Joshua Christmas Deliverance From Homosexuality

before I get into my testimony and talking about what the Lord did for me first I want to open in prayer father God Lord we come to you right now in the name of Jesus Christ god I thank you that you are still on the throne you are my tting you are powerful no matter the climate of our nation what's going on you have a church you have a remnant and you are in control in Jesus name father I pray Lord that as a word goes forth tonight it will prick and touch the heart of the person who needs salvation who needs deliverance who needs freedom needs boldness and faith in their walk in their deliverance in you will change lives tonight in Jesus name God with faith I believe in I decree in the name of Jesus that you will have your way in this service tonight amen you know I'm on Facebook probably more than I should be as a lot of you are and I think I can absolutely say that the number one thing that deters the lost is Christians posting on Facebook tone does not come across on Facebook all that comes across is alienation and hatred I really want to caution the church as we step into a realm that is so so beaten up and heavily filled with tension against the Christian Church that you pray about what you post and what you say because you're not gonna win the loss on Facebook all you're gonna do is alienate people who need Jesus the one of the biggest things I told people when I was in my sin when I was living the life that I was living is that Christians very naively make the mistake of thinking that they can win an argument with their net win them to Jesus by winning an argument you don't need to win an argument you need to win your neighbor stop trying to win and prove a point let your light so shine amongst men that they will see Jesus through you don't try to win don't be passive-aggressive on social media pray about what you say and make a point to love your neighbor and to let your life so shine in Jesus name I would like to acknowledge my wife who's right there in the third row babe raise your hand and often just bringing my phone in she beautiful your pastor and I were talking about how the media wants to pit homosexuals against Christianity in this day and age everything has come across is that gays thinks Chris think Christians hate them that Christians either have one of two things we either totally accept homosexuality or we say part pardon the term but burn in hell that's where the church is at but we need to find there is a place of love and acceptance in Christ and I want to tell you some of the things that that I have had said to me regarding my deliverance and my salvation and freedom this is something that a man who has been with the same partner for 30 years wrote to me after he read my testimony Joshua I have just read your testimony and he has no intention of changing his life but this is this is the view that I get Joshua I have just read your testimony I must say that they brought tears to my eyes I could visually see you there when you were troubled and scared in your youth we used to work together I'm so happy that you have found a happy life for yourself I always knew that one day I would hear great things from a young man named Joshua I was not mistaken I pray that you will always have this peace in your life I pray that you will never ever again to be made to feel as if you are lacking in any way god bless you I'm proud to have known you I love you also you're an inspiring man and one of them proud to call a friend the boy is then he talks about my son the life that I live the choices that I make to live my life through Christ and not judge people this is the response I get from people who are gay here's another response I got I'm proud of the strength and humility it took to share such a personal story in such a judgmental word world I wanted to personally apologize for the treatment that you received in the gay community this man and his partner currently pastor one of the largest gay churches in Nashville the gay community does not think Christians hate them they are looking for somebody to reach out to them and to show them the true love of Jesus Christ through Christians who have been totally delivered and set free and overcome the things that they have dealt with and that's what it's time for the church to do it's time to overcome it's time to have victory and deliverance in the things that the has tried to keep us bound with for so long when God set me free it was not his goal to make me a heterosexual it was his goal to make me redeemed to make me redeemed here's a really important point that a lot of Christians need to know never ever say to somebody who has lost her and sinned I love you but I hate your sin coz drug addicts sex addicts people who would deal with depression anxiety overeating whatever it is you are your sin that is who you are that is your makeup so when we as Christians tell people I love you but you hate I hate your sin all that sinner is hearing you hate me because I am my sin let me tell you this right now heterosexuals don't go to heaven redeemed people go to heaven homosexuals don't go to help people whose lives are not reconciled to Jesus Christ through the cross go to hell amen and then alright well I'm going to get into my story there will be lots of Tears I'm a crier but I can't help it so I just really hope that my story ministers to you that it enlightens you on on how to live your life to see the world set free and most of all Christians God is on the throne don't give up hope don't be discouraged or weakened by what happened Friday I'm not discouraged a weekend because I know God did