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Chapter 2 1st Peter chapter 2 and the Bible reads Wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and Hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word She may grow thereby if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious To whom coming as unto a living stone Disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ Wherefore also is it contained in the scripture behold I lay on scion and chief Cornerstone elect Precious he that believeth on him shall not be confounded unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but of them which be obedient the stone which the builders disallowed the same has made the head of the corner and Stone of stumbling and a rock of offense even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient Whereunto also they were appointed We GR chosen generation a royal priesthood and a holy nation of peculiar people That you just show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light Which a time past were not a people but are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy But now have obtained mercy Dearly beloved I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak evil against speak against you as evildoers They may by your good works Which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation Submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the king as supreme or in the governors as under them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and For the praise of them that do well For so is the will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as Free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God honor all men Love the Brotherhood fear God honor the king Servants be subject to your masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward For this is think worthy if a man for conscious toward God and or grief suffering wrongfully For what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults you shall take it patiently But if when you do well and suffer for it and you take it patiently This is acceptable with God for even hereunto were you called because Christ also suffered for us Leaving us an example that she should follow his steps who did no sin Neither was guile found in his mouth who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered He threatened not but committed himself to him that judges righteously Who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should live under righteousness By whose stripes you were healed For you were a sheep going astray, but are now returned under the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls Let's pray to the Lord God. Thank you for your word Lord that you've given unto us and we thank you for pastor We pray that you fill in with the Holy Spirit as he preaches unto us The message that you prepared in his heart Lord and that us in the congregation could be edified by the preaching We hear this all in Jesus name. Amen Okay, we're in 1st Peter chapter number 2 and look down at verse number 11 It says dearly beloved I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts Which war against the soul having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak you against you as evildoers They may by your good works, which they shall behold glorify God in the day of Visitation and the time I sermon this evening is make war not love Make war not love. Of course that should ring a bell with you You know, it's the hippie saying back in the 60s and 70s whatever it say make love not war, right? And obviously when I talk about making war I'm not referring to physical warfare, but rather spiritual and when I talk about love I'm not referring to the biblical definition of what love would be but rather this shallow Superficial superficial fake love that the world promotes. Okay, and when the world talks about love between two people It's often referring to as far as normal people are concerned It's often referring to this act of fornication and that's what I want to talk about this this evening is the subject of Fornication and one of the reasons why I want to preach on this tonight Because I feel like every couple of months I have to bring up this topic bring up the subject to make sure that people understand where we stand as a church what the Bible says about fornication and Less we should think lightly of this particular sin Less the people in our church or even the young people in our church think it okay To commit this act because it's not the same as adultery or something like that. It's not like any other sin It's just two people who really like each other Getting physically involved and committing this act of fornication whereas the Bible says that it is sinful. It's unclean It's against the Word of God and we're gonna talk about that this evening now, obviously there is a major difference between fornication and adultery and unfortunately a lot of people a lot of churches have a tendency to kind of mix both of these in and kind of apply the Same definition to both they often think that they're both sexual sins and they're both essentially the same exact thing But they're not the same exact thing adultery is when a person who is married Steps outside of marriage of their union the covenant they made with their spouse and has sexual relations with another individual Okay Whereas fornication is to consent and individuals who are not married committing the act of fornication having sexual sexual intercourse One with another now, even though they're both wicked They're both very sinful the Bible actually institutes a death penalty for adultery in the Old Testament and one of the reasons for that is because Adultery because it involves two people who are married. It is essentially a person breaking their covenant before God and Thereby in curing the wrath of God upon themselves. God finds that very wicked abominable and Sinful and even a crime in the Bible Punishable by death now you have people are like, oh you always talk about how sodomy is punishable by death. What about adultery? Yeah, don't you do murders punishable by death kidnapping is punishable by death Adultery is punishable by death I mean the bestiality is punishable by death the list goes on and on and on of things that God considers to be capital Crimes worthy of death and yes adultery falls into that category as well And you know what my church and churches like ours talk about that all the time It's not like oh, it's only sodomy that's punishable by death but here's the thing someone's got to say that sodomy is punishable by death though and It's interesting how they always bring up. Oh, how come you don't say adultery? Well, that's funny How come you know that adultery is punishable by death? But you don't know that sodomy is punishable by death So tell me why well, I'll tell you why because people have readily accepted You know that the Bible talks about adultery, but they're afraid to jump into the arena Against sodomites and against that which is abominable and filthy and perverse where the Bible says that yes they deserve the death penalty as well, and obviously we're not saying that we should go out and commit acts of violence against those who commit adultery those who commit these capital crimes of sodomy and bestiality We're saying that the government is responsible for things like that. And obviously we're never gonna live in a world this side of eternity where those Punishments are being dished out and those, you know, the death penalty is being instituted but it doesn't mean we can't talk about it because the Bible commands us to preach the entire Council of God and it's important that We talk about the fact that the death penalty is instituted for adultery for sodomy for rape For bestiality less people should forget what the perfect standard of God is and what God thinks about those particular sins So adultery is punishable by death, but fornication is not okay and Fornication in the Bible was often punishable by the man paying a dowry to the woman's father and Being essentially marrying that woman. Okay, making an honest woman out of that individual That is what the Bible prescribes now in the New Testament Obviously that law didn't carry over because you have Christians living under the Roman Empire You have them under a different Set of rules different laws that did not institute biblical laws But that's not to say that God still holds that standard there right and at the end of the day fornication Even though it's not a crime. It's still sinful and the Bible actually likens it unto uncleanness now Why would the Bible call fornication to you know unclean? Why is it considered unclean to commit fornication? Well because of the fact that people who fornicate often have a variety of partners that they're fornicating with they're not bound by one Person so they're kind of sleeping around being a whore or a whoremonger and you know what happens when you sleep around you pick up diseases You pick up STDs You pick up sexual venereal diseases that are unclean and that is the punishment upon a society that embraces Fornication is that they will eventually fall prey to some sort of disease herpes gonorrhea Chlamydia and yes Even HIV things of that nature because that's the punishment for Allowing fornication to just run rampant in the nation. So obviously fornication not punishable by death, but still equally sinful and One of the things when it comes to fornication aside from the uncleanest aspect of it. It produces bastard children Okay, and