Jesus Fix It with Jess & Steph!

Grace Without Compromise (Part 2)

Jess & Steph Season 5 Episode 17

The conversation continues with a challenging question: How do we love those claiming Christianity while living lifestyles contradicting biblical teachings? Pastor Tate responds with grace-filled wisdom: "Sanctification is a process. I believe there are people who are genuine followers of Jesus Christ who are still jacked up in their sin." This perspective sets the stage for a remarkable story of unconventional ministry.

This powerful episode challenges listeners to step beyond comfortable ministry approaches and meet people exactly where they are—with unwavering biblical truth wrapped in authentic relationship. You'll be inspired to see evangelism not as a religious obligation but as "one beggar telling another beggar where he found food."

Whether you're questioning your faith, feeling stuck in ministry, or simply seeking inspiration, this conversation provides both practical wisdom and spiritual encouragement for connecting with others in meaningful ways. Ready to transform how you share your faith? This episode is your starting point.

Jess:

Hey, welcome back, or welcome to the Jesus Fix it podcast, the show where we talk about life, the ups, the downs, a little pop culture and everything in between. I'm Jess and I'm Steph.

Steph:

Every other week we dive into the things we're asking Jesus to fix. And let's be real, there's a lot. You can always count on us to keep it real.

Jess:

Share some laughs with us and maybe a few tears as we tackle the big and small stuff with faith and honesty. So grab your coffee and let's get into it. Hey friends, welcome back to another episode of the Jesus Fix it podcast. We so appreciate you being here.

Steph:

Along with our guest, Pastor John G Tate, our conversation continuing from last week. A few years ago, when I got married, I was looking for a photographer that fit in my tiny budget. Found a guy who I really loved his style and met with him and I'm like, oh, this guy is great and my husband and I knew when we wanted to get married. It was important for us that we got married in a church. It was just one of my little girl dreams that you walk down the aisle yes exactly exactly.

Steph:

But also, once I met with this guy and knew he was going to be our photographer, I was thinking he is living an actively open homosexual lifestyle and here is an opportunity for him to get to hear the gospel when, as the bride, how am I really going to have a chance to minister to him? Come to find out. Then he, you know, we started following each other on social media. Fast forward a bit and he's like yes, this scripture and I'm this believer and I follow Jesus in this way and all this stuff and I live with my partner and all these things, and now I am struggling Again. Everybody's got their sin and sins look different. But how do you love on somebody trying to share this light when they're like, oh, I know that light, I've got that light?

Pastor Jonge:

Yeah. So from the outside, looking in, I would say the world is trying to customize Christ, and you don't customize Christ. He is the almighty and this is where the scripture stands for itself that you have to go. Okay, you can't cherry pick scripture to fit what you want it to say so it can appease your sinful choices. You can't do that.

Pastor Jonge:

You have to stand on the holistic picture of God. The book is I mean, it's a library of books. There's 66 books in there and they all proclaim the glory of God. The beauty of it is we've got before us a book that is, I mean, its earliest writings to its latest writings are there's like some 1600 years time period, from multiple different languages, multiple different continents, from people who were inspired by God to pen the scriptures, from all different walks of life, different continents, different countries, and yet there's one God. There's this one theme of the glory of God. Through it all, there's this one hope of the redemption of man through one hero, that's Jesus Christ. He is the way to truth and life. And there's one villain punk Satan.

Pastor Jonge:

He's there through the whole thing, and the overwhelming thing is the redemption of man. So we have all of this information about the scriptures. We know without a doubt of its historical accuracy because of archeological standpoints. We know of the prophecies that have come true, the foretellings from the Old Testament, and how Jesus fulfilled every single one. It's nuts, you can't make this stuff up. And so, because of this, we know the truth of the Word of God and therefore we stand on it. We all were on a journey. You know you get saved. You know the students at Christian camp I was a student pastor for 14 years. Love me, some teenagers and you know it's like okay, yes, I want Jesus, but don't take my music. Oh, okay, hold up. You know well, I just like the beat. I'm not really into the lyrics.

Jess:

I've said that before. Okay, didn't we all Were you my pastor, that's right.

