Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest
questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search
and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead
pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth
for the life we're searching for. We are so glad that you're with us this morning.
If you have your Bibles, please take them and go directly to 1 Peter chapter 3 verse
15 today. We're in our Dear God series and that Dear God series deals with tough questions
that the Bible answers that the world wonders about. What kind of questions are you hearing
today? What kind of questions you struggle to answer today? But the Bible gives us answers
for every question literally that we can ever be asked. Today's question, a big one, what
about transgenderism? What about transgenderism? Now I have to tell you, when I first became
a pastor, I never imagined one day I would preach a message about transgenderism. The
truth is, when I became a pastor, nothing about transgenderism had ever been said or
thought. But in recent years, everything has changed that we can possibly imagine. Today,
I want to talk about the issue of transgenderism and just how we deal with that, how we answer
that, what does the Bible say about that, as well as other tough questions relating
to that. So if you would, take your Bibles, turn to 1 Peter 3, and stand with me as I
read this one verse from 1 Peter 3 verse 15. Now this verse is going to kind of guide our
attitude today. Today is a very different kind of message and you know, because it's
such a controversial thing outside the walls of the church, and sometimes even inside the
walls of the church, sometimes it's controversial at workplaces and neighborhoods and friendships
on college campuses certainly and in the elementary and in junior high and senior high schools,
this is an issue that people are talking about today. So there are varieties of people here
today with varieties of influence about this issue of transgenderism. So today I want to
ask you, if you would, just allow me the privilege of preaching this without you responding in
any way. In other words, I don't want you to clap at any points that you think need
to be clapped at. I don't want you to say amen too loud. Until we get to the fourth
point, at the fourth point, I'm going to open the gates and say, please say amen from this
point forward. Because by then I'll be starved for some kind of feedback. But if somebody
is struggling with the issue of transgenderism, I don't want them to think that they're in
a room outnumbered by people who are somehow rallying against them personally. I think
the church ought to approach these subjects with all kinds of sincerity and seriousness
with an abundance of compassion and love and gentleness and reverence and respect. It's
such a big thing that we are lights in a very dark world, but how we shine that light has
to be shown in life. So Paul is, I mean, Peter is writing to the church in his day, a church
under much persecution, a church that was much opposed by their values and by their
convictions in a world that was not sympathetic to them at all. In fact, that world in Peter's
day hated the church. And so what Peter writes in terms of their witness was this, verse
13, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone
who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you yet with gentleness and reverence.
Now keep your eyes on that verse again, because I'm going to read it again, but sanctify Christ
as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you
to give an account for the hope that is in you yet with gentleness and reverence. Let's
pray that Christ will do that in our lives. Father, in Jesus' name today, I pray that
you will give us clarity, conviction, and compassion as we approach this very controversial
subject that affects so many different people. And Lord, today I pray that we might be lights
in a dark world, but loving lights. And Father, I pray that we might walk away from here knowing
what your word says about these kinds of things, and we ask this. In Jesus' name we pray.
You know, God's people says, you can say amen at that point. Thank you.
