YP Address—Bernie Roossinck
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All right. Good morning.
Probably nobody wanted to walk in the rain.
But I thought it's great, we need Rainbow. So thank you Lord, for the rain.
I had young people, a subject in mind, Estelle and Jonathan before he and I were speaking about, you know, our heart to be an encouragement to help you guys and you mentioned last night, John, he got all this stuff in your mind and.
Yeah, it's like going to the supermarket, going what shall I take?
So I wanted to speak to you guys about.
Building towers and digging wells.
But.
Something happened.
Sunday night and Monday morning early that I laid in bed and changed my mind.
So I'm not quite sure how this will go.
But I hope what we're going to take up will be helpful and useful to you. And before we get into it, we're going to sing #221.
How many of you guys think that the tune that you use to a hymn effects how it comes out?
So when I grew up in Newfoundland, we would sing this hymn and the tunes in Newfoundland were a combination of Grand Rapids tunes from my dad and Denver tunes for Mr. Beliselli. And the one that we used for this hymn sounded like an Irish funeral dirt and we would be singing happy.
And it sounded terrible, but this him, young people, is that beautiful him. And so we're going to use a tune that steps along a bit faster. So I don't want to be too fast and be disrespectful. But when we sing this, we are happy people. Lots of reasons to be happy. And so we should sing like we're happy.
So hopefully I know a lot of tunes, so if I get the right one here.
Happy they trust in Jesus, we therefore it is unsure who am the full and other seasons he will give me some steel.
Happy people, happy people, happy.
Go this voice that's hoisted and pour.
Happy people, happy people, happy.
Go despise and for.
Sense is love and mercy found us, we are precious, sin is saying. Thousands moving all around us as it's more people.
To play.
God is presence.
By his presence.
Gives us faith.
By day and day.
Oh, our Savior? Never.
Ever.
Was foolish his hair.
Glow, we cannot boast out the numbers.
In history.
Secure we are, so we therefore force him.
With Air Force and.
Saviors. I miss there.
Swing their horse and sweet their portion.
In my saviors kindness.
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As suffer beating.
Their feathers.
Objects of hair care.
So the Lord, his children, gathers, spreads.
I stand there.
To the protected.
The protagonists all.
Staples, we dare.
Thus protocol.
S they fall weak and.
What a beautiful hymn.
All right.
You'll have to wait to hear about digging wells and building towers.
Although I will tell you young people study those two topics because they're very encouraging and super helpful in your Christian development.
What I want to talk to you about instead.
Is your value and your worth in the sight of God?
And let's say.
A big topic, and I'm just going to talk about a few things that came into my mind as I laid in my bunk at about 3:00 in the morning.
Thinking about you.
I know that you, there's a lot of views in here. Everyone of you is unique and special and created in the image of God. And I was thinking when we were studying the 6th chapter of Galatians about the armor of God and thinking about the attacks that the enemy would bring against you.
One of the things that.
We had this on Sunday night.
That the enemy of your souls is a liar, a murderer, a cheater, a thief, a robber, and he would tell you you don't have any value.
You're a misfit.
You can't contribute anything worthwhile.
And So what I want to try to do is bring out from God's word.
The opposite. What does God really think and how does he view you and I right now?
Now, before I open the word of God, I'm going to tell you something about me.
I was born.
Before the time when moms could see ultrasound pictures.
And so my mother was shocked to be handed a child with a gaping hole in his face. I was born with a complete cleft lip and palette, so the nose and mouth is one big ****.
And.
That was a shock to her. That's not the way she anticipated me being born. And.
Condition like that needs to be treated. Obviously you can't.
You can't suck. You can't swallow right. You can't. You certainly can't whistle. Like I promise you that.
And and that's something that I had to deal with as a kid too. And so I just, I'll tell you, I hope you don't mind me using some personal references.
In Newfoundland, there was no doctors that could.
Properly address that so every child would be sent to the Children's Hospital in Halifax. Is that the Jane Waste? What's the name of the Halifax? So I went to the Children's Hospital in Halifax and made a lot of trips there too. I don't remember the first one obviously, I was just bored.
But I other subsequent ones with surgeries that I had to have.
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We stayed at Tom and Leah Roaches house and I can remember Tim and.
