Michael Todd - There's No Condom For Your Heart
I hope you prayed this morning because I believe that God wants to speak specifically to you, and I want to give everybody the opportunity to ground themselves. Come on right now; I need everyone to take a deep breath in. Now let it out. I see you in Kansas, in Texas, in England, and in Africa. Wherever you’re watching from, I want you to take a deep breath in.
Now let it out because today we’re talking about sex. Glory to God! Y’all thought we were going to go through Relationship Goals Reloaded and not talk about sex? The reason we have to talk about this is that the church is way too silent on something that God created. This is that one thing I’m going straight in on, so if you don’t have your notes ready, I need you to go grab them because we’re on week nine of a series called Relationship Goals Reloaded. I need everybody to know I only have two messages left: this one and next week. I’m coming with everything I have because I believe that the culture has tried to hijack something it did not create. The culture has tried to make everyone think that it invented sex, that sex is something supposed to be nasty, uncovered, and not really talked about.
It’s supposed to be something we sneak and see on movie channels and websites, but the church is not supposed to talk about it. I am standing in the authority that God has given me today, and I’m about to talk about sex in a manner that gives God glory and makes the devil look foolish. I’m telling you right now that there have been too many of us hidden under this cloud of sex and its negative definitions. I want you to know that Trey Songz did not invent sex, even though he made a song saying he did. Sex was lost! Justin Timberlake said he was bringing it back. Marvin Gaye talked about providing sexual healing, but still, there are so many people who are sexually broken. What I want to tell you today is that God invented sex. Type that in the chat; that’s something you’ve never put in there before: God invented sex! That’s the mic drop. You might be wondering, «Why are you talking about this?»
Well, I have my kids in here; they are in middle school and elementary. They already know. To be honest about this, they understand. Do you know that statistics tell us, quickly, that God only reveals things in spirit and in truth? He wants us to be in spirit, but he also wants us to have truth and to counteract the lies with the Spirit of God. The truth is, I need everybody to hear me: 70% of all high school students will have a sexual interaction before graduating. That’s one out of two. So look around; if there are two of you, one of you will be sexually active before you leave high school. You might say, «Mike, you shouldn’t say that; that might give them ideas.» Instagram is already giving them ideas! Their cousins you invite over that play well together—do you think they play house? Some of my first sexual experiences involved my cousins. I want to pull the sheet back because we sit here as if we can’t talk about the things that God created, and that only gives the enemy the chance to mess with generations of people in secret and darkness.
But we learned on the first week of this series that wherever there is knowledge, that’s light; there’s understanding. Wherever there is a lack of knowledge, darkness, or ignorance, that’s where the enemy can rule. I’m here today with the floodlight, asking the Holy Spirit on your life and family to shine a light so we can see this topic of sex in the way it was intended. Fifty percent of all high school students will engage in sexual activity before they graduate high school. It’s an even higher statistic for African-Americans: 78% of African-American high school students will have a sexual encounter before graduating. Seventy-eight percent! It’s 52% for Hispanics and 43% or 47% for white people.
Yay, white people! I always say that; good job, guys! The reason I have to talk about this is that if I don’t, then who will? I need to redeem this idea of sex quickly because if you grew up in the youth group that I did, the only relational advice I ever received about sex or relationships was this: «Don’t have sex before you get married.» We went to the same youth group. What ended up happening was that this was incomplete instruction. It was given with good intentions, but there wasn’t enough information. What happens when I was at my friend’s house late at night, and the movie channels changed from Transformers to something completely different? What happened when I was looking for tissue at the house, and there were magazines under there? What happened when I was abused or touched illegitimately? Those things awakened arousal, and I wasn’t even in control of it. I was in a place where I was supposed to be with people who would protect me, yet they took advantage of me.
What happens with this idea? What I want to do today is redeem it. For so many years, I thought sex was bad, evil, and something meant to be done only in a back room with two adults who didn’t even enjoy it. We sell all these lies to young people and everything else, but I came to tell you the truth. Point number one: Sex is good! Ah, I feel the Spirit right now. Sex is good! Say it out loud; everyone say it: Sex is good! Some of you are turning pink, while others are stiff-necked right now because this has never been addressed in church. But I promise you, more than half of the things people come to the altar for, and more than half of the things we counsel people about, have some tie to some kind of sexual perversion.
I’m trying to get to the root today: Sex is good. Why is sex good, Pastor Mike? Many reasons, but the first one is that sex was God’s idea! Understand, sex is not a cultural idea; it is not man-made. Sex was divinely created by the Creator. I want you to think of that in contrast to everything you’ve thought about sex. This was made by God for His children to enjoy in the right context. Let me prove it to you: Genesis 1:28. I need to set some foundation so you can know where this is supposed to go and how you’re supposed to use it. It says, «Then God blessed them.»
This is God speaking to Adam and Eve in the garden, and He said, «Look at the first commandment to man ever: Be fruitful and multiply.» This was not an agricultural term; He wasn’t telling them to go plant some seeds. Let me give you the remix version: He said, «Y’all are blessed because I made you in My image. Adam, go put it down, bro. I want you to be fruitful and multiply.» This is what God intended! That’s why in Mark 10:6, Jesus is talking to us and gives us more clarity. He says, «But God made—who made? God made.» He made them male and female. He’s giving parameters. God made our parts; He knows our desires, urges, and appetites. He made them. Somebody say, «God made it!»
Okay, I need you to get this because I’m trying to undo decades of wrong thinking and bad theology. Sex is good because it was God’s idea, and God made it. Verse 7 says this explains why a man leaves his father and mother, gets married, and is joined. I want you to underline, circle, and make it big in your notes: they are joined. When I began to study this in the original language, I found that it means so much more than when we say «joined.» When we say «joined,» it’s like, «Oh yeah, they just came together.» No, «joined» has a three-fold meaning in this context: they are joined physically through the act of sex, joined emotionally through closeness or intimacy, and joined spiritually through covenant. Every time someone is joined or has sex, it is not just a physical experience; it’s an emotional and spiritual connection. That’s why you haven’t been able to figure out why that one-night stand from your birthday still lingers in your mind. You can’t get that person off your mind because you weren’t just joined physically; the Lord said when you came together and performed a sacred act, you joined emotionally and spiritually.
Uh-huh! That’s why you’re in a relationship with one person, yet you’re still thinking about another. That’s why you keep claiming «we’re happy,» but you can’t get them out of your mind. It’s because that joining didn’t just stop when you left the house or when you sneaked out in the morning. Something stuck to you! Let me stop; I have to stay focused. The thing that you need to realize is that we think God recognizes marriage when we have the wedding, food, white dress, and tuxedo. That’s not when God recognizes marriage. The Bible tells us that God recognizes marriage when a man and woman come together to consummate that marriage or to connect, to be joined as one. This is so deep that, if you study this out, God has divinely orchestrated a woman’s body to have a piece called the hymen, which is meant for storing blood. When a covenant is made, in both the Old and New Testaments, bloodshed is required. So God said when a man and a woman come together and are joined, He’ll put something in a woman that requires bloodshed because, with every connection, there has to be a covenant. With that covenant and bloodshed, they’re secured together forever.
