Good morning and welcome to Real Life with Pastor Mike, Pastor Jason and Pastor Gene.

Last week in episode four, we talked specifically about wars, rumors of wars.

We talked about nations being divided and God's sovereignty and how even though it seems like it from just a human perspective that nobody's in control, that God said this was going to happen.

And so it's not unexpected.

We read about it in His Word and so, and it doesn't change the fact that God is faithful, that he keeps his promises.

But today, so that was last week specifically about wars and nations and political bodies and division.

We're going to bring it a lot closer to home today on this episode when we're going to look at the vision that, you know, that doesn't just happen between national, on a national or global scale, but in our own families, in our own friendships, on our own relationships.

And that Jesus we're going to read, you know, says this is going to happen, that, that we are going to be divided because of who he is.

And it's really, it's his truth, we understand, that divides.

It's God's truth.

So.

But he also promised that he would give us strength.

And so in this episode, we're going to talk about, you know, what that looks like, how to hold on to both grace and his grace and truth when following him comes at a personal cost, because it will come at a personal cost.

So let's kick this off with, let's see, let's go with you, Pastor Gene.

Can you talk a little bit about what Jesus actually said about this kind of division?

Because, you know, he didn't hide it from his followers.

He was very clear.

And he told us plainly that choosing to follow him would sometimes mean choosing a different path or oftentimes choosing a different path than those that are closest to us.

I was thinking, I was like examples to start with.

And I was thinking about this.

And you know, in Hanford, Kings county here, we have a really large prophet Portuguese population.

It's.

We have a Dutch reform community and a large Portuguese population.

And by far, you know, they are Portuguese Catholics or many of them from the Azores or, you know, and so they are serious Catholics now.

They're not necessarily saved.

In fact, most of them are not.

But, you know, the Catholic faith is important to them.

And because they're, and they're very closely knit families, you know, suffering, maybe a lot of us don't have or didn't have or can't understand family pressures.

But so it's a recipe for disaster if somebody gets saved.

Because they right away are in conflict with what their parents believe or their uncles or whatever.

If it's a young couple, one of the first things that happens is that their grandma wants their child to be baptized as a baby.

And so they come to us and they say, what should we do?

And, you know, all I can tell people is what I would do.

And what I would do in that situation is say gently, no, I'm sorry.

We can.

Because we believe that baptism is far more important than.

It's not a ritual.

It has to do with your relationship with Jesus Christ.

And so it becomes a gentle opportunity to share, but really difficult.

And some people do it, some people don't.

Some people sneak in.

Reminds me of the all in the Family episode where Archie Bunker stole the meathead's baby and went down and baptized it by himself.

He, you know, as if it's so funny.

I mean, he has to be baptized, but I can do it.

You know, the priest doesn't have to do it like normal.

I can do it.

And then we're covered, you know, and stuff, you know, becomes a real life decision.

They want to have a.

Whatever they do for baptisms, value a big party and all that kind of stuff.

And so.

So to me, it's an opportunity to take a stand and to let people know that you're serious.

And the Catholics here, you know, they're just hardcore when it comes to this.

So you, you know, you immediately become outcast from your family, and there's.

There can be a lot of anger.

I know parents, especially when.

When I announced that I was a Christian to my mom and dad, my mom was okay, but my dad, he almost.

He almost went crazy.

I thought, you know, he didn't know what it even meant, but.

And he was only Catholic in name, but.

So, yeah, I mean, families get tore up.

What I encourage people is that, hey, it's not you that is doing anything.

I mean, to destroy your family or to undermine your family or anything like that.

I mean, you're not doing the things you're being accused of.

You're just trying to follow the Lord and you're saying, hey, we both read pretty much the same Bible.

I mean, you know, the Catholic Bible and they have a few more books in it, and that's okay.

But we.

We essentially read the same Bible and, you know, we interpret it this way, and we want to honor God and.

And.

But, you know, the tradition, it's more.

So it turns out it's more of a cultural tradition.

