Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), Dustin Hall
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000302
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00:30 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn.
00:32 Welcome again to Issues and Answers. 00:34 We want to encourage all of you to stay tuned if you are a 00:37 parent, or grand parent, or if you're a teacher, 00:40 or someone who's working with young people. 00:42 We're going to be talking today about how you could know 00:45 some of the answers that you need to give to these young 00:48 people when it comes to sex outside of marriage. 00:52 And in today's world, I'll tell you, we all need to know how to 00:56 have these conversations with our young people. 00:58 And, of course, the scripture that comes to my mind is from 01:02 Proverbs 22:6 that says, Train up a child in the way he should 01:08 go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. 01:13 I'm very pleased to welcome back today Pastor Dustin Hall, 01:18 and Pastor Hall you have written a very amazing book, may I say, 01:23 and this book has a rather strange title to it, 01:28 but I'm getting used to this title. 01:30 But the content of the book is incredible. 01:33 The book is "The Gospel of Sex, Dating, Relating, and Mating". 01:37 So how do we as parents... when should we start talking to our 01:44 children about dating, relating, and particularly mating? 01:49 My daughter is eighteen months old, 01:51 and I've already begun the discussions. 01:52 How do you talk to an eighteen month old about such a thing? 01:56 Of course, she doesn't understand, 01:57 but the point of that is that the earlier that we begin to 02:00 talk to our children about these issues 02:02 the more comfortable it becomes. 02:03 A lot of parents get so nervous, and so uncomfortable 02:06 around their children talking about these things 02:08 that often they don't. 02:09 So it's so important that we begin to establish those kinds 02:13 of conversations early on in the life of a child so it becomes 02:16 like second nature. 02:18 And, of course, you keep the conversations age appropriate. 02:21 It's very important to do that. 02:22 You know, if you're speaking to an eight year old you start 02:25 talking about good touch, bad touch. 02:27 Who's able to help you go to the bathroom? 02:31 You know, those kinds of issues. 02:32 Who has the right to your body? 02:34 Who doesn't have a right to your body? 02:35 The doctor has a right to your body. 02:37 Those kinds of conversations. 02:39 And then as they grow older the hygiene issues, 02:42 and those kinds of things. 02:43 And once you begin talking about those topics, 02:46 when they get a little bit older and sexual issues start coming 02:50 up in their lives, puberty, and those kinds of things, 02:52 the conversation is just like second nature 02:54 because you've been addressing those issues for a long time. 02:56 Amen. So it's very important to start early. 02:59 You know, your book is about sexual purity, 03:02 about waiting until marriage to enjoy the gift of sex. 03:06 And what you're talking about really resonates with me, 03:10 Dustin, because my mother... 03:12 I've heard people say, Well, I don't want to talk to my kids 03:15 about this because the more you talk to them 03:16 the more curious they'll become. 03:17 Well, let me tell you something, kids are curious anyway. 03:20 And my mother always taught me, you know, she'd say, 03:23 Whatever you've heard at school, come home and talk to me about. 03:26 You can ask me any question that you want. 03:28 And she was very open with me, and it was amazing, 03:32 I can look back now, and I'm amazed at some of the things 03:35 that I heard at a very early age, and how I could come talk 03:38 with my mother, and she would tell me very straight forward. 03:41 And she always made sex to be something very special, 03:46 very beautiful, to be reserved for marriage. 03:49 And she always made it sound somehow, if it was outside of 03:54 marriage it was dirty and nasty, and not quite so fulfilling, 03:57 you know? Sure. 03:58 And so that really helped me though because rather than 04:01 peaking my curiosity, she satisfied my curiosity. 