Latest / Gospel Talks Podcast / #94 - Is Being Holy Good or Bad For Evangelism? Dare to Be Different So You Can Make a Difference (Part 1)

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#94 - Is Being Holy Good or Bad For Evangelism? Dare to Be Different So You Can Make a Difference (Part 1) · Gospel Talks Podcast

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  I don't know if you're like me and sometimes you've thought,
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  when I'm an evangelist or evangelizing,
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  it's almost better to be cool than holy.
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  And yet Christians are called to be different,
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  which is not to mean Christians are called to be weird,
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  but we are called to be holy in a w in this world,
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  be in the world, not of the world.
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  And sometimes I've wondered, is that a good thing for evangelism or is that
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  a bad thing for evangelism?
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  Are we to be holy when we're evangelizing?
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  We don't often put those ideas together,
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  but should they be together? And if you've wondered about any of this,
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  how are you supposed to act around an unbeliever?
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  Should you do what they do to win them?
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  Then this episode is for you. And I am so looking forward to it.
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  Welcome
• 0:42
  everybody to Gospel Talks Podcast,
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  where we help Christians all over the world become more effective
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  in relational evangelism and discipleship.
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  My name is George Binocca and I am your co host and with me today is Jeff Musgrave.
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  He is the author, the founder,
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  and the leader of the Exchange and all its ministries and books.
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  And so so glad to have him on.
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  Jeff, how you doing, man?
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  Doing good. Good good to talk to you,
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  George.
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  Good to talk to you too.
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  it's it's raining here and the the heat kind of broke because of the rain,
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  but we're getting a lot of rain right now and ~ and so we're we're thankful
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  for that. But we're not thankful for the humidity that combines with
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  a hundred and five degree heat.
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  That is a a brutal formula.
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  Yeah. We actually probably got your heat wave.
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  It's it's I'm in Denver and it's ~ it's quite warm here,
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  but we're you're sending us your rain.
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  I think we're supposed to get it towards the weekend and next week,
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  so
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  Good, good. Enjoy.
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  We need
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  it badly. We've had you probably heard we have had horrendous fires.
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  Really.
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  yeah, just it seem it almost feels like half the state's on fire,
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  but yeah, we've had really bad fires.
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  So we're we're glad for some rain.
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  Yeah, I think there's a ton of fires in the southwest,
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  which is not good. Not good. ~ so we need to be praying for folks.
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  We we have some friends who've evacuated because of fires and floods
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  and things like that. well, I'll jump right in with you.
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  I think this is such an important topic.
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  we're gonna be titling it, Dare to be different,
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  so you can make a difference. This call to be different as a Christian,
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  in your opinion.
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  What's that all about?
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  You know, when I was a kid, I learned a song,
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  this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.
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  And and really what that song was talking about was what Jesus said when he says,
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  You are the light of the world.
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  And then it goes on and tells us,
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  let your light shine before others so that they see your good works
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  and give glory to your Father which is in heaven.
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  So that I
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  Being different is nothing more than and really nothing less than demonstrating
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  to the world who Jesus is as he lives his life through us.
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  That's that's the picture that Jesus is giving to us when he calls us
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  the light of the world.
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  Mm, mm, I love that. I think that is an important truth that holiness
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  is not God's holiness is not contaminated by sin,
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  and that holiness is actually an an offensive tool ~ where it can take
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  us on the offense and and and holiness is not just about building fences
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  or barriers. It is the thing that enables us to go into the world.
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  And so I I love that song we all sing.
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  as kids. So ~ so anything else to help us understand that concept
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  of this little light of mine.
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  Well, Peter and the passage we're gonna really focus on today ~ is
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  in first Peter chapter two, if anyone wants to look at it,
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  it's verses eleven and twelve.
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  And Peter kind of refers back to these things in in he doesn't use the word light,
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  but as I read it, I think you'll be able to see ~ why I referred to that.
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  beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles.
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  To abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul,
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  keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable,
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  so that when they speak against you as evildoers,
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  they may see your good works or good deeds,
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  excuse me, and glorify God on the day of visitation.
