- The power of purity. It says in Psalms 24:4: "Who can
ascend into the hill of the Lord? "Or who may stand
in His holy place? "He who has clean
hands and a pure heart," come on somebody,
drop that in the chat clean hands and a pure heart. I want you to notice that
this is the prerequisite to ascend into the hill
of God; is both hands and heart. Clean hands, pure heart. Hands, they represent the physical.
It's something you can see. The heart represents
the emotional, the mental, the invisible, the private because
it's something you cannot see. And God is saying, "if you
want to ascend into My hill "if you want to come
into My presence," God says, "I want
your hands to be clean." That means that I want your
physical life to be pure, clean. And then I want
your heart to be pure. But I want you to notice that
purity is connected to the heart not to the hands. God doesn't say pure
hands and clean hearts. He says, "clean
hands and pure hearts." It's again confirmed
in Matthew 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in
heart, For they shall see God." So purity has to
do with your heart, cleanness has to
do with your hands. In other words, virginity
is the issue of hands. Virginity is the
issue of the physical. Virginity is the
issue of relationships but purity is the issue of the
heart. It's the issue of emotions. It's the issue of your mind. Virginity is something that
you have to keep yourself from sexual immorality
until you get married. But once you get married
you'll no longer be a virgin but you still are expected by
God to walk in the purity of heart. Purity is for life. Virginity
is until you get married. God expects our hands to be
clean but our hearts to be pure. I want to let you know that it's
a heart issue not hands issue. It's an emotion issue
not a virginity issue. This issue of purity is
what God is after today. The verse that I want to base
this message on will come from 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6. "For this is the will
of God, your sanctification: "that you should abstain
from sexual immorality; "that each of you should know
how to possess his own vessel "in sanctification and
honor, not in passion of lust "like the Gentiles
who do not know God; "that no one should take
advantage of and defraud his brother "in this matter, because the
Lord is the avenger of all things as we also have
forewarned you and testified." Somebody drop that in
the comment right now. The will of God is
found in the ways of God. I want you to see
what Paul is saying and this applies to
young people today. He says, "For this
is the will of God." This is one of the most asked
questions among the youth today. What should I do with my life? Which career choice
should I pursue? Which education should I
get? Which college should I go? Who should I marry? What
calling should I dive into? What should I do with my life? The will of God for
you as a young person is your sanctification. Maybe you don't know what
you should do with your life where you should go to college, what job you should take but I'm going to make God's
will very clear for you today. God's will for you
is your sanctification. Whether you take
the job in acting, whether you take the job in
the entertainment industry, whether you take the job
in the education industry, whether you are going to
be full-time in a local church God's will remains for
every each one of us and that is sanctification. Come on somebody drop
that in the chat, sanctification. God wants us to be set apart. God wants us to
be separated to Him. God wants us to live
a holy and a pure life that is His will for us. See, God's will is found,
discovered, through God's ways. When you commit your
life to the ways of purity you will inevitably stumble
upon the will of God. My first point, purity
is the path to purpose. Purity is God's
path to our potential, our purpose, and the
calling that God has for us. See, there is this point
that you are at right now and there is the future you
where God wants you to be the dreams, the visions,
the callings of God, the prophetic words
spoken over your life, the impressions that
God has given to you as a young person of
what you are going to be; a lot of us what we do is
we go to school, get educated; you know, we go get the
proper skills that we need and all of that has it's place
but there is a spiritual principle there is an invisible path that
exists in the realm of the spirit that you have to be on if
you want to go from point A which is where you are,
to point B - to your purpose. And that thing that connects
point A and point B is purity. This is the will
of God, your sanctification. This is God's will for your life. God says, you are going to find
My will if you separate yourself. You are going to find My
will if you stop shacking up. You will find My will if
you stop watching porn. You will find My will if
you will stop cussing. You will find My will if
you will separate yourself from toxic places
and toxic people. You will find My will when you
will live your life in honor to Me and get sanctified. Come on somebody drop
that fire emoji right there. Because the Lord wants
us to live a life of purity because that life of purity
is the path to our purpose. A beautiful example
of that is Joseph. You know, Joseph, he
had a dream from God and this dream became true but the path to this dream
was marked with purity. Joseph committed
himself to purity. Joseph did not know directions
