Latest / REZ CHURCH Podcast / Is the Bible Accurate and Trustworthy?/Is the Bible Actually God's Word?

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Is the Bible Accurate and Trustworthy?/Is the Bible Actually God's Word? · REZ CHURCH Podcast

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All right, One of the things I would want to maintain is that
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Christians aren't going to make any headway by trying to split
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the difference between faith and unbelief.
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If you have unbelief and faith and you split the difference,
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you just get a muddled form of faith or a Christian.
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What about? This idea of Jesus Christopher,
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you don't buy it at all, I take it.
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Well, I don't think he was the son of God.
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He don't, no, I don't think his mother was.
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I don't think his mother was a virgin and I don't think he died
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and was resurrected. But it's also something that can
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humble you if you think about it correctly.
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It it makes you. It helps put everything in
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perspective. Good morning.
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How are we doing today? Man, it's good to see you.
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Happy Memorial Day weekend. I think, I think we can say that
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we get to celebrate a lot of stuff because of a lot of people
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who sacrificed. And many of you have family
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history of people who have done that and given the greatest
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sacrifice for our country. And so that we can actually open
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this Bible and not have an edited version of it and not
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have to argue about whether or not we can read it with fear of
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someone sitting outside saying no too far.
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Can't talk about that. And that's one of the freedoms
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we get to. So beyond your cookout that
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you're going to have probably tomorrow, just remember that
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that's actually about, you know, the the freedom to discuss
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stuff, to disagree. I can disagree with my
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government and not fear that they're going to come and show
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up in my house and kill me. Amen.
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And that's, that's a good thing. And I think that's one of the
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freedoms we get to celebrate on the subject of apologetics, when
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we talk about being able to not only articulate the faith that
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you have, but the ability to give a defense for it.
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And that's really what our series has been in the last
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several weeks called liar, lunatic, or Lord.
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And I'll just be blunt. I wanted to outsource this
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message. I did not want to do it.
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And God, I think really wanted me to do it.
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So I'm I'm going to do my best. This makes me nervous what we're
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going to talk about today. If you've been paying attention
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to the God and where we're at, you kind of know where we're at.
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It's that Sunday and it fell on Memorial Day week in which may
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be the grace of God. I don't know, because you know,
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you're all you're all the people who couldn't go to Pismo and
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we're really glad you're here anyway.
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But I'll I'll be blunt. This is personal.
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I've been nervous all week and prayerful and and tactical in my
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study. I feel like this is one of those
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areas where we've got to be very gracious, but we've got to be
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very clear and getting it right. And so I've read everything you
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can find articles for what we're talking about, the art, the
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arguments against that being the wrong view of what we're talking
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about in the word. Done everything I could to
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study. I probably put in about 27 hours
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into this message this week, which is pretty abnormal.
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It's about 12 to 15 more than I'm normally hitting on an
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average week of study and prep time leading up to a message.
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But I really wanted to read everything I could and study
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everything I could. And I want to remind you of the
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tone in which this entire conversation has been housed
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while we're doing this series comes out of first Peter chapter
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3, verse 15. And if we can in a second, can I
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get some more house lights so they can read their Bibles and
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so I can see them? Because right now you all look
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like you're just in a dark room. And it scares me.
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I want to see if you're gnashing your teeth at me.
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I'd love to actually be able to see that it says this first.
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Peter 315 In your hearts, honour Christ the Lord is holy.
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Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you
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for a reason, for the hope that is in you.
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Yet do this with gentleness and respect.
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So two things, we are to give reason for the hope that we have
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and we are to be respectful and gentle in the way that we
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articulate that. In fact, throughout this
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message, I hope if you feel any kind of harsh tones there in the
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moments where I'm talking about the church and any kind of
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gracious tones are in the moments we're talking about
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those who may not consider themselves a part of the church.
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And so today I want to talk to you about the Christian
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Christianity and the LGBTQ community.
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So Christianity and the LGBTQ community, and in particularly
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this perhaps is probably the issue of controversy of our
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time. It is an ethical issue that is
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personal in that we have family and friends and people that we
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love and care for and would willingly do anything for.
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Honestly, people who are better human beings than many of us
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that are in this room, who are incredible philanthropist,
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incredible contributors to our society, who identify within
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this community. And so we we have this ethical
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issue coming up. And I want to be very clear that
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what I'm not doing today is trying to discern the goodness
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or lack of goodness within a human being.
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This is not a debate of good or bad.
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Are they good or are they bad people?
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That, that is not the debate that we are having.
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In fact, I would submit to you that for many of my own personal
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relationships with people from this community, many of them are
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better than any of us ever thought about being as far as
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human beings and philanthropists and humanists.
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OK, Like way better, way better. We're tracking so far.
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What we are trying to discern is what does the Bible actually
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teach and say, which is actually one of the things that's under
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attack. And there's a lot of discussion
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around trying to essentially get to the real meaning or revision,
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what has been the traditional meaning of what the Bible
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teaches. So this is a personal issue.
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I acknowledge that it is an issue that is usually addressed
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in our conversations through lots of feelings and emotions.
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But today, what I want to actually have is a scriptural
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conversation as best as we can. And it's something that this
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week I've been extremely prayerful, nervous, and detailed
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in my study to prayerfully prepare for today.
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And So what I want to do is break this up into two parts.
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And this is probably going to be the most apologetic sermon we've
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done in the series so far, because I actually want to teach
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you how to have gracious and kind conversations about what
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the Bible teaches and doesn't teach.
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So I'm going to start out by talking about the mistakes the
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church has made that I think have led to the cultural
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landscape that we're in. And then I want to look at the
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common disagreements or arguments towards the
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traditional held view in most churches around the country and
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around the world when it comes to things that are taught in the
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Bible and what they mean within the landscape of today.
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And SO2 parts, trying to spend about 10 to 15 minutes in the
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first part, bulk of our time on the latter part, looking at some
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of the defenses that are there. Are we tracking?
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All right? With that in mind, let me just
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go into the extreme. Some of the extremes that we've
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seen within the church that have added to the problems, that not
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helped with the problems, number one is involved, excuse me,
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mistakes. The first two of these involve
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extremes, extreme stances the church has taken that have not
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helped the conversation. 2 extremes, number one.
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The first extreme is in how we speak of sexual ethic issues in
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public. The church has gotten it wrong
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here because the church is often either silent or arrogant.
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We either say nothing or we're the bullhorn.
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We're silent or mute, saying nothing, meaning we try to
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minimize what the Bible does say because we don't want to have to
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deal with its tension that it brings into the room and into
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the conversation. We call for love and
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peacekeeping without without considering seriously the
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warnings of the Bible teaching on issues that matter enough for
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them to be recorded in Scripture.
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I wanna say that last part again.
