Good morning and welcome back to Real Life with Mike, Jason and Gene this season.

Thank you guys so much for being here for episode seven.

Good morning.

Good morning, Jason.

All right, so last time in episode six, we looked specifically the whole episode about division in the church in particular and how that can be painful.

But we also talked about how God can use it, obviously to his glory and through his plan.

And the conversation really reminded us that faithfulness isn't necessarily about numbers.

Obviously, it's not about popularity, but allegiance to Christ.

We spent some time talking about that, and so today we're going to go deeper on that specific thing.

One thing we mentioned last week is the term set apart, and that's kind of the whole theme or topic of this episode is what does that mean?

And does holiness matter to God?

And we'll say yes, that it does, because God himself is holy.

He's the standard of it.

And we'll look a little bit at, you know, Peter and how he reminds us that God says, you must be holy because I am holy.

We see, you know, 1st Peter 1:6, Leviticus 11:4 kind of, or 11:44 alludes to that, too.

And holiness, though, isn't just about avoiding bad behavior.

It's about reflecting God's character by living distinct, you know, from the world.

And so we tied that in last week.

Holiness is allegiance to God, and He's who dictates what it is.

So we have to look at him to understand what holiness is, and we find that in His Word.

So we threw the word around.

Loyalty, too.

Loyalty to Jesus.

Whereas it's easy to.

And I think both of you have seen this because you've both been in ministry a lot longer than I have.

But it seems like oftentimes people are loyal to a name.

And what do I mean?

They're of Calvary Chapel or they're of Assemblies of God.

And it's not about Jesus at that point, it's about the name that they attach their identity to.

And that's such a terrible thing, really, because our identity is anywhere other than in Christ is going to fail us.

So let's start with you, Pastor Gene.

Can you talk a little bit then, what it means to.

I guess let's start with this.

Let's start with is there a difference between living in the world but not being of the world?

Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's a famous Christian thing.

Be in the world but not of it.

It comes from Jesus where he.

When he was praying for his disciples, he asked the Father not to take them out of the world, but to protect them and keep them while they were in the world.

A lot of this, to me, you know, I always backstep to where this stuff starts in my mind.

And a lot of this has to do with worldview.

You know, when you set a worldview, it kind of gives you a goal that you're going to.

And if you don't have the right biblical worldview that includes separation and holiness, then you're probably going to compromise with the world somewhere down the line.

That's why I like Calvary Chapel.

You know, we have a.

You know, a worldview that understands the future as it's going to unfold, at least in the bigger movements of it.

And, of course, we're waiting for the imminent rapture of the church.

That's.

That's kind of where we would always start.

And there's nothing that keeps you separate and holy more than thinking that you could see Jesus right now.

And it's not a negative.

It's not.

You know, I used to hear people say.

I say, oh, you know, you're going to that movie.

What if Jesus came right now?

Wouldn't you be embarrassed?

And I'm thinking, well, the Holy Spirit's already in me, so, you know, it's not.

I didn't put a blindfold on him.

So that.

That's not real separation.

Real separation is, you know, having a.

A worldview that will save you in certain situations.

You know, so and so.

So anyway, the rapture of the church, if I know I'm going to be raptured imminently, I want to get this stuff done.

I read in, I think it's Second Peter, first or Second Peter, he says, you can actually hasten the return of the Lord by living a godly life.

And I take that to mean one aspect of it would be that as you're living that life before people, they.

They are hungry and thirsty for it, and they get saved.

And, you know, to me, to hasten would be that, you know, there's one last person at some point that's going to be the last member of the church before the Lord comes for the rapture.

And so who knows that it might not be the person that we're ministering to and trying to lead to Christ.

But, you know, so if I go to.

So here's.

Here's what happens then in my life.

Very simple.

I go to church or I go online and listen to podcasts like this.

So, because I want to be equipped to do the work of the ministry and our church Tries to equip people to do the work of the ministry, which is to go out and share their faith.

And then when they know that, then it's like, okay, I'm making money at this job.

I pay my bills at this job, let's say.

But I'm really here to minister to these people who are in this environment.

God has led me here to do that.

And so if that's where you're at every day, you know, when Satan comes in and he says, hey, you know, you need to make more money or, you know, that kind of stuff.

I know when I used to be a salesman for a title company, when I would visit the realtors, a lot of them would have pictures in their office of things that they wanted.

You know, boats and, you know, vacation houses and things like that.

And so that was their worldview.

It was like, hey, I want to.

I want to do that.