It's more of a family Thing, parents and grandparents especially, they become embarrassed, and that's what kind of motivates their reaction.

And so, yeah, I mean, it's.

It's one of the things that people go through.

You know, it really can rob the way of your salvation if you're not careful.

Because the way your friends and family respond to that, I think friends the same way.

You know, when we first got saved, Pam and I, we had previously planned a trip to Mexico with another couple that we done, and we've done that a lot with them and stuff.

And then the phone rang.

Is back in the days when you have a telephone and didn't tell you who was calling or anything, but sorry, I wonder if that's, you know, Mark and Marty.

And it was.

And, you know, we immediately said, we can't go to Mexico with you because the universe said she shared her faith and Marty got saved.

You know, Mark didn't, but it was really interesting, you know, and stuff.

But here's something I would recommend, too.

Jesus absolutely said that there was going to be division in your family.

He had division in his family.

His brothers disrespected him.

You know, aren't you going?

You know, shouldn't you be going now?

And.

And they came and said, hey, we think he's crazy.

You know, let us take him home and deal with this and all.

But, you know, so I'm trying to my takeover for a second while I try and think of what this illustration was that I had in mind.

It was brilliant.

It was fantastic.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well.

And I think, Matthew, I've been down these rapid trails and I can't remember what I was going to say.

Oh, I know what it is.

Here it is.

Thank you.

But I talk longer.

There's a book doesn't sound like significant, but it will.

I don't know if you're familiar with the book.

It's called A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Van Aken.

And a lot of people buy it because the COVID has C.S.

lewis in big letters.

And what it is, is letter to CS Lewis from this guy, Sheldon Van Auchen.

And the story it tells, he and his.

They got married.

Him and his fiance, they get married and they have one of these really romantic, special loves, you know, where they just love each other to death and want to be with each other.

And it's a.

It's a.

It's a beautiful, romantic story.

And then at some point, his wife, she comes to know the Lord and then she gets cancer and she dies.

So she comes to know the Lord, and even though she hasn't really changed towards him, or in fact is more loving towards him.

He realizes that she loves Jesus more than me.

She loves him in.

In a sense, in a big sense, you know, in a philosophical sense, in a spiritual sense.

And it bums him out.

And then when she dies of cancer, then of course he's mad at God, you know, and so he's thinking that God took all of that away from him.

So he starts his correspondence with Lewis, who at one point says, this was a severe mercy in that this is what it took to.

To get you to consider a relationship with Jesus Christ.

And he ends up getting saved, of course.

And that's the theme of the book.

But that's kind of the idea.

It's like, hey, yeah, it causes this division, but how do you know what the Lord's going to do with it?

And so all you can do is tell people to do what the Lord tells you to do in his word.

Again, we were talking, I think, last episode about taking a stand.

You're going to have to take a stand in your family.

If it is, you know, if it's something that they want to do or traditionally done or whatever, that doesn't really fit with the Christian life.

I mean, you just have to take a stand and be the outcast and, you know, make it about Jesus.

Yeah, and it reminds me of Matthew 10.

You know, Jesus talks about, you know, really, you know, he didn't come to bring peace at any cost, but he talks about a sword, and a sword that divides truth from lies and light from darkness.

And, you know, that can be, you know, probably scary for some people, but the reality is the gospel message, God's word forces a choice.

It's allegiance to Christ or it's allegiance to the world.

It's not a mix of both.

I mean, you can't serve two masters, right?

And so, you know, division.

And I think oftentimes when we think of division, we think of, you know, the Christian standing with the sign on a soapbox that has some kind of very direct and aggressive statement on it that, you know, they're yelling and screaming, and that's not what we're talking about.

We're talking about division.

That's not caused by Christians being hostile, because you got plenty of those.

And they're certainly not doing it in the name of Jesus.

They might think that they are, but it's caused by differing responses to Jesus.

And it's.

It's what we represent.

And it should be out of humility and out of love.

And you know, reverence for God.

But so.

