This sermon emphasizes the importance of repentance and the truth about embracing God's Word. It highlights the consequences of rejecting God's truth, the need for repentance, and the hope and restoration that come through turning to God. The message addresses the perversion of society, the battle for truth, and the power of repentance for transformation and renewal.

Lord, I pray tonight, Lord, that your Word would bless many people tonight. Lord, give them comfort and conviction. Lord, I pray that you'd bring clarity to this difficult topic. Lord, that you'd begin to infuse, Lord, not only my words, but the entire service. Lord, that your presence would be felt as we seek genuine love, as well as truth. Lord, I pray that you'd bless this service. We want your Word to be magnified. We want your Son to be glorified. And we ask this in Jesus' name. No, not at this time. You can see me after the service. I'd greatly appreciate it. A couple quick things before I begin. CDs are going to be available right after the service. Usually, on a topic like this, people are going to want copies and they're going to want to give it to friends. And so we're prepared for that. So we've got the burner ready. And if you need copies, see, I believe Bernie will be here after the service. You can see him. But also, I text the core team yesterday and thought, you know, do you guys think it'd be okay to bring my last two books? Because for this very reason, everything that I'm speaking on is pulled from these two resources. So if you want additional information or what I'm speaking on, if you want that in print, they're in the books. So they're free. If you don't have money, they're suggested donation, whatever you want. We just want to get the resources out and we want to get those out to those who are going to utilize them. So on those two things, this message was challenging, not necessarily because of the subject matter, but it's almost like if you ever had a garage sale and you start pulling out things of your garage, and it seems never ending. Just, you know, where did that come from? Where did this come from? And that's how I felt this week talking about this subject, is pulling all of these things out of not only God's Word, but it was, I believe, probably since the church started, one of the most, not only one of the most important sermons, but also one on which God was just pouring into my heart. I'd be ready to lay down at night and just have to get back up and write things down, and I'm reading and all these things. I believe He just was pouring in my heart for this message. So what turned into hopefully one lengthy message might become two messages. It might turn into part A and part B. I want to try to get through everything, but I don't want to make the mistake of hurrying through at the cost of forgetting some important points, if that makes sense. Now, I've told my wife about this too, and we prayed about this, and I think it'd be important to kind of give a prelude to the introduction. And what I mean by that is a lot of people don't understand that preaching the truth, preaching messages like that, like this, cost me something and cost my family something, and people don't realize this. I spoke last week, I reminded some of you about an incident I had many years ago, in 2003, 2004, in Wisconsin. I was speaking at American Baptist, their large annual conference, and I talked on this issue, and people began to get up and leave, and one lady came up and confronted me, and I had her sit back down. But one of the saddest things of that whole event occurred afterwards. There was probably 150 people lined up to talk and say thank you, but about one out of every 10 didn't say thank you. They had some really nasty things to say. One was a little 12-year-old girl. I said, oh, thanks for coming, and she just had her hands in her pocket, I hate everything you had to say, I can't believe this and this, and I'm just crushed, I mean, a 12-year-old girl, and then 10 more people, I don't listen to her, she doesn't, and then the next person's like, this weight of responsibility, this tug-of-war of emotions, then I get in the cab, and the Baptist guy says, man, you really let us have it tonight, and then, do you ever get any death threats? And I'm like, wow, what's happening to our culture today? You know, and I get back now, and you guys see some of the editorials in the paper, they're calling me a narrow-minded, bigoted, white supremacist, all these things, and I know these things are funny, but it's not funny to me, because I have to live this life. We have to get a P.O. box when we buy a house, we have to get in a trust, because that's what this costs me, folks, and my family, when my kid's growing up saying, Daddy, why do people say hurtful, mean things about you? That's the life I live. So you have to understand that messages like this, preaching messages like this, this is the life, this is what this costs me. It's not some fun little walk in the park. I go places, and people are sneering at me. They're upset. They don't like what I have to say or what I have to write. So it's not some nice little lullaby to start a church. It's warfare. So I don't come up here and say, oh, look at what I'm going to talk about. This costs me something. We've had to call the sheriff and have them do drive-bys just in case, because of things. Look at what's happening to our nation. I mean, if it were up to me, I would get a secular job, make six figures, and not upset anybody. Really. You might say, why don't you then? Because His word is in my heart like a burning fire. It's shut up in my bones. I'm weary of holding it back, but I cannot. I'm called to do this. So you must understand, those who might object to this message, because this is going to go on the radio and hit not hundreds, but tens of thousands of listeners, and they're going to hear this. So I want to set the stage with that. It's going to go out on YouTube and Vimeo and all these different things, because this is important. This costs me something. It costs my wife and my family something. So we're not up here just saying, oh, yeah, this, and oh, God's word says this, and you should be ashamed of it. No, speaking the truth in love has a cost. It has a cost. So you need to understand that when we speak the truth, it's because we speak it in love, not in anger. If I was upset or hated something, I would just say nothing. I would just go about your business. I'm going to ignore this topic, and I'm just going to tell people what they want to hear. So with that said, I want to talk about four, actually six important points in the introduction. And what I don't want to do is jump right into God's word. I can go right to Genesis 1, right to Genesis, you know, Sodom, and I can go right into Romans 1. I can go right into Corinthians. A lot of times what happens when we do that, which is good, sometimes we need to set the stage. We need to give a backdrop. We need to clear the air, as it were. We need to give people context on which we're going to read the Scriptures and have them understand where I'm coming from, because I've found out if people can better understand where I'm coming from, they're more apt to hear. When I start quoting Romans 1, and the wrath of God is revealed on all ungodliness, and you're going to hell, they don't want, they tune you out. That's the whole point of this message, balancing grace and truth. You can't have one without the other. We've talked about that before. If it's all grace, no truth is ever spoken. If it's all truth, there's no grace, you become a Pharisee. So how do we find that balance, the important balance? And the first thing I want to talk about is the first point in this introduction is I have a confession to make. Although I don't struggle with this particular sin, I'm a sinner. I sin, do you? We struggle with sin. I have a confession, I'm a sinner. God's Word says that my sin is vile, my sin is an abomination. If it were not for the cross of Christ, that's the only thing that separates Christians from those who are unbelievers. That's it. So if there's a big boat, a big sin boat, I'm sitting right next to the person who struggles with same-sex attraction, homosexual, bisexual, lesbian. I'm a sinner, I'm sitting right next to you in the boat. There's