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We we try to keep some kind of weird peace.
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So we avoid it. We ignore it.
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And in doing so we ignore things that the Bible thought was
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important enough for them to be recorded in Scripture for us to
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have to work through and talk about the tension of it.
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Or the other extreme when it comes to Speaking of sexual
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ethic issues in public is the church has been the other side
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of it is we either been silent or we've been arrogant, arrogant
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and boisterous. Meaning we are bullhorn
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noisemakers who with no relationship, no empathy, no
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compassion, no desire to actually study the scriptures
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and reason through them. No desire to actually teach them
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in a helpful way or point others to Jesus.
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Carelessly stand up and create divisiveness that is not derived
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from the Bible or Jesus, but out of the desire to prove a point
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over actually making a difference.
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And so we have this extreme culturally where we've got a of
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people that are completely silent and a group of people
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that are extremely loud. And the group that's extremely
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loud all of a sudden represents everybody when it comes to the
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Christian faith. And that, my friends, cannot
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happen. There has to be a voice that
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fights for the truth of the scriptures and the love that the
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Savior called us to carry the message with.
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This is something we must get right, not just in a issue, but
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in all of these issues that we deal with as we confront a world
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that is looking for truth. The second extreme that we've
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dealt in that has not helped the situation is the extreme and how
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we relationally engage people from the LGBTQ community.
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SO1 extreme is how we talk about sexual ethics.
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That's silence and arrogance. The other extreme is how we've
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engaged people in relationship from this community and that is
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the 2 extremes of affirmation or alienation.
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So the the idea is you affirm everything and say nothing is
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wrong or you have no community with them at all, or you
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alienate them and isolate them. Which means there's no
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opportunity for a relationship, community and gospel
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conversations to actually take place.
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So the affirmation side, essentially what I've seen them
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do is they choose to minimize the authority of Scripture,
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revision it or ignore it in order to affirm something that
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we are sure based off a feeling and not the word of God that
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Jesus himself would affirm. So the arguments usually go,
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well, it's a different culture and time, as if this community
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didn't exist back in Jesus time, as if there's as if all the
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sudden this is a 20th century invention.
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When in actuality, the struggles we have are the struggles we've
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always had are the desires we have, are desires that have been
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imprinted throughout generations, overtime, and
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throughout the years. So we have affirmation.
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The other side is alienation. Alienation is dismissing the
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LGBTQ community because of a truth that we proclaim with no
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compassion or desire to actually bridge into and understand the
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hurts, struggles, and pains that they, as image bearers of God,
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bear. It's proclaiming that,
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proclaiming the truth with no desire to actually experience
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the Holy Spirit's work in it to bring any kind of
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reconciliation. So there's been two extremes
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that the church has erred in. Arrogance and alienation and
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silence. Or, excuse me, affirmation,
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alienation and silence and arrogance.
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Both wrong ways of addressing this topic.
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Which then brings me to the third problem within the church.
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And this is a human problem. But we can absolutely
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acknowledge it within the church, and that is consistent
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hypocrisy. Consistent hypocrisy to point
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out other sins and not our own, to not repent, to make it
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abnormal, to repent, to make it abnormal to acknowledge your
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sin, to put on what we call church clothes and the church
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face and that like everything is going well and to be passive in
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our devotion to God. Consistent hypocrisy In Matthew
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Chapter 7 versus 3 to 5 Jesus says this.
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Why do you see the spec that is in your brothers eye but do not
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sit notice the log that is in your own eye?
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Or how can you say to your brother, let me take that spec
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out of your own eye when there is a log still in your own eye.
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Let me be very clear about this. Any time that we've in recent
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years been confronted with someone who's had an ethical or
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moral failure, the first thing that I do with our elders and
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leaders is I get them in the room and my first words to them
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before we say anything is repent.
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Repent like we're seeing their sin publicly, but your sin is
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still present in private. So before it becomes public,
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let's put it out there publicly. Let's make it known in the world
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that we ourselves are sinners in need of a Savior.
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And in that way we can portray that it's OK to be at fault and
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in the presence of God at fault and within the community of God
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imperfect and still walking amongst God's people.
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So our first step is always repentance before we go and
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confront someone else. So many people read that they're
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like Amen. So you call your sin and you
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leave me alone. But that's not what the text
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actually teaches. What the text says in verse 5
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is, you hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye and
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then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your
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brother's eye. What is it saying?
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There is an accountability that I have to you that if I see you
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professing to be a follower of Jesus and walking in sin and not
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calling it sin or ignoring it or dismissing it, I have an
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obligation to check myself and to put a mirror up through the
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Scripture and look into my own life.
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And then through doing that, humbling myself to the authority
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of Scripture and the presence of God, and then to humbly and
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lovingly confront you in your sin.
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And this is a practice that does not happen in church in America.
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You would rather them die. Then you have to have a
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difficult conversation with many of them.
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Well, this just do what you feel.
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Do what you think is right. So we have extremes in how we've
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spoken on the issues. We have consistent hypocrisy
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that is risen in the church where we highlight other sin
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while minimizing ours, which all that does is make us arrogant
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clinging gongs according to First Corinthians chapter 13 and
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the scriptures call us before confronting our brother with the
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scriptures that we first confront ourselves.
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So let me be very clear about Jesus in this story.
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Jesus befriends sinners. That's Mark 213 and 17.
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We see that as he eats with tax collectors and sinners.
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Jesus has compassion on sinners. That's Matthew 936.
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Jesus loves sinners. That's John 1513.
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Every single one of us are sinners.
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That's Romans 323 And within all of that Jesus calls all in sin
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to repentance. That's John 811.
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So here's the tension. Jesus loves you, He loves you,
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but in relationship with him, he calls you to a better way.
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Now, you never think that the way is better whenever you're
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walking in something that's familiar or comfortable or
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that's an actual desire of your flesh.
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But the Bible is clear that Jesus's love is both love and
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confrontation. It is love and a call to
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something greater and it's not a call to something greater that
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is derived from your own power. It is derived from the
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indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is through the same power
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that raised Jesus from the dead that fills us that then empowers
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us to walk out what Christ has called us to walk out.
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Now let me be very clear. I am shocked at how simple I am
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and still filled with the Holy Spirit.
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It is shocking to me how passive I can be about the things of God
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and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
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So let me be very clear to you, I'm not saying that the power of
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the Holy Spirit means snap. Everything like Thanos's glove
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is taken care of. Anything but that.
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What I am saying is that Jesus love and Jesus call to holiness
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does not lead you inadequately under sourced or underpowered to
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take on that journey. You will fail, you will make
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mistakes, there will be simple desires that will not go away.
