East of Eden: Dating

[SPEAKER_01]: You started a series last week for this summer, called what?

[SPEAKER_01]: How did you guys know?

[SPEAKER_02]: It's right there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're not a smart enough to fight you with.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, this ain't gonna know what the world that means.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like is this a geography lesson?

[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna look at the tigers and new afraidies river and figure out what new east is and we're gonna talk about that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is that what this is about?

[SPEAKER_01]: Somebody help me out.

[SPEAKER_01]: What does this mean?

[SPEAKER_01]: Because I actually wasn't here last week.

[SPEAKER_01]: Anybody know?

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, that's kind of what I thought.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we probably should know if we're going to go through an entire summer series understanding what this means.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Adam

[SPEAKER_01]: And that was the perfect place to be with God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everything they needed was right there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Presence of God, walking with some daily, the perfect scenario.

[SPEAKER_01]: But did it stay like that?

[SPEAKER_01]: No, it did it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sin entered the garden, through the form of a serpent, Satan, you deceive, ease, and Adam, almost forgot his name for a second, and Sin entered the world and everything.

[SPEAKER_01]: with shit.

[SPEAKER_01]: And what happened that Adam and Eve, were they allowed to say, and God's like, God, I guess you just got to take a time out, sit in that corner over there, and then we'll be back together.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is that what happened?

[SPEAKER_01]: No.

[SPEAKER_01]: What happened?

[SPEAKER_01]: Take it out.

[SPEAKER_01]: Take it out.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it was serious.

[SPEAKER_01]: So serious that God put angels.

[SPEAKER_01]: With flaming swords at the entrance, and literally says, if you try to re-enter, we'll chop you up.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's my like paraphrase, but that's basically it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so he was a serious business, and it was serious sadness.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because we went from ideal perfect, the way God had planned and desired for his people to be with him, to now everything's different.

[SPEAKER_01]: everything changes and everything is not going to be the way it could have been.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's what we're talking about.

[SPEAKER_01]: Peace have been out of the garden and so the things that God designed now come to us, tainted, they come to us with problems, our thinking, our actions, all are tainted because

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk about DAD.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: I like that response.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're like, what?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: I said the same thing to Gabe.

[SPEAKER_01]: When he told me, I was going to do this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: But it's super important for us to understand this.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I understand that as I'm speaking to you now, added ninth graders coming into this next year,

[SPEAKER_01]: There is a vast castem that lay between us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sixth grade boys, over here, I sixth grade boys, where you at?

[UNKNOWN]: Oh, I like you.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right, okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that was just, sorry, anyway.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then eighth grade girls, where are you?

[SPEAKER_01]: We have one.

[SPEAKER_01]: Great.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: Glad you came.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're just scared to raise the head.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: Actually, nice grade girls.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have some of those in here.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: So there's a little difference.

[SPEAKER_01]: between an ice-break girl and how you'll think about this topic and a six-grade boy and how they think about this topic.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, in fact, I already heard from over here a response that I would expect when I say dating.

[SPEAKER_01]: Did you guys pick up on it?

[SPEAKER_01]: What was it?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Wow, that was amazing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Way to go, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then we'll have also a response of like,

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't do it in that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: So, we have a wide range that we're going to work through tonight, but I think through God's Word, we're going to talk about dating, but it's not going to be focused on dating.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want you to be like, oh, I'm not dating.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, shut down.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, this is going to be going to God's Word to see how he wants us to live.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we can apply it a little bit to how dating hits us

[SPEAKER_01]: So before we start, let's just pray and ask God to help us, God, be with us now.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is a tough topic, a wide-ranging topic.

[SPEAKER_01]: A topic that's not really talked about in your work too much, God, but you give us principles of how to live, of how to honor you, of how to follow you, how to submit to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: So would you help us understand what the Bible says in regards to loving you,

[SPEAKER_01]: Show us what we can learn.

[SPEAKER_01]: Each one of us tonight, I pray in Jesus' name, amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: See, might be thinking, like, pray, I'm gonna hear from this old dude about dating.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, the last thing I need to do is listen to this old guy talking to me about dating.

