Hot Button Issues | The Key to Healing Society

Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here.

Let me ask you a question. Are you eager to make a difference in the spiritual lives of others? When you give to Harvest, you become a part of our mission to make God known through unique avenues like television, radio, and large-scale evangelistic events.

Support us today at harvest.org slash donate and help us to continue to spread the gospel around the world. Most societal ills in America today are the result of the breakdown of the family. We throw billions of dollars at our problems and they just get worse. Earthly solutions don't solve spiritual problems. Pastor Greg Laurie points to the need to return to God's design for the family. The real problem, greater than drug addiction, greater than homelessness, greater than all the things we deal with. It's the breakdown of the family. One has said if the only tool you have is a hammer, it's tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail. The government tends to treat the ills of society by throwing money at them, and many times the projects are just well-funded failures. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out how the family is the fabric of society, but that fabric is praying.

The only hope is to return to God's plan for families, which will solve many other societal problems. Now I want to talk about some hot button issues. Some would call these controversial. I don't think if you're a believer in the Bible, anything I'm about to say to you is controversial. But for some of you, some of the statements I will make today will be controversial. Some of these statements I'm about to make might offend you. But let me just say at the outset, I am standing on what the Scripture says, and that's where I get my opinions, and that's what I'm going to be speaking from, what does the Bible say.

So if you're taking notes, here's point number one. God starts with the family because He created it. God starts with the family because He created it. Just as He created us male and female, and brought Adam and Eve together, He brings the man and the woman together in a marriage, and that is the foundation of everything else in our culture. Number two, our very existence as a society is contingent on the success of the family.

Maybe that's why Satan hates it so and has declared war on it. Listen to this. Most societal ills in America today are the result of the breakdown of the family. We throw billions of dollars at our problems, and they just get worse. What's the real problem? The real problem, greater than drug addiction, greater than homelessness, greater than all the things we deal with, it's the breakdown of the family.

Point number three, listen. God's order is to honor your father and mother. It doesn't say honor your father and father. It doesn't say honor your mother and her live-in lover or partner.

It's father and mother. We tamper with God's order at our own peril, and there's a movement happening right now to redefine marriage and the family. Something that's very popular now is same-sex marriage. The normalization of homosexuality is gaining momentum, especially among young people. Now, you would think, with all the emphasis on this, that we must have a huge gay population, and we didn't have a whole month, Gay Pride Month. How about a happy Christian month? There's a lot more Christians.

Then there's all these extra holidays. We'd say, wow, there must be a huge part of the population. Recent survey was done among 121,000 people. It revealed that 3.4% are gay. That's a very small part of our population identify as LGBTQ, but here's where it's interesting and alarming to me. 9.8% of millennials identify as gay, and 20% of Generation Z identify as gay. Those numbers are higher.

Something is happening with our young people. You say, Greg, hold on now. If two people of the same sex love each other, why can't they be married? Because homosexuality is outside of God's order. Don't get quiet on me. You applaud that point. Some of you have had discomfort with what I just said. This is clearly in the Bible. Oh, will it make you more comfortable if I say extramarital sex is out of God's order? Will it make you more comfortable if I say premarital sex is outside of God's order? Well, see, they all are. That's the point.

God gives us His absolutes. This is the lane you stay in. This is the way you live. These things are not my plan. They're not my purpose.

This is what is happening. God is anti-sin no matter how it is expressed. I'm sorry, but you cannot be a gay Christian. Any more than you can be an adulterous Christian.

You just say, hey, how are you? I'm an adulterous Christian. What? Same thing as saying I'm a gay Christian. Oh, hi, I'm a Christian that is engaged constantly in premarital sex.

You're not defined by your sin or what you're drawn to. And so that's what you call an oxymoron. An oxymoron is something that sort of contradicts itself. An example of an oxymoron is a freezer burn.

How do you get burned in a freezer? Or genuine imitation. Or jumbo shrimp. That's an oxymoron. Here's another oxymoron.

Government efficiency. You see. So. Now we all struggle with different temptations. We're all tempted to do sinful things.

Sometimes we act on those things. But that doesn't define me. What I'm drawn to.

Or what I'm attracted to. Here's the biblical statement on the topic. 1 Corinthians 6, 9. Don't you know that those that do wrong will have no share in the kingdom of God?

Don't fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin who are idol worshippers, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, greedy people, drunkards, abusers, and swindlers. None of these will have a share in the kingdom of God. So yes, homosexuality is a sin that can keep you out of heaven. So is premarital sex. So is extramarital sex. So is being an idol worshipper.

So is being a drunkard. This is what the Bible says. Now some would say well I don't agree. I don't agree. My God would never say that to a person.

Judge not lest you be judged. Ok hold on. Your God? Who is your God?

Well my God. Did you just make up your God? See my God, he's in the Bible.

He reveals himself. And if you say my God would never judge a person or my God would never deal with a person according to their sins, you are effectively making up your God and you are having another God before him. But Greg you are wrong. Gay people are born that way.

