JAN 22 2017 | Stealing Eden S1E2 | Genesis 1

Sea Change Church · Stealing Eden S1E2 · "Genesis 1" · Adam Stadtmiller · January 22, 2017
Genesis 1
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Hey, well, welcome, everybody. Hope you're doing well. We are moving into week two and the final week of my talks on human sexuality and no emails this week. So thank you. I was awesome. Some good text. I had some text and some encouraging text. Well, I don't know if you're aware, but sex was in the news again this week in a lot of different ways.

It seems to be in the news a lot lately in regard to gender, in regard to all different types of thing. And obviously, as I'm doing this series, I'm probably more aware, whatever I'm speaking about, I'm just more aware of things. And the first thing that really struck out to me was an image from the Washington Post of women and images from a 200-year-old brothel.

I think it's in, it's the oldest brothel in the world, and I think it's in Sri Lanka. And they had all these pictures of women. And I stared at that for a long time because it, man, that's a, that's a really, if you're online, I will try to post this online as well. But that picture says a lot about a lot of different things. And I began to look at it, look at the faces of the different women.

And living in a society, obviously, where I spoke last week, where sexual truth is relative, that as long as it doesn't hurt anybody, and you're not being forced to do something, it's okay. But something in that woman's eyes tells me different. I don't know about you, but it tells me different. And so that was the first thing that I saw this week.

And it really gave me a heart. And something that I believe that we're going to talk about today is that God wants to, here's what, I guess, you know, I'll tell you the end of the story before we get there, is I feel, and the Bible is very clear, that human sexuality is meant to express the glory, the beauty, the grandeur, the secrecy, and the holiness, and the loveliness of God.

I think that's what human sexuality is all about. And I don't think that does it really well, even though it's probably very sexualized. I said last week that I felt that the Bible was the most sexual book in the world, far more sexual than pornography, because pornography has just one layer of sexuality where the Bible talks about, it has pornographic events.

I won't go back into them, but it has all types of things. But it also talks about gender. It talks about the creation of gender. It talks about marriage. It talks about procreation. The Bible speaks about everything that you can imagine in regard to sexuality. It is an adult book, but I would say it probably is the most conclusive or expansive book in the world, in my opinion, one could argue, in regard to human sexuality.

The next thing that came up that I saw this week was the new cover model for Maybelline. I don't know if you saw, I don't know if he wants to go by him or her, I don't know. But I thought that was interesting. I don't think that makeup is what makes you a male or a female. I mean, I think makeup is oftentimes very cultural. Men were wearing makeup.

In the 1980s, I wore eyeliner. So I just got to let you know, you know. I skated around and wore eyeliner, probably to my mom's chagrin. And I just did. Didn't make me more of a woman. But it did highlight my blue eyes. So I thought that looked good. I tried to, in that, I was really into being a mod and all these other things. And I thought I wanted a crop.

You know, the little thing where they have this little crop of hair sticking up. I didn't really know how to do it. So I thought if you took a razor and just did this, it would cause a crop to stick up. No, it just makes a bald spot on the back of your head. That's called a tauncer, actually. And that's what monks wear. And it might have been prophetic.

But I shaved a bald spot on the top of my head, thinking, I don't know why, that that was going to happen. But that is your new Maybelline cover model. I don't really have anything to say about it. I just think it is. And it is what it is. And like I said, I don't, the one thing I did think is I don't, I don't believe that what you wear or if you wear makeup has really, is going to affect your, your, the authentic sexuality that God has placed within us.

I don't think, I think one day when, whether you choose, you know, because asexual is the way to go. I met a person named Pax recently at the Wikipedia conference who stood up in front and said that, that they, I don't know, I honestly, I'm not trying to be rude. I just don't know the pronouns anymore. I'm completely confused. I don't know about anybody else.

One thing I keep telling my children is believe what is clearly seen. The scripture talks about that. What is clearly, what is, what is very clear? What is evident? There's things that are evident. One day when scientists want to dig my body up from the graveyard, but that I'm going to build behind the church because you can just bury me here one day.

They're going to know I was a man. How? Bone structure. I mean, it's not going to change. But I met Pax and Pax was asexual on a sliding scale, not male nor female. And I really couldn't tell. I mean, Pax did a great job of, of cloaking their sexuality. And so there is a push these days, and especially in some Christian circles, to remove gender from the peace.

That there, I spoke to a friend, we were at a men's Bible study this week, and he's re, one of the men in there is re-establishing his faith. And he was talking to a friend, and he said to the friend, I want to be a man of God. And the friend said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, no, no. Person of God. Person of God. No, person of God.

Yeah. Carol's up here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is fine. Person of God is fine. But I just, I don't think there's anything wrong with, with the beauty that is expressed in, in either side of the gender. But we do see a push for that. I don't know if you see a push for that. But we do see that in society today, an asexual society. Although, one of the things that we're going to learn today in the scripture is I believe that there is beauty in gender, in each, in each of the genders.

And in those, God is trying to say something about truth about himself. And that being one of the other, it's, you know, just because you're not something doesn't mean you're less of anything else. Does that make sense? And there is a push today for a, where equality at the sake of diversity. Meaning we need to all be equal. Everything needs to be completely equal.

