Not God's Design

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network mobile show where biblical Christianity meets the everyday life in your home, at work, even in politics. Steve is an ordinary man who believes in an extraordinary God it on a show, there's plenty of grace and lots of true no sacred cows call Steve Bell 86 34 true 866-34-TRUTH or check them out online, Steve Noble Joe.com now here's your host Steve Noble okay this might sound familiar to you and have you noticed you probably notice that your notice it even more now and Christmas that we have a drought of workers in this country we got 75 different cargo ships parked up the coast of California. By the way that's not them hoarding food that's coded related based on the way they bring ships and and and. But there's also a huge problem out there.

In another places where this is not enough workers. So you have help wanted signs all over the place, $7500 signing bonus service McDonald out there that are giving you like 100 bucks for coming in just to do the interview honor box for an interview and whether the higher you are not, and in a lot of places starting pay of $14 and I get that I read an article yesterday of the day before down in Texas.

A shipping company looking for truck drivers in Texas is paying $14,000. Not a month, not a week.

They're paying $14,000 per day for license professional truck drivers because they can't find people to work and this is a big problem so I'm reading from a brand-new blog post from her friends about John seminary and Bob did University not God's design men falling out of the work force. Who hasn't seen the messages and reading the blog and put this up on Facebook live today like these on billboards and in windows of stores and restaurants these days struggling to find help companies find themselves providing fewer products and less service. That's why we're having some of the problems of white like Glenn Beck the other day was talking about. You better start Christmas shopping now in today's topic on theology. Thursday is a part of that while societies ongoing pandemic response is partly at fault, a quiet trend is actually developed over seven decades men leaving the workforce with no intention of returning the share of working age men in America at age 16 to 6064 employed fell from 87.4% in 1949 to just 67.7% in 2021 so we have a major problem with God's design for work for men and men not filling that design so today's title of the show on theology Thursday, not God's design men falling out of the workforce and working to talk about that today. Next week really come back and talk about of the role of women. So be ready for that because that's probably triggered about 60% of the audience already. Neil Cushman is the Dean of the seminary be about John seminary, and he joins us today on theology Thursday Dean, how are you I'm doing great, thank you so much for having me on the show welcome. It's great to have you in it was great to get to meet you and spend some time with you down there a couple months ago and I invite myself to come down and check things out and so I just praise the Lord and thank God for our partnership because you know we were just exploring at that time and now here we are. I think this is number four number five. I think it's our fifth theology Thursday so it's just super exciting to be able to work with you guys was a fantastic opportunity for us to be able to speak into your show and be able to present a theology that impacts the culture and this one is a big deal in order to touch on this later because of their work our way through some of the theology and the points that you kind of went into the blog post, but a lot more in depth, but I just talked about this like a week and 1/2 ago. Neil and like I said this come up later, but about 73% of men ages 24 to 32 are not married. So we have this huge problem with Biblical manhood. But in this case today into the terms of the workforce and men working out there getting out there working and earning a living in the value of hard work.you actually learn this from since were talking on theology Thursday. Maybe for a lot of people think this was an unlikely source because it was your dad. Yeah that's right my my dad was an atheist. The Cushman name is associated with inventing my grandfather was an inventor.

My my uncles were inventors.

My brothers and inventor and my dad was a very successful inventor.

But, you know, like all tied type A personalities. He was rough to be around me and he was a workhorse and his his goal in life was to change humanity you know to improve humanity, but he became so jaded because he invented all these things and never you know, things just never got accepted. Yeah so so as I watched my dad you know he really did not care about money he didn't care about possessions. Just every single day. He worked hard for the because it was wrong because you know, and I saw the emptiness of the cause, but it was it was really a wrong direction but I picked up on that ethic that that you know if you could if you couldn't do anything of life. You gotta work hard you have to yet to be willing to get up in the morning and go to work and and work the whole day, you can't. You can't coddle yourself and and he lived. He lived that way. I think you know he's just about one of the hardest workers I ever saw in my in my life and you don't you don't get to hundreds and hundreds of patents by not having that kind of philosophy yeah just just an amazing example of course, missing the theological point, but for you Neil and for me at winded wind of this kind of confluence of right now I become a Christian.

