Sharing the Truth in Love

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How do we share the truth? in love. How do we share the truth and love? 866-34TRUTH. 866-348-36 7884.

If you found a way to do this, we want to hear from you. I know we see a lot of people on one side, and we see a lot of other people on the other side. We see people who are banging truth down your throats, and we need the truth. But they don't know how to do it in a loving way, and because they don't do it in a loving way, many people do not want to listen. But we also have people on the other side who say, well, I just want to be loving.

I just want to be loving. I just want to be loving. but they're not willing to share the truth. And they could be leading people astray and really even leading themselves astray in a sense, if you think about it. When I'm reminded about this, and by the way, my name is Michael Zwick.

I'm the host of If Not For God with Mike Zwick, and we come on every Saturday at 12 o'clock noon. But when I think about this, I was reminded of a commercial. That I saw years ago. And in the commercial, there was a boyfriend and a girlfriend who were together. And the girlfriend wanted to break up with this guy.

And she said, Hey, Tom, I really don't think that this is working out. And, you know, we've had a tough time, and this and that and the other. And Tom looked at her and he goes, You're not breaking up with me, are you? And she goes, No, no, no, no, no, I'm not breaking up.

Well, obviously, she was not sharing the truth. She wanted to be loving. But she wasn't sharing the fact that hey, this is not working We need to break up.

So then it took her to another, it took him to another clip in the same commercial. And she said, Tom, I don't think this is working out. And the girl looks at him and she goes, she stops the car and shoves him out the door and keeps on driving down the road. And uh the second point, obviously, was her sharing the truth. She wanted to get rid of him, but she literally got rid of him.

She kicked him out of the car, kicked him to the curve. As they so they say. And so I want to know how you share the truth and love. We've got a Jamal out of Winston-Salem, and Jamal hosts. The Truth Talk Live many times on this show, just random days during the week.

But Jamal, how do you share the truth in love?

Well, thanks for having my call, Mike. Great topic, as usual. I don't really have a particular way. Each scenario is different and unique. I just try to get Jamal out of the way and try to channel.

Jesus into the situation. Uh so like for instance, I do a lot of um I would guess. Battling or Discussions online. And it can get pretty intense, and I try to do that also in person.

So I said, you know what? I see where I'm getting elevated. Another person is getting elevated. I'm not going to argue somebody into Jesus.

So what I can do is Express a little grace. and truth that's a you have to say and and and say you know what We're not going to resolve this right now. How about we just agree to disagree, walk away and be friends and table this to another time? I'm not trying to win and dominate that conversation because that's not going to do it.

So I could take a an ale or a loss or just have a No no resolution? and maybe win that soul later on. And that could be one way that You can have truth and love come in. Another one, real quick. is and that's more on the love side.

On the truth side, Could be when you're raising your kids. 'Cause you can give kids love and we all know that kids need love.

However, if you don't give kids truth, structure and correction, we all know how that can lead when kids have no kind of discipline in the home.

So there's an example or two examples of sharing the truth and sharing love at the same time. Yeah, I think that's a great example, Jamal. And one of the things that I think about when you talk about this is I'm reminded of a young mother who had a young boy who was just acting terrible. And this kid was acting up like crazy. And she says, honey, finally, she had it one day.

She said, honey, she says, you've got to quit acting up. She says, how do you ever expect to get into heaven? And the little boy said, He said, when I get to the door of heaven, I'm going to open the door and shut the door, open the door, shut the door, until St. Peter finally says to me one day, for heaven's sake, either come in or stay out. And he says, I'm going to go in.

So, you know, I guess that's one way to do it. But, you know, I also heard another story about there was a, and I'm trying to remember what it was. There was a, there was a young boy who wanted to get a glass of water from his father. And his, he said, Dad, can I get a glass of water? And the dad said, no.

And the young boy said again, he said, Can I get a glass of water? And the young boy said, and the father said, no. He said, If you ask me one more time, he says you're going to get a spanking. And so finally, after a few minutes, Jamal, the young boy said, Hey, dad, when you come in here and give me a spanking, can you bring me a glass of water?

So I guess that's one way of sharing the truth in love. But, you know, there's a lot of ways that we can do it, Jamal. But, you know, I really see people on one end of the front, one end of the ditch or another. And a lot of times, you know, we have to share truth. And people right now, everybody's talking about Pride Month.

And I think some people are being nasty about it. They're, you know, and maybe I have been.

