Josh Carson on Dating, Relating to Youth, Marriage, Being Youth President, Etc.

trying to be like him and I know that you're trying to be like him I would tell you that I would equate trying to live for God in today's culture very much to imagine yourself being Noah in that culture when the world is so wicked in God saying build a boat it's never rained okay we talked about that we'd have to get like VeggieTales and really dramatic moment to get everybody to get engulfed in the situation since you haven't probably talked about that story a whole lot lately and it used to be a little more fascinating than maybe it is now but the reality is I think that asking your generation to live holy teach only preach holiness in the current context of society is comparable to God asking Noah in that generation to build a boat we're asking you to do something big but the good news for us as leaders is we're not asking you we got this get-out-of-jail-free card like it's the Lord that's a great that's a great get-out-of-jail-free card it's not asking you to live holy okay it's not us trying to get you to be righteous everything has to be the mandate of the Word of God and that's why it's very dangerous when you try to add anything to it and it's dangerous when you try to take anything away from it okay for those of you that think you can't be effective soul-winners you can as long as you stay in the book okay you can for those of you that are nervous about being effective in ministry you can do it but you absolutely 100% need to try to follow the model of Christ to be effective how many let me ask you this how many want to be effective okay you want to be effective nobody I don't think goes into this saying I'd really like to be average what do you want to do I want to work real hard get very little results stuff like that I'm not into that okay anybody in here you you recognize you are competitive come on some of you are like I'm not raising my yeah yeah most of us in here are competitive in some way so you have to understand we're striving to do great things for the kingdom of God so we're gonna try to look at a handful of verses here we're gonna look at this we're gonna assess this the character of Christ and we're gonna try to do leadership from this time okay number one now I need somebody periodically you don't have to have good writing you just got to be able to come help me who can write at least a little bit I don't even care if you misspell it who are you pointing at come on hallo you point okay come on good go put number what let's give her a hand you've received such a great hand she just gave herself a hand that was powerful praise God number one okay if you're gonna be a leader let's pause right here let me tell you something the most disturbing part about this okay really the most challenging part about this a lot of times when we're young adults we think of Christ you know and we love to preach the oneness of God especially in the Pentecostal church right like the oneness of God and we all shout and if someone just says he's one it's great but if I would get up on the bleachers and SWAT and we're all programmed right you know but but the reality is the scary thing is a young adult is if we were living there side by side he would be our peer in this context yeah okay he's like your age in this country yeah yeah some of you that are 21 years old this would be like your peer you just have to be perfect anyway that's another it's the tough it's a tough scenario so we're gonna try to take from his life and try to be like him here we go number one if you're gonna be a leader like Christ from the example of this text you have got to be spirit-led okay write it up here Oh My look at that s it's like a it's like the delft of the Holy Ghost descending it is and I heard a voice from heaven beloved and whom I'm well pleased okay everybody say this with me spirit lead now here we are crowd participation what does it mean to be spirit lead okay said what I'm saying for the night led by the spell just reverse the words that's that's absolutely correct so what does it mean to be led by the spirit what does it mean TVC to be led by the spirit or spirit lead yes Hannah okay the spirit is influencing your decisions now when I read the rest of verse one that does not sound like how we would determine being spirit lead oh if you guys heard about Jesus he's in the wilderness then that's how we talk about people that are backslidden have you heard about him what's going on he's in no oh you gotta be kidding me no he is he's in the wilderness well he must have done something really bad though he was led by the spirit into the wilderness I'd say that many of us in this room could identify with the fact that we've been trying to live for God and then we end up in a place that does not match up at all we're trying to live for God I'm not talking about sinful things I'm talking about a place that feels deserted a place that feels alone okay you know why he was in the wilderness and this isn't one of my major points but this is a sub point to this reality there are a lot of times that ministry feels lonely those of you that are gonna end up going on staff at a church somewhere you're going to end up going to be a youth pastor somewhere ministry can be very lonely at season some of the elders can attest to this you've got to know who you in the lonely times because loneliness makes people people make dumb decisions in lonely moments oh god help me try not like these personal stories coming to mind I'd rather tell him about other people so let me guess he was led by the spirit he was under the influence of the spirit so let's break this down and and talk about this want you to sit on the front row and come back and forth okay how do we become led by the spirit let's go back to our basics of Christianity okay our basics of Christian living how do I become led by the spirit young men young ladies shout it out this is not one of those preaching where you have to stay this is just an open session okay play you got to play very good what else fast if you can't remember the last time you were on and extended fast you probably need to evaluate that how many of you that would be honest you hate fasting you like I want to do a fast fast can we fast like 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. yeah if you decide that you're gonna fast from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. for some reason you will wake up in hunger pangs at 6:00 a.m. like okay prayer fasting what else reading the word anybody ever read the Bible and don't get it don't say that you're a Bible College student only in the King James he said not me I've read in time has anybody ever read an entire chapter and got to the end and it was like when you started driving and found out you could drive an entire section of highway and then come to yourself and have no idea how you got from there to here like you know I'm talking about that eerie awareness where you wake up and you're like oh my god you weren't translated but it feels like you were yeah and that's how they can be in the scripture sometimes but yeah so it's it's not just about memorizing but it's about understanding scripture for instance let me give you a little illustration here my children I have four kids that's enough reason for you to pray for me I have four kids and and they're all Bible quizzers any previous Bible quizzers here oh cool a lot so you'll understand you can appreciate this whether you are or were not a Bible Quiz or okay my son is going through and this happens to be my day that I am quoting him and quoting him means I've got these stack of cards and and I've got stuff to get on to that I want to get done as well and he's quoting and I'm like yeah that's correct yeah it's got yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah you got it and that's what I'd say after every one that he got right good job you got it got it you got it and he quotes this one verse I'm gonna forget this and this was a few years back he's just he's a young guy at that point maybe 11 years old and and he got it maybe nailed it and I just said yeah you got it and he said but Dad and I said no you got it I'm in a hurry sister Horace I want to go on I'm like you got it three times finally he said dad I got it but I don't get it and I was like oh man could you say that one more time so I can put that in math and I'm afraid that if we're not careful we can get it we just don't get it we can quote it we just can't live it okay it's it's one thing to call yourself a disciple it's another thing to have discipline and that's the we speakers love that speakers live for the you it doesn't matter like I don't that's just funny I love I love your age demographic it's just fun spirit-led right here if I'm gonna be spirit-led so I've got to pray you know what you do this how about you write it in red change it up on us pray fast read the word memorize scripture start to be spirit let let me tell you this I need you to hear this I need every young lady I need every young man that is going to lead and here's what I'm passionate about this because while I'm teaching you you're gonna teach my kids okay if you're not willing to be spirit lead please don't be in a place of instruction of the next generation if you don't desire to have a genuine move of God and you don't desire to sincerely seek the face of God please don't get up and go through the motions because go what you find an emotion you will lose an emotion and you have got to learn how to be a disciplined individual that can be led by the Spirit of God if you're not if you think that you can be a leader in today's generation and not have to spend time and extended fasting and in deep I mean monumental earth changing shaking prayer then you are absolutely mistaken and you are signed up for the wrong thing let me talk to those of you that are music majors and you think that your gonna do music I will tell you first hand being involved in music for a long time I play multiple instruments I've led worship for long - I don't play any of those instruments good but I play them and I that I've led worship for a long time been a part of this if you think well I don't have to be as disciplined because I'm in music ministry that's a lie from hell you have to be just as led of the Spirit and our music ministers would back me up on this there are no subcategories of ministry there are no subcategories of ministry how does this help me to be effective for this generation I'm gonna tell you why the number one the number one detour from people wanting to actually make a commitment to Christianity is under the umbrella of hypocrisy the quickest go-to for anyone is they are judgmental hypocrites and if we're not leaving what if we're not living what we are preaching then we set ourselves up for a catastrophic failure from the beginning okay so number one if you're taking points you need this down if I'm gonna be a leader in today's generation to be like Christ I have got to be spirit-led okay let me tell you now going with this when you pray many of you have probably heard this but you need to hear what I said this morning about kingdom advancement the way to do that is to pray after the face of God the likeness of God we pray for the hand of God be moved let somebody pay off my school bill let somebody help me financially touch my body the hand the provision the provision to pray for the face of God is to pray the likeness of God help me to be like him they take this one step forward we we started out with this song show us your glory the reality is everybody in this room we don't understand glory we don't really preach this well in the church we don't teach this well we do not recognize glory from the front side of glory okay Moses wants to see the glory of God he ends up being hidden the cleft of the rock God shows him his hind her parts he cannot stand to see him this face-to-face understanding of the front side of glory let me break it down this way the front side of glory looks is Lazarus laying dead in a grave for four days you got to be kidding me what's that have to do with glory the whole thing Jesus shows up four days later he's so been dead so long they're saying he's gonna be stinking he steps up calls him out of the grave Ben the next day they're sitting at the table how would you love to have been with Lazarus at that table by the way for that lunch I would have loved to have been there when Jesus looks and he's like it was all for the glory of God Lazarus what did you do yesterday well I was dead you know and then he did that whole resurrection thing the reality is the front side of the glory looks like a fiery furnace the back side of the glory looks like a fourth man in the fire the front side of the glory looks like a trip towards Calvary seal side the back side of the glory is the recognition that he gets up from the grave which would really take me to the next point that there are no resurrections without deaths and we want to have powerful resurrected ministries where we walk in the power of his spirit but you don't get a resurrection style ministry without a death of your own flesh okay does that make sense and to be okay so to be spirit lead we have to understand that sometimes being spirit lead drives you into a place where you're alone it is a wilderness setting here's where you need to catch this I hope some of y'all are taking notes because this is liable to save your life and ministry at this point here there's a difference between isolation and solitude okay isolation will destroy your ministry I don't care if you've been in the ministry for 20 minutes or 20 years isolation will destroy your ministry solitude is where you're alone with God isolation is where you're alone with your thoughts you need solitude solitude is where you get alone with the Lord and you you shut up long enough to let God talk isolation is where you're