Purity For Life

If you’ve been listening to our Babylon series, then you know that it’s all about exposing the spirit that is working in this world to bring everyone into rebellion against God. So far, we’ve explored the historical origins of Babylon. Now we’re going to look at how Satan is crafting a worldwide rebellion against God. He will do it much more easily than we could imagine. He’ll do it by appealing to our desires.

To understand how the spirit of Babylon invades our way of thinking, we must understand how Satan uses men to help promote his goals. There have been many examples of such men and women throughout the ages, but the first was Nimrod, the founder of Babylon. The rebellion he began against Yahweh continues even today and can be found in the beliefs of many religions, cultures and organizations. And if we aren't careful, any of these ideas can influence us and steal our hearts away from the Lord. 

Just because we take extreme measures to prevent giving in to sexual temptation doesn’t mean anything has changed in our hearts. We can’t just put off sinful habits, we need God to give us a new heart – one in which He produces the true fruits of righteousness. In this roundtable discussion, Josh, Chris, and Luke sit down in the Pure Life studio to discuss the crazy things they did to overcome their sexual addiction and how it never worked. But their stories will also give hope to anyone in bondage as they share how God blessed them and freed them tremendously during their time in our Residential Program.

If Genesis 6-8 tell the story of a family that survived the great flood because of their devotion to God, why do Genesis 10-11 tell the story of a great insurrection against God's authority? How could mankind have fallen so far, so fast? Steve Gallagher joins us to look at where the Tower of Babel rebellion ultimately began - in the heart of one of Noah's own sons. We’ll see how a young man who grew up in a very godly home could become the grandfather of the very first Antichrist. And Ed Buch helps connect this story to each one of us, showing how it plays out for many in the church today. Plus, our staff roundtable guests will share personal testimonies of the outward things they tried to stop from giving over to sexual sin, how these never worked, and what ultimately changed their hearts.

Here’s the full roundtable discussion from Episode #493. Listen as three of our counselors walk through how the spiral of degradation unfolded in their own lives. They get brutally honest about where that took them, but also how wonderful it was when Jesus finally broke through and brought them out of that spiral and into life in Him.

In the next few episodes, we’re going to look at the origins of Babylon. But before we get there, we need to look back to a time before this city was founded, to a time when mankind was almost universally engrossed in spiritual darkness. In the time before the flood, mankind fell into a wicked state that was so offensive to God that He wiped all but a few from the face of the earth. As we investigate this history, we learn about the corrupt nature of the human heart and how we must guard ourselves so as not to go down the same deplorable paths that those ancient men and women fell into.

Here’s the full roundtable discussion from Episode #492. In it, three Pure Life staff members discuss the subtle ways the enemy lured them into sexual sin through the spirit of Babylon. They also discuss how God helped them separate themselves from that spirit during their time in our Residential Program.

Welcome to our summer series, Babylon: The Seat of Satan's Power. In this series, we are going to dive deep into this relevant subject, exploring what Babylon really is, what it's goals are and how it seeks to accomplish them. Babylon is famous for being the brutal empire that conquered God's people and carried them off into exile. But Babylon is much more than that. It was established soon after the flood and became a symbol in Scripture for everything that is in rebellion to God's authority. Babylon is a threat to every believer which God warns us to distance ourselves from because the entire world is engulfed in the spirit of Babylon and is headed towards outright insurrection against the Lordship of Jesus.  In this episode, we begin by looking at why separating ourselves from the world is the only way to truly walk with Christ and find freedom from sexual sin.

When we are injured physically, our body automatically respond by beginning to heal itself. Similarly, when we are injured emotionally or spiritually, we begin to try to heal ourselves. But here's the problem. When it comes to emotional pain, our natural reactions often end up doing even more damage to us in the long run. We can’t simply heal ourselves – we need God to do His work in us and as we know, His ways are not like our ways. Join us as we explore the danger of trying to find healing through boosting our self-esteem in another follow up to our Refined as Silver series.

Earlier this year we released a series called Refined as Silver, and we are back this week and next with some follow up episodes based on conversations we had during that series. This week we discuss the necessity of standing against a worldly atmosphere in the home. When a home is full of worldliness, it creates a wide-open door for all sorts of lustful temptations and for sexual sin. 

