Pride | How To Connect

Scott McFarland
06/16/24 - Sun AM Worship

PRIDE

How to Connect

Last week, we opened our two-part mini-series on PRIDE month by discussing what to say and what not to say.  This week, I want to continue the discussion by digging into a story from the book of Acts and watching how Paul engaged a secular culture and steered the conversation toward faith.  I’m hopeful that, in doing so, we can do the same.

Most of us are probably used to avoiding conversations about sexuality with people, particularly when it comes to moral conversations about homosexuality with people outside of Christianity.  In some ways, I understand the reasoning—we don’t want to offend, don’t want to cause distance, or in general we are uncomfortable with it.  In other ways, I’m not so sure it’s always a good thing to avoid, particularly with people outside of faith.  After all, we looked at I Peter 3:15 last week which encourages us to always have an answer for the hope in us, so wouldn’t this also apply to our understanding of Biblical sexuality as well?

Being able to have a conversation about sexual morals and go further than simply, “God doesn’t approve of homosexuality” is important.  While that statement is technically true, to someone who doesn’t have a very high respect for God or the Bible, it doesn’t really matter.  What we need to also be able to convey is the “Why?”  Why does God not approve of homosexuality?  Under what reasoning does the Bible speak against it?  Today, I’d like us to look at this style of reasoning in a story from Acts 17, in Paul’s Sermon on Mars Hill.

Scott McFarland