(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) All right, the title for my sermon this morning comes from verse 12 there in 1 Timothy 4. The Bible says, Let no man despise thy youth. And I'm going to be preaching on that subject, Let no man despise thy youth. And the sermons this morning and this evening are both going to have to deal with the youth. And I think this is a great topic to teach on. And even though it's targeted at the youth, I think there's something that everyone's going to be able to learn and be able to apply this morning as well. So, first of all, before I even get any further into the context of 1 Timothy 4, there's a lot to learn from that where the Bible's saying, Let no man despise thy youth. I want to help you get an understanding of what the youth is referring to when the Bible uses the word youth, right? Is it talking about little children? Is it talking about how old is a person when the Bible's just using this word that's youth? Now, you may not know, you can call a lot of different people youths, but when we look at the context here, we're going to understand that it's not just talking about like a six-year-old or a seven-year-old. When the Bible's talking about youths, it's talking about young adults. And I've got some examples for you from Scripture. One example that comes up multiple times, I preached on this earlier this year, is just the sins of my youth, right? People lamenting the sins of their youth. Job saying, I don't want you to remember the sins of my youth. And other people made statements similar to that, where they don't want God to remember, they're reaping the sins of their youth. If you're reaping the sins of your youth, that's not talking about things, the cookie that you stole when you were six years old or five, you know, like those aren't the sins of the youth that worried about coming back to haunt you. It's the sins that many people do when they're teenagers, young adults, right? You can start getting into some really serious sins in your early years that are very bad, but you're kind of more capable because you've moved into adulthood, but you're still considered a youth. The Bible says in Proverbs five verse 18, let thy fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. So obviously a youth here is talking about someone who's still of marrying age. There's someone who gets a wife, it's the wife of their youth. It's a wife that they married when they were young. And that's a whole other topic of getting married and having kids young. It's not, again, it's not talking about like really, really, really little. It's just a youth is someone of marrying age, as well as having children. The Bible says in Psalm 127 verse four, as arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. So having kids, being married, is something that's being referred to as in somebody's youth in Scripture. And you can find other examples too. Those are the two that I wanted to just bring up to help get us an understanding. And say, okay, it's talking about, maybe someone 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, right? There's also youths or young men are referred to in Scripture as going out and fighting battles. So there's a lot of young men that fight in wars and in battles. And this is what we're talking about when the Bible says let no man despise thy youth. This is kind of important because in First Timothy chapter four, I mean, this should just make sense anyways. This is an epistle the Apostle Paul is writing on to Timothy. Timothy is a pastor, he's a preacher, he's someone that Paul is giving instruction to and advising him on basically helping him how he should behave himself, how he should run things. And he gives him a lot of advice, that's very godly advice. And when he says, let no man despise thy youth, Timothy isn't some child here, but he's also not really old, he's not middle-aged, he's not someone that's gonna be like, that would be kind of funny to be calling a youth. So he is a younger person. Now, this can be applicable, even if you are younger than what the Bible is talking about in context here, so for all the children that are present and listening, you can apply all these principles to what I'm gonna be teaching this morning, even to yourself. Even if you're not quite old enough to be considered in the context here what's going on, you can start working towards that direction and it's the right thing to do, it's gonna help you out in your life if you can take this advice, especially advice that the Apostle Paul is giving to Timothy here. And if you're not, if you're a young man or a young lady, and you fit right into this category here, pay real close attention, because this is how you're gonna get people, and especially in this context, when we're starting off here in 1 Timothy chapter four, he's talking to a young preacher or young pastor, okay? And he says, let no man despise thy youth. Say, well, why would anyone despise youth? Well, the reason why people despise youth is because oftentimes people who are young make really foolish choices, because they do things that don't necessarily come from wisdom, because they don't have a lot of knowledge typically, right? That's why people would despise their youth, so a lot of people will just kind of, just across the board, dismiss anything that you say because you're a youth, because there's so many examples of youth that are foolish, because there's so many examples of youth that are not wise, that do not behave themselves properly or whatever, it's unfortunate, but it's true that many people will despise that then and not want to listen to anything you say, but you have to overcome that. So he's saying, don't let people despise their youth, but there's a way that you're gonna do that, and in order to make people show that you're different, show that you're not like the foolish youths, you have to demonstrate your wisdom. You have to demonstrate certain characteristics that are not typical of a youth that is gonna be typical of someone who you can respect, someone that you can listen to, someone that you can consider more your equal for the aged people, for the people who are more just older, right? People who've been around longer, you don't need them despising your youth. They say, oh, well, what do you know? Right, there's plenty of great men of God. We'll get into the examples later of people who are youth, and Timothy's one of them. Timothy's a good example of someone here where Apostle Paul has instructed him, he's trained them, he knows the Scripture, he knows the Bible, he was taught from a very young age his mother and his grandmother that brought him up in the Word, and he learned a lot of doctrine, he learned a lot of good things, and now he's at a point spiritually where he can be an elder, where he can be someone that can teach others. He could be in this position, but because he's a young man, because he's a little bit younger, a lot of people aren't gonna be sure about him. A lot of people might despise his youth and be