Sexuality and Identity

I think there are many reasons why this conversation is necessary. I think for many of us we're probably here for three reasons. One reason could be that you simply want to figure this out so you can have hope and be able to love people. as best you can other of us could be in this place I don't really know what to believe I don't really know where I am I identify as a Christian but I feel like some of my views might not be as conservative as Christians would hope because I don't know where I am, so I'm just here in an attempt to find out if other of us could be here because this topic around

sexuality

is one that you inherently understand, it's something that you struggle with. and by struggle I mean there is a resistance available and then you feel like maybe I can come to this session to have another reason to fight today we are supposed to talk about

sexuality

and

identity

.

I'll be talking. about sexuality and a general sense, but very specifically I'm going to talk about homosexuality for the most part. I think there are some biblical reasons that are not necessarily subjective as to why this conversation is necessary. I believe the first biblical reason is that Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 28 to go therefore and make disciples of all nations, teaching them everything that I commanded them. I think this is a conversation we need to have if we want to be good teachers. The second reason, I think this is a necessary conversation because in Jude 1 Jude says to the saints of God that he was writing to, he said, hey, I intended to write to you about our common salvation, but I found it necessary to appeal to you. so that you contend for the faith, what is faith?

All that. Scripture has something to say about God, sin, and Jesus, so I think this is Cerie's net conversation so that we are equipped to be content. The third reason I think this is a necessary conversation is for the sake of discernment. I'm in Ephesians. five says walk as children of the light because the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and what she hears my voice so she that's what it is I'm sorry girl she heard it for like ten months you know and try to discern what pleases the Lord I believe that understanding a biblical view of sexuality allows us to discern what is good what I should approve what I should not prove what I should reaffirm what I should not reaffirm how I should teach how I should not like this is a way to Basically, we are preparing ourselves to be able to think correctly about these things.

One element I think I add to this conversation is experience. I used to be a lesbian, even that phrase is offensive in most circles to say I used to or reference lesbianism in the past. Tense tense sounds bigoted, it sounds even delusional, like it's saying something that's not really true, even though First Corinthians 6:9-11 says the same thing, but I grew up in this single-parent home and my mother loved me very much. dad loved me sometimes growing up I was gender confused I had discovered I don't know kindergarten first second grade that I felt this attraction to the other girls in my class in the same way that the girls in kindergarten first grade second grade didn't.

I know people the same way you feel like, oh, I want that to be my boyfriend. I felt the same way about girls who wanted that to be my girlfriend. I didn't have a label for it though because this is the early '90s, you know, it wasn't that Popular per se for me to watch MTV, take a turn and apply it to my

identity

, so I didn't know what it was until I went to the church and when I went to church I heard how I felt described in terms of being abominable now. The problem wasn't that they called it a bomb, that's Bible, it was the way they said it, the way they said it was like oh so obviously I shouldn't tell anyone about this because they won't like me too much and I'm six years old. and I've come to the conclusion that Christians don't like people who feel what I feel, so I kept it a secret, I didn't know what to do with it, like I was going to keep this a secret, whatever it was. , until I left.

Most people go to high school or college. I chose high school and thought: you know what? I'm just tired of acting sincere. It seems like it's more work to act sincere than to just be sincere. myself and I got on MySpace that's when I was coming up at the time. I don't know if any of us remember Tom. I'm sure he's working for Facebook or someone or Snapchat because they own them too, but I walked in. myspace got into a relationship with a girl I met on MySpace and that's when I transitioned into being a stud and the black lesbian community a stud is the woman who projects a hypermasculine self so I said war boxers are war, what?

What are those sports bras that flatten my chest at that moment called? I had straight hair, so I just put my hair up in a ponytail. He walked as masculine as he could. He spoke very masculine. I felt very masculine and felt like I was being For me it wasn't like I was trying to be a man, it was that I was being my most natural self or so I thought until I was 19 and it was 2008 and I wasn't looking for God. God seemed very inconvenient to me. Not holiness. It seems fun. I thought it was cool to be one of those people who only listens to Christian music and today wears ankle-length skirts because I thought that was Christianity.

