living set apart in a compromised world

The world moves fast. You work day, even faster. Pitching products, drafting reports, analyzing data. Microsoft 365 Co-Pilot is your AI assistant for work. Built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft 365 apps you use. Helping you quickly write, analyze, create, and summarize. So you can cut through clutter and clear a path to your best work. Learn more at microsoft.com slash m365 co-pilot. Hello everybody. Welcome to another episode of Christ with Coffee on Ice. I am your host Ali Yost. It is a joy and honor to be here with you guys today. Happy Friday everybody. Happy Friday, happy Friday. What day is it? Easter was a couple weeks ago. How's everybody feeling? I'm wearing a really cool hoodie today. Can I tell you guys about it? It literally just came in the mail today. It was dropped off on my porch this morning and I said, that's what I'm wearing today. It's a collaboration with the brand CELA, which if you guys aren't familiar with them, they're wonderful. I've been a fan of them for a couple years. Actually, I found them right in the beginning of my journey with the Lord. I think CELA was one of the first Christian clothing brands that I wore. I had this t-shirt that said, I heart Jesus and I was like freshly saved on fire walking around the streets of West Hollywood wearing this shirt and it was the best. So they're awesome. They're like an OG for me. I feel like there's a hair on my forehead and it is, hold on. What is on my forehead? I can feel it. Is it a fuzzy? Oh, okay. I don't know. I think I'm okay. Anyway, they sent me this hoodie and it's in collaboration with Abby Gamboa who released a song called There Goes That Man. And if you guys haven't heard it, it's literally amazing. It goes something like this. It goes, there goes that man. Oh, there it goes again. But Abby has like such a like, like she like goes into rock star mode. Sometimes most times when she's singing, which I love her worship, but she has like such a rat like it like honestly probably sounds like it might be bad for her voice, but I don't even, maybe it's not. But it's just like this like rasp like grit to her voice. So when she goes, there goes that man. Okay, I went up to, why did I go up an octave? I'm out here in like opera. Anyway, the way she sings it though, it's just like, yeah, it's so good. He's always moving on my behalf. Such a good song. You can make something out of nothing. He still makes something out of nothing. You create something out of nothing. I'm still a little sticky. I'm not sick. It's just like, sometimes for a while, the congestion just lingers for far too long. So I kind of miss singing more to myself and on the internet sometimes I know I don't do nearly enough of it. You guys are always in the comment section being like, when are you actually going to release music? I know guys. I know I'm prayerful about that. But anyway, that's my hoodie. This is my hoodie that I'm wearing today and I love it. What else? What else? What else is new today? Well, we could just get into what we're going to talk about. Good Friday, we were pretty on track to what the message was that day we were locked in. But I feel like the last few episodes I have been a little crazy, like all over the place in the first like 10 minutes of the episode. So maybe it would be good for us to just lock in. I don't even know if this is going to be the entirety of the topic of this episode or not. But this is something that I think is worth talking about. And if it even helps like one person feel seen or understood, or honestly, if it brings conviction to a lot of us, I pray for that as well, genuinely. And I also would just love to actually pray before we get into this episode. So guys, let's just pray. Lord, we thank you for today. God, I thank you for the gift of today, Lord. God, I thank you that we get to gather today and learn more about who you are and learn more about what it means to be genuine temples of the Holy Spirit. God, what it means to live pure and holy set apart lives. God, I pray that you convict our spirits, all of us, even myself, of what it means to live a truly holy life. God, that there is no compromise in our life. Yeah, that we don't entertain anything that actually hurts our souls or our bodies. God, that it doesn't hurt the health of who we are. God, help us to keep our eyes on heavenly things. God, help us keep our eyes on you. And so Lord, I pray for open hearts. God, I pray that our hearts are open for your message today. Holy Spirit, I ask that you and you alone are the one who speaks in this episode, God. I pray that I do not get in the way of anything. And Lord, we're just expectant for how you're going to move today. Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. Jesus, we love you, we honor you. And we pray all of these things in your mighty, mighty name. Amen. Amen. We also do have our coffee on ice. I'll say that part we do today in our little tumbler here. And we have our Christ. Of course, we have our word of God. This is my Bible from Hosanna revival. This is my Bible from Hosanna revival. That's really fun and cute and it kind of rhymes, but it's true. This is my sweet little spring themed Bible. It's so gorgeous and cute. It's like this pretty pastel yellow. And it is the new living translation. That is what I've been reading and I love this translation so much. Before this, I was reading NIV when I first started reading the Bible. That was like the simplest translation for me. And so, but NLT is pretty close to it. I grasped this translation well. I feel like I understand it well. So, um, Hosanna revival, they're the best. I talk about them every episode. I'm sorry, they're just the best. And you guys are more than welcome to use my code with them as well. They were kind enough to give me a code so that you guys can save if you