Engage

Formalism

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Jay Rosario & Daniel McGrath

Home

Series Code: E

Program Code: E000015


00:19 Hello, my name is Jay Rosario and welcome to Engage.
00:21 I'll be your host.
00:23 And today, we're gonna look at
00:24 exciting subject matter
00:27 that we're gonna be discussing together,
00:29 in fact in the subsequent,
00:30 the subjects that we're gonna be tackling,
00:32 we're gonna look at many, many different broad
00:35 issues that are facing young adults
00:37 all over this globe.
00:38 And joining us is my good friend, Dan.
00:40 Dan, how's it going?
00:41 Good, Jay. How are you doing?
00:42 Doing all right.
00:43 So, Dan, tell us a little bit about yourself.
00:44 Hello, my name is Daniel McGrath.
00:45 I'm a pastor in Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
00:48 And I just moved there, I love it,
00:50 and I'm glad to be here today.
00:53 And like you said, we have some
00:54 amazing topics coming up,
00:55 but today we're gonna be looking
00:57 at the subject of formalism.
00:59 There are many people today who struggle
01:01 with the vibrant Christian experience,
01:02 who want that, but don't have it.
01:05 And are just going through the motions,
01:07 and so we wanna tackle the issue from the Bible.
01:10 See what the Bible has to say about that,
01:11 is it really something that is acceptable
01:14 in our Christian experience or if it's there,
01:16 what do we have to do about it.
01:17 And Dan, I'm so happy that you addressed
01:20 that we're gonna look at what the Bible says.
01:22 See, in this program that's
01:23 what we're gonna dedicate the subject matter to be.
01:25 We're gonna look at the Bible and we're gonna see
01:27 that the Bible has answers to any subject
01:30 that you have in your experience,
01:31 anything that you're struggling with,
01:33 the Bible has guidance.
01:34 In fact, we're gonna begin
01:35 by going through the Bible itself.
01:36 We're gonna go to the New Testament to a book,
01:38 a very small book that we don't hear much about,
01:42 but that is focused primarily
01:45 on addressing issues facing young adults
01:48 and young people in many, many different walks of life.
01:50 We're gonna take a look at
01:51 Second Timothy Chapter 3.
01:53 And as you're turning there, as Dan's turning there,
01:55 I'm already there now, I beat you.
01:56 And those that are viewing are turning there.
01:59 We're gonna see that Timothy
02:02 is a particular letter written by Paul,
02:03 in fact Second Timothy was the last letter
02:06 that the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy,
02:08 and he was writing to Timothy,
02:09 who was a young person who was surrounded
02:11 by not the most spiritually edifying influences.
02:16 And yet, Timothy addresses a lots of the current
02:19 modern-day challenges that young people have.
02:21 So, we're gonna be focusing on Timothy
02:23 and the text we're gonna look is
02:24 Second Timothy Chapter 3
02:26 and we're gonna be looking at Verse 5.
02:28 Second Timothy 3:5,
02:30 the Apostle Paul is addressing a condition
02:33 that the world as in at that time and in Verse 5,
02:37 he says, "Having a form of godliness,
02:41 but denying its power,
02:44 and from such people turn away!"
02:47 So, it's interesting because, here Dan,
02:49 in Second Timothy we see the form of godliness,
02:53 we see Paul as describing the form of godliness,
02:57 but it's possible to have the form of godliness
03:00 and yet lack the power of godliness.
03:03 And this is gonna be the subject matter
03:04 for our show today.
03:05 Is it possible that in our Christian experience
03:07 we can have the form of godliness,
03:09 we can look like we're godly,
03:10 we can act like we're godly,
03:11 but somehow be void of a powerful experience
03:16 with God and I think this is something that,
03:18 sadly, is prevalence in our experience.
03:21 So, Dan, what is this all about?
03:23 Well, I think it's, it will be important for us
03:25 to define what this means.
03:26 And we skipped right to verse 5,
03:27 but if we start looking at verse 1.
