SR 902: Christ Over Culture: Practical Discipleship in a Modern World – Andrea Crum, Part 2

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Our kids aren’t given a junior Holy Spirit. They have the same Holy Spirit we

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have, so that God is leading them just like God is leading us. And so

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we have to make sure that we’re not stamping down on the things that God

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has given them. Hey, everyone, this is Yvette Hampton.

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Welcome back to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast. I am back with my new friend Andrea

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Crum, and we are talking about Christ Over Culture.

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And you guys like, that title of her book just says

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it all. Christ Over Culture. That’s what we need to be doing in our homes.

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We need to be teaching our kids that Christ comes before all things, no

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matter what the world is telling us. You know, you’ve. You’ve heard my good

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friend Meeke Addison, and she talks about being peculiar. And as

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Christians were to be peculiar. And I love that word. Well, one, cause it’s just

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fun to say. But two, because really what that means is that we’re to be

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different. We are to be set apart from the world. And sometimes that’s

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a really, really hard thing to do. We can sit here and talk about it

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on the podcast, but actually implementing that into our families and trying to

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help our kids to understand that we’re to be different is hard. It’s really

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hard to do that. Our kids want to look like the world. We want to

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look like the world. We want to be the ones who are impressing

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everyone around us. It’s just human nature. And so we have to

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learn how to separate those things, impress people for

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Christ, not for our own wellbeing and our own recognition,

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but for his recognition. And we want to teach that to our kids, that they

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can be peculiar as well. They can be different in this culture in which we’re

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living. And so we’re going to keep talking about Andrea’s book,

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Christ Over Culture. If you guys missed Monday’s episode, go back and listen

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to it. It is a fantastic book. I’ve got tons of highlighting in there,

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and it has been just such a fun read for me. So you guys will

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love it. And it’s small for homeschool moms. Look, it’s small. It’s not a big

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book. It’s not going to take you a long time to read it, so I’ll

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encourage you. We’ll put links in the show, notes for how you can get a

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hold of it. But anyway, we’re going to get back into our conversation. But before

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we do, I want to say thank you to our sponsor, BJU Press Homeschool. If

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Well, Andrea, thank you so much for being back with me. At the end of

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Monday’s episode, we were talking about how the church has so much succumbed to the

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diminishing and dulling of the Christian faith and our

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understanding of scripture in the one true God, and that’s man. That’s a

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hard pill to swallow because we want to think, well, we’re

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Christians, we understand who God is, we understand what the Christian faith

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is, we understand scripture, but so many of us don’t. And you talked about how

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one of the reasons for that is lack of discipleship. And

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in order to disciple our kids, we have to know

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who God is. We have to be in his word, we have to be studying,

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but we also need to be being discipled ourselves. You talked about you are discipling

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another young woman in your life. It’s good for us to have other

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women in our lives. It’s the Titus 2 model, right? It’s good

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for us to have other women in our lives, whether that’s your mother, your grandmother,

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a friend from church, you know, your pastor’s wife, anybody who

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is biblically sound and who understands

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scripture, have them come alongside you and disciple you,

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which is, this is what the church should be doing anyway, right? The church should

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be the ones who are discipling the parents who can then go and disciple their

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kids. So we talked about lack of discipleship. What are some of the other

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reasons that you see this diminishing and dulling of the Christian

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faith? I think one of the other big ones is

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distractions. I think that we are just very distracted in

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our culture. We have every

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excuse not to go to church, not to read our Bibles because we have so

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many things. Our schedules are so busy and we continue to pack it

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on. And we really are focused on

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things of this world that don’t have as much eternal value. Now I think there

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are some great things, I am thinking things like sports, our kids are all in

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sports, or they’re doing theater, or they’re doing, you know, whatever it is, or

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a band. And those things start to take over their lives. And

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soon they take over our lives, too. And we start putting them

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in more and more things because we want them to have all these experiences. We

