The Heart of a Servant - Tim Martin

Well, good morning, and I greet you in Jesus' name. It's good

to see you faces now that I do recognize and personalities that I can pick

out, and that's a blessing. We're not as much strangers as we were

when we started. And it's good to see the church family that supports this

uh, that makes up this congregation, this body of Christ. You know,

I did want to just recognize the congregation. I want to bless you

for your efforts in putting this event together. Obviously there's a committee that has

put quite a bit of energy into this youth conference, and and God bless

you for it, and it's a good it's a good work. And also

of course just all the other things. You know, there's the kitchen,

there's the food, there's people who have young people in their homes, all

of that. So may God bless you for that. My wife and I

have been blessed to be here. We've just enjoyed it. We do like

to learn to know new people, and we felt like we've done that and

it made up for some old connections. Brother Gene and I go back to

our teens and anyway, so it's been a blessing to catch up with them

as well. Youth. I've prayed and we've prayed together that God would work

in our hearts. I know he has online. Do you know I had

mentioned something about just deleting some apps if you need to do. You know,

when I was studying on discipline, I just promptly went and deleted an

app that's been bugging me. So I've been thinking about these things as well.

I just wanted to share that that this has been instructive in my life

as I think about discipline. You see, it's not just youth that need

to learn discipline. All of us. You know, we just find life

pressure, our flesh just creeping in on us. And so it's been a

challenge for me. But I've been praying about and we've prayed together about what

God could do. And you know, there's moments in our life when we

have those big jumps, and that's wonderful. And the biggest jump is if

you can, if I can use that picture, is our step of faith

in Jesus Christ initially, but it doesn't stop there, does it. And

my prayer has been that yes, we'll take the big jumps, but incremental

pieces, and that we would just be willing to let God touch our hearts.

That is one of the biggest It can challenges At times. It can

feel just a little frightful, a little we can be a little fearful of

that. But we don't need to fear God, and he's what his desire

is is to perfect us and to make it more useful. We're thinking about

servanthood. We're thinking about servants this morning. The heart of a servant,

I believe is the title. We've also been thinking about ways that we can

be fulfilled, right, And I still have the question up here on the

board. Is it possible to be a fulfilled human being without violating the law

of God? And what's the answer to that question? Anybody? Yes?

Could we say that together? Yes? Thank you? It's true And it

seems like such a simple question. It's like, why do we have it

on the board. But as I've thought about it, we just struggle.

I'll repeat myself again, I've said it. I think this is the third

time I'm saying it, and I'm not sorry to say it. We struggle

in that area. We're just not quite sure. And may God help all

of us to understand that our fulfillment comes in the surrender and obedience and disciplines

of life that bring the freedom that we all desire. And freedom is more

than an idea, isn't it. That's something else we talked about. It's

more than an idea. It has to be, or it's not really freedom.

Freedom is when you can walk into and when you are able to actually

do what it is on paper that it says that you can do. And

we're exercising one of those freedoms this morning. It's freedom of assembly. As

you think about sort of a national position. Freedom of assembly is a great

idea, But if we don't ever go do it, is it freedom to

do it this morning? And God bless you, and we're gonna need to

choose to do it again and again and then we get to experience that freedom

the heart of a servant. One of the sort of little descriptions the committee

gave us was this, do we need to wait to be called to serve?

And how should we observe? Jesus teaching on serving while waiting on God

and seeking the Holy Spirit's guidance. Who likes to wait? Not this day,

not this world. We want things fast, and you know, five

gigs not even fast enough anymore, and we just we want it now,

and so yes, obviously I'd have to accept that since the beginning of time,

man has been impatient. I don't doubt that, because it's part of

our flesh. However, we have become as what's happening next, what's in

this for me? You know? And what's my next steps in life?

And life has become compressed because it's becomes so full or something. I'm not

sure why, but we're thinking about this question is asking about waiting, and

we'll think some about that as we go along this morning. I had asked

a question earlier this week as well, what do you want? You if

you go down into your heart and into the recesses of your mind and ask

yourself, what is there, what is it that's at the root of your

heart, it's going to answer. It's going to actually reveal the development of

your life and what's most likely to unfold in your life. It's that's serious.

So I'm still asking the question, what do you want as you think

about servant and do you want to be a millionaire? Listen, if you

want to be a millionaire, it's likely in this world that you can produce

those results you want to be someone who's involved in in partnering with God and

his kingdom. You'll be given many opportunities. What do you want as youth?

