Ask Sam: Who Cares?

Ask Sam: Who Cares?

May 10, 2024

Host: Dr. Isaac Crockett

Co-host: Hon. Sam Rohrer

Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program originally aired on 5/10/24. To listen to the podcast, click HERE.

Disclaimer:         While reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate transcription, the following is a representation of a mechanical transcription and as such, may not be a word for word transcript. Please listen to the audio version for any questions concerning this dialogue.

Isaac Crockett:   Well, hello there and welcome to the program. I’m Pastor Isaac Crockett and my co-host today is the Honorable Sam Rohrer, the President of the American Pastors Network. Sam, this being a Friday show, we often do what we’re going to do today and we pelt you with the questions, ask Sam Friday. But I was also thinking just recently, Jill was writing with me. My wife Jill was writing with me and I was listening on our Stand in the Gap app to one of the programs, and I forget who we were interviewing, but Jill said, well, what does he look like? She’s listening. She wondered what he looked like. Well, on Fridays we actually turned the video cameras on and we’re not set up here like we are at the TV studio, but we do have some video cameras and if you want to, you can go to our YouTube channel and you can watch this unless you’re driving your car or something like that.

Isaac Crockett:   Don’t worry about that then. But if you’re maybe listening to a podcast and you wanted to see Sam and I interacting on this, we do have this on our YouTube channel, but Sam, I want to ask you some questions today. I titled the Ask Sam, who Cares? Because as I talk to different people, and some of them are pastors or church people, some of them are just folks in town that men I know and men and women of different ages, but especially people that are my age or even those who are older than I am, a lot of them are very discouraged right now as they look at what’s going on on the college campuses as they look at some of the decisions being made by our government as they look at the loans that are being forgiven. Or people look at the wars going on all over the world and a lot of people have just kind of given up.

Isaac Crockett:   They say, I don’t even know if I care anymore. I don’t even want to hear any news. I don’t want to know about any of this. I just want to go put my head in the sand like an ostrich and just kind of try to ignore it. Or they say, why do I even care anymore? And so Sam, as we talk about this today, I want us to get into that in this program. But before we go into that part and compare some the generations, what they’re facing, what they’re going through, I want to look at the foundations that our generations have accepted and taken in on Sunday. I was preaching on Luke chapter six, well, the closing part of his verses 47 through 49, and it’s a sermon that Jesus was preaching. He says, whoever comes to me and hears my saying and does them, I will show you whom he is like.

Isaac Crockett:   And he compares them to a wise man and to a foolish man. He says, he who comes and listens, he’s like a man building a house. He puts a foundation on the rock. When the flood comes, the stream beats vehemently against that house and it would not shake, and it was founded on the rock. But then he says, but he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation against which the stream beat vehemently. And immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great. And this very famous sermon illustration that Jesus made for us compares these two houses that really when I read it, it sounds like they were both built identically. The only exception, only exception is the foundation. So Sam Jesus says that those who listen to him and they seek to obey him, they’re building on the foundation of Iraq, the right foundation. What does that mean for us in America when we see all the turmoil on the news, when we look out and see what’s going on, we look at social media as we see the collapse of many things that our country seem to have hold strongly to. What does that tell us about the American Foundation?

Sam Rohrer:       Well, Isaac, it should cause this. I think to ask and go back and revisit and ask a simple question, what was our foundation as a nation? Many people right now wouldn’t even agree that we had one, but there is a foundation that we can identify as a nation. Actually in the book that the Lord allow me to read God’s roadmap for renewal, we revisited that foundation that our early founders put into place. William Penn was a main one, but it was embraced by the Jeffersons of the world and the Franklins and all of those who signed the Declaration of Independence as an example. But there were actually 10 principles that started with knowing and understanding the role and the nature of God. And then it proceeded all the way then down to the end about how we can keep it. But there were principles. And when I saw those years ago, because when I went into office Isaac, I considered as well, this is an amazing institution here.