And so as Christians, you know, we would walk into that office and say, you're my worldview.

I want to share Christ with you somehow so that you can enjoy heaven.

And so, you know, if I'm doing all that and I know what my assignment is and I'm never really off, then, hey, you know, I. I don't have time to get sucked into the things that are happening because I.

The gospel is my priority and knowing more about it and how to share it.

So anyway, yeah, separation.

I think we need to bring it to a basic, you know, what does that really mean?

I think Christians know, but, you know, it means you're a missionary, right where you're at.

And so, you know, at the end of the day, do your fellow employees or students, would they say you were Christ, like, in any way?

And if you are, great.

If you're not, work on it and ask the Holy Spirit to hide it from him?

I think that's based on what do they see?

Not what do they hear.

What does your life look like?

Does it look different?

Or is it just the do as I say, not as I do mentality that we probably have all heard?

The hard thing with that is.

The hard thing with that is that some of that is unfair.

Because people have a weird idea of what Christians are, you know, and what they do.

And so you might.

I don't want to give an example.

I can't think of one right now.

But you might do something.

They say, you come to say, oh, I thought you were a Christian.

Well, I am.

I can do that, you know, because they have this idea that it's all about rules and Regulations and things like that.

Mostly, if you're having a good time, they think that, you know, how can you be a Christian and have a good time?

But anyway, yeah, it's interesting.

So I'm glad I got saved into this kind of thing, you know, because, you know, as far as Calvary Chapel, I like that verse Chuck used a lot, Pastor Chuck, in Galatians, where it says, having begun in the Spirit, are you going to be made perfect in the flesh?

I think that that failure, that is what all of us do from time to time.

And so we need to get back to walking with the Spirit.

And so if you're walking with the spirit, knowing that Jesus would come at any minute, you're going to find at the end of the day that you stayed separate from things that were trying to trip you up.

And I think we can try so hard to fit into the culture.

I think we see this too, because we've talked about it before.

I think just this season, that we mutate the Gospel into a twisted version of what it says.

And that's a beautiful thing about God's Word is it's available to everybody.

You can pick it up and read it.

And, you know, I talk about this in youth.

How do you know if what I'm telling you is accurate or if it's a twisted representation of God's Word?

And the response is, well, they have to know it themselves.

You've got to be in God's Word yourself.

And so that's so important.

You know, we're called to be thinking about just the events over the last week and a half.

Obviously, you know, something very tragic happened.

We're seeing churches, you know, talk about it, but we're also seeing, and maybe you guys have seen this, too, people who profess to be Christians celebrating what happened, you know, excited that it happened.

And that kind of takes us into the next point that I wanted us to talk about is what does it look like to shine, you know, in the darkness?

We think of this world as being dark.

We think of all the evil that we see around us.

But so what does it look like then, as we're called to be set apart?

We know the Bible says in Matthew that we're called to be a light set on a hill.

So what does that mean?

What does it mean?

And I guess, Pastor Mike, let me ask you this.

What does it mean then, as the individual Christian, to shine like a light in the middle of darkness?

Especially we think about this week because, again, we've got Christians that are celebrating it Then we got Christians that are starting to hate the other side.

If you.

That's a bad way to put it.

But you understand what I'm saying, To hate them, to.

To want ill of them.

And so none of that is like being a light.

So what does that look like?

Go back to, you know, John 17, what gene was talking about, that, you know, Jesus prayer for us is that, you know, we're in the world, but we're not of the world.

So obviously God has a plan for our lives to be separate.

And in, you know, what Gene said with regard to your eschatology, what do you believe about, you know, the end times and the last days?

Because, you know, that old expression, aim at nothing, hit it every time, is so true.

And so we're in a place where, you know, our, Our biblical worldview, how we see the Bible, how we see God in the midst of that is going to determine how we live our lives.

And if.

If we have this belief that Jesus could come back at any moment, like I said, it's not a fearful thing.

As a believer, what we look at is Jesus said, you know, I'm coming quickly, and my rewards are with me.

And the words.

I think, you know, every Christian funeral I've ever, you know, done or attended, you know, people long to hear those words, well done, good and faithful servant, you know, and to be a servant, you know, is obviously to be someone who has been then set apart for God.

I always.

One of my favorite verses, I allude to it a lot, you know, here is in Romans 12, you know, gene had it in his.

His there, I'll read it though.

It said, and so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead you to give your bodies to God because all that he's done for you.

So we see this love relationship, it's not something that, you know, it's dutiful that we're going, okay, now.

