[ANNOUNCER] The following
program is brought to you
by the friends and
partners of Time of Grace.
[MUSIC]
[PASTOR MICHAEL NOVOTNY]
Welcome to Time
of Grace; I'm Pastor Mike
Novotny.
"I'm gay."
What do you say if you
hear those words?
If it's a family dinner
and your granddaughter is
home from college and she
says, "I'm gay."
If your brother wants to
have dinner with just the
two of you and for the
first time in your lives
together, he says, "I'm
gay."
If your roommate or your
best friend wants to tell
you something - perhaps
that they've told no one
else in the world - and
they say, "I'm gay," what
then?
How should Christians
react?
With open arms?
With stern warnings?
With Bible passages?
With congratulations?
The truth is, so many
people answer those
questions in such
radically different ways
but what does God say?
What does he want his
people to say when those
that we love and care
about express differences
in their sexuality?
Today, Pastor Mark Jeske
is going to try to answer
those delicate questions.
He's going to open God's
word to allow us to see
with our own eyes and
hearts and ears what our
heavenly Father thinks
about sexuality in our
modern world.
What should we do?
What should we say?
We're going to find those
answers today in God's
word.
[MUSIC]
Same gender sexual
attraction is not just
something that sort of
erupted within your
lifetime.
This has been going on
forever.
It is simply part of the
brokenness that has
exhibited itself among
human behaviors as soon as
there were more than two
people.
Today, in our country as
Christianity and the
Christian Bible explicitly
has less and less
influence on our public
policy, it's not that
whole new categories of
sins are arising; it's
just coming above ground
because it was always
there.
There are differing
estimates as to the
percentage of the
population that has a
similar sex attraction and
there are some people that
honestly can swing both
ways, I guess, I guess
that's the "B" in LGBT.
The only thing to argue or
debate about is how big a
portion of the population
is it.
The gay right's advocates
would like to have you
believe that ten percent
of people are naturally
inclined to be attracted
to people of a similar
gender.
I have read some studies
that it's fewer than five
percent in actuality; that
the ten percent is kind of
inflated.
But if you put together
all the people who not
only live that lifestyle
but also have it on their
mind and would like to do
it or fantasize about it
or think about it or maybe
don't do it but they're
okay with it and like they
would do it if they could
or found the right person,
that number could be
substantial.
So here it is: Now is this
a hill to die on or not?
Should we Christians back
off of this the way we
backed off of the
opposition you may have
heard in this very church
75 years ago that
interracial marriages were
evil and not God's intent?
Or is this a hill to die
on and say, "No, God has
spoken," we can go no
further.
Let's listen to God.
1 Corinthians 6 and its
sister chapter right next
door in chapter 7 have
some of the most profound
insights into human
sexuality in all of the
Bible.
Chapter 6 begins with a
rebuke of making against
this congregation because
they were suing each other
in court and Paul said how
shameful that is.
Christian congregations
are supposed to be a place
of peace, of love, of
support for one another.
You're supposed to walk in
and suddenly feel a vibe
where you can let your
guard down, where nobody's
going to hustle you, take
advantage of you, push you
around, or try in some way
to use you in some way or
manipulate you into being
somebody you're not but
it's a place of
affirmation, it's a place
of healing, it's a place
of forgiveness, it's a
place where you can get a
new charge of hope to go
at living your life again.
And if people perceive
that your congregation is
full of fighting and
enmity, you're going to
drive people away instead
of welcome them in.
So the first two
paragraphs are quite a
stern scolding about their
impetuosity and running
into court and suing each
other.
There's a very powerful
sentence starting in the
third paragraph: "Do you
not know that the wicked
will not inherit the
kingdom of God?"
Wicked - the Greek word
for wicked adikoi, means
people who are not right
with God.
They don't have his
righteousness.
They're at odds with God;
they're on the outside
looking in.
In other words, our goal
is not just to try to be
busybodies and snoops and
get into people's business
and try to mess with their
lives by making them
shamed or feeling bad
about themselves.
Our goal is to stop people
from committing spiritual
suicide because if you are
disconnected from God,
you're disconnected from
life itself.