feeling down and you get alone and you play depressing music and you turn on your country again and you snake and you you listen to stuff because you're feeling down and so you feed the flesh you're gonna either feed the me monster or you're gonna feed the spirit man and the Bible says that the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and you're constantly making the determining factor as to whether or not you're going to allow solitude or isolation okay if you can never spend time alone with God without having music on I would ask you to evaluate that you need to have time alone with God in solitude I'm not talking about you turn a little light something on but sometimes I don't like there to be music for a while at the altar call because let me tell you a couple of me just a couple things this alright and just trying to teach through this a little bit because at the altar call what will happen if you're not careful they will start to to do a song especially I don't like I don't like new songs at the altar cut and if y'all do it different here I'm sorry I'm just this is me I teach and I believe that when we do the altar call service it should be a song from the worship service because any visitors that are there they don't have to relearn that song it's already become a part of them during they've already break down that unfamiliarity and it's become normative in some sense to them and so in the altar call it's there however I don't like a lot of music right at the beginning of the altar call because I said this morning I believe in us having dramatic conversion and a part of that is confession and what happens a lot of time during an altar call if we immediately begin to play and sing and I appreciate the ministry of those pray singers but what can happen is that song can become the substitute for prayers that should be prayed okay and so that that can happen even in your time of prayer some of you know you got your prayer jam you know you've got like depending on the mood you're in like if you're in a black gospel mode if you're feeling like you need to turn on and you've got your certain things you go to and then if you're like in your weeping mode and you want to go just you know and and so you understand you got your different songs for your different times but the reality is if you're not careful you let those songs do your praying for you does that make sense okay and so he was drove by the spirit into the wilderness and when he's there in the wilderness he's at this place where he is being set up for temptation I love what the writer writes here you know you can feel you can feel the influence of the individuals I know that they were moved on by the Holy Ghost for the writing of Scripture I love that it says he had fasted forty days house it houses how does it say verse two look at verse 42 and when he had fasted forty days and forty nights what's it say after that huh who's got a Bible heeey yeah I was hungry it's like did you really need to write that anybody ever been trying to stretch a paper I feels like it feels like paper stretchy brother Sparks and I were talking about this earlier about writing I've got a paper due on that I need an extension but it's like if I say it out loud it's reality so I can't but pay it's like paper stretching it's like you feel that is you know this writing like glue or Matthew here he's read 40 days and he was hungry okay all right thank you powerful just in case you didn't get it all right but watch then here it comes man this is where it comes it comes when he's he's already alone he's already isolated he's already hungry it's not enough to be alone he's alone and he's hungry and how many of you get hangry when you're hungry yeah I knew I felt a witness in the spirit early in my early in my marriage I was fasting and I didn't realize my wife had picked up on this but I guess I get angry I get edgy okay it's not righteously indignant it's just ugly okay and and I walked in and she must she said something and I must have god forbid I must have responded a little sharp okay and I'll never forget what she looked at me and she goes oh you must be fasting I was like mm at which point I thought well I've ruined the fast just make me somethin D let's let's eat together didn't that sound that really are kicked it make me something woman sorry bring me the head of a pig okay so he's already here we are we got number one we got spirit-led but then the second thing so we've got him he's here he's hungry maybe he's a little hangry I don't know his response to me is almost annoying to the devil it seems it seems anti-climatic it seems different than we've been taught right we get to the the third time the resistance that get thee behind me Satan I don't know if anybody in here grew up in the little church that I grew up in we we sing this old song I command you Satan in the name of the Lord to pick up your weapons and please remember that hold on the rope on the organ wall yeah and so it's always like here's the devil curse that and he got Jesus like being led around by the devil seems really you're looking for Jesus the strong conquering but he's really giving us an answer here he's giving us an example here of how to resist on multiple fronts and on multiple levels Jesus was showing us that resistance is not determined by geography say that again so everyone catches it resistance is not determined by geography ok what do I mean by that so you can resist when you're at church but you can't resist when you're in your room so you can resist when you're at your home Church it's just that you don't resist when you're at college so you thank you so you can is it that true though aren't we geographically resistant we don't we don't do that and then like a week later you're somewhere else ok the conviction m's and flows as if somehow Christ is different convictions don't change they just wear off they just deaden ok the conviction if you get back to a strong place with God you'll find that that same old conviction is still there ok the dangerous thing is when geography changes your conviction and geography changes your commitment so number two is this it is the response to temptation okay so number one you've got to be spirit-led number two your answer must be the Word of God yours just put the Word of God is my answer if you're gonna be a leader for the Carsen that is really basic it is really basic but unfortunately even our Bible colleges we can quote more movie lines than scriptures oh brother Karsan that's not true yes it is yes it is come on can we be real can we been in youth ministry for a long time okay been doing this forever let's just be honest Lita I'm being honest with you telling you this is a real temptation of the real thing I don't walk on water you don't either okay I'm not okay you're not okay we're all just trying okay we're all just thank God for His grace and His mercy okay but I'm gonna tell you this it is hard to give an answer from a word that you only hear preached to you and you never have digested personally okay I'm gonna really challenge you with something quit treating your assignments like things you just have to check off your list you're not really after that piece of paper you're after the education there was a little resistance to that like no no I'm not no I'm not I'm after that paper I just want to be done at this point I'm thinking the paper is questionable more of a certificate person myself do we have any majors in laziness we have to let me ask you this do you think that there's any part of our reasonable service to God that would be not just doing the work but loving what we've been given the chance to have afforded to us I know you're paying I know that you've traveled I know that some of you guys have paying money to live in a stinky those of you that live in number one I walked into number one today and and God have mercy girls if you're dating somebody in number one I want you to talk to your pastor about it some of y'all need taken to the fire hydrant I'm just teasin kind of your answer has got to be the word of the Lord okay now let's let's look at this I need somebody let's go let's go Sunday school on this Sunday school okay somebody stand up and read verse four real loud stand up with your Bible or with your Bible lap and read verse four and I don't care what translation you're in unless it's a it's a mandate here thank you okay the first words there please catch that he answered okay when you know your word you're not intimidated to answer one of the things that sin entered into the world because of Adam silence I'm convinced of that hmm trying to decide I feel like Dave Norris I don't think I want to chase this rabbit trail but I'd like to right now but you got a you got to understand that you got to open up your mouth and speak what's in you okay so that's first for now I need somebody I want a young lady that'll stand up and read verse I think seven yeah let's go to verse seven come on young lady stand up and read it's on the wall even if you don't have it okay don't put him to the test don't tempt the LORD thy God KJV and KJV NIV ABCD okay and then verse verse 10 this is uh this is a wild card okay it's staggering to me how hard it is to get someone to stand up and read it Bible College thank you go ahead verse 10 serve the Lord your God and serve only him him only shalt thou serve okay everybody say my answer has to be the word let me pull the cover off of something right now whether you think you're a theology major a preaching major or not everybody in this room is called to preach everybody and I'm not just talking about being a witness to people because when we say that in the Pentecostal movement we have a tendency to blanket that and think that that means that you got to be a witness yes you do but the first person you got a witness to is yourself you've got to know how to speak the Word of God over your own life when your listen when you're pat your pastor is not going to go through your closet how weird would that be I don't know about that one okay pastor's wife gonna pull out a tape measure okay they can't come into your or not probably gonna come into your room and get onto your device and go through all of your songs and go through your accounts and look at all of your stuff your answer everything should filter through the Word of God and certainly your answer to be a leader in this generation should be a result of the word of God it is written I will tell you this it is audacious for us to think first and foremost that we can be a leader in this generation and effectively communicate to this generation the generation I'm talking about right now as the ones I've spent a lot of time setting in prison cells and in detention centers one of the worst moments in my life was setting in a Correctional Institution when a 13 year old boy looked across the table when asked what is it you really to accomplish by getting released when he looked back at me and he is not even deepened voice yet and said I'd love to be a good father to my son the world we're reaching for is gone and I'm gonna tell you right now our programs alone are not going to get the job done we are going to have to know the Word of God and the problem is listen please hear this we are not effectively reaching other people when we don't have enough word in ourselves to keep us out of trouble we don't have the answer to preach to hell on our own much less reach to other people it's one of the reasons that I always like this stand and read or turn to your neighbor and talk to each other I love watching this in the church I love doing this some of you hate when the preachers are like now turn to your neighbor and and and talk to them for a minute but I can tell you I can tell you almost instantly who in the room is so winners because if you can't talk to your brother I know you can't talk to the unsaved yeah that's a truth bomb right there some of your lay oh man now I gotta talk to my name okay so I got to be spirit led and I've got to be connected to the word tell you right now get a translation you can understand I think I'm okay right here by saying this because I've heard from the translations read there's some different translations being read here get something you can understand you got your phone now get something that will prompt you everyday to read daily okay get you in the word daily I know I'm getting really out there I'm getting far out there highlight in your Bible I don't okay well then get you a notebook all right and write down how many of you highlight already everyday something in the Word of God or weekly basis you highlight in some way okay and for those of you that are going to be preachers let me just go ahead and slip this in there while we're talking about the Bible this is not your textbook to get your next message this is your life map okay and hopefully because it's your life map and your personal devotion something will come out of it is that Alright all right now let's let's go to let's go to verse 11 we won't spend any more time on that I think you got it verse 11 I'm gonna tell you I want to tell you something that we miss sometimes here in verse 11 after this he's resisted the devil and I will tell you this if you'll be a young adult of discipline and of the word the devil will leave you okay but if he tempted Jesus multiple times in a row don't be surprised when he doesn't leave you at the first sneeze okay I just really had a good prayer that you ought to try that sometime you know and there's always that person with the napkin it's like but don't be surprised if after that ugly cry it's not a hundred percent gone it's not right it's not fair no it's it's life I know this is hard Jesus is not your genie he's not he knows what you need to go through I'm gonna tell you right now a year ago when I was voted in his youth president I went through the most horrendous sickness of my entire life the