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want them to have those friendships, we want them to learn those skills, we want

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them to have all the benefits of that. But in the meantime,

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they’re not spending time with the Lord, we’re not spending time with the Lord, and

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neither are kids. And so I think distractions is huge. I

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also think our desire to have more and materialism

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and making sure that we have the same kind of house as everybody else

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has and that we’re working really hard. And whether it’s one parent

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or two parents out of the house, I think that that really has impacted the

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church as well. Just because we’re so focused on

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the things of this world, and it’s easy to get distracted by those things because

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they’re right in front of us and they seem so

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apparent. They just, you know, they’re not something that we can hide from. But

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I think that that’s one of the things that we, as Christian parents, is going

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to have to do differently, is to set our priorities in a new

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way. Yeah. And that’s hard to do because especially if you have

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a family who is really focused on sports or on music. And not that

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those things are bad, it’s just learning how to balance those

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things. Right. So that those do not become the primary thing that God is

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the primary thing. I mean, again, Christ over culture. Right. The first

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thing, the first priority is God in church and your relationship with

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him. I think, too, so many people you talked about

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church, oftentimes being in sports can prevent people from going

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to church. And I think a lot of times we think, oh, it’s no big

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deal. We’ll just miss a few Sundays. We’re just in this season, so just for

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this season. But eventually you get out of the habit of

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fellowshiping with the body of believers, going and worshiping in corporate

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worship. And it’s important for us to be doing that. Right.

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Yeah. So what are some other things that you

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see are some of the reasons just for the diminishing

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of the Christian faith? I think the other thing,

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really, and I think it kind of underpins all of that, is the fact

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that we’re just kind of unchanged ourselves, that we haven’t

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really allowed the Holy Spirit to change us. So we

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have our moment of salvation and we have this

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high. And then maybe we’re doing some things to

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follow the Lord for a little while, but then we get sucked into all these

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other things. But the reality Is that the Holy Spirit isn’t

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actively working and changing our lives. And so we’re no

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different. So we’re looking the same, we have the same stress levels as

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everybody else, we’re doing the same activities as everybody else,

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we’re not saying no to certain things. And so all of a sudden we’re starting

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to look just like the world because we haven’t allowed that time to

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really know the Lord. And I think that’s one of the things that’s really detrimental

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to our kids as well, because we know that

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kids. We know. Actually there are studies that have shown since the

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70s that parents are the most influential in their kids lives when it comes to

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determining what their faith will be. And so we have a tremendous influence.

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Even with all the social media that we see today and all the friendships, we

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are still the number one most important factor in

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their long term faith. And so if they don’t see us really

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doing what we say we are going to do, and they don’t see us believing

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what we say we believe, having faith and being

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changed by the Holy Spirit working in our lives, then I think

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that sends a message to them that it’s really not that

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important. And so I think you start to see this lack of importance, this lack

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of understanding what is true and real and good. And so you

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see kids not being as attracted to what could be such an amazing part of

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their life to know and love God. Right. And that determines their

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eternity. And so I think that’s one of the big things that we see

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as well. Yeah, for sure. In your book you said this. I’m

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going to quote something else in here. It says somehow we miss this part of

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the gospel story. We talk about how Jesus is our Savior but

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neglect that Jesus is our Lord. And that really hit me as well.

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And so I actually, I thought, you know, I want to look at the definition

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between Lord and Savior. And so I went on Webster’s dictionary and I

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found it interesting that this is what it says. It says the definition of

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Lord means a ruler by hereditary right or

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supremacy, which is important to whom service and obedience

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are due. On the other hand, Savior means one that saves from danger

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or destruction, or one who brings salvation. And

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so I think you hit something there that

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oftentimes we’re saved. You know, we’ve given our heart to Jesus, we’ve

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surrendered to him, but we have not made him Lord of our lives. He

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has saved us by his death on the cross, but we have

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not actually made him the Lord of our lives. We’re not obeying him, we’re not