to see the fulfillment of his dream. In fact, the more he
committed himself to purity the more it seemed like he
was getting farther and farther from his purpose. But in reality, God orchestrated
his destiny in such a way where being betrayed brought
him closer to his destiny; being thrown into the dry pit
brought him closer to his purpose; being put in Potiphar's house
brought him closer to his purpose. When he walked away
from the lure of the temptation to commit fornication, it
brought him closer to his purpose. When he went to jail
and it seemed like that's it, he is farthest from seeing
the fulfillment of his dreams but in reality, he was actually
the closest to seeing the fulfillment of the promise
of God on his life. But the path that he
took, the exit if I could say the highway that he took
was the highway of holiness, the path of purity and he somehow
stumbled upon his destiny. He walked into his purpose. He walked into the fulfillment
of the dream of God for his life but my friend, it
was not an accident. It was well calculated by God. All Joseph had to do
is keep his heart pure. Pure from offense,
pure from resentment, pure from sexual immorality, pure from the pagan practices
that was practiced around him. As long as he
kept his heart pure God kept him on the
track to his purpose. Come on somebody this is
good preaching right there. As long as you will
keep your heart pure God will take the responsibility
to keep you on the track to your purpose. Drop that amen in
the chat right now if you are receiving
what I'm sharing with you. See, the purity is what
connects you to your purpose. If you don't know how
to get to your purpose, if you don't know
what to do next, do this: sanctify yourself. Separate yourself for God. Yield yourself to living
a life free from offense living a life free from pride,
living a life free from lust living a life free from greed. As you keep your heart pure
you will not miss your destiny. God will move things. God will use what the enemy
meant for evil, for your good. God will take those
turns that it seems like life is just spinning out of control
and He will place you exactly where you need to be because
purity is the path to purpose. Number two, purity
leads through prison before it takes
us to the palace. Purity leads through prison
before it takes us to the palace. See a walk in purity, a
life of purity is a process. This process has a
price that we have to pay. One of the reasons many people
do not embrace the life of purity in their heart, in their mind,
and also in their physical body is because there is a
price that you have to pay to live in purity. For Joseph, the price is
that he had to go to prison. He had to go through a time
and a season of heavy restrictions upon his liberties. See, what is prison?
Prison is not where you die. Prison is where you have
boundaries, where you are restricted where you have limitations,
where can't do what you want to do you can't be where
you want to be, you can't talk to
who you want to talk you can't have what
you want to have; whereas other people outside
of prisons they have liberties, in prison you have restrictions. Purity takes a person to a prison. What I mean by a prison is
that there comes a restriction on your liberties. Whereas other people can hangout
at those places on Friday night you can't. Whereas other people can
watch whatever they want on their television, you can't. Where other people
can smoke, you can't. Other people can get
drunk and get high, you can't. Other people can date
and fornicate, you can't. And it first seems like a
lonely place to be in prison it first seems like, "God why
are you letting me go through that you are depriving
me of pleasures of life." But you must understand
that there is a price to pay to live in purity and that price
is self-imposed restrictions and limits to your liberty. It's when you know that
even if something is not sin but it's not beneficial. It's not healthy for your soul,
it's not healthy for your future. In light of your past, this
thing is not good for you and you put yourself in the
prison of limitation and restrictions knowing, you are not going
to live like this all your life and behind this prison,
once you pay your dues there will be a palace. There will be a glorious
purpose that you will walk in. Come on somebody, give
God some praise right now. Spam that chat
with that fire emoji if you are receiving what
I'm sharing with you today. So many people are afraid
of paying a price of purity and instead, they simply
cruise in compromise. You know, Joseph went to
prison because he was pure. Samson went to prison
because he refused to be pure. After Joseph's prison
time, he went to the palace. After Samson's prison
time, he went to his funeral. I'm going to tell you one
thing. You are going to pay now and play later. Or you are going to
play now and pay later but you are going to pay. If you refuse to pay
today to walk in purity, you will pay tomorrow as a
result of not living in purity. You will pay that
with a loss of license, with the loss of freedom,
unwanted pregnancies, shame and guilt,
temptation of abortions. You will pay
later with soul ties, sexually transmitted diseases, multiple of broken relationships. You will pay either now or later
but I'm going to tell you one thing purity is on sale right now. The best time to be pure, it's
the lowest price to pay for purity and that is right now not later. You can't postpone
