Talk

We are still in our series, The Good Life.

Before we dive into our topic today, know that what we’re about to discuss is a very sensitive issue because we’re going to talk about adultery and lust.

These two words alone can conjure a mix of emotions with people who have been victims of these sins. But this is not going to be a message of condemnation — but an invitation to heal and rebuild.

We hope, by God’s Grace, it will be an invitation to receive the kind of freedom that only Jesus can give you. We’re not going to be casting stones in this place.

As a Family, we’re going to receive the light and the truth that can only come from Jesus.

The single people might be saying: “I’m single. What does adultery have to do with my life?”

Nothing. But lust does. Lust is not a matter of status. It’s a matter of the heart.

I want to also talk to the parents, especially those with young kids. There will come a time when this topic will be appropriate to discuss with your child. But I want you to lean in on God right now even before you have kids because the Lord will give you the grace to guide them and get into a discussion that will help them navigate their life.

Adultery and lust are such heavy topics that many people run away from. But I want you to receive this message as wisdom and a Word from God:

The Lord’s Message

We accumulate sins, many go unresolved, untouched, and unbothered. Why? Because we don’t sacrifice enough to remove those sins.

Because we think that it’s not worth it.

So, my message today for you is that Jesus came down into our world. He could have stayed up there. He could have stayed in His throne. Instead, He chose to come down into our world, into our level, and into our situation.

For you. For one simple reason: Jesus believes that you are worth it.

Whoever you are, whatever your background is, the Lord’s message for you, for all of us today is:

“I am worth it.”

Put your hand over your chest and say:

“Lord, Thank You for this message. I need this. Continue to speak to me. I am listening.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet And a Light unto my path.

Adultery Is Adultery

Adultery is not like any of the other sins.

Adultery is a little different when you compare it with other sins.

For instance, let’s talk about pride.

It’s also a sin. When you brag to your friends about your new shoes, new watch, new car, or new bag, your friends might easily tell you, “Wow, you’re bragging!”

It can easily be said as such, right?

But you can say, “I’m just bragging for the Lord. I’m just telling people about how He’s blessing my life.”

Is that pride? Maybe yes. Maybe no.

Another example is greed. You had pizza for dinner with your friends. It should be equal sharing, right? But you took the last two remaining slices even if you’ve had your share already.

Your friends can easily tell you, “Wow, you’re selfish!”

But then, you easily tell them, “I’m just helping you out with the carbs and the calories.”

Is that greed? Maybe yes. Maybe no.

When it comes to adultery, it’s very different. You cannot get caught in an illicit relationship with somebody else’s spouse and then give an excuse.

You cannot say, “We’re just practicing the laying of hands.”

Because adultery is adultery. Period. End of discussion. The thing with adultery is that it’s physical. When you see adultery happening, you know that it’s adultery. There’s just no way to get an excuse around it.

Until I read the Word for this week, I realized that adultery is not only physical.

To Jesus, sex is not just physical but also, spiritual.

Look!

Imagine that you are in the beautiful island of Amanpulo. Feel its pristine waters and powder-soft sand. Suddenly, you see a young and beautiful Caucasian woman wearing a three-piece attire — straw hat, sunglasses, and slippers. Nothing else.

Will you look? Of course! You don’t see that every day in your office in Makati. You don’t see that every day in Quezon City. I’ll look. Am I already guilty of lust just by looking? No.

To understand that, we need to go to the context of the verse that Jesus shared:

In the original Greek language, the word look is almost equivalent to the word stare.

By accident, looking is safe– but staring is different. You can stare at a person for five seconds and you can start undressing that person, entertaining illicit thoughts– causing you to sin.

That’s why this message is for everybody. I don’t want you sitting there and saying, “Oh, I don’t struggle with pornography. I don’t watch pornography that often.”

Be careful… You might be thinking like a Pharisee.

The Pharisees often thought, “Ah, that’s not for us. We’re righteous by God.

We do right by God.”

Jesus said this message is for everybody who struggles. If there is anything in your life that’s causing you to sin, whether it’s small or big, you’ve got to give it to Jesus.

Single people, listen to this: One day, you might be dreaming of marriage.

Be very careful… You might be thinking that marriage kills lust. That’s not true.

Marriage is not magic that erases all your sins. If you bring lust into the marriage and the lust goes unresolved and unchecked, that lust can turn into an addiction. Eventually, it can lead to adultery and it can break your entire marriage.

Before the Sun Sets…

I want to talk to the married people. Before Jesus talked about adultery,

He talked about anger. Is there a reason Jesus talked about anger and then,

He talked about adultery next? Absolutely.

In the Kingdom of God, there is no such thing as an accident.

Everything is a divine invitation.

