Is There Hope In Your Struggle?

Your body can feel like a battleground. Your mind can feel pulled in two directions. And the world is full of confident voices telling you the fix is to follow your feelings wherever they lead. We slow down and open Romans 8 to name what many people are afraid to say out loud: creation groans, we groan, and even Christians groan, but that pain is not pointless and it is not permanent.

Dr. Timothy Mann walks from Romans 8 to Romans 12:2 and shows why the renewing of the mind is a command that protects us when culture pressures us to rewrite reality. We talk about how the Holy Spirit helps us think clearly, evaluate our desires honestly, and see God’s truth as not only accurate but good. Then we go to Ezekiel 36 and the promise of a new heart, because Christianity is not behavior management. God changes what we love, and that re-centers our identity on belonging to Him.

From there, the message speaks directly to gender dysphoria and other deep conflicts: the struggle is real, afflicting, and painful, but it does not get the final word over who you are. Revelation 21 sets the horizon with a new heaven and new earth where God wipes away every tear, and Romans 8:1–4 anchors our hope in Jesus with no condemnation and real freedom by the Spirit. If you’re searching for wholeness, this points to a better future that comes through repentance and faith, not tearing up God’s blueprint. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs hope, and leave a review with the line that stood out to you most.

Transcript

Welcome And Message Setup

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You're listening to Foundation of Christ. The Bible teaching Ministry of Dr. Timothy Mann. Our mission is to help you build your life.org. Rooted in Scripture. Anchored in the grace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Each week, Dr. Timothy Mann opens the Bible to prosperity, conviction, and encouragement for everyday life. Today's message reminds us God's design has never changed, even when our culture has. In part two of a better future, Dr. Timothy Mann will show us that while sin distorts God's good creation, the gospel offers forgiveness, restoration, and lasting hope to everyone who comes to Christ in repentance and faith. Here now is Dr. Timothy Mann.

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Romans

Creation Groans And We Wait

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8, 22 and 23 says, For we know, everybody say no. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pains together until now. Not only that, we also, we could say, we also know that we who have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. See, the Spirit in bringing clarity to our minds, the Spirit of God enables us to know the predicament that creation and humanity are in. It is He, the Spirit of God, who helps us to think. I am groaning, but I'm also waiting for a time when I will no longer groan. That's how he helps us to think. He teaches us to view our bodies as broken but valuable. He also teaches us to view our lives and our bodies as part of a blueprint that we did not draw. That you don't have the right to change. The Spirit helps us to see what is true. The Spirit helps us to see not only what is true, but that what is true is good. And knowing that it's true and knowing that it's good, he helps us to see that even as our feelings or our flesh tells us something different. Now, in some ways, having our minds set by the Spirit and having our minds set on the Spirit can actually make things harder for the Christian because it awakens us, and I'm gonna need a good amen right here, it awakens us to the reality that we're engaged in a spiritual battle. Can I get a witness? I mean, let's be honest. Think about it. If I could just indulge my lust rather than battling it, life would be easier. I mean, if I could just vent my anger all the time rather than seeking to combat it with patience and compassion and love, life would be less tiring. But it would also be less satisfying than living in line with God's plan. And so with this renewed mind, it becomes possible. I'm telling you, with this renewed mind, it becomes possible to rightly evaluate our own feelings and rightly evaluate the opinions of the culture with this renewed mind.

