SAFARI

INTRO - ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. (NASB)

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

INTRO - ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Thank Ps Jesse / Luke / and Leadership Team - Tech Team - Worship Team - Media Team - Your SG Leaders

INDOOR GENERATION vs ENDURE GENERATION

WHAT IS THAT? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

New York Times has called this generation the “Indoor” Generation as oppose to past generations called the “Endure” Generation.

We used to play outside! Climb trees, rolled around in the mud, got cuts and bruises from sports, and we knew it was time to get home when the street lights came on. Because of this, there were a lot of positives: we are more healthy because we were exposed to more/different bacteria that has helped our body’s become immune. Socially, we learned how to interact with other kids face to face; sometimes fist to face. Mentally, we were bored most of the time so we are more imaginative and intuitive. It’s a different world today, back when I was in middle school, the worse thing to hear was, “go to your room!” A middle school student being told that today would be in paradise.

Today, 90% of our time is spent indoors even though science concluded that some houses are up to 5x more polluted than the air outside! Our neural wiring has also changed. Who here has a cell phone? Social Media? When we are scrolling through social media, our minds have been wired to quickly process what we see then at a split second decide rather we should, store in our memory banks for later, discard as useless, or act on it. Back in the year 2000, the human attention span was 12 seconds, just recently recorded in 2018, do you know what it is today? 8 seconds! Do you know the attention span of a gold fish? 9 seconds! A gold fish has a longer attention span than us! When it came down to the things we owned, if it was broken, we repaired it or restored it. Today people just replace it. Times have changed and cultures have changed but one thing remains the same, God’s Word.

Because of that, I’ll be giving you golden nuggets today that you will be able to take with you for many years to come! If you’re ready say, “YES SIR!”

Key Verse:

22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. (NASB)

My mom and dad divorced when I was 3 and I still remember the pain in that season. To this day, I still have to navigate the consequences of a fatherless home. Does anyone else have divorced parents? There was no one to teach me how to be a man and affirm me in who I am in life. My mom got custody of my little brother and I but with her being a single mom, she was always working trying to pay the bills. My mom dated several men throughout the years of me growing up and I learned several things: 1) My mom had freakin horrible taste in men and 2) I knew I didn’t want to be like any of them. They were all abusive, manipulative, and selfish.

MASCULINITY: Transparency, Vulnerability, and Selflessness

WHY? I used to think being masculine meant bottling up all of my problems and not talking to anyone to help me process it. I was taught to put a smile on and tough it out. That was until one of my mentors pulled me aside and told me that masculinity involves the act of being courageous. When that happens, your weakness is becomes your strength. Let’s discuss this, imagine you’re going through a tough time like a breakup or an addiction. You have 2 options/choices: You could either bottle it up and go about your life or talk it over with a mentor and discuss the hurt and pain. Which one do you think takes more courage? Bottling it up or Opening up? Be courageous young men!

MALE ROLE-MODELS

Male Models

Male Models

WHO CAN WE LEARN FROM?

- Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow their example of their faith. (ESV)

Solomon the WISEST MAN to have ever lived. Samson the STRONGEST MAN to have ever lived. David the HOLIEST MAN to have ever lived. All 3 of them fell to sexual sin! And so, if the wisest man, the strongest man, and the holiest man fell to sexual sin, you and I don’t stand a chance to face sexual sin alone!.. We need help.

WHY? I used to think being masculine meant bottling up all of my problems and not talking to anyone to help me process it. I was taught to put a smile on and tough it out. Let’s discuss this though, imagine you’re going through a tough time like a breakup. Does it take more courage to not tell

Solomon the WISEST MAN to have ever lived. Samson the STRONGEST MAN to have ever lived. David the HOLIEST MAN to have ever lived. All 3 of them fell to sexual sin! And so, if the wisest man, the strongest man, and the holiest man fell to sexual sin, you and I don’t stand a chance to face sin alone!.. We need help.

One of my favorite characters in scripture is Timothy just because I he reminds me of myself

REVIEW MEMORY VERSE: 2 Timothy 2:22

FIX YOUR POSTURE!

POSTURE TO RECEIVE AND THE POSTURE TO REACT

Posture to Receive vs Posture to React

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING IN A CLASSROOM AND BEING IN A BOXING RING?

God is not trying to TEACH us something, he’s trying to TRAIN us for something.

Imagine being a student in class, sitting in your desk: You’re focused on receiving information from your teacher, writing down notes, and trying to process and remember it for later (like for a test). You’re in the posture to receive. Your mind and body is prepared to receive.

