Hi guys!
Now, this is another video request.
We got so many questions about pornography.
Is it a sin to watch porn and to masturbate?
How to stop watching pornography and how to overcome pornography addiction?
So many questions, messages, emails of not just men, but of women,
and children that are not even 13 years old yet.
Now, you need to understand that pornography is a very big problem worldwide.
According to fight the new drug, porn sites receive more traffic than Netflix, Amazon,
and Twitter com bined each month.
And 35% of all the internet downloads are porn-related,
and sadly, child porn is one of the fastest-growing online businesses.
Now, you might think that it's only guys who watch porn. Wrong! That's a society lie.
According to society today, a 2019 google analytics data showed,
the audience, for the world's most popular porn site, showed that 32% are women.
Another evil part about this is that pornography, and sex trafficking go hand in hand.
According to "Fight the new drug",
estimates that 4.8 million people are trapped or forced into sexual exploitation globally.
In one survey,
63% of underage sex trafficking victims said that they had been advertised or sold online.
This is all very disturbing.
According to anti-trafficking NPO, 'Rescue: Freedom' in nine countries, 49% of sexually exploited women,
said that pornography was made of them while they were being sold for sex.
It's sick, isn't it?
So next time if you want to watch porn, remember all of this.
Now, the question is: "Is it a sin to watch pornography and masturbate?"
Is it a sin to lust after other men and women?
Yes, it is.
Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 5: 27-30,
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery'.
but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent
has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.
"For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell."
Jesus is basically saying here, you got to take this very seriously.
And let me be very open, and transparent here, I am not better than you,
I used to watch porn when I was younger.
You Daniel? But now you're a pastor... you?
Yes me, I'm a lot stronger now, spiritually, but even now, I'm not just 'pastor Daniel' or 'preacher Daniel'
I am human, Daniel, and I have a sinful nature in me.
I am capable of doing any kind of sin out there in the world, because of the sinful nature,
if not for the grace of God, and you are capable of any kind of sin, as well.
We all have the sinful nature in us, only God is perfect.
We will be one day when we are with Him, but while we're here, in this world,
you can be the best Christian out there, the most mature, you can still fall into sin.
And there are usually, especially, for young Christians, one or two,
very big types of sin in your life that you are struggling with, that you need to overcome.
Some struggle with pride, with a big ego, especially if they are in leadership positions of power.
Some struggle with alcohol.
They run to it when life gets tough,
and then it makes it worse while God wants them to run to Him.
Some struggle with being greedy, they want more money, more money, and more.
They depend on money, instead of depending on God.
Some struggle with jealousy, cussing, lying, and some struggle with lust, masturbating, pornography.
All of this is sin and you need to learn how to overcome sin itself and not just one type of sin.
But today we focus on pornography, because it is one of the biggest issues in the lives
of not just normal people but in the lives of Christians today.
Might shock you that 64% of Christian men and 15% of Christian women watch porn once a month,
according to the Washington Times.
And I know that this is the number one issue right now,
because just of all the emails, and messages that we receive on a daily basis.
So how do you fight this?
Is it possible to fight it?
Can you overcome porn?
Yes, it is, and I'm going to give you a five-point battle plan, to overcome porn addiction.
Let's start with the first one.
Admit and confess.
You need to admit it and confess it to yourself but also to God.
Aren't you tired of keeping it in the dark, where it festers and grows?
Ask yourself "how long is it going to be until someone finds out?".
And every time you do it, you feel dirty, you feel ashamed, you have regret,
but the next time you do it again, it's time to bring it to the light, admit it, and ask God to forgive you.
Proverbs 28:13 says, "Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper,
but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy."
And then when you have confessed it when you ask God to forgive you, you have to believe that He did,
that He washed you clean.
1 John 1:9 says,
"If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
When you asked God for forgiveness for a certain sin, He forgave you.
When you then go after asking Him and you think I'm still bad.
God did not really forgive me, and you allow the devil to kind of torment you, and you still have regret,
then you're sinning again because you have to trust that God washed you clean.
You have been forgiven. You've got to move on.
Flee from temptation. Stay away from situations that will tempt you to watch porn.
Is it when you scroll down Instagram, or when you work on your laptop, or when you watch tv late at night?
Never put yourself in that position. Install porn blockers on your chrome, on your search engines.
Unfollow people that might tempt you, on Instagram, or other social media platforms,
or even better yet, delete them.
Why should you wait to fight and struggle with temptation in the future, that you can stop and prevent right now?
2 Timothy 2:22 says, "So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace,
along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart."
He doesn't say "Stop, and walk away from it", He says "Flee. Run."
And 1 Corinthians 6:18 says, "Flee, flee from sexual immorality."
Every other sin a person commits is outside the body,
but the sexual immoral person sins against his own body."
And you know that your body is a temple of God.
Remember this, if you are a child of God, the devil will come for you,
and he will try to tempt you in every way possible,
but God will not let you be tempted, beyond your ability to resist it.