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  And so the idea here is that as we live differently,
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  we can demonstrate to others the real glory of God and help them to see.
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  the source and the reason for our difference.
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  So then how are we supposed to act as followers of Christ?
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  I mean, especially around non-believers.
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  I guess no, that's a bad question.
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  How we supposed to act, period?
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  And and I think I should probably tell everybody the idea for this particular
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  ~ episode ~ came from a Alistair Begg devotional.
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  And he every day he sends out a devotional.
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  And on July 5th, he ~ asked that specific questions.
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  I mean, literally he started his devotional with how are Jesus followers supposed
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  to act?
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  And he went on to say it's a vital question,
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  and the answer is both simple and challenging.
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  We are called to be different,
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  different from those who don't follow Jesus.
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  And ~ I I should warn everybody,
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  George, I we plan to talk about this in a deductive manner.
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  In other words, what we're gonna do is we're gonna start with the premise
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  and we're gonna purposely attempt to prove the validity of the premise as we
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  as we w talk.
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  about it. But I I feel like inductive study of scripture is far more profitable
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  to us. And so I urge every single person who's listening to actively pursue this
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  topic inductively as they study through the entirety of Scripture.
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  So maybe just let it for the next year kind of be a background question that
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  I'm asking myself. How are
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  Followers of Jesus supposed to live.
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  Here's where we're going to start and ultimately finish.
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  And this also is an Alistair Begg quote.
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  In fact, this is the quote that really stirred my heart to say,
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  hey, I want to talk about this.
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  He says, Will I love this world enough to be quite unlike this world that I might
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  Point
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  the people of this world towards a better one.
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  And I I just feel like he really stated that,
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  well, we have to be different from this world because our lives belong
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  in and are aiming toward another world.
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  We want to be able to live in such a way that we influence other people
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  to go with us.
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  Hm. I love that. ~ going back to your quote of Peter,
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  ~ from from from the apostles book there in the New Testament,
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  he
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  Yeah.
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  he describes Christians as sojourners and exiles in that passage I notice.
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  What does it mean to what does it actually mean to live like a foreigner
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  in your own culture? And this is such an important question for us as Christians.
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  It it impacts me as a pastor, the answer to this question.
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  in and it impacts your church,
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  those of you that are listening.
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  But what what does that actually mean biblically?
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  You know, I love the phrase living life on mission.
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  In other words, we're we're focusing our living on the mission God sent us to.
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  He sent us to invite other people to go to heaven with us.
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  And when I have been on mission trips,
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  you lived on a mission trip when you started a church in Nairobi.
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  so whenever you're in a ~
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  Foreign culture. everything around you is different.
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  And it reminds you constantly that you're there for a purpose.
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  And I I love, I actually feel like mission trips are a little easier
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  to live on mission because I'm constantly being reminded by the feel of the air,
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  by the smell of the air, by the way people are dressing,
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  talking, acting.
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  And I actually think that what God wants us to do is recognize we
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  our citizenship is in heaven. And if
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  Mm.
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  we would compare the world we're going to live in to the world we currently live in,
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  we would recognize a drastic difference.
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  And those differences are supposed to be making us feel uncomfortable here.
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  I I read in Second Corinthians chapter five,
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  the first ten verses, and I recognize that God tells us that we're literally
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  moaning, groaning in this world.
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  ~ when when I get my aches and pangs of of ~ growing a little older,
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  I it it reminds me of of that verse.
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  God didn't make me for this world,
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  he made me for another world. And my home is
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  Is in heaven. That's the real citizenship that I have.
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  And everything in this world that is not like that world ought to make
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  me homesick for that world. And that homesickness ought to drive
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  me to recognize there are a lot of people here that don't know about there.
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  There's a lot of people on this world that don't know about heaven,
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  that don't know about Jesus. And those differences ought to be driving me.
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  And so as I live differently.
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  Because I'm a citizen of a different world,
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  then I think it gives me opportunity to talk.
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  Hmm. So when people hear the phrase Christians should be different,
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  I think they're tempted to think of a lot of things.
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  they're tempted to sometimes where the Bible says be different,
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  they're tempted to r read weird.
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  Sometimes where the Bible says different,
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  they're tempted to think of a r list of rules.
