July 29, 2025 • 25 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Creative Connection with Ed Young. We're glad
you've joined us today to hear Ed connect faith to
everyday life. Before we get to today's message, we want
to invite you to head online and sign up for
Ed's daily email devotionals covering relevant topics like forgiveness, anxiety,
and purposeful living.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
These life giving emails.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Will provide you with a spark of encouragement write in
your inbox every single day. Each one contains a piece
of scripture as well as encouragement from Ed to help
you think about and apply biblical truths to your life.
There's also a guided prayer at the end of each email.
Just visit edyong dot com slash emails to sign up now,
(00:42):
and while you're there, you can also browse previous devotionals
as well as watch and listen to messages from Ed.
So sign up to start receiving your daily devotionals today.
The website again is Edyong dot com slash Devotionals book
forward to connecting with you there. Now, let's get into
today's message with Pastor Ed Young.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Who do you need to invite into your life? Who
do you need to invite out of your life?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Could it be that you're hanging out with the wrong they.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
You know who they are, don't you? Yeah, they said
they feel they've been coming to me. They who are they?
The they? Who are the they? Because do they always
have something to say? And I believe that the wrong
they stay in the way of the right day in
so many of our lives.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Who are they? Who are they? Well? They, I guess
you're thinking, are my friends?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
That's right. I've got to say. Friendships are the biggest
force in our lives relationally speaking, next to our family
and for many here you leave your family to move
to your real family that you've chosen, which happened to be,
(02:13):
and you are your friends friends. It's a forceful relationship
involved in everyone's domain spells friend Everybody has friends.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
So do you have friendship.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
And fellowship or do you just have friendship with some
without fellowship? And do you have friendship and fellowship with
a bunch of the right they? Who are you inviting
to your party? And who are you disinviting to your party?
(02:49):
Towering questions? The Bible has a lot to say about this.
You know, God is the author of relationships. And if
you're always kind of wondering man what does God want
to say about about real relationships? What does God have
to say about this? I mean, what does God know? Well,
God knows everything. He made you and me. God's a
relational creature. We're made in his image. We yearn for relationships.
(03:10):
We yearn vertically and that is the hole in our
heart that can only be filled by Jesus.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
And we yearn horizontally. We yearned for that for that relationship.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Well, the Bible says in Tewod Corinthia, chapter six fourteen,
a very unpopular thing. I'm gonna warn you if you
weren't here last weekend, Wow, you you missed out on
something cool. And I want you to check us out
at Fellowship Church dot com because every message builds on
the next.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
And as I said last time, so often.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
We have training in so many different areas except relational training.
We've never been trained on friendship. Many of us have
never been trained on marriage.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
That's why I'm.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
So happy that we're so bold enough to proclaim what
God says about these relationships. But this first I'm gonna
read you is a is a tough verse. God is
not being capricious or cruel. He's not being discriminatory. He's
not profiling here. He has your best interests in mind.
(04:13):
The Bible says in Second aar Anthea, chapter six, verse fourteen,
do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do
righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship that'd
be a good name for a church? Fellowship right fellowship?
Speaker 4 (04:28):
For what?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
For what fellowship can light have with darkness? Don't be
yoked together, don't be connected, don't be don't be hooked
up with people who aren't followers of the Lord. God says,
because God wants your best in mind. Relationally, make sure
the right day, those who invite to the party, make
(04:52):
sure they have he in the middle upper case H
and e he in the middle. Make sure that you
have that common bond, that common denominator. Make sure you've
got fellowship. In the original language coinnanea, say it with
(05:12):
me Coanania, it means to have in common. It means
to have a deep intimacy with someone that's fellowship. So
we got a lot of friends. I mean, I've spoken
at the venue the dead seven thousand people, and I
have a lot of friends there. Those friends, though of mine,
were not invited to this specific party. Am I going
(05:36):
too fast? So you've got friends, I've got friends as
followers of Christ, and many of these friends are not
people who have He in the middle.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
We have friendship with Him, but not fellowship.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I got fellowship only with people who have that common bond,
which is Jesus. So what's the same. Don't be yoked together?
A yoke was a piece of farm equipment. It would
use to be to plow fields. You would hook up animals.
