Participants: Pr. Joshua Nelson (Host), Jeanne Mogusu, Kim Pearson, John Coaxum, Korey P. Douglas
Series Code: PC
Program Code: PC000066
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00:01 The following program discusses sensitive issues.
00:03 Parents are cautioned that some material 00:05 may be too candid for younger children. 00:39 Hello, and welcome to Pure Choices. 00:41 I'm your host, Pastor Joshua Nelson. 00:43 I'm so excited that you decided to join us. 00:46 We're gonna have a good discussion today. 00:48 Our topic today is making God's choices, your choices. 00:52 You know, the title of this whole program is Pure Choices. 00:54 And a lot of times, I've often wondered, 00:57 well, I have some ideas, 00:58 I have something's that I want to do, 00:59 but how can I actually make my choices 01:01 become what God want, God choices. 01:04 So we're gonna discuss that today. 01:05 But before we get right into it, 01:07 let us just pause for a word of prayer. 01:10 Heavenly Father, we ask now as we seek after Your choices 01:13 that You would fill our hearts and our minds 01:15 through this discussion, in Jesus' name we pray. 01:17 Amen. Amen. 01:19 All right, let's introduce our panel, 01:20 to my left I have Pastor KP Douglas 01:23 from Southeast Missouri, well, he's pastoring there, 01:25 two churches there in Southeast Missouri. 01:27 And then over here on the couch, 01:29 we have Pastor John Coaxum, 01:32 from, he's pastoring at the Glenville SDA Church, 01:35 over in Cleveland, Ohio, happy to have him. 01:37 Also we have, Dr. Jeanne Mogusu, 01:40 who is over at the seminary in Andrews 01:43 and we're happy she's here with us today. 01:44 And we have Kim Pearson, 01:46 who is the associate chaplain over at Oakwood University. 01:50 So we have a great panel today 01:51 and we're gonna start with this powerful discussion, 01:54 making God's choices our choices. 01:56 Let's start with the first question, 01:58 how do you really get to the point 02:00 where you begin to make the choices 02:03 that God want you to make? 02:06 Well, I think we kind of start off on the wrong-foot 02:10 if we say, how do you get to the point? 02:13 Okay. 02:14 I think we've already set ourselves off for failure 02:15 when we say, when we set a mark 02:17 that we ourselves are trying to reach. 02:19 Okay. 02:20 I think that God allows us to make choices. 02:22 I definitely think that He, 02:23 the choices He wants us to make. 02:25 I don't know if we, like I say, try to reach our mark, 02:29 you know, I think we'd become a little legalistic 02:31 when we do that, 02:32 because we actually set out to do that. 02:35 Earlier, last week, I was reading a devotion 02:38 and I came across, you know, 02:39 we'd said that we should have really abide in God 02:42 and even I'm not sure, 02:44 if I've talked to anybody before, 02:46 but I remind myself when Christ says, "Follow me." 02:48 You know, "Follow me" 02:50 doesn't really tell you about points, 02:51 it just says, you know, 02:52 get behind me wherever I go you kind of go. 02:54 I think that when you abide with God 02:56 that your choices begin to change. 02:58 You know, when you kind of stay in constant contact with Him 03:01 that will kind of influence the choices that you make. 03:04 Okay, but let me back up us a little further 03:06 because I wanna even challenge it. 03:07 I'm challenging my own question because how, 03:10 what if you don't even really want to be with God? 03:12 How do you even get that desire 03:14 that you even want to be with the one or follow the one 03:17 that would give you that desire to have pure choice, 03:18 I mean, where do you, you know, 03:20 how do you even get to that point, you know? 03:22 I think God does the work of drawing, 03:24 as well as the work of sustaining you as well. 03:27 I think Christ said it best that no one can come to this 03:30 unless the Father draws him. 03:32 And so even our desire to have a relationship with God 03:35 that actually comes from God. 03:36 Right. 03:38 Essentially, we do nothing 03:39 but we act on what God begins in us. 03:42 The Bible talks about, he who started or began 03:44 the good work in you will bring it unto completion. 03:46 Right. 