Well if I was to exegete 1 Peter 3.15, it would be three quick points. And those three
quick points would be honor Christ, honor truth, honor people. I mean that's what verse
15 says. Always sanctify Christ Jesus in your heart. Also, always being ready to make a
defense or to give a reason for the hope that's inside of you when the world disagrees with
you vehemently. And finally, with gentleness and reverence. So we want to honor Christ
today. I want to honor Christ in my message. We want to honor truth today. We don't want
to pull back, shirk back from telling the truth that the word of God gives us. But we
also want to honor people. Not being disrespectful, not mocking in any way. But we want to be
able to do those three things today. That's my quest today, my goal. And I appreciate
the way you're responding and will respond during this message. You know it's a new world
that we live in today. I remember back in 2015 when a magazine called Vanity Fair put
Caitlyn Jenner's picture on the cover. Caitlyn Jenner, formerly Bruce Jenner, the world acclaimed
athlete. I was growing up when Bruce Jenner was winning gold medals every year at the
Olympics. It seemed like the most amazing athletic man in the planet. And now he's
called Caitlyn Jenner. There's a picture of him with a bathing suit on the cover of
the magazine. And obviously our world was shocked and stunned by that. In fact, most
of the time when I heard about Caitlyn Jenner, I wondered if it was a publicity stunt. A
year later I still wondered if it was a publicity stunt. But now we know, no, he really is a
man who is transitioning into a woman and that was his desire. Wasn't long after that
and in recent months we've heard of a swimmer named Leah Thomas, born biologically a male
who swims for a college swim team and competes against biological women. Winning meets right
and left and of course the controversy that stirred up because of that and the women of
course who protest and say I'm competing against a biological male and all the surrounding
publicity from that as well. Now sometimes when you think about transgenderism and you
see all the headlines and you listen to all the noise that it makes you wonder just how
big it is. In fact, if we took a poll in the room most of us would say that more than 10
percent of Americans deal with transgenderism themselves or they struggle with the issue
of transgenderism. But the reality is only a few people deal with this issue of transgenderism.
In fact, a recent UCLA think tank study concluded that 1.6 million adults in America identify
as non-binary or transgender. In other words, they don't believe that they're male, they
don't believe that they're female, they're somewhere on that spectrum or they're trying
to fully transgender into the opposite sex that they were born into. Roughly that's
four-tenths of one percent of America identify in this way. If you translate that to where
we live today, the Dallas Morning News estimates 92,000 transgendered individuals in Texas
and just statistically that says about 20,000 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. So if there
are 20,000 transgendered people in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex area that means that they're
coming soon if they're not already there in your schools and your workplaces and your
neighborhoods and wherever you might hang out. Transgenderism is here and we need to
know some things about it. We're going to ask questions like what do we need to know
and what is the truth about sex and gender or what is transgenderism? Let's identify
it completely so that we can understand and how do we converse with transgendered individuals
and even more important than all that, how do we share the hope of Christ with a world
that is not sure where they are on a certain gender spectrum or where they are in regard
to God and themselves. We need to be able to share the hope that the Bible gives us.
So I'm going to answer four questions today and those four questions are going to find
answers in the scripture and will help us walk through this whole subject of transgenderism.
First of all, I want you to see what the scripture does say about us as people in general. All
people everywhere. The Bible points out that we are individuals that are created by God
in His image. Genesis chapter 1 verse 27. We always ought to start at the beginning.
God created man in His own image, the Bible says. In the image of God, He created him,
male and female, He created them. I call this part one of the grand design. You and I and
all human beings are made in God's image. And really the essence of that is we're not
expendable. We're not throwaways. We're not animals. We're humans. We're born in God's
image. We're created that way so that we can know God and we have unique characteristics
about every single one of us. What that says to you and me is that we need to love every
human being. We need to respect and honor each other because we're all created in the
image of Almighty God. That's part of our identity. Every human being shares this with
one another. Because of that we also understand that we're fearfully and wonderfully made.
Tom 139 tells us that we're not just biological products. We are really made in God's image
and God has worked in a powerful way to bring us here. But the image idea also says something
else. It says that as humans we're not limited to ourselves. Our plans should not be limited
to ourselves. Our solutions to problems should not be limited to ourselves. We're not merely
biological people. We're also spiritual people. We have a soul. And the idea that we can be
made in the image of God also means that we can hear from God. We can learn from God.
We can understand things about how God created us that the other animal world does not understand.
We are created in the image of God. However, when we disregard the God factor we are limited,
we're misdirected in how we deal with desires and feelings and the need for affirmation
which every person has. So first of all you're created in God's image. Aren't you glad about
that? And as such we have access to God and God speaks to us if we will listen. Then secondly
I want you to notice what scripture says about gender. The Bible says in chapter 2 of Genesis
but for Adam there was not a helper suitable for him and the Lord fashioned into a woman
the rib which he had taken from the man and brought her to the man. For this cause a man
shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become
one flesh. This is part 2 of the grand design. Not only are we created in God's image but
this part of the grand design says we're created either male or female. And we are designed
to compliment each other and to reproduce together. That's how you got here. The male
and the female part of God's creative ability. That's true of every part of the human world.