So, you know, if it was me, I'm sorry. But, you know, some people are being nasty about it. And they're just putting stuff out there to provoke people and to get people mad and to stir up controversy. You know, and here's the worst thing, Jamal, is that the more controversial the post that you make on social media or the more controversial the video that you make on social media, the more clicks that it gets. It's almost like clickbait.

Have you seen that, Jamal? Yes, unfortunately, and this comes from a person that we both used to watch on the regular, Candace Owens. And, you know, she was hot at one point.

Now she went off way off the left field. She's not coming at this podcast or at her podcast with today's events with truth and love. She's definitely coming in with a whole lot of something else, but it ain't truth and love. And I'll say this real quick because I'll let your other callers call in. When you are approaching a situation like Pride Month, again, channel your inner Jesus.

How would he approach this? Because this didn't run from any kind of situation, any kind of topic. I got into a little discussion with some friends of mine about: hey, Jamal, what's wrong with love? Is this how you Christians love? And I said, uh well, let me tell you this.

Because I believe SIs can bring truth to God's design in a way.

So I said okay, 'cause we were talking about pronouns. Mm-hmm. in the transgender issue. I say biologically, You cannot change who you are. Everybody is who they are assigned at birth.

Now for those on the left, respectfully, They talk about be who you are, celebrate who you are. I say, yes, that's good, because in the Bible it says you are fearfully and wonderfully made, so you should respect who you are.

Now, here comes the truth. I'm going to love you who you are, but I'm going to tell you the truth that says you cannot change who you are and you should not change who you are.

So that's just another example of truth and love. But hey, Mike, I'm glad you let me talk a little bit. I'll get off the phone and other people call in. But great show. God bless, sir.

I appreciate it. The phone number is 866-34TRUT, 866-3487884. And a young boy one night, he said, mommy, he said, I'm really scared. He said, there's a thunderstorm outside. And he said, mama, he said, can I sleep with you?

And his mother said, no, no, no. He said, you can't sleep with me. She said, I have to sleep with your dad tonight. And the boy looked at his dad and he said, You big sissy.

So, you know, I guess that's another way of maybe not sharing the truth and love. But how do you do it? You know, another thing that I think about is sharing the truth and love is with the abortion issue. You know, a lot of people are talking about Pride Month, but a lot of people are saying, no, this is pro-life month. Pro-Life Month.

Anyways, we're about to go to a commercial, but we want your calls if you're watching online 866. 34 TRUTH-866. 348-7884. This is Michael Zwick, and we'll be right back. How do you share the truth and love?

We'll be right back after these messages. Don't go anywhere. Truth talk life. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. All right, guys, we are back.

866-34 TRUTH. 866-348-7884. How do you share the truth in love? We've got a Deborah. Of Burlington, North Carolina.

Are you there, Deborah? I am. Good. I it seems to be a pretty tough thing to do these days. But, Deborah, how do you share the truth and love?

Well, one of the things, Mike, I feel like as believers. The fruit of the spirit. We have to have that in our lives. Love, joy, peace, patience. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

You know, against such things, there is no law. And we've got to have that. We've got to be living that because scripture tells us in Colossians 2, 6, and 7.

So then So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught and overflowing with thankfulness. And when we're rooted in Christ Jesus, you know, he is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season. And its leaf does not wither. And all that he does, he prospers. And so, with that, we're living this fruit of the Spirit.

People are seeing this in us. And then it makes it much easier to share love. When I go out You know, I try to smile. Today, when I went to the grocery store, there was an elderly lady putting her groceries in the car and it was hot. I said, May I take your cart?

She said, Yes, thank you. You know, and just smiling at people, giving them a smile, saying, Oh, your nails look beautiful, and it will start a conversation. Oh, you have a beautiful smile. And, you know, once you've talk to them And show them the joy that you have, the love that you have inside of you, it's easier to start a conversation, even to pray with them. And one thing I do, I hand out living water books that I have, and in each book, I put a bookmark that has 10 ways to love.

And we're to listen without interrupting. We're to speak without accusing. to give without sparing. to answer without arguing, share without pretending, enjoy without complaining, trust without wavering, forgive without punishing, promise without forgetting, and control your temper. And People really enjoy getting and reading 10 Ways to Love.

I I find that this is You know One of the things that opens the most doors with people. Everyone truly desires to know how to love someone else. Yeah, we really do. And one of the things that I was thinking of is I remember when I was a young man, my dad, I was having a really, really tough time. And what happened, Deborah, was that I started to, I was basically, I had to go to wilderness camp for a year, and everything in my life was going wrong.