They would put there next to the yoke of equal
(06:14):
strength and equal kind. And and usually you would hook up,
you know, uh, an ox. And then you would say, okay,
I'm gonna I'm gonna yoke up this ox with this ox,
same kind, same strength. Because to a Jewish farmer, oxes
were clean. To a Jewish farmer, donkeys were unclean. A
(06:39):
Jewish farmer would never unequally yoke a clean animal with
an unclean animal.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
So what are you doing being yoked up to a jackass? What?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
God doesn't want you to date that jackass. God doesn't
want you to marry that jackass.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
God doesn't want in the Bible uses jackass.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Okay, so it's time to get our jackass in gear.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Because too many of us are like, well, I don't
know what's wrong in my life.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Things aren't happening right, and I feel so depressed, and
all the good things in my life for being dim Well,
look at the they do. A friend and Tory, check
it out. The yoke ain't a joke. Who are you
yoked up with?
Speaker 4 (07:41):
Again?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I'm not saying to diss anybody or being mean, or
to be mean spirited with anybody, or to be friends
with everybody, but our best friends, the people we date,
the people we ultimately have as our mates have gotta
be followers of Christ. Our best friends gotta have that
common bond. So God, you see the genius of God.
(08:05):
God wants us to experience this, this beautiful plowing with
oxen as as we're plowing row after row, because we're
equally yoked. If we're hooked up with an animal that's unclean,
a jackass, we're gonna go in circles is gonna be
(08:25):
a disaster, and we'll sow seed, but the seed is
gonna germinate and the rods aren't gonna be right. And
then a lot of people go, well, I'm just gonna
I'm just gonna sow my wild oats and then pray
for a cop failure. That's what old preachers used to say.
Just go ahead and sow your wild oats and pray
(08:46):
for a crop failure. That's what so many people do. Well,
that's not what God wants you to do. God says,
forget that. That's whack. Be yoked with believers. So God's
not being capricious or cruel, He's being strategic. Yoke up
with believers and plow those straight lines. Yeah, you're gonna
(09:08):
go to the right and the left now and then
God will take care of that. God will warn you
and me.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
Speaking of warning you and me, do you remember the.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Apostle Paul, Saint Paul, who wrote the Lion's Share of
the New Testament.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
He was a guy before he became a Christian. He
was wheels off persecuting the church, attacking Christians.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
A brilliant guy, a guy that was successful, a guy
who was tough as nails, a guy who who God
wanted obviously on his team.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
I mean God wants everybody on his team. Right.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Well, well, the Bible said, one day Saul and his posse,
his squad, his group, his association, his paternity, his team,
whatever you want to call it. They were walking down
the Damascus Road on their way to persecute somebody. And
guess what happened. Boom, God showed up. Poom, he hit
the deck and check out what happened actual Chapter twenty six,
(10:09):
verse fourteen.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
We all fell to the ground. This is Paul talking.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
And I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, Saul, Saul,
why are you persecuting me? This is Jesus talking, Saul,
Why are you persecuting me?
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Me?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
The Church, the body of Christ, that's Jesus. We're a
part of the body of Christ. It's hard.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
For you to kick against the what gods? What?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Wait a minute, why do you persecute me? It's hard
for you to kick against the gods?
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Gold? Gold, Oh, a gold, Yeah, that's a.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
That's a piece of farming equipment to a stick.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
They had a sharp end. It was a prod.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
The plowman, as he was plowing, had those oxen equally yoked.
Now and then they would rest. They would go to
the right, they would go to the left, and he
would prod them.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Wow, wow, I feel the pitch. I feel that stick.
Whow okay, okay, Then they would start back.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
God was doing this in Saul's life before he became
a follower, prodding him, pitching him.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Why are you persecuting me? There's a better way. God
is prodding us. He's goading us for our best interest
in mind. You want to waste your life, you want
to burn up all this time. It's a gift from God.
