Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're excited that you joined us for today's episode of
the Creative Connection with Ed Young. We'll get to Ed's
message in just a moment. First, we want to invite
you to head online and sign up for Ed's daily
email Devotionals to get a daily dose of encouragement sent
to your inbox, covering relevant topics like victorious living, trusting God,
(00:21):
and living for Christ in our darkening world. Each daily
email starts with scripture followed by fresh encouragement from Ed
to help you think about and apply biblical truth to
your life. You'll also find a guided prayer at the end.
Sign up today by visiting Edyong dot com slash devotionals,
and while you're there, take a moment to browse previous
(00:43):
devotionals as well as watch and listen to messages from Ed.
Head online now to sign up and start receiving your
devotionals today. That website again is Edyong dot com slash Devotionals.
We look forward to connecting with you there. Now, let's
hear what Pastor Ed Young us for us today.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I want to go through some of the principles that
I've opened up and talked about here in this book,
and I'm just gonna to go through these and sort
of fly over these very very quickly. And while I
fly over these, while we cruise through these, I want
you to think about the they in your existence, because
(01:25):
a lot of us here need to invite the right
day in and invite some of the wrong day out.
It's a constant thing. It's not just something we do
one time. It's not just something we do several times.
We must do this regularly. It's like a commercial fisherman.
A commercial fisherman drops the nets, brings in all this fish.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
The fishermen, though, culls.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
In other words, they take out the stuff that they
don't want to keep, like a stingray or maybe a crab,
or maybe a busted bottle or something like that. They're
always culling the catch. To get the best in friendships,
we have to do this. So I want to ask you,
if you're a student, I want to ask you, if
you're four, twenty four, fifty four, or eighty four, who
(02:12):
are the they in your life?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
T the right? They are tough. They're tough.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
When I use the word tough, I'm not talking about
someone who's means spirited. I'm talking about someone who is
committed because when you look at the essence of what
it means to be a follower of Christ, when you
look at the essence of what true friendship is about,
or true relational harmony is about, it's about commitment. We
(02:42):
live in a culture where feelings rule. It's all about feelings.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Go with your heart.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I was reading a book a couple of nights ago.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Go with your heart, the author said, and I'm like,
go with your heart.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
That's got to be the most jacked up statement ever.
Yet it sounds so sexy because it sounds like, Okay,
go with.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
My feelings, go with my heart. No, no, you don't
go with your heart.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
You go with commitment, because so often our heart, our
feelings will lie to us. Commitment, though, means to pledge
yourself to a stance, no matter what the circumstance and
the right day.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
It's pledged to your life.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
If you're dating somebody, if you obviously marry somebody, you're
best friends.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
They must be committed to you.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
They must be tenacious, they must be tough, they must
they must say, Okay, I've committed my life to Christ.
Jesus is at the center of my life. I'm in
a relationship with you. I'm committed to you. Age. They've
got to be honest. They've got to be honest the
right day in your life and mind. They've got to
be people who are honest. They've got to speak the
(03:52):
truth in love. Lying or exaggeration or telling you just
what you want to hear doesn't work in the relational world.
You've got to speak truth. You always clothe it in love.
It doesn't mean your means spirited. It doesn't mean that
(04:15):
you are argumentative. It means though you tell the truth.
And too many people have too many relationships where truth
is not at the center.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Again, it goes back to Jesus.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Jesus totally and completely tough, Jesus totally and completely honest.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
To become a Christian, you've.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Got to be honest enough about your condition to establish
this friendship, this relationship with God. So in your friendship
with others, in your marriage, we also should have a
climate of critique, helping one another, encouraging one another, which
(04:58):
brings me to the next letter.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
E t H E.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
E stands for encouragement. I want to be encouraged, not discouraged.
I want people to applaud me. I don't want people
to to diss me or disrespect me.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
As you look at the day in your life.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Are they encouraging when you see their number or name
come up on your phone?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Are you like yeah? Or are you like, oh crap.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I want to be encouraged because the world is discouraging enough.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
The world will bring you down.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
It's the gravity of depravity pulling you down, pulling me down.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
It's much easier.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
If I brought someone up here on stage to pull
me down off of this ledge than for me to
lift somebody up.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
I mean, I'm pretty strong, you know I can bench.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I don't know least time I you know, I'm maxed
out a.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Couple of days ago, like four forty five.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
I can lift most people onto this stage. But a
lot of people I just can't lift, especially here. Well, anybody,
even someone who's tiny, could pull me down from this.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
That's the same way it is with the right day
or the wrong day.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
And it's a constant calling, a constant veventory, a constant friendedry,
a constant critique in your dating relationships, even in your marriage.
