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Pastor
Y'all get to remain standing. We're gonna read some scripture. I'm gonna read a whole lot of scripture. Cause this is the last sermon in the relationship series. How many have been blessed by this series? How many of you mad cause you're still single? And you like, I thought you said I was gonna find my boo in this series. No, no, no. I believe God's gonna seal the deal with this last sermon in the series. And I saved the best for last. Woo. And there's a reason why we launched 4, 5, 6 today. Because today we gonna talk about sex, y'all. We gonna talk about sex in church. And I know some of you, if you visit and you're like, for real on this Sunday, I decided to show up. But I think it's critical and necessary that the church talks about it. Because God created it, God designed it. And I think a lot of us got messed up because the church had laryngitis about things they actually should have been loud about. If there's any place we should talk about sex, it should be right here in the house of the Lord. So we gonna talk about it today. And so we've been in a book in this series called Song of Solomon or Song of Songs. And we're going to. We've talked about attraction, we've talked about marriage, and now we're talking about sex. Coming straight out of verse number. Sorry, chapter number four. And we're going to look at verses nine through 16. Y'all ready? You sure? Look at what Solomon. This is Solomon speaking. If you've been in the series, he. You know, there's different speakers. There's Solomon, there's the Shulamite woman, and then there's their friends. But this is Solomon speaking to his love. And look at what he says to her. You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride. Now, Paul's. It's not like an Arkansas thing. He's not marrying his. He's not marrying his sister. He's just talking about this deep connection that he has with his love. I didn't want you to misappropriate that. You have stolen my heart. With one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride. How much more pleasing is your love than wine and the fragrance of your perfume. More than any spice. Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride. Milk and honey are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon. You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride. You are a spring Enclosed, a sealed fountain. Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard. Nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon. With every kind of incense. He got the whole bed, bath and beyond flavored with myrrh and aloids and all the finest spices. You are a garden fountain, a well of flowing water streaming down from Lebanon. And now she's speaking, and she says to her man, awake north wind, and come south wind, blow on my garden that its fragrance may spread everywhere. Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choice fruits, y'all. That is in your Bible. Woo. Pray for your pastor today. And then, just to add another layer to this, don't sit down yet. I want to look at the words of the Apostle Paul writing to the church at Corinth in First Corinthians, chapter six. And I'm reading from Eugene Peterson's message translation. Look at what it says. There's more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in scripture, the two become one. Since we want to become spiritually one with the master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever. The kind of sex that can never become one. There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin, we violate the sacredness of our own bodies. These bodies that were made for God given. And God molded love for becoming one with another. Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body, y'all. That's good all by itself. All by itself. But I want to tag a title to these texts and talk to you from this thought. Designer sex. Designer sex. I was gonna have you look at your neighbor, but don't look at nobody. Look straight ahead and say, I need. Come on, don't be afraid to talk. Say, I need some designer sex. Oh, Father, help us today. Speak to us. Amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Designer sex. Social fam. I'm wondering if you've ever experienced the phenomenon of hearing the story of somebody's life that you will never forget. There's a story that remains forever etched in My mind. And it is the story of Marina Chapman. Marina Chapman, at four years old, was kidnapped from her backyard in Columbia. She doesn't remember much that day. She remembers playing outside and all of a sudden a sweaty arm grabs her, puts a bag over her head, puts some substance under her nose and she goes unconscious. When she wakes up, she's being dragged into the Colombian jungle. Coming in and out of consciousness, she remembers the branches scraping her skin. And as she goes deep into the Colombian jungle, she's dropped off there after she's being violated by the men that kidnapped her. Can you imagine? Four years old, kidnapped from home. To hear her tell the story is something she talks about the terror of that first night of being alone in that jungle. The sounds, the noises that were there. She remembers crying out to her mother only to realize that her mother was not coming. She was there in that jungle the first night. Second night. But the third night, something interesting happened. A troop of monkeys surrounded her while she was there in the jungle. These monkeys came up to her and saw her four year old body underneath a bush. And as they came up to her, they saw her shivering and hungry for food. They were hostile with her. At first. They started hitting her and pulling on her hair. But after that the hostility went away. And they got curious. As they were curious, they wondered, what is this girl doing here in the jungle. They actually left some bananas and some nuts