Address on Homosexuality and Transgenderism from the Churchs perspective

Christian Joy, the Holy Spirit, and the Need for Clear Truth

Organized up here a bit, I am thankful for the assurance, the presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of His people today. I am thankful for being able to rejoice. Some may think to themselves, what's wrong with them people?

Well, it's not so much it's what's wrong, but I would have to go out on a limb and say it's what's right. It is not anything that we have done that we deserve to, and I'll use the word right here, feel the presence of the Lord like we did, but it's of His mercy that we do this.

And it stems and begins and starts with the sovereign work of God regenerating the heart of man, giving new birth to the dead sinners, the truth be told. The dead sinner giving life and causing us to be able to respond appropriately to God.

I believe shouting is an appropriate response from time to time. I believe crying is an appropriate response from time to time. I believe silence is an appropriate response from time to time. There ain't no pattern.

There ain't no cookie cutter pattern that everybody is going to be the same thing at the same times. But there is appropriateness, and I think any time when we are obedient to the Spirit of God, it is appropriate and it is right.

So again, let me get me some information up here. I have been much afraid to stand and to preach the message I'm going to preach and to communicate what I'm going to communicate today, not so much really because of what the content is, because the content is truth and scriptural, but my concern has been the ability that I will have to communicate it clearly and succinctly so that you can take away from the vast amount of information that I'm probably going to be giving to you and sharing with you today and make sense of that.

So that's only something God can do. So before we do anything, let's go to God in prayer today. Heavenly Father, Lord, I admit to You that as every week, that this task that I have to preach Your Word is bigger than what I'm able to do with God.

And yet, I have the assurance from Your Word through the Holy Spirit, and I can say in agreement with the Apostle Paul, that though I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me today, God.

And so God, I just ask You to take the weakness of my sinful flesh. I ask You to take the weakness of my frail mind and my feeble works, God, and to be glorified through this broken vessel of Yours today.

For it's in Jesus' name I pray, amen and amen. Praise the Lord, Shirley. In the book of Philippians, where we had left off, I'm going to read just a little bit there, and we're going to be going back just to a couple of verses as our text of Scripture.

And I want to say, as I'm turning there to the book of Philippians this morning, that the subject matter of the message that we're going to be addressing today has not only been historically an issue and a challenge to be addressed historically, but also presently.

Part of the challenge that I have today is not feeding myself into this or my emotions, so very much so much of what we say today may be just kind of straight talk. Because, listen, I'm very passionate, I'm very emotional as a person, I'm very passionate and very much emotional as a preacher, but I do not want you to confuse my passion as a misguided zeal today for what I'm going to address with you, but simply as, I guess, the outworking of a God and a truth that's too big for me to contain in so much of a simple form when I'm not that good of a speaker in the first place.

Philippians 1:27–2:12 and Conduct Worthy of the Gospel

But in any case, the book of Philippians chapter 1 verse 27, the Apostle Paul is writing to the Philippian believers and he's encouraging them to hold fast to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is writing to them, and in verse 27 he said, Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God.

For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now here is in me. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind.

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a bond-servant, took upon Him the form of a servant, took upon Him the form of a slave to God, and coming in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Wherefore God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Verse 12.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

And so this morning, picking up from verse 27 down to verse 12 in the second chapter, what we want to bring to your attention this morning is, number one, Paul is addressing the Christians at Philippi.

He is addressing those who are going to have to suffer hardships for the sake of the gospel. By the way, suffering for the sake of the gospel means when we take a stand for the sake of the gospel that we will risk being disapproved of by the world.

But we do not seek the approval of this world. We seek the approval of the one true and living God. We rise and we stand before God. If you are lost today, if you are outside of the grace of God today, then friend, know this, you think that you rise and you think that you live only unto yourself, but God is the God of the dead as well as the God of the living.

You will stand before the judgment seat of God. And friends, Jesus Christ, in a simple statement here at the beginning, Jesus Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. Now, that is not a few, that is all.