03:30 Paul kind of tells him what's going on,
03:32 what's happening in the last days.
03:33 And I really what he says.
03:35 He says, "But know this, that in the last days
03:37 perilous times will come."
03:38 So, these are times
03:40 that you don't just sit back and watch.
03:42 Perilous is like dangerous. Perilous is dangerous.
03:44 Perilous times.
03:45 And he's speaking about the church, okay.
03:47 This isn't just the world.
03:49 We know that it's dangerous out there.
03:51 But this is the church.
03:52 "For men will be lovers of themselves,
03:54 lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
03:57 disobedient to parents, unthankful,
03:59 unholy, unloving, unforgiving,
04:02 slanderers without self-control,
04:04 brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong,
04:08 haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,"
04:10 and it says, "having a form of godliness."
04:13 Well. Okay.
04:14 So, when we look at this,
04:15 this isn't something we can look into the world.
04:18 We need to be looking in the church for this.
04:19 And I think as young people, you know,
04:22 we're kind of aware of, you know,
04:24 the hypocrisy, the bad in the church,
04:28 I mean, nobody really has to point it out to us.
04:31 So, Dan, you're saying that
04:32 all of these negative characteristics
04:34 that Paul has just addressed
04:35 is talking about religious people?
04:36 Yeah, I think we can look at these--
04:38 well, the first one is lovers of themselves, you know.
04:42 If we look in the church there are people who,
04:44 you know, are more selfish,
04:46 more concerned about themselves
04:48 than about other people in the church.
04:50 I mean, we can go through each of this.
04:52 Lovers of money,
04:53 there are people in the church more concerned
04:55 about their careers,
04:57 how to get financial stability,
04:59 climb up the corporate ladder
05:01 than they are about the good in the church.
05:02 It's interesting because it isn't necessarily wrong
05:04 to be interested in your career and being successful,
05:07 but yet it's almost like an obsession,
05:09 it becomes more of a priority
05:12 than the importance things in your experience with God.
05:14 Sure, and I think what Paul is,
05:16 you know, bringing out is that
05:18 there are these things that are good,
05:20 there are these things that aren't good,
05:22 but this is not Godly, you know,
05:25 it is secular and it's true that,
05:27 you know, getting money isn't bad.
05:29 But to have these things be the top priorities
05:32 in our life that is when godliness
05:34 gets replaced by the form of ungodliness.
05:36 So then it's possible that these characteristics
05:39 were exemplified in people and individuals
05:44 that had a form of godliness,
05:45 but maybe we can even say that
05:47 the reason why they had these
05:48 negative attributes is because they like the power.
05:50 So, maybe Paul's kind of describing
05:53 characteristics that dwelt in real people,
05:55 who they kind of went with the motions,
05:57 they played church.
05:58 Well, for whatever reasons they lacked this
06:00 powerful experience with God.
06:02 And what else can you say about
06:04 the forms of godliness?
06:07 What are the forms that we see
06:08 may be in this list, you know?
06:09 Well, even if we go on after lovers of money,
06:13 they're boasters, proud,
06:16 there are people in the church who,
06:18 I mean, it doesn't take much to really,
06:21 you know, kind of look around the room
06:23 and figure out that there are people
06:25 with these characteristics that surround us everyday.
06:28 Unthankful, there are people in the church
06:30 who you could do something good for them
06:31 and they don't care.
06:32 I mean, that's, I mean, if we could be honest.
06:34 So ungrateful. They're ungrateful.
06:35 They don't appreciate you, you know,
06:37 there are people who you can get on their
06:39 bad side and it's impossible
06:40 to get off of it, you know.
06:42 And unfortunately this is the case,
06:44 it's not the case everywhere.
06:46 But this is a reality and many people see this and,
06:50 you know, they don't want
06:51 anything to do with you at all.
06:52 So, you know, you've mentioned hypocrisy.
06:55 And I know that's a big, big thing
06:57 that a lot of younger adults struggle with,
06:59 and not even younger adults, but people in general.
