Take your Bibles if you would, turn to the book of Genesis chapter number one. Genesis chapter number one. I trust that you prayed today for this sermon tonight. And I trust that every Sunday, no matter what subject it is that I tackle, that you would pray for me as a preacher, that you'd pray that God would use this to work in hearts, And that really is our desire that the Holy Spirit would take these things and use them in a great way. We have been on these couple of verses here for a little bit, but there's so much to unpack really. And I'm going to read two verses tonight. I want you to notice verses 26 and 27 of Genesis 1. And let me read these together here. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. But now note this verse, So God created man in his own image, In the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. Tonight I'm going to go over gender identity. This will be a part two to the sermon we had a few weeks ago. Let me pray. Father, thank you for today. Thank you for tonight. I pray that Lord you would help me. Guide me. Use me, Lord. May the Holy Spirit really touch our hearts. Help us as a church as we endeavor to reach out into this society. I ask that you would protect us and help us to be bold witnesses for Christ. And I ask this all in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Seven years ago, when I first became pastor, I got an unusual call the first couple of weeks that I was here. One of the local pastors in a neighboring town had called me and said, Sarasota County, they're having some school board meetings, and the issue that they're dealing with is transgenders and the use of the restrooms in the public schools. And I thought, my goodness, I mean, I thought I was coming up to sleepy little Englewood, but here it was. I get tackled within the first weeks with a huge subject. And so sure enough, we had gathered a group of people. We took a bus and we went up to up there. Probably Florence remembers going up for that particular night. And we stood there at the school board meeting. And actually, be honest with you, I was very surprised at the school board meeting. I was very surprised because as I looked at the five school board members, the three members who were pro transgenders using the different bathrooms were older ladies. Again, nothing against older ladies, but I just thought they would have had more conservative values and would have been for proper use of the restrooms. But apparently it wasn't that way. And then there was two younger people who were on the board that took a very conservative stance. And it was a very interesting night. And all of that kind of dissipated because nationally, President Trump came in and it began to kind of just slow down in regards to particular areas, other areas it was ramped up. But it's amazing today what we are seeing. in this issue that is the fruits of the sexual revolution of the 60s and 70s. Those of you that grew up through that time and are very understanding of that time, we now today are reaping some of the sinful behaviors and thoughts and actions of those in that time period. Our culture seems to be pushing this whole issue of transgenderism more and more. As I introduce this, I'm just gonna walk through just some things that I could take the whole night and share with you, but you're familiar, you've got televisions, you watch what's going on, but let me just kind of give a brief rundown. In the year 2014, there was a Netflix show, which is called Orange is the New Black, and it featured Laverne Cox playing the role of a transgender prisoner. What made Laverne Cox's role in this miniseries significant is that he didn't just play that role in the Netflix miniseries, but Laverne Cox is a transgender man in real life. For his role in that series, he became the first openly transgender person to be featured on the cover of Time magazine. Cox was then named Woman of the Year by Glamour magazine in 2014. Do you see a problem with that? Well, a year later, into April 2015, Bruce Jenner, all of us know Bruce Jenner, an Olympic decathlete, came out as transgender in an Avery C special with Barbara Walters. Jenner said to Barbara Walters, this famous line, call me Katelyn. From that point forward, Bruce Jenner, according to him, was no more. Bruce Jenner was now a woman called Katelyn. That year, Jenner was given the Arthur Ashe Award by ESPN for courage. Jenner was also named Woman of the Year by Glamour magazine. So now this is the second year in a row that a magazine named here a Woman of the Year, a person who is a biological man. And from that point forward, Articles on transgender people became more prominent in our culture. In 2022, President Biden appointed a transgender man as the Assistant Secretary of Health in his administration by the name of Rachel Levine. It should come as no surprise that Levine was named Woman of the Year by USA Today in spite of the fact that Rachel Levine was a man. It is obvious that the media wants us to see transgender people as heroes of our culture. These are the people that we should admire. Now while Hollywood is trying to mainstream transgender ideology, the federal government has gotten on the bandwagon and is trying to mandate it. Back a few