Category Archives: Relationships

Is Unconditional Acceptance Realistic?

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Generally, when people talk about love and marriage one of the deeper concepts they address is that of unconditional acceptance — that a husband or wife should accept one another regardless. Generally, this is seen as a deep kind of love, supposedly reflective of the love that God has for us.

But there is a deeper love that brings a greater level of satisfaction in marriage.

To discover this love, take a listen to this podcast on Finding Satisfaction in Marriage.

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What does the Bible say about sex outside of marriage?

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PRESENTED 9/30/2012

In my last pastorate, I was often a guest speaker in a sociology class at the University of Pittsburgh. The professor had me address specific ways our church worked to influence society. Naturally, I jumped at the chance.

One time, after class, a young woman came to me and said, “I stopped going to church because of something my pastor said to us.” I asked what the pastor had said. “He told my boyfriend and me that we should not be having sex — that the Bible said that it was sin to have sex outside of marriage. It doesn’t say that!”

Hmm…. Does it?

This podcast presents a biblical perspective on sex inside and outside of marriage.

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Drawing People toward Jesus by Imitating Him

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There is a thinking that supposes that if you want people to come to God, you have to make being Christian appear normal. And a lot of Christians have kind of plugged into that thinking — a thinking that wants to say to people: I’m a Christian and I am no different from you. You should be a Christian too. You might call that the normalcy technique of evangelism, where you make Christianity appear to agree with the societal norms.

That’s meaningless. It’s unbiblical. And it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because society is marked by the things we read about in Ephesians 5:5. Turn on the television and you will be reminded in HD that society is immoral, impure, greedy, idolatrous, deceived, filled with emptiness, and disobedient to God. But Ephesians 5:1ff teaches that, as Christians, we are different. We are to imitate God.

Some people will find that odd. Some people will be annoyed by it. But some people — people with hungry hearts — will find it intriguing. And in imitating God, you will lead them to discover God.

This podcasts suggests that when you live a life that imitates Jesus, hungry hearts are drawn to you — better, they are drawn to Jesus.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download