His siblings. I remember Susan reading me Richard Scary books. Anyway, it's funny how you remember stuff like that.
We get to the hospital and the Lord had worked it out that they were having an international conference of plastic surgeons that week for children with plethora problems.
And then I arrived and there was a doctor there named Doctor Ross, and he's retired since, but I remember him as a teenager going to get checked, you know, And what a kind, lovely doctor.
Anyway, the Lord worked it out where He said that.
We're going to use this kid as an example and I'll do the surgery and you guys are watching me.
That's what happens.
But you know, kids, as I was growing up as a smaller child, I couldn't talk right. I had a list. My nose was crooked.
All the kids called me flat nose.
And it hurts.
And one day my mom sat me down and she said, I want to read you something that the Lord gave me the day you were born, and I'm going to give it to you right now.
Isaiah 43.
Isaiah 43. Now before I read this, I'll just say this is God speaking to Israel.
And I am not a covenant theology person, so don't come up to me afterwards and go, hey, hey, you're wrong dude, this dispensationalism.
Where the church is not Israel. What I'm talking about right now is the heart of God toward what it is a phone loved ones. And in this case, I want you to hear what I'm reading God speaking to you right now.
Verse one. Thus saith the Lord that created thee.
God made you young people, exactly like you are. Thus saith the Lord that created you, O Jacob, he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not.
For I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine.
Is what the Lord thinks about you when he looks at you. I made you. I created you. I called you by your name, your mind. Don't people. Satan tells you you're not of any value. It's a lie. God says you are of great value. I made you exactly the way I wanted you to be.
Verse two, when they'll pass us through the waters.
I might be with you if I feel happy about you now, and that's not what it says. When thou passes through the waters, I will be with you.
Through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.
When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
Verse 4.
Thou was precious in my sight. Do you hear that, young people? It's God's heart to you right now.
Thou was precious in my sight.
Let's go down a bit further.
I have loved me.
Feel alone in this world. Remember this God says I as love me right now.
Verse seven halfway through verse six, bring my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even everyone that is called by my name, for I have created him for my glory.
I have formed him, yeah, I have made him.
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My mom shared that with me. It was a big encouragement.
Young people, everyone of you is unique.
Everyone of you has had different experiences that are shaping who you are and God is working with you and in you.
And you're his, he says. Here I have created you for my glory.
Some of you are good at relationships.
Some of you don't really care for people that much. Not that you're right angry person, but you're just more of a person that would rather be alone. But God has given you other abilities maybe you're good at.
Art maybe you're good at.
Encouraging somebody, just maybe writing. Maybe you're a good writer or a poet or whatever. Maybe you can sing.
Everybody is unique and God has created you for his own glory and his purpose. So I want to first thing I want to do is just encourage you young people don't look around at everybody else and go because I can't do what they're doing or I'm not that good at it or I don't feel like I fit in that I'm not of any value. That's not true. Satan would tell you see.
You can't jump as high as Logan, so you're you're no good.
Yeah, I guess Logan can't even draw a stick, man, but you can, you know what I mean? And say I opened my mouth to sing in the hymn singing. It smells like a bullfrog, but I listen to some of you. I really enjoyed when we're down there by the water and listening to you guys singing.
Sounded like angels to me. If I tried to join into that, it'd be like quiet him down, put a put a bag over his sadness. But the the Lord young people has uniqueness for you. So I wanted to share that because of my own history, my own struggle with physical problems, and how the Lord used my mom to share this verse with me.
Now let's go to Jeremiah again.
I referred to this yesterday, but something different now. Jeremiah chapter one.
Jeremiah was a young person and I don't know exactly what the math is but I think I'm close. He was in his young to mid teens.
Will say he's 14 years old.
I looked across your faces. I see a lot of people under 18 here, so put yourself in Jeremiah's shoes right here.
Jeremiah one verse 4.
Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Now listen to this young people, before I formed the in the belly. I knew that you get that before you were even conceived.
The Lord says I knew you and He can say that about you right now. Put your own name in it. I hope you guys don't mind when I call people out by name, but I think it makes things more relevant. So I'm going to use you, Joe Smith.
The Lord could say, Joe, before you were born, I knew that you would be a dentist.