By God's grace we praise the Lord for that and and then start to learn theology start learning the Bible but then this kind of intersection with the whole notion of work because I think largely in the church and for most individual Christians, we don't have a very good theology of work so if God designed men to work so this is actually a biblical idea. The biblical reality when it is going to get on your radar screen personally and then in of course writing about teaching about. I think a couple of things you know it in the environment that I I've been living in for the last 25 years or so I've noticed a growing passivity among young men, that they just kinda go along with the flow and you try to light a fire under them and it's it's difficult but for some reason they have just become the followers and not not the leaders and I think work is a big part of learning how to how to lead so so just that context, and then and then I came across an article a couple weeks ago about you know how you got the 70 year trend that that where men have fallen out of the workforce and to just all started to click and I decided to look into this a little bit more really like to write about this and I had written a previous article in our journal about a biblical theology of work in the Thessalonian officials so so that all taken together, the property to the stage yet. So when we come back really dig into the theology a little bit will look at that God's design for men to work in the lead. Of course look in Genesis look in the New Testament will even look at 21st century culture and then where do we go from there. How we do this we have proven that the real been challenged in theology Thursday with our friends at Bob Johnson. Looking back I see no noble show that couch, get out of the basement, get a job, get a jail V that's what you need any detail. Be silly, but it saves will perpetually get a PhD that's awesome you get a Masters degree, get a PhD you need a jail be. Maybe it's more of God's design for us to build work first before we get advanced degrees. I don't know, but this is deftly a situation that were missing out on the culture is changing rapidly. As we discussed at the beginning of the shallots theology Thursday with our friends at a Bob John seminary Neil Cushman is with us today who happens to be the Dena Bob John seminary and were talking today about that not God's design men falling out of the workforce which is a massive problem and again Neil, thanks so much for being with us today. Great to be here, so let's unpack this so that we have this we burn we build this house in a firm foundation. So take us through like like we can look at Genesis and then we can look at the New Testament and the will actually look at 21st century culture but help us understand or build a foundation on on God's design for men to actually be working and when we talk about working. Are we talking about just any old job a specific job or is it more about working hard. I think it's mostly about working hard, but let's talk started Genesis we think about the what God did in the creation account and he had created all the plants and animals and so forth. And then he created man in his image and and then God rested from his work.

So we have that foundational idea of work there in the very first chapter of Genesis. In chapter 2 we see more detail about the creation of of Adam and Eve, and of course Adam is created first, and it's interesting that that Genesis in that section opens up with this idea of these these plants that had not yet grown up yet, these these seed bearing and fruit bearing plants because there was no one to work the ground and there was no water. So then God creates Adam and he plops them in the garden to cultivate the ground and then he turns on the spec and starts it starts to get water so he's got work to do in an plants start coming up in the very first thing that he does is he works. He's he's a worker so I think that that's a a a fundamental thing that we see in in Scripture.

No one Eve is created.

It's it's not in the context of of work, but it's in the in the context of relationship she is.

She is a helper suitable data run over to talk about that in the next segment next week, but but just in contrast, just everything about Eve is about its familial it's about relationships. So so Satan tempts Eve, which is interesting in itself, that he doesn't go to the leader is no fool and ended Satan plays dirty right all absolutely. He always plays dirty he goes after your wife.

He goes after children and doesn't matter who you are. It just plays dirty so so you tempts Eve and and Eve succumbs and she talks Adam into the setting and then there are consequences.

You look at the consequences for for even it has to do with familial relationships or can be a lot harder for her. With Adam what's can be hard work yet work is going to be rough. He's going to have a lifelong challenge of hard labor, telling the ground.

