This sermon emphasizes the importance of building a strong foundation in life, drawing parallels to checking the foundation of a house to avoid future problems. It delves into the parable of the sower and the seed, highlighting the dangers of not meditating on God's word and the need for honesty, perseverance, and seeking God's kingdom first to bear fruit with patience. The sermon also warns against the passing pleasures of sin, the dangers of being unequally yoked, and the significance of making wise decisions in relationships to avoid long-term regrets.

So when we think of our lives as young people, the first thing, just like building a house, is checking the foundation. If you don't have a good foundation, you're going to have problems later on in your life. It's like there's a crack on the 10th floor or something. Problem is with the foundation. You can go along for a number of years and then have problems. It's because right at the beginning, you didn't make sure whether your foundation was right. So Jesus spoke a parable in relation to this in Mark chapter 4 about this parable of the sower and the seed and the four types of ground. Perhaps we should look at it in Luke chapter 8, the same parable. Sometimes you find a little extra in some other place. Okay, Luke chapter 8 was the story of the sower and the seed in verse 5 onwards. There was seed that fell on rocky soil. Sorry, first of all, the seed fell on the road and the birds of the air ate it up, verse 5. There, that's the case of a person who listens to God's word and doesn't take it seriously. They completely forget about it. We can say it's a picture of those who read the Bible and don't meditate on it. That's category number one. If you read the Bible and you don't meditate on what you have read, you're like, the seed came into your heart and before the day is over, it's all gone. The birds have eaten it away. And that is a condition of lots and lots of young people. They may go through the ritual of reading and satisfy their conscience that they read the word, but it accomplishes nothing because it's only on the surface and it's lying there. The birds come and take it away. If you meditate, it goes in. So it's better to read one verse and meditate on it for 15 minutes than to read a whole chapter in 15 minutes and not meditate on it. That's a simple principle. You'll never, you know, you can have seeds sown every day on your heart and it's all gone. And that's how it is with many, many people. And the second ground is where it fell on rocky soil. And verse 13, that's described as they hear the word, receive it with joy, and they have no firm root. That means immediately they are excited about what they hear, but they don't allow it to sink down. That means they don't dig up, make sure it's gone inside to get rid of things in their life, which the word of God shows is wrong. They don't repent. It's repentance that digs up the ground and gets rid of things that we need to remove from our lives. So rocky soil is no depth, not much depth of earth, superficial. And I fear a lot of young people are like that. Their conversion is very superficial, particularly, you know, you come to CFC and some people come to CFC because their parents are in CFC. It could be very superficial. I mean, their parents believe something, so they believe it. They're not personally convicted about it. It's not gone deep. Some people come to CFC because they want to marry some girl here. You think they'll be converted? They are the number one candidates for hell. So a lot of people like that who come, I mean, I'm not fooled by such people. I can see through them straight away. But the various reasons why young people come to the church, and they can appear to be very interested, but there's no seriousness in their life, in their daily life and walk. They're not seeking God. They're seeking something else. So there's no depth there. And then other seed fell and grew, but the thorns came and choked it out, it says in verse seven. And the thorns are, you know, the worries and verse 14, riches and pleasures. We choke the fruit, worries, riches, pleasures. Verse 14. There are many worries and riches and pleasures in the world. And they can, you can be quite sincere, but it can choke out these things. But then the good seed, it says in verse 15, that which heard the word and in an honest and good heart, held it fast, bear fruit with perseverance. So let me say a few things about that verse, Luke 8, 15. The first thing is honesty. God loves honest people. Those who are totally 100% honest. And if there's one quality, I would encourage all of you young people to develop, it's honesty. Don't ever pretend. That's the easiest way to go to hell, or to backslide and destroy your life. To be dishonest. Be honest with God. And we're honest with God, we are, we don't pretend before people. The more you pretend before people, the more you're destroying yourself. And there are people like that in our church, in CFC. 99% of people can't see that. I can look at a person's eyes and tell you whether a guy's a crook, or whether he's straightforward. You can't hide it. There are a lot of things in your eyes. Adultery is in your eyes. If you've watched enough pornography in your life, it's in your eyes, or it's there. You may say what you like, but adultery is in your eyes, and God-fearing person can see it. If you're basically a proud person, that pride is in your eyes. And a God-fearing person who walks with God can see it. He may not embarrass you by telling you, but he can see it. And if you're a hypocrite, pretending, that's also in your eyes. So I want to encourage you, be honest with God. Don't pretend, hate it. You must hate pretense. The only way to get rid of pretense is by hating it. You know, like children play with snakes because they think snakes are not dangerous, because snakes are very attractive. They can sting the child and kill it. Hypocrisy is one of the worst snakes that can destroy you and kill you. It's better to be known. I appreciate people who are straightforward and honest. It doesn't matter what they say. If somebody says, President Jack, I don't believe in God at all. I love such a chap, to tell you honestly, because he's not trying to impress me. How can he impress me by saying I don't believe in God? But I tell you, I have more hope for that person, because he's not pretending. He's, I don't believe in God. Or somebody who comes and says, you know, I don't know whether the Bible is God's word. I have tremendous respect for such a person. He's not pretending. He's honest. And there's great hope that such a person can develop to a wonderful life. And you ask yourself, number one, it's the first thing he said about the good seed. The good seed, verse 15, is to hear the word in an honest and good heart. An honest heart is a good heart. It may have many shortcomings, but it's honesty is the number one thing. Maybe you will lose some of the reputation you have built up so far as a very spiritual person. When you become honest, that'll be good for you. I'll tell you