Sometimes life can leave us feeling like a mess. The kind of mess that’s just too complicated to figure out. But it’s possible to start fresh. To experience life in a new way. If you struggle with an addiction to pornography, you know how much of a toll it can take on your life. It may seem like there’s not a way out from your struggle, but it’s possible to experience freedom. We’re learning how to quit porn addiction in Week 2 of Deep Clean. (Life Church)
Today, I’ve transcribed the complete 40-minute sermon “How to quit porn,” by Pastor Craig Groschel of Life Church in Reno, Nevada. The video went viral on YouTube and has garnered over a million views. But that’s not why I’m featuring it. I featuring it because it hits on numerous aspects of sexual integrity, specifically as it relates to pornography addiction. Raw, thorough, concise, and impactful! Due to time constraints and shorter attention spans, I usually only transcribe clips < 10 minutes. However, I believe every minute of this one is well worth your time.
The sermon is divided into 12 sections. 1-) Pastor Craig Groeschel’s testimony; 2-) Studies of pornography use; 3-) God, temptation, and sin; 4-) The trauma of pornography addiction; 5-) Biblical warnings against lust; 6-) Side effects of pornography use; 7-) Breaking the cycle of lust (confession and fleeing); 😎 90-day detox from pornography (dopamine, flatline, and benefits); 9-) Internet filters and accountability; 10-) Spouses, partners, and friends of pornography users; 11-) A prayer for purity; 12-) Sin and the Gospel.
Check out the complete video and transcript below, and consider sharing it with a friend! Here are a few memorable quotes that I wrote down:
It thrills, and then it kills. It fascinates, and then it assassinates.
Craig Groeschel
Sin grows best in the dark.
Craig Groeschel
We confess to God for forgiveness, but James says we confess to people for healing.
Craig Groeschel
Why resist a temptation in the future when you have the power to eliminate it today?
Craig Groeschel
And it raises the question, Is purity even possible?
Craig Groeschel
For more similar content, see the complete archive of transcripts.
“How To Quit Porn” by Craig Groeschel (Complete Transcript)
Well, the temptation started for me in the 7th grade. And just to give you context in case you forget what a seventh grader looks like [image appears on screen]. This was me in the 7th grade. I’m very proud that I was on the all-star team. But just a little kid who was asked to babysit for a neighbor. And it was my first official babysitting job. And I was so excited to take care of the kids. I was going to be a great babysitter and was excited beyond measure, but I had no idea how excited I would be when I noticed that my neighbors had a giant stack of Playboy magazines.
We’re not talking about like just 12 – January, February, March, April – but like two years of 12 months of Playboy magazines sitting right out on the coffee table in plain view. And I know you look at me as a man of God, but I need to tell you that long before I was a pastor I used to just be a boy. And I remember the feeling and the rush of sexual excitement because just a few feet away from me were pages and pages of women without shirts or bras, if I can say that.
And that was the only time I had ever had access to it with the exception of in the 5th grade when my friend found it. Or National Geographic, which shouldn’t really count. Or barbie dolls, which I would occasionally strip down, but we don’t want to talk about that, because that’s really gross, and I’m sorry I said that out loud [audience laughs]. But on the spot and in that moment, I just changed my babysitting strategy, which is “Kids, you’re going to be going to bed a little earlier tonight.”
And I spent the next 2 or 3 hours just flipping page-by-page through the whole stack. And what I felt was confusing, because I’ll be honest. There was like this buzz and this hit and this thrill, and kind of waves of confusing sexual energy to a little boy, followed by deep guilt and shame and remorse and embarrassment. I felt dirty and just hated that I did that.
If you can relate to what I just said, you’re not alone. Even if you’re a Christian, you’re not alone.
In fact, the studies today show that this is a growing problem by the minute, and not just like when I was growing up. I thought it was a man issue – and it is a man issue – but it’s also increasingly becoming an issue for females, as well. And not just men, and not just women, but Christian men and Christian women.
Studies of Pornography Use
In fact, one study shows that about 64% of Christian men, and about 15% of Christian women, admit to viewing porn monthly. Maybe not daily, but at least once a month.
