YP Talk—Josh Costron
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Wow, a lot of young people. Great to see you guys.
I was counseled by my lovely wife when I was coming over here to keep this short and sweet and I know you guys have had a long day and you want to get going with some volleyball and so on, but.
If you'll allow me a few minutes, I like your undivided attention if I could, and I just want to speak on a few things now.
I what I've had on my heart tonight is is really I want to touch on a few things that.
Really would be productive to a fruitful Christian life.
And I want to notice a few things that might minister to that, if you will.
But before I do, you know, this is a, a young people's group and I don't know most of you and you, most of you probably don't really know me and I don't know your hearts. And of course this is a message to Christians, but you know, I, I want to start by reading one verse.
Just in the event that, you know, there might be somebody here who is not a Christian or is a Christian by profession, but really.
That's it. And you know.
What's so important is that we.
Are right with God. This is where it all begins. You know, we can't fool God. It was pointed out at the meetings and I believe in one of the Gospels that God knows us.
You know, He knows us through and through. He looks right down into our heart and He knows exactly where we are tonight and He knows if we belong to Him or not. And I trust that we all do. But in the event that there is somebody here who does not know our Lord Jesus Christ, I just would like to read this one verse. In John chapter 14 verse six, it says Jesus.
Let me back up end of verse 5 this is.
A question by Thomas and he says how can we know the way?
And Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
It's pretty exclusive, isn't it?
You know, when we are talking about eternal things and eternity, there is only one way.
The world.
Wants to put a whole bunch of stuff before us and confuse the issue at hand.
And, you know, I remember a brother giving a message, a gospel message, and he had some interaction with somebody at a gas station and he said that you need to know the Lord Jesus as your Savior if you want to go to heaven. And he said, well, I didn't really buy into that. And and he thought that if you're just sincere, that's good enough. You know, a lot of people believe that today that if you're just.
Well meaning brother Tim, we were talking about this over.
Lunch today or or supper and.
And I think you had an interaction with the guy for, remember, right, the story right where he just thought he was a good guy and that's all he needed. He had a Good Wife, he had a good job and he, he he made good money. What else do you need?
If that's all he had.
Then he has nothing.
You know the Bible says, what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?
This is the vital question for everybody, for humanity. Where will you spend eternity?
And Jesus Christ says I am the way, He is the way to the Father. He is the truth about the Father, about God, and use the life. He is the one that can bring you into a relationship with God as your Father.
And so if you have not availed yourself of the finished work of Christ and put your faith and your trust in our Lord Jesus Christ, I want to tell you something. He loves you more than you know.
And he died for you at the cross shed his precious blood, that blood which can wash away all our sins.
If you place your trust in him.
He promises you eternity with Himself, where there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.
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The Lord Jesus loves you and he died for you. And friend, if you're here tonight, we want you to know that if you have any questions, please come and talk to somebody and we'd be happy to talk to you.
But.
With that said.
That's where it all begins for us as Christians. Salvation, knowing our Lord Jesus is our Savior, coming into relationship with him, and he reveals to us who God really is. You want to know something about the heart of God? You want to know who God is? We see it in Christ. You know, I want you young people to know this.
That God.
Wants.
Your blessing, He wants you to be happy. And what is the secret to that happiness? A lot of people struggle with this and it's not that complicated.
But there's responsibility involved, you know, we just can't, I suppose, get saved and just expect everything to just work out with no exercise in our life. So if you will bear with me for a few moments, and I'm going to try to be brief, but there's a couple things, a few things I want to notice in Second Kings Chapter 3. We're not going to read this whole chapter.
And I just want.
To point out the fact that, you know, we go into these Old Testament scriptures and what can we learn? You know, it's just not a historical narrative and just interesting stuff that happened in days gone by. Lot of incredible things happen that are true because this is the truth. The standard of truth is here. This happened. But you know, the New Testament tells us that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.
And we can look back into these things and get instruction for our souls. And that's my point tonight I want to draw out from a few of these scriptures in brief, some spiritual lessons that we can get as Christians for our life. So in Second Kings chapter 3.
We will start at verse.
Six, and King Jehoram went out of Samaria the same time, and numbered all Israel.
And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab hath rebelled against me, Wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up. I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses is thy horses. And he said, Which way shall we go up? And he answered the way through the wilderness of Edom.