darkest day of my life is when I drew up my funeral plans and settled on my best friend I dropped forty some pounds could not swallow my throat shut down I thought for sure I went through nine or ten different procedures I thought for sure I was dying but card I was convinced I was going to die not scared of death I told my wife I am not scared to die but I am scared that my children will get bitter towards God please I beg to earth her cried and pleaded please do something to not let my children get bitter towards God now when I tell you I prayed you better hear me right now I prayed over and over and over I laid on the floor and I wept and I saw I pleaded and it took me into this process it built a message out of it where I learned about what it means to climb the mountain and what it when the Lord finally began to really respond to me it was not the answer I wanted but it was the answer I need it mm-hmm God doesn't owe you an instantaneous response and I don't want to mess with your theology but I could take you to the curve on the road where God asked me I was in the middle of this conversation this feeling sorry for myself conversation Here I am supposed to be the youth president Here I am traveling all over the world and preaching and I was talking to God but as far as I'm talking to God about it like how am I supposed to preach I can't even use my throat my throat shutting down I could take you to the curve on a country road where God said if you weren't a preacher what kind of Christian would you be I'll be honest I was thinking let's not talk about it I don't want to have this conversation because I had never evaluate it to where I would ask you right now in this place can you learn how to be consistent even when the answer doesn't come immediately some of you have had to but I promise you that it's shaping you to be able to effectively minister in the days to come I know some of you are saying so how are you feeling right now brother Karsan I'm I'm feeling close to a hundred percent better I thank God for the work that he's done in my life through this process I I thank God and my a hundred percent I'm not quite there but I think God for his healing power and I thank God for what he's done did I need that season I'm gonna tell you I hate even saying this out loud I needed that season I needed God to not answer the first time okay that's tough it's a jagged pill to swallow verse 11 here verse 11 this is when the devil leaves finally and there will be a final break there will be a final emotional breakthrough and you've got to cling that cling to that but when this happens what takes place here the devil left him and the angels came and ministered him I believe in the ministering of angels but notice this he did not find resistance and immediate ministry there was a time where he stopped and let restoration come into his body let the Angels come and minister unto him I'm gonna give you a point number three right here if you'll write this down point number three okay and this is so countercultural in the life of a young adult even in the life of a ministry minded young adult you need godly rest in your life okay I had a little bit of fun with it this morning but let me tell you this right now you want to be effective in your classes you can't play Fortnight all night you want to be effective in your classes you can't talk on the phone all night okay get on the phone with your boyfriend or your girlfriend and then you hang up I understand I understand what it's like to be a young adult okay but I will tell you this right now it's not fair I'm gonna talk to you specifically about your servant your servant roles on Sunday at your local church I'm asking you as a young adult leader to start having the integrity to get to bed at a decent hour on Saturday night what does that have to do with leading like Christ you cannot minister effectively from a tired body and a tired spirit and it's foolish it's foolish for us to think that those things are not connect if you want to be effective if you're ever going to be effective in a lead role at a church then I would ask you to really challenge how effective your being in that volunteer role right now as a college student because you you ever heard the old adage you're gonna you're gonna play the way you practice you're gonna end up being I told this guy he was playing the keyboard one time and I said man I wish I could play like that oh I still wish to this day it's been 15 years I wish I wouldn't have said it because he looked up at me and he said well if you wanted to practice like I practice you could play like I play I was like once you shut up that's not what once you just keep playing okay admit the truth though we just want to skate skate through our young adult years with stupid shirts all wrinkled tie looks a mess but the church is blessed that I choose to come here while I'm in school I make this church better coz I choose to come here because I don't know how they'd make it without my Starbucks sides don't resent it it's reality okay well I want to have a social life too I didn't get off work till 10 o'clock okay you're in a season of your life that you're determining whether or not you're a disciple or not you're determining whether or not you're going to be a good Christian leader or not and so on Saturday night you might have to cash in the social for the spiritual what is the rest have to do with spiritual well if you understand the mandate of Scripture it's got a lot to do with it okay well I just need to turn on this movie to unwind that is a false reality you want to unwind oh this is some of y'all are gonna hate this read a book then it'll help you go to sleep okay now I'm not talking about anyway just some Nicholas Sparks novel or something okay I'm not talking I felt a little of that in the room like I loved to read okay she had Alzheimer's doll duh the girls get the guys like I have no idea what he's talking about what is he time a couple of the guys are like no I get it I just don't want them to know that I find it finding godly rest okay everybody raise your raise your hand with me right now repeat after me if I'm gonna be a good leader I got to be wise with my time makes sense okay let me go a couple more and then I'll give you will decide if we're gonna break or if we're gonna what we're gonna do here okay verse verse 12 and let's tie a couple things together here verse 12 and 13 who would read who's the next person that would read verse 12 and 13 thank you dear right here in the Hat very cool hat read away 12 and 13 yep-yep-yep naphthalene very good everybody says it differents all right excellent tremendous okay let me just tell you this I'm gonna try to tie two things together just right on both for the sake of time okay because I'm not gonna take time to flesh them both out number four I'm going to tell you this if you're going to be a good spiritual leader in today's generation you're going to be a good young adult you're gonna be a good Christian leader to this generation number four you've got to be aware of your surroundings okay I don't have time to really dive into this I think you understand it without me fleshing it too far out and then let's play off of this number five they're really isolated I'm gonna let you do some of the homework on it number five he kept himself from compromising situations because that's really where I want to get from this surroundings alone remember how he learned how to deny temptation based on geography that he teaches us a handful of scriptures later one of the easiest ways to keep yourself from compromising situations is don't put yourself in the wrong place geographically in the first place but you're probably above that so let's go a little bit beyond that and let's get to you need number five one more time you didn't catch it you got to be kidding me I'm just kidding okay so number four the surrounding number number five the way we I want you to write it just say stay away from compromising stay away from compromising I want one of those essays like before two if you can one of those Dubb spirit oh stay away from compromising places let's write it that way so they'll give me long enough to talk about it okay are you guys okay on time you're doing alright you feeling okay okay compromising places even Bible College you can get yourself in a mess I had plenty of friends backslide at Bible College that doesn't happen you know it happens some of it happens when you go home over the weekend some of it happens when you go out on a date a some some of it happens when you came here to learn how to win souls but you've still not talked to anybody at the job you've worked all year long about Christ okay it's a Jekyll and Hyde thing that you're one person here one person there okay I want to talk to you about the danger of compromising places here's why we'd meet I'm thankful for what you know I'm thankful for what you're learning but I am much more interested in what you model please catch that what you model I know that you you're learning a lot but when I see people that are well educated that model poor participation in the local church it drives me crazy or they know how to preach I know this is probably being recorded right okay I'm gonna look at the camera and I'm gonna tell the camera it drives me crazy when people are amazing on the platform but they're arrogant in the pew okay what's that have to do with compromising situation some of us the best thing that we could do is change the people we hang out with you will never a you were never a person that was arrogant until you got into that group you were never a person that acted that way until you started dating them it has compromised your Christianity and you don't even know it I don't know why if anything that starts like this I don't know if your face has to tear up okay evaluate what it is that's triggering you we can all fall prey to this okay when Jesus begins to move forward from this time he begins to move forward he begins to assess the situation he's very aware he was led by the spirit into the wilderness the problem is we start we love it because of the teaching aspect he's led by the spirit into the wilderness yada yadi it didn't mean that he ceased to be led by the Spirit it's just that they don't have to say it every scripture in front of it okay once you decide that's number one I'm going to be led by the spirit then being led by the spirit becomes a prerequisite to everything else being led by the Spirit is not for altar calls it's for lifestyle okay and it includes the surroundings and the people and the company and the areas I go and the things that I do let me tell you one of the things that you need to evaluate it I know that your college students and I know that above college you're in Bible College I'm emphasizing that for a little bit of humor tonight I know but the truth is you're still just normal you got normal hormones you got regular things you're dealing with some of you are just in places that you're for the first time in your life you've got freedom and that's just awesome your parents were just so strong and you never got alone and now you're in a place where you can sit your room up however you want you know all four square feet you're able to do whatever you want you know you've got to be careful that your external surrounding match your internal being does it make sense because eventually the to mirror each other if you're if you are prone some of you in here you know you're prone to negativity I don't want you to raise your hand just don't okay but some of you and here you're know that you're prone to be pessimistic you are a glass half empty person you just know it if somebody and some of you in here are obnoxious li+ how's it going it's going great why are you smiling smiling is my favorite you just you get it you're just don't worry those who don't get it can't be offended and if you do get it you don't have the right to be so put you on blast right now the truth the truth is that you have to identify what kind of personality you have does that make sense identify the post nine and then you've got a guard your surrounding so if you know you're a pessimistic person make sure that your surrounding doesn't set you up to be negative okay open the window if you're prone to depression get the sad music they come in and you're just laying in the bed and they got asked you like three times and you slide you why are you crying just is just get amongst living things all right guard your surroundings here's why I don't want you to model to the generation coming after you that Apostolic is only internal okay apostolic bleeds over we think that apostolic stops with our clothing Apostolic means that you also identify your surroundings with that let me take that one step forward you won't go to a church if you do get offered a position you won't go based on the finances your based on you go based on the being led of the Spirit whether it's able to support you financially or not you go because you're being the surroundings that you're allowing yourself into or determined by the fact that you're led by the spirit and you're trying to be led by Christ okay I'm gonna go forward okay I got to do this for young adults we're gonna get in QA let's just do that kind of thing tonight that if you got to go to the bathroom you just slip out while we're talking type deal okay let's let's let's do this and I'll try to do this fast here cuz girls you want me to do this next point okay sorry verses 14 through 17 just kind of skim read it just just do that kind of reading if you ever have to do reading for an assignment and they say did you read it all so you could be like uh-huh okay that may be so nice about saying the lantern a person who's you know the people who defend the time that's okay yeah I read it let me tell you this number six if you'll write this down if you're going to be a leader in today's generation