["Pomp and Circumstance"]
[" Forecast requires")
["Forecast requires"]
["Forecast-
favoring".
[" Avowed and Odyssey".
[" Odd Eldest".
Jesus, my Savior, he tore the funds away, Jesus, my Lord.
Out from the grave he rose, with a mighty triumph o'er us.
So hear me, he arose a victor from the dark domain,
and he lives forever with the saints to pray.
He arose, he arose, he arose, hallelujah, Christ the Lord.
For what earthly reason would a heavenly Father send down his Son?
To suffer rejection and pay for crimes he had not done.
For what earthly reason would a Father let him hang on a tree?
I wept with the answer that one earthly reason was me.
I was the reason, there one earthly reason.
I was the guilty, he was the sacrifice.
I was the giver, he was the giver.
Dying while I go free, that one earthly reason was me.
The fairest of angels were not summoned from the throne up in the sky.
To purchase my pardon, not even the angels could die.
The only provision for my freedom was destined to be.
The sweet lamb of glory and his only reason was me.
I was the reason, there one earthly reason.
I was the guilty, he was the sacrifice.
I was the taker, he was the giver.
Dying while I go free, that one earthly reason was me.
I was the giver, he was the sacrifice.
Thank you.
Church, let's all find our seats. As you find your seat, go ahead and grab a song book.
Turn to song number 129. Let's all stand together for this first song.
Song number 129, Rock of Ages. Song number 129, all together nice and strong on that first verse.
Rock of ages, clap for me. Let me hide myself in me. Let the water and the blood from my wound inside which flowed be a sin, a double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure.
Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no languor know? These for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone in my hand.
O price I bring, simply to thy cross I cling while I draw this fleeting breath. When my eyes shall close in death, when I rise to world unknown and behold me on my throne, rock of ages, clap for me. Let me hide myself in me.
Amen. Wonderful singing. Let's start off this service with a word of prayer.
Lord God, Heavenly Father, I thank you for giving us this day, Lord, that we can come together unto your house and fellowship with our brethren, Lord, and hear the preaching of your word.
I thank you for the message this morning and I thank you for the souls that were saved this afternoon.
I ask that you please just bless this service, Lord, and bless every aspect of it.
He's blessed the singing as we sing these hymns unto you.
Fill past me here with your spirit as he preaches the message tonight and help us also, Lord, to take this sermon and apply it to our lives.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
All right, go ahead and turn your song books to song 156. You may be seated.
Song number 156. Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
All together on that first verse.
There have been names that I have loved to hear, but never has there been a name so dear.
To this part of mine has the name divine, the precious, precious name of Jesus.
Jesus is the sweetest name I know, and he's just the same as his lovely name, and that's the reason why I love him so.
Oh, Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
There is no name in earth or heaven above.
With such honor and such love as the blessed name, let us all acclaim that one glorious name of Jesus.
Jesus is the sweetest name I know, and he's just the same as his lovely name, and that's the reason why I love him so.
Oh, Jesus is the sweetest name I know, and someday I shall see him face to face.
To thank and praise him for his wondrous praise, which he gave to me when he made me free, the blessed Son of God called Jesus.
Jesus is the sweetest name I know, and he's just the same as his lovely name,
and that's the reason why I love him so.
Oh, Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
Okay, great singing. Thank you for being here this evening.
Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song, which will be 135 if you want to get that ready in your songbooks.
I Know I Am Saved, song number 135.
Our services are as follows. Sunday morning is at 1030, Sunday evening at 5 p.m., and then we have a Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock.
Hope you can join us. We're currently going through the book of 1 Samuel.
You see the Soloning times and teams, and just to let everyone know, we're not going to be collecting Soloning numbers tonight,
and so make sure team leaders that you get with Brother Ulysses report your numbers back to him so you can collect those for the week.
You see the list of expecting mothers there if you can continue to pray for them, and the important reminders there at the bottom.
Please make sure that you're supervising your children in the building.
No children should be in the mother-baby room or any other room in the building alone without their parents.
And then, of course, some of the upcoming church events tonight.
We're celebrating Brother Gio's graduation, and so the service will be geared towards his graduation.
I'm going to be preaching the service essentially on him.
Everyone's going to be able to apply, but it's primarily geared towards him, and then we'll present him with his diploma,
and then we'll have cake and punch right after the service in the fellowship hall, so everyone's welcome to stay for that.
We do have the June birthday breakfast and Judea Soloning on Sunday, June 5th.
Pastor Steven Anderson from Faith Ward Baptist Church will be preaching for us on Thursday, June 16th.
Make sure you're there for that.
He's going to be traveling through different new IFP churches, preaching through a series.
It's for a project that he's working on, and so our church is the first stop.
I want to encourage you to be there for that.
And then the Father's Day service is coming up on Sunday, June 19th.
We'll have a gift for all the dads that come on that day.
So I want to encourage you to bring your fathers, bring someone's dad on that day, bring your family, and, of course, the service will also be geared towards fathers.
And then the ladies' prayer breakfast is coming up on Saturday, June 25th.
If you have any questions about that, you can see my wife for more details.
You see the regular announcements there at the bottom.
And then, of course, make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service.
All right. That's pretty much it. Let's go to see our next song.
One hundred and thirty-five, I know I am saved.
Song number one hundred and thirty-five.
Song number one hundred and thirty-five, I know I am saved.
All together on that first verse.
I know I am saved.
For Christ set me free.
He ransomed my poor soul on the cross of Calvary.
And now I can sing.
For Christ is my King.
I'll see His face in glory by and by.
I know I am saved.
For Christ set me free.
He ransomed my poor soul on the cross of Calvary.
And now I can sing.
For Christ is my King.
I'll see His face in glory by and by.
Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time, the ushers will come forth to collect the offering.
And you can turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel, chapter number one.
Thank you.
Good evening. Tonight we're in 2 Samuel, chapter one.
2 Samuel, chapter one, and the Bible reads,
Now it came to pass after the death of Saul, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had abode two days in Ziklag.
It came even to pass on the third day that, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with his clothes rent and an earth upon his head.
And so it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the earth and did obeisance.
And David said unto him, From whence comest thou? And he said unto him, Out of the camp of Israel am I escaped.
And David said unto him, How went the matter, I pray thee, tell me?
And he answered, That the people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead, and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.
