Ron + Hope: Unfiltered - How To Deal With Difficult People

Foreign.

Hey, guys, this is Ron and Hope. Unfiltered, real raw and relevant and to be very real today. Ron doesn't feel good today.

It's all right. I plow through.

He's got sinuses.

Yeah, I plow through.

Headache. I had the headache and sore throat.

And I hadn't had anything like last week. I hadn't anything like a couple of years. And I don't feel sick. I just. I don't know if it's allergies, I think it is, or what it is. I got that nostril stuff with the green top. What's it called? I tried that. What's that stuff with the green top? It's not nose spray. Yeah, I'm trying that out. I think it did help a little bit. Somebody said you got to try one of them. I don't know, but I am. I do. I feel like my head's in a barrel.

You sound scratchy.

I do, yeah. Yeah.

You need some.

Shoot. I need something. Soup and some petting and you know what I want. And I know that sugar is a bad thing for you when you're trying to heal, but ain't nothing I want with a scratchy throat like a Coca Cola. I'd rather have that than anything. So I'm just advertising for Coke today, whether they want it or not. So we good, though, what we're talking about today.

What are we talking about today, Ron? Loving difficult people.

We talked about loving difficult people. I did a series. I did a series maybe during COVID called Difficult people. You remember that?

Yes.

I did a series. I did about six or eight weeks on difficult people and how to love difficult people.

Because none of us have any of those in our life. Right.

Well, let me tell you what made me think of it. My RIF sessions, and I'm really excited about that RIF family. It is my understanding from the analytics I'm given that I'm not in control of that. My RIF community, where I do ask me anything, it's the only place where I do that. It's one of the most challenging things I do, quite honestly, had about 800 and some people on their live, and those people stay there about 45 minutes. That's kind of unheard of in the Internet world. When people's attention span, they say you got 3.5 seconds to get their attention. So for people to get on there and stay almost an hour is crazy. And the questions that I ask more when they get that opportunity to just fire away at anything, it's stuff like, you know, my daughter has gone to college and we're all Christians, and she's now changing to Muslim, and it's thrown the whole home into chaos. Or what do we do? My husband is not saved, and we don't know what to do. And he doesn't share any of the values of the whole rest of the family. But, well, I get those types of questions probably times five of everything else. And the fact is, I'm not a clinician and I'm not a psychologist. And sometimes I just have to tell people, like, I don't know, you need to ask somebody with much greater credentials than I have. But I just thought to myself, you know what? I do know what the Bible says about loving people that are not easy to love. And Jesus came right out with it and he said, love your enemies. That's where I'd like us to start from. Yeah, love your enemies. Now, I've told me and Hope, we've talked about this, you know, hard sayings of the Bible. We could take the whole rest of our life and try to perfect that. What does it even mean, love your enemies? They're an enemy, Right? You know, it sounds like the whole. The statement sounds like a contradiction within itself. If I loved them, why would they be my enemy? If I loved them, it seems like they'd be my friend. But Jesus went on to say, he said, but if you love those who love you, what credit is it? What credit is it to you? He said, even sinners can do that. So if I love the people who love Ron, and I don't like the people that don't like Ron, I have not separated myself from the crowd at all, right? And he said, you know, if you hate those that hate you, he said it again. What credit is it to you? Even sinners do that. So Jesus is drawing this distinction that his people have the ability to love people that don't love them back. I know we just lost half our audience right then, but he is. He's drawing that distinction that, you know, by this, all men will know you're my disciples. The rules are that you love one another. But the fact is, most people, you know, I love you if you love me. If you don't like me, I don't like you back. And Jesus comes out and just rewrites the script.

He says, you gotta love everybody, right?

And he says, you're just normal people, not people who've been touched by the love of God, grace of God, mercy of God, not been transformed. Your mind's not been Renewed. You're just. If you love and hate like everybody else, you're just normal people. He said, but those of you that have been touched by me, you have a different standard, right? And he said, I tell those who will hear me because not everybody will love your enemies. Do good to those that persecute you. Bless those that the rules are different.

