Not sure if Pastor Piper has ever been extremely tempted in this area, but to some extent we all are in many ways, and in common area’s.  For some eating is a issue, others sexual immorality, and still others, drugs or alcohol.

But remember those other sin’s..ones even Paul talked about in Romans 7, Coveting or how about jealousies or the one no Pastor would like to admit too, Pride.

I finished reading a little book about the famous preacher D.L. Moody out of Chicago.  He was a big eater and became quite overweight.  Yet though he sinned by digging food quite a bit, the Lord used him for His Glory…go figure, God uses the non-perfect, but who are being made perfect, for we are complete IN Him.

Oh, thank the Lord for his life changing grace and what it teaches us.  (Titus 2:11-12)

A N T H E M

By Beau J. Ouellette

Ever wonder why porn addiction in constantly growing?  Well my blog for today is to give you a insight to the amazing distribution of the porn industry (movies here) to all American homes through a company called, NEW FRONTIER MEDIA based in Boulder Co.

As Internet porn gets most of the media attention, do you realize that every TV in the United States has porn piped in, ready to view through V.O.D. channels? (Video On Demand)  This is not my boast, but of N.F.M. themselves.  Here is a quote from their website;

“The Transactional TV segment distributes branded adult television programming to cable and satellite television companies. Content is distributed to nearly every television household in the United States. Pay-per-view and video-on-demand programming competes well with other forms of entertainment because it is offered conveniently in the comfort of user’s homes, is high quality, and at a reasonable price point. Retail customers pay as much as $14.99 for one of our features. This compares with an average of $3.99 for big Hollywood releases. The Transactional TV segment operates a 12,000 square foot digital broadcast center in Boulder, Colorado that includes a vast content library comprising over 10,000 hours of digital content.”I thought this quote to be quite informative.  This company makes it’s money from porn. As we order it on our V.O.D. you can see at a quite high price compared to the average Hollywood video, we are benefiting N.F.M. and it’s constituents.   The company’s boast is that it has a huge building that holds over 10,000 hours of porn content!  That’s just what we need!!! (joking)

I pray for this company’s owners.  I don’t believe they know not what they do.  Many, I’m sure, invest in a growing, cutting edge company like this without even knowing it.  I have a I.R.A….I wonder if some of that gets put into a company like this?

But what keeps a company like this going is me, us, you, etc….  Yes, we have laws that make porn available to all, but do we have to buy it, watch it and then come back again and again?  Cable, V.O.D. is a approximate 2 billion dollar a year revenue.  This is not going away, it’s too big!  But for us Christians let’s go after something more pleasurable.

“You satisfy from the fullness of your house and you give us drink from the river of Your Pleasures!”  Psalm 36:8

By: Karen Adams

When a spouse hears that their loved one is involved in sexual sin, many confusing and conflicting feelings start to surface. Once this happens, chaos usually erupts, overflowing with anger, hate, fear,despair etc. These sinful emotions want to take hold of and wreck havoc in our mind and destroy our spirit.  To fight this successfully we need the Lord! We need a batttle plan. We need to be ready to fight any and every dart that the evil one throws our way.

Know that God is with you, holding you, loving you and equipping you to win this battle. It is a spiritual battle and the battle belongs to the Lord!

Here is your battle plan:

1) God understands!   “Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit” Psalm 147:5                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

He knows exactly what you are going through and cares about you so much!

2) Nothing is too hard for God!    “Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.” Genesis 18:14                                                                                                       

We may think that our situations are hopeless, yet with Jesus, they are hopeful!

3) Trust in Him!    “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea….” Psalm 46:1-2   

God will not leave us or forsake us. He will be with us through every step of our journey.

4) Battle Plan!   “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”. James 4:7                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

As long as we focus on Jesus the devil cannot invade our thoughts and cause despair.

5) Break out of anger!    “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. James 1:19-20                                                                                                                                                                                            

Any worldly emotion can bring sin into our lives and detract from righteousness in the Lord.

6) Quiet amid chaos!    “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10

When everything around you seems insurmountable, (“be still”: the Hebrew word for this probably means “enough!” ) don’t surrender to the chaos, say enough! and pray and surrender to Jesus!