You've got to think that way to go to that
next level. So they've gotta be tough they've gotta be honest,
they've got to be encouraging, and they've got to be
yielded to God and to you. They've got to have
(06:42):
your back. There are different types of people that we
all meet in life. We meet the four yous, those
people who are kind of fans in our life for
a while and then they're gone. They come and go,
fans come and go. And Dallas is known, especially sorry Miami,
as a fair weather city man. When is going great,
all we're on the bandwagon, Yeah, well yeah, do it? Cowboys,
(07:04):
mad Rags, Yeah, rain years. Everybody's a fan. I didn't
know you're a fan. Oh yeah, I've been a fan. Well,
once they start to lose, once they start to get
ripped off, then when people start deflating balls and win games,
then we start, I mean, we start hating on people,
(07:24):
the fair weather people, the fans. Yeah, yeah, I'm for you.
And we've had fans cycle encycle lot of Fellowship Church
over the twenty five year history. It's part of it.
Some though, are people that are with you and with you.
People are those who are the right day. They're those
who are tough, They're those who are honest, those who
are encouraging those who are yielded. They're with you, they're
(07:48):
in your corner when everybody bolts.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I think about the apostle Paul.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
He rewrites in two Timothy about people deserting him, but.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Then he talks about a few people.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Who were in his corner who didn't diss him, who
stayed with him. I think about David when he was
calling his mighty men together. How did he know if
they were mighty or if they were just mousey?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
He said, are you with me?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
He didn't say, okay, how many hours are you spending praying?
How many hours are you spending in the Old Testament? No,
David didn't say that, are you with me? How about
the friends in your life? Are they with you? This
is a great thing for managers, a great thing for CEOs,
a great thing for anyone in a leadership position, a coach,
a teacher.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Are they with you? And then of course you'll have
the people who use you. They use you.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
People are sneaky, they're slive because they'll make you think
they're with you, yet then they use you and abuse you.
That is where we have to have the big d discernment.
The Book of Proverbs is a book about wisdom, and
those of us who who are walking in fullness in
(09:01):
our relationship with God and the relationship with the right day,
we have to have the Big D. We got to
have discernment, making wise choices, being able to read people
as you pray and as you ask the Holy Spirit
of God to lead you. If you have the cringe factor,
(09:23):
if you're like, wow, I kind of have a check
in my spirit. That doesn't seem right. So often it's
the Holy Spirit whispering to you. Watch out. That's someone
who will use you. Those of us who are believers,
we extend grace. And when you extend grace people now
and then we'll put it back in your face.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
That's part of it. Look what they did to Jesus.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yet only those people who are close to us can
betray us. We learn from that and move on. We
love everyone. We swim though with just a few. Who
are the they in your life? Are they tough if
(10:10):
they're not invite them out? Are they honest if they're
not invite them out? Are they encouraging if they're not
invite them out?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Are they yielded? If not invite them out?
Speaker 1 (10:26):
We'll return to today's message from Ed Young in just
a moment. First, though, Ed and Lisa Young know the
kind of pain most of us never hope to experience
the death of a child, and in their book A
Path through Pain, they share their family's journey through sorrow
and anger to hope and healing after the tragic and
sudden loss of their daughter. A Path through Pain is
(10:49):
our Thanks for your gift to help connect faith to
everyday life for more people through the creative connection. This
resource will help you see that God really does care
for you and in the darkest of places, his light
still shines to show you a way through. So head
over to ed Young dot com slash gift to request
(11:10):
your copy of this encouraging resource. Again, that's at Young
dot com slash gift. Now let's get back to today's message.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Here's some more questions to ask you.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
This is serious stuff because so often we don't have
very much teaching, coaching, or training in this realm.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
People talk about, oh, this persus a life coach.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Or this or this person is all about counseling, or
this person is all about training or teaching whatever.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
But so often we do.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Not have any intentionality, any training when it comes to
these strategic relationships in our life. The right they I'll
promise you something. You look back in your life, and
if you look at the emotional problems that you faced,
I bet you cash money, they'll go back to your relationships.