like, oh, well, what do you know? I mean, this happens from time to time. I have people still, you know, I'm not that young. I don't think I would be considered necessarily a young man anymore. Obviously, it still depends on who you're talking to. If I'm speaking to someone who's 90 years old or 100 years old, they might say, well, you're just a young man, but I'm 43 years old. In general, that's not considered just a young man, but I think I've made it in to be a middle-aged man, because I still run into people that'll view me just as a youth and will just say, oh, what do you know? I've been saved probably longer than you've been alive and all these other types of comments. You've heard them before. People don't wanna actually listen to what you're trying to show. You say, look, I've got the word of God here. Let's look at the Bible. You know, listen to what I have to say, and they just dismiss, and they don't wanna listen to anything you have to say, because they just think, oh, well, my dad was a preacher. My brother was a pastor, and I've been saved since I was four years old, and I'm 67, and whatever, and they just go on and on and on about how much older they are than you, as if that really matters. Now, to some extent, in general, older people should have wisdom, but they don't all. There's definitely a lot of older people who are not wise, and it's the same way. In general, a lot of youth are not wise, because they just haven't learned a lot yet, and if you haven't been raised properly, there's a lot of knowledge missing in the youth, but again, it's not all youths that are unwise, and it's not all older people that are wise, so you can't just assume things based off of that, but how do you combat that? How do you fight against that as a youth? Look at what he says. Let no man despise thy youth, this is verse number 12, but be thou an example of the believers. So you want people to respect you? You want people to not think, oh man, you're just a youth, what do you know? Start off by being an example, okay? Live it, breathe it, you speak it, you talk it, you walk it, you're respectful, you're doing things the way you ought to be, and you know what, people will see that, and they'll give you an extra level of respect, just because they can see the example they're given, and here's the example you're saying, be example of believers in word, right? How you speak, what do you say, how do you carry yourself? Do you talk just like the youths in some foolish talking and jargon and just kinda be a joker or whatever, or are you gonna be a little bit more sober and a little bit more serious and someone that can take you seriously in conversation? Again, conversation isn't necessarily just communicating with your mouth between two people, it's an older word, it just has more to do with how you present yourself and how you carry yourself. Your conversation has a lot to do with not just your speech, but also your actions, so you're saying if you're an example in your word, you're an example in your conversation, you're an example in charity, right, and you're caring for other people, you love for other people, hey, that shows a lot of growth and a lot of spiritual maturity when you can care about other people and you can demonstrate that it's not just me, me, me, me, me, because oftentimes, that's what youths think about. It makes perfect sense, think about the holidays, right, think about we're getting close to Christmas time and I was no different as a child, why was Christmas my favorite holiday? Because we got Christmas gifts, because we got presents. It's what children think about, that's what they like, it's cool, I'm gonna get stuff, I'm gonna get a toy, I'm gonna get whatever, right, they're real self-centered and you know what, it's okay when you're a child, because that's how children behave, obviously you ought to be taught and learn and grow and by the time you become an adult, hopefully you're not just thinking, oh cool, it's Christmas, what are people gonna buy me? Hopefully you'll learn and gain the wisdom of understanding that it's more blessed to give than to receive, because that is a very true statement and that's one of the reasons for giving gifts, is to show your love on other people and by doing that, you will be blessed anyways, it's a much better thing to give than to receive, but that's something that you should hopefully have gained by the time you become an adult or young man, you're not thinking just about yourself, so having charity is a similar concept, but you're caring about other people, you're loving other people and charity in spirit and in faith, right, so you're a very faithful person, your spirit, you have a good spirit about you, you know how to control yourself, you're well-tempered. In purity, okay, you're not just off in a bunch of sin either, because again, another thing that is typical of a lot of youth is just getting to youthful sins and youthful lusts and things that characterize the youth, if you want people to respect you and not despise your youth don't do those things, carry yourself well, speak well, care for other people, have a good spirit about you, be very faithful and be pure, okay, it's not impossible. Verse 13 says, till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery, and this is just, you know, I kinda, I'm gonna keep reading here just because this demonstrates and shows, he was ordained, you know, Timothy was ordained and became an elder of a church because the hands of the presbytery laid their hands on him, he received a gift, but not only did he receive gifts, he was also authorized and ordained to be a pastor of another church, even though he's considered a youth. And the apostle Paul is just reminding him, now he's already been deemed faithful to do such a thing, but he's reminding him how he can make sure that people won't despise his youth, so he just brings up all these various things that we need to, that he needs to remember. Verse 15, meditate upon these things, give thyself holy to them that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine, continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. Now, the salvation here isn't talking about his soul being saved, saving himself, this is talking about, there's other ways of being saved than just your spirit being saved eternally, right? Being saved from punishment from God, being saved from the repercussions of sin by keeping yourself from those things, so these are all things that you'd be saved from, and he says, you're gonna both save yourself and them that hear thee, so when he's meditating and studying and teaching good doctrine, he's gonna be teaching people how to get the sin out of their life, and when he's behaving himself, when he's doing what's right, then people are gonna listen to him. And overall, you won't be able to get to every single person but you know what, it doesn't matter because the majority of people that are in a church or whatever, they're gonna see, oh wow, this person, I know he's a little bit young, but he already