In this week’s Sip Session, Bailey pours out a powerful reminder straight from Luke 9:57–62 — that Jesus never stopped for those who weren’t ready to follow. He invited them, loved them, and kept moving forward in His purpose.

If you’ve ever wrestled with watching loved ones drift from faith, or felt torn between obedience to God and attachment to people — this episode is for you.

Bailey shares what it means to walk in obedience even when it’s lonely, how to love others without letting them hold you back, and what Scripture teaches about staying the course when relationships, family, and friendships get complicated.

☕ In this episode, we talk about:

• How Jesus modeled moving forward without guilt (Luke 9:57–62)
• Why obedience isn’t unloving — it’s faith in action
• What “not looking back” really means for your relationships
• The truth about spiritual growth, sanctification, and purpose
• Real talk about marriage, friendship, and living differently after salvation

📖 Scripture References:

• Luke 9:57–62
• Hebrews 12:1–2
• Matthew 10:37–39
• 1 Corinthians 7
• 1 Peter 3
• Mark 3:34

💬 Takeaway:

Following Jesus doesn’t mean abandoning love — it means loving through obedience. You can’t carry everyone with you, but you can keep moving forward and let your faith plant seeds that God will water.

🫖 New to Sip Sessions?

Sip Sessions is a segment of the Spiritual Tea Company, where we fill cups and spill truths to help you live full and pour out God’s love. Subscribe for more Spirit-led encouragement every week.

🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and watch the video version on YouTube:

👉 youtube.com/@spiritualteaco

Help support us >> buymeacoffee.com/spiritualtea.co

Let's talk about something Jesus modeled that we rarely do, how

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to keep moving forward when the people

we love aren't ready to come with us.

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Culture says, cut 'em off.

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But Jesus said, keep following me.

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Luke 9 57 through 62 gives us

a really great example of this.

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Jesus didn't chase anyone.

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He gave them the opportunity to

follow him, but he didn't pause

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his purpose to drag them along.

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Come and join me as we sip on

some truth and explore these

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verses in Luke nine together.

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a really good story from the Bible.

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That helps us see how Jesus

handled himself is found in

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Luke nine, verse 57 through 62.

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I'll read it.

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It says, as they were walking along

the road, a man said to him, "I

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will follow you wherever you go."

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And Jesus replied, " foxes

have dens and birds have nest.

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But the son of man has

no place to lay his head.

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he said to another man, Follow me.

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But the man replied, "Lord, first

let me go and bury my father."

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Jesus said to him, let the dead

bury their own dead, but you go

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and proclaim the kingdom of God.

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Still.

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Another said, I will follow you

Lord, but first let me go back

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and say goodbye to my family."

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Jesus replied, "no one who puts a

hand to the plow and looks back is fit

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for service in the kingdom of God."

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There's also verses earlier that say

as they were walking, there was a man

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that came to them on the road and said,

"I'll follow you wherever you go."

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And Jesus replied, "foxes have dens

and birds have nests, but the son of

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man has no place to lay his head."

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Okay?

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So Jesus never sugarcoated discipleship.

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First and foremost, I think this

tells us several different things.

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First, Jesus never sugarcoated

the cost of discipleship.

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He never said.

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you're gonna be so well respected and

everyone's gonna love you and treat you

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great, and it's gonna be such an easy road

because you're gonna be walking with me.

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He never said that.

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He let people count the cost of what

it looked like to follow him, but

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he didn't coddle them in any way.

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some people just constantly

proclaim that Jesus was just, he

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loved everybody, and that's true.

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He did love everybody.

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But the love that I see in the Bible, the

love that I have received from God is so

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different than the love that the world.

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Tells people love is, it's

not our version of love.

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It is the truest, richest, most

just, and holy version of love.

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And that version of love is what

Jesus showed us in the Bible.

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That version of love said the truth with

grace, but also with no expectations.

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he didn't beg them.

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He wasn't like, oh, you,

you have to follow me.

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They came willingly saying they would

follow him, and he was like, okay,

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then come and he was gonna keep moving.

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They would say, I need to

go bury my father, or let me

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go say goodbye to my family.

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And Jesus was like, sorry,

I'm going to keep going.