When it comes to being a Christian and how you treat people.

Of course, we don't call names out here. Have had any people over your life that you threw that out there, that you had had a hard time loving, that you don't have a choice. You have to have them in your life. And they're very difficult to love.

Oh, now that's a whole nother thing. You have to have them in your life because something. Are you talking about family?

Right. It could be, you know what, you get to choose friends, but you don't get to choose family. And Jesus had his most difficult circumstances with family members. And Jesus even talked about leaving father and mother and all these other things, and he got excoriated for that. And people still misinterpret that even to this day to say that Jesus was a divider instead of a uniter. But the fact is, Jesus knew that there'll be people you have to walk away from and relationships you have to walk away from to fulfill your purpose.

Right?

But listen, you can love from a distance. Exactly right? Me loving you, I can love you from another state. Me loving you is not the same as being in a relationship with you. God did not tell me I got to be in relationship with you.

No, he didn't.

And I think people said that because I've had people say, well, you know, the Bible says you got to love me. Well, the Bible didn't say I got to trust you. Yeah, Bible don't say I have to have a relationship with you.

That's why they eat with you.

And I've had people, I've had people that, you know, ask for my forgiveness and I've given them my forgiveness, but I don't want to be their friend again.

Right.

Do you see what I'm talking about? I care for your soul. I love you in Jesus Christ and I have forgiven you. I hold no debt against you. I have no desire for revenge, but I also have no desire to be in relationship with you again either. And so we got to understand that what Jesus is really saying when he says these things, when you have an enemy and God says love them, what that means is you've got to desire the best for them.

Yeah.

Okay. It ain't gonna make me better to see you get destroyed.

Right? Right.

You know, why should it make me. Why should it make me feel good to see you go down? And that's what he's talking about. Their welfare, their best interest, that somehow or another, God, they still walk in the blessing of God, even though they may have disappointed you.

Yeah, it's hard. Relationships are just hard no matter what it is. It's friendships, they get hard. Family, it gets hard. Marriage gets hard. Workspace. Because you've got so many different personalities. You got so many opinions, you got so many, you know, are you a this, are you a that? Are you an introvert? Are you an extrovert on the enneagram, Are you that? Or you can get along with this one. And then other people go into, well, what's your horoscope? You know, those don't get along with this one. I mean, all these different mindsets of who goes with who and what. Bottom line, trying to integrate and be a good Christian with people. Because we all have issues. We all have shortcomings, we all have tempers, we all have opinions. We all are not perfect. And so it really does show the amount of the love of God that we have in our heart when we operate in relationships. It'll test you. It'll test the Jesus in you.

Jesus didn't love us once we got saved.

No. While we were still sinners.

While we were still sinners. And the Bible says, is it Ephesians 2 or Ephesians 3? Said we were the enemies of God.

Yeah.

So Jesus went to the cross for enemies. Jesus went to the cross for people he was not in relationship with and people who hung him there in the first place.

So then that's how he can tell us to love our enemies.

As I have loved you. You love others, so love you. One another. I got three points I just want to make right here, but I think we first need to just welcome some of our spouses.

Well, first we need to just let you know that this episode of Ron and Hope Unfiltered is brought to you by better help.

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That's good. We just had our last kid move out of house two days ago. So we've had a child in our house for 28 years.

Yep.

And so the last one just moved out. And I sat there and talked to him about pay your bills early, not even on time. Credit. Keep your credit. Because I'm telling you, it ain't just whether or not you get the loan, because now they'll give you the loan. They'll just charge you obscene interest amounts. And so, guys, we're so grateful for Chime and better help than everybody who helps us do what we do. That's how we do this and do it for free to our viewers. It doesn't cost anything for them. You just get to enjoy it. But I got three points.

Love your enemies.

