Is Homosexuality Destroying America?
(Sermon Outline)
1) I want to begin by asking the question, is homosexuality destroying America?
a) I believe this question is the wrong questions, and I hope to show you why in this message and in the process we will hopefully discover the most important hope for the world grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
b) Last week I heard part of a message, and to be fair…, and it talked about “When you see laws to protect transgendered people… there is no way back. This is not reversible”
c) Self-fulfilling prophesy
i) Matthew 11:23–24 (NKJV) — 23 And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.”
ii) Genesis 18:32 (NKJV) — 32 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.”
d) The apostolic gospel
e) Romans 12:21 (NKJV) — 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. WE CAN OVERCOME! WILL WE?
2) We need to present Jesus Christ to the world
a) The street preachers in Belfast – the spirit of death vs. life – EXTERNALLY IT CAN LOOK THE SAME – BUT PEOPLE CAN DISCERN THE DIFFERENCE
b) ONE OF THE THEMES I ALWAYS RETURN TO IS LIFE AND DEATH AT Lscc – Hebrews 5:14 (NKJV) — 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
c) Discerning Life
d) THE PASSION THAT SHOULD DRIVE OUR LIVES – Colossians 1:27–29 (NKJV) — 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 29 To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.
i) There is much to say about presenting every man “perfect, complete, adult, mature”
e) AN IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE TO NAVIGATE THESE DIFFICULT TIMES – Matthew 7:1–5 (NKJV) — 1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
i) Even God’s word can be twisted to bring death rather than life.
ii) The obvious and the subtle
f) EXAMPLES OF SCRIPTURES THAT CAN BE MISREPRESENTED IN SPIRIT
i) Acts 4:8–10 (NKJV) — 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: 9 If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, 10 let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.
ii) Acts 7:51–53 (NKJV) — 51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”
3) In addressing the issue of homosexuality we discover a significant weakness in the church of Jesus Christ – a weakness that is going to take a whole body to rectify. I do not have the answer but just a general conviction.
a) What is our motivation?
b) 1 Corinthians 13:1 (NKJV) — 1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
c) My Presupposition – Everything that God commands is designed into creation. It is not arbitrary either, because the moral law is an expression of God’s character and nature. The goal is for us to be reconciled to God so that we can have fellowship with Him. All commandments are for our good and leads to human flourishing. To live contrary to God’s design hurts people.
d) The denigration of the “law” vs. as a misunderstanding of the covenants.
e) The issue we have is that if our only recourse is “God Commands it” we seriously run the risk of ending up with a log in our eye.
f) LAST TIME I PREACHED WE LOOKED AT Matthew 5:21–22 (NKJV) — 21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.
g) We need to pray, wrestle with God, study and ponder until we are able to have a motivation that is for people not against them and have “utterance” (Paul, pray for utterance, or Stephen with such wisdom) to explain it in a way that has a chance of making a difference.
h) “Jesus Christ Whom You Crucified” – scriptures above
i) For example, in the language of many Marxists and Secular Humanists, the two institutions that stand in the way of Communism (and we could rightly say some form of totalitarianism) is the church and the family.
i) Future generations maybe
j) We need to connect with something they value or understand
k) (The scriptures above.)
l) Help them without judgmentalism to judge that many of the things they hate are the fruit of their beliefs and values and to see that there is a God who loves and will forgive them.
m) I heard a story this week of a homosexual who came to Christ…always more nuanced…
4) Is homosexuality destroying America?
a) Leonard Ravenhill’s reversal
b) Taking responsibility
c) The only hope for America
d) We need personal transformation and the love of God
e) Someone wrestled with anger and contention and has been trying to change and feels frustrated.
i) If you succeed in your own strength you only glorify you and your discipline
ii) Transformation (sanctification) must bear kingdom fruit.
f) My personal testimony of how it has worked for me…though God often works different.
g) We need the right heart and the right word granted through wrestling with God.
h) We need to be a church where Life Springs Forth to a dying world.
