Introduction
Yunek speaks on what it means to Straddle the Fence and encourages the attendees to chose to be "hot or cold" and refrain from living a "lukewarm lifestyle" which the Bible says is disgusting to God.
Video
Because I thought I wanted to be behind the scenes, whereas I thought I was going to be doing social work and all these other things god saw something different from me.
He saw me right here with you all talking about straddling, the fence, dancing and having fun giving all glory to god.
So I give that all to him y'all that's enough, right there to just praise god, because I too know where I could have been, um, first of all.
The performance was amazing.
It really ministered to me straddling.
The fence an example in my life would be my tongue, um, I think I really really struggled with profanity and just, um negative criticism, not just to myself, but thinking it was funny to criticize other people or to put them down or to make jokes and straddling.
The fence was when god convicted me, you know, and james it talks about watching your tongue.
And if you think that you're religious, but you can't contain your tongue, you know, then that means absolutely nothing.
And when I started to get the word and hear about the different things that my tongue has the power to do, um, god, just told me that I I need to take more ownership over what comes out of my mouth.
So I can no longer straddle the fence and think that it's okay to talk a certain way in front of one person and then still come to church and praise god, that's, not okay.
That's straddling.
The fence I need to be consistent 100 all the time and understand that the power of life and death is in my tongue and everything that I say, uh needs to give him glory.
So I can't straddle the fence and you can't, you know, I linked up with some people who didn't have my best interests at heart made some bad decisions.
And we do all those choices.
I made them like right around y'all's age, I'm in high school right around in high school ages.
When I just started to get caught up caught up in all kinds of things because I wanted to live for myself.
I wanted to do what I wanted to do.
You know, whether it made sense or didn't make sense just I wanted to do what I wanted to do.
And I was raised in the church from a little girl.
My mom, my dad, they taught me, what was right? They taught me what was wrong? I knew what sin was.
I knew who god to me.
I was y'all, you know, my way of straddling, even though I knew what was right? I still did it what a straddling offense me.
I need at least two to three people to just raise your hand and shout it out don't.
Shout it out raise your hand and say, what straddle the defense is today? Yo, this is davin baptiste from the takeover.
Aka hit us up with www.takeoveryouth.com.
Yo, um.
The straddle defense song was bananas.
It was a time when I was straddling the fence, but then james says, yo, a double-minded man would be tossed back and forth like the seas.
You know, what I'm saying like I'm trying to trying to get money on one end and try to serve god on the other end.
And it was what once I decided to be on one side with this guy's side, everything worked out so don't, straddle, the fence because you'll be double mined and you'll always be going back and forth take over all right.
So you want it hot.
And you dare somebody to come give you some cold soup because you might lose your fruit and go off on them.
You know, you might lose it, but they give you this lukewarm soup and it's like okay, it's not cold.
But why are you giving me this lukewarm soup because soup is supposed to be hot.
So it's like it's, not hot it's, not cold it's, lukewarm, it's, just like this me straddling.
The fence means to not totally have your mind made up of what you want to do.
I mean, you're out somewhere on saturday.
And then come here on sunday.
You need to learn what you want to do and make your mind either you're going it's, not right, it's, not wrong it's like this big question mark.
And I don't know, it's just right there in the middle it's confusion, that's, what straddling the fence is.
And when you're in the middle, when you're in that middle place and that middle ground, you can be tugged and pulled either way.
What does it mean to straddle? The fence it's, basically, like you want one foot end with christ.
And then you want one foot in the world, um it's, basically, when you come to church and you're here and you're in a part of worship, and you listen to the word, but your hearts someplace else.
Your heart is what you're listening to on your ipod.
Your heart is with the person that you're dating your heart is what what the culture is doing.
Um, something personal that.
I've struggled with in the past it's, just in terms of obedience all around to my ministers to my parents, especially.
And I've learned that it made such a big difference, considering, you know, the bible talks about obey your mother and the father and to honor them.
And honor is something that you do for a king.
And so that kind of reverence being offered to your parents means that there's a lot of drama.
And a lot of trouble that I was able to avoid by not straddling, the fence, um, what does that look like? Um, you know, your parents tell you not to do something later on that night you go and you do it with your friends, um, you know, what does that look like in my life? Now that I'm no longer doing it? It means that when my mom tell me not to do something I heed to it when you know, she's praying for me, a particular area, I don't go against her prayers by doing what she's praying for me, not to do, um, you know, so be encouraged, um, you know, word of the day word for your life, don't struggle, the devil will use a person who is straddling the fence faster than he would he would use a person straddling fists than someone who's doing the right thing though he wants to get the person who's doing the right thing.
It's, a little harder target and the person who's doing the wrong thing.
They already on his team.
Am I right? So he don't really have to work hard, but the person that's straddling, the fence he can make them look like a fool because he can say, oh, this girl she's like she a christian.
This dude says, she a christian here christian.
But I bet you I can get her to get over here in this party, bouncing and shaking and doing it.
And she said, she a christian cuz, she don't know what she want to do.
So when you in that middle ground, you can just it's like you can get pulled in so many directions, it causes confusion.
And you just don't know what you want.
And god says in the bible in revelations 3 15-16, I rather you be hot a cold, but you choose to be lukewarm.
And because you look warm, I will spit you out of my mouth, because he can't stand it and see the world will tell you that it's.
Okay, see in the world.
Let me break this now in the world, the world that we live in there is such thing as great there's.
Such thing as I don't know, there's such thing as lukewarm.
But when you're in the family of christ, and when you are a christian there's, no such thing, it's, hot or cold it's, right? Or you know, right from wrong.
And plus also, if you have god in your life.
So if you have god in your life, there's, no reason why you should be in the world.
If that makes sense if you can't understand well, what else I understand? Um, I understand you should understand that.
Um, if jesus christ is there's, no reason for you to be in the world, looking and searching in the world.
You need to be close to the guy.
You need to be I'm in gymnastics.
So you need to be in pike position, tuck position.
You need to be right there.
Stay don't.
Don't stray away from how clear-cut god is and that's, what he's saying it's, one of the other.
It can't be an in between each.
And every one of us are at a point and have an opportunity to straddle in so many areas of our life and it's important that we catch it now, learn about it.
So that we don't have to face a lot of these problems, and we get caught up and don't know what we need to do, and where we need to be in our relationship with god.