years ago, I think it was in 2019, New York City, it was enacted that you could be fined up to a quarter of a million dollars for intentionally and repeatedly misgendering someone and using pronouns and a name based on a person's biological sex instead of the sex that they psychologically believe themselves to be. Let's move to another state. A very conservative state. No, I'm just kidding. California. In October of 2017, the governor of California signed a new law that can send health care workers to jail for failing to use a person's chosen pronouns if they claim to identify with a different gender other than their biological gender. How about the National Education Association? Well, this is the largest teachers union in the nation. And this association worked with the LGBTQ activists to create a document called Schools in Transition. Now that word transition already just makes me kind of think through what this is all about. But this document written by these LGBTQ activists and endorsed by the NAA is intended to guide schools on a how to handle transgender students. In other words, the guidelines in this document say that a boy or a man who claims to be a girl or woman is to be given full access to the women's lockers room and shower. Other students and parents are to be given no advance warning of a transgender students present in a woman's bathroom facility. In other words, if a biological woman expresses concerns that a biological male who identifies as a woman is using the woman's locker room and shower facilities, that woman is told that this is a real woman and should be treated like one. If a biological woman continues to feel her privacy is violated by that man's presence, she is to use a separate private bathroom for her comfort. But in no case should that transgender who claims to be a woman be restricted from full access to those bathrooms and facilities. Now, if you think this is nonsense, let's just go back about a year ago, nine months ago, July 27th, 2022, Fox News article. If you watch Fox News, you've heard of a young Kentucky swimmer, University of Kentucky swimmer by the name of Riley Gaines. I've heard her. She's very well-spoken, very articulate. But she talked about not only the difficulty of competing against the transgender Leah Thomas, But she also talked about being forced to have Leah Thomas use the women's lockers and showers during NCAA national competitions. Now as you can see, and again, I could continue going on and on tonight, I think you get the picture. As you and I can see, this issue of transgenderism has come on full force. It is as if yesterday's uncontested nonsense has become today's accepted wisdom. And I am just amazed, since I have been here as pastor, how this train has been moving faster and faster and faster. And so I say to you tonight that as a church, as a preacher, we as a church body, we cannot overlook what is taking place in our culture. We cannot be like an ostrich and go ahead and put our heads in the sand and just say, well, it'll go away. I'm telling you, it's not going away. We have to know how to address these issues for the sake of our children, and so we can better reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ, because whether it be transgender people, or alcoholics, or drug addicts, or whatever the sin is, people need to understand and receive the forgiveness and life-changing power of Jesus Christ. That's the answer for all of this. So tonight, let's dive into the subject and answer three simple but very important questions. First of all, what's the culture telling us? Second, what does the Bible teach us? Thirdly, what should the church do about all this? First question, what's culture telling us? Well, describing the times would be a little bit to understand, and I've kind of given you a little bit, but I want to talk now about this word transgender. The term transgender was first made popular by androchronologist Harry Benjamin in the 1960s. He taught that sex is a biological trait while gender is a psychological trait. He claimed that a person could be one sex below the belt but completely different gender above the belt. And that's the way the transgender movement today sees it. Just because you are a biological man does not mean that you are a psychological man. And so transgender really is an umbrella term for people who are born, as the Bible says, male or female. but who think that their gender identity differs from their birth sex and they want to express themselves differently. How will they do that? Well, they will do it by cross-dressing, they will do it by cross-sex hormone therapy, or even at the worst here, sex reassignment surgery. And I must say to you tonight that as we think about these times, I cannot help but reiterate the fact that there is a huge push in our culture for acceptance of this. It's like everything else that goes on. When people get on the bandwagon of sin in our world, they don't want to just say, well, this is just where I'm going to live. Many times it's, you've got to be forced to accept where I am. And so you look here at the whole aspect of what is being done in Hollywood, in our federal government, and how amazing it is to think about that we are speaking about, and