0:19 Okay. So hopefully uh you all are prepared. If you've got a Bible with you either on your phones or in uh in a book form, have it close to you. I'll be sharing a few verses from the Bible that you can refer to. 0:35 And as Sur said, I too like many of you uh are right now was a teenager in a CFC church or growing up in a Christian family like many of you are. And I I want to share a little bit about my experience but also share from the 0:54 experiences of examples we see in the Bible starting with Jesus himself. And uh my own experience was a rocky one. And I spent many years of my teenage life actually not a believer. I had not given my life to Jesus until I 1:11 was uh about 17. And even after I did in the latter years of my teenage I would say there were many times that uh my own will conflicted with the authority in my life which was my parents or the godly 1:28 elders. And it was a learning for me to realize that the Lord had placed that authority in my life for a specific reason. I can say now uh looking back 30 years later and having uh being a parent 1:44 of teenagers myself that probably more than 90% of the time that I thought I was right and my parents were wrong. Now when I look back, I realize with the wisdom I have now that they were actually right in those situations and I 2:00 was wrong and the things that we'd argue about or discuss uh that it was for my protection and it was actually a waste of my time to actually uh argue about those things. And I wish I could have spent more time actually just listening 2:17 and uh submitting to that godly authority which I did for the most part. But even the times that I did not, I regret now. And even the 10% where I thought I was right where I think I'm I may have been right. Uh I'm being honest 2:32 over here. Maybe in 10 or 15 years I'll realize that uh I was wrong there as well. And I'm willing to let the Lord open my eyes. But even if I was right and they were wrong, I think there was a special blessing that I received or perhaps at times I 2:52 missed out on because I did not choose the way and the path of submitting to the godly authority. Not the perfect authority, but the godly authority that God had put in my life. And if I spend my time arguing or proving myself right, 3:09 all I win is an argument. But if I choose to submit, even when I'm right and they're wrong, there is a special blessing in that. So I want to start today by uh if you would turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter 3. And while you're 3:28 turning there, I want you to consider what you think is a sign of the last days. Many people say, "We're in the last days. Jesus is coming back soon." And many people look at wars, wars in the Middle East, wars in Russia, things 3:46 that are going on in our home country, persecution, many things, and saying that's a sign of the last days. That's interesting what Paul says here to Timothy or what the signs of the last days are. 2 Timothy 3:1 says, "But 4:01 realize this that in the last days, difficult times will come." What are these difficult times? And as you're listening to this, consider if you are in the midst of these difficult times. And when I read this, I realized this was very close to 4:15 home for me. Not just for me, for me, for my wife, for my children. Verse two says, "These are the signs of the last days and the difficult times of the last days for men or we can say young men or young women will be lovers 4:31 of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, and unholy." And if we're honest with ourselves, we can examine whether any of those 4:48 adjectives are true about us today. When we go about our life, maybe people in church don't see it, but when we look down deep in our heart, what is it that we're serving? Are we a lover of oursel and the things we want 5:02 to do? Are we a lover of pleasure? Are we disobedient to parents? Are we boastful in something about ourselves? Are we ungrateful? And then if you go on to the next verse, 5:21 it says unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips without self-control. Many of us are living our lives on our phones, on our laptops, without self-control. And verse four says that we're reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather 5:39 than lovers of God. And here's a dangerous verse, verse 5, which says, "Holding to a form of godliness, but having denied its power." That may be true of you, young person. Your parents may not see it. The elders in the church certainly may not see it. 5:56 They may see a form of godliness because you show up and you pray and you say all the right things, but deep down inside, you know that you're guilty of some of these things. And that's a dangerous path that the Lord is convicting us 6:11 today to repent of. And it's interesting when you think about how sin originated in the world. All evil originated in the world because we know this from our study of the Bible and what the Bible says about Lucifer 6:29 who is the chief angel that he rebelled against God's authority. And we can see that sin originated when the devil chose who was an angel chose to rebel against the authority that God had placed in his life. And even in the beginning of the 6:43 Bible, when we think when we look at the garden of Eden, we see that sin originated when Eve chose to listen to Satan rather than listen