What you need to understand is that this principle is the same one God used in the Old Testament when the children of Israel were coming out of Egypt. All the men had to get circumcised because that process required bloodshed. Just as that was the Old Covenant, this is the New Covenant. Can I bring up the New Testament for you? When God was separated from humanity and we needed to be joined back to Him, He sent Jesus, who went to the cross because bloodshed was necessary. When there was bloodshed—and I’m feeling happy already—there was a new covenant made, a better covenant where we don’t have to sacrifice goats and lambs because our eternal Lamb was sacrificed for us. God does not want us just to have a connection; He wants us to be in covenant. That’s why when you have sex with someone, God says, «Oh, they do!» Every time they have sex, they’re making a commitment to be in covenant. I do!
No wedding, no dress, no songs— just in your apartment, in that queen-size bed with the dirty sheets; I do. In the back of the car when no one thinks is looking; I do. Sneaking out of the office and going into the secretary’s room; I do. And how many of us are married without the covenant? How many people have we said «I do» to, but we really didn’t? We keep moving through life acting as if we’re not tied to anything. We convince ourselves that we have no emotional baggage and that nothing is holding us back. But God says you are taking what I have called sacred and throwing it to culture to give you your playbook. But today, God has sent me as a messenger to let you know that sex is good. Sex was God’s idea. Sex is the thing He wants you to enjoy inside the right container. But you cannot have God’s results without God’s rules!
Been keeping you distracted and under wraps today. God says, «Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.» Somebody shout in the tracks a freedom; that’s what God wants for all His children. He wants us to walk in freedom, but you cannot walk in freedom if you don’t understand truth. The truth is that sex is glue. The easiest way to display it is anytime you have sex; the goal is to make whoever is having sex stuck together forever. Now, I know we don’t look at it that simply; that’s why we do one-night stands and Netflix and chill.
What you are doing right now—what you got going on? Are you tripping? I’ll come over and put it down. Are you playing? You don’t even know it’s you who’s saying nobody has been able to and you do all that dumb stuff. What you’re doing is setting yourself up to be glued to her or him. That is what the act is doing. What happens is it looks like this; I think this would be simple for everybody to understand. Sex comes into the picture. We take all of our issues, all of our desires, all of our wants, all of our one-night stands, all of our connections; we come with all our baggage and all the abuse, and the stuff we haven’t told anybody.
We come with that website we looked at and those fantasies that we dreamed up, and then we get with somebody who is just as broken. They go to church and stuff; they read a Bible and own a streak on a Bible reading plan. He’s a man of God, except after 11 o’clock when stuff starts changing. He went from watching cartoons to never mind. Yeah, and the situation is right, and they take you out to dinner and do a couple of things to make you feel special. You ain’t never met a man like this, and no girl understands you like this. She likes Jordans and shorts, and she loves investments. So, that one night when everything is right and everybody’s out of town, and it’s raining outside, and it’s kind of cold, and she has a Snuggie on, and I was going to go back to my apartment, but it’s like, «Well, these are all the things that people say.»
I’ve never felt like this about anybody before. What happens is that sex is supposed to join the two together forever, but I’m in college, so are you. I’m saying I can’t really settle down. You’re saying I’m actually on my way to being a billionaire and a music producer, so I can’t really be tied down. But we have something special. Maybe five years from now when I settle down. You’re on the same finish sowing my wild oats then maybe I could get you to one girl. Are you one? You’re saying like, I want to let you know I got you saved in my phone as the one. All of these mental and emotional and manipulative games get played and then what ends up happening is you’re done with it. You don’t want to do this anymore, and you try to rip apart.
The problem is when you rip apart when you were always supposed to be glued together, it will never look like what it looked like in the beginning. There will always be pieces of you on pieces of me. I wasn’t insecure until after I got with you, and that insecurity transferred to me. I used to be so confident in what God called me to do, but now there are pieces of you that guide for me. I used to be so faith-filled; I used to be so optimistic; I used to want something in life, and now I just want you even when you told me that you don’t want me. This process over and over and over again is how people then say, «I want my husband or my wife to marry me.» Think about doing this process over and over again. By the end of that process, this may be the only thing that’s left of you. That’s why people say marriage isn’t a 50/50 partnership; it’s a hundred on a hundred. But when you keep giving pieces of yourself away, you’re only ten percent.
Now, you can post like you can act like you’re still whole, but half of you is with Jerome; the other half of you is with Sheila. The other pieces of you are with everybody that never had an investment in your future, and you were not safe in the covenant in the confines of marriage. Now you’re walking around with pieces of you. The reason I’m telling you this strongly is that when God set this thing up in Mark chapter 10, in verse 8, it says, «And the two are to be united into one.» Everybody say «one.» I said, «Say one!» He wanted the two people every time sex happened to be united deeper and closer into one. Honestly, I love the Bible because the Bible is really for remedial people like myself because I start asking questions like, «Okay, what did you really mean when they joined into one?»
Does one count if it’s oral sex? Or if it’s backdoor sex? Or if it’s this and that? And we start trying to do all of these things; he said, «Michael, duh!» So it can’t be three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. Okay, let me leave that alone because some of your fantasies have thought that more can satisfy you, and all it does is make more people you would be glued to. Okay, he said, «So the two are to be…» Everybody shout at me «one!» Then he gives a guarantee of what will happen if two people decide. He said, «Let no one split apart what God has joined together.» It was never supposed to be pulled apart. That’s why God says that when you have sex, you should save that until marriage.
I am so grateful that I get to share this with you because nobody shared with me the «why» we don’t have sex before we get married. They just told me not to; they didn’t tell me why. So why don’t you have sex before you get married? It’s because when you take sex outside of the container of marriage, you have the opportunity to damage more than you do help. Think about it; put that point up there; I’m out of order right now, but the marriage container is sex. Excuse me; sex has a marriage container, and the container is marriage. When you put it in the container, that container can be the most beautiful thing in the whole world. How do you know, Pastor Mike? I got three kids, a fine wife, and a lot of practice. Do you hear what I’m saying?
But that same thing outside of the container can destroy tons of stuff. I don’t know if you have the picture of water; do you have that picture of water? Put that up here. This is what it reminds me of, and I want to show you an example of this. This, on the right or the left, is a picture of water that is in a container. This water in a container is rushing through these things that are contributing electricity, and this water in the container, millions of gallons of it, is bringing life and light to everybody around it. But that same water outside of a container is bringing devastation to everything it touches. I’m preaching right now. Even when the water recedes, or you get out of the relationship, or you think you’re healed, there’s still mildew from the dorm; there’s still residue and residual from what was done.
