Pure in Heart | Vik Fomenko

[00:00:00] Foreign. [00:00:07] I'm excited today to share with you the word the Lord's put on my heart. I think it's a, a powerful theme and really a, a core DNA piece that we carry as a body, as the body of Christ. And I really feel like today is more than information, but there is actually freedom available for you to look more like Jesus today than you. Then you walked in here. Amen. And so I'm really believing that the Holy Spirit is going to give us tools, keys, truths that are going to set us free. Because we all know the truth and the truth will set you free. Amen. So let's pause for a minute and just welcome him to do what only he can do. [00:00:51] Lord, we invite your tangible presence. [00:00:55] Lord, as I open my mouth, as I open up your word, may you teach, may you speak. Today, we're disciples of Jesus Christ. [00:01:05] We're learners of Jesus Christ. So challenge us, change us. [00:01:11] Holy Spirit, I ask that every single person in this room would leave, would leave and know exactly what you're asking us to do. And you would give us the grace to be bold and to do what you're asking us to do. Lord, let us be a community that's transformed into your image and likeness in Jesus name. Amen. [00:01:32] We've been talking a lot about discipleship, and a disciple of Jesus is someone that actually is free from sin. They're intimate with him and they walk in Christ likeness. One of my friends, Peter Lewis, he coined those three things. I really like how he put it, but like a disciple of Jesus is free from sin. [00:01:48] There's a difference between being a believer and being a disciple. [00:01:52] Writing a book about it, it's going to be really important. I think in the body of Christ, there's a difference in the Bible between being a believer and being a disciple. [00:02:01] Believers can have patterns of sin. A disciple grows towards freedom from sin. They walk with intimacy with God and they walk in Christ likeness. You look like Jesus because you've been with Jesus. Pastor Roman, the last couple weeks has been talking about being a disciple. And so I want to continue this idea, but I want to particularly focus on this aspect. [00:02:26] And it's, it's my title today is Pure in Heart, Pure in heart, Pure in heart, clean hands and a pure heart. We're going to hit a couple of really important things here. I want you to kind of buckle up and follow along with me. [00:02:42] As you know, I am a teacher and an expander. So I have notes that is available to you that's gonna go beyond what is you Know what we just covered today? So if you wanna tap the disc in front of you, you can download those notes. They're also available on our website anytime. Any message that I preach, I try to give you further resources, further study, and more of what I believe that you can go deeper in. So we're gonna talk about being pure in heart because those who long to see Jesus are going to make purity a priority. Now, John Bevere three weeks ago was here. In his first message on Saturday night, he talked about how the eagerly awaiting him that we purify ourselves, right? That those who eagerly await those who long to see Jesus, those who wait for Jesus make purity their priority. Now, I think there's such an amazing correlation between waiting for him and making purity a priority. I believe Jesus wants to make purity a priority in our community, in this congregation in America today, purity in the world is not a priority for Jesus. It is. [00:03:42] Jesus is holy and he is pure. And he wants us to have to have that, to walk in that. And so we're going to come against just what culture in the world says, and we're going to go back to being a disciple of Jesus. Amen. [00:03:55] Purity prepares our hearts to see God and to enjoy God. Purity is a preparation of our hearts to see God. So my first and main point is that purity is about what you see. We're going to talk about purity connected to our vision, our eyes, what we see. Purity is connected to what you see. [00:04:16] Our two key verses today, one is the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said this in Matthew 5, verse 8. He says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the pure in heart. [00:04:30] Blessed are the pure in heart. Our world and culture says that, you know, being pure is like, hey, you're gonna miss out. You have to abstain. You can't do this. You can't do that. Instead, you should just live by whatever desires you have. Whatever you want to do, you should do, you should live by your truest self. The world says that purity is like too much boundaries, too much restrictions. But actually Jesus says that the most blessed, blessed means favored. You're gonna live a fulfilled, favored life, that you're actually most blessed when you're pure and you get the greatest reward of all, which is God himself. [00:05:03] God gives the greatest reward to the pure of heart. Himself says, you will actually see me. And this is not just like a future reality. Of course there's a future reality that we're going to see him, but you're going to see him. Now. You're going to experience God, you're going to see his beauty, and he will make Himself more