Designer Sex

Josiah Jones // Oct 8, 2019

Maybe you’ve heard that sex is for marriage, but is that outdated? In this message, we open the Bible to Song of Solomon chapters 3-5 to learn about God’s design for sex and how it’s still relevant today.

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Well, welcome to The Porch. My name is Josiah. I'm so glad to be with you guys tonight. Welcome Porch.Live locations wherever you're tuning in: Tulsa, Houston, El Paso, and Phoenix. Wherever you are, welcome. Especially if you are in this room, man, we are continuing our series Rated R for Romance and we're going to be starting tonight talking about this idea of sex. Sex. Everyone just leaned in, right?

I thought I would start out by sharing a story with you tonight. It was actually the year 1997, specifically 22 years ago. I had just moved into my stepfamily's home. I was doing the blended family type of thing. I was rummaging in our garage at that time. My stepbrother had just gone off to college. I found one of his stashes. I began to rummage through the stash.

Lo and behold, there was a Playboy. I began to open it page by page only to find out that I wanted more and more of what I saw. It was the first time that I ever experienced pornography. In that moment, I wish I could say that it was the last time that I looked at porn, but then that actually carried on for the next almost 10 years of my life, a decade.

That turned into one relationship after another relationship of just sexual acts with women. I start there tonight because I bet I'm not alone up here. We live in a sex-saturated culture where the world has really taught us the wrong way when it comes to our view of sex. I grew up hearing culture talk about sex…MTV, magazines, movies.

The Internet came out and it opened up a whole new world of porn and sex. Then there was school, right? Do you remember sex education class? That was just awkward, just bad. Then there was the church. I don't know about you, but I grew up in a church that didn't really talk about sex. They just chose to suppress sex instead of address it, or that's just kind of what I thought in that moment.

So all these ideas of sex began to circulate in my mind and my heart, only to grow stronger and stronger and to intensify. So tonight I want to reset some of what we have learned in this room. Listen, one of the hardest things that I had to do was to unlearn what I learned. We're going to dive into this book that we've been over the last two weeks, Song of Solomon, chapters 3 and 4. If you have your Bibles, which I hope you do, open up to Song of Solomon, chapter 3.

Tonight we're going to explore God's design for sex. We're going to look at the only wedding night that is recorded in all of the Bible. We're going to see this couple walk the aisle, get married, and then they're going to let us in to their honeymoon night. It's like the God of universe preserved this part of Scripture so that in 2019 at The Porch: Dallas and all across the nation and the world, he would show us an example of what it looks like to preserve or to pursue this gift that we've been given.

See, he is a good Daddy who loves you and wants to give life to you in this area. I believe the world has hijacked this and it's made it something it's not. Disclaimer: The Porch is a ministry for young adults, so if you're watching it online at this point and you have kids in the room, I'd just encourage you to turn down the volume and then come check us out at a later date.

Song of Solomon, chapter 3. Tonight I want to talk about God's design for sex, specifically God's design for sex as pleasurable in marriage, passionate in marriage. Before you leave tonight, God's design in sex is to be powerful. Verse 6 of chapter 3. Here we go. Buckle up. "Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchant?"

She is describing her soon-to-be husband. This is the one whom her soul has longed for. Marks luxury and royalty. Verse 7, "Look! It is Solomon's carriage, escorted by sixty warriors, the noblest of Israel, all of them wearing the sword, all experienced in battle, each with his sword at his side, prepared for the terrors of the night."

You think your wedding party is going to be big? This dude had 60 groomsmen. Verse 9, "King Solomon made for himself the carriage; he made it of wood from Lebanon. Its posts he made of silver, its base of gold. Its seat was upholstered with purple, its interior inlaid with love." Think. This is like the getaway car. This is the limo, right? This is the 1950s Bentley.

It goes on and says in verse 11, "Daughters of Jerusalem, come out, and look, you daughters of Zion. Look on King Solomon wearing a crown, the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, the day his heart rejoiced." This couple just said, "I do." Now they're going to take a turn as they enter into the honeymoon night where he is about to describe her body in the most sensual way.

Song of Solomon, chapter 4, verse 1, "How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are doves." He is about to describe her from head to toe. This idea of doves, David alluded to it the last two weeks. Doves are singular-focused. He is saying, "Hey, you haven't had eyes for anyone else." Like, "You haven't had a wandering eye, woman. You have had eyes for me only."

"Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from the hills of Gilead." What? That's weird. Like, "Solomon, you were doing so well. Then you just digressed, bro." Note to self: man, that's probably not the best pick-up line. Here's what he is saying. This is actually a very provocative statement because in Jewish times, a woman would never let her hair down. At this point, he has now seen her hair down for the very first time. They're at the Four Seasons, if you will.

Verse 2, "Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn, coming up from the washing. Each has its twin; not one of them is alone." He says, "Your teeth are white. This woman's breath is fresh." That's just free right there. Just fresh. This woman has all of her teeth. Twins, right? This was actually a commodity back in those days. I'm serious. You can't make this stuff up, man. Why? Because they didn't have dental hygiene back then. What do you do at your wedding night? You smile a lot, right? I can say that. I'm married.

Verse 3, "Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon; your mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate." Speaks to the redness and the sweetness of her cheeks. Verse 4, "Your neck is like the tower of David, built with courses of stone; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors." This is a picture of her strength, of her nobility. This isn't just any woman, man. This is confident woman. She knows who she is, and he begins to describe that and affirm her in that. Verse 5:

"Your breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle that browse among the lilies. Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will go to the mountain of myrrh… You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you. Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon. Descend from the crest of Amana, from the top of Senir, the summit of Hermon, from the lions' dens and the mountain haunts of leopards."

Do you know what he is saying? He is saying, "Hey, you're safe with me, baby. This bed that you're in? It's safe. It's secure." Verse 9: "You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace." Even the necklace turns this guy on. Crazy. He begins to see her and he looks upon her.

"How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much more pleasing is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume more than any spice!" He begins to smell her now. Verse 11: "Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride; milk and honey are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon."

He goes from seeing to smelling to touching to French kissing. Man, that tongue is in there for the very first time. This is a man who has activated all of his senses. Why? Because in sex, when your senses are heightened, that's when you begin to experience the most pleasure. Here are the Spiritual truths I want to point out throughout this whole chapter.

1 . God designed sex to be pleasurable in marriage. In verses 1 through 11, we see that sex is pleasurable. In other words, God is pro-sex, and he created it to be pleasurable. He made the parts. Like, God is the one who patented pleasure. This is what we see in these verses, specifically right here in the first 11 verses of chapter 4. It's his idea, man. He is the mastermind behind all the parts.

Look at verses 5 and 6. Let me go back just for a second. "Your breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle that browse among the lilies. Until the day breaks and the shadows flee [that's morning] , I will go to the mountain of myrrh…" He is saying, "Hey, I want you all night long. I want to hang out on your body…specifically your breasts."

God designed sex to be pleasurable. Notice he compares her breasts to two fawns. What happens when you run up to a fawn? They just scatter. They just flee. Like, do you know what he is saying here? He is saying, "Hey, he is approaching this woman with care. He is gentle with her. He goes slowly. He touches her in the most loving, caring way possible.

He has a little Boyz II Men going on in the background right now." [Singing] "I'll make love to you…" I'd better not. Shane, you'd better come on out here, bro, because this brother cannot sing. Right? But he has a little Boyz II Men right here. He is saying, "I'll make love to you all night long, all night long. Tell me what you need." This is what he is saying.

He is making love to this woman. He is saying, "All night long, I delight to be with you." This man is looking at the naked body of his wife, but he is not looking at his wife as an object of his passion and now she has to do all of his wildest fantasies. No, this man is there to serve her on their wedding night. He removes the expectations. He puts them on the floor.

You're like, "That's crazy." Yeah, it is, but this man is a servant. He goes slowly. He speaks. He uses his words to affirm her. This woman in this moment is one of the most secure women because this man speaks gently to her. He begins to say, "You're perfect altogether. There's no blemish in you." He takes on the form of a servant.

God designed sex not just for procreation, as some might think. God designed it for pleasure. God was strategic in how he created our parts. He put the nerve endings in very specific places so that they would feel good. God is pro-pleasure. It's not just for procreation. Some of the questions that were submitted lead me to believe that some of you kind of question this.