One of the things is everything is completely equal. Have you ever thought about this? You have no diversity. So one of the things you're going to continue to hear is we need diversity, we need diversity. All things should be equal. And I don't, I, so I continue to be confused. I don't know about you, but I continue to be confused. And the anchor that I personally have chosen to use as my anchor is the word of God.

Because it is unchanging, although as we'll see, there are different translations that are trying to change it. But we saw that. This is just in the news this week, okay? Things that are happening. I'm making no statement. Then we had the women's march, if you'll see. The women's march at Washington. I thought this was an interesting sign as well.

The future is female. I don't think you want a female future. I don't think you want a male future. I think the thing that you're marching against is the idea that one sex is running everything. I think that's what you're marching against. So I don't, I'm just, once again, I'm confused. I don't understand the sign. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm the only person that's confused.

I'm not upset, angry. I'm just saying things that I saw. But this was the march. I will have some thoughts on the march, which I thought was interesting. One, I believe that there are some things that they are marching for that are incredibly powerful. I'm not sure I would march with you because there's certain things, there's a few things in there that probably I couldn't stand for.

But I would say that there are things that they were marching for that I would die for. There are, in regard to seeing people have dignity, seeing people have, I would say, belovedness. You know, there's a whole bunch of different things that we see, and I would die for the things that they were marching for. Probably, I mean, not all of them.

But I will say one thing that struck me. And this is my opinion. This is not biblical. Paul does this a fair amount. He says, this is my opinion. Let me give you my opinion. I think what the March for Women did, I think it had some powerful voices. And I stand behind probably 90% of what they stand behind, probably about 90%, 80%, I don't know. I'm just making up a word, a number there.

But what I thought it lacked, which is most inherent to women, is I thought it lacked beauty. I thought it lacked grace. I thought it was vulgar in a lot of ways. Now, some of that's just clickbait. I get that. Some of that is just you find a few people, and the news wants you to click on things. But one of the things that I think that women add to society, which is beautiful, and I'm not going to stand down from believing that women add something that men don't to society.

Okay? I believe that women bring a nurture to society that not that men can't nurture, but there is an inherent nurture to society that women bring. I believe that there is an elegance, not that all women, and there's a scale of what men and women, but I believe that there is an elegance, and I believe that there is a grace. I believe that there is a care.

I believe that there is an emotional intelligence that women have that they bring to society in a way that men can't do it. Let me say this. To some people, we'll say that men are strong, and that makes women feel that they're not strong. Let me just give you one example from nature. You know about muscle. If you're a muscle reflexology or something like that, you will know that muscle has two different types of muscle.

They have a fast twitch and a slow twitch. Both of them are muscle, but they are different expressions within the same thing. I would say that the same is true for humankind, and that God, in women, wanted to express something about who he is through women. When I looked at the march on women, not on women, for women, it looked, from what I saw, and it could have just been, obviously, they're going to take pictures of the most radical, gnarly stuff, but a lot of what I saw was just vulgar.

And it was kind of like, well, we had this one person that said something really vulgar, so we can be just as vulgar as you. You know what it looked like? It looked like it was planned by a bunch of men to me. I'm sorry to be rude, okay, because I will die for probably most of what they're standing for, but it just didn't represent beauty to me.

Now, you look at Gandhi. Look at Gandhi and how he protested in India, where they would all wear white, and maybe you saw the movie Gandhi. There was a beauty and a grace to that that I feel was extrapolated, that women are being told, if you act like a woman, or you, let's not even say act, let's say you highlight things that are traditionally inherent to women, which I understand would be bigoted to say to many these days, then you are less than.

I roil against that. I think that there was a way, I think they needed to plan it a little bit longer. I think it lacked so much of who women are and what they bring. I don't know about you, that was just me, and those are things that I would die for. That was just in the news this week. Not long ago, as we get into the sermon today, there was a guy who I really enjoyed his music.

I liked a lot about him. George Michael. I love that picture. I wanted to look like that in the 1980s. I used to ride around PB on a Honda Hurricane motorcycle with rainbow spandex with that exact outfit, okay? Rainbow spandex, okay? Eyeliner, rainbow spandex. I thought it was masculine, nonetheless, but... I would say in the 1980s and early 90s, George Michael spoke about sexuality and made a profound statement about sexuality.

I found him intriguing. I found him compassionate. I found him incredibly kind. He's one of my favorite artists. On All Saints Day, which is the day after Halloween, November 1st, you will ask my kids what I do the morning of All Saints Day. Now, I should pray. I should go to church. I turn on Last Christmas by George Michael to start the season, okay?

I love... No one thinks that's funny. I think it's funny. I play Last Christmas until it is worn out. I just... I found him one of the most gentle, kind, well-thought in a lot of ways. I just really like George Michael. And I was sad when I heard that he passed away. I really was. In the midst of that, too, I think about how he affected me and his song, I Want Your Sex, which is really interesting because this is, again, confusing, that has a lyric that says, Don't need no Bible, just what?

