YP Sing Address—G. Whitaker, R. Thonney
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I've kind of got.
The subject on my heart, that would be along the lines of service, service to Christ. And I would imagine that in a crowd of young people this size that there might be a considerable number who are thinking, if they haven't voiced it out loud to anybody, at least thinking in their own hearts, what does the Lord want with my life and who are just absolutely serious.
We're not playing any games with the Lord Jesus.
But genuinely want to know how they can be of some service to him. Well, it's with that in mind that I think maybe we better lay down a little groundwork First off.
Simply because when we start talking about doing things, it would be very easy for somebody that wasn't particularly exercised before God about this to get on the bandwagon and sort of jump in and say, yeah, I'm going to join that effort. And pretty soon here he is. Or she is going right along with the rest without any particular exercise.
And when the Spirit of God starts turning, turning inside the conscience, we can say, well, look at I'm doing this, I'm doing that, I'm all right, don't worry me with all these fine details. And we might just lose out because we think we're doing God's will. We really haven't come at it from the right direction.
With that beginning, can you turn to the book of Proverbs?
Book of Proverbs, chapter 23.
I also might say that.
There's a wide range of things in connection with service. You've got the people, you know, like we've heard just this day, Ruben Ruga and a few others plan to go down to Venezuela here in just a couple of weeks or less. And there's some brethren over in Malawi right at this moment. And you know, when we're young, I don't suppose we think that larger thought and maybe we're just thinking how can I serve the Lord Jesus on a part time basis? I don't mean that derogatory. I mean.
It's not going to be full time, but in my spare time, what can I do to please him? How can I be a help to God's people so.
Some might say, well, I don't have too much to offer in the way of resources.
I wish there was just some little thing, you know. It doesn't have to be big. The Lord takes note of that. He's on your side. He'll show you.
Whichever, wherever you are, whether you've been on the job force and have a bank account, you're willing to spend some of it for the Lord and go thither and yawn and spend your $2000.00 for an airplane ticket.
$1000 for a car rental and they go plowing up through Malawi anywhere on down to just some little thing. Let's talk about that wide range of possibilities.
Proverbs 2326 First off.
My son, give me thine heart.
You know, after listening to that wonderful gospel message tonight, we all know the way of salvation, don't we?
Now its case. Question is what have we done about it?
Have we accepted it? Do we know Jesus Christ as Savior? If not?
We're not talking to you particularly. Tonight I'd like to address Christians, ones who know God as their Father.
What does God want from each Christian? Your time? Your talents?
Your resources, Money.
If you're out there and Christendom, those preachers would be after your money. What does God want from you?
He wants your heart, your heart.
Brother Alan Coleman in the Gospel tonight, he said. Do you have any room in your heart for the Lord Jesus?
That's just not the day you are saved. That's every day from then on, all through life. What are we going to do? Well, that's something. Come in to crowd Jesus over into the corner. He's deserving all of our heart, not just some little tiny spot in it. So this question, give me thine heart. What have you done about that? Is the thing we can ask ourselves every single day of our lives.
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What is it today for us?
What he says my son.
Are you his Son? If you're not God's Son, you first need to solve that question. Open your heart for salvation. Then you can talk about serving Him after you've handled that detail. It's not a small detail. It's an extremely important detail. It's a matter of life or death.
What does it mean to give your heart?
Well, I'd say it would be an unconditional surrender.
All of you, body, soul, spirit, you hold nothing in reserve.
Give it all to Jesus.
Have we done that? You might say, Well, I gave my heart to Jesus when I got saved, didn't I? Well, yes.
But the question now is maybe that was some months or weeks or years ago.
How is it today?
Have things come in and kind of push the Lord Jesus into one corner where he doesn't have much say in our life, much impact on the way we think and act.
Well, if you answer that question about is Jesus your Lord? And you say, Oh yes. And I say, well, just a minute, I'd like to get a second opinion on that. I'm going to go to your best friend and see what he has to say about that. And so I go to your best friend and I say, what about that is so and so really.
Taking Jesus as their Lord and if that person would say.
Oh yeah, if you were around that person very long you would see for sure Jesus is his Lord or her Lord. Wouldn't that be nice to have a recommendation like that from your best friend?
That's what the Lord Jesus is looking for. And what an encouragement to see young folk going on just plainly obvious that Jesus Christ is Lord of their life.
Well, give the Lord all of your heart unconditionally.
Psalm 1079 says For He satisfieth the longing soul. Did you come to this conference with a longing soul?
Did you come here with a sense in your soul from practical experience?
That this world is a barren wilderness for the Christian. That there is nothing here to satisfy.
Well, you've made some real progress. Don't stop now. Keep going.
We need to feel that God is talking directly to our consciences.
My son, give me thy heart.
God knows that if He has this unconditional surrender of your heart, He has your entire being everything about you.
Your resources, everything.
This matter of a total surrender. Get comfortable with it, because it's the secret to happiness.
We all like to be happy, don't we?
That happiness and obedience go together, don't they?
We need to give our lives entirely to him, with nothing being held in reserve.
You know we have a wonderful example in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to look at.
Think about him for a minute.
In John 118 it says the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father.
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Can you just picture that?
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father.
Would you say in that context if you picture the will of the Lord Jesus being pitted against his Father's will?
That's that clashes. There's no such thing. He could not be resting in the bosom of his father if that were the case, could he? Absolutely not.
Giving my heart implies that I no longer insist on my will, or that I have no will at all.
That would be the preferred thing.
Now, what is it that destroys fellowship between two individuals? It's to have two wills in opposition to one another, trying to make them work together. It does not work, does it? Tell me about it. You and your parents. Sometimes you get wills that clash once in a while.
That's not the way to happiness and Jesus never exercised his own will. It was always his Father's will. Let's look at a verse here. I'm thinking of John 530. Jesus said I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father.
I'll just go through these rather quickly, Romans 15, three says.
For even Christ, please, not himself.
You know Christ existed in this world for one purpose, for the sake of His Father.
To do His will. Isn't that a beautiful example for you and I to follow in regards our wills?
Psalm 40 verse eight says I delight to do thy will, Oh my God.
Hebrews 10 and nine says, Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.
So there was a perfect communion between the Sun and the Father.
He had given his heart to his father.
Perhaps there are some of us that have been thinking or exercised about how perhaps we might have been holding the Lord at arm's length in our lives and just doing our own thing, doing our own will. And maybe the Spirit of God is troubling our consciences about that kind of behavior.
Oh, and so we might say then, oh, I wish I could know what the Lord's will for my life was. I wish I know what He wanted me to do so maybe I could get occupied with doing and forgetting about the important things God's issue with me and my life.
That's not where we want to come from when we talk about serving the Lord. It isn't kind of something to hide behind so we can go on.
With habits and a manner of life that does not please the Lord.
Well, I'll tell you, I can tell you exactly what the Lord's will is for you. Does that surprise you? First Thessalonians 4? Please turn the 1St Thessalonians 4.
And in verse 3.
The first part for this is the will of God. Here it is. You want to know the will of God.
Even your sanctification.
There it is in black and white.
You want to know God's will. It's your sanctification.
What does sanctification mean? It's a daily process looked at as a progressive thing. It means being daily more and more separated or set apart for God.
1St Thessalonians 523 talks about that. We may be sanctified wholly. It doesn't all happen at once. It's an ongoing thing. The Spirit of God uses the Word of God, if we'll read it in our hearts to bring us more into conformity with His Son.
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You know, wonderful thing the Spirit of God does in our lives.
Well, it all goes right back to what we started with my son. Give me thine heart.
So he wants to work on our affections, our habits, and all that concerns our life.
So if you feel that the Spirit of God is speaking to you.
Listen, don't ignore it. Don't try to brush it aside and with God's help, seek to clean house as it were. It isn't that we're trying to clean up our old nature, that's incorrigible. It's it's not improvable.
It's living in our new life that we have as Christians.
And oh how we need to pray for help on a daily basis that we would walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
That is an impossible task without God's help.
So it's an ongoing and a progressive thing. You know, God would rather have us become more and more conformed.
To the image of his dear son and for us to be busy doing something.
If I did something, then that would give me some credit or some merit for a future day.
But it's all by grace, and it's through faith. Doing has nothing to do with salvation.
But if we let it, our old man would get in there and try to make something out of doing, and we want to be sure we're clearly understood on that score tonight.
Well, you might say, oh, but I have given my heart. I know what you're saying to me, and I've done it, and I want to do it in a continuing basis daily. But I feel sort of at a loss to know what small thing I can do for Him. And I feel that I don't have much in the way of talents or resources to give to the Lord, but I wish I could do something. Well, that's a wonderful frame of mind and soul to be coming from.
Luke 2219 says this. And how about this this do in remembrance of me, Do you want to do something?
Are you at the Lord's table tomorrow morning in the other room? Will you be gathered around the Lord Jesus Christ and breaking bread and offering up praise worship in your hearts to Him? Don't you suppose that's a priority on God's list of things that are valuable?