All I’m telling you is the reason why marriage is so important is that when you put sex inside of the marriage container, it protects you and everybody else. But I don’t get that on the box. I’m like, if God is so good, why did you even give me this sexual urge? Maybe if He just did it on my wedding day and then I felt all of this. Listen, it’s not how it works. The greatest thing that God gave you is choice, and to be able to stay pure, and to be able to commit to a life of discipline and to get stronger, you’re going to have to choose to invite God into your everyday life—not every week life, not every month life, not every year life, but yo, every day life.
Can I take it to every moment life? You can have the power of the Holy Spirit to help you be able to manage every urge, every desire, and to do what God has called you to do. That’s why I said, «I made this; it’s good; it’s great,» but it’s made for a container where two people are joined together to become—everybody say «one.» And that’s why you got to understand that this is not just about sex and relationships; this is about God’s plan of «one» for every person. Write this down: God’s plan of one is to have one God, one man, one woman, one marriage, one sex partner, one flesh, one lifetime, one picture. That’s what He wants. He wants your life, your relationship, your sex life to reflect as a picture what heaven looks like on earth. But until you get God’s principle of one, you buy into what culture says about it.
That’s what happened to me; Natalie and I were together, and we hadn’t had sex for four or five years. We had dabbled and touched stuff and rubbed stuff and did all that other stuff. I’m just going to be transparent with you right now because there’s no sense in faking at this current moment. We were dabbling and dry humping and touching stuff and doing all this other stuff, and then culture came in. Culture came in and said, «Bro, how you gonna settle down with one person when you ain’t never seen what’s out there?» God had given me a promise at 15 or 16 years old that was untouched, undefiled, and all mine, and I traded in a treasure for a try. I wonder how many people out there are trading in the treasure that God’s given you for trying things that may or may not fulfill you.
That’s why I’m coming to you today and talking to you with such passion, because if someone would have gotten up and talked to me like this, it would have saved me so much hurt, so much time, and so much pain I caused other people. And you all be like, «This is for the young people.» No, this is for the older people; they’re young people that got older, and if these things and cycles haven’t changed in you, you can be sitting up there in your house at 56 years old, you nasty old man, looking at all these people and things. Well, I didn’t do anything.
The Bible tells you if you think the thoughts, you might as well have done it because your heart is allowing you to go to a place that you have not let God touch. I hate how people get so religious over this type of thing. Well, I’m married; you can be impure in your marriage. You can be in an emotional affair with somebody on Facebook that you ain’t never met before, but you think thoughts about them that you never think about your wife. You make more time to make sure you log on than to lay with and find out about the woman that you said before God you were going to take care of. Pastor Mike, why are you coming this hard? Because I’m sick of the enemy playing with people’s minds, marriages, and the future generations.
The broken relationships are the only thing that the children can eat from. So if the mom and dad, whether you’re together, is baby mama drama, a one-night stand, or it was abuse, all of these things, it doesn’t matter how it happens. If we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to come in and sever, cut, restore, heal, and change, we pass that on to the next generation. If you’re not gonna get sexually pure for yourself, by God, do it for your children. We’re living in the most fatherless generation ever—no examples or models—but they know that you’re going out for the weekend with your girls. They know what that means, Mom. I’m praying that the Holy Spirit right now is going through this technology and grabbing people’s hearts and that you would get in a place where you would know that what you’ve seen about sex, what you’ve experienced about sex, may not be God’s best for you.
See, the thing that I want you to write down is that sex has been perverted. It’s been perverted, y’all. The enemy’s job is to take whatever God says is good and make you think it’s bad. All the way from the very beginning, think about it. Adam and Eve in the garden; God says, «You can eat of one tree, not of a whole field of trees, not the whole forest.» He said, «The whole forest is for you to enjoy; just don’t eat of this one tree.» What did the enemy do? And I want you to see how cunning this is, because the enemy wants to break God’s plan of one. Remember, the two are supposed to be one, and we never hear about the enemy or the devil or Satan in the garden when it was just Adam. We do not know how long it was before God gave Adam Eve, but you never hear about the devil until there was unity.
He said, «I see unity; I gotta break it up.» And he comes in the form of a manipulative snake, and he starts whispering—not to both of them, but to one of them died vision, and he whispers to one to pervert what God said, and she saw it. She just tasted it; she touched it. And this is the crazy thing about being in a sexual temptation or any of those things: when you get to it, you always want to share it. Eve tasted what God told them not to taste and then took it to Adam and said, «I ain’t gonna feel guilty by myself. Let me put it in two terms: this is our last time, so since it’s our last time, let’s make it count. I’m moving after this, so you want to hook up one more time? You want to share the dysfunction with somebody else?» And that’s what the enemy is trying to do; he’s trying to pervert what God calls good.
And this is the great thing for us: if we read the Bible as believers—this I know—this has been happening for years. Paul was in a situation where he had to go through the same thing in the city of Corinth. It was like the Las Vegas Strip of our time, and you all know what they say in Vegas: «Whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.» And half of y’all haven’t even been to Vegas, so you already know the slogan even if you haven’t been there.
In 1 Corinthians 6:9, Paul tells these people, «Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not—everybody say 'will not'—inherit the kingdom of God?» I love this part: «Don’t fool yourself. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re going to get all the King’s resources, relationships, responsibilities, and the rest of the kingdom if you’re not doing it the way He intended.» Don’t fool yourself that you can keep going out here sleeping with everybody, ripping yourself away from and connecting yourself to harmful things, and then live the full, abundant life that God created you to live.
I want everybody to understand this: kingdom living is not just for heaven; heaven is already a kingdom. What kingdom life is for is earth. And God said, «You just so happen to get saved.» He said, «Once you become a believer, salvation allows you access to heaven,» and heaven is the lowest level for a believer. That is the guarantee of salvation. But are you just going to wait for eternity, or are you going to live like a king’s kid in history? And God says, «You don’t get to inherit the kingdom of God—all the things that I have planned for you, all the things that I made for you before you were formed in your mother’s womb—if you keep doing the wrong things or going against my precepts and principles.» That’s why I want you to read «Relationship Goals.» That’s why I want you to get into my word. That’s why I want you to rewatch all of this series. Why? Because I want you to gain understanding and revelation so that you can do what I’ve asked you to do, so you can inherit what the King has already prepared for you.
