Our guest speaker today was Craig Gross from XXX Church. It all started around 4 years ago as Craig & Mike Foster discussed the problem with pornography as they ate dinner at P.F. Chang'sStats/Facts:
Percentage of pornography viewers/customers who are women: 30%
Average age of kids' introduction to porn: 10 years old
Number of porn sites on the internet: 390,000,000
Percentage of the internet which is related to pornography: 60% (and that does not include iPods or cell phones)
Percentage of people who look at porn while all alone: 70% Why? Shame and embarrassment. In a society where we're already over our heads in loneliness, pornography does not promote relationships. It simply feeds loneliness.
As married pastors, Craig & Mike wrestled with the idea that we can't blame the dark for being dark -- but we can blame the light for not being light! So he & Mike went to a porn show in Las Vegas. They rented a booth for $5000.00 and brought their wives.
They offered something better than pornography. When you fill your lives with something empty, there is something better for you!
The porn industry is smart. 70,000+ people attend these conventions, and they hold it the same weekend as the Consumer Electronics show.
The people at the show and in the industry are also honest. Some of them have said to Craig & Mike:
I'm empty.
Now I'm divorced.
The show promoters contacted Craig & Mike and asked them to come back. When the issue of finances came up, they actually gave them a non-profit discount and invited them to Los Angeles and then again to Las Vegas the following year. They've been going there for 4 years now. They bring hair & make-up artists who do free makeovers and let women know they are beautiful and loved -- not because of the big hair or fake eyelashes. Just because of who they are as a daughter of God.I brought it into my marriage and now my wife wants it out.
But pornography is sin.
Sin is simply open rebellion: trying to do your own thing your own way, instead of following God. We all fall into that. Paul talked about this in his letter to the Romans.
I know I am rotten through and through so far as my sinful nature is concerned...Mike & Craig are helping porn stars out of the industry. The first one, named Trinity took them up on it. They gave her money for job training and relocation, even bought her a car! A year later she was disillusioned. She had to come to grips with what Craig & Mike know: They can help someone out of the porn industry, but only Jesus can offer them something better!
Thank God I'm delivered through Jesus Christ.
After 4 years of being there at the shows, this past year they gave away bibles. There're student bibles, water-proof bibles, duct tape bibles, and even trucker bibles! XXXChurch has shirts that say "Jesus loves porn stars" so they thought
After a lot of emphatic "No!" answers from publishers, they finally found a company to print the bibles. They took 3,500 bibles -- totaling 1,700 pounds. At first they were worried about being able to give away that many, but they were gone within 24 hrs. Ron Jeremy (a famous porn star) told Craig & Mike: "You're on to something. No one is going to throw these away!"Why not have a bible that says
Jesus Loves Porn Stars
on the cover?
Craig is not sure what people do with them, but we do know this: when people open them and read them and allow God in, it can change their life. God doesn't promise the current situation will all go away in an instant. It may take some time. But it will change. The same is true with us. Whatever our thing is; whatever our sin is -- God says He won't hold it against us and He'll erase it from our past. He'll forgive us and cleanse us.
It is important to talk to someone about it; deal with reality. Porn is a fantasy world and is a set of baggage we carry around. It doesn't go away when someone gets married and has free access to sex. The issue is bringing something into the light. We can't get through this if we can't talk about it. Get monitoring software. Deal with it honestly and relationally. If you wait until you are the end of your rope -- at the dead end and at rock bottom -- it may be too late. Find and make a safe place to talk through this and get help.
Decide today to clean it up and move forward. Paul said to the Romans that sin is always tripping us up.
He told the Corinthians to flee from sexual immorality, since no other sin affects the body like this one.
How do we run when everywhere we turn it is staring us in the face?!??!
Start by identifying what it is that is tripping you up, and clean it up. Decide today to go the other way, and clean it up so you don't find yourself back where you started.
You have to physically do something with it. You can't expect someone else to do it for you or take it away from you. Filtering & accountability software applications are great resources, but it is just a beginning step. You have to make changes to your life.
Sin is holding us back. When we remove these things it is not just about making us a better person or even a better Christian. It is about allowing God to have His way. If we do, He says He will do things in and through us which are beyond our mind's wildest imaginings!
The reality is God is not angry with us. He loves us, but He doesn't make deals. We want deals. We say "God I'll get out of this when I have a wife..." or "...when I have a husband" or "...when I have more money" or "...when I have..."
But God says:
If you get out now, I can do so much with your life. I have such better plans for you!At the end of the day, we know what we are doing that is wrong.
If we turn to Jesus and say this, and allow Him to help, He gives us a new life. If you're looking to make a deal with God, you won't find one better than that!
(we had technical difficulties recording Craig's talk on Sunday 10/29 at the Vineyard, but here is a link to the mp3 file from the same talk Craig did on Saturday night at a nearby local church)
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