an adulterer next to me, there's a fornicator, there's a thief, there's a cop. We all sit in the sin boat. So it's not about being better or putting a person down, we're all in the same boat. The only difference is believers understand they accept what Christ has done on the cross. God's one sacrifice for sin. Now I'm in right relationship with God so I can step out of that boat. And all we say is, come on, let me show you how to get out of that boat. That's all this is. It has nothing to do with mean, angry people, you know, holding signs that say things I can't even say in church, that you're going to burn in hell. That's not love. So that's what we're doing. We preach these messages not from a spirit of condemnation, but of conviction and of love, saying, listen, we're all in the same boat. We're all sinners saved by grace, but you have to embrace the grace that has been given. And that's the whole point of this type of message. On one hand, I'm not going to walk around on eggshells and not upset. This message will upset people. But I'm also not going to go around and point fingers as if I would never. I mean, my sins just aren't in that direction. They've been in other directions. I mean, every man in this room will tell you lust is an issue. Oh, absolutely. I hope. For your wife. But we have to put those lusts in perspective. So see, that's the one thing that I want to tell that the homosexual community or the gay community is that we all struggle with sin. There's no, you know, sin that's way up here, and all the other ones are way down here. So I want to get that point across. The next thing I want to get across is why would I give a message like this? Some people no doubt say, Shane, you're wasting a platform. It's a waste of time. What are you isolating this message for? Why would you just talk about this subject? Well, for four reasons. And I call it the four C's in preaching. I want to clarify, I want to confirm, I want to convict, and I want to comfort. And what I mean by that on clarifying, there needs to come a point in a church where we clarify the Word of God. We clarify. We say, here's what West Side Christian Fellowship believes, here's why I am clarifying our view on this point. See, what happens, if I avoid this topic altogether, if I just avoid this topic and say nothing, when you say nothing, you say something. That's wrong with our political system. Nobody wants to vote. Well, guess what? By saying nothing, we say something. Nobody wants to say anything. We don't want to upset anybody. So this is what happens. So the sin we read a lot of times in the Bible, omission, not doing what we know we're called to do. So I believe that God calls pastors, teachers, preachers, to preach His Word with clarity, with direction, with boldness, with precision, with love, and with truth. So that's one of the reasons here is to clarify our position at West Side Christian Fellowship on this issue of same-sex attraction, on this issue of gay marriage, what do we believe and why. We're going to put this video on our bylaws. This is our statement. Here we go. It might take two messages, but this is what our church believes. And to be a part of this church, we have to embrace this position. So that's why I'm clarifying it. I'm also confirming. Because a lot of you in this room need confirmation. You need confirming. Thank God, that's what I believe too. I mean, when that whole Chick-fil-A thing went ballistic, I was like, oh my gosh, where's everybody at? What's going on here? And I read what he posted online. I'm like, that's why they're mad at him. I thought he said some outrageous thing. God forbid he says he believes in the sanctity of marriage between a woman and a man. You would have thought he killed those 12 people in Colorado. By what the media was doing, it was absolutely unbelievable. So at times, Christians, mainly pastors, mainly from the pulpit, we need to confirm what the Word of God says to strengthen all of us, to strengthen believers. So that's one of the reasons I'm doing this. Another reason is to convict. That's what the Word of God does. It goes and it convicts the heart. It convicts the soul. When we read what God's Word has to say about this issue, it should convict some people. That's okay. Do you know that conviction is a very good thing? It's in our hearts for a reason. The inner alarm clock, I call it the hound of heaven, the Holy Spirit, convicting and convicting and drawing and sealing and saving. Conviction is a good thing. If a person's not convicted, there's going to be some problems there. And just last week, I thought it was ironic, I gave a man all three of the CDs on genuine saving faith. How do you know if you're genuinely saved? We did a whole series on that. If you remember, it was a tough message. It was challenging our faith. Is this fruit present in your life? Are you truly saved? Because as a pastor, I must teach on that as often as possible. Paul says examine yourself. Do you not know yourself? Is Jesus Christ in you? So we did that. It was a convicting message. Anyway, he listened to it and he goes, he said, do you have anything that's a little softer for my kids? And I said, no, I don't. I don't. I don't have anything softer. See, that's what we want our culture to give me. I don't want to be convicted. I don't want that. That's what God's Word does, though. This is the same exact message I would give to my kids. Because if you're saying it in love, there should be conviction. When a person repents and turns to God, guess what? They're usually convicted first. They're convicted. I see my sin. I'm convicted. What about when Peter preached his first sermon in Acts? He preached, you stiff-necked people, you put Christ on the cross. They said, what must we do to be saved? We're convicted, Peter. What must we do? Repent and be converted. So conviction is a good thing. And lastly, of course, I want to comfort. See, God's Word not only convicts, it comforts. Because once you're convicted, you turn to God, you repent, then you're comforted. That's where hope comes from. Genuine hope, lifelong hope comes from being in right relationship with God. So that's the whole point of this message. To clarify, to confirm, to convict, and to comfort. And the next thing I want to say briefly on this issue, but I'm not going to get into political things, but on the whole thing about marriage in our nation. You have to understand something. The whole thing about same-sex marriage and passing all these laws has very, very, very, very, very little to do with legislation and everything to do with affirmation. Let me say that again. It has a little to do with legislation and everything to do with affirmation. This group wants the nation to affirm this lifestyle. That's what's behind this. Affirmation. Please affirm my sin. This is not wrong. Please affirm it. Let's pass laws. Let's pass legislation. Please affirm this. And as I told you before, it doesn't matter how many laws are passed in favor of this. God will not change. He told Malachi, I am the Lord thy God. I change not. God's Word is irreversible. It's irrevocable. It stands the test of time. It is truth. It is the foundation that weathers the storm. It doesn't be shifted and reconstructed and debated. It stands. So this isn't really about legislation. It's about affirming this lifestyle. Next, number four on this introduction. I want to define hate for a minute because you'll see I listed all these questions to consider that people are asking on this topic, asking me, writing editorials, saying all these mean things in emails. These are the questions that people are asking. And one of the top questions was, I know that homosexuality is a sin. I guess this is coming from a Christian maybe. But if it's just like any other sin, why do many Christians hate people for it? So we have to define, really quick, define hate. The dictionary says to dislike intensely, to feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility towards, to detest. That's what hate is. See, Christians don't hate the homosexuals or the homosexual lifestyle. It's out of love, genuine love, wanting them to have freedom and restoration in a relationship with God. So it has nothing to do with the definition of hate. Well, how do I know that? Well, very simply, if