it's hard to really identify what the statistics really are for transgender, but truthfully, those who identify as transgender are anywhere from 0.6% to a little bit over 1%. We're talking about a minority that is screaming out like they're the majority. And they're pushing that. Let's define the terms for just a moment. What's the culture telling us? Well, we described the times a little bit. How about defining the terms? First of all, LGBTQIA+. Isn't it amazing how many different letters have been added on? Just add on what you want. Well, what does this acronym stand for? I'll quickly go through it. L stands for lesbian, G for gay, B for bisexual, T for transsexual, Q for queer or questioning. I for intersex. Now intersex is an umbrella term describing people born with reproductive or sexual anatomy and or a chromosome pattern that can't be classified as typically male or female. Then the letter A is asexual. This is a person who does not experience sexual attraction or desire to have sexual relationships. And then the plus is anything else that needs to be added in. We basically say, well, we've used enough letters. Let's go ahead and throw the plus in here. Now, why the acronym? Well, to me, it's a banner for those who feel marginalized that they can rally together under. Kind of reminds me a little bit of the Tower of Babel where people gathered together. and kind of rallied under a certain theme, if you will. Let me take another term, the term gender. Throughout most of our life and throughout history, the terms sex and gender have been used interchangeably, but not according to transgenders. You may be one particular sex, if you will, but as far as your gender, you might think you're something different. Then the term gender bending. This refers to the intentional crossing or the blending of accepted gender norms. So gender bending is done by people going ahead and adopting the dress, the mannerisms or roles of the opposite gender, or they might go ahead and hide what their gender particularly is. Then the term gender dysphoria. Now truthfully, it's amazing how much of this stuff has made it into the so-called medical books. Gender dysphoria is a medical term now today that is used by the American Psychological Association for people who experience a difference between their biological sex and the sex that they consider themselves to be in their minds. They say they are a woman trapped in a man's body or a man trapped in a woman's body and therefore that person is experiencing gender dysphoria. Now this term has been adopted by the DSM. This is the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders. Or I like to call it the Bible of Psychiatry. And it actually replaces the previous term that was used, gender identity disorder. It's amazing that in 1994, the DSM labeled this mismatch as a psychological disorder. So somebody who might have been a man and thought that they were a woman, back then they said this was a disorder. but today they want to kind of soften it and say it's a gender dysphoria. And it's not so much that the difference that is here, this person who is in this particular body but thinks it's another, it is the distress that this person is under that is the problem. So that's again, gender dysphoria. Here's a word, number five, cisgender. Cisgender. This word is used by transgender activists to refer to people that are not transgender. Cisgender means there's a match between one's biological gender and the gender one considers themselves to be in their mind. Now, this is a term actually created by transgender people themselves, the activists. Because before, here was the question that was asked. Are you normal or abnormal? Well, they didn't want to be looked at as abnormal. And so therefore, they created their own terminology so that way all of this would be accepted in a very neutral way. Another term, I'm almost done here, gender binary. Gender binary. This is another term, again created by transgender activists, to be a derogatory way of referring to people who believe that the human race has only two genders, male and female. Most transgender people are taught, if you will, to think of gender on a spectrum. In other words, you can have all different kinds of gender or no gender at all. Now, if you look at, let's just throw out this one social media, on Facebook, there's at least 50 types of gender that you can check off that you'd like to be. So some of you tonight after the sermon can figure out what you'd like to, no, I'm just kidding. But honestly, you look at Facebook, and I mean, this is just what they're doing, and this is what's happening out there. Gender fluid. Here's another term. This is a person who alternate between a man and a woman They change genders based on how they feel last two terms. I'll give you and then we're going to get into what the Bible says It's genderist and transphobia These are terms again created by transgender activists to describe anyone who is not transgender affirming So if you do not affirm transgender beliefs and ideology, they call you a genderist, which is kind of a gender racist. If you do not agree with transgender beliefs and lifestyles, you are considered guilty of transphobia. That's an irrational fear of