Pastor Jim & Lori Bakker and the Students from Morningside Master’s Media discuss Freedom for Day 4 on The Jim Bakker Show.
Songs
Say So
Quotes
“The more I hear from our students, the more I have hope that God is reaching our generation. -Pastor Jim Bakker
Narrative
Pastor Jim returned to Galatians 5 to continue his message on freedom, and placed special emphasis on verses 19-21 of The Message Bible translation. This version of the Scriptures uses the modern day terminology today’s young generation speaks and understands well.
The verses read: “It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community.”
Pastor Jim noted the verses describe today’s society perfectly, especially the reference to what many view as sexual freedom, which only leads to an animal like existence. He stated that no love will ever be found in living like a dog, to which Harmony replied, “If you live like a dog, you get fleas.”
When he asked the students what they thought of as “trinket gods,” Sasha defined them as materialistic items like jewelry, phones, cars, money and care free relationships. Kevin equated “magic-show religion” to pastors and churches which have an abundance of “smoke and mirrors,” but no substance in their ministries.
“If we don’t start getting real in the church, it’s not going to survive,” Pastor Jim said, after recounting that one of the biggest mistakes he ever made was in choosing to follow a man who appeared to have supernatural abilities, could perform miracles, and read minds. “We don’t need to fake anything,” he continued, adding that God’s healing is real, but today’s generation has no tolerance for the shows some self-professed healers and spiritual guides put on.
Returning to Galatians 5, James shared how paranoid loneliness grew in his life when, as a child, he lived through his parents divorcing. He suggested that many in his generation, although appearing strong on the outside, suffer from a destructive inner loneliness. Zach also shared how fear and paranoia also held a grip on him at one time, keeping him apprehensive about traveling to new places or experiencing things that were outside of the life he knew.
Pastor Jim minutes later, left the young people on the panel speechless when he identified social media outlets, like Facebook and Twitter, as examples of what the verses identify as “parodies of community.” Although there is value in the technological advancements and gadgets of today, he warned they take people away from the Bible’s command to “forsake not the gathering together of yourselves.” People have grown so comfortable tweeting their every move, or communicating more via text messaging and Facebook posts, that they are losing respect for the art and necessity of live interactions and the building of friendships with real people.
Nolan explained that the founder of Facebook was a socially awkward and lonely man who created the online networking site as a way to reach out. He then shared that Affection Deficit Disorder has become a new type of ADD, but said the true answer or cure for it lies in Jesus and not drugs like Ritalin.
Pastor Jim, excited by the pearls of wisdom dropped by his students, again urged the viewing audience to contribute toward helping get the Generation Now Network up and running.
Scriptures
Galatians 5:18-21 The Message Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.
John 8:32 KJV And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
I Corinthians 11:31 KJV For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
I Peter 4:17 KJV For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
II Timothy 1:7 KJV For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Hebrews 10:25 KJV Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Matthew 18:20 KJV For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Acts 2:43-27 – The Apostles and Believers Share Everything
Matthew 16:18 KJV And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Galatians 6:1 The Message Live creatively, friends.
Galatians 6:5 The Message Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.
Matthew 24:7 NCV Nations will fight against other nations; kingdoms will fight against other kingdoms. There will be times when there is no food for people to eat, and there will be earthquakes in different places.
Joel 2:25 NKJV “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust,My great army which I sent among you.
Joel 2:28 NKJV “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.
Joel 2:31 NKJV The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
Acts 2:17 NKJV ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
Acts 2:20 NKJV The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
I Corinthians 2:9 NIV However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”the things God has prepared for those who love him—
Revelation 6 – The Four Horsemen
Ezekiel 1 – The Four Living Creatures