manifest to you. Scripture says this in Proverbs or Psalms, that the secrets of the Lord are for those who fear Him. There are certain things that God has set apart for those whose hearts are pure. [00:05:35] So as we purify ourselves, we see God. [00:05:39] That's a key verse. Another key verse is one that John Bevere used. I really loved it. It's first John 3, verse 2 and 3. Let's hit verse 2. We know that when he appears, when, when Jesus returns, we're going to be like him because we're going to see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope of his return, right, purifies himself just as Jesus is pure. [00:06:02] Whoever has the hope of his return, he's going to appear, we're going to be transformed, we're going to be like Him. Whoever thinks about that and expects that will purify themselves. Do you see how there's a correlation directly between expecting Jesus and purifying ourselves? [00:06:22] Some of us in this room, you've been maybe exposed to impure things and you didn't choose them. Maybe there's others that are fighting temptation all of the time, and it's temptation you never wanted. Can I tell you that Jesus was tempted in all things? [00:06:36] The Bible says that there's temptation that's common to man. Jesus as a man was tempted in all things, yet did not sin. But many of you, there's temptation that's barraging your mind. And you, you didn't do anything to cause that. But you've. Maybe you've been beating yourself up. Can I tell you? Can I just say that temptation is not a judgment on, on like on your identity. You didn't do something wrong, right? Jesus did nothing wrong and yet was tempted in all things, right? And so, and some of you also have patterns, like established, hidden secret maybe patterns that are, you know, with patterns of looking or your imagination or acting out in impure ways. Some of you in this room, you carry actually a deep pain of someone that's had a pattern of impurity and that's actually really affected you. It's hurt you. It's relationally someone else's choices have, have made a strong effect on your life. And now you're carrying a deep pain from that. Can I tell you that today Jesus is bringing this to the light. Not because he wants to shame you, but because he wants to heal you, to cleanse you, to set you free. [00:07:41] Because believers and disciples, disciples can actually live free from sin. Do you believe that a disciple can live free from patterns and habits of sin and especially secret sin? [00:07:57] It was so powerful. We were at our student retreat this last week, Monday through Thursday, four days. We spent like the whole day, like morning to night at this retreat. And one of the most incredible things is we had multiple sessions. We had a session on the cross and surrender. A session on like walking in the light, vulnerability, like telling your story. Session on the father's love, father heart encounters. People are getting blasted. And then a session on the Holy Spirit, getting empowered with the Holy Spirit. People got baptized with the Holy Spirit, delivered of demons. I mean, here you have school of ministry students coming. They love God. They're setting aside their life for him and the power of God just hitting them and all that darkness just leaving them. Getting set free was such a powerful week. One of my favorite things was on our second morning, Dylan shared and then Connor shared his testimony so powerfully. And then we basically were like, hey, here's a moment where you not just get to nail something to the cross privately yesterday in this session on the cross, but actually the thing that you thought you were going to take to the grave. Why don't we just share it with everyone in the room? [00:08:58] And there was people that literally committed that they would never share this with any human ever. They for sure will take this to the grave and just opening up and the level of freedom that started to break out into the room. I mean, you saw people's countenance and face and life transform from like day one to day three and four. Why? Because people were going to be bold enough to say, I'm not taking anything to the grave, I'm going to walk in freedom. I'm a disciple of Jesus and I can be free. And it starts with maybe some radical vulnerability that our culture says, you know, keep that to yourself, take that to the grave. Right. [00:09:32] You know what? Jesus took himself to the grave, so you don't have to take anything there so that you can actually live in the resurrected life and the power of God. Amen. Jesus came out of the grave, so you don't have to take stuff there. [00:09:45] Why does this matter today? If you look in the notes, in the statistics, there's a lot, I'm not going to name all of them, but just a few, like kind of staggering statistics is that 54% of practicing Christians, this is not basically like claim Christians because that one's like 80 something percent, but like 54% of practicing devoted Christians report that pornography is used in their life on a regular or like on an occasional basis. Kind of like there's, it's a pattern in their life. [00:10:15] 22% say it's daily or at least weekly. [00:10:19] Right. 