Do you remember the movie, Castaway?
In the movie Tom Hanks plays a character named Chuck Noland, who works for Fed Ex.
As the story unfolds, he's involved in a plane crash and he's the sole survior.
He washes ashore on a deserted island and remains stranded there for over 4 years.
His only "companion" is a volleyball he names "Wilson", who he talks to on a regular basis.
He tries several times to escape the island but it's an exercise in futility because of the power of the crashing "waves" that are constatnly coming against him.
Eventually he devises a plan in his attempt to overcome the waves, and he's finally successful.
In much the same way, this story becomes a metaphor for many men who are trapped on the island of sexual compulsion and addiction.
It feels like we're trapped.
It feels like we're in a bondage that we can never escape.
It feels like the constant waves that are coming against us are insurmountable and impossible to overcome.
In this series Tony reflects on this metaphor and shares 11 of the "waves" crashing against men that make it seem like they can never get free from the "island" they've been trapped on.
But even more importantly, Tony shares God's remdey for each one of these waves, and reveals that in the end, just like Chuck Noland, we can escape the island we've been trapped on for years.
Have you been a Castaway?
May you be encouraged and inspired by this series toward the true freedom and rescue God has intended for you!
Do you remember the movie, Castaway?
In the movie Tom Hanks plays a character named Chuck Noland, who works for Fed Ex.
As the story unfolds, he's involved in a plane crash and he's the sole survior.
He washes ashore on a deserted island and remains stranded there for over 4 years.
His only "companion" is a volleyball he names "Wilson", who he talks to on a regular basis.
He tries several times to escape the island but it's an exercise in futility because of the power of the crashing "waves" that are constatnly coming against him.
Eventually he devises a plan in his attempt to overcome the waves, and he's finally successful.
In much the same way, this story becomes a metaphor for many men who are trapped on the island of sexual compulsion and addiction.
It feels like we're trapped.
It feels like we're in a bondage that we can never escape.
It feels like the constant waves that are coming against us are insurmountable and impossible to overcome.
In this series Tony reflects on this metaphor and shares 11 of the "waves" crashing against men that make it seem like they can never get free from the "island" they've been trapped on.
But even more importantly, Tony shares God's remdey for each one of these waves, and reveals that in the end, just like Chuck Noland, we can escape the island we've been trapped on for years.
Have you been a Castaway?
May you be encouraged and inspired by this series toward the true freedom and rescue God has intended for you!
In this series of episodes Tony talks about why God invented sex.
God is brilliant.
God is a genius.
The wisdom and power of God are incomprehensible.
At some point in the flow of eternity God decides he's going to create the universe, and humanity.
And just think for a moment about how God could have created humanity if he wanted to.
If God wanted the human race he could have just created 8 billion people all at once, just like he created Adam and Eve.
But for some reason God comes up with this brilliant idea and he decides he's going to create the human race through the procreation of the human race.
So God creates Adam and Eve, and God creates sex.
He designs the male body with the right parts, and the right hormones, and the right nerves, and wires it all together with the male brain to create a sexual creature.
And he creates the femlae body witht he right parts, and the right hormones, and the right nerves, and wires it all together with the female brain to create a sexual creature.
And the male has the ability to become aroused and to become erect, and the female has the ability to become aroused and to lubricate.
And the female has the ability to ovulate and to become pregnant.
And the whole thing is absolutely amazing, and fascinatiing, and mysterious, and wonderful, and delicious.
In this series Tony reveals the 3 primary reasons that God invented sex.
As we gain a proper understanding of what sex is, and why God invented sex, it brings clarity to our hearts and minds and creates the frame of reference that allows us to both express and experinece our sexual gift in a way that's consistence with the very reasons God has given us this wonderful gift!
In this series of episodes Tony talks about why God invented sex.
God is brilliant.
God is a genius.
The wisdom and power of God are incomprehensible.
At some point in the flow of eternity God decides he's going to create the universe, and humanity.
And just think for a moment about how God could have created humanity if he wanted to.
If God wanted the human race he could have just created 8 billion people all at once, just like he created Adam and Eve.
But for some reason God comes up with this brilliant idea and he decides he's going to create the human race through the procreation of the human race.
So God creates Adam and Eve, and God creates sex.
He designs the male body with the right parts, and the right hormones, and the right nerves, and wires it all together with the male brain to create a sexual creature.
And he creates the femlae body witht he right parts, and the right hormones, and the right nerves, and wires it all together with the female brain to create a sexual creature.
And the male has the ability to become aroused and to become erect, and the female has the ability to become aroused and to lubricate.
And the female has the ability to ovulate and to become pregnant.