has a lot of wisdom. He's already very faithful. He already has these qualities and these attributes that are great and demonstrate for themselves. I brought up Pastor Anderson many times in the past just because he's had such a direct personal influence on my life and has helped me get to where I am spiritually speaking, but he was a young man. He'd be considered a youth when he started Faithful Word Baptist Church in Arizona, and he was, I think, 24 or something. I don't remember his exact age when he started. I'm older than he is, not by a lot, but I'm still older than he is, but he had a family, he had children, he was faithful, and you know what, he lived and walked and did everything that even though he's a youth, carried himself enough to be respected. He had knowledge of the Scripture. He had charity. He was all about doing the work, and I would say falls into this category of someone that you can still respect even though he's a youth. I've witnessed many times where people who were much more elder than him being able to learn and be taught even though he's much younger. And if you want people not to despise your youth, then you need to be that example. You flip over to Titus, real close there, just one or a few pages forward of your Bible to Titus 2. We're gonna see almost the same thing just being mentioned here as an admonition to young men in Titus 2, verse number six. The Bible says, young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded. So sober-minded means you're serious. Life isn't a game. Everything's not just a big joke. You're actually serious about things. In all things, showing thyself a pattern of good work. So again, a pattern is an example. You're showing people this is how you do it. I'm showing you a good example of good works and being a leader and being able to lead by example. In doctrine, showing uncorruptness. So you're also not just someone who doesn't know the scripture. You know doctrine and you know well enough to be able to not just know it for yourself but be able to explain to other people and not be corrupt in your doctrine. Gravity, sincerity, again, gravity has to do with being sober-minded, being serious. Sincere, you're not just faking it. You're not just putting on a show. Verse eight, sound speech that cannot be condemned. You know how to control your tongue. Another very important attribute for the youth to be able to control your tongue. You want people to respect you. You want people to listen to you. You want people despising your youth. Learn how to control your tongue. Keep it under control and be well-tempered so that you're not just spouting off the mouth and acting rashly. Because another attribute of the youth is that you get upset and you just go, blah, blah, blah, you know. It could happen to anybody. Everybody can struggle with this, no matter how old you are, but it's another one of those things that's gonna be more frequent in the youth. Verse number eight, if the rest of the verse, number eight there says that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed having no evil thing to say of you. So people that despise your youth, well, how do you make sure that, if they're gonna try to say something or say, oh, yeah, you can't listen to that guy, well, how about you let them be ashamed because they can't find anything wrong with you, right? Just like Daniel. Now, I'd have to go back and study it out, but Daniel was a youth when he came from the captivity into Babylon and was selected. And I don't know the number of years that went by by the time that he was kind of appointed to be one of the chief rulers in the land. I don't know. I'd have to look at it and say, I don't know if we can tell that for sure or not. But he's another example of someone who is so good and righteous just in his day-to-day life that his enemies that wanted to bring him down, that wanted to slander his name, that wanted to get him out of his position, they had nothing that they could do to him, which is why they had to try to go around and try to make his faith become illegal so they could have something to use against him because they knew he was a faithful person and he's not going to put any man before God. And they don't care about that. They're not faithful, but they knew that he wouldn't. So they put him in the position to where they're gonna force him to break the law because he's praying to God and not to man. But that's how faithful he was, that no one had any evil that he could really bring against him. And that is how you need to be if you want to be respected. If you want people despising your youth, young people should be seeking after wisdom. Again, this is gonna help you to gain respect of those that are older. And the Bible says, look, there's no reason why you can't get wisdom as a youth. As someone who's younger, the Bible says in James 1.5, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and abraighteth not, and it shall be given him. Seek wisdom from God. Seek it earnestly, okay? Put in the work, put in the time, reading the Scripture, listening to other teachers, listening to people, right? Being a good servant, being a good help, and asking God for wisdom, and you will receive it. That's a promise in Scripture. God wants you to be wise. He wants you to have that, but it's up to you. It's up to you. Are you gonna humble yourself and go to God for it? Are you going to invest the time necessary to study, to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed? Or are you just gonna waste all your time on all of the vanity of the youth? The Bible even gives us, you know, Jesus Christ, I think is a very good example of a youth that was able to gain respect from people that were older than Him. And I'm talking about, when I say youth, I'm not even talking about like really young, or I mean older, like the context that we've been talking about. In Luke 2, when He was, in turn, if you would, to Hebrews 13. Turn to Hebrews 13 while I'm going over Luke 2. Of course, we all know this famous story of Luke 2, the birth of Jesus Christ. And the part of the story where His parents had left and they didn't realize Jesus wasn't with them, and He's back in the temple, and He's talking with the lawyers and the doctors. The Bible says in Luke 2, 46, and it came to pass after three days, they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. And all that hurt Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. Now, again, you can always say, well, Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. I know that, I know that, right? I mean, and this isn't taking away from that. However, He was also a man. I mean, He was a man. Look at verse number 52 in Luke 2 says, and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature. So as He's growing physically, He's also growing in wisdom, which means that as a God-man, God took on the limitations of a man. Bible is great as a mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. It's hard to maybe comprehend or be able to define it precisely exactly how all of