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  Is that what Peter is talking about in the context is a list of rules,
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  morality? What do you believe he's saying right there?
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  Yeah, ca I'm I'm gonna actually look up a a Bible verse here because Peter used
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  in the passage a verse ~ just in verse nine.
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  So we quoted verses ~ eleven and twelve.
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  Verse nine says, But you are a chosen race,
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  a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
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  a people.
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  For his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies
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  of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
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  So that's really the picture of what you and I are are talking about when we're
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  trying to help people recognize that God wants us to live a different kind of life.
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  so you asked the question.
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  what are we supposed to be thinking when we hear the word ~ Christian should
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  be different? And this is another quote from Alistair Begg that I thought
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  was very helpful. It's as if God is saying,
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  You're my people, you belong to me.
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  I want you to delight in being set apart.
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  In other words, my being set apart is not I'm weird.
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  My my being set apart is that God chose me as his own.
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  I'm part of his bride. And and that is a beautiful,
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  delightful place to be. And God wants me to delight in that.
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  Hmm. I love that. That's you know,
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  I I wish for every Christian believer listening to this,
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  they would just grab on to that statement that it's a delight and not a punishment.
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  And some people feel like it's a punishment that they've been called
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  to be different, and they they kind of kick against the pricks,
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  so to speak. and I and I just,
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  you know, I I myself need to do better on seeing it that way as a delight.
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  So
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  Then in in your opinion, what's the difference between behavioral modification,
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  which is disingenuine to an extent,
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  and genuine heart transformation?
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  Because we don't want to come across as we're faking it till we We're faking
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  it till they make it to the to the kingdom,
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  you know? And then after that it's like,
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  hey, like we're actually we we do this stuff too.
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  But no, like there has to be some genuine heart transformation.
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  I mean, we we we
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  either really believe this stuff or we don't and what's the difference there?
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  How do we make sure we end up genuine?
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  Yeah. Well, I if when I think of change,
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  so when I think of how I as a believer ought to behave slash change,
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  ~ I the phrase that comes to my mind is manifesting Christ.
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  So that I get that phrase from ~ Second Corinthians beginning in about chapter two,
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  verse fourteen, where it talks about the fragrance of Christ.
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  We've talked about that many times.
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  All
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  the way through the end of chapter seven,
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  somewhere in there. And in the middle of that,
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  in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 18,
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  he uses a phrase: We all with unveiled face,
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  beholding the glory of the Lord,
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  are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another,
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  for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
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  And so this is talking about real genuine transformation in the Christian's life.
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  And notice the tense here. We are being transformed.
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  So that it's it's that's a passive.
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  That's not something I actually do.
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  It's not that I am sitting around thinking in terms of how do I transform my life?
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  What behavioral modifications do I need?
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  Notice.
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  The action. It says, but we all with unveiled unveiled face,
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  beholding the glory of the Lord.
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  And so our action is literally gazing on the glorious face of the Lord.
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  And as we focus on God, He changes us more and more to be like Him.
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  So it it's it's actually not about an external.
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  It
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  Mm.
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  it shows up in externals.
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  But it's about us becoming more and more like God.
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  Hmm. I what I love, we were talking about just before we came
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  on and started recording in the studio,
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  is that it's important the four attributes of God,
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  the four truths about a God that about God that are the foundation
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  of the gospel that we use in the exchange to be the four chapters
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  to present the gospel and introduce people to Jesus,
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  that we embody those attributes and present them.
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  Yeah, yeah.
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  And in fact, if that's really who God is,
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  I mean, if we're really being genuine in in introducing people to him,
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  that's who God is. Then
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  Mm.
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  when we focus our attention on God and He makes us more and more like Him,
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  then we will become more and more holy.
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  We will become more and more just and loving and gracious.
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  I mean those things
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  That are true about God, Hans to produce in us.
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  Yeah. Yeah. You know, what's so incredible about holiness is that it
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  is just an absolute essential part of the Christian life.
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  But some people feel like, you know,
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  holiness is just that thing for mature believers.
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  new believers or young believers or some believers or all the believers that aren't
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  pastors or deacons, you don't really have to be that holy.
