Tag Archives: youth

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How Deep Do Your Roots Go?

A lot of things we go through in our lives, usually stems from events and things that we’ve done or been a part of in our youth. Your personality and your mindset that you had during your youth will usually show up when you get older.

Colossians 2:1-23

For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?  Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.

If you look at verses 12-13, “Buried with him in baptism…  being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses…” and verse 18 “let no man beguile you of your reward.” These are key phrases. Things are hidden deep inside you. If you look at the word “deep,” it means extremely deep, such as the mountain ridge, that is 7 miles deep in the Pacific ocean, that at the 1st 100 feet, things are crushed. At 1000 feet, a car would be the size of a cube. Oxygen cannot exist, and light does not travel that fall down. The title is “How Deep do your Roots Go?” If you look at the definition of the word Roots, it means source, origin or the essential core. If you look at the dandelion, cutting it off at the surface will not kill it, because its roots go 2 or more feet. It is a parasite. That is why it’s so crucial and important that a husband and wife, train up their children; teach them the right way. In essence teaching them not their own way, but teaching them from the Word of God (Proverbs 22:6). And for those who has not parents, it is a wise thing to connect yourself to a mentor who understands the teaching of God, so that he will teach you the rudiments of growing up and being a human being in this world today.

There are things in your life that you may have forgotten about, that has been buried and covered over. But the roots are still connected to your very being, your emotions, to who you are. When you look at that aspect, there are things hidden in you that you don’t even remember, as a matter of fact, you’ve forgotten about it. But when a situation comes up and the right thing is fertilized, a connection is made to that thing, that is rooted down inside you that will cause that flower to blossom. If you were angry about something, that situation will flair up. So that old wound that was inside you, you’ve forgotten about, is now getting nourishment. A root that is in your life, a root of sin in your life, has a foothold in every aspect of your life. In your sex life, mental life, and physical life. You will do everything you can to save that root from dying because the roots go deep. Sin is a parasite. Who feeds that root? Satan with situations in your daily walk. You begin to lie to justify. When you lie, it builds another hole.  You wonder why today you have problems with smoking or drinking, or with men, or with women. It is a root that must be dug out. It is hard to dig out when you refuse to believe it exists. You can try to cut off the surface, by becoming celibate if you have sexual problems, avoidance of the situation of individuals, ignoring, becoming isolated from society, etc, but it will still continue to grow. You need to dig down and deeper to get to the root. To go deep means you need to let go of yourself. Admit to yourself, that this is who you are, this is what you have become; admit to your sin.

Colossians 3:1-5

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

Why did he pick the first thing in verse 5, fornication? Because it is one of the things we most struggle with. Almost everyone in this world has a sexual issue or problem. That is the biggest problem in this society. What does it mean? They’re caught in a rooted situation that they refuse to get rid of.

Romans 12:1-8

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.  Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.

 

We need to come to some sort of conclusion in our lives, do we still want to suffer from what is rooted in us? Whatever is in your past, will be in your future, if you don’t cut it down, and dig the root out.

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Cast not your Youth to the World, Serve Jesus While you Can

Don’t Cast Away your Youth to the World, but Serve the Lord While You can

Ecclesiastes 11:1-10, 12:1-14

 

Ecclesiastes 11:1-10

Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun: But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.  Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.

 

This is talking about those who were once young who are now old. You once were in your teens, and now your in your twenties; you were once in your thirties and now your in your fifties or older. The Word of God is letting us know that, when you were in your youth did you think about the things of God? Most of the time the answer will be know. When you were in your youth did you think about where your life would be in the future? Again, some say no. Young men go out and try to find girls, and do things not conducive to their health. When your in your youth, you do things that are really daring. You think your impervious to death; you think you’ll live forever; you take no care for your life, and take dangerous chances. Not realizing that your whole life is being conducted by your surroundings. The Bible talks about being cheerful in your heart ,for young men of today you chase the girls, you dated many of girl and done thing you shouldn’t, you stole this…all these different things you did. The things is that you must remember when you get older, you shouldn’t still act with this same mentality and doing the same thing, the Word says in verse 9 “…but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement.”