that sustained her, her four year old body as she ate. And all of a sudden, as she tells it, Marina starts following these monkeys in the jungle and started surviving by monkey see, monkey do. Now right about now, some of y'all are looking at me like, this is not for real. I don't believe you. This is a true story. In fact, she chronicles this in her book, the Girl with no Name. Believe it or not, she is still alive today. She is 75 years old. She lives in the UK and guess what she loves doing? Climbing trees. What intrigues me is what got her out of the jungle. One day she was in a tree and she looked down and she sees this shiny object on the ground. She was intrigued by it, so she went to it. She picked it up, not knowing what it was. She bit it, threw it up and then picked it up again. And then when she looked at it, she immediately threw it down and ran away. Because when she looked at it, she saw eyes looking back at her. She goes to it, intrigued, picks it up again and all of a sudden realizes that the eyes that she were looking at were her eyes. And the object that she had picked up was a mirror. And for the first time since she was kidnapped, she saw her face, she saw her skin. And she realized in that moment with the mirror that I am different from what I've been hanging out with. That, yes, I've been with these monkeys, but I am not these monkeys. There is something different about me. This moment with the mirror marked her life forever because she had forgotten her name. She had learned how to communicate with these monkeys. But one thing she knew is that I am not like the ones I've been hanging out with. There is something distinctly different about me. That moment changed her life forever. She did not know who she was, but she knew who she was at. And she's like, I am not who I've been hanging out with, Even though I've been imitating them to survive. There's something distinctly different about me than them. That moment with the mirror changed her life forever. In fact, the way she got out was she noticed some hunters that were traveling, and she saw them and realized that they looked more like her than the monkeys she was hanging out with. So she went to them and got their attention, and that's what got her rescued out of the jungle. And I use that story as a metaphor to tell somebody today. This is the power of getting in the word of God. The book of James says that the word of God is a mirror. And can anybody testify to the fact that when you get in the word of God, it shows you who you are, it shows you who you are not. It'll show you who you are called to be. And I feel like there's some of us when it comes to relationships. We've been living in this culture of monkey see, monkey do. But through this series, we've been trying to get in the word of God to say, God, how do you want me to flourish in relationships? How do you want me to be whole? Because some of us understand that we are not like the people that we've been hanging out with. I might have imitated you for my survival, but once you have a revelation of who God has called you to be, there is no going back. That moment marked her forever. She could have gone back with the monkeys and pretended, but that moment with the mirror changed her life forever. And that's what I'm praying happens as we gather and get in the word of God, that when you get in this book, you find out who you are and whose you are. You find out that I can't just take my cues from the culture and live monkey see, monkey do. There's something different about me. How many know when it comes to sexuality and gender and marriage and relationships, y'all, we living in a jungle. Come on, somebody, some of y'all, that dating really should say amen right there. It is a jungle atmosphere that we are living in. I love the Song of Songs and I love the Bible because it gives us this picture of relationship and marriages as if it was a garden, a locked garden. But when we come to our culture today, it looks like to me, it is a jungle. A crazy jungle. Is it just me, or is our culture getting crazier and crazier? The models for sex and marriage and gender are continually being distorted. How many know the enemy is behind this? Because the enemy can't design, so he damages. He can't create anything, so he has to pervert everything. And much like she was kidnapped and brought into a culture and environment that was not her home. And it took her years to rehabilitate and realize, wait a minute, I'm not a monkey. That's what God is doing in some of your lives right now. She's showing you that you can't take the cues from the culture, but you have to live the way he designed you to live. But don't get it twisted. It is a jungle out here in our culture. The proliferation of sexual imagery has gone to new levels because it is a jungle. It's a jungle because with every click and scroll and turn, you are inundated with sexual images, whether it's a company, have you noticed, marketing Bluetooth speakers, a burger, cologne or a car. It always comes with cleavage. It always is being marketed. Marketed with somebody with their clothes off. That is the culture in which we live in. Sex doesn't just sell in our culture. Sex sells absolutely everything. And some of us have gotten so desensitized to it, it is a crazy jungle culture. Reminds me of that old school song. I don't know who sang it, but it says, me and you, baby ain't nothing but mammals. Let's do it like they do it on the Discovery Channel. Remember that song? I don't know who wrote it. It just came to me in this service. It didn't come to me in no other service. Nothing but mammals do it like we do it on the Discovery Show. You are not an animal. You are not a monkey. But this culture acts like it. There used to be a season where you wanted to just walk through the mall, and if you wanted to hide an image for your son, you just have to look out for the Victoria Secret. Store or Sports Illustrated magazine. Oh, it's a different culture today. Imagine being in New York City, Times Square just this month, when all of a sudden, as 74 foot inflatable promoting the new skim swimwear collection showed a scantily clad owner's body exploded in Times Square. How do you hide your son from that? We are living in a jungle culture. Over sexualized, always in your face. It is a jungle out here. If you don't believe It's a jungle. 