welcome to real Christianity mission is to bring the church back to the Bible my name is Dale Partridge and I'm the president of relearned out of work and Reformation Seminary the premise of the show is simple the culture is growing darker the church is in need of sound Doctrine and many Christians are hungry for the truth join me here each week as we look to scripture and discover what it really means to be a Christian
 welcome to the show I want saw a sign hanging on someone's door that read welcome friends and family please check your political and religious views at the door
 this is kind of the concept and thinking behind the old adage that there are two topics you don't discuss at family gatherings religion and politics now today I'm going to be sharing why I think this is a non biblical perspective for Christian to hold and why it's important that your mission this holiday season is to intentionally speak the truth in love but before beginning wanted to briefly remind you that we are working hard over here to raise another $41,000 by the end of the year to hit our 2022 budget since last week we've raised about $4,000 original goal is 45 thousand and we still need 41,000 your gift will support several Gospel Projects as well as a Biblical and Theological tools that were developing training content we have a small team over here who fatally we just are committed to serving the Great Commission
 but the Lord is always supported us through the gifts of his people and I just want to ask you would you prayerfully consider supporting one of our ministry we have two Ministries the first is relearn. Org and you can do so by going to relearn. Org forward slash donate you can make a one-time gift or you can I make a monthly recurring gift or you can find our mailing address there and send us a check if that's a preferred method of giving to support our other Ministry Reformation cemetery.com which is a missional training Ministry where we send off man we trade a man and send them off to plant biblical house trips all around the world you can give your gift to support a church planter or support a scholarship fund or whatever that the needs we may have in getting more men and more men out and you can do so at Reformation cemetery.com donate
 okay so let's begin I want to open up with a provocative statement the goal of a holiday family gathering is not peace know that the goal of any family gathering should be truth and love we know that it cannot only be love because love without truth is empty sentimentality and is also dangerous we also know that truth without love is cruel and filled with apocracy but we know that when a family operates in truth and love you always reap unity and peace that is when our love for one another is built upon truth we find unity in benevolence and from Unity of benevolence we find peace but to gather with people you love who requests a suppression of the truth by word or by action
 so that a false peace in a fraudulent Unity may be achieved that's wrong now to be clear I'm not about to encourage you to run into your Thanksgiving Christmas and New Year's celebrations with a soapbox looking for a theological and political fight nor am I saying that the desire for love and peace in your family gathering is wrong I'm simply stating that genuine piece is built on Unity genuine Unity is built on love genuine love is built on truth and however unfortunately there is a cold war going on in many families homes and that is family members who hold strong and opposite opinions gather together in an effort to reclaim that nostalgic family Feeling by committing to keep their mouths shut in an effort to maintain quote peace or quote
 what is a Christian this puts you in a moral predicament by obeying the rules of the the Cold War at your family gathering you find yourself withholding the truth of Jesus Christ the moral law of God and righteous political discussion that upholds Kingdom principles in our fallen World in other words you maintain a cold war in your family because you want to avoid a hot war in from the outside it almost looks like a noble and self-sacrificing decision but in reality to sacrifice truth on the altar of politeness sir peace is to practice the sin of omission it's not active since it's not the sin of commission its path of sin is the sin of omission it's knowing the right thing to do but not doing it because of some of fleshly desire in other words you know we we submit ourselves to a family culture that says we don't want Jimmy talking about Jesus or why it's wrong to abort your
 maybe so we just create a family culture that discourages those conversations and as a result that this kind of family charade goes on The Superficial love and superficial peace and superficial Unity surrounded by people who are absolute enemies with each other when it comes to truth
 but what what should the Christian do in the circumstance should they respect your grandma's request for no religious or political discussion should they be careful not to trigger trigger Uncle John who doesn't know that you're not vaccinated I should we wear masks to the Christmas Eve party because it makes cousin Susie and her wife comfortable or should we not comply and I'm a firm believer that moral and spiritual Silence of the Saints is one of the leading contributors to the state of our world keep quiet Christianity has been adopted for far too long and has allowed many falsehoods to take Route silly because Christians have been willing to stand up and strike down laws out of love for the truth and it was Paul who said it 2nd Corinthians 10:5 quote we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ
 in other words Christians are to be committed to refuting lies to tearing down the Pagan philosophies of men and disapproving ideas religious or secular which are rooted in faucet or against the moral law of God and so what I'm saying here is if Christ died for you you are to speak up for him and too often we forget the power of ideas we have to remember that all evil weather murder or rape or porn or lies or crime begins in the heart and the mind of man family conversations they may seem microscopic and inconsequential I assure you they are not and not only is the family A place of great influence but it's also a plate place of great transparency if someone is willing to share privately a moral or religious idea with their family and they find their idea was affirmed by either
 a verbal approval or by moral silence that family member is more likely to share that moral and religious idea with others publicly in other words what when a family member especially a Christian family member remains silent in the face of a liar Amor inmortal immorality for the sake of maintaining quote family peace this actually emboldens the immoral person to share their beliefs in public for example if your sister Jenny is talking about how terrible Texas is for making it illegal to abort a baby after the child has a heartbeat and you stay silent because you quote don't want to get into it to her you may have just offered your blessing through your silence as a Christian in fact Jenny might be pregnant and she might be fishing for some family approval for the abortion that she's considering and the responses She-Ra
 from family or lack thereof will very much shape for decision
