1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:14,760 Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church Henley and thanks so much for tuning 2 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:17,000 into our podcast. 3 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:20,680 Our prayer is that through this podcast you can have an encounter with Jesus that'll 4 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:22,800 change your life. 5 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:27,000 And now get ready for an inspiring message from our preaching team. 6 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:32,600 Hey, for those who don't know me, my name is Jenny. 7 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:36,480 I am a pastor at Encounter. 8 00:00:36,480 --> 00:00:43,120 So my husband and I, Mike, we oversee Encounter Prospect and Encounter Henley and it's a 9 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:44,120 lot of fun. 10 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:45,120 I love it. 11 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:46,120 Thanks. 12 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:49,600 Thanks old intern Jordan. 13 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:55,000 So if you haven't met Mike, he'll be here actually in two weeks time so you get to meet 14 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:56,720 him then but he's pretty great. 15 00:00:56,720 --> 00:01:03,320 But one of the blessings I have with overseeing both Henley and Prospect in particular is 16 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:08,600 I get a bit of a bird's eye view about what's going on in the life of this church and to 17 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:11,680 say that I am proud of you is an understatement. 18 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:18,520 I am so proud of what God is doing here through you guys, your faithfulness, your willingness 19 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:26,200 to serve week in, week out and to welcome new people and just to create a home for people 20 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:30,160 in this great Henley area to come to know Jesus. 21 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:38,120 So if you don't know Encounter exists to help everybody have an encounter with Jesus. 22 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:44,880 And so before I begin, let me just pray for that. 23 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:49,120 Heavenly Father, I thank you that you are here in our midst. 24 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:55,720 Lord, I thank you that you are moving and that Lord, do you want to speak to us? 25 00:01:55,720 --> 00:02:01,680 Lord, I pray that the word that I speak now, Lord God, will it be your words or anything 26 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:04,000 that's of me, will it fall away? 27 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,320 Lord, will people not even be able to hear it, Lord Jesus? 28 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:10,160 May we hear what you are saying to us today. 29 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:14,840 Lord, I pray that we can lay down our week's sword, anything that we've got coming up 30 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:19,480 after the service, Lord, and we can just hear what it is that you have to say because nobody 31 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:21,360 is here by accident. 32 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:26,120 Lord, you have called us here and you want to speak and minister to us. 33 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:30,960 So Heavenly Father, we just ask for you to move and to transform our lives today. 34 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:32,960 In Jesus' name, amen. 35 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:33,960 Amen. 36 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:38,160 Hey, so you guys are in the last, we're in the last week of a series called Jesus Over 37 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:39,160 Everything. 38 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:44,400 And I listened to a couple of the sermons and they were great. 39 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:50,160 We, I think, text preached last week on contentment over gluttony. 40 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:52,080 Yes, great sermon. 41 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:54,880 And Tim preached on zeal over something. 42 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:57,160 It was really good. 43 00:02:57,160 --> 00:02:58,160 You know what though? 44 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:00,960 I remember the zeal beer, which is the bit that you want to remember. 45 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:03,200 So I'd call that a win. 46 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:08,760 A couple of years ago, we did a similar series at Prospect, different name, but similar series. 47 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:13,920 And I talked to one of my sermons about faith over fear. 48 00:03:13,920 --> 00:03:16,720 And it kind of stuck and hung around. 49 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:21,960 And so my good friend Cara, who's in the room here today, made me this jacket, which is very 50 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:23,640 cool. 51 00:03:23,640 --> 00:03:26,680 And it says, faith over fear. 52 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:29,560 So you can see, a little symbol here. 53 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:33,840 Today, I'm preaching on love over lust. 54 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:37,480 And I'd like to declare at the start of this sermon that I do not want a jacket that says 55 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:41,360 love over lust. 56 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:44,080 I would get some weird looks. 57 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:45,280 All right, I wore this just for this. 58 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:48,720 I'm going to have to take it off though, because I got given it five years ago and it doesn't 59 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:50,480 have five years of give. 60 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:51,480 So. 61 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:54,480 All right. 62 00:03:54,480 --> 00:04:00,720 Looking forward to it. 63 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:06,160 A couple of weeks ago, when Tim did preach on zeal, he did talk into, he spoke about 64 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:07,680 Phineas and Phineas's zeal. 65 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:14,400 And we are, so tonight I'm going to preach from the whole book of numbers 25. 