You are never going to
have a happy life right
now in time because God
will not let you be happy.
Guilt will hang over you
that you cannot get rid of
by any effort of your own
and just doing whatever
pleases you or what you
feel like is not going to
make you feel better.
You will know in your
heart it's wrong.
Secondly, you will be
miserable in eternity for
the Day of Judgment is
coming and people, you and
I, will be held
accountable for what we
believe and how we've
lived.
So this is a big deal.
Don't be deceived; Satan
will use every human
desire and every human
appetite and try to turn
it against you and
manipulate you into
pandering to your
appetites no matter what
the damage to other people
and to you.
Don't be deceived.
If you were the devil or
you were on Satan's sale
staff and you got a big
sales meeting coming and
you have to show how many
people you have - whose
lives you've messed up -
and so you know you've got
your quota and what tools
would you use to go at
people to corrupt them and
make them act crazy and go
against God?
Where would you attack?
I think I know where I
would.
What are the things where
Satan gets his wedge in?
Sexual temptation, always
a winner, an old standby.
In fact, if I were Satan,
I would start with that.
I wouldn't waste time
dinking around; I'd go
straight for that and try
that first and see what I
could work.
Making people miserable
where they're at so
they'll cheat to try to
get what they want.
Unfulfilled in marriage?
Have an affair.
Single but wishing you had
somebody?
Have your boyfriend stay
over and pretend to be
married for a while.
Don't have the patience,
he won't propose yet?
So what?
Bring him in.
Take the shortcut.
I'd start at sexual
temptation.
If that wasn't working
right away - money, money,
money, money always gets
people's attention.
Wave some money under
people's noses and get
them by the nose and hook
them off and drag them
off.
I'd work at people's
mouths; do damage with
your mouth.
And actually the biggest
of them all is I'd get
them to pay no attention
to God.
I would disconnect people
from God's word and I
would put substitutes in
their place for them to
worship and chase that
will promise to be much
more fulfilling.
It worked with Eve and so
that's exactly what we've
got.
But the dirty ten, the
terrible ten attitudes -
now, this is not an
exhaustive complete list
of all human sin - but
these are ten examples of
lifestyles, not just sins,
but lifestyles, ways of
living, that without
repentance will kill you
spiritually.
These are all suicidal and
not just for unbelievers
to do; they live in this
because they don't know
any better.
But Paul was writing to
Christians because these
ten things were making
inroads into the
congregation.
These are temptations and
troubles for you and me,
too.
Now as we take a look at
this terrible ten, be
careful of your pointing
finger and I'll be careful
of mine, too.
This pointing finger makes
it seem like I'm up here
and you're down there.
Everybody's broken and the
brokenness that's going to
be listed here are
examples of brokenness in
you, too.
We're born broken.
We're born disconnected
from God.
We have to be reconnected
and that is the Spirit's
mission with you and
that's the Spirit's
mission to make you a
connector to help other
people.
Here are ten that without
repentance will give you
an unhappy life and a
miserable eternity.
Four sexual, three money,
two mouth-related, and one
- the biggest of them all,
in fact - is idolatry,
which is actually the
first commandment.
God really only needed one
commandment because if you
got something else on the
throne of your life, all
the other stuff just kind
of flows out of that.
It's really the original
sin.
"Don't be deceived," now
here come ten: "Neither
the sexually immoral," the
Greek word "pornoi" means
people who have sexual
activity outside of
marriage in any one of its
many ways; so just a
generic word for
non-marital sexuality.
Let's just say any kind of
sexual activity outside of
marriage is something that
puts you in this category.
And don't shoot the
messenger, by the way.
These are not my rules for
you; this is your
Creator's rules for your
life.
"Sexual immorality."
"Idolaters," I mentioned
already.
"Nor adulterers," now
that's hard to figure out
in English.
There are not good exact
English words for what is
said in the original
Greek; moichoi in
Greek means adultery in
the sense that it's a
marriage-wrecking
activity, as well.
In other words, a single
woman who has an affair
with a married guy,
they're not only sinning
against each other and
against their own bodies,
they're also sinning
against that guy's wife
because they're wrecking
her life, too.