So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah and the king of Edom, and they fetched the compass of seven days journey, and there was no water for the host and for the cattle that followed them. And the king of Israel said, alas, that the Lord hath called these 3 kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab. But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water?
Hands of Elijah and Joshua had said, the word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
And Elijah said unto the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? Get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay, for the Lord hath called these 3 kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab. And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts liveth before, before whom I stand, surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee. But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass.
When the minstrel played that, the hand of the Lord came upon him, and he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus, say the Lord, You shall not see wind, neither shall you see rain. Yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink both ye and your cattle and your beasts. And this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will deliver the Moabites also into your hand.
You notice Jehoshaphat made himself.
An ally with.
A king of Moab and the king of Israel.
Shouldn't have done it.
And he aligns himself with this confederacy, and to go down and take out the king of Moab.
Joshua Fat was a godly man, I believe.
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And this is the first principle I want to draw from is that he had bad.
Companions.
Bad alliances in his life.
And this is the first thing that I want to point out that if if we as Christians, young person or old person doesn't matter if God.
What God wants for us is is he wants us to be aligned with those of like precious faith.
Yeah, I think of, I think it's in the Psalms, is it not? Says I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and who love thy precepts.
You know God wants you.
To enjoy the fellowship of those of like precious faith.
And if you're going to experience.
A refinement, if you will, a sharpening. You know, iron sharpens iron there. There's no replacement for good companions who love the Lord and who are those who can stir you up and encourage you and build you up in your most holy faith and encourage you on in the path of faith and service for him. This is what God wants for us.
So companionship is an important thing, isn't it?
Who do you hang around with?
Who? Who is your social sphere?
I would suggest it should be.
The people of God.
Here's another thing.
We're going to jump to verse 16, he says. Thus saith the Lord, make this valley full of ditches.
Interesting.
What's a valley?
It's something that is very low, isn't it?
I think, Paul says. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation we're with. You've been called with all loneliness and meekness.
You know we need to cultivate a spirit of meekness and loneliness that was exactly seen in our Lord Jesus.
Here's the King of Glory, the Son of God, come into this world to manifest God to you and me.
And he was within his rights to come in.
And glorify himself.
I mean, this is God the Son.
But he took the lowest place.
I believe this is something that we all need to be exercised about and cultivate in our life is a humble, lowly spirit.
If we do that, that produces.
An Ave. whereby God can bring blessing into your life and my life and he can use you for his glory. But if what stands in opposite and on the other side of the line compared to that is pride. High thoughts of self, low thoughts of others and pride destroys people.
And he says make this valley full of ditches.
So he wanted them to dig out the earth.
And I believe that this is another point is that we need to get rid of all the earthly stuff that is clogging our life and that is affecting us in a negative way as Christians.
The world has its way.
Subtly, and sometimes not so subtly.
Where it it stops?
God from from really affecting our life in a positive way by taking up with the things of this world that does not profit us at all. We could enumerate a whole bunch of things, and I don't need to do that. You and I know exactly what those things are in our life. And what was the purpose of digging ditches so that the water might come in?
And.
It says.
For thus saith the Lord, you shall not see wind, neither shall you see rain, yet that valley shall be filled with water. What's that a picture of? It's a picture of the Word of God. What is going to refresh you and me as Christians, as being the people of the book, as we had at the conference, and as our brother Dave had brought out, that we need to have that time with the Lord and to read His Word.
This is so important if you want to know the mind of God.
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You want to seek direction from the Lord. You want to know all that He has planned for you and your life and all that that interests him. It's in here the Word of God.
This is our refreshment and this is what he wants for us. So we need to dig out the earth and we need to let the water flow in and we need to avail ourselves of the word of God. So that's another point is.
Is being occupied with the word. I just want to jump over to the next chapter and there's a couple other things I want to notice here.
So we have in we'll start in verse one another cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophet prophets undue Elisha saying, thy servant, my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant did the did fear the Lord, and the predator has come to take unto him my two sons to be bondman. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in thine house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not anything in the house save a pot of oil.
And he said, Go borrow the vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels, borrow not a few. And when thou come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
So she went in, or went from him, and shut the door upon her, and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her, and she poured out.
They came to pass when the vessels were full, that she said unto her Son, Bring me yet a vessel. He said unto her, There is not a vessel more in the oil state.
