Sermon Central
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Pushing For Purity
Contributed by Chad Garrison on Dec 23, 2006 (message contributor)
Summary: Recently, my wife and I moved into a new condo. But as I began work on our new home, I began to see a formula for pushing for purification in our own life.
Purify
Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.
The definition of purify:
pur-i-fy: a : to clear from material defilement or imperfection b : to free from guilt or moral or ceremonial blemish c : to free from undesirable elements
As many of you know, my wife and I recently moved into a new condo. Before we could move in however, it needed, as one of my friends called it, some TLC [TenderLovingCare] To me it needed a lot of TLC! But as I began work on our new home, I began to see a formula for pushing for purification in our own life.
1. Identify the Problems
Our new place had several issues that could only be attributed to neglect of the previous owner. The carpet was stained and loose. The paint was old and cracking in some places. And there were parts of the house that just needed to be plain cleaned!
Pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Some Areas the bible points out as impure:
Sexual Immorality
1 Thes 4:3-7
It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.
1 Cor 6:20
The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the lord for the body.
It’s important that we define sexual immorality: any form of sex outside of marriage
Do you know why the bible tells us to stay away from sex before marriage? – Protection! The damaging affects this can bring, will hurt you more than you know!
Thoughts
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
This is one everyone struggles with! This is where I believe most of our troubles begin. With a thought…then it snowballs into an avalanche that we can no longer stop or control!
Attitude (Pride)
This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD , who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD.
Just like our impure actions and thoughts, our pride can be a huge stumbling block and discredits your witness.
Have you ever been around somebody who thinks it begins and ends with them?
Jesus said, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
If you have trouble with pride, God will take care of it, just not the way you want.
Words
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Does this really need any explanation? Our words are a measure of our heart condition.
Swearing, Gossip, etc.
Priorities
2 Cor 4:18
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
What’s more important to us? These things that are going to hold us back? Or what God has for us?
Most of the time it’s the worldly desires
2. Get Help!
After I saw all the work that needed to be done, I called all my friends that I knew could help. I had a friend help rip up the carpet with me. I had a friend help me lay down wood laminate. I had a friend help paint the walls. Why? Because I knew I could not get it done alone.