In fact, to make things worse gets thrown out of the garden in a very special place and now he's got a he's gotta start all over again with with ground that has not been blessed by the Lord. So so I think that that the judgment takes place in the in the area of fulfillment you what what are women most fulfilled about their family. Yeah, I think it's kind of in a natural thing. I don't know if you remember this but several years ago we were, you know, hearing this idea that when you introduce yourself a man with a man you you don't start saying what you do you say you know who are you well and the husband of Pam I'm I'm a member of Calvary Baptist Church you you this. Who are you kind of thing. What men do what you do if they go they go right back to what you do you because that's how were wired. We are wired to work so such as kind of alarming when you see one third of of the male workforce have just fallen in the ditch. You and and they're not going to work anymore. I mean it's that's not good for society.

It's not good for women it's not good for families and I'm especially worried about the church because I think it's in the church to go absolutely when you would just go look at who's doing the work of the church in his volunteering and like you mentioned earlier who's going on mission trips, we are talking during the break on Facebook live in YouTube live talk about hey were going on a mission trip and it's like 75, 85, 90% female. Instead of men or it was a sense of adventure and going back to the one of the challenges for work on this side of the people think that work is a four letter word and like work as a result of the fall. No workers. A great representation of the image of God, and that's why you know now were like well I owe I/O's off to work I go or think God it's Friday all that kind of stuff does work is just as negative.

Nasty thing but you notice and in and you know this meal and I think most of us know us. We pay attention, it. The part one of the biggest problems I have with the welfare state is when we incentivize people not to work in the states can take care of them. Yet the welfare state. That's doing things that actually ultimately are good for the people. The people design the work, but then we create a situation where their own fallenness. Yes, laziness and just got a slothfulness will take advantage of it and have you ever met somebody it's really really fulfilled while their living under the welfare state. They're not you took a racehorse and stuck it in your bedroom and so it's good to live a life of frustration and lack of fulfillment and I think that's where we really miss the point and you see this with young men that are struggling to start a career working there.

Deftly not anywhere near fulfilling the obligation of being made in the image of God and I just don't know that we understand that that's a huge Janke piece and it just creates all kinds of problems in our culture.

Yet just just two days ago I was talking with a guy that stopped by my office and I I hadn't seen him and I don't know. Probably 20 years or so and he sees a pastor and he's my age from 63 I know I look like you know Gabby 43 yeah think you got so yeah he was talking about. How is he two years ago he decided he was gonna try to retire. He had no okay with some investments and things and so we did it anyway.

He know two months later he is just like hating us, I mean just absolutely miserable.

I mean he missed everything he missed preaching and he missed you know just doing normal church things young and discipling you like a pastor would do so. So he jumped right back in. He just and and I think that that that's it really is fulfilling to be able to work like that yeah it's such a huge part of our design. And again if if were living in a system or creating a system that makes it easier for men to come to get out of that and were losing men in the workplace which we are what we started with others, all kinds of ramifications from that but the worst thing is you just not fulfilling what it is to be made in the image of God and everything else falls apart after that which the New Testament talks about as well so we'll go there next number to talk about leadership in the where do we go how do we find a way forward. How do we see this improvement today in theology Thursday with her friends about June 7 show Jones seminary. It is of course that theology Thursday talking to Dr. Dean Cushman today.

He's actually the Dean of Bob Jones seminary and were working our way through just trying to come to an understanding of not just how God designed men specifically how he designed us gentlemen to work and when were not working. Everything starts to kind of fall apart, but today in our culture. We've all kinds of problems with this and a lot of guys are working. The workforce is shrunk in terms of how many men are in that. That's been a 75 year trend. It's not getting any better.