I just didn't want to do that. I did not do it. I did not do it. I didn't find it fun to love Jesus, probably because most of the Christians I saw made the faith search reluctantly, it's like none of you look happy, but you all serve the God of joy. Really confusing for me, but in 2008 I was in my room and I felt God speaking to me in such a way that everything he said about sin and himself was no longer theoretical to me, it was not theoretical that he would judge sin. It wasn't theoretical that he was holy, it was like no, this is a real thing, this is a reality and it wasn't just that my sexuality is the only thing that God had a problem with.

God showed me that he needed it completely. that everything I loved and enjoyed and had affection for was everything he would judge before because nothing I did and nothing I loved had to do with him and I think that put me in the position of impulsive regret. because when you realize that there is nothing you can do to be right with God and there is nothing you can do to deserve this mercy that you are receiving from God, what else can I do but believe when I saw that? Jesus really had to be the only alternative to everything he loved and enjoyed.

I chose him and it wasn't me who chose him, it was 2 Corinthians 4 where the God who said let there be light showed up in my heart to give the light of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ as I finally could see that Jesus was everything. that I had been searching and had created things and that's why I share it because the testimonies are useful, the testimonies are powerful but ultimately they are not authoritative, so we have to understand the Scriptures, I think one thing that I wanted to emphasize and I would like emphasize on testimonies and what I will emphasize in this talk is that I think that memories and people who share their testimonies could move away from the light, oh yeah, look.

They chose God, which is great, but it's not because the emphasis is on God, it's God who made me, it's God who attracted me, it's God who saved me, it's God who keeps me. It's God's fault that I'm here and until now I think about Talking to people about sexuality or talking about sexuality many times we can get to a lot of morality without God and when you leave God out of the equation what happens with your evangelism is that your Evangelism automatically has no more power because Romans 1:16 says that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

If you know anything about the gospel, you recognize that the gospel is less about you and more about what God did to obtain God's glory and glory for Himself, if you leave God out of the topic. The equation ignores evangelism if this topic is not rooted in what God has to say about it, what will happen is that ultimately it will begin to be defined on your terms, where sexuality is what you believe to be man man woman Woman, everything is fine according to mine. subjective opinions why because if God doesn't have authority you're going to give it to yourself so the first point I want to say or talk about when it comes to sexuality is God, if you ever read the Bible before, I don't want to I guess so, but if you ever read it, it's all about him.

Sexuality has no meaning apart from God because sexuality does not exist apart from God. If you have your Bible, it's kind of a return to Genesis 1. It's the first book. Should not. It's going to take a long time, we don't use paper Bibles anymore anyway, we just clicked, praise God, look at you, I'm preparing you because I'm going to say like five words from the Bible, but okay, we have to look at it. anyway the Bible reveals God to us in it we learn about him we know him and we even learn about ourselves Genesis 1 tells us who God is and tells us what God has done says in the beginning God created pause I love it as creative, it The first thing the Bible wants to tell us about God is that he is the creator, they could have said he is Lord, they could have said he is sovereign, they could have said he is Alpha and Omega, but I think all of these fall under the category of be the creator of God because if you didn't create anything then you don't have authority over anything, but the thing about God is because he's a creator, he has authority if I made this pulpit here if I did.

I probably would have made it black because I like that color, what kind of forever, but they won't raise me for this, you know, people in Sweden, oh my God, I was wrong with this pulpit, if I made this pulpit, I determine its color I determined its height I determine how it fits, it should have four nails or two nails at the end I determine if it should be mobile or immovable I determine how it should be used because I created it that way I have authority over its function the thing What we miss a lot in this conversation is that if God is the creator god, then he defines how his creation should behave, so at the very basic level of the question or at the very basic level of this conversation, when he acts, why is homosexuality wrong?

