True Believers Are Not “Given Over” To Homosexuality

God loves homosexuals. He loves all people regardless of their sexual orientation.

This does not mean, however, that homosexuality is “OK.” It is sin, because it defies God’s divine plan for sexuality. If sexuality were just some physical function that was created by the random forces of nature without any divine influence, then there would be no such thing as sexual sin. But sex is a wonderful thing intricately designed by God to teach us certain lessons about the relationship that God wants us to have with Him. Therefore to treat it carelessly and even to talk about it carelessly is a sin against God.

Sex is supposed to be confined to a marriage relationship between a man and a woman. It must be permanent because it is a special lifelong commitment that reminds us that God’s commitment to the church (true believers) is eternal. And it must be between members of the opposite sex in order to illustrate the fact that the partners have different roles in the relationship. When one member tries to take over the role of the other member, trouble results. Thus it is in our relationship with God: if we try to take over His role in the relationship the result is inevitable disastrous.

The Apostle Paul explained in the Bible that the homosexual act is the culmination of rebellion against God:

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷ In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. (Romans 1:25-27)

We see in this passage, that the degrading homosexual act is part of the punishment that results from disbelief in God. When someone chooses to disbelieve God, God Gives them over to sin, allowing them to become slaves to sin, since they have chosen that above God.

But, as I have said before, God loves homosexuals. He will forgive them of their sins and help them control their sins if they repent of them. Actually, God makes the same offer to all sinners, regardless of whether they are homosexuals or heterosexuals: If you repent He will forgive you and give you victory over your sin. You may still feel the attack of inappropriate sexual lusts, but God will give you the power, if you want it, to resist such shameful acts and not turn the idea into action.

I, as a heterosexual, do not consider myself any better than a homosexual. I, too, have many innapropriate sexual lusts. But by God’s grace these lusts can be defeated and my body can become a servant of God rather than a servant of my hormones.

God provides eternal hope to all who truly desire it.

Your addiction to sexual impurity is the beginning of your punishment.

There are many people who think they are winning a victory in their struggle against God when they commit sexual immorality. They think they are showing Him who the boss is by making their own rules.

But they are wrong. Instead they are revealing their own selfish, foolish nature by reveling in things that are degrading to themselves and the people they do it with. The sin itself is part of the punishment:

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. (Romans 1:24 NIV)

The reason God has given them over to these lusts is because they have already rejecting Him in their heart:

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. (Romans 1:25 NIV)

One day everyone’s sin will be exposed for the garbage that they are, and no one will brag about their rebellious acts. They will realize that they have shamed not God, but themselves, by their disgusting behavior.

Fortunately, however, God loves us and will redeem us from these sins if we repent of them:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. (I John 1:9-10 NIV)

Amen!

Fools do not give glory to the immortal God.

People willingly choose not to give glory to the immortal God. Instead, in the craftiness of their own mind, they make up their own truth with the purpose of removing God from His throne:

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. (Romans 1:21-23 NIV)

Verse 23 above is obviously talking about the ancient pagan religions that worshiped idols shaped like animals. It was wrong for them to reject the One True God in their hearts and replace Him with a false God fashioned after some of the things that He had created.

Today this kind of idolatry is very rare in the “civilized” world. But it has been replaced with naturalism, which is just as bad. The naturalist does not technically worship the animals as God, yet he claims that nature is capable of creating itself without God. This philosophy, like that of the ancient pagans, exalts the creation above the Creator. This is an offense against God. Anyone who looks at God’s beautiful creation and says that it could have created itself is denigrating the power and the majesty of the One who carefully formed it. If this is your view, you will have to answer for it to the One who made you. Repent of your sins while their is time, and thank Him for the fact that you are very wonderfully made and designed.

Human Beings Knew God, But Rejected Him

In his epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul explains that unbelievers have no excuse for not believing in God.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20 NIV)

But it gets worse! Paul accuses unbelievers of knowing some of the truth in their hearts, but rejecting it:

²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:21 NIV)

Every unbeliever has some concept of God in their hearts. Some of them have even read about Him in the Bible. They have seen His creation that He has made to reveal Himself to them. But rather than move closer to God, and humbly seek Him, they purposefully move away from Him, not wanting to yield and obey Him. Their pride causes them to come up with alternative explanations for His creation, attempting to assassinate Him in their minds. Thus their foolish minds are darkened by their own desires to escape the truth.

However, God will reveal Himself to those who really want to know the truth. If you ask God to show you the truth He will:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8 NIV).

Remember, however, when you ask God to show you the truth, do so in a spirit of absolute humility  After all, He is the Creator; you are His creation. Do not dictate terms to God. Do not use your own thinking to willfully misinterpret what He has to say. Rather, beg God to have mercy on you from the bottom of your heart. If you do this, He will give you what you need, not because He has to, but because He loves you.

How to Know That Our Powerful God Exists

You can know for sure that God exists simply by looking at nature. I believe that the Apostle Paul got it right when he said:

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20 NIV)

Nature declares the power and majesty of God, because what we observe is so beautiful, intricate, and complex that it we can know it has a powerful maker. There some who try to come up with scenarios for how nature could have created itself, but you do not have to be a scientist to know that they are wrong. These people are unable to “see the forest through the trees” as the phrase goes. They have lost their way trying to make sense of the overwhelming sea of data that they observe around them. Their minds have worked feverishly trying to put together the seemingly infinite pieces of the natural puzzle which surrounds them. They are arrogant to think that they can dream up a way of putting all these puzzle pieces together in a way that leaves God out of the picture. But nature is so complicated that none of us can completely understand it. We need to be humble, and realize that it is created by a God who is vastly superior to ourselves. We need to be grateful to Him for making it, and worship Him, and seek to see what it is that He requires from us.