that works together. But the Bible clearly teaches here that Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature. So it wasn't just His physical body that was growing. It was also His knowledge and His understanding, right? As a little baby, as an infant, He didn't just know all things and was able to just speak coming out of the womb, right? Because He was physically a human being. And we have to remember that. So He had to increase. Now, obviously, He increased and increased and increased. And who knows the extent or limit as to what His understanding became as He was in the flesh here on this earth. But the fact is that He did have to increase. He was increasing in wisdom as a child. And He was listening, and I believe being respectful and listening to what other people had to say and asking really good questions in order to learn. The wisdom was increasing with Jesus as a child. Wisdom can increase with you. But look, this is what He was interested in. He was interested in becoming wise or increasing His wisdom. He was interested in those things, and He sought it out and received the wisdom that He sought after, OK? You can receive wisdom too. Pray to God for it and seek it out. I'm not saying that it's a sin or wrong for kids to play or to play sports or to do other things. I'm not saying that's just way wrong. Now, it's vain, but it's definitely not sinful to do those things, right? But if you want to be wise and not have people look down upon your youth, seek it out, and God will give it to you. Another reason why people despise the youth is because oftentimes youth are not very respectful to their elders and to people in authority. There's kind of a natural rebellion in youth, especially, and again, I'm not talking about little children as much. I'm talking about teenagers, young adults that have the attitude that thinks that they know it all. And this is common to man, OK? And I'm not trying to be disparaging over anyone that would even fall into this category right now, but in order for you to become wise, you need to understand the more you learn, the more you understand how much you don't know. You get to the point where, especially with children, as they start growing up and they really start to learn and understand things, that new knowledge, that new understanding, because when you go from a child to, say, a teen, big changes happen in your ability to understand greater concepts, right? You could really start thinking more abstractly. You could really start to understand a lot of things in those teen years, especially, and what happens with that is that that new knowledge can kind of go to your head and make you think, oh, man, now I know just as much as this person, this person, you know, as all these other people that are way older than you, and you need to realize, well, there's actually a lot more even than what you just learned, and what you just learned, you may know a lot, and you may know some things more than other people, but don't let that get to your head, and look, everyone needs to be aware of this, is just don't let that knowledge or wisdom go to your head to lift you up in pride to where you start thinking that, oh, I'm so much smarter than everyone else. Look, I had this as a child, okay, and part of the reason is because of the dumbed-down school system, you know, telling me, oh, you've got the intelligence of a, you know, whatever, like a 12th grader or something when I'm in like fifth grade, and I'll tell you this right now, it's not that I was just some super genius, because I wasn't. It's because they lower the standards so much that in order to graduate and be a 12th grader, you at least have to have a fifth level education. I'm serious, but when you hear those types of things, you know, that can go to your head, so as a child, as a teenager, I was at the point where I'm just thinking like, man, I know more than my teacher, I know more than this guy, I know more than that guy, you know, it's like, hold on there, tiger, you know. I was just talking briefly about it, it's not a slightly similar subject with Christopher this morning. I'd be interested to go back and maybe talk to some of those people that I just thought, oh, man, I know so much more than you, and you know, and you're just an idiot. Now, maybe a couple of them might be, I don't know, I mean, it probably were, but that's not the point. The point is that, you know, when you're young, you have this tendency to think that you could be so much smarter, and I've seen the same exact thing happen spiritually with people, you get plugged into a good church, you start to learn a lot of doctrine, even people who might have been in church for a long time, and they just weren't really being fed, they didn't, you know, there wasn't much doctrine being taught, you could start to learn a lot, and I don't know how many times I've heard of people say, oh, that pastor's an idiot, he doesn't know anything, because he doesn't agree with a certain doctrine that may be true in the Bible, but he doesn't agree with it, so you just call him an idiot. Look, don't start calling men of God idiots and fools and things like that. You're in Hebrews 13, look at verse number seven. Hebrews 13, verse number seven, the Bible reads, remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God. So the people who have the rule over you, spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. So the admonishment, and look, just so there's no uncertainty about what this is talking about, them which have the rule over you that speak unto you the word of God, it's talking about the pastor of your local church. Okay, because they are someone that has authority within the church, and they're someone that has the rule over you in the word of God. Now, it's not a rule over you in your personal life. You know, the pastor doesn't have the authority to just tell you what you can and can't do, and what you can and can't eat. That's not the scope of the authority. But within the house of God, within the church, you better believe that the pastor has the authority to run things the way that he sees fit within the house of God. And that's a God-given authority, which is why in First Timothy chapter three, when it gives the qualifications of a bishop, it says that they have to rule their own houses well. Because if you can't rule your own house, then how shall you take care of the church of God is what the Bible says. So it's comparing ruling your house, running your house, making sure everything's running decently and in order within your house, how can you do the same thing in the church of God? How are you gonna be able to get things done if you can't rule that way? It needs to be done. So when it says those that have the rule over you, don't bristle, don't be stiff-necked, oh my God, I don't like that word. Don't be rebellious, okay? Humble yourself and guess what? God'll open up and increase your wisdom of understanding. Jump down to verse number 17, Hebrews 13, because this is actually, those that have the rule over