Bobby Bosler: Welcome to the Thee Generation Podcast. I’m Bobby Bosler, and I’m speaking to you today in New Lisbon, Wisconsin. At the time of my recording, we’re just about ready to start our final night of the Cola Clash here. I have to say, young people, it’s so nice to be back on the road doing what God has called me to do. There’s still COVID lingering in the air, and people are definitely thinking about it here and there, but many people are just thankful to have something to do. They’re looking for a good time, and they’re finding God in the midst of it all.

Last week, we were up in north-central Minnesota, just south of Bemidji, in a little city called Bacchus where the population was 250 people in that town. Well, our team got right around 230 recruits from not only that city but all over the region, and we had a great crowd. I believe our high night was somewhere in the 60s, and we had over 70 young people come over three nights and 11 trust Jesus as their savior here this week. As I mentioned a moment ago, we’re in New Lisbon, Wisconsin. And after the first two nights, we’ve had 60 and in the 50s each night. And thus far, we’ve seen 11 young people trust Jesus as their Savior. In fact, last night there was a mom. 

This is really cool. Yesterday morning, our team, we were praying, we were seeking God’s face. And I honestly don’t know where it came from, but I just prayed that a parent would come out and get saved. And last night in the invitation, there was a mom who had been sitting right behind the teens. She was glued throughout the whole message. And at the invitation, she raised her hand and said she wanted to trust Christ as her Savior. She talked to the pastor’s wife, and she said that she would pray to receive Christ as soon as she got home and before she went to bed. And so I’m looking forward to hearing the rest of that story here this evening. 

But you know, young people, I want you to know that God is willing. God is on the move. And over the last several podcasts that I’ve personally recorded, my challenge to you has been don’t sit around and wait for a better time. Don’t mistake the deliverance that God is wanting to give. The deliverance may not be taking COVID away. It may not be the election in November. The deliverance may need to just be God giving us boldness to do what He’s called us to do.

Really, the purpose of the podcast, the burden on my heart here today, is I want to bring you to a decision, to a commitment to actually yield to Jesus. Even in the midst of this time, even in the midst of headlines that you’re not sure you can believe in anymore, in the midst of uncertainty. We kind of feel like we’ve been living in uncertainty. And honestly, if we’re not careful, we can think that nothing is certain. But young people, one thing is certain. God is on the throne. And God’s mission for His saints has not been revoked. There are people out there that right now are ready to get saved if only we would obey. 

And so that being said here in the podcast today, I want to focus on something that as much as it is central to Thee Generation, I really don’t think we focused on it a whole lot in the actual podcast. I want to focus on the concept of a pledge.

In the book of Romans chapter 12, Paul is beseeching the Roman believers to make a pledge to God. The way he put it was this, he said, “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 young people, there have been sermons, countless sermons preached on this text of Scripture, but the thing that I want to focus on here is just that little phrase, present your bodies. You know what Paul’s talking about here in this passage is surrender and not just a one-time decision of surrender, but a decision to a lifestyle, a life of surrender is the first of many decisions of surrender. And yet this decision of surrender says, I’m going to surrender whatever you tell it to whatever you tell me to do. 

Again, the picture is climbing on the altar and basically saying like Isaac, God, I’m yours. You can do whatever you wish. And you know, central to Thee Generation is the concept of a pledge. And a pledge, there’s nothing mystical or magical about a pledge. It’s not somebody suddenly getting launched into some higher level of Christian living, or it’s not like they all of a sudden become a super saint. It’s just simply young people pledging to God, this is what I want for my life. This is the desire of the direction of my life.

Now I doubt many of you, if any of you noticed, but we’ve been really grappling with The Pledge over the last year or two. One of the things that I was burdened about is I felt like The Pledge may have been a little bit too verbose. That’s my problem sometimes, as you can tell from the timestamps of my podcast. But really when it comes to a pledge, it needs to be concise because you can say so much, you lose the main point.

Not that that necessarily took place in the original form of The Pledge, but something I’ve personally been burdened about is distilling The Pledge down into its core essence, making it clear what The Pledge is about using words and phrases that we’ve come to know and love and cherish and understand conceptually as a part of this movement. 

