WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.360 Today I want to talk about dopamine fix and a debased mind out of Romans 1 2 00:00:11.680 --> 00:00:13.680 To give you a quick overview 3 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:18.760 Romans 1 talks about the fact that if we go our own way 4 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:25.280 Turning away from God it all begins with suppressing the truth. We don't want to hear the truth. We're gonna suppress the truth 5 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:29.360 Well suppressing the truth then actually leads to a confused mind 6 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:37.320 Which then leads to worshiping idols and images in our life and then God gives us over to vile passions 7 00:00:37.440 --> 00:00:42.520 God gives us over to unnatural passions and then at the end 8 00:00:43.160 --> 00:00:49.880 Leading to which is the end of the journey, which is death in verse 28 in Romans 1 9 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:55.400 We read this and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge 10 00:00:55.760 --> 00:01:00.800 God gave them over to a debased mind. Now this word debased is a 11 00:01:01.760 --> 00:01:02.960 auto 12 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:07.760 auto chemos in the Greek and it's the idea of the 13 00:01:08.520 --> 00:01:12.560 deterioration of the mind or the weakening of the mind and 14 00:01:13.080 --> 00:01:15.320 What I'm going to talk about today is that's literally 15 00:01:16.880 --> 00:01:18.880 Biologically 16 00:01:19.600 --> 00:01:26.760 Neuroscientifically true that as we suppress truth, we have futility in thinking we start allowing 17 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:30.400 Images to guide us. We worship images in our life 18 00:01:31.160 --> 00:01:36.000 It's going to lead to a debased mind. It's actually literally leading to your mind 19 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:44.440 Atrophy and the truth is that the most powerful sex organ in your body is actually your brain 20 00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:47.080 more 21 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:52.600 Biological impact upon us from casual sex is becoming more and more 22 00:01:53.320 --> 00:01:57.720 Clear. So in other words as he talks about the unnatural passions of sexuality 23 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:04.680 That were in our last episode and you should you should listen to that to give you a preview to this message 24 00:02:04.920 --> 00:02:09.520 It's really true that if we continue to indulge in 25 00:02:10.360 --> 00:02:17.480 Sexual areas that are unnatural that are outside of God's kingdom way. It's going to start to destroy your mind and now 26 00:02:19.880 --> 00:02:26.160 Neuroscientific theory and neuroscientific studies are showing this to be absolutely true and at least a depression 27 00:02:26.720 --> 00:02:28.640 it leads to 28 00:02:28.640 --> 00:02:31.840 Despair and in many cases actually leads to suicide 29 00:02:32.200 --> 00:02:38.480 So there have been studies and in the book that I'm referencing my studies from is a book called hook 30 00:02:38.480 --> 00:02:42.120 And in the book called hook the authors 31 00:02:42.600 --> 00:02:49.400 Three doctors are talking about the hookup culture and what it does to our brains three things 32 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:53.800 That they found that are in in this book number one boys and girls 33 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:59.180 Who had sex were more likely to be depressed and suicidal? 34 00:03:00.200 --> 00:03:01.400 number two 35 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:09.400 Those who had sex with multiple partners before marriage had difficulty bonding with one partner after marriage and 36 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:15.440 Then number three those who chose to only have sex with their marriage partner were more well-adjusted 37 00:03:16.320 --> 00:03:22.520 Less depressed and more able to adapt to life struggles than those who had sex with multiple people 38 00:03:22.760 --> 00:03:28.040 So what I'm going to do today in this episode is just try to help us understand a little bit of the neuro 39 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:33.580 Anatomy and the chemistry of the brain how your brain