And when we understand that Jesus predicted this, I think it helps us to see that the division we face isn't random.

I mean, Jesus talked about.

He said, they hated me first.

Right?

So it's not.

It's not new, but it's.

And it is part of following him, but it still comes at a cost.

So, Pastor Mike, can you take a couple minutes and talk about how following Jesus actually costs us relationships with people we care about?

I know, Jean, you talked a little bit about it, but can you, Pastor Mike, just kind of continue that thought?

Two minutes or 20 minutes?

Sure.

So the first thing that comes to mind, that old expression or quote that says, you know, I'd rather be divided by truth than united by a lie.

And as Gene said, you know, that following Jesus comes with really a tremendous cost, you know, in this life, especially as we get closer to the end, because the Bible just makes clear that the love of many is going to wax cold.

And division, as we just did in our last episode, is going to become greater nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, households now.

And that's really where this is leading, be divided amongst themselves.

Jesus had said, you know, in John 15, he says, if the world hates you, know that it's hated me before.

It hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you're not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

So the good thing is, as a believer, Jesus prepares us for what's, you know, coming.

So this isn't foreign to us.

When we get into relationships, especially with people that we love and we're sharing Jesus, that they reject us.

Is that as Gene mentioned, you know, Jesus own family rejected him and they thought he was crazy and trying to save him from himself.

John goes on, he says, you know, remember the word that I said to you?

A servant's not greater than his master.

So if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know who sent me.

And unfortunately, because of the way the world works, we see isolation, you know, from loved ones takes place.

That's what happens is Gene was talking about, you know, the Portuguese person and, you know, just the way their family would respond to them.

And.

And we see that, you know, with the Jews.

The Jews did the same thing when their children, you know, left the faith and were saved.

And it in the back then especially think of how tight knit society was.

So if your family cut you off, you basically were cut off, you know, from the world at that point.

You know, I always think of Gene kind of touched on this.

But you know, in Matthew's Gospel in chapter 10, Jesus said, you know, do not think that I've come to bring peace on earth.

And I think that's a mistake that people make.

They go, you know, Jesus is going to make everything.

You just become a believer and everybody just gets along, you know, we have the coexist stickers, you know, and ever.

It's just going to be a perfect thing.

And, and it never works out that way.

And he says, this is Jesus saying this, right?

He says, I have not come to bring peace, but a sword where I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter in law against her mother in law.

That, that's natural.

That happens all the time.

But a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

You have to be married to understand that one.

Huh?

Luke goes on chapter 12, he says, do you think that I've come to give you peace on earth?

And he says, no, I tell you, but rather division.

From now on, in one house there will be five divided against two and two against three.

They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother in law and against her daughter in law, daughter in law against her mother in law.

So the point in all that is, you know, taking a stand on, you know, moral issues and biblical issues.

It's going to lead to misunderstandings, you know, with people.

It's going to lead, ultimately lead to rejection.

And again, Gene, you know, brought this up, you know, John 7, that even Jesus own brothers, you know, they didn't believe him.

You know, Stephen, in the book of Acts, in chapter seven, you know, here he is telling the Jewish leaders of their history, right?

And they're hearing this.

And then he tells them, you know, he says finally, you know, they, they were infuriated, you know, with what Stephen was sharing with them because he, he told them in verse 51 there towards the end of the, the chapter, he says, you stubborn people, he says, you are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth.

Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit as your ancestors did?

And now you do.

And they killed all the prophets, right?

And so, you know, it says that they, they heard what he was saying, it says, and they just became enraged and says, but Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, he Just gazed up into heaven and he saw the glory of God.

And he says, look, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God's right hand.

And this says of the Jewish leaders, they.

They put their hands over their ears, they began to shout, they rushed and they drugged him out of the city and they stoned him to death.

And these are the very people who were supposedly looking for the Messiah, you know, but they rejected the truth of God's word, just as Jesus had said.

And because he had a bold witness, Stephen, it ultimately, you know, it cost him his life.

And so we just have to understand, you know, we have to make a choice.

