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Transcript

Far From God? · Fostering Faith

• 0:00
  Welcome back to Fostering Faith. We are here in our third season and we are so excited to bring you a topic that we feel a lot of people are feeling right now.
• 0:15
  And so we have a new iPhone user in the family, which is me, and I have came from the droid world over to the iPhone world and I'm not completely sold on it yet.
• 0:31
  But what happens if you get left on read?
• 0:36
  And so have you ever tried texting somebody now that I have the capabilities of seeing people left on read and then there's bubbles and then you don't get anything back?
• 0:45
  Have you ever checked your phone every five seconds thinking, oh my gosh, did they ghost me? Do they hate me? Like, what's going on? What did I do?
• 0:52
  Have you ever had a conversation with somebody and you just feel like you've been left on read?
• 1:00
  And so that's what today's topic is going to be about is about feeling distant from God. And so in Psalm 34 18, the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
• 1:12
  And so as we go into today's topic, feeling distant from Christ can be discouraging.
• 1:16
  But today we can unpack why it happens and how to reconnect and why God's love never goes away, even if we feel out of touch.
• 1:25
  If you feel like you're left on read, stay tuned because he has listened to all your prayers.
• 1:32
  And so as we come into why do some teens feel distant from God?
• 1:40
  Like if he is not answering like us or like we just feel distant from him and everything like that.
• 1:47
  What can make you feel distant?
• 1:51
  Sometimes like not getting away like we pray about it and pray about it and he just hasn't given that to us probably or like something happened.
• 2:03
  And I feel too that a lot of times a busy schedule can crowd out prayer time in church.
• 2:11
  And that's whenever you're not spending time with those that are around you and so busy schedules can crowd out prayer time in church time.
• 2:21
  And that's whenever doubts creep in.
• 2:26
  And then you start comparing yourself to others like on highlight reels and social media.
• 2:33
  What is another way that people can feel disconnected?
• 2:41
  So you're praying and not getting your way.
• 2:43
  You are seeking his face.
• 2:48
  You're going to church.
• 2:49
  You think that you're doing all the right things.
• 2:53
  But what do you feel like you're missing?
• 2:58
  Maybe like not praying enough. I feel like you can be missing something from that and like not like focusing on it and said like just pray for it and then just go on your day to focus on it and see if you get an answer.
• 3:14
  Do you feel like once you've kind of skipped a day with God, then that's a Monday and then Tuesday and then you get rushed getting up and getting ready and then you don't make time for him again.
• 3:29
  And I know like with the gym if you skip one day that turns into a month and then suddenly you're eating ice cream in your sweatpants wondering where you went wrong and sometimes faith can feel like that.
• 3:45
  And so what does James say? Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
• 3:51
  And what verse is that? James 4.
• 3:55
  And so those that seek his face, he wants to draw you near.
• 4:01
  And so it's just like the do you remember the story of the prodigal son?
• 4:07
  Of how they had a dad that was a king and really wealthy and you had a rich you had two sons, one son said hey give me my money I'm out. And the oh yeah he went to like go party and everything and then like he wasted all this money and then he had like he didn't want to go back to his dad.
• 4:27
  And so he just like like worked at like a feeding like trough area like with pigs and everything and had to eat it and then like he like realize I was the way he should be living and like the other brother was like working for him making his money and making his dad proud.
• 4:43
  And then when the other son came back he the father welcomed him with like arms and made a party for him and gave him like his money back and everything like that and like the brother the other brother's like what I work for you like all these years and like you never treated me like this way like all that stuff.
• 5:01
  Yes and so it is about even though you've been so far from him that you can't and the other son thought he was being a super Christian and is there a difference between the two sons in God's eyes does God has does God have a favorite?
• 5:20
  No.
• 5:21
  Why?
• 5:22
  Because he created them like with equal like equal things basically.
• 5:27
  Yeah and so there's no such thing as called super Christians and so you can there in the in scripture there is people that feel like they were like super apostles and they would you know and they were Sadducees and there was Pharisees and there was people that would go on the corner side and recite these huge long prayers and all this fancy stuff and they thought that they were getting you know would get more credit from God and can you get more credit from God?
• 5:56
  And so with that prodigal son so like you say you're you're distant from God you've been busy you've been at school you've been doing all the things and it's now two weeks later and you're like oh well I can't go back now.
• 6:11
  Like God's not he's gonna be so mad at me that I've not been there for like two weeks and so in the prodigal story you said what happens with the dad?
• 6:20
  He gets it overjoyed that his son came back and like threw a big party.
• 6:25
  Yes and so you know just that even that way with even Peter the disciple who walked on water he denied Jesus three times and yet Jesus still chose him to lead the church and so if you've walked away you feel distant from God you're in great company.
