will and we have some young people of course we have young people here tonight I'm glad you're here because this is something that you need and so I hope you have your Bible have a pen have the paper and take some notes and it's something that every one of us needs to know about as we get older we might kind of have a set direction but even then as we're older there's still decisions to be made But especially in your younger years, I've noticed in just recently we have some young people that are graduating from high school and young adults now that I'm sure there's some things on their mind like. Who am I going to marry? Am I going to marry? Where am I going to work? Where am I going to live? And those are things that they naturally are going to be thinking about. And I want to encourage them to be thinking about just finding God's will and letting Him show you those other things. Now, if you want, you can turn your paper over to the blank side, and I can tell you this. Here's what I know God's will is for everybody. And then we'll go to the other side. In other words, I know this for everybody. I don't have to apologize for this. First of all, I know it's God's will for everyone to be saved. God's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, 2 Peter 3. All right, so we know that it's God's will for everyone to be saved. All right, that's something you should already have, and if you don't have salvation, you need to get saved tonight. Salvation. And then after that, baptism. Baptism is not part of your salvation, it comes afterwards. And so after you're saved, then baptism. And that's something for everybody. God's will is for everyone to be baptized. And along with baptism then is becoming part of a church. And the Bible says that Jesus started the church and built the church, and so it's important that we recognize that the church is his idea. Now there's a lot of bad churches and false churches out there today, but that doesn't mean there isn't a good one out there somewhere. And so then along with that, you know, Matthew chapter 28, 19, 20, teach all nations, baptizing them, and then teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And that involves church. And then after that, along with church, witnessing. There were some of us here last night going out and partnering up together and going out and talking to some people and trying to find some people to witness to as well. And that's something that is the will of God for everyone, that we go ye. He said, go ye. And 1 Thessalonians 4.3 talks about the will of God is your sanctification, being set apart, being clean and set apart, sanctified from the unclean things of the world. That doesn't mean we have to live Amish or live like a monk, but to be set apart as God's, belonging to him. It's also God's will that we're thankful, that we give thanks. And those are things that are general. I can just say that for everybody. Everyone has got to be saved or you're going to go to hell when you die. Everyone has got to get baptized after your salvation because that's obedience to Christ. Everyone's got to get involved with the church because that's what he intended for us to do. He loved the church and gave himself for it. And he started it. And then all those things that I said as well. But on the other side then is more of an individual thing. Guidelines discerning God's will for you. And along those lines we can go to Romans chapter 12. And the verses are given there on your paper, and you can follow along that way, but Romans chapter 12, verse one, it says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. That our life, our body, is a living sacrifice that we give of ourselves in different ways to be a sacrifice to the Lord. He doesn't want a dead sacrifice. He doesn't want us to go commit suicide. That's stupid. That's silly. That's not what He wants. But a living sacrifice. In other words, we're staying alive, but our life is His. And so the question is, number one, have you given your life a hundred percent to God? Are you a living sacrifice? Verse two says, be not conformed to this world. If you're being conformed to this world, then you're allowing the world to dictate what you do versus what God wants you to do. Be not conformed to this world, like Plato, molded into their image and their shape, but instead be transformed By the renewing of your mind and that renewing is greatly benefited by knowing God's word and coming to church even tonight is a benefit to you. If you listen and you aren't falling asleep and I'm not too boring. Renewing your mind in the word of God and allowing the word of God to straighten your mind out. We're in a dark world and we need the light of God and the light of his word to illuminate our path. by the renewing of our mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. I don't know if anybody will ever ask me this, but if they do and if it's true, if they say, well, pastor, your family and your children and your marriage and your life seems to be very well set. How did you do it? What was your secret? If they were to ask that point, Blake, I would say my secret is no secret at all. It's just the Bible. It's just following the word of God and doing what the Bible says and, and not being conformed to this world. but instead being transformed with the renewing of our mind. And it doesn't take much to be strange in this world today. All you got to