75% of Christian men and 40% of Christian women report some level of consumption of pornography. [00:10:29] Pastors that are surveyed, like, you know, I think, I mean the statistics are staggering. I won't, I won't give them all, but there's a few that there on the screen, I think you can see those. But 84% say no one is helping them avoid pornography. They feel stuck, they want help, no one is helping them. 73% of teens said that they have been exposed to pornography and the average age being 12. [00:10:52] Right. And only 10% of churches in America are offering any type of resource class groups towards walking in freedom. So we have like a real issue in today's world and I think sometimes we just don't talk about it enough. I mean, I know some people are like, dude, why do we always talk about this? I'm like, I don't think we talk about it enough. You know, sometimes when it's like not your struggle, you think it's not anyone's struggle, but it's like that that's actually not true. We have to look at the sobering statistics and the amount of like crippling damage that the impurity and patterns of impurity has in your life, the amount of shame that that brings, the amount of like, I don't feel bold to, to step into my calling, to do what God's called me to do, to look someone in the face to preach the gospel. Sometimes we're like, preach the gospel, preach the gospel, preach the gospel. But someone's so full of shame because they can't get over their secret sin that they feel crippled to do anything that God's called them to do. Can I tell you one of the first steps toward in discipleship is to get free from patterns of sin. And we have the majority of practicing Christians or are not free. [00:12:03] Not free. [00:12:04] I mean if you just look clinically in the non believing world. They say that if you have two relapses in a six month period that you should treat yourself as an addict that's relapsing every day because that it's a problem if there's two relapses and this is a period. I don't say this to shame you or to bring a heaviness or condemnation. I say there is a reality that the church is walking in and we can actually live free. [00:12:28] And there are some tools that we can have. And one of them I got to see so beautifully demonstrated, this retreat. I'm not taking secrets to the grave. I'm not just going to tell the safe person, man. I'll tell a group of like 70 people in a room. [00:12:42] Because I care more about my freedom than I care about my reputation. [00:12:46] But sometimes we care more about our reputation than we care about our freedom. We care more about the fear of man. What is man going to say than the fear of the Lord? What is God saying about my life? [00:12:55] We have traded the fear of the Lord for fear of man. [00:12:59] Come on. And so this matters because God says that the pure in heart. I'm going to reveal myself to them. I will give you the greatest reward. I'll give you all of me. You will see me unhindered, unfiltered. We can cry, God, show me your glory. But it's the pure in heart that are going to see God. When Moses was crying, show me your glory. He. He wasn't addicted to patterns of sin. He was. He was spending hours a day just saying, God, I love you. I need you. I want to see your face. Show me your glory. And God's like, I got you, son. [00:13:32] I got you. God's not hiding himself, but there's. There's intimate parts of him that are for those that fear him, for those that are pure in heart. Amen. [00:13:47] Jesus talks about this purity of heart in Matthew, chapter five on the sermon on the Mountain. A few verses later, in Matthew 5. 28, he says, Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery in their heart. [00:14:02] Sometimes the world says, well, did you do that action? God says, did you have that thought? Did you have that intent? [00:14:09] Did you have that motivation? [00:14:11] Because let me tell you what adultery in your heart is. Looking with lustful intent and staying there and consuming someone instead of honoring them as. As a child of God. [00:14:24] We live in a culture that says, look and consume for your satisfaction and pleasure. But Jesus is offering us a greater vision. He's saying, look at someone who's far more beautiful. [00:14:43] Set your eyes on someone that's far more satisfying. And the greatest reward is on the other side of those who look at him. [00:14:49] Instead of look for selfish satisfaction, Using someone else, their image, their body, to. [00:14:57] To try to satisfy something that can't be satisfied. It just makes us worse. [00:15:04] Because purity will affect your perception. [00:15:07] Purity affects your perception. The pure in heart will see God. [00:15:12] Purity will restore your vision. The pure in heart will see God. [00:15:18] Jesus says in Matthew 6, the next chapter, it says, the eye is the lamp of the body. [00:15:23] If the eye is clear, the whole body will be full of light. [00:15:27] But if the eye is bad, the whole body will be full of darkness. Can I tell you that purity is about what you see? [00:15:35] If the eye is good, the whole body. If the eye is bad, it's all darkness. [00:15:41] Purity is about what you see. Do you see him? Or are you looking for satisfaction of desires that are not him? [00:15:59] Psalm 24, one of my favorite passages. Psalm 24, verse 3 and 4, says, who will ascend the hill of the Lord? Can I tell you? God wants you to come up to him. He wants you on his hill. [00:16:11] God is present everywhere. But not everyone's on the mountain of God. Not everyone has that nearness of God. Not everyone has that face to face with God. And God invites you. Who will ascend my hill? Who will stand in a holy place with God? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. Clean hands and a pure heart. [00:16:30] Clean hands deals with the outward. It deals with your actions. Sometimes we think that if I didn't do it, if I didn't cross that line, I'm good. But he wants to have. For us to have a pure heart. Not even a hint of sexual immorality. I mean, it's all over the scriptures. I just. I'm pulling out a variety of my favorite verses that have shaped my life, that I have committed to memory and since college have put them on three by five cars, in my shower and in places where, you know, it was a temptation and renewed my mind. Just verses that have washed me and shaped my life. And I want to encourage you that we can actually live with our eyes set on Him. That he wants. He doesn't want to lock us up from freedom and satisfaction. He actually wants to fully satisfy us. That's why he gives us all things for us to enjoy. He gives us a beautiful spouse and children for us to enjoy. He wants us to be fully satisfied. [00:17:27] He doesn't want us to be starved. He wants us to be filled, but with the right thing. That's not going to cause the damage and the harm in your life. [00:17:36] Clean hands and a pure heart. [00:17:39] Clean hands and a pure heart. I think James was maybe thinking of this verse when James 4. 8. He says this. He says, draw near to God who will ascend the hill of the Lord. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. [00:17:52] Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Actually, you're the body of Christ. But man, you're acting like sinners. Cleanse your hands like your actions matter. Purify your hearts. You double minded? Purify your hearts because your heart will make you live. Double minded, it'll make you like you. [00:18:10] You're living one way privately, but then outwardly it looks good. [00:18:14] That's double, that's double mindedness. [00:18:18] Double mindedness. You think that you can maintain friendship with God and friendship with the world at the same time. [00:18:24] But friendship and intimacy with God says no to friendship with the world. When I said yes to friendship with Anastasia, I said no to that type of intimate, romantic friendship with anyone else in the world. [00:18:37] I'm not double minded, right? I'm not committing adultery in my heart. [00:18:44] If we just focus on outward behavior without focusing on our inward purity, guess what that is Hypocrisy. [00:18:54] We focus on outward behavior, ignoring our thoughts, motives, actions, intentions. That's hypocrisy. And then there's some people, they have inward sincerity, but I have a pure heart. And, but they don't care about their behavior. Like, hey, don't look at that. My heart is pure. And you know what that is? Self deception. [00:19:11] Ben talked about that when he was at our conference. I think the last couple of times he said God's looking at your works. Don't say I have a good heart. And here my actions aren't lining up. Well, God loves me. Yes, that's true. Well, it's totally fine. Actually it's not. He still loves you and he can love you deeply and at the same time be deeply grieved. God holds both of those at the same time. It's just like we as parents, some we can deeply love our kids already, forgive them, we will never reject them no matter what they do. And then be so grieved by the way that they're like hurting themselves through their behavior. You can have 100% love and forgiveness and grief in your heart at the same time towards the same person. [00:19:51] 100% commitment, love and forgiveness. And yet it hurts your heart to see what they're doing to themselves. Not out of like, I can't believe you did this to me. It's like, I'm so sad you're destroying your life. This is not who you are. [00:20:05] You have a greater created value. [00:20:09] What does impurity do to us? It causes distortion. It causes division. It causes distance. Not God from us, us from God. [00:20:20] Sin doesn't cause God to flee from you. It's not in the Bible. [00:20:25] The prodigal son, the father didn't run from him he ran to him before he repented and had a speech in that story like he was coming back because his dad's servants were getting it better. It was. The motive was exposed there in Luke 15. It was self preservation. And a better life wasn't repentance. And the Father's running to him. [00:20:49] The Father's always been running to sinners while we were still sinners. He died for us. [00:20:55] But sin causes a distortion, a division and a distance in our lens towards God. [00:21:02] If you look at the beginning in Genesis chapter three, Adam and Eve, it says that they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord. They heard the Lord