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I'm not gonna slow down so you

can go do things that are not

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important to the Kingdom of heaven.

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Those things back then like the guy

that said he needed to bury his dad.

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I've heard multiple times that his

dad probably wasn't even dead yet

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or that could have taken months.

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and Jesus is like, you really

wanna follow me in your short

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period of time on this earth?

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You gotta come now.

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Like now is time.

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So let the dead bury the dead people

quote that often, or I've heard it

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quoted often, It might sound harsh,

but what I think Jesus is trying

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to say is don't let the things that

this earth tells you you should feel

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emotionally weighty or burdened by.

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Don't let those things distract

you from your eternal purpose

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don't let those things distract you

from what's eternally necessary.

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Following him is eternally necessary.

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It is how we live out the great commission

being held back and consumed by the

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things that burden us or grieve us or

cause us distress or distraction are not

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going to help us multiply the kingdom.

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Then in verse 61 through 62, where it's

talking about no one who puts a hand

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to the plow and looks back is fit for

service in the kingdom, the plow, even

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in the Bible, it's like when you're.

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A tractor nowadays.

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I mean, we've got GPS

in tractors nowadays.

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I know my husband's a farmer, and

you don't even have to drive him

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half the time, but if you're driving

a tractor and you're looking over

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your shoulder, guess what you do?

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Guess what?

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You're driving in a

straight line right now.

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And then when you go to look

behind you and you look, oh crap.

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You're trying to get back on track.

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He's saying that when you turn

around, you get off track.

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When you look back, when you're looking

back for the people that aren't coming

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with you, when you're following Christ

and you are on mission, on purpose,

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and you keep looking back to see

if there's people coming with you,

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You're losing course.

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You're getting distracted.

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I used to think that following Jesus meant

I needed to fix or carry people with me,

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Jesus showed me that sometimes the most

loving thing that I can do is keep moving.

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If you are new in your walk with Jesus and

you're feeling torn or heartbroken because

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someone you love is not on track with you.

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Or someone in your life that's

close to you isn't on the

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same journey as you right now.

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I need you to hear me.

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It doesn't mean you are

unloving, loving God.

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Following Jesus and being a disciple and

working on your sanctification in Jesus,

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it doesn't make you unloving to that

person it, it means you're being obedient

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and God blesses his obedient children.

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God blesses those who are following him.

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In honoring him in your obedience,

you will gain peace about the

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relationships that aren't growing

at your pace or that aren't sticking

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right next to you at your pace.

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You just have to keep going.

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That says more about your relationship

with Jesus than if you stick behind.

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We are a new creation in him.

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We are going to do things differently.

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We're gonna show people that we are

living a different way, and by being

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distracted and held behind, you're

not doing anything for the witness

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of what Jesus did in your life.

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If you're not on point, on purpose.

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So what does this actually mean?

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Say that you are a new believer,

you're following Christ.

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You're on mission, you're on point,

but you're surrounding yourself

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with this same people from the

life before you found Christ.

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If I found Christ.

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20 years ago, and I was still

surrounded by only the same people

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that I knew before I found Christ.

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Do you think my life would look much

different than it did 20 years ago?

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No.

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You have to move forward.

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Jesus was constantly moving.

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He didn't slow down.

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He was always moving towards his

purpose, towards his mission.

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He didn't waste a single.

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He was perfect.

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He was the only perfect person, and

he was the perfect example for us.

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He didn't waste a single day of

his life doing things that didn't

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bring glory to God the father.

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That didn't bring glory to the kingdom.

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He did not waste a single day.

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He kept moving and he didn't wait for

the people that weren't coming with him.

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Jesus was constantly doing

something that aligned with his.

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Purpose and his mission,

and he's still not done.

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He's still not done working.

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He works through us in the Holy Spirit.

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So that's why sanctification is so

important, is that we're constantly

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trying to live out this example

set for us in the Word of God.

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So.

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You find Jesus, if you receive

salvation, Jesus has saved you.

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He's my Lord and Savior.

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I'm committing my life to him.

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But then your life doesn't change

and you don't move forward.

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You're not being sanctified in him.

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You're not becoming the new creation.

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You're not being a testimony to what

God can do and how he can change people.