please catch this you've got to be bound by your word you know why Jesus can't lie because he's bound by his word and we've heard all kinds of preachers well because if he says it it becomes true Jesus is not like just randomly changing his mind all the time coming up a new stuff but he's bound by his word we can go to example after example in the Gospels where Jesus gets up and he gets in conversation from the Old Testament because he was the Old Testament word and he became the flesh of the New Testament everything about the word was what Christ was bound to he was bound to the Word of God he gave us an example because while I told you earlier that your answer is the word now I'm going to change that and tell you that if you are a Christian now I know we get it in big tin right we get in the big 10 thou shalt not lie right okay we know that but now let's get into the young adult not so elementary version of this if he tells you that he's gonna pick you up at 7 and he's not there at 7 so I'm coming in a second over there if he tells you he's gonna be there at 7 but it's been about 3 times in a row and every time he tells you he's gonna be there at 7 he shows up about 17 or 7:15 or he texts you at 7:20 and says I'm still running late but I'll be that's a character flaw you better key in on he how is he gonna respect your word when he doesn't even respect his own some of you are like calm down call me come calm down you got you were doing ok then you got real carried away with the whole thing ok all right let me let me let me let me come in a little come on I'm gonna help you out okay I'm gonna help you out okay I'm gonna come to you now okay when she I'm gonna help you out I'm gonna okay listen okay number one I hope she's not picking you up okay I feel like I need to go back over there for a second okay let me tell you about her word okay if she is crazy emotional and she loves you today but she hates you tomorrow and then she loves you the next day the inconsistency of her words speak to a fracture in her spirit and unless you want a lifetime of that you ought to run for the hills right now one of the no don't don't clap you're clapping inside one of the biggest mistakes I see amongst young adults right here is this word thing it's one of the biggest fractures and we think it has nothing to do with being leaders and we think it has nothing to do with being Christianity because we want the solo and we want the fiery five and we want the pulpit but when the pastor asks us to teach Sunday School we say we'll be there but then we don't show up and we sending some lousy excuse because our word is really only tied to what elevates us let me tell you let me tell you this word this word thing it's oftentimes tied to this relational the reason I went to this guy and girl thing immediately this stage of life can feel very much like you're only validated if you're in a relationship okay you know it's true did you know they're talking like that can get through the whole college like no they're not I saw Orange Leaf together were there I was driving by on 59 I wasn't spying but the spirit pulled me over I didn't go towards CC's it took me the other way you know I always go to cc's but the other way and I ended up and when I drove through I've just I felt towards Orange Leaf I didn't know if it was my spirit or my stomach but I I went by and I looked and she reached over and got some out of his yogurt some y'all like God could that happen to me could you just somehow if she'll pay for it we'll have yogurt tonight but I watch this I watched so much weightiness be put on the relational value let me give you something here okay on this whole word thing the picture the picture of the church and the relationship with God is built on the relational value of husband and wife that's why I'm not a real big fan of dating and I'm a fan on courtship and I'd love to talk to you about that but we don't have the time tonight I will tell you this if they're not marrying material they're not dating material whatever that is dating material now if you just want some scars and some bad stories go ahead okay let me tell you let me promise you if you'll get this right love just not happy I feel like if I could get into relationship if you're not happy alone you won't be happy single I mean you won't be happy in a relationship if you're not happy if you're not happy because if you don't have this right you're like I'm gonna I'm gonna date her or I'm gonna date him and then I think we'll both be happy if you're both miserable by yourself okay two unhappy people together it's like compound unhappiness okay you're not magically happy because you get in a relationship because now it's your problem and their problem okay what is this what is this keeping my word thing really have to do with it I'm telling you as a young adult if you will learn that what you say let me give you a little this little nugget okay because some of you're gonna be tasked any of you teach Sunday School at the church you're involved in Sunday school okay so any of you you end up planning little things for kids and you tell him next week we're going I can still remember I'm 37 years old and I can remember when I was about 7 years old something like that and the teacher told us the next week that we were taking a trip to a foreign country at Sunday school I was so listen now there again narrative it was powerful 37 years old I can remember this thirty years later I was just a little kid and we showed up the next and she marched us into the other center and and she set us down on this pretend airplane and she told us to buckle in and and and she acted like she was first airplane I'd ever been on and and how we took this trip you know and and we and when we land she had these different foods from where our global mission and talked to us about these missionaries and we ate it and I I went home talking about it I looked forward to that all week long okay can I tell you this that if you're a Sunday school teacher and you tell that kid even though you think they're only five six seven years old if you tell them something and then next week you decide that you just you just wanted to go home instead of coming in and serving at that local church and you think it doesn't matter you have the ability to still life time memories from some little kid who's been looking forward to you showing up and being faithful your word and your faithfulness are tied together does that make sense okay so be a man of your word be a woman of your word okay those of you that think it's cool to sleep through Chapel those of you that think that it's okay to skip your music class those of you that think that I don't need to go to choir because I'm tired it's Tuesday those if you made a commitment I know it seems minimal to you but stick with it those of you that are thinking you told your pastor you were gonna commit to four years at Texas Bible College but now you're finding out college is a little harder than you wanted it to be and you're thinking I'd kind of like to cash out on that funny paper thing earlier if it was important then make it important now okay I echo what he said earlier I've only heard people that left earlier say that they wish they would have stayed in take it from somebody who went on step now I I didn't I can say in fairness I never went in thinking I was gonna go for four years upfront education was not pushed that way in my family it wasn't it wasn't but I left college went on staff at a church and spent years going back to school I've been in school as long as I can remember to be honest I'm still in school I've been in school as long as I can remember I believe in the power of knowledge and education but try to be a man try to be a woman of your word I think that we've exhausted that that point okay let me give you one last point and and I'm not even going to be labor it because I want to get to some QA you read the read the rest of that chapter we won't do it but read the rest of the chapter you'll see that Jesus is putting people around him well I talked about your physical surroundings and I've alluded to it a little bit and the cliques that we can hang out with you need a team of influencers you need somebody and so the last point number seven if you just put this on on this okay okay you need a team of influencers you need a team of influencers okay because nobody else in here is Christ I know you're trying to be like Christ and and we want to be like him my best friend is more spiritual than me okay my best friend is a guy named Erin bounds we've been best friends for a long time I think he's more spiritual than I am I'm very upfront about that okay I'm okay with that he's more spiritual than me and he helps me okay he calls me about messages I call him about messages but most of the time when we talk were just talking about life he makes me want to be better you need people in your life that can be like that is stupid what are you talking about you're acting dumb right we do not like that like that's not a good friend that's a great friend that's a great friend who can be like how are you gonna be a missionary when you don't even have the guts to live right you need that some of you are like I don't want a friend like that no you need a friend like that you need a friend some of you guys that lift weights in any of their any guys here that lift weights just help me out some of you a lot of you looked at me like okay let's change this up some of you guys that like doughnuts you need a you need somebody that is a positive motivator okay you need somebody that helps you out listen some of you guys how many of you help me out young men or young ladies how many of you you know you're called to preach your gonna be a preacher okay okay now listen to me you need a friend that's close enough to you that can be like that doesn't make sense I'm gonna tell you that stings right now I was telling I was telling him about a message not too long ago we're talking through it he's like I said you know what I mean and he went no I was like yeah yeah you know we always think we have this deep revelation but the revelation is so deep that you're the only one that gets it it might not be a revelation it might have been the pizza you ate the night before okay and I explained it again I was like no no look at the numbers and you see how they like this means this okay fine you need people in your life through constructive criticism that can help you to be great all right so let's pause let's take this okay trying to leave like Christ God and help these points to somehow get in their heart I want to do a little Q&A now some of y'all are gonna go there is such a variety of leadership roles styles how many of you feel like you're gonna be called into youth ministry or you feel a calling already awesome you know why I got into youth ministry can I tell you that story real quick and we'll start asking questions I was 16 years old I showed up to my local church one night came in the back doors and we did this deal my youth pastor did this most likely to voting list has anybody ever done this in your youth group they vote on most likely to be like you know a musician most likely to be a singer most likely to be a loser for the rest of their life most likely to live in their mom's basement most likely and we did this whole thing most of them were positive and I pressed in and guys I was like any other guy showed up guys we really only care if we made the list somewhere it's like guys photos we just like photos that were in and I showed up and I there's this crowd gathered around and I was like oh they drop the list so I'm pressing it I'm 16 years old and and everyone's focused around and I'm trying to get up through the crowd and I finally get up through the crowd and there's the book laying there and when I get in it I go over just to see and finally I see it there it is Josh Carson and I found now peers all the kids in the youth group had voted on this and I followed Josh Carson over I go backwards like I'm reading another most likely to be a youth pastor I remember standing there frozen because while it was just some list I had never considered being in youth ministry but that whole power of life and death and the tongue thing that tongue got under written word and when I when I saw that all my peers thought I had the potential it set me on a track to be in youth ministry I'm in my 19th year of youth ministry and I trace it back to the result of that moment when I was just a kid and some of my peers said that I don't think I would have ever got into youth ministry if it wasn't for that moment okay and so for those of you that are gonna be in youth ministry I think it's awesome any ministry you're gonna be in I want to do some Q&A stuff let's talk about real fears real challenge is how do you deal with style scenarios I'm not gonna tell you I have every answer anybody that's dealing with anything anything anything I want to go into some Q&A I don't know if we need to moderate this or if this is okay anybody have any questions he has a microphone so you're gonna get to sneak a preach just kidding he's spilling something right now that's how it starts really that's laughing spirit let that go somebody put a handkerchief out just get questions let's go let's do let's ask some questions well since I have the mic question hey you thought oh so when you said about getting friends in a more spiritual than you or in the whatnot are you more spiritual than any of your friends yeah most of them no I'm just kidding she just set that up so well I would I would say yes I would say I probably am because and let me tell you why I think anything that stays a life has stuff flowing in and flowing out and as a natural result of that the you know the reason that things die our bodies of water die is because they cease to flow out and so if you're going to be effective as a disciple you're also going to