Alex, before you were conceived, the Lord knew that you'd be sitting in that chair right now. That's the God we have. Before I formed thee in the valley, I knew thee. Before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
The Lord has given you your circumstances. He's given you who you are, your personality, your genetics, everything about it. Nothing about you is a surprise to God. Nothing is.
And here he is telling Jeremiah, I have sanctified you. That means I set you apart to be a prophet to the nations. And here's Jeremiah's just barely. Maybe he's halfway into adolescence. And God's going, hey, Jeremiah.
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I picked you for this and it's going to be all your life and this is what I need, Jeremiah says. Then I said, oh Lord God, behold, I cannot speak. I am but a child. I am a child.
But the Lord said unto me, Say not that I am a child.
For thou shalt go to all that I send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak.
Be not afraid, for I am with thee to deliver thee, and so on. And the Lord put his words into Jeremiah's mouth. The reason I read that, young people, is to just remind you.
God has made you.
He knew every piece of your life. He knows the good, the bad, the ugly. He knows when you're having a great day. He knows when you're having a bad day. He knows your family situation. He knows your school situation. He knows your friend's situation. And he knew it before you were even conceived.
You think that person is trustworthy young people, I do.
Route down anchor in that that God says you are valuable to me.
And don't let the enemy tell you that's a lie.
You know, I was talking and meeting Saturday about the types of attacks. You know, I like history. You guys are up there on the potato field and I was sitting there on the edge and I looked across that field of play and saw you guys setting up your forts and it made me think of.
Lots of different things. I thought about David and Goliath, you know, and there's this field of battle and out of the one side comes Goliath and here comes David approaching each other and.
The battle is set in the ray and the next thing you know it's game on, right? But Satan in in attacking you spiritually is a liar, a thief, a murderer, and he would tell you.
Everything that God says about you is wrong. He's not being honest, He's not being genuine. He's not being good to you. That's a lie.
And you know, as I think back through history, when there's conflicts in battle, sometimes it's just flat out smashing each other head to head.
And if that doesn't work as well, we're going to flank them and go around either side, get them from the edges.
Sometimes it's undermining, as I was mentioning that in World War 1.
Tremendous amount of effort going into tunneling underneath the other guy's threads, filling it up with bombs, setting it off, and next thing you know a whole hill is just gone.
There's a crater in Belgium right now. You can still go visit that's like a 3/4 of a mile wide where they did that. And that's the kind of attack the enemy is going. If you can't take your head on, it gets you from the side or it gets you under my knees. Did God really say that?
And I know you're not of any value, young people, you are a great value. So don't allow the enemy to attack like that. Let's go to Matthew, chapter 10.
I'm going to read two different passages here.
Matthew 10 verse 29. This is the Lord Jesus speaking.
Are not two sparrows so for a Farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not. Therefore ye have more value than many sparrows. So here you could buy 2 for a dollar basically. I don't know what a Farthing is, we'll just say 2 for a dollar because.
Inflation is rising.
OK, Lid 12/6.
Arnav, 5 sparrows sold for two varnish. Not one of them is forgotten before God, but even the very hairs of her head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, ye have more value than many sparrows, OK?
This is not a a evidence of inconsistency in the scripture. What we have here is basic market bargains. How many of you like flea markets or garage sales or getting a deal?
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I like getting a deal. Here's the way it works. The Lord is saying, Cameron, here's a little bird that's so cheap and insignificant that if you buy 2, we'll throw one in. If you buy four, we'll give you an extra one for free. That's what was happening. It's two for a dollar.
Or five for $2.00.
Pretty cheap, right?
And then the Lord says young people.
That one of those cheap little birds falls to the ground without your father's care and notice. Think about that some little bird out there in the woods.
Gets knocked off by a hawk or whatever, dies just a just a little bird.
It says the Lord Jesus said my Father knows about that and he takes care. Now ye are of more value than many sparrows. OK, well the reason I wanted to read this to you is whatever is happening in your life, God cares about it. He knows about it. He.
Is affected by it. You know there's nothing that happens in your life that God has asked that my deal.
I don't care about that. Just let it roll. Never.
That one Sparrow falls to the ground without your Father's notice. Take that into your soul. When the enemy says you're worthless, you don't have any value. It's not true. God sees the smallest little bird fall and goes, I care about that. And you're way, way vastly more valuable than that.
Some of us were joking last night about.