We're.

We're just, you know, we've been bought at a price, so we're just a slave here.

But he's invited us into a relationship and he says, let them be a living and holy sacrifice.

And.

And I think we get holy, you know, misconstrued through, through the years.

You know, what does it mean to be holy?

And Gene touched on some of it.

It does mean abstaining from certain things.

You know, obviously, when you live by a biblical worldview and you see standards that the Bible says, you know, let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, you know, so you go, okay, should we, you know, talk Filthy.

You know, should we be, you know, dropping F bombs?

I mean, it seems like, you know, that's just now part of the culture, that it's so accepted, you know, today, but live lives that are set apart to God.

And we've brought this up numerous times through this podcast, you know, to think that that old bracelet, you know, wwjd, what would Jesus do?

And, and that that's the mindset of the believer of holiness.

Like I said, it's not going, oh, I gotta do, I gotta do this, or I gotta do this, I can do this.

It's understanding we're alive today with a very, very specific purpose.

Every, every believer shares this.

And again, you know, Gene alluded to it.

Matthew 28 is to go into all the world, make disciples of, of all the nations, and doing what?

Teaching them all that Jesus said, so we have a mission, you know, and so instead of if we were going to walk into, like you said, a title company's, you know, office and real estate office, and you see people have pictures of boats or houses, you know, our picture.

I mean, we could put a picture of a house if we had this kind of vision of what, you know, the Father's house looked like.

And you go, that, that's my, that's, that's my vision.

That's my goal, is to take as many people to heaven as I possibly can.

And, and with that mindset, like any other thing that you would do if you were going to go climb a mountain, you know, you'd get the right gear and you train accordingly.

If you were going to swim, you know, in a race, you'd take a swimming, take swim lessons, work on things.

You know, whatever, whatever you're going to do, you're going to, you're going to find that focus and that's going to be your motive.

And, you know, that's what you're going to set your goals on.

And so Paul says, you know, that for us it should be, you know, to set our entire being aside to God, our body, our soul, and our spirit.

And he says, you know, don't copy in verse two of chapter 12, he says, don't copy the behavior, the customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person.

So holiness isn't something we do, it's something that God does in us.

And I think of the, you know, the Christian word that we use theologically is sanctified, right?

Set apart.

Set apart, holy to God.

But he says, don't copy the behavior and the customs of this world.

But Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way that you think.

And I love that, you know, that transformation comes in our minds as we set our minds on the things of God.

We're thinking about God and we're thinking about what would Jesus do in this situation.

And as Paul said, and it's one of my favorite things in the last few years, just to come to a greater revelation in my own life.

Paul said, I don't look at any man any longer according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

So basically, Paul was saying, I just see people.

Either they're saved and they need to be encouraged, or I see them as unsaved and they need to be saved.

And, and that's how you live your life.

And really through the course of our days, that's what.

How we should look at it every day.

And so the.

It is that holiness, then it just means completely to me anyway, completely set apart to God in every aspect of our life.

It doesn't matter where you go.

You can be on vacation.

He's still in it, like Gene said.

So, well, the Holy Spirit lives in us.

That, that's the, that's the beauty of it.

He's with us.

And so we have this ability to have a relationship with God.

We can talk to God.

He's pray without ceasing.

And the Holy Spirit will prompt us and lead us and guide us.

And he's going to lead us, what, in the way of holiness?

That, that's the beauty of it.

If you're just trusting God and you're going, okay, this is what the word says.

I'm going to do that.

You know, I wonder if I'm being holy.

And you go, yeah, that's exactly what he says.

He goes, let him into a new person by changing the way you think.

Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect and, and so.

But, you know, maybe somebody's sitting here thinking, the last thing I want to say to this is, they're going, well, how do I.

How do I get that?

I want.

I want holiness.

I. I want to be.

I want to be holy.

I want to be more holy.

You know, I'm a believer, but how do I get more holy?

And I just kept thinking of Paul's words there.

Galatians 2:20 says, you know, where I've been crucified with Christ.

He said, it's no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me, in the life that I now live in the flesh.

I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

And so when Jesus just becomes the focus of our life, holiness is just a natural byproduct to me.

No, it's so true.

And I think of, you know, talking about being set apart and just kind of to carry on with what you were saying, you know, and we see this especially this week, just because I think it's been so visible with the, you know, after Charlie Kirk's assassination is, you know, what is the result that we're seeing so far?

What's the outpouring from those who supported Charlie Kirk?

And I think a lot of what we're seeing is people are praying, and what a great response is.