84% of 14 to 18 year old males and 57% of 14 to 18 year old females have viewed pornography. That means in our culture, it has become a common experience of a minor to view other people having sex on a screen. It's a jungle. Pornography is a multi billion dollar industry. I know some of y'all are super safe. You're like, oh, that's the worldly people. That's not here in the church. Covenant eyes reports that 75% of Christian men watch pornography. 40% of Christian women consume pornography. 22% of Christians view pornography at least once a week. One commentator said, a young man in America today, in five minutes can see more naked women than his great grandfather could see in his entire lifetime. Y'all, we were not wired for this. This is the jungle that has been created around us. And are we gonna keep taking our cues from the culture or are we gonna come to the word of God and look at the mirror and say, God, what was your vision for sex? What was your vision for marriage? What was your original idea? Now some of y'all like, wait a minute, PR Why are you preaching on this? I'm preaching on this because I'm giving you what I didn't get. Because when I grew up in church, anybody like me, nobody talked about sex. When I was growing up in church, they never talked. And if they did talk about it, it was, stop it, don't do it. And so the world was screaming, do whatever you want to do. And the church was saying, y'all, stop it. Stay away from it. So I'm just giving you what I didn't get growing up today. Because when I grew up, it was just, don't do it. Why? Because the Bible said, you ever had somebody just hit you upside the head with the Bible said, I agree. I love the word of God. It is powerful. I always preach the word of God. I'm gonna stand 10 toes down always on the word of God. But here's one thing I do love about our culture. You don't even have to hit People today with the Bible said, just hit them with the research. Hit them with the research. Research today will show you that there is something wrong in our culture. Research today will show you that this sexual liberation has not made us better. It has made us sicker. It did this liberation to do whatever we want, it's not helped us, it's hurt us. It's like when I took my kids to the State fair of Texas one time and I just told them, hey, you know what? Whatever y'all want today, just. Just get it. You ever had one of those days with your kids, just, you ain't gonna have vegetables today. If you want it, just get it. The judgment I feel right now, y'all don't do that, okay? You give your kids kale salad and all that. But I had one of those days. I'm like, you know what? Whatever y'all want. Come on, get a funnel cake. Get an extra funnel cake. Get it. Come on, take it. Whatever you want. Just eat it. Whatever. Until the next day, I had to reap the consequences of me letting them just have liberation. Here they are throwing up on me and laying on me. My tummy hurts. I bet it does. You had 100 pounds of sugar yesterday. Crazy how the liberation made them sicker. I think that's what's happening in our culture today and in our culture's way of saying, hook up with whoever you want, do what you want. And yet we're more lonely, we're more isolated, we're more broken, and we're sicker than ever before. It's amazing how the science is actually substantiating the biblical sexual ethic. The research is showing it. As a matter of fact, research is now consistently indicating that individuals in committed monogamous relationships, particularly marriages, report higher levels of sexual satisfaction compared to their single non committed counterparts. Imagine that. That studies would substantiate the truth of scripture as it relates to sex. It's like you would think, like God designed it or something. Like, you would think, like, it was his idea. News flash. It was. It was his idea. And that's what I want you to get today in your heart and in your mind that sex was not sex. Satan's idea. This was God's idea. He designed it. I wish you would lead this service today talking about man. PR talked about sex was nasty and we need to clean it up and. No, don't. I will find you if you leave here and say that. That is not the message. I want you to have sex. Please believe me. Your boy wants you to have sex. Just a certain type of sex. I want you to have designer sex. Designer. Say, that's what I want. You know, designer is different than knockoff. Come on. I'm not hating on Fashion Nova, but it's a different experience when you get something that's designer. Come on, somebody. That's what I want you. I want you to have it the way God intended for you to have it. Because he's the designer of it. Designer sex is the best sex. And what is the purpose of sex? Let's look at the designer. It's going to be very practical today, the way God intended it. The first thing I want you to understand is that sexual is for procreation and pleasure as God designed it. Sex is for procreation and pleasure. When Adam and Eve were in the garden, he gave them this commandment, y'all be fruitful and multiply. He was the first one that said that was God. He set that atmosphere, said, I put y'all together. I gave you free room and boarding. You hear when I leave, it better not just be y'all two be fruitful and multiply. Sex is for what? Procreation and pleasure. For procreation and pleasure. Think about this. Look at how we get to participate