walking to them. They'd already sinned and God's there to meet with them. [00:21:21] They heard him and they hid themselves. [00:21:24] And then Adam says, I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself. [00:21:29] Impurity causes division, distortion, and hiding in our lens towards God. [00:21:38] God is close to you. He loves you. You don't need him more than when on, on the day that you're struggling. That's when you need him the most. That's when he's closest Jesus. Jesus's reputation was a friend of sinners, not a street corner preacher that was going to send everyone to hell and condemn them if they didn't like. Of course, Jesus warned about the future reality of hell and heaven, of course, but he. He was known as a friend of sinners. So he welcomes you, but he's grieved by what's killing you. And he says, my son, my daughter, can I take it? Will you give it to me? Will you be vulnerable with it? Are you gonna. Or do you want to stay stuck in it? [00:22:22] First Corinthians 6 says, Flee sexual immorality. Why? Because your body is a temple from. It's a temple of the Holy Spirit. You're not your own. You've been bought with a price. God lives inside of you. And a sin, a sexual sin, is different from other sins because it's a sin against your body, which is God's temple. And like a direct violation on God's house, it's like going to God's house and putting graffiti all over it. [00:22:48] That's different. [00:22:50] You can sin against your neighbor, but sexual sin, First Corinthians says is. Is. It's a sin against God. And what it does is, it. It just. It. It. It causes that, that destruction, that division, that. That distance from us to God. [00:23:04] James 1 says that each person is is tempted when he's lured and enticed by his own desire, or by fleshly, by wrong desire. [00:23:15] When you're lured and enticed by lustful desire, be careful. [00:23:22] Because that desire, if you allow it to stay there and remain and you don't run from that desire, it will give birth to sin and then sin. When it fully is mature, it gives birth to death. [00:23:36] Desire, wrong desire, that's entertained, that's cultivated, that's not dismissed, that's not cut off, that's not run from, becomes sin, and then sin becomes death. [00:23:47] In this life and in the life to come. [00:23:57] I believe God wants to give us a greater vision of what it is to be pure, a greater vision of purity. [00:24:06] Ephesians 5, verse 3. [00:24:09] Oh, it's one of my favorite passages. The Lord reminded me of it if two, three years ago, and it became the theme of my year. And he says, but among you there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality. Not even a hint. Ephesians 5:3. Not even a hint among you or any kind of impurity or greed. Because it's improper for God's household, it's improper for the saints of God. It's not who you are. It might be what you're stuck in, but it's not who you are. We have to. We have to separate our wrong behavior from our identity. Because guilt says I've done wrong. Shame says that's who I am. [00:24:52] It's an I statement. [00:24:54] Guilt says I've done wrong. We need to admit guilt, but we don't need to get into shame. That says I am this, I am what I did. [00:25:07] Condemnation says I have to hide. There's no hope. I deserve punishment. [00:25:13] Condemnation says hide. [00:25:16] No hope. [00:25:18] It's over. [00:25:20] Run away. It's over for me, it's over for my destiny, it's over. I'm never going to be restored. That's condemnation. Get out of shame. Get out of condemnation. There's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. [00:25:32] There's no shame on you. The shame went on Jesus so that there could be no shame on you. [00:25:38] Shame off you. [00:25:40] Many have been told, shame on you. Don't you ever say that to anyone. Shame off you. [00:25:46] Hey, you're guilty. What you did was wrong, but it's not who you are. That's what conviction talks about. It's speaking the truth without calling them by their action. [00:25:56] Right? We speak to someone's identity. My son, my daughter. What you did was wrong grieves the heart of God, but it's not who you are. I believe in you. You're not going to live this way. This is not who you are. What is that? Conviction. It's truth that brings someone hope, leads them to repentance and into freedom. Doesn't make them feel stuck. [00:26:17] So we admit to guilt and we walk in conviction and truth, saying no to shame, no to condemnation. Amen. [00:26:29] Those who are awaiting his return will purify themselves first. John 3 those who await his return purify themselves. [00:26:38] You know, earlier this week, one of my neighbors, a few houses down, his dog got lost. Was in my yard for a couple hours in the morning. And then we couldn't get close to him. He was pretty skittish. Finally we got the number off of his collar. I texted, I didn't know who it was. Text my neighbor, he comes over, he's like, oh man, I've been driving all over, I'm looking for my dog. Thank you so much. [00:26:54] And, and then he's like, man, I want to thank you. Like, do you like fish? I'm like, yeah, this guy's like an avid fisherman. He's got all the fish. He's like, I'm