Introduction:
Living in the Wrath of God (Romans 1:18-32):
- God Abandons thsoe that Abandon Him. (Rom 1:18-23)
Judges 10:13-14 - Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.
Hosea 4:17 - Ephraim (Israel) is joined to idols; leave him alone.
They clearly know about God...
But they clearly don't want God.
3 Evidences that God Has Abandoned People:
- First the Heart goes: Sexual Immorality. (Rom 1:24-25)
- Then what is Natural goes: Dishonorable Passions. (Rom 1:26-27)
- Finally, the Mind goes: Debased Minds. (Rom 1:28-32)
- Mourn
- Discern
- Wake up
- Hope
- Worship
- Repent
- Believe
John 3:36 - Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:44-00:45
Let's bow our heads for a moment.
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I'm going to pray for you to have a heart open to receive the Word of God, and I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me to clearly and accurately and urgently proclaim God's Word to you.
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Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, we believe in the power of your Word.
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And I pray, Father, that there are no distractions in our hearts today.
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That we can worship you with our minds as we engage your word.
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Father, you would open our eyes.
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We thank you ahead of time for the way your word is going to be at work in the lives of your people.
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We pray in Jesus' name.
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And all of God's people said, amen.
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We're starting a series on the book of Micah.
01:43-01:46
So open your Bibles to the book of Romans.
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(congregation laughing)
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That series starts next week, actually.
01:53-01:55
This is an introduction to the whole series.
02:00-02:01
But we have to start here.
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Have you been following the Olympics?
02:05-02:06
You've been watching the Olympics?
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I read this week, this is so interesting.
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In the summer of 1924, remember that?
02:18-02:20
The Olympic games were in Paris.
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Eric Liddell was a Scottish sprinter and a devout Christian.
02:32-02:45
Well, he was supposed to compete on a Sunday, but he had this strong personal conviction about the Sabbath, and he wasn't going to race on the Sabbath.
02:48-02:58
So the organizers of the games allowed him to run in a different event, because they did not want to violate his Christian convictions.
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100 years later, the Paris Olympics kicked off with opening ceremonies that included a gross parody of the Last Supper with drag queens representing Jesus Christ and his disciples.
03:26-03:28
What happened in 100 years?
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How did we get here?
03:37-03:47
So much corruption, so much perversion, so much hatred and violence.
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And we live in a day where people are violently screaming for the right to murder infants before they're born.
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How did we get here?
04:05-04:12
Well, Christians who know their Bibles say, well, you know, God's wrath is coming.
04:14-04:15
And you're right, it is.
04:16-04:34
But many Christians don't realize this, that the Bible tells us that all this wickedness that we're seeing right now, all this stuff we're watching right now, means that God's wrath is already here.
04:42-04:51
We're starting a series in Micah, and Micah was preaching to a nation, Israel, that was facing the wrath of God.
04:53-05:02
And the message of Micah is the message that God wants his people sitting right here and listening to this here today.
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This is the message he wants you to hear.
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As a nation is facing the wrath of God, what do I do?
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What do I do when my nation is facing God's judgment?
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What does God call me to do while I watch His wrath come upon people who not only persist in unrighteousness, but they openly mock God while they do it.
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What am I supposed to do?
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That's the series coming up in Micah.
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But before we dive in to Micah, some of us need a reminder.
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And some of us need to be sold on this truth, that God's wrath is clearly and plainly and obviously here now.
06:10-06:29
And I have to start here because when we go into Micah talking about God's wrath, I know that there are going to be some people, if we didn't do this on-ramp, there's gonna be some people that are like, "Oh yeah, God's judgment's coming." Yeah, right, I know that's all happening at the end and it's coming later and I'll sort of tuck this information away for later.
06:29-06:31
No, no, no, it's here now.
06:34-06:35
We need reminded of that.
06:38-06:41
This isn't a series for the future, this is a series for right now.
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So in your outline, living in the wrath of God, one point today, and that's this.
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God abandons those that abandon Him.
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That's the point.
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Romans 1, God abandons those that abandon Him.
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Look at verse 18.
07:08-07:28
Paul says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven and unrighteousness of men." Stop there. Do you see the word "wrath"?
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Do you see that?
07:30-07:33
The wrath of God is manifested in many ways.
07:34-07:37
You know, you think of like the revelation events, right?
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The seals and the trumpets and the bowls.
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Yes, that is God's wrath.
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God's wrath is manifested as hell.
