Jim Van Gelderen: Welcome to the Thee Generation Podcast. This is Jim Van Gelderen and I am podcasting from Edinburg, Virginia. We are about ready to begin our War of Special Forces here in the Christian school and the local church.

Looking forward to a great week. Just finished in Beaver, West Virginia and both of these schools we’ve been in multiple times. Had a great week last week and looking forward to what God has for us this week.

Uh, last week we were encouraged. We hit a record for that area. Our record up to that time was one hundred and nineteen teenagers on a rally night.

And on Thursday night we had Thirty one. But more importantly than that, we were encouraged by the souls saved and the work God did in the hearts of the young people. And so we’d appreciate your prayers as we’re laboring here and trusting that God will do a great work in many hearts and lives.

Well, also, I wanted to mention to you that the Generation Youth Summit at Menominee Falls at Falls Baptist Church, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, and that’s going to be October thirteen, fourteen and fifteen. And I just want to mention, there’s still time for you to be able to register and come and we’ll start on a Wednesday night and on a Friday night.

Not only will we have some of our trademark competition for away, we’ll obviously have some preaching that is designed to encourage you in your walk with God and really stir your faith of what God can do in and through your life. We are changing themes this year. We’ve used the Cola Clash for years.

Cola Clash plus kind of a soft drink theme. This year we’re doing the warm axe using the four different branches of the armed services. So you come, you’ll be on one of those teams and we’ll look forward to a great time.

But you can find out more information at the generation. That’s t h e e double e generation dot org, and we’d love to see you there. If you need anything, go to the website, get the contact information and we’ll look forward to you, you, you being able to join us for that wonderful time.

Well, I’m in Jeremiah seventeen here and I on this podcast, and I was reading through my Bible reading, try to read the Bible every year. And, and as I was going through, Jeremiah came to Jeremiah seventeen familiar verses, but my heart was struck with the truth in them and just wanted to review it with you because it is very important. There are only two ways to live the Christian life.

One is cursed according to this passage, and one is blessed. Notice what it says in verse five of Jeremiah seventeen thus saith the Lord, cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. When I read that verse, I think of the songwriter who wrote, the arm of flesh will fail you.

You dare not trust your own friends? I don’t know about you, but we all have a tendency, don’t we? To trust human means.

Most of the time it’s self dependence. We trust ourselves in some measure to live the Christian life, to serve the Lord, to do things that are sometimes good things, but they’re self dependent. Sometimes we look to man to solve our problems instead of looking to God.

And the Bible says, when you do that, you’re cursed. Now that’s let’s be honest. That’s strong language.

Can I tell you that self dependence brings God’s curse when we depend upon man? Uh, human means instead of looking to the Lord to accomplish what only he can in our lives, God says we’re cursed. It also says, and whose heart departed from the Lord?

And it hit me, you know, when you stop trusting someone on the human level, maybe some leader you had in your life or someone, uh, you become does fails you, or maybe has some hypocrisy and you lose trust in them. Guess what? Your heart departs from them.

But you know what a tragedy it tragedy. It is for us with God who is trustworthy, ultimately trustworthy. And when we don’t trust him, guess what happens?

Our heart departs from the Lord. I don’t know about you. That’s not a good thing.

And how often self dependence. We don’t realize it, but our heart begins to depart from the Lord. When we do not fully trust the Lord for what only he can do.

You know you have to fully trust the Lord to keep you out of hell, give you eternal life, wash your sins away. Well, do you know everything in the Christian life is, um, uh. Only we’re only able to do it through the Holy Spirit, enabling us.

In other words, it’s humanly impossible. I sometimes ask teenagers this question. How much of the Bible can you spiritually understand without the Holy Spirit?

And the answer is, well, nothing. How much effective praying can you do without the Holy Spirit? And the answer is, well, nothing.

How many people can you win to Jesus without the Holy Spirit? And again, the answer is nothing. How much true victory can you have?

And the answer is, well, nothing. You know we can’t do anything Jesus says without me, you can do nothing without his strength and enabling anything eternal, anything spiritual, we can’t do without him. And so what a tragedy to trust man or trust ourselves to do what only God can do and allow our heart to depart from the Lord.

Now here’s what it says. For he shall be like a heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh. Isn’t that interesting?

But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness. Hey friends, when you and I get into self dependence or dependence upon human means, guess what happens? We dry up, don’t we?

