Pastor John’s message for the teenagers 7/3/19
I know what the Lord was telling each of these teenagers in here tonight while I was praying for them. He kept saying after each one, “God wants the life.” You young people grew up around holiness; you’re in all the prayer meetings, and you have learned how to act in them. You have learned how to act when you feel the Spirit. But God is not interested in your prayer, your songs, or your worship from you unless He has your life. He wants the life. That includes how you treat one another when you’re out together somewhere. That also includes the times you are home by yourself. He wants your life. He wants you. That’s what God wants. He wants you, and if He doesn’t have you, then you’d be better off not to praise the Lord. That’s what Paul called eating and drinking damnation to yourself.
You can learn how to act in a meeting of the saints, but if God has your life, you’ll know how to act around sinners, and you’ll know how to act outside the meeting of the saints. If God has your life, He has your heart. And if He has your heart, He has your tongue, your hands, your decisions, and your desires – if He has your life. That is what He is after because He wants to save your life. Yes, God wants to save your life, and if you want to save your life, then give it to Him. Get rid of it because you don’t know what to do with it.
Paul says we don’t even know how to pray like we ought to. He gave his life to the Lord, and he said the Spirit talks some good stuff through me! Praise God! He gave his life to the Lord, and just look at the result! Look at his faith and what he did. Do you want to be worth something in this world? Give your life to Jesus. You’ll be valuable to every person you meet. You’ll have something good for them even if it’s nothing more than a warm smile. You’ll have it for them if God has your life. You won’t be a bad influence on those around you, especially the younger ones looking up to you. You won’t be something they’ll have to overcome to do the right thing.
If God has your life, He has your attitude toward parents, toward government, toward authority, and toward those who are smaller or weaker than yourselves. If He has your life, you will bless them, and God will bless you. That’s what God wants. He wants to save your life, not just your soul.
My father told us that it is a good thing for older people to get right with God and not go to hell because that is a soul saved; however, it is better for people to come to God while they are young so He can save their whole life. That’s what God wants to save – your life! He wants your life because only He knows what to do with it. You don’t know. I didn’t know when I was young. I made a mess out of my life. Jesus picked me up out of the dung heap and said, “Give me your life.” I said, “I give up.” I gave up, and he gave me a life! This is the life Jesus gave me when I gave up mine. This is the life Jesus gave me. He created this person who is talking to you out of the ragged life that I gave Him. And it was a pleasure for my “old man” to die, let me tell you. It was a relief for my old self to get out of the way and just let Jesus guide my life. Amen! Hallelujah! Praise God forever!