07:47-07:53
Eternal separation from God, cast out of his presence for eternity, yes.
07:53-07:59
But another way that the wrath of God is manifest is through abandonment.
08:02-08:03
What is abandonment?
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It's when God says, oh, you wanna sin.
08:09-08:11
You prefer sin over me, okay.
08:12-08:13
Have it.
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Have it, I'm done.
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Have your sin.
08:20-08:21
and see where that gets you.
08:25-08:42
When I think of the wrath of God as abandonment, I can't help but think back to when I was in high school, I was in this biology class, and this particular class somehow was made up of like the rowdiest students in school.
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And I know you're thinking, why was I in there?
08:48-08:51
Maybe in God's providence, just for a sermon illustration.
08:54-09:13
But this class was made up of like the rowdiest students in school and inexplicably, the teacher many times he would come in and he'd just be about to teach and he'd say, "I'll be right back." And he would leave the room and he'd be gone.
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It was a two period class because there was like instruction in Eris' lab, he'd be gone for both periods.
09:21-09:33
So let me ask you, when the teacher left the room, do you think this rowdy group of students got better or worse with him gone?
09:36-09:39
You're like, well, obviously better, Pastor Jeff.
09:39-09:41
Yeah, we were great.
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We were putting together Thomas Kinkade puzzles.
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And we had a hymn sing out of the tabernacle hymnal.
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Obviously not.
09:55-09:59
When he left the room, it turned into like the LA riots.
10:01-10:11
And my point is, when his presence was gone, we had zero restraints.
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So much less than when his presence was here.
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And you see, that's the truth of God, resulting a nation that God says, "Okay, you want to sin?
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I'm out." And like that biology class, things ain't getting better when God steps out of the room.
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God abandons those that abandon God.
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And you see this throughout Scripture.
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I could spend a long time giving you cross references, but just a couple here.
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Judges chapter 10, paraphrasing, you know, Israel sinned again and God was sending other nations to punish Israel for sinning and it happened again.
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And Judges 10, they're like, "Oh, we sinned against you, God." And God says, "I saved you from so many enemies." But verses 13 and 14, look at what God says.
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God says, "Yet you have forsaken me," abandoned me and served other gods.
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Therefore, I will save you no more.
11:12-11:14
Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen.
11:15-11:18
Let them save you in the time of your distress." You see that?
11:19-11:20
They abandoned God.
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God says, "I'm out." You see it, Hosea 417, Ephraim, it's another name for Israel, is joined to idols.
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God says, "Leave him alone." Let him go.
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And we're going to see here in Romans 1, this wrath of abandonment is exactly what the apostle Paul was talking about because a spoiler alert, three times in this passage, verse 24, verse 26, and verse 28, three times in this passage, he says, "God gave them up." He abandoned them.
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He gave them up.
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Interestingly, that phrase gave them up was actually a courtroom term.
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It was used to describe what happens to a prisoner that's being sent for his punishment.
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Like go, I'm giving you up, I'm releasing you for your punishment.
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That's the word used.
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The Bible says this happens all through history, Acts 14, 16, write that reference down.
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It says in past generations, He, God, allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.
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Nations have rejected what they knew about God and God abandoned them because of their rejection of God.
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Listen, that is 2024 America.
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Like, how in the world do people abandon God?
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How does that happen?
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How does that happen?
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Well, let's read the passage.
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It tells us exactly how it happens.
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He says, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
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For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.
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for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made.
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So they are without excuse.
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For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, But they had become futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
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Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, and birds, and animals, and creeping things." That's how people abandon God.
14:26-14:32
Let's just break it down into one very easy two-part statement, it's this.
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Here's what Paul's saying.
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They clearly knew about God and they clearly did not want God.
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Do you see that?
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Do you see that in the text?
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They knew about Him, but they didn't want Him.
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Let's break that down.
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They knew God, verse 21, they knew God.
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When it says they knew God, he's obviously not talking about a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
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He's obviously not talking about that.
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He's saying they knew that there is a God.
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Nobody, literally nobody needs sold on that fact.
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Everyone knows that there is a God, whether they want to admit it or not.
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Like, well, how?
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He tells us, verse 20, because of God's power and nature.
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God has revealed Himself in creation.
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Everybody knows that there's a God, because He's shown in creation.
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Every time a baby is born, every sunset, every trip to the ocean, every mountain, every one of His magnificent creatures.
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We can look around at creation and we see the fingerprint of God on everything.
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But you know, the Bible also tells us we know it inwardly.