And David said unto the young man that told him, How knowest thou that Saul and Jonathan his son be dead?
And the young man that told him said, As I happened by a chance upon Mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear, and lo, the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him.
And when he looked behind him, he saw me and called unto me, and I answered, Here am I.
And he said unto me, Who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite.
He said unto me again, Stand, I pray thee, upon me and slay me, for anguish has come upon me, because my life is yet whole in me.
So I stood upon him and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen.
And I took the crown that was upon his head, and the bracelet that was upon his arm, and have brought them hither unto my Lord.
Then David took hold on his clothes and rent them, and likewise all the men that were with him.
And they mourned and wept, and fasted until even for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel, because they were fallen by the sword.
And David said unto the young man that was told him, Whence art thou? And he answered, I am the son of the stranger, an Amalekite.
And David said unto him, How is thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?
And David called one of his young men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him, and smote him that he died.
And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head, and thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain the Lord's anointed.
And David lamented with his lamentation over Saul, and over Jonathan his son. Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow.
Behold, it is written in the book of Jasher, and the beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places. How are the mighty fallen?
Till not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ascalon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.
Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offerings, for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil.
From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty.
Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided.
They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. Ye daughters of Israel weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel.
How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle? O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thy high places.
I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant has thou been unto me. Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished?"
Let's pray.
Dear Lord, we thank you for this day, Lord. We thank you for this church, and we thank you for pastor, Lord. We pray that you bless him and fill him with your spirit, and that we're edified by the preaching of your word, Lord, and just bless his service and every aspect of it, Lord. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.
Okay, this evening we are in 2 Samuel chapter number 1, and the title of the sermon tonight is Teach Thyself. Teach Thyself. Look at verse number 17 of 2 Samuel chapter number 1.
It says, And David lamented with his lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son. Also, he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the boat. Behold, it is written in the book of Jasher. The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places. How are the mighty fallen?
If you could turn with me, if you would, to Romans chapter number 2. We're going to come back to 2 Samuel chapter 1 at the end of the service. Now, hold on a second.
Come on in, man. We need to relieve you of your usher duties for tonight. So, Brother Glenn, whoever's in charge, you're going to have to replace them. We need him to come and have a seat next to his mom right here.
I spent all this time preparing this sermon just for you, my friend, right? So, I want you to pay good attention here. Go to Romans chapter 2, if you would.
I'm going to come back to 2 Samuel chapter 1 at the end of the service to explain to you what that particular passage is referring to and how we're going to apply it tonight.
Look at Romans chapter 2 verse 21. It says here, Thou therefore, which teacheth another, teacheth not thyself. Thou that preacheth the man should not steal, dost thou steal?
Thou that sayeth the man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonors thou God?
And, as I mentioned, the title of my sermon is Teach Thyself. Tonight, as a church, we want to recognize and celebrate Geo's completion of academic course of study for his high school graduation.
And obviously, it's a big accomplishment in Geo's life. And so, we want to rejoice with them that rejoice and not take it lightly. We want to make sure that we congratulate him and rejoice with them.
And the sermon tonight, although applicable to anyone in the building, will be geared towards admonishing Geo. So, make sure you pay close attention tonight.
We obviously understand that although this part of your education is complete, your education overall in life or even as a Christian is still in full effect.
And we never want to have this attitude that just because we completed a course or received a diploma or certificate that somehow we no longer need to grow as a Christian or learn anything new.
Graduation isn't this invisible wall that you cross that automatically makes you the man that you need to be today.
But let me say this is that it is a good checkpoint and a marker that you need in order to evaluate where you're going to go next.
So, don't take it lightly. This evening, I want to give you some biblical advice as you enter this new chapter in your life.
And what we see there in Romans chapter 2 is the strong admonishment that if you as a Christian, if we as Christians are going to teach others, we need to make sure that we're not hypocrites.
We need to make sure that as we're admonishing and teaching others that we ourselves are practicing what we preach.
And he says, thou that teachest another, teachest not thyself.
So, obviously what we see here is that God places a great emphasis in making sure that we are teaching ourselves and making ourselves formidable and reliable and credible so we can teach someone else what we ourselves have learned.
And here's the thing, Gio, is that up until now, if you think about it, your mom, your church, your mentors in life have given you structure.
They've taught you everything you need to know about life and Christianity. I'm sure you can point to many people in this church or in your family that have played a great influence in your life to teach you the things of life or the things of God, the things of the Bible.
But now you're really entering into a new chapter in life and my advice to you is this, teach yourself.
You've had your mom teach you, you've had me as a pastor teach you, you've had family members, spiritual leaders and mentors teach you.
Well, now it's getting to a point where you really got to recognize yourself to be self-sufficient, self-governing and have the ability to teach yourself from here on out.
That's not to say that you're not going to have someone else teaching you and instructing you and investing in your life.
But, you know, you're 18 now, amen. You're 18, you're graduating and you need to have the discipline to teach yourself.
I want to give you seven things that you need to teach yourself in and obviously this list can be far more expanded than just this.
Go with me if you went to Psalm 37, Psalm chapter 37.
And obviously the basic instructions that we want to give you tonight is the fact that your education continues even beyond this service, your education continues even beyond high school.
You need to be a person who has the discipline to continue to grow and educate yourself spiritually, educate yourself academically and just have the know-how of this life to be successful in life.
But let me give you some spiritual tips in regards to being a Christian. Number one is teach yourself to delight yourself in the Lord.
Because if you think about it, you know, all of us to a certain extent have had someone to encourage us and push us to delight ourselves in God.
We have maybe parents or church members that are constantly keeping us accountable.
They're telling us, hey, you need to read the Bible. You need to make sure you're zealous for the things of God.
You need to make sure you're where you're supposed to be, when you're supposed to be. You need to make sure you have a heart for God.
And we constantly have people in our lives exhorting us to continue in the faith.
But there comes a point in our Christian lives that we need to recognize we need to teach ourselves to delight ourselves in the Lord without the encouragement of someone else.
Because there's going to come a time when we don't have someone in our life to motivate us to stay in God's will.
We're not going to have someone in our life to motivate us to read our Bibles, to go to church, to win souls to Christ, to live a godly life.
And so, you know, we need to reach a point in our Christian life where we're mature enough to recognize I need to delight myself in the Lord.
I need to exhort myself and encourage myself to serve God.