Look in my eye. No one know that song? Don't need no Bible, just... No one wants to sing it with me. What I think is interesting is the name of the album. Do you know the name of the album? Faith. The name of the album is Faith. But there's this going away from that if you just look at my eyes, and if you remember the video, the platform that it was foisted upon, and I heard the word foisted three times this week, so I knew I needed to use the word foisted.

The platform upon which it was foisted was one of monogamy. Perhaps you remember. He was running... He was there, and he had the Asian gal in there in bed, and he wrote monogamy on the... And it was like, Hey, it's, you know, it's right... It's taking some truth. So there is some truth, but then let's extricate a little bit of the truth, and move on, and speak about what I want to say, and remove.

And I talked about last week, DNA strands. If you remove one letter from a DNA strand, what's going to happen? You will no longer have truth anymore. George Michael is a man who admitted to Piers Morgan, perhaps you saw it, at the end of his life, had 700 different, just male partners alone. A man that was found in West Hollywood, looking for strangers in the middle of the night, and that's when he came out with his sexuality and put it in the open.

Not that he had to do it. I don't think that he had to do it. But you can see a person who was incredibly, incredibly complex. Let's use the word complex, as we all are. I will say, if we were to put our own sexual histories, many of us, there's no Mother Teresas in here, probably, and we are all as equally complex, perhaps not in the same ways that he was.

But it was in a powerful statement. The reason I bring that up is because I believe that we do need the Bible. I believe that Christian thought brings an anchor to human sexuality that allows us to express God, and our human sexuality needs to express God. Let me say one more thing about machismo, or in regard to male masculine culture. I think that when men are overly masculine, to the point, it is just as demeaning and dehumanizing as when a man perhaps wants to be overly feminine.

I believe that there is a way that we can find God in the midst of that, and where do we find that? This is a huge topic, by the way. It's gonna create a lot of questions. I can't answer them all in 28 minutes. I will probably be 32 today, but I will do my best to get you to think and to look at the Scripture, and that's what we're gonna look at. When I believe we look in the Bible at human sexuality, we need to not look at the middle, but we need to look at the bookends, because the Bible begins and ends with a marriage.

It actually begins and ends with individual people, but it has a marriage. The Bible begins with Adam and Eve, and then all of a sudden there is brokenness, a change in the relationship with sin, and then God redeems that on the cross, and then we end up back in heaven, but it says that the church, that you become what? The beautiful bride of Christ.

That's once again where it speaks about a bride being beautiful. The groom is not considered, I think oftentimes, to be beautiful in that setting, but we see the beautiful bride, and we see a marriage again, but again you are an individual person, and we need to say even within marriage, there is singleness and individuality. We want to look at the bookends.

So I want to start. I'm not going to get to revelations. I wanted to get to revelations. We're going to have to wait until next year, when I come back and do this again, but I want to look at Genesis and say, is there anything we can learn from the scripture? From things that are clear, and I got to say, in an age of people wanting relative truth with no absolutes, it seems odd to me that we're confused that there's fake news.

Make any sense? Like there are no absolutes, all truth is relative, but let's go after fake news. On both sides. I think fake news, you know what I'm saying. So what is, are there absolutes? I believe that the Bible does have absolutes, and what I want to try to do is stick to things that are clearly seen. And this is something I'm trying to encourage you as a congregation, and me with my children.

I tell my children, what is clearly seen? The enemy wants to blur the lines. We'll talk about that. And so, go to your scriptures, Genesis 1-1, just quickly, so you can understand, because I believe that most Christians today do not have the fodder to have a conversation about human sexuality, and you need tools to speak about it. In a way that is relevant and profound, that expresses your faith in a simplistic way.

I was told last week that I spoke to this side of the crowd too much, so that was the one email I did get, that you walked to the left too much, so I'm going to give you guys a little love over here today. It wasn't an email, it was a direct conversation. Here's the first thing, as a person of faith, that we believe in the scripture. Number one, in the beginning, God created.

You have a faith-based view of sexuality, that you believe that there was a God that created. So that is the first thing. When people ask you, why you believe, I'm not telling you to believe this, I'm telling you what classic Christianity believes, and to give you some tools, that one, that I have a faith-based view of sexuality. It's a great little sentence.

When somebody wants to have a conversation, to say to you, to say to them, I have a faith-based view of human sexuality, and if you are not coming from a faith-based view, we are going to have some divides. So to understand me, you need to understand that I have a faith-based view. I also think we need to get better at asking questions ourselves. We'll talk more about that.

Not always answering the questions. Maybe we can ask a few questions on our own, because great apologetics in Christianity has the ability to ask really hard and difficult questions. Number two, we believe in faith-based human sexuality that God created, and God didn't just create willy-nilly, He created for a purpose. That God never creates anything without a purpose.

It has a meaning. If you look at the design around the world, I just was looking, I keep looking at the snow, and just the fact that God has snow that knows how to melt to bring water in the dry times, the design is incredible. Just a leaf alone, if it were to come from evolution, just a leaf alone, the odds of just a leaf, just of a seed, you pick one thing, the odds, but when you look at everything, it is clear to me that God exists.

