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WHOLLY HOLY

Just Get Married

March 30, 2008

Ed Young

All right. Everyone stand if you would. Everyone stand and high-five three people and say, “Man I’m glad to have you at Fellowship.” And please remain standing. If you have your Bibles turn to Ephesians 5:25. It is very important many times in reverence to the Holy Scriptures that we stand as we read.

Ephesians 5:25. Please read it along with me as we do this thing together. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

Father, you brought each of us here for a reason. Use my vocal chords right now to communicate your timeless truths. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

Please be seated in the presence of the Lord. I have the opportunity to speak a lot. And normally when I speak I try to think about everyone I’m talking to. We’re one church in five locations. Today, though, I’m going to change what I normally do. Today I’m just going to talk to a few. I’m not going to talk to all of you. Yes, you can listen, and I hope you will. But this talk is directed to just a few.

I’m talking today specifically to the single men in the house. And to even be more specific, single men who are passionate followers of Jesus Christ. Now I’m not saying that you just talk it and don’t walk it; I’m talking about you talk it and walk it, you walk it and talk it.

You might think, “Well okay, I’m in church. I guess that means I’m a believer.” Well today when I walked into my garage that did not make me a car. It took you a while to get that, but I’m glad you did. Thank you for showing me the love. We’re going to show the love, though, today to speak the truth in love to just a few Christian single men. The rest of you check out what I’m going to say. But again this is a very, very limited talk. The title of today’s talk is going to shock you and rock you. It’s called, “Just Get Married.” Say it with me, everybody, just get married.

We’ve given marriage a bad rap. Our culture, we’re anti marriage. Have you noticed that? We don’t like marriage. Marriage is a burden not a blessing. It’s an albatross not an asset. It’s something bad not something good.

Most guys say, “Well, I’m going to get through school, date around, backpack through Europe, let the years roll off the clock. And when my hair begins to thin and my waistline expands from a 31 to a 36, I guess I’ll mail it in and just get married. I will have the America dream. Then I can get hooked up with someone, live in a little house with a white picket fence, 2.5 kids. I will wait as long as possible; then I’ll just get married.”

Isn’t that fascinating? Because that is just the opposite of what the Scriptures tell us. If you are a Christ follower and you’re a single male, if you have a desire for the opposite sex, I have news for you today: Just get married. The Bible says it from cover to cover: Just get married. If you’re single and you’re a Christian and you have a desire for the opposite sex and you don’t get married, you, my friend, will live outside of the will of God for the rest of your life.

“Wow, Ed, that’s a bold statement.”

I know. This is a bold talk. God is pro-marriage. Marriage is the only human relationship that is analogous to God’s relationship with his people.

For a marriage to be off the chain, on a holy ‘notha level, a death burial and resurrection has to take place. In marriage you have to die to yourself; you have to bury that stuff and allow a resurrection to occur. The reason we have the covenant, the reason we can have this awesome institution called marriage is due to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do you want to build a legacy? Do you want to make a lasting impression on people? The material of legacy is marriage. Read about it throughout the Old Testament and New Testament. You show me biblically functioning marriages; you show me marriages where the gospel is center, and I will show you a legacy that you will not believe. So single men, I will say it once again: Just get married.

Yet a lot of us, I’m talking to single men, we’re commitment phobic. Guys, we’re just naturally commitment phobic, aren’t we? I don’t want to commit. What if something better comes along? I don’t want to commit.

“You know, Ed I guess I would commit if I’m 100 percent sure.” Say what? “Oh yes, I want to be 100 percent sure.”

I hate to confess this, but when Lisa and I got married June 26, 1982, I was not 100 percent sure. When I became a follower of Jesus Christ, I was not 100 percent sure.

So if you’re 100 percent sure, date her long enough where you have some healthy skepticism! Then curl your toes over the diving board and dive in. Just get married. 100 percent sure? Man, what are you smoking?

And here is what other single men have told me; this is just hilarious. “What if someone better looking comes along?” I am serious. I have heard that a squillion times. “What if someone comes along, someone who has the body of Angelina Jolie and the morals of Mother Teresa; what do I do then?”

Hey, my brother, take a look in the mirror, front and back. I hate to rain on your ego, testosterone-driven parade but there are a lot of guys better looking than you. And guess what? I don’t care who you marry. Let’s say you marry Angelina Jolie with the morals of Mother Teresa. A better looking one is going to come along. Do you know who Lisa, my wife, likes? She’s not here so I can confess this. She likes Donny Osmond. I’m serious. I can’t compete with Donny Osmond. I know that. He’s better looking than I am; he’s richer than I am; he’s more talented than I am. But I do have one thing over Donny. I’m a Christian; he’s a Mormon. Mormon’s aren’t Christians. Man, I can’t wait for the e‑mails on that!

Now, Donny is a very talented guy, but Lisa committed to me 25 years ago. Yet, I meet people all the time, single men, Christian men, who tell me, “I just want to be sure. I just want to be totally and completely sure.”

Now, let me get very specific. Single men in the age bracket of 32‑50. I mean we’re starting to get really specific here; we’re drilling down to your grill now, my brother. You show me a single man between 32‑50 and I’ll show you a man who isolates himself. It is just a natural thing that we do. We just isolate ourselves.

Have you ever wondered why single men between 32‑50 are a little strange, a little weird and a little whacky? They’re isolated and insulated. It is sad they have those crazy eyes. Watch out girl, he is between 32‑50, he’s single, and he’s isolated. Guys, we get all messed up. We have got to get married because we need someone to tell us, “Honey those tube socks don’t go with that suit. Hey honey, your nostril hair is so long you can braid it.”

We need somebody to help us. Because guys, we’re not that smart. I hope you realize that women are smarter than we are. If you don’t, just do some study. Women are smarter than men. I admit it. Let’s receive it and believe it. As Joel Osteen says, “Amen!”

Now, we can focus on one or two things better than they can. That’s about it. God has given us the leadership capital and responsibility to be the kind of man of God, the kind of husband of God and the kind of father of God and the father of kids that He wants.

Now here is what is so weird about it. Women in the age group of 32‑50 don’t isolate themselves. Women have this relational desire. They build relationships of community with other women and they understand that and they feel that and they have that.

So the 32‑50 guys, man we’re weird. But most of the women in that age category are not weird. A few are whacky, but most aren’t. Isn’t that interesting? Women are relational creatures. They buy pets, a dog, a cat, they have these friendships. Then all of the sudden one of the weird single guys will walk in, 32‑50, and the girls are like, “Honey, stay away from him! He’s weird. He has been in isolation for several years.”

It is interesting, the excuses that we give, guys. Anti-commitment. What if something better comes along? What if I just don’t feel it? And what if I have to be totally sure? That dog won’t hunt.

You see marriage solves a lot of our junk, guys. And again, if you are a Christian, if you are single, it is God’s will for you to be married if you have a desire for the opposite sex.

Maybe you’re thinking, “What? Did you just make that up? Did you draw that from outer space?”

No, I drew it from Scripture. 1 Corinthians 7:9, “But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.”

Every time in the Bible you have lust and you have someone talking about burning with passion, you know what the answer is? Just get married. It’s very simple, really. See we have made marriage complex. Have you noticed that? All these wheels off websites and all of these conferences and books and all this crap that you have to do just to qualify to get married. If Lisa and I had to have gone through all of that we would have never gotten married. That has got to be some of the most lame brain junk I have ever seen in my life.

It’s not that hard. One man, one woman, following Jesus in covenant. That’s marriage.

But we like things hard because if it’s hard, it’s complex. Then when I fail, I have an excuse. Marriage is simple, and it solves so much stuff in our lives.

Of course I say “our,” I’m trying to draw the Christian single men in because we’re men. Yes, I’m not single, but I’m saying “we, our.” I’m trying to show you the love here. A lot of you are feeling conviction right now. Don’t look to the right or the left; just look straight at me. Everything is cool. Everything is cool. Man, the women are smiling right now, but the guys are like, “Oh no. Where are the exits?”

Here is what marriage solves; you never hear this stuff. Marriage solves a lot of the sexual temptation in our lives. Guys, we’re sexual creatures. Women are sexual creatures. We’re going to have those desires. If you have the desire for the opposite sex it’s a good thing because it’s a God thing. And we’re to practice sex within the confines, within the covenant, within the reef of marriage.

ILLUS: Sex is a Ferrari. If someone gives you a Ferrari you don’t trash it. You don’t take it 4‑wheeling. You take care of the Ferrari. You drive it on the autobahn if you can. You drive it on the freeway when the cops aren’t out. That is what a Ferrari is for. Yet, we have taken this gift of sex, this Ferrari, and we have trashed it and we have abused it.

Genesis 2:24, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”

The math in marriage is one plus one equals one. Oneness is in marriage, two becoming one, two fallen and fallible people becoming one, two self-centered sinners becoming one. When you have sexual intercourse between a husband and a wife, you have the nature and character of God reflected. You have the feminine aspects being joined together with the masculine aspects. You also have a reflection of the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, three in one, one in three.

(The verse continues) “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”

But the hard part, the work, is that becoming. Becoming one flesh? That’s tough. I will talk about that later.

Turn to 1 Corinthians 7:5. If you are single and you have a passion for the opposite sex, don’t even pray about it, don’t even discuss it don’t even wonder about it. God’s will for you is just get married. Just get married.

When you get married, and this is going to blow you away; when you get married, your sex life with your spouse will cause you to seek God in a deeper way and in a more profound way and even in a more passionate way.

Have you guys gone to sleep? Let’s give me applause for that. Here we cheer for these little sports teams that play basketball and football and hockey and baseball; we act like raving lunatics and then we hear something from God’s Word that blows that stuff out of the water we’re like, “What did he say?” Man, if that doesn’t fire you up you better check the pulse. Do you know what I said?

In marriage, as we fulfill each other sexually, it will free us up to hear from God in a deeper way. Prove it?

1 Corinthians 7:5,”Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer.”

Abstinence in a marriage can distract you from hearing the voice of God. You’re single, you have a desire for the opposite sex, you try to pray, and your mind is going here, there and yonder. You’re not thinking about the things of God. What’s the answer? Just get married. Just get married. It helps with sexual temptation.

Now you’re going to be tempted, you’re going to be attracted to other members of the opposite sex. You keep the guidelines and guardrails around your marriage; you keep the Ferrari on the autobahn; you swim inside the reef, because when you go on the other side of the reef there’s sharks over there, my brother. And you don’t want to swim with the sharks.

Here is something else that marriage solves. Guys, this is fun, isn’t it? Slothfulness. Have you ever seen sloth? A sloth is a tree dwelling creature that just hangs on his back just pretty much sits there. Guys, we’re basically lazy. Women are not basically lazy; we are. We’re just lazy. We’re hanging around like a sloth. Then all of the sudden we go, “Oh man, the Final Four is on? Dude, did you see that dunk? It was unbelievable!”

We don’t want to work. We don’t want to romance. We don’t want to try. We don’t want to take initiative. We’re just a sloth. You get married? You can’t be a sloth. Are you kidding me?

As iron sharpens iron so one man or one woman sharpens another, especially as one wife will sharpen one husband.

Hey Christian single; hey Christian single who likes women, if you want to stop your laziness and if you want to stop your slothfulness and you’re I’ll‑do‑it‑tomorrow mentality, just get married. If you want to discover creativity and innovation, just get married. Because the most creative relational aspect in life should happen within the marriage covenant.