He's betraying her and she
is stealing what does not
belong to her like David
stole Bathsheba away from
Uriah.
So this is sexual
immorality with victims
besides just the two of
them.
The next two words relate
to male-to-male sexual
activity and here are two
words that do not have
exact English equivalents.
Depends on which
translation you have; I'm
using the NIV here.
My older NIV that I have
right here says "male
prostitutes nor homosexual
offenders."
Those are not - neither of
those is a good
translation.
The newer 2011 version or
the NIV says, "Men who
have sex with men."
That's actually a lot
closer; although there are
two different types of
activity described.
One of them, "malakoi," the
first word that's on the
bad ten, are the soft
boys.
In other words, the
receivers in sexual
activity.
People who participate in
the homosexual activity,
man to man, where it is
done to you.
The other word,
"arsenokoitai," means a man
who has sex with another
man.
It's not offenders or
criminals, it's not as
though rapists are being
condemned here; just the
very activity itself.
The doer and the do-ee, as
it were.
Does that make sense?
We've got kids here; I
can't get too much more
specific than that.
Nod if you get my drift.
I'm serious.
Make a motion with your
head if you follow me.
Okay, thank you.
Alright.
That's bad.
It's on God's list.
That as a lifestyle
without repentance is
spiritual suicide.
This is a hill to die on,
yes it is.
Let's finish the list and
it's not just that God is
picking on people with
that particular
vulnerability.
"Thieves and the greedy."
If you have an appetite
for money more than God,
you're committing suicide,
as well.
Money lust is a form of
idolatry and if you want
it bad enough to take it
from somebody else,
without repentance you're
living in spiritual death.
In fact, you're not living
at all.
It needs to be recognized,
repented of, and rebuked.
Now two things having to
do with the mouth:
"Drunkards."
If you pour too much
alcohol down your throat
to the point where you
lose control of your life
or you become addicted to
it, that also is a form of
spiritual suicide.
Now drunkard is like a
mocking word; we don't use
that word too much today
anymore.
It was more popular, I'd
say, a hundred years ago.
Today we'd say an
alcoholic and today
alcoholics often are
viewed as victims or like
it's a disease, like it
just came over you.
But there's no way out of
alcohol abuse unless the
individual chooses to hold
himself or herself
responsible for her
actions and believe that
with help, you can change
your attitudes and
behaviors.
"Slanderers," are people
who are verbally abusive.
You use talk, you use your
mouth, to beat other
people down.
You think, "Man, I've seen
these other things are
kind of sinful but man,
just talk?
That doesn't seem all that
serious a business."
Yes, it is.
Or "swindlers."
In other words, this is
white collar crime.
Thieves is blue collar
crime where you break into
people's houses and steal
stuff.
Slander - I mean swindlers
are when you embezzle
money, when you falsify
documents at your business
or when you try to cheat
the government out of what
you legitimately own or
when you try to cheat a
customer; it's called
swindling.
When you live that life
without repentance, it is
spiritual suicide and
that's what some of you -
it's a very powerful word
right here; if you have
your Bible open, check it
out - and that is what
some of you "were."
Change is possible.
"You were washed, you were
sanctified, you were
justified in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ and
by the Spirit of our God."
So one of the things we
know is that it's not like
there's all these regular
sins and then being gay is
like the nasty sin or the
super bad sin; it's just
one more way of being
broken.
And shaming and having
contempt for people and
scorning and shunning
people who have sexual
addictions or who are
pointed in the wrong
direction with their
desires is not how to
bring about that change.
They are as worthy of
being loved by Jesus as
you and I are.
You and I are as broken as
anybody - when I'm saying
you and I, I mean you and
I who are more
heterosexually oriented.
I fully expect that there
would be any number of
people here today who feel
a longing for same sex
attraction and I'm not
sure how you're doing in
wrestling with that or how
often you've caved into
that temptation.
I don't think any less of
you for that as I wouldn't
expect you to be overly
judgmental of me for my
many weaknesses.
We're all broken.
