Purity For Life

In this week’s episode, we look at one of the most shocking moments in King David’s reign, when he became a liar, an adulterer, and a murderer. We’ll look at it through the eyes of Nathan, the prophet who confronted David in his sin. We’ll also examine Psalm 51, the song that David wrote to express his brokenness, repentance, and need for mercy. This is a story that hits close to home for anyone in sexual sin, and we think what it teaches about God is essential for living a life of victory.

In chapter 15 of Luke’s gospel, we find three amazing stories that all paint a unified picture of God. We see the picture of a shepherd pursuing his lost sheep. We see a woman, diligently searching for her lost coin. And we see a father, eagerly ready to welcome home his lost son. These parables were meant to reveal the heart of a God who pursues those who are lost, who overflows with joy when they are found. This week, three Pure Life Ministries staff sit down with Nate to discuss how this picture of God’s mercy is very evident as they reflect on their own journeys to Christ.

In our current series we’re looking at how to live a victorious Christian life. We’ve shown that this can only be done through the power of mercy, but God’s mercy is often radical, going far beyond what our human ideas would imagine. Take the example of Hosea, a man called to embody God’s mercy in the most unlikely way possible. He was called by God to marry a prostitute. This picture is shocking, but it exemplifies God’s faithfulness to us, even when we go astray. So join us as we dive in to this picture of mercy as we learn what it reveals about God, and how we can appropriate that into our own walk with Him.

When we become a vessel for the mercy of God to flow through to others, that’s when we begin to live in victory. But as humans we have a hard time really understanding what God’s mercy is. So, we’d like to spend a few weeks looking into God’s word for specific pictures that will help us understand what is in God’s heart. This week we’ll look at the bronze serpent, an Old Testament story that reveals the judgment that comes because of our sin as well as the wonderful healing that is available to us when we look to Christ by faith.

In this series we’ve been talking about why receiving God’s mercy and then giving it away to others is central to coming out of sexual sin. Maybe some of you have been saying to yourselves, “Well, that sounds good in theory, but does mercy really work? We think that one of the most convincing ways to show you the power of mercy is to share the story of Frank Leonetti—a man whom God saved from the depths of sin and despair and who has been giving his life away for the last ten years so that people might know Jesus—the one who gave him newness of life. We hope and pray after by the end of it you’ll believe that mercy works.

Last week we discussed how God is good and trustworthy, even when our circumstances challenge us to think otherwise. But what about when it isn’t our lives, but God’s own Word about Himself, that makes us question his character? Because the Bible is full of pictures of a God of wrath and a God of anger and many people can become uncomfortable or even untrusting of God, because of these revelations about Himself. But a right understanding of this aspect of God is vital to knowing and loving Him – it’s vital to living a life of victory. In this episode, we have both Steve and Kathy Gallagher in the studio. Each of them help shed some light on this often misunderstood aspect of God.

One of the most important aspects of living in victory is having a vibrant relationship with God. A relationship where you come to know Him personally, experientially and where you've surrendered all to Him. But the truth is, we will never surrender ourselves to someone unless we trust them, and we won’t trust someone unless we know that they are good. In this episode, we look at one of the most attacked attributes of God: His goodness. As the psalmist says, “Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His mercy endures forever” (Psalm 107:1).

There is a real pathway into the victorious Christian life. The foundation of such a life is total dependence on the God who is willing to live his powerful life through us. Now it’s time to build on this foundation. What kind of life is He looking to live out in me? In this episode we look at one of His most essential characteristics: mercy. What is needed for each of us is for God to give a revelation of His heart of mercy, and that by it He may establish us in a life of victory.

When we realize just how high God’s expectations are for us, and when we see how weak we are, there can be a strong temptation to just give up. We think, maybe overcoming sexual sin is impossible. But this isn’t true! God knows that we can’t be free from sin by our own strength, that we can’t live a holy live without his power. But He’s not asking us to do it on our own. He has promised a marvelous gift that empowers us to live in victory. On this episode we’ll talk about the incredible gift of the Holy Spirit. One vital aspect of being filled with the Holy Spirit that we’ll discuss is what it means to crucify our flesh nature.

