Be a Bold Witness for Christ

Working their lines and even their trombones and let them forget their Bible.

There is a October 7 is bring your bike across the nation and encourage your kids to carry their Bible and empower them with Joshua 19 them to let God's word honored held and heard and never forgotten your voice heard.

Sign up for your Bible.

Okay, first of all this important to recognize this. You don't have to bring your Bible to school in order to live out your faithful because God's word is hidden in your heart but if you choose to express your faith by bringing it just realize that you are representing Christ and everything that you do so. The Bible should remind you that you are called to love your loving forgive those who sin against you, and even pray for your that is John Cooper he's the lead singer-songwriter in a rock band skillet today on Focus on the Family jungle described his passion for God's word and the importance of sharing godly truth with others. Thanks for joining us your hostess focus president and author Jim Daly and on John Fuller John Cooper is a wonderful advocate for Christ be so bold in his faith, and a great role model for all of us about how to speak the truth in love. In today's culture is a blogger and author who is willing to challenge cultural trends and worldviews that run contrary to the Bible. What were about to hear the conversation that you, John recorded with John Cooper about his book awake and alive to truth. Finding truth in the chaos of a relativistic world.

I was away from the office at the time and I'm a little jealous that you were able to do the interview John but on your own.

Well, I enjoyed hanging out with John. He is a super nice guy and great heart. We should mention Jim as a ministry were really thrilled that John Cooper is partnering with focus as a spokesperson for our bring your Bible to school campaign this year in October yeah bring your Bible school is a nationwide student led movement where kids of all ages grade school through college and express their faith by literally carrying their Bibles to school.

They can encourage their classmates with the gospel and celebrate the religious freedoms we all have to be public witnesses for Christ that were about a month away from bring your Bible school day on October 7 so please encourage your kids to sign up and participate in this wonderful event. Get all the details on our website. The links are in the episode, notes, and Jim, here's how I with John Cooper and John were so glad to have you here in Focus on the Family and reached out to us and expressed support for bring your Bible to school a couple of years ago and you've done some videos for us to help promote bring your Bible school.

What drew your interest toward that day that we celebrate. Bring your Bible to school, yes I did. I love bring your Bible to school.

I'm quite passionate about it.

I like hopefully a lot of people listening and not ashamed of the gospel of Christ is the power of God for salvation for all who believe. What I imagine is an army of young people so passionate about the word of God that they not only carry their Bibles where they go, but they read their Bibles.

They believe that the Bible is the foundation of all truth. And so I'm kinda quite passionate about telling young people hey you live in a you live in a time when people are not shy about saying what they believe. In fact, whatever school you go to your probably being taught things that we as Christians would find it offensive. The world is not shy about saying who they are and what they believe.

So why should we be shy about the words of life. So I'm very passionate about. Bring your Bible to school. I think it's a fantastic program so I love that there is that element of we are ambassadors of Christ, is the element of accountability on just a fan. So here we are.

Yeah like fresh and that so tell your kids that we believe the Bible is the authoritative word of God. It's true truth how to share that conviction with your kids in a world that entirely dismisses it seems the Scripture and let people in the church don't even believe the Bible is authoritatively true. That's crazy isn't it. The lesson you just said what are you believing in a God what his word is authoritatively true. But you're right, you have the statistics on. I think the statistics I sent him the millennial generation is something like 3% of professing millennial Christians 3% believe in objective truth and I found that statistic just bewildering. No, I think I'm really a product of great great pastors. I'm am so thankful for my pastors my elders like church leaders ever since I was in college and even before then we may get into talking about my mom. My mom was kind of that will yet a pillar in my house of of the spiritual bill if you but I'm a product of so many great pastors and I learned this amazing things I'd like to share for my pastor right when I was, not to have my child, my first child and he just said John you need understand that training your children.

In truth, that's not my job.

That's what he said that's not my job. That's not a school's job. That's not some preacher on TV's job.