• 6:45
  I mean you have so many things in scripture you have Peter that even walked on water that Jesus denied Jesus three times and Jesus used him to grow the church.
• 7:04
  And so how about how about what are some like reconnecting tips as we're starting this new year a lot of churches are in 21 days of prayer and fast and so it's just about this kind of reconnecting with God the beginning of the year to kind of set the tone for the first part.
• 7:21
  And so what are some tips for some teens to just kind of get reacquainted with God as we were kind of really busy through the month of December and maybe we fell off going to church and we were going to parties and we were you know looking at things instead of looking at him.
• 7:39
  What are some ways that we can just kind of reconnect with Christ.
• 7:43
  What I started doing I made my own plan like a private plan for me to do like every day and like just doing 21 days of prayer and spending time with him I feel like is a big way to do it.
• 7:56
  And just spending five minutes in prayer is better than no time in prayer. And so it doesn't have to be like you don't have to talk on hours and hours.
• 8:08
  It doesn't have to be a big production. God is not grading us on performance is he.
• 8:14
  No. And so, do you have to talk to God in like King James. No version. No. How do you talk to God. Just normally how you usually talk.
• 8:27
  How you talk to a friend. Yeah, because he knows how you talk.
• 8:31
  And then do you do you lie to him. He knows everything so what's the point of lying.
• 8:40
  And it's so funny because it's like, hey God it's me again. Sorry I haven't checked in lately but here's one of those weeks and months, and does he know that.
• 8:53
  Yes. And so I talked to him just like I would talk to my daughter how I would talk to my husband. He is my best friend he knows everything.
• 9:03
  And yet, he still loves me. I mean, he has a gap a love for us and so a copy love is just this unconditional love that I think that only he can feel, I mean, I think humans have conditional love.
• 9:20
  And it is just a true understanding of that word I don't know that we can truly appreciate for how much that you are loved.
• 9:31
  And what are some other things that as January hips and February is coming into. What about what else is some things that we can do to help reconnect ourselves with Christ.
• 9:47
  And like you said just praying everyday it's better than not praying, and everything like that, join a youth group do a Bible study with your friends and everything.
• 9:56
  And like find a friend that will like remind you to do your Bible and everything like that.
• 10:01
  And so, you know, God has called us to be in community, and it is about. If you're stuck in a ditch, don't call someone who will sit there with you, you call someone that's going to bring you a rope.
• 10:17
  And you're not going to be discouraged and mopey and disconnected that God is mad at you and that you have done something wrong or whatever you're not going to call a friend to agree with you, you need to call a friend that's going to give you the rope.
• 10:32
  Who did that in the Bible that like these people, it was so I don't know what I'm talking about. You do. I do know I'm talking about it's that one guy who like got like his like whole family like, like the devil killed like his whole family has like
• 10:47
  gotten them all moped and everything but you like still worship God and like these people like came. What was dad literally talking about at supper, was it, what was his name I don't know his name job. Yes.
• 11:02
  Yeah, your dad was literally just talking about that at supper time.
• 11:05
  Wasn't he. I don't know. Yeah, I didn't even know who was up there.
• 11:09
  Exactly. And so if you go into the book of Job, how you have
• 11:14
  Job and his friends and you have his wife
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  that is not encouraging and
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  just curse your God and die are not advice from a rope giving friend.
• 11:26
  And so that's more of here's a rock kind of friends that will just give you a rock to sink you even further.
• 11:33
  And then you have friends that are telling him that he's wrong and
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  you have a friend that is just desperately seeking
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  answer and guidance and love from the Heavenly Father that he knows he has and and he ends up
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  just not listening to his rock giving friends and just still seeking God
• 11:53
  and just looking for his love. And so, I mean do we feel like we can honestly understand
• 11:59
  God's love. God's love isn't based on our feelings or actions
• 12:04
  It's constant. It's it's the rock. He's our foundation. And so
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  we just talked about
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  the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 11 through 32, please jump in and read that if you can. There's so many different translations
• 12:22
  out there. It is
• 12:25
  what would be a
• 12:27
  way of saying
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  in modern kind of terms the Prodigal Son?
• 12:36
  It'll be like
• 12:39
  if you go away from God and
• 12:43
  you feel like other people are doing better and you're scared to go back, but you do
• 12:48
  He'll like welcome you even warmer because you had like you just came back to Him.
• 12:54
  And I think that it's like losing something that is like your favorite thing. And so what would happen?
• 13:03
  And so what was one of those favorite things that you've lost?
