In this sermon, the speaker addresses five main problems that young people often face. The first is the struggle of accepting oneself as God has made them. The second is conflict with parents, which is a universal issue. The third is peer pressure, where young people are influenced by their peers to conform to certain behaviors. The fourth problem discussed is sexual temptation, particularly for young men, which can be physical for them and emotional for young girls. Lastly, the speaker talks about coping with failure and injustice that young people may encounter in school, college, or the workplace. The speaker emphasizes the importance of being an overcomer and finding solutions to these challenges through faith in God.

Through the years, whenever I have spoken to young people, I have frequently thought of the main problems that young people face. And around the world, they are usually the same. And there could be more, but I want to mention five of them, which I have mentioned before, but it's good for us to be aware and to see that the Lord has a solution for us in all these areas. The first is the problem of not accepting oneself the way God has made you. If you don't settle that matter, you are going to have problems all your life. And the second is conflict with parents. That's also universal. The third is what I call peer pressure. That means people around your age who pressurize you to behave in a certain way, to do certain things, and you want popularity with them, so you do it. Sometimes you do sinful things. The fourth is sexual temptation, especially for young men. For young men, it's physical. With young girls, it is emotional. It can be physical too. And the fifth is coping with failure, injustice that you face in school, college, place of work, discouragement, etc. These are some of the main things. There could be other things as you go on in life. As you become older, you can face other things. But let me just say a few words about these five before I move on. First of all, accepting oneself. You know, if you are a Christian, and you've given your life to Christ completely, the Bible says that you were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. So if you don't know where that verse is, I'll show it to you. It's in Ephesians 1, where it says, verse 4, He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. That means before Genesis 1, verse 1. He chose you. He chose me. If we have accepted Christ, because we live in time and not in eternity like God, it's difficult for us to understand that. A lot of concepts about eternity, we can't grasp. So don't worry if you don't grasp it fully, but it has comforted my heart tremendously to know that way back in eternity, before there were any angels, before there was any devil, before there was any earth or heaven or all the problems in the world. Long before all that, I have looked at it like this for myself, and you can look at it like that for yourself. There was the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and me, in God's mind. If you think that's blasphemous, it's unbelief. I accept it. Before the worlds were created, there was Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and me, in His mind. So you see, though I may be unimportant in the world, I'm pretty important to God. Once you are gripped by that, now if you have not surrendered your life to Christ, that doesn't apply to you. But if you have surrendered your life to Christ, then it applies to you, because He has chosen people in Christ. I tell you, I can't think of anything that brings more security than to know that, you know, like some parents say, these children were planned, but this one was an accident. What do you mean accident? Sometimes those children whom parents say are accident, turn out to be the best children of all. There is no accident. If you are a child of God, you are not an accident. One of the greatest preachers in Scotland, many years ago, was born as an illegitimate child. It means parents were not married there. There are many godly people, I've met people like that, godly people, one brother, an elder in a church, and I don't even know who my father is. Is that an accident? God chose even someone born in adultery. Can you believe that? God is amazing. How much more you? If you don't understand your value before God, the devil is trying to devalue people. Makes you feel you are nothing, you are nobody. Because everybody in the world treats you like, you are useless, you are rubbish, you are not gifted, maybe you don't come first in the class, you don't get good jobs like other people get, you are not smart, you are not capable, you can't get up here and sing like other people, you can't play instruments like other people, and you feel discouraged. Are these the basis on which God chooses anybody? A lot of people who do all these things, may not be half as good as you are. God doesn't place any value on all these things. The first thing you need to recognize as a young person is, that you are a significant and important person in God's eyes. It doesn't matter if other people know you. I mean people around the world may know me and they don't know you. But you are just as important to God as I am. If you can believe that, I believe that. I don't care how many people in the world know me, it doesn't mean anything to me. Everybody in the world knows Osama Bin Laden, so what? He is more well-known than me by the way. Do you want to be like that? Well-known, to be known in heaven by God, that's more important. Don't look for fame on the earth. Find your security there. Don't seek to be well-known in the church. Well-known has got no value. God has known me before the foundation of the world. And he determined everything about my life. He determined the way he formed me in my