in the creation process because we were made in the image of our creative creator. Remember in Genesis when God says this statement? He says, let us make man in our image. You ever read that and been like, oh, who is the us? It's because your God is three in one. Three in one. Is that another wasp? I feel like at this point, Gilly's got to give us free rent for this demonic wasp that is terrorizing us. Every single service, it's ascending back to the heights. Y'all stay focused. God says, let. Let me create man in our image. And God, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Three in one creates man, brings life. And watch this. He allows us to participate in this because we were created in his image. And he says, here's the context. A man and a woman in covenant together in my presence can create new life. We got three little humans, all three of them offsprings of passion. Amen. And all three of them carry our image and our likeness. It's funny to watch people go, oh, your son looks like you. Oh, this daughter looks like you. Oh, this daughter looks like PT and here's what's funny. None of them have tried to do it. I've not seen one of my kids wake up in the middle of the night going, I'm like, what are you Doing? Oh, just trying to get my nose like yours. It came that way. Can I give you some encouragement? You were made in the image of God. He created you in his image. You are wonderfully and fearfully made. Some of y'all are trying to jack up something that God already made beautiful. You need to be happy, to be who God created you to be. You have never looked at a human that has not had the imago date the image of God imprinted on them. And he gives us an opportunity through this beautiful union in covenant in his context of marriage, to procreate. But here's the part. It's for procreation and pleasure. That part I want to take a praise break that God added pleasure to it. See, you can't even fully appreciate that because some of y'all think that pleasure came from the enemy. And I came to tell you, it did not come from the enemy. It came from God. God created orgasm. Hello, PG13 message today. God created climax. God is the one. It wasn't. He created the parts. See, we gotta get this idea that God is some prude in heaven going, that is just gross. No, he's the one that created it and made it. To think that God is anti sex is like saying Steve Jobs is anti iPhone. That's like saying Elon Musk is anti Tesla. No, no, no, no. God created it and he created it not just for procreation, for pleasure. For pleasure. This is why we've been in Song of Songs, because Song of Songs is in scripture showing us the pleasure of a man and a woman in covenant in marriage together, loving each other and the pleasure of it. Could you give us some scripture? Absolutely. I didn't read this because I want to make sure all the fourth and fifth, sixth graders were gone. But look at how. Look at how it starts in Song of Songs, chapter four, verse number one. This is Solomon talking to his bride. Look at what he says. How beautiful you are, my darling. We should bring that word back. Darling, how beautiful you are, my darling. Oh, how beautiful. Your eyes behind your veil are doves. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from the hills of Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn, coming up from washing. That means her teeth are clean, y'all. Amen. Remember in the message I said you Hygiene is your choice. Her teeth are clean. Each has its twin. Not one of them is alone. Her teeth are straight and he loves it. Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon. Your mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil are like the hives of a pomegranate. Your neck is like the tower of David, built with courses of stone. On it hang a thousand shields. All of them shields of warriors. Your breasts are like two fawns. This is in your Bible. Like twin fawns. Of a gazelle that browse among the lilies until the day breaks and. And the shadows flee. Translation. All night long. I. I'm trying to help y'all out. I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of incense. You are altogether beautiful, my darling. There is no flaw in you. Now, if that makes you uncomfortable, deal with it. That's in the Bible. Cause that's actually holy. That is between a man and a woman together in covenant. And even in that, God is showing us. Fellas, listen up. Showing us the process by which he is talking about his lover. Do you notice where he starts? He says, girl, your hair is like a flock of goats. In that time period, the only time a woman would let down her hair was in front of her husband. So this is the first time he's seeing her hair let down. He's like, I didn't even know you had all that. And I didn't know all that was me. Of the goat's hair I saw coming off the mountain. He says, your teeth. He starts, hold on with her eyes. Ladies, run away from a dude that don't have good eye contact. Do you notice that there is nothing harsh about this? That there is a sensitivity that he starts with her face. Now he gets down to the fawns. But if we break down his breakdown of her anatomy, he spends more time talking about her face than he does her fawns. That means there is something so tender, there is something so holy, there is something so pure about this man's love for his bride. We have lost that in our culture. Today, scientists are looking at what pornography has done, even to our intercourse with people, the violence of sex. Because people are looking at images where people have been objectified and sex has been commodified. And whenever sex is made a commodity, you will use people as objects instead of loving them as a person. And here is a husband going, girl, you got beautiful eyes and your hair looks good. And I love that you got all your teeth. And I love the fawns. A fawn is a deer. That's even speaking to the sensitivity of his approach a deer. How many know you don't run up on a deer? Ah, no. There's a sensitivity when you approach a deer. This is pleasure that God created. Oh, Lord, Help me today. Proverbs, chapter 5. Proverbs. I just want to prove to you that God created pleasure. Look at Proverbs chapter 5. It says, Drink water from your own well. Share your love only. With who? Your wife? Why spill the water of your springs in the streets? Why post that thirst trap picture? That was my translation. Sorry. Having sex with just anyone, you should reserve it for yourselves. Never share it with strangers. Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. She is a loving dear, a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you always. Whose your wives? May you always be captivated by her love. Isn't that what every person wants? Isn't that what you want, ladies? Him to be captivated by you and his eyes to be only on you. Fellas. Isn't that what you want? Her eyes to be focused on you, Ladies? Watch where his eyes go even in the dating process. Watch who he's following and bring it to the 21st century. Who is this you following? What are you looking at here? Look. Look at that algorithm. Every once in a while. That algorithm won't lie to you. But God says, I created. I created sex. I created pleasure. But here's the problem. God. Because some of y'all like, I love this sermon. God given pleasure must have God given parameters. I lost all you there. Like, give me pleasure. Give me pleasure. You can have pleasure, but the pleasure has to have parameters. God given pleasure has God given parameters. Anytime you have pleasure without parameters, you'll have problems. Anytime you have pleasure without parameters, you'll have abuse. Anytime you got pleasure without parameters, you have perversion. Anytime you got pleasure without parameters, you have chaos. Anytime you got pleasure without parameters, you are going to have pain. And we live in a culture that's like, I want the pleasure, but I don't want the parameters. You can't have it both ways. There has to be some type of parameter. There has to be boundaries. Freedom comes with boundaries. Oh, I should preach a whole message on that right there. There is a freedom when you have boundaries. There is a freedom when you say, this is as far as I'll go. There is a freedom in saying, I made a decision before I get in the situation that I don't cross this line. I don't do sleepovers. I don't do this past this time. I got bound. I don't travel by myself. Boundaries. There's a freedom in it. Imagine your life with no boundaries. Imagine playing basketball with your homies. No boundaries. He all out of bounds. No, I'M not bet. We are the only created entity that fights boundaries and still want the pleasure. You don't see fish talking about, oh, I wish I could just get out of this water. They won't let me live. The sky is bluer. I wish I could be up there. It's only humanity that fights the parameters. I can give you a billion illustrations, but let me give you the most current one, because I gotta try to give you illustrations that's happening in my real life. Have y'all seen these little things? I just got this for my kids. You ever got a gift for your kids and realize it was really for you? I've been having fun with this thing, y'all. This is amazing. I didn't realize. I thought it was for them. It's for me. I love. I love the beat saber game. I've been playing a little beat saber game, you know, where you hit the little. No. Okay. I've been playing the Creed game. I'm Michael B. Jordan. For just a few minutes, and I've been playing all that. And it's amazing. Every time I put this virtual reality headset on, it makes me do something that low key gets on my nerves. It has me create the perimeter boundary. I can't even start the game. This is how you gotta do it. I don't wanna put it on'cause I just got a fresh cut, but it'll have me looking around, creating. Sometimes it'll have me create the boundary that I already created. I'm like, yo, my living room ain't changed. Why am I creating another boundary? Because I cannot enjoy the game unless there is a boundary. And if I'm gonna enjoy the pleasure of the game, the first thing that must be established is a boundary is a parameter. If I choose to ignore the parameters, this is what happens right here. Oh, oh. He, he. Look at your neighbor. Say parameters. God is not trying to kill your pleasure, but pleasure without parameters will always cause pain. I'm trying to bring some levity to a subject that has caused so much pain for people. You can break a TV set, you can get another one. It's hard when there's a breaking and a ripping in your soul. I'm not naive to the fact that. That a lot of the deepest pain in this room is related to sexual intimacy. A lot of the deepest shame in this room is related to sexual intimacy. And yet we have a culture that's going against the designer saying, oh, man, it's just visual. It's just physical. It's just casual. No, it Is not. And if you're honest, deep in your core, you know it's not physical. You know it's something deeper. And if you don't know, you need to sit in the seat that I sit in pastorally and hear the pain and the brokenness and the carnage and the damage because people treated it like it was physical. And it's always deeper than that. Why is it anytime somebody gets ready to tell me, hey, P.R. i need to share something that I've never shared with anybody I already know. It is some pain that happened because a parameter, sexually, was broken. It's never. I stole some skittles from Kroger when I was five. It's never that. It's always something where our parameters sexually was broken. Why is it grown adults who I know and love are still doing the work in counseling, trying to get over the pain of the molestation and the abuse because somebody violated them physically? It is not