[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't know anything about dating.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's 59 years old.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not, okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I feel like it's sometimes, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: And so, what I wanna try to convince you is, though, is that actually,

[SPEAKER_01]: I do bring some perspective, I don't know if you'll believe this or not, but I once was in Junior High.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yep, when the dinosaurs were on the earth, I was a junior high, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, okay, we could talk about that later, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll tell you my favorite one, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway,

[SPEAKER_01]: I was once a junior higher, so I understand the pressures that you face.

[SPEAKER_01]: I understand the feelings that you feel.

[SPEAKER_01]: I understand what you're working through as a junior higher, believe it or not.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you also know that I am a parent?

[SPEAKER_01]: I've been a parent of not one, not two, but close.

[SPEAKER_01]: Three, junior highers.

[SPEAKER_01]: And once in here tonight, because it's probably going to be in the other room, but turns out I get an extra bonus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so Zach, one more time, you know, listen to me, I'm sorry.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: So I have some experience in working with kids through this challenge.

[SPEAKER_01]: And one last thing, do you go down a shepard?

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, not a little sheep.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I'm not a farmer.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I have been given the task of shepherding people in this church.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you want shepherding zoo?

[SPEAKER_00]: They protect?

[SPEAKER_01]: They protect.

[SPEAKER_01]: They have a look, they have a staff.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if they need to, they pull back.

[SPEAKER_01]: They make sure sheep aren't going off a cliff.

[SPEAKER_01]: They make sure sheep aren't walking near wolves that are disguising themselves in the flock.

[SPEAKER_01]: All of these things is what a shepherd does.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's my aim tonight.

[SPEAKER_01]: be a shepherd, helping you see dangers, and also encouragement in God's Word of how we should interact with dating.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the title of my message is, a word on dating.

[SPEAKER_01]: A word on dating.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know what that word is?

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't.

[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for coming, have a good night.

[SPEAKER_01]: You wish.

[SPEAKER_01]: You wish.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know I can't give that short of the sermon.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's literally impossible for me.

[SPEAKER_02]: But that's how simple it really is.

[SPEAKER_01]: And yes, I understand that's a preference.

[SPEAKER_01]: We'll get to that in a second.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I just want to start out with that.

[SPEAKER_01]: We'll have more words about baby.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I want to start out with this one.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're contemplating it, if you're wondering if it's a good idea in junior high, I would just say right now as kindly as I can.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't!

[SPEAKER_01]: That?

[SPEAKER_01]: All right.

[SPEAKER_01]: But let's get to the real point, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: You see, gaming is an appropriate activity, I'll call it.

[SPEAKER_01]: At the right time for the right reason and with the right type of person.

[SPEAKER_01]: Did you hear that?

[SPEAKER_01]: It's appropriate.

[SPEAKER_01]: at the right time for the right reason and for the with the right type of person only guys ever remember these kind of books going way back hold your eyes at parents i just finished it finally no this book is gone through all three of our kids and we still have it okay so

[SPEAKER_01]: And what's cool about it is you can open up to say like the tiger cage and look at that But our little kids didn't know that okay, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: And what do you do is a little kid with this book?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because it feels cool, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: There's all these other animals with these different types of skin and you feel that and and when they're really really little they don't even know what spots to touch right?

[SPEAKER_01]: They're like just rubbing the back cover

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, or kids, not very smart.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, look at it, they actually, they don't exactly wear it at that, and so they get really good at feeling all of them, and then eventually what do they do?

[SPEAKER_01]: They can maybe kind of make the noise that the animal makes, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: And then maybe eventually they can actually talk and say the word.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, what would the next step be?

[SPEAKER_01]: Say they're one-and-a-half, and able to start

[SPEAKER_01]: Would a pair ever say, you know what?

[SPEAKER_01]: I think they're ready for the real thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't get the tiger and bring it into the room.

[SPEAKER_01]: Would you do that?

