"Homosexuality and the Gospel"
These are my notes from Rob's sermon at Apex tonight.
I would recommend actually listening to the sermon or pulling up the PDF on iTunes
Genesis 1:27
We sang awesome worship songs...Open Skies,From The Inside Out,Phil Wing's song "I Am",Divine Romance,Beautiful, and "None But Jesus"
There are some nights when you can feel the emotion and tonight was one of those nights.
Rob started out by talking about 2 stories in how homosexuality is reacted to.
1 Matthew Shephard..the man who was tortured and hung on a post
2 The reaction of Fred Phelps spewing hate and blaming homosexuality for the destruction of our culture.
Both are sick and make God sick.
This sermon is not a political issue.
There are many people right here in the room who are struggling with different aspects of this.
The church has done a horrible job of loving the gay population.
The goal tonight is to make clear what scripture teaches.
Many will argue that the passages in the Old Testament occurred thousands of years ago
Is it dealing with only a small portion of people thousands of years ago or is it the blueprint for all humanity.
Issues of deception within the homosexual mind
1 " I am biologically determined toward same sex attraction"
All of us born after Genesis 3 are predisposed to sin. Desires are inverted inward.
It is much deeper than just sexual
2 Love is deeper in homsexual relationships than heterosexual relationships
The definition of love is determined by God. In 1st John, the love of God is obeying his commands. Deeper "intimacy" doesn't make it true.
3 Homosexuality is OK as long as it's monogamous..there is the misconception that God accepts everybody. God doesn't accept everyone..there are monogamous heterosexual relationships that aren't accepted.
4 My homosexuality is my own business and it's not the job of others to make it their own.
Sin never impacts just you..it has other effects.
Rob gave a lot of statistics from the Gay and Lesbian literature..not Christian literature that honestly was surprising
75% of gay men have more than 100 partners
Only 8% of men and 7% of women have a relationship that lasts longer than 3 years
There is an increase use of alcohol and drug use
Depression is 6 times and women is 2 times the normal.
75% of men carry an infection not counting AIDS
Life expectancy of men including the figures with AIDS is age 39
5 The scriptures that condemn homosexuality can be interpreted other ways i.e Leviticus 18:22,20:13, Romans 1:26-27
When you speak of law in Old Testament there is ceremonial which is replaced with Christ but there is moral law which is STILL HERE
6 I can never be redeemed or used by God if I struggle with same sex attraction
Consumerism can send people to eternal separation just as the sin of homosexuality
Those struggling with this:
1 Need the hope of the gospel..change can happen
2 Need to come into the light and in the need of God. Christians need to love them.
3 Need to cut off relationships that stand in opposition to the gospel
4 Immerse yourself into God's word
5 Do the hard but not heavy command of the gospel..God does the heavy
Challenge to the church
1 Get rid of self righteousness
2 Listen,listen,listen...listen to their story
3 value and practice patience..change doesn't happen overnight
4 Welcome them into your family
5 Help them grow holistically in Christ...it's not just about sexuality
6 Battle with them and for them in prayer
I would recommend actually listening to the sermon or pulling up the PDF on iTunes
Genesis 1:27
We sang awesome worship songs...Open Skies,From The Inside Out,Phil Wing's song "I Am",Divine Romance,Beautiful, and "None But Jesus"
There are some nights when you can feel the emotion and tonight was one of those nights.
Rob started out by talking about 2 stories in how homosexuality is reacted to.
1 Matthew Shephard..the man who was tortured and hung on a post
2 The reaction of Fred Phelps spewing hate and blaming homosexuality for the destruction of our culture.
Both are sick and make God sick.
This sermon is not a political issue.
There are many people right here in the room who are struggling with different aspects of this.
The church has done a horrible job of loving the gay population.
The goal tonight is to make clear what scripture teaches.
Many will argue that the passages in the Old Testament occurred thousands of years ago
Is it dealing with only a small portion of people thousands of years ago or is it the blueprint for all humanity.
Issues of deception within the homosexual mind
1 " I am biologically determined toward same sex attraction"
All of us born after Genesis 3 are predisposed to sin. Desires are inverted inward.
It is much deeper than just sexual
2 Love is deeper in homsexual relationships than heterosexual relationships
The definition of love is determined by God. In 1st John, the love of God is obeying his commands. Deeper "intimacy" doesn't make it true.
3 Homosexuality is OK as long as it's monogamous..there is the misconception that God accepts everybody. God doesn't accept everyone..there are monogamous heterosexual relationships that aren't accepted.
4 My homosexuality is my own business and it's not the job of others to make it their own.
Sin never impacts just you..it has other effects.
Rob gave a lot of statistics from the Gay and Lesbian literature..not Christian literature that honestly was surprising
75% of gay men have more than 100 partners
Only 8% of men and 7% of women have a relationship that lasts longer than 3 years
There is an increase use of alcohol and drug use
Depression is 6 times and women is 2 times the normal.
75% of men carry an infection not counting AIDS
Life expectancy of men including the figures with AIDS is age 39
5 The scriptures that condemn homosexuality can be interpreted other ways i.e Leviticus 18:22,20:13, Romans 1:26-27
When you speak of law in Old Testament there is ceremonial which is replaced with Christ but there is moral law which is STILL HERE
6 I can never be redeemed or used by God if I struggle with same sex attraction
Consumerism can send people to eternal separation just as the sin of homosexuality
Those struggling with this:
1 Need the hope of the gospel..change can happen
2 Need to come into the light and in the need of God. Christians need to love them.
3 Need to cut off relationships that stand in opposition to the gospel
4 Immerse yourself into God's word
5 Do the hard but not heavy command of the gospel..God does the heavy
Challenge to the church
1 Get rid of self righteousness
2 Listen,listen,listen...listen to their story
3 value and practice patience..change doesn't happen overnight
4 Welcome them into your family
5 Help them grow holistically in Christ...it's not just about sexuality
6 Battle with them and for them in prayer
posted by Rochelle @ 10:08 PM
1 Comments:
At 11:03 PM,
Adam said…
Sounds like a great sermon. This has been a major problem in the church - the judgment and condemnation of the homosexual population - hopefully this sermon can be construed as "love speech" rather than the "hate speech" that gay people hear so often from Christians.
We went to Kyle and Janelle's today, and there was a church that had a sign that said "Christ called us to be witnesses, not lawyers or judges." Pretty good stuff.
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