works, and so I'm going to use some 40 00:03:34.760 --> 00:03:36.520 big words 41 00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:40.840 And I'll try to go slow as I read these and explain what? 42 00:03:41.560 --> 00:03:46.320 These neuroscience and doctors have found to be true the prefrontal cortex 43 00:03:46.920 --> 00:03:50.160 Here is important in control and judgment 44 00:03:50.440 --> 00:03:55.320 It's what separates us from the animal kingdom our decision-making abilities 45 00:03:56.040 --> 00:03:58.040 three-dimensional 46 00:03:58.720 --> 00:04:00.720 Esoteric ability 47 00:04:01.200 --> 00:04:08.160 Existential ability to understand life understand things is unique to human beings and is determined by the pre 48 00:04:08.720 --> 00:04:10.720 frontal cortex 49 00:04:11.080 --> 00:04:13.560 We also have nucleus occupants 50 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:19.360 These play a central role in the reward circuit of our brains 51 00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:24.160 We also have ventral tegmental area called the VTA 52 00:04:25.320 --> 00:04:27.320 This is a dopamine-rich 53 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:29.320 nucleus 54 00:04:29.320 --> 00:04:31.440 Where dopamine is produced? 55 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:34.160 dr. Hilton writes 56 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:36.160 when a stimulus from the cortex 57 00:04:36.920 --> 00:04:40.000 comes into the brain stem the VTA 58 00:04:41.160 --> 00:04:46.320 Causes dopamine to be released from the ends of the nerve cells 59 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:51.800 where it crosses a synaptic cleft that's the space between the nerve cells and 60 00:04:51.800 --> 00:05:00.000 Binds to receptors on the pleasure cells in the nucleus occupants now. This is going to I think become more clear 61 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:03.200 or as I explain it more as we move along. 62 00:05:03.200 --> 00:05:05.520 There are five primary chemicals released 63 00:05:05.520 --> 00:05:08.560 through sexual arousal and responsive. 64 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:11.200 The most significant being dopamine. 65 00:05:11.200 --> 00:05:13.160 This is a chemical in your brain. 66 00:05:13.160 --> 00:05:16.960 The chemical of reward-driven behavior. 67 00:05:16.960 --> 00:05:19.580 Every type of reward that has been studied 68 00:05:19.580 --> 00:05:23.800 increases the level of dopamine transmission in the brain. 69 00:05:23.800 --> 00:05:25.380 Now, let me just say this. 70 00:05:25.380 --> 00:05:29.520 The chemical dopamine is morally neutral. 71 00:05:29.520 --> 00:05:32.000 It's spiritually neutral, it's just a fact 72 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:36.060 that God has given us dopamine as a reward system. 73 00:05:36.060 --> 00:05:38.900 So dopamine can be a really, really good thing. 74 00:05:38.900 --> 00:05:40.820 I mean, dopamine is what causes us 75 00:05:40.820 --> 00:05:43.540 to take the risk to go to college after high school. 76 00:05:43.540 --> 00:05:47.980 Dopamine is the chemical released in our brain 77 00:05:47.980 --> 00:05:50.380 that gives us the ability to take risk. 78 00:05:50.380 --> 00:05:52.340 The risk of starting a company. 79 00:05:52.340 --> 00:05:54.620 The risk of starting a ministry. 80 00:05:54.620 --> 00:05:58.420 The risk of marrying someone. 81 00:05:58.440 --> 00:06:00.320 The risk of becoming a father or mother. 82 00:06:00.320 --> 00:06:02.240 That's all dopamine-driven. 83 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:04.480 So that's a good part of the neurochemicals 84 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:06.700 in the brain called dopamine. 85 00:06:06.700 --> 00:06:10.720 And it's dopamine that makes great athletes. 86 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:11.800 I mean, if you don't have dopamine, 87 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:13.040 you're not gonna do anything. 88 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:15.800 We'll be just sitting around on a couch doing nothing 89 00:06:16.980 --> 00:06:18.200 if we didn't have dopamine. 90 00:06:18.200 --> 00:06:22.460 So dopamine is a God-given chemical of risk-taking. 