All of us have been dead in trespasses and sins. If you are saved, you have been made alive and quickened together in Jesus Christ. Amen. So, that being said, the church, the church of Jesus Christ, as a whole, it is okay many times from the perception of the world and even sadly from the perception of many churches, it is okay when the church stands and when the church preaches against sin in general, but when sin specific begins to be named, folks begin to get uncomfortable.

Folks are very much comfortable with ambiguity. Folks are very much comfortable with non-clarity. But when things begin to be cleared up, when things begin to get into razor focus, folks begin to get uncomfortable and church, and when I say church, I am talking to the redeemed of God, church, you do not need to become comfortable with the ambiguous, you need to become comfortable with the clear truth that is laid out in the pages of the word of God.

Church Discipline, Covenant Membership, and the Faith Promise Controversy

So, that being said, we are going to address an issue that has come up recently within the news, and that is the issue of Faith Promise Church in Maryville. They have taken a stand against a homosexual, a lesbian couple joining the church.

They are facing backlash. Now, surely, certainly, there have been issues. Maybe it could have been handled earlier. It could have been handled different ways. That is neither here nor there. The issue is this, that as the church of Jesus Christ, according to the word of God, there are things that are marked out as definite sin that we are to avoid and we are to preach against.

That does not mean that we do not love them. Let me make that clear from the beginning. If any of you have been here for any time, you have heard me say this years ago. Listen, when it comes to folks who live in a homosexual lifestyle, we have friends that are openly gay.

But friends, let me tell you something. Being openly gay does not make being gay right in the sight of God. If a gay person comes through this door, guess what I am going to do?

I am going to shake their hand.

If I know them, I will hug their neck. First timers, by the way, if it is your first time being here, that will be the last handshake that you all will get. From now on, you will get hugged, whether you like it or not.

But friends, we are to love sinners. But at the same time, we must stand firm on the truth of the word of God. So, what has happened within the news, and I am going to read you a couple of excerpts from the news article that was written, and then I am going to communicate to you, and I want you, as best you can, to take some notes.

I am going to share with you a statement that was put out back in August of last year by the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, clearly defining the church's stance on homosexuality and transgenderism.

Now, again, I know this is not going to make me the most popular person in the world. After we are done today, you may get backlash from this, and say, your preacher says this. No, your preacher is not saying, hate homosexuals.

Your preacher is saying, love them as individual people who have been made in the image of God, but let them know that that is not an acceptable lifestyle before a holy God. So, this news article says this.

I am just going to read you some of the things I have highlighted. Two women, Courtney and Jessica Ryder, married and have two children, age 5 and 12. The church's decision concerning faith promise, the church's decision not to allow the Blount County couple to be a part of the core group, was based on the church's belief that marriage is between a man and a woman.

The pastor told them. Down a little bit further, weeks turned into months as the family came each Sunday, tithed and volunteered in different ministries, the couple's daughter was baptized, and on January 21st of this year, so were Jessica and Courtney.

The baptism was broadcast via live feed across the Faith Promise campus. Now, what I intend to do today is to give some clarity on statements of faith for Reformation Baptist Church. Because I cannot stand and declare that this church down here should believe everything that we believe, but as a pastor I have a responsibility to stand and to communicate to you the body so that you are aware what we believe concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Weeks turned into months. So, know this article that says that they were baptized January 21st of this year. And they wanted to sign the papers, by the way, just so you know it is a point of clarity. Church membership is not a contractual agreement that any of you are asked to enter into.

By contractual agreement, a contractual agreement is something you enter into when you buy a house. A contractual agreement is something that you enter into when you get a new car. Everybody understand what I'm saying?

By contract, you sign a contract and you say, I'm going to do this, this, and this. Church membership is not a contractual agreement. Church membership is a covenant agreement amongst the people of God to abide and hold to the truths of the Scripture within the confines of a local congregation.

Okay? So, it's a covenant agreement. A person that gets baptized ought to have the gospel shared with them clearly, and that when a person is saved, baptism is not something that saves you in and of itself.

