Host/Interviewer (possibly Todd Friel or another main host) (34:16)
I miss Vod in moments like this, don't you? My question for all of us is, whichever way you choose to do it, if somebody asks you why you are a Christian, are you able to articulate it so that the Gospel can be understood? So that you give a credible testimony, so that you give a reason for the hope that lies within you, is there one way to do it? No, of course there isn't. There's all kinds of ways to do it. It can be done via testimony, but it has to include all of those aforementioned elements. Can you do it the way that Bodie did it? Yep, you certainly can. Can you do it the way the kids on the campus of Kennesaw did it. Yeah, you can do it that way. It doesn't have to be this beat out. It's got to be this every single time. But when we simply say, well, I grew up in a Christian home, so I'm a Christian, well, that doesn't cut the mustard. That's not enough. If we say, well, we're a Christian, want to go to heaven, that sentiment isn't wrong, but that isn't why we should become a Christian. We should become a Christian because it is true and the message is spectacular. That's why we are Christians. And it is my concern. And I hope this has not come across as a screed against those young people who just, you know, they were put on the spot, so let's just cut them some slack. But nevertheless, what did we hear? Out of the number of kids that we heard, what did we hear? Like, two, three that were kind of like on the trail or at least contained elements of. Okay, that's something credible. We got to do better than that. We've got to do better than that. Next week, I get to be at Georgia Tech, and I'm going to be meeting with the youth leaders, the students that are interacting with the other students and the ministry leaders to talk about this very thing, to make sure that we articulate the gospel well. Because here's my concern. As I ponder throughout the years, why do we see the statistic of 60 to 80% of kids who run off to university notoriously backslide, meaning they reveal that they were never saved in the first place? And this is my contention. I think it is because now there's a lot of reasons, but I think this is kind of maybe the biggie, or certainly a biggie. We have assimilated kids to Christianity, but we have not converted them. Now, I know we don't convert them, so just cut me a little slack with that lingo. We've assimilated kids into Christianity, but we haven't focused on their conversion. Meaning we hope that they come to youth group. We hope that they'll keep coming to church, and maybe they'll even keep coming when they're teenagers. If there's a whoopie doo fest, then, oh, that's great. By the way. By the way. Ah, no, I'm standing in line, a long queue waiting to register at a. At a doctor's office, and a guy comes behind me, and we're just chatting because things ain't moving so quick. And I said, where do you go? To church. And he said, well, we're. We're looking. What are you looking for? And he goes. And he literally said that. He literally said this. He articulated the thing that we've identified for years here on Wretched. And he said, I want a place where my kids can be entertained. So we entertain them in an effort to assimilate them. Well, then maybe they won't gripe if there's an inflatable, if there's good enough pizza. But then maybe they'll just keep coming. We just kind of get them, you know, just kind of get them into Christianity. And maybe if they go off on their rumspringer for a season, maybe they'll come back. Because we're assimilating them and we're not focusing on, you must believe in this Savior, otherwise you will perish on the day of judgment. We don't even seem to talk like that anymore. We've lost the judicial nature of the gospel. That it is about forgiveness of sins, that it is about everlasting life, that it is about being damned righteously by God for our violation of his commandments. And if we don't put our trust in the only escape, the propitiation, Jesus Christ, and will perish. When I saw that God would do something like that for me, I wanted him. That's why I'm a Christian. And I fear that we aren't focusing on that with our kids. And we try to assimilate them and we try to kind of get them into the Christian flow and maybe develop some patterns and some habits. And we think maybe it'll just kind of rub off when they see it and all of those things, by the way, they're fine and good. But that's not. To get to the core of why they should believe in Christianity, why they should believe Christ. We must be pressing them with the gospel because I think we're afraid to do that. Too often it just seems like kind of severe. Okay, call it that if you will, but I think it's to our own detriment and peril, because that's what the gospel is about. It is about being saved by a God who is so good and he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. This doesn't mean that we don't talk about the love of God. I'm not suggesting that at all. In fact, I'm saying that the judgment to come magnifies his goodness and his love because he sent his Son to take the thrashing that you and I deserve for eternity. I wonder. I wonder if that is why we lose so many kids. I wonder why that is. So many kids are just not able to articulate the gospel because frankly, we haven't pressed it, we haven't explained it, we haven't clarified it, and they don't know it. This is wretched radio.