something, when people think less of you, that's better for you. Than when people think more of you. When people think more of you, you're in great danger. Because it's not true. You're giving people the impression that you're someone that you've got so much spiritual wealth when you don't have it. That is hypocrisy. It's better to think you got less, rather than think that you have more. I mean, in worldly things, we're all like that. If you got a million rupees in your bank account, you don't want anybody to know that, right? You don't want people to think, oh, I've got 500,000 rupees in my bank account. Because otherwise, the thieves will come after you. So you prefer that people think you have less. And the world is full of rich people who always pretend to be poor. I wish we were like that spiritually. Where we have tremendous wealth inside, but don't try to show off any of that. You know, don't you think it's repulsive when you meet a rich man who's always trying to show off how rich he is? It's exactly equally repulsive when people try to pretend to be spiritual, when you can see that they're not, when they try to use spiritual language. And they destroy themselves. It's true. So if there's one thing I would encourage all of you to pursue, it's honesty. It is so important that I don't mind emphasizing it in every area, because that is the meaning of walking in the light, to have fellowship with God. The first requirement is to know God is light. There is no darkness in Him. And if you start your life with pretense, you're going to go in the wrong direction. And every year we'll see you further and further away from God. And maybe that's the reason why you've drifted away from God. Some of you, if you're honest, who've been in CFC some years, you may admit that you were closer to the Lord some years ago. How is it you're so far away today? Because you were dishonest. That's all. It's not because you were battling some particular sin. All of us are battling sins. But you're not honest. You wanted to pretend and put up a front. That made you drift further away, because God hates that. The one thing that Jesus condemned more than anything else is hypocrisy. And the reason why we pretend is because from childhood, we want to be accepted. And when we want to be accepted, you know, like a little child goes to school, five years old. He's going from the protective atmosphere, his home to a school. Everybody's against him. Unless you do certain things that'll make you popular, he begins to do those things to be accepted. That is how they grow up and develop bad habits. You know, other children in school or something, come on, do this. What's wrong with this? And that's how a lot of young girls start dressing like all those worldly people in their school or college, because they want acceptance. It's a tremendous desire in young people to be accepted. And in order to be accepted, we put on a front, pretend. And that destroys us spiritually. You may be accepted by your friends, but you won't be accepted by God, because there's no darkness in God. He says, I'll take you as a prostitute, as a murderer, as a drunkard, if you're honest about it. But if you pretend, it'll have nothing to do with you. You know, Jesus rejected on earth everyone who pretended. The main reason why he rejected the Pharisees, when he called them hypocrites. Every time you read the word hypocrite in the Gospels, read pretender, one who's pretending. The Lord just rejected them. And he rejects them today. But there was a murderer on the cross, he accepted him. There was an adulterous woman who he forgave, woman caught in adultery. There was a Samaritan woman who had been divorced five times. God forgave her. What was the unifying thing about all these people? They were honest. They did not pretend. And that's why Jesus said these amazing words to some of the most religious people in his time. See, all of you sitting here, you're quite religious. You look quite religious, all of you. I want to give you a word which Jesus spoke to religious people. In Matthew 21, it's a very interesting parable. It's one of those parables we don't read much or hear about much. It's a parable of two sons. And it's not the story of the prodigal son. This is another parable of two sons. A man had two sons, Matthew 21, verse 28. Jesus told two stories of a man who had two sons. One is the story of the prodigal son. This is the other story. And the first one said, he came to the first and said, son, go and work today in my vineyard. And he said, sure. He said, I will not go. Now, in this story is the older son, who's the good one. And the other story is the younger son who came back. Here the older son says, I won't go. I'm not going to do it. You know, he's honest. I don't feel like doing it. Sorry. I've got other things to do. I'm more interested in the movies than in your Bible and all that. But afterwards, he regretted and he went. So I think it's better to do what God says. The second one, and I think we are in danger of this. He told the second son the same thing. Go and work in my vineyard. Oh, yes. Praise the Lord. I'll do it. You know, like we sing in the songs and raise our hands and clap and all that. That is the second son saying, I'll do it. I'll do it. But he didn't do it in his daily life. What he said on Sunday, he never did the rest of the week. Which of these two did the will of his father? He said the first. Look at the moral of the story. Jesus said, let me paraphrase it. The crooks and the prostitutes will get into God's kingdom before you. Anyone who's a pretender, God says to him, the crooks and the thieves and the prostitutes will get into God's kingdom before you bunch of you religious people. It's quite a strong statement to tell religious people who go regularly to a meeting that prostitutes and thieves will get into God's kingdom before you. What do prostitutes and thieves have or murderers? Honesty. The prostitutes who are in the red light district of a city, they don't pretend that they are holy. They say we are prostitutes. What are you? Prostitute. What's your job? Prostitute. That's hope for you. You come to the church and the Lord says, what are you? I'm a holy believer. Really? Those are the ones in danger. So dear brothers and sisters, I'm telling you something very elementary because I find that with a lot of young people, their fundamental problem is they haven't got their foundation right. The seed which is sown is not going into good soil. It's not an honest heart. If it's not an honest heart, it's not a good heart. And all the messages you hear can be like seed that is sown and just disappears. Some are excited for a while and then some difficulty crops up because you're a Christian and they fall away. So that is the first thing. And the other thing is in verse 15, Luke 8, 15, an honest and a good heart and they hold it fast. How shall I hold the word of God fast? One is by reading God's word often, thinking about it often. I hold it fast. How is it the devil can take away our Christianity from us very easily? You know, if