66 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:18,960 And I'm hoping that what you learned from that will really press in, in helping you 67 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:20,800 learn and grow in this sermon here. 68 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:22,840 And we're going to get back to the zeal. 69 00:04:22,840 --> 00:04:28,320 There's lots that came before that, which we're going to press into today. 70 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:31,600 So before we get there, love over lust. 71 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:33,600 Well, what is lust? 72 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:40,520 I have always thought that lust was simply a man or a woman looking at another man or 73 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:46,520 a woman who wasn't their husband and wife and kind of wanting them in their life, sexually, 74 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:47,520 usually. 75 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:49,480 I'm so glad Emma's not in kids today. 76 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:50,760 I'm just going to say the word sex. 77 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:51,760 It's going to happen, everyone. 78 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:54,520 It's going to be okay. 79 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:59,240 You're all going to roll with it. 80 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:03,200 But as I, as I started to look into the word lust, I realized it's actually bigger than 81 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,240 just that. 82 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:09,560 Lust is an intense desire for something. 83 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:18,240 It could be sex, but it also could be money, power, or even things like food or attention. 84 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:25,480 Simply put, sinful lust is to desire something that we believe to be good outside of what 85 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,160 God has called good. 86 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:33,680 It is to put our own will and pleasure above God's. 87 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:40,160 One John 2, verse 16 says, for all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and 88 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:46,400 the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the Father, but it is from the 89 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:47,920 world. 90 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:52,200 And the world is passing away along with its desires. 91 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:57,560 But whoever does the will of God abides forever. 92 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:02,400 Now if you're a believer in the room, there's likely that you hear that and you think, yep, 93 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:03,400 okay, that's good. 94 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:04,600 I can grasp that. 95 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:06,800 I understand that. 96 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:11,440 But if you're not a Christian in the room, you might be thinking, why can't I fulfill 97 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:12,600 my pleasure? 98 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:16,800 Who is God to say what is good? 99 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:23,440 Well being a pastor, I unfortunately get to see the damage of lust. 100 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:31,000 I see men and women who have affairs with other men or women outside of their relationships 101 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:35,440 and I see marriage breaking down families that break down over this. 102 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:42,080 I see young men who have a distorted view of women because of porn. 103 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:47,160 I see people who engage in sex outside of marriage and then when everything is fulfilled 104 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:51,800 for them in that moment, they throw it away like it was nothing and the damage that it 105 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:55,560 causes to women and men. 106 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:58,240 I have seen people lust after money. 107 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:01,640 Like they cannot live without it. 108 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:06,400 That they cannot live without having the latest car or they cannot live without having the 109 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:13,480 biggest house or just being so secure that there's no way that anything could ever happen. 110 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:16,800 But we know how that ends. 111 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:19,760 Or I've seen people who lust after attention. 112 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:22,800 This is one that I think goes under the radar a little bit. 113 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:26,920 I think there's actually in churches sometimes we find a lot of those people that will lust. 114 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:28,480 You need attention. 115 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:32,200 They need someone else other than God to tell them how good they are. 116 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:33,360 What a great job they're doing. 117 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:38,240 Now I'm all for encouragement but our ultimate encouragement has to go to God and when we 118 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:45,920 lust after that, when we need that more than we need God, it becomes a sin. 119 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:50,560 So I have seen the damage of lust friends and it is not good. 120 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:55,800 The thing about lust is that lust takes from us. 121 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:58,840 So we're going to dive into the scripture today. 122 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:00,120 It's quite an interesting one. 123 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:03,600 I love numbers, not the Mascine. 124 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:06,840 Don't love the Mascine. 125 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:10,080 But I love the book of numbers. 126 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:13,040 So in the book of numbers, we see the Israelites. 127 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:16,160 The Israelites were God's chosen people. 128 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:18,200 They were pretty special. 129 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:20,840 They had been led out of slavery, out of Egypt. 130 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:25,280 If you know the story, the Israelites were in slavery for a really long time and God 131 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:30,640 through Moses led them out of Egypt and they were given everything. 