It's true of every part of the animal world as well. You know I marvel at God's powerful
creative processes when it comes to all of nature. I just love to watch television programs
and see research on animals and their habitats and how they reproduce and the reality of
how they continue to spread over these many many years. I marvel that God had a great
design in mind for every bird, for every animal, for every fish in the sea. He's got this grand
design but the grandest design he has is for you and me as human beings. That we are designed
by God with this grand plan that he has for us and we are designed to be either male or
female. Again Psalm 139. The psalmist talks about the reality that God wove us in the
inward part of the womb. You're not an accident of birth. You're not the result of just a
biological process. You are really part of God's divine plan and you're here for a purpose
and you're here for a reason and you should never ever forget that design with God's image
in mind designed as male or female and God has the ability to help us walk through that
process and live that process out in a healthy purposeful way. You need to keep that in mind
no matter how confusing the world is or how confusing feelings might be sometimes. For
six thousand years those two facts that I've shared with you today about what God's word
says about us as people and what it says about gender has been the norm. We've operated this
way for six thousand years. And as something that we call nature, something that we call
truth, something that we call obvious revelations from God has been something that we've relied
on. But in the last one hundred years we've had a wave of relativism that has moved across
our world and certainly across America. Relativism is this. Relativism is a way of looking at
life that says how I feel or what I think about something is weightier than any absolute
truth that's been set before my time. In other words my opinion carries more weight than
any other opinion, any other tradition, any other truth and as such I will neglect those
hard solid natural kind of things and I'll elevate my thoughts and my feelings about a
matter. And that belief system has really caused us to think about life differently.
It values feelings and it desires stunningly more than science or biology or facts or nature
or truth. And what it does is it renders a culture and renders an individual in that
culture absolutely without foundation and without solid ground. You know if you have
a house and it has a poor foundation you need to get out as soon as possible so that you
can repair the foundation or else the house will not stand. I remember a few years ago
my wife and I had a very small little lake house out in East Tennessee or East Texas
rather and I remember one day we had this dock that went out from the house out into
about 60 feet, 70 feet out into the water. It's a great place to walk out on, fish a
little bit or just sit on the end of that dock. One day flood waters came and when we
got to the lake house on that particular weekend that dock had been upset in an awful way.
Instead of straight and solid it had been twisted and turned in such a way by the flood
waters where they had uproot the beams that were actually placed into the bottom of that
pond. It was unusable, it was unwalkable and it was kind of frightening to look at how
something that had been solid now was not something that you would walk on. I had to
dismantle that board for a board. I took 1800 boards off of that frame of that formerly
solid dock. I'll never forget it was one of my greatest memories of being in that lake
house because as I was dismantling that wood in water moccasin infected waters my sweet
wife was standing on the shore with a gun ready to shoot any snakes that came at me.
Some people that know my wife said I can't imagine that but I mean she's good with the
gun. I did have to say look you do know the difference between a snake and your husband
right? I just want to make sure that I survive this. Bottom line is if you don't have foundations
you can't stand. If you don't have foundations you're rocked to and fro and you're not really
sure whether you can put your weight on something or not but that's what relativism has happened
to us in this world and that's the feeling of it. So in our world that we have today
with relativism and with the idea that the individual can think of truths that are more
important than absolute truths given to us by our creator than we've even had a new terminology.
I'm going to give you some new terms today to define what's going on with this transgender
movement just so that we can make sure we understand the words that I use in just a
few minutes. First of all the word sex in relationship to the physical differences.
Sex means male or female with reference to chromosomes, internal reproductive anatomy
and external genitals. That's an accepted term or definition for the word sex in terms
of physical differences. When we use the word gender identity it means a person's self perception
of whether they are male or female, masculine or feminine regardless of how they were born.