7) Lean on the Lord!    “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5

The Lord knows what is best for us and will continue to work everything for good for those who love Him.

8) Meet all your needs!    “And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

God won’t meet you halfway, He will hold you the WHOLE way and give you everything you need.

9) Transformed!    “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–His good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2

We are children of God we do not react to situations the way the world does; we act by the way it will glorify Jesus.

10) Panic Attacks!    “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God , which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

Our most powerful weapon against any situation, circumstance or feeling is prayer!

11) Peace from God!    “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me–put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:9

And, the most important thing to remember is God loves us, He is in control and through His grace we can obtain peace and victory to conquer this battle and all others throughout our life!

“Give thanks to the LORD for He is good; His love endures forever”. Psalm 118:1

By : Beau Ouellette

I was given a call by my partners in Running Light MInistries last night, letting me know about the up-coming Porn industry exlusive that would be aired this weekend (July 20). I actually did not want to watch it, but then my wife told me she recorded it for me to see if there were any new things that would contribute to my research on the influencce of porn worldwide.

I confess I watched it in fast forward most of the time. It’s amazing how the news media just get’s done talking with a man that has been addicted to porn for years, his life ruined, only to then show a famous porn star pole dancing in nothing?! It points to a importanat point.

“For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.”

The carnal man, and in this case MSNBC, does not understnad what they do. It seems obvious to me that showing porn, while getting done interviewing a man that has been in bondage to porn only contruibutes to …more showing of porn..(that’s what there doing)

But to those that are not thinking of the things of God they are blinded to the contradiction of it all.

The other interesting note I thought about while watching it, was that the Porn industry is no longer taboo at all. It was justified in the news piece by it’s lack of critical questions to those women that were involved in the business side of the industry. I got the take the interview was as interviewing any fourtune 500 company. How are they going to survive in the economy? What is the internet doing to impoact the industry? How are the employee’s comensated?

Instead you saw how “normal” the once marginal is. Women in Porn have kids, nice houses, business savy staff and marketing teams.

Let’s pray for these people in the industry. For the men and women that are involved in it. They do not know the Lord and His pleasure. I was once blind but now I see and I believe the Lord is reaching out to these as well. They are simply looking for water from the wrong well. (John 4)

“He who comes to me will never be thirsty again”
Jesus

I am a Pastor.

Will anyone talk about the influence of Porn?

Today on the news we have the porn influence all over it. “The Bobbits meet again” and “Pageant Paid For Miss Calif. Implants.”

What I find so interesting about these two stories on The Early Show is that neither of them mentioned porn as being a influence into the decisions for which they have received the news converge.

“Miss California Pageant Co-Director Keith Lewis confirmed on The Early Show Friday. He also said reports that the Miss California pageant helped foot the bill for the operation were true.”

Maggie Rodriguez who interviewed Keith Lewis sounded appalled that getting breast implants would increase her changes of winning. It sounded a bit staged to me. I mean where does Maggie live? Pluto! Everyone today who has gone to a store has more then likely bought a doll that had a Miss America figure with… well, a we endowed set of breasts.

In the book, “The Porning of America” by Sarracino and Scott they show a picture of a Bratz doll to show how the porn model for women has become the norm. They call it, “Normalizing the Marginal.” And this is what has happened with women. Having a porn body has become the standard.

This Miss California girl has been raised around pictures, shows, mannequins (In stores), books, music video’s and the like that all normalize the porn look. Women over the past 40 years have been taught that there worth is that of a man’s. Just as a man works and improves to get better and better at his job so a women’s worth is now the same. One big problem… In emphasizing this equality or value to the society, her worth as a mother, nurturer and a child bearer has been diminished drastically. And this is what porn does. It shows women who pursue there worth in pleasure (like a man) and not in the ability to produce a child and raise it. This change of worth is so different then in any other time in History. Women have always been valued for there ability to have children. But not any more! This change has also lead to why in this country we have such a gender problem. Technology has made this possible. Porn has shown that women can pursue pleasure (perceived pleasure at that) and not have children.

Ok, enough of that…back to Miss California. Why get breast implants? Because we have normalized it! We like it. We all like our porn in some way or another. The influence of porn is staggering and it is not just a man problem. 1 out of 3 viewers on porn sites are… You guessed it? Women. Psalm 4:2 How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood?