132 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:35,800 They had a promise of a beautiful land, a land full of milk and honey, essentially a 133 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:37,520 land that you would want to be in. 134 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:42,360 Imagine somewhere where you could go where the ground was fertile, particularly in that 135 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:44,600 day because of their farmers. 136 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:47,760 Imagine somewhere where there was going to be no war, that they were going to own the 137 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:48,760 land. 138 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:51,720 You know that desire we all have to own that piece of land? 139 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:52,720 That was theirs. 140 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:53,720 It was given to them. 141 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:59,600 But as they walked through the desert, they let sin enter into their lives. 142 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:05,160 And again and again and again, the Israelites kept sinning. 143 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:11,280 They were given everything, but they decided that they knew better and they were willing 144 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:16,760 to do whatever they needed to do to satisfy the desires of their flesh, rather than satisfying 145 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:20,000 the God that had just saved them. 146 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:25,200 And so that meant, unfortunately, that God, there had to be a consequence for that. 147 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:29,520 And so the consequence was that God said that all those that are adults will not make it 148 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:34,520 into that promised land and that they would wander the desert for 40 years. 149 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,440 And so, but pretty much by adult, by the way, I was reading this week, it means from about 150 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:39,480 the age of about 20 up. 151 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:43,240 So we're not talking, you know, the 40 year olds that eventually just died out at 80 or 152 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:44,240 whatever. 153 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:46,440 We are talking the 20 year olds. 154 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:49,960 And so they lost the promised land. 155 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:55,000 They kept taking for themselves what God didn't have for them. 156 00:09:55,000 --> 00:10:00,880 So here we see, we get to the Israelites have made it to Shetom and they had been in the 157 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:02,360 desert for a really long time. 158 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:05,440 So I've been wondering for many years to get to here. 159 00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:10,880 And then they say they stay in Shetom for a long time. 160 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:15,080 It's here where we hear that a donkey talks. 161 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:17,680 You can read about that a few chapters back. 162 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:22,680 In two chapters before this one, the prophet speaks blessing, not curses on them, much 163 00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:26,440 to the king's disgust. 164 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:32,480 But it's also here where they start to worship the God of the Moabites. 165 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:33,600 Why do you do this? 166 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:39,280 If you are a chosen people, you have every promise before you. 167 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:44,080 Why would you go and worship these other gods, these false gods? 168 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:46,840 I'll tell you why. 169 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:47,840 Good looking women. 170 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:50,480 That's why. 171 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:56,480 These Israelite men were lusting after these women and they wanted these women. 172 00:10:56,480 --> 00:11:01,840 And when you have a strong desire for something, you're likely to do anything to get it. 173 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:02,840 That's normal. 174 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:03,840 That's who we are. 175 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:09,360 And so they would worship the Moabite gods because it meant that the Moabites women would 176 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:14,520 be more interested in them, that they would be more likely to sleep with them or to marry 177 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:17,840 them. 178 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:21,520 When you last after something, you desire it strongly. 179 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:27,960 And I think in that moment when they were lusting after those women, they probably would 180 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:31,520 have thought that maybe worshiping these other gods wasn't that bad. 181 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:34,360 So it's going to get them what their flesh desires. 182 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:37,640 Maybe it actually wasn't all that bad. 183 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:42,160 So as you can imagine, they start worshiping these other gods and God's righteous anger 184 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:44,160 wells up. 185 00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:48,800 The fact that the Israelites were taking what didn't belong to them and it was causing them 186 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:54,880 to worship other gods, it angered the heart of God. 187 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:58,360 Now friends, I don't think the Israelites set out of Egypt deciding that they were going 188 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:02,320 to go and sleep with the Moabite women, that they were going to have affairs. 189 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:04,520 That is not how this stuff works. 190 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:08,840 Okay, I don't think anybody gets married thinking that they're going to get divorced or I hope 191 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:11,040 not. 192 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:13,040 We actually say that in marriage counseling because it's really true. 193 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:17,880 Like I don't think anyone starts that way, but it sometimes it just happens slowly, by 194 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:20,800 slowly, by slowly. 