How many of you are between 18 and 30 years of age? You can just raise up your hand. For those of you that are, and if you’re a man, the odds of looking go way way up. 79% of men between 18 and 30 years of age admit to viewing porn monthly.
When I was a kid, you had to find a stack of magazines. The rules have changed because now you got porn in your pocket, meaning anywhere, anytime, all day long. The majority of the world is just a click or two away from anything they ever want to see, or anything they should never ever see.
And it raises the question, Is purity even possible?
And I want to talk to you today and tell you, not only is it possible, but it is God’s will, and the title for today’s message is “How to quit porn.”
Would you pray with me today. Father, we ask by the power of your Spirit and the truth of your word, you would do what only you can do. Purify our hearts and our minds that we could love you and love others, as you loved us. God, purify us we pray in Jesus’s name. And everybody said “Amen.”
Are you ready for the word today?
God, Temptation, and Sin
We’re going to start today in the New Testament in the book of James. And I want to show you in James 1:13-15 some interesting verses. James told us this, “Whenever we’re tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’” In other words, God didn’t put that stack of Playboys in front of me. If you agree say “Amen.” Do you agree? Amen.
God is not tempting us because God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone, but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. I was dragged away by a very evil desire in me, and I was enticed.
In fact, the word in the Greek translated as enticed is a fishing term that means “to lure by using bait.” And that’s what our spiritual enemy does. Our enemy knows where we’re weak and where we’re vulnerable and will put some kind of temptation, some kind of trap, some kind of bait in front of us.
The Scripture goes on to say, “Then after that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.” And that’s what happened to me. I want to look, there’s a temptation, I looked, I sinned, and “Sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death. To death. Sin, when full blown, kills and destroys.” And that’s what our spiritual enemy wants to do. He wants to bait us.
If you’ve ever been fishing, you might have used a worm, or you might have used a lure or whatever. And the little fishie looks on, and he goes, “That looks good [hollers]. Worm food. Spinnie thing.” And the little fishie swims over to it. I’m sorry, I won’t do that in next service. But the fishie swims over to it and takes it and the bait then captures the fish and ends up in death.
And this is what your spiritual enemy does. A little bit of bait, and before you take the bait, the devil tells you, “It’s no big deal. It’s just a little spinny thing. Everybody does it. Go ahead. It’ll be fine. You’ll love it.” And after you take the bait, your enemy tells you, “You’re horrible. You’re disgusting. You can’t be a Christian. God doesn’t love you at all.” And the devil, who hates you and wants to use the wrong desires in you to lure you and bait you — so that eventually he can kill and destroy you. He wants you hooked.
The Trauma of Pornography Addiction
How do you get hooked? How do you get hooked?
I’m going to tell you how some of you have gotten hooked, or how some of you stepped into a world of struggle against lustful thoughts. And the story I’m going to tell you is a common story, and the details may not be exactly yours, but I’m guessing that if you have any kind of battle with lustful thoughts that there’s some version of this story that is actually your story because most stories go something like this:
Unfortunately, at some point like me in the 5th grade and then in the 7th grade, you had some type of traumatic sexual experience. Maybe, like me, you were exposed to pornography. Tragically and heartbreakingly, many of you were molested at the hands of someone that you trusted or someone who abused you. Maybe for you it was on a date, and you liked the person, and you’re in the car and you’re kissing, and then [makes sound effects]. Whatever. You ended up doing something that you shouldn’t have been doing. You didn’t plan to. You got hooked.
And in that moment, you sustained an injury. It was a mental injury that distorted the purity of God’s gift of lovemaking. It was the emotional injury because you weren’t married and weren’t ready to experience the purity of lovemaking that is available. And it was a spiritual injury that likely caused shame and separated you from God.
And you were confused because it’s really confusing because sometimes you can get caught up in porn or masturbation or fooling around, or whatever it is, and you simultaneously have this dopamine rush. You feel good and this is fun. “I like this!” And there’s enjoyment and there’s pleasure and there’s shame and there’s guilt and there’s self-disgust.
