The Saints Overcome with Pastor Joshua
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The Saints Overcome with Pastor Joshua
Sodom & Gomorrah Final Episode
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This is the final episode of this series. Pastor Joshua teaches on the devastating consequences of sexual sin.
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Live from the Saints Headquarters in Tolleson, arizona, spreading the Gospel, equipping the Saints, standing for the word of truth, proclaiming God's grace. Now, on a podcast near you, welcome your host, pastor Joshua, on the Saints Will Overcome Ministries.
Speaker 2:Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Pastor Joshua is back. We've been manning the battle stations, firing in all cylinders, fighting the enemy on his own territory. We got the throttle fully engaged, the pedal to the theological metal. Ladies and gentlemen, we left off last time talking about Sodom and Gomorrah. There's a lot going on, been evangelizing all over the place, preaching the gospel, reaching humanity, diving to the depths to try to fight the enemy on a daily basis. God is good, he's too good, his word is sweet, it nourishes us. Ladies and gentlemen, can I get an amen? Okay, ladies and gentlemen, now continue on.
Speaker 2:We were talking about Sodom and Gomorrah last time, how the enemies came in and try to thwart God's design, thwart his plan between the sexes, male and female, and I was putting on this so-called pastor to try to break it down and see exactly where we're at and what God's word says. So I would like to continue on. I would like to play a little bit more of the audio on this, because we're just wrapping up Sodom and Gomorrah and I kind of jumped ahead a few chapters, skipping over Abraham and Sarah. But we'll backtrack and reverse in due time because right now we're just talking about Sodom and Gomorrah, the sexual design. So, ladies and gentlemen, as we continue, are you ready?
Speaker 3:Being gay and being Christian, and so now I had the harder work of working it out in community. So I showed up at Princeton Theological Seminary and the first thing I did is I went to a lecture on homosexuality in the Old Testament. This is a lecture that happens every year at Princeton and it's done. It's given by the Old Testament Department and Dr Olson, the most grandfatherly professor ever. He gets up in front of this group of bright-eyed first-year seminarians and he says when we talk about lgbtq people in the church, we have to talk about genesis. And I was like I have no idea where this is going. And he said in genesis, when god creates the first human, he looks at his creation and he says it is not good for you to be alone. I will create for you a partner and a helpmate. And so God did.
Speaker 3:And Dr Olson said that when we talk about LGBTQ people in the church, we must make sure that we are not holding back a blessing of God from people who are gay and lesbian. Partnership is absolutely central to being human and it is one of the first of many gifts that God gives to humanity. He then went on to talk about marriage and he said marriage is a gift that God gives to humanity, but God gives it to all people, not just a certain sect or a certain religion. It is a gift for all, and so the church must make sure that we are not getting between gifts that God is giving to the people. The church should not be someone who denies a blessing to anyone. So I was totally blown away because I had never heard anyone talk about being in a same-gender relationship, being in a same-sex relationship in a way that was supported and encouraged by Scripture, and it changed me. I'm not the only one that it changed.
Speaker 3:Every year at Princeton Theological Seminary there's a group called Bi, gay, lesbian and Straight Supporters, bglas, and we take a photo every year. This is one of the photos. It's a photo of students who have been given a t-shirt that they wear throughout the year and all over, and it's a sign of being an ally To the LGBTQ community. The photograph Is a witness to the world that it is a lie that God does not love LGBTQ people, and every year that photo grows. There are students and staff and professors and it expands, and by the time I graduated, we had spilled off the chapel steps and we were filling up into the quad and it was a celebration every year. And then people take those t-shirts and they wear them around. They wear them where they're doing their internships at different churches, they wear them when they work with youth groups. Later on, when they become pastors, people take those shirts and they take that blessing with them.
Speaker 3:A shift was occurring while I was there, and it wasn't just happening at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Speaker 3:It was also happening in three major denominations the Presbyterian USA, in which I am ordained, the United Church of Christ and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.