[SPEAKER_02]: No, no, no.

[SPEAKER_02]: Why would you do that?

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think it's.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.

[SPEAKER_02]: Also, I actually get a tiger.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, let's not analyze it too far.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to let's share some breaks down pretty quickly.

[SPEAKER_01]: Guys, listen, listen, just because the kid is getting better at getting the spot on the page.

[SPEAKER_01]: Does it mean they are ready to roundle or take care of a full size untamed tiger?

[UNKNOWN]: No.

[SPEAKER_01]: Here's what I'm trying to say.

[SPEAKER_01]: Listen.

[SPEAKER_01]: There is an appropriate time to introduce appropriate things.

[SPEAKER_01]: And similar to this, introducing dating too soon is introducing a dangerous animal

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's similar to my just dumb illustration that I gave you.

[SPEAKER_01]: So what I want you to see tonight is that there's timing involved, that we need to be understanding where we are and where God will have us for the rest of our life.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because maybe you would say, oh, but Timmy, he's going to be as you all would just someday.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to work with animals, great, but not when he's too, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: There will be an appropriate time where maybe he can be with tigers someday.

[SPEAKER_01]: in the right way, and it will be far less dangerous when the right time comes.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I have three points.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's get to the first one.

[SPEAKER_01]: The first one is in the knot of, go to John, first John, chapter two.

[SPEAKER_01]: First John, chapter two.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to be kind of all over, so I hope your fingers are nice and loose and ready to go.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to be flipping through a lot of different verses.

[SPEAKER_01]: First point is in and out of, and before we read the verse, I would just want to ask you this question.

[SPEAKER_01]: Why is there such a desire to date?

[SPEAKER_01]: Why is there such a longing and a pressure to pair up?

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe not for you six-strain guys, but as you get older,

[SPEAKER_01]: And I would say it's probably specifically for the ladies in the room.

[SPEAKER_01]: There is this pressure that if you don't match up, if you don't pair up with someone, well, you're not very important.

[SPEAKER_01]: You see, we live in this worldly pattern of our over-sexualized culture.

[SPEAKER_01]: That tells you the way to feel valued fulfilled

[SPEAKER_01]: is to be dating, to have a relationship, to be paired up.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you're not cool if you're not.

[SPEAKER_01]: And nobody is popular unless they're dating.

[SPEAKER_01]: What we need to understand is that that is a worldly thought.

[SPEAKER_01]: That is a worldly thought.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so when we go to first John chapter two, it says this in verse 15.

[SPEAKER_01]: Or the things in the world, if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him.

[SPEAKER_01]: For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world.

[SPEAKER_01]: The world is passing away, along with his desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

[SPEAKER_01]: is calling us to something different.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, be in the world, but not often.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't act like the world.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't follow the world's patterns.

[SPEAKER_01]: Romans 212 says similar things.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, don't be conformed to this world.

[SPEAKER_01]: But be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you by testing may discern what is the will of God,

[SPEAKER_01]: See, don't love the world in its things.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't seek after its treasures.

[SPEAKER_01]: But instead, be changed.

[SPEAKER_01]: Lead, don't follow.

[SPEAKER_01]: Create a new path, a new norm.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do what other people don't expect.

[SPEAKER_01]: and show them the worth and value that's in that when you love God with your relationships.

[SPEAKER_01]: Matthew 5, 13 through 16, says this, you are the salt of the earth.

[SPEAKER_01]: But if the salt has lost its taste, how shall it's saltiness be restored?

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 14, you are the light of the world.

[SPEAKER_01]: A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

[SPEAKER_01]: Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket.

[SPEAKER_01]: Gives light to all the house in the same way.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father.

[SPEAKER_01]: Who is in heaven?

[SPEAKER_02]: You see, we can hear in the world that not of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: We can set a new example.

[SPEAKER_01]: We can shine so that others see and give

[SPEAKER_01]: glory to God.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we have this fear of being different as Christians.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have this fear that if we're different, we'll stick out and people will make fun of us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, yeah, some might.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's part of the persecution that Jesus has you might run into if you love Him.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I also think that when kids and students start to take a sample was right and not just following the pattern, people will start to follow.

