Power of Purity | Helping Men to Honor God with their Sexual Gift Tony Ingrassia

In this episode Tony shares the story of his recent heart attack.
On a Monday morning Tony began to feel a tightness and uncomfortable feeling in his chest, which then escalated to his throat and jaw.  He eventually drove himself to the hospital, and as the day unfolded, it was confirmed that he had a heart attack.  This led to a heart catheterization and the placement of a stent in Tony's heart.
Because of this situation Tony was not able to publish an episode of The Power of Purity Podcast for the past two weeks, and in today's episode he shares his story along with 3 key observations that have emerged in his thoughts as a result of this incident.
(1) Every day we have is a gift from God, and we should not take our days for granted.
(2) What should be the prioritites of our life?
(3) There is "LOVE"!
13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15
13 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.  Psalm 139:13-18
 
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”  Luke 12:20-21
The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God,which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:5-7

In this episode Tony shares 4 important observations from the resurrection of Christ that inspire great hope in our hearts.
No matter what's going on in our lives or situations, we do not have to be afraid, because of the resurrection.
We can both see and experience God's fingerprints and work in our own hearts and lives, and then, based upon what the Lord has allowed us to "see", we can then "go and tell" others.
Sometimes we're afraid because of the difficult situations or circumsances of our lives, but God always makes his joy available to us, and this is really good news, because it's so much better to have joy in the midst of our fears instead of just having our fears by themselves.
And we can rest assured that the Lord will reveal himself to us, because the very first person he chose to reveal himself to, after the resurrection, was Mary Magdalene, who had been possessed by seven demons.
What happened on that day, the most significant day of human history, reveals a template of how God still works in the hearts and lives of his followers.
Be blessed, in Jesus' Name, as you listen to these "4 Easter Observations"!

In this episode, which was recorded during Holy Week, Tony shares some reflections from Matthew chapter 21 concerning Palm Sunday.
This was the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, and as he did the people shouted exclamations of praise, adoration, and joy!
"Hosanna to the Son of David!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"
Among other key thoughts, Tony focuses on one intriguing observation from the passage, which is the prophetic quote that was written by the prophet Zechariah 500 years before the actual triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!  Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!  See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  Zechariah 9:9
Based upon this scripture, Tony reflects on the unusal way in which the animal that Jesus rode into Jerusalem is mentioned in the passage:
(1) A donkey
(2) A colt
(3) A foal
Why did Zechariah seem to go above and beyond the call of duty to provide such intricate detail concerning, of all things, the donkey that Jesus would ride over 500 years later? 
The Jews of the day were waiting for the Messiah, their Savior and Deliverer, and that's exactly who Jesus was, but the way the Lord comes into our lives and situations isn't always the way we were expecting! 

Jesus was fully God, and fully human, both at the same time.
Jesus, as a human being, lived in this broken and fallen world.
And in his humanity, Jesus experienced temptation just like us.
Because of this, we have a Savior who understands us.
When Jesus was in the wilderness he fasted for 40 days.
At the end of the fast he was hungry, and the devil came to him to tempt hm.
The devil tempted his to "turn these stones into bread".
Or said another way, the essence of the temtptation was for Jesus to take care of the legitimate needs of his physical body in his own way.
As if the devil was saying, "You're hungry Jesus, so do what you need to do to take care of yourself!"
And in much the same way, the enemy often comes to us and tempts us to take care of the legitimate needs of our own physical body in our own way.
In this sense, the urge for a man to satisfy his legitimate sexual needs through the use of pronography is a similar temptation to "turn these stones into bread".
Jesus set the example for us.
Jesus was a man, and Jesus was tempted, but Jesus also resisted those temptations.
The bible then tells us that we can also resist the temptations that come to us, because God will not allow us to be tempted beyond that which we can bear.
You have the Lord in your heart and life if you're a Christ beleiver, and you can overcome temptations just like Jesus did!

Just like a coin has 2 sides - heads and tails - there are 2 different components that are virutally inseperable, which are sex and relationship.
Or, said another, sex is intended to occur within the context of relaitonship, and this leads to a very important and undeniable reality, which implicates the importance of healthy relaitonship.
Or, said another way, the healthier and more funcitonal the relationship is , the healthier and more funcitonal the sex will be that occurs within the context of that relationship.
But there's another very important and undenial reality, which is the truth that relationship can be very challenging and difficult.
What often happens in the context of relationship is what Tony is calling in this episode, the "X".
The "X" is not good.
The "X" is hard.
The "X" is a disagrement, a difficulty, a tension, a fight, an argument, or a misunderstanding.
And the reality is that every couple is going to experience, not just one "X" in their relationship, but many different "X's" over time.
And therefore a very important question emerges, which is implicates the title of today's episode:
What do we do with the "X's" when they show up in our relationship?
In this episode Tony advocates that there are only 5 options on how to deal with the "X", and he shares those 5 options.
Of the 5 options, there's one that's the recommended and outstanding option that can and will lead to the possibly of traversing the "X" in a healhty and productive way.
Learn to deal with your "X's" in a better way, and that will lead to a healthier and more functional relationship, which will in turn create the environment that makes healthier and more functional sex possible! 

In this weeks short episode Tony reflects on a very interesting scripture found in the Gospel of Matthew.
Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane.
He's very sad and he's struggling because he knows what's about to happen.
He leaves most of the disciples at a particular place in garden, and then takes Peter, James, and John with him a little further into the garden.
As the following scene then unfolds, he asks these three disciples, three different times, to "watch" and to "pray" so they would not fall into temptation.
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Matthew 26:41 
It's of significane to notice that Jesus connects two important spiritual disciplines here directly to the problem of temptation: to watch and pray.
Or said another way, because of the temptations that are lurking around us, that can and will entice us, we must "watch and pray", and it's these spritual disciplines that can then empower us to resist these temptations.
The word "watch" that Jesus uses here is defined as:
to give strict attention to, be cautious, active, to take heed lest through remission and indolence some destructive calamity suddenly overtake you.
Through the words of Jesus a powerful Kingdom formula therefore emerges:
If we "watch and pray" we'lll be better equipped to resist temptation!