Prayer should be the first thing we do, the in between, the last thing we do.

I mean, like you said, pray without ceasing.

That's not a.

When I get up for my meals, it's just a lifestyle, an attitude of prayer, you know, and everything.

And so I think, you know, I think of three words, and this kind of leads into the next section for Eugene, I think the word conviction, courage, and love.

And so, you know, we're seeing people maybe a little bit more bold in their convictions, but obviously, conviction in what?

And the idea of being.

Knowing the truth of God's word, being convicted in God's word, but also courage.

Right.

Standing firm even when the world says something different.

But I think that third word there is so, so, so important, and this is where I think some people are failing, is because they might say they have convictions in their beliefs, they might say they have the courage to say something, but they don't operate in love at all.

It's just angry.

It's aggressive.

And so, Gene, can you talk a little bit about those?

Maybe those three things, how do those play in then to being set apart, being that light on the hill?

The conviction, the courage, and most importantly, the love.

Yeah.

What's neat about being a Christian is that you can have conviction because you know that what God's telling you is true.

It is the truth.

So if I want information about marriage, let's say I go to God's word.

He gives me the information that I need, and it is true, regardless of what society says.

And so, you know, biblical marriage is a covenant of companionship between one biological man and one biological woman in a heterosexual, monogamous relationship that should last for the rest of their lives.

And, of course, everybody's trying to undercut that.

And doesn't matter who gets married.

Transgender homosexual doesn't really matter, but it does.

And so Christians take their stand, whatever that means.

You know, depending on what society you're in, you might be able to vote, you might not be able to vote.

You might be become active in some kind of movement towards that.

But that's a personal leading.

And so, but, but I have conviction because what I'm telling somebody is the truth.

And, and if they don't agree it's the truth, then, you know, again, then we just need to evangelize them so that when they come into that understanding, then, you know, we can go to the owner's manual, as we used to say.

And obviously, if you know a little bit about the person you're talking with, you say, hey, I know Jesus.

You know, I met him in 1979.

Then, you know, you can have the courage of your convictions, like they say, you know, and so no one can take that away from you because, you know, it's true.

I probably used this before because it's been on my mind for a while now, but the, the man born blind, whom Jesus healed, ignorant, never been to school, obviously, and he's facing the Jewish leaders who in their own way were ignorant, but they, they were learned men.

And, and, you know, good at interviewing people.

And it finally he said, hey, I. I don't know what to say other than I couldn't see, and now I can't.

And so, you know, but people, yeah, that's.

The Bible says, yeah, I wasn't saved, and now I am.

And so.

And as far as the love aspect of it, that, that man that is.

That's being challenged right now because of what's going on with Charlie Kirk.

That guy was a fantastic witness.

You know, I can't say enough nice things about him and, and, you know, celebrate that he's in heaven now, and things are happening around that.

But at the same time, even believers, as you indicated, are coming up with anger.

And let's get those guys on the other side.

And, you know, we don't even know who all of them are, but let's get them and silence them and do all of these different things.

And, you know, some of that's right and some of that's wrong.

It just depends on, you know, the situation.

And sir, I think, you know, my attitude and your attitude ought to be, let's what can we do at this critical moment to maybe share the gospel in a way that makes sense with these people?

You know, I, I can think of Ray Comfort, who's got a great ministry of just bringing people to Christ.

I Could imagine that he would, you know, go into our state house or whatever and just start asking, you know, these guys, you know, who want to see who are laughing at or making fun of Charlie Kirk or promoting, you know, this other stuff, say, hey, have you ever committed murder?

And they'd say no.

And he would say, well, you know, Jesus says that if you, you know, even if you say this to your brother, you've committed murder, and you seem to be saying that you're happy that this man was killed, this, you know, individual who wasn't a criminal, you know, he wasn't a sex offender or an incurable whatever, you know, and yet, you know, we want this guy dead.

We want to see President Trump dead, they say.

And it's.

It's weird.

It's really weird.

But kids are picking up on that on the other side, and they're.

Instead of coming at it with love and saying, hey, the murderer that you inside, that's why Jesus died.

And in your life, the reason Charlie Kirk died was so I could tell you that that's the reason Jesus died.

Because I'm going to use that right now, you know, not to make a merchandise, but to say, hey, this is a real thing.

Here's a guy just trying to promote American values, whether you agree with him or not, and they kill him for it.

And so, you know, that.

Is that the kind of person that you want to be?

And I would hope that most normal people would start to think about, you know, hey, I do have hatred and who.