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In fact, if you go over to Romans 2.15, Paul tells us that God's law is written on our hearts, that we inherently know right and wrong.
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And that also points us to the one who established what is morality.
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But is it really clear to people?
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How clear is it?
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Well, according to the Bible, verse 19, he says it's plain.
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Verse 19 says it has been shown.
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Verse 20 says it's been clearly perceived.
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Verse 20 says, "So much so that they are without excuse." So we have to be clear, the issue is not ignorance.
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It couldn't be more clear.
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Everyone knows that there is a God.
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Right?
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That was the first part of the statement.
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Everyone clearly knows there is a God, but he also says they clearly do not want God.
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Verse 18 says they suppress the truth.
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Do you understand what that means?
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It means they got the truth.
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They just suppress it.
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I can't help it.
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When I hear that word suppress, my mind only goes to one thing.
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I think of a gun suppressor.
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Do you know what a gun suppressor does?
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It quiets the noise.
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And that's what people do with the truth of God.
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He's speaking so loudly to them.
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And I gotta distract myself.
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I gotta quiet that down.
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He says in verse 21, they don't want to honor Him as God.
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That means they don't want to acknowledge His authority.
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And they don't wanna thank Him.
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That means to acknowledge His goodness.
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They just don't want 'em.
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They will not give thanks.
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They will not give thanks.
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You know, it's funny you talk to somebody that doesn't believe in God.
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Something they all have in common, they're not thankful.
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Like, what do I have to be thankful for?
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What has God ever done for me?
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Oh, really?
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What has God ever done for you?
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You know, these people eat.
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These people breathe.
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These people have the privilege of enjoying all the, quote, good things that life has to offer, and they have zero appreciation for the one who provided everything for them.
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Why?
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Why?
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Why is there no gratitude?
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Because I know that I should live a life of gratitude towards this God, but that means I have to acknowledge this God that I don't want interfering with the way that I want to live.
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You should have that verse underlined in your Bible because thankfulness to God and faith in God go hand in hand every time.
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You're like, oh, so these people don't worship then.
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Right, people that don't want God, they're just, they're not worshipers.
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And that's not true because everybody worships something.
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Everybody worships something.
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That's what he's talking about in verse 23.
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Everybody worships something.
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Do you know why?
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Because that's just how we're designed.
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As human beings, our creator God designed us for certain things.
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He designed us to eat.
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He designed us to sleep.
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He designed us to be able to speak and think.
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Do you know what else God designed us to do?
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Hardwired in us, we are designed to worship.
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Everybody worships something or someone.
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Something has your affection.
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Something has your attention.
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Something has your devotion.
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And that's why Paul says people abandon God and they worship anything else.
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He gives a list, you know, they worship man and birds and animals and creeping things.
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Bible says people worship money, people can worship power, people will turn to anything else, but you're gonna worship something.
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So the question is, okay, so what is God supposed to do when people abandon Him?
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What's He supposed to do?
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People are like, yes, God, I know You're there, I don't want You, I'm doing my own thing, and I'm worshiping something else, what's God to do?
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You're like, God's supposed to say, oh, bless your hearts.
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I've given you life.
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I sent my son to die a horrific death on your behalf and you turned your back on me.
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Well, just let me know how I can bless you.
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I await your orders.
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What's God supposed to do?
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Well, the Bible tells us exactly what God does.
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And as I told you, he says it three times in the passage.
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What does God do?
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When you clearly know God and you clearly don't want God, this is one of the scariest things in the whole Bible, people.
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The Bible says he gives you up.
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Go ahead.
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God says, "Go ahead, do it your way.
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"You think you don't need me?
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"Oh, you think you know better than me, okay, I'm out." And listen, he's not pouting.
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He's not some adolescent with a chip on his shoulder that's been rejected and is gonna get even.
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No, no, no, it's nothing like that.
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It's God giving you what you want.
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And that is a horrifying thought.
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So what happens?
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What happens when God abandons a nation?
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What happens when a nation knows God and they don't want God and they go their own way and they start worshiping other things?
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What happens?
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Well, that's the rest of the passage on your outline.
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I said there was one point.
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These are sub points.
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It doesn't count.
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Notice it's A, B, and C because points are numbers.
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(congregation laughing)
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I got you on a technicality.
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Three evidences that God has abandoned people.
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And this is a sequence.
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This is what happens.
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These are steps.
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This is a snowball rolling down the hill.
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This is sewage being flushed, is really what it is.
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it just gets worse and worse and worse.