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The Bible doesn't promise that When you pray a prayer or people
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pray of you, all of a sudden magically all of your sinful
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desires go away. I am still shockingly sinful,
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but I am filled with the presence of God and he is
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empowered and called me, though it is difficult and sometimes
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contrary to my first nature, the nature of my flesh, He still
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calls me to this new creation to be in the person that He's
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called me, to be laid out by the Scriptures and empowered by the
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Holy Spirit. So let me take you through 4
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common objections when it comes to this conversation that come
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up. If you say you're Christian and
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someone's looking to make a point and some of this culture
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has been created by us and we've got to own that.
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Four questions that come up. And I want to talk with you
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through how we answer these questions with kindness and
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grace. Number one, one of the first
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objections to the Bible's teaching, the traditional view,
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which is that the Bible teaches that the practice of any kind of
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sexual, that the practice of any kind of sex outside of
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heterosexual marriage between one man and one woman is sin.
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Let me be clear. The Bible teaches that any kind
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of sexual arousal or any kind of sexual interaction with someone
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who is not your spouse, one man, one wife, laid out in Genesis
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chapter 2 that that is sent so quickly.
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We can go back to every single one of your wedding days and
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know that though you were white, there was a different story that
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could have been told. OK, got got quiet on there.
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OK, here's some of the objections to that.
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Number one, people will say, well, there's a lack of
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Scripture addressing this issue, or Jesus never addressed the
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issue directly, so why are you making a big deal out of
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something that's infrequently mentioned throughout Scripture
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or Jesus never directly talked about himself?
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A couple things there. OK, every time I've ever heard
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someone say that Scripture doesn't address this frequently,
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it usually goes something like this.
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Well, it's only written in the Bible 6 times.
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So let me be very clear. Anytime someone begins an
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apologetic with it's only written in the Bible, fill in
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the blank. That should immediately raise a
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red flag. Here's why the But the
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scripture, whether it's mentioned once or 100 times, is
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given to us as authoritative and is to hold with us a clearview
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of who God is that's revealed to us.
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So to dismiss or overlook a scripture is tied to the on the
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basis of its frequency and it's mentioning within the Bible or
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lack thereof is absolutely a terrible way to start.
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We're already trying to revision and edit Scripture.
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We're already trying to go, well, he mentioned money this
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many times and he mentioned sexual ethics this many times.
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So if he only mentioned sexual ethics this many times, the
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money this many times, I'm going to go work on the money thing
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and we'll just leave this one alone until you know, when Jesus
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comes back. It's not how it works.
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It's not how it works. Now the six passages that are
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described are called by a lot in the LGBTQ community, the clubber
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verses the verses that people use as Christians to beat with.
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Because we've not been surgical, we've instead been careless in
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the way that we've taught and looked at them.
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And we also haven't noted that in almost every single one of
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them, it mentions a plethora of sexual sins beyond same sex
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attraction in the text that we conveniently ignore and continue
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to be promiscuous in our own life, which gives you no, which
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gives you no footing our founding to have a conversation
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with people when you're unrepentant about the sexual sin
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that you're hiding in your own closet.
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What about Jesus? Jesus doesn't mention
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homosexuality when he's here. He doesn't talk about it,
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doesn't call out to be a sin. That's a lie.
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Let me answer that a couple ways #1 Jesus did address sexual
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ethics, and in doing so, He addressed all of it in Matthew 5
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and in Matthew 19. In fact, in Matthew 19, if you
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look at it, Jesus says this. He answered.
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Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning
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made them male and female? Where does that language come
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from? Genesis.
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Where? Genesis 2?
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OK continue with me or how can you say to your brother or
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excuse me not there verse 5 and said therefore a man shall leave
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his father and and his mother and hold fast to his wife and
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the two shall become where does that come from?
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What is Jesus affirming? The design of marriage and the
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design of sex. Sex was created to be uniquely
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shared within the constraints of heterosexual marriage.
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Now, immediately. Everyone gets uncomfortable in
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the room whenever we talk about that.
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Why? Because that has been disputed
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and argued against over and over again.
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And then the argument comes back.
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Well, Jesus never addresses it when actually he does.
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You can't dismiss it. I understand.
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Listen to me, this is personal to me.
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I have friends that I love deeply, family that I love
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deeply, and we have these conversations, but I do them no
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disservice by trying to PC or politically correct Jesus and
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give them some sort of pseudo savior I have to calmly and
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gently walk through. I understand this is your desire
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and understand that you believe Jesus didn't mention it so that
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means it's not a big deal. But he actually did and that's a
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lie that you read. In the book Jesus addresses
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marriage and in doing so he addresses all sexual ethics and
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and practices. In the text he addresses Genesis
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2IN doing so he affirms the Old Testament teaching about the
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design of human sexuality within the context of marriage between
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one man and one woman. The second thing in this
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response of well, the Scripture doesn't address this a lot or
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Jesus never addresses the issue directly.
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The second thing I like to say is this, Jesus is a member of
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the Godhead. So even if you don't want to
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come with me to agreement that Matthew 19 is Jesus addressing
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sexual ethics, you can't separate Jesus from the things
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that He said in the Gospels and the things that are taught in
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the rest of Scripture. To do so is to make an argument
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that somehow Jesus was in disagreement with the Father
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about what was taught in the Old Testament and the Spirit was
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what was written after his resurrection in the New
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Testament. There's perfect harmony here
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between Father, Son, and Spirit. Meaning whenever the Old
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Testament was being written, Jesus was there and active, and
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Jesus was there and active. Whenever we get Ephesians or
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Corinthians or any of the other books that we read, that it's
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not outside of the knowledge and authority of Jesus that the
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Bible was written. It was within the authority of
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the trial and God that we get the scriptures that we have.
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So to make this argument that somehow by Jesus, not implicitly
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without you having to work through Matthew 19 implicitly
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just writing it out for us, meaning that it's somehow OK,
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It's basically saying that Jesus is somehow greater or lesser to
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that of the rest of the Trinity, which folds the entire Christian
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faith in on his head. The last thing I like to say in
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this argument in response to those that bring this up is
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this. The Bible is a book of many
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books, but of 1 main story. The Bible is a book of many
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books but of 1 main story. So you cannot isolate the
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teachings of Jesus from the teachings of the Old Testament
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or the apostles of the New Testament.
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Because it is through the Old Testament that we get to the
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gospel in the presence of Jesus walking in history and in time
22:52
in the New Testament. And it's through his
22:53
resurrection and ascension that we then get the early works of
22:56
the church and the writings that lead us all the way up to
23:00
Revelation, which is the return of Christ when he comes back to
23:03
set everything that is broken right once again.
23:07
So these are arguments that though they may sound good on
23:09
the surface, you as a follower of Jesus should be able to
23:12
gently and kindly be able to ask to answer and respond.
23:15
Yes, Jesus addresses this. Yes, it is a big deal.
