Andy Stanley Unpublished Sermon Addresses His Gay-Affirming Conference+ We Have The Audio
Update. Our first report on the conference is up here
Here is a partial excerpt from Andy Stanley’s sermon today addressing the controversy over his gay-affirming conference. It was not streamed or publicly shared, but we have access to it, and we’re posting it in full at the end.
Because we were present at the Embracing the Journey conference, we will be giving a full report starting on Monday, but we can reveal here that this sermon sits in stark and diametric contrast to what was said at the conference. Stanley is lying, and he is speaking out of both sides of his mouth, and we’re going to expose him.
He preaches:
What do we believe? What does our church believe? In churches our size you can find individuals who believe just about anything, everything, and nothing. The better question, perhaps is this question, what do we teach? What do we teach your children, your grandchildren? What do we teach about these issues? And it’s the same thing we have taught for 28 years, nothing has changed.
As it relates to sexuality, here’s what we teach. And hopefully you notice, I feel like if you’ve been coming for a while there, there should be no question about this, but I don’t mind just putting it out there. We teach what I refer to as a New Testament Sexual Ethic...so from middle school, to high school, to college, to singles to marrieds to single again, every age and stage of life this is when we teach, whether a student is straight or gay or questioning this is what we say: Hey, if you’re gonna follow Jesus while you’re figuring this out, if you’re going to follow Jesus as you struggle with your identity, or some of the things you’re feeling, if you’re going to follow Jesus, here’s what it looks like sexually to follow Jesus. And the reason your Heavenly Father’s called you to live this way, is because He loves you. Here it is. It’s just three statements.
They are:
Number one, Honor God was your body. Because the Holy Spirit lives in you and your body is how people know what you believe and where you stand and your behavior through your body is to exemplify the goodness of God and the grace of God and the love of God. So you always honor God with your body and you always honor other people’s bodies.
Number two, Don’t be mastered by anything, not by porn, not by sexual addiction. Don’t be mastered by another person. Don’t be mastered by your infatuation. Don’t be mastered by your lust. Don’t be mastered by anything. You have a master and he’s the king. And he loves you and he created you and he knows what’s best for you.
And number three, the old fashioned one, Don’t sexualize a relationship outside of marriage. “That is so old fashioned! No sex before we’re married? If you’re not married, I mean who even teaches that anymore?” Always have, always will….we’re not going to blink on this.
Here, he reiterates a utilitarian emphasis and framework for his beliefs:
And I’ve asked, you know, people in crowds this question, I’ve asked many people, dozens of people this question: hey, has sex outside of marriage made your life better or is it made it more complicated? Has sex outside of marriage made the person you had sex with, did it make their life better or did it make their life more complicated?
And honest people say “yeah, it’s creating some complications.” Well, then what do you expect your heavenly Father to say who loves you and loves the person whose life you may have a set back? What do you think their Heavenly Father’s gonna say about sexual activity when oftentimes our sex outside of marriage makes you a liar for life? Because you’re never going to tell the truth about your past. Because you’re too ashamed. What do you what did you expect?
He gets explicit here, but it’s not what it seems:
So this message is the same for everybody: sex is for married people. Regarding marriage, and this feels weird even say this, just make sure everybody knows where we are. We talk about marriage, or we talk about and teach about marriage the same way Jesus and the apostles did. Every instruction in the Bible regarding marriage references or assumes a husband and a wife, a man or a woman.
So biblical marriage, biblical marriage is between a man and a woman. We’ve never shied away from that we don’t change the words in order not to offend people.
He continues:
Now, here’s what may surprise all of us straight people. Gay attenders in our churches, they aren’t shocked that we talk that way. They aren’t shocked by that. They expect that. They grew up on that. They hoped for that. They pray for that. They pray that God would change them so they can experience that.
I sat in small groups of gay men, 35 an up to 65, and watched them weep because they don’t have a family. They couldn’t have a family. They prayed for that and God didn’t answer their prayer, and many are convinced that traditional marriage is not an option for them. So they commit to living chaste lives. And for many men and women who put their faith in Christ, they just decide, okay, I’m just going to buckle down, I’m just going to bear down, I’m just going to be by myself, I’m not going to have family, I’m going to be sexually pure. And many, many, many, many do that for long seasons of time. And some for some, it’s their whole life.