07:00 But usually people say, you know, "hypocrisy,
07:04 I don't wanna go to this church because there's,
07:07 a church is full of hypocrites,
07:09 or maybe even--"
07:10 There's no hypocrisy in your church, right.
07:12 Oh! My church is perfect.
07:13 That's debatable.
07:15 I have the best churches in the world.
07:16 You have the best church.
07:17 Well, I don't know,
07:18 but I'd have to visit your church to figure it out.
07:19 So, you know, hypocrisy is something that,
07:21 you know, that's prevalent in all our churches.
07:22 Obviously, some to greater degrees
07:24 than others, but, you know,
07:26 what is it about hypocrisy,
07:29 whether it's in other individuals
07:31 as young people say,
07:32 "Oh! There's too many hypocrites there."
07:33 Or, sometimes we even feel that oh I'm a hypocrite,
07:37 I'm being a hypocrite, you know,
07:38 this kind of a complexion that we have
07:40 or we just keep saying, "Oh! I'm hypocrite.
07:42 I'm a hypocrite."
07:43 When we made mistakes, you know.
07:44 What is it about hypocrisy that is may be so dangerous
07:47 and why do you think
07:48 it's so prevalent in our churches?
07:50 Yeah, well, let me, just tell you a quick story.
07:53 There's somebody that is very close to me
07:55 that grew up in an Adventist home,
07:59 but her parents, you know,
08:01 didn't really live the Adventist lifestyle,
08:03 but they would preach it.
08:05 And so, you know,
08:06 she would see her parents at home
08:08 and see her parents at church and realize that
08:10 there's something not right about this.
08:13 And through, you know, seeing that,
08:16 plus people saying offensive things to her at church,
08:20 you know, I don't have to get into all that,
08:22 but through those experiences, you know,
08:24 she doesn't wanna join the church
08:27 because she says, it's for hypocrites.
08:29 And why would I wanna be, you know,
08:30 associated with a group of people like that.
08:33 So, what you're saying is that
08:34 people who have a form of godliness,
08:36 but it's just a form,
08:38 it doesn't really take part of every facet of life.
08:43 It's only a form.
08:44 It's essentially being a hypocrite
08:46 because it's living, you know,
08:49 maybe one way in the church,
08:51 but maybe living a completely different way
08:53 outside of the church.
08:54 And don't you think that
08:55 young people today can pick that up?
08:56 Yeah, definitely. I mean--
08:58 You know, it doesn't take much, right.
08:59 Right. Yeah.
09:00 I mean, I think we're still young right now.
09:02 I'm still young.
09:03 Oh! You're still young. I'm still young.
09:04 May be not me. You're getting pretty old there.
09:06 But, you know, they just think the word
09:07 hypocrisy in the original language and Jesus
09:10 even addressed hypocrisy in the New Testament.
09:12 The word 'hypocrisy' and when He said,
09:14 "Hypocrites," it's actually the word 'actor.'
09:16 It's almost as if somebody who is just acting out
09:20 being a Christian, but not necessarily
09:24 being apart of their actual life.
09:26 It's kind of like a script, it's like something that
09:28 you do may be to please those around you, may be to
09:32 just kind of give the good impression that
09:34 you're a certain type of way but in reality
09:36 you're completely different. Yeah.
09:37 Can you tell us may be just from your experience what
09:40 hypocrisy looks like in a church?
09:42 Well, I think hypocrisy has many forms and I think,
09:44 sadly, we see many forms in the church.
09:47 You know, hypocrisy I think and particularly, you know,
09:50 as a pastor I see, I hear a lot of concerns
09:53 may be even a lot of complaints some times
09:55 particularly with young people.
09:56 And one of the things that I hear a lot
09:57 with young people they're saying, you know,
09:59 "well, you know, when I come to church I'm not motivated.
10:03 I just -- I don't really tune into the message.
10:05 I don't tune into anything."
10:06 And when you get down to the bottom of it,
10:08 a lot of times because there's kind of like
10:11 an inconsistency in their home, in the parents.
