2 Timothy 4:1-5

Transcription : What I am about to do is not give you an expository message that, even a short passage that was read to you, I’m not going to unfold it and march through it, instead I’m going to draw out three ideas from it that I think will help us to address an issue that is extraordinary important issue at our cultural moment. In fact just last month New York Times Magazine wrote a, ran an article, and wrote an article and we all read an article, called The Year we Obsessed About our Identity. It was saying this is the year we are as a culture finally obsessing over identity and so, what’s identity? I think it’s at least two things the way we use the word now. It’s a sense of self and a sense of worth. A sense of self means, there’s got to be a core, a durable core that you identify yourself through all various hats you wear and the various roles you play and the various situations you’re in. You know, so many different situations, so many different places. What is the core that s

Transcription : We are going to continue to look at Proverbs and at the subject of wisdom and each week we’ve said that wisdom basically the ability to make wise choices, right choices. Our life is basically made, you make or break your life on the basis of your choices. Is this the right person to hire? Is this the right career for you? Is this the right job for you? Is this the right, is this the right amount of freedom to give to your child this age? Is this the right person to confide in? Is this the right person to give this responsibility to? Is this the right person to marry? Was it right not to marry that person? And every one of those situations, the options in front of you are many and most all of them are moral, most all of them are legal, most all of them are allowable but most of them aren’t wise. So we need guidance to make decision and in the bible, in the Hebrew Scriptures, there’s a word guidance that comes up quite a bit, especially in the book of Proverbs, in fact

Transcription : Oh right, you read, heard the text, you know the music at the offering is very hard to sleep through and this particular text and sermon would be also pretty hard to sleep through. Jesus in the sermon on the mount is telling us how He wants us to live in every area of life. Well love and sex is one of those areas of life and so he gets to that here and when you first read it, it makes, it would be natural when you hear this read to have a negative response because it looks like on the surface Jesus is saying “if you have sexual desire, you’re going to hell.” And it will be very natural for somebody to say “aha! See that’s that negative view of sex that everybody says Christians have”, but that’s a great misunderstanding. And I’m going to show you that the Biblical or the Christian understanding of sex while it is very different from that which the culture gives you, nevertheless in the grand scheme of things, it’s one of the most attractive things about Christianity