Sam Rohrer:       I was in Pennsylvania legislature, but the system was incredible. I saw all the things written on the walls and so many Bible verses and other references to fidelity and to responsibility and to duty things we would call character traits. And I saw those all permeated through and I’m saying, all right, well these didn’t happen by accident. Where’d these come from? Well, I as a believer, I recognized them as coming right off the pages of scripture, but for many who were there, they didn’t know where they came from. But in these principles, I’m going to say they are there, the foundation out of which came our frame of government, our concept of law and morality and justice and what would be acceptable and what was necessary duty, duty of response of a citizen duty of those. And all of those things come right off the pages of scripture.

Sam Rohrer:       So it’s a great time. I’m finding out even right now where people are so confused and we’re seeing the results of as if there is no foundation, I’d say the first thing we ought to do, great opportunity to go back and say, well, what is our foundation? Did we have one? Obviously we did because the days are different now than they were. But that’s where I would go. And it provides an opportunity, even like we’re doing the program today to go back and say, all right, what was that foundation? What were those principles? What once happened that are not happening now? And can we reclaim what was once more predictable and solid? And I’m going to stay right up front. We can do that. The roadmap still works, but we have to identify it and decide to do it

Isaac Crockett:   Well. And Sam, I’m really glad that you just said that. We can find that way back. We can see America renewed, we can see our own homes, our churches, our families renewed. And that is if we will all choose to follow after Jesus Christ and to make him the foundation. And I know we’re almost out of time here, but you said something before we went on air and you said in a lot of ways what we are finding ourselves in as modern Americans is that we’re on a ship or we were on a ship that was moving and we’re just kind of along for the ride and the momentum that got it going, that is maybe no longer there, but there was some momentum. Could you tell us what you meant by that real quickly? Well,

Sam Rohrer:       I can, and that’s the best way to define it. I’m thinking for generations, and we’ve been around as a country for a long time, but if we were to right now say all of a sudden no more constitution, no more Declaration of Independence, we’ve got 300 and some million people, could we form a new government that would identify those things necessary for law and justice and protection of property and consideration of each other and those character traits? I’m saying, no, we couldn’t. I don’t believe we could right now because we haven’t had to do that. We haven’t had to face it. That’s why I compared it to a ship long ago. Our founders actually got this thing going. They prayed hard, they worked hard in a ship was launched, called the United States of America, this holy experiment in freedom. But for generations we have been, as Americans been the recipient recipients of the blessings of the God of heaven, as Abraham Lincoln said in his proclamation 1863. But we’ve forgotten God. We’ve walked away from him and we think that it’s just happened. We’ve been on this ship enjoying the ride because it had a great start and a great momentum. But when you turn the engines off or the wind stops, then you come to a stop. And I think that’s where we are. And it’s a great opportunity to go back and revisit how we got started and what gave us what we have

Isaac Crockett:   Exactly. This is a great opportunity to see where we came from, where we’re going, and to see as Christians, those with the biblical worldview. What does God require of us? What does God want from us? So when we come back, I want to ask Sam some more questions. I want to look at younger generations and where they’ve come to the place, where they’re at and what we can do about it, what we can pray about it. We’ll be back shortly on Standing the gap today. Welcome back to the program. I’m Pastor Isaac Crockett and my co-host today, the regular host of the program is the Honorable Sam Rohr. We were talking about there’s this temptation that I think a lot of us have when we see what’s going on in the news just to kind of throw our arms up and say, I don’t even care anymore.

Isaac Crockett:   Why should I even care? And I think that sometimes as we look at younger generations, I thought it was interesting, Sam, you had Dr. Renton Rathman on the radio a few weeks ago, and you and I were recently talking with him. We were doing some television recording and he was talking about his generation, generation X, which is the generation before the millennials. I’m kind of on the cusp of older millennial, almost old enough to be Gen X. And he was talking about how they kind of looked down on the millennials and the younger ones after that, don’t think they were as tough as them and all these other things. And it’s easy to do that, to look down on others that are younger and say, what’s their problem? Come on, just shape up. Just pull yourselves up by your bootstraps and let’s go. But I want to really dive into why this younger generation is really suffering.