Baptism is an act of obedience by which it's a grace given to us truly by God that we follow Him in what's called believer's baptism, signifying, and without saying even one word, stating that we have died to our old self, died to the sinful man, and we have been made alive unto Jesus Christ.

So, they were baptized, they were assimilated into the body of Christ. Listen, if a person comes to us as a body, and if they are in specifically, because the specific, again, I told you being comfortable, the specific sin is homosexuality, then unless they renounce that lifestyle, they cannot and should not be assimilated or brought into the covenant relationship within the local body of the congregation.

Not because we hate them, but because we love them enough to let them know that God draws a dividing line. So, on, they completed next steps class before being baptized, and then were supposed to sign a document acknowledging them as core members, but there was a casual conversation that took place, they were told they would not be allowed to sign papers to become core members, by the way, again, church membership is not a contractual agreement, it's a covenant agreement, which essentially makes them full members of the church.

The church said this, we believe homosexuality is a sin, and marriage is between a man and a woman, Courtney said the pastor told them. Grimes told the church they could attend the church, but wouldn't be able to take part in specific ministries, like those involving children, greeting Sunday worshipers before the service wasn't an option either, Courtney and Jessica said core members are given a coin after going through the process of being baptized, and attending the next steps class, pledging to tithe 10%, and finally signing the papers.

Again, point of clarity, to be a member of the body here at Reformation Church, you are not asked to sign a paper, you are not asked to enter into a contractual agreement, you are asked to agree with your fellow believers within this body, that you are going to hold to, and adhere to the principles laid out within the Word of God.

And if you do not hold to the principles laid out according to the Word of God, we have a responsibility to one another to hold each other accountable, and to call each other out on sin. That's called church discipline.

When you see a brother overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual go to such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. It's part of being the body of Christ. That's part of that covenant relationship that we have with each other.

So in any case, I wanted to read you that, in case you hadn't heard anything about it, because it is very much applicable to letting your conduct be worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And the Nashville Statement, the reason I'm going to read that to you, and communicate that to you today, is this, that statements of faith, we have a statement of faith at Reformation Baptist Church.

We believe this about the Scriptures, we believe this about God, we believe this about Jesus Christ, all laid out with Scriptural context, Scriptural explanation why we believe what we believe. Creeds and confessions have been used throughout church history to help folks know what they believe, to help folks be able to verbalize what they believe.

There have been many, one in particular I'll read you a piece of here for just a moment, if I can find it, from the, I wanted to read this, I had it marked, from the Belgic Confession, concerning the church.

These confessions of faith, these statements of faith, that we have for us throughout church history, were God's people gathering together in groups, so that they could formulate a clear, although many times extended and expanded, but clear nonetheless, explanation of what faith looks like within the text of a local church, and this is from the Belgic Confession, with respect to those who are members of the church.

They may be known by the marks of Christians. In other words, they act like Christians, they walk like Christians, they talk like Christians, namely by faith. Faith is the defining characteristic of a Christian.

A man is justified by faith alone. We hold to Reformation principles, sola scriptura, scripture alone, is our basis for understanding and knowing who God is and what God wills for mankind. Sola fide, faith alone, faith alone, by grace alone, through Christ alone, the scripture says, for by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

So we hold to those principles, the last principle being sola Deo gloria, glory to God alone, because God is honored, and God is glorified by His church when we hold to His words. So the Belgic Confession, they said the Christian will be known by his faith, and when they have received Jesus Christ, the only Savior, they avoid sin.

They avoid sin. The world in which we live, many churches around us today are not avoiding sin. We must avoid sin. The scriptures teach us to avoid the appearance of all evil. Well preacher, you're saying you're perfect and you don't ever sin.

No, I'm saying I probably sin more than every one of y 'all in here. But I'm saying, as a Christian, I'm not drawn to sin the way I was before I got saved. The Belgic Confession went on to say this, They follow after righteousness, love the true God in their neighbor, neither turn aside to the right or the left, and they crucify the flesh with the works thereof.