Transcription
Speaker#1:
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Well father we just come before you and we just pray Lord that you would just transform our lives through the word of God because that word is Jesus Lord We just recognize that we need to hear from you And most importantly Lord we need a touch from you so that we would go out and be your salt and light in this world We just pray Lord that you would glorify your name through us in Jesus name
Speaker#1:
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Amen
Speaker#1:
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So if you’re looking in your bulletin you can see that the title of today’s message is is homosexuality destroying America
Speaker#1:
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I want to begin by asking the question is homosexuality destroying America
Speaker#1:
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I believe that’s actually the wrong question and I hope to show you why in this message and in the process hopefully we’ll discover that the most important hope for the world is grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ
Speaker#1:
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Last week I heard part of a message that was titled something like Living in a Perverse World
Speaker#1:
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And to be fair I have to admit that I didn’t hear the whole message So I really don’t know exactly where they’re going where you know where they’re coming from or where they landed So I’m just letting you know that up front because I heard repeated a couple times an idea or a sentiment that kind of inspired this message
Speaker#1:
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And what they were saying what was said in this message was when you see laws to protect transgendered people there’s no way back It’s irreversible
Speaker#1:
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several times This message When you see this happening in culture it is there is no way back
Speaker#1:
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It is irreversible
Speaker#1:
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And I remember when I heard that I thought to myself here is what is destroying America
Speaker#1:
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our lack of faith in the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ
Speaker#1:
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Here’s what’s destroying America Our doubt and unbelief that Jesus doesn’t have the power to turn things around
Speaker#1:
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here is the problem
Speaker#1:
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And I do understand that our nation is facing very dangerous days that we’re facing very significant challenges to our future as a people
Speaker#1:
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I don’t want to be part of those that are part of the problem rather than the solution
Speaker#1:
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When you make a statement there’s no way back
Speaker#1:
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instead of Jesus is the way
Speaker#1:
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when we make a statement there’s no way back
Speaker#1:
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we end up becoming part of fulfilling that message
Speaker#1:
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because the only way back is to proclaim there is a way back And his name is Jesus
Speaker#1:
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Isn’t this interesting to realize
Speaker#1:
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that we can become part of the problem
Speaker#1:
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even by quoting scriptures and preaching messages If we don’t have the heart of God And if we don’t know the truth of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ
Speaker#1:
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there is always hope
Speaker#1:
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will America turn back we can’t say for certain
Speaker#1:
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But I know this we can
Speaker#1:
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we can
Speaker#1:
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And I also know this for certain There’s no way back If we’re if everybody was to proclaim there’s no way back be it done according to your faith Without faith
Speaker#1:
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in Jesus Christ there is no way back But if we can awaken faith
Speaker#1:
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and turning to God there is a way back and he is able to heal he’s able to deliver he’s able to redeem will it happen
Speaker#1:
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That’s really dependent on the church of Jesus Christ
Speaker#1:
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I want to give you some scriptures that have been burning in my soul for the last couple of years This one is the first one because I hear this kind of sentiment all the time and I’ve heard it for decades
Speaker#1:
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that there’s no hope for the nation There’s no hope for the future We can see how people are giving themselves to all of these mindsets and lifestyles and attitudes The list goes on fill in the blank that makes it impossible for things to turn around
Speaker#1:
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I’ve heard that from the mouth of people in bible college
Speaker#1:
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they can analyze intellectually the trajectory of the moral and spiritual direction of the culture of the nation and then they make predictions by this year This is what we’re going to see we’re going to be a conscious minority in the midst of a hostile militant atheism or paganism I’ve heard these kind of words
Speaker#1:
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and I and I always thought we’re in trouble not because of what’s happening in the culture We’re in trouble because of what is being proclaimed from the people of God
Speaker#1:
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that we don’t believe the gospel of Jesus Christ Could you imagine Jesus you know upon this rock I will build my church and maybe
Speaker#1:
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the gates of how will not prevail
Speaker#1:
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go there and make disciples
Speaker#1:
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if it’s not too hard
Speaker#1:
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Do you see where I’m going with this That whenever the church has believed that Jesus has the power to turn things around they proclaim the message in a way that awakens faith and when faith awakens things happen people change people are transformed and people are looking for hope
Speaker#1:
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they’re looking for healing they’re looking for deliverance They are looking for what can only be found in Jesus Christ
Speaker#1:
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But even the language we can use
Speaker#1:
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can be what disconnect can cut them off
Speaker#1:
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from the grace of God
Speaker#1:
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God have mercy Matthew 11 23 through 24 And you who are exalted to heaven will be brought down to hell for if the mighty works which were done and you have been done And so them they would have remained until this day
Speaker#1:
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But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of sodom than for you on that day
Speaker#1:
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What
Speaker#1:
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you’re telling telling me that this Christian community
Speaker#1:
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biblical community it will be better for Sodom on the day of judgment than them That’s what Jesus said
Speaker#1:
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But the thing that really sticks out to me that is absolutely mind blowing is Jesus said if the works that had been done in you had been done in them they would have remained to this day
Speaker#1:
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And I believe he meant it
Speaker#1:
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If the works that have been done in you have been done in sodom they would have repented
Speaker#1:
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So that tells me that there is a work that can be done in that among the people of God
Speaker#1:
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that would even cause Sodom to repent
Speaker#1:
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And Jesus said all these and greater works you shall do Because I go to my father the biggest problem with America and ever in throughout history and in the world is an unbelieving church
Speaker#1:
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The biggest problem is we don’t believe this is true We don’t talk like it’s true We don’t act like it’s true We don’t live like it’s true We don’t share like it’s true
Speaker#1:
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Think about it
Speaker#1:
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Jesus said it
Speaker#1:
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these works would have caused Sodom to repent all these and greater works Ye shall do that tells us that we could do works that would cause Sodom to repent
Speaker#1:
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We need to realize that we have the potential
Speaker#1:
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to turn it around
Speaker#1:
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the potential
Speaker#1:
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the power You’re right is there in the gospel of Jesus Christ But that power is accessed when we proclaim things in a way that awakens faith
Speaker#1:
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in people
Speaker#1:
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another scripture You know just to show the what I love about scripture is that it’s a it’s a book of
Speaker#1:
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it’s a book of possibilities It’s a book of Possibilities And sometimes we’re like there’s only one angle but sometimes there’s many angles How many ways to victory one Jesus Christ the word of God But how many creative ways can he accomplish it more than I can imagine
Speaker#1:
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So I just I’m going to give you two ways to imagine what I’m saying is homosexuality destroying America
Speaker#1:
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What destroyed Sodom
Speaker#1:
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what destroyed Sodom
Speaker#1:
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I’ll tell you let me read Genesis 18 32
Speaker#1:
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Then Abraham when he’s having a conversation with God says let not the Lord be angry and I will speak But once more suppose 10 should be 10 righteous men should be found in sodom
Speaker#1:
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And the God said I will not destroy it for their sake
Speaker#1:
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Why did Sodom perish Because God could not find 10 righteous men there
Speaker#1:
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Why did Sodom perish Because God could not find 10 righteous men there
Speaker#1:
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so soft and perished not because of their wickedness but because of the absence of the righteous
Speaker#1:
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wake up
Speaker#1:
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But talk about impossibility
Speaker#1:
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A whole city could have been saved by 10 righteous men
Speaker#1:
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I don’t know what the population was but I know this that’s probably a pretty small seed could have saved the whole people
Speaker#1:
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Isn’t that awesome
Speaker#1:
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We have to recover that Apostolic Gospel I keep repeating it again and again because I’ve been blown away by uh the Apostolic fathers like Athanasius who said wherever Christ is proclaimed people leave their idols and their swords are beaten into pouch And this is proof that he is alive They actually dared to believe that when they went and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ it would change everything
Speaker#1:
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those apostles that we read about in the book of Acts They actually believed that they would go and proclaim the gospel and it would change everything
Speaker#1:
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They’d had no expectation that it would fail They had no expectation that God wouldn’t back the preaching of the word with signs and wonders and miracles They had no it didn’t even enter occur into their mind that it could be possible that the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ could be preached and nothing happens
Speaker#1:
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Lord have mercy on us and wake us up
Speaker#1:
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his homosexuality destroying America
Speaker#1:
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If God could just find 10 righteous men
Speaker#1:
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sodom would have remained
Speaker#1:
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If the works that Jesus did in ni had been done there they would have remained
Speaker#1:
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God is able
Speaker#1:
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God is able
Speaker#1:
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but all of this is dependent upon the people of God
Speaker#1:
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And this is one of the big problems that we’re facing today
Speaker#1:
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is that as people are seeing things go in a direction that they know is not good and not healthy
Speaker#1:
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We’re repeating the problem in the garden
Speaker#1:
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Adam did you eat this apple The woman you gave me
Speaker#1:
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eve Did you eat this apple Well we don’t know it was an apple Did you eat this fruit Just to be technically correct
Speaker#1:
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The serpent tricked me
Speaker#1:
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and while all of this is true
Speaker#1:
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it misses taking responsibility
Speaker#1:
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God I have sinned
Speaker#1:
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and done evil in your sight Take not your holy spirit from me Restore unto me the joy of my salvation Lord created me a clean heart of God
Speaker#1:
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Give me clean hands and a pure heart cleanse me from my iniquity cleanse me from my sin cleanse me from my lukewarmness cleanse me from my doubt and unbelief cleanse me from my apathy Lord and let me walk with you and be the salt and light You’ve called me to be and let my friends be that salt and light that you’ve called us to be Lord because the world is perishing because of our unbelief
Speaker#1:
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Leonard Raven Hill used to say that that the nation is going or or that the church is gonna suffer for the sins of the nation And he even figured it out by the end He said now I’ve turned it around
Speaker#1:
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the nation is going to suffer for the sins of the church
Speaker#1:
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True Christianity takes responsibility and our hearts should be broken They’re like sheep without a shepherd They are the the blind are leading the blind and they’re all falling into a pit
Speaker#1:
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and we need compassion We need grace we need mercy We need broken hearts
Speaker#1:
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because the people are perishing
Speaker#1:
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They’re in darkness they’re in bondage They don’t need accusation they don’t need condemnation They need the grace of God
Speaker#1:
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but they also need the truth of God
Speaker#1:
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And I hope that we’re going to see that these two things are not contrary
Speaker#1:
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but it all has to do with what spirit are you of the same exact outward forms and the same word physically
Speaker#1:
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can come away completely differently
Speaker#1:
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depending in the spirit that it’s proclaimed
Speaker#1:
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But I really wanted to transition with this idea Romans 12 21
Speaker#1:
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do not be overcome by evil
Speaker#1:
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but overcome evil with good
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This is a commandment