That is your job as the man of the household.

That is the parent's job to train your children and I realize, I guess. I think I think that was the church's job. Send my kids to Sunday school to vacation Bible school or whatever programs were doing which of course are our wonderful programs, but I hadn't quite thought about the fact that I need to be the teacher in the house and so I think for me.

We began this sort of a very intentional Bible training. You know when my kids were really really small and I love to say this because it wasn't my idea. It was my pastors think that I saw the truth of it and then we get to live in the blessing of that of training our children so we would pray with the kids would read the Bible to the kids. We explain deep theological concepts and really simple ways to our children and we would worship together and so I think having that realizing that you lesson your kids off to school for the school to teach them whatever you quote truth that's in dreaded air quotes. It gets a brief quote truth, whatever truth the schools teaching them.

None of the kids know where the foundation of truth is, and that lies in the word of God and so we would just try to everyday show small sometimes sometimes insignificant. Examples of why that is but those insignificant things became very important lifelong yeah little things add up in your modeling your daily conviction you're showing that truth is real in your life that does go to your kids. That's where we have to be intentional as parents. So John relativism is really the religion of the day right of minutes. Whatever is so talk to let whoever talk or give a little more rounded definition of relativism and why that is something that we want to help her kids avoid yes I you know I think you just said the best definition of ever heard of relativism. Whatever, it's true, you know, I do think is important and I know some people listen might be like Mama talking about relativism again or truth again and but the culture at large today does not believe in objective truth and as you just said a lot of Christians don't believe in objective truth and so relativism is basically an offshoot of postmodernism that says that there's no objective truth and that means there's no objective reality. So, relative truth is basically whatever I believe within myself. I don't need God. I don't need anything external. All I need to do is look inside my heart be my truest self my authentic self, my truth that that's where those things come from, and so imagine being a kid. Imagine being a teenager raise in a society that believes the truth is to be found within your heart, with no external influence at all and feeling that chaos being thrown on the waves day after day after day and knowing that whatever you're told. You have to believe now it might be considered heresy. Tomorrow I get you canceled tomorrow might lose make you lose friends. Tomorrow they are feeling that pressure and it is causing this incredible anxiety young people in which it should because it's chaos yet. You kinda came face-to-face with challenge yourself in the band, you were told by a record executive did not talk so much about Jesus explain what that was about and and how that impacted her right yes it that is true. It was a record executive, but if someone in the business and this is so important for the trajectory of why I'm here today talking to you, actually, because this conversation really opened my eyes to something and it was basically after get where hauteur was the mainstream acts very popular asked. We were opening and we were just beginning to kinda hit a little bit but yeah this guy in his defense, he was being very nice and when he singled me out.

He pulled me aside to John. I want to tell you this because no one else is going to tell you you guys. I believe could be the biggest band in the world. I think you could be the next biggest band of the world you guys have the look you got the sound you got girls in your band. Everybody's looking for girls as girl power time ride and you guys also sing about very spiritual things, and now people releases 2010 1112 if you remember the self-help movement was just becoming really in style. So all this is happening any sand people really want spiritual music and you've already got it you been doing it and he said so it's your time, but you've got to disassociate from Christianity, you've got to stop talking about Jesus so much don't do Christian interviews don't do Christian music festivals. If people ask you what your songs about not telling you to lie, just don't offer up the information about Jesus and then he said something else and this is what got me and this is what I think is interesting, he said, but John think about the good you could do for your faith if you got rich and famous.

Think about what you could do for Jesus. If you stop talking about Jesus and that was a turning point in my career because there was a little bit of truth in what he was saying just like there's a little bit of truth of what the serpent was saying believe right asking the same thing yeah and I thought you know what something is changing in the way that the world is viewing truth in the way that we are meant beginning to manipulate things in order to reach a desired outcome, and I went to the bus.

