Seeking God in Your Youth

Introduction

75%. It just doesn’t seem right. It doesn’t feel right. It has to be a mistake. 75% just seems like too large of a number. I’m talking about a statistic that I first saw a handful of years ago when going to the Dowlinroad.com website. And right there on the front page, posted there by David Banning, a fellow who had done the research on this, who many of you know, and who I actually reached out to just this last week to confirm these numbers, had posted that statistics show that in America, 75% of our young people leave the church. Now I had to do some research on that because I thought I just that can’t be right. And I will say this it has to do with those who might leave the church in their lifetime.

So they may be Christians well into their older years and then leave. And it doesn’t take into account that a lot of them come back. I wouldn’t say most of them come back, but a lot of them do. But in truth, countrywide, in terms of all Christian religions, three out of every four young people you teach in your Bible classes will drift away from God. Now my next thought was that can’t be true among us. You know what I mean by us, right? Us. Conservative truth teaching, doctrinally sound, the Bible in the middle churches. Can’t be 75%. And in truth, there’s no way of knowing that for sure. But I did a little research of my own in churches like the Lindale Church, where I preach now, which I would say is a very strong church.

We have seven shepherds, all of their kids are faithful. So I knew that the numbers were going to be way different there. But then I started asking around. And then I asked some friends in some other churches, and I talked to some young people who know other people. And you know what? This is a reality of our time. And I’ll tell you how hard that hit home for me. I have four kids. So I’m not great at math, but I’m okay at it. I have four children. My daughter Hannah is 15. My son Luke is almost 13. I have a five-year-old son named Nicholas, who’s the coolest person on the planet. And a three-year-old little girl named Ella. And I can’t do it. I can’t watch three of them walk away.

I don’t want to watch one of them walk away. And I know that the Proverbs teach that, you know, we raise them in the way they should go, and when they’re old, they won’t depart from it. And I also know that’s general wisdom, and it’s not always the way it works out. And it’s not the way it’s worked out for all the people in this room. But I guarantee every family in this room that’s lost any child or any grandchild to the world at any point in your life would want any message preached necessary to help these kids. And that’s what we’re going to talk about tonight a little bit. Is that okay? Means a lot to me, and I’m glad to have the chance to do it.

I want to ask you if you can guess who we’re talking about tonight. I’ve given you a few hints along the way. Firstly, you know that we’re going to be addressing a lot of our young folks and how they can be great Christian, devoted people at all different ages. We’ll even be working with the youngins here in a little bit. You also know what our theme is for the week. So I can’t just pick some random character from some New Testament letter. I’ve got to pick an Old Testament king to try to teach our young people how to serve God well. And there are these seemingly random. Did he accidentally click that three minutes ago? Five numbers on the board behind me that serve as the remainder of your hint.

Who are we talking about tonight? He already knows. He guessed after lunch. Anybody? I want to talk about the life of Josiah. I never get tired of this. It may be that you as an audience or our young folks are saying, oh, we study Josiah all the time. We do a lot of youth studies. I don’t care. I really don’t. You’ve not heard me teach it, number one. And number two, it’s just that good. It’s just that good. So let’s go back to 2 Chronicles, please. I hope that you understand what you’re looking at here. There are five moments concerning Josiah’s life where we get useful information. And we’re going to talk about that information tonight. We get our first bit in 2 Chronicles when he was eight years old.

So there’s your eight. And then when he was 16, something else happened. A lot of things happened at the age of 20 and 26. And I would have you note there that when we talk about young people tonight, we’re not just talking about eight and sixteen year olds. We’re talking about people in their 20s and 30s still trying to find their way. You’re a part of this as well. And 39 is not noted directly in the scripture, but that was the last year of his life. Everything Josiah had the ability to do, every amount of difference that he made, he made before the age of 40, and then he was done. It’s a totally different sermon, and I won’t dive off into that tonight, but let me just tell our young people, and let me tell people who are getting close to 39.