10:14 They feel like the parents may be, they're saying
10:17 they're happy and they're smiling
10:19 and they're being nice in the church.
10:21 But somehow when they leave the church and they
10:25 get home, somewhere in the road.
10:29 They got disconnected. There's a disconnect.
10:30 They left their Christian experience,
10:32 may be they left it at the church or may be just
10:33 fell out of the car when they were
10:35 driving on their way home.
10:36 But I know that's one of the things that a lot of
10:37 young people struggle with is the whole, why is it that
10:41 my parents expect me to be a Christian in the church
10:44 when it's not something that isn't
10:46 a reality in our homes.
10:47 Have you found that experience
10:49 as well as a pastor? Yeah.
10:50 I think there are people who have
10:54 grown up in a hypocritical home.
10:56 And when they see it, I think it's very
10:58 sensitive of them, because they're trying to find
11:00 what's real, you know, a real Christian experience,
11:03 but hypocrisy can be very, it's something easily picked
11:08 up and something that you don't
11:10 want anything to do with.
11:12 You know, we always use the phrase like
11:14 "Let's be real, okay." Yeah.
11:15 And we always wanna have a real experience.
11:17 We don't wanna be part of something that's fake.
11:19 And if we feel like that, you know, there's some
11:22 hardcore individuals among us who just, you know,
11:25 throw that out of the window and say that, you know,
11:27 we don't want that because it's not real,
11:29 you know, that's not me.
11:30 And people want a genuine experience
11:33 and they don't wanna feel like they're putting up
11:34 a show all the time.
11:35 And it seems like having the form of godliness is
11:38 something that will never appeal to anyone because of
11:41 what you just said, especially young adults
11:42 and young people, we're all about being real
11:45 and having that genuine and authentic experience.
11:47 And when you have a full of godliness,
11:50 there's something that number one, will never have
11:53 you satisfied, because it's not real.
11:55 And number two, it's something that will never
11:56 appeal to other people because it's not real.
11:58 So, having a form of godliness is a problem
12:00 for you as an individual and is a problem for those
12:03 outside because they will never be, may be encouraged
12:07 or even attracted to an experience with God.
12:09 And I think if we look back at Second Timothy
12:12 Chapter 3 verse 7, Paul even continues, there
12:14 there are people who are always learning and
12:17 never able to come to knowledge of the truth.
12:20 And this is, this is key I think, because we go to
12:23 church every week, you know,
12:24 we hear the Sabbath School lesson,
12:26 we hear the sermon, we go to prayer meeting
12:28 and we get so much information,
12:30 may be we read our Bibles at home.
12:32 Hopefully we do that. Amen.
12:34 If you're a church member out there,
12:35 we want you to read the word.
12:37 So, there are people who are getting,
12:39 we're getting saturated with information all our life
12:41 week after week, okay. Always learning new things.
12:45 But the Bible says they're never able
12:47 to come to a knowledge of the truth.
12:48 Meaning, they never really get to apply
12:51 the Bible or experience Jesus for themselves.
12:54 And so, when it comes to that, you know,
12:56 that's where hypocrisy begins.
12:59 And it's interesting because this description even though
13:02 Paul wrote it to Timothy, it's almost verbatim as to
13:06 what Jesus addressed when He spoke to
13:08 the Pharisees, which kind of were the
13:10 religious leaders who knew a lot, they learned a lot.
13:13 They knew a lot about, you know,
13:15 some of the doctrines, they knew a lot about
13:17 the Levitical codes and what have you.
13:19 But for whatever reasons all of these learning
13:22 of religious and ceremonial principles,
13:26 somehow they weren't able to come to the knowledge
13:28 of the truth, which is of course
13:30 that Christ was indeed the Promised One, the Messiah.
13:33 So, here they were arguing about religion
13:36 to the very one, to the creator of all things
13:38 and they were doubting whether or not He existed.
13:40 Is it possible that for us to get
13:42 into that experience as well?
13:43 To be so filled with theories, so filled
13:48 with may be even theology, and at the same time missed
13:51 vital truths like the Pharisees missed
13:54 the most vitalest truth of all, that Christ
13:57 was indeed the Son of God? Yeah.
13:58 I think it's definitely possible because we always
14:02 like to find things that work.
14:03 And we look at, this is the way for me
14:07 to get what I want, right.
14:09 Well, there's a story in Acts Chapter 19, we can
14:12 just turn there because these guys
14:15 were experiencing the same thing.
14:16 This is at the time in Acts Chapter 19
14:19 when the Holy Spirit has been poured on Ephesus.
14:21 Miracles are happening.
14:23 And Paul is doing such great things like even if they
14:26 took some clothes from his body to somebody
14:29 who is sick, the sick person would be healed
14:31 just by touching his clothes.
14:33 And so, we'll pick the story in Chapter 19 verse 14
14:38 that there are seven sons of a Jewish priest.
14:41 So, these are Jewish priests.
14:43 They're kind of like PKs. Preacher kids.
14:47 You know, there's lot of
14:48 stereotype that's go on with that.
14:49 I don't wanna, you know, get into that too much,
14:52 'cause someday I'll have children
14:53 and they'll be PKs but hopefully not.
14:56 And then, it says, in verse 15,
14:59 the evil spirit answered and said to them,
15:00 "Jesus, I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?"
15:02 So, they go and they see Paul is doing all these
15:04 miracles and they want the same power that he has.
15:09 So, they go to this guy who's possessed with demons
15:12 or a demon and they try to cast him out.
15:16 In verse 30, "We exorcise you
15:19 by the Jesus whom Paul preaches."
15:21 So, they thought that if they could get it
15:22 just right, like Paul is, they know who Paul is,
15:26 they know who Jesus is, so if we use those two names
15:29 maybe we'll have the same power.
15:30 So, they're kind of borrowing
15:33 from somebody else's experience.
15:34 They wanted the same power, the same experience.
15:37 Okay. But they didn't go about it the same way.
15:39 And well, we know the story
15:40 that the guy overpowered them,
15:42 beat them up and they ran out of the house naked.
15:45 And, but what's interesting is that the Bible tells us
15:47 that they were Jews, that they were sons of a priest.
15:50 These are guys who probably, if they were living today
15:53 would know their Bibles. Right.
15:54 They may fast once a week, you know,
15:57 vegetarians to the teeth. Right.
15:59 Sabbath keepers, you know, to the minute.
16:02 And yet, they had no power. It's interesting.
16:07 So essentially these individuals
16:10 lacked a firsthand experience with God.
16:14 They were trying to maybe ride the coattail
16:17 of the religious or the spiritual leaders
16:20 like Christ or the spiritual leaders like Paul.
16:22 They were kind of quoting Paul, because
16:24 they wanted to see if maybe if they rode on
16:27 his spiritual, you know, occurrence, they can get
16:30 the same benefits but they didn't obviously.
16:32 So I wanna address the viewers, may be you're
16:35 a young person, may be you're finding it very
16:37 difficult to find power in your life for victory
16:40 and you're wondering what's going on, why is it
16:42 that all my friends or why is that this preacher seems
16:45 to be having an exciting time with God when I'm not.
16:47 Is it possible that may be you're also
16:49 under the same situation that these individuals
16:51 were in Acts Chapter 19.
16:53 May be you're simply trying to ride the experience
16:56 of somebody else because you don't have that first
16:59 experience -- firsthand experience with Christ and
17:02 we wanna encourage you to take that step
17:05 and to make that commitment as well.
17:06 Isaiah 29:13 says that, "Their fear toward
17:09 me is taught by the precept of men."
17:12 And it's important for us to realize that we have to go
17:15 beyond just what just we've been taught.
17:17 Just what we've seen or heard to an actual
17:20 living experience within ourselves, otherwise, if we
17:23 try to do it we're gonna remain hypocrites. Right.