Renewed Minds In A Real Battle

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You're in Romans, turn over to Romans 12. Take a right, flip a few pages. Romans 12. Romans chapter 12, verse 2. Romans chapter 12, verse 2. And this is a command, by the way. It's not an option, it's not a suggestion, it's not a if you feel like it or if you get around to it. This is a command. Christian, are you listening? This is a command. Verse 2. And do not be conformed to this world. Do not be conformed to this world. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Our mind has to be renewed all the time. And so what happens here is how the Spirit of God works in our mind is this God actually reorders how we reason. He reorders our logic if we're having our mind renewed by the Spirit through the Word. He reorders our reason. No longer will someone fall prey to the idea that it might just be possible for a Caucasian man to become a Chinese woman. Why? Because that's insanity. It's not possible. He changes your mind. He renews your mind. And as well as renewing our minds, the Spirit changes our hearts. The Spirit

New Hearts And A New Identity

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changes our hearts. Your inner man. Six centuries before the life and death and resurrection of his son Jesus, God promised that. That he would change our hearts as a result of the coming of his son. Ezekiel 36, verse 26 and 27. This is his promise. He says, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them. This is God's promise about what happens when someone truly becomes a Christian. Not about what happens sometime later on, some stage after you become a Christian. This is what happens when a person becomes a Christian. A heart of stone in this passage is describing the heart that most loves something other than God. Loves something else. Much more than it loves God. In which therefore obeys God. Stop fooling yourself. Heart of flesh is one that is alive to God, which loves God, and which therefore obeys God, not out of a sense of having to. I'm not talking about some legalism. But out of a deep down wanting to. Deep down wanting to. Now, Ezekiel, admittedly, uses the word flesh very differently than Paul does, so that can be a little confusing. But it's still a struggle. Because we're not perfect and we still experience our old desires. But the crucial difference is that a new heart now has knowing God as its greatest desire and pleasing him as its greatest aim. Our identity, listen to me, our identity lies in belonging to God. Our identity lies in being his. Our identity doesn't lie in anything else. And I want to say to you this morning, it is possible to desire to live as God wants out of a love for him, even as we experience other feelings that suggest we should live as he does not want.

Dysphoria, Painful But Not Defining

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So what does that mean then? That means that someone who is struggling with gender dysphoria or any kind of dysphoria is actually able to see because of the Spirit of God living in them, changing their mind, renewing their mind, and changing their heart, they are now actually able to see their struggles from the proper perspective. The struggles are real, the struggles are afflicting, the struggles are painful, but they are not the defining aspect of who a person is. That person's identity, if they're filled with the Spirit of God, if they're truly a new creation in Christ, that person's identity lies in being a child of God. My identity lies in being a child of God, and I am walking towards my home with Him. That's where I'm headed. I'm not home right now. And so their feelings, your feelings, are not a barrier to experiencing joy. It can be an obstacle. It can be a stumbling block, your feelings can, but they're not a barrier if you have the Spirit of God that's renewing your mind and changing your heart. Now, God doesn't promise to eliminate those feelings as long as we are in our earthly bodies. But the gospel and the Spirit of God has the power to equip us to understand and to respond to those feelings with the truth of God's Word.

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Thank

Why Listener Support Matters

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you for listening to Foundations of Truth. Our program is made possible through faithful listeners like you who believe biblical truth should be proclaimed clearly, compassionately, and without apology. Your prayers encourage this ministry and your financial partnership helps bring down biblical teaching to thousands of listeners through radio, podcasts, and digital outreach. If the Lord is using this ministry in your life, would you prayerfully consider supporting our work? You can give a gift securely online at foundationsoftruth.net. That's foundationsoftruth.net. Now let's return to today's message of a better future. Here's Dr. Timothy Mann.