That's what we're taught from the scriptures. But this is not to be understood as if there did not remain in them great infirmities, but that they fight against them through the Spirit all the days of their life, continually taking their refuge in the blood, hallelujah,.

Hallelujah,.

In the blood, the death,.

The passion,.

And obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom they have remission of sins through faith in Him. That is what some of the early church fathers taught, that being a church member, how that ought to look, how it ought to appear, how we ought to communicate that, that there was a definite, a definite dividing line.

The Nashville Statement, Creation, and the Meaning of Male and Female

The Nashville Statement that I mentioned to you, that was, there was a group of godly men and women alike that met in Nashville in August, of this past year of August 2017, at the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and they recently, in 1980, well I say recently, in 1980, back in 1987, they formulated the Danvers Statement, which was a statement of faith concerning sexuality, because sexuality, even back in the 80s, was an issue, there were folks who had leanings this way, and folks who had leanings that way, they wanted to kind of, in the world even then, was still trying to meld everything together and to make everything okay, and so they formulated the Danvers Statement, and here, last year in 2017, the Nashville Statement was comprised, and just to give you a little bit of history on that, the meeting included a coalition of scholars,.

Pastors,.

And other leaders who discussed and endorsed the Nashville Statement. The statement comprised of 14 affirmations.

And denials,.

Meaning there was a statement that they affirmed, that they agreed to, and there was a statement corresponding with that same statement that they denied so that there was clarity, so that there was no ambiguity in what was being said.

It addresses issues related to human sexuality in hope of serving Christ's church. Denny Burke, the president of the Coalition for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, added this, it is our prayer that this statement might help provide for churches and Christian organizations that are looking for biblical guidance on how to address homosexuality and transgenderism.

We also aim to foster a coalition of like-minded evangelicals to stand together for the challenging days ahead.

Finally,.

We wish to influence a rising generation of evangelicals who are under pressure to abandon scriptural teaching about marriage, gender, and sexuality. Our children. Our children need to know that there is definite right and that there is a definite wrong.

And what we are going to look at in looking at these 14 affirmations, these 14 statements concerning sexuality, that men are men and women are women,.

By the way,.

If you want scriptural evidence of that, go back to Genesis chapter 1 verse 27. God made man in his own image after his likeness.

Right?

If you go on over to the third chapter, you'll see that God made man in his image after his likeness. Male and female created he them.

So,.

That being said, let's just really quickly today take a look at this national statement. If I would have been able to, or if I had thought about it ahead of time, I would have already put this on a, or I'd have had this up on a PowerPoint.

Nevertheless, I'm just going to read it to you this morning, these 14 statements of faith from the national statement. Article number 1. And I signed this statement too, by the way. I put my name on it in an agreement that I affirm all of these articles of faith standing by them.

And so I have the responsibility to now stand before you as the church to communicate what we are affirming and what we are denying as a body of believers concerning human sexuality. We affirm that God has designed marriage to be a covenantal, sexual, procreative, lifelong union of one man and one woman as husband and wife and is meant to signify the covenant love between Christ and his bride, the church.

Ephesians chapter 5 teaches us, husbands, love your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. So we affirm this.

We deny.

That God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous relationship. We also deny that marriage is a mere human contract rather than a covenant made before God. Marriage is not a contract like church membership is not a contract.

It is a covenant relationship being witnessed and verified by a holy God. Article 2. We affirm that God's revealed will for all people is chastity outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage. Chastity means withholding from sexual relations outside the bonds of matrimony.

We deny that any affections,.

Desires,.

Or commitments ever justify sexual intercourse before or outside marriage nor do they justify any form of sexual immorality. Any affections, that means this, if you are a human and you are an adult, you understand what I mean when I say affections.

You remember the dating stage, right? That is what I am talking about. I am not going into any further depth on that. But it does not justify sin in our lives. Article 3. We affirm that God created Adam and Eve, the first human beings, in His own image, equal before God as persons and distinct as male and female.