God is not pleased with that you know God wants children to be a result of a holy union of two people who made a covenant before God and the Fruit of that holy union that's made a covenant before the Lord is children That's what God's will is his will is not for a nation to just have an entire Society of bastard children that you know kind of sleep around They're being whoremongers and whores and then the family unit is being destroyed Thereby, you know God's will for all individuals of course those who want to be married is for them to get married to find a wife to find a husband to Create a family unit to have children to be fruitful and multiply in that regard now Let me give you a couple things here before we get into my main points And let's start off by saying that the Christian life is characterized by warfare Okay, and obviously I'm talking about fornication But just in general so that means that we as Christians need to be proactive in fighting against these particular sins Whether it's in our own personal life or just talking about it just in general, you know We should be the ones who are aggressively speaking out against fornication aggressively bringing ourselves under subjection, right and Going into spiritual warfare Praying ourselves through it preaching about it talking about it praying about it The Bible tells us in first Timothy chapter 1 you have to turn there and verse 18 says this charge I committed to the son Timothy According to the prophecies which went before on thee that thou by them mightest war a good Warfare the Bible says in Ephesians 6 10 finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and the power of his might Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil For we rest not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in High places the Bible tells us so obviously a common theme of the New Testament is that we're supposed to be Aggressively fighting against the devil the world and yes, even the flesh as well This is what's called spiritual warfare and you think to yourself. Well, duh, you know, isn't that what we're supposed to do? Isn't that what Christians are supposed to do? Yeah, but you know what a lot of Christians don't though They don't really care. They're kind of apathetic. They're they're Christian pacifists. They just kind of take it lying down They allow themselves to be tempted They allow themselves to be put in situations where they can commit adultery they can commit fornication They get involved in sin. Why because they don't realize that they're in a spiritual battle But once you realize this is a spiritual warfare, I need to be vigilant. I need to be sober minded I need to take these things seriously They're not gonna fall prey to the pitfalls and the wiles of the devil as the Bible puts it now Turn with me if you went to 1st Corinthians chapter number 5 1st Corinthians chapter 5. I Mentioned a couple of the consequences of fornication one of them being uncleanest diseases that you can contract by committing fornication a Second one would be bastard children, you know having children out of wedlock a more biblical term would be to have a bastard child okay, and Even there's extreme cases in the Bible where God just killed a bunch of people You know the Bible tells us the first Corinthians 10 you're in chapter 5, but I'm gonna read you from chapter 10 It says neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty thousand Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents now I don't believe that if you commit fornication, you're just gonna drop dead right on the spot But do you really want to gamble with that? Because it's definitely a possibility You know, you see those you see those reels where it's just like, you know The chances of a cow killing you are very low, but never zero or something like that, you know And they always look at a cow the cows just looking he's like there's always a possibility, you know And you know what? You may not just drop dead from committing fornication because God just stops your heart but there is a possibility and There's a reason why God put that example first Corinthians chapter 10 because he wants to strike fear in the hearts of people Not to go near fornication not to consider it or place themselves in a position where they can potentially do it Because you might die if you do so, okay, you say well, I know people who commit fornication and they didn't die Okay, then you do you want to try it then you you want to be that 1%? Possibility of dying but not only that, you know committing fornication makes you just a useless Christian And you're not gonna receive any rewards in heaven the Bible talks about those who are fornicators in Ephesians chapter 5 It says for this, you know that no whoremonger Nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater Have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God and I don't believe this is saying like they're not gonna inherit the kingdom Of God it says they're not gonna have any inheritance in the kingdom of God Because anybody who saved goes to the kingdom of God, but hold on a second. There's certain individuals that Essentially, you know are getting involved with the affairs of this life. They're entangled with the affairs of this life They're not warring according to the prophecies that went on before them They're kind of giving in to their lust and their desires. They're living a carnal flesh to the life You know if that person dies in that state, they're not gonna have anything in the millennial reign And you know what? That's a good motivation for you. That's a good motivation for me to stay clean Amen to make sure that we are living a righteous life a life that is pleasing unto the Lord and Not give in to the desires of the flesh and of the mind But here's another consequence of fornication because You know Old Testament laws aren't necessarily instituted in the New Testament but you know, we have the example of the local New Testament Church in the New Testament and The the New Testament Church has the rule that fornicators are not allowed in church Okay, and we're talking about fornicators who are unwilling to repent. Okay. Let me make that very clear Now in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 you have just a very extreme example of this Okay, we think of fornication we think of two people committing the act. Maybe they're young people, you know, they're not married They're kind of shacking up their boyfriend and girlfriend and they're living together and they're committing fornication But 1st Corinthians 5 gives us just a really extreme example. And that example is that there's a man It's commonly reported as this man who's committing fornication Essentially with his father's wife, okay Now he's like, well, why would you why would they call that fornication if that's his father's wife? Wouldn't that be adultery? Well, obviously the implication here is that the father's dead Okay, and I have I don't have time to develop this but basically when two people are married according to the Bible if one Dies the person who is alive is freed from the law of her husband or her or his wife in other words She's free to marry and be the wife of another person He's free to marry if he's the one who lives etc. And so it wouldn't necessarily be considered adultery because she's not necessarily married But in previously when his father was alive, that was his wife. Okay, very weird situation Essentially, it's like basically almost almost like a stepmom. Okay, so his father's dead Mother's alive and he's committing fornication with this woman's very disgusting. Just perverse, you know Now that's not the worst part. The worst part is they're in church and That's not even the worst part. The worst part is everyone knows about it because it says it is commonly reported And the Apostle Paul is not even present at the church at Corinth He's getting this second hand people are commonly reporting this and it's not like they have Instagram They don't have you know, social media. They don't have Facebook, you know So wherever he is, he's getting this news from Corinth that this is being done and everyone's just kind of cool with it They just don't really care and in fact the leaders at that church are Kind of boasting in the fact that they're allowing them to stay in church because they're more loving than the Apostle Paul They're glorying in the fact that they're allowing them to stay in church. And you know what nothing has changed Because today in 2024, I'm sure you have churches out there who have a ton of fornicators in their churches They're committing the act of fornication. The pastor knows about it. The leaders know about it, but they don't care Oh, we just got to pray for them. We got to work with them Yeah, but here's the thing is that as you do, so they are living in rebellion against God They're probably gonna produce bastard children. They're not living a life that's pleasing unto the Lord. So how long does that discipleship class take? How long does it really take to bring up 1st Corinthians chapter 5 and says stop that stop acting like a bunch of dogs and animals and Actually, well, I'm gonna give you what the what the solutions are when it comes to this particular situation But look what it says in verse number 9 in response to this man committed fornication It says I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators You know Not all together with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or with idolaters For then must he needs go out