On gender dysphoria a very common term today is sense of mismatch between physical sex
that is our body and psychological gender identity which is our mind. This word identity
has begun to creep up quite a bit. I was born male someone might say but I identify as something
other than male. And what's been created is a gender identity scale from male to female
many stops in between some of them very very difficult to define some of them almost unimaginable.
But all this suggests very clearly that there is a confusion and a struggle between what
we think and how we feel about our bodies. Now this is not unusual in life. I remember
growing up it was a very real part of growing up. Boys would sometimes be threatened by
certain characteristics in their life that made them worry am I masculine enough? And
girls were threatened by other characteristics and they wondered am I feminine enough? For
example a boy might feel out of place because he loves art or music or computers instead
of fishing or hunting or other kinds of sports. And in our prevailing culture today someone
that might wonder a little bit about that 20-30 years ago that quickly grow out of that
is caused the question am I something other than what I was born as? If a boy likes something
more creative than hard self football then he can actually begin to wonder should I have
been a woman because of the prevailing culture because of social media and everything else?
I remember a few years ago I had a son an older son and Caleb is a computer genius and
he didn't like football he didn't like baseball and I remember having those conversations
when he was 12 and 13 and 14 years of age and he was just getting into the computer
and I thought man he will never make it in life those computers are absolutely worthless.
Sometime after that I saw a magazine article and the title of the article was geek shall
inherit the earth. And now my son is a computer expert doing quite well in this world better
than I will ever do and in no way threatens his masculinity. Boys sometimes wonder when
they have other interests other than what culture says they ought to have or a girl
might feel somewhat masculine because she competes in sports or likes guns or likes
hunting or something else and the reality is if you are a girl that likes guns and sports
and fishing you are just awesome that's all that means you are just an awesome girl you
are incredible. What I am saying is that culture can sometimes plant seeds of doubts and minds
that literally shouldn't be there. You may not fit a cultural definition of masculinity
or femininity it just means you have a bigger interest spectrum it doesn't mean you are
somewhere else on the gender spectrum. If you are a parent today in the room and you
have children that are kind of wondering where they fit in this world then please help them
understand if they were born a boy no matter what their interests are no matter how creativity
is going on in their minds no matter what their interests are they were born a boy for
a reason and God can use them with their interests in the way he desires to use them in the same
way for a girl if you have a girl and she is wondering about whether she is too masculine
or is she feminine enough it is so helpful to have those conversations that says you
have a big interest spectrum it is not a gender spectrum problem that you face today. It is
really really important for us to understand the impact of culture on our minds. In 1918
the latest home journal I heard about an article Josh Howard actually mentioned this is one
of his messages. In 1918 the latest home journal was promoting the color pink for men saying
that men should wear pink and they should identify very well with the pink color because
it is a derivative of red it is powerful and strong men should wear pink and girls should
wear blue because it is softer it has more colors on the palette and it just fits a girl
more. 1918 I read that and I thought gee I hope nobody expects me to paint my blue truck
pink because it is not going to happen. Culture changes society changes taste change and we
are in a season of change we are in a season of change where culture wants to speak to
us in so many different ways and it can be a war inside of the minds of individuals.
Let me just tell you we all know what it is like to be in war in our mind and our body
we have all experienced some aspect of this war between our minds and our body and we
can ought to be able to have compassion on someone that goes through those battles of
some kind. If you are really honest sometimes your mind says one thing and your body says
something entirely different. There is no doubt that as believers we are to have a mind
that is set and focused on Christ but sometimes our bodies are tempted to do things other
than what Christ calls us to do and that is why the book of Romans is so powerful for
us. Paul in the book of Romans chapter 7 verse 22 said this he said for I joyfully concur
with the law of God and the inner man but I see a different law in the members of my
body waging war against the law of my mind. Paul said there is a war going on and it was
in the mind and in the body of the apostle Paul. It didn't deal with sexual and transgenderism
but it did deal with temptation to sin and he says I know about that war I know about
that battle. Every believer in this room knows about that battle and it should be helpful
for you to know about that battle because that is where people are in general today.