I don't when you go God's way, many times there's
(12:09):
gonna be loneliness. Many times there's gonna be difficulty. But
I promise you something. When you're equally yoked and you
plow those straight lines and you go with the goad.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
WHOA, Okay, God, thank you for that. Wow. I feel
that here's what's gonna happen.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
You can associe and you're gonna be patient, and you're
gonna wait, and the harvest is gonna be a bumper
crop certified organic, and you're gonna go WHOA.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
I am so blessed.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
I trusted you God, because after all, you wrote the
Owner's Manual on relationships, doctor Phil didn't.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
I trust you, God. I trust you, and look at
my life.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
You're listening to the creative connection with ed Young. Stay
with us to hear more encouragement from Ed before we
get back to today's message. Most of us spend our
lives avoiding pain at every turn, so when we inevitably
experience pain, it sends us into a tailspin and we
can wonder if God even cares. We want to help
(13:21):
you discover how your faith can deepen even in the
most tragic circumstances by sending you Ed and Lisa's powerful
book A Path through Pain. This resource is our thanks
for your gift to help connect faith to everyday life
for more people around the world through the Creative Connection.
So head over to Edyong dot com to give and
(13:42):
request your copy. Again, that's Edyong dot com slash give.
Now let's get back to today's message.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Man, God's savings, isn't he Ecclesiastes twelve eleven. Oh yeah,
let me read this. The words of the wise are
like what there's the word again? You gotta be kidding me,
Ecclesiastes twelve eleven.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Is that a misprint?
Speaker 1 (14:09):
No?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
The words of the wise are like what like what godes?
They're collected sayings like firmly embedded nails given by one shepherd.
Don't kick against the goads, don't go with the goad,
(14:34):
and there's something else about the goat on the other
end of the stick. It was like a nine iron.
I'm talking about the goat stick sharp point. Other end
was like a nine iron. I mean, what would the
farmers do, were they like practicing their short game? No, No,
(14:54):
a plowman when when when everything was working, when he
was he was he was plowing, and everything was yoked
up and everything was joked together.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
The oxen are.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Plowing, they're moving, he's using the prod and then the prod.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Wait a minute, something's not working. Oh oh, you got
some mud and some mire.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
So he would turn the goat around and scrape off
the junk from the blade, so then it would just
slice through the dirt.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
What did Jesus tell the disciples? They diss you, they
disrespect you, they're the wrong.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
They just kick off the dirt from your flip flops.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Don't be yoked up with the jackass. You can't have.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Fellowship with the jackass. Some of you are right now.
And that's what you're acting like. Because my friends reflect
and your friends reflect who we really are.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
They're like a mirror. The Book of Proverbs says, so.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
The words the wise are like goads Ecclesiastes twelve thirteen.
Here's what he says. Now all has been said and hurt.
I mean, he's done it all again. You're not no
a list or no jet setterer is gonna do with
Solomon dead. It's not gonna happen. Now all has been hurt.
Here's the conclusion. Fear God, keep his commandments, and this
(16:36):
is the duty of mankind.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Hey, young people, right now, right now.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Students, you fear God. You put God at the center
of your life. Keep his commandments. His commandments are there
for our greatness. They're not downers, they're dynamic. Okay, let
(17:00):
me give you some practical pointers. I can go through
at least four of them. There's some people you need
to invite out of your life. There's some people that
don't need to show up to the party. If you
obey what I'm talking about as a follower of Christ,
two thirds of the conference will not show up to
the party.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
So you're not going to have as.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Many dates or as many friends, but those you have
will be on at HNL a holy another level. What
are the people look like that I should invite out
of my life? Number one, the people that hold me
back from my full potential. Think about the day. Do
(17:48):
they hold you back from your full potential? Friends are
like elevators that take you up or down. I was
at the conference. I stayed at the Omni Hotel, room
seven forty five. I pushed the button in the elemre.
There it goes up.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
I went up.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Pushed that and goes down. I went down. Oh but
I can't change her. I'm i go missionary day doesn't work.
Oh yeah, I can influence them for the best. Yeah,
you can in neutral zones, but you can't be in fellowship.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
They'll pull you down.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
You think you you you're smart as Solomon. People come
from all over the world to listen to you. And
have you written two thousand and five proverbs? Have you
written a book in the Bible? And and and if
you made bsical old squillions of dollars. No, Well, they
can happen to him, It can happen to you and me.
