Nate Larkin – Protecting my ReputationVideo provided by: I Am Second
If I asked your friends to describe you, what would they say? And if I asked you to describe yourself, would your answers match up with those of your friends? Consistency in character is certainly no easy feat; it is difficult to keep up one’s persona especially when there is no one watching. Pastor Nate Larkin lived a double life — despite a floundering marriage and a growing inclination to feed his porn addiction, he worked long and hard to protect the reputation that he so carefully built. He knew that the moment his scandal broke out, his ministry would be finished. Little did he know that the trials he was going through were opportunities to build up his character.
Take the next step:
Learn how God can help with your porn addiction
What are the effects of pornography?
Do you need someone to talk to about your struggle with porn?
Take a look at your life. How would you describe it?
Contented? Rushed? Exciting? Stressful? Moving forward? Holding back? For many of us it’s all of the above at times. If stress dominates your life, you could be looking to move passed those situations. It’s hard to cope with stress when you can’t put the past behind you. In the Bible, it says that Jesus came to make all things new. What would your life look like if you could start over with a clean slate?
Are you ready to choose a different path?
Jesus came, and died, and rose again to wipe the slate clean. He was scourged, tormented, and finally nailed on the cross for humankind’s sins – this was all part of God’s plan to bring you and I back into relationship with him. God wants to be a part of your life … in fact, not just a part of your life, but wants you to live in full fellowship with Him. Is this the life for you?
God loves you and created you to know Him personally. He longs for you to have the kind of full life you were always meant to have. So why do people not experience this kind of life? People are lost and separated from God, so we cannot know Him personally or experience His love. Because of our sins, we justly deserve judgement. But God provided his Son, Jesus Christ, as the only provision for our sin. He died in our place, then he rose from the dead.
We must individually trust Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know God personally, receive forgiveness for our sins, and experience His love: “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12)
We trust God through faith. You can trust Christ right now by faith through prayer! (Prayer is just talking with God.) God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer:
Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.
Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?
Millions of people don’t have access to clean water…who cares whether you watch porn?
Hi Yosh, I don’t think it is Nate Larkin’s intent to minimize the suffering of people in need. He just wants to be real about his struggle and how Jesus has made a difference in his life. There are a lot of people who have an abundance of clean water but are trapped in the cesspool of addiction to pornography. They need the love of Jesus as much as the people without the clean water. Let’s bring that love to all people in need! Jesus will help each of us to do our part according to His plan.
Good thing our Lord can and will forgive us all sins and wash us clean ‘if we sincerely ask Him’.
This world is full of nothing but waste, including waste of our minds. Glad you have been able to get passed this horrid addiction and the Holy Spirit took hold of you like He did Paul . Thank God you had people willing to stand with you and walk you through this.
We all have some kind of addiction but when it is a sin we must try to find out how to get away from anything or anyone who is encouraging the sinful actions.
May we find good things to feast our minds , hearts and eyes on and get rid of the sin we find all all around us and may we say as Jesus did when tempted forty days in the wilderness ” Get thee behind me Satan!”.
Amen to your prayer, AeKatrina! I believe that anything that takes us away from Jesus as our first love is a sin, and that includes any addiction.
Thank you, Nate, for sharing your story. And most of all, thank You, Jesus, for transforming Nate’s heart and working in the hearts of all of us who have become conquerors – and all who will – of life-controlling problems and addictions, of sin in our lives, so that we can place You on the throne! Amen.