it till tomorrow tomorrow the price
is getting higher. Tomorrow it's going to increase, tomorrow it's going
to go through the roof. Everyone will pay but God
allows us to choose our prison so it can usher
us into the palace. If we refuse the prison today
and we say, "No, I'm going to flirt, I'm going to commit sexual
immorality." We will have prison the only problem is that
it will be a consequence of not choosing purity instead of a
consequence of choosing purity and it will not lead
us to the palace, it will lead us to the problems. In Thessalonians we
read today about God says, "This is My will,
your sanctification." And then He goes in
and begins to break it down of what that looks like. He says that you will abstain
from sexual immorality. So God wants us to abstain
from sexual immorality. Sexual immorality is--
fornication is sex before marriage. Adultery is sex outside of marriage. God wants us to abstain from
every form of sexual immorality. Joseph did that. He ran
away from Potiphar's wife. She was flirting with him, and
the Bible says that regularly, everyday she was
wearing him out. And Joseph, he would
go into the house to work he didn't go there to entertain
himself, he didn't go to chill, he went there to work. And at this one particular time
she just grabbed him and says, "Hey, you are
going to lie with me. You are going to
have sex with me." And Joseph abstained
from sexual immorality. He end up in prison.
He fled from her. He lost his garment. He was willing for
her to mistaken him, blaspheme him, make fun of him, cook up a story about him, but he did not let himself be
stained by sexual immorality. Let me ask you a question, are
you flirting with Potiphar's wife or are you fleeing
Potiphar's wife? Are you flirting with that which
Christ has called you to flee? Are you asking yourself,
how close to the edge can I get without falling? Or are you saying,
how far from sin I can get so I can stay close to God? The Bible says, "Let there be
among you no hint of immorality." Are there hints of
immorality in your life? Is your life stained
with immoral hints? The Scripture says, "It is good
for a man not to touch a woman." For those of you that
are in a relationship, are you dating and fornicating? Or are you dating
and walking in purity? Are there hints of immorality
all over your Instagram stories, all over your Snapchat, all over
the things that you are watching and consuming on TikTok?
Are fleeing or are you flirting? Because the Scripture
makes it very clear that if you are flirting, that
means you are not paying a price of purity. You are
trying to avoid the prison. You want to get the
shortcut to the palace but I'm going to tell you
the shortcut to the palace is not flirting with
Potiphar's wife; it is fleeing her and paying the price
of being in prison meaning having
limits to your liberties. The Bible says later on, not only that we have to
abstain from sexual immorality but then it takes a step farther. He says that each one of
you will learn how to possess it's own vessel in
sanctification and honor. That speaks of not just that I
don't yield to sexual immorality but that I control my body. I have a shirt that I'm wearing
that represents this message that you submit your
biology to your theology. That you submit your
sensuality to your spirituality, your feelings to your faith. That you submit your
chemistry to your convictions. Learn to possess
your body in honor. So many people are
possessed by their passions instead of possessing
their passions. My friend, you are not an animal that you have to be
ruled by your urges. You are not an angel
that you deny your feelings. Angels in heaven,
they don't get married but you are a human. You are in between the angel
world and the animal world. You have a body
but you are a spirit and therefore you should not
let your feelings, your passions rule your life. The Bible says,
"learn to possess your vessel." Your body, your passions,
your urges and your desires- get them under
control of your theology, of your belief system, of your
conviction, and of your faith. Come on somebody, drop
that fire emoji right there in the chat wherever you
are watching right now. Possess your passions. Make your passions
your prisoner. Do not be imprisoned,
do not be a captive, do not be a slave of your
desires, of your sexuality. Make your sexuality
your servant; means you tell it what to do. You tell it what it can have
and when it cannot have. This applies also
to masturbation. So many people what
they do is they say, "Well, since I'm not fornicating,
I'm going to masturbate." Masturbation is a solo sex and sex was intended to be
enjoyed in the context of marriage between a husband
and a wife together. It was never given to
us as a chemical release. In the scriptural
context it was given to us to bond two people together. God wants you to
possess your vessel. God wants you to
control your urges. God wants to give you the
power to walk in authority and in power and in self-control. Part of paying the
price for walking in purity is possessing your vessel
in honor and sanctification. Taking control of your eyes,
taking control of your ears, taking control of your hands, taking control of
your other body parts where they are
subject to Christ. Where you submit your
biology to your theology, not the other way around. So many people live
in a day and age today where they have redefined God.
