A Biblical Perspective on Homosexuality

On June 2, 2013, I will be teaching on a biblical perspective on homosexuality.  Realizing that a 30-minute sermon can only cover a few broad stroke points, I want to provide some links to  a great article and messages that can provide help.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c8rGtTZCnM&noredirect=1

http://www.thevillagechurch.net/sermon/jesus-and-homosexuality/

Also, I have included a link to an article about Kendell Tanner who was a Moody Bible student that has admitted to same sex attraction.  He has made some significant decisions to make sure that he is bringing God glory with his life.  We will have the incredible privilege to have him with us during the service on June 2nd.

http://www.barnabaspiper.com/2013/05/words-from-gay-student-to-his.html

 

The Book of John Series (John 7:1-14) – March 31, 2013

The following are the answers to the text questions that came in during the sermon:

 

1.  Why did the Jews want to lose glory? I’m the master. 10:21 AM
2.  Why did the Jews want to lose glory? Shouldn’t they want glory? – Josh 12:08 PM

This question came in during both services.  Apparently I said something that led people to believe that the Jews wanted to lose glory.  What I was trying to say was that the Jews saw Jesus as a way to lose their glory…and they did not want to lose it…so they had to kill him.  If Jesus kept moving forward with his agenda, then these Jews thought that the glory that they had would no longer be.  They were so threatened by the fact that Jesus could cause them to lose their glory that they had to get rid of him.  The same way that the Jews thought they would lose glory, the brothers thought Jesus was a way to gain glory.  Both of those groups were focused on their own glory and they should have been focused on God’s glory.

 

3.  How do you know if you see His Glory? 10:35 AM

This answer will probably leave you feeling less than satisfied, but the answer is…you will simply know when you see His Glory.  His glory will be unmistakable and you will be forever changed.  We may see some things that leave us feeling good, but when we see the glory of God, we are changed.  In John 1:14, we can read “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  His glory will be a combination of truth and grace.  The more we look to Jesus Christ, the more we will see it.  In Colossians 1:15, we read about Jesus, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”  If we want to see God’s glory, we have to look to Jesus.

 

4.  What if your “trophy” is something bad instead of good and it is still keeping you from Gods glories? 12:19 PM

The trophy “our glory” could be bad or good and still be a problem if it is more important to us than God’s glory.  Basically, anything that we value more than the glory of God is a problem.  Most of us have a tendency to be more concerned about our own glory…good things or bad things.

 

The Book of John Series (John 6:52-71) – March 24, 2013

The following are the answers to the text questions that came in during the sermon:

 

1.  “So If we didn’t do communion, and we see saved, would we still go to heaven? *are” 11:30 AM

Scripture makes it very clear that we are not saved by ANY work.  (Ephesians 2:8-9)  That means that no sacrament, ceremony, prayer, or any other work is what saves us.  We get to go to heaven because of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  We do communion to “remember” God’s work through Jesus…the focus is on His work…not our work.  Read 1 Corinthians 11:17-32.  The other really amazing thing about communion is that we somehow “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”.  That means that you are declaring the significance of what Jesus did through his death on the cross.

 

2.  “We choose the thought of sin and make it our own. Which it’s not. It is satan who injects the thought and we embrace it and attach it to ourselves. Thinking  it is us, guilt then comes upon us because of our failure. Sin is a noun in most cases not a verb. Chose Jesus not Sin( satan).“ 11:41 AM

In John 8:44, we will learn about Satan being the father of lies.  He is good at leading us to believe things that lead us astray.  He is very good at “injecting the thoughts” that we embrace.  We are indeed guilty, but through the grace of God, we get to stand before Him in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  He is certainly who we must choose.