Speaker 3:By the time I graduated and was ordained as a Presbyterian pastor, these three denominations were performing same-gender marriages, same-sex marriages with the full blessing of the church, and they were ordaining openly LGBTQ people as pastors, and that was a shift that had been years in the making. But you might be thinking well, maybe that's a shift that just happens with some Christians and that's actually not true. So this is support for same-sex marriage across a variety of different denominations. The denominations are broken down into families, so I belong to a tradition that is considered a white mainline Protestant tradition, and as you look, you can see that between 2001 and 2014, there has been massive rates of increase in support for same-sex marriage 2014,. There has been massive rates of increase in support for same-sex marriage. Now what you might notice is the group that's the least supportive white evangelical Protestants. I would like to point out that the black church is more supportive than white evangelical Protestants, and so the myth that the black church is homophobic. We need to question ourselves on where we get that narrative.
Speaker 2:Ladies and gentlemen, here on the Saints, overcome with Pastor Joshua. We tell the truth. That so-called pastor's name is David Norse and that was at a TED Talk and that does show you the corruption that has seeped into the churches. The enemy has came in. He's pillaging, he's destroying. If he can mar the line between the sexes and he can corrupt God's design, there's nothing he can't do Now. Does God love LGBT, ladies and gentlemen? Yes, does he love people? Yes, we have to understand as Christians that it's not our way. There's no turning in shadow when it comes to God. We cannot corrupt his holiness, and God uses pronouns in the Bible like he and she for specific reasons, to delineate male and female for his choosing and why he does it. God is transcendent and I would like to pick up at Genesis 19, sodom and Gomorrah destroyed. And I understand what this so-called pastor tried to do when he twisted the words. And he's not a pastor and he's not a Christian. I know he wants to tell himself that. I know he wants to convince himself that, that I know he wants to convince himself that. And we'll say a prayer for homosexuals at the end of this podcast. We'll pray for the people that are committing adultery for people that are committing fornication. It's not just about homosexuality beloved, it's about sexuality in general, and we will have our podcast series on fornication and adultery and lust and juxtapose that to homosexuality and truly open people's eyes in the church on this podcast reaching thousands, reaching millions across the seas, internationally, nationally, because here we tell the truth. So let's start at chapter 19,. Shall we, and ladies and gentlemen, send this podcast to somebody if they're struggling, if they're not struggling, if they're in sin, if they don't have this particular sin, because we need to reach out and we need to do God's work in his kingdom. We're going to be around for a long time. We're not going away. The show is getting better and better. Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready? Okay, here we go, ladies and gentlemen. Okay, here we go.
Speaker 2:Ladies and gentlemen, the two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. Now, ladies and gentlemen, usually when somebody sits at a gateway in the city, that's where they hold court, they have discussions, they judge on certain matters. So apparently, lot is of some importance and he's made himself well known in this city. And when they set up the gates of the city. It just usually was not just a gate like we think of a gate. They were living quarters there and there were places to relax, sit down, and that's where you came to commune when it came to issues within the city. So let's continue on. They were at the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. My lords, he said, please turn aside to your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning. No, they answered. We will spend the night in the square Remembrance two angels. But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate Before they had gone to bed.
Speaker 2:All the men partners, the depravity of a town and the fact that they were all in the same boat. Not just that, but the violation and wanting to rape two angels. Lot should not have been in that city in the first place. It was rifled with sin, debauchery, licentiousness. Let's continue on to verse 6. Lot went out to meet them and shut the door behind him and he said no, my friends, don't do this wicked thing. Now. The Bible shows all the wrinkles and warts and the tragedies and the disgust that people do, and we have to catch that and read in between the lines, as Lot has done here. Lot does one of the most wickedest things that I can even see, in Scripture too.
