56.960 --> 00:28:58.559 They still have free counseling. 00:28:58.880 --> 00:28:59.200 Go. 00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:03.039 For the love of all things good and holy, go to counseling. 00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:09.200 It's it was so it's one of the best decisions I ever made in my life over the other than marrying my husband, right? 00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:10.799 Go to counseling. 00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:12.000 Yes, thank you. 00:29:13.759 --> 00:29:16.319 But get away from the shame. 00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:18.559 We have to start talking. 00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:20.160 We can't stay hidden. 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:27.039 The second thing we need to do is embrace bodily dignity for yourself and for others. 00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:32.480 When you look around this room at your sisters and brothers in Christ, these bodies matter. 00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:36.400 And if I'm not fighting alongside your body mattering, what am I doing? 00:29:39.519 --> 00:29:41.839 The third one, no one is immune. 00:29:43.039 --> 00:29:52.240 Talk to someone today, today, before you leave this building, today, because if we don't talk about it, here's what happens. 00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:04.079 Now, some of these things, we're gonna roll through them a little bit, some of these are just accusations. 00:30:04.240 --> 00:30:06.559 I am not saying that I'm passing judgment at all. 00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:07.119 Okay? 00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:20.400 But these are leaders in churches that have come forward, or their ministries have indicted them, or other people have come forward. 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:23.200 This one, this one hit me pretty hard. 00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:24.319 Philippiancy. 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:26.799 Eight-year affair. 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:30.720 He's got Parkinson's, his wife's taking care of him. 00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:39.039 If we don't lay ourselves bare before someone else, we are not immune. 00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:41.599 Nobody, nobody. 00:30:41.759 --> 00:30:43.039 Let's go to this last quote. 00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:49.839 Several years ago, a seminary professor told me we no longer ask our entering students if they are struggling with pornography. 00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:51.599 We assume every student is struggling. 00:30:51.759 --> 00:30:54.079 The question we ask is how serious is the struggle? 00:30:55.599 --> 00:30:56.880 This is seminary. 00:30:57.039 --> 00:31:06.480 These are people who have sat in church services, life groups, family gatherings, Sunday school classes, and we're not asking the questions. 00:31:07.759 --> 00:31:09.440 We're not being honest. 00:31:10.160 --> 00:31:19.839 We are drowning in something that we know is weighty because we are ashamed, and part of it is because of the headlines. 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:23.759 I I don't show you these headlines to say how terrible are all these people. 00:31:24.079 --> 00:31:24.400 Okay? 00:31:24.799 --> 00:31:31.279 These people didn't have the network, the others that they were laying their lives out in front of. 00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:36.880 Billy Graham, so far, we haven't seen a headline about him because he has a rule. 00:31:37.359 --> 00:31:40.240 He's just never in a room alone with another woman that's not his wife. 00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:42.400 Doesn't matter what it is, doesn't matter what's going on. 00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:44.160 Nope, not gonna do it. 00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:48.240 No one is immune. 00:31:49.200 --> 00:31:50.960 Talk to someone today. 00:31:51.200 --> 00:31:57.200 And the way, the reason I say talk to someone today is because it's the hiding that Satan flourishes in. 00:31:57.759 --> 00:32:04.400 It's it's the I think I can get over it by myself, or no one will accept me like this. 00:32:04.480 --> 00:32:07.359 It's just gonna shatter everyone's perception of me. 00:32:08.079 --> 00:32:16.160 Are you willing to trade the grace and the peace and the life that you could have for people's perception of you? 00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:18.960 I can tell you it's not worth it. 00:32:19.200 --> 00:32:20.720