 

The Book of John Series (John 6:22-51) – March 17, 2013

The following are the answers to the text questions that came in during the sermon:

 

1.  “Re: Feed My Starving Children, can you speak to the role of the church in balancing our resource spending on both the world’s physical and spiritual needs?” 11:32 AM

The church must certainly balance both the physical and the spiritual.  When Jesus prayed in the garden before he was crucified, he said to God “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.” – John 17:15 ESV  We can also read that Paul said true religion is to “visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world”.  – James 1:27 ESV.    Sometimes the most spiritual thing we can do is to meet a physical need.  The problem that some church get into is a “social justice”-type of operation where they never connect the dots to Jesus.  Our ultimate goal in meeting physical hunger is to meet spiritual hunger.  Jesus fed the 5000 physically.  He then addressed their spiritual hunger.

 

The Book of John Series (John 6:16-21) – March 10, 2013

The following are the answers to the text questions that came in during the sermon:

 

 

1.  “Did Mark travel with Peter while Peter was with Jesus?” 11:25 AM

Yes.

 

2.  “Does the successes in our cravings, for example a workaholic situation or academic/sports performance, etc, cause us to crave more? Doesn’t Satan give us what seems to be good to keep us from craving Jesus?” 11:28 AM

Perhaps.  Our appetites tend to grow as we feed them.  Successes in our cravings can certainly cause us to want more and more.  Success in craving to do a good job at work is not necessarily the work of Satan, it could be that God is entrusting to you success so that you can make a bigger impact for Him.   If your perspective in every situation, good or bad, is to bring Jesus to the front, then your craving for Jesus could be the thing propelling you in whatever your endeavor.

 

3.  “If Jesus is TRULY what you crave, then why is it still SO easy to stray? If you feel in your heart that Jesus is what you want the most why isn’t that the appetite that naturally takes priority?” 11:34 AM

I believe it is because “feeding” on Jesus requires a constant need to make a decision to choose him over another craving.  If we naturally want him more than anything else, then we no longer go through the joy (and struggle) of choosing him.

 

4.  “Can you give us some specific examples of positive spiritual cravings? For example, “If I’m going to be addicted to something, I want it to be ______.”” 11:35 AM

A positive spiritual craving could be to get promoted to greater influence at your job so that you can have a greater influence for Christ.  Another positive spiritual craving could be to know God through His Word.  “If I’m going to be addicted to something, I want to be addicted to making Christ known in any situation.”

 

5.  “Jesus often says “Truly, truly I say to you” is there a significance to this?” 11:39 AM 

This is just a way to draw attention to the emphatic truth that is about to be said.

 

The Book of John Series (John 6:1-15) – March 3, 2013

The following are the answers to the text questions that came in during the sermon:

 

1.   “What are examples of things that bring eternal satisfaction? What can I do different?” 11:37 AM

Eternal satisfaction comes when we focus on doing things that have an effect that goes way beyond the temporary satisfaction.  When we try to make an impact in someone’s life by serving them, when we study Scripture, when we worship God through music, when we pray, when we work in our jobs to serve God more than get a paycheck, and the list goes on and on.  It is primarily looking for the deeper meaning in everything that you do.

 

The Book of John Series (John 5:30-47) – February 17, 2013

The Book of John Series (John 5:18-29) – February 10, 2013

The following are the answers to the text questions that came in during the sermon:

 

1.  “So if the dead in Christ will hear his voice & rise- where do we go when we die? Is this talking about our physical body? What if we are creamated when we die?” 11:24 AM

These are great questions.  Check out the following link to read a detailed explanation, http://bible.org/question/8216soul-sleep’-biblical-when-we-die-do-we-go-heaven-immediately-or-second-coming.  In short, when we die, we go immediately to heaven if we are a Christian.  Somehow, our physical bodies are resurrected in a glorified version that meets up with our spirit’s for a new you.  I don’t think that creamated really makes a difference considering that a decomposed body isn’t much better than a body of ashes.

 

2.  “Did jesus really break the sabbath or just the extra rules that the jews added” 11:51 AM

Jesus never sinned, so he could not have broken the Sabbath.  Since he is lord of the Sabbath, he did not need to rest like we do.  Certainly, the Jews added many rules to fit their agenda.