I didn't act right in school. I was failing out. They actually did a survey in one of my classes when I was in the eighth grade, Deborah. And what they said was they said, who was the most. Who is the student in your class who is the most likely to fail?

And they said, Mike, they said it was between you. They said it was between you and a guy named Mike.

So, we were both named Mike, but you two were the most likely to fail. And so, when I thought about that, I said, you know what? I said, I've really got to change my life. But before I went away to wilderness camp, I remember there was a young man who actually was in the neighborhood and he was looking to get on a bus. And I believe that he was special needs or something like that.

And I remember I went out, I helped him. I took him to the bus. I tried to help him in any way that I could. And my dad came to me and he said, Mike, he said, I'm really, I'm really proud of you for treating that young man the way that you did. And he said, that's something that I'll remember that you did.

And so it is important to share the truth and love. We've got the owner of the radio station, Stu Epperson, on the phone right now. Stu, how do you share the truth and love?

Well, I talked to the owner first. That's the first thing you do. The owner of the radio station, who is King Jesus. And I say Lord. I only got about.

five split seconds before I'm engaging this person on this elevator. or on this airplane. or in this you know auto shop waiting room Give me something to say or open a door, do something, give me strength. I don't even feel like sharing the truth right now, Lord. Give me a love for this person.

And He always does, He always answers that prayer. When we ask them. And so the only prayers God doesn't answer are the prayers you don't pray, right? Yeah.

So That, I believe, is a first A first prerogative, pray first. before engaging. And then there's another there's a whole lot on this, but You know, you got to understand what love is in order to speak the truth in love.

So, the question is: do I really love this person? Do I really care about their soul? Am I will am I willing to Spend a little more time. Am I willing to follow up? Am I willing to disciple them if they come to Christ?

Am I willing to look through the ends of the lens of Jesus, who sees someone When Jesus saw Peter Yeah, he saw a guy that denied him three times and really blew it, but he saw a guy. Who would be a major leader in the early church? Write half the New Testament and go on to do great things for God. And so. Do I see these people as potential for Christ?

And that's really loving them. where they are, but for the who they can be, And so I just think when you have that love, and I think the the third thing We learned from Dale Carnegie. Of all people. You know, all these business guys, Dale Carney, Zig Ziglar, they all. All their stuff is not new with them.

It's all right from Scripture. And all those guys. One of the things that Dale Carnegie says They all say things like, hey, treat your customer like you want to be treated.

Well, that's right from scripture. That's a golden rule, right? You know, so that's a great way to have in your heart as your witness. But Dale Carnegie said. You can never win an argument.

That's true in marriage, that's true in life.

So the believers We are speaking the truth in love. We are engaging the lost. We are engaging Even other Folks that are have gotten sideways with God, that are stuck. We're looking to speak the truth in love We're not trying to win an argument, we're trying to win a soul.

So that means that, hey. Yeah, Deborah, I mean, that means that sometimes I admit, you know, I don't know the answer to that question, but let me call Michael, he might know the answer. You know, let me call a pastor. Let me spend some time studying and praying. I'm going to come back to you and.

I've done that on this national show before. Caller calls in. I wasn't doing it early. Early, I'm like, I got to have the answer. I got to be ready to answer.

I got to be quick, you know, and pithy. But then. The Lord convicted me. Hey, be honest, be real, be humble. And depend on me.

If you don't know something, say, I don't know, but I'm going to find out because your soul. And the care God's put and the love God's put in my heart for you is worth me. digging a little bit to helping you come Just some closure on that issue.

Well, Stu, I like what you're saying, and what you're saying reminds me of Matthew chapter 5, verse 43. He says, you have heard that it has been said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. He says, but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. That you may be the children of your father which is in heaven. For he makes his son to rise on the evil and on the good.

And he sends rain on the just and on the unjust alike. For if you love those which love you, What reward do you have? Do not even the publicans do the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the publicans do so?

Be ye therefore perfect. Just as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. And of course, we're never going to be perfect until we see Jesus. We're never going to be perfect until we get to heaven. But I think what Jesus is saying there, Stu, is that when you get this.

When you get the fact that when somebody cuts you off in traffic and wants to give you the finger or isn't listening to you or whatever you're saying, and you treat them with love. Then the Lord is going to take that and receive that, and He's going to bless you for that. But if you just treat people just as bad as they treat you. Then, what is the Lord going to do for you? 866-34-Truth.