I hold something like this very tight, all five fingers, it's difficult for people to take it out from my hand. But I hold it like this with two fingers and people can snatch it out very easily. So many of us are holding the Christian life like this, very loose type of holding. How did the devil snatch it out of my hand? You're not holding it fast. What you hear, you're not listening to it again and meditating on what you hear. And so you fall away. So hold it fast, whatever you hear. And then the third thing mentioned here is, remember these things, an honest, good heart, hold it fast and they bear fruit with perseverance. That means with patience, they wait and wait and wait. They stick it out until the harvest comes. A lot of young people expect overnight results. I accepted the Lord, why I'm not spiritual. I'll tell you, stick at it for 25 years, you'll be a spiritual person. But you want something happen overnight, like press a button and I become spiritually, it doesn't work like that. Even if you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you will not become spiritual overnight. It takes years and years. And if you're not willing to stick it out, you're not going to become a spiritual person. So be honest always. If you fall, say, I fell. At least to God, I'm not saying you should publicly confess your sin to anybody. I don't believe that's any value in that. If you hurt somebody by what you did or said, then honesty means going to that person and saying, I'm sorry for hurting you. That's honesty, walking in the light. But if your sin was only against God, then you go only to God and say, God, that was a bad thought or a bad attitude I had. Please forgive me. I don't want to go that way again. And if you slip up again, be honest again, say, Lord, I'm sorry, I seem to be slipping up in this area again and again. Something is wrong. Please help me. Always be honest. Never try to cover up your sin with spiritual language. Because when God sees you're trying to use religious language to do what you want to do, he'll allow you to be deceived. So don't try to use Bible verses and things like that to justify what you want to do. It's very, very dangerous. Be honest and say, Lord, that was wrong, what I did. When you disobey the word of God, which says, honor your father and mother, you can say, well, they're wrong. They don't know the Lord. That may be true. They don't know the Lord. But I say, even if your father's a drunkard and an atheist, you still have to honor him. You have to obey Christ. Because there's somebody above your father and mother, that's Christ. So if they tell you to do something that Christ has told you not to do, then you obey Christ, who is above them. But other than that, I've told even people from non-Christian homes, I say, when you speak to your parents, never speak rudely, honor them. They've done a lot for you from childhood, saying, Dad, I love you, and I respect you, Mom, for all the trouble you've taken to bring me up to educate me etc but please don't ask me to do something against my conscience please don't ask me to do something which will disturb my conscience i'll ruin myself if i do that so please excuse me don't ask me to do that again whether it's tell a lie or worship an idol or marry an unbeliever or anything which is against god's word but other than that we must and our respect for our parents is not shown by obeying them where they tell you to disobey god's word it's by being respectful in the way we speak to them always be respectful the way it'll go well with you i'm telling you that as far as i remember i always spoke respectfully to my earthly parents and i disagreed with them in some things and i did what the lord told me to do but i never i can't remember once speaking to my parents rudely i want to say it's absolutely true what scripture says honor your father and mother and it'll go well with you and i have to justify it has gone well with me and i let me repeat that it does not mean you obey them i mean you may do something different in a hundred areas but always speak respectfully to them walk in the light and wherever you did something wrong ask forgiveness from your parents or anybody else and when you've sinned against god ask god to forgive you and be patient think of a child who's joining who's got an ambition to be a phd and has just joined kindergarten he has to wait 20 years to get a phd and he's patient think of all these people who get their master's degrees and phds like some of you how many years it took you didn't expect to get it in two years or five years you worked at it and worked at it and worked it and worked at it god never encourages or blesses lazy people let me tell you that if you're basically lazy you will suffer in earthly things and you'll suffer in spiritual things because let me show you a few verses first of all in second timothy chapter two second timothy chapter two we thought about the sewer the farmer sowing the seed but he didn't just sow the seed and forget it first of all before he sowed the seed he dug up his ground plowed it then sowed the seed and watered it took care of it drove away the birds etc or the protected it by fertilizer and sprayed it from insects coming and eating it up second timothy two it says here in verse six the hard working farmer is the first one to get the share of the crops think about what i'm saying god will make it clear to you second timothy chapter two verse six and seven he says think about this the hard working farmer gets a harvest and you don't get it because you're not working hard that applies in worldly things and in spiritual things here's another verse jeremiah 29 and verse 13 you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart that's hard work lord with all my heart i want to seek you and i'll find you why is it some people find the lord and you don't they are seeking him with all their hearts why is it some people know the bible and you don't it's just like asking in school how did that person get 95 percent in history and you got 25 percent did he have a different teacher no you were playing the fool before the examinations he was working hard that was the difference god never blesses those who play the fool i know a lot of people who come to me for the exam say brother zach pray for my pray for my exams first question i ask have you studied for it you haven't studied for it no 10 000 prayers of mine will not help you it's like a farmer who never sows a seed or sleeps during sowing time say brother zach please pray i'll get a good harvest i say you won't get a harvest you get nothing for such people i can only say i'll pray that you will fail so that you'll wake up and at least pass next year and learn a lesson for life that god doesn't bless lazy people he doesn't you seek me and finally you search for me with all your heart god told adam by the sweat of your brow you will earn your bread that's true in the world i mean that's not for christians it's for all human beings adam is not the head of christians he's the head of human beings and it's a law