195 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:23,560 People don't start out and go out and hire a prostitute. 196 00:12:23,560 --> 00:12:27,640 They start by lingering in spaces that they shouldn't have been in. 197 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:30,920 The thing that the Israelites had is they were lingering in the desert. 198 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:33,120 They were not meant to be in the desert at this point. 199 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:37,120 They were meant to be in the Promised Land already, but they weren't there because of 200 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:38,120 their sin. 201 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:41,760 They were lingering in the place that they were not meant to be in. 202 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:50,160 And what I find is sin happens when we linger in the places that we're not meant to be in. 203 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:55,400 The thing I have found with lust is it usually kind of works a little bit like this. 204 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:59,840 And I am going to get past this in a second, but just stay with me for a minute. 205 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:03,120 It starts with just a quick peek. 206 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:11,040 Just a small, harmless conversation with another woman or man who we know we like, but it's 207 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:12,040 not, it's harmless. 208 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:15,720 It's just a conversation. 209 00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:18,800 We're just looking. 210 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:23,840 And then it moves or can move if we continue to go down that path. 211 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:32,040 It can move to more intimate conversations, more time looking at the other person. 212 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:36,200 And then it leads to things that we do behind closed doors. 213 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:37,960 So most sin isn't really obvious. 214 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:42,120 I mean, there are some sins that are really obvious, but most of these kinds of sins, 215 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:45,680 they're usually done behind closed doors. 216 00:13:45,680 --> 00:13:52,560 Now I would ask the question if you have to do it behind closed doors, that perhaps there's 217 00:13:52,560 --> 00:13:55,320 something there. 218 00:13:55,320 --> 00:14:00,880 And then eventually it comes out and it hurts all those involved. 219 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:04,520 At very least it hurts you. 220 00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:07,440 That's how I find it usually journeys. 221 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:10,600 Doesn't just start, you don't just wake up one morning and you go on off and have an 222 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:11,600 affair. 223 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:13,320 It doesn't, it does not how it works. 224 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:15,640 It works slowly. 225 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:19,520 The thing is, friends, the Israelites were warned about these women. 226 00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:23,000 They were warned about the Moabite people in general. 227 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:27,040 They were meant to go and kill all the Moabites and not take them for their wives. 228 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:29,400 The Lord was really clear about that. 229 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:31,800 Friends, we're warned about this thing. 230 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:34,560 We're told to flee from temptation. 231 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:37,400 We are also made aware of that. 232 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:42,920 But just like the Israelites, we don't always listen. 233 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:46,280 Now sometimes we think, oh, once we, you know, leaders would never do that. 234 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:50,320 Or once I get myself together and it'll all be good, I'll walk away from that sin. 235 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:51,960 Well, let me be very clear. 236 00:14:51,960 --> 00:15:01,600 The Israelite man who bought the Midianite woman into the tent, he was a leader. 237 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:10,880 So his dad was Salul, the prince or leader of the Simeonite family. 238 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:14,160 This was not a new Christian who was still trying to juggle and work out what the heck 239 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:15,160 to do. 240 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:17,960 He was like, how does God want me to live and why does he want me to live there? 241 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:21,960 This was someone who knew exactly what he was doing. 242 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:26,600 He thought that he knew better than God. 243 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:28,800 This is where lust starts. 244 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:33,280 When we think we know better than God. 245 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:40,040 Lust leads them into sin, which then leads to a plague of death for all those yokes to 246 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:43,440 the false God they were worshiping. 247 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:53,160 It's horrible because friends, lust takes so much from us. 248 00:15:53,160 --> 00:16:00,120 Then we get to the bit that Tim shared about a few weeks back, the zeal of Phineas. 249 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:04,760 So he's a man who sees this Israelite with a Midianite woman. 250 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:08,160 And by the way, I know I was just talking about Moulbat women before, but the Midianite 251 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:10,120 women would have fallen into the same category. 252 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:15,720 So the Midianite people were actually traveling people, so they would wander around and visit 253 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:19,800 different cities and join in with their worshiping the same God. 254 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:22,720 So the Midianites would have been worshiping the same God as the Moulbats and would have 255 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:28,680 fallen into the same area of, hey, let's not go there. 