In this sermon, the speaker begins by sharing a personal anecdote about a conversation he had with someone about his family. The conversation took a serious turn when the speaker mentioned his children and their noble pursuits. This led to a moment of silence and a realization that there are more important things in life than trivial pursuits. The speaker then transitions to discussing God's ideals and the importance of knowing and following His rules. He emphasizes the need to fully commit to God's race, even if it means facing challenges and difficulties. The sermon concludes with a reference to James 4 and the reminder to not befriend the world, but to be a friend of God.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, AFPA, 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. All right, we're going to get started here. They're passing out a little sheet to all of you that's going to be a song. If I can transfer all of that to you. I'm not a song leader or one who teaches songs, but there's enough sheets there for you to share, you know, two on one sheet. I think that's good enough. And I ought to have one up here, if I can get one of those manual. Now, these words on this piece of paper come in the context of James chapter four. I'll just read it to you here quickly from verse four, following. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do you think that the Scripture saith in vain that the spirit that dwelleth in you lusteth to envy, or lusteth enviously, but he giveth more grace? Wherefore, he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Now, that's the context of these verses, and it's a song. I don't know, does anyone know this song? Let me see anybody's hands if you know it. Wow, good, you just cut my task in half. Wonderful. Because I was wondering how I'm going to transfer this. So let me give a little explanation here, and we'll go. In each one of these verses, it's sung responsively. The brothers begin, then the sisters follow. Two times, then down in the bottom part, we're looking at the first verse there. Everybody sings it together, we sing it twice. Then you go to the second verse and the third. It's a beautiful song. The spirit of the music fits the spirit of the words. And that is a perfect song. When the spirit of the music fits the spirit of the words, you have a beautiful song. And so, this is one of those. It's done in a bit of a sad tone, but that's the spirit of the words. Amen? So, I'm going to lead it, and you sisters, you have to keep your eye on me. When I go like this, that means you sing, and then you'll get it. So, us men will start, and then you sisters will follow. And then we'll sing together on the last part. And then, let's try it. Okay, on the men's side. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. And He shall lift you up. And He shall lift you up. Get that? Now, if we can get into the spirit of those words, it will be very good for all of us. Amen? Let's do verse two. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Can you believe that? Draw nigh to God, and He'll draw nigh to you. Draw nigh to God, and He'll draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts. Our God and our Father, we come singing these words to You, Lord. We come uniting our hearts to these words, Father. We come worshipping You this morning, in this second session of Bible School. Lord, we acknowledge that we need You. We need You desperately, Father, to come and help us, each one of us. O God, as we are sitting here, we are sitting under the sound of the eternal truths of the Word of God. Lord, we need You to come and help us to hear. Give us ears to hear, Lord. Give us eyes to see. Give us hearts that are willing to respond to the things which we hear. In Jesus' name, Amen. Will you just keep those sheets? We'll try to do that every day. I'm sure we'll get better as the week goes by. Alright, greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus. Welcome to Bible School. What a joy and a thrill to be here. We've been planning for you for a long time. And I want to say that you are worth all the planning. To see your faces this morning, hearts and faces lifted up, wanting to learn and grow. It's worth all the labors. Well, as usual, I've changed my title a bit since they printed that on the sheet. I'm just kind of known for that, I guess. But I want to give you the title. It's the same. We're going to talk about disciples, but I've given it a different title. Here's the title of our sessions this week. And the title is a confession. A confession. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. That is the title. That title is a confession. We're going to look into the depths of what those words mean. And I trust that as we make our way through the week, your heart will unite more and more with the reality of that confession. That by the end of the week, if not already in the beginning of the week, it is in fact the confession of your heart and your life. But, we want to give some definition to that. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. So, we're going to cover the subject of discipleship. This confession, when I use that word, I use it in a biblical sense. A confession is a statement of covenant joined with belief in one's heart. That's what a confession is. It is a profession joined with possession of the reality of what I am saying. Now, that's what the word confess means in the Bible, by the way. Now, it's gotten watered down and we ought to probably put a true in front of it or a real in front of it or one of those words to prop it up. But, if you go to what the Bible says about it, a confession or profession is that which is spoken out of the mouth, out of the depths of believing it inside of the heart. And that's the way that I mean it. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. In the biblical sense, it is the confession that you would make this morning. If a bunch of soldiers walked through that door this morning and lined themselves up here in front of you and pointed a gun at you and told you, if you stand and confess Jesus Christ, we're going to blow your brains out. That confession is the confession that you would make if you were one of those brave souls who stood up to your feet and looked into the bullets and said, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. That's what we mean by confession. That's what confession means in the Bible. That's what confession meant in the early church. Romans. Well, let's go to Matthew first. Matthew chapter 10. And we'll get a little bit of an insight on this confession. This morning's session is introduction. I don't expect to get to any of the major points on discipleship until tomorrow. But let's just look in Matthew chapter 10. Jesus was instructing the apostles. The twelve that He had chosen after a night of prayer alone in the mountains somewhere. He chose twelve apostles. And He's getting ready to send them out and He gives them some instructions before He sends them out. And He says these words in chapter 10 and verse 28. He says to them, Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. But rather, fear Him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. Verse 32. Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men. That's that word that I've already defined to you. Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, Him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. And by the way, that confess is just as deep as the other one. If we have out of the depth of our being a confession that we are a disciple of Jesus, Jesus will stand before His Father some day and confess out of the depths of His being. You may before the Father. Beautiful. Beautiful picture. But, verse 33, Whosoever shall deny Me before men, Him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's foe shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after Me is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it. We won't say any more about all those precious verses. But I wanted to read them because it's in the context of confessing. So we understand in the beginning of these sessions what we're talking about. We're not talking about the way it is today in this land of ours where it's popular to be a Christian, and there's not much cost at all in standing up and saying, I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We're talking about the depth of a commitment that flows out of a heart and into the mouth which says, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. That's what we're talking about. Another portion of Scripture that will help us to understand the depths of this word confession is found in Romans 10. Let's turn over there quickly. Romans 10, starting in verse 8, Paul says these words, The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. And what is it, Paul? That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, or Jesus is the Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. And that's far enough to read for this morning. But again, we see that some powerful things begin to happen when there is something that is inside of you that is confessed out of your mouth. But it doesn't do anything if there's nothing on the inside. You know, any more than taking a sinner into the water makes him a Christian. If there's nothing in his heart, he goes in a wet sinner and he comes out a wet sinner. Amen? It must be in the heart. It's the kind of confession that those 3,000 made on the day of Pentecost. Amen? I mean, here it is. Peter didn't have to say anything else to them. He didn't have to give them ten lessons on discipleship that day. All he had to do is say one thing. Repent and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. That's all he had to say. But to those 3,000 Jews who made that choice that day, that was no little choice. It had everything that we're going to speak about all this week wrapped up in that one statement that Peter made. And don't you believe otherwise. Those Jews who stepped forward that day and confessed the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Messiah, they lost everything that day. Everything. He didn't need to say anything else. It's like that dear Muslim that we saw come to the Lord Jesus up there in the north of Ghana in Tamale. We witnessed to him out on the streets and told him all the things that he needed to hear. And finally one day he came to the motel where we were staying and he said, I'm ready to become a Christian. Go. Get down on your knees. He got down on his knees. And all he did was say this. He said, God, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He was converted right there. We saw his face change. His life lit up just by saying those words. Why? For a Muslim to say words like that, again, you take all the points of everything that I'm going to say all week long and they were all wrapped up in that statement that that young man made that day. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Boom! Transformation from the inside out. Praise God. That's what we're talking about. It's the kind of confession that 32 Hutterites made a couple of months ago up in Manitoba. Amen? Amen. I mean, they stood there on the edge of the water and it was their time to get baptized and they stepped into that water and they knew when they stepped down into that water, they were leaving one life behind and picking up a new one when they walked out of the water. That's exactly what we're talking about. We're talking about being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords, worthy of everything we've got. Amen? Worthy of everything. It is a confession that is written deeply on the fleshly tables of our heart. You know, I think about the account given there in the book of Revelation where judgment was coming and judgment was standing at the door and the angel was ready to bring forth the judgment that he was allotted to release and another angel stopped him and said, wait, don't do anything else until we seal the servants of God upon the earth. And the angel came forth with the seal of the living God. That's the way it says it in the Bible. There came forth an angel with the seal of the living God. And that word seal means signet or signature. He came forth with the signature of the living God. Now, young people, who do you suppose he wrote the signature of the living God upon? Did he just go around and say, you get it, you don't get it, you get it, you don't get it? No, he wrote the signature of the living God in the foreheads of those who had the signature of the living God in their heart. Amen? That's what he did. And that's what we're talking about this week. Oh, that your life would be so touched by God that your life, written across your life is the signature of the living God. And that not just by the words you say, but by your very life is the signature written across you. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. And everybody knows it and you don't even have to tell anybody because they already know it because it's written across you. We want to be able to confess from the depths of our being with a will that has chosen, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. We're going to give some definition to this confession through the week. We will give definitions also in the form of a confession. So, by the end of the week, if your heart can unite with what I'm talking about, you will have a confession of your faith. A confession of your faith. So, not only is the title given in the form of a confession, but every point we're going to look at will be given in the same way. A positive confession. Now, there are two words we want to look at and we're just introducing here this morning. The first one is the word disciple. It simply means a learner. One who submits his heart to the Master and to His teachings. One who submits his heart to the Master and to His teachings. He is a learner. It's a very simple word and that's exactly where God wants us to be. And He never wants us to get away from there. I was so blessed as I was studying for these messages to note that John, Brother John, the Apostle John never called himself an apostle. Never once. I looked. He always called himself a disciple. He called himself a disciple. He called himself that other disciple. And he called himself, probably the dearest words he could ever use, the disciple whom Jesus loved. That's how John referred to himself. So, it's a very simple word, a disciple. A disciple is a learner. A disciple is one who has submitted themselves to the Master Teacher and submitted themselves to the teachings of the Master Teacher. That's what we're talking about here today. And the other word that we want to look at is the word follow. It's another very simple word. But Jesus used it a lot, didn't He, as He moved around in the beginning of His ministry. He said He'd look into the hearts of men and women and say to them, follow Me. What does that word follow mean? Listen to this, young people. It means, join yourself to Me and go with Me on the path. That's what it means. Join yourself with Me and go with Me on the path. That was very interesting as I was studying it. You do not get the picture of Jesus down here on the path and the disciple back here on the path and we're going to keep our eyes there and we're going to follow after Him. No. That word, when Jesus said it to those in the days when He walked upon this earth, He said to them, come, follow Me. Come join yourself to Me and go with Me on the path. And that's exactly what the early disciples did, didn't they? They weren't ten steps behind Him. They went with Him. And, oh, young people, I want to assure you this morning that if God calls you and you hear His voice saying, follow Me, He's not going to tell you to go somewhere where He is not and He's not just going to tell you to go somewhere where He has been. He's telling you, come, join yourself to Me and we'll go together on this path. Amen? Now, Jesus was not giving them a new way of life, young people. Jesus was not saying to them in His words, and He said many