Overcoming Lust Week 1

Gain a biblical understanding on how to overcome lust and temptation with Larry Cummings, Jr.

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Good Monday morning, good brothers. I'm excited to be back with uh my brothers again. I am Larry Cummings. I serve as one of the elders here at Word of God Christian Center, and I'm excited to begin a new series this month as we dive deep and explore uh something that is central to every man, I believe, to all of us. We all face it, we all deal with it, uh, but I want us to be honest about it. Uh, let me tell you this story. I was uh back in uh 2016. I had just gotten a new Dodge Charger, RT, uh, had put some work into it, had put a system in it, put some new wheels and tires on it. And so my goal was simply to go fast, but I wanted to look good. And I remember I was driving down I-10 in Florida. I was coming uh from Tallahassee, going to Jacksonville, and the worst thing happened to me when you're in a fast car, your nemesis, the enemy, is the police. A police came beside, or actually I came up on the police. I was going, I mean, what really is the speed limit? Is it 65? Is it 70? But then you can go over seven. Can you go over eight or not? So I didn't really, really know. So I think the speed limit was 70, and I pull up behind the police, and I clearly knew it was a police. It was a marked car with sirens and everything. Uh, and then I pulled beside the police. After all, I'm in a charger, I'm ready to go fast, and the police is slowing me down. I got somewhere to go, not particularly in a hurry, but I need to be somewhere. Uh, and so I pulled up beside the police, and the police was going 70. And I'm like, come on, man. When you're in a fast car, going to speed limit, just don't, it don't sit right with me. So I'm like, bro, you gotta come on. So I pulled up beside him. I go 71. He's going 70. So we're neck and neck. Then I put it up a little bit. Let me try to go 74, see if he says anything. And so I saw him look over at me, like, what you doing? I'm like, okay, he ain't do nothing. So let me let me try to go 77. I get up to 79, and he pulls up beside me, he catch up, and he looked at me, shake his head, like, what are you doing? At that moment, I realized, man, I really have a problem. My problem is sometimes I have a tendency to get as close to the line as I can without crossing over. I want to get as close to danger without actually uh falling or succumbing to it, or for him to pull me over. Because I'm like, I don't really know how fast I need to go. So let me try it. Let me try to see uh how close I can get to it without actually getting caught or getting in trouble. And that's the same mindset that we have as it relates to lust. We desire to get as close to it without actually uh actually succumbing to it or falling to it. But I like hearing the scripture. I'm going through a series of Proverbs 31, and we often know Proverbs 31 to be uh the women's proverbs, a virtuous woman, but really it's a story of King Limel and the advice that his mother gave him. And King Lemuel is giving instructions uh in this particular proverb from the teaching of his mother, and his mother is actually giving him a warning in Proverbs, and we'll start here in verse 3 of Proverbs 31. It says, Do not give your strength to women, nor your ways to that which destroys kings. King Lemuel is a king, and his mother is warning him, do not give your strength to women. How many men have fallen because we have given our strength to women? King Lemuel wasn't married at the time, and yet he didn't, I don't, we don't know if he took heed to the warning or not, but your strength is your livelihood. Your strength is your self-control. Your strength is your good name, your reputation. Don't give it to women. All it takes is a moment of weakness to create a lifetime of sorrow. Our strength. And lust is created in the eyes. It's what we see, is what we desire. You don't naturally desire things. You are taught to desire those lustful things. And we can take it back to even childhood and we uh on the playground or uncle taught us, boy, this is how you get girls, this is what you do. But that lust has divided countless kingdoms. Lust has destroyed countless men, not just kings, but everyday men. And I believe that if you are married and have a family, you are the king of your family. And if Limel, King Limuel's mother, is giving him instructions to not give his strength to women, that can be uh certainly an instruction to us. Uh that strength to women uh uh eludes to sexual immorality, those sexual encounters. And we may not physically uh create a sexual experience with another woman, but we can mentally create sexual experiences. Lust isn't necessarily the sin as fulfilled. Lust creates a desire in our heart that is contrary to the will of God for our life. It's hard to be a man of virtue, a man of wisdom, a man of good reputation, of good character when we have the secret lust that is raging on the inside of us. So, my brother, here's the call. Determine where lust lies in your life. And if it's taking root, we're gonna talk about how to uproot that. And we're gonna talk about how to unleash that beast because lust can be fulfilled in marriage. But we'll explore that a little more. But my encouragement to you, brother, don't give your strength to women, don't try to get as close to the edge as you can. Be a good man, be a man of good character, be a man of good reputation, and you can start that today. Whether you've messed up or not, you have the opportunity to start again. That's why the Bible tells us to be reborn, to be new. David said, Create in me a clean heart, O Lord, renew a right spirit. So I encourage you to pray and ask God to create a clean heart, renew a right spirit, because brother, you can overcome that spirit of lust. And we're going to talk about it. Have a great week. Take care. I love you.