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So you're trying to change,

you're trying to move forward.

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You're trying to be more like

Jesus, but you seem to be

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stuck and you don't know why.

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Well, maybe it's because you're

still constantly only surrounding

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yourself with people who don't want

to do what this Bible says, who don't

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want to do what God's word says.

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So you're stuck.

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Because you're not moving forward.

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You're not doing anything to

have a testimony towards them.

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If you're doing the same things, why

would anyone think you're changed?

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For me, what it looked like was

finally knowing how to stand up for

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what was true, for what the truth was.

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In my life, if I am living

the same way everyone else is.

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I'm not really testifying to the

truth of what sin is in this world

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and how it's detrimental to our lives

or the consequences of it it's just

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like when you're constantly yelling

at your kids and then when they

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yell at you, you get mad about it.

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There's no real testimony in

saying You shouldn't be yelling

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when you are yelling all the time.

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I'm guilty.

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I'm so guilty.

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That's when you start realizing, I

need to give grace and I need grace.

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I need to forgive people, but I

also am in need of forgiveness.

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I need Jesus to fill me up.

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With his spirit.

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I need the Holy Spirit in me so that

I can be setting an example to those

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around me of what it looks like to be

blessed and to be given these gifts that

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the Lord gives us and to be filled with

him and to have the self-control and

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the peace and the joy that he brings me.

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Some verses that might help Hebrews

12, one through two talks about

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letting us run with perseverance

the race marked out for us.

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Let's read that Hebrews 12, one and two.

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Therefore, since we are surrounded

by such a great cloud of witnesses,

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let us throw off everything that

hinders and the sin that so easily

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entangles and let us run with

perseverance the race marked out for us.

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Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the

pioneer and perfecter of faith.

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For the joy set before him, he endured

the cross scorning its shame and sat down

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at the right hand of the throne of God.

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I think that just, I don't

even think I need to talk.

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Mic drop.

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Jesus.

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Mic drop.

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Word of God.

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Thank you so much,

Matthew 10 37 through 39.

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Talking about if anyone loves their

father or mother more than they love

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Jesus and God, they aren't worthy To say

that he is the Lord of your life, but

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then care more about your relationships

on Earth isn't saying or showing

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anyone that he's the Lord of your life.

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So living that out, what

does that look like?

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Well, you have a job.

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You're maybe working the same job you were

before, so how does it look different now?

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Well, how much faith do you

have that Jesus could use you?

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How much faith do you have that he

wants to use you right where you're at?

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I'm not saying that everyone needs to

say goodbye to their families and start

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traveling on foot across the country

or go overseas to be a missionary.

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What does your faith look like?

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Can you be a testimony to

the people at your work?

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I know when I worked in a secular

career, it was really hard for me.

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I had been a stay at home mom.

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I had my spiritual awakening and I was

ready to live on mission for the Lord.

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And then after working in a job that

was more mission minded, I found myself

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working back at a regular worldly job

that I had had before I had kids and.

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It was really hard.

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I found myself falling back into

old patterns and old behavior

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because I was around some of the

people that I had been with before.

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Not saying those people were bad

or that they were so sinful that

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it was rubbing off the sin on me.

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It was just there was

a dynamic between us.

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With my old self, and I found myself

falling back into the way my old self

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would've acted and would've talked and

would've complained or been selfish

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or jealous, and I didn't like it.

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it conflicted so deeply with my spirit.

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And then I had a realization that

just because I'm in the same place

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that I was before just because I'm

around the same people doesn't mean

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that I can't be changed, doesn't

mean that I can't be different.

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So I started seeking the

Lord more throughout my day.

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I started praying more throughout my

day for the Lord to fill me with his

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spirit and to show me what he wanted

me to do and how he wanted me to act.

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And I started seeing that there

were so many conversations

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that he could come up in.

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There were so many opportunities

to talk about the glory of my

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Lord and Savior, to talk about how

much God had blessed me and to.

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Talk about joy instead of

complaining and to be giving

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and serving instead of selfish.

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And I've always worked in customer service

type jobs, so even with my customers

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to do what I could to bring them joy, I

wasn't like, do you know Jesus Christ?

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Every time I saw someone,

but just to be joyful.

