This episode: Athletes need a coach. Sick people need a doctor. Entrepreneurs need a mentor. Sex addicts need someone to disciple them.
Check out the amazing story of how God stepped in to save Bob and Lori’s lives and marriage.
Timeless Truths: Does the fact that we are justified by faith mean that the way we live our lives has no bearing on our salvation?
Latest sermon: Ed Buch delves into the life of Judas, asking the poignant question, “Judas, what went wrong?”
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When the majority of professing Christians accept a half-hearted version of Christianity, it sends a powerful message: This is normal.
In previous episodes, we’ve looked at how the enemy has slipped his way of thinking into the hearts of so many people. But we must remember that the enemy’s tactics do not just involve the unbelieving world. One of his greatest tools for tearing down the Kingdom of God is the American church. Much of what we see in modern evangelicalism consists of apathy and passivity for the things of God. Believers in America are often consumed with thoughts of comfort and temporal pleasures. Many have been drawn away from a true passion for God.
God's discipline is a manifestation of His love. It's not an indication of rejection, it's a sign of our acceptance.
Satan has built a kingdom in this world that fosters mankind’s inclination towards pride. So, the more we live in step with this world system, the more we risk being polluted by its toxic influence. So for those who choose to enter the Kingdom of God, there must be a new way of life that takes over their inside world. That means that the old prideful nature must be torn down.
What’s it look like for God to dismantle our pride and teach us to be humble like He is? That’s the subject of this discussion. As you listen to Nate, Gabe and Ken’s personal testimonies, you’ll learn that it is a difficult process, but that it is not one you have to go through alone.
This series is based on the book Intoxicated with Babylon: The Seduction of God’s People in the Last Days by Steve Gallagher. You can find out more about that book by visiting our bookstore.
An occasional failure doesn’t nullify the Lord's work in your life. True failure is when you quit moving forward in your walk with the Lord.
Imagine that for the first time in your life, you're leaving all the miserable consequences of sexual sin behind you and walking forward in real freedom. You have peace in your conscience. There's nothing hidden in your relationships. You’re tasting the joys of fellowship with God. But then something devastating happens. You fail. Now what? What happens next? In this episode, we tackle the incredibly important topic of how to handle failure. Steve and Kathy Gallagher join us to talk about what to do, and what not to do, when you fail so that you don't get fatally sidetracked on the road to freedom.
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The tyrant of Self is a most relentless foe that does not die off easily.
In today’s culture, words such as “pride” and “self” represent positive qualities. Pride in our accomplishments, heritage or abilities are celebrated. Self-esteem, self-help and self-effort are seen as solutions for many of our problems. But as innocent as these terms may sound, they subtly promote a sinister philosophy aimed at drawing us away from God. And so the Lord works diligently to rescue us from this world system and bring us into His kingdom of humility and mercy.
Join us for episode 9 of “Babylon: The Seat of Satan’s Power” to learn about the process God works in our hearts to save us from the great tyrants of self and pride!
This series is based on the book Intoxicated with Babylon: The Seduction of God’s People in the Last Days by Steve Gallagher. You can find out more about that book by visiting our bookstore.
Living by faith means that despite your circumstances or how you feel, you can choose by an act of your will to trust and obey the Lord.
Freedom from sexual sin is absolutely possible. But it's a journey, and knowing how to stay on the path towards that freedom is crucial. There are obstacles that we will face along the way that can totally derail us, unless we learn how to deal with them well. One is how we navigate around our feelings. The second is how we choose to walk through the consequences of our own sin. That’s our subject today in episode two of our series, Key Lessons on the Road to Freedom.
20 Truths: Truth #19 - Faith is the Victory Over Sexual Sin (Short Video) by Steve Gallagher
Don't continue to allow your desires to take you in a direction that brings forth death. God wants to give you life!
One of man’s natural responses to his fallen condition is to blame God for his sinful choices. We see this going all the way back to Genesis 3 when Adam blamed God for what he had done. But we don’t usually say it as plainly as Adam did. We usually shift the blame onto the Lord in more subtle ways. For instance, many who are trying to break free from addiction often say that they have tried everything and still can’t get free. But this is just a sly way of saying that God hasn’t fulfilled His end of the bargain. We know from Scripture that this is not true about God’s character. He always fulfils His promises.
So what’s really missing in our lives if we aren’t seeing the freedom and victory we are hoping for? In this interview, we take a look at James 1 and the vital truths it contains for men in sexual sin.
