When God’s Patience Runs Out - B | Pathway To Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress

About this sermon

I’m probably the only preacher in the world who gets misty-eyed and sentimental when I read the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. However, 25 years ago, this story became the background of one of the largest milestones in my ministry. People ask me why I address controversial cultural issues like abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, and other hot-button cultural issues. For the first 15 years as a pastor, I rarely addressed those topics—I just preached through books of the Bible. But that all changed one week in May of 1998. I was preaching through the book of Genesis and had come to today’s passage. I carefully prepared the message and had it finished by Thursday. One of the applications I made in this passage was that God would judge any nation that condones what God has condemned. It is time for Christians and citizens to draw a line in the sand and say, “enough.” On Thursday, before I was to preach the message, a woman in our church brought me two children’s books from our public library, “Heather Has Two Mommies,” about a little girl adopted by two lesbians, and “Daddy’s Roommate” a story about a little boy whose father leaves the boy’s mother to live with another man named Frank. In this children’s book, the mother explains to her little boy that Daddy and Frank are gay and have a different kind of love. Then the little boy explains to the reader what Daddy and Frank do—they eat together, play together, and sleep together. And there is a picture of Daddy and Frank in bed together. I had these two books in my possession. Suddenly, I realized I could not preach this sermon Sunday about God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and not do something myself. So I called the librarian and asked her to remove the books, given that they had been purchased with tax money. She refused. So I took the books with me into the pulpit on Sunday, and after making the application, I said it was time to take a stand. I explained that tax dollars purchased these books. They promoted illegal behavior in Texas and violated the teaching of the three major world religions. Plus, it was responsible for the greatest epidemic in recent history, AIDS. I looked into the TV camera lens and addressed the city council. I told them I would save them trouble by not asking them to decide whether to remove the books. Instead, I was going to keep these books, and their decision would be whether or not to purchase new copies for the library. Well, that set off a firestorm I would have never expected. The next day, a local newspaper editorial said I needed to be put in jail. NBC, New York Times, Washington Post, and Rush Limbaugh, all carried stories about it. PBS did a documentary about the controversy that divided our town for nearly two years, everyday letters to the editor both for and against me and our church. Every left-wing organization in the country attacked us—ACLU, People for the American Way, and The American Library Association called me a Nazi. The Americans United for Separation and State threatened our church’s tax-exempt status. But our deacons and church members stood strong. It was quite an experience. Someone asked me recently if I would have done it again, knowing the controversy it caused. Yes, I would, but in preaching the passage we are going to look at today, I would have added something. Genesis 18-19 is one of the clearest expressions in the Bible of God’s attitude toward the perversion of homosexuality. But homosexuality is just a manifestation of even a deeper problem—a rebellion against God. And although God is patient, loving, and forgiving, there comes a time when God draws a line in the sand and says, “Enough.” An Opportunity to Pierce the Darkness With Pathway to Victory: https://ptv.org/DONATE Get access to FREE resources here: https://resources.ptv.org/youtube?utm_campaign=youtube_nna&utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtube&utm_content=description

Topics

• Patience
• Overcoming Obstacles