You're in Psalm 37. I'm going to read to you from Isaiah 64 verse 7. It says,
And there is none, listen to this, there is none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.
For thou has hid thy face from us and has consumed us because of our iniquities.
Isaiah is saying here, there's no one in the land who's stirring up himself to seek after God, to read the word of God, to please the Lord.
And you know what, may it not be said of us as a church that when God looks down from heaven,
that he doesn't find anybody in our church who's stirring himself up to serve God, right?
There's no one in here who's just stirring himself up to get himself up in the morning to read the word of God, to be zealous for the things of God.
I hope that if God were to look down upon us from heaven's throne,
he can say there's plenty of people at that church who are actually encouraging themselves on a daily basis, not just on Sundays, not just on Thursdays,
but they are continuously day by day, week in, week out, stirring themselves up to live the Christian life.
Do you understand? Look at Psalm 37, verse number one.
Front not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity,
for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb.
Trust in the Lord and do good.
Now, why is he saying that? Well, because you know, sometimes evil people prosper in this world.
They succeed. They prosper.
They don't seem to go through any difficulties while we're stuck, you know, trying to pay the bills.
Or maybe we're going through sicknesses and ailments and we suffer misfortune and trials.
The Bible is telling us here, trust in the Lord and do good.
So shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed.
Verse four, listen to this.
Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
I want you to notice that it doesn't say follow your heart, right?
It doesn't say follow your heart, follow your dreams.
No, in fact, the message of the Bible is that when we delight ourselves in the Lord via his word,
via prayer, via his presence, God, the result of that is that God will give us the right desires.
Because sometimes we come to God and we don't come with the right desires.
We don't come with the right motives. Maybe we don't come with the right goals.
We don't come with the right achievements that we want to accomplish in our lives.
So it's good that when we read the word of God, he realigns our focus to that which is spiritual,
that which is biblical, that which is eternal.
And in turn, he gives us the desires of our heart.
He makes us want the things that we should want that will benefit us spiritually and those around us.
Okay, God obviously knows best.
But it starts off by us delighting ourselves in the Lord.
You know, the Bible says, you know, taste and see that the Lord is gracious.
Taste and see in 1 Peter chapter 2 that the Lord is good.
And I will say this, you know, the Christian life is an acquired taste.
It's an acquired taste.
No one comes into the Christian life just kind of gung ho.
They just want to do everything that the Bible says.
No, you have to learn how to like these things, right?
You need to learn how to like the Bible, learn how to like prayer, learn how to like soul winning.
And the more you do it, the more you assimilate to the Christian life,
the more you recognize how valuable this type of service is,
the more you realize how wonderful the Christian life really is,
the more you begin to delight in it.
And what happens? Your heart will change.
It will desire the things that God desires.
And you'll delight in it.
You know, the world says, no, you know, you need to follow your heart.
You need to make a ton of money.
You need to sleep around with as many people as you possibly can.
You need to just live a youthful life and sow your wild oats and just worry about that stuff later on in life.
False, my friend.
The Bible teaches us that, you know, the youth should be giving themselves over to serving God.
Bear the yoke in your youth, the Bible says.
Seek thy creator in the days of thy youth.
Delight yourself in God.
Learn how to fall in love with the Lord.
You know, the Bible says, love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind and strength, my friend.
You should be using these years to learn how to love the Lord appropriately, zealously, to delight in Him.
OK.
And you know what? It doesn't necessarily happen in church.
Learning how to delight in the Lord doesn't necessarily begin in church.
You know it begins in your prayer closet.
It begins when you're spending time with God and His word and the privacy of your own home when no one's looking.
You know, because it's easy to do that which is right when people aren't looking, right?
It's easy to serve God when everyone's eyes are on you.
It's easy to do that what you're supposed to do when you're accountable.
It's a different story when you're behind closed doors with just you and God and the Bible at hand.
You know, at that point, you know, that's where you begin to really work on developing a heart for God, delighting yourself also in the Lord.
And then He gives you the desires of your heart.
Look at verse five.
What's closely related to delighting yourself in the Lord?
Verse five, commit thy way unto the Lord.
Trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.
You know what I've learned as a Christian is that you shouldn't wait to desire to do the things of God to do the things of God.
You know what the Bible teaches us? To commit our ways into the Lord.
So if you don't feel like serving God, serve God anyways and the desire will come later.
OK.
You know, I'm not really motivated.
Well, you know, motivation is kind of overrated anyways.
It's kind of overrated.
You know, what if we only went to the gym when we're motivated to go to the gym?
We wouldn't get much done now, would we?
But, you know, we're supposed to do what we're supposed to do, even when we don't feel like it.
We're supposed to commit our ways unto the Lord and He will establish our goings.
And it's through the practice of continuously striving to delight yourself in God, reading the word of God,
committing your works unto the Lord, that you will develop a proper heart that loves God, that seeks to please Him,
and you'll delight in the Christian life.
You know, you don't want the Christian life to be a grievous thing to you.
You know, and sometimes, you know, and by the way, thank God for your mom.
I thank God for your mom that she just dragged you to church.
OK.
Because you should obey your mom. Amen.
But I'm thankful that your mom was just persistent in bringing you to church
because it got to a point where now you just want to be in church.
And sometimes your mom wants to leave.
Right? She's just like, gee, I'm ready to go.
And you're like, bye.
You know, she's like, I'll see you at home.
You know, it wasn't like that before.
Right.
I think you're trying to get your mom to get going.
You know, and I'm sure your mom was kind of burdened because she was wondering, like, is my son going to have a heart for God?
But now, oh, how the tables have turned.
Now it's like Gio is the one who wants to be in church.
You're the one who developed the friendships.
You're the one serving God.
You know, you kind of establish yourself in delighting yourself in God.
Now it's become a delight to you to be in church.
You know, your mom kind of made you delight in the Lord.
She committed your ways unto the Lord, you know, by force.
But through that, thank God for godly parents and godly authorities.
Through that, you yourself develop a delight for the things of God.
OK.
And so, you know, teach yourself to do so and maintain that delight.
You know, obviously, our love for God can wane.
You know what I mean?
And don't base whether you love God based upon whether you feel like you love God.
You understand?
Because emotions kind of come and go.
You know, if you had a rough day, you may not feel as spiritual as other days or other days.
You may not feel as spiritual as other days or whatever it may be.