Don’t fool yourself. Somebody needs to put that in the chat: «Don’t fool yourself.» I love this because most of us are like, «Okay, what do you mean by 'do wrong'? What is 'doing wrong'?» I’m glad you asked; let’s clarify. Those who indulge in sexual sin, who worship idols, commit adultery, who are male prostitutes, practice homosexuality, are thieves, or are greedy people— and I love that one because some of y’all thought you were getting out of it because you were like, «Nope, that ain’t me, Pastor. Nope, that ain’t me, Pastor.» Then I said «greedy,» and you realized you are greedy. And God is literally saying if that spirit of greed and selfishness doesn’t get out of you, you won’t inherit the kingdom of God either.
And that’s the crazy thing about it: you heard about homosexuality and male prostitutes, and some of you think those things are the big ones, but when Jesus sees all of them, He sees them at the same level. Maybe your little white lie is on the same level as male prostitution, and what God is saying to you is, «You better stop comparing yourself to one another.» Narrow is the way that God has called us to live. I can’t look to my left or right; I have to be led by the Holy Spirit and walk it out.
And that’s why people are trying to figure out, «Is this sin? Is this doing wrong? Is this the one that’s going to take me over?» And God is saying, «Will y’all get off the line of sin and try to get into the life of success in me? Will you stop trying to figure out, 'Can I touch? Can I finger? Can I live this way? '» and we’re trying to go and see what’s acceptable just so we can still do what God has called us to do. And He’s saying, «Listen, those who are greedy, drunkards, abusive, who use things for abnormal purposes, cheat people—none of these will inherit what the King has already prepared for you.»
Look at what it says in verse 11: «And some of you were once like that, but then you were cleansed, huh? You were made holy; you were made right with God not by your good works but by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.» Can we take five seconds and give God praise for His grace? Because some of y’all are sitting there like you’ve never done anything, never thought anything, and have never been anywhere. But if it weren’t for the grace of God over my life, I would still be trapped in that dark pit. Oh, somebody’s getting a breakthrough! You’re not where you want to be, but can we give God praise? You’re not where you used to be. Thank God for His grace!
It’s so crazy how Christians get amnesia so quickly. You want to judge people who are in the middle of their process, and you just broke up six years ago! I gave him too much credit—six months ago! Oh, I gave him too much credit—hours ago! Some of y’all just made your declaration to God before the livestream, and God says, «I’m good for that,» but you need to judge others with the measure of grace you needed.
Hey, I’m on your toes; I’m in your business; I’m in your house, and I know you don’t like it, but I don’t care. I’m still going to call you out. You don’t see it; you start running. I don’t know where that came from, but it’s time for us to live a life that is in view of God’s grace for ours as well. I feel the presence of God, and I know what you’re saying. This is what they were saying to Paul. «Will you say, 'I’m allowed to do anything? '» But then Paul replies, «But not everything is good for you. And even though I’m allowed to do anything, I must not become a slave to anything.»
My question to you today is: what are you a slave to? I just opened a big can of worms because we’re talking about sex, impure thoughts, and sexual immorality. But my question to you is: are you a slave to food? Uh-huh. Are you a slave to people’s praise? Are you a [insert word here]? Are you a slave to God? The reason we’ve got to get control of this body is that you have to allow me to come in, and you really don’t, at this time, need to be joining with anybody else physically, emotionally, and spiritually because you’ve got to get right yourself. He’s like, «This is why I’m asking you: because what are you a slave to?» And I can’t even go through all the things we could be a slave to, but one of the worst things to be a slave to is sexual immorality because when you’re a slave to that, it never comes alone.
When you’re a slave to sexual immorality, it brings all of its friends: lying, deception, and manipulation. It brings abuse; it brings all of those things. When you start dealing with that stuff, even if we go back to David, who we were talking about for the past two weeks, when sexual immorality entered his eyes through lust after seeing Bathsheba, he automatically started manipulating, started lying, and started making up stories. What I’m talking about is you think that it’s one thing, but it’s like fifty things that come into your life. Excuse me, they don’t come in; you invite them in.
That would be like me standing here saying, «Come, trouble! Low self-esteem, insecurities, come on! I want to be a liar next year; I know I want to manipulate my parents. I want to tell them that I’m doing one thing while I do another. Come on! I want to lower my standards to satisfy a guy who doesn’t plan to be with me for another six weeks. I’m going to give the best parts of me to a female who just knows I have a little money, and once the clouds jump in, come on!» That’s why I need to let you know this. I said all that to get you here. Write this down: sex creates soul ties. Sex creates soul ties. Let’s break down that term «soul ties.»
The soul, most theologians believe, is the mind, the will, and the emotions. Okay, so it’s the mind, my will (my actions, what I do), and my emotions (my feelings) tied to someone else. I think the easiest way to define it today is that the culture is calling it entanglement. So it’s my mind, my will, and my emotions entangled with somebody else. I don’t think you got it, so I need to show you guys a picture of this because the problem is that many of us are walking through life tied to people, things, and ideas that had one space in our lives, and maybe we didn’t understand all the ramifications of being joined emotionally, spiritually, and even physically through the act of sex.
God made this thing so powerful that He said it only needs to happen within marriage. What ends up happening, without proper revelation, is that we then do what feels right, and this is the thing that I need you to understand: when you pay attention to your feelings, you’re paying attention to your flesh. Your flesh will only tell you what makes sense in the moment, but the truth will tell you what makes sense for your history and for the rest of your life. What we do is we make decisions because it feels right. Pastor Mike, ain’t nobody here listening to me, is going to make me like you. When they text that certain thing, when they do that—y’all know what I’m talking about. I’m up here talking by myself, and that’s why you watch that show all the time.
«I just want to watch Power, Pastor Mike. I just want to watch Power.» You need some real power from the Holy Spirit because those images that are going into your gates—there’s a ton of people you need to unfollow right now because you’re giving them access to your gates, and you have no control over it. You think you have enough self-control to handle it, but one seed in your eyes can result in an activity six hours later. That one moment that you just felt can end up in you holding a baby nine months later, and you don’t even recognize yourself.
This is what I’m telling you right now: you have to get away from the soul ties. Pastor Mike, that’s easy to say, but you don’t remember—you weren’t there when it was me and Rebecca. I mean, me and Bex. This was my first, and I was scared, and she was more experienced. I always thought she was beautiful. It was that one night that we connected, and it wasn’t going to be much, but I feel a little tug every once in a while when I want to study and be focused. It was so good that one time that I had to come back a couple more times, and I’ll never do it with anybody else because we had a special connection. She had curly hair, and I think her eyes were hazel. I’d never been with anybody who had hazel eyes, but I’m going to follow God and do what He has called me to do. Yet, I can’t stop thinking about that one concert we went to and what we did after. My mind is entangled, and every time I smell that perfume—that’s the perfume she used to wear—it gives me a feeling.