We've got Manuel Pittman on the line from Burlington when we come right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. All right, guys, we are back on right now, and I wanted to let you know. That this is a lot easier said than done. It's easy to say, hey, I'm going to share the truth and love.

I'm going to share the truth and love, but I think it's not always easy. And we've got a guy named Manuel Pittman on the line right now from Burlington, North Carolina. And this guy shares the truth and love. He's with a group called Cross Exchange. And I don't know, maybe it's just me, Manuel, but I think it's a lot easier to talk about sharing the truth and love.

And sometimes it's a little difficult, but what do you think? Yeah, when it comes to sharing the truth, I think one of the things that's always driving us is the desire to be right. And that by itself is not a bad desire. It's just whenever pride gets involved that it takes over. Talking about the truth, talking about what Christ has done are great things.

But when it comes to sharing that with others about when we utilize truth for the purpose of love. I think that's the way we need to understand the truth Reality is what God has made. And we tell the truth. According to how it is a tool to help someone. And I think that's the nature of how we understand ministry.

And when it comes to telling the truth and love, sometimes love can look differently too. Because if you love someone, you're not going to let them just walk off a cliff, you're going to tackle them. That's what someone does. And then other times, love takes a different form, a matter of like how do relationships work together for someone to hear the truth. And so I think.

Sharing the truth and love is a very general statement, and it depends on the context with which you are in that you are going to express it. That's good. You know, I've sold insurance for a long time, and when I first started to sell insurance, man, well, what I would do is I would just go in there and I would start to try to share the truth, and I would talk, and I would talk, and I would, you know, try to get people to sell insurance. But what I try to get people to buy insurance. But what I realized after a while is that.

I was better off going in there. Asking them about themselves, telling them about myself, getting them comfortable with me, trying to find common ground. And when I was able to build rapport with people, I realized that once they saw that I was a human being and once they saw that I cared about them. Then all of a sudden, they would listen to what I said a lot more about insurance. And I don't think it's too different when it comes to the ministry and sharing our faith.

What do you think? But That old phrase that you don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Like that is a it's a consist it's a consistent theme no matter what context you're going to be in. Like if and I think even in the business world, the whole idea of what you're selling, you believe in your product because you believe it it ministers to someone. It ha it meets a need, a niche.

And so, when it comes to sharing the gospel, sharing the truth, what is the context? And you show them why they need it. People don't know why they need the gospel. If you think you're so good and all great, they don't then. Why do you need the gospel?

You bring someone into that by saying, no, here's who we are in Christ. Here's the failure that mankind has done, and now the need is filled in Christ. And I think that's just that you're sharing the gospel. But getting to know someone, talking to someone, seeing who they are, that's how you get to have relationship and love with someone. As Jesus said, it's Um, it's it's the idea of love.

Love is a relational thing. Yeah.

It is a relational thing. And so let me ask you, when you... Go out there and you share your faith. Is it there? I know there's two different types of scenarios.

There's this scenario one where let's say you go on a trip to Myrtle Beach for the weekend and the Lord leads you to be able to talk to somebody about Jesus, but you know that you're never going to see them again, you're never going to hear from them again. You may handle that situation in a different way versus somebody that you know you're going to see on a consistent basis, like maybe a family member. Do you agree? We Absolutely. I one thing about cross exchange is that we kind of made our ministry really hitting on the one times.

And sadly, it's a lot like that, with the whole idea is that, okay, we're engaging with people we're going to see only one time here at a college. Maybe we might get another chance with them later on in the semester. But because we engage in that way, we have to get to the gospel as quickly as possible. And in that, we start again with the gospel story about God created the universe, what mankind has done against God and his need to be forgiven of his sin right before a holy God.

So that's a lot of the I guess one-time things that we do. Like I mentioned before, if you know someone walking off a cliff, you tackle them. Love compels us to get to the point. But when you are gonna have a s relationship with somebody, you're gonna know you're gonna see 'em again. then th it does take a different shape.

Now I want to be careful with that too, because I don't want people getting the wrong conclusion is you don't want to build a false relationship with somebody, like affirming them in any kind of sin or anything that's wrong in your first meeting. You be honest to your principles, honest to your values, and then just like, wait, you don't want to come to the bar with me, you don't want to do these things with me, what's going on there? And then you have that kind of rapport that you are being honest and your life and your character do stand apart. Yeah, and they're, you know, right now, obviously, is Pride Month. And so a lot of people are talking about that.

