Q&A Countercultural Christianity - Ricardo Sanchez II & Pastor Nik Godshall

- Let's do it. - We'll start with the first question here. Coming from Vivian and Vivian asks, how do I navigate relationships, especially with family or friends who do not understand or accept my Christian convictions? - Yeah, carefully. 'Cause that's gonna depend on the family dynamics. You wanna maintain bridges rather than burn them. That's always an important thing. Family is complicated whether you're dealing with saved or unsaved people, unfortunately. Sin touches everything, and I'm a huge advocate for maintaining family bonds as much as is possible. My family, extended in particular, has been affected by really heavy degrees of estrangement for a lot of different reasons, and it's awful. It's agony, and it's an agony you don't want to live with unless the other party has made it impossible to do so. You love unconditionally, let them know where you stand on things. I would say, don't be pushy, because family, they know you, I changed your diapers. That becomes an excuse to not take you seriously. No prophet has honor in their hometown. That's what Jesus said in Nazareth, and that's okay. That's okay. You just bear witness to Jesus as best as you can. Sometimes let your life do the preaching for you, and just ask God to give you wisdom

when you navigate those things. Family is always worth the fight, and if there's breakup within family, I would exhort us all, like, don't let it be because you cut that off. You don't want to live with that on your conscience. It's a very heavy thing to bear, yeah. - Amazing, amazing. With the second question here, coming in from Sharon, Sharon is asking, in a workplace where everyone is violently verbal against godliness, how do I speak out, for God? - Yeah, be just as loud and obnoxious. No, don't do that, that's a joke, yeah. I have, sarcasm is like a love language for me sometimes. It just comes out, and no, but that one again, like with wisdom and with caution, when people are violently speaking against god, and if it's directed toward you, like it's a conversation you could legitimately insert yourself into, I would go back to the conversation, I referenced at the beginning of the teaching tonight, we need to learn to ask the questions that really matter. So when people are boasting about their sin, or they're using a lot of profanity to mock following god, just talk about how fulfilling God has been for you. It's like, well, I don't know what experience you've had, but my life has never been more fulfilled since I found Jesus, you know? It's not like you're out to match their obnoxiousness,

it's not like you're trying to use snark, but you're simply stating a fact. It's like I have felt marvelously fulfilled by God. But what's got you so angry at him? They're not gonna be ready for that, nine times out of 10. And you never know, like if there is a hungry heart behind all of that anger and vitriol, that could lead into a really life-changing conversation for them, you know? If people are bragging about the sins that they commit, because that's a thing too, unfortunately, asking them questions like, do you really find that fulfilling? Have you ever left a party and just felt hollow inside? Anything like that ever happened to you? Ask questions like that, you don't wanna speak directly to the sin all the time, 'cause that gets very quickly combative, what's the heart issue underneath it? As much as possible, you want God to help you penetrate down into that, so you can really speak to the soul of the person, that's what I would say. - Awesome, amazing. Well, our third question here coming in from Stephanie. Stephanie's asking, what is the most effective way to reach out to the radically oriented youth generation of today, and how can we truthfully and gently encourage them towards choosing biblical values rather than the worldly standards? - I really believe relationships and consistency are gonna be key for that in a lot of ways.

This is a generation that you can't just preach to them. I think in a lot of ways the days of the crusade are over. God does new things, he changes up the way he reaches people from time to time and era to era, you know, that we're largely dealing with young people who are so emotionally deprived and empty. They don't know what real connection is. I've referenced this article multiple times in sermons that I've preached because it's proven so relevant, but there was an article I found it on, I can't remember, it was Futurism, and it was citing a study that had come out where they surveyed a couple hundred teenagers and how they were using AI chatbots in school, 'cause that's being integrated into a lot of curriculum now, just use your chatbot for help with homework, and most of the teens admitted that in addition to homework help, they were using their AI chatbot to fulfill So they're having relationship with something that isn't even real. This is where we are. Now, look, we didn't get here overnight. That's the result of a lot of cultural degradation over time. And so these are young people. You can't just preach at them and say, this is what's right, this is what's wrong, because God says so. They need to know that you actually care. You, again, like speaking to the soul, I think is so critical.