This do in remembrance of Maine. It's not much point in worrying about going to Africa or any other place before we handle these necessary things that God has plainly stated.
This do in remembrance of me.
While He would love first of all, to have our praise and our worship.
Turn to Hebrews 1315.
Read that in the meeting today, didn't we?
Hebrews 1315 says by Him. Therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. How wonderful to have a thankful heart, a thankful heart, and to offer up that praise that the Lord Jesus deserves from us.
Are we impressed with what the Lord Jesus did for us on Calvary's cross? Are we remembering Him and His death? Does that mean something to us? Oh, we should be quick to praise Him. Young brothers, if you are in that state of soul that is exercised, don't be afraid to give out of Him to to lift your voice up in prayer and praise in the assembly.
Be encouraged.
Well, So what can we bring to the Lord Jesus? Well, anything that we have received from Him we can bring. Our willing heart, our praise, our Thanksgiving, our prayers, our time, our talents, our aptitudes, financially. However the Lord has blessed you, you can bring.
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Remember the story in the Gospels about the widow who cast into the treasury her two mites? Just the tiniest of coin, if you will. Jesus was there. He saw what happened. Do you think he was impressed? Oh, I should say he was. He made a particular note to comment on it. He says, Do you see this, lady?
She's cast in all her living, all she has.
Did it matter that it was just pennies? Not to God?
It was that willingness in her heart to give all she had. So whatever we have, God knows where it's coming from. It doesn't have to be $1000. It can be pennies. And if it's coming from a heart that's right means lots to him.
It's incredible what he values has such encouraging a thing to think about this poor widow who gave everything she had. Just think it's spoken about her all around the world.
Well.
This unselfish thought of her heart God values.
And the Lord notices what you want to do, and he'll take note of his. Don't notice of it. Don't think that little things you do for the Lord go by unnoticed. Maybe your brethren don't notice it. But remember, the Lord notices it. He cares.
So if you want to be a helper for the Lord, you first must be aware of some need somewhere, don't you? A need is generally what triggers some action.
Some situation that is begging for a helping hand.
You know, some needs are just private. Maybe you're the only person that knows about it. Maybe there's an old lady somewhere that needs some help and you're aware of what's needed and you don't tell anybody. You just go ahead and whatever is needed, you do it, sort of do it on the side. You're the only person that knows. Maybe she and of course the Lord knows. That's sweet to be able to do things that way. Other needs, they're more of a public thing and maybe everybody knows about it and.
Maybe it's a group effort to kind of fill in and help out on a need.
So there's different ways things come to our attention and we can respond as as the Lord would bring them to our attention.
But I'd like to tell you of a need in connection with the spreading of the gospel, and I'm thinking of Malawi, Africa.
Now we've received, I see my brother in the backroom there. We've received quite a few letters from Malawi. We had the privilege of being there earlier this year and we've received letters from brethren.
Who are telling us we need more materials to give away?
To the lost Gospel text, send thousands of them.
You say gospel text. I thought that's just what the old ladies did in their spare time. Well, I can see where you might be coming from to think that because what's a gospel text to you? You got so many doodads and things around you that are more interesting to look at and think about that a sheet of paper with a gospel verse maybe doesn't mean that much. Let me try to explain to you, maybe to give you a little different perspective on where these people are coming from.
You go and on the hillside here and there you see little villages, little grass thatched roofs poking up above the corn fields. And if you would go in through them, you'd see a dozen little huts, perhaps in a circle, and there'd be some made out of bricks, some out of mud. And they'd most all of them have grass thatched roofs. And hey, there'd be no paved Rd. coming up to these places. It's just a footpath.
And the highest tech thing you'd ever see in the whole place would be a bicycle.
That would be stretching it. There's no electricity, there's no running water.
There's no refrigerators or appliances. You look inside the house, there's no furniture, there's nothing on the walls, there's no books, there's no Bible, just a bamboo mat you roll out when it comes time to go to bed.
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Now, if you offer somebody that comes from that circumstance a beautifully colored gospel text.
Something like this, they would say oh thank you and be if you come back later you'd find it hanging on their wall. That'd be the only thing in the whole house that had a speck of color to it.
Well, like I said in the beginning, you could worry yourself about, well, maybe I would like to go to Africa someday, but I don't know where I'm going to come up with the 3000 bucks for minimum it's going to take to make that trip. So maybe you put that in the back of your mind. But like I said, there's just a whole lot of things you could do that would help the situation. So if that was the task at hand and you said.