you draw up three times in this passage. We're only gonna look at two of them. The third one isn't quite as dramatic or whatever in what it's saying. Verse number 17 says, obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves. For they watch for your souls as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. So it's another admonition here showing that, hey, you know what? Those have the rule over you in the church, they're looking out for you and they have to give account to God. So there's accountability there. Anyone, any really, a church that God views as a legitimate church, right? Those pastors have accountability to God for watching over the flock, for watching over the people, to teaching, to feeding, to helping, to loving and you know what? Ruling over and again, ruling over isn't telling you everything to do in your personal life, but it is how things are going to be run here. And you know, when people just become real stubborn and fighting again, well, I want to do this and I think we should do this and just it's all these other things. Look, no, this is how we're doing things. I mean, I can imagine. I work with, we have a music group, we have a music team here, this is awesome and I love it and I love everyone that's offered their services and their work and they're putting forth a great effort and everyone gets along really well. And just last week I said, hey, we need to make a change, you know, because I'm in a position to do those things. Say, hey, I know you've been practicing these songs, but we're going to sing this song, right? That would fall under the scope of the authority that a pastor has within the church saying this is the way things are going to operate and be done. Now, thankfully, everyone's great. Everyone's humble. Everyone's like, okay, cool, we'll do that. But how much would that be a grief of mine if I just had, well, no pastor, we've been doing this and we've been practicing and you know how much time, and just started just being really stubborn and not wanting to, it may be kind of a silly example, but you can see how now all of a sudden, my job's not going to be very joyful. It's become more of a grief to have to do that and you know what, at the end it says, and that's unprofitable for you. In the end, it's not good for you. So these are things that, and again, especially the youth, if you don't want people despising your youth, learn how to be in subjection. Learn how to be a good follower. Learn how to learn and listen. Because that also garners respect. When you know how to behave yourself and you know what position you're in to just fill that role as a youth, you know what, you're going to show respect to your elders. You're going to rise before the hoary head. You're going to use your manners. You're going to watch your communication. You're going to watch your speech. You're going to speak well and that will allow people then to want to listen to what you have to say. Flip over to 1 Peter chapter five. We're just going to see one more example here besides Hebrews 13. Hebrews chapter five, because I was looking up various verses that had instruction for younger people, right, for the youth. Because this is ultimately the main target or focus of the sermon this morning is the youth. To help you to grow and to not be despised and to have wisdom and to help you, I mean, in every aspect of your life, getting the wisdom and listening to this instruction will help you going into adulthood or going beyond that and being able to serve the Lord. 1 Peter chapter five, verse number five, the Bible reads, Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Very important, again, just reiterating the importance of humility, being humble, being able to receive learning and knowledge from other people instead of thinking you know it all, because God resists the proud. When you think you know it all, you're proud. You may have a lot of knowledge, you may have a lot of experience, you may have a lot of that, okay, but if you think you know it all, you're proud and God resists you. You need to have a humble attitude in order to even grow. Otherwise you'll be blinded by your own pride. How are you ever gonna get better at anything or understand or learn more if you just think you know more than everyone else? Every once in a while I run into these people too, even just spiritually, the people who, oh, I've been to all the churches, I know more than all those other pastors, they don't know anything, so where do you go to church? Well, I don't go to church, I mean, I know more than... So you're forsaking the assembling of yourselves together because you're so smart. Well, it sounds like you really know your Bible well. Blinded by their own pride. And maybe, maybe, if they went into church ready to hear, ready to listen, they could receive something from the Word of God, okay, because there's no way they're just Jesus Christ, second coming, walking around on this earth and just has all understanding and all knowledge and all wisdom. Sorry, I don't buy that, because again, if you're forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, then you're not very wise. Because that's a pretty rudimentary, basic, you know, doctrine and understanding. Verse number six here, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. One of the things to remember as a youth, don't expect to have everything right now. It's good. Stay the course, stay steady, okay? I know you probably want to get a million things done and you want this and this and this. Patience, let patience rule your spirit. I'm not saying don't do things and not be excited and not have a zeal, have all of those things. But stay with it, stay consistent, stay faithful, stay humble, even if people are despising your youth and you're doing everything right, keep doing what God said. In due time, He will lift you up. He will see your humility. He sees your heart and He will right every wrong and He'll make it happen. But let God do that because there is no glory, there is no honor among anyone who decides to lift themselves up. People who make themselves pastors and ordain themselves to be these great teachers and everything else, they're blind, they're full of pride and they just think that they're gonna take an honor on themselves. You know what, they have no honor. The Bible very clearly says that even Jesus didn't take that honor on Himself, that it was given Him of the Father. And if He's not willing to take, obviously if anyone had the right to do so, He does, but even He doesn't do that, again, showing the right way of doing things. So, youth, let God exalt you in due time. Verse seven, casting all your care upon Him for He careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom resists steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. One of the other things as a youth is that you will be encountering things for the first time. That's what's part of being young. You have to go through certain things that you haven't gone through before. And even as you get into