I don't agree with that. I think we are all born as sinners. Now as sinners we all have our temptations. Most are drawn to the opposite sex. Some are drawn to the same sex. And now we add transsexualism and transgenderism and gender dysphoria. Where people feel today a lot of times kids that their biological gender does not match what they perceive themselves to be. And so they want to change their pronouns. And they maybe want to change their sex altogether. It is reinforced with tampon machines in boys restrooms and men entering women's sports or women's bathrooms.

And some engage in hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery. And this trend has become a social contagion especially with the young. And that is why it is impacting millennials and especially Gen Z. And it is reinforced on platforms like TikTok where influencers come on and say yes I am gay or I am getting gender reassignment surgery and this is wonderful and this is liberating. And impressionable young people are drawn to this. And I think there is a deeper issue here than all of this. And I think young people are looking for identity. They are looking for purpose. They are asking the question who am I? What is the meaning of my life? How can I be happy? Maybe this will make me happy. Maybe that is the problem.

I was supposed to be a boy and I am a girl or vice versa. No. You know what you are really looking for? You are looking for God.

That is what you are looking for. This surgery where young people or any people are mutilating their bodies but especially with young people it concerns me. Because it is such a permanent decision.

That is not going to bring them meaning and happiness. Sweden is ahead of us in a way if you want to use that phrase. They have been doing this for quite a long time. And they have done an extensive study on it. Over 30 years. And they have found that after 10 to 15 years the suicide rate of those who had undergone gender reassignment surgery rose to 20 times of their comparable peers.

So you don't need to change your gender. You need to have your heart changed by God. That is the bottom line. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Well today Pastor Greg is bringing us a candid message called Hot Button Issues.

Let's continue now. Coming back to same sex attraction. All of us are sinners. All of us are attracted to do certain things.

That doesn't mean I should act on that thing any more than a heterosexual man or woman should act on their attraction to a member of the opposite sex. Paul wrote in Romans 7 I don't understand what I do and what I want to do I don't do and what I hate I do. It is no longer myself that does it. It is sin living in me.

Again you are not defined by your sin. You need to resist it. You can change. Christ can help you to change. No you can't. You are born gay. You will always be gay.

Nonsense. I have heard the stories of many people who have come out of a gay and lesbian lifestyle to follow Christ. A lady I met named Rosaria Butterfield. And by the way isn't that the greatest of all names.

Rosaria Butterfield. And so she was a professor and a very intelligent woman and in her own words she was fervent for the world views of Freud Marx and Darwin and she used her position as a professor to promote those views and she was married to a woman and living her life. She was effectively a lesbian activist. And so there was a promise keepers event. You ever heard of promise keepers a big men's Christian event and men are encouraged to live godly lives. I have actually spoken a lot of them over the years in days gone by.

And so promise keepers event came to town. So she wrote a column for the newspaper very critical of it. And so she said I got two kinds of letters back affirming letters people applauding me and very critical letters what I would call hate mail. She said I had two waste baskets one for the hate mail one for the letters that affirm me. And she said then I got this one letter that was not either. It was from a Christian and a pastor and he said hey I read your article with great interest why don't you come over to our home. My wife and I would like to make you dinner. She's like what.

Don't you hate us. And she was intrigued because she didn't really know any Christians and she wanted to see what they were like and try to figure out why they were so weird right. So she goes to this couple's house for dinner and they got along very well and then she went back again and again and again. This went on for weeks then months and they were praying with her and reading the Bible with her. And Rosaria's heart began to change. And then suddenly it just dawned on her this is all true and she gave her life to Jesus Christ. And now she's a very public voice on this topic and speaks authoritatively as well.

But I love how she framed it. She said they entered her world. So here's our position. We love people no matter how they express their sin. We want to enter their world. We want to show them that there's a God in heaven who loves them and has a plan for them and will fill that void in their life they're trying to fill with other things.

So summation point. Homosexuality is a sin. So is premarital and extramarital sex. God's order is that a man and a woman live together in marriage and a monogamous relationship. You're not born gay nor are you born a different sex and your biological gender. And if you turn from this sin God can and will forgive you.

That's my summation. That's the biblical worldview. Do you accept it or not? For some reason there's a discomfort with this topic. So let me shift gears and talk about another topic. Let's talk about sex in general. Sex is created by God. Let's not forget God created sex okay. And sex can be good in its proper context. Sex can be blessed in the proper place which is in a marriage relationship period.

That's it. And Hebrews 13 for us says give honor to marriage. Remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery. And then Proverbs 5 15 says drink water from your own well.

Share your love only with your wife. Sometimes people will characterize sex as it's there for procreations. Christians teach it's just there for you know reproduction that's on the well. I mean it is there for reproduction. Thank God for sex.