God has created us in his image. Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created…”Revelation 21:5, God says, “I am making everything new.” God walks throughout eternity creating.

In marriage we should create. Romance is about work; work and creativity are inseparably linked. So guys, let’s wake up and smell the espresso. It’s time to step up and to step out and be a man and realize God has given me this testosterone for a reason. It is to hook up with someone, to save myself sexually until marriage and realize that marriage is for life. And I’m going to leave a legacy because the material of our culture and the Bible is built on marriage.

is something else marriage will solve. Man, I am so selfish I can’t believe it but not anymore. I mean I still struggle with it, but not like I used to. Because for 25 years I have been forced to be unselfish. You can’t be selfish and have a good marriage; it’s impossible.

“Hey Jesus,” they asked him, “What is all this stuff about?”

Jesus said, “Love God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, your body.” Then he said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

That’s spiritual maturity. We have tried to make spiritual maturity so complex, so muddy. “It’s hard, it’s difficult I better go to Seminary. I need another Bible study. That’s what I need.” No, you don’t. Just get married. That’s what you need. You want to grow? Just get married.

“Well, surely I need to pray longer.” Just get married.

You know what? I’m still working on love thy neighbor as thyself. I don’t know about you, but that’s a tough one. For me to put Lisa’s needs above mine? Wow! It tests me every day, 24/7. But as I look back in the rearview mirror of my life, I would not be half of the Christian I am today without Lisa and without marriage. So if you want to go to a holy ‘notha level, my brother, just get married. Just get married.

I’m tired of the world and the culture that tells us, “Sack up with someone; play house with someone.” That’s totally abusing the beauty and the love and the covenant and the legacy that God wants us to build. Because guys, you have so much potential, you have so much to offer. For you to go to this holy ‘notha level it’s going to have to take place within marriage. So it helps with sexual temptation, right? We should satisfy one another regularly, creatively, and passionately. It helps us with slothfulness, selfishness, legacy, and spiritual maturity.

Do you remember the verse we read earlier, Ephesians 5:25? I will read it again. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

Do you know what the greatest sermon I will ever preach is? I mean really, do you want to know the greatest sermon I can ever preach and what venue? It’s not here; it’s in my marriage. That’s the greatest message I will ever preach. It’s my marriage. The venue is the covenant of marriage. Many times Lisa and I don’t feel like it. Many times we don’t have those romantic, hot feelings, 24/7. So often we have hung in there because of the covenant, because of the legacy. But no matter how difficult the problems are today, the legacy and the covenant completely overshadow it and obliterate that. That is what we have got to think about. It’s not just about the now. It’s about the future. It’s about the next generation. It’s about what God wants to do, yes, in today’s world, but also in the future. That happens when we just get married and when we just stay married.

You know what makes me sick? Again guys, I will get up in your face on this one. I have heard this so many times I want to vomit. A guy will come up to me and go, in the middle of a divorce, “You know what Ed, I’m really glad this is happening because I never really loved her.”

Again, guys, we’re not that bright. When someone says that, do you know what they’re saying? Let me tell you what they’re really saying. They’re saying, “I have failed to live out the gospel. I have failed as a Christian. I have failed as a follower of Christ.” That’s what they’re saying. It’s an indictment upon themselves.

Because I ask you, when did Jesus turn his back on you? When did Jesus walk out the door on you? When did Jesus mail it in on you? I’m telling you, man, we better wake up. Its time for us to take the turf that God wants us to take, not to be soft or weak.

Remember, Jesus is not some pale, frail, blue-eyed skinny decaf sipping white boy. Jesus was a man’s man. And it takes men who are tough and tenacious; it takes men who are risk takers; it takes men who are into adventure to be the kind of husbands and the kind of Christ followers and kind of father that God wants.

Are you ready to do it? I can’t make you. I’m saying, are you ready to do it? See, we have to quit playing church and we have to be the church. Because in this series not only am I going to tell you what marriage is but, I want to give you the 4-1-1 on what marriage does. Marriage reflects the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So what am I saying? Just get married. One more time let’s say it together from the depths of our being. Once again… just get married. Wow. We need that, don’t we? We need that. Let’s pray.

THROWBACK

The Door

July 15, 2012

Ed Young

In one of his most powerful self-declarations, Jesus Chirst talked about one of the most common, everyday objects we know, a door. This isn’t just any door. It is the door that leads to eternal life. But how do we get through the door? And what happens if and when we do?

In this message, we travel back to one of Pastor Ed Young’s first messages ever delievered. And as he unpacks this life-changing claim from Christ, we discover how walking through the door is the greatest thing that we can ever do.

Transcript

Announcer:  It’s a real joy to welcome you to this time of worship together.

New Ed:  Throwback.  A brand new series that we’re doing that I’m very, very excited about.  We are going back in the archives 25 years ago when I first started preaching.  You might be going, Ed, why are you doing that?  Well, basically you can’t understand me today unless you look back and see where I’ve come from.  See, back in the day I began to preach and we’re gonna see some of the first messages I ever, ever delivered.  So to understand anyone’s life you’ve gotta look back in the past.  It helps you in the present and also I believe it will inspire us to take it to the next level in the future.  These messages are timeless because they’re from the Word of God, but I think you’ll get a big kick out of it.  And during these messages I’m going to narrate and tell you some things.  You’ll see some pop-ups on the screen that I think will give you some fun facts about the history of my life and the history of what God has done at Fellowship Church.  So sit back, relax, and let’s throwback.  Let’s go old school and let’s enjoy ourselves.  We will go right now into the worship service of Second Baptist Church Houston back in 1987!  Watch this!

The service was very, very structured, very, very organized, almost if you coughed it had to be in the bulletin, in the worship guide.  You can see just how it was orchestrated with all of a sudden the choir stops their song, they’re seated, and I go right up.  And you had to do certain things so I started with reading the Scripture.

Old Ed:  Turn with me if you would in your Bibles to the book of John.  John, chapter 10, we will read verses 9 and 10.

New Ed: I get nervous every time I speak.  I was extremely nervous at this juncture because it was the first time I’d ever spoken.  Second Baptist Houston was the most attended church in America.

Old Ed: John 10:9-10. “I am the door.  If anyone enters through me he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal, to kill, and destroy.  I came that they might have life and might have it abundantly.”

Let’s bow for prayer together.  Dear Heavenly Father, clear our hearts and our minds of every outside thought except what you’re going to say to us.  Oh Lord, you know I have nothing to say but you have everything to say.  You give me the words.  For we ask these things in the precious and holy name of Jesus.  Amen.

New Ed:  You know what’s scary is to hear my accent.  I sound like Joel Osteen.  A-men!  I don’t know why I talked like that.  You know, I grew up in the south and I still had that nasally southern twang and for some reason I don’t have that accent any more.  I don’t know why.  Maybe it’s due to moving to Dallas and a lot of the travels and things of that nature.

Old Ed: During the Christmas holidays my wife and I went back to her home town, Columbia, South Carolina.  Now, Columbia is an exciting place to visit, especially when you visit your in-laws.  Now I was there in Columbia, sitting lazily on a couch one afternoon.  And I noticed in front of me a newspaper.  I opened the newspaper and what section do I always turn to first?  Not the front page, not the business section, but the sports section.

And as I was reading the sports section a headline caught my eye.  It said, “Eau Claire Shamrocks #1 in Nation.”  Now to you that doesn’t mean anything, Eau Claire Shamrocks #1 in the Nation, but to me it meant something.  It meant Eau Claire High School, a small Podunk public school in Columbia, SC was rated the #1 basketball, the #1 high school basketball team in the country.  I said, “Lisa, can you believe this?  Can you believe Eau Claire?  That’s the team I played against a long time ago, they’re #1 in the country!”

New Ed: It’s hilarious to see everybody wearing the coats and ties and the women all dressed up.  I think that’s good but it kinda shows you the vibe of the church and where I came from.

Old Ed: So the next night my father-in-law and I went to Eau Claire High School to see the Shamrocks in action.  Now let me tell you something about Eau Claire High School.  You don’t just go to a game at Eau Claire.  It’s not just an event, it is an experience.  I mean they packed this gym out.  The crowd is swaying back and forth, chanting cheers, and we are ushered into the game sitting right behind the bench.  And we are watching these high school kids who look like Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, take the ball coast to coast from the length of the court, slam-dunk it.  They were stealing passes, playing unbelievably!

New Ed: I think it’s fascinating when I look back at this old school message, because so many of the things I talk about today are still built off what I said in this first message.

Old Ed: Now throughout the game the fans, they repeated one cheer.  Over and over and over again.  They said, “If you got it, now use it.  If you got it, now use it.  If you got it, now use it.”

New Ed: If you got it, now use it.

Old Ed: And when those guys would hear that it would spur them on.  And let me tell you something.  Eau Claire had it and they flat used it.  Now when I heard that cheer I immediately thought about the Christian life.  That’s what Christ is saying to me.  That’s what Christ is saying to you.  He’s saying, “Ed, if you’ve got it, if you’ve received me into your life, now I want you to use it.”

T.S. This morning we are going to look at four questions.  The first one: How do you get it.  The second one is: Once you have it, what happens in your life?  The third one: Who keeps you, who keeps me, from really living the abundant life?  And finally: What keeps us from this abundance?

Let’s look at the first question.  It’s found in verse 9, the answer of it.  How do we get it?  Jesus says, “I am the door.  If anyone enters through me he shall be saved.”  That’s the answer right there.  I am the door.  Christ didn’t say, “I am a door.”  That’s the definite article in the Greek.  In the Greek language when they used a definite article, they mean ‘that is it.  That is the door.’  So Christ says, “I am the door.  I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father but by me.”

The word ‘door’ is a beautiful word.  It refers to an eastern shepherd as he’s letting his sheep graze in the morning and in the afternoon.  And then when nighttime comes he takes his sheep and gathers the sheep into something called the sheepfold.   A sheepfold is a corral-type structure built of rocks and shrubs and the sheep are inside of this corral-type structure.  And there is an opening right at the front of this sheepfold.

New Ed: I remember reading every book, every commentary, looking at the original language in the Greek to find out as much as I could about these verses, and also about sheep and about the abundant life.

Old Ed: Now the shepherd, the good shepherd, he puts his body across that opening and actually becomes the door.  So when Christ says, “I am the door.” He literally is the door.  That’s the way we have peace.  That’s the way we have understanding, is through entering the door.  And the door is the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.  “I am the door.”

Then he says, “If anyone enters through me…”  Christ didn’t say, “If only Israelites enter through me.”  He didn’t say, “If only Americans enter through me.”  He said, “If anyone enters through me…”  Christ died on the cross for the world’s sins.  Red, yellow, black, and white, they are precious – we’re precious – in his sight.  And he says if anyone comes up to the door, if anyone comes to Jesus Christ and comes through the door, they will have eternal life.  They will have that peace.

Illus: A couple of weeks ago I was with my wife at the Randall’s Flagship.  You know that big, beautiful supermarket across the street there.  And I was in the car where I guess most men belong when women are shopping.  And as I was sitting there in the car I noticed those huge electronic doors that are right there on the front of Randall’s.  I saw people.  They would walk up to the door.  <eent!> It’d open up.  <eent!>  Another person would walk up. <eent… eent>  I watched probably a hundred people go through the door in about 30 minutes.  Now I have never seen that electronic door at Randall’s, or at any other supermarket, say, “I’m sorry.  You cannot go in because you don’t look right.  I’m sorry, you can’t go in because you’re the wrong nationality.  I’m sorry, you can’t go in because you don’t have enough money.”  The doors don’t say that.  If the people have enough faith to walk up to the doors, that electronic door just opens.

