Why Young Men Are LOST… Here’s How To Fix it (Biblically) | Live Free with Josh Howerton

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Why Young Men Are LOST… Here’s How To Fix it (Biblically)"

Live Free with Josh Howerton — Lakepointe Church
Release Date: December 1, 2025

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Overview

This episode tackles the real roots of why so many young men today are feeling lost, lonely, and spiritually unanchored. Pastor Josh Howerton, joined by Carlos Verazzo and Pastor Paul Cunningham, delves into biblical and cultural causes, deconstructs modern influences shaping young men—especially the rise of internet personalities like Nick Fuentes—and lays out practical, Christ-centered steps to forge meaningful relationships and godly masculinity.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Loneliness, Isolation, and the Biblical Case for Relationships

• Modern Isolation: Loneliness isn’t just about being physically alone; it’s about an individualistic posture that technology, social media, and culture foster—even within crowds.
  • "You can be in the same room as someone but still be alone..." – Paul Cunningham, [13:13]
• Community by Design: Christianity is fundamentally communal. The Lord's Prayer ("Our Father... give us our daily bread...") and the structure of New Testament churches point to faith practiced in relationship.
  • "You have to follow Jesus for yourself, but you cannot follow him by yourself." – Paul Cunningham, [15:44]
• Men and Isolation: The podcast audience skews male—a rarity for Christian media. Josh notes that men uniquely try to "Lone Ranger" life:
  • "The three most dangerous words in English language are, 'I got this.' You don't got this." – Josh Howerton, [17:18]

2. The Necessity of Spiritual Friendship: “Corner-Toters” and the King’s Table

• Spiritual Allies: Every man needs "corner-toters" – people who carry him to Christ when wounded by life or sin, inspired by the story of the paralytic’s friends in Mark 2.
  • "Jesus did not look at the faith of the dude on the mat. He looked at the faith of his friends..." – Josh Howerton, [19:25]
  • At least four such allies are encouraged.
• David’s Model: Drawing from King David, men need:
  • Joab: A peer, a fellow warrior.
  • Nathan: An elder, a rebuker and truth-teller.
  • Jonathan: The friend closer than a brother.
  • "Every man of God needs a King’s table." – Josh Howerton, [28:24]

3. Why Are Young Men Especially Vulnerable?

• Cultural Shifts:
  • The rise of smartphones (iPhone, 2007) and social media created a cultural shift—loneliness and depression spiked.
  • "Smartphone... before then, you really couldn't, like, you know, there wasn't enough to do to do this all day." – Josh Howerton, [28:55]
• Fatherlessness:
  • Absentee or disengaged fathers have led young men to find “digital dads” in algorithms and podcasters.
  • "When men are not getting discipled by fathers, they're going to get discipled by algorithms, bro." – Paul Cunningham, [35:54]
  • Example: Viral YouTube videos replacing practical fatherly instruction (e.g., “How to tie a tie”).

4. The Rise of Influencer-Prophets and Dangerous TikTok/YouTube Discipleship

• Podcasters > Pastors:
  • When churches avoid hard cultural topics, young men turn to podcast personalities (e.g., Nick Fuentes, Andrew Tate, Jordan Peterson) for truth and identity.
  • "If podcasters like [influencers] and your pastor disagree on a moral or theological issue, your default mode should be to side with your pastor." – Josh Howerton, [31:21]
  • "You're in a bad spot if... a podcaster or an influencer actually become[s] the functional shepherd in my life." – Josh Howerton, [31:37]

5. Forging, Not Finding, Men of Consequence

• Men of Impact are Made in Groups:
  • “Good men of God...are not found. They’re forged.” It's never accidental.
  • "You show me your group chat and I'll show you your future." – Josh Howerton, [22:05]
  • Navy SEAL analogy: True courage appears when men are committed in a brotherhood.

6. Practical Steps: How to Find and Build the Right Brotherhood

• Pursue Wisdom Aggressively:
  • Find someone who’s achieved in your area of struggle. Ask questions. Do what they say.
  • "Here's how you succeed if you're a young man. My dad taught me this: Find somebody that is better than you are at what you're doing...ask them millions of questions, and then you just do what they said." – Josh Howerton, [41:13]
• Initiate Community:
  • Look for spiritual health—find couples holding hands at church, seek out gray-haired saints.
  • Leverage church discipleship environments (e.g., “Rooted”).
  • "You don’t have everything you need to accomplish everything...in the Kingdom of God, but every time we're in that room, somebody in that room has everything you need and your job is to go find it." – Josh Howerton, [45:04]

7. Counter-Discipling the Nick Fuentes Phenomenon

• Who is Nick Fuentes?
  • Young, charismatic, polarizing internet political streamer, espousing “America First,” Catholicism, and controversial views; associated with explicit antisemitism, racism, and misogyny.
  • “He’s got a lot of clips and some people are like, 'Ah, but he’s half joking.' It’s like, well, only half.” – Josh Howerton, [53:03]
• Why Is He So Magnetic to Young Men?
  • Masculinity is demeaned in the culture—Fuentes offers a “bold, aggressive, I-don’t-care” attitude that feels like strength and authenticity.
  • "This is what happens when you spend an entire generation telling young white men that you're toxic, oppressive and racist. ... Eventually they go, 'okay, I'll just be that'." – Josh Howerton, [59:49]
  • “He correctly diagnoses parts of the wound, but he poisons the cure.” – Paul Cunningham, [71:51]
• Danger of Revisionist History:
  • Fuentes and imitators echo the same victim/villain logic and conspiracy-theory methodology as “woke” left-ism, just in opposite direction (e.g., making Jews the problem).
  • "They're running the exact same play, bro." – Paul Cunningham, [62:45]
  • "It has a little bit of BLM for white people vibes." – Josh Howerton, [63:04]
• Biblical Response:
  • Christians judge all movements by scripture, not group identity.
  • “We don’t do critical theory, we do Christian theology... I am a Christian first.” – Carlos Verazzo, [70:00]
  • “Test everything. Hold fast to what is good.” – [1 Thessalonians 5:21, cited by Carlos, 72:57]

8. Memorable Quotes & Moments

• "Your life is perfectly designed to give you the results you're experiencing." – Paul Cunningham, [13:13]
• "Don’t fight the devil in the dark. The darkness is his domain." – Josh Howerton, [47:39]
• "Show me your group chat and I'll show you your future." – Josh Howerton, [22:05]
• "Good men of God...are not found. They’re forged." – Josh Howerton, [22:35]
• "He correctly diagnoses parts of the wound, but he poisons the cure." – Paul Cunningham, [71:51]
• Nick Fuentes clip on “finding a 16-year-old wife”:
  • "I got to find my 16-year-old wife, bro. Probably when I turn 30 or something." – Nick Fuentes, quoted [73:50]
  • Josh: "If you are a young man that wants to live a life of consequence for the glory of God, run as far as you can, as fast as you can from a man like that." – [74:48]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [12:47] — Why men need “corner-toters” (real spiritual friends)
• [28:42] — 2007: iPhone/social media and the spike in loneliness
• [31:21] — Podcasters vs. Pastors: Who is your real shepherd?
• [35:54] — Fatherlessness: When fathers don’t disciple, algorithms will
• [41:13] — Pursuing wisdom and practical steps for young men
• [49:43] — Who is Nick Fuentes and why discuss him?
• [53:03] — The roots of Fuentes’s ideology
• [62:45] — “Woke right” — why Fuentes mimics the woke left’s playbook
• [70:00] — Filtering movements through scripture, not identity politics
• [73:50] — Fuentes’s clip on marrying a 16-year-old; direct repudiation
• [74:48] — Final advice: chase role models whose families and lives honor God

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Actionable Takeaways

• Initiate biblical friendship: Don’t wait for friends to find you. Get into a men’s group or “Rooted” at church. Pursue mentors with the life you want.
• Guard your influences: Don’t let TikTok, podcasts, algorithms, or fringe internet voices disciple you more than real, local, godly relationships.
• Evaluate all things by Christ and the community: If a voice contradicts what is clear in the Bible or what you see in the healthy patterns of Christian community—reject it.
• Men of consequence are made on purpose: Forge your brotherhood; don’t Lone Ranger it.

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Summary for Listeners

If you’ve wondered why so many young men seem adrift today—or if you find yourself lonely, angry, or influenced by strong online personalities—this episode breaks it down with clarity, biblical conviction, and practical steps. Real, lasting masculine strength is never built alone, nor is it forged by following culture-war grifters online. Instead, it’s found in Christ-centered brotherhood, in local church, and seeking out older men who have already been where you want to go. Discipleship isn’t passive—go get it.

"You have to follow Jesus for yourself, but you cannot follow him by yourself."

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To get the discipleship guide or join "Rooted," text the word “notes” or “Rooted” to 20411.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to Live Free with Pastor Josh Howerton. We're so glad you're here. Lake Pointe Church is a movement for all people to know Jesus, live free, and make a difference with their lives. And this weekly podcast is all about helping you do just that. Each episode is a deep dive into the word of God, tackling life, culture, and faith with truth and clarity so you can be equipped to live free in Christ. Thanks for tuning in and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And follow us on all our social platforms to stay connected to everything happening with Live Free. Now, let's dive into today's episode.

[B]

Well, hey, welcome back to another episode of the Live Free podcast, coming to you from Lake Point Church in Dallas, Texas. My name is Carlos Verazzo and I'm here with Pastor Josh Howerton.

[A]

Wait, do what you did before we started. Say, let's kick this pig in Spanish.