04:06 But now some parents have a lot of difficulty in the thought of 04:10 talking to their children about sexual purity because 04:14 they've got a history themselves, 04:16 and they weren't sexually pure. Yeah. 04:18 What I say to parents about that is, If you burned your 04:21 parents house down because you played with matches as a child, 04:24 does that disqualify you from telling your child 04:27 not to play with matches? That's good! 04:29 You know, it probably qualifies you more. 04:32 It gives you an experience to be able to share, 04:34 Hey, I made a horrible decision in my past. 04:37 I've learned from the consequences. 04:38 Here's why you shouldn't do that in your life. 04:40 And, you know, just because you've made a mistake in your 04:44 past, doesn't disqualify you from helping your child reach 04:47 a goal or to set a standard in their life. 04:50 If you don't set the standard as a parent, the world's going to 04:53 set the standard, and that's dangerous. 04:55 And let me say also, some parents say, 04:57 Well, it's too late, my child's past the age. 05:00 They probably already had experience. 05:01 It's never too late because your children want you as a parent 05:04 to set a standard for them that they can live up to. 05:07 That's what children thrive on. 05:09 You know, Dustin, when I first read this book, 05:11 I was very impressed, number one, with what you've written, 05:14 and it's very Biblically oriented, but it's also, 05:18 it's just practical, good practical advice. 05:20 Now the thing that pleases me is that you are a young man. 05:24 I was very pleased to see that. 05:26 But you're also... you've been married for three years now? 05:29 Yes. And you're pastoring three churches. Yes, Mam. 05:32 And I'm not going to ask you if you practiced everything 05:37 you preached in here, but I will say that God has given you 05:41 a great deal of wisdom. 05:42 And I want to ask you a question that I've asked 05:45 in the two previous programs. 05:47 I'd like for someone today to know, that may not have seen 05:51 it before. Why did you write this book? 05:53 Well, I grew up in a Christian church, and nobody told me 05:58 about these issues. 06:00 Nobody talked to me about these things. 06:01 And about two, three years ago I was going into public school 06:06 classrooms addressing these very topics. 06:09 And as I was putting together that curriculum, I sat back 06:12 and I remembered my childhood growing up in a Christian 06:15 church, and I remembered nobody ever addressed these things 06:18 with me. And I realized that if that was my experience, 06:22 that's probably the experience of a whole lot of other young 06:24 Christian people as well. 06:25 And we as a church, we need to be informed. 06:28 I think a lot of pastors, and a lot of parents don't address 06:30 these things because they just don't know how, 06:32 and they don't know the information. 06:33 So if we can get the information out there, and you talked about 06:36 being open and honest about these things, 06:38 we can be open about them without being silly and stupid 06:41 about them. And so it's important that we're open 06:44 and honest without making it a mockery, and making it silly. 06:47 But yet we have to be open or else our children, 06:51 like I didn't, are never going to get this information. 06:53 Alright, you have a three year old daughter and a seven week 06:57 old son. I have an eighteen month old daughter, 07:00 and a seven week old son. 07:01 Excuse me, yes. You've been married for three years. 07:02 You have an eighteen month old daughter and a seven week 07:05 old son. When you're going to be open and honest, obviously, 07:09 with your children, when they get at a certain age, 07:13 are you going to discuss with them, as some parents, 07:17 I mean every parent faces this challenge. 07:20 Even if I'm telling my child honestly what the Bible says 07:24 about waiting for marriage, the benefits of it, 07:27 no matter how much I tell my child, some parents say, 07:31 Kids are going to be kids. 07:32 I'm going to talk to them about protected sex, 07:36 about how not to get pregnant, taking the pill, taking the shot 07:41 for the human papilloma virus. 07:43 What are you going to do, Dustin, when your children reach 07:47 that age? I can't set two standards. 07:50 I have to set one standard. 07:51 If I tell my child, Don't have sex until you're married. 07:56 But if you do, the minute I say, But if you do, the whole message 08:01 of abstinence is out the window. 