1. Eight Years Old: He Did Right

I don’t know if you think you’ve got 50 more years to get this right, but you do not know that. You don’t know it. So we’re going to try to use whatever year you just happen to be in the moment, and we’re going to see what we can do for God in that year, no matter which number you’re carrying with you. Let’s look at this together. Go with me to 2 Chronicles 34. And let’s start here in verses 1 and 2, introduce a couple of things. Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. So there’s how we came up with our first number and our last number. He did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in the ways of his father David, and did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

Now let me just say to our six, seven, eight, nine, ten-year-olds in the room, I’m not about to tell you a hundred majestic spiritual accomplishments of an eight-year-old. And now you need to go out there and be the best, most evangelistic eight-year-old in the history of all eight-year-olds. In truth, it says nothing about him at eight years old. It only says that’s the year he became king, and he probably had wise counselors, a few that helped him along the way, and we don’t pick up with any more information for eight more years. But I’ll tell you what does stand out to me. What you don’t read. You don’t read about an eight-year-old who got into trouble. You don’t read about an eight-year-old who was disruptive to his kingdom.

You just read about a boy who was eight-year-old when he got started, and verse two, it just says he did right in the sight of the Lord, and he walked in the ways of his father David. So if I could just take a moment and talk to our younger youngins and their parents.

But I tell you what we are expecting. The absence of poor behavior. I feel like parenting my little kids is about keeping them from disruptive behavior. So that they can get from eight to the next level without a lot of personality problems and character problems and relationship problems that they started awful early on that prevents them from great progress. So I would just say, because probably not many eight-year-olds listening to me right now, I would just say to the parents of those kids. Now they’re going to draw some things and you’re going to feel really proud of them. But mainly, I just want my young children, and I’ve got two more coming through that eight-year-old point. I just want them to learn how to follow rules, not be disruptive, and learn along the way.

2. Sixteen: He Began to Seek God

I don’t think that’s too much to ask of our eight-year-olds. No free passes for eight-year-olds. But where it really gets interesting is when we get into the age of 16. Not much is said, but what we have is valuable. There’s eight years old, 2 Chronicles 34. At 16 years old, you pick up a little something extra. It says in verse 3, for in the eighth year of his reign, so he’s 16. In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David. I need our young people to think about that phrase really strongly tonight. And by the way, that’s all you get. You don’t get anything else about a 16-year-old Josiah, and I’m sure he was a good kid, and my five-year-old can tell some killer prayers, and I’m sure he did a lot of spiritual things along the way.

But there came a teenage year when he made a decision for himself. It wasn’t the counselors guiding him in that direction. It wasn’t just a child who didn’t know what to do. There came an age, and that age was 16 when he chose to seek God. Can I tell you that’s the secret to faith? The great secret to faith is you making at whatever age the personal choice to seek fellowship with God. Not go to it because your parents say you have to go to it, not do it just because it’s kind of the right thing, or I guess the Bible’s true, but because I want to know God better, and I’m making that choice. We’ll talk about that in a minute tonight in our practical application side of this, but I want you to see that this is a kid in his youth, still says so, who made a personal decision that he wanted to watch this.

3. Twenty: Tear Down Things That Don't Belong

He wanted to know God like David knew God. Now, David wasn’t his father or his grandfather. He never saw David. He heard stories about David, and he said, I want that. And I want our young people to study guys like David and Josiah. And the first 35 years or so of Solomon. And these men of faith, and I want you to read that and say, that’s what it looks like when it’s working. That’s the strength that comes from knowing God. I want to seek God too. Sixteen years old, he sought the Lord. Where we get a lot more information comes just a few years later. So I hope your Bibles are open there to 2 Chronicles 34. We want to read a few more things. He’s still a young guy, 20 years old.

I would have you all stop and think a minute. What were you up to at 20 years old? What was your great focus, your great goal? And as we’ve got young people here who are getting close to that age, you know, Noah Sellers is 20 on the nose, is that right? Look at that look on his face. What’s that guy thinking?

I want you to see what became important to him. Spiritual growth starts with the choice to seek the Lord and then build upon it. Let’s read it together. I’m in verse 3. I’ll read through verse 7, will help us largely. You have again, for in the eighth year of his reign, 16 years old, while he’s still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David. And in the twelfth year, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the asharim, the carved images, the molten images. They tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence and the incense altars that were high above them, he chopped down. Also the asherem, the carved images, the molten images. He broke them in pieces, ground them to powder, scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed them.

Verse 5. And he burned the bones of the priests on their altars and purged Judah and Jerusalem. In verse 6, the same thing. In verse 7, the same thing. And after he had done that, he went home to Jerusalem. Now it’s easy for me to say that at 20 years old, Josiah started taking his relationship with God seriously in a new way. It wasn’t just, I need to seek a relationship with God, and I need to be as close to God as David is, and I need to work on my prayer life. When you’re a teenager, you need to work really hard on those things. But at the age of 20, if you were going to sum up in a sentence what he did in 2 Chronicles 34, verses 3 through 7, what would you say?