words while He walked upon the earth, He was not saying to those disciples by the words that He gave them, I have started a new order. Follow My new order. I've got a new set of teachings and I want you to follow My new set of teachings. Jesus was not saying that. He was much deeper than that. He was not saying, walk the path that I have walked. He was saying much more than that. He was saying, come, join yourself with Me and let us go together on the path that I have laid out for you. Isn't that encouraging this morning? I mean, if we look at the call to discipleship from the natural man's mind, which all of us, we're human beings, we have a tendency to look at it that way, it can be a bit scary and you might draw back from it and you may look at it and say, there's no way I can't do it. But Jesus is not wanting you to look at it that way. You must look at it in the context of the way that He gave it. Come, join yourself to Me and let's go together and see where your life goes, young people, if you'll do that. I discovered in a fresh and a new way a portion of Scripture in the Gospels which defines with clarity and depth what discipleship is. I'd like us to turn to Matthew just to read those Scriptures and please forgive me if I seem like I'm rushing, I am. This clock is giving us a few challenges this morning. Matthew chapter 11 is where we want to read. What a beautiful, clarifying depth of vision of what discipleship is all about when Jesus spoke to those around Him there in Matthew chapter 11, starting in verse 28, He said, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me. For I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. What a beautiful picture of discipleship. I mean, it's so beautifully balanced. It's so clear when you look at verses like that that Jesus was not just setting a new order, so to speak, an example for the spiritual elite to walk. Certain ones are going to take this hard path. No, Jesus was not giving a new order. He was inviting them to come to Himself. And then we'll go down this path together. He was saying to those around them, and He says to us this morning, Are you done? Are you done? Are you done trying to make it all work? Are you frustrated this morning? Are you one of those who in frustration have sat down upon your bed or fallen upon your knees or laid back on your bed and said, It doesn't work. It just doesn't work. Jesus was saying to those who have toiled all night and taking nothing, I have toiled all night and I've taken nothing. Jesus was saying to those, Come unto Me. That makes all the difference in the whole thing. Come unto Me, He said. All ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest like you've never known. Come unto Me personally, the Lord Jesus says. Come unto Me personally. Come, follow Me personally. Not just My teachings, young people. Come, follow Me personally. Come, let us be yoked together. Let us be yoked together. I'm not going to lay all of these principles upon you and just tell you to go and do them. Come, let us be yoked together. Take My yoke upon you and come, submit yourself to the Master and His teachings. Let's walk down the path together, Jesus says. Become a learner of a new order. Now, what does the word say? Huh? Do you know it? Of Me. Come, learn of Me. Oh, there's a big difference between that and some new order. Right? Come. Come unto Me. Come, yoke yourself with Me. And then come, learn of Me. Of Me, young people, He says. Come, learn of Me. And then He finishes by saying, I'm easy to learn from. I am meek and lowly at heart. I am easy to learn from. Not hard, not difficult. I'm not a taskmaster. I am meek and lowly at heart. Come, learn of Me. It is easy to learn of Me once you come and you submit yourself to the Master and to His teachings. It's easy to learn of Me. For I am meek and lowly at heart. And He finishes by saying, My yoke is easy and My burden is light You know, so many, so many people in this land of ours, young people, they're trying to make all these things happen, but they missed the most important element. Come unto Me. Yoke yourself with Me. You know, it's easy for us to read through the Bible and say, Oh, look at this, you know, fasting, oh that's good, let's do that, and this, and let's go soul winning, and all those things are beautiful, and they're good and right, and then they're placed, but dear young people, they're not in their place until you are in your place. Learning from the Master. Yoke to Him. Then, all those other things are beautiful and we'll speak about them all week long. The words, Jesus' words to His disciples were not simply words of a new order or words of a higher standard, you know, like with the words of Moses and the words of the prophets. You know, they were used to that. Oh, we've had the words of Moses and we've had the words of the prophets and now we have the words of Jesus. Isn't that beautiful? Now we have Moses and the prophets and Jesus. Isn't it interesting though that the Father on the Mount of Transfiguration, when Peter, James and John were there and they were gazing and seeing into the eternal realm and they saw Jesus there lit up in all His glory, which was hidden from the eyes of humankind, and they saw Moses there and they saw Elijah there, and oh, Peter thought, boy, this is beautiful. Let's just make three tabernacles. Now we have Moses here