17:26 Now, I'm glad you mentioned the word hypocrite, because
17:29 we've mentioned Timothy, we said that Timothy was
17:31 a good source of counsel for the current and
17:35 contemporary difficulties and issues and challenges
17:38 with young adults that are striving to become Christians.
17:40 So we've read the text in Second Timothy, let's go
17:43 to First Timothy, 'cause I think First Timothy,
17:45 I believe, has a good challenge and
17:47 may be even a good counsel as well that would give us,
17:52 I think, power and would give us a good prospective
17:56 as to how to deal with this issue of form of godliness.
17:58 Because, let's be honest, Dan, there are so many
18:01 people that says, "Well, you know,
18:02 I don't want to go to church because there are
18:04 so many hypocrites there." And they leave it at that.
18:07 They say, "well, there are so many hypocrites there."
18:09 But I think First Timothy 4, First Timothy Chapter 4
18:12 beginning in verse 12 really, really
18:15 kind of drives this nail firm.
18:18 It says, "Let no one despise your youth."
18:23 You know, sometimes as young adults
18:24 and young people we struggle because we're young
18:27 and sometimes because we're young and sometimes
18:30 young people even the church have --
18:33 we don't have the greatest reputation.
18:34 We tend to have the kind of reputation
18:36 of being rebellious and not really being into norms or
18:40 doctrine or standards or what have you.
18:42 Sometimes the older generations,
18:43 they're a little bit kind of worried about us,
18:45 they're like, "Oh! Wait a second.
18:46 We don't want it
18:47 We gotta be careful with this young people.
18:48 We don't want them to think too much,
18:49 get too much involve with.
18:50 " But notice what it says, "Let no one despise your
18:52 youth, but be an example to the believers," and then
18:57 it mentioned several things, "in word, in conduct,
19:01 in love, in spirit, in faith and purity."
19:05 And I think, Dan, this is critical
19:07 because many times we say, "
19:08 "Oh! There are so many hypocrites over there.
19:10 There are so many people over there
19:11 they haven't figure it out.
19:14 They haven't really arrived yet, so I as a young person
19:17 I'm not gonna go over there because they're hypocrites."
19:19 But, obviously what this is teaching us
19:21 is that if it indeed is true that they're hypocrites,
19:24 then I am encouraged, it is my responsibility
19:28 as a young Christian to actually be an example.
19:33 To get in there and show people,
19:34 really show some categories.
19:35 Now, may be we could-- We like to joke around,
19:38 you know, as young people because we're so idealistic
19:42 and we think, you know, we can change the world
19:43 and we joke about, you know,
19:44 hey, I'm gonna change the world.
19:45 Right. And do something.
19:47 And but in reality this is the lesson like,
19:51 you know, you got a-- it might sound a little cheesy,
19:53 but be the change that you wanna see, you know.
19:55 In others. In others.
19:57 And so, you live that lifestyle,
19:58 you go there and be that change.
20:02 It's like a church, you know, who, you know,
20:06 you hear the stories, I'm gonna say this because
20:08 there are churches who don't like their pastor. Right.
20:11 You know, I'm a pastor, so this is something to me.
20:14 And all the praying people leave the church
20:17 instead of staying and praying
20:19 for their pastor. Right.
20:20 And, you know, if all the praying people leave,
20:24 you know, what's gonna happen to him.
20:25 And so, we wanna encourage those people to stay
20:27 but also, you know, the hypocrites
20:29 they need help too. They need help too.
20:30 They need to see what it's like for a young person
20:33 to actually believe and live what they preach.
20:36 And what I love about it, is that, you know, its
20:39 really spelled out, Paul really explain specifics.
20:42 And that's one of things as young people we get
20:44 frustrated with, is when we're given a very
20:46 general standard, when we're given specifics,
20:49 that's why the word of God is such a powerful resource
20:52 because it shows you the standard, but it also
20:53 shows you the steps to get there.
20:55 And what I love about this text is that Paul says,
20:57 we're gonna be an example in word.