You do not need to be a scientist in order to see the big picture. All you need to is humility. Do not be intimidated by the vain conjecturing of other feeble humans who like you know very little of what there is to know about nature. If you have a humble heart, God will speak to you through nature.

A Loving God Must Also Be A God Of Wrath

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness. (Romans 1:18 NIV)

We clearly see from the Bible verse above that our God is a God of wrath. He is very angry against those who are not only wicked themselves, but “suppress the truth” in order to influence others to be wicked.

God is loving and gracious. He will forgive those who humble their hearts and repent. But He will surely punish unrepentant sinners. If He did not do this He would not be loving. After all, how can He be a Protector and Lover of the weak if He did not punish those who persist in hurting them? Those who claim to love the weak but do nothing to protect them from those who hurt them are hypocrites.

But our God truly loves them. That is why He will punish all predators who do not repent.

Why I Am A Bible Thumper

The trick to living life is prioritizing: You need to figure out what is most important, and make it the main goal of your life. I personally believe that the gospel is more important than any other pursuit, and therefore my life needs to revolve around the gospel: preaching it, living it, training my children in it. It is nothing to be ashamed of because it trumps all other concerns that we think are important.

The Apostle Paul agrees with me:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16)

The gospel is important because it tells us how to obtain the one thing we all need: salvation. Believing it will save us from sin, selfishness, and the wrath of God. Those who do not follow it are slaves of their own sinful desires, bringing down disaster on themselves and attempting to do so to others.

But the gospel, this simple truth that many people mock and despise, is the answer to our problem. It is “the power of God” and is therefore capable of rescuing those of us who admit that we have no power to save ourselves. When we believe the gospel we believe in God’s capability and willingness to save us, despite of our complete inability to save ourselves. Jesus shed blood is the only thing that can take away sin, and it is applied to “everyone who believes” both Jew and Gentile. That’s a promise that you can take to the bank.

Preachers Of The Gospel Should Not Be Territorial

 I do not want you to be unaware,brothers and sisters,^[d] that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. ¹⁵ That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. (Romans 1:13-15 NIV)

Preachers of the Gospel should not be territorial. What I mean by that, is that we should not be afraid to allow other believers preach the Word of God on our “soil.” After all, the entire world is God’s world, and He desires for His gospel to be preached and re-preached all over its surface.

The Apostle Paul knew this. That is why he does not apologize for wanting to preach the gospel and win souls in the city of Rome, even though he knows that other Christians had gotten their first, and had already reaped a large harvest. He knew that the believers there would welcome his help, not resent him. After all, they were all on the same team.

 

 

Why You Need To Hang Out With Other Faithful Believers

Faithful believers in Jesus Christ need to take the time to meet and fellowship with other faithful believers. When we do this we encourage each other, and our faith becomes stronger, as the Apostle Paul indicates in his opening of his Epistle to the Romans.

I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— ¹² that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. (Romans 1:11-12 NIV)

Some Christians don’t seem to have any desire to meet and talk to other steadfast believers, and when they do meet them, they don’t want to talk about spiritually related things. To me, this seems unnatural. As a born again child of God I want naturally to meet with other born again children and discuss with them our mutual experience of God’s grace, love, and mercy.

 

 

I don’t think you can worship God while refusing to talk to a family member

We have all been hurt by a friend or a family member. Sometimes our families do things to us that are so deliberate and malicious that it seems like we would be justified to refuse contact with them and never talk to them again. It seems like God should be OK with us writing that person off and never forgiving them.

But He’s not. God does not like it when we refuse to be reconciled with someone else who has sinned against us. We cannot worship the one true, loving, God in our heart if we are unwilling to give them a chance to mend fences with us. Jesus made it very clear that we must attempt to deal with these personal situations if possible almost immediately, BEFORE we attend the next worship service. Listen to what Jesus told His disciples:

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:24-25 NIV)

Jesus is saying here that you must at least attempt to reconcile with your friend/family member before attending to formal worship, so that you worship does not become an act of hypocrisy. In Jesus’ day one would conduct formal worship by giving God a gift in the temple; in our day we worship God in our churches. The contemporary application is that you should forgive your friend before you come into church to sing praise to God or to partake in communion etc. WORSHIPPING GOD WHILE YOU ARE STILL ANGRY AT YOUR BROTHER WILL HAVE LITTLE IF ANY SPIRITUAL BENEFIT. IN FACT IT MAY BE A NET NEGATIVE, SINCE GOD IS DISGUSTED WITH YOUR HYPOCRISY.

Those who are self-righteous will sometimes falsely claim to be exempted from the verse above. They will say that Jesus only commands reconciliation if you have committed sin against someone else, but not if you are the victim. However, refusal to give forgiveness is in and of itself a horrible sin. If your friend has harmed you and you refuse to forgive him of your sin, then you are simply harming him in return. This is wrong. Jesus made it clear how many times we are to forgive our brother:

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

²² Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18:21-22)

True believers, that is born again Christians, have no right to refuse to forgive others, since they themselves have received abundant forgiveness from God. If you are born of God you will love others, even though they are sinners:

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. ²¹ And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. (I John 4:20-21)

In light of this verse I think it is quite impossible for us to worship God in our hearts while we are seething with anger against another person. Unfortunately, many so-called Christians go for months or even years on end refusing to talk to or make up with their brother, sister, mom, Dad, etc. In many cases this means that they are going for a very long time without really worshipping God in our heart. It breaks my heart to see Christian kids who are unwilling to talk to their parents, or vice versa. Where did they get the idea that this is OK? It’s not OK. This is wrong and it needs to stop.

May God give us all the grace to see through our own hard-heartedness.

Amen.