The answer is because God said so and we don't like that, we don't like the fact that God can have so much authority to tell me that He has the right to decide what I can and cannot do, but we already know that God is a God with authority and I don't even think we want to serve a God that we have more authority than I think is not good for us or what we think is not good for us is God not having authority, I think I have to actually define which means good because in reality many of our questions fall on what is good or not.

Is it good that my sister has a partner? Is it good for me to attend my brother's meeting? gay wedding, is it good for me to like my friends photo on Instagram that is super lesbian or something? I'm really like Frank, so I'm not trying to be insensitive. I'm just saying how all of us think about whether it's a good thing or not. The word good appears 14 times between Genesis 1 and Genesis 3. The first time is in Genesis 1 verse 10. It says that God called the dry land earth and the waters that were gathered together he called seas. and God saw what the saints were.

Another way to read that text is God judged that it was good. I think it is interesting that God is not only a creator but is also a judge of goodness and therefore a judge of evil. God defines goodness in his terms he looks at the creation that says oh I believe this is a good thing not only for my glory but for the good of the people I'm creating to inhabit it do you know who the second person in Genesis is to say the word good? the devil in Genesis 1 to 2 God creates and calls good the things he creates and defines good, but then the devil appears and uses the concept of goodness only to tempt Eve to sin, he says because God knows that when you eat it is the dead that your eyes will be open and you will be like who the authoritative creative God who knows good and evil who is God God is creative God is eternal God knows everything he but she he says that she will be like him that she The created being could be the creator and that she could have the authority that he has, which includes an understanding of goodness.

What I'm trying to say is that when sin entered the world we were convinced. that we have the authority to define what is good and what this is in us, so now that we talk about God, let's talk about ourselves Genesis 1:27, can someone read me Genesis 1:27? Let's act like we're in church, even though I'm not a pastor, you have a deep voice Genesis 1:27 God makes male and female in his image, being image bearers means three things or some things, but it means three things, that we are made like God , so, like God, we are communal. bands God makes a triune God Father Son Holy Spirit he has always been in a community we are also people who function in families function and friendship function and marriage function and church we are community beings we also think that we can make rational decisions that we do not run on instinct too we are creative if you like to cook you are creating somethingout of nowhere and you call it well that's if you know how to cook I shouldn't have said you like to cook so we are like God in that way another reason why Another thing about being made in the image of God is that we are valuable to God Genesis 9 when God speaks to monkey a--he says that whoever sheds the blood of man for man, his blood will be shed by god made man in his own image when you fast forward to James 3 when he is talking about taming the tongue, he says that with We bless our Lord and father with it and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

The value of human life is so high that humans will be judged based on their treatment of humans. beings because the implication is that God could be saying what you think about me that you think you have the right to speak or kill or treat someone made in my image as if they were made in the image of Satan, the other thing is also we are made for God Colossians 1:16 says because through him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him Isaiah 43 :7 all who were called by my name whom I created for my glory, the thing about being made in the image of God is that bearing His image gives you a sign of who you were made for, so if that's the case , then I have all my sexual impulses.

You have to take into account whether I'm using it for glory or not, but I think the other practical step is if all people are valuable to God, then even in my understanding of sexuality I have to be very careful with how I talk to The people he loves, we talk. about God, we talk about ourselves now let's talk about sex in Genesis God makes things, calls them good and then says, hey, let's make man in our image and likeness, so then he says he makes Adam with a few blows of the earth. in his mouth, which I would love to see that scene, it had to be interesting, punches in his mouth to make it come to life, it gives Adam all this.

Dominion tells him to start naming all the animals so Adam starts naming all the animals because he got Dominion and I'm sure he was a little surprised that while he's naming animals all the animals come in pairs see you know that the giraffe has a bay, the monkey has a boot, you know, maybe some cockroaches were the need and I don't know because I'm not the judge of the good Lord, you know, he sees these animals in these insects and they all have a counterpart except him, then God says that's not a good thing, he defines it, he says he needs a counterpart, he needs a helper and I've always been intrigued how God is given all this authority, but he didn't give Adam the choice about who should be your helper.

