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Teens Witnessing for Christ
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"Let your light SHINE"
Did you know that most people make decisions to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ during their teen years. Oh sure others trust in Jesus as their Savior at other times in life, but statistically, young people seem to be more sensitive to the gospel message. Also, it's during the teen years that most believers make decisions to serve the Lord in full time ministry. For these reasons, teens have important responsibilities toward other teens. A responsibility to tell their friends about salvation through Jesus Christ and a responsibility to encourage other Christian teens to commit their lives to serving God.
Of all the age groups in our society, teens are most susceptible to peer pressure. No other age group cares more about what others their age think and believe. So, teen age Christians, potentially have the greatest opportunity for reaching and impacting other teens. They know the struggles and issues of the day that teens wrestle with. They spend great amounts of time with other teens.
OK! So you see you have this incredible mission field right in front of you, but are you taking advantage of your teen advantage? Think of your own testimony before your teen friends. Is it making them thirsty for spiritual things or do they see you as being "just like any teen"?
There's a song that says, "you're the only Jesus some will ever see." Think about that for a moment. What do your friends see in you?
Do they see a caring person?
Do they see a teenage friend that is moral and honest?
Do they see a friend that's faithful to attend church?
Do they see someone that is truly committed to God in every area of their life?
If your life is going to make your unbelieving friends thirsty spiritually, it needs to be different from the lives of the ordinary worldly teenager. All right, so they see you're different. Now what?
Take a stand, be bold for Jesus!
Let people know you're a Christian.
It's so much easier to let your new friends know right up front that you're a born again Christian. Sometimes we can be afraid of what others will say. Or we can fear loosing potential friends. If you really cared about your friends, wouldn't you want them to trust in Jesus Christ so they will not spend eternity in Hell? Of course you would! So don't be afraid to tell others what you believe. You do believe it don't you? Well then, be confident in God's word! Take a stand for Christ right in front of your friends.
To get started with your witness, every teen should ask, "Who am I impacting for Christ?" Don't be a secret agent Christian teen, sneaking around under cover with none of your friends knowing your true identity as a born again believer. Go over in your mind what you want to tell your friends when the door of opportunity arises. And by all means, if your friends seem like they've locked the door to their minds, at least jiggle the key in the door lock with some provoking questions and most of all a spiritually provoking life style.
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HOW CAN WE DEVELOP GODLY PURITY?
How can we develop godly purity? Notice I didn't say just purity. I'm NOT talking about the World's form of purity. I'm talking about God's kind of purity. The world talks about safe physical relationships between a man and a woman, but God tells us there is only one way for that physical relationship to be Right before God and that's when the man and the woman are married to eachother. The world rates movies PG, PG-13, R and much worse, but God rates things as Right or Wrong, godly or ungodly, and Righteous or Unrighteous. This list of comparisons could go on and on.
The first thing Christain teens need to develop is godly purity from God's perspective! Titus 2:12 says "teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age." This verse is a good start to understanding HOW God wants us to live. Righteously means the right way, God1s way and godly means to be like God in characater. Wow! That's a high calling for Christian teens, to follow God's character.
Some may be thinking "does the Bible actually call Christians to that high of a standard?" Let's allow God's word to answer that question! Ephesians 5:1 "Therefore be imitators of God as dear children." 1Peter 1:15 "but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." Notice Peter writes "all your conduct". An old preacher once said "all means all and that's all - all means." So born again teens need to honor the Lord with their whole life style. In order to do that teenagers should choose activities and friends that will encourage them to live HOLY.
Now let's get practical! How do we live this kind of PURE life that pleases a Holy God? 2Tim. 2:19, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity." What's so hard to understand about "Depart from"? Let me put it to you a few other ways:
1. you don't hang around sinfulness,
2. Git from sin,
3. Run from evil,
4. give sinful activities the big "adio`s" !