god put for human beings you want to get some results you've got to perspire work hard and that's why you find worldly people work hard and they get some results it's a law which god put into uh into the world from the time of adam the same principle applies to us now christians sometimes think that because i'm a christian god will bypass all those laws and even if i don't work hard he's going to reward me that is a deception you know who think that god will help me help me to pass even though i didn't study it's like these people who go for the some athletic race and say lord help me to beat that chap i tell you if god helps me even at my age i'll break the 100 meters world record without any problem but that'll be very unfair of god if he helps me and doesn't help that other guy you think god will do something unfair do you believe that if god helps me i can do the 100 meters in less than nine seconds believe it or not i can god who makes the cheetah run so fast can make me run as fast but he doesn't help like that because that'll be unfair it'll be cheating it'll be like helping somebody the teacher helping somebody in the examination and not helping the other student do you think that's right for a teacher to help one student and not help the other one so i want to tell you that it's like somebody going these boxers box with each other world heavyweight championship and one fellow prays god help me to knock that other fellow out imagine if god helps one man to knock the fellow the first few seconds the fellow will be knocked out he'll never get up it doesn't work like that despite all the stories you hear i mean people don't understand that if almighty god helps a person where what hope has anybody else got so don't think that you can live as you like and pray oh god prayer is a sort of an answer that takes care of all my he'll forgive your sins that's for sure but you reap what you sow that's also god cannot be fooled it says so don't fool yourself that prayer will take care of all the things you're lazy and god will make up for it with prayer he won't if you don't work hard you don't get it so forgiveness of sins is free but if you want a lot of results in your life you got to work hard the same thing applies in the christian life you got to work at it and work at it and work at it you got to spend time meditating on god's word spend time talking to the lord that's how you become strong you look at that you know these pictures outside these gymnasiums a muscular fellow with muscles bulging all over you say boy i wish i had a body like that you can keep wishing but that guy paid a price to get a body like that he went regularly he was disciplined about his eating and disciplined himself every day to do all those exercises and run that's how he got that body it's a law that god put into the earth in the time of adam by the sweat of your brow you get your bread if you want bread from the bible it's exactly the same way by the sweat of your brow you've got to work hard you got to see those these guys who want to win the marathon in the olympics and all do you know how four years they practice running a marathon every single day imagine running 40 kilometers every day i'm not surprised the guy wins the gold medal in the olympics the other lazy guy who eats all the fast food and prays that god will help him to win the marathon he's not going to win no it's like if you eat junk food and get sick or get all types of other problems in your body don't ask god to heal you don't waste your time it's like eating poison and saying god heal me it's like jumping off the roof of the temple and saying oh lord protect me i claim your promise he'll forgive you but i'll tell you this you'll still reap what you sow i know people who got aids through sexually through fooling around sexually and then they get converted and they say lord please heal me of the aids they don't get healed i'll tell you that they get converted they go to heaven but you know how they go to heaven they die aids and go because you reap what you sow if god removed that law of reaping what you sow it would encourage people to do all types of wrong things i come to christ god removes all the effects it doesn't work like that that's why i want to say what jesus said about perseverance see that word perseverance comes here in romans chapter 2 i want to encourage you if honesty is the first thing you should pursue perseverance very important romans chapter 2 and verse 7 verse 6 god will render to every person according to his deeds that's a law you can't change that law Romans 2 verse 7 to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality he will give eternal life now when somebody seeks for eternal life how many christians will point them to this verse brother you want eternal life you know which words everybody points them to romans 6 23 the gift of god is eternal life just ask brother and you get it it's true i believe that eternal life is a gift of god because i can never deserve it i can never earn it i can never say i deserve this or i worked and earned it like a salary it's a gift but to whom does god give it to you this is also romans and so don't jump to chapter 6 before you read chapter 2 you don't read page 6 of a letter before you read page 2 page 6 amplifies what is written in page 2 it doesn't contradict it so if it says in romans 6 23 the gift of god is eternal life it also says in romans 2 to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality eternal life eternal life is the very life of god i'm not talking about forgiveness of sins you don't have to persevere in doing good for 25 years to get forgiveness of sins no you come to jesus and say lord i'm a rotten sinner i take the blame for all my sin that's important don't blame somebody else i take the blame for my sins forgive me cleanse me you're forgiven but that doesn't mean you get the life of god straight away for that you have to persevere to grow in grace you know a child can be born and can be sick you know these teeny weeny children that are born premature weight half a kilo it's you got to put in the incubator is a child dead or alive it's alive but it's struggling to live so the question is i'm not talking about just being born again i'm talking about healthy children who are growing properly just like in physical birth there are children who are born sickly and small and weak i want you to be born healthy and to grow healthy and that's why a mother takes ensures that that child gets good food and milk and allows it to exercise etc running around etc it grows healthy so perseverance i would urge you honesty perseverance two things that jesus said in relation to good soil make sure that these two things are in your life and don't try to cover up by prayer your lack of persistence i'll show you one more word which says in hebrews in chapters 11 he is a rewarder of those who in the king james version it's a little clearer hebrews 11 6 he who comes means he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him who seek him with all their heart okay i want to turn