1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,860 Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest 2 00:00:15,860 --> 00:00:21,060 questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search 3 00:00:21,060 --> 00:00:27,300 and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead 4 00:00:27,300 --> 00:00:32,440 pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth 5 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:41,200 for the life we're searching for. We are so glad that you're with us this morning. 6 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:45,240 If you have your Bibles, please take them and go directly to 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 7 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:51,720 15 today. We're in our Dear God series and that Dear God series deals with tough questions 8 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:58,000 that the Bible answers that the world wonders about. What kind of questions are you hearing 9 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:02,800 today? What kind of questions you struggle to answer today? But the Bible gives us answers 10 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:08,320 for every question literally that we can ever be asked. Today's question, a big one, what 11 00:01:08,320 --> 00:01:13,740 about transgenderism? What about transgenderism? Now I have to tell you, when I first became 12 00:01:13,740 --> 00:01:19,800 a pastor, I never imagined one day I would preach a message about transgenderism. The 13 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:24,400 truth is, when I became a pastor, nothing about transgenderism had ever been said or 14 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:29,560 thought. But in recent years, everything has changed that we can possibly imagine. Today, 15 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:34,880 I want to talk about the issue of transgenderism and just how we deal with that, how we answer 16 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:39,360 that, what does the Bible say about that, as well as other tough questions relating 17 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:44,040 to that. So if you would, take your Bibles, turn to 1 Peter 3, and stand with me as I 18 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:51,040 read this one verse from 1 Peter 3 verse 15. Now this verse is going to kind of guide our 19 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:55,800 attitude today. Today is a very different kind of message and you know, because it's 20 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:59,980 such a controversial thing outside the walls of the church, and sometimes even inside the 21 00:01:59,980 --> 00:02:05,200 walls of the church, sometimes it's controversial at workplaces and neighborhoods and friendships 22 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:11,340 on college campuses certainly and in the elementary and in junior high and senior high schools, 23 00:02:11,340 --> 00:02:15,720 this is an issue that people are talking about today. So there are varieties of people here 24 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:21,320 today with varieties of influence about this issue of transgenderism. So today I want to 25 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:26,920 ask you, if you would, just allow me the privilege of preaching this without you responding in 26 00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:30,640 any way. In other words, I don't want you to clap at any points that you think need 27 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:34,600 to be clapped at. I don't want you to say amen too loud. Until we get to the fourth 28 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:39,120 point, at the fourth point, I'm going to open the gates and say, please say amen from this 29 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:46,120 point forward. Because by then I'll be starved for some kind of feedback. But if somebody 30 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:50,120 is struggling with the issue of transgenderism, I don't want them to think that they're in 31 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:57,120 a room outnumbered by people who are somehow rallying against them personally. I think 32 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:01,500 the church ought to approach these subjects with all kinds of sincerity and seriousness 33 00:03:01,500 --> 00:03:07,040 with an abundance of compassion and love and gentleness and reverence and respect. It's 34 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:12,840 such a big thing that we are lights in a very dark world, but how we shine that light has 35 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:18,960 to be shown in life. So Paul is, I mean, Peter is writing to the church in his day, a church 36 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:23,400 under much persecution, a church that was much opposed by their values and by their 37 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:29,240 convictions in a world that was not sympathetic to them at all. In fact, that world in Peter's 38 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:36,240 day hated the church. And so what Peter writes in terms of their witness was this, verse 39 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:43,240 13, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone 40 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:49,520 who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you yet with gentleness and reverence. 41 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:54,760 Now keep your eyes on that verse again, because I'm going to read it again, but sanctify Christ 42 00:03:54,760 --> 00:04:00,680 as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you 43 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:05,720 to give an account for the hope that is in you yet with gentleness and reverence. Let's 44 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:10,240 pray that Christ will do that in our lives. Father, in Jesus' name today, I pray that 45 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:17,240 you will give us clarity, conviction, and compassion as we approach this very controversial 46 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:22,400 subject that affects so many different people. And Lord, today I pray that we might be lights 47 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:27,760 in a dark world, but loving lights. And Father, I pray that we might walk away from here knowing 48 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:33,000 what your word says about these kinds of things, and we ask this. In Jesus' name we pray. 49 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:39,080 You know, God's people says, you can say amen at that point. Thank you. 50 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:44,480 Well if I was to exegete 1 Peter 3.15, it would be three quick points. And those three 51 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:50,640 quick points would be honor Christ, honor truth, honor people. I mean that's what verse 52 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:57,320 15 says. Always sanctify Christ Jesus in your heart. Also, always being ready to make a 53 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:02,160 defense or to give a reason for the hope that's inside of you when the world disagrees with 54 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:07,800 you vehemently. And finally, with gentleness and reverence. So we want to honor Christ 55 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:11,880 today. I want to honor Christ in my message. We want to honor truth today. We don't want 56 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:17,280 to pull back, shirk back from telling the truth that the word of God gives us. But we 57 00:05:17,280 --> 00:05:24,120 also want to honor people. Not being disrespectful, not mocking in any way. But we want to be 58 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:30,280 able to do those three things today. That's my quest today, my goal. And I appreciate 59 00:05:30,280 --> 00:05:35,000 the way you're responding and will respond during this message. You know it's a new world 60 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:43,640 that we live in today. I remember back in 2015 when a magazine called Vanity Fair put 61 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:51,840 Caitlyn Jenner's picture on the cover. Caitlyn Jenner, formerly Bruce Jenner, the world acclaimed 62 00:05:51,840 --> 00:05:55,680 athlete. I was growing up when Bruce Jenner was winning gold medals every year at the 63 00:05:55,680 --> 00:06:01,600 Olympics. It seemed like the most amazing athletic man in the planet. And now he's 64 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:06,080 called Caitlyn Jenner. There's a picture of him with a bathing suit on the cover of 65 