of the world. What is he saying? You know, you shouldn't have fornicators as your closest friends, but let's just be honest here you work in the secular world You have secular people around you you're gonna be around people who are committing to act of fornication we can't just get it we can't be Amish about this whole thing and Just go in the middle of nowhere in our attempts in our zeal to separate from fornicators Okay, because it says then must he needs go out of the world because the world is filled with fornicators However, there is a solution and that is verse 11 But now I've written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator So when the Bible talks about a brother in this specific context, who is he talking about? He's talking about a Christian someone who is saved or someone who claims to be saved so if a person is a brother and They're committing fornication or they're being covetous or an idolater or a Railer or a drunkard or an extortioner listen to this with such and one know not to eat Now why is he saying don't eat with the fornicator Well, it's not because it's saying like hey, you can't share meals with this person That's the only thing you can't do with them or something He's given an extreme standard to kind of show you don't even be around them You can't you shouldn't even be sitting at a table with that person eating a meal with them Which obviously has the connotation that you're having fellowship with them understand? So he's saying if a brother's is guilty of these particular sins Then you should have no company with that individual, you know If you know someone from a different church who's committing the act of fornication You shouldn't have company with that person Okay, or if a person is not in church and they're saved and they want to keep communications with you The Bible says don't have any company with that person if they're committing the act of fornication That's what it clearly says there now. This is a great this isn't the sermon But this is great proof text that the universal church is garbage. Oh We believe in the universal church No, you're a Catholic or your Protestant light there are your Catholic light and you call yourself a Protestant or whatever You know because the Catholic Church believes in that universal church But you know what? This doesn't really work in the universal church now does it right? Because it's just like well if I'm not gonna keep company with it. Well too late. You're in you're in the church Anywhere you go is the church, right? So he's saying don't eat with them Don't fellowship with them don't keep company with them and we can add to that Matthew chapter 18 Let him be in to be as a heathen man and as a publican That's another way of saying you should treat that person like an unsaved person Heathen man and a publican is just another way of saying like a wicked unsaved individual in other words like stay away from me It's like a leper in the Old Testament Whereas just like I don't want that disease upon me. God has commanded me to separate myself touch not the unclean thing You know and stay away from those individuals and you know, this sermon is not about these other sins here But obviously if someone is a covetous individual Meaning that all they do is talk about money or you know All they're doing is flashing their luxury and they seem to be a very greedy Covetous individual we shouldn't keep company with them either Someone who's an idolater, you know, and this isn't very common here in the United States But it is pretty common in other portions of the world where idolatry is rampant you go to their house and they have all these Idols and carved images. I would says we're not to have fellowship with a person like that a Railer, you know we talked about that last week if someone is railing bringing a false accusation against not just the pastor but anybody in the church and they're commonly characterized by being a Person who's just lying about individuals if I was says don't have company with that individual Or a drunkard so that means drunkards can't be in church either He said well, what's your standard of drunkenness if you drink? You drink alcohol. That's what a drunkard is. Well, you know you what if they just Take a drink of you know, every Friday or just their their social drinker. That's a drunkard according to the Bible There is no you know spectrum to the Bible gives us the if the Bible says look not thou upon the wine when it is red and It's telling us not even to look at it. And then you have people who are tea toddlers or whatever They're drinking it every Friday. They're having social gatherings and they drink then that's still considered a drunkard in my book extortioner You know someone who tries to blackmail you and threaten you The Bible says don't eat with these people. These people don't belong in the congregation He says verse 12 for what have I to do to judge them also that are without do not you judge them that are within But then that are without God judges therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person in other words Obviously, there's Christians who are fornicators out there, but you know, we can't do anything about that but we can control what goes on in here and he says there that if Anyone who's called a brother is committing these sins and more specifically if they're unrepentant of those sins Then we need to put away from ourselves that wicked person. What does that call? It's called excommunicating them from the congregation Okay now Here are the three options If you are involved in fornication or if people come to our church Unknowingly they're living together their boyfriend and girlfriend they're in a relationship and they're getting involved in the sinful act of Fornication as a pastor. This is essentially what I do. Okay, number one, you know, first of all, let me just say that I'm not the Baptist police here. So I'm not just going around asking people. Hey, what's your name? Okay, cool Are you guys fornicating by any chance? Just checking, you know, I do my job here, you know, I don't do that that's weird, right And you said well, then how are you gonna know? Well until the Lord reveals it Or someone just comes to me and tells me and in fact in the years that I've been a pastor you know either people come and tell me or it slips out of their mouth and They tell someone somehow just God just allows it to come to life, okay And I do believe that people should have a grace period and in other words Let's say you have a new, you know a couple that's coming for you know They came for the first time today or something and there might be an indication that they're involved in fornication or something You know because they live together which by the way in my book if you're living together, you're you're you're pretty much as good as guilty Okay, so well hi can you really say that they're guilty if they're living together if a dude and a woman are living together Let's just come on But my grace period is from the time that they come to our church until the time they find out Either from the preaching or in conversation that fornication is a sin worthy of excommunication. That's their grace period Okay, so I'm not just on a witch hunt looking for people who are involved in this But you know as I mentioned sometimes I got to preach on this just so we are all clear on What the rules are here. So here are the three options if you're involved in fornication Get right get married or get out Okay, so one you can get right meaning you separate you're no longer together if you're living together you move out Or if you're not living together, but you're committing fornication, then you abstain one from another basically you break up right get right Or here's the better option get married Put a ring on that finger make an honest woman out of her and stop being a little whore monger And that's honestly the best option right there Okay, because you know you have people who are together for years and you know This is very common in Hispanic culture By the way Where you literally have like a man and a woman who've lived together for years they have children They have a family and they'll even say oh, yeah, this is my wife This is my but they're like legally not even married though, and that happens a lot. Okay? Well, that isn't flying, you know the length of time that you've been together in fornication It's not like you go through a certain time and then once you reach like 20 years You're married for sure It's you got to go to the courthouse and go get those documents and go get legitimately married And when I say married, it doesn't mean that we have to have a ceremony here. By the way, we can I'm talking about Recognized by the state that you are getting married. You're making a covenant before God. It's a legal document That's what you need to do. Okay So get married and you know what once you get married, that's the best part right there Now you're right in the eyes of God You're in right standings with the Lord and with the church and now God can like bless your Union He can bless you and your spouse you can move on and you can live happily ever after So either you get right you get married or you get out What does that means you get thrown out of church for being unwilling to repent of your fornication and that's has been the case sometimes in our church where I've talked to people and In my book, they're good people as far as like they're there. They're they love the Lord. They're kind They were good church members, but