back to luke chapter 8 i spoke a little bit about this good heart let's revise luke chapter 8 verse 15 the good soil is first honesty holding it fast and perseverance that means you stick at it stick at it stick at it like the marathon runner practicing every day why does he do it he does it for an earthly crown we do it because the results are going to be much better now we do it in other areas in our life for example if you want a job in a particular field how hard you work in school and college to acquire abilities in that field so that you get a job so we do it in worldly areas i'm just asking you why can't we follow the same principle in spiritual areas as well that's all i'm saying okay now we want to go to luke chapter 8 and verse 14 it speaks about the thorns now here are people are good christians they received the word but as the seed grew up verse 7 the thorns grew up and choked it and these are people who had a good start in their christian life and what are the thorns verse 14 worries riches pleasures the cares of this world it says that's number one it can be your job that brings so many cares or you get married and there's so many earthly cares because you want to do well and you want to get a promotion and you want to earn more money and the anxieties of those things can crush out crowd out the word of god so be careful that your work or your family never takes the place of god in your life those of you who are married and the rest of you who work if your work ever becomes your god then you got to look to that god for your salvation and when you have a problem you got to go to that god which is your work to find a solution always but what does it mean to seek god's kingdom first it means to put god first in everything many people misunderstand that what does it mean to seek god's kingdom first does it mean if i spend eight hours at work i have to spend more than eight hours in prayer and the bible study no it means that in every area of my life god controls controls my life that is god's kingdom first morning till night my life is governed by see the word kingdom this is where the mistake i mean our misunderstanding comes because we misunderstand kingdom we don't have kingdoms nowadays we have the rule government of god so let me paraphrase it and then you'll understand matthew 6 33 seek the kingdom of god first and his righteousness seek the rule of god in your life that means god should rule you and be always righteous let me paraphrase that matthew 6 33 seek for god to rule you 24 hours a day it's not a question of how much time you read the bible or pray seek for god to rule you 24 hours a day seven days a week that is seeking the kingdom of god or the rule of god first and his righteousness means make sure 24 hours a day everything you do is righteous there's nothing crooked or shady in what you do then you understand a lot of people think seeking god first means i must do full-time work or missionary work or give money for god's it's a lot of nonsense the rule of god that's what it means so if you're at work for eight hours or nowadays sometimes 10 hours or 12 hours make sure that god's ruling that means you'd never do anything that would be unrighteous in your place of work you'd never do anything to harm another person you do what is upright and if you're told to do something unrighteous you say i'm sorry sir i can't do that it's troubles my conscience two benefits can come from it i know many many times when i was in the navy and the senior officers would ask me to do something which violated my conscience i would stand at attention and say sir my conscience this troubles me i can't do that excuse me sir and that was a serious thing to say that but that's what gave me a spiritual backbone and made me strong so i hope you'll have i had many experiences like that when i was 23 years old 22 years old i hope you will have experiences like that when you're 22 23 years old where i was not only willing to lose my job i was you know in the navy if you disobey you get jailed it's called a court martial and you get locked up for disobeying senior officer's orders but god protected me from that you know little things like supposing somebody asks you to drink a little wine whiskey alcoholic drink and you don't feel that that's right why don't you stand up and say no why don't your girls decide that you're not going to dress the way other girls dress or all the film stars dress you're going to be different i remember once somebody came to me here in cfc and said brother zach what shall i tell my little girl who tells me daddy look at those young sisters see how they are dressing i want to dress like that what shall i tell them see how they adorn themselves i want to be like that i said tell your daughter there are two types of young sisters in cfc not only one type one is the fashionable bollywood type and the other is more simple and god-fearing so your little girl has a choice which of the two to follow there were two trees in the garden of eden and god told adam choose which one you want in paradise there were two trees to choose from so what's wrong in cfc having two types of ways of life to choose from god allows it he allowed it in paradise he'll allow it in cfc it doesn't disturb me one bit that some people are worldly and some people are godly and see there's a choice even you young brothers you you mix up with certain type of young brothers they're always talking worldly stuff fine but there's another type of young brother also in cfc they won't be talking all that rubbish but you make a choice like adam made a choice shall i go to the tree of life or the tree of knowledge you couldn't leave them shall i go to what god wants me to go for or what god is forbidden and adam made the wrong choice if you make the wrong choice there's no use saying well some people are in cfc like that in paradise there was that tree so it's perfectly okay god has put certain people in cfc like that to test you to see which direction you go if everybody in cfc were godly there wouldn't be any choice for you i said thank god that some sisters are worldly and some brothers are worldly who watch worldly dirty movies it's a choice for you but when you make a choice don't say somebody in cfc is like that you made that choice it's no use adam saying but this was in paradise this tree so what it was in paradise but he was not supposed to take part in it so that doesn't disturb me i i i see that god allows he tests people what do these people want i'll put a choice before them here are some sisters like this and some sisters like this and he sees which you choose here are some brothers like this somebody he sees whom you choose as your company so thorns you can allow thorns to come and choke you your work can become your god god must rule you in the principles of your work and the other thing is uh pleasures it says in verse 14 pleasures of this life there are good pleasures and bad pleasures just like in paradise there was a good tree and a bad one because if they were not there wouldn't be any choice is there