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spending time with him, you know, we’re not worshiping him

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as we should. And so talk about that for a minute because there really is

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a difference between Jesus as our Savior and Jesus as

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our Lord. You know, Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your

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God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And

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another verse with all your strength. And so we know that we’re supposed to come

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into alignment as our whole being to love and honor God. And when you look

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back anytime and scripture about loving God and you’re looking at

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maybe the verses it’s referring to and that sort of thing, you’re always going to

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see that obedience is what it shows up as. Obedience

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is how we demonstrate our love for the Lord because we trust the Lord. I

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mean, how do we, how great do we feel when our kid, when we ask

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our kids to do something and they just say yes and they go do it,

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like, it’s just like, oh, wow, this is so cool. And it just feels good

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and it warms your heart because you know that they’re respecting you. They know that,

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they know value you. They know that, you know, you’re telling them to do

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something for the good of the family or for the good of themselves, whatever it

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is. And so we know that that obedience is so important to the

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Lord and to show our love. And so I think that that is

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something that as Christ followers, we really have to get our heads wrapped

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around and even thinking about things like the future of our kids. You know,

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thinking about college, for example, how often we don’t even ask the

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Lord, where do you want our kids to go? What do you want our kids

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to do? That’s looking at the Lord as Lord of our lives, is

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asking him for direction. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean on out

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of your own understanding, all your ways. Acknowledge him and he will lead your path

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straight. So we have to acknowledge him and ask him to guide

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us. Because I think that we have really lost that. And if we were asking

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the Lord to guide us, we wouldn’t be in the place we are today as

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a culture or as a church. Because we would be obeying God, we’d be following

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him, our kids would be doing the work he pre purposed for them to do,

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and we’d see a whole different society, in fact, if we were living

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that way. Yep, agreed. Absolutely agreed. Let’s take a break. We’ll be right

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back.

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We are back with Andrea. Let’s talk practically because we talked

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before the break about the difference between making Jesus our

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Savior and making him our Lord. He should be our Lord and Savior. Not just

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our Savior, but our Lord and Savior, because that’s really who he is.

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And, you know, we talked about in the very beginning, I think on Monday, we

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talked about Jesus or about God being a God of love. And

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yes, he is. He is a God of love, but he also is a God

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of holiness and justice and judgment and grace and all of

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these other things. And so as we understand that and as we let

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that sink in, and as we study His Word, we will make him the Lord

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of our lives, not just the Savior of our lives. So

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practically talking, because of course, parents are listening

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to this. And I know for myself and for our listeners, I always want to

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know, like, give me the practical. Give me the actual, how do we do this?

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How do we disciple our kids to make Jesus both their Lord and

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Savior? Yeah. So I think one of the things we do

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is we start to demonstrate and show them

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the things that we’ve been called to do. So we’re showing

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them reading scripture, we’re doing those activities with them. We’re

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looking at a verse together, we’re reading a chapter together, depending on their

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age and their maturity, we’re doing some of those kind of practical

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things. We’re praying together. We’re figuring out when is the right time to pray together

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as a family and teaching those activities that there is

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a real God who exists, who hears our prayers,

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doesn’t always give us what we want, but we do have the access to

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Him. So I think some of that is just that practical,

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whether or not it’s around the dinner table that we’re praying, whether or not it’s

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in the car on the way to some activity that we’re praying

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together. So I think we start to train him up in those kinds of

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things and to practically help them to just know

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what that relationship building looks like as well

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as music. You know, what kind of music are we listening to? Our

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home. My oldest son says, you know, he can always talk,

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see his friends. And he says by the music they listen

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to, he says, I know either who they are or who they want to

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be. Because doesn’t our music choices reflect

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our influences and what we find important?

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So I think that’s one thing. Another thing that I think is really important for

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us to do with our Christian children is to talk to them about God’s purpose

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in their lives. I’m a really big believer that the reason we see so many

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Kids protesting for Hamas, for

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example, on college campuses, or getting into social justice activism

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is because they want to have meaning and purpose in life.