do is be biblical and you're going to look different. But you know what? It's a good different. And that's why Jesus said, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good work and glorify your Father which is in heaven. And what it does is it proves what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. It proves it. You're able to prove Hopefully you prove it to your own children. Your children see that there is a difference, and it's a good difference, it's a positive difference. You prove it to maybe some others. Maybe some others look and say, you know, you seem to be on the right track. That proves that maybe you know something. And you can say, hopefully you don't say, well, I'm just smart and I'm, no. You say, no, I have a Bible, I have a God, here's the answer. And so have you given yourself 100% to God? Are you a living sacrifice, letting him be in charge of your life and leading and directing you? And that's key. I mean, if everything's all his, if it's all his, then you have a lot less to worry about because he owns it all. He's in charge of it all. All right. So then ask yourself these questions after you've asked yourself, number one, is God in charge of my life? Is he a hundred percent in charge of my life? I'm a living sacrifice given to him. Secondly, Can you ask God to bless it? Whatever it is you're thinking about, whatever it is you're contemplating in the decision you're going to make, can you ask God to bless it? Whatever it is. Proverbs 3 verse 5 through 10 says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding and all thy ways acknowledge him. And he shall direct thy paths. You know, if you can't ask him about it, then probably you shouldn't do it. I mean, if you can't bow your head and seriously say God, Got an opportunity to go golf on Sunday or go to church. What do you think? Probably before you even pray that prayer, you already know that's a dumb prayer, all right? Because you already know what he thinks. And so, can you ask God about it? And can you ask him to bless it? The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow to it, Proverbs chapter 10, verse 22. And Deuteronomy 28 is all about the blessings and the cursings. I call it the George Washington chapter, because when he got inaugurated into office, he put his hand on that page right there. The blessing and the cursing. Because it was all about the nations being blessed and cursed. It's a very long chapter, but it's all about you do right, you obey, you do this, you do this, you'll be blessed. You don't, you don't, you don't, you'll be cursed. It's real simple. So can you ask God to bless it? Whatever it is you're contemplating, and you're standing there staring at this beautiful, whatever it is, it's shiny, it's got lots of chrome, smells brand new, and the salesman's telling you you can afford it, because he checked out your credit score, and he told you you can afford it, and I mean, whatever the salesman says has got to be true, and you're trying to tell yourself that it's a good idea, and God, it would be a wonderful thing, because I'll be able to, God, I'll be able to get to church more if I have one of those. And he might tell you, you already got something that gets you to church, what are you talking about? But can you pray and ask God to bless it? All right, can you pray and ask God to bless it? That's just a good idea. I mean, we should be praying before we make the decision. Number three, are you willing to submit to the instruction found in the Bible? 2 Timothy chapter three says, the word of God, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and it's profitable for doctrine for reproof, for correction, and for instruction. Do you submit to the instruction or do you always try to reason it away or negotiate with it? I think this is why in America, modern Bible versions, Haley, I think it's why they're so popular because, boy, if we can have different versions, then we can have different opinions of what it says. And we can all just kind of decide what we want it to say. Are you willing to submit to the instruction that's found in the Bible or do you want to try and negotiate it? If it's there, it's there. And let's not try to argue it or bend it or change it to something else. Let's just submit to it. Number four, is it to the glory of God? Go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Who is gonna get the glory in this thing? I think that's the problem I was talking about buying that shiny vehicle that the salesman says you can afford. What's my real motive for buying that thing? Everybody is going to see me driving around in that thing. I'm going to feel good driving around in that thing. I'm going to look good in that thing. I'm going to turn heads. First Corinthians chapter 10 verse 31 says, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Who will get the glory if you do this? Will you get the glory or will God get the glory? Ananias and Sapphira brought some money to church one time and they said that they had Sold property and they brought all the money to give to the Lord. And of course, that was a lie. They kept back some of the property. But besides lying, their main motive for what they did was they wanted to get the same glory and the same praise that they thought Barnabas was getting. And God wasn't pleased with them at all. Is it for God's glory or is it for my self-promotion and for people to