It is a part of life that I think I ought to do this but my body says I want to do something
different. Then there is the term transgender. It is an umbrella term for many experiences
of gender identity that do not align normatively with a person's biological sex and that is
where that spectrum that gender spectrum comes in. To give it a little bit more definition
gender dysphoria is a sense of mismatch that often is described as a dissatisfaction with
how things are and an easiness or unhappiness with gender. Internally one side is pulling
the other side like a tug of war and when that battle is happening answers are sought.
People reach out they look for something they read something they are trying to find out
how can I reconcile this battle inside my mind and my body. I have to find peace. So
how are people supposed to find peace and deal with this very real battle and how do
we in the church and how do we as parents handle these kinds of questions. It is important
that we get our answers from the word of God and not from the world. I promise you today
that if you look outside the scripture and outside truth you will be told to do this
and that if your child begins to question where they are gender wise or if you begin
to think thoughts like that or people around you. Often parents are told we cannot address
this at all or it leads children to even deeper depression and possibly even thoughts of suicide
and we would be held responsible if we even bring it up or in any way suggest a different
alternative. In fact in one article the statement was made very clear that the choices are put
in front of a parent do you want a dead son or a living daughter when it comes to their
thinking about decisions to transition. One young person named Colby in England who transitioned
fully from male to female and now is attempting to transition back was told by older transgenders
to play the suicide card so you can get treatments and surgery and he did that to his great regret.
And now his testimony his story is I can't ever become what I was designed to be because
I made those very early decisions by pressure from the outside instead of wading through
and thinking through the implications. Now I have to be honest with you transgenderism
and those that deal with that do have higher rates of mental health issues, higher rates
of suicide thoughts and higher rates of depression but those continue on even after they fully
transition to whatever desired gender they want to be. However disagreement with the
choices they're making are not the primary reasons that children or young people think
suicidal thoughts they're already present. It's important for them to have the truth
and it's important for them to have compassion. What they really want is to be accepted what
they really want is to know where they fit in what's really important for us as people
in the Church of Jesus Christ is to know how to lovingly put our arms around someone and
say hey I love you I know you struggle I know these things are going on inside of you but
we love you with the love of Christ in an unconditional way. The third point is this
does the scripture address gender dysphoria which is what we've been talking about and
I have to tell you right now the cultural activists are going to say very quickly no
the Bible doesn't deal with the complex issues of today's society. It's an archaic book
it was written all those years ago it doesn't say anything about these issues and they would
be wrong. The answer is yes scripture does address gender dysphoria but before I tell
you what the Bible says let me tell you what the world is saying because I want you to
see what people are hearing before they hear the truth of scripture. Koster is talking
about this disconnect it's writing about this disconnect there are whole podcasts and television
shows there's medias behind it 100% trying to help those that are in the middle of the
war but with their answers disconnected from God. Now here's the summary of it when mind
and body are out of alignment the world says listen to your mind and change your body.
That's what the world is saying listen to your mind and change your body. It's born
out of the live your truth mindset it says that what we feel and what we want is the
only reality that you need to deal with. But let me ask you to think through this with
me for just a second isn't this the most difficult way imaginable to deal with the disconnect
between mind and body? If my mind and my body are disconnected then don't change your mind
change your body. Hormone therapies, surgery, irreversible changes in the body just to bring
alignment and is this the right thing to do? One analogy of this disconnect that I found
in my study is the struggle of anorexia most of us know something about anorexia. It's
a very similar disconnect between mind and body. The anorexic person thinks that they
are obese or overweight they believe they should not be eating meals and when they do
eat them sometimes they purge and they vomit the meals up because they don't want to add
unnecessary weight to their body. In short they could look in the mirror weigh a hundred
pounds and feel like they're grossly overweight. A disconnect between mind and body. Are we
then to go to that person and say you know you're probably right you probably are obese
you probably do need to be on diet pills you probably do need to not eat anything else.