This series is based on the book Intoxicated with Babylon: The Seduction of God’s People in the Last Days by Steve Gallagher. You can find out more about that book by visiting our bookstore.
If someone is practicing sexual immorality on a regular basis and thinks that they are doing okay, they are deceived.
People in habitual sin often try to convince themselves that what they are doing isn’t all that bad. But minimizing our sin can have very disastrous repercussions in our lives. In this blog, biblical counselors Ken and Trey discuss the reasons why men in sexual sin choose to minimize their sin and what that can do to our hearts and minds.
Nate: Okay, so Ken and Trey, what we want to do today is respond to some conversations and thoughts that arise surrounding our ministry to men in sexual sin. We want to talk about what some of the issues are and try to expose some of the darkness that's in these situations. Let’s talk about a few of the things that came up in a conversation that we had in preparation for this interview. Trey, I think you were the one who brought up a number of these when we were talking about ideas for this podcast because these are real life situations that have come up in your counseling office. Let's talk first about a guy who minimizes the evil of pornography.
Ken: Well, Jesus doesn't minimize it. The Scriptures clearly teach that even just lusting over someone is equated with adultery in your heart, so it is a big deal. Jesus even talked about the radical nature of dealing with these types of things when he talked about literally cutting off a hand or plucking out an eye. He said that it's better to go through life maimed than go to hell with both intact.
Nate: Yeah, I thought about that example too because I can't imagine actually cutting off a hand or plucking out an eye. I mean you're talking about losing parts of your body that are so essential to life and Jesus is saying that it's better to just cut it off and go through life really inconvenienced. Most of us would think, “How am I going to live without a hand?” But Jesus says, “just do it,” because it’s better to do that than to go to hell.
Ken: Yeah. And obviously Jesus isn't advocating self-mutilation. Our bodies are created to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. But He literally is saying it would be better if you did that than to go to hell. In other words, do whatever it takes to deal with the issues that need to be addressed.
Trey: Yeah, and when it comes to counseling men who are in sexual sin, we never just want to deal with the outward fruit, we want to get to the heart issues. So, the fact that they are minimizing wouldn’t be my main concern but rather, why are they minimizing and what are they minimizing? I'll explain it this way, they are either minimizing God's standard, or they're minimizing the weight of what they did or they're minimizing the consequences that may result from what they did. Typically, when they're trying to minimize, they are trying to protect something. I know in my own life, I might be trying to protect an idol that I don't want to be revealed because if it gets revealed, I have to cut it off and deal with it. Or maybe I’m trying to protect my image. In my case, before I came to Pure Life, I didn’t want to be convicted about my sin. I wanted to appear godly to others. So back then what I did was to minimize what God said about my sexual sin in His Word so that in my eyes, what I did wasn’t that bad.
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Nate: That's really interesting that you say that, because I don't think I ever quite thought about the fact that it's coming from a place of self-protection. The thinking behind it is, “I have to minimize this, otherwise I have to face it and I really don’t want to face it, so I need to minimize this sin.”
Ken: I don't think I've ever dealt with a person that minimized their sin who didn't, in some way, still want their sin. They want to hold on to their sinful behavior, so somehow, they have to justify themselves in their mind, especially when they are professing to be a Christian.
Trey: Yeah. The enemy lives in the realm of darkness, the realm of not seeing things as they really are, and Jesus told us that the truth will set us free. So, it is important if someone's wanting to come into freedom to see things as they are and to see pornography as it is. We can easily minimize the weight of it by thinking that watching pornography is much better behavior than acting out with somebody. While overall there is a fragment of truth in that thought, it's still not seeing the spiritual reality of the darkness that is going on in your life.
Nate: What would you say the spiritual reality is then?
Trey: The Bible teaches the principle that you become what you behold. For example, 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that as we behold the face of Jesus, we will reflect His glory. Psalm 115 talks about people becoming like the idols they create. Back in biblical times, they didn't have pornography the way that we have it now. What they did have were pagan temples. So, imagine you're going into a temple. There's an atmosphere in that place created by the people and activities there. They are likeminded, and their intent is to pursue sin. So a person who is walking into an atmosphere like that is immersing themselves into the spiritual darkness that is in that environment.