gonna bring you fish right now. So he drives home, drops off his dog, comes back, brings fish. And I'm like, dude, I want to invite him into my home. And so what did I started quickly doing? I just started getting rid of the clutter. I was just like, man, like, it's my neighbor, I want to meet him. I want him to come into my home. I want to meet him. And so what do I do? I'm awaiting his arrival and I'm preparing and cleaning because not because I want to impress him, but because I want the environment that he walks into to be like, hey, it's ready for you. Actually honor you. Because preparation speaks of honor towards the one that's coming. [00:27:32] Because if you're the bride of Christ and you prepare yourself because you want to honor him, he's a groom and he's pure and he's spotless lamb and he wants to come back for a pure and spotless bride. [00:27:42] He's coming back for a pure and spotless bride. Can I tell you, this is going to be in my book, it's going to be awesome. But Jesus is coming back. His first return, I believe, is just for the bride, not all believers, because the bride goes on a honeymoon with him. [00:28:02] There's a thousand year honeymoon, but then there's people looking in and it's not the unsaved. If you look at Author scripture, It's not the unsaved, but the door was closed to them. You have the. You have the ten virgins. Five are foolish, but the five foolish ones are not unbelievers. There's zero chance of that. Read the text in Matthew 25. [00:28:20] They're believers. They have oil. They've. They've paid money before. But the door is closed to them. To what? [00:28:28] The bride, the honeymoon, the kingdom. [00:28:34] Not every believer will have the same level of relationship or access. The Bible talks about the bride. It talks about friends of the bridegroom that are at the wedding. It talks about guests that barely got in and just had to change their robe. [00:28:49] There's different relationships you can have with him, but the bride purifies herself. [00:28:54] The bride, the new Jerusalem, is the wife of the lamb. That's for the bride. But then there's the nations that are coming and going. [00:29:03] Eternity is going to be. [00:29:06] Has different measures of intimacy and relationship with God in eternity, depending on how you live. Now. [00:29:14] Those who are awaiting him purify themselves. That's the bride. [00:29:19] I mean, I know what I just said is loaded and I have some teaching out there on it, but men, if you look at it in scripture, it's. It's so clear. [00:29:27] I'm gonna lay it out really clearly. [00:29:30] I wanted to give you a snippet because I think if you understand what's at stake, you'll purify yourself by his grace. [00:29:40] Because he's a pure and spotless lamb and he wants a pure and spotless bride. [00:29:48] If you believe in him, he'll wash you and give you eternal life. But eternal life is far from our final destination. [00:29:56] I want him. [00:29:59] I don't want to just be a friend or a guest that occasionally comes to the new Jerusalem to see him. [00:30:06] I want to live and rule with him. I'm going on the honeymoon, baby. [00:30:13] It's not about avoiding hell for me. [00:30:17] That's easy. [00:30:18] Believe and you won't be condemned. [00:30:21] There's a greater vision of purity. They're going to see God in his fullness and in his glory. [00:30:35] Help us, Lord. [00:30:37] Teach this to us. God, open our eyes that we might see this in your scriptures. [00:30:43] This isn't to scare you. This is to invite you. [00:30:47] Jesus did not invite people to salvation. He invited people to be a disciple and into the kingdom. That's different. [00:30:54] Most of our message is an invitation into salvation. That's the door. [00:31:01] That's the door. Please don't just get someone in the door. [00:31:06] Get him into the chambers of the bridegroom. [00:31:11] Jesus preached, be a disciple, lay it down. There was like 11 categories of requirements to be a disciple or aka enter the kingdom. [00:31:21] It's different. [00:31:23] Sometimes we think kingdom is all just being saved. [00:31:26] Not according to the scriptures because there's like requirements to enter the kingdom, but the requirement for salvation is faith. [00:31:38] Explore this with the Holy Spirit in your Bibles. [00:31:44] Help us God. [00:31:46] I want to give you some practical tools. I mean, I gave a couple already, but if I don't get to some of them, just download the notes if you want. [00:31:54] I, I included like my declarations, I updated them. But like my pastor when I was in college, he put together these like maybe 20 verses and they were like decor, they were declarations, like I am statements. And I just took some of some of the those and some of my favorite passages and I. You took the scripture but personalized it to make an I statement. Like, I have the mind of Christ, like I will make a covenant with my eyes not to look at anything. Like, there is no immorality in me. This is who I am. And I just. And, and these are the declarations I've used since college that have helped me renew my mind. [00:32:27] And I, I put it in there. Just download them, print them out, like keep them with