transgender people. And really, the standard talking point of the transgender movement is that people who do not agree with transgender idolatry are guilty of creating hatred in our society. Pretty amazing. But it is estimated here that between 31 to 50% of those who struggle with transgender feelings will attempt suicide at least one time in their life. Now the blame that they want to put on this is not because of the actions that they have taken upon themselves. They want to blame those who are out there that are transphobic and genderist and are not willing to affirm and accept where these people are. Those of you who hold to Judeo-Christian sexual values and you are high on your morals, you are the ones creating the hatred in our society and causing people to go through this distress that they're going through. Anybody who does not accept the transgender lifestyle is considered ignorant, uneducated, a gender racist, and a purveyor of hatred in our society. How amazing it is that they take and turn the tables and start dictating the terms and the conversation. But that's why we get into number two, because really where your conversation has to be is, what does the Bible say? What does the Bible say? Now you say, preacher, well, you looked at a couple of verses and I'm not sure what you're gonna say. Well, let me give you three things that you can think of. Again, I'm highlighting some things. I'm not gonna be able to give a lot of stuff here tonight, but I want you to, first of all, I want you to know this. This may seem a little odd, but I wanna give this. First of all, the Bible addresses abnormalities. I want you to take your Bibles, turn to the book of Matthew, the first book in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 19 and verse number 12. Matthew chapter 19 and verse number 12. I'm sure all of you have read your Bible and have read about a certain particular person called a eunuch. Well, Jesus addresses this in Matthew 19 verse 12. He says, for there are some eunuchs which were so born. From their mother's womb and there are some eunuchs which are made eunuchs of men and there be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuch for the kingdom of heaven sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. Now what was a eunuch? Well, a eunuch was usually descriptive of a man who had been castrated. It was common in Bible times for the rulers of a conquering nation to take young boys pre-puberty from among the new subjects and castrate them. The boys would be used for duties very close to the king. Sometimes, as they got older, would be given very important political roles. And they would be given these roles because they weren't able to leave any type of legacy, genetic legacy. And it was thought, because they had been castrated, that they would be more loyal to the monarch. And also, because of their physical limitations, They could be body servants of the king, be around the king's wives, and the king wouldn't have any fear that there was any messing around going on. But please note that Jesus gave three types of eunuchs in Matthew 19, 12. Notice he says, those who were born that way. This might be if we use the term today, intersex, those who are born with this abnormality. Then Jesus references, there are those who are made that way, they've been castrated, but then there are those who Jesus said have chosen to be celibate. Now, notice here, the statement Jesus makes here in the end of verse number 12, he that is able to receive it, let him receive it. That is, those that decide, They've not gotten married. They're going to be celibate for God. They're going to go ahead and live totally for Him. God says here that for those who have decided to live that way, let Him receive that. Now, why am I mentioning tonight about Matthew 19 and 12 and this particular abnormality? Well, amongst transgender activists, they will validate their viewpoints because of those that are born with these abnormalities. They will cite that it is estimated that 1.7% of the population is intersex. But this statistic really, as I did some study, is a bloated statistic because it includes women who have lost an ovary or other issues that arise in the course of a lifetime with their sexual organs. And the reality is that those with a true disorder of sexual development is actually about .018%. It seems to me that people who want to prove a point will always talk about the abnormalities. You ever hear about people that want to go ahead and prove abortion and talk about how abortion should be legal and various things because of rape or incest or some of the minor problems? And really, when you look at the statistics, again, I'm not denying that those things happen, but they are riding on the small statistics. Let me go ahead and just take here this abnormality Actually, I'm going to skip over that. I want to say here about this aspect of this abnormality in what Jesus said in verse number 12. He was not supporting transgenderism in this passage. I was going to cite to you an article that somebody had written and had taken this passage and said, see, Jesus here is giving credence to those who are transgender. But I want you to note that in this passage, if you look at the context, Jesus