03:48 But I also wanna say 03:49 that I think that when we are in Christ 03:52 everything changes not just our thought 03:54 and our decisions, literally, everything that we do, 03:56 how we think, you know, I think our appearance changes, 03:59 you know, the word says, 04:01 "If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature." 04:02 New creature. 04:03 "Old things are passed away, behold all things become new." 04:05 Yeah, yeah, that's good. All right. 04:07 I agree with that, but I think I wanna challenge that as well 04:11 and take it back in even further 04:13 to where Joshua was saying, 04:15 what do you do if I'm not even ready 04:16 to get to the point 04:18 where I wanna make pure choices? 04:19 What do I do if I'm there? 04:21 And I will say that you have to get to a point, 04:23 it's kind of a cliché(C) phrase, but you have to be sick 04:25 and tired of being sick and tired. 04:27 You have to be tired 04:30 of the result or the consequences 04:32 that the current choices you're making 04:35 are leading you towards and say, 04:36 I want something different, I want something better. 04:39 And, of course, it's the responsibility of us 04:40 as Christians to model with those things look like. 04:43 But get to the point where you don't want 04:46 where you are in life at. 04:48 And then, yeah, you get tired of it 04:50 and then ask God to come in and just help you. 04:52 And the Bible says 04:53 that the Holy Spirit working in you 04:55 that gives you both the will and the power. 04:58 So he'll give you the will first 05:00 and then the power. 05:02 So... Yeah, amen. 05:03 I challenge that. Okay, go ahead. 05:05 On everything. 05:06 And I was doing about the same Bible study from last week. 05:09 I asked the question. 05:10 It read, it brought us to the text where Jesus says, 05:12 love your enemies as yourself. 05:14 And it asked the question, what is an enemy? 05:16 Then it follow that question up with, what about yourself? 05:20 Do you consider an enemy? 05:22 And I immediately began to think 05:23 of everything wrong about me, 05:24 that is, you know, my procrastinations, 05:27 the sins I commit, the bad habits. 05:29 And while I was reflecting on it, 05:30 it's almost like God came to me was like Korey, 05:33 that's not really the enemy. 05:34 The enemy in you is really not the bad things that you do, 05:38 but the good that you wanna do. 05:40 Because naturally, whenever we wanna do good, 05:43 we begin to fight against it. 05:45 You know, and so I think we view God 05:47 from this point of view 05:48 where we're coming to God trying to get stuff. 05:52 You know, we want the blessing, we want even, 05:54 and its good intentions, we do want to be made new. 05:57 But in that same text, it says that God, the way He loves, 06:00 the way He does things is He doesn't do things 06:03 in order to get from us. 06:04 He gives, not receive, not wanting anything in return, 06:07 and I think that our relationship with God 06:09 should really be, you just start to say, 06:10 I'm only saying this because 06:12 it was a paradigm shift for me too. 06:14 Imagine a relation with God that is not based on 06:17 me wanting to become better, 06:18 but based on the fact that I just simply love who God is, 06:21 you know, and so I just give my all to Him, 06:24 not expecting anything in return. 06:26 But what I do receive in return may be pure choices. 06:29 Okay, so he begins to shape you 06:31 and to make you into who you are. 06:33 I gotta jump in real quick because something Korey said 06:36 I think can be taken in the wrong way 06:39 is that the enemy in you is the good in you. 06:42 And that's true until you surrender to Christ. 06:45 The enemy in you is the good in you 06:47 when you're living in the flesh. 06:49 When you're not surrendering to Christ, 06:51 when you don't want Christ 06:52 'cause you are not gonna want to be inclined 06:53 to do the good thing. 06:55 But I think when you do decide, 06:56 hey, I want something different, 06:57 I wanna be more like Christ, 06:59 then the enemy in you 07:00 does become the flesh versus this, 07:02 the flesh versus the spirit. 07:03 But until you make that decision, 07:05 I wanna be careful in saying that the enemy in you 07:08 is the good 07:11 and I think that's true 07:12 until you give your life to Christ. 07:14 You give your life to Christ 07:15 then that's the war between the flesh and the spirit. 