your Bible. Come on. 54 of the church that's actively stuck in, in just that one type of loss. That's an actual action. But what about the pure in heart? [00:32:45] What if we started to actually declare God's word over ourselves instead of the constant exposure of like seduction and immorality? And it's kind of like, okay, even among Christians. I mean, ah, this is another message. But like, when Paul's writing to men, he's like, clean hands, like, lift up your holy hands. No wrath, no doubting women. [00:33:10] Watch how you dress. [00:33:14] Ah, why make it more hard for your brothers and sisters? [00:33:22] Don't do the immodest stuff. I don't care if it's popular. I don't care if it's comfortable in the gym. [00:33:30] I don't care if it's comfortable on the beach. Like, help one another. [00:33:44] I have, I'm gonna do a whole message to go there right now. We're going back to practical purity. [00:33:52] But practical purity, it starts with like, what are you beholding? Like, what do you see? I promise if you start to become aware of God, you will lose the appetite to see other things. [00:34:03] What if we stewarded awareness? Can I tell you what, what closeness with God feels like in a very practical way? [00:34:10] Just gently bringing your awareness back to God. Lord, I love you, Lord, your My eyes are only for you. [00:34:17] I remember a couple years ago when the Lord gave me this verse again. He's like, vic, like, yeah, you've been free from, like, pornography and some of those actions and all that kind of stuff. That's awesome. [00:34:26] But, like, let's. Let's talk about, like, your thoughts and imaginations. Not even a hint. And I just remember, like, the Lord convicted me so strong, I came and told my wife. We were, like, on a vacation, on a cruise. And I was just like, hey, just want to let you know, like, you know, we're on this, like, cruise vacation. There's a lot of, like, beautiful women walking around in swimsuits. I'm like, this is. This is a struggle for me sometimes. Like, not in my actions, but just in my imaginations and my thoughts. [00:34:52] And she was horrified. She's like, you've been a pastor all these years. Like, what do you mean? I thought. Like, I thought. I thought, I'm the only one you're looking at. [00:35:01] And I was like, I wish that that was true, but it's gonna be. And since that time, I've started to tell her, my eyes are only for you, babe. [00:35:12] My eyes are only for you. [00:35:14] And can I tell you what, Isaac? As I started to even say that and declare. Declare that, something shifted where it was like the desire started to totally fall away. Like nothing else satisfied me. I just wanted to see her. [00:35:28] What if we started telling the Lord God, my eyes are only for you. [00:35:32] What if we told our spouse, my eyes are only for you. I will put no thing before my eyes. [00:35:38] They're for you, God. [00:35:41] Because what you behold, you'll become without any effort. [00:35:47] This is all connected with the fear of the Lord. Because by the fear of the Lord, we keep away from evil. [00:35:53] Sometimes we try to. Like, okay, I need to. Here's all the things I need to stop doing. Can I tell you, like, don't starve. Instead, fill the greatest. Starving is filling. [00:36:06] The greatest fasting is feasting. The greatest fasting is not abstinence from food. It's feasting on him. [00:36:12] He's your food. [00:36:14] If you focus on what you're denying, it's going to be hard. If you focus on what you're getting, it's going to be easier. [00:36:21] But feel yourself with God. Fill yourself with the word. Memorize scriptures. David says, I've. I've hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Two verses before that. How can a young person keep his way pure? According to The Word. I'm telling you, I do not know people that are in their word every day and they're going to continue to struggle with lust and immorality. Like now, you can do it religiously, but if you're just like God, I want to see you in your Word. [00:36:51] It's just not gonna be like the statistics show that those who are in the Bible even four days a week, the significance of all the stuff that falls off of them is just like it happens just because. [00:37:04] How can you stay here? The Word. What if we memorize Scripture again? These days we have devices. We don't have to memorize anything. Phone numbers, addresses, nothing. It's all at the fingertips and our minds are getting weaker. But this is our weapon of warfare. [00:37:19] The battlefield is in your mind. Sharpen your mind by memorizing verses. I'm. You know, you don't have to memorize phone numbers or addresses if you want. If you don't want. I. I don't. [00:37:29] But memorize verses in Jesus name. [00:37:33] Get the Word stored in your heart like David in Psalm 119. [00:37:40] Daily declarations. This is something I used to do, and I'm rewriting a new set for this season of my life. But I just remember, just like I started to make I am statements based on scripture for that season of my life. Daily declarations. I'm telling you, there's something about renewing your mind that just changes you. And it's what you declare over yourself. It's what