WWUTT 510 Q&A The Nashville Statement?

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This week a document was released entitled the Nashville Statement addressing matters of marriage and human sexuality affirming what the

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Bible has to say on those issues why is this important and why should the church be behind it we'll talk about that when we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text studying the Word of God that we may know the mind of God. Find all our videos on our website at www .utt

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.com. Now here's your teacher Pastor Gabe. And my co -host Becky Hughes who has not listened to any of the podcast this week.

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Don't tell them. You've been a little busy babe. It's been very busy. Because you got started with the with the kids with school again.

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Yes. Doing homeschool. And then we hopped into going to the group co -op.

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Yeah on Tuesday. Yeah the campus. Everything is back in a full swing and Becky's schedule is packed.

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But I'm so glad you're still joining me for this on well I would say Thursday night but Friday. Our Friday edition.

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Our Friday edition. When we take questions from the listeners and you can submit questions by email when we understand the text at gmail .com

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so Becky had an appointment with our daughter Annie on Thursday night and also was not even able to make

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Bible study. So sometimes questions get asked at Bible study related to the lesson that we just did the day before in the

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Old Testament. Most of the time they're from me. That's true.

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So we went through the story of Naaman being cured of his leprosy in 2nd

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Kings chapter 5. And this question came up when after Naaman was cured he tried to give his money to Elisha and Elisha wouldn't take it.

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Because this was a gift of mercy from God and you cannot buy anything from the

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Lord. You know like it says in Romans 11 who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid.

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There is nothing that you can give to God and earn the favor of God. This was mercy and grace of God upon Naaman and because he had faith and went to the

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Jordan River and was cleansed then he was purified of his leprosy. That's awesome. So he goes back to Elisha tries to give him the money.

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Elisha won't take it and so Naaman asks this request. He says if not if you're not gonna take the money then please let there be given to your servant two mule loads of earth for from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any

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God but to the Lord. So why is it that Naaman asked for earth to go back with him to Syria?

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I have no idea. Well there's kind of a two -part answer to this. Number one is that Naaman though he now believed that the

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God of Israel was the true God still kind of had a pagan mindset of how a

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God was supposed to be worshipped. So the false gods were often very territorial. It had you know a

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God applied to a particular thing that you were praying to be blessed in. So okay the way that we our our minds tend to think of like the

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Greek gods and the Roman gods when we think about a multitude or a plethora of polytheistic worship.

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Right. So if somebody in ancient Greece wanted their crops to be blessed they would pray to Zeus because he was the

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God of the sky. Okay. If somebody wanted to find a spouse and have a good marriage they would worship

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Hera the goddess of marriage. If somebody wanted to have a successful voyage or sea venture they would worship

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Poseidon the god of the sea. Or if a storm came upon them while they were in a vessel that's who they would start praying to.

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Right. So like we read in the in the book of Jonah how Jonah the the boat that Jonah got on to flee from God that big storm came upon them and then the all the pagans on the boat they start praying to their false gods where they're praying they're praying to their

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God of the sea. Right. To be spared from this storm. It wasn't any of our gods.

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Yeah. Must be yours. So that's it yeah right they went to Jonah and said it's not ours so why don't you start praying to your

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God. Yeah. So then so if somebody was going to go against an enemy in war in ancient

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Greece they would pray to Ares who was the god of war. So this was kind of the mindset that Naaman had.

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If he was going to worship God he needed to worship him territorially. So I need to bring earth from Israel back with me to Syria because this is where I'm going to worship the

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Lord. Oh because he was the God of Israel. Right. God of Israel. So so Naaman had not yet understood that God is

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God over all. He was still seeing him as only the God of Israel. So that's part one.

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Part two is that he may have really wanted to worship God the right way and God had decided how he was going to be worshipped and where he was going to be worshipped and he was to be worshipped at the temple in Jerusalem.

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Now that's not where this took place this this took place in Samaria which was in Israel but yet Naaman wanted to honor the

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Lord the right way. So maybe when it came to worshipping God properly I need to do so on the soil of Israel.