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Three evidences that God has abandoned people.
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And by the way, it doesn't happen overnight in our culture.
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This has been happening for decades.
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How long have we been talking about, you know, them taking prayer out of schools?
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How long have we been talking about they took the 10 commandments out of the public square?
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This has been happening for a long time.
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So don't think that this is just a new thing.
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This is a sequence that you have watched play out in front of you.
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So what is the sequence?
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Three evidences that God has abandoned people.
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Letter A, first the heart goes.
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That results in sexual immorality.
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Look at verses 24 and 25.
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Hey, they knew God, they didn't want God, they started worshiping other stuff, they abandoned God, so what does God do?
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Verse 24, "Therefore God gave them up "in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, "to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, "because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie "and worshiped and served the creature "rather than the creator who was blessed forever, amen." So step one is first the heart goes.
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This is evidence that God has abandoned a nation.
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Lust dominates the heart.
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Hear me, I'm not talking about people that are like, I'm really struggling with lust.
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I'm really struggling with this and I'm seeking to get control in this area of my life.
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We're not talking about people that are like, you know, the Bible says God's Holy Spirit gives self-control and I'm really seeking the Lord to grow in this area.
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We're not talking about that.
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We're talking about unrestrained, let them off the leash.
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Lust in my heart turns into lust released in my body.
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Do I need to sell anybody on this really?
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Do I really need to convince anybody that our culture has turned into dogs chasing after dogs in heat.
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And I'm not being crass, people.
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Is that not how we're going?
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Not how we've gone.
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That somebody explained to me that there's an app for that.
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You know, there's an app for that.
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several apps actually, that you can use your phone and find people for a physical meeting.
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I'm not talking about dating or relationship apps, I'm talking just to meet up with somebody for that.
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We have turned into a pornographic culture.
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And do you know what happens in a pornographic culture?
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Marriages are destroyed, and women are abused, and children are trafficked.
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Like, why is this happening?
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Because God gave us up to unrestrained lust.
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God was saying, you want lust, you want to act like an animal, have at it.
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That's the first step.
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The second, the first to heart goes, that's sexual morality, letter B.
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Then what is natural goes.
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Then what is natural goes, that's dishonorable passions.
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Look at verses 26 and 27.
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It says, "For this reason, "God gave them up to dishonorable passions." Like, well, what is that?
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He explains in no uncertain terms what that means.
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Look at this.
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He says, "For their women exchange natural relations "for those that are contrary to nature.
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"And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women "and were consumed with passion for one another.
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"Men committing shameless acts with men "and receiving in themselves the due penalty "for their error." So, the next step, first the heart goes sexual immorality, then what is natural goes, it's dishonorable passions. The next step is perversion. The sexual sin goes from man and woman sexual sin to same sex sexual sin. And by the way, this is a shout out for all the people that say, "Well, you know, the New Testament never says that homosexuality is wrong." You know how many times I've heard that over the years? "Oh yeah, there's something mentioned in the Old Testament law, but you know, the New Testament never really says that homosexuality is wrong." And I would just ask you, what would God have to say to make it more clear than this?
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Three times, three times right here, God says, "That's not natural.
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"Do I have to sell you on why it's not natural?" There was a time in my ministry I didn't think I'd have to, but now I'm not so sure that people understand Biologically, what happens in normal relations?
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That's how far we've gone.
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He says they've received a due penalty.
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They're already reaping consequences.
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You think God's wrath is coming?
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It is, but it's already here.
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They're already getting the consequences.
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That's why he says due penalty, due penalty.
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Like what?
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VD.
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like being unfulfilled, being unsatisfied.
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Calling it gay is such a cruel, ironic term for it.
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But here we are as a culture, recently concluded Pride Month.
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And it's such an appropriate name for a culture that abandoned God and has been abandoned by God.
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They're patting themselves on the back.
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We are so proud of ourselves.
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And here again, he says, verse 26, God gave them up.
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Unrestrained homosexual lust.
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Have you noticed that in our culture at all?
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that God is saying, okay, you wanna be a pervert?
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Go ahead, I'm out.
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Finally, the mind goes, debased minds.
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Look at verse 28.
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It says, and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, There's the abandonment thing.
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Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God.
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Look at this, here it is one more time.
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God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
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Debased, you know what debased means?
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It literally means when you test something and you discover that it's useless.
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That's debased.
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And what he's saying here is when a culture abandons God, when a nation abandons God and God abandons the nation, the next step is people's minds become useless.