(18:42):
Number two, They'll make you feel bad about yourself. I've
been around certain people. I'm like, man, they bring out
the worst of me, the absolute worst of me, one time.
Because I've regularly invited people out of my life. It's
not easy, but I do it. I delete people and
it's not that they're not my friends. There's no fellowship anymore.
(19:03):
I bought this new truck years ago. I was so
excited about this new truck, so I wanted to show
it to my friend that I was in fellowship with.
And God had been goading me, like watch out, this
is to the sky. I'm not sure about his motives
and what he says, but I was like, you know,
I want God. I just feel like I should continue
(19:26):
to staying this friendship whatever, but this is kind of
the straw that broke the camel's back. I showed him
this truck. He goes, it's a nice truck. It'd be
really cool. I mean, if I had the truck, oh,
i'd customize it. Those are stock wheels. I would change
that and change this. I'm like, I'm thinking aboutself, dude,
(19:46):
you can't even rejoice that I got a new truck
and you're talking about oh yeah, it's nice, but it's
got to be customized. Done.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
Delete contact erased. I've seen the guy around since then.
No more, bro hug. I mean I'll shake his hand.
I'm his friend.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
There's no fellowship involved now. It wasn't just that things
were building up the little and God just used that
to clean the kick the dirt up my feet so
I could plow better. See, I can't tell you this
if I'm not doing this. I'm not doing it perfectly,
but I'm in this process. Number three, they will negatively
(20:35):
impact your reputation. Yeah, it's like, man, you hang out
with these people, they kind of give a negative vibe
about who you are and who you are because people say, oh,
you're in fellowship with them. Friendship, that's another matter. I'm
talking about deep fellowship. And then number four, they'll bring
(20:58):
out the worst in you.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
The wrong day, Oh the wrong day? What you do?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (21:04):
Man, you all of a sudden you feel jealous, envious, materialistic,
or maybe I should say.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
I feel more jealous, more envious, more materialistic. I'm not
saying like I don't struggle with that. They'd be like,
oh really no, but certain people bring it out.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
There were those people. Don't be at.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Fellowship with them, You're the wrong day, feeling competitive and
all that.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Always one upping people. Watch out. Now.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
I have other lists like who should you invite into
your life? I'm very tempted to diesel on but I'm
not going to We're spurring the oxen to the barn.
They plowed some straight lines. We're not kicking against the
goads anymore. We've allowed God to prod us and to
(22:10):
clean off the mud and the mire from the plow.
We're plowing straight lines. We're sowing amazing seed and the
crop is gonna be off the chain. But you know what,
(22:33):
none of this stuff will happen unless we live out
James two twenty three. And the scripture was fulfilled that
says Abraham believed God as father Abraham Abraham, and it
was credit to him as righteousness, and he was called
God's what, God's what friend.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
It's all about the gospel godself, that God.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Said, Jesus to down the cross for our sins, rise again,
and He's given us an opportunity to become his friend,
to have a relationship and fellowship with them, intimacy with
him through Christ. And that's the foundation, that's the basis.
That's the worst power of everything I've said. Have you
(23:23):
made that decision? Are you a friend of God?
Speaker 4 (23:25):
Man? What a compliment?
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (23:27):
There goes there goes this God, he's a friend of God.
There goes this student, She's a friend of God. Is
that awesome?
Speaker 3 (23:34):
We can become friends with God and then we simply
mirror that in our relationships. So it's my prayer that
you accept God's friendship. It's my prayer that you invite
the right they into your life and the wrong day
(23:55):
out of your life. It's my prayer that you plow
beautiful and strategically as God takes you to places you
never dreamed possible.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Thanks for joining us today on the Creative Connection with
Ed Young.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
We hope you've been encouraged as Ed's shown you how
you can connect your faith to everyday life. We'd love
to help you even more in your spiritual journey by
sending you at and Lisa Young's book A Path through Pain.