We've given you an opportunity over the last few weeks to submit questions. We did a Q & A last week. Some of your questions were this, "Is it okay to lust after my husband? Is it okay to enjoy sex in marriage?" I hope so. "Is it okay to do other things besides sex in marriage?" Look at what Proverbs 5:18-19 says.

It says, "May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer—may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love." He is saying, "Hey, may you just be drunk with the love of this woman." Does this sound like you can't lust after your spouse or enjoy sex? No. God is affirming you in this.

He is saying, "Hey, I have created sex so that you'd experience pleasure in marriage. Why? I'm glad you asked." Listen, that's the caveat: in marriage. I get that. Some of us come into this place, and that's just old school. It's like, "Are you kidding me? You all are still preaching that in 2019? Why?"

Let's continue in verse 12. "You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain." In other words, when you see a garden, when you see a spring, this is her body. Her body has been off limits until now. "Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes and all the finest spices."

Now her body and her sexuality are to be enjoyed. His body and his sexuality are to be enjoyed. "You are a garden fountain, a well of flowing water streaming down from Lebanon." I'll just let you interpret that. Some of you have to go back and read it. It's like, "What? What did he just say?" This woman is turned on to the max because this man has made her feel secure, safe, and he has made her feel like she is the only object of his passion.

2 . God designed sex to be passionate in marriage. Why did this woman protect her purity up until the wedding and the honeymoon night like verse 12 says? It's not because she was a prude. She has never had sex, and basically in verse 16, look at what it says. "Come, let's enjoy foreplay." "…taste [my] choice fruits."

She is speaking about oral sex here. That's the only way you can interpret that. Listen, she is not a prude, but she is pure. Why? Because this woman knew what many of us don't know here this evening. Purity drives passion. The less purity, the less passion in your marriage. Let me explain. If you're having sex with your significant other and pornography is your vice for you, then you are punting on the season that God has given you to grow your patience and your self control.

Let me ask you. Do you think you're going to need patience and self…? I was having lunch with a young adult a couple of weeks ago. I just said, "Hey, do you think you're going to need patience and self-control in your marriage?" He sat there for a second and he was like, "Yeah, I think so." I'm like, "Yeah, man. You're definitely going to need patience and self-control."

God is giving you a season called dating, called engagement, so that you would put your sexual urges in check. Why? So that you would be able to build patience and self-control now. I think some of you think you're going to get in marriage and you're just going to flip a switch and you're just going to be patient. You're just going to have self-control. I wish I could stand up here and say, "Hey, I've never had a sexual urge for another woman ever after I got married." That is not the case.

That is the furthest thing from the truth. I'm just trying to keep it real tonight. So why purity? Why does purity drive passion? Because when you discipline yourself in dating and engagement, then it gives you an opportunity when you have those same urges for someone else who is not your spouse in marriage, you have the purity, you have the patience, and you have the self‑control because you disciplined yourself during the season that God said, "Wait."

So if you think you can't be pure outside of marriage, listen, why do you think you're going to be pure inside of marriage? See, I liken our sex drive to a spoiled child. I have a 3-year-old. Man, I love her. Her name is Camille. Camille Elizabeth. So almost every day at this point, she begins to throw temper tantrums, like almost to a point where she'll just get on the floor and make a scene.

It's so embarrassing. We're in public and when she doesn't get what she wants, she'll just scream at the top of her lungs, and then she'll just be flailing on the floor. I'm just like, "Oh my goodness. Hey, I'm sorry." In that moment, she doesn't need indulgence. She doesn't need Mommy and Daddy to give her what she wants in that moment. Do you know what she needs in that moment?

She needs discipline, in the same way the God of the Universe says, "Hey, your sex drive? It doesn't need indulgence in dating and engagement. It needs discipline." It needs discipline, Porch, because God is trying to set you up for passionate sex that would be between you and your spouse forever and ever. I would argue purity drives passion.

The less purity, the less passion in marriage. God designed sex to be passionate in marriage. The way you keep it passionate is by pursuing purity outside and inside of marriage. You might say tonight, "Josiah, I'm experiencing a lot of passion. I experience passion when I have one-night stands. I experience passion when I have premarital sex."