Isaac Crockett:   I mean, we look every day, we see these college campus protestors growing and growing. It’s now seeping into the high schools. It seems to me like it’s a lot like what happened with Black Lives Matter protests where they started out protests and rioting and taking over things and just chaos is what it looks like. And people are saying, well, why is this? And people try to interview some of these young people, students and things, and they don’t know how to answer what they believe. They don’t seem to know many times why they are there or what they believe. And so we were talking at the beginning of this program that this hearkens back to what Jesus talked about on the Sermon on the Mountain. And Luke, he records as a sermon on the plane, but in his preaching he talks about a wise man and a foolish man and they build houses.

Isaac Crockett:   And it seems to be that they go through the same process in building the house with one major exception. That’s that the wise man has a rock foundation, a solid foundation. The foolish man has sand or just no foundation at all. And the ruin is great of the foolish man, and that’s what it seems is coming in our country. But Sam, you were talking about some things and one of the things you brought up that I do want to remind anyone listening today about is that you have actually written the book, America’s Roadmap to Renewal, the answer to past prayers and the hope for the future. I want to encourage anyone out there today who feels depressed, discouraged, like throwing in the towel when they look and think about our country or the next generation, please do not give up. This is the time when we need to see the Lord and go to him and ask for his help.

Isaac Crockett:   And I would also encourage you, if you haven’t read America’s Roadmap Map to Renewal, you can get it instantly electronically for Kindle or you can buy the paperback or you can even listen to it, audiobook, it’s on amazon.com or you can go to stand in the gap media.org and click on the link there. It’ll take you there. But Sam, I was focusing on a hymn today written by John Newton. I don’t even know the tune for it, but he in something, I was focusing on that and I’ve been memorizing some verses from the book of Haba. Prophet Habakkuk starts off by just asking, God, why are you doing this? Why are you sending these evil? They’re worse than us and they’re going to come in to destroy us. And of course, it’s back to what Deuteronomy says, the blessings and the curses and the Israel didn’t follow after God, but then he finishes it by saying, you know what?

Isaac Crockett:   Even if everything is bad, even if there’s no blossom of the figs and the olive, the produce and food fails, the flocks bad. Yeah. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, the God of my salvation. And he turns to him. And that’s what this song that Isaac Newton wrote, he says, could the creatures help or ease us? Seldom should we think of prayer. If things were easy, we would seldom think of prayer. Few, if any, came to Jesus till reduced to self despair. And then he goes through and he talks about some of the different examples from the gospels of people who came to Jesus because their life depended on it. And I’m hopeful, Sam, that as Americans, when we see the state of our country that we will take it to Jesus, we’ll take these things to him in prayer and ask him to work in our lives, not just in their lives, but in our lives.

Isaac Crockett:   And that’s what I want to talk about today. But Sam, as we do look at the younger generations and they do seem to be struggling, they seem to not know sometimes what they believe. Many of them seem to be fearful and scared and have all kinds of problems. This lack of foundation, how does this lacking foundation in their lives? This what we call worldview, that’s what the foundation is. It’s how we see the world. They don’t have a biblical worldview. George Barna has showed us that, and again, I’m saying this stereotypically, most of them, 90 some percent of them don’t have the biblical worldview. How does that contribute to the societal issues we are seeing going on in these younger generations? They’re struggling with moral relativism, they’re struggling with ethics and morality in general. They don’t see the sanctity of human life, not just in the unborn baby, but I believe even in themselves, they don’t even know if they’re worth anything. How does this lack of biblical foundation play into that Sam?

Sam Rohrer:       Well, Isaac, in simple terms, as we know, our biblical worldview, our view of the world, we talk about that here all the time. There are two views of life, biblical view, God’s view of life, and with it how we evaluate life, the priorities that we establish, everything that we’re talking about right now, even the fact that you can say, here is a problem and I want a solution. Even that simple process comes off the pages of scripture because the scripture is all about defining a problem, sin cause why the devil came and tempted people and we’re born in sin, but there’s a solution that’s faith in Jesus Christ. And then the word of God becomes our manual to tell us how to live and the enemies that we will face and how to respond. Now, that is one approach. The other approach is that, well, there is no God, I am God, I’ll do my own thing.