91 00:06:22.460 --> 00:06:27.460 It's also a God-given chemical that looks for reward 92 00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:29.440 when we do take risk. 93 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:34.720 It's the reward system of the brain, dopamine, 94 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:39.720 that can also be very destructive if it's not disciplined, 95 00:06:40.400 --> 00:06:45.400 leading into pornography, casual sex, excessive drinking 96 00:06:45.400 --> 00:06:49.640 from the high one gets from doing risky things. 97 00:06:49.640 --> 00:06:51.920 Now, this is especially true with men. 98 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:55.260 I mean, you don't usually arrest women 99 00:06:55.260 --> 00:06:58.600 for doing drag racing on a major highway 100 00:06:58.600 --> 00:07:00.120 at two o'clock in the morning. 101 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:01.560 That's usually men. 102 00:07:01.560 --> 00:07:04.520 We men have a greater tendency 103 00:07:04.520 --> 00:07:07.940 toward risk-taking behaviors for sure. 104 00:07:07.940 --> 00:07:12.940 Well, pornography has the power of releasing dopamine. 105 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:16.840 So whenever we see anything that brings sexual arousal, 106 00:07:16.840 --> 00:07:20.100 that feeling that you get, this is male or female, 107 00:07:20.100 --> 00:07:22.480 but I'm speaking a lot toward men 108 00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:24.720 because we're the ones who struggle the most 109 00:07:25.060 --> 00:07:28.180 in the area of pornography, is the chemical release, 110 00:07:28.180 --> 00:07:29.860 the feeling you have, I've gotta have more, 111 00:07:29.860 --> 00:07:31.660 I've gotta have more, I wanna see more, 112 00:07:31.660 --> 00:07:34.460 I wanna see, I wanna experience more, that's dopamine. 113 00:07:34.460 --> 00:07:38.700 That's that chemical in the prefrontal cortex being released 114 00:07:38.700 --> 00:07:41.620 and it is the same addictive nature. 115 00:07:41.620 --> 00:07:42.700 This is really important. 116 00:07:42.700 --> 00:07:44.220 It has the same addictive nature 117 00:07:44.220 --> 00:07:48.180 as cocaine, amphetamines, and meth. 118 00:07:48.180 --> 00:07:50.820 So you've met people who are meth addicts. 119 00:07:50.820 --> 00:07:53.220 You may have met some people that struggle 120 00:07:53.220 --> 00:07:55.120 with cocaine or heroin. 121 00:07:55.120 --> 00:07:59.200 It's that same release, same chemical release 122 00:07:59.200 --> 00:08:02.120 that goes with those illegal drugs. 123 00:08:02.120 --> 00:08:04.200 So this is actually a legal drug 124 00:08:04.200 --> 00:08:09.200 that's released in your brain that can be hugely addictive. 125 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:11.880 Dopamine has been called 126 00:08:11.880 --> 00:08:15.280 the novel chemical drug of the brain. 127 00:08:15.280 --> 00:08:16.420 Dopamine has been called 128 00:08:16.420 --> 00:08:19.920 the novel chemical drug of the brain. 129 00:08:19.940 --> 00:08:24.940 And the reason is, is because it needs more novelty 130 00:08:25.540 --> 00:08:30.320 to continue to give the same high that you had before. 131 00:08:30.320 --> 00:08:31.820 So if you're not careful, 132 00:08:31.820 --> 00:08:34.700 and let's just take examples of looking at, 133 00:08:36.500 --> 00:08:38.179 I don't know, women in bathing suits, 134 00:08:38.179 --> 00:08:39.580 and you get turned on by that, 135 00:08:39.580 --> 00:08:41.620 and that turn on is the chemical dopamine 136 00:08:41.620 --> 00:08:43.380 in your prefrontal cortex. 137 00:08:43.380 --> 00:08:45.540 So then you click on a little bit more 138 00:08:45.540 --> 00:08:47.300 to see a little bit more, 139 00:08:47.300 --> 00:08:49.260 and then the next day a little bit more, 140 00:08:49.320 --> 00:08:51.320 and then the next week a little bit more, 141 00:08:51.320 --> 00:08:53.320 that's how dopamine works. 142 00:08:53.320 --> 00:08:55.400 That's actually the way cocaine works too, 143 00:08:55.400 --> 00:09:00.000 that you need more stimulus to get the same high 144 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:01.160 that you did before. 145 00:09:01.160 --> 00:09:05.200 And what happens, literally, physically happens 146 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:08.160 in the prefrontal cortex is the release of dopamine, 147 00:09:08.160 --> 00:09:09.960 the dopamine fix that happens, 148 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:13.700 the high that comes through looking at stuff like this, 149 00:09:13.700 --> 00:09:14.760 it builds a ditch. 