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There's nothing good that comes from their minds.
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And what do you call it when you lose your mind?
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What do you call that?
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It's called insanity.
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Right, I heard a few of you say that.
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It's called insanity.
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And we live in a culture of absolute insanity.
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You're like, "Well, what do you mean?
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"What do you mean we live in a culture of insanity?
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"What do you mean?" Well, let me ask you a question.
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How many genders are there?
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You know that's one of the first things kids learn, right?
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That's one of the first things children learn.
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There's boys and there's girls, right?
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Last number I heard was 72.
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It's probably double that by now.
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but I heard literally that there were 72 different genders.
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That's crazy.
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That's insane to say that there's 72 different genders.
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That's insane.
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It's insane to say there's three, but 72?
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Insane.
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That's a debased, useless mind, and what you're left with is insanity.
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You're like, do you have any other examples?
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Have you turned on the TV lately?
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Have you heard that there is a governor of a particular state that passed a law mandating that feminine hygiene products are put in girls' and boys' restrooms in the high schools?
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You're like some fringe wackadoo, right?
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No, potential vice president.
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Insane!
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You can't rationalize that.
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We have what are supposed to be some of the most powerful and influential people in this culture that can't define what a woman is.
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Do you know what that is?
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It is insane.
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It is just insane.
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And I'm not saying that jokingly.
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I'm saying that literally, that is insane.
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I was watching about a month or two ago.
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Did you ever see those reels?
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They show you those little 10 second clips.
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Did you ever see those things?
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I was watching some of those and this person was dead serious.
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I thought it was a joke, but I had to watch it like three or four times.
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They were dead serious.
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But this person, I'm not sure what the gender was, but that person explained, their little video was a tutorial on the proper pronouns if you identify as a frog.
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And they were serious.
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That's insane.
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And you're like, what?
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You know what, Pastor Jeff, you're right.
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Now that I think about it, Why does it seem like there's so many empty heads?
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Because God gave them over to a debased mind.
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You don't wanna use your mind to worship me and to know me?
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You wanna use your mind for being an idiot?
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Be an idiot, go ahead.
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Come up with your own devices and ideas, and that's what we've come up with.
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God gave them up.
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God says, "You want to be foolish, go for it." What is perverse is promoted. What is decent is denounced. All because God is a good God.
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Verse 28, "They did not see fit to acknowledge God." And he talked about cancel culture.
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What he's talking about here in Romans one is what happens when you get a cancel Jesus culture.
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And really it's an abandoned culture, is what it is.
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Do I have to sell you on this?
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Am I some tinfoil hat wearing weirdo?
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Or these things that God's word is describing here, is this what you're seeing when you turn on your television?
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You tell me.
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Is this what you see when you get on your favorite social media platform?
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You tell me.
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Look at the rest of the passage.
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Verse 29, it says, "They were," in case you're still not convinced, look at verse 29, "They were filled "with all manner of unrighteousness, "evil, covetousness, malice.
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"They were full of envy, murder, "strife, deceit, maliciousness.
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"They are gossips, slanderers, Haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
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Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die.
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Here it is, look at this last phrase, because this is when you know we have hit the bottom.
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Look at this.
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"They not only do them, "but give approval to those who practice them." This is the bottom of the barrel.
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Not only when society is doing these things, Paul's saying, you know, you've hit bottom when people start applauding these things as a culture.
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(congregation laughing)
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Like do we applaud sin?
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Do we applaud sin?
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Applaud is an understatement.
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We have parades for sin.
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We will change our Facebook profile to a rainbow picture to let people know that we're applauding sin.
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We have Disney and Sesame Street, two platforms that are supposed to reach preschool children that are promoting homosexual lifestyle.
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Some of the cultural icons with the biggest platforms use them to promote sin the loudest.
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Look at your athletes, look at your actors, look at your musicians.
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And you can see as a culture, we went from tolerance of sin to applauding sin, to I'm proud of you for applauding sin, to if you don't applaud sin, you're a racist homophobe.
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And God helped these churches that are flying their rainbow flags.
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Churches that should be praying for repentance, churches that should be seeking to point lost people to Jesus Christ for healing.
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And instead, we wave a flag for approval and applause.
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God help us.
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God gives them up to useless minds.
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You want foolishness.
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God says, you wanna be foolish?
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Okay, go for it, I'm out.
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So there it is.
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That's the description of what happens when people reject God.
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And then God returns the favor.
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He simply abandons them.