This resource will help you see God's presence, love and
care in the middle of your suffering. And it's our
(24:33):
thanks for your gift to help connect faith to everyday
life for more people around the world. Just head over
to Eddyoung dot com slash give to request your copy. Again,
that's Edyoung dot com slash gift. Thank you for your support.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
We'll see you next time. On the Creative Connection
Welcome to the Creative Connection with Ed Young. We're glad
you've joined us today to hear Ed connect faith to
everyday life. Before we get to today's message, we want
to invite you to head online and sign up for
Ed's daily email devotionals covering relevant topics like forgiveness, anxiety,
and purposeful living.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
These life giving emails.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Will provide you with a spark of encouragement write in
your inbox every single day. Each one contains a piece
of scripture as well as encouragement from Ed to help
you think about and apply biblical truths to your life.
There's also a guided prayer at the end of each email.
Just visit edyong dot com slash emails to sign up now,
(00:42):
and while you're there, you can also browse previous devotionals
as well as watch and listen to messages from Ed.
So sign up to start receiving your daily devotionals today.
The website again is Edyong dot com slash Devotionals book
forward to connecting with you there. Now, let's get into
today's message with Pastor Ed Young.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Who do you need to invite into your life? Who
do you need to invite out of your life?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Could it be that you're hanging out with the wrong they.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
You know who they are, don't you? Yeah, they said
they feel they've been coming to me. They who are they?
The they? Who are the they? Because do they always
have something to say? And I believe that the wrong
they stay in the way of the right day in
so many of our lives.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Who are they? Who are they? Well? They, I guess
you're thinking, are my friends?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
That's right. I've got to say. Friendships are the biggest
force in our lives relationally speaking, next to our family
and for many here you leave your family to move
to your real family that you've chosen, which happened to be,
(02:13):
and you are your friends friends. It's a forceful relationship
involved in everyone's domain spells friend Everybody has friends.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
So do you have friendship.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
And fellowship or do you just have friendship with some
without fellowship? And do you have friendship and fellowship with
a bunch of the right they? Who are you inviting
to your party? And who are you disinviting to your party?
(02:49):
Towering questions? The Bible has a lot to say about this.
You know, God is the author of relationships. And if
you're always kind of wondering man what does God want
to say about about real relationships? What does God have
to say about this? I mean, what does God know? Well,
God knows everything. He made you and me. God's a
relational creature. We're made in his image. We yearn for relationships.
(03:10):
We yearn vertically and that is the hole in our
heart that can only be filled by Jesus.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
And we yearn horizontally. We yearned for that for that relationship.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Well, the Bible says in Tewod Corinthia, chapter six fourteen,
a very unpopular thing. I'm gonna warn you if you
weren't here last weekend, Wow, you you missed out on
something cool. And I want you to check us out
at Fellowship Church dot com because every message builds on
the next.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
And as I said last time, so often.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
We have training in so many different areas except relational training.
We've never been trained on friendship. Many of us have
never been trained on marriage.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
That's why I'm.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
So happy that we're so bold enough to proclaim what
God says about these relationships. But this first I'm gonna
read you is a is a tough verse. God is
not being capricious or cruel. He's not being discriminatory. He's
not profiling here. He has your best interests in mind.
(04:13):
The Bible says in Second aar Anthea, chapter six, verse fourteen,
do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do
righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship that'd
be a good name for a church? Fellowship right fellowship?
Speaker 4 (04:28):
For what?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
For what fellowship can light have with darkness? Don't be
yoked together, don't be connected, don't be don't be hooked
up with people who aren't followers of the Lord. God says,
because God wants your best in mind. Relationally, make sure
the right day, those who invite to the party, make
(04:52):
sure they have he in the middle upper case H
and e he in the middle. Make sure that you
have that common bond, that common denominator. Make sure you've
got fellowship. In the original language coinnanea, say it with
(05:12):
me Coanania, it means to have in common. It means
to have a deep intimacy with someone that's fellowship. So
we got a lot of friends. I mean, I've spoken
at the venue the dead seven thousand people, and I
have a lot of friends there. Those friends, though of mine,
were not invited to this specific party. Am I going
(05:36):
too fast? So you've got friends, I've got friends as
followers of Christ, and many of these friends are not
people who have He in the middle.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
We have friendship with Him, but not fellowship.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I got fellowship only with people who have that common bond,
which is Jesus. So what's the same. Don't be yoked together?
A yoke was a piece of farm equipment. It would
use to be to plow fields. You would hook up animals.
