This sermon was preached at North Presbyterian Church on January 8, 2012 at morning worship. It’s part of a series I preached on the topic of “Sex and Loving God.” During that worship service we read Matthew 2:1-12 ( because this was the Sunday nearest to Epiphany, the church holy day when we celebrate the visit of the Magi to Jesus) and 1 Corinthians 6:12-17. As you can see, I’ve linked those scripture citations, so that you can click on them to bring the text up on your screen.
Here is the link to the sermon: Sex and Loving God: Natures and Origins
Related Blog Posts:
Pastor Note #15–A Theology of Sex
Pastor Note #16–Sex with a Purpose
Pastor Note #17–Sexual Discipleship
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Published by gachorpenning
I am a husband, father, and grandfather. A small, town about fifteen miles west of Pittsburgh is home currently, though several other places have served that purpose before this. I maintain a YouTube channel of Bible teaching videos and a podcast of Bible teaching audio. I like to make things in my woodshop. I like taking photographs and use a lot of them in my blog posts. I go fishing in the local streams and lakes when I can. For thirty-nine years, I served as a pastor of churches in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York.
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Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 
I have found these first two sermons in your series “SEX AND LOVING GOD:” to be very helpful. It is my desire to hear exactly what God has to say on the matter that we have been faced to confront by the action taken by the PC(USA). Going to Scripture is the best way to do this. Our own opinions or perceptions are so inadequate. We have to look to our Omniscient Sovereign Lord and Creator for the answers that we must anchor ourselves to and defend. God makes His decrees, and His intentions for our well-being very clear to us through this tool literally in black and white. You are doing a great job in taking us to the passages we need to know. Our job as disciples is to be willing to sacrifice all that we have trusting Him in obedience to go and teach the truth to all people. As His church, His servants, and His children we have to be the ones who will face the darkness head on shining the light that will direct people to His Truth, His Way to eternal Life with Him. It is important for us to remember that it cannot and will not be within our power to do this. We have to be willing, courageous, patient with perseverance allowing Him to do this through us. We have to pray fervently for Him to empower us to be these vessels out of concern for all those He loves. First and foremost we have to seek Him. Then we trust and obey. Before we can be fruitful in any other way we have to align our hearts with His, accepting His call to obedience. Then in that we will know that He is with us and will set things right. We can go so far wrong when we think we can do it alone. We are so thick, and He in His Love, He is so patient. Let’s act more swiftly asking Him for vision and boldness. We cannot approve of what He has told us is wrong. If we did that we would be turning our backs to Him and going a way without Him. If we ask Him to go with us, He will be with us through the dark and challenging valleys. Let Him be clear about our faithfulness. We have to be committed to standing firm for all that He stands for and Is. I believe this is truly what our church family wants to do. We will be vulnerable to confusion though. Lord, keep or eyes and ears fixed on You only We have the love of Christ in us. We want to reflect that and we will. We will love all, the way He does. If we love them enough we will be courageous enough to not hide the Truth, but instead leading them to His road of redemption for their sake as is His will. We are all in this together. NPC has great teachers and can work together though patient, loving communication with each other. Our Mission Statement is clear and straight forward, because it is drawn directly from Scripture – God’s directions to us. We can not merely be guided by Scripture we have to be directed by Scripture. Follow Him.
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This particular sermon here brought to light how we must be like the magi in fervently seeking Him, Worshiping Him for the the most amazing gift that He is, and giving Him our best. The fragrance of the incense right away told me that we have to be a sweet, pure offering to Him. Then when I heard that the fragrance represented His presence with us, and the smoke represented our prayers being lifted to Him I was reminded how comforting it is to now that He is with us and He will remain with us. Lord, we acknowledge our need for you. We welcome you. Keep us Lord, in you.
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Think about this possible connection from Matthew 2:1-12 to the matter at hand. The wise men were told to take a path that led them by way of Herod after seeing Jesus. Herod’s aim was to do harm to Jesus. Was Herod’s plan a matter of wanting authority and to get rid of the one who he saw as a threat to his authority? The wise men, after seeing Jesus, knew better and took a different path to protect and preserve the Hope of Redemption. They worked in cooperation so that all that was prophesied would come to pass?
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