I would say, "You're right." That's confusing. I did too. Before I came to Christ, I experienced a lot of passion from one woman to the next, but here's what I know. This passion is fleeting. This passion does not last. This passion is empty. It's hollow. You might experience passion when you engage in sexual activity with multiple women or multiple men, but you and I know this to be true.

That kind of passion is fleeting, it's temporal, and it comes and goes because it's not built on commitment. It's built on, "Hey, you can leave at any point." If you want passionate sex that will last? It's only going to be built on this idea that, "Hey, I'm going to commit to you no matter what, no matter what, no matter where you've been in thought or in action, no matter what your sexual history is, no matter what you've done to me, I'm not going anywhere."

It brings this incredible security into a marriage. "I'm yours, and you're mine." This is the kind of passion this couple is experiencing in the Song of Solomon. This is the kind of passion that the God of the galaxy wants for every single one of us. I had a roommate in college and best man in my wedding. He came up to me. I was dating my bride, Cathy. He said, "Hey, the degree that you'll protect Cathy's purity now while you're dating her will be the degree that she trusts you later."

I said, "What do you mean by that?" He said, "Hey, if you don't ever give her a reason to believe that you can put your sexual urges in check now, then what makes you think that when she lays down at night in the marriage bed when you guys get married and you're out traveling or you're out with the boys or maybe you're in the marriage bed and she is out with the girls hanging out, what makes you think that you guys are going to trust each other if you can never look back on a season where you disciplined yourself sexually?"

Listen, I meet with young adults every single week, and this is what I find out. When they are engaging in sexual activity before marriage, they have all kinds of insecurities. I was meeting with a young adult the other day and literally they are tracking each other. They literally share location with each other because they don't trust each other when they're not around each other.

It's crazy, man! Listen, I've been in both sides. Before I was pursuing purity, man, I was just giving in to whatever desire I wanted, and when I was just giving in to whatever desire I wanted, I had all kinds of insecurities. I was the same person, wondering, "I wonder what she is doing when I'm not around?"

When this type of trust is forged in marriage, then passion always follows. God designed sex to be passionate in marriage. You build passion by pursuing purity. Song of Solomon, chapter 5, verse 1. This is the very first time that this couple goes all the way. Verse 1: "I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk."

Then God speaks. He doesn't speak anywhere else in this whole book, and he speaks. He says, "Eat, friends, and drink; drink your fill of love." They need not to restrict their love anymore. They can enjoy sex with each other. They can delight in… It's like they both rolled over after they had sex with no shame, no guilt, and no condemnation. God, in this moment, affirms them and says, "That's good. That's the way it was meant to be."

3 . God designed sex to be powerful in marriage. Why is sex powerful? Because it produces a oneness. The man speaks and says my nine times in this chapter. In verse 1 of chapter 5, he reiterates the oneness that he and his bride are having in marriage. See, sex is powerful because in that same verse he says, "…drink your fill of love."

This word love here… In the Hebrew, it's the word dowd, which literally means the mingling of souls. Have you ever heard of soul ties? It means you mingle your souls together. The reason why I'm telling you this is because, listen, there is no such thing as just sex. The God of the universe is combating these phrases that we hear in our culture all the time. "It's just sex. Try before you buy. Friends with benefits. No strings attached."

You see the world says, "Practice makes perfect." Do you know what God says? "Practice makes permanent." You know this to be true. I know this to be true. While everything in that relationship is just wrong, you keep going back to him, you keep going back to her. Why? Because you had sex with them and because of that, this soul tie, this act is stronger than any other act. It's stronger than holding hands. It's stronger than kissing. It's stronger than hugging.

Science has finally caught up with the Bible. Do you know that? Psychology has affirmed what the Bible has said for so long. It's this term sex glue, this oneness that's a powerful bond that God describes in the Bible when one man and one woman give themselves to each other. It's this real psychological, physiological, sociological phenomenon.

Let me explain. It's the building of brain synapses that occur during orgasm and the act of sex, sex glue, this thing that scientists have now discovered that God said way back, that "…a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh?" Matthew 19:5.

So this oneness, this bond happens when we orgasm. When we experience release, our mind, and our five senses, it begins to adhere to whatever you look at in that moment because your five senses are heightened and in that time you have these chemicals that are released called dopamine. These dopamine chemicals release to whatever you are looking at in that moment, and it's like you stick to that thing or that person.