In fact to say something like that to an obviously disconnected picture would be a crime. Can
you imagine a doctor giving that kind of advice to someone dealing with anorexia? And the
interesting thing about anorexia the same side effects as those with transgenderism
is happening and that is the resistance of any treatment at all or any disagreement with
what they're thinking through depression suicidal thoughts all the same. And I have to say with
anorexia only truth can help a person only truth can help a person. But when it comes
to sex and gender we're not allowed to say the truth sometimes or at least culture pushes
back very very stiffly. So is it working? Is the answer the world gives to those that
are in a disconnected in mind and body is it working? Well some studies show this that
eighty eight percent of individuals struggling with some form of transgenderism will grow
beyond their feelings and confusion if they do not have radical treatment. In other words
give them time to grapple with what they're feeling. Give them time to think through all
the implications of any decisions they're about to make and in time they will come fully
adjusted to what's going on in their minds and be able to remain in the state that they
were created. That's a pretty important statistic right there eighty eight percent. And as the
years pass an increasing number of people are wanting out after transitioning to another
gender. One very famous influencer named Ollie London I've been watching his story for a
couple of years he was a young man raised in England who had a particular affection
for the Korean people. And so his first action as a result of dissatisfaction in his own
life was that he wanted to look more like a Korean person so he had surgery in order
to cause his eyes and his facial structure to look more like a Korean. And he does look
Asian or Korean. He said after a period of years like that and after going to Korea and
spending some time he realized that's not the answer to my dissatisfaction. So his next
response was I need to become a woman. And so he had the surgery that allowed him to
transition into being a woman. After a few years of that radical surgery and that different
lifestyle he again came to the conclusion this is not what's bringing satisfaction
into my life. I'm not happy now either and now he's attempting to transition back of
course realizing he cannot fully transition back to the male that he was when he was born.
But got a good ending to it because Ollie London says I did find Christ and in finding
Christ I did find where that missing piece was and I am satisfied in Jesus Christ. Well
that's a good word isn't it? The cause we're made in the image of God. It's not going to
be just a biological answer. It's not going to be just a physical answer. There's going
to be a spiritual answer to that. If you go and search on the internet today you'll see
dozens and dozens of articles and links regarding de-transitioning. More and more people having
come through the transitioning process are attempting to get back on the other side.
So the world's perspective is when your mind and your body are disconnected change your
body. Would you like to hear what the Bible says about that? The Bible says when the mind
and body are out of alignment accept your body and renew your mind. Renew your mind.
Now that seems like an answer that can work for all of us. What a great passage is in
the Bible. Romans chapter 12 verse 1 and 2 talks about the renewing of our minds. And
I don't know how often I use this text to help me through tough times when I was growing
in my faith in Jesus Christ. It says this, therefore I urge you brethren by the mercies
of God to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God. In other
words surrender your body to God. Don't take it into your own hands in terms of changing
things. Surrender it to God which is your spiritual service of worship. And then it
says and do not be conformed to this world or the way the world thinks but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove that which is that good acceptable and
perfect will of God. In other words if you want to walk by God's will if you want to
find that alignment with God it's important that your mind is transformed. When mind and
body are out of alignment accept your body and renew your mind. Now that's what the
Bible says is the way our mind and our lives are changed on anything. It's our creator's
way of getting back to the grand design. It's a message of biblical Christianity. Biblical
Christianity is so very important by the way. There are some professing Christians and some
denominations that have moved away from biblical Christianity. And I would characterize their
belief systems as not Jesus plus the scripture but Jesus minus the scripture. In other words
I want Jesus to be a part of my life. I want him to somehow affirm the changes I'm making
in my life but I don't really want to talk about the scriptures that Jesus spoke or the
scriptures that we learn about Jesus from. So it's a departure from biblical Christianity.
I think I need to address this today because so many churches and some denominations have
moved completely away from a biblical understanding of gender or sexuality in general. So when
you reject biblical Christianity you no longer honor Christ or his word but you take the
human path to giving in to thoughts and feelings and desire into what culture says. You move
away from clear scriptural truths and foundations to doubts and second guesses and heretical
teachings. That's not true Christianity. But it's not really what Jesus called us to at
all. In fact it's completely redefined religion. Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter
3 verse 5. He said about these kinds of people they hold to a form of godliness although
they deny the power thereof. They try to find a little affirmation there but they don't
find any transformation. So I told you I was telling you what the Bible says about gender
or dysphoria. What culture calls dysphoria the Bible calls, are you ready for it? Deception.