was asked a question about marriage, more specifically about divorce and remarriage. And when the disciples heard the answer that Jesus gave, they responded by saying, look, if that's the case, then it's good not to marry. But Jesus indicates that marriage is God's intended design except for those whom God has prescribed differently and those who are willing to say, I'm going to be celibate for God. Let me note two, second thing about what God has done here, what the Bible teaches. And that is God's creation design. Now you read it with me, the last phrase of verse number 27. He created them male and female. May I add this? Period. He created them male and female. Period. Those two genders are tied to the roles that Adam and Eve had in the grand design. Now, if you didn't hear the message that I preached a few weeks ago, part number one, I would encourage you to listen to that because it's very important to get that foundation. And it's very important here to understand these roles. God had specific intended roles for both Adam and Eve. When God created Adam, he intended him to be the one who would lay down his life for his wife to provide for her and to lead her. When God created Eve, He created her with a uterus to deliver a baby. He created her with breasts with which to nourish and feed a baby. But think further about this for just a moment. Those two genders are the basis of any and all other relationships that you see through the various stages of people in the Bible. Think of the development of children born and the roles that they will fulfill. Let me just read these for just a moment and just think, are there any others that are part of these particular subjects? Son and daughter. Do you read of any other child as another gender? Boy and girl. brother and sister, young man and young woman. Now, these are all Hebrew words that are used walking through the Old Testament. Bridegroom and bride, father and mother, father-in-law and mother-in-law, uncle and aunt, manservant and maidservant, prophet and prophetess, prince and princess, king and queen. My friend, I want to tell you something. A person's biological sex reveals and determines their actual gender and the roles that they're going to carry out in this life. A male can only be a son and can only truly become a father. That's it. Only a female can truly be a daughter and truly become a mother. Now, some people say, well, well, preacher, I tell you, there's been some people that have quoted Matthew chapter 22, verse number 30, and talk about how in heaven there's no genders. Now, how many of you have heard somebody say there's no genders in heaven? Anybody heard that? All right. You won't find that in Scripture. In fact, they quote Matthew 22, 30, let me read it. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. That passage doesn't say anything about the elimination of sexes. In fact, it implies the opposite. Because those who are male, guess what's gonna happen in heaven? They'll not marry. Those that are female, when they're in heaven, they'll not be given in marriage. Who's the one that marries? It's the husband, if you will. It's the male. Who's the one that is given in marriage? The female. What Jesus intended, He's not eliminating the sexes, the genders. He's just confirming here that they are there. Genesis 2, verse 7. I want you to mark this down. I'm not going to go into it in depth, but when I look at God's created design, male and female, I also think about something else that God did. God created here the body and soul as one unit. Now here's what the transgender activist will tell you. Well, there is a difference between me physically and me psychologically. What they're saying is, my body is one thing, but my mind tells me I'm something else. Well, you look at Psalm 139, verses 13 to 16, and look at how God intricately created every part of you. The inward part of you. That soul making you who you are. That body that He gave to you. The Bible, if you go through it, it gives no indication that our soul is in the wrong body. In the book Transgender, Sam Alberry puts it this way, and I quote, Our culture says your psychology is your sexual identity. Let your body be conformed to it. The Bible says your body is your sexual identity. Let your mind be conformed to it. And that's the problem that is going on here today. Third thing I want to give here about what the Bible says is God desires a distinction. Would you turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 22. Deuteronomy chapter 22. Look at verse number five. The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God. Now, I want you to notice here, first of all, two things about this verse. First, note the word abomination. The word abomination is a very strong word. It means that which is detestable or loathsome. But second, I want you to notice here that he talks about this idea of cross-dressing as an abomination. Now, I know when I look through the Old Testament, I've seen homosexuality as an abomination. I've seen idolatry as an abomination. And yet, he puts here that cross-dressing is an abomination. Well, the passage here doesn't necessarily indicate that this would be tied in with homosexuality, but I want to go ahead and draw from