Pure Living In A Sex Driven Culture

1. True Love Waits “I Wish” Video (You tube)

2. Romans 12:1-2

3. God does not make us live for Him, we wants us to do it willingly

a. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. (v.1)

b. Living in our culture, we are constantly surrounded by so many things that can prevent us from living the victorious Christian life. Satan would like nothing more than prevent God’s followers from “blowing it”. The mercy of God was loving us in while we were still sinners. The cross is God’s love for us and gives us the opportunity to having a relationship with Him.

c. When we received Jesus Christ by faith, we did not give up freewill, the choice to do right or wrong. That is still intact and as such can be a burden as well as a blessing. If I made my children love me, it wouldn’t be love. Jesus said in John 14:15 that “if we love Him, we should keep His commandments.” One of the greatest opportunities for a Christian witness is that they obey God in whatever he wants us to do whether we are in a crowd or alone.

d. So many of our teenagers today are bombarded with messages of giving in to sexual temptation, whether it be MTV, the Internet, School, Magazines even cell phones have become a weapon of the enemy through “sexting”. Staying pure is not easy but it is possible. God gives us the ability to turn away from sin by giving us a way out of temptation. The problem is that for some, the need to give in to temptation is so much easier than saying no.

e. Peer pressure for a young person is a beast, no one wants to stand out or be made fun of. Offering your body as a living sacrifice means that you recognize that once you received Jesus Christ by faith, the Holy Spirit took up residence.

f. When that happens, our bodies become His home. It would be detrimental to my health by my wife if I decided to come home one day and trash the house. I’m not talking leaving things out, I mean driving holes in the wall, spray painting whatever I want on the living room or furniture, painting the kitchen splotched purple. I would be destroying that which I have been blessed with. Yet, everyday teenagers do this when they allow their bodies to be abused by sex. It trashes not only the home where God takes up residence but the gift God has given to your future spouse.

g. Offering your body as a living sacrifice means saying no to that boy when he pressures you, saying no to the guys when they want you to be like them, saying no to a culture that says you’re a freak when everyone else is doing it. Allow your body to be holy and pleasing to God and no one else.

4. God does not want you to be normal, He wants you different.

a. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind

b. Culture says that to be normal, you need to abandon God’s values. You should be fitting in, going with the crowd, accept what TV says is normal. When did living the life for God become taboo? When did doing the right thing become intolerant? When did being righteous become classified as obsolete?

c. It started when Jesus began sending out His disciples. Listen to what he said In Matthew 10 when He spoke with His disciples: "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. 17But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues.18 You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. 21 Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 22And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.

d. Living the Christian life is defined by how we are not like everyone else. Being holy means being set apart, different. Yet too often our picture of an American Christian life is limited to saying a prayer and being baptized…everything else beyond this point is up to me.