[SPEAKER_01]: People will run to that because it's new, because it's different, because it provides an alternative.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's so many more people looking not to get into a relationship than getting into one.

[SPEAKER_01]: We should learn to be in the world but not of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me just say this if you are dating right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you are dating in light of this point,

[SPEAKER_01]: Would others know that you follow Jesus if they looked at your relationship?

[SPEAKER_01]: Is your dating relationship out of the world?

[SPEAKER_01]: Is it causing you to be more worldly?

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's something you have to wrestle with.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the first point was in and that let's go to number two.

[SPEAKER_01]: Number two, trust, obey and honor.

[SPEAKER_01]: Trust, obey and honor.

[SPEAKER_01]: Turn with me to Proverbs chapter 3, middle of your Bible, just right of Psalms.

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_01]: Proverbs chapter 3, and look at verses 4 and 5, I'm sorry, 5 and 6, trust them all over with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_01]: In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a key word in there a couple times.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you notice it.

[SPEAKER_01]: It starts with an A and A with a couple of L's.

[SPEAKER_01]: What is that word?

[SPEAKER_01]: Did I say it too fast?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's your sleeping.

[SPEAKER_01]: Starts with an A, has a couple L's in it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, you guys like checked out for that summer, like schools over, I'm not answering any spelling questions, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, oh, it says, oh, a couple of times, trust them a lot with how much of your heart?

[SPEAKER_01]: All your heart, and how many of your ways?

[SPEAKER_01]: All your ways.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I tend to find?

[SPEAKER_01]: If people that start to pursue relationships early,

[SPEAKER_01]: then to have a hard time giving all of themselves.

[SPEAKER_01]: Actually, he says in the Bible that Paul, when he talks about marriage, he actually says that being single is a really good thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says it's a really good thing because you can give your whole self to follow him Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, for those of you who...

[SPEAKER_01]: need to be married, then you do have to split your thoughts.

[SPEAKER_01]: You have to split your tears on other people.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now marriage is a good thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't get me wrong, but all I'm saying is when we have the opportunity to be single at this time of our life, we have the opportunity for God to work in all of us.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have the privilege of giving

[SPEAKER_01]: having to change our hearts in every way so that we can be focused on who he wants us to be.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then we don't lean on what we think is good.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't lean into what you think would bring value, fulfillment, or status.

[SPEAKER_01]: That is your own understanding.

[SPEAKER_01]: You might say to yourself, well, this will make me popular.

[SPEAKER_01]: Or this will make me feel fulfilled.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll feel love if I'm in a relationship.

[SPEAKER_01]: That is not true.

[SPEAKER_01]: In fact, a lot of times you end up feeling used in a relationship.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're not saying that it can't be good ones.

[SPEAKER_01]: But there are so many dangers.

[SPEAKER_01]: At this level, when we talk about dating, and when you lean in, think what you think you know, the proverb says, don't lean on your own understanding.

[SPEAKER_01]: Trust God with all of your heart.

[SPEAKER_01]: and he will make your path straight.

[SPEAKER_01]: He will show you how to obey.

[SPEAKER_01]: He will show you how to glorify Him.

[SPEAKER_01]: Matthew 633 says this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Seek first, the kingdom of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Psalm 374, the light yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't mean, well, if I delight in God, then he'll give me whatever I want, like a genie in a lamp.

[SPEAKER_01]: No.

[SPEAKER_01]: What that means is when you desire the Lord, he changes your art to have the best desires.

[SPEAKER_01]: He gives you the best things, because he is changing you, making you more like his son.

[SPEAKER_01]: and honor, that's in relation to God.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if you're dating, I would just say, does the person you're dating strengthen your faith?

[SPEAKER_01]: Is the person you're involved with spending time with?

[SPEAKER_01]: Are they helping you grow a world-life price?