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:10,960 the magazine. And obviously our world was shocked and stunned by that. In fact, most 66 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:15,400 of the time when I heard about Caitlyn Jenner, I wondered if it was a publicity stunt. A 67 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:20,440 year later I still wondered if it was a publicity stunt. But now we know, no, he really is a 68 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:26,400 man who is transitioning into a woman and that was his desire. Wasn't long after that 69 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:33,240 and in recent months we've heard of a swimmer named Leah Thomas, born biologically a male 70 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:41,240 who swims for a college swim team and competes against biological women. Winning meets right 71 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:46,520 and left and of course the controversy that stirred up because of that and the women of 72 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:53,320 course who protest and say I'm competing against a biological male and all the surrounding 73 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:58,400 publicity from that as well. Now sometimes when you think about transgenderism and you 74 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:03,040 see all the headlines and you listen to all the noise that it makes you wonder just how 75 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:07,520 big it is. In fact, if we took a poll in the room most of us would say that more than 10 76 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:13,280 percent of Americans deal with transgenderism themselves or they struggle with the issue 77 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:20,280 of transgenderism. But the reality is only a few people deal with this issue of transgenderism. 78 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:27,160 In fact, a recent UCLA think tank study concluded that 1.6 million adults in America identify 79 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:32,360 as non-binary or transgender. In other words, they don't believe that they're male, they 80 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:36,080 don't believe that they're female, they're somewhere on that spectrum or they're trying 81 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:42,280 to fully transgender into the opposite sex that they were born into. Roughly that's 82 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:49,280 four-tenths of one percent of America identify in this way. If you translate that to where 83 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:55,440 we live today, the Dallas Morning News estimates 92,000 transgendered individuals in Texas 84 00:07:55,440 --> 00:08:01,560 and just statistically that says about 20,000 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. So if there 85 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:07,280 are 20,000 transgendered people in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex area that means that they're 86 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:11,320 coming soon if they're not already there in your schools and your workplaces and your 87 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:17,200 neighborhoods and wherever you might hang out. Transgenderism is here and we need to 88 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:22,200 know some things about it. We're going to ask questions like what do we need to know 89 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:27,160 and what is the truth about sex and gender or what is transgenderism? Let's identify 90 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:32,640 it completely so that we can understand and how do we converse with transgendered individuals 91 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:37,840 and even more important than all that, how do we share the hope of Christ with a world 92 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:43,680 that is not sure where they are on a certain gender spectrum or where they are in regard 93 00:08:43,680 --> 00:08:48,880 to God and themselves. We need to be able to share the hope that the Bible gives us. 94 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:53,720 So I'm going to answer four questions today and those four questions are going to find 95 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:59,000 answers in the scripture and will help us walk through this whole subject of transgenderism. 96 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:04,520 First of all, I want you to see what the scripture does say about us as people in general. All 97 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:10,640 people everywhere. The Bible points out that we are individuals that are created by God 98 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:16,200 in His image. Genesis chapter 1 verse 27. We always ought to start at the beginning. 99 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:21,040 God created man in His own image, the Bible says. In the image of God, He created him, 100 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:28,040 male and female, He created them. I call this part one of the grand design. You and I and 101 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:33,960 all human beings are made in God's image. And really the essence of that is we're not 102 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:40,480 expendable. We're not throwaways. We're not animals. We're humans. We're born in God's 103 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:44,920 image. We're created that way so that we can know God and we have unique characteristics 104 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:50,360 about every single one of us. What that says to you and me is that we need to love every 105 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:55,480 human being. We need to respect and honor each other because we're all created in the 106 00:09:55,480 --> 00:10:01,080 image of Almighty God. That's part of our identity. Every human being shares this with 107 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:06,800 one another. Because of that we also understand that we're fearfully and wonderfully made. 108 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:13,120 Tom 139 tells us that we're not just biological products. We are really made in God's image 109 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:19,200 and God has worked in a powerful way to bring us here. But the image idea also says something 110 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:26,200 else. It says that as humans we're not limited to ourselves. Our plans should not be limited 111 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:33,200 to ourselves. Our solutions to problems should not be limited to ourselves. We're not merely 112 00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:40,200 biological people. We're also spiritual people. We have a soul. And the idea that we can be 113 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:45,120 made in the image of God also means that we can hear from God. We can learn from God. 114 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:51,360 We can understand things about how God created us that the other animal world does not understand. 115 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:58,360 We are created in the image of God. However, when we disregard the God factor we are limited, 116 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:04,120 we're misdirected in how we deal with desires and feelings and the need for affirmation 117 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:08,560 which every person has. So first of all you're created in God's image. Aren't you glad about 118 00:11:08,560 --> 00:11:15,560 that? And as such we have access to God and God speaks to us if we will listen. Then secondly 119 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:21,240 I want you to notice what scripture says about gender. The Bible says in chapter 2 of Genesis 120 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:26,280 but for Adam there was not a helper suitable for him and the Lord fashioned into a woman 121 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:29,880 the rib which he had taken from the man and brought her to the man. For this cause a man 122 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:34,480 shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become 123 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:40,240 one flesh. This is part 2 of the grand design. Not only are we created in God's image but 124 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:46,540 this part of the grand design says we're created either male or female. And we are designed 125 00:11:46,540 --> 00:11:53,540 to compliment each other and to reproduce together. That's how you got here. The male 126 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:59,200 and the female part of God's creative ability. That's true of every part of the human world. 