Now some teens like to hang around the mall, the beach and lots of other places, but where ever you are and where ever you go, you need to be asking yourself, "is there something here I shouldn't be hanging around?" You need to live godly in a wicked age! Now you will not run from evil until you have Fully Surrendered to God! When God is FIRST in your life, then living godly will be a priority in your life. So that obviously means when you're NOT departing from sin, that God is certainly not first. Remember, the Bible says that Christians need to be "holy in all your conduct." Holiness is thinking like God thinks and desiring like God desires. What is God pleased with? Whatever they are, you need to do these things. On the other hand, what does God despise? Don1t do these things!
If you want to live godly, you must give up the most Crucial part of your body. Most teen guys might think "this means my muscles." Teenage girls may think "it's my looks." None of these things are the most important thing on your body that you need to give over to God. It's your mind! Your thoughts MUST be surrendered fully to God. All your sins begin in or enter the mind First. So the battle for purity begins in the teens mind. Romans 12:1-2 says "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Does this passage mean that Christian young adults need to present themselves to God for God's service and design? Yes!
When it comes to living Right before God you need to say, "here I am Lord, at your service!" We need to understand that this giving of yourself does not just happen. It's a process that involves the mind. People can get addicted to all kinds of habitual habbits that are evil and not good for you. Some get addicted to drugs, others develop habitual sin problems in their life like fornication, cheating in school, and much more.
People in these sins have given themselves over or presented themselves to this things. Now to fulfill God's desire for Christian teens, you need to instead give yourself over to HIM. And you start with giving the Lord your mind, your thoughts. Not only does your mind belong to God, but all of you belongs to God. 1Corinthians 6:19 & 20 says "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."
Think of it this way: You are the temple of God! God1s spirit is in you. Your mind is the Door to God's temple! Wow! Could that be true, that our mind is like the door to our temple? Yes!
With our bodily temples we are to worship and serve God. However, you cannot do that when you have junk, filth, evil in your mind. Do you remember when Jesus cleansed the Temple? Sure you do! What did Jesus do? He drove out of God's Temple all that was evil and unacceptable.
Now let's apply that to your life. What's in your life and in your mind that needs to be driven out? Oh you know what it is! But now you need to decide. Will I live for God and depart from sinful activities and evil thoughts or will I serve myself. Proverbs 23:7 say "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." What are you reading? What do you day dream about? It should only be God honoring things. Philippians 4:8 says "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things."
So you need to think about Pure things, Good things and godly thoughts. Don't think about Junk or Filth. That means you have to Gaurd what goes into your mind. You1re the gaurd of your own mind. You're like a Spiritual Goalie trying to deflect junk and evil from getting into the net of your mind. Don1t let Satan score straight shots into you mind. Don't let the world make slap shots into your thinking process.
If you're going to win the battle for purity you must begin the battle of what goes into your mind. Proverbs 4:23 says "Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life." Keep and Diligence are two terms that simply mean GAURD with All your discipline. Your eyes and hears are the door keepers of your mind. Watch what you let in! Television, Internet, Magazines, books, Movies, filthly speech of others and any other wicked thing should be avoided.
Christian teens pay a high price when they allow foul and putrid things into their mind. Those impure thoughts will never be erased in this life time. They'll come back to plague you if you let them. It would be better if you NEVER ALLOWED THEM IN. So Stand Gaurd! In a Sinful Wicked world, You'll have to battle for Purity in your mind. So what's the best way to develop a Pure mind, the best way to surrender your mind to God?
Psalm 101:3 "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes"
Let God speak to you through His word the Bible.
Read it!
Memorize it!
Ponder it!
Take it into your heart!
Obey it!
Dwell on Pure things, Righteous things and godly, holy actions will follow.
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There are times in the Christian teen's life when the best thing you can and should do is RUN ! That's right! Assume Sprint position and get out of that situation as fast as you can. That's exactly what Joseph did in Genesis 39:7-12.
Before we read the passage, let's understand the context of the story. Joseph's brothers were getting tired of Joseph always being Mr. goody do right, so they decided to throw him in a pit and leave him to die. Then shortly after they actually threw him down into the whole in the ground they saw some slave traders coming their way and decided to make a little pocket change for themselves by selling their despised brother. The slave traders did buy Joseph and took him to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar who was a man of great wealth. Joseph was a brilliant hard worker, so Potiphar elevated Joseph to oversee all of his household.