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  We get it. You know,
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  i it's okay, you're just doing what everybody else does in the world.
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  But why is it so essential to Christianity,
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  this pursuit of holiness?
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  Yeah, well, I I I think that the probably the biggest reason is because God said to.
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  When and the reason he said to,
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  I mean he said it back in Leviticus,
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  he quotes it Peter quotes it in first chapter one of this same book.
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  and ~ he says, Be holy like God is holy.
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  And ~ the it it's i it Jesus said it this way,
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  be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.
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  And I
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  I think that we kind of balk from the concept of holy because we have
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  to balk from the concept of whole of perfect.
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  I mean, we're not perfect. So how do how do we do that?
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  Well, I do think there's a progression.
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  I I think that God makes us more like Himself every single day.
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  But every single time we fall short of what we know God wants us to be,
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  the only
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  way we can respond to that in a in an appropriate,
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  proper way is to repent. I actually think the greatest attribute of
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  a person who's following Jesus is the humility to constantly repent.
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  constantly recognize that's that's not Jesus living through me.
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  That's my flesh. That's the way I live.
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  And so justice is only one attribute of God.
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  The the ju excuse me, I I I'm being a little dyslexic here and saying
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  one thing and looking at another.
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  holiness is not the only thing.
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  I mean, it it is certainly the basis,
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  but you know, in a world of injustice,
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  God wants believers to become more and more like him in regards to justice.
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  That when we see someone being treated unjustly,
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  that we become part of the of the solution there and say,
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  No, wait a minute, this is
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  It's not appropriate. This is not just.
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  And so believers are not just a negative force in the world of,
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  you know, you're not like me, so you're bad.
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  it is literally us showing people who God is by our desires.
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  We want justice for people. That the next attribute of God that we're constantly
• 16:29
  talking about is God's love. And I'm just telling you if we want to be different,
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  to make a difference, learning how to love God first.
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  And love others like ourselves,
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  we'll change ourselves and it'll change the world around us.
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  And then all of this has to flow from God.
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  God is gracious. He gives us that ability.
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  We show graciousness by ~ giving people room to grow,
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  to room to change, seeing the best in them,
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  wanting the best for them. But I actually think it ha has to also reflect
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  the fact that we know it's not about us.
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  ~
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  You
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  know, John 15, the reason that we can easily say this is not just
• 17:10
  us putting on actions is Jesus said,
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  Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless
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  it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.
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  So the only way you and I are ever going to be holy is to abide in Jesus.
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  And let him produce his holiness through us and same thing with justice
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  and love and grace.
• 17:33
  So in Peter's epistle, and you you just made mention of this just a second
• 17:37
  ago in your comments, but but even going back to that verse,
• 17:40
  he says, We're supposed to abstain from the passions of the flesh flesh because they
• 17:44
  wage war against our souls. But what does that look like in everyday life?
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  Because there's some people that are probably going,
• 17:49
  Okay, you guys are talking up here.
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  Now bring it like down here and tell me what to do.
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  You know, what does this actually look like in real life?
• 17:57
  Speaking of of bringing it down here,
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  I I just taught the children of our church in vacation bible school.
• 18:03
  It was super fun. And we talked about the the great flood and Noah's Ark.
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  And
• 18:09
  Hm.
• 18:10
  ~ one of the phrases that we used over and over and over is
• 18:15
  sin is not safe.
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  Hm.
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  we see a sin as ~
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  Pursuing something that looks really yummy to eat,
• 18:24
  you know, like this sinfully
• 18:25
  Mm.
• 18:25
  delicious dessert. And the fact is,
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  it's not safe, it's dangerous.
• 18:29
  sin has a life of its own, and it is
• 18:31
  Hm.
• 18:31
  seeking to have mastery over us.
• 18:33
  The very first time we see the mention of sin in scripture in Genesis 4,
• 18:38
  ~ verse 7, it gives us this picture of an animal crouching,
• 18:42
  ready to pounce and destroy. Adrian Rogers.
• 18:45
  used to say sin will take you further than you want to go,
• 18:48
  keep you longer than you want to stay,
• 18:49
  Yep. Yep. Yep.