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So he was taking the earth of Israel back with him to Syria so that in in his you know villa or whatever great property he had where he lived he would spread the earth of Israel there and that's where he would build his altar to the

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Lord. So anyway. That's neat. That's the explanation to that but you see a change of heart in Naaman.

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Previously a man who worshipped false gods and now he worshipped the true God of Israel. That's awesome.

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So anyway that's our answer to our question from yesterday's lesson in Second Kings.

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I think I typically start Friday that way don't we? We go back to. Yeah we usually do yeah.

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We go back to the Old Testament study from the day before. Because it's usually a question that happened popped up at Bible study.

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So I received several emails this week and I got a few Twitter messages as well asking if I would respond to or explain the

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Nashville statement. So this came out on Tuesday. It kind of came out kind of came up out of the blue.

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It was a cooperative a partnership. I was gonna say a cooperativeship. It was a partnership between CBMW which is the

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Coalition for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Okay. And also the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the

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Southern Baptist Convention to come up with a manifesto responding to human sexuality in our current cultural climate.

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So making a statement about how the church should consider these things given the way that our culture is right now.

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Now this was basically an update of the Danvers statement. Okay.

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Which was it was written in Danvers Massachusetts back in 1987.

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So 30 years ago. So now this is updating something that had been written 30 years before but this one being done in Nashville Tennessee.

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And it was on I think it was Friday of last week. Yeah Friday August 25th when the

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Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission jointly hosted a gathering of Christian leaders in Nashville.

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There were over 150 Christian leaders that decided upon the statements that were going to be in the in the

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Nashville statement. And it's a series of we affirm and we deny.

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So we affirm what the Bible says and we deny that the

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Bible doesn't include. Well we deny that human sexuality is this.

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So as the culture is trying to say well here's what human sexuality really is expressing your feelings it's whatever do whatever you want.

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You know that's kind of what inspires the we denies. Right. So there's affirmations and denials.

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And if you go through all the articles on the Nashville statement that's what it is that you'll see. So you can find this by going to cbmw .org

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slash Nashville hyphen statement or if you just go to cbmw .org there will be a link that you can click on that will take you to the

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Nashville statement. Read the preamble so you understand the reason and the purpose for the articles that follow.

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And then go through the articles and then you can also click on signers and you'll see a list of the signers that were a part of this meeting and helping to arrange this statement or this manifesto regarding human sexuality.

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And let me clarify that a manifesto is a written statement declaring publicly the intentions motives or views of the issuer.

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So these are some very influential evangelical leaders pastors teachers and otherwise from different denominational backgrounds that are coming to an agreement on what the bible has to say about human sexuality and speaking into our culture.

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But this is primarily for the church. And to get 150 people to agree on something that has to come.

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I mean. Praise the lord. Yes. They have to be using the same source and interpreting it the you know what

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I mean. Right agreeing what the bible has to say. But some of the signers of this include

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Denny Burke who I love Denny and have relied upon him greatly and in terms of just understanding my own denomination the

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Southern Baptist Convention. I've even asked him questions about SBC stuff. So every time

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I have sent Denny an email he's a professor at Boyce College. He has responded to every email

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I've sent him. I know the guy has to be busy and yet he's still responded to all my questions and he's the president of the

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Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. John Piper, Dr. James Dobson formerly of Focus on the

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Family now the president of Family Talk. Russell Moore who's the president of the ERLC, J .I.

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Packer, Rosaria Butterfield and Nancy DeMoss -Wolgamoth some examples of women who are on that list.

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Wayne Grudem, Tony Perkins who's the president of the Family Research Council, D .A. Carson, R .C.

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Sproul, Sam Albury who's editor at the Gospel Coalition, John MacArthur was one of the signers of this as well and Dr.

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Albert Moeller and in fact I'm going to go ahead and play a clip from him here from the briefing on Wednesday.