It is while he is working in Potiphar's house that Potiphar's wife tried to tempt Joseph in a physical way, day after day. Now we must remember, Joseph was a slave. He couldn't just walk off the job. Yet, he faithfully served God even in these difficult situations. Let's read God's word and see just what happened and how Joeseph as a teenager handled this moment.
Genesis 39:7, And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, "Lie with me." 8, But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. 9, "There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" 10, So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her. 11, But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, 12, that she caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me." But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside.
How old was Joseph when this happened. If we look back to Gen. 37:2 we find out that he was 17 years old when he was sold into slavery. So, at most, Joseph is some where between 17 and 18 when Potiphar's wife tries to tempt him.
Think of this situation! They were alone. Remember, he couldn't help that, but you can. As a Christian teen, don't put yourself in a vulnerable environment. Be spiritually wise when it comes to spending time with someone of the opposite gender. The BEST PLAN is - Don't be alone - Period! Be with your parents or the person's parents or have a parent approved chaperone.
After repeated advances by Potiphar's wife Joseph told her "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" It was Joeseph's keen understanding of God's moral laws that provoked him to do the right thing. It was also Joeseph's heart for God that gave him the desire to obey NO MATTER what. Teens need to have this understanding and heart for God. If you don't, you'll just allow the temptation to reel you in, like a fish on a line, and then you'll be offending God and not caring about Him.
Joseph was in a very awkward situation. As a slave, his word would have no merit against an Egyptian citizen's. However, he knew he had to do the right thing before God when Potiphar's wife crossed the line. In order to keep himself from sin he "fled and ran outside."
God's word is quite clear on this matter: 1Corinthians 6:18 "Flee sexual immorality" ; 2Timothy 2:22 "Flee also youthful lusts." What's so hard to understand about "FLEE", "RUN", "GET OUT OF THE PLACE!"
Perhaps you've crossed the line already! Determine in your heart not to do it again. Cry out to God for forgiveness and for strength to remain pure from this point on. Have a clear PLAN to AVOID tempting situations. BE SPIRITUALLY SMART!
Young Christian men, Listen up here! God's word says in 1Corinthians 7:1 "it is good for a man not to touch a woman." This is not talking about shaking hands! It's not talking about a little tap on the shoulder. No, this passage is talking about the unmarried man touching someone in a way that only a married man should touch his wife. The original Greek word for "touch" has the sense of "to light or to kindle". In other words to start a fire. In plain English, young Christian men SHOULD NOT be touching any woman in such a way as to get a fire going (I'll leave it at that!). If you do, you're sining against God, the young lady and your own body! If this activity describes you, you need to repent, confess it to God and ask forgiveness of the lady. Finally - Keep your hands off!
Young Christian ladies, it's your turn to Listen up! You certainly should have no part in tempting any young man. The book of proverbs warns men about the flirtatious women that tempts men to sin. Don't be the kind of young lady Proverbs speaks against. It could be that you've fallen into the trap and sin of lust. You need to repent and ask God for forgiveness. If the "SO CALLED" person who "SUPPOSEDLY" cares about you persists in trying to drag you back into sin - RUN! FLEE! GET AWAY FROM HIM!
Does the person you care about really care about you?
If you really cared about someone as a Christian, would you cause them to sin?
If you had the other's spiritual interest in mind would you interfer with their close fellowship with God?
A true friend, someone who really cared about you as a Christian would NOT tempt you to sin. A true friend WOULD encourage you to do what is RIGHT before our Lord.
Let me give you a long term perspective.
# 1, You should save yourself for the Christian person that you will eventually marry.
# 2, If the person you spend time with now does not care about your godliness and your relationship with God, what makes you think they will in the future?
# 3, In God's eyes, the only thing that young women and young men should develop, before marriage, is a godly friendship based on biblical principles.
Finally, learn a lesson from Joeseph! There is a time to Run! There is a time to tell the other person "this would be SIN before and against my God!"
Be spiritually wise - Don't be alone!
Be spiritually ready - Be prepared to Run!
Be spiritually responsible - DON'T put yourself in compromising situations.
If you desire straight forward biblical help, feel free to email us.
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