adulthood, that happens too, but it happens less and less. The older you get, the more things you've been through, the more experiences you have. But don't forget to get this wisdom. Seek out the wisdom of the Lord. You can at least know before you go into things, hey, I can expect that if I'm going to do this, if I'm going to do right, if I don't want people to surprise me in my youth, if I'm going to follow the Word of God, and if I'm going to have a good conversation, if I'm going to have a good spirit, if I'm going to do all these things, guess what? My adversary is the devil, and he's like a roaring lion, and he's going to try to devour me. And I'm not going to underestimate that. So I'm going to try to remain faithful, and then when I get attacked, when things go really bad and really horrible, it's not, oh God, why did you let this happen? It's going to be, hey, my attack's coming. Oh God, protect me. Not why me, but God saved me, God helped me. And then rely on him to see you through, but understanding is half the battle, even knowing it's going to come. That's why there's so many warnings in Scripture, just to let you know, hey, if you know in advance, it's not going to take you by surprise. It's not going to shock you. It's not going to just knock you down, going, whoa, man, where did that come from? I mean, if you had someone with a bat standing around the corner, waiting to take a swing at your head, and you have no idea that person's there, man, they're going to do a lot of damage, right? It's going to really set you back. It's really going to knock you down. But if someone already gave you a warning, saying, hey, if you go down that path, if you open up that door, there's a guy waiting there, ready to hit you. You can at least be prepared for it, right? Maybe that's the only door that you're able to take. Maybe that's the only way you can go, but at least you're going to be like, ducking, trying to dodge, get out of the way, and you can minimize the damage that may need to come, or the attack may just come anyways, and say, hey, you say these things, you stand for these things, there's going to be some people that are going to come after you. Okay, but at least now I know I can prepare myself for it. That's where the wisdom comes in. One of the great things about the youth is their strength. And this is something that's brought up in Scripture as well, that the youth in general, I mean, they're strong, right? You have energy, you have stamina, you're able to do more, and I encourage the youth to use your youth wisely. Don't use it for vain things. The Bible says in Proverbs 20, 29, the glory of young men is their strength. That is their glory. A young man, hey, you've got strength, and the beauty of old men is the gray head. 1 John 2, 14 says, I have written unto you, fathers, because you have known him this from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. Great things, great attributes about being youth. Unfortunately, one of the reasons why people despise the youth, you heard the expression, youth is wasted on the young. Anyone ever heard that before? Because you have energy, you have strength, you have all these things that you can do, and what happens oftentimes is that the youth squanders it. They don't do it for things that are meaningful, they don't do it for things that can actually add value, that can set you up in a better position in life, just going into the future. Because they don't think about the future. They're thinking about the here and now, they're thinking about having fun, they're thinking about this and that. Get some wisdom so you can have some foresight and you can think a little bit beyond today or a little bit beyond tomorrow, and ultimately be thinking about eternity, because eternity is a long time, and it's hard to grasp that concept. The older you get, the more you start to understand the importance of eternity. That will happen, but try to gain some of that understanding as a youth to help you do things that are going to last forever. Forever is a long time. Ecclesiastes 11, did I have eternal anywhere else, or where did I have last turn? Peter, oh, okay, go to 1 Samuel 17. 1 Samuel 17. Ecclesiastes 11, verse number nine, the Bible says, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes. And you have to take this, this is being a little sarcastic, okay? Because the next part of verse nine says, But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. So you're saying, O young man, in thy youth, rejoice, let your heart cheer in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart. Just do whatever your heart wants to do, right? You're young, enjoy your youth, let your heart just lead you wherever you want to go, he says, and in the sight of your eyes, whatever you want to do, he says, But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Go ahead, go ahead, just go off, run off, do whatever you want, because you're young, and you're invincible, just remember that God will judge for that. It says, Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart and put away evil from thy flesh for childhood and youth are vanity. There's a value to being strong. There's a value to having that youth if you put it to good use. Okay, no one escapes judgment from God. I mean, you can't just blame it on being a youth that's not acceptable. Oh, God, I'm young. Well, you're being admonished to learn. Just as Timothy was a young man, but he was being admonished on how to let people not despise his youth, and obviously, he didn't go down the path that Ecclesiastes is talking about here. First Samuel 17, his very famous story about David and Goliath. Now, another point to put out here is great victories can be had through the youth. So don't think that just because I'm a youth, I can't do great things for the Lord. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. And I don't think that someone has to be middle-aged before they can start doing great works for the Lord. I don't believe that, because we have plenty of examples in Scriptures of people who are youths that God uses to do great, mighty things, and people who are well-respected and well-looked up to. Because spiritually, they became an elder. Spiritually, they had great understanding, even though physically, they were still considered to be a youth. First Samuel 17, we all know this story, but I just want to point this out to you, because David is referred to multiple times in this passage as being a youth. Again, he wasn't six years old, he wasn't 10 years old. He was in the same category where he went over on being a youth, he was a young man. But he's still considered a youth. Verse 32 in First Samuel 17 reads, and David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him, thy servant will go and fight with his Philistines. So he's offering up his oath, he said, hey, I'll go fight that Philistine, I'll go fight Goliath, I'll fight that giant. Verse 33, and Saul said to David, thou art not able to go against his Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. Now, one