I just walked into a restaurant, and someone I don’t even know had that same perfume on, and it hit me because I was doing good. I was walking away; I was doing what God wanted, but then I smelled it, and it took me back to a place that I’ve been tied up in. Maybe I can’t live a Christian life, and maybe this is too much for me. But I think I can walk away; I think I can walk away! You know, I went off to college, and I started exploring, but I met this one friend. We started off in Bible study, doing the things that God called us to do. The thing that initially attracted me to her was how much she studied the Word of God. She went through a hard situation, and some of y’all are wondering what «FWB» means—oh, we became friends with benefits. Like, we would never be official; it would always start off as a Bible study, but it might end up with laying on of hands. It might start off with us thinking about the future, but it might end up with us delaying both of our futures.
Now, every time I go to church, I’m not thinking about praising and worshiping God; I’m thinking is she going to be there? When we talk about soul ties, it’s the mind, will, and emotions being tangled with people, and now I try to lift holy hands and there’s restraint. Have you ever been in the house of God after doing something that you thought was sexually right in the moment but ended up being wrong? It just feels like you can’t worship right, and it feels like you don’t have the right things to say. Dare I say it’s because you’re tied? It’s crazy that many of you go to a place in your relationship where this is the sad truth for so many people. There was a family member, neighbor, or cousin who abused you, and you were never allowed to talk about it.
The one time you tried to say something, they made you feel like that would never happen, and you are a liar because they liked the personality of the person. They never considered that they would be the one to cause pain. «Well, that’s Uncle such-and-such. Oh, he would never do that to you.» So what do you do as a child or an adolescent or someone who was raped? You carry around that abuse; you hide it. We never talk about it. There are people, and I feel the Holy Spirit right now under the sound of my voice, sitting here with over three decades of silence because you were abused, and your husband can’t figure out why you can’t connect with him the way that he wants you to connect with him. Or you’re a man who was abused by another male as a young man, and you can’t figure out why your attractions don’t lean toward a woman. It’s because someone robbed you of something.
Now I’m trying to move in purpose and chase what God has called me to do, and I have my friends with benefits and my abuser still tangling up my mind, will, and emotions. Many of us get tired and stop: «I don’t want to fight this anymore; I don’t want to keep going after this.» You said it was the year of being stronger, and I feel weaker, so I quit. Whenever you become inactive, whenever you stop going after the things of God, whenever you stop fighting for purity, you give your spirit itself an opportunity to be connected to somebody else. You know one of my favorite things is the young people and even some of the older people who think that they can go ahead and start creating soul ties and having sex because they’re about to get married. The wedding date is only three months away; you aren’t even in marriage counseling yet. You don’t even know what they come with.
What we’re deciding is it’s just going to be me and you forever, and the enemy tries to play you. What you now are connected to is someone you want to have a covenant with, but the time has not come yet for you to honor that covenant. For most people, it complicates the period of time where God’s trying to get the last little stuff off you, get that residue off, let forgiveness come, and you’re connected, tied to things that God is saying: «If we’re going to do this, if you’re going to have sex for the rest of your life, what’s three more months of consecration? What’s six more months of preparation?»
Some of y’all honestly do need to move the wedding up because the sin is causing a setback in your life, and God is saying, «I can’t do everything for the business. I can’t do everything. Don’t fool yourself! Just because you made the date and you’re still going against the rules I’ve set for you as parameters, I cannot give you the inheritance I have for you. Don’t fool yourself!» Some of y’all are older and think you can control your urges for six, seven, eight months. Then there’s a cycle—it’s like a week around your birthday: «It’s my birthday; it’s my turn!»
If I see somebody, I mean, I don’t know what it might be, but it might be something good. I think you do all of these little things, and you have all these rationalizations of why it’s okay. Some of y’all just continue to fall for setbacks: «He’s tall; he’s handsome. I mean, what size shoe is that? Is that a 14? You know what they say about men with big feet!» Oh, come on, y’all, you’re going to act fake with me? «He got a beard; he looks like he’s going today. You put that smile on for who? Okay, cool. Can I go? Can I have Birkin bags and get my booty injected and get breast implants? Can I be your side chick?» This life I’ve been trying to live isn’t working, so let me fake my way into a different life and become someone I’m not to try to fit in with what is eventually going to be classified as a setback.
Some of y’all have people in your phone that you need to rename to «setback.» His name in your phone is Jerome; her name in your phone is Alicia. You need to go in your phone today and retitle them to «setback.» Setback is calling! So every time you answer the phone, you know that you’re potentially setting back the purpose God has for you. Setback wants the Netflix and chill. Setback wants to take me out for my birthday. Setback wants to talk. But no! I fasted, I prayed, I sought the Lord, so the soul tie is broken. I’m going after you, God. No, I’m going after you! But I couldn’t get free completely; it felt like one came off. It felt like a little freedom, but I’m still connected to all these people mentally, emotionally, and spiritually entangled.
Now I want to lead a family, and I want to lead a church. But can I expose, probably the most covert assassin in the body of Christ, that’s when you hook up with people who are kind of saved? See, the kind of saved people will trick you into feeling like y’all have the same beliefs. Y’all are doing a Bible reading plan together, but you know you can have sex between every Bible reading plan you do, planting images and thoughts and stuff they picked up from other people in different seasons. Now everybody is walking toward purpose, and at any moment, I’m almost at the position or the spot I’m supposed to be. I can see how God wants to use me; I can see that I have a call on my life; I can almost write the book—it’s right there!
I can almost be the one to change it. But I have not been loosened from the ties! Let me give you the title of my message. It took this long, but the reason I’m so passionate about this is that nobody told me: There’s no condom for your heart. Everybody’s concerned about sexually transmitted diseases, but the craziest thing you can get is a spiritually transmitted dysfunction. There is no condom for your heart! We did it; we made it. But my heart was affected, and that’s why so many of us are walking around thinking we’re practicing safe sex because we wrap it up. There’s no way to wrap up your heart unless you wrap it up in the Word of God, unless you have a standard that allows you to protect your heart.
That’s why the Bible tells us to guard your heart above all other things, because out of it flow the issues of life. If I do not protect my heart and I allow all of these entanglements and all of these soul ties in, my heart is the thing that gets affected, and there’s no condom for your heart. The only way you can actually practice safe sex is when you submit to God; you surrender your sexuality. Safe sex—I made an acronym for it that’s in the book. If you’re going to have safe sex, safe sex means it’s sacred. Safe sex means that it’s anointed. And don’t get all deep on me; all «anointed» means is God’s approval. When He told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, they had His approval for that. God is saying, if you put sex in the container that I meant for it to be in, you’ve got My approval.