We are going to be forced into a decision.

Loyalty to Jesus, you know, comes before loyalty to our family members.

And, and that's not like God saying, I want you to love me more and I want you to love them less.

What he's saying is, if you don't love me more, you will love them less.

Because our priorities are going to be wrong in life, and then we're going to be looking to the wrong source for our pleasure, you know, for.

To meet our needs.

You know, no human being can meet our needs the way that God can meet our needs.

And so again, the whole point of, you know, Gene was talking about God in his mercy, taking somebody out of our life for our benefit to save us.

We.

We forget this is about eternity.

This isn't just about happiness here, you know, on earth.

So really important truths, you know, that we've got to comprehend that, you know, making a stand for Jesus is definitely going to come with a.

With a price.

I mean, I think of the last thing I'd share.

You know, Jesus told us, he said if we were gonna.

Any man who desires to come after me, let him pick up his cross.

There's a cross to bear and that's a death.

There's a.

There's a price to pay in following Jesus.

It wasn't, you know, adding in the old days, you know, when you had a.

Wrote a resume, you know, for a job, and you said, well, I attend Calvary Chapel, you know, you'd put that down.

Most people wouldn't even put a church affiliation anymore because they know that to do so would make them ostracized, you know, in a woke, you know, kind of world in which we live today.

But again, as Jesus called us, to do what?

To be like a light that set on a hill.

Don't let it be hidden.

And what's that going to do?

And you go, it's going to create division, whether we like it or not, you know, and that'll kind of lead us, you know, where we go from here, how do we respond, you know, personally, but hopefully that makes some sense.

Yeah, it's so true too.

I mean, I think a bunch of us try and be a bunch of lights hidden under a bed with the covers draped over it so, you know, and a password to get in.

But that's not for.

Called, like you said, to be a light on a hill.

And there has to be.

There's going to be cost to that and the cost can be real and they can be painful.

But the good news is that we're never truly alone.

Pastor Gene, could you share maybe some encouragement then for those who feel like they're standing for Christ all by themselves?

So they've gone through those pains, through those broken relationships, and maybe they do feel a little bit lone, like, you know, they're by themselves, they've lost all their, their friendships, they're a little discouraged, you know, that kind of thing.

Yeah.

While Mike was talking, I was thinking that our theology is so important here in terms of letting people know that the Holy Spirit is a person who lives in us the moment we are saved and it.

He's a permanent companion.

I think so often, maybe some churches, you know, they talk more.

It seems like people think the Holy Spirit is more of a force or a power because he has power and that he's standing by to, you know, give us power in case we have to part the Red Sea or go across the Jordan.

But in terms of petty family issues, you know, there's nothing he can do really, and it's sad.

So I think, I think part of the answer to this, without being know.

Getting too philosophical, is a more relational theology.

People know that God is with them all the time, and Christians know that, but they don't know that.

I mean, they, they don't know what it means.

And I was talking with some of the guys the other day about how, you know, when we share the gospel, we get.

People do a great job here, whether it's the four Spiritual laws or Greg Laurie, his book on what next or that kind of thing.

But I don't know if you guys ever noticed, but there seems to be a lack of emphasis on the Holy Spirit lives in you now, and you can expect him to take away all of your addictions and, you know, he.

He wants to make you new.

And here's what happened to people in the Bible and stuff like that, and it Almost seems like that is all.

It's ignored or it's always taught as a secondary experience.

And so I think we leave people hanging sometimes, you know, because I forget who I quoted last Sunday, but it might have been Tozer.

And he said, do you really realize that the Holy Spirit lives in you?

I mean, he said, that is an awful, wonderful truth.

And I want to put myself and other Christians in touch with that again so that they say, hey, I'm not alone.

I mean, I might feel alone, but I'm not alone.

And this situation I'm in, he is going to work together for the good, and I have all the power I need to get through it.

And if I don't have something I think I need, then I don't need it.

And so again, take your stand and let the Holy Spirit minister to you.

