In this devotional podcast episode, the creator of the MT for Christ ministry marks the 1,000th encouraging message in his sexual purity series. He recounts how the practice began in February 2020 as a simple text to a brother seeking accountability, expanded to group texts, Facebook posts, a resurrected blog (originally started in 2015), a 24/7 podcast (2021), and a YouTube channel. He shares the original text, which emphasizes that Jesus’ victory over Satan gives believers power over temptation, cites Acts 15:19‑20, 1 John 4:4, Romans 8:2, and 1 Corinthians 13:11, and includes a quote from Charles Stanley. The speaker argues that sexual purity—abstaining from masturbation, fornication, and adultery—is a logical outcome of a believer’s identity in Christ, using a diaper analogy to illustrate the childishness of such behaviors. He urges listeners to claim their Gentile‑believer identity, walk in daily choices of purity, and visit mtforchrist.org for more resources. The tone is encouraging, testimonial, and instructional, aiming to inspire believers to pursue sexual purity as part of the Christian disciple’s path.
Chapters
Good morning. I'm probably biting off more than I can chew, but this is, um, because today will be the 1,000th encouraging message I, I will share since starting this purity series in 2020. I decided to share the first message that I texted to a brother in Christ who asked me to be his accountability partner for sexual purity. I continued doing these texts to this man and then a group of men until I decided to also share encouraging words on Facebook.. And time, technical issues of doing a text and sharing the same message on Facebook became somewhat labor-intensive, and so I decided to resurrect the MT for Christ blog I started in 2015 to make sharing the messages easier. In 2021, I decided to do the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast and eventually the YouTube channel of the same name to share my encouraging words and photos of the day. And now Here we are at the big 1K. Lots of messages of encouraging people to keep walking and talking with God. So I decided to share where this journey of giving encouraging words began. I recovered this from my notes on my iPhone and have just passed it, uh, into a Word document— just pasted it into a Word document from its original form. I hope it encourages everyone and inspires some to pursue sexual purity as it really should be a part of The Christian Disciple's Path. And so from, uh, from perhaps February 10th, 2020, uh, 2020, um, my message, uh, says Jesus triumphed over Satan at the cross, a victory that, that contained no hint of defeat. You also can claim victory over the enemy in daily battles because as a believer you are indwelt with the triumphant power of Jesus Christ through the presence of the Holy Spirit. You have the privilege of calling upon the divine power of God, which ultimately means you have power over Satan and all his demons. 1 John 4:4. And that, that quote came from Charles Stanley. Likewise, we have power over our temptation to give in to lust. When temptation comes knocking, pushing away the thoughts by saying, I don't want to think about that, I cast out these thoughts in the name of Jesus. There is no— there is power in his name, so use it. Today's cognitive therapy: only 3 things? Question mark. Uh, Acts 15:19: therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God. And verse 20 says, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, and things strangled, and from blood. Here the decree is made to not trouble the Gentile believers with the Mosaic, Mosaic law, um, to establish 3 things they should adhere to, abstain from: things polluted by idols, number 2 is things strangled and from blood, and number 3, from sexual immorality. So sexual purity was one of the few requirements for Gentile believers. It is important to God for us to be sexually pure. So repeat and think on this: I am a Gentile believer of Jesus Christ. 2. Therefore, according to the word of God, I will not masturbate, fornicate, or commit adultery. We gain victory by claiming our identity in Christ. We don't masturbate or commit sexual immorality anymore because that was our old nature. We are now— we are Christians now. We just don't do it anymore. The idea of sexual morality for us should be a logical impossibility. I am a Christian. I don't do that anymore, not because I'm trying hard not to. I don't do that anymore because it's not who I am. Forgive the crude analogy, it's like a baby in diapers. Some would say, hey, you used to wear diapers like every single day of your life. It's who you are. Isn't it easier just to wear diapers? Barring old age concerns, we should say, "No, I don't do that anymore. I'm grown out of that childish behavior. I understand now that it may have worked at the time but is no longer necessary, and it's not who I am anymore." The Word says we are to put away childish things in 1 Corinthians 13:11. Like diapers, masturbation was a childish expression of sex. I was a teen when I started. The same goes for fornication and adultery. I'm lucky not to have fallen, uh, fathered several illegitimate kids or have gotten STDs. These acts are irresponsible, dangerous, and selfish, thus childish. We as mature men know that sex proper place is in marriage only. So as mature Gentile believers, let's put away childish things. We do this not by trying, but by believing the word of God that says we have been freed from sin and death, uh, Romans 8:2. We have our freedom in Christ. We just have to agree with it and walk it out one moment, one choice, and one day at a time. And day, day one question: do you see how sexual purity is a fundamental part of being a Christian? Would this have changed over time? And, uh, so that was, uh, Purity Number One. I hope you enjoyed it. I didn't really intend to podcast it, so this will be a short message, but I guess I podcast everything now. So we invite you to go to mtforchrist.org to see the original, uh, logos that we used for Celebrate Freedom and, uh,, that are on the blog post as well. Um, so, uh, thank you for listening and, uh, for following, um, the MT for Christ, uh, uh, blog and the MT for Christ 247 podcast. Um, uh, I gotta run to work, so God bless you all. I've already prayed on the 1000th message, but I figured I'd, I'd podcast this one too. All right, God bless you all. Amen. And I'll actually stop the recording now.