They would put there next to the yoke of equal
(06:14):
strength and equal kind. And and usually you would hook up,
you know, uh, an ox. And then you would say, okay,
I'm gonna I'm gonna yoke up this ox with this ox,
same kind, same strength. Because to a Jewish farmer, oxes
were clean. To a Jewish farmer, donkeys were unclean. A
(06:39):
Jewish farmer would never unequally yoke a clean animal with
an unclean animal.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
So what are you doing being yoked up to a jackass? What?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
God doesn't want you to date that jackass. God doesn't
want you to marry that jackass.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
God doesn't want in the Bible uses jackass.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Okay, so it's time to get our jackass in gear.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Because too many of us are like, well, I don't
know what's wrong in my life.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Things aren't happening right, and I feel so depressed, and
all the good things in my life for being dim Well,
look at the they do. A friend and Tory, check
it out. The yoke ain't a joke. Who are you
yoked up with?
Speaker 4 (07:41):
Again?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I'm not saying to diss anybody or being mean, or
to be mean spirited with anybody, or to be friends
with everybody, but our best friends, the people we date,
the people we ultimately have as our mates have gotta
be followers of Christ. Our best friends gotta have that
common bond. So God, you see the genius of God.
(08:05):
God wants us to experience this, this beautiful plowing with
oxen as as we're plowing row after row, because we're
equally yoked. If we're hooked up with an animal that's unclean,
a jackass, we're gonna go in circles is gonna be
(08:25):
a disaster, and we'll sow seed, but the seed is
gonna germinate and the rods aren't gonna be right. And
then a lot of people go, well, I'm just gonna
I'm just gonna sow my wild oats and then pray
for a cop failure. That's what old preachers used to say.
Just go ahead and sow your wild oats and pray
(08:46):
for a crop failure. That's what so many people do. Well,
that's not what God wants you to do. God says,
forget that. That's whack. Be yoked with believers. So God's
not being capricious or cruel, He's being strategic. Yoke up
with believers and plow those straight lines. Yeah, you're gonna
(09:08):
go to the right and the left now and then
God will take care of that. God will warn you
and me.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
Speaking of warning you and me, do you remember the.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Apostle Paul, Saint Paul, who wrote the Lion's Share of
the New Testament.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
He was a guy before he became a Christian. He
was wheels off persecuting the church, attacking Christians.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
A brilliant guy, a guy that was successful, a guy
who was tough as nails, a guy who who God
wanted obviously on his team.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
I mean God wants everybody on his team. Right.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Well, well, the Bible said, one day Saul and his posse,
his squad, his group, his association, his paternity, his team,
whatever you want to call it. They were walking down
the Damascus Road on their way to persecute somebody. And
guess what happened. Boom, God showed up. Poom, he hit
the deck and check out what happened actual Chapter twenty six,
(10:09):
verse fourteen.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
We all fell to the ground. This is Paul talking.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
And I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, Saul, Saul,
why are you persecuting me? This is Jesus talking, Saul,
Why are you persecuting me?
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Me?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
The Church, the body of Christ, that's Jesus. We're a
part of the body of Christ. It's hard.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
For you to kick against the what gods? What?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Wait a minute, why do you persecute me? It's hard
for you to kick against the gods?
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Gold? Gold, Oh, a gold, Yeah, that's a.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
That's a piece of farming equipment to a stick.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
They had a sharp end. It was a prod.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
The plowman, as he was plowing, had those oxen equally yoked.
Now and then they would rest. They would go to
the right, they would go to the left, and he
would prod them.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Wow, wow, I feel the pitch. I feel that stick.
Whow okay, okay, Then they would start back.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
God was doing this in Saul's life before he became
a follower, prodding him, pitching him.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Why are you persecuting me? There's a better way. God
is prodding us. He's goading us for our best interest
in mind. You want to waste your life, you want
to burn up all this time. It's a gift from God.