Sam Rohrer:       And that’s what you decided. George Barna surveys would indicate that over 90% of Americans have that view. What they don’t really need God and the Bible and fixed truth we can actually come up with on our own. But that’s what the Bible says. Now, that whole approach with the scripture of Jesus says there are two ways in life, a broad way that leads to destruction. There’s a narrow way that leads to heaven, alright? That is life. It’s what God established in the garden. I think part of this, Isaac, is that in the simplest terms, our youngest generation have never heard that there is a better way that there is the Bible that contains the written word of God and they’ve never heard it explained. What they have heard is lots of deception. They’ve heard the world and they’ve heard many that cause things in our educational system.

Sam Rohrer:       Government itself have turned laws into doing the opposite of what the Bible says, but all the way back, they don’t even know the concept of choices have consequences. But God laid that out in scripture very clearly. Deuteronomy 30, verse 15, he says, I’ve set before you this day, two paths, one that leads to life and blessing the other that leads to death and judgment. God says, I want you to choose life. Alright, well, that’s what we want people to choose life, which leads to blessing. So in essence, I think we talk about the foundation, the most fundamental aspect, that we are human beings who are loved by God and God’s given us the ability to choose and he’s given us away, choose this way. Oh, give life and blessing where you choose this way, the Broadway, you’re going to end up with instruction, consequences, choices of that.

Sam Rohrer:       The simplest presentation of that can open the eyes of people, but in reality, I also think of this, Isaac, it’s somewhat, you used to work in social services, you’ve done a lot of counseling with people, and I am dealing with someone now. The Lord allowed me to lead to the Lord an older man sometime ago, and he in his earlier life had been addicted. We’ve talked a lot about addiction and he said, you know what? You cannot help a person who is addicted until they get to the point where they have no option and they ask for help. My wife and I, Ruth and I are involved in counseling some folks right now, and it’s that same circumstance. They’re not quite to the point where they’re ready to say, I need help, but at which point they do, the word of God provides the answer. So I think in this mix of what we’re seeing today, Isaac, is the sense that we must probably hit bottom more, but we’ve got a lot of people, I think beginning to hit bottom for which they say, I need help. Now at that point then help can be given. We’re talking right now about the plan that God gave. It’s already there. It’s been there, but this concept that we have a choice and there’s a better way than what we’re experiencing now itself is so simple, but it’s so profound too.

Isaac Crockett:   Well, I do believe that’s playing a huge part in the depression and mental health of our young people. But what about, and we just have a really short time here, but the lack of fringe that they have, they seem to have social health issues too, if you would, especially if you look at some of these interviews with people who are out there protesting and they’ve been turning to computer, social media. Their lives are in many ways determined by artificial intelligent algorithms. And you’ve talked about that some on TV and radio. So could you talk about the difference between those fake relationships and having a real relationship with Jesus Christ?

Sam Rohrer:       Well see, that goes to the heart of it. God created us innately to worship. He created us to need people, other fellowship with people hand to hand, to eye to eye. And the counterfeit which has come in through technology is that you can have your dreams fulfilled on this little thing in your hand called a computer or your iPhone or your iPad. And with all the things you’re talking about, reality has been supplanted with sir reality. You can hide and escape on your phone if you want to and never develop a relationship. Well, that is a deception of the devil himself. An iPhone, a relationship with an inanimate object that makes you feel good, but experience nothing lasting is part of the deception, and that is a part of what the gospel message delivers, a relationship that produces lasting value and true hope.

Isaac Crockett:   Well, when we see things in the news, when we see these protestors or young people, that just to us might seem like such a foreign concept and we realize what’s been going on when we realize this lack of foundation, I hope that it’ll cause us to pray for them to be burdened for them and to seek to really love, even if it might feel like an enemy, but to love the enemy, but to love those children and grandchildren and that generation. We’re going to come back saying we have more questions for you about this area, and I want to look at some of the other problems we’re going through as a nation when we come back after this break. Well, hello again. I’m Pastor Isaac Crockett and joining me is my co-host, downable Sam Rohr, and welcome back to the program on this Friday edition of Staying in the Gap.