“8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”  9 He went on from there and entered their synagogue. 10 And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. 11 He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.”  –  Matthew 12:8-14 ESV

 

3.  “Just a note of praise and thanks to the worship team. Thank you & thank you for this mornings worship. Greatly appreciate the mix of worship and praise songs used today. Keep it up. 😀 Larry Engel” 1:26 PM

 

The Book of John Series (John 5:1-18) – February 3, 2013

The following are the answers to the text questions that came in during the sermon:

 

1.  “Pastor, We are pretty new to Grace but wanted to comment on felt needs. You mentioned the text about unanswered prayer when a person begged and pleaded. From 2008-2012 my wife and I continually prayed for direction and guidance as I looked at many different promotional opportunities. Without fail at each attempt a door was slammed shut on me. Long story short I received a wonderful opportunity that brought my family and I to the area. We took the step of faith and followed what we believe was God’s direction for our family. Within 3 months of us moving here I received a phone call that a vast majority of my peers and the levels i was looking to move to at my old job were let go. God knows our full needs so apparent unanswered prayer may not be unheard. I learned a very valuable lesson that Gods timing is much better than ours. If he had answered my prayers in my timing I may now be unemployed vs having a wonderful job and a great new life for our family,” 11:19 AM

That is a great story!  Thank you for sharing.  God is certainly aware of our Felt needs and every other need that we have.  We can trust that He knows best and is in control.

 

2.  “Dear jason miley thank you for praying and careing about my wrestling coach Mr. Mike Assaff. Mr assaff ment alot to me and a bunch of other people. Everyone says that our prayers will be answerd. I prayed and prayed and hundreds of other people did too for mr assaff but yet hes still dead. when i went to the viewing on wendsday i saw him in his coffin dead laying their next to his family. Seeing this i became soo angry at god i felt i could kill someone. My qquestion is how are our prayers answerd especialy if hundreds of people pray pray and still nothing happens?” 11:29 AM 

I am sorry for your sorrow and anger.  God always answers, but that does not mean that it is always the answer that we want.  He knows best.  If He chose not to heal Mr. Assaff, I must trust His divine purposes.  This life is but a breath and then it’s over.  It is difficult for us to lose someone that we love because all we can see is this short life.  There is so much more than our short time on this side of Heaven.

 

3.  “A lot of people work on the Sabbath. Is working on the Sabbath part of trying to live by the law ( Old Testament )? Should we feel we are sinning when we work on the Sabbath? I personally don’t think so.”  11:35 AM

I think the Sabbath is less about a particular day and more about designated time to rest and focus on God.  The Old Testament Law prescribed no work on the Sabbath, so I do not think that working on the Sabbath could be confused for trying to live by the law.  You should not feel you are sinning when you work on a Sunday necessarily, you must examine your heart.  Are you protecting time in your week to focus on God and nothing else?  Do you have a healthy rhythm in your life that keeps you spiritually sensitive to what God is up to?

 

The Book of John Series (John 4:43-54) – January 27, 2013

The following are the answers to the text questions that came in during the sermon:

 

1.  “How do you “trust” God and have faith to answer your prayers when you have gone through a time of pleading and begging and your prayer wasn’t answered? Why pray?” 11:19 AM

It is never easy when God seems to ignore our prayers.  He always answers our prayers, but He may not answer the way that we think or even want.  He knows best.  We pray to align ourselves with God.  He wants us to pour our hearts out to Him.  Whatever the circumstance, the most important thing that could happen is to be rightly connected to God.  Prayer is an act that brings us into His presence…even if we do not feel it sometimes.  Read Psalm 13.  David was suicidal because he felt God was absent from his prayers.  In the Psalm, he decides that he will remember God’s past activity and worship Him.  Though you may not see Him now, know that He is aware and present.