Welcome to Paul Tripp's Wednesday's Word podcast. I'm Dalton, a member of the Paul Trip

Ministries team. Join me each week as I read aloud Paul's popular Wednesday's Word devotional.

You can subscribe to our email list to receive this devotional straight to your inbox each week,

or you can read online at paultrip.com slash Wednesday, or on Facebook, Instagram, and the Paul Tripp app. This week, as we

continue our series on discipleship, Paul wants to take a closer look at the word, no, in the

love, no, speak, do, ministry model we've been discussing the past few weeks.

Here's this week's Wednesday's Word.

Everyone felt like they knew Betty and Brad.

Their presence was so central to the life of our church

that no gathering seemed official without them.

I had spent many hours in ministry meetings with Brad.

We had meals as a couple and our family's picnic together.

Late one evening, Brad called me, asking to meet up.

It was clear that he wanted to do it right then.

I heard the urgency in his voice, so I went to see him. It was clear that he wanted to do it right then. I heard the urgency

in his voice, so I went to see him. As soon as I arrived, I knew something was seriously wrong.

Brad proceeded to spill the drama of his marriage and family into my lap. He didn't describe the

typical arguments and struggles that every couple experiences. He and his wife were in the midst of full-blown

violence, divorce filings, alcohol, and devastated children. I was stunned and silent. It was hard for me

to pay attention because the portrayal of his life was so disorienting and foreign. I had known this

man for years, or so I thought, yet I knew nothing of what he was telling me now.

My mind went to the many hours we had spent with his family.

...