"Youth Service" By Brother Parrish Lee August 23rd,
2015 We’re going to talk about four
points today. Specifically for
people. The scripture thought, for youth
service, is: Isaiah 44:2 Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and
formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant;
and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen. So, from the Book of Isaiah, and
this is a very important Scripture, this is a very important scripture. You ever feel different from everybody
else? You ever feel like maybe you don’t
fit in, or there’s something different about you from everybody else? According to this Scripture, Isaiah 44:2, “Thus
saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help
thee…” So, the Scripture says He made
you; He made us, He made older people, but He made y’all extremely
special. He took His time on you, He
took his time on you, that’s why everybody is different. Because He personally formed us in the womb,
and He will—no matter what else is going on—He will help us. God will help us. Now, we’d like to talk about four
people. So, the first person we’re going
to talk about is from the Book of Second Chronicles: 2 Chronicles 34:1-3 Josiah was
eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and
thirty years. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and
walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand,
nor to the left. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young,
he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he
began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and
the carved images, and the molten images. So, the first person we’re going
to talk about—and this is really a message to everybody—one of my favorite
people in the whole Bible, a young king named Josiah. I don’t know…
Is anybody here eight years old?
Nobody here is eight? Anybody
here nine? Nine? Good; come on up. Oh, okay.
Anybody else here nine? Okay;
come on up, Matt. So, we have young king
Josiah, eight years old, and God made him king.
It’s good to be king. When you’re
king, you get your way. So, what Josiah
did, when he was eight years old, it talks about he did that which was right in
the Lord. Anybody here sixteen? Coe on up.
Stand right beside—you’re the other side. (Turning to Matt as young Josiah) Eight years
from now, when you’re sixteen, you prepare your heart to seek the Lord, and you
actually lead a nation, a nation, in how to follow the Lord. That’s right.
Eight years old, to sixteen years old, you prepared your heart, and
then, at sixteen, you taught an entire country how to follow the ways of
God. So, you can’t say, “I’ve got to be
a certain age.” You can start seeking
God here (gesturing to Matt), and be ready to teach, here (gesturing to Justin
as Josiah at sixteen), an entire nation.
Why? Because God does it through
you. Our next person we’d like to talk
about—well, before we go off on this one, there’s another Scripture that talks
about Josiah. A real great Scripture. 2 Kings 23:25 And like unto him
was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and
with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses;
neither after him arose there any like him. Do you know, do you know, this guy
was so special, at eight years old, when he began to seek God, up until
sixteen, there was not even another king like him. Do you know how special you are? Ain’t nobody else even like you. You can be that great. Eight to sixteen, the Bible says there was
not even a king like him that came before him, or after him. No limits in God. So, that’s Josiah. I’d like to talk about somebody
else. 2 Chronicles 33:1-2 Manasseh was
twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in
Jerusalem: But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like unto the
abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
So, this one is talking about a
different king. This one’s talking about
Manasseh. Manasseh became king when he
was twelve. Anybody here twelve? Stand right over here, Manasseh. Manasseh. Stand right over here. Now Manasseh—we’re not going to wish evil on
him—but, Manasseh was twelve years old, and he did that which was evil in the
sight of God. So, we have an eight-year-old
that’s turning the nation to God, and
a twelve-year-old, who’s teaching an entire nation how to mess up, how to do
wrong, how to do evil, how to sin. We’re
not even going to go into the detail of all that he did. That’s two; we have two kings
here, and we’re going to have another king. 1Samuel 16:10-13 Again,
Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not
chosen these. And Samuel said unto
Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the
youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch
him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful
countenance, and goodly to look to. And
the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. 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 Ramah. Amen. Now I need a David. Hey, Aiden, today, your name’s going to be
David. Come on up. We need you right over here, David. Now, David, you got seven brothers, and the
prophet came to your house, and he was looking for who God was calling. He went to all your older brothers, but none
of them was the man. He said, “He’s not
here. Call one more.” But his dad was like, “I got one more, but,
he’s just doing the chores.” So, his
father called him, and God told him, “This is the one. This is the man. So, sometimes, it’s not about all
your siblings, sometimes it’s not about everybody else, sometimes it’s you that
God is looking for. And he was anointed,
even though his dad—it doesn’t mention his mom—but his dad didn’t understand
how great this thing was in his life.