be in the disciple inge process you're going to be mentoring other now there is a difference between being a friend you know when you look at Christ this is a great question so let me try to answer it thoroughly Christ had this time where he was in the crowd and he had his time when he was in the disciples we can get we can mess this up sometimes because we think that crowds equals significance but Christ really did most of his best teaching in small crowds okay the ability one of a national mega pastor recently said some words you know if I could go back I would never have a mega church I would have had many many small churches because of the ability to build relational value so while you can have a lot of people around you a lot of friends quote unquote and I'm not talking about Facebook friends but I'm talking about people around you that you can you have relational there are gonna be a handful that are close to you now I will tell you this friends that you're more spiritual than them anyone you let in to what we'll call the the inner circle the intimate circle the bubble you don't want anybody that is a ranked sinner in your intimate circle okay I know that that's tough for some of us now they can be a part of your community a part of your contacts a part of the people but if they're going to be one of your close friends somebody in that Siple I would say you're gonna always have people that are more spiritual and you're gonna have some that are less spiritual that brings validation to the friendship whereas while you're connected to them then they're gonna have people in their circle that are a little less spiritual than them that's kind of the process and the way it flows so is it wrong for you to have friends that are less spiritual than you I think it's probably wrong if you don't have some friends better let I mean I don't know how we actually grade spirituality or or that walk you know that would get into a judgmental place but I think it's probably a given that you're gonna have friends around you that maybe they're not as spiritual as you but what they're doing is they're being affected and they want to be close to you in my travels I constantly have young people or young adults that say I need a mentor where you mentor me I have to have integrity to say I can't mentor you because I'm at capacity with a number of people I can mentor I'm at capacity with my travel with my schedule and so that I don't try to turn it into this situation where it's constantly flowing out those people you're gonna have people in your life that you're mentoring or disciple those are gonna be different than your friends your friends are you're gonna glean from them and they're gonna glean from you but yes it is gonna happen but if they're in your intimate circle I believe they need to be a spiritual person otherwise I don't think they should be in your inner circle another thank you a Reverend Carson she's gonna trust you with the mic two questions one what's your sermon prep and two I push I tell them that you get their masters so why did you go back and get your masters okay do you have a preference in how I answer those okay okay I hope that's a given I I went back to get my masters I went back to get my masters first of all because it was a convenience because I'm living in st. Louis it's convenient for me to do it based on time but probably because I'm a father of four and I'm trying to set a precedent for my children I don't speak in anything less than a master's degree in my home my kids don't we don't speak in a way that they have an option of getting less education than their masters in my home that's the way we speak because I'm trying to establish that bar of excellence and I think it's tough to try to speak a bar that you're unwilling to work for yourself and so that's why I've done it now secondary today I guess that's first and second so tertiary would be the education the educational value which I'm very much appreciate now the fourth value that's come as a result the this excellence that's kind of a part of number three this learning more being equipped with my with an understanding and a knowledge of the word the fourth thing that has become something I promote for me personally people look at me and I've had this question you don't what why you know you can't get what level are you trying to get to your the night is no youth president why are you going after a master's program what it has done for me that I did not plan on is when you're working on your master's work and some of your your teachers are even in this process right now of accomplishing a master's degree and they have found out when you're working on that work you cannot worry about the other work and so for me that I live in youth ministries what that is when I have to hone in on schoolwork I don't have time from mind to be bogged down with the other thing so it's taught me a disciple or discipline even in a new level of study you know the Bible says study to show thyself approved a workman that needeth not to be ashamed and and while I've been trying to do this studying as a part of through number three that I said the tertiary point there this fourth attribute has come along with it okay that it's been a when people think man it fogs me down mentally for me it's become a mental release from the other weights and worries so that makes sense number five I would just tell you this I want that piece of paper we talked about okay and then sermon prep you asked me about sermon prep I for me I'm given to narrative ninety whatever percent is based out of a narrative in Scripture it's based on a story it's based on something that happened okay almost I feel like sermons will come and should come from devotion I don't think that you do devotion for sermons I think that devotions come or sermons come out of devotion okay so my sermon prep starts with my daily devotion it starts with my Bible reading and a thought will come now I do that because both when I was on the local level and now that I'm on the national level I don't like for preaching to be reactionary a lot that's why I'm so strong on curriculum in the local assembly okay I don't like for teaching to be reactionary let me let me tell you the difference between proactive and reactive reactive is like you know you had two teenagers that got caught making out and so this week you really feel like you need to teach about lust that's reactive teaching okay whereas proactive or lessons that have been established as a part of devotion same thing about when you're when you're prepping so it starts out of devotion when I get into that I try to get I mean dive into the narrative for the sparks for me since you asked about my sermon prep I will I will live in that set of scriptures for a while I will take that set of scriptures and I will it'll become like a that I start putting stuff into and I turn it on low because it's going to process for a while I'm not real big on like okay I come up here's my topic and you guys do topical preaching but okay so here's my topic let's find a text that works with this topic and start building text toward this topic very rarely do I build something that way because most of the time the scripture is feeding the topic rather than the topic you know drawing it it's just the way that I do it so I begin to draw through whatever the scripture is and then I'll begin to study I love a free online resource if you're doing a lesson if you're doing a a sermon whether it's a fiery five or you're preaching for Chapel or Vespers or something like that if you don't loot use blue letter Bible on on line blue is it blue letter is it kamar org blue letter bible calm or blue letter you can you can get in you can use the tools functionality on there you can look at the Greek or the Hebrew you can look at all the way sometimes you know we got to be careful that we don't take the KJV or whatever it is and we just preach it there we we have some messages in the Pentecostal church that if we're not careful we preach scripture out of context real bad okay and we think that it's okay because people are being touched by the spirit you got to remember that God used to donkey in Scripture too you don't necessarily that just because he did doesn't mean you get to choose to be one okay that's part of the whole studying to show yourself approved okay we talked about a balm in Gilead is there let's not do this I don't want to example anything in case there's been recent message study to make sure you know what the scripture is saying I'll say it that way okay study it in you don't need listen to this for sermon prep you don't need to pull a rabbit out of the hat because the Bible is big enough for itself the Bible is big enough for itself and the Bible doesn't need your life experience to make it better okay we oftentimes and I'll see this a lot with young preachers they find a great illustration and then they want to put their bible scriptures around it like you're never gonna boy this story and then we start finding scriptures to support the evidence realistically you find illustrations to go with text not scriptures to go with illustration okay so I try to never do that everything starts with me on the foundation of the scriptural text upon the narrative or whatever now there is the random that I'm doing just a topic but almost a hundred percent even if I feel drawn towards a topic I'm gonna find a narrative to attach to it and so then I begin to study that I'm I start my sermon prep based on the let me just say it this way I was recently on an airplane and and when I was on the airplane there was a tire that had messed up and so they had to change the tire before we took off the people on that plane were like I mean they were grumbling all around me I'm like hey I want to land you know what I mean everyone's grumbling like I can't believe that guy change his tire and if we're not careful in preaching the same thing we're all concerned about soaring but no one's thinking about landing okay so you've got to start your prep based on your ending okay Jerry Jones who was here before I think he would tell you on homiletics that you know you you you really guard where you put your major point in a message I would tell you for all of you young preachers you really need one major point one major point no one can process like four points and I know it used to be the thing here's point number one I'm gonna give you a point one point two point three if you're gonna do that I'm just gonna tell you there needs to be one umbrella point because the average person cannot handle more than one point to walk away with some of your like some of your like I don't care so my sermon prep is built on that ending it's built on one major point today my only desire when I preached in here today I preached it probably about nine minutes longer than I wanted to but my major overarching point was I've been bitten but I believe and if you're not going to overemphasize your title over and over again why do you have one okay if your title is only meant to impress you okay but it's not actually the point of your if you're gonna have a title make it the point of what you're doing otherwise just be like I'm gonna preach some random thoughts today and hopefully you shot a couple times does that make sense and I'm gonna get in more of those of you that are in homiletics tomorrow I'm gonna kind of get into more a little bit about talking through it so but I built it on that major point and then I try to build eight I try to be funny a lot that's my personality at the intro I try to connect a lot sometimes I can't because of the topic but I try to be funny throughout try to draw some relational value and try to think about the landing so I don't know if that answer I've tried to yeah right here here catch this she was ready to he's gonna hold so you're you're somebody that travels often and you're involved in a lot of things you probably have a lot of weight on your shoulders going back to godly rest avoiding burnout and things like that and being passionate because you see evangelist going and like and I always wonder how do they how do they stay passionate about what they're doing and so just what does godly rest look like for you and maybe some more practical advice about that for all we are thank you so much for asking that's a just tremendous question probably my and I've read I think almost all the books on it my favorite book on the topic for me is leading on empty Wayne Cordeiro something that was anybody that's in ministry you need to read that book if you haven't read that leading on empty I'm talking all of our teachers and professors to male female if you have not read leading on empty please make that a part of your reading even if in your in a master's program even if you're busy in your reading but I would encourage all of our young adults to read that as well for the preemptive tools I will tell you a part of the way that I do that and stay balanced I would rather be a dad than have this platform my most I'd rather be a hero at home than a preacher on a pulpit for a bunch of people if I fail at home and I win here then I've lost and I'm good with that my favorite time is wrestle time with my kids being at home that's the way I stay grounded now the way that I make sure that I don't get burnout is there are two people in my life that have veto power over my calendar I turned my calendar into them at the first of the year I turn it into them December January and they see my calendar for the entire year and they have the power beyond me to cross things off my calendar mm-hmm I can't I and just by nature I do most of my my camps my conventions years at a time I've given their years out I've given verbal commitments but if the two people with veto power in my life look at my calendar and say you're not supposed to do this I don't like your your you can handle this this isn't good for you then I am committed