08:03 Now they're only hearing, well, Mom and Dad are expecting me 08:06 not to live up to that standard of abstinence, 08:08 so I'm free to do whatever I want. 08:10 It's like driving a car, like we talked about before, 08:13 in the mustang. If I buy you a new Mustang and I say, 08:16 Don't ever go over the speed limit. 08:18 Don't ever drive this thing over the speed limit, 08:21 and you'll never get in an accident, never get hurt, 08:23 never cause a problem for yourself. 08:25 Or, if you do go over the speed limit make sure you wear your 08:28 seatbelt. Which one are you going to pick? 08:30 You're going to drive that Mustang as fast as it will go 08:32 as much as you want, because we're human beings. 08:34 We want to pick the least restrictive message. 08:38 And I hear though, I hear a parent out there who's facing 08:41 this. Maybe their child's like 11 years old, 12 years old, 08:44 and they know that they're getting close to facing this 08:46 conversation, and they're saying, But please, 08:50 people make mistakes. 08:51 I, my parents only set one standard for me, and I didn't. 08:57 You know, I made a mistake. 08:58 Help a parent here. I mean, you just say flat never 09:05 ever tell them about anything to do with birth control, or... 09:10 Well, the way that I have presented that to health 09:14 teachers in public school classrooms is I say, 09:17 Tell them about contraception inside marriage. 09:20 Someday when you're married you might want to know, How do 09:24 I enjoy a sexual relationship without getting pregnant? 09:29 Ho ho, this is good! I'm glad I asked. 09:32 And so, you know, when you're in the marriage relationship 09:35 someday, you might want some options about how to know how to 09:38 enjoy a sexual relationship without getting pregnant. 09:42 And so then you might be able to address that inside the marriage 09:45 relationship, but you never, never, never say, 09:48 but if you choose to have a sexual relationship outside of 09:52 marriage, make sure you use that, because you, again, 09:55 you're throwing the whole abstinence message right out 09:57 the window because you're setting two standards. 09:59 One is a whole lot less, is not quite as high as the abstinence, 10:03 and kids are going to live up to the standard that you give 10:05 them. They want to do that. 10:06 They want to please their parents. 10:08 And here's the thing, God sets the standard right here in His 10:10 Word. Amen! 10:11 And we often choose not to live up to that standard, don't we? 10:15 And so, you know, God, if we take God's example, 10:19 He sets a high standard for us. 10:21 But as human beings sometimes we make bad decisions, 10:24 and we don't always live up to His standards. 10:26 You know, I'm sitting here thinking, even as a parent 10:29 the influence that the parents have, and we discussed this 10:32 in an earlier program, that a survey was done, and they found 10:38 that out of friends, television, or whatever, movies, 10:43 and parents, parents still had the most influence over 10:47 teenagers. Now, as a parent its important, is it not, to monitor 10:54 that television, and music, and talk to your kids about 10:58 the messages that are coming through, which are so incredibly 11:05 distorted? The message in music, and in TV, and movies 11:10 today about sex... 11:11 Let me give you a statistic, and you may tip over in your chair. 11:14 By the age of five a child has spent more time in front of the 11:19 television than they will spend talking to their father 11:22 in a lifetime. My goodness! 11:24 The average American will spend ten interrupted years in front 11:29 of the television in their lifetime. 11:31 On mercy, what a waste; ten years! 11:32 Ten years! Oh mercy! 11:34 And so if we aren't talking to our children about what they are 11:38 seeing, and we're not turning off the television, 11:41 and we're allowing all these messages to bombard our 11:44 children, we as parents, if there is music that you don't 11:47 approve of, get it out of your house. 11:49 You're the parent! 11:50 You know, a lot of parents say, Well, I have to be a friend 11:53 to my child. Oh no! 11:54 I want to be the... When you signed up to be a parent, 11:56 you don't sign up to be a friend, you signed up to be 11:58 a parent. And sometimes that means your children are not 12:02 going to like you very well. 12:03 But you know, at the same time, I know that I was talking with 12:07 a young lady, advising her from scripture, and she said to me, 12:11 She said, My father doesn't love me enough to set boundaries. 