If you want to live in victory over sin, you must see that you are helpless to save yourself. However, the culture and prosperity of our day has made it possible to ignore our helplessness and allow us to live life without acknowledging God. But this self-dependence leaves us blind to our true spiritual condition, and separated from the God who yearns to meet our every need. In this week’s show, we discuss this relationship between seeing our need and gaining victory over sexual sin with three counselors from the Pure Life Ministries Residential Program.

Understanding the heart of God is critical for a life of victory. And the revelation of His will for us in Scripture is a love that calls us out of the world and out of sin and bondage to live in fellowship with Him. When we see this desire, this jealous love for us, it should compel us to reach out for a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him. And that, is the beginning of really living in victory.

If sexual sin has ruined your life, then “living in victory” might sound like a fairy tale, or even a cruel joke. But living in victory is not only possible, it's God’s will for you. He has made a way for you to lay hold of it. In our latest series, we want to help you understand how you truly can live that victorious life, but the first thing we need to do is to make sure we’re all on the same page. So this week, we're going to make sure that we have a right understanding of true Christian victory.

Nearly every Christian can name half a dozen ministry leaders of evangelical churches who have fallen due to sexual sin. How does this happen to men of God who are leaders in the church? In this final installment in our series The Church Addicted, we'll look at the role of the leader, and ask what happens when a leader is compromised by sexual sin.

This week we examine why so many in the church are plagued by addiction by looking at Scripture's command for the believer in Jesus to forsake the world. The Apostle John wrote that “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Yet this truth is often ignored, disobeyed and even sometimes renounced by the Evangelical Church as out of step with reality. So in this replay from our series, The Church Addicted, we look at how to obey Scripture's command to be "in the world, but not of it."

Do not be afraid. We find this command over one hundred times in God’s word to us for a reason. Life can easily become full of fear. For wives, there can be the overwhelming opportunity to live in fear when a husband has been in sexual sin. She fears that he’ll betray her again, re-opening the wound and bringing deeper pain to her and her family. In this episode, both Kathy Gallagher and Pastor Ed Buch will share about the topic of fear, so that we understand how to face it head on, as well as come out of life’s trials with a deeper faith and a greater love for Jesus.

Many wives of men in sexual sin have said to us, “He told me he would stop, why won’t he just stop?” These women are exasperated and confused as to how their husbands could commit sexual sin, knowing that his actions would hurt them. Pure Life co-founder, Kathy Gallagher, joins us in this episode to offer her insight into this subject. And for couples beginning the process of reconciliation, we’ll also take time to offer some thoughts as to how a husband can begin to take his rightful place as a spiritual leader in the home once he has truly repented.

Jesus Christ is coming soon. For those of us who profess to follow Him, the question remains: are we ready for Him to return? Many of us are caught up in the distractions of living in a prosperous nation. Whether it’s our family, career, entertainment or possessions, we tend to give our affections to these and they can become dangerous idols. But if we abide in Jesus, seeking Him passionately through His word and in prayer, He can change our hearts. Just as a bride is excited for her husband to return to her, so we can learn to not be in dread of, but to love and even to hunger for His appearing.

Since the year 2000, Pure Life Ministries has been holding an annual conference in northern Kentucky. Hundreds of people join us every year to hear powerful messages, to share in wonderful times of corporate worship and fellowship, and to seek hard after God. In this episode, we’ll talk about the origins of the conference, we’ll give a little background about our conference theme this year and let you know what you can expect if you join us on April 23rd and 24th in northern Kentucky.

An essential component of overthrowing the reign of self is living in the flow of God’s love. Jesus said that if we loved God with all of our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves, we would actually be fulfilling all of His commandments. Pride and selfishness cannot flourish when a person is defined by a desire to meet the needs of others. A life lived in the service of others brings about the death of the self-life.

Another vital heart attitude that enables us to overthrow sin’s rule in our lives is humility. Pride brought about the fall of Satan and pride put man at odds with God, resulting in the destruction of man. But humility undoes the damage of the fall, because when a man becomes humble, God becomes his protector and his friend. The role of humility in a Christian’s life can hardly be overestimated.