I think we all cracked jokes about guys they know, finishing high school and they go to college and in their home and their Marise Donovan and their parents basement. All that kind of stuff in the past. City of man which of course affects leadership so this is actually a huge problem. So were just working our way through it with Dean today so that we can come to an understanding of God's design not just a biblical manhood but typical men in terms of the need to work why we work and how that affects things and so Neil again, thanks for being with us today such a great topic yeah thank you it's great to pray to be over. Talk about this, so this is that there's an interesting quote here because the just about men leaving their God-given roles as former Indiana governor US budget director Mitch Daniels once said, if I could wave a magic wand and change just one thing, it would be to guarantee that every American child can grow up in a two-parent home until the age of 18. That would solve maybe three quarters of our problems. What's the deal there. 42% currently meal of kids in America are growing up without a father in the home you get into the inner city.

I have a niece that teaches that a magnet school of Philadelphia church, about 90%, 90% of her students have no father, no.

So then we get into not just the work situation, but mentor leaving behind leadership as well. I mean, there's this past 70, our mutual friend Bob from that works with you guys about Jones not be Bob Jones is the different pop sent me that sent me a text the other day and Jason Whitlock is on the blaze was on with Tucker Carlson the other night, if you seen this part. Did you know about this meal I did I did I saw that southern they're talking about what happened at Arizona State University, which I did a full show and that my cow would have five.

How would I talk to these young ladies if I was in that situation Arizona State there at the multicultural Center. These two white guys get engaged by tube young African American women that doesn't go well. So that's what Tucker Carlson and Jason Whitlock are talking about in Tucker's like you know you're supposed to be adults maintaining some boundaries. What's going on here as it is to raise why is it so hard and Jason Whitlock. It happens being African America.

Tucker it's hard and I'm going to say this and just be honest because we as men as men in this country have failed. We are cowards. Generally speaking, people have to stand up and take risks maybe even put their lives in jeopardy for this type of racism to go away. That's been our history.

Instead, everybody just sitting around hiding under the desk waiting for this to blow over and go away.

It's not going to. That's not what's going to happen. It's only gonna get worse Tucker Carlson comes back and says that so wise and true and that's what what I parked that to our producers every day where the man I like to have someone some of the show once in a while who are standing up against this insanity. It's like all the women and I admire all of them, but where are the men and that's a great question so Dean of the Bob Jones seminary meal where the men yeah. I asked him. I asked myself that question a lot in my in my work. You know where where are these men to to be able to lead you know I do marriage counseling and that's one of the things that I hit more than anything is is you have to be a leader you can't be passive. This marriage is not going to go well if you're if you're passive and and church ministry you we need. I mean we can't find deacons know nobody wants to be a deacon because you know it's going to put pressure on and it's going to take up time and I need to able to have my alone time. In all these other things that are just as crazy.

I get a binge on Netflix.

I got things to do. Yeah, right, and I want hurt you know like one of these guys doing with their life like like the one third of of men in the culture who are who are working well.

What are they doing exactly how they survive. Think how they how they make it a living without without working just really bizarre yeah and so and we see this also in colleges and I'll ask you that about seminary versus the seminaries. I was again be leaning up mail but in like the university setting about his university but with colleges across the nation. It's about 6535 now close to 7030 women to men. So men really dropping out all over the place. It would seem, yeah they are in and graduate degrees in doctrinal PhD programs you know women are are really by far getting the better the better degrees which means are getting the better jobs, forgetting the higher paid jobs and and man just they third lost they don't know what to do with themselves. There are dropping out of this dropping out of that so yeah I think that that's a another indicator that I came across that was very concerning to me and do you see this, you mention this when we are in a commercial break earlier in the show just about seeing Canada's increasing passivity even edit an incredible school like Bob Jones University or at the seminary level even where it can over time to see this passivity growing up in and is not getting any better. Obviously, it's getting worse, but it what what happens. Like in a seminary set or even at a university setting on a college campus or seminary where you can start kind of challenging that because I did. I mention this before it is show couple weeks go over the fact that 73% of men between the ages of 24 and 32 aren't married based on what you're telling us everything today on theology Thursday. There's a reason why these women who are doing well and in getting higher education and getting good jobs. Why would they want to marry these guys when they're not leaders they're not working there very passive. That's not exactly marriage material side of you guys been dealing with that kind of in a seminary setting where university setting. Why think we deal with that in classes but not only that one on one conversations just challenging these guys to step it up to two take on responsibilities because really being a man is taking on responsibility to take responsibility for being a provider be a protector I'm going to look after the relationships in my life doesn't mean you turn it I mean my dad was a workaholic yet there's there's no doubt about that. And you know so he would go to work, which actually at a laboratory in our basement so it's kind like a mad science back to the future. It really was the night I had tools that I like touch that no other kid that I ever knew of head to be able to touch – but it yeah but you know he he would go from his bedroom to work and then and then he would go to bed. You know, get he was. He was a workaholic.