warning, rebuking, exhorting, convicting, and challenging, if all that can be defined as hate, then all of us parents hate our children. Think about that. I'm going to warn my children. I'm going to convict my children. I'm going to challenge my children. I'm going to exhort my children. I'm going to rebuke my children when it's needed. I hate them. It's because I love them. That's why. See, but the whole thing, I'm going to get to that. The whole motive behind this is to paint Christians with this broad brush as bigoted, narrow-minded hate mongers so we can pass all this legislation and get rid of this group of people. That's what's happening. If it's hate, why would I tell the exact thing to my kids? If they were struggled with same-sex attraction, if my kids ever did, I would tell my kids the same exact thing that I'm saying tonight. Every sentence, everything. So it has nothing to do with hate. It's not about bigotry. It's about the truth. It's not about arrogance. It's about humbly accepting God's Word. It's not about prejudice. It's about protecting. And it's not about denying rights. It's about clarifying rights. It's not about hate. It's about love. So where are you going with this? Well, if you read what the Bible says, love is patient, love is kind, doesn't envy, doesn't boast, it's not rude, it's not proud, it's not all these things. In the middle of that, it says, love does not delight in evil, but it rejoices in the truth. So see, that's what genuine love does. Genuine love rejoices in the truth. So when we have compassion for people, like I said, the cost to my family, that this is going to be from here on out, preaching these kind of messages, the cost is great. But His Word is in my heart. It's burning. It's the love. It's wanting to help people and wanting to see them turn and be drawn towards God. The fifth point on this before I get into it, the battleground. The battleground. I need to clarify the battleground. This will be important for everybody in this room. And on one hand, we need to apologize for how the church has treated this issue in some regards. Not as a church as a whole, not true churches, but some of these legalistic churches. You know, this isn't, how we address this issue and how we approach those who struggle with this issue has not been stellar. We would not receive an A on a report card. So we have to acknowledge that. We have to acknowledge and say, listen, we've dropped the ball here, but I need to explain to those who might have a differing view to me, to those who maybe embrace this lifestyle, they're going to be listening to this. You have to understand something. The battle that you're seeing that's going back and forth is not necessarily, now I'm going to qualify all this, so hear me out, is not necessarily against the person who struggles with this. You know, this person. It is, we are battling against the homosexual agenda. There is an extreme group trying to push this on society. So it's not necessarily a person struggling with this. We need to help them. We need to invite them to church. It's not them per se. It's the agenda that's pushing all this on society. That's what the battleground is. So when you see Christians taking a stand and wanting to vote and coming against this issue, it has nothing to do with helping the individual. It has everything to do with protecting these God-given rights. So it's almost like it reminds me of the Christians that blow up an abortion clinic. Do they represent all of us in this room? Of course not. Of course not. So that's where the fight is. The battleground is against the agenda that's trying to be pushed on society. And let me just read a few things. I have 20 or 30 things I could read. I tried to really narrow it down. And I want to give you guys an idea of what I'm talking about here. This is from a book that wrote on what the agenda is. What are they trying to push? And this is just their own words. This is their own words from the extreme part of the homosexual agenda, what their goal is. They said what they're trying to push is you talk about gays and gayness as loudly and as often as possible. You portray gays as the victims, not aggressive challengers. You give homosexual protectors a just cause. You make gays look good. You make the victimizers look bad. And then you solicit funds from major corporations. Sound familiar? In the overhauling of straight America, Kirk Madison writes, the principle behind this advice is simple. Almost all behavior begins to look normal if you're exposed to it enough and long enough and in close proximity. So that's one part of the agenda. Let me keep reading here. This is called Stupid Parents Enlighten Kids. Speaker at the 1999 Gay and Lesbian Educational Network. The fear of the religious right is that the schools of today will be the governments of tomorrow. And you know, they're right. If we do our jobs right, we're going to raise a generation of kids who do not believe the claims of the religious right. That's their agenda. We have groups coming against for this very reason. Let me read also from Keith Jennings. He's part of this group. He wrote, 20% of the people who are hardcore, fair-minded, pro-homosexual people, and there's 20% hardcore anti-homosexual bigots. We need to ignore the hardcore bigots and get more of the hardcore, fair-minded people to speak up. And we can pull that 60% of the people in the middle over to our side. That's really what I think our strategy has to be. We need to stop being afraid of the religious right. I'm trying to find a way to say it. I'm trying not to say, and then he puts the f-bomb in here, which is what I want them to do. I want them to f-ing die and drop dead. These are conferences and conventions for this movement, this agenda. Who really is hateful? I mean, if we define hate, who is really hateful? What about in Silver Lake, Massachusetts? A freshman health text in a class said, testing your ability to function sexually and give pleasure to another person may be less threatening in your early teens with people of your own sex. You may even come to realize that your parents have rejected an old values. That's what's being taught in some of the schools. In an effort to keep parents out of the public schools, some homosexual and safe sex advocates are doing everything they can to lock kids in. This is another school where they're hosting a hot, safer, and sexy AIDS education class, and I can't even read the things they were doing in the class, in the service tonight. It's the agenda to get in there. So that's what we're really fighting against. That's what we're voting against. That's what people are concerned about. Not necessarily a person struggling with that sin and embracing it, but the whole agenda coming out. See, all we're doing is we're holding the ground. We're not in an offensive position. We're in a defensive position. We've been defending and just holding the ground of sanctity between a man and a woman from Genesis chapter 1. I will create them male and female. They will go and they will multiply. God's idea, we're just holding the ground. So really, who is battling? Who's on the offensive? Who's attacking? Really? We're just trying to hold the ground and speak the truth. Let me read a few more things. Penn State University hosted a conference on women's health and wellness featuring Patrick Rice, an outspoken proponent of pedophilia. Yes, I read that right. Part of this agenda is to lower the age of sexual consent to 12 or lower. They believe this is healthy for children. I'm reading things here that make me sick to my stomach. Why is it many surprised? That's what perversion does. It keeps going and it keeps perverting and it keeps getting worse and worse and worse. I can't even read this study. I better pull this one out. The End of Tolerance. Let me read this from another gay activist. If I were the United Way and all the agencies that depend upon it, I'd pull a big pile of wood and put a pole stuck in the middle. I'd then tie the leaders of the Boy Scouts of America to the pole using the most secure half-inch square knots. Then I'd rub the two sticks together and work on that campfire marriage badge. I mean, I've earmarked this book and I cannot, I mean, it just, and these are just, the scary part is these are just their