And so, you know, relational theology, just as an example, I don't want to create a scandal here, but I would say Calvinism, for example, is not very relational in the way I'm talking about religion.

Yes, God is sovereign to them and all, but it's more, hey, I picked you in eternity past and I didn't pick you.

And so.

But, you know, God's relationship skills are pretty bad, you know, in Calvinism, because he picks people and he doesn't pick other people.

And we would rather say he's the savior of the whole world, especially those who believe, and that we enter into a genuine personal relationship with Him.

And I think if we keep emphasizing that and hammering that, then people will say, I can't be alone.

I'm not alone.

I'm.

You know, and I can do this.

You know, Christ can do it through me.

I mean, he's given me more than I can handle because he wants to handle it for me.

So to me, the answer to all that is that.

And then, you know, there's some notes down here, Jason.

Yeah, I mean, you.

You lose your.

Maybe you're going to lose your mother or your father in terms of a relationship or sisters, brothers, cousins, all that.

You don't invited to Christmas anymore, that kind of thing.

But the church then provides you with a new spiritual family that you immediately feel closer to, usually than your physical family.

And it's weird, you know, and then.

And of course, that's another source of problem because then your physical family realizes that you love other people that you shouldn't love, you know, whether it's for ethnic reasons or prejudice or just, you know, they're jealous.

So it's an.

It's an endless kind of thing, unless we have to back up and say, hey, you know, the Holy Spirit's in me, he's with me.

He's given me the power.

And I just need to not so much tough it out, but joy it out.

This is my joy.

And my joy is filled.

Yeah, so that's, that's kind of where I'm at on that.

And that's the best way, I think, to plant seeds in other people's lives is to just, you know, just act like what you are, a person with another person living inside you.

Amen.

And I remember one, one thing my dad used to say because he was very much into the, you know, the family ties and it's family above all else.

And, you know, he would always use that.

And I just remember this, as even a young kid, he would always use that phrase that blood is thicker than water, meaning that you stick with family above all else, no matter the cost.

And I just, it makes me laugh when I think about it every once in a while because it is true, but just not know in the way you meant it.

It's Jesus's blood.

And when you put your faith and hope and trust in him when, when you're in dwelt by the Holy Spirit, like you said, you're.

The family of God is bigger than your bloodline is bigger than you realize.

And it, it's global, which is so cool.

And that's what I, I mean, I just remember being in Israel with, you know, Mike and being with Christians that are, you know, Jewish Christians over there, and it's like, man, this is my brother.

And really feeling that way, you know, doing worship on the Sea of Galilee and thinking, man, this is so.

God's family is so awesome.

Well, God's awesome, right?

And it's just a privilege to be a part of his.

His family.

And so it's so, so true.

You're not alone.

You're not alone.

The enemy would want you to believe that, but you're not.

And so the hope that we have really is God's presence, God's family, God's ability to use, you know, to use things that we think maybe are lost for his glory and just in ways that we never expected.

Let me interject real quick.

I got an idea.

So you take Elijah, right?

He has this, the peak of his ministry.

He kills all the prophets of baal.

Next thing you know, he's running, running, running, running.

Gets to a cave.

I'm the only one.

And, and so you look at the scene, first of all, God is talking to him.

I mean, he's like, personally talking to him, and he's just given him this great victory.

And then, of course, God says, Yeah, I have 7,000 more that you don't know about and stuff.

And.

And so it's crazy.

You know, that's.

That's how we feel.

And I, you know, I think we just then need to tell people, hey, you're just wrong for feeling that way.

Not a little more.

God's talking to you right now.

You wouldn't even come in here to see me if you didn't think that Jesus could help you.

And so, you know, get along with the Lord and figure it out.

Amen.

Yep.

Good word.

Absolutely.

So, you know, and it's also important that we respond to opposition in the right way, because we're going to have it.

So how, you know, how do we respond?

So I guess, Pastor Mike, let's ask you this.

Can you talk a little bit about how we can then stay gracious without compromising the truth?