He tore down the things around him that didn’t belong. Can I tell you that spiritual growth is not just about you and God and your faith and singing and church and loving the Lord, maturing, even in your younger age, is the ability to inspect what’s going on around you and identify things that don’t belong and push them away. Lot of good kids. A lot of good kids, folks. Great start. Did the most wonderful little five-minute Wednesday night invitations. The most wonderful kids with all the hope in the world did not, and their parents did not help them, purge what was happening in their environment. The people who were around them, the asherim, the false idols, the false allegiances, the humanism about them. And it ate them alive, and it’s getting three out of four of our kids, and I’m tired of it.

But I can’t preach the parents tonight. Noah’s 20 years old. His parents live in the far eastern portion of Tennessee. Guess who’s got to purge the things that don’t belong in Noah’s life? Noah does. And I would just say to the other young people in the room, don’t let your parents, don’t let this world make excuses for you. Well, he’s just 20, you know. Or she’s just a teenager. They need that social interaction. They need to experience the world. That’s almost the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. But I’m a homeschooler, so I’m not allowed to say that. It’s like I’m attacking public school. Oh, they need to go to public school. They need to be inundated with drugs and stuff. look, public school is fine.

I have no issues with it. But if our reasoning for it is they need to have idols around them that they have no power to purge, then you’re just wrong about that. You have to make choices to tear down things that don’t belong, and nobody can tell you what those things are. They may be on your computer screen, your smartphone, they may be in relationships, they may be in the things that you just can’t stop thinking about that you’re pursuing in this life. But that’s a strength that we see in the life of Josiah, his willingness to tear down. Now, once you’ve made that great step, and that’s a terrific step, to say, hey, I can’t be great unless I tear down the things that don’t belong, and I purge my life of the things to the best of my ability that are hurting me.

4. Twenty-Six: A Time to Build Up

That brings us to our next setting. Now, some time passed here, but I think a lot of this is kind of happening simultaneously, but we have a unique event pointed out to us a few years later when he was 26 years old. So let’s take a look at that. It’s where we pick up next. You just read with me chapter 34, all the way down through verse 7. Let’s pick up in verse 8 and see if we can identify what happened next. Now, in the 18th year of his reign, so he’s 26, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, an officer of the city, and Joah, the son of Johaz, the recorder, to repair, watch this, to repair the house of the Lord is God.

They came to Hiah the high priest and delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, and it goes through that. Verse 10, they gave it into the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the Lord, and the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord use it to restore, verse 10, and repair the house. Verse 11, they in turn gave it to the carpenters, to the builders, and they bought everything that was necessary and they built it. So if at the age of 20, the identifying mark of Josiah’s youth is he got things out of there that didn’t belong, what would you say was an identifying mark for a 26-year-old Josiah? How many of you know there’s a time to tear down?

And there’s a time to build up. Growing in our faith and taking responsibility for our relationship with God and our youth is a couple of different things. Firstly, it’s trying to stay out of trouble when you’re little. Secondly, it’s taking an opportunity to decide you want fellowship with God. Thirdly, you’ve got to get rid of things that don’t belong. And I mean, there may be some real sacrifices. But fourthly, we have to build up in its place things that are right. The house of the Lord was broken down. The ability to go and worship God and make offerings to God and be in fellowship with God and the glory of God to fill the house that we read about with Solomon. It wasn’t there. So he looks around him, and you know, you can see it clear after you clear cut the forest, you know?

You can kind of see better what’s not there, what you couldn’t see when it was all briared up. But now that he’s got it cleared, he sees there’s something that should be built that’s not constructed. And he poured every ounce of his power into making it be. Can I just encourage our young folks? No perfect ones here. No perfect ones over there either, by the way.

You’re going to have to take a real survey of your life. And we need our young people to be honest about what’s real. I think that we sell this kind of bill of goods that you were baptized into Christ, you go to a great local church, we got a hot shot preacher. That’s all you’re getting from me this week, bud. We got this great youth group over here. Boy, this is going to work out fine. 75%. That’s all great, by the way. You are great. But we need more. We need young people to give a personal assessment of what needs to be torn down and what needs to be built up in its place. And when young people take it in their own initiative to build up their prayer life and build up their Bible study time and build up their service to others, to construct a place for God to dwell in their hearts.