and we've got Elijah here and we have Jesus here. And oh, just like that, a big cloud came over the mountain and those men fell on their faces in fear as the cloud came over the mountain and in the midst of the cloud, they heard a voice speaking unto them. Oh, I believe it spoke to the depths of their soul as the Father spoke out, out of eternity past and into the present and from eternity future. He said, this is My beloved Son, hear ye Him. And they opened up their eyes and the cloud was gone. They saw Jesus only standing there. Hallelujah. Young people, you get that one. Get that one. Hear ye Him. But who is this Jesus only that was standing there? This is My beloved Son. This is God in the flesh. Hear ye Him. I'm not against reading Moses. I'm not against reading the prophets. I read them all the time and preach out of them. But, let's keep Jesus in His precious place. Amen? Seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. So, Jesus was not just speaking words of a new order. Jesus Christ is God. He is God, manifest in the flesh. And when He was speaking to His disciples, He was explaining to His disciples how you relate to God. Amen? Not some new order. He's telling them how to relate to God when He says to them words like this, Forsake all, or you cannot be My disciple. Sell all and follow Me, He said. Deny yourself. Dethrone yourself, or you cannot be My disciple. Why was He saying words like this? Because He's God. And young people, that's the only way you can relate to God. The only way. Mark it down. If you're ever going to know any of the depth of fellowship and reality with God, you're going to have to come to grips with the words that Jesus gave to His disciples. That's the only way man can relate to the living God. He's God. Why shouldn't He expect us to forsake everything? He's God! It's not just some new order, young people. We're talking about God! And young people, if there was ever a generation of youth who need to declare themselves truly, true disciples of Jesus Christ, it is this one. It is this one. Amen? Do you know what they call you? You're generation X. That's what the public has titled your generation. Generation X! What does that mean? I'll tell you what it means. I knew already, but I studied it just so I could tell you. It's the generation. It's generation nothing. That's generation X. Generation nothing! It's the generation with no cause. It's the generation with no values. It's the generation with no absolutes. That's what generation X is. It is the easy-going, casual generation. That's generation X, you know. I'm okay. You're okay. We're all okay. Don't judge me. I won't judge you. And we're all going to go happily together down life's road. That's generation X! Nice, easy-going, casual generation. The generic God of the day suits generation X real well. They don't mind that. They have no problem with a generic God, you know. The Muslim God and the Hindu gods and the Buddhist gods and all the other gods are the same gods as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, they say. That suits generation X real well. Generation X, they are the playingest generation there ever was. Oh, they like their fun, boy. Let's have it! Let's go have our good time! Yeah, we're young! You're only young once, says generation X! We like to play! Generation X. I read all this right out of a book from a man who took surveys by the thousands and gathered all the information together, so I'm not picking on you. Generation X, they don't want to work. Oh, they like the paycheck. You'd better give them the paycheck at the end of the week, but they don't like to work. I'll do what I have to do to get by, and that's it! That's generation X. Generation X. They're the ones, they're the generation that wears blue jeans and t-shirts to the office at IBM. And the boss can't do anything about it because they know how to run those computers, so they just put up with them in their blue jeans and their t-shirts, you know, and their tennis shoes, come walking in there, you know, into IBM! And I'm not for suits and ties, but there's proper and improper. But to Generation X, no such number even exists. That's the way they are. Generation X has grown up on thrills and entertainment from the time they were little children. And they say, if you want to reach Generation X, you'd better give them the thrills and the entertainment. And men are writing whole books on how to fill your churches with Generation Xers. You know what I'm talking about? Some of you know what I'm talking about. I mean, you whoop it up and you get the music going and you put a gymnasium over there on the side of the sanctuary and you make sure you have lots of hot dog roasts and lots of hay rack rides and all those kind of good fun things and you'll fill your church up with Generation Xers because that's what they live on, the thrills and the entertainment. Listen to this one, young people. Number one employer for Generation X. Note this. The number one employer for Generation X is McDonald's. That's a pretty sad commentary, isn't it? Enough said on that, huh? If I were you, and I know you young people, the very fact that you're here, you're shaking that thing off with all your hearts. I know that. I'm not saying that's the way you are. No, not at all. To be fair about the whole thing, Generation X was raised that way. To be real