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I think this was Wednesday's edition of the briefing where he is explaining the Nashville Statement and I think that he does a better job of it than I will.

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In a time of confusion one of the greatest gifts that can be given to and by Christ Church is clarity and clarity requires at times that matters of truth, matters of truth in particular times of trial should be put into words in order to bear the testimony of that clarity.

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A manifesto was released yesterday it's known as the Nashville Statement. It's a coalition for biblical sexuality.

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A group of evangelical leaders had gathered in Nashville for a meeting to determine how this statement should be released and it was released yesterday morning by the

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Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. I should say at the beginning was a speaker at the event and a signatory to this statement and there are many others as we shall see who signed it as well.

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The big issue is this what took place as released on August the 29th 2017 was a statement by Christians who believe that it is our responsibility to speak clearly to issues of gender and sex and sexuality and biblical morality in a time when these issues are commonly confused.

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By late yesterday the Nashville Statement was one of the most oft -discussed issues in social media and it had gained a great deal of media attention as well.

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More on that attention in just a moment back to the statement for now. The statement begins with a preamble that states evangelical

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Christians at the dawn of the 21st century find themselves living in a period of historic transition.

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As western culture has become increasingly post -christian it has embarked upon a massive revision of what it means to be a human being.

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Now as the statement makes clear there is a particular subversion of a biblical understanding of humanity what it means to be human at the level of denying the gift of what it means to be a man and a woman and for that to be a part of God's intention in creation for each one of us as revealed even in our anatomy it's a biological fact.

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In discussions as the statement was being framed one of the points I really wanted to make is that our understanding of human dignity is grounded in creation has to acknowledge that in the very same verse in which we are told that God had created human beings in his image thus distinctive creatures the only creatures made in God's image it also states unequivocally that God has made those human beings in his image as male and female.

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Thus one of the things we need to make very clear as Christians is that a subversion of what it means to be male and female is actually a subversion of human dignity of any adequate understanding of human dignity that can undergird what makes human beings distinct from other creatures and furthermore what undergirds the understanding that every single human being is made in God's image.

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So what he says there at the end of his explanation I think is what makes the

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Nashville statement so important that to treat a human being to treat a man as anything other than a man would be to would be undignified it would be to not treat him with the proper dignity even if he thinks

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I should be a woman then you and then you say to him well do what it is that your heart feels like doing and and then treating him as a woman would is really not treating him with human dignity because it's to treat him as something other than what

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God designed him to be so that's that's one of the reasons for the Nashville statement but basically the purpose of the

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Nashville statement is this and that is to define marriage and human sexuality the way that the bible defines it yeah the way that Jesus defined it and any time that we have had in the history of the church creeds or confessions those creeds or confessions are are only affirming what the bible already says right it's not coming up with anything new right it's the church coming to an agreement on the bible says this and this helps us to understand what the bible teaches better when we come to an agreement on a on a statement or a manifesto like this like the

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Nashville statement so when we go to Matthew 19 and we see Jesus definition of marriage here is what we have

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Matthew 19 starting in verse 4 he answered to the pharisees have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh so they are no longer two but one flesh what therefore

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God has joined together let man not separate and in those three verses

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Matthew 19 verses 4 5 and 6 Jesus defines male and female and what a marriage is right and and so the

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Nashville statement affirms what it is the bible clarifies on what it means to be a man or a woman what it what human sexuality is defined as and also what a marriage is supposed to be as God has defined it and I think it's also important that they come together like that um in times like this it makes you feel like you're not the only one you you can in their solidarity yeah in this society it's it's really easy to be like oh

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I must be the only one so I've got to give in and and you know I mean the bible says this but everybody else is saying this and it's not everybody else right so it's encouragement and strength from the church itself and unity right and solidarity like you said and I think with these these leaders gathering together like this and making such a statement sets an example for the church exactly so right exactly right

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I think it's very important that they did that now I've heard some criticisms about the Nashville statement and I'm talking about criticisms from the church of course we've heard criticisms from the world in the secular media that's that's a given but criticisms from people even in the church