Pastor Jonge:

And in that moment, what did I do? Did I go? Okay, you heathen, you filthy, dirty, rotten sinner, you know you're doing it because of no, you know, even on my own journey, there was a journey of my becoming more like Christ, and it took me a while to embrace the message of Philippians 4.8, that, finally, brothers, whatever's true, whatever's noble, whatever's excellent or praiseworthy, admirable, think about such things. And even though my parents talked about garbage in, garbage out, and all these things you got to protect your eyes and make a covenant with your eyes not to look lustfully

Pastor Jonge:

upon a girl Job 31.1, all these things. And you got to protect your eyes and make a covenant with your eyes not to look lustfully upon a girl Job 31.1, all these things. Sanctification is a process, and I believe that there are people who are genuine followers of Jesus Christ who are still jacked up in their sin. And what sin? You name it. You name it, and the truth of the gospel is going to work its way in and begin cleaning. Now. I believe with all my heart that the truth that when we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead.

Pastor Jonge:

The Bible says we're saved the message of Romans. You know through so much of it that the Holy Spirit gets deposited into our life. The Holy Spirit doesn't come into your life and you remain the same. If so, you need to double-check your salvation. You need to double-check what's happened to you. And so when I see somebody who's still actively pursuing, let's say, a homosexual relationship, who says, yes, I'm saved, I go okay, well, the Holy Spirit is all over you and I want to be part of that process, with a smile, with a loving embrace, to come meet you where you are, but also to be bold enough to go. I'm not ashamed of the gospel, it is the power, and I want to just be that voice in your life that continues to love you where you are. But also stand on the truth of what he said, because I was there as well, pursuing my own flesh and lusts, and by his grace, we're victorious through him.

Jess:

And also we need to remember that some of us, uh all to be thankful, that well, not thankful, but we sin, but some of our sins we just don't, we're not able to see it. Yeah, you know what I mean. Yeah, because yeah, not not everybody's it doesn't look the same.

Steph:

No, it doesn't.

Jess:

Oh, my goodness, this whole conversation makes me really, really miss my grandma, because she used to always. One thing she used to say to us is every single Sunday after service, she used to tell us kids OK, find one person this week that looks different than you or thinks different than you and be kind to them. Every week she used to tell us to do that. No, I'm going to be honest, we didn't always listen, but she used to tell us that and as I get older, I really grasp that. The older I get and the way the world is now and different people and the diversity now I really really grasp that and it just really really makes me see the world through her eyes.

Pastor Jonge:

Yeah, beautiful people like that. There's a story that's coming to mind of a, uh, of a gentleman from our community and, uh, his wife comes to christ through a small group in our church. Um, specifically and intentionally, this, this, these life group leaders for us said, okay, god, here we are, send us and here's what we do. They were, they were horse, people loved horses and they're like okay, how do we use horses for the gospel, what do we do? And they thought well, we've, how do we?

Jess:

use horses for the gospel. What do we do?

Pastor Jonge:

And they thought well, we've got a barn. We've got a barn that's got an empty stall. What if we cleaned it out and ran an ad for somebody who perhaps might not have the funds or the means or the land, but would love horses? And sure enough, somebody responded to that shows up non-believer. And they just start building a relationship with him.

Pastor Jonge:

One thing led to another, and then one time they're there in the barn and the woman says to the woman who was renting the stall with her horse hey, can I pray for you? And she goes what she goes. Yeah, yeah, my husband and I we're believers. Jesus has radically changed our lives and, man, we're just honored that you would bring your horse to our barn and we'd love to pray for you. And that's how the conversation started. And then the next thing, you know it was like hey, can I come on such and such a night? She goes well, we have group that meets at our house on such and such a night, so there's going to be a lot of cars in the driveway. And she goes, in fact, you'd be welcome to come. And she's like what do you do there?

Pastor Jonge:

Well, we all attend this specific church in our community and the pastors. They preach messages from God's Word and we get in our living room and we talk about what they said. The gap between information on Sunday mornings and application to our lives is sometimes where we call group. Step in and get in that group and tease it out. How do you do that? What does this look like in your life? And so that's how they began.