Hair loss and changing the color of your hair, trying to look younger, whatever.
Bobby, I hope you don't mind this.
You have more hairs on your head or Jonathan.
Bobby said last night that he was perfectly happy as a bald guy. But you know what? The Lord knows how many hairs around your head, Bobby.
Everyone. He has the number. Does that care? Young people 100% yes indeed. Joe 38.
This is a question.
That the Lord asked you, Job 3822.
Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?
Stop with that.
OK, kids, kids.
You should talk to my Sunday school class, young people.
There is no two snowflakes alike.
The treasures of the snow. Think of the billions and billions and trillions of snowflakes that fall.
God has made that in a way that there is no two the same, not one.
If you entered into that thought to say, Lord, why have you made me like this? And the Lord can say to you, have you entered into the treasures of how I made you? You are precious, unique, one-of-a-kind.
And a scar that did it.
Think about that, young people.
The enemy says yeah, you don't matter.
You are uniquely created by God. Think about the treasures of the snow. We don't have time to develop this a lot, but I just wanted to impress that on you. There is no two snowflakes the same and there are trillions of snowflakes. That is the God that loves you. That's the one that said I made you for my glory.
Remember that.
Psalm 139.
This is a some young people that if you are memorizing some, this would be a good one.
This is a little bit of a rabbit trail, but I'll tell you this.
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My parents have this sum on their wall. It was.
CNC routered onto a giant piece of cherry wood the beautiful text made by an Amish Craftsman somewhere in Ohio. And when my dad showed it to me, I told him I'd like to have that because.
You can't have it then.
It's hanging in my mom's living room. This song was used by the Lord to send my dad to Newfoundland. Partially he felt exercised to go and preach the gospel, and the Lord was telling him in his soul, you can't just go up there for two weeks a year and leave.
I need somebody there all the time.
And my dad grew up in West Michigan on a farm, and he liked horses, he liked tractors. He worked for a Case IH dealer.
He didn't want to do it.
He said, Lord, there's nobody up there. It'd just be me. I'm engaged to be married. If I tell my fiance what this exercise is, she'd probably drop me like a rock. I can't do it. I'm not going.
And a number of times the Lord gave him verses about the islands.
And the sea. So then he told the Lord well.
There would probably be a language barrier.
I can't go somewhere where I don't know the language. So the Lord gave him the verse and that's sending you to a people of a strange stone. But man, this excuses right, Jonathan, there's the verse, right? I'm not sending you to a people of a strange tongue. They speak English, God, man. So he got that. He was reading this chapter.
And I'll just read here verse 7. Where there shall I go from thy spirit?
Or Withers, shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, Hades, behold, thou art there if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea.
Eden Berry.
Shall thy hand lead me?
And my right hand shall hold me.
And this was the verse that made him say, yes, Lord, I'll do it.
Going to the uttermost parts of the sea. That's moving to Newton. You know what happened, young people? He said yes to the Lord. I'll do it. Then he had to go face my mother and tell her I'm thinking for a honeymoon. We're moving across the continent where we know nobody and we're going to live in a van. You know what she said?
I'll go.
And then you know what happened. Completely unknown to them, God had put on the heart of Mr. and Missus Bellisoli to do the exact same thing, and neither family knew it. And they both moved to the exact same town on the other side of the continent, completely unknown to the other.
Does God look after his own?
100% he does.
He does.
And so that's how the racing family and the Bella Sally family became still connected. Steve, I feel like I stole your grandpa and grandma in a certain way because.
They were Uncle Donnie and Aunt Betty to me as a kid and kind of like surrogate grandparents. And what a heritage.
Young people.
God places something in your path. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows what he's going to do. And you can trust them. The Lord puts something in your heart to do. Do it. Don't put it off. So easy to go. Yeah, Yeah, I should do that. I'm going to do that next week. I'll get to it.
This is still a rabbit thrill, but I'll share this with you.
There is a man that worked for the same company I work for. His name is Danny Stratton.
Very high spirited man. I've seen many of the copy cup fly across the office.
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Danny was a He was better than a morning cup of coffee if he needed something. Then if you got a call from Danny, it was 6:00 AM and it wasn't, hey, how's it going? It was.
Let's get her done, man. Let's go anyway.
