Jim Van Gelderen: Welcome to the Thee Generation Podcast. This is Jim Van Gelderen, and we’re podcasting from Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, where I think it’s in the 30s, but probably most of you, it’s a little bit warmer where you are. But we’re having our spiritual awakening conference here at Baptist College of Ministry, Falls Baptist Church. And one of the preachers this week has been Evangelist Dave Young, who bases out of Milton, Florida, but he’s not there often because he travels. I’m sure some of you that are listening have heard Brother Young many times preaching. Others, you may not be used to his ministry or heard of him before. So we’re trusting that God will encourage your hearts. So I’m just going to ask him to just give you what is on his heart. And I trust you’ll listen and let the Lord speak to you here in this early part of the new year.

Brother Young.

Dave Young: All right. Thank you, Brother Jim. Dr. Jim, it’s just a real privilege and honor to speak to young people anytime. And in my heart and meditation or not is Psalm 119, a section in Psalm 119 called Daleth, where the Bible says these words, My soul cleaveth unto the dust, quicken thou me according to thy word. I have declared my ways and thou heardest me. Teach me thy statutes. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts. So shall I talk of thy wondrous works. My soul melteth for heaviness. Strengthen thou me according unto thy word. Remove from me the way of lying and grant me thy law graciously. I have chosen the way of truth. Thy judgments have I laid before me. And here’s a verse I want you to meditate on with me a little bit. I have stuck unto thy testimonies. I have stuck unto thy testimonies. O Lord, put me not to shame.

The last verse in the section says, I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. One of the things I find teenagers often will ask me is, how do you stick with the decisions you make? How do you follow this verse? The psalmist said here, I’ve stuck unto thy testimonies, O Lord. And yet the experience of a lot of us is that, you know, I made a decision. My heart is to do the right thing. I have a hard time sticking with it. There’s so many distractions, as young people well know. It’s so easy to allow the entertainment. And it’s not that it’s necessarily you’re doing something wrong. It’s just a time-consuming, nonstop distraction in our generation. And one of your major battles is how can I stick with what God’s called me to do? Maybe you were at camp last summer. Maybe you were at a youth conference recently.

Maybe you remember the night that you said to God, God, this is my decision. And the battle that never ends is how do I stick with the things God wants me to do? And I want to share this little passage here in Psalm 119 with you, 25 through 32, one little section in a very long chapter. But here are the things that the Lord has helped me to see in this passage. The psalmist says, for instance, in the 26th verse, I have declared my ways. So here’s the first thing I learned. I’ve made a declaration. God, I have to remind myself of what God wants me to do by declaring it. God, you called me to have the right kind of music in my life. I made a decision, God, that I was going to be wiser about social media. God, I made a decision that I was going to break some strongholds in my life. The psalmist here said, I have declared my ways.

I’ve made a declaration. How long has it been since you declared your ways again? Since you said to your mom or dad, hey, remember that decision I made? I really want you to pray with me about it because I’m not doing as well. or to your youth pastor or to a friend. The psalmist said, here’s how I stuck with my decision. I declared my ways. And then he says in the next verse here, actually two verses later, he says, so shall I talk of thy wondrous works. In other words, he said, I will talk about what you did. Ever so often, young people, you need to pause long enough to remember and to literally talk about, you know, this is what God did in my life the night I was in that service. This is the night I got saved. How long has it been since you talked about that? I will just talk of thy wondrous works. Did God save you?

How long has it been since you told somebody about the decision you made last summer, maybe at a camp service? We will write down a decision card. We’ll make a comment to somebody, a counselor in our camp week, and yet never go away and talk about it again. The psalmist said, I’ve declared my ways. He said, I shall talk of thy wondrous works. There’s two good steps. He says in the next verse, he says, strengthen thou me according to thy word. I will stay in your word. I need strength. I can’t do it. The one thing you know as a young person is you can’t do it. You keep trying, you keep failing. But the psalmist here said, strengthen thou me according to thy word. The next thing he says is a really big one. I’ve learned this one as well. He says, remove from me the way of lying.