Hope That Outlasts Brokenness

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The Bible neither explicitly nor implicitly promises that the spirit will change or lessen someone's experience of dysphoria. God may do that. We pray for that. He may do that. Or, or he may make it so that the desire to please him is stronger than the desire to act on one's dysphoria. He may do that. And in the new creation, there will be no longer no longer be sadness or death. Brokenness will be no more. I'm glad to tell you that the cancer and the hurricanes and the tsunamis that plow over humanity be gone. They'll be gone. Turn in your Bibles to the last book of the Bible. Revelation. Revelation chapter 21. Last book in the New Testament, second to the last chapter in the Bible. Revelation 21. Verses 1 through 4. Revelation 21, verses 1 through 4. Let's read it. It says this. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea. And then I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Ladies and gentlemen, this promise is what Evan, whose story we began with, is searching for. This is what he's searching for. What Evan and everyone who is transgender are looking for, and what everyone who thinks they may be transgender and or homosexual, and everyone who knows they're not are looking for this. What they're looking for is a way to make their mind's perception and their heart's desires and their body's construction match to actually feel wholeness rather than dysphoria. That's what you're looking for. You don't want this unease, you don't want this restlessness, you don't want this anxiousness, you don't want that depression. You're wanting wholeness. And that's exactly what the gospel promises. Not by us seeking to transition from one sex to another, which is impossible. But by waiting. That's what the word says in it. Romans 8. By waiting, patiently. Not by us tearing up the blueprint rebelliously, but by living faithfully and patiently. Even though it's painful, until one day there will be transformation. Unlike the partial, frustrating, and ultimately unfulfilling and conflicting transitions the world offers, this is real. This is joyful. This is complete and a fulfilling transformation. This is what the Christian is waiting for. Philippians chapter 3, verse 20 and 21 say this: We await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. How wonderful it is. Praise God for this. How wonderful it is to think of God one day saying to the person with dysphoria who patiently waited and waited faithfully, him saying, Well done. I know it's been hard. It's over now. I love you so much that I've brought you to a place where who you feel you are and who you truly are are completely enmeshed. There will be no more pain. There will be no more crying for you any longer. What you longed for to feel like and to look like and to be the same person is reality. I know it's been painful. It won't be now. Well done, faithful follower. What a thing to think about. Look, we live in a Genesis 3 world with a Genesis 1 blueprint, but we're on the trajectory to a Revelation 21 future. That's where we're headed. To a Revelation 21 future. And the path, listen, the path to live in that world is through repentance of our sins and putting our faith in Jesus, the Son of God. Why? Back in Romans. Romans 8. Go back over there.

No Condemnation And True Freedom

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Let's look at verses 1 through 4. Romans chapter 8, verses 1 through 4. Romans chapter 8, verses 1 through 4. There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, that is the law of God, the Old Testament law, what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God did. By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin, he condemns sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. See, the weight of that world that Revelation 21 described, the weight of that world was opened up by God sending his own son. And he frees us from condemnation, which is the greatest freedom we need, by the way. And the freedoms which and that freedom brings all other freedoms to us. And this freedom is only found in him. It's only found in him. There is no freedom in this life or in the next. Listen, there is no freedom in this life or in the next in walking according to the flesh. That is to say, in following our own feelings wherever they take us. There's no freedom in that. In this life or in the next. None. Equally, I need to say this on the other side. Equally, there is no freedom in seeking to obey God's blueprint in our own strength. Do you hear me? There is no freedom in seeking to obey this blueprint in our own strength. Our flesh is too weak, and our flesh cannot change. So freedom does not, listen, freedom does not lie in indulging these feelings, and freedom, neither does it lie, uh, it doesn't come from simply seeking to ignore them. Freedom lies in being open about them and coming to Christ with them in repentance to find forgiveness and freedom and to find an openness to the confidence that Jesus is powerful enough, and I'm telling you, he is, Jesus is powerful enough to bring sustaining hope and strength in our darkest and most difficult hours. He's powerful enough. And by the way, only Jesus, only Jesus can offer this kind of freedom because only Jesus could do what we cannot. He lived the perfect image, reflecting life that we have not. And he died to bear the consequences for our sins. He died to take the death and the condemnation that everyone deserves for deciding to deny the goodness of God and dispute his right to rule in our life and destroy his image in us. And God put all of our rebellion, God put all of our sin, he put all of creation's disorder onto Jesus. The perfect Son of God was treated as a sinner. No one ever experienced greater dysphoria than the perfect Son of God being treated like a sinner on the cross. And in suffering this, through genuine faith in him, he brought us into a relationship with the God that we had rejected and brought his spirit into our lives to inspire and to strengthen and to change us. The Spirit, the scripture says, the Spirit has set you free from the law of sin and death. Now that doesn't mean that our lives will be marked by total sinlessness, but it does mean this. It means that the Spirit of God works in our hearts and in our minds to set us free from sin's power over us. The story of Jesus did not end with death, but with resurrection. Not with suffering, but with glory. We sang about it. The resurrection was God's act of vindicating Jesus' claim of being king. And the resurrection was the breaking of the new creation into this present period, and the new creation grows every time someone comes to Jesus in repentance and faith for forgiveness, for life, and for help. So the answer. The answer to the person struggling with gender dysphoria or same-sex sexual attraction is the same as to the person struggling with any other product of the fall. And it's this there is hope, there can be change, and one day there will be total transformation. And the answer to the person who has already acted upon their dysphoria and is acting upon their dysphoria, seeking to tear up the blueprint, just rip it out, it's the same to the person who is tearing it up any other way, which is all of us. The answer is this another took the fall for that. Another bore the condemnation for that rebellion. And his name is Jesus. And he offers you forgiveness and he offers you freedom. I