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I have not yet heard a good one and I've read quite a few yeah criticisms about the national statement as in what

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I don't think it was a strong argument that you're making regarding the statement or why are we doing this why did we need this quite honestly the response that we received on Tuesday and Wednesday affirms why we needed that oh definitely um and so I signed it

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I'm not one of the signers like you know if you go to the list right but anybody can sign it if you want to it it doesn't change anything if you do or don't but I think that it it just like Becky said it kind of offers that solidarity that companionship together in standing against the direction and tide of the culture in terms of how the world will define human sexuality and if we can't stand together on those things the church is going to be in big trouble we'll be easily divided when the church or I'm sorry when the world comes against the church now

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I will say this I will say that probably the best criticism that I've seen again coming from the church is that there aren't any proof texts to the article so oftentimes when you have an article you'll have kind of a series and italics down at the bottom or something like that it will tell you all the different verses that pertain to the declaration that is being made in that specific article oh that's neat which we have in the um the baptist faith and message 2000 okay so every one of the articles in the bfm will have a series of verse references that you can go to to check you know how the southern baptist convention came to that faith statement in that particular article that's the one thing that I wish the nashville statement had that it doesn't include

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I would say that would that's really the only legitimate criticism that anybody can make against the nashville statement but otherwise

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I mean even when you have things like the nicene creed or the westminster confession of faith or any of these things they don't have proof proof text with them now you can find versions of wcf that has proof text but the wcf itself doesn't or like the london baptist confession or any of these things so maybe somebody later on will take the nashville statement and add the texts to them that would probably help a person understand that article a little bit better from a biblical perspective right or from according to the pages of scripture we'll put it that way because it's all from a biblical perspective this is true everything that is in those articles or the the what do you call that where you cite where you find that the sources sources yeah all right yeah what's that word our vocabulary our vocabulary is failing us here so those those kinds of things um and and i'm sure somebody is going to come along and do that um where you cite the text site yeah site reference cross reference i don't know that's gonna bug me somebody's gonna send us emails here we're gonna get like 20 different words somebody's gonna go through the thesaurus and find it for us your cross references i think that's a pretty good pretty good word to use but anyway i think that one was yours of course you think that's good thank you thanks a lot anytime that's what i'm here for so uh so somebody is going to take the nashville statement and add those verse references it will happen but i've read the whole thing there's nothing in there that i disagreed with it's and in my mind i'm making the biblical connection to those things right like article 10 for example which i talked about the other day i think that was the only article that i read on wednesday in the article it says we deny that the approval of homosexual immorality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful christians should agree to disagree so it is not okay that we as christians or churches just agree to disagree on this matter it really is a fundamental issue because we have it said and i read uh earlier this week out of first corinthians chapter six do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who practice homosexuality in the and then the other sins that proceed from that these will not inherit the kingdom of god right so it is not okay to simply agree to disagree on this these these are issues that have to do with whether or not a person's soul is going to go to heaven or hell so we have to be together on this and we have to preach the bible according to what god has said what he has said is living in righteousness and again what we read earlier this week out of first thessalonians chapter four verse three this is the will of god your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality yeah if a person is indulging in sexual immorality they are not being sanctified if they're not being sanctified they were never justified right if they are not justified then they stand before god condemned and that's why these issues are so important it is it is loving human souls that's the reason for the nashville statement loving people it's it's not at all to thump our chests or say we're better than you or say hey here's our good old boys club if you agree with us come join it that's not not the matter of this statement at all it is it is the care and concern for human beings and treating them with real human dignity the way that god designed us in his image that we would treat one another as image bearers of god so anyway now i've i've rabbit trail and i've come off the art so article 10 in what it says goes goes directly with what we read in romans 1 32 the very end of the of the chapter though they know god's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them so the person who gives approval is just as guilty as the person who does the sin yeah and so that's see that might be a verse romans 1 32 that you would include in with article 10 when you're doing your cross -referencing to see okay where do they get that from scripture i see it now right so somebody's gonna come along and take those articles and add the cross references that'll come yeah but in no way does anything that's mentioned in there in the nashville statement go against what it is that we read in scripture i'm glad it was put together me too and especially by makes things very clear right and that which is the point and that's what dr moeller said this is to offer clarity right in the midst of a very very muddy culture yes including in the churches especially in the churches yeah boy that's which is heartbreaking it's heartbreaking to see one church after the next get rid of what god has said a man is and a woman is what the roles of men are supposed to be what the roles of women are supposed to be what a marriage is supposed to look like these things are disappearing from mainstream churches uh in the united states yeah but amazingly it's it's sticking around in the stores you have the girls section and the boys section well i think that and the women i think i think that becky just did shopping today so she's she was in the in our girls section buying for girls and then going to go get clothes for zeige and you go to the boys section but i think that that really testifies to the seared conscience of our culture it's like they say one thing with their mouths yes but when it comes to practice they know that's not reality right it's it's not and it doesn't make any sense mm -hmm so there there are other other examples other ways that i could i could go into this but we're actually at oh yeah we're actually at time now oh hi so we didn't we didn't get to multiple questions here today but we kind of did yeah we got to two okay okay about the like yeah the old testament study right and then and then we got to this one okay we're good but we got several emails about about the nashville statement thing and and then i also got some stuff on twitter about that as well right it was a big topic and a lot of a lot of hate messages on twitter this week yeah that was something else but um that's okay that's yeah i'm looking for my friends yeah i know i wanted to go back on to twitter and just respond to friends but i had to weed through all of the hate messages that i received so sid the science kid pops into my head i'm looking for my friends i'm looking for you and we are looking for an email from you we'd like to hear from you so email when we understand the text at gmail .com