just physical. There's something about our bodies, and God created it. And many of us are fighting against God's original design. Sex has parameters. And God says, the parameters I've created is in covenant, in marriage between a man and a woman. The safety of covenant, that you don't have to worry the next day, are you going to leave? Are you going to stay? That is the way he designed it, that if I'm going to be intimate with you physically, then I've already made a commitment to you in marriage through covenant. This was God's design. Why? Because sex has permanence. Sex has permanence. There's something biologically bonding that happens. The Bible is clear. The two become one. And it's hard to UN1. What has become one? Sex has permanence. One sex therapist wrote it like this. When you're sexually intimate with somebody, you are involuntarily making chemical commitments. You are involuntarily making chemical commitments. No, I'm not. We just hooking up your chemistry. Don't even say that. Let's go to science class real quick. There's something a hormone in your body produce called oxytocin. Men have it, women have it. It's the love hormone or the bonding hormone. Ladies, you have way more oxytocin, generally speaking, than we do. That's why y'all are nicer than we are. It's produced when you hug somebody. It's produced in nursing a child. It's produced in sexual intimacy. Women, you have way more of it. That's why they have. When you have the baby, you do the Skin on skin. So you can get all that oxytocin. Men have oxytocin, too, but the only time that we have the same levels of ladies is there in sexual intimacy. That's why in the moment, he's like, I love you. But the next day he's like, how come he didn't call me? Because that was the oxytocin that was talking in that moment. It is a bonding. Something is happening. It is not just physical. Sex is glue. I don't know how many illustrations I got today, but it's talking about sex. I need all the ones I can get. It is. There is a sticking that happens. It is a bonding that occurs. That's why you can remember the first time, because a sticking occurred. That's why you can go to dinner with somebody, they don't call you back the next day. It's cool. You can text back and forth. Oh, that's cool. But once you are intimate and let them ghost you, something in your core is damaged. If you go back to the first time, you'll remember that you felt married, because that's the way God designed it. And maybe some of you are like, man, not me, not me. I can do it with no attachment. I believe you. Because if I rip this off and then bond to somebody else and then rip that off and bond to somebody else, and this is gonna be the one. But rip that off and then bond to somebody else, and then rip that off and bond to somebody else, of course it's gonna lose its stickiness. Of course it's going to lose its punt. No wonder you film them too it and hear my heart today. This is not to shame you. That is not my heart. Shame does not come from God. Condemnation does not come from God. But this is me as a loving pastor, trying to get you to realize you were bought with a price to honor and value the body that God gave you that he sacrificed his blood for. There is no savior sex outside of marriage. They don't make condoms for your soul. They don't make condoms for your heart. They don't make condoms for the walk of shame when you walk away and go, why did I do that? Sex has a permanence. It is two becoming one. This is what the apostle Paul is begging the church at Corinth to realize. Y'all, the church of Corinth was crazy. They had a temple with a thousand prostitutes in it. And they were married and still going to have these rendezvous with prostitutes. And Paul was going, what are y'all doing? Because in Their culture, it was simply like food. If you're hungry, you eat. If you're horny, then just have sex with whoever's around. And Paul's going, no, Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Don't you realize you become one with that person when you're with them? And this is me begging you to understand the value of your body. That his body was broken for your body and that he loves you with an everlasting love. This is me begging you, like Paul said to that same church, flee from sexual immorality. He said, yo, you can't even handle it. This is a sin against your own body. You have to flee. Isn't that crazy that he would say, flee from sexual immorality? It. He said, don't resist it. No, we're just gonna watch a movie. No, we're not gonna do anything. Yeah, right. Run, Flee. You know what's gonna go down, because God designed your body to do it, so you better have some decisions before you get in it. If that's not your spouse to go, wait a minute. I know what's gonna happen, so let's not even play like it's not. I gotta flee. Oh, I'll give y'all this. I didn't give the other service. This. I'll never forget hearing a pastor tell a story of being in the airport. That little demonic hornet. This pastor was in the airport, and he had got off this plane, and this lady was talking to him the whole time. And he was married, and she went to let him know what hotel she was staying at. He happened to be at that hotel, too. And she's like, well, I just enjoyed our conversation. I would love for you to come by my room that night. And he was married. This wasn't his wife. And you know, preachers tell stories. I don't know if it's true, but I like to think this is true. He said it was true. All of a sudden when she made that advance, apparently in the airport, he did this. Help. Help. Somebody help me. Help. And then just ran away and left the lady there. And people were looking at him like he was crazy. It's like, bro, what in the world was that? And he told him, I've learned something. If you don't embarrass sin, sin will embarrass you. So I know I look stupid right now going, ah, hell, but I'd