I want to talk to you about after your salvation tonight, amen? A lot of God's people haven't done anything since they got saved. You know what this reminds me of right here? How many of y'all know Harold Lee? You don't know him, but you've probably heard some of his songs. Amen. Excuses, excuse them, you hear them every day. I mean, he's got, they call, he calls them songs that preach. He's got that one, you ever heard that one, church babies? And he uses a little thing like that. Well, anyhow, amen. Church babies. And that's what we got, a lot of church babies. Sooner or later, you got to grow up. And I'm not talking about getting out of the house and getting a job. I'm talking about growing up spiritual. Trying to have a youth rally around the theme of fighting for our generation. Somebody's got to step up and fight. We talked about it a little bit last night. It's the older generation's fault. That's why we have what we have. But if some of you don't soon grow up and start fighting, what are we going to have after this? It's time to grow up. Paul said to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians chapter number 13 and verses number 11, when I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. It's time to grow up. It's time to take the blood stained banner and go forward for the Lord, amen. I want to use a man tonight in the Bible over in Hebrews chapter 11. We'll start in verse number 23 and preach on this thought, amen, the characteristics of someone coming to years. It's time to come to years. You'll see what I'm talking about in just a moment. Hebrews chapter 11 in verse 23. What's the first word there? The rest of you don't have Bibles. Look on with somebody. What's the second word? That's what it's gonna take. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents because they saw that he was a proper child and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith, Moses, when he was come to use, that's the phrase I'm interested in tonight, when he was come to use, he grew up He became a man, he put away childish things. He had enough of mom and daddy's faith, and it was good, and thank God for mom and daddy's faith, but to come a time, you gotta have your own faith. Thank God for mama's and daddy's victories, amen, when they put him out there in that river, amen, but to come a time that Moses needed his own victories. in verse 23 you see perennial faith in action with his parents but in verse 24 through verses number 26 I see what's called personal faith you got to get some personal faith in your life and that personal faith in verse 27 through verse 29 will become practical faith It's something you practice in your life. Verse 24, By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer afflictions with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he had respect under the recompense of the reward. So what did he do? That personal faith that he had where he refused and made the right choice and esteemed the right things become practical in his life. Why do you talk about what you have personally in your life, but why ain't it become practical in your life? Why is it not producing an action out of your life? We got a lot of God's people that's got a lot of hot air, amen, and they talk a lot about what's personal to them, but you're not seeing it practically showing out in their lives. He had personal faith that produced a practical lifestyle. How did it become practical? Look in verse 27. By faith he forsook Egypt. That's practical, amen. That's action, amen. It's more than just something in his heart. Now it's producing something in his life. Thank God for personal testimony of salvation. Hey, but sooner or later, you got to grow up and come to years, and it's got to get practical in your life. What did he do? He forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he what? Endured. That's practical. As seeing him who is invisible, that's how he done it. Through faith he kept, that's practical, the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith he what? Passed. You say that's practical? You say that was an action involved? He's going forward, amen? Amen. What kind of actions have you done for the Lord Jesus Christ? passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians are saying to do were drown. Moses had come to years. He had grown up, started living by the faith of God in his heart. Brother Jimbo, would you pray for us tonight, brother? Probably more important, would you help us? Yes, God, make it real. Let the word of God find good ground. God help. God help. Let it bring forth the problem. And Lord, we've said it for years, we're in a crowd that gets the best preaching in the country. But God, help us to be responsible for that. Yes, yes, yes. Help us to do something with it. By faith, Moses, when he had come to years, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Amen. Moses had become a man. He began to grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, if you will. But before he could ever grow, there had to be first a birth. Now I just say this is passing, amen. I'm sure somebody's probably not born again tonight and everything I'll say after this is not going to make any impact in your life when you first become a child of God. You can't grow and leave the childhood stage until you first become a child of God. There's got to be a born again in your life. The Bible said ye must be born again, amen. But as you study your Bible, amen, there's stages of growth within children of God. Amen. It starts with a birth. Amen. Without a birth, you're not in the family. Amen. And when you become born again by the good grace of God, you're what that Bible