127 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:05,280 It's true of every part of the animal world as well. You know I marvel at God's powerful 128 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:11,880 creative processes when it comes to all of nature. I just love to watch television programs 129 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:18,600 and see research on animals and their habitats and how they reproduce and the reality of 130 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:23,400 how they continue to spread over these many many years. I marvel that God had a great 131 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:29,180 design in mind for every bird, for every animal, for every fish in the sea. He's got this grand 132 00:12:29,180 --> 00:12:35,520 design but the grandest design he has is for you and me as human beings. That we are designed 133 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:41,320 by God with this grand plan that he has for us and we are designed to be either male or 134 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:47,600 female. Again Psalm 139. The psalmist talks about the reality that God wove us in the 135 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:51,760 inward part of the womb. You're not an accident of birth. You're not the result of just a 136 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:57,440 biological process. You are really part of God's divine plan and you're here for a purpose 137 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:02,520 and you're here for a reason and you should never ever forget that design with God's image 138 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:08,580 in mind designed as male or female and God has the ability to help us walk through that 139 00:13:08,580 --> 00:13:15,320 process and live that process out in a healthy purposeful way. You need to keep that in mind 140 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:20,920 no matter how confusing the world is or how confusing feelings might be sometimes. For 141 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:25,440 six thousand years those two facts that I've shared with you today about what God's word 142 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:31,240 says about us as people and what it says about gender has been the norm. We've operated this 143 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:38,040 way for six thousand years. And as something that we call nature, something that we call 144 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:44,000 truth, something that we call obvious revelations from God has been something that we've relied 145 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:49,840 on. But in the last one hundred years we've had a wave of relativism that has moved across 146 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:56,360 our world and certainly across America. Relativism is this. Relativism is a way of looking at 147 00:13:56,360 --> 00:14:04,640 life that says how I feel or what I think about something is weightier than any absolute 148 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:10,640 truth that's been set before my time. In other words my opinion carries more weight than 149 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:17,080 any other opinion, any other tradition, any other truth and as such I will neglect those 150 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:24,760 hard solid natural kind of things and I'll elevate my thoughts and my feelings about a 151 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:31,640 matter. And that belief system has really caused us to think about life differently. 152 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:38,560 It values feelings and it desires stunningly more than science or biology or facts or nature 153 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:43,320 or truth. And what it does is it renders a culture and renders an individual in that 154 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:49,360 culture absolutely without foundation and without solid ground. You know if you have 155 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:53,840 a house and it has a poor foundation you need to get out as soon as possible so that you 156 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:59,000 can repair the foundation or else the house will not stand. I remember a few years ago 157 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:04,080 my wife and I had a very small little lake house out in East Tennessee or East Texas 158 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:10,080 rather and I remember one day we had this dock that went out from the house out into 159 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:15,280 about 60 feet, 70 feet out into the water. It's a great place to walk out on, fish a 160 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:20,600 little bit or just sit on the end of that dock. One day flood waters came and when we 161 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:26,120 got to the lake house on that particular weekend that dock had been upset in an awful way. 162 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:30,560 Instead of straight and solid it had been twisted and turned in such a way by the flood 163 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:36,320 waters where they had uproot the beams that were actually placed into the bottom of that 164 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:42,720 pond. It was unusable, it was unwalkable and it was kind of frightening to look at how 165 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:47,200 something that had been solid now was not something that you would walk on. I had to 166 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:54,360 dismantle that board for a board. I took 1800 boards off of that frame of that formerly 167 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:58,400 solid dock. I'll never forget it was one of my greatest memories of being in that lake 168 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:05,200 house because as I was dismantling that wood in water moccasin infected waters my sweet 169 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:12,000 wife was standing on the shore with a gun ready to shoot any snakes that came at me. 170 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:15,120 Some people that know my wife said I can't imagine that but I mean she's good with the 171 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:19,840 gun. I did have to say look you do know the difference between a snake and your husband 172 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:25,760 right? I just want to make sure that I survive this. Bottom line is if you don't have foundations 173 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:30,120 you can't stand. If you don't have foundations you're rocked to and fro and you're not really 174 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:35,200 sure whether you can put your weight on something or not but that's what relativism has happened 175 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:40,000 to us in this world and that's the feeling of it. So in our world that we have today 176 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:45,760 with relativism and with the idea that the individual can think of truths that are more 177 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:51,560 important than absolute truths given to us by our creator than we've even had a new terminology. 178 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:59,160 I'm going to give you some new terms today to define what's going on with this transgender 179 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:03,760 movement just so that we can make sure we understand the words that I use in just a 180 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:10,360 few minutes. First of all the word sex in relationship to the physical differences. 181 00:17:10,360 --> 00:17:16,040 Sex means male or female with reference to chromosomes, internal reproductive anatomy 182 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:22,560 and external genitals. That's an accepted term or definition for the word sex in terms 183 00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:28,600 of physical differences. When we use the word gender identity it means a person's self perception 184 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:36,200 of whether they are male or female, masculine or feminine regardless of how they were born. 185 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:42,320 On gender dysphoria a very common term today is sense of mismatch between physical sex 186 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:49,920 that is our body and psychological gender identity which is our mind. This word identity 187 00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:56,960 has begun to creep up quite a bit. I was born male someone might say but I identify as something 188 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:03,920 other than male. And what's been created is a gender identity scale from male to female 189 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:11,960 many stops in between some of them very very difficult to define some of them almost unimaginable. 