And so if that’s your story, like it was my story, you feel a little embarrassed, and you don’t want to talk about it. So you either hide it, which is a problem, because sin grows best in the dark. OR you justify it. And you say “Well, at least I’m not,” or “I could be, and they are, and I’m not,” or “This isn’t that bad. God understands.” You know, “We’re loved anyway.” Or “It’s not that big of a deal. I’m just looking and I’m not doing.” Or whatever. Or “She’s not meeting my needs,” or “He’s not doing whatever.”
And you justify it. So you either hide it or you justify it or both. Then at some point, many of you, your story goes like this. You prayed, “God, take the desire away. God, I don’t want to do that again. God, I don’t want to look again. God, I don’t want to go there again.” And you asked God to take the desire away, but the desire doesn’t go away. And so at some point you promised, “I’m going to stop. This is my last time, and I’m not going to do it again.” Or “We’re not going to do it again.”
And for many of you, you actually do stop for a little while. And you have short periods of sexual sobriety, until you stumble once, and when you stumble once, that often triggers a sexual binge, because “Well, I just did it once. I might as well whatever. And then I’ll try to start over again.” And so you hate it, but you can’t seem to overcome it.
And then you hope ONE DAY, when I get married, all of my problems are going to be solved, ‘cause you know. “We can be together twice a day everyday, and three times on Sunday when we get married.” That’s another sermon and that’s not true, but many of you think that. And then you do get married and it doesn’t go away. And the reason it doesn’t go away is because you don’t just have a lust problem. You’re dealing with a spiritual injury that hasn’t healed. And somewhere in there, very likely, is some part of your story.
You might say, “You know, what’s the big deal? Why get upset about a little bit of porn? It’s not hurting anybody. I could be doing so much worse. What’s a little bit of lust? What’s the big deal?”
Biblical Warnings against Lust
And I want to say, whenever your lusts are full grown, James said, “It gives way to death.” James isn’t the only one who issued these stern warnings.
In fact, Solomon talked to his sons in the book of Proverbs. And he said this in Proverbs 5:3-5. Listen to these metaphors, “For the lips of an immoral woman, they’re as sweet as honey. And smoother than oil. But in the end, she is as bitter as poison. And is as dangerous as a double-edged sword.”
Where does she lead you? Where does sexual sin lead you?
“Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to the grave.” These are strong metaphors, right? Sexual sin – it looks sweet and smooth, but it’s bitter and sharp.
Someone said, “It thrills, and then it kills. It fascinates, and then it assassinates.” And it takes you to death.
What does porn do? What does lust do? It kills you. Porn very specifically kills you. How?
It kills you physically. It doesn’t help your sex drive. It hurts it. It brings stress into your body. It kills you emotionally, because you can’t relate and love others in a way that God intended, because you objectify others, and you start to see people through eyes of sex, instead of through eyes of love. It kills you mentally because you enter into a mental battle in your brain that is very difficult to overcome.
Side Effects of Pornography Use
And it kills you spiritually, robbing you of confidence and joy. And you find yourself, when you slip into a world of lust, battling with anxiety and you’re irritable, and you feel depressed, and you’re moody. And there’s a motivation. And there’s a loss of sex drive. Yes, there’s a loss of sex drive. People think that’s going to increase your sex drive. It kills your sex drive because real life is real and that’s not real, and what you’re watching is not real.
And eventually, and especially if you’re a Christian and you’re fighting it, you become exhausted trying to cover your tracks and manage your shame, and there’s always this fear of “When he is going to find out?” “When is she going to find out?” “When am I going to get caught?” “When are they going to know?” “I’m dirty!” And you lose spiritual confidence, and you lose intimacy with God. And many describe it as a nonstop weight and a heaviness that just never goes away.
You’re dragging this lust problem, this porn problem. And there’s always somewhere in your mind — the wonder, the fear, and the anxiety, “What happens if?” And “Why can’t I?” And “Why am I not?” And “Where is God in all this?” And you want to stop, but you can’t.
Why?
The answer is because you have an injury that hasn’t healed. You have an injury. You’re stuck in the lust loop. And I want to show you how the loop kills you, and how to break the loop. Here’s what tends to happen, and you would know this if you’ve ever been stuck in it. The first thing is you lust and you look, and it gives you that injury. Suddenly, the gift of lovemaking, the purity of how God intended it, is distorted and disrupted in your life. But when you look and lust, you find yourself excited and you get this dopamine hit. You’re like, “Oh, that was fun!” And “Oh, that was thrilling!” And “Oh, that felt good! I like it in the moment.”