I got three things I want to say. Jesus said this. He said, this is how to operate in the Kingdom. There is such a thing as kingdom love. There's normal love. Then how does the kingdom function? And he said this right here. He said, the kingdom is like. Whenever I hear that, my ears go up. The kingdom is like a man who found a treasure in a field and for the joy thereof, went and sold all he had and bought the whole field. Okay, he bought the whole field. I think that that is not just marriage. That is relationships. That's employees. That's employers. That's your manager. That's the last person you just hired. That's a business partner. That's kids, that's parents. There is no all treasure person. No.

There's no perfect people.

There's no all treasure. And we like the good stuff. We get divorced and we move on and everything else over the bad stuff. And Jesus says, you're getting the whole thing. You're not getting the treasure. And so there's a little play on words that I do hear. A treasure in a field. What is field dirt? So in other words, he says you have to go into relationship like an excavator. In other words, you have to go in like a treasure hunter. There's something in everybody, but it's buried underneath stuff. And so I think that's one of the things marriages is. It's. You keep digging and keep digging and digging till you find that true self, that most beautiful part of every person. But sometimes you got to love them through the dirty parts.

Oh, did you have to love me through the dirty parts?

Not many. Not many.

How long did you have to dig till you found the treasure?

I thought you were all treasure. You was trying to present yourself all treasure. Oh, I tried to present myself as all treasure. So I thought I was just marrying this old treasure thing.

Perfect thing. When did you Wake up one day and say, ooh, there's some dirt in this field. Probably the honeymoon when you had to go buy me some correcto.

I had to go buy you correcto. Yeah.

Because I was God.

It was on the honeymoon and her tummy got lost. You're not moving properly. And sent me out in a midnight run to go find correcto. I think I found some at a 7:11 in the middle of the night.

There you go.

So I knew. Yeah.

Didn't take long.

I had not been introduced to correct all during the dating season. And then when I had to pick up feminine items and everything else, she would sit in the car and send me in to go get the feminine items. And I'm like, I'm in there buying all this stuff.

I just thought it was funny.

My face was red. But anyway, you buy the treasure in the field. So in other words, if you were to talk to an excavator or talk to a treasure hunter, this is what they would tell you. They understand. Hope. They understand going in. And this is what I'm talking about. Loving people, loving your enemies, Loving difficult people. They understand they're going to move a ton of dirt that day with that backhoe. They understand they're going to dig and dig and dig.

It's not a surprise.

No, that's part of it. To get an ounce. So you move a ton of dirt to get an ounce of gold. They rejoice once they hit the gold. They don't complain about all the dirt they've been moving.

That's so good.

You see what I'm talking about?

That's so good.

And we need to go into a relationship understanding that there's dirty stuff that goes along with the shiny stuff. And why do we get so surprised when the dirty stuff shows up? Because the kingdom is like you buy people's. You come into a relationship. You come into a relationship with all of them.

Yeah. The good, the bad, the ugly.

I remember when I used to do the marriage counseling back in my 20s and 30s. Probably didn't need to be counseling nobody in my 20s, but I was the only guy there. And I remember they come in and do it well, you know, we're just getting married to each other and we're not going to marry our in laws and we're not marrying each other as well.

They talk a good talk.

And I just want to say bull. What we would say. Malarkey. I guess back then, you know, the fact is you're marrying them and you're marrying everything connected to Them you're getting the treasure and you're getting the field. And you better prepare because the field is coming.

Just know it's going to be there.

Dating has a way of revealing only the treasure. And that's the trick about dating. I've told people this. And then you get married and there's.

All these surprises because you get them 24 7. When you get married, you can save all that other stuff.

She didn't know he was addicted to porn. He didn't know she ran up credit cards. He didn't. And you got all these surprises because I've told people during your dating time, you send out your rep, you let them see the part of you you want them to see. So if you don't want them to see without makeup, you can design life so they never see you without makeup. And that's the difficulty of getting married to a.

So are you implying that without makeup that's part of the dirt?

I'm saying it's part of the different. You in a long time would let me. Well, you wouldn't let me see. We got makeup.

I know, but you're used to.