own words. I mean, this isn't propaganda. This isn't people making up stuff. I can't read the research on what they're trying to push with pedophile and linking that together. And academic papers are coming out saying, yes, it's healthy for young boys to experience this with older males. It's absolutely perverted at its core. And it is ridiculous. And the church needs to take right ground and say, this is not right. This is sin. This is an abomination in the sight of God. I'm sorry, you don't like it. That's just the truth. Because this perversion gets more perverted. Just like my sin, my perversion gets more perverted if I don't bring it to the foot of the cross. We're all in the same boat here. What about Martin Niemöller? Have any of you read his book from Germany under Hitler, who was killed under Hitler? Look what he says. First, they came for the Jews, but I did nothing because I'm not a Jew. Then they came for the socialists, but I did nothing because I'm not a socialist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I did nothing because I'm not a Catholic. Finally, they came for me, but by then there was no one left to help. Those who want to win the world for Christ must have the courage to come into conflict with it. See, that's why you're feeling this big moral divide. And sadly, those struggling with this who need help from the church are often feeling pushed away from the church. Because we're trying to, I'm trying to help the person on the front row or wherever that's been up here. And I pray for people, same-sex attraction. I know some where it counts. We're trying to help them, but on the other side, I've got to hold a sword up because I've got a huge agenda that's trying to teach a kindergartner that pedophiles are okay. Would I just stand and be quiet and say nothing? It reminds me of Nehemiah rebuilding the wall. He had a trowel in one hand building the wall. What did he have in the other? A sword. Am I advocating that? Absolutely not. Anybody who will take that out of context is doing that on purpose. I'm not saying physical fight necessarily. I'm saying a spiritual battle. See, that's the dilemma the church is in. I need to help you, but I can't help the people have an agenda that are coming after our families and after the churches. And because what happens is a lot of people don't realize John Hus, William Tyndale, all these guys that were burned at the stake, do you know why they were killed? Heresy, yes, but the other thing is they were enemies to the church and state. So they didn't go down in history as these great men of God who died for their faith. They went down in history as enemies to the church and state. Do you know some of the legislation that's trying to be passed right now that I can't even speak on this issue? Or a huge fine. We can't even come out and we can't say anything. Everybody else can come out of the closet except Christians. We can't speak on this issue. We can't say anything. So see, that's the battleground that people that struggle with need to understand. We love you. We want to help you. But the agenda is fighting against my God-given rights and what I have to stand for. So as I'm fighting against them and trying to love you, finding that balance is extremely difficult. So that's why you'll get all these mean Facebook posts and all these people saying things because they don't this. No, we love you, but we can't allow that agenda. If I were to read some of the stuff, in their own words, they'll lie, they'll deceive, they'll do whatever to get this agenda pushed. Because then it's legalized, then it's affirmed, and then they think it's okay. So that's the real battleground here. The last point, balancing truth with grace. That is my goal here, as difficult as that is. Many of you know that scripture. This is the famous scripture from John, the first chapter. When the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we behold the glory of the only begotten of the Father, Jesus Christ, full of grace and truth. See, a lot of people reference Jesus Christ. They reference his grace, but they don't want to reference the truth. And that's why I want to look at the Bible. What does the Bible say? A lot of people say, well, that's an outdated book. That really doesn't matter. Then, as I said before, why even have church? Why even call ourselves Christians? Why say even Jesus existed if the Bible can be questioned? That's our book for life. It's not just, oh, let me just have a blind faith. I've told you before, we've taught on this scientifically, prophetically, archaeologically, all these different things. It holds the test of time. We can prove this book is God's absolute truth. Not only that, our own, we know within us that there's conviction there. People are convicted about this issue. Why is that? Now, I want to answer one of those questions real quick, because people ask this. Number eight, people feel convicted about same-sex attraction because Christians make them feel bad. If Christians would shut their mouth, it wouldn't even be an issue. Now, that was a big statement they would use back 20 years ago. Now, society embraces it. The media encourages it. There's liberal and churches that'll support it. So now, society's turned. Now, society, there's not conviction. Everybody embraces them, but the church that holds fast to the truth convicts them. They don't like that conviction that's being placed on them, just like any of us caught in sin, myself included. I don't want to be convicted. I don't want somebody telling me this. And what is the number one sin? Pride. And it's all based back on pride. I don't want to be wrong. I can't be wrong in this issue. I've been God of my own life. Now, they're telling me there's a God who requires surrender and obedience. Yeah, but it's hope. It's comfort. He brings you back to the Father by repenting of these things. And the reason Christians give grace is because we've been given grace. You guys realize that? That's why we can give grace. And that's why we don't look down on people who struggle with this because we struggle with things. I've been given grace from God. So we give grace out, and that's why it's hard to balance that truth with that grace. What's that look like? That's why you've got to be in the Word of God. And I just want to encourage some people right now for a minute. Because for every testimony that I've heard of people being convicted and changed by preaching hard truth, by preaching convicting messages like that, I can give you another testimony of people who have been drawn to God by a person's love and not the truth. Somebody loved them enough to care for them, to share. Look at AIDS victims, the people going and caring for them and sharing with them, just loving them. So see, you've got to balance. It's not just truth by itself, and it's not just grace by itself. They are married. And you can speak the truth and have grace in your heart. And you can be graceful and do graceful things and still have the truth in your heart. Find that balance between those two. And what people have to understand with same-sex attraction is when a person repents and they believe in the only name that saves, and I'm going to get controversial here. That's okay. Just hear me out. Sin's power over you is broken at the cross. Christ came, and He broke that. He conquered death, sin, and the grave. Sin has no more power over us. But that's why sometimes when a person repents and gives their life to God, sometimes they still struggle with this. Because although the power of sin has been crucified at the cross, sometimes the influence still remains. Ask somebody that's come out of alcoholism. Oh, they're just one drink away from getting right back on that dangerous road. Somebody struggles with lust, pornography. They're just one click away. A lot of times that happens with homosexuality. Sometimes they repent and they believe in God. There's going to be a struggle there. They don't instantly all the time become a straight person. So we have to encourage people that there might be a struggle. Sometimes we don't instantly get healed. But can we? Absolutely. Should we seek that? Absolutely. As we're diving into God's Word, praying for God's conviction, and allowing the Holy Spirit to change us, there should be a