1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability,
but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."
Quote this verse to yourself every time you find yourself in a temptation, quote it, and fight back.
Confess and pray with another Christian.
You're thinking, 'Oh no, I don't want someone else to know my dark secret'.
And that's exactly what this sin wants to do.
It wants to stay in the dark where he can continue to torment you.
But James 5:16 says, "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another,
that you may be healed."
Healed. Healed from what? A wound needs to be healed, right?
The pornography addiction in you created a big wound,
and to fully heal that wound you need to go first to God. Confess it, ask Him for forgiveness,
then you go to a brother or sister that you can trust.
You confess it to them, and then you pray together that God can heal you from this porn addiction,
and that He can rip it away from you.
You might feel that you can't overcome this, and that's good because you can't,
not with your sinful, fleshly nature, but you can with God's Spirit in you with your spiritual nature.
Never put a limit on what God can do in you and through you.
Luke 1:37 says, "For nothing will be impossible with God."
Grow spiritually.
Every time you get tempted, that feeling, that you want to look at porn
because it will come if you're addicted to pornography until you break the addiction.
When that feeling comes, go and read your bible and pray.
1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be sober-minded, be watchful,
your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."
So, how do you fight your sinful nature and the attacks of Satan?
You do it first with the sword of the Spirit.
What is that?
It's God's Word, the Bible. And you also fight it with the shield of faith.
Ephesians 6:16 says, "In all circumstances take up the shield of faith,
with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication."
See, you are in a spiritual battle whether you like it or not.
You are in the battle, and you need to grow stronger as a warrior.
You need to grow spiritually, stronger because the stronger you grow spiritually,
the easier it will become to overcome sin.
And you need to fight in truth, and it all starts by reading your Bible.
So that the Bible when you read it, the truth becomes part of you, it lives inside of you.
You have to write it in your heart.
If you do that, it will change the way you think, the way you act, the way you fight,
and that will give you victory over sin.
Fight in the Spirit.
There are so many Christians out there who feel weak, worthless, like a zero,
because they cannot overcome pornography.
And that's just it, you can't do it by yourself.
You overcome the dark with the light, with God and God's Spirit is in you.
Galatians 5:16 says, "But I say walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."
This is the key to overcoming pornography and any other kind of sin.
You need to learn to live in the Spirit.
To think, act, everything you do need to be done in the Spirit because you are now a new creation.
You can't say, 'Well when I'm reading my Bible when I'm talking to people about God,
when I go to church when I sing in the church, hymns and when I sing gospel and I praise and worship,
then I'm in the Spirit".
No, you have to be in Spirit all the time because you have to let your soul, your emotions, your intellect,
your own will needs to be guided by the Holy Spirit every day, every second, continuously,
and that will happen if you abide in Christ.
You need to know that you have a battle within you, and that battle will never stop until the day you die.
Galatians 5:17 then says, "For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit,
and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other,
to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."
You see, the moment you give in to your fleshly nature, you will fall, and you will sin.
You need to actively choose to live through the spiritual nature, to act,
and react through the spiritual nature in every situation.
Now, you need to know that this is easier for mature Christians because if you're still a new Christian,
you are still a spiritual baby.
If you don't know your Bible.
If you don't know God's Word, then you are still a spiritual baby,
and you need to grow into a spiritual warrior.
Because, picture this; A war, and there's a baby on the field.
What's he going to do in a war?
He can't do anything.
He or she is a baby.
So you need to grow spiritually.
You need to feed yourself to become a spiritual warrior that is big and strong,
and you need to put on the armor of God.
You start with the basics.
You drink milk to grow a little, but then there will be a time where milk won't be enough anymore.
You will need solid food, spiritual food.
You might not understand the solid food, not yet, but as you grow spiritually you will.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:1, "But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people,
but as people of the flesh as infants in Christ, I fed you with milk, not solid food,
for you were not ready for it.
And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh."
So you need to grow spiritually, because here's the thing, see it this way,
your fleshly nature will always be here.
The devil will always be there, the problems, issues of this life, will always be there.
You'll have ups and downs that is always going to be there,
but you need to change because right now, you might be a spiritual baby,
and this might be too much for you, but as you grow and get stronger,
you get bigger, and the problems and the issues, your fleshly nature, these things get smaller.
The key lies in growing into a spiritual warrior,
that will be able to overcome temptation and your fleshly nature.
Galatians 6:8 says, "For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption.
But the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life."
The more you sow on your spiritual nature, the stronger you will get.
The more time you spend with God in His word studying, reading it, praying with Him, talking to Him,
when your relationship with Him grows it will become easier to understand the difference
between your soul and spirit because Scripture cuts right between them.
Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing to the division of soul and of spirit,
of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Now, if you want to know more about the difference between your soul and your Spirit,
or how to overcome sin,
please watch these videos here, and I'll see you there.
And always remember this, God loves you, and I love you too.
Bye!