pleasure in sin does the bible say no there's no pleasure in sin you should not go for sin because there's no pleasure in sin that would be a lie and you know from your experience there's a lot of pleasure in sin and do you know the bible speaks about the pleasures of sin let me show you that scripture hebrews 11 25 enjoying the pleasures of sin you know the bible says you can enjoy the pleasures of sin the bible is realistic it doesn't say that there is no pleasure in sin there is pleasure in sin but it says the passing pleasure of sin that's the point it's passing think of all the pleasures of sin that you have enjoyed in the past and maybe all of you have enjoyed something or the other a little pleasure you got out of something you knew christ would not do something you knew that you would not even do in the presence of another believer yes you got some pleasure out of it the bible says that but let me ask you for how many minutes did you get that pleasure or perhaps seconds for how many seconds did you get that pleasure maximum not more than three or four minutes every pleasure of sin is like that and that's where the devil fools you take four minutes of pleasure and spend eternity with me satan says he says sure take four minutes of pleasure and spend eternity with me and jesus says deny yourself spend eternity with me the passing pleasures of sin the bible doesn't say there are no pleasures the bible doesn't say you can't enjoy it the expression here is enjoy the passing pleasures of sin moses refused it he had a choice god put moses in pharaoh's palace where there was a choice the passing pleasures of sin or i choose to follow the lord i choose to follow the lord they want to say to you young people there'll always be a choice for you and sex is the strongest desire the area where you will have to make a choice more than in any other area of pleasure in your life there's tremendous pleasure in sex and god it's god who created it and the devil knows there's great pleasure in it and he knows that there's only one right way to enjoy it and that's in marriage and it's right in marriage it's always wrong outside of marriage and i want to encourage you to be very careful in this area i know it's a battle because i was young like you i was not different from you it's a battle it's a battle it's a battle you decide i'm going to fight that battle i'm never going to give up if the giant doesn't fall like david threw one stone well i've got 25 000 stones ready to make sure that that giant is going to fall i'm going to fight him and fight him and fight him till he has fallen and i've cut off his head you see there's a natural attraction between boys and girls in this area it's natural it sort of arises when you're 13 14 years old and if you don't control it you're going to destroy yourself i might as well tell you i can't stop you from destroying yourself i can only warn you i've used this example how i remember in days when i was a student in physics laboratory i would try and keep a north south magnet try and see how close can i hold it without it touching and if it's a powerful magnet you try now all of a sudden i don't want it to touch but it touched i'm trying to keep this north south magnet very close no no i'm strong enough i'm strong enough no no no then suddenly it touched then i pull it apart let me see if i can bring it how close can i bring it without touching that's the type of foolishness that a lot of young people try and try to get close to the opposite sex no it won't touch and it not only goes to touching it goes to something much worse than that who are you destroying yourself you're destroying a happy marriage we're going to have to live with the regret all your life for the sake of five minutes or two minutes of pleasure forget eternity what about this earth and the girl has got a lot more to lose than a boy that's why i'm i want to warn you girls be careful of boys who try to attract you we are not ignorant of satan's schemes paul said i want you girls to be not ignorant of boys schemes you know how a boy will try to attract you i'll reveal the secrets first of all by praising you oh sister you're so pretty you're so pretty god gave you such beautiful features there's something divine about you you're already ready to be knocked out now praise you and ah really you did that that's fantastic how did you do that you sing so well what are the other words words like that anyway that's tactic number one and then to complete the job is tactic number two you know my parents don't understand me they trouble me so much at home my boss harris is me day and night i have this sickness i'm stuck with i have this problem this problem i'm persecuted misunderstood at home and this girl says poor thing and a little more of this sob story i call it sob stories all lies by the way and finally she's fallen and discovers later on he's exploited her probably robbed her of her virginity and says goodbye and goes and finds some other virgin to marry because he doesn't want you anymore how stupid are you going to be how stupid are you going to be boys are like that and to boys i say beware of those girls who flirtatious eyes toss their hair in a certain way and you get all taken up and you know walk like fairies and with their eyes they speak so nicely and joke and and you're at work and you think you're the most handsome guy in town who she has fallen for she's just a flirtatious devil she may even be married be careful god didn't create you to ruin your life like that there are numerous cases do you know how many emails i get from young girls and young men who have messed up their life in just a few minutes and they live with lifetime of regret the passing pleasures of sin if you keep polluting your mind with pornography pornography pornography pornography i'll tell you one thing you won't have a very happy sexual life in marriage whenever you do get married you'll be an addict you think a drug addict can get rid of his addiction when he gets married no you think a person who's out drinking alcohol alcohol alcohol as a young person will get rid of that when he gets married no and you think you can get rid of your pornography addiction when you get married the answer is no you ask any married person who was a pornography addict when he was young he's a pornography addict even after marriage and many of those marriages end in divorce and they have children who see their father watching all this you get children who produce you produce children who are pornography addicts i can only warn you even almighty god can only warn you god will not stop you from watching pornography and the proof of that is he does not even stop people from going to hell do you know how many thousands of people died yesterday in the world who went to hell god did not stop any of them he said go i did everything i can to stop you but i sent my son to die for your sins you don't want to go and these dirty movies with three seconds sex scene or these seductive provocative dresses and dances that there are in all these movies you think they