Pastor Jonge:

She gives her life to Christ, says hey, I want to publicly profess my faith in Jesus Christ. She gets baptized in her church and so we just you know this ongoing relationship with her come to find out she's married, husband's in the community and he's a really, really vulgar and vile man. And she, on so many levels, felt like I'm done, I can't do this anymore. Invitations on Sunday morning church she'd come down the aisle and be crying I'm done, I can't do this anymore, john G, I can't do this anymore. And I'm like all right, are you being abused? Are you physically being beaten? She's like, no, no, no, it's nothing like that, it's just, this is just awful. And I'm like all right, let's pray, let's pray, let's pray. And so this went on for a while. The group is loving on her, serving her I'm talking taking things to her house meals, things like this, meeting family members, all this kind of stuff. And so one Sunday she comes forward and it was like the Holy Spirit said go have a conversation with her husband.

Pastor Jonge:

Like and it was like the Holy Spirit said go have a conversation with her husband, like don't be that guy who's willing to get on stage with a microphone and turn the lights on, but not get out there on the street and meet people where they are. And so she comes forward talking and I see her, and so I just said hey. I said would it be all right if I came by your house? She goes what I said? Yeah, I said I would love to come by your house and have a conversation with your husband. What are you going to say? I'm like yeah, I don't know. Valid question. I just believe that the Holy Spirit is inside of me and you and I think he's powerful enough to lead us and guide this conversation, so let's step into it. The Bible says with him, we have everything we need Now. Am I think he's powerful enough to lead us and guide this conversation, so let's step into it. The Bible says, with him, we have everything we need Now. Am I scared to death? Oh Lord, yes, right, but we're going, so sure enough.

Pastor Jonge:

I show up to the house, I'm walking up to the doorstep and, man, I'm hearing language. They were in the middle of a fight. And I'm like, okay, lord, this is what I heard in my heart. This is going to be the strangest thing you've probably ever heard. I heard the word muffler. Okay.

Pastor Jonge:

Now, what I know about this gentleman is he works at Advance Auto. He is Mr Advance Auto in our community and my son and I had recently had a conversation about how my truck needed to be more manly, it needed to have a growl to it, and you know I'm a Bedford boy, so through and through it's got a bloody deer in the back of it most of the time.

Jess:

Oh my goodness.

Pastor Jonge:

So that tells you a lot about who I am. But my son, he was making fun of me, you know. So this was in the past. And I step up to this man's doorstep and I think about the word muffler and I'm like, okay, god, what do you want to do with that? This was a quick dialogue between me and the Holy Spirit, in a sense. You know, door opens up and it's her. She's looking at me with this look on her face, like see, look, what you're walking into. I step into the house, I'm like, hey, I what the? You know. He says a couple of words, what you doing here, because that's his language, that's how he talks, that's the only way he knows. And I said man, I came by to see you, he goes, you came by to see me.

Pastor Jonge:

I said, yeah, my son thinks my truck sounds wimpy and it needs to be more manly and I want to know if you can help me. Wow. He goes what I? I said maybe I need a little growl on my tailpipe, it needs to growl a little bit. And he goes.

Pastor Jonge:

Oh, you came to the right guy this is what I do and I'm like, all right now I don't want to get crazy loud, and so we exchanged phone numbers. He's now got my cell phone, I've got his. I leave the house. I'm leaving his house and he's blowing me up. Hey, listen to this, listen me up. Hey, listen to this, listen to this, listen to this. He sends me like three YouTube videos of muffler sounds anything from this soft little to this mighty growl of like a Kodiak Grizzly or something. So I choose one, and $209 is what I had to pay him to go buy me a muffler. And next thing, I know he and I have an appointment in his backyard to put a muffler on my truck. Now he's, he has one arm. The other arm is gone.

Pastor Jonge:

He's got a little a little limb what I said earlier there's a story behind the story.

Jess:

I don't know that story.

Pastor Jonge:

I don't know if he was born this way or if something happened. I know that his language is a lot different than mine and he's not ashamed. He knows who I am. He knows I'm his wife's pastor and yet he just continues to talk the way he talks because that's all he knows. Lost people are the way they are because they're lost and they need Jesus.