this passage here. I think the thrust of this is that God desires a distinction. Because he established man and women in creation and desires that that distinction be preserved. Now. I understand cultures have changed and I'm not talking about the sinful areas. I'm not talking tonight about wearing t-shirts or jeans or various things. I'm not referring to all that. I think the things that we can be safe on to talk about is that God is giving a strong warning. What's the abomination? It is the intentional cross-dressing. particularly for the purpose of bending, that gender bending term, or disguising one's true gender. And I think it's, again, I don't want to belabor this point, but there's other passages. You might tie this in with 1 Corinthians 6, verses 9 through 10. There's the word effeminate that is used. Very strong word that is used here. And it's really of a person, and I'm just going to simply state this, the word effeminate is a reference to a man playing the part of a woman in a homosexual relationship. That's the crux of that word that is given there. And Paul's denouncing that. And he's wanting to make sure that amongst us in our society that there is a distinction between men and women. 1 Corinthians 11, there's another passage in the New Testament, which again, Paul gets into, and he's talking about the head. The head of the man is Christ. The head of the woman is man. And he's talking about the headdress. Now, I don't think there's anything in particular that we have today that correlates to the headdress that necessarily was part of the first century Christians of that day. But I think that as you look at Deuteronomy 22 and 1 Corinthians chapter 11, and you look through these passages, again, God is trying to draw a distinction. Let me wrap it up here in just a few moments with this thought. How should our church respond? How do we grasp all this? What do we do with it? It seems like we're being bombarded and being pushed and we have relatives and various things that have jumped over into this avenue and we're trying to learn how to deal with them. Well, I'm gonna give you just a couple of things. First of all, number one, remember that the fall has affected our whole being. It's affected every part of it. It's quite incredible how we read about this idyllic world that God created, the Garden of Eden, and then the Fall. And we know that the Fall had its effect here, that there was sin that came upon man, and death, and everybody was going to die and go to hell, and that death affected every man. But I want to tell you something, it's not just in the area that sin ruined hear these things, but it corrupted and twisted the thinking of mankind. Sin gives us perverted desires and a perverted thought life. Is it not amazing that you move from Genesis chapter three, the fall, and then all of a sudden the first thing you see is one brother killing another? What would have pervaded the thinking here of Cain? How did his thinking get so corrupted that he'd say to himself, I'm going to take the life of my brother. But sin is especially corruptive when it comes to our sexual desires. You read Romans 1, verses 25-27, how man has forgotten the worship of the Creator, and he's worshiping creation and the created beings, and he's falling into pleasure, and his whole mindset is corrupted. Can I say to you that when that corruption is there in the mindset, mankind, men and women, will fill themselves with sexual passion for the same gender and not just the opposite gender. As part of the corrupted sinful sexual desires, men and women won't just find themselves attracted to the wrong gender, but sin also gives people the desire to become the wrong gender. And that's what the fall has affected. But secondly, I want to give this verse and this thought, and that is you and I as a church ought to reach out with mercy and truth. We ought to reach out with mercy and truth. Listen to this verse in Proverbs 16, verse six. By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. Now, amazing verse that Jesus gave, Matthew chapter 12, it describes the ministry of the Lord Jesus where it says that a bruised reed he would not break. Jesus did not come to go ahead and saddle you even more with the problems. Jesus came to liberate you. Jesus came to free you and me from the shackles of sin. He didn't come to bruise, to break those bruised reeds. All of us find ourselves bruised in this life. And I'll have to say that amongst Christian circles, I have found those, whether they be pastors or particular churches or particular church groups, that are very hard on sin and sinful people. And I'm not saying that we ought to lighten up on sin. I'm not saying that we ought to couch it. I'm not saying that we ought to throw some wet blankets and just forget about it. We ought to stand against sin in this evil day. But God has called us to hate the sin and love the sinner. We are to hate that which is evil. But boy, we're to love those people who find themselves confused. who find themselves corrupted in their thinking and following the ways of the world. You say, well, Pastor, what is our job here? How is this? Well, I want you to think about it. When it comes to truth, you and I ought to stand for, we ought to