It's just clear. We can argue all the minutia, but a question I have is, how does something come from nothing? There had to be a divine creator, and when you can answer me, how something came from nothing? They say, well, it came from some gases. Where did the gases come from? Well, they came from a spark. Well, where did the spark? Where? Please take me to the beginning, because it takes more faith to me.

It takes faith. See, all things are based on faith. It takes more faith to me to not believe in God than it takes to believe in God, and I regularly speak to my atheist friends and say, I am so astounded by your faith. Don't call it that. Well, I'm going to call it that, because you believe that God doesn't exist, and you can't prove it to me. So, can you prove to me that God does not exist?

Well, that does not prove to me that God does. And then, one of the things I see on a regular basis, this is just non sequitur, is constantly, when I speak to atheists, they attack the Christian narrative to debunk the Christian narrative, or the Muslim, or they have like three narratives. In order to debunk God, you would have to disprove every single God narrative ever, every tribal religion.

You would have to go to every single religion, the ones that no longer exist, that you don't even know about, and disprove them as well. You cannot disprove God by trying to disprove a religion, because there is an unlimited amount of religions, and you would have to disprove all of them. There is no source. So, my question, my thing that I regularly say is, man, your faith astounds me.

Don't call it that. Well, I'm sorry, but I'm going to call it that, because faith in no God is the same as faith in God. You're just believing with an anti-form of faith. Once again, Christianity believes in a faith-based, human sexuality based in a faith-based narrative that has God as creator with a purpose of the creation. This is a core verse right here that you need to memorize.

Let me give you this tool, that when you speak to people, and you have a conversation, and these are not conversations you want to have on Twitter. These are conversations you want to have people that honestly want to have a conversation with you and sit over a cup of coffee or tea and talk about life, and you can hear them, and you can listen and hear where they're coming from and unite.

I said this week, I want to build bridges. I don't want to build walls, and that's not a political statement, but let me say this. I'm going to build a bridge, and I'm going to make Jesus pay for it. Matter of fact, I'm going to build a bridge, and Jesus did pay for it, and I want to walk over and tell you about it. It's not a political statement, but I thought it was good.

Give me credit for it. I'm just kidding. Here's a verse you need to know. You have to know this verse. You have to. It has to be in your cache of understanding human sexuality. Romans 1.20. For since the creation of the world, God's what? Invisible qualities. The things you can't see. If you want to know about God, there's all these things you can't see.

They're invisible qualities. And his eternal power. So if you want to understand God's power. And what? His divine nature. That's a lot of stuff about God. Has been what? Clearly seen. Clearly. Teach your children to see things at face value. Now there's a second. Obviously, you can be duped. You can be fooled. But face value needs to have an internal discernment.

And so a discernment in your heart, which is a Holy Spirit counsel that speaks to us. It says they are clearly seen. We want to live according to things that are true, that are pure, that are authentic, that are clearly seen. And these things how have been understood. All this story about God. He tells the story how. They've understood from what has been made.

He told a story in creation. And it says, So what? So that in the end, people will be without excuse. You know, I think it's interesting. We'll stand before God one day, and there will be people that will try to talk God out of it. No, no, no. But didn't you realize that there's this? And there'll be all these, because we're really into arguing and talking.

And at some point, he's just going to say, Bro. Bro. Bro or girl or whatever. It was pretty clear. No, but what about, it's pretty clear. It's pretty, it's pretty clear. I mean, human sexuality in regard to, I created one with this set of genitals, and that with the other. Not that there aren't hermaphrodites, not that people don't struggle, and I told you, we need to be very soft hearted, in regard to people that struggle with that.

Because I don't understand it, and we need to build bridges, and care, and have soft hearts. And if you think, once again, like I said last week, and I'm up here settling a score, I'm not. The only reason I'm willing to risk, whatever there is a risk in this culture, to speak about these things, is because I want to lead people to the belovedness of God, no matter who they are.