But the way you can overcome that is making sure that you commit your ways unto the Lord,
even when you don't feel like you love the Lord that much that day.
OK.
Because you know what Jesus said?
If you love me, keep my commandments.
And so a way to love the Lord is making sure that we're serving God despite our emotions,
despite how we feel.
Turn with me, if you would, to Psalm 27.
Go to Psalm 27.
So teach yourself to delight yourself in the Lord.
If we just waited to be motivated to serve God, it would never happen.
Or if it did happen, we would fall out of serving God,
because we're not always going to be 100 percent motivated every single day.
And you never want to be one of these Christians.
Where it's just like you're only here when you're excited about the things of God.
And when you're not, you're out.
You want to be just like right here.
And not to say you're not going to have a couple of bumps in the road,
but this is where you want to be.
Look at Psalm 27, verse four.
One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after,
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
You know, it'll be a good goal for you to have.
It's a good goal for anybody to have.
If anybody here is like, I don't know if I should be a pastor.
I don't know if I should go on the mission field one day.
I don't know if I want to be a deacon or an evangelist.
Hey, I got a goal for you.
Just be in the house of God all the days of your life.
You can never go wrong with just being in God's house all the days of your life.
You can never go wrong with having that goal for your children either.
To say, you know what, my number one goal for my kids
is that they're in the house of God all the days of their life.
Because if they're in God's house all the days of their life,
God will guide them.
He'll give heed to the preaching of God's word.
He'll stir up their hearts through the preaching,
through the exhortation of God's people,
and, you know, they'll discover God's will thereafter.
He says one thing have I desired, to behold the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
Look at verse number six, excuse me, verse seven.
Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice, have mercy also upon me and answer me.
Look what it says in verse eight.
When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee,
Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
You see, it's good to have Godly authority, a pastor or parents
that are making us seek God's face.
But it's another thing when God says, seek my face
and you say, thy face, O Lord, will I seek.
I will place myself in a position to make sure that I'm seeking the Lord,
that I'm reading the Bible, that I love you,
and that you understand that I'm the one putting in the effort
to keep this thing going.
He says, thy face will I seek.
Turn with me, if you would, to First Timothy chapter number four.
First Timothy chapter number four.
Talk about teaching yourself.
And this is obviously applicable to everyone here.
We as Christians need to make sure that we are constantly teaching ourselves
these spiritual disciplines, constantly teaching ourselves
how to develop a heart for God, constantly teaching ourselves
to delight in the Lord, but also teach yourself to delight in the Lord.
But let me say this, teach yourself to immerse yourself in God's service as well.
Look at First Timothy chapter four.
It says in verse number 12, Let no man despise thy youth,
but be thou an example of the believers in word and conversation
and charity and spirit and faith and purity.
What is this for? Paul the Apostle is instructing Timothy, who's a young man,
and he's saying this, Hey, make sure no one despises your youth.
He's not telling them, hey, if someone starts talking down on you,
make sure you've got a witty comeback or something like that.
Don't let no one despise you and put you down.
That's not what he's saying. He's saying make sure you have godly character
so that no one despises you.
Because in the age in which we live, it's kind of easy, unfortunately,
to despise the youth because sometimes they're so disrespectful
and they despise authority.
Just look at TikTok. You know what I'm talking about.
They delight in mocking the elderly.
They delight in mocking the righteous.
This is why this world despises the youth.
Whereas what does God say? He says don't let anybody despise you.
So this is what you can do to prevent that.
He says be an example of the believers.
Now who is he talking about? He's talking about the believers in church.
In other words, your character as a young man should be above reproach
to the point that the older folks in our church, the elders in our church,
would look at you and say, Man, I need to step it up in my game.
Because this guy is kind of outdoing me as a young man.
He's sowing, he's in church, he's a proper man, he knows how to speak to adults,
he's appropriate, he's respectful.
You kind of challenge older people to get on fire for God.
He says be an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity,
in spirit, in faith, in purity.
He's saying what the words that you say, your behavior, your love.
He says in spirit. You know what that means?
It means you should be an example in your passion.
Because the older you are as a Christian, the longer you become a Christian,
the more that fire begins to fizzle out sometimes, or it's more likely to fizzle out.
So that's why it's good to have new blood in the church, amen.
Because new blood's coming through the church, they're still excited about the things of God,
they're still zealous about winning souls to Christ,
they're excited about the word of God,
and that motivates people who have been in church for quite some time to say,
You know what, I need to step it up.
I need to get back on fire for the things of God,
because you're motivating them in spirit, in faith, in purity.
He says in verse 13,
Listen to this.
Now this doesn't mean holy like separated, it means holy like entirely.
So what is God saying?
You should immerse yourself in the Christian life.
Bear the yoke in your youth and give yourself holy to the things of God.
There's no such thing as serving God too much, amen.
There's no such thing as serving God too much, being in church too much,
soul winning too much, reading the Bible too much.
Holy unto the Lord.
And you know, you might have people in your life,
or you might have people on social media, people on YouTube, influencers,
that will try to encourage you to do the exact opposite.
Oh, you should enjoy your younger years.
You know, enjoy your younger years, go drink, go smoke, everything in moderation.
Folks, the Bible says to give yourself holy unto these things.
And let me say you're 18 right now,
but some of the greatest decisions that you're going to make are in the next couple years.
And these decisions that you make in these coming years
are either going to make or break your future.
There's nothing wrong with giving your 20s to serving God.
Because honestly, a lot of people ruin and destroy their lives in their 20s.
It's the truth.
You know, a lot of people make some of the worst mistakes in their 20s.
And you know, I thank God that I got saved when I was 21 years old.
I was a young man then, I'm a young man now.
I got saved when I was 21 and I spent my 20s, obviously up until now, serving God.
And you know, while I had friends out there, you know,
drinking and smoking and running with those that do,
destroying their lives, I did not destroy my life.
You know, I found myself a godly wife.
You know, she wasn't someone else's wife.
I'm saying like, you know, I found her and she became my wife is what I'm saying.
You know, got a family together.
And I spent that decade just serving God and learning these things,
immersing myself in the things of God.
Don't think that you're losing out on anything in the world, Gio.
Don't think that you're just giving up a life of fun.
Gio, what you're giving up is a life of misery.
If you choose to just immerse yourself in the things of God,
you give yourself wholly to them.
Look what it says in verse 15,
Meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly to them,
that thy profiting may appear to all.
You know how you can tell when someone is just fully immersed in something?
You know, you don't have to tell anybody.
People just see it.
People see when you're profiting from Christianity,
when you are giving yourself wholly to the things of God,
it's just one of those things that just kind of manifest.
You don't need a sign to tell people you're winning souls to Christ.
You don't need a sign to say that you're being successful in the Christian life.
You don't need a sign that says, hey, I'm doing great in life.
People just see it.
They see it.
But it requires you giving yourself wholly to those things.
Let me say this.
Obviously, you know, I'm addressing you, but this applies to all of us.
And you may think to yourself, well, you know,
if you make the worst mistakes in your 20s, I'm in my 30s,
you're right, I did mess up my life.
But you know, from here on out,
you can serve God wholly and still receive the benefits
of serving God wholly in this decade.
And there's nothing that you've destroyed
that God can't rebuild or give you something better.
As long as you're willing to start now.
Amen.
Let me read to you from Joshua chapter 14.
Actually, go with me to Joshua chapter 14.
Let's read that verse together.
So teach yourself to delight yourself in the Lord.
Teach yourself to immerse yourself in the things of God.
Look at Joshua chapter 14.
Look at verse number seven.
It says, 40 years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord,
sent me from Kadesh Barnea to a city where I lived.
Kadesh Barnea to a spy out the land.
And I brought him word again, as it was in mine heart.
Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me
made the heart of the people melt.
So he's saying, you know, when he went up to go spy out the land,
the people that were with him,
they came back and they brought back an evil report.
They discouraged the people.
And it says specifically here that they made the heart melt.
In other words, they made their hearts afraid.
They discouraged them from actually doing what God told them to do.
And these are a bunch of young guys, by the way.
So he says in verse eight,
Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me
made the heart of the people melt.
Listen to this.
But I wholly followed the Lord my God.
So he said, you know, those guys,
they're a bunch of scared guys, a bunch of weenies,
and they didn't want to fight to possess the land.
Because me, on the other hand, I wholly followed the Lord.
I believe we can conquer it then,
and I believe we can still conquer it today.
Okay, so what's the point there?
The point is this.
You know, who cares what people your age are doing today?
Who cares what they think, you know, is best for you?
Who cares what your peers or your friends may say?
You make sure you wholly follow the Lord.
Look at verse nine.
It says, And Moses swear on that day,
saying, Surely the land where on thy feet
have trodden and shall be thine inheritance,
and thy children's forever,
because thou has wholly followed the Lord my God.
You know, Moses is a picture of Jesus Christ.
And Moses is telling Joshua, because you wholly follow the Lord,
not only are you going to be blessed,
but the children after you're going to be blessed.
And you know what?
The benefit is of wholly following the Lord at your age,
you know, is that not only will you be blessed,
but when you get married and you have children,
your children will be blessed for it.
Your children will be able to grow up in a Christian home, in church.
They'll be able to have a life that maybe you may not have had
from the very start, but can have now.
You'll be blessed because of it.
Look at verse 13.
And Joshua blessed him and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh,
Hebron, for an inheritance.
Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh,
the kenazi unto this day,
because that he wholly followed the Lord,
excuse me, the Lord God of Israel.
So we see that, you know,
Joshua was not the only one who wholly followed God.
Caleb did also.
You never want to be, you know, this type of person where it's just like,
oh, I'm the only good teenager around here.
There's other people who are following the Lord just like you.
Now you should seek to associate with those people there.
You know, the people that you should be hanging around with that are your peers
are those who are wholly following God.
Because the Bible tells us that he that walketh with wise men shall be wise,
but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
Okay.
And so, you know, teach yourself to immerse yourself.
Now, you know, put in the work now so that you'll be blessed for it later.
You know, suffer the pain and the heartache of not partying
and not having this good old time out in the world.
Do it now so that you can enjoy the benefits of it later.
And I promise you, based upon God's word, this is fact, my friend.
Okay.
Go back to First Timothy, if you would.
First Timothy.
Teach yourself. Teach yourself.
Teach yourself to delight yourself in the Lord.
Teach yourself to immerse yourself in the things of God.
Number three, teach yourself to save yourself.
Now, I'm not talking about salvation because you're already saved
and we can't save ourselves, right?
We need Jesus Christ in order to be saved
and the Bible tells us that we have to believe on Jesus Christ for salvation,
that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus
and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
So we're not talking about salvation of the soul.
What are we talking about?
Saving yourself from this world.
Look what it says in verse 16 of First Timothy chapter 4.
We'll go back to chapter 1 in just a bit.
It says,
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.
What is Paul the apostle telling Timothy?
He's saying,
You need to make sure that you're studying God's word
so that you can save yourself from false doctrine.
Now, in the day and age in which we live,
there's so much false doctrine out there,
not just from spiritual so-called leaders,
but how about just from the political realm, right?
There's all kinds of living of Herod out there,
all kinds of viewpoints and philosophies
and things that are contrary to God's word.
You need to make sure that you are reading God's word
so you can save yourself from that nonsense,
because there is a lot of nonsense out there, okay?
And unfortunately, Christians can get caught up in that nonsense.
They can get caught up in it.
They can become influenced by it,
even to the point where they regard it
as sometimes even more authoritative than God's word.
And you don't want to be that kind of Christian.
You want to be the type of Christian
that you prove all things hold fast that which is good.
Then when philosophies and ideologies are presented to you
via social media, via family and friends,
you can filter it through God's word.
And say, you know, this isn't correct.
I know this is not correct, because the Bible says X, Y, and Z.
I know this is not correct,
because this is what the Bible says.
Or, you know what, that does go with the word of God,
because the Bible says this.
You need to be able to teach yourself how to save yourself.
You see, right now, your mom's kind of saving you, you know?
Your church is saving you,
helping you to know the right type of doctrine,
teaching you the right things to believe according to God's word.
But you're a grown man now, Gio.
Now is the time to actually study the word of God for yourself.
In fact, the Bible says,
Study to show thyself approved unto God,
a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
Okay?
Go to chapter 1.
You know what the great thing is about learning God's word to save yourself?
According to the Bible,
you save also those who hear you.
So you not only make yourself formidable to, you know,
save yourself from false doctrine,
you could actually teach someone else how to save themselves from false doctrine as well.
Okay?
Look at chapter 1, verse 18.
This charge I committed to thee,
sent Timothy according to the prophecies which went before on thee,
that thou by them mightest war a good warfare,
holding faith in a good conscience,
which some having put away concerning faith,
have made shipwrecked.
You got to understand that, you know,
life is very enjoyable,
but life is also a war.
Life is a battle.
And, you know, if you're not careful,
sometimes we could just think,
well, I don't really want to get involved in the warfare and the spiritual battles.
I just want to have a good time as a Christian and not suffer any friction.
I don't want to go through any trials.
I don't want to go through any tribulations.
I don't want to have any kind of warfare with anything
because, you know, I'm not really into that kind of stuff.
Well, here's the thing, though,
is that you don't really have a choice
because in the Christian life,
we're going to be warring against all types of things,
the enemies of God.
But even if the enemies of God are not attacking you,
you have to war against your own flesh.
Right?
For the spirit lusteth against the flesh is flesh lusteth against the spirit.
These are contrary to one to the other,
so you cannot do the things that you would.
And so you need to make sure
that you are constantly saving yourself
from false doctrine,
from going into sin, et cetera.
I must hasten here.
Go to chapter 4 again.
Let me say this, is that
you need to teach yourself, listen to this,
teach yourself to judge yourself.
Teach yourself to judge yourself.
Now, what do I mean by that?
Well, verse 16 says,
take heed unto thyself.
Right?
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 11,
1 Corinthians chapter 11.
Christians need to get to a point in their life
where they recognize
that their spiritual well-being
is really in their own hands.
Right?
You know, when you grew up,
and I don't know if your mom still does it,
but I'm sure she spanked you before.
She might still do it still.
I don't know.
If you do, hey, props to you, mom.
It's a big paddle.
You know, if you're disobedient
or you're rebelling,
you need a disciplinary,
someone who will chastise you
and discipline you to teach you the right way.
And obviously, no chastisement
at the time seems joyous but grievous.
No one grows up and says,
man, I love that spanking.
You know, obviously, looking back,
even as an adult,
I didn't enjoy the spanking,
but I'm glad my mom did it
because I see the fruit that it bears
type of a thing, right?
But you know what?
My mom doesn't need to spank me anymore.
Because why?
Because now I judge myself.
And here's the thing is that even
when I got married and I had children,
you know, obviously, God can judge me,
right, if I do wrong.
But you know what the Bible also teaches us
is that if you don't want to be judged by God,
you need to make sure you judge yourself.
Look at 1 Corinthians 11, verse 31.
1 Corinthians 11, 31 says,
for if we would judge ourselves,
we should not be judged, the Bible says.
But when we are judged,
we are chastened of the Lord
that we should not be condemned with the world.
You see, God chastens us, He spanks us,
He judges us so that we get back on the right path.
Sometimes people suffer the consequences
of their actions,
and that's a form of God judging their life
because He's trying to correct their way.
But here's the thing is that,
you know, it's better to just correct yourself
before God has to correct you.
Because sometimes when God corrects us,
He gets our attention really well.
He can remove blessings from us
like you wouldn't believe.
He knows how to hit you where it hurts,
is what I'm saying.
And I'm speaking from experience
because I've been a Christian for 15 years,
I've been chastised of the Lord a couple times,
and you know what, it didn't feel good.
Now I got the job done,
but you know what I learned because of that
is I should just judge myself
so that the Lord Jesus Christ
does not have to judge me.
We're not talking about hell, okay?
We're talking about being in this world,
God punishing us in this world,
and mark it down, God punishes His children.
Just as a parent punishes their children
for their disobedience or their rebellion,
in like manner, our heavenly Father,
the Bible tells us,
whom the Lord loveth, He chases and discourages
every son whom He receiveth.
That's what the Bible tells us.
But you know what, if you want to avoid
the chastising hand of God, judge yourself.
Have the maturity to know
these actions that I want to take have consequences,
and therefore I will not partake in this.
Amen.
I don't want to do this because I know
I shall be chastised of the Lord,
therefore I'm going to chastise myself
by not partaking in it.
Discipline yourself to not do those things.
Show yourself how to judge yourself.
Teach yourself how to discipline yourself.
Okay?
It's important.
You know, and here's the thing is that
if you don't judge yourself, the Bible tells us
that God shall judge you.
The job will get done either way.
Right?
Like God will make sure it happens either way.
Because He wants to yield the peaceable fruits
of righteousness according to Hebrews chapter 12.
But I'm just telling you from experience,
you just better do it yourself.
Okay?
Because we sometimes are a lot easier on ourselves
than God would be on us for the mistakes that we make.
Okay?
And so judge yourself.
Check yourself before you wreck yourself.
Right?
Go back to 1 Timothy chapter 4 if you would.
1 Timothy chapter 4.
Got a couple more to go and we're almost done.
The sermon is called Teach Thyself.
Number five is teach yourself to profit yourself.
And what do I mean by that?
You need to learn as a grown man, you know, priorities.
You got to know how to partake in things
that are actually profitable.
Okay?
Look what the Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 7.
But refuse profane and old wives' fables
and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
So the apostle Paul is telling Timothy,
hey, make sure you reject all this nonsense that's out there,
these fables and these profane statements that people make,
these weird doctrines, these cute little pet doctrines
that people come up with.
What you need to do is just exercise yourself unto godliness.
He says in verse 8, for bodily exercise profiteth little.
Doesn't say it doesn't profit at all.
It just profits little.
But godliness is profitable unto all things,
having promise of the life that now is
and of that which is to come.
He's simply saying this, and obviously in context
he's referring to the bodily exercise
that he's referring to is abstaining from meats.
You know, you abstain from certain meats,
you're exercising your body to a certain extent,
and there's profit in that.
But what he's telling them is this,
is that godliness is a far more profitable endeavor.
You understand?
And well, let's just apply it to modern day.
You like to lift weights, you like to power lift,
you like to deadlift, you like to squat,
and these are great things to do,
and you better keep doing those things.
But here's the thing, is that you need to make sure
you have the right priorities, though.
That above all else, you're exercising yourself rather
unto godliness.
If you have to choose between reading your Bible
and exercising, you better read your Bible.
If you have to choose between deadlifting 500
or completing your Bible reading,
you complete your Bible reading.
Exercise yourself rather unto godliness.
Why?
Because it's more profitable.
There's more profit in spiritual endeavors
than there is in physical endeavors.
Now, here's the thing, Jill, let's just do both.
Let's hit 500 on the deadlift
and finish reading our Bibles too.
And the way we can have both is if both
are in their right place, you understand?
If you seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness, these things shall be
added unto you.
You can actually have both and enjoy both
as long as both have their place in your life.
They both have the right place, the right priority.
What I'm saying is this, is that you,
as a young man, you need to teach yourself
how to have the right spiritual priorities.
And obviously you do.
You're in church on a Sunday night.
You're in church on a Thursday night.
You're in church Sunday morning.
You're out there sowing.
You're serving God.
You're serving your mom.
You're serving people in the church.
You obviously have the right priorities.
This is just a reminder to keep teaching yourself
to have those right priorities.
The Bible tells us in Psalm 90 verse 12,
so teach us to number our days that we may
apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Now, this may seem redundant,
but not a lot of 18-year-olds have the right priorities.
Let's just be honest.
There's a lot of 18-year-olds out there
that don't have the right priorities.
They're not seeking after the Lord.
They're not serving God.
They're just kind of fulfilling their own desires
and kind of doing their own thing.
And you know what?
You may look at that and say,
man, I wish I was in that position,
but I promise you, if you look back 10 years from now,
if you give yourself wholly unto them,
you're gonna be thankful you have the right priorities.
Okay?
Look what the Bible says.
Go to Titus, if you would.
Titus chapter 2.
Titus chapter number 2.
Teach yourself to profit yourself.
Do that which is profitable.
It's in my personal opinion that a young man
like yourself should be working,
right, earning some income.
You should be taking care of your mom.
You should be obeying your mom.
You should be serving in church.
You should be a functioning member of society.
You should be dedicating your life to just serving God.
And you know, people might listen to that and say,
that's kind of boring.
You know, well, you know, it might be boring,
but I don't see how drinking alcohol on a Saturday
and waking up throwing up on a Sunday is even fun.
So if I have to choose between being in church
on a Sunday morning with no headache,
clean clothes, listening to preaching, singing the hymns,
or waking up on Sunday morning hung over,
you know what I mean, throwing up my guts,
I'd choose being in church.
And you know what?
If I was throwing up on a Sunday morning,
I'd probably think, you know what?
Church actually doesn't sound that bad.
I should have just been in church.
You know, going to bed early on Saturday
to prepare for Sunday may seem a little boring
to some people, but you know what?
It's far more profitable.
And we need to learn as Christians how to do that
which is profitable, not that which is exciting to do
or what pleases the flesh now.
We need to choose that which is profitable
unto us in the long run, and even in the short term, okay?
Look at Titus 2, verse 6.
Young men, verse 6, likewise exhort to be sober minded.
Stay away from drugs.
Stay away from alcohol.
Stay away from weed.
Stay away from, you know, whatever vaping thing
there is out there that gets you high.
Stay away from mind-altering drugs, hallucinogenics,
whatever it may be.
Stay away from those things.
Be sober minded.
Verse 7, in all things, showing thyself a pattern
of good works, in doctrines showing uncorruptness,
gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned,
that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed,
having no evil thing to say of you.
Go to chapter 3.
Look at verse number 8 of chapter number 3.
This is a faithful saying, and these things I will,
that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed
in God might be careful to maintain good works.
These things are good, listen to this,
and profitable unto men.
Let me say this.
Let me say this, Geo and every young man in this building,
take advantage of your strength today.
Take advantage of the strength that you have today
because there will come a day when you're in your latter years
that you will desire to do what you could have done
when you were younger, but you can no longer do that.
I promise you that.
Take advantage of your physical capabilities to serve God today
to the fullest extent.
You can stay up all hours of the night serving here, serving God.
You can stay until 12, fellowshipping,
get up early in the morning, go to work.
You can go hit the gym and hit a PR,
then go read your Bible, do whatever,
and you still have energy for days.
You don't have any body aches or pains.
You don't have any injuries.
You have youth on your side.
The reason God gave you that youth is to accomplish more for him.
And don't take that lightly
because I promise you there will come a day
when you're in, you know, Lord willing in your 80s,
you're going to look back and if you didn't do that,
you're going to think, I wish I had.
Because when you're in your 60s, 70s and 80s,
you start realizing the importance of those things.
You know why? Because the end is almost near.
There's plenty of people out there that regret not serving God
in their former years as a young person.
Don't be that person.
My admonishment to you is that you teach yourself to profit yourself,
that you teach yourself to give yourself wholly into the service of God
so you're not regretful in your latter years.
Go to chapter five of 1 Timothy, chapter number five.
There's seven points. This is the sixth one.
I'm going to breeze through this one a little bit,
but it's important for you to hear this one is that
teach yourself to keep yourself pure.
Look at chapter five and verse 22.
It says, lay hands suddenly on no man,
neither be partakers of other men's sins,
keep thyself pure.
Your mama can't watch you 24-7.
Right?
So you know what the solution is?
You need to keep yourself pure.
And you need to make sure that you take responsibility
for your purity, my friend.
Okay?
You need to make sure that you set up standards and guidelines
and principles in your life because it's your conviction
to honor the Lord with your body.
You know why that's important today?
It's because a lot of young people are careless about those things.
Fornicate and kind of sleep around and do X, Y, and Z,
you know, and they can destroy their lives like that.
You know what? Let the world do that, Gio.
That's not you.
You as a Christian, as a son of God,
you have the responsibility to know how to possess your vessel
and sanctification and in honor and to abstain from fornication.
Keep yourself pure.
And whenever you're tempted, you know, by the world or whatever it may be,
just remind yourself that you're a son of the king.
Okay?
It reminds me of a story, I don't know if it's true or not,
maybe it's just used for illustration's sake that, you know,
a prince was kidnapped and was taken from his palace,
from his kingdom, from his father's kingdom,
and, you know, he was brought to eat with the common people, okay?
And they're kind of just mocking him and they're just like,
oh, you know, you're not used to this stuff, huh?
Just kind of scorning him and mocking him.
And they gave him a bowl full of just like, I don't know,
just porridge or something, I don't know, just nasty food or something.
And they're like, eat this, prince, eat it.
