 some men live their whole lives never realizing that they've fallen into a trap pitfalls are all around you and if you're not taking intentional steps to combat what the world is offering up you're going to miss out on the mission that god has for you today i'm going to share with you three things that are destroying men and how we can combat them in our lives lack of motivation and purpose there are no jobs there's no affordable places to live the world is getting over populated the world is heating up and it won't last that much longer a lot of people buy into this pessimistic nihilism and adopt the mantra that nothing matters while this mantra might alleviate some of the pressure and stress that we feel from the culture it by no means is a remedy to this internal tension that we feel life does matter and men have an important role to play we need to realize that the solution is not to escape the world but rather to begin to build my encouragement to you is to begin to develop skills and give all the glory to god build something meaningful a company a family a community a church remember meaningful things take time things that are made in an instant fade in an instant but things that are forged in fire last a lifetime we need to realize that there is hope that that hope is not found in us but rather the savior of the world who has already claimed victory maybe you've let this hopelessness draw you into a state where you don't even want to get out of bed but i want to call you back into the game there's so much left to do and there's so much that god wants to do through you here are some practical steps for us to find purpose and motivation write out all the skills you have write out all the opportunities that are available to you and write out all the passions that you have i want you to begin to process your next move if you're having a hard time writing down what you're passionate about begin to pursue one of the opportunities that is available to you experiencing different things is hopefully gonna spark that new passion in you let's say you have the opportunity to learn woodworking from your uncle you're pretty picky and you're not super thrilled about the idea but hey you don't have that many passions so why not take him up on it you may at the end of the whole experiment figure out that you really do like woodworking and this could be a future passion or maybe even career-free but you could also figure out that it's not for you and that's the whole point you want to take the opportunities that god has given you to figure out where your passions actually do lie if you never try anything new you'll never know if you're having a hard time writing down the skills that you have i want you to pursue something that you're passionate about and become a ferocious learner let's say you're really interested in making youtube videos but you don't have any experience with a camera or editing let that hunger lead you to learn don't wait for other people there's plenty of opportunities to learn online and if god has given you this passion for something worthwhile then pursue it if you're having a hard time thinking of the opportunities that you have think again because often the problem isn't that we don't have opportunities it's that we think that we're above the opportunities that are in front of us we need a mental shift here look god wants to use you in your community in your family in your church but sometimes we need to humble ourselves to receive the opportunity that he has given us for me this was humbling myself to make youtube videos that nobody watched i had the passion to make christ-centered social media content but i didn't want to experience the embarrassment or humiliation that i thought would come from a video that only got 30 views but i realized if i wanted to make a meaningful impact in people's lives and serve god faithfully i needed to humble myself and receive the opportunity that god gave me and pursue it faithfully i didn't deserve an opportunity that was more flashy in fact i didn't deserve for god to use me at all and it humbles me to this day that god uses anything that i do for his glory i could honestly say so much more about passion purpose and motivation but that's all for now if you want to go deeper on this topic i encourage you to pick up my book a letter to my father what your son wants to tell you but doesn't the book verbalizes many of the struggles questions and doubts that young men experience and engages with fathers to get off the sidelines and make a meaningful impact in their son's lives whether you're a father or son i think you're gonna get a lot from this book link in my bio to pick up the book and it's free shipping now on to the next one over sexualization porn has a way of finding you whether it was a friend that brought it up on his phone or a google search that piqued your curiosity maybe you were never looking for it but it found you you hear jokes your friends say everybody watches it it's no big deal and yet you feel guilty every time you watch it porn presents itself as pleasure on demand but then it starts making demands of us it wants your weekends your evenings and even your relationships start to take a back seat and all the while is perverting your perspective of women god created us to be protectors of women but we have become the virtual pimps and it doesn't shut off when you leave the screen sexually perverted thoughts crowd your mind as you're trying to have a normal conversation porn taught you that girls are things to be used not people to be loved many men never grow out of this in fact they brag about their own sexual perversion these are not men these are boys with all my heart i plead with you whatever it takes get away from pornography it will ruin your life step into the man that god created you to be a man who values and respects women who loves them a man that can control his own sexual urges and doesn't let them consume his life if you think you're already addicted after this video i want you to watch this video up here it'll help you quit porn unfortunately for those who have broken the shackles of pornography in their life they've still experienced a tremendous pressure of our over sexualized culture movies tv music all teach us that life is about having sex with as many beautiful women as possible it's a lie you're not missing out by not watching pornography you're not missing out by saving yourself for marriage you're not missing out these pursuits will not satisfy those deep longings in our soul for healthy sexuality and intimacy if you've fallen into porn or sex outside of marriage i don't want you to think that there's no hope for you we follow the author of redemption and through him we are made clean and called to walk in newness of life you are not a less than christian regardless of your past make it your ambition to disconnect from sexualized media at whatever cost it is not good for your soul ask god to cleanse your heart and your mind from those images that have planted themselves in you the battle over sexual temptation is daily but we have access to a victorious god who grants us his power and presence in our life to overcome temptation lack of grounded confidence have you ever met the guy that's just overflowing with confidence but as he talks and talks it crosses the line from just secure confidence into boastful pride or maybe on the other end of the spectrum you've met the guy that's always throwing himself a pity party he only utilizes self deprecating jokes and he always passes up on opportunities because there's always somebody else better suited for the responsibility which one of these people do you most identify with i think for most of us guys we see ourselves a little bit in each of the guys at different points in our lives two ditches that we often as guys get pulled into pride and insecurity we know what god says about the prideful god detests all proud of heart pride is placing total confidence in ourselves to be successful grounded confidence which is what i'm encouraging here is a security that is grounded in god's ability to work through us for his glory and our good let's talk about the other end of the spectrum insecurity what does our insecurity say about god we're saying that what god created actually wasn't very good and that he hasn't equipped us with what we need to pursue him courageously perhaps you've bought into the lie that insecurity is the same thing as humility they are not humility is thinking of ourselves less and understanding our position before god the gospel message ought to humble us the fact that we were dead in our trespasses and sins but god made us alive again through his sacrifice on the cross that we did not deserve it should drive us into humility and gratitude and thankfulness not self pity and insecurity for we are his workmanship created in christ jesus for good works which god prepared beforehand that we should walk in them god has prepared you now walk in his way that's definitely easier said than done we can't just flip a switch and all of a sudden stop being insecure some of us have had words that were spoken over us that left lasting impressions those wounds can last a lifetime maybe was a teacher or a parent or maybe a pastor that spoke words over you that have left wounds but i want you to take the power back their words were not final god gets the final say on who you are you are his son you are a new creation you are his workmanship you are forgiven you are delighted in let those words penetrate your soul and draw you out of insecurity into a grounded confidence in him and who he is making you to be thank you so much for watching this video if you got something from it i encourage you to subscribe because i'm putting out new videos all the time a huge shout out to everyone on patreon i can't thank you guys enough you enable me to continue to make content to help people follow jesus daily if you want to support what i'm doing here head to the link in my bio and sign up for patreon today would be a humongous blessing thanks again guys and i'll see you next time god bless