Then after the dopamine hit, suddenly you feel this guilt and this shame. “I feel dirty. I don’t want to do it.” So you decide, “I’m going to try to stop. I don’t want to do it anymore. I’m going to overcome it. God, help me. I promise I’m not going to do this.” And when you try to stop, at some point, your body starts to crave that dopamine hit. “I want the emotional escape. I want to forget about my problems. I want the hit. I want the thrill. I want the buzz.” And so you go back to your injury that doesn’t heal and continue to look and lust and the cycle goes on.
Breaking the Cycle of Lust and Pornography Addiction
How do we, as followers of Jesus — who have access to a God-honoring life, and the ability to honor God with purity and integrity – how do we break the cycle?
I want to be incredibly practical, and even more so Biblical, and show you the two things that I promise, empowered by the Holy Spirit, inspired by the Word of God – these two things, over time, with the help of God, can help you break the cycle of lust and allow God to heal your wound and make you whole again.
Are you ready for it? You guys are really quiet. Can we just deal with real stuff today? Don’t be acting like this isn’t a real issue. If you’re ready, say “I’m ready.” Are you ready? Type it in the chat. Say, “I’m ready.” Just type it in the chat. Everybody say it out loud, are you ready?
Two big thoughts.
Confession of Lust and Pornography
Don’t conceal it. Confess it.
The first thought, #1 is this: If you’re battling with lust and porn, don’t conceal it. Confess it. Don’t keep it hidden. Bring it out into the light. And this is scary, right? It’s nerve-wracking. Don’t conceal it. Confess it. Scripture is so powerful.
Proverbs 28:13, “People who conceal their sins…” They don’t prosper. They don’t find freedom. There’s no healing. “People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from their sins, they will receive mercy. They will receive healing.” You don’t conceal it, you confess it.
And some of you say, “But I don’t want to confess it. It’s too scary.” And I would say to you, if you haven’t and you’re still battling with it, you haven’t overcome this on your own. Because you are designed to heal together.
When we talk about confession, we need to understand, there’s two different types of confession. There’s confession to God, and then there’s confession to people. We don’t just confess to, God, we are in life groups. C’mon on team LC. Life is better together. How do you expect to defeat the forces of darkness on your own? You’re not that strong.
We confess to God, and we confess to people, and there are two different results from two different types of confession. Confession to God brings forgiveness. And this is so great, no matter how dark your life is, if you confess your sin to God, the Scripture says, “He is faithful and just to forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.”
We confess to God for forgiveness. But James says we confess to people for healing. James says, “Confess your sins one to another, and pray for each other, that you might be healed.” Remember, you have an injury that hasn’t healed.
And I have found that you are only as strong as you are honest. You are only as strong as you are willing to be honest. The first thing, and we’ll talk more about this: Don’t conceal it. Confess it.
Fleeing From Lust
Don’t fight lust. Flee from it.
The second thing is, don’t fight lust. Flee from it. Run from it. Get out of town. The Apostle said this in 1 Corinthians 6:18. He didn’t say fight sexual sin. He said run from it. Run. Because there is no other sin that so clearly affects the body as this one does: “For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body.” We don’t fight lust, we flee from lust. We flee it.
For example, in the Old Testament, you may remember the first desperate housewife – that was Potiphar’s wife. It’s like a true story. She attacked Joseph. “Joseph, you’re looking so good there in those tight little pants,” or whatever. So she threw herself at Joseph. And what Joseph didn’t do, he didn’t say, “Now let’s talk about this. Let’s negotiate. Let’s join hands and pray against temptation.” That’s not what he did.
What Scripture says he did was very clear. Verse 12 of Genesis 39, when the wife caught him by the cloak and said, “Come to bed with me big boy. Take me to bed or lose me forever,” she said. That’s the New Craig Version. But Scripture says, “He left his cloak in his hand,” and what did he do? Say it out loud. “He ran out of the house.” Someone type that in the chat. What did he do? He didn’t fight it. He ran out of the house.