of the things you have to overcome as a youth is people are gonna give you that attitude. Saying, oh, but you're just a youth. Well, if you can demonstrate in your conversation, in your spirit, in all the things that we saw in First Timothy chapter four, if you can do that, you will be able to overcome the naysayers that want to dismiss you and the good that you can do because you're a youth. I mean, King Saul, it's just because that's generally how youth is, well, you're just a youth. I mean, this guy's a trained warrior. He's been fighting in battles, he's this great giant. I mean, how do you think that you're gonna fight against him? And of course, David explains that, first of all, he says, he brings up a little bit of his own experience. Verse 34 says, and David said unto Saul, thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock, and I went out after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth, and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. So he's explaining, just because I'm a youth doesn't mean I haven't done anything. He's bringing up some experience of his own that he has, but even more important is what he says in verse 37. He says, David said, moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine and Saul said unto David, go and the Lord be with thee. Because at the end of the day, it wasn't David's own strength and might that he was relying in for any of those battles. It's the Lord, because he had the understanding already. He had the faith and the spirit that was right with God, that knew that God could protect him, that knew that God could bring great victories, and he just yielded himself up and said, Lord, I'm here. If all these other cowards are afraid to go and fight up against this guy who's defying the armies of Israel, God, I'll stand up for you. I'll go, Lord, here I am, send me. And God will use you even if you're a youth. Don't have to be old. David had the right spirit. David had the right understanding. David gave God all the courage. That's humility right there. He brought up what happened in the past, but who did he give the credit to? He gave it to God. He could've just been like, I'm the lion slayer and a bear killer and all, you know, and just lifted himself up and puffed himself up, because, yeah, he had done those things, but you know what, he understood through his own wisdom, even though he was a youth, that, hey, that was just God. God saved me out of those things. And even in the Psalms, you read about David, he's saying that God taught his arm, he gave him the strength and his arms to, what is it, to bend the bow and, you know, basically fight in the wars and stuff. He's always giving God the credit, because he's seeking to the Lord for his safety and to do the will of the Lord. Verse 42 down there, it says, And when Uphlician looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth and ruddy and of a fair countenance. So everyone's looking at David as a youth, because he was. He was a youth. In verse 58, it says, And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite. And I don't know where, oh, okay, that's, he says, thou young man, right? So again, he's talking to him, he calls him a youth, he calls him a young man, sorry, I was like, why do I have that in there, it doesn't say youth, because he's calling him a young man. Youth, young man, same thing. Flip over to Jeremiah chapter one, the last place we'll have you turn today, Jeremiah chapter one. But what a great victory. Someone able to defeat the giant that everyone was afraid to go up against, even Saul, who was head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd. The youth was able to do it. The youth got a great victory for the Lord. The youth ought to be used, but look, it's not just any youth. You've got to start seeking after the ways of God, seeking after the wisdom of God, and applying that in your life to be a youth that can do great things. And I don't think anybody should be using, should be looking for excuses in their life. For serving the Lord, you have no excuse. The youth say, oh, but I'm just young. Older people say, oh, well, I'm old. No, look, you may not physically always be able to do everything that you would want to do, but you can definitely serve God. Everybody has opportunity to serve the Lord. Everybody does. Now, I get it, children have to obey their parents, right? So they may not just be able to go out by themselves and knock on doors and preach the gospel and just let them go. But you have opportunities, too. You have friends, you have time to do it. You could also get in the Bible and pray and do other things. Same thing for everybody. I'm not going to go down the list of all the things that you can do, but everybody can serve the Lord to the extent of their abilities and be pleasing unto God. And do great things, by the way. Do great things for the Lord. Doesn't just have to be the youth. I mean, we look at Caleb, Caleb the son of Jephunneh in the scripture. He is 80 years old and still getting great victories for the Lord. He's saying my strength is still with me as it was basically 40 years ago. He said I could still go out and come in among the men and I could go out to battle. You know, I want that mountain. And he goes out and wins that Great Barrier even though he's 80 years old. He's still fighting. I mean, King David was still going out and fighting until he basically couldn't do it anymore physically, right? When he finally had to get help from someone because he was gonna get killed, I was like, all right, all right, let's. Now, you could lead in other ways, but he still was able to continue making great victories for the Lord way into his age. Young, old, God can use you. Jeremiah chapter one is the last example of another younger preacher, okay? I mean, talk about a great prophet of God, Jeremiah. Bold preacher. Faced a lot of opposition. Didn't have a positive message. Did great things for the Lord. Look at verse number one of Jeremiah chapter one. The Bible reads, the words of Jeremiah the son of Elchiah of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Ammon king of Judah in the 13th year of his reign. And it came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah unto the end of the 11th year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. Now, we don't know exactly how old Jeremiah is here, but you can do the math, and I didn't do this in advance, but to see even just how long he's preaching because he's going through multiple kings all the way through the carrying away captive into Babylon. So there's many, many years there that he is preaching the things that you see in Jeremiah and all the way into the captivity. But as we continue here, we're going to see when God is calling Jeremiah and He's going to give him His instruction to go out and say, look, you're going to be my messenger. I've got a message for you. You need to go out and preach to the children of Israel. Look at His response. Let's keep reading, verse number four. It