[SPEAKER_01]: Or are they pulling you away?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what you need to wrestle with.

[SPEAKER_01]: So trust obey and honor God, but there's a second part of this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Trust obey and honor and everybody get ready to roll your eyes, your parents.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yep, I said it, your parents.

[SPEAKER_01]: You see, especially in topics where this is a personal preference.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[SPEAKER_01]: If you came to me and said, it's got show me a verse where it says, do not date.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think I'm showing you some concepts that I could argue that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But there's no verse that says, do this or do that in regards to dating.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it does come down to someone of a personal preference.

[SPEAKER_01]: But last time I checked, if you have a parent, who does God call you to honor and obey it?

[SPEAKER_01]: your parents.

[SPEAKER_01]: We just went through the ten commandments, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's in there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it is.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is.

[SPEAKER_01]: So you, you were required by God.

[SPEAKER_01]: You were given the responsibility as a child, as a student to honor and obey your parents, which means you come under their preferences.

[SPEAKER_00]: Their preference.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I'm not here to tell your parents what their preferences should be on this subject.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I would hope and pray, especially if you have parents that follow the Lord out, if you don't, you need another influence, you need somebody else to help you with this as it relates to Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now they could be great parents and have some great wisdom and understanding this topic, but you would want to make sure that you have somebody also that can help you understand how God looks at it.

[SPEAKER_01]: But this is a personal preference.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so you need their input.

[SPEAKER_01]: You need their input.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, what I say now, you don't love that thought.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're like, oh, I got to do this.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't want to talk about parents about this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, that's like red flag, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Red flag.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're in a dating relationship and your parents don't know about it, I'm just going to tell you right now, that's sin.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, and if that's strong, I'm sorry, and I'll mean to hurt your feelings.

[SPEAKER_01]: But it is.

[SPEAKER_01]: You need to be submitting and communicating with your parents on what is happening with your life.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so if you're sneaking around, they don't know about it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think we've already kind of established that maybe some things need to change.

[SPEAKER_01]: You need their input.

[SPEAKER_01]: Ephesians 6, 1, 3, 3, you guys know this first.

[SPEAKER_01]: Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.

[SPEAKER_01]: Honor your father and mother.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is the first commandment with the promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.

[SPEAKER_01]: You ever thought like, and why is my life going so miserably at home right now?

[SPEAKER_01]: Light bulb, are you wondering your parents?

[SPEAKER_01]: This is right in the first, obey all your parents that may go well with you.

[SPEAKER_01]: There is goodness, and joy found in obedience to Christ when you submit yourself to your parents who submit themselves to God, there is joy in obedience, and it will go well with you, it will go better with you if you follow what God calls you to be.

[SPEAKER_01]: to trust, obey, and honor your parents.

[SPEAKER_01]: Proverbs 6, Real quickly, Proverbs 6, verses 20 through 24.

Proverbs 6:20–24

[SPEAKER_01]: Listen to this.

[SPEAKER_01]: My son, keep your father's commandment and forsake that your mother's teaching.

[SPEAKER_01]: Tied them around your neck.

[SPEAKER_01]: When you walk, they will lead you.

[SPEAKER_01]: When you lie down, they will watch over you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And when you will wake, they will talk with you.

[SPEAKER_01]: For the commandments is a lamp, and a teaching is a light.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the reproves of discipline are the way of life.

[SPEAKER_01]: What's this connected to in the context?

[SPEAKER_01]: Well,

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 24 says, to preserve you from the evil woman, from the smooth tone of the adulteress.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, got PG-13, real quick.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I want to share that with you why.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because in the context, this is saying, if you don't remember what your parents had thought she, if you don't keep those truths of God's word around your neck,

[SPEAKER_01]: They act and help you to follow what's right.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so you don't walk in the situations in relationships, guys or girls that are going to potentially ruin you.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, it will lighten your path.

[SPEAKER_01]: Learn, remember the instruction your parents give you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Truth will instruct and enlighten you.

[SPEAKER_01]: It will guard you against relationship blinders.