[B]

I said, vamos a whole piar este servedo.

[C]

And my mind just went to when you said it.

[A]

You did.

[C]

You did fine. I couldn't have done better than you. But then he did it just like that.

[A]

No, bro, I can help you. I can say I tried to say it. Didn't I say the iconic phrase?

[B]

You did say.

[C]

You kept saying it.

[A]

No, because I was trying to do. I'm your Huckleberry.

[B]

Yeah. So Grok thought you were telling it that you were. It's Huckleberry.

[A]

That's what Doc Holliday says in Tombstone that you are supposed to have watched by now.

[B]

That I will be watching because the year has not ended yet. But I was too busy watching at the movies.

[A]

Come on, man.

[B]

Hey, come on. Home alone, bro. It was such a fun movie.

[A]

It was so fun, man. So fun. Incredible amounts of salvation. That's why we do what we do. Tens of thousands of people getting to bring lost family members hear the gospel clearly presented. And it was amazing. I think we. I'll. I'll finish getting the numbers in. I bet you we ended up having pushing towards 30,000 people in person for the thing, so. My goodness, man. Bro. Glory to God.

[B]

Praise the Lord. We're going to get into that, but before we do, we have a couple things that we want to let people know. In just three weeks, we have a something that we are very excited about. Pastor Josh, what is it?

[A]

It is Christmas candlelight services in Lake Point, by the way, that will be. Did you know this? That that's higher attendance than Easter for us.

[C]

Really?

[A]

Yeah. Christmas candlelight services are higher attendance than Easter for us. And we have like, oh, my gosh, I don't even know how many services. We were looking at it yesterday. I had to take a nap just from looking at the. And it's, I don't know, 30, 40 services across the campuses or more. I can't remember. And it runs that whole week. So if you would like, I want to go ahead now and plant a flag in the ground. If you've been just a live free nation extended church family member, I am asking you in December, potentially at the Christmas candlelight services. Come hang, man.

[B]

Let's go.

[A]

Come hang. So if you want to know times and locations, you can just text the word Christmas to the number 20411 and you'll get all those.

[B]

It's amazing, man. We have a giveaway going on every single episode for people joining. And this right here is one of the pieces of merch we have, which, by the way, last. Oh, no. We have a winner for each episode. And the winner for this one is Adrienne Hausler, 1779. This is what she said. This is cool. They have been attending LP for four weeks. They drive every single weekend for like an hour. But it's so worth it, is what she said. So shout out to Adrian Hustler, 1779. It's Huler, like a German last name, not Hustler. Just to clarify. And we got some merch for you. And if you want to.

[A]

Hey, Nick Fuentes probably likes them.

[B]

Oh, that's the joke.

[A]

We're so one of the.

[C]

Okay, and we're off.

[A]

So it ends up what we're. We're going to talk about. We're going to deep dive on the first Timothy passage from the the message this week.

[B]

That's pretty good.

[A]

You see what I do there? And then later in the pod, we're going to talk about an Internet personality that a lot of people honestly probably don't even know who he is, but is becoming like an influential thing, especially in young man dude named Nick Fuentes that like, I'm actually going to show like an actual tweet of his that just says Team Hitler. And he was like, kind of serious. Yeah. And so anyway, we're. We're going to talk about. By the way, no shade to that family. Jana's family background is German.

[C]

Yeah, that's right. Say that.

[B]

Which I'm assuming is German.

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

It could be Dutch. I don't know.

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

Okay. And if you want to participate for the giveaway for this week's episode, you can Just here's what you want to do. By the way, we said last episode that we were going to be letting people know how many people voted for Christmas tree before or after. And the results will be. Pastor Paul Cunningham.

[C]

I'm going to say they're going to say before, but we can't give them yet because we need to give people more time. Right.

[B]

I think we need a little more time to let people decide.

[C]

Okay. It was, it was kind of close for a bit, but then also we were just thinking, you know, for people that were team after Thanksgiving, you know, they were busy.

[A]

Let me tell you what's really going on. I need time for the team that I want to win. To win. So if you. So we're going to send this one more week. You can go to the YouTube video only and comment either before or after. Is it best to put Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving or after? We're going to tally the total responses, declare a winner, and then somebody that comments gets the hat.

[C]

When you say, I mean you want a team to win, do you at least want to give a tip of the hat?

[A]

No, I'm not going to.

[C]

Okay, okay. You just want to get more time.

[B]

Okay, that's great. I think I'm excited for that. Awesome, bro. Hey, before we jump in, we believe that discipleship happens in relationships. And by the way, we're going to be talking about those right now. And so your next step after joining the live free podcast is community. And we've actually done our homework and we've compiled all key takeaways, additional content and discussion questions that you can take from this episode to your life group. And so to get the show notes, AKA what we call our discipleship guide, go to Lakepoint Church shownotes or text the word notes to 20411. Pastor Josh, I have a question for you.

[A]

I will allow it.

[B]

Thank you. What did it make it to the sermon?

[A]

Okay, so first of all, at the movies, sermons are hard. They're just different. I'll be really honest. I'm now we'll tip my hat on this. I don't love doing them a whole lot. I would rather just, you know, preach a normal Bible sermon. But there were a few things. So honestly, the main passage. So here, here's a heads up. The message was primarily geared towards the nature of the necessity of relationships, both for just the flourishing of human soul and discipleship. Okay, main passage was out of second Timothy, so there are a few things that are really interesting here. Honestly, the stuff that didn't make it in is. I wish I could have talked more about Timothy. Timothy is one of the most prominent and least understood characters New Testament. Few things are interesting about Timothy. And this is going to lead into the passage what we talk about Timothy extremely prominent in the book of Acts. And then this is really interesting. Timothy. Timothy was at least with Paul when he wrote six New Testament letters. Six of them, from what I understand. Second Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, first and Second Thessalonians, and then the book of Philemon. Okay, interesting stuff about Timothy. Fun facts. Jewish mom. We are actually told specifically he's, I think, the only New Testament character that maybe is not Jesus that we know. Two generations before him, he had a mom named Lois and a grandmother named Eunice, both believers. Which, by the way, is very interesting because he's such an early convert that honestly, there are some Bible scholars that speculate either his mom or his grandma would have been there, like at Pentecost, like when Christianity is born.

[B]

Interesting. I never thought about that.

[A]

Well, because, I mean, Timothy's right, bro. You're talking like, you know, he's with Paul in the 50s and 60s A.D. he's young. I'm going to talk about that in a second. But he's already two generations deep into faith.

[B]

Interesting.

[A]

So there has to be a story there. There has to be a story there. So Mom, Lois, grandmother, Eunice, we know that he is because of Greek dad. So believing mom, Jewish mom, but Greek dad. We know Timothy was uncircumcised. That becomes a big deal. In Acts 16, Paul takes him along on missionary journey. Paul starts to realize, man, the fact that Timothy is not circumcised is. Which, by the way, I'll just say, I don't know how anybody knew that, but we're not going to that rumor spread around people. I don't know, dude. Anyway, it became like a thing where Jewish dudes that Paul's trying to share the gospel with started going like, well, this guy doesn't care about Moses in the law. He's not circumcised. So I'm not going to listen to him. So in Acts 16, this is crazy. Paul literally, it's it. It's Bible scholars seem to think that Paul personally circumcised Timothy. I have no further comments.

[B]

No, Paul plays no games, man.

[A]

Well, he plays no games.

[B]

He's not messing around.

[A]

And think about this dude. Even though theologically Paul writes the entire book of Galatians, specifically arguing Christians do not need to be circumcised. In obedience, the Old Testament law, he still makes Timothy do it in order to remove any obstacle from sharing the gospel with people who need to hear it, the Jewish people that he's trying to share the gospel with. So the little joke I always make is it gives a whole new meaning to have some skin in the game. That's what. That's the.

[B]

I love it. They never get old, honestly, but they don't.

[A]

I'll just say this, you know, I got a lot of circumcision jokes and they can't make it into sermons. Oh, yeah, Never mind.

[B]

You know what? Let's just cut to the chase.

[A]

Let's go. Ah, I see what he did there. Okay, let's keep going. Timothy was apparently had some very clear prophecies made about him twice in the New Testament, Paul specifically mentions that some prophetic words were spoken over Timothy that result in the rest of his life. We also know Timothy was Paul's favorite traveling companion. Paul literally says the phrase, I have no one like him about Timothy. Very interesting. Timothy then eventually goes on and becomes a senior pastor of Paul's favorite church, the Ephesian Church. Also side note, the largest church in the New Testament by all accounts. I was checking this out. Rodney Stark, Shout Out, a church historian. He gives a little estimate that the. The Ephesian Church probably grew to a few, at least a few thousand people, which was a big deal. They were meeting in little house churches all over the place. A little fun fact. Timothy probably had. Actually we know he had had some stomach problems. First Timothy 5, 23. Paul tells him like, hey, dude, you got some stomach problems. And he says, hey, don't just drink water, have a little wine. Every now and then that's shout out Baptist. So he had that. He's like, hey man, every now and then. And then, last thing we know that Timothy's great struggle was he struggled with like fear, insecurity and timidity. If you read the epistles written to and about Timothy, there's a strange number of encouragements away from fear, timidity, insecurity. Paul says things like, hey man, don't let anybody look down on you because you were young. Stop doing that, Timothy. So he had that in him. Or he'll say things to Timothy like, hey, you have not been given a spirit of fear, but a spirit of love, power, self control. What were you gonna say when the.