calls a baby stage. Just like practically when you were born in this world, you was a baby until you grow up to where you're at right now, amen? The problem is some of you still sucking pacifiers and you're way past the age, amen, of being a child, amen? But the baby stage is what I call, and when I study, it's the carnal stage. That's the way Paul described it in 1 Corinthians chapter number 3. Amen. It's a carnality stage. I mean, you're real carnal. Amen. Thank God you're born again, but you're carnal. Hey, there's a lot of people here tonight, you're born again by the good grace of God, but you're just as carnal as the day is long. Some of you been saved 5, 6, 7, 8 years. Some of you got testimonies of being saved when you was maybe 5 years of age, but you've never grown up and you're still as carnal as you was when you got born again. Amen. You're a babe in Christ. Amen. Hey, the stages of growth. From the baby stage, you become what the Bible calls little children. Now, you pass the carnal stage, but as a little child, you're what the Bible calls childish. Or what I would call childish. Amen. Everything's just funny to you. Ain't nothing wrong with that. Ain't nothing wrong with these stages, by the way. Hey, surely if you're not been saved a long time, I'm not trying to throw stones at you tonight and make you feel bad about your life. Everybody's got to have time to grow. Amen. Some of you profess to be saved a whole lot longer than that, and you should have been past the baby stage, and you should have been past the little child stage, where you're real childish, amen. You just giggle about everything. There's nothing serious about church, nothing serious about singing, amen. Hey, some of you not been grown that long in the grace of God, and I can understand. Hey, you get up here and sing. I see them. They get up here and sing, and they make a mistake, and they start looking at each other and laughing. I'm not, I'm not, there's nothing wrong with that in my eyes when you're, when you're a young child of God. I mean, that's reasonable. You're childish. It doesn't mean you're not saved, amen? But you're not grown in the good grace of God. But some of you have been saved 10, 15 years and you get up there and do that? There's something wrong with that. I mean, Christianity and singing and worship of God's not serious with you, you're still childish. And to be honest, that's where you're at on your growth stage and you should have been grown way, lot, lot past that, amen. But you leave the little child stage, you become what the Bible calls children. Now, as a child, a children, amen, or child if you would, he talks about it in Galatians chapter number 3, you pass the carnality stage, you pass the childish stage, amen, and you become one that has assurance. Galatians 3 verse 26. Hey, you're not just professed to be saved, you know you're saved. I mean, there ain't nobody talking you out of it. You know you're born again by the good grace of God. You know God has moved in inside of you. And when they start singing about God's mercy and about God's grace, how he brought you out of that old hog pen and saved your soul, it's real to you, amen. It's something down in your crawl, amen. You're growing in the good grace of God. You're a child, you know your God today, man. And as a child, you grow up to the young man's stage. And the young man's stage, according to 1 John 2, verse 13, that's an overcomer. You pass the carnality, you pass the childishness, you got the assurance of your salvation, and you're growing up, you're starting to overcome some things. You're winning some victories in your life as we talked about and preached a little bit last night about. And you're growing up and you're defeating these temptations in your life. It's just pulling you down all the time, amen. Hey, you remember when you got saved and tobacco went out the window, amen. You got new, you're saved. You started overcoming that battle of tobacco in your life. Baby, you gotta overcome that battle of that cell phone and the temptations that it has and the same things that was placed on that lady tonight. Hey, you begin to grow up, baby, and you begin some strength in your life and you start overcoming some of the obstacles in your life. Hey, some of you ain't never overcame nothing. I'm not saying you're not saved. God saves you. You're saved, amen. You're just as saved as I am, amen. Hey, but you're carnal, amen. You're childish, amen. And you've never overcame anything in your life. Hey, there's gotta come a time in your life. You come the years, amen. You can't ride on mom and daddy's coattail all your life. And you grow up from that young man stage and you become an overcomer. And the Bible says that you go up to that fatherly stage. And that tells us about the wisdom and knowledge that begins to be engrafted in you through the Word of God and practice out of your life. And then up to the elderly stage where God makes you rulers and gives you responsibilities in your life. And then up to the stage which he mentions over there in Philemon verse 9. And that's that seasoned individual. But in those stages, seven stages of growth, everybody in this place that's saved tonight are in one of those stages. And you ought to be advancing in the Lord. I mean, if we just sit around and shout about the victories of the past and what these old timers have done and glory to God for what they've done and glory to God for the standards that they've upheld and the testimony that they had and the victories that they have fought and the victories they have won, amen. But if somebody behind them don't soon step up, amen, it's gonna crumble and we ain't gonna have