fair about the whole thing. They were raised with no values and no absolutes. They were raised on the television set and all the good things. That's what they were raised on. But if I were you, if I was your generation, I'd shake that thing off with all of my heart. I'd shake that testimony out of my life, out of the way that I live, out of the testimony of my life, out of my life message with everything I had in me. Just like I did in my generation. See, my generation was the hippie generation. And I shook that thing off of me with everything I had. So, what are you going to do about it? How do you break the chain? I'm sure you want to break that chain. I'm sure of it. You wouldn't be here if you didn't want to break that chain. Now, there might be a few in here that are offended at what I've said already because that's kind of how it is. We don't realize it, but that Generation X has affected the Christians a lot more than what we want to admit. So, what are we going to do about it? You must become a disciple of Jesus Christ, young people. You must. And I've learned this about young people. 25 years of learning, I've learned this about young people. All of them, even Generation X, they want it clear. They want it high. They want it real. That's what they want. I mean, if you're going to run a mile, let's run it as fast as possible and figure out how we can run it as fast as possible. Young people, we're talking about a life that is at your fingertips of challenge, of adventure, of stretching and straining like you never knew. Some time ago, not long ago, I was on a plane. I was flying back from Manitoba just a few weeks ago. I was up there among the Hutterite people and there was a man sitting next to me in the plane and someone had given me a book on the history of the Hutterite people and that's what I was looking at as I sat there on the plane and this guy sitting next to me, you know, he was eavesdropping and looking at what I was reading and he said, Hey, I see you're reading this book. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Oh, he said, I know the Hutterites. He said, I used to be a building inspector. I've been in all kinds of their colonies. I went in there to inspect the buildings that they built, you know. Really? Yeah. So what are you doing up here in Canada? He said. And I thought, Oh boy, am I glad you asked me that question. And in between that and the preliminaries, you know, he said, I'm a Christian, you know. He said, Are you a minister? I said, Yes, I am. He said, Ah, I'm a Christian. Good. Wonderful. And so, then he asked me, What are you doing up here? And I told him, I overflowed on him all the things that are happening among these Hutterite people. And he just sat there, you know, with his jaw open. Wow. Man. Really. He just went on and on like this. And after we talked about that for a little while, then I turned the corner a little bit and I asked him about himself and his family. And he started telling me about his children. And he had a son, a 21 year old son. And I said, Well, so what does your son do? You know, 21 years old. Oh, he said, My son, he had no idea. He walked right into the lion's den and didn't even know it. But he said, Yeah, I got a son. He's 21 years old. And he's one of these bike racers and stuntmen, you know, with one of these baby bikes, you know, they ride these little things and go down these loops and go around like that and go up and flip the bike around and come back down on it again, you know, and they ride these trails, these mountain trails, and go up over these cliffs and land on their heads and all kinds of things. What an utterly ridiculous thing to do with your life! But I mean, this man is telling me he's the father, you know, he's proud of his son, you know, and he's giving me this whole spiel about his son and he's bragging on him, yeah, he broke his leg this side, he broke this leg, and he's broken his hands three different times, he broke his wrist, he has several broken ribs, but he's a champion, he told me, he's a champion. I mean, he eats and sleeps and drinks riding this little bike around and making it do fancy things, you know, and I'm sitting there and I didn't criticize it at all, you know, I want to be gracious, the Lord Jesus was gracious, but I thought to myself, oh, what a waste. But, the point is, that boy did it with everything he had. And I mean, he busted his bones up and as soon as those old bones healed, he got right back on that dumb thing and did it again. Should we be left for our Lord Jesus who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords? Surely, surely we can do better than that. Well then, after he shared all that for a little while, then he turned the corner and said, so, tell me about your family and I told him about my children and where they are and what they're doing. It got strangely silent. We didn't talk after that because I think he realized that was more noble than riding this little tricycle and making it do stunts. He got quiet and he didn't want to talk the rest of the trip. Well, we're going to be looking at God's ideals this week. God's ideals. We're going to learn the rules, young people. Just like that boy did, see? He looked at that whole thing and he learned the rules and evaluated the whole thing. He knew what he was getting into. He knew, I'm going to break some of my bones. Give me that bike anyway. I'm going to break my hands. Give me that bike anyway. I'm going to crush my knee. Give me that bike anyway. He didn't care. He learned the rules. He evaluated the whole thing and he gave himself to it completely. I hope, as we look at the rules of the most precious race that you could ever run, the most exciting, adventurous race you could ever get into, I hope you get the rules deep down in your soul this week and step up there and say, OK, I know I'm going to break my bones over and over again, but I'm going for it with all my heart. Surely the Lord Jesus is worthy of that. I hope you'll go for it with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. Ideals are like a tuning fork. It took me a while to find one of these, but I found one. Can you hear that? A tuning fork. It gives a better pitch than a pitch pipe. You know that? The sound that comes out of a tuning fork, they call it concert pitch. It is perfect. They use these to tune instruments because instruments get out of tune, sort of like we do sometimes. Amen? We get out of tune. So, the master tuner takes the instrument and plucks the string. And if it doesn't sound right, he uses the tuning fork and he tunes that string to sound just like the sound on the tuning fork. That's what we're going to do this week. We're going to strike the tuning fork about sixteen times. Four times each day. We're going to strike the tuning fork so that we can take this instrument and just tune it. Or maybe you have a broken string and you don't even know that sound. We're going to fix the broken string so that it will sound right. That's what a tuning fork is all about. Just like the master tuner or anyone who wants to be in tune, they strike the tuning fork with joy, wanting to hear the purest sound that it can give because they want to bring that instrument into line with that sound. Young people, I hope you will look at these next four days that way. Not a, oh, have to thing here, oh, no, Brother Denny's going to load us down with all this stuff. No. No, but rather, with the heart of a true disciple of Jesus Christ, we'll strike the tuning fork and your heart will listen and say, oh, I want to hear the sound so beautifully, purely given. My heart and my life can be brought in tune that the music that my life plays is harmonious and right and honoring Christ and glorifying my God because we want to run the race. We get to run the race. Not because we have to run the race. Amen? The big difference between have to and get to, young people. And really, you could just sum up the whole disciple, the whole matter of a disciple with those words right there. If it's have to and not get to, it is not in the heart. And if that man stood up here and pointed the gun at you and said, stand up right now! If it's have to instead of get to, you'll probably not get on your feet. Amen? You will probably not get on your feet. But if it's get to and want to and he points the gun your way, I believe by the grace of God you'd stand to your feet and look him right in the face and say, I am a disciple. Do with me whatever you want. Whatever you want. Well, you know what will cure Generation X, young people? A Holy Ghost revival in your life will cure Generation X. You see, they're looking for reality. They don't see it. They don't see it. Let you be the reality that they're looking for. And what I sense today and what I sense yesterday in our Sunday morning service, I sense good things. Young people, you have an opportunity. You have an opportunity to have a revival this week. Not just the Bible school. You know what I mean? You can come here and go through all the sessions and listen and go all your way. Or you can come here starting from day one and say, OK, Lord, I'm going for it with everything I've got. I'm gonna get honest and I'm not waiting until Friday. I'm gonna get honest on Monday. I'm gonna open up in my prayer group this day, this very day, and go for it. Young people, you could have a revival that would shake your moms and dads when you get home. It has happened before where revival broke out in all the little churches after the young people went home from Bible school because of the way that God touched them. They couldn't help but overflow and their moms and dads and the pastors said, cancel the service. The young people are gonna give their testimonies. And by the time the young people finished giving their brokenhearted testimonies of the soul that has been set free, the moms and dads were on their faces weeping. You could have that this week, young people. Or you can just go through another week of Bible school. Oh, I pray. I pray, God, He stir your hearts and you seize the opportunity that is at your fingertips. Let's go for it from day one. God, our Father, we come to you in the name of your Son, Jesus. Lord, we love you. We're very excited to be a Christian today. Father, we thank you that you bought us and sought us and redeemed us by your blood. Thank you that you called us into the fellowship of the disciples of Jesus Christ. God, we pray this week, change our lives, Lord. Change my life, dear God, this week. You know I need it, dear God. Change our lives, Lord. Let a holy heart settle down upon us, Father. From this very beginning, God, do it. Touch us. Change us. Send revival, Lord, upon all of our hearts in Jesus' name. Amen.