And one of my first experiences, I told on Sunday night last week, that I had as a believer, is we went to an AIDS hospice, and I met a six foot eight, transvestite they were at the time, his name I think was Lamar, and he went, and we painted the AIDS hospice, because I didn't know any better, than there was, I guess this rift between homosexuality, I just knew people had AIDS, and I wanted to love on them, and so we drove up there, and we painted it, and afterwards, we listened to music in my car, just Lamar and I, as we were sitting there, I think it was Lamar, and then afterwards, he went me in, and he was dying of AIDS, and he showed me all of his dresses, the sequin dress, and the Donna Summers number, and we laughed, and we had community, so just know, that that's the roots, that I'm coming from, with that said, I think God's gonna say, look it's clear, it was pretty clear, and you tried to make, but it's clear, and so I think things are clear, and I'm not gonna shy away, from things that are clearly seen, for some shadowy confusing thing, does that make sense, so how do we walk that line, because I want to build a bridge, and make Jesus pay for it, and if that puts me, in the realm of bigots, and hateful people, well then I'll have to let God decide, if he agrees with that assessment, of my character, with that said, let's move on, why did God create, God created, because creation is core, to God's nature, this is unlike Satan, who was never shown, with the ability to create, did you realize that, Satan cannot create, he is non-creative, God is creative, and it is part of his nature, to create, and giving human beings, the ability, to also create, is how he makes them, like himself, and he says, we will make mankind, like us, one of the things he gives you, is the ability, to procreate, the inability to procreate, was part of the curse, and we know people, we have friends, that run a ministry, for people who are not able to, they're not fertile, or not able to have children, and that did not happen, in the first bookend, but we see that he made us, but Satan though, is non-creative, and his purpose, this is to defile the creation, and to tell a different story, his purpose, is to take the creation, and to tell a different story, about God, to remove, something from the chain, of DNA, and to defile it, just a little bit, that is called profane, if you want to know, what profanity is, profanity is to take the holy, and make it common, so the Bible uses swear words, when speaking about scat, I will just use that word, but it uses stronger words, because it's not profane, not that I'm telling you, to go out and say it, because it might be coarse, but it's not profane, to call something, what it is, it is, but to look at a Bible, and say this is scat, is profane, and that is what profanity is, the devil's main purpose, is to regularly profane, the truth of God, to take what is holy, and to defile it, and so to take prostitution, is just one example of that, and to say that human beings, which are God's highest creation, and that are of, they have no worth, they have so much worth, they're invaluable, you can't put a price tag, on them to God, to put a price tag on them, is to dehumanize them, and so Satan's ideals, are to remove a piece, from the true story of God, and I believe it becomes dehumanizing, and I think that that, as you look in my opinion, if you want to have a conversation, about humanism, humanism, the purpose of humanism, in my opinion, as it tries to raise humans, to the heights of God, actually dehumanizes, I believe that you actually, it's because you become, you try to make humans, at the height of, at the pinnacle of creation, and it dehumanizes people, prostitution, while at the highest level, saying a person can do what they want, actually dehumanizes it, because it says, your value, is based on a price, there is no price, except the price, that Jesus paid on the cross, and he was willing, to empty heaven, because Jesus, God has no worth, but he emptied heaven, that you, that I, might be saved, that is the message, and that is why, I will continue to go forward, and speak truth, to people, because I want them to know, the belovedness of God, let's keep moving on, Satan wants to defile creation, this is especially true, in regard to human sexuality, with the end goal, to humanize creation, sexual sin, dehumanizes God's highest creation, us, two, relationship, God does not, this is another reason, why he created, God does not need relationship, he's self-sufficient, but he loves relationship, and he loves sharing himself, with his creation, we're going to have to move quickly, you can chew on this more, here's the conclusion, this is a key conclusion, we can then conclude, that human sexuality, is meant to express, truth about God, in the form of relationship, does your expression, of human sexuality, express the truth, truth about God, God decided, to show himself, with two genders, God is neither male, nor female, but he, in order to not be confusing, he puts himself, into understandable boxes, they are limited boxes, he is not, he is so much more than male, he is so much more, than female, but in order to understand, the truth of him, which is not understandable, by us, because we are finite, he limits himself, with stories, with narratives, and with metaphors, let me assure you, that God could have made, 32 genders, if he wanted to, and all of those, 32 different genders, would not have expressed, the grandeur, glory, and perfection of God, but he chose, to present two, and within those two, he is telling, the complete story, that he wants to tell, and so we see those, in it, and so God does not, highlight one more than other, but he is telling a story, in the midst of that, that is your conclusion, we are going to look at, four things, five things very quickly, in regard to, human sexuality, and then we will bounce, out of here, what else does, creation narrative, teach us about God's purpose, and design, one, it is fruitful, two, it is diverse, and it is balanced, human sexuality, has a diversity, and it is balanced, and you see that, in gender diverse, marriage model, is you see a diversity, that is there, and in it, it speaks the truth, of God's diversity, when you remove that, or you have, you know, a non-gender diverse marriage, one of the things, you're going to see, is you're not going to see, the complete, it's just not going to tell, the whole story, of what God's trying to say, and so it profanes, the story, that God's trying to say, that is why it is sin, because it profanes, what God decided, he wanted to say, he could have said, it a different way, God could have said, you know, a marriage is 72 genders, that I have created, and you have to do, he wants to tell the story, he is the storyteller, and should the potter, say to the clay, no, or should the clay, say to the potter, excuse me, no, it needs to be this way, and so once again, faith based, tells a narrative, of who God is, in the way that he decided, to say it, and wanted to say it, the Bible is our reference point, for that, third is about, it's about relationship, over rule, it's about covenant, over consent, that's a big one, it's about covenant, over consent, and it's not so much, about attraction, let's bust through these, I gotta move, first of all, go to the first point, it's about fruitfulness, God's first command, in Genesis, this is interesting, do you know what the first command, is to humankind, go have sex, the number one command, really, like I'm thinking God, there probably should have been, some other commands, if you didn't want to, screw things up, like really, that's the, everybody's all quiet, did he just say that, I didn't say it, the Bible said it, what does he say, go be fruitful, we've been real good, at being fruitful, trust me, really, I think, that the expression, of human sexuality, and I look, I'm not even getting into singleness, and how that goes, and I got a huge heart for that, I just don't have the time, to get into it, but in regard to this, in regard to covenant, God is saying, go be like me, go and create, I think in a perfect world, everyone has a partner, I think in a perfect world, there is no loneliness, I think in a perfect world, no one cannot have a child, I think in a, you know, we don't live in a perfect world, we're living between the bookends, and once again, I want to say, I'm looking for truth, on the bookends, not in the mess, that's in the middle, although there is a lot of truth, the Bible speaks about, about the mess in the middle, but if we want to have the highest form, we need to look, at the bookends, and so we see, that it is fruitful, God said, and in that, it says that, that is a blessing, look at that, God blessed them, you know, in the Jewish culture, that not being able to be fruitful, is seen as what?