He did not ask Adam for his suggestions as to who should be his helper. the counterpart would be God makes an authoritative executive decision about who should be with Adam and it's a woman God removes a rib from Adam's side without barbecue sauce, which is disgusting, you know, some people like dry rub. I think that's the strangest thing. thing of my life that is eisegesis um he takes out the rib makes a woman Adam continues and his authority in naming the woman calls her woman because she came out of the man and God through Moses says, therefore, the man will leave his father and his mother and It's funny that Moses said that because Adam and Eve do not have a dad and a mom, obviously Moses or God through Moses is saying that what I am establishing here is a universal context and format that should exist throughout over time, but not sex. mentioned in Scripture until marriage is created as if to show us that sex always has a context.

Sex should never be discussed apart from marriage as if it were its own entity. God made sex. I wish I had heard that growing up in church more often. because, truth be told, most of us, I'm not going to say most of me, my standard about sex came from the world teaching me about it because the church, I guess, was afraid that if they taught me about sex, I would go out and do it. now. that I was already born in sin and trained in iniquity and maybe I'll do it anyway unless you give me a higher standard to live up to if anyone reads Song of Solomon it's clear that God speaking about Solomon is unpleasant I'm sorry it's all my raisins and drinking things from your breast is uncomfortable I know they start to say it's about the gospel but it's uncomfortable Do you want to think of Jesus in those terms but God's vision for marriage and sex in some sense has goals beyond of our own pleasure? is pleasurable or God would not allow our bodies to function in such a way that we can experience it if it were solely utilitarian or solely for pro-pro creative purposes, sex would be the same as a high five and I will not accept That metaphor goes beyond what I already I have because, but God's vision for marriage has everything to do with his gospel Ephesians 5:31 to 32, Paul takes advantage of Moses and says, therefore, a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and his wife. two will be one, they will become one flesh, this mystery is deep and I am saying that it refers to Christ and His Church, so it is good that we have this in the deepest part of our hearts that marriage is defined by God, the marriage was created by God even before the fall it happened marriage is not a product of our sinfulness marriage was not created by people marriage created by God to show his gospel and so if we love the gospel then we consider how highly the gospel should be esteemed marriage in our hearts and others What we need to keep in mind is that the main tools used to have sex is the body and who made the body who made our hands who made our eyes who made our mind who made our private parts what we do with our bodies and what we do with our bodies matters to God why because in 1 Corinthians 613 it says the body is not made for a purpose, the body is not made for sexual immorality, but for whom, for the Lord, we can have this body, but we don't own it, it's not ours, so even though we feel like we have the autonomy to do whatever we want, even this he has authority over why it's hard to understand that because it feels like, I think when you're in person listening to someone hear something about someone having control over you, they don't.

Feel good, it doesn't feel good and I think it's because of sin in Genesis 3, let's read it verse 1, now the serpent was more crafty than any of the beasts of the field that the Lord God had made, I love that he made, he said. to the woman that God actually said that you will not eat from any tree in the garden and the woman said to the snake we can eat from the fruit of the trees in the garden but God said that you will not eat from the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden you will not even touch it so that you do not die but the snake said to the woman surely you will not die because God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be open and you will be like God knowing good and So when the woman saw that the tree was good for eat and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was desirable to make wisdom, she took some of its fruit and ate and also gave some to her husband, who was with her he ate this narrative is intriguing intriguing because the first thing that What does Satan do first of all he has ruled because he didn't even say hello he just starts asking questions she should have said like you are rude you can't be pure Satan the first thing he does is question the Word of God verse 1 says that God actually It says that you shall not eat from any tree in the garden The Bible says that the serpent is crafty A crafty person is a person who has deceitful motives, but to you it may seem as if they are being very sincere.