to her husband and listen to God's word. And that was the seed of rebellion. It says that Eve found the 7:02 fruit that she was looking at after the devil spoke to her, the serpent spoke to her. If she found it a delight to her the eyes and it starts with something innocent like that where we see something that we want, a delight to our 7:13 eyes, something that's desirable, desirable to make us wise and we think we're wiser than the authority that God's placed in our lives. And we want it and the devil can infiltrate our mind. our flesh can infiltrate uh can 7:26 can uh confuse us and turn us against what uh godly authority is saying and that's when sin can originate and grow in our hearts just like it started in the beginning of the Bible and in the beginning of time and so it's important 7:44 to see the real danger of this as Paul said these are the difficult times of the last days it's not the wars that we need to worry about it's not uh earthquakes or uh not even persecution at this point for a young person. It's the war within 8:02 my heart that I need to worry about. The war that would tell me that I know better than what God knows for me. And so in contrast to that, we are called by Jesus to a far higher way. And it's a painful way, but it's a far 8:19 higher way, but it's a way that once we get through that pain, actually results in a life of liberty. And that's the invitation Jesus said in Matthew 11. Uh in Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus said, "Come to me all all of you who are weary. Many of you teens are 8:35 weary today. tired of this way of disobedience, of arguing, of getting upset at your parents, or not knowing why they can't relate to you. But the answer to that is not what you think it might seem. It's not just come 8:54 to me those are weary and you'll be free. No, verse 29 says, "Take my yoke upon you and then and learn from me for I'm gentle and humble in heart and then you will be free. Then you will find rest for your souls." So the invitation to the weary to find 9:13 rest is to take the yoke that Jesus took. And it doesn't say that Jesus lived a life completely unfettered where he did his own thing. But he took this yoke. He took this yoke of submission to his heavenly father. But not just that, 9:29 submission to the authority that God had placed in his earthly life that his father has placed in his earthly life in his parents in the chief priests in the synagogue that he would visit every week. And he and that's the way he 9:44 practiced humility. And we're called to learn humility from him. And then our life will be from one of rest or like the last verse says the yoke is easy and his burden is light. And then we'll experience that freedom [snorts] and that life that 9:59 Jesus was talking about. And the yoke that Jesus was talking about actually is interesting. If you go back to me in the Old Testament, there's a uh couple of verses in Lamentations 3 that talk about the yoke that a young 10:14 person should bear. In Lamentations 3 27 it says, "It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth." So a young man or a young woman, it is good for you to wear the yoke that Jesus also wore as a young person that he called 10:33 you to bear to wear that in your youth. Not just wait till you're 20 or 25 to say, "Oh, then I'll follow Jesus." No, it's good for me to the Bible says it's good for me to take on this yoke in my youth. But what is this yoke? Verse 28 says, 10:49 "Let him sit alone and be silent since the Lord has laid this yoke on him." Verse 29, "Let him put his mouth in the dust. Perhaps there is hope." And young men, young women, teens, this is where we must start as young 11:08 people. This is the seeker of humility. And whether you believe it or not, this is where Jesus started as a teenager. We must learn to be willing to sit alone, to be silent, to not argue back, to not complain, and realize that the Lord has put this 11:27 yoke on us in our teens and put our mouth in the dust. And then the Lord says, "Perhaps there will be hope for you, young teenager, if you will put your mouth in the dust and be humble and be silent. Perhaps there will be hope for you rather than you going 11:43 about thinking and following what you think is best for you. So let's look at the perfect example of Jesus that we have and the way he followed the way he took this yoke. The way at times he was a silent listener and put his face in the dust. So 12:02 when we think about the life of Jesus, it's interesting to think about. We read about Jesus's life in the four gospels, but 90% of his life was actually not his ministry. And in fact, when you think about his teenage years, which is where 12:18 you are, there's actually just a handful of verses in Luke chapter 2, which talk about Jesus from the age of 12 to the age of 30. And it's a very interesting period of his life where we can if we're not careful, we can miss out on it 12:35 because we're spending so much time looking at the rest of his life. So I want you to show you the example of Jesus from Luke chapter 2, the last part of Luke chapter 2, just from a few verses that shows you what Jesus was 12:45 like in uh his teenage years or in when from the age of 12 onwards. And think about this. When you think about Jesus's life, what what he was called to do, imagine Jesus in heaven before he came 13:04 down