Youth Sunday Sermonette By Brother Parrish Lee August 25th,
2013 NOTE: We didn't really have a sermon for the last Sunday of the month, but Brother Parrish brought us a short sermonette for Youth Sunday. Three Scripture verses for today: Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the
way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. 1 Timothy 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the
believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in
purity. Let’s
just have a brief word of prayer. Lord,
we thank You for all that You have done.
Lord, we are continually
amazed at Your presence, and Your goodness and Your Spirit. Behold, Lord, how great You are to us. You treated us when we were nothing, and just
formed from the dust of the earth; You have made us to be Your sons. We thank You for the spirit that You’ve put
in our lives, Your guidance, Your focus, and Your truth, and for being with us
every day. We thank You for this time,
and we ask that You would bless the receiving of Your word, that it would not
return unto You void, but, as Your Word has said, that it would accomplish that
for which You sent it. We thank You and
we praise You, and everyone said, “Amen.” In
Proverbs, it says to train up a child.
To train up is to initiate, to start, to discipline, and it also means,
to dedicate. In
the book of First Timothy, when it says to be an example, that word example
means to be a model of the believers. It
also means to be a stature. Everyone who
looks at you can see what you represent of the believers. It also means to be the manner of the
believers, and the pattern. In other
words, it’s not just a one-time thing, it’s over and over and over again. “...In word...” That is quite simple. ‘Word’ means, What you say. “...In conversation...” We have conversation, but this conversation
is more than just what you say; this conversation is in your behavior, how you
act, one towards another. “...In
charity...” Charity we know is love, but this charity is love, and affection,
and benevolence. In other words, it is a
love-feast. Charity is that love that just pours out from
you in example of the believers. This is
for Youth Sunday. that’s what this is,
this is for Youth Sunday. “...In
spirit...” Spirit here means the rational soul. It also means the vital principle, the mental disposition;
the essence of what you do and why
you do it. You can always see somebody
doing something decent, but, if you could look in them, you might not always
believe that they had a good heart in the whole matter. “...In faith...” which is your moral
conviction, and more than just your moral conviction, it is your religious
truth, or the truth that you have in God.
“...In purity...” which is cleanliness, and it also is chastity. I
was speaking to Pastor Paine recently, and I mentioned to him that these two
Scriptures, specifically address two of the biggest needs we have in the
ministry today. As a matter of fact,
they address two of the biggest needs we have in the world, today. Number one is education. People need to be educated. People want to be educated. People want to be educated with knowledge. People want to be not just told, they want to
be trained. They don’t want to be left
alone, just have things written on the blackboard and the teacher walks
away. That’s not the education we’re
talking about. The other big need is example. Don’t just teach me and train me, but let me
see you do it. God’s people, when it
talks about being an example, it’s talking about God’s people from one to a
hundred and one. Those young
people. When it talks about ‘thy youth,’
(I’ve always heard, “No matter how old you are, you’re still one of those young
people”) but this Scripture isn’t just limited to your personal youth, this
Scripture is also talking about the youth that you have around you. Your youth.
Your youth that you teach; your youth that you walk with. Your youth that you eat with. Your youth that you come to church and
worship with. Be an example to those,
because those are the youth that God has given you to be around. Let no man despise their youth, the youth that lives inside of them, because that is
the youth that God gave you to live before.
Pastor
Paine would always give this example, and the first time he gave it, it really taught
me a lesson, and it’s been ministering to me ever since. He talked about these two teachers that were teaching
classes in school. One of the teachers
said, “My class is so terrible. They
don’t act right, they make noise; they don’t listen, they throw things across
the room. I don’t know why in the world I’ve
got such an awful class.” She would say
this day after day; day after day. Her
friend, the second teacher said, “Wow. My
class is just awesome. They are a
blessing to me. They love to come in and
learn, and you know, we always have a relationship together, our class.” The first teacher said, “Wow. I wish I could have your class, then you
could see what it’s like.” The second
teacher said, “I think we could do that; I think we could switch classes.” So they switched classes, and they weren’t
able to get back together for a little while, but after a week or two, they got
back together. “I have no idea know what
you were talking about. Your class is
just as unruly! They don’t act right,
they throw things across the room, they don’t listen, they don’t do their
work! What in the world were you talking
about?” The second teacher said, “I
don’t know what you’re talking about; your class is awesome! we have a relationship together, they love
learning, they love coming to class. We
have a wonderful time!” So, you see the
moral of the story: the problem wasn’t in
the class. The problem was taken to the
class by the teacher. It was only
fitting that you talked about leaders; if you inspire; if you give... I don’t know what all the rest of them were,
but I’m going to learn them, and I’m going to try to be that. Our
youth that are given to us, they are not just the youth of whoever the current
ones who brought them, we each have a responsibility. We each have a role in their lives. We don’t have to grab every one of them and
shake them, but, if you see them—many times God quickens you to see something
in their lives. It is our responsibility
to pray for them; pray with them if they need it. I’ve seen so many times, and I’m just here in
this little room, I’ve seen so many times when they would come, and they would
look up to different adults. Some of
them, they take their turn, just to have you say something nice to them, just
to have you say a couple of kind words, because it means so much to their world. Let no man despise them, speak evil of them,
say what they can’t do... Don’t put a
curse on our youth, and when I say our youth, I’m talking about the ones in
classes, the ones in this room, the ones from one to a hundred and one. That’s our charge, church, to train them up
and to be their example. That’s our
charge. So,
during our sixty-one days, our time of sanctification, we expect to see people
able to yoke themselves to other people...
It’s just sixty-one days.
September and October. we’re
going to take out time, we’re going to make sure that we are praying and
fasting together. Hold each other
accountable during this sixty-one days of purification time, a time of
growth. Maybe a time for things that you
have been looking for but haven’t had time to get to. At that time, include the young people. Include them to be part of that blessing. 1 Timothy 4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them:
for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. This being youth Sunday, and, some of the
young people (I don’t want to call them kids, because their not really kids,
they’re young people), some of them have already started school, some of them
have not, but this is a good time to have them have communion with us. This is a good time, and after that, we’re
going to bring them up to the altar, and we’re going to anoint every one of
them. we’re going to have a prayer over
them, and over their school year. It’s
very important to them—we want them to be successful.
Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd |
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