(12:08):
Most of the situations, most of the issues that we're
dealing with today are relational issues.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
I know they all go back to God. He is
number one, He is it.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
But they go back to the people in your life
and mind, and even those of us who go by
the label of Christ followers. And if I'm the enemy,
I'm gonna say, Wow, I know how to mess you around.
I know how to keep you from being all that
God wants you to become. I'll just surround you with
(12:43):
the wrong day. They'll seem like the right day, but
they're really the wrong day. And verbally, the person listens
to the wrong voices. They hear this, they hear that
they're not listening to God's voice, They're not allowing the
right day to speak into their lives, and the wrong
day stay in the way of the right day, and
then it's curtains. Also, too many people have the right
(13:04):
day in their life and they don't listen to them.
They don't lean into them. They're they're they're being they're
being a soloist, or they're they're trying to do life themselves.
They're not opening themselves up. These things will get you killed.
Don't do it. It starts very, very very young. Another
(13:27):
thing is your language. You use bad language, course language,
you take God's name in vain and automatically will associate
you and open you up to the wrong thing. Read
the Book of Philippians. Read out the Apostle. Paul is
(13:47):
encouraging his friends, these Philippians, to do what to live
a life of purity. We're not doing it for for
legalistic reasons. We're free.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
We're doing this because.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Of Jesus, because we have the righteousness of.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Christ, and God commands us.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
We don't want to talk about it anymore, over and
over and over again. To live pure and holy lives,
it's a question that we have to ask the alcohol,
the drug question, the purity question, what we're doing with
the opposite sex, the sort of websites we're all that stuff,
(14:30):
and then more importantly, how deep are we willing to
go with the right day. These decisions are not easy.
These decisions are many times lonely. They're they're they're tough.
We have to be honest with ourselves. We have to
encourage ourselves in the Lord. We have to be yielded
(14:51):
to him. But I am on this stage telling you
God's way works.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Don't go that way.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
So when you have a vacuum, because you won't have
a vacuum. I had a vacuum. I mean I was
a good athlete. You know, played Division one and all
that stuff, and that's great.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Raw rah rah.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
I had, you know, some popularity in school, but I
was not like mister popular.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
You know why I didn't do those things.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I didn't have a lot of people I had fellowship
with in my high school.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
A few, not very many.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
You can't if you're gonna live the life God Once Now,
looking back, I go, whoa man, the seed that was sown,
being equally yoked, being matched and not mismatched.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
And because of God's grace, because I lived the life
not perfectly.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
But I want to give you an encouraging testimony, not
a discouraging one.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
I want to tell you I live.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Like hell and then at twenty five became a Christian. No, no, no,
I've lived this life since I accepted Jesus as a kid.
All right, so I can I can say this now
I'm fifty three years old, look back and say this
God's way worked.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Because I did it God's way.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Because there was a vacuum at school, at these giant
public schools I went to. I filled that vacuum at church.
I went to church. I leaned into church. Those were
my friends, the right they in church. They did not drink,
(16:25):
they did not use course language. Most people did not
mess around. And yeah, those are things they didn't do.
But what they did do was they had fun and
a blast in the Lord.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
They they they.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
They laughed and and and and had excitement and adventure
doing what God wanted them to do, even as as students,
even as kids. They were honest about their their their struggles.
Many of us in that day yielded to God. We
encouraged one They're tough and all of that. So the
(17:03):
church fill that vacuum. And there's gonna be a vacuum
when you make this decision, young people.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
You're gonna have a vacuum. So what do you do
with the vacuum?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
You either fill it with the wrong day, and believe me,
the wrong day are always in play.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
The reason I'm so passionate about this. Young people is.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Young people today, I've heard it a squillion times are
exposed to more things than ever before. Young people today
are learning what I learned when I was twenty.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Eight and thirty years old. So if you think.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
They don't know what I'm talking about, if you don't
think they don't know the score appearance, you're totally and
completely wrong. You have your head in the sands of denial.
They know what's going on. So I'd much rather expose
them now to this stuff because now they're being bombarded.
I'm talking about in grade school. They're doing things unimaginable.
(17:58):
So they've got to make the decisions now, right day,
wrong day. Our children's ministry we're teaching the right day now.