That's the I do want to help. How can we go about helping these brethren that have expressed a need?
Let me tell you how one brother told Dave and I how he handles this matter of giving away a text like this.
He said, what I like to do is not stand up in the marketplace and let everybody know I got a stack of these things, you'll just get mobbed. So he said what I like to do is have him hidden in my bag and I'll see an individual and I'll pull it out and I'll say I'd like to give you one of these. Oh, look at that. And he was medicine will say, can you please read this to me? And so the person will respond and perhaps read that verse.
And medicine said, I'll say to him, Will you explain what that means?
And so the man will sit there, and he'll scratch his head a little bit, and he'll try to explain what he thinks that gospel verse means. Now he's already read God's Word and he's thinking about it.
Medicine says, here, let me have that, let me read it to you. So medicine will read the verse to him. And he says, do you know what that really means? And the guys will be piqued in his attention. And he says, this is what that means. And he'll go into the gospel and tell this man the way of salvation. Why, while he has his rapt attention. So when the man finally leaves with this in his hand.
He's got a scripture verse that he has thought about and has had explained to him, and the Scripture says, the entrance of thy word bringeth light. So perhaps this little seed is planted in his heart, and off he goes, and the seed is planted, and somebody will come along a little later and water it, and God will cause it to grow.
You know.
Let me look up one more thing here.
If you elect to do something like this for the Lord and you know somebody is going to end up being blessed as a result.
No one thing for sure the enemy is going to oppose it. Guarantee.
So if you and some of your friends have an exercise to do something like this, the first thing you're going to need is prayer.
Because the enemy will try to goof the project up in some way. So you need God's help and guidance.
You know the second thing, you're going to need somebody that's working with you that is not afraid to encourage you in what you're doing because the enemy is going to see to it that you become discouraged.
You're doing what? Gospel texts?
You mean you would spend your time and money in a group sitting around making gospel texts for some natives in Africa that you've never met? That's got to be really stupid. I mean, those are the kind of things that's going to come to you. If you're not careful, you'll be discouraged and say, oh, well, you know, we could be out having fun or something. Why are we sitting around doing this? So you need somebody who can pray for you, and you need somebody who can be an encouragement to you.
It's very important. So what talents do you have to bring to this activity if you choose to take up with it well?
There's patience and perseverance. You're going to do thousands of them. Wow, prayer. Now, if you have a talent to say a buyer, a purchasing agent, somebody needs to get out there and get materials and somebody is going to be good on a telephone. You got to find somewhere to pick up these 4 colored pictures of scenery or flowers or birds and animals that can be adapted to this kind of an effort. You've got to really scramble through the Yellow Pages and find out where do you get rid of your old calendars that ran out in 2000 when the 2000 ones came out? I need to get my hands on those scenery pictures. So that takes a guy with some determination who can really handle those phones and go after it.
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And then there's people with artistic bent. Hey, if you've got a color on a back sheet that's yellow and you need one, something that blends, so this yellow border blends with what's on this side, you got some artistic ability. Hey, it comes in handy right here. Then you've got people that need to glue this thing together. You've got people that need to download files of this printed text off the computer or e-mail and get it printed. Well, there's just all kinds of stuff that can be done and glue them together and.
Then if you want to be the person that takes them over to Africa to help distribute them, well, that's your business too. But there's a wide range of things that you can help with if you think the Lord wants you to do that. And that's something I just challenge you to pray about. Like you say, there's just a real need there and there's people who, if you can get them to them, they will be glad to distribute them in a prayerful manner and the Lord will bless it.
Do you want to be given credit for helping in the salvation of souls?
What a tremendous privilege that is. So I think I'll stop at that and say only further that should anybody have an interest in this kind of a thing, I'd be happy to talk to you offline. I can give you a typed up description of how these things go together. The text we have printed up are in 3 languages in English.
In Tombuca and Chichiwa, those are the two main languages of Malawi.
We have these verses all on the computer with boxes around them so that you can use your paper cutter to scissor them out and stick them on. So pretty much you get in business with.
500 sheets of rainbow colored bond paper, 8 1/2 by 11 and a bunch of glue sticks. I mean, that's a low budget project, but if you want to make thousands of them, it runs into some money. But that's where you be exercised before the Lord. Maybe you want to get into that, maybe you don't. But what I want to do now is commend us to the Lord and thank you for listening.
This evening about Father.
Let's pray, Father.
Like to speak this evening, Father.