It says that the marriage bed is undefiled; feel free to swing from chandeliers, bring whipped cream and whips and chains, and use hand sanitizer. Do all of that because it’s undefiled, as long as you’re doing it in the container I put it in. But when you bring it out of that container, I can’t put My approval on it; it’s not anointed. So if you’re going to have safe sex, it’s got to be sacred, it’s got to be anointed, and it’s got to be faithful. What if God was as faithful to you as you were to the partners you’ve been with? Let’s be honest. Some of you are faithful to the same wife, but mentally and emotionally you check out every day. What if God was as faithful to us as we were? He said, «No! I meant this to be something that you consistently did.»
A covenant is not a contract. I need everybody to understand that. You can get out of contracts. A covenant is meant to last forever. A covenant is something… and that’s why it always cracks me up, Charles, that people get married in the sight of God to make a covenant, but they go to the courthouse to get rid of the contract. They come before God to get married, but they don’t go back to Him when they want a divorce. Oh, you should invite all the same people you had for your wedding and bring them up—bring the bridesmaids, the groom, and everybody—and say, «We lied! We said 'till death do us part, ' but we really meant until they annoyed me enough.» They come to God for a covenant but end the relationship with a contract. I’m preaching right now! Man, if you’re going to have safe sex, it has to be sacred, anointed, faithful, and then, watch this one—this is going to go against culture.
This is going to bug every rap video that has you thinking, «I’m going to do this until they mess up.» That’s what we see, but if you’re going to have safe sex, it has to be exclusive, sacred, anointed, faithful, and exclusive. The truth is many of us are all tied up. See, the thing you can’t control is when my friend with benefits hooks up and then gets married, or when my first love starts messing with my setbacks, and my kind of safe friend starts walking in abuse. Yeah, y’all just switch up because they hooked up on a one-night stand during spring break. Then we were separated for a season, and what ends up happening is they hooked up with them because they met at the same birthday party. Yeah, keep entangling!
Then they went from there to there, and I’m still sitting here, really trying to seek God, go after my purpose, and do the things that God told me to do, but I can’t control them because I left them behind, and I don’t have anything with them anymore. Then I said, «You know what? This is the season I’m going after God,» and I’m about to move. Look what has happened! The entanglement is stronger now because it’s tied in many places. My kind of safe friend, come on over here and get with the setback! And that’s why they think, «No, y’all stay together, 'cause it’s okay for men to be with men and women to be with women.» And then, at one time, I’m just frustrated.
Now I’m back in it. What I try to do is convince everybody that, «Hey, y’all, God has a purpose for me, so let’s make a deal. Since I can’t let you go on willpower, can we just take a step toward my purpose together? One, two, three!» Oh, that feels good! So I got to another level with the same setbacks, so maybe I’ll just keep bargaining with all of the people and the emotional drama and the heartache. «Hey, guys, can we take two steps forward toward my purpose real quick? One, two, three. One, two. Oh my goodness, look how much I’m doing! Look what God’s doing in my life. This is what Facebook and Instagram look like. This is how God is blessing me, and look, I’m on vacation!»
And all this, but you’re still all tied up. And what happens is because we’ve made some forward progress but are still tied emotionally, spiritually, and physically to people. Then what happens? Here comes God, and then God shows me, «Stand up there by the podium.» Then God shows me who I’m supposed to be with, just standing there. And the reason I can’t go after who I’m supposed to be with is because if you knew what I was still tied to—this is what you don’t talk about on your first date. Many of you got married and don’t even know your partner’s past, 'cause if you knew what I was tied to, you might not even consider me ever again.
So let’s keep lying. Let’s keep the truth in the dark. Let’s not submit it to God. Let’s act like it never happened. Can I tell you a secret to all the people who want to get married? You do not get blind, deaf, or dumb when you can have sex legally before God. If you do not check the perversions, thoughts, and intents of the heart before you get married, all you did was invite somebody in so you could hurt them. So what do I do, Pastor? I might think, «What do I do? How do I get uninvolved? How do I come back to a place where I can get back to spirit and truth, to my purpose and my destiny? How do I get untangled?»
I need you to write these points down real quick, 'cause I’m not going to show you all of this and not give you practical steps of how to get through it. If you need to go, peace, but there’s somebody whose whole life depends on this message hitting the heart of their situation, so I’ve got to give you solutions right now. If you want to get untangled, the first thing you have to do—I’m going to give you these «C’s.» You have to cut it, call it, confess it, cancel it, and cast it. All these ties, individually, I have to cut it, call it, confess it, cancel it, and cast it. I’m going to give you one minute on each of these. You have to cut it.
According to 1 Corinthians 6:18, it says that you need to run from sexual sin—not walk, not ponder if this is a good thing or if you can handle it as a man. 'Cause I’ve seen breasts before and I’ve seen booties before, and I’ve been to the strip club before, and I’ve done this before—no, no! Run from sexual sin! Many of us are walking and jogging away from what God is asking us to run from! So you’ve got to cut it; it’s got to be a clear cut. «I’m no longer doing this. If they’re there, and it’s there, I’m running in the opposite direction.» People will say, «But I want to be friends! They’re good people!» «I really want to be friends with the people that I caused myself to be depleted by.» I know there are all types of philosophies on this, but if you check the health of the relationships you want, is it worth cutting it? And the Bible tells you it is—run from it! Then you’ve got to call it.
See, calling it is one of those things where I need to help people, 'cause a lot of people will get out of the relationship but then romanticize it. Like, «Man, there were some bad things that happened, but they were the best person I’ve ever been with.» We try to make this picture of what it is not. We try to make it be, «Yeah, I mean, it was crazy, but I remember that one time.» We try to replay the good memories and romanticize it. You need to call it what it is—it was a thief! It stole your time; it stole purpose from you. Nobody makes friends with a thief. And there are people out here saying that people who stole from them were the best thing they ever had. You need to cut it, and you need to call it what it is. Then you need to confess it.
According to James 5:16, you need to confess your sins to each other—not to the pastor, not to the leader. He says go find another fellow believer. That’s why I always encourage you; you’re the minister here. If the church shuts down forever, it doesn’t matter. You can call or FaceTime or get around one believer, and it says you can get healing from this stuff with one other believer. «Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other that you may be healed.» Because the earnest prayer of a righteous person—people who are in right standing with God, not perfect people, but the righteous—has great power and produces wonderful results.
Who have you told what actually happened to you, what you’ve actually done to others, and what you’re actually thinking about doing? If you would get that honest and that real, there are husbands and wives who need to have real conversations. There are kids that need to have conversations with their parents. Why are you saying this? Because God only can change things in the light. He only can heal things that are revealed, and many of us are not being healed because we will not reveal. We want to move on from this point like that’s in the past, we’re just going to start from here, but the past has a hold on you. You can act like it doesn’t, and you can act like you moved on at first, but God’s progress for you is way up there, and you’re still fighting to stay right here.