I told my wife about the conversation we prayed about it and it was instant almost instantaneous. I know that that is not the Lord. I know that that is not the Lord, and if this is going to be the new the new world. The new culture the new way that people are, you know, trying to kind of steer Christians into a new kind of activism into Christianity that is void of the actual gospel of Christ.

I know that I need to be vocal against that move and so he was trying to help me try to get me to be quiet and it had the opposite effect.

Well, I know that his heart was to help you. Yes, I didn't really feel like it was helping that and so were talking today on Focus on the Family to John L. Cooper he's written a book awake and alive to truth. It's about his faith journey.

It's full of really rich deep stuff and so a get a copy from us here at Focus on the Family be encouraged by what John is sharing find some inner conviction from his stories and the truth that he speaks about here I get your copy from us today.

All the details are in the episode notes will John S appreciate the passion from which you speak.

And as we talked about beforehand. I've seen references in this book to books that I written seminary so yeah for you for going deep on this stuff.

Let's rollback you had a really you mentioned that your mom was the key person in your spiritual formation share a little bit about her and tells that story. Yes, my mom, you know I love talking about my mom.

My mom was a Jesus freak.

That's really the only word I can use to describe it.

I think most people these days know what a Jesus freak is right fanatical about Jesus. My mom would I mean ever since I can remember from being too three years old. I remember my mom walking up to people to grocery store can't tell you about Jesus you know strangers, I feel like there's something I need to pray for you about. Is there anything you let me to pray for and I had the benefit of memorizing Scripture from the time I was just a kid.

I mean three years old.

I had an older brother and he was four years older than the end. So before school he went to school every day I would sit at the table with my mom and my older brother, my mom would read Bible stories. We would breed a proverb a day, and we would have to memorize Scripture. We get to pray and and those things stuck with me my whole life and so I can never remember a time when I when I disbelieved in God. I can't remember a time when I doubted that he was real and I really just think that's from a mom that prayed was diligent and I came alike to Christ. When I was five years old. I was in my room.

I was alone. This is the rather dramatic spiritual encounter was kinda quite be a dramatic and you know I sometimes basically short version. There's a longer version of the book but short version is just that I just had a sense of someone in my room and I had a sense in my head of the words came into my head.

Not audibly. You need to give your heart to Jesus, and of course I knew Jesus when Jesus died for me.

I knew that I was a sinner. I knew all these things for my mom's teaching, but so I just in my bedroom. I just said okay Jesus I give my heart to you and that I remember thinking that doesn't feel like enough is happened for how real the moment and as River saying Jesus you're my boss and that was in a word that my peers use use because I'm the boss.

My peers used to use that word and I just realized Jesus is my boss and in the end, I wrote about getting the end that's actually a childlike deep theology of the Lordship of Christ. That's what he is. He's the boss what Christ says is true, what Christ says is reality what Christ says it you do it because it's right.

You get yourself in line with the word of God and so he became a boss as as a kid and he he's never let me down now. Well yeah, despite what you just said there is never let you down. Your life has not been without pain.

Yes, and you lost your mom when she and you were both pretty young. If I'm not mistaken yeah yeah my mom was very young. She probably is about 35 she got cancer when I was in sixth grade. But what I remember of my mom's last three years of life was just brutal chemo. Her being sick constantly sick and obviously lose you know she lost her hair but she she has shriveled down to this 95 pound you know it was such a horrible experience. It was a terrible. It was a terrible thing to be in a house with someone who's dying in it something that you never forget, but my mom never ever stopped talking about the goodness of God.

