Let's Talk About Sex Boys 3

Taught by Brad Crockett:

Pornography has changed quite drastically from the time when I was growing up. What used to be found in magazines inside truck stops or ordered through the mail arriving at your house in a plain brown wrapper or what was playing in a XXX movie house like the old Stage 212 is now a thing of the past. Whereas at one time people snuck into places to see it, or at least tried to hide it from their neighbors and families - now is available to anyone inside their own homes to view whenver it is that they would like to see it, and sadly there is not much shame in it either. In today's world you can see that Satan has taken control of the media that is available to people and pornography has become mainstream and is now pushed on younger and younger people. Advertisers use it now to grab our attention and try to sell us something, and on TV shows they use it to get higher ratings of viewers on their shows. Sadly, what used to be shocking has now become the everyday, usual, with people not even giving it a second thought. Let me give you an example of just how much things have changed in my lifetime. If you guys would say some of the names of those who are sex symbols on TV and in movies today that you consider to be "hot" they would be much different from what I looked at when I was younger. (I'm 41 now) Then, I considered Wonder Woman and Maryanne from Gilligans Island, Marsha Brady and even Betty Rubble from the Flintstones hot. Things have definitely changed! Pornography is now on the TV, the internet, in lyrics of songs, in video games, TV commercials, music videos, magazine ads, and it's in our everyday language that we speak. It is all around us. The worst thing is - is that we are told that it's all okay. Everyone else is seeing it - and we are told that if it feels good then it must be okay. If you are not looking at it or downloading porn; then you are not cool. That's a line of crap, that is the world's view and definitley not God's. People today think that they can go online at their homes and view porn and no one will ever know about it, or find out. Truth is though, that every web page that you go on is stored as information by your web provider like AOL, ATT, etc. All of what you've viewed is accessible by the government by getting a web warrant if they decided they ever needed to. In one case that I was aware of, they pulled up information that went back over 3 years. Then, there is also spyware on your computers that takes the information of "where" you've been and sells it to their advertisers. Pictures that you've brought up on your computer are burned on your hard drive and they pretty much stay there forever. People think that their privacy is protected by having passwords, but every computer that is sold in the United States comes with an access code built in it so that federal authorities can access the information that they might need during an investigation. People feel as if no one is seeing them but in truth MORE people are seeing them now then they even did in the old days when they were sneaking and hiding from their neighbors and friends. As far as chat rooms and myspace and facebook; people think that they can put something on there - like their words or pictures and they think that they are somehow "not seen" by others. Like the internet is some magic curtain that you can hide behind and hold you accountable for. WRONG! If you've typed it or posted it - it is out there forever. Even after you delete it or close out your account it never truly goes away. You can find websites online that existed over 15 years ago if you look hard enough. Also, most of these people don't think about the long term aspects of posting these things. Companies now are doing internet background searches along with police records before they ever hire people; so what you post today to be funny or amusing could affect your long term future plans. Back to pornography; when you begin to expose yourselves to it - it begins to distort the way that you think about women. You start to think about them as something that is there for your sexual pleasure, as objects instead of real people who are God's children, whether they know it or not. Guys falsely begin to believe that woman don't care if you treat them in a demeaning manner; that it doesn't matter if you throw them aside once you are done with them. It begins to be more about the game of trying to see how many girls you can be with or which girl you can get to do something for you and then tell your friends all about it. Some guys will say anything to get something from a girl; telling them that they love them when of course they don't mean it. Telling a girl that you love her is a very serious thing and it's not something to be spoken of lightly, guys. Let me state that the ONLY woman I have said that to is my wife. When you tell a girl that you love her; you are not telling her, "hey I like you and for right now, this is great and I want to be with you for awhile." what you are saying to her and what she is hearing is "I want to spent the rest of my life with you." Love is not just being with someone that you think is pretty and that you want to be with until things go sour; it is instead a life long committment. Before you ever tell a girl that you love them ask yourself this question, "if this person were to be in an accident or become ill and be in bed for the rest of their lives would you stay there to feed, bathe and take care of them?" That is what LOVE IS. Let me tell you guys, woman are one of the greatest gifts that God ever gave man. They are one of the most beautiful treasures on this earth and when you realize that and begin to see how valuable they really are and begin to treat them that way; God will bless you with a spouse that will be with you forever. God's view is that all believers must be morally and sexually pure. Pure means to be free from all taint which is lewd. It suggests refraining from all acts and thoughts that would cause you to stray from your virginity or one's marriage vows. Sexual intimacy is reserved for marriage and is approved of and blessed by God in that state alone. Sexual immorality and impurity include not only forbidden consummated acts or intercourse but also any act of sexual gratification with another person other than one's own marriage partner. Contemporary or world thinking says that sexual intimacy among "committed" unmarried youth and adults is acceptable as long as it stops short of full sexual union. God though, explicity prohibits having sexual relations with anyone other than a lawful husband or wife. What happens in youth ministrys around the world and in CYM is that for some - they attend to meet up with someone that they begin to like. Sadly, it becomes more about that relationship than it does about getting closer to God. This affects not only those who are not taking God seriously but also those that are. Listen, the only reason that you should ever even consider dating someone or go steady is IF you are at the point in your life where you are seriously looking for a spouse. If you are under the age of 18; then that isn't you. There is nothing wrong with having friends of the opposite sex; you can learn a lot from each other during this time; but you shouldn't be in a serious relationship unless you are looking to get married. In the long run if you follow God's word and live your life accordingly, you will be so much better off. I firmly believe that in life about 20% of the problems that we face are unavoidable - the other 80% people cause by their own actions. God is there to help us with both, AND if we would follow God's Word most of the 80% would be avoidable. His Word says that we need to separate ourselves from the world, leave what is the world's in the world and not drag it into the church and then take what is the church's , which is God's word and take it out into the world. We need to remain pure and holy in God's eyes and do what is expected by Him and not what is expected by the world.

1 Corinthians 6:13 the body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body.

1 Corinthians 6:18 flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside of his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.