190 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:17,560 But all this suggests very clearly that there is a confusion and a struggle between what 191 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:23,160 we think and how we feel about our bodies. Now this is not unusual in life. I remember 192 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:28,340 growing up it was a very real part of growing up. Boys would sometimes be threatened by 193 00:18:28,340 --> 00:18:33,280 certain characteristics in their life that made them worry am I masculine enough? And 194 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:38,280 girls were threatened by other characteristics and they wondered am I feminine enough? For 195 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:45,160 example a boy might feel out of place because he loves art or music or computers instead 196 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:51,440 of fishing or hunting or other kinds of sports. And in our prevailing culture today someone 197 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:57,080 that might wonder a little bit about that 20-30 years ago that quickly grow out of that 198 00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:02,880 is caused the question am I something other than what I was born as? If a boy likes something 199 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:08,640 more creative than hard self football then he can actually begin to wonder should I have 200 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:14,800 been a woman because of the prevailing culture because of social media and everything else? 201 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:22,120 I remember a few years ago I had a son an older son and Caleb is a computer genius and 202 00:19:22,120 --> 00:19:25,920 he didn't like football he didn't like baseball and I remember having those conversations 203 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:30,400 when he was 12 and 13 and 14 years of age and he was just getting into the computer 204 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:38,240 and I thought man he will never make it in life those computers are absolutely worthless. 205 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:42,440 Sometime after that I saw a magazine article and the title of the article was geek shall 206 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:49,920 inherit the earth. And now my son is a computer expert doing quite well in this world better 207 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:58,520 than I will ever do and in no way threatens his masculinity. Boys sometimes wonder when 208 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:02,600 they have other interests other than what culture says they ought to have or a girl 209 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:07,200 might feel somewhat masculine because she competes in sports or likes guns or likes 210 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:12,400 hunting or something else and the reality is if you are a girl that likes guns and sports 211 00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:17,200 and fishing you are just awesome that's all that means you are just an awesome girl you 212 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:24,800 are incredible. What I am saying is that culture can sometimes plant seeds of doubts and minds 213 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:30,880 that literally shouldn't be there. You may not fit a cultural definition of masculinity 214 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:36,600 or femininity it just means you have a bigger interest spectrum it doesn't mean you are 215 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:42,040 somewhere else on the gender spectrum. If you are a parent today in the room and you 216 00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:46,560 have children that are kind of wondering where they fit in this world then please help them 217 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:52,040 understand if they were born a boy no matter what their interests are no matter how creativity 218 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:56,760 is going on in their minds no matter what their interests are they were born a boy for 219 00:20:56,760 --> 00:21:02,360 a reason and God can use them with their interests in the way he desires to use them in the same 220 00:21:02,360 --> 00:21:07,080 way for a girl if you have a girl and she is wondering about whether she is too masculine 221 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:11,080 or is she feminine enough it is so helpful to have those conversations that says you 222 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:17,360 have a big interest spectrum it is not a gender spectrum problem that you face today. It is 223 00:21:17,360 --> 00:21:26,760 really really important for us to understand the impact of culture on our minds. In 1918 224 00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:31,720 the latest home journal I heard about an article Josh Howard actually mentioned this is one 225 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:40,160 of his messages. In 1918 the latest home journal was promoting the color pink for men saying 226 00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:44,520 that men should wear pink and they should identify very well with the pink color because 227 00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:49,960 it is a derivative of red it is powerful and strong men should wear pink and girls should 228 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:55,720 wear blue because it is softer it has more colors on the palette and it just fits a girl 229 00:21:55,720 --> 00:22:00,520 more. 1918 I read that and I thought gee I hope nobody expects me to paint my blue truck 230 00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:08,640 pink because it is not going to happen. Culture changes society changes taste change and we 231 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:13,620 are in a season of change we are in a season of change where culture wants to speak to 232 00:22:13,620 --> 00:22:19,880 us in so many different ways and it can be a war inside of the minds of individuals. 233 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:24,760 Let me just tell you we all know what it is like to be in war in our mind and our body 234 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:29,760 we have all experienced some aspect of this war between our minds and our body and we 235 00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:33,400 can ought to be able to have compassion on someone that goes through those battles of 236 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:37,560 some kind. If you are really honest sometimes your mind says one thing and your body says 237 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:43,120 something entirely different. There is no doubt that as believers we are to have a mind 238 00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:47,000 that is set and focused on Christ but sometimes our bodies are tempted to do things other 239 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:51,880 than what Christ calls us to do and that is why the book of Romans is so powerful for 240 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:57,440 us. Paul in the book of Romans chapter 7 verse 22 said this he said for I joyfully concur 241 00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:02,680 with the law of God and the inner man but I see a different law in the members of my 242 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:09,560 body waging war against the law of my mind. Paul said there is a war going on and it was 243 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:15,800 in the mind and in the body of the apostle Paul. It didn't deal with sexual and transgenderism 244 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:20,600 but it did deal with temptation to sin and he says I know about that war I know about 245 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:25,880 that battle. Every believer in this room knows about that battle and it should be helpful 246 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:30,040 for you to know about that battle because that is where people are in general today. 