says, then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. I mean, talk about hearing that from the word of the Lord, going, when? I don't feel that special. He's saying, I knew you. I ordained you. I need you to be a prophet unto the nations, Jeremiah. I've got this job for you. Look at His response, verse six, then said, I, ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak for I am a child. Now, I don't believe that he's literally like a real little kid, but what he's saying is just, I can't do this. I'm still young. In my ability to do these things, I'm just a child. Verse seven, but the Lord said unto me, say not, I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. And this is a really important point here that's coming up that I want you to pay attention to. And when God's saying, hey, look, don't say you can't do something because you're a child, just like He said to Moses, right? Moses was doing the same thing. Oh, God, I'm not a good speaker. I can't do this. Can you send someone else? And God's like, well, who formed the tongue? God's the one who's able to do it. God made it. God's the one who chose Moses to do that job. Moses didn't have the confidence in himself to do it, but hey, if God's sending you to do work, He's already equipped you with what you need to do it. He knows you're capable of doing it, but you need to yield yourself. Jeremiah's equipped to do this job, and he's saying, look, don't say you're a child, and you know why the reason is, children? Because you don't have to come up with everything on your own. Jeremiah didn't have to go and come up and formulate all of his own theology and all of his own, you know, whatever, his own doctrines, his own teachings. He just had to go and preach the word of the Lord. Verse 7 again, but the Lord said to me, say not I'm a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. All you have to do is be the mouthpiece. Don't say I can't do that, I'm a child, I don't know, you know, I can't. Just speak the word of the Lord. See, this is what God said, okay? It makes it real simple. It really does. And if you can yield yourself, oh youth, to be willing to just say, I'm just gonna say what the word of the Lord says. Let's start with that. Say hey, but this is what the Bible says. Then you don't have to worry about being a youth, because it's God's word, not yours. And the more you can stand on that, and the more you can speak that, the less anyone's gonna be able to say against your youth, because the words you're saying are a lot older than you or them. You may disdain my youth or despise my youth, but this book is way older than you. So, I don't know, let's talk about these words, because this is what God said. In verse number eight, some more admonition from the Lord, some more comfort and advocation here. Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. God already knows He's given them a negative message, and a lot of people aren't gonna receive it very well. And when you decide to serve God, when you decide to preach His word especially, a lot of people won't like it. And you don't understand until you're maybe on this side of things, and you get to see everybody's face. I get to see all the faces here. Now, generally speaking, most of the time it's all friendly, but I could definitely tell when I step on some toes, because it shows on the face, it does. But if you're gonna preach the word of God, you can't be afraid of the faces. You can't let that go, oh wait, you didn't like that, maybe I shouldn't say that. Because if you're preaching God's word, hey, God's the one who said it. You take it up with Him, and if it's a negative message for you, then it's a negative message for you. But I am bound to preach what God said. That's it, all of it. No censoring, no holding back, no selectively choosing, oh, I wanna just touch these things, all of it. All of it. And for the youth, all the experience, hey, be not afraid of their faces. God says, I'm with you to deliver you. They're not gonna do anything to you. Don't worry about it. If you're doing what I'm telling you to do, I'm with you. Verse nine says, and the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said unto me, behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, and look at the job that He's given him to do through the word of the Lord. Through preaching God's word, this youth, this person who says, I'm just a child, what does God instruct him, what does He send him out to do? Verse 10, see, I have set thee this day over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. It's a big job. There's a lot of work being done right there, and God chose Jeremiah even though he was but a youth. Lots of opportunity for the youth to do great things for the Lord. You have to decide, how are you going to walk? How are you going to act? Are you gonna seek wisdom? Are you going to walk down that path so that people don't despise your youth? Are you gonna use it appropriately or not? Hey, it's up to you. You can go off and just live life to your heart's desire, but as it says in Ecclesiastes, just be aware that God's gonna judge. You wanna go off and sow your wild oats and just go act crazy with the world and do the things that the world says that you should do because you're young, because you're a teenager, and you can go out and have all this fun of getting drunk and doing drugs and sleeping around and doing all that wickedness and sin. Go ahead and do it, but you know what? God's gonna judge. Or you could just be wise, heed the warnings of Scripture, and say, I'm just gonna avoid all that stuff. It's not all it's cracked up to be. People who love me and people who care about me and those that have the rule over me that are doing so and teaching you things because they're responsible to God. They're teaching you the right way. We're teaching you what you need. Trust it. Trust the word of the Lord, and don't go down the wrong path and waste your youth and potentially waste your future. A lot of damage can be done in the youth, but the choice is up to you. Let's have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank You so much for all the edifying words in the Scripture, Lord, and that You're willing to use anybody that is willing to yield themselves up to be used of You, dear Lord. We have a church full of people here that I'm confident want You to use them, use us, Lord, to just bring more honor and glory in Your name, to reach more people, to bring people to Christ. And God, we need Your help. We need more wisdom. We need more understanding. And let us pray that You'd pour out Your Spirit upon our church. Help our youth to make important decisions for themselves and their lives. Lord, that would be pleasing to You and that they could gain wisdom even early on, wisdom above their age, dear Lord, that they can continue and, you know what, surpass the works and the deeds of the people who are older than them and that they can have the best opportunity and start in this life. Lord, we love You. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.