ever do want to shop with them. If you're ever curious about the Bibles that I use, literally all of my Bibles are from Hosanna revival. They're the best. They're gorgeous too. Like stunning, stunning Bibles. And they also have really beautiful journals and like notepads and even like uh, Calent, like daily planners. So they have all sorts of really cute stuff. You guys are more than welcome to use my code. It's just aliyost, my first and last name, A-L-L-Y-Y-O-S-T. And you will save it checkout. So that's my little plug for Hosanna because they're the best. Um, okay. So, as you were feeling in our prayer today, um, there's a little bit of a theme going on, which is that, I thought it'd be really cool to talk about what it means to be truly set apart. And if you are a Christian, that statement shouldn't be too foreign for you to hear, um, because it truly is our job as followers of Christ to be set apart. And what that means is that we don't look like the world. And what that means is we don't look like people who don't follow Jesus. We don't do the things that people do who don't follow Jesus. We don't do the things of this world. We are in the world but we are not of it, right? So obviously we can be in worldly environments. We're in the world every day. Okay. Unfortunately, we can't just be in the bubble of church every single day 24-7. And also that's not biblical for our life here on earth because our job also is to be the light in dark places. We are to be the light on the top of the hill. We are to be set apart. And so it is our job to bring Jesus into the places that don't have him. And so I wanted to talk about, yeah, what that means to be set apart. But then also I want to talk about an aspect that's not necessarily like world versus church, like be different than the world. Because like, yes, at the literal least, we should look different than the world. But something that I've realized is that being set apart doesn't mean that you are just set apart from the world, but it probably will also mean that you are set apart from parts of the church. I say this because if you are somebody who is truly pursuing holiness, like you want to look just like Jesus, like fear of the Lord is on you every single day where you're like, I want to please God and I don't want to entertain anything that isn't going to bring me closer to becoming more like Christ. If that's the way that you live your life, I can also bet that you're probably going to be pretty set apart from a lot of people even in the church. And that's just something that I didn't know when I first came to Christianity and like really started to become a true Jesus follower. Because I think a majority of my life I would have said I was a Christian, but I was not living that way. I looked just like the world. There was nothing I was doing in my life that was like, that I was sacrificing for God. There was nothing I was like resisting my own wants and desires. Like there was no sacrifice. Okay, I was just living a selfish life. I was doing everything I wanted. I was following my heart. I was following my feelings. My emotions ruled my life. Circumstances ruled my life. People ruled my life. Like Jesus was not king of my life. Okay. He was not Lord of my life. And so yeah. So then once I actually genuinely was like, oh no, Jesus is Lord. And he's not just Lord, but he's Lord of my life. And I want him to rule over my life. Like I need him. I need his guidance. I need him as a shepherd. I'm done like doing things on my own. I think at that point in my journey, I didn't realize, and this isn't me like, like talking ish about the church. I love the church. I need the church. We need the church. Okay. We need the body. But I didn't realize that there is an opportunity for you to even be set apart from the church, meaning there's compromise even in the body of Christ. There's lukewarmness in the body of Christ. I want to be so careful about my words, but there are people who look like they live holy lives. And behind closed doors, there's a lot of compromise. And the thing is, is like we have so much grace for people like that. Okay. This doesn't mean that like now that person is our enemy because even though there could be people, even in your community who live in compromise, we are still called to love them, to love them, and to not condemn. This isn't me tooting my own horn. This is genuinely me just going off of experience. And again, like if me sharing my experience helps another person, I love that. Okay. I'm not saying I am the most holier than holy thou holy. I mess up. I fall short. I make mistakes. I sin. I'm an idiot sometimes still. Okay. I am not perfect. But I will say that I take Jesus so seriously that sometimes when I walk into a room, even of Christians, it feels weird. And I'm like, why does that feel weird? Why does it feel funny right now? And a friend of mine recently pointed this out. And this is honestly why I'm like having this aha moment. And I feel like we can talk about it now is because at first I almost felt shame or like kind of like a Karen. I'm never walking into these rooms like wagging my finger at people and being like, you shouldn't do that and you're living in this and you shouldn't do that. But it was like just me walking into an environment. I can feel that it's like changed. And I think that it's me and I'm like, do people just think I'm like this uptight religious like Karen, like freaking Ferris, like I don't know. It like genuinely sometimes makes me go, am I too much? Like if I take in this like love for Jesus too far. Um, that makes me want to cry because I'm like, there's no such thing like I just I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. And if you feel that same way as we all should, he's everything. He's everything. And he has to be our everything. And there's no shame if that's the way you