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And also if they were having

a bad day, you know what?

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I would say, can I pray for you?

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And it didn't happen all the

time, that took a lot of courage.

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In that time in my life because it

was something that I wasn't practiced

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in, but As I started being obedient,

God started laying out more and more

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opportunities for me to step up and

bring him into the conversation.

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Be careful at your work because

I don't know where you work,

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but God protects his people.

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So

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He put people in my path that

would talk to me about things that.

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I would've never thought we would have

conversations about, about really wanting

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to, do something to help people or really

wanting to leave their job to go, focus

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on what they felt God was calling them to.

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These types of conversations just

came up out of nowhere and it gave

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me the opportunity to to try to

be Jesus' hands and feet and say.

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you know what if you feel like

God is telling you to go do

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that, he's going to bless you.

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He's going to come in and help

you and you need to be obedient.

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And they would come back in and be

like, I listened to you and I, I quit

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my job and now I'm going to do this.

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And that grows the kingdom.

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That one interaction.

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I will never know how that one

conversation about quitting their job

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and going to help other people like

them that were recovering addicts and

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how they needed to pour into Jesus.

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I don't know how many people's

lives that one instant changed

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until I get to heaven, and that's

the beauty of just being obedient.

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If God places people in your

path, you act, it doesn't mean

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you're physically somewhere else.

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It just means that wherever you are,

you are having the conversations.

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And it also looks like when

someone comes in and they wanna

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pour into you, you let them.

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God lays out so many opportunities

for us when we're being obedient.

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So let's talk about the different

ways this can impact us in

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different relationships in our life.

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How about in your marriage?

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trust me.

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I can totally sympathize with anybody

who is in a marriage that is unequally

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yoked, who knew and chose to get married

to somebody who was not where you were

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at in your relationship with the Lord.

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There's a reason God

tells us not to do that.

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There are consequences.

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God can redeem and restore

anything that you give to him.

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And if you give your marriage to God, if

you are a woman and your husband is not

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there yet, there's scriptures that tell us

that we pray and we submit to our husbands

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and God will take care of his heart.

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God will mold him.

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You can't be his Holy Spirit.

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Same for you men.

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If you are transformed, if you are

ready to take the step forward with

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Jesus and try to be more like him, just

because your wife doesn't wanna go to

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church with you, just because your wife

doesn't want the kids to go to church

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It doesn't mean that you leave her.

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There are scriptures about these things.

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God, he wants your

marriage to stay together.

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He wants to restore it and fix it, and

you have to be obedient and let him work

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through you in order for that to happen.

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So this doesn't mean that just because

your spouse is on a different spiritual

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path than you, that you just leave them.

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I'm not saying that in any

way literally, or emotionally.

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You do not just stay married and just

separate yourself and completely move on.

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God's word is incredibly clear.

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One Corinthians seven and one Peter three.

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All say that if you're married to

someone who doesn't yet share your

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surrender to Christ, you don't walk away.

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You walk faithfully.

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You continue moving forward,

faithfully and obediently.

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This is not a call to

rebel against your spouse.

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First Peter is a great one, um, that

talks about submitting to your

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spouse, to your partner, to your boss.

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Um, I could do an entire

series on submission first.

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Um, Peter, first Peter in general,

First Peter says, wives in the same

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way submit to your husbands, if any

of them do not believe the word,

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they may be won over without words

by the behavior of their wives.

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First Peter, pop that out.

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so I need to be really clear.

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This in no way says that you

just walk away from your spouse.

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go listen to the podcast.

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Go listen to episode one of season

one of SPILLING the podcast talks

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all about Cortney and Scott.

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And Scott was far from the Lord

and Cortney just kept praying

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and kept living out her faith.

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And I could tell you my own whole

story and you wouldn't even believe

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where my husband is now compared to

where we were just two years ago.

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so another relationship obstacle you

might run into is in your friendships.

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This is where I see a lot of

pain and confusion come up.

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You don't have to break away from

your friendships if they're not on

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the same page as you spiritually or

if they're not believers, you don't

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have to break up with your friends.

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But if they're actively pulling you

away from your relationship with the

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Lord or the convictions he's placed

on your heart, especially if they're

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trying to encourage you to sin.