I remember you coming on that bus when we were traveling, carrying it to the dirt. 5, 30, 6 o' clock in the morning, you already had makeup on your face.

Right.

You just didn't let me see you like that. And so I think people got to understand, you know, there might come times where there's people that are so difficult, you know, you have to find out, is the goal worth it?

Is it worth it?

Is the goal worth it? I think in any relationship you've got to weigh, you know, I call it the Naaman thing. You know, Naaman had leprosy, but Naaman brought his king many battle victories and he had to weigh out, you know, does the victories outweigh the leprosy or does the leprosy outweigh the victories? And I think everybody's kind of got that side to them, but that's one of the things. You got the treasure and you got the field. And in the kingdom, you understand the field is coming with the treasure. But be a person that is gracious in the dirty parts till you get to the great parts because everybody's got something good down on the inside of them. But sometimes it doesn't reveal itself quickly.

Right, right.

And your comments are.

No, I'm just saying that's so good because I think what I love so much about that illustration you give is the gold miner, the excavator goes into it understanding Knowing, expecting. There's a lot of dirt here.

But when I get married, that we're surprised, as blown away, like, I can't.

Believe you didn't tell me you snored.

You didn't tell me.

You tell me you gambled. You didn't. Whatever. Yeah, you didn't tell me you got moody. You're moody in the mornings. Or if you're too tired, this happens.

They're blown and they're blown away. And Jesus is saying, this is the kingdom. This is how it works. You take the good with the bad. You're gracious in the bad, and you keep hunting for the good.

And he said, and I loved you, Ron. I loved you, Hope, when you were.

My enemy, and still does.

But that. That's how you got to love each other.

Jesus is still excavating dirt in everybody and loves us anyway. So there's another thing I think next. I've really been thinking about going back and doing another series on enemies. I've really been thinking about it. I may do it in my next one after Wisdom Society. I preached that in 2009. I've never preached it again. Never have. I got a whole spiral notebook in there. And the spiral notebook is in a folder, and I haven't pulled it out. It's the whole thing. Then I wrote a book about it in 2010. We launched it in January 2011. So you still got 12, 13 years. I haven't said anything about it. I believe it's one of the most profound teaching I ever did. If Jesus said, love your enemies, what's an enemy? Can I just define that now? Listen to the people he's telling us to love. An enemy is anyone that diminishes your integrity in your absence.

Mm. What? Say it again.

An enemy is anyone that diminishes your integrity or your reputation in your absence.

So behind your back. Behind your back.

And Jesus says, love them.

He don't say clip them.

Let me tell you something.

He don't say throat punch them.

So, you know, just getting out here and being real raw and relevant, that's probably the hardest hurdle for me, is, you know how much I care about your name. My name?

Yes.

I don't know if that's just in eight or if it happened with Jesus or my daddy put it in me, or I don't know what it is. I just cannot stand to be misrepresented.

Right.

Oh, I can't stand it. And to know that someone don't like my preaching, I could care less. Someone don't like the way I lead, I could care less. They don't like the way I dress, I couldn't care less. But when somebody questions my character or my integrity, misrepresented, it's a gut punch to me because I care so much about it. And I do live a life where I try to do right by people. And so those are the people that, as I turn around, that I know have done that to me. It's it, you know, we're just being honest. That's a hurdle for me. It is a hurdle because those are the kind of people I want.

I'm setting it lightly.

Yeah, those are the kind of people I want to write off.

Yeah, those are the kind of people you want to see. Like a hummer. Knock them down in the road.

No, that's you.

Yeah. And then put it in reverse and then back up on them again.

Because I'm going to tell you something.

That's me.

You told me one time, you said, ron, she said, it bothers me that too many people take advantage of your goodness. I think that's the way you put it. There comes a time when you get tired of that.

Yeah, it should.

Do you know what I mean? I think God gives pastors a big tank to be taken advantage of and still love. But I found myself probably about age 50 and I'm 54 now. I started. I don't know if it's good, but I started developing kind of the gift of goodbye, you know, I wouldn't retaliate. I've never hit back.