Speaker#1:
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do not be overcome by evil
Speaker#1:
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but overcome evil with good We can overcome evil with good
Speaker#1:
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And that’s exciting isn’t it
Speaker#1:
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We need to present Jesus Christ to the world because he’s the only savior He’s the only redeemer He is the only hope
Speaker#1:
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I remember to to this idea of understanding the spirit Something is of is so important
Speaker#1:
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And I don’t really know what denomination they were but it was a certain denomination in Belfast And they they had these actually really bad p A speakers and they would go around street preaching everywhere
Speaker#1:
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and then you go into your neighborhood and it was all you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God that you know the fires of hell are nipping at your heels in
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There’s no life in it
Speaker#1:
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It didn’t have it didn’t bear any positive impact If it actually won anybody it won them to a fair that’s devoid of life
Speaker#1:
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That’s no good Does that make sense
Speaker#1:
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But we also did a lot of street preaching in Belfast
Speaker#1:
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And I remember thinking I want to make it a point to let them see a different spirit
Speaker#1:
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let them see the spirit of grace let them see the spirit of the Lord Let them get a word of hope A word of life
Speaker#1:
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And I remember that principle I’ve seen it from years and years So sometimes going out on the street administering people would say I can see why you’re doing this because you care
Speaker#1:
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because you have love
Speaker#1:
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you can even use the same words
Speaker#1:
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But if you don’t have the right spirit it comes off wrong You have to forgive me I’ve got a little tickle
Speaker#1:
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excuse me
Speaker#1:
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So one of the themes that I keep or can you turn that up a little more that way I will avoid that tickle
Speaker#1:
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One of the themes that I always return to at life Springs Church is about the need to be able to discern the difference between life and death
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We want life to spring forth from us
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We want to transform people’s lives
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We wanted to make a difference we wanted to make an impact
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in the scripture that I always use is Hebrews 5 14
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solid food belongs to those who are full age
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That is those who by the reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil
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That scripture really is more than just good and evil It’s about discerning what is alive and what is dead
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One of the problems that people have is that they usually um judge by the outside forms by the supple curse
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rather than what’s on the inside
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they discern by how things appear
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and not by revelation from God
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And so we really need to recognize what is alive and what is not alive
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We also need to ask questions what changes lives and what doesn’t
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We also have to understand what is the image of God in a person
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Because if we don’t know what the image of God is if we don’t know the dignity of humanity if we don’t know how God treats people
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we can’t represent him right
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I go back to this idea of witchcraft which is intimidation manipulation and domination
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And it’s also I like to add in their disapproval
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Forgive me When you have to push people through disapproval
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you’re actually hurting the image of God in them
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Isn’t that interesting when I create dependency
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instead of an independency in Christ I am hurt in the image of God and man Does that make sense
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when I’m using you to lift myself up or using you for my benefit in putting you down I am transgressing the image of God in you
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Isn’t that interesting things to think about And ponder
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And so even in Christian circles we can use things that are out of bounds to try to um build the things of the kingdom
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I have so much disapproval for you
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to try to push you to do what I want you to do even if it might be what’s healthy and good for you
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It doesn’t work
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when somebody is struggling with some sin or they’re struggling with something that’s out of bounds
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If we come with judgmentalism
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we actually start to put more bonds and shackles on them Does that make sense
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So with some of these ideas we’re we’re gonna look at
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um
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some passages but actually I’m going to put that off for a second because
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no I will and I’ll come back to this
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I wanna give you examples of scriptures that can be misrepresented in spirit
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And since my voice is is fighting me this morning I can’t have as much fun with it as I wanted to
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But we’ll try
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then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them rulers of the rulers of the people and elders of Israel If we are this day judged for a good deed done to a helpless man by what means he has been made Well let it be known to you and all and all the people of Israel
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that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified
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whom God raised from the dead by Him This man stands before you whole
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You hear what I did there
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And that could I mean it doesn’t tell us what spirit that He spoke those words in does it
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But I bet you that wasn’t the right spirit
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wouldn’t you agree
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My guess is that he was pleading with them
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trying to bring revelation trying to bring understanding and trying to invite them into repentance and faith
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that spirit won’t do it
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But that’s often the spirit that types things in the church of Jesus Christ
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because I’m going to challenge that we need to restore this kind of apostolic preaching but restore it in the right spirit
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The content is correct The content is absolutely correct but the content must have this warning label handled with care
