Sex is EVERYWHERE. In our movies, marketing, media, and culture. But why aren’t we talking about it in church? Does God have something to say about our sex lives? Pastor Jeremy DeWeerdt gets straight to the point with a hard-hitting message contrasting what the world has to say about this intimate detail of our lives and what Our Creator always intended.
Notes 📓✏️:
Counterfeit Love– Pastor Jeremy DeWeerdt
Age and exposure to pornography:
• 18-29 years old: 44% watched in the past month.
• 30-49 years old: 57% watched in the past month.
• 50-64 years old: 44% watched in the past month.
• 65 and older: 26% watched in the past month.
“Are we better because of this revolution?”
Sex was invented by God and is a gift from God.
I Corinthians 6:18 (Message)
“There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for “becoming one” with another.”
Culture says:
“In your personal pursuit of sex and love, there are no rules if it feels right.”
C.S. Lewis once said…
“When you remove morals from the human equation, you remove humanity from the human equation.”
Genesis 1: 24-27 (NLT)
Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened. God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”
So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
We are the only creation that was made in the image of the Creator.
Genesis 2:18 (NLT)
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”
The enemy has no creative power. All he can do is distort and corrupt what is already created.
So, why is my sex life the church’s business?
Very simply, because God created you and sex is something you ARE before it is something you DO.
Paul instructs:
I Thessalonians 4:3-8 (NIV)
“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.”
You can control yourself and learn how to avoid sexual sin.
Truth: I am responsible to pursue sanctification (holiness).
Difficulty should never dictate decisions.
The Bible: Living right is rarely convenient, but it pays off.
I Corinthians 6:18 (New Living)
“Run away from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body.”
I Peter 2:11 (Amp)
“Beloved, I implore you as aliens and strangers and exiles [in this world] to abstain from the sensual urges (the evil desires, the passions of the flesh, your lower nature) that wage war against the soul.”
Matthew 5:8 (NLT)
“God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.”
You can be whole again.
Deuteronomy 30:3-4, 6-8 (Msg)
God, your God, will restore everything you lost; he’ll have compassion on you; he’ll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered.
He will give you a good life and make you more numerous than your ancestors.
God, your God, will cut away the thick calluses on your heart and your children’s hearts, freeing you to love God, your God, with your whole heart and soul and live, really live…
…And you will make a new start, listening obediently to God, keeping all his commandments that I’m commanding you today.
Discussion Questions 📝❓:
- What are some of the consequences of not following God’s plan regarding our sexuality?
- Considering the enemy has no creative power, what are some of the ways he distorts and corrupts God’s perfect plan for sex between a husband and wife?
- What evidence does 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 provide regarding our ability to control our thought life and the temptation to lust?
- According to Deuteronomy 30:3-6, and 8… what can we expect to experience if we are obedient to God’s plan in our thought life and physical relationships?