In this week's episode to end the Month of Awareness Series: Social Media Predators "Follow Up Questions: Q&A" according to God’s Word. Scriptures: 1 Timothy 3:1-7
Teen Bible Study Taught 'N Ten Minutes
Month of Awareness: Social Media Predators (Follow Up Questions: Q&A)
"Yeah, come on, it's like that, it's like that." Hello and welcome to my young loyal listeners of Teen Bible Study Talk in 10 minutes. So what do you know? Word on the go. This podcast is brought to you by and produced by Real Time with the Bennet, where real talk happens all the time. I'm your host, Minister Bennet of today's episode, and my co-host is the lovely sister Bennet as my husband affectionately calls me. Thank you for allowing and trusting us to be a part of your Christian walk. This week's episode, we will be discussing the end of the month of Awareness Series, the follow-up questions, according to God's Word. We are back live in a P&T podcast studio with another great lesson for another great week. Oh wait, now we're not going to jump right into another actual Bible Study lesson this week. We will pick up Hebrews too, so we do want you to read ahead because that's what we're going to pick up on next week, because we have a lot of questions and comments and attaboys that came in after our powerful, powerful month of awareness, social media predators. So we want to address those questions and those concerns, and then we're going to jump into our regular Bible Study next week, so kick it off, sister Bennet. All right, so like Minister Bennet said, we had a few that came in, so we're just going to take a couple of them and just read, well, we'll see how it goes. But at any rate, Sean from Pensacola wrote in and he said, thank you for the topics that were discussed in your August Awareness Month series. I really enjoyed and learned a lot. One thing that you said really hit home and you talked about it in close encounters of the worst kind, I've been feeling very uncomfortable around a leader in my church. They say things that make me cringe and a little afraid. I talked to a friend and they felt the same way. My parents are close to this leader, so I can't tell them it's getting really bad because they are becoming more and more bolder with their words and actions. Can you give any kind of advice? I was thinking of slipping a note under the pastor's door, remaining anonymous. Hey, Sean, I'm really, really sorry to hear about that. Wow, that's a tough situation. I must say you've handed it well thus far. Wait a minute. You should not be living, worshiping, or healing situations like that in the House of God. Let me allow God's word to speak before I say anything further on this because you know how I love to let God work speak for itself. First Timothy 3, 1 through 7, yes, I gotta read it all. Here's a trustworthy saying, "Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. That overseer, basically leader, is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-control, respectable, hospitable, and able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church? He must not also be a recent convert. He may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders so that he will not fall into the disgrace and into the devil's trap. Now in this verse of scripture, yes, I read a lot. A leader is the same thing as an overseer. So here's the thing, you are not truly an outsider, but in this case, he has to have a good reputation with you because you're technically an outsider in this verse here. This what I would say, "Speak with your parents as soon as possible. That's what you should do. This is nothing to be played with, this is your life and you shouldn't have to live it like this. Your parents will take the lead on any communication with the pastor. All that you must be ready to do, and I'm pretty sure he will, he will want to speak with you. Just be open and honest about the situation and how you feel in your observations. All church leaders, as I said, are accountable to God no matter where they are in leadership. We will continue to pray God's protection over your life because you matter to us and you matter to God. Amen. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And remember, with you taking that step, you may be saving other youth or other teens that may be going through the same thing, so do not be afraid to confront this. All right. So next we have an email from concerned parents in New Orleans. They wrote, "We listen to all of the teachings for the month of August and I want to thank you. As parents, we sometimes get wrapped up in our own life issues that we can neglect our children, especially when we feel they are responsible enough and seem like they are doing okay. After listening to dangers of an online stranger, I began to pay a closer attention to my children's screen time. I noticed in some of their chats some of those acronyms that you gave in that podcast. I was floored when I saw the acronym L-M-I-R-L, meaning let's meet in real life. I shared what I had learned with my husband and we sat down with our children because one will cover