Our student ministry, we're teaching the right day now. In
our small groups, we're talking about the right day now.
I've written this book has taken me fifty three years
to write it. I thought, how can I take my
(18:21):
life in relationships from scripture and boil it down to
about one hundred and fifty pages. Well, I did it,
and I had a great team to help me do it.
This is a life changing book, but it starts today.
Don't waste your life. The stakes are so high. There
(18:43):
is so much evil in the world. If you don't
get this right when you're young, good luck, and you
can read the stats.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
It is rare for someone once.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
They're past fifteen to sixteen years of age to ever
commit their lives to Christ.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
That's what we're talking about. So what are you gonna do? Students? Parents?
What are you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
As a man looks the Book of Proverbs says at
his face in a mirror, So the friends are that
he chooses. We teach them how to choose the right friends.
And their friends, the people that they run with, the
people that they hang out with, are gonna be the
same people mom.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
And dad that you hang out with. So what are
you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (19:33):
There's a vacuum you live the life of Christ. You
fill the vacuum. God always has it filled.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Better when we go His way? Are we gonna teach this?
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Don't be mismatched, don't be unequally yoked with non believers.
We have friends, but we only have fellowship with people
that we're close to, that we're intimate with. The Bible
says this over and over and over again. From the
Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelation, from Israel
(20:05):
claiming the Promised Land, to Jesus picking the disciples, the
inner circle, the right they It's throughout scripture.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
We have to make these decisions.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
We have to be smart about these decisions, because they
can keep you away for what God wants you to do.
I'm telling you, man, the wrong they will mess you up.
The right day, though, will help you. Let's talk about
the right day. Here's some things in fifty shades of
they remember the right day. They're tough, they're honest, they're encouraging,
(20:41):
and they're yielded.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Here's just shade nineteen. I'm gonna fly through this. Who
am I? Who am I?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
With the right they they will teach you and applaud
your uniqueness. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes four nine through ten.
Two are better than one because they have a good
return for their labor. If they fall down, they can
help each other up. But pity those.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Who fall and have no one to help them.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Think about Paul again, the apostle Paul in the Book
of two Timothy.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
He's in prison and you see.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Him writing and yearning for his friends just a few
of them to come to his aid to help him.
We get our primary props from God, our secondary props
from the right Day friends, though, are there to help
to assist because we're all going to go through tough times.
(21:46):
And that's why it's so huge to have the Right
Day who reflect God's priorities, who point us back to
God as opposed to the things of the world. That's
so so important. Who am If I compare myself to
the Wrong Day, I become them. If I'm with the
(22:08):
Right Day, they are gonna encourage me in my uniqueness.
The moment I look at the Wrong Day, I become
one of them, and I've lost my uniqueness. But as
I'm around the Right Day, as they point me to God,
I go. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. No one
(22:30):
has my walk, my talk, my laugh, my insight. You're
robbing yourself of your uniqueness when you played the comparison
game and the Right Day they're not gonna They're not
gonna do that. You know, those old timey castles, they
had a drawbridge. If the enemy was coming, everybody be
(23:02):
safe and secure. No one could get in the drawbridge.
But they said, okay, let's let people in.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Let the people in, then people will come in.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Who are you letting into your life? Who are you
letting out of your life? The castlemen are the right day,
the castleman. They belong in the castle. The other guys,
they're the bad guys. They don't belong in the castle.
Put the drawbridge up. Put the drawbridge down, because see
they can't get into the castle because of the moat.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Where Church of the day.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
They always have something to say, and they will keep
us where God wants us to be every single day
when it comes to relationships.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
God is not gray.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
He's about that they and that's why we're about the day.
So as I look back over the fifty three years
of my life, God, I thank you for the right
day in my life.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
We're so glad you've joined us for today's episode of
the Creative Connection with Ed Young. We'd love to help
you continue connecting your faith to everyday life by sending
you a copy of A Path through Pain. It's Ed
and Lisa Young's powerful book about God's loving presence in
your toughest trials. You'll be encouraged as they recount their
(24:31):
own painful journey of loss to show you that even
in the darkest of places, God's light still shines to
show you a way through A path through pain is
our thanks for your gift to help reach more people
with biblical truth through the Creative Connection. Jess visit edyong
dot com slash gift to request your copy. Thank you
(24:53):
for your support. We'll see you next time on the
Creative Connection.
We're excited that you joined us for today's episode of
the Creative Connection with Ed Young. We'll get to Ed's
message in just a moment. First, we want to invite
you to head online and sign up for Ed's daily
email Devotionals to get a daily dose of encouragement sent
to your inbox, covering relevant topics like victorious living, trusting God,
(00:21):
and living for Christ in our darkening world. Each daily
email starts with scripture followed by fresh encouragement from Ed
to help you think about and apply biblical truth to
your life. You'll also find a guided prayer at the end.
Sign up today by visiting Edyong dot com slash devotionals,
and while you're there, take a moment to browse previous
(00:43):
devotionals as well as watch and listen to messages from Ed.
Head online now to sign up and start receiving your
devotionals today. That website again is Edyong dot com slash Devotionals.
We look forward to connecting with you there. Now, let's
hear what Pastor Ed Young us for us today.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I want to go through some of the principles that
I've opened up and talked about here in this book,
and I'm just gonna to go through these and sort
of fly over these very very quickly. And while I
fly over these, while we cruise through these, I want
you to think about the they in your existence, because
(01:25):
a lot of us here need to invite the right
day in and invite some of the wrong day out.
It's a constant thing. It's not just something we do
one time. It's not just something we do several times.
We must do this regularly. It's like a commercial fisherman.
A commercial fisherman drops the nets, brings in all this fish.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
The fishermen, though, culls.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
In other words, they take out the stuff that they
don't want to keep, like a stingray or maybe a crab,
or maybe a busted bottle or something like that. They're
always culling the catch. To get the best in friendships,
we have to do this. So I want to ask you,
if you're a student, I want to ask you, if
you're four, twenty four, fifty four, or eighty four, who
(02:12):
are the they in your life?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
T the right? They are tough. They're tough.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
When I use the word tough, I'm not talking about
someone who's means spirited. I'm talking about someone who is
committed because when you look at the essence of what
it means to be a follower of Christ, when you
look at the essence of what true friendship is about,
or true relational harmony is about, it's about commitment. We
(02:42):
live in a culture where feelings rule. It's all about feelings.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Go with your heart.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I was reading a book a couple of nights ago.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Go with your heart, the author said, and I'm like,
go with your heart.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
That's got to be the most jacked up statement ever.
Yet it sounds so sexy because it sounds like, Okay,
go with.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
My feelings, go with my heart. No, no, you don't
go with your heart.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
You go with commitment, because so often our heart, our
feelings will lie to us. Commitment, though, means to pledge
yourself to a stance, no matter what the circumstance and
the right day.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
It's pledged to your life.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
If you're dating somebody, if you obviously marry somebody, you're
best friends.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
They must be committed to you.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
They must be tenacious, they must be tough, they must
they must say, Okay, I've committed my life to Christ.
Jesus is at the center of my life. I'm in
a relationship with you. I'm committed to you. Age. They've
got to be honest. They've got to be honest the
right day in your life and mind. They've got to
be people who are honest. They've got to speak the
(03:52):
truth in love. Lying or exaggeration or telling you just
what you want to hear doesn't work in the relational world.
You've got to speak truth. You always clothe it in love.
It doesn't mean your means spirited. It doesn't mean that
(04:15):
you are argumentative. It means though you tell the truth.
And too many people have too many relationships where truth
is not at the center.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Again, it goes back to Jesus.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Jesus totally and completely tough, Jesus totally and completely honest.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
To become a Christian, you've.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Got to be honest enough about your condition to establish
this friendship, this relationship with God. So in your friendship
with others, in your marriage, we also should have a
climate of critique, helping one another, encouraging one another, which
(04:58):
brings me to the next letter.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
E t H E.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
E stands for encouragement. I want to be encouraged, not discouraged.
I want people to applaud me. I don't want people
to to diss me or disrespect me.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
As you look at the day in your life.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Are they encouraging when you see their number or name
come up on your phone?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Are you like yeah? Or are you like, oh crap.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I want to be encouraged because the world is discouraging enough.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
The world will bring you down.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
It's the gravity of depravity pulling you down, pulling me down.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
It's much easier.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
If I brought someone up here on stage to pull
me down off of this ledge than for me to
lift somebody up.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
I mean, I'm pretty strong, you know I can bench.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I don't know least time I you know, I'm maxed
out a.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Couple of days ago, like four forty five.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
I can lift most people onto this stage. But a
lot of people I just can't lift, especially here. Well, anybody,
even someone who's tiny, could pull me down from this.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
That's the same way it is with the right day
or the wrong day.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
And it's a constant calling, a constant veventory, a constant friendedry,
a constant critique in your dating relationships, even in your marriage.
You've got to think that way to go to that
next level. So they've gotta be tough they've gotta be honest,
they've got to be encouraging, and they've got to be
yielded to God and to you. They've got to have
(06:42):
your back. There are different types of people that we
all meet in life. We meet the four yous, those
people who are kind of fans in our life for
a while and then they're gone. They come and go,
fans come and go. And Dallas is known, especially sorry Miami,
as a fair weather city man. When is going great,
all we're on the bandwagon, Yeah, well yeah, do it? Cowboys,
(07:04):
mad Rags, Yeah, rain years. Everybody's a fan. I didn't
know you're a fan. Oh yeah, I've been a fan. Well,
once they start to lose, once they start to get
ripped off, then when people start deflating balls and win games,
then we start, I mean, we start hating on people,
(07:24):
the fair weather people, the fans. Yeah, yeah, I'm for you.
And we've had fans cycle encycle lot of Fellowship Church
over the twenty five year history. It's part of it.
Some though, are people that are with you and with you.
People are those who are the right day. They're those
who are tough, They're those who are honest, those who
are encouraging those who are yielded. They're with you, they're
(07:48):
in your corner when everybody bolts.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I think about the apostle Paul.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
He rewrites in two Timothy about people deserting him, but.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Then he talks about a few people.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Who were in his corner who didn't diss him, who
stayed with him. I think about David when he was
calling his mighty men together. How did he know if
they were mighty or if they were just mousey?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
He said, are you with me?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
He didn't say, okay, how many hours are you spending praying?
How many hours are you spending in the Old Testament? No,
David didn't say that, are you with me? How about
the friends in your life? Are they with you? This
is a great thing for managers, a great thing for CEOs,
a great thing for anyone in a leadership position, a coach,
a teacher.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Are they with you? And then of course you'll have
the people who use you. They use you.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
People are sneaky, they're slive because they'll make you think
they're with you, yet then they use you and abuse you.
That is where we have to have the big d discernment.
The Book of Proverbs is a book about wisdom, and
those of us who who are walking in fullness in
(09:01):
our relationship with God and the relationship with the right day,
we have to have the Big D. We got to
have discernment, making wise choices, being able to read people
as you pray and as you ask the Holy Spirit
of God to lead you. If you have the cringe factor,
(09:23):
if you're like, wow, I kind of have a check
in my spirit. That doesn't seem right. So often it's
the Holy Spirit whispering to you. Watch out. That's someone
who will use you. Those of us who are believers,
we extend grace. And when you extend grace people now
and then we'll put it back in your face.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
That's part of it. Look what they did to Jesus.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yet only those people who are close to us can
betray us. We learn from that and move on. We
love everyone. We swim though with just a few. Who
are the they in your life? Are they tough if
(10:10):
they're not invite them out? Are they honest if they're
not invite them out? Are they encouraging if they're not
invite them out?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Are they yielded? If not invite them out?
Speaker 1 (10:26):
We'll return to today's message from Ed Young in just
a moment. First, though, Ed and Lisa Young know the
kind of pain most of us never hope to experience
the death of a child, and in their book A
Path through Pain, they share their family's journey through sorrow
and anger to hope and healing after the tragic and
sudden loss of their daughter. A Path through Pain is
(10:49):
our Thanks for your gift to help connect faith to
everyday life for more people through the creative connection. This
resource will help you see that God really does care
for you and in the darkest of places, his light
still shines to show you a way through. So head
over to ed Young dot com slash gift to request
(11:10):
your copy of this encouraging resource. Again, that's at Young
dot com slash gift. Now let's get back to today's message.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Here's some more questions to ask you.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
This is serious stuff because so often we don't have
very much teaching, coaching, or training in this realm.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
People talk about, oh, this persus a life coach.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Or this or this person is all about counseling, or
this person is all about training or teaching whatever.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
But so often we do.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Not have any intentionality, any training when it comes to
these strategic relationships in our life. The right they I'll
promise you something. You look back in your life, and
if you look at the emotional problems that you faced,
I bet you cash money, they'll go back to your relationships.