256 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:35,240 And Phineas says his anger burns inside him and he stops them both by putting a spear 257 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:41,480 through their bodies and killing them, which when you actually picture it is pretty gross. 258 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:42,480 Right? 259 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:48,160 But the thing is, lust must be put to death. 260 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:49,720 This is a thing about lust. 261 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:53,920 It must be put to death. 262 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:57,840 You cannot go easy on lust. 263 00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:00,720 It has to be put to death at the first sign. 264 00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:04,160 That first look, don't go back for that second one. 265 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:07,080 Run towards God, run far. 266 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:08,600 Because lust is a dangerous game. 267 00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:12,280 It bleeds into so much of your life if you don't put it to death. 268 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:16,680 Now that's been a full on start to my sermon. 269 00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:17,680 Welcome. 270 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:20,080 Hello, I am Jenny again. 271 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:25,600 Hey, there is lust, but there's another side to what I want to talk to you about today. 272 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:27,880 And that's love. 273 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:34,120 Where lust takes love gives. 274 00:17:34,120 --> 00:17:39,600 Right before the Israelites decided to follow their lust, God was actually showing them 275 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:42,400 how much he loved them. 276 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:45,240 He was actually blessing them. 277 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:47,520 There was a prophet, Balaam. 278 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:49,640 I also may have put to that. 279 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:50,640 You know what? 280 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:53,880 I do the pronunciation thing on the internet and it does work sometimes, but not always. 281 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:58,680 There was a prophet called Balaam and he essentially was bought in by another king. 282 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:01,680 You can read this about two chapters, I think before 23. 283 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:05,200 And he was bought in by another king to curse the Israelites. 284 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:07,600 The king's like, come here, I'm going to tell you what to say. 285 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:08,600 You're going to say this. 286 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:13,400 And then this prophet, he goes away and he comes back and he says, I cannot curse him. 287 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:14,400 Let me bless him. 288 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:18,640 And then he just blesses the Israelites over and over and over again. 289 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:21,520 So the Lord is loving them. 290 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:26,280 If only they would have chosen God's love. 291 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:30,400 Now friends, when we think of love, we mostly think of the earthly love. 292 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:31,400 Right? 293 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:32,400 I love my husband. 294 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:33,400 I love my kids. 295 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:35,920 I love my sister. 296 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:43,560 It's a pure kind of love, but it's not as pure as God's love because God's love is so great 297 00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:48,480 that we actually can't use the English word to describe it. 298 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:52,320 The Greek word for God's love is agape. 299 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:54,640 It's a beautiful word. 300 00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:58,000 Even the word is beautiful, agape. 301 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:01,840 In the Bible, in the Greek, there are actually four different kinds of love. 302 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:05,240 And I'm not going to go through the other three today, but I would encourage you to 303 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:09,720 have a look at the Greek and the way the Greek tries to explain the four different kinds 304 00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:11,220 of love. 305 00:19:11,220 --> 00:19:12,680 But God's love is agape. 306 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:15,760 Agape love is a holy love. 307 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:18,160 It's not selfish at all. 308 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:21,220 Let me read from 1 Corinthians 13. 309 00:19:21,220 --> 00:19:24,360 Love is not on the screen, sorry, but love is patient. 310 00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:26,040 Love is kind. 311 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:27,040 It does not envy. 312 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:28,840 You may have heard this at weddings. 313 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:29,840 It does not boast. 314 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:30,840 It is not proud. 315 00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:32,560 It does not dishonour others. 316 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:34,280 It is not self-seeking. 317 00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:35,840 It is not easily angered. 318 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:38,000 It keeps no record of wrongs. 319 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,880 Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth. 320 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:47,760 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 321 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:55,120 The best way, friends, that we can understand agape love is by looking at God sending Jesus 322 00:19:55,120 --> 00:19:59,000 to us. 323 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:06,360 Greater love has no one than this to lay down one's life for one's friends, John 15. 324 00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:15,520 Jesus was showing us that the best way to love was the way he loved us. 325 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:19,360 Most of us will not die for somebody else in our lifetime. 