That’s the symbol here.  When we walk through the door, if anyone comes to Christ, if we have enough faith and say, “Lord, I give it all to you,” the doors open and we’re inside on the great abundant life.  “I am the door.  If anyone enters through me he shall be saved.”

New Ed: I think it’s something that every person should understand, the abundant life, the incredible life that Christ has in store for all of us.  I think it’s humorous, too, to see all the flowers and everything.  But it was just more of a controlled environment.

Old Ed: You know, in the Orient they have a beautiful custom.  When you enter into a residence, into a restaurant, you leave your shoes at the door.  When we come to Jesus Christ our sins are left at the door.  And we come in as white as snow.

So when Christ says, “I am the door.  If any man enters through me he shall be saved,” that’s the answer.  That’s how we get it.  We get it by entering into the door.  But to enter the door, it’s not a gradual thing.  You can’t just slowly enter a door.  It’s a point in time where you open the door and you’re in.  And there has to be that moment, there has to be that time of salvation for every person if they’re going to know happiness, if they’re going to know peace and joy and love.  “I am the door.  If any man enters through me he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.”  We are talking about entering through Jesus Christ.

You know, when Christ knocks on the door it’s continuous.  But if we continue to harden our hearts, if we continue to reject him, if we continue to turn our back on him when he’s knocking, when he’s working in our lives, this is what will happen.  In Luke 13:25 it says, “Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door saying, ‘Lord open up to us!’ then he will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’”

New Ed: This is a very frightening text.  It says that we cannot become a Christian whenever we want.  So I want everybody during this old school series to listen to the Word of God, listen to what I’m saying right here.  This is a very, very frightening fact of Scripture.  You cannot become a Christian anytime you want.  You have certain opportunities, certain chances, certain venues where you can deal with the door.  But one day, one day, and only God knows this, God will shut the door and it’s done.

Old Ed: That’s one of Satan’s biggest lies.  He tells us, “Hey, that door will always be there. Don’t worry about it!  Go ahead and live the way you want to right now. That door’s gonna be there!  It’s gonna be open!”  But that’s a lie!  That’s false!  Because when we believe that we are in trouble.  We are in deep, deep trouble with the Lord.

So, how do we get it?  We get it by entering the door.  What happens once we go inside?  The last part of verse 9 tells us three things that happen once we walk through the door.  We are going to be saved.  We are going to be safe.  And we are going to be satisfied.

The last part of verse 9, “Anyone enters through me, he shall be saved.”  That word ‘saved’ means saved from a wasted life.  You’re not really living until you know Jesus Christ.  You’re saved from a wasted life. Now a lot of times when you hear the word ‘saved’ you think, well that’s a future thing.  That’s a future word.  And right, being saved, having salvation, is a future thing.  But that point starts when you and I enter the door.

New Ed:  The word ‘saved’ here, people say, “Are you saved?”  It’s kind of a church word.  It’s a Bible word.  I think a better word is rescued.  And you’ll hear me say this a good bit.  The radically rescued rescue radically.  We are saved literally from a Christ-less eternity.

Old Ed: Christ says you’ll be saved.  Then he says, “And you shall go in and out…”  That means total safety.  Complete security.  To be able to go in and out during Christ’s day meant that you were as safe as you can imagine.  It means that you could travel anywhere in that part of the country and have total security because your ruler had your nation under control.

I read this past week where there have been nine teenagers across our country commit suicide.  Here are these teenagers, 14, 15, 16 years of age taking their life.  They’re from well-educated families.  They are intelligent.  They’re handsome.  They’re popular, but they’re taking their own life.  People go around saying why?  Why in the world could that happen?  It happens because these kids are burnt out.  They’ve tried all the sex.  They’ve tried all the drugs.  They’ve tried all the intellectualism and it doesn’t satisfy.  And because the future seems so bleak, they just end their life.

But Christ is the answer, isn’t he?  He is the answer because in this next part he says, “You shall go in and out…”  You’ll have total security.  You’ll be safe.  “… and you shall find pasture.”  That means you’ll be satisfied.  You’ll be nourished.

When a sheep is in pasture, when an animal is in pasture, they have every single need met.  How are we nourished in the Christian life?  We’re nourished through the Word of God.  Through spending time with him in prayer.  Through getting and being with Christian friends.  That’s how we’re nourished.  That’s how we have that total security.  But the only person who can give it is the Good Shepherd.  That’s the only person who can give it.

Now a lot of things have to be intact for a sheep to have total rest.  First of all, a sheep has to be free of any ticks, any mites, any fleas for that sheep to really lie down and relax. And sheep also cannot be threatened by any wild beasts.  The sheep also has to have an abundance of food right there by it.

Who can give those things?  The good shepherd.  Who can satisfy in our lives?  Jesus Christ.  There is a void in every person’s life, that’s what Augustine said, and this void can only be filled by the Good Shepherd.  “I am the door. If any man enters through me he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.”  We shall be nourished.  That’s what happens when we enter the door.

Now in verse 10, it answers the question, who keeps you, who keeps me, from entering into the door?  And not only entering into the door, who keeps us, once we’re in the door, from getting in on that great pasture, that abundant life that our Lord has for us?

New Ed: That’s got to be a mother and daughter.  I’m sure that lady’s wondering, “What will I look like in about 25 years?”  Well, look to your right!

Old Ed: Verse 10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”  Who is the thief?  The thief is Satan.  He says, “I’ve come to steal.”  That means he lies in wait, just waiting for that exact moment to come and grab us.  He says, “And kill.”  That means hand-to-hand combat.  That means an overt situation.  He comes to destroy.  He plots against us.

Satan’s biggest lie is this.  He’s saying, “If you go through that door, if you accept Christ, Christ will stifle your creativity.  He will have you all chained up.  It’ll be like you’re limited.  It’ll be like you’re living this life half-mast.”

That’s what Satan tell us. That’s a lie.  See, Satan pays in counterfeit money.  It might look good for a while.  Counterfeit money looks good for a while but once you try to buy something with it you’re caught.  Satan pays in counterfeit money.  The thief comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

Illus: There was a gentleman I was praying for for two to three months.  Some of my friends and I were praying for this guy, that he would come to know Jesus Christ.  And every time we’d talk to him he’d say, “I’m just not ready.”  We could tell Christ was really knocking at the door of this person’s life.  He had so many natural gifts and he could have done such great things for Jesus Christ.

Two years ago I saw him over in the east parking lot of our church.  He was on his way to Hawaii.  Boy, he was fired up!  He said, “Ed, I have not taken a vacation in so long!  I cannot wait to hit that surf, to lie in the sun, just to have a great time over in Hawaii.”

And I said, “John, are you ready to make that decision to give it all to Jesus?  Are you ready to go through that door?”

He said, “Well, Ed, I will tell you what.  When I get back from Hawaii I will really consider that and I’ll really think about doing that.”

John was in Hawaii two days and one afternoon he went swimming at Sunset Beach and he drowned.  He had bought the lie.  He had taken Satan’s counterfeit money.  He had missed out on abundant life because he believed what Satan was telling him.

Satan comes to steal, to kill, and destroy.  But look what Christ says in that next part of verse 10.  He says, “I came that they might have life and might have it abundantly.”

New Ed: That gentleman right there, his name is Robert Benjamin.  He is a completed Jew.  He became a Christ-follower and is one of the best Christian guys you’ll ever meet.  I see him as a young man there.  I know the decision that he made for Christ.  He is an amazing, tenacious, he and his wife, followers of Jesus.

Old Ed: Do you know what Sylvester Stallone told People magazine last year?  People magazine was interviewing Sylvester Stallone.  Here’s a man who makes $15 million a movie.  They said, “Sylvester, what do you think of life?”

Stallone replied and said this, and I quote, “I will always be searching for something but never be able to find it.”

Can you believe that?  Sylveser Stallone.  I will always be searching for something but never be able to find it.

Folks, the things of this world do not satisfy.  The things of this world do not bring life.  The life-giver is Jesus Christ.  He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

For you to reach your ultimate potential, for me to reach my ultimate potential, I have to give it all to Jesus.  Christ didn’t say, “I’ve come that you have abundant life.”  He first says, “I have come that you might have life…” then he says “… that you might have it abundantly.”

That word in the Greek is perissos.  Perissos means an over-abundance.  That word perissos is in the neuter form.  When the Greek is in the neuter form it means a continual thing.

So Christ is telling us, I have come that you might have life.  When you go through the life you’ll have abundance. But this abundance won’t just stop.  It’ll keep on going on and on and on and on.  The symbol behind this word is a riverbed, completely flooded.  Flooded out a valley.  Another picture behind this word is waves hitting upon the seashore over and over and over again.  That’s the abundant life.

We get the abundant life by going through the door.  We get the abundant life by spending time in the Word.  We get the abundant life by prayer.  We get the abundant life by joining and being a part of a body of Christ, of a church, and using our spiritual gifts.

If we could see Christ’s plan for every person’s life we would fall flat on our face.  We could not believe it!  We could come up with great plans selfishly for our lives but Christ’s is abundance.  It’s over and over and over and over above anything we can comprehend.  But what we have to do is we have to give it to him.

New Ed: Now that has got to be one of the cheesiest shots I’ve ever seen in my life.  The levitation shot.  I’m speaking over the crowd.  That is absolutely horrendous.

Old Ed: The 23rd Psalm in the Living Bible says, “The Lord is my shepherd.  The Lord is my shepherd.  I have everything I need.”

This morning we found out how to get it. We’ve also found out what happens once we get it.  We found out who keeps us from getting it.  Now let’s get more specific.  What keeps you, what keeps me from truly living in abundance every day, every moment in our lives.  Well it’s spelled S-I-N.  Sin.  I sin every day, you sin every day.  But it’s not only sin.  It’s unconfessed sin that keeps us from the abundant life.  You see, Christ wants us to keep short accounts with him.  That means when I sin, when you sin, at the most convenient time we’re to get on our knees and say, “Lord, forgive me of that sin.”  And now only speak those words but say, “I want to repent from that sin.”  Repentance is making an about-face and going the opposite direction.  But unconfessed sin, when unchecked, can kill.

Over in Europe I read the other day that they use spider webs, they cultivate millions and millions and millions of cobwebs to make cables, huge cables, that hold up weather balloons.  Can you imagine that?  Small spider webs used to hold up weather balloons?

Sin in our lives, if its unconfessed, starts collecting like cobwebs.  If we don’t confess it, there’s a cobweb.  Another spider web, another one, another one, until finally it chokes us out of the abundant life.

Illus: Like a lot of boys growing up I had a tree house.  And we lived in the mountains of North Carolina and I had a tree house in one of the tallest trees in that small community.  We lived kinda back in the woods and one day I got some food and went up to my tree house.  I was sitting there eating some food.  After I finished I thought, well, I’m kinda bored.  I’m gonna go down and play ball or tag or whatever.