Never stop talking about. I know that all things work together for the good of those who love Christ according to his purpose. Never stop talking about it and she was just drill it into me. If I do die, you cannot be mad at God because God is always good and that became a that became a foundational truth in my life that saved me from so many so many things yeah well of course she didn't die yet, and despite her charge not to get angry at God. Did you mean that I can only imagine the loss. I can't say that I've experienced that. So did you get mad at God. I would say this, I think in general I did not get mad at God. I think I handled it pretty well but I did have a very dark period in which I was just angry at the world. I don't think I was angry God had a pretty good understanding that God was good that God was in control. What happened for me to be honest was you afterwards my dad got remarried a couple months after my mom died and my stepmother. Her husband died only a few months prior to my mom's death so this is a recipe for disaster. And obviously you're dealing like a seven adult now. I'm a dad now and I look back at that I go. I can imagine what my dad was going through the time you might, out of alignment 38 years old, lost his wife with three boys didn't know what to do. So it was just a bad situation and I would have this anger that would come in love.

No one knows what I'm going through.

Nobody understands and I'm praying but I don't feel any better, I still believe the Bible, but I don't feel any better, and that led to what also became an amazing encounter in my life alone at night and I said to God, it's like I just don't think you're listening to me.

I know you hear me, but I don't think you're listening to me.

Nothing is changing and I'm so angry.

Not you, I'm just angry and I remember praying and I said I know that you're my Lord, I know that you're my Savior you're my boss you're my boss if you will, but would it be okay I got most of it on top of this, would it be okay if I could know you as a friend and again. This voice came in my head and said not just a friend a daddy and that it wrecked me.

It wrecked me so much and all the sudden the Bible verses started coming back to me. The Christ is a friend of sinners that we cry, Abba father. Yes, daddy, father and all the sudden the Scriptures come back to Mystic. What is wrong with me. How can I forget that God is never left me that he is a father that he is a friend of sinners.

He is a father to the fatherless. The Bible says it was the moment was great, but it was reminding myself of the word over and over, and then and I knows good be remarkable to some people within five or six years of that it began to be not just that I was fine with it. It began to be a celebration and I know it sounds crazy to some people who are suffering people listening right now saying I don't think I can ever celebrate the things I suffered, I hear you, but with Christ you can I begin to celebrate the things that happen in my life because I know that God uses them to glorify himself and I know that God uses them in order to make me more Christlike and that once a celebration comes all that's just such a beautiful SP's that's worship to me. You mentioned earlier John, how you and your wife Cory right now yes is what are you all have incorporated really regular traditions and patterns in your home around the Bible around worship help the parent who sand. I like it but I'm I'm not that, but I hear what John is saying. So where do I start wearing I like talking a good book or would like to write great great question. The first thing I would say is this, I want to make sure that everybody hears me again.

I did not do this perfectly, and I wish I could go back and do it better to be honest, but it did transform my life and how can I tell you what I was taught for my pastor and just kind of pass it down and I'm related to this unrelated to working out okay. All right. I love what a lot of people don't like to do so that's it is now as I write, you have the kind of people. This is going to make some people left some of the dads out there or is are you laughing some of the moms listening right now are going to laugh because this is your husband a lot of dudes are like. If I can't work out for two hours a day, then I can work out all that is that feeling write that on do this. It's full on P90 X, no sugar, no carbs and you know and if not there like I was the point, but in reality most all trainers will tell you you need to work out two hours a day.

If all you do is jog for 10 minutes a day, then do that it's going the long term effect is much better than you going crazy like a workout animal for two months straight and then falling off the wagon and eating pizza and ice cream for every meal. Everybody knows that spiritual things that are the same way you don't have to be a genius. You have to understand deep theology of the Bible. All that we did was I went and bought a worship CD and now you going to buy worship cities is on spot a fire or wherever, and literally all that I would do is I would turn on some sort of worship song I don't care what genre it is you choose your genre okay and that my kids will come together and I would say hey for the next 10 minutes, 10 minutes were going to sing songs to Jesus. That's organ to do and were not gonna call her during you know you can put your coloring book down because you're going to give honor to God when we sing to him is only 10 minutes and then I would it sometimes I would pause the CD and I'll explain what the song means you know to me. What does this song mean and one of the greatest moments we are singing.