[B]

Apostle Paul told Timothy, don't let anybody look down on you because you're young. That word young implied under 40. Paul Cunningham, is that correct?

[C]

Actually, probably more under 30. 30.

[B]

Under 30.

[C]

Neotes.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Is you Neotes was generally given more if you were 30 and under.

[B]

Interesting.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Just curious.

[A]

That's what I, what I had read is that most of New Testament Timothy was probably around, in, around 30 or in his early 30s.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

So generally, you know, how old are you now? Are you 32?

[B]

I'll be 34. Oh, and excuse me.

[A]

Aging well. Aging well.

[B]

Working on it. Yeah, yeah. So I guess I'll take that word.

[A]

That's it, man. So all of this now what that leads into is it leads into the type of relationships that every man of God needs. You need some Paul's in your life and then if, and then you, you owe it to the kingdom of God to have some Timothy's in your life. So we can talk about that. But a lot of the stuff didn't make it in was Bible background stuff I want to say about Timothy.

[B]

There you go, man. So honestly, like, I love the sermon this weekend because, you know, the, the centerness on relationships and loneliness. It is, it is hard to do relationships today. It seems like more and more with just the culture that we, we're in technology, phone, social media. It's increasingly hard. And so I just want to open it up here. What do we need to know? Paul, Any thoughts on, you know, hey, here's what I think our people need to know in terms of this conversation.

[C]

In terms of his loneliness over anything. Yeah. And I think in general, one thing I like to tell people this applies to a lot of parts of life is your life is perfectly designed to give you the results you're experiencing. And so I think a lot of people, if they were honest, they looked at their life. It's like a lot of people would feel alone, but a lot of that is honestly by self choice. Not always, but a lot of the times by self choice. Because now we are on our devices all the time, which means, by the way, that I can be in the same room as someone but still in a sense be alone and be isolated from them. I actually had a conviction of this the last couple weeks where I just was tired and had long days and we were wrapping up a softball season and I just found myself just on the couch on my phone or computer or something like that. And I was like, wait a second, like I'm here, but I might as well not be here kind of a thing. So I think some of it is just we isolate through ourselves, through devices and screens. Some of it is just people not wanting to be around Other people. Some of it is even like you can come into churches and you can leave, come and go without talking to anybody. So the idea, even when we're talking about isolation and loneliness, I would say, is don't automatically assume that. What we mean is, like people that are alone in a cave or alone in a room and there's no one else around.

[A]

Part.

[C]

It is also just a posture of life where we can be around other people, yet isolated from those people. Those are a few opening thoughts that I give you.

[B]

It's interesting, you know, I never thought about this before, but, you know, here in our culture, we live in a very highly individualistic culture where we tend to think of myself. And so even when you read something like the Lord's Prayer, and you know, the disciples asked Jesus to teach us how to pray and you read the Lord's Prayer, what Jesus does is he says this. He says, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us, yes, our daily bread, our daily bread, and forgive us our debt. And we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And again, there's like the whole prayer is phrased in community. And so when we talk about following Jesus and if somebody today can say, well, you know, I'm, I'm a Christian, but I am isolated, well, that's a problem because, you know, the whole point of Christianity is for you to be part of an ecclesia, a congregation or a group of believers to walk alongside of you with other Paul's and other Timothy's around you. And so I love that it's in this verse, Jesus is already telling you, hey, it is implied that you are surrounded by believers.

[C]

Well, you see a few other places. What I like to sometimes say is you have to follow Jesus for yourself, but you cannot follow him by yourself.

[A]

That's so good. Say that one more time. Say it again.

[C]

You have to follow Jesus for yourself, but you cannot follow him by yourself. And even like, one thing that people miss, and it's easy to miss it because in our English translations, when you read the word you, you usually think of like, oh, me, like singular. But when Paul is writing his letters, almost always when he says you, it is you all plural. Because even how these letters would have functioned is he would have written them often with the help of Timothy and others, they would have then sent it to the church and then someone would have read it to everybody. So when they are hearing these Letters read because they would have had to make copies. There's no one, no way everyone could have had their own copies. So they're not reading this alone in their house. They're reading this together. Because following Jesus is a community project. It's a group project.

[A]

And here's. So here's a big. Here's why I really want to hit this. So, you know, we're starting to get demographics on the podcast. And as it grows, like, I'm, I'm making. I'm having these guests bring me data. Help me understand. I'm a data guy. Most of the listeners of Live Free right now are dudes, which is, by the way, really rare. Most Christian content is 70, 30 female men. And we're skewing the exact opposite. Here's, here's why this is really important is it's dudes in particular that are like they Lone Ranger. It. It's like loneliness. And it's not, by the way, it's not even about loneliness. It's just, it's. It's more like Lone Rangering, trying to Lone Ranger life. And what you do is. Is kind of like, it's kind of like the John Wayne masculine ideal is like, hey, man, I got this. I don't need help. I got this. And my friend, Pastor Joby Martin, he always says the three most dangerous words in English language are, I got this. You don't got this, you don't got this. Basically, there's two reasons for this. Number one, there are. There are a lot of sins and struggles that you will face in your life that they got to be gang tackled. And it's like, hey, man, it's like when. When Derrick Henry is running full speed down the middle of the field. 1 Safety is not going to get him.

[C]

No.

[A]

It's like he's gonna win that. You're gonna have to gang tackle that thing. Every man of God is going to face things in their life, it's bigger than you. And, and those are moments where it's like that sin, that struggle's got to be gang tackled. So what, what I would say is that we got, we got this little bit in the message is what every man of God needs is you need some corner toters in your life. And I want to talk about what this looks like and how to do it, because guys are really bad at it. Corner toters is that passage. We all know it. It's the Jesus teaching the, you know, he's teaching the. The house. I think, I think it was Peter's. Peter's mother in law's house. He's teaching in a house. And while he's teaching, these guys bring their friend that's a paralytic, and they bring him on a mat and they carry him there. They can't get through the crowd, and so they literally climb up on top of the little deal and they make a hole in the ceiling above Jesus while he's teaching. Super rude, by the way. Can you imagine, like, can you imagine, like being in a service and we start hearing an impact drill at the.

[B]

Top of the security team will be all over.

[A]

Oh, my gosh, the flock, you get to like, they'd be all over that. That might look a little different.

[C]

Yeah, look a little different today.

[A]

Scott McNeil and team, bro, that would be a thing. Shout out security team. But they. And they lower their, their friend to Jesus and he heals him. Now here's what's really interesting. The Bible, he says Jesus, it says, Jesus saw their faith and healed the man. Dude, this is so interesting. The point is, Jesus did not look at the faith of the dude on the mat. He looked at the faith of his friends.

[C]

That's good.

[A]

And based on the faith of his friends, healed the man. And so here's what every guy needs in their life is they. You got to have some corner toters. Who are the four people? And I'd go, four, who are the four people in your life? The men that when you sin, you struggle. When, like when, honestly, when you're not walking towards Jesus, they're the kind of guys who, they'll come grab you, they'll stick you on a mat and they're gonna go, hey, man, you're a little wounded. You're a little banged up right now. I'm gonna carry you to Jesus. You gotta have that. At least four corner toters in your life.

[C]

It's good.

[B]

It seems to me, to Josh, that the younger you get, the harder it is to do that. Because especially when you're young, you don't feel like you need anybody. Like, you know, you just kind of do your own thing. Like, I feel like at some point over life, you start facing different things and it's. It's like you start to realize.

[A]

Wait, you think, say it again. You think the younger you are, you don't need.

[B]

You don't need. The harder it is to do what you're saying, to find the right people in your life.

[A]

Interesting. I would have said the opposite.

[C]

Me too.

[B]

Tell me why.

[A]

Well, I mean, for me. So, honestly, dude, it's like right Now I got everything. I got everything but time.

[C]

Yep.

[A]

You know, it's like, hey man, you know, you know, I got more money than I did when I was 20. I got more, you know, all the things. What I don't got is time.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Because you know, I got a very full time job. I got three kids, you know, 14, 10, six. Which means not only am I a 3x parent right now, that means I'm a professional chauffeur. You know, it's like so it's, you know. Well, honestly, dude, when I was younger, I had a little more time. So it's like it was way easier for me to holler at some dudes Now I'll talk about how I accomplish that now in my life. Yeah, but now what makes you say the opposite?

[B]

Yeah, because when you're young, you feel like you don't need people. Like, I think that's, that was my story. I think, you know, I had a, I had a goal, I had a vision, I was running. And honestly I didn't have time for friendships. I kind of just, you know, I was busy. And then you hit some bumps in the roads and then you realize, man, I don't know what to do. And honestly, I'm a little lost. And I mean, this is kind of part of my story too. Even like 10 years ago, my faith started to deteriorate because now I'm reading a bunch and I'm studying and I'm like reading maybe the wrong voices and listening to the wrong people. And then my faith in isolation started to slowly drift. And now I'm like, now there's a moment where you look back and you're like, where am I?

[A]

What just happened?

[B]

And so. That's right. And so, but honestly, like, if you even speaking of like people that are have deconstructed their faith or that they're a little lost in their faith, the vast majority of them is because they're not surrounded with the right people.