07:17 Okay. 07:18 Let's go with Jeanne and then go back to Korey. 07:19 I wanna rephrase what he said in terms of, 07:22 it's not so much the good in us as it is the lack of surrender 07:26 for what is in us, period. 07:29 Because when we don't surrender to Christ, 07:31 then we're trying to do all of these things 07:34 of our own freewill and we cannot. 07:36 There's absolutely no way that we can in our own flesh 07:41 do everything that Christ asks us 07:43 which is why He tells you, Follow me. 07:45 He prefaces it with that. 07:47 That's why in the whole book of Mark, 07:49 if you'll read the gospel from cover to cover. 07:51 He starts doing things for, like, 07:55 performing all these miracles and He keeps telling to people, 07:58 don't say who I am, don't say who I am, don't go tell the, 08:02 you know, it seems ludicrous when you read it, 08:05 how He performs a miracle 08:07 and then tells you don't go and tell anybody. 08:09 But He does that until He explains to them 08:13 what it really means to follow Him. 08:16 You know, deny yourself and then follow me. 08:19 Because He recognizes that you cannot do all of this 08:21 until you really come to know who He is first 08:25 which I think is what Korey is leading to. 08:27 Until you know who He is first in and of himself 08:31 and then you can follow Him, 08:33 so when we try to do things of us of our own will, 08:36 that's when the good in us becomes our greatest enemy. 08:39 Well, let me just kind of clean up 08:41 what I was saying. 08:42 Clean it up, man. 08:44 The question that I posed it asks, 08:46 what do you treat as the enemy? 08:48 You know, and it's not so much as what is the enemy, 08:51 because of course the bad things are your enemy 08:53 but there is the struggling of the two natures. 08:56 And when you initially come to God, as a person, 08:59 you don't have to try to do bad stuff. 09:01 The bad stuff happens naturally, 09:03 it's only when you try to do the good stuff 09:05 that you begin to debate, you know, 09:07 and I thought about it. 09:08 You know, when somebody cuts me off from highway? 09:10 Nobody had to teach me what road ridge was, 09:13 I just did it. 09:14 I just was mad that I got cut off. 09:16 But it's when I wanna treat somebody good, 09:19 when I wanna do something nice for somebody, 09:20 when I wanna kick a habit, 09:22 that's when the debating in my mind starts. 09:24 Well, should I really do something nice? 09:26 Because there ain't nobody be doing nice for me. 09:28 And they just, they're not gonna change 09:30 if I'd do something nice 09:31 and we'd begin to war against the thing in us 09:33 that wants to do good 09:35 and I'm saying we treat that as the enemy. 09:37 You know, as we talk about, you know, making pure choices, 09:40 the thing about God is so beautiful is He says, 09:43 "Follow Me, abide in Me." 09:45 The longer and the more we do that, 09:46 the more we stay in God 09:48 is the more that the paradigm shifts. 09:50 The more we feed the good side, you know what I'm saying, 09:53 is the more that it begins to grow 09:55 and it becomes less of the enemy 09:57 and the bad things begins to become the enemy. 09:59 So we're, we don't... 10:01 just how we don't have to rethink about doing bad, 10:03 we don't have to think about making pure choices 10:05 because it begins to become a part of us 10:06 and we war against the bad stuff. 10:08 And that happens when you really develop 10:10 a relation with Jesus 10:12 and you really get to know who He is. 10:14 You know, I think that, you know, 10:15 and I have heard different people say, you know, 10:16 "Does God really exists?" 10:18 or wondering, you know, 10:19 different things about God in their Christianity faith. 10:22 And I think to myself, you know, 10:24 I can never get to that point 10:25 because of me really understanding 10:28 who Jesus is and getting to know Him. 10:30 Once you read about Him, you study about Him, 10:32 and you read what He says, how He speaks, how He talks, 10:34 and how He does things, and what He does for people 10:37 and just experiencing His spirit, 10:39 you just naturally say, 10:40 "Man, I wanna be like this guy, you know, I wanna be like Him, 10:42 I wanna be close to Him, 10:44 and next to Him as much as I can." 10:45 So I think when you get to that point, 10:48 you automatically begin to make pure choices 10:51 and you begin, your whole mindset 10:52 begins to change 10:53 just because you're attracted to Jesus. 