Who could help me, who.

Who can save a wretch like me?

So, yeah, my exhortation to Christians would be just to be very careful about how you proceed.

It seems like.

It seems like we're winning right now, if you guys know what I mean, you know, in terms of.

And I don't mean that about Charlie Kirk, but it means that it seems like we're winning in terms of court cases and, you know, all these different things that affect, you know, the things that, hey, I'd rather have it this way than it was, or that it could have been under Kamala Harris and stuff.

And I think that's.

That's giving us a.

A false energy, you know, in attitude and kind of a smugness.

And we need to think, hey, these people are just about down the drain.

I mean, there, you know, some of these people maybe can't be saved at this point.

But let's get the gospel out more than anything else.

If it's a.

If it's a moment in time, let's do the gospel.

You know, 9 11, let's get the gospel out.

I know Mike probably experienced this too.

Church was full for a few weeks after 9 11.

People, you know, I stopped.

I'm sure, you know, everybody else, they say, let's, you know, I know we're in a series on Mark here, but we need to talk about Islamic terrorism in terms of, you know, Psalm 2 or whatever it might be.

And so, you know, but if you.

If you get on Facebook, Instagram, it's not just the unbeliever.

The Christians are really, really taking it out on any unbeliever they can find.

And it's because they.

I think they're in a power position now.

And of course, the real power is the stoop and mosh feet.

And I think we need to remind people to be humble.

And if somebody comes down and says, I think Charlie Kirk deserve to die, my reaction ought to be, oh, my gosh, this person needs help.

This person needs Jesus, because they are so out there, they don't even hear what they're saying.

Yeah, it's sad.

And I've even got people that I know just on my social media channels that professing Christians say, what happened to him is a good thing, it's a righteous thing.

And I just can't.

I just can't get there at all.

So we think about.

And Mike, you talked about this too, about holiness comes from God.

How easy is it for us as Christians to view what we think is holiness, but really it's just our own pride and arrogance.

Yeah.

I think in every one of our lives.

That's the whole issue with pride that we, you know, I share it often.

You know, that old expression, you know, one of our youth leaders coined years ago is, I'm not holier than now.

I'm just holier than I used to be.

And then we.

We take.

We take pride in that.

You know, that, you know, hey, I've changed.

I'm not who I once was.

And you go, great.

But was that you that did it, or was it God who did it?

Because we see the, you know, that was the whole point of, you know, the Pharisees, they didn't need Jesus because they had the law.

Right.

So they were.

They were reaching God in their own efforts.

And.

And, you know, grace was an affront to them.

You know, I mean, to think that a Gentile who didn't even know the law, you know, wasn't circumcised, could be saved.

It was like, you know, that was a slap in the face.

And none of that's changed in one sense.

You know, we see the different.

Like you said, whether it's denominationalism.

I mean, I. I personally see that a lot with a lot of my friends who have developed more of a Calvinistic bend, like this almost like impersonal enlightenment, you know, that.

Well, you guys just don't, you know, you don't understand, you know, and it's like this progressive revelation or something.

But I think, you know, the.

The key to the whole thing, you know, and understanding, I think, especially in light of this whole thing with Charlie Kirk, you know, like, going back to.

For a second, just the being a light that set on a hill.

Look at the difference, like I said, in the way that there's been this response.

And I think, like Gene said, where there is a sense we're winning right now, but.

But how are we winning?

Is really the question to me.

And I think the way we're winning is by.

Is by holiness.

It is by personal sanctification.

Because I think we're just as angry as.

As any of the Black Lives Matter people were over George Floyd, you know, his death.

But the difference is there's no rioting going on.

There's no burning cities down.

There's no looting.

There's no, you know, attacking other people.

What you have are vigils.

What you have are, you know, prayer, you know, nights, and.

And people coming together, like, having a renewed sense of conviction about what's important.

And then what Charlie probably did, and unfortunately you kind of brought this up, was that, you know, we tend to follow man and not God.

And so here's the situation where, you know, and rightly so, I mean, we've had a.

A guy who was, you know, a generational, you know, believer and.

And apologist and.

And political debater and just a phenomenal, you know, person.

And taken.

Taken out right in front of us, you know, on.

On live tv.

And so now all of a sudden, it's like this person's being lifted up, you know, And I've seen these things, and I get it.

And I. I even could support it, like going into Starbucks and on their cups, they, you know, they were having.

Right.

Charlie Kirk on the cup.

And Starbucks won't do it because they see that as political, but I see it as people going.