We wouldn't be here without it right. But God gives it to us for pleasure in its proper place and God also gives it to us as a way to express our oneness. When a man and a woman come together sexually a oneness takes place.

The two become one. Paul writes in First Corinthians 6 15 don't you realize your bodies are parts of Christ. Should a man take his body which belongs to Christ and join it to a prostitute.

Never. If you join yourself to a prostitute you become one with her. Because the Bible says two are united into one. So run away from sexual sin. No other sin so clearly affects the body.

This one does. But we marginalize it oh no it means nothing. It's just a hook up. It's just a one night stand. No it means a lot. And it matters.

It's not a toy. Well it doesn't hurt anyone as long as it's consensual. Doesn't hurt anyone.

Well first of all it separates you from God because of your sin. But then there are longer lasting repercussions. The University of Tennessee did a study among young women that found there seems to be a direct correlation between illicit sexual behavior and serious emotional problems. Also it will hurt your future marriage. The University of Oregon did a study among young men and found that those who engage in premarital relationships make poor marital risks. And the trend today of course is we'll just live together.

Enjoy the benefits right. Friends with benefits. Well that's not a trial marriage. That's basically a trial divorce.

Because studies have been done that have revealed that those that live together before marriage have a far higher divorce rate than those that don't. God has set this up the way it's supposed to be set up. It's there for your own good. You know is that ride still at Disneyland? Autopia. You know the one. The little car he's driving.

But really you know when you're a little kid it's so exciting. I'm driving a car. Well you kind of are but not really. First of all you can't reach the pedal. Okay let's deal with that. So you need your mom and dad to get their foot in the pedal. But you're moving the wheel around. But in reality you have little barriers there to keep you in place.

And those are there so you don't kill yourself. Okay. We're not going to put you out on the freeway and let you drive your little Autopia car.

You know. You get yourself in trouble. Again back to the barriers. They're there for your own good.

They're there to protect you from harming yourself. That's how we should look at the commandments of God. Good perspective today from Pastor Greg Laurie and his message called Hot Button Issues. And there's more to come in this study.

It's actually the kickoff to a series by the same name. Lots more candid biblical counsel coming our way. But it all comes down to where we stand with God on an individual basis. The Lord has made it very clear that he's willing to forgive our sins and cleanses from unrighteousness. Pastor Greg somebody can make that change in their relationship with God today.

Right now. Correct? That's right. The Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So think of it this way. Maybe you're out in a riptide in the ocean and you can't get your footing and you're in trouble and you see a lifeguard call out for help and the lifeguard will rescue you.

The same is true spiritually. You're drowning in your sin. You need help. Jesus will save you. He will rescue you.

But you must call out to him and you know how you do that? You do it in prayer. So let me just lead you in a simple prayer and you can pray this prayer after me. You can pray it out loud if you like and this is where you are calling out to Jesus to save you.

Just pray this. Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner and I know you are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Now Lord, I turn from my sin and I put my faith in you. Be my Savior, my Lord. Be my God and my friend. I choose to follow you from this moment forward. In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen. Hey, if you just prayed that prayer, I want you to know that Christ himself has come to live inside of you. And I have a resource I want to send you. It's called the New Believers Bible. So the New Believers Bible is the New Testament in the New Living Translation with hundreds of notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this commitment you are making to follow Christ. There are some other materials included as well in what we call the New Believers Growth Pack. But let me get this New Believers Bible into your hands as quickly as possible.

Here's Dave to tell you more. Yeah, we'll be glad to send it all your way free of any charge if you prayed along with Pastor Greg today. Just ask for the New Believers Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300 or you can reach us any time 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300.

Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. You know, Pastor Greg, we hear from people all the time who tell us how these daily studies have impacted their lives. So many have found the Lord and been encouraged through the teaching. And we hope our listeners might pray about making an investment so these studies can continue.

Yeah, it's really true, Dave. You know, and even a little bit helps. You know, people need to hear the Gospel so badly. They need to hear the teaching of the Word of God. It changes everything because it changes us. And I'm so passionate about it, and I'm called to do it, and I'm thankful for it.

But I can't do it alone. So I'm going to ask folks that are listening, if you think more people need to hear the Gospel, if you believe more people need to hear the teaching of the Word of God, then perfectly consider investing in Harvest Ministries and maybe even become a Harvest Partner, which means you're someone who stands with us every month in your faithful giving. And that opens up a lot of new opportunities for us. So thanks for that.

Yeah, that's right. And we really are thankful for your partnership. You can reach us any time day or night at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or just go online to harvest.org.

Hey, everybody. I want to encourage you to join us for something we call Harvest at Home. That happens every Sunday at harvest.org and on our brand new app, Harvest Plus, which is available on your mobile TV devices. Download it now, and you can watch Harvest at Home with Christians from around the world as we worship together and study God's Word. So again, join us for Harvest at Home at harvest.org or on Harvest Plus. Until next time, Pastor Greg comes back to present the conclusion to this message called Hot Button Issues. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie.