Have you ever been told that if you really loved someone, you'd just accept whatever they believe, no questions, no pushback? That disagreeing, even gently and kindly, somehow makes you the unloving one? Maybe you've heard it in a phrase like "if you loved me, you'd accept me for who I am," or "a real friend would just be happy for me and celebrate my choice." Those phrases sound compassionate, but they're built on an assumption worth questioning. Western culture, and especially here in Canada, has quietly swapped love for affirmation, and it shows up in our friendships, our families, and our online conversations.

This is week four of our Questions and Answers series, and we're testing that cultural assumption against what Paul actually wrote. In 1 Corinthians 13:5-6, love does not insist on its own way, is not irritable or resentful, and does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Digging into the original Greek, that word for resentful is literally an accounting term, keeping a ledger of wrongs, and the word for rejoice shows up twice in one verse using two different words, one personal, one shared with others. Paul is describing a love that holds truth and grace together instead of trading one for the other. We picture it as the difference between a doorway, where agreement is demanded just to get in, and a table, where honest conversation is welcome. The research backs Paul up here too: studies on self-esteem show that constant praise without honesty doesn't build resilience; it creates fragility, while a study on honest communication found we consistently overestimate how much our relationships suffer when we tell each other the truth.

We land this message at the communion table, because that's really where this all points, a place where honesty and grace sit together. Watch the full message for the whole study, and if it challenges how you think about love, hit subscribe so you catch the rest of this series. Drop a comment and let me know where this hits closest to home for you. Find more teaching and resources at LeadBiblically.com.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Introduction, the culture of agreement
1:35 Welcome & series intro
2:34 1 Corinthians 13 in context
3:15 Reading 1 Corinthians 13:5-6
4:51 "Does not insist on its own way"
5:32 "Not irritable or resentful"
6:43 "Rejoices with the truth"
8:23 Doorway vs. table
10:17 Bottom line: table, not doorway
11:15 What the research shows
14:02 The takeaway
15:42 Application, living this out
16:54 Grace and truth (John 1:14)
17:27 Communion
22:56 Discussion & prayer

#Love #TruthAndGrace #Faith #Jesus #ChristianLiving #BibleStudy #ChristianGrowth

LeadBiblically.com | Navigating the Life and Leadership God Has Called You To

Before you even get out of bed in the morning, something has usually already tried to tell you who you are. Maybe it's your phone lighting up before your eyes adjust to the room. Maybe it's a memory or comparison you can't quite shake. Maybe it's just the mirror. Most of us never stop to ask which of those voices actually gets to decide who we are, and that question sits underneath a lot of the exhaustion, comparison, and quiet confusion so many of us carry, especially as gender and sexuality get tied more and more tightly to personal identity.

In this message, part of our Questions and Answers series on finding truth in God's Word, we open Titus chapter 3 and ask what Scripture actually says about where identity comes from. Paul tells a young pastor named Titus that God saved us "not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy" (Titus 3:5), and that through Jesus we "become heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:7). Your identity is given to you, not taken, inherited, not declared.

We also look honestly at what the research shows about culture's current approach to gender and sexual identity. Statistics Canada's most recent data found that 27 percent of 2SLGBTQ+ youth met the criteria for a major depressive episode in the past year, compared to 11 percent of their peers, and 25 percent reported thoughts of suicide, compared to 5 percent, numbers too serious for any of us to look away from. Then we walk through a simple picture called the Identity Circle that shows two completely different paths, one built on status and self-determination, and one built on what God has already given.

If you're wrestling with who gets to define you, or you love someone who is, I hope this gives you something solid to stand on, truth and grace held together. Watch the full message above, and if it's helpful, consider subscribing so you don't miss what's ahead in this series. I'd love to hear your reflections or questions in the comments below. You can find more teaching and resources anytime at LeadBiblically.com.

0:00 Who Decides Who You Are?
3:31 What Titus 3 Says About Identity
7:44 The Data Behind Culture's Story
25:55 The Identity Circle, Two Paths
34:11 The Gospel and a Closing Prayer
38:52 Closing Thoughts and What's Next

#Identity #TruthAndGrace #QuestionsAndAnswers #Faith #Jesus #ChristianLiving #BibleStudy #ChristianGrowth

LeadBiblically.com | Navigating the Life and Leadership God Has Called You To

Somewhere there might be a hard drive full of files nobody's opened in years, or a filing cabinet with handwritten notes from every Sunday he ever preached. Maybe it's your dad. Maybe it's your grandfather. He gave his life to those messages, and most of them never made it past the Sunday he preached them.

If he's still serving today, those sermons are sitting there waiting. If he's gone now, that box of notes or that old recording might be one of the last things you have left of his voice and what he believed. Either way, the words don't have to stay buried. That box of notes deserves more than a place in storage.

I'm Jeremy Norton, a pastor and a published author, and I know what it takes to turn words spoken from a pulpit into something that keeps reaching people. That's exactly what Pulpit to Pages was built to do. Paul told Timothy to take what he'd heard and pass it to people who could keep teaching it (2 Timothy 2:2 ESV). A sermon preached once was never meant to stay in one room.

The process is simple. Send whatever you have, however much or little that is: full manuscripts, audio transcripts, study notes, even sermons that only exist on an old cassette tape. I'll work through the material with you and shape it into a polished manuscript that sounds like him, one sermon per chapter.

I've published six books of my own, some through a traditional publisher and some on my own, so I know both sides of getting a manuscript into someone's hands. Whether you're looking for something to share within the family and the church, or something polished enough to submit to a publisher, there's a version of this built for that.

The people sitting in those pews years ago were changed by what he preached. There are people today who could use those same words. Watch the full video, subscribe for more on faith and leadership, and if this is something you've thought about for your own sermons or a loved one's, start the conversation at LeadBiblically.com/PulpitToPages.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 The question
0:05 Why it matters
0:27 Who I am
0:39 How Pulpit to Pages works
0:55 Where to go next

#PulpitToPages #SermonLegacy #ChristianBooks #Faith #Jesus #ChristianLiving #BibleStudy #ChristianGrowth

LeadBiblically.com | Navigating the Life and Leadership God Has Called You To