you believe and declare with authority over yourself. [00:38:04] Oh, man. There's a lot of really good stuff in here. Flee. Don't fight. I'm. I'm gonna let you download the notes. [00:38:10] It's there. [00:38:12] Ah. Let's respond to God. I'm gonna invite the worship team to just come purify my heart. Lord God, I'm going to partner with you because you said for me to do it, but I'm asking for your help. [00:38:24] Can I tell you you're not alone and God's going to be with you. [00:38:28] He's going to help you flee, not fight. [00:38:31] Because in First Corinthians it says that here's where the grace of God comes. That when there's a temptation, he gives you a way of escape. [00:38:38] God doesn't give you grace to stay in temptation or to fight it or to endure it. The way you endure is out. [00:38:48] Get out. [00:38:49] Cut it off. [00:38:51] Run from it. Make it real practical. You guys. [00:38:56] Remove the compromising apps. [00:39:00] Do not click on the Explore pages. [00:39:04] There's accounts that you have that need to be deleted. There's saved content on your devices that needs to be erased. Private browsing routes need to be eliminated. [00:39:15] Move devices out of bedrooms, out of bathrooms, out of places of temptation. [00:39:21] Use filter and accountability tools. I use Covenant Eyes for years and they have so many awesome resources in my notes, there's 21 day course for men that want to be free from pornography and lust. There's a 21 day course for women. There's one for couples, there's one for parents that want to help disciple their kids. There's free course sources, Covenant Eyes. The links are all in there. [00:39:44] But understand your triggers. There's this awesome acronym, halt, Hungry, angry, lonely, tired. [00:39:51] Halt in those trigger points. When you're stressed, you're exhausted, you're more prone to falling. Be careful. Guard those gateways. [00:40:02] Escape immediately. Make a plan. Have two people that you're going to text before you fall, not just after. In the name of Jesus. Talk to them after, but have a plan for before you fall. There's. There's a lot of practical tools, but the pure in heart will see God. [00:40:22] The bride is preparing herself for a spotless lamb to come. [00:40:27] Are you going to be part of that honeymoon or are you going to be weeping at the door saying, lord, Lord, please let me in? Weeping, lord, Lord, I'm so sorry. [00:40:39] I ran out of oil. I didn't pay my whole. I didn't pay the whole cost. [00:40:45] I still have money left over. Now I got to go buy oil. But the other virgins, they. They spent all their life savings on oil. [00:40:52] They had enough when he came back. Can we stand and respond to God. [00:41:02] Like 15 minutes? You can pick up your kids, so don't worry about that. But let's take some time to just. [00:41:09] There's a grace on this house to walk in purity and to shift the culture of Christianity and the world and what Christians post online and what they think is okay. There is a grace on this house. Step into that grace. [00:41:27] Step into that grace. [00:41:29] Be a ruthless truth teller. [00:41:32] Don't just make half confessions. Iceberg confessions. Contact your life group leader that you're going to join today and say, hey, can we schedule an appointment? I want to make a full life confession and I want you to walk with me. [00:41:46] Contact your life group leader. I'm going to do a full life confection, not iceberg. It might take five hours. [00:41:52] Do it. [00:41:54] Your freedom's worth it. [00:42:00] Jesus. [00:42:02] Come touch your people today, God. [00:42:07] Touch your people today, God. If you want to begin the journey of doing business with God, I just want you to respond today. [00:42:14] Do you care more about the fear fear of man or do you care about the fear of the Lord? [00:42:19] Because we're a place where we value the fear of the Lord over what we feel. [00:42:24] Do you want the fear of man or do you want the fear of the Lord? Do you want him to cleanse you? Do you want him to wash you? [00:42:29] I want you to respond. There's grace. He gives grace to the humble. The most humble thing you can do is walk out and say, help, God, I need you. It's me, Lord. I need you. Help. [00:42:40] Help. All over this room. If you need the help of God in this area, just raise your hands. Raise your hands. Help, God. Help. He gives grace to the humble. He gives grace to the humble. He gives grace to the humble. He's so gracious to the humble. He's so gracious to you. [00:43:00] He's not going to condemn you. He's going to set you free. [00:43:04] He's so gracious. Just lift your hands and surrender. Help. Help, God. [00:43:09] Clean hands and a pure heart. [00:43:12] Not even a hint. God, My eyes are only for you. [00:43:16] My eyes are only for you. [00:43:19] Help, God. [00:43:21] Can we just respond? You can respond by kneeling. [00:43:24] Coming forward. [00:43:26] Let's pray this. God to God. [00:43:34] Thank you for joining Kingdom Movement online. I pray and hope that that sermon impacted you deeply. I would love if you shared this with a few friends and family. And before you go, don't forget to subscribe. See you next week.