Curse, exactly right, why? Because fruitfulness, is a blessing, that doesn't mean, that you're cursed, if you can't have a baby today, because that curse, has been broken, but there are elements of that, and the world, is no longer a perfect place, the world has disease, the world has, you know, bacteria, that we can't get antibiotics for, I mean, the world's broke, the world is absolutely broke, but it was a blessing, and once again, we talked about gender diversity, I'm going to go to the next one, it's diverse, and it's balanced, Genesis 127, so God created mankind, what, in his own image, he chose to show himself, as a man, it doesn't mean, women are any less, it's just, I'm going to tell the story, this way, this is the part, I'm going to play, God is more than a man, it says, in the image of God, he created them, part of the reflection, male and female, he created them, each gender expressing, something unique about God, and his image, and if we remove gender, I think we're going to have, a problem in society, I believe that gender, brings balance, I think it's interesting, that many of the same people, who are so concerned, about global warming, realize that if you mess, with anything, in creation, a leaf, too much CO2, you're going to screw things up, but some, but the majority, of my friends, and I have many, trust me, I have a diverse, a diversity, I don't just hang around, with Christians, I have a lot of friends, and a lot of conversations, those same people, believe that you can just, do whatever you want, with family model, with gender, and it's going to have, no effect, like I just, I believe that there's, a global warming happening, and that there's a whole group, of people in the world, that don't see it, I believe that there are, ice shelves, that are just sheaving off, I believe that people, are dying of, of lung disease, that you know, metaphorically, in regard to what's happening, sexually in our world, that it's destroying, our families, that it's destroying, the nature of society, that it's why, we have so much anxiety, it's why we have, so much depression, it's because there is a lack, of, of roots in a family, of stability in a family, of security in a family, I believe that men, are meant to be, a strong covering, I believe that my job, as a man, is not to rule over my wife, but to cover my wife, so that she can run, and be free, and do whatever she wants, for the most part, to run around, I love leading side by side, with my wife, and I can't wait, to get to this gender part, so I got to move on, but we can't remove gender, I struggle, with the new NIV, okay, I don't want to be, a Bible basher, I have a favorite Bible, because God is the word, and I believe, that all translations, are because man translates, and we're going to have, some places where, they stub their toe, but I think it's a problem, when the new NIV, that's why we don't have it, here at this church, decides that they want, to be gender inclusive, to the sake of removing, pieces from the Bible, if you take your phone, and you go to, 1 Corinthians 16, 13, write this down, it will say, if you look at the ESV, the King James, something like this, be watchful, stand in the faith, and act like men, be strong, act like men, which means, the Bible believes, that there is a way, that men should act, I would agree with that, I don't believe that, lessens women in any way, I don't believe it, lessens women in any way, and like I talked about the march, I believe that there was, the best bits of women, were not represented, at that march, just my opinion, once again, that's not biblical, just my opinion, and once again, I would die, from many of those beliefs, but with that, with that said, they have taken the verse, if you look at the NIV now, and it says, be watchful, stand firm in the faith, they've removed, act like men, and said be strong, you know what, let's just take it out, why, just took it out, Paul was speaking to men, at the moment, the context of this scripture, is he's speaking to men, he wasn't speaking to women, now I understand, there's places where the Bible, uses the word mankind, anthropos in the Greek, he's, and they translated it man, it was a bad translation, it needed to say mankind, because it includes women, but in that, it needs to be, it doesn't need to be taken out, that bothers me, when you start removing gender, from the Bible, just for the sake, of pleasing people, pretty soon, the Proverbs 31 woman, is going to be the Proverbs 31 person, I mean, just, I don't understand the point, of removing it, because, for a, well, I'm just confused, I don't need to, my problem today, is editing, myself, I'll just leave it on that, and try to stick to that, that I believe, that it's balanced, and diverse, and there's a beauty in women, that a man will never, no matter how much, he tries, no matter how much he does, it'll never be authentic, that's the thing, it'll just never be 100% authentic, there'll be a bit, I mean, there's a thing called a chromosome, that has, that there's things, and we can do everything we want, but in my opinion, that's, we want to live in a society of truth, and it's inauthentic, and I see it as inauthentic, but at the same time, my heart really goes out for a person, that struggles with that, I talked about that last week, if you want to know more about that, I want to get to relationship, more than rule, and this is important for women, and we're coming in for a landing, we're circling the tower, a lot here today, right, a lot more, I could do 52 weeks on this, actually I couldn't, I'd worn out by Monday, it's about relationship, not about rule, human sexuality, the church has done a really good job, of making it about rule, and that's because of the fallenness of mankind, let me read Genesis 3, 16, one of the great 316s, to the woman he said, I will make pain, this is, by the way, this is the effects, for sin, you sinned, man sinned, and the woman sinned, and then there's some consequences for it, it says, to the woman he said, I will make pains and childbearing for you very severe, with painful labor you will give birth to children, now the creation of life is going to