CLJ English 141026

this morning you know I I feel a bit

apologetic in a sense because I speak to

you so seldom as part of our

congregation and I would love to just be

able to share something very light and

and easy to absorb and not uncomfortable

but but the Lord has put in my heart a

burden to speak a word that is a serious

and a bit heavy and sometimes someone

might interpret as confrontational even

but as a pastor I I do feel that I am

accountable to the Lord to speak the

Word of God even when it is

uncomfortable for me to proclaim it for

our people even to hear it and so this

is a the reason why I I do feel a bit

uncomfortable though I know that this is

of God and in a sense I ultimately don't

apologize for announcing the word of the

Lord nevertheless I decided last week as

a matter of fact to alter a series of

sermons that I was preaching at the the

Latino part of our congregation to

preach a sermon on a different topic

from the series that I was approaching

and that parentheses was caused by an

event that took place here in America

just a few days ago which I do feel has

historic implications and that the

Church of Jesus Christ that needs to

address and that every pastor in America

really is required in us in a sense to

speak to the congregation about this

particular event and so I want to place

my comments in the context of that event

and I will describe it for you and I

hope that you will see how urgent it is

for us to be clear as to the

implications of this particular event it

has implications for

the cherished issue of religious liberty

in America the the freedom and the right

that religious people now use that word

religious in the sense of in the general

sense I'm not just saying about

Christians but whether it's Hindus or

Muslims or Christians or Buddhists the

right that they have to proclaim truth

according to their scriptures that they

hold the deer and that they cherish and

to do it respectfully but that is the

freedom that our Constitution guarantees

under the First Amendment the freedom of

speech and it is it is a principle that

many secular organizations like the ACLU

American Civil Liberties Union spend

huge amounts of money and time and

energy protecting and they protect the

right of Nazis to speak about their

beliefs or of racists of the most

extreme sort because they believe that

this principle of a liberty of speech

and liberty of conscience is such a

foundational pillar of a democratic

society and that if that pillar is

threatened somehow or limited the very

nature of our society would be altered

and so Christians fall within that

freedom that's all I'm saying and

Christians should have the right and the

freedom to proclaim truth especially

within the confines of the walls of a

church and the intimacy of a Christian

community but the fact is that in

America even that right is now being

questioned and it will continue to be

questioned in ever deeper more profound

ways and we need to resist that and we

need to declare our absolute opposition

to it so what what brings me to this

point before I even enter into the word

although we are already in the word but

I want to use some texts as a foundation

because everything needs to be supported

by the Word of God but I'm just a few

days ago the mayor of Houston who

happens to be a lesbian woman that's a

redundancy she's a lesbian period but

sometimes you kind of want to smooth out

lesbian sounds too kind of heavy

sometimes but she happens to be a

lesbian and a very committed militant

lesbian she makes no bones about the

fact that she is militant about her

sexuality and that she sees her

opportunity as a mayor of a major city

as a place for her to defend the rights

of LGBT people and she has no apologies

about the fact that she will use her

pulpit in every possible way to advance

the interests of the homosexual

community and so recently the the city

of Houston in a very unilateral fashion

without consulting its citizens decided

to establish a ordinance that among

other things allows for example people

of any sex to enter a bathroom of the

opposite sex if they feel that their

identity their sexual identity not their

physical identity but their sexual

identity in the sense of their mind

allows them to so that means that a man

who may feel disposed to as a woman has

a right to enter a bathroom for women

and be free of any kind of attack from

the law about it or a woman feels she

may be transgender may be simply an

individual who feels that that's my

right and they are free to do that and

other elements that impinge in a very

dramatic sort of way on the rights of

citizens as a whole and Christian

citizens or I for example whether I wear

an atheist or a Christian the idea that

man has the right to enter a bathroom

where my wife or my daughters are doing

whatever need they had got to take care

of is absolutely threatening and

scandalous regardless of my religious

beliefs but this is the kind of

scandalous

teaching that is being promoted in our

time which makes us wonder I mean a

society gone mad there are so many crazy

things being proposed that today in

society not just around the issue of

sexuality that you do wonder and it

makes me think of what the what the

Bible says that us men become more

distance from the image of God as they

they refuse to acknowledge the dignity

of God God gives them over to a mind

that that is deficient and defective a

mind that proclaims and does things that

are not convenient not healthy for the

well-being of society it is a mind that

can function very well in technological

and scientific and philosophical areas

but somehow in the areas that pertain to

human behavior and human relationships

is totally depraved and totally

dysfunctional and I think we're

beginning to see that in ever clearer

ways in our time through the

proclamation of such laws that are

evidently are contrary to the health of

our society so the city of Houston

decided to unilaterally declare this

right and this ordinance not consulting

citizens not asking them for their

opinion not submitting it to a vote

simply because it has the right to do so

a group of pastors decided to challenge

that law through the only democratic

channel that existed still because once

the city used that mechanism the only

channel to bring down that law that

ordinance was through a petition a

citizen's petition that would bring that