[A]

Dude, bro, that's the, like, it's the whole, whoever walks the wise becomes wise and companion fools will suffer harm. Do I like to rephrase it like this. What some people say is, you show me your friends, I'll show you your future. Honestly, dude, let me take it a layer deeper. You show me your group chat and I'll show you your future. You show me your group text and I'll show you your future. I've watched this with guys my age and honestly, dude, especially with pastors, you watch, what group text are you in? That's who you're going to become. And let me just say this, I didn't plan on talking about this. Let me just say this really quick. So we hit podcasters and pastors real quick. So here's. Honestly, dude, let me go a layer deeper on this. And then I want to get practical. Because here's the thing. Good men of God that live consequential lives, that make a difference in this world, and they changed not just their lives, but their legacies and their lineages. Those guys are not found. They're forged, like 100% of the time. When you, when there is a man who lives a life of consequence, if you look up underneath that guy's life, what you're going to find is there were five or six other guys that he chose. He's like, I'm a being a posse with these guys. And he chose the right posse. And. And it's like, it's that thing of if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, to go together. It's the same thing, dude. It's a big military history guy. It's the same thing. Like, ah, I wish I could remember the name. I read a bio, a biography of this Navy SEAL last year. Oh, man, Adam something. But, dude, if you, if you watch these Navy seals, man, you watch these interviews, these dudes. So here's what happens, man. They'll do the most insane, like, insane things. As long as they got four other guys that are as lethal as them standing next to them.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

No, I'm serious, dude. So it's like, they'll look at these guys. I read a biography of, or I read a deep dive on some of the guys that killed Osama bin Laden and brother. I mean, seriously, they're literally, somebody's walking up to this guy, he's going, hey, man, here's what I need you to do. I need you to helicopter drop right into the middle of a, you know, whatever it is, it wasn't ISIS back then. What was it? It was Al Qaeda hornet's nest. You're probably going to die. Heads up. You're going to jump out of a helicopter right into an Al Qaeda hornet's nest. You're probably going to die. Even if you succeed, you know, there's probably people around him who are suicide bombers. So it's like, even if you succeed, you're probably gonna die. And you know you wanna do it. And if there's. They'll come to like four or five of these guys and, like, are you gonna do it? Are you gonna do it? Are you gonna do it? Yeah, let's go. And it's. You know, honestly, it's like if you watch people in the kingdom of God, that's what it's like. It's like you stick Peter around, James John, and go down the list, and all of a sudden, it's like, you willing to die? You willing to die? You willing to die? Like, yeah, man, let's go. Yeah, so let's go.

[B]

It's a thunder.

[C]

It's like sons of thunder.

[B]

Peter got a little of that. A little bit of that thunder.

[A]

That's it.

[C]

I can only speak to guys in this, but it's almost like what we're saying is, it's like, man, when we're together, men might become stupid in terms of we'll do some stupid things and stuff like that, but when we're alone, it becomes dangerous. It's like, when I say stupid, I don't mean, like, little stupid. I just mean, like, we'll do things that you usually, you know, are fun, but also maybe a little. Yeah, silly. But it's like, man, we're alone, it becomes dangerous. And I think going back to even, like, the juxtaposition we were saying earlier, Carlos, maybe we could say it like, this is like, when you're younger, you don't think you need friends and need other guys, but it's actually the easiest time for you to get them. Whereas when you get older, you realize you need them, but then you're so busy. I mean, part of. Even, like a few weeks ago, when I was mentioning. When I was. Just found myself vegging is because I was like. He was like, our family loves when our girls do softball, but, man, that means three nights a week.

[A]

There you go.

[C]

And then we had. We were doing rooted again. It was an amazing thing, but we were looking at our schedule. Every night was full. And so it can be hard then to find those guys in your life who I like to think of Ms. Like, man, your friends are like a riptide. And a rip tide is like, literally, if you. If you've never been to the ocean, a riptide is this current that they tell you you cannot swim against it. Like, it's. It's useless to swim against. It's the only way to get out of it is actually to swim aside and get out of the tide. But that's why it's so important to surround yourself with the right people, because when you begin to go in direct direction, you shouldn't. Those people are actually going to take you the direction you shouldn't be going to. So, yeah, to me, it's like, I think if, man, if, like, the people around me are a riptide, where are they taking me? But also, if I don't have anybody around me, then I'm just drifting. I'm just floating out in the ocean and just aimlessly drifting.

[A]

So you'll get. Let me. So it's really interesting if you look at some of the most consequential people in the Bible, like, go, David, like, man after God's own heart, warrior, king, like, accomplishes incredible things to the kingdom of God. Ask yourself the question, how did he structure his relationships? Okay, so. So I. I got a pastor buddy who says this. Every man of God needs a king's table is what he says. And he looked at the life of David. I think this is actually really helpful. He's like, every dude, Carlos Arazo needs a Joab. You need somebody that's appearing. They have the same spirit as you. They got. It's like, hey, man, I want to fight a battle. They're going to fight battles with you. That was Joab. Joab was leader of David's army. They both shared, like, a common aggression and mission. You need a Nathan. Nathan was almost like the appointed prophet to the king. An older man, a wise man who could speak on behalf of God and walk in and at times rebuke David. Like, hey, man, you know, his whole. You are the man after David's affair. So you need. You need an Athen. Somebody who will rebuke you. And then, man, and then you need a Jonathan. You need at least one Jonathan. That's the friend that sticks closer than a brother. You gotta have that. Now I will do a little thing about me. Talk about this real quick. So it's that whole thing we said earlier of. So let me say this. And then I want to know what you guys think about this, so I'll say it. You guys feel free to disagree. So I said earlier, show me your group debt and I'll show you future. Here's a little bit of what I feel like is happening right now, especially for younger guys. Carlos. And this leads into the little Nick Fuentes thing we'll do later. Okay, so, all right, if you reverse, let's go back to 2007. So if you look at spikes in loneliness and depression in America, they spike in 2007. Pop quiz. Why 2007? Does it do you know?

[C]

I mean, I feel like I do.

[B]

YouTube launched in 2006, but became more like, started to pick up in 2007.

[C]

IPhone.

[A]

2007, launch the iPhone.

[C]

Sorry I cut you off.

[B]

I know you're good.

[C]

I was doing the math because that would have been about a year after 2007.

[A]

Smartphone. And if I remember right, app store was just very close to that.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So smartphone and app store before then, you really couldn't, like, you know, there wasn't enough to do to do this all day. Okay, so it spikes. All right, then. And man, this is no shade, like, you know, please understand what I'm saying. What I'm not saying. I'm not saying this about all pastors. One of the other things that happened is all of a sudden then, for a variety of reasons, all these cultural issues and cultural upheaval starts to happen. And honestly, man, I'm not sure the pulpits did a very good job of stepping into those things. So then here's what you have happen. So this happens. IPhones in my hand, then all these cultural issues that they're looking at their phones, trying to figure out, what do I think about this? The pulpits are silent now. So here's step three is nature hates a vacuum. So especially young dudes, over the next 10 years, they start going to podcasters to get, okay, what am I supposed to think about all these issues? Because the pulpits aren't speaking to these issues. So then you got this. So now what you have is in a secular culture, you've got the therapists almost function like secular priests. Then the podcasters take the place of the prophets in the culture. So here's you get these two things. Now the therapists are the priests, the podcasters become the prophets. And dude, here's what you got now is, honestly, man, I think especially young men, people are now trusting podcasters and influencers more than, like personal godly friends in their lives or even their pastors. Now that may sound self serving. I'm a pastor. I don't care. This is just a Bible thing. And honestly, man, I think some of the way that people are being shaped right now is they, again, they're looking to podcasters and influencers for how they shape their lives and the trajectory of their lives more than godly people and more than godly pastors. So, like, dude, if you're trusting Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes and Ian Carroll and whoever it is, and they're shaping who you are as a man, more than godly men in your life or your actual pastor, like, I'll just say this, man, if podcasters like that and your Pastor disagree on a moral or theological issue, your default mode should be to side with your pastor.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

And if you're not doing that, then what you need to check yourself on is, hey bro, have all of a sudden has like, has a podcaster or an influencer actually become the functional shepher in my life? And let me just say, like, you're in a bad spot if you're there. Yeah, that's a bad spot to be in.

[B]

Well, hey guys, one of the reasons we are intentional in creating these kind of podcast episodes is because we believe that discipleship happens in relationships. Having said that, what we want to do through the live free podcast is we want to model what it looks like to be in a discipleship group where we come together and open up the word of God, God together and grow together as followers of Jesus to live free in Christ. For this reason, we love that you're tuning in, but honestly, we don't just want you to be a passive listener. We want you to be an active participant. And so if you have not yet joined a group, you need to get into Rooted. Rooted is a 10 week discipleship experience that helps you grow closer to God, build meaningful relationships and discover the purpose he has for your life. Rooted guides you to practice the seven rhythms of following Jesus to transform your faith from something you know into something you actually live out every single day. And so whether you're exploring what it means to follow Jesus and you're ready to grow deeper in your faith, or maybe you're searching for people to do life with, Rooted is for you. Just text the word rooted to 20411 and our teams will follow up personally. Do not wait. Your next step starts now.

[A]

Thought. Agree. Disagree. Additional comments I'll let you go first. Well, okay, Boomer. Me, Carlos. Okay, Boomer. I'm not a Boomer.

[B]

That's funny. And I'm not Gen Z.

[A]

So there you go, There you go, there you go.

