The Creative Connection With Ed Young

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young teaches about the nature of temptation as a process involving alluring bait and a dangerous hook, urging believers to recognize pride, prosperity, and misplaced priorities as common temptations, and to embrace trials with joy, endurance, and maturity by aligning their will with God's will.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young teaches that temptation is a process engineered by the enemy to ensnare believers through their God-given desires misused, but emphasizes that God tests believers to strengthen them and provides the strength and a way to overcome temptation, highlighting the victory found in being born again and relying on God’s power rather than our own.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young challenges listeners to reflect on their spiritual posture ten years after 9/11, urging them to humble themselves, put their faith in God, and live in surrender and obedience rather than self-reliance, emphasizing the choice to bow to Christ now rather than later in light of the ultimate spiritual battle facing the nation and individuals.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young challenges true followers of Christ to actively engage in "fishing for men" by sharing the gospel, emphasizing that this mission inevitably attracts opposition—symbolized as "sharks"—which believers must recognize, confront, and, when necessary, avoid in order to fulfill their calling effectively.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young teaches that believers will inevitably face attacks and distractions—symbolized as "sharks"—when pursuing God's new direction, but through faith, prayer, and praise, Christians can be refined rather than defined by hardships, embracing Jesus as the King of their crisis and responding with trust, submission, and baptism.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young teaches that life requires us to navigate challenges like swimming with sharks by listening attentively to God's guidance, seeing clearly through faith, breathing deeply in His Word, and trusting Him to swim with confidence amid life's dangers and uncertainties.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young closes the series on prayer as the piece that completes the armor of God, teaching believers to daily take up God's tailor-made "war-drobe" and engage the Word through a HEART grip—Hearing, Examining, Analyzing, Remembering, and Talking—fighting life's battles from their knees in the war room of prayer.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young teaches on the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, showing that faith quenches the enemy's fiery darts (doubt, anxiety, rebellion, trials, and sensuality), that the battle is won in the mind, and that God's Word is the believer's one offensive weapon.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young unpacks the first pieces of God's "war-drobe"—the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the gospel boots of peace—teaching that believers stand their ground in a cultural, cosmic, and personal war by being clothed in Christ's truth, righteousness, and peace, secure in the victory He has already won.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young teaches that believers are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms and fight not for victory but from it, urging them to rely on God's strength and strategy—putting on the full armor of God—to stand against the devil's schemes and the strongholds of pride, greed, and envy.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young opens the series by teaching that the Christian life is spiritual warfare against an unseen enemy who builds "strongholds"—individual, cultural, and cosmic areas where Jesus isn't Lord—and calls believers to recognize the devil's schemes and put on the full armor of God to fight from Christ's victory.

In this message, Ed Young closes the series by teaching that the people we surround ourselves with have serious sway over our lives, contrasting Samson's ruin among the wrong "they" with Nehemiah's strength among the right "they," and offering six questions to discern whether the people closest to us are pointing us toward God or away from Him.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young teaches that there is no opportunity without opposition, tracing Nehemiah's preparation, simplification, and determination as the wall-building project escalates from mockery to an outright plot to attack, and calls believers to stay on the wall rather than come down to meet their critics on their own terms.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young opens the series by teaching that everyone is an influencer, using Nehemiah's story to show that leaders master the task of "the ask"—questioning others and questioning God—and that as we pursue the target God has given us, we will always face opposition, since envy begins where our influence ends.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young teaches that weekly corporate worship is the believer’s “finest hour,” an appointment with God that should be approached with preparation and participation. He urges listeners to come prayed up, rested up, dressed up, linked up, and fessed up, and to engage worship through singing, generosity, and active response to God’s presence and grace.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young teaches that worship is intrinsic to every person, but that it must be directed toward God as our primary passion rather than toward sports, success, self, or other distractions. He argues that true worship is a whole-life response to God’s identity and activity, expressed in both praise and service, and calls listeners to bow the knee to Jesus now in surrender and obedience.