law into question through a proposition

for the citizenship to vote upon now it

seems to me a perfectly good right a

perfect mechanism that America

recognizes that is legitimate for

citizens of diverse opinions to settle

their differences through the booth of

voting and so these are pastors

following the law decided to do what

needed to be done which is to procure

17,000 I think 70,000 plus signatures

from citizens

that then would enable that law to be to

be a proposition to be placed for voters

to decide in a Democratic Society what

would be done about that ordinance the

proponents of this proposition not only

collect the 17,000 they collected fifty

thousand three times the amount required

because we have known through previous

experience that we need to be redundant

because these individuals who are

proposing a proposal is laws will always

seek to disqualify many of these

petitions we wanted to be redundant

50,000 petitions plus were collected and

incredibly the city determined that the

vast minus Sigma chures were invalid and

illegitimate through an arbitrary

decision how could I know because I have

participated in one of these petitions

years ago here in the city and how

careful we were to make sure that the

petitions that were submitted stood the

test of a scrutiny and yet it was clear

that this was a bold arbitrary move to

disenfranchise citizens and to prevent

them from being able to register their

beliefs through legal normal democratic

channels and that says something about

America in the direction that we are

going in unless we are clear in standing

up against this creeping dictatorship

that we find ourselves in in America the

the signatures were disqualified and it

was determined that there weren't enough

enough of them to justify proposition

coming before the citizenship five

pastors in the city decided to sue the

city to force them to go through the

proper channels to truly decide whether

these petitions these signatures were

invalid or not to call the city to task

for being so arbitrary and this is where

it brings us through this is the mayor

the day the city because now the mayor

because of the Opera that her decision

cause is not denying that she was

involved in this thing which is totally

it just defies the imagination to think

that the mayor would not know about

something as significant but the city

decided to subpoena five pastors to

submit force them to submit their

sermons and all communications within

the church that pertained to the issue

of homosexuality for scrutiny which if

you know anything about American law is

such a brazen violation of human rights

and such an attack on our human rights

and that it really was designed not to

for some sort of objective examination

of their papers because now there was a

legal process involved but really it was

designed to intimidate to muzzle to shut

up people of religious conviction and to

tell them if you dare to speak out

against these things you are next and

the state has the right to control what

you say even within the intimacy of your

sanctuary and of course this this was

such a brazen violation that there was

an uproar and pastors and other it has

created a national scandal and the mayor

seeing this backtracked and of course

some of her underlings very dutifully

fell under sword and said no she didn't

know about it and it was us doing it and

you know that's not what we intended to

do blah blah blah and they've been

trying to backtrack and to kind of

minimize the reach that they were really

seeking to attain through this

intervention and I believe that this

this move of a mayor of a major city in

America this wanton violation of the

rights of American citizens and

believing citizens is so such a

violation it reaches such a point of

scandal that we must observe it as a

historic moment in American life in an

American history it is a defining moment

and that shows the true intent and the

true

sort of inclination of this movement to

not only obtain rights to live and to

express itself but also to kill the

rights of others in order for it to just

possess and be free to do all that I

wants to do which is really ultimately

it will destroy our nation it will

undermine the fabric of our nation our

children our young people the moral

standards of our culture the limits that

every society needs to put on fallen

human nature I need laws I need them my

friends I need the accountability that

you provide for me because if left to my

own designs I would be a mess and I

would make a mess we all need

accountability we all need laws the

moment that I society in the name of

love and freedom abandons limitations

for the fallenness of human nature at

that moment that society is consigning

yourself to utter destruction ultimate

debilitation and so this is why I feel

this is so urgent that for us to just

camp simply go as life as usual and to

continue preaching nice the sermons

about God loves you and you know he has

good intentions for I believe in that we

just proclaimed that this morning would

be to really be neglectful of our duty

citizens Christian believers need to be

alerted to what is going on in America

we need to be emboldened we need to be

affirmed affirmed in our own beliefs in

our own convictions and pastors need to

be released to proclaim the Word of God

which is a medicine that that cleanses

and that that heals it's caustic yes

it's it's it's it creates conflict

within us but it heals because it is the

truth of God and so this is the

environment that we are living in today

and this is this the environment in the

environment that the Church of Christ is

preaching the Word of God it's not a

neutral environment in neutral times

when there's not the flux and the

questioning of

morality that we are facing in our

nation in the world the church can

afford to preach normal sermons quote

unquote maintenance sermons but in times

of change in times of radical

transformation the Church of Jesus

Christ needs to inform its believers

about the foundations that they require

in order to make the decisions that they

need to make in the everyday world am I

making myself up or maybe into too

complex and too confusing saying what

I'm saying in other words in the time of

a radical questioning of Christian

values the Church of Jesus Christ its

duty is to declare those values at the

very least among believers but also I