150 00:09:14.760 --> 00:09:17.680 It actually digs a ditch in your prefrontal cortex, 151 00:09:17.700 --> 00:09:21.620 and then it becomes extremely difficult to quit 152 00:09:21.620 --> 00:09:24.460 because the dopamine is used to being released. 153 00:09:24.460 --> 00:09:26.800 It's now got almost like a riverbed 154 00:09:26.800 --> 00:09:29.900 that the streams of the dopamine chemical 155 00:09:29.900 --> 00:09:31.900 can flow in your prefrontal cortex, 156 00:09:31.900 --> 00:09:36.260 and literally, physically, you can see on studies 157 00:09:36.260 --> 00:09:39.660 this ditch that's been dug in people's prefrontal cortex. 158 00:09:39.660 --> 00:09:41.580 Research in the United States has shown 159 00:09:41.580 --> 00:09:45.580 that 66% of men and 41% of women 160 00:09:45.580 --> 00:09:49.960 consume pornography on a monthly basis. 161 00:09:49.960 --> 00:09:54.960 An estimated 50% of all internet traffic is related to sex. 162 00:09:55.720 --> 00:09:58.440 The Huffington Post reports that the average age 163 00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:00.540 that kids are being exposed to pornography. 164 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:02.880 is now 11 years old. 165 00:10:02.880 --> 00:10:05.880 I know Focus and the family, in a recent study, 166 00:10:05.880 --> 00:10:07.500 they had said nine years old. 167 00:10:08.520 --> 00:10:12.040 Porn today is way more interesting than porn in the past 168 00:10:12.040 --> 00:10:16.720 because of what experts say is unending novelty. 169 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:20.720 There is this term called the Cooleridge effect. 170 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:25.480 This idea is that a novel drug in our brain, being dopamine, 171 00:10:25.480 --> 00:10:30.000 dopamine needs more and more novel experiences 172 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:32.800 to reach the same levels of release. 173 00:10:32.800 --> 00:10:36.400 A person can see more novel bodies in 20 minutes 174 00:10:36.400 --> 00:10:37.920 with the click of the mouse 175 00:10:37.920 --> 00:10:40.520 than their parents saw in a lifetime. 176 00:10:40.520 --> 00:10:44.060 So you don't think the porn industry knows this. 177 00:10:44.060 --> 00:10:45.840 They totally know this. 178 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:49.640 And so erotic imagery triggering dopamine in your brain 179 00:10:49.640 --> 00:10:52.240 is very, very addictive. 180 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:55.440 And here's the part that's kind of scary 181 00:10:55.440 --> 00:10:56.480 if you think about it. 182 00:10:56.480 --> 00:10:59.280 It rewires your brain. 183 00:10:59.280 --> 00:11:01.040 It actually rewires your brain 184 00:11:01.040 --> 00:11:05.880 and it actually atrophies your brain. 185 00:11:05.880 --> 00:11:09.420 Physically, we can show in neuroscientific studies 186 00:11:09.420 --> 00:11:11.880 that actually your brain shrinks 187 00:11:11.880 --> 00:11:14.640 with constant release of dopamine 188 00:11:14.640 --> 00:11:19.640 because you weren't created to have these dopamine fixes 189 00:11:19.640 --> 00:11:21.040 and these dopamine highs 190 00:11:21.040 --> 00:11:23.840 at the rate that we're experiencing it today. 191 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:26.600 In other words, it's leading to a debased mind. 192 00:11:26.600 --> 00:11:27.720 That's what the scriptures say. 193 00:11:27.720 --> 00:11:30.840 Isn't it amazing how the scriptures way ahead 194 00:11:30.840 --> 00:11:33.540 have shown us that these things are true? 195 00:11:34.800 --> 00:11:39.600 Arousal addiction, which is a term used in these studies, 196 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:44.600 is associated with ADHD, social anxiety, 197 00:11:44.900 --> 00:11:49.900 depression, performance anxiety, OCD, and suicide. 198 00:11:50.420 --> 00:11:54.620 A dopamine surge results in a binge mechanism 199 00:11:54.620 --> 00:11:59.060 which kicks in the molecular switch called delta-fos-B, 200 00:11:59.060 --> 00:12:03.380 which accumulates leading to cravings for more. 201 00:12:04.460 --> 00:12:06.700 The best example I can think of 202 00:12:06.700 --> 00:12:10.620 is how when you're hungry, you eat. 203 00:12:10.620 --> 00:12:14.360 And for people who have struggled with their weight, 204 00:12:14.360 --> 00:12:17.920 when depression comes, they tend to eat more. 205 00:12:17.920 --> 00:12:19.660 They're hungry all the time, they eat more, 206 00:12:20.420 --> 00:12:21.260 and they start to gain weight. 