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What do you mean The content is the exact same content that we need to give to this world But we need to make sure we do it in a way that brings life and not death But the answer is not to avoid the content
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but it’s to make sure that we present it in the right spirit Another passage
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Stephen I love Stephen It said he had such wisdom
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that they couldn’t contend with them
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Steven towards the end of his life It’s literally I see the Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father Jesus stood for him and he reproduced like the last some of the some of the last words of Jesus Father forgive them for they know not what they do
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So there you get kind of his heart and spirit right
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So if I reproduce this preaching you stiff neck and uncircumcised and harden ears you always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did So do you
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do you see where I’m going I mean I’m exaggerating this to make a point
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But it’s when it’s subtle that’s when it’s really dangerous
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It’s the sneaky ways that these things that transgress the image of God can come into our pious imagination in culture
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and bring death rather than life
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Does that make sense
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Because we I mean
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I mean yes technically scripture doesn’t tell us how Steven said it So technically you can make an argument that was the spirit But I think that you could make a much greater argument through all of scripture that nah
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especially when they say father forgive them they don’t know what they do So let me I’m I’m getting so far
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we’ll see if we pull this all back together because I went from one place to another to another And then I’m gonna try to get back on track here in a minute
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But I want to bring home a point where the question we started with is homosexuality destroying America Well no it’s a church
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I mean that’s my big argument that we have to have the right spirit We need to fulfill the calling he has given us If the works that Christ has called us to do were being done Sodom would have remained or America could remain
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If God found 10 righteous people he could have saved Sodom
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So we could see this thing turn around not saying we will but we can
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But part of it is figuring out how to restore the apostolic preaching
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So so when I’ve been looking at this apostolic preaching
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they always pointed out
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the effects of people’s sin the effect of people’s rebellion the effects
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that it’s creating So I’ll give you an example
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when we see school shootings when we see the suicide rates increasing when we see um
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things like human trafficking and the list goes on and on and on of a lot of the immorality we’re seeing if we can connect it to people’s understanding that this is the fruit of their values and world view
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This is the natural byproduct of your radical atheism or there is there are no absolutes or you’re just a product of chance or this is a world of survival of the fittest The list goes on and on
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but we have to reach their understanding and connect with the good things that they care about
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not just bring judgmental criticism to them Does that make sense
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We have to have the right spirit and with that right spirit handle handle with care this difficult challenging word
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But part of the problem
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especially in some of these areas is that we do not care enough to pray and seek God because it’s too much work I’d rather feel self righteous and judge them and blame them
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America is falling because of all the wicked you gave us
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God forgive us
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Lord forgive us
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It’s too much work Lord you mean you actually expect me to pray and study and seek you
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to get an answer for this sit situation
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So I was hearing about a gentleman who was a homosexual this last week and he said that he had went and saw these Christians protesting homosexuality He said man it was so hateful I couldn’t stand it
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And he said we are we already feel we’re dirty
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we already feel unclean
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We try so hard to get everybody to accept it because we feel so unclean
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No I don’t think that’s every homosexual I think that things people are nuanced and there’s many variations and rather than generals I think it comes down to personal relationships and personal one on one motives and reasons but it gives you an image doesn’t it
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That you don’t know what’s going on in a person’s heart and soul
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right
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And I’ve got to be able to talk to them about homosexuality in a way that first and foremost cares about them
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If I don’t care about them If I if I speak in the tongues of angels and I have not love it profits nothing If my first concern isn’t for their human flourishing
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Right
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then I’m already out of bounds Does that make sense
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You know I can’t bring this point home enough
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If my first concern isn’t for the other person
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then it probably is my own self righteousness
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I’m not happy that you don’t conform
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Right
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And and we get stuck because God doesn’t want to leave us with will just simply because God commands it we need to understand I really believe that all the moral law is stamped into the design of creation itself
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And that reason can’t understand it but we need to wrestle with God wrestle in prayer until God gives us utterance And I think that we’re already late to the game and trying to figure some of these things out Like what do you mean Like we need to figure out how to explain homosexuality
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in a way that makes sure that we are caring for the person first
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and can explain what’s really wrong with it
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Does that make sense
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And if we can’t
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then it’s not really helpful So it was like when I was reading visual manga and he did all this research into the power of covenant of marriage and how it built the West and how it was revived through Martin Luther and goes this incredible depiction of it all and traces it right down to Alexis to to saying coming to America and saying something has made the American woman stronger and more industrious and happier than all the other women in the world
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And then he said because the marriage covenant covenant is seen as more sacred in America than any other nation in the world Tracing it back to this idea of the covenant of marriage and the blessings Then he traces he traces the history of polygamous cultures And he said he shows that they never rose rise above third world status