Like to speak this evening about stewardship and let's go to Luke chapter 16.
About this subject This is a chapter that talks about.
An unjust steward.
But it has a lesson that I want to leave with you.
And I'm not going to read the whole portion, but it's about a rich man who has a steward. You know what a steward is? I don't know if they call him that.
Today in today's world, a manager, maybe a business manager, but he was one who was in charge of all his master's goods and it came to the masters attention that he was wasting some of the goods. And so the master called him and said.
Not going to be able to keep you any longer. We're going to put you out of your job. You've got so much time to put the counts in order and give a count of what you've done and then you're out of a job. And so he says in verse three, notice the steward said within himself, What shall I do?
He still has his master's goods in his hands.
For a little while longer and he says verse four, I am resolved what to do.
That when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. And so he calls one of his Lord's debtors.
And he reduces the debt from 100 down to 50. Pretty good reduction. And I'm sure he made a fairly good friend by making that transaction. It wasn't a right transaction.
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And the next one was 100 measures of wheat, and he reduced that down to 80 measures of wheat.
I'm sure he made another friend by doing that transaction as well. The point we want to get to down verse 8, The Lord, that's his master commended the unjust steward. He didn't commend them for having done wrong, but what did he commend him for? He had done wisely. For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you.
Make to yourselves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
That verse is a little bit hard to understand, and the King James translation, I'm going to paraphrase it a little bit of what I've gotten out of it. In the Darby translation, it says make to yourselves friend of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when it fails ye may be received into the everlasting habitations. The point is that we need to use what is in our power here and now in view of that future time when we're going to have to let loose of everything.
That we have here and now. So he made use of what was in his hands.
While he had it, the 100 measures of oil that were owed to his master.
The 100 measures of wheat, it was in his hands. And so I want to talk about this.
You young people have a lot going for you in today's world. You've got commodities to use, to trade with, to use in view of eternity's day. My challenge to you tonight is to live using what is in your power in view of that eternal day.
You know, the people of this world, it says the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.
What is the vision that a man of this world has?
Generally speaking, he doesn't look much further than his retirement.
And when he gets old, Ansley has a big retirement account. He makes his investments wisely so that when the time comes, he's got a good nest egg to live on when he gets up there.
But the children of light have a vision that extends.
Far beyond old age, it extends to that eternal day.
That we know we're going to enter in all its glory. And so ofttimes the children of this world are wiser in how they prepare for the future than the children of light who have all eternity in front of them. And I say, if you are merely living for present earthly advantage, your short sighted young person.
You have a vision before your soul that is far beyond anything that this world has. Eternity and eternities day. Be careful how you trade with your commodities so that when you come to have to let loose of everything down here, you have something stored away in that eternal day that will last you forever.
Now I'd like to ask what kind of commodities, and I'm going to ask you to give me some ideas here. What kind of commodities?
Do you have to trade with?
Come on, I need some answers, maybe I'll give you.
One thing that I'm thinking about and that the word of God talks about.
Oh, there's one time when I had jotted down on a little list I made before this lady. What's another commodity that you have that you can trade with?
What?
Health and strength, OK Youth strength, very good.
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I put down another one.
Your spirit, soul and body is something you can use. You have it now. There's going to be a time when you're going to have to let loose of your body that you have here in this world.
You're not going to be able to keep it forever. What's another commodity we have?
That we can use for these brief years that we have down here.
For eternity.
Come on, there's quite a few more.
Talents very good.
What do you mean by talents? Give me an idea.
Abilities. Give me an example of an ability or a talent.
Anybody.
That would be 1.
Music.
There's an ability that some people have other people can't carry a tune in them in a bushel basket.
That's an ability. It's a natural ability. It's not a spiritual gift. It's a natural ability. But soon, you know, young people, we're going to stand before the Lord and he's going to say to you, I gave you natural abilities. I gave you, if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus, spiritual gifts. What did you do with those things that I gave you? And don't go saying in that day, I didn't know. Nobody ever told me I had that.
Now we're going to talk about it tonight and we're responsible to use what we have been given for a few brief years. And let me tell you, life is pretty brief. I can't believe I'm up in my mid 50s now. Can't believe it.
Time, I mean, it goes fast. You probably look at me and say I'm kind of an oldie. That's what my kids say to me.
But.
It seemed like yesterday I was a teenager and let me tell you, you'll turn around and you'll be as old as I am. The Lord doesn't come. Life goes flying by. And it's important to have a sense in your soul that God has given you something and that's something that God has given you. You need to use it in view of that day when you're going to have to let loose of your stewardship while we're down here.
