(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Man, so we're there in Jeremiah chapter one, and I want to also borrow a verse from Proverbs chapter 20, which I'm going to be preaching from this Wednesday night. But the Bible says in Proverbs 20 verse 11, even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure and whether it be right. Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure and whether it be right. Look down at your Bible there in Jeremiah chapter one. The Bible reads in verse four, then the word of Lord came unto me saying, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou came us forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and ordained thee a prophet under the nations. Then said I, ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, say not, I am a child for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. And what I want to preach about tonight is this idea that it's never too early to start serving God. And even as a child, you should be thinking about spiritual things and starting to think about serving God, having your own walking, walk with God, making sure that you know that you're saved, reading your Bible. You know, I was thinking about today is January 1st. And a lot of people hopefully are starting up on some kind of a Bible reading program for the year of 2023. I mean, really, everybody hopefully has some kind of a plan for what kind of Bible reading they're going to do in 2023, because I don't care how many times you've read the Bible. You need to read it again this year. And if you haven't read it ever before in your life, well, then this is the year that you get that done. But I was thinking about that and how, you know, if you just read it for 15, 20 minutes a day, you get through it in a year and everybody's got the chart and there are all kinds of charts online and things. But I was thinking how many kids are probably ready to jump into something like that, but they're maybe just not jumping into it because they just think, oh, that's for somebody else or maybe when I get older, I'll do that. But, you know, why not as an eight year old, nine year old, 10 year old who's under the sound of my voice right now, I'm talking to you kids. Why not you 11 year old, 12 year old, 13 year old, why not just take the initiative and just decide that you're going to read the Bible this year? And if you don't feel like you're ready to read the entire Bible this year, maybe you could get on a plan where you read the entire New Testament this year and at least get the New Testament done. But you know what? It's not too early to start seeking God and serving God. And as God said to Jeremiah, you know, say not, I'm a child, right? Because Jeremiah says, oh Lord God, I'm a child, I can't speak. And God says to him, say not, I'm a child. You know, don't use your age as an excuse for why you're not going to read your Bible or serve God or win souls to Christ because you know what? It's never too early to start those things. You know, I love to tell the story about how my grandpa got saved through the witness of a five year old boy because a five year old boy who lived on a street, he moved into a new neighborhood and the neighbors had a five year old and the five year old started preaching to him and was quoting scripture to him at age five. And he was so impressed by that, that he went and visited that kid's church. And then a couple of days later, the pastor from the church came to his house and won him to Christ in his living room. And that's when my grandpa and my dad both got saved on the same day. But it was because of that five year old boy's testimony of going and preaching to my grandpa because they had a list of churches that they were going to try. And Faith Baptist Church in Canoga Park wasn't even on the list. But when they saw this five year old rattling off scriptures, they said, hey, let's go check out this kid's church. And so that shows how God used a five year old to help win my grandpa and my dad to the Lord. And here I am today. And what a blessing that a little five year old got excited about serving God and wanted to preach to a neighbor. I mean, it's pretty amazing. You know, I remember when I was six years old and I got saved and I was six and I remember just wanting to get other people saved so bad, but I didn't really know how I didn't really know what I was doing. So I would just hand out tracts to random people sometimes and just put them on people's cars and doors and stuff. Obviously, I didn't really know what I was doing. And I remember one time my brother was witnessing to the kid across the street and I got so excited that I wanted to get in on that. And so I kind of like helped my brother witness this kid and because I wanted to get a partial credit for the salvation because I wanted to get in on that action of witnessing and getting someone saved. And my brother did win the kid to the Lord, by the way. And so that was a blessing, too. But the point is that, you know, as a kid, sometimes that excitement comes over you. Well, you know what? Do something about it, right? You know, get started young. There's no reason why you as a little kid can't start reading the Bible, praying, witnessing to your friends. And some of you that are young teenagers, you know, you ought to be witnessing to your friends and people that you run into in whatever the sports league or whatever the extracurricular activities or school or neighborhood or whatever. Hey, witness to the neighbor kids, witness to the kids on the playground. Why not? And don't just say, oh, I'm a child. Well, you know what? You got to start sometime. And even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure and whether it be right. Go if you would in your Bible to Second Timothy, Chapter three, Second Timothy, Chapter three. You know, I was talking to my