And so if you get a chance, in fact I would encourage you, even if you have the chance right now, to go to The Pledge page on TheeGeneration.org. You can just go to theegeneration.org/pledge, and that’ll get you there, where you’ll see our distilled version of the Thee Generation Pledge. And what I want to do is I want to read this to you here on the podcast starting at the top. It says, 

Thee Generation Pledge: “I hereby join Thee Generation by pledging to the following:

First, Total Surrender. I will seek God’s will for my life and do whatever He wants me to do. I will honestly let God speak to me through daily Bible reading and prayer and will obey whatever He says, regardless of how it might conflict with my preferences, dreams, or friends. I will allow God to challenge and change my lifestyle, music, media choices, or any other habit as He speaks to me through His Word or through preaching.

Second, Total Dependence. I will not depend upon my own strength to do the will of God. Instead, I will depend on Jesus to enable me to do what I could never do in my own strength. I will not let my experience or my failures limit what I think God can do, but will depend upon God to do the impossible through my life, whether that be finding victory over sin, finding a spouse in a godly manner, or winning the world to Christ.

Three, To reach the world, I will seek to follow the Holy Spirit’s leadership to win the lost to Christ by regularly sharing the gospel with others through my church’s outreach efforts and in my day-to-day life. I will also seek to improve my understanding of my mission through Bible study and training. I will follow the leading of the Lord if He should call me to serve Him in full-time ministry, whether in my home country or abroad in other countries.

I pledge with a sober mind and a willing heart, by God’s enabling grace, to live a life of total surrender and total dependence. I recognize that this is not a promise of perfection, but a declaration of direction.”

You know, young people, this pledge is a biblical thing. We’re not just talking about something that’s distinctive to Thee Generation, but really the core essence of committing to surrender, of making a choice that this is what I want for my life. This makes sense. This is Bible Christianity. This is what is reasonable for me to do as a blood-bought child of God who is under a good God who has a will and purpose for every moment and day of my life.

Furthermore, the total dependence, recognizing that I can do it. The purpose for this whole thing is not so we can feel good about ourselves, but it’s so that we can reach the world for Christ. This is biblical. This is what Paul was calling the Roman believers to do, to present themselves, to give themselves to God, to place themselves at God’s disposal for whatever He saw fit for them. And it’s reasonable. It makes sense. And so, young people, the purpose of this podcast here today.

Maybe you’re listening, maybe you’ve been listening to the Thee Generation podcast for a lengthy period of time, but you’ve never signed The Pledge. Young people, you don’t have to sign The Pledge to live The Pledge. But I think sometimes we need to put it down in writing. We need to make a diecast decision. We need to put a stake in the ground and say, you know what? I’m going to live my life for God.

You don’t have to be afraid of whether you’ll keep it all, but if your heart is willing, if the desire of your heart is you want to be totally surrendered to God and totally dependent on His power to reach the world with the gospel, and you’ve not yet signed The Pledge, here’s my challenge to you, young people. If you haven’t done it already, go to theegeneration.org, click The Pledge link at the top or go to thegeneration.org/pledge. We’ll try to include the link in the description. Read The Pledge thoroughly.

And at the bottom, put, fill out the information in the form, click the commit button. Young people, I believe that if you will commit to this, if you will put a stake in the ground, draw a line in the sand, so to speak, and endeavor to live this life of total surrender and total dependence, I sincerely believe your life will be changed, the life of those around you will be changed, your family could be changed, your workplace could be changed. You’ll never live it unless you choose to.

And that’s all The Pledge is about. It’s bringing young people to a decision of total surrender to God. You know, hey, young people, I don’t even need to give our tagline here at the end because it’s what the whole podcast has been about here today. But let’s not just listen to it and be encouraged by it. Let’s not just watch a YouTube video. Let’s not just hear a podcast. Let’s not just be stirred. Let’s choose it. And let’s live it. To bring the world to Christ. And to bring glory to God our Savior, Jesus Christ.