23:18
And no, it being mentioned only 6 times does not minimize its
23:21
authority over our life as a call for us to actually follow.
23:28
Do you know why that argument has so many, so much teeth?
23:32
Because in all the other things that are mentioned over and over
23:34
again in scripture, many of us in the church don't have heard
23:37
them and we don't practice them. So like, it talks more about
23:43
money. What are you doing with your
23:44
money? I mean, nice car, nice shot,
23:45
nice RV. Good to see that you're being
23:48
charitable to the poor. So all of a sudden your
23:52
malpractice becomes their reason for their continued malpractice.
24:01
I'm telling you that the only path forward with any kind of
24:03
voice, with any kind of reason in this conversation is going to
24:06
be your genuine devotion to God and your genuine repentance
24:09
before him. Because if we can't get, if we
24:11
can't normalize repentance here, then we cannot expect it to ever
24:14
become, to ever see revival out there, to ever see people who
24:16
are far from God coming in to a Savior who can receive us with
24:19
all of our. The second big argument that
24:25
comes up usually deals with Romans 1.
24:28
Romans 1 is one of those 6 verses.
24:30
I want to read it for you. But in Romans 1 verses 24 to 32,
24:34
Paul writes this. Therefore God gave them up up in
24:38
the lust of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonouring of
24:42
their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth
24:45
of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather
24:49
than the Creator, who is blessed forever.
24:51
Amen. For this reason, God gave them
24:53
up to dishonorable passions for their women exchange natural
24:56
relations for those that are contrary in nature.
24:58
And the men likewise give up natural relations with women and
25:01
will consume a passion for one another.
25:03
Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in
25:06
themselves the due penalty for their error.
25:09
And since they did not see it fit to acknowledge God, God gave
25:12
them up to a debase mind to do what ought not be done.
25:15
He allowed them not to feel or experience conviction anymore.
25:18
Perhaps this is one of the graces of God.
25:20
And the common grace that we experience is that God at times,
25:23
whenever you refuse to acknowledge sin, a sin will give
25:25
you over to that sin so that you live in it without any kind of
25:28
conviction that wells up inside of you or cause you to anything
25:31
greater that the Bible would call greater through you.
25:34
And so you end up just ignoring it and living your entire life
25:37
blind to what God's actually called you to.
25:39
Verse 20. They were filled with all manner
25:41
of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.
25:43
They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.
25:46
They are gossip, slanders, haters of God, insolent,
25:49
haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
25:52
foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
25:54
Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice
25:58
such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give
26:01
approval to those who practice. And let me be very clear about
26:03
the context of Romans 1. Romans 1 is a big mirror that
26:07
catches everybody who is not Jesus in a moral conundrum.
26:15
So if you look at Romans 1 and you take that excerpt and that's
26:18
all you read and that's all you walk away with, you come out
26:21
arrogant but not holy. Paul's entire thesis from Romans
26:26
1/2 is to get us to Romans 323. Romans 1 and 2 is to say no
26:30
matter what your ethnic background is and no matter what
26:32
your sin desire is, you are all at the end of the day sinners in
26:36
need of a Savior. Romans 323 for all of sin and
26:38
fall short of the glory of God. Can we Amen that Amen.
26:44
So we're all on the equal playing field by the end of
26:48
Romans 323. That is context within that.
26:50
Now, here's some of the things that people try to do with
26:52
Romans One, to try and revision it.
26:54
And this is happening today in many churches.
26:56
Number one, I've heard this argument, read it in a book.
26:59
Paul is not addressing, and this is the argument.
27:01
Paul is not addressing monogamous homosexual practice,
27:03
but pederasty. What Paul is doing, it's the
27:08
argument he's not addressing like one man and one man being
27:12
married and living faithfully with each other and enjoying
27:15
that relationship and serving God together.
27:17
That's not what God is or what Paul and God ultimately through
27:21
Paul is addressing. Instead, he's addressing
27:23
something called pederasty. And I've seen this argument and
27:25
here's what pederasty was. It's very gross, but essentially
27:28
pederasty within the Roman culture was where a young 11 or
27:32
12 year old boy will be paired with an adult male to learn
27:36
about what it means to be a man in Roman society and that man
27:39
would then take advantage. This is pedophilia of that child
27:42
and would rape that child over and over again.
27:47
Now the art. This is absolutely condemnable
27:49
and disgusting and we can all agree to that.
27:51
Correct, But this is not what Paul is actually mentioning in
27:56
the text off of 2 clear context clues #1 he doesn't just mention
28:00
men but he also mentions women in pederasti was only practice
28:06
in between men and boys. It was not practice women to
28:08
women culturally. So to say that he's addressing
28:11
that issue is malpractice of the text because you're not seeing
28:15
that he also addresses it on either side of same sex
28:17
attraction. The second problem here, and
28:22
this is a big revisionist movement that's going on is they
28:24
try to say, well, that's what he was addressing when he's talking
28:26
about men and boys, but the word in Greek is men to men.
28:33
Two consulting, consenting adults who join into this
28:37
because of the desires that they have for each other.
28:42
So clearly put this as blunt as I can be.
28:45
It's just not there in the text. The, the, the out to give some
28:50
kind of out or to make some kind of it's not there in Romans.
28:53
One, you don't have to like it. It doesn't matter what we
28:57
necessarily think as far as opinions of it.
28:59
It's, it's just not there. I've studied it, I've read
29:01
everything I can read about it. I've read it in Greek, I've read
29:04
it in English. I read across multiple English
29:06
translate. You cannot get around what it's
29:09
saying. The second big argument, and
29:12
this is even a bigger stretch I think with Romans 1 is some will
29:16
argue that Paul was trying to directly call out an individual
29:20
and not call out others, that this is really in context just
29:24
Paul calling out one person. The problem is Romans 1 is a
29:28
mirror for all people and in other areas you have no
29:33
precedent where Paul is calling someone out where he doesn't
29:35
mention them by name. For instance, when Paul calls
29:38
out Peter in Galatians 2 chapter 2 verses 11 to 13, guess what he
29:43
writes in Galatians 211 to 13? Peter, like Paul wasn't very
29:50
southern. He wasn't passive.
29:52
He wasn't in the bless your heart cultural of going well,
29:55
you know, like I, I want to call this out, but I don't want to
29:58
call them out by like, that's not what happened.
30:00
The Bible. In the Bible, when they call
30:01
someone out, they wrote it in the letter.
30:05
So in order for you to make that argument, Paul would have to
30:07
break from his entire writing style that we have samples of
30:10
over the rest of the New Testament #1 and, and the
30:14
argument usually is something like this.
30:16
It's usually, well, what Paul was actually talking about was
30:19
an emperor named Gaius Caligula who reigned 4 years, who did,
30:22
who is known for explicit sexual misconduct.