to call that district leadership and tell them I'm unfortunately unable to make this meeting you know why because I need people that give restraint and guard my schedule here's another reason my wife and 17 almost years of marriage has never told me not to go my wife has never asked me not to do something okay now I'm married superwoman in some aspect of that raising kids coaching quizzing teaching at the church she's a very strong lady she's a godly apostolic lady but the fact that she's able to let me go more easily is more about her personality than it is anything else some are tempered and their temperament and their personality is a little bit different but because her personality is as such I recognized years ago that I needed these people in my life to do that the way I also guard being gone during the week like coming here this is a special burden for me to come to our colleges and have connection with the next generation of leaders it is an anomaly for me to be gone through the week I try to never travel two weekends in a row which is very hard in my position but I try to never miss two Sundays in a row for the last two Sundays and our local church I've been the guy leading worship service people are so surprised when they see that or they come to me brother Davis knows he he's you know seeing that at the sanctuary and they say I can't believe that you they show up and they're in in town maybe they're on one of the boards and they they want to come to Wednesday night service the sanctuary and they see us there you're there like you go to Wednesday night church well yeah I'm Christian okay sometimes that we think position is a prerequisite to be an elevated above what it means some things are blessings some things are additional but some things are reasonable service faithfulness to church so how I guard my time how I guard my mind I will tell you that I have been guilty at times of giving too much okay too much serotonin is lost learning off of adrenaline doing too many things too many things and that's where I have to have the wisdom I will tell you that prayer and fasting will reground me I recently and I'm just I'm not gonna tell you when or what there's no glory in it for me but I recently came off the longest fast in my entire life and the reason that I i gave such a long stretch of time to fasting was that denial of the flesh to remind to myself and and get to this TrueNorth scenario that if i'm not spirit lead nothing on the calendar matters okay and then my best friend is not my best friend is actually not that veto person because we may be so close relationally that he might even at times excuse my calendar because he also travels so it's extensively i think one of the biggest things for me though is making sure that i'm home i like to be at dinner with my kids i like to be there through that's how i guard my rest my guard my rest by guarding my calendar yeah i think you already kind of hit on this with the last question but given that we're all planning on going into ministry what are some like practical ways that you manage your time between being a dad being a youth pastor being a teacher being a student yeah yeah sure very good I try to be structured I try to be disciplined with my time I I try to be honest about everybody in here has a different personality I've done the personality testing as maybe many of you have some of you are rambunctious you're spontaneous some of you and that would be more of an orange let me talk about the colors has anybody ever done color personality testing okay so you know what I'm talking about a little bit here so orange is like you're ready to go like you want to go climb a mountain let's do let's go do you want to jump out of a plane let's do that why well I woke up and it sounded fun I saw a commercial and I was like oh let's do okay so that's orange green is like analytical your best alone you want to solve a problem a lot of times those are your CPAs or your money people they're gonna dive in analytics then there's the Gold's that you need everything in structure you can even become OCD about things and if there's a change to structure you're like oh they didn't put the shoes in the right place and if they don't put the shoes in the right place I don't know that and then there's the blues the blues are like cinnamon all you need everyone to be happy because you need to be happy it's like this emotional and so my primary naturally is the orange guy like I walk in I'm like wow let's go okay but I've adapted traits along the way and learned traits along the way of gold blue is probably somewhat natural to me I want to have a structured staff but I want to have a staff that has really good camaraderie and working relationship and so to get back to that on your question what I have to do is I have to recognize the areas of strength and build on those and I have to recognize areas of weakness and compartmentalize correctly so I try to structure I have a shared calendar with my wife everything that goes on my calendar my wife can see everything that goes on her calendar I can see okay because just as important as it is for me to have that 9:00 a.m. meeting it's just as important for her to have that that obligation at my child's school at 6:00 p.m. and if you're going to be in ministry it's not the will of God for the man to do the church stuff and the woman to raise the kids that is not the will of God so the way that I come part mentalize and the way that I do that is to be as structured as I can with my spouse to have healthy communication it's always been the same 99% of frustration is the result of a breakdown in communication so I try to be as structured as possible without structuring so tight that I cannot have a little bit of area to be orange I don't want to be so bogged down that I cannot flourish in what my natural personality is I don't know if that helps but so I try to use the tools for structure through work I use things like Basecamp it's a software it's a task management I may get too far into this I try to use the right tools to be as diligent and as processed I wear google out Google will keep you organized it'll allow you to file share some of you that every time you go to write a paper you can't find any of your old stuff I'm not reading it again okay if you'll be organized even if it has to be a learned trait learn to be organized and then you have those files there work smarter not harder okay so plays out in my life right here second row just like kind of going back to this I know we keep saying that but so Jesus had this season where he was in the wilderness I guess personally how long was your wilderness season and what did that look like for you what are some things that you did before you stepped into the ministry that you have now and and what were some feelings that you went through depression isolation rejection fear trepidation yep those anybody battle those brother Karsan you were never depressed yep yep truthfully I've went through I've went through seasons of unexplainable fear about things that there was no logical reason for what's going on in my mind anybody ever have that like I do think that there's just times that you deal with this because it helps your empathy let me tell you this about my sickness suffering through that sickness gave me a level of empathy for people that are sick like I could have never had without that season does that make sense so being single I dealt with the same things that you deal with the same thing it doesn't matter male or female it doesn't matter you deal with those feelings and I'll be honest I what I was saying earlier when I said you know you prayed and nothing happened it took a long time to recognize that God still uses wounded people okay when he when he healed that that man from the country of gadarenes remember that guy that was possessed with Devils what was that guy doing cutting himself you know just like cutters today some of in a crowd this size some of you in here have along the way you cut yourself at some point trying to release endorphins what happens is you feel you're numb everywhere else that brings feeling the same spirits that were in that demoniac that day this is do a Bible study here this is really great one of those spirits do what did those spirits ask for when Jesus called him out anybody remember this you're in a bad day when you're like please put me in a pig you know you're subject to God but what did they do they asked to be put in swine then what did they do they ran off a cliff they ran off the cliff and died you know what we never talked about that guy was filled with a legion of suicidal spirits that's the truth we never identify what those spirits were they were spirits of suicide that's why I think that that guy was one of the strongest guys like unto even Samson in the Bible we never give him credit for but he lived with a legion of devils for I'm not sure how long that everyday tried to convince him to kill himself but the reality is when Jesus showed up he was still alive for the time that the breakthrough finally came and while jesus healed him the next day he's clothed and in his right mind the reality is still that underneath that clothing were the scars of that previous hurt you need scars scars remind you I had the strength to make it when I couldn't get resolved scars remind you once you see them I made it so the the true the of it is you're going to deal with times that you're hurting you're gonna deal with times that you're isolated you're gonna deal with time in this room right now this many kids there are numbers of students in here that have thought about suicide are you kidding me absolutely some of you that's unfathomable some of you're like doesn't even make sense remember back to those four personalities there's different personalities that are more prone to be given to it mentally to think about and to entertain that's why you gotta be careful what you entertain mentally you got to be careful that music stuff I was talking about we laugh about it but you've got to be careful what you entertain because it creates an environment a surrounding where certain things are more conducive you know mold grows in certain environments okay okay so I don't know if that helps but I dealt with those things and and some of it is it's just part of ministry I think you learned how to deal with certain periods of isolation certain periods of aloneness because it equips you on how to respond the first thing you have to learn how to respond to during those moments of hurt is responding to yourself okay you have to learn and identify your triggers the things that cause you depression the things that cause you and different people are more prone to those things okay these are great great questions yeah hi so like we all have ups and downs sure so like let's say like you know you one person like started to you know you read the word and you'd pray every day you prioritize that and you did that for a long time and you just you were so focused on living right and doing better but then maybe through battles in your life you you get defeated and you're like and you just stop doing it as much as you were you're not as consistent and eventually fall over it's like it's hard to get back where you were what's a group good like the best way to get back on track and get back to being the person you need to be yeah I would think that that best friend really makes that happen that accountability person okay well let me answer that by telling you who your accountability partner should not be first everybody in this room should have an accountability partner somebody that helps you a lot of times that can be your best friend but when that's your best friend they need to be spiritual okay let me give you something else if you're dating someone they're not your accountability partner oh my god have mercy they're not your account of it well we just help each other no you don't that's great I'm glad you do but they're not your accountability partner you need a real close friend that your accountability partner that's how I would do it somebody that helps you to challenge okay another way the practical things you need things that go off in the days of modern technology do you have a cell phone yeah is it a flip phone no okay so if can you do you have a calendar on it you don't okay well then you might have to have something else that you can whether it's your email if you're on that daily or whether you go old-school and you put post-its up in somewhere that you go if the first place you walk every morning is to the mirror in the bathroom or if it's you get up and you stretch at a certain place you need to put notes that remind yourself to be intentional every day you understand I'm saying I have to start the day this way if you want to start every day those of you that lean towards negativity it wouldn't be a bad idea if you set an alarm on your phone to go off at the same time every day that said say something positive to yourself oh brother Karsan that's like self-help stuff that's like so no that's biblical that's encouraging yourself in the Lord it's creating an atmosphere so when it comes to building consistency the way to do it is to help empower yourself eliminate roadblocks by eliminating distractions and either set alerts or put up post-its and then have someone in your life that helps hold you accountable like I said the person that can send me an you're acting stupid you need somebody that can ask you like on a daily basis are you doing this now one of the old-school methods that still really works for preachers is a journal log where every day you have I had a buddy I went to school with and every day when he was going to bed at the end of the day he had to sign his name next to a statement did I fulfill my responsibilities as a minister today and he was brutally honest he had days where it was signed in days where it was empty I was like