Literal house of the Lord in Christ. It’s in you. Something begins to happen. And strength changes lives, and we find ourselves stronger than we ever thought we could be. Let me tell you one of the most interesting parts about this story. Look in chapter 34 and move forward with me to about verse 14. This is going to surprise you if you don’t know the Josiah story. If I ask you right now, how’s Josiah doing? What would you say? Pretty good. He’s doing pretty good. Alright. Josiah’s doing great. I think he’s doing really great, right? But what might surprise you is how much he’s done, purged, and built without a key tool in his box. Is your Bible open to verse 14? So they’re rebuilding the house of the Lord, right?

It’s been torn down. He said, We need to build this thing. When they were bringing out the money which had been brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the Lord given by Moses. I have found, verse 15, the book of the law in the house of the Lord. So Shaphan brought verse 16 the book to the king and reported further words to the king, saying, Everything that was entrusted to your servant, they are doing. And if you move down a little bit here to verse 18, the scribe told the king, We found the book. And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. He did not even have a Bible. Can you imagine that?

This guy sought the Lord, purged the land of idols, rebuilt the house of the Lord, and hadn’t even read the scripture yet. He was being advised, and there were people who knew it. But when he received it, look with me in verse 19. When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes. Goes on to say, verse 21, go inquire of the Lord for me, and for those who are left in Israel and Judah concerning the words of the book which has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord which is poured out on us, because our fathers have not observed the word of the Lord to do according to all that is written in the book. He’s crying over the fact that when he finally got a chance to read the law, they drifted so far.

And it broke his heart. And he had to help them get all the way back. And by the way, he made a couple of really good moves already. But they had to work all the way back. I want our young people, at least in this case, to understand how unbelievably blessed you are. And this is not when I pad the stats of your parents and talk about how great they are. They may be good, they may not be. I think they’re probably good. I’m talking about the word of life that you get to carry with you every day of your life. You never have to wonder where you are with respect to God. You never have to wonder what he loved to see you do. Or how you can draw closer to him.

You don’t need somebody to show up and say, hey, I know you’ve been trying your best, but now you can actually see what God wants you to do, and you can measure all that up when, by the way, well over half of his life was over with. You’ve got it in your hands. And if I could give young people one piece of advice that works for all, get a white knuckle hold on that book. And I mean, absolutely hold on to it and don’t let anybody pull it out of your hand. And every day, and look, you’re going to get disappointed in yourself and others. Just get ready for that. You’re going to say, Ah, we’re way off here. We’ve drifted far. We’re not doing what we should.

That’s okay. I’d love to find, I love finding out that I’m wrong if it means I get to be right next. Sometimes you’ll find that what you’re doing is exactly what God would have you do. But the point is, you get to look and you get to find it. And that’s what he did. And he just kept going. Look in chapter 35, verses 16 through 19. You know, he’s doing some reading now, and he’s really getting it. And I would say this to our young people in their teens and their twenties. There comes a point where you’ve got to stop believing stuff just because mom and dad said it, and you’ve got to stop believing stuff just because Tony’s very animated when he expresses it in multiple thoughts.

You got to start finding out what you believe because you read it. Because you saw it, because you love it. And you’re going to go beyond your parents. And I don’t know a parent in the room that wouldn’t be okay with that. If our young people went past us, outperformed us because of their passion for the truth. I can talk about my daughter. She’s 15 because she’s not here. But I wasn’t the Christian she is when I was 30. And I couldn’t be happier to see a 15-year-old out shining me, out serving me, out loving me. She loves the book. And it’s working on her, and I know that it’s the book because I’m not smart enough to teach her stuff she knows. That’s what you can do too.

And what happens is we move along here, and we get to chapter 35, and we’re looking down around verse 16. He just keeps going. So verse 16, so all the servants of the Lord was prepared on that day to celebrate the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord according to the command of King Josiah. And we can keep reading this, but the point is he read some stuff. And he saw that we don’t have the Passover feast in place. And so at 26, he stepped out. They purged, and now they were rebuilding. And the more he knew, the farther he went, and the more he did. And then at 39 years old, and you can reference this later, it’s not critical at this moment, but at 39 years old, it was it was all over.