I don't when you go God's way, many times there's
(12:09):
gonna be loneliness. Many times there's gonna be difficulty. But
I promise you something. When you're equally yoked and you
plow those straight lines and you go with the goad.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
WHOA, Okay, God, thank you for that. Wow. I feel
that here's what's gonna happen.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
You can associe and you're gonna be patient, and you're
gonna wait, and the harvest is gonna be a bumper
crop certified organic, and you're gonna go WHOA.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
I am so blessed.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
I trusted you God, because after all, you wrote the
Owner's Manual on relationships, doctor Phil didn't.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
I trust you, God. I trust you, and look at
my life.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
You're listening to the creative connection with ed Young. Stay
with us to hear more encouragement from Ed before we
get back to today's message. Most of us spend our
lives avoiding pain at every turn, so when we inevitably
experience pain, it sends us into a tailspin and we
can wonder if God even cares. We want to help
(13:21):
you discover how your faith can deepen even in the
most tragic circumstances by sending you Ed and Lisa's powerful
book A Path through Pain. This resource is our thanks
for your gift to help connect faith to everyday life
for more people around the world through the Creative Connection.
So head over to Edyong dot com to give and
(13:42):
request your copy. Again, that's Edyong dot com slash give.
Now let's get back to today's message.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Man, God's savings, isn't he Ecclesiastes twelve eleven. Oh yeah,
let me read this. The words of the wise are
like what there's the word again? You gotta be kidding me,
Ecclesiastes twelve eleven.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Is that a misprint?
Speaker 1 (14:09):
No?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
The words of the wise are like what like what godes?
They're collected sayings like firmly embedded nails given by one shepherd.
Don't kick against the goads, don't go with the goad,
(14:34):
and there's something else about the goat on the other
end of the stick. It was like a nine iron.
I'm talking about the goat stick sharp point. Other end
was like a nine iron. I mean, what would the
farmers do, were they like practicing their short game? No, No,
(14:54):
a plowman when when when everything was working, when he
was he was he was plowing, and everything was yoked
up and everything was joked together.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
The oxen are.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Plowing, they're moving, he's using the prod and then the prod.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Wait a minute, something's not working. Oh oh, you got
some mud and some mire.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
So he would turn the goat around and scrape off
the junk from the blade, so then it would just
slice through the dirt.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
What did Jesus tell the disciples? They diss you, they
disrespect you, they're the wrong.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
They just kick off the dirt from your flip flops.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Don't be yoked up with the jackass. You can't have.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Fellowship with the jackass. Some of you are right now.
And that's what you're acting like. Because my friends reflect
and your friends reflect who we really are.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
They're like a mirror. The Book of Proverbs says, so.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
The words the wise are like goads Ecclesiastes twelve thirteen.
Here's what he says. Now all has been said and hurt.
I mean, he's done it all again. You're not no
a list or no jet setterer is gonna do with
Solomon dead. It's not gonna happen. Now all has been hurt.
Here's the conclusion. Fear God, keep his commandments, and this
(16:36):
is the duty of mankind.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Hey, young people, right now, right now.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Students, you fear God. You put God at the center
of your life. Keep his commandments. His commandments are there
for our greatness. They're not downers, they're dynamic. Okay, let
(17:00):
me give you some practical pointers. I can go through
at least four of them. There's some people you need
to invite out of your life. There's some people that
don't need to show up to the party. If you
obey what I'm talking about as a follower of Christ,
two thirds of the conference will not show up to
the party.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
So you're not going to have as.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Many dates or as many friends, but those you have
will be on at HNL a holy another level. What
are the people look like that I should invite out
of my life? Number one, the people that hold me
back from my full potential. Think about the day. Do
(17:48):
they hold you back from your full potential? Friends are
like elevators that take you up or down. I was
at the conference. I stayed at the Omni Hotel, room
seven forty five. I pushed the button in the elemre.
There it goes up.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
I went up.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Pushed that and goes down. I went down. Oh but
I can't change her. I'm i go missionary day doesn't work.
Oh yeah, I can influence them for the best. Yeah,
you can in neutral zones, but you can't be in fellowship.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
They'll pull you down.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
You think you you you're smart as Solomon. People come
from all over the world to listen to you. And
have you written two thousand and five proverbs? Have you
written a book in the Bible? And and and if
you made bsical old squillions of dollars. No, Well, they
can happen to him, It can happen to you and me.