think in the outer culture as well in

order to heal the culture to be a

prophetic presence in the culture I am

reminded of the words of a psalm 2 in

this context in the context of the world

that we are living in where the psalmist

rhetorically quest asks why do the

nation's conspire and the people's plot

in vain psalm to the kings of the earth

take their stand and the rulers gathered

together against the Lord and against

his anointed one you know what we are

seeing in America right now is precisely

the authorities of this nation the legal

authorities the judicial authorities the

political authorities standing against

the Word of God in a nation that has

historically always supported the Word

of God and let me can let me make a

parenthesis here many people say well

America has never been a Christian

nation well in a sense that may be true

but I can tell you this that America has

always been a god-fearing nation America

may not be a perfect nation America may

not have been led always by Orthodox

believers such as in the time of the

Enlightenment or the 18th century with

the founding fathers but if you examine

their writings have you examined the

flow of American history you see a

nation that has always had the fear of

God and the fear of the Bible in it its

leaders may not have been perf

its leaders may not have been fully

Orthodox but they always assumed a

judeo-christian context for the laws

that were being proclaimed what is

happening now is that that generic

judeo-christian context within which

America has always float is being

questioned and is being rejected by the

rulers by the leaders of this nation by

the judicial rulers by by the political

rulers of this nation and the people are

being left out of the decision-making

process that a democracy presupposes and

requires so the Bible looking thousands

of years before our time prophetically

sees a time when the rulers of the earth

will get together and confirm among

themselves to conspire and to sort of

establish a mutiny against the the Lord

and against his anointed when it's

interesting this is a messianic sound by

the way who is God's anointed one Jesus

Christ meshia may see a messiah means

anointed and most commentators of the

Bible will will agree that this Psalm

prophetic alee points to rebellion not

only against God but also against his

chosen ruler with Jesus Christ and so it

says the rulers gathered together to

confer to conspire and and this is what

they say in the minds and in their

little covens as they get together they

say let us break their chains they say

and throw off their feathers break what

chains not that not the change that

destroy but the loving chains that that

is they see it as a chain we see it as

headings for safety that the Word of God

provides and these individuals who have

rebelled in their heart now against the

law of God and see it as a chain they

say let's break that chain let's break

away from it let's free ourselves from

this burn

of moral law in the moral belief and

let's be free to do whatever we want let

me tell you rebellion rebelliousness is

at the very center of the human heart it

is the source of every evil that has

taken place in human history beginning

with the first rebellion in the Garden

of Eden no even before that the first

rebellion was Lucifer against God this

is why God so hates rebellion he says a

king to witchcraft because he knows that

the you know the rebellious in the heart

is this this resistance to full of the

being i'm going to call whether it's a

demonic or a human being to submit

himself to the lordship of god to

acknowledge his creature ness if you

will and to acknowledge that there's a

Creator who has sovereignty over who you

are and what you do and that rebellious

is that teenage rebelliousness in the

human heart is the reason for all the

tragedy in the universe the fallenness

of even the cosmos itself and this is

what we see today in the 21st century

where the human beings have acquired a

level of sophistication and knowledge

and technological dominion that they now

feel strong enough and adult enough to

rebel against the lordship of god and

his chosen messiah and we see that in

the question that is taking place in

sexuality in morality in our

understanding of society human beings

now feel that they can invent themselves

we see this everything is being

manipulated is they human beings of the

the potential right now two to play with

and reconfigure the genetic makeup of

the human being that is our that is our

next barrier that is our next journey

the manipulation of the very essence

that of a human being and so we have

extended that into a capacity perceived

capacity to also change our sexuality to

reinvent society as a whole to sort of

everything is up for grabs in our time

and by the way this is not the first

time that

of social questioning and that social

rebelliousness it also took place in

this is what the course Babel you know

where we human beings achieve such a

level of sophistication we don't really

know exactly what that meant in that

time that they felt they wanted to

construct a tower to their credit into

their glory because this rebellious

pneus every time you feel

self-sufficient you feel I don't need

God anymore and so God what did he do he

confused the languages God said you know

these human beings that I've created

they have such potential such power I

have endowed them with such creativity

that have left to themselves that's not

telling what they will do god knows what

he has put in us yes we are highly

creative very powerful but without the

love of God and the hedge protection of

god we can destroy ourselves because

wisdom turns to mere intelligence than

and mere intelligence kills and destroys

so God confused mankind and this is the

the origin of so many the tongues of

diversity of tongues according to the

Bible and so we are living in a similar

time but I think much more sophisticated

where human beings have achieved such a

level of sophistication that we feel

that we can now again seek to question

God and the Thomas says you know they

say let us break their chains let us

overthrow their feathers and this is

God's reaction through the prophetic

lengths of the summit he says the one

and throned in heaven laughs the Lord

scoffs makes fun of them you know the

first reaction of goddess who are these

weaklings to think that they can