[B]

So. So, yeah, I think it's. I agree with you. I think it's just math at the end of the day, right? So you know, you will see today. And again, I'm a young millennial, so you start seeing it in Gen Z and you talk to our student pastors today and they'll tell you whenever they go to high schools and talk to students, like these students are using headphones like all the time. You go to lunch, there's always like a screen and YouTube's always playing like it's a non stop influx of voices going to their brains and their souls. And their hearts, like, literally all throughout the week. And so to me, like, you just do the math. That's like literally 20, 30 hours a week at least, versus, like, their pastor who's speaking, or their life group leader who's speaking into their life for like an hour, maybe a week or two, maybe, or a text here and there. It's just. One's gonna win over the other. Like, it's just kind of. It's math. And so it's not. It's not whether these voices are influencing you, influencing you. It's how they're shaping you, how they're forming you. And so the question really is, are they forming you or are these voices the forming you from who Christ wants you to become? And so we're all meant to grow to be more like Christ. And so the question really is, whatever you're being exposed to, whatever you're listening, whatever podcaster or influencer, is that voice shaping you to become more like Christ. So I think it's just math. And honestly, like, thank God we are in some ways starting to move towards leveraging some of the. This is. I mean, we've had this conversation.

[A]

That's why we started this podcast.

[B]

That's why we started this podcast.

[C]

A couple other thoughts. One is that, I mean, it just makes sense. When the iPhone comes out, those things spike. Partly because right here, again, just talking to men, I know men and women are a bit different than this, but guys, we bond over shared experiences most of the time when it's gonna, for the most part, just get together to talk. Although that's what we're doing now a lot of times, how guys bonds over shared experiences.

[A]

I'll say. I have literally never gotten together with other men to talk. No, you need to be doing something besides discipleship thing. And even then, it's around the word.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

But if you. If, like, if Paul Cunningham called me is like, josh, do you want to come over my house tonight and we're going to sit on the couch together and talk? I'd be like, a, no, and B, now I'm suspicious of you.

[C]

Seriously. But seriously, like, that's the thing is even, like, I remember back to in college, right before the iPhone came out. Like, man, the fraternity, how we bonded as fraternity brothers, especially with your pledge class. Shared experiences that you then, yes, debriefed, but it was shared experiences. So then if I'm on the phone all day, I'm not having common experiences and not building those relationships. That makes sense. Especially specifically with men. At least, number two, that's why we're going hunting.

[B]

At some point.

[C]

That's exactly our time.

[A]

He's going to shoot that pig.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm going to let us shoot this pig.

[B]

I'm going to not kick it.

[A]

I'm going to shoot it.

[C]

You can kick it just after it's dead.

[A]

Please.

[C]

But the other thing is, I think I'd add maybe one ingredient to what you said. I think around that time was also when you really began to see the rise of fatherlessness. And when men are not getting discipled by fathers, they're going to get discipled by algorithms, bro. And so I do think that's maybe just one more little ingredient I put in kind of this toxic stew that's combined is that I think you really began to see numerically arise. Rise of fatherlessness. Either because dad wasn't there or he wasn't engaged. And so I think that's maybe one thing I'd add in there too.

[B]

For sure. Especially for the younger generation. Like YouTube replaced fathers teaching their sons how to do life. So, like, even just how to tie a tie, there's like one of the. One of the most viral videos on early YouTube days is the video how to Tie a Tie.

[A]

Dude, I looked this up.

[B]

Did you? Yeah. Have you seen it? It's like this old video.

[A]

A bajillion.

[B]

There's a whole new generation obviously going to YouTube before they'll go to their dad.

[A]

Because it used to be like, dad, how do I tie ties? How do I tie a tie?

[B]

There you go. Now it's chat GPT. Now it's AI. I mean, more and more, it's. It's just a replacement of fathers. That's right.

[C]

For sure. Although.

[A]

All right. How to tie a tie. 83 million views. 83 million. And they go. They go Windsor. So that's, you know, that's a different discussion now.

[C]

One thing I didn't. I know. We'll get some. You had some. Just practical.

[A]

Yeah. I want to talk over some dudes in a second.

[C]

I will say just to take away a little bit of something, though, from some of our younger generations is while for sure, fatherlessness is a huge part of it now, I will say don't victimize yourself, when in reality you might be isolating yourself by how much you're consuming visual media. So I don't want to. When I'm saying that I'm not doing this. We'll get into this with some of our critique of someone we're talking about later. I want to be careful and not have People victimize themselves when, again, your life is perfectly designed to give you the results you're experiencing. So if you are a young man or woman, teenage, 20s, whatever, and you spend all your time by yourself on their device when you actually could have amazing parents in your home, you might be isolating yourself. So I don't want to take complete responsibility.

[A]

Let me say something about that, and let's talk about how, like, as far as owning it, man. So, like, I'm. When I first say this, it may sound prideful, and when I get to the end, you realize why it's not. In my entire life, have I struggled with sin? Absolutely. Have I. Have there been things in my life that's like, oh, man, I had to get out of that for sure. In my entire life, I've never had a Josh went off the rail season in my entire life. Here's why. When I look back at my life, I grew up in a godly family with a godly dad and a godly mom who got me into church real early. And they prioritized it then. I'm gonna talk about this in a second. Then when I turned 16, my youth pastor asked me if I want to be in a discipleship group. So my closest friends all throughout high school were my dgroup. Like, we're meeting before school, 7:00am Talking about Jesus, how we're gonna reach our school with the gospel. And then Wednesdays, we're there with Jeff Carlisle. He's teaching us verse by verse through acts. Shout out Jeff Carlisle. Then I get to college, and Jeff told me. He was like, hey, man, the first thing you need to do when you get to college, you need this. So freshman year, I'm walking around at Union, and I'm going like, you know, I'm gonna shout out some. I'm going, Eric Morrell, John Reed, Reed, Greg, Seth, Josh Hussung. I'm walking, by the way, some of those guys listen and we're like, hey, man. We call it a war room. Hey, man. We're wage war against the flesh. So for four years, freshman year through senior year, it's like, I'm getting in there with guys and like, we confessed any imag. Any imaginable sin. It was like, we're going to get in the light. We're going to walk together. We're going to study the word together. We're going to do ministry together. Then I get out and it's like, everywhere I. You know, everywhere I'm in ministry now, I got pastor friends. It's like, show me your Group text. I'll show you your future. I got guys on our staff. Some of my closest friends are godly pastors. We text each other about every area of our lives. I bet, on average, 15 to 20 texts per day. Wow. And it's like, so here. Here's the deal, man. That proverb of whoever walks with the wise will become wise. And a command, you, a fool suffers harm. Who you're walking with is actually more important than where you are are, because who you're walking with is going to determine where you go. So that's it. Now we can talk about how.

[B]

Yeah, let's do it.

[A]

All right. Yeah. So a couple things I would say, especially for men is number one. So proverb, book of proverbs. Proverbs 7 is like, hey, man, it says, first of all, I said, I love this. It's really interesting. It says that wisdom is more valuable than wealth, health, really anything. The reason for that is, think about this. I'm going somewhere.

[C]

This.

[A]

If you have money, but you don't have wisdom, you're going to lose all your money. If you have money but you don't have fame, you're going to become famous for infamous things. If you have a family but you don't have wisdom, you'll destroy your family. If you have wisdom, at least all things. Here's really interesting. It's one of those verses. You read it and you're like, what the heck? Proverbs 7 says. All right, great, great. Now here's the beginning of wisdom. Get it? That's what it says. Here's the number one thing is. Mm, I love it.

[B]

I love it.

[A]

Get wisdom. So the point is, it's like, here's how you succeed if you're a young man. Here's how you succeed at literally anything in life. This just how I've done anything in my life. My dad taught me this when I was a kid. Find somebody that is better than you are at what you're doing. They've accomplished what you want to accomplish. You go find them, and then you ask them millions of questions, and then you just do what they said. So seriously, man, I'm 16, and my dad's like, josh, you want to be a pastor, you need to go find Bob Russell. He was the pastor of Southeast Christian Church, largest church in America at the time. And he's like, see if you can get some time with him. Ask him questions about being a pastor. And I did. And I just did. What did we say? If you are. And I'm talking to guys but this is for anybody. If you're struggling in your marriage or as a parent, bro, here's what you do, man. You walk into church 15 minutes early. You stand in the back, you wait, and you watch two people with some gray hair walk in a couple. Watch and see. You're looking for the ones who are holding hands. And when the service starts, he's got his arm around her, or when they're singing worship, they're real tight. And his arms around her hip. And then when the service is over, you just walk up to them and you say something like this. Proverbs 4. You get wisdom. You say something like this. Hi, my name is Blank. We are bad at marriage. And you seem good at marriage. Could we take you out to lunch and ask you questions about having a good marriage? And then you do it, and then you do what they said.

[B]

That's great.

[A]

So you do that in every area. In finances, in family, in marriage, in parenting, in career, in ministry. And I got. In my life, I try to have names, like, if. You know, I won't say that, but if I got a financial question, there's two people I'm going to call.

[B]

Yeah, that's great. Actually, this is a thing I do, and I probably should do it for other areas of life. But, like, anytime somebody, when I ask them, hey, how long have you been married? And they'll be like, I don't know, 20, 25, 30. Any. Anytime somebody's married more than me, I would be like, hey, give me one thing that's great to. To make it to. To where you are. So if you're like, you're Josh, you're 20.

[A]

20. I've been married 20 years, so I feel like.

[B]

I don't know if I've asked you. Sure. Okay. So I'd be like, hey, Josh, are you 20? Oh, bro, give me one thing I need to know to get to 20.

[A]

Yeah, that's great.

[B]

Every single time. And so I'm just, like, compiling all my. I'm gonna write a book on marriage someday.

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

But it's. It's just. It's so helpful because it's. I don't need the whole lecture right now. I just need one thing. And it's Anyway.

[A]

Good.

[B]

Yeah, it's good. That's great, man.