I'm pretty sure the devil and this serpent's body seemed like they had Eve's best interest in mind or she probably would have read it if she saw that he was this evil person, so when he acts, did God really say in What could your mind think? Oh, I have a friend who wants to talk to me about theology and she doesn't realize that if he can get her to question the Word of God, the only proper answer to that when she is deceived is that she will question the person of God. . The way you think about sexuality now because of Eve and Adam has everything to do with what you believe about God's Word;

God really said in 1 Corinthians 9 to 10 that those who practice sexual immorality there are men who practice homosexuality were not heirs of the kingdom of God nor God really say that those who believe in his name will be given eternal life to God really The Thessalonians say and felt first that this is the will of God their sanctification that you should flee from sexual immorality, but also God actually says in Isaiah 53, however, it was the will of the Lord to crush it. Satan wants to question your hope and your sin because if you can, question your sin then. you don't even want the hope that is offered because the time will come when people will not sit at the door, they will sit under it, they will listen, they will suffer with sound teaching, healthy teaching, good teaching, correct teaching, accurate teaching , but they will have ears where they will accumulate for themselves. teachers which means there are options there are many podcasts there are many pastors there are many books there are many people who will adapt to their own passions what happens with this text is that it says that those people who accumulate false teachings the topic is first a topic of the heart before being a hermeneutical topic.

They have passions that are not aligned with Scripture and so what they do is find people who match their passions, even if that means judging, so the question cannot. I just know how we teach people to read the Scriptures because that's what we have to do, but we also have to challenge people why they want to read the Scriptures as they are. What is there in you that you don't want God to do? being right in what you have to say about sexuality is a question of authority it is a question of freedom it is that you simply think that people should do what they want to do you understand I am saying that there is a deeper reason behind people's interpretation From the texts, the temptation of our days is also like Eve's to let Authority experience.

I had a conversation with a young woman at a conference she was at and she had exposed her to some texts Romans 1 first Corinthians Genesis 1 2 3 etc. and she asked me if she knew this boy, he is a boy, he is a popular communicator, he is married to homosexuals, etc. and she said: did you know him? and I said no and she said, well, I know him. I used to work with him. I believe he will go to hell and I said well according to First John those who are born of God cannot continue in sin and so I think what the scriptures would say if he is not living a fruitful life based on the fruits of repentance. so yes and she said well I don't know him and he is very loving and very kind and I don't think it's true it made me sad because she didn't even know that she was ignoring everything that God said because her experience with her friend because her friend For her, her friend loved her.

For her, she was kind as all human beings are in many ways, but anything that is not done by faith is a sin because her friend was all of these things. She didn't care what God had to say when you talk to people and you see their love for each other and you see their affection for each other and you understand how close they are and the unity that exists it feels cruel to say this is wrong it feels cruel to say that everyone should be together it feels heartless to tell these women that They shouldn't be in love, but the thing is, if God is the greatest thing on earth, then I have to be willing to hurt your feelings so that you have eternal life here and now.

If God is the greatest thing on earth then I have to be willing to suffer and be perceived as intolerant if it means we will be together in glory. I understand the tension, but I think the tension would be relieved if we thought about the glory. more often than we thought about our comfort the second problem I really ran out of time everyone will have to let me move on the second thing is that in verse 6 she says that it is a good thing and that it was a point the lights of the eyes I think my first observation would be high, something that will kill you, lovely, shows you what a reckless sin does to us.

The important thing for us to know is that Eve was not entirely wrong in her evaluation of her tree when she said it was good. for food and pleasing to the eye because in Genesis 2:9 it says that the Lord God made all kinds of trees and trees grow in the land that were pleasing to the sight and good for eating and so God made them good for food and God made it pleasant visible and I think that is a stimulus because both men and women have desirable things for me. I was attracted to women 1 because they were beautiful also because they felt comfortable.

They're soft. You know, men. muscles some men had a lot of muscle, you know, that wasn't my thing. I liked how the women looked. I liked the way women smell. I liked his voice. I liked his faith. I liked his heart. I liked it, it's just that men andwomen are completely different beings and all that was a woman all I saw were good things the beauty of a woman is a good thing the problem is when her beauty is more beautiful to me than God's and that is what the Idolatry is that in my thinking I am being wise in my evaluation.

