The Battle of Ideas

Praise the Lord, everybody. Amen. How many of you love what you felt already? Thank you for coming in and plugging in. Thanks to this great worship team creating the context which our heart can be open and we can receive in the spirit the things that God would give us. Amen.

I want to give if you'll turn in your Bibles, we're going to go to some passages of scripture. We'll start in Romans chapter 6. While you're turning there, let me just give some kudos. It's a great delight to be in my home district and I love the Indiana district. I am a product of the Indiana district. I have sat in this tabernacle.

I think the first time I was here was a nine-year-old young man and and the Lord touched my life, changed my life, and I owe my formation to the Indiana district. And I I want to say brother Gilland and the entire youth committee have been over the top. I don't know who put that back basket together, but thank you very much. And the hospitality has been second to none. Then of course to get to hear the heart of brother Adam Shaw as he has been preaching and taking risks. There there are things that speakers can do and they know that they can get you excited, but there are speakers that are interested in your formation and and what God really wants to put inside of you to equip you.

And I appreciate his heart around those issues. And of course to the district leadership, brother Phil Jordan, our district superintendent, district secretary, brother Bobby Carter, and the entire district board. We salute you and thank you for your long work and support of this great team. And we appreciate everything that the Lord is doing. Thank you for letting me do that. It's important to do that.

I I want to go to Romans very quickly. I'll read one verse of scripture and let you be seated. But they'll start with the presentation back there. I am going to teach And I tend to get excited just to prep you. But I I want to read one passages passage of scripture. Romans 6:16 says, "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey?

His servants ye are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or obedience under righteousness." Amen. Amen. God bless you. You may be seated. Now I I got a I got a fun task. The Lord has kind of released me to do some things that I have felt on my heart.

If I had one shot at young people in a multiple type setting, this would be the thing that that I would take should the Lord allow me. I want to I want to paint a picture in three days of of what your moment is in history and to name that the biggest conflicts in your world and in your generation is around ideas. And there are ideas that are constantly being thrown at you in from a myriad of places and and they appeal to your flesh. And and then you have other ideas that come from your church and from your youth leader and your young adult director and they build those ideas are different ideas. Some appeal to your flesh, but the other calls you to crucify the desires and the passions of your flesh and instead build victory into your life. So there are two types of ideas that we're going to talk about.

And today I want to talk about I'm going to give you what I'm going to do. I'm gonna tip my hand early. We're going to talk about worldview issues and worldviews and conflict. And I want by the help of the Lord to expose you to the battle so that you can find your purpose and your place in the kingdom of God. I'm going to go slow, but you need to understand what God actually wants to do in your life. And tomorrow, Lord willing, I want to talk about what I'm going to call the cultural wasteland.

And we're going to look at the results of sin and and ask hard questions of our own heart and and then turn that towards a world that desperately needs young men and young women that are filled with the understanding of God so that they can know what their purpose is in the world. Your purpose is not pleasure. I want you to have a good time. I'm going to come out and goof off too. It's going to be a wonderful time. But brother Ivan, we got to understand what our purpose is so that we can understand what our calling is in this moment that God has put you on the planet.

God didn't accidentally drop you in 2025. He has a purpose for your life. And finding your purpose and discerning your purpose will empower you to be the type of person God needs you to be in this day. He needs you to go out. He doesn't need influencers on Tik Tok. He needs you to be influencers in the world.

We're going to talk about it and I'm going to try to stay calm. And then truth number four, the the aim or three rather, but we're going to look at is I'm going to call it your calling and your purpose. And and it's about what the Bible calls the ministry of reconciliation. And I I want to end on a positive note where it's time to build. I want to commission you to go back to your church and be empowered to be the type of youth group God needs you to be so that you can build wonderful things. And that power of truth of understanding ideas and the complexity of worldviews will shape young people and young adults to impact their culture.

And you can become the godly leaders who understand the times. You have to understand the times in order to be the type of godly leader the Lord wants you to be so that you can stand for truth both in courage and compassion. And you can't be either or. You can't just be compassionate. That can be weak. But at the same time, you can't just have courage.