Speaker 2:So the angels came to talk to Lot, probably on Abram's behalf. The town stormed the door, wanting to rape the men. And this is Lot's response Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you. You can do what you like with them. Lot is saying I have two daughters. You can go ahead and rape them, gang rape them if you want, kill them, do whatever you want. They mean nothing to me. Ladies and gentlemen, I don't have an ounce of respect for Lot. I really don't. I mean this is grotesque, it's terrible, it's horrible. And I really do wonder how many people read this narrative and understand and see what's going on, because I don't really have any more respect for Lot than the people storming the door. The people want to practice fornication, homosexuality and rape two angels. And Lot gets up on his high horse and says take my daughters and rape them and do what you want. Terrible, terrible, terrible thing that man did. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.
Speaker 2:Verse nine, verse 9. Break down the door. But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. The men were angels. Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness, so they could not find the door. The two men said to Lot do you have anyone else here, son-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.
Speaker 2:So the angels went there because God was extending his grace to Lot and his family. God was extending his grace to Lot and his family and even in Lot's evil act in wanting to throw his daughters out to be raped, destroyed, maimed, killed, god still saw it in his grace to redeem Lot and his family under his protection. So Lot went out and spoke to his son-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said hurry and get out of this place because the lord is about to destroy the city. But his son-in-law thought he was joking. With the coming of dawn, the angels urged lot, saying a hurry, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away.
Speaker 2:When the city is and that's what it all comes down to, the Lord's mercy and I'm sure Sodom and Gomorrah had many chances to repent and they chose not to. The sin got so bad, so magnified in that city beloved, that God had no other choice to rain down fire and brimstone. Other choice to rain down fire and brimstone. And even to this day, where the cities have been archaeologically dug up, you can find sulfur balls embedded in the earth, so much so as you can take a match or a lighter and light them on fire, proving the evidence and the existence of this narrative, this historical place in history and its time, confirming God's holy word, verse 17,.
Speaker 2:As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said flee for your lives, don't look back and don't stop anywhere in the plain, flee to the mountains or you will be swept away. But Lot said to them no, my lords, please. Your servant has found favor in your eyes and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. He's right. God showed Lot an immense amount of kindness, especially trying to give both of his daughters up. But God rescued even his daughters. But I can't flee to the mountains. This disaster will overtake me and I'll die. Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it. It is very small, isn't it? Then my life will be spared, he said to him Very well, I will grant this request too. I will not overthrow the town you speak of, but flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it. That is why the town is called Zor.
Speaker 2:By the time Lot reached Zor, the sun had risen over the land that the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all of those living in the cities and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot's wife looked back and she became a pillar of salt. They even have it to this day where, if you Google it, the image of her. They think that you could even see the preservation of her body when it was turned to salt To this day, thousands of years ago.
Speaker 2:Let's carry on to verse 27. Early the next morning, abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah, towards all the land and the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace. So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the city where Lot had lived. Ladies and gentlemen, that is what God believes, that is his truth, that is what he knows and that is what he thinks about homosexuality, about sin. When it comes to defiling the body and preceding that, abraham pleaded for Sodom in the chapter before that. So why don't we look at the end result, which we just did, and go back and read the plead of Abraham? This is verse 16,.
Speaker 2:Ladies and gentlemen, when the men got up to leave, they looked down towards Sodom and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. This is when the angels came down and Abraham met them and baked bread for them. Then the Lord said Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation and all the nations on the earth will be blessed through him. Powerful nation and all the nations on the earth will be blessed through him, for I have chosen him so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. So the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he had promised him.
Speaker 2:The Lord said the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is so bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know. So let's stop right there, ladies and gentlemen. An outcry. God wasn't just watching down and is omnipresent and omnipotent and saying I'm going to go down there and kill them because they're being homosexuals. Only no-transcript. Probably murder, macabre mayhem, destruction, destroying every sexual sin and abomination you could probably imagine were going on in Sodom and Gomorrah. And there was an outcry, probably of murder and everything in between.