What have you done from your youth to now? What have you done in your life? What have you accomplished? Have you sought the God you heard others speak of? Have you even considered? Are you pursuing God, or the desires in this world for yourself? We who are in the Church tend to forget about our youths, allowing them to do certain things with the attitude that they will learn from their mistakes or with the mindset that that behavior is normal for youths. Yet, these youths same negative actions have followed them into their adulthood, and they are doing the same things. That same sin becomes generational. The Bible says in Proverbs 22:6 “train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” If you have taught them negatively in the world, you will get negative results.

Dad’s have sons, and before that father understood the truth, he would tell his son “Its OK for the young man to go out and sow his oats.” It is not OK, because your messing up a young woman’s life, having intimate relations with her. Now she has nothing to offer the man who really truly falls in love with, so you have taken something away from her that can not be replaced. And after it all over the dad pats his son on the back, and say to his son good jobs as through it was a right of passage into man hood, but what about the young woman,what about her life what if she got pregnant or a std?.

In her youth as a young woman, she should take note of who she is and try to improve herself, she should be more conscientious of her lifestyle, not to have a loose lifestyle. She should have one of sobriety, understanding and wisdom. They say that a young woman matures faster than a young man. Yet why does she pursue a young man, knowing that he can’t do anything for her mentally, but only physically. Do you need to do this because your mother did the same, or your grandmother? The sins of disobedience parents will be passed down to the children. If you live in sin, the same generational curse will follow. Now you are insecure, or a gossip or a fornicator because your mother, grandmother, or family did the same things.

These are the indications of your youth that cause you to be bound, that cause you to have a different frame of mind about your life. You have the ability to decipher what is right or wrong, but it is being clouded by the one whom you are around. You need to understand that while you are in your youth, you need to seek out who God is. Are you 40, 30 or 20 and still act the same way as when you were 15? Have you grown? No. We have these issues that stem from the childhood; identity problems. Parents say “let the children be what they want to be, who they really are; themselves; we don’t believe anyone should interfere with who they want to be.” Yet the Bible says train up a child in the way they should go. Girls should be trained to be wives, and boy young men and then husbands. There is much confusion in the world. Titus 2:1-15

Children are in school more than they are at home approximately 8 hr.a day . So when they come home, they exhibit the characteristics of the one’s they been around at school the one’s that influence the most. If the teacher has a bad attitude or talks nasty to the students, then that child who is very impressionable, will mimic those bad things. So the children are subjected to the mentalities of individuals in the school out side the the one they have made friend with. So the school and there friends are raising your children to be hoodlums, homosexuals, bad attitudes, promiscuous, etc.

While in there youth, parents aren’t raising children to seek the Lord or even find out who He is. The youth which are the future generation are being destroyed and dying daily, so they can’t get chance to know or give God glory who created them.  They will  not be the next generation, that worships God in spirit with all their hearts, minds, and souls. There is a lack of genuine concern for our youth today and there right to live a human free from sin and death. As adults we need to bring the right elements around your children, so they’ll can grow up to pursue he one and only God or goals, to be better, to succeed; allow your child to be around some positive influences. Allow you children to be around someone who has a godly way of thinking.

while In your youth, pursue a mindset that goes after something that is good for you spiritually after God that is good for your soul which who you are. Don’t let allow your youth be mentored and go to wast by some family, friends, twitter, Facebook, TV, and Instagram, video games or jobs.

In conclusion, Ecclesiastes 11:8-10, 12:1

There are quite a few phrases that I use, but for this subject these three phrases speaks volumes to the truth of this matter, an they are: ” your are what you eat ”  naturally or spiritually and ”  what ever you around will always be around you ” and last ” never give up ,never surrender ”