have no effect on your mind they're tremendous effect on your mind because 20 years later you will not remember the story in that movie you'll remember that five seconds sex scene believe it or not that shows what a like a magnet what latches onto your mind the pleasures of sin what are you supposed to do fight it fight it there's no way to overcome it don't think just because you're filled with the holy spirit you're going to have you have the power now use that power god's not going to help you to fight it he rather he's not going to fight it for you he'll help you to fight it when the bible says resist the devil how can you say oh lord please resist the devil for me the lord says in james 4 7 you resist the devil or it says god will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability but with the temptation make a way of escape that you can endure it and overcome it if the way of escape is there and you don't take it what can he do so i can only warn you be careful because these are days of like the days of noah tremendous amount of sexual evil i said you young girls don't let any boy come in with his nice words seduce you and cheat you and fool you and you boys be careful about the girls at your place of work they're waiting to latch on to somebody for to get married to find security always make sure that you know what the other person is like the person's really got an interest in godliness don't discover that after getting married that this person really doesn't have an interest in godliness just fooled me it's very very important if you want to be make you know i was a pretty wholehearted christian even before i when i was in the navy but i was so scared when it came to the matter of marriage that i said lord i don't know i'm 26 27 years old i'm weak recognize your weakness i said to that little lord i said lord i'm weak i don't know i'm not married i'm single i don't know whether people have got their eyes on me and then in a moment of weakness lord i may say yes to some pretty girl and that ruined my whole life i don't want to do that i said lord i'm weak i don't know how many times i prayed i said lord i'm weak i don't believe i'm strong i'm weak and in a moment of weakness i may say yes to the wrong girl and end up with a lifetime of suffering and regret and sorrow and a mess and hell on earth i don't want that so i said lord please if you see me taking such a stupid decision and if you even if i've said yes even on the wedding day i actually prayed like this send an earthquake into the middle of my wedding so that the wedding is broken up because i'm so scared and i was a wholehearted christian and i was scared i'm surprised that so many young boys and girls who are not half as wholehearted who seem to be so careless walk into the lion's den and get eaten up by the lions i'm surprised it's because you don't see your weakness you don't realize how weak you are and be careful also i want to say when you're when you very eagerly wanted to marry somebody this is the other problem i've seen i've seen it happen again and again and again in my life some boy or girl usually a girl they were eagerly wanting to marry someone and maybe that person even gave you ideas that he'll marry you and he went and married somebody else and you get so disappointed and frustrated inwardly angry with that person that the next guy who comes to you he may be a stupid idiot but he comes to you and says oh you're so sweet you're so divine and i've also suffered like you you marry him and spend your lifetime in regret that's what i call marrying on the rebound on the rebound because you threw the ball at the wall it didn't work it came back then i married the first person who comes your comes your way i've seen that happen again and again and again that's i tell people listen if you had a disappointment with someone you long to get married to and the person married somebody else you should not even think about marriage for a few months because you're in danger of latching on to the very next person who comes and that person may be a hundred times worse than every other person you considered completely unsuitable for you see it's not enough that you marry a believer you marry someone who is at your level doesn't have to be highly spiritual but at your level who's got the same goals and desires and and there's nothing wrong in considering you know it says don't be unequally yoked that means first of all we don't make sure that the yoke is equal spiritually is the person born again got the same desires want to live for the lord like me and not only spiritual man is spirit soul and body so see if there's some equality in intellectually emotionally you know economically socially is there equality just like we look for age equality you don't marry somebody 25 years older than you or 25 years younger than you we look for equality in many areas so equality spiritually first of all and then socially educationally economically and physically i tell i ask boy when he's considering a girl are you attracted to her you may think that's a worldly question it's not by attracted i don't mean just physically are you attracted physically also but not only physically something like if i were to use percentage 50 30 20 50 spiritual 30 percent mind economic social cultural similarity and 20 physical that's also important so i you put all the the thing is the worldly people only go for money and looks what we say 50 is this person spiritually minded but not only that there's another 50 we had to consider socially economically culturally 30 and then 20 physical are you attracted you're going to that girl's face every day for the rest of your life and you know you got to be attracted and the girls i say this can you look up to this man to be your leader for the rest of your life he doesn't have to be a mighty spiritual man of god or anything but can you look up to someone who can be your leader not well the bible says i've got to submit to my husband so i submit it's like the man who was asked by a marriage counselor who are having difficulty in their marriage do you love your wife he says yes the bible says love your enemies i love my wife with all my heart whatever love is that you know i don't respect this man at all but the bible says submit to your husband okay i submit it's not a very happy marriage you can't do it if you're already married but you can think about it before you get married can i look up to this man think about that as i said he doesn't have to be a mighty man of god but someone you can say hey i'd like to go along with this person walking with jesus and you must trust that god will lead you to the right person he can bring somebody from the other end of the world to marry you despite all the you may think i've got a lot of handicaps it doesn't matter god can bring the right person to you and if it is the right person all your life you anybody else you meet you never wish that you married anybody else you know god can lead you like that and i wish that for all of you i'll tell you honestly before god i've been married 