to earth. He was with his heavenly father. He was with the Holy Spirit. And he said and his father said to him, "I want you to go down to this earth to die for these other teenagers and to be a teenager just like them so that you can 13:21 be an example of how they can live their life as teenagers and then I want you to give up your life for them so that they can be saved so that Sunil can be saved so that each of these teens can be saved." And Jesus did not argue back 13:32 with his heavenly father. He willingly did that and joyfully did that and he gave up what was perfect authority in his heavenly father and what was a perfect church or a perfect family that he had with the holy spirit and his 13:46 father and he gave that up gave up the perfect family the perfect church in a way to say I am going to come and be among imperfect people and I'm going to take on a new completely imperfect father and mother here on this earth 14:01 completely imperfect elders ers in the in the synagogue and that's what I'm going to follow that path so I can show other teens how to live their life. So in Luke 2:45 we we know the story of when Jesus went to the temple with his 14:17 parents and his parents left. They were so imperfect that they forgot about him and they left him in the temple and they went back uh to Nazareth. And it says in verse 45 that when they did not find him they returned to 14:30 Jerusalem to look for him. Luke chapter 2 verse 46. And then after three days they found him in the temple. What was Jesus doing in the temple? Think of you of how you should be sitting in your church sitting in the midst of the 14:44 teachers both listening to them and asking them questions. And that's a picture that we must have as teenagers as an example we can follow even in the church. Not that we think we know better, but to be willing to sit and listen and ask the questions. And 15:02 ask questions not with a not with an attitude that thinks we know better, but with an attitude that's wanting to learn. And who's Jesus asking questions about? Here's Jesus who is the perfect son of God sitting and listening to 15:16 scribes and Pharisees and high priests. many of them who 20 years later would be the ones responsible for crucifying him. So completely imperfect people and he and God told him you must sit here 15:33 quietly in this imperfect church with imperfect elders with imperfect authority even though you may see faults in them. sit here and listen and [clears throat] learn what you can about the word of God and ask them questions 15:50 with a spirit that is not contentious but with a spirit that is willing to learn and willing to listen. So you can see Jesus here and his tremendous example of submitting to imperfect authority in the church. And then if you go on it says when he 16:05 returned to Nazareth in verse 51 he said he went down with them and came to Nazareth and he continued in subjection to them. And verse 52 says as a result of continuing in submission to his parents. Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and 16:22 stature and favor with God and men. And that's the example we're called to follow is Jesus as a teenager not preaching, not arguing and explaining why he knows better than his parents, but continuing in submission to his 16:37 parents. And he just didn't do it from 12 to 20. He did it from 12 to 30 for 18 years. And it says as a result he kept increasing in wisdom because he continued in submission because he continued that attitude of listening and sitting and listening and 16:55 asking questions with the right attitude. And that's the spirit we must have. And if Jesus can do it, I can imagine his mother maybe telling um questioning something he did. Maybe one of his brothers came and complained to his mom and said, "Oh, 17:11 Jesus did this to me." and he provoked me or he stepped on my foot and he did it out of anger and Mary would have said, "Jesus, you need to go apologize to your younger sibling." What do you think Jesus would have done? Do you 17:24 think he would have said, "Don't you know I'm the perfect son of God. I can't sin." How would I ever get angry at my brother? I think if he had done that, if he had taken that argumentative attitude with his mother, he would have sinned in 17:37 that moment and he would no longer have been perfect. I think Jesus would have gone and apologized and said, "I'm sorry if I hurt you." And so, the perfect sinless man would have apologized for a sin that he did not even do because it 17:50 was the practice of submitting to his parents even when his parents were wrong that made him perfect, that made him grow in wisdom and stature. And so, that's the example we're called to follow. And I'll tell you young teens, 18:04 [clears throat] you may find plenty of imperfections in your parents. Maybe hundreds [snorts] of times in your interactions, you find like, "Oh, they're wrong. They're totally wrong." I'm here to tell you from my own example 18:19 of having seen those things that I realized 30 30 years later that actually in most cases they were right and I was wrong. And even in the cases where I still think I was right, I'm glad that I chose to submit when I chose 18:35 to do because I learned I received the blessing of growing in wisdom and stature like Jesus did rather than just proving myself right and winning an argument. And this is