We are stewards of what God has put into our hands and we need to use it in view.
Of that day.
Another thing is our material possessions.
We are responsible for what God has put into our hands.
Can be our car, can be our money, any of those things are not ours if we both.
Speak about our.
Bodies, our souls and our spirit. Let's go to 1St Thessalonians chapter 5.
And verse 23 the very God of peace sanctify you holy, and I pray God your whole spirit.
And soul and body be preserved, blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So you and I are all composed of three parts.
Spirit, soul and body. The spirit part of us. What's that? That is the intelligent part of our being. An animal doesn't have the capacity to reason like man does. That's the spirits part of our being, and it's the part of our being that has relationship with God. If sin is not there to interrupt it.
And So what do I do with my spirit? Let's glorify God. And to me, it's one of the things I was thinking about when we were talking about worship yesterday. It is one of the most thrilling occupations that a human being can engage in is to worship God.
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And I tell you, it's a thrill if you know what it means. It's something we not only do.
Collectively, when we come together to remember the Lord in his death, it's something that should be.
Engaged in every day of our lives, do you use that spirit to glorify your God?
You know, we live in a culture and a society that is extremely self-centered. And I see it so plainly written across the youth of our country that they're empty because they're self-centered. And I tell you, I'd have to be occupied with myself, centered in myself.
It would be awfully empty.
Business.
We've got something far greater to fill these parts of ours.
It's that God, who is greater than the whole universe, that we.
Live it and form a part of and that God I have learned to know in the Lord Jesus. And every day it is my privilege to raise my voice in the praise of my God. And I like to try to do it in our home when I can. I don't say I do it every day, but I like to make a practice that at some point during the day I stop and sing the praise of my God.
Do it. Make it a practice in your life. Sometimes I do it when I'm traveling down a road. I don't know what the other people that might pass my car think I'm doing. It doesn't matter too much what they think about me.
Oh, it's a tremendous privilege to sing a hymn like How Great Thou Art to God.
Just stop and sing it. Praise Him. That's why he's put us in this world, to glorify Him. And that's.
A spirit activity, An activity or a spirit. Use your spirit to glorify God. Not only spirit. Your soul. Your soul is the part of your being that is the seed of your affections, your likes, your dislikes. Cultivate likes and dislikes according to the Word of God, because the God who made us and knows how we function has given us guidelines in the Word of God.
Don't allow your likes and dislikes to be guided by this world's ideas and their thoughts. Let it be guided by the Word of God and then our bodies to use our bodies for Him. Remember, He bought not only your spirit and soul, He bought your body with His precious blood.
If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, and I'm talking basically to you who are believers in the Lord Jesus.
Your body belongs to the Lord Jesus as well.
Dear young people.
Paul told Timothy.
Keep thyself pure. We're living in a world of a lot of sexual immorality.
Keep yourself pure for the Lord Jesus.
Use this body for him.
It's not that there isn't a place for sexual relations within marriage.
There is a very real place for it, a proper place for it, but outside of the marriage bond, it is something that is prohibited. The God who knows how we function has set up those guidelines and if somebody has given the illustration.
It's like a river, like the Mississippi River. We're out here in the West, the Columbia River.
As long as that river stays in its banks, it's an extremely useful piece of water. But if it floods and goes outside the banks, it is extremely destructive. Keep yourself pure. Use your body for the Lord. In view of that day. Maybe you say I don't have much money. You have a body, you have health.
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You have strength, you have youth.
I tell you one of the happiest periods of my life when I was still single.
Was when I spent time tramping over the Andes of South America.
As a young brother.
My desire was to.
Preach the gospel and sometimes with a native brother we would take off for two or three weeks.
Beyond the end of any road.
There were just dirt trails and mule trails back into those areas of southern Peru.
And we would take a day at a time to visit each town and leave literature in each home in the towns and preach the gospel each evening. It was tremendous physical activity.
And it was my joy to use some of the energy the Lord gave me.
And something I do not regret, I don't think I'll ever regret it. There were people that heard the gospel that never had heard it before. Still remember, up on the high Andes we were crossing a huge plane about 12,000 feet altitude.
And across the flame came running a man and his wife.
And his boy and we stopped to see what they wanted. They thought we were.
Prospectors looking for minerals and they thought they'd offer their services for some money, but the brother that was with me gave him the gospel and he was giving him the gospel and the Quechua Indian language, which they understood.