live your life because that's how we're supposed to live our life. He is supposed to be our everything. No buts. There's no like, but on these days I, but you know, when I'm driving, I listen to this kind of music. But you know, when I hang out with these people, like he's everything. He has to be your everything. And no one's holding a gun to my head to live that way. Actually, it's the only way I want to live my life because it's the only way that I feel like my soul is actually fulfilled. My soul is fully satisfied when Jesus is everything to me because he is the only one that satisfies truly. And there is no like even 90% of him and then 10% of play and like other worldly things that are just kind of like, no. And the reason why it's a no is because if we don't fully have Jesus fully satisfying us, we still aren't fully satisfied. You're not going to be fully satisfied to 100% if Jesus is only, if you're only allowing him to satisfy you 90% of the time. There is no full satisfaction in Jesus if you are not fully letting him satisfy you 100%. I think if we're being honest with each other, there are a lot of things about our everyday lives that we don't have to think about that other people do. Certain privileges like three meals a day. Some of us may not have to worry about hunger, but other people do. And every active change begins with a neighbor with someone saying we can take care of each other here. In food banks and food pantries, neighbors pack fresh food and dignity into every box, moving from farms to families through Feeding America's nationwide network. So when that box reaches a home, it carries more than food. It carries a promise that together we can end hunger. Feeding America led by neighbors. Give now to end hunger at feedingamerica.org. This episode is brought to you by Glorify, the number one Christian daily devotional app. I was recently talking to somebody and they actually had asked me how I stay connected to God throughout the day and without hesitation. One of the things that came to my mind was the Glorify app. So Glorify is the number one Christian daily devotional app and honestly it's been a steady part of my life for almost two years now. When you open the app, there's always something new. So there's fresh devotionals, new courses, content that meets me right where I'm at and points me back to God. Millions of people use Glorify and now I understand why because it's scripture and truth when you need it. So whether you've been walking with Jesus for years or you've just started to explore your faith, Glorify makes it easy to draw closer to God anytime, anywhere. So if you've been craving other resources on how you could get closer to God but didn't know where to start, this is your sign. Glorify is a really beautiful resource to have on your phone. So go ahead and download the Glorify app and create space for God in your everyday. Listeners to the show can actually get full access to the Glorify app for just $29.99 for the entire year. That's Glorify's lowest price ever. When you download the Glorify app now at Glorify-app.com slash Allie, get full access all year just for $29.99 at Glorify-app.com slash Allie. That's Glorify-app.com slash Allie. So uh anyway, the only reason I even had this aha moment is because a friend of mine called this out in me. The other day she voice memos me and she's like, Allie, I don't even know if this is going to make sense. I don't even know how to put this into words but I just felt like I needed to call this out in you because it's beautiful. She said you existing. Like you just like being in a room or being brought into a situation or being brought into a circumstance like brings conviction where it probably wouldn't have been. And she's like, and I think it's because you just live in a way where you there is no compromise. So the minute you walk into a situation or a room where there is compromise somewhere, it like exposes it. And she's like, but it's beautiful. It shows that you live your life in a way that your is true, that is how God intended you to live your life. So never feel shame about that. And I was like, girl, you must have heard straight from the Holy Spirit because I can't tell you how many times I felt like, am I too? Am I like a crazy? Am I? It's so not true. It's so not true. And I know it's like wild that these things even cross my mind, but I know somebody listening can relate to this. It's crossed your mind, especially if you're like young, okay? Let's say you're in high school or middle school or in college and you like you mean business about Jesus. Okay, you don't play about that. You're like, no, that's my God. Okay, Jesus, he saved me from the pits of hell. He saved me from myself. I don't play about that. If that's how you live your life. But I know sometimes it's, it's tempting for like those really gross thoughts to come in your mind and be like, yeah, but am I too much? Because when you look around, even in the church, you're like, I don't know, but they're not really, and like, they seem to have a great life, but they don't live to like an extreme like I do. Am I extreme? Is it too much? Something I want to mention, you guys, is that when we look at Jesus's life, okay, let's talk about, let's talk about the holiest, most pure man to ever walk the earth. Okay, Jesus Christ. Jesus's life shows us that conviction often actually came with rejection. Yet he never seized loving those around him. So your presence can be a gentle light, not by condemning others, but by showing grace and truth. So keep fostering love while standing firm in your convictions. And so when we look at the way that Jesus lived his life is he lived standing firm in his convictions. Okay, he was like, uh, uh, right and wrong. There is no in between. There is no gray area. There is no blurry line. This is right. This is wrong. This honors God. This