[SPEAKER_01]: You guys know what I mean by blinders?

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: I told you I was already a parent so you know that part.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll skip up to the next part which is I've trained one.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well my wife and I've trained one person how to drive.

[SPEAKER_01]: He is successfully driving right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody crush his fingers.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: But now I have a second who's learning how to drive.

[SPEAKER_01]: at a permit and everything.

[SPEAKER_01]: Get an hour since you can get a license, across both of your fingers.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, good things.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, do you know what, one of the hardest things to teach is when you drive, it's this mysterious, vermuta triangle on each side of your car.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so when you look in the mirrors, you're like, oh, I'm gonna pass this guy and we're going this way and there's two lanes of traffic,

[SPEAKER_01]: There's this mysterious spot right beside your car and everybody who drives knows this.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's called a blind spot.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now there's so much fancy technology.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now the mirror's like, talk to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Go turn, there's a guy there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Back in my day when you had to ride the dinosaur, you had to look in your blind spot.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so there's this crazy spot where it just seems like everything is great.

[SPEAKER_01]: But in reality, there's like a car hiding there.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if you turn it that time, you fall off the stage.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you turn it that time, you will crash it.

[SPEAKER_01]: It will be bad.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so you need some help with that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And what this first is saying is that when you have God's instruction, you have your parents' instruction that you've learned throughout your life, it will help you to stay away from the dangers in your blind spot that you're not aware of.

[SPEAKER_01]: It will help you see the things that could get you the easiest.

[SPEAKER_01]: You need to trust, obey, and honor your parents.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I would just say, if you're dating, you need to have regular conversations with your parents.

[SPEAKER_01]: Regular conversations with your parents on how things are going.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're doing an in-secret, that is not what God is calling you to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: Be communicating with your parents, so in and out of trust, obey, and honor.

[SPEAKER_01]: So here's my last point, flee and pursue, flee and pursue.

[SPEAKER_01]: You guys get any like imagery in your head when you hear the word flee.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't mean the little bug, like everybody has a dog now, so everybody does probably what everybody thinks of the flee.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, I mean the action verb flee.

[SPEAKER_01]: Does anybody get like an idea in your head?

[SPEAKER_00]: Run, scatter, fly away.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, wait, wait, wait.

[SPEAKER_01]: Go Mr. Sauras, very good.

[SPEAKER_01]: Give me three synonyms.

[SPEAKER_01]: That was amazing.

[SPEAKER_01]: There you go.

[SPEAKER_01]: We love you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: when Frodo's fleeing from the ringmakes.

[SPEAKER_01]: OK, running away from those guys has streamed so high, like, makes you ears closed.

[SPEAKER_01]: OK. Yeah, that's a good picture.

[SPEAKER_01]: OK?

[SPEAKER_01]: Few years ago, a few years ago, my family and I moved to St. Louis.

[SPEAKER_01]: And there's a lot about St. Louis that I absolutely hate.

[SPEAKER_01]: The card bill is deemed the number one thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if you want to fight about that later, I'm ready.

[SPEAKER_01]: But there were a couple things I did like, community, not one of them.

[SPEAKER_01]: It feels like outside right now, it feels like that every day in St. Louis.

[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, we'll get off the topic.

[SPEAKER_01]: Here's the cool thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: One of the cool things about St. Louis.

[SPEAKER_01]: find a word that's stupid, okay, now please no one call the cops.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is technically, this is illegal in the state of Illinois, okay, so I guess my ownership is over before it started, okay, so this is a little bottle of water, right, not a disk deal, but you can not buy this in the state of Illinois, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: You can buy more smoke that would kill you from smoke bombs, but you know I'll have to buy this anyway, I digress.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a few.

[SPEAKER_01]: What does a few do?

[SPEAKER_01]: You light it, and then what do you do?

[SPEAKER_01]: You flee.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, these aren't that dangerous, but they still can really hurt you.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're not careful.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the bigger the fireworks get, the more fleeing you do, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Because they're very, very dangerous.