And it's everywhere. I mean, you know, I posted a little video of Hillsborough posting their Pride flags or whatever. And I think that there's some churches who do want to be loving. They want to love everybody, but they'll put a pride flag outside of their church and they'll say, We welcome everyone, we affirm everyone, everybody's fine. That's not really the way to go either, right?

Yeah, the the idea of love who the liberals don't def define love. The gays do not define love. Your mom and dad do not define love, neither do I or you define love. God defines love. And I think when we start there, that changes the entire conversation.

Because if God is the one that defines love, then we don't get the right to express how we want to love somebody, how we want to, because affirming somebody in sin. is one of the most unloving thing you can do. It's actually cowardice. Because you're wanting them to feel good about themselves so they can feel good about you. And can I feel good in their presence?

And it's and that's not love for them. That is self love. That's me loving me. And because I don't want any conflict, I'm going to try to dodge it best that I can by affirming you in sin. That's not love.

I think uh Ali Betsucke wrote a book called A Radical No, no, uh Toxic Empathy. when you affirm someone in their sin, And that sheer cowardice that you want to feel that goodness and not feel any conflict between you and somebody else. And sometimes Love compels us to go to conflict. Because we love children, we hate pedophiles. Because we love life, we hate serial killers.

Like, love does. To love anything, you have to also have hate because the opposite exists too for the preservation of life, to the preservation of love and relationship. Yeah, and I've actually heard somebody say, they say that the opposite of love is not hate, the opposite of love is indifference.

So, in other words, if I say, Hey, I don't care about you, I'm not going to say anything to you. I mean, it's like if you said somebody jumping off a cliff or somebody going off a cliff, you're going to catch them. But eternity in heaven or eternity in hell are much more important than that. And so, we get to the point where we say, Look, I don't care what anybody else thinks about me. I'm going to share the truth.

And you may not like it. And, you know, sometimes that's tough because we all want people to like us, right? You know, we all have that desire to be liked and loved and to be accepted by others. But when we really love people, we have to take a step past that. And one of the things that I've even thought about too, Manuel, is that a lot of the people who say, Well, I just want to be loving.

But they don't want to share the truth, it could be because they just don't want to face any persecution. Amen to that. I mean, that person just genuinely doesn't understand love. Love becomes a catch-all term for niceness or like you mentioned, indifference. How keeping a and I'd say even radical indifference and people trying to keep a culture that is indifferent.

I think at Elon University, us as cross-exchange encounter that all the time. There's a whole culture that tries to foster that indifference. And when you try to push the level of like someone actually caring about a faith or a position or a value, They try to downplay that as much as they possibly can. And so to that person that's seeking to dodge conflict, to them I say, you don't know what love is. I want to know what love is.

So, just like the old song says, that's true. But, you know, and one of the other things too is that it's difficult because it's, I don't think it's in our nature.

Now, there's some people I know who just love conflict. And I think there's some people who love it a little bit too much. And it's almost like they get a rise out of that, you know, by getting somebody angry. And that's not good. But, you know, another one of the issues is they're saying, well, it's Pride Month.

But a lot of people are saying it's pro-life month because this is the month where Roe versus Wade was overturned. And I think that one of the things that we can do, if we just want to be loving but not share the truth, is not to confront people about the sin of abortion, not to tell people that, hey, you're going to regret this, or there's a very good chance that you're going to regret this. And someday God is going to hold you accountable. And if you don't want to say that, then it's like, in the long run, you're actually going to hurt people. And there are people who go outside of the abortion.

Abortion clinic, Manny, Manuel. And they. Plead with people, please do not kill your baby. And when they tell people this, there are people who get mad at them. But I've also seen pictures and videos online of women that they've talked to who have decided to keep the child and they've come back and they've thrown a party for them and they celebrate the kid's birthday every year and they help them with diapers and they help them with, you know, hey, if you need somebody to help you watch the child, or even if you need somebody to adopt the child, we would be willing to do that for you.

To me, that's love as well. Amen to that, brother. That's it. I mean, that's what Christ has called us to. That's what the Christian community is called to.

Okay. It's such a scary thing when I think of the indifference that I see in people when it comes to the fact that we preserve life. That's the number one thing we must be willing to die for. If we choose not to do that, then what are we doing when we say? Love.