So you need to cut it, call it, confess it, and then you need to cancel it. I like this one, because have you ever seen a TV show that was on the air? They would actually give advertisements for it, and they would plan for it and send flyers and do Instagram posts and all that other stuff. If the show doesn’t work, they say they canceled the show. At the moment they cancel the show, all the advertisements stop; everybody disbands. There is no more connection to it; people disassociate from it. That’s what you need to do in these relationships. Some of you have ended these relationships and you’re still running the reruns right now. You’re still going back to the situation because they’re cool with my family, or they’re just a fixture in our household.
«I mean, now you’re a cool person.» You need to cancel it! Give them back the Jordans they bought you, give them back the necklace they had. I don’t want any remembrance of this time. «Well, it’s the most expensive thing that you ever had!» Baby, you don’t know—you’re the most expensive thing that you’ve ever had! Your kids are king’s kids; you’re valuable; you’re worthy. Until you understand that you’re worthy, you won’t cancel the things that God has asked you to cancel. You cut it, you call it, you confess it, you cancel it, and then you cast it. This one I like.
1 Peter 5:7 says, «Cast all your cares, your anxiety, your mistakes, on Him.» Why? Because before you cared about it, He cared about it. And more than He cared about it, He cared about you! So God’s saying, «I don’t want you to spend the rest of your life carrying your mistakes, carrying what’s going on in your life.» And that’s why when we get back to Paul talking to this church in Corinth, he says, «I know culture is telling you one thing. I know culture is telling you that food was made for the stomach and the stomach for food"—that means «I’ve got urges, I’ve got lusts.» I’m saying, «Men are made for women, and women are made for men!» I mean, this is true, though! Someday God will do away with both, and we’ll be just spirits, but you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality; they were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about your body.
Some of y’all believed the lie that «this is just my body; I’m not hurting anybody. This is just how I get through and express myself.» And I thought, «Man, I care about that too! I care about everything! I made you!» I need you to cut it, and call it, and confess it, and cancel it, and cast it. If I could sum all of that up, huh, God wants all of us today to surrender our sexuality—everything that we were taught about it that was not founded in the Word of God, everything that we’ve experienced, everything that happened to us wrongfully. God said, «I’ll take all of it! You can surrender your sexuality!» The husband and wife who right now feel that passion is gone, and you just feel this distance coming between you, God says, «Hey! Surrender it to Me! I can make you have the best, most passionate sex life at that age that you’ve ever had, but you cannot do it alone; you’ve got to surrender it.»
Young man, young woman, watching this right now—it was a decision between turning this off message on and looking at pornography again, let me say congratulations—you made the right decision. There are tons of other messages just like this that can help you. How does a young man or young woman keep his way pure? Psalms 119 says, «By hiding themselves in the Word of God.» God is saying, «If you surrender it to Me, I can help you with this.» Some of you are struggling with images, preferences, and questions about sexual identity: «Am I attracted to men? Am I attracted to women? What if I am transgender? How do I deal with this?» God says, «I’m not scared of any of it. Bring it to Me. Surrender all the wild thoughts, all the hurts, all the abuses, and all the entanglements to Me because I care about you and I care about your body.»
I had a struggle with this, as you all know. I share my testimony every week about how I was addicted to pornography. I was tangled up, held back by so many people, ideas, and images. You know what this does? It makes you tired. I feel like there are so many believers right now who say, «I’m tired of fighting this,» because you tried to do it by willpower. If God wants to use me, He’ll have to come and help me—I’m done fighting this. I was trying to do it on my own, and God is saying, «Are you sick of trying to do this by yourself? Are you done with willpower instead of real power?» Let me tell you, the real power of God is incredible.
It’s hard to do normal things; it’s hard to get up because of what you’re tied to. But can I tell you what real power will do for you? In 1st Corinthians 6:14, there’s a revelation that changed the trajectory of my life. This is how I got free from all these bondages. Paul was telling these people that it is not about you, your meditation, your good thoughts, or just staying under the radar; you will need real power. And the real power comes from—everybody say it—God! God will raise us from the dead by His power, just as He raised our Lord from the dead. I saw that, and God said, «There’s your answer.»
Sometimes, one of the things you do in meditating is you go over the same thing repeatedly. That’s why Psalm 1 says, «I meditate on Your Word day and night.» Some of us just read for sport or to keep a streak, but God is saying, «You’re moving past the revelation that will change your life.» Maybe some of you this week need to focus on one scripture every day until it begins to speak differently to you. The Bible is the only book you read that reads you. When I did that with a scripture repeatedly, this is the revelation I got: verse 14 says, «God will raise us from the dead.» So, He’s going to raise me from the dead, and I’m going to go to Him, and by His power, it’s going to be His power that raises me from the dead, just as He raised the Lord from the dead.
Like, that’s what He did—He ascended from the cross, and you came from heaven to show the way. Okay, in front of You, I see that You did that, but what does that have to do with me? And God said to me so clearly, as I say to you, Michael, «If I can raise a dead body, what makes you think I can’t manage a living one?» He said, «If I can raise every dead body, if you would allow Me, if you would surrender your sexuality, I can help you manage the one you have right now.» How is that going to happen? By the power of the Holy Spirit.
Well, Pastor Mike, I’m trying to listen to your message today, and there are some things I was planning to do before I got here, but I’m making a decision that I’m not going to do that anymore. I’m going to surrender my sexuality. So I’m coming after You, God. I’m coming after You, God. I’m coming after You, God, but I can’t seem to get past this point. God said, «Are you done? Because at the end of your rope is where My power is.» And by the power of the Holy Spirit, I believe for some of you right now, the power of the Holy Spirit is coming as you surrender. Come on, lift your hands! The power of the Holy Spirit is coming to set you free from everything.
And God is saying that no matter who it was, you can be free. I feel the presence of God in this place right now. Whatever was tied to you, whatever was tangled up, it now becomes your testimony. You can stand up and say, «I used to be unholy, but now I’m holy. I used to feel worthless, but now I’m worthy.» I feel the presence of God coming to you wherever you are right now. Come on, hands lifted up all over this place. We’re about to surrender our sexuality! Come on, hands lifted all over this place. God, I’m available. I surrender everything to You, God. My will I give to You, God. If this is what You’re saying, I’ll do what You ask. God, I’m asking You to use me. I can’t do this by myself.
I’ll use it all—I’ll use my testimony to show someone else the way. God, I just need Your power to enable me to be real, to confess it. Somebody say, «See my story.» Caleb, get a mic. Come on, I feel the presence of God in this place. Lift your hands right now! I need you to lift your hands—God’s coming in, and He’s doing surgery right now. Somebody say, «Lord, I’m available to You.» Come on, somebody’s getting transformed right now. «I came to You, I’ll do what You say.» Come on, somebody say, «God, use me.»