not bring me through all the torment and hell that I had to live in for me to be defeated amen God brought me through to lead a battle to see the homosexual agenda addressed in a godly way and people brought to Christ through love amen I want to say hi to Sonia Wilson over there I've known her since I was 17 years old so it's it's been a long time it's really good to see you I grew up in a small town outside of Seattle Washington I was raised as an only child and my parents were evangelists and became pastors when I was five years old my parents divorced when I was 8 and my father relocated to Nashville Tennessee my mother remarried a wonderful man but being a young child I totally rejected his influence in my life from the start I thought that loving my stepfather would mean I didn't love my father this was not intentional but it was a way for me to hold on to a relationship with my dad who was 2,000 miles away now I'll say this my the things that happening is it's the divorce I was sexually abused one time those things did not make me gay what they did is they made me emotionally vulnerable for the devil to come in and attack me and torment me that's what happens when we're kids the things that happen to us make us emotionally vulnerable it doesn't destroy us but it puts us in a place where if we don't have parents who see and recognize our struggle and cover us with the blood of Jesus and plead the blood and pray for us that things can come in and get ahold of us and that's what exactly what happened to me when I was eight years old one could say this is where my issue with homosexuality began however there was so much more that contributed to my struggle I went to a small church and at age nine I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior and was baptized I can remember from an early age that I had a strong love for Jesus and a desire to know him more however every Sunday seemed to present the same sermon about rededicating my life to Christ but I was craving so much more of Jesus I need a knowledge and understanding on how to victoriously live my life as a Christian and overcomer I remember being a teenager praying and begging for Jesus to take those desires away but that's it look back I realized that if I had done that if he had done that I would have no way of helping others who are struggling I recognize now and I am happy for I'm not happy for what I went through and I'm so glad that I was able to deal with things and overcome them through Christ then now I can minister health and healing and wholeness to people who are broken and lost and hurting I'm not afraid of the power of Jesus I'm not afraid of what he's done I know that there is nothing that my god cannot overcome there is no sin no struggle nothing too big that it is approach and love and power through Jesus that he can and will come through I told God when he delivered me on June 3rd of 2006 I said God I promise you that I will prove you in people's lives I will stand up and I will be bold and I will proclaim the name of Jesus and he has never left me he has never let me down one time nobody has ever come against me and and tried to refute my testimony and my story nobody has ever said a negative word to me because God has my back if you overcome something in your victorious and you had something you went through and you're on the right path now you believe that Jesus has your back that if you put yourself out in blind faith to do what he wants you to do that he's gonna come in and go the other 90% and make away when there is no way and you will look back and say look what the Lord has done in my life I remember being a teenager and praying for Jesus to take all these desires away I would not be able to give my insight on how others can walk out their deliverance from homosexuality gender identity crisis anxiety rejection and countless other things if I had not gone through what I went through my church never talked about liberation from anything much less homosexuality all through my school years I had a horrible time relating to and connecting with other boys girls were so much more comfortable and familiar to me to my knowledge no one saw the separation that was happening from my peers and the longing I had for male is male acceptance I want to say this about boys and girls children when they're growing up mothers can give unconditional love to their children their sons and their daughters they can kiss them they can make them feel like they're the most wonderful person in the world but the only person who can affirm a child is their father daddies you need to get on your little girl's face and you just say you are good enough you are beautiful you don't need to settle for anything or anybody so they don't grow up marrying somebody who beats them and abuses them and rapes them and makes them feel like they are beat down and they're nothing daddies needed to get in your boys faces and say I tell my son this every day say I love you you were my boy I will hug you I will hold you if you fall down get back up I will be proud of you no matter what you do so that they can grow up with a godly view of what a man is and they could be a godly man and be the spiritual leader in their home and raise godly children children need their parents to be the men and women of God that they're supposed to be in this day and age and disconnect from the TV and come home and sit with your kids and love them and show them that you want them to be the things that you could not be when you were young I remember praying that God I remember praying that God would give me just one guy best friend I prayed this prayer for many years I felt