Pastor Jonge:

And so I pull up to his house at the date it's like nine o'clock in the morning pull up to the back and he's motioning me to come on into the garage which is like this structure kind of thing upon it. I mean it's like structures upon structures. I mean this guy has been doing this for years and it's kind of this open bay shelter. I pull my truck in, I get out, he meets me, I shake hands, I'm like what's up, dude, excited to be here, you're going to hook me up. And I immediately turn to my left and on the wall is what I would call a Playboy centerfold and I go whoa. And I look down and down and he goes what you don't like. And he named her name and and I said, uh well, my flesh would love to take a look and linger because I'm a real man and then I held up my left hand and I said but there's a golden band right here.

Pastor Jonge:

You know old Randy Travis song. There's a golden band over here that represents a covenant that I have with a woman and she wouldn't understand. And, more importantly, man, I've been rescued and saved and so I can't dive into that. And he just looked at me and he goes all right, well, how about you back out and we'll do it in the yard then? Wow. Like oh, you know what I respect, that Like here, I'm here, I'm in the middle of your world.

Pastor Jonge:

I came here and I didn't have to call out his sin. I didn't have to point anything to him, I was just me, and when I looked at it it just so caught me off guard. It scared me. The Bible says we're to abhor that which is evil, but let love be genuine, and because of my genuine love for you, I'm here. But yet, in the midst of this, bro, bro, I gotta abhor what is evil and I gotta turn away and and that came from years of discipline, of of not looking.

Pastor Jonge:

So anyway, we back up in the driveway, we get up under my vehicle and a one-armed man cuts. You know, he's got stuff in his teeth, he's got stuff in one hand, he's got his feet up under my. I mean, I was like on what is happening. I don't even know that my truck is going to run when I leave here Like I'm like Jesus. What are we doing? You know? Literally get her done. And.

Pastor Jonge:

I'm telling you, it was a straight up get her done moment and every now and then, you know, he dropped some words and he'd go sorry preacher, sorry preacher didn't mean to talk. And I'm like like you ain't gotta say sorry to me. You know you don't have to say sorry to me, that's all I would say. And, um, it was so much conversation and and things that happened, but there he and I were up underneath my truck. We had to leave, we had to go get parts from another you know store and all this kind of stuff. I mean, it was several hours. We finish, it's done sounds beautiful.

Pastor Jonge:

I got a little rumble on my Silverado at the time and he looks at me and he says well, I guess you'd like to have a conversation. And I said what we've been doing all morning. He goes I probably believe you want to have a different kind. He goes come on into my office. So I'm like your office, where's your office? So we walk back through some of his buildings and we end up in this little closet shack and there's two truck seats sitting on the floor and there's grease everywhere. There's oil cans, there's gas cans, automotive parts all over the wall. And we sit down in these seats and he goes.

Pastor Jonge:

All right, what you got, I said, scott, all I have is the gospel of jesus christ. Man, I've been changed man. You. You got a lot going on in your world and I want you to know that god loves you and he has a plan for your life. So he just was like oh man, god don't want me. You don't understand. God don't want me. I said, I said, bet I, god don't want me. I said, I said bet.

Pastor Jonge:

I said let me tell you something I said you ever murdered anybody? He goes no. And in my mind I was rolling through David and Bathsheba and the story of lust and greed and covetousness and all this stuff and the murder, everything that's involved in the story. And I'm like and I just kind of unfold a little bit of it before him and he's like, wow, what? And I'm like yeah.

Pastor Jonge:

So I said, scott, if I asked you what the gospel of Jesus Christ is, do you know what that is? He goes not really. I said, would you mind reading for me? Romans 10, 17 says faith comes and it comes by hearing the word of Christ. And in this moment, my encouragement from Romans 10, 17 is do everything you can to get out of the way and get the truth of the gospel to them. And so I pulled out my phone. I mean, has it ever been easier for us today to have all kinds of apps and scripture right there.

Pastor Jonge:

I said, man, would you mind reading for me out loud this? And I literally walked him through Romans, you know. The Romans wrote Romans 3, 23,. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And I paused. I said what's that mean? He goes, everybody got sin. I said, that's exactly right. Gave him a fist bump, you know. And I said, all right, what about this one right here? Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift, the free gift of God, is eternal life in Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so we walked through that. Romans 5, 8,. But while we were still sinners, christ died for us and just walked him through all of these scriptures. Romans 10, 13,. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. I said, scott, right now, what are you, you know? And he goes man, I'm not ready.