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And that is a most terrifying kind of wrath.
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And church, we are immersed in it right now.
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You saw these verses 29 through 31.
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He prophesied, Paul prophesied about things that we watch on the news right now.
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It's hateful, it's violent, it's ruthless.
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Look at those verses and turn on the news and watch people burning down businesses.
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Watch the riots, watch the mass shootings, watch the, I don't know, you can turn on the TV and watch a presidential candidate nearly get assassinated.
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That's where we are.
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That speaks to where we are as a culture.
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And the point is this, my friends, God's wrath isn't just something that's coming.
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He says it's here.
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So what do I do?
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Like, yeah, I see it.
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I see it, Jeff, what do I do?
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Well, the prophet Micah told Israel in the Old Testament what to do in light of God's wrath.
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And this is still the message for God's people in 2024 America.
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As God's judgment is revealed to us.
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So what are we supposed to do?
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Oh, it's gonna take seven weeks for me to tell you.
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And Taylor, we're not starting right now.
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But what are we to do?
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First of all, we are to mourn.
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That's next week's message, we're to mourn.
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When's the last time you've mourned over what's happening?
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Micah tells his people, God's word's telling us that we need to discern.
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You're like, we just had a series on that.
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Well, it comes up again, so guess what?
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We're covering it again.
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We need to discern because we can get so roped into the foolishness.
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What else do we need to do?
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Church, we need to wake up.
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That's what Micah told Israel, and that's what we need, church.
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We need to wake up.
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Wake up.
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Man, things are really bad.
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Yeah, you know what else we need to do?
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We need to hope.
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We need to hope.
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You know things will not always be as they are now.
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I have that on really good authority.
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We need to hope.
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Also in the meantime, we need to worship.
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I think everybody worships something, right?
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Yeah, we need to worship our risen king.
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In church, even for God's people, you know what we need to do?
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We need to repent.
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We're not some untouched hospital room in here.
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We need to repent.
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And finally, we need to believe.
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That's what God wants from us.
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That's really the only thing God's ever asked of people is that we trust what He says.
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We need to believe.
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We're going to close our time gathering around the Lord's table if our communion servers would come up and our worship team would come up.
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We're going to gather around the Lord's table.
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You know, as we're thinking of God's wrath, there's a verse that always comes to mind for me.
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I think we have it on the screen here.
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John 3.36.
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Look what Jesus said.
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"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
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"Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, "but the wrath of God remains on him." Just look at that verse for a second.
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We're talking about the wrath of God.
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Do you know what you have to do to receive the wrath of God?
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The answer's nothing, 'cause you got it by default.
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If you haven't received Jesus Christ, you're under God's wrath.
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But if you have turned from your sin and received Jesus Christ, this is why we gather around the Lord's table, we celebrate this glorious truth, because this reminds us that Jesus took God's wrath for you.
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And though we as believers are, yes, collateral damage, living in a nation under the wrath of God, the day is coming when we will be delivered from the worst of it.
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But you know, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, this world is the only taste of hell you will ever experience.
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But I gotta tell you, if you are not a believer in Christ, if you have not received him, then this world is the only taste of heaven that you're ever going to experience.
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This is for God's people.
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So I'm gonna invite you to stand.
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Our worship team's gonna play here in a moment.
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We're going to ask that if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you don't have to be a member of this church, but you do have to be a born again believer in Christ.
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We invite you to come down the center aisle, take the elements back to your seat by going to the outside aisle.
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I'm gonna ask that you hold onto them.
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And in just a moment, as a sign of unity as a church, When everybody has received, I will lead us in taking the Lord's Supper together.
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So please, when you're ready, come.
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The wrath of God is here.
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But the worst is coming.
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And thanks to Jesus Christ, we will be saved from the worst.
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Because on the cross, he took God's wrath upon himself.
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The Bible tells us on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it and he gave thanks.
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And he said, "This is my body, which is given for you.
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"Eat this in remembrance of me." The Bible tells us that after the meal, Jesus took the cup and he said, "This is the blood of the new covenant, "which is poured out for the forgiveness of sin.
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"Drink this in remembrance of me." Would you please stand as we close in worship?
Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 1:18-32
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
How is God’s abandoning people a manifestation of His judgment? What are the three things God “gives people up” to (Romans 1:24, 26, 28)?
How exactly is thankfulness connected to faith (Romans 1:21)?
What are some ways that you see debased (useless) minds in our culture today (see Romans 1:28)?
Breakout
Pray for one another.