They have made love into a God because see, your belief
system will affect your behavior. If you see love as a god, then
whatever you feel like doing that becomes the law for you.
That's how the culture lives. And therefore today a love
between a man and a man is considered normal, why?
Because in the culture love is God but for us as Christians, God is love. God decides what's
right and what's wrong, not the other way around. Not our feelings, not our
urges, and not our biology that doesn't decide
what's right or wrong for us. And therefore we submit
our biology to our theology, not the other way around. We don't change God's Word
because the culture has changed and because it has
become popular. What I'm saying right now
sounds like a hate-speech my friend, this is God's
Word. God loves you. And He says, "I want you to
learn to possess your vessel." Don't be a slave to your body. Don't be a slave
to your passions. Don't be a slave to your urges. Put them under
subjection to your faith, to your convictions, and
to your walk with God. And then He goes farther
in Thessalonians He says, "Possess your body. Abstain
from sexual immorality." And then He says, "I ask
you that you do not defraud, take advantage of your
brother or your sister." My friend, you know,
it's also a price to pay on a practical level. What does that mean? When you are in a
relationship with somebody or when you are friends, God doesn't want you to
defraud your brother or your sister. God does not want you to stir
up feelings in the opposite sex that you are not able to meet. If you are not married to that
person, don't stir up feelings by your dress code,
by your vocabulary, by your touch, by your gifts, or by a particular way
that you look at person that will cause certain
things to be aroused, certain feelings to be aroused. And then this person already
desires for these feelings to be fulfilled but you are
not at the place to do that. And therefore the Bible says, "Do not awaken
love until it pleases." Keep that love boxed.
Keep that love in a box. Keep those feelings in a
box and don't play games with somebody's feelings. Don't play games
with somebody's heart. Don't use somebody's
heart for fun. So many people
today date around just for fun. If you want to
have fun, get a dog. If you want to have
fun, hike a mountain. If you want to have fun,
get some swimming lessons. If you want to have fun, find friends,
join a local church, join a small group, start
serving, get a hobby, but don't play with
somebody's heart for fun. Do not defraud your
brother and sister. You may say, "but I'm not
fornicating," but you are flirting. "I'm not fornicating," but
you are stirring up desires that you are unable to meet. Do not defraud your
brother and sister. So there is a price
to pay for purity and the price is that we
are not asking a question, how far can I get
without falling? The price we are paying
is that we are living out of our convictions; not
convenience, not our compromise, and not all these worldly,
cultural preferences that the world wants
to impose upon us. We are not conformed
to this world but instead we are transformed by
the renewing of our mind. We see ourselves as
spirits not as bodies. We are not subject
to our bodies, we are not enslaved to our
urges and to our cravings; we are enslaving our
urges and our cravings. That's why we fast, that's
why we discipline our body, that's why we pray, that's why
we put our body into subjection; and if the body wants it, the
body doesn't get it because if it's against the Word of God, it's against our good. And so, that's the price. So the first thing I've
mentioned is that purity is the path to the purpose. Secondly, is that purity
leads through prison before it gets us to the
palace. And the last thing is that purity is found in
the pursuit of God's presence not in the pursuit of purity. Now, purity is not a point you
cross, it's an ongoing pursuit. Purity is not a point.
See, for some people I used to be addicted to
pornography when I was a teenager. So in my mind purity meant
this, the day I stop looking at pornography is the
day I'm going to be pure. In my mind, purity was
a point. This point meant, I'm no longer looking at
porn, that means I'm pure. For some people maybe you
are struggling with masturbation and in your mind you are
like, "Man, whenever I overcome this "that's when-- purity
is on the other side of me being free
from masturbation." Maybe for some of you, you
are fornicating and you are dating you're like, "Man, we just
can't stop. It just feels like once we get married,
then I'm going to be pure." See, in your mind you are
still seeing purity as a point and that's not how purity works. Purity is a path not a point. Purity is not a point
you cross or you reach. Purity is an ongoing pursuit
that means it never stops. And purity is impossible
if you are passive. Purity is impossible
if you are parked. So many Christians live
and their hearts are parked at the kerb of
their preferences, at the garage of
their doctrinal beliefs. Their hearts are cold.