mother's womb in the days of my life. I never get tired of quoting Psalm 139. And many of you already have heard me speak on that. But to the benefit of those who haven't, Psalm 139. Lord, verse 13. Psalm 139, verse 13. You formed my inward parts. You wove me in my mother's womb. I don't know what type of nose David had or ear David had. But he was pretty sure that God made it. Are you sure that God made your nose and your ear the particular shape it has? You may not like it, but God said that's good for you. Learn to accept it. Because there are certain things about you, you cannot change. There is a wonderful prayer called the prayer of serenity and acceptance which says, God, give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Serenity means the calmness of mind to accept in my life the things I cannot change. You cannot change the color of your skin. You cannot change your appearance. You cannot change the background you grew up in. You cannot change the shape of your eyes or ear or nose. You know 101 things. Even your intelligence is pretty well fixed when you are born. And many things like that. Things you cannot change. The blunders you made in the past. What can you do about that now? Accept it. Don't say it was alright. Things that God did in your mother's womb, that was okay. But accept the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The second part of that prayer is, Lord, give me the boldness and the courage to change the things I can. Your bad temper. Your lustful looks. Your internet pornography. Those things you can change. Ask God to give you the courage and boldness to do it. To give up some bad habits that you have. And third, Lord, give me the wisdom to know the difference between what I cannot change and what I can change. What a beautiful prayer. Give me the calmness of mind to accept the things I cannot change. Courage and boldness and I would also add faith to change the things I can. And the wisdom to know the difference between these two. What I can change and what I cannot change. It's an old prayer. It's a very lovely prayer. So God made my inward parts and He made you exactly like you are. Accept it. Intelligence, everything. And also, He determined, it says here in verse 16, Psalm 139, all the days that were ordained for you before you were even born. When there was not even one of them means before day one in your life, God determined your whole life. So, He's got a plan for your life. I'm thankful that I believed that when I was 21. I don't know what my life would have been today if I did not believe when I was 21 years old that God had a plan for my life. And I decided at that young age that I would seek God's plan and not my own. I had my own plans too. Sure. Like all of you have. But I'm so thankful that I gave up my plan to accept God's plan. And, you know, when I say that, I don't mean that God will call all of you to full-time Christian work like He called me or to give up your job. In my case, He called me when I was 24 years old to quit my job. But that's a special calling. Maybe one in a thousand. You may not be that one in a thousand. Remaining 999 or at least 99 out of 100 or 999 out of 1000, I don't know, are to put God first in their secular jobs. But God's got a plan for your life. And I've prayed this prayer many times. Lord, I don't know where I'm supposed to be on a particular date but I want to be where you planned in your book where I should be. Sometimes God has stopped me from going somewhere by sickness or something like that. That's good. Paul was once stopped by sickness and made to stay in one place where he planted a church. Wasn't that a good thing? Sometimes our plans are frustrated. But God is sovereign. He is the one who opens a door, shuts doors. I don't go banging at doors that God has shut. The doors that God opens are like these automatic doors. As soon as you come near them, they open. So, God has a plan for your life. All that you have to believe in the fact that you must see you are valuable to God. You know, like earthly fathers, plan for their children and they don't make any plans. Who is the one who goes six months before and stands in a long queue outside the school to get a seat for their four-year-old child? Child is not bothered. You know, in some places, they have to book as soon as the child is born. In some places, when the child has conceived itself, we have to book a seat in schools. You know, it's like that in some places. There are really good schools in some cities. Who is planning all that? Isn't it good to know that when the child is conceived, God has also got some plans, not just your father and not for just some kindergarten admission but something ten times better than that. A million times better. A plan for your life. So, learn to accept the fact that you are very valuable in God's eyes and that He arranged for you to be born in a particular family at a particular time in history. You know, I'm thankful that I was not born 300 years ago. I don't even know whether I'd be converted. I'm thankful that I'm born in this last century, within the last hundred years. And that I could... I'm thankful, for example, things like I learnt English, which I think my grandfather probably never knew. God has allowed certain things. He has allowed you to be in a particular family. And that's one reason why you're at this meeting today. Because somebody, a family member, a parent or a relative or a friend perhaps, brought you in touch with this church where you could hear the truth. All this is part of God's plan. Don't despise it. Don't take it for granted. There are millions of other people in this world who don't have this privilege. And secondly, conflict with parents. That's another thing. All... Don't think you're peculiar. Even people who have good parents