And the whole thing is absolutely amazing, and fascinatiing, and mysterious, and wonderful, and delicious.
In this series Tony reveals the 3 primary reasons that God invented sex.
As we gain a proper understanding of what sex is, and why God invented sex, it brings clarity to our hearts and minds and creates the frame of reference that allows us to both express and experinece our sexual gift in a way that's consistence with the very reasons God has given us this wonderful gift!
In this series of episodes Tony talks about why God invented sex.
God is brilliant.
God is a genius.
The wisdom and power of God are incomprehensible.
At some point in the flow of eternity God decides he's going to create the universe, and humanity.
And just think for a moment about how God could have created humanity if he wanted to.
If God wanted the human race he could have just created 8 billion people all at once, just like he created Adam and Eve.
But for some reason God comes up with this brilliant idea and he decides he's going to create the human race through the procreation of the human race.
So God creates Adam and Eve, and God creates sex.
He designs the male body with the right parts, and the right hormones, and the right nerves, and wires it all together with the male brain to create a sexual creature.
And he creates the femlae body witht he right parts, and the right hormones, and the right nerves, and wires it all together with the female brain to create a sexual creature.
And the male has the ability to become aroused and to become erect, and the female has the ability to become aroused and to lubricate.
And the female has the ability to ovulate and to become pregnant.
And the whole thing is absolutely amazing, and fascinatiing, and mysterious, and wonderful, and delicious.
In this series Tony reveals the 3 primary reasons that God invented sex.
As we gain a proper understanding of what sex is, and why God invented sex, it brings clarity to our hearts and minds and creates the frame of reference that allows us to both express and experinece our sexual gift in a way that's consistence with the very reasons God has given us this wonderful gift!
God is pretty smart.
In fact, God is a genius!
Sex was his idea.
He invented sex.
God must be brilliant!
He's the one who concieved of it, and created it, and made it as wonderful, and mysterious, and delicious as it is.
Since God is the one who invented sex, God has an opinion about sex.
He has a heart, mind, will, design, and plan for human sexuality.
There are ways to experience sex that are consistant with God's plan for sex, and ways that are inconsistant with his plan.
What many of us have done (including the host of this podcast) is that we've taken the gift God created for us and we've turned it into something God never intended for it to be.
Some people abuse alcohol to the point where it becomes destructive.
Some people abuse food to the point where it becomes destructive.
Some people abuse gambling to the point where it becomes destructive.
And in much the same way, some people abuse the gift of sex to the point where it becomes destructive.
In this episode Tony talks about "lasciviousness", and what it means to "reel in" the unhealthy, dysfunctional, and harmful ways we've become accustomed to experiencing sex to a place that's healthier and more consistent with God's heart, mind, will, design, and plan for sex in our lives.
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
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
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
In this eipisde Tony shares 5 important purity obervations from 1 Peter 1:13-16.
In this passage the Apostle Peter shares 5 strategies that bridge the gap from your mind on the inside to holiness in your life on the outside.
(1) Prepare your mind for action.
(2) Self-control.
(3) Set your hope fully on the grace of Jesus Christ which will be revealed when he returns.
(4) Be obedient children of God who no longer conform to the evil desires you obeyed when you lived in ignorance.
(5) Be holy at your Father in heaven is holy.
God would not tell you to do something that was impossible for you to do.
If God tells you to be holy, it must be possible for you to be holy.
Holiness is within your reach.
You can make quality decisions.
You can exercise your "no" muscle.
You can be a man of purity!
Listen to this episode and be encouraged by these 5 Strategies of Puritythe Apostle Peter has given us.
13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” I Peter 1:13-16
Have you ever been in the place where you know you should not sexully do the thing your're about to do, but for some reason you're simply powerless to resist against it, and you go ahead and do the thing even though you know you shouldn't to the thing?
You go ahead and take the "risk" even though you know you should not be taking the "risk".
What's going on with that?
How and when did we learn to take such great risks with our sexual self?
Where were the seeds of such risk taking planted in our hearts and lives?
Imagine walking up to the very edge of the Grand Canyon, and literally standing on the very edge, and hanging your toes over!
Dude, you're way too close to the edge!
Are you crazy!
Do you realize that you're flirting with great danger if you alllow yourself to go up to the very edge over and over again.
You might get away with it one time.
You might get awasty with it two times.
You might get away with it seventeen times in a row, but if you keep going up to the very edge, you might just fall off!
In this episode Tony helps us to understand how and why we learned to take such big "risks" in our sexual behavior, and what we can do to pull ourselves back from the edge.
The power of taking risks can be broken in you life, through the power and the blood of Christ!