And so as I start to scale down the tree, made my way down the tree, I got caught on this huge limb.  It was the biggest limb you’ve ever seen!  I got caught and I had my arms around it.  And I couldn’t go up and I couldn’t go down.  So what do most children do?  “Dad!  Mom!  Come help me!!   I’m caught in this tree!  Help me!”

Dad was out there doing some yard work and he had a nice crew cut back then.  And he was running so fast his crew cut was kinda back against the wind.  And he ran!  He said, “Ed, are you all right?  Are you all right?”

I said, “Dad, I’m caught up here on this tree!”

He said, “Son, go ahead now and just drop down into my arms.  Here they are.”  And I kinda eased my feet down and I was in my father’s arms.  But, I still had hold of that branch.  I was in my father’s arms, but I was still hanging onto that branch.

That’s the way a lot of folks here are this morning.  You have life.  You prayed the prayer to receive Jesus Christ but you’re still holding onto something.  You’re still holding onto some secret sin.  I’m talking about an immoral lifestyle, high school student.  I’m talking about sex outside of marriage.  I’m talking about drugs.  I’m talking about dishonesty.  We are holding onto something.

New Ed: You wonder how many people are still living and how many people in that shot made the decision to become followers of Christ and how many people said, “No, I’ll just wait until a more opportune time.”  You don’t know.

Old Ed: But finally my father kept saying, “Ed, let go!  Come on, now.  I’ve got you.  Let go.”  And I held up there for so long until finally I just let go and I fell into my father’s arms.  And I felt such peace there.  Such security there.  That’s what our Lord is telling you right now.  He’s saying, “Let go of that limb.  Come on. Drop into my arms.  Rest into my arms.  I’m right here for you.”

I can guarantee you something this morning.  When you rest in the Father’s arms, when I rest in the Father’s arms, we will know what the abundant life is all about.

<Ed leads in closing prayer>

SHARK WEAK

Surviving An Attack

August 29, 2011

Ed Young

Everyone has thought about it. “How would I respond if I were attacked by a shark?”

But the truth is that all of us have been attacked at some point in our lives. While it may not be assaulted by an actual predator from the ocean, we have faced crisis situations where we needed desperately to escape.

In this message, Ed Young looks at a story of a biblical attack where Peter found himself in the middle of a full-on feeding frenzy. And as we see how God led Peter’s escape, we discover what it takes to not only survive an attack in our lives, but also what it takes to thrive after one.

Transcript

Video:

Ed: Sharks are all behind the boat, I’m getting ready to jump in.  Wow!  Look at that shark right there.  That is a monster!

Stuart:  Any time we’ve had an incident with sharks, a negative incident with the sharks, it’s our own error.  If you’re scared of the sharks just do this (covers his eyes).  They’ll go away.

Ed:  You know, a lot of people do that don’t they?

Stuart:  Yeah, they close their eyes.

Ed:  Part of life is living and swimming with the sharks.  Shark bait!  Shark bait!  Shark bait! … Whoa!  What hit my leg?  Oh my gosh!  The shark hit my leg!   Do you ever feel like you’re surrounded by sharks?  I do.

<end of video>

Wow, I almost got attacked, didn’t I?  I almost got bitten by that shark.  I’ve got a question for you.  How do you come back after an attack?  How do you come back after chunks and hunks are bitten out of your life.

Because let’s face it.  All of us will get attacked by sharks.  I’m not talking about in one of the oceans around the world, I’m talking about in life.  Because bad things happen to good people.  We’re going to get chewed up.  We’re going to get gnawed on.  Out of nowhere fins will be slicing through the water.  And maybe, just maybe, you’re here and you’re like, OK, I’ve been attacked, and I’m being attacked in some sort of relationship.  Maybe it’s a marriage.  It could be a friendship.  Maybe you’re attacked financially.  Maybe you’re attack is in an area you would never articulate.  We, however, live in a fallen and fallible place.  Our world is jacked up, man.  Bad things happen to good people.

T.S. Can you come back after an attack?  How about the chunks and the hunks that have been taken from your life?  Those wounds either define us or refine us.  They either define us or they shape our lives.  How do you come back after an attack?  Is it possible to come back after an attack?  Why do bad things happen to good people?  When they happen to you and me, what do we do?

There are a couple of guys in the Bible that I want you to meet.  These cats were very interesting.  One of them was named Paul, you’ve heard of Paul.  If you haven’t, Saint Paul, Paul, the guy who hated Christians, the guy who persecuted the church, the guy that had all these people killed.  One day something shifted inside of his life that never shifted back.  He had a pivot point situation.  He opened his life to Christ, made Him the ruler of his life, and from that day forward Paul, this brilliant man, was never the same.  Once he was persecuting the church and now he’s building the church.

There was another guy, Silas.  He was a missionary as well, a Christ-follower as well.  And these guys tenaciously followed the Lord.  They wanted to go to one area of the world to spread the good news.  Those doors were shut.  Sometimes God shuts doors.  Sometimes we have an opportunity here or a situation that looks like it’s playing out over there, and the doors are shut.  But the Lord gave them a new direction.  Say that with me… new direction.

Every time God gives us a new direction in our lives sharks show up.   I will say it again.  Every time we have a new direction in our lives, sharks show up.

Paul and Silas head to a place called Philippi.  It was in Macedonia and it was called Little Rome.  There were a number of Little Romes in this area, ruled by Romans.  There were very few Jews there.   Some of you know Paul was a Roman citizen.  The people of Philippi didn’t know it.

Well, Silas and Paul meet this lady in the fashion industry, very wealthy.  Her name was Lydia.  Lydia opened her home to these missionaries, two followers of Christ.  And not only did she open her home, her mansion, to them she also opened the mansion of her heart to them and to the message.  She became a follower of Christ.  So things are poppin’, man, in Philippi.  They’re having a good time!  Paul and Silas, missionaries.  I mean, you can’t get better than that, right?  These radical life-changing experiences, people are freaked out, and Paul and Silas had experienced such a life change.

All of a sudden, though, in this new direction a shark showed up.  A little baby shark, you know?  Paul was doing the right thing, so was Silas.  <sound effect of Jaws soundtrack>  When you hear the music get out of the water.  This little girl, a little shark, a little distraction.  This girl was a fortune teller, and if you study what the word fortune teller means in the original language, it’s the spirit of python, like the snake.  It dates back to the time of Apollo, and it was a fortune-telling spirit.  She was demonically oppressed.  This girl began to yell at Paul and Silas.  The Bible says they were following this new direction.  Lydia, this fashion icon, had just given her heart to God, and now all of a sudden they’re going to pray and this little girl tries to distract them to get them off their game.

“Oh man!  Paul and Silas!  You’re serving the one and true God!”  Yelling over and over.  And after a couple of days Paul and Silas became irritated so they turned and they cast this evil spirit out of her life.

That didn’t go over too well because her owners were making a lot of money from this girl telling fortunes and doing all this crazy stuff.  When they saw that they were very upset.  Let’s face it.  People get funny when you mess with their money.  So you’ve got a new direction, right?  They’re going this new way and now all of a sudden you have a new distraction, a little shark!  Baby shark, boom-boom… yelling at Paul and Silas.

That’s so true in my life whenever God gives me a direction.  Like for me, I’m going to set aside some minutes to pray, distractions happen when I start praying.  Am I the only one?  The phone will ring or the kids will come in, or the dog, something will happen.  Distractions.  I want to read maybe a text in the Scriptures, distractions trying to get me off of my game.  Trying to get you off of your game.

It’s never easy to go to church, is it?  Talk about distractions!  I talk to so many people.

“Man, it was so difficult to get to church today!” Are these coincidences?  No, no, no.  I’m telling you, most of them will be that Baby Shark… boom-boom.. little sharks.  Those little distractions.   You go a new direction and I’m telling you you’ll face a new distraction.  You go the way God wants you to go and sharks will show up.

So let’s read some.  The book of Acts 16:19.  “When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul (sounds like an attack) and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.  They brought them before the magistrates and said, ‘These men are Jews and they’re throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.’”

And look at verse 22.  “The crowd joined in the (say it with me) attack against Paul and Silas and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten.”

They played the race card: “These Jews.”  Then they played the flash mob card: “They’re in the Macedonian mall causing all these flash mobs.”  Then they played the religious card: “Man, they’re trying to jam customs and God down our throat.”

That wasn’t the deal!  What was the deal?  The deal was they had cast out the demon from the slave girl who was making them all of this money, and they lied about them and exaggerated, attacked them, drug them before the authorities, and everybody joined in on the attack.  That was the situation.  A new direction, a new distraction.

Paul and Silas.  What were they about?  They were simply about teaching and preaching the grace and the mercy and the forgiveness of Jesus.  That’s the blood of Jesus.  Jesus shed his blood for you and me.  He took the licks that we deserved so we could know God and know him and understand his new direction for our lives.  That’s the situation.

So when you’re about the blood of Jesus, when that is your life and your calling, when blood is in the water, sharks show up.  Are you with me?  Are you smelling what I’m stepping in?  When you’re talking about the blood of forgiveness, of mercy and grace, sharks show up.

Illus: Fellowship Church has been going for 20 years.  We started with 30 families in a little office complex.  I always tell people if you want to understand Fellowship Church don’t take a snapshot of the church today.  Five locations and doing work all over the world and a beautiful camp on 1,100 acres in east Texas, and blah-blah-blah.  Don’t do that.

To understand Fellowship Church you’ve got to go back, I’m talking about back-back-back-back-back-back, Chris Berman back, back to 1990 at the MacArthur Commons office complex, about 6,000 square feet that we rented.  Then you take picture after picture as we were in rented facilities for all those years, and finally we’re able to do this and the whole thing has just multiplied.  So that’s the true picture and the true vibe of Fellowship Church.  So be very, very careful when you just look at something, whether it be a business or a person, and judge the entity based on where they are today.  Because where they are today, yeah is where they are, but also you’ve gotta realize what happened in this whole progression.

Every time God has done something awesome at Fellowship Church, every single time, God has moved in a significant way, every time.  When we decided to go to satellites and have campuses in Miami and Dallas and Fort Worth and Plano.  For example in that situation every time something great has happened sharks have shown up.  I will say it again.  Before every breakthrough at Fellowship Church, in 20 years, I can show you, sharks have shown up.

Your life is the same.  I’m telling you.  I will bet you cash money.  Whenever there’s a breakthrough, whenever there’s an opportunity, whenever God wants to lead you somewhere, I promise you just check it out, when you get ready for that new direction there’s gonna be a new distraction in the form of a shark.  You walk with God, you’re gonna face sharks.

Now even if you don’t walk with God you’re going to face sharks, but if you walk with God and face sharks the sharks will have meaning.  If you don’t, I don’t know how somebody survives.  I really don’t.  chunks and hunks taken out of you.  Blood’s in the water.  You’re like, “Well, I guess it’s all about me.  I guess I have to just get up enough courage to face those sharks.”

And after a while it’s not going to happen for you.  You’re going to be in serious, serious trouble.  You can go that way or go the other way where you’re going, “All right, God, I give you control of this situation.  I understand that you didn’t cause the sharks but because we live in a jacked up world, sharks happen.”

God can give us meaning in our attacks.   God never wants to waste a crisis in your life or mine.  Never.  He never wants us to waste one because he doesn’t, if we listen to him.