Now, I know your dad, does, David (looking at Aiden). But, David in the Bible, his dad did not know
how great this calling was, that was going to be on him. And he was anointed when he was the youngest
one. But can I let you in on a secret? All
of them had a calling. So, even though
God was calling you, and calling you, and calling you, He’s also calling your
brothers and your sisters. And He’s also
calling your mom and your dad. And He’s
also calling your auntie, and your uncle, and your cousins. God has a calling for every single one of us. And, our last one we’re going to
talk about. 2 Kings 5:2-4 And the Syrians
had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of
Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife. And she said unto her mistress, Would God my
lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his
leprosy. And one went in, and told his
lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel. So, Miss Jailed, today, you’re a
little maid. It doesn’t talk about how
old you are; it doesn’t even give your name.
But, what it says is that someone who was young, who was in captivity,
was brought out of the land, and, you know what you did? You taught all those people that there is a
prophet who knows God. “And, let me tell
you what God can do!” And, when you tell
the person you’re working for, she runs over, and she tells her husband, and
her husband goes to the king, and says, “Hey, this guy can heal me,’ so won’t
you heal me? Because you are the one
that knows God. Not the people you work
for, not the people you’re visiting. You
are the one. So, yes, young men, that we
talked about, and young women—didn’t even give the name, but it just talked
about how they knew where to go to find God.
So, I said all this to tell you
this much: Whether you’re Josiah, or
Manasseh, whether you’re David, or a little maid, the choice is yours. You can be anybody you want to be in God; the
choice is going to be yours. And our last Scripture (for this
part) is, of course, going to be our Scripture of the month: Philippians 1:6 Being confident of
this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you [God has begun
a good work in all of you, and God] will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ: One last thing, young people. If you ever want to get up in front of people
and tell them how you feel this little pulpit is kind of small, and this room
isn’t as big as the stage that God gives you every day. Whether it’s in your home, whether it’s on a
playground, whether it’s in your school; wherever God calls you is the land
that he gives you to share His word and be His example. Part Two We’re going to have a prayer for
part two. Lord, right now, we had such a
wonderful time with Your children. God,
as You call them, as You mold them, and You have so many things going on in
their lives. And we are an integral part
of every single thing, Lord. So, we need
a special anointing, as those who would lead.
God, if You would bless this message, and let it do exactly as Your Word
says, and would not return unto You void, but surely accomplish that to which
You sent it. And this we do claim and
pray in Jesus name. And everyone said
amen. And, this, too, will also be a
short message. I‘m going to be
honest. But, this part, part two of the
message, is for the grown-ups. We heard
the part about the four people who, they were young and God had His Spirit on
them, or they rejected His Spirit, but the choice was theirs. But, now we go to the New Testament; now we
go to the Lord, now we go to what the Lord says, and there’s a situation going
on here, that God allowed to be put in His Word for our learning. Mark 10:13-16 And they brought
young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked
those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and
said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto
me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto
you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall
not enter therein. And he took
them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. So, our scenario here, the Lord is
there, and they bring the little children to Him, that He might touch
them. And there were people who didn’t
like that. There were people who didn’t
like it, and the Lord had a specific message for those people. The Bible says that He was displeased at
those that wanted to stop those who wanted to bring the children to Him. And he said, “Suffer it to be so, because of
such is the Kingdom of God.” Now,
there’s a distinction here, and this is important. There’s a distinction here. He didn’t say,
“For of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
And, let’s face it, the Kingdom of Heaven will be where we hear about
the gates of pearl, and the walls that are jasper, and we hear about the
streets that are paved with gold. We
hear about the foundations of that city; we hear about how bright it is,
because, in that city, there’s no need of electricity, because the glory of the
Lord lights that place. And we hear
about how wonderful it will be in that city, as He wipes all our tears and
sorrows away in the Kingdom of heaven, but it didn’t say the Kingdom of Heaven,
here. He said, the Kingdom of God. If we don’t receive it as a little child, we
won’t be able to enter into the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God; the place where God is King. The place where God rules, and has His
freedom. The place where God occupies
the thoughts, and He’s the King of the minds, and He’s the King in the
hearts. The Kingdom of God. The place where God can freely move, and not
hear, “Oh, not today, Lord, I’ve got something else going on. I’ll schedule You in later.” The Kingdom of God, where He can give
presents, and blessings, and nobody says, “I’m really not in the mood for
that. Lord, could You give me something
else?” The place where, when God gives
presents, and He gives blessings, and He gives wonderful things, they are
received, and they are appreciated, and they are enjoyed when they come. The Kingdom of God, where God is loved, and
where He is loved as a King. It said
unless we receive that Kingdom as a little child, we cannot enter in. An, seriously, Saints, what would
the Kingdom of heaven be, with all the gates of pearl, and with all the walls
of jasper, and the brightness that there isn’t no need for electricity, and the
streets are pure gold, and the foundations…
What good would Heaven be, if God ain’t going to be there with us? What good would Heaven be? We need the Kingdom of God. And the Bible says—well the Lord says in the
Bible, that we need to be able to receive it as a little child. A little child. And he makes a distinction. Why a little child? Why a little child? Because He was already
talking to the big children. Why a
little child? Because He was trying to
put them in remembrance of what it was like when they were little children, and
they had this humbleness, and this trust, and a sincerity, and a belief, and
you could tell them that God could do everything, and they said, “That’s
amazing! God can do everything!” not,
“Oh, yeah, but…” You know, you get a
little older and that trust thing swings into play real quick. “I might trust You that much, but I don’t
trust anybody a whole lot.” But, put
them in remembrance of being like a little child. Receive God’s Kingdom as a little child. But then the Bible says, in verse
sixteen, that He took them up in His arms, the Lord took them up in His arms,
every one of them, and he blessed them.
Because God has a blessing—not just for the little ones, but the big
ones, also. But the responsibility lays
with those that brought them to Jesus.
So, the message is, we must bring them to the Lord. We must bring, yes, the little ones, and the
big ones, and the medium ones, and the ones that roll more than fly. And the ones that don’t walk quite
straight. And the ones who don’t see so
good. We must bring all of God’s
children to Jesus. That’s our mission. Our next Scripture—and I think
we’re only going to go over four Scriptures, here. Not very many, anyway. 1 Corinthians 14:26 How is it
then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a
doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all
things be done unto edifying. Number one in the Kingdom of God
is to love the Lord thy God with all—amazing that you went to that scripture,
Andy—to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind and strength, and
number two, the Lord says, is like unto it, is to love thy neighbor as thyself. This is what we’re talking about in the
Kingdom of God. God desires—one of the
things that God doesn’t appreciate is separation. God doesn’t want us to be separate; He
doesn’t want the young and the old to be separated from each other; He doesn’t
want the old to be separated from the middle, and the middle separated from the
young, but, we’re living in a day where even families are torn apart. That was never God’s plan. This separation that’s going on so adamantly
was never the plan of God. See, God’s
plan was to have a place where they could walk with Him, and be with God, and,
as it says in the Book of Genesis, not be ashamed; that it’s them and God. He wanted it so much that he made a place for
us to be able to do that. And when that
didn't work out, He made another one where we could be together, and we could
have each other. We could be all one in
Him; the Kingdom of God. But, we’re
living in a time when people want to be able to have their time, their spot;
something that separates them from everybody else. And, that’s never God’s plan. What good would it do to have someone, anyone,
who can eloquently speak, if they’re not going to edify. What good would it be if we could sing so
wonderfully if we can’t edify? What good
would it be if I could quote scriptures like a prophet, but I can’t edify, I
can’t share that which God brings? So,
how is it that when people would come together, whatever is in our life is more
important than somebody else. The Lord
says He wants us all to edify one another. And, yes, we want to take out some
time to talk about the kids, but we understand that we are all God’s children. Mark 9:17-24 And one of the multitude answered and said,
Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And
wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with
his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast
him out; and they could not. He
answereth him, and saith, 0 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. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire,
and into the waters, to destroy him: but if Thou canst do any thing, have
compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe,
all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried
out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief. Our scenario is simple. It’s very simple, it’s very plain. A scenario of a father bringing his child to
the Lord, but, the father said, “I first took him to Thy disciples,” and we see
it in our schools. We see it in the
streets. I’m from a place back East
where we saw it on TV; young people just rioting. And sometimes it’s not good enough to get the
counsellors in there; sometimes it’s not good enough. We really need to take them to Jesus. We really need to take them to the Lord. And the Lord put the question to the person
who was bringing him, and he said, “How long has it been in him?” And he said, “It’s been in him for a while;
it’s been in him since he was a child, but, I know that You can do this,
Lord. I know that You can do this.” And He said, “I can. All things are possible if you believe.” And he said, “Yeah, Lord, I believe, but, I
need some help, Lord. Help Thou mine
unbelief. Lord, I’m bringing him to You,
but there’s some things that I have to do.
Please, Lord, please, help me help him.
Help me with whatever it is that needs to happen.” And then there is the change that happens as
the Spirit comes out of him. But the
first issue was that somebody took him to the Lord. Our last Scripture. One of the young people came up here and
shared it. I’m borrowing form the
message next week, Brother Jesse. Is it
possible to have a positive effect? Is it possible to see a change take
place? Is it possible to see it turned
around? Is it possible to be in a
situation and know that God can take control?
Is it possible?
|
|
|
|