notice me? Who will get the glory in this? And don't forget Matthew 5 says, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify you. Is that what it says? It's not what it says. Matthew 5 says that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. That's the whole purpose of letting your light shine. Letting of your light, I really hope that people say, you know that pastor, what's his name? I don't remember his name or anything, but boy, I learned some things about God. That's getting, God getting the glory, all right? It's not God getting the glory when people walk out of church and say, wow, that's a great preacher. But if they walk out of church and say, wow, that's a great God, that's the right kind of preaching. That's the right kind of message and motive. Who's getting the glory in it and discerning whether this is God's will or not? Number five, will it cause others to sin if I do this? 1 Corinthians 8 verse 9, but take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. Is it going to cause others to sin if you do this? Just because you can stay home from church, this is for all the people watching tonight, should you? Somebody's probably watching you do that. There's a child watching you do that. There's a neighbor watching you do that. Just because I can, I have liberty, you can't tell me I have to, that's right, but will your liberty and what choice you make cause someone else to have a stumbling block? That's why Galatians 5.13 says the same thing. Don't use your liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but instead, by love, love one another. In other words, sometimes make your decision not because you can, but because of what it'll do to somebody else if you don't. This popped into my head just now. It's one of those stories that I have in my brain. One of our missionaries, he's in Mexico. His name is Sam Estep. Years ago, Sam was raising support for his mission to go to Mexico and he had this pastor and this church tell him they were going to support him and this church told him they're going to support him and this. So he called home, he called home to his home church in Maryland and he said, hey, he said, I'm just wondering if you've seen an increase in my support. And the pastor said, no, his pastor said, no, we haven't. He called back again a month or two later. He kind of hinted around to the other church and said, just curious if you've started. Oh yeah, we started a couple of months ago. Come to find out, his pastor was stealing his money. Sam's pastor was taking his mission's money and keeping it. That's bad. But when he was telling me this story years ago, I knew that he was still in the same church. with a new pastor. I said, now wait a minute. Why did you stay in the same church? He said, because I prayed about it and I realized that if I left, there's a lot of young Christians in that church that would not understand and it would hurt them. Even though I was getting hurt, it would affect them in a bad way. So I just prayed that God would get rid of the pastor. And he did. Wow. Wow. I mean, who in here can blame Sam if he'd have left? I mean, if your pastor's ripping you off, I think you have an excuse to leave the church, I'm just saying. But who can blame him if he left? Nobody, but you know why he stayed? Because God gave him the wisdom to say, you know what, if I leave, I know a lot of people that look up to me, and it'll be discouraging for them. They don't know what's going on, and I don't want to tell them. Just praying to God, and you know, sometimes we shouldn't use our liberty. He didn't hurt anybody by keeping us, he didn't hurt anybody. He just suffered the hurt for a while. Now, God has blessed, there is a new pastor, a very good pastor, doing very well, and the church is doing very well now. But when you make a decision, even if it seems to be a right, Will it cause others to sin, to stumble, just because you can, should you? That's a good question. When you're making these decisions, you should think about whether or not it would be the right thing to do. You know, Paul said one time in Philippians chapter one, he said, I would love to die and go to heaven. That's what he said. He said, personally, he said, I'd rather be in heaven than on earth. But being on earth is something I know is good for you. He said, personally, I'd be glad to check out and go up to heaven, but I know I need to stick around because you need me here. And we need to recognize that we all influence other people. Let's say this is not happening, but let's say that somebody was calling me up and say, hey, we want you to come be our pastor. and we'll pay you da-da-da-da, and we'll give you da-da-da-da, and we'll, and I mean, it sounds really good. Now, I got a decision to make, don't I? And could someone blame me if I took the job offer? Not necessarily, but you know what? One of the biggest factors in my decision Who's gonna take care of these people? Sometimes we have to stop and think about what we're doing. Sometimes we have to realize as parents, the decisions we make has a huge impact on our children. I'm gonna tell you another story. After this story, you're gonna think, man, goodness, you were really in some pretty rotten places these Well, it's just a whole different separate situation. But my parents were in a church in Michigan and their pastor was stealing money. I don't know, maybe these pastors need to get