They both mean confusion. They both allude to the idea that someone has been seduced
to wander from what's solid and what's true and out of their confusion are making decisions
that they should not make, do not understand how it will affect them. Deception has a
real to it. Almost always the one being deceived doesn't know they're deceived. The one being
deceived believes they're going in the right direction. It requires someone or something
on the outside to say can you stop for just a moment and think about where you're going.
That's the only way a deceived person can ever turn back to moving in the direction
of the truth. Let me give you some verses very quickly that deal with sexual dysphoria,
I've read it for you. One of them is 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 9 and 10. Do you not know
that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, there's
that word. Neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor homosexuals
nor thieves nor the covetous nor drunkers nor revilers nor swindlers will inherit the
kingdom of God. Four out of these 11 words allude to lifestyles that deal with sexual
or gender issues. Romans 1, 24 and 25 refer to those who worship and serve the creature
instead of the creator and literally explicitly talk about giving themselves over to sexual
practices contrary to what God has called them to and so they're worshiping their bodies
instead of worshiping the one that created the body. In the Old Testament in Deuteronomy
chapter 22 verse 5 there's the admonition in Israel that a man should not dress as a
woman that there should be no confusion there between the male or the characteristics of
a man and the female and the characteristics of a woman. So there are verses all through
the Bible, it would take us quite a while to walk through those but the Bible tells
us that those lifestyles we're talking about are rejection of God's plan and design. Nowhere
in the Bible does scripture say that God would bless such a transition, such a decision to
move away from God's design to something else and in doing so people miss the purpose of
God for their life and the point that God has for them and for the believer these lifestyles
are not to be affirmed but to be transformed in our lives to act to the grand design. And
that would get to point four, how do we realize our highest purpose? How do we get back to
that grand design? How do I resolve the war inside? How do I align my mind and body and
there's only one answer to that and that is to come back to the grand design and the grand
designer. Now this is where you can start clapping and saying amen when you want to
because at the end of that very difficult passage in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 verse
9 there is verse 11 which says, such were some of you but you were washed and you were
sanctified and you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit
of our God. I hope you can sense the love in this passage for all people everywhere
because what's happening is Paul is saying look what God has for you in Corinth and look
what God has for you in the world no matter what lifestyle you were in, no matter what
life you were living, no matter what disconnect you had in your life God draws you to himself
and you have become washed and you've become sanctified and you've become justified in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words Jesus said I'll put my stamp on your
life as I draw you to me and transform you from the inside out. All that to say is there
is an answer to all of this confusion and that answer is found in your creator and in
Jesus Christ. Somebody say amen to that because that's true. Now that's available for everyone.
By the way this is not physical therapy it's spiritual therapy. It leads us to be transformed
by the renewing of our mind and to aspire to the design that he has for us and I want
to say to you we'll only be happy when we're functioning as a creator designed us to create.
There's not just a few people that would testify to that truth but millions and millions and
millions of people testify to that truth. Not a person, not just a fraction of one percent
but many many many people across this world. Hundreds and thousands and millions of people
can affirm that truth. Now we have a God that has answers and a God that calls us to himself.
Now I thought about this the other day I had a close friend that adopted a little girl
from a third world country. I remember them telling me about the process of adoption.