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thank you so much for following us on twitter as well i'm back to pastor underscore gabe i noticed on twitter becky you can find uh twitter .com

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slash becky hughes right b -e -k -i right hughes becky is spelled not in the in not in the traditional way b -e -k -i so follow us on twitter uh go to our facebook page which is facebook .com

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slash what videos w -w -u -t -t videos i've got another one i'll get done probably friday has to do with numerology that's going to be the next what video uh god bless you guys thank you so much for praying for us supporting the ministry and letting others know about our videos the podcast uh we also have transcripts to the videos at the website as well so let's close with prayer and we'll be done our lord god we thank you for the salvation that we have been given through jesus christ and i pray that you keep us steadfast in the faith pursuing righteousness growing and sanctification so every day we're desiring holiness we want to be made more like you and every trial every occasion every circumstance uh every ridicule or or even every encouragement or every hardship any of these things may they shape us more and more like christ so that on the day of glory we might be presented before you holy and blameless in his righteousness and lord i pray that that for others who are struggling in their faith that the convincing arguments the seemingly convincing arguments of this world will not lead them astray but they run all the more to the church the true church of jesus christ and hold fast to the body and long for the word of god that they may be filled up with good things in christ jesus i thank you for the men and women that stood shoulder to shoulder side by side to put together what became the nashville statement and i pray that we would grow in unity as a church behind statements like this which are thoroughly biblical and grounded upon the word of truth which is the bible this is our guide our authority in all matters of faith and practice so may we submit to it daily and desire to please you with all that we do forgive us our sins and lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake in jesus name amen no no no i'm just practicing right you know it takes me 10 times yes go ahead okay i'll i'll finish this text while you do who's texting you justin justin the blankie this is when we understand the text studying the word of god that we may that we may know the mind of god studying the word of god that we may know the mind of god right right that's what it says i know but that just sounds weird find all your all our videos all your videos all our videos on our website at www .www

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.www .www .www .com now here's your teacher pastor game what's up y 'all should i start talking like that this is when we understand the text it's country bunking day on when we understand the text of god that we may know the mind of god this is when we understand the text studying the word of god that we may know the mind of god find all our videos on our website at www .www