So shark attacks.  Why do we sometimes face sharks here?  Blood’s in the water.  Why do you as a Christ-follower sometimes face sharks?  Blood’s in the water.  You’re about the blood of Jesus, the forgiving, cleansing blood of Jesus that sets people free.

That’d be a great time to clap.  I’m not talking about a golf clap, no I’m talking about a real clap.  OK, I thought for a second we were at the US Open.  Yeah, we gotta clap, man!  We see something or hear something that’s awesome like that, man that’s amazing because all of us have been attacked or will get attacked.

So this attack situation is happening.  Paul and Silas you know are going, “Why me?”  And then the Bible says they were beaten.  The word beaten in the Latin is the word “lictors”.  You hear the phrase, ‘taking your licks’; that’s where we get it from.  Then they were beaten, chunks and hunks of flesh, blood flying everywhere, then they were thrown into the dungeon.  Backs bleeding, feet fastened, their torso were stretched in excruciating pain.  Paul and Silas… think about this.  I’m talking Paul and Silas!  Great people, men of God, anointed and appointed, and they’re getting attacked?

I’m telling you, attacks happen.  You can’t get away from it, nor can I.  We live in a fallen, fallible place.  Sharks are in the water.  What do you do?  God doesn’t want you to waste an attack.  He doesn’t want you to waste a crisis.  What do you do?

An attack is either a setback, and you never come back from it, you’re defined by the attack for the rest of your life.

“Oh the attack happened in my childhood.  Oh the attack happened in the business… or in the athletic world…  the attack… the financial attack…”  You’re just defined by it!

You’re either defined by it or you’re refined by it.  You’re refined.  You realize, wow, God didn’t cause it.  But he has used it and wants to use it for his glory.  So now those wounds don’t define me, they refine me.  I am a better person.  I have more commitment, more discipline.  God has chipped away all of the junk to make me into this beautiful diamond, this beautiful image-bearer before him.  Don’t waste a crisis.  Don’t waste a crisis.

Paul and Silas thrown in the dungeon, man!  Bad things happen to good people.   Can they come back after this attack?  Wow.  You know, there was a religious festival I heard about in South America.  They were selling all of these trinkets, all these religious trinkets, and one both had a little sign that said, “Cheap crosses sold here.”  There’s no such thing as a cheap cross.  It costs.  It costs the blood of Jesus.  Jesus took your licks and my licks on the cross, something that I don’t deserve and you don’t deserve.  We don’t deserve it.

Paul and Silas understood that.  They had been washed by the blood of Jesus.  They were preaching the blood of Jesus, a new direction.  The girl, Lydia, had been saved.  Now the slave girl, the fortune-teller, had been saved.  Now all of a sudden they’re thinking, OK, everything’s going great.  They’re beaten to a pulp, in prison, but we’re getting ready to hear some Jailhouse Rock.  If you’re over 50 you got that, yes, Jailhouse Rock.  That’s right, I said it.  A new direction, right?  A new distraction.  You go God’s direction, the enemy is going to try to distract you and me to get us off of our game.  It happens individually and corporately.

Now, check out a new disposition.  At midnight in the prison.  Now check this out.  There was a guy who ran the prison, the warden.  He’s known as the Philippian jailer.  If one person escaped he’d be killed.  I mean, it’s not like it is today.  I mean one person escaped, BOOM.  On the spot, the dude was executed.  So this Philippian jailer helped in this whole process of torturing them and wounding them, put them in stocks and torturing them, so forth and so on.

At about midnight (verse 25) Paul and Silas were praying.  That is unbelievable.   They’re praying?!  I’d be praying.  I’d be going like, “Lord, why me?”  That’s what I’d be saying, and you know they were saying that.  It’s OK to say “why me.”  Lord, why me, did this happen?  Why me?  I’m a good guy, a good girl.  Why me?  I’m a pastor, and I’ve said that many time to God.  You have too, and that’s good.  Why?!

We are never, ever, ever going to understand all the answers to “why me?”  We’re just not.  But we better move from “why me” to “what now?”  We’re in crisis mode, we need a king of the crisis.  Jesus is the King of the Crisis.  So as I pray, I’m simply reconnecting, rebooting, recalibrating my life and I’m saying, “Lord, this crisis situation, you have the authority in my life to do what you want to do in it.  And also, God, you’ve got the power to rule over the crisis.”  Let me say it again, don’t miss that.  The Lord wants to be the King of our Crisis.  We say, God, you’re God and I’m not.  You’ve got the power over the crisis.

Now a lot of times we will play games with God.  We’ll be sly.  I will do this, too.  I’ll go through a crisis situation and I will go, “All right, God.  You change her, you change him, you change that situation.  Now don’t change me but just get me out of jail.”  That’s what I do.  You’re clapping, you do the same thing.  You’re like, Wow, has this guy been following me around?  No, we’re the same.

But here’s how to go to the next level.  It’s fine to do that, but within that we’ve got to come to the point where we have to go, God, I know you don’t want to waste a crisis.  You didn’t cause the attack but the attack has happened.  Yes, Lord, I pray you’ll change these people.  But God, you’re God, you’ve got the power, you’re the King of the Crisis and, God, I submit (this is hard for me to do it)… I submit (come on, this is difficult)…. I submit my life to you in this crisis.  I submit under your authority.  Wow.  Another good place to clap, because it’s a God thing.

We can’t do it ourselves.  But see, when we pray, we’re like, “All right.  It’s not just about me, God, it’s about you.  It’s not just about, “Oh well I come out looking cool.”

No, it’s not about that, it’s about God being famous.  Because people are watching you and me going through crisis.  They’re like, “Whoa!  Ed’s attacked.  Whoa, Lisa’s attacked.  Oh man!  Jill is attacked!  Look, look, he’s attacked, she’s attacked.”

They’re watching!  It’s one thing when you’re riding high, everything is going great.  We’re living for the Lord, I mean we’re doing well.  I mean, that’s cool.  But people will lean in and really watch when the fins are in the water, when the blood’s in the water.

Paul and Silas, they began to pray and they began to praise God.  So they prayed, and you know their perspective changed from “it’s about me” to “God, it’s about you.  God, you’re the King of my Crisis.  God be the King of my life.  I submit my life to you.  What do you want to do in my life?  And we’re gonna see a miracle.  Because when you pray and when you praise the Lord (praising the Lord is simply expressing your love to him) it releases the power of God.

I’ll say it again.  When you pray and when you praise the Lord it releases the power of God and we understand his perspective on the situation and his purpose on the situation.

So, we’re going a new direction.   We have the distraction.  By God’s grace he can give us a new disposition.  I don’t mean some phony baloney game show host fake smile like everything’s great.  You know what I’m saying to you.  I’m talking about the real deal, Holyfield.  The real deal (that’s a reference to Evander Holyfield, the guy that had his ear bitten off by Mike Tyson).

At about midnight they began to pray and praise God, and when they started doing that do you know what God did?  God just elbowed his earthquake angel.  He came down, caused an earthquake in the Philippian jail that was off the chart.  I mean, just crazy.  And the chains fell off of every prisoner, the doors flew open. But here’s what’s so whack about it.  None of the prisoners left.  They just hung out there in the Philippian jail.  Jailhouse Rock.  The whole thing rocked.  So man, the Philippian jailer, he began to freak out.  Turns the lights on and he’s gonna kill himself.  He has a sword.

“It’s over!”   And Paul and Silas go,

“Man, stop!  Stop!  Stop!  Stop!  We’re all here!  Chill!  Everything’s cool!”  And then this Philippian jailer asks the most profound question in the world.  The question that every follower of Christ has asked.  Are you ready for it?  Check it out.

Acts 16:30.  “Sirs (he’s talking to Paul and Silas), what must I do to be saved?”   What must I do to be saved?

Illus: I remember back when I was at Florida State playing basketball.  My career was pretty much in crisis.  I did not have a stellar career.  If I had been All-World or All-American I’d have never had this situation.  There’s no doubt about it.

So, I’m walking to class with one of my teammates and this guy was, I’m telling you, a reprobate.  He had gotten kicked out of an Atlantic Coast Conference school.  He was a great basketball player. He had stolen everything imaginable, dope, I mean, just a lot of bad stuff.  So he’s walking with me and we’re just, you know, talking about the team and everything and he said, I will never forget it, he said, “Ed, I’ve been watching you, man.”  He said, “Dude, there’s something different about you.”

I’m like, where’s he going?  He goes, “I want what you got.”

What was he asking?  “What must I do to be saved?”  So I’m like, man I gotta tell this guy.  We went back to the athletic dorm and through my stuttering and stumbling and fumblings I talked to him about Jesus and how to open his life to him.  I talked about this pivot point and I said, “Man, if you want to pray and ask Christ to come into your life, you know, we can do it right here.”  And this dude starts crying, this big basketball star.

He goes, “I’m ready to do it right now.”  And he asked Christ to come into his life.  What must I do to be saved?

Now why was he watching me, because I was All World?  Because I averaged 32 points a game?  No, I averaged 32 points a game in warm-ups, but that was about it.  He was watching me and I didn’t even know it.  Because I was not that great.  I was one of the last guys on the team.  It’s just a reality.  Don’t waste a crisis.  We don’t realize, but people are watching us.

The Philippian jailer was listening to them, praying and singing.  The prisoners were listening.  He hits the knees.  What must I do to be saved?  And I love their response.  It’s so basic yet so deep.

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you’ll be saved.”

Now this word ‘believe’ is not like, OK, yeah I believe that lectern is there and I believe we’re at Fellowship.  No, no, no, it’s more than that.  It’s believing and receiving the finished work of Jesus.  His death, burial, and resurrection.  Religion is spelled D-O.  Christianity is spelled D-O-N-E.  There is nothing I can do except receive what’s been done for me.  That’s how someone becomes a follower of Christ.  There is nothing I can do.  That’s religion and Christ had one thing to say about religion.  He was against it.

People say, “Ed, you’re really religious,” but I say, “No, I’m not.”

“What?”

“I’m into a relationship, not a religion.”  It’s a relationship with Christ.

But then check out the jailer.  He makes his decision and it’s so powerful he tells his entire household about it.  They come in, they listen to Paul and Silas, they become followers of Christ.  Then this guy who was helping torture Paul and Silas now, you can read it, washes their wounds.  Then on top of that, after this went down, the Bible says in Acts 16:33, “At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds.  Then immediately (say immediately with me)… immediately, he and all of his family were baptized.”

T.S. So here’s the crisis situation.   The miracle served not to deliver them out of the whole deal, but the miracle served to deliver the Philippian jailer and his household.  That was the purpose here of this crisis.  And moreover, the purpose of the crisis was all about the house.  Check it out.

Paul and Silas went from the fashion house to the prison house, from the prison house to the jailer’s house, and from the jailer’s house back to the fashion house, where they started the house of God, one of the most powerful churches in the New Testament.  They started it in the mansion of Lydia.  Lydia believed, she was baptized.  The jailer believed, he was baptized.

Baptism.  “Should I pray about baptism?”  That’s a no prayer.  “Should I get baptized or not?”  That’s a stupid prayer.  It’s commanded.

“Well, God, should I trust you as far as relationships, as far as the business world?”  I mean, again that’s a no-prayer.  God has given us the 4-1-1 on what to do.  The Bible says from cover to cover, the moment we believe and receive, immediately we need to get baptized.  But the most important thing is believing and then getting baptized.