12:14 And I thought, I mean it was incredible because I was telling 12:19 her the boundaries of God's Word and she just flat came out 12:22 and said, My father doesn't love me enough to set boundaries. 12:25 Kids like to have boundaries. 12:26 They sure do. They sure do. 12:27 But now let's say that your daughter comes to you 12:31 and she says, Daddy, I know I'm nineteen years old now, 12:36 I'm a sophomore in college, and I know you've always taught me 12:40 to live pure and not to have sex outside of marriage, 12:44 but you know that Bobby and I are very madly in love, 12:50 and we really do want to, we're planning on getting married, 12:54 but he just doesn't want to get married until we graduate 12:56 from college. So Daddy, we're going to move in together. 12:59 What do you say? 13:00 I'd say, Do you want to throw a huge speed bump to your 13:05 marriage when you are, when you do finally get married? 13:08 And I would share with her the statistic that people that live 13:10 together before they're married have a 50% higher divorce rate 13:13 than people that don't live together before they're married. 13:16 I believe that the reason being that people that live together 13:21 before they're married, they do the things that married 13:23 people do; they live together, they eat together, 13:25 they pay the bills together, they sleep together, 13:29 and so when they do get married it just becomes a formality. 13:33 But yet they take that same mind-set into marriage. 13:36 I do marriage counseling with people, and I have told people, 13:39 if they're living together, I will not marry you unless you 13:42 move out and live apart for at least six months. 13:45 Because I believe it's so important that you establish 13:49 who you are in God's eyes, who God wants you to be 13:53 before you start to add anybody permanently to your life. 13:57 That's wonderful! I agree with that. 13:58 It's important to... I call it the identity crisis. 14:01 If we don't know who we are in Christ then we do have an 14:04 identity crisis. And let me address something else. 14:06 In our churches, this gets under my skin a little bit, 14:10 in our churches when we have a single adult, so often we think, 14:14 Well, we've got to set that person up. 14:16 Oh yeah, we're all guilty of that. 14:17 We've got to set that person up with somebody. We're all guilty. 14:19 But instead we should be saying, Let me help you find out who God 14:23 wants you to be. Let's find out your identity. 14:26 Let's get them involved in the church using their spiritual 14:29 gifts. Let's not worry about relationships for that person, 14:32 because if they're giving their all headed toward who God wants 14:35 them to be, and their goals and dreams on this earth, 14:39 and they start to look around while they're pursuing these 14:42 things, chances are they will find somebody while they're 14:44 in pursuit of those goals and dreams, because they'll start 14:47 to look around and they'll think, Hey, he's attractive! 14:50 Hey, he's got the same ideas, and values, and dreams that I 14:54 have rather than saying, Okay, this guy's single in this pew, 14:57 this girl's single in this pew, let's put them together. 15:00 Yeah, that's good. You know, I'm thinking that, as I said, 15:05 we're all guilty of that, but I wanted to touch again 15:08 on the goals issue, because you brought something out in your 15:12 book that I'd really never thought about before, 15:15 at least not in the way you articulated it, 15:18 and that is that becoming involved in a relationship 15:22 too soon interrupts those goals. 15:25 And that's something that can change the course of your life. 15:29 It sure can! Every decision that we make has a bearing 15:32 on our future. That's just the way that life works. 15:35 And, for instance, if I want to win a marathon someday, 15:39 I can't eat dozens of Krispy Kreme donuts everyday. 15:42 If I want to be a doctor, or I want to be a rocket scientist 15:46 someday, I'd better not sit in my room and play Xbox all day. 15:50 You know, I need to study. 15:51 There are things that we can do that will help us attain 15:54 our goals and our dreams. 15:55 And there are things that we can do that will hurt us 15:57 from reaching our goals and our dreams, 15:58 or will prevent us from reaching our goals and our dreams. 