(18:42):
Number two, They'll make you feel bad about yourself. I've
been around certain people. I'm like, man, they bring out
the worst of me, the absolute worst of me, one time.
Because I've regularly invited people out of my life. It's
not easy, but I do it. I delete people and
it's not that they're not my friends. There's no fellowship anymore.
(19:03):
I bought this new truck years ago. I was so
excited about this new truck, so I wanted to show
it to my friend that I was in fellowship with.
And God had been goading me, like watch out, this
is to the sky. I'm not sure about his motives
and what he says, but I was like, you know,
I want God. I just feel like I should continue
(19:26):
to staying this friendship whatever, but this is kind of
the straw that broke the camel's back. I showed him
this truck. He goes, it's a nice truck. It'd be
really cool. I mean, if I had the truck, oh,
i'd customize it. Those are stock wheels. I would change
that and change this. I'm like, I'm thinking aboutself, dude,
(19:46):
you can't even rejoice that I got a new truck
and you're talking about oh yeah, it's nice, but it's
got to be customized. Done.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
Delete contact erased. I've seen the guy around since then.
No more, bro hug. I mean I'll shake his hand.
I'm his friend.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
There's no fellowship involved now. It wasn't just that things
were building up the little and God just used that
to clean the kick the dirt up my feet so
I could plow better. See, I can't tell you this
if I'm not doing this. I'm not doing it perfectly,
but I'm in this process. Number three, they will negatively
(20:35):
impact your reputation. Yeah, it's like, man, you hang out
with these people, they kind of give a negative vibe
about who you are and who you are because people say, oh,
you're in fellowship with them. Friendship, that's another matter. I'm
talking about deep fellowship. And then number four, they'll bring
(20:58):
out the worst in you.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
The wrong day, Oh the wrong day? What you do?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (21:04):
Man, you all of a sudden you feel jealous, envious, materialistic,
or maybe I should say.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
I feel more jealous, more envious, more materialistic. I'm not
saying like I don't struggle with that. They'd be like,
oh really no, but certain people bring it out.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
There were those people. Don't be at.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Fellowship with them, You're the wrong day, feeling competitive and
all that.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Always one upping people. Watch out. Now.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
I have other lists like who should you invite into
your life? I'm very tempted to diesel on but I'm
not going to We're spurring the oxen to the barn.
They plowed some straight lines. We're not kicking against the
goads anymore. We've allowed God to prod us and to
(22:10):
clean off the mud and the mire from the plow.
We're plowing straight lines. We're sowing amazing seed and the
crop is gonna be off the chain. But you know what,
(22:33):
none of this stuff will happen unless we live out
James two twenty three. And the scripture was fulfilled that
says Abraham believed God as father Abraham Abraham, and it
was credit to him as righteousness, and he was called
God's what, God's what friend.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
It's all about the gospel godself, that God.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Said, Jesus to down the cross for our sins, rise again,
and He's given us an opportunity to become his friend,
to have a relationship and fellowship with them, intimacy with
him through Christ. And that's the foundation, that's the basis.
That's the worst power of everything I've said. Have you
(23:23):
made that decision? Are you a friend of God?
Speaker 4 (23:25):
Man? What a compliment?
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (23:27):
There goes there goes this God, he's a friend of God.
There goes this student, She's a friend of God. Is
that awesome?
Speaker 3 (23:34):
We can become friends with God and then we simply
mirror that in our relationships. So it's my prayer that
you accept God's friendship. It's my prayer that you invite
the right they into your life and the wrong day
(23:55):
out of your life. It's my prayer that you plow
beautiful and strategically as God takes you to places you
never dreamed possible.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Thanks for joining us today on the Creative Connection with
Ed Young.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
We hope you've been encouraged as Ed's shown you how
you can connect your faith to everyday life. We'd love
to help you even more in your spiritual journey by
sending you at and Lisa Young's book A Path through Pain.
This resource will help you see God's presence, love and
care in the middle of your suffering. And it's our
(24:33):
thanks for your gift to help connect faith to everyday
life for more people around the world. Just head over
to Eddyoung dot com slash give to request your copy. Again,
that's Edyoung dot com slash gift. Thank you for your support.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
We'll see you next time. On the Creative Connection
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