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Good evening from Plano Tx! Hello everyone watching and listening online. Hello to all you beautiful people in the room. Welcome to Redemption Church. My name is Chris Fluitt. I am the Lead Pastor here at Redemption and I am here to share the Word of God with you today. Is anyone ready to receive the Word of God today?
We are kicking off a brand new series today and I believe it is going to be a help to each and every one of you.
Greater Than
No one searches for lesser things… We search for greater.
Our world has a hierarchy, a system of organizing and assigning value. We assign value and rank everything.
We look at people’s cars and rank them… Is mine greater than theirs? It is silly but we do it…
We compare people’s phones and rank them… is their’s greater than mine?
We assign rank to jobs, houses… and even spouses… This “Greater Game” is dangerously played out in our culture.
And essential to the ranking are three categories…
Sex Money Power
Everyone in this ranking system is judged by these categories. These categories almost act like currency within our world.
People can use their sex, money, & power to accumulate more gain.
People use their sex, money, & power to manipulate others.
People use their sex, money, & power to win the attention of others.
Think about advertisements that are trying to convince you to buy their product.
Do any ads use sex?
Do any ads use money as an attractant? Successful people drive this car…
What about power? Do any ads promise you power? Big shirtless muscular man walks out of the ocean… and you can smell like this man… buy “The Beach” cologne today.
Our society places sex, money, & power at the top of the hierarchy. We may not admit it with our words… but our actions and our focus reveal that our world believes nothing is greater than Sex, Money, & Power.
No one ever searches for the lesser things… We are programed to search for greater.
Today we are going to talk about sex.
Sex
Try to think of an actor or actress that is not sexy… You have to dip into the segment of actors who are supporting character actors to come up with someone who is not drop dead gorgeous.
steve buscemi
Sorry to break it to you, but the Steve Buscemi featured romantic comedy is delayed again…
Sex
Sex is everywhere.
It’s
in the news. It used to be that news was very careful about covering
things of a sexual nature… now it is ratings heaven. Just this
week major headlines ran about sexting pics revealing the private
parts of a billionaire..
It’s on our screens. Movie
screens, computer screens, tv screens, phone screens…
It’s in our music and arts..
Some of you in this room right now are suffering from the feeling that you do not measure up to the sexiness of others… You feel lesser than.. You think they are greater than you. You feel like you are less valuable because of the hierarchy of sex, money, and power.
Today I want to tell you that there is something greater than sex. I want you to go after the greater thing today.
Love is greater than sex
It is time to break this manipulative heirachy by declaring it LESS THAN and pursuing something greater. Love is greater!
Now, right here at this moment, is where most Christians go the wrong direction in the conversation. Instead of showing how love is greater we spend all our time showing how sex is bad. The Church can be a place that preaches that sex is bad and something to never enjoy… For a moment let me tell you…
Sex is not bad
God created sex. Sex is a God thing that he gave us to enjoy. It is supposed to be enjoyed.
There are no baby boys and girls outside of sexual reproduction. It produces life.
It is meant to be an expression of love and the sign of a fulfilled love covenant.
Sex is not bad. Sex is good, but Sex is not greater than love.
Love is greater than sex
Sex is limited to physical. Love has no physical limitation. Love is physical, spiritual, and emotional.
Sex is limited to location. Love has no such limit. You can love someone no matter where they are located.
Sex is conditional. Sex only happens when those conditions are met. Yet there is a love that is unconditional… there is a love that is remains just as strong when you fall short of perfection.
Love is greater.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV2011) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
Now let’s re-read this scripture and replace the word love with sex and see if it feels true…
…No way is that true! Sex is not patient or kind… Sex envies and boasts and is proud… Sex is completely self seeking… Who can say that sex never fails?
No no no! We can only say this about love. Love is greater than sex.
1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV2011) And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Instead of sex, money, and power, your bible directs you to valuable hierarchy of faith, hope, and love.
The context of this verse is that these 3 things, faith, hope, and love are the only 3 things that will remain in the kingdom that is to come… these 3 things will continue from earth into heaven. Sex, money, and power will not cross that thresh-hold, but faith, hope, and love will! And the greatest of these is LOVE!
Sex can give you a 1 night stand, but you can love someone for all eternity.
Song of Solomon 8:6-7 (NIV2011) Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned.
This verse can be used to describe our love relationship with God. We should place our God, Jesus Christ, as a seal over our heart…
Because the love relationship with God is the perfect example of love… this verse can also be used as the perfect model for love relationships with others.