We're all desperately in
need of Jesus' forgiveness
but that needs an attitude
of repentance on your
knees to say, "I have
sinned.
Lord, by your standards, I
need help.
Help me.
I've been washed.
You washed me of my sins
in my baptism.
I've been justified.
The blood of Jesus from
the cross has pronounced a
'not guilty' on me so that
my past and its horrible
weight has been lifted
from me and I don't have
to be dragged down by my
past.
I don't have to let my
past mistakes define who I
am right now.
When I have a relationship
with Jesus, his grace is
new every morning and I
count on that restart.
I'm going to restart
today.
And I'm not going to let
my past define me any
longer.
I've been sanctified.
I'm not just struggling on
my own.
I have the Holy Spirit,
the Sanctus Spiritus,
sanctus-ing me,
sanctifying me.
He lives within me to
reload new software into
my brain so I can think
straight and to give me a
spine injection so I
become a vertebrae; that
I've got an actual spine
and can stand up and stand
up for what I know to be
right and that I can use
my mouth to honor God and
my hands and feet to take
me to good places and to
do what is right."
So I am not interested in
heaping scorn on people's
past and if you're a
straight person and you've
got, let's say, there's
somebody who's in your
family or one of your
friends who has come out
and said he or she is gay,
shunning just does not
work because all it does -
if all the straight people
shun all the gay folks -
the only place they can go
to find some kind of
affirmation is deeper into
the gay world where the
word of Jesus finds harder
and harder to get in.
Unconditional love - also
the same way that Jesus
treats you - and what
we're interested in is not
manipulating other people
to make ourselves feel
better.
I'm not worried about gay
marriage, for instance,
being a big assault on
straight marriage, on
heterosexual marriage.
Straight married people
look at me right now: The
biggest threat to your
marriage isn't some gay
guy.
It's you.
Straight people are the
biggest risk to straight
marriages and we're doing
a terrible job of it.
Let's just accept
responsibility where it
belongs and those of you
who are married, take care
of your marriages.
We've got to be just as
indignant about people who
are not married living
together; that's a
problem, too.
A man and a woman who are
living together and
sharing a bed without
being married are sinning
as much as any gay person
is.
Repent of that and take
care of some business.
Your greatest threat to
your relationship with
each other and with your
God is you so it's time to
repent.
Those are hills to die on.
That's a place to take a
stand and we today - I'm
inviting you to jam your
flagpole in the sand right
here and say, "Right here.
This is where it stops."
And even if we now once
again become such a
minority that we're a
counterculture, so be it.
A price worth paying
because that is the place
of spiritual health.
That is the place to be
relieved of our sinful
guilt.
This is the way not to
jeopardize our everlasting
inheritance in heaven for
these ten examples of
unrepentant sin deny
people the kingdom of God.
And if you truly love
somebody else, you're not
going to let him or her
commit spiritual suicide.
But let's do it humbly;
not picking that
particular sin out in any
kind of way as though it's
worse than anything else.
Humbling accepting the
rebuke of others where we
are wrong and letting
ourselves be corrected.
Daily repentance to get
back on that road that
Satan tries to keep
knocking us off of and
luring us off of and in
this way, we're showing
that we're interested in
God's opinion more than
man's opinion.
And our culture may or may
not help us as Christians.
Sometimes it does;
increasingly it doesn't.
We're not going to let our
value system be shaped by
what happens to be allowed
on television.
But we want to know, Lord
God, how may I serve you
with my life.
Make sense?
Alright, we've got work to
do.
Amen.
[MUSIC]
[PASTOR MICHAEL NOVOTNY]
A few years ago,
I made a short video about
the Bible's view of
homosexuality.
To be honest, I didn't say
that much in the video.
I didn't say whether it
was right or wrong or good
or bad, something that God
would agree with or not.
Instead in the video, I
just asked people to open
a Bible.
So many churches and so
many pastors and so many
family members and friends
have so many different
views on the subject of
sexuality.
So in this video, I simply
encouraged people to open
a Bible; see for yourself.
Study the teachings of
Jesus; don't take someone
else's word for it.
In the same video, I also
told people to love.