doesn't. And in that conviction, it often came with him also being severely rejected. He was misunderstood and rejected often by religious leaders, Pharisees, by his own community, and even sometimes by followers, his own followers. And so if you feel like sometimes you walk into an atmosphere, like even if it's a Christian atmosphere and you feel like people don't actually even really want to be your friend, like let's say like there's a group of Christians that you like, honestly, you want to be friends with them. Maybe they kind of party on the weekends a little bit, but for the most part they seem really cool. But for some reason, like you don't feel like you fit in one or two, like you're not really being included as much in that stuff. I feel like this has to be speaking to somebody. There is a good chance that it's not just you. It could be the conviction that your presence just brings. And they don't want to feel it. They know by inviting you, even if you're not condemning, even if you're not like, guys, we really shouldn't do this. It doesn't matter. Like I'm sure that like what Jesus brought into the room, which was just his presence, it was his, it was the Holy Spirit. It was conviction. It was his light. Light reveals darkness. It exposes the darkness. Okay. So if you are a walking vessel, you're carrying the Holy Spirit, you're carrying that light, and then you're also living a life that is so set apart. It doesn't matter if you open your mouth or not. That's actually the power of Jesus in you. Like that holiness is so powerful that you're walking into a room and you're like, you're not even saying anything and people are like, I don't like that, whatever that is. I don't like it because it's exposing whatever compromise could be in their life. In John 15 18, Jesus says, if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. His holiness exposed darkness, and that exposure could make others uncomfortable. But he kept showing up in compassion. He kept dining with people, teaching them, healing them and extending grace, even when they didn't fully understand. His rejection wasn't a sign he was doing something wrong. Rather, it showed that light and truth sometimes make people uneasy. But he didn't give up on love or truth. So if you feel rejection for living with conviction, it doesn't mean you're alone. It means you have the opportunity to keep loving and shining, knowing that rejection often means you're standing for something that matters. That is so good. Rejection can often mean that you are actually standing for something that matters. So I think the other thing for us to keep in mind too is to not waver on our convictions. Like if this is a conviction that you have received from the Holy Spirit, from Jesus, from the word of God, okay, if you know for a fact that it says in the word of God that you are not to compromise, don't waver on your convictions. Especially if you see people around you who aren't living that way, don't allow yourself to be peer pressured. Or if you're dating somebody who's like not, you know, they're like, I don't really, I don't see a big deal with this. But it is clearly stated in scripture that you're not supposed to be living that way. Or again, you just have this deep conviction like in your freaking gut from the Holy Spirit that you are not supposed to live like that, partake in those things, do those things. You stand firm in that conviction, stand firm in it. Fear of man has to go. The only thing that we fear is God, meaning the only thing that matters to us is what God says. Why? Because honestly, he knows best. Two, it actually brings us into deeper intimacy with God. When we obey and we say yes and we say, yes, God, you're right. Believe it or not, it actually brings you into a deeper place of like just sweet intimacy with Jesus. It also brings us into a place of deeper revelation. Like, I believe that when we abide with Jesus and we live in a way that is so set apart and holy, just as Jesus did, there are just things that are revealed to there are scales that are lifted off of our eyes. And there is a deeper level of like wisdom to be learned with the Lord when you abide with him that when you are like that close to God, when you're linking arms with him and you are that close to him, you're just going to look more like him. You're just going to know more of the things that he knows. Let's read in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 1. You guys are welcome to read along with me, but I just want to read this really quick because I think it's important. It starts with saying, As God's partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God's kindness and then ignore it. For God says, at just the right time I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you. Indeed, the right time is now. Today is the day of salvation. We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us and no one will find fault with our ministry. In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights and gone without food. We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us and by our sincere love. We faithfully preach the truth. God's power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense. We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us imposters. We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything. Oh dear Corinthian friends, we have spoken honestly with you and our hearts are open to you. There is no lack of love on our part, but you have withheld your love from us. I am asking you to respond as if you were my own children. Open your hearts to us. Okay, now this is the part that I really want to read to you guys. It's called The Temple of the Living God. This is still in chapter 6, but it's verse 14. Don't team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God's temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said, I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they will be my people. Therefore, come out from among unbelievers and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don't touch their filthy things and I will welcome you, and I will be your Father and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Okay, now chapter 7 says, Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit and let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. Please open your hearts to us. We have not done wrong to anyone nor led anyone astray nor taken advantage of anyone. I'm not saying this to condemn you. I said before that you are in our hearts and we live or die together with you. I have the highest confidence in you and I take great pride in you. You have greatly encouraged me and made me happy despite all our troubles. So, in these couple of chapters in 2nd Corinthians, Paul is actually urging believers to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, meaning not to partner in ways that compromise their faith. He reminds them that they are temples of the living God set apart. So, I think that this verse can be misunderstood and unfortunately we see this in the church where people literally banish unbelievers because, I mean, obviously this verse says, separate yourselves from them. Don't touch their filthy things. Talking about unbelievers and the truth is, is what this verse is saying is don't partner with people in ways that actually compromises your faith. I have plenty of friends still in my life who do not follow Jesus that I love dearly and I still have a relationship with. But do I partake in things with them that compromise my faith and my relationship with God? No. Right? There's that discernment with it where this verse is actually clearly saying just don't partner in ways with unbelievers that will compromise your faith. And I think that this verse is completely relevant even within the church. Like, if you see people living in a way that is compromised, whether they know it or not, okay, that's the other part. It's like, y'all, I was living in a lot of compromise in the beginning of my journey, okay? And it was a process. The Lord was patient with me. I needed to learn. I needed time to receive his wisdom and to also like be around people in the body and to be in church environments and to be around Christians who live lives that are set apart. Okay? So there was, there was so much compromise in my life in the beginning. I was reading my Bible and going to church on Sunday, but also like, there were a few times where I went to church hungover because I was like drinking and partying with my friends the night before because I didn't know, I didn't know any better. So there's different levels of like compromise in the sense of like where people are at in their journey. But whether they know that they're living in compromise or not, do not let the way that they live their life in compromise influence you to do something that would then compromise your faith. What if my friend secretly hates me? Something bad will happen if I don't do this. Does God really still love me after what I've done? Do you ever have thoughts like this? And I'm talking about unwanted thoughts that play on loop in your mind over and over. Thoughts like that can be signs of OCD, but because OCD is so misunderstood, a lot of people don't even know it can show up in that way. OCD is a common, highly misunderstood mental health condition that causes intrusive thoughts and a powerful urge to do something to neutralize those thoughts. OCD thoughts feel deeply personal and completely against your values. That's why they're so distressing. And the thing is, is that these behaviors only provide short term relief. The good news is OCD is highly treatable with a specific kind of therapy called ERP or exposure and response prevention. No CD is the world's leading provider of OCD treatment. All of their licensed therapists truly understand OCD and specialize in ERP therapy. Therapy with no CD is 100% virtual covered by insurance for over 138 million Americans and includes support between sessions. So you're never facing OCD alone. To learn more about starting OCD therapy with no CD, go to nocd.com and book a free call with them. That's nocd.com to learn more and start getting help. The best part about spring is it doesn't just give us hope about summertime, but it also is a natural reset point. It's the perfect excuse to just refresh, get rid of things, or just start over. And if you've been putting off cleaning up the messier parts of your business, now is the time. Streamlining your communications is one of the quickest and easiest upgrades that you can make. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q-U-O, the smarter way to run your business communications. Quo is actually the number one rated business phone system on G2 with over 3,000 reviews built for how modern teams work. That's why more than 90,000 businesses from solo operators to growing teams rely on Quo to stay connected, add new numbers or teammates in minutes, sync your CRM, and rely on seamless routing and call flows as your business scales. It's pretty easy, y'all. Calls, texts, voicemails, transcripts, and contact details all live in one clean view. Make this the season where no opportunity and no customer slips away. Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to Quo.com slash coffee on ice. That's Q-U-O dot com slash coffee on ice. Quo, no missed calls, no missed customers. And in chapter seven, Paul follows this with encouragement to cleanse themselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. So the overall message is that being set apart isn't about superiority. It's about living in a way that honors God in every aspect. And Paul balances that with hope. He speaks of reconciliation, comfort, and joy. So the call to holiness is coupled with the promise of God's presence and a community that is being perfected together. I like that like a hierarchy or a superiority was mentioned because that's also not what this is about. It's not like you're supposed to be like, well, I'm even more holy than you. It's just simply about living in a way that honors God in every aspect, period. And I think some people could have a question after that of like, okay, but like, why is that so, why is it so important to live that way? Like we're talking about living life. And also that sounds like really hard, you know, like to achieve that, to strive for that. And the other thing is, is like, there is no striving in the kingdom of God. Or I should say, there is no earning. So question one is, why is that so important? And how in the world could somebody do that? How could somebody possibly live a life that way? I would say number one, why is it important? It's important because at the core living that way reflects our love for God and others. I truly believe that, oh, Jesus, to the extent of how set apart we decide our live our lives is actually a clear reflection of how much we love God. If you live your life in a way where there is no compromise, and you are like, Jesus is everything to me. He's enough for me. I don't want to dabble in these other things. If that is your life, that is a clear reflection of how much you adore and love Jesus. If there is compromise in your life, I want to tell you, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, meaning I'm not condemning you. And honestly, I get it. I get it. Sometimes compromise happens. Sometimes things slither into our lives. Sometimes old habits pop up. Sometimes there's ways that we don't feel fulfilled, and it could be totally on us. It could be that we are not spending enough intimacy with Jesus. We're not spending enough time alone with Him in our quiet time, in the secret place, door closed. You may be you're not being open and honest with Jesus enough. Maybe you're not opening your Bible enough. Maybe you're not plugged in and in community enough. If you're not letting any other iron sharpen you, iron sharpening iron, all of those aspects, if you're not going to church, all of those aspects have to be in your life for spiritual health. But sometimes we get lazy or busy or we get discouraged or shame overtakes us. And then we can't show our face at church anymore. We can't show our face in the secret place anymore. I'm telling you, I get it. It's okay. You're human. There's grace. Jesus still is obsessed with you and loves you. But if there is compromise in your life, the answer is you don't have to try harder. That's not the answer. The answer isn't, I'm going to wake up and I'm going to try harder for Jesus tomorrow. The answer is you just have to fall even more in love with Him. The more you fall in love with Jesus, the more you just want to do everything that has to do with Him. The more you want to do that actually honors Him. The more you think about Him, the more you consider Him, the more you pray to Him, the more you talk to Him, the more you ask Him. I don't know, God, should I do this? Does this please you? The more you question things and you go, well, I wonder what's in the Bible about that. The more you love Jesus, the more you just want to know, be around, consume, saturate yourself in Him. And so the answer isn't like that you have to try harder. The answer is that you just need to fall in love more, which is what a privilege that the solution to your problems of compromise being in your life is that you just have to fall even more in love with Jesus. You don't have to strive. You don't have to try harder. You just have to spend more time with Him. The man who embodies love. Somebody, guys, somebody has like, it doesn't make sense. It's insane, but that's the truth. Doesn't that give you hope? It's beautiful. It's a privilege. It doesn't make sense. So at the core, living that way actually reflects our love for God and others. It's not about perfectionism or earning anything. It's about becoming more like Christ. When we live with integrity, we shine a light that can guide others to hope, truth, and love. And on a personal level, living authentically brings inner peace and a deeper connection with God, even when it's hard. That's kind of what I was trying to put into words a little bit earlier, where I was like, the closer that you walk with Jesus, the more that you are with Him, the more you're linking arms with Him, the more of His holiness just rubs off on you, the more you start to look like Him, the more you start to talk like Him, the more you start to think like Him, the more you actually get to receive the wisdom of Him. Your brain starts to work like Jesus' brain. We could never be Jesus. Jesus is just Jesus. There's only one. But the more you really do become like Him, there is a deeper level of intimacy in your relationship with God that just comes with that. And it is beautiful. It's beautiful. This is really good. A lot of people try to eliminate compromise because they're afraid. They're afraid of messing up, of disappointing God, of losing their identity. But Scripture actually flips that. And it says, if you love me, you will keep my commands. That's from John 14, 15. So obedience actually flows best from love. Not pressure, not fear. When you truly know God's heart towards you, His patience, kindness, and mercy, holiness becomes something you want, not something you're constantly forcing. I love that. We also need to define what compromise actually is. So obviously not everything is compromise. Biblically, compromise is when you know something dishonors God and you choose to do it anyway. Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for Him, it is sin. James 4, 17. And so that brings me back to like whether the person knows it or not, right? Whether Sweet Owl in the beginning of her journey knew that she was living in compromise, she didn't know. She had no idea until I knew that it was compromise. And I knew that it didn't please God. And then I was like, oh wait, these things actually aren't good for me. These things actually aren't something God would ever call me to do. So now, now I know that it's a sin. It's not until like if once I knew that I still decided to live that way, then it's compromise. Okay? Because now if you know that something dishonors God and you choose it anyway, that's compromise. That's James 4, 17. Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for Him, it is a sin. So this does require honesty with yourself. If you're sitting here and you're like, well, what, what kind of compromise could I be living in? The question to ask yourself is, well, where am I ignoring conviction? Where am I justifying something I know isn't right? Because clarity brings freedom. So if you sit down with yourself and you're honest with yourself when you ask those questions, it'll immediately bring you clarity, which will then lead you to freedom of this compromise. Because now you know, because now you're finally being honest with yourself. And you're like, okay, yeah, no, there is like this deep down like gut feeling when I partake in these things or when I gossip with this one friend. Okay, I'm ignoring conviction in that area. I know what's wrong. And I'm trying to justify it. The minute we also try to justify something, no, we try to justify because we want to feel better about the conviction that's low key creeping up and you're like, I don't want to. Where am I justifying something I know isn't right? Another thing is walking by the spirit, not just by willpower. Trying to live with zero compromise by sheer discipline will burn you out. Paul says, walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. That's in Galatians 516. That means stay connected to God daily. That's prayer, being in the word, worship, all the things I was bringing up earlier, right? Like being a community, allowing iron to sharpen iron, going to church, worship, prayer, being in the word, community, let him change your desires, not just your behavior. Real transformation is internal. And then it goes external. So it's by his spirit. When we walk by the spirit, we will no longer gratify the desires of the flesh because we're not walking by our flesh anymore. We're being led by the spirit. We're letting him change our desires and transforming us internally, which then translate externally in the way that we live our lives. And this is the part that people avoid, but it really matters. Okay. We need to remove what keeps pulling you back. Make no provision for the flesh. That's from Romans 1314. Sometimes living without compromise looks like setting boundaries with certain people, stepping away from environments that weaken you and being honest about triggers. And here's the other thing. If you struggle with lust, like if this is like, okay, yeah, there is compromise in my lust in my life, like a lust creeps up when I'm alone and no one's watching lust. Okay. Being honest with yourself, setting boundaries with certain people, there could be other people in the church that like, like they're not as easily triggered by like lustful things. I don't know, whatever. We shouldn't be entertaining any of it. It also says in scripture, like when lust, we're supposed to flee from lust. But like sometimes for me with music, I'm very sensitive, especially to lustful songs. We're like other people, I don't know if it's just like popping up on the radio in the car and there's, they don't hear it. I, my ears, I am like, gotta turn that off. Because unfortunately, like I used to live a life that was very promiscuous. Very, I lived very lustfully in my relationships in the past before I knew Jesus. Okay. I can't go there. I can't go there. And so I've had to be honest with people about my triggers. I've been like, I can't even like listen to that for a second. I'm so sorry. If you guys aren't being triggered by that, I love that. But for me, I know my past. I know my triggers. Like I know the things that are hard, like my personal struggles. No, can't setting boundaries. And even if that's with certain people, again, like if there are things that people partake in and you know for a fact, let's, I don't know, maybe you've hung out with them and you have kind of gone along with it. And then you felt awful after because you knew that you were compromising. You got to be honest with yourself and set boundaries and be like, okay, then I'm not going to put myself in those environments anymore. It doesn't mean that you have to cut people off. It doesn't mean that you're not supposed to still love them and walk with them. I mean, the Holy Spirit can give you the discernment that you need on like how much you need to set boundaries with certain people, but setting boundaries with certain people is going to be that will help you a lot. If you feel like compromise only happens when you're around certain people or again, stepping away from environments that weaken you and being honest about your triggers. And this isn't because obviously you're better than anyone, but because you're protecting what God is building in you. Protect the thing that God is building inside of you. It's actually just like stewardship. It's being responsible. If God is doing something in you, do everything you can to protect that. And something worth mentioning is where we should expect loneliness, but don't misinterpret it. So again, we were talking about how Jesus is conviction often brought rejection as well, but you might feel set apart, even misunderstood. Jesus said in Matthew 714, narrow is the road that leads to life, but that doesn't mean you're doing something wrong or that God wants you isolated. It just means not everyone will choose that path. God will start bringing the right people, even if it takes time. So that's for anybody who may already be living their life very set apart. And let's say you don't have any compromise in your life, but it is lonely. There may be lonely seasons, but it doesn't mean that God actually wants you to be isolated. The truth is, is that not everybody is choosing the path that you're choosing, but God will still bring the right people into your life. Also, we shouldn't confuse conviction with condemnation. This is really huge guys. Conviction draws you closer to God. Okay, but condemnation pushes you away from him. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I just quoted that earlier for y'all. It's Romans 8 1. If you fall, the goal isn't to spiral. It's to return quickly. A life without compromise isn't a life without mistakes. It's a life where you don't stay in them. So again, even I myself come to y'all humble each day saying, I make mistakes. I don't live a perfect life. I mess up all the time. But like again, living a life without compromise doesn't mean it's a life without mistakes. It's a life where you just don't stay in those mistakes. Just don't stay there. And when you mess up and you feel condemnation and shame, you have to run to Jesus. Because again, if you fall, the goal isn't to just spiral and be like, I freaked up. I messed up. It's to return quickly to Jesus, run to his feet. And then I think it's important to remember why it matters. So living this way isn't about rules. It's about intimacy with God, freedom from things that enslave us, reflecting Christ to others, be holy because I am holy. That's in 1 Peter 1 16. And holiness isn't restriction. It's alignment. It's just being aligned with Jesus. It's being aligned with the character of God. It shouldn't feel like a prison. Let your life be both truth and grace. If your life is set apart, yes, it may convict people. But what keeps people from running away isn't just your steward. It's your love. Jesus was completely holy, yet people still wanted to be near him. So there is a balance with a living a lifestyle like this. It's staying firm in your truth, but also soft in posture. So if we were to conclude all of this in one simple sentence, okay, it would be living without compromise isn't about becoming intense, rigid or isolated. It's about becoming deeply rooted in God, sensitive to his spirit, quick to repent and full of love and being in love with Jesus. It's just being so madly and deeply in love with Jesus. And the only way that we can be madly and deeply in love with Jesus and to also reflect his love like Jesus isn't intense, rigid or isolated. Those are not parts of his character. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Nowhere in there does it say intense and rigid and judgmental and harsh and mean and condemning. So standing firm in truth is totally possible, even with having a soft posture, a posture that is approachable, because that's the truth, even with Jesus. I mean, he was completely holy yet people still wanted to be around him. So surely he didn't have a very rigid posture. He was very approachable because he radiated love and kindness and mercy and compassion. So that is our episode about being set apart. And if it was convicting, yes, that's so good. Thank you, Holy Spirit. We need to be convicted, y'all, every day. If there's no conviction in your life, we're not improving. Like, we're not moving forward. We're not growing. We're not letting the Lord refine us. And it sucks. It stings. It's like offensive. Jesus is offensive. He's perfect. He will always offend us because we are not. So like, thank you, Lord, for conviction. It's good for us. Somebody had used an analogy I saw online the other day about sandpaper. And you know how there's like different levels of sandpaper? I barely know anything about this, but there's like really rigid sandpaper. And then you get to the point where it's like really, really soft. Like, it's like you're like polishing, like really, really fine sandpaper. That's like the process of Jesus with us, where it's like each time he like smooths us out, it's like with an even finer sandpaper. And it's probably like a little bit more painful. And it's just more specific, like he's really picking out the things in us that are unholy. And like it sucks, right? But at the same time, no, it's a gift. It's the best thing ever. It's the only life I want to live. So if we were convicted, hallelujah, if you felt affirmed and encouraged in a life that you already live, praise God, keep living that way. Keeping the example of what it really, really means to live a holy life. And I would say that all of us here today, like even myself, I want to become even more, more Jesus. I just pray more for us guys. Because the truth is, is like the experience of walking so closely with Jesus is just, it's like nothing else. Because it's the only thing that actually satisfies our souls. It's the only thing that satisfies mine. And again, I don't have it totally figured out. And none of us ever will. But we just need him. We need more of him, more Jesus, more. We need you. Guys, thank you for joining me today. Thank you for joining me for this week's episode. I hope that you guys have a beautiful Friday. I hope you have an incredible weekend. I hope that you spend some really sweet and precious time with Jesus. Can we also do something really cool today? Before we go, can we do something cool? Can we show somebody how cool Jesus is? Can we walk more like him, talk more like him, be more like Jesus today? Yes! Lord, refine us even more, Lord, I'm so proud of you guys. I'm so proud of the people that you are. And I know the Lord is too, even more so than I am. And I will see you guys next time. Same place, same day, same time, next Friday. Bye.