He wasn't working in all the areas of God-given responsibility because he didn't care, but that's really what what being a man is in being a leader is taking on responsibility, so we just try to hit that were ever weekend in the seminary and we try to give a lot of coaching because we know that they're not necessarily getting that along the way. When they come our way.

That's right. Well the first time I did radio with anybody from Bob Jones with Alan Benson on the subject of the 500 x 5 x 5 campaign there that I didn't realize how what the attrition rate was how many help this deficit in the church in the pulpit because we were running out of pastors passes or retiring patches or eating out, and we love young pastors coming up behind him. This is a huge problem.

Yeah that that's wherever I go, I just I was out in Utah and and the it was a pastors conference in the pastors there were telling me about you know they got this empty pulpit. This empty pulpit. This one, and and most of the churches are established that got got some good people.

Dave got a building that got you know they can provide for a pastor and there's not there's is no less. There's not even a single name that they can reach out to and so yeah work. The 500 x 5 x 5 campaign is is is a genuine campaign to address this problem. We need to see it at this the lack of men who are willing to take on something difficult affects the pastor shortage. This could be a pastor right. What is so challenging is so difficult in the day in which we live with where you got a cancel culture and you gotta you everything you do is upstream. That's right so I believe that you know we have the young men out there to do that they need to be shaped and that's what were committed to do now once and again apathy is the problem because I know there's a problem out there boy.

Let's pray about that when there's not we should do anything about prayer. But oftentimes, prayers, and the only thing we should do is on something like this.

That's why really appreciate you guys doing the 500 x 5 x 5 campaigns to get your 500 new passes up every five years. I mean it's a huge goal. You have the ability to do it. It's a great seminary. But if we don't there's can be huge prices to paying apathy causes the problem and selectivity is the thing that solves it. When in the last segment you want to make sure, where's the church that want to make sure we don't just it can be really negative. The whole time I'm like that naturally. I'm always gonna picking holes and stuff and then pointing out what's wrong. But if we need to look at how to we can work through this work will talk about. Where's the church in all of this. What can be done. How do we come to work on this you're talking about men touring in challenging someone to spend the last segment of the show, talking about how we move forward, especially the fact that most people listening feel that there are aides there in the 60s in their 50s we can have a direct impact on this but it's going to require activity not apathy, and even we gotta pray though you were to talking and you will be right back back at Steve Noble to Steve Novotel theology Thursday with our friends that Bob Jones seminary. By the way that seminary.PG you.edu Mary.PG you.edu and there's all kinds of resources there. Whether you're in South Carolina were Bob Jones University in the seminary are prebuilt beautiful campus, North Carolina, Virginia, doesn't matter where you are. That's the beauty of the Internet while one of them. There's a lot of things about the Internet that are terrible, but in this case you you there's all kinds of resources there so you can go look@thatseminary.pg.edu, and by the way, not just in case you or maybe a son that's interested in the pastoral world are a daughter granddaughter. Whatever the case may be, but for pastors as well. There's all kinds of resources for pastors is that the normal talking to Neil Cushman today is the Dean of the seminary is up in kind of an important thing at that the seminary for years.