30:25
And Paul is saying that this is who he's.
30:27
And some are saying this is who Paul is calling out, that he's
30:30
not calling out other people. The problem is there's no
30:32
precedent for in the scripture, and the argument just falls in
30:35
on its head. It takes more fate to jump there
30:38
than it does to read the Scripture and understand it at
30:40
face value. So you have Romans one.
30:44
It's one of the big objections to the traditional view, and
30:46
it's one that we need to be able to defend humbly and graciously.
30:52
The third big objection that comes up frequently is this.
30:55
I call it The Beatles theology. It's if two people are in love,
30:58
then shouldn't we let it be? All right, just let it be now,
31:04
stepping out of the what we're talking about at the moment,
31:07
right and same sex attraction, let me first just let me tell
31:10
you why I don't believe in let it be philosophy on just about
31:12
anything that comes from a human's mouth.
31:15
How many of you trust when your middle schooler comes home and
31:17
tells you that they're in love, that this is going to last?
31:22
But they'll tell you up and down, I'm in love with them.
31:25
This is this is it, you know, forever.
31:26
And they're up there in the room writing down, you know, J Rod
31:30
and Bon qui qui forever, like over and over again, right?
31:36
Because you know that within a few days of school drama, that
31:39
relationship will go from forever to tomorrow.
31:44
Now, let me be very clear to you.
31:46
There are many people who come into my office wanting to get
31:49
married and I'll look at them the same way that you look at
31:50
middle schoolers and high schoolers.
31:53
Why? Because I've been around you
31:55
long enough to learn that you're going to stand up here at this
31:57
altar on your wedding day and you're going to start going,
32:00
man, I love you more than the moon and the stars and money
32:02
and, and it doesn't matter what happens, girl, even if you get
32:05
chunky, I'm going to love you forever.
32:09
My love for you is unbreakable. It's unshakeable.
32:12
It's unlike any other love in human history. 3 weeks later,
32:15
you're in my office and you're like, I don't, I don't love her.
32:19
I think I made a really big mistake.
32:21
So forgive me if I'm a little cynical whenever you tell me
32:24
that your desire is unshakeable because I've seen human desires.
32:28
This is a human problem. Shake left and right and up and
32:32
down all over the place #2 within this argument, let me be
32:37
very clear. Many people will then recite an
32:40
argument or defense of this for Matthew chapter 22, verses 36 to
32:45
40. And it's this teacher which is
32:48
the greatest commandment in the law.
32:50
And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all
32:53
your heart, with all your mind. Excuse me?
32:56
With all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
32:58
mind. This is the greatest and 1st
33:00
commandment. A second is like it you shall
33:04
love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend
33:09
the law and the prophets. So people be like Jesus just
33:13
said love. People just got to be loving.
33:18
It's a very interesting argument and what many people think is
33:21
that somehow the commandments or the Old Testament law gets
33:24
dismissed in the statement Jesus made.
33:26
But what he actually does is he sums up the entire 10
33:29
commandments in 2 verses or in a verse 2 statements.
33:34
Vertically love the Lord your God deals with commandments 1 to
33:37
4. You shall love.
33:39
No, you should have no other gods before me.
33:41
You shall make no idols. You shall not take the name of
33:43
the Lord in vain and keep the Sabbath day and make it holy.
33:46
That's the vertical commandment. So what is what is Jesus
33:48
essentially saying? Well, what's most important is
33:50
commandments one through 4 and then right on the heels of that
33:54
five through 10, because five through 10 deal with
33:57
horizontally you loving your neighbor.
33:59
What's 5? Honor your father and mother.
34:01
That's the moment every single one of us realized we were
34:03
sinners. You shall not murder.
34:09
You should not commit adultery. You should not steal.
34:11
You should not bear false witness against your neighbor.
34:13
You should not covet. Now how does this relate to same
34:17
sex attraction and being loving? It relates because though you
34:21
may have a desire or I have a desire, it doesn't excuse it
34:25
from the ethical law that God has given us.
34:28
You can't revision it, rewrite it, or write it outside of it.
34:34
You can't get around that. What's So the question we have
34:37
to ask yourself is this is can Jesus be loving and disagree
34:41
with me? Can Jesus be loving and call
34:49
what I desire sinful? These are hard questions because
34:56
you're trying what the key is. The key in the entire argument
34:59
in the discussion is you have to separate Jesus from the ethics
35:03
of the Bible in order for any of this to be able to stand.
35:09
Or you have to deal with the fact that Jesus love is the kind
35:12
of love that sees you in your desires that the Bible calls sin
35:15
and still comes and dodged for you anyway.
35:20
You have to deal with the fact that Jesus love sees you in your
35:24
faults and still chooses to invite you into community with
35:27
Him, sees you in your imperfections and still invites
35:29
you to follow Him, sees you in your doubt and still commissions
35:32
you. Though you are a hypocrite and
35:34
you were someone who falls short daily to, they'll still be
35:37
empowered by the Holy Spirit to go into the nations and proclaim
35:39
the gospel that is outside of us.
35:41
And it's good news for all of us.
35:48
So if two people are in love, then shouldn't we just let it B.
35:52
Well, the the problem is, is the scripture will call us in love
35:56
to teach the Bible. And that's problematic for some
36:01
of us that want to revision this and separate Jesus from its
36:03
ethics. The final objection is one of
36:07
the biggest ones that has a lot of credence on college campuses
36:09
right now. It was made famous in an episode
36:13
of The West Wing. Anybody ever seen The West Wing?
36:20
And it's essentially this question of why do you pick and
36:23
choose? Essentially, it's well, you're
36:27
going to highlight that part of the Bible and bring it up to
36:30
come after me, but you then ignore that part of the Bible or
36:34
you don't adhere to that part of the Bible.
36:36
So if you're going to ignore that part of the Bible, but
36:37
you're not going to know this part of the Bible, like why do
36:39
you pick and choose? Basically, it's a how did, how
36:41
dare you sit on a moral high horse and that like you can tell
36:44
me what's right and wrong. And this argument since first
36:50
year freshman in college, stuttering and stammering back.
36:53
And it all started at the end this episode of The West Wing.
36:56
And it's an episode where the president walks in and there's
36:59
this conservative reporter who's known for making conservative
37:04
thoughts and ideas and very terrible ways on an
37:07
argumentative and unhelpful ways on radio walks in.
37:10
Everyone stands up, but they make sure that she, this
37:12
character is sitting down. She idly enough has a southern
37:15
accent. I was offended at that, right?
37:21
So she stays seated. The president comes in and
37:25
recognizes her, ask her her name.
37:27
They have an interaction. He asked her if he she believes
37:31
that homosexuality is a sin. She quotes Leviticus 18.
37:36
And then the president goes off on this rent.