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And then he starts to explain some of the mechanics of it And then he starts to bring out some of these interesting ideas that are really interesting and very graphic
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But there’s no young people in here so we can share some of them So he goes like for example
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the wife is you know cooking away and you know they have to walk way down the mountain to go get water And the the husband is sitting there playing you know they like to play dominoes or something in some of these cultures right With his buddies his wife’s been working all day and pretty tired and says honey can you go get some water
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No I’m busy
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I’m busy playing my games
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and he doesn’t care enough to go do it
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And so you know
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why did he not care Well
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she’s put out he’d have to sleep on the couch But I got another wife
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but he said in biblical covenant culture it’s like man
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I got I have I have to live with my wife and I’m being a total jerk
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and I’m going to bear the fruit of being a total jerk and I can’t walk away And I you know I don’t believe in going to the temple prostitute So uh
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but you know really I kind of like playing these games and I don’t want to have to go down the mountain and go get the water So I figure out how to pump the water into my house
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And I figure figure out how to pump the waste out And he shows how creativity and ingenuity and all kinds of things have developed
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in biblical cultures
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where the covenant of marriage was sacred
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Isn’t that awesome
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I mean you see how graphic and cool it is I see Roy is enjoying that one
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right But we really need to we need to get to the point of understanding somehow and I don’t have the answer but I deeply convinced that if the body of Christ would start would start to pray and seek the Lord and would start to study and would start to ponder and start to discuss these things
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We can figure things out probably many different ways to present things that would speak to the hearts of the people
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You know some of the things that I kind of ponder are the fact that when you go and you read all of these secular humanist and communist
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I loved reading the writings and they blatantly stated it They’re like the two things that keep us from global communism are the church and the family
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We got to destroy them both Therefore heterosexual relations are meant to become we need to make them abnormal and make everything else normal We need to destroy the family because the family is an institution that stands in the way of the state as God state as parent state as provider and state as heir
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So if the scriptures you know and I would put in the place of communism totalitarianism
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right Totalitarianism any form of totalitarianism
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And people like I understand now that we’ve talked with some of these radical left activists they’re concerned that we can’t trust people to do Right So we need to control them Yeah Well you know you’re right about some of the issues with the people but you’re trying to take the short cut to fixing it
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and the right way to fix it is change the hearts and values of the people But that’s too much work And you how do you do that It’s easier to get the big government to boom But you don’t understand you’re creating a beast
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you’re creating a monster and when that monster comes forth nobody here gets out alive in a sense right
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Nobody likes what the fruit of what we’re created creating But we’re creating it often because of things that are genuinely to be cared for Does that make sense So all I can think of is that right now I think if we were to be praying and seeking and and calling the body of Christ to wrestle with these issues that first I have to care about the person their human flourishing and try to connect it with understanding
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we might be able to make some impact Does that make sense You know because at the end of the day it is destroying nor normal marriage and and family and it is um
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changing the world in a way But we’ve got to be able to understand it in a way
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that’s captivating
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Does that make sense So Lord wake people up wake up your body activate people let people pray about it let people discuss let people seek God Lord give us utterance give us your word to speak to this generation because we don’t have it
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And Lord we are late getting to the game Lord God give us your word that needs to be proclaimed ways to explain it Give us understand and give us utterance Lord
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and most importantly give us your love give us your love for the people
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right OK Going backwards again
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there’s a saying that goes back to where I left off that passion that that we want to teach people how to nurture life at life Springs Church right
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Well there’s something else that I want to um bring out is that there’s a passion in scripture connected to that passage Remember that he is mature
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is the one who by reason so who belongs to him Who is mature The one who by reason of use has his senses exercised to discern good and evil
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There’s a passion that should drive our lives Colossians 1 27 through 29 says to them God will to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the gentiles which is Christ in you The hope of glory in
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We preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus to this end I also labor striving according to his working which works in me mightily
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Paul summarizes one of his massive passions What is your passion Paul I want to present everybody mature in Christ
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This may sound like you know so what Well I’ll tell you most of the body of Christ today is I wanna I wanna present everybody as a professing believer If I can just get you to say an altar call with every eye closed raise your hand If you’d like to give your life to Jesus what is your goal I want to get everybody to give their life to Jesus so that they can know that they’re gonna go to heaven when they die
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I don’t see I don’t see that driving the Apostle Paul anywhere in scripture
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Yes we want to reconcile all people We want them to all come to know him We want them to be all be born again But Paul never had such an infantile vision
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His vision was comprehensive I want to present you mature in Christ
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right I don’t want you to remain a babe I want you to become mature in Christ Once you just start thinking like that you start to think all kinds of question or all kinds of questions start to arise in your mind in your heart that activate your ministry
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I got eyebrow you right What I mean by that is if I just want to bring you to Christ I put all my thought and all my efforts and all my labor and all my industry to one end
