The Joshua Victor Theory

Sermon Outline: ·          Simple question: What is the state of marriage today? How would we answer? Divorce rates are very high (inside or outside the church), domestic abuse hotline at Women Helping Women fields an average of 60 calls a month on Maui alone. Same sex unions are already legal in Hawaii and several other states, with the promise of more to come, and the redefinition of marriage is aggressively underway. Same-sex advocates are vigorously promoting a change in public opinion and want the abandonment of the natural and Biblical definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. Of course, if you think that marriage is between a man and a woman, you’re now portrayed by the TV and media as a hateful bigot. Apparently one cannot have thinking, reasonable objections to redefining marriage to include same-sex unions, without being hateful and discriminatory. Or so we’re told. Increasingly, people just reject marriage altogether, fre...

Sermon Outline 1.       Paul addresses sexual immorality, which couldn’t be of greater significance for us today. Marriage being redefined, living together outside of marriage is all but accepted, teens experimenting, marriages in stormy waters, internet has opened a huge private arena for sin and temptation, removing many obstacles once curbing behavior. Which has been the greater influence on how people think of sexuality? Modern culture and the world influencing the church? Or the other way around—the church influencing the way society thinks? 2.       Like today, the church in Corinth had lost a clear testimony to God’s design for human sexuality. Slogans—traction on the street? In the church? Borrowed from Paul’s teaching on other subjects? “All things are lawful for me” (or “All things are in my power”) (“I do what I like”); but not everything is helpful, and what’s more—sin enslaves . Freedom>slavery 3.   ...