Isaac Crockett:   Today. If you’re just joining, this is an Ask Sam Friday. We’ve been talking to Sam, asking him questions, looking at how important foundations are and wondering why we should care. If everything just seems to be going to chaos and disarray as Jesus said, it would happen if you didn’t have him as a foundation, everything will be ruined in that house. And when we look at the news and it really seems that’s the direction we’re headed, and I think sometimes Christians are tempted to kind of just cross their arms and say, well, who really cares about them? I don’t really care. They deserve that almost a feeling of self-righteousness. But I think it’s important for us to understand why they’re going through what they’re going through, especially younger generations that are struggling with things. And so we are looking at that. We’re looking at what has led to this lack of a foundation and how that for now several generations of no strong foundation on Jesus Christ overall in our nation has led to this.

Isaac Crockett:   But before I go back to asking Sam some more questions about that, I do just want to mention we’ve talked about several different things already on the program and many of those are things that we’ve covered not just here on the radio, but also Sam and I are on Stand in the Cap television and if you’d be interested in watching that, those are about half hour programs and you can find those on our Stand in the Gap app. I really like to use my phone and use the apps on my phone. I use the Stand in the Gap app often. You can watch our videos, you can listen to the radio, so you can find it there. Or you can go to stand in the gap media.org, stand in the gap media.org and you can find the link there and it will take you to our YouTube channel to our archives.

Isaac Crockett:   And you can look, we’ve got over five years of weekly TV programs and some of the programs that are on there right now. If you click on it, you’ll see Sam and I talking about artificial intelligence technology and the good, the bad, the ugly if you would about that. What is going on with that? You can see us discussing a whole program on the blessed man of Psalm one, and you can see us talking about using the Bible to defend questions of the skeptics as well as many, many other programs that are on there. So I would highly recommend you go there if you’d like to find out some of that as well as watch us and our guests, many of the same guests that are on radio are also on the TV program. But as I want to go back, we’ve been talking about sort of the younger generation, how they don’t seem to have this faith in the Lord.

Isaac Crockett:   George Barna talks about how they don’t trust organized religion, basically, they don’t trust churches and pastors like some past generations have, and they seem to kind of want to do their own thing. Sam said that this is human nature, that we want to make ourselves God. God says that we should be seeking first the kingdom of God. That’s what Jesus tells us. Seek first his kingdom. Too many times we’re seeking our own kingdoms and that leads to problems and that’s what we’re seeing. But I want to look at many folks who look at this craziness or look at maybe younger generations and say, well, they’re just avoiding the truth and I don’t really care. Whatever happens to them, whatever. If America’s going to go along with Satan in his hand basket, then just let it be. But I want us to see those are consequences of abandoning truth and parents and grandparents.

Isaac Crockett:   What can we do to help reach our children so that they don’t abandon their truth? So Sam, you’ve been in the role of the parent and you’ve worked with a lot of different parents and now you’re a grandparent and it just seems like every year you keep adding to that number of presents you have to buy at Christmas time for the grandkids. But you’ve observed this downward slope in our country since the days when you were a young parent to now your children are young parents. How have you chosen to respond when you see younger Americans, many of whom are turning their back, not just on their American heritage, but on biblical truth and morality?

Sam Rohrer:       Well, Isaac, again, as we just talked about last time, I have chosen to take a different response than the world takes because that’s the contrast that the word of God says That’s there. There’s two choices, two paths in life. And so like God told the Israelites when he took them into the land, he said, I’m going to give you the opportunity for tremendous blessing. All the things that any human being I have ever met or ever read about, want, peace, plenty of food, health, good weather, all the things that we would cite and we’ve come to expect in America, have all been the blessings of God that he says he gives and he gives to nations and he gives to people, but not accidentally. He does it as a result of them choosing him. That’s why the Lord said fear me. In other words, make a choice for truth of which I am the author, God is the author of truth.