That can turn into boldness and brashness. But God is saying, I'm calling you to have both courage and compassion because I have an aim for your life. All right. G give me that next slide. So what I want to do is I want to give you some ideas. I'm going to give you these big ideas that I'm going to try to name today on cultural conflict.

Now, now what does that look like? Give me that next slide.

Aim number one. We're going to look at it. Culture is interesting. Culture is what is and what ought to be. It is the real and the ideal. It's what h humanity has made of God's creation and it's what God's actual purpose for creation is.

Now I want you to get the difference. You got to know your purpose because you got to know that God has a plan in creation and creation is what God makes himself and that's wonderful. But culture is what God makes through his people. Now I'm going to try to behave but I'm going to run at you all week. I might as well have some fun on the first time I get all of you together in a room. What that means is is you shouldn't leave it to all the cultural influencers there to talk to your friends.

If hell's going to take a crack at your friends, you should take a crack at your friends. If hell's going to lead them down a lifestyle of destruction, you should have no problem saying, "I can take you to a church and attach you to your purpose and you can find meaning and blessing." Now, you don't have to. I'm going to be really pointed today and this is all Killmon. K I L L M O N. Don't put this on the youth committee. Now, what does that mean, brother Killmon?

It means something like this that that you don't get to choose your enemy. And and Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2, verse two, that there is a spirit that works in the children of disobedience. And you have to know that no matter how nice you are, some of you are leaving very shortly to go into college and career. And I'm just going to tell you, there's a a great writer, his name is Jay Budziszewski. He says that one of the issues on college campuses today, the reason that we're losing Christians on the campus at the tune of 80 to 95% depending on the year. The issue is not that they don't know that they need to be Christian.

They think if I'm nice enough, everyone will like me. I'm just going to help you today. You will be hated of all men for my name's sake, Jesus said. And you will not make him a liar. Not everybody's going to like you. You are in a war and you don't get to choose your enemy.

Some people will hate you because they hated Christ. Get over that. Don't worry about that. Just obey and let God give your life impact. You got to know your purpose to find your place. Give me that next slide.

So the second big idea today is is that cultural shaping then is our calling. Man, I'm trying. Jesus, help me to stay on track. I want to say so much to you. My heart is so large for this generation because I I I everywhere I travel, I see young people like you and you really do want to make an impact in the world. But what you have to do is you have to understand that that impulse is bigger than you.

God, put it on the inside of you. And what you need to do is say, "God, equip me with the understanding so that I can embrace cultural shaping as my calling." Because culture is formed by obedience. And that's the passage we read. We started with know ye not that to whom you yield yourself servants to obey his servants ye are. The King James puts that ye there. It's like mama from East Tennessee.

She would say y'all. All of y'all. All of y'all. It's everybody's responsibility. Everybody is serving someone. And you are serving a kingdom and you're serving ideas whether of sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness.

And that means culture is formed by obedience. But culture is informed by ideas. And it's the ideas that you embibe. It's the ideas that you embrace that will create the context of your being. Thank you, brother Shaw, for that last night. Proverbs 23:7 says, "For as he thinketh in his heart," now I I wish we had time to drop here and I could talk for 30 minutes about the difference between your heart and your head.

I will give you this much. The Hebrew understanding of heart is the seed of the emotions and the will, not the thinking. People often let their thinking be informed by the desires and the passions of their heart. God is saying, "I'm after your heart." Because as you think in your heart, so is he. And that means that your living your your way that you become as a young adult that you're stepping into now is being informed constantly by ideas that shape the desires of your heart. That's why you got to thank God and you should shake his hand, look him right in the eye and say, "Thank you for helping me this week, brother Shaw, because you've confronted desires in my heart." Give me that next slide.

Number three. So ideas are powerful. Ideas have consequences. They always build. Ideas are never neutral for both the negative and the positive. What do you mean, brother Killmon?

Ideas have consequences. They form beliefs and then those beliefs shape our convictions and solidify into our habits and they coalesce into a destination and a destiny. Everybody is going somewhere and you either go there haphazardly or you go there thoughtfully. You go there carefully. You go there prayerfully. You go there directed or undirected.