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young teaches that worship is a whole-life response to God’s identity and activity, not just something done in church. He emphasizes that true worship is expressed through thanksgiving, praise, and obedient action, warning against empty religious emotion that does not translate into a life of surrendered devotion.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young closes the series by sharing openly from his own seasons of shame—including the loss of his daughter—and returns to the parable of the unmerciful servant to teach that forgiveness is uncomfortable, unusual, unceasing, and unemotional, giving five steps to name, own, and release the shame we carry.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young compares unforgiveness to a dog dragging a park bench through traffic, teaching from the parable of the unmerciful servant that forgiveness is more for the offended than the offender, and calls believers to identify who is "sitting on the bench" of their lives and unleash the shame they've been dragging around.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young preaches an ironic "how to increase your shame" through the tragic life of King Saul—talking down about yourself, resisting vulnerability, bragging, following your heart, and criticizing your peers—then flips each one, calling believers instead to God's truth, honest vulnerability, self-awareness, and obedience.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young uses the story of Moses—who murdered an Egyptian and buried him in the sand—to show how shame drives us to hide, cover, and blame, and teaches that God forgives and forgets, turning the "period" of shame into the "comma" of grace as he did in calling a fugitive to become a great deliverer.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young opens the series by defining shame as the all-consuming sense that we've let down ourselves, others, and God, and traces its origin to the Garden of Eden—showing how the enemy lures us into the cycle of the fame, lame, and blame games while God offers humility, vulnerability, and responsibility through the cross.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young uses the life of Simon Peter—who crumbled at crunch time yet became a man of great courage—to show that spiritual, moral, and relational courage flow from walking with the Son, worshiping the Father, and witnessing through the Spirit, reminding believers that Jesus sees their potential and restores them when they fail.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young opens the series by teaching that character is a choice grown in crisis and community, and that courage—the God-given ability to stand for our convictions—can be increased by claiming God's promises, obeying His word, and trusting His presence, using the two "real estate deals" of Israel at the edge of the Promised Land.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young teaches that true Christian character is an outward reflection of an inward connection with Christ—formed and revealed through trials, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and demonstrated more in our actions than in our words.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young uses Jethro's counsel to Moses to teach that organization is a decision followed by a process, showing how believers find balance by realizing their need for help, accepting constructive criticism, minimizing unnecessary responsibilities, and actualizing priorities rooted in God's order.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young uses the story of Hosea and Gomer to illustrate God's irrational, unconditional love—showing how God pursues us even when we run from Him, disciplines us through consequences, and restores us through His grace.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young teaches that creativity is a foundational character quality rooted in the nature of God, modeled by Jesus, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, calling believers to embrace and cultivate creativity as a vital spiritual responsibility and a means of growth in every area of life.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young uses David's defeat of Goliath to teach that vision is the God-given ability to see the unseen, encouraging believers to cultivate vision in obscurity, resist the "vision vandals" who discourage them, and draw on past victories and God's provision to face the giants in front of them.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young contrasts the ten fearful spies with Joshua and Caleb to teach that courage is the God-given ability to stand, and that believers can claim God's promises with spiritual, moral, and relational courage that comes from the inside out—even when peer pressure and negativity surround them.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young uses Noah's 120-year obedience in building the ark to teach that endurance is the God-given ability to stampede through the stopping points of life, calling believers to hear God's voice, trust His timing, and fix their eyes on Jesus as the ultimate finisher.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young teaches that discipline is doing what you ought to do so you can do what you want to do—a God-given, delayed-gratification quality—and uses the life of Daniel to show how advance planning, taking life one day at a time, and biblical meditation put us in a position to be used and blessed by God.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young encourages believers to regularly identify and discard the spiritual and character "trash"—such as pride, envy, anger, lust, gluttony, greed, and slothfulness—that accumulates in their lives, emphasizing the need for specific confession, reliance on God's power for transformation, and the assurance that Jesus, who sacrificed on the cross, is able to cleanse and renew them.