That was it. Everything Josiah did in the name of the Lord did not amount to a hundred years of life. Like sometimes we think Old Testament people all lived to be 550. They didn’t. 39. I’m 27. That’s coming up. I’m 37.

5. Not About Your Age, Family, or Culture

Here’s what I want you to see. Doesn’t matter your age tonight or how long you’ve been a Christian. I think the Josiah story is good for everybody. Because age 39 and age 26, and that means last portion of his life. And everybody here is either in the first portion, middle portion, or the last portion, and you don’t know which portion you’re in. So there’s room for the teaching of Josiah to sort of hit every person. But specifically to the young folks sort of scattered throughout the room, let me make a small handful of observations, and then we’ll be done tonight. And when we get over to Tony’s house and we get done, Tony and Sherry’s house, we’re going to talk about this story, and I’m going to ask you some questions.

It’s going to be all about you tonight. You’ve heard me talk for three lessons today. I want to hear from you. But here’s something I want to share with you. Making a difference for God. Number one, making a difference for God has, I’m not going to say little. It has nothing to do with your age. It is in no way attached to your age. That is a cultural myth that young people can’t be serious about God. And people in their 20s have to put their career first. And people in their 30s need to work on their basketball coaching skills and work on being a deacon later. All the excuses that we give that age is a factor is a lie. It is not about your age.

Did Josiah teach us that? Eight years old, pretty good kid. 16 years old, saw the Lord, 20 and 26 making huge decisions. And I think that parents are making it worse. You ever seen a parent make hollow excuses for their teenager’s poor behavior? Stop that. You’re hurting your family. Ah, he’s a boy. Well, half the people on earth are boys. Something special with that? He’s a teenager. That didn’t even come up until like the 1940s. We used to call him kids and adults until this war came along. We overworked you guys and blew it. We need to quit using terms and ideas to justify. We got eight-year-olds in the room taking notes tonight. Making a difference. At our church afterwards, I know Tony enjoys this as well.

These little six, seven, eight, nine-year-olds, they bring up their little notes, and they know I like color, so they got some colors going, and they hand that to me, and that makes my night every time. They’re just eight, though. Shouldn’t they be asleep or something? Age is not a factor. It’s a factor in maturity. It’s a factor in opportunity. We all kind of get that. But if you’re 16, you can seek the Lord, and that’s all up to you, and no one can stop you, and this is not about your age. We’ll make huge steps in our faith if we just never make any excuses, but never start any excuse with the stage of life you’re in. Remember, I haven’t used this phrase. I use the phrase hit by a bus a lot at home.

It’s probably not couth, but I use it. Everybody’s going to get hit by a bus sometime. You don’t know when the bus is coming down the street and when your life is over. You don’t know what stage you’re in. First, middle, or last. Age is not a factor in your faith. Number two. It kind of is, but ultimately it’s not. You might say, well, Josiah, you know, eight years old and 16. He must have had a great godly father. Anybody know his father’s name? Ammon, that’s right. Not a good guy, a bad guy. Anybody know his grandpa’s name? Well, that must have been David or Hezekiah or like the nastiest guy. How do you think all these idols got built? You think they just popped up one day?

Well, we got idols. His father and his grandfather erected these idols. They introduced false worship. He did have good influences in his life. He had to have to seek God. He’d learn the stories of David. But if it was based upon his family, he would have never, ever made it. And I would tell our young people, I pray that you’re here tonight because you have godly parents who care about you. But I’ll just say it this way whether your parents are the most godly people on this earth or not godly at all, that has very little to do with who you choose to become. I’ve seen people raised in the most beautiful, powerful, read the scripture every day. Christian families. Turn 18 and walk away. And I’ve seen kids raised in the toughest circumstances you can possibly imagine with absolutely no reason at all why they should love the Lord.

They’re practically broken. And they come to the Lord as teenagers and they let the Lord heal them. And they become some of the greatest workers. 21st century kingdom history. Let’s not ever blame poor behavior on the number associated with the number of years I’ve been here or my family. Now, take advantage of great families, but I think it’s kind of going the other way. You know, I could say if you have a really ungodly family, God still expects you to do the right thing because it’s not about your family. And that would apply here. But honestly, I’m seeing it the other way. I’m seeing kids raised in Christian homes and they observe the hypocrisy, or the rules are too stringent, or they made me go to church all the time, and now I’m out there and I’m going to walk away.