Three of our leaders joined Nate in the studio this week to reflect on Dave Leopold’s sermon series A Vision of Jesus. In their discussion, they reflect on the parts that stood out to them most, how the messages impacted them personally and also how it has affected our Residential Program students.

Anyone who takes a deep look at Jesus will realize that He was not an ordinary man. He was full of a love that was pure and otherworldly, and it inspired Him to do things that can be very hard for us to understand. But we must continue to look at Him until we see the motivations of His heart rightly. In this sermon, Reverend Dave Leopold unpacks the miracle at the Wedding in Cana and Jesus’ driving out the money changers in the temple. He shows us how both stories reveal the passionate and zealous love which God has for us.

We’ve all had experiences where someone did something or said something that initially hurt us that turned out in the end to be the best thing for us. We call that tough love, and it is love, even if it doesn’t feel like it. In this episode of our series A Vision of Jesus, Dave Leopold looks at two instances where Jesus treated someone in a way that initially seemed cruel but ultimately worked out for their good. Jesus will do whatever He knows is best for us, because He is full of grace and truth.

Who was this Jesus from the Bible? What was He really like? Reverend Dave Leopold continues to help answer these questions this week. One startling revelation about Christ’s character is that He was and is a consuming fire of love. And when this love came into contact with men and women in the Bible, it demanded a response. Dave looks at two such encounters in the stories of the Rich Young Ruler and Zacchaeus the tax collector. Each encounter with Jesus’ powerful presence brought them face to face with their true character, and it was then they were forced to decide how they would respond – a decision that would determine their eternal destiny.

Over the next four weeks, we’re going to play a series of messages by Reverend Dave Leopold from the Zion Faith Homes. These talks, delivered back in February to the men in our Residential Program, focused on helping us to see the character of Jesus Christ more clearly.   This week’s message comes from John 1, where the Apostle wrote that Jesus Christ came to us, “full of grace and truth.” These words are a profound revelation about Jesus’ ministry, but they also reveal to us what we truly need from God in this life. Grace enables us to do what we could never do on our own, while truth tells us exactly what we need to hear and shows us what we need to see. Together, they work to help us to find our way towards real freedom.

People who are sincerely seeking freedom from sexual sin usually have a vague idea that there is something under the surface that needs to be dealt with. This is true, but they are usually very surprised when they find out what it is. In a recent series of shows, we asked the question, “What does that have to do with my problem?” And all the issues we touched on in those episodes – self-righteousness, self-pity, obsession with success – all of them flow out of a thriving self-life. In this week’s show, we look at another key feature of the self-life: pride, and how it really is another hidden fuel of sexual sin.

Last week we looked at how vital confession is for someone to find freedom from sexual sin. This week we look at another aspect of confession: confessing adultery to a wife. Pastor Ed and Kathy Gallagher join us to look at some practical steps and considerations when confessing sexual sin, as well as some of the struggles that come with taking this difficult, but vital step.

One of the most common lies whispered into the ears of men in sexual sin is, "You can get free between you and God. No one needs to know." While many are willing to believe this deception, the truth is that confession is absolutely essential for anyone who desires genuine freedom. In this episode, Pastor Ed Buch helps us unpack the spiritual realities behind confession.

We’re taking a break from producing a new episode this week as we get settled, following a wonderful time at our Annual Conference this past weekend. This replay is one of our favorites from our 20 Truths series, and we hope it’s a blessing to you. In it, we’ll define hedonism, and look at its close connection with sexual sin. Much of today's church lives more to please self than to honor Jesus, and it’s this kind of lifestyle which opens the door for sexual sin. If you haven't listened through the whole 20 Truths series before, we’d also encourage you to go back and listen to that series. Just look for episodes 363-364 and 366-381. 

In this new Ask the Counselor episode, we continue looking at sins which are closely tied to sexual addiction. Today we’ll look at self-pity, covetousness, self-righteousness and living by our feelings. While on the surface these issues may seem unrelated, they are still sins that must be dealt with if a person is ever to experience genuine freedom over their sexual addiction.