change. Absolutely. I don't know how many of you just read recently Alan Chambers, who started Exodus International. He's questioning now his reparative therapy, where they have therapy and hoping that that person completely changes. And what happens is they were losing some people because they still struggle with it. They wonder, what's going on with this? So on one hand, we've got to encourage the person, knowing that we all struggle with sin, but to hold fast and to keep seeking God, and knowing that you're in right relationship with God. Because I'd rather be in right relationship with God and struggle with sin now than be in rebellion against Him and allow my flesh to control me. So we have to offer that hope to people. I've seen people change in God's working life, but it's not necessarily overnight. I've seen people come and give their life to Christ. Everything's changing, but they sure would like a cold beer. But one's going to lead to twelve. So why didn't that influence leave? People say, oh, they're not saved. Oh yeah, sure they are. Sin's influence is there. Paul would say, oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of sin and death? For with the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Oh wretched man, why do I do the things I don't want to do and I don't do the things I do want to do? If Paul struggled with this, surely the flesh is going to be influencing us as well. I did a whole series on this that you can look at. Now I don't say that to minimize this sin and to say, oh, it's no big deal. I think a person should be changing and restoring and repairing and going back to what God has originally ordained. But we have to give that person grace just like we would want it. It doesn't just happen overnight sometimes. So that's another point I wanted to get across. And to those people who are fighting this thing, you have to remember that freedom means fighting. Freedom is never free. There's always a fight because the flesh is pulling you back. That's why I tell people all the time, you've got to remove negative influences. Get rid of Facebook for the love of God. If you struggle with lust, you struggle with these perversions and it's pulling you back, delete that sucker. You'll be just fine without it. You'll get through. I do. I do. And I'm not coming against these things per se. I'm saying that if they pull you in the wrong direction, if you've got friends that are pulling you in the wrong direction, lose their phone number tonight. Don't play games. Why do you continue to feed what the Bible says to flee? The Bible says flee sexual immorality, but I'm not gonna flee it. I'm gonna play with it. I'm gonna dabble with it. I can conquer it. I can just every now and then. No. The Bible says nothing about every now and then. It says make no provision for the flesh. Don't fulfill the lust. Let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus. Do not be conformed to this world. Be not like this world. Put on the armor of all these things. And I see people all the time, they want help and they want help, but they're feeding the very desire that they are fighting. So if you're fighting against something, stop feeding it. You guys remember that story I told, whatever you feed the most becomes your master. We talked about the two dogs battling inside of us. One is an evil dog, one is a good dog. What dog wins the battle in your mind? Whatever one you feed the most. If you're in God's Word and not on all this meaty junk, I mean you look at MTV, you talk about the homosexual agenda, pushing stuff on our kids. Oh my gosh. And if you're feeding your mind with this, you wonder why do I struggle with this stuff? I don't know. Fill in the blank. It's because you're allowing this to come into your mind. We're gonna get into what the Bible says about it. But that's basically the introduction before I get into Scripture. Because what happens, you just start reading Scripture and people don't understand the backstage or the foundation on which the Scriptures are written. Now that we better understand those things, let me make this point real quick. How serious is this issue? You might say, well Shane, what's the big deal? I believe temporarily now the growing persecution that you're gonna keep seeing in America is gonna start getting worse and worse and worse. What it was 30 years ago compared to now is unbelievable. I mean this wasn't even a topic when I was in high school 25 years ago. Now not only is it a topic, Christians are being marginalized, Christians are being persecuted or being ostracized. And once you marginalize a group, then not only do you marginalize that group, you legalize certain things. So now you silence that group. You might say, well that's good Shane, bring it on, the church needs persecution. Okay, play Mr. Tough Guy until it happens. Yeah, you'd be crying like a baby when they come to take your kids because you turn into a mush case. Don't tell me Mr. Tough Guy. Oh, bring on the persecution. Who wants that with our kids? Come on. Now granted the persecution often purifies the church, but I'd like to see the church purified with a revival and God pouring His Spirit into the church and standing up for things that are right as God leads us. So we have to, how serious is this issue? It's that serious that we are, you're going to see, I mean, ask yourself this question. Where does this agenda end? You think one week they just wake up? No, it's over, let's hold our ground. No, no. This type of thing does not end. It keeps going after more ground and more ground and more ground. Then it's a marriage issue. Then it's going to be pedophilia. Then it's going to be infanticide. That's just the way, the direction of our nation. I wrote about it in the article in your bulletin. See, I'm not alarmist. Oh, the sky's falling, but you're a realist. You look at the direction the nation is going. You look at the Word of God and when we start to call good what God calls evil, you can pretty much rest assured you're on some pretty shaky ground. When what God calls an abomination is now the standard of your land, you can pretty much be assured that God, we're confusing His patience with His approval. When all these things, illicit sex and all these different things, I'm putting all this in the same camp. I mean, it's not just homosexuality. Illicit sex is off the chart. Now Christians are asking, how far can we go? We watch porn. We like all these things. We're getting so perverted. And all perversion means is to get off the right track and pervert it. We've talked about that before. How God designed it, I'm going to twist it and I'm going to pervert it. So perversion is a right word to use in this case of not only homosexuality, but adultery, fornication. Everything is just getting so perverted in our culture today. So we've got to be the salt and light. That's how serious this issue is because I don't see where does it end? Where does it end? It's progressively getting worse and worse and worse. That's temporarily. Now what about eternally? Let me read the Scripture to you. Don't flinch just yet. Recognize that this is from the Word of God. What is God saying to us in 1 Corinthians 6, 9-11? Eternally. What does this mean eternally? Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? I want you to know something in this verse right now. Notice how He does not necessarily just say homosexuality. He says right here, do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? He says to clarify, do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters, which worship other things and not God, nor idolaters, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexual offenders, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanders, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. That's how serious this issue is. If we embrace a lifestyle that the Bible says is opposite of God, it's opposing God, we are on a very dangerous path. Drunkards, if somebody is drinking all the time and they love this lifestyle and they come to church now and then, it doesn't matter. They've embraced this lifestyle. If they're a thief, if they're a covetous, if they've embraced this lifestyle, if they're homosexual and they've embraced this lifestyle, the Bible is crystal clear. You say, Shane, that's pretty depressing. Well, why don't we keep reading? And that was some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our God. See, the Bible paints an ugly picture for the human heart to get convicted and repent. And then it paints a beautiful picture of the hope and restoration that follows. That's what the message is even for those who struggle with this. Yes, it's serious. It's very serious. A true student of the Scripture, there's no way they can support all this junk that's out there saying the Bible doesn't say this. David might have been homosexual. Paul didn't care. What? What Bible are you reading? I mean, there's more confusion on the gifts of the Spirit and church government. Should it be a plurality of elders or should it be one man leading? What about the rapture? Some believe, some don't. There's more confusion on all that stuff. This stuff is crystal clear. The problem is, now churches aren't saying, what denomination are you? Like they did 20 years ago. Now they're saying, are you a church that preaches the truth? See, they don't care. Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist. I don't care. Do you preach the truth? Because what you're seeing is churches that preach the truth are dividing from churches that don't. Churches that don't, that water it down, lukewarm. I don't care what God's Word says. We're going to make people feel good at the cost of maybe sending them to hell. We don't care. That's where you're seeing the big divide. Liberal churches denying the inerrancy of Scripture and Bible-believing churches holding to it. That's where the big rift is right now. It's not denominationalism anymore, although it's there. The big division right now is those who stand for truth and those that don't. They might call you fundamentalists. Say, great, because I adhere to the fundamentals of the Christian faith. They might call you narrow-minded. That's great. Jesus said narrow is a way that leads to life. No man can come to the Father except through Me. They might say you're a bigoted. Say, no, absolutely not. I'm proclaiming the truth. They might say that you are just a hater. Not at all. I'm telling you this in love. You see the difference here? The polar opposites, the pull of what's happening in our culture. That's how serious this is. If I read this, and I was a person embracing this lifestyle or any other lifestyle outside the will of God, Paul is crystal clear here. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. He said no lifestyle that denies God, rejects God, and worships themselves is going to enter the kingdom of heaven. Period. So we're not putting down this group and that group. We're saying anybody that denies God by their lifestyle, again, not a struggle, a lifestyle. Everybody struggles with sin in some form, some capacity. Just that statement is going to get me some negative posts on the internet. Oh, now Shane's encouraging sin. No, I'm not. I'm saying that we all struggle with sin. The difference is between a struggle and a lifestyle. Paul is explicit. Jesus is explicit. Jesus said it's not what goes into a man that defiles him. It would come out of him, out of the heart come evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications. Fornication, the word pornea, that's where we get our word pornography, means all illicit sex outside of context between man and a woman. There's your proof text for Jesus thinking he would just turn the other cheek. No, he's going to say anything outside of that. He used a word that's very explicit in the Greek, pornea. Pornea, anything. Why didn't Jesus say anything about bestiality? Is it okay? Jesus didn't mention one word about pedophile. Pedophile is not one word. Jesus didn't say anything about rape. Is it okay? He didn't say anything about, he didn't have to. It's understood. He said whatever comes out of a man, it's evil from his heart. Fornications. Thank you, Jesus. You just clarified all illicit sex outside of marriage. Murders. He goes down the list. He doesn't need to sit there and identify every single sin because it's crystal clear from the Old Testament. Jesus comes fulfilling the Old Testament. And do you realize that every single moral law, unless you can find one for me, every single moral law, I'm not talking about ceremonial laws. I'm not talking about practices. I'm talking about moral laws. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet. Every single moral law in the Old Testament, I don't see in one place in the New Testament where they're null and void. So if this is sin in the Old Testament, you can better rest assured it's sin in the New Testament. And this shouldn't upset people. It should say there's hope. Because Paul says, and such were some of you. So here comes a question that I get a lot. Number four. I was born this way. Can a person embrace the homosexual lifestyle and still live in harmony with biblical Christianity? No. No. I didn't even stutter on that one. I'm not even thinking it. Absolutely not. You have post-modern leaders in the emergent church today making these statements. They can live in harmony with biblical Christianity. Now can we switch a word there? Can a person struggle with these tendencies from time to time? See the difference? See the words there? They want to embrace. Can a person embrace this lifestyle and still be a Christian? That's what we hear. I hear a lot today. I'm still Christian. I love Jesus. I've embraced this lifestyle. Who are you to tell me I can't be? Well then you better define your definition of a Christian. A Christian is someone who has repented of their sin, not embraced it. And you better be careful of what you're calling God because we all have our own definition of God, especially unbelievers. Well, I think God is this and I think God is that and I think when God is in heaven, I think He'll overlook all these things. When I die, He'll see all my good works. No, He won't. He'll say, what did you do with my son? What did you do with Jesus Christ? That's why Paul says, and such were some of you, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So although this might irritate people, there's the hope right there. If you don't want it, you can't get upset at me or the church or God. He's offering it to you. He's saying the conviction you know is wrong, turn from that and turn to Me and you will be washed by the blood of Christ. But God will not force it. He will not manipulate. He'll say, here it is. I lay it out. I lay before you the way of death or life. Choose life that you may live. And that's all Christians do is we say, hey, listen guys. Let me lay out what God's Word says to you. I love you enough to tell you that. Now the agenda, I'm going to treat a little bit different. Now you're coming after my family. Now you're coming after society. Now you're coming after little kids in kindergarten who don't even know what hormones are and when they start raging, you better not be there to tell them it's okay to do this. The Word of God has some serious warnings against that. See, that's what the agenda is doing. The agenda, may I be completely honest with you, is perverting the culture. The media that we all love is perverting the culture. They're perverting the mind. That's why we have so many Christians not sure what they believe is because they're filling the mind with all this junk and they don't know what they believe because they're not in the Word of God. If your face is buried in the Word of God, seeking God, these things are crystal clear. I mean, I believe this as much as I believe the sun's coming up tomorrow. So let me ask you this question. The Holy Spirit is never, ever, ever, ever divided. Why are Christians divided on this issue? If somebody's truly a believer and somebody else is truly a believer, the Holy Spirit is not divided. The Holy Spirit is a spirit of unity. The Holy Spirit is a spirit of truth, of discernment, of wisdom. So if Christians are divided on this issue, what's going on? Well, what's going on is you need to go back to the Word of God. So it's really not that Christians are divided. What's happening is many don't want to embrace the Word of God. That's what's happening. And I want to get to that point. I think we have time. Now I want to get to a biblical perspective. A biblical perspective. And I've said this