Sam Rohrer:       Choose me, fear me, and then keep my commandments. In other words, do what the Bible says, do what I have laid out. Now, if you do that, Deuteronomy 28 says, then God said, I am going to give you so many blessings. You won’t be able to handle ’em all, but don’t walk away when things get good as a result of my blessing. Don’t think that you did it yourself or all those things turn into judgment. That’s what I believe is happening in America today. And I believe Isaac, that when a person chooses me personally, I have chosen faith in Jesus Christ. I am a believer you are too. You’re a pastor. You preach. We offer hope on this program because it’s the hope that comes from God. It’s true hope. The world, the Bible tells us, and as we see around us, have no hope.

Sam Rohrer:       They are wanderers. They move into lawlessness. The Bible says will occur if we cast off and don’t do what God says. Even our founders. In the book I talk about this, Penn talked about, and our founders talked about God could give us a blessed nation which he has done, but only if the individuals, every one of us and those in office were to say God’s way is best and focus on doing the 10 commandments of God. In other words, I’m not going to go and steal somebody’s property. I’m not going to covet somebody’s wife. I’m not going to get involved in adultery. I am not going to serve Baal and worship idols. I’m going to do my best to worship God. I’m not going to lie. All those things that 10 commanders talked about, God says, if our founders said, if they choose to do those things and discipline themselves accordingly, then you know what the results are going to be.

Sam Rohrer:       So okay for me, Isaac, I’ve chosen to do that and I’ve tried to teach our children to do that who are trying to teach their grandchildren to do that. The wonderful thing about it is, is that even in the worst of cultures, even in the worst of lawless times, you can still raise up a Daniel. You can still raise up a Joseph, you can still raise up an Esther. So God’s plan always works if we just simply choose to do it. So for me, I’ve chosen not to walk away in utter disgruntlement, but simply to say I’m witnessing the result of people walking away. But I’m also thankfully seeing people who are making good choices, even young people, because when they do, God’s blessings will work.

Isaac Crockett:   I’m so glad you brought that up. And each one of those characters from the Bible you named, we could go into Daniel and his friends, they were the result of King Josiah finding the law and having a revival that happened, but it was not enough of a revival to be lasting. Things got better and they turned on God. But here was Daniel and his friends and they stayed strong. Esther with Mordecai, here’s Mordecai still giving her the law even though her parents are dead, even though they’re still mistreated as Jewish people, and yet she still listens to the word of God. Joseph the same thing. His brothers were not great examples for him. Even his own father had a lot of flaws, and yet he relies on God. He puts his faith in God. So with that, we have so many questions I’d like to ask, but not enough time to ask them.

Isaac Crockett:   But as you talk with your grandchildren, as you look at the young people in your church, you have a church that has multi-generations. There are you seeing so many times all we see on the news is the bad stuff, but if we look around and we say, well, there’s other good things going on in the nation, what are you seeing with the kids? Who are your grandchildren’s age? Are there good things going on even in a generation like Gen Z that so many people seem to have just kind of washed their hands and said, oh, we give up. What can we do with these kids?

Sam Rohrer:       Isaac? I do see good things. I do see young people who are making right choices, who do view themselves as perhaps a young Daniel or a young Joseph or a young Esther, and God has given them insight and they’re making right choices and they’re trying to do it. And I see them encouraging their friends to do so. It’s no different than when you were growing up or I was growing up. We always had friends who tried to take us astray and we had maybe one or two that would encourage us in the faith. Sometimes we were alone and we’re encouraging others. But nothing has changed to that degree. What I think I have found is that we are in the midst of a culture though that as a whole has turned its back on God. And that was not the way when I was growing up.

Sam Rohrer:       I had a culture generally that was encouraging of doing biblical things. You had to go and search out evil when I was growing up in many ways. Now it comes to you on your phone as an example. Things have changed that way, but God always has his remnant. God always had the est history. She was a remnant. And to Joseph and Daniel, they were remnant. I believe the remnant still there. And I think in some degree, Isaac, that young people as they are looking for those who have eyes to see, it’s almost, I don’t know. I think it may be refining some of our young people who have chosen right and have chosen to put their faith and trust in the Lord, to trust more implicitly on the strength that only God can give because they know that that’s the only thing that can sustain them. And to that, I think it produces, I am hopeful and I am praying that it will help to develop strong young people even though there may not be lots of them. God always has used a remnant. He really has.