then you know, I just slipped out That they're involved in fornication. They're not like we commit a fornication like it said something and it's just like Are you guys living together like yeah, I was like, okay I got to talk to you guys and then you know I go over these rules and then they leave and they never come back, you know, and they you know, they just can't seem to Make the decision to either get married or separate which is really weird and So at that point we just tell them to get out now Here's the thing is that a lot of modern churches will say well that's cultish But how can that be cultish if colds keep people in? Right when we're trying to get people out Now you say why would you want to kick them out well number one The Bible commands it because it says a little leaven leaven at the whole lump So here's the problem if the pastor permits fornication to go unfettered in the church Is that other people will find out about the fornication and it essentially gives permission for others to commit fornication Then it gets permission for others to commit adultery then it gets permission for others to become drunkards Then it gets permission for others to get divorced and it ends up just destroying the church It becomes a cesspool of sin because it's not taken care of you understand what I'm saying So this is the concept in 1st Corinthians 5 that he says a little leaven leaven at the whole lump Referring to that fornication. So if we don't remove that leaven from the congregation and Become a holy lump. It can permeate throughout the church and it ends up destroying not just the next generation But just the church in general God's judgment will be on that church So whether people agree with me or not, it really doesn't really matter Because you know, I don't want God to punish me and I want God's hand to be on us I want to continue to see people saved and live righteously Righteously and here's the question that I have for churches who don't agree with this. Okay, and that's why are you so against marriage? Yeah weird Like why are you so against us putting the stipulation that they should get married split up or go somewhere else? Why would you be against that? You should be in favor of marriage I mean the goal of coming to church is that you become a better husband a better wife a better Christian and that you're moving your way towards righteousness Just be more obedient unto the Lord So get right get married or get out And of course the getting out the excommunication is a last resort if the couple just decides You know in so many terms in so many words. We just want to keep fornicating Okay, and it's just like we just don't agree with that We don't want to split up. We want to stay together and it's just like you guys can stay together Just not here So sayonara, you know time to go and I'll tell you why a lot of churches don't want to give that option It's because to them the numbers The membership and the tithing is more important to them than the spiritual well-being of that of that couple Understand they're willing to overlook a lot of things because of this right here Okay But at the end of the day, you know It's better to have integrity and you don't really care for people if you're not telling them these things And it's important for me to say this as a pastor because we have a lot of young people in our church Whether single or they're dating and this needs to be clarified in order for people to understand Hey If you commit fornication You can end up contracting some sort of disease because God would just allow that you can die You can birth bastard children or you can walk the hall of shame by getting kicked out of church if you refuse to You know stop fornicating or you refuse to get married and so very important now go to first current Excuse me, uh first Thessalonians chapter 4 first Thessalonians chapter 4 The message is make war not love and We're not talking about this biblical definition of love. We're talking about what the world deems to be love Well, we love each other and this is why we are, you know for lack of a better way of saying We're just we're making love one toward another that's not real love though, you know, and you should be ashamed of yourself by Allowing yourself to commit that act that God has instituted only for married couples as a Christian and as a Christian You should understand the Bible and God expects for you to esteem that physical act between a man and a woman only within the confines of marriage and If you choose to do that outside of the confines of marriage before marriage, you're basically just using that woman And you know if you're that woman who's being used Well, that should tell you something about the dude Doesn't really value. He doesn't really love you. He just wants your body He wants that physical intimate relationship, but he doesn't want to add commitment to that and that's wrong. That's wicked That's sinful. It's not God's purpose is not God's will let me read to you from 1st Corinthians chapter 6 Let me give you three points this evening on how to deal with fornication So that you don't commit fornication, okay It's three simple points and I might veer off into other points We'll see but point number one is this possess your vessel. Don't let your vessel possess you Possess your vessel. Don't let your vessel possess you you say well, I'm married You know, I'm not this is this doesn't apply to me then you apply to your particular sin of your struggle Maybe you're a glutton or something Okay, you're glutton and you can't put down the spoon and you know You just like eating a lot and whatever then, you know possess your vessel. Don't let that food possess you amen the principle still applies, but we're talking about in context of fornication and speaking of food first Corinthians 6 13 says meats for the belly and Belly for meats, but God shall destroy both it and them now. The body is not for fornication But for the Lord and the Lord for the body So he's saying look I created your belly to consume food and food is meant to be consumed by your belly Those are basically they go hand in hand, right? That's what her stomach is for But our body is not for fornication. It's not the same thing The body is not for fornication fornication is not for the body your body as a single person is for the Lord Okay. Now look what it says in first first Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 1 says furthermore then we beseech you brethren and Exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God So you would abound more and more For you know what Commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus for this is the will of God Even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor What is he saying? You know what I'm not gonna give you a 10-point outline on how to abstain from fornication You need to learn how to possess your vessel in sanctification and honor because every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and entice the Bible says and Obviously, you know, it's different for every individual but you need to know what tempts you You need to know what weaknesses you may have and teach yourself Discipline yourself how to abstain from fornication if that's your temptation there If that is your flaw, if that is what you're drawn towards you need to learn how to control your body Don't let your body control you Now look obviously God made us in such a way That we are attracted to females, right? I mean that's normal and God made us that way for a particular purpose so that when we get married We're very attracted to our spouses and the result of that attraction Babies, okay Forward all the way to babies That's how it works You understand and obviously there's pleasure in that and that is okay in the eyes of God within the confines of marriage Now unfortunately before marriage men are just kind of built that way even before marriage, you know, there's something called testosterone That people have and that often You know causes a man to have these desires to have these inner inhibitions and if they're not careful They can allow that to kind of possess them and end up tempting themselves to commit the act of fornication Through you know meeting someone having a girlfriend whatever it may be But the point is is that God expects for all of us to make sure that we know how to control our bodies Okay. Now what are some practical ways to do this? Well, obviously I've said this in time one of the best ways For you to control your body To have temperance is two things dieting and exercise Like why are you saying that an exercise for everything you always use that but it's true Let me explain to you why a person who's just constantly eating junk food They have a very just weak will and I'm getting a very weak will and If they're very, you know weak-willed in a certain area that means they given to sin a lot more easier so you're gonna have to teach yourself to do hard things and To resist certain temptations and this is why it's important to exercise, you know, and obviously exercise increases testosterone But you know what it takes up your time as well It makes you tired so that when you go home you go to sleep But someone who doesn't exercise Someone who doesn't eat well is Will be number one a weak-willed but also number two idle and If you're idle, you're more susceptible to the temptations of Satan. You're more susceptible to your own temptations It's important my friends listen to me to stay busy and especially if you're young I mean God's given