In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of walking with God and learning to be led by the Spirit. He refers to verses from the Bible that highlight the significance of this in the Christian life. The speaker then discusses six solid marks of a true Christian life, which have been explored throughout the week. He encourages the young people to abide in the vine and allow God's word to wash over them, leading to a soul set free and a life that glorifies 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, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Thank you, Jeremy. That was the song I was going to pick today. You know, the spirit of a song and the words of a song should move together. Good, solid Christian music. The words of the song and the spirit of the song should move together. And that is a good example right there. The spirit of that song is humility. And the words of the song are also. I so appreciate that arrangement. Well, we've come to the last session here this morning. Amen. How many of you enjoyed the message last evening? Let me see your hands. Amen. How many of you noticed how Brother David did not preach to the unconverted last night, but yet he preached to the unconverted? How many noticed that? Praise God, that was beautiful. All right, let's have a prayer. Father in heaven, Lord, we love you this morning. We're so glad that we're on the other side, Lord. I'm so glad. 31 years, Lord, I'm on the other side. It's been beautiful years, Father. Been glorious years. I never get tired of it, Father. Never do. So excited about this new life you gave me 31 years ago, Father. Oh, bless us again today, Father, as we look at the Christian life according to John. Open up our hearts, Father. Anoint our hearts with the Holy Ghost, Father. We're looking to you. We're trusting you to do that. Give us gifts, Lord, that we might prophesy. In Jesus' name, amen. You can turn in your Bibles to John. John chapter 13 is where we're going to start today. How could we pass through the book of John and not stop at the lesson that Christ taught His disciples when He washed their feet? The Christian life according to John, in John chapter 13, is this. The Christian life is the lowly life of a servant. You know, a few days ago, we talked about rivers of living water flowing out of us and the beautiful things that God can do through us as we yield ourselves to the influence of the Holy Ghost and the anointing of the Holy Ghost upon us. And, you know, you can tend to get a lot of high ideas when you ponder that subject and listen to that point of the sermon. But, I just want to blend that point of sermon with this one right here. The Christian life is the lowly life of a servant. And we're going to identify with the life of Jesus Christ this morning in a bit of a different way. If we truly do identify with the life of Jesus Christ, we must aspire to the life of a lowly servant. Who made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself. There it is, Jeremy. He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The lowly life of a servant is what the Christian life is all about. The King of the universe, the Creator of the universe, steps out of eternity and into time. What will He be like? What will the express image of the Father be like? All this deity clothed in humanity, this visible image of the invisible God, what will He live like on the earth? John 13, verse 4 says, He riseth from supper and laid aside His garments and took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poureth water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. And may I just add a word there, He began to wash the disciples' dirty feet. Very much different than our feet, amen? He began to wash the disciples' dirty feet. This is just one of the many pictures like this in the Gospels. But it is a good one for us to look at today. The Bible says to all of us, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. And that's given in the context of Philippians chapter 2, where we have the beautiful account of Christ's seven steps downward, Christ's self-emptying, the seven phases of Christ's self-emptying to come and take His place to do His Father's will upon the earth. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Let your life be a life of self-emptying. That is the challenge that comes to us. He, being in very nature God, He did not grasp that equality which He had. He did not hold on to it. Though it was His and He had every right to it, He did not hold on to that equality. But instead, He turned away from that equality and emptied Himself of that equality and took upon Himself the nature of a servant. This King of the universe took upon Himself the nature of a servant and allowed Himself to be made in likeness of a man. Then, when He found Himself in this state, He humbled Himself and became obedient servant to His Father, so obedient that even obedient to the death of the cross. Now, young people, Christ did not do that just because He was supposed to do that. Christ did that because it is the nature of deity living itself out in humanity, young people. That is what God is like. This is a picture of the lowly life of a servant. Jesus said these words, Let Him that is greatest among you be the servant of all. And these words follow right along with the words that we have here in John. We read a couple of the verses. Let's read further in verse 12. So after He had washed their dirty feet, if I may just add that word, and had taken His garments and was set down again, He said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you. We could stay a long time on that one. Know ye what I have done unto you. Ye call Me Master and Lord, and ye say, Well, for so I am, the King of the universe. If I then, your Lord and Master, have manifested My deity by washing your dirty feet, if I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your dirty feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that ye should do as I, the King of the universe, has done. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. Now, I believe that Jesus, in this text, is instituting the ordinance of feet washing. An ordinance is an outward symbol of an inward reality. Communion is an ordinance. Baptism is an ordinance. It is an outward picture of an inward reality. And I believe that Christ is instituting an outward picture of an inward reality. And, because of that, we do physically wash one another's feet at times in our congregation. But this morning, I want to talk about the inward reality, because the outward symbol really doesn't mean much at all if there's no inward reality to go with it on an everyday basis. And the inward reality is to take our place in the body of Christ, in a hurting and a degraded humanity, to take our place as a lonely servant of a world that is around us. Young people, this is the Christian life. And I might add a very beautiful picture of that diamond that we're looking at. I can't convince you of that this morning. I can't convince you of the joy. I can't convince you of the thrill, of the happiness, of the overflowing joy that flows into the life of one who chooses to take the role of a lonely servant and serve, and serve, and serve, and serve all the days of their life. I can't convince you of that. It's like standing up here and trying to tell you what honey tastes like when you've never tasted it. All I can do is tell you it's good! It's good! You will have to taste it if you want to see what it tastes like. Young people, it is easy, especially for young people, but it's easy for all of us to respond to what Oswald Chamber calls heroic Christianity. And what he means by that is nobody wants to wash anybody else's feet. They just want to go be a great missionary somewhere where everybody can say, oh, look at so-and-so. Look what he did. Heroic Christianity. That's what Oswald Chamber calls it. It is easy to get them to aspire to a mission field somewhere and all the sacrifices and adventure that goes along with it. But young people, you do not realize that most of the time those missionaries, they plod along in a lonely, unnoticed labor on the other side of the ocean. They are slaves to a very needy people. And they bear burdens way beyond anything you can imagine. You do not realize that they were just servants here for years before they went over there to be the great missionaries. Like the little child who said to his mama, you know, he'd been evaluating this whole thing and he said to his mama, Mama, when I grow up, I want to be a returned missionary. He'd been evaluating. He probably heard a lot of sermons about how hard it is over there and the servant side of missionary life. And he saw these missionaries coming home from the field and he saw all the glory they got and all the wonderful things that people said about them and how everybody was so excited to see them. And he evaluated the two of those and he thought, well, hey, if I've got a choice in this thing, I think I'll be a returned missionary. You can be the missionary. I'll be the returned missionary. Well, it doesn't work that way, young people. It doesn't work that way. Most of the time, they plod along in lonely, unnoticed labors bearing tremendous burdens of a needy people. If you're going to walk the glorious road of true Christianity, young people, you must learn to find your joy in serving others. You must learn to find your joy in serving others. Selfless service is the path that Jesus trod all the days of His life from the carpenter's shop till He laid Himself down on that cross on Golgotha. When the King of the universe, the holy God of creation, found Himself in the fashion of a man, He humbled Himself. He yielded to that and laid down His life in acts of lowly servanthood all the way to Calvary where He submitted Himself to the death of the cross. That's what Philippians 2 says. Young people, a servant has no life of his own. He lives for another. A servant has no rights of his own. He yields all of his rights to the desires of another. His choices are dictated by others. A servant is usually not in the limelight and he doesn't expect to be. And a servant plods along making his master prosper. That's the life of a servant. But Jesus said, that He that is greatest among you be the servant of all. Just keep on plodding and plodding and working and laboring to make your master prosper. I want to encourage you this morning, young people, to take the low road. You will never regret it. Don't go home with a high and mighty attitude about how God met you this week and how you met God. Don't go home with a high and a mighty attitude about how the church needs to change. And don't go home set out to change it. You know, you can do that. You can sit through a week like this and go home and say, yeah, well, our church is pretty bad. You go home and lay down your life. Like Jesus said in John chapter 13, again in verse 34, a new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another. What? That's not a new commandment to love one another. But here's the new commandment. That He gives a new definition to the