(12:08):
Most of the situations, most of the issues that we're
dealing with today are relational issues.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
I know they all go back to God. He is
number one, He is it.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
But they go back to the people in your life
and mind, and even those of us who go by
the label of Christ followers. And if I'm the enemy,
I'm gonna say, Wow, I know how to mess you around.
I know how to keep you from being all that
God wants you to become. I'll just surround you with
(12:43):
the wrong day. They'll seem like the right day, but
they're really the wrong day. And verbally, the person listens
to the wrong voices. They hear this, they hear that
they're not listening to God's voice, They're not allowing the
right day to speak into their lives, and the wrong
day stay in the way of the right day, and
then it's curtains. Also, too many people have the right
(13:04):
day in their life and they don't listen to them.
They don't lean into them. They're they're they're being they're
being a soloist, or they're they're trying to do life themselves.
They're not opening themselves up. These things will get you killed.
Don't do it. It starts very, very very young. Another
(13:27):
thing is your language. You use bad language, course language,
you take God's name in vain and automatically will associate
you and open you up to the wrong thing. Read
the Book of Philippians. Read out the Apostle. Paul is
(13:47):
encouraging his friends, these Philippians, to do what to live
a life of purity. We're not doing it for for
legalistic reasons. We're free.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
We're doing this because.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Of Jesus, because we have the righteousness of.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Christ, and God commands us.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
We don't want to talk about it anymore, over and
over and over again. To live pure and holy lives,
it's a question that we have to ask the alcohol,
the drug question, the purity question, what we're doing with
the opposite sex, the sort of websites we're all that stuff,
(14:30):
and then more importantly, how deep are we willing to
go with the right day. These decisions are not easy.
These decisions are many times lonely. They're they're they're tough.
We have to be honest with ourselves. We have to
encourage ourselves in the Lord. We have to be yielded
(14:51):
to him. But I am on this stage telling you
God's way works.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Don't go that way.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
So when you have a vacuum, because you won't have
a vacuum. I had a vacuum. I mean I was
a good athlete. You know, played Division one and all
that stuff, and that's great.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Raw rah rah.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
I had, you know, some popularity in school, but I
was not like mister popular.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
You know why I didn't do those things.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I didn't have a lot of people I had fellowship
with in my high school.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
A few, not very many.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
You can't if you're gonna live the life God Once Now,
looking back, I go, whoa man, the seed that was sown,
being equally yoked, being matched and not mismatched.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
And because of God's grace, because I lived the life
not perfectly.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
But I want to give you an encouraging testimony, not
a discouraging one.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
I want to tell you I live.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Like hell and then at twenty five became a Christian. No, no, no,
I've lived this life since I accepted Jesus as a kid.
All right, so I can I can say this now
I'm fifty three years old, look back and say this
God's way worked.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Because I did it God's way.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Because there was a vacuum at school, at these giant
public schools I went to. I filled that vacuum at church.
I went to church. I leaned into church. Those were
my friends, the right they in church. They did not drink,
(16:25):
they did not use course language. Most people did not
mess around. And yeah, those are things they didn't do.
But what they did do was they had fun and
a blast in the Lord.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
They they they.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
They laughed and and and and had excitement and adventure
doing what God wanted them to do, even as as students,
even as kids. They were honest about their their their struggles.
Many of us in that day yielded to God. We
encouraged one They're tough and all of that. So the
(17:03):
church fill that vacuum. And there's gonna be a vacuum
when you make this decision, young people.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
You're gonna have a vacuum. So what do you do
with the vacuum?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
You either fill it with the wrong day, and believe me,
the wrong day are always in play.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
The reason I'm so passionate about this. Young people is.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Young people today, I've heard it a squillion times are
exposed to more things than ever before. Young people today
are learning what I learned when I was twenty.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Eight and thirty years old. So if you think.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
They don't know what I'm talking about, if you don't
think they don't know the score appearance, you're totally and
completely wrong. You have your head in the sands of denial.
They know what's going on. So I'd much rather expose
them now to this stuff because now they're being bombarded.
I'm talking about in grade school. They're doing things unimaginable.
(17:58):
So they've got to make the decisions now, right day,
wrong day. Our children's ministry we're teaching the right day now.
