When a person believes that freedom from sexual sin is impossible for them, it often leads to feelings of despair and hopelessness. We looked at common things inside us that lead to these feelings in our last episode and showed how they prevent us from gaining freedom. This week, we’ll identify five crucial steps that a person must take if they want to walk in true liberty from sin and what it looks like to put those into practice.

Purity for Life

#472 - Ask the Counselor: 5 Steps to Overcoming Hopelessness

How is it that many find themselves hopelessly bound in their sin when there is a God of tremendous hope offering them the keys to genuine freedom? We’ll help answer that in our next two episodes. Today’s focus is on the common barriers to overcoming sexual sin and the ways these often produce hopelessness in a sex addict’s life. This interview is part of our new and ongoing “Ask the Counselor” series, where we interview various members of our counseling staff about some of the common questions asked by those in sexual sin.

#471 - Ask the Counselor: Why do I Feel so Hopeless?

When Jesus came in the first century, what He found caused Him to fashion a whip to cleanse the temple and led Him to pronounce woe on the religious leaders. We know that He is coming again—perhaps soon—but the question remains, “What will He find?” What will it take to be part of the faithful remnant who continue pressing on, clinging to God’s Word, and living in daily anticipation of His coming? We must prepare our hearts now!

#470 - When Jesus Returns, What Will He Find?

For anyone who has truly found a new life in Christ, there will be a severe fight against their old nature. But it’s easy to overlook some of the enemies that one will face in that battle. One of those often-unnoticed opponents is pride, and yet overcoming it is closely linked with living a pure life. In this episode we talk about the struggle for humility and why it is so important to never give up in that fight.

#469 - Don't Stop Fighting for Humility

Pastor Steve preached a sermon to the men in our residential program in 2019 titled "Consider Jesus". In it, he challenged them to consider all that Jesus has done, and the radiance of His glory and how great a salvation He has bestowed upon us. In this episode, we play that sermon. We hope that it richly blesses you and points you to the tremendous hope you have in Jesus Christ.

#468 - Consider Jesus

In this episode, we play an interview conducted by the Clarity Podcast featuring Pure Life’s Pastor Ed Buch and our Director of Intake, Ken Larkin. The Clarity Podcast is geared towards missionaries. So the host wanted us to weigh in on some of the issues overseas Christian workers face regarding sexual temptation. Ed and Ken tackle these issues from a biblical perspective, centering their answers in the Word of God and how we’ve seen it impact men in our programs for over 35 years.

#467 - Answers for Missionaries Struggling with Sexual Temptation

 A life overflowing in sincere worship greatly pleases God. But it’s also clear in Scripture that the Lord is displeased by the worship of those whose lives contradict their profession of love to Him. Today we look at the difference between true and vain worship and the implications of each upon our lives. We’ll find that a life overflowing with worship is really the normal Christian life and it is one that has abundant peace and joy in Christ.

#466 - Worship the Lord from a Sincere Heart

 Many Americans are focused on themselves rather than others. It's this culture of self-centeredness that has created a lot of chaos in many marriages. Men go into marriage looking at it as a way to meet their needs. But if instead a husband seeks to know Christ, and makes this the central focus of his life and his marriage, the Lord will set him and his wife on the Narrow Way which leads to a unity with God's will and with each other.

#465 - Husbands, It's Time to Know Christ

 As we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ this Christmas, we look at how He is our Emmanuel. In our sorrow, in our suffering, in our joy, and even in our daily lives, He is there; God with us. Join us as we sit down with Steve and Kathy Gallagher and other staff members from our program to discuss what it meant for God to be with them in different aspects of their lives. God is there for all of us, and we hope that through hearing these testimonies you can look back at your own life and see how He has always been and will always be your Emmanuel.

#464 - God With Us

Married men who come to our residential program often tell us that they love their wives. But these words contradict their actions, which have been permeated with viewing pornography, committing adultery, and engaging in  other forms of illicit sex. Once a man begins to see this and to repent, putting the words “I love you” into action will be one of his greatest undertakings. When the father loved us, it meant that he gave us his son; when Christ loved us it involved laying down his life. This is the standard for all of us, and especially for husbands: love that gives all and holds nothing back.

#463 - Husbands, It's Time to Lay Your Life Down

 Join us as we continue our series for husbands with Dustin and Brittany Renz. They share the importance of honesty, transparency, and vulnerability in rebuilding a marriage. This is something many men in sexual sin need to hear, because many are well versed in the art of lying. Dustin shares how his own secret life built up for years, and what it looked like when it all finally came out. Brittany shares the devastating affects this had on her, a young mother on the mission field. And they help us see what it takes to work through the aftermath of all this in a way that anchors a marriage in the Lord.

#462 - Husbands, It's Time to Be Honest

When a man begins to deal with his sexual sin, he is going to find that there are deeper issues beneath the surface. The Lord will deal with these issues as he walks out his repentance. However, it’s going to take some time, because it took a long time for those things to get ingrained into him. Some sinful heart attitudes may not be apparent for years, but even if we don’t see them, they still will have negative effects on those around us. So, for husbands who want to love and serve their wives well, it is vital to cultivate a life of self-examination before God. If he doesn’t, he risks failing in his Biblical role as a husband. In this episode, Steve Gallagher shares about an area he was blind to for years: selfishness.

#461 - Husbands, It's Time to Be Selfless

 Thanksgiving captures a quality that is at the heart of man’s relationship to God: gratitude. It's something very important to us at Pure Life as well. We have seen many lives transformed, because they were willing to express praise and thanks to God, no matter their circumstances. This week, we sit down with three of our counselors to discuss how gratitude brings freedom over a variety of sinful habits, including lust, and how it draws us into closer fellowship with God.

#460 - Living Triumphantly Through Gratitude

If you’re really beginning to live in victory, you might think that from here on out everything will be easy. But in your marriage, you will still see that old man rising up. You may find your temper surfacing occasionally. Complaining and criticism may still come naturally. There’s even thoughts of lust still grabbing at you when you least expect it. Is this what God has for your marriage? I think the answer is yes, and no. It’s not God’s will that you continue in sin. However, he does desire to use these struggles to mold both of your characters. It takes time to unlearn years of sinful habits and to learn the values that God has designed and called you to live out in your marriage. For husbands, it starts by learning to love and serve your wife in the way that Christ loves us.

#459 - Husbands, It's Time to Fulfill Your Calling

 In Luke 15, we see a picture of God as a father, longing and waiting for His lost son to return home. We can picture many wives in a similar place, having spent months, or years, or decades with a similar longing and desire for their husbands to repent of their sexual sin and return to Jesus. But unlike the Lord, who does not grow weary or anxious in the waiting and suffering, we can quickly respond in wrong ways. And maybe that’s where some of you are at today. You've been praying for your husband to change for a long time, but he’s still in the far country, and you don’t see any signs of repentance. It can be tempting to listen to the voice that’s telling you to give up. And though today's episode can't give you the answers for your exact situation, we do believe that it will give you hope.

#458 - For Wives: Enduring Through the Fire (Part 2)

Purity for Life is the weekly podcast from Pure Life Ministries. Our show will take you where real life meets real Christianity as we tackle the tough issues for those struggling with sexual sin. Thanks for listening!

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Purity for Life

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