some reason it always gets uncomfortable
in any room whenever the discussion was
brought up but as for me if it wasn’t
for my faith I can honestly say that I
wouldn’t be here today now not here to
preach to you or give you a sermon or
anything like that I don’t have the
authority to nor the interest my goal is
to make you rethink what you think you
know about Christianity so why should
you care four years ago I was on the
fast track to becoming the next Steph
Curry at least I thought it was now as
the big time Bible boy back home in a
little town called Oviedo Florida
towards the end of the school year in my
youth group they gave us his book to
read called radical but david platt i
give this book eighty percent in the
credit for turning me away from
Christianity the other ten percent with
so-called Christians around me the last
ten percent was due to my own fear we’ll
get to that later now radical took my
world and turned it completely upside
down everything I knew and everything I
thought I knew now most people have this
preconceived notion that once you
believe that Jesus Christ died on the
cross that everything is all good Saul
peaches and roses so I could get a jail
free card but if I told you that’s not
entirely all that’s there what if I told
you that’s not all that’s in the Bible
four years ago I would have told you
that’s crazy at four years ago that’s
what i did i read the book and wrote
most of it off as a theological
viewpoint that’s just a little bit
radical but funny how things tend to go
full circle fast forward to about six
months ago now i’m living it up at
college after those you guys would go to
a small campus it’s as much of an
oxymoron as it sounds our idea of a good
friday night is playing Monopoly and
singing along the disney soundtracks
now I’m living a double life in every
sense of the word by date time I’m the
energetic kid that’s on full academic
scholarship trying to join every club on
campus by nights on I’m out partying
with my friends trying to go to every
club in town still believe in God but
you wouldn’t catch me dead in church I
figured it was best not to claim being
Christian and to be a hypocrite but you
see the problem with not having a moral
guide is the fact that you don’t have
one so who keeps you in check when
you’re going too far how do you know
when you gone off the deep end and how
can you proceed what’s right and what’s
wrong the thing is you can’t I have a
great family and they support me through
pretty much everything but after a while
my attitude became too much to handle it
thus we stopped talking I have a great
girlfriend and she put up with pretty
much everything but after a while my
debauchery went too far and that’s
hiding out that either 1 sep tember
night I was sitting there and then it
hit me who’s in your corner Matt nobody
that moment i received a lifeline in the
form of a phone call from my girlfriend
we decided it’s time for an intervention
as for me I was ready to make a change I
tried going to counseling which didn’t
help much I switched up my friend group
helped a little bit after about two
weeks I felt like I was getting
absolutely nowhere then one Wednesday
night made my brother Aaron we’re
leaving marine biology Club he’s like
bro let’s go to Kingdom club today and I
said you will not catch me dead in a
Bible study five minutes later I’m in
the Bible study so as I’m sitting in
their hearing the good word hearing
about how God was changing people’s
lives for the better I was inspired I
had that feeling in my chest I hadn’t
had since I was a little kid in youth
group I was hooked that night we stayed
up till 4am in the marriott talking
scripture with the leaders of kinky club
the rest is history I got plugged into
the local megachurch joining the
photography team started reading Bible
plans doing mass recruiting the kingdom
club I was bringing players to Jesus
team like I was Nick Saban but you see
the funny thing is everything goes full
circle so my men’s group pastor gave us
access to this thing called right now
media which is essentially Christianity
Netflix so as I’m scrolling through
there I’m looking for something to watch
and what do I find radical by david
platt naturally i’m curious i click on
it and it concluded to be just like
dejavu so I’m sitting here thinking to
myself this can’t be a
my students is it Scott trying to prove
something to me there’s something I’m
missing so that’s it matters in my own
hands over when a break I went back home
cracked open the Bible flip to the New
Testament start reading here we are
today now most people have this
preconceived idea that if you believe
Jesus Christ died on the cross
everything’s okay it’s like a good at
jail free card what if I told you that’s
not all that’s there what if I told you
that’s not all that’s in the Bible four
years ago I woulda told you that’s crazy
but today wholeheartedly agree here’s
why you see over the years the message
gotten slightly polluted and a little
diluted Society has these misconceptions
of what a Christian seems like but what
does Jesus say Christians really like
all my life I’ve heard Jesus this Jesus
that for everybody from my grandma to my
youth pastors to random people I go and
see you across the street but after a
lot of intensive research this would I
believe to be true number one Jesus is
not a white male to be honest it’s
scientifically impossible and just an
invalid statement overall Jesus was born
in the city of Bethlehem Bethlehem is
not too far south of Jerusalem Jerusalem
is by modern day Israel therefore Jesus
is Palestinian rendering his appearance
it can that of any modern day air bed so
what would happen if Jesus were to step
onto a plane in America today ironically
chances are he’d be discriminated
against by the same people that claim to
be his followers and end up in TSA
getting patted down check my security
because of the color of his skin and SS
Nissa t that doesn’t seem very Christian
light to me which brings us to number
two what is the term Christian back in
the good old is the first century it is
people didn’t claim to be Christian just
to get ahead in the polls you got
tortured being martyred killed to be
truthful how many of us believe in
something no matter what it is enough to
willingly die for it it’s a good
