Lust (Put to Death)

Sermon by Fr. Bob Fabey4th Sunday of LentPut to Death SeriesDiscussion QuestionsWhen did you first notice Lust?How do you relate to Romans 7?15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate… For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing…Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?If Lust is objectification and requires people to be objects of either sexual desire or emotional fantasy, how does a biblical view of humanity help fight it?David and Bathsheba, Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, and Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman all give insight into Lust, our response, and how God might want us to seek him. Which story impacts you the most?One act of obedience—one moment of chastity—can become the beginning of a story telling us of God’s goodness and faithfulness.We rarely see the full fruit of obedience in the moment. But when we choose faithfulness over temptation, God is often doing far more with that obedience than we could ever see.How might God use one act of obedience (vs. one act of disobedience) in your life? How might that lead to freedom, healing, and beauty?What is something you can do to allow God to transform our thirst into His abundance?Renewal of mind, fast, confess? Other?Remember and spend time with this scripture, and allow God to give you what you need.“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."