And all of a sudden the lady broke down and started crying. And of course I couldn't understand what she was saying. But the brother told me afterwards that she said up here we just live like animals, nobody cares for us. Nobody's ever told us that story before.
There was a privilege to be able to tell those people for the first time about the Lord Jesus.
And there's many areas of the earth that are still unreached.
Dear young people, are you interested in making it good in the United States of America? Making good on the American Dream? Are you going to look beyond life here in this world?
To something that will last forever. In that eternal day, I challenge you to not live for present advantage for live for what lasts for ever.
So that's something you can do with your body. You can use your strength. Maybe you say, well, I can't go anywhere. I say, young person, just put yourself at the Lord's disposition. Say to the Lord. Lord, if there's something I can do, I want to be ready for your use. And when he shows you something to do, however menial.
However insignificant it might seem, however unnoticed to it.
Heartily as to the Lord, and I tell you, when you're faithful in that which is little, He will give you more. That's what it says in this chapter about stewardship.
I'd like to talk about the commodity of time as well. Let's go to.
Ephesians chapter 5.
Time is an interesting commodity. I'm not sure we understand it.
We treat it as a constant in our thinking.
According to Einstein's theory of relativity, it is not a constant, it is a variable. Kind of interesting thing to think about.
But we treat it in our thinking as a constant.
And we have time.
And we need to think how do we use our time?
Some of you are going to school, you have classes, some of you've got jobs. You've got to be at work at a certain time in the morning, you get off at a certain time in the afternoon.
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And so there are things that we have to do in life. There are moments that we are free and we have time to dispose of. Let's read in chapter 5 of Ephesians verse 16 says redeeming the time because the days are evil. How do you redeem the time? Redeem means.
Pay a price.
To buy back, and it is to buy the moments for God. And I like to think of it in this way, young people.
We're living in Satans world. Satan is the God and Prince of this world, and so if you're going to just kind of calmly float through this light, Satan's got a whole bunch of activities.
To occupy all your time so that nothing counts for eternity. Pleasures, sports, a lot of things that in themselves are not wrong. But if you just let yourself aimlessly float through life, your life is not going to count for anything. And to me it is one of the most tragic things is to see a person come to the end of his life.
And say I've lived my life.
I wasted the whole thing.
Now there's nothing ahead for me. Don't do it. God gives you moments of reflection so that you can buy back those moments. It's going to cost you something.
And so you've got to go to work at 7:00 in the morning.
Wouldn't it be good to get up and spend some time reading the word first?
And praying.
You're going to have to get up a little bit earlier.
If you have to leave at 7, you're going to have to get up maybe an hour earlier.
And I know it's pretty tough on some people to have to get up early.
Boot themselves out of bed. But that's what it means. Pain. A price.
To make moments for God. That's what it means.
Are you going to redeem the time? I can say, dear young people, I trust I don't.
I'm not boasting about it, but I just want to encourage you before I was married, After you get married, there's a lot of other relationships and activities that crowd in.
But before you're married, you're going to have time to dedicate to reading the word. And before I was married, I took a time when I was employed in Chicago.
Got up an hour earlier to spend 1/2 an hour reading the word and reading some of the ministry about the word and 1/2 an hour to pray. I'll never regret having taken that time.
Sure, I didn't get as much sleep. I had to discipline myself to get out of that bed when I wanted to turn over and sleep some more. It would have been a lot easier to do that. I don't regret having booted myself out of bed and gotten over there to my desk where I had my Bible and my books. Having done that, redeem the time. Use those extra moments.
For the Lord, think about others. There's a lot of older widow sisters around the country. You don't understand what it means to them to have a young person drop in and say, hey, I just passing by and I thought I'd say hi. Is there something I can do around the house? Maybe for you that kind of thing means a tremendous amount and it's going to be.
Put to your account in that eternal day. You may not get any.
Material advantage for it here, but I tell you it will stand to your account in that day if you can just think of others the needs that there are around.
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Now in this country, it's tragic to say, but there's a lot of opportunity amongst youth. Several places in the East now there are.
Open doors into youth detention homes.
In Lawrenceville, where we come from, we go across the river into Indiana, Vincennes IN, there's a youth village population of about 150 youth from 12 years old to 17 years old. And those kids have done about everything in the book, I mean about everything and.
And they are totally disorientated.
And since they're under lock and key, they listen a lot better than kids listen in the meetings, let me tell you.
And some of them are downright serious.
Can you take some time to look up those centers where youth are detained? They're ready to listen.
It takes time, yeah. It takes us three hours when we go in there to spend time in different sections of that youth detention village that I tell you, it's been a real blessing to be able to go in and see some of those kids.