10:55 You know, and that 10:57 automatically lead you to pure choices. 10:59 However, in saying that great thing that we've said it 11:03 and the idea of how it is, 11:05 we know that even in our Christian journey 11:07 as beautiful, as great, as lovely as His picture is, 11:10 how Jesus looks, we have fallen off, 11:12 we made, it has setbacks. 11:14 So let's now be a little real 11:16 and maybe a little transparent to our viewers 11:18 because there are many people like us 11:20 who have to start it off with that image of Jesus 11:22 in front of them. 11:24 Trying to make pure choices but have faltered off. 11:26 So what do you really do? 11:28 How do you come back 11:29 when you have made impure choices 11:32 in your Christian journey? 11:33 Well, I think one of the things we talked about was 11:37 you gotta feed the spirit and starve the flesh, 11:42 and to me a choice is a decision 11:45 you make every day, right? 11:46 So for me, it starts first thing in the morning. 11:48 I know, for me it's easy, my phone literally, 11:51 is usually right by my bed, and the first thing I do 11:53 when I wake up in the morning is check Facebook or Instagram 11:56 or Twitter or see whatever it was that I missed. 12:00 And I saw this Instagram picture that said, 12:02 you know, you gotta have 39 Bible apps on your phone, 12:06 but the first thing you check is Instagram. 12:08 And so for me the first practical step I had to make 12:13 was to choose Jesus 12:14 at the beginning of my day, first. 12:16 Amen. 12:17 So before I check any social media 12:19 or anything like that, 12:21 I had to make sure that 12:22 I was checking it with Jesus first. 12:23 So that was my first checkpoint of the day. 12:26 Our Lord, helped me get my choices, 12:28 help me get my mind right, help me get my thoughts right, 12:30 go with me through this day. 12:32 Then the next step in the day, all right, Lord, 12:34 I'm getting dressed now, what am I gonna wear? 12:36 Do you think this is the good idea? 12:38 You know, and just really being transparent with God. 12:41 I think this shirt is kind of dull, 12:44 but it's a little revealing, should I wear this shirt? 12:46 Should I not wear? 12:48 And just be honest with God 12:49 and as you start to involve Him in your day, 12:52 He starts to help you with those choices. 12:54 I think it's easy, I love where Kim is going with this 12:59 because we've gotten this detached view of God like, 13:04 He is so far, He is high up there, 13:07 sitting on a throne, with a gavel in His hand, 13:12 thinking, "Oh, Korey, oops! 13:14 There you go, you know, you didn't do that right." 13:16 "Oh, John, you know, do that right." 13:19 But that's really not what God is 13:20 or we seem to think that we cannot be real with God. 13:24 He only wants to hear the fluffy stuff. 13:26 But our relationship with God is like 13:28 a relationship with anybody else. 13:30 Well, not quite anybody else, but I wanna be real. 13:36 If I wanted, I want depth, 13:37 if I'm in a relationship with John 13:39 and I want depth in our relationship. 13:43 I will spend time with John, I will be real with John, 13:46 I will allow John to see who I really am 13:50 so that he can know who I, you know, 13:52 so we can both know each other, 13:53 and I think it's the same thing with God. 13:55 You want God to see the real you, 13:57 He already knows your thoughts. 13:59 He already knows that you don't feel like praying 14:01 so just you can be real with Him and say, 14:04 "You know what Lord? 14:05 Today I really don't feel like praying, 14:07 but you know I wanna spend time with You. 14:10 Help me want to spend time with You." 14:13 Yeah. That's a good prayer. 14:14 Yeah, I agree with you 100%. 14:16 I think it's futile for us to try to, you know, 14:18 mask or cover up our inconsistencies with God. 14:21 You know, as Bible says he, we're already naked 14:23 before Him anyway and I think this speaks to, 14:25 you know, one of my favorite stories again 14:26 is a prodigal son. 14:28 I think, Kim may have touched on this at the beginning, 14:30 in order for us to really have relationship with God 14:33 and really desire and want to make pure choices, 14:35 then we have got to come to the end of ourselves. 