207 00:12:21.260 --> 00:12:26.260 Well, in the same way, your body is longing for something. 208 00:12:26.940 --> 00:12:29.740 And you remember the feeling of satisfaction 209 00:12:29.740 --> 00:12:32.120 and the feeling of the high that comes 210 00:12:32.120 --> 00:12:35.900 with looking at pornography or actual sexual behavior 211 00:12:35.900 --> 00:12:39.020 with the opposite of the same sex. 212 00:12:39.020 --> 00:12:41.540 That's a dopamine high, that's a dopamine fix, 213 00:12:41.540 --> 00:12:44.180 and it becomes addictive in our bodies. 214 00:12:44.180 --> 00:12:46.780 Now, here's what's interesting about the studies. 215 00:12:46.780 --> 00:12:48.580 There's another chemical. 216 00:12:48.620 --> 00:12:51.060 And this chemical is oxytocin. 217 00:12:51.060 --> 00:12:55.940 Oxytocin is a neurochemical that is critical 218 00:12:55.940 --> 00:13:00.440 in understanding how the brain works with sex. 219 00:13:01.340 --> 00:13:06.180 Oxytocin is active in both genders. 220 00:13:06.180 --> 00:13:08.380 It is called the bonding chemical, 221 00:13:08.380 --> 00:13:11.740 and it's especially strong in women. 222 00:13:11.740 --> 00:13:13.380 And what this is, men and women, 223 00:13:13.380 --> 00:13:16.340 is that as dopamine is released through sexual arousal, 224 00:13:16.340 --> 00:13:17.740 so is oxytocin. 225 00:13:17.780 --> 00:13:21.540 And oxytocin is set up by God to bring a bonding, 226 00:13:21.540 --> 00:13:26.060 an intimacy with that person that you're having sex with, 227 00:13:26.060 --> 00:13:30.460 and a bonding that creates a longing to be with that person. 228 00:13:30.460 --> 00:13:33.460 It's called the trust neurochemical. 229 00:13:33.460 --> 00:13:35.500 And this is God's design. 230 00:13:35.500 --> 00:13:38.420 That's why it's so important that a man or woman 231 00:13:38.420 --> 00:13:40.500 who are in love and they get married, 232 00:13:40.500 --> 00:13:43.140 when they have sexual relations, 233 00:13:43.140 --> 00:13:47.320 oxytocin being released, especially in the female, 234 00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:49.720 creates a bonding with that person. 235 00:13:49.720 --> 00:13:52.320 Well, the chemical in men is still oxytocin, 236 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:55.280 but also it's another chemical called vasopressin. 237 00:13:55.280 --> 00:13:59.040 Vasopressin is the bonding agent in men. 238 00:13:59.040 --> 00:14:00.640 So why is that important? 239 00:14:00.640 --> 00:14:02.600 Because under God's design, 240 00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:07.240 the sexual relationship done God's way creates bonds. 241 00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:08.840 It creates intimacy. 242 00:14:08.840 --> 00:14:12.960 It creates a trust and a love for that other person. 243 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:14.300 And that's a beautiful thing. 244 00:14:14.860 --> 00:14:18.420 The term that's been used is long-term connectiveness. 245 00:14:18.420 --> 00:14:21.220 There's a long-term connectiveness 246 00:14:21.220 --> 00:14:23.300 that comes through a relationship 247 00:14:23.300 --> 00:14:26.700 that has oxytocin, vasopressin, 248 00:14:26.700 --> 00:14:30.100 and dopamine being released into our bloodstream. 249 00:14:30.100 --> 00:14:33.140 It's a beautiful connection. 250 00:14:33.140 --> 00:14:37.700 Well, imagine that we're constantly breaking the bond. 251 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:38.540 So in other words, 252 00:14:38.540 --> 00:14:42.300 that doesn't happen the same way with pornography 253 00:14:42.300 --> 00:14:43.840 because there's no connectivity. 254 00:14:44.840 --> 00:14:48.920 There's no work involved in the relationship 255 00:14:48.920 --> 00:14:50.720 that would release a bonding agent 256 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:52.680 of oxytocin and vasopressin. 257 00:14:52.680 --> 00:14:56.800 So what we're doing is we're actually breaking God's design 258 00:14:56.800 --> 00:14:58.080 through pornography. 259 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:00.120 We're breaking God's design. 