[C]

I didn't wanna. I didn't know if you had more. I didn't wanna interrupt your flow, dude.

[A]

The only other thing I'd say.

[B]

Kick that pig again.

[A]

Yeah, let me kick. If you wanna get really practical. So I Think one from the wisdom standpoint, like be a man that is aggressive at pursuing wisdom and you will find it other people. So like here. So here's the big idea on that one. You don't like the Bible says when it says you have been given everything you need for life and godliness. What people miss is when that verse says you. The you is pl. So here's the big deal, Carlos. You. You don't have everything you need for life and godliness. Yeah, the church collectively does. So here's the big idea. Dude, this kills me, man. I'm standing up there preaching every week and I'm looking at a room with four or five thousand people, however many people. And what I know is, listen, I'm going to talk to you, Carlos. You are a young man that is very talented with the spirit of God in you and a future in you. There is more in you than you can possibly imagine. You do not have what you need to accomplish everything you can for the kingdom of God, the good of people and the flourishing your family. You don't. But every time we're in that room and there's 5,000 spirit filled people in there, somebody in that room has everything you need and your job is to go find it.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

So if you're listening to this right now, and it's like you're a guy and you. I guarantee every single person listening has some area where they're struggling. You're a slave to sin, you can't kick the porn thing, or you're struggling financially or your marriage sucks, or it's like, dude, I can't figure out my kids. Listen to me. You don't have everything that you need. Somebody in the body of Christ does. All you gotta do is get up off your butt and go get it. Find that person whose kids are adults, that are happy, they love Jesus and they love their parents still. And then listen, bro, like, I wish you could see me. Like, just decide, I'm gonna grab their shirt, I'm gonna get as close to them as I possibly can. And there is. I'm asking every single question imaginable and then I'm going to do exactly what they said. And that right there, listen, that right there is why the church is the most powerful force on earth for shaping a man.

[C]

And even like to give an example in an encouragement to do something specific. If you're listening to this and you don't have community number one, I would encourage you sign up for rooted. We're launching it here in just a couple months. Like if you don't have community. Because, like, oh, like, even coming to church, like, if I can't find someone when I'm in services, sign up for Rooted. It's the easiest way to find community here that you can text RUDA to 20411. That's right, Carlos.

[B]

There will be an ad about this as well.

[C]

And then with that, at least a brief story of, like, how I saw this play out practically in my rooted group from. From this past few months is on the Stronghold tonight. One of the couples just ended up sharing. Getting chills thinking about it. I mean, it was incredible. But one of the couples before we split up and the guys and the ladies were separate, one of the couples was very vulnerable about just how they've been having struggles with alcohol. And you could just see the shame all over them. I mean, we're just wearing it that night by coincidence. No, it was by providence. The couple who shared their story, that was part of their story. And so here I am, the leader or the facilitator of this group. And actually, I didn't even share the first word. They did. And they were, number one, able to speak not condemnation, but grace over them. And you could begin to see the shame lift off of them. And then also, here are people who are a few steps ahead who walk through it, who can now help. So it's a beautiful example of how, like, you said, everything you need. And that was just one of those so cool moments where God custom designed that moment. But also, like, the thing that this couple needed was sitting in the room with them and it was in community.

[A]

That's right, dude. Yeah. That said, you know, it's like that don't fight the devil in the dark. The darkness his domain.

[C]

That's right.

[A]

And so, like, man, even the re, like, what we've started to see with this pocket. This is not a commercial. I'm just applying what we're talking about. So don't take this the wrong way for listeners. Like, what we're starting to see that, like, if I get emotional, this kind of thing is. Is what we're starting to see is, like a bunch of guys. What they're doing right now is they'll listen to the sermons sermon. Then they'll listen to the podcast deep dive. Then they'll grab that little show notes, the group, the guide. And they're just deciding, all right, hey, man, we're gonna meet at that coffee shop at 7am before we go to work on Wednesday. Let's get up in there. Okay, what did God, what did God speak to you this week? What? God speak to you this week? Okay, man, let's talk about the word together now, man. Is there anything that I can pray for you? And that's where it's like, man, I'm struggling with this. I need this in my marriage. They pray for each other and they. Move, move, bro. It's one hour. Yeah, it's like literally one hour. You leave and it's like your spirit's full. It's like the Navy seals are ready to go and. And that. That's how the Christian life is won. That's how great men are forged, bro.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

What you just shared, like, will literally change people's lives.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, that's amazing. Praise God for the church.

[A]

Amen.

[B]

Hey, man, I wanna. I wanna talk about Nick Fuentes.

[A]

So speaking of podcasts, speaking of advice, a hard, emotional gearship, we went from go.

[B]

So let's talk about the opposite right now. So the other day I was here at Lake Point and I had three young men come to me, younger than me, and they said, hey, they're asking me questions about, you know, politics and this and that, and we had a great conversation. And at some point I said, have you been listening to Nick Fuentes? And they're like, how do you know Nick Fuentes? And I'm like, yeah, I mean, it sounds like you. You know them too. And, you know, and so we had a great conversation on, like, what do we. How do we make sense of this? And so if you're. Somebody's listening right now and they don't know who this person is. Nick Fuentes is an online political commentator who is. He would say, or some would say, far right, claims to be a Catholic. He'll say crisis king on his ex bio.

[A]

I don't know about the word right on this guy somewhere. That's why some would say. Some people say, you know, we have far political rights.

[C]

You know, he's anti left. He's anti left.

[A]

You can at least say that in most senses. In most senses, yeah.

[B]

He has a streamer show called America first and he is super charismatic. And I'm not. And he has a movement where the people that follow him are known as the groipers. And it's a frog as a symbol.

[A]

So there's. You just. It's hard to understand.

[B]

It's weird. That's right. But, you know, so I'm just gonna start here. If somebody's like, hey, Pastor Josh, I have heard of Nick Fuentes. Pastor Paul Cunningham, the Epistle Missile AKA chat gpc. I want to know what do I. How do I see, you know, what do I do with this? Like, what are your thoughts on it?

[A]

Did you want to. Did you have an introductory clip? Where are you going to play or are you going to save that?

[B]

We have the one from that I tweeted about. Yeah, we could show it, dude.

[A]

All right, so before we talk about this. So the reason we want to talk about it is there's legitimately a lot of young men, especially like Gen Z and down. It's become kind of a conversation there and then it's become kind of a conversation in, in political cultural circles.

[B]

Yeah. So he.

[A]

How would you summarize kind of his, his vibrant message?

[B]

So he went on Tucker Carlson recently and that kind of platform him to like the next level. And he basically. I mean, his philosophy is he's known as somebody who is one. He's young, too charismatic. He's extremely popular, 27. Some people would call him a white nationalist.

[A]

I think he uses that phrase.

[B]

I think so. That's right. And then he, he's calling out some truths that I think have been politically incorrect to point out.

[A]

That's true. And that is, by the way, that is one mistake people make is they'll just, they'll just try to. And this is not just with him, just in general is instead of dealing with some of the arguments that somebody will make, they'll just try to stigmatize and that. That rarely works. Yeah. So anyway. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And.

[B]

And that's what's happening right now. So what's what now? In the last couple months, really, people are starting to disc he is what he said, and they're calling him anti Semitic, racist. And we're going to talk about this right now in a second. And a lot of people that are mainstream voices in the political space, they refuse to debate him. And obviously in 2025, that's always going to backfire.

[A]

Well, yeah.

[B]

And he's been canceled from multiple platforms. And again. And so we're gonna, we said some things as well where, you know, he.

[A]

He said very well, let me show like Trinity. Can you toss up?

[B]

There you go.

[A]

Let me show why people hit have. So, so there's a reason why people are like, hey, man, let's not, let's not put this in the mainstream. Yeah. Like, very frankly, most of the clips that will go viral on this guy are so honestly, like, morally degraded. It's like, I can't play the clip.

[C]

Yeah, we looked for a while and we couldn't we tried. Yeah, we were.

[A]

But yeah, throughout the team, you know, the tweet. Tweet. Like, it's stuff like this, like Team Hitler. And here's where this comes from. He's got a lot of clips and some people are like, ah. But he's half joking. It's like, well, only half.

[C]

Well, and it.

[A]

And kind of the. Here's. Here's. The thing is this is a super rudimentary. I'm starting to try to try to go down the rat hole on this. And I use the word rat hole on purpose. I'll talk about that in a second. Is kind of the vibe is like, hey, man, it's a radical America first, especially American foreign policy. But just in general, like, hey, man, American politicians should prioritize America first. First of all, true. Let me just say that. True, true. Hey, a dad has a responsibility to his kids. He does not have to all the other kids in the world. A pastor has a responsibility to his church. He does not have to all the other churches in the world. The political leaders of a nation have a responsibility to the people of that nation. They do not have to all of the other people in the entire. So true. The other thing that he's real big on, and that's why you get Team Hitler tweets and you get viral little clips about how Hitler was really cool and had a bunch of great ideas, is first of all, that was the strong nationalist impulse that was. I mean, that's Nazi stands for national. It's a national Socialism kind of deal. So that's where that comes from. The reason you get this is there's also a shared deal. I'm starting to, like I said, go down the rat hole. Is a heavy emphasis on what he calls the difference between Maga make America great again and Miga, make Israel great again. And what he's pointing out is like, hey, man, what it feels like is sometimes there are internal political actors that are trying to prioritize Israel over America. And I'll talk about. He calls it organized world Jewry, as I've started to go down this thing and that, you know, very powerful, wealthy Jewish people in influential positions have constructed an American economic system that is inherently parasitic, especially towards, you know, white. The white people who built the nation. And so what people will use the phrase that you used a second ago, antisemitism. Sometimes we don't have to get into that. That's what they get. And just what you'll sometimes get the vibe of is an extreme hostility towards the vi. This Vibe of. Towards Israel and the Jewish people from, from Nick. The other thing that's important to know about him is very, very openly Catholic.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And so, you know, he's like, hey, this is a. You hear this King Christ King in the midst of like 47F words and Hitler. And Hitler and tweets about how women, a lot of women like to be raped. Like that's an actual thing. Thing that. Or the thing I tweeted was about how when he was 30, he wanted to find a 16 year old bride. Yeah, yeah. This kind of stuff right here, right in the middle of all that. You know, he'll talk about how this. I'm a Christian and this is a Christian nation and he's very openly Catholic.