16:01 So its so important that we're are making every decision 16:03 with our goal and our dream in mind, keeping our goal in sight. 16:07 And a relationship can come in and can be such an obstacle 16:12 to me reaching my goal and my dream. 16:13 You know, many people want to go to college for this major, 16:17 but then they get in a relationship, 16:18 and Oh, I want to be a doctor. 16:21 So I go out to California to school, but she wants to be a 16:24 a biologist, so she wants to go to a Florida school. 16:27 But, Oh, I can't imagine being apart. 16:30 And so one person has to forsake their goal and their dream 16:34 to be together. And, really, what happens is many times 16:38 these people find out that they weren't meant to be together 16:40 anyway, so they've forsaken these goals or these dreams 16:44 for somebody that they're not meant to be with 16:46 in the first place! 16:47 You're talking to someone who can actually say from personal 16:52 experience, I fell into that trap. 16:54 And so I changed my major, and changed my life, I think, 16:57 for that very reason. 16:58 Now let's back up for just a moment and talk to... 17:02 If my child comes to me and says, Mom, I know I shouldn't be 17:11 having sex, but we are doing some other stuff that's, 17:18 you know, makes us feel good, but I don't want you to worry 17:23 because I've heard the message and I'm not going to 17:26 go all the way. 17:27 What would you say to young people, or to parents? 17:32 How do you talk to your child about abstinence, 17:35 not being just the physical intercourse, but what else 17:39 would you include in that? 17:40 Well, I'm pretty blunt when I talk to young people 17:44 because I think young people want you to be honest. 17:46 And the way that I answer that is, Let's ask the STDs. 17:50 They're called sexually transmitted diseases: 17:54 HPV, human papilloma virus, and most of the other very 18:00 prominent, herpes, you know, HIV, can not only be spread 18:04 through sexual intercourse, they can be spread through 18:07 skin to skin contact, touch, oral sex, some of these other 18:12 activities that people say that they can do and not lose purity 18:15 or virginity. So, okay, say someone goes though life 18:18 and doesn't have sexual intercourse, as someone might 18:21 think of it, and they get to their wedding day and they say, 18:23 Honey, I saved myself for you! 18:25 Except I have gonorrhea! 18:27 Except I have herpes! Except I have HPV! 18:29 It doesn't work! They're called sexual transmitted diseases 18:32 because they're transmitted sexually. 18:34 And so any activity: oral sex, touching, that has an effect 18:40 on your purity and your virginity. 18:42 Well, and you know, I mean we have to, now bring, 18:45 I mean we're probably shocking, and I apologize. 18:48 I hope you're not being shocked by this. 18:51 It's time that we "talked turkey", if you will, 18:54 with the young people, and with parents that have to be equipped 18:58 to talk to their youth who are living in an era when things are 19:05 just so upside down and distorted; the message. 19:08 It doesn't matter if you listen to anything that's popular 19:13 that's not Christian, secular popular music, you look at any 19:17 thirty minute sitcom, I mean, they're all about sex. 19:22 There's no use even sitting down to watch it. 19:24 It's all got this sexual undertone, or the sexual acts. 19:26 The programs that are targeting teens are all about sex! 19:31 And what's going on in high schools and junior highs, 19:33 and I was sharing something with the good pastor here 19:36 before we started, even in grade schools is shocking. 19:39 So I hope you're not being offended by what we're talking 19:43 about, but when you're talking about these other things, 19:47 other than going "all the way", as we used to say in my day, 19:51 the Bible's very clear about these things, is it not? 19:55 Yeah, it sure is. And let me back up for just a second. 19:57 I was recently at a youth retreat, and I was speaking 20:00 in the very same way that I am with the young people there, 20:03 and many of them when I was done with my week long talks, 20:07 they came up to me and said, Thank you! 20:09 No one has ever been that honest and been that straight forward 20:12 about these issues with us. Thank you. 20:14 And many of them said, I'm going to change my life because you're 20:17 so honest and open with me about these issues. 