By Dave Adams
Staff Member

One of the basic foundations for freedom from sexual sin, or any life-dominating sins, is radical amputation. Get rid of the stuff that is causing you to sin; take away the avenues that make your sin easily accessible. Destroy the porn magazine and the “adult” movies. Get rid of the internet or get rid of the whole computer if need be. Drive a different way to work if your usual route takes you past the strip clubs or places where hookers hang out. In other words, do whatever it takes to win this battle. Make no mistake, there is a battle going on, and how successful you are at coming out on top depends a lot on how much you are willing to do to win.

Now there are those who argue “but its not the porn video that causes me to sin, it is my sinful nature. I see no reason to destroy it. I believe true freedom is when I can be around the source of temptation and not give in. It is not a true test of my freedom by taking the temptation out of the picture!” Whenever I hear this I am reminded of a few Bible verses:

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Proverbs 14:12, 16:25 (Two verses for this one warning! I think it must be important!)

“…a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” James 1:8 Now, admittedly there is more to this section of scripture and the context is different than the area of disobedience, but the correlation of a “double-minded man” to “unstable in all his ways” stands true. These people are double-minded, thinking they are obeying the Word, yet doing things their own way. One foot in the kingdom, one foot out. We are either in or out, but that being in the middle is dangerous and faulty.

It may be true that true evidence will be manifested when we can have the sources of tempation around and we are not given into them, but I have some thoughts here on that, too:
1 – Why give the wicked one any more ammo than he needs? Why put ourselves in the way of tempation? If we are really, truly serious about our purity and our right relationship with Our Lord and Creator, then we will be willing to do whatever it takes to get there and stay there.
2 – The stance “I must stand strong against the source of temptation”, is not Scriptural. Isn’t this another way of saying, “I can do this myself, in my own strength”? Which then says, “Thank you Jesus, what you did on the Cross was really nice and all, but I don’t need you to help with this.” Now, the arguer may say “Oh, but I am relying on Jesus for my strength! I can’t do this without Him!” But, if Jesus is the Word, and the Word is the Scriptures, and we are not obeying the Word, then we are relying on self.
3 – Yes, being able to not give into tempation when the source is right next to you may be a sign of true freedom. But when we are still in the early stages on our journey to freedom, I would argue that we are not yet free. We are escaping, some further from the enemy than others, and until we get rid of those stumbling blocks, there is still a chain attached to us. We need to sever that chain and
get to freedom, experience freedom, fall in love with our Freedom to the point that we want nothing else. At that point we may be able to be in the same room with our stumbling blocks and not yield.
4 – When I hear these arguments, it tells me the person is not ready to give up his sin. He still wants to know it is there when he needs it. It does not show the level of commitment that is needed to be victorious. It speaks of a hardened heart, and an unrepentant spirit.
5 – Either God is the God of your life, occupying first place, and you are willing to submit to His Lordship, or He is not.

So make things easier on yourself. Take out the trash.

I notice in the Word a phrase that is often used of God in His judgment of His people.  “Behold, against this family I am devising disaster, From which you cannot remove your necks;”  Micah 2:3
 
God is said to do, “whatever pleases Him” in the Psalms (115:1).
 
How does it please God to judge His people?
 
Duet 8:3 is a wonderful answer.  God purposes in His judgment to glorify Himself by showing he is more valuable then what seemed to be of value to us. 
Food became of more value to the people then God, so God judged them.  There judgment was one of hunger.  Now when your hungry you think of food, but there is a lesson here that God is showing his people.  The main lesson is that He (God) is more greater then food.  God is pleased with this because this shows His importance and value amongst all the Nations (Duet 4,6 & 8)
 
Jesus showed the value of God when he was tempted like Israel for 40 day’s by Satan.  Jesus was hungry, and Satan picked up on it.   Satan desires to diminish the value of God in the world as seen in the book of Job.  Is God really just?  Does God really love you?  Is God really worthy of your praise, adoration and attention?
Jesus passes the test, by affirming the passage from Duet 8:3 “Man does not live on bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the Father.”
Jesus in essence said that God is more valuable then anything, food, sex, games, clubs, friends, family…everything!  He is “more than” (Matthew 10:37) it all.
 