20:59 In other words in our conversation,
21:01 is it possible what that, the reason why many times
21:04 our youth is despised is because the content
21:06 of our conversation, number 1,
21:08 its not intelligent, it's not edifying,
21:10 it's not spiritual.
21:11 And of course, the content of our conversation is a
21:14 pretty good gaze as to what our heart is all about.
21:18 Conduct, how we behave, right.
21:21 How we carry ourselves, in love.
21:23 In other words, we have to love even people
21:25 who may have double lives, we have to love that
21:27 just like Christ did.
21:28 In spirit, in faith, and in purity.
21:31 In other words, we're challenged to be
21:33 examples in every facet of our life
21:36 not just at church but even in every other case that we
21:40 we find ourselves in and I think it's pretty much.
21:41 And I think if we just continue reading, Paul says,
21:44 "till I come, give attention to reading,
21:47 to exhortation and to doctrine."
21:49 And this is one thing that's critical, you know,
21:52 I mentioned that we always like
21:53 to get information, but we never apply.
21:55 We need to apply and he's not saying
21:57 just get the information.
21:59 We need to be ever learning and coming to announcing
22:02 the truth. That's right. Not exclusive.
22:04 But then in the very next verse,
22:06 verse 13 to like verse 14, "Do not neglect
22:10 the gift that is in you."
22:13 Verse 15, "Mediate on these things;
22:14 give yourself entirely to them."
22:17 So, it's not just, you know,
22:19 compartmentalize these things on Sabbath.
22:22 We need to be giving ourselves
22:23 entirely to them, all in, or not at all.
22:27 So, it's almost like Paul is kind of giving
22:29 Timothy the how-to tap into that power that those that
22:34 have the form of godliness are lacking. Yeah.
22:36 And I love that because how in the world can we have
22:38 the power when we're not attached to the source
22:41 of the power, which is the word of God.
22:42 And he's exhorting him to read,
22:45 he's exhorting him to doctrine.
22:46 I think as young people we want merely a feel good
22:49 Christian experience, but we don't want the intelligent,
22:53 the profound, the intellect, which really is a balance.
22:56 Yeah. It can't just be all music and emotion. Exactly.
22:59 And there's gotta be some scriptures. Substantial.
23:02 Something with substance, put the music the emotion
23:05 with the word, you've got a good package.
23:07 Another text that I'm really excited about,
23:10 because there's a lot of, the Bible has a lot of ways
23:12 to describe how we can experience
23:14 the power in Romans, which is an amazing epistle
23:18 that really talks a lot about the gospel
23:21 and the character of Christ.
23:23 Romans Chapter 1 in the very introduction
23:25 of this entire book, Paul kind of explains
23:28 a little bit as to what the gospel
23:29 is in Romans Chapter 1 and verse 16 he says,
23:33 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
23:35 for it is the power of God unto salvation."
23:39 So, in other words, the gospel
23:41 is the source of power.
23:42 So, is it possible that the reason why we don't have
23:45 power, we just have a form of godliness
23:47 is because we have a misunderstanding
23:49 of what the nature of the true gospel is.
23:51 Absolutely, and I think another component would be
23:55 a lack of the Holy Spirit, because the Bible says that
23:59 when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will receive.
24:01 You will receive power. Power.
24:02 Acts Chapter 1 verse 8 I think it is.
24:03 Acts Chapter 1 verse 8.
24:05 And so, we don't understand the gospel we lack power,
24:08 but if we don't have the Holy Spirit,
24:09 we lack the same power.
24:10 It's interesting because that very word, power, and
24:12 that very text Acts Chapter 1 verse 8
24:14 in the original, I don't speak Greek
24:16 I speak Spanish a little bit but. Spanish.
24:18 But in the Greek the word power there is the
24:21 word "Dynamos" which actually where the word
24:24 dynamite comes from.
24:25 So, I think that such a powerful illustration as
24:27 to what happens when the Spirit
24:28 that comes into your life.
24:30 And I think if we put this into practice,
24:32 number 1, tapping into the word of God.
24:34 Number 2, having a firsthand experience with Christ.
