God Made Them male an female

Part of building the kingdom of God means sometimes, you play strong defense.

we don’t want to default into playing defense at all times, otherwise we never put any points on the board

any general or coach will tell you - there are times when we need to stop the enemy gaining ground before we can push back.

Crisis Pregnancy centers? That’s defense.

But a pregnancy center that connects unbelieving mamas in crisis to a local Bible believing church? That’s forcing a turnover.

And a church that equips these young women to raise their children up in the fear and admonition of the Lord - now we’re talking offense.

Today - we’re going to play a bit of defense, and try to lay out the strategy for offense on the back side.

admittedly, I’m not a big fan of defense. I’d rather be pushing things forward, but it seems like we’ve gotta start somewhere.

God’s design is under siege, and as a result we need to spend a little time today tearing down the seige towers and catapults of the enemy.

but my hope, is that by the end, I can at least show you a hope of the glorious future. How God’s design is the best, and how we as his people can work to build and fight towards it together.

Gen 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

I’m sure you’ve all seen the news. I typically don’t like to engage with national news topics, but this one lives here as well

And it will definitely be a fight for your children more and more, depending on your family’s social circles

and you will be tempted here more and more in the coming years.

so I figure I’ve gotta take up the sword on this issue and equip us all well to work through it.

First - Let’s get our terms right.

God made man and woman.

God knits us together in our mother’s wombs

God assigns gender at conception.

And no matter what - this cannot be changed.

no matter what surgical procedures are undergone, no matter what is chopped off, what is atrophied, or what is implanted, or what hormone supplemants are taken… nothing changes this fact.

however, mankind, in it’s surpression of the truth - will still try.

and not just on adults, but attempts on legalization of mutilating a childs genitals without the knowledge of the parents are already underway - and in some instances - in place.

this is nothing new.

DEMONS in the OT manifested themselves as false gods, the Baals and the Molechs.

and what was sacrificed to these false gods… children.

now we just call it “medical care.”

Thats Demonic. Creation itself being turned upside down. Attempted to be undone.

The attempted undoing of creation is demonic, it’s not just confused, it’s not just misguided.

the enemy comes to steal, kill, destroy… to undo, in other words.

we’ve gotta know what we’re dealing with here.

It is the undoing of God’s creation, it is the opposite of creation, it is destruction, and this is demonic.

Eph 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Secondly - not only is it demonic, but it is a violation of the image of God - a rebellion against the imago Dei.

God made you in his image - either he made you male in his image or female in his image.

and for you to decide you know better is not just a rebellion against God himself, but demanding you want your image to be different.

this is why the natural progression of this demonic deterioration is no longer “I’m a man trapped in a woman’s body” but “I’m a cat trapped in a humans body.”

It’s a rebellion against his image.

SO WHAT ARE WE TO DO

WELL, we’ve got some repenting to do for sure.

Eph 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

this is exactly what it’s talking about.

Now, we know how the fight ends, Jesus wins. And we know what’s happening right now, he’s winning.

He’s ruling and reigning now and expanding his kingdom.

1 Cor 15:24-26 “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

BUT! We need to determine how it is that he wins… and this is a concept that many Christians miss.

look back at Eph 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

who’s wrestling? who’s fighting? WE ARE.

Now look back at 1 Cor 15:24-26 “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

When is Jesus ruling and reigning? NOW.

Who wins? JESUS DOES.

How does he win - THROUGH HIS CHURCH.

And wehre does Eph 6:12 come from? WHATS THE CONTEXT

Right smack out of the middle of Paul’s analogy of the armor of God.

And what is the weapon of our warfare? The sword that is the word.

AND WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO CHRISTIANS IN THE LAST 50 YEARS?

we’ve gotten comfortable, lazy, complacent.

we’ve become “conservatives”

which means you only eveer play defense. All you do is conserve.

we’ve been shamed into silence.

or we’ve been convinced (and I used to believe this) that we have to EARN our right to speak to people.

That’s not true!! I REPENT.

What does the parable of the sower teach? That we cast the word of God anywhere and as often as we can.

SO - in review - we ADVANCE - we BUILD AND FIGHT - WITH THE WORD - AND JESUS WINS - by us wielding his word.

all of his word.

and if parts of his word make you uncomfortable and you are too ashamed by the culture around you to say them out loud

confess that as sin, because that’s what it is.

Luke 9:26 “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”

And don’t be ashamed.

There are lives on the line here.

Love them enough to say what is true.

Love them enough to make an effort to set them free.

Don’t resign to send them away to death and demonic destruction because of your complacency.

and not only will they perish - but their blood is on your hands.

Ezek 3:18 “If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.”

But rather - set them free.

John 8:34-36 “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

And how do we do it?

Wield the sword.

Wield the word.

Roman 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Romans 10:14-17 “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

Move forward. Fight forward. Do not be ashamed.

Proclaim what is true. And let God do the work.

Do not be shamed into silence.

Do not be lazy with complacency.

Do not desire to keep your social status.

But labor for the souls of the lost.

Proclaim what is true.