Tony has been leading a men's purity group for over the past 20 years.
In group he recently shared a teaching with the men entitled, "Take It To God".
To illustrate the ideas shared in this teaching Tony created the diagram that appears as the image attached to this episode.
The image is color coded, and illustrates the 3 primary strategies available to us as we seek to process the hurt, pain, and trauma in our lives.
(1) Self-Medication
(2) Denial
(3) Face it
In this series Tony shares how counterprodcutive options one and two are, and how we must learn to face our pain, and then how to take our pain to God is we're going to be healthier and more functional people.
Many men, if not most men, have used sex, porn, and their orgasm as a way to self-medicate the pain in their heart and life, and Tony helps us understand why we can no longer do this.
There is a way that seem right, that leads to death.
And there's a way that seems difficult, that leads to life.
In this series we discover how the way of God, and the way of God's Kingdom is to journey through our pain rather than trying to avoid it, escape it, or anesthetize it.
Welcome to episode 366!
Tony has been leading a men's purity group for over the past 20 years.
In group he recently shared a teaching with the men entitled, "Take It To God".
To illustrate the ideas shared in this teaching Tony created the diagram that appears as the image attached to this episode.
The image is color coded, and illustrates the 3 primary strategies available to us as we seek to process the hurt, pain, and trauma in our lives.
(1) Self-Medication
(2) Denial
(3) Face it
In this series Tony shares how counterprodcutive options one and two are, and how we must learn to face our pain, and then how to take our pain to God is we're going to be healthier and more functional people.
Many men, if not most men, have used sex, porn, and their orgasm as a way to self-medicate the pain in their heart and life, and Tony helps us understand why we can no longer do this.
There is a way that seem right, that leads to death.
And there's a way that seems difficult, that leads to life.
In this series we discover how the way of God, and the way of God's Kingdom is to journey through our pain rather than trying to avoid it, escape it, or anesthetize it.
Welcome to episode 365!
In this episode Tony focuses on a beatiful and very hopeful verse in the bible.
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. I Corinthians 10:13
Tony shares seven very important observations from this verse that affirm that you can process and manage the temptations that come to you in a healthy and godly way.
(1) You will be tempted.
(2) These temptations are common to every man.
(3) Sometimes it feels like these temptations are "seizing" you.
(4) You can always handle the temptations that come to you because of God's faithfulness.
(5) It's not "if" you're tempted, but 'when".
(6) There will always be a way of escape.
(7) God doesn't always remove the temptation, but he gives you the ability to stand up under the temptation.
Be encouraged brother!
God has given you everything you need to manage the temptations that come to you in a godly way!
Hey guys!
Tony here!
When I was 13 years old I dislocated my right shoulder, and the injury has literly followed me through life for the past 52 years.
It was finally time to do something about it (as in bone on bone and unbearable pain) and this past Friday (4 days ago) I had a complete shoulder replacement surgery.
Since I began the podcast over 7 years ago I've never missed publishing an episode, and I don't want to start now.
(Please note - I did take a sabbatical from the podcast for a period of time when my wife left me.)
To be honest I'm not feeling very good right now as I'm recooperating from this shoulder surgery, but I at least wanted to share a brief episode with you this week.
This is probably the shortest episode of the podcast ever published, but I do pray it will be a blessing and encouragement to you!
When we look at porn, she's always so beautiful.
Right?
We're captivated, and enraptured by the form of her naked body.
It makes us want so bad what we're seeing with our natural eyes.
We think that this is what we need to feel happy and fulflled.
But if we could see her in another way, with our spritual eyes, she might look more like the image posted to represent this episode of the podcast.
She's a metaphorical corpse.
She's rotten, and decaying.
As it says in Galatians 6:8, when we sow to please our flesh it leads to "corruption", which happens when a dead body begins to decay.
In this episode Tony shares an amazing list that a man he knows created.
It's a list of 43 hidden prices the man was paying in exhchange for his indulgence in pornography.
When we're acting out with porn in sexual compulsion, our natural eyes see something we think is beautiful, but behind the scenes in the spiritual realm there is decay, destruction, and corruption.
Do not be decieved!
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:7-9
Since he's moving soon (because of his wife's divorce) Tony has been getting rid of all kinds of stuff in the effort to downsize for the move.
Therefore when his sister and nephew invited him to go to the local flea market he was determined to try to not buy any more "stuff".
However, when he left the flea market 3 hours later he was the proud owner of 3 items he had puchased.
Tony bought each one of these 3 items because each one is a metaphor of a significant spritual reality that he wants to be reminded of on a regular basis.
(1) A yoke.