And I'm going to tell you, you can be directed today. You can have the vision of God and plant it deep in your heart. And you can become a leader that God can use in your day. Ideas are powerful. Give me that next slide, please. But there are negative consequences and we have to deal with that.

We're not being negative, but there really is negative things. People say, "Brother Killmon, you sound kind of cynical." No. No, no, no. Cynical always assuming the negative. Discerning is seeing to the truth of a matter. One is rooted in the flesh, one is rooted in the spirit.

One is a sin, the other is a biblical command. And what you have to do is be able to discern between ideas and what spirits are behind ideas. So Colossians chapter 2, that well-known passage verses 8-10, the Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Colasse. He says, "Beware lest any man spoil you." We're not talking about like the things that are left in the dorms that some of you have over there that are spoiling. Look like a science experiment on the side of your bed or something. He's talking about something else.

It's being carried away as spoils of war. And he says, "How can I be carried away as spoils of war? Through philosophy and vain deceit. Ideas are what carries us captive. Empty deceptive philosophies." And he says after the traditions of men, man-made ideas and man-made structures and after the rudiments of the world, which means the basic elements of existence. I wish we had time to dive deep into stoke the Greek word there.

But it means something like this spirit systems. It means everything about existence, not only the physical that you see, but the supernatural that's affected by the physical that you see. Because everything natural is attached to something supernatural. Everything physical is affected by something spiritual. Now, I wish I was in a group of young people that knew that you got to be spiritfilled. That there really is a spirit of the enemy behind ideas in this world.

You got to know you're in a warfare. But I'm less interested in you rebuking spirits out of your Cheerios than I am you understanding that the greatest way that young people are being misled into the captivity of the enemy is through ideas. I'll prove it to you. There's two words that are since 2008 in the state of California where I have great friends carving out churches. There were two words that the the state of California said were so dangerous and so oppressive that they had to be removed out of all of California's curriculum for their public education since 2008. The two words are mother and father.

Now I'm just going to tell you you're living in complex times. And when you understand that there is a pressure of ideas on young people, assaulting them every day, you got to know that you're dealing with things that are counter to the word of God. Because if you can't even say mother and father, it's no wonder you can't define what a woman is and what a man is and what separation of the sexes and dress look like. I'm going to tell you, we got to embrace all of God's revelation so we can have all of God's victory. And I run the risk of being misunderstood here, but you understand what I mean. We cannot serve God in our flesh.

But you got to do more than speak in tongues. You got to deal with ideas that are confl in conflict with the will of God and the purpose of God and the blessing of God. You got to get people out of the wrong ideas that are destroying the fabric of their life. It's wrecking the peace of their mind. It's creating issues in the heart. That's why suicide rates are so high.

Brother Killmon, we got to do more. The beauty is we can do more. Give me that next slide, please. There are there there are I think here's the issue that you're going to face in college and in the culture. Let me speak to your now and into your future. That the two greatest threats on a college campus and in the culture through social media is they provide intellectual arguments that allow you to dismiss God.

Brother Shaw, they're not even clever arguments. They they they're arguments that appeal to the mind because it gives permission to the heart. And and that's the second thing. The second thing is the fleshly temptations that are available on all social media. We don't even have to name them in this room this morning yet. We've already had a great preacher dealing with things.

But you got to understand that that appeal of the ideas that you can dismiss God because if I can if I can somehow dismiss the Bible, I can get rid of the law, I can get rid of the lawgiver and then I can live any way I want. Make no mistake, that is what's going on on college campuses and in the culture. That's why the Apostle John writes in 1 Timothy 2:15-16, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him." Turn to your neighbor, say, "Love not the world." I'm going to quote my bishop, my father and the Lord. By the way, my pastor, brother Carson, text me early yesterday. He said, "I'm praying for you this week.

Thank you, pastor. I appreciate you very much." But but I I was listening to my bishop and he said, "If you're going to not love the world, you have to be able to define what the world is." That's why you got to give permission to your young adult director. That's why you got to give permission to your pastor. More than permission, you should pray, "God, light my pastor up this Sunday. God, anoint my leadership to show me what the world is so I can get out of it myself and I can lead others out of the bondage that the enemy is trapping them in. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father, but it is of the world.