Their hearts are callous. Their hearts are not on fire,
their hearts are not burning they don't have their
running shoes on, they are not hungry for God. I want to tell you something
that purity is not something you get by chasing purity. Purity is something
you get by chasing God. Purity becomes a
result of pursuing God. Something happens when those
of you who run and exercise you know that then you get
healthier, you lose weight, your heart gets healthier,
you get healthier, you get appetite to eat better
because this life of exercise and this life of running physically
does something to your heart and to your health. My friend, if you want
to be healthy spiritually, there is one secret.
You have got to run. Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run after God. You can't just walk.
You can't just jog. You can't just go backwards,
you can't just stand. You just can't park your
life at the garage of religion. You can't just park
yourself on the side and say, "I belong to a church. I go to
a church. I believe in God." Demons believe in God
and they are going to hell but are you running after God? If you want to burn with purity, if you want to have a
desire for holiness in your life, there is only one thing that
will produce that and that is running after God. Maybe this message will cause
you: "Man, I need to change this "I need to change that.
I need to get rid of this, I need to get rid of
that." No! No! No! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! The first and the most important
thing that we need in our life is to put our running shoes on
and run passionately after God. Chase His heart. Pursue Him. Be like David, who was
a man after God's heart. It never says David
had God's heart. He was simply
in the pursuit of it. "Blessed are those that hunger
and thirst for righteousness." Thirst after God. As the deer longs for water-- "As the deer pants for water
so my soul longs for you God." The Bible says that God is, and He is a rewarder of
those who diligently seek Him. He is waiting for you to
put your running shoes on and begin to run after Him. And I'm going to tell you one
thing. This is what's going to happen Purity will be a
byproduct of your pursuit. Purity is never reached
when we seek it; it finds us. It becomes part of who
we are as we seek Him because it's impossible
to lay hold of a holy God and not be affected by it. Lay hold of a righteous God
and never be affected by it. In Galatians 5:16 it says, "I
say then: Walk in the Holy Spirit, and you will not fulfill
the lust of the flesh." Paul gives us a key.
Paul gives us a secret to not fulfill the lust of
the flesh. He doesn't say, don't fulfill the lust of the flesh
so you can walk in the Holy Spirit. He says, "Walk in the Holy Spirit and you will not fulfill
the lust of the flesh." So the key to purity is your
pursuit after the Holy Spirit. Your pursuit after God
cleanses your heart. It cleanses your hands. It
purifies you on the inside. It gives you holiness. It gives you that
righteousness that you desire. It makes you different. The Bible doesn't say that
if we walk with the Holy Spirit if we run after God, that we
will not have lust of the flesh. It does not mean we
will not have temptations. It does not mean that we will
not have trouble in the flesh. It does not mean that
the world will turn pink and everything will
become paradise. It just means that we will
have the power not to fulfill the cravings and
the urges of the flesh. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control. The fruit of you walking,
pursuing, chasing, going after God is that God will give you
power to control yourself. God will give you power
to control your thoughts. God will give you power
to control your urges. God will give you power
to control your desires. God will give you power
to control your passions. God will give you power. If you want to walk in
purity, the benefit is that it will connect you to your purpose. The price of purity is you will
have to put limits on your liberties. Limits on your phone, you will have to put limits
on what you watch on TV, you will have to put limits
on when you go to sleep, when you wake up, there is going to be restrictions
and boundaries in your life. And if you hate
restrictions and boundaries, there is no way you
can walk in purity because you are going to have
to make a covenant with your eyes. You are going to have to pluck
certain things out that cause sin and throw them away from you. And these things, they
take a jab at your liberty. And those of you who kind of do
whatever you want with your life there is one thing
I know about you. You are not pure. I'm not saying you
are going to hell, but you probably
are living in one. Where you are
disconnected from the peace, disconnected from the presence, disconnected from the power, And on the outside you
may pretend that you got your life figured out but on
the inside you are a total mess and God wants to