It's like putting Jesus on there.

To them, they're going, I am, Charlie.

You know, I am.

And.

And that's okay.

God uses.

And he should use us.

I mean, in.

In there.

So, you see, there's A fine line here.

But really, the key is, like you said, it's aligning ourselves, you know, to Jesus.

Romans 6.

22 says, but now that you've been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, which is eternal life.

Paul goes on in First Corinthians 6, he says, you are not your own.

You are bought at a price, so glorify God in your body.

So what I'm seeing, and it's a.

It's a wonderful thing, but we got to make sure we're clear on this.

It's not Charlie Kirk is the reason that we're going into the world.

It's not Charlie Kirk that all of a sudden, the church has boldness, you know, and we have courage and even.

Even love.

I mean, one of the things that was such a standout with regard to Charlie and people that.

That, you know, he's being accused of.

That he hated, you know, gays and lesbians.

He hated the LGBQT plus community, hated blacks.

He was racist, you know, and then you listen to him, and he's like, no, this is the reason I'm here.

I love you.

I just happen to believe the word of God to be true.

And I believe that God has a better plan and that better plan.

And he would go in and he would begin to, you know, whether it was, you know, monogamous, you know, relationships, it was male, female, regard to transgender issues.

He just kept bringing it back, and he goes, but I'm telling you this because I love you, not because I hate you, but.

So it's the world that, you know, twists it around.

But all of a sudden, you know, I think it.

I think we are experiencing, you know, a revival of sorts that's taking place.

I see it in our city.

I see it in some ways, you know, in our church, I. I, you know, talking to some of our young people and go, man, Charlie's right.

Life really impacted me.

I. I wanna.

And they don't.

They're not saying, I want to live for Charlie.

They're going, you know what?

He.

It's shaken me.

I want to.

I want to renew, you know, my.

My hope and my trust in Jesus.

I want to see it.

Like.

One of the questions that came up, you know, is, like, Israel itself, you know, Israel wasn't special because God was using them.

They were special because God chose them.

And that's the same thing for me and you.

It's.

It's not.

He didn't pick us because we were something special.

It's.

He makes us special.

And as we draw close to him, that's where the real difference in our lives are.

It's going to take place.

And so if you really didn't just circle them back to bring this, you know, to a close, the best thing, you know, that I, I could encourage people to do is, is if you really want to see change in your life, if you really have a desire for, maybe you don't use the word holy, but whole, just complete person, you know, mind and spirit and body, everything you know, is draw close to God.

He's the One who made you.

He loves you, and he has a plan, you know, for your life, but it won't take place.

We don't add Jesus to our life.

I was sharing this with you the other night, you know, at the Charlie Kirk vigil.

You know, I, you know, I always appreciate, you know, anytime the gospel goes forward.

But, but, but in one sense, you know, when you stand up there and you say, hey, I just want to encourage anybody want to give Jesus a try.

And it's like, that's really not the gospel message.

It's not like, you know, let's try Jesus.

It's like, no, when you want to surrender your life, you know, because we are the, the, the very opposite antithesis of what holy is until we come to, to Jesus and let him begin that work in us.

So it's not something we add to our life.

It's though I surrender my life to it.

And if you want to be holy, draw close to God, and he'll draw close to you.

And man, in time, all of a sudden you go, you will say, you know, hey, I'm not holier than that, but I definitely am holier than I used to be because you'll see the transformation that takes place as you walk with Him.

Amen.

Amen.

So as we close today, remember, you know, being set apart isn't about escaping the world.

It's about living differently in it because of who you belong to.

It's about loyalty to Christ above all else, not loyalty to a person, to a denomination.

So here's the challenge this week as we close.

Ask yourself, and you have to honestly ask yourself this.

Where does your allegiance show?

Not where do you say your allegiance lies, but where does it show?

Are you more shaped by culture or by Christ?

And when people see your life, do they see Christ in a way in which you hold truth?

You know, by the things that you do?

Do you stand with courage?

But, but do you love with humility too.

So next week we're going to wrap up Season four.

We're going to look at what it means to live with purpose in the last day.

So again, tying it back to the personal and how being rooted in Christ gives us direction even when the world is chasing after everything else.

And that's just I don't know a better way to say it, but it is chasing and is chasing in vain.

So thank you for joining us this week, Pastor Mike, Pastor Gene, thank you so much and we will see you in the next and last episode of Season four.

Thank you for joining us for this episode of Real Life.

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Out your faith in everyday life.

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