Sammy Elliott: All Things Sexuality

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Sammy Elliott: All Things Sexuality

Sammy Elliott, lead pastor of Bacon Heights Baptist Church in Lubbock, began a series on tough questions by taking head-on the topic of sex. Since everyone else is talking about it, the church must talk about sex also, Elliott challenged.

Elliott acknowledged the tension and sensitivity around sex and sexuality and sought to speak with grace and truth. Midway through his sermon, he called for “a big time out” to challenge Christians to respond to gay and transgender people with love and grace.

He described American culture as permissive in relation to sex, though some things are still considered off limits because they are nonconsensual. He traced contemporary sexual permissiveness to Plato’s elevating the mind over the body—emotions over biology.

Responding to Platonism, Elliott traced the Genesis account of the creation of male and female, and sex and marriage. He also traced Paul’s discussion of sexuality in Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 6.

Elliott concluded by pointing to Jesus as the model of how to love people “outside our belief zone” without affirming everything people do. He challenged his congregation to love people well in Christ’s honor.

Elliott referenced the following sources during his sermon:

  • Nancy R. Pearcey, Love Thy Body (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2018).
  • Preston Sprinkle, Embodied: Transgendered Identities, the Church, and What the Bible Has to Say, “Chapter One: People” (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2021). Heard in a sermon by James Emery White, “Primordial: Adam and Eve, Part Two: Male/Female, Marriage” (Mecklenburg Community Church: February 19, 2023).

Elliott delivered this sermon April 16, 2023, for the morning worship services of Bacon Heights Baptist Church in Lubbock. It is the first in a series titled “Tough Questions.”

A sermon script is available here.


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CORRECTION: The date of sermon delivery was corrected from May 16, 2023 to April 16, 2023 (May 11, 2023).


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