1 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: Life Audio. Welcome to the Crosswalk devotional. We are so 2 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:17,800 Speaker 1: glad to have you listening with us here today. Today's 3 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:22,319 Speaker 1: topic is about courage and truth. We will return after 4 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:39,600 Speaker 1: a brief message from our sponsor, The Courage to Speak Truth, 5 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:44,800 Speaker 1: written by Aaron D. Anthony Brown, read by Rochelle Alberti 6 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:50,479 Speaker 1: Bible reading. But let your yes mean yes and you 7 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: no mean no. Anything more than this is from the 8 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:59,639 Speaker 1: Evil One Matthew five thirty seven. If there's one thing 9 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: believes and non believers have in common today, it is 10 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 1: a fear that prevents us from saying exactly what's on 11 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:11,280 Speaker 1: our mind. In our modern culture, telling someone anything remotely 12 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:15,560 Speaker 1: offended has become taboo, even if they're hurting us or 13 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: hurting themselves. The thought of having any sort of confrontation 14 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 1: proves too much. We become paralyzed before finding some justification 15 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 1: to simply let things be. Yet at the same time, 16 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: we continue to complain about said things. Recently, a friend 17 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 1: of mine was sharing with me about someone in his 18 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:42,399 Speaker 1: friend group who was dabbling in transgenderism. My friend was 19 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:44,680 Speaker 1: afraid to share his thoughts on the issue with this 20 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: person and instead remained silent, even though he was clearly 21 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:52,920 Speaker 1: concerned about his friend. There are so many people who 22 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,559 Speaker 1: feel like this today. Rather than tell people the truth, 23 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: we tell them lies or nothing at all. They then 24 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:04,440 Speaker 1: interpret as affirmation, even though we know it to be sin. 25 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: The solution is simple, put yourself in their shoes. What 26 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: would we want people to do for us if we 27 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:17,960 Speaker 1: were sinning? Call us out, leave us be We ourselves 28 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:20,800 Speaker 1: know the right thing to do, but are not doing it. 29 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: Jesus says, to let our yes and no be clear. 30 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: Let's talk about how to do that. Intersecting faith in life, 31 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:36,640 Speaker 1: recognize that Christ was offensive. Some of us in the 32 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: modern Church have started believing that Jesus got along perfectly 33 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: with everybody all the time. But that just was of 34 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: the case. Jesus called people out on their sin. He 35 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:51,640 Speaker 1: wasn't afraid to go against the culture. Why do you 36 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:54,320 Speaker 1: think there were so many who rallied against him and 37 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 1: were bent on having him killed. Certainly, Christ did not 38 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:03,079 Speaker 1: offend for the sin of hurting others. There was truth 39 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 1: that they needed to hear, and oftentimes they didn't want 40 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:11,080 Speaker 1: to hear it. Nonetheless, what mattered most was the truth. 41 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:17,280 Speaker 1: The same applies to us today. Understand that the truth 42 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: doesn't have to be offensive. We often grow squeamish at 43 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: the thought of treating sin with aggression, but here's the reality. 44 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: You don't have to be aggressive. There is such a 45 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 1: thing as righteous anger, but calling someone out for bad 46 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:40,160 Speaker 1: behavior doesn't require you to be angry. As discussed, Jesus 47 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: was not the past fist we often make him out 48 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 1: to be, but he also didn't go around yelling at 49 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 1: everyone he caught misbehaving. Effective communication requires wisdom, something we 50 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: can attain by first stepping out of our comfort zones 51 00:03:54,800 --> 00:04:01,080 Speaker 1: and having these tough conversations we need another to grow. 52 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: We're no different from the people we complain about. Our 53 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 1: struggles may differ. Some are certainly more severe than others. However, 54 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:14,480 Speaker 1: like the people we are afraid to confront, we have struggles. 55 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: We don't realize ourselves. You're hopefully not the same person 56 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:22,159 Speaker 1: you were a year ago or five years ago. Why 57 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: you've learned more about yourself in that time, some of 58 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 1: which you learned on your own, but other things were 59 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:35,120 Speaker 1: brought to your attention. We need God and fellow believers 60 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: to give us the wisdom to become aware. Likewise, we 61 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 1: need to use the wisdom we've been blessed with and 62 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:49,600 Speaker 1: admonish those around us effectively, honestly, and righteously. Further reading 63 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:58,480 Speaker 1: Proverbs twelve twenty two, Proverbs thirteen twenty, John two fifteen 64 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:05,440 Speaker 1: through seventeen, Luke six thirty one, Ephesians four twenty four, 65 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:15,600 Speaker 1: Matthew ten thirty four through thirty six. The Crosswalk Devotional 66 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: is a production of Life Audio and Salem Media. If 67 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:22,159 Speaker 1: you liked what you heard today, please take a second 68 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:25,159 Speaker 1: to rate and review this podcast in your favorite podcast 69 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,560 Speaker 1: app so that more listeners like you can find the show. 70 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:34,600 Speaker 1: For more faith filled inspirational podcasts, visit us at lifeaudio 71 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:42,800 Speaker 1: dot com.