Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Pornography.



This past Sunday I preached on pornography.  I didn't "have the opportunity", I wasn't "blessed to talk about", I didn't "joyfully present", I did as I thought I was commanded.  Even when I didn't want to.  Let me explain:

Pornography touches every family in the United States of America.  Every family.  Pornography knows no demographic, no target market.  Porn is not bound by class, gender, race, age, religion, or creed.

Pornography has mind boggling statistics associated with it.  Numbers so large they're dangerous, and what I mean by "so large they're dangerous" is this:  if one person dies it's a tragedy.  If 10 people die it's a national crisis.  If 1,000,000 die it's a statistic.  A number.  Nothing more.  We glaze over it because we have trained our brains and our minds to do so.

Why wasn't I excited about preaching this sermon?  Because it's scary.  Stepping on other people's toes is one thing, but signing up to drop an anvil on your own bruise, battered, and exposed toes is another.  But God asked me to.  I firmly believe that, when I allow it (when I shut up and listen and don't worry about schedules, and stress, and logistics, and optics), the Holy Spirit guides me (and Anyone who will allow it - I'm NOT special in this.  At. All.) to preach on what God wants the group I'm getting to speak to to hear.  But I was still nervous.

That may not sound like a big deal, but I don't get stage fright... like... ever.  If you give me 5 minute warning, I can preach to a large group and feel okay about it.  But preaching on pornography?  That gave me... pause (and stomach indigestion 5 minutes before time to walk on stage).

Pornography is one of (if not the) biggest issue the modern church family is facing.  Josh McDowell calls pornography the "black plague".

Take a listen to this sermon, listen to all the statistics shared (from a 2016 Barna Group study: "The Porn Phenomenon"), and see for yourself.

Then, please, Please, PLEASE listen to this coming Sunday's sermon (the follow up) for what do we do, how do we face it, how do we address it, how do we Beat it.

Thank you....


https://youtu.be/VECZFF5PaxI

Pornography.

This past Sunday I preached on pornography.  I didn't "have the opportunity", I wasn't "blessed to talk about", I didn't "joyfully present", I did as I thought I was commanded.  Even when I didn't want to.  Let me explain:

Pornography touches every family in the United States of America.  Every family.  Pornography knows no demographic, no target market.  Porn is not bound by class, gender, race, age, religion, or creed.

Pornography has mind boggling statistics associated with it.  Numbers so large they're dangerous, and what I mean by "so large they're dangerous" is this:  if one person dies it's a tragedy.  If 10 people die it's a national crisis.  If 1,000,000 die it's a statistic.  A number.  Nothing more.  We glaze over it because we have trained our brains and our minds to do so.

Why wasn't I excited about preaching this sermon?  Because it's scary.  Stepping on other people's toes is one thing, but signing up to drop an anvil on your own bruise, battered, and exposed toes is another.  But God asked me to.  I firmly believe that, when I allow it (when I shut up and listen and don't worry about schedules, and stress, and logistics, and optics), the Holy Spirit guides me (and Anyone who will allow it - I'm NOT special in this.  At. All.) to preach on what God wants the group I'm getting to speak to to hear.  But I was still nervous.

That may not sound like a big deal, but I don't get stage fright... like... ever.  If you give me 5 minute warning, I can preach to a large group and feel okay about it.  But preaching on pornography?  That gave me... pause (and stomach indigestion 5 minutes before time to walk on stage).

Pornography is one of (if not the) biggest issue the modern church family is facing.  Josh McDowell calls pornography the "black plague".

Take a listen to this sermon, listen to all the statistics shared (from a 2016 Barna Group study: "The Porn Phenomenon"), and see for yourself.

Then, please, Please, PLEASE listen to this coming Sunday's sermon (the follow up) for what do we do, how do we face it, how do we address it, how do we Beat it.

Thank you....


https://youtu.be/VECZFF5PaxI