commandment to love one another. That ye love one another as I have loved you. That ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have this kind of love one for another. What kind of love? He laid down His life for us. And Jesus says, this is how they will know that you are My disciples. In the same way that I laid down My life for you, you will lay down your life for others. And people will look on and say, now that is a disciple of Jesus Christ. A follower of the Lamb. So I want to encourage you young people, lay down your life. Give it up. Give it up in practical ways. There are dozens, dozens of ways that you can do that. But I just want to encourage you. Ah, it's honey. It's honey. It may look like a lowly life of a servant, but it's honey. I'm telling you. Point number 11 here. The Christian life is an abiding life. The Christian life is an abiding life. Now we're in John 15. We skip John 14. We skip the intimate life of an obedient heart in John 14, and we're looking at John 15, an abiding life. Let me give you a definition before we just look at a few of these verses here in John 15. A definition of abide in Me. Because that's what Jesus is encouraging His disciples. Abide in Me. What does it mean to abide in Me? To continue in vital union with Me, says Jesus. Continue in vital union with Me. Now Jesus is instructing His disciples. These are some of the last words that He says to them before He goes to the cross. He's going to leave them. He's not going to be there anymore. He knows the day is soon coming when they're going to have to fend for themselves. And He's telling them, now I'm giving you the secrets to the Christian life. Abide continually in vital union with Me. That's what you need to do. Because I'm not going to be around anymore. You're not going to be able to see Me. You're not going to be able to run to Me and say, what shall we do in this situation? They have no food. We have no bread. We're sinking in the boat. I'm not going to be around. But let me tell you what to do since I'm going to be gone. Abide continually in a vital union with Me is what Jesus said. It is a walk of faith, young people. It is a walk of obedience. To abide in Christ is a walk of faith. And it's a walk of obedience. To abide in Christ is a walk of cleansing, continual cleansing. It is a walk of continual surrender. It is a walk of continuous revival. And it is a walk of vital reality that you must learn, young people. You must. Paul said it this way in Acts 24, verse 16, Herein do I exercise Myself. Herein do I exercise Myself. And that word exercise means just what it says. You know, you just get a few barbells up there, you know. That's what it means. Herein do I exercise Myself, says Paul. This is the rule of my life. And I exercise Myself in this rule of my life continually. To have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward man. That's the life of abiding in a nutshell, young people. That is the life of abiding in a nutshell. Let's read in verse 1. I am the true vine. I'm glad he put that word in there. I am the true vine. And my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me. Now, what does in me mean, young people? Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. And every branch that beareth fruit, or may I say, every branch in me that beareth fruit, he perjureth that it may bring forth more fruit. So, we've got two kinds of branches here in this text. We have branches in me that beareth not fruit. And we have branches in me that bear fruit. And you can take your pick, young people, which one you want to be. The one that bears fruit, the husbandman is going to come by with his pruning shears from time to time and cut and gouge and nip and clip and chip things away out of your life. So, you have that to look forward to. Amen. Isn't that exciting? Or you can take the other way. And you can walk out of here knowing what you know, knowing that you're a Christian, knowing that God is calling you to so much more, as you've been hearing all week long and say, I'm not going to live it up for a while yet. I'll be okay. Those guys are kind of fanatical. And you can go away from here and beareth not fruit. But I want you to know that the husbandman, he comes down the old vineyard again. And not only is he looking for those branches that are bearing fruit, and he goes in there so carefully and says, we're going to get this off so that more fruit can grow. We're going to get this off so that more fruit can grow. He also looks at the vine, and when he sees a branch on there that doesn't bear any fruit, he's no dummy. He looks at that and says, all this sap is going into this branch, and nothing is coming out of it that glorifies me. I'm not sure how else to interpret those words. I've seen a lot of theological gymnastics around that verse, but I've learned through my Christian life that usually the Bible means what it says, young people. It means what it says. Don't play games with God. And then in verse 3 he goes on and says, Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you, or abide in me, and let me abide in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, ye can do nothing, young people, nothing. You see, the Christian life is really very simple. It's really very simple. The beautiful things that God has been doing in your heart this week, all God wants you to do is just keep walking in that beautiful, clear heart that you have now. And it's very simple if you'll do that. In fact, you don't even have to worry much about the fruit. You just keep on walking in that beautiful heart that God has wrought in you this week. And the fruit, guess what? It just pushes itself out. There is a rest to the people of God, Hebrews chapter 4 says. It's not a real complicated Christian life. Just put the first things first, young people. That's all. And remember, that without me, Jesus said, ye can do nothing. So, I would recommend that you learn how to abide in the vine. You know, I was here last night. The singing was pretty good, wasn't it? How many enjoyed the singing last night? You know, we have a bunch of young people in our house and they sang all the way home. Couldn't stop. Got them home. I said, okay, you got to sing one song for your supper. Well, they sang eight of them. I don't know. You ask for one, you get eight. What's the deal? Why such good singing? I mean, is it because you've been practicing all week in chorus? That the singing was so good last night? Why was the singing so good last night, young people? Because God was there. But why was God there? Because God is there in your heart, in reality, because you have been dealing with the issues and allowing the Word to wash you and you've been responding to God as He deals with you and you get clearer and clearer and freer and freer and the singing goes up and up and up. I thought you'd blow the roof off last night. I was sitting in the second row. Man, what a blessing. What a difference sitting way in the back. But young people, you know what I'm talking about. That singing was the way it was last night because you were singing the song of a soul that is set free. And that's just a beautiful example of how the Christian life will flow if you will just keep walking in what God has done in your heart. Well, sorry, but verse 6 is there and we're not going to skip it, like many people do. If a man abides not in Me, or may I say, if a man or a woman chooses not to abide vitally connected, continually vitally connected with Me. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. Now that's quite a picture. But again, we've got a husbandman and he comes down through here and he sees no fruit on a branch and he cuts it off. And when you cut the branch off, no longer do you not see any fruit on it, but the leaves that were there hiding the fact that there was no fruit underneath, those leaves wither also. And the workers come along and see these withered branches and pick them up and put them in a pile and burn them and get them out of the way. Now I know that's pretty strong words, but I'm telling you, I'm begging you young people, you must learn to walk with God. This Christianity is not a game. It's not a religion. It's not a new way to do things. It's not a new program, young people. It is a walk with God. You must learn to walk with God. Make that the goal of the next year of your life. I am going to learn to walk with God. It's imperative that you learn. If ye abide in Me, this is some of the fruits of that abiding life, if ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. That's called answered prayer. That's called answered prayers. Many of them. Now that's an exciting life. When God is answering your prayers and you see Him answering them on a consistent basis, on a continual basis, that's pretty exciting. Herein is My Father glorified that ye bear much fruit. So shall you be, My disciples. Now, we all know theologically that the reason why we're here is to glorify God. Amen? You're here. It's 2004. You're alive and well on planet earth. And you're here and you're alive because God has kept you alive. He has preserved your life up until this day. And He has brought you to this place. He has flowed so much beautiful truth into your heart this week. And the purpose of God for every bit of it is that He might be glorified by your life. That's it. That's it. That's why you're here. That's from God's perspective. Now, you may be here for a lot of other reasons, you know. It may be that you came to see the boys. It may be that you came to see the girls. Maybe you came to flip your new outfit around so the boys could see your outfit. I don't know why you came. I know the other evening I saw about ten girls sitting all in one row laughing, teasing, sending notes while the message was being preached about sin. And I thought, how can those girls sit there and laugh and write notes while this message is being given? They must have come for a different reason. But I'm telling you, young people, I'm telling you why God brought you here. Because He wants your life to glorify Him. That is all God wants. And He deserves it! He's the King! He deserves every bit of it. Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit so shall you be my disciples. Look at verse 9. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. Now, young people, I think you could all say, God has been loving me all this week. Amen? Now He says, continue ye in my love. And He's going to tell us how in the next verse. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love even as I kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. Isn't that beautiful? Look at that verse. Wow! We've got a beautiful example, don't we? How was it with Jesus? He had one eye on His Father and one eye on the world around Him. One eye on His Father and one eye on the world around Him. What does He want me to do next, Father? If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide, continue to abide in my love. Young people, I'm challenging you this morning. Learn to walk with God in this next year. There are people who are not here today that were here a year ago. And the story isn't very pretty. You must learn to walk with God, young people. Maybe that seems a bit heavy to speak such words to you. But I don't believe it's too heavy. I believe that you can handle it. Consider these words which Brother Craig gave to us the other evening. Both Monday and Tuesday evening, I believe he gave these verses to us. They're very significant as we come to the end of this Bible school week. Romans 8.14 As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Young people, learn to walk with God. It's very important. Alright, let's move on to the conclusion which will take me about 15 minutes. I want us to look at six solid marks of a true Christian life which we have been looking at all week long. And I want to draw them together, and I want to show you how solid God reveals this Christian life to us in the book of John. These six solid marks show up again and again in these illustrations that we've been looking at. And young people, today the true is being watered down to such a point that now they say there's 60 or 70 million Christians in America. There are not 60 or 70 million Christians, true Christians in America. And I don't say that to lift us up and put somebody else down. The challenge has been going out all week long that we be the true. And it may be that there are some here that are not true. But still, the fact of the matter is there are not 70 million true Christians in America. And every old preacher in America would acknowledge it. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that the Christian life is a narrow way, a highway of holiness, if I could quote Isaiah. The Christian life is a highway of holiness, a narrow way. The entrance is a straight gate and the way is a narrow way. This is the Christian life according to Jesus. But I want you to know this morning that you can get off the way. It's a highway of holiness. And you can get off the way. And I want to encourage you to stay on the highway, which is the highway of holiness. But you can get off the way. The road has two sides on it. As someone very well said, for every mile of road, there's two miles of ditches. And we don't want to get on the ditch. Amen? But may I say, may I define the two sides of the road, the two ditches this morning? On the one side there is a ditch called religion. Formal religion. Lots of things right, but no reality in the heart. That's not on the road. On the other side of the narrow way is the other ditch, and we'll call that the ditch of liberalism today. Liberalism? Nothing. Standing for nothing. A worldly, professing Christian. But in reality, they're in a ditch. They're in a ditch. True holiness, young people, is a holy walk with a holy God, which produces a holy life. Now, that's real simple, but you think about it for a moment. It is a holy walk, a sanctified walk, with a God who is holy, which produces a holy, sanctified life. That is the narrow way, young people. That's it. Notice these six marks, and how we find them all the way through these illustrations all week long. First of all, the Word and the Truth. Did you notice how many times in the definitions, how many times the definitions had these two words in them? Grace and Truth. In Spirit and in Truth. Born by the seed of the Word. Eating the Word. Continuing in My Word. And now, even again this morning, you are clean through the Word. This beautiful truth, which keeps on showing up in almost every one of the illustrations of the Christian life, is one of those solid marks that tells us whether we're on the right road. The right road is a road of truth, young people. The right road is a road that's full of the Word of God. The right road is a road where you become lovers of the truth, like it says in Thessalonians. You won't go wrong if you stay with the Bible. You won't go wrong if you become a student of the Word. You won't go wrong if you yield yourselves to the promptings of God's Spirit as He shows you in the Word of God what to do. These beautiful words and the reality of them in the life, this keeps us from going off on the liberal side of the narrow way. Amen? And many have gone right off there. And they play theological gymnastics, and they have yea, hath God said meetings all the time, trying to figure out what they can do, how they can explain this verse away and that verse away, and still maintain a heart that feels like they're okay. But in reality, they have yea, hath God said themselves down into a ditch. The Word and truth. The second point, which we made as a point yesterday, but I want to put it in here again today, and that is a person. The Christian life is a person. And we looked at all of those yesterday, but just consider here this morning. This keeps us from going off on the side of religion. Because it's not just things you do and things you don't do, young people. The Christian life is Jesus. He's a person. This keeps us from going off on the religious side. When we've lost the reality of love for the person of Jesus Christ, we are getting off the road. I don't care how many things you have right, and how right you look, and how right you speak, you have gotten off the road. It's Jesus. And let's not overreact, because there's a liberal church out there that uses the name of Jesus. Let's not overreact and back away. It's still about Jesus Christ, even if they've muddled His name up so much that people don't want to hear it anymore. It's still about Jesus Christ, young people. God help us. If we ever lose sight of that, we're done. We're done. It is a person. I want you to notice number three. I want you to notice relationship. Worship. Extravagant adoration. The sheep and the shepherd. The dependent life of John chapter 5, which we didn't look at. The obedient life of John 14, which we did not have time to look at. And the abiding life, which we just finished looking at. All of these young people speak of relationship. Relationship. These keep us again from going off on the religious side. And just because a liberal, evangelical church uses the word relationship, let's not run away from it. The Christian life is a relationship with God. If we aren't careful, we'll overreact and end up in a ditch. Let's stay on the straight and narrow way. Amen? It's a holy walk with a holy God that produces a holy life, young people. Number four. It is a life. We find these words all the way through those illustrations. Eternal life. That's what John used. Eternal life. Young people, it is a life. It is lifelong Christianity that lasts into eternity. Hallelujah! It is a life. It is not just a gate. It is not just a door. But it is a lifelong experience. There's no discharge in this war, young people. You don't get through the door, take your shoes off, kick up your feet and relax. It's a life. Like I said, I'm on this road 31 years and it don't quit. It don't quit. I have to live on the edge just like you do. Praise God. Or maybe I should say that differently. I get to live on the edge just like you do. Praise God. You know, you know the edge. Right here. And there's a cliff out there and you're not sure what's coming next. And you're just standing there looking up at God and saying, God, I don't know what's next but I'm trusting you. Welcome to the edge. Never goes away. It's a life. This keeps us moving forward and not getting stagnant. The old and the young are in the same place. Praise God. It's a life. Number five. It is a spiritual life. We saw there are many deep spiritual realities revealed in these definitions. In fact, some of them went right over our head. They're so deep and so spiritual they went right over our head. But we can still learn something from it. This Christian life is deeply spiritual. We can't do this Christian thing on our own, young people. It is His life. It is His flesh. He is the foundation. He does the leading. And it is divine sap that flows through to the branch. The Christian life is deeply spiritual. This keeps us from going off onto the side of outward form without any reality in our lives. And number six. Surrender and obedience. Each of these definitions that we've been looking at requires our continued participation or it doesn't go. It doesn't work. There are no hitchhikers in the Christian life, young people. There are no hitchhikers. Now, please don't misunderstand me. You can grab a hold of somebody's hand and run along for a while. But if you're gonna go on, you're gonna have to learn to run on your own. No hitchhiking. Surrender and obedience. The surrender of true worship. The obedience of walking in the truth. The dying life is a surrender-yielding life. The servant's life is the same. And the surrendered life that is required to abide in the vine is a life of continual giving up. This keeps us from going off into a life with no practical Bible applications. You see, everybody says they're a Christian out there. But there's no yieldedness. There's very little surrender. And very little obedience. But yet, as we look at these illustrations, it's very clear. This is a participation with the God of Heaven. And if we're going to participate, it means giving up. And giving up. And continually giving up. And yielding. And obeying. In fact, I studied that word, obey. Do you know that the word obey and the word believe are about this far apart from each other when you study the two words? Did you know that? You can hardly separate obey and believe when you study the words in the Greek. So, I want to leave you with this challenge, young people. You know that the Christian life has been degraded to such a place that you can hardly tell the difference between the Christians and the world. Can you see, young people, that is not scriptural? Can you see just a little bit the heart of God? Who is desiring a people who will rightly represent His holy name? Can you see His heart when there is this mass multitude of people professing to be Christians, and there is no difference between them and the world around them? Well, there are a few voices crying in the wilderness. But we are desiring a generation of young people who will step up and stand up and also speak up and live up a life that is clear and without question in the midst of this confusion in our land. Will you be one of those? Stay on the narrow road, and you will be one of those. Let us go forth without the camp, bearing His reproach, living a true Christian life that is without question, young people. That's my challenge to you. Let's pray. Thank You, Father. Thank You, Lord. Thank You for Your Word. It is beautiful, Lord. It is beautiful. Father, I pray for these young people again. I pray that You will lead them. Oh, God, if there would be one prayer that I would pray for these young people, that You would teach them how to walk this next year. Yes, Father, that even You would bring them into discipline and teach them how to walk. The testimony of Your name desperately needs a bunch of young people who know how to walk with a holy God. I give them to You, Father, and trust them to You that You will do just that in the year to come. I pray this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.