• 13:07
  Her air pods because she had to have them
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  so her mom went out and got her air pods and
• 13:17
  she lost them. They're gone. I'm pretty sure Samson ate them. And then so it's like losing your favorite air pods
• 13:25
  thinking that they're gone forever and then someone returning them freshly charged
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  that's how excited God is to have you come back to Him. And so like I would say actually I found your earbuds and
• 13:39
  they are in the dresser out there fully charged. Are you literally grittying me? Are you actually being real? What is grittying?
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  It's a dance.
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  Are they actually in the drawer? No. No!
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  And so
• 14:02
  it's really another important lesson and so you have to be a good steward with what you're given and so if you cannot be a good steward with what you're given then you don't get more. And if you were being a good steward of your
• 14:12
  My dog ate it. Then that's not being a good steward because he shouldn't have been able to get them. He ate your air pods too. He did not.
• 14:20
  No.
• 14:21
  Yeah, he did. I have my earpods. No, that's why you gotta have your earpods.
• 14:25
  Because those old pink ones that you have that like dad has the black ones, you know, you know dad's air like like they're like
• 14:33
  Dad's you know a pink version of them and he ate those. I don't think so. No, you had a white version. I had a pink version. I left those at camp.
• 14:41
  And so she lost another pair of
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  hearing devices
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  um, and so
• 14:49
  We also have a scripture in Romans. For I'm convinced that neither death nor life nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God. Romans 8 38 to 39.
• 15:03
  And so it really is about his his honest love neither death nor life nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God. Romans 8 38 to 39.
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  And so it really is about his his honest love neither death nor life nor anything else in all creations can separate us from there's nothing that you have done.
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  That your God doesn't know about that didn't know that you were going to commit and he still chose to die for you and
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  Love you in the mess that we are in and so as we have
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  Faith fails and we are never going to be perfect and that we are going to
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  Not be perfect Christians and he knows that and so it's about that time of
• 15:54
  Laughter and humility and knowing that you're not alone and it's about those awkward moments that you have to do just to reconnect with Christ
• 16:03
  And about falling asleep during prayers and accidentally using the Bible app to scroll instead of on Instagram. I mean you just have to kind of we rewire
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  How you think of him and he is your heavenly father
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  He is someone that's never going to let you down because he's always right. He's never been late. He truly does love you and want the best for you
• 16:28
  And so I do love falling asleep in prayer. Is that something that you?
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  Have any insight in for for kids for teens?
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  Is how can you
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  Fall back in love with Christ
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  Um, what I do is I just think
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  God is going to be with you
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  And if you don't think that um
• 16:59
  Well, he will be with you no matter what like if you lose a friend, he'll be with you
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  He's literally with you all the time and this is like a time to like get closer with him and pray to him about it
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  and just
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  Let him take over
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  And and feeling distant doesn't mean that you failed. It's an invitation to get closer
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  And to share these little tiny moments with god and know that god can make a difference and so
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  Committing to that one simple act this week of read one verse read
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  Pray one honest prayer and listen to one
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  Worship song, please leave a comment leave a rate leave a review and let us know what your favorite verse is
• 17:45
  Let us know what you need to know
• 17:48
  And we're going to be reading your favorite verses. Let us know what you need prayer over
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  We are here to help you grow and foster your faith as we walk and mature
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  And grow in this season of getting closer to christ whenever we feel distant and so matthew 11
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  8 28 says come to me all you
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  Who are weary and burdened?
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  And I will give you rest and so I know that people are tired. I know that people are weary
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  I know that people are tired of praying and they feel like he you're he's not listening
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  But we want to just
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  Make sure that you know that he is listening that he is waiting that he is maturing you that he is growing with you
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  And so you're not alone in this journey and then god is always waiting on you with open arms
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  And even if you've been eating ice cream in your sweatpants for months
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  He still loves you
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  He still wants a relationship with you even if you have ignored all the promptings from your bible verse
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  Version app and you've ignored it and you've ignored it and you've not spent any time with him. Today is the day
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  And so as we go into the next episodes
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  We hope that you stay tuned as we are going to be diving into some friendship and some boy topics and some
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  other
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  issues that are facing
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  Um, just everyone really um that is listen have been listening to this
• 19:18
  I know that you guys have been messaging us and give us some topics for uh the podcast
• 19:22
  We hope that you stay tuned gia. Do you want to close this out in prayer? Yeah
• 19:27
  Dear god, thank you for saying thank you for everything you've asked
• 19:29
  I pray for the sick and hurt that they'll feel better and I pray for the listeners that they'll grow closer to you
• 19:36
  and um
• 19:38
  That everyone just has a great night a great a great week and jesus and i pray amen
• 19:43
  Amen, and so thank you so much for tuning in and allowing us to be part of your week
• 19:49
  Stay tuned for next week. See you later. Bye. Bye