And he slapped the bowl, stood on the table, he goes,
I will not put that in my mouth because I'm a son of the king.
Now, the guy's a little brat, obviously, if that's a true story,
you know what I mean?
Just eat what is before you, asking questions for nothing,
for conscience sake, amen?
But the spiritual principle that we can learn from that
is that when the world tries to offer you the bowl of worldliness,
the bowl of impurity, the bowl of fornication,
the bowl of just sin and iniquity,
you slap that bowl away, you stand on the table and it says,
I will not allow this to enter into my mouth because I'm a son of the king.
I'm a son of the king, I'm a son of God,
I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, I am a Christian,
and I don't partake in this nonsense.
Keep yourself pure.
Keep yourself pure, obviously, for the Lord's sake
because this is what the Lord wants from you,
but also keep yourself pure for your mom's sake
because of her reputation, amen?
We want to honor our parents' reputation.
But let me say this, keep yourself pure for your future wife's sake as well.
She'll appreciate it and she'll thank you later, okay?
And so keep yourself pure.
Look at 1 Timothy 6.
In order to do this, how can we accomplish this?
Look at verse 3 of 1 Timothy 6.
If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words,
even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ into the doctrine which is according to godliness,
he is proud knowing nothing but doting about questions and strives of words,
where have cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth,
supposing to gain his godliness, listen to this,
from such withdraw thyself.
He's not saying from such I will keep you away from them.
He says from such you should withdraw yourself.
So he's expecting you to have the common sense and the discernment to say,
I need to get away from these people.
Withdraw thyself.
Why? Because you want to keep thyself pure, understand?
Here's my last point.
Go back to 2 Samuel 1.
Now in the beginning of the service, we read 2 Samuel 1
and it records the death of Saul and Jonathan and David's grief over the slain.
And he's lamenting over the death of these mighty men,
those who have fallen, because it just kind of shows that Israel is just in a state of disarray without a leader.
But look what verse 17 says of 2 Samuel 1.
This is my last point.
It says in verse 17 of 2 Samuel 1,
And David lamented with his lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son.
Listen to this in verse 18.
Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow, behold it is written in the book of Jasher.
Now what does that mean when he says teach the children the use of the bow?
Well I remember in times past people used to interpret this as meaning like teach the children how to throw a bow and arrow.
You know what I mean? Teach them how to fight.
But really what it's saying is the bow is referring to like a harp.
And the reason he's saying this is he's saying teach the children how to lament, how to be grieved, how to sorrow.
This is what he's saying here.
And the principle that I want to apply this in your life and the lives of us here is that we need to teach the next generation how to lament the grievous things of this generation.
Because here's the thing G.O. you grew up in a generation where these things were already prevalent.
So it's like we have to teach you the use of the bow.
We have to teach you how to grieve and be saddened and lament over the abominations, the sinfulness, the iniquity of our nation.
You have to learn those things.
And in fact you know when I got saved I had to learn those things as well.
Most of us had to learn how to lament over the things that made God mad, that saddened the heart of God.
We need to learn how to cry, sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done in the land.
So my last point is this, teach yourself to grieve.
You need to learn as a young man to allow yourself to be bothered by the things that bothers God.
You need to teach yourself how to grieve over the things that grieves the heart of God.
He said why is that important?
Well because the Bible says ye that love the Lord hate evil.
And if God's judgment were to be poured in this generation, the only ones who would be spared are those who grieve.
Those who grieve.
And so my admonishment to you this evening is simply this, teach yourself.
You're done with high school and you're done with that, but your education still continues on as a Christian.
Amen?
At this time I'm going to pray to end the service and then I'm going to call you up to present you with your diploma.
Let's pray first and we'll call you up.
Father we thank you so much for your word.
We're so thankful for the fact that you spent so much time speaking to the youth in the Bible.
And we know why because of the fact that the next generation is important to you.
And I pray that we'd see it as such.
I pray that you'd bless Brother Gio that he would give heed to the words that were spoken unto him tonight.
And everyone in this room as well.
Because obviously although the sermon was geared towards him, it's applicable to everyone here.
And I pray Lord that you'd bless him and your hand be upon him.
Protect him Lord from the wiles of Satan.
And may you use him greatly in the future Lord.
And help him to continue to have a pure heart that loves you, that loves the Bible, that loves his parents, that loves his church, that loves lost souls.
And may you bless him Lord.
We love you so much and we thank you.
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Okay Brother Gio, come on up.
We will now present Gio with his diploma upon the satisfactory completion of the course of study for your high school education.
On behalf of your mother, I present this high school diploma to Gio Franciscini.
Congratulations.
It's too tall.
Have a seat.
I don't like standing next to Gio, he's too tall.
I'm just kidding.
Well at this time we're going to have, we'll pray to end the service and then we'll be dismissed into the fellowship hall.
There will be cake as well as punch available there and I think there's some other things over there as well.
And so thank you so much for being here and let's pray.
We'll be dismissed.
Father we thank you again for this day.
I pray that you bless our church Lord and the individuals within our church.
And I pray Lord that we continue to be a church that's pleasing unto you.
Help us to raise up a generation that knows the use of the bow.
And may you bless us as we go on our way.
Lord we love you.
We thank you.
Pray these things in Jesus name.
Amen.
Actually we have another song.
Sorry.
We have a song we're going to sing first.
Song number 162 to God be the glory.
There is our last song.
Song 162 altogether.
Nice and strong on that first verse.
Praise the Lord.
Let the earth hear his voice.
Praise the Lord.
Let the people rejoice.
Oh come to the Father through Jesus the Son.
And give him the glory.
Great things he hath done.
Oh perfect redemption the purchase of blood.
To every believer the promise of God.
The vilest offender who truly believes.
That moment from Jesus apart and recedes.
Praise the Lord.
Let the earth hear his voice.
Praise the Lord.
Let the people rejoice.
Oh come to the Father through Jesus the Son.
And give him the glory.
Great things he hath done.
Great things he hath taught us.
Great things he hath done.
And great are rejoicing through Jesus the Son.
But purer and higher and greater will be.
Our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see.
Praise the Lord.
Let the earth hear his voice.
Praise the Lord.
Let the people rejoice.
Oh come to the Father through Jesus the Son.
And give him the glory.
Great things he hath done.
Amen.
Wonderful singing.
You are dismissed.
Amen.
You are dismissed.