[C]

Real quick, the reason that we're showing some of the things and highlighting them is actually to say you probably shouldn't go down this rat hole yourself.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

We actually, we said a week ago we talked about that with some of the stuff we read around, UFOs and other. Some of the other stuff. And we're showing just enough to get you a sense of who this guy is. Because the only thing, one thing I would tell people is when someone is trying to tell you who they are, believe them.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And, and so, but I just, I just, I at least want to throw that in there. We're not showing this to them and say, oh yeah, now you go check this out too. We're wanting to give you just enough to understand a little bit of flair. Actually. I would recommend to almost all of you don't go down this rat hole yourself.

[B]

Yeah. And also he's the guy who's discipling this new generation.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So like, you know, if you have kids, like this is probably one of the most influential discipleship voices. Counter formation.

[A]

Young white men for young to.

[C]

Something you said earlier and then it's look that you were going to go another direction now is, you know when, when a person has like 10 followers on. On X or something like that and they're throwing crazy stuff out there.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

We don't need to platform them and discuss them because it's like, all right, dude, they don't have enough clouds for not influencing a lot of people. But when you have a million streamers and they're beginning to make like have an influence, we got to do what called counter discipleship.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

We've got to actually go and say, hey, a generation of men being led in a bad direction. Now we got to do some counter discipleship. So even if people are like why are you even showing this guy stuff? It's bad because people are already engaging it. We got to go where they're at and reclaim them. So what you got, Pastor Josh?

[A]

Well, first of all, let me just ask Carlos and I want to talk about why do you think. What's your thoughts on why a guy like Fuentes catches steam? Young men?

[B]

Yeah, a couple of thoughts. So, one, we live in a culture that has been, for now, a decent amount of time.

[A]

Time.

[B]

Mocking, demeaning, and belittling masculinity. Saying things that it's toxic and, you know, the future is female. We don't need men. That the kind of conversation TV shows have been portraying dads as stupid young boys is dumb. And so what the result is now, in. In our culture, now many young men feel like they've been ignored, humiliated, shame, and now they're resentful, and now they're angry. And so now they see somebody like Nick Fuentes. And the response, you see somebody that's like, bold and aggressive. And he basically says, man, I don't care. I'm gonna tell you what I think. And so I think there is resonating another reason, I think, coming from a woke era where the general belief has been a critical race theory that basically divides the world into oppressor versus oppressed. And the oppressor is bad, and the oppressor is good. And so under, there's this general belief again, that if you're white, then you are an oppressor, and therefore you owe an apology for everything and you have it. If you are mad, like white fragility, you're not allowed to say this or that. Here comes Nick and he says, well, I'm white, and I'm going to say whatever I want on. And. And so people are like, oh, we can do that. Now we got permission. Tying it back to the conversation before. We are a lonely, isolated generation, and we are lacking father figures and older male role models for masculinity. We don't. Younger men need a. A role model is. We don't know, you know, we don't have it. And this is why, again, you see somebody, even if somebody that's young, Nick, to me, comes across like an underdog, that. That all of a sudden he's. He's really bold and. And he's saying all these things, and young men are drawn to that. That's why you also had some years ago, like the Jordan Peterson phenomenon, the Andrew Tate phenomenon. Now it's Nick.

[A]

Transgressive. Feels transgressive.

[B]

It's a role model. It's strong, it's, it's bold. It can, I can see myself in them, you know, and then, and obviously, you know, the last thing I would say, obviously, he's charismatic, he's talented, he's funny, he's, he's in this like, meme culture. And so I think it really resonates. He streams lives. And so I think that's, you know, he's going to where everybody is. And that's obviously on social media and online.

[A]

Yeah. So I think you're onto some things. So first of all, this is, here's my opinion. This is what happens when you spend an entire generation telling young white men that you're toxic, oppressive and racist. No matter what you do do. Doesn't matter what you do, you're toxic, oppressive and racist. Eventually they go, okay, I'll just be that. I, I seriously, I think, okay, I'll just be that. I also think this, this is the inevitable outcome of identity politics. This downstream from critical theory. So here's the deal, man. Like, he's like, very openly, like you said, like white nationalist. Okay, so like, here's the deal. If you spend 20 years going, hey man, is it okay for, for black people to advocate for the black community? Yes. Is it okay for, for Hispanic people to adv. Hispanic community? Yes. Is it okay for this group to advocate for them? Yes. Is it okay for white people to advocate for themselves? Well, of course not. Well, that everybody starts to go, well, that sounds really stupid. It's like, this is really dumb. So essentially what he's gone is, what you're getting is, hey man, either everybody's allowed to do that or nobody is. Now what Christians have historically gone is, we've gone, hey man. Again. This is the difference between Christian theology and critical theology theory is that in critical theory, it's, it's group identities and who's oppressed and who's the oppressor. In Christianity, we're like, no, no, we evaluate people as individuals. It's, you know, this is like, it's the Martin Luther King Jr. Thing. It's, it's not the color of your skin. It's the content of your character. I don't care what color you are. I don't care where you came from. I don't care what your cultural background is. It's the content of your character, who you are as a man or a woman. So I think it's also, this is the, it's the accidental out birthing of identity politics and eventually it Births into white identity politics.

[C]

And what's interesting in that, and this would be one of my criticism of Fuentes and in that group, is that, okay, so let's talk about woke left. Woke left, victim, villain.

[A]

Yep.

[C]

And then now let's revise history.

[A]

History.

[C]

And actually, did things really happen the way they actually happen? So then you got victim villain mentality. And like, oh, we're the victims, and it's a lot of bad things. We got to tear this thing down. And then Fuentes is arguing now against that, and he's reacting to that. But then what's interesting that's happening on his side now. Oh, let's revise history. Was Hitler really that bad? Did the Holocaust actually happen? And hey, we're the victims. They're the villains. And now we've got to tear that down. So they're running the exact same play, bro. It's the same thing. And that is why. I mean, and my thing is, is like, for those maybe in tasbomb, is like, literally, you are the exact same principle, and you're simply repeating the same thing, but in the opposite side. That's why sometimes even people will call Fuentes and others the woke. Right. Because it's the exact same stuff that's happening. It's simply an equal and opposite reaction to what they had seen, bro.

[A]

It's the way I got the. And by the way, what you can't do is go, hey, man, there's no truth in what they're saying. I would just. But. But it's. And it's the same thing. The same thing. So, like, there's a little bit of. When I started, like, going down the rat hole a little bit, I was like, there's this has a little bit of BLM for white people vibes.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So. So, like, for instance, all right, to what you said with blm, what you had is you had revisionist history. Let's do the 1619 project. Basically, all of American history is. Was built on racism, and the systems are structurally racist. That's all. 1619 Project. And it was kind of like it was convincing an entire community. Community, man. This entire system is structurally racist and flawed. It was built by white people for white people. And all of your problems are because of oppressive white people. Okay, well, what this kind of does is it does revisionist history, man. World War II, dude. I actually, man, who was the good guy? Who was the bad guy? You know, they were all maybe bad guys, or maybe actually Hitler correctly diagnosed a lot of the problems and just went a little Overboard on.

[B]

And Stalin too.

[A]

And, and style even. He, he said in his interview with Tucker that he was a just stolen admirer. Little smirk on his face. That's part of his vibe is like, you can tell he glories in being transgressive. Kind of like, I'm going to be more transgressive than you and I'm going to have fun doing it. Side note, before I finish this little analogy, this goes like behind the scenes, we'll talk about the happy warrior thing. Like, so here, listen, here's. I talk about this. We never talk about this in podcast. In like ideological and cultural debates and wars. It's always the happy warrior that wins.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

So here's what I mean is whoever is having the most fun is almost always going to win the war because everybody looks at them and they're like, I want to be with those guys. Yeah, I want to be with those guys. They're like kicking butt and taking names and they're having fun doing that.

[C]

Right.

[A]

So part of what, what he's kind of channeling is like the smirky, the smirky transgressive. Like, I'm a Stalin admirer, you know, and it's, it's a little bit of that same vibe. It's like the happy warrior, except, you know, for some evil things.

[C]

Right.

[A]

So what you got is. Okay, so let me go back to this. So BLM for white people. So what, what you got here a little bit is you got revisionist history. World War II, maybe. Actually we misunderstood. Who are the good guys? Who were the bad guys? Guys. Other side note, I want to make, I promise I'll stop doing this is like, you know, if you, if you go down the rat hole a little bit though, you'll start reading things like, oh, man, like General Patton at the end of his life in his journal. He wondered if, if actually we fought the wrong enemy in World War II. And then they'll build an entire view, an entire revisionist history of World War II off of one purported sentence in General Patton's journal. Now, side note, by the way, because I checked into this, that was never in General Patton's journal. That's like an Internet meme theory.