247 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:36,800 It is a part of life that I think I ought to do this but my body says I want to do something 248 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:43,240 different. Then there is the term transgender. It is an umbrella term for many experiences 249 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:50,240 of gender identity that do not align normatively with a person's biological sex and that is 250 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:56,360 where that spectrum that gender spectrum comes in. To give it a little bit more definition 251 00:23:56,360 --> 00:24:04,000 gender dysphoria is a sense of mismatch that often is described as a dissatisfaction with 252 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:10,760 how things are and an easiness or unhappiness with gender. Internally one side is pulling 253 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:16,360 the other side like a tug of war and when that battle is happening answers are sought. 254 00:24:16,360 --> 00:24:19,800 People reach out they look for something they read something they are trying to find out 255 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:27,720 how can I reconcile this battle inside my mind and my body. I have to find peace. So 256 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:32,760 how are people supposed to find peace and deal with this very real battle and how do 257 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:38,480 we in the church and how do we as parents handle these kinds of questions. It is important 258 00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:45,280 that we get our answers from the word of God and not from the world. I promise you today 259 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:51,000 that if you look outside the scripture and outside truth you will be told to do this 260 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:55,640 and that if your child begins to question where they are gender wise or if you begin 261 00:24:55,640 --> 00:25:01,000 to think thoughts like that or people around you. Often parents are told we cannot address 262 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:08,080 this at all or it leads children to even deeper depression and possibly even thoughts of suicide 263 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:13,200 and we would be held responsible if we even bring it up or in any way suggest a different 264 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:20,480 alternative. In fact in one article the statement was made very clear that the choices are put 265 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:25,160 in front of a parent do you want a dead son or a living daughter when it comes to their 266 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:33,080 thinking about decisions to transition. One young person named Colby in England who transitioned 267 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:40,160 fully from male to female and now is attempting to transition back was told by older transgenders 268 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:48,280 to play the suicide card so you can get treatments and surgery and he did that to his great regret. 269 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:52,600 And now his testimony his story is I can't ever become what I was designed to be because 270 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:57,920 I made those very early decisions by pressure from the outside instead of wading through 271 00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:03,400 and thinking through the implications. Now I have to be honest with you transgenderism 272 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:07,920 and those that deal with that do have higher rates of mental health issues, higher rates 273 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:15,560 of suicide thoughts and higher rates of depression but those continue on even after they fully 274 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:21,800 transition to whatever desired gender they want to be. However disagreement with the 275 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:28,080 choices they're making are not the primary reasons that children or young people think 276 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:33,560 suicidal thoughts they're already present. It's important for them to have the truth 277 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:38,280 and it's important for them to have compassion. What they really want is to be accepted what 278 00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:42,280 they really want is to know where they fit in what's really important for us as people 279 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:46,600 in the Church of Jesus Christ is to know how to lovingly put our arms around someone and 280 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:51,400 say hey I love you I know you struggle I know these things are going on inside of you but 281 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:58,520 we love you with the love of Christ in an unconditional way. The third point is this 282 00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:04,360 does the scripture address gender dysphoria which is what we've been talking about and 283 00:27:04,360 --> 00:27:08,120 I have to tell you right now the cultural activists are going to say very quickly no 284 00:27:08,120 --> 00:27:14,640 the Bible doesn't deal with the complex issues of today's society. It's an archaic book 285 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:19,400 it was written all those years ago it doesn't say anything about these issues and they would 286 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:27,480 be wrong. The answer is yes scripture does address gender dysphoria but before I tell 287 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:33,360 you what the Bible says let me tell you what the world is saying because I want you to 288 00:27:33,360 --> 00:27:38,480 see what people are hearing before they hear the truth of scripture. Koster is talking 289 00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:42,920 about this disconnect it's writing about this disconnect there are whole podcasts and television 290 00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:47,480 shows there's medias behind it 100% trying to help those that are in the middle of the 291 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:53,960 war but with their answers disconnected from God. Now here's the summary of it when mind 292 00:27:53,960 --> 00:28:01,000 and body are out of alignment the world says listen to your mind and change your body. 293 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:07,200 That's what the world is saying listen to your mind and change your body. It's born 294 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:12,160 out of the live your truth mindset it says that what we feel and what we want is the 295 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:18,080 only reality that you need to deal with. But let me ask you to think through this with 296 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:24,440 me for just a second isn't this the most difficult way imaginable to deal with the disconnect 297 00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:30,840 between mind and body? If my mind and my body are disconnected then don't change your mind 298 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:40,440 change your body. Hormone therapies, surgery, irreversible changes in the body just to bring 299 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:47,080 alignment and is this the right thing to do? One analogy of this disconnect that I found 300 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:52,240 in my study is the struggle of anorexia most of us know something about anorexia. It's 301 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:57,000 a very similar disconnect between mind and body. The anorexic person thinks that they 302 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:02,720 are obese or overweight they believe they should not be eating meals and when they do 303 00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:08,360 eat them sometimes they purge and they vomit the meals up because they don't want to add 304 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:12,160 unnecessary weight to their body. In short they could look in the mirror weigh a hundred 305 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:18,880 pounds and feel like they're grossly overweight. A disconnect between mind and body. Are we 306 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:23,400 then to go to that person and say you know you're probably right you probably are obese 307 00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:27,600 you probably do need to be on diet pills you probably do need to not eat anything else. 308 00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:33,560 In fact to say something like that to an obviously disconnected picture would be a crime. Can 309 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:38,640 you imagine a doctor giving that kind of advice to someone dealing with anorexia? And