14:38 And I think the prodigal son, 14:39 when he found himself in that ditch with the pigs, 14:41 you know, he looked around and is like, 14:42 "What am I doing here? 14:44 Why am I here? 14:45 I'm at the bottom of the barrel, I have nothing. 14:47 I could be home with my father where there is everything. 14:51 He loves me, what in the world am I doing here?" 14:55 And I think we have to recognize the path 14:57 that we are going down on right now 14:58 is not gonna take us anywhere good. 15:00 And so I need God more than anything right now. 15:04 And I love, you know, there's a quote that says man, 15:06 "The pain of staying the same must be greater 15:09 than the pain of change." 15:10 We've got to realize, 15:12 I would rather go through the pain of changing my life, 15:15 than going through the pain of staying the same 15:17 and not making pure choices or getting better. 15:19 Yeah, I love that. 15:21 So, you know, and that's man, 15:22 that's some good comments you've made. 15:24 And you know, thinking about going a little further, 15:26 you know, and just really being honest. 15:28 A lot of times, when people keep making 15:30 so many mistakes and keep messing up 15:33 and keep making those impure choices 15:34 and keep staying the same like you're saying, you know, 15:38 it gets kind of discouraging. 15:40 And he'd say, "Well, you know, man, 15:41 I don't know if I can do this anymore. 15:42 What's the point of even trying?" 15:44 Maybe just go back to why you shouldn't be trying. 15:46 But let's start with that, what if someone is tired 15:48 of trying to live a Christian life? 15:51 You know, the question is beautiful. 15:53 I would have said this before the question, 15:55 but I think it's still appropriate. 15:56 You know, I think we think too hard 15:59 about Christian journey, Christian life. 16:01 I think we try really hard because of how we pray to God, 16:04 because he's so complicated, he's so far, 16:07 we gotta go above and beyond the call of duty. 16:09 But God says I want 16:11 and Kim says the best word ever, 16:13 relationship. 16:15 When I'm, you know, I'm engaged, 16:17 you don't have to tell me 16:18 how to be in a relationship with my fiancée, 16:21 I know how to relate to her. 16:22 You know what I'm saying? 16:24 I want to be with her for the rest of my life 16:26 and even though we are currently 16:28 1000 plus miles apart, I spend time with her. 16:31 Just like you said with Facebook, 16:33 when I get up in the morning, first thing I do is I text her 16:35 or I check to see if she's texted me. 16:37 If she hasn't text, I call. If I don't call, she calls me. 16:40 If we're not calling, we're on FaceTime. 16:42 Amen. 16:43 When we're not on FaceTime, you know what I'm saying. 16:45 Come on, Korey. 16:46 And when we're on FaceTime, 16:47 sometimes we maybe in a deep-seeded conversation, 16:50 other times we may be just looking at each other. 16:52 I may be doing work, 16:53 she may be doing something completely different, 16:54 but we're still on FaceTime. 16:56 You know, I just maybe looking at the back of her head. 16:57 In the presence... 16:58 But the key is 17:00 we stay in constant contact with each other. 17:03 And I think that's what we missed that about God. 17:05 You know, we think that God wants contact in this way 17:08 or this time or in what do one method. 17:10 God is just saying, just be with me. 17:13 God spends constant contact with us all the time. 17:15 He speaks to me through you, through a text, 17:17 through John with encouraging word, 17:18 through Kim hitting me up. 17:20 You know, God is always dropping something on me, 17:22 blessing a family member, you know, 17:23 even speaking personally to me. 17:25 And He's saying, "I just want that from you, 17:27 just stay in contact with me." 17:28 And as you do that, you know, 17:30 the thing about relationship that's so beautiful is, 17:32 the same fiancée who I love and will do the most for 17:35 is the same fiancée that I may have to rebuke 17:37 because, you know, I may see something 17:39 that I seem to rebuke 17:40 or that she may have to rebuke me. 17:42 There are moments where we don't, 17:43 where we may be mad at each other 17:44 and we'll still be on FaceTime. 