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And that’s how they think they’re going to change the world. And we are not

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talking to our kids enough about their purpose in Christ and the

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things that God has for them and that they need to be asking God

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now, no matter what their age is, God, what do you have for me? How

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can I share your light? How can I show you, show who you

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are in my life? How can I use my gifts and talents? And so we

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pray with our kids about that. We’ve also done little

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gift quizzes online where you can find out a little bit more about your kids

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spiritual giftings. So I think that’s really an important part

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because they need to know they have meaning in Christ. And so often we just

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tell our kids like it’s to share the gospel. And honestly, I think we need

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to be a little bit deeper with our kids about what it means for them

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specifically, because that sounds daunting to the majority of us to

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even think. Like we’re just supposed to go do that all day long. Right. We

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need to make sure that we’re really showing our kids practically what that means and

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how God can use them in a variety of ways to do that work

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of sharing the gospel or discipling or whatever that looks like. But they’re going to

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use. He’s going to use their giftings. I think the other thing we do

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in that same vein, we just. It’s all about making it real for

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them. It’s all about making it real in their lives. The other thing I think

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we do is we make sure that we are

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giving them opportunities to use their gifting. So, for

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example, my son, I didn’t recognize it for a long

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time that he’s an evangelist, and I don’t have that gifting. But he

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likes to go off and share with everybody. And so there were times where I

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wanted to be like, ooh, you might be a little much for some people.

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But then I started realizing it was his gifting because we took one of those

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tests. And so then just starting to really help him to

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go and have those opportunities that he needed in order to showcase that

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gifting. Because our kids aren’t given the junior Holy Spirit. They have the same Holy

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Spirit we have, so that God is leading them just like God is leading us.

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And so we have to make sure that we’re not stamping down on the things

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that God has given them. And then the last Thing I would say, again,

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practically speaking, is we have to live by faith. We have to be a people.

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As parents, we need to be living by faith. We need to be asking God

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where to go and how to follow him. And then we need to show our

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kids what that faith journey looks like. And they need to be a part of

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that journey so they can understand again, it’s about making this real to them. It’s

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not just about something we say. It’s about this is like our life. We believe

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this, we live it, and we follow him. And so I think that’s

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practical discipleship, because that’s really about making it real for them

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so that they see the miracles that God does for us and our

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family. My boys have seen it. They believe in large

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part because of what they’ve seen God do. But when he just is just a

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piece of paper or he’s just an idea that’s over here, it doesn’t make him

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really real and concrete in their lives. So I think that that’s really where we

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can get into some practical discipleship for our kids. Yeah. So, okay,

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I agree. Those are all amazing, wonderful things.

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But there is a world out there of kids who are raised in Christian

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families. Their parents are being so diligent to teach them about Christ,

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to disciple their hearts, to show them the word of God. They memorize scripture together,

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they do their family devotions, they’re homeschooling them, and they’re. They’re

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pointing them to Christ in every way possible. But that child still

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has some sort of rebellion in them that makes them want to be

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like the world. And so in a perfect world, we as

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Christian parents will lead our kids to the cross. But

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in the real world, that doesn’t always happen. There are kids who just

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are like, you know what? That’s good for you. But that’s not really what I

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believe. That’s not what I want. How would you encourage that parent

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who’s. Who’s struggling with that kid, who’s maybe struggling

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with their faith, and they’re struggling with following Jesus. They’re struggling with wanting

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to look like the world and be enticed by the things of the

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world? Yeah, we see this sometimes, too,

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in our ministry because we have a support group for parents whose kids identify as

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trans. So that’s just one way a kid might be a prodigal. Right. Wow. Or

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there could be a lot of other ways. Like you said, they just. Maybe they

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just believe that God doesn’t exist, or maybe they feel hurt by