We deny that the divinely ordained differences between male and female render them unequal in dignity or worth. We deny what many people say that men are better than women or that women are better than men.

Equal before God. You being a man or you being a woman is not going to put you a higher notch up with God. That is what that is saying. Article 4. We affirm that divinely ordained differences between male and female reflect God's original creation design and are meant for human good and human flourishing.

Meaning we affirm what the Scriptures teach that God made man and woman and He did it for the purpose of His own glory and for the outworking of His will and His plans throughout Providence in this life.

We deny that such differences are a result of the fall or are a tragedy to be overcome. Just to clarify on this, what that is saying is this. Man, if you are a man, that is not a flaw that you have to overcome.

Woman, if you are a woman, that is not a flaw that you are to overcome. God has made you a man and God has made you a woman. That is not something to be overcome or to be challenged. We affirm, Article 5, we affirm that the differences between male and female reproductive structures are integral to God's design for self-conception as male or female.

We deny that physical anomalies or psychological conditions nullify the God-appointed link between biological sex and self-conception as male and female. We deny that physical anomalies or psychological conditions nullify what God has purposed is what we are saying.

We are saying that we deny that a man, a woman, boy or a girl can go outside of what God has made them.

And say,.

I think God meant to make me something else.

That's what this is saying.

Article 6, we affirm that those born with a physical disorder of sex development are created in the image of God and have dignity and worth equal to all other image-bearers. And that term image-bearer is anyone who is alive.

We are made in the image of God. They are acknowledged by our Lord Jesus in His words about eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb. With all others, they are welcome as faithful followers of Jesus Christ and should embrace their biological sex insofar as it may be known.

We deny that ambiguities related to a person's biological sex render one incapable of living a fruitful life in joyful obedience to Christ. And really these are, as we move through the last seven here, these are getting down into the truth of the Gospel.

We deny that even though a person may have a clouded understanding of who they are, God has made them who they are. And that despite their ambiguity, they are not outside the reach of the saving hand of a holy God where God is able to turn them from death to life to give them a right mind so that they can know the difference between truth and a lie.

Article 7. We affirm that self-conception as a male or female should be defined by God's holy purposes in creation and redemption as revealed in Scripture. We deny that adopting a homosexual or transgender self-conception is consistent with God's holy purposes in creation and redemption.

We deny that adopting a homosexual lifestyle is consistent with God's purposes and plans. Does God make mistakes?

No.

Does God expect people who profess to be Christians to obey His Word?

Yes.

Article 8.

We affirm that people who experience sexual attraction for the same sex may live a rich and fruitful life pleasing to God through faith in Jesus Christ as they, like all Christians, walk in purity of life.

We are affirming that people who do have a same-sex attraction because guess what? Sin warps our minds. Not everybody has a same-sex attraction but everybody has sin. Not everybody sins exactly the same as everybody else.

But the specific sin that is being addressed today is this sin of homosexuality, this sin of transgenderism. So we affirm that those who experience that are able to live holy and righteous lives through faith of Jesus Christ by the same power that every other Christian is able to live the life through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We deny that sexual attraction for the same sex is part of the natural goodness of God's original creation or that it puts a person outside of the hope of the Gospel. So we do not affirm but we do deny that though a person has same-sex attraction that it is a part of God's natural goodness because that is what is proclaimed by many quote-unquote Christians within homosexuals within the Christians that say they are Christians.

They say it's part of how God made them that God intends for them to be that way. But you can read in the book of Romans. You can read in the book of Colossians specifically that sexual immorality of any kind is a specifically named sin that must be stood against and must be fought hard against.

I've got to fight every day against sin. Do you? If you are not fighting with sin then it's likely that you are not saved by the grace of God. You are a slave to Satan. You are of your father the devil and you are dead in your trespasses and sins and know nothing.

But when the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ shines in your heart you are able and made aware to know the difference between wrong and right. Article 9. We affirm that sin distorts sexual desires by directing them away from the marriage covenant and toward sexual immorality.