That Greek word is sometimes translated from the word cosmos, which means created universe or other things. But this is aon. It's the spirit of the age. The brokenness, the fallenness. And give me that next slide.

Point number five. There are positive consequences to aligning yourself, not just negative. We can see all of the issues in our culture. We're going to talk about that in detail tomorrow. I hope I can create compassion inside of you. I hope I can motivate you to see your friends as prisoners of war.

I'm trying not to slip into preaching, Brother Shaw, but you got to get young people. You're that Listen, I'm an old guy. I'm bald. I'm a little rounder and and they don't listen to me as much. But you have influence with people that are are God has put in your life as peers. And you should be kind even when they're not.

You should be friendly even when they're not. Why? Because that will move it to a God moment if you will just let it. And all of a sudden, they're going to be asking you, "You go to church, could you pray for me?" And God will give you opportunity if you have compassion. The negative consequences are real, but there are also positive consequences. John chapter 8 verse 31 and 32.

Then Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him. If you continue in my word, there it is, continue, then are ye my disciples indeed. Because when you continue in his word, then you can know. You do not know and then continue. Some things you I wish we had time to deal with the Hebrew word yada. Yada means to know intimately.

Like Adam knew his wife and she conceived. Some people know about God, but they don't know God. There are people that write songs about God that are moving, but you can sing it better because you're not just singing a song. You know who God is. You shall continue in my word and you shall know the truth and the truth shall what? Make you free.

It does not just set you free. That is beautiful. That's that's salvation and justification. But it's sanctification that is the point of Jesus is saying you can continue in my word. It is an ongoing process. It's not a one-time event.

That means your life of obedience is powerful because agreement with God is powerful. And you're saying, "Brother Killmon, the things that Brother Shaw's been preaching about, I haven't experienced that yet." Yes. Yes. But if you continue to walk in faith, you're going to go from victory to victory and from faith to faith. And God by his spirit and by his direction will build in your life the type of victory that other people will see and be attracted to because your life matters more than that. Your obedience, your obedient life matters.

That's why hell is afraid. He's afraid you will obey.

Point number six. I promise I'm gonna get to someplace good. How do you navigate these ideas, brother Killmon? If there are ideas that are controlling and manipulating people and robbing them, even maybe on my own peer group of victory that God has for them. And if there are friends that I know, I go to school with, I go to work with, I I interact with that are not saved. If if there is ideas that are dragging them under the system of the enemy and they're becoming captives to the devil's program, how do I navigate these ideas?

How do I create discernment? Let me give you two things plainly from scripture. First of all, the Bible teaches you're capable of knowing the rules. And secondly, you're capable of recognizing the pattern of ideas. Brother Shaw already hit it last night. He didn't know what I was going to teach.

This is done way ahead of time. Romans 12 verse 1 and two. The apostle says, "I beseech you, therefore, brethren by the mercies of God, I'm going to help you. Holiness is not a punishment. It's a mercy." We'll go right down here. What do you mean, Brother Killmon?

Because here's what will happen, young ladies. If you if you begin to dress in modest ways, and holy ways, what you will do is you will run off every jerk that's trying to use you and devour you for his own pleasure. You know what it will do? Will run off every creep in your life that only sees you as an object to be used instead of a person to be related to. What you need to say is, "I'm not going to the place of bondage. I'm not embracing ideas that open me up to relationships that will abuse me." That's why, young men, you got to keep your eyes pure.

You got to keep your hands pure. You got to do what the preacher said. You got to have the uncomfortable conversation about needing accountability. And you shouldn't wait for your dad or your youth pastor to come and say, "Do you need accountability on your phone?" You got to say, "I need it myself." If you won't protect me, then I'm going to protect myself. If nobody asked me, I'm going to ask for the protection myself. It will result in beautiful things called mercy.

That the type of man that you become will be a man that can protect. A man that can show his hands, his son, how to grow up with holy hands, to live without wrath and doubting will show that young man that they're really I I I thank God every day, brother Gillin. I thank God every day for the United Pentecostal Church because it has wrecked my son's dating because he will never be satisfied dating anything less than an apostolic young lady committed to truth. Why? Because there are so many that have already exemplified, I don't belong to the world. I belong to God.