We’re seeing kids raised in Christian homes who want to rebel. Stop doing that and blaming your family. Your family’s not wrong for taking you to church. They shouldn’t take the blame for making Christ the centerpiece of their lives. Young people would do better if they didn’t blame mom and dad. Remember, you choose to seek the Lord. That’s your decision. Here’s the third thing. It’s not about your culture. We’ll make this just a really brief point, but obviously their culture wasn’t very good back then. I mean, Josiah had some power to change the culture, and I’ve often wondered what I would have done if I was a 16-year-old king. Actually, that would have been a disaster. Unmitigated disaster. He had the power to change it, but the culture was counter God among God’s own people.

There were no God’s people, really. They had idolatry, they weren’t worshiping in the house of the Lord. He had a terrible culture built around him. And so what did he do in that terrible culture? Anybody know what he did? He tore down the things that he could control and he built up things that he had the power to build. All I can say to our young people is, it’s messed up around here. It is jacked up around here. And I don’t know where we’re going. And I’m not going to make a political speech, but I want to. But I won’t. That doesn’t matter. All that stuff comes and goes. This culture, we got problems. We got problems, and I’m not going to tell you, hey, things are going to get better, and it’s going to be easier to serve the Lord.

I don’t think God really wants that anyway. I think God wants us to serve the Lord in a difficult culture so that light can be visible in the darkness. And other people can be drawn. So instead of saying, well, it’s the school I go to and all the things that they’re doing and the college and what the professors are teaching and the world and how you gotta put the world first. You’re going to go broke and live in a van down by the river. I want you to listen to me. I want you to hear me clearly. Your choices belong to you. And your culture has nothing to do with that. In fact, as I said, if I had more time to preach, I’d show you that the worse the culture, maybe the easier it is to be different.

6. About Your Love for God, the Book, and Choices

And to be a to be a Christian. Let me tell you three things it is about, and then we’ll close tonight. Tell you what it’s really about. It’s not about this stuff. So we’re done with this. No more of this. No matter our age. I’ll tell you what it is about. Let’s look at a really familiar passage. Go to Matthew chapter 22. I don’t know how to say this the right way. I’m not what you would call an emotional preacher. You guys ever had an emotional preacher come in here? And when it came time to make an emotional point, everybody was sobbing and getting it and just their whole life had changed. That’s not me. Okay, I don’t do that. So I don’t know how to say this.

But as I address our young people, I’ll tell you this. More than your age, your experience, your family, or the world you live in. You want to know what true faith is about. I’ll tell you what it’s about. It’s about your love for God. It’s about your love for God. It’s not about this church’s love for God. It’s not about your family’s love for God. It’s about you making the decision. He was 16 years old when he did this. Don’t miss that. He was 16 years old. I’m making the decision to be in fellowship with God. I love him. And I want that. I’m just reminded here of a passage we know well when Jesus was asked about the greatest commandments, and I want you to read it for the first time.

And you might say, Well, it’s Matthew 22. I’ve read it a hundred times, not the first time. I’m convinced there are young people in churches just like this who’ve never really read this verse. Because it’s always been a great principle, but it’s never been you. Tonight I want it to be you. He said in verse 37, I shall love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind. This is the greatest and the foremost commandment. Man, we’re doing everything we can, aren’t we? Parents are meeting to talk about Decker Prairie Bible class curriculum. They would rather be stabbed in the eye with a fork. We’re bringing them to events. They’ve got a lot going on tomorrow. School tomorrow.

And yet still some of them are going to come over and hang out at Tony’s house. And we’re we’re doing things. We’re trying. I got four kids. I’m not great at this, but I’m trying. But in the end, none of that’s really going to make the difference. Not really. Not in the end. We do all that to help you make a good decision. But in the end, you’ve got to decide if you love God or not. If your love for the Creator and the blessings he’s poured into your life are the greatest and most rich things that identify who you are and how you live. That’s what it’s about. It’s about loving God. Let me tell you what else it’s about. Oh boy. Did this just turn into a read your Bible every day sermon?

Why, yes. Yes, it did. I just wonder about Josiah, you know. What was he? 26? Do I have that right? Was it 20 that he found the book or 26? It was 26, wasn’t he? 26 years old. Been doing the best he can, trying to do the right thing, being a good example, changing the culture. And at twenty-six years old, somebody lays this book in his hands. They read it to him at first. I just wonder what that meant, you know. I mean, he had that. He had tears in his eyes. He tore his clothes. He went sort of tearfully running away. But how if any often do you think he read that thing? Touched it. Turned those pages and absorb those words. I know how much he did.