20:19 Praise God! And it's time, like you said, that we just be 20:23 open and honest. Let's not start just brushing it under the rug, 20:27 or believing that our children aren't involved in these things. 20:30 Because, like we've been saying, we have to set the standard 20:33 ahead of time so they know what to expect, and they know how to 20:36 overcome these temptations. 20:37 But throughout the Bible; Exodus, Leviticus, 20:40 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, it deals with sexual issues, 20:44 and it deals with fornication, and sexual impurity. 20:48 And what is fornication? 20:49 Fornication is any sexual contact 20:51 outside the marriage bed. 20:53 And that is not just the full consummation of the act. 20:58 That is the touching as well as fornication. 21:01 You know, I tell some young people that they shouldn't even 21:05 hug the opposite sex, because for some young people that's 21:08 a temptation, and they become excited. 21:11 Hormones rage and things, and they can't keep their 21:15 mind in a pure place. 21:16 And I even tell young girls that they should be careful 21:20 and modest in their dress because boys are very visual, 21:23 and a young girl who's showing more of her body than she should 21:27 can excite a young boy, and it's very physically stimulating. 21:31 And I always tell young women that they are responsible for 21:36 the thoughts of young men if they're dressing themselves 21:40 in a way that they know is inappropriate 21:42 and is revealing too much. 21:43 They're partly responsible for where his mind goes. 21:46 And conversely a young man could have those thoughts about 21:49 someone who was dressed appropriately. Sure, absolutely. 21:53 And they're not responsible. That's right. So... 21:54 Alright, if I'm a young person and listening to this program, 21:59 or if I'm a parent (we're hoping that parents are tuning in), 22:03 and I'm going to say, I need to be able to talk to my children 22:06 about the definition of true love versus infatuation. 22:10 When is it okay to have a relationship? 22:14 You know, I remember I was allowed to start dating 22:17 at the age of sixteen. 22:18 Now my mother gave me very strict rules, 22:20 and I was never to be alone, I mean when I had a date 22:24 we could come home and sit on the couch at my house, 22:27 we could be there, but I was never allowed to go parking, 22:31 or go to his house, or go anywhere else alone with him. 22:34 But that was... how do parents monitor this? 22:38 When is it okay to have a relationship? 22:40 Let's be honest. When you first meet someone new it feels good. 22:44 You know, when you're single, and you're young, 22:46 and you meet someone you're attracted to, it feels good, 22:48 and it's nice. God put that in our minds so that we can be 22:51 attracted to somebody. 22:52 But the problem is that many people believe those new 22:55 exciting feelings are love. 22:57 You know, that's what the movies, and books, 22:59 and everything tells us. 23:00 Oh, no two people have ever had these feelings for each other 23:03 before. Yeah, and the problem is it's not love. 23:06 Can't live without them! Ha! 23:08 That's right! So what we have to do is protect ourselves from 23:11 falling to believing that that's love. 23:13 So what do we do? Well, we date in groups. 23:16 We spend time with friends. 23:18 We spend time around other people so we're not alone. 23:21 What do people do when they first start dating? 23:22 They go to spend countless hours watching the sunset, 23:25 and walking on the beach late at night; spending time alone! 23:30 And when you are infatuated with somebody you're at risk! 23:34 I mean you're vulnerable to falling to these lustful, 23:38 and passionate feelings that you're having for someone. 23:41 And, you know, the Lord, the way He made our bodies to operate, 23:45 I mean, just like kissing is something that actually 23:49 activates certain things within our body. 23:51 Sure, it absolutely does. 23:53 It activates all of these touch things, and even as we said, 23:54 visual stimulus. That's right. 23:56 Okay, so these are things that they can avoid doing. 23:59 That means, you know, be in groups. 24:01 But when is it appropriate to have a relationship? 