Why does Jesus talk about anger and then talk about adultery? The simple reason is this: Married people, please know that adultery doesn’t happen overnight.

Usually, adultery comes slow. Sure and steady little incidents happen in your life, and then blow up. By the time they blow up, they’re already leading to small steps.

Usually, one of the core reasons adultery happens is unresolved anger.

For instance, now and then, your spouse offends you– just little hurts that make you angry but you don’t tell your spouse, because you think that one day, those hurts will go away, and you’ll be okay. But because of that unresolved anger you detest your spouse, and eventually, you begin to be attracted to other people.

That’s why the apostle Paul gives us wonderful advice:

Paul is saying: “Don’t sleep on your anger.”

The letter of the Law says to not let the sun go down while you’re angry.

But the spirit of the Law says that if you want to have peace and you want to have joy in your life, resolve your anger right away before the sun even goes down.

This message is not about chasing sunsets with apologies from your spouse.

It’s actually a refusal to go into your tomorrow carrying all of these grudges in your heart. You deserve your peace. You deserve your joy. You deserve your rest.

Hello!

Let’s talk about lust again. In reality, we don’t really need to go to beaches in Amanpulo,

Boracay, and El Nido to see a woman in a three-piece suit.

Today, all you need is your phone. For 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, you’ve got access to that kind of material. Did you know that today what the Bible refers to as lust as evil, is actually a 97.1 billion industry?

Pornography is being watched by more people who watch Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube combined. It’s staggering.

Why? Because lust is a drug. Like any other drug, it gets you addicted. The more you watch it, the more you want it.

Here is medical evidence of what lust does in your head> The first picture is that of a normal, healthy,

and a functioning brain. The second image is the brain of a person who takes heroin. There’s a little of ruin and damage. The third image is the brain of a person who watches pornography on a regular basis.

You’re rotting your brain from the inside. The most frightening thing is you don’t see it happening. You don’t sense it.

The way that lust destroys your mind is you’re looking at people that could be your friend, somebody that you just met, an associate, or even a Feast attendee.

Instead of seeing them as a child of God, you see them as a body part that you discard and throw away after you’re done playing with them in your mind.

That’s how lust destroys us. Pornography destroys the very core. Catholic preacher Jason Evert said:

It’s not because Jesus is asking you to get rid of your sin. Jesus is not a killjoy. What Jesus wants is to give you real joy that can only come from having a relationship with the Lord.

How can we conquer lust? If it’s so hard, how can we defeat this?

The way that you can fight even the greatest sins is you defeat them while they’re till small. They’re manageable, doable, and workable.

The moment a sin grows bigger and takes root in your life, it’s much harder to fight.

Lust often starts in the most harmless way.

This is the way lust operates: Look, but don’t stare. Stare, but don’t touch.

Touch, but don’t taste. Taste, but don’t tell. Little by little, you’re not noticing it. Now, you’re in that cycle of sin and you’re unable to break it.

Jesus gives us the ultimate solution:

The Lord is not telling us to gouge out our eyes– or self-mutilate myself.

He is exaggerating. He’s emphasizing the gravity of the sin.

If you’re held captive by lust and adultery, Jesus says you need a drastic measure. Do whatever it takes to get rid of that sin. Go to Confession. Go seek some help. Go to counseling. Go and seek somebody’s prayer for your life.

Whatever it is that needs to be done, go to rehab. Just don’t leave that sin in your heart because the sin will kill you from within.

Sadly, many of us live with the sin. Many of us suffer from lust.

A True Story

I want to share with you a true story of a man named Aron Ralston, 27 years old. Many of you probably know him.

In 2003, he was canyoneering alone in the mountains of Utah. All of a sudden, he slipped and an 800-pound boulder fell on him, pinning his right arm. For five days, he was trapped there. He couldn’t move.

He cried out for help, but no one heard him.

He tried to wiggle himself out of that little hole but to no avail. He was so desperate to live that on the fifth day, he took a dull knife from his pocket and started sewing off his right arm.

When he finally saw off his arm, he was able to squeeze himself out and he lived.

This gruesome story became a movie titled 127 Hours.

Aron sacrificed his arm because he valued his life more than his arm.

Question: Why do we stay trapped in our sin?

Many of us live with sin simply because we don’t see that getting rid of it is worth it. We’re afraid to tell people. We’re afraid to confess it to the priest.

We’re afraid to tell it to the Lord. Simply because we don’t feel that it’s worth it.

If you want to live a great life, sometimes you really need to cut off a limb. You need to cut off an arm. You need to gouge out your eyes and do whatever is necessary to get yourself out of this vicious cycle of brokenness.

You might be a victim of adultery. You might a victim of a generational sin.

God wants me to tell you that this cycle that has been affecting your family for generations ends with you.