Jesus taught us the same thing. Jesus said very clearly, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out.” Get rid of whatever’s going to trip [Phonetic] you. If your right hand causes you to sin, he said, “Cut it out.” Now we can pause for a moment and ask ourselves, “Do you think Jesus was being literal?” I’m no expert, but all I can tell you is dear God I hope not.
I think what he was saying was if there’s any place you’re vulnerable and anything that can cause you to sin. If there’s any bait in the water, get out of the water. Get rid of the temptation. He’s saying “Be severe.” If he was being literal, can you just imagine? You walk in your office, and you say another guy who’s got a patch on his eye. You got a patch on. You both got one arm. “Christian?” “Yeah, me too.”
Don’t conceal it, confess it. Don’t fight it, flee from it. Here’s what’s going to happen. When you do this, the God, who created your body, will heal your body from the injury. And studies show, just as if you break your arm and put it in a cast, it’s going to take, what, 6 weeks, 8 weeks? Maybe longer to heal… It takes some time to heal, and in the same way a physical injury takes time to heal, your spiritual, your mental, your emotional injury takes time for God to heal.
And studies show it takes about 90 days for you to start to stabilize. And what I want to do — because what I know is that many of you, you’re not going to hide it anymore, but you’re going to confess it. And you’re not going to fight it, you’re going to flee from it. And you’re going to start the healing process that God is going to do. And I want to show you what to expect while you’re healing.
90-Day Detox from Pornography (Dopamine, Flatline, and Benefits)
I did a lot of research, and the best place I found, confirmed by others, was a well-documented article called “What porn does to your brain, and how to quit?” And I want to show you over a 90-day period what’s going to happen as you’re detoxing from lust, and God is healing your injury.
It will go like this: the first week without porn, your dopamine will take a nosedive. Because you’re used to feeding it, and it’s not going to be there. And because of that, you’re likely going to experience dramatic mood swings. You’re up and you’re down, and you’re all over the place. You’re likely to experience increased anxiety and possibly headaches, and you might be hypersensitive to lustful thoughts… The wind blows and you find yourself in a vulnerable place. That’s the first week without porn.
And as you progress in the process, the first 1-3 weeks without porn, because of the loss of dopamine and the change in your body, your motivation and energy is going to plummet. You might find yourself depressed. You’re going to have little to no sexual urges if you’re married, which is going to be confusing to you. But the problem is you’ve been looking at very lustful pornographic non-real stuff, and at this point only porn can excite you because your body is messed up. The good news is that you continue to heal.
And the next process is 4-8 weeks without porn. So you’re now a month, going on 2 months without porn. Your emotions are still all over the place as a rollercoaster. And you will have bursts of returning energy, because your body’s normalizing, followed by sluggishness and depression, because you’re not all the way healed. During this season, watch out for sudden bursts of temptation. Many experts say it’s at this point that most people will relapse.
If you do relapse, don’t give up. Don’t binge. Confess it, get back in the game. Whatever you do, do not give up. Because in this process, God is healing your wound. Even if you mess up one time, it doesn’t mean you’re as injured as you were. God is doing a work. He’s doing a work. God is healing your brain.
Then beyond 3 months or so, you’re going to start becoming emotionally stable. Your focus is going to sharpen. Guess what? Your sex drive, it normalizes. It becomes healthy and returns. Your spiritual confidence and your intimacy soars. You’re walking with Jesus, and guess what? You’re being healed. You feel at peace. You feel whole. You feel alive again because the Spirit of God is healing you. You don’t conceal it, you confess it. You don’t fight it, you flee from it.
And the bottom line is this: you are only as strong as you are honest. And I want to encourage somebody today. I don’t know who I’m talking to, but let’s get honest. And I’m going to be as honest with you as I can. I will model it. I told you as a kid I saw it in 5th grade. I saw it in the 7th grade. Miraculously, I didn’t see much porn through high school and college. It just wasn’t very available.
And the time when it struck me, and it scared me bad was I was probably 31 or 32 years old. Amy may remember better. But it was when AOL came out? Who remembers when AOL came out? [AOL sound effect] And Amy and I were sitting together, learning how to surf online, and that was back when porn would pop up, and with her sitting right next to me, something popped up in my living room, on my computer, and it scared me. It scared me. Just like you got porn in your pocket, there was now porn available to me in my house.