the young people the young men a lot of testosterone a lot of umph And if you like well, I'm not like that that's probably cuz of your diet. You're not getting enough sleep and you're not lifting Okay, I'm 38 years old Amen You know what? I got tons of energy. I got five kids. I Got a wife. I got five kids. I'm a pastor of a church. I have these extra Studies that I'm doing outside of even the Bible. I you say how do you do it dieting and exercise and Discipline possessing your vessel making your body do what it's supposed to do Listen to this not what it wants to do That's what it means to possess your vessel It means you tell your body what to do Don't let your body tell you what to do your body wants to commit for an occasion. You say shut up We're not doing that. That's wicked and sinful I'm staying away from that Not giving in to every whim and desire of the flesh my friends That's what it means to possess your vessel in sanctification. I mean who's in charge here Think about that, you know who's in charge of your body Who's the one in charge of making your body do the things that it's supposed to do? And here's the thing is that you know, if you're staying up all hours of the night You're gonna be more susceptible to sin, especially over the fact that at night is when sin happens most often So what then what should I do sleep You know if you don't have five children at home You should have no problem sleeping I Got five kids at home and sometimes this is it's hard Yeah, it's hard and you know, especially you have if you have a baby you have another one who's having trouble sleeping Then they get sick. I mean today At the age of 38, I find pleasurable the things that were a punishment to me as a child. I Wish I could take naps Staying in Staying in early Doing nothing going to sleep early taking naps. I would love to do that But you know what staying out late at night in the twilight hours You're only gonna get involved and sin you're only gonna find temptation and sin And let me just say that some of you just need to just need to like get rid of your apps Get rid of your technology. Maybe you just need to go on a technology fast In Order so that you can build up some resistance And you know what men should be characterized by strong will and resistance People who possess their vessels not allowing their vessels to possess them And look one of the best ways to do this obviously is by lifting in an extra and dieting nutrition Why is that because it's not fun to eat good food healthy food all the time You gotta like make yourself do that You know, I've been doing that for like the last six months and I'm not having fun It's not fun. I don't you know, it's not I'm just like great. It's it sucks But you know what? My body does not tell me what to do though, and my body's like go get some macadies Go get a double cheese. You're the Pat. You're you're the boss of your own. You're the pastor You really think if you go to McDonald's anyone who's gonna get mad at you at the church They'll probably go with you share a double double. No, I Will not do it Go get some Raising Cane's Reuben brought someone look how kind Reuben is He brought you some Raising Cane's with Texas toast and you're not gonna participate. I shall not go into the fellowship hall You know, you have to tell your body what to do You gotta tell your body to get up out of bed. You gotta tell your body. I'm gonna eat this plate of ground beef and You're gonna like it whether you like it or not This is what you're gonna do You're gonna lift this weight whether you like it or not You're gonna do this every single day whether you like it or not and the body is like I don't want to do It I don't want to eat this. I want pizza. I want burgers. I want pot I want Thai food. I want I know you do but we're not having that right now You have to possess your vessel and sanctification I want to fornicate yeah, I know you do but we're not doing that right now Because it's not right in the eyes of the Lord and you're not in charge I'm in charge Ask yourself this who's in charge of you Build up some resistance make your will strong Be able to resist and look one of the best ways to resist temptation. Listen to this It's just not be in front of it at all That's like the best way to do it You know God only expects for us to use our will against sin when we're like in an emergency situation Our will is like a spare tire you only need in emergency situations Okay, but in general you should just not be placing yourself in the presence of temptation because if you're constantly doing that eventually You will give in Possess your vessel and sanctification on you know The Bible tells us listen to this But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection less by any means when I preach to others I myself should be a castaway the Bible says What is the Apostle Paul saying I'm disciplining my body making it do what it doesn't want to do Because I don't want to be a castaway. I don't want to be a casualty I want to make sure that I fulfill God's plan for my life and that I'm not leading others astray Because I'm giving in to every whim of my desires and lust that I have. It's basically what he's saying Okay, and let me just say this take control of your thoughts, too You know one of the reasons why young people struggle with this with with this sin of fornication It's because it all starts in the mind But the reason it starts in the mind is because what you're putting into your mind you know, that's why it's important as a young person you bear the yoke in your youth and You read the Word of God you saturate them your mind with the Bible and with healthy activities with healthy friendships Because that's what you need in your mind Some of you need to regain your innocence again Plain and simple you need to regain your innocence and learn how to have fun in life without all the sin The Bible tells us in Romans 7 22 for I delight in the law of God after the inward man But I see another law and my members warn against the law of my mind and bringing me into Captivity to the law of sin which is in my members or wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this Body of death and so, you know making sure you're getting enough sleep I'm giving you practical tips here. You know get enough sleep and as a young man Single man single lady. You should have no problem with that. No one should be struggling with insomnia in our church No one should be struggling I'm talking about as a young person there should be no Battle with insomnia. I mean as soon as your head hits the pillow you should just be out Okay, and there should be no reason why that doesn't happen Literally, that's how God made you. Okay to just exert yourself by working Reading the Bible winning souls to Christ Serving God and when you go home, it's just like I don't even I don't even feel like sinning because I'm just too tired Fornication I'm too tired of fornicate and just boom you just go to sleep And you what that does it helps your mental health. It helps you to you know Rebuild your body, you know, you're supposed to be getting sleep. It makes your resistance a lot stronger It's good for you So getting sleep having a healthy diet is necessary filling your mind with the right things exercising and staying busy and you know I'm pro Exercising obviously you guys know that and I think some of you guys need to start like making that a priority in your life And you'd be surprised You know, you're like well my really my will is pretty strong Your will could be even stronger if you get involved in exercising your body It's good for you, okay Now so what's the first thing well The first thing is possess your vessel and sanctification and honor Don't allow your body to tell you what to do. Don't give in to every whim and desire of your flesh You're like, oh man, but I just I just struggle with this thoughts of fornication I struggle with that with that lust I struggle with that desire to want to do those things Well, you know it's only for a season though If you can just keep this up for a season, let me give you an example of this Okay, I'm in this season right now obviously not fornication. Okay, you know, I've been dieting for since cutting I've been cutting I don't diet. I live in a man, you know I've been cutting since January and I have this window of time now in two weeks. It's over and In two weeks, I'm giving in to everyone in desire The desires of my flesh and of my mind, I'm just gonna just just dive into sin, you know I'm just gonna jump in have pizza french toast all the good stuff that you guys are enjoying that I'm not, you know, we're gonna have a canes night, you know, we're all the Good old memories of going to canes. I'm gonna do all that but you know what that's coming in the future Right now is a time of abstinence And you know what when it comes to the subject of fornication That's how you got to think about it because it's not abnormal to have those desires but you have to realize this is only for a season and then marriage comes and then you can have it all you want and You'll be right in the eyes of God and you won't be involved in sin and you can fulfill those God-given desires and it's appropriate way But you have to realize I'm in that window of time and during that window of time. I cannot stop the cut I'm not gonna stop myself from Eating this way Disciplining myself this way possessing my vessel my time will come and I'm not just gonna you know Sneak a donut in or something or sneak a burger in or a pizza and