If you’re in a crisis, a new direction, there’ll be distractions.  But God’s grace will give you a new disposition.  And that’s what baptism illustrates.  The washing of the wounds.  The washing of sin.  The blood of Jesus.

I had to come to a point where I fell in, jumped in, with all those sharks.  I was scared.  I had some anxiety.  Finally after the questions were answered (some of them, not all of them), I fell in.  It was one of the great experiences of my life.

Have you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ?  Have you made that decision?  I want to give you an opportunity right now to make that decision.

Just bow your heads for me.  Every head is bowed, every eye is closed.  I want you to do what Lydia did.  I want you to do what the jailer did.  You’re asking, “What must I do to be saved?”  I’ve got to receive what’s been done for me.  I want everybody to say this prayer after me, everybody.  Because I know many of you have said it before.  All it takes is one time, but by you saying it you’ll help others who have never said it to say it.  Just say,

“Dear God, I’m a sinner.  I confess my sin to you.  I turn from my sin and I believe that you sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sins and rise again.  And right now I receive you into my life.  I give you everything I am and everything I’ll ever become.  Thank you for saving me.  In Jesus’ name.”

Hey, let’s give everybody a crazy round of applause who made that decision.

You know that’s the most important thing I can tell you.  As I talk to all our campuses, Miami, Downtown, Fort Worth, Dallas, Plano, to those people who are watching on television around the world let me tell you this.  If you prayed that prayer.. awesome!  I challenge you if you prayed that prayer to receive Christ to go to a local church in your area and get baptized.  Get baptized immediately.  And today, we’re gonna get baptized immediately.

Last night in our Saturday night service, after the service, after I had given people an opportunity to believe we had an opportunity for people to get baptized immediately.  And I want to show you what a young man did after his belief.  Watch this.

[Baptism Video]

[Spontaneous Baptism following…]

Is that incredible?!  Here we have someone physically challenged who believed.  He had every excuse, every shark, telling him, “Oh no, no, no, man. Don’t liquefy your faith!  Don’t jump into the water!  You’re paralyzed.  I mean people will have to carry you.”  Yet, he believed and was baptized.

Have you been baptized?  You might have prayed to give your life to Christ five years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, and you’ve never been baptized.  Or maybe you’re like my wife.  Maybe you grew up and you were sprinkled or spritzed or poured or whatever when you were young.  That’s cool!  Man, that’s awesome!  I would never say that your baptism didn’t take or whatever.  But I’m just telling you, the Bible says when we’re old enough to make a faith decision and believe, when we’re old enough, then we should get baptized.  And we don’t force anybody to get baptized.  It’s not like when people get baptized it’s $10 a head or something.  I’m just telling you what the scriptures say.  But I believe today many of you need to get baptized immediately.

I want you to meet Justin.  Where’s Justin?  Come up here, man.  Let’s give it up for Justin because… what’s up, Justin?  Justin recently made the decision to believe in Christ and to receive him.  And man it takes some serious guts, Justin, just to walk on this stage.  Well, Justin right now, immediately, in just a couple of minutes is gonna get baptized.

Now we want to baptize immediately today so here’s what we do.  Now, Justin, a lot of people decide to get baptized in their clothes.  That’s cool.  It is hot as fire!  I know it’s hot as fire in Miami as well.  So, how do I drive in my car afterwards?  I don’t care if you’ve got a Bentley or a bomb, these covers will cover any seat.  If you want to change we have private dressing rooms, all different sized shirts, dark shirts, Fellowship Church shirts, we’ll give it to you.  Cool, long shorts, not the shorty shorts when I wore when I was trying to play basketball at Florida State, the ones that are cool.  We’ll give you those.  If you’re into the blow-dry look.  I mean, you’ve got some Justin Bieber hair.   I’ve got Bieber Fever!  Anyway, you got some great hair, man.  I’d pay top dollar for hair like that.  Anyway, we’ve got blow dryers out there.  And check these towels out, Justin.  Have you ever felt towels that smooth?  They’re soft, oh yeah. And then we have stuff.   It’s awesome.

So right now, Justin, we’re gonna follow you out and he’s gonna sprint out and we’re gonna watch him get baptized.  And let me tell you something, guys.  No one get up, no one move, no one try to beat the crowd or try to get out of the parking lot early, because if you do, right now, I don’t want you to disturb the Spirit of God working.  I don’t want that to be on your conscience and I don’t want God one day to say,

“Hey, you know what?  I was moving in someone’s life but because you wanted to get Bar-B-Q or get some sushi you disturbed and quenched my Spirit.”  So everyone hang in here.  We’re going overtime just for a couple of minutes.  So I want you to sprint right now and we’re gonna baptize him. Let’s do it.  Let’s give him a round of applause.  Remain seated.  All right.  Check it out on the side screen.

The Bible says we believe and then we’re baptized.  And baptism should be a celebration.  You know, the Scripture says when someone believes that there’s a par-tay going on in Heaven.  Because we have a cheering section that never sits down as we walk with God.

So there he is, he’s getting his cardio in.  Is that great?  That’s what it’s all about right there.   And I know it’s kinda weird getting baptized, it’s kinda strange.  We do it because that’s what the Bible says.  That’s what Jesus commanded us to do.  It’s a no-prayer.

So he’s in the water.  We’ve only found three sharks in there over the last several years, that’s all.  But check it out.  He’s being baptized.  That represents the washing, the cleansing of the blood of Jesus.  It represents the death, burial, and resurrection.  Let’s go crazy when he comes out of the water.  Are you ready?  He’s being baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Both of them, let’s go crazy right now!  That’s what I’m talking about!  That’s what the Bible says happens in every person’s life when they believe and they’re baptized.

Now, I want to give you a chance right now to be baptized immediately.  I know you’re thinking about distractions.  Wow, sharks.  Man, my past, or my clothes, or whatever.  We’ve taken away the excuses.  This is the new direction that God wants.  Again, maybe you became a believer 20 years ago, 10 years ago, and you’ve never been baptized after you became a believer.  Lydia believed, then was baptized.  The jailer and his household believed, then they were baptized.  So at the count of 3, on 3, I want many of you, scores of you, from the balcony, and from every single campus, you can sprint if you want to, to walk rapidly to the back and get baptized.  If you want to change into one of our cool Fellowship Church uniforms, that’s cool.  We’ll show you where the men’s and women’s changing areas are.  At all of our campuses right now on the count of 3.  When I hit 3, don’t delay, don’t hesitate. Say,

“You know what, I’m going for it.  I’m trusting.  I’m a little bit scared, I’m a little bit freaky but I’m going for it.  I believe that it’s time to get baptized.”

One… are you ready? Are you ready?   You might want to grab someone’s hand and say, “Hey, have you been baptized?”  and just encourage them and walk with them.  Are you ready?

Two… don’t put it off.  I’m talking to guys.  Guys, we’ll cheer and go wild for everything else yet we are going to slither in the shadows and not say Christ and Jesus is my Lord.  It’s time, man.

One, two… are you ready?  Three!  Stand!  Everyone else, clap.  No one else stand.  Do not stand for them.  Give them room.  Everyone remain seated.  Let these people go.  Everyone remain seated except those who are being baptized.  Come on!  Let’s pray for these.  Some people are hesitating.  It’s time to liquidate.  You’ve believed in the Lord, now it’s time to get baptized.  The Bible says to get baptized immediately.  I know it’s not easy, I know it takes guts.  From the balcony man, they’re pouring down.  In our campuses, in Downtown Dallas, man.  Awesome.  Fort Worth, Plano, Miami, and if you’re watching us by television the next chance you get, go to a local church and get baptized immediately.  All right!  Awesome!  Come on!

God, continue to move right here.  I know there are others who are waiting.  Come on, let’s go.  Let’s do it.  We’re not gonna stay here all afternoon.  We rarely do this at Fellowship Church but this is a God moment.  You’ve been going through a crisis and maybe this crisis now all of a sudden has a shape to it, a definition to it.  God has allowed it and now you’re coming to know him.  Anyone else?   All right, right there!  Man, a whole family!  Awesome!  Anybody else?  From the balcony they’re still coming.  All right!  Anybody else?  They’re still moving in the balcony.  All right my brother, awesome!  Let’s give it up for him.  I’m telling you if we can’t celebrate at church something is wrong.  Again, we celebrate everywhere else, at parties and for athletic events and concerts, which is great.  But we should get more excited here than at any other place.

Church, thank you for your excitement.  They’re still coming!  Anybody else?  You didn’t plan on it.  You didn’t think about it.  All right.

Well, after we end the service if you want to join them as the crowds go out and watch the baptism, you just feel free to jump in, man.  Jump in.  Just like I did.  Boom!

There’s a direction.  There are gonna be distractions, we all face them.  We’re not perfect but I’m telling you the disposition given to us by God himself is absolutely awesome.

Next weekend we will continue to talk about sharks.  Don’t miss a single installment.  This is a life-altering series.  Because there are sharks in the water.  There’s a crisis point in your life and mine.  Jesus is the King of the Crisis.  He’s the King of your life and mine.  Pray through it, praise through it.  The power will be released and I’m telling you, God will take you to depths you never dreamed possible.  Let’s stand and leave with that mentality and that power.  See you next time.

SEXUAL REVOLUTION

Messed Up

Ed Young

September 14, 2006

Well, at Fellowship Church, we’ve been bringing sexy back, haven’t we? We’ve brought the bed back into church, and the church back into bed. I’ve been talking about a sexual revolution. A revolution is a sudden change for the better. And that’s what God wants to take place in your life and mine.

If you have your Bibles, turn to the book of Genesis. We talk a lot about the book of Genesis, specifically Genesis chapter 1 and 2, because in these two chapters, there is basically one goal in mind. God wants us to hit, as human beings, on all cylinders. In other words, he wants us to be fully and totally alive.

We’ve learned that we’re fully physical and also fully spiritual. We’re made in the image of God. And speaking of being made in the image of God, check out this verse. Genesis 1:26 (NAS), “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle…” (and it continues).

“Our image…Let us make man in Our likeness….”

What’s going on? Well, this verse is referring to the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. We’re made in the image of God. We’re a trinity—mind, body, and soul. We’re uniquely male or uniquely female. And in the marriage bed, the big sex bed that God talks about, you have the nature and character of God merging when you have a husband and wife making love together—a oneness, a mystery, a depth, an energy that is reserved for the covenant of marriage. So, we have a God-given gift—sex—which was given to us before sin entered the human equation, and we’re to use this God-given gift in a life-uniting covenant called marriage.

Now let’s go to Genesis 2:25, because this verse talks about being naked. Animals can’t get naked. It’s a gift that God has given us. It’s a gift—nakedness. The Bible says: “And the man and his wife were both naked and they were not ashamed.”

Now, that’s interesting, because if you’re naked, just in a physical sense, you’re ashamed. We want to cover our nakedness. That’s why we wear clothes. Yet, Scripture tells you and me that the man and his wife were naked. Adam and Eve were naked and they felt no shame. Why? Because of marriage.

We’re to get naked in marriage. Nakedness assumes intimacy. What does intimacy mean? It means to be fully known. We want intimacy. We want intimacy with others. Intimacy in a sexual context is for the marriage bed. We’re to get naked physically and emotionally and spiritually and economically and psychologically.