for the other and think it's okay. But we sat down and we shared real life examples of people getting hurt or worse because they have met a stranger online in person, and they were not who they portrayed themselves to be. Thank you again for opening our eyes as parents to look for different signs and changes within our children, and thanks for helping us to keep them safe. Yeah, as parents, you have a responsibility to be vigilant, and we are only here as an instrument to be used by God to provide, to convey, and to provide and to share information with you guys from a spiritual perspective on how to protect your children and your family. All right, and lastly, we have Mandy from Atlanta. She wrote in and she said, "I'm a 16-year-old girl and I have a 15-year-old brother. We listened to your podcast together and wanted to thank you. My brother normally doesn't walk with me after school. He is normally hanging with his friends far behind me, but what I didn't know was that he was keeping a close eye on me. One day I was walking home and a car stopped and wanted directions and wanted me to get in the car and show him. Well, I knew enough not to get in the car. I was standing far back from the car, but my brother and his friends ran up to me, snapped a picture of the tag and the man who was trying to lure me. My parents called the police and we found out later that the man had been seen in the neighborhood on numerous occasions. I thank God for my brother, but my question is, in the podcast you did, called Somebody's Watching Me, how can those who don't have anyone to watch their back know if someone is watching them or stalking them?" Hey, Mandy from Atlanta. By the way, Atlanta has a special place for me, I have a lot of family members down there, me and the missus. We do visit Atlanta from time to time, so shout out to you from Atlanta. Hey, that is serious business there, and thank God, and I truly mean that in the real sense of the word, we thank God that you do have a brother or someone that can watch your back. But your question is more about what about those people who don't have anyone to watch their back? Well, I would start by saying, "Hey, we should all be vigilant and we should all be watchful and prayer, and in prayer at all times," because through the Spirit, we can hear the word of God or the Spirit unctioned us that, "Hey, someone is driving up, someone is watching, someone is around the corner, and we need to be sensitive to the Spirit when those things are being said to us through the Spirit." You know, it's unfortunate that everyone doesn't have someone like your brother, but there are other things that you can do. You can vary your route, and I'm not saying we're not recommending you get off the main road, but maybe you slow down, maybe you speed up the time you leave from school, whatever it may be. But if you can't do those things, have a real conversation with your parents, have a conversation with your school, and if you see that car enough or that person enough and they seem to be lingering like they're waiting on you, maybe even have your purse reach out to the local authorities, you know, to have a patrol car that patrols that area during the time you're walking home. There are things that you can do to keep yourself safe. Don't try to be a hero, don't try to be a detective, don't try to be a child detective, don't try to take down the serial number, the tag and the time and, you know, that's doing way too much. Be a kid and let the adults handle what the adults should handle. Enjoy your life as a child and as a child of God. And with that, you know, like we said, we want to keep this one light before we jump into another series because we did have some questions and some concerns and some thoughts and some attaboys, and we truly appreciate the attaboys too, so thank you and let us know that we are here from the spirit of God and we're on the right track. So we ask that as we pray for you, you continue to pray for us here at the PNT podcast studio that we will go forth and prosper and do all that God has called us to do. So we thank you again for being our young loyal listeners. Yes. Thank you, young loyal listeners. And until next week, in summary, the importance of knowing that you can ask God anything and I mean anything, he is faithful to answer you. I will close with this quote, don't ask God questions for information, ask him for revelation, Stephen Furtik. As always, please don't forget to subscribe and share so that you and your friends will get all future notifications when new and exciting episodes are uploaded and posted. Until next time, stay safe and live a life wholly and acceptable to God after all its sure-asable service. With a special thank you to LJ Productions for host productions editing techniques that was used for this podcast. This podcast was sponsored by the Body of Christ Church in Waldorf, Maryland, past a clean and fee student, each Christian education ministry, and association with real time with the Bennett. The real talk, what? You got it. Happens all the time. Yeah. It's like that.