Put your hand over your chest and say: “This stops with me. Whatever that cycle of brokenness is, especially if it’s adultery, it ends with me.”

You are the person that the Lord is going to use to liberate generations who will come after you, to change the very trajectory of your family life because you’re here today.

Since lust is an ugly sin, we don’t post it. We don’t tell it to people. It never sees the light of day because it’s there festering in the darkest corners of your heart.

Let me teach you six stages how lust operates:

1 .LOOK Looking is admiring but staring is Can you look at the person beside you? That’s not a sin. It’s not a sin to appreciate the person for the beauty of God’s creation.

2. LINGER You’re taking extra looks and checking out the person. You’re observing By this time, lust is starting to come alive.

3. LOOP You’re imagining and fantasizing. “What if this person and I get together?” You’re imagining doing things that you’re not supposed to be doing.

4. LIE By this time, you say to yourself: “I’ll try it just for ” The Devil is also telling you lies: “Did God really say that this is evil? Did God really say that masturbation is bad? Did God really say that adultery is bad?”

4. LEAP When you dive in and you cross that .. When you taste and experience that lust growing …

6. LOCK You’re trapped in that vicious cycle where you don’t know how to get out– how to get out of that brokenness because it’s been part of your life, and it has become normal.

Surrender

I learned something so powerful this week through the life of a former priest. His name is Fr. Gabriele Amorth. He was the official exorcist of the Diocese of Rome. He was the Vatican exorcist.

Other people even referred to him as the Pope’s exorcist. There was a movie about him portrayed by Russell Crowe. If you’re into that genre, watch it but pray before you do.

Fr. Amorth shared something powerful. He said that the Devil will see you not as a person but he will see you for your sins. He will use that sin against you. He will shame you, ridicule you, and hurt you.

But Fr. Gabrielle said that the moment you confess your sin with a repentant, contrite heart. to the Lord through the sacrament of penance, through a priest, you receive what is called an absolution.

The moment that you are receiving that absolution, it’s like God is washing away all your sins and making you white as snow, cleansing you so much so that the Devil can no longer see your sin. It’s like there’s a blanket now. The Devil cannot use what he cannot see. If the Devil cannot see your sin, he can’t use it against you.

So, what do you do? You go to God and you confess your sin so that the power that’s been holding you can no longer be used against you. Because now, you’re giving it to God and letting His light shine upon your life for you to receive His healing and His grace so that you can walk away from sin and live a brand-new life.

I don’t know who this message is for, but I believe in faith that you’re receiving this anointing from God. You cannot run away from your sin. The only thing that you can do is to run to Jesus and let Him overcome your sin with His grace

and His power. Allow Him to go to your life and tell him, “Lord, I can’t do it on my own, but with you, nothing is impossible.”

Thank You, Lord, for Your Word that has been unleashed. Thank You for seeing us for who we truly are. Not a sinner, but a child, somebody who is loved and is made to be loved by You.

I pray, Lord, for every person here who struggles with adultery and lust that you can give them the courage and the strength to finally acknowledge that they are broken but that they need You more.

Fill the empty space in our hearts so we can stop replacing it with cheap imitations, we can stop replacing it with lies that the enemy will feed us. Fill our hearts with Your love and change us today. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Commitment

We are in the Presence of our God. His Name is Jesus and He walks with us right now. I know if you don’t feel His Presence, maybe you’re just struggling with your sight. But we all believe that faith is not about seeing. It’s about believing. I want you to believe that Jesus is with you, carrying you. And He’s able to overcome your sin by His love and by His power. Jesus wants to give all of us today a brand-new life, a brand-new beginning. This is a restart for all of us here and I know that you’re struggling. God knows you’re struggling. But the only way that we can overcome the struggle is that if we give it to Him.

So, I invite everyone here, whether you’re young, you’re old, you’re male, you’re female, you are broken, you’re whole, to give your life to the Lord and offer it as a living sacrifice, as your worship to Him.

Put your hand over your chest to say this simple but life-changing prayer.

Say this with me:

Dear Jesus, You know I am a sinner. You know everything that I have done in my past, in my present, and even in my future. But even with all of those,

I Thank You that You still call me Yours. I believe You are the Son of God and only You can save me. So, this moment, will define my life forever. I receive your love.

I receive Your mercy. I receive Your grace. And as I work in my garden, I also surrender all my dreams, all of my plans and all of my goals this year.

Thank You, Jesus. Walk with me. Love me. Forgive me. Be with me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Thank You, Jesus. Embrace a loved one beside you and say: You are worth it. Not because of what you do but because of who He calls you to be. That is your identity.

You are rooted in Christ.

This story was first published in the Feast Family Online News Magazine
Published by THE FEAST (August 24, 2025)