This is why a counselor says, "Hey, when you have sex, make sure that you're looking at that person in the face, because there are other women or there are other men who have those types of parts. When you look at each other in the face, it bonds you unlike anything else." Why? Because she or he is the only one with that face. It's like a thumbprint that bonds to your heart.

By God's design, he wants you to be bonded to your spouse. Only God created sex for the purpose of oneness, not one-night stands, not two-dimensional images on your computer screen, phone. You and your wife in a committed marriage. How amazing is that? It's like God had this planned. Sex is powerful.

So you can now imagine that if one man and one woman bond to each other and to each other only, then when they get into a marriage relationship and years and years pass by and things begin to sag and you begin to age, then what happens? Then that person, your spouse, is the epitome of your attraction. Why? Because you have nothing to compare it to.

You know this to be true. Comparison is the thief of all joy. It robs you of all contentment. I was having lunch just the other day with another young adult. He said, "Man, I had everything. I was cohabitating before marriage. I thought it was the best thing. We were having sex. Then all of a sudden, I didn't even want it anymore."

I said, "What?" He said, "Yeah, man, I wanted pornography. I began to be addicted to everything else, and I didn't even want the real thing anymore. I lost all physical attraction for the woman who I was dating and living with." See, Porch, this is what you have to understand. You're growing an appetite for something. You're not growing an appetite for oneness. You're growing an appetite for two-dimensional images.

Listen, that will never satisfy you in a relationship. Listen, this was my story. I found myself in college playing baseball and chasing everything underneath the sun. If I wanted it, I had it. I denied myself no pleasure. I ran to the bottle, alcohol, for celebration. I ran to the bottle, alcohol, for consolation. Either way, whether I was high or whether I was low, whatever moment I found myself in, that's what I would do. The next party, the next relationship, the next woman.

I was an addict to pornography, the most narcissistic, selfish person. I got off the bus my junior year from playing a three-game series. I began to ask myself the question, "Is that it? Because if these things aren't going to do it anymore, what's going to do it?" I went right down the list with everything I had been filling my life with. I went back to my apartment that night.

My teammates, my roommates were getting ready to go out. I said, "I'm taking this one off." I remember looking at myself in the mirror, bending over like this. I said, "Man, I have everything, everything that I've been working so hard for, only to find myself in a place of depression, in a place of emptiness." I cried out to God.

I was just like, "God, if you're real, reveal yourself to me." See, I compared my life to other people for so long. When you compare yourself to other people, you can always find someone worse than you, which gives you security in the fact that you're really not that bad, right? I did that for years of my life.

Over the course of the next few days, I began to examine the evidence of Christ and who he was. I finally saw my sin for what it is in light of a holy, perfect God. I finally saw my sin on the cross. See, I finally realized that Jesus didn't die to make me miserable. He died to give me life. "There is a way that appears to be right [to man] , but in the end it leads to death," Proverbs 14:12 says.

I cried out to God. I said, "God, these other things aren't fulfilling me anymore because I failed to connect the creation to the Creator. I don't want any of these things if I can't have you because life is meaningless apart from you." I understood that all of my shame and all of my blame went on him. He soaked up every last ounce of God's wrath, the wrath that should've been poured out on you and me.

Not only that, history says and the Scriptures tell us that Jesus defeated sin and death three days later. Why? So that we could experience victory from the things that we go back to that create bondage and addiction in our life. What I learned quickly is that Jesus never calls you from something without calling you to something.

The very first thing that he called me to was to change my playground and my playmates, to pursue new community. I remember like it was yesterday. I remember meeting up with these guys who wanted to be God's men and wanted to run with other men who wanted to be God's men. I remember feeling like, "Man, I think I'm missing something."

They took me to James 5:16. They began to read this Scripture over me. It says, "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." See, I had been forgiven. First John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." But I hadn't been healed.

I was planning on taking these things in my past to the grave. I wasn't going to tell anybody about it. I'm convinced tonight that many of us walk into this place, and we might be forgiven by God because we've walked out 1 John 1:9, we trust what Jesus has done for us on the cross, but a lot of us come into this place still not healed.