326 00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:21,280 We probably won't. 327 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:25,880 But we can understand the hugeness of that, right? 328 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:30,200 Like the idea of dying for somebody else. 329 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:35,360 The closest I have ever come to understanding this, I think, is with my children. 330 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:39,640 So, sorry, Danielle, if you also fell into a bus, I would also push you out. 331 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:42,080 This is my sister, Danielle. 332 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:46,800 But with my children, I have such a deep love that if they were to get hit by a bus, I would 333 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:49,800 get in front of that bus and push them out of it. 334 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:53,480 Love's love is greater than that. 335 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:56,080 True love, friends, gives. 336 00:20:56,080 --> 00:21:01,120 True love gives everything. 337 00:21:01,120 --> 00:21:03,240 Last is full of taking. 338 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:10,720 We take what our body has a desire for, or our mind says is best for us. 339 00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:11,720 But love gives. 340 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:16,440 It says, what is best for others? 341 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:20,240 Love is selfless. 342 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:22,160 Now I know many of us know this. 343 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:27,160 We know that lust is not something we want in our lives, and we know that love is something 344 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:28,160 that we want. 345 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:32,320 But we actually don't live that out as much as we think we do. 346 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:37,680 We put ourselves and our wants before God, before what God wants all the time. 347 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:39,520 I know I know I do. 348 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:43,320 So I'm assuming you're all human like me. 349 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:46,080 Last week, Tex talked about Sabbath. 350 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:52,040 And the best thing about Sabbath is it puts your focus back on God and his desires for 351 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:57,760 you, which may add are so much better than our desires that are inside of us that are 352 00:21:57,760 --> 00:21:58,760 sinful. 353 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:03,280 His desires for us are so good, we can trust him with that. 354 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:05,640 Our world says, what do you want? 355 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:07,760 I'll give you a better life. 356 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:08,760 You can get it. 357 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:13,200 But let me ask the question, how is that going for us as a society? 358 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:16,640 This depression is higher than it's ever been, lowliness is an epidemic. 359 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:20,920 And I talk to people all the time who don't even want to live anymore. 360 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:22,520 That's sad. 361 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:26,120 That's not the life that God had for us. 362 00:22:26,120 --> 00:22:33,320 The truth is, if we start to look outside our selfish desires and see what God wants, 363 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:38,000 we get to understand that what God wants for us is good. 364 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:42,040 He has good things for each and every one of you. 365 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:46,360 Not the person next to you, but you. 366 00:22:46,360 --> 00:22:52,320 We have a God who loves us more than we can completely understand. 367 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:55,560 Phineas had a great zeal for the Lord. 368 00:22:55,560 --> 00:23:02,760 But friends, you don't get this kind of zeal without a deep understanding of God's love. 369 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:09,160 Phineas had a deep zeal, he had a deep understanding of God's love. 370 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:12,160 Now Phineas was a Levite. 371 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:15,720 What do you think of when you hear the word Levite? 372 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:16,720 Levite? 373 00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:19,560 Okay, anything else? 374 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:20,560 Worship. 375 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:22,720 Who said worship? 376 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:24,080 Worship, text. 377 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:26,040 Thank you, Pastor Text. 378 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:28,000 Yes, we think of worshipers. 379 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:31,760 We think of the Levites being the worshipers, friends. 380 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:33,880 But they were actually more than that. 381 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:38,840 They were actually the gatekeepers and they were the judges. 382 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:42,120 They don't mess with the Levites. 383 00:23:42,120 --> 00:23:46,360 I like to sometimes, when I look around a room, think about who might be a Levite in 384 00:23:46,360 --> 00:23:47,360 the room. 385 00:23:47,360 --> 00:23:49,840 Who would be a worshiper, but also a gatekeeper and a judge? 386 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:51,840 Don't say that out loud. 387 00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:54,160 Come tell me later. 388 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:55,320 All right. 389 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:58,440 But friends, the Levites knew the power of God. 390 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:03,480 They knew that God loved them. 391 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:05,320 They had less distractions in their life. 392 00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:09,080 One of the things about being the worshippers, and I said to our worship team before, is 393 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:10,080 you go first. 394 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:14,880 They had to prepare themselves before the Lord, before they went into being a judge, 395 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:18,800 before they went in to do any kind of worshipping God. 396 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:20,000 They had a lot of less distractions. 