don't cheat Don't be a cheater Make it make it all the way through a man Make it all the way through until the wedding altar when you say I do and you make that covenant before God and So possess your vessel don't let your vessel possess you may hey you made your body come to church today Amen, make your body read the Bible make your body pray make your body go win souls to Christ make your body Be holy and be sanctified and possess your vessel and sanctification and on you can do it Anybody can do it pray through it Lord help me to possess my vessel and sanctification and honor But along with that remove the temptations from your life so that you're not placing that before you now Here's another thing go to 1st Peter chapter 2 1st Peter chapter 2 So obviously, you know when it comes to your body you have those desires Completely normal, but you got to possess your vessel and sanctification on it. But secondly Here's a way. Here's a great way to deal with fornication run from it Get away from it Run as fast as you can run screaming in the opposite direction when that temptation is right before you now Let me just say this Because I just learned this recently and it's probably one of the reasons why I want to talk about this and that Is stop using dating apps to try to find people Now apparently dating apps is more like fornication apps That's what they are I'm sure they're promoted as Oh find your Significant other and then you meet each other, but apparently These apps are literally used for people to hook up with other people Literally just to commit fornication and that's wicked as hell And you know what? There should be no dumb person in our church having that dating app on their phone Entertaining the possibility. Well, I'm just gonna meet this person and we'll see Where it goes with it or something. We'll see how it turns out. You're trying to make it turn out to fornication That's what you're trying to do And you know what? a lot of a lot of these young people aside from these dating apps they'll use Instagram and these other social media platforms only for the intent of finding females and Fornicating that's wicked What's wrong with you? You know, but I heard this recently that that's literally what they're used for They didn't have it's not even about like oh, I want to find a wife It's literally they want to find someone that they can Fornicate with that's literally what it's for nowadays and you know, it's like well, I'm trying to find a Christian woman folks You know for a fact you ain't gonna find a fundamental Baptist on there You are not gonna find some hellfire Independent fundamental fag hating You Know Zionist hating post-trip pre-wrath King James only soul-winning Baptist on there dress wearing him loving Biscuit eating. I'm just kidding, you know, you're not gonna find that Anybody goes on those dating apps they know what they're getting into You know what it is? You're putting temptation before you and you know It's it's crazy nowadays that how easily accessible sin is, you know Like in my generation you have to even if you wanted to fornicate you had to like go talk to a person face to face Now you have like the internet that it'll kind of put you it'll remove all of the barricades and all the you know Whatever uncomfortable things and just pair you up in there You guys could go fornicate or whatever and that's literally what these dating apps are for How many know what I'm talking about? You've heard that at least I just found that I'm like wow So there's literally and it's just like that's all people use it for is just to hook up to fornicate It's not even to find wives or to find a girlfriend. It's literally what the intent to fornicate Folks run screaming in the opposite direction Don't allow how easy it is How easy the internet makes it to fornicate to just allow it to tempt you to go get involved in that You're a child of God. You're a son of God. You're a Christian. You're a believer. You should know better You should be ashamed of yourself if that's what you want to do Let that shame you you ought to blush for doing that You know you find some female on there with some STD Some female on there with some venereal disease Birth of bastard children. Oh, you know, yeah, it's gonna be sweet to your taste initially Afterwards that mouth shall be filled with gravel Afterwards you actually want to get serious about the things of God, but now you got to be child support because she doesn't want to marry you, but she birth your child and And by the way, she's a Roman Catholic You're screwed And now one night of fornication just just flushed it down the toilet because it doesn't mean anything in comparison to all the Sufferings and tribulations that you're gonna get afterwards because that's how sin is Afterwards thy mouth shall be filled with gravel. It's not worth it Forget these dating apps Except for I don't know new I've be I think there's this thing a little singles. Is that still around? I'm not sure if that's still around Does anybody know? Apparently no one's going on there Sorry pastor in this You Just go the old-fashioned way I Mean you can do no I have be single, but you know here. Here's a better alternative It's just like go talk to someone face to face You know and and it looks stop trying to meet women in different denominations of churches, too. I Mean folks That's almost like that's almost like worse than dating an unsafe person in some cases Because because what if it ends up working out with you and them, but she's just straight ESV only You find out she's she believes in Calvinism. She wants to deep down in her heart. She wants to be a Catholic or something that would suck and Then you know once it's done. It's done And then you have all these theological Differences and she likes wearing pants and you tell it not to wear pants And then you know she likes to CCM or whatever. Oh, man It's not even worth it. Well, what do you expect me to do? How about you know pray? No, no, I'm seriously that no no no seriously, how about you pray You know, where's your faith How about you pray and say Lord send me because you know the Bible says that God blesses a man with a woman That a prudent wife is from the Lord You saw how do you know cuz I got me one Got me a prudent wife like God gifted me with a wonderful godly wife He said what you have to do pray serve God be in my church make the Lord Jesus Christ the most important thing in my life Have no expectations and boom. There you go Cuz in you know and in the Lord's economy is just like he needs a wife He needs to help me, you know, and and you know, she's King James only You know, she wasn't anti, you know Jew and We took care of that stuff afterwards, you know Drop a couple f-bombs every once in a while. She got the hint, you know Say it just it rolls off the tongue Yeah, tell her about the Jews and how we're all gonna die in the tribulation Cried a little bit, but it's alright, you know Worked out, amen And now she's full-fledged new IV wasn't hard at all The point that I'm making here is Stay away from temptation as far as possible Okay, and you young guys, you know, if you're mr. Rico Suave or whatever and you you always have these girls talking to you You know, you should stay away from them as much as possible You know if you have all these girls contacting you slipping into your DMS or whatever Contacting you shouldn't you should go on private block every single one of them or just get rid of Instagram period That's what you gotta do You know And I don't know what other you know, delete all your dating apps. Oh, man, then how am I gonna find someone? Oh, I don't know pray, you know come to church go to the Red Hot Preaching Conference Meet women talk to women face to face the way, you know, all men used to do it Back in the day where you just literally have to actually verbalize a conversation with the female You know, you're not catfishing anybody just what you see is what you get You know, it's not like a profile picture with with your face like super close to the camera So no one sees how your body actually looks like or something Everyone knows what I'm talking about It's always a red flag boys And don't be that boy either You Anytime there's a profile picture in the camera just a little too close to the face You know, it's not gonna deliver on what it claims to have. Okay They're catfishing you is what they're doing You know, it's better to just be face to face You know just talk to them and you know what it helps you to learn how to socialize and to be a normal person Because you're talking on the fly It's not like you're writing a message then you delete it and then you're writing a message trying to get it, right You know, oh man, she hardened my message. That's it's technology means nothing Talk to someone in person You know go meet individuals talk to someone and obviously our church is gonna be around for a really long time And we're gonna have people come we're gonna have people go and look don't lose Hope don't be don't have this attitude by the way, this is very important. Oh, there's nobody here though Everyone's just gone. Everyone's already taken and so therefore I'm gonna go You know why no one's here is because you're not God probably sees you and just sees you're not doing anything Sees you're not growing up Sees you're not taking this thing of the Christian life serious It's not like you're praying about it It's not like you're praying about it's not like you're actually, you know, putting your foot in to do something about it So why