Because we are going to be confronted with conflict in these relationships or the relationships we used to have.

So how can we do it?

How can we against it Gracious without compromising the truth of God's word?

Yeah, I think it's just eye for an eye, tooth for tooth.

I mean, that's just.

Oh, maybe that's not what I meant.

No, you know, Paul says, you know, speak the truth in love.

You know, it's.

You put in the notes that you gave us.

You know, truth without love is harsh, and love without truth is hollow.

And that's.

It's just such a great point.

You know, again, you know, Paul again, writing to the church at Ephesus, he says, instead, he said, we speak the truth in love, growing in every way, more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.

And you know what?

We have to understand we have the truth.

That's the beauty of it.

I mean, we already know we the truth, and the truth is going to prevail.

I mean, if you read your Bible and you understand it, like Gene said, you just get alone with God.

There's.

You can argue all day long, you know, but that's not going to change the truth.

So when you know that, you know, it's like arguing with a little kid.

You know, they go, I'm not getting in the car.

I'm not going.

And you.

And you know, they're going because you can literally pick them up and throw them in the car if you need to.

But, you know, you try to reason with them.

And it's kind of the same thing, you know, with the world.

They can fight against God, you know, goes back to, you know, Psalm 2.

Again, you can rage and you go, but, but here's the beauty of God, that God, he desires to reason with us.

You know, the way that God is so gracious, so patient, you know, you think of your own life and just how good God is.

And so when you start projecting that, you know, into relationships, we recognize, you know, the goal isn't to, to win the argument or, you know, prove ourselves right, but it's to plant seed.

That's all God's called us to do.

We plant seed and we water it.

Because as Gene said so well in his portion of this was that the Holy Spirit is the one doing the work.

And we've got to trust that.

And he's gracious, you know, he's kind to sinners.

He doesn't want us to.

To perish.

And so again, he's going to do anything and everything he can.

I, I'd seen a.

This thing on Instagram this week.

It was two boats that were out in the ocean.

And you know, obviously one had the right of way because there's nautical laws just like there's laws, you know, when you drive a motor vehicle.

And I was just reading the comments in there and it was so funny.

Where one guy's going, does it really matter who's right and who's wrong in that regard?

You can be right, but you could be dead right.

You know, scripture says we can suppress the truth and unrighteousness.

But he, he, he wrote a comment and it was kind of in a, you know, obviously if you have an Irish background, I thought, I can't do it.

Yeah.

Even though my mom was Irish.

But it just reminded me of Gene when I read this quote.

So I, I'm Gene, can you, can you pull this off?

And it was a quote that I read and it kind of drives the point.

My best non Irish accent since I'm Italian, that I do means alone but.

Great, you just offended our pastor.

Hey, just make it care.

Yeah.

There, you ready?

Here it goes here as the body of Johnny O.

Day who died preserving his.

Right away he was dead dead right as he sailed along.

But he's just as dead as if he'd been wrong.

Yeah, I, you did not disappoint.

You know, but you think about this as a believer.

You know, we have this truth the same way this boat had had the right of way.

But I love that he said, you know, here lies the body of Johnny o', Day, who died preserving his right of way.

So in the, in this video clip, he knew that he was in the right of way, but he knew that if he didn't divert his path, there was going to be a wreck of these boats.

But he didn't move his boat because he's going.

I had the.

Right away.

And the guy who commented this, what he wrote, he said he was right, dead right as he sailed along, but he's just as dead as if he'd been wrong.

And I thought, man, that is so true.

You know, if being agreeable means engaging people and being kind or empathetic, respectful, then absolutely that's what we should try to do.

But on the other side, if being agreeable means compromising or watering down the truth because of discomfort, that's a problem.

You know, Jesus said very clearly, right in John 14, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life.

No one comes to the Father except by me.

I had a conversation with a guy that he's not in our church anymore, but he was years ago, and he wanted to be a pastor.

And.

But it was really interesting is I always saw him.