question me and he laughs at the the

ridiculousness of their pretensions

because it's so so grandiose that it's

ridiculous and it's laughable but then

the second reaction is anger since then

he rebukes them in his anger and

terrifies them in his wrath saying i

have installed my King on Zion my holy

hill you know there is there is a holy

anger that God experiences when we

questioned his glory and his lordship

and I think this society this world

right now is beginning to experience

some of the consequences of their

questioning I think America is beginning

to experience that I have never in my

whole life experienced the kind of

turmoil that this world is experiencing

now I am I am flabbergasted I've studied

history I've read history and I don't

think there has ever been a period in

human history of such turmoil how's the

one that we are experiencing right now

whether it's in the Middle East Iran

Iraq Afghanistan Israel and the

Palestinian situation Egypt whether it's

in Europe the Ukraine crisis Russia sort

of raising its head once more and

seeking to become a dominant power again

no matter what the cause whether it's

North Korea developing full capacity for

nuclear destruction such a neurotic

society having nuclear weapons in their

hand it's absolutely beyond me and we

see China which is a sinister presence i

mean i love my Chinese brothers and

sisters but the government and the

philosophy that animates the government

which is a godless philosophy coupled

with incredible financial power and they

desired again to assert itself in the

whole indian ocean or in the Pacific Rim

countries and in the philippines and

japan and so on japan is probably going

to arm itself again after a second world

war it refused to to our midst of what

now in the threats of before the threats

of china it's seeking also to arm itself

again and china is seeking to compete

with the united states in africa and

latin america and buying every piece of

land that they can and seeking control

and arming itself in for nuclear

capacity they are they already have it

in spades everywhere Isis and Ebola I

mean that the level of turmoil in

the world is absolutely astounding in

our time and the level of change and of

questioning in our time is unprecedented

and in America we see all of this stuff

that's happening in the international

world is coupled with the the demise of

American influence which has always been

a good influence in the world and the

people of the world have always sought

America for the solution they still do

to a certain degree but they also now

see America as a fallen giant not worthy

of respect because America is losing its

influence and becoming a minor power

because of the fact that they have

abandoned the God that made America

possible in the first place we have

abandoned the moorings that these dis

godly feathers that kept kept us safe we

have abandoned those and so this in the

world the problem of the world is being

increased by the fact that this

influence which is never perfect but it

was very good it's also on the decrease

in significant sort of way so it is this

this this God who has inscribed his law

in our psyche in our genetic makeup we

will never be able to break the fetters

quote unquote of God's intent because it

is written in our biological laws a

woman knows that the God the law of God

is inscribed in her just as a man does

as well we may we may forces us but the

fact it's always be that a woman gives

birth that a man generally has more hair

in his body than a woman or that their

voice are a few degrees lower like we

have we have God's law inscribed in or

something there are certain binary laws

that govern the way that we we move in

the way that we do things and when we

violate those things we are acting

according against the very green of our

being and so what we see in America this

questioning I think you know other

countries make question judeo-christian

values and not experience the kind of

turmoil that America will experience why

because America has a godly passed on

its head it's like a child that rebels

against God after growing in a loving

Christian home that child will suffer

the the you know the kingdom of animal

will be putting pressure on that child

because the law of God is describing

their heart and so that child is

rebelliousness would be an issue with

God now somebody who didn't grow up in

that kind of environment God may not

have really any dealings or any purposes

in their life but when you have grown up

way under the under the shadow of God

and His laws when you rebel against it

it has tripled the consequences and

America has always been there was a

there were covenants that were

established there there are pacts that

were established centuries ago and God

has a very good memory and when we rebel

against those things we pay the price

for it and so what we see now is that we

need to in it because of the love that

compels us and because of the way the

world is constructed Christians we need

to speak the truth in order to heal the

nation's because as the nation's rebel

against the cosmic law against

biological law against the laws that

have been structured into the very life

of the universe they are kicking a knife

they're kicking something that is has

the potential to kill them as they rebel

against it and and the fact that we love

people many people say that Christians

are hateful that we are self-righteous

that we are judgmental because they

think that to love is simply to accept

there's this idea that if we are truly

Christian then we will accept everything

that comes our way that will simply

affirm everyone well I I don't see that

in Jesus Christ I don't see that

anywhere in the gospel you know when I

look at Jesus Christ and his character

when I see his ministry when I see his

words when I read his sermons I see a

man God committed to truth and if he had

to say if that truth offended then so be

it actually that truth offended so much

that he ended up on the cross and this

idea of a Jesus that love so much that

he simply says be who you are and don't

worry about it is so diametrically

opposed to the true nature of Jesus and

of the gospel that I cannot contemplate

how even some Christians can enter into

that belief as well and some this today

we have so many believers Christian

believers you know ingesting and

accepting that demonic belief that if