Danny was familiar with the gospel and I liked him. He wound up running a a part of the company where we do aerial application with airplanes.
And.
Found out that Denny had cancer and he lived in the town I worked in in Edmore, MI.
And on a Friday night, I thought, man, I should go up and talk to Danny about it. So.
I'll go up there Monday and see him.
Got a call Sunday afternoon. Danny just died.
And I fell from my soul, man. Should have went there Friday night and I didn't do it.
And I regret that. Anyway, the Lord gives you something to do. Maybe it's like, hey.
Go over and put your M around this kid and talk to him. Do it. Don't wait, do it right now. Support, OK?
Now back to you, your value and worth in God's sake.
You really could read this whole chapter, but I'm just going to pick out a few verses here. Verse 3 Thou compassed my path and my lying down and are equated with all my ways. The Lord knows yo people, your heart, your mind, your position, and he cares about it. He knows all about it.
Verse 17.
How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God, How great is the sum of them. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sins. And when I awake, I am still with Thee.
Verse 23 Search me O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
The Lord knows all about it.
And there's nothing you can go to the Lord with in your life that's a surprise to him. That one thing you could say to me, Bernie, I've gotten myself privately into the ugliest situation you can imagine. I'm ashamed to even say what it is.
You think you get on your knees and tell the Lord that he's like, oh really? I'm glad you mentioned that because I hadn't noticed. He knows and he wants to help you. He wants to you come into your life and.
Lead you into the way everlasting Satan would tell you, hey, you've screwed it up so bad that you may as well just quit.
Thanks. The Lord is going to be interested in a broken vessel like you.
You're of no worth or value, so just eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. That's what Satan would tell you. The Lord doesn't say that. He says I already know. Just come to me and I'll help you get it right. That's what he's saying to you. There's a lot more in in that.
I guess the the other thing I would say.
About this is let me go back up to.
Verse 13 For thou hast possessed my reigns. Reigns in the Scripture means your inner.
You know the literal translation is your kidneys.
The point I want to make to you is the reins here. Talk about your inside being of who You are now as possessed my reigns. Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.
My substance was not hit from day.
When I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth and so on. Well, because of time, we're going to keep moving. But I just say this beloved young person, you are uniquely and wonderfully made. You are.
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God's creation for His glory.
First Peter, chapter 2.
For Speeder 2.
Let's read verse five. Ye also, as living stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to OfferUp spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. If you belong to the Lord Jesus, beloved friend, you are a living stone that God has placed in the building of His church.
That's valuable and different from every other stone in the place. You know, we could go to Home Depot and find some manufactured stone that might look the same, but that's fake. If you go out there on the beach or any place and start picking up stones, they're all different and young people.
God the If you belong to him, if you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, he says.
You are a living stone, a valuable member of my church.
And you are placed there for my glory, for a unique purpose, something I want to bring out from your life. And so don't let the enemy tell you you're just a number someplace. You're not just a number. You are a living stone place there by God for him.
We could take this up in.
Corinthians 12 as well about the members of the body, you know, it says.
There, if the whole body wasn't was a hand, where would the need for the noise be? I can't quote it exactly right, right. But you've got some Tom Lake parts, some uncommon lake parts, your fingers, nose smelling all that stuff. One of the things that I find really encouraging in that chapter is it says the head cannot say to the foot.
I don't need you now. Who is the head of the body, young people? It's him. It's the Lord Jesus in there The Spirit of God brings out that the Lord is saying to you, I need you.
The head cannot say to the foot diet. No need to be.
Think about that. When Satan tells you, yeah, somebody else will fill your spot, you don't mean anything, That's a lie. The Lord says I was you. That's what he's saying.
All right now.
Now I want to switch gears for a little bit because.
All of us are.
Subject to.
Our culture, our family raising there is such a thing as family character. There is such a thing as well. Just to put it bluntly, when Joe was up here with that big rope, he belonged to the Lord. You have two natures.
An old nature and a new nature. And so yes, God has made you the way he wants you to be. But now I need to balance it with this.
There are things because we were born in sin and shape and iniquity that God has to deal with. So we can't say the reason that I'm a pathological liar is because God made me this way. That's missing the point. And God has to deal with us in our Christian lives about problems that are brought in by sin.
And brought in by choices that we've made.
That are not according to the way, everlasting and so.