[C]

Everything on the Internet is true.

[A]

Yeah, right. It's like third hand people who. A friend of a friend of General Patton's friend said he may have said that it was never in his journal. And they'll build a whole revisionist history off of this one. Little, little things, little scraps. And I've noticed this. It has a Parallel. Paul probably resonate with this. It has a parallel in biblical criticism. It's almost a conspiracist vibe where it's like, let me take one little. This one little verse over here that could be interpreted this way, and they'll build a whole theology off of that while they ignore this mountain of other really clear verses. It's the same thing. You'll start noticing, like, some of this little groper movement. What they'll do is they'll take just a couple little. Couple little things, General Patton's journal or this little purported conversation, and build a whole revisionist history off of it and ignore Mountains, like 50 years worth of mountains of, like, firsthand evidence on this. So anyway, you get revisionist history, then you get. So BLM does, hey, America, structurally racist, built by white people for white people, as parasitic on the backs of the people enslaved and oppressed. What they do is they kind of go, man, the entire American economic system. System was built by the Jews. So, man, the. The Federal Reserve and the central banking system that. Built by powerful Jewish people, by the way. You start looking into it and it's like massively overblown. Yeah, okay, so then it's like, man, Paul, do you know where all you. All the problems in your life as a white guy, do you know where they come from? Organized Jewry? It's the Jews, bro. Okay, so actually, we throw up that little meme of the children book. Like, this is. I just find this absolutely hysterical. It's kind of like this is like. It becomes this thing of, like, everything I don't like is a Jewish conspiracy A child's guide to political discussion. And it's. I just think that's hilarious. But it turns into this kind of. Now, this is super snapshotty. There's a million little nuance things, but there's some parallels. Thoughts? You guys got thoughts here?

[C]

Oh, I've got plenty. No, no, no.

[B]

Let you go. Go ahead.

[C]

Let you go. Yeah, well, I mean, some of it is honestly just some of the stuff I've already said. But even, like, what you're saying, a lot of what you just said is we would call that circumstantial evidence. And even, like, for those of you who even slightly entice. I'm serious. But I'm sure we have listeners who have watched and listened to Fuentes and. And are so. Because to your point, he is a charming guy, but one thing I want to say real quick.

[A]

It.

[C]

You can speak really well and still be a fool.

[A]

Yeah, that's right.

[C]

Like Romans 16:18 says by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. So actually you need to be really careful of someone who, who can like talk really smoothly and be charismatic, but they're saying really foolish things. Those are actually the really dangerous people you got to watch out for. But yeah, so even like talking to people who may be even enticed by him, if he had to present his evidence in a court of law or turn it in As a major PhD dissertation, would it even pass bar no to your point? But it's like, oh, if I just kind of like these little things here and there. And this is where I think another thing that's happened over the last eight to 10 years is used to, I would say the right was, I'm going to say that there's the right spectrum, conservative would have been really more people known for we believe in objective truth. But there seems to be a growing trend of believing in every little conspiracy theory, alternative facts and things like that. So I think that's another thing that's fueled the fire of this is an oh, but do we really know? And so the, the side that used to be known for its belief in objective, lasting, eternal truth is the one who's now questioning anything that doesn't line up with their experience or that makes them feel better or makes them feel like a victim. Because if you're a victim, you can feel victimized and then you can try to go after the villain. So those are just a few and I've got more thoughts in terms of other stuff, but I'll save them for a few minutes.

[A]

Carlos?

[B]

Yeah, I think at the core, man, you know, this whole movement, we want to echo what you just said. We don't do critical race theory, we don't do critical theory, we do Christian theology. That's right. So you have to always go back to the core or like I am, I am an American citizen, I'm Hispanic, I am a light skinned heterosexual male and at the same time I'm a Christian first.

[A]

That's right. That's exactly right.

[B]

We are Bible people. So anything that we hear on the Internet or honestly anywhere, we filter it through the lens of scripture because ultimately we stand on the truth of the word of God.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

And so anytime you hear now, if you hear anytime anything from Nick Fuentes, like you said, that he's pointing out some things that honestly like some people are probably thinking and some of them could be true, of course. And so, and so, but, but at the same time, you want to be mindful of what else you are absorbing and receiving from him as well. And if there is anything putting it lightly.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

Well, yeah.

[B]

And speaking to the younger people, that maybe for them, it's a little bit of a shock. Like you're saying that there's some things that he's saying that are not great or not good or good for you. If there's anything that contradicts your ultimate identity as a follower of Jesus, as a son of God or a daughter of God, then you absolutely reject it.

[A]

Yes. Right.

[B]

And it's just not for you. That's. That's right. And so that's it. And so. And ultimately, that means that if the. If what the word of God says is true, that means something that contradicts it is false.

[C]

And to that point, I think it was probably four or five episodes ago, we were talking a different context, but I kind of gave this paradigm of man. As you're reading and listening people, I think we're talking about the pastors or other people. Somebody applies here is. You got to think it through, man. Is this person like a road pretty easy to walk on? Occasional pothole you have to look out for? Or is this person a trail? Okay, I can still walk on it can maybe even trail run. But hey, more roots and rocks to look out for. Or is this person a minefield?

[A]

There you go.

[C]

And if they're a minefield, whatever's on the other side of the minefield better be worth getting. And if you can get that same thing elsewhere, that's better. Go get it elsewhere. And so I think part of what we're saying is, I don't think, unless you guys disagree, because, say, hey, Nick Fuentes is a minefield, there might be some things here and there that. Like some of the problems he points out that you even pointed out. Yeah, we would agree those are problems. But the. My biggest issue with Nick Fuentes. Well, actually, I should. My biggest Have a lot of issues is that he does correctly diagnose parts of the wound, but he poisons the cure. He poisons the cure. And I could go into a lot of what that means, but I mean, for now, just say, like, man. Yeah, for sure. We have had confusing moral times, and he's speaking with clarity. We've had a lack of masculinity, and he's speaking to that. So he's correctly diagnosing some of the ills also to some of the progressive absurdities. But through how he says what he says and then some of the things he says, he's actually poisoning the cure and he's tearing things down, but he's not building anything up in any kind of a positive vision that can transform the world. So those are a few thoughts. Go ahead.

[A]

That's a good way to say it.

[C]

It.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

First Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 21. Test everything. Hold fast to what is good.

[A]

Yeah. Wait, wait. I want to say one last thing here. So Paul's talking about. Hey, this is a minefield. Who Nick seems to like grab is young men. Yeah. So like here's, here's. I want to talk to just. We're going to finish the pod right here. I want to talk to young men. And if you're a young man and you want to live a life of consequences, that matters for the glory of God and you leave a legacy of righteousness and you change not just your family, but your life, your lineage and your legacy, that, that's, that's who we want to talk to. So Trinity, I want, I want you to play that. This is a little, I'll just be honest, like this is a little much, but I'll be honest, this is a little tame compared to some of the other clips. Check this, that real quick.

[D]

No, I want to drink it straight from the tap. I want it raw. I don't want to wait a moment. Right when the milk is good, I want to start drinking the milk. Same thing goes with women. I don't want to turn 30 and find some 20 year old, 29 year old woman that I have something in common with and it's like, hey, properly aged like wine. Women don't age like wine. They age like milk. They don't age like wine. That's not how their hormones work. That's not how they work. Yeah, I got to find, I got to find my 16 year old wife, bro. Probably when I turn 30 or something. Cuz here's the thing, I don't want to be like, let's say I get.

[A]

Married to 30, that's what, 18 year.

[D]

Old now, 6 year age difference. When I turn 40, she's going to be 34E. What if I'm 30 and she's 16? 14 year age difference. When I'm 50, she'll be 36.

[A]

Pause. Yeah man. So here's my point. If you are a young man that wants to live a life of consequence for the glory of God, run as far as you can, as fast as you can from a man like that. Here's what you're looking for? You're looking for somebody whose wife is happy and thriving under his leash leadership.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

You're looking for somebody who's built a family and they got kids that are strong in the purposes of God. They have kids who understand righteousness and unrighteousness. And you're looking for somebody who's actually built something with their lives. So man, the big deal on the whole podcast is make sure the right influencers are influencing you. And they need to be men, Spirit filled men of consequence, purpose, purpose who are living their lives to the glory of God. Full stop.

[B]

Josh, would you pray for us?

[A]

I would love to. Jesus, thank you for being a great and righteous king, a redeeming father, and for trading your life for our sins. Father, I pray for every young man and woman that are listening. In particular, I pray that you would surround them with men and women who love you, you and love them and who have decided to consecrate their lives for the purposes of your kingdom. Father, I pray that if there are people who they don't have godly men and women in their life, A, I'm asking you to give them the faith and the courage to take that step aggressively this week and do whatever it takes to get some corner toters in their life and and to begin to follow you with an aggression. And B, I'm asking asking you to bring the best, most godly people they've ever met into those spaces in your divine providence. I pray blessing on these people. Raise up a generation of young men and women who see clearly and stand firmly on your word. And we pray it in Jesus name. Amen.

[C]

Amen.

[A]

Thanks for tuning in to Live Free with Pastor Jeff. We pray today's episode helped you take a step forward in life, culture and faith as you live free in Christ. If it encouraged you, be sure to rate, review and share the podcast. And don't forget to subscribe so you'll never miss an episode. Join us for Lake Pointe Church Online every weekend and find more resources at Lakepoint Church Livefree. We'll see you next time.