We need You, God, right now. Come on, somebody—hands lifted up right now! I can’t do this. Say, «My soul is done.» «Save my soul.» Somebody needs to say it, «I’m gone. There’s nothing else I can do, and I am available to You.» I believe the end of service is the beginning of surrender. I said, I believe the end of service is the beginning of your surrender. I want us to pray a prayer together—a prayer of sexual surrender. If you have the «Relationship Goals» book, this prayer is in it. I pray this often, and I want to pray it with you and over you today. If you have the book, it’s on page 117. If you don’t have the book, we’re going to put it on the screen, but I’m going to lead you in it.
Today, wherever you are, I want you to lift your hands. I believe God is doing a miraculous work, that soul ties and things that have been connected to you for years… I feel the presence of God. There’s a push coming to your house. There’s a push coming—God is saying this is not the end for you; this is not all she wrote. Over 2,000 years ago, God wrote a different story for you, and all you have to do is receive it. All you have to do is surrender.
Repeat after me: «God, I don’t know how to do this on my own, so I’m giving You my sexuality. I have done things, said things, and experienced things that were outside of Your will for me, and today I’m asking You to take ownership.» Come on, somebody needs to say today, «I’m asking You to take ownership.» «I want to live a life of value,» come on, say that, «that is centered in Your love for me and not my desire for temporary fulfillment. Reset my priorities.» Come on, everybody say that again: «God, reset my priorities. Refocus my thoughts. Unfaithfulness, renew my mind with Your identity for me. Rebuild my self-worth until I believe that I’m Your masterpiece.»
I feel that! Somebody right there, God is about to rebuild your self-worth. Everything that’s taken—He’s rebuilding your self-worth. He’s taking all the pieces and making you a masterpiece. «Realign my perspective to see myself and others the way You see us. Restore my broken pieces and make me new.» I give You permission. Come on, this is important right here. If your heart is not open, God is not going to knock down the door to come in; you have to give Him permission. Somebody say it from your heart: «I give You permission to uproot my damaged areas.» Somebody say it again, «I give You permission to uproot my damaged areas of rejection, pain, hurt, shame, guilt, and bad examples that have negatively shaped my perspective.»
I’m asking You (come on, lift your hands up) God, I’m asking You to cultivate in me the fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5 that will produce, say it out loud: «Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.» I surrender my sexuality; I’m Yours. In Jesus' name, Father, I thank You that You would seal that prayer over my brothers and sisters, and those watching on the rebroadcast, and those who shared three, five, or ten years ago. I thank You that the same Spirit that is with us in this room is with Your people at home; it invades their house, fills their car, and transforms their lives. Today, we surrender. We surrender our sexuality to You, God. Purify us, O God! Search us, O Lord! Thank You, Father, for transforming us. Sex is not bad—sex is good because it’s God’s idea. Thank You for the container of marriage that will allow us to succeed. I declare peace over your life right now.
Some of you have been in a freeze for a long time. Don’t fight this moment right now—God’s healing deep things right now. There are deep things—how quickly we want to move, and I know the stream is long, but it doesn’t matter right now; how much does your healing cost? Come on, just let God do this work. Some of the memories that are coming back right now… God is severing them right now in the name of Jesus. I feel the presence of God in this place. Come on, people are healing. Things are snapping off right now. I feel it—stuff is snapping off! You won’t have the desire anymore for it, and the appetite will be gone.
What do I do tomorrow when something comes up that I didn’t know I was going to see? Surrender it again. This is not a monthly or weekly thing; it’s an everyday thing. Today, God, I surrender my sexuality, and I give it to You. There are some people watching the stream who have been tuned in all this time for this moment. You remember when I talked about a covenant and how there had to be bloodshed when a covenant was made? Well, I want you to know that God does not want to be separated from you for another day—actually, not another moment—because He wanted to make a covenant with you. He sent Jesus Christ, His only Son, to the cross to shed His blood.
The Bible tells us that He knew we were going to make mistakes, and He was wounded and bruised for our iniquities and transgressions. He says, «Somebody has to prove that there’s a covenant, so I’ll give My life.» Because Michael’s going to be addicted to pornography, and he’s going to need a way to get back to God, so I’m going to make a way. No matter what you’ve done, how far you feel, how broken you feel, or what people—even religious people—have told you, God is saying that He loves you and He made a way for you to be connected. All you have to do is accept and receive—not by your works, but through faith in what Jesus has already done for you.
If you want to make the greatest decision of your life—the decision that untied me—the decision that allowed me to go from being a manipulator, addicted to pornography, lost, broken, and jacked up not so long ago—from that place to a place of progression… and every day, I have to surrender my sexuality. But God says, «That’s My boy who works and walks in progression, not perfection.» That same level of access is available to you right now. Today is the day of salvation! Some of you have been like, «Let me get my stuff together. There are a few things I need to do before I come to God.» Let me help you: you can’t get it together without God. You cannot do this without Him; you need His help.
So today, if you want to make the decision for Jesus Christ, according to Romans 10:9, all you have to do is believe that Jesus came, died, and rose again just for you, and you are saved. What does this do? This helps you understand that you are repenting. To repent means to turn. You’re turning from the way you’ve dealt with sexuality and people, and you’re turning to God. You’re turning to His Word, seeking out what the truth is. The manual speaks about my life and my situation. I’m discovering what the Spirit of God has said over me before I was formed in my mother’s womb, and we want to help you with that. We want to walk alongside you, but this entire journey starts with a decision. So, if you want to make that decision, we’re about to pray.
You can say, «Pastor, I want you to include me in that prayer.» A week ago, we had over 600 people get saved because they came to a moment like this. Oh yeah, you can clap; you can shout! That’s why our church exists. We had over 600 people give their lives to Christ because they said, «I don’t want to do this anymore; I surrender.» Today, I believe that by the power of the Holy Spirit, He is drawing you right now. The reason I’m taking some time with this is that it has taken you 30 years to reach this point, and God says, «Give me three minutes, and I’ll transform everything. I’ll turn this around.»
You are making the greatest decision of your life; I am so proud of you. But more than that, your name will be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. If you want to give your life to Christ, come on, lift your hands—whether you’re in your living room, on the porch, or anywhere else. It doesn’t matter; lift your hands. I may not see you, but God does. You can put your hands down. I know tears are flowing right now. There are people for whom things are changing right now. These are the moments that will define your life. I want us to pray as a church family. We pray as a Transformation Church family for the benefit of those coming to Christ. So, everyone in your homes, in your cars, watching on replay, or in your cubicles, I want you to pray this out loud:
God, thank you for sending Jesus to shed His blood just for me. Today, I surrender. I believe You lived, You died, and You rose again just for me. Just the way I am, with all my ties and baggage, You still love me. Today, I give You my life. Be my Lord and Savior. Change me. Renew me. Transform me. I’m Yours. In Jesus' name, Amen.