And he will never be satisfied with anything less than what God's mercy can provide. I got to hurry tonight. Today, present your bodies. Everybody say your bodies. I'm gonna be I'm gonna be a little pointed here. Not just your speaking in tongues.

Not just your surrender at an altar. Represent your bodies, your living, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed. Don't be pressed into the image of this world. Again, a on age, but be transformed. How?

Here it is. By the renewing of your mind, your thinking matters most? Because thinking creates being. That ye might prove because when your mind is renewed that's why we Paul said in Ephesians we were enemies and alienated in our mind that's what Alcoholics Anonymous calls thinking thinking it's the things that lock me into patterns of behavior you got to change your mind you got to change your thinking what happens is you can prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God that creates discernment that there are only two patterns in existence. There's only two patterns of ideas in the world. There is God's and everybody else's.

And that's the truth. Give me that next slide, please. I I am working towards a close. False close. Number one, world view is a pattern of ideas. World view is not you seeing the world.

It's what you see the world by. And and what you have to understand about the pattern of ideas is ideas form while they inform. I'm gonna be really pointed here. That's why you can only be called a female dog so many times in a certain genre of music and all of a sudden you start to think that's all I am. And the only way I can get intention from a man is to dress in certain ways and to dance in certain ways and to act in certain ways. But it ends in disaster.

That's why I'm going to help you ladies. That's why maybe you need to go through your little listening list and and maybe you need to go through your Spotify and say, "There's some things that need to get out. I I don't care what Taylor Swift says. I I I'm not listening to worldly ideas that's going to make me mistake what God is calling me to be." You can have a bright future in the way that God has patterned your life. And if you're listening to a certain genre of music, music that's filled with misogyny, and you gentlemen, you need to look up maybe what that word is. If you got accountability software, just alert your parents, it was my fault.

But misogyny is a hatred and objectification of women. It means you only see women as objects to be used. And what you got to do is you got to say, "If one in four songs in hip hop is filled with that, I got to turn that off." Why? Because I'm not going to think of my sisters that way. I'm not going to let the devil wreck my mind that way. I'm not going to be dragged under the pattern of ideas and the dominion of a spirit where I can't even maintain purity.

Instead, I'm going to be the type of husband and father that God has called me to be. I'm going to be a man of strength and integrity and power and understanding. I I'm trying to behave today. It never works. Brother Gillian, I apologize. It never works.

But I'm just going to tell you that in the city of Indianapolis, there are kids that never get out of a 16 block area in their life. The most successful man they've ever seen as a drug dealer. And God is going to cause some of you to go into neighborhoods and just start befriending kids and show them what a man of substance is. A man of integrity and courage and power not defined by the brokenness of this world. Ideas, they not only describe reality, they prescribe how we live in reality. That's why if you listen long enough and you watch long enough, you will do it.

But if you read long enough and if you let preachers preach to you long enough and if you'll just simply show up to church every time the doors are open, you will get things put into your life that will create the context of victory. I I am landing false number two eight get in trouble when I get in the car with a brother Killmon. Why should I care about this? Give me that next side please.

Why should I care about all this? It's interesting. Is that all there is? That's okay. Look at God, brother Killmon.

Why should I care about all this? Because you have to you have to figure out for yourself the rules of existence, you know, and I I understand the complexity of this statement. You can't cut yourself and not bleed. I I I wish I could talk about maybe we'll we'll later this week I I I could deal with the what what psychologist clinical psychologist call delicate self cutting and and what that means for the person in the context of that type of self harm. If you're here today, I have seen numbers of people again and again and again. Every time, don't please don't come up.

I'm not asking for that. But every time I've spoken to that particular issue, as I felt directed by the spirit, people walk up to me and they show me scars that the Lord has delivered them from. There is peace in God's ways. But if you're still, now forgive me, if you still stay disobedient, a lot of times that paying a price is false reconciliation. So instead of paying the price, that is true. Repentance and letting Jesus be your sacrifice, self harm is a lot of times you acting out of your own shame.

And you can repent and find forgiveness and way forward. But it's even more devastating when people cut themselves morally. What do you mean, brother Killmon? You got to figure out the rules of existence. Because if you misdiagnose what's wrong, and hear me today, I really mean this. There are really good well-meaning people that misdefine the problem.