If we really think of the spiritual reality of what's happening in pornography, who's influencing them to do those acts? Who's really directing the creativity? It's not God. It's not the Holy Spirit influencing the actors or whoever it is that's involved. It's the enemy. When you’re viewing pornography, you're engaging in a worship experience of Satan. When you see it that clearly in your heart, hopefully you don't even want to go near that anymore. And the reason why the Lord doesn't want us to minimize it is because He wants us to come into the truth of what real worship to Him looks like. It's the opposite of what we are doing when we are viewing pornography. With pornography we are beholding images, dissecting them, idolizing them and adoring them for hours and hours on end. The Lord wants us to do the complete opposite. He wants us to behold the face of Jesus and worship Him.
Nate: That reminds me of the picture in Ezekiel of one of the visions that Ezekiel had. In his vision, the Spirit of the Lord took him to the temple and essentially said, dig through the wall of the temple and see what they're doing. See how the inner chambers are filled with abominations and images of creeping things. When it comes to our mind and body, it's just the same how our temple is being filled with abominations. That is exactly what pornography is. It’s filling our temple with abominations. God doesn't really see it any differently now than He saw it then. If anything, it's worse because we have so much more light and understanding of what God is requiring of us.
You are either moving closer to God or further away from Him. There is no middle ground. You must keep on fighting.
Have you ever noticed that Americans are always looking for keys? We want someone to give us three keys to a better life, five keys to a happy marriage or seven keys to a secure future. This week we are starting a new miniseries about keys – sort of. Really, we are going to be talking about some key lessons that you will need to learn as you journey out of sexual sin and into real freedom. The first key lesson is that you must have a fighting spirit.
People of the world are driven through life by their lust for sinful pleasures, but believers are called to live at a higher standard.
Mankind is largely driven through life by his desires. His hunger for his various lusts almost irresistibly drive him in whatever direction promises their acquisition. But followers of Christ are called to a higher standard. We are called to submit ourselves to God’s authority and put wicked desires to death.
However, this doesn’t mean we won’t feel the pull of those desires. The enemy is always seeking to draw us into his clutches. And our fallen nature is eager to give in to his enticements. So, it is vital we learn how to actively fight against those things. In this episode, Steve Gallagher helps us learn how to cultivate godly desires which will help guard us from the spirit of this world.
This series is based on the book Intoxicated with Babylon: The Seduction of God’s People in the Last Days by Steve Gallagher. You can find out more about that book by visiting our bookstore.
Instead of asking the question, "What's wrong with what I am doing?", we should ask the question, "Is this right and does it glorify God?"
God's warnings to those who indulge in sexual immorality should be enough to convince us that the only reasonable course of action is a wholehearted pursuit of purity. But where do you draw the line when it comes to purity? And actually the better question is this: where does God draw the line? In this "Ask the Counselor" episode of Purity for Life, we tackle the often-debated question: ‘Is masturbation a sin?’
Wisdom from God helps us to see the long-term consequences of our decisions.
In Episode 7, Part 1, we established how Satan uses the allurements of his world system to play on our desires. He does this in order to break our fellowship with God and bring us into alignment with his wicked way of thinking. In Episode 7, Part 2, we look at the way to overcome that ever-present threat by being filled with godly wisdom.
Wisdom from above involves making decisions in our lives based on God’s standard of right and wrong. If God’s way of thinking is our foundation, then Satan will not be able to get control of our hearts. He can’t manipulate us through our desires when something better than our unreliable emotions defines our actions. This may have been what Solomon was talking about when he said, “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.” – Proverbs 28:26 (ESV)
Today, Nate Danser and Ed Buch sit down to talk about the topic of wisdom, using James 1 as a launching point for their discussion. If you need deliverance from spiritual strongholds and addiction, we hope this interview will encourage you to start seeking out godly wisdom.
This series is based on the book Intoxicated with Babylon: The Seduction of God’s People in the Last Days by Steve Gallagher. You can find out more about that book by visiting our bookstore.
One of the keys in coming out of the downward spiral of sin is to give thanks to the Lord for all that He has done.
In a recent Pure Life Ministries service, Pastor Ed Buch spoke on the topic of gratitude and how essential it is in the life of a believer. Listen in, as he describes attributes of God that can always prompt our praise and thanksgiving.
Pastor Ed: I'm going to share a couple of thoughts out of Psalm 103. It’s a familiar passage, but it came to mind, because it's been one of those difficult days for me. Maybe you have had days where things just don't seem to go the way you want them to. And for me, Psalm 103 came to mind as a good place to go get reset inside. David writes this Psalm, saying in verses 1-2 (NKJV), “Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits.” That's what was real to me when I read this, because that is exactly what I needed to do. I needed to go back and just count some of my blessings. I needed to not forget all His benefits and remind myself that I am not lacking anything. It may feel like I am lacking a lot at times, but that is a lie. The truth is that I am not lacking anything and truly have more benefits than I can use.