No.

But I would write you off and walk away in a second. And I think some of that is a protective mechanism because my tank got low on how much more of that I could take. And so I just built myself up a protective mechanism. Like, you know what? Instead of continuing to deal with you, I'm just gonna walk away from this and love you from a distance.

Right. But it's also, like you said, a protective mechanism from being hurt more and more. But it's also a protective mechanism to not hurt somebody because you know your limits, too. So, you know, so I can keep loving you. I'm going to have to back off. I can't let you in any closer. You know, what's that old saying? I ain't a killer, but don't push me. So it's a protective mechanism not just for my heart, but, you know, so I can stay saved, so I can stay a Christian. I gotta leave you right over here so I don't have to do all this interacting with you.

I've told people, I said, don't fight battles where there are no spoils. When it comes to enemies, there are some enemies that will just keep you fighting all the time.

All the time. Because that's their nature.

Yeah. Because it's in them.

Yes. That's their nature.

It's in them. And I had a great man of God call me during a difficult time a few years ago when I didn't know how to handle some things. And he said, you can't make peace.

With somebody who has war in their heart.

With someone who has war in their heart.

That's right.

And that was a timely message for me because I am an ace peacemaker.

Yeah.

Get me in a room. Let's negotiate. Reach some compromise. Let's shake hands and walk out of here and act like we got some sense.

But somebody who doesn't have their character.

There's no peace in them.

No.

There's war and confusion and lashing. And the fact is, what you have to do is you have to get away from it and separate yourself and draw healthy boundaries. You know why? Because no matter how much I love you, I can't will you to get that fixed. I used to, you know, with our son. I told you I thought I could will him to get off drugs. If I wanted it bad enough, it would happen. It has to be inside of them.

That's right.

And you can't make peace with people who.

It's just like a demon. We've talked about this before. You don't negotiate with the demon because that's not its nature.

Don't counsel it.

That's not its nature.

Don't medicate it.

The only nature is you gotta cast it out.

Cast it out.

The nature of somebody who has no peace within them. Somebody who has no character. Somebody who doesn't operate biblically the way, you know, we're supposed to operate. You just have to distance yourself.

Somebody might be saying this, and I want to use our time wisely. So you tell me when we need to stop. Because I know we got lots of sponsors today, and I want to honor that with their time, with our time. Excuse me. People say pastor, okay, when do you love and when do you fight? Because if you just take that posture of love, you become a doormat. I mean, people just trample all over you. And there's some people, you know, that'll abuse you and say, well, you're supposed to love me while I do it. Okay, So I want to define some of these things. Here's what I tell People about, when do you fight? You don't fight every battle because the enemy will send people that just keep your focus broken all the time. And I had a mentor of mine say, men fail because of broken focus. They don't have to defeat you. All he's got to do is distract you, because focus on a certain thing is what brings victory. So when that's broken and there are people that are so contentious that there will be little battles being fought all the time. And listen, they have no spoils. What do you get if you win? I told them in the marriage conference, I said, the goal of an argument. There's a healthy argument, it's healthy. But the goal of an argument is not to win.

It's a solution to get. You got to figure this thing out. Whatever it is that's causing the contention, you've got to figure it out.

And let's come to a place of solution where we're not back here again in a week. But one of the things I tell people, here's the battles that Ron Carpenter will fight. Here's when I'll hit back, is when it is a battle that threatens my future. So, you know, you put something on Instagram about my shoes, and there's a guy who does it about every week, you know, and he makes a character determination about me based on the shoes I wear.

Right.

You know, since I've never even met the guy. All right. I don't know if this guy knows it or not. That don't matter. I don't even know his name. And he's going to have zero effect on my shoes.

Right. You're going to keep wearing the shoes you want to wear.

Exactly. Right. But now, you know, I'm doing something in ministry, and you come and assault that effort. You come and assault a next season in my life or your character or my character. And I'm trying to develop people's trust. And you are. You are breaking the fellowship that people have with me when you start doing that. Those are battles that I have to step in and I have to fight. When they threaten your potential, threaten your destiny.

