1150 - Porn Addiction and Jesus: Can You Really Be Free Without Him?
You can do everything right and still feel nothing. Michael had been clean from porn for a year and he was still miserable, still scared of slipping. That gap between sober and free is the whole conversation. Sathiya Sam was a pastor addicted to porn for 15 years and has been clean for 10. He explains why sobriety is only step one, the six spiritual disciplines he leans on, and how to move from a shame-based identity to a grace-based one. He also answers the question men send him most: how do I stop just reading the Bible and actually know God? If quitting porn worked on its own, you would already be free. Resource: The Last Relapse: https://thelastrelapsebook.com/ Timestamps: 0:00 Intro: is Jesus necessary for freedom? 1:28 Free copy of The Last Relapse 1:52 Core value: "prioritize freedom" 4:36 Sobriety vs. freedom (Michael's story) 7:55 Galatians 5:1: why Jesus set us free 9:57 Can you be sober without Jesus? Freedom without Christ? 11:38 Prioritizing intimacy with God 13:05 Story: teaching my wife to drive, and becoming like who you spend time with 15:59 2 Peter 1:4: partakers of the divine nature 17:07 Purpose of spiritual disciplines 18:14 Matthew 7: "I never knew you" 21:13 The big three (Word, worship, prayer) and the little three (fasting, meditation, stillness) 25:50 Recap 26:23 Q&A begins with Oskar 27:28 Q1 (David): personal effort vs. surrender 31:05 Q2 (Caleb): shame-based to grace-based identity 36:02 Q3: practical ways to deepen connection with God 39:52 Q4: finding joy in God, and "nice guy syndrome" 45:12 Q5: letting God father you without a father figure 48:09 Outro and book offer