Rewind — the teaching platform built on your church’s own preaching

The big idea

What you consume forms you or deforms you, and Jesus teaches that adultery starts long before the act — in the lust we let live in our hearts.

Jesus offers a way out of the sexual bondage our culture calls freedom. He teaches that the real battle isn't against adultery itself but against the lust that leads there, and He gives us the power, through His Spirit, to be tempted without being enslaved.

A story from life

Preacher recounts his first exposure to pornography at age 10-11 at a baseball clinic and later online at a friend's house, emphasizing how vividly the memory remains

Point 1 of 5

Our culture's sexual revolution promised freedom but has produced enslavement

Pastor Daniel walks through statistics on pornography's reach today — from dollars spent per second online to how young the average age of first exposure is, even inside the church. He argues the data shows people are not flourishing under a consent-only sexual ethic; they're becoming enslaved without realizing it.

did the sexual revolution usher in freedom or did usher in a slavery that we just aren't aware of

— Pastor Daniel Goulding

Point 2 of 5

Jesus reveals adultery is a heart problem, not just a behavior problem

Reading Matthew 5:27-28, Pastor Daniel shows how Jesus takes the seventh commandment against adultery and connects it to the tenth commandment against coveting. Using the image of an iceberg, he explains that lust is the massive unseen thing beneath the small visible tip of adultery, and it has to be dealt with first.

what we consume, what we allow in, it will form you or it will deform you

— Pastor Daniel Goulding

Point 3 of 5

God is not anti-sex, He is anti-shame — sex is a gift meant to be protected, not repressed

Pointing to Song of Songs, Pastor Daniel insists the church has wrongly treated sex as taboo when God designed it for pleasure and intimacy within marriage. He uses the illustration of fire — wonderful in a fireplace, destructive in the middle of a living room — to show sex is good in its intended context and harmful outside it.

Related passageSong of Solomon

Point 4 of 5

Temptation left unchecked grows into sin, and sin left unchecked grows into death

He walks through James 1:14-15 to trace the progression from desire to temptation to sin to death, noting that Jesus was tempted in every way yet never sinned, proving through the Spirit it is possible to be tempted without falling. He clarifies from the ESV's phrase lustful intent that noticing attraction isn't sin — dwelling on it and turning a person into an object is.

An unhealthy heart turns love into lust and human beings into objects for gratification

— Pastor Daniel Goulding

Point 5 of 5

Jesus' call to gouge out an eye or cut off a hand is hyperbole demanding drastic heart-level action, not literal mutilation

Pastor Daniel jokes about hosting an eye-gouging ceremony to make the point that Jesus is not prescribing self-harm but painting a picture of how seriously we must fight lust. He shares that couples in the grips of addiction would gladly trade a hand if it solved the problem, but the real fix has to happen in the heart.

a man who rings the bell at the brothel unconsciously does so seeking God

— Pastor Daniel Goulding

I would rather have a dumb phone than a divorce

— Pastor Daniel Goulding

you might not be able to stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can stop them from making a nest in your hair

— Pastor Daniel Goulding

A story from life

A man in the lobby the night before told the preacher he gave up his smartphone for a dumb phone to flee temptation and save his marriage

A story from life

Preacher recounts struggling to quit cigarettes as a new Christian until his affections shifted toward his future wife Ashley, after which the addiction lost its power

Take it into your week

Pastor Daniel frames it as waging war against lust so you can win even if you lose some battles along the way.

Application

Admit your own brokenness
Stop hiding or pretending it's under control. Confess it to God for forgiveness, and tell another person — a friend, small group, spouse, or even the anonymous form on the church website — because healing comes through confessing to someone.
Flee from sexual immorality
Take drastic, practical action like Joseph running from Potiphar's house — get accountability, install software, or even trade a smartphone for a dumb phone if that's what it takes to remove temptation.
Fight for healthy intimacy
Married couples should intentionally pursue regular intimacy as a gift and a tool against lust; singles should cultivate relationships where they are truly known. If intimacy isn't happening in your marriage, raise your hand and get help.
Wage war with your flesh by feeding your spirit
Don't just white-knuckle change. Spend time with God in prayer, worship, and Scripture so the Spirit grows stronger than the flesh, and remember you are a new creation even when you don't feel like it.

Keep going

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