bro you're in dance you know I was dumb and young and him but realistically you have to I see now what he was doing he was setting practical for me I was going the friend Avenue because my orange personality it lent itself towards friends more than it did that so you've got to base it on who you are got to be honest about that and and and I think the number one way is to find out how accountability works for you but you've got to build that routine you got to do it for at least 14 days in a row if you can do 14 days in a row it'll become a part of the fabric of who you are make sense just different books are gonna have different numbers but I think if you can do it for two weeks straight you can do it yes here I got a mic Oh was it you cuz you're talking about countability when you're married is that person's your accountability partner they are naturally because you become one flesh and so but they become a part of your integrity so yeah you're accountable to your spouse that's a that's a given you're accountable to your spouse you don't hide things I don't keep any there's no there's no pass codes on any devices I have that my wife doesn't know but for that there's no pass codes my kids don't know that's another whole topic but anyway but yeah so they are a part of your accountability but it's like but it's like you're keeping things from your if you keep things from your spouse you keep things from your spouse you keep them from yourself I mean if you keep something from your wife or your husband you're keeping it from yourself according to the Bible because these two become one flesh question okay so sometimes in ministry you have to counsel people who are older than you how do you go about that without like offending or like I don't know like I just seems like it would be kind of weird to me and the age and experience I don't know yeah I have dealt with that many times I'll never forget I was had not been married real long and I sat down to counsel a and and because I'm not a licensed counselor I start just because we're on this topic I start every counseling session with I am NOT a licensed counselor but I just feel like we need to say that in a setting like this be careful when we talk about counseling that you know that and they know that and that's on the record but I had to I had to do some ministry counseling for a couple that was in their 60s and I felt grossly unqualified but I stood on what I had been taught and that's what I'll tell you prayer and fasting changes your ability number one you walk into anything on the foundation of being spirit-led the number two thing on the Word of God as long as you stay in the Word of God you're okay because it's not based on your maturity it's BAE on his and his is infinite okay the next thing on this on this fasting fasting people say what is fasting do for you fasting changes the way you see yourself it does a lot of my friends that are peers that are in pastoral roles and I myself when I was in a pastoral role you just naturally have to lead people that are older than you that's why it's important that you're given to prayer and fasting because when you're generally genuinely given to prayer and fasting it will also allow you to have a spirit of meekness and humility when you get into situations like that you don't have to be right to prove that you're right your job and your goal is to prove that Scripture has answers does that make sense now while we can help with some practical tools that we learn really the goal is and this is the greatest day I was recently in a master's course on counseling and I'm gonna tell you I've learned the greatest get-out-of-jail for my mind and for my spirit ever I wish I would have had it years ago so you're getting a gift right now that you maybe already knew you're not the counselor this is what the licensed counselor just told me I said I am NOT a counselor he is the wonderful counselor I am the facilitator between them and the wonderful counselor I was like you're awesome where were you and that's the truth when you have to deal with something that's older than you if you go in there's a difference between arrogance and confidence that's like a life lesson there's a difference between arrogant you cannot be arrogant but you've got to be confident okay so be confident but not in yourself in the Word of God your prayer your fasting your studies whether scholastic and/or biblic or both if that's fine through scholarly study that will be a help to you but when you recognize and identify my job is not to make them better my job is to really get them into communion with the only one who can make them better then you don't have to be intimidated by your age be you're aware of him in his relational value your you will be about the facilitating process does that help does that make sense okay no one the darling over here yes so how do you connect and open the opportunity to speak into the lives of young people and kind of like break that barrier of I guess resistance that could come through them I mean I guess in youth ministry through young people how do you connect with them yeah that's a tremendous question I'll tell you I'll tell you this I think that that ministry occurs because of relational bridges makes let me explain what I mean by that if you build a relationship with someone you can more effectively minister to them one of my one of my favorite students was an atheist for a long time came for a long time because he was an atheist I mean even though he was an atheist because his family kind of made him come they were not raised in the church they came to a church the only reason that he came is because I would go and set in prison with him what are you getting out of that brother Karsan I was just I was just trying to build relational value I knew nothing about hockey but the kid liked hockey he had made some poor choices that landed him in a Correctional Facility he set in a concrete block for a long time and I was the one adult that would go on a regular basis and set in a concrete block with him and try to let him talk I believe that we have biblical proof Hanna that the greatest validation of a person is in their voice so I try my very bit that's why I love sessions like this to let you ask questions that a lot of times we don't ask to people we might not get to talk to is because the validation that really comes through you as your voice remember what I said I think sin entered the world because Adam didn't open up his mouth and talk what was the what was the separation that happened in the Old Testament at the Tower of Babel when God confounded their languages they start going imagine that scenario where you look at someone and you're just having a conversation and all of a sudden you're talking and like don't talk about combo and you're like yeah you'd look she looked at me like are you okay and all of a sudden they're confounded and then in the New Testament he changed he uses this diversity of tongue to bring them back together we have scripture after scripture that proves that God chooses the tongue to validate the body well he doesn't relationally through people so what I try to do Hannah is I try to be one of the adults in their life that will actually listen I've traveled everywhere telling youth pastors if you like to listen as much as you like to talk you'd probably have a better youth group my youth group exploded in growth when I started listening more than I was talking not everybody would like that but that's a true statement imagine think about your time walking through school those of you that went to public school or private school okay some of you even that we're home school you go in you try to talk you learn out right away don't talk when I'm talking how many times you have to tell you don't talk right how many ever heard that anybody ever have an eraser thrown at them yeah okay don't talk what I'm too and everything is like it's like this and I understand we have to teach structure in order but what ends up happening for all of our young year elementary then junior high then high school all of our learning conversations take place in locker rooms and hallways you know what's sad even in the Apostolic Church Hannah even in the Apostolic Church the average teenager that goes to our churches never has any meaningful conversations with their parents they have no real-life conversations it's awkward to have a life conversation summit don't raise your hands but some of you know I'm telling the truth to have a life conversation with your mom and dad is like a weird thing they want to talk to you about sex weird talk to you about college can you just pay for it that's not talking about weird you know why because it's been ingrained in your mind over the last 15 years that you don't talk to adults and so I try to be an adult in if you're gonna be in youth ministry I challenge you if you want them to be interested in what you're about then be interested in what they're about okay I don't want them I don't need them to be a Christian the first day I don't need them to love God because that that kid that I was talking about he showed up and he was coming to church and he would sit in the very back row a this long long church and he was sitting the back and I walked in and he was always sitting there and I walked up to him and I was like I was like you know how I always would come and be there with you in the jail and he's looked up at me he's like yeah I said that's because I believe in you I said now if you believe in me there's a youth section that I'd like you to sit in only thing I ever said from that day forward always in the youth section he didn't even believe in God but he believed in me because I believed in him so it makes sense build the relational bridge listen you don't have to be cool most of you are not cool just true okay I tell that to some parents I tell that to some youth pastors to that you know 40 50 year-old people I'm like mom quit shopping at Hollister it ain't cool it ain't cool you look ridiculous okay stay out of the tanning bed you you it's your you're done your glory days are a whole okay but I got a news flash for you you don't have to be cool you just have to care I care will always be better than I'm cool okay if you want to be effective with this generation your most effective moments will be in the mix not in the mic there's a great question and you can't have that relational value without giving them your time the most important gift that my youth my youth pastor never preached to camp never preached a conference it's never gonna stand on any of these podiums you know what he gave me he was a great teacher but it's not that he gave me the art of building a message he gave me his time he gave me his time he let me sit on his couch and cry when I wanted to go and follow my dream of marketing he let me sit on his couch and cry when my dad went through an incredible sick he let me said he gave me his time he took me to Dairy Queen and I said hey let me pay when I knew I didn't have any money he Gila and they were like no I got it I'm like cover and I was like thank you I mean I need to get a coin out of the fish's mouth he just gave me his time so I'm passionate about that one great question sorry I know we've been going for a while I'm okay if you're okay I had three questions over here anybody questions over there as well at what point would you advise someone to like cut off friendships or relationships in their lives especially if you're training for the ministry and in a setting like this training for ministry or not if that if that relationship is damaging you psychologically or emotionally and certainly physically then I would cut it off immediately regardless if they're not turning their heart it's God now if they're not turning you have even scriptural foundation to shake the dust off the modern day translation it's not KJV let me give you the JBC run away now immediately immediately you always have a license to in - in that relationship some people like but on their only connection dig I've seen all kinds of excuses for people you know know and especially in dating relationships I have young people tell me there's I don't want to be too sensitive here but let me touch this while we're on it they said if I break up with it they're gonna kill themselves Oh something I felt that some of you all have heard it how many of you have ever heard that statement before raise your hand you've ever heard it yeah look how many people in the room or guess what this is gonna sound really harsh but it's not your job to keep them alive okay we'll leave that there for the sake next who's got the mic home-schooled and why did you and your wife choose to do so a very good question my kids are in public school and private school my oldest my high schooler is in private school my younger are in public school the reason that my younger are in public school is because it's a very high rated school but we guard it very close and probably this upcoming some fall all of my kids will be in private school we stay very close we guard it very tight based on number one the environment number two the scholastic side of it where we're at the school that they do attend is right by our home and my wife is able to be very involved in the school and the teacher that is the principal there is the doctor that's over the school has been very open about our Christianity and religious influence and it's very unique so it's dependent it's really unique depending upon the placement it's depending on that geography topic from earlier so but just kind of where we're at and some things that are unraveling for us our kids will probably all be in a private Christian school it's an Apostolic Church school that they will all be in this fall as it is that expensive because that's the next thing I can't afford that well in some situations you can't afford not to and so you know I might have to make the choice do I want to drive a nice truck or do I want to send my kids to an Apostolic environment every day and for me that choice is a no-brainer I'd rather Drive a jalopy and some of you are like what's a jalopy okay next question is that did I answer your question okay okay okay so earlier you're talking about the difference between so how do you so I feel like oftentimes when we do feel confident its mistaken as arrogance either by other people or by yourself so then it kind of develops an insecurity to be confident does that make sense so how do you learn to balance that and to know when you're being confident and not being secured by things does that make sense yeah absolutely it's a tremendous question it's something that I battled young in ministry because I went on staff really early she's asking you know how you know this on this arrogance confidence thing and I think everybody heard her but for me going on staff really young it's something that I had to balance I felt like I would vacillate between the two how do I really know where I'm walking here and I did find it and I don't want this to sound cliche that prayer and fasting will sift that and filter that out I will tell you also this having the best friend or a close friend that's a spiritual person if they can call you on your stuff they'll be able to they'll be able to help squash that too like you're like I'm just confident they'll be able to look at you and be like no no you're arrogant and that you need those people you need you need those people that are close to you and so I think that the way that I filtered that out is over time I will say however ninety-nine probably percent of the time you actually if you're honest with yourself you can determine whether you're being arrogant or confident and in this terminology here's how I'll decipher that and try to explain it confident in ministry will always exalt Christ arrogance will always exalt you okay arrogance will be about you looking smart when you're confident you don't have to look smart as long as the scripture is understood does that make sense as long as the biblical principle is understood it's not about whether or not you get the credit that's why you'll draft up really good notes I tested somebody the other day I heard him preach something it was fantastic and I text him I was like could I have those notes I'd like to share them and they got to know that if I get those notes I'm gonna preach them somewhere and they're gonna be like hey Josh Carson came up with that met so I get up before I shared it I did it in Oregon in fact I got up in Oregon preaching about SFC and before I started to teach I said these are notes from and I gave credit to the individual because it's the biblical principles I wanted to teach now there's a difference between arrogance and confidence I guess on display I was very confident in the biblical principles that they were outlined but I refused to be arrogant and make the people believe that because I was preaching good that I had done the outline does that make sense I was confident in the fact that they needed to hear that so anybody else yeah so we live in a increasingly Bible illiterate world yes and the youth that that I work with I would say 90% of them are completely Bible illiterate sure and how do I transfer the knowledge that I'm getting here in the knowledge of you know studying and gaining here in this period of my life and on in the future and how do I translate that in a way that they can understand and then start to grow themselves yeah absolutely I would tell you the easiest way to relate biblical truths are through the power of story and narrative to those that are illiterate there they may be illiterate but they are not non-visual okay the easiest way I have found to tell stories are to teach people about Christ is through his parables and through the narrative that's why I still lean on it because we remember stories you're able to make the Bible come alive through narrative through stories through illustrations one of the things I'll talk about in homiletics is the need for or against creativity and what that means in today's generation of connection so you know they're more our generation is actually crying more for content than creativity because we cannot keep up with Hollywood's creativity but we can produce better content because we don't have to produce it we just have to harness it and so teaching them through I think part of what you're asking actually walks across the relational bridge that I told Hannah about if you build a relational bridge you don't have to try to teach them about the love of Christ because the love of Christ will automatically be being set up when you give them your time it makes sense relational value will lead to that narrative where you then can put it on display some of you feel still feel like talking some of you feel like you're healed being held captive and so I don't know where we're at in this I'm willing to stay for a little bit longer for anybody that has other questions but we might want to dismiss some that are done or two more questions okay what are you saying no more questions or you want to stay more questions okay we may do that thing where some people start just like sneaking yeah okay who's next yes okay so um you mentioned that you encourage young people to court instead of date okay and and I think everyone has a different definition of courting so can you give us your definition of courting and why well most people's definition is on a basketball court that's what I and why you prefer I you encourage it over traditional dating okay well because number one it is traditional dating we reintroduced dating and that's might seem like semantics but but it traditionally it was courting and I traveled to other countries where if they're dating someone they know that means marriage I was in a country of preaching an event and they said that they were dating and I said well what Eleanor what happens if they find someone else and they were stunned that I would say that what are you talking about they're dating so it was not America dating it was like committed dating okay so when I talk about courtship let me just give you a few principles okay number one you got direction from God that you felt like they were a long-term relational individual trying to choose my words real why I don't want to be too tongue-in-cheek with any of this okay so you get you got that direction from God number two you have talked to the Ministerial authority in your life and they're in agreement I just think she's catered okay part of the problem here okay when it starts correctly it helps keep you from getting yourself in a mess because listen you're a pastor or her pastor might be able to look at you and say no she's crazy you you I can't tell you everything but she's cuckoo for cocoa puffs you can't date her or vice versa you can't date him so you're in that connection with the spiritual authority number three okay I think that when you're going to court someone you have upfront relational value with their family oh man it's so quiet well then I don't want to court anybody and I know this is tough and some of this seems antiquated but if you marry a girl or you marry a guy you are marrying their people okay all right and so when I get to all this then I start just to the foundation of this relational value now different pastors different leaders have different stance on what this means I know people who thinks that you should never be able to hold hands until you're married some that think you definitely should never kiss until you marry some of you are like get off this topic right now okay but when it comes to courting I think you're starting that now I don't think you need to immediately I do not think it is practical that you're immediately ready for marriage when you start this but I think when the relationship is wholesome that you don't need this prerequisite of dating what is that let's just for this to flesh this out what does that mean dating okay so what does that mean if I'm going on a date what does it mean it's a great that is the answer I'm going on a date but what does that mean like if I'm dating I don't go on a date like I'm anticipating that we're so before we're dating or we're official does anybody say that anymore do we still do the cheesy like so easy my girlfriend or does it like I don't know I mean I said really oh I actually feel super old right now you make an official right like so are we making this official but he looks into your eyes and he's like you know I'd like to make okay okay that's shameful but that might be true when he looks into your eyes and he's like I'd like to make this official if he tries to make it official through a text it's not official let me just say that okay all right only machine the guys are like man get off my back but she tries to me ok but so when we're talking about dating this relational value do you need it to be efficient once it gets to let's let's at least go to there when it starts to get official number one if you're going to get into courting I don't think that any date should ever be private oh this is some of y'all are gonna hate me on this you're like you were stick fine on the other stuff it was good ok you want to be really safe dating couples in pairs that balloon no move on ok when you're getting to the place let's call it to that official place to what that's gonna be and let me tell you right now if you're not official I wish I would have known some of this stuff when I was young I wish I would have understood some of this stuff if you're not official you definitely don't need to be holding hands some of y'all are bothered by that ok girls at the end I don't really know what we've got on this topic here but you're gonna present a bouquet that either looks used or not on your wedding day ok and guys you're the same let's be recording I guess I'm gonna say it on recording ok it's not fair in our culture that the guys are a stud and the girls are a but guess what it's reality ok most of the decision to court is typically made by females that have enough listen that have enough respect for themself that they're not going to be worn like a cheap suit if you're in if you're just listen any physical touch is a connection you will always remember you will always elders a mile ride on this is the truth you remember physical touch for the rest of your life now when it gets to the specifics of it you need to talk to your pastor but so when I talk about courtship I'm talking about this official status when we get here when we get to it's just one-on-one just us that we recognize this is not something we plan on ever jumping off of this is not like I'm we're together but I think there might be someone else I don't know this isn't my courtship is within biblical parameters of we have already set our sights on marriage I know where this is going and until then you don't need to be official why would you date someone official that you don't think you could marry I'm gonna tell you I'm just gonna give you the truth bomb to this okay I'm gonna just give you the the rugged truth on this and and you like it or not we'll move on from here but the only reason to become official in a relationship that you don't see long-term value for is so that you can feel a license to make dumb choices and girls if it's not for you it is for a guy guys come on let's just be honest it gives us a license and you know that holding hands leads to somebody hold like I haven't held a hand in a long time so I don't think that this topic is relevant to me right now I'm basically official with Subway that's the only thing I'm me and McDonald's are going steady that's really so I don't know if that answers but it's within biblical parameters it's when you get to that you should never get to that official place without all the spiritual authority and the parental figures in your life being aware and being on board here's the real test against that the real test of if you're going to be in a courtship is when you is when you talk to each other's parents or when you talk to each other spiritual leadership and they tell you it's a not not a good idea what you do then let's leave it there and maybe we'll some office we'll talk even more but that's where we'll leave it for that anything else any other questions before we do that just Oh anybody that needs to go no you're not obligated to stay okay why don't one's gonna judge you just want to throw that out there so you don't have anybody be like Oh hit this day and I'm okay to like pull a chair up and those that want to stay bring some chairs yeah if you know stage scoot up closer get it off video and then we can really talk some of you guys that are like I don't want to ask on video yeah I guess everybody wants to stay so we're not gonna hear any complaints later good good all right so who was next Madison again if you want to leave just get up and leave no one will be offended I promise y'all won't be offended take a hike I can't believe you're leaving I can't believe you're leaving just kidding Thank You Hannah are you leaving Hannah I don't blame you I'm really hungry too I don't blame you get out of here Hannah take a hike okay come to the front if you're staying come to the front we're gonna build a bonfire I need a couple of you guys to take this podium up on the platform so it's out of the way here thanks guys is this mine

Channel: Texas Bible College

Views: 2,547

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: tbc, texas bible college, apostolic music, pentecostal music, theology, debate, oneness, upci, wpf, aljc, apostolic, pentecostal, college, university, gyd, youth work, youth ministry, josh carson preaching, josh carson teaching, josh carson, general youth division, josh carson nayc, nayc

Id: mrNUkLdGr_Q

Length: 130min 18sec (7818 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 03 2019