ashamed of this longing and my need to be accepted by other guys I could not grasp why I created this so much I would see guys come up to each other and embrace or give the big bear hug I was so badly that someone to hug me like that but there was no way I was going to initiate it because in my mind if I showed signs of hugging men then everybody would think I was gay it's so sad how Satan can rob somebody from something as simple as the joy of hugging a friend at the same time I was also dealing with my perception and feelings of rejection from the men in my life my intense longing for male acceptance and affirmation drove me to insecurity depression and anxiety my story here these these these this need for affection this affirmation I was longing for this this attention from my peers is is pretty much across the board with men who struggle with with homosexuality if you recognize in your life that you see a young man who is longing and desperately needs a dad or a brother reach out to him make an effort let's fix the gap it's a lot easier to fix a struggle in some of these life when they're 12 years old then when they're 20 at around 11 years old my sexual thought life was all over the place it consumed me inside and out my desires from Mel love and affirmation were quickly turning sexual I would see guys that had what I felt I was lacking the jocks who looked like they had it all together I would watch them with their friends playing football and laughing I wanted so much to be a part of their world I never knew what to do with these impulses and feelings I was too afraid to tell my struggle to anyone I thought that sharing my secret would make it worse for me I was sure that no one would want to be around me and I would be labeled an outcast I vowed to myself that no one would ever know my secret that decision led to many years of loneliness and torment you know that's sin across the board and I went to a church and the sad thing is there are so many people in churches who don't feel like you have somebody you can talk to that you can open up to the church needs to be a place of open vulnerability where we talk about our testimonies and what we've overcome so people who are struggling and tormented can come up to you after church and say I have dealing with that will you pray for me will you be accountable to me we need to open ourselves up to and help our young people who are struggling and broken so we can make a stronger generation to overcome the things that the enemy is trying to destroy the church with the enemy always knows how to attack us in our weakest and most vulnerable places he knew mine every man's god-given desire for male acceptance and affirmation he turned all those godly desires and to perverted lustful cravings Jesus also knew exactly where I was the enemy can only give me a counterfeit of what the Lord had waiting for me these desires and longings were only temporarily satisfying my deep need for healthy relationships sometimes I wonder if the body of Christ is being what we are called to be are we a place where people can be real and find freedom to come as they are hurting and broken in a million pieces or are we trying to have a pretty building full of people who look the part and know how to play Church while real Christians remain tormented by their struggles the church needs to be about compassion love deliverance and healing just as much as it is about salvation we need to show people how God is really going to help them overcome the strongholds in their lives at 17 I moved to Nashville to live with my father and stepmother I became very active in my new church all while my desires grew stronger and entangled me more I finally confined it in my current and my pastor and my father but due to my unwillingness to be completely open with my struggle and setbacks I fell deeper into sin I didn't understand that freedom is a process I thought that once I opened up and was prayed for that everything was going to go away I was wrong I continued to live in guilt bondage and condemnation sanctification is a process Church sanctification does not come with salvation I want to let you know right now that if you've gotten saved and you have struggles to overcome you don't have to be perfect right away in fact you're not gonna be you're gonna fall but you're gonna get up and you're gonna keep on going you're gonna have people you have godly pastors in this church who are gonna be there with you to pick you up and to keep on going so when you fall and you struggle you can fight and you tell people I need you to help me get over this you know it's like if you ride a bike down the track if you get two and a half miles into a five mile bike ride and you fall off you're not flung back to the beginning you're still in the same spot you don't lose your progress you continue to can you get on and you go in Jesus name somebody who's been saved two years is not going to have the same walk with God as somebody who has saved 40 years it's like a baby who's learning to walk when they will stand up and they're waddling along and they fall down the parents don't say get up you evil baby don't you know it's the will of God for you to walk uprightly well of course it is but they're not gonna do that for several years be able to totally master that you're not gonna master your walk with God until you've done it for a long time don't be so hard on yourself that you beat yourself up over the head don't let the enemy come in your ear and say well you fell again you're never gonna make it you tell him get thee behind me Satan I'm walking this way I'm gonna be saved I'm on this path the path