Pastor Jonge:

Not ready, he goes. I know what this says and I know what you're saying and I believe that you believe this. I'm just not ready. In this moment, I'm like everything within me wants to reach in and grab him from the chains that are surrounding his life, and just the anger he told me about trying to commit suicide, which is how he lost his arm, and just everything that had been involved in his life and I go, okay, well, no wonder.

Pastor Jonge:

If all of that had happened to me, I'd probably be really angry and mean and running to so many things to numb the pain, which is what he had spent his life doing.

Pastor Jonge:

And yet here comes some bald, smiley guy who's willing to get in his shop and stand on the word of God and not compromise the way I live, to come to him and he just said, man, I'm not ready. And I said, all right, would you pray? Would you pray for God to reveal his love to you? He goes. I think I could do that.

Pastor Jonge:

He looks at me and he goes out loud.

Pastor Jonge:

I'm like yeah. I said yeah, just like you and me. So he prays, such sincere, you know, and he literally says in his prayer God, I'm lost, I don't know, could you find me? And then I pray for him through tears. You know what I mean. It was a snot. It was a snot, tear cry, you know. And I leave, I send a text message to our team. I said, hey, guys, thanks for praying. You know, blah, blah, blah. And we just kind of had a little dialogue. That continued.

Pastor Jonge:

I want to say, about four months later we had another situation where we were actually comes and says man, I know we need to be there, he's not coming, there's no way he's coming. And so I said, all right, can I come back to the house? And she goes oh, dear Jaji, all right. So I show up once again. There's a lot of chatter going on on the other side of the wall. She looks at me again and I step into the living room. He's putting on a shoe and he walks over towards me. I said hey, I said we're going on a marriage retreat and I just believe that God wants you there. I want you there, my wife and I would love to have some meals with you at this marriage retreat.

Pastor Jonge:

The look on his face looked like he was just kind of angry at me and he walks across the room and I'm telling you, as God is my witness, I thought he was gonna hit me and he swings that one arm up right almost to my nose with his hand and everything with him. He was like take it, take it for the team, and uh, and yet he didn't. He reached up and he just held his hand right at my face and and it was a moment of pause and I just he said I I'll come. And he was reaching out his hand for me to shake, like you and I are making a commitment now. And I shook his hand, gave him a hug and I said all right, I'll see you Friday.

Pastor Jonge:

And they came up to the peaks of Otter, they came and he sat kind of marinating and all of these couples he shows up. He's like I don't belong here. I don't belong here. They showed up late. I said, yes, you do. I said let me tell you something. Inside that room right now are people who are struggling with all kinds of things. I can't tell you who they are because I want to be confidential. But everybody in there is jacked up and in need of the rescue of Jesus Christ. There's some bad choices in there, just like what you've told me you walked through man Jesus loves you, scott, and he wants to redeem and rescue. Just come on, come sit with me so they come in. Go through the weekend One of the sessions we were doing. His wife is on the front row. I'm standing there looking at her, I'm getting ready to teach and I kind of mouth to her where's?

Pastor Jonge:

your husband and she just kind of looks back at me and says I don't know. And we go through the whole session. What we didn't know is Scott was downstairs in the Peaks of Otter in this prayer room that we had set up. There was a mirror down there with an open Bible and some scriptures. And Scott later tells me I went down there, stared at that mirror and said this man right here is in need of your love, of what I've experienced so far. And he comes back up and, long story short, I could drag this out for a while because it's such a powerful journey.

Pastor Jonge:

But Scott stands up in the middle of a testimony service where we were ending this marriage retreat, and basically says I'm lost and I need God. And I said right now I need men. That's what I said. And it was like soldiers stood at attention and they all just kind of rushed to us I've got a picture of this and all of these men gathered around him and laid hands on him and began to pray. What do we know? I mean, we're in Lynchburg. You know what I'm saying. Nothing of eternal value happens outside of prayer, dr Jerry Falwell.