24:04 Well, I always tell young people that when you are about to reach 24:09 your earthly goal or dream, and when you know who God 24:12 wants you to be, then it's appropriate 24:14 to have a relationship. 24:15 Oh mercy! There's going to be somebody out there that's 24:19 already married twenty years and saying, I still haven't 24:22 reached my earthly goal, and I don't know what God 24:25 wants me to do. So are you saying they should have 24:27 waited for marriage? 24:29 Well, I don't know the specific circumstance in that person's 24:33 life, but I do know that if they had concentrated on their 24:37 identity in Christ, before they added someone else into their 24:42 life, and become one flesh with somebody else, 24:44 because what happens is a lot of people define themselves 24:48 in someone else. That's true. 24:50 And sometimes those relationships end, and they're 24:52 left, and they say, I don't know what I'm going to do. 24:55 I don't know who I am. 24:56 I don't know who I'm supposed to be. 24:58 But if we know who we are in Christ before we add someone 25:02 else to our life, then we can be much more successful, not only 25:05 in our personal lives, but in our married lives as well. 25:08 And the young person; studies have shown in science that the 25:12 frontal lobe actually is not completely developed. Yes! 25:16 And the frontal lobe actually is the part of the brain that helps 25:18 us make good decisions. 25:20 And it's not actually fully developed until twenty 25:22 to twenty-five years of age. 25:24 For girls it's a little earlier than boys. 25:25 I was getting ready to say boys are a little later than girls. 25:27 And so 1. we've got all these hormones raging when we're 25:31 young, 2. science says, and God says, I haven't completely 25:35 finished you and helped you make good decisions yet. 25:38 Hold on! Hold off! 25:40 Not only are you being tempted, but you're just not ready 25:44 to make these life changing decisions yet. 25:46 So I always counsel young people, Don't even start 25:49 thinking about dating until at least 18, at least 19. 25:53 And then when you do date just date as friends. 25:56 Concentrate on being friends with people before you start 25:59 thinking romance, and marriage, and all of these things. 26:02 Because as a friend I would submit to you that you can get 26:04 to know someone better in a group, and amongst friends, 26:07 than you can if you're just one on one, 26:09 and you're concentrating on attraction. 26:10 Oh, absolutely! There's no doubt in my mind. 26:13 When you go out and talk with young people, 26:16 we have just a very short time, what do you tell someone 26:19 who says, I've already made a mistake? 26:22 I say, We serve a wonderful God who is willing to forgive us 26:28 in a second. And that's why Jesus gave his life on the cross 26:32 for us. And there's forgiveness and there's restoration. 26:36 Now we can never do something again for the first time. 26:39 That's just the reality of things. 26:41 But in forgiveness, and restoration, 26:43 and victory in Jesus, today can be the first day 26:45 of your life of victory. 26:46 So what you're saying is, let me paraphrase this, 26:50 and you see if I'm saying this right, that once you've lost 26:55 your virginity, you've lost it physically, but God can make you 26:59 a spiritual virgin again so you can start over. 27:02 He is the God of new beginnings. Right? Amen. 27:05 We are... it just always goes so quickly when you're here. 27:09 We're talking about your book, The Gospel of Sex, Dating, 27:12 Relating, and Mating. 27:13 And Pastor Dustin Hall, thank you so much for being here. 27:17 And thank you for the work that you're doing, 27:19 or that you're allowing God to do through you. 27:21 Praise the Lord! Thank you. 27:22 Amen. For those of you at home, I hope that you'll take this 27:26 topic to heart. You may not even have children, but I want 27:30 you to really think about this, and maybe you can mentor some 27:33 children that are in your church. 27:35 Maybe you can have some kind of a seminar for them so that 27:39 they'll know these things. 27:40 Kids want to know, and they want to do what's right. 27:45 They just don't always know what to do. 27:47 So now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 27:50 and the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the 27:52 Holy Spirit remain with you today and throughout your life. 27:56 Thank you. |
Revised 2014-12-17