Neil it is that something that's newer like wheat we need to try to equip pastors because you're creating pastors there, but I know you have a lot of resources for helping pastors that are already in the pulpit. Yeah that's it's been around for a long time there. There been a lot of pastors who have been trained at WJ's seminary started back in 1932 and and literally there been thousands that have gone out to different parts of the world were just trying to reinvigorate that were trying to you know really double down on our mission to serve the church because I wouldn't I would imagine anything. Okay I got seminary not pastor them out there in the pastoral world, but they need ongoing help don't think oh yeah they think they need resources they need encouragement. You especially like were where I was in in the pastor's conference recently when these guys are kind of isolated. You know they're out serving in and Mormon country and and there there all alone. They don't have a lot of fellowship means a lot to them for us to connect with them.

Yeah, that's what's at such a great thing and it did that on Facebook so like I put these links up on Facebook live for the all in pastors Facebook group which is a private group at that's you is that if your pastor, you just go over to check it all in pastors, the Facebook group and then you can get admitted and then there's all kinds of resources there, but you can also get some of the resources just by going to the seminary website and check out the blog like were talking a little bit about not God's design men falling out of the workforce which I got links up on Facebook live for that which is also another resource so there's all kinds of resources for you if your pastor or just tell your pastor about it because of something you gotta remember there is there's I have a friend that's in Winston-Salem that I started a ministry. Years ago, Neil, that is specifically to pastors just trying to reach and love on insert pastors. And that's the first time I start I get it I get an email and a text every day about praying for my pastors and often times we we set up the pew, and we assume everything's fine. There more godly than we are there more theologically astute than we are. Yada yada yada.

But you know for most pastors.

That's a pretty tough life isn't all you many challenges and you know I I saw a Facebook post. Just recently, you know where a pastor was predicting there's gonna be a lot of resignations in 2022 and you know that that's anecdotal.

Who knows what's going to happen but you know he I think that was partially him gauging his own heart and in what he's been facing, you know going through all this covert can hold in stuff that's just that's tough. You know, because your your church has so many different opinions on so many different things just to help everybody love each other and to support each other is is a big challenge today, yet super challenging so speaking of the church, but let's finish up talking about because we are the theology Thursday and then this is the Christ focus a radio show.

As you all know in a Facebook live in YouTube life. But what, what's the church's role in this. Where's the church and and how do we try to move forward in the right direction. Well, we've got a pushback on the culture. For one thing, because I think the culture is, is finding its way into our our practices in our room are thinking so we we need to challenge our young men we need to we need to be talking with our young men at an early age, and putting them in responsibilities where they get the lead you know even even five-year-olds and six-year-olds can they can lead they can be given, things to do that that cultivates that that area of their other lives so they're not just a passive observer you now sitting back and not having any expectations for them so I think that we need to we need to be preaching about this. We need to be talking about how important this is for for men to fulfill God's purpose for their for their lives. And that's just that's such a key thing for for man to to to pursue something that God would have them to do. We have this whole talk about the culture and idea what this with our own our own kids and €26 on 22-year-old daughter, 20-year-old son 16-year-old daughter and talking our daughters about marriage that there is the culture and the big group in the church I grew up in my home for goodness sakes so and in the culture. Those this whole thing for young women where marriage means subjugation marriage means you have no control over anything. You just going to go serve at the beck and call of your husband. It's got this really negative represent understanding on the culture reputation. That's a word of course are a senior moment about for the book for men to suggest to guys in the church that they need to actively be pursuing marriage and a family. I mean that like some kind of cultural blasphemy.