rescue you from that. He's calling you today and He says,
"Won't you come and follow Me?" "Won't you come and follow Me?" You're like, "Lord,but
I don't know how." He says, "Just follow
Me and as you follow Me, "you will notice certain
things you can't take with you "and those are the
things I want you to deny. "Those are the things
I want you to forsake. "Those who follow Me,"
He says, "deny your flesh." "Deny yourself. Pick up your
cross and come after Me." The price for purity is
putting limits on your liberty. And how to get this
purity is simply pursuing. I'm not talking about
believing in Jesus, I'm talking about
pursuing Jesus. Believing in Jesus
makes you a believer but pursuing Jesus
makes you a disciple and disciples develop disciplines. Disciples reach their destiny. Disciples live out of
their devotion to Jesus. Who are you today? Are you a believer hiding
in the pew of the church, hiding behind the fact that
you belong to a Christian church, your dad and your
mom is a Christian? Or are you a disciple
who carries the cross, who follows the Lamb
where the Lamb would go and who lives with
restrictions to their liberties, limits to their liberties
because they are seeking to please the Lord
than anything in their life? Let me pray for you. Wherever you are
watching right now, I want you to drop that in the
comment, the prayer emoji your way of connecting with me. I want to pray that
God will restore purity for those of you who lost it. That God will restore
passion for His presence for those of you
who abandoned it. And for those of you
who, you became passive maybe college happened,
boyfriend happened, disappointment,
you met hypocrites, during COVID you really
just-- anxiety took its hold on your heart and your life. Maybe somebody passed away
whom you knew and you prayed for, and today you are
disappointed in God and your heart is no longer pure. Let's just ask God to
purify it by His grace. Let's ask God to
purify it by His blood and let's come back to the Lord. Let's put our running shoes on. Let's go after God. Let's see that excessive weight
we picked up during COVID spiritual weight
I'm talking about, that will begin to be
broken off of our life. Addictions, pornography,
masturbation, for some of you maybe some
sexual fantasies that you got trapped in that God will begin
to break that off; being in relationships that
you are not supposed to be in, maybe experiencing
sexual dreams or soul ties, that God will begin to bring
freedom into your life in Jesus' name. Father God, I pray right
now in the name of Jesus over every person that
is watching this stream. For those that are re-watching
this stream, I pray Holy Spirit that You will come into
their situation right now. I pray for those that are right
now battling in the area of purity they don't have it. They
feel dirty, they feel guilty, they feel condemned, they feel
like the enemy is beating them maybe certain demons are
attacking them at night, or perhaps soul ties are
bringing confusion into their life Lord, we just come against
that by the fire of the Holy Ghost and the blood of Jesus right
now, in Jesus' mighty name. Be disconnected right
now from every evil force, from every evil covenant, from every evil altar that the
enemy has set in your backyard to hold you back from your
future and from your purity in the name of Jesus,
be disconnected right now. Be free in Jesus' name. Be free in Jesus' mighty name. Receive your freedom
to run after God. Father, I pray for those who
have had their hearts polluted, who have had
their hearts divided; I pray right now for those Lord
God, who maybe through COVID perhaps through college
age or through other things they found themselves
parked and passive, I pray that You would
stir up a fire right now a desire for Your word,
a desire for community, a desire for prayer, a desire
to live running after You God. I break every spirit
of laziness, God. I break every spell over their
life or any just kind of blanket of lethargic spirit, I break
that off of them right now by the name of Jesus;
be free from that laziness. Pursue God. Lord, kindle that fire inside
of them that will not die. Kindle that flame inside of
them that will not go out in Jesus' mighty name. Lord, I pray for those
that are in prison right now for those that are in suffering
because they have chosen to walk in purity, their
heart is hurting maybe; perhaps certain relationships
are no longer there, they feel alone I pray that as You
strengthened Joseph, Your word says, "And the
Lord was with Joseph in jail," I pray that they will feel
Your presence right there at the absence
of their boyfriend, at the absence
of their girlfriend, at the absence of certain
pleasures that the world offers, let them experience pleasures
of Your presence in Jesus' name. I bless these precious young people by the power of the
Holy Spirit, help them to walk in You and live in You, in
Jesus' mighty name Amen. Thank you for watching.
