Purity…

I am concerned and spiritually awakened with a heavy burden for my generation. It is a challenge to be pure. Please, don’t judge me before you read the notes below. We need a revival of purity in our churches. Not just physical purity but a much, overdue revival of spiritual purity. Over the next 6 weeks I will be posting my sermon notes for this subject.  So … let’s begin the journey!

Purity is a BLESSING!

Tim Rutledge is the former Student Pastor at The Pentecostals of Alexandria (POA) and he forwarded some of the notes he used in this series on this subject. I have also taken a good amount of material from Ken Gurley’s series called “Worth the Wait.” Please note: I use this material with respect and honor given to the men who have formed such great guidelines and values on this much need subject. To Pastor Gurley and Tim Rutledge: I honor you and thank God for you!

PURITY: Lesson 1

When you find a wife, and when you find a husband the greatest gift that you can give to them, is not your Holy Ghost and it’s not your shouting abilities. It’s the gift of PURITY!

There are 5 lies that the world would want us to believe on why it’s okay to loose our PURITY …

Lie #1: Loosing your PURITY is no BIG DEAL.

That is a lie of an overexposed society where this is everywhere. You see it in magazines, billboards, TV. It’s become so normal; it’s no big deal. That’s why for some of your parents that have grown up in an era when sex was more hidden and not talked about as much and you throw it back in their face and say, “It’s no big deal!” That it’s everywhere. It is everywhere and it’s used for everything. You should know that is a complete lie and is the farthest thing from truth!

Lie #2. PURITY is only PHYSICAL.

Think of it this way: most of you will spend more time on the marriage side of life than on the single side of life. Don’t make decisions today that are for momentary pleasure. Your greatest, most powerful tool is not what you offer physically, it’s your mind. And your mind doesn’t shut things out nothing will! Your mind is an incredible gift. I totally understand how difficult it is to think so far into the future. Girls, I know that many of you have already thought about your wedding day and your dress. But now I’m encouraging you to think even longer and further out there. PURITY is a huge, huge decision for anybody of any age. Whether you’re a high school student or the president of the United States.

Lie #3: God is DOWN on fun.

That’s what a lot of people think. They think God is this cosmic killjoy who’s up in heaven wanting to have all these bad things happen so you can’t enjoy life. That’s what people think. God is down on everything that’s fun. That’s a horribly uneducated comment.

Lie #4: Everybody’s LOOSING their PURITY.

Here’s the truth: everybody is not doing it. As a matter of fact, statistics tell us that 40% of high school students graduate from high school without ever having a one-on-one intimate date. Can I also tell you that, in the last 10 years, current study research says this – sexual activity among teenagers is going down? As a matter of fact, there’s a lot more people not doing it than doing it. From the ages of 15 to 17, 38-40% has had at least one sexual intercourse experience. The numbers increased from 17-19. When you total all of them together, it’s right about 50% by the time you’re 19. It’s interesting to me that the divorce rate in this country is about 50%.

Lie #5: It’s impossible to be PURE.

People say, “If you say that PURITY is to be saved for the context of marriage what am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to be like totally pure? That is impossible.” It’s NOT impossible to be pure. What do you need to live; oxygen, air, water, food. You do not need to loose one of the greatest gifts you can give your spouse just to live life!

Three truths about the creator of PURITY.

Truth #1: God isn’t into RULES.  He’s into LIFE.

Some of you who think God is down on having fun. You say, “Why does He want me to wait until marriage”; because of those life-long effects that I talked about, because of the haunting spirits, because God created it to be so beautiful and to be celebrated and so pure that in the context of marriage that you would share it with one person for the rest of your life so you wouldn’t have this excess baggage to bring into marriage.

Truth #2: God is more concerned about your HEART than your ACTIONS.

Some actually think, “Great! If He’s not concerned about my actions then I can do whatever I want as long as I have a nice heart.” How wrong that is! God is more concerned about your heart than your actions. God is still concerned with your actions. For some, when it comes to your PURITY, they want us to create a list of what we think, as a student pastor, they should be able to do; “THE ACTION LIST.”

If I made up an action list:

• On the first date you can say hello.
• On the third date, you can interlock your fingers.
• Then on the fifth date you can peach kiss.
• On the sixth date you can prune kiss.
• And on the ninth you can “Alfalfa!”

WHATEVER!

Truth #3: God offers you wisdom, FORGIVENESS and hope.

Wisdom – God wants you to be wise and have unusual insight into ordinary living. Those of you, who don’t know much about God, ask God for wisdom. God’s wisdom is greater than your wisdom. My thinking is finite. It is limited. God’s is infinite.  God wants you to be forgiven. For some, just start over. That would be a great thing to just start over. In the past, “I was looking for a little bit of love. “I was looking to feel pretty, I was looking to feel different and I didn’t get it then, but now I get it”. God says “Great. Let’s start over.” He gives you hope; hope that you can be restored, hope that you don’t have to live in confusion, hope that you don’t have to be frightened and alone. That’s what God wants to honor. And we must keep ourselves pure and holy in the eyes of God and in the eyes of our flesh!