Our student ministry, we're teaching the right day now. In
our small groups, we're talking about the right day now.
I've written this book has taken me fifty three years
to write it. I thought, how can I take my
(18:21):
life in relationships from scripture and boil it down to
about one hundred and fifty pages. Well, I did it,
and I had a great team to help me do it.
This is a life changing book, but it starts today.
Don't waste your life. The stakes are so high. There
(18:43):
is so much evil in the world. If you don't
get this right when you're young, good luck, and you
can read the stats.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
It is rare for someone once.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
They're past fifteen to sixteen years of age to ever
commit their lives to Christ.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
That's what we're talking about. So what are you gonna do? Students? Parents?
What are you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
As a man looks the Book of Proverbs says at
his face in a mirror, So the friends are that
he chooses. We teach them how to choose the right friends.
And their friends, the people that they run with, the
people that they hang out with, are gonna be the
same people mom.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
And dad that you hang out with. So what are
you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (19:33):
There's a vacuum you live the life of Christ. You
fill the vacuum. God always has it filled.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Better when we go His way? Are we gonna teach this?
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Don't be mismatched, don't be unequally yoked with non believers.
We have friends, but we only have fellowship with people
that we're close to, that we're intimate with. The Bible
says this over and over and over again. From the
Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelation, from Israel
(20:05):
claiming the Promised Land, to Jesus picking the disciples, the
inner circle, the right they It's throughout scripture.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
We have to make these decisions.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
We have to be smart about these decisions, because they
can keep you away for what God wants you to do.
I'm telling you, man, the wrong they will mess you up.
The right day, though, will help you. Let's talk about
the right day. Here's some things in fifty shades of
they remember the right day. They're tough, they're honest, they're encouraging,
(20:41):
and they're yielded.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Here's just shade nineteen. I'm gonna fly through this. Who
am I? Who am I?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
With the right they they will teach you and applaud
your uniqueness. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes four nine through ten.
Two are better than one because they have a good
return for their labor. If they fall down, they can
help each other up. But pity those.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Who fall and have no one to help them.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Think about Paul again, the apostle Paul in the Book
of two Timothy.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
He's in prison and you see.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Him writing and yearning for his friends just a few
of them to come to his aid to help him.
We get our primary props from God, our secondary props
from the right Day friends, though, are there to help
to assist because we're all going to go through tough times.
(21:46):
And that's why it's so huge to have the Right
Day who reflect God's priorities, who point us back to
God as opposed to the things of the world. That's
so so important. Who am If I compare myself to
the Wrong Day, I become them. If I'm with the
(22:08):
Right Day, they are gonna encourage me in my uniqueness.
The moment I look at the Wrong Day, I become
one of them, and I've lost my uniqueness. But as
I'm around the Right Day, as they point me to God,
I go. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. No one
(22:30):
has my walk, my talk, my laugh, my insight. You're
robbing yourself of your uniqueness when you played the comparison
game and the Right Day they're not gonna They're not
gonna do that. You know, those old timey castles, they
had a drawbridge. If the enemy was coming, everybody be
(23:02):
safe and secure. No one could get in the drawbridge.
But they said, okay, let's let people in.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Let the people in, then people will come in.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Who are you letting into your life? Who are you
letting out of your life? The castlemen are the right day,
the castleman. They belong in the castle. The other guys,
they're the bad guys. They don't belong in the castle.
Put the drawbridge up. Put the drawbridge down, because see
they can't get into the castle because of the moat.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Where Church of the day.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
They always have something to say, and they will keep
us where God wants us to be every single day
when it comes to relationships.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
God is not gray.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
He's about that they and that's why we're about the day.
So as I look back over the fifty three years
of my life, God, I thank you for the right
day in my life.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
We're so glad you've joined us for today's episode of
the Creative Connection with Ed Young. We'd love to help
you continue connecting your faith to everyday life by sending
you a copy of A Path through Pain. It's Ed
and Lisa Young's powerful book about God's loving presence in
your toughest trials. You'll be encouraged as they recount their
(24:31):
own painful journey of loss to show you that even
in the darkest of places, God's light still shines to
show you a way through A path through pain is
our thanks for your gift to help reach more people
with biblical truth through the Creative Connection. Jess visit edyong
dot com slash gift to request your copy. Thank you
(24:53):
for your support. We'll see you next time on the
Creative Connection.
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