You have life before you, We have life before us as youth.

And as I've observed youth and had the opportunity to interact over the years,

the qualities that I've noticed about a the best kind of workers in God's kingdom

are those youth who are involved right where they're at, right in the moment,

whatever it is that God has for them to do. And that sounds

like a simple truth, but it's a very very pertinent one, and we'll

maybe notice that some more as we go along. So, yes, this

morning, youth, as you think about this thing of God's will and what

are we waiting, I want to encourage you right up front is to be

passionate and excelled and what you're doing right now? And if right now that

means that you spend a good bit of time taking care of some little ones,

whether it's in your home or some other care that you give, but

you're just pretty sure there's something else out there, do it with zeal because

God. I believe that God meets those who are simply doing what He has

placed before them at this time, through a series of circumstances that are outside

of your control. You didn't get to choose, and neither did I get

to choose which family we grow up in, and a whole host of other

things in our lives. Sometimes I sit with youth who are asking the question,

what is God's will for my life? It is a fair question,

I understand it, and I certainly respect that question they'll ask. And as

I sat with youth, I've noticed that there's sort of two different camps.

The one is youth who are asking the question, and they seem to be

quite sincere about it. But in this camp, I'll notice this group of

youth, I'll notice that they tend to be not fulfilled where they're at right

now, and not engaged where they're at right now, and just sort of

on the sidelines. And then I'll see a second group of youth that comes

along, and they're just as sincere. They're asking the question too, well,

what's God's will for my life? Like what's my next step? And

yet I'll notice in that set of youth that they tend to be quite engaged.

You know, they're involved they're busy. There's opportunities there and they're taking

them. And yet they still are wrestling with this question and understood question.

And I'm not so very old. But again and again I see the second

group. I see that the group who's asking the question but not engaged in

their life. Many times I notice that that group does not find the fulfilling

answers to their question, and they tend to veer off in life, and

they seem to continue to reach and reach, and many times their life story

tells makes them away from the very God that they wished to serve and on.

And on the other hand, the group who is asking the question but

are involved here and engaged here and committed here, they seem to find very

fulfilling answers to their question and to their quest of what is God's will for

my life? As a theme verse, I would just like to point us

to Proverbs three, verse five, and I'll just read it to you.

Trust in the Lord with all that heart, and lean not unto thine own

understanding, And in all the all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct

thy paths. Trust acknowledge and he will direct. And so this morning,

youth, I'm asking the question, are you ready to lean not on your

own understanding? Are you willing to trust God to the questions that you have

about your life? Rest in Him on that and this verse says that he

will, he will direct your path. It's quite a promise, and it's

interesting to watch sometimes when that door opens a young lady who may be wondering

and what's God's will? And she may have found something very fulfilling that she's

engaging in, and next thing you know, a year later, she's married,

or maybe not. Maybe it's another twist and turn of life. But

God just continues to step in and direct in ways that are beyond our ways.

And so we recognize that this morning is what that verse is teaching us,

and we need to trust in that. We need to give ourselves to

that. I want to consider a young man who was used mightily of God

in the Old Testament, and so if you turn with me to First Samuel

chapter sixteen, I want to take five pointers from his life that I think

are very instructive and are particularly directed to young people. Now, if you'll

know your Bible, you're going to assume, or you'll already know that I'm

going to the life of David first Samuel, chapter sixteen. And I believe

these verses reveal to us who our God is, and they help us to

understand how God works in young people's lives. David was a young man here.

We don't know exactly how young, but he was. He was probably

as young, if not younger than the youngest of this youth group here at

this time. It's likely, and we know the story. I'll just tell

it a little bit. Saul had been a failure. Samuel was disappointed,

he was sad, and he didn't know what the next steps were. And

we notice here in verse one, the Lord said, unto Samuel, how

long wilt thou mourn for Saul? Seeing I've rejected him. I want you

to go up to Bethlehem and we're going to anoint another king. Well Saul

or Samuel was fearful of that, but the Lord said, go do it.

Just say it's gonna be a sacrifice. And just to get a little

bit of the picture of the weight of this, notice here in verse three,

the elders of the town are verse four, the elders of the town

trembled is coming and said, comest thou peaceably Now, Samuel wasn't just any

man. He was the prophet of God, and he's showing up to this

town. And they came out to meet him. Are you coming peaceably?

No one asked, Brother Jean didn't ask me that when I showed Now he

invited me to come, But when I showed up, he didn't ask me,

are you coming peaceably? Of course not. But it's a very different

situation here. It's a very weighty situation. This is no small thing.

Samuel's coming to our town. And so he came, and he had a

little sacrifice together, their a little bit of worship together, and then he

called Jesse's forward, and he met with them, spent some time with Jesse,

and said, look, the Lord's seeking. And he said to him

in verse six he saw in verse six, Samuel saw Eliab, which is

Jesse's son. And he said, surely the Lord's anointed is before him.

But the Lord said unto Samuel, looked not on his countenance or on the

height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth

not the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Then Jesse

said unto a ben Dab, and called unto a ben dab and made him

pass before Samuel. And he said, neither have I chosen this man.

And so Jesse made seven of his sons in verse ten, to pass before

Samuel. And Samuel said, unto Jesse, the Lord hath not chosen these.

Samuel said, unto Jesse, here hear all thy children. He said,

there remaineth yet the youngest, And behold he keepeth the sheep. Samuel

said, unto Jesse, send and fetch him, for we will not sit

down till he come hither. And he said, and sent and brought him

in. Now he was ruddy and with all a beautiful countenance, and good

would you look on? And the Lord said, arise and annoying him,

for this is he interesting to note that David was also a pleasant young man

to look upon. But here we notice that when when when Samuel saw the

oldest, and he said, oh, that must be him, And and

God told Samuel, look, I don't look on the heights of the countenance

or the height of there and so on, I look at the heart.

And the first point that I wanted to recognize here this morning, youth,

is that God is an equal opportunity employer, that's a term that gets thrown

around, and it's so cheap. I didn't know if I even wanted to

use it, but fair enough, let's use it. God doesn't look at

the outward. He looks at the heart. So this morning, if you're

the most beautiful person here, or if you're less than that, it hasn't

changed your possibilities before God. And if you're six foot eight or five foot

eight, it hasn't changed your possibilities with God. That's what that verse is

telling me, and that's what God is still telling us. God still wants

us to understand that He is looking at humanity through different lenses, and that

lends and that look. It's sort of what we've been talking about this weekend,

hasn't it. That look is down onto that heart. That look is

into the mind and the spirit of a person. And God says, there's

a person, there's a man that I can use. And so David was

anointed. It doesn't matter what your bank account looks like. It's not about

that. It's not about if you're whatever the prominent name is here, Thurstein

or there, or whether you're some other name. It just doesn't matter.

It's not about that. It doesn't matter who your friends are. If you

have friends, it's not about that either. So we recognize that God does

not qualify you by those things. God is an equal opportunity young people.

Don't forget it. Remember that treasure that lay hold of that. It's going

to give you some stability. It's going to help you rest trust in God.

The second point I want to see here is as I already sort of

mentioned in Somewhat Getting ahead of Myself, God's an equal opportunity employer number one.

Number two. God looks at the state of the heart. He says,

here, the Lord looketh on the heart. The heart and its rightness

before God makes all the difference. You want to serve. Put honest effort

into a heart that's open and honest before God. I know for a fact

that God does use people who are imperfect, and so we need to understand

that too. That will never be perfect enough, that were so perfect that

God could use us. It's not quite like that. But we need to

have that heart that's open and honest before God. And obviously David had that

heart. We're not going to go back over into psalms. There's a particular

psalm that David wrote, and I was really tempted, but there just won't

be that kind of time. But it shows David's heart here at a very

young age, probably after he was anointed, before he was anywhere near a

king, he wrote some beautiful thoughts about his musings about God, his understandings

of God, his concern about the status of the state of his own heart,

very concerned that his heart was at the place that it should be before

God. And secret sins he talks about that, or sins that he doesn't

even he's not even aware of. That was the heart of David. This

was David's heart. He had an open heart, and God was ready to

use that heart. And here, out of all these brothers, here's the

youngest one, fresh in from the pastor knelt down before Samuel, powerful man,

and was anointed to serve in well, one of the most prominent spots

in the Old Testament. It's just an amazing account. Number three, what

else do we notice about David here youth he was found doing the simple work

that his family gave him. It just wasn't it just wasn't. It just

wasn't that prominent of a job. He was keeping the sheep. We hardly

know what that's like. I don't know. I did hear say, there's

some sheep in this valley, But I'm still thinking about the Middle Eastern cultures

and the sheep that I see there, And yeah, they spend the day

out with their sheep, and we just have very little experience with that.

But that's what David was doing. He was taking care of the flocks,

his father's flocks. And there he was, he was simply serving faithfully.

And I say to you this morning, opportunity springs from simple responsibility and service.

Opportunity springs from simple responsibility and service. Let's not forget that. It's

so easy for us to continually look past the moment. Where's it AT's out

there, where's it AT's over here? Oh did you hear all? Wow,

that would be amazing, and we lose sight of what we can do

right now, and then God opens doors that we don't expect. It happens

number four, verse thirteen. I didn't read it. Then Samuel took the

horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren, and the

spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose

up and went to rama, and so Samuel had completed his work, but

God had only started. Right. It says the spirit of the Lord came

upon sam upon David from that day forward, and also says in verse fourteen,

but the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit

from the Lord troubled him. It almost seems like at the same time that

David was anointed a king and God entered and God's spirit rested upon David,

that it was lifted from Saul and began that troubled part of Saul's life.

And I don't know how all the timeline fits together, but we know that

somewhere in there, David was asked to go over and play harp for Saul.

And so the anointed was sent, the one that was blessed with God's

spirit was sent to minister to the one where the spirit had been withdrawn.

And I suggested you this morning, remember and then we know the children's story,

how that Saul tossed the dagger and all of that, right, I

almost wonder if that wasn't triggered more by the fact that when David came into

Saul's presence, the darkness that was in Saul from the withdrawal of God's Spirit

and the beauty that was in David because of the presence of God's Spirit.

Wasn't more what that conflict was about than anything. Don't know that for a

fact, but I believe that was part of this conflict. The spirit of

the Lord makes a difference, young people, our IQ all the books that

we've read and consumed. Yes, there is value and knowledge. I have

seen it. I understand it. I wish I could retain more of it.

I wish I Yes, I understand. However, it doesn't replace what

only the Spirit of the Lord can do. And that is another opportunity that

we have, and we need to understand it. We need to rest in

that and trust in that. It's not just a youth thing this morning.

I have to trust in that same spirit because there's words on a paper,

but there needs to be more than that. And God's faithful and so young

people, you're right hard towards God. Your submission to the lordship of Jesus

Christ makes your body a temple where the Holy Spirit will and does reside.

And nothing can replace the work of the Holy Spirit in you. When you

think about service, when you think about sharing, having a word to say,

having a prayer for a person that's Holy spirit territory. That's where God

would like to interact. And I think about a moment we had just this

past week. We recently moved our church in the city of Altuna from one

part of the city to another because we just needed a little bit more space

and there was a building came available and felt led to buy it and negotiate.

It worked out, so we've moved. So now we're part just across

town and it's a different community, and so we decided that we've been there

for six months, we've sort of got situated, and now we were assigned

excuse me, to go out and knock on doors and give people a formal

invitation to our church. So my family was one of the Yeah, there's

into different groups and it was our turn. So we went out first to

do it, went down the block, started knocking on doors, and that's

a good experience. You know. It's just something about walking up on a

step on Sunday afternoon about two thirty and and you know what, it's a

little step of faith. But there's a couple of things that stand out to

me. One is Bill most likely showed up at church this morning. We

had a long conversation with him. But the one that stands out the most

to me. We walked up to this house and it was an old house

and it was a different built house. It really was different, and it

felt like we were standing in Europe or something because the front of it was

like a stone, old stone, and a high porch. It was just

different. And I was like, and an old door was very different about

this place. Knocked on it. We almost wondered if the place was even

lived in, and we were just ready to walk away or put the hanger

on the door, and the door creaked open and there's an old lady just

looking out at us. It was so interesting. She was even dressed old

and her shoes were just these little old like slippers. You know, it

was just so interesting. She said hello, And you know what. We

talked with that lady for a little bit and she has some health problems,

and I said, could we pray for you? Yeah, And so we

prayed. And I don't think the last time we've interacted with that lady,

because something happened there block and a half down from our church building. And

so I pray that we can I guess my point in that was that little

story was about the spear of the Lord making a difference, and there was

a meeting there. What I'm saying that has stood out to me, and

I really do hope that we can minister to that lady again, and I

believe that we will. Nothing can replace that. And the last point I

want to bring out here in number five, or my fifth point here before

we move on. I'm not done, but my fifth point here is walking

with God prepares you for the rest of tomorrow. Walking with God prepares you

for the rest of tomorrow. What we know what first, Samuel doesn't tell

us a lot here about the time between David's anointing and him facing off with

Goliath, and look at it here. There's not a lot here, but

there's a period of time, obviously, and that's where there's some thinking that

some of the psalms, at least one in particular, was written during that

period of time. That does reveal some of David's development, some of his

thinking in his heart. And then we go on and I'm just gonna look

at a few verses just right here in chapter seventeen, verses twenty six through

twenty nine, We know this story right, but we just need to note

it. David came to the man that stood by him, saying, what

should be done to this man that killeth a felictine that taketh through, and

to kill this philicotine that taketh away the reproach from Israel? For who is

this uncircumcised felictine? That he should divide the armies of the living God.

And the people answered him after this, saying saying, so and so show

it be done to him that killeth him. And Eliab, his eldest brother,

heard when he spake unto the men, and Eliab's anger was kindled against

David, and he said, why camest thou down hither? And with whom

hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride in

the naughtiness of thine heart, for thou out come down, that thou mightst

see the battle. Do you think we get a little bit of a revelation,

into a little bit of a view into Eliab's heart. Maybe that's why

he was passed over, But we also get a look into into into David's

heart here, and we see David come on this scene. The armies are

lined up. Again. We've never experienced it. I have never experienced it.

We don't know anything what it looks like to have armies of men lined

up and rows against each other, and at a moment's notice, it could

just be all mayhem and blood. Right, we've never experienced it. I

don't think anybody here has. Maybe someone has, I don't know that for

a fact, in some way or another warfare. But here they are and

David steps up, and there's Goliath in the middle. He says, really,

the armies of the Living God. Those he then and this uncircum sized

man between us, really, and of course Aliab responded as he did,

and we know the story. David went before Saul. Saul said, why

do you think you can do this? And David says, well, it

has to do with my God, because you see, my God delivered me

from the lion, from the bear, and I will kill this man and

just by God's power, just as I did those enemies. And so David

went, and it's here right in these verses, verses forty two through forty

eight. David Hasted ran towards the army to meet the Flistines and David put

his hands in his bag, took out a stone and slang it smoked the

flip fliste in the forehead. David prevailed over the flips team with a sling

and a stone smoked the flipstein. There was no sword, and so he

continued on then and we know the deliverance the men of Israel verse fifty two.

Rose shouted, pursued to flictines and so on. It's an amazing account.

What do you think, young people, think there was any fear in

David's heart? Do you think he had any fear in his heart? Yes?

I saw you agreeing with that. Absolutely. David wasn't some superhuman.

He was a young man just like you. He had dreams, he wanted

to experience life. I believe that it just has to be that way.

In fact, we can see as the rest of his life goes on that

he was a man just like us, and he was pretty broken actually.

However, when he saw this situation, he understood in his heart he had

experience with his God, and he said, I need to step forward here,

and he pushed through that fear and did it. He was prepared to

die, but didn't. I believe that's probably what that was, probably what

was in his heart as he went out to do this great work. And

so I'll tell you, I remind you again, or I'll repeat again.

Walking with God today prepares you for the test of tomorrow. David was walking

very closely with God. Here we see it again and again in his writings,

his interaction as he came to minister to Saul and so on. He

was a powerful man of God because of God's anointing in his heart. And

that's just the way it is. And if we wish to be the servant

of God, these are the qualities that we need to pursue. This is

the environment that we need. That we need to be willing to cooperate with

God in our own hearts. I was going to say that we need to

be willing to create in our own hearts, and I'm not going to go

that far, but that we need to be willing to peel open, to

open up, and to let God touch us and mold us and shape us

and empower us, and all of those things as we see here in the

life of David. And so again, where did this godly courage come from?

From a young man who sought after God? It came from a young

man who desired relationship with God. This came from a young man who was

willing to be lowly in this world's positions and responsibilities, but great in position

with his God. That was David's situation here. Well, many many years

passed, and a perfect servant came to this earth. He was called the

son of David, wasn't he? This servant came and he served the humanity.

He served humanity to the death, and he gave himself for the neediest

of this earth. And yes, his love and mercy and salvation has extended

all the way to Halsey Organ. It made it here. Sometimes the questions

ask is the Gospel for every culture? We can say yes, because it's

made it to this one. It has made it here, hasn't it has

Jesus has the Gospel? Has it done a work in Halcy Organ. If

it can do a work in Haltsy Organ, it can do it anywhere.

And that's no statement against Halty Organ. I hope you understand. Seems to

me that it's possible that the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus might have

a harder time penetrating the brokenness of Western society than any society. I'm not

sure. I'm not certain about that, but I wonder Jesus Christ tells us

that things are upside down from how a man normally orders things. He tells

us that the greatest will be the servants, just as he set the pattern.

The greatest among you will be your servants. That's wonderful, he said

in Matthew in Mark ten forty three. But so shall it not be among

you this whole discussion about who's going to sit on the right hand and who's

going to sit on the left, and you know, where's our place in

this hierarchy. And Jesus said, it's not like that. It's not going

to be that way. For whosoever shall be great among you shall be your

minister, and whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of all.

For even the son of Man came not to be ministered or served,

but to minister, to serve, and to give his life a ransom for

many. Matthew ten, verse forty two says this, And whosoever shall give

a drink onto one of these little ones a cup of cold water, only

in the name of a disciple. Verily, I sayd to you, he

showing no wise lose his reward. Youth. Friends, we missed the We

look right past the cup opportunity so many times, don't We just stood out

to me as I read it. It's actually in the King, like,

wait a minute, is this King James. Yeah, it's King James.

It says a cold cup, A cold says what it says a in in

Matthew ten forty two it says a cold cup of water. It just stood

out to me, not just any cup. It's fresh, right, this

is this is intentional. Wait a minute, let me get you a fresh,

cold cup of water. Now, that's service. That shows something about

the heart, doesn't it. And Father? Beyond this, it is to

allow men to see what Jesus will do in the life of the believer and

being bring praise and glory to God. And that's what Jesus was teaching us

in Matthew chapter five and verse sixteen and many other places. Let your light

so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father,

which is in heaven. That's our work. Well, how can we

do it? I do have five more points. I'm going to move right

through. In practical ways. How are we to serve? What's our opportunities,

what's our options? How should we observe? Jesus teaching on serving while

waiting on God and seeking the Holy Spirit's guidance, How are we to do

that? They're simple, it's not complicated. I'll start out with the most

basic one. Number one. Serve in the home right here. And home

can be within the four walls or the property of your house and your family.

It can be your home community, but home right here. That's what

David was doing. He was right there. He just was doing the family

responsibilities. And it might just be mowing the yard. It might be helping

take care of the children. It might be given support to your parents so

they can go off and do some project or whatever it might be. It

is. It's just the very mundane and basic things in youth. It's a

place to serve. There's nothing wrong with it. There's everything right about it.

And again it's in that just faithfulness and persistent and taking care and pressing

into the opportunities that are before us. And that's when those doors open up.

It's in that time. It's in those places it's an honorable thing to

do to serve your family and parents. Number two, serve the needy,

serve the needy. And I already mentioned this cup of cold water, this

fresh water, And I'm asking you have you been looking for any opportunities?

Where? And how have you been doing that? How like inward is your

focus? Like do you ever even I'll go especially to these young men,

do you ever even notice the vehicle on the side of the road, Like

do you think about that? And then do you ever hit the brakes and

stop or thinking about it? I think it's an excellent opportunity. Intentions are

good. I've fallen short because the gas cant of the back of my truck

is empty right now. But I went intentionally bought a gas tank and a

few other items for the back of my pickup truck. It's supposed to be

full cat gas secured in a corner for just the occasion. Now, I

don't know what that looks like in your life saying it has to be the

side of the road. I'm not saying it has to be the side of

the road, But are we giving any attention to being able to respond to

the needy? I know that one of the things I thought about was one

of the reasons why. I sort of thought, what's really not that important,

because like, well, everybody has a phone, but do you know

what, there are fewer people that have somebody on the other side of that

phone who cares or is on the other side of that phone that has the

ability to respond. It's that broken. And so yeah, the phone doesn't

connect him to too much of anything useful anymore. And so there's an opportunity

for us, and I just I want to encourage us to take it.

I have a blessed memory of praying for somebody that I had no idea who.

He was on the side of the interstate with vehicles going bys a seventy

million hour. I didn't even know if it's safe, but he was broken

out of gas. He was heading to the check casher with his little check

her. Well, why don't you use a bank. I don't have a

bank. What's going on in your life? Well, my girlfriend just left

me, and you know, he just was, he was broken, and

those opportunities are there, they're they're there. I don't know about you,

ladies. And again I'm sort of speaking broader, So let's think a bit

more beyond youth, because you're not gonna be youth all that long. Trust

me, it's changing fast. But in our neighborhood there's a situation that's unraveling

a marriage. And my wife gets a knock on the door one morning at

about eleven o'clock and the neighbor ladies at the door are all distressed. She's

walked them out in a half just because she she has a vehicle, but

she just had to walk because she just didn't know what to do, and

she just walked her. She got to my wife's door, sat down the

table and cried and talked for an hour and a half. Yeah, my

wife was just going about normal responsibilities. But God said right here, and

that opportunity is still open. We're talking about needy. I was recently a

young man from a community right next to us went on a pretty long trip.

Now, he was going on that trip to serve for four weeks in

a program that was involved in rebuilding. And yeah, it was just service

to the needy. Right now, It's interesting about this family. They are

very very cautious, like they would never pick somebody up. Well, you

wouldn't do that. You might get a whole lot of things might happen.

But I don't know what happened. I want to ask him the next time

I see him. But on that trip he saw somebody picked him up and

took him for I don't know, a better part of a day. Praise

God. He was open to an opportunity, obviously helping the need. There

are so many young ladies you have the opportunity to serve in your community.

There's there's a number of young ladies in our community that's taken tea Sooul because

they've been in the sl projects. And so interestingly enough, there's opportunity with

families who moved in. Some of them are you know, not really immigrants

in that they're there as doctors or wives of doctors and children of doctors,

and there's been opportunities to teach English, which you see it's just like,

oh wow, do I want to go teach them English? Yeah, you

probably should because it's a door. And then inside that door, there's relationships

that build, and then you get connected to another very conservative Muslim lady over

here, and next thing you know, you're inside their lives. And so

that's the way these things work. And sometimes the most undesirable little job opens

up into something else, something more and so there's so many opportunities. There's

so many opportunities. I don't know what you're doing with any kind of children,

Bible discovery, kids clubs, any of those kinds of things. But

our community has about sixty to eighty that they minister to every week, and

it takes quite a crew because we break them down into like groups of six

and eight children. So it's lots of teachers, lots of classrooms, lots

of activity. But those things, over a decade and now heading into two

decades, open up opportunities into maturing adults, into relationships, into people,

and now your doors at church. If you don't want to get, if

you don't want to touch brokenness, then don't do it. But if you're

open to it, and God's going to give you some opportunities. And so

may God help us in that zero point three serve in marriage, yes,

right before you, Perhaps it's my marriage for you. God's created this plan

and it's perfect, and it's a perfect and it's a good plan. And

I embrace marriage. I am for marriage. I encourage it, and so

it's God's plan. This world has twisted it all up, but it's a

beautiful and a good thing, and so God bless you all, go in

peace and get married. No, I'm not making a joke out of it.

I want you to understand that that is, as a general rule,

that is God's plan for your life. There's exceptions, and that's God's will

for your life as well. No problem with that, but consider it,

think about it. Sometimes I hear youth nearly mocking those who are dating and

getting married and suggesting that these people don't have a proper vision of kingdom work.

Oh, I just settle on down like good Mennonites and getting married.

You know, you'll I've heard some of that kind of talk. You know,

there's so many opportunities and so much to be done. How can they

do that? Just settle down and get married? And I do have a

word of caution for that mindset. Be very careful about saying no to a

legitimate relationship possibility. Because you believe God is calling you to bigger things.

It is possible that you will end up somewhere in some ministry unfulfilled and unstable

because you've pushed back against God's will for your life. I have seen it.

Did that make sense to you all? Do you follow me on that?

Be careful about saying no to a legitimate opportunity, something that you should

seriously considered. But no, no, no, I've already decided that I

have these work, this work that I need to do. This is God's

will form my life. Wait a minute, be careful. That just might

not be the case. And so consider that carefully. Number four serve the

church. Galatians six, verse nine says this and ten and let us not

be weary and well doing, but for indue season we shall reap if we

faint not. And as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto

all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Every

person is needed in the church, everyone, everyone, Yes, even if

you have the most if even if you have the strongest held you know,

opinions and ideas and you like to debate. Yes, you're welcome here,

You're needed here. We would just ask one thing, would you be willing

to blend you know, would you be willing to bring that together? The

church is about being engaged. It's not just about you know. Sort of

my place is here on bench numbers six, and that's sort of my thing.

And that'll be enough. I think God is looking for more than that.

We are different. There's different personalities, and that's what's so wonderful that

there are some there are some men and women for that matter, who see

all the details, like they'll see if there was a candy wrapper left on

these benches when they leave here, well maybe they shouldn't be given out candy

at time, you know. I don't know just those kinds of things.

They bring their qualities, they bring their gifts, and Sunday school teachers.

I've been just in plaid and pressed recently with the effort that our Sunday school

teachers have been giving some to our children's classes back at home, some sort

of almost out of the box things that they're doing to if the participation and

just promote good Sunday school. That's what they're doing. They're doing it,

and it's been wonderful to see. My point is is that serve the church

while you're doing it. In the moment, it's sort of like normal stuff.

Yeah, I need to teach Sunday school again. And I don't know

why they asked youth to teach the adult class, because oh, we love

it, don't we older men. Don't we like to have the youth teaches

Sunday school class, adult Sunday school class. Absolutely, we love it.

But somewhere in that journey, there's a moment comes when oh, now it's

this, I'm being asked to do that. Yeah, you're being asked to

do that. And God meets you there. And so every person is needed,

the ushers, to trustees, the ladies in the kitchen, and beyond,

the one who preaches and teaches, the one who always as I mentioned,

and so youth, don't overlook this body, don't overlook. Don't look

past it. Don't look past it. Find a find a place here wherever

your home church is, engage there, give yourself there, and God's going

to meet you there. Number five in my final points, serve in mission,

Serve in mission. I put this last because we're called. I believe

that we call. We're called to begin our service to those who are closest

to us. We're called to begin our service to those who are closest to

us. Youth, there are opportunities out there, there are opportunities out there,

places to make a difference. And I'm excited about that. I embrace

that. I've I've had the opportunity of being on the other side of calling

up people asking people would you serve those kinds of things, and having people

reach out to me and saying is there a place to serve? Happy with

it either way, I understand that and I welcome that, and there are

works to be done, There are places where you can serve very fulfilling,

very fulfilling lives. In my experience for over fifteen years of interviewing and sending

scores of youth into the mission field in Bangladesh, what I've discovered, or

what's been shown to me, is that it's those youths who are busy serving

faithful in their local communities and in their local commitments that are and it's those

that are able to blend their gifts with others at home that are the most

effective in their work abroad. So it just comes down to some of those

very simple and basic things. But if you're doing that here, I believe

that God will lead you. And if your heart's desire is and it's a

good, noble desire, I would love to serve. And you know,

some other very different culture. Your faithfulness, now God's faithful, and those

opportunities and possibilities will probably be yours. So engage here and now commit here,

and now put your best efforts into team, whether it's in your youth

activities, whether it's in service activities, in your communities, in church,

and God will find you. Doors of opportunity will open. As Proverbs tells

us, he will direct your paths. He'll do that, He promises to

do that. And so, dear youth, today, the church needs your

energy, it needs your courage, it needs your fresh vision to propel it

forward in this great kingdom conflict of which you are apart. And so,

dear youth, we're glad to see you arrive at the front lines with us,

and we look forward to going into battle with you. We need you

and you need us. And nothing makes an old man happier than to team

up with fresh, youthful energy and youth. If you will just listen to

the words of the experienced, you will go far. You will go far.

I want to just close with a couple verses out of Matthew twenty five,

Verses thirty four and thirty five. Then shall the King say unto them

on his right hand, come ye, blessed of my father inherit the kingdom

prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was in hunger

and you gave me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink.

I was a stranger and you took me in naked and you clothed me.

I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came

unto me. Opportunities to serve are all around us. Let's not overlook them.

Reach out for them. God will meet you there. And may God

bless you make youth. You are the Church of tomorrow and we are counting

on you. May God bless you. May God bless your lives.