The bible says that God's people are "peculiar people".
We are called to be very different from people who do now know, love, or serve God.
Out of all the nations of the earth, God chose Israel to be his people.
They were to be very different from the nations around them.
God's people are to think different.
God's people are to have different priorities.
God's people think very differently about money, marraige, values, and virtually every area of life.
And this "peculiar" difference should certainly have profound implications for the way God's people express and experience their sexual gift.
People without God can have sex however they want to have sex, but God's people can't to that.
People without God can commit fornication, or adultry, but God's poeple can't do that.
People without God can participate in orgies or beastiality, but God's people can't do that.
If you belong to call, you are his "treasured posession", he has "called you out", he has "set you apart", and you are part of his "peculiar people".
In this series Tony explores the implications of being the "peculiar people" of God, and the implications of that reality upon our sexual gift.
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and puriify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Titus 2:14
In this episode Tony shares several very impotant things:
(1) He gives a shout out to his old friend, Larry, who just went to heaven. God bless Larry! God bless his life! Larry loved the Lord and served the Lord his whole life, and now Larry is in the presence to of the Lord!
To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. II Corinthians 5:8
(2) He shares a beautiful worship song, I Love You Lord, sung by Jared Reynolds.
(3) He shares very openly about a "fear" he has that he might not have the strength he needs to continue to honor God as a single man with the expression of his sexual gift.
(4) He explores the profound teaching of the bible that explains how our love of God is what empowers our obedience to God.
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” Luke 10:25-28
If you love me, keep my commands. John 14:15
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. John 14:21
Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching." John 14:23
(5) He shares an important exhortation for us, as the sons of God, to love God so we will be empowered to obey God!
Be blessed as you listen to this episode, The Power of Loving God!
Have you ever felt like you were standing on the ledge of a building about 50 stories tall?
Have you ever felt like you’re about to fall off the ledge?
Have you ever felt like you might jump?
Sometimes life feels overwhelming.
Sometimes we get flooded.
Sometimes we’re overwhelmed.
Sometimes our emotions charge in to seize us and make us feel horrible feelings we don’t want to feel.
Sometimes we don’t know what to do.
What do we do when we don’t know what to do?
In this episode Tony shares a recent story from his life when he became lost to himself, and got so upset he was almost beside himself.
How do we reel ourselves back in when we’ve become lost to ourself?
How do we get our legs back under us when we feel like we’ve been chopped down?
In this episode Tony talks about what it means to “talk yourself off the ledge” when life seems overwhelming and unmanageable.
It’s at these times that we can be in great danger of acting our in our sexual compulsion and sexual addiction.
It’s at these times we can be tempted to self-medicate, to anesthetize, and to escape by using our sexual gift in an unhealthy way.
You no longer have to be the man you used to be, because you can learn to “talk yourself off the ledge”.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
In this episode of the podcast Tony shares 4 words that he never thought he'd ever say in his entire life:
I'm a divorced man.
Tony and Sheri were married on September 17th, 1983, and they were divorced on July 20th, 2023.
That means they were married for 39 years, 10 months, and 3 days, or said another way, they were married for just 59 days short of 40 years.
On the day Tony recorded this episode of the podcast he had been a divorced man for 12 days.
In this heartfelt episode Tony shares several important reflections from the very difficult journey through the most painful and traumatic days of his entire life.
In addition he reflects upon the hope of the gospel, and the reality that in the economy of God's Kingdom, life comes out of death.
What do we do when life beats us up?
What do we do when profoundly diffiuclt things happen in our lives that we cannot change?
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24
5 Those who cry as they plant their crops
will sing with joy when they gather them in.
6 Those who go out weeping
as they carry seeds to plant
will come back singing with joy.
They will bring the new crop back with them. Psalm 126:5-6
Song by Clint Black - When I Said I Do
Tony was recently invited to speak on Sunday morning at Trinity Community Church, and in this series he shares the message he presented on that day entitled, "Run to God".
We live in a deeply broken world, and sometimes life has a way of beating us up.
What do you do when you don't understand what's going on in your life?
What do you do when you're overwhelmed with your situation?
What do you do when you feel like the waters are up to your neck?
What do you do when it seems like God isn't showing up to help you?
In this message Tony shares a little bit of what his journey has looked like over the past two years, which has been the most difficult time of his entire life, and what it means to hold on to God, and to "Run to God", no matter what.
1 Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me.
3 I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.
4 Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal. Psalm 69:1-4
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30