Latest / Challenges of Faith Radio Program / Teenagers still want to know! Ep 2824

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Teenagers still want to know! Ep 2824 · Challenges of Faith Radio Program

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Challenges of Faith radio program I Am
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  Speaker 1: garyt Kins on episode twenty eight hundred and twenty three.
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  Speaker 1: Teenagers still want to know like technology, God and you
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  Speaker 1: are listeners. Lerinado Blair, a senior reporter at The Christian Post, wrote,
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  Speaker 1: most American teens very motivated to know about Jesus. He says,
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  Speaker 1: although religious affiliation and church attendance are on the decline,
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  Speaker 1: more than half of American teenagers say they're very motivated
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  Speaker 1: to know more about Jesus, and just over seventy five
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  Speaker 1: percent say they're at least somewhat motivated to learn about
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  Speaker 1: the centerpiece of Christianity. According to Barner Research, and again,
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  Speaker 1: as I continue sharing this article, remember Christianity is about
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  Speaker 1: a person, Jesus christ Religion is about working, what to do,
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  Speaker 1: having to do something. Citing data from Barner gen Z
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  Speaker 1: Volume three research, which also highlights openness and curiosity about
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  Speaker 1: spiritual matters among teenagers and young adults, researchers noted that
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  Speaker 1: the findings represent an opportunity for Christian leaders to engage them.
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  Speaker 1: This generation tends to believe there's something out there more
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  Speaker 1: powerful than them. Still, many remain hesitant to embrace religion
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  Speaker 1: were church going. Researchers said church leaders should recognize that
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  Speaker 1: teens openness to learn about Jesus represents a significant opportunity
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  Speaker 1: for meaningful engagement. The data shows that seventy seven percent
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  Speaker 1: of teens are at least motivated to learn about Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: with fifty two percent being very motivated and twenty five
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  Speaker 1: percent saying they are somewhat motivated. Less than twenty percent
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  Speaker 1: of teenagers said they were unmotivated to learn about Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: while seven percent said they were unsure. While teens express
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  Speaker 1: interest in Jesus, they may approach faith differently than previous generations. Furthermore,
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  Speaker 1: genuineness and relevance are key. Be prepared to address difficult
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  Speaker 1: questions honestly and demonstrate how Jesus and the Bible relate
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  Speaker 1: to the world we live in today, Barner advised church leaders.
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  Speaker 1: Another survey of two thousand US adults conducted in October
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty two by the Evangelical Polling Organization showed that
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  Speaker 1: seventy seven percent of respondents expressed belief in a higher
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  Speaker 1: power and seventy four percent said they want to grow spiritually.
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  Speaker 1: Look at them hunger out there. The findings are similar
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  Speaker 1: to Pew research data published in twenty eighteen, which showed
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  Speaker 1: that although eighty percent of Americans say they believe in God,
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  Speaker 1: only a slim majority of the nation's approximately three hundred
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  Speaker 1: and twenty seven million people were found to believe in
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  Speaker 1: God as described in the Bible. That's a large percent
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  Speaker 1: when you speak of eighty percent. Now, Barner CEO David
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  Speaker 1: Kinneman said at the time that this finding too was
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  Speaker 1: hopeful news for Christian leaders. And let me further say this.
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  Speaker 1: You know, as I grab a sip of more water,
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  Speaker 1: doesn't it show you based upon this recent study, so
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  Speaker 1: that what you're hearing about out in the news is incorrect.
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  Speaker 1: The Barney CEO said. Though religious affiliation and church attendance
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  Speaker 1: continue to decline, spiritual openness and curiosity are on the
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  Speaker 1: rise across every generation. In fact, we see an unprecedented
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  Speaker 1: desire to grow spiritually, a belief in the spiritual supernatural dimension,
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  Speaker 1: and a belief in God or higher power. Now again,
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  Speaker 1: side note here you have these individuals, young adults, teenagers,
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  Speaker 1: desiring to know. And that's not to say that their
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  Speaker 1: parents or parents are not followers of Jesus Christ. But
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  Speaker 1: even if they are not, and if they are, look
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  Speaker 1: at the desire of that teenager to want to know
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  Speaker 1: more because they have a God consciousness. They think about
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  Speaker 1: it in your own life, that desire to know God.
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  Speaker 1: The Barner CEOs say one of the most inspiring features
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  Speaker 1: of this openness for him is based on findings from
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  Speaker 1: the Open Generation study, would show that young people may
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  Speaker 1: be fueling this rise and spiritual hunger over whom only
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  Speaker 1: Christian teens today say that Jesus still matters to them.
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  Speaker 1: Seventy six percent said Jesus speaks to me in a
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  Speaker 1: way that is relevant to my life, you know, in essence,
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  Speaker 1: taking the cookies from the top shelf, bringing the down
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  Speaker 1: so it is clear for them, Kenneman said, in a
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  Speaker 1: culture that has generally downgraded the reputation of Christians and
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  Speaker 1: relegated Sunday worship and other church related activities to the
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  Speaker 1: sidelines of society, teens remain refreshingly open to Jesus as
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  Speaker 1: an influence in their life. Keneman also highlighted that while
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  Speaker 1: teenagers are open to Christian witness, they're open to different faiths,
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  Speaker 1: including Christianity, and they open to friends, causes, and ideas.
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  Speaker 1: Keneman said and again, excuse me coming back to what
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  Speaker 1: I was alluding to the openness the curiosity of that teenager.
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  Speaker 1: Young adults, think about, if you, as a believer of
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  Speaker 1: the household of Faith, don't yield to the Holy Spirit
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  Speaker 1: of God in order whenever to open your mouth to
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  Speaker 1: talk to that person about Christ, then the doors open
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  Speaker 1: for the spiritual enemy. In accordance with the word the
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  Speaker 1: devil or the and the mondy forces to use other
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  Speaker 1: two lady instruments to communicate with them about their particular
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  Speaker 1: belief system. Though parents, education, educations and others who mentor
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  Speaker 1: young people have a full task, has a tall task.
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  Speaker 1: As I slowed down to provide wise guidance to emerging adults. Today,
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  Speaker 1: teens are confronting the church with something that I think
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  Speaker 1: we haven't seen before, a kind of a blank slate,
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  Speaker 1: a chance to imagine a different future. They want to know.
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  Speaker 1: Think about, didn't you, irrespective of your aide, didn't you
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  Speaker 1: want to know? I shared a story about there was
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  Speaker 1: a ship ships with an s set out to Harbor
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  Speaker 1: from New York City on a quiet mission. The captains
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  Speaker 1: of the ships were told not to tell anybody where
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  Speaker 1: they were going. When they got out the c Sea.
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  Speaker 1: There was a bad storm which caused the ships to
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  Speaker 1: be separated from each other. Ship number one looking off
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  Speaker 1: at a distance at ship number two, not knowing if
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  Speaker 1: ship number two was a friend or an enemy, Ship
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  Speaker 1: number two calls out, asking a question, where are we?
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  Speaker 1: Ship number two responds back to ship number one, where'd
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  Speaker 1: you come from? Ship number one says we don't know.
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  Speaker 1: Ship number two then asks ship number one where you're going.
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  Speaker 1: Ship number one says we don't know. Ship number two
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  Speaker 1: then says the ship number one. If you don't know
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  Speaker 1: where you came from, you don't know where you're going.
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  Speaker 1: It makes no difference where you are. Prior verse twenty two.
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  Speaker 1: Verse six states, train up a child and the way
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  Speaker 1: he should go. Even when he is old, he will
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  Speaker 1: not depart from it.