1Timothy 4:12
What Would Jesus Say?
For the past 11 years, our church has been pleased to charter the Troop/Scout
Pack 330. We have done so and will continue to do so for as long as God gives
us the godly leaders who will point these young men to Christ.
We want to see God do something with the young people of this generation. Jesus
loves young people and desires that they would seek Him.
As I prepared for this day, I wondered what Jesus might would say to the young
people of our world today. I believe He might would direct the following
statements to them.
I. Despise not your youth.
1Tim 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers,
in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
A. This means don’t live your life in such a way that others hate your
youthful days.
B. Paul’s message to Timothy is don’t waste your youth.
C. Some people call old age the "golden years." They are not. Your
young days are your golden years.
1. You have all your life ahead of you.
2. You have fewer responsibilities than you will ever have.
3. You are probably more loved and protected than you will ever be.
4. And you are more in control of your destiny than you will ever be.
D. There are many ways to waste your youth:
1. Don’t waste your youth in foolishness.
a. A foolish person is one who does not think properly.
b. A foolish person lacks some of the essentials needed to make
sound decisions.
Proverbs 1:2 To know WISDOM and INSTRUCTION; to PERCEIVE the words of
UNDERSTANDING;
3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and DISCRETION.
c. He lacks wisdom, instruction, perception, judgment,
understanding about justice and equality.
d. As a result, he does foolish things.
e. A fool may or may not be recognized in a classroom by his test
scores, but he will surely be recognized by his behavior.
f. Foolish people make foolish decisions.
g. Those who use tobacco, alcohol, drugs, and get involved in
sexual relationships are wasting their life in foolish
pursuits.
h. THOSE WHO LIVE A FOOLISH YOUTH RUIN THEIR FUTURE POTENTIAL.
2. Don’t waste your life in selfishness.
a. A selfish life is one where everything is about you.
b. The Bible tells us that such selfishness will characterize
people in the end times.
2Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent,
fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn
away.
c. Many of us may be familiar with the list, but have you noticed
the cause?
1. It is because men are lovers of their own selves that they
become covetous, boasters, proud….
2. When a person loves self more than any other, they will
become incapable of doing anything that doesn’t benefit
themselves.
3. Nobility, sacrifice, duty, devotion, patriotism, love:
all of the god-like characteristics to which mankind
can strife will be (and is being) removed from their
personalities.
d. THOSE WHO LIVE A SELFISH YOUTH CUT THEMSELVES OFF FROM GOD’S
HIGHEST QUALITIES.
3. Don’t waste your life is worldliness.
1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If
any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
a. Worldliness is the pursuit or the preoccupation of things
that you can’t take to heaven with you.
b. The list is long and we normally list those things which
preoccupy our adults - money, fame, earthly power.
c. But our young people our certainly susceptible to worldliness:
sports, cars, hunting, fishing, shopping, fashion, cosmetics,
hair styles.
d. Get this - God does not want you to wear a bean bag, to look
ugly, or to have no fun.
e. But when you are preoccupied with things only of this world,
you cut yourself off from God, His power, and His purposes.
f. THOSE WHO LIVE A WORLDLY YOUTHS LIMIT THEMSELVES TO THIS WORLD.
E. Instead, God has something far better.
1. God created you in His image.
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth.
2. A human will only attain to the level of his perceived creator.
3. You are not an animal and you do not have to debase yourself to
live like one.
4. You were created to be one with God and you can have a god-like
character and qualities.
F. How?
1. You must be saved.
2. Use these years to learn to walk with God.
3. Get busy doing something for God now.
4. Prepare yourself to do great things for God in your adulthood.
a. Keep yourself pure.
b. Sharpen your mind.
c. Increase in wisdom.
d. Grow in virtue, holiness, faith, mercy.
II. No person can serve two masters.
Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and
love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye
cannot serve God and mammon.
A. Wisdom is learning without having to experience the lesson.
1. Here God says no one can serve two masters.
2. It is not possible to serve God and serve Satan, the world, or
your own self.
3. You can either accept this truth from the Bible or your can waste
your life ands realize it in your old age.
B. God says the reason you can’t serve two masters is because you can’t
split your love.
1. He says, you will end up loving one and hating the other.
2. We are approaching Valentine’s Day. Let’s use Valentine’s Day
language.
a. You can’t have two sweethearts.
b. Why? Because every minute you are with or thinking about one
sweetheart, you are betraying the other one. That is a
hateful thing to do to the person you say you love.
3. Every minute a Christian is fawning over the things of this
world, he are "hating" and "despising" God.
C. Someone says, "I can do it."
1. "I may have to compromise a little, be backslidden sometimes, but
I can live loving both masters."
2. What we call compromise God calls HATE.
3. What we call backslidden God calls DESPISE.
4. Regardless if what you think, it can’t be done.
D. Don’t just make God a part of your life. Make God your life.
1. Some are afraid that when they do that, they are giving themselves
over to a miserable life.
2. Not so. You will never give anything to God that God does not
give you a hundred-fold return on.
a. Please note that I am not advocating a "name it and claim it"
religion. I am just stating a Scriptural fact.
Mark 10:29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man
that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife,
or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,
30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren,
and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in
the world to come eternal life.
b. If you give up your time, your family, your substance, or what
you call joy and fun, for the Lord Jesus Christ, He will
give you more now and in the world to come.
III. Have faith in God.
Mark 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
A. Sadly, America seems to be turning further and further away from God.
1. By that, I mean with each new generation, fewer seem to have a
meaningful relationship with God.
2. Instead, cults, Satanism, and atheism are on the rise.
B. I do not believe that is the fault of the young people.
1. Many of today’s youth have unbelieving parents.
2. Many more may have parents who claim a relationship with Jesus
but are totally lacking in any commitment.
3. Our humanistic education has force-feed our children un-rebutted
doubt for several generations.
C. Young person, you need to believe in God.
1. There is one God.
a. He created you.
b. He loves you.
c. He has a plan for you.
d. If you will let Him, He will physically be involved in your
everyday life.
2. I know it takes some faith to believe in God’s existence, but I
assure you it takes far greater faith to doubt His existence.
3. I saw a commercial about an upcoming scientific special revealing
truths of how the great whale evolved into an elephant and the
raptor dinosaur evolved into the turkey.
4. What is amazing is that people will believe a mid-sized,
carnivorous, predatorily dinosaur morphed into a small, docile,
herbivorous bird before they will believe in an intelligent
Designer!
D. Believe God.
1. Believe that He loved you enough to create you.
2. Believe that He wrote and preserved a Book so that you could
know Him and know of His love for you.
3. Believe that He will keep the promises He has made to you.
Young people (and older people), God has created you and knows how you can have
the best life possible. Don’t follow the pack of your generation. Don’t try to
blaze your own trail. Just do what Jesus says!
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