Now imagine being a boxer in a ring, with your sparing partner: If you’re doing punching drills with your sparing partner, do you want to be in the position to receive? Probably not. Your opponent will throw a jab or cross and instead of getting hit, we duck/dodge, bob/weave. However, we can’t do that the whole time, it is the perfect time to throw a COUNTER-PUNCH.

This is Ministry 101: We all want to hear from God and some ask, “What are you trying to teach me? That’s true but in most cases, but I believe

God is not trying to TEACH us something, he’s trying to TRAIN us for something.

One thing you can know about the Devil is that he’s not creative, but he is consistent. We have to give him props on that. He will not attack you with the something new. Whatever temptation he used against you before, he will try to use it against you again. So when he throws a temptation punch that you’re used to seeing, learn to not only dodge the punch, but counter punch him right back! Look at the beginning of our memory verse in “Now flee youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace...”

REVIEW MEMORY VERSE: - 22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. (NASB)

SWAT THE BIRD!

Swat the Bird!

- I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman. (NIV)

36% of the internet is pornography.

1 pornographic site gets more traffic than Amazon, Netflix, and Twitter, COMBINED!

Being in psychology, I’m fascinated by how people think and why people do the things they do. Ask anyone in psychology and they will tell you one of the best studies to do, are with serial killers. I had this assignment in class and we had to pick someone out of a list of people and one of them in particular stood out to me and his name is Ted Bundy- National Serial Killer back in the 70’s, escaped out of prison not once but twice, he was a law student about to complete his law degree to become an attorney, and he robbed, raped, and murdered 35 young girls with the youngest only being 12 years old. In January 1989 (I just turned 1) before he was about to be put to death in the electric chair, he had one final interview. With tears in his eyes, here are his last words to the world, WATCH THIS! (Video of interview)

“Well Danny, that can’t happen to me! I’m not that addicted to it! If I wanted to stop then I could stop.” WRONG! That’s a lie because what you’re telling me is you have power over sin and death. Sin and Temptation are too powerful and you can’t defeat them alone. We need Jesus. I read this analogy one day that said: If you keep screwin around with lust/pornography here is what’s going to happen, look at :

- 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

HOW CAN WE COUNTER-PUNCH THIS?

- 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (KJV)

Researchers have studied that we have an average of 70,000 thoughts per day! That’s about 3,000 thoughts per hour! 50 thoughts per minute! What’s more surprising is that 80% of those thoughts are negative!

Swat the bird (Change your thoughts) Your thoughts are like birds. Imagine 70,000 thousands birds flying over your head and one lands, and then flies away. We can’t help that the birds land on our head but it’s the one that lands and Builds A Nest that becomes a problem. Imagine seeing a cute girl walk by, a bird lands and you’re thinking, “Dang she cute!” If that thought stays in your head too long that means the bird has begun building a nest! Lust gives birth to Sin which leads to Death! So before the bird can start building a nest, you SWAT THE BIRD! Think of a new thought! Get yourself thinking of something different. As you mature in your walk, you will get into the habit of exchanging your negative thoughts with God’s Word. Like when you think, “no one likes me, I have no friends.” Swat the bird away and say out loud, “God loves me so much that he gave his only son and he calls me friend.” This like anything else you do in life, takes practice so start now! My goal is to have everyone at camp doing this! (Swat the Bird Hand Motion)

STAY IN THE TRUCK!

B

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

- 8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (NIV)

God says the Devil roams around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Studying the lion, I found out that they see 6 times better than humans. That if we had the opportunity to see like a lion it would be equivalent to looking through binoculars and night vision at the same time! The lion truly is an A-PEX predator and king of the jungle.

Yes, the devil attacks us like a PREDATOR but I also believe he attacks us like a PARASITE.

On the outside you look perfectly fine but on the inside you’re dying. Yes a bird may build a nest of lust but it can also built a nest of depression, a nest of suicidal thoughts, a nest of loneliness, a nest of stress and anxiety, a nest of worthlessness, can anybody relate? Is this helping anybody? The devil is going to try and get you alone.

HOW CAN WE COUNTER-PUNCH THIS?

A group was on a night safari and the tour guide was telling the group to STAY TOGETHER IN THE TRUCK BECAUSE WHEN WE’RE TOGETHER, ALL THE LION SEES IS A BIG BLOB OF LIGHT. (Meaning it’s a larger animal) The lion won’t attack but if you wander away from the group, the lion now sees you as a little blob meaning he will see you as prey! It’s easy to hear God in moments like this. It’s easy to read your Bible when you’re in small group. It’s easy to be feel strong in your faith when you’re at Elevate. The enemy attacks when you are alone and away from the environment. You must stay in community with people who care about you. There’s power in spiritual family. You must, STAY IN THE TRUCK! But you can’t just be around anybody, the type of friends you hang around is important. The last part in it says, “with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart.”