rather do this in the airport than be in the front page of the paper because I had an affair and I tore my family apart. And I don't know who this for, but you better flee. You better run. Whatever you have to cut off, cut off. Sex is permanent. Last one. Sex in the context of marriage, hear me, is sacrifice. Sex is sacrificial. Later, in Corinthians, you don't have to put it up. Paul will let the church of Corinth know that. Husbands, your body is not yours. It belongs to your wife. Wives, your body is not yours, it belongs to your husband. And that's when all the husbands go. That's what I'm talking about. Nobody's mom. But the question is, are you fulfilling her need? Look at the brilliance of God. Why would he make. I'm speaking in generalities. Men like microwaves and women like crock pots sexually, because, you know, it don't take much for us. But ladies, there's. There's an emotional. Why would he do that? Because he's trying to show us. Lust takes, love gives, it serves. And as I meet your emotional needs that cause a connection and you meet my needs, there is a beautiful exchange and intimacy of two servants who are in love with each other. Hear me, married people. The enemy will do everything in his power to get you to stop being intimate. Hear me, single people. The enemy will do everything in his power to make sure you have as many partners as you can before you bring. So you can bring all that baggage into a marriage. Sex is sacrifice. Every July, and I'll close with this, every July, PT and I, we take a sabbatical, do a vacation with the kids, and we take our trip. And it's awesome because it's always around Shark Week in July. So we always end up watching Shark Week somewhere. And I saw an episode one time about sharks and how they mate. Do you know how sharks mate? It's a crazy design. The way sharks mate is the male sharks bite into the skin of the female sharks. That's the only way they can latch on. They ain't got hands. Aren't you glad you came to church today? You're just learning so much. They. They actually bite into the female sharks. And look at the design of God. Read it when you get to the crib. Study it. Female sharks skin, because of this, is two times thicker than male sharks because that's the way they're intimate. They bite into the female shark to hold onto. So that means for sharks, sex comes with scars. And I think that's a metaphor. For so many of our lives, sex has come with scars instead of this beautiful thing, instead of designer sex that makes us get excited because of the way God created it. But some of us think of the shame and the scars. Thinking of stories of people who had one night stands, got pregnant, had an abortion and thought it was over, but are still dealing with the trauma of that abortion. Thinking of people who have been molested and abused and are still processing the pain of that Scarlet. Thinking of people and ministry. I could go down the list. A pastor, because he didn't guard his marriage, let things go too far, had an affair with his youth pastor's wife, destroyed the family, destroyed the church. A scar. I think of a young man who got introduced to pornography at a young age, became addicted to it and kept it a secret and it almost ruined his marriage until he brought it out in the open for healing my scar. I'm not standing up here preaching to you as somebody that is perfect, that has never dealt with anything. But I am standing here as a testimony that when you bring your brokenness and you bring your hurt and you bring your all that into the light and say, God, I need you right now. Watch God do a miracle. Hear me when I tell you this is not a message of shame. This is a message to give you hope that there's every single marriage. God can redeem it, that you are not too far gone. No wonder when Jesus got up from the grave, he went to doubting Thomas and said, come see my scars and let my scar be a testimony to you that I can defeat death and I can bring restoration to it. I don't know who this is for today, but put your hope in God. He can heal, he can redeem, he can restore if you will give it to him. Don't let the enemy tell you you're too far gone. Don't let the enemy tell you no, man, you're too perverted. No, no, no. I've seen God do it. Not just in my life, but in so many others. And the same God that did it for me, I believe, can do it for you today. If you'll come to him, say, God, I present my body to you. I want my body to honor you. Doesn't matter what your past has been from this day forward, from this day forward, things can change. I'm gonna ask every person that can. Would you stand to your feet? I'm going to ask every. Head be bowed, eyes be closed, would you please honor this moment? I'm just going to. We're about to dismiss in a moment. I just need to know who I came for today. I believe there was so much warfare over this message, even through the silliness of this hornet flying around because the enemy would love for you to walk shame and condemnation. He would love for you to continue to go from partner to partner. He would love for you to stay stuck in that cycle of sin, to live in the shame of clicking and deleting browser history. But there was already a testimony today. God can bring freedom. God can bring freedom. And it starts with surrender. So with heads bowed and eyes closed today, the first thing I want to ask is, have you surrendered your life to Jesus? Here's what I know is that he loved you so much, he didn't just say it from heaven. Love is sacrifice. He came from heaven to earth. God became man. He became God in flesh. Because he said, if somebody's got to pay the penalty for the sin of humanity, I would rather it be me. And he didn't wait for you to get your act together. To do has already been done. If you ever want to know how loved you are, look at the cross. With his arms stretched out wide, he says, that's how much I love