daughter this morning and I was telling her that, you know, one of my biggest regrets when I was a young adult was just thinking back to all the kids I went to school with and all the teenagers that I went to high school with that I didn't witness to. And I remember just regretting it so much because I went to Christian school a lot of the time. I assumed that they were all saved. And then later I realized a lot of them weren't saved as I was preaching about this morning. That situation was one wake up call for me. But then later on, you'd meet these people as adults and they're Buddhist and they're agnostic and they're not even professing Christ at all anymore. And it just goes to show they were never saved because, you know, people that are saved don't stop believing in Jesus because, you know, they went out from us because they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. And so these kids who grew up to be heathens, it's because they never obviously got saved. And I felt kind of bad because I feel like if I would have witnessed to some of these people, I probably could have got them saved when they were young and receptive before they'd gotten all messed up and and and gotten away from everything. It was just a huge regret that I why didn't I talk to my friends about about salvation and win more people to Christ? I wish I would have won more people to Christ when I was at public school and I went to public school for a couple of years and I witnessed to a few people. But man, I wish I would have just done so much better of a job and just opened my mouth to preach the gospel. You're going to regret that if you don't witness to your neighbors, if you don't witness to kids in sports or wherever, man, just start young. Start serving God young. Look at the Bible says in Second Timothy, chapter three, verse 14. But continue thou on the things which thou has learned and has been assured of, knowing of whom thou has learned them, and that from a child thou has known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Timothy had known the holy scriptures from a child and now here he is as an adult and he's the Apostle Paul's right hand man. He's the Apostle Paul's protege, right? I mean, I guarantee there probably a lot of people would love to have been personally trained by the Apostle Paul, protege, right hand man, be mentored by the Apostle Paul. What an honor. But it's because he started out as a little kid. He started out as a young man learning the scripture, seeking the kingdom of God, sowing spiritual things, even as a young man. Go if you would to Second Kings chapter two, Second Kings chapter two. And you know, you always think about how, or I always think about how these investment types that are telling you about how to make money and invest your money and build up some big retirement or whatever, lay up treasures on this earth. They'll always tell you, man, you got to start investing young. You know, they want you investing in that retirement account when you're like 20 or 30 because they're like, man, if you just start young, even if you just put a little bit of money in there, it's going to multiply so much, going to be so much bigger. Like the sooner you start, it just, it's just so much more effect. But you know, who cares about that? I think about it this way, man, the earlier in life you invest spiritually, I think you're going to get more dividends out of that. You know, I, instead of saying, oh, I got to wait until I get older, then I'll think about the things of God. Then I'll seek God. Then I'll care about God. But the truth of the matter is that you end up sometimes just getting caught up in the cares of this life and the cares of this world. And then it's like you never get back to that place where you were at when you're, you know, when you're a kid and the spirit of God is moving in your heart, man, invest in the things of God. So spiritual things, read the Bible, pray, go soul winning, you know, follow the Lord's leading in your life because if you just have this attitude, well later, later, well then you know what? You get busy, you get caught up in life. And then by the time you're 20, 25, 30 years old, maybe you've already developed some bad habits of not reading your Bible and not soul winning. And then you just kind of get to a point where you're like, well, it's just not for me. Soul winning is not for me. Witnessing is not for me or whatever. You know, why not develop the right habits early and start serving God as a kid? And I hope every eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 year old is listening to me right now. Every teenager is listening to me right now. Every young adult, you know, I'm thankful that I was reading my Bible as a little kid and I didn't just turn 18 and then start serving God. You know, I was reading my Bible as a little kid. I was witnessing as a teenager and that's where I am, where I am today. You know, because I, cause I cared about the things of God even when I was a little kid. And so it's never too early for you to start taking some responsibility and saying, Hey, I want to have my own walk with God, not the Bible reading that my parents are telling me to do, but the Bible reading that I choose to do. You know, not the soul winning that my parents bring me along on, but the soul winning that I choose to do. The people that I witnessed to in my personal life and take that initiative and show the Lord that you love him and that you want to serve him even at a young age. Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure and whether it be right. Now here's the thing about the Bible is that it teaches that God holds children accountable for their actions. Now we might think, Hey, you're a kid, no matter what happens, you're not responsible. You know, maybe we have that attitude. Maybe we think if you're under 18, you're not responsible for something, but you know, God holds kids accountable for their actions. And when we talk about an age of accountability, we're not talking about 18, my friend. Okay. When we talk, cause I do believe in an age of accountability because I do believe that babies and toddlers who die will go straight to heaven no matter what, because they haven't reached that age of accountability yet. And the Bible teaches that in many places. There are different, a lot of scriptures about babies going to heaven and so forth. And I think a good rule of thumb is that, you know, when Adam and Eve are in a state of innocence in the garden of Eden, they don't realize that they're naked. They don't care that they're naked, but then once they eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, all of a sudden they're aware of the fact that they're naked. And here's the thing. Anybody who has kids knows that little kids aren't aware of the fact that they're naked or don't care about the fact that they're naked and they will streak through the house and, you know, even, even when they're three, four years old or even older, they will just be sprinting through the house naked or whatever. And they don't know, they don't care. But then they get to an age where all of a sudden they become really aware of that. And that's probably a kind of a good rule of thumb of helping you to understand probably about when that understanding and accountability starts to happen is part of when they start realizing that they need to wear clothes. Because that's analogous to what we see in the garden of Eden. You know, I got saved when I was six years old and some kids have even gotten saved younger than that. Sometimes kids will get saved at maybe age four or five, although that's probably the exception to get saved that young. But when kids are six, seven years old, a lot of that, a lot of kids will get saved around that age. And that's a good age for kids to start thinking about salvation and, and, and being saved. But the thing about that is that when we talk about an age of accountability, that's the neighborhood that we're talking about. You know, we're talking about that five, six, seven type of an age group. We're not talking about 16 we're not talking about 14 look, when you're 14, 15, you're way past the age of accountability and God is definitely holding you accountable. And you, if you're not saved, you better get saved now. You better get saved today. If you don't know how to be saved, then grab somebody and we'll get you saved right now after the service. Grab me, grab almost anybody in our church that, you know, virtually everybody in our church knows how to win someone to the Lord. And so you need to get saved today because God's definitely holding you accountable, but not just for salvation. You know, God holds you accountable for your deeds and for your actions. Here's a Bible story that is sometimes thrown out there as a negative about the Bible. You know, this is the type of thing that like an atheist might bring up of like an offensive Bible story or can you believe that the Bible says this type of thing? But I don't know about you, I, I love the Bible. I love all of it. I believe all of it and I don't stand in judgment of the Bible. The Bible judges me. So the Bible teaches me how to think. I don't go, I don't know about what God did here. So look at verse 23 of second Kings chapter two, it says, and this is Elisha the prophet. So Elijah has just gone to heaven and this is his, uh, replacement if you will, Elisha. And it says in verse 23, he went up from then son to Bethel and as he was going up, by the way, there came forth little children out of the city and mocked him and said unto him, go up thou bald head, go up thou bald head. So these kids are making fun of the man of God here. Now how old are they? We don't know. They're little children. We don't know what age that is, but they're not big cause it says they're little. That means that for sure they're not fully grown or else you wouldn't call them little. Right? So, you know, boys are fully grown when they're about 18, 19 years old. Girls are fully grown when they're about 15. So you know, how old are these kids? I mean if they're, if they're little children, I would guess maybe 10 years old, but maybe it's probably a mix of ages. Maybe some of them are eight years old. Maybe some of them are 13, 14 years old or whatever, but they're not adults and they're not right about to be adults. They're little children. That's what the Bible says. And they're mocking the man of God. And the Bible says if Elisha, he turned back and looked on them and curse them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood and tare 40 and two children of them. And he went from thence to Mount Carmel and from thence he returned to Samaria and he just went about his business as usual and it was just another day at the office. Now you say, well, I'm offended by that. Well, you know what? God created the universe, so you better just shut up and do what he tells you to do. And you better just shut up and believe what God has said here in the word of God and don't get all, I don't know about that. Now here's the thing. I don't know if you could dogmatically say that these children were killed because sometimes people will say, you know, 42 were killed, perhaps 42 of them were killed. But I don't think that that's what this means. But I would say for sure some of them got killed because if 42 of them got toe up, then, you know, I don't think they all survived. You know, these two bears are ripping apart a bunch of kids and I don't know how many of them are just wounded versus dead, you know, but I guarantee you that there must have been some casualties if 42 of them died, even if not all 42 of them died. But they get torn up, 42 of them. That means that there were more than 42 of them because if 42 of them were torn, that means you have a group of more than 42 kids. Now it's easy to just look at the Bible here and say, well, how dare Elisha curse them in the name of the Lord and Elisha is a jerk. First of all, if Elisha was wrong or if Elisha is just a jerk and he cursed them in the name of the Lord, then God wouldn't have sent two bears. God isn't just this genie where you just make wishes and he just does whatever because you have the lamp or something. It's not like, well, Elisha's got Elijah's mantle and so whatever he wishes for just happens. That's like sorcery or, or witchcraft or magic. That's not the way God works. You know, I've cursed some people in this world and bears didn't come and rip them apart. It's not just automatic that that's going to happen. Now if Elisha cursed them in the name of the Lord and then God sent these bears to rip them up, that shows whose side God is on in this situation, am I right? This shows that God is with Elisha on this and wants these kids to get punished. Now you say, well, I think it's pretty harsh. Why is he cursing them in the name of the Lord? But here's the thing. You know, if I were walking around as a man of God and 42 plus children are raising me and saying stuff to me, you know, I'd be a little nervous. I'd be a little worried because of the fact that it can be intimidating when bands of children and teenagers are coming after you as an adult. You know, you're one guy and you say, well, they're just kids. Yeah, but there's 50 of them. You know, I guarantee you that if 50 kids, I, you know, I'm almost tempted to do this. You know, I'm almost tempted to just call all the kids up here to attack me right now and see how I do because, I mean, you know, even if it's just kids, you can't wait. All right, let's do it. Let's do it. All right, kids, come on up here. So boys, I want boys, here, let me tell you my microphone because it doesn't hurt. All right, come on up here. This is a good illustration. Steven, Boaz, Peter, okay, I want kids that are 10, 12, come on boys, come on. Any boy who's, let's say 14 and under, come on up here, this isn't enough. Come on boys. All right, if you're 14 or under, come up here, all right. I want more. Give me a challenge. This is too easy. Okay, I said boys, all right. I like your attitude though. Come on, all right, here we go. Say again. How old are you, say again. Yeah, get in here. All right. Should I take my jacket off? All right, I want all of you guys to just attack me and wrestle me to the ground. Don't worry about hurting me, just no holds barred. All right, come on, let's go. Come on. Yeah. All right, I give up. All right, go ahead and have a seat. All right. All right. Don't worry. So here's the thing, you know, that was what, like 20 kids or something, 25 kids and I mean it's like a force of nature when that many kids are attacking you at one time. You know what I mean? Like it doesn't matter how strong, I'm not saying I'm the strongest man in the world or something, but when you have 20 kids piling on you, you don't really stand a chance. I mean, you know, think about how small like an ant or a bee is, if enough of them get on you, they're going to kill you. And so the bottom line is that, you know, in real life, when a whole bunch of people attack you at the same time, you don't really stand a chance, no matter what their size. Because when there's 20 of them, and you know, obviously I wasn't fighting back in the sense that I wasn't like punching and kicking your children. But it honestly wouldn't have mattered if I did. Because even if I would have just started punching and kicking, you know, that would have probably hurt some feelings, in addition to hurting some children. But the thing is, if I would have done that, it wouldn't have changed anything. Because maybe I would have got a few bloody noses in there, but I still would have ended up ultimately on the ground with a pile of kids on top of me. And you know, Elisha is probably dealing with twice that many kids. And maybe even older, probably more violent than your kids. I don't know. You know, you got some roving band of miscreants. You got this roving band of juvenile delinquents making fun of the preacher or whatever. You know, he probably felt a little bit intimidated. He might have been a little bit nervous if they're going to start attacking him or hurting him. Obviously, the Bible doesn't really give us a lot of details. The whole story is like two verses. Okay, but the bottom line is, they come out, and they're saying stuff to him, they're verbally abusing him, they're mocking him. And he got mad. He didn't like it. And so he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came two she bears out of the wood and tare 40 and two children of them. You know, this shows that God doesn't just say, oh, they're just kids, they get a pass no matter what they do. They can blaspheme God, they can make fun of church, they can make fun of the man of God, they can make fun of the Bible. Oh, they're just kids. Now this goes to show you even as a kid, you better watch your mouth as a kid. Even as an eight year old, a nine year old, a 10 year old, a 12 year old, a 14 year old, you better watch your mouth. And be careful about blaspheming God. Be careful about disrespecting church. Be careful about disrespecting the man of God, because God holds children accountable for their actions in the Bible. And even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right. Obviously there's also a little bit of an end times foreshadowing here. You probably noticed that number 42. And you know, you think about in the end times, there's the two witnesses, which Elijah is probably one of the two witnesses. And you know, the two witnesses are prophesying for 42 months, and they're striking plagues down upon the earth. And of course, this is Elijah, Elijah would be one of the two witnesses, if anything. But 42 months and the two bears is like the two witnesses. You know, you could get like an end times thing out of this as well. There's some symbolism why these numbers matter. Two bears, 42 lacerated children, but at the end of the day, this really happened. And why did God put this in the Bible? He put it in the Bible so that you kids when you're reading your Bible would read this and stop and think twice about talking smack about the man of God or talking smack about Christianity or your parents or the Word of God or being blasphemous or irreverent in some way because God holds children accountable. So you know, as a kid, think about reading your Bible, think about praying, think about witnessing to your friends, think about paying attention in church, singing the hymns, right, singing out and participating in the singing of the church, and also about making sure that your actions and your words are pure and right in the sight of God. And not just thinking, oh I'm a kid so whatever I do just doesn't matter because I'm a kid. What you do does matter as a kid and you are held accountable for it. And I honestly believe that a lot of the blessings that I've received later in life, God's blessing me for making some right choices when I was a kid. And I'm really thankful that I grew up in a Christian home and had a lot of good role models teaching me and guiding me so that I could start sowing some spiritual seeds even as a little kid and then I could reap those later and it's just important to start early with these things. Go to Mark chapter 9, Mark chapter number 9, Mark chapter number 9, and here's a story about a young boy that's actually demon possessed. It says in Mark chapter 9 verse 17, one of the multitude answered and said, master I brought unto thee my son which hath a dumb spirit, and I have parents come and tell me that all the time by the way, no I'm just kidding, and wheresoever he taketh him he tareth him and he fometh and nasheth with his teeth and pineth away and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out and they could not. He answered him and saith, oh faithless generation, how long shall I be with you, how long shall I suffer you, bring him unto me, and they brought him unto him and when he saw him straightway the spirit tare him and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, how long is it ago since this came unto him, and he said, of a child, right? So this young man was already even demon possessed as a child, right, and then we see these wicked children in 2 Kings chapter 2 getting torn up by bears. And you know what, if you look in the news, you'll find 12, 13, 14 year olds committing atrocities, committing horrific, violent crimes and doing wicked things. You could see that they could already be involved in things like satanism, witchcraft, they could be demonic, all of these things. It's never too early to start seeking God and first of all get saved and then second of all follow God, read the Bible, pray, be serious about your walk with God because you don't want to go down any of these dark paths and you don't want to mess up your life before your life is even barely started yet as a kid. You know the Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 1 it says, remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth. Remember the creator in the days of your youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. You know, when you, sometimes you talk to old people and this is what they'll tell you, I'm ready to go home. I'm ready for my life to end. Who's had an old person tell you like, I'm done, I don't want to be alive anymore. I'm done. I'm ready to go. You know, I've had old people tell me that many times and you know the Bible says, remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. Basically saying I have no more pleasure in my life. I'm done. It's over. I'm ready to go. You know, eventually if we live long enough, we're probably all going to eventually get to that point. You know, hopefully it's when we're a hundred and something where we're just like, okay, I'm done. You know, life's over. That's it. I'm done. But you know, even before you get to that point where you just have no pleasure in them, obviously as you get older, you get weaker, you get slower, and in most cases you get a little bit less excited about things, right? So the young people are really, really excited. And then as you get older, you're a little bit less excited about things. And then eventually you're just like, kill me now. You know, I'm just like, I'm done. But the point is that your youth is when you have all this vigor and energy and vitality and you want to offer that to the Lord, your best, the first fruits of your life, right? Give him your best. Remember the creator in the days of your youth. And when you have the energy to go out and do a bunch of soul winning and take the mission strips and you know, do it, do it because you might say, oh, I'll do it later. But chances are, as you get older, you're going to get more tired. You're going to do less and less, not more and more. You're not just going to do more and more for God. Now I would love to think that all of us when we're in our eighties and nineties are just going to be out there consistently soul winning. But how many 80 and 90 year olds do you see out there doing that kind of work right now? You know how many, and you do see some people in their sixties and seventies doing it. God bless them. But it's not the majority. You know, the majority of people that are out there witnessing and preaching the gospel of the lost and soul winning are probably more in their teens, twenties, thirties, forties, and then it starts to really fall off after that, you know, unfortunately. And so we want to make sure that we get while the getting's good and get out there and serve God with our youth and give them our best. Give him the energy and the vigor and the vitality of youth. You know, as they say, youth is wasted on the young. Okay. So you know, young people, they often take those years when they have all this energy and time and they just wasted, they just squandered. But man, if you spend your youth serving God, I guarantee you're not going to regret it. I, you know, you hear about people having a midlife crisis, right? Where they get to say 40 or 50 and then they start feeling like they didn't really live life to the fullest or something or, I mean, isn't that what a midlife crisis is? Like, like I missed out on something and then they want to kind of try to go relive their youth or their childhood or something. But I can't even imagine anyone getting to 40 years old and saying, I wish I would have served God less. I can't even imagine that. Who would think such a thing? Man, I just wish I would have skipped that mission strip. You know, I just wish I would have skipped the Belize trip. I just wish that I would have done less so. Man, I just wish I would have spent less time reading my Bible and spent more time just partying and having fun. I didn't have enough fun. But you know, what's funny is that these midlife crisis people who didn't think they had enough fun. So now when they're 40 or 50, they have to get the convertible or the Harley or whatever and try to make up for it. Those people probably, I would guess when they were in their teens and 20s, you know, they probably lived for fun then they probably actually did live for fun at that time. It's not like they're these straight laced guys who spent their teens and 20s soul winning and participating in the local church and and they just got married and started having kids and just serving God and just and then they're just like 40 and they're like, I need a convertible now. It's probably like that they lived for fun and it didn't satisfy them. They didn't get enough out of it. That's why they think that if they go back for another round of partying this time they can kind of get what they want out of it that they didn't get the first time. But it's probably not someone who served God with their life and gets to 40 and thinks like, Oh, I spent too much time serving God. You know, I think when you reach 40 you're going to be grateful for every minute that you spent serving God for every verse. I don't regret a single, I'm 41 years old. I don't have a convertible. I don't want a convertible or a Harley and I don't regret, sorry John, you know, but I don't, I don't regret a single Bible verse that I read. I don't regret a minute that I spent memorizing the Bible. I don't regret a single door that I knocked out soul winning. I don't regret a single mission to trip. I don't regret a single minute that I spent praying. Why would I? Why would I? I'm glad. I don't feel like, Oh, I missed out on something. I didn't miss out on anything because serving God is the best thing that you can do with your life. It's the most meaningful thing you can do. But you know what I do sometimes regret other things that I did time that I wasted. I regret people that I didn't witness to. I regret things that I skipped and, and, and a Bible that I didn't read or didn't memorize. I do regret those, but I don't regret ever doing anything for God. And I don't think that any sane Christian is going to regret giving their best to God when they're young, you know, and spending 17, 18, 19, 20 years old out doing something for God. You're not going to regret that. And so say not, I'm a child. Don't have this attitude that says, well, I'll serve God later or, uh, what I do now isn't really important. I'm just a kid. Don't hold me accountable. I don't want to be responsible or I, you know, I don't want to get serious about the things of God yet. No, cause it's never too early to do that. You know, what's funny is that a lot of people out in this world that are not saved, part of the reason why they don't get saved is because they think that in order to get saved, they have to stop partying. So I've heard a lot of people say something along these lines, they'll say like, well, I'm just not done having fun yet. And so they're like, you know, I just want to have more fun and then I'm going to get saved. Now for those of us who actually understand the gospel, we know that even if someone had that foolish attitude, the smart thing to do would still be to get saved. Even if they want to keep partying and being an idiot, at least get saved before it's eternally too late because you never know you could die tonight and spend eternity in hell. And so you got to get saved immediately like no matter what. And here's the thing, we don't teach a salvation where you have to give up your sins to be saved because that's a workspace salvation. We don't believe in work salvation. We believe in salvation by grace through faith. So it's not like, well, you have to be willing to give up your rock and roll lifestyle in order to be saved. No, you just have to believe on Jesus Christ to be saved. But don't most people in the world out there think that salvation is by works? I mean, the vast majority of unsaved people think it's by works. That's part of why they're unsaved. And so they always have this attitude of like, well, you know, I just want to have my fun first. I just want to have more fun first, then I'm going to, uh, you know, get into that. But you know what? You're stupid because the chances of you actually getting saved go down every year. And then if you're saved and you're not serving God, the chances of you actually getting right with God and serving God pretty much go down every year. The older you are, why? Because you've spent more years practicing being disobedient, developing these habits of being disobedient. The chances of you actually getting it right are going down every year. And sure, you could have exceptions of people who get saved in their sixties or start serving God in their sixties. But what's the general rule? People are easier to get saved the younger they are. People are easy to get serving God, easier to get out soul winning the younger they are. Right? I mean, think about it. You could hear, let me just ruin everybody's day on, on January 1st. But think about like from a physical fitness perspective, what if you're just like, oh, you know, I'm just a teenager, all I'm going to lift weights later. I may get in shape later. I'm going to build muscle later. And then you're 25 and you're like, no, no, no, I'm not done having fun in the fast food drive through yet. You know, so can I get a witness? You know, I, you know, I just want to keep, I just want to keep eating and having a party in my mouth and you know, I'm going to get athletic later. I'm going to be athletic when I'm, stop and think about it. Don't you think your chances of ever getting in shape and getting athletic are probably going down every year? Would you agree with that? I mean, dude, would that really make sense or would you say, well, no, if you're smart, you'll start lifting weights when you're like 13, 14, 15, you know, start building that muscle young and then you're gonna have that muscle with you the rest of your life. It's true because when I was a teenager, I started lifting weights when I was 13. I lift weights when I was 13, 14, 15, 16, then I got married and when you get married, exercise kind of goes out the window sometimes. After I got married, I didn't exercise. I exercise like six days a week and then I got married. I didn't exercise for like five years or something. You know, who had a similar experience? Yeah. Probably more than five years, but you know, probably more like six or seven years that I just, I didn't really exercise. You know, you're just kind of like, you're married, you settle in, there's all that. Those meals just keep coming and they're so good and you just, you just, you're just happy and relaxed and you're just like nuts to it. But here's the thing though, you know, I'm thankful that even though I didn't exercise for years and years and years, like I never went all the way back to zero because here's the thing. If you've ever been in shape, if you've ever built muscle, even if you just don't exercise for years, like all the muscle doesn't go bye bye, you keep some of it. And then when you go back to the gym, it comes right back and it's not, you know, it's, it's not a big deal. But you know, then there's, then there's guys that have just never exercised and just never lifted and that there's a big difference between a guy who hasn't lifted in 10 years and a guy who just never lived it. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? So like for every, all the workouts that you do as a teenager and as a young adult, man, those are gold because you benefit from those like your whole life. It's just like if you put that money into that, uh, mutual fund when you're a teenager or you invested in that 401k when you're 18, 19, right? And then it's just multiplying for years and years and years and years. Well, it's the same thing with serving God. You know, you need to serve God when you're young, far more important than entering the gym at age 13. You need to enter the spiritual gym at age 13 because the Bible says, bodily exercise profited little, but godliness is profitable into all things. Man, that was a chance for a lot of you to say a loud amen with the bodily, but it's like bodily exercise profited little, but here's the thing. Godliness is profitable into all things. Having promise of the life that now is end of that, which is to come, you know, the muscle that you build, man, it stays with you for years, even if you quit working out. But guess what? The spirit, but when you die, all your muscle is going to be gone. All of it gets eaten by worms, but the spiritual treasures that you lay up in heaven, the Bible that you studied, the gospel that you preach, the souls that you want, the prayers that you prayed, those will still be around long after your body has been eaten by worms and is completely dust. You know, the Bible says that your prayers are going to be pulled out in the end times. God pulls out the prayers of the saints in revelation chapter number eight and he's smelling the sweet saver of the prayers that were prayer prayed hundreds of years earlier. You know, the prayers that we pray are eternal, that the souls that we win to Christ will live forever, far better than any stock portfolio, far better than going to the gym and pumping a bunch of iron or getting a shape. Spiritual things are more important, but it's a nice analog because just as the guy who's not athletic until he's 30 is probably not just going to all of a sudden get athletic at age 30. Well, the guy who's unspiritual till he's 30 is probably not just going to get spiritual at age 30. Now are there exceptions? Sure. But in general, wouldn't you say that the more years that you spend being unhealthy chances are you're probably going to continue being unhealthy. The more years that you spend being unspiritual, you're probably going to continue to be unspiritual. And so if you're smart, you would get those habits set as young as possible and build a habit of reading the Bible, a habit of going to church, you know, and it just becomes like second nature to you. You know, those of us who grew up in church, I mean, we don't think about whether we're going to go to church on a Sunday or not. It's just like, well, duh, we have to go to church. Of course we go to church. It's Sunday. Wouldn't think of not going to church. No, I feel like going to church today, you know. But the people who are like, huh, do I feel like going to church? It's probably cause they didn't, they didn't start young enough. That's why they even have that thought that like church is optional or something. Whereas the people who've been going for 15 years straight, the people, you know, so that's why you need to develop those habits young, right? Develop that Bible reading habit, get experience, soul winning, get experience. And here's the thing, if you don't go soul winning, one day you're going to have a chance to witness to one of your friends or loved ones and you're going to do a poor job cause you have no practice. Whereas if you put in a bunch of time out door to door and then that opportunity rolls in your lap, you're going to be like, piece of cake. I could do this blindfolded. I could do this in my sleep. And I've done soul winning in my sleep, literally. It's true. Who had a dream where you were soul winning in your dream, winning people to Christ in your dream? Yeah. I'm not here. Okay. I'm saying like, you know, you want to get those skills young because then you have a lifetime of, of, of Philippian jailers who come to you and say, what must I do to be saved? And you actually know the answer. And you actually know how to effectively present the gospel and you don't squander those opportunities. And so I'll close on that. But the title of the sermon is even a child is known by his doings. And so I just really want to encourage you children out there to realize that what you do matters. I know. And you know, maybe, and I said like eight, nine, 10, maybe, maybe even the six and seven year olds need the sermon tonight. What you do matters. Even a two, three, four year old who's not even at the age of accountability yet, who's maybe not even understanding a lot of spiritual things, I bet you they could probably still start developing some good habits at that young age of not being a brat, not lying, not stealing, not cheating. Even a child is known by his doings, whether it's work be pure and whether it be right. I want all you kids out there, you teenagers out there, young adults, 20 year olds, just don't ever get this wicked thought in your mind. I'm going to serve God later. You know, I'm going to get serious about things about later. Now, this is the year that you read your Bible cover to cover. This is the year and you say, well, my parents didn't tell me to do it. You know what? It doesn't matter whether your parents told you read your Bible. Why don't you choose to read your Bible? You know, my parents never told me to do when I was growing up, they never told me to read my Bible. Now, I'm not, that's not a criticism of my parents because my parents are great Christian parents and they raised me very well, but they never said like, Hey, you need to be reading your Bible. You know, you need to read the Bible. Now, obviously I heard preaching in church that told me to read my Bible, but you know what? I, I read my Bible on my own. My parents never said, did you read your Bible today? But yet I read the Bible. At some point your parents aren't going to be there to hold your hand and wipe your nose for you. Are they? At some point you're going to have to stand on your own two feet and read the Bible yourself because you want to read the Bible. Okay. And you know what? I've read the Bible more than any child in this room. Okay. There's no child. Maybe there's some adult out there that's read the Bible more than me. I doubt it, but maybe there is, but there is no child in this auditorium that has read the Bible more than me. I promise you that. And yet, you know what I'm, you know what I did today? I read my Bible and you know what I'm going to do every single day in 2023 I'm going to read my Bible every single day in 2023 okay. And you know what? If I need to read my Bible at age 41 I've been saved for 35 years. I've read the Bible scores of times cover to cover. I've been a pastor for 17 years. I must read the Bible every day this year so that I don't become a spiritual shipwreck. Do you think you need to read the Bible? Well, I already know the stories. Well, so do I, but yet I'm constantly discovering new things in the Bible every single year. Almost every day I learned something new from the Bible. And I know the stories too. But you know what? The more you read the Bible, the more you realize you don't know because the Bible is so deep and it just keeps giving you more and more and more. And so I don't care how old you are, if you're old enough to understand the words that are coming out of my mouth right now, you know, figure out a Bible reading goal for yourself even if it's just to read the New Testament, even if it's just read the proverb of the day, you know, but, but if you, you know, why not? Why not if you're, if you're 9, 10, 11, 12 years old, why not read the Bible cover to cover this year? Cause you're capable of doing that. You're capable of doing that and you, you know, you've got more time than your parents do. Kids have nothing but time. All right. Read that Bible. Do something with your life. Take life seriously. Start developing the right habits. Now, as far as a word of prayer, Lord, thank you so much for a church full of children, Lord, even, even when they're assaulting me, Lord, thank you so much for all of the wonderful children in our church and, and, and God, I pray that they would all have their own personal walk with you and, and that they would take the Christian life seriously and, and, and Lord, they have so many opportunities to witness to other children and someday they're going to regret every child that they did not witness unto. And so Lord, I pray that, uh, the kids that are in this auditorium tonight would, would take this sermon to heart and would get serious about their walk with you. And in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.