And not only do we dry up, we don’t even see when good comes. When God does bring good things into our life, we completely miss it because we’re looking to the wrong place for fulfillment, for satisfaction, for provision, for resolution, or for whatever we’re facing in our Christian life. But there is an opposite.

Verse seven says, blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. That word hope has the idea of confident expectation, and whose confidence the Lord is, and who. Who is expecting God to be what he is and to do what he does.

That’s the idea. God says there’s something will happen, you’ll be blessed. But here’s how he describes it.

For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out our roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh. But her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful. That’d be the idea of anxious.

In the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. In other words, friends, when you and I are looking to the Lord, when we’re depending on him for whatever we need as we go throughout the day, God said, we’re like a tree in the middle of the wilderness, or in the middle of a drought, right by a river, and where our roots are spread out into that river.

And so we have everything we need, and we’re not anxious. Even though it’s a year of drought, we’re not anxious because we’re getting everything we need from that river. And that’s the way it is with God.

Friend, you’re not swayed by circumstances. Do you know what I find about a lot of people? They live their lives and how they feel is determined by their circumstances.

Now, that’s no way to live. But many people do. In other words, sometimes people are looking for the next stage in life.

I won’t be happy till I get married. I won’t be happy till I get a job. I won’t be happy until I’m in the ministry.

I won’t be happy till I’m in college. And the list could go on. The truth is they come to the next stage and they’re still not happy.

You know why? Because fulfilment is not in circumstances. It is in God.

Let me encourage you. Whatever circumstances you’re in, even if you’re unpleasant circumstances. Some people say, I won’t be happy until I get out of these circumstances.

But that won’t work either. You can be in difficult circumstances, be at a stage in life that’s not real fun. And I’m telling you, you can find fulfilment and sustenance and provision and satisfaction in the Lord Jesus.

He’s the fountain of living waters. As you spread out your roots by the river, finding everything you need in him. Doesn’t matter if there’s drought.

Doesn’t matter if there’s heat. Doesn’t matter if there’s difficult circumstances. Your needs are being met.

Jesus is fulfilling you of giving you sustenance and provision. And friends, that’s how to live the Christian life. I was talking to a friend of mine.

I can’t remember which one it was, but I. He was telling me about his asking a well-known preacher that we all respect what’s the key to the Christian life? Or at least he.

The way you live your Christian life. The preacher, without hesitation looked at him and said, it is my burden and my desire every day to not quench the spirit. And I thought to myself, wow!

Because many times that’s what we do, don’t we? We have a great time with the Lord, but we go out into life and we quench the spirit. Maybe we’re not purposeful with our time.

Maybe with technology, we get into media not not necessarily wrong, but it’s just not what God has for us for the moment. And we quench the spirit. Do you know what trusting the Lord is?

It’s not quenching the spirit. It’s looking to him for wisdom. It’s looking to him for strength.

It’s looking to him for everything we need. Hey friends, when you open your Bible, are you asking Jesus to teach you the word? When you pray, are you asking him to give you wisdom and power to pray?

When you are in a ministry setting, are you looking to God to enable you and strengthen you? To be able to be a blessing and a help to the person you’re ministering to? Are you asking God throughout the day to open your eyes to the ministry opportunities that are right there?

See how often we just go like a pinball from one thing to another, without any sense of looking to the Lord for wisdom, for strength, direction, and for enablement. So blessed is the man. God says that trusts in the Lord.

And the Bible says, neither shall he cease from yielding fruit. You know, I don’t think that’s just fruit of souls, though. I think it is.

It’s also the fruit of the spirit love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Wow. These are all supernatural things that God does in the life of a man looking to him.

Listen, if you’re drawing your sustenance from Jesus, who is comes out through you and you bear fruit, it’s his fruit. It’s supernatural. Now that means every day we’re either trusting in ourselves or trusting in some human resource, or we’re trusting in the Lord either cursed or blessed.

I know it’s strong language, but it’s one or the other. And I encourage you every morning, wake up and say, okay, Lord, I’m looking to you to give me wisdom today. You know what that is?

Total surrender. I want you to show me what to do with my life today. I want you to lead me.

And then total dependence is, Lord, I’m looking to you to to enable me, strengthen me, to give me the provision I need to accomplish your will. And when you do that, friends, you and I aren’t going to quench the spirit. And we’re going to walk with the Lord Jesus.

We’re going to be blessed. And in being blessed, we will be a blessing to others. May God bless you.

Those of you here are part of the generation.