Isaac Crockett:   Amen. Well, let’s be praying for that, praying that God will develop a remnant, a strong remnant of leaders out of the younger generations, especially Gen Z. We’re going to take another time out. I think this is our last time out and we’re going to come back and try to wrap all this up with our final questions for Sam and looking at if you are not in generation Z, if you are one of the older generations, what we can do to encourage them. But I hope that there are those of you that are Gen Z, younger people listening to this as well. We’ll get right back to this when we come back on Stand in the Gap today. Welcome back to the program again. I’m Isaac Crockett with Sam Rohr. And Sam, as I was trying to come up with taking a sample of some of the different questions people have asked me with what all is going on in the world right now?

Isaac Crockett:   I’m finding more and more people are just sick of hearing what’s going on and they say, who cares? And they become kind of jaded. I remember when I pastored a church in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, there’s a spot there where there’s two really large cliff jumps, some of the largest, best cliff jumps in that area actually in several states around. And people would flock there from all these other states. And almost every year, I think the first three years I was there, four young people died of drownings. From those jumps, they would jump off and many times they were using drugs or alcohol and they would end up drowning. And people in that area, some of the volunteers in the medical community and things, I remember hearing them talk very jaded about those lives saying, I don’t even care. I don’t even want to go help look for the body, get they deserve what they got kind of a thing.

Isaac Crockett:   And I feel like sometimes that can become our attitude when we look at the news, when we look at these young people and old people who are really struggling and having chaotic times because they’re coming to ruin because they haven’t had Jesus Christ as their foundation. When as Christians, we should see them even if they’re our enemies. Jesus says, love your enemies. Do good to those who persecute you, but especially when they, in some cases are maybe even family members or friends of family, member of people, we know that our hearts should really go out for them and we should be praying to the Lord. So Sam, as we wrap things up, I’d just like to see if you have any idea of practical steps and maybe ways that we can be more empathetic towards what they’re going through. You and I have talked about on this program before, young people are now facing insurmountable financial difficulties just to buy a car.

Isaac Crockett:   It costs way more than it did when I was getting my first car to buy a house cost, even from 2019 at the end of Trump’s presidency before Covid vaccines and all that stuff happened and all the shutdowns, the average price of a house was a lot more reasonable than it is now. And interest rates were a lot lower, sometimes 3%. That price has gone up in many cases, over a hundred thousand for a house. Many cases the mortgage rate has gone to seven or 8%, and so to just understand maybe some of the pressures they’re going through, but what would be some biblical practical ways that churches or parents or concerned friends can take an active opportunity to try to engage with some of these younger generations and do what we talk about here sometimes with stand in the gap, but also bridging the gap so that we can pass on a strong foundation.

Sam Rohrer:       Isaac? Couple things. Number one, we have to choose to do so. We have to understand that as believers, we are compared to salt and light. Light is what someone needs when they’re in darkness and can’t find their way. Salt is what is needed when there is decay that will end up of something of no value. We’re compared to both, I think all who are watching and listening right now, we just need to recalibrate our thinking with the fact that if we truly know the Lord as our savior, we’re the only ones who can offer any kind of hope. The world has no hope to offer. It’s all deceptive, it’s all fake. It’s all for the moment. It all leads to hell that way. That leads to destruction. We have to say, if I am a light shiner, if I am a salt person, somebody who knows the Lord, I am the answer.

Sam Rohrer:       And part of my mission as a believer is to share that. So I have to choose to recognize my identity in Christ compels me to open my mouth, share the gospel with whoever it is, my neighbors, those around, excuse me. And certainly those who are close, that’s within our own family, our children, if we have them, grandchildren, if we have them. And if we don’t, then there are other children of other friends that we may have or others. But that would be one. We are the light. We are the salt. We have a duty. And therein as part of our fulfillment, as a believer, that’s part of our mission. Number two, to understand if that were in the older generation, we have a built-in God-given platform for communication, for encouragement. I have yet to find any young person who does not like to sit down and actually talk to somebody who’s older and have them share with them.

