The Gospel Is for Everyone
ICS Daily Devotions
Genesis 1:27-28 (NKJV) So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
In a world that has succumbed to the pressure of populism, the church must stand firm against values that violate God’s moral laws and values. Otherwise, the church would lose her testimony of being the light and the salt of this world. In the face of strong advocacy for LGBTQ, the church’s view must also be heard, because ultimately the Bible is the yardstick that will restore order and stability in a chaotic world.
God asked us to take authority over our life by subduing it and to have dominion over His creation. Therefore, we can subdue our feelings, including the unnatural and destructive ones, towards ourselves and those around us. For those who are parents, we also need to equip ourselves with what the biblical views regarding LGBTQ are so that we can teach our children before they are led astray. A strong foundation must be laid by gently pointing them back to the Bible.
According to Genesis, God made Adam and Eve to be partners for life. The Bible starts with a marriage between a man and a woman and ends with the church being the bride of Christ in the Book of Revelation. The God ordained marriage is always between a man and a woman. The married couple is to give each other companionship and to procreate by consummating their marriage, which can only happen through a male and a female. They are to play the roles of husband and wife, father, and mother on the earth, and to establish the marriage covenant where the husband is to love his wife as himself. This is the kind of marriage that we should model for our children. If this most basic nucleus in society is broken, changed, or given an alternative, the society at large will also suffer. In fact, the disintegration of the family unit is one of the reasons for all the problems with LGBTQ today.
Everyone should protect and love their family because the choices that one makes can hurt their loved ones. However, we should always love the person concerned even though we may not condone their sinful acts or lifestyles, and continue to keep the door open for their return just as the Heavenly Father did with the prodigal son. We should offer hope to those who are practising homosexuality or gender fluidity to return to the loving arms of the Lord Jesus Christ and help them understand that there is tremendous power in the finished work of redemption to help them turn around if they so decide. Jesus died for the ungodly. Therefore, everyone including the LGBTQ community qualifies to be saved. Homosexuals should be welcomed to the church to listen to the good news of the Gospel without feeling being judged.
Sermon Series: Natural or Unnatural
