Jeremiah chapter 5 is a chapter that's rebuking the children of Israel for a lot of the sins
that they've been involved in and talking about the fact that a lot of judgment is going
to be coming their way very soon and warning them, look, you think it's not going to happen,
but it really is going to happen.
Let me just reread just the last couple of verses here, beginning in verse number 27.
The Bible reads, as a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit.
Therefore they become great and waxen rich.
Their waxen fat, they shine, yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked.
They judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper and the right
of the needy do they not judge.
Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord?
Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land.
The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means and my people love
to have it so and what will you do in the end thereof?
The title of my sermon this morning is what will you do in the end thereof?
Now a lot of people today are very short-sighted.
They don't see down the road.
They can only see what's happening right now and that's what I want to preach about this
morning because these people thought that because things are going good right now that
things were always going to go good and God keeps warning them, no, bad things are going
to happen.
You don't need to change your ways, et cetera.
Now flip over to Hebrews chapter number 12.
This morning I want to preach about short-sightedness, asking yourself the question what will you
do in the end thereof is something that many people don't even ask, they don't even think
about.
They can only see what's right in front of them and I think the best example in the Bible
of someone who was very short-sighted, he didn't look at the big picture of things was
Esau.
Look what the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 15, looking diligently lest any man
fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby
many be defiled, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau who for one morsel
of meat sold his birthright for you know how that afterward when he would have inherited
the blessing, he was rejected for he found no place of repentance though he sought it
carefully with tears.
So this is a great example of someone who was very short-sighted.
In the Old Testament, Esau, the brother of Jacob, being the firstborn son was entitled
to a double portion of the inheritance.
According to God's law, if a man had multiple sons, they would divide up the inheritance
after the father was gone but the eldest son would get a double portion.
So since there were only two sons involved, Jacob and Esau, then basically we're talking
about Esau getting two-thirds of the wealth and Jacob's going to get one-third of the
wealth, right?
Because he gets double what his brother gets.
So one day Esau's out hunting and he's starving hungry.
He comes home and Jacob has made this soup, this pottage and it smells really good and
Esau's saying, I'm dying of hunger.
He hadn't eaten in a really long time and so Jacob says to him, sell me your birthright
and I'll let you eat this soup, you know, I'll let you eat this pottage.
And Esau says, well, what good is my birthright going to do me, you know, if I die of hunger?
So he eats the soup and the Bible puts this little commentary on the end of the story.
So despised Esau his birthright.
So he did not value it.
It didn't really matter to him.
And it seems like a really stupid story when you look at it and think, good night.
Did he actually just sell half of his inheritance for a bowl of chili?
I mean, for food, it seems ridiculous, doesn't it?
But actually this is how a lot of people think because the inheritance is so far out.
It literally means nothing to them.
It's not even just that they devalue it.
It's that they, it has no value to them because so many people can only see the immediate,
what's right in front of them.
And they give no thought to the repercussions of their actions down the road.
Okay.
That's the thing about sin though, because the Bible is likening Esau's decision to sell
his birthright for a bowl of soup.
It's likening that to what a fornicator does.
You know, someone who commits a big sin like fornication, that's basically what they're
doing.
Esau was trying to fulfill a physical appetite.
He had a lust for food and so he's willing to sell something very valuable just to gratify
that lust.
So the Bible is saying that that's what you're doing when you commit fornication because
the Bible says in verse 16 here, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau
who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
So the Bible is saying that if you commit fornication, you're like Esau.
You're selling your birthright for just a temporal pleasure that's going to be gone
in a moment.
And as the saying goes, pleasure for a moment, pain for a lifetime.
When you commit the sin of fornication, that has lasting repercussions and it's compared
to the stupidity of the decision that Esau made.
It's that big of a mistake.
Now you young person, teenager, young adult, you might not be able to see that committing
fornication has that devastating of a repercussion but according to the Bible, it does.
You're looking at the story saying, well, you know, that guy sold a whole bunch of money,
a whole bunch of wealth because his father Isaac was a very wealthy man.
You know, he sold out half of his inheritance for a bowl of soup.
That's really ridiculous.
But here's the thing, you're losing just as much when you commit fornication.
You're losing just as much when it comes to rewards in heaven.
You're losing just as much when it comes to your quality of life on this earth because
you are doing damage to yourself.
You're doing damage to that other person and you're doing damage to your future marriage
by making that foolish decision to commit for it and you say, well, you're being really
hard on people who commit fornication.
No, the Bible is being hard on people who commit fornication.
The Bible is saying that you're a profane person.
The Bible is the one that is saying that you are as foolish as Esau and you're selling
out your virginity, you're selling out your purity, you're selling out your godliness
for just a little, you know, feeling of pleasure on this.
It's just like the feeling of when you eat a really good bowl of pottage.
I mean, when you're that hungry, it's good.
You say, you know, it's the same thing.
And that's why God uses this comparison.
The Bible says in verse 17, for you know how that afterward when he would have inherited
the blessing, he was rejected for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it
carefully with tears.
Now, here's the thing.
When Esau sold his birthright for that bowl of pottage, he thought that he was just selling
his birthright.
That's it.
He basically looked at the cost of selling his birthright and he said, I'm willing to
pay the price to gratify my lust right now.
I'm willing to pay.
It's so far off and I just buy it.
I don't care about it.
You know, half the money will be great anyway.
Who needs the other half?
He thought he was only selling the birthright.
But what happened?
He also lost the blessing, which is not something that he bargained for.
Because later on, basically, Jacob with his mother end up deceiving their father and stealing
the birthright from Esau.
That's where the tears come in.
Because even though Esau didn't really care about his birthright, he cared about the blessing.
So when it came time to get the blessing and the blessing wasn't there, and when Isaac
instead blesses Jacob and makes Jacob the ruler over his brother Esau, you know, then
he's bawling and saying, oh, my father bless me, even me also.
And he is searching for a second chance there.
And basically, Isaac tells him, no, it's too late for you.
It's too late for you.
And then Esau tries to lie about it and say, oh, well, he already stole my birthright from
me and now he's stealing my blessing.
But the reality is that Jacob didn't steal the birthright at all.
He bought it fair and square.
And it was Esau who was stupid and despised his birthright.
But the moral of the story here is that when we get involved in sin, it costs us more than
we think it's going to cost us.
You know, we think, OK, I'm going to gratify this lust and here's what it's going to cost
me and I'm willing to pay that price.
Oh, no, you're going to pay much more than you thought.
You know, sin always takes you further than you want to go.
It keeps you longer than you wanted to stay, and it costs you more than you're willing
to pay.
And so that's the story of Esau here, where afterward, when he would have inherited the
blessing, what's the Bible saying?
He would have inherited the blessing.
But he didn't.
Why?
Because he sold the birthright.
That's what the Bible is saying here.
That was the repercussion for his foolish decision to sell the birthright.
And he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
You see, a lot of times when we're young, we make foolish decisions.
Then we get right with God.
And when we get right with God, we say, well, now that I'm serving God, I want God to bless
me now.
And God says, like Isaac, sorry, too late.
Your blessing is gone.
Now, this is a preaching that sometimes people don't want to hear because, you know, they
want to hear that God's the God of the second chance.
And God is the God of a second chance because it's not like Esau's life was just over.
You know, Esau was able to straighten things out in his life.
He was able to get some blessings from God, but it wasn't the original blessings.
Those could never come back.
So it's not that I'm saying that once you make a big mistake, hey, you're done, you're
finished.
No, you can always get right with the God.
You can always come back to the Lord.
And he always has a plan B for your life.
But plan A isn't there anymore.
And the reason why this preaching needs to be preached is not to give somebody a bad
time who's already made mistakes in the past.
You know, the Bible says, forget those things which are behind.
You know, reach forth unto those things which are before.
Press toward the mark for the prize of the high colony of God in Christ Jesus.
But there are teenagers and young people in this room who they might have heard their
whole life, God of the second chance, God of the second chance, God, you know.
And then they just think that they can go out and sow their wild oats and live a sinful
and wicked life in their teens and early 20s and that there aren't going to be any consequences.
No, you will live with the consequences for the rest of your life.
And the people who've gone down that road could tell you that.
So if you're one who's made mistakes in the past, I mean, we've all made mistakes to some
degree, but you know, if you made big mistakes in the past, your attitude toward this sermon
should be, yeah, warn them.
You know, warn the young people so that they don't make these mistakes, that they take
their decisions seriously and that they don't just look at the immediate future right in
front of them, but that they take a broader view and understand, hey, I'm not just losing
the birthright, I'm losing the blessing.
I'm losing more.
It's going to cost me more than I thought.
Go to 2 Peter chapter number 1.
2 Peter chapter number 1.
And think about how short-sighted fornication is in the first place.
See, the young person, the teenager, basically finds themselves unable to restrain their
lust and they say, you know, this, everybody's doing it and it's unreasonable to say that
we should abstain from this.
I'm going to, and just in case somebody's new to church or you're kind of new to the
Bible, fornication is when people go to bed together before they're married.
That's what fornication, people that are sleeping together and they're not married.
Okay, think about how short-sighted this is.
Let's say you're going to get married in your 20s.
Let's say you're going to get married when you're 25 years old.
Now, I got married when I was 19 and there's no law against getting married when you're
18, 19.
You know what I mean?
If you get your act together, get mature and get things in order, you can get married when
you're 18, like my friend, Pastor Roger Jimenez got married when he was 18.
I got married when I was 19.
You know, there's no law against that.
But even let's say you get married at 25, even later than I got married, quite a bit
later.
Well, then think about it.
Let's say you're going to live until you're about 75.
Well, then chances are you're probably going to be married for like 50 years, okay?
And you're only going to be a teenager.
You're only going to be a young adult for just a few years, just one decade.
Are you really going to have to deal with these issues and these real strong temptations
in those teenage years, early 20s?
And here's the thing, if you can't handle it, you get married.
It's better to marry than to burn, the Bible says.
But see, people are so shortsighted, they're completely ignoring the 50-year relationship
and just only seeing the right here, right now, and not understanding that, look, God's
not expecting you to be celibate as a Christian.
God's telling you that you can enjoy that physical act all you want for 50, 60 years
of your life, you know, as much as you want, okay?
But you've got to wait for it.
And don't be so shortsighted where you just say, you know what, I can't just wait a little
longer.
No, you need to wait a little longer and then enjoy for the rest of your life instead of
messing up your whole life and living with that the rest of your life because of the
decisions that you make.
I mean, think about it in the story of Esau.
He says, well, I'm dying of hunger.
But wait a minute, he probably could have just waited a little longer and cooked his
own food.
It would have taken him a little while to prepare his own meal and the chili was right
there, it's ready, he's ready to eat.
But he could have just waited a little longer or he could have just walked a little further
and just gone to the neighbor's house where the price was a little lower than your birthright,
right?
He could have just gone a little further to the restaurant or to someone else's house
or to his parents or he could have just, you know, poured a bowl of cereal or whatever,
you know?
I mean, but this is the stupidity that God's warning us against of just throwing it all
away because you just can't wait.
That's what the Bible's teaching.
Now look at 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 4.
The Bible says, whereby are given unto succeeding great and precious promises that by these
you might be partakers of the divine nature, watch this, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust.
So there's corruption in the world through lust, the Bible says.
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge
and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to
godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity.
For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren
nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and had forgotten
that he was purged from his old sins.
So here's a scripture that is specifically warning about people who can't see afar off.
They can't see the big picture.
What are the things that are going to abound in us that will help us to see the big picture?
Well, some of these are pretty obvious when the Bible says patience.
Obviously, that's someone who sees the big picture, right?
Somebody who's willing to wait patiently for things.
When they come in God's timing, temperance.
What does temperance mean?
Controlling yourself.
This is another thing that someone who has a long view of things is going to have more
temperance and keep themselves under control.
Have patience, have godliness.
Okay, don't be a blind person who can't see afar off.
Now flip over if you would to Luke chapter 15.
Here's another famous story besides the story of Jacob and Esau about someone who took a
really short view of things and this is the story of the prodigal son.
Now in this story, it's the opposite.
It's the younger brother who is short-sighted in this story and it's the same deal.
You know, the older brother is going to get two-thirds and the younger brother is going
to get one-third.
But in this story, it's about the fact that the younger brother wants his inheritance
right now.
It says in verse 11, he said, a certain man had two sons and the younger of them said
to his father, father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me and he divided
unto them his living.
So instead of waiting for his dad to pass away and he's going to inherit all things,
he says, no, I want my inheritance, all of it right now.
And I think part of what's pictured by this parable, if you think about Jesus speaking
in Matthew 6, he talks about a lot of people who have their reward right now because the
Bible talks about having an inheritance in heaven.
And the Bible says that our inheritance in heaven is incorruptible.
It fadeth not away.
He said, lay up treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where
thieves do not break through nor steal.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
So God tells us to make sure that our inheritance is in heaven, not on this earth.
Well, think about all the people that it lists in Matthew 6.
It says people who do their alms before men, they do their righteousness before men to
be seen of them.
The Bible says, verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
Those who pray publicly big long flowery prayers and those who sound a trumpet when they give
alms and those who fast publicly that they may appear righteous unto men.
The Bible says, verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
OK, so they're like the prodigal son in the sense that they're saying, give me my reward
now.
They don't want to wait for God to exalt them and do time.
The Bible says, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord.
He'll exalt you in due time.
But they say, no, I want to be exalted right now.
I want people to declare me righteous right now.
I want my prayers and my fastings and my alms to be seen of men that I might have praise
of men right now.
And God says, well, OK, you can have it now, but you're not going to get it later.
He said you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
You already had your reward.
Now, this is especially true of preachers because there are a lot of preachers out there
who instead of just faithfully serving God, preaching the truth, waiting on the Lord to
build the church, waiting on the Lord to exalt them in due time, just being humble.
You know, what does it mean to be humble as a pastor?
Well, you know what?
It means that you're OK if the church is small in the beginning because you're not trying
to impress people.
You know, you understand that great things take time to build.
And so you just humbly, patiently allow God to do his work and you get up and preach the
truth faithfully.
You preach hard.
And if people quit the church and it slows things down, well, you know what?
You know you did what was right.
And it's funny because when you preach hard, sometimes people will accuse you of being
prideful and to any hard preachers as pride, pride.
But you know what's really pride?
Pride is when you think, well, I'm going to do this myself.
I'm not going to let God I'm not just going to preach what the Bible says, whether it's
popular, unpopular, in season, out of season.
No, no, no.
I'm going to do it myself and I'm going to use man's wisdom.
So I'm going to trim out certain parts of the message that I find to be unpalatable
to the people in my area or to my generation or to my culture.
I'm going to censor the message.
I'm going to not preach on certain parts of the Bible because I'm so smart.
I'm smarter than God.
I know that we'll do more for God if I just preach certain parts of the Bible, even though
he told me to preach the whole thing.
It's pride.
And also it's pride.
Pride likes to be patted on the back, right?
I mean, look, a prideful person.
Do they like accolades?
Do they like to be loved of all men?
Do they like to be complimented?
Of course.
Now, as a humble person out seeking accolades, recognition, I want to make sure that if I
give somebody a gift, you know, I want to make sure that I get recognized and everybody
knows I gave them that gift and I get all the thanks and the praise and that I'm seen
of men.
OK, that's that's not humility.
Humility.
Humility isn't looking for a pat on the back.
You know, they're just looking for a reward in heaven.
They just want to do their righteousness before the Lord.
OK, well, think about this.
Well, when it comes to preaching, what's the prideful man going to preach?
What people want to hear.
Why?
Because he loves the pat on the back.
He thrives on it.
There are people in this world who they enjoy it, they thrive on it, and they're like the
pope, you know, where it's just kind of like, you know, everybody's kind of bowing down
to them, worshipping them, and they just kind of, you know, take it all in.
You know, just receive all that adoration and worship and they love it and they thrive
on it and they enjoy it.
See, a humble person, you know, isn't out seeking the limelight, isn't looking to be
lifted up.
You know, sometimes they're even a little uncomfortable with it because it's just it's
not what it's about.
And here's the thing, prideful, arrogant preachers who trim the message preach a positive
only message.
They love the accolades.
They love the recognition.
They're like the prodigal son because of the fact that they're getting their reward
right now by being loved and praised and exalted of all men.
Whereas the humble preacher is getting his reward later.
He preaches faithfully God's word.
And here's the thing.
Not all of that's in heaven.
Some of that even comes on this earth.
You know, God will sometimes lift people up on this earth like you think of a humble guy
like Mordecai.
He was lifted up, right?
He was exalted.
He wasn't out seeking that kind of praise and recognition.
But the guy who was seeking it, Haman in the Book of Esther, God brought him down, humiliated
him in the worst possible way, even him dying an ignomious death.
Whereas the humble guy, Mordecai, who basically, and you say, well, how do you know Mordecai
was a humble guy?
Well, because Mordecai did a great deed where he saved the king's life and he didn't really
get any gratitude for it.
He didn't really get any thanks for it.
But you don't see him bringing it up and bringing it out and trying to, hey, everybody, did
everybody hear what I did?
He just kind of quietly did what was right.
And everybody forgot about the good deed that he did.
Nobody knew.
Nobody saw it.
But then years later, God exalts him.
OK, so a lot of our reward sometimes will hit us even in this life.
But a lot of it's coming in the next life.
But the bottom line is, you know, if we're like the prodigal son, we want to just give
it to me now.
And if we are wise, then we're willing to patiently wait and take a longer view, not
a short sighted view.
Well, well, hey, I'm willing to give up my reward in heaven to have a fancy car now,
fancy house now, you know, accolades now, praised of all men now.
So that's just kind of another angle on this story.
When you read this, he says, hey, give me the portion of goods that fall to me.
He wants his inheritance now.
It's just like when Jesus said of these people that do stuff before men, they have their
reward.
They're getting their inheritance early on this earth.
Problem is, on this earth, it fades away.
On this earth, it's temporary.
Your reward in heaven is eternal.
On this earth, moth and rust corrupt.
Thieves break through and steal.
On this earth, it's the praise of men, which is vanity.
And in heaven, it's the praise of God.
You know, that means a lot more than somebody patting you on the back.
When Jesus pats you on the back, that means a lot more.
So the Bible says, as we continue to read the story, it says at the end of verse 12,
he divided unto them his living.
Verse 13, not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey
into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
So he's short-sighted.
He could have taken that inheritance that fell to him now and used it to buy a business,
right?
Something that would provide a continual source of income for the rest of his life.
He's a young guy.
Something that would provide a continual...
He could have bought a house.
That way, hey, his house is paid off.
You know, he could have bought some land and say, okay, well, I can farm this land for
the rest of my life or I can run this business or he could have bought cattle or something
and that would be what he would use or he could have bought some kind of tools or just
something that's going to provide a continual source of income for him.
But instead, he doesn't see that he's going to be on this earth for 70 or 80 years.
He just goes out and immediately, in a very short time, spends all the money right now.
Just blows it all and it says he wasted it.
He wasted his substance with riotous living.
Now, the Bible doesn't go into detail of what that means, but if we just understand what
rioting means and riotous living means, biblically speaking, basically what we're talking about
is what we would refer to today as, you know, drinking, partying, and sleeping around.
I mean, that's basically what this guy was probably involved in just based on the word
riotous living, right?
Probably going to places like Vegas, you know, and obviously things were different back then,
but there's no new thing under the sun.
So people are people, human nature is the same as it was in this story.
So basically, to think of it in today's terms, it would be like if your son got the inheritance,
you had a big family business and all kinds of wealth and he gets that piece of the inheritance
and a few days later, he's on a plane to Vegas and he's a high roller, he's a big shot,
he's wearing fancy clothes.
So then, you know, as a result of having fancy clothes and buying expensive things, he's
surrounded by beautiful women that are basically there because of the money, that are there
because of the partying, because of the lifestyle.
He's got all of a sudden, he's the coolest guy because he's got the cool car and the
cool friends and he's partying and having a great time, but he blows through the money
fast because he's stupid.
He's foolish, he's wasting his money, he's not taking a long view, he's short-sighted,
he's like Esau, just gratify the flesh now, have fun now.
And listen to me, there are so many teenagers today, they have zero thought of the rest
of their life.
It's almost like a disease amongst teenagers.
It's almost like a mental disorder where teenagers just cannot see you far off.
It's just like, you know, what?
I have to wait one month for something?
My life is over.
That's how they think.
It's like, what are you talking about?
And you know, we can all kind of sympathize because we've all kind of been there.
I mean, I know when I was a teenager, I wasn't thinking about life in my 30s.
I mean, that thought of being 34 years old never entered my mind.
I mean, you don't see, you don't even, that doesn't even come into your mind at all.
You're not thinking about old age.
No, you're thinking about right now, maybe the next few days, the next few weeks.
This is how teenagers think.
And this is why so many make stupid decisions.
And that's why they commit fornication, they get drunk, they waste their substance, whatever.
Instead of taking a longer view and the Bible is commanding us young people to take a longer
view of things and to say, wait a minute, it's not worth it to go out and party now
and ruin my life.
Now, I'm going to live with that for the rest of my life.
The stupid things that you're doing.
You know, and I just thank God by the grace of God, you know, that I didn't screw up my
life in my teenage years because you know what, I was stupid when I was a teenager.
I mean, it's just, but when I was a teenager, I thought I was really smart.
You know, when you're a teenager, you think you're smarter than everyone else.
And you think that your parents don't know what they're talking about and you know everything.
I mean, that's just how teenagers are, but the wise teenager will listen to preaching.
And live right.
And you know, part of the reason why I didn't screw up my life as a teenager was just because
of the fear of God.
I just knew that God was going to punish me and everything.
I wasn't really planning my thirties.
It was more like, you know, God's going to kill me type of thing.
And you know, you ought to have that attitude because God does kill people.
But here we see that he goes out and wastes his substance with riotous living.
And listen, if you're a teenager that's here or a young adult, I want you to listen to
what I'm saying or maybe you're a pre-teen, okay, and you're almost there.
You know, I want you to listen to what I'm saying and just stop and think.
You know, do I want to be a fool or do I want to be a wise person?
Do I want to just spend the rest of my life dealing with baggage and dealing with repercussions
from stupid decisions I'm making right now?
Or do I want to spend the rest of my life enjoying the fruit of doing what's right now?
You know, and it's not even just things that are obvious like going out and getting drunk
or fornicating.
You say, well, what's the big deal about getting drunk?
Because of the stupid stuff you do when you're drunk, for example, okay?
But it's not even just that.
Even if we were to, you know, get away from that extreme, because those are extreme sins,
my friend, according to the Bible.
We might think in America they're little.
The Bible puts them in the big category, okay?
But, you know, even if we just look at what you do as a child in the sense that when you
do your work as a child and when you study, you know, let's say you're being homeschooled
or you're in school, you know, actually studying and working instead of just fooling around
on video games or just fooling around just clowning, you know, if you actually take it
seriously, you know, that's actually going to determine how well you live the rest of
your life.
Because guess what?
If you're stupid, you're not going to get a good job.
You know, because you won't read your Bible, you won't read your school books, you won't
buckle down and get some work done.
You know what?
The rest of your life, you're going to be behind the curve on things.
You're not going to be as effective at your job.
And that's going to affect your earning power for the rest of your life, even just from
a carnal viewpoint.
The things that you do when you're young will affect the rest of your life.
The things that you do to your health when you're young affect the rest of your life.
I mean, just think about how short-sighted it is to just fill your body with junk food.
Because here's the thing.
When you eat junk food, the effect is not usually immediate.
I mean, sometimes there's a running trip somewhere to, you know, eject some of what's been, you
know, put in.
But I'm saying, you know, usually if you go out and just eat a bunch of junk food and
just eat the worst, you know, genetically modified, partially hydrogenated, fast food
combo with the extra big gulp of genetically modified corn syrup, and, you know, you go
out and eat all that junk, you know, it's not going to affect you today, probably.
It probably won't even affect you tomorrow.
But cumulatively, you're destroying your body by just putting junk into your body, just
poison, junk.
But are you thinking about that when you're a teenager?
No.
I mean, when you're a teenager, it's just eat, drink, and be merry because tomorrow
we die.
And so the wise person looks a little further out and says, you know, I'm going to live
in this body for the rest of my life.
I'm going to have these teeth in my mouth for the rest of my life.
You know, I better not just destroy them and trash them because I'm in this body for the
next 50 years, 60 years, 70 years, you know, and don't trash, you know, get exercise and
not just be a slug and everything like that.
So the Bible says here that in verse number 14, after he'd waste his substance with riotous
living when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land and he began to
be in want.
And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields
to feed swine.
And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat and no man
gave unto him.
So it's funny how he was buying all the rounds of drinks and he was buying all the girls
and he was paying for everything.
But now that he's out of money, nobody's there to help him.
Everybody forsakes him.
Because the kind of friends that you make living a fornicating, partying, drinking lifestyle
are not the kind of friends that are really going to be there for you when you need them.
And so these people have completely forsaken him.
And so he joins himself to a citizen of that country basically to feed the pigs.
That's the best job he can get.
Because instead of honing his job skills, instead of spending time reading and studying
and learning and getting smarter, instead of learning how to use tools and learning
how to be an effective worker, he has no skills.
He has no ability.
Because he's been, nobody's looking for a professional gambler right now, a professional
partier right now.
So basically now he has the worst job you can imagine where he's just doing the most
unskilled labor.
This is not skilled labor.
Dumping slop into a pig pen.
That's his job.
And he's so hungry that he's looking at the slop and the husks that the pig are eating
and he's thinking, I would like to eat that right now because I have nothing to eat.
That actually looks pretty good right now.
And when he thinks that thought, he kind of hits rock bottom at that point, which is good.
And sometimes, you know, people need to hit rock bottom.
The Bible says in Luke 15, 17, and when he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants
of my fathers have bread enough and despair and I perish with hunger?
I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, father, I have sinned against
heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
Make me as one of the hired servants.
Look, this is humility, isn't it?
There's no pride here.
There's no arrogance.
Hey, it's my life.
And what was the first thing that the prodigal son said to his dad?
He said, father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.
See, he feels that he's owed something.
The world owes him a living.
Give me what's coming to me.
I'm going to spend it how I want.
It's my life.
Don't tell me what to do.
But now he's been taken down a notch, hasn't he?
He hit rock bottom and now he's extremely humble saying, I'm no longer worthy to be
called thy son.
I've sinned against heaven and against thee.
Just make me as one of the hired servants.
I'm not even trying to be your son anymore.
I just want to be a servant.
He's hit rock bottom.
See, part of the problem today with young people is that no one lets young people hit
rock bottom anymore.
Now, first of all, hopefully young people wouldn't go down this road, but if they do
go down that road, they deserve to hit rock bottom and you're not doing them a favor by
propping them up and stopping them from hitting rock bottom because then they never come to
their senses.
What did it take for him to come to his senses?
He had to be hungry for a few days.
He had to work in a horrible job, stinky, smelly job where he was starving and looking
at pig slop and wishing that he could eat it.
You know, you have to let people sometimes go to the pig pen.
And that's what 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 was teaching on Wednesday night when it said
there are these people that are walking among you disorderly.
They're working not at all.
And the Bible said, then that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ
that with quietness they work and eat their own bread.
For even when we were with you, this we commanded you that if any would not work, neither should
he eat.
And those are hard words.
If any would not work, neither should he eat.
But that's Bible.
And so many parents today, they want to prop up their young adult child as they live a
life of riotous living.
It would be sort of like how this story would have ended up if the dad would have just kept
sending him more money.
He goes and parties and wastes it and the dad just kind of keeps sending him more money.
You know, and just keeps sending money.
You know, I'll tell you this.
When he said, hey, give me the portion of the goods and he left, you know, the dad's
attitude seems to be an attitude of don't let the door hit you on your way out because
you don't see the dad telling him, no, son, stay here, son.
He just says, OK, see ya.
When he comes back, he's humble.
And then the father's ready to welcome him with open arms when he's ready to submit
unto his father's will, when he's willing to do what he's supposed to do.
You see, so many people they today it's like they're adult children.
They'll just have them living in their home, just living a life of fornication, living
a life of drunkenness.
And then when they screw up their finances, they come in and bail them out.
And they bail them out and they think that they're helping their child by bailing them
out, buying them groceries, helping them out.
Sometimes you've got to let people hit rock bottom, you know, when they're living a
life of fornication, when they're living a life of drunkenness.
They need to get out of that situation.
You know, if they make their bed, they're going to have to lay in it.
You know, and hopefully, you know, that's why it's important to teach our kids now
while they're still under our roof and young enough to where we have power over them
when they're young.
And we can make sure that they do what's right.
When they're at an age where we can tell them, no, you're going to church, period.
Okay.
And you pick them up and put them in the car and they're going to church and they're
going to do what's right and they're going to finish their food and they're going to
obey and they're going to do their work and so on and so forth.
You know, you fix it.
It's a lot easier to fix it then than when they get 18, 19, 20, 21.
But you know, if you made the mistakes earlier and they get 18, 19, 20, 21 and they have
this attitude, right, that just says, hey, give me what's coming.
My name's Jimmy.
I'll take all you give me.
I'm going to go out and live a party lifestyle.
I'm going to go out and get your, oh, mom, can you come pick me up?
Oh, mom, can you give me a ride?
Oh, mom, can you help me out?
No.
You know, I mean, look, look, if I'm paying the bills, I'm making the rules.
You know, I'm not paying anything for any child of mine that's going to go out and live
a wicked lifestyle.
I'm not going to support that.
I'm not going to condone that.
I'm not going to finance that.
If you choose that path, you're choosing to do it on your own kids because your parents
are not obligated to sit there and finance you and take care of you as you disobey them
and disregard what they're teaching.
Look, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Anyone who's living in my house is going to be under my rules and they're not going to
be a drunk and they're not going to be a fornicator.
They're not going to do these things.
And when they want to go out and do their own thing, then they can go out and do their
own thing.
And you know what?
They're going to do their own thing at that point.
They're going to do it on their own.
Now, if they're going to do what's right, then the blessings, you know, are there for
them from mom and dad.
But if they're going to go out and shame the name of Christ and shame the name of their
family, then at that point they're on their own.
And that tough love is what sometimes needs to be shown unto people in order for them
to wake up and come to themselves.
And this Bible story is there to teach us that a lot of people misunderstand this story.
They don't get the story.
You know, a lot of people say this is salvation.
You know, the prodigal son story is a story about salvation.
But hold on.
He's already a son.
See, this is about a Christian.
Because think about it.
We're already sons of God only when we're saved.
See, no one who is unsaved is a child of God.
The Bible says, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on his name.
So you become a son of God when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so these two sons, and obviously the parable has a lot of different interpretations because
the Bible is so deep.
There are many interpretations.
One interpretation is that the elder brother is Israel, and the younger brother is the
Gentiles.
That's an interpretation that's clearly in the passage.
But a major interpretation here is children of God.
We have one child of God who obeys the Lord, and we have another child of God who goes
out and lives a party life.
But then another interpretation of the parable is just the surface meaning of a dad with
two kids.
You know, just the meaning that's just right there, the literal interpretation of just
a dad with two kids.
And that's what I'm focusing on here when we talk about letting people hit rock bottom
and not propping people up.
This is why you're not doing people favors when you help them, people who won't work
and you keep giving them money and they won't work.
You know, what are you doing?
You're just reinforcing that bad behavior.
You got to let people sometimes hit rock bottom.
You got to let them sleep outside sometimes or sleep in the car or, you know, go a few
days without food because that will sometimes wake people up.
Whereas if there's always somebody to bail them out, there's always a safety net.
Think about this.
The circus has a safety net, right?
You know, they got the tightrope acrobat and then the safety net.
Now think about this.
I would never go walk out across a tightrope if there was no safety net.
But if there were a tightrope and there were a safety net right there and somebody said,
hey, would you like to try walking across this tightrope?
I might say, yeah, that looks kind of fun, you know, and kind of do it, you know.
There's a thing up here at, you know, Castles and Coasters off the I-17.
They have this ropes course and, you know, you're harnessed in, though.
You put on a thing and you're strapped in.
And so you can be a little more daring because you know that if you fall off, because I
have fallen off a couple times and you're just kind of dangling but at the same time
you're not breaking any bones or dying or anything.
So you get a little more daring, you know, no hands and, you know, you're leaping and
going across the tightrope and everything like that because you know the safety net's
there, because you know you're harnessed in.
It gives you much more boldness.
Well, we talk about today how, you know, well, our society, you know, we need to have the
safety net.
That's what the government will often talk about.
You know, the liberal communist type elements in our society will have this attitude like,
well, you know, we need to have the safety net there in place.
You know, talking about all the welfare and all the, you know, programs and all the social
security, socialist security and Medicare and all these different, all these probably
they say, you know, that's part of the safety net.
But you know what the safety net does?
It makes people take chances.
It makes people, let me put it another way, it makes people live their life in a reckless
way is what it does.
When you give everybody a safety net, then we can go out and be reckless and know we're
never going to have to pay the piper.
We're never going to have to face the consequences.
We can destroy our bodies and somebody's going to be there to pick up the tab.
We can go out and we can smash up our car and we can not show up to work and we can
go out and just drink and fornicate and party and we can treat our parents like junk.
Because we don't need them to bail us out because Uncle Sam's going to bail us out.
I mean, we can just treat our parents like garbage and tell our parents to go jump in
a lake because if we get poor, we'll turn to the government.
We can tell our church to go jump in a lake because what do we need them for?
We got the government to take care of.
See, if the safety net weren't there, people would be a little more careful with how they
live their life, wouldn't they?
And then they'd realize, well, you know what?
I need my parents as a safety net.
I need church as a safety net.
And then there's the ultimate safety net, God.
And then they'd realize, hey, I'm going to treat my parents well.
I'm going to treat the church well.
I'm going to treat God well.
And I'm going to live my life in a way that makes sense.
And I'm going to take care of my body and I'm going to take care of my own finances
by working six days a week and making things happen.
But no, the safety net's there.
So we can all just be these daredevil acrobats, just woo, like there's no tomorrow.
Whoops, fell down.
So what?
Who cares?
But he comes to the father.
He's humble now.
He says, I'm no more worthy to be called thy son.
Verse 19, make me as one of thy hired servants.
And he rose and came to his father.
But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell
on his neck and kissed him.
And the son said in him, father, I've sinned against heaven and in thy sight and am no
more worthy to be called thy son.
But the father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe and put it on him and
put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring hither the fatted calf and kill
it and let us eat and be merry.
For this my son was dead and is alive again.
He was lost and is found.
And they began to be merry.
Now, obviously, he wasn't literally dead, was he?
But he was dead unto him.
OK, that doesn't seem like, does it seem like this guy had a real good relationship with
his son while his son was out partying and rioting?
No, because he wouldn't be using that kind of language about his son.
Hey, he was lost.
He's found.
He was dead.
Now he's alive again.
And it says in verse 25, now his elder son was in the field and he came and drew nigh
to the house.
He heard music and dancing.
And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.
And he said unto him, Thy brother is come and thy father hath killed the fatted calf
because he hath received him safe and sound.
And he was angry and would not go in.
Therefore came his father out and treated him.
And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgress
I at any time thy commandment, and yet thou never gave us me a kid that I might make merry
with my friends.
But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou
has killed for him the fatted calf.
He's saying, Look, I couldn't even have my friends over for a goat barbecue.
And you're serving filet mignon here.
You know, you're killing the fatted calf.
You're serving all this great beef.
I couldn't even eat cheap meat with my you know, you don't let me party like this with
my friends.
Now, at this point, the moral of the story is forgiveness.
OK, the father is the good example of the guy who forgives the young person who screwed
up their life and is ready to welcome them with open arms once they come to themselves.
Then it's like, of course, you're welcome back now that you're willing to do what's
right and submit under the authority of dad.
Yeah, of course.
And not only are we going to just be gradually, well, I guess we'll forgive you because the
Bible said, you know, no, come on in.
You know, whether that's the church, the family, whatever.
You know, we want to welcome back the prodigals that stray when they get right with God.
Welcome back.
Let's forget about it and move on.
OK, and what does it say here?
He said unto him, verse 31, son, thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine.
It was meet that we should make Mary and be glad for this thy brother was dead and is
alive again and was lost in his family.
So the brother is the bad example who doesn't want to forgive the wayward family member
once they get right, doesn't want to forgive the wayward church member once they get right.
The Christian who doesn't want to let people live things down when they make mistakes and
do wrong.
But we don't want to misunderstand the story because there is still a consequence to sin
because notice what he tells him in verse 31.
He said unto him, son, thou art ever with me, watch this, and all that I have is thine.
What's he telling him?
You're getting everything.
You're inheriting everything.
So the younger brother comes back, we should welcome him with open arms.
We love him, we forgive him, let it go, move on.
But at the same time, we need to realize that when you take a short-sighted view of your
life, you still have to suffer the consequences for the rest of your life.
This guy for the rest of his life is not going to have anything unless he gets it himself.
But everything that the father had for him has been wasted and it's gone and it's not
going to be replaced.
See, when dad dies, we're not going to divide things three ways and give two parts to the
older brother and one part to the younger brother.
No, it's all going to the older brother because you already got your inheritance and you wasted
it, you spent it, and now you're going to be here similar unto the hired servants in
the sense that you have no inheritance.
And you have to work and pull your weight around here as one of them.
Now that doesn't mean we're not happy to see you.
It doesn't mean that we're not going to have a party and you're going to have a nice hurrah
here and kill the fatted calf and we're going to rejoice that you've come to your senses.
But you know what?
We need to understand that when we go out and commit these type of sins in our youth,
we live with the consequences for the rest of our life.
I mean, think about it.
It just makes sense.
It's foolish to think that there will be no consequences for the stuff you do when you're
young.
The Bible says, and if you would go to Ecclesiastes chapter 12, you know the Bible says over and
over again that we are going to have to suffer for the rest of our lives when we make stupid
decisions.
There are going to be repercussions.
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter number 11 verse 9, Ecclesiastes 11, 9,
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.
But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
Therefore, remove sorrow from thy heart and put away evil from thy flesh, for childhood
and youth are vanity.
What's he saying?
Childhood and youth are vanity.
He's saying that this idea of you got to enjoy your freedom when you're young, you got to
enjoy that time.
Those are the best years of your life, and you got to really live it up because that's
your one chance to live it up.
In your childhood and youth, you go out, you party, you have a good time, you sow your
wild oats, and then you settle down into real life when you're about 30.
I mean, isn't this what the world kind of teaches?
Hey, you're young, don't tie yourself down with a serious job.
Don't get tied down with a wife and kids.
What are you doing?
You got to go out and party and enjoy and don't grow up too fast, they'll say.
But wait a minute, what does the Bible say?
Does the Bible say, hey, don't grow up too fast?
Does the Bible say I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys R Us kid?
There's a million toys of Toys R Us that I can play with, from trucks to games to video
games and biggest toys.
I don't want to grow up, and even if I did, I'd want to be a Toys R Us kid.
But look, this is the way people are living their life today.
I mean, it's a joke, people.
That commercial was joking.
But there are people out there who literally are in their 30s and 40s and are really into
video games.
It's out there.
This is probably the first generation of 30-year-old people and 40-year-old people that play video
games, because video games weren't invented.
And here's the thing, when you tried to show, I mean, when video games first came out and
you tried to show a 40-year-old, they had no interest.
I remember putting my dad in front of Super Mario Brothers.
This is what he did.
He just ran straight ahead, ran straight into the first little goomba.
You know what I mean?
You know that first little goomba?
All you have to do is just jump.
He just ran right into that goomba and just died.
And then he's just like, this is stupid, I'm never playing it again.
He's never played it again.
I don't think he's ever played.
You know, we finally later talked him into Duck Hunt, just because it was kind of like
you're shooting or whatever.
But he got so mad at that little dog, you know that?
He's like, shut up!
So, but look, but nowadays though, but the kids who grew up with it though, some of them
don't want to let it go.
And you know it and I know it.
There are people in their 20s, 30s, 40s that are now playing video games.
That's how they spend their life.
I mean, it's so childish, it's so juvenile.
Or what about this?
He said, look, childhood and youth are vanity.
Yeah, go out and live your fun youth and party and whatever.
He said, God's going to bring you into judgment for it and it's all emptiness.
It's all vanity.
It's all worthless anyway.
I mean, look, why would you want to go out and party your whole 20s away, right?
And then, okay, now I'm 30, I'm going to settle down.
Then, then the whole rest of your life, you're going to be like, whoa, this isn't as fun
as what I was doing.
Think about it.
It's like spoiling your dinner.
It's like eating a bunch of ice cream before dinner and then you eat dinner and you're
like, whoa, this dinner is bland.
No, no, no, you just spoiled your dinner by eating ice cream before dinner.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
You know, save the ice cream for dessert, okay?
Don't eat ice cream before dinner, but that's what they're teaching you as a way of life.
You know, in your youth, you go out, you party, you have fun.
I mean, think about, think about how stupid this is.
The world tells you go around and sleep with 20 different people, right?
Make sure you find which one you like, whatever.
So they want you to go out and be with all these people physically that you're not married
to and be a whore and a whore monger.
And that's what people are doing today.
They're going out and being with 10, 20 different people, however many people, sometimes
more than that.
And then, okay, then you settle down with one person in your monogamous.
You know, you're married, you settle down with one person.
Why would you want to, when you're married to somebody and you're going to be faithful
to that one person for the rest of your life, why would you want to be with like 20 other
different people before that?
Like, how is that going to help your marriage at all?
I mean, just think about how stupid that is.
Okay, first of all, men are jealous beings and women are jealous.
You know, you don't want your spouse to have been with a whole bunch of other people before
you were married.
Does anybody, I mean, does anybody like that thought of all the people?
No, you know, that's, that's not helping your marriage at all.
Number one, okay.
But number two, oh, you got to go out and be with everybody and whatever.
I mean, it's like you, you, you try everything.
Look, let me give it to you.
And I'm trying not to be crass here.
I'm trying, you know, I'm trying to keep this G rated, you know, for the children that are
among us here.
But honestly, I feel like it's important that people think these things through as young
people.
I feel like it's important to teach this because people don't think and they, they, they mess
up their life.
They don't realize why it's important to be pure, you know, and why it's important to
just, to just keep that within marriage.
But it's sort of like this.
When I go out to eat with my wife, I order food that I like and then she orders something
that she wants, right?
And I'm, you know, once I choose, I don't change my mind.
You know, I, I choose like, this is what I'm going to eat.
I order it and this is what happens every single time.
My wife says to me, oh, you got to try mine.
It's so good.
Right?
She just wants me to try one bite of hers.
And I'm always like, no, I don't want to try one bite of yours.
And this is why I don't want to try one bite because if I try one bite of hers, what if
it's better than what I'm having?
Think about it.
Then I'm just going to spend the whole rest of my meal thinking to myself, well, I should
order what she ordered because mine's not as good.
But if I never tasted that, I'm just happy with what I've got.
Is anybody listening?
I ordered food that I chose.
I look, I looked at the menu, nobody forced me to order what I ordered.
I looked at the menu and I found something I liked and I chose it.
And that's what I'm eating.
It says, oh, but you got to try this.
It's like, well, no, because if I tried it and I like it, then I might think to myself,
wow, this isn't as good as I thought it would be.
This isn't as good as I thought it was now that I've had that.
OK.
But number two, let's say I taste it and it's not as good.
Then it's like, why did I waste a bite on that junk?
You know, I could have had more enjoyment of what I'm eating over here.
So it's kind of a lose-lose.
Now, there's nothing immoral about trying other people's food at the table.
But there is something immoral about trying other people's spouse.
OK, so see what I'm saying?
You know, get an attitude that just says, you know what?
Hey, God's given me this this menu and I'm going to choose one
and I'm going to be happy and content and like it.
I don't need to go try everything else in the world
just to see if maybe there was something out there better.
I mean, it's too late.
You've already ordered.
You're already eating your meal.
But it's like, well, yeah, but what if there was something better out there?
So what?
I mean, think about this.
There are seven billion people in the world.
Are you going to try all of them?
Think about that.
I mean, there's seven billion people.
But you're like, well, how do you know that you married the best one?
Guess what?
Nobody in here married the best person on the planet.
Just statistically speaking, that would be ridiculous to think
that you married the best husband or the best wife on the planet.
It doesn't make any sense because there's seven billion people.
What are the chances that the best person just happened to be living in Arizona?
The whole planet, you married the best.
But you know what?
That's a stupid way to look at marriage of,
oh, I don't know if there was something out there better I could have had.
That's stupid because you know what?
Marriage is about loving someone that you chose.
You choose someone and you love that person with all your heart
and you only have eyes for them.
You don't go comparing them to other people and trying to see,
hey, I wonder if there's somebody out there who's better.
That's a wicked thought.
I mean, what?
Do I live in the best house?
Do I drive the best car?
Do I have the best this, the best that?
That's a stupid way to live your life.
You know what?
You love that person.
You choose someone that you like and you love that person for the rest of your life
and you only have eyes for them and you only think about them.
But what when you've been with a million other people,
you know, then all of a sudden you're comparing and everything like that.
And you know what?
I'm trying to be keep it real clean up here.
But you know what?
It's real important what I'm saying.
Because there's so much fornication that's going on today
and there's so much adultery that's going on today.
It's because people don't understand the wisdom that I'm giving you right now.
What I'm giving you is wisdom.
Wisdom that says, you know what?
You only be with one person.
That's God's design.
That's God's plan.
That's going to lead you to happiness in the long run for the rest of your life.
You're going to be happy.
Okay.
Enjoying what God has given you.
Not this thing of try everything on the menu, right?
And then, you know, basically for the rest of your life,
just sit there and, you know, think about what you're missing.
I mean, what a wicked attitude that's always thinking about what we're missing
instead of what we have.
Instead of looking at our wonderful life that we have,
the wonderful food that we have in the fridge,
the house that we have, the car that we have,
you know, the spouse that we have, the kids that we have,
the church that we have, you know, just everything we have.
We're always just looking at someone else and,
oh, I wish I had that.
That's covetousness.
I wish I had that house.
I wish I had that spouse.
I wish I had that car.
You know, it's a wicked way to live your life.
So what I'm saying is if you have a long view of things
and not this short-sighted view,
you'll take the long view and say, you know what?
In the long run, I'm going to be better off if I obey the Lord.
Always.
Always going to be better off if I obey.
Even if in the short term it's hard and I have to suffer a little,
always better off in the long run obeying the Lord.
Always better off in the long run saving yourself for marriage
and being a virgin when you get married.
That's better in the long run.
Hey, always better in the long run to be faithful to church,
to obey your parents, you know, so that they will be there for you
and you can have a relationship with them when you need it.
And it's always better, but people today,
they can only just see the short term of just,
hey, it's fun to go out and be with all these different people
and be a whoremonger and fornicate.
Yeah, if it feels good, do it.
Party, sow your wild oats.
No, you'll be brought into judgment for all these things.
You will do irreparable damage to your life
and you will live with the consequences for the rest of your life.
Or you can, you know, instead of sowing the wild oats,
sow good seeds and reap them the rest of your life.
And I'm telling you, some of the most important years of your life
are your teenage years.
It's setting the course for the whole rest of your life.
What you do, I heard somebody say this,
you know, what you do between 18 and 25
will determine how you live the rest of your life.
And that's true, it's very true.
But even what you're doing from 12 to 18
is also setting the course for the rest of your life.
So young people, please, if you can,
you're like, I can't see past next Friday.
I just, what, you know, it's just,
it's a fog.
Take my word for it.
Trust me, as a guy who's 34
and all the other adults here that are in their 30s, 40s, 50s
could all tell you the same thing.
Trust me, it's gonna matter to you
when you get there, what you did.
Even though now all you can see is the next ice cream cone
and the next, you know, party and the next whatever,
you know, you're gonna one day look at things differently.
Put away the childhood and youth,
grow up, it's vanity, get into real life, kids.
Get into real responsibility as young as you can.
You'll be glad that you got a head start on life.
Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord,
and we thank you that you are the God of the second chance
and that whenever we wanna get things right with you,
you're always willing to welcome us with open arms.
And that's a blessing,
cause we've all made mistakes, we've all screwed up.
We've all been the prodigal son to some degree.
But Lord, please help no young person
to misunderstand the story and think,
oh, I can go out and party and then I can always come home.
Lord, help them to realize that they're losing a lot.
They're losing the birthright
and then they're losing the blessing
and that they're gonna cry a lot of tears someday
if they sell out now.
They're gonna cry a lot of tears
and they're gonna find no place of repentance.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.