Can

Can
John’s gospel records this conversation between Jesus and Martha.
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;  and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
“Yes Lord” she told Him, “I believe you are the Christ the Son of God, who was to come into the world,” John 11:25,26,27.
The other day I was asked if I believe a gay man can get to heaven. I answered with the words of the American evangelist Toni Campolo who said,
“We ought to get out of the judging business. We should leave it up to God to determine who belongs in one arena or another when it comes to eternity. What we are obligated to do is to tell people about Jesus, and that's what I do.”Tony Campolo
Jesus speaking about himself said,
“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.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”. John 3:16-18.
The apostle Paul wrote,
“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.  Romans 10: 9,10.
The psalmist writes,
 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:13-16
Only God knows why we are the way we are. No one can truly tell what is in the heart and mind of another person. No one knows an individual as well as God does. Thus we have no right to Judge other people when it comes to where they will spend eternity.
Jesus told his disciple and through them us,
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”Matthew 28:18-20.
He did not tell those who believe in him to judge people with respect to where they will spend eternity. He told them to go out and show the world how they can spend eternity in heaven.
Please think about it.

Be wise

Be wise
The apostle Paul writes,
“Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.  
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” Colossians 4:5,6.
I was in a church not so long ago. It was during the gay pride parade in Toronto. When someone said. We need to pray for “those people”. “They” are in need of God’s salvation”.
What the implication was, was that gay people by simply by being gay were sinners. What a lot of hogwash.
The fact of the matter is 100% of heterosexual men and women are sinners as is everyone that has ever been born. The apostle Paul states,
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23.
That all means all. No matter who the person is, their lifestyle or for that matter what they believe. “All have sinned”. Even people sitting in that church with me that morning were sinners according to the apostle Paul.
The person who spoke those words would never win a member of the LGBTQ community to Christ. Quite the contrary they may have pushed the person away.
They obviously had not taken to hart the words of the apostle Paul to the Colossians
“Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.  
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” Colossians 4:5,6.
We must remember that Jesus told us,
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Matthew 7:1,2.
If you are speaking out and judging anyone especially in a negative way they will judge you also. Not only that but if they perceive your judgment to be in error they will not listen to you.
The bottom line is we should not be judging anyone. We especially should not be centering out anyone person or any group.
Billy Graham the American evangelist rightly said,

“It is the Holy Spirits Job to Convict, 

God's job to judge

 and my job to love,” 

                             Billy Graham

Jesus said,
"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 7:12.
Please think about it.