before. The real battleground is the truth. See, that's what this is over. This is a battle for the truth. The church is built on truth. Let me say that again. The church is built on truth. Not on speculation. Not on theory. Not on opinions. Not on feelings. The church is built on truth. The only reason I can preach up here with some level of passion is because the truth has changed my heart. I believe it's the truth. That's why when you get into liberal churches, you won't hear sermons like this. You'll hear sermons where they'll sit down. Let's have a conversation. Let's just talk. Let's dialogue. Because I don't know what I believe. What do you believe? Let's just talk about it. I don't think that's wrong. I think you can embrace that. Come on. God's not some God up there. There's no power in their words. There's no truth. There's no preaching. It's lifeless. It's dead. So the biblical perspective, this is all about truth. If this be true, then our society is in big trouble. If this is true. If you don't believe the Bible is true, don't even come to church anymore. Because what do we have then? We have nothing. I'm just blowing hot air. We're believing whatever we want. And what I would encourage you to do is study this. Study it scientifically. What it said 4,000 years ago when Egyptians were talking about boiling cats' dung with a frog and all this stuff to cure something. The Bible says just wash in water, circumcise on the eighth day. The Bible is crystal clear on all these issues scientifically, prophetically, archeologically. The things they're finding. Go on an archeological survey. Take archeological things from Jerusalem, from Jewish people who do not believe in the New Testament or the Messiah. Look at what they're finding. Oh, there was a king named this. Oh, there was a city named this. Oh, why were the walls of Jericho fell in this way? They're discovering all these things. So it's not some, oh, let me take a step of faith on this book that was written by a man that really doesn't hold any water. It holds tons of water. The greatest witness you have is a transformed life. The only reason I stand up here today is because of this. The power, the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit convicting me to turn from my sin and turn to God and then I devoured this. Because the Spirit of Truth within me calling the Spirit of Truth that wrote this. The Holy Spirit inspired the Word of God. The Holy Spirit resides in a believer. Why do you think there's a union? Why do you think there's an unction there? Why do you think there's a love? Why do you think I'm grabbing this that there's a fire in the house after I grab the kids and the wife? Because I'm some narrow-minded, fundamentalist, conservative, right-wing agenda? Absolutely not because I've been saved by the power of God. Now I want to preach it so others can come out of that sin and bondage. But guys, that's the truth. That's what this is over. This is a battle for truth. And they're going to start to marginalize us. You guys don't know what you're talking about. You're so outdated and uneducated. I can take a 12-year-old and teach him Proverbs. He'll be more educated than the top professors at our secular universities today because that's real wisdom. So what does the Bible say? What does the Bible say? I'm going to go through this. Genesis 1, knowing I probably won't finish. Genesis 1. Many of you know this verse. It is not good for a man to be alone. God created them, male and female. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Just when it was getting good, I lose my voice. Genesis 1. Again, God created them. So God created them. You look at how a man and a woman are designed. Okay, we don't need a health lecture here, but there's creation involved. There's a certain way a man is to give the woman to receive. It's like, to ruin that is like saying, let me use this pulpit as a hat tomorrow to block the sun. Well, I could. I could try. I could carry it around for a while, right? But that's what I was created for. So you just look at creation, male and female. Not, you know, Adam and Steve and Eve. We're not poking fun. We're just being honest that God created them male and female. To go in, be fruitful, populate the earth. Okay, then we get into Genesis 19. Many of you know this story about Sodom. Okay, where does that word come from? Sodomites. Sodom. It's what the city was known for. The two angels arrived. Genesis 19.1. For some of you don't know this, listen. This is an amazing story. Two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening. They were going to destroy the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. So they arrived in the city and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and he bowed down his face to the ground. My Lord, he said, please turn aside to your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go your way early in the morning. No, they answered. We will spend the night in the square. It'd be almost like sleeping down in North Hollywood at midnight. Right on the sidewalk there is what this is alluding to. But he's insisted so strongly that they did not go with him and entered his house instead. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast. They ate, you know, it goes on and on and on. Now before they went to bed, there were men that came to the door. Lot comes to the door. These men say, where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them. Lot went outside to meet them. He shut the door. He said, no, my friends, do not do this wicked, vile thing. Well, wait a minute. I was born this way. I mean, it's not, no, he's saying it's this wicked, vile thing. Do not do this thing. Look, I have two, now I don't like this guy a lot right now. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you. See, these are some of those things we don't understand in the Bible. And this is one. Well, I know the whole culture with women and being respectful to your neighbors and your guests and all that, but still, that wouldn't fly with me. I'm just saying. I have some words for Lot when I see him in heaven. But he said, but don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof. They said, get out of our way. See, it's this perversion. This agenda is absolutely pushy and just staunch. They're just upset. And they're trying to push this whole agenda. But the men inside reached out and they pulled Lot back into the house and they shut the door. Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness, so that they could not find the door. Then the two men said to Lot, do you have anyone else here, sons-in-laws, daughters, or anyone else? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against this people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it. What happened is this town and the other have become so perverted. Jude talks about this. They've become so perverted that the men are burning for lust after men and women. And God said, I have to destroy this place because of the perversion of the people. I mean, that's heavy, but that's biblical. So we can't say this is not something that God looks away at or doesn't condone. He's crystal clear on it. Look at Leviticus 20.13. If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. The Bible says that. To suggest that this verse is invalid today is to advocate the dangerous practice of redefining or deleting what God's Word has said. And I could give you Scriptures from Kings and Scriptures from other incidents in the Bible that have talked about this. And we could go on and on. Judges talks about it. But if we were to jump to the New Testament, if we were just to jump to the New Testament, I believe I already talked about that. Jesus came to condemn all sexual immorality. When He used that word, He said, out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications. These defile a man. So Jesus was crystal clear on that. What about Romans 1? Maybe I will get through this. Romans 1. Let me read this real quick. The wrath of God. Romans 1.18. The wrath of God. It's okay to say that. Let's all say that. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and wickedness of men. Here's the cause of homosexuality. In my opinion, all sexual sin at its core because it's self-worship. That's what it is. We're worshiping the creation rather than the Creator. This is the cause of homosexuality and sexual illicit sin. Wicked men who suppress the truth by their wickedness since what might be known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them. Now listen to that. God has made it plain to everybody for since the creation of the world God's invisible attributes are clearly seen. In other words, all of humankind says there's a Creator. Look at His invisible attributes. Look at that. There's a Creator. Creation. Look at the makeup of the eye, the brain. It screams Creator. So God's saying, I've showed you. I am here. There's not only the conviction, the Holy Spirit convicting people, it's creation screaming Creator. Verse 20. Actually, I'll go to the end of verse 20. Then seeing all this being understood from what has been made so that men are without excuse. You see what God's doing there? Men are without excuse. They have the truth. They're suppressing the truth. So it's not God's fault. It's man's fault because he's without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him. So instead of glorifying God and repenting and returning to Him, they rejected God. So here's what happens. So their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened because they suppressed the truth. So whether you like what I'm saying or not, this is the truth. Men reject the truth. They suppress the truth. They give themselves up to vile passions, vile desires, and they begin to be led down the wrong path. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man. Therefore, God gave them over. In other words, God says, you want it? You got it. There's a restrainingness, I believe, with the Holy Spirit in God's creation. There's a restraining order there. But as man suppresses the truth of God's Word, as he turns to himself and not God, God says, you want it? You got it. I give you over to yourself. So people often ask that question, will God judge America? Many believe that He already is. John MacArthur has made that statement five or six years ago. I believe that God is already judging America because He's giving us over to our debased and corrupted mind. You turn on the media today, and that is corruption at its core. We are calling good evil and evil good. The man, the father, is made to look like a wimp that doesn't know anything. The kids know everything. Homosexuality is glorified. Christianity is mocked and rejected. Truth is vague and nobody knows anything. They just do. Every man doing what is right in his own eyes. And that's what's happening. So God says, you want it? You got it. I gave them over to their sinful desires and impurities. They degraded their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and they worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator. Because of this, God just gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way, men also abandoned natural relations with the women and were inflamed with lusts for one another. Men committing indecent acts with other men and receiving in them the due penalty of their perversion. That's Romans. That's not Shane Idleman. That's not legalistic, narrow-minded, right-wing, bigoted fundamentalist. That's Bible. I like what John Piper said. The sexual disordering of the human race is a judgment of God for exchanging Him for the creation. Basically, what Romans says is we suppress the truth of God's Word, we reject Him, we turn to vile passions, and then God says, you want it? You got it. And then those vile passions take over and we start exchanging things that ought not be. We start worshiping the creation rather than the Creator. Everything is perverted when that happens. That's where that word comes from, pervert. It's a biblical word because it's taking what God designed, twisting and perverting it in another direction. And you might say, well, gosh, this is pretty negative. I've got tons of other verses, but we're out of time. But I want to end on this note. I want to talk about the truth about repentance. The truth about repentance. This is a powerful, powerful closing point because a lot of people, I'll answer some more of these questions hopefully next week, but a lot of people say, Shane, I want to change. I want to change. I just don't know how. Have you heard people say that? I want to change. I just don't know how. And you have to understand something. The Bible, even what I just read, the Bible looks at mankind like this. Sin, suffering, sorrow, repentance, restoration, hope. Let me say that again. Sin, we've all sinned. We're suffering. Then there's sorrow. Those embracing this lifestyle are not happy people. They said that many of them have had 500 to 1,000 different partners. This is, these people need hope. And the Bible paints a picture. Sin, suffering, sorrow, repentance equals restoration and hope. However, it also, the Bible says, sin, suffering, sorrow, or rejection, and there's no hope. That's how powerful this one point on repentance is. The Bible is crystal clear on this Acts 3.19. Therefore, therefore, if you turn to God, if you repent of your sin, your sins will be washed away, and times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord. That's the hope. There's nothing more sane. There's not no 10 steps and a book to read. No, there's nothing. There's nothing but repentance. Now that doesn't just, that applies to anybody in here because a person struggling with homosexuality is just the same as who's a drunkard or a thiever or all these different things. If you're in the sin boat, if you don't know Christ, if you've been rejecting Him, you've been playing in church, those who are struggling with this issue tonight, it can be changed tonight. That's the power. That's the truth about repentance. It's all done at the foot of the cross. It's already been achieved, what Christ did. So there's no sin outside of God's reach. And as Gabe comes up, and he's gonna conclude with a few songs, we're gonna go into a time of communion. And the reason we're gonna go into a time of communion is because communion is when believers come together and they remember what Christ did on the cross. They remember repentance when they repented. And they look at the blood of Christ. Look at His body was bruised for our iniquity. He was wounded for our transgression. He was like a lamb led to the slaughter. So that's what we do at communion. If you're not a believer, I would encourage you, you could change that tonight. The Bible just says repent. Acknowledge that this is a sin. In the eyes of God, you need a Savior. Repent, Lord, I give you my life tonight. Will you take these desires away and get me on track with you? And once you repent and confess Him as Lord, then you're able to take communion because now you recognize Him as dying for you. You're looking at what the body was broken for, what the blood was shed for. So we're gonna go into a time of communion. What you just do is you come up at your own pace. Mark and the ushers are gonna start to take some communion themselves as well. And you just start to come up and take communion right when the song starts, midway through, whatever you want. But if you don't know Him tonight, if you've been playing with this lifestyle, this message is for you. There's a reason you're being convicted. It's because God is drawing you back to Him. Lord, I just pray tonight, Lord, that you'll begin to heal all of our hearts, Lord, that would need you so bad. Lord, so much brokenness in our lives. Lord, I pray that those who've came here with the burden, Lord, that this burden will not be heavier, but that it'll be lighter. That you'll begin to take that burden as you show them that you are the only way, you are the only truth, you are the only life. Lord, I pray right now that you convict those who need you to turn from this lifestyle and to turn to you, to stop suppressing the truth and start accepting the truth, embracing it. Lord, we pray that your work would not be done tonight, that it would go out on the radio, on the internet, that people would witness, that people would tell about the truth of your word. Lord, that they would preach it in gentleness and meekness and that love guide in all things, but that we would see some lives radically changed. And we give you this service. In Jesus' name, amen.