1 Corinthians 6:18 – Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. I get this question a lot both from single and married guys and, to both of them, pornography will neither teach you how to have a future … Read more
In this Q&A session from James River Church, Pastor Mark Driscoll tackles the question of how to handle a spouse who you have caught with a porn problem. To get more unfiltered, uncensored, and unapologetic Bible teaching from Pastor Mark Driscoll, visit www.RealFaith.com/sign-up or text “RealFaith” to 99383.
In this Real Romance Q&A, Pastor Mark and Grace answer your questions on sex, marriage, and family. This question comes from a man wanting to know is it okay to watch porn in his marriage and how to become more intimate with his wife.
Genesis 34:5 – Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. In Genesis 34, we read about Dinah and that she was defiled while her father stood idly by and her brothers had the complete … Read more
Genesis 34:25 – On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. After Jacob’s only daughter, Dinah, is defiled, and Jacob sits idly by, we see another mini-Fall … Read more
Genesis 34:30-31 – Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” But they said, “Should he treat … Read more
Genesis 34:13 – The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. After Dinah was defiled, her brothers told the unsuspecting men of Shechem a strategic lie, that they would happily intermarry with them and share all of their great wealth. However, the Shechemites would first … Read more
Genesis 34:2 – And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. When he was nearly finally home after a 20-year absence, Israel (formerly Jacob) settled in Shechem. This father’s decision proved to be as devastating as Lot’s … Read more
These testimonies are from real women with real life experiences who are sharing their stories to hopefully help encourage you and help you relate to their experiences. I grew up Catholic only going to church for Easter, Christmas, and the occasional wedding or funeral. I made my first holy communion and confirmation (classes that Catholics … Read more
Philippians 3:19 – Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
1 Thess. 4:3-7 – For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.
God created the pleasure path for His glory and our good. We were made to enjoy God and all that God provided for us to enjoy in this world.
The problem with idols is that they lie. Their deception is that sin can satisfy. In reality the addict is never satisfied, which presses him or her into deeper levels of addiction.
Only God—life with God, obedience to God, and freedom through God—can satisfy. Practically speaking, this is why God wants us to practice chastity before marriage and fidelity in marriage; so that we will have only one neural pathway toward enjoying intimacy with our spouse alone.
This is also why God calls us to fill ourselves with the Spirit rather than getting drunk, because drunkenness invites unholy “spirits.” Likewise, we shouldn’t allow our stomach to become our god, thereby eating ourselves to obesity, disease, and death.
The good news is that we can build new pathways. When you are angry, rather than raging, you can carve out a new path into God’s presence through worship and prayer. When you are scared and anxious, you can spend time in God’s Word rather than drinking too much to calm your nerves.
When you are feeling intimate, you can lovingly build a complete and healthy relationship with your spouse rather than running into sexual sin. Over time you can build momentum so that your brain, body, and soul more naturally and quickly take the path toward God’s presence.
To order the new book from Pastor Mark & Grace Driscoll “Win Your War”, visit: https://amzn.to/2YuhoDn.
For the entire eight-week “Win Your War” sermon series from Pastor Mark, visit www.markdriscoll.org or the Mark Driscoll Ministries app.
Romans 6:5-10 – For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
The slavery of addiction rewires the human brain. In his book Wired for Intimacy, William Struthers looks at the physical side of porn addiction and uses a helpful analogy.
Imagine that you went for a walk in the woods. There was no path, but at the end of your walk you greatly enjoyed what you discovered—something like a waterfall, beautiful view, fresh river, and so on.
Imagine if on frequent hikes you traced your same steps until a path formed—let’s call this your pleasure path. The more you walk that path, the wider and deeper it becomes until you can quickly make the same trip over and over with less and less conscious intent. The senses of your body—your eyes seeing the path, your feet remembering the steps—would make that trip faster and easier each time you headed down the pleasure path.
With most any pleasure, this same thing happens in our brains and bodies as a neural pathway is carved out through repeated behavior. Struthers says it this way: “This is our decision-making system. To be addicted to something is to release dopamine, which causes you to want it and to make the decision to pursue it. That’s our addiction pathway.”
The slavery of sinful addictions is both a physical and a spiritual problem. Only through Jesus can you be redeemed from the slavery that keeps you tied to the devil and his demons. Only through Jesus can you walk away from your slavery to sin.
To order the new book from Pastor Mark & Grace Driscoll “Win Your War”, visit: https://amzn.to/2YuhoDn.
For the entire eight-week “Win Your War” sermon series from Pastor Mark, visit www.markdriscoll.org or the Mark Driscoll Ministries app.
Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted by the devil for forty days. During those days He ate nothing. And when they were ended, He was hungry. The devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word of God.’” Luke 4:1-4 MEV.
Let’s look at the first weapon Jesus used when He was tempted by the enemy.
The story of Jesus’ temptation begins in Luke 4:1–2, “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.”
Unlike God, Satan is not omnipresent. He cannot be in more than one place at a time. Satan himself went to war with Jesus, but for the rest of us, he sends someone else on his behalf. As is often the case with the demonic, no one invites it, but instead, it rudely shows up in a pushy and bossy way, demanding to be dealt with immediately.
Like Moses (Exod. 34:28) and Elijah (1 Kings 19:8) Jesus spent forty days alone in the wilderness. By the time the dragon showed up for war, Jesus had reached the limits of His humanity. In this we learn when our enemy is likely to HIT—when we are hungry, isolated, and tired.
Living out of His full humanity, the Lord Jesus was vulnerable. We are as well, anytime we find ourselves hungry, isolated, or tired. To make matters worse, Satan and demons do not share the limitations of our humanity. They do not get the flu, need a day off, or age. Our humanity has limits that spirit beings do not share.
How can you as a human being with finite energy possibly win a battle against spirit beings who have the benefit of being able to war against you day and night without needing a meal, nap, glass of water, or day off? Your power is finite, but the Spirit’s power is infinite!
Where did Jesus’ temptation occur? In a barren, lonely, desolate wilderness. Sometimes following the leading of the Holy Spirit means we, like Jesus, will find ourselves in poverty rather than prosperity, trouble instead of tranquility, and hardship instead of happiness. It just goes to show that the surest place to be is in God’s will, even if it’s in a wilderness. It is better to have the Spirit and nothing else than to have everything but the Spirit.