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!