the 310 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:43,520 interesting thing about anorexia the same side effects as those with transgenderism 311 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:49,520 is happening and that is the resistance of any treatment at all or any disagreement with 312 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:56,100 what they're thinking through depression suicidal thoughts all the same. And I have to say with 313 00:29:56,100 --> 00:30:01,920 anorexia only truth can help a person only truth can help a person. But when it comes 314 00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:06,440 to sex and gender we're not allowed to say the truth sometimes or at least culture pushes 315 00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:15,680 back very very stiffly. So is it working? Is the answer the world gives to those that 316 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:20,520 are in a disconnected in mind and body is it working? Well some studies show this that 317 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:25,840 eighty eight percent of individuals struggling with some form of transgenderism will grow 318 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:31,640 beyond their feelings and confusion if they do not have radical treatment. In other words 319 00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:36,960 give them time to grapple with what they're feeling. Give them time to think through all 320 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:41,960 the implications of any decisions they're about to make and in time they will come fully 321 00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:47,880 adjusted to what's going on in their minds and be able to remain in the state that they 322 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:53,880 were created. That's a pretty important statistic right there eighty eight percent. And as the 323 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:59,440 years pass an increasing number of people are wanting out after transitioning to another 324 00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:06,240 gender. One very famous influencer named Ollie London I've been watching his story for a 325 00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:11,400 couple of years he was a young man raised in England who had a particular affection 326 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:17,400 for the Korean people. And so his first action as a result of dissatisfaction in his own 327 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:21,860 life was that he wanted to look more like a Korean person so he had surgery in order 328 00:31:21,860 --> 00:31:27,000 to cause his eyes and his facial structure to look more like a Korean. And he does look 329 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:31,920 Asian or Korean. He said after a period of years like that and after going to Korea and 330 00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:37,080 spending some time he realized that's not the answer to my dissatisfaction. So his next 331 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:42,120 response was I need to become a woman. And so he had the surgery that allowed him to 332 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:47,840 transition into being a woman. After a few years of that radical surgery and that different 333 00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:52,440 lifestyle he again came to the conclusion this is not what's bringing satisfaction 334 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:58,240 into my life. I'm not happy now either and now he's attempting to transition back of 335 00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:05,240 course realizing he cannot fully transition back to the male that he was when he was born. 336 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:10,360 But got a good ending to it because Ollie London says I did find Christ and in finding 337 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:16,280 Christ I did find where that missing piece was and I am satisfied in Jesus Christ. Well 338 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:21,480 that's a good word isn't it? The cause we're made in the image of God. It's not going to 339 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:25,440 be just a biological answer. It's not going to be just a physical answer. There's going 340 00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:29,440 to be a spiritual answer to that. If you go and search on the internet today you'll see 341 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:35,720 dozens and dozens of articles and links regarding de-transitioning. More and more people having 342 00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:40,560 come through the transitioning process are attempting to get back on the other side. 343 00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:45,760 So the world's perspective is when your mind and your body are disconnected change your 344 00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:51,440 body. Would you like to hear what the Bible says about that? The Bible says when the mind 345 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:58,440 and body are out of alignment accept your body and renew your mind. Renew your mind. 346 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:06,440 Now that seems like an answer that can work for all of us. What a great passage is in 347 00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:13,160 the Bible. Romans chapter 12 verse 1 and 2 talks about the renewing of our minds. And 348 00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:17,920 I don't know how often I use this text to help me through tough times when I was growing 349 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:22,800 in my faith in Jesus Christ. It says this, therefore I urge you brethren by the mercies 350 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:28,760 of God to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God. In other 351 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:34,040 words surrender your body to God. Don't take it into your own hands in terms of changing 352 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:38,080 things. Surrender it to God which is your spiritual service of worship. And then it 353 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:43,160 says and do not be conformed to this world or the way the world thinks but be transformed 354 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:48,320 by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove that which is that good acceptable and 355 00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:52,320 perfect will of God. In other words if you want to walk by God's will if you want to 356 00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:57,480 find that alignment with God it's important that your mind is transformed. When mind and 357 00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:03,440 body are out of alignment accept your body and renew your mind. Now that's what the 358 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:09,640 Bible says is the way our mind and our lives are changed on anything. It's our creator's 359 00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:16,880 way of getting back to the grand design. It's a message of biblical Christianity. Biblical 360 00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:21,120 Christianity is so very important by the way. There are some professing Christians and some 361 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:27,480 denominations that have moved away from biblical Christianity. And I would characterize their 362 00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:35,400 belief systems as not Jesus plus the scripture but Jesus minus the scripture. In other words 363 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:39,720 I want Jesus to be a part of my life. I want him to somehow affirm the changes I'm making 364 00:34:39,720 --> 00:34:45,280 in my life but I don't really want to talk about the scriptures that Jesus spoke or the 365 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:52,200 scriptures that we learn about Jesus from. So it's a departure from biblical Christianity. 366 00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:56,960 I think I need to address this today because so many churches and some denominations have 367 00:34:56,960 --> 00:35:06,400 moved completely away from a biblical understanding of gender or sexuality in general. So when 368 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:10,940 you reject biblical Christianity you no longer honor Christ or his word but you take the 369 00:35:10,940 --> 00:35:15,960 human path to giving in to thoughts and feelings and desire into what culture says. You move 370 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:21,720 away from clear scriptural truths and foundations to doubts and second guesses and heretical 371 00:35:21,720 --> 00:35:27,040 teachings. That's not true Christianity. But it's not really what Jesus called us to at 372 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:32,840 all. In fact it's completely redefined religion. Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 373 00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:38,300 3 verse 5. He said about these kinds of people they hold to a form of godliness although 374 00:35:38,300 --> 00:35:44,680 they deny the power thereof. They try to find a little affirmation there but they don't 375 00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:49,680 find any transformation. So I told you I was telling you what the Bible says about gender 376 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:59,180 or dysphoria. What culture calls dysphoria the Bible calls, are you ready for it? Deception. 377 00:35:59,180 --> 00:36:04,760 They both mean confusion. They both allude to the idea that someone has been seduced 378 00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:12,360 to wander from what's solid and what's true and out of their confusion are making decisions 379 00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:19,600 that they should not make, do not understand how it will affect them. Deception has a 380 00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:25,920 real to it. Almost always the one being deceived doesn't know they're deceived. The one being 381 00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:30,540 deceived believes they're going in the right direction. It requires someone or something 382 00:36:30,540 --> 00:36:34,760 on the outside to say can you stop for just a moment and think about where you're going. 383 00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:39,120 That's the only way a deceived person can ever turn back to moving in the direction 384 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:45,320 of the truth. Let me give you some verses very quickly that deal with sexual dysphoria, 385 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:51,200 I've read it for you. One of them is 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 9 and 10. Do you not know 386 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:56,200 that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, there's 387 00:36:56,200 --> 00:37:02,280 that word. Neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor homosexuals 388 00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:07,320 nor thieves nor the covetous nor drunkers nor revilers nor swindlers will inherit the 389 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:15,040 kingdom of God. Four out of these 11 words allude to lifestyles that deal with sexual 390 00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:21,600 or gender issues. Romans 1, 24 and 25 refer to those who worship and serve the creature 391 00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:28,000 instead of the creator and literally explicitly talk about giving themselves over to sexual 392 00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:33,600 practices contrary to what God has called them to and so they're worshiping their bodies 393 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:38,520 instead of worshiping the one that created the body. In the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 394 00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:43,560 chapter 22 verse 5 there's the admonition in Israel that a man should not dress as a 395 00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:48,280 woman that there should be no confusion there between the male or the characteristics of 396 00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:53,440 a man and the female and the characteristics of a woman. So there are verses all through 397 00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:57,400 the Bible, it would take us quite a while to walk through those but the Bible tells 398 00:37:57,400 --> 00:38:03,160 us that those lifestyles we're talking about are rejection of God's plan and design. Nowhere 399 00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:09,280 in the Bible does scripture say that God would bless such a transition, such a decision to 400 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:14,680 move away from God's design to something else and in doing so people miss the purpose of 401 00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:21,200 God for their life and the point that God has for them and for the believer these lifestyles 402 00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:28,280 are not to be affirmed but to be transformed in our lives to act to the grand design. And 403 00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:33,560 that would get to point four, how do we realize our highest purpose? How do we get back to 404 00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:38,880 that grand design? How do I resolve the war inside? How do I align my mind and body and 405 00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:43,280 there's only one answer to that and that is to come back to the grand design and the grand 406 00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:52,280 designer. Now this is where you can start clapping and saying amen when you want to 407 00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:56,160 because at the end of that very difficult passage in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 verse 408 00:38:56,160 --> 00:39:04,360 9 there is verse 11 which says, such were some of you but you were washed and you were 409 00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:09,720 sanctified and you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit 410 00:39:09,720 --> 00:39:14,360 of our God. I hope you can sense the love in this passage for all people everywhere 411 00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:19,880 because what's happening is Paul is saying look what God has for you in Corinth and look 412 00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:24,000 what God has for you in the world no matter what lifestyle you were in, no matter what 413 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:29,160 life you were living, no matter what disconnect you had in your life God draws you to himself 414 00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:33,920 and you have become washed and you've become sanctified and you've become justified in 415 00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:38,440 the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words Jesus said I'll put my stamp on your 416 00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:43,520 life as I draw you to me and transform you from the inside out. All that to say is there 417 00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:48,560 is an answer to all of this confusion and that answer is found in your creator and in 418 00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:58,120 Jesus Christ. Somebody say amen to that because that's true. Now that's available for everyone. 419 00:39:58,120 --> 00:40:06,920 By the way this is not physical therapy it's spiritual therapy. It leads us to be transformed 420 00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:12,960 by the renewing of our mind and to aspire to the design that he has for us and I want 421 00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:19,600 to say to you we'll only be happy when we're functioning as a creator designed us to create. 422 00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:25,560 There's not just a few people that would testify to that truth but millions and millions and 423 00:40:25,560 --> 00:40:30,400 millions of people testify to that truth. Not a person, not just a fraction of one percent 424 00:40:30,400 --> 00:40:35,160 but many many many people across this world. Hundreds and thousands and millions of people 425 00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:41,920 can affirm that truth. Now we have a God that has answers and a God that calls us to himself. 426 00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:47,000 Now I thought about this the other day I had a close friend that adopted a little girl 427 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:53,520 from a third world country. I remember them telling me about the process of adoption. 