Hearing their hearts, what are you angry about? You know, they are radically oriented. They're very concerned with justice. And so talk about the God of justice. Try to reorient their understanding. And again, like you want to try to garner some kind of trust with them. Building relationships and being consistent is really key. I have an amount of influence in the lives of our students at Summit that it spikes very quickly with them because I'm with them all the time. Our teachers, these kids live on the campus with us, and we love them. And it's not hard to invest in them because they're always right outside our door. It's exhausting, but it's very convenient. For people who aren't in that context, it's like if you're working with young people in a different context, they're not right there with you, might take a little more effort, a little more legwork, but they're very, very worth that. They're very worth that. So I would say relationships and consistency. If you show them you love them and you're there, you're consistently there and connected, there's not much they won't be willing to listen to, I would say, yeah. - Thank you, Pastor. For the fourth question here coming in from Danielle, Danielle is asking, how do we respond

when we are called bigoted for not supporting same sex relationships and same sex marriage? - Yeah, I don't know how, I don't know if there's a universally good answer to that one. Again, if the person is open to some kind of dialogue, I think it's just asking them, what do you mean by that? Are you suggesting that I hate you or that I hate people of that, lifestyle and of that persuasion? And they're probably going to say yes. And then I think it's just a very important question that our culture more broadly needs to have. It's like, why, since when, did simple disapproval become hatred? Since when? Why do you believe that I can't love you just because I don't agree with you, you know? And I don't know how much ground we're gonna gain in every conversation, but again, we're proclaiming truth. And if people are going to abuse words and use them improperly, then it's not a bad thing on our part to try and recover the proper use of them. Like just the other day I was thinking about the word phobic. It's like phobic is, it used to be an irrational fear of something, that's what a phobia really is. Now it's a political label that you slap on people who disagree with you. And really it's a, I wouldn't say this in a conversation, you know, but it is a cowardly justification for dismissing people that don't approve of your lifestyle and of your choices.

Well, you feel that way because you have an irrational fear of me. It's like, I'm not afraid of you. I'm not afraid of you. I think you're incredible. I think you bear the image of God. And I did a teaching here several years ago on why did God make us male and female? So it kind of, it speaks into this whole issue. And I said in a lot of ways, we wanna change our narrative. You know, we approach this issue and we'll say things like, well, this is just the way God made us. You can't want to be the opposite sex because God says it's wrong. What if we started saying it a little differently? You flip the script. No, you can't desire to be the opposite sex because your creator thinks you're beautiful as you are. You're not an error. You're not a mistake. You are beautiful. You are lovely because it's like, we have to fight that false conception of hatred somehow. And I would at least, I would rather try to fight it with compassion before immediately getting combative, you know, before leaping into the things that, you know, like conservative punishment. Well, you're narrow-minded and listen, I think God made you lovely and I wanna affirm that. And I can still affirm that even though I don't agree

with the way that you're living your life. And hopefully, you can garner some openness there. It's a shot in the dark sometimes. You never quite know what you're gonna be met with, but it's worth a try. It's worth a try. I would say this as a good final thought on that. If you are exercising the compassion of Christ, if you are speaking the truth in love, you are not responsible for the responsiveness of the other person, okay? If they're not responsive, don't let it be because you failed to represent Jesus. If they're closed off because you were nothing like him, it is on you. I've done that before. To my shame, I have utterly failed in the way that I've confronted people and their sin. And those are moments I don't agree with. I don't want that. So that's what I would say. Amazing. Thank you, Pastor. My next question here, coming from Melissa, says, "Is it wrong to affirm our family and friends' chosen pronouns?" I'm going to, I'll be very honest. I think we are in a place, and I will justify this, and because it's such a touchy issue, you are welcome to disagree with me. Your Bible is infallible, I am not. I do think that that is a matter of conscience when it comes to family and friends. I think what we publicly and outwardly affirm the values that we hold, we have to be very clear that, no, like those pronouns are not real. But if you are able to maintain some kind of loving connection with your family, if they are able to acknowledge and they know, listen, you know that I don't agree with what you're doing. But because I love you, I'm willing to do this as a concession because I don't want to lose you.