This is what we affirm. A distortion that includes both heterosexual and homosexual immorality. I've made that clear. We deny that an enduring pattern of desire for sexual immorality justifies sexual behavior.

Though you want to be sexually immoral that does not make it right. Though you want to sin in every way it does not justify the act of sin. Article 10. Almost done. We affirm that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness.

We affirm that it is sinful to approve of a homosexual lifestyle. Not that we say you ought not to be friends with people who are homosexual and transgender. For very much you ought to show kindness and love to them.

But you ought not to affirm that lifestyle in any way. We deny that the approval of homosexual immorality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christians should agree to disagree.

The old saying with many within the church today is basically this. Can't we all just get along? Let's not be divided. Can we not agree to disagree on this issue? How many of y 'all have been confused.

When you're looking at me today?

More so than you're confused.

When you look at me anyway.

Yeah.

He seen it from across the room.

When he came in.

Everybody knows I'm an Alabama fan. Well, I loaned my church key out that I keep on my Alabama lanyard and my church key came back today with a Tennessee lanyard. Somebody said, don't you think we ought to divide over that issue?

I'd call this a secondary issue. And I'd say we can agree to disagree with it because the person took enough thought and kindness to get this even though they thought it'd be funny.

But I'm okay with that. This is not a dividing issue. But the issue of acceptance.

Of homosexual and transgender lifestyles within the body of Christ is a dividing issue. Article 11. We affirm our duty to speak the truth in love.

At all times,.

Including when we speak to or about one another as male or female. In other words, in Sunday school we learned this a few weeks ago that we ought to speak to one another with respect and kindness. To look at each other and to recognize that I know that you are made in the image of God.

And that though you may be a young man and short in stature, I've been there too, that you are just as deserving of time and attention as John Piper back there, who's a pretty big dude. We deny any obligation to speak in such a way that dishonors God's design of His image bearers as male and female.

Article 12. We affirm that the grace of God in Christ gives both merciful pardon and transforming power. And that this pardon and power enable a follower of Jesus to put to death sinful desires and to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

This is what we affirm as a body. We deny that the grace of God in Christ is insufficient to forgive all sexual sins and to give power for holiness to every believer who feels drawn into sexual sin. We deny that the grace of God is insufficient in any way to forgive the sin of the homosexual or the transgender person.

We deny that the grace of God is insufficient, but it is fully sufficient. We learned in Sunday school, and apparently you all learned it, and the ladies learned it in their Sunday school class. The Apostle Paul said this, what God said, My grace is sufficient for you.

For my strength, Jesus said, is made perfect in your weakness. Sin of any kind is weakness. But His grace is greater than sin. Article 13. We affirm that the grace of God in Christ enables sinners to forsake transgender self-conceptions and by divine forbearance to accept the God-ordained link between one's biological sex and one's self-conception as male or female.

We deny that the grace of God in Christ sanctions self-conceptions that are at odds with God's divine will. God has made you male and God has made you female. And you do not have the sanction, you do not have the authority, nor do you have the right to deem yourself anything other than what God has said.

Article 14. We affirm that Christ Jesus has come into the world to save sinners. And that through Christ's death and resurrection, forgiveness of sins and eternal life are available to every person who repents of sin and trusts in Christ alone as Savior, Lord and supreme treasure.

Which brings us to the heart of the matter. The gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel call is not come to Jesus and have your life improved. The gospel call is not come to Jesus and He will be the icing on the cake of your life.

The gospel call is not have everything and then add Jesus to it. The gospel call is deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ is not the only thing and everything,.

He is nothing.

We deny that the Lord's arm is too short to save or that any sinner is beyond His reach. We deny that God is not able to save unto the uttermost. He is able to save unto the uttermost. Let me read you just one more piece here from that news article that was written.

A Female Pastor’s Defense of LGBTQ Inclusion and the Call to Hold Fast to Sound Doctrine

A local pastor.