428 00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:57,560 They knew for many months almost a year or more that they were going to adopt this little 429 00:40:57,560 --> 00:41:03,280 girl and in the process of preparing to go there to pick her up they were trying to anticipate 430 00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:07,040 what it would be like. When they got to the orphanage they realized that their little 431 00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:12,560 girl was there in a room full of all kinds of children at all ages and their little girl 432 00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:17,360 was about three years old I think it was. She was dirty and filthy and it looked like 433 00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:21,880 the kids were kind of underfed and they realized they were on a rescue mission. And when they 434 00:41:21,880 --> 00:41:26,240 presented their papers to the person at the door the person looked and found their little 435 00:41:26,240 --> 00:41:33,120 daughter and missed that crowd. Took her aside gave her a bath in another room gave her some 436 00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:39,200 new clothing and then came out and gave her to this adoptive mom and dad and this adoptive 437 00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:44,160 mom and dad with their papers put a brand new name on this little girl. I know this 438 00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:49,200 little girl I've seen her around in recent years she's a beautiful little girl. God has 439 00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:53,880 done so much in her life as a result of that adoption process. But when I look at the word 440 00:41:53,880 --> 00:42:01,160 washed and sanctified and justified I think back to that. And I think back to the fact 441 00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:04,840 that our heavenly father sees you no matter who you are no matter what's in your life 442 00:42:04,840 --> 00:42:09,760 no matter what your background is no matter how deep into a movement or not you are and 443 00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:17,220 he sees you and he washes you and he sanctifies you chooses you to be his own and he justifies 444 00:42:17,220 --> 00:42:24,480 you and puts his name on you as his. What an incredible invitation for people anywhere 445 00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:29,360 struggling with anything. And I want that to be our message that's what the Bible's 446 00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:35,240 message is to those that struggle with transgenderism or anything else that calling them to their 447 00:42:35,240 --> 00:42:42,640 grand design that God has for them is the greatest possible thing we can do. You know 448 00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:46,480 one of the questions that people ask when it comes to this subject is how do you communicate 449 00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:51,960 with a transgender person because we're getting into the practicality of it these days. With 450 00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:57,880 chosen pronouns and different pronouns placed on Twitter feeds and other places how do we 451 00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:03,160 respond to that? And the simplest way I can answer that question is this don't let pronouns 452 00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:08,040 be the issue. I've learned that we rarely use pronouns in personal conversation with 453 00:43:08,040 --> 00:43:15,000 someone. I almost never when I'm talking with Joe who might be right in front of me use 454 00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:21,480 any pronoun at all it's always Joe or you. Honor their name whatever their name happens 455 00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:25,520 to be if they change their name to something else then use the name that they've asked 456 00:43:25,520 --> 00:43:33,720 to be called if it's Joe Bob call them Joe Bob. Honor the name honor the truth at the 457 00:43:33,720 --> 00:43:40,880 same time and honor Christ and honor the people. Don't let it be the thing that keeps you from 458 00:43:40,880 --> 00:43:45,680 helping them know there's a greater purpose for their lives. The conversation if you are 459 00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:50,360 asked and however you are able to have that conversation is that you love them and you 460 00:43:50,360 --> 00:43:55,400 want for them the highest possible purpose and the highest possible design for their 461 00:43:55,400 --> 00:44:02,040 life and the only way they'll find that is with the creator who created them. Keep offering 462 00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:11,800 them hope keep pointing them to truth honor Christ honor truth honor people. We prepare 463 00:44:11,800 --> 00:44:16,920 to queue our code for you today because some of these conversations that we need to have 464 00:44:16,920 --> 00:44:24,000 that you may want details about are requiring more time than we have this morning. Maybe 465 00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:27,480 you want to lift your camera up your phone and your camera and capture this and this 466 00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:31,960 is the website with all kinds of resources for parents or for grandparents for people 467 00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:36,000 that may be struggling with transgender issues in their life or those who want to know how 468 00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:42,680 to interact with them in some way. But look at these resources and watch God use you in 469 00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:50,240 an increasingly confused world as someone who knows the truth. I want to say to you 470 00:44:50,240 --> 00:44:53,640 this morning if you struggle with any of these things that we've talked about today in the 471 00:44:53,640 --> 00:45:00,600 sense of your own identity or how you identify I am so glad you're in this room today. I 472 00:45:00,600 --> 00:45:04,280 want you to know you're welcome here I want you to know that's important that you are 473 00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:08,520 that you're loved and that you know that you're loved. It's important for you to also understand 474 00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:13,040 that when people disagree about one aspect or another that doesn't mean that we don't 475 00:45:13,040 --> 00:45:19,280 love one another. We all disagree about some things in life don't we that we also all can 476 00:45:19,280 --> 00:45:24,080 love one another. It's important for you to leave today knowing this that God has the 477 00:45:24,080 --> 00:45:30,800 best possible plan for your life more than any any activist more than any doctor more 478 00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:38,920 than any peer. God has the best highest purpose for your life. Please listen to what he says 479 00:45:38,920 --> 00:45:45,080 and trust him with your life. He brought you here he has a plan for you after this life. 480 00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:50,320 Trust him into that moment. I'm going to ask you to bow your head and close your eyes for 481 00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:56,400 just a few moments. So many more things I want to say but our time is gone today. I 482 00:45:56,400 --> 00:46:01,720 want you to know today we have three invitations. Number one we invite you to go to our decision 483 00:46:01,720 --> 00:46:05,080 stations this morning. There will be people there that will talk to you about giving your 484 00:46:05,080 --> 00:46:10,600 life to Jesus answering perhaps questions that you may have that you want to ask but 485 00:46:10,600 --> 00:46:15,560 we would love to have that conversation with you in love. Secondly I want to invite you 486 00:46:15,560 --> 00:46:19,960 to our guest reception room. I would love to personally meet you myself. I would love 487 00:46:19,960 --> 00:46:23,720 to say hello and shake your hand and tell you more about what God is doing here at our 488 00:46:23,720 --> 00:46:28,240 church. Thirdly I want to invite you to reach out to someone else and bring them with you 489 00:46:28,240 --> 00:46:32,080 next week. Such a celebration is going to be happening next week that I don't want 490 00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:38,240 you to miss it. Let's stand together as we have a word of prayer. Father in Jesus name 491 00:46:38,240 --> 00:46:46,200 I am so very grateful for the scriptures that give us truth to walk by. Grateful so much 492 00:46:46,200 --> 00:46:52,520 Father that you called us to walk in love and compassion and in mercy. Grateful Father 493 00:46:52,520 --> 00:46:58,200 that there is not one of us that is beyond the reach of your hand. Father today I pray 494 00:46:58,200 --> 00:47:04,000 that those who desire to know you, who desire to walk in your powerful grand design for 495 00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:11,440 their lives, give them the courage to surrender to your design and to follow you. And then 496 00:47:11,440 --> 00:47:17,560 give them the fruit of that joy and that peace and that purpose that comes into their lives 497 00:47:17,560 --> 00:47:23,920 that can only be there by you. Father thank you for calling us something greater than 498 00:47:23,920 --> 00:47:29,160 ourselves. Something that is greater than this world can aspire for us to have. Something 499 00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:34,840 that aspires to your goal for our lives. We ask all this in Jesus name. Amen.