you were a Christian you will simply

accept everything I accept everyone but

I don't accept everything I love

everyone i know that i'm the first one

who needs God's grace in my life and

when I speak the truth of God I speak at

knowing that that truth first cuts

through me and kills me and calls me to

reconfigure my life and then I announce

it my dear brothers assistance let us

not accept this idea that in order for

us to be loving we have to deny truth

you know I think Christians today need

intense psychotherapy we need to sit

down in silence before God and revisit

the things that we believe our

commitment to the kingdom our commitment

to the truth of God to God's Word and we

need to say am I going to put the

opinion of men in a superior place of

the opinion of God about my life and

about myself we need to come to a crisis

point where we have to ask ourselves

which authority am I going to accept as

the guiding force in my life is that the

Word of God or is it the opinions of men

and if we can come to the

crisis oriented decision that no I want

to live by the Word of God then we must

choose a path of sometimes martyrdom

sometimes aloneness but it's a path of

great satisfaction knowing that we are

living authentically that we are living

with integrity that we are living in

unity with what we profess with our

mouths and we live with our minds the

Christian path is a path of loneliness

many times my dear brothers and sisters

the God did not call us to an easy path

the church and the Word of God will

always be in enmity with the world you

know I think in our desire to fit to be

a winsome and attractive to the world

many times we have decided to throw

overboard the distinctives of the

Christian faith you cannot do that for

the church to be truly the Church of

Jesus Christ that must stand on the Word

of God and then invite others to come

and join them and join us in that

embrace but the world the Bible the

Bible tells us clearly that there will

always be enmity there will always be

friction and conflict between the light

that the Word of God offers and the

darkness that rules the world and I

think that today modern Christians many

modern Christians believe that we can

improve on God's marketing strategies

I've somehow we take away those things

are scandalized the world as somehow the

world then will come into our churches

and that is the most misguided

treacherous belief that you can ever

imagine the Church of Jesus Christ has

always thrived on scandal let me tell

you that the first candle is the scandal

of the cross you know that is a

stumbling block you know the Bible says

that Jesus Christ is a stumbling block

the cross is a stumbling block

in order to get into the kingdom you

have to go through that stumbling block

if you don't want to go through it then

you stay on the other side you know

people are scandalized by the fact that

you know Jesus Christ had to die on a

cross in order for humankind to be

reconciled with God and that we also

have to go through our own cross every

day in order to please God I believe

that the most powerful instrument for

the propagation of the gospel the very

seat of the power of the church and the

authority and the vitality in the help

of the church is scandal the scandal of

the cross the scandal of holiness the

call of God to conform ourselves to his

word when a church lovingly accepts the

Word of God and proclaims the Word of

God that church will be whole it will be

healed it will be strong it will have

authority it will be heard the Holy

Spirit will dwell within it why do you

think that there are so many liberal

churches that have thrown away that the

orthodoxy of the Christian faith why are

they dying out why are they evangelical

II evangelistic Lee neutered why are

they incapable of reproducing themselves

because the only thing that gives us the

capacity to reproduce ourselves is the

presence of the Holy Spirit the the

approval of the God and that approval

only comes and we remain within its word

one of the reasons why I think that we

we cannot simply neutrally say oh you

know what we will become and we will

become affirming to homosexuality or

whatever it is to it can be just simply

people you know all the different

perversions it can be you know adultery

it can be you know gambling it can be a

mean spirit that can be vindictiveness

it can be a pressing your loved ones you

know it's not just the sexual I

acknowledge that but you know we we need

to be able

to question every one every kind of

behavior that goes against what the Word

of God has declared we need to be free

we need to understand that this this is

the protective element of God for the

church when a church naked neglects the

knives rejects these beliefs it's not a

neutral decision it has implications for

the presence of the Holy Spirit when a

Christian when a church decides to just

assume that that's well that has nothing

just a minor decision you know what

happens really what the op shoot of it

is that we grieve the Holy Spirit and

the Holy Spirit then it becomes distant

from that community that is why for me

the call to holiness even though it's

such an agonizing thing should never be

abandoned by a community or by an

individual that embraces Jesus Christ

because that call to holiness is the

guarantee that the Holy Spirit will feel

comfortable dwelling within me and

within this building so we must

understand that the health the

survivability of a church depends on its

capacity to please the Holy Spirit

through what it declares everyday and

what it seeks to honor we are not a

perfect community by any means we are

all broken our marriages are broken our

homes are broken our minds are broken I

shudder to think that you may put a

microphone to my brain and know what I'm

thinking right now even I know who I am

but that does not prevent me however

from announcing and declaring the truth

of God you see there's this idea this

intimidating of technique that is being

used today somehow all your imperfect

you know you and I here Christian saying

that all the time oh you know you're a

sinner you do this you do that you're

hypocrites and there for you to just

shut up and stop announcing the Word of

God that is a demonic ploy the Church of

Jesus Christ has always been imperfect

the

ferences that we know that our

imperfection is covered by the blood of