[SPEAKER_01]: Very, very, very, well, listen.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what this verse in second Timothy is talking about.

[SPEAKER_01]: Look at second Timothy, two.

[SPEAKER_01]: Second Timothy, two.

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse, 22.

[SPEAKER_01]: Someone's still second Timothy, I don't know if I will.

[SPEAKER_01]: There you go.

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse, 22, chapter two, in second Timothy, all the twos.

[SPEAKER_01]: So flee useful passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

[SPEAKER_01]: All's acknowledging that there is danger in youth as you mature and become a young man and a young woman.

[SPEAKER_01]: There are things that you start to feel and there's nothing wrong with that because that is how God has created you.

[SPEAKER_01]: To one day be in a relationship married to a husband or a wife and that is God's blessing to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: But starting those feelings too soon is a very big danger.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is like a fuse on the firework.

[SPEAKER_01]: You like the fuse and you say, oh, I'm good.

[SPEAKER_01]: How old are you?

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm 14.

[SPEAKER_01]: When you get to get married?

[SPEAKER_01]: 15?

[SPEAKER_01]: No.

[SPEAKER_01]: 16?

[SPEAKER_01]: No.

[SPEAKER_01]: 17?

[SPEAKER_01]: No.

[SPEAKER_01]: 18?

[SPEAKER_01]: I've been not.

[SPEAKER_01]: 19?

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe.

[SPEAKER_01]: 20?

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's it.

[SPEAKER_01]: How many years?

[SPEAKER_01]: How long is the fuse?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's my question to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you might say, well, it's that serious.

[SPEAKER_01]: All we do is hold hands.

[SPEAKER_01]: Fine.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm telling you.

[SPEAKER_01]: As an old man, I'm telling you what I know because I've lived in that life that when you start the fuse too early, you put yourself in danger.

[SPEAKER_01]: And have you ever let up the news and then try to go like this?

[SPEAKER_01]: With that work?

[SPEAKER_01]: No.

[SPEAKER_01]: What would happen to my head?

[SPEAKER_02]: It can't go like this.

[SPEAKER_02]: It can go like this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it wouldn't be pretty.

[SPEAKER_01]: Clean up on an aisle five.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[SPEAKER_01]: You can't do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And in a sense, it's the same thing in relation to this.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you start to soon, I've got to do anything.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not trying to say that once you start, God could not change and redeem it all.

[SPEAKER_01]: He can and will, but I'm just warning you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just like Paul says in this verse, run away, flee the youthful passions and instead do what?

[SPEAKER_01]: Pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace.

[SPEAKER_01]: Run to these things.

[SPEAKER_01]: Run to what is right.

[SPEAKER_01]: Run to building your faith.

[SPEAKER_01]: Run to what love actually looks like in 1st Corinthians 13.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a lot different than what the world says it looks like.

[SPEAKER_01]: Run to peace.

[SPEAKER_01]: All of these things are found in Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now I love all the verse and it's.

[SPEAKER_01]: Look at it says.

[SPEAKER_01]: pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, does it say by yourself in good luck?

[SPEAKER_01]: Is that what it says?

[SPEAKER_02]: No.

[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, what does it say?

[SPEAKER_01]: Along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is done with friends.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is done in healthy relationships.

[SPEAKER_01]: that are not built on the desire or useful passion but are built on God in the rock of Jesus Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: And as you all pursue him together, you grow in your maturity, in your relationships with each other until one day you are ready for that relationship.

[SPEAKER_01]: You've done the hard work.

[SPEAKER_01]: God is working your heart to develop who you are because you could honor him with your life.

[SPEAKER_01]: gives us a community that helps us pursue Him.

[SPEAKER_01]: What a blessing.

[SPEAKER_01]: And closing, I would just say, what does this mean if you're dating?

[SPEAKER_01]: I would just say if you've made some bad choices.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not too late.

[SPEAKER_01]: Confess, repent, receive forgiveness.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus offers that to all of us.

[SPEAKER_01]: people take our sin and will cleanse us and make us a new creation.