Then she came and told the man of God, and he said, Go sell the oil and pay thy debt, and live thou and my children of the rest.
This is another point.
Is that we need to live.
In the stings in in the sphere of the Spirit of God and to be exercised to be filled with the Spirit of God.
You know, it says we are exhorted to be filled with the Spirit. Now as Christians, of course we're indwelt with the Spirit of God, but to be filled with the Spirit of God is something altogether different.
And to be filled with the Spirit of God is to allow the Spirit of God to come into my life and allow him control, if you will Simply put.
And all that I think of and all that I do ought to be guided by the Spirit of God.
And it says in Galatians that we are to walk in the Spirit. That's another thing. Need to be filled with the Spirit, but we need to walk in the Spirit as well. And what does it say? If you walk in the Spirit, you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh? You ever found that you lack power sometimes as a Christian and sometimes you find yourself falling prey to the flesh.
And justice, stumbling along, that's not normal Christian experience. Christian experience is a path of victory and triumph. I'm not saying that we don't go through hardships, Not saying that we will. Yeah, all that live God be in Christ. Jesus shall suffer persecution. That's a promise. And that persecution comes in various forms.
But the point is, excuse me, the point is, is that God wants us to be filled with the Spirit, to be to walk in the Spirit. And we need to have this as another exercise in our life if we want to experience the blessing of God in our life in, in, in terms of having a fruitful, productive, productive Christian life for him down here on this earth.
OK, finally.
Verse 8 And it fell on a day that Elijah passed to Shinham, where was a great woman, or a wealthy woman, and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was that as OFT as he passed by, he turned in through their deep bread. And she said into her husband, Behold, now I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall, and let us set for him there a bread, and a table, and a stool, and a Candlestick. And it shall be when he cometh to us that.
Shall turn in thither. And it fell on a day that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there.
I'll stop. I'll stop there.
This is another thing.
This man of God, Elijah, he pictures to us here the Lord Jesus.
And there was an exercise to make him a little place where he could turn in into this people, this wealthy woman's home. And he had a place there where he he could find some rest. He had a little chamber. And I believe this chamber speaks of our hearts.
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The Lord Jesus.
Wants your affections.
My son, give me thine heart.
He is jealous for your affections.
And he wants you to be exercised about that.
And we need to question, we need to ask ourselves.
Have I made a little chamber for the Lord in my life, in my heart?
Or does he just kind of get put on the back burner, if I can put it that way, and he just kind of becomes an afterthought or a footnote to my life?
Or does he have the preeminence? You know, I was talking with him again.
I appreciate your brother, Tim. I we talked about a lot of stuff and we're talking about the other day if I asked you one this question, we're talking about this.
What is the very first moral principle that you learn in Scripture? Does anybody have an answer?
It's found in the very first verse of the Bible.
In the beginning, God.
He has the preeminence.
He has the 1St place. At least he should have the first place in our life.
So right from the very beginning, the very first verse in the beginning, God.
Is it so in my life?
You know we say Lord Jesus. What does that mean?
I give him the place. Yes, he's my savior, but is he my Lord? That means that I give him the authority over my life and He calls the shots.
Well.
He wants the chamber, he wants our hearts, he wants our affections, He longs for it because he wants our fellowship. And this leads me to the other thing. There's a few things here. There's a bed, place of rest.
Are there things in our life that the Son of God can delight in, take rest in, that meets His approval?
There's also a table, a place of fellowship.
Lord Jesus wants to have fellowship with us, not just once a week.
Wants to have fellowship with us day in and day out.
And a stool.
It's a place of a learner.
He wants us to sit at his feet and to hear his word. You know, we talked about this.
About We're all students. We all ought to be students of the Word of God.
Brother and sister like.
You know we ought to be students and a Candlestick testimony.
Lord Jesus wants us to be a testimony for Him.
So if we give the Son of God his place in our life, I believe these things will find their proper place in our life. So to summarize, we need to make room for the Word of God in our life. We need to make room for the Spirit of God in our life, if you will, in a very practical way, we need to make room for the Son of God in our life as well.
We do that.
That I believe we're going to live a fruitful, productive Christian life while we are down here on this earth. So what God wants for us.
If it beats living for ourselves.
We live for self. We're going to be very unhappy Christians, and that would not be God's ideal.