Jesus Christ and we invite other sinners

like we do to acknowledge their own sin

and to come into this vessel of struggle

to you know do God's work in our lives

with the help of the Holy Spirit and

every day I have to inject myself with a

new dose of the gods grace every morning

and every night and several times a day

I have to come before the Lord say Lord

I'm a broken human being i need your

grace I admit it like the psalmist says

I acknowledge my sins there ever before

me I have broken your law but even as we

admit our brokenness and I think the

Church of Jesus Christ needs to admit

its brokenness we need to be a community

of transparency we need to be a humble

community we need to let people know

that we acknowledge that we are broken

that we have not fulfilled God's

expectations of us but even then we have

to say yes but God you call us to

holiness you call us to integrity and we

have to embrace the agony of the

Christian life my brothers and sisters

were I am landing right now I'm closing

up but um what I'm saying is that

America is engaged in in a in a very

dangerous experiment and we the

homosexual the militant homosexual lobby

and I used that word very deliberately I

wish had more time to unpack these terms

but the militant homosexual lobby in

America has always said you know all

that we are seeking is for the right to

be who we are and not to be oppressed

but really that claim has now turned

into in order for us to be who we are

you need to shut up about who you are

the idea of living that live has been

changed now in to die and let live and

we cannot accept this let me just read

something as I say I wish had enough

time to unpack all of these things this

is a statement from a scholar a legal

scholar who happens to be a lesbian and

who is one of the most honest scholars

that i have found who really say what

what really this is all about it's not

about

you know I went to the state house one

day and I heard somebody say well you

know gay marriage is the law of the land

now and the sky has not fallen well let

me tell you the sky has fallen and that

statement is only being used to put us

into sleep so that we then will allow

this thing to continue creeping every

day more and more that the homosexual

movement becomes more and more daring in

its invasiveness in its imperialistic

aspirations to just process and America

must decide between gay rights or human

rights in that day we have made it into

one thing we have now the biggest

achievement of the homosexual one has

been to cover itself with the cloak of

Human Rights once Americans accept that

that claim of gay rights and human

rights being the same thing the battle

was lost for all believing Christians

and that is the one thing that still

needs its it's been presented as

something that has already solved it's

beyond questioning it's still very much

controversial it has not been proven

that homosexuality is an inherent trait

of the human being to qualified as a

human right to Christians and to so many

other people it is a choice it is a

lifestyle that you have chosen to adopt

just as I could adopt any other kind of

lifestyle and I cannot claim that

society should reconfigure itself to

accept my my choice my lifestyle but

here's what this legal scholar says and

it's it's legal terminology but I wanted

to show you something about you know the

complexity of this issue this is where

honesty compels and the fact that this

is being expressed by a lesbian person

who is fully committed to homosexual

rights it should convince us of what

really what we are up against that it's

a choice between our rights the rights

of every religious person in America or

in the world to be able to live

according to their profound inviolable

beliefs or the

rider homosexuals to live according to

their practice and their beliefs which

requires that the society the culture be

reconstituted in every area housing

employment religious life marriage

education of our children the power of

the state to control the intimacy of the

life of every citizen all of these

things are implicated in this issue of

gay rights this is what she writes she

says ensuring that LGBT people by the

way and now it's not just LGBT it's

LGBTQ it used to be simply LG but then a

bee was added to it and then after the

bee was added a tea was added to it and

now a queue has been added to it I

suppose we're going to go into uvwxyz at

some point as well because you know what

happens as this Lobby keep gains

confidence and power it keeps increasing

the reach it has always been said that

this this movement would end up with a

polygamy and that is exactly what we're

seeing in America right now increase of

polygamy and in the fight for polygamy

and you may be offended by what I'm

going to say but that also this is this

has been said 30 40 50 years ago the

ultimate is also for the rule of

pedophilia of people minors on the race

to be able to engage in homosexual

activity to be made the law of the land

as well now I know that may strike some

of your scandalous but read more about

that there is nothing that I have seen

in the trajectory of this process to

contradict that fact once you abandon

some very foundational areas what is

there to hold back anything else if all

that you have to defend your moral

beliefs is reason then everything is

open to questioning incest for example

why should I society be concerned about

incest if it's not concerned about

bestiality or homosexuality or anything

else it's stupid it really is completely

contradictory and yet in America where

it was oh yeah you can allow all these

of the laws about instance no never why

let's open the doors completely to every

possible change in every possible

questioning all right pass them around

they get to the text listen to this I

can give you her name chive fell below

as well you know you can find her in the

internet she's a major legal scholars is

ensuring that LGBT people can live

honestly and safely in all aspects of

their social lives requires that society

set a baseline of non discrimination on

the grounds of sexual orientation and

the gender identity you're gonna have to

process yourselves it's complex language

but you know saying that the foundation

has to be no discrimination in according

to sexuality if we're going to allow

homosexuals to live according to their

design if individual business owners

service providers and employers