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the church or God or You know, somehow something, a promise that they believed or

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prayer, they prayed didn’t get fulfilled. And sometimes. And somehow that makes. That hurts

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their faith. And so you see that. And I think one of the biggest

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things for parents is we do have to trust in the

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sovereignty of God. We do have to trust in his goodness. We do have to

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trust that we can put our

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child in his hands. So if we’ve done our part, which God

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has called us to do, then we also have to recognize our child has the

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will to decide, you know, and at the end of the

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day, they’re going to be the ones in front of him, you know, and so

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we have to be able to recognize that and to surrender that

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to Him. So that’s not easy. That’s not easy because that’s not anything any of

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us want to see. But you’re absolutely right that a lot of parents have had

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to deal with that. And I think the. The peace and

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really look to God for the peace that he says he gives

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us to surrender that and to not

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feel like we’re the ones in control of it, because we’re not ultimately control of

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their salvation. We can help guide them and lead them, but ultimately they have to

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make that choice. Yeah. Yeah, that’s absolutely right. I love the

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word surrender. You know, as Christians, we surrender our hearts

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to Jesus and then we have to pray for our kids, and we have to

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surrender our kids to the Lord because really they belong to him anyway. They don’t

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belong to us. God gives them to us, to steward. And

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so that’s what we have to do. We have to do our very best to

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disciple them and to show them Jesus. But yes, they have a free

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will. They are going to make their own decisions, whether or not they’re going to

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follow Christ. And so pray, pray, pray. I

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have a friend who, in high school, her mom was so diligent

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to raise her in a Christian home to teach her Jesus. I mean, she

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was just came from a pretty amazing home. And

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after high school, I mean, she just went off the deep end for years. I

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mean, I would say more than a decade. And her mom was like, I just

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never stopped praying for her. I prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed. I mean,

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there were times where her mom would literally, like, go to her house and pray

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at her doorstep for her daughter to just

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surrender to the Lord. And after many years, she did.

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And one of the things that she told me, and I still, I think this

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is so amazing, was her mom had made. I mean, as a family, they would

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memorize scripture together. And she hadn’t picked up her Bible in probably 10

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years. And she said she got to the end of herself and she was like,

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I can’t even lift my Bible. And all this scripture started coming back

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from her memory, like she knew she had literally hidden God’s word in her

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heart. And scripture started to come back, and it was just,

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it’s an incredible testimony of her coming back to the Lord because

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of the foundation that her mom had set for her. And so I think it’s

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a beautiful story, and it shows what God can do

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and shows the importance of us as parents to be praying for our kids, no

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matter what stage they’re in of their life. So, anyway, we’re out

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of time. We are going to be back tomorrow to talk more with Andrea. Tell

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us one more time where people can find out more about your ministry and

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your new book, Christ Over Culture.

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So they can find me on Instagram

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and on Facebook at Genuine Family Ministries. Also our website,

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genuinefamilyministries.com where we have different resources. And then

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also the book can be found at masterbooks.com as well as on Amazon.

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Okay. MasterBooks has a lot of really great books, you guys. If you

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have not just been on their website and looked at what they have,

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they publish most of the Answers in Genesis books. So all of the Ken

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Ham books, Bryan Osborne, all those guys,

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and then people like Andrea and Israel Wayne, I mean, they’ve got some amazing

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resources there. So check them out, too, at masterbooks.com But

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Andrea, thank you for being with us. We’ll be back tomorrow. Stay tuned to the

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very end to hear what’s coming up next on the podcast and if there’s any

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way we can be praying for you and your families. I know that a lot

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of you are struggling right now, whether it’s with a wayward child or with health

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or with whatever it is that’s going on in your world. If there’s a way

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that our family can pray for you, please let us know. You can always email

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us at podcast@schoolhouserocked.com we

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love you guys. Have a great rest of your day. We’ll see you back here

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tomorrow. Bye.