Let's go first to Jan 15 for this.
It's not an excuse to say I'm just going to wallow along in misery because God made me this way and I can't help it. So there's another side to this.
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15.
Verse one, I am the true vine. This is the Lord Jesus speaking, and my father is the husbandman.
Every branch in me that beareth that fruit he taketh away, and every branch that beareth brood he purseth it, that it might bring forth more fruit.
And let's get down to verse five. I am the vine, you're the branches, He that abideth in me and I in him.
The same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me can do nothing. Well, here's the point, young people.
God wants to produce fruit in your life and sometimes there is a a pruning that happens. So I work in agriculture, some with grapes, but a lot more with apples and.
A whole lot more important, soybeans. But I know I understand what purging and pruning is about. And if you're keeping grapes, there is you have to cut back the old bones every year. And if you don't, the old minds choke out the new. And so you can go buy a vineyard that's just got those huge drapery of deadlines everywhere.
Hasn't been properly looked after, and there's only two or three clusters of grapes on it, if any.
And the principle that the Lord Jesus is bringing out here is he wants to bring out fruit, then more fruit and then less fruit. And so the Lord deals with us in our lives in this pruning way so that we can get more fruit and much fruit. And so don't be discouraged and say, well, God is against me.
You know, I think about the story of Ruth.
And the limit, like in Naomi, made a wrong choice.
They left Bethlehem and they went to Moab. It was the wrong choice. There was God's direction was not in it. And the result was that a women like hand, His two sons both died in Moab.
And God had to deal with them, what Naomi and her and her family and Naomi, thankfully has brought back to Bethlehem. And she might have thought, well, God is against me.
Young people, God can be against your wicked ways. If you're living in a way that is overtly sinful, you can't say, well, God made me this way, so it's fine. It's not.
And so God is pruning. I didn't even know if I should have mentioned this, but I guess I will.
There is a very popular country singer named George Jones.
And in country music circles, they would say George Jones could tear your heart out.
And he has a song called Choices.
And it's about making a lot of choices in his life that were wrong and reaping the consequences cost him multiple marriages, cost him time in jail, cost him a lot of money. And he came at the end of his life to realize the truth of the scripture that says.
You reap what you sow, we sow soweth to the flesh of the flesh. Free corruption.
He that soweth through the Spirit. So if the Spirit replay the last thing, I don't know if George Jones came to know the Lord or not. I hope he did.
But the song that he sings, called Choices, is a.
Rings pretty true to me.
Living and dying with the choices I made.
But you don't have to die with the choices you make. The Lord says Bring it to me.
Now Hebrews 12.
Something happens in the life of one of your fellow young people.
The temptation could be to say, aha, God is dealing with that person because they have been living a bad life. That's not necessarily true.
Let's read verse 5.
My son, halfway down the verse, my son despised not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. If we endure chastening, God dealeth with you as sons, for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? And so on. Well, if you're going through your Christian life.
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Or your regular life and you're not saved.
You might say I don't feel the hand of God on me in any way.
That's a dangerous place to be. I would have to ask, is there really life in this person?
If you're not one of the sons or daughters of God.
Jennifer brought the cell last night. None of this is applicable to you because you're out of your way through a lost eternity. But if you are a son or daughter of God, then I believe most all of you probably are.
There will be chastening in your life now. It could be what we call punitive chastening. That means I deliberately choose wrong and the Lord has to take me on to deal with it.
And there is that kind of chastening in the Christian life.
But it's not the only kind of chastening.
The Lord may be pruning you for a specific thing to bring out more fruit. And so if let's say I leave here and and my van gets smashed to bits, we might conclude aha, he's been living a life of sin and the Lord took him on. Well maybe, but we can't say that God knows what he's doing.
You know.
Just working with people to bring them to Himself, to submit to His will to do. You know, I think about the way the Lord worked in my own life.
To bring me to where I'm at, the doors that he opened and doors that he closed. Things that happened to me that I didn't want to happen to me. I remember a few years ago I was gradually losing sight in my right eye. And at first it's so slow, you couldn't even tell. Like you're something in your eye, you're blinking a little bit and ever get.
One day I set the back of Saint right. It's about a halfway across my eyesight. It was just Gray.
So I went to the eye doctor and he looked in there and he goes, hey, you should go see the retina specialist.