So I gathered with those men. I said, "Here we go. This is where I've been." Everything. I laid it out there to them specifically. Then they stopped and they said, "Hey, let me pray for you." I laid out some more. Then, "Let me pray for you." I laid out some more. "Let me pray for you." I laid out some more. "Let me pray for you."

I got up from that time, and the weight of the world was off my shoulders. I believe in that moment that God healed me. So wherever you are in the room right now: single, dating, engaged, married, online, your best decision is to deal with the baggage that's in your life. This is the greatest gift that you can give to your spouse or your future spouse.

Listen, the last thing I want to do, guys, is just stand up here and act like, "Man, this is just easy." I know this isn't easy! I know that this is hard! I know what it's like to be in your 20s and still single. That was me. When I was in my 20s, I remember listening to messages like this. I'd get so frustrated. Thinking, "Man, am I ever going to get married? God, what are you doing, man? Are you trying to hold out on me? Are you trying to discipline me because of my sexual baggage? Are you trying to condemn me in a way? Are you punishing me, God?"

I wanted to compromise my convictions. So often there were times when I lost the battle. I'm not going to stand up here and act like I had it all together, but do you know what I did? I went back to those men. I began to confess, because the power of sin is always in secrecy. Do you want the power of sin to be released in your life? Then expose it to the light and begin to confess that to other men.

Women? Confess that to other women. Allow them to pray over you. I began to be thankful for the season of my singleness because Jesus grew me there. Then six years ago, man, I was 30 years old. I met the love of my life, Cathy Gautier, a little brunette, brown-eyed ragin' Cajun Dallas plant from New Orleans.

We were coming to The Porch at that time. Listen, we sat right back there in the second-tier seating. I remember hearing messages like this. I began to see, "Man, I have to unlearn some of these things that I learned for so long." God began to do a work in our lives personally and in our relationship. He began to take our brokenness, began to heal some areas of our lives.

He began to show us what it looked like to pursue purity in dating and engagement. We ended up going through Merge, which is Watermark's premarital counseling ministry, which I highly recommend. We actually went through pre-engagement counseling. I had all kinds of baggage coming from a divorced family. I always thought that I would end up there. I didn't like commitment.

They began to show me what it looked like to pursue a woman in a godly way. God used that season in our life to grab a hold of our hearts. Then when I was 31 years old, we said, "I do," to one another and we got married. Five-plus years later, this is my family. My wife Cathy, my little girl Camille who is almost 3, and Isabella Marie who is 1.

Listen, I share that tonight to offer hope. I'm not claiming that you're going to get married and have kids. You might never get married. You might never have any kids. You might not even want to get married. Hey listen, your singleness is a gift. That's a whole other message for a whole other night. I'd love to talk to you about that.

I share this with you tonight because I want you to see the grace of God in our lives. Listen, he is offering you the same grace tonight. The God of the galaxy is saying, "Hey, you can have a restart. You don't have to keep going down the same road doing the same stuff doing the same crap and expecting a different result."

That's the beauty of the gospel. He is no longer counting your sins against you. He has removed your transgressions, the Bible says, "…as far as the east is from the west…" You right now can say, "God, I've been a fool. I've pursued things on my own. I've stiff-armed you, God, when it comes to the area of relationships and sex and purity. I need you, God. I know it's not going to be easy. I know Satan is trying to dupe me. I know Dallas is trying to dupe me. But I trust, not what this guy is saying up on stage, I trust what your Word is saying."

Right now, tonight, he wants to give you a restart. He wants to reset your life. I'm a living testimony of that by his grace, nothing on my own accord. Let me pray that he would do that for you tonight. A prayer that I pray often is, "Lord, would you quench my curiosity and restore my innocence? Lord, would you quench my curiosity and would you restore my innocence?"

It's a prayer that I still pray to this day. I'll never claim to be perfect. I never claim to have it all together. God is still in the business of sanctifying me, trying to make me look more like Christ. Maybe that's a prayer you need to pray tonight. "Lord, would you quench my curiosity and restore my innocence?"

God in heaven, we come before you and we ask that you would do a work that only you can do. This is not a work of man. This is a work of you, God, that you're using all of my past, all of the present things in my life in spite of me tonight. I pray, God, that you would do the same for my friends. I pray that you would intersect their life in a powerful way. In Christ's name we pray, amen.