that God has set me on and I will not fall I will not give up you make it the decision that is permanent in your life at 21 I moved out on my own and that was the beginning of the end I felt more separated from God every day my relationship with Christ mm-hmm was being compromised by my needs for male affection and acceptance logically I understood that I was heading down a dark and evil path but the hope of finding someone to love me overpowered my mind and the conviction of the Holy Ghost it was a risk I was willing to take I remember the first time I stepped into a gay club in downtown Nashville in 1998 I had never felt such acceptance from the friends that I met they understood me for the first time in my life I didn't have to hide my desires or pretend to be something else I was a popular one men wanted to be around me it was intoxicating it made me feel like I was on top of the world yet in spite of my newfound world deep inside I hated what I was doing and I hated what I was becoming I built a wall around myself to keep everyone out that cared about me I developed quite a drug addiction to pills anything to numb me if I was numb I couldn't feel the misery I was living in and that was the enemy's counterfeit I walked in and he immediately made it bright and shiny made sin bright and shiny and new and sparkly that's how he gets you in that's how he holds you he has a beautiful counterfeit that he can lay out in front of you but that's just what it is it's a counterfeit and it's not permanent it's not temporary and there's gonna come a time in your life when the new and shiny wears off and he lifts that shroud off of your head and you realize that you are bound in rusty chains that won't let go but Jesus has the true thing for you and your life Jesus has the real thing Jesus will come through for you if you are lost and hurting and broken I was going out between five and seven nights a week I knew my life was spiraling spiraling completely out of control but Satan was swallowing me and my sin had become much bigger than I was I continued on this life in this lifestyle for the next eight years once a Christian friend at my job asked me why I was living the way I was and my response was I hate Who I am but I want to be free I want to be free but I am doing the best I can with the hand I've been dealt it is too strong and I'm too weak to overcome it I realize now that admitting that weakness in my life verbally to somebody was the beginning of my deliverance when you get to a place to where you admit God I love you but it's too big for me I can't overcome it I can't get over it then God is gonna begin to put the wheels in motion for you to be free and overcome those things that you are struggling with in May of 2006 I was driving home and I heard jesus take the wheel for the first time I listened to the lyrics I'm sorry for the way I've been living my life I know I've got to change so from now on tonight jesus take the wheel take it from my hand I can't do this on my own I'm letting go so give me one more chance save me from this road I'm on jesus take the wheel for the next several weeks every time I got in my car I would sing that song and I would cry it was as close as I could get to praying I felt like I was too far gone to ever come back but Jesus on June 3rd of 2006 I was at home I had just come in from the Nashville Pride Festival I remember sitting down and planning where to go that night and for some reason I started looking and listening to old hymns I heard tis so sweet to trust in Jesus just to take him at his word just to rest a prompt on his promise just to know thus sayeth the Lord oh all of a sudden the Holy Ghost fell so heavy in my living room and I began to weep and repent I heard the Lord tell me because of all the prayers that others of others that had gone up for me because I was truly miserable in my sin that Jesus was delivering me I want to backtrack for a minute when I was 13 years old I told them that I was struggling with homosexuality and it was not until I was 28 years old that God delivered me don't give up on your kids don't give up on your kids you pray and you pray and you pray when it seems the darkest you keep on praying he'll tell you right now that the night that I called and he said there was no sign that didn't look like it was ever gonna happen in fact it looked worse than it had ever been but that's when Jesus does his best work that's when Jesus comes through is when it looks hopeless and dark and that was it in an hour it was over God completely delivered me of everything I had dealt with my entire life I called my friends and the guy I was seeing and I ended those relationships these men were like brothers to me and yet they let me go no one attempted to contact me from that day forth Jesus gave me the boldness and wisdom to tell these people why they couldn't be in my life anymore God totally deconstructed the world that I had built and broke down the walls that next morning I went to church for the first time in in years I went to Cornerstone Assembly of God in Madison and I walked in and I was by myself and I went and sat in the balcony and I just surrendered everything I had to Jesus I lifted up my hands and I said God fill me with your power fill me with your strength and he told me that the reason that he delivered me the way I did was so nobody would ever doubt it was Jesus that absolutely everybody who saw me and knew me would look and say that is God only God could do that it was not me it was not my desires of me it was not by choices that I made it was by the power and the blood of Jesus Christ when God does something he does it real he