have conflict with their parents. It's part of the process of growing up. Because, usually when a child becomes around 13-14 years old and begins to mature, there are two mistakes that people make. The parents think he's still a child when he's a teenager. And the teenager thinks he's an adult when he thinks he's only a teenager. So, mistakes at both ends. The teenager thinks he's about 45 when he's actually only about 15. And the parents think he's 5 when he's actually 15. So, when you have this wrong understanding of what is happening, there's conflict. That's normal. Of course, there's conflict from the time you're 2. But those are on less serious matters. But conflict with parents is something which Jesus faced as a young person. And he obeyed. That's why even children can follow Jesus' example. All can follow Jesus' example. And if you conquer in this area and obey the word of God which says honor your father and mother. If your father is a drunkard, you can't have confidence in him naturally. To have confidence is different from honoring. Say you have a boss who's very wicked and cruel. Well, you got to submit to him. Unless you want to resign your job. But you don't have confidence in him. You can't respect him spontaneously. The Bible doesn't say you must have confidence in your father. Because that would be a very difficult command or your mother. That would be a very difficult command to obey if your father and mother were ungodly. So God doesn't give such commands. He only says, honor them. You say, how can I do that? In 1 Peter 2.17 it says, honor all men. How do you do that? Honor all human beings? Yeah, that means I respect people. It means I speak to them respectfully. I mean, the Lord told me you must even speak respectfully to a beggar. And you know there are times when one gets a little upset with these telemarketers on the telephone. But I've always repented after doing that. I say, oh Lord, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoken like that to that telemarketer. That person's trying to do it for a living. Help me to... All these people who come to your door trying to sell something and pester you. Even after you close the door they still ring the bell. Well, I haven't always conquered. But I'm on the way. But I'm going to respect all human beings. Because that's my goal. I don't care if I don't reach the peak in one day. But I'm determined to reach it. That's all I say. Be determined to reach that peak. And even if you can't honor your father straight away and all that. Say, Lord, that's a goal I want to get to. Any command in scripture which you can't immediately obey make it a peak you're going to conquer. That's a general rule in life. So conflict with parents is there. Honor your father and mother. Even if you leave their home. You're married. I honored my father and mother right up to the time they died. And it says it will go well with you. I want to testify. It has gone well with me. Because I've honored my parents. And I would recommend that to anybody who... If you want it to go well with you do that. And if there's difficulty, disagreement disagree respectfully. Compare yourself with someone who's from a non-Christian family. Where father and mother bowing down to idols and the whole oppressive atmosphere of idol worship. And they force this young Christian in that home to worship idols. And he has to have conflict with the parents every day. Saying, no dad, I'm sorry. I can't bow down to the idols. What is your conflict compared to that? Yours is a mosquito bite. Think of that. But you make so much of it blow it out of proportion. Be thankful for your parents. And you don't have to agree with them always. You don't have to respect them. You don't have to have confidence in them. You know, there's nothing wrong in a brother who doesn't have confidence in his parents going and asking another elder in the church for advice. Because he says, my parents can't give me spiritual advice. There are so many cases like that. I don't have confidence. I have fellowship with many brothers but I have confidence in a very few. Even in my fellow elders in all the churches in India. I value them but I don't have confidence in all of them. I'll tell you honestly. I don't have to have. Confidence is spontaneous. You don't have to have confidence in an elder brother. You must submit to him if you are in a church. But confidence is not something that can be forced. If it doesn't come up automatically you can't have it. It's not confidence. Confidence always comes up spontaneously. You know, I have confidence in that brother. So, don't worry if you don't have confidence in your parents but respect them. Honour them. Okay. The third thing is peer pressure. The people who are your age, you know who are in school, college they say, go on, be a man. Do this or do that. I always tell people, say, I am a man. That's why I don't do what you say. Or if you are a woman, say, I am bold. That's why I don't do what you say. You know, I remember, I was invited once to a charismatic church in England many years ago to speak there. I mean, a trip I was making there one day in that place. And I went there and I was supposed to be the main speaker that evening. But you know, in the initial time they have this time of praise and worship as they call it. And here were people where everybody was a dancer. That means the chairs are not like this, the chairs are in a circle and the middle is for dancing. So, I saw one by one as they were singing, everybody one by one leaving the chair and going into the middle and dancing one by one by one and finally I was the only one left standing by my chair. And they said, we are not bothered what anybody thinks, we dance. I said, I am not bothered what anybody thinks, I stand here. I mean, if I were bothered what other people thought, I would have also gone out there and done a jig or something like that just to I can do that, sure. But I am not here. You know, the question is and you know what happened? They asked one person to testify, another person to testify another person to testify and they never let me speak. On the way back in the car, they said oh brother Zack, there wasn't enough time. I said, ok, fine. Just the main speaker. Not allowed to speak. And I knew why. Because I didn't go out onto the dance floor. But I had the courage of my conviction. I had that when I was 23 in the Navy. When I would tell my senior officers, I am sorry sir I can't do that. I was lonely sometimes. On the ship you will be lonely. But those are the days when I got a spiritual backbone. From the age of 21 to the age of 24 I went through so many experiences where I had to say no to my senior officers and I would not do things that my fellow colleagues in the Navy did all types of things. I said, sorry I can't do that. I am a Christian. Always, I am a Christian. I am a Christian. I am a Christian. I would stand there with my glass of orange juice when everybody is drinking whiskey and what not because it was free. And in three years the Lord said, ok I want to call you for my work. Boy! Think if I had not stood for the Lord in those three years. Where would I be today? Wasting my life as an admiral somewhere or something like that. Think what you are going to miss in your life if you don't stand up for God when you are young. So I want to tell you stand up to that peer pressure. Be a Christian. Man or woman. And say, I am not going to yield. My boldness is seen in the fact that I don't do what everybody else is doing. Your boldness is not seen in doing what everybody else is doing. Then you are a coward. And I tell you, today's young people are all cowards. And if you don't have the boldness, ask God to give it to you. Stand up to it. And God will watch you. Like Joseph. Can you imagine the pressure he faced from that evil woman every day after day after day after day? He said, no, no, no. Same answer as I gave you the last 25 days. No. What a man. God said, hey, you are the chap I want to serve me. You think God will ever say that to you? Not only men, I think Mary also must have said many times, no to many things. God was looking for a woman, young girl. I think she was only 18 or 19 when she, the Holy Spirit came on her and they were engaged in those at a very young age those days. Imagine an 18, 19 year old girl being selected from all over Israel to be the mother of Jesus Christ. Boy! She must have been really godly. She wouldn't have been the one fooling around with boys and dating this one and that one and the other one. You think God would have chosen such a girl who was following the fashions of the other worldly young girls in Nazareth? God would say, forget it, let me look for somebody else. Do you want to be one whom God chooses? He's still choosing people today to manifest Christ in their life. Stand up to peer pressure. Number four is sexual temptation. That is absolutely normal. And I would say if you're a young man and you don't face sexual pressure, you probably need a medical check-up. Yes. If you're facing sexual pressure, you're normal. You don't need a medical check-up. You're alright. And if you girls find yourself not attracted to any boys, even after you're 15, 16, you probably need a medical check-up too. It's normal. That's what I'm trying to say. I've asked the Lord once, Lord, why did you put this sexual desire coming up in us when we are 13, 14 years old? Nowadays girls are maturing when they're 9 or 10. And in boys, I don't know what age nowadays, people begin to get attracted to what they call puppy love. Love some girl in the class. It comes up pretty early. 11 or 12 years old, you begin to get attracted. I said, Lord, why did you allow this to come up at such a young age, 12, 13 years old, when the guy has got to wait 15 years to get married? He's got to face this pressure, pressure. Why didn't you let sexual desire come up when a person is 28? So that till the age of 28, just like little 3-year-old boys say, I don't like girls. Imagine if boys were like that till the age of 28. You know how little boys say, I don't like girls. I want to be with boys. But God has allowed it to come up in such a young age because I think the Lord tells me because I want them to overcome that before they get married. Overcome it before you get married. You know, it's something like this. If you get some tough questions in your math paper, well, you know that you're not in a corporation school, right? You're probably in a good school. It's got tough question papers. Corporation school, you have very easy papers. You're probably in a good standard as well. So if you find some area tough, it means it's something good God has for you if you conquer it. If you pass in that examination. Think of if all of you sat down for the IIT. Decide to sit for the IIT next year. Okay? All of you. How many of you do you think will pass? I tell you that's tough. But imagine if somebody passed that. Why? That would really be an accomplishment. You'd really get into something. It's something like that to conquer sexual temptation. Say, Lord, this is my IIT. I'm going to really pass this. I'm going to get all the coaching I need from scripture to pass it. I want to pass it because I'll get something good. I'll tell you you'll get something a hundred times better than IIT. Believe me. It's a battle that everybody has to fight and if you fight it you can be an overcomer. And it will help you tremendously in your married life. Because married people are also tempted. Let me tell you that in case you didn't know. A lot of preachers you hear fall into sin. They're all married people. Fight that battle when you're young and say Lord I don't care what it costs. I want to conquer it. I want to soak yourself in studying the scriptures. That's what helped me when I was a young man. I was tempted just like you. But the sad thing was something I didn't have which you all have is I never had anybody talk to me so plainly from a pulpit. I went to an assembly where they studied the tabernacle. Well my problem was not the tabernacle. My problem was sex. They never talked about it. And I know your problem is sex however holy you look. I know it. Unless you're abnormal or retarded or something like that. Which I hope you're not. And everybody looked holy in that assembly. I knew that everybody I didn't know it then. I know it now. Everybody's problem was sex but they were studying the tabernacle. Well great to study the tabernacle man but you got to deal with practical problems as well. They never talked about it and all the time I was there. And you know the result of that. I was a young man. Nobody would talk to me about it. I said boy I must be a sex maniac or something. Nobody else seems to have this problem. They seem to be taken up with the tabernacle. So that's what I want to tell all of you. It's 100% normal. Now I'll tell you how I battled it. I spent my time studying the scriptures and occupying myself with the Lord's work and with the Lord's people and the Lord's book. His work, his people and his book. Those are the only three things I had in those days and that kept me when nobody told me how to overcome these temptations. Nobody told me it was perfectly normal. So I want to tell you it's perfectly normal but you must be an overcomer. And number five is to face the problem of injustice. You'll face it. I remember when one of my boys was being treated very unjustly by his teacher in school. It was so bad that he came to me and said Dad I don't want to go to school anymore. To this school anymore. I want to go to another one. And he was so high up in that school that I said it's difficult to change now at this stage. And then I told him, I said listen you are being prepared in this school for life. And life is not just chemistry and physics and history and maths. Life is injustice that you are going to face in your place of work. You think everybody is going to treat you nicely in your place of work? How many of you are experiencing that? There is injustice. If you are a Christian and out and out Christian there is more injustice. So I said listen you are being trained for that as well. I am paying only for the chemistry maths and physics but injustice treatment you are getting free experience and teaching. Take it! He took my word and he went through. So if you face injustice in school or in college, that's a free education. Your parents don't even have to pay for it. And if you are an overcomer you pass in a subject which will help you much more in life than chemistry or physics. I'll tell you that. Failure is another thing that God allows for us to get an education. You know because I have failed many times in my life which has helped me to be very compassionate with people who are failures. In my ministry in the last 40 years or more, numerous people, I get numerous emails from people who have made a mess of their life. God is, and many people come to me for counsel as well, God is my witness. I have never despised or looked down on even one of them, no matter how great a mess they made of their life. I have hope for them. I may not have made such a big mess as they did, but it doesn't matter, I failed. That's the point. And I couldn't get victory till God helped me. So failure also has a purpose. If you read my book, Purpose of Failure, you'll understand it more fully. So you shouldn't allow failure or injustice or anything to make you give up. Ever. These are all things that are going to make you strong and give you a backbone so you can stand erect spiritually. So those are some things which I want to say if you are able to overcome as a young person, it will take you a long way. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, that's true, you need to read the Bible, you need to go for meetings, all that, but you don't deal with these practical issues that I mentioned, you'll still have a problem. I mean, I'm telling you from Scripture. Okay, now I'll try and deal with these questions. Here is an honest testimony. I live a double life, I live like a devil in the office and like an angel outside. I'm disturbed, help me. How many of you can sympathize with that? Like a devil in the office and an angel outside? Like a devil at home and an angel in the church? Yes. It doesn't have to be like that. You know, but it won't change overnight. Don't let me give you some false hopes that tomorrow you'll be okay. It's like telling a fat man, come here and one day we'll make you thin. Don't believe those gyms that have such advertisements. It doesn't happen. You can become muscular and thin over a period of time, but it'll take years. But you can do it. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You need to be a wholehearted Christian. You need to seek fellowship with God's people. You need to believe God's word. You must put your past behind you, believing the blood of Christ has cleansed you. Be wholehearted, radical and put God first in your life. And I believe you can overcome. Do you know that in my case, it took me 16 years after I was born again to get rid of my double life. I didn't live a double life in the beginning of my Christian life. Beginning I was absolutely sincere, inside and outside the same. As I grew more and more and more and became more and more accepted. The danger is when you get accepted. I'll tell you who are the most people facing the maximum danger in this church. Those who are more visible than others. You are in a hundred times more danger than some of you sitting there, out there and nobody knows. You are safe. So I began to backslide when I became visible. I became proud and pride always goes before a fall. And I began to live a double life. My thoughts mainly, what I preached. You don't have to wait 16 years. Be wholehearted. You don't have to confess your sins to everybody, to be honest. But confess them to God and don't pretend. Okay. Another question is somewhat along the same lines. Along the same lines again. I'm a fallen person. Will CFC accept me? Sure. If Jesus accepts you. He took the worst of sinners. Are you worse than the thief who murdered many people and was hanging on the cross? How many of you murdered? I don't know who wrote that question. How many of you murdered? Tell me. How many of you stolen from? That thief was worse than anybody. One of Jesus' last actions in saving that man was to say, his last message to the world, I can save the worst. Okay. How can I be faithful to Christ and honor my parents in a Hindu home? Very difficult. You know, quite recently I visited a Hindu home with a lot of idolatry going on. It didn't disturb me at all because greater is he that is in me than any pressure in the world. I can sit anywhere. I can sit in a Hindu temple and I think the demons there will be scared of me because the one who is living in me is Christ. Don't disturb me. But not everybody is so strong so I don't recommend that to anybody. But the point is this. Remember that the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. There is a tremendous pressure that young people who are converted from Hindu homes face in their home. And I can sympathize. And I think I really learned to sympathize more after I went to this home and I saw, boy. And I think God allowed me to go to that home just to see that pressure under which people are living. It's not easy. But God will give you more grace. I mean, if your company tells you to go out and buy something worth 500 rupees, they give you 500 rupees. If they ask you to go and buy something worth 50,000 rupees, they give you 50,000 rupees. So if you are facing more pressure than I am, you will get more grace from God. You know that verse, My grace is sufficient. Exactly. 50 rupees, 50 rupees. 5,000 rupees, 5,000 rupees. You need more grace in your home than I do in mine, you will get more. It's like the guy who came to me and said, Ah brother Zack, it's easy for you to talk about all this when you got a good wife. You don't know what my wife is like. I said, well then you will get more grace. Nobody can make an excuse that my parents are bad or my wife is bad. Then you will get more grace. My grace is sufficient. Okay. Here is another question which is also similar concerning consistency. I think we can be consistent in the Christian life only if we seek fellowship and walk with God's people. Another question is, Should I type or not? I want apologies 100%. If not, should I continue in a church that's teaching typing? I would not encourage you to continue in a church that doesn't teach victory over sin. That's the number one thing. Typing is all secondary. Typing is 10%, giving 10% to God is not a command in the New Testament at all. And neither do you need to feel guilty if you don't give it. But I will tell you something I have found in this church. That because we don't speak much about giving because we want to be different. I feel that many people are missing out on what God has for them. Because it is more blessed to give than to receive. I've never preached or practiced typing in my life but I really honored God in the area of money from the time I became a Christian. I really learned to give to God and to poor people. I can say God has honored me. He's given it back a hundred times. So, I feel that some of you are missing that blessing because you are tight-fisted and stingy thinking only of yourself. I don't preach typing. I never preach it. And if you are in need, brother keep that money for yourself. But Jesus spoke in Luke chapter 12 about people who are not rich towards God. They are rich towards themselves and their comforts and their pleasures. You'll be the loser. How to look more at Jesus and not look inside and get discouraged? Well, read the scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to show you the glory of Jesus. And He will make you like when you see Jesus, like Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord and said, Lord, I'm a sinner. You'll also feel that way but you won't feel discouraged. This is also dealing with oh, I'm not only irritated with my parents, I'm also irritated I'm a teenager, irritated with the older people in CFC. I know I'm wrong. How to overcome? Well, wonderful. I think there's great hope for you because you said you know you're wrong. See, nobody can irritate you unless you want to be irritated. People will be irritable. Older people in CFC may be irritable. Younger people may be irritable too. But why should you get irritated? Don't let somebody else turn off your water supply. There's a spring inside. The Lord can give you joy and victory. That guy irritates me. He can't turn off my supply. Sorry. I don't have a corporation water supply. I've got a well inside that's springing up. Remember that. Find your joy in Jesus. And if somebody else is mean and irritable well, look at them as people who've got cancer. Supposing you visit a cancer hospital and you see somebody with cancer. You get angry with him. Hey! No, you feel sorry for him. Now you see somebody who's irritable and nasty. Oh, poor chap's got cancer. Okay. It makes a lot of difference. It's a sickness. It is a sickness. Okay. And everybody in my class has got a mobile phone but I don't have one. My church and church, my age group always have mobile. My parents won't buy one for me. You know when I went to school up to the time I went to college I didn't even have a watch. I had to borrow my father's watch for my senior Cambridge examination. I didn't have a cycle. You guys have got what all? You have seen mobile phones? I got a mobile phone after I was 63. Can you wait? I didn't lose any joy because I didn't have one. I'll tell you another thing. You'll be saved from a lot of temptations if you don't have a mobile phone. You won't get those temptations through SMS and all that other people have. I'm afraid to talk to the opposite sex in my office. I don't know what to do. Praise the Lord! What else shall I say? Keep that fear. Keep that fear. And try and speak when you can but keep the fear. Don't lose that fear because a lot of people fall into sin and they lose that fear but I think we should learn to speak normally. Our culture is what has prevented us from being able to talk normally. It doesn't come easily. I grew up in an all boys school up to the time I was 15. And then I went to all boys military academy till the time I was 18. And then I joined the ship where everybody was a man. I had a problem too. But I got over it. You know that because I'm married now. So, take time. Depends on your background. Those who have grown up in co-education schools, it's easier. But take hope from me. Do you encourage dating? Is it good? Is it biblical? I don't find anybody in the Bible who dated anybody, so I can't I can't say it's biblical. Unless you found somewhere, something. You know, this is a matter of culture. It's a question of what you mean by dating. One of the things here is physical touch good before marriage. Well, that is written in scripture. 1 Corinthians 7 verse 1. It's good for a man not to touch a woman. You know that verse? Good for a man not to touch a woman. 1 Corinthians 7 verse 1 until he's married. Okay, but in dating there can be a lot of temptation if you're all alone, particularly lonely places late in the evening. But nowadays, you know, we work so much with people of the opposite sex in our place of work. We may go out for a cup of coffee together. Is that a date? I don't know what you mean by a date. It's different things. If you're seriously considering a girl or a boy for marriage, I would say you must be old enough to be able to have a home. If you're 16 or 17, forget it. You should be old enough. You should have a job and you should be serious enough to consider marriage. Then it's okay to meet. But be very very careful. You know, boys are tempted to touch. Because their foot is always on the accelerator. Zoom! So the girl's foot must be on the brake. And if you're one of those unfortunate girls, you mistake the accelerator for the brake, then you're in danger. You gotta put your foot on the brake. Don't say, well, he's always pressing the accelerator. Fine. You keep pressing the brake. Nothing will happen. That's your... You have to be the one pressing the brake. So you gotta be very careful. Why put yourself in places of temptation? Going to lonely places? I personally feel there's nothing wrong in meeting people in, you know, surroundings that are safe. But I would say be careful in going alone to lonely places. Because a lot of people who even who get married, if you ask them, they'll tell you we have regrets about even a little physical contact we had before marriage. They all have it. Why do you want it? Why not avoid it? Why not wait? Have you seen a rose? How it opens up? Do you know anything about it? You don't know. A rose which is closed and over a period of time it opens like that. That's how God has made it. Now when a rose is closed like that, if you try to pull all the petals and speed up man, it's going to destroy it. There are certain things that need time. Let God slowly open it up. Don't... So wait till marriage. Very important, physical contact. To get to know others? Yeah, in different cultures in different ways, so... In the world, in my work spot, a lot of people are living with a partner before marriage. It's absolutely evil. How can I witness to such people? You're going to tell them they're going to destroy themselves, that's all. You know, God has certain... God's standards are not only for Christians. The Ten Commandments are not for Christians. The Ten Commandments are for all human beings. The Sermon on the Mount is for Christians, but the Ten Commandments are for all human beings. So, I think we should say, listen, think of your own interest. If you're a girl, think you can destroy your life living together with some man. Okay. Another question, how can I hear God speak to me clearly? Well, that's... Over a period of time, it becomes clearer and clearer and clearer as you read God's word. Elders... My elders say to me to consider someone in the church for marriage. But our CFC sisters are all little hi-fi. Hi-fi. Is that a... Today's language, I don't... I belong to another generation. I presume they're stylish. I suppose that's what it means. I feel common men like me can't consider someone like that. Well, I find there are different levels of style. If you go down to the villages of Tamil Nadu, nobody wears high heels. I don't think wearing high heels is a sin. I don't know how they walk with their legs lifted up like that, but that's up to them. If they want to be inconvenient, that's up to them. But I'm not here to call it sin. And I don't think there's any difference between putting powder and perfume and putting lipstick and rouge or something like that. There's not much difference. To me, these things are not sin. If you major on these things, you begin to get sidetracked from... Sin is selfishness. It's pride. It's seeking your own way. It's harming other people. It's hurting other people. Those are the things. So, style, I believe that if you feel that some are stylish, and it may be true. Look for someone who is not. There are others like that too. What is the right salary I should earn before I get married? As much as necessary to support a family, which is different in different places, different in the different standard of living you want to choose, etc. The other thing is you don't have to marry somebody in the CFC. No. We're not the only people of God in the whole world. There are many God-fearing people and many of our brothers and sisters have found good brothers and sisters to marry from other churches. So, I believe that and I've always encouraged that. If you find a God-fearing person anywhere, that's the thing. Okay. How can I be sure I'm free from the love of money without deceiving myself? I think it's very difficult. But you will know if you have learned to give to God. Then you know somewhat that you're a little free. If you find yourself very stingy in your attitude towards God, you need to pray about it. Okay, the last question. Why do some people say that they are your friends, but they don't really talk or act like a friend? Oh, the world is full of such people. If you want to escape that, you've got to escape from this world. You've got to die and go to heaven. As long as we live in this world, we will always be people like that, but that is to enable you to be a conqueror, to overcome such things and say, well, I'm going to be a disciple of Jesus. Jesus is always facing people who said they were friends. What did he call Judas Iscariot and the gardener Gethsemane? What friend? Do you betray the son of man with a kiss? So, there are many false friends. There are people who betray you. Maybe no one has done that to you as much as Judas did to Jesus. But look at everything as a possibility to overcome. You know, that's one of the great things that helped me when I was a young man. I read in the scriptures that God has chosen the foolish. You read that verse? 1 Corinthians 1? And I read in another place, Jesus said, I thank you, Father, you've hidden these things from the clever and the intelligent. I said, boy. Revealed them to babes. I said, I fail. I'm not foolish. I'm little intelligent, not as much as some of you fellas, but I have a little bit of intelligence. And I said, Lord, what to do? Would it have been better if I was born a little foolish so that I could understand the scriptures more and have more revelation? Till when I was a young man, a brother told me, No. If God made you like that, it's like the color of your skin. Why do you want to be white when you're black or black when you're white? No. Just accept it. Intelligence, if you find this, you are like that, then there's something you can conquer and put it to death and still humble yourself before God. It's like if you're rich, you don't have to become poor in order to be disciple of Jesus. Conquer that love of money. So intelligence, put it down and say, Lord, I'll use it but I don't value it. Whereas that person who's born foolish, he doesn't have to conquer anything. So you know, if you've got something which other people don't have, maybe you're very pretty and that makes you feel proud. There's something to conquer. You don't have to scar your face and say, okay, I'm going to look ugly. No. Just conquer it. You don't have to get rid of your intelligence. You don't have to act dumb. No. Have you ever seen me acting dumb? Except in a drama or something. I don't act dumb. But I don't depend on my intelligence. So if there's something in your life which you have as an ability which other people don't have, see it as something that you can conquer so that you can look at all your brothers and sisters as your equals and you can say about yourself till the end of your life, I'm a nobody, but Jesus loved me and I'm his child. If you can say that, you're a conqueror. I like the title which John gave about himself. Do you know in the John's Gospel what he calls himself? Hmm? All you Bible scholars, you don't know what John calls himself? A disciple whom Jesus loved. Not a disciple who loves Jesus. I mean some of us if we were writing that, we'd have said, a disciple who loves Jesus. There can be a little pride in that. But a disciple whom Jesus loved. Is there anybody here who doesn't qualify for that title? A disciple whom Jesus loved. I love that. I say, Lord, that's what I want to be till the end of my life. I mean John could say that when he was 95. Why can't I say that when I'm 95? I hope you'll all be alive then when I'm 95. A disciple whom Jesus loved. I love that title. I'm a disciple whom Jesus loves. That doesn't exalt me over any of you. You can have it if you want. But it brought great security to John and it brings great security to me. God bless you all for not nodding off to sleep while I'm speaking and for listening. Thank you. You young people, stir me because inwardly I'm around your age, by the way. Okay, let's pray. There are answers to everything of every one of life's problems in the Bible. If you know where to find it, read it. Read it. Study it. Meditate on it. It'll make you another man. Seek God to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Seek to be useful in the church. Maybe start with the small things. Move on to the bigger things. But study the word and seek to share the word with others. Seek for the gifts of preaching the word, you young people. And when you're young, don't think too much of yourself but share according to your ability. But God needs those who will speak his word. He's probably preparing some of you. Study the word. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for these dear young people. Help them all to be wholehearted. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.