37:39
I want to ask you a couple of questions while I had you here.
37:42
I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery.
37:44
A sanction in Exodus 21 Seven. She's a Georgetown sophomore.
37:48
She speaks fluent Italian. Always clear the table when it
37:51
was her turn will be a good price for her.
37:56
While thinking about that, can I ask another, my chief of staff,
37:59
Leo McGarry insist on working on the Sabbath?
38:02
Exodus 35 two. Clearly it says we he should be
38:06
put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill
38:09
him myself or is it OK to call the police?
38:12
Here's one that's really important because we've got a
38:15
lot of sports fans in this town. Touching the skin of a dead pig
38:18
makes 1 unclean Leviticus 11/7. If they promised to wear gloves.
38:22
Can the Washington Redskins still play football?
38:25
Can Notre Dame? Can West Point?
38:27
Does the whole town really have to be together to stole my
38:30
brother John for planting different crops side by side?
38:33
Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing
38:36
garments made of two different threads?
38:39
Think about those questions, would you?
38:41
And immediately this gave ammo for the LGBTQ community to come
38:47
back and fire in an answer in a way that most Christians,
38:50
literally, you hear you have that come up to a especially a
38:52
freshman on a college campus. Usually the answer is so yeah,
39:03
yeah. And I don't really know how to
39:06
answer that question now. Let me walk you through how you
39:12
can graciously answer this question.
39:17
This comes out of Leviticus 1822.
39:19
That's what's highlighted. Why do you pick and choose?
39:22
That's where we see if you'll flip there with me.
39:24
Let me flip there really quick. Genesis X is Leviticus Numbers.
39:29
There we go, the Vicus 1822. This is one of the six that were
39:35
originally talked about. They're known as the club
39:37
reverses because we've been careless in the way that we've
39:39
taught them. And honestly, sometimes they've
39:41
been taught well and they're still not received because
39:43
sometimes it doesn't matter what you do when it comes to speaking
39:45
the truth. When we're confronted with the
39:47
Word of God, we either repent or rerun.
39:50
That's human nature, every single one of us.
39:53
When I'm confronted with the Word of God, I repent or I run.
39:56
It's one of the two. Leviticus 1822 it says this.
40:02
You shall not lie with a male as with a woman.
40:04
It is an abomination. So that's the quote, that's the
40:08
line there that usually leads into the pick and choose
40:11
argument and discussion. So how do you address this?
40:13
The first thing I do is I kindly point out their hypocrisy.
40:18
And this is you got to be careful about this.
40:20
But I point out to them, OK, you're saying I pick and choose,
40:23
but let me ask you this question.
40:25
Leviticus chapter 19, verse 11 says this.
40:30
You shall not steal. You shall not deal falsely.
40:32
You should not lie to one another.
40:34
Do you agree that those are good things?
40:36
If the answer is yes, then you pick and choose to.
40:39
Verse 12 You should not swear by my name falsely and so profane
40:42
the name of the Lord your God. I'm the Lord.
40:44
You should not oppress your neighbor or rob him.
40:47
Do you agree that that's good? If so, you just pick and chose.
40:53
The wages of a higher worker should not remain with you all
40:55
night until the morning. Verse 14 You shall not curse the
40:57
deaf or put stumbling blocks before the blind, but you shall
41:00
fear the Lord your God. I am the Lord.
41:03
Do you agree that that's a good thing?
41:06
If the answer is yes, then you pick and choose.
41:09
You should not do injustice in court.
41:11
You should not be partial to the poor or defer to the great.
41:14
Do you agree that that's a good thing?
41:17
And the answer is you pick and choose.
41:18
And some will say, well, I don't.
41:20
I don't believe in that Bible. That's not my word.
41:23
That's your word. I'm using your word against you.
41:26
You said you believe that. I don't believe that.
41:28
Here's the problem. You weren't born before the
41:31
Bible. And the way that we got to the
41:33
Christian, to the worldview and the ethics that we hold to
41:36
today, that it's not good to steal, murder and lie against
41:39
each other, You know where that came from?
41:42
The Bible, it was set in a Christian worldview.
41:45
Now some people argue that those are just things that we know
41:48
innately. I know this because I'm just a
41:51
person. I don't need the Bible to tell
41:54
me that's a lie. Still in Cheat and the answer is
41:56
yes. In Romans, one speaks exactly to
41:59
that because God wrote his moral law on your heart.
42:04
So even though you're trying to skirt around God, the problem is
42:07
the Bible keeps pinning you down and going, no, you cannot derive
42:10
this apart from my word and you cannot derive this apart from my
42:13
creation, me putting my a Maggio day on you, which has imprinted
42:17
you with these moments where you see injustice and go, that's not
42:24
right. That didn't come from your own
42:28
origination. It came from being made in my
42:32
image and having my law written on your heart.
42:36
So the first thing I like to do in the conversation is I like to
42:40
point out that they pick and choose, which then leads me to
42:44
the second part of the discussion usually, which is
42:46
this. I confess this.
42:49
I know why and how I pick and choose.
42:51
Do you I know why and how I pick and choose?
42:57
I know why we've decided not to greet each other with a holy
43:00
kiss beyond the complaints that we get in the complaint box,
43:04
right? I know why we don't put people
43:07
to death to plant crops side by side today.
43:10
I know why and how I'm picking and choosing.
43:12
Do you know why and how you're picking and choosing?
43:14
Let me explain how I know why and how I pick and choose.
43:19
I took this class called Hermeneutics.
43:21
Every one of your pastors had to take one of these classes.
43:24
Hermeneutics is a practice that teaches you the knowledge of
43:30
interpreting the Bible and understanding its literary
43:33
context both within the culture and today.
43:37
And when you study hermeneutics, took this from Doctor Minot, you
43:41
learn that there are three types of law in the Old Testament.
43:46
There's three types of law. There's moral law, civil law,
43:52
and ceremonial law. There's moral law, There's civil
43:55
law and there's ceremonial law. And you can deduct this very
43:59
easy by reading and actually thinking.
44:02
So as you read through this, what you discover is there's a
44:04
moral law. Moral law transcends time and
44:08
culture, and regardless of where we're at in history, it's true.
44:15
An example of this would be the 10 commandments, right?
44:20
Still true. I think we still agree that it's
44:22
true that it's not good to commit adultery, right?
44:24
Like usually your spouse doesn't come home and go been committing
44:27
adultery and like, oh, it's OK Culturally that's acceptable
44:31
now, even though statistically it happens more than it should,
44:36
right? Usually you're going to be a
44:38
little bit indignant. That's not right.
44:39
That's an injustice. Where does that come from?
44:42
Moral law. That's what God has written on
44:45
the hearts of humanity. The second kind of law is civil
44:50
law. That's a God-given law to Israel
44:55
in the Middle East within a set time period to teach them how to
44:59
function as a chosen people within the context of culture.