doesn't hole and he does it complete because he wants all the glory and I will give him all the glory for the work that he has done in my life the next day I was at work and this elderly man walked in and made a comment about his church service the day before I told him that I had been in that service all so he looked at me with such peace and love in his eyes and said son you need to know that everything is gonna be okay Jesus has you and it's all gonna work out I wiped a tear and when I looked up the man was nowhere to be found it was what I needed at that moment to give me strength to begin the amazing journey of living my deliverance and I just thinking about no I just thank God so much cuz all I had to do was take one step and be God that I thought was so far away didn't care about me showed up radically and wrecked my life and was with me every step of the way from the first day he made a way and he knew that all I had to do was make the decision to get on the path of righteousness and he would come through in every other way for me God led me to a church called Family Worship Center in Jackson Tennessee this church was not afraid of my struggle and did not reject me but totally accepted this lonely broken boy who was in desperate need of love I was embraced by an awesome group of Christian guys who were committed to walking this out with me walking this out meant being forced to deal with lots of difficult issues that I either hadn't allowed God to reveal to me or I simply chose to ignore I was still living in Nashville so every week for that year I would make the two-hour drive to meet these men God used my new brothers in Christ to minister friendship and love to me they helped me discover my identity in Jesus I remember one particular meeting when Ikes when I said that I don't see why any man would ever want to be friends with me I thought I had nothing to offer in return the response I got was more than I could handle one of the men invited me to come and spend a week in his home with his family he said he could I could go with him wherever he went and we could just hang out for the first time in my life this 29 year old felt like he was worth something to somebody this man along with others helped me deal with the things in my life which were contributing to my same-sex struggle on Sunday February 4th 2007 I have to go through this really quickly I won't get through it I was visiting in Jackson after service I walked into one of the past his office to find his niece sitting on the couch instantly I heard the Lord say this is your wife but woman I have made for you after months of getting to know her and forcing her to realize I wasn't a crazy stalker she decided to date me I visited Jackson often until August of 2007 when I moved there to live with pastors Jeremy and Hayley Smith they helped me understand the power and joy of godly relationships I found those healthy friendships that I had desperately wanted all of my life I found other guys willing to walk alongside me keep me accountable encouraged me and just be my friend I finally got got those hugs this was God giving me covenant companions I had along then prayed for for so many years they helped me begin to live and walk and the calling that Jesus had for me on March 15 2008 I was married to the most amazing and beautiful woman inside and out that any man could ever want three years later on August 10th 2011 Jesus blessed us with a son Charlie Kent Christmas he is everything good in my life you know I always knew I was gonna have a boy I'll even my adolescence my son I always knew I would have a son when Carrie got pregnant there was no doubt that was a boy because not having my dad with me and being able to have those father-son relationships and do those things that void and that hole was still in me and I knew that God was gonna give me a son because my relationship with my son is just as healing for me as it is good for him dad's love your boys roughhouse with your boy spend time with your boys don't let mommy do everything don't ever call it babysitting cuz it's not babysitting it's parenting they're your kids you be just as involved in your kids lives as the mothers are cuz when your kids grow up they don't look at the stuff you have got them they look at the things that you did for them and that is not a child's responsibility to pursue a relationship with their parents it is the parents responsibility to Cult whoo and love their kids and make a safe environment for them my son is an amazing extension of my testimony and the continual blessings of Christ God is continuing to restore the years that Satan took away my life is one miracle after another I thank God every day for the blessing he is pouring out on me and my family for the first time in my life I understand that I have value in the world and worth in the eyes of other men I have value in the eyes of other men and I have value in the eyes of Jesus Jesus is giving me wholeness and healing he saved me liberated me and continues to liberate me I finally understand what it means not just to be a Christian but to have a personal relationship with an awesome God I'm not only free from unwanted same-sex attraction but I'm learning to walk free of anything that hinders my relationship with Christ this journey has brought me closer to Jesus I am completely dependent on him God is the center of every decision I make I know without it beyond the shadow of death I'm one of those people that if I'm not sold out to God I'm gonna be sold out to the devil I can't live just a happy medium I have to have all of Jesus all of them I need every bit of it 24/7 I required him to be