The call of God on your life.

Exactly. You can't just let those things go. Those are things in your life that have to be protected at all costs. Trust is a gift people give you, and it has to be protected at all costs.

That's good.

Ready?

That's a good one. Guys, we're going to take us a little break right here to shout out to our sponsors that we love so much. Listen, our finances are something that I really believe that's biblical that God wants us to have organized. Do you agree with that? Can't just be chaotic in your finances and glorify God. Looking to get your financial future organized? Well, listen, if you don't have life insurance yet, that should be at the top of your list. Fabric by Gerber Life is the easy one stop shop that you need with life insurance and other family finance solutions all in one spot. Fabric by Gerber Life was designed by parents for parents to help you get a high quality, surprisingly affordable term life insurance policy in less than 10 minutes. Yes, it takes less than 10 minutes to apply. See your quote and then personalize your quote to fit your family's needs. You could be offered coverage instantly with no health exam required. Protect your family today with Fabric by Gerber Life. Apply today in just 10 minutes at meetfabric.com RonHope that's meetfabric.com RonHope M E E T fabric.com RonHope Policies issued by Western Southern Life Assurance Company not available in certain states. Prices subject to underwriting and health questions. And last but certainly not least, bowl and Branch. We love you so much. You're my favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite. I can't even say it. Sheets Stay cozy all winter long with a set of buttery soft sheets from Boll and Branch. Who doesn't want a great night's sleep, right? Boll and Branch makes the softest, highest quality bedding that is 100% organic cotton. It's the kind of quality that you feel immediately. You know, we travel so much and we're on the go all the time so sleep is so premium important to us. These sheets are the softest sheets and they even get softer every single time that you wash them. I'm telling you, I love a crisp white sheet, but they also have 10 colors to choose from. You can get a 30 night risk free guarantee with free shipping and returns on all U.S. orders. Make the most of bedtime with bowl and branch sheets. Get 15% off your first order when you use promo code ronandhope@bolandbranch.com exclusions may apply. See site for details. That's Bolandbranch B O L L A N D branch.com promo code Ronan Hope Love My sheets so much.

Well, we got a few more minutes. Can I talk about one more difficult enemy to love? He said love your enemies. Been talking about how to love difficult people. Another thing in the notes I got down is an enemy is anyone who resents your success.

Oh that's so good. So an enemy, when he says love your enemies enemy is somebody who will.

Discredit you, diminish your, let me see, diminish your integrity in your absence. And number two, these are the people that resent your promotion in life and your success.

Somebody who don't want to. Haters, haters, haters. I.

This is original with me. I've the only, I'm the only person I've heard say this, so I'm going to take credit for it. I usually get quote other people, most of the time we feel like we've done something because we were a friend to someone in a hard time. I don't believe the real truth of a relationship is revealed during difficulty. I believe it's revealed during success.

I agree. I agree.

Because when I didn't have nothing, people had no problem with me.

Right.

It's amazing. And then after we try to honor God with our diligence, with what he's given us, what he's put in our hands with our giving, with our decision making and you know, in the way we dug in even in hard times, and God was faithful to bring us back out when we started walking in true identifiable, seeing blessing of God. Oh my gosh. I've lost far more friends over my victories than I've ever lost over my defeat. And I don't know why we're built that way because as a man of God preaching the word, my whole goal is to see people's life be elevated by what I. And there's nothing, there's nothing more that can bless me than to tell me your life is doing amazing. So I truly don't get it.

I think people love you until you get to the same level as them, but you start surpassing their level. It's like they try to do everything to pull you back down, just pull you back down to where they are or beneath them. They don't mind you being beneath them. They don't mind you being beside them. But they sure don't want you to be ahead of them.