If they're willing to do that, I can't, in my conscience, condemn a Christian for choosing to use those pronouns in a family relationship. I do think you need to be very selective. I don't think we're free to do that with any relationship. I'm being very selective in where I think that's okay. But again, this is touchy. Those are my thoughts. You are welcome to disagree with me. But that's what I would advise in such a situation. Thank you. Next question coming in from Ruby. Ruby is asking, how do you counter new age beliefs that seem to mix with the biblical teachings? Well, you kind of just have to show them where the inconsistency lies. I think, again, I'm a lover, not a fighter. I don't like competition. Even my, a couple of friends, their pastors, we went on a retreat one time, and we were playing basketball in the pool. And one of the other guys was coming at me hard, like he was going to dunk. I'm like, go ahead. It's fine. They still make fun of me. Like, you just got out of the way. I was like, you wanted it that bad? It's like, let them, let them have it. I'm not looking for a fight. I mean, I'm really not. Just let's, let's get along. That's me. But, you know, there are times where you just, you have to, you have to hold your ground. I'm going to start as diplomatically and compassionately as possible. So, you know, I think it's awesome that you, you want to look for the unity in things. I think that's great. But I think you're trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, and here's why. And then just show them the inconsistency. And of course, always go back to scripture because they'll, they'll try to affirm everything. But when you literally try to affirm everything, you end up denying everything too, because you're pretending that playing contradictions don't exist and are not there, you know? And so you've got to show them that sometimes and see what they say. What will, now the biggest thing, what will inevitably happen is they're going to probably try to find a way to spin it so that they can still make it fit. Because they're committed to this idea that everything is about harmony, everything can fit together, and they're going to feel you pushing and like, no, you've got to make a decision about truth. It's, it's one or the other. Where you ultimately have to go, though, with conversations like that, many others is, is to the problem of sin. It's like, well, not all these religions deal with our most fundamental issue the same way. Not all of them deal with sin the same. Not all of them offer the same reward for dealing with sin. What, what do you do with that? Which

one is right? They can't all be true. And so just walking them through that with patience and with kindness can be effective. Sometimes they'll try to spend their way out of it. But again, if you're representing Jesus, the parable of the sower is really helpful here. Jesus said the sower went out to sow where the seed fell was not up to him. It, it falls where it falls and it's up to the soil if it grows. You're going to encounter all kinds of soil while you're preaching the gospel. You're going to find stony hearts. You're going to find hearts full of thorns, the cares of the world, hearts, you know, that are on hardened soil and the birds of the air come devoured up and every now and then you find good soil and it's just ready for truth. And, and the Holy Spirit will take it from there. He will. Amen. Next question coming in from Kristin. Kristin is asking, how do I connect and disciple my child that is attracted to the same sex? Yeah, that's, that's a big one. So there's a lot of questions that I would have for like if the parent were sitting in front of me, there's a lot of questions I want to ask. So keeping this universal is, is a bit challenging. You want to strive and fight to be the most important influence in your child's life. If your child is attracted to the same sex, another influence has come in somewhere and has hijacked their identity. And as much as possible, you want to find out where and when did that happen. And it is a lot about trust. I would say you can't just force it out of them. You don't want to provoke them to anger because there's a good possibility they already have been trained to see you as the enemy. Because you're not accepting them. Because part of the narrative with this stuff is your parents can't be trusted. Your parents, if they don't accept you, you have to reject them. There's like a brainwashing narrative that goes into all of this. And I think building trust with your child who is sexually confused is really, really critical. I would say do everything in your power to bond with them like never before. And don't even make their sexual orientation an issue. If you're at a point of crisis where they're wanting to get romantically involved in somebody,

