Here are a few questions I’d like to look into today…

• I love my gay friend. How can I love them and believe how they live is wrong?
• Can you be Christian and gay/transgender, non binary? What do we do with family members / kids who identify this way?
• How is being LGBTQ wrong if God created us and we are born that way?
• How should we talk to kids about sexual confusion / gender identity?

[1 Peter 3:15-16]

 “Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way…”

[Ephesians 6:12]

“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT OUR IDENTITY AND SEXUALITY?

[Genesis 1:27-28]

“So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply…’”

Truth #1: Mankind was created in God’s image

[Psalm 139:13-14]

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.”

[1 Corinthians 6:19-20]

“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”

Truth #2: Mankind was created Male and Female

[Genesis 1:27]

“So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Definition of Terms:

SEX – Male or female, typically with reference to chromosomes, internal reproductive anatomy, and external genitals. Mark Yarhouse: Understanding Gender Dysphoria

GENDER IDENTITY – “A person’s self-perception of whether they are male or female, masculine or feminine.” Andrew Walker: What does the Bible say about gender identity.

GENDER DYSPHORIA – The sense of mismatch between physical sex (body) and psychological gender identity (mind). Nancy Pearcey: Love Thy Body

TRANSGENDER – An umbrella term for many experiences of identity that do not align normatively with a person’s biological sex. Mark yarhouse and Julie Sadiusky: Emerging Gender Identities

The irreconcilable difference between the world and the Word is how they see PERSONHOOD differently

[Romans 7:22-23]

“I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.

[Romans 7:24-25]

“Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.”

[Romans 12:1-2]

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.  Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

[Acts 8:27-28]

“So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship,  and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.”

[Acts 7:35]

“So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus.”

[Isaiah 56:4-5]

“For this is what the Lord says: I will bless those eunuchs who keep my sabbath days holy and who choose to do what pleases me and commit their lives to me. I will give them – within the walls of my house – a memorial and a name far greater than sons and daughters could give. For the name I give them is an everlasting one. It will never disappear!”

NO ONE is beyond God’s love or his grace!

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