The Bible says repeatedly that we’re not to take sex out of context. We’re not to make big sex little sex. We’re not to minimalize sex. We’re not to reduce sex. We’re to keep sex big.

Well how do we keep sex big? We do it God’s way. We trust God. If you’re a married man or a woman, you trust God. If you’re a single adult, you trust God. If you’re a student, you trust God. If you’re a child, you trust God.

Our sexuality is something we are before it’s something we do. And when God talks about sex to the single or sex to the student, he says, “Later. Save sex for later. Don’t get naked before the marriage bed. Don’t get naked with your fiancé, with your girlfriend, with your boyfriend. Don’t get naked on prom night or any other night. Wait until you have this life-uniting covenant as a man and as a woman, as you connect in sexual intercourse.”

Because, all of us in this room are setting a course for sexual intercourse—we’re either doing it God’s way or not. What kind of course are you setting as you think about sexual intercourse? That’s a pretty good question to ask.

Sexual sin—when we get out of God’s bed and out of the big bed and into the little bed, sexual sin is like no other sin. I’ve talked to a lot of people about sin, because after all, sin is my business. I’ve talked to a lot of people about sin, and I’ve talked to the people who are involved in drugs. I’ve talked to people who have taken another person’s life. I’ve talked to people who have robbed and done all of this.

But there is no sin like sexual sin, because the sexual nerve is woven into the very depth of who we are. Sex is not just sex. It’s a soulish thing. It’s a Trinitarian thing. It’s a part of our mind, a part of our body, and a part of our spirit. We can’t get away from it. Yet we tell people, “Hey, I’m just going to have sex.” And we think we can park our soul outside the bedroom and just have sex. Well, again, there’s no such thing as just sex.

Maybe you were involved sexually before you got married. If you were involved in premarital sex, once you got married, you discovered something. The sexual rules have changed. Now in marriage, great sex is based on nonsexual things—romance, intimacy, conversation, environment. If you involved yourself in premarital sex, premarital sex is so powerful; it can cloud and mess up the nonsexual stuff that you should be working on prior to marriage. And now that you’re married, because you didn’t work on the nonsexual stuff, you’re involved sexually. But you realize now, “Uh oh, it’s about nonsexual stuff. Great sex is about nonsexual stuff.”

So, we have a lot of people moving to pornography and lust. A lot of people—especially the guys—don’t want to work. They don’t want to get intimate. They don’t want to communicate. So they sit down and they channel-surf for breasts and butts, and they go to kennel clubs and they live and feed on lust and have extramarital relationships. Because let’s face it, it’s easy. We don’t have to work on it. It’s just sex.

But it’s not just sex. I can’t park my soul outside the bedroom. When you engage in sex outside of marriage, it’s unnatural. You’re taking just one aspect of sex—the physical—and you are doing it with someone in a physical domain, and you think it’s just physical. But see, you can’t do something that does not affect your soul and your mind. You can’t use God. You can’t rape sex. Because when you take sex out of its context, you’re raping it. You’re abusing it. We’re going to find out, you’re spitting on the cross. You’re doing a blasphemous act. You’re thumbing your nose at the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And also, you’re abusing your trinity—your mind, your body, and your soul.

The Bible says in I Thessalonians 4 a lot of stuff about sex. And sometimes people read the Bible, like I Thessalonians, and they’ll say, “Man, that’s so archaic, because the apostle Paul is talking about sexual purity. I mean, how irrelevant is that in today’s culture?”

I mean, why should I even do this message, really? Why should I even talk about this? Because stats show that most of you will do it anyway. Why are we even having this conversation? I could just close the Bible and walk off the stage, because you’re going to do it. What’s a sermon going to do? Really. I mean, you’re a single adult, you’re a student. What’s one sermon going to do? Is it really going to change how you feel, how you act, how you behave sexually? One sermon?

Yeah, it has that kind of power. Because I’m talking about and teaching about the Word of God. I’m talking about a power that is available to all of us. I’m talking about a power that fuels big sex. So, people sometimes read the Bible and think, “Ah, sexual purity; that’s so archaic. Yeah, back in the biblical day, no problem, no big day. But now? We live in a sexually liberated culture! I mean, this is like another day. I mean, the Apostle Paul, if he was living today, he wouldn’t know what to do, man. I mean, 40 years after the sexual revolution and we’re going to bring sexy back. Come on, man.”

Well, if you ever have said that, you’re showing your stupidity and your chronological ignorance. Because when the Apostle Paul wrote I Thessalonians 4, his culture was much more decadent than ours. That culture was more wheels-off sexually than our culture today.

“What do you mean?”

Well, Paul, if you read the New Testament, (because he wrote a bunch of it) basically is addressing two different schools of thought. One school of thought was the platonic school of thought. I’m not talking about Play-Doh. I’m talking about Plato! Plato said, as we’ve learned, the body is bad; the soul is good. And in this vibe, a lot of people believed it. And a lot of you have a layer of Plato on you, because the church has perpetuated this platonic-type mentality when it comes to sex. The church has been silent to talk about what God was not silent to discuss. And if you every know anybody who’s done a push-back here at Fellowship Church because we’re talking about sex, just ask them, “What are you smoking?” Because obviously, they’re clueless concerning the beauty and the depth and the big-ness of sex.

And half the group that Paul was addressing was the group who was involved in the mystery religions. Now the mystery religions were crazy, because you would go to temple to worship and have sex with hookers and whores while you were worshipping. And they believed this would bless your finances and bless your crops. And I’ll bet the men were flocking to church! Bet they weren’t giving excuses there, were they? It was nuts!

Think about Rome. A Roman man, a normal Roman man would have three women—three wives. One would be his “baby mama.” Another one would be like his intellectual companion. Another one would be his sex slave.

Homosexuality was rampant. A lot of people in the church of Thessalonica were former homosexuals, former fornicators. So there was this sexual wheels-offness going on when Paul said these words.

I Thessalonians 4:3-8 (NIV): “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified…”

What does the word “sanctified” mean? It basically means to be set apart. Once we receive Christ, the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and he redecorates our lives from the inside out.

[The passage continues] …that you should avoid sexual immorality…”

Now this word “immorality” is a very interesting word. In the Greek, it’s pronounced pornia. We get the word “pornography” from it. What does pornia mean? Pornia means premarital sex…yes. Fornication…yes. Adultery…yes. Homosexuality…yes. And a list of other sins. There is no sin like sexual sin. There is no sin like it. If you want your judgment clouded; if you want to be confused and messed up, just get involved in sexual sin. Because it engulfs the totality of who we are. So, we should avoid sexual immorality. That means to stay away from it, to distance ourselves from it.

Verse 4: “…that each of you should learn to control his own body…”

That means we can learn this. It’s a process from the inside out.

Now, our bodies matter. Matter matters. Don’t think it’s like the soul is good, but my body is bad. No no no no. A body is good and our soul is good. Remember, we’re fully physical and fully spiritual. If you want to get more in depth on this, I wrote a book called Rating Your Dating. In this book, I compare our sexuality to a sports car.

For example, have you ever seen a Maserati before? I saw a Maserati the other day. Those are great cars. I’ve never driven one, but I like them. And if you want to give me one, go ahead and do that. But, a Maserati is made for the freeway. It’s made really for a racetrack—right? The Autobahn. It’s not made to go off-roading. What if you gave me a Maserati, and I said, “Hey, thanks! I’m going to take it off-road.”

You’d go, “Ed, man, you’re nuts! You are crazy! I wouldn’t do that. I would take care of the Maserati. I’d pet the Maserati, shine the Maserati, wash the Maserati. I’d put the best fuel in the Maserati, Ed, if at all possible. I would drive the Maserati, probably too fast. I would like it. But a Maserati is for the road.”

How do you think God feels? He’s given us this awesome gift, this Maserati called sex and we just say, “Ah, forget you God. I’m going off road.”

How does God feel? Sex is a gift. Honor it. Our body matters. The Bible says our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit of God. Don’t trash the temple. Take care of the Maserati.

Verse 4 continues: “…that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable (That’s big sex, right?), not in passionate lust like the heathen (little sex), who do not know God; and that in this matter…”

Paul’s talking about sex to the people who had this like mystery religious stuff pulling on them and all this platonic stuff pulling here and there, and all these people who had all the wives and fornication and adultery and homosexuality…

He said, “…and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him…”

Wow! Do you have your keys? Take your keys out and just dangle the keys for a second. Go ahead, just dangle them. Just dangle ‘em some more.

That’s a key verse right there! That’s why I had you do that. It’s a key verse, man!

[1 Thessalonians 4:6] “No one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him.”

Now, that’s weird. Paul says be sanctified, be set apart, be holy. And then, all of a sudden, he says no one should wrong his brother. Don’t take advantage of him. Key! Key! That means that I’m responsible for my sanctification and yours, my sanctification and the people that I influence. You influence people that I don’t; I influence people that you don’t. Now think about that one. We’re Trinitarians, right? Body…mind…soul. What I put into my mind, what I think, what I do with my body, my soul; that can influence other people’s sanctification, other brothers’ and sisters’ sanctification.

For example, the way women dress. Oh, it got quiet! Ladies…now I’m talking to Christians, now, to believers. If you’re not a Christian, we don’t expect you to dress like a Christian until you become a Christian. Now we have many people here who attend Fellowship Church who are dancers, others who own sexually-driven businesses. We welcome you, we love you, we pray for you. We’re going to tell you the truth, and we pray that today is a life-changing day for you. But I’m talkin’ right now to Christian women and the way you dress.

Do you realize, ladies, by the way you dress…by the way you put your clothes together, you can cause a man, for example, to stumble. You can mess up his sanctification. Don’t mess up my sanctification!

“Well, you’re a pastor.”

I’m a man! Don’t mess up other people’s sanctification.

“Well, what are you saying? We should wear burlap sacks?”

No! I’m all for fashion. I want fashion. I’m an artist, man, I enjoy shopping and clothes. I’m great with fashion. But, where do faith and fashion collide? That’s a good question. What do you show? Because what you show, what you reveal, ladies, is what you attract.

“Well, I’m just going to show my breasts and my butt.”

You’re going to attract that. That’s what you want? You want a guy going, “Oh, breasts and butt, breasts and butt, breasts and butt”?

You’d better have guys who look at your face! All these women showing all this stuff, messing up people’s sanctification. What you reveal is what you give away. You’ll strip your soul. You’ll strip yourself. You’re abusing yourself. When you get dressed, ladies, look at yourself in the mirror and ask, ”Does this glorify God? Can I glorify God with this outfit? I mean, am I?”

Or, maybe if you don’t get it because some of you are confused… I’ll talk about that in a second. See, we’ve got to think about confusion. A lot of you are confused, but you don’t know you’re confused. That’s why you’re confused. If you knew it, you wouldn’t be confused. Does that make sense? Yeah, it did.

If you can’t make that call yourself, ask a trusted friend, a trusted girlfriend who’s a mature believer. What do you show? What do you reveal? That’s what you attract. That’s what you’re giving away. So many women are so hollow because they’re just showing everything. Clothe yourself.

I talked to a friend of mine a while back, and we were talking about lust. Here’s what he told me. He said, “Ed, you know where the number one place is that I struggle with lust?”

I said, “No. Where?

He said, “At our church.”

So, we have got a solution for this, ladies. Next summer, we’re going to crank the air down to like 52 degrees!