question so now how do we define the
term Christian / merriam-webster’s the
Christian is someone who professes and
the teachings of Jesus Christ that’s
obviously been appointed contention over
the years so we’ll break that down even
further Jesus is quoting using the word
disciple throughout his life and never
once uses the word
Christian’s so if the first Christians
were synonymous with the word disciple
that are not all Christians therefore
disciples of Jesus Christ Jesus is also
quoting anything as disciples little
Christianity 101 love your neighbor as
yourself love your enemies here’s
another one care for those in the stress
these are just a few among many more
along these lines so if you love your
neighbor as yourself why would you judge
and fear him based on the color of his
skin if you love your enemies why would
you advocate eradicated their existence
without giving the slightest bit of
consideration as to why they feel the
way that they do if you care for those
in distress why would you feel angry
about paying more taxes to assist
families in your country who are
struggling to feed their children
despite their best efforts if you make
hundreds of thousands of dollars per
year more power to you but if that is
your salary and you clean to be
Christian and it’s mighty hypocritical
of you to dismiss anyone to signing a
tax bracket is deserving of their
position simply because they haven’t
worked as hard as you now additionally
many politicians use the word Christian
and slap it on as a label to justify
their agendas as morally righteous let’s
make things clear example if I claim to
be Christian and it’s not my place to
judge anyone based on that background
because that’s what is written thus how
can anyone claiming to be Christian
possibly justify rejecting those in need
and ostracizing people simply because of
where they come from Jesus himself said
before you take the speck out of someone
else’s I first take the log out of your
own if you believe in the book that
anyone calling themselves Christian
claims to believe in then you’re it’s
not your place to judge others it
required to love number 3 the youth my
generation are aware of this hypocrisy
and are fed up with it talked to a lot
of people on my campus conversations
tend to go the same way Christians are
kind of cultish Christians just sit
around and judge people for sinning when
they turn around and do the same things
themselves never heard of a liberal
Christian for a reason etc it to be
honest ninety-nine percent of time
didn’t agree with what they’re saying
frankly I can’t even find fault with it
because in some cases I still do feel
the same way our entire lives we’ve been
fed the same
without any explanation for them as we
get older naturally we’re going to start
have some questions in school we learn
about theories such as Big Bang and
evolution in philosophical movements
such as enlightenment and humanism
naturally it’s going to be a conflict of
interest for the people like myself and
growing up in a church-going household
these questions never quite get answered
and if they do it doesn’t help at all in
this regard the ones we’re supposed to
learn ideology from the honest a
disservice no one is going to just
blindly follow what they’re being told
we’re free thinkers we require
explanations for things and if you’re
going to try to make us religious we
require an explanation for doing so
since our generation hasn’t really
received one we’ve gone in the entirely
opposite direction or in merging
ourselves in an instantaneous world
where we indulge in quick pleasures and
reject the we view is rigid
indoctrination vehemently we’re
desperately in search of fulfillment and
since we’re struggling to find it we
identify whenever we can resulting in
thirty percent of the millennial
generation identifying a spiritual
rather than religious that desire for
spiritual fulfillment is still there but
we don’t want anything to do with the
ideology we’ve grown up in where
hypocrisy is normal and true faith it’s
considered radical the rift between the
younger generations and the older ones
growing larger and larger and it’s
dining at air society apart as a whole
the recent increase and the decrease of
civility following our last election
season just one of the markers it’s a
lot to think about it’s kind of
depressing isn’t it but as for me I find
solace in number four no matter what you
and I believe may believe you must
believe my truth what does that mean the
changes in my life that have occurred so
I decided to put my faith in Jesus
Christ cannot be debated we can debate
all day about the validity of
Christianity whether God is real whether
the Bible is alive but I would love to
sit down and discuss that with you but
we can’t argue is the way my life is
forever changed since I decided to put
my faith and something bigger than me
this isn’t a sermon not here to preach
to you everything I’ve said comes out of
the same Bible that every Christian
claims to believe in if you wish to
fact-check me I assist that you do so
that’s besides the point the point is
this for years lives reckless
and reckless abandonment with regards to
nothing just material pleasures and
distractions from the issues of the
world that played my mind today I’m
actively trying to make a difference in
any medium that I can from starting my
own social enterprise to aid
self-actualization to maintaining
positivity with my friends despite the
situation just sitting here on stage
talking to you all today now I’ll expect
you to leave here Andrey declare your
faith in any religion but I firmly
believe that if you share your personal
stories of fulfillment with everyone
else then we have a chance of helping
someone find their purpose of life no
matter what you put your faith in taking
care of our world of nature and the
people is something we can all believe
in not for yourselves that at least for
the future generations don’t want hair
at this world from us in scientific
circles does a theory called the
butterfly effect that a butterfly that
flutters its wings of Japan and cause a
hurricane in Florida for example I
firmly believe that our individual
actions no matter how small you may
think make more of a difference than you
know let’s show the world the love
always prevails over evil thank you [Applause]