He was one of the nicest guys that you'd ever know, but he compromised all the time because he was more concerned about being liked by people than he was about being right.

And so we had this conversation not too long ago, and he was talking about how he had got invited to do a funeral for some family members.

And he said, I didn't want to do it.

And I said, you didn't want to do it?

Because he knows me, he's like, you know, I, I tell people all the time, if I could do a wedding or a funeral, I. I love to do funerals, because funerals, you got everybody's attention, and you can share the truth of the gospel.

And people are hearing it because they know they're, they're.

They're encountering their own mortality.

They know they're going to die one day, too.

So it's a great way to speak into their life truth.

And he said, I didn't want to do it.

So I was hoping that they wouldn't even ask me to do it.

And I said, well, that's strange.

I said, why wouldn't you want to do them?

You got to understand, this is the guy who wants to be a pastor.

And he says, well, I knew that the guy didn't believe in Jesus.

I knew that he wasn't going to heaven.

So what was I going to do, stand up in front of the people.

And I couldn't tell him that, you know, he was in hell.

And I was like, no, you just missed this opportunity to do what to.

It's like the elephant in the room.

If they knew that the guy was an atheist and a non believer, you didn't have to tell them.

They were already thinking that.

So what you do from there is you go, hey, you know what?

God is a loving God, He's a compassionate God.

He's not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance, right?

And then you lead him down this path of this is why Jesus came.

He recognized that we were sinners in need of a savior.

And that's, there's nothing rude about that.

That's going, man, I, I care about you.

I, I, I love you.

I love what Paul said, you know, but there's that, that fine line there.

Galatians 1:10 says Paul, speaking of himself, he says, obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God.

If pleasing people were my goal, he said, I wouldn't be Christ's servant.

And that's true.

I say that all the time.

I go, man, if I was trying to, you know, just make friends, I, I wouldn't have been a pastor.

I'd have bought an ice cream truck.

You know, I just drove down and give away ice cream in neighborhoods.

Everybody love you.

They'd run out to see you and they couldn't wait to see you, you know, but, you know, we can't, we can't avoid the offense because of truth.

Truth is what has to motivate us to risk the relationship.

Because I love you so much that I cannot not tell you.

This is like, you know, I love that expression, you know, blockades on the road to hell, you know, that over my dead body.

Because that's really what Jesus said, you know, over my dead body you're going to go to hell.

But he did everything that he could to reach us and that God would give us that same kind of heart.

Because to me, exactly what Gene said, the Holy Spirit lives in us and, and he's wanting to convey that kind of love and not just for people that love us, but even for people who don't love us.

Because as the Bible says of all of us, that we were the enemies of God and while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So we're looking for bridges, we're looking for opportunity, hopefully to bridge that gap, you know, with other people.

Amen Amen.

So as we close today, remember Jesus told us that following him would cost relationships, even with people you know, that we love deeply.

And that division is not caused by hatred or pride, or at least it shouldn't be on our part, but by the choice to follow truth when others choose a different path.

So for those of you today that are feeling the weight of that right now, just be encouraged.

You're not alone.

First and foremost, God is with you.

His spirit is with you, his family's around you, and he is faithful.

And even to those that oppose you.

Right.

Sometimes we fail to remember that, that those that are is so oppressive to us, that maybe have hatred towards us because we're Christians, God died for them, too.

And so just remember that.

And so here's our challenge for you this week.

If you face, if you're in that position, you face that, that tension or rejection because of your faith, just respond with love.

Stand firm in truth, but respond in love and pray.

Pray is often for those people in your life that don't yet follow Jesus.

Because remember, at one point, that was me, that was you.

We were still enemies of God.

We didn't follow Christ.

And so next week we're going to talk about, we talked about family today.

Last week we talked about nation against nation, and we're going to keep going and talk about the church divided and refined and why division in the body of Christ isn't necessarily always a bad thing and how God uses it to purify his people and for his purposes.

So thank you for joining us.

We look forward to seeing you next week.

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

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