You need to SEAL YOUR HEART! You no longer let just anything or anyone have access to your heart… It is sealed – it is covenanted in love towards another.
And this love is STRONG! As strong as death… unyielding as the grave.
Burns like fire, yet unquenchable. Unconditional love that cannot be changed by the situation and cannot be swept away.
Love cannot be bought with money! If you tried to buy love with a great amount of wealth… the wealth would be scorned… despised and unappreciated… because LOVE IS GREATER!
Love is greater than sex
It is stronger. It is more faithful. It is more valuable. It is more dependable. Love is greater!There are many more verses I wish I could dive into, but I am hopeful that you understand and agree that Love is greater! So let’s move on to this important point.. Sex can exist outside of love.
Sex outside of love
Earlier I told you that sex was good… But now I tell you that sex is not good outside love.
We could expand this idea actually… Nothing is good outside of love.
Basketball Love
In basketball there is a hoop. Only shots that go through the hoop are good. Do you follow?
The Basketball can exist outside of the hoop, but it is only good when the basketball passes through the hoope..
Love is that basketball hoop. Only things that go through love are good.
If you toss up a shot but it does not go through love… it is no good. In basketball we call that a brick… it just clangs off the iron.
Sex outside of love
Sex outside of love is harmful.
1 night stands, adultery, cheating on your spouse, unwanted pregnancy, sexual addiction, sexually transmitted disease, pornography, abuse, rape, molestation, perversions like pedophilia, prostitution, sex trafficking… these are all examples of sex outside of love.
Sex outside of love is not good!
Young people the world will tell you there is something wrong with you if you are still a virgin.
Young people the world will tell you that you need to become good at sex by having as many partners as possible.
Young people the world will tell you that if they really love you they will have sex with you… if they won’t have sex with you they must not really love you.
Young people the world will confuse you, but I am telling you the truth!!! DO NOT HAVE SEX OUTSIDE OF LOVE.
But what is love?
Love =
You see the world is confused on sex… and they are confused on love.
The world will tell you that love = sex
Love = Sex
But this is not true. We have already told you that Love is greater than sex… We have told you that sex can be experienced outside of love and it is harmful.
The world will also tell you that Love = Love
Love = Love
I remember in 1st grade I was asked to use a word in a sentence… Let’s say the word was “excited.” So I had the brilliant idea of writing “What does excited mean?” I did use the word in a sentence but I did not prove to the teacher that I had an understanding of the word…
People who say Love = Love are not showing that they understand the meaning of the Word love.
Love = Love means that I can do whatever I want and call it love. ..And you can’t argue with me about it or you are being hateful…
Some relationships are not love. Some actions are not love.
Love =
Christians above everyone should be able to tell me what Love equals. Tell me Redemption Church.
God = Love
Your Bible gives us this revelation.
1 John 4:7-8 (NIV2011) Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
No wonder love is greater… God is Love! God is greater!
Follow this logic with me… If God doesn’t want you to do something, then that thing is not of God… If that thing is not of God… then that thing is not love.
God says DO NOT STEAL. Stealing is not of God. Therefore stealing is not a loving act.
God says DO NOT MURDER. Murder is not of God. Therefore murder is not a loving act.
God says DO NOT FORNICATE OR COMMIT ADULTERY…
God says HE HATES DIVORCE…
If you don’t know God… you don’t know what love is… If you don’t know what God has said in His Word don’t take for granted that you understand what love is.
Do not look to the world to define love… Look to God.
Jesus on the cross is the picture true defining picture of God’s love.
1 John 4:10 (NIV2011) This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Jesus on the cross is the picture true defining picture of God’s love.
John 15:13 (NIV2011) Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Jesus on the cross is the picture true defining picture of God’s love.
Luke 23:34 (NIV2011) Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
Jesus on the cross is the picture true defining picture of God’s love.
John 3:16 (NIV2011) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Jesus on the cross is the picture true defining picture of God’s love.
musician
Sex focuses on the LONGING.
Love focuses on the BELONGING
Song of Solomon 6:3 (NIV2011) I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine…
In love there is not just longing but a belonging. In love you belong to another and they belong to you.
God loves you. Do you love God?
If you will come into a loving relationship with God today YOU WILL BELONG TO GOD… and GOD WILL BELONG TO YOU?
If you have felt like you don’t belong… you need the love of God.
If you have felt like a loser who lacks worth and value… you need the love of God.
If you have felt like you do not measure up to the sex, money, and power hierarchy… you need to run to front of this church today and run right into the love of God.
His love is Greater! God’s every thought towards you is love.