Pastor Jonge:

And here we are. These men are praying over him and I had a microphone in my hand. I clicked it on, held it up to his mouth and I said, scott, are you ready to surrender your life to Jesus Christ? He goes, let's do it. Oh man, praise in the microphone the most sincere God, come, rescue me, prayer and get saved. A couple of weeks later he's there publicly professing his faith in Jesus Christ. A couple of weeks after that, standing on a ladder in his front yard trying to cut down some limbs, like a one-armed man should be. He's just a figured out kind of guy. He falls off the ladder, cracks a couple ribs, goes to the doctor. I'm on vacation With my family. I get a text message From his wife that says hey, this is bad, this is bad. He's not healing, they're doing blood work. We're not sure what's going on. Through text message Kind of sent a prayer Back to her. Some scripture verses Said when we get back home I'll come see you. And so I go back see her. He's got cancer throughout his entire body.

Pastor Jonge:

HPV and it's basically from a lifestyle of bad choices Drugs, alcohol, heroin, heavy drugs, sexual promiscuity of every sort. Vile, vulgar man who had been rescued and redeemed, he's not going to live, he's got days. So I drive to the hospital. When I get there it looked like a motorcycle gang was in there with him. They're all laughing, yelling nurses in there, and I show up. He goes hey, preacher, boy's here, he can give you all the light, just like he's given me. Oh, my God, I'm telling you. They all exit and it's Scott and I sitting there and I said Scott, I said man, god can rescue you, he already has. But he can choose to heal you. And if he does, man, dude, it's going to be amazing. But if he doesn't, guess what, you're going to be in the presence of Jesus, because to be absent from the body for the believer is to be present with Jesus Told him some scriptures, shared some hope with them and I said, man, but when that happens, your wife has asked me to get up and kind of capstone your life. What?

Pastor Jonge:

And kind of capstone your life. What do you want me to say about you? What do you want me to say about you? And he said, man, you tell the people who show up that I lived for me for a really really long time.

Pastor Jonge:

And I'm most saddened by the reality that I'm not going to live to show how Jesus has transformed me from the inside out. Quoted Truly before I left, here's where I'm going with this. I said why did you come to the marriage retreat? I got to ask you, why did you come? He said another man came and asked me. Another man came and asked me and I thought man, man, how many people do we know who are just waiting for us to give them an invitation to the love that we found? Dt niles said you know evangelism like sharing your faith in jesus christ. All it is is one beggar telling another beggar where he found food and and man. I pray that that encourages all of these scenarios that, as followers of Jesus Christ, we're in to go be grace-filled people, to step into the mess, the darkness of where they are. Yet don't compromise the truth of who God is. He is who he says he is and he's going to do what he says he's going to do, and let the power of the gospel work in their lives.

Jess:

This may be. We always ask our guests this. This may be, you may have given us your answer already, but one thing big or small, it can be as minimal or as maximal. If you could ask Jesus, right now, today, to fix one thing for you, what would it be? Big or small, it can be as minimal or as maximal. If you could ask Jesus, right now, today, to fix one, thing, for you? What would it be? What would be your Jesus, fix it for today.

Pastor Jonge:

Jesus, fix it for today. So you're asking me personally. So John G Tate is ADHD off the chart.

Pastor Jonge:

I'm talking capital H I'm dyslexic, which means I twist stuff, which means I'm a horrible speller, which means that I don't remember what I read. Struggle, struggle, struggle all the way through school. By God's grace, do I have a master's degree in biblical counseling? But yeah, my answer, jess, would have been oh God, give me a brain like some of my friends. God, give me a brain like some of my friends. But today I would say I have to stand with Paul and say that I'd rather boast about my weaknesses that the power of Christ may be seen in me.

Pastor Jonge:

But if God fixed this one thing for so long, it was give me a brain like somebody else. But yet he's going. No, I gave you a different thumbprint. Walk in it.

Jess:

Walk in it.

Pastor Jonge:

And be the light that I've called you to be. Yeah, I don't know what I would specifically ask him to change today, because I'm just kind of learning to relish that I am who I am. John G is unique and I got to be me in the identity that I am in Christ, and let him be seen through me.

Jess:

Perfect place to end Yep.

Pastor Jonge:

Find hope and inspiration with Jess's Daily Devotion. Check out jessdailydevocom or search Jess's Daily Devotion wherever you listen to podcasts.

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