Internet Filters and Accountability
And like I told you, long before I was a pastor, I used to be a regular guy. And all the way back, those memories of 5th grade and 7th grade and sexual sin – I felt vulnerable. So what did I do? I did not conceal it. I can’t. I talked to people about it. I talked to Amy about it. I talked to John about it. I talked to Bobby about it. I talked to my friends about it. And we came up with a plan.
That is – I just call it locking down, meaning everywhere I could have access, I lock it down. This is my phone [points at phone], and it’s locked down. To the best of my technical ability, I have no way to look at porn. On my phone, I have the back door shut that limits adult content, meaning – this is true, Amy will tell you – meaning I cannot search for a hot air balloon ride, because it blocks me, because the word “hot” is in there. It’s incredibly inconvenient. Amy could not order a swimsuit from my phone because it blocks it. Limited adult access.
I don’t have the ability to download any apps, meaning there are some apps you can get to stuff that I don’t want to get it, so any app that has access I just don’t have. Social media – I hate to disappoint you, but that’s not me posting all the time. I’m not sitting there all day posting on 5 different platforms. There’s like 4 or 5 people who have access. I’m on one form of social media. I look, but I don’t interact. I don’t need to go there because there’s some stuff on Twitter I don’t want to look at it. I don’t know how to log on to Twitter, TikTok, Facebook. You guys have fun, I’m not there.
I have this locked down. My computer – everything I click is viewed by lots of people. It takes images. One time I did a Facetime with the ladies from my office, and there were images that said, “You’re with ladies.” And my accountability partner says, “Who are these ladies?” “Well, they’re in my office.” “Well, I’m at home quarantined.” Everything is visible.
And you may say, “Oh my gosh, Pastor Craig, are you like that vulnerable? Are you that weak? Are you that sick?” The answer is “No.” Really, generally, most of the time, almost all of the time, no. But guess what? I’m still capable of falling short. And in the wrong moment at the wrong time, if I just happen to be vulnerable 6 months from now, or 2 years from now, why would I leave myself access to something that I don’t want to look at. Why would I leave the bait in the water when I don’t want to get hooked?
So the way I phrase it, and I tell my pastor friends and my staff this all the time, why resist a temptation in the future when you have the power to eliminate it today? Because what do I have to lose by being careful? What do I have to lose if I’m not? The same thing you have to lose – your relationship, your peace, your joy, your integrity, your influence, your ministry. You’re only as strong as you are honest.
So what I’m going to do is encourage you, those of you online, wherever you’re watching, to be honest. And there’s two questions you’re probably going to ask. And the first question you might ask is “Who do I tell?” “Who do I tell if I’m going to confess it?” And you may also be asking “How do I receive a confession, if someone confesses it to me?” And I want to talk about these things.
“Who do I tell?” And I’m going to ask you a question, “Who do you trust to tell?” When at all possible when you’re married, it’s a lot easier to win when your spouse is on board. But I will acknowledge based on 30 years of ministry, there are some spouses that do not want to know. If it’s possible, I’m going to recommend you work together. And if it’s possible, we’re going to tell our spouse.
If your spouse is one of those that refuses to work with you and wants you to deal with it on your own, I’m going to encourage you to tell who you trust. A Christian counselor, your life group leader, your local pastor, a close friend. John and I have talked about this for probably 28 years and we have no secrets. You may want to get in a 12-step program. You may need to go to rehab. But we’re not going to conceal it, we’re going to confess it.
Spouses, Partners, and Friends of Pornography Users
How do you receive a confession?
If it’s two buddies like me and John, it never offends me if he talks to me. It never offends him if I talk to him. But if your boyfriend or your girlfriend or your spouse confesses it to you, you might be real tempted to feel hurt or angry or sickened or embarrassed. You might wonder, “What’s wrong with me?” What I want to do is try to help you see is if your spouse is coming to you, saying “I want help,” it’s because your spouse or your boyfriend or your girlfriend – they’re injured. And they want healing.