45:04
Civil law. God-given law to Israel in the
45:07
Middle East within a set time and period to teach them how to
45:10
function as a chosen people within the context of the
45:13
culture. It was God's way through the law
45:17
making them distinct amongst their neighbors.
45:22
How is a believer distinct amongst his neighbors?
45:27
Use your brains. How is a believer distinct
45:30
amongst their neighbors? If it ain't Jesus, it's probably
45:33
the Holy Spirit. This is the distinctive marker
45:38
for the believer making sense to anybody, outward appearance and
45:45
obedience to the law. This is how you kept it as a
45:47
distinct people from the rest of the world.
45:49
And we see that some examples of this are on the laws around
45:53
clothing and outer appearance. What you're to wear, not wear,
45:56
how you're to wear, not to wear it.
45:58
Single thread, multiple threads, one kind of content or multiple
46:01
like like this is all law. That was to distinguish Israel
46:04
within that. It's a cultural.
46:07
That's a cultural law within time and place with the civil
46:09
law. The third ceremonial laws, let
46:13
me explain this. These were given to instruct
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Israel in their worship within the temple.
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Some examples of these kinds of laws are purification laws, how
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you had to go through a purification process before you
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went into the temple, even some of the dietary laws and how that
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plays into it, which actually is a civil law.
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So you have civil, ceremonial and morals.
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Is this making sense to anybody? OK, ceremonial laws, even if we
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wanted to practice them, cannot be practiced today because
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there's no temple to go to. The temple now is you.
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God took what raised Jesus from the dead and put it in in you.
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So there's no more temple that we're worried about cleansing
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ourself up. However, there is a warning in
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First Corinthians 6 that we're to have a high reverence for the
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temple of God and what we do with it since God has put His
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spirit inside of it. Am I making sense still?
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Anybody still listening to this? So for the Christian believer,
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we have now been filled with the Holy Spirit and we now have
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become the temple. And as believers, we should
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always want to discuss the Bible.
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And the beautiful thing that has happened anytime this discussion
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comes up is we've been given an invitation to talk Scripture
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with people, which leads me to the third step.
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And this is the most important step.
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You point out their hypocrisy. You point out that you pick and
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choose, but you have reasoning behind how you pick and choose.
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It's not just what I feel is right or what I feel is wrong,
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right? Which then brings you to the
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third one, which is this. This is very important.
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You ready? You get off your moral high
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horse and you admit to them that you are a hypocrite.
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This is the this is the difference between articulating
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to make a point versus articulating to make a
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difference. You get off your moral high
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horse and you point out your own hypocrisy.
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That means you call out your own sin.
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You point to your desperate need for Jesus.
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You point out your own desires that the Bible has called sinful
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and your struggle to allow through the Scripture them to be
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put to death. Got a myriad of pages here.
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You communicate your need for a moral law and standard hear this
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that exists outside of you so that you don't minimize your sin
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while you amplify others. And you communicate your need to
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know what God says is righteous and unrighteous because you are
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a hypocrite. What does this do?
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It allows us to be human. Some of the most painful
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conversations I've had with friends and family members are
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people who have same sex attraction and they wrestle with
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what the scriptures teach and what that means for them and
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this desire and they feel affirmed now by the majority of
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the world. That's fine.
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There's nothing that's there, but they still have this
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conviction that they cannot rid themselves of.
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And some people will call it from the world's perspective,
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just built in guilt. Now let me be very clear.
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Guilt is the same voice as condemnation.
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Condemnation always tells you it's hopeless and there is no
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hope. And a lot of my friends that
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want to know the Lord or want to get, want to study Scripture and
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get this right, a lot of them, they feel uniquely damned
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because of this desire. Because the church has joined in
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with the voice of guilt and condemnation instead of allowing
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the Spirit to be the voice of conviction.
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Because the voice of conviction is always an invitation.
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And that invitation invites you to a new way of living,
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empowered by the Holy Spirit. No, it doesn't immediately take
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away every sinful desire. No, it doesn't mean that it's
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just going to, that the desires you have just walk out the door
49:58
and leave you alone. Yes, it means that Jesus grace
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is sufficient for you to meet you where you are and to walk
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with you to the future that he defines and leads you into.
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And it's such a painful conversation to have because I
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want them to know that the grace I receive is not unique to the
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grace that they can receive. It's not like the grace of Jesus
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is deep enough to reach me and my own heterosexual desires and
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the simple desires that the Bible calls simple sexually that
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I hold to as well and have to repent of and acknowledge and
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put accountability around my life in that that I'm no
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different than you when it comes to my need for grace.
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But the grace that reached me is a sufficient grace to reach you.
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And it's so frustrating to connect the dots because there's
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such a disconnect that seems to exist.
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So if I could, I want to implore the church and the way that we
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had these conversations with four takeaways, 4 steps that I
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think we got to hold to. Number one, call out your own
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sin. Until we normalize repentance,
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we we should not expect us to have good gospel conversations
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in the community around us. Listen, they're always going to
51:04
highlight the extremes and the hypocrites and the the loud and
51:07
the annoying and the boisterous in the news, OK?
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But we are to be humble and repentant before God.
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So let's normalize our own sin. Let's not normalize our own sin.
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Let's normalize repentance. That could have been a bad take
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away. Normalize my sin.
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What did you learn in church? Today?
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I'm going to normalize my sin. I'm sorry.
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Call out your own sin. Let's normalize your penance in
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this place #2 humble yourself before God.
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When you're humble before God, you don't have to be arrogant to
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others. There's nothing to prove my
51:52
identity and my value is rooted in my relationship with Jesus.
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So I'm not trying to out noise you in an argument.
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I'm not trying to win an argument.
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I'm trying to love Jesus and follow him.
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And I'm devoted to him before I'm devoted to the opinion of
52:04
man or the popularity of what people think about the message
52:09
of the gospel of Jesus. So call out your own sin.
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Humble yourself before God #3 be loving by being truthful.
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This is a tension we have to walk in.
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Love and truth are not 2 coins. They're the same side of one
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coin. I've heard many people go, well
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I'm just being truthful when they yelled at them with the
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bullhorn. You're not being loving.
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You've missed an entire side of the coin.
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It's through relationship around tables and in conversations that
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we most often see change and transformation.
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It's what Jesus did. It's why Jesus ate with sinners,
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set with the ill repute, and was looked down upon for doing it.
52:57
But how did change happen? By Jesus yelling at a woman
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walking to a well, or by him sitting at the well and
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conversating with her? Many of you are into the
53:09
conversation. You had the relationship.
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But if I can be very direct to you, you're a coward.
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You're ashamed of the gospel. And that, my friends, is a bit
53:24
more heartbreaking thing than anything else.