including their Christian colleges like

Gordon College is right right now facing

the possibility of its own accreditation

being removed because of a minor

petition that the president I mean the

board of trustees of trustees of corn

college I know the intimacy of this

process but Gordon College a Christian

institution with clear statements about

its Christian beliefs is now facing the

possibility slimmers that might be of

having its accreditation removed because

the the president simply signed a law

President Michael Lindsey asking

President Obama to allow Christian

colleges to be to remain true to their

Christian beliefs in employment

practices but what you're saying is you

know if individual business owners

service providers i'm going to add

college at christian colleges christian

nonprofit agencies could easily exempt

themselves from such laws by make

incredible claims that their belief

liberty is burdened by the law LGBT

people would remain constantly

vulnerable to surprise discrimination in

other words unless all these

institutions are stripped of the right

to remain true to their beliefs then

LGBT people will suffer and they will be

discriminated against oh we cannot

louder that's the the subtext here she

says if I am denied a job an apartment a

room at a hotel a table at a restaurant

or a procedure by a doctor because I am

a lesbian that is a deep intense and the

tangible hurt that hurt is not

alleviated because I might be able to go

down the street and get a job an

apartment the hotel room a restaurant

table or a medical procedure from

someone else in other words you know the

fact that I can just you know said well

I can't provide it to you go someplace

else because I'm a Christian she says

that's not enough for that person to say

no the assault to my dignity and my

sense of safety in the world occurs when

the initial denial happens that assault

is not mitigated by the fact that others

might not treat me in the same way thus

for all my sympathy for the evangelical

Christian couple who may wish to run a

bed-and-breakfast from which they can

exclude unmarried straight couples and

all gay couples this is a point where i

believe the zero-sum nature of the game

inevitably comes into play in other

words is either or it's not both hand

you know it's either either the society

is fully on the side of LGBT rights or

it's against it there's no middle way

and that is exactly the point about you

know homosexuals you may say I love you

God has designed you I will respect your

rights but you are wrong as soon as you

say that you're against them the whole

homosexual movement is predicated on

this idea you're either a hundred

percent for me for me or a hundred

percent against me and unfortunately the

legal system in America is adopting that

same either or attitude and mentality so

that anybody who doesn't conform to that

new way of looking at things is

violating the law and will be punished

for it so this the power I believe the

zero-sum nature of the game inevitably

comes into play and in making the

decision in this zero-sum game I am

convinced society should come down on

the side of protecting the liberty of

LGBT people once individuals choose to

enter the stream of economic commerce by

opening commercial establishment

or any other kind of establishment that

has to deal with the public whether it's

a college or a church not a Christian on

profit whatever once you once you step

out of the confines of a church and you

step out into the world out there you're

in no man's land that's what is being

said here i believe it is legitimate to

require that they play by certain rules

as the court observed in Smith versus

fair employment housing commission quote

to permit Smith to discriminate would

sacrifice the rights of her prospective

tenants to have equal access to public

accommodations and their legal and

dignity interests in freedom from

discrimination based on personal

characteristics and closing here a

number of writers have made the argument

that entering the stream of Commerce

should legitimately subject and

enterprise to risk civil rights laws

commerce should not be clothed with

fundamental or First Amendment freedom

in other words that is the point you see

the moment that you step into any kind

of interaction with the outside world

give up any First Amendment rights

freedom of speech freedom of religion

freedom of whatever is related to your

conscience which is such a scandalous

such an illegitimate principle that it

baffles me that you know that the

Americans could be and the Christians

could somehow contemplate this

peacefully and even sometimes cooperate

with the implications of this trajectory

commerce should not be cloaked the

fundamental of First Amendment freedom

to exclude members on any basis they see

fit this is the the court supreme court

if the government tolerated the private

exclusionary policies of such

individuals in the commercial sector

such toleration would necessarily come

at the cost of gay people sense of

belonging and safety in society this is

I put this in both ways just as we do

not tolerate private racial beliefs that

adversely affect african-americans in

the commercial arena even if such

beliefs are based on religious views

we should similarily or similarly not

tolerate private beliefs about sexual

orientation and gender identity that

adversely affect LGBT people so you see

my dear friends and please come come

forward I want to give you hope that I'm

finishing I'm gonna ask whether the

worship people to come up you see this

conflation this putting together of

african-american the african-american

civil rights movement and the fact that

the government had to intervene right I

believe rightfully so to ensure the

rights of african-americans against

discrimination and racism its own here

in America now has come back to bite us

through the manipulation of that same

concept in its application to the

homosexual movement and they're not the

same they're not the same I would have

to give you another sermon you know how

to prove why it's not the same but I

would close perhaps with a pastoral

another pastoral observation which is

the following which is that in a sense

you know the Christian community is now

paying for all the discrimination that

we have accepted here in America against

african-americans to the point that