17:46 Yeah. Yeah. 17:47 You know what I'm saying, it's just about 17:48 staying in constant contact 17:50 and I think that's the beauty 17:51 of this whole Christian journey. 17:53 All right. 17:54 I just wanna say that I think that it's all about choices. 17:56 I know that sounds a little cliché(C), 17:58 but if I decide that I want food 18:01 and I need to eat, 18:02 I don't want to eat just once and be like, 18:04 "Okay, I ate, never gonna eat again." 18:07 It's a constant choice that you make every single day. 18:12 We make choices every single day 18:14 to get up and go to class, get up and go to work. 18:17 I don't just decide once I'm gonna get up 18:18 and then automatically it happens every day 18:20 for the rest of my life. 18:22 I have to decide 18:23 and even though I'm not married, 18:25 I'm sure, you know, you're engaged, you're married, 18:26 that you have to choose your wife, 18:27 you choose your wife every day. 18:29 I have to choose God every day, even when I don't feel like it. 18:33 Sometimes we get so laid by feelings, 18:35 we forget that we have to make choices. 18:36 So it's a choice. 18:38 I might not feel like serving God. 18:39 I might not feel like being pure. 18:42 But I need to keep choosing it every time. 18:45 I may have messed up, twice, three times, 18:47 I messed up last week, and then this month, 18:49 and then last night. 18:50 I'm gonna get up today and choose to be pure today. 18:53 And when I get up tomorrow 18:55 and then choose to be pure tomorrow. 18:56 Yeah. 18:57 And honestly, it's tough, it's a struggle 18:59 and often times we think that God is gonna, you know, 19:02 flip a switch in us and make us now we don't like 19:04 anything evil anymore, you know. 19:05 But it's a struggle, we have to fight 19:07 to keep making those pure choices, 19:09 but like we're saying, as you're with Jesus 19:11 and you're in that relationship, 19:12 it becomes a choice that almost becomes automatically, 19:14 like you said, routine like, 19:16 eating and everything like that. 19:17 It becomes part of your life, you know, 19:20 but let's now really deal with some practical things. 19:24 Now one of our Sabbath school lessons 19:25 is talking about discipleship, right? 19:28 And really, you know, 19:30 the disciplines and the discipleship. 19:31 So what are some disciplines that have worked in your life, 19:35 we're gonna go to the screen in few minutes. 19:36 But what are some disciplines in your life that has worked 19:39 in building your relationship with Jesus? 19:41 I wanna start with Jeanne, go ahead. 19:44 I have found that journaling helps me 19:47 because I have a very active brain 19:49 like it's constantly moving and working, 19:53 there're like 10,000 things 19:54 literally in my mind at any given time. 19:56 So sometimes it's hard to like 19:59 just be still in God's presence, 20:03 but I have found that when I journal, 20:05 like I journal my prayers in the morning, 20:08 I find that I'm able to because I'm concentrating 20:11 and I'm writing, 20:12 I'm using more than one of my senses, 20:15 I find that it actually allows me to converse with God. 20:19 And after doing that for a while, 20:21 it actually can help me be still, you know, 20:25 because I recognized that it is part of my worship. 20:28 It's me expressing to God what I want to say 20:32 and concentrating on what he also wants to say to me. 20:35 Okay, all right. 20:36 Quickly, John. Yeah, reading. 20:38 Reading is big for me, man. 20:39 I mean, books, the Bible 20:41 and also from time to time in the morning 20:43 I'll take up my guitar and I'll play 20:45 and I've been playing the hymn for a while. 20:46 Just looking at the words 20:47 and what they're saying has really helped me in, 20:50 you know, just drawing me closer to God, 20:52 I'm spending time with Him early in the morning. 20:54 But reading and just, as the word says, you know, 20:56 storing that word up in my heart, 20:57 it helps me for like a better phrase, 20:59 not to sin against Him. 21:00 Yeah, all right. Kim. 21:02 On two things, I've been going to the gospels, 21:04 and just really painting the picture with my senses. 21:07 What would have been like to go through that 21:09 and I kind of write that down journaling. 