paid more. I don't know what's going on, but these pastors are stealing money. But anyway, my dad's pastor, I was a second grader, so I guess he was my pastor too. And they got found out and it was a sad deal. And the real sad part was that there were families that got mad and left. the church and just quit church, quit God. Man, that ruined their children. In fact, it ruined their marriages. I'm thankful that even though my parents were hurt, they didn't quit on God and they didn't give me a bad taste. I didn't know the whole story until years, years later. But when you are confronted with something and a decision, will it cause others to sin by the choice you make? And then number six, Hebrews chapter 12 and verse one says, wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight in the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. So next question, will it hinder your work for God? Will it be a weight? Will you run better as a Christian or will you be drugged down? Will it weight you down? And these are the things that we have to decide. I mean, it goes back to buying that fancy car we're looking at or whatever it might be. It goes back to, you know, if I, if I buy this toy, this ATV or this boat or this camper or whatever it is, if I buy that thing, Is it gonna weight me down because number one, I gotta pay for it, but number two, I gotta spend the time with it. And I'm not sure I have the time for it. I'm not sure that's what God wants me to do. Is it gonna be a weight in my life, a hindrance? Will it hinder your work for God? Those are decisions that have to be made and questions that have to be asked before you make the wrong decision. So when you're looking at God's will for your life, Let's say you're a young person and there's this beautiful girl. We got guys in the room, a lot of guys in the room. There's this beautiful girl, but it's obvious that she's not a compliment to my service for God. She's actually a hindrance. I'm not closer to the Lord with her in my life. I'm getting further away. And those are questions to ask yourself concerning laying aside the weight and the sin that so easily besets us and running with patience the race set before us. Then back in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, in verse number 23 this time, it says, all things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. Number seven, is it beneficial and constructive? Does it edify? Does it build? I don't have TV in my house, but I do have internet. And once in a while, I'll try to pull up something on the internet to watch. But even then, I have to decide, is that really edify? And even if we find something clean and decent, there are times where we'll get slammed upside the head with something we weren't ready for, just a conversation or a scene or whatever it might be. I mean, we're not talking about raunch, we're talking about just average stuff. I'm talking about like Sherlock Holmes. And so there are times when I have to say to myself, is this gonna edify if we do this? Is this necessary? Is this a good thing or not a good thing? Is it beneficial or is it going to tear down? What's it going to do here? Is it gonna build up or tear down? Another question to ask. So let's review before we finish this. Number one, have you given yourself 100% to the Lord as a living sacrifice? Number two, can you ask God to bless it? In all thy ways acknowledge him, Proverbs chapter three. Number three, are you willing to submit to the instruction that's found in the Bible? When you see what the Bible says about how God thinks about things, do you submit to that? Are you sensitive to that or do you try to reason it away? Number four, is it for God's glory or is it really going to be for your glory? Who's going to get the glory in this? Who's going to get the praise? Who's going to be the one that gets noticed? Because the Bible says that whatever you do, it's due all to the glory of God. Number five, will it cause others to sin? Starting with your own family and then other people around you. Will other people see this as a stumbling block and be confused by it? What if you're a Sunday school teacher and you're sending a mixed signal? What if you're a Christian and you're looked up to by someone and you're sending a mixed signal with what you're doing? Number six, will it hinder your work for God? Is it gonna weight you down? Because it really isn't what God wants. Number seven, is it constructive, is it edifying? All things are lawful, but not necessarily expedient. Not everything builds and edifies. Then number eight, is it to please God? rather than people or vice versa? What's the motive behind it? Who are we trying to please here? 1 John chapter 2 verse 15. By the way, when you know that the motive is right, you know that what you're doing is exactly what God wants you to do, it is so, it is so relaxing. It is so peaceful to know that you're doing what God told you to do. That there's no sideways motive, there's no any, you're just doing what God's given you to do. It's a blessing to be there. And when you're not and you're trying to please somebody, it just never feels right. Even if you're getting patted on the back and getting recognized and complimented and flattered, 1 John 2 verse 15 says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, love the world. The love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lusts thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. There are certain hot button issues that a pastor can jump on, and everybody will get behind him. Rah, rah, rah. But it's easy for the pastor then to decide, you know what, I know this will really make make me kind of a hero in front of certain people. And they'll really pat me on the back for this one. That's the love of praise, the love of pleasing men. We're not supposed to please men. In fact, Acts chapter five, verse 29, Peter said, we ought to obey God rather than men. And there'll be times, if you're gonna be a leader of any kind, there'll be times when you're not gonna make people happy if you do the right thing. The Bible says, without faith, it's impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And I think the real right choices, the honest choices, are the faith choices that are hard. And you don't please men. You actually cause people to be upset and frustrated. But what matters is, what does God think? I remember years ago hearing a preacher say this. He prayed this prayer before he started his sermon. He said, Lord, please help me to say only what you'd have said and preach what you'd want me to preach so that when I lay my head on the pillow tonight, I know that you're smiling. Not anybody else smiling, necessarily, but that God's smiling. That's what matters. The decision we make, is it to please God or people? Colossians 3 23 And what sir we do do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto man knowing that of the Lord You shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ I Think there's a lot of things where the right thing to do is not going to be the popular thing to do. I But there'll be Christians that will appreciate it. People that are right with the Lord. But don't do it to please men. Young people, you've got peer pressure and other young people will scorn you or whatnot. We were talking about this just yesterday about a young person that doesn't come to our church as much as they used to. My wife thinks it's because of the friend that they have in their neighborhood. That friend has put the pressure on them, the peer pressure on them to not want to come. And we all have that, don't we? But when you're thinking about God's will, who are you trying to please? God or people? And then number nine, are you submitting to God and God's authority in your life? Starting in Ephesians chapter six, verse one, children, obey your parents and the Lord for this is right. First authority you ever got in your life was your parents. And hopefully you learned how to obey. And hopefully you realized your parents weren't perfect, even though they were your authority. And that's just the way it goes. I mean, there's only one perfect authority, and that's God himself. And all the human authority that we have in our life has imperfections. But the Bible says, children, obey your parents. Why? Because God gave you your parents. And so we have to learn to obey human leadership knowing that God's behind that human leadership. They might not be perfect, but God gave us that human leadership. So we have to learn to obey and submit to that. Bible says that Jesus learned obedience. Is that because Jesus wasn't good at obeying? No, it's because Jesus never had to obey. But when he became a human being, he had to learn what it was like to obey. It wasn't because he was a bad kid. Obviously. You and I, we don't like to obey. I'm sure Jesus did it 100% of the time, no doubt about it. But you and I, we have a problem with it. And what we're not wanting to admit is that we have a problem with God. Remember that story about Sam, Estep? Why did Sam stay in that church? Because he recognized his real authority was God. And he recognized that God, the big authority, could take care of pastor authority anytime he wants. And he did. And that's a good testimony. A lot of kids are using excuses today. My mom and dad are this, this, and this. And the principal and the teacher did this. And the cop, he did this. And we all can point to some imperfection in the authority. And you know what we got? We got more authority now than we ever had running around telling us what to do. You know why? Because we thumbed our nose at God and his authority. And we've been rebellious. We gotta learn to submit to the authority God's given us in our life. Learn that submission. Go with me, if you would, to Hebrews chapter 13. I didn't put this in there, okay? I want you to know right now, I did not write the book of Hebrews. Okay, in case you're wondering. But Hebrews 13 verse 7 says, Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. And verse 17 says, Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. You know if the pastor kind of lightly rebukes you or tells you, hey, you know what? I don't think that's the right thing to do. You should pay attention to that. You say, I thought you just told us about a pastor who stole money. I did. But still got to obey the pastor. Unless it's obvious that it's wrong to obey the pastor. I mean, the Bible says obey them that have spoken unto you the word of God who have the rule in this area, the church. I have never gone to Mr. Pryor and told him how to run his business. It's not my business. But if there's something I think is my business, I would tell him that. And we just have to learn to obey the Bible. And then if the pastor's not perfect, we can say, God, but I'm just doing what you said to do, so I'm trusting you to fix it, to take care of it. And of course, if you've got a pastor that's doing wrong or is wrong, then you need to approach him about that. And you need to ask God for wisdom about that. And maybe you do need to leave the church and find a different pastor. But woe be the people who don't need a pastor. There's this thing that floats around on social media once in a while and says, all I need is the word of God. I don't need to go to church. I don't need to study. I just, I don't need the word of God. or excuse me, I don't need church, I just need to study the word of God, that's all I do, I just study the Bible. And the answer is underneath says, obviously, you don't study the Bible if you think you don't need church. Because the Bible talks about church, in fact, that's where we get it from. But we're in a day where authority's just bad, authority's wrong, and we wanna just rebel against all authority. And so here's what's happened, we've got more overbearing authority now than we've ever had, because we're not submissive to our original authority. It's kinda like the kid that said, I'm so sick of my parents telling me what to do, so as soon as I turn 18, I'm joining the Marines. It don't get better. And that's how we are as a nation, I think. We don't wanna Confess and submit to what God's given us It's getting worse James 4 verse 6 says He giveth more grace wherefore he saith God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble submit yourselves therefore to God Resist the devil and he will flee from you So are you submitting to God? Or are you doing your own thing? Is your pastor in favor of what it is you want to do or think you should do. Again, I don't think you need to call me before you make every decision in your life. But I do think that you should run things by your pastor and say, I just would like you to pray about this. I'm not sure and we're just really thinking about it. And pastor, would you just pray about it? And then if you see something, pastor, would you just tell us if you see something? I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I think that's good. And I'm sure if you do that, I'm sure the pastor's really gonna pray. Sometimes there's been people that have done things and I'm like, oh, I wish they'd have asked me. I'd have told them that wasn't a good idea. But I didn't find out about it until afterwards. 1 Peter chapter number two. We really don't like this one, but it's in the Bible. to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be the king and supreme. Now, in America, obviously, we have a document that says we the people are the law. So this one is not necessarily applying in all areas of our life as Americans, because we don't have a king, so to speak, but we still have ordinances and we still have laws. And I totally disagree with these preachers or these people who say that we don't need to pay taxes. Trust me, I don't want to pay one more dime than I have to, and I hope we can straighten out some of our tax rules and laws and things. But this idea of going and living in the mountains and storing up ammunition in a cave and having it out with our government, I think is silly. Because ultimately, as I've been saying, I think God gives us our authority. And sometimes we get what we deserve. But are we submitting to what God gives us and God's authority in our life? Are we giving him submission? and the authority he's placed over us. And then number 10, do you want to be doing what it is you think you need to be doing when Christ comes again? Matthew chapter 24, you know one day Jesus is coming back. And in Matthew 24 verse 42 it says, watch therefore for you know not what hour your Lord doth come, but know this, that if the good men of the house had known in what watch the thief would come he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up therefore be also ready for in such an hour as you think not the son of man cometh if you think you should be doing it ask yourself that question do I want to be doing this if Jesus were to come today in other words if Jesus came to your house would you be glad you were doing what you're doing If Jesus showed up tonight, would you be glad you were in church? I got an opportunity to watch a ball game on a Sunday afternoon. Someone gave me free tickets. Imagine if the Lord returned on Sunday afternoon. I'd be glad to be in church that day, wouldn't you? And not at the ball game. Would you want to be doing it if Christ was to come back while you were doing it? That's a good question. Or how about this, would you be doing it if Jesus was sitting with you? Would you be watching that if Jesus was sitting with you? Would you be looking at that or wasting that time or whatever it might be? There's some guidelines here that we need to look at. And I've been saying it I said it to a young person recently, and I say it all the time. I think it's just a good illustration. The young ones who are at that age where, well, who am I going to marry? Or where am I going to be? Or what am I supposed to be doing? What's God's will? I think you just focus on the Lord. Just focus on Him. And that other person, if they're focusing on Him and you're getting closer to Him, eventually you get closer to each other. And eventually it becomes obvious, you know what, I think God's leading us together as we focus on him. I don't think there's any, I'm not a matchmaker and I'm not trying to make anything happen, but I don't think there's anything wrong with meeting your future spouse in church. Where do most people meet their spouse? I would say probably an alcohol establishment, or some kind of entertainment establishment. But what's wrong with meeting them at church or at church camp or something like that? Just do what God wants you to do. Stay faithful. And I got a feeling he'll introduce you to the right one when that time comes. Same thing with job, career, or where do I live, Am I supposed to serve the Lord this way, or am I supposed to serve the Lord this way? He'll show you those things, and lead and direct your path. But here's some guidelines to remind us, and as we just go through it, just some questions that we can be asking ourselves. I don't want to be caught up and tied up into things so that I can't be more of a giver, so that I can't have time to give because I, tied on some other weight in my life. Because I chose to do this with my time and my money instead of asking God, God, I have it, but should I just blow it on that or should I, do you have a different reason? Should I save it for something else? And God will give you his direction on that. And I'm reminded of Lazarus's sister, Mary. When Lazarus died, Mary did not use the precious ointment on her own brother. In fact, Martha said, he's been in there four days, he stinks. But the Bible shows us, if you read it, and you read it in context and in chronological order, that his sister Mary had very precious ointment that cost a year's wages and she didn't use it on Lazarus because the very next chapter she used it on Jesus and Jesus said she saved it for me and This is spoken of as a memorial for her and for all of eternity her name and what she did is recorded in the Bible But had she used it on Lazarus, no one could have blamed her for using it on her own brother, but she had determined he said She has kept this for me on purpose. He knew she had saved this for me. She reserved it for me. And then her brother dies and there's a temptation to use it on her brother, I'm sure. It's a good thing she didn't because he's only dead four days. And that's the way you and I are in our human life. We've got this in our hand, whatever it is, our life, our stuff, our things, our time, it's in our hand. What are you doing with it? Are you making a good decision with it? Or are you just doing the human thing? What are you doing with it? We got these young girls in our home. And they get $4. No, $3, $4. And they got to have a kite. They got to have a kite. And they're begging me. Can I have 50 cents? I just need 50 more cents and I can buy the kite. And of course you want them to finally get their kite. But how long does the kite last? It doesn't last very long. Pretty soon we're taping the kite, we're repairing the kite. And the littlest one, no, forget the kite, I'll just take M&Ms. But as you get older, as you get more mature, hopefully you realize, No, I need to save that for a better thing. For something bigger and better. And hopefully, as you get more mature as a Christian, you realize, I need to save this for something even bigger and better than just average. What are you doing with what God's given you? Just ask God to show you and direct you. Every morning, we didn't turn to it, I quoted it, so now let's turn to it and we'll close in prayer. Every morning. Just do this, Proverbs chapter 3. It's every morning, Proverbs chapter 3. Verse 6, in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Just in all your ways. God, should I be participating in the offering? He'll probably tell you. Lord, should I be in church today? I'm sure he'll tell you. Lord, should I be reading my Bible today? I'm sure he'll tell you. In all your ways, acknowledge him. Lord, should I spend my money on this at the restaurant or should I spend my money on this at the grocery store? He'll probably tell you. What should I be doing with my time? In all my ways, acknowledge him. He'll show you. If you'll live that verse, if you'll live Proverbs 3, 6, if you just live it, you'll think better and you'll go a better direction and you'll run into better people and you'll find better opportunities and you'll find a better way to live. He'll direct your paths. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the Bible and we thank you for your guidance in our life. You didn't just die on a cross to save us from hell. You actually gave us a lot of opportunities. a privilege of knowing exactly the perfect will, the perfect direction, the perfect mate, the perfect job, the perfect path, help the young people in our church to direct their attention towards you, to just acknowledge you with their whole life, every day of their life, and let you direct their path. not to get overly worried or concerned, but just one day at a time, trust you, and let you direct their path. Thank you for the ones that already are doing that. And I pray that we would see more and more adults, young people, just praying and asking you for wisdom, checking off the list of those questions, and doing a self-check to see that we are really motivated by the right things, that we're motivated by your will and your direction in our life. And that you would bless and that you would reveal yourself as we put you first and submit to your will. And these things we ask in Jesus' name, amen.