hurt, it's no longer just going to come free to you, it's going to hurt, and your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you, what he said right there, is something that didn't exist in the garden, he said, before he said husband, men are going to rule over women, he said, here's the curse that you're going to, this is what you get, for failing in your leadership role, because women were leading, and were called to lead in the garden, she failed, and the curse that God said was, I'm going to put something innate within you, that makes you want to serve men, I want to say that Christ has broken that, but the results of that curse, will be with us for eternity, not for eternity, excuse me, while we're still here on earth, do you see that, that God said, within you, I'm going to put you a desire, to have men rule over you, and it says that, and your husband will rule over you, I want to say that God doesn't desire, his plan is not for anyone, to rule over anybody, except for his rule, and he doesn't even want to have to rule over you, that's why he gave you a choice, in the garden, to walk away from him, he would have created automatons, he would have created robots, what God wants, is a relationship over rule, he doesn't want to make you, do things, he wants you to do things, out of relationship, and in regard to, women submitting to their husbands, as Christ, as people, as you would submit to the Lord, let me just say one thing, about the model of Jesus, I never see Jesus once, making anyone ever submit, if that's the model, I never see him, there will be a time, where every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess, that Jesus is Lord, and people will be forced to submit, but God doesn't want rule, and in marriage, he doesn't want rule, and I will say, that after the cross, that all of a sudden, that was broken, you begin to see Paul, and Jesus, begin to open the way for women, back to what their position, was supposed to be, and what they had, he begins to speak to women, the women at the well, she says, why are you talking to me, Jesus begins to, you know, the woman touched him, he begins to allow, all these things that didn't happen, he begins to unravel the curse, there will be no more curse, there will be no more rule, there will be no more marriage, in heaven, but we will be in a relationship, with God, and we see that, and so one of the things, that we are thinking about, on a regular basis, is what is this relationship, between man and woman, and I believe that a man, is not meant to rule over a woman, and I have often heard this preached, and I think it is fiercely wrong, and that might be a wrong way, to use that adjective, nonetheless, that you say, you know, if Adam would have been, leading in the garden, like his job was, then women, then the woman, wouldn't have been speaking, to the serpent, and we wouldn't have had this mess, but he didn't step up, and be a man, absolutely wrong, they had a co-partnership, that was happening, she had the right, in a leadership role, they were complete, equal partners, there was no rule over them, she had a right to speak, she had a right to lead, she should have been leading, and he was either there, or came up afterwards, but she failed in her leadership, and that's why the curse, and it's not meant to be that way, I want to say, I want to do everything possible, to continue to unwind the curse, and I can talk more about that, but what about what Paul has to say about it, we can go deeper, I'm running out of time, I can't, but I want to say, that the church's responsibility, is like Jesus, and Paul himself, began to have ministry with women, over and over again, you will see in Acts, I highlighted that multiple times, the point, is to free women, and to allow them, to get out from under this curse, but here's the problem, I think the nature, is going to continue to be within women, and the desire to be ruled over by men, and this is what the feminist movement, has the biggest problem with, they don't know it, but there is a desire, that has been placed, because of the fall, within women, to be ruled over by men, and then man will take advantage of that, and rule over women, I want to say as a church, I want to start continuing, to move towards the bookends, and the bookends have women, have the ability, to make a difference, I don't want my wife, to submit to me, I don't think my wife, has ever had to submit to me, we've just worked on making things, in agreement, in relationship, I don't want her, to have to submit to me, I don't want a relationship, of submit, of submittance, is that a word, submission, there you go, thank you Carol, I just don't, I don't want that relationship, and neither does God, God doesn't make you submit, and when it says, women submit to your husbands, it's an act, submission, it can never be, let me use the word again, foisted upon you, you have to choose to submit, submission is, is a decision of the heart, you can force people, to do things, you can never force anybody, to submit, you can see these, in different movies, of people that, you know, they get tortured, but they will never submit, to the day they go down, you know, one time, and so I want to say, that I see, an undoing of the curse, we can talk more about that, but it's one of the reasons, we have women, in eldership roles, at this church, because I'm trying to live, to the bookends, and unravel the curse, I hope that made sense, and I'm sure all my, reformed friends, will be emailing me, tomorrow, number four, and we're almost done, it's about covenant, over consent, today, I'll just quickly say, this one today, is about consent, as long as two people agree, doesn't hurt you, go ahead and do it, we believe in covenant, and that there is a literal, signing of a covenant, the scripture teaches that, when you have physical intimacy, with people, sexual intimacy, it signs a covenant, it bonds souls together, it does invisible things, that you can't see, invisible things, soul ties, all these different things, that happen, it is a literal, physical, emotional, and spiritual signing, of a covenant, it's meant to express, represent the