(2) A bit.
(3) A compass.
In this episode Tony shares what each of these items mean to him, and why he will be placing them in his new home when he moves in the near future
Matthew 11:28-30
Psalm 32:9
Daniel 4:34
John 15:1-2;5
If you're going to be the man of God, and the man of purity that God is calling you to be you have to get in the battle and stay in the battle.
You're going to have to fight temptations to make quality decisions.
You're going to have to exercise your "NO" muscle.
I wish I could tell you that when you have a success, and you properly navigate your way through and around a temptation, that this success will carry you for the next 90 days, and you won't even be tempted again for at least the next 90 days.
But it doesn't work that way, because chances are pretty good you're goint to be tempted again, and then again, and then again, and so forth and so on.
So, one success is awesome.
One success is wonderful.
Congratulations on your one success.
But one success is not enough.
You need to have that one success, and then the next success, and then the next success, and so forth and so on.
Or, said another way, we need the "accumulation of successes", and the more successes we accumulate, the more momentum we get in God, and the successes then become easier and easier to achieve.
In this episode Tony discusses the intricacies and nuances of "the accumulation of successes".
In this episode Tony talks about how the battle for purity becomes easier over time.
We become stronger.
We learn to exercise our "no muscle".
We accumulate more and more successes.
We learn that we can resist temptation.
Temptation is not bigger than you.
You're bigger than temptation, and God always makes a way to escape.
You can grow in godliness.
You can grow in righteousness.
You're not doomed to forever hang on by the skin of your teeth and white knuckles.
In the old days it seemed like temptation was this powerful beast that would come in and cease you.
It was bigger than you and it was hard to resist.
But now that you're growing in God and getting some tools and stategies the beast is becoming a fly, and you can shoo away a fly when it trys to bother you.
God's grace and healing are powerful.
You are a man of God, and you're designed for high levels of success in God's Kingdom.
The beast is becoming a fly!
Salmon are amazing.
Every year they turn around to swim upstream agaisnt very powerful currents that are resisting them.
They return to the place they were born so they can spawn, a new generation of salmon are born.
Their survial is based upon their ability to swim against the vicious currents.
In much the same way, our metaphorical survival to be the men of God that we're called to be will be predicated upon our ability to swim against the persistant, and powerful, and vicious currents of temptation that are resisting against us.
In this episode Tony identities the confluecne of 3 different powerful forces that work together to create the complulsion in us that makes us want to act out in sin.
(1) The power of habit, or the old "groove" of sin we've allowed to be established in us.
(2) Brain science, or the way we've trained our brains to crave the feel good chemicals that compel us to act out.
(3) The law of sin, or the natural proclivity we have as fallen and sinful people to delight in doing the very things we know we shouldn't do.
Any one of these forces would be difficult to resist in and of itself, and when you put all three of them togther they can become a very vicious current that makes it hard for us to swim upstream.
In this episode you'll understand how the "confluence of compulsion" works against our sexual purity, and what we can do in return to swim agains these currents to have success and victory in God!
The bible says in Proverbs 25:28 that a man who has no self-control is like a city with no walls.
That's not a good thing!
In the days of the bible is was very important to have a wall around your city because the wall is what protected you from the bad guys.
If you didn't have a wall around your city you would be subject to attack at any time and you couldn't protect yourself effetively.
In much the same way, if we're ever going to be the man God is calling us to be, and if we're ever going to be the man of purity that God is calling us to be, we're going to need the ability to protect ourselves in many different ways.
You need the ability to catch yourself at the moment of temptation.
You need to mentor yourself.
You need to tell yourself the truth.
You need to put a choke chain on yourself.
You need to recognize and renounce the lie.
You need to not let yourself get away with bad behavior.
You need to hold yourself accountable to yourself.
You need to pull yourself up by the bootstraps.
You need to work on you.
You need to make quality decisions.
You need to make quality choices.
You need to self-regulate.
You need to talk yourself off the ledge.
You need to soothe yourselff.
You need to interrupt yourself when you beging the old cycle.
You need to hold on to yourself.
You need to have a solid relationship with you.
You need to get your legs under you.
You need to not become lost to yourself.
You need the ability to take care of yourself, and the abllity to mentor yourself, and to watch yourself, and to reel yourself back in if you start become lost to yourself.
And why do you need to do these things?
Because a man with no self-control is like a city with no walls!
Like a city that is broken down and without walls [leaving it unprotected]
Is a man who has no self-control over his spirit [and sets himself up for trouble]. Proverbs 25:28
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 6:22-25
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. II Corinthians 10:5
11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. Titus 2:11-12
YOU CONTROL YOU!