44 years i can stand before god and say i've seen thousands of women i never wanted to marry anybody other than the one i married i never found anyone more suited for me than annie who chose her god chose her for me and god will choose the right person for you if you love him if you have the rule of god upon your life you're desperate that you don't want to make a mistake god will lead you and guide you at the right time it's very important because you can live a very happy life maybe i have not watched all the movies you guys have watched and seen all those interesting stories and all those action things like mission impossible and all that type of stuff but i've had a very happy life even though i didn't see all that stuff i'll tell you i've had a happy life what did i lose by not seeing all those fantastic action movies thrill you for a while etc etc think of it long term think of it long term think of everything is this just a temporary pleasure am i losing something else am i saying to god lord i have three hours to watch this useless movie but please forgive me if i spend only two minutes reading your word i think i'd have been ashamed of myself in my younger days if i said to god i have time i have three hours to watch some useless movie but i have only five minutes to read your word you think you're a christian it's like you're telling your wife if you're married listen i want to spend three hours with this other woman but i'll come and spend five minutes with you what sort of marriage will that be the world and god are poles apart just make sure you make the best of your life you have only one life christ is coming soon make sure you'll you live for god and be wise boys and girls young men and women be wise trust god to give you the right person at the right time don't try and go and grab somebody yeah i better grab her grab him before somebody else gets him or grabs him i i tell people if you honor god you can be sure of one thing i believed this when i was young i was 26 years old i had many disqualifications i had given up my job in the navy i was earning a huge salary in the navy and um i gave away all i gave up my job and there were many proposals when i was in the navy but i rejected all of them because i said i don't know if they are marrying my job or me so i don't want to i don't want somebody who's marrying my job so i i resigned i gave away all my money i had nothing my biggest disqualification was i had no income i was working among villagers and students who have hardly any my unit they wanted to give me a gift it'd be a small amount 10 rupees i said that was a big handicap second i was bald you know about a big handicap that can be for a young man uh if you don't believe me shave your head sometime and see what you look like no don't do it but i'm just saying put a cap on your head and see what you look like it is a handicap you know the average girl is not attracted to a bald and i say lord that's fine that's good somebody will be attracting me only if i got some spiritual values i don't want somebody to be drawn to me by my face or my money what is there that god cannot do god's given me such a happy marriage such wonderful children i'm so thankful honor god he will honor you don't go for the temporary passing pleasures that the devil offers you which will just satisfy you for a short while think of when the devil told you eat of this it'll give you pleasure see your mouth is watering it's so tasty i know god said no but just just take a little taste of it and supposing the devil also said i'll tell you what will happen from it you'll be kicked out of the garden of eden you and your wife you and your husband will be fighting for the next 920 years they lived that long those days and your first son will be a murderer and all your descendants will be fighting quarreling there'll be wars and sicknesses and you'll get syphilis and aids and all your children and all types of things now eat it you think she'd have eaten it no the devil hid the long-term results that are going to come from that eating and fooled her i want to tell all of you when you're drawn to something which you feel in your conscience is wrong god's not allowing you to get that friendly with that boy or that girl and you're not going to reply to those sms's that that boy sends you even though you like to keep in touch with that person who's shown some interest we say no the long-term result of this will be bad that's a wise girl that's a wise boy because i could tell you numerous stories of people have messed up their life so be very careful and don't respond to things which can cause problems to you later on and very often as i said it's not just wanting acceptance loneliness many young boys and girls are lonely and they don't have enough fellowship with their own parents at home they don't have enough fellowship with other people of their own sex they are lonely and those are the ones whom the devil exploits by sending some boy or girl to you and you're feeling all this lonely i want to encourage you even your parents are unconverted be friends with them be friends with them so that you're not you don't feel lonely especially girls get close to your parents if you can't get close to your parents get close to some godly sister your age oh i mean older than you who can help you it's very lonely people are targets for satan don't let loneliness overwhelm you seek for some fellowship you can find it even among godly sisters you're lucky to be in cfc so these are just a few warnings that can protect you in the days to come may god protect you all let's pray you know some of you need to take a few decisions right now while i heads about in prayer first of all ask god to forgive you the things that you heard today that you did wrong in the past and say lord i i made a lot of mistakes i was foolish but please forgive me thank god i've not made a serious blunder so far but lord thank you for the little warnings and i want to ask you to forgive me i want you to cleanse me from my sins and not only forgive i want to turn from my sins lord i want you to give me the power of your holy spirit to find my pleasure in jesus to find happiness in jesus i want to be honest with you lord about my struggles my failure please help me to be willing to say no to my friends even to be unpopular with them so that i can honor you help me lord i believe god will help you mightily lord i thank you for these lovely young people there's such tremendous potential in this room for god and the devil knows that too and i know he's gunning for a lot of them to make them hypocrites pretenders to be fooled by the passing pleasures of sin i pray that you'll protect them especially from cunning men protect these girls from cunning men and protect these young brothers from flirtatious girls lord protect their minds from being polluted by the filth of movies and dirty tv programs lord please give them wisdom that they don't destroy their whole future for a few moments of pleasure help them to be wise and not like the animals thank you in jesus name amen