would he bring anybody? Yeah, everyone's already taken yeah, they're taken by the dude who prayed about it though They're taken by the guy who prayed about it put his best foot forward lied to her a little bit I'm just kidding You know, he actually went out and did something about it And so Run from it. Now. I had to show the first Peter, but go to Genesis if you would 39 Genesis chapter 39 I Spent way too much time on that, but I think that's necessary Because we do live in a social media type of culture now Where everything's done on social media people are more bold on social media People are more bold in the comment section they're more bold than the DMS and I think it was like Mike Tyson who said something about social media or just like a Lot of these guys who make these comments would never say it to your face because they know they get beat up And it's true people are just more bold than the comment section But it goes the same way when it when it comes to a man talking to another one They're just more bold women talking to a dude They're just more bold, but you know There's certain things you would not say in person to a female or to a man That you would probably be emboldened to say behind the screen And so that screen needs to be removed and you learn how to talk You need to learn how to look at people in their eyes, too, by the way Okay, you know when you talk to someone not just a female but just anybody in general look them in the eyes You know just look them straight in the eyes as you're talking to them. Don't allow your from your eyes to wander and You know, I I had to learn that when I first came to church and I remember like One of the pastors in the Bible College. He shook my hand He's like stop making your eyes water look at me straight in the eyes when you talk to me and I was like Then my eyes started watering. I was like, oh, hey, I never looked at someone this long, you know Well, you know that that's actually like a discipline to have to look at someone in the eyes and You know be respectful learn how to communicate learn how to talk in the fly be a social person doesn't mean you have to like not be an introvert, but you know Anybody who's gotten married though? You know what? I mean? Like I remember a long time ago. There's this guy at this old church He's like, yeah, I'm really shy. I'm really introvert. I was like bro. You got like five six kids. What do you mean? You're not shy How could you say you're shy when you got like five or six kids? You obviously have a level of social life in you that you convinced this woman to marry you and you have kids You're not that shy brother. Okay, and so at the end of the day, you know, you can say that you're shy but you know what you want to you want to You don't want your shyness to cause you to be single for the rest of your life So you're gonna have to learn some social skills Learn how to talk to people learn how to talk to women now Here's a great example. Look at Genesis 39 verse 7 says it came to pass after these things That his master's wife referring to Joseph cast her eyes upon Joseph and she said lie with me. So this woman's a whore She's a wicked woman. She's married and she's trying to entice Joseph to commit adultery with her But he refused and said unto his master's wife behold my master What if not what is with me in the house and he had committed all that he hath to my hand There is none greater in this house than I neither hath he kept back anything from me But thee because thou art his wife listen to this how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against Potiphar? No, he says sin against God So he knew that even though Potiphar wasn't in the house, you know, God was always watching It goes on to say and it came to pass as she spake to Joseph day by day That he hearken not unto her to lie by her or to be with her So she's like constantly enticing him and you know what? I believe that possibly Potiphar's wife was probably very beautiful because he's a higher-up The man's an important individual. He probably has a very attractive wife and so she's trying to entice him I'm sure he's tempted verse 11 says and it came to pass about this time that Joseph went into the house to do his business and there was none of the men of the house there within and She caught him by his garment Saying lie with me and he left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out now What does that mean? It means he just pretty much fled naked, you know, she grabbed him and he's just like He's just like ran just took off running screaming in the opposite direction Like oh, that's an exaggeration. Well, it seems as though that's what you're supposed to do You Know why cuz he's scared. You know, he's scared of destroying his life You know why you think it's an exaggeration cuz you're not scared of sin enough Sin doesn't scare you committing the act of fornication doesn't scare you you'd be like stop You you mess around too much You're married Joseph just was terrified To the point where it's just like if I have to run away naked I will If I have to leave my coat, I'm going to because he's terrified of displeasing God and of committing the act of adultery We need that fear And if you don't have that fear then you need to pray God God make me scared of sin To the point where I'm willing to flee fornication Like Joseph did oh, yeah, people might call him You know weakling or you know, the world might think of Joseph as just being a punk and a wimp or whatever But you know in God's eyes There's a man right here It's a man who fears the Lord the man who loves the Lord and loves Potiphar Is the man who honors his parents? As a man who is just willing to do everything he can to just flee fornication Do you entertain fornication or do you flee from it? Do you play with fornication or do you run screaming in the opposite direction? That's what God wants us to do He wants to be so passionate about not sinning that it would terrify us to even be in the clutches of sin Right, that's exactly what Joseph did and the Bible tells us in the New Testament flee fornication Okay, like run from it. Don't put temptation before you and when it is before you run Run run either run to a brother or sister in Christ and by the way one of the best things for your soul is If you're ever in a situation like that go to an older brother sister in Christ and say hey I'm being tempted right now by this lady by this woman by this girl And I just want to let you know that this is what's going on in my life So I can be accountable to you because you know what in my flesh I want to commit fornication But I know that it's wrong. And so I just need accountability. I'm just letting you know so that someone knows about this Okay, I'm bringing it to light. I ran I hung up on them. I blocked them, you know He said well how extreme should I get I mean as extreme as you need to get to make sure it never happens Now go to 1st Corinthians chapter 7 1st Corinthians chapter 7 You Know before salvation I had a lot of friends I had dudes who were my friends and I had women there were my friends and Somehow I just knew maybe I learned it from my my church or my pastor that when you get saved That's when temptation comes the most You know when you're a babe in Christ and so to avoid that I just like Gotten new number What about all your friends what about them You know, but my purity was more important You know honoring God was more important to me Yeah, but maybe I can get her saved though. Okay get her saved but bring a brother in Christ with you. How about that? Well, I think this is the best time to preach the gospel chairs like at 10 o'clock at night in a dark Parking lot by ourselves, you know, it just sets the mood really well, you're idiot So How do you deal with fornication well possess your vessel in sanctification honor possess your body don't let your body possess you You tell your body what to do Number two run from it. If you're ever in the presence of temptation run screaming go tell someone go tell your team leader Come tell me say hey this happened. I need help. I don't want this to happen again What do you think I should do block that person get that person out of your life Don't go near that individual ever again if they're trying to tempt you to come in fornication But here's the here's number three. Here's the best thing to do. Okay, and that is get married One of the best ways to avoid fornication is getting married Because once you get married, then you have a woman living with you every single day and you I mean You know She's right there and God approves of that physical relationship Not trying to be you know, I'm trying to keep it pg-13 here, but you know what at the end of the day That's what one of the reasons God created marriage for To help you fulfill those desires that you have that he gave to you Have yourself one wife and you know what the great thing about Marriages you can have that physical relationship with your wife for the rest of your life and you'll never get a disease And you'll never listen to this you'll never ever ever ever produce bastard children No matter how many times you try Every single one of them there's just none of them will become bastard children And here's the great thing about this about the the about marriage is that every time you participate in the physical act With your wife with your spouse you honor God God's pleased with you. He commands you to do it That's the best thing ever So it's just like oh man, I'm just struggling what should I do? Well, how