God loves the whole world
and every Christian
should, too.
The first reaction that
people should feel, no
matter what they believe
and with whom they're in a
relationship, should be
love.
Jesus said to his
disciples, "This is how
the world will know that
you follow me, if you love
one another." And that was
the simple message of the
video: Open a Bible and
love people.
Well, they showed this
video to a bunch of other
people and there was a gay
man who saw what I said.
In his response, he
started to tear up and he
said, "I didn't know that
Christians could speak
like that." Think of that
for a second.
I didn't even take a
stance on sexuality; I
just said open a Bible and
love people.
And in this man's
experience, God have mercy
on us, he didn't know
Christians could even do that.
We live at a time in our
culture where it's so easy
to jump to conclusions and
jump to judgment.
But what if the open door
the church needs is just
patience and love?
The patience to open the
book that God wrote and to
love all the people that
God made?
And so, can I ask you -
can I plead with you and
beg you - to please, just
do those two things?
If you know someone who is
gay, if someone confesses
that deep, deep truth to
you, would you simply be
patient enough to open the
book and kind enough to
love?
It's something so many
people in our world have
never experienced and
maybe you will be the one
to change their minds.
Maybe you will be the one
to show them what Jesus is
really like: Full of truth
and love.
I'll be back with you in
just a moment to pray.
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[PASTOR MICHAEL NOVOTNY]
Did you know that the Time
of Grace family is able to
reach out to people who
are straight and gay?
Lesbian and bi-sexual?
Transgender and all of
those who love people in
every different sexual
category?
So when you pray and give
generous offerings to
support this ministry, you
are helping us to bring
both God's truth and God's
love to people from every
walk of life, so thank
you.
Thank you for allowing us
to speak clearly to our
culture but always
couching God's truth with
his amazing grace and his
incredible love.
So would you join me and
pray?
Dear Father in Heaven, You
love every person on
planet earth, no matter to
whom they are attracted,
no matter what they
believe, no matter how we
behave.
We thank you, God, for
unconditional love and for
the grace that you have
poured out upon the whole
world.
I pray, heavenly Father,
for those of us who are
hearing this message who
are battling same sex
attraction.
God, we hear so many
messages and sometimes we
are so confused about what
you want us to do.
So would you speak clearly
in your word?
And, more than anything,
remind us that what you
ask in our lives is always
for our eternal good.
Help us to trust you,
especially those of us who
have to bear a heavy
cross.
Bring forth Christian
friends that can show us
incredible companionship.
Help us to remember that
as much as we struggle
that you are a God of
mercy, a God of
forgiveness, and a God who
gives salvation freely.
Father, I also pray for
those of us who know and
love someone who is gay.
I pray that you would give
us your heart.
I pray that you would give
us your patience.
I pray that you would give
us the humility to
apologize for things we
said that we shouldn't
have or the right things
that we said in ways that
were just wrong.
God, give us the humility
to open the doors that
have been closed; that
real conversations can
happen, conversations that
are immersed in love.
Finally, Father, help us
to trust you.
It's so difficult in these
changing times to hold
onto your promises and to
believe it is best for
your church.
It seems so easy to change
what you have always said,
what we've always taught,
what so many of us have
always believed.
Give us courage, God, and
the kind of love that is
willing to stand up for
all the words you say but
never at the expense of
loving the people that you
love.
God, it's so difficult for
us in daily conversation
to balance that truth and
that love so we are asking
you for your help.
Send your Holy Spirit into
our hearts, into our
sermons, into our
churches, into our
schools, into our lives
that we would overflow
with the fruit of kindness
and gentleness and
self-control and peace.
For all of us who are
attracted to people of
every different gender,
heavenly Father, we need
you that we can honor you
with our bodies, our
minds, our thoughts, and
our hearts.
We ask all these things
though with courage and
with eager expectation
because we know that you
love us as your own
children; you're forgiven,
cleansed children who are
beautiful and delightful
to you because we come to
you all in Jesus' name.
Amen.
With Time of Grace, I'm
Pastor Mike Novotny, and
it all starts now.
[MUSIC]
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