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Then yes.

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Naturally, if you keep your eyes focused

on Jesus and you keep walking out your

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faith, there will be distance between you.

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You don't have to say, I don't wanna be

your friend anymore, but you keep walking

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your path straight and narrow with Jesus.

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You keep walking the road

less traveled towards Jesus.

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There will naturally be distance

between you and those friendships.

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and it doesn't mean that

you're judging them.

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You don't have to say.

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I am distancing myself from you

because you're full of sin and I'm not.

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You don't say things like that.

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You just say, I can't.

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I don't think I'm going to

go to that event because it

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would put me in a position.

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To feel like I need to drink or

whatever, and I'm really working on

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keeping myself away from those things.

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you can say, I love you, I wanna

hang out with you, but I don't wanna

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go hang out with you at that thing.

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and if they really love you and

care about you and want to spend

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time with you, they'll respect that.

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And if they don't, that's your sign to.

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Distance yourself a little

bit, continue moving forward.

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You can say no, without saying

I am judging you or without

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saying I'm better than you.

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You do it with love and

you do it with grace.

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And you might not have

friends who outright say like.

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You should come drinking with us.

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Are you two good for us?

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Or you're a goodie?

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Two shoes.

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Now, it might just be a matter

of like they don't get it and

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they don't get why you're acting

like that, and that's okay too.

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And Jesus set a perfect example.

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He planted seeds.

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He opened up with people who

asked when they didn't get it,

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he just, he told them the truth.

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He told them the answers, which

are all found here and you can

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let your life speak for itself.

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But you can plant the seeds, and

if they're not ready, that's okay.

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You don't have to feel guilty about it.

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you can still love them

and do it with love.

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but you don't have to let it slow you

down or hold you back or let it drag

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you back into where you used to be.

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Mark 3: 34 Out a clear picture to us

of where Jesus was at as far as who he

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surrounded himself with, and he said,

whoever does God's will is my brother and

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sister and mother, like no one is above.

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Any of those people, no one in your life.

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No.

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No relative, no friendship, no

relationship should come above your

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relationship with the Lord or the

people that you're in fellowship with,

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if I have somebody from, you know, my

church or someone from a Bible study

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that I'm with I should be treating

those people the same as my own family.

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especially if my own family is

trying to discourage me from

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leading my life to glorify God.

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This isn't a message about

cutting people off from your life.

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think of it more from the

perspective of not cutting Jesus off.

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If he is the savior of your soul and

he died for you in the most gruesome

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way possible to cover up your sin and

take away your debt so that you can

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be closer with God, why would you let

anything come in between you and him?

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You shouldn't.

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Not even people, not even relationships.

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If you are living the way Jesus did,

you will still love those people and you

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will love them in a way that is radically

different than what they've been used to.

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And it'll probably help them more than

if you continued on creating toxic

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relationships and just allowing everyone

to think that living a life that is

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not in submission to the Lord is okay.

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When you start changing your

life radically for Jesus and

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you start walking in a path.

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He blesses you and there is fruit.

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We need to talk so much about fruit,

but there's fruit that comes from that.

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People will see that fruit and

they might become the fruit.

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People in your life that don't know

Jesus, if you act in obedience and

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continue forward, they will see it.

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You might pant a seed that someone

else waters and nourishes later,

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but that seed is important.

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And when you're not obedient, you

are hurting those people more.

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You are pushing them further away

from the Lord when you aren't acting

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in a way that brings God glory.

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Obedience and submission to the Lord

is important over everything else.

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Which relationship in your life

has been the hardest for you to

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navigate while following Jesus?

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Let me know in the comments.

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I would love to hear from you.

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I'd love to talk about these things more.

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Communication and boundaries, but

Christian biblical boundaries.

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That

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Call out.

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Truth and love with grace are some

of my favorite things to talk about.

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If you're walking this out and you

want more videos like this, hit

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that subscribe button right now.

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I post faith-filled honest content

to help you follow Jesus more

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closely when it gets a little messy

and real if you have questions or

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concerns, leave them in the comments.

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Let's talk, let's continue and I'll

keep on giving you some, some sips.

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thanks for joining me on this SIP session.

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I hope to see you next time.

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Stay filled.