about you start preparing for marriage? How about you mature yourself? How about you grow up you put away childish things? How about you put away the video games, how about you put away the social media How about you start getting serious about life about getting a job about maturing being a man and start praying? Lord, send me a wife Honor God serve God go to the Red Hot Preaching Conference go go somewhere And You know step out in faith and get married a man Look what it says in 1st, Corinthians 7 verse 1 now concerning the things what she wrote unto me It is good for a man not to touch a woman and to that we say amen Nevertheless to avoid fornication in other words, what is touching lead to fornication? Okay, and look this is a standard that I personally have I don't impose this upon anybody I just think it's wise that if you're dating you shouldn't be like making out and Holding each other and sitting in cars alone together Why cuz you're a red-blooded, dude? That's why unless you're some effeminate, you know do with sugar in his pockets and Your estrogen levels are super high your testosterone super low You know what I mean? And you're just super wimpy and limp rested and you know, just You don't even have sexual drive. You're just like You just have soy in your system You know But if you're just like a regular, dude You're put in that position Come on, man I'm trying to keep it pg-13, but let's be real here You're holding hands. You're making out you're holding each other Eventually, it's gonna awaken a desire in you and you know what given the right circumstance. You might even commit fornication And you know what take heed lest he fall like not me I can handle all that Oh sure, you can yeah people have been handled it for thousands of years, right a Relationship has to grow my friends Did you know that when two people are let me just say this when two people are dating each other with the purpose of marriage That relationship has to grow You know that means like you have to get closer one to another as the months go by That's why I never recommend people to have long engagements You know if you're engaged for years on end, oh man, you're you're opening yourself up to temptation You know you said well, what do you recommend six months to a year for an engagement and shorter than all the better? You know you're engaged It's just like all right. She's gonna marry me Okay, then get married sooner than later because the relationship grows and as the relationship grows you want to touch her If you don't already and you know what she probably wants to touch you, too But it's not right to do because eventually it's gonna grow into something else You're gonna end up good You know crossing some boundaries that you're not supposed to cross Tempting each other and causing each other to end up committing some sort of sin that you're gonna regret in the long term So he said what do you expect? You know, we're supposed to be like just like not touching at all Well, it does say there. It's good for men not to touch a woman. So That's what the Bible says right there, I mean I have a King James what do you guys got Oh It looks like I looks like people don't agree with me. Well, that's fine. That's literally what the Bible says there It's good for a man not to touch a woman and then he says nevertheless to avoid fornication and Last time I checked like like making out is considered touching, right? If you're sticking your tongue inside of her inside of her that's considered touching. I Mean I have to kind of like put the cookie on the bottom shelf here Because it seems like people don't seem to understand this Folks, I'm trying to help you so that you don't do something stupid in the long term So then when you finally reach the the wedding altar, you're just like, you know what? I'm glad I waited Now get over here woman, you know, that's what you have to do is in our church when they get married They're like yank their wife's face. And so, you know, there's just And everyone's just clapping and happy about it because you know what he possessed his vessel He controlled himself What am I saying have some control Have some self-control and I get it. I know my pastor friends have different opinions than me. I Know that that's why you guys are looking at me like that But you know what? This is first works Baptist Church and my pastor friends respect my opinion Just like I respect theirs, but you know what? This is first works and I'm just as your pastor Giving you the recommendations. I'm not imposing this on you I'm telling you this because I want you to have a successful marriage and you a successful engagement and marriage And you know what, let me just say this too when you have kids you're gonna probably impose that standard upon your kids It always happens You'd be like, well, you know, maybe it's actually good for you guys not to hold hands actually No, I think about it. Actually. It's a lot different my friends But here's the thing you could avoid all that And then look I'm speaking from experience because I had a really long engagement and not by choice either Just you know, I had a layman As a father-in-law, you know, I mean he Hey, my wife would agree, you know, I had like he was like layman to me and then you know I had to wait like a long time and I didn't have a choice like if it was my choice I would have gotten married like in a few months or whatever But you know what, you know, but you said what did you do? Well, I just have to possess my vessel in sanctification honor And look I could even hold her hand even if I wanted to by the way It's just he was just never allowed us to be in any situation like that So I had to like work twice as hard to possess my vessel in sanctification honor Because it's just like no holding hands. No nothing. I Mean I could look at her and I was about it You know and you know for any length of time that would be very hard for a person But you know, obviously God gave me grace and you know, well here I am now I got five kids and stuff like that. So marriage is going great But but here's the thing is it so so don't think oh you're imposing that because you know No I'm just saying look I I did it more than most people do and I'm just telling you like if you get engaged You know, you should plan to get married within the next six months or something like that sooner the better Because it's gonna climax where it's just like That physical relationship is supposed to be the end of that particular era for you guys Where it's just like it's it's a beginning. It's a new start, but it's the end of that engagement and that's what you want Understand. So what am I saying? I'm saying, you know get married and Prepare for marriage You know be someone who's just and don't take on this MGTOW attitude either Oh, there's no good women out here in America. It's cuz you suck. That's why It's not that there's no good women. There's no good women like you That's what it is, there's just no good women it's cuz you suck as a dude Good Godly women don't like you because you suck as a dude. So maybe if you take MGTOW off your profile It would actually be interested in you or something That movement sucks. It's like it's like a covert gay movement or something You know, it's just filled with dudes who just failed at getting a girl to like them or something So they swing to the opposite extreme and now they just hate women it's a stupid movement Criticize all women are whores the Western woman has been corrupted Just say you failed Just say you failed you can't get anybody to like you. You can't get anybody to marry you. That's basically what you mean Okay, but you could fix that get in the church get Godly grow in the Lord Be around men to teach you how to be a man and Pray Lord send me someone I'm gonna possess my vessel and sanctification and honor. I want to honor you I want you to help me to restrain myself. And when you send me the right person, I want to get engaged Six month nine month engagement get married live happily ever after have a godly marriage children just live life until the Lord and So what's what's the message? This evening make war not this superficial love You know as a young man You know be determined to fight against your flesh To fight against the temptations of Satan to fight against the philosophy that the world keeps throwing at you That it's okay to fornicate and do all these things. It's not okay to fornicate. It's simple. It's wicked and so That's it. Let's pray father. We thank you so much for your word Lord And I know I was a little course This evening little crass in certain areas But I feel like sometimes I need to be that way in order to get the point across and I pray that I did tonight and I prayed that our young men would start getting ready and And start preparing themselves for that covenant that they're gonna make one day before you To be a godly husband and a godly father and what a blessing it is to be married And what a blessing it is to have children and to have a family and Lord It's it's a wonderful thing And I pray that you would cast vision to those in our church who are not yet married to strive for that but until then Lord help them give them the grace to Possess their vessels and sanctification and honor and obviously this principle can apply to all types of temptations and sins But tonight, of course We're focusing in on this matter of fornication Lord and I pray to you blesses as we go on our way In Jesus name we pray. Amen Song number 106 is our last song abide with me song number 106