you might have to be more proactive. But if they're coming out with this orientation, they're reading things, they're looking at things, I would say try to bond with them and pray God open their heart to me. Open their heart to me. Open their heart to me. He can do that. He really can. Because look, those evil influential voices will eventually fail them. And when you're still there, you're still there to pick up the pieces. You're going to be the one they listen to. And you know, nobody wants to see their child have to go through a Luke 15 experience where they won't come home until they've seen the pig pen. But if that's what it takes, be like the father in the parable and run down the road to meet them when they come home. You know, that's what I would say. And then, thank you, Pastor. This next question is coming in from Palaiso. Palaiso is asking how to respond when someone answers their spiritual when evangelizing. Yeah, they're spiritual. I'm like, no, you're not. The Bible says you're carnal. I think, again, okay, what do you mean by that? What do you mean you are spiritual? Okay, the truth of it is, and so this is not something that you say to them unless you're really dealing with an arrogant person. This is for you to know so that you have some discernment on what you're dealing with. If a person says they are spiritual, usually what that means is they're saying, I'm rebellious and don't like authority. I don't want any system to submit to. I want to be able to write the rules myself. I want to define what obedience looks like. I want to define what God looks like. I want to have control over my own microcosm of religion. That's what they're after. And so with that in mind, you want to try and steer the conversation through that. It's like, well, you know, okay, so as a spiritual person, who do you answer to? Like, where does your worship go?

What is worship to you? Is this just like stuff that you like? Or is there actually something out there that is worthy and deserving of your adoration? Like, what do you mean that you're spiritual? Ask questions like that. When you start touching on submission stuff to authority, you just watch the agitation happen. It'll come out. It really will. And I'm sharing these things from real life experience, conversations that I've had with people. The moment you touch sin, oh, my goodness. Everybody's a diplomat till you tell them they're broken. It's like, whoa, what do you mean? It's all of our problem. And everybody has some kind of religion because they're trying to fix that problem. How do I get over it? You know, if you're a naturalist and there's no God, no supernatural power, sin becomes irrelevant. Who's anybody to tell you what's right and what's wrong? It doesn't matter what you do. You know, if you practice spirituality, it's like, well, as long as they don't hurt anybody. Well, what does that even mean? You've hurt people. Your words have hurt people. You've thought nasty things about people. You know, so who are you accountable to? So now that you've violated your own code, who are you in trouble with? You know, so questions like that I think are very poignant for spiritual people. Amazing. Thank you, sir. Yeah.

We have a question coming in from Marie. Marie is asking, how do we engage when speaking with non-believers as they casually talk about their sin in conversation, for example, fornication, homosexuality or drugs? Yeah, I think I would go back to something I said earlier and just ask them questions like, so do you feel fulfilled with the way that you're living your life? I mean, do you feel like a strong sense of meaning? And it's not like, don't ask it in a snarky way. So is that fulfilling, what you're doing with your life, you know, like you're trying to put them in their place? And look, there might be a time for that. There are certain things you just, they deserve to be called out, you know. But it's like if it's someone that you feel, they might actually listen to me. If I talk, show them with the way that you ask the question like, are you fulfilled? Does that give you meaning? And have you ever, have you ever left? And look, if they're talking that boldly, I think sometimes we too. We also need to talk that way. It's like, have you ever? Like did you really feel fulfilled? I mean the fact that you don't know who you're gonna go home with tonight that doesn't That doesn't make you feel lonely in and of itself Like do those things you're trying to escape ever come back like those are the real questions Behind the behavior that we want to get people to engage with and that takes trust If you can show them you care like if it's a co-worker or something and the way that you live and interact with them shows them I think you're a person that has value and so if I ask you this question You kind of know I'm asking it because I really want to know You matter to me and if you can communicate that in the way that you treat them and in the way that you speak to them You might be surprised at what they open up about they really might be but my wife and I were eating at a Restaurant, it's it's no longer open. It was Georgia's on 9th several years ago. I missed Georgia. Yes. Anyway, but you know we are waiter just he was very conversational very friendly and you know we were chatting it up and you know I don't remember how it came into it