397 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:21,360 Essentially, it was their job. 398 00:24:21,360 --> 00:24:23,280 It's like Jared, right? 399 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:24,280 Creative Pastor. 400 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:28,880 If you haven't met Jared, you'll have met him in a few weeks, I think. 401 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:29,880 They had less distractions. 402 00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:32,600 They followed what God wanted first. 403 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:38,280 Because they had their eyes on God, they knew his love. 404 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:43,960 You don't plunge a spear into someone's stomach while they're having sex. 405 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:49,080 If you don't have a real zeal and a love for God, you just don't do that. 406 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:53,120 I don't even know how you get the strength, you don't get the strength to do that unless 407 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:57,520 you are full of the Holy Spirit, right? 408 00:24:57,520 --> 00:24:58,520 Imagine it. 409 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:00,040 Don't imagine it. 410 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:08,480 So Phineas, he had a love for God that turned into a zeal and it created a strength that 411 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:14,600 was deep, from a deep well of love for God. 412 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:24,600 Friends, lust got Israel into trouble, but love got them out of it. 413 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:30,440 Lust got them into trouble, but love got them out of it. 414 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:35,600 Love is your comfort, it is your peace, it is your weapon. 415 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:39,560 You fight lust with love. 416 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:45,440 And if you struggle with lust of any kind, it's not your strong will that's going to 417 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:47,400 get you out of that. 418 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:56,920 Just knowing how loved you are and living out of that overflow of the love of God that 419 00:25:56,920 --> 00:25:59,200 will get you there. 420 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:04,440 When you get an understanding of how much God loves you through the Holy Spirit, it 421 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:08,160 changes the way we live. 422 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:17,160 There's a woman in my old church journey and beautiful older woman and she just prays 423 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:24,040 every day for me and for Mike and for all the pastors that she knows and prays for hours. 424 00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:27,600 She has an understanding of God's love. 425 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:31,880 I actually don't think I've experienced it in anyone else in my whole life. 426 00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:34,120 She understands how much God loves her. 427 00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:40,240 If you ask her to articulate God, she will talk about the love of God. 428 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:45,120 She will talk about the goodness, the way he loves her. 429 00:26:45,120 --> 00:26:49,280 And out of that, you can see the way she lives. 430 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:55,160 When love is number one, lust doesn't just fall down to number two, it falls way, way 431 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:56,160 away. 432 00:26:56,160 --> 00:27:00,200 So do you want your life to change to look more like Jesus? 433 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,960 Then start to understand how loved you are. 434 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:07,640 Start to hear God's words over you from one John. 435 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:13,440 How great is the love the Father has, how great is the love the Father has lavished upon 436 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:19,840 us, that we should be called children of God and that is what you are. 437 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:22,920 You are children of God. 438 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:29,920 Set apart from your old ways, able to step into his love, able to be filled with the 439 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:32,640 Spirit. 440 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:36,560 Now I know at Henley that you get Henley homework. 441 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:39,000 I love this. 442 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:42,280 I feel like I've been giving homework to Prospect for six years but I've never been game enough 443 00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:43,800 to say that's what it is. 444 00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:44,800 It's fantastic. 445 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:50,480 And so I was thinking this week, what is something that I would love you guys to do outside of 446 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:55,680 Sunday to essentially be able to put love above lust? 447 00:27:55,680 --> 00:28:02,400 Well, I'd love you to allow God to start to show you how much he loves you. 448 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:04,680 It's really simple this week, right? 449 00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:08,760 I want you to learn how much God loves you. 450 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:14,600 I'd love you to look at your life and say this is where I'm lusting after things. 451 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:17,240 Maybe for some of you it's really obvious, maybe for some of you you've got to stop and 452 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:20,120 think about it a little bit more. 453 00:28:20,120 --> 00:28:24,960 And then I'd love you to ask God how he's going to show you and reveal his love to you 454 00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:28,360 so that you can run far from lust. 455 00:28:28,360 --> 00:28:33,320 Maybe you could go into the YouVersion Bible app if you don't have that on your phone. 456 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:36,240 It's really great Bible app, it's YouVersion. 457 00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:39,480 And there's some studies on God's love. 458 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:41,200 Why don't you start a study this week? 459 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:49,520 It could be a two-day study and start to study how much God loves you. 460 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:53,600 Maybe you could simply go and Google Bible verses on God's love. 461 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:56,240 All pastors, no open Bible. 