Encouraged in the right direction, we can't do much, but we can show some love to them.
The next thing I wanted to talk about is your knowledge, and a lot of you have.
Studied in college or some other school.
You have knowledge. You have, like someone said, talents that you can use for the Lord.
And God is going to ask you to give account for how you have used those talents one day, and according to your faithfulness in the use of your talents, so will be relegated your position in the coming Kingdom of the Lord Jesus.
In that millennial day, very clear teaching of that in Matthew's Gospel, or no, I should say in I think it's Luke's Gospel. The one that gained 10 from the one that was given him was put over 10 cities. The one that gained 5 from the one that was given him was put over 5 cities. A clear teaching to show that your position.
In the millennial Kingdom is determined by how you use the talents that the Lord has given you now. And those are not merely spiritual things, those are your natural talents God has given you.
Use them. Not merely for things down here, use them.
For the Lord and for that eternal day.
I may have mentioned to some of you that I was quite impressed coming back from Bolivia. Hey, what time is this supposed to be over in, Wally?
5 minutes, OK.
Coming back from Bolivia, I think it was a couple years ago on the plane and I was sitting beside a young girl. She was coming back from Bolivia as well on the plane. She was a Peace Corps worker and she was an agricultural engineer and she had been out in the way, out of the way places in the river valleys of Sucre, Bolivia.
Using her natural talents to teach those poor people out there.
To how to grow bitter crops.
I was impressed that here was a young girl as an agricultural engineer up here. I'm sure she could have gotten a pretty good job. You know what she's making under the Peace Corps doing that? About 300 bucks a month. That's not too much money, is it?
I was impressed, I said, man, where's our young people?
Why can't they use some of the knowledge the Lord has given them to go out into the other areas? And I see that when you go out, not as a missionary merely, but go out with some natural talent, you have a way of communicating to the people that really gets across.
Lord challenge our hearts to use what we have for Him. There's one of the things I wanted to mention is our material possessions.
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And I'm touching this because it's part of what Scripture speaks about. And please, don't anybody think that I'm begging for money up here because I'm not. The Lord takes care of his people. But what I'm saying is we need to be exercised to use what the Lord puts in our hands for him. And when I see the percentage figures of what we spend for our own pleasure.
And our own desires up here. It scares me how we are going to look when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
And I challenge you young people, figure it out sometime.
The money that you make.
On your job, what percentage do you give to the Lord?
The possessions you have? What percentage?
Is used for your own material pleasure and desires. And what percentage are you using for the Lord?
I love to the story of Letourneau. He was a man. Somebody may have read his story Mover of Men and Mountains. He was a Christian man who built big earth moving equipment.
And he started as a believer, giving 10% of his profits to the Lord. God prospered him in such a way that he.
Got to the point he gave 20%, then 30%. Finally he got up to where he was giving actually 90% to the Lord's work and living off the 10%.
And I see if we can realize that everything the Lord puts into our hands, Sure, I've got to have a car in a car that functions, but you have to have the latest model and the best and the fastest car. Is that going to stand you? Instead, when you stand before the judgment seat of Christ, are you going to say, Lord, I had to have the fastest car?
I'm just saying, dear young people.
We're not going to be here much longer. We're going to be raptured home to see the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we're going to give a count in that day for everything that is in our position right now. My challenge to you is.
Use what you have in your power right now in view of that eternal day. I just want to say before I close at the end of this chapter 16 of Luke is the story of the rich man and Lazarus.
And since the theme of the whole chapter is stewardship, when a reason seems to be given why the rich man was in hell.
And Lazarus in Abraham's bosom.
It says, Son, remember thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things, and Lazarus is evil things.
And now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
It seems to be the reason that he just used his goods for present enjoyment and advantage and didn't think of that future day. And I think it's put that way. We know that a person is lost because of their lack of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a person is saved because he has put his faith in the Lord Jesus. But it's put that way in that chapter because the theme of the chapter is stewardship.
How are you using what is in your hands right now in view of the future day? The Lord help us, Lord, challenge us so that when we get to that moment we will have a deposit on account in that heavenly bank that we will not be ashamed. The apostle Paul says I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have been believed.
And am persuaded.
That he is able to keep that which I have committed is really my deposit.
Against that day, Paul lost everything here.
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But he had all on deposit for that day. Tremendous.
To be able to say that, I don't think I can say that in that same measure. But that's my desire. And that's the challenge I present to you young people tonight. Think about it. Let's just pray.