21:10 But serving, I mean, the hardest thing you can do 21:14 when you're struggling is to stay in the struggle. 21:15 Sometimes you gotta get out, 21:17 go do some community service with your church, you know, 21:21 go help some friends, go shovel, 21:23 you know, your next door neighbor's 21:25 snow out of their driveway, go feed the homeless. 21:28 Get involved, do something that works against those urges 21:32 or whatever it is you're struggling with. 21:34 So for me that helps and then praise and worship. 21:35 Turn on a jam... 21:37 There you go. Yeah. 21:39 Amen. Kim kind of took my answer. 21:42 I would say anything that takes your mind off of you 21:46 is beautiful. 21:47 And just like you said service 21:49 because if I can go back to beginning, 21:51 God gives, God loves without expecting love 21:53 in return. 21:54 And Jesus said, be perfect do the same thing. 21:56 We ought to engage other people in relationships. 22:00 Serving, I'm talking about calling people, instead of, 22:02 you know, who wants to sit around 22:05 and think about what's wrong with them all time. 22:06 You know, I'm such a sinner, I mean, after a while, 22:09 you gonna be a sinner if you keep calling yourself 22:10 a sinner. 22:11 So take the attention off of you. 22:13 Go do something nice, spend time with people, 22:15 spend time with friends, do things that you enjoy doing, 22:18 just live life, but take your mind off you. 22:20 Serving people is probably, 22:21 I would say the number one thing to do. 22:23 Do stuff for other people. Amen. 22:25 And for me, I think it's been, recently being married. 22:28 Being able to have that devotional time with my wife, 22:31 I mean, and even trying to think about ways 22:33 to make her happy throughout the day 22:35 and stuff has really kind of gave me 22:36 to be in relationship with Jesus 22:38 and showing me whatever He does for me. 22:40 You know, I'm trying to do the same thing for her. 22:42 So that's been powerful for me. 22:43 All right, now let's go the screen 22:44 and see what these students have to say. 22:49 The thing about cliché(C) is that they're true. 22:51 They're true. No one just wants to hear them. 22:53 So when someone says that your relationship with God 22:55 is gonna be the thing that's gonna change this, 22:57 it is. 22:58 As you sweep the house in your heart, 23:02 as you sweep it out and the sin moves out, 23:05 you need God to move in because if you, if it's open, 23:08 if it's open, the demons are just gonna come back. 23:10 So you need to wake up in the morning, 23:13 have a devotional life. 23:14 You need to be in constant communication with God. 23:16 And it may sound like a cliché(C) but it's true, it'll work. 23:20 Yeah, that's it. 23:22 That was good. 23:23 Passionate young man, I mean, it's true. 23:25 You gotta be intentional about this thing. 23:27 You can't just think it's gonna happen, you know. 23:29 You have to be really intentional about it 23:31 and taking your devotional life seriously. 23:33 And I think I really wanna encourage everyone 23:34 who is watching to really make that a big part in their life. 23:37 I mean, the journal thing you said, 23:39 I mean, someone may say, you know, "Really? 23:41 I don't have time for that." 23:43 But if you're really intentional 23:44 about the relationship with Jesus, 23:45 you're gonna find a way to start doing that, you know, 23:48 your praises, you know, your services, 23:50 you're gonna find a way to do that. 23:52 All right, we have one more I believe, 23:53 let's see what they have to say. 23:57 I would say definitely to be constant 23:59 and immediate in prayer. 24:01 There's a lot of times when we're like, you know, 24:03 "I really do need to work on my relationship with God. 24:05 I really do need to stop doing this or stop doing that." 24:08 And just like when that thing, as soon as that thing happens, 24:11 like just immediately, turn to prayer 24:13 and tell God exactly what's going on 24:15 and be transparent with Him. 24:16 And even when your friends are having difficulties, 24:18 don't say, "I'll pray for you." 24:20 But pray for them right in the moment. 