Yeah, the Bible says that the thief, I think it's John 10, 10, he says that the thief comes but to steal, kill, and destroy. And he says, but I have come so that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.

So, what would be more pleasing to the devil than to kill a child of God before they're even born? Yeah.

that's the most that's the biggest thing that I think Satan wants to attack in every single way, the image of God. Satan knows he can't come up against God. He knows he can't destroy him. But he knows what he can do is attack his image bearers. And he does that in every single way.

And the biggest way that we've seen in our modern age and I can't even say our modern age, throughout all history, the most defenseless of us have been under attack. And that is the the preborn, the early in stage of life and the elderly. They're the ones under attack. Abortion is so huge. Canada is trying to push for killing older people when they according to their request or when they're become too inconvenient.

The whole idea is that apathy, oh, we don't want to take care of people. We don't want to put the burden upon ourselves or someone else. And so the quick answer is death. And that culture of death is what we must fight because we love. We do, and if people want to check you out, it's crossexchange.org and it's crossxchange.org and uh they can find you on social media, right?

Yes, sir. All right, 866-348-7884. Manuel, thank you for the call. We will be right back after this break. Truth talk You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.

Hey guys, so we are back for the last segment of this show. And one of the things that I was thinking about was this, is that Jesus put it this way. In Luke chapter 18, verses 10, he says that two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. It says that the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. He said, I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And Jesus said, I tell you that this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. He says, For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but everyone who humbles himself will be exalted. And so if you're going to share the truth and love, You're going to have to be humble because let's be honest, there is. There are times where it's tough.

There are times where it's tough to share that truth that we have in love. There's tough when the society is, you see, all of the bad things that they're doing. I'll give you an example. There was a man out in California, Los Angeles. He was flying some Trump flags.

And they uh they beat the man to death. Because he had a Trump flag in his yard.

Now, you don't see the other side do that, but you see that side do that. And that's not right. A lot of people have been angry about that. A lot of people have been resentful. And there should be some anger.

It's not right. We shouldn't treat people like that. But at the same time, the Bible said, if you don't forgive other men when they sin against you, he says that your father who is in heaven will not forgive you. He says, but if you forgive men when they sin against you, your father in heaven will forgive you.

So if we're going to share the truth and love, we have to be humble. You know, we have to humble ourselves every time, like my friend Fred Hagee does, when he goes out and shares the gospel on the streets. It's hard sometimes to go share Jesus with people. You're afraid. What are people going to think?

What are they going to say? Nobody wants to listen to me. How is this even working? It's never going to work. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But what happens is, is every single time we go out there and we share the truth and love, we give them that Bible. We tell people that. Jesus loves them and that he wants to repent. Yes, he doesn't just love you and then you can live however you want. Jesus wants us to repent.

You see, if we just tell people that Jesus loves them and that they can stay in their sin and that they're fine living the way that they are, then we can people can like us, but we're going to lead those people directly to hell. The Bible says that everybody who loves the Lord must turn from their iniquity. And I'm looking at 1 John chapter 3, verse 8, and it's verse 7. It says, Little children, let no man deceive you. He that does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

He that committeth sin is of the devil. For the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remains in him, and he might. Might destroy the works of the devil.

Whoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. In this, the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. Whoever does not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loves not his brother. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

So there's two things going on right there. Number one, he's telling us we cannot continue in our sin. If we live a life that is in rebellion to God, we're on our way to hell. If we decide we want to keep sleeping with our boyfriend or we want to keep sleeping with our girlfriend, and everybody's talking about Pride Month, and so yes, homosexuality and lesbianism and all of that stuff, that is a sin. And you cannot live a lifestyle like that and say, I'm a follower of Christ and continue in your sin.

But it doesn't just stop there. If you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend and you're sleeping with your boyfriend or you're sleeping with your girlfriend, you're just as bad. You know, the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 6, verses 4 through 6, it says that if anybody wants to follow God, it says, but if they turn away. And they decide to leave the Lord after they've been filled with the Holy Ghost and they decide they want to follow the world. A lot of times it won't end too well for that person.

Even the Bible says in 2 Peter chapter 2, it said it would have been better for that person never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing the way of righteousness to go back and to fall back into their sin and to choose to follow the world. But the Bible says that it's like a dog who returns to his vomit. And so, yes, everybody who wants to name the name of Christ must turn from their iniquity.