I exchange the glory of the created for creative things. The problem with ease was not its evaluation but the idolatry that fueled it. He had an overestimation of the goodness of the tree where he considered that the fact that this tree was good to eat meant that he thought this tree could be more satisfying to the body than God. How does that relate to sexuality today? That somehow the things God has made can put more holes in my body than the one who made it. She thought the tree was more desirable for the body. eyes, this woman is in a place without sin, she has contact lenses, she has glasses, she walks with God without interruption in his unity, but now she looks at the only thing that is out of bounds and thinks that it is the most beautiful, of what it is about?

She messes with our view. She is also that for those who are attracted to the same sex, legitimate observations could be made about the same sex that we like, but just as God told Eve, it could be good, but not that. It does not mean that it is intended for our consumption, the third thing is that she said that she wanted to become wise. Eve had affection for the tree. This desire is what we see in the New Testament translated as passions. It is a lust. It is a greed. This she wants. This tree, do you think she invented it?

It may be that this desire could have the impulse it could have been out of your control maybe not but the desire is real but the question is whether the legitimacy of the desire made it morally acceptable to submit to put it another way, did the presence ? of an affection makes it justifiable to listen to it if God said don't touch it even in the presence of temptation we have to be willing to believe that disobedience is not the best way to receive pleasure but that even in the presence of temptation I have to believe that God is right and is the same for all who are tempted by sexual sin.

We might feel like it's good to pursue, but just because it feels good doesn't mean it is, but our inclination is to assume otherwise. beginning of humanity's propensity to determine goodness not by faith but by affection we choose sin because we love it no one sins because they don't want no one holds and Ogun our head and says light of that person we like how we want I don't want him yell at me, so I'm going to say I didn't curse that person, mom, we do it because there is a real desire to do it, so we are born in sin and we love it.

John 3:19 says and this is the judgment that light has come into the world and men loved darkness more than light because their works were evil Romans 1 therefore God gave them over to dishonorable passions for their wives he changed natural relationships for those that are contrary to nature and men likewise abandoned natural relationships with women and were consumed with passion for one another Ephesians 2 and you were dead in the transgressions and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the Prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now in action and the children of disobedience of Milt we all once lived in the passions of our flesh people sin because they want to there is an affection that is legitimate and this affection has led us and us It will lead to death every time but it is the sin in us that makes us believe that because we feel it we have no choice but to do it but just because the feeling exists doesn't mean it is worthy of being obeyed I think I can have seven minutes Morgan, can I? where is morgan?

Where is the Apostle? I have seven minutes of apostle because you know, we black people say that the Spirit is leading us to pass the time. He is not a God of order at this time. That's what we say right before we close. I just want to talk about sexual orientation because I think it belongs here sexual orientation describes patterns of emotional, romantic, and sexual attraction and a sense of personal and social identity based on those attractions. The two most used terms in four categories describing sexual orientation are heterosexual and homosexual. I think creation and I say creation.

The purpose of these categories helps us in some ways, but I think they have not been useful in a general sense. That is why in the definition it says that sexual and brand orientation describes patterns of emotional, romantic, romantic and sexual attraction and a sense of personal identity and social identity sexual orientation for us has become the way we choose to identify ourselves we have concluded that if this is how you feel then this is who you are these categories I said they were created because they have only been around for a little over a century 1868 is the first time the terms homosexual and heterosexual were used they were created by a Hungarian journalist named Karl iron Cole says his last name because he is Hungarian and I am black and even then they did not begin to influence the general public.

In the 1930s, when I heard about this, I thought, "Well, first the Corinthians use the term homosexual." Well, if you look at the King James Version, which was from 1611 long before 1868, it does not use the term homosexual because it did not exist nor does the term heterosexual exist, that is why you have never seen it in the Bible, but in the modern translations, when the word came up, they said, "Okay, arsenic, ol ty," which is what the Greek that Paul is using, homosexual, seems to be the closest term to that, so let's put it in our translation and I sang wrong, no, but what I'm saying is that when you look at how Paul describes men who practice homosexuality in 1 Corinthians 6:9-ten, the Greek says that a man in a bed uses the identity category of Gender, not orientation, which was typical before the 20th century, before then people didn't think of themselves in the categories that we do.