Speaker 2:The men turned away and went towards Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham approached him and said Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city. Will you really sweep it all away and not spare the place for the sake of fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike? Far be it from you. Will not the judge of all the earth do right?
Speaker 2:Ladies and gentlemen, abraham is pleading, but at the same time, abraham doesn't have as much light as we do and he doesn't know the gospel in its full entirety, even though he is the patriarch. And he doesn't know the gospel in its full entirety, even though he is the patriarch. We're all wicked, we're all unsaved, we're all dead in our sins. We cannot have the ability to come to God unless he seeks us out and regenerates us. Total depravity has affected every part of our being, not in the fullness of its wickedness, but in the fullness of tainting every part of us mind, soul, will, thought, deed. The Lord said If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sakes. Then Abraham spoke up again. Now that I have been so bold to speak to the Lord, but I am nothing but dust and ashes. What if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty, will you destroy the whole city for a lack of five people? If I find forty-five there, he said, I will not destroy it Once again.
Speaker 4:he spoke to him. What, if only?
Speaker 2:forty are found there, he said, For the sake of forty, I will not do it. Once again he spoke to him to speak to the Lord. What if only 20 can be found there? He said, for the sake of 20, I will not destroy it.
Speaker 4:Then he said may the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only 10 can be found there? He answered for the sake of 10, I will not destroy it. When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left and Abraham returned home.
Speaker 2:Ladies and gentlemen, there wasn't even 10. There wasn't five, there wasn't even one. Even Lot demonstrated he wasn't righteous, willing to give his daughters up to the barbarians to be raped and murdered. An evil generation, an evil time, but God is a gracious God, full of compassion, mercy and love. I don't only see Lot in this story. I don't only see the men of Sodom and Gomorrah in this story. I see myself in this story, a resident of Sodom and Gomorrah before I was saved, exercising all evil, doing what was a violation unto the Lord lying, stealing, cheating, covetousness, adultery in my heart, because that is where I was at, ladies and gentlemen, before the Lord found me and regenerated me. It's never been about who is better than the other person. It's never been about do you sin more than another person. It has always been about how much do you love the Lord and are you truly regenerated.
Speaker 2:Ladies and gentlemen, we have to understand that when we talk about homosexuality, we're talking about sin. We're talking about fornication, we're talking about sin, adultery, sin, lust, sin. The Lord, it's his way. There's things which he will not tolerate, Because, once we're saved, the Spirit sanctifies us and leads us out of the darkness and into the light. Ladies and gentlemen beloved. I would like to say a prayer specifically for people caught up in sexual sin. Close your eyes and bow your head with me as we repeat this Father God, if anybody here is listening and caught up in sexual sin lust, licentiousness, debauchery, the depravity in the physical I pray that you release these chains, that you break the bondage, that you let them serve you, whether it's pornography, homosexuality, fornication, adultery. This society is training young men to be women, young women to be men and calling it right, just and holy, trying to replace you. But you and your word state that is an abomination to the Lord, that you hate it. I ask that, if the Lord is speaking to you in any sexual sin, that you cry out and say this prayer with me Lord, please forgive me for my sins.
Speaker 2:I accept the Messiah Yeshua. Jesus Christ, the Mashiach, the anointed one that was chosen, died on the cross. He's more powerful than any sexual sin, homosexuality, transgender, androgyny. He can break you free. Lord, come into my life. I accept you as my Lord and Savior. Lord, come into my life. I accept you as my Lord and Savior. Understand that I won't be fixed right away, but I will flower through this journey as I struggle like a parched flower in the desert waiting for the rain. I accept the gift, the sacrifice and the eternal life. Lord, help me now, here I stand. I cannot do it without you. Amen. Ladies and gentlemen, I love you beloved. It's great to be back. It's been a busy season. I'm going to sign off for the day. It's time to go to war and fight the enemy. I got the full armor of God on. God bless you all.