462 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,320 And on there is all the Bible verses. 463 00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:04,960 If you type in love, it'll come up with all the Bible verses about love, right? 464 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:05,960 So do that. 465 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:10,840 So that's what God's love and into Google and see all the scriptures about how he loves 466 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:13,240 you. 467 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:20,240 So how do we get rid of lust in our lives and band he can come on up? 468 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:24,480 How do we get lust, get rid of lust in our lives? 469 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:32,480 Well, firstly, confession is step number one, confession. 470 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:38,760 So if you have found yourself living in lust, maybe it's an obvious thing like porn or looking 471 00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:40,520 at someone lustfully. 472 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:44,400 Maybe it's one of those things that are not, those things of lust that are not necessarily 473 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:46,400 so obvious. 474 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:51,480 Maybe you're lust for money or you're lust for people's attention or other things like 475 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:53,560 that. 476 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:57,360 Or you're lust for what other people have. 477 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:00,680 I see that one a lot. 478 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:06,440 I would encourage you to confess, to find somebody to confess to. 479 00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:08,000 It's really powerful. 480 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:13,160 You know, what I find is that some people, they'll live in their sin in shame. 481 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:15,360 Shame is not your friend. 482 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:16,800 Shame is not what you are called to do. 483 00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:19,960 We are all sinners saved by great friends. 484 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:22,520 So do not be ashamed of admitting where you're at to. 485 00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:24,800 There is so much freedom in that. 486 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:30,320 And that is the first step if you want to defeat lust within your life. 487 00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:37,480 Those things are good things, but they're not right for you right now or perhaps ever 488 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:38,480 for some people. 489 00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:44,600 And you need to go to God and you need to come before Him in confession and repentance 490 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:46,360 and to turn away. 491 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:50,320 Friends do not let shame hide you in your sin. 492 00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:59,160 Is doing the opposite, well not the opposite of confession, but the opposite of the sin. 493 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:05,200 You need, or maybe you need to give away money until money becomes something that you don't 494 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:10,520 lust for anymore. 495 00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:16,080 Maybe it's putting around rules around where you use your computer, or maybe you need to 496 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:21,480 go as far as cutting ties with someone. 497 00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:31,680 Because lust takes, but love gives, and we have been given all that we need to live without 498 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:34,720 lust in our lives. 499 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:44,200 There is so much freedom when we choose to turn to God, to let Him love us with His perfect 500 00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:47,320 agape love. 501 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:55,960 I was reading in Galatians 2 this morning, friends we cannot earn God's love, we cannot 502 00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:59,960 work hard for our salvation. 503 00:31:59,960 --> 00:32:02,000 It was already given to us. 504 00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:08,480 It is a free gift of God. 505 00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:15,440 And I think there are lots of people in this room who get that up here, but they don't 506 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:17,480 really get that in here. 507 00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:24,280 They're still working really hard to earn God's love, rather than receiving that love, 508 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:30,560 letting it fill us, letting it shape our whole lives, so that we work out of the overflow, 509 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:35,440 we serve God out of the overflow of His love, not because we're trying to earn His love, 510 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:43,600 but because He has already loved us. 511 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:49,840 We're going to come back into a time of worship, but I want to pray for some people before 512 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:53,760 I do that. 513 00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:59,120 Friends it's really easy to stay in sin, because a lot of the time it's hidden, but let me 514 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:01,800 remind you it always comes to light. 515 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:03,600 It always comes to light. 516 00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:10,360 And it is so much better if you put it before the cross, and you allow God to take that 517 00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:16,080 from your life, and to replace it with His love. 518 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:19,120 Thanks so much for tuning into this week's message. 519 00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:25,400 If you felt challenged or need prayer, would love to hear from you on Instagram, at EncounterHenry. 520 00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:33,680 Or if you're interested in how you can support this ministry, please go to our website, EncounterAdelaide.com.au. 521 00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:34,680 Thanks again for listening. 522 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:40,680 God bless you.