you. I proved it with my blood and my body. So with heads bowed and eyes closed today, if you'd be so honest, say, pr. I've never surrendered my life to Jesus. But today I'm not asking you, do you have relationship with church? I'm asking you, have you surrendered your life to this Savior? If that's you, I want to give you that opportunity today. Would you just lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I could see it? If you say, that's me, I know you're talking to me. I need to give Jesus my life today. Thank you. Thank you, God. Anybody else? I see hands going up all over this place today. Thank you. Thank you for responding to this love. Anybody else? Just lift it up, put it right back down. Thank you, God. Heads are still bowed, eyes are still closed. If you're here today and you say, you know what? I've put my faith in Jesus, but I'm doing things that is not honoring God with my body. And today there needs to be a fresh commitment to say, God, I'm not just going to honor you with my words. I'm going to honor you with my body. Because I was bought with a price. I'm going to honor my sister in Christ. She's not my wife. I'm not going to sleep with her because I honor my body and I honor her body. I'm gonna protect my marriage. I can't play around with that flirting at work because it's it's gonna lead me down a road that's gonna destroy the intimacy and the covenant I made. I can't lie, continue to watch people on screens having sex. That's somebody's daughter, that's somebody's son. That's somebody made in the image of God. And I refuse to objectify somebody that carries the image of God. Maybe there's an area in your life you say, I'm not honoring God with my body. But today, Today is a new day. There's no shame, there's no condemnation. Today's a new day to say, God, I want to honor you with my body vest. You would lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I can see it. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, Lord. I'm going to lead you in this prayer. I'm going to give you the words, but I want you to say it from your heart. Would you say this? In fact, could we all just lift up our hands all over this place today just as a sign to say, God, I'm giving you. If you feel comfortable saying, God, I'm giving you my body. Thank you, Father. Lord, even before I lead them in this prayer, I'm praying right now, God, that your healing power would flood this room today. God, I pray that you would go and you would heal the wounds and the pain and the trauma. God, for things that have been done to us, Lord, some things, they've done to other people. But, God, I thank you. There is no condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in you. God, thank you that you can restore. Thank you that you can redeem. God, thank you that some of us are feeling right now, conviction, which is a good thing. Lord, I pray that you would help us feel again, feel your presence again. Be convicted again. God, break our hearts again. God, oh, God, that you would make us clean vessels, that you would make us pure vessels. God, would you restore purity to your church? God, from the pulpit to those who listen. God, restore purity and holiness to your church. God, let us love what you love and hate what you hate. God, create in us a new heart. God, renew a right spirit in us. God, oh, God, let our lives look different than the chaos of the world. God, let our marriages look different than the chaos of the world. God, let our friendship look different than the chaos in the world. Let us date differently. God, let us honor our brothers and sisters, sisters in Christ. God, let us be so full in our validation that comes from you, that we don't have to. God, try to get it from other people. Fill us with your love. Open up the window of heaven, God, and speak over us. This is my beloved son. This is my beloved daughter and who I'm well pleased. God, oh God, thank you that you can make us pure. Thank you that you can wash us clean, oh God, cleanse us with your word. Cleanse us in your presence, God. Make us holy as you are holy. God. Oh Father, start with me. God, thank you for your presence, Jesus. Thank you for your love, oh God, let us receive the love vertically so that we can give it horizontally. Father, I pray right now over every marriage right now and Lord, that you would bring healing and restoration. God, Lord, even right now I'm talking to somebody who's just about to go ahead and go through with the divorce. God, I pray right now for restoration over that marriage, God, that you would break down pride, Lord, a heart to forgive. Lord, help us husbands to honor our wives. Oh God, help wives to respect their husbands and call them into the man of God. They're called to be. Let our sons and our daughters see healthy marriages in the home. Let this be a house where healing and restoration and transparency. Oh God, I pray into that right now, God, that this is a safe place and this is a safe space. God. Or that people come with their issues and their junk. They will find not judgment, but they would be called higher and they would find love and mercy and grace. Thank you that you love us where we are, but you love us enough not to keep us where we are. We love you, Jesus. Would you just say this? Say Jesus, today I surrender. Thank you so much for loving me enough to pay the price for my sin with your body, Lord. Thank you. Because your blood was shed, a sin can be forgiven, past, present and future. Lord, today I acknowledge you are my Lord. You are my Savior. I give you my heart, I give you my mind, I give you my soul. And I present to you my body. Let it be a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing in your sight. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. Come on, somebody give God praise in this place today. Oh, come on, you could do better than that. Can we give Jesus praise?