That happened with my first board of trustees when we started our ministry. You know, when we started our ministry, I had three solid, good local businessmen. These were not massive, wealthy people, Fortune 500 companies, but they're guys that had a local, this shop or that shop, and they did well. So they were some of the most solid people in the church. I brought them together for an advisory board, but then I kept that board together. But 10, 12, 15 years later, our church started becoming a regional church, started becoming a national church. Then it started becoming a global ministry. And so I was down here, you know, making less than somebody, just about minimum wage, and they were fine with me. I lost almost every one of those men in my life when God started blessing Ron. So they were.

And you had another pastor come in and speak to them and tell. And challenge them and tell them they needed.

Because they were being a. Lydia.

Yeah. Tell them that they needed to raise your pay and get you a drivable car. Some of them got very upset.

We're structured different now. That was in my youthfulness, we were not structured properly. But as here again, when I was pitiful, they were fine and supposedly were there to help me rise until I started rising. And when I started rising, oh, my gosh, all of a sudden, you're not the same, and you're not like you used to be, and you're not humble anymore. Nothing in the world, nothing changed. The fact is, there's. There's more to manage, more to do and. And more income, and everything came in with that, that I had to handle with my life. And so it always. I wasn't prepared for that. Yeah, you know, I played sports. You score a touchdown, everybody on the sidelines jumping. You knock a home run, everybody gets back their dugout and high fives you. Then I got in the kingdom.

Wow, that's sad.

And you score a touchdown and you knock a home run. You got a whole bunch of haters and people that resent you. Why is it that way? I sometimes believe Hope. I don't know that I could show you this in chapter and verse, but God will demand I celebrate your blessing before he'll release one to me.

I think it's just a challenge. It's a love challenge. It's a barometer, a thermometer to show the degree. It tests the degree of the love of God in our own heart to see how well we can love people. And, you know, the Bible says that's the only way that the world will know that we are who we say we are. It's how we treat people. It's not how much we tithe. It's not how. It's not our church attendance. It's, you know, not how well you sing and all those things. It's. It's how well we treat people. And. And, you know, I think we have failed the basic 101 Bible class of showing the world we are who we say we are by how we treat people. God forbid, forgive us. Please forgive us.

Have mercy on us. But I just wanted to bring Some light to this when you know, Jesus didn't build up to that. That's on the Sermon on the Mount, which was Jesus first sermon. And he just came out the gate. I tell you who, hear me, love your enemies. And I'm right. Whoa, whoa, stop right there. Whoa. And so I just want to take some time today and talk about, yes, God does expect us to love difficult people. He does. We've talked about that.

Why don't you pray for people listening? Because I'm sure this has been extremely challenging. It goes against the very nature of our flesh and that's what we're trying to crucify, to become more like Jesus. So why don't you pray for people, God, to give people some grace today to love people.

You know, Lord, we just thank you that you're the God of everything good.

Yes, you are.

You're the God of everything loving. You're the God of everything faithful and pure and true. And I'm asking that as you have dealt with the dirt in us so gently, so mercifully, so graciously, and called us higher, even knowing that there's so many things that needed to be cleaned up in our lives, you have been masterful at how you have handled us. So I'm asking in like manner you would help us use that same mastery in the way we handle our brothers and sisters, especially those that have a little more dirt to remove than others, those that have been through a little more, those that are a little tougher to love than others, and those that have downright betrayed us and done us wrong. You have set the bar high, God, but we believe it's reachable or you would not have said it. So I thank you that today, first and foremost, as Hope said, Christianity 101, let us be people that show our discipleship by the ability to love even our enemies. I thank you for it. In Jesus name, amen.

We have a powerful conference right around the corner. 2:12 conference.

Robert Maddox is going to be here Thursday night, Christine Caine on Friday night. And we're going to be doing a live recording of our next ep. Each night is going to be a live recording. And it's good when the building is packed and the people are on fire for Jesus and everybody is passionate about what God is doing.

Where can they find all of the information?

It's all on the website.

Roncarpenter.com hope carpenter.com myreddition cc lots of great things going on.

We want to see you, but do everything you can to get here, all right? And until next time.

God bless you.

God bless you.