the attitude of submission Jesus had to imperfect 18:51 authority both in the church as we see that in the church of his day and at home. And even when he graduated from that situation, he still continued in an attitude of he didn't he didn't just give up this attitude of submission 19:08 because he had left the home. He continued in an attitude of submission to his heavenly father and he just went through that through his entire life. And not just that, I'm not sure if you know, but Jesus in heaven is continuing 19:23 even in heaven when he gets to heaven. This is not something that's just a temporary phase in life. It's a permanent thing where the Lord want where our heavenly father wants us to have this beautiful experience of always 19:35 submitting to him. And how do I know that? I'll share this these two verses from 1 Corinthians 15 which give us a picture of what Jesus like Jesus is like in heaven. It says in 1 Corinthians 15:4, then comes the end 19:55 when Jesus hands over the kingdom to God the Father and when he has abolished all rule and all authority and power. So you can see that Jesus actually wants to abolish this idea of rule and authority and power which is the opposite of 20:09 submission which is I want to be in control of my circumstance. I want to be the authority. I want to be the power. And Jesus came against that. In the end, he's going to abolish it completely. And verse 28, a few verses down, says, 20:24 when all things are subjected to Jesus, when everything in the world, whether they chose to do it or not, and hopefully we can choose to do it in our lifetime, sub are subjected to Jesus, then he, the son himself, Jesus, will 20:37 also be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him. So that God the father may be all in all. And we can see even at the end of the time in heaven Jesus is still continuing in this way of saying heavenly father you are 20:51 all in all. And this is the last act of Jesus in eternity is one of submission and one of ending authority and power or lording it over others. And that's the example that I want to follow. That's the example teens that we are encouraged 21:06 to follow. And that's why we have one commandment for us as teenagers and children. Obey your parents. Honor them. Honor your father and mother. That's what Ephesians 6 verse one and two says. So that you may have a long meaningful 21:22 life here on this earth. A a life that doesn't mean you're going to when it says long it means the quality. It means that you will have a high [snorts] quality life a long life of knowing Jesus intimately of knowing God 21:35 intimately. And so I want to challenge you as you consider this. Examine your heart. If you have a seed of complaining against your parents or your elders or 21:55 the authority that the god has placed in your life because they don't understand your way of doing things or your what you want to do. Just remember that complaining is the seed of rebellion. It really is. It start we can see that 22:11 in Eve like why why didn't Eve probably was thinking why can't I eat of that? It doesn't it's such an innocent thing. It's just a fruit. It's just a tree. It's not really a sinful thing. And that can be the question that comes into your 22:21 mind that the devil will put in your mind. Why? Why can't they see what you're going through? And these this complaining attitude is what will keep you and what will take you down a path of rebellion. And we must root that out at 22:39 a as soon as we see that. Philippians 2:14 and 15 says, "Do [clears throat] all things teenagers do all things without grumbling or disputing." That means we're we're called to say, "I shouldn't have a single argument with my 22:57 parents. I want to be able to be silent and put my face in the dust like Jesus did. Be willing to just listen and continue in subjection even when I think I'm right. I don't want to have an attitude of grumbling or disputing. And verse 15 23:11 says, "So in this way you will prove yourself to be blameless." You have one calling teenagers in and an an easy way to prove yourself blameless. Start by doing everything without grumbling or argu or or disputing. without quarreling. And in this way, 23:30 verse 15 says, you will be children of God above reproach in a crooked and perverse generation. You're around a world in in classmates, in school, and in college of ones who are disobedient to parents like Paul said to Tim 23:45 Timothy, who are proud, who are boastful, and you can prove yourself to be blameless and innocent. And the last part of this word verse is among whom you will appear as lights in the world. Many of you want to say, "Hey, how can I 23:57 be a light to my friends? How can I be a good influence to my friends?" Here's how you can start to be a good influence to your friends. Here's how you can be a light to the world. This is what Jesus called us to be when he says, "Be a 24:10 light to the world." It doesn't mean we go and hand out tracks or we tell them about Jesus. No, it starts with me saying I'm not going to grumble and I'm not going to dispute and I'm not going to argue and I'm going to show it at 24:22 home with my parents. And then there's going to be a fragrance of the life of Jesus that comes through me that my friends will see. That will be the light that they will see. That that's how I can be the light to the world by just 24:35 saying I'm not going to grumble and complain. I'm not going to allow that seed of rebellion to enter into my uh heart. I'll read you a few more verses that were encouraging to me as I considered this topic. Proverbs 22:28. 