24:37 Number 3, allowing the Spirit of God allow it
24:39 to fill us witt spiritual dynamite and
24:42 I think our lives would really take off. Yeah.
24:44 I came up with an acronym a friend of mine actually
24:47 came up with this acronym and I really like it.
24:48 I know how much you love acronyms so. Yeah.
24:50 Everything is an acronym with this generation.
24:52 I think my name is gonna become an acronym soon.
24:54 What's the acronym? Jay. We'll come up with it.
24:56 What's the acronym?
24:57 It's Blest, B-L-E-S-T for avoiding hypocrisy
25:01 you've got to be biblically based. Amen.
25:03 All right, it's gotta be from the Bible.
25:07 You gotta have loyalty to the church,
25:09 to Christ and the church.
25:10 That the "L." That's the "L."
25:12 The "E" is excellence, not just, you know,
25:16 excellence in the world but
25:17 spiritual excellence as well.
25:18 And service is a major component
25:21 of that, that's the "S."
25:22 And the "T" is trusting God, 'cause we lack
25:25 just because we're human and so God has to make up
25:27 the difference for us.
25:29 And if we remove those components, you know,
25:31 if we have excellence without the rest,
25:33 we can become legalistic, you know,
25:35 it's got to be just right. Right. Perfect.
25:37 And if we keep those components there, then
25:40 I think that's a safe word for us to avoid
25:43 the hypocrisy that we're trying to avoid any way.
25:46 Dan, I think we just solved the world's problem in this
25:48 little conversation that we've had.
25:49 As we can see, you know, the word of God is not just
25:52 a book that's written for the older generation,
25:55 it's actually written for the contemporary
25:57 young person who has real valid questions and doubts
26:00 and I wanna encourage the young people
26:02 that are gonna continue to watch this program
26:04 to recognize that the word of God is filled
26:07 with wisdom, you know, we're gonna be blessed
26:09 to have many, many guests in this program
26:12 and we're gonna talk about many, many different
26:13 subjects from how to be a good leader to sexuality,
26:18 some of the more uncomfortable discussions.
26:21 We're gonna talk a little bit more about
26:22 atheism, which is something that plagues a lot of our
26:24 young people, that doubt in the existence of God,
26:27 how do we know He's there, how do we know
26:29 really that He really exist.
26:30 Maybe you're a young person that is studying
26:31 in a secular campus, you know, how do you
26:33 maintain your spiritual principles
26:36 surrounded by so much wickedness.
26:39 We're gonna be talking about this in many many
26:41 other things from music to how to deal with peer
26:43 pressure and the source of our information and the
26:46 source of our insight is gonna be the word of God.
26:49 Dan, is there any last final word
26:51 you'd like to say to our viewers in 10, 15 seconds?
26:53 Fifteen seconds, I'd just like to say that if we could
26:56 pray for the Holy Spirit and really agonize
27:00 for that gift, that the church
27:02 would be a much different place. Amen.
27:05 And so we wanna set the tone that in the last, or in the
27:09 next few episodes as we begin these topics, we
27:12 need the Holy Spirit to both guide our discussions,
27:15 but also to really change our lives
27:17 and change the church. Amen
27:18 Thank you, Dan, for your insights and all
27:20 that you've brought to the table in our program.
27:21 If you've been watching this program, we hope that
27:23 you have been inspired to number 1,
27:25 allow the Spirit of God to fill your life.
27:27 Number 2, to be very much close to the word of God,
27:30 so that you can understand what the gospel is and your
27:33 life will be filled with power.
27:35 Your life will not just be a form of godliness, your
27:37 life will be the powerful source that it needs to be.
27:40 And maybe God not only will change you but will change
27:44 those around you and will even begin to
27:45 change the trends in the church.
27:47 We wanna thank you so much for tuning in today.
27:49 We wanna encourage you to now go away
27:50 as we continue to explore more of these contemporary
27:53 issues facing young adults all over the world.
27:57 God bless you until next time. God bless.


Home

Revised 2014-12-17