• 18:50
  and cost you more than you want to pay.
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  And
• 18:53
  ~ we just all need to recognize that sin is waging war against us.
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  It's trying to destroy us. It's trying to kill us.
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  The wages of sin, what we earn because of our sin is death.
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  And and sin is constantly encroaching upon us.
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  And so I I you you ask how do you s how do you
• 19:12
  see that in in day to day life.
• 19:14
  Well, maybe I should tell you how I see it in my life.
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  When I begin to see attitudes and actions come out of my brain,
• 19:22
  out of my mouth, out of my lifestyle that I know are not the fruit of the spirit.
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  I know it's not gentle and patient and kind and loving and
• 19:32
  and joyful and peaceful. I I know that's not Christ.
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  then I have to recognize that's not the Christ life.
• 19:39
  That's the Jeff life. And so whether it is a sin of gross immorality
• 19:45
  or whether it is a sin of losing your temper when it's not appropriate,
• 19:50
  Mm.
• 19:51
  we have to recognize that's flesh.
• 19:52
  And that flesh is destroying me.
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  It's trying to destroy me. Sin
• 19:57
  is is doing its work. And so number first,
• 20:00
  the first part of is recognizing the flesh,
• 20:03
  seeing it. And I think that the sooner we see it,
• 20:06
  the the less damage it does. And then being committed to repent and return
• 20:11
  to Jesus and let his life rule through me.
• 20:14
  I love that. letting Christ's life live through you.
• 20:17
  I mean, it I mean, that is the commitment that Jesus I think about the call
• 20:21
  of Levi to Jesus, and Levi gives everything up and then invites all
• 20:25
  his friends to come hear the same message and says,
• 20:27
  I will follow you. And I mean,
• 20:29
  that's really it in enough in a nutshell that I'm giving up my lifestyle
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  or an entitlement to a lifestyle of my own.
• 20:35
  In saying, I will now abide by his lifestyle,
• 20:39
  making Jesus,
• 20:39
  Yeah, that's really good.
• 20:40
  you know, it's so this is so helpful to us as Christians.
• 20:43
  Now, the question, I guess, then comes in my mind is how
• 20:45
  can Christians engage culture,
• 20:48
  which is nothing like Jesus, because culture fell in Genesis chapter three?
• 20:52
  How can how can and Christian culture is not all evil either?
• 20:56
  But how can Christians engage a culture that is good and
• 21:00
  bad without becoming absorbed?
• 21:02
  Buy it.
• 21:02
  Yeah. And I think the answer is love.
• 21:04
  ~ God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and
• 21:09
  he literally sent Jesus into a sinful world.
• 21:13
  And he did it because of love.
• 21:15
  And so if if we live out of a God motive of love.
• 21:19
  ~ then then it our life is going to be different.
• 21:21
  And and remember the great commandment is to love the Lord with all of your being.
• 21:26
  And then the second one is like it to love your neighbor as yourself.
• 21:30
  And so frankly, when we get absorbed by the culture,
• 21:35
  or maybe I should say it this way,
• 21:37
  let culture cultural is absorption.
• 21:39
  We're we're taking it in. ~ literally what we're doing is we're loving self.
• 21:44
  We're we're we're living for self,
• 21:46
  we're living with self in mind.
• 21:48
  If I'm living with my neighbor in mind,
• 21:50
  if I'm living loving God with all of my heart,
• 21:53
  it's going to really drastically change how I connect with the world around me.
• 21:58
  Hmm. You know, one of the things though that you often hear from people,
• 22:01
  just to kind of play devil's advocate here,
• 22:03
  is Jesus spent time with sinners.
• 22:04
  it's funny, they bring that up.
• 22:06
  That that doesn't mean Jesus sinned with sinners,
• 22:08
  but anyway, they say Jesus spent time with sinners.
• 22:10
  So how do we follow that Jesus Christ example without compromising
• 22:15
  on our biblical convictions? You know,
• 22:17
  Yeah.
• 22:17
  d
• 22:17
  And I think, George, the the whole thing we've been talking about,
• 22:20
  living life on mission, ~ loving people enough to help them see Jesus.