24:53 This is an important verse for us to consider. This is the word of God which says Proverbs 22:28 says, "Do not move the ancient boundary which your fathers have set." And that's what many of you are going through today. You're saying 25:08 or you can say do not move the old-fashioned boundary which your parents have set. And many of you have strict rules that your parents have put around things. How you use your phone, how you use your laptop, where you go, 25:23 which parties you go to, which friends houses you can go to, which shows or movies you can watch, or maybe you're not allowed to watch anything. And the command of the Lord is to is saying, don't look at them as old-fashioned. 25:39 They may be old-fashioned, but the command of the Lord to you young teenager is don't move that oldfashioned boundary. Don't move that ancient boundary that you think is old fashioned which your parents have set. And that's a command if we follow it 25:56 will go well with us. And I'm you will many times see imperfections in your parents. But yet God is using that those opportunities where you use where he where you see those imperfections. Maybe you'll see it for the rest of your life. 26:13 You'll see imperfections. But when you see those things rather than choosing to argue or prove yourself right, use that as an option to say, "God, with the power of your Holy Spirit, fill me with your Holy Spirit so I will not move that boundary. So I will 26:31 not have a grumbling or an arguing spirit. So I will not have to contend and argue and let me prove yourself to see why the new culture of the new generation allows me to do that these days and why that will be safe and I 26:43 won't fall into sin. Your arguments may be perfect and they may be even right and maybe you won't fall into any other sin, but you may have already fallen into the sin of grumbling and disputing of losing out on the blessing that Jesus 26:58 had of growing in wisdom by submitting to your parents. And so the next time you're tempted to argue about it or to dispute something that your parents are are telling you to do, which you know in your mind, hey, that's that's safe for 27:16 me. They don't understand it. Rather than thinking of rather than arguing and trying to prove yourself right, take the exciting opportunity, say, "There's a blessing here. There's an eternal treasure here, and I want to grab onto 27:29 it, and I'm just going to keep quiet and submit cheerfully." If Jesus was able to do it, if Jesus was willing to do it to his imperfect parents, then I don't have any excuse. Let me do it. Not just because Uncle Sunil told me to do it or 27:46 because I'm I want to follow this heavy command, but because there's joy in it. There's a special blessing in it. There's a special growth, spiritual growth that will come from that. And that God will be pleased if I do it. And 28:00 that's why I want to do it. And that's why I want to be able to listen to them. Whatever it takes. If they say, "Turn in your phone. Delete that app on your phone. Don't hang out with that friend. Don't listen to that music." 28:14 Well, I argue back and say, "No, no, no. Let me explain to you why the lyrics are different." Well, they may be safe. They may be there may be nothing wrong with that. Even from God's point of view, except that you would be moving the 28:27 ancient boundary that God is asking you to abide by. And that's what the Lord's calling for us as teenagers is to is to follow that example of Jesus. So I hope that as you move forward in these years that you will continue in 28:45 submission to your parents, seeing the joy of the example of Jesus, in submission to the godly authority that God has placed in your life. And even if you're in the rare case that perhaps uh one of your parents is not a believer, I 29:01 would say still choose to honor them. Still choose to honor them. And unless it conflicts with the word of God, still choose to submit to them because that same word applies to you. When it says honor your father and mother, it doesn't 29:13 say honor your god-fearing father and mother. It just says honor your father and mother. And that's our calling regardless of whether they themselves are believers or not. And most of you have at least one godly parent, if not 29:25 two. And that's an even better example of saying, "Hey, if the Lord has given me godly authority and ones that fear God, they don't have to be perfect. That's good enough for me for me to be able to follow the example of Jesus who 29:39 had god-fearing parents to say I'm willing to submit to them even when they might be wrong and I might be right because I don't want to miss the blessing of growing in submission and growing in what the Lord has for me and 29:53 the joy that comes from a life submission that I can learn from Jesus that he follows and he takes to heaven with him. So I pray this is a blessing for you and I hope this has inspired you to continue in the journey uh based on 30:05 my own experiences as a teenager based upon my experiences as a parent of teenagers and based on what I've learned from the life of Jesus. Amen.