And Mike, is there a problem? He goes just go see him, but probably tomorrow would be good.
I'm like, that's not good.
And so we went to the retinal specialist and, yeah, he puts you in this chair and he leans you back and he's got this light that would shine through the back of your skull. And he goes, don't blink.
And he looked in there with his little scope for about, I don't know, back what, 10 seconds or less pushes his chair back and he goes, young man.
If I don't address this immediately, you'll be blind for life.
I'm a pretty tough guy. You know what happened?
I fainted in the chair.
It was a hot day. It was summer. It was about 4:00. I hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch. And he said that to me. He goes, you're going to be blind for life. I'm like, I knew it. God, why did you do this to me?
I can't, I don't have time to do this. And we were having a family reunion the next week, I think it was, and back and I were in charge of.
Taking care of it. Everybody was coming to Michigan and the doctor goes, you won't be going.
So anyway he did the surgery, he fixed the retina and he goes now the recovery time is face down. Like your eyes have to be lower than your ears constantly for like 3 weeks. So just try that a second.
Yeah, you're way down like this. And the reason is they put a gas bubble. You know how, you know, level the bubble moves to the to the top of the fluid.
Well, they, your retina is the back of your eyes, so they use this gas bubble to push up on their retina and hold it in place while it heals. And so because of the back here, right, it means the front of your eye needs to be down. And I'm here to tell you that the softest pillow in the world feels like 2 by 4 after about an hour.
But the Lord allowed all that.
For a purpose.
00:55:01
And so this kind of chastening happens in your life, young people.
There will be bad things to happen in your life, but don't throw away your confidence. Think it's there in the Hebrews 10 where it says cast not away, therefore thy confidence. We have need of patience. See if I can find that really quick.
Yes, one page back.
Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompensive reward. We have need of patience. After He had done the will of God, you might receive the promise. For yet a little while He that shall come will come, and will not tear you, and so on. So, young people, yes, bad things happen in your life, but don't, if the Lord is dealing with you on something sinful, get it right. Don't put it off if the Lord is dealing with you.
On matters of your character.
Or your natural bent. You know, I mentioned family character. I'll just tell you, young people, something that is inherent to my nature that I've had to learn to take to the Lord and deal with this a critical nature. It's easier for me to be critical.
And the Lord has had to chasten me to say.
That route needs to come out my stores, child of God, Yes I am, but the Lord is trying young people to conform you in your life more and more and more to the image of his Son. And so when the Lord is dealing with you on something, don't get angry or say, see, he hates me. No, he loves you and he's saying this thing right here. I need to take it out.
It's for your good.
And it hurts. But don't run away. Don't deny it, Say Lord.
I wore what you want.
And do it. You know, the another thing that chastening might be is to prepare you for something. My Grandpa Pilkington used to go down to the Caribbean, and he wouldn't take his sons with him until they learned that they served Watson. And I remember him telling us that he took Uncle Robert on a mission trip only after he had dropped about four or five ants in his teacup and he drank the tea without fishing him out. And he goes, now you're ready.
It's just things like that that the Lord could be preparing you for, to say here's adversity because 5 or 10 years from now I'm going to have you in another slot and you need to know how to play.
So don't.
The taken in by the lives of Satan to say see God is against you, quit him. No, no, no, say Lord, what's in it for me? How can we walk this path together?
We're out of time. I'll just mention this one. First Timothy 221 talks about a great house. In that great house there's vessels to honor and vessels to dishonor.
Then it says better turn through it to get it right. First Timothy 221.
Maybe you guys ever go through the books of the Bible in your mind when you.
I'm glad we have been selling our kids book because I use it all the time. First Timothy 2.
The second committee. Sorry, 221.
If a man therefore purges himself from these, that means the vessels to dishonor, he shall be a vessel unto honor sanctified, and meet for the master's use prepared unto every good work. So young people.
God may be working with you in your life through adversity to help sanctify you as a vessel. Meet for the Masters. Use.
Imagine the Lord looking across this room and going, I have a unique job and Brittany, you're the one that I prepared for the job.
And be able to say, I'm ready, Lord, here we go. Instead of saying.
That's uncomfortable.
It's difficult and they might think I'm stupid.
01:00:01
Don't do that, the Lord says, hey.