Judgment pleases God because it is used to glorify His goodness as being the one who can satisfy completely.  Food only satisfy’s for a time.  Sex too!  But the Lord calls us to “taste and see that He is good” (Psalm 34:8) and to “drink from the river of His Pleasures” (Psalm 36:8)
 
God is more pleasurable then it all!
 
So Lord we pray that your judgment fall on us, so to glorify your goodness as the one who can satisfy, for in your judgment we are stripped of all that seems of value, yet is really a temporal shot in the arm for our spiritual need.

Today there were two news reports that I was troubled about.   Here they are…

In Notes Left in Family’s Killings, Md. Man Details Debts, Depression

In one of six notes he left scattered about the rented house in Middletown, Christopher Wood, 34, described his financial hardships and his struggle with depression and anxiety — factors that investigators believe contributed to the killings.

Police investigating death of Freddie Mac official

By ALAN ZIBEL and MATTHEW BARAKAT – 2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chief financial officer of money-losing mortgage giant Freddie Mac was found dead in his basement early Wednesday morning in what police said was an apparent suicide.

David Kellermann, 41, apparently hung himself, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation. He asked not to be identified because the investigation was ongoing.

HOW incredibly sad this is.  Due to money two men decide to take there lives with one taking the lives of his entire family.  How far will we go until we realize that there is no pleasure in the temporal items of this world.  There are such extreme times in a person’s life where the feeling’s of loss become so overwhelming that the only way out seems to be taking of life.  I do not underestimate such feelings and believe they are real as witnessed by those in the Bible.  Kind David cried out to God in anguish along with many others who were at the end of a desperate situation.  But, there was the but!  Let me explain.  King David though going through extreme circumstances on the outward, exercised faith in His speech by using a “but.”  

Just look at Psalm 13

 1 How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever?
         How long will You hide Your face from me?
 2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
         Having sorrow in my heart daily? 
         How long will my enemy be exalted over me? 
         
 3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God;
         Enlighten my eyes, 
         Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
 4 Lest my enemy say,
         “I have prevailed against him”; 
         Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved. 

Doesn’t sound to good for David!!!  He is desperate and see’s no end…‘but’

5 But I have trusted in Your mercy;
         My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
 6 I will sing to the LORD,
         Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

David was in desperate situations like all of us are at one time in the world.  He was guilty of murder, adultery and loosing a Kingdom because of it!  Talk about a failure.  Yet he looked to to the Lord to be merciful.  He thought in terms of how God could get the glory from this, instead of, the empty cup that so many are drinking from.  God has a plan, and purpose!  The two men that did such horrible things needed to know about the “but” of the scriptures.  Though they were in financial crisis, but God is merciful and compassionate (Psalm 145).  

This awakens me to share the pleasure of God to others in this world, who are in desperate need.  Money just does not do it!  Read Ecclesiastes if you don’t believe me!

Isn’t it great when we are loved?! The feeling of security, happiness, peace, trust. How wonderful! We would always like to feel this way. But what about when something happens in our life that is completely contrary to this. A betrayal of some kind from someone that you never thought could do this to you?  Our feeling of security becomes insecurity, happiness becomes a profound sadness, peace turns into total chaos and trust is gone! We become hopeless! At least this is how we look at it from a worldly point of view. Instead of doing that, let’s point it to the Cross!

We are on this earth for one purpose and one purpose only and that is to glorify and serve Jesus Christ in any way He sees fit. Insecurity, sadness, chaos, hopelessness and betrayal are inconsistant when Jesus is our Lord and Savior! During times of terrible despair,  we must focus our eyes on Jesus.  He has a purpose for our lives.  Romans 8:28-29 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many bretheren. 

 We are to concentrate on Him when any pain enters our lives.  God promises that any evil that has been done against us will be worked for our good.  In the midst of our suffering God is conforming us. He is changing us. He is changing our character to be more like Him. Praise God for that!  That is the ultimate goal to achieve in our christian life.

God loves us and He will never let us down. Put your trust in Him and grow!