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young explores the concept of personal dysfunctions as "character stumps"—such as pride, envy, anger, lust, greed, gluttony, and sloth—that keep believers spiritually stuck, urging them to identify, confess, and surrender these issues to God and trusted others in order to experience transformation and freedom in accordance with God's will.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young addresses the struggles of dysfunction and personal baggage that many carry from their family backgrounds and life experiences, emphasizing the need to acknowledge our brokenness, reject denial and blame, and trust Jesus—the one who offers true transformation and rescue through faith.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young addresses the deep impact of family dysfunction and personal baggage on our lives, emphasizing that true change is only possible through admitting our inability to change ourselves and relying on God's transformative power through Jesus, while encouraging believers to face their struggles in community.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young explores the reality of depression through the biblical example of Elijah, emphasizing how double-mindedness and isolation can lead to spiritual and emotional struggles, while urging believers to embrace truth, faith, community, and obedience to overcome despair and live a single-minded life devoted to God.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young encourages listeners to abandon a double-minded, indecisive lifestyle and embrace a single-minded devotion to God, illustrated through the biblical story of Elijah confronting Baal worship. He emphasizes that single-mindedness not only singles believers out but also sends a powerful message, creates margin in life, and demands a definitive decision to follow Christ wholeheartedly.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young teaches that believers are spiritually clothed in the full armor of God, a divine "war-drobe" designed to equip them for the unseen spiritual battles they face, emphasizing the importance of actively engaging with God’s word, prayer, and daily spiritual preparation to walk in victory.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young explains the spiritual battle believers face and exhorts them to fully put on the armor of God described in Ephesians 6, emphasizing active faith, the mind's protection through salvation, and the power of God's word as essential elements for victorious Christian living.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young encourages believers to prepare for spiritual battle by putting on the full armor of God—specifically the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the gospel-fueled footwear—emphasizing the cosmic and cultural war Christians face and the victory secured through Jesus Christ.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young encourages believers to recognize the reality of spiritual warfare, urging them to rely on God's strength and strategy by putting on the full armor of God to stand firm against the devil’s schemes and strongholds that affect both the heavenly realms and earthly life.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young teaches that the Christian life is a spiritual battle against the enemy’s strongholds—individual, cultural, and cosmic areas where Jesus is not fully recognized as Lord—and calls believers to put on the full armor of God to overcome these strongholds through faith, truth, and the power of Christ’s victory.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young emphasizes that Jesus Christ is the exclusive and singular way to God, described metaphorically as "Highway 146," calling listeners to repent, turn from sin, and embrace faith in Christ as the only path to reconciliation with God, addressing common doubts and misconceptions about other spiritual paths.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young challenges the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons by contrasting their doctrines and practices with biblical Christianity, emphasizing salvation by faith alone without added works or additional authorities, and urging believers to lovingly speak the truth to those within these movements.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young examines major world religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam—highlighting their core beliefs and contrasts them with Christianity, emphasizing the uniqueness of salvation through faith in Christ as opposed to works, and urging believers to lovingly engage others with the truth of the gospel.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young explores the relationship between doubt and faith, urging believers not to pause or abandon their faith in times of uncertainty but to actively "fast forward" by considering alternatives, "rewind" by remembering God's past faithfulness, and "play" by trusting Jesus despite unanswered questions, emphasizing that doubt can either drive one closer to or further from God.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young addresses the struggles of doubt in the Christian faith, emphasizing that faith does not require abandoning intellect or demanding absolute proof, but is a trust-based gift from God that requires continual nurturing and realistic understanding rather than feelings or leverage.

In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young explores the nature of doubt in the Christian faith, emphasizing that doubt is distinct from unbelief and is a natural part of a believer’s journey. He encourages believers to face doubts openly, understand their origins—whether intellectual, psychological, or sinful—and use them as opportunities to strengthen faith and deepen their relationship with God.