eternal covenant, of life, that we are to experience, with God, that's what it expresses, what is the storytelling, and let me ask you this, what is your sexual story, telling, at the moment, what has it told, and what do you want it to tell, how do you want to use, this beautiful narrative, that God has written, into your DNA, and into your personhood, to express who you are, it's not about makeup, it's not about if someone, wears a dress or not, they're wearing dresses, I mean the fashion changes, man the 17th century, century you know, the French Revolution, all the men were wearing, you know makeup, it's not about that, it's about something, God is saying, the final thing, and we're done, it's about much more, than attraction, have you ever noticed, that it never mentions, Adam's attraction to Eve, it was never about attraction, attraction is just, the icing on the cake, you know we live in a society, that makes attraction, 90, everything, it's all about attraction, what you look like, what you, how you are, how much belly fat you have, I mean the whole thing, is about attraction, attraction, it is so dehumanizing, I mean not that God, didn't make attraction, but do you notice, it's not in, the original narrative, it's all about, individual people, coming together, for a purpose, to glorify God, to put, to subdue creation, for God's glory, and to love, one another, I'm going to say, there's an idea, and this is, I got to finish, people wonder, well how can a man, identify with a woman, and how can a woman, identify with a man, I got to say, woman, the scripture says, was created out of man, man will be able, to understand, almost everything, in some, at least small amount, because woman, they were created, out of this, out of the earth, and then she was created, out of him, it makes sense, that there is a unity, of understanding, it makes sense, why there are some women, who understand, and they feel, probably more connected, to feeling masculine, because it is in their DNA, they are of the same makeup, they're not two individual creatures, there is this, there is this unity, that is happening, within that, then it goes on, to say that when he makes woman, he makes her to be a helper, and people look at that, and they're like, really, hell, I just get to be a little helper, or am I, a little maid servant, get to run around, just clean your shoes up, and let me just use, another example, of helper, in the scripture, you know who it was, Holy Spirit, okay, I don't think he's too concerned, being considered a helper, matter of fact, part of the Godhead, is called a helper, there is a helper, that is part of the deity, you know what's so interesting, is when Jesus says, I'm gonna leave, and I'm gonna send you what, no he doesn't say that, he says I'm gonna send you what, there's a word before helper, what, another helper, another, so there was one before, who was the one before, who was the first model, what was Jesus, was a helper, but a woman, was a helper too, and I think that he's saying, and I think you can easily, look into that scripture, and putting women, on the same ability, with the same role, as the Holy Spirit has, because she was called, the first helper, or you can at least say, when the Holy Spirit comes, he is coming from, a lineage of helpers, and that first helper, being woman, and God forbid, we say that the Holy Spirit, is just a maidservant to man, but women have that, same beautiful helper, they have an intuition, I want to say that, women have an emotional IQ, that most men do not, I will stand, you can shoot me, you can kill me, you can take my house, not changing my mind, that women, and there are men, because we're created, of the same essence, men who have more of that, than some women, and there are, the differentiations, but in the midst of it, if I were to look at it all, I would say, that women for the most part, have an intuition, they have an understanding, of something, and because of that, they can be a counselor, who else is a helper, who is called, a counselor, the Holy Spirit, it seems to me, that the woman, was modeled, after a part of the Trinity, just like man, seems to be modeled, after a part of the Trinity, and it seems not completely, that woman is modeled, he is expressing, the Holy Spirit, in women, just me, oh that'll blow you away, won't it, I just made that up, when I was standing here, that's pretty good, I think it's true, my only point, is to say this, women aren't just, a helper to dudes, women are of the highest, expression of God's, worth and goodness, and value, human sexuality, is meant to say something, it's meant to say, this is what God looks like, this is what God looks like, I don't think it looks like, some person stashed away, in their house, with a collection, of porn magazines, I don't think it looks like, 58 multiple partners, I don't think it looks, non-gender diverse, I think it's, I don't think it looks like, a woman completely, going and doing, whatever a man says, I think that's just ugly, I think it's ugly, I think it's beautiful, and I think it expresses something, and I think we as a church, need to be able to build a bridge, that Jesus paid for, and be able to say it to the world, in a way that makes sense, and once again, I'm speaking to Christians today, I'm not speaking the same way, I would speak, if I was out on the street, speaking to somebody, I would speak very differently, but this, you came to church, to hear the Bible, amen, amen, we've gone too long, stand up if you would, I'm going to bless you, Lord Jesus, God we want to bless, this group today, we want to bless everything, that you're doing, in our hearts, and in our minds, let our sexuality, express who you are, for those that have had brokenness, I pray for healing, for those that have had woundedness, for those that have broken others, I pray for forgiveness, repentance, to change, pray for the downcast, those that didn't hear, about themselves today, that you come in, and comfort them, bless you Jesus, we bless this kind, we want to be, to tell a good story, of who you are, and a story of blessing, in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, amen.