• 22:26
  ~ so but the the question is, how do I do that?
• 22:29
  And the answer is, I've been crucified with Jesus.
• 22:32
  I mean, that
• 22:32
  Mm.
• 22:33
  that's really who I am. And ~ it's no longer I that live,
• 22:37
  but Christ who lives in me, Galatians two twenty.
• 22:39
  And so how do I do that? I do it by letting Jesus live his life through me.
• 22:44
  it it's his work that is happening in the world.
• 22:47
  He wants to do that work, but he wants to do it through a spirit-filled believer.
• 22:50
  That is such a gospel-centered answer.
• 22:55
  Notice to those of you in the audience,
• 22:57
  I was kinda I'm kind of been waiting to see if there's like a tinge
• 23:01
  of legalism anywhere in all of this,
• 23:03
  and there's not any legalism. I mean,
• 23:06
  it's but when you put it that way,
• 23:08
  it's so freeing to live that way because now I'm not living that way by obligation,
• 23:13
  but I am living that way.
• 23:15
  To glorify God because I'm choosing it.
• 23:18
  ~ now I guess we're talking really practical here.
• 23:22
  Where do you think, in your opinion,
• 23:24
  Christians today are most tempted to blend into the culture rather than stand apart
• 23:28
  from it?
• 23:28
  Yeah. I d this this is this question is probably the most difficult
• 23:33
  of them because this is getting to the place where we have to look
• 23:37
  at the specific dangers. So sin is dangerous.
• 23:40
  So what are the specific dangers that tend to and I I only say I'm gonna name four,
• 23:45
  and I'm only naming four because I watch the world the Christian world around me,
• 23:50
  and it and it seems to me these are the areas where people are are struggling.
• 23:55
  entertainment.
• 23:56
  when we l forget to live life on mission and want to let my mission
• 24:02
  be ~ the enjoyment of this world,
• 24:05
  ~ th then we're we're gonna slip into enjoying things that
• 24:11
  God never intended us to enjoy.
• 24:13
  And so
• 24:14
  Mm.
• 24:14
  I'm not saying entertainment is wrong and bad.
• 24:16
  I I actually think that
• 24:18
  there are some wonderful things that can be genuinely helpful to us.
• 24:21
  But I believe that if you watch the the influence of,
• 24:26
  or maybe s should I say, on the church,
• 24:29
  we can
• 24:29
  Mm.
• 24:30
  often see the the source of it in modern entertainment.
• 24:34
  Hmm. that I I totally agree on that one.
• 24:38
  And it it is really becoming harder and harder to find entertainment that
• 24:43
  is not compromising. And I'm really not one of those super conservative,
• 24:49
  never go to the movie theater types of guys.
• 24:52
  But I mean, just honestly, it's it's hard for a guy to watch more mo most movies
• 24:57
  and not lust.
• 24:58
  I mean to put it that way practically.
• 24:59
  So okay, so that's that's area number one.
• 25:02
  ~ area number two.
• 25:03
  Well, I I only say this one because I think a lot of the other ones flow out of it.
• 25:08
  And I'm alcohol. I have just seen more and more fallen pastors recently
• 25:15
  in which alcohol played a huge part in the degradation of that life.
• 25:20
  and I I just feel like this is a world in which alcohol
• 25:25
  is a part of their entertainment.
• 25:27
  It's a part of what they do to enjoy themselves.
• 25:30
  And it's dangerous and that we have to constantly be careful of
• 25:35
  of the influence that it can have on our own lives.
• 25:37
  Yeah, yeah. Be not drunk in wine with wine,
• 25:39
  where it is success. okay, area number three.
• 25:42
  Following that one, the the people that I've seen falling into
• 25:47
  the sinfulness of this world, alcohol is a path,
• 25:50
  immorality is this is the destination.
• 25:53
  And ~ I I just feel like we have to recognize that God called us to moral purity,
• 25:59
  and and that entails all different parts of life,
• 26:02
  not just the the actions. I mean,
• 26:05
  Jesus made it clear in the
• 26:08
  Sermon on the Mount, that moral purity begins in our own heart,
• 26:11
  in our own mind, before it does anywhere else.