Sam Rohrer:       Tell me what it was like when you were growing up. What kind of challenges did you face? Young people are given a God-given desire and appetite to want to learn, to want to. It’s just that we are not talking. We’re talking crossed each other. We’re back to the relationship part. We’re not actually talking with each other generation to generation. We’re either not talking at all. We know the numbers are talking, that we don’t even talk or we text or we communicate through technology, which does not develop a relationship. So we have to purposely decide we have a mission, we have a message if we’re a believer. Number two, we have to think generationally. It’s selfish to say, oh, well, I don’t care about that younger generation. I’m not going to be around anyways. That’s pure selfish. That is terrible. We’re going to have to answer to God before that.

Sam Rohrer:       So we have to determine, no, as long as God gives me breath, I’m going to reach out, I’m going to give out, I’m going to serve. That was the very nature of Christ that has to happen. But I also think young people listening, younger generation, I have talked to many younger generations or twenties and that kind of thing who are thinking, I would like to do something. I wish the older folks would talk to me. Well, I’m tell them, well, when’s the last time you went and actually said, can I sit down and talk with you, Mr. So-and-so or whatever. It goes both ways. So there’s a need I think of which all agree, but it needs to be initiated by the older. They have something to say, mission, the message and the younger also being unsatisfied, dissatisfied with what the world’s giving them. And so many are. They bear some responsibility too to initiate a dialogue, a discussion with those who were older. So that’s just a couple of things. But our church ought to encourage these kinds of relationships and interactions at every possible way.

Isaac Crockett:   I think that’s great, Sam, and you’ve pointed out how to do that in a very helpful way. Let’s get to this heart of this issue of caring about what’s going on. I think we have this pendulum where we either care too much. Matthew four, Jesus tells the parable of the sowing of the word of God, and it lands on different soils and the cares of this world choke out the word of God, and throughout the Bible says, cast your anxieties, cast your cares to Jesus. But we can see things and care in a human way that is not helpful, where we get worried and overworked about it. And that’s one side of the pendulum. Or it could go kind of to the other side, which is like, oh, who even cares? Like you said, who cares about those young people? They’re not my responsibility. They got to figure it out, and I’m just going to be over here and be glad that I have it better than them. Or however you don’t want to think of it. How can we have a balance there where we can care about the people, the souls of people around us, and the direction that our country is headed in. It can concern us and we can take it to the Lord in prayer, but at the same time, not letting fear overtake us. What’s that biblical balance as we close the program here?

Sam Rohrer:       I think Isaac, it’s just doing what we’re told in scripture. Make sure our priorities are right, our vertical relationship. If we’re believers, that’s who we’re talking to right now. Make sure your vertical relationship with the Lord is right. Now, what do we even mean by that? Make sure you’re not carrying around bitterness, that you’re not carrying around idolatry in your heart by being addicted to something that you can’t give up. That’s idolatry. Make sure that you don’t have broken relationships with other people. If you do, your prayers aren’t even answered. So our vertical relationship must be right, Isaac, because unless that is right, the horizontal relationships that we’re talking about right now will never happen. Job was perfect right before God, and he was upright, meaning he was right before those around him. It has to be in that order. So that’s what I would say. Make sure that is correct. Then when that’s incorrect, then our priorities will be right. We will seek first the kingdom of heaven. We will seek those things which are above. We will be more concerned about laying up treasure in heaven than here on Earth. Once those things are established, Isaac, then these relationships, I’m telling you, they will happen. They will happen.

Isaac Crockett:   Amen. That is so good. It’s so encouraging, Sam, I think in closing in that way, just to encourage all of you take these things to the Lord in prayer, take that to heart and maybe spend the next few minutes right now if you can, or soon after to pray for our country to pray for the young people in your life. And please keep praying for us here at Stand in the Gap Media and the American Pastors Network. We’re so thankful that you’re listening to us and that you’re praying for us, and I hope that you will decide to stand in the gap for the Lord wherever you are today.