His sexuality was assumed in accordance with his gender. If you asked the man in 1850 if you were straight or gay, he would look at you like you do. If he were crazy, he would say I am a man. I don't know what you mean when your sexuality or your sexual feelings and attractions were considered in terms of sin and virtue, but for us now they are considered in terms of human identity that is fixed or fluid Janelle Williams Paris, who wrote this book, you should call it the end of sexual identity, he said that this is the main problem with sexual identity in general, as it is a social construct that provides a flawed template for understanding what it means to be human by linking desire with identity implying that what you want sexually speaking is what you are but according to Genesis one who you are as an image bearer a Genesis 3 who you have become is a sinner and therefore what to do is a sin and I say this because the way historically Our understanding of sexual orientation and identity has impacted the way we understand sin and people, which in turn has impacted our evangelism, our sanctification, and our discipleship.

If someone's sexuality is being gay, it's the primary way you identify them as a person, guess what your evangelism will be that will focus entirely on their sexuality instead of the whole person and that's the problem. I have people come up to me all the time. Hi Jackie, first I need help with my gay friend, what's his name? The fact that you introduced me, you introduced them to me as the gay friend, like they didn't have much more to them than that, like the whole person was focused on who they like and who they love, and I think this is what the orientation Police has made us because we have reduced people to being primarily their sexuality instead of being image bearers of the Living God who we are to minister to on that level too if your sexuality as a person is the primary lens through which you understand. then your temptations will always have more power over you than they deserve when the world says or when you become a believer and the temptation still exists and they arise in your heart they arise in your mind they arise in your dreams what the temptation will do I tell you that's it what you are brother, that's what you were created for, you're just repressing your true self when our sexual temptations or inclinations become our identity, we give it more power than it deserves, so what are we going to do?

I'm not saying we should ignore these categories because I mean, I think they're helpful if someone comes to me and says, "Hey, my friend needs help. I'm going to say what your friend needs help with." We have to get to a point where specificity I think that's how you say to get to the point of ministry, but I think if we went back to seeing ourselves and others as the Scriptures describe us, I think it would be much more helpful even to the parents. parents who are so distressed because their children are attracted to the same sex my son says he is attracted to the same sex Jackie I don't know what to do because he said he is attracted to the same sex because he has been tempted you have concluded that that is all it is, but no one ever comes to me saying Oh, Jackie, my son said he was looking at a young girl, but I really don't know what to do because you don't see his heterosexuality as being that sexually immoral. - you have assumed that is just a child thing, now you are just being a child, son, you should have self-control, yes, but you are simply being, you are not overwhelmed because you recognize that this is a temptation that is part of your identity as a sinner So what about this side when our kids come to us and say, hey, I'm struggling with this temptation, instead of you saying I think my kid is gay, remind your kid that we're all broken? we have a sexuality that is not entirely correct heteronormative lust is as abominable to God as Heather a homosexual lust everyone loves beautiful Jesus and so to close how I will finish is by saying this the presence of these affects instead of letting them define us I should point out to us what I mean by this is that, if anything, the presence of same-sex affections proves that God was right when they said we were born in sin, proves that the Scriptures are accurate in their assessment of our hearts and how dark they really are, so instead of listening to the world, the world will say why it exists, that's what you should do, we should say because it exists, this is who I need, its presence automatically means that we are in need of a savior that we could we have been born in sin and we are being born in sin means that we are born inclined to have particular affections but god when he said to Nicodemus in John 3 no one in the hair in the kingdom of God unless he is born again, that is ultimately what It needs to be done again, so next week we will talk about the heterosexual gospel.

How many of us have confused marriage with preaching the gospel? Let's talk about the difference between conversion and conversion therapy. Let's talk about sanctification. in the life of an attractive same-sex believer and we're going to delve into glorification as our ultimate hope that we won't always be here and we won't always be this way. I'm done, apostle.