I don't member what song it might've been even an old like GE's societal or you may been that one. Which is a really old and I yeah you're making me feel a little over I made my life easy for you. I remember talking to my four-year-old daughter.

Do you know what the word adore means you just pause you what it means to adore.

Like she's like I think it just means like you know love enlightenment, so I'm explaining to her in this idea just comes in my head and I said do you remember when you lost your care bear.

She had these care bears and she had like to set and that once pink and purple and green and she lost the pink one and she was going into a full on life will never be the same because I was crazy. She has to have an acid. You remember that you knew you. You adore this care bear you like it more than anything else that you loaned you Fino, that is what it means to adore something and so I explained to my daughter. That's the way that we are supposed to adore Jesus. His love is better than life. The Bible says so.

I just explain that to her and that I said so now we sing the song I want you to sing the song to Jesus and so we sing it at the end is just 10 minutes of worship. I say now to pray together. Now you have to pray and my daughter is one of the most awesome moments of my entire life. My four-year-old daughter is like praying. She's like do you Jesus, I love you and I adore you. You are better than care bear and I was like you know a lot that is one of the best moments of my whole life so heartfelt prayer. That's what it is and the truth is is you know, here I am an adult, do I love Christ more than whatever my care bear is do I love Jesus more than the Green Bay Packers. You know, or whatever your pet thing is that you love is it actually under the Lordship of Christ or do we sometimes love it more than Jesus. It was a meaningful moment, so I really want to encourage parents, you don't have to go absolutely crazy in this. There are some fantastic materials you guys know I love the millionaire website that I've just found my kids have loved reading as a family. You read for five minutes you discussed it for five minutes you sing to Jesus for five minutes. Last thing I want to say specially to the dues listen to all the men listening. It is so very important that your kids here you pray, you know some deadheads are worse embarrassment on my hears.

Pray that I can't do any lofty prayer and so it's that all or nothing, that's all right. Your kids need to hear you pray to Jesus and they need to hear you express love for God and they need to hear you sing to your Savior. That's a beautiful thing.

So don't be embarrassed. Don't be ashamed and that you will be amazed it'll take you like seven days seven days.

Your kids will be they will just be changed from it in our kids change really quickly. It doesn't take all that much that that's been my experience anyway. Such a great conversation with John Cooper, who leads the Christian rock band skillet and as we mentioned John also agreed to be the spokesperson for Focus on the Family's bring your Bible to school campaign that's coming up next month on October 7 yes and we hope your kids will participate this year. Bring your Bible to school is a great way for children to be bold in their faith and share God's love and truth within their sphere of influence, and you know this program isn't just for kids. We've developed some incredible discipleship and spiritual growth opportunities for the whole family in our live at challenges that we post on our website every month. These challenges encourage you and your children to dig into God's word.

To learn more about serving others the power of encouragement and why being pro-life is a good thing.

So I urge you to check it out.

Bring your Bible school day is Sunday, October 7. John, as you said in our monthly limit challenges are ongoing throughout the year. You'll find details in the episode notes or call 800 the letter a in the word family and as we close today. I'd like to invite you to come into ministry with us a monthly pledge to Focus on the Family is a great way to do that regular gift each month helps us stabilize her budget and allows us to better plan for ministry growth and outreach in the days ahead in a course we know pledge may be more than you can do right now. One time gift helps to and allow me to say thank you for your generosity by sending you a copy of John Cooper's book awake and alive to truth as our way of saying thank you can donate by calling 880 family organ. Click the link in the episode notes on behalf of Jim Daly in the entire team here. Thanks for joining us today for Focus on the Family I'm John Fuller inviting you back. As we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ find fun for your kids. Just a click away seeing the adventures in Odyssey club 8 to 12-year-old can find trusted faith building entertainment and a safe online club features almost every episode ever plus special monthly club only episodes in content and Focus on the Family clubhouse magazine subscription.

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