Just like I didn’t plan to walk across those things and open up that door. I didn’t plan for AOL to pop up. I didn’t plan to do some of the stuff I did before I was a Christian, I got injured. And I needed healing, and some of you, if someone comes to you, just remember their confession is a genuine desire for purity and love for you. So, even though it’s going to be tempting to want to take it personally and be hurt and offended, and I understand that. As best you can, recognize that you got someone who really craves righteousness and loves you enough to come to you and say, “Will you please help me heal?”
Don’t conceal it, confess it. Don’t fight it, flee from it. And if you find yourself battling with this right now – let me just tell you right now. You’re not just some weirdo, pervert, jerk, loser, something. You’re just a person who got injured who God loves so much and brought you to this message at this moment, because by the stripes of Jesus we are healed. And he wants to help you heal.
A Prayer For Purity
So Father today, we pray that there would be no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. But your love, your grace, your presence, your power, your truth would help set us free. Normally at this time I would ask for, kind of, what I call a soft close… And I would say if you’re dealing with this and you want to be free, raise your hand. I’m not going to ask you to do that right now. What I’m going to ask you to do is in your heart to make a decision. If your heart’s beating fast, if you feel a little nervous, I’m talking directly to you. More importantly, God is talking to you. What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it?
The next step could be incredibly uncomfortable. It could be painful. It could be filled with some tears and some challenges, but let me ask you this, how’s it been being locked in prison? How’s it been dragging that weight around? How’s it been feeling like you may get caught? Dirty and sick and things not working right? How’s that injury working for you?
What I’m going to ask you to do is make a decision. What’s your next step? What’s your next step? And Father I pray that you would guide that next step. Show us who to confess to. Show us who to confess to. God, help us to heal. We’ve seen what happens when you’re healing us. Help us to even expect what’s coming and endure it, because the glory on the other side is worth the price we’ll pay to find freedom.
And God, for any who might have find themselves in a more challenging conversation on the confessing or the receiving end, we pray God for your grace and your presence and your Holy Spirit to go before us, because you are the God who heals. You are the God who loves us. And we know there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So God, we trust you and we pray that you would heal our minds. Heal our hearts. Heal our souls. Heal our relationships. That we can show your love in all we do.
Sin and the Gospel
As you keep praying today without looking around, those of you watching online, let’s go broader than this topic and let’s just talk about sin. I can remember all the different times I sinned growing up. I can remember when I sinned yesterday and fell short of God’s standard. What is sin? Sin is missing the mark of God’s holiness. We serve a holy God, a perfect God. And Scripture says all of us, and this includes you, and this includes me – every single one of us. We have sinned and fallen short of that standard. And you feel it at times. You feel the weight. You feel the conviction of that sin.
Here’s the good news, because God is so good. His love is so broad, that he sent his son Jesus who never sinned and was perfect in every way. And Jesus gave his life on a cross for the forgiveness of our sins. He didn’t stay dead. He died as a sacrifice, but God raised him from the dead, so that anyone – and this includes you – who calls on the name of Jesus – your sins would be forgiven. And you would be made completely new.
I called out to Jesus in college, a broken sinner. I knelt down one person, I stood up different. When you call on Jesus, your sins are gone. He forgets them, he forgives them. You’re not just different, you are new. Today, wherever you’re watching, those who say “I need that. I want his grace. I’m leaving my old life behind. I’m trusting in Jesus. Today I give my life to Jesus.” That’s your prayer. Lift your hands right now. Just lift them up, all over this place, saying “Yes” to Jesus. Those of you watching online, just type it in the chat right now. “I’m giving my life to Jesus” — type that in. “I need his grace. I’m giving my life to Jesus.”
And I would love, wherever you’re watching, if you’re comfortable, just say this prayer aloud. Pray “Jesus, forgive my sins. Heal my heart. Make me new. I give you my life. All of it. All my brokenness. All my pain. Fill me with your Spirit. So I could know you. Heal my wounds. Make me new. Purify my heart. Purify my mind. Heal me, Jesus, so I can know you and show your love. In Jesus name, I pray.
Can somebody celebrate big? Worship our God. Love on those born into God’s family. And find freedom and life in Christ.