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But if my vision is to present people mature in Christ I put all my thought all my energy and all my labor into a different end Well that end includes they can’t become mature in Christ if they have not been born again That’s what it said Great Is this mystery Christ in you You’ve been born again Christ is in you Yeah but I can’t see him
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come out come out wherever you are he’s playing hide and seek No I want to present a mature complete adult right And so you start to ask different questions What does it mean to be mature What does it mean to develop the image of God
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You see how that starts to activate more and more people’s ministry more and more people’s activity It’s a much bigger mission and vision
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But that’s really what we remember I said if we could find 10 righteous people and you say well America is filled with believers Yes
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Come out come out wherever you are We need to present the mature in Christ because the Bible says the weeds and the wheat look the same until they come to maturity
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It’s not enough to just say well I’m a believer in Jesus Christ So I’m as righteous as it gets
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Does that make sense Justification is just as if I never sinned
Speaker#1:
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it’s ok But the goal is yes I need to be born again Christ in me the hope of glory But it’s not a divine indulgence It’s not that’s the thing that Martin Luther fought against It’s not a free ticket to heaven It’s the beginning It’s the birth of a new life that needs to be nurtured into maturity so that Christ can be manifested in his church
Speaker#1:
00:40:32.25 – 00:40:34.08
Can I find 10 righteous men
Speaker#1:
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It’s awesome
Speaker#1:
00:40:38.76 – 00:40:41.35
I’m gonna jump Yes this is fun Actually
Speaker#1:
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I like breaking my rules
Speaker#1:
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Ok Here So going back to what I was saying his homosexuality destroying America I’ll throw another scripture out there that really speaks to the heart of this
Speaker#1:
00:40:56.78 – 00:41:18.06
and it speaks to a lot of funny things too because we’ve all heard this Matthew 71 through five judge not lest you that you not be judged for with what judgment you judge you will be judged And with the measure you me you use it will be measured back to you And why do you look at the spec in your brother’s eye but not consider the log in your own eye
Speaker#1:
00:41:19.07 – 00:41:33.76
Or how can you say to your brother Let me remove the speck from your eye and look a plank is in your own eye Hypocrite first remove the plank from your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye
Speaker#1:
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First you remember saying this even God’s word can be twisted to bring death rather than life
Speaker#1:
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All these unbelievers know that first part of that passage don’t they judge Not unless you judge Oh we don’t want to be judgmental
Speaker#1:
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hogwash in context He’s talking about hypocritical judgment We need to understand he’s trying to deliver us from the spirit that I’m talking about
Speaker#1:
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You Homosexual It’s not right because God commands it
Speaker#1:
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your fault That evil wicked that’s not love for transformation right But everybody judges
Speaker#1:
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and we’re meant to judge the Bible says we’re even gonna judge angels
Speaker#1:
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talking about the mature who by reason of use have their senses exercise to discern that’s to judge right and wrong good and evil We read about Paul bringing judgment into the churches He talks about judging in the churches It’s not about judgment or judgment This is good this is bad I mean even this tastes good that tastes bad This smells good that smells bad right I mean this is healthy this is unhealthy
Speaker#1:
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this is life giving this is life draining That’s judgment right You everybody judges many times every day and we’re meant to
Speaker#1:
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it’s not talking about making judgments It’s talking about that kind of judgmentalism might be a better way to put it Don’t give yourself to judgmentalism
Speaker#1:
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Thank you God that I’m not like the sinner over here
Speaker#1:
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right
Speaker#1:
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Jesus Christ whom you crucified
Speaker#1:
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This is your mess you made it and I’m gonna be out of here and you’re gonna have to wallow in your own right I mean that’s how we that that’s not representing Jesus Christ You guys made a mess of the world but don’t worry we’re out of here So you get to see how bad a mess you made
Speaker#1:
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I mean most human beings know I told you so is already way too late
Speaker#1:
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right Man I should have I should have tried harder Do you know what I’m saying Or I feel for you man we made this mess together and we’re gonna clean it up together
Speaker#1:
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You know we’re in a relationship together this is our mess we made it we made it together we’re in this thing together
Speaker#1:
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Does that make sense It’s this this thing to divide and conquer is killing us it’s destroying us
Speaker#1:
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We need to take responsibility
Speaker#1:
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God I mean it’s better to say Lord I you know it’s like Daniel We have sinned against you Lord we have done wrong We have broken your commandments We have failed to walk in love We have failed to pray We have we have failed And I don’t feel condemnation in the sense of oh now I feel hopeless It’s more this holy desire of hope that He can and will forgive When we repent
Speaker#1:
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that God will act that God will heal that God will deliver It’s not about feeling bad That’s why he said the same words can bring life or death depending on our foundations
Speaker#1:
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You see what I’m saying We need to take responsibility but not go wallow in the mud in it
Speaker#1:
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But say I’m turning back to God with all my heart and he may just forgive radically He may just turn things around radically And even if he doesn’t I’m gonna follow him and worship him and praise him because he’s worthy And I’m gonna I’m gonna what we want to reach out to everyone who’s perishing seek him seek to love on them seek to bless them and not and not bring that hypocritical judgment You gotta get that plank out
Speaker#1:
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But if that plank is out then please take that speck out
Speaker#1:
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You know if somebody’s walking around with a speck in their eye it stinks here you know like here’s a here it would be a sermon illustration I’ll bring some sawdust next week and we’ll all put a piece of sawdust in our eyeballs This is a joke A terrible terrible illustration wouldn’t it You know Seth would like that one OK But I promise you with that little piece of sawdust in your eyeball you don’t care I want it out
Speaker#1:
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It’s not good for me It’s not conducive to human flourishing If I care for you I want to see that spec come out of your eye
Speaker#1:
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I just have to do it in a way that’s of the right spirit
Speaker#1:
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So
Speaker#1:
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man there’s so many things
Speaker#1:
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there’s so many things that are awesome
Speaker#1:
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about the potential that we have
Speaker#1:
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to bring life
Speaker#1:
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to the nation to the nations Isn’t there
Speaker#1:
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The last time I preached we talked about the sermon on the mount and how before Jesus dealt with sexual morality he dealt with anger and contention And that saying oh you fool
Speaker#1:
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is essentially putting anger and contention together
Speaker#1:
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and it’s totally destructive with the image of God and man as I was talking about earlier
Speaker#1:
00:46:58.669 – 00:47:03.84
I had somebody tell me I know that I have a problem with this
Speaker#1:
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and I know it’s wrong but I can’t seem to stop
Speaker#1:
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And I realized OK we need to lay more of a foundation Why That’s why I say understanding is so important when you ask a question what does it mean to be mature What is the spirit Something is meant to be of So if I clean up my own life
Speaker#1:
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through my own discipline and my own strength what happens
Speaker#1:
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I’m such an awesome Christian If you could only be as awesome as me
Speaker#1:
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Right Look how I did it
Speaker#1:
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I’m super special
Speaker#1:
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It stinks doesn’t it It’s the wrong spirit Of course I’m exaggerating It’s the subtleties of these things that I’m highlighting that we really need to pray for wisdom and disc sermon on right
Speaker#1:
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And I was explaining if you’re wrestling with this the answer never the you know like they the joke praying to the person God Oh God I’ll never do this again
Speaker#1:
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Oh God I’ll never do this again And you try hard not to do it again and then you do it again and you do it again and you do it again because God does not transgress the image of God and man in the way that he works He’s trying to develop mature human beings mature sons and daughters of God So I was explaining how am I worked for me and it can work for others probably like I said God has different ways of doing things right
Speaker#1:
00:48:32.5 – 00:48:53.889
What I can tell you is it won’t transgress the image of God But I said what I found is if you start praying for this person saying God I don’t have love for this person give me your love for this person Lord help me to love them help me to see what’s good in them help me to celebrate them Then what you find is God starts to do answer that prayer
Speaker#1:
00:48:54.86 – 00:49:14.58
And when He answers that prayer you don’t go look at how I did it I started to meditate and think no it’s God put his love in my heart and I can say thank you God because you did this it wasn’t there but you did this And when you focus on that then all of a sudden one day you realize that all the criticizing has stopped
Speaker#1:
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all the judgmentalism has stopped
Speaker#1:
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And you didn’t you didn’t say I disciplined it out
Speaker#1:
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You just said God in his grace put his love into my heart He has saved me from my sin
Speaker#1:
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Blessed be the name of the Lord See this is one of the problems why sanctification is so hard because we try to do it in carnal ways that will puff up the flesh the very thing he’s trying to crucify
Speaker#1:
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And it’s by understanding the principles of scripture the quality to the spirit discerning the kind of spirit discerning the kind of outcome that should come
Speaker#1:
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We start to we can apply I don’t have time today but we can apply these ideas to so many areas of Christianity But we should be asking what would be the outcome of this doctrine
Speaker#1:
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See like because things can be good and they can work to some extent but we got to discern because even like for example the faith teaching if only you believe like I believe you would get a healing or you would get a miracle
Speaker#1:
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But who is that glorifying
Speaker#1:
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me and my faith
Speaker#1:
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And yet there is a thing about really be There’s a humble believing
Speaker#1:
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humility and love have to be centered It’s like when I read all the books about casting out devils I know how to do it I know how to do it I know my authority nothing happened And then I was like Lord you I know you care for this person and I know you want to set them free And then I found the power of God working through me
Speaker#1:
00:50:50.37 – 00:51:15.0
Do you see the difference It’s the spirit that things are of and what is going to be born from that fruit We need to learn to discern good and evil right and wrong We need to learn how to nurture and recognize life where it really is We need to learn the principles of personal transformation so that we can grow in love if we don’t have love
Speaker#1:
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for other people if we are judgmental towards them or towards groups of people or generalizations
Speaker#1:
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that that means the love of God is not in our heart But once we get the love and God in our heart then we need to have the courage to speak the truth in love
Speaker#1:
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When that love is there when that wisdom is there when that utterance is there Lord let my mouth not be silent because they are perishing
Speaker#1:
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They are lost they are broken they are destroying their future They’re destroying their family’s future It’s like when I talk to people and they’re like as long as I got what I need to pay But what about your kids What about your grandkids This economy that you care so much about This immorality will destroy it What do you want for your kids and your grandkids
Speaker#1:
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don’t you wouldn’t you rather say I’d rather be the one that paved the way for a better future for them
Speaker#1:
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right
Speaker#1:
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And really the buck stops with the church
Speaker#1:
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A world in darkness has no light We are the light
Speaker#1:
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we are the salt
Speaker#1:
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God has hidden this treasure in us
Speaker#1:
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that what is destroying America is not homosexuality
Speaker#1:
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It’s a very weak form of Christianity
Speaker#1:
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and it’s not going to change unless we change
Speaker#1:
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in this We repent
Speaker#1:
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and we can
Speaker#1:
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and his grace is here for it
Speaker#1:
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not condemnation not hopelessness If if God give us eyes to see this is a word of hope There is a way out
Speaker#1:
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and his name is Jesus There is a way of revival and it begins with us
Speaker#1:
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We can receive the Holy Spirit we can receive power from on high we can receive wisdom and utterance We can receive the spirit of prayer and supplication We can build a community where lives are transformed where people meet the living Jesus
Speaker#1:
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and are never the same where people pass from death to life from darkness to light from the power of the devil to the power of God God can do that through us It’s not a word of condemnation It’s a word of hope It’s a word of life if we can take it like
Speaker#1:
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people that stand on a solid foundation that God loves me
Speaker#1:
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God loves me he loves you How do you know Christ died for us Settled forever
Speaker#1:
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His heart is to give us the kingdom
Speaker#1:
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His heart is not to make us wallow in the mud but make us strong enough and mature enough to take responsibility
Speaker#1:
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and dare to believe that He has actually given us all that we need
Speaker#1:
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to storm the gates of hell and prevail in Jesus name