nothing left, amen. and it's slowly infiltrating in our churches and we're laying down our standards and laying down our Bibles, amen, and being influenced by the contemporary movement, amen. Hey, somebody may make a stand and say, I'm in it just like the old timers was, amen. There's got to come a time in your life you got to make the choice to grow in the good grace of God. First thing I see is that perennial faith. Thank God for perennial faith. Thank God for the parents, amen, of Moses and the testimony they had and the faith that they had in God. In verse 23, by faith Moses when he was born was hid three months of his parents because they saw that he was a proper child and they were not afraid of the king's commandments. Hey, they were willing to hide their children, amen. Hey, what are you keeping away from your children? I mean, what are you doing, amen, as a parent, amen, to have the right responsibility? Just hit on the parents for a minute before we go any further, amen? Hey, hey, till they grow up, amen, to their stages in their lives, they're your responsibility. They're my responsibility, amen? Hey, I've got to watch over my child and watch over the people God's put in my care, amen, to help them come to the stage where they begin to overcome some things and get wisdom and knowledge, amen, and season in God using them. But they're our responsibility. You know what's sad? Us as parents have dropped the ball. I mean, we let our television... We used to preach about television all the time, but you're letting your telephone raise your youngin'. Do you know why you're letting your telephones raise your youngins'? Because your telephone's got you. Hey, some of you parents can't lay down your telephone long enough to do anything for the Lord. And you wonder why those children have all the troubles they got. They said they're learning it from us. Hey, the parents of Moses had some standards in their life. They hid things from their child, amen? And they were not afraid of the king's commandments. Hey, some of you ain't got no fear of God in your life. That's why you crumble and let them do whatever they want to do. They run your house. Where's the parents out, amen? We'll preach to you kids in a minute. But what's wrong with the parents, amen? Where's the parents that's got faith, that are not afraid of the King's commandments, not afraid of their wives, not afraid of their husbands, not afraid of what the consequences are going to be? They'll put standards in their child's life. What's wrong with good godly standards, amen? What's wrong with raising them in the right way, amen? Hey, hey, they were not afraid of the king's command. They were not afraid to have standards. They were not afraid to be strict. They were not afraid to make a stand for God, even though the world was going another direction. Preacher, I would do that, but I had to put up with hell on my life. I had to put up hell with my children. Well, just let them go to hell then. That's what you're saying. I don't want to have to put up with all the hardship to try to live right. I didn't ever tell you it'd be easy. But you need to get some grit in your crawl. You think it was easy to take that baby and put him down in that river? You think it was easy to trust God with what God was going to do? It ain't going to be easy. But somebody better step up. We need some parents that's got faith in God, amen. Perennial faith, amen. Faith of godly parents can rear a child in the right direction and thank God for it, amen. But it cannot rule the adult. It does, right? It helps in the time, and I thank God for it. But there comes a time you gotta make the choice. Somebody said this, amen. Perennial faith can save a child from danger. Aren't you glad of that? Amen. But it cannot save them from damnation. It ain't been so far your mom and daddy's fate to take you. Hey, some of you riding in on mom and daddy's fate and you ain't never done anything. You ain't even never received the Lord. I mean, when you're talking about the day you asked the Lord to come into your heart, you know what you think about? You think about the day your mom and daddy first took you to church and you've been there ever since. That didn't make you born again. Thank God for mom and daddy's fate and this saved you from a lot of danger, amen? But you've never made the choice to receive the Lord Jesus Christ and damnation's waiting on you till you get born again. perennial faith, amen. There comes a point in every person's life, every child of God's life, where they gotta make their own decisions, amen. This is where we find Moses in our text in verse 24, amen. The Bible said, by faith, when Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Thank God for mom and daddy's faith. Thank God for their standards, amen. Thank God for their strictness, amen. Hey, hey, but the Bible says, amen, even a child is known by his doings. You know him by what you do, amen. Amen. We're going to give an account as parents, but you're going to give an account as a child. Hey, you know what's the first thing I see about Moses? I see his faith in God. By faith, when he was come to years. Moses had faith in God, amen. He had what was described in Hebrews 11 in verse 6, but without faith, it's impossible to please him. You know what Moses decided, amen, I want to please God. I'm not in this thing to please myself anymore. It's time that I start pleasing God. He lived in the riches of the palace, amen, and all the luxuries of that day, amen. But it come a time in his life when he came to years, amen, that Moses said, I'm going to trust God and I'm going to go with God's people, hell or high water. I want something different in my life. I mean, don't you want something different in your life? Is church just a routine to you? We know how to stand up when a preacher comes up and shake his hand like a man. You taught that. Thank God for it. You ought to have some respect like that. You don't have to hold the door for a lady and say yes ma'am and no ma'am and yes sir and no sir. Some of you do anyhow. Thank God for that. That's good stuff, amen. Hey, but you know what? It better get down in your craw and be more than just something on your lips. It better be down in your heart, amen. It's time that some of you come to years and grow up, amen. You're without excuse, amen. Moses, amen, had faith in God, amen. He put his faith in the Lord, amen. He lived by faith. You know what is the first characteristic I see of someone this coming years? They begin to exercise faith in their lives. I don't know if you're coming to years. Have you ever exercised faith in your life? What kind of faith have you put in God? I mean, to stand up and face your sin. You know what would be a good way to start out a good faith life, amen, is to look at a crowd like this, and you know the Holy Ghost has got a prick in your heart to be saved, and you're lost without God, amen. Hey, to step up despite everybody's looking and everybody that thinks you're saved, and you're really lost, amen. Ain't nobody trying to retread you tonight, amen. Hey, but you know you need to step up and start a good faith life. Not by receiving Jesus as your Savior. But after you get saved, there comes a time in your life you gotta start exercising faith. It's not by sight, amen. It's by faith that we please the Lord, amen. You must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, amen. You gotta start exercising faith in your life. Do you know what He said in 1 John 5 and verse 4? For whatsoever is born of God, overcome of the world. And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. What have you overcome? I mean, what have you done that exercise faith in your life? Well, you know, I would do something for the Lord, but last time I tried to do something, I messed up. So what? Where's your faith then? I tell our people all the time, you know what kind of people don't make mistakes? People that don't try. They may try to kick you down because you've made mistakes in your life. Hey, everybody's not up to the age-seasoned individual that Philemon spoke about. Hey, some of you are just babes. You're carnal like man. Hey, but hey, there comes a time you got to start exercising faith in your life and start growing a little bit and leaving that childishness behind and start overcoming some things in your life. You might have to overcome your own pride. You might have to overcome your own fears. You might have to step out in the peer pressure of this world and say, I don't want to do that. I don't want to look at that. I'm tired of listening to that. It'll take faith to stand like that. Some of you ain't never exercised faith. You just cower down to what everybody else is doing. Well, they're doing it. It must be all right. That don't make it right if it's against God. Where's our faith that we've come to years and started laying down that music? He said, Richard, surely this crowd that we're raising is strict, independent, Baptist churches. We're here, nobody listens to ungodly music. You'd be surprised who listens to ungodly music. We probably can back up, probably be surprised that some of you grown-ups are listening to ungodly music. You ain't never overcome it, amen. Hey, so everybody wonder what's wrong with these children. What are you doing listening to that kind of mess? When you gonna grow up, amen, and start making choices for your own. And when mom and dad is not around, they're not always gonna be around. That you make choices and God's real to your life. Hey, thank God, it's great. Man, I like to see it, man. I like to watch these young people in the church. I see them get up here and they're quoting Bible verses when they're real small like this. You see them? And boy, they can't wait to quote a Bible verse. I mean, they put their mouth all up on the speaker. I want everybody to hear. You see them like that? And then they get a little bit older and the teenage years start slipping in and then they kind of back off and they quote them like this. You know what I'm talking about? They're getting a little shame. Where's that coming from? They're hesitant to do something for the Lord. Hey, you better overcome that in your life, amen? Hey, the devil will push you back in a corner of the flesh and put you back away from God and you'll be ashamed to do something for the Lord. You better get down in your crawdads. You know what? I'm up here because I'm trying to do something for my Lord. I know I got assurance I'm God's child and I want to overcome that fear. I want to overcome that pressure and start growing in the good grace of God. And you see them teenagers get up there and they get like that, boy, and they start getting assurance of it. And they know they're God's children. And they start belling it out when they sing. They start overcoming that. Well, I've watched those children do it in church. And I've watched some of them do it like that and then back up on it. and failed. The pressure got real. The temptation was strong. Some of you kids know what I'm talking about. There's a time you grew up a little bit and you made a stand and God's called me to preach and God's called me to be a missionary and I'm glad I'm saved and I just want to give my life to God and save my body for the right man and for the right girl and serve God by the good grace of God. And you managed. But then you slipped. And you know what? That's where it comes in your life and you got to make a choice what you're going to do. You know what some of you have done? You cowered back down and shut your mouth back on the Lord. You better get up out of that mess you're in. You know better than that kind of garbage. You'll say, well preacher, what's everybody going to think about me? You're going to have to fight it. You're going to have to face it. You're going to have to win a victory in your life. You're going to have to say, you know what? Hey, we talked about last night, winning those victories. A lady come up to me at the church. She said, preacher, what do you mean winning a victory in your life? She was kind of trying to reconcile in her mind. Have I ever won a victory in my life? She said, is hatred a victory that you can win over? I said, you better believe it is. bitterness towards somebody else, the way somebody's treated you, and you win that victory and see what God can do, and thrill your heart with His good grace, and you stand up and say, look what God's done, and you repented over some sin and got a victory and came back into the fold, and got right where you need to be with the Lord, and you gotta grow in the good grace of God. It's gonna take faith, amen, to face those troubles, and to face those mistakes, and to face those same people. Where's your faith in God? Amen. Someone that's come to years, exercises faith in the Lord. You know what they do? Hey, number one tonight, this faith will cause you to refuse some things in your life. Look in verse 24. By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Do you know what Moses' faith did? It caused him to want to refuse some things. Have you ever refused anything in your life? Do you know what it means to refuse? It means to say no to it. That's when one of your good friends says, hey, let's go over here and do this. Our mom and daddy will never know. You stand up and say, no, I'm not doing it. You're starting to grow, man. You're starting to get a little grit in your crawl. You're starting to not be pressured by the peer pressure of this world, and you're willing to stand up for God, amen, and refuse some things in your life. Well, Moses, everybody else is going that way, but I'm going this way by the good grace of God. Moses, come to years, he refused some things in his life. See what Moses is saying? I no longer want to be associated with this world. I mean, if you've grown to that stage in your life, I don't want to be associated with this world. You know, it's still in the Bible, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. These things are pulling at you. You got to say no to pride. You got to say no to the flesh. You got to grow up, amen. We see some God's people, amen. This youth rather than make some commitments and say, yo, I'm tired of being childish. I'm tired of being carnal. I want to grow in the good grace of God. I want to make a stand for myself and my God, amen. I'm tired of everybody looking at me as a sister of so-and-so's union. Make your own stand. Get some grit in your crawl. Amen. Grow up and say, I'm going to live for the Lord by the good grace of God. Moses refused some things. You know you're never going to grow until you start refusing. Refusing. What have you refused? They tell me you'll follow anything that comes. There's no refusal in your life. Moses, when he come to you, refused. He didn't want to be associated with this world. Amen. He didn't want the pride of life. He didn't want the lust of the flesh. He didn't want the lust of the eyes. Amen. Hey, he didn't want to give in. Amen. Moses was starting to grow up. Boy, and I've seen, I'm not going to throw stones at all these youngs. I've watched some of you get there. And that's a thrill to your pastor's heart and the elder and leaders of the church to see you. Have you watched some of these kids around here to get to that stage? Does that not excite you? Some of you adults couldn't get excited. I mean, we're always talking about how wicked they are and how all the garbage that they do. And a lot of them do garbage and mess up, but ain't all of them like that. They summon these churches tonight that you've watched years and years of growth in their life. And they're starting to overcome some things. They're starting to get a testimony in their life. And they want to serve God. Amen. It's time to grow up and fight for this generation. And it's time for you to get in this generation and fight for your generation. When you go say, hey, as for me and my generation, we're going to serve the Lord. We're not going to be Generation X or some cast-off society. Hey, we can still serve God like our mamas and daddy did. We can still serve God like our uncles and aunts have done. We can still trust God. Amen. But you're going to have to start refusing some things. You're going to have to stop saying yes to every little thing that flies by, crosses across your screen. You're going to have to learn what it means to X out. Back out. Stay away. You gotta refuse some things. You gotta lay some things on an altar. I hear old-timers talk about people when they used to buy those cigarettes, they'd get up and leave their cigarettes on the altar and go back. Some of you need to lay some things on an altar. You know what? You know what some of you young people need to do? Let me just help you out, because your parents ain't got enough sense. That's right, you ain't got enough sense. Some of you young kids, you need to put your phone on the altar and say, I don't need it, it's damaging me. Because your parents ain't got enough sense to take it from you. You got no business with something like that in your hand and the power that it can control your life with and the influence it can give on you. Some of you know what it's doing to your life and doing to your mind and how it's corrupting your thought life, amen, and pulling you away from God and bringing depression and suicide thoughts on your life, amen, and causing you to play with things you got no business messing with. It's time you come to your senses and say, you know what? I'm a child of God. I don't need this mess. I'm giving it to God, amen, and start effusing things in your life. You got to make the choice. Your parents ain't going to do it. You gotta back up and say, that ain't good for me. Moses come to years, he refused. He backed up, I mean, he refused the throne of Egypt. It was at his hand, he could have had it, but he said, no, it ain't good for me. I can't sleep at night thinking about how my brothers and sisters are out there serving God. And I'm living in the luxuries of Egypt. Does it not bother you, the things that you're doing? Does it not bother you what you're doing to your mom and daddy and how you're breaking their heart? Does it not bother you how you're ripping the heart out of your pastor, amen? When he knows what's going on in your life because he's your pastor and he's touched with what you're going through and he's been in touch with God, amen? And God gives something across the pulpit and through the man of God and he knows you're hard to move and you're set back. Why don't it bother you, amen? You know why? Because you've never come to His. You've never said, I don't want it. We can't make you do it. They couldn't make Moses do it. He had to make his own choice. Moses said, I refuse to associate myself with this world. You know why? Because Moses was coming to years. He refused. Faith refused. You know what it led to? Hey, let me just say this before I go any further. Hey, you know what some of you doing? You're refusing things that are good for you. Some of you are refusing some things that are very beneficial in your life. Hey, let me read you something. Hold your place there in Hebrews 11. But in Proverbs, in the wisdom of Solomon, you know what he said? Hey, you know what we're doing? We're refusing good things in our life. You're refusing good counsel. You're refusing good preaching. You're refusing the conviction of the Holy Ghost in your life. You're saying no, you're kicking against the pricks, and it ain't good for your life. Proverbs chapter number 1, look in verse 24 if you'd like to look The Bible says this, because I called and ye what? That's what some of you are doing God's calling your number tonight, but you know what you're doing? You're in your mind, you're trying to figure, well if I do it, what about this? Yeah, that's the devil up there. Yeah, that's your flesh. That's the prayer pressure that you're faced with. And God's calling. God's been pricking your heart for all week. God's probably been pricking some of you's heart for the last couple of months. Maybe some of you to be saved. Some of you to grow up and stand up to the plate and confess your sin and get right with God. But you know what you're doing? No, not now. Instead of refusing the garbage of this life, you're refusing what's good in your life. The Bible said this in verse 24 again, because I've called and you have refused, I've stretched out my hand and no man regarded. No, not right now. But you have said it in all my counsel and would none of my reproof. You know what they're doing? They're refusing the instruction and the reproof and the things that they need in their life. You know what God said? I also will laugh at your calamity. What are you going to do when God laughs at you? Oh, God wouldn't do that. Preacher, I got plenty of time to get right. Go ahead and think like that. You know what I learned about in my Bible? Where much is given, much is required. You know what I'm preaching to tonight? I'm not preaching to people that don't know better. You got pastors that have taught you and preached to you the Word of God. We are preaching to the cream of the crop. You know what? The crop is not doing right. That's why we're getting sour fruit. You know that. You know when you click that site, you got no business. You know when you smoke that that you ain't got no business. And tasting and drinking that. Yeah, maybe some of you even dabbling in that. You know when you touch that girl you got no business putting your hand on her. You know better than that. But you know what? You refusing it. Because you think somehow in your warped mind that you're the exception to the rule. It's time to come to years. It's time to keep your hands to yourself and clean your mind in the Word of God and make a stand for Jesus Christ. But you got to refuse some things, but instead you're kicking against God. You sit on that pew Sunday after Sunday and God's just ringing your bell and calling you out and you think somebody's told the preacher. No, there's somebody knows it greater than the preacher is God. But you're refusing. Oh, keep kicking. What are you going to do when God's laughing? That's what he said, I'll laugh at you. You knew better, you should have done something with it. But no, no, you all right. No, you're not. Listen to what he said. He said in verse 27, when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. You say, God'll do that to me? He's got all rights to. I mean, you think you ought to just bend over backwards every time? You're refusing the wrong thing. Look back in Hebrews chapter 11. There's more I could read there, but let me just move on. Hey, there's faith and refusal. Moses was coming to years. It was shown by his no longer wanting to be associated with this world, amen? Hey, he refused some things in his life. You know what his refusal led to? His refusal led to fakes rather, which is the right choices in his life. You know why a lot of God's people are not making the right choices? Because they're not refusing things first, then to give them the right mind to be able to make the right choice. You're not refusing it, so you're engaging in it, and it's warping the way you think, and the way you perceive everything at church, and you think everybody that's for you is against you, amen? And you're kicking against everybody, and it's altering the choices that you make, because you're filled with a stinking world! Moses refused, and you know what he did? Look what the Bible said he did. In verse number 25, the Bible said, verse 24, by faith Moses, when he was come to ears, he did what? Refused to be called the son of Abraham's daughter. Verse 25, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. You know, when you start to watch these people grow, you know what happens? They want no association with the world. And then they start to make good choices. Instead of that little girl wanting to have some thug around her arm, she wants somebody that loves God. Because she's refused the world and she don't want that in her life, so she's making the right choices in her life. Some of the garbage you bring in and the garbage you think you ought to be with is showing your carnality and your immaturity in your life. Why would you want a boy that didn't love God? Why would you want a girl that didn't love God and wasn't excited about the things of God and being active in the things of the Lord? I mean, why do you want that kind of garbage? You know what? Because your choices are wrong because you love the wrong thing. His refusal led to his rather. He'd rather have that than this. He began to make the right choices in his life. Refusal leads to the right choice. His choice, you know what his choices were? You know what Moses' choices were? Moses' choice was not good instead of evil. Anybody can make that choice. You know what his choice was? To suffer for the Lord instead of do evil. That's coming to years. That when it gets rough, he still wants God. Make it serve God when it's easy. But what are you going to do when everybody turns their back on you? What are you going to do when everybody's looking at you in the youth group like you're the Holy Joe? He made a choice, not just good over evil, but to suffer instead of evil. To suffer afflictions with the people of God. He said, I'm not in it for you, and I'm not in it for myself, I'm in it for God Almighty. You growing up like that, are you going to serve the Lord if it's going to cost you something? Well, if I start living like that, that girl might not want me. Well, what is she anyhow? I'll lose that boy if I start living like that. Well, what kind of boy you got anyhow? You got one that's probably gonna run around on you and won't work and hold a job and take care of a family. You got somebody that's sorry is what you got. Why? Why? Because you won't refuse. You can't make sound choices in your life. It's time to come to you. It's time to start refusing some things so God can give you discernment to make right choices in your life. Hey, what would you rather do anyhow? I mean, if you had a choice, there's coming a time when all you kids are going to have a choice. You're gonna grow up as far as physically, but if you don't go spiritually, you know what's gonna happen? As soon as you get a job, as soon as you get a car, you're gonna look for an apartment or somebody to shack up with and go out in this world and turn your back on everything you've been raised in. Yeah, the same ones that sing and the same ones that do skits and love the Lord and brag on God, if you don't soon grow up, this world's gonna suck you under. Your choices are going to be what? You're going to choose the world over God. There's been a many a doer there, man. Hey, you better start making the right choices in your life. I like this. Here's a couple of good choices to make. Hey, Psalms 84 verse 10, he said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. That's what he said, I'd rather do. You know what he said? Choosing rather. What do you choose rather? Hey, here's a good one, amen. He said, I'd rather have a good name than great riches, Proverbs 22, 1. Hey, John 3 in verse 19, he said, I'd rather have the light of God and the love of God than the darkness of this world. Hey, Acts 5, 29, he said, I'd rather obey God than men. What would you rather do? What kind of choices are you making in your life? You know what it shows? It shows how much you've come to use. Anybody can say I'm in it, and I'm in it for God, and I love the Lord, but the choices you're making show him what you really are. When the come a time you ought to be on meat, they're having to feed you milk. And I can back up just for a moment. A lot of the problem with these children is parents. You ain't even making right choices. I wonder why my youngins don't want to love the Lord, won't want to serve God and be active in the youth and be faithful to church. Because you don't. Listen to me young people, if your mom and daddy's not making the right choices, there's going to come a time in your life you make your own choice. Do you know what I've seen? I've seen godly parents raise some wicked youngins. Because them youngins made the choices. But you know what I've seen? I've seen some wicked parents have some godly children. You know what we need, Brother Jimbo? We need what this passage shows us here with godly parents that raise godly young. That's the perfect scenario. You know why? Because the same thing that we're trying to get these children to do and come to years, it happened in parents first. But listen, your mom and dad ain't living right don't give you any excuse not to do right. Because the same preaching your mom and dad is getting, you're getting. You're accountable. You're going to have to start making choices of your own. You know what? Sin has a season, but it ends. He said, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Someone that's coming to you begins to live by faith, and this faith causes them to refuse the things of the world. They never want an association with the world, and there's a faith's rather, and that rather leads to right choices in their life, and that faith leads to riches and rewards in your life. You know God honors it. You know what we're sitting here bragging about all the time? We get up and cry and brag on God for what He's done. You know what we're saying? This is what God would do if you just trust Him. If you give God a little bit of your life, here's what great things God can do. With a little bit of faith. We look at the testimonies of these saints of God, you know what they are? They're just wicked sinners that were willing to make the right choices and refuse some things in their lives, and now God's blessed their lives. Look at verse 26, he said, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. He starts to lay up treasures in heaven. You know why? Because he's coming to years. I mean, do you not know that the judgment seat of Christ is a real thing? And you're going to give an account of what you've done in this body, whether it be good or bad, from the day you got saved to the day you leave this world. God's got a checklist. And God's gonna reward you. Or maybe burn some things away. I mean, think about it. In your life, if you stood at the judgment seat of Christ today, what would last to test the fire? What would you have to lay back at His feet for everything He's done for you? We don't just go to church, you know, live how we want to and pass it by. You know, it's going to be alright as long as I'm in heaven. You know what, when it comes to the judgment seat of Christ, there will not be anyone there with the mentality of, I'm just glad I made it. Not when you're standing before the Lord and He's looking at you with the eyes of flame of fire and you're having to give an account for everything in your body, that body that you've done and it's burning away. You know what you're going to do on that day? You're going to do what you heard a lot of saints of God say on a deathbed. I wish I'd have done more. I wish I wouldn't have wasted that. You know what? You don't have to come to this, young people. You don't have to be like some others. There's some mistakes that we've made and things. I'm not throwing any stones, but we made choices that were wrong, and we associated with the world instead of turning our backs to it, and we got pregnant out of wedlock. And thank God we got back right with God. Glory be to God. Amen. God's a forgiving God. He's got mercy. Hey God, He'll pull you out of the hog pen. The prodigal can come home. But you don't have to go to the hog pen. You don't have to have a testimony like that. And by the way, God might not be as merciful to you. One of the things I believe is wrong with some of our young people is we've looked and heard the testimonies of our families that wasn't raised in church. I wasn't raised in church. A lot of these men and women weren't raised in church. And we've done some stupid stuff. And somehow the devil warps your mind as little kids have been raised in church all your life that mama and daddy got by and they're in church now. Now they're living for God. I'm going to end up doing the same thing. It ain't going to work like that. They done it out of ignorance. They wasn't raised under what you've been raised under and you gonna give an account. You better quit listening to that lie of the devil. You gonna get what he's talking about in Proverbs 1 if you're not careful. You coming to years? You coming to years? Are you refusing? There's a lot more we can say. Listen, it's time to grow up. It's time for you to say, you know what? I'm in it for God. I've wasted enough. And I don't like the results of what I'm getting. I'm not happy with sleepless nights and a troubled soul. God saved me, and I ought not to be doing this kind of stuff. Why don't you come and lay some of it on the altar? You can't hide it forever. And if you hide it, what are you going to get out of it? A wrecked life. You know what Moses did? He come to years. Some of you have been saved long enough. It's time to come to years. It's time to make choices of your own and say, you know what, I'm going to be excited to see some kids in here that lead this youth rally and say, you know what, my generation is going to be different because of what God could do with my life. You don't think, I think, I believe God, what God can do, don't you? God's done it with people, amen, and he still does it with people that are willing to trust him. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. You got to make a choice. It's time to come to years. It's time to start refusing some things. It's time for you to make the choice. The ball's in your corner. Let's grow up. Let's serve the Lord. Won't you come down and make some commitments to the Lord and say, God, by your grace, if you'd forgive me and use me, I want to serve you. No matter what anybody else does, I want you in my life. The only way you're going to be happy as a child of God is to have that kind of mentality. Just remain with our heads bowed as these.