Then finally:
But for many, that is not sustainable. So they choose a same-sex marriage. Not because they’re convinced it’s biblical- they read the same Bible we do- they chose to marry for the same reason many of us do. Love, companionship, and family. And in the end, as was the case for all of us, this is the important thing I want you to hear me say; it’s their decision.
Our decision is to decide how we respond to their decision. Our decision as a group of local churches is how are we going to respond to their decision. And we decided 28 years ago, we draw circles we don’t draw lines, we draw big circles. If someone desires to follow Jesus, regardless of their starting point, regardless of their past, regardless of their current circumstances, our message has (been) “come and see and come sit with me.” And this is not new. This is who we are, as we’ve always been.
And this is why I love our church, and this is why I’m so extraordinarily proud of you. We aren’t condoning sin. We are restoring relationships. And we are literally saving lives.
As we said, get ready for our upcoming series on the conference.
For more on Stanley and North Point’s support for homosexuality, see here:
North Point Church Is Sending Children to All-LGBTQ Therapists: We Profile One of The Counselors
Celebrating Transgenderism?! North Point Church Staffers Rejoice After Man Comes Out as Woman
North Point Pastor Recommends Struggling Christians Attend ‘Queer Parent Summit’
Report: North Point Church Personnel Knew ‘Lap Dance Leader’ Was Gay-Affirming+ Andy Stanley Responds
Exclusive! Andy Stanley’s Children Ministry Overrun and Led by Pro-LBGTQ+ Activists
North Point Pastor Praises Gay Man’s Affirming Org. ‘Lord, Let Him Create More Allies for the LGBTQ Community’
North Point Church Baptizes Openly Transgender ‘Man’, After Giving Blessing to Transition?
North Point Church Staffers Found ‘Liking’ Pride Parade Celebration
Surprise Surprise, Another North Point Church Leader is Gay-Affirming and Wildly Liberal
Dr. Michael Brown Says He’s Spent 8 Years Exchanging Texts and Emails with Andy Stanley, Who Has REFUSED to Condemn Homosexuality
About Author
Wow- you are foaming at the mouth and delighting in publishing this so quickly you have missed SO MANY TYPOS (not to mention the actual point of Andy’s message today). Do better.
You continue to want to draw lines in the sand where Jesus drew circles. He said “Come to me ALL who are weary and I will give you rest.” -Matthew 11:28.
The conference had 3 goals:
1. Help parents love their children WELL.
2. Help parents point their children to Jesus.
3. Help parent discover what God wants to do in their own hearts.
Maybe if you redirected all the energy you put into vilifying Andy Stanley and put it into loving your community, you would actually find traction. I would much rather get to heaven and have God tell me I loved too many people rather than hate. I hope you find peace.
Honest question: If that dude that Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 5 would have just married his father’s wife, would Paul have “drawn a circle around him”?
Let me guess, Meredith, you agree with “unhitching from the Old Testament?” So what if there are typos. The heresy is there from Andy Stanley loud and clear. We are called to be discerning. We are NOT called to try to gloss over sin and what God’s Word specifically states is sin. And one final thing…..”God’s children are not for sale.”
Susan, so you’re sin free? I’m a bit tripped up on what makes you any better? I really don’t understand what you think Andy is glossing over. Jesus calls us ALL near. Every single one of us…. because we ALL are sinners. It’s such a basic thing to understand. And why should any person make another feel like they aren’t welcome to have a relationship with the Lord? Just stop pushing people away. That’s not your job, Susan. You’re the problem.
Susan can tell us what two commandments Jesus Christ, son of God, stated were above all else?
BTW – Andy never said to disregard the OT. Listen to the sermon to UNDERSTAND what he said and read the scripture in context to understand what Paul said.
This seems to be much double-talk. Trying to please the culture (much of which is depraved) as well as believers.
Won’t end well.
the first message Jesus taught after he was baptized? REPENT. you come to God as you are, you don’t stay the way you are. an unrepentant sinner will never see God.