In other words, one of the things I have to continually look over my life, examine my life, and remove anything that is wrong. The word remove literally has the idea of I’ll put it aside. Sometimes the things in our life aren’t wrong. It’s not wrong for you to talk with a friend maybe on Facebook Messenger or an iMessage. It’s not wrong to text somebody. But the psalmist here said, I will remove from me the way of lying, that which is distracting me, that which is hindering me. It may be something insignificant, but maybe the reason you’re not sticking to the decisions you’ve made is because there’s something major that needs to be removed. Maybe it’s time to delete a number.

Maybe it’s time to break off a relationship One of the hardest things I ever did as a young person was to lose a friend In which I knew they were not good for me I was going the wrong direction because of a friend I loved God, I wanted to do right But I had a friend that was always leading me in a wrong way And I remember when I had to meet with that friend and say Hey, I’ve been praying about something And you know, I think you probably know this But our friendship isn’t very good And I think it’s time we end I need to remove the way of lying. Here I am going down a way that’s no good, that’s not helping me. And I look back at it, and what was a very difficult thing has actually in my life turned out to be one of the greatest decisions I ever made. Who knows?

We have no way of knowing, but what kind of influence would that friend have eventually had had we kept that friendship going? So here’s what I’m learning. How do you stick with the decisions, the desires of your heart, the things you know this is the right thing? I’ve prayed about it. I’ve talked to a counselor about it. I know God spoke to me about it. Well, the psalmist said, here’s how I stuck to my decision. I made a declaration. I keep talking about it, about what God did. I keep staying in God’s word because I need strength from God’s word. I’m putting aside. I’m removing anything that’s wrong. Two other things I learned here. He says in the 30th verse of Psalm 119, I have chosen the way of truth. In other words, it’s not just enough to say, wow, God, I’m going to pray about this tonight. It’s an ongoing.

I’m going to choose the day to do the thing God spoke to me about last summer. i’m going to choose this week to do the thing God spoke to me about two years ago. if God spoke to me bout my music two years ago, i need to choose this week the way that is right, the way of truth. if God spoke to me bout a relationship two years ago, i’ve chosen the way of truth. and i love this psalm because of the next, the last verse down here. he says, i will run the way of thy commandments. now here’s where we started. We started in the 31st verse, I have stuck unto thy testimonies. So guys and girls tonight, as you’re listening to me this afternoon, wherever you are, whatever time of the day, don’t you want to stick to what God’s called you to do? You meant it, didn’t you?

When you made a decision at a youth rally or a camp or a teen service or Sunday school, you meant it. Well, here’s how the psalmist said, I stuck to my decisions. I’ve made a declaration. I’m talking about what God did. I’m going to stay in God’s word so I can find strength. I will remove anything that’s wrong and put it aside. I’ve chosen the right way. I’m choosing it today. And then he says very clearly, I will run the way of thy commandments. You know what that means? It means you got to get going. It means God spoke to you and you prayed about it and you came home and maybe you went right back to the same way you’ve always been living. But this Amateur said, I will run the way. You that are athletes, you know that nobody runs by accident. You don’t practice for the ball game just haphazardly. You got to get dressed for the practice.

You got to plan the practice. You’ve got to set aside the time. It takes energy to get out there on the court and run the race and practice running and endurance. And that’s the word the psalmist used here. I will run the way of thy commandments. What is it in your life that you’ve made a decision and quite frankly, you’ve failed to stick with it? You still know the decision. You know it was the right thing to do. You meant it with all of your heart, but you failed. I invite you to find Psalm 119 in your Bible. I invite you to go to a section called in the Bible, Daleth. It’s verses 25 through 32. And I invite you to walk your way through it and ask God to help you do what the psalmist did, Stick with the decisions God has called you to make. And I’m telling you, it’s a wonderful way to live.

If you will run the way of God’s commandments, what you’ll find is the blessings of God. And teenagers, the greatest way to live in the world is with the blessings of God. My name is Dave Young, and I’m certainly grateful that you would listen to me today. And I hope you just have God’s blessings in a mighty way in coming days.

Jim Van Gelderen: Wow. Thank you, Brother Dave. That was very practical. I’m sure anybody listening, there’s several points there that can be a great help to you. Remember, young person, that we are on a journey, and there are great truths that can help you in that journey. And I know those of you listening, you know that the D-Generation is all about this. It’s a total surrender to the will of God and total dependence on His grace to live it. Press on.