Because maybe for the first time in his life, he read Deuteronomy 17. Were you in Bible class this morning? Maybe for the first time in Josiah’s life, he read Deuteronomy 17 where it said, King, you want to be successful? You write the law. You read the law all the days of your life, and you do what it says. I cannot emphasize enough to our young people. Be about the book. Bible classes are great, not enough. Sermons are typically pretty decent. He’s still looking at me. Not enough. It’s not enough. Oh, great. This row says, I’m just going to pick on you guys. You’re there and you’re staring at me. I like your shirt. Oh boy. Preacher got parents going. I know what they’re going to say on the way home.

This week, do all your homework and read the Bible all the way through. Parents, I want you to leave them alone this week. How’s that? Owen like that. I don’t want you to read the Bible this week a little bit every day because your parents tell you, boy, that preacher was really right. Josiah’s story. You gotta love God. You gotta do it. You have to want to know God and read his word. And then lastly, along the way, then it becomes about your choices. I think we tell young people a lot, it’s about your choices. I can’t control you. You’re 16, you’re 14, you’re 18. You go out there and make choices. I put that last on purpose because it doesn’t come first. What comes first is I love God more than anything.

What comes second is I want to feed on the book because I know it’s good for me. And then as a natural outgrowth of that, yeah, choices are gonna matter. Let me tell you, Josiah isn’t famous because he said he loved God a bunch of times. He’s not famous because of how many times he read the New Testament through in a calendar year. He’s famous because his love for God and his reading led to terrific choices. Really great choices. Let me open the Bible to that passage you knew was coming. You’re not allowed to preach to young people without reading 1 Timothy 4.12, so let’s just do it and get it over with. 1 Timothy 4 12, written largely to a guy who’s about 30 years old, so I would again get you to kind of stretch your number a little bit when we talk about youth.

We’re not just talking about teenagers here. But I would have you understand that when it comes down to it, there are five things. And if you had something practical that you want to think about this week, you want to think, hey, I want to do better, so I’m gonna pray about love for God. I’m gonna spend time in the book. But in choices, what do you mean by choices? I can’t go down and tear down an asherim. If you see one, tear it down. But I don’t know if you’ll find one. And I can’t rebuild the house of the Lord. That happens in my heart. I would say you got five words in 1 Timothy 4 that are just so great. 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 12 let no one look down on your youthfulness.

Don’t let the world make excuses for you. Don’t make excuses for yourself. Don’t let your parents make excuses for you. Don’t let anybody categorize you as an underachiever. Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather, here it is. Speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. Show yourself an example of those who believe. I’m not gonna make you do anything. I got your parents off your back, but would you write those five words down somewhere this week? Would you just write them down somewhere? And would you every day just take a look at that and say, no excuses, no labels, no justification. I’m going to watch what I say as an example of who I am. The choices that I make in terms of my conduct, the way I conduct myself around the people that I care about, the way I show love, the way I have faith, and my purity.

Conclusion

That’s the will of God. But it’s got to be your will too. Can’t just be the decorary will of the shepherds here, although you’ve got great shepherds leading you. Can’t just be God’s will. Doesn’t that sound weird to say? It can’t just be God’s will. God’s will is not enough. Does that sound strange? Because we’re not robots and he didn’t program us. It’s got to be your will too. It’s got to be what you love and who you want to be. And so I would say by way of invitation, age is irrelevant to the illustration or to the illustration tonight, and also to the invitation. It’s irrelevant because that’s one of the points we made to begin. I would just say this any age, any point, any time.

There are buses out there. Life ends, things happen. I was thinking, what if I checked out at 39 and all that I had done was all I ever got to do. That was it. Everything I was for the Lord, everything I did right, every difference I made, the clock stopped at 39. Sometimes I think about that, and I’m not real happy with where I am, and it drives me one do better. I need you to do that no matter what number is associated with you tonight. Who’s ready to serve God more faithfully? Who loves God enough that you would read his word, and when Jesus said to put on a relationship with him by belief and baptism and be saved, how many of you are ready to do that because Jesus is worthy?

Or serve him better? We’re here to help you. Look, it’s your responsibility, but you’re not doing this about support. That’s what we’re here to do. If we can help you, come forward now as we stand in still.