And what do they do when you misdefine the problem? You mis you you develop prescriptions based on wrong ideas. And it leaves real issues untreated. There's a new study, 12-year study, just released in 2025, the report of over 1100 transgendered persons. And people will say, "Well, here's the thing, Brother Killmon. If you you preachers would just quit talking about distinction and you're cisgendered white male, if you just quit all that nonsense, you would give them more peace." Then why is it that this massive study shows a 12-year study over 1100 people that the rates of suicide double after they have the surgery?

Now hear me because well-meaning people and I've talked to some of them. They really want to do good for people. But when you get the problem wrong, then you're going to misprescribe a cure that doesn't help people. It exacerbates the problem and suicide rates double. What are you saying, brother Killmon? Only you have the ideas that can bring life.

That means you got to get a hold of some courage and understand that the lies in often well-meaning people's mouths will not help people. What you say will help them. I I am actually brother Killmon how worldview is built then and well it's conscious or unconsciously some world views people live from their worldview and it shapes and forms their habits and their values and their living but other people their worldview shapes their habits their ideas and their living. Some people choose a way of living and then seek to justify it. Other people seek a way that's just and then go live by. So being formed, that's what we're talking about.

Being formed. Here's the idea. God says you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. So is there freedom from laws? No. No.

There's no freedom from laws. The laws of existence are encouragable, unchangeable. It's like singing that dumb little song, I believe I can fly. I believe if you jumped off the building, you're going to go. There is no freedom from laws. There's only freedom in laws.

Look at second Timothy chapter 2. And I'm closing with this. Here is your challenge for you personally and for what God is calling you to do. The Apostle Paul is writing his son in the gospel. He says, "And the servant of the Lord must not strive." Would you please quit trying to win fights on social media? Just stop.

The servant of the Lord must not strive. We're not there to fight to win. But be gentle unto people that agree with me. No. Be gentle unto all men. And here's your challenge for your future.

Apt to teach. Some of you need to learn your own beliefs well enough so you can share them. And I get it. We're talking about doctrine of salvation. We're talking about separation. But we're also talking about things like what will actually bless someone in terms of their sexuality.

Aptitish patient. And then he says, "In meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves." See, here's the issue. Why meekness? Meekness is not weakness. Meekness, that Greek word that's used there was used of of of of wind and medicine and and wild horses. Because when wind is too strong, it destroys.

When medicine is too strong, it kills. And when a horse is untamed, it's a danger to itself and everyone around them. You know what meekness is? It's strength under control. Do you have to shoot your mouth off in a debate? Can you remain Christian when you disagree?

In meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. Hear me today. They are trying to have a good life. They have been told materialism will do it. They've been told drugs will do it. They've been told that partying will do it and illicit relationships with other people will do it.

They're being lied to all the time. And the problem is is in their disobedience to God, they're opposing themselves. And the apostle says, "Instruct them in meekness." Why? Peradventure that God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth that they might recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his school. They are they are just open targets. When you walk in your school and you see all the issues, I get it.

I get it. You feel the pressure of conformity and belonging and affirmation. You need to get your affirmation from your youth group. You need to get your affirmation from your church. And then you need to understand that your role in high school is to walk in as a missionary. I'm here to win them, not the other way around.

Stand with me today. What are you saying, brother Killmon? Here's what I want to give you the first day. Ideas are always working for the positive and for the negative. You have the right ideas. So that means that you're God's gift to the world.

You already know what the world doesn't know. Now, if you don't have the Holy Ghost yet, this is not meant to isolate you. I don't want to hurt you in any way. I pray that you're open to the Lord fills you with his spirit at this time. But how many of you know what it's like to be filled with the baptism of the Holy Ghost? You already know more about the rules of existence than every person that's non-spirit filled with the PhD because you're connected to the most important thing in the world.

And as you walk in the spirit and you align your life with the world, you become what God is using to accomplish his purpose. You know, not only what truly is, but what is wrong. See, that's the problem. We We were talking Brother Shaw, thank you for picking on Jordan Peterson. I pick on him, too. You know, the problem with empiricism?