 another words there should never be a moment when evil is proclaimed openly in the face of a Christian and they remain silent this is the concept behind Edmund Burke famous quote the only thing necessary for the Triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing there for out of love we must like Paul always cast down again in love any idea that stands against the knowledge of God now we'll just cause problems for you absolutely second Timothy 3:12 says indeed all who desire to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted John 1520 says remember the word that I said to you a servant is not greater than his master if they persecuted me they will also persecute you we know that Jesus is talking about
 the concept of I didn't come to bring peace but a sword he came to divide truth from are in the light from the darkness we know that Jesus talks about the people's enemies will be up their own family in their own household how daughters will rise up against mother-in-law's and mother in laws against daughter and children will actually send their parents off to jail for the faith this is something that will actually happen to be surprised at division that occurs inside of a home is to be ignorant of what the scripture speaks about regarding these matters we cannot expect peace when our Lord received persecution and we can expect love when our warlord received hate we can expect acceptance when our Lord received a rejection in a world that loves the dark the light comes at a costly price
 now the reactive work what I was just talking about of casting down lies that present themselves to stand against the truth of God that's not enough actually that's the reactive work when you see evil you must confront it the scriptural actually the scripture actually calls us to be the proactive in the proclamation of the gospel and the moral law of God I'm going to read a passage of scripture 2nd Timothy 4 1 through 5 Paul says I charge you in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ who is the judge of the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom quotes preach the word be ready in season and out of season reproof rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching
 the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but have itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into Miss as for you always be sober-minded endure suffering do the work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry okay now this passage of scripture in contacts is a passage speaking to those who are called into pastoral Ministry now that doesn't mean that the concept of proactive Ministry is only limited to those in full-time pastoral called Ministry know we know that in the Great Commission that Jesus says Matthew 28 go therefore and make disciples baptizing them in the name of the of the name of the Father the Son and the holy spirit's teaching them to observe all that I have commanded to you and so we all have this burden Upon Us of work the labor right it's the Great Commission is not the great suggest
 we are to go out there and do this a spiritual in Eternal work
 Albert Barnes in the mid-1800s actually commented on the verse 2nd Timothy. Just read to you and I thought it was helpful and it's a small little paragraph that I'm going to read to because I think it should give us the perspective all this is written to administer someone who is a pastoral figure I think the heart behind it is still Universal and it turns the principal for Christians being ready always to preach to work this isn't a part-time gig he says quote
 a minister is to seek opportunities to preach the gospel even at such. That might be inconvenient to himself or when there might be hindrances and embarrassment or when there was no stated appointments for preaching he is not to confine himself to the appointed times of worship or to preach only when it would be perfectly convenient for himself but he had to have such an interest and earnestness in the work that it will lead him to do it in the face of embarrassment and discouragement and whenever he can find an opportunity a man who is greatly intent on an object will seek every opportunity to promote it he will not confine himself to stated times and places but will present it everywhere and at all times a man there for whom yearly confined himself to the stated seasons of preaching the gospel or who merely preaches it when it's convenient to himself should not consider that he has come up to the requirement of the rules laid down here by
 Apostle he should preach in his in his private conversation and in the intervals of his public laborers and at the side of the sickbed and wherever it is a prospect of doing good to anyone if his heart is full of love to the Savior and two souls he cannot help but do this
 it's so as Christians what I want you to understand is it's not our priority to keep the peace it's your job and priority to achieve genuine peace through truth the truth in the Gospel of Jesus Christ it's not your job to love people by remaining silent about people sitting or simple conversation it's your job to love people by preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the moral law of God you are not a part-time Christian you are not off duty when you are with your family you are an ambassador in a representative for Christ if he has your heart that he should also have your voice there is no person or place or law or family gathering that should govern your willingness or ability to speak the truth of Christ in
 ultimately truth is our priority at family gatherings but our delivery must be saturated in gentleness and must be saturated in compassion and love where to be bold but we don't need to be loud they were to be firm but we don't need to be harsh we need what we need to do is we need to bathe ourselves in prayer this holiday season is that our words might be seasoned with truth and that our delivery is done in love and pray that God gives you the courage and wisdom and his Spirit by go before you to bring about the conversion of Souls and the conviction of righteousness I hope it was helpful and edifying for your walk with Christ My Hope Is that you have a great holiday season Thanksgiving is coming up obviously tomorrow for those that are listening right now as well as Christmas coming up in the New Year if your regular listen to this podcast thank you your loyalty to listening every single week means so much to us
 you can always leave a review if you haven't already you don't even need a ride anything you can just tap the stars and the podcast app that you listen to those are really helpful for letting more people know about the show if you don't already follow us on social media you can follow the ministry a tree learn.org on Instagram and Twitter as well you can also find me at Dale Partridge on Twitter for posting out regular content each day as for this episode thank you so much for joining this episode of real Christianity my name is Dale Partridge and I'll see you next week
 thank you for joining me on this episode of real Christianity Christianity is a listener supported audio Ministry of relearn. Org our mission at realtor.org is to bring the church back to the Bible we achieve this through strengthening Christians and biblical and Theological literacy find biblical articles podcast sermons and videos at our website at relearn. Org our team is small but our mission is large and we need your help if you'd like to support our ministry financially you can always do so at relearn. Org forward slash donate thank you again for joining me today and I hope to see you next week for another episode of real Christianity