260 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:06.960 by having multiple sex partners. We're breaking God's design by having a multitudinal sexual 261 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:12.600 encounter with different people, because you're going against the nature of God's Kingdom 262 00:15:12.600 --> 00:15:20.920 way with vasopressin and oxytocin in our lives. So, it's leading to what we would call a depraved 263 00:15:20.920 --> 00:15:26.720 mind, that's what Paul calls it, a debased mind, a depraved mind. And so, men and women 264 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:34.880 I want to challenge you, if you're caught in the hookup culture, if you're caught in 265 00:15:34.880 --> 00:15:44.400 the throes of pornography, you've got to rewire your brain. You can, there is hope to rewire 266 00:15:44.400 --> 00:15:48.860 your brain. It's super difficult though, it is hard, and that's where we need others in 267 00:15:48.860 --> 00:15:54.040 our life to hold us accountable, but it is possible. This is also the way Paul described 268 00:15:54.040 --> 00:15:59.640 it, he said, I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your 269 00:15:59.640 --> 00:16:05.720 bodies, or I'm going to say you present your brains, as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable 270 00:16:05.720 --> 00:16:10.600 to God, which is your reasonable service. Do not be conformed to this world, do not 271 00:16:10.600 --> 00:16:18.960 let dopamine rewire your brain, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. In other words, 272 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:24.440 rewire your mind in the kingdom way, that you may prove what is that which is good, 273 00:16:24.440 --> 00:16:29.960 acceptable, and the perfect will of God. God is a supernatural God. We have a God that 274 00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:36.520 has power from the Holy Spirit to change us. I know probably hundreds of people now in 275 00:16:36.520 --> 00:16:41.800 my life who have had porn addictions, who have come out of the hookup culture, who are 276 00:16:41.800 --> 00:16:47.160 now walking in freedom, and walking in the joy of sex, the way God meant it to be, and 277 00:16:47.160 --> 00:16:51.000 the pleasure for which it meant it to be, and the bonding for which it was meant to 278 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:57.020 be. I want to challenge you to renew your mind, and to begin the new journey of getting 279 00:16:57.020 --> 00:17:04.079 set free from these chemical addictions that can come. And I pray that as you learn to 280 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:09.240 understand the power of the gospel, that you can't do it. I mean, let me go back to Romans 281 00:17:09.240 --> 00:17:15.720 1, 16 and 17. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation 282 00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:21.160 for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek. For in it, meaning 283 00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:28.240 the power of the gospel, the righteousness of God is released, or revealed, from faith 284 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:32.680 to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. I want you to note something 285 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:39.440 in verse 17, it says, revealed from faith to faith. So, there is a faith, that salvation 286 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:45.040 faith, but then there's a faith that's a sanctifying faith. That's the daily power. 287 00:17:45.040 --> 00:17:49.440 That's daily realizing, hey, I can't change. I don't have the power to change. But God, 288 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:58.320 would you come in your great exchange, I give you my flesh, I give you my sin, I give you 289 00:17:58.320 --> 00:18:05.080 my addictions. Lord, would you come and now empower me with your righteousness. Would 290 00:18:05.080 --> 00:18:11.520 you impart to me your righteousness that I can begin to rewire my brain and walk in 291 00:18:11.520 --> 00:18:17.640 all the joy for which sex was created. Joy with that person that I'm in love with, that 292 00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:23.440 I'm married to. And that's really what it's all about, folks. That's the rewiring of the 293 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:28.680 brain, and it's also the freedom that's possible through the power of the gospel. God bless 294 00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:28.880 you.