(1) PRAYER
(2) MUSIC
(3) THE MESSAGE
********* PRAYER *****************
Heavenly Father, I come to you in prayer thanking you for another opportunity to worship and praise you. Lord you alone are worthy of all praise and honor and glory. Lord God, speak to our hearts on this timely subject this morning as so many people are trapped and a slave to lust and pornography.
Lord break the chains that bind them, deliver them from their sins and save their souls.. Guide and direct us and speak to our hearts this morning. Forgive our sins and it is in the name of Jesus Christ I pray, Aman.
************ MUSIC *************
The Gospel Plowboys - What A Day That Will Be
https://img.youtube.com/vi/G66ThRLy9js/hqdefault.jpg
The Sons Of The Gospel "Hold On" 1975 Rural Ohio Bluegrass Gospel FULL ALBUM
I'll Fly Away - Ransomed Bluegrass.
https://img.youtube.com/vi/tQ29PPC059c/hqdefault.jpg
Blessed Assurance BLUE GRASS.
https://img.youtube.com/vi/DLMFQICs7Tk/hqdefault.jpg
*********** MESSAGE ******************
The dictionary definition of lust is "1) intense or unrestrained sexual craving, or 2) an overwhelming desire or craving." The Bible speaks of lust in several ways. Exodus 20:14, 17 , "Do not commit adultery. . . Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else your neighbor owns," or Matthew 5:28,
"But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
Job 31:11-12 sums up lust quite nicely: "For lust is a shameful sin, a crime that should be punished. It is a devastating fire that destroys to hell. It would wipe out everything I own."
Lust has as its focus pleasing oneself, and it often leads to unwholesome actions to fulfill one's desires with no regard to the consequences. Lust is about possession and greed.
The Christian faith is about selflessness and is marked by holy living (Romans 6:19, 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 1:2, 30, 6:19-20; Ephesians 1:4, 4:24; Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, 5:23; 2 Timothy 1:9; Hebrews 12:14; 1 Peter 1:15-16).
The goal of each person who has put his/her faith in Jesus Christ is to become more and more like Him each day. This means putting off the old way of life of which sin was in control, and conforming one's thoughts and actions to the standard put forth in Scripture. Lust is in opposition to this ideal.
Nobody will ever be perfect or attain sinlessness while still on this earth, yet it is still a goal for which we strive. The Bible makes a very strong statement regarding this in 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8, "God has called us to be holy, not to live impure lives.
Anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human rules but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you." If lust has not yet gripped your heart and mind, ready yourself through a life lived above reproach to combat the temptations of lust.
If you currently struggle with lust, it is time to come clean before God and ask for His intervention in your life, so that holiness can be a mark of your life as well.
Another close related discussion is that of lust of the eyes. The phrase “lust of the eyes” is found in 1 John 2:15-17:
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” What is this “lust of the eyes”?
Simply put, the lust of the eyes is the desire to possess what we see or to have those things which have visual appeal. This coveting of money, possessions, or other physical things is not from God, but from the world around us.
John emphasizes that these physical things do not last; they will pass away. In contrast, the child of God is guaranteed eternity.
The Ten Commandments addressed the lust of the eyes in its prohibition against coveting. Exodus 20:17 commands, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” Coveting can include a desire to have people, possessions, or status.
Satan uses the lust of the eyes as one avenue of temptation. Part of the reason Eve listened to the serpent in the Garden was that she looked at the forbidden fruit and saw that it was “pleasing to the eye” (Genesis 3:6).
Satan used a visual image to help entrap her. Satan tried a similar tactic on Jesus. One of his temptations in the wilderness was an attempt to make Jesus covet earthly power. Satan used a visual: he “showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor” (Matthew 4:8). He then promised to give them to Jesus—for a price. Of course, Jesus did not succumb to the lust of the eyes, and Satan was defeated (verses 10 and 11).
We must follow Jesus’ example and, in the power of the Holy Spirit, resist the lust of the eyes. The world is full of “eye candy,” glamor, and gaudiness. Materialism beckons with its promise of happiness and fulfillment. A media-saturated society bombards us with advertising campaigns that might as well say, “Covet this!”
All that glitters is not gold, and the child of God knows that fame, fortune, and finery quickly fade (Proverbs 23:5). Our focus is not the newest product or latest fashion. Our goal is not to keep up with the Joneses or to surround ourselves with the trappings of glittering magnificence. Instead, our goal is “to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings” (Philippians 3:10). Our eyes are set on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2). Our view is to eternity.
Cecil Alexander, the Irish hymnist, said it this way:
“Jesus calls us from the worship
Of the vain world’s golden store;
From each idol that would keep us,
Saying, ‘Christian, love Me more.’”
DO YOU LOVE JESUS MORE, OR YOUR SINS? FOR THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH, BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD. Romans 6:23
\WHAT WILL CONTROL YOUR LIFE? SIN, OR CHRIST DECIDE NOW BECAUSE LIFE IS SHORT AND THERE'S NO PROMISE OF TOMORROW.
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