Psalm 103 continues by saying that the Lord forgives all our iniquities, He heals all our diseases, and He redeems our lives from destruction. Wow. Thank you, Lord! Thank you for doing that. My life was destroyed. Most of us who come to Pure Life Ministries understand that firsthand. We destroyed our lives in one way or another, but praise the Lord because He redeems us from the pits of destruction that we place ourselves in. Was someone else going to come along and do that? Did you have some other hope left? I did not and I think most of us did not. We were at that point where we said to ourselves, “this is horrible, there's no way out and no way to fix this.”
At one point the idea of our life being redeemed may have seemed like a mirage or a false hope. But then God comes along and He does it. He actually does it! He turns our lives around and uses them for good. Personally, He made it better for me than if I had never done some of the wrong things that I did. I’m not saying I should have done them. I’m not saying He needed me to do them in order to make good happen. But He is so good at redeeming things that He can turn the worst things that have happened around and make them work for good and bring glory to Himself through them.
Psalm 103:4b-8 (NKJV) says, “Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.” Oh, I wish I was more like him. Merciful, gracious, and slow to anger.
We need to slow down sometimes and rein in our feelings. It is not the Lord speaking when your feelings are racing and your thoughts are racing, because panicking like that is outside of His character. He is slow to anger and abounding in mercy, but He will not always strive with us, nor will He withhold His anger forever. There is limited time on this earth to respond to the Lord and repent. Billy Graham said in a sermon one time, “You think that you can come to the Lord whenever you want, but you can't.” Scripture says that we're drawn to the Lord. God has to draw us. If we're not drawn, we can't come. Don't miss those drawing seasons in your life because it's not going to be on any day that you want it to be. It's not like you can say, “Yea, I feel you drawing me Lord, but I'm going to choose a different day to respond.” That different day to respond doesn't always come. Look in Scripture for yourself and you'll see that there were men who sort of barely missed the Kingdom of God in their encounters with Jesus or their encounters with the Apostle Paul. They heard preaching, but they didn't receive it with fertile soil in their hearts. They were drawn, but they didn't respond the way that they needed to.
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Psalm 103:9-10 (NKJV) says, “He will not always strive with us nor will he keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins nor punished us according to our iniquities.” With those verses in mind, no matter how bad things have gotten for us, and no matter what you feel like you're overcome with, as far as consequences and punishment, it's nowhere near what it should be or could be. That's the truth of God's Word. He spares us. He never lets it get that bad. He's kind to unthankful and evil people.
Can you find something that you want to say thank you for today? I'm preaching to myself in all of this. That's what I was telling myself today. I'm looking at this passage in Scripture and thinking about how I need to get back to a place of giving gratitude to the Lord. I need to quit asking Him for things and just give gratitude, give thanks and be grateful for what He’s already flooded into my life with His goodness and mercy. I’m reminded too that the first step into the spiral of degradation mentioned in Romans 1 was that they chose not to give thanks. Let's get up, out and away from that spiral as far as we can and start giving thanks. I want to be free from that spiral. I don't want to live right on the line of falling into the spiral of degradation.
If you want to live in the center of God’s will, gratitude will help you get there. But you have to open your mouth and say thank you for the things that He has done. You need to bring those things to mind, because like the beginning verses of Psalm 103 says, we must not forget all His benefits. Some are even listed there to help you get jump started. And you have the whole book of Psalms that mostly does that. It helps us jump start the thanksgiving process in us.
One of the things that really helped me was when someone once told me there are four things that you can always give thanks for. These are things God is never tired of hearing you say thank you for. He never could hear it enough. He never gets tired of you coming to Him and saying thank you for these four things. Those things are Jesus Himself, His blood, the Word of God and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
So, you have four things that you can say thank you for from your heart at any time to the Lord and you can get right into His throne room with gratitude. I’m telling you the Lord’s heart opens wide if you give thanks for those things with any kind of fervency and sincerity. Remember those four things to be thankful for: Jesus, the blood, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. If you've got a bad memory, write them down and practice them until it becomes something that is natural for you to do. Every morning I start my prayer time with one of those and I usually get all four in there somewhere. But one of them just takes off in gratitude in my heart and then I'm on a tangent about the blood or about His Word. Through gratitude you can become obsessed with God for a change instead of all the vile thoughts that you are accustomed to. You can use gratitude to change your inside world.
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