But we were thanking him for how kind he was he was so attentive to us and he just started talking about how yeah When I get off work, I love to go shopping It's how I I release and you could kind of tell that he was you know He was living a lifestyle that if he'd opened up about it, we couldn't approve You know, but we didn't say anything and he said sometimes I walk out of the stores and my hands are full of bags And I still feel so empty And I was like this man needs Jesus And if I don't talk to him about Jesus right now I'm I'm in sin and so we shared the gospel with him then and there and he allowed us to pray with him not for salvation He wasn't ready for that but he listened he listened, you know, because just sometimes Moments of genuine care can make people open their hearts to you in really remarkable ways really remarkable ways Thank you pastor. Now. This last question here. We'll sum up the general theme of our Q&A session And they're asking what are some practical ways Christians can resist cultural conformity without becoming combative or isolated? You need strong community. That's number one So events like this are good, but make sure you have good solid Christian fellowship outside of events like this You know people that you can just text and call you hang out You really need that Because look that there is a time where the combativeness It's just demanded of you. There's nothing you can do about it. You're getting pushed you have to respond And being counter-cultural at times is the season demands it you want to make sure that you're fortified Against the pressures and if you're lone wolf and you're kind of isolated you're not well connected to a body or to good Christian friends It's gonna be very easy to give into things. Your fear of being isolated or rejected Your fear of missing out could get the better of you and you don't want it to because look at the end of the day We're talking about our souls. We're talking about allegiance to our God and there's a lot riding on that and if I come into a time of testing where my loyalty is being tested my allegiance is being tested of all the tests in my Life that I will probably fail because my faith was maturing. I wasn't quite ready I don't want that to be one of them. I want to hold my ground I want to stand and being in fellowship with the body of Christ is so critical and the second thing I would say is make sure you're spending time with Jesus is be with him. He needs to be Devotions is not a chore

You don't mark off like well. I did it this day. I did that I've got five days in a row This is great. I'm really holy. It's like no. It's not that. It's not that Do you know how to enjoy being with your heavenly father? Have you learned how to do that? Jesus needs to be the chief joy of your life He needs to be your highest affection the thought of loving something other than him should make you just recoil like no I will not love anything else the way that I love him You want to develop that in your own soul if you have that and you have strong connection to the body of Christ You're going to stand your ground and you're going to look like Jesus while you do it And that's the most important part. I would say really great questions. Thank you Good that sums up our Q&A session. All right. Thank you so much for your time. I'm sad that it's over I like this more than the teaching part. This is really fun So I don't know maybe we can we can do one that's like all Q&A But I'll leave that that'll be up to civi. Well, I think we're gonna have a word of prayer So it's my privilege just to bless you guys in the name of the Lord and then we will go Father, we thank you so much for the way that you've loved us. Thank you God that we are your temple or we house your presence Not just as individuals, but as a body you and dwelling Lord, would you please give us the wisdom to represent you well. God, give us the grace and the power, or to stand firm, even when we have to go against the grain of the culture around us. God, I pray that we would know how to speak the language of the world that we're in, that we would be able to speak your truth in terms anybody can understand, that when we talk about Jesus, it would be something they can grasp, something they can hold on to, something that they'll know, it's exactly what they need. Lord, I pray that everyone here would have a faith that stands when it comes under trial. Lord, I pray, God, that no matter what testing we face in our nation, in our contexts, in our families, Lord, no matter what it looks like, God, may we stand firm because you're worthy of that. Lord, we thank you that there is coming a day.

Lord, we will never have to be counter-culturally again. Lord, thank you that there's coming a day when the only culture that will remain is that of your kingdom, and we're finally united with you. All evil is gone. All temptation is put away forever. The tempter himself is punished and put away forever. But God, until that day, help us to love you well. Help us to love each other well, and help us, Lord, to love this world that you loved first. In Jesus' name, amen.