QUALITY OVER QUANTITY I’d rather have 4 quarters than 100 pennies!

- 26 The righteous should choose his friends carefully, For the way of the wicked leads them astray. (NKJV)

Birds of a feather flock together, if you hang around a bunch of chickens you’ll peck at the ground but if you hang around eagles you’ll soar to new heights! LISTEN TO THIS, Chickens have wings but can’t fly and in the same way, you may have what it takes to be considered a male but don’t have what it takes to be considered a man. “But my friends love me for who I am.” Your grandma loves you for who you are, the person at the drive-thru loves you for who you are, the cashier at the grocery store loves you for who you are! If your friends aren’t challenging you to be a better version of you then you’re hanging around the wrong type of friends. Let me ask you something, “Are YOU that friend?” Are you that friend that is challenging your friends to be better? A small example is like cursing. Being in the Army, I cursed all the time almost every other word. It was normal, everyone was doing it. One day, God told me to stop. I told my Army friends the situation and out of respect, they didn’t curse while I was around. My intention wasn’t even to get them to be better versions of themselves but because I was around and out of respect, they went along with it and thanked me later for helping them stop cursing too. If your friends don’t respect you enough to take your purity seriously then you really need to define what a “friend” really is.

LET IT GO AND RUN!

IF WE KNOW GOD IS GOING TO FORGIVE US, WHY CAN’T WE SIN AND JUST ASK FOR FORGIVENESS LATER?

IF WE KNOW GOD IS GOING TO FORGIVE US, WHY CAN’T WE SIN AND JUST ASK FOR FORGIVENESS LATER?

One lie that the world will get you to believe when it comes to dating and relationships is that, you need to experiment to find out what you like and don’t like. Don’t believe it. I’ve been on both sides of the fence and let me tell you that it’s SO much better doing it God’s way!

Hunters in Africa have a clever way of hunting monkeys. They cut a small hole in a coconut, place some fruit inside, and then hang it on tree. The clever part is that the hole in the coconut is big enough for the monkey to reach in but as soon as it grabs the fruit, his fist is too large to get out. With hunters walking up, the monkey is fighting to get his hand out but can’t. All the monkey had to do to get away is what? “LET GO.” In the same way that’s how the enemy traps us. We leave the door to sin cracked open enough for the devil to have a foothold. We are tempted by something that looks pleasing and we refuse to let it go.

“But Danny you don’t understand, she’s really hot!” Yeah, but so is hell.

Janelle and I didn’t have a fairytale love story. We met briefly in high school but stayed on different paths in life. After graduation, she moved to the Philippines to pursue her career and I continued my Army training which led to deployment. We both, were in multiple relationships and heart break after heart break we finally placed our love life in God’s hands. Time goes by and we chatted with each other on and off. We were just friends, I shot my shot one time and she didn’t put me in the friend-zone, she put me in the brother-in-Christ zone! Thinking back on it, that was exactly where I needed to be because says, “a friend loves at all times but a brother is born for adversity.” Both of us were dating someone at the same time so we didn’t communicate but both of our relationships ended in heartbreak so we started communicating again. Fast forward when we did decided to date and be more than friends… we both knew we wanted to wait til marriage to have sex but God convicted us beyond that. We waited to have our first kiss on our wedding day too! “How about a peck on the cheek?” No, not even a kissing emoji! On our wedding day it was super special to us and as awkward as it was, it was perfect. I say all that to tell you that IT’S POSSIBLE and if we did it, so can you.

ROMANS 6

English Standard Version Chapter 6

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:1 ESV

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

Matthew 6:25–33 ESV

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

HOW CAN WE COUNTER-PUNCH FOMO?

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (ESV)

Romans 6:2 ESV

By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

English Standard Version Chapter 6

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

English Standard Version Chapter 6

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Instead of seeking LIFE-EXPERIENCES, we must seek the one who GIVES-US-LIFE.

Knowing God is who he says he is, I can trust that he will do what he says he will do. Not just because he is good, but because he is God. My God. My solid rock in which I stand. My perfecter and finisher of my faith. My refuge in whom I shall run to in time of need. My provider and protector. My savior and king. Yes, it is God in whom I trust.

English Standard Version Chapter 6

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.