the center of every decision I make every breath that I take because I cannot live without him controlling and leading my life God is using what he has done in me to give others hope and to share the message that as a young boy I needed to hear you know so many people tell me that I've never heard of anybody overcoming homosexuality you're the first person I've ever heard talk about coming out of it that's because in our Christian world our American Christian world we take the sin of homosexuality we put it in a little box with a bow and we set it up there and we separate it from everything else because nobody knows how to deal with it every person just about who is in a church in America has some sort of sexual issue that the enemy tries to hit them with that they have to overcome God is the Redeemer of sexual impurity the sooner we realize that we're all in the same boat in some way shape or form with having to deal with sexual issues and we say we all deal with it let's give over it let's put it under the blood let's move on in Jesus and the enemy cannot control us with it because once we expose him his darkness when darkness sees light it immediately goes away once the light of our testimony and our are overcoming hits his darkness it's gone I can tell you right now I'm fifty men I know who have been free from homosexuality for ten years up to 50 years if you want to go on YouTube and and put in deliverance from homosexuality you will see hundreds of people's stories of overcoming this the media is tricking us in the making us think that we're the minority were wrong when there are tons and tons thousands of people around the world who have overcome this who are victorious it's not as big of a deal as the enemy makes us think it is it's not that big of a deal overcome it overcome your issues overcome your struggles and move on in Jesus Christ Jesus had given me the strength to fight and regain ground that Satan robbed for me for over 20 years my passion is to help the church become a place of safety refuge and support for those who are struggling and broken after all the churches were I among many others have found healing our culture especially right now is telling our youth men and women to accept and embrace their struggles as their identity while the church remains silent and most of these people I know this from personal experience don't want to accept their struggle and their identity because their identity but the church has remained silent they don't know that there's anything else they don't know that there's freedom they don't know that there's deliverance and we're afraid that if we go out and talk about it that they're gonna we're gonna get arrested we're gonna get in trouble people are gonna get mad at us that's not the case Jesus will back you up be bold Church be bold in love don't be bold and passive-aggressive hatred be bold in love in Jesus name to see our world saved and set free we were living in a time where sin is not only being celebrated tolerated but it is being celebrated we as Christians have a scriptural obligation to stand up for what is righteous we are commanded to love people no matter how tattered and broken they are and open our hearts to them we need to be the body of Christ he means for us to be I have so many people come up to me who have a loved one who is lost and broken and hurting I want to leave you with this tonight my favorite scriptures first Corinthians 10:13 there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man and God who is faithful will not allow you to be tempted above that which you are able but with that temptation makes a way of escape that you will be able to bear it there is no temptation no struggle no issue if you need me to pray with you and pray for you I am here if you want to contact me on Facebook if you need somebody to talk about your struggle with and to confide in and to reach the throne of God for you because you can't do it right now you can contact me you can contact your pastors there is hope your struggle is not as big as you think it is I pray today in Jesus name that as I leave you I have opened your eyes to what this struggle and this issue going on in our nation really is about it is about the enemy trying to discredit and destroy the church it is not about gays hating Christians it is not about Christians hating gays it is very difficult to witness to any person no matter what their struggle is who is happy and enjoying their sin until somebody comes to terms and is broken and at their lowest point you're not gonna win them to the Lord but what you need to do for months or years or however long it takes is you tell them I love you I am your friend I am here for you and you live Jesus 100% every day of your life and everything that you do and let me tell you this right now correction is not judgement correcting people's issues who are living a wrong lifestyle is not judgment when you correct your children you're not judging them you're correcting them when you correct your employees you're not judging them you correct your correcting them correcting and godliness is not judging so remember be bold in faith be bold in Jesus and have their salvation and their soul at the forefront and it could take time it takes patient but don't give up on people and love them to Jesus amen

Channel: Joshua Christmas

Views: 12,649

Rating: 4.9027777 out of 5

Keywords: Jesus, Testimony, Same Sex Struggle, Freedom, Preaching, Gospel, Homosexuality, ExGay, Hope For Wholeness, Sy Rogers, Deliverance, Overcomer, Love Wins

Id: wnTY8szGcVE

Length: 33min 13sec (1993 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 05 2015