proclaim, we ought to lead people to the truth of God's Word. But we ought to do so in a loving, compassionate and gracious manner. How do you apply this? What happens if a transgender attends our church? Well, here's the truth aspect. First, if they're coming in the right spirit of just being a part of the worship service and not a detractor, I would say like any sinner, they're welcome to be part of the service. The gospel is for them. But second, from a practical standpoint, we ought to be on guard, safeguarding our facilities and people. But the cold reality is that a transgender person is every bit a sinner as a person who was beating his spouse the night before. He's every bit a sinner as a person who was drunk five out of seven nights a week and came into church with his kids and wife. Transgender is every bit a sinner as the man who's been searching porn half the night before coming to church, or the wife who's been stepping out on her husband. Everyone's a sinner before God. And sinners are welcome because the grace and gospel of Jesus Christ is for every one of them. So it is sin, yes, that's the truth. We see it and we identify it as such, but we love them. We love them right where they are. Now you say, what's our focus? How do we love them? Our main focus is to point them to Jesus Christ. Now, it might be that God goes ahead and calls you to go ahead and attack the particular things that they're thinking, but I'm telling you what, it is imperative that we point them to Jesus and that they find their acceptance in Jesus Christ and know that Jesus loves them. The greatest need for those that have undergone surgery or that are experiencing gender dysphoria or are identifying with the opposite sex is to bring them to Christ and to let them see that they can be reconciled to God once again. I love what Jesus said in Matthew 11. He said, come unto me. He didn't disqualify anybody. Jesus knew that in 2023 we'd be dealing with what we're dealing with. But to all of those who are dealing with sin problems and are confused and find themselves wrapped up and don't know where to turn, Jesus says, come unto Me. Oh, ye who labor, you're trying to find your satisfaction here. You're trying to find your identity over here. But Jesus says, if you come to me, I'll give you rest. You'll find it in me. And every person out there that's dealing with this, I know we look at it and we go, oh, it's awful and I hate this. But my heart breaks for these people. It breaks. Because they're confused. And truthfully, we've got the answer. It's very easy to go ahead and chase them away and say, well, we don't want that kind here. No, no. If we don't want that kind here, then I don't deserve to be here. All of us need the grace and mercy of God. What do you do with a relative who is identified as transgender? Well, the truth part is don't sugarcoat the situation. Let them know what you believe if you've been asked. But love them. Point them to Jesus Christ. And third area is this, and I'm done. Reinforce biblical and practical truths with our children. You know where they're going today? It's amazing. It's one thing to deal with it with adults, but it's amazing what's happening in our schools. Help children find acceptance as God made them. Now I want to tell you, I want to help you with something. And this is something that fundamental Christianity has been facing for the last 20, 25 years. For all too often, so many churches have focused on the outside. If you dress a certain way, act a certain way, do certain things, you're in good stead. And we have so long focused on the outside that we have forgotten the heart. And you know what Jesus was concerned about? The heart. And I want to tell you something. What happens with these young people who are in these schools, not every school, not every teacher, but in many different places is pressing these things. What is happening is these kids are starting to think, well, am I this way? Should I think this way? We need to help kids to start thinking and know that God has accepted you just who you are. We ought to do this in our homes and in our churches. We ought to teach boys how to act and think like men and young girls how to act and think like ladies. It's sad. But that has to happen. And as a church, we need to help parents to have these conversations. I've given a book here recently to our pastoral staff, and we will be getting together soon and going over some things that are very important. And we'll begin implementing some things in our children and teen ministry and beginning to go through some things that we can help ourselves and arm ourselves. But I want to encourage you tonight. And the invitation is going to be simple. Twofold, number one, I want to ask God to protect us as a church. Not every person who is of the transgender movement is antagonistic and is mean, but many are. It'll be easy to come through to the churches and just say, well, because you preached against this, because you talked about this, we're going to make life hard for you. Safety is of the Lord, and I want to ask for God's protection as we minister. But number two, we need to pray for our children. We need to pray that God would help us to reach out to those who need Jesus.