I hope you know I’m not being legalistic and I don’t expect, nor do we expect you to become one. I’m talking to Christian ladies. And moms, you’ve got to lead out and step out with your family. What are your kids wearing? A lot of you can’t say very much to your daughters because of the way you’re dressed.

Let me keep going and get off that kind of sensitive subject.

Let’s get back to the I Thessalonians passage. Verses 6-8 say, “The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you His Holy Spirit.

Then Jesus said this in Matthew 5:8: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.”

I can have intimacy with the God of the universe because of my sanctification, my holiness. There’s a direct correlation between that and seeing God. It’s about making right choices. So, I’m setting the course for, ultimately, intercourse in marriage.

Sexual immorality. Let me talk to the students and singles for a second about premarital sex. That’s a popular subject, because a lot of us are doing it around here. Premarital sex.

I talked to a guy the other day who was looking, man. He was looking for a woman to get married to. Here’s what he told me, “Ed, I’m looking for a woman who knows her way around the bedroom. I want a woman,” he said, “who is sexually experienced.”

Now, how many of you believe that? No! I just told you a lie. No one would say that! Nobody would say that. You think a woman would say that? “Yeah, I want a man who’s been with a lot of women.”

Yet, we have all these guys running around thinking they’re more of a man because they’ve had more women. What a joke! What a joke. Premarital sex—you know what it does, students and singles? These things even rhyme. It abuses and it confuses. Say it with me. It abuses and confuses.

That’s what it does every single time. Some of the time? No. Every single time. It abuses. I’ve already said this. It abuses the Trinity. You abuse your mind. You abuse your body. You abuse your soul. You abuse the other person. You strip them of their humanity while you’re stripping yourself of your humanity. You’re getting naked outside the context of where nakedness should take place. You’re spitting on the cross. You’re abusing the Trinity. You’re trashing this Maserati; trashing this gift that God’s given you. You’re totally abusing it.

Now, some of you are doing some stuff right now that two years ago you said you’d never do. Some of you are sleeping in a bed right now that you said you would never sleep in years ago, because your beliefs drove your behavior. But now, you’ve stepped out and you’ve stepped into the little bed and you’re behaving this way, and now you’re desperately searching for beliefs that will justify your behavior. That’s wrong. That’s sin. It’s sexual sin.

Do you want some disease? That can happen. Just sin sexually. Pregnancy? That can happen. That’s what happens when men and women get together. They can get pregnant. You’ll sign up for some shame and guilt, and you abuse your mind and body and your soul.

Sex is soul-ish, man! It’s like James Brown. James Brown is called the godfather of soul. James Brown is soul. Soul just comes out of his pores! Wherever you put James Brown, he is a man of soul! Sex is the same way.

You can’t just say, “Oh, I’m going to park my soul on the outside. You’re just genitals, and I’m just genitals. Let’s just use each other and everything is cool in the little bed.”

No no no no no! You’re taking something away from God. You’re taking something out of its context, and you’re saying it’s just physical. But this physical act is all about economic stuff and psychological stuff and emotional stuff. It’s about One-ness. It’s about the Trinity. So I would beg you, single adults and students, don’t go there. Don’t get naked until your wedding night. Don’t have sex with your fiancée, the girl you’ve been dating for five years, or this person that, you know, feels so right. Don’t do it!

Now we’re going to get practical; very, very practical.

Singles and students alike—only date like-minded believers. That’s what the Bible says. Again, all this stuff is in my book, Rating Your Dating. I don’t have time to go there, but let me give you the brief Cliff’s Notes.

God insists on spiritual compatibility, only hanging out with people who have a like-mindedness, who have the same vision and values about sexual intercourse as you, and ultimately God, do. We’re to date those people. Now, if you make that decision, you’re not going to have as many dates. I’m just going to tell you like it is. You’re not going to have as many dates. But the dates you have will be great. They’ll be great, because they can become your mate in marriage.

I’ll tell you something else, students. Don’t even think about dating someone who drinks. In fact, don’t even go to a party where alcohol is served. It’s really stupid to do that. You don’t want to do that. You don’t want to do that. I would say the same thing to singles, too, but it’s your choice. You can drink alcohol. What’s going to happen? You know what’s going to happen. Come on.

What else would I say? I’ll tell you what I would say. Premarital sex will confuse you. I said that earlier, remember that? It’s just going to confuse you. If you do it God’s way and date like-minded believers, and you don’t mess around with people who are messing around, and you involve yourself in church, you can hit the big sex. But if you don’t, you’re going to abuse what God wants to do in your life. Also, you’re going to be confused.

If you know me, you know I have a terrible sense of direction. I cannot find my way anywhere. I hate to tell you this, but the other day I got lost going to the airport. I bet that’s hard for you to believe, but, really, I’m spatially challenged. I have a problem. My name’s Ed, I have a problem. I’m spatially challenged. I admit that.

But when I was driving to the airport, I thought I was going the right way, but I was lost. I was confused and didn’t know it—until my wife called my cell phone. And she said, “Where are you? You’re supposed to be at the airport.”

I said, “Well, I’m,” and I told her where I was. And she said to me, “Ed, you’re lost! Honey, you’re confused. This frustrates me about you. You’re always lost.” And I am! She said, “Why didn’t you go with someone on the staff who could take you to the airport, who has a good sense of direction, who could point the way,” like she does for me everywhere. “Ed, turn right. Ed, left. Ed, straight. Accelerate. Stop.” I’m that bad!

There are some of you here who are like that. You’re confused and you don’t even know it. That’s why you’re confused! If you knew it, you wouldn’t be confused. Hopefully, I’m like the voice of Lisa. “You’re messed up. You’re a long way from the airport. You’re confused! Totally and completely confused. Don’t be confused.”

If you want to confuse your life, just jump in the rack. You’ll marry the wrong person. You won’t be able to make any good decisions. Sex is so consuming you’ll fall in love with the power of sex and love. You’ll marry the wrong person. You won’t be able to make any kind of good choice. You’ll wonder why God seems so far away. You’ll wonder why you don’t have any depth spiritually, and you’re hanging out here and making love in the little bed. It’ll confuse your life.

See, God wants to save us from abuse and being confused. He doesn’t want us to be abused. He doesn’t want us to be confused. He wants us to have direction. He wants us to treasure sex, to honor sex. He wants us to understand the purpose and the power behind it. That’s why he said “Flee”—or avoid –“sexual immorality.” And there’s a correlation, friends, between purity and seeing God; purity and discernment; purity and great decision making; purity and hearing and knowing what to do. Because if you are involved in sexual sin, you will not know what to do. You’re going to be confused. You’ll be turned around. What’s right is wrong. What’s wrong is right. Your behavior is doing this and your beliefs are way back there. You’re saying, “Hurry up, beliefs! Come over here. I’ll change my beliefs to fit in this doggie bed.”

“Well, Ed, you don’t understand, brother. I have messed up sexually. I can litter this entire church with little beds. I’ve slept in the wrong bed with this person, with that person. Man, all these memories and things. Is there any help for me?”

Yes. Yes. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I’m continuing with this message.

After reading the data and thinking about it, I thought, “Why even preach about premarital sex?” But, there’s a power that is available to us that can forgive, that can cleanse, that can change the course of our lives and our sexuality. We can receive forgiveness.

I did a series years ago called “The Real F-Word”. If you remember that, lift your hand. “The Real F-Word” was one of the most popular series I’ve ever done. It’s on forgiveness. And I have so many people call me and say, “Man, I just, I am having a hard time with forgiveness. I just don’t feel forgiven and forgiveness.”

And they ask me all these questions. And, you know what? Whenever I get that question about forgiveness, I know I’m talking to someone who’s thinking about sexual sin. Invariably, they’re thinking about sexual sin. They’re not addicted to drugs. It’s not anger. It’s not control issues. It’s sexual sin. It’s that consuming.

But I’ve got good news for you. God has done the work for forgiveness. And all you have to do is cry out to him and turn to him and say, “God, forgive me. Cleanse me. I, Lord, want to receive this and turn to you.”

That’s available. Think about how Jesus dealt with people caught in sexual sin—even caught in the act! He told them the truth in love. He nurtured them. He said, “Go and sin no more.”

Here’s another thing we need to do. Make a commitment for sexual purity. Just say, “God, today I’m stepping up and stepping out. You re-order and redecorate my life from the inside out. Sexual purity, God. I want to do big sex your way.”

Well, sin dealt with effectively is sin dealt with radically. Some of you need to cancel cable. You need to cut off relationships that are causing you to stumble. You need to cut off people who are causing you to mess up on your sanctification. You need to stay away from people who are dragging you to the kennel clubs and all this immoral behavior. Stay away. Get away.

That might mean you have to resign from your job. That might mean you have to move out the neighborhood or apartment complex. That might mean you have to throw away your computer. That might mean a number of things. But again, if we want to walk in purity and in freedom and in holiness, we have got to do those things.

“Now is God, like, trying to rain on my sexual parade, man?”

No! Every time God tells us to make a radical decision, he will always phenomenally and richly bless our lives. He’s not telling you and me this just to mess us up, to keep us all limited and stifled. It’s for our freedom. It’s for true pleasure and true liberation. That’s why God does it.

But so many of you are just one step away from that. Some of you are playing house right now. You’re living together. You’re living in sin. That’s wrong. Why are you doing that? You’re going to make the wrong decision. God’s not going to bless your life. It’s not going to happen.

“Well, I really love him.” “I really love her.”

Really? Listen to this. Guys will play with love for sex, and women will play with sex for love.

“Not my man, Ed. You don’t understand him, man. He’s going to marry me. We’re just playing house. We’re test driving the Maserati. And then, he’ll marry me!”

Oh, come on. He’s in it for the sex. It’s the best of both worlds for the guy–free sex, no commitment.

I hate to rain on your parade, guys, but sorry. Move out, and do it God’s way. If God leads you to get married, do that. But you’re living in sin.

Sin will mess you up. You know it’s not very popular to talk about sin anymore. We like to say, “I’m in a bad mood. I had an off day. It’s just a hurtful habit.”

No, it’s sin, self-centered sin. It’s that downward gravitational pull that we all inherited from Adam. We just sin. So I’m calling it what it is. So make that commitment. Make that choice. Make that call. Don’t put it off.

And right now, the enemy is flooding your mind with all these excuses. “Oh, don’t do it. Put it off. You can do it next week, next month. How about the rent? What about the blah, blah, blah…”

It’s never going to be convenient. It’s never going to have the perfect timing. Never. The enemy’s too powerful for that.

Also, remember this? [Ed gets the dog bowl out again.] That’s some dog food. We don’t want to feed on dog food. Dog food will make you barf. A lot of people have their heads buried in the dog food. Replace that with God’s food. Replace that with Scripture. Feed on the Word of God. This truth, this book will set you free. Involve yourself in the local church. Involve yourself in ministry. Involve yourself with people who keep you accountable. God has the best for you. God is the one who’s bringing sexy back!

And man, my heart goes out. My heart goes out to people in the entertainment business. We need to pray for entertainers. Pray for the media moguls, because they don’t know. They’re clueless. They’re confused.

So what are we going to do? I mean, is it little sex or big sex? Is it the enemy’s way or God’s way? Forgiveness is available. God will give you the strength and the power. He wants the best for us. Yes, even sexually. Let’s do it God’s way. Let’s say, “God, today, today the sexual revolution has started.”