Straight Talk About Sex Series

Remember what I said earlier about this book being all about redemption? God is all about redeeming things that are lost. He wants to redeem His people, and His creation. In fact, here are four steps to redeeming your sex life:

1. Repentant Hearts. What does that mean? It means to change you mind. It means that you agree with God. It means you say, “I was wrong, God, You were right!” It means we come back to him and we commit to changing our behavior. Some relationships are going to have to end. Some hearts are going to be broken. Repentance means that I get myself in line with God’s standards – TODAY! Not next week, not gradually – it’s over today!

2. Receive Forgiveness. God is waiting to forgive you and cleanse you and restore you. You can be released from the shame and guilt from the past failures. Folks, probably the heaviest load any of us carry is the load of guilt over our sins. Let it go! God wants to forgive you – but you need to ask for, and receive His forgiveness. If you ever want to have intimacy with your spouse, you must first have intimacy with God.

3. Refocused Thoughts. This is where it gets really tough. We need to turn our backs on the stuff that invades our minds sexually. We need to get tough on our TV watching, and the movies we watch. Every home in this church with a child or a man living in it should have an internet blocker on it – I don’t care WHO you are! If you are unwilling to put that safety net in place on your computer then you are NOT serious about this issue – period. You are pedophiles access to your children, and you are giving your children access to material that will damage them for life! And let’s not kid ourselves, dad – when you get that filter, let your wife set up the password. We need to refocus our minds on God’s standard – that means purity in our entertainment, in our leisure, and in our thoughts. I Thess. 4:3&7says, For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.

Ephesians 5:3 says, “Among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality.” I recently had to take one of DVD’s that we had and cut it in two with a pair of scicors because it had a scene in it that was luring me into a place I shouldn’t go. We need to be making the tough decisions, and the firm commitments to refocus our thoughts and deeds on God’s standards.

4. Request Help. You might be saying, “that all sounds good, but I don’t think I can do it. I’m just too weak!” Believe me, I understand. We all need the help of a brother or sister who will hold us accountable.

My son Andrew is studying at UW Madison. One of his Christian friends asked him a couple of weeks ago things were going. "Oh," he said, ’I’m really stressed out - between my studies, my fraternity duties and my Navy ROTC program, I’m really behind." "What are you going to do about it?" His friend asked. "I think I’m going to unplug my TV on Monday through Friday so I don’t watch it." "OK, When do I come over?" His friend asked. "What do you mean?" "I’m taking your TV from you unitl you get this figured out!"