One Answer For Every Struggle

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want to end this message, I want to finish this message by bringing you back to Evan's story. Because the question that Evan's sister wondered aloud about in that article, the question of contentment and joy and self-acceptance in the place of disconnect, is a question that plagues every human heart. And the culture around us answers those questions with a million different and conflicting responses. Christians, genuine Bible believing Christians, have only one answer to give. But it is all the answer anyone needs. And it's an answer that we must continue to believe. Believe in and hold out. And it's this that Jesus came and he died and he rose again in order to offer you his spirit and to offer you the life you are searching for now and in the future. And the Lord Jesus and the future he offers makes sense of the suffering in us and around us now, and his spirit strengthens anyone. His spirit strengthens anyone, no matter how hard your life is. His spirit will strengthen you to struggle along, to groan with joy now, knowing that what is to come for Jesus' family is what they want to experience the most, and that is the glory and the peace of perfection. Look again at Romans 8 verse 18. Romans 8 verse 18. Whatever you're dealing with, whether it's the issues we've been talking about in our theme or it's something else. Look at Romans 8.18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time, that includes your physical ailments, that includes your emotional problems, that includes your spiritual struggle, everything. For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Jesus, listen, Jesus is where we find what we're looking for. The Christian answer, the biblical Christian answer is not a restrictive answer. The Christian answer is not a restrictive command, it's a better answer. It's the better answer because it's the answer that actually works. You have a better future if you belong to Jesus through repentance and faith. You have a perfect future. And it's a future that only He can give you, not one that you can make on your own. You can't make it on your own. You can't come up with your own future that's going to give you what you're looking for. Only Jesus can. Renewing your mind, changing your heart, bringing you back to his word so that you can live according to the Spirit and not live according to your feelings, not live according to your fleshly desires. That's what it means to be saved. That's what it means to live as a follower of Christ. A better future's coming. I'm looking forward to it.

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Thank you for listening to Foundations of Truth, the biblical teaching ministry of Dr. Timothy Mann. If you'd like to hear this message again and to receive additional biblical resources and to support this ministry, visit us online at foundationsoftruth.net. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever.

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Before we

Book Resource And Final Farewell

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close today, I want to tell you about a resource that I believe will be a genuine help to you. I've recently published my first book, Saved, Understanding God's Work in Us. In over 30 years of pastoral ministry, one of the questions I've encountered more than almost any other is this How can I know that I am truly saved? It is a question that deserves a careful, biblical answer. And that is exactly what this book is designed to give. You can find it on Amazon, Barnes Noble, and Books a Million, and pretty much anywhere you buy books. I pray it strengthens your faith. Thanks for being with us today. God bless you.