Now Neil doesn't like now. Yeah that's ridiculously that's old-fashioned but God does call some people, the singleness Paul talked about that but but most of us he doesn't. So, do we need to preach about that. Hey guys get married minute sound so old-fashioned that probably Lotta people are to get triggered just by me saying that. But isn't that the God's design for most of us yeah it definitely is and and I think that we we shouldn't shy away from that, we need to talk about marriage. I mean the whole idea of waiting and waiting and waiting for something to happen and that it never happens. You know we we have a big problem in and missions. For instance, where you know since manner, waiting. You know, so long and and maybe getting married at age 29 age 30, etc. and wonder what are women who feel like they're called the mission supposed to do during that interim time.

You know, then they gotta go get a job somewhere while they're waiting really to fulfill their calling through marriage and through ministry. So yeah, we gotta get to talk about this. So how do you approach this from the pulpit. What's the church's messaging on this and especially for most of us. As I mentioned this a couple times that the audience for the show is pretty much people like like us and the other in their 50s in their 60s. So even dealing with it in our own homes, which we need to look at as part of the church as well, but will come messaging should we be putting out there to start to kinda drive especially our younger men are own sons and grandsons towards fulfilling God's call on their like to be a biblical man that works hard and and eventually for most of them pursues a family or that's a really really complicated question. How do we how do we go upstream to to make that kind of change. II think that that that's the kind of thing we should be talking about very early on, God's purpose for your life and you know how wonderful it is really to start a family and you don't. You don't need to establish your your career. You know, first as a woman. And because I think there's an obstacle there and men just need to learn to take the lead along the way that they do they need to be taught wisdom, how to make good choices hotter.

You know how I know the kind of person that I should be seeking because I think that men are terrible at fat that you know they they just base everything on walks and beauty and they should be looking at a whole lot more than that. Yet I think the church is a unique role in but I think it I think there's a word of caution here, especially for us as fathers or grandfathers that oftentimes Neil, I think we we we tend to outsource things to" you guys to the professional pastors to seminary folks we outsource. We just can send our sons off there and they're going to learn in youth group and they're going to learn in church, but this is the message that and in the culture tells us were crazy right. This is one of the funny conversations I had with all of you down at BJ. You and I was down there couple of months ago and someday I think was Bob bistro said they were the original cancel culture we been dealing with cancel culture for nearly 100 years. So when we say hey man, you know, strive towards marriage strive towards a family you don't and just what you said the also countercultural you don't go get your career establish first you gotta go make a certain amount of money first and then you start a family. I mean this is so upside down, but we have to be willing and have the courage to speak truth, even though the culture is going to call us Neanderthals were so materialistic we just really think that we gotta have the money we gotta have the you know the prestige of a career in and so we just set these other things aside and then so you know, the years passed by, and then and then finally you do get married, and a lot of time has been lost and so then you're not can I have you know five kids, but you might have five kids. If you would've got you we would've gotten married, you know seven or eight years earlier you to know your life in terms of what you can do in your own strength. And that's not the Christian life is what grade doing it is only what God can do that I can be a challenge. Just we have like a minute happy also just speak a word of encouragement to men that are out there right now in terms of really did pull in a David and asking the Lord said to to search our heart reveal any and thus any unclean or wicked thing in this case, apathy.

How do we kinda check ourselves to make sure were not the apathetic ones. I think I'm the apathetic one really that much midnight. I think all of us have a root of apathy in us that we have to slay every day as we know, come before the Lord, but I I think that as we die to self and as we ask God every day. You know what God has for me. Then we we need to go forward on that and and we need to stop coddling herself. You know what we need to stop and you know just feeling like well I've had a hard day so I'm just to sit here and veg out and and you know watch two or three hours of whatever such a powerful point.

I love that can't don't coddle yourself. God is not called you to a life of coddling and ease the easy life, get it to live a life of deep meaning and deep impact Neil Cushman I think you so much for being with us today on theology Thursday. It's been a pleasure. Thank you. You're welcome another program powered by the Truth Network