How can we maintain a holy family and church while still engaging with the world around us?

Jeffrey D. Johnson discusses the challenge of keeping our families and churches pure while not isolating ourselves from the world. Despite the dangerous influences that television and the internet can bring into our homes, we are not called to completely retreat from society. As Jesus was sent into the world, so are we. We are to go into the city centers and public squares, places where the 'wolves' live. Our mission is to bring a message of peace and love to these places, not in the way the world understands love, but true love that speaks of heaven and hell, and the redemption available through Christ.

This message is not for us to keep to ourselves, but to share with the dying world around us. The more we have a heart for the lost, the more we will evangelize and pray for them. This means becoming more outwardly focused with the Gospel, not seeking to befriend the 'wolves' or partake in their activities, but to bring them the message of peace, even if they hate us.

Matthew 5:14 (NKJV): "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden."

It's easy for us who want to have a holy family and for pastors and church leaders to have a holy church and a church that's fully submitted to the Word of God, fully committed to obeying and submitting our lives to the teachings of scriptures, to become inwardly focused, to keep our church pure, keep our family pure. And we've become a tendency to shut the doors. And I want to shut the doors to my home. I don't want a lot of the stuff that's on television. The internet's very scary to me with my young kids.

I don't want them to have free access to all the garbage that could be brought into my home that needs to be a godly safety place. But we're living in a world and Jesus said the Father sent him into this world And just as he's been sent in the world, the Lord Jesus said he's sending us as sheep, a little almost harmless sheep, defenseless sheep, into the very midst of whoops. So we're not called to completely isolate ourselves and to go into the farthest corners of the world and get off the grid as we might tend to want to do, especially in these days. We're called to go into the city central. We're to go into our public squares.

We're called where the wolves are. We have a message for them. It's a message of peace. They have a message of war. They seek to devour us, to kill us.

But we seek to give them love, not in the way that they think love is, but real love. Love that will tell them about hell and about heaven, the wrath of God, and the beautiful story of how there is a man who can redeem them from the wrath of God and deliver their souls. And so that's a glorious message, and it's not meant for us to hold to ourselves. It's a message for us to communicate and to share to the world that's dying around us. I'm convinced the more we have a heart for the lost, the more we will evangelize the lost.

And the more we have a heart for the lost, the more we will evangelize the lost. And the more we have a heart for the lost, the more we will pray for the lost. And the more we're praying for the lost, the more we find opportunities to share to the lost. And we'll become more and more outward focused with the gospel. Not seeking to make our best friends with the wolves and hang out with the wolves and do what the wolves do, but to seek to give them the message of peace, even though they hate us.

So we are called to go and be a light to this fallen world.