Repent of what? Of a specific lifestyle or of marginalizing people for personal gain? What was the context and what was the situation that Jesus was speaking into? Who was Jesus speaking to?
Dear, Hap. If you don’t know what to repent of then I URGE you to find a Bible and actually read it. The world has lied to you. You have been deceived by the master deceiver with one of the oldest tricks in his arsenal. Stop listening to the world and read what God told you. “I would rather stand with God and be judged by the world than to stand with the world and be judged by God.” Hap, that day is coming. Your time to choose will soon be sealed and you won’t be able to turn from your hardheartness no matter how much you want to.
Correct. People always, always leave out the final thing Jesus told the one that had multiple husbands “go and sin no more.” We are not to sit in our sin. If so, why did Jesus’ suffer a horrible death, raised by the Father and ascension onto heaven? God could have just said “oh, not needed.” Then we would have been eternally separated from him as punishment for our sin against God. It is so sad how many “Christians” have been deceived the one of Satan’s oldest tricks. It was one he first used with Eve in the garden and man has been falling for it ever since.
sounds like andy is about ready to step out of his closet?….
I have to admit I’ve wondered the same thing. He fits a main characteristic: alientation from his father during his formative years. Notice how many men who were prominent the same time Charles Stanley was have sons in the same boat. Jonathan Merritt and Dallas Jenkins are just two to mention. I grew up in Atlanta and know the hypocrite Charles Stanley was to what you saw in the pulpit. John MacArthur made a great point in the past: the preacher’s kids that you hear who rebelled, got into trouble and even left the faith was often due to having the person speaking in the pulpit be a hypocrite at home (that is my paraphrase and not his actual words.)
You wouldn’t get this from any other guy…
I just wanna tell you how I’m feeling
The reason Rev. Stanley’s gay affirming theology is amenable, without much ripple, to his flock is because biblical repentance, (2 Cor 7:11,) has been craftily avoided by he and his teaching staff for years; in favor of a more culturally palatable pseudo Christianity that comforts the unconverted and assuages the guilty. This brand of religion produces soft men and uncovered, unhinged women as their chief acolytes.
That and a lot of ppl have left, incl myself and most solid attendees that i knew at the time when we left. Not going to be that many Biblically sound ppl left. Last straw for us was a high school small group leader who had just become a believer 2 weeks prior. These aren’t the only issues in the church although they get highlighted the most. We left a while ago, after 15 years. I’m still salty about it tbh. It’s really depressing
Glad I listened to this sermon to hear Andy’s own explanation on the matter instead of relying upon the biased depiction promoted by others, like Mohler. I never heard Andy propose that living a gay lifestyle was not sinful.
Rev. Stanley’s explanation is just more theological sleight-of-hand and demonic; he evinces a cynical outlook on biblical repentance, (perhaps endemic among Baptist “PK’s”) and therefore, the power giving grace that produces a fruitful and dynamic Christian testimony.
In Andy’s world anybody who attends church and gives lip service to a “faith journey” is okay; and if one happens to be gay on this journey… even better. At best he is a confused man; at worst an enemy of the cross of Christ. Titus 2:12-13, Philipp 3:18-19
We have already been told sermons like Andy Stanley will be appealing because he speaks the language of the world ‘and the world heareth them’ (1 John 4:5).
On the other hand ‘Born Again’ believers will not hear people like Stanley because we understand the Scriptures. It’s that simple.
For those who do listen and defend Andy, good luck.
Then you need to listen better.
He is affirming a sinful lifestyle with zero consequences
This is not the Gospel
You go!
Gotta make you understand
One of the PROBLEM with Christians is we take Scripture out of context and manipulate it to suit our purpose or argument. So let me do that.
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:36-40
As CHARLES Stanley said “Obey God and leave the results to Him.”
So why can’t we do that? Andy is not going to change his position. His approach and vagueness in his comments are not going to change. I don’t like that either. So why don’t we just move on with reaching, baptizing, and teaching? I think that is the mission statement Jesus gave us before there was a Church.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28;18-20