It can tell you what is, but not what ought. You know what the problem is with people who only look at data and facts? They can tell you what existence is, but we know existence is broken and detached from its purpose. It can't guide you to what is right and what is wrong. Not only what is but what ought to be, what is healthy. And then lastly, not only what is right and what is wrong and what is healthy.

But how do I bring change? Somebody has to quit talking and offer real answers that result in new living. That's why Paul says in Romans 7:24, "Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" You need to hear the cry of that in your generation. When you leave this campground, you need to know that there are people like Emily who tried to pick us a fight with Charlotte. She goes to Brother John's church in Georgia. There's Charlotte trying to invite people to church and Emily's trying to pick a fight with her at the beginning of school.

Why? Because her heart and her life is so filled with pain. She lashes out everywhere. And you don't know who's hungry for God. Charlotte was having these little cards. They're passing them out.

And what does she do? She said, "I was just being polite, Brother Gillan." She said, "I I invited a friend and there's Emily and I just was being polite. I I thought, well, I got to give her a card, too." She said, "I gave it to her and and and just dumbfounded, she said, yes, I'll come." Because Emily was praying, "God, if you're real, please send somebody to talk to." They oppose themselves. That's why their life is so complicated and broken and it will bump into you. But can you hold your strength and reserve and begin to instruct them the ways of life? I'm going to quote one of the most common verses at youth camp, but I want you to get it.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. That's the ideas of the enemy at work every day. But there is a savior who said, "I am come that you might have life that you might have it more abundantly." See, you can find your purpose and that will transform you. But then you can live your purpose and that example and that life of surrender can transform others. Would you slip up a hand today? Would you just say, "Lord, I want to live free.

I want to be truly free. Not free to do what I want." That's bondage. I want to be free to do what I should. Come on. Would you say it, young person? I want to live free.

Give me the direction, the understanding to walk in the power of truth. That simple obedience will shake your world. Come on, would you say it? Lord, help me. All I can give you is my obedience. God is saying to you this morning, that's all I need.

And if you'll commit, he'll do it. One more time. Lord, use our life. Any area of disobedience, any idea that's dominating our mind and our our heart, any desire that's misaligning me from my purpose that's robbing me of victory, God, take it out. Show me, God, get the victory in me that I need. I want to be changed so that then I can be an agent of change.

I want to be different. I want to live different, Lord, so that others can see the victory. Come on. That's it. Would you just I we don't need a formal alter call. It is.

If you want to come up, you're welcome to come up. But I here's what I want you to do. I want you to commission one another. You've been too Come on forward. That's okay. I sent a mixed signal.

Come on up. If you want to be a If you want to be an agent of change, what you have to do is say, "God, work through the ideas that I'm ingesting." Come on. We'll do a little work here this morning. God, help me to clean up my entertainment. Help me get rid of every song. Help me get rid of every relationship that's speaking death and not life.

Help me to isolate it. Give me discernment around these ideas. Who is selling me a bill of goods? Who's lying to me and saying that the greatest thing a man can be defined by is his his billfold and and maybe the ball court and and maybe the bedroom. All of those are lies that misdefine men. You can have very little in any of those areas right now in your life and you can still be a man of honor and integrity and purpose.

Come on, let's do a little work. God, get it out of my life. Change me so I can be a changer. Come on, let's see it. God, help me. Come on, young ladies.

You need to live free so you can show all of these girls that are that are painting their face and coloring their hair that have been told they've been sold discontentment so much they don't even like looking in the mirror. They're willing to take surgeries and change everything about them. You need to see pain. You need to see people opposing themsel and you need to say, "God, help me reach them with truth." You got to be kind. You got to be meek. You got to be able to explain your faith in loving ways so that people can see it's sin that destroys.

But God's intention is good. He loves you. He's got purpose for you. Those statements can change somebody's life as the truth begins a deep work. Come on. That's it.

Would you? I I dare you, God. Show me. Come on. Would you I I dare you to ask God, show me somebody right now when I go back home I can reach. Show me somebody right now in my school, somebody in my neighborhood, somebody on my job.

God show me somebody I can reach with this truth