They knew for many months almost a year or more that they were going to adopt this little
girl and in the process of preparing to go there to pick her up they were trying to anticipate
what it would be like. When they got to the orphanage they realized that their little
girl was there in a room full of all kinds of children at all ages and their little girl
was about three years old I think it was. She was dirty and filthy and it looked like
the kids were kind of underfed and they realized they were on a rescue mission. And when they
presented their papers to the person at the door the person looked and found their little
daughter and missed that crowd. Took her aside gave her a bath in another room gave her some
new clothing and then came out and gave her to this adoptive mom and dad and this adoptive
mom and dad with their papers put a brand new name on this little girl. I know this
little girl I've seen her around in recent years she's a beautiful little girl. God has
done so much in her life as a result of that adoption process. But when I look at the word
washed and sanctified and justified I think back to that. And I think back to the fact
that our heavenly father sees you no matter who you are no matter what's in your life
no matter what your background is no matter how deep into a movement or not you are and
he sees you and he washes you and he sanctifies you chooses you to be his own and he justifies
you and puts his name on you as his. What an incredible invitation for people anywhere
struggling with anything. And I want that to be our message that's what the Bible's
message is to those that struggle with transgenderism or anything else that calling them to their
grand design that God has for them is the greatest possible thing we can do. You know
one of the questions that people ask when it comes to this subject is how do you communicate
with a transgender person because we're getting into the practicality of it these days. With
chosen pronouns and different pronouns placed on Twitter feeds and other places how do we
respond to that? And the simplest way I can answer that question is this don't let pronouns
be the issue. I've learned that we rarely use pronouns in personal conversation with
someone. I almost never when I'm talking with Joe who might be right in front of me use
any pronoun at all it's always Joe or you. Honor their name whatever their name happens
to be if they change their name to something else then use the name that they've asked
to be called if it's Joe Bob call them Joe Bob. Honor the name honor the truth at the
same time and honor Christ and honor the people. Don't let it be the thing that keeps you from
helping them know there's a greater purpose for their lives. The conversation if you are
asked and however you are able to have that conversation is that you love them and you
want for them the highest possible purpose and the highest possible design for their
life and the only way they'll find that is with the creator who created them. Keep offering
them hope keep pointing them to truth honor Christ honor truth honor people. We prepare
to queue our code for you today because some of these conversations that we need to have
that you may want details about are requiring more time than we have this morning. Maybe
you want to lift your camera up your phone and your camera and capture this and this
is the website with all kinds of resources for parents or for grandparents for people
that may be struggling with transgender issues in their life or those who want to know how
to interact with them in some way. But look at these resources and watch God use you in
an increasingly confused world as someone who knows the truth. I want to say to you
this morning if you struggle with any of these things that we've talked about today in the
sense of your own identity or how you identify I am so glad you're in this room today. I
want you to know you're welcome here I want you to know that's important that you are
that you're loved and that you know that you're loved. It's important for you to also understand
that when people disagree about one aspect or another that doesn't mean that we don't
love one another. We all disagree about some things in life don't we that we also all can
love one another. It's important for you to leave today knowing this that God has the
best possible plan for your life more than any any activist more than any doctor more
than any peer. God has the best highest purpose for your life. Please listen to what he says
and trust him with your life. He brought you here he has a plan for you after this life.
Trust him into that moment. I'm going to ask you to bow your head and close your eyes for
just a few moments. So many more things I want to say but our time is gone today. I
want you to know today we have three invitations. Number one we invite you to go to our decision
stations this morning. There will be people there that will talk to you about giving your
life to Jesus answering perhaps questions that you may have that you want to ask but
we would love to have that conversation with you in love. Secondly I want to invite you
to our guest reception room. I would love to personally meet you myself. I would love
to say hello and shake your hand and tell you more about what God is doing here at our
church. Thirdly I want to invite you to reach out to someone else and bring them with you
next week. Such a celebration is going to be happening next week that I don't want
you to miss it. Let's stand together as we have a word of prayer. Father in Jesus name
I am so very grateful for the scriptures that give us truth to walk by. Grateful so much
Father that you called us to walk in love and compassion and in mercy. Grateful Father
that there is not one of us that is beyond the reach of your hand. Father today I pray
that those who desire to know you, who desire to walk in your powerful grand design for
their lives, give them the courage to surrender to your design and to follow you. And then
give them the fruit of that joy and that peace and that purpose that comes into their lives
that can only be there by you. Father thank you for calling us something greater than
ourselves. Something that is greater than this world can aspire for us to have. Something
that aspires to your goal for our lives. We ask all this in Jesus name. Amen.