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At the end of Romans one, what does Paul say at the end of all
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of this? From not ashamed of the gospel
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of Jesus Christ, every word of it.
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Yet for many of us we we've walked in extremes and
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completely missed the point and rendered ourselves completely
53:50
ineffective. And we've called ourselves
53:52
loving to a community that we've not been truthful to.
53:54
And my friends that an eternity is not loving but it is hateful
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#4 Daily fully devote yourself to God.
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I was asked this question by someone very close to me who has
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a family member who is in a same sex relationship and I love
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their I love everyone in the family.
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And they said how dare you tell me that if my family member
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wants to be true to God that they can never have the kind of
54:29
relationship that you have in a heterosexual sense.
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How dare you tell me that they've got to basically forsake
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that if they want to live in obedience to God.
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And with tears in my eyes, I look back and humbly
54:44
articulated, how dare you tell me that the Savior can't demand
54:49
that and even more from us. How dare you tell me that in the
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scriptures it teaches that if your love for the Savior, isn't
54:57
it such a level that it looks like hatred for everybody else
55:00
in comparison? That that same Savior would not
55:02
call you to have desires that you call good that the Bible
55:05
calls sinful and call you to forsake and trust Him in those
55:08
desires so that he can lead you into who He's called you to be?
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How dare you act as if Jesus deserves cheap devotion that
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ends at the mark of your desire or ends at the of what you think
55:19
is good. How dare you tell me, not being
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able to see all of creation and all of time, that Jesus doesn't
55:25
know what is best for his children and his people and the
55:28
best way to walk with them even in their struggles and in their
55:31
failures through His grace to the moment where they are
55:33
sanctified and glorified before God in the very end of times.
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How dare you tell me that in temporary time He's not worthy
55:40
of forsaking all riches and all relationships and all things for
55:44
the pursuit of Him? How dare you tell me that the
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Gospels taught anything less than that?
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Because Luke 923 says that if anyone wants to come after
55:51
Jesus, he must daily wake up and die to himself, take up his
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cross and follow him and follow him.
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And how dare us as a church send that message out to the world
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when we ourselves haven't been our own daggum niece and been
56:05
devoted in the same way. Have a friend who is in ministry
56:15
and he and I talk off and on and he approached me one day and he
56:20
said I don't know if you know this but I've always struggled
56:24
with same sex attraction. I said well it's kind of obvious
56:27
and we started laughing because we've been friends for a while.
56:30
He said yeah, you would think God when he gave me an
56:33
effeminate voice and kind of, you know, more effeminate kind
56:36
of mannerisms, they'd be at least giving me like a masculine
56:38
passion. His biggest passion in life is
56:41
cheerleading. He could out tumble any girl
56:44
I've ever met. We were talking back and forth
56:50
one day and I said, you know, like, do you ever feel like
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Jesus is somehow like shortchanged you or given you a
56:56
an uneven deck? And in the fact that this is a
56:58
desire that you have and it's kind of public and a lot of
57:01
people recognize it and you know, they look at you and a lot
57:04
of people assume things about you and you know, you can't see
57:07
having to deal with that. And I'm like weeping, asking him
57:11
this. And he looks at me and says, I
57:13
would give so much more to follow the Savior that I read
57:16
about in the Bible. You have no clue.
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It's my joy to lay this desire aside and pursue God.
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It's my joy to know Jesus in that way.
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And can I tell you the most marginalized voice in the world
57:27
right now? It's his voice because everyone
57:31
else gets a platform. But if you dissent from public
57:33
opinion and you speak up like he speaks up, you're you're soon to
57:36
be a part of the bigoted agenda when all he is is a fully
57:39
devoted follower of Christ. He loves the Lord and he's not
57:44
ashamed or cowardly enough to to hide in it.
57:48
Instead, he walks in the boldness of the light, allowing
57:52
Jesus to transform and change him into doing so.
57:54
I mean, he's he's a a great tool in the hand of God.
57:57
God used him for incredible things for his Kingdom.
57:59
But but we don't want to hear his voice.
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We dismiss that voice publicly. Why?
58:06
Because that voice may challenge us in our belief.
58:09
That voice may call us to holiness.
58:11
That voice may bridge into a community that that we want to
58:14
deconstruct the bridge down to listen church.
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We have no message if we ourselves are are not
58:24
acknowledging the hypocrisy of our own lives.
58:27
So today, as the band comes, I want to invite you before we
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take communion, to acknowledge your sin before God, to humble
58:36
yourself before Him, to repent, to repent, to make it normal.
58:50
Why? Because the Savior died and bled
58:53
so that we in our struggles and in our weakness could, could
58:57
know that we can always come home.
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No matter the details of the prodigal run, you can come home.
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For those of you that are struggling with our living in
59:06
same sex attraction, I want you to know at Resurrection Church,
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we love you. We love you, absolutely love
59:14
you. And I apologize on behalf of the
59:17
church for the stupid things we've said and done for acting
59:22
like this could be magically just prayed out of you.
59:26
No, but in the same breath, I pray that as we learn to, as we
59:32
love you, I pray that you would give us grace as we learn
59:35
together what the Scriptures teach and what they mean.
59:37
And together we could walk together.
59:39
You are absolutely welcome in this church.
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There's a home for you here. And I promise you that week in
59:46
and week out, as we preach to the Bible, it the Bible is going
59:48
to disagree with everyone in here in the way that we live our
59:51
lives. But I also promise you as the
59:54
lead pastor that I will continue to take the stance as being the
59:57
lead repenter and I'll repent first.
1:00:01
I'll go first here. And in my brokenness I will
1:00:05
acknowledge it. And I will beg for God to
1:00:09
empower me to overcome my sin as He empowers you to do the same.
1:00:13
And it will not be easy, but I promise you I will not judge
1:00:16
you, but I will humble myself before the Lord.
1:00:19
And in doing so, we will walk together as He makes us into the
1:00:22
people He's called us to be by His power and not man's
1:00:25
derivative. My prayers that you find this
1:00:30
house to be a home, a place where you can come in in any
1:00:35
condition and know that you were truly loved by a Savior who
1:00:40
demonstrates that love by loving us while we were still in our
1:00:42
sin. It won't be easy, and the world
1:00:49
will try and pull us apart, and they will continue to tell us
1:00:52
that if we do not affirm, we cannot be family.
1:00:54
But I promise you that the blood makes us a stronger kind of
1:00:57
family than anything in this world could ever make us.
1:01:06
So Church, the whole church, Acknowledge your sin before God,
1:01:13
repent of your sin and may you find His grace to be deep and
1:01:17
wide to meet us where we are and a spirit to be strong enough to
1:01:22
meet us there and lead us to where we aren't.
1:01:25
In Jesus name, Amen. Amen.