• 26:14
  And so whether it is in ~ what what we choose to allow ourselves to see,
• 26:20
  what we choose to allow ourselves to think,
• 26:22
  what we choose to allow ourselves to wear,
• 26:24
  I mean, all of those things fall under the category of morality.
• 26:29
  Yes, yes, and that and this is not an old fashioned thing.
• 26:34
  This is a Bible thing. ~ like Jeff was saying earlier,
• 26:38
  sin is not safe. Immorality will never be safe for a Christian.
• 26:42
  That's that's excellent. Number four.
• 26:44
  So I this one like is a huge catch everything category.
• 26:49
  And ~ I I I just have attitudes.
• 26:52
  and the reason I say this is because there are all different kinds
• 26:55
  of attitudes we can have. We can have attitudes of greed,
• 26:57
  we can have attitudes of lust,
• 26:59
  we can have attitudes of bitterness,
• 27:01
  edginess. and all of I mean I don't know about you,
• 27:04
  but I when I'm standing in line and someone
• 27:08
  crowds in front of me. I I find
• 27:09
  Mm.
• 27:10
  myself being like everybody else in the line and wanting to fight.
• 27:14
  And and
• 27:14
  yeah.
• 27:15
  what I have to do is not behave like everybody else does.
• 27:18
  I have to think in terms of how would Jesus respond in this moment
• 27:22
  and so constantly be I I kind of find with my own self the the entry point
• 27:27
  of sinful life.
• 27:29
  Is my attitudes. And
• 27:30
  Mm.
• 27:30
  I that if I can watch my attitudes,
• 27:33
  I can catch these other things before they get into a sinful pattern.
• 27:37
  Mm, I love that. ~ attitude makes a big difference in almost everything.
• 27:42
  Yeah, it really does. And I think the key to all of this is remembering we're here
• 27:47
  to live life on mission. So we're not here to enjoy the comforts of this world.
• 27:52
  Jesus is not gonna look at us at when we get to heaven and say,
• 27:55
  Hey, did you have a good time down there?
• 27:57
  He he's not gonna say, Hey, did you enjoy that movie?
• 28:00
  You know, ~ we're not here to entertain ourselves.
• 28:03
  We're here on mission.
• 28:04
  Well, there's about nine more questions I'd love to ask you,
• 28:08
  but we're about perfectly halfway through our outline.
• 28:11
  I think we just need a part two.
• 28:12
  ~ and just to come back next week and do a part two together.
• 28:16
  but this has been such a refreshing conversation and I hope those
• 28:21
  of you listening are as elated as I am that we can do this and it's
• 28:26
  not about externalities, it's not about
• 28:29
  holier than thou. It's not about legalism.
• 28:32
  It is really all done from from a heart for the gospel and and letting Jesus Christ
• 28:39
  live through us. And I mean, there have been some golden nuggets today that
• 28:43
  I just hope we all can grab onto and carry with us the rest of the
• 28:47
  way in our journey with Christ.
• 28:48
  Well
• 28:49
  me
• 28:49
  read that question one more time.
• 28:50
  This is from Alistair
• 28:51
  Yeah.
• 28:51
  Begg, and he says, Will I love this world enough to be quite unlike this world that
• 28:57
  I might point the people of this world towards a better one?
• 29:01
  I I love that question. It's a nice way for us to kind of leave this subject.
• 29:05
  Amen. Well, pray with us as we pray to the Lord of the harvest that
• 29:08
  he would send forth laborers. We don't have a harvest problem.
• 29:13
  We have a labor shortage. And I pray we would just get to do the hard work
• 29:19
  of the kingdom and keep our nose to the grindstone spiritually.
• 29:22
  we love you guys. Thank you for listening.
• 29:24
  If you feel like this podcast would be beneficial to somebody else,
• 29:28
  a brother or sister in Christ,
• 29:29
  a family member.
• 29:29
  Please share it with them. If you subscribe to the podcast,
• 29:32
  it really helps us. Helps us find more people that need this.
• 29:35
  And ~ we look forward to seeing you guys next week.
• 29:37
  Lord bless.