24:21 So that you're showing them the you're an example 24:24 for exactly how it should be done. 24:27 Wow, I love that one 24:29 because don't we always say that, 24:30 "I'll pray for you." 24:32 We never do. Yeah, we never do. 24:34 I mean, at least I try to say a word of prayer in my head 24:36 but it not, stop and pray with them right then. 24:38 But, you know, prayer is a powerful, 24:41 powerful tool that we have. 24:43 You know, we take it lightly sometimes, 24:44 we don't pray as much as we should. 24:45 Bible says pray without ceasing, right? 24:47 And so we really have a tool and access to God 24:50 that we can use through prayer. 24:53 So it's been a good discussion but before we close today, 24:56 I wanna have some rapid fire questions 24:58 to kind of, see if you all can answer 25:00 some questions on your feet. 25:01 Do we get some points? Yeah, you do get some points. 25:04 Okay, here we go, here we go. 25:06 Answer it, real quick, real quick. 25:08 Why do you think it's so hard, 25:09 why do you think it's easier to compromise? 25:12 Kim? 25:13 Because we're inclined to sin, feels good. 25:16 If it didn't feel good, then we wouldn't sin. 25:17 So I think we're inclined to do 25:19 because we're inclined to flesh. 25:20 Yeah, what do you think? Why is it easier to compromise? 25:21 Yeah, absolutely, I agree, 25:23 it is easy because mostly the majority of the world 25:25 is doing the same thing. 25:27 So we wanna fit in with everybody else. 25:28 Okay, next question. 25:29 Do you think that the church, 25:31 people in the church are more promiscuous 25:32 than the people in the world? 25:34 Jeanne? 25:35 I think the church is the cross section 25:36 of the society. 25:38 We're just talking about it. 25:41 It's a cross section of the society 25:42 and unfortunately the church should hold standards 25:46 that are higher than the world, 25:48 but I think in today's world, unfortunately, 25:51 our church does not do that. 25:54 I don't think so. I don't think it's good to generalize. 25:56 I think that there's a lot of people in the world 25:58 who are not as promiscuous as we think they are. 26:00 And I think that's something our young people need to hear 26:02 that just because you seen on television 26:04 doesn't mean everybody is doing it. 26:05 Okay, all right. Another question. 26:06 Why you think our society is over sexualized? 26:11 Kim? 26:13 Because Satan is the counterfeit for everything. 26:15 So sex is the counterfeit for love 26:18 and so it's over sexualized because it's a copy, 26:21 a counterfeit for what God wants to give us 26:23 which is true intimacy. 26:25 Okay. John? 26:26 Yeah, sex tells better than anything else in this world 26:28 and I believe it's the most addictive thing in this world. 26:31 Okay, all right. You wanna tell? Go ahead. 26:34 We don't use to sell drugs there. 26:37 That's how you set out the fire. 26:40 Who knows what's going to fall back from here. 26:42 Okay, here we go, another question. 26:44 Is anything wrong with having sex before marriage? 26:47 Why? 26:48 There's everything wrong with having sex before marriage. 26:51 Just of the top of my head, God says, no. 26:55 Because God said no. Give me some wise. 26:58 Give me some wise. 27:00 It's definitely danger because it's the attachment 27:01 that you make with the people 27:03 that you have sex with those do not go away. 27:09 Get that. Okay. 27:11 Yeah, 'cause sex is ready to bond you, 27:12 so why would you wanna be bonded 27:14 with 12 different people? 27:16 That's just, yeah. 27:18 Okay. All right. 27:20 John, other question, 27:21 why do you think men struggle more with porn 27:23 and stuff like that and addictions like that? 27:25 I think men are more visual, women are more emotional, 27:27 and I hate to say this, brothers, 27:29 but women tend to think more 27:31 and I think we tend to act on impulse 27:33 more than anything else. 27:34 I disagree. 27:36 I think that women especially in today's society 27:38 are struggling with porn just as much. 27:41 You'd be surprised 27:42 as how many women struggle with porn. 27:43 It looks different, but it can be the same thing. 27:45 Okay. Well, that's where we want to finish it off. 27:47 The Bible says, I'm gonna close with which says in Romans 12:2, 27:50 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world 27:53 but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." 27:56 Let God do that for you 27:57 and remember to always make pure choices. 27:59 God bless you. |
Revised 2017-06-08