Marianne, I prepare you for one specific thing. I need you to go put your arm around that other person telling me appreciate them and do it. Now it's like I don't even know I'm going to do it. That is a vessel sanctified and meet for the Master's use.
Now you guys might advice, give one more example here. I know we're past time. Is it OK, Ted? All right.
When David was rejected, there was a time that saw our Jonathan came out and found him in the wood and strengthened his hand and God.
Young people we need.
Young people like Jonathan to go to other young people and strengthen their hand in God.
Maybe you're the one that says I need somebody to come and strengthen my hand of God. All of us need that. So be willing to do that. The Lord says you're something I want you to do for me. That can be a blessing to somebody else. Do it. I'm not going to mention names here, but I'm going to mention two things that I've noticed that really impressed me.
A young person that has sent into our family.
Handwritten letters of encouragement, so valuable.
You know who you are. Thank you, the Lord says. Do it, do it.
Another young person.
That has taken initiative to gather up the young little girls.
Have a tea party forum.
Is that valuable?
You think those little girls are influenced in their spiritual life by that 100%. Now those are only two things I know about. A third one maybe that pops in my mind periodically. I receive a text from a good friend of mine of just words of encouragement. How we how many texts do we send in a week? Wow. I think probably thousands.
You think about somebody in this room tomorrow or next week that could use.
Two or three words or a sentence or two of encouragement.
That gonna cost you anything. Do it. Strengthen their hand and God we need it.
I was going to mention, I will mention this. We talked about it briefly yesterday. Barnabas, it means the son of encouragement. You know, the Saul was violently imprisoning and killing Christians. God got ahold of his soul, met him in the road, spoke with him directly. And then he sends Ananias over there. He says, hey, go talk to Saul. He's sitting at this house.
And Ananias said, are you crazy? He came here to kill me. And the Lord goes, I know, but he's a chosen vessel of mine. You go talk to him. And he did it.
The Lord met that man where he was at, saved him.
Tremendous value and purpose in his life. A lot of the New Testament that we enjoy, God used the Apostle Paul to write it. You know what the other disciples said when they heard Paul got saved?
Yeah, that's a fake. I'm avoiding that dude like the plague. I don't want him to get anywhere near him.
And the Lord had the state of Barnabas. Son, I need you to go.
Spend a little time with my chosen vessel.
You know, young people, maybe there's somebody in this room and you say, I don't know what to say. I'm not too good at this.
The Lord Cathy on the shoulder and said, Go speak a kind word to him, be their friend, encourage him do it.
You'll find in your lives is a tremendous, tremendous blessing to get up every morning and say, Lord, here I am. I'm not your agent, I'm your vessel. You know, an agent is somebody that's working for money.
You know, a vessel with someone, the Lord can go, I'm going to pour this into you. You take it over there and pour it into somebody else. Do that. Well, I apologize for the past.
01:05:07
That's what came before me at 3:00 in the morning and Monday, young people, I love you.
Vastly bigger than that, the Lord who loves you, you are special to him. Live your life in a way that is in communion and fellowship with Him. And if there's something in the way.
Get it out before the Lord. It's not a surprise to him, He says in Song of Solomon, let me hear your voice. Let me see your face or sweet is your voice and your face is beautiful. I'm not quoting that exactly right comely I think it says, but that's what it means. Let me see your face, let me hear your voice.
That's his heart for you, and that's the heart that we have for you too.
So I was actually wondering if we could sing one verse of one hymn before we kind of move into activities because I know some of you may be leaving before lunch and I thought that this would be nice for those of you who have the Little Flock Hymn book or you have your app on your phone. I was thinking the last verse of 242 is just very fitting, I think in light of the 1St that we had before us for the young people time.
Which is God is the strength of my heart and the portion of my heart or in my portion forever. And this verse says, sing aloud to God our strength, he is with us where we go.
Fear not for the journey's length, Fear we not the mighty foe. All our foes shall be defeated and our journey safe, completed. Maybe we could just sing that one verse, if that's OK.
Sing aloud to God our strength.
He is with us where we go.
Here we not adjourn.
Here we not the mighty bow.
All our.
Shall be beaten and.
Our journey sat on completed.
Sing aloud to.
God, our strength.
He is with us where we go.
Very fitting him I think at this last meeting.