instead of using the Bible to renounce

racism it had to be done to the shame of

the Church of Jesus Christ it had to be

done by the secular authorities for us

because in many parts of the America

Bible believing Christians saw no

contradiction between denigrating and

and discriminating against African

American brothers and sisters and their

Christian beliefs so you see the justice

sometimes of how God works today that

failure that moral failure of big

sectors of the American church

and having forced the secular

authorities to violate you know

democratic principles in a way in order

to ensure that this significant sector

of America would receive its legal

rights as they rightfully required has

now been employed to oppress us and this

is what this is what we have to

understand you know the God is a God of

justice and he loves his church but he

will also judge us when we fail to be

true to his truth into his laws and we

will ultimately have to pay a price

America had to pay a huge price for

slavery in the Civil War and many people

including President Lincoln saw the

Civil War as retribution from a just God

against all the inhumanity that was

perpetrated against African and African

Americans throughout many many decades

of American slavery and now I think in a

way we as Christians are paying the

price because we have provided the

secular movement this destructive

mentality a powerful argument to violate

democratic principles and to oppress us

and that's a call for me and for you to

always live in the truth of God no

matter what the cost no matter what the

cost you know the southern states for

many many years refuse to deal with

slavery because they said you know we're

addicted to slavery our whole economic

system is predicated on slavery if we

gave up slavery we would bankrupt

ourselves and so they chose money over

truth

and they had to pay the price if I

choose now in the 21st century comfort

over truth I will have to pay the same

price we cannot do that people of God we

must always be humble we must always be

client to the truth of God wherever it

leads and in this time we must again say

Lord am I going to follow the truth of

your word or the convenience of being

popular and I know that we all in our

heart I do hope that all of us are

saying as for me and my house we will

serve the Lord we will be true to the

word of God so I just urge you to be

praying full I urge you to be deliberate

I urge you to study the Word of God I

urge you to examine your conscience I

urge you to be courageous I urge you to

know the Word of God to be wise in the

things that you need to be wise in such

as the definition of love such as the

definition of Christianity such as how

you understand the vertical nature of

the character of Jesus Christ the

integrity that you choose to live in in

your life and what that implies for your

life these are times and we can no

longer afford to just play Church these

are times when we are being required to

be mature like never before and to know

why we believe and to know what we

believe it's a time for soberness it's a

time for great great sense of agony

within us and of martyrdom if necessary

knowing that living the Christian life

and the Christian identity is a ganic

it's agonizing it's not an easy life you

always I hope I'm almost questioning

myself Lord am i doing the right thing

should I just chalk this as well and

just embrace what's going on I'm always

questioning myself because I want to be

just I want to be I want to be loving

time and time again the Word of God

tells me no stay in what you have

believed

stay what you have believed let the tone

of my son his character his complexity

be the guiding force in your life set

your tone to him not to the world tune

your personality in your ministry and

your life and your conversation and your

words and your character to knit

according to the standard of the Word of

God and then let God align the world

around you if the Church of Jesus Christ

remains true to the Word of God the

church of jesus christ will prevail and

people will come flocking into the

church broken and needy to be repaired

and to be blessed and to be healed and

reconfigured according to the Word of

God but we must remain firm until that

day happens the Bible says that in the

evil day we stand firmly and when the

day has passed when that evil day has

passed we shall hopefully be found still

standing I ask you this morning people

of God stand and why don't I I else I

can invite you if you feel that this

word resonates with your spirit why

don't you stand you don't have to stand

but if you feel that it does resonate

with you let us stand so that the Holy

Spirit might see our church and might

and let this be a declaration Holy

Spirit of God we ask that you see us

right now and have mercy on us have

mercy on us Lord

we declare that the gospel is a gospel

of love but it's also a gospel of truth

and we want to be a congregation of love

and of truth Lord we acknowledge that we

are sinners in need of your constant

grace we are prone to break your law and

that we are far from perfect and so we

come before you needy and broken and we

ask Jesus that you would clothe us with

your justice that you would protect our

church that this church would always be

a haven and a refuge for those who are

needing the restoration of the kingdom

of God that we will be perceived as a

church of love and of righteousness and

a church of humility as well we thank

you for all the broken people including

myself that you bring every day into

this church and for the fact that here

we can find healing and that we are

seeking healing that we will have to

seek it on to the very end of our lives

thank you Father thank you for Jesus

Christ thank you because in him in his

gospel there is hope

there's hope to break every chain and

every obstacle that that impedes us

reaching that maximum potential that

Jesus Christ came to release I bless my

brothers and sisters I proclaim your

piece this morning I proclaim lightness

of spirit I proclaim joy I proclaim hope

and in a sense of being centered in you

lord thank you for this time thank you

for the privilege of knowing Jesus

Christ thank you for the security that

we find in your word teachers are will

be true and faithful to that word in

Jesus name we pray and the people of God

say man I bless you in the name of Jesus

this morning praise the Lord