Now, I tell you that because I love you, I tell you that because I care for you. You know, I don't want anybody to go to hell. Jesus doesn't want anybody to go to hell. The Bible says that God is not willing that. any should perish, but that all come to repentance.

God doesn't have any delight sending anybody to hell. It is like a, he hates to do it.

Now, the devil loves it. The devil will take you to hell any way that he can. Any way that the devil can trick you or to fool you into following the world or not following Jesus. He's going to do it because he hates people, just like Manwald and I were talking about before from cross exchange. The devil doesn't even want you to be born.

He hates human beings. Because human beings like you and me, we are made in the image of God. And like I said before, the Bible says in John 10, 10, he says that the thief comes through, but for not to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But I have come, Jesus said, that they might have life and that they might live it to the full or have it abundantly. Deborah, you calling back?

Man, something I wanted to share too, you know, about love and truth. I graduated from high school fifty two years ago, and there was an individual, and we really didn't hit it off Um it was not a good Friendship. We never really got to become friends. There was just some things that were kind of pulling against that at the time.

So one of the things, I had desired to see them again, hopefully at a class reunion. And I had called. They did not respond. And then just last week, I started receiving some text messages.

So this is a message about don't giving up hope for someone that you want to share, you know, love with and God's truth. And last week on Thursday, a week ago today, I received a text. From that individual, would you please pray for me? I said, I will call you back later on. And I did.

And we talked. I got to encourage them. I got to pray with them. And so God, you know, and I'm going to cry, and God did, you know, know that that was a desire on my heart to make things right with this person and to let them know they're loved and that, you know, the truth of God's word. I started sending scripture to them.

And now we're texting back and forth and praying for each other every single day.

Well, I tell you that that's amazing. And when the Lord decides to use you in that way, I think sometimes we think that, hey, if we're going to share Jesus with somebody or we're going to see somebody on the street, then that right then and there, they're going to fall down and praise the Lord and give their lives to Jesus.

Now, that can happen, and it does happen a lot. And we have to learn how to share our faith and to do it in a way where when we share it with them, they've got to make a decision right then and there because there's many times where we don't know if we're ever going to see that person again.

However, sometimes, sometimes we're going to plant a seed and we may never even know it in this world, Deborah. I was sharing the story a while ago about a guy, Norman Vincent Peale, and he wrote the book, I think it was The Power of Positive Thinking or The Power of Prayer years ago. But he lived to be almost 100 years old. But he told a story of a time where he was on an airplane with a young guy who was a hippie. And the hippie came up to him on the airplane.

And said this. He said, Ah, you older people are all the same. You're stiff, you're religious, you don't have any personality, you're no fun, this, that, and the other. And Norman Vincent Peale looked back at him and he goes, You hippies are all the same. You all have long hair, you all stink, you all don't love God and this and that.

And it kind of broke the ice. But then they started to have a conversation throughout their plane flight on the flight. And Norman Vincent Peale, at the end of that conversation, This young man, this hippie, said to Norman Vincent Peel, he said, You know what? He says, you got something that I don't have. He said, and I want to know what it is.

And Norman Vincent Peale just looked at him and he said, Jesus. And he said, that's all that he said. And the guy said, maybe I'll try that someday. And after it was said and done, Norman Vincent Peale said, man, I could have said so many other things. I could have said this.

I should have said this and the other and the other. He said, I blew it. But about 10 years later, he's walking somewhere else. And all of a sudden, there's a nice dressed man. He looks like a pastor.

He's got a suit on, short hair, looking good. And he said, do you remember me? And Vincent Peale said, no. He said, I was that guy who was on the airport. He was in the airplane with you.

And all you said was Jesus. And I thought about that. And after I left, I gave my life to Jesus Christ. And now I'm a pastor.

So you never know that word that you're going to share with somebody. You never know how it's going to work. You never know what you can do to help somebody out. You never know the time when you decide to give somebody a few bucks, when you can decide to give, maybe fill somebody's gas tank up or help them out with some extra money. You never know how that could help them out, but God knows.

So keep fighting, keep living the life of faith, keep sharing the truth and love. And I want to thank you guys for coming on today and listening. My show, If Not For God with Mike Zwick, will be on this Saturday on the Truth Network at 12 o'clock noon.

So I wanna thank you guys for listening in and think of one thing that you can do today and tomorrow. where you can share the truth and love. And Jesus is the truth. And Jesus is also pure love. God bless you.

I'll be back on tomorrow as well on Truth Talk Live.