Bobby Bosler: Welcome to the Thee Generation Podcast.

I’m Bobby Bosler and I’m speaking to you today from Somerville, Alabama.

This is week 11 for our team and we are absolutely thrilled at all that God has done.

Thus far, we’ve seen 175 young people trust Jesus Christ as their Savior, and we know He has many more for us this week.

As a matter of fact, a couple of weeks ago, we were in Lisbon, Ohio, which is just west of Pittsburgh, and while we were there, God did something very, very remarkable.

And I’d like to use this brief account as a springboard to launch into something I trust will be a blessing to you here this week at the podcast.

We were there in Lisbon, Ohio, and one of our team members, Charlie, from Minnesota, was in a lunchroom at Southern Local High School.

And while he was there, he recruited two young men, Ian and Dylan.

They seemed pretty excited.

In fact, they showed up at Lisbon Baptist Temple on the first night, that Saturday night.

Well, we competed in big ball volleyball and tube tug.

And we came inside and had the rest of our evening.

And at the conclusion of the night, I preached the gospel.

And when I preached the gospel, Dylan went back in the invitation and trusted Jesus Christ as his savior.

But his friend Ian was not so quick to respond.

Afterwards, in the parking lot, Charlie approached him and asked him if God had worked in his heart, and he said that he had and that he would like to talk about it.

Charlie had the privilege of taking him down into the counseling room and showing him how Jesus died on the cross for his sins, and if he’d simply trust him alone, he could receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

And Ian, with joy, counted upon Christ to save him there that night.

Well, the story isn’t over.

The next day, Ian and Dylan brought two more friends, Nick and Alexis, and they came there that night and they heard the gospel as well at the conclusion of the evening, but neither of them responded in the invitation.

Ben, my other team captain, tried to talk to them in the parking lot, but literally they turned around and ran away.

They went inside the building and there they found Charlie and Ian.

Charlie began to talk to them again.

And what made the difference in that conversation was Ian looked at the two, pointed his finger in their faces and said, you need to go downstairs and trust Jesus Christ to save you.

Well, at his challenge, the two went downstairs and found Christ as their forgiveness of sins.

Well, the story’s not over there either on the final night.

Both Ian and Nick brought another friend.

And their friend Jacob there that night came and enjoyed himself in the competitions and came inside for the food and the posting of the score.

And at the conclusion of the night in the preaching, he heard the gospel, but didn’t respond to the invitation again, though others did.

Ian and Nick both found Jacob at the end of the night.

And I actually saw them at the end of the hallway.

I was sitting outside of the counseling room.

They brought Jacob downstairs and I saw Ian point his finger in Jacob’s chest and then point his finger towards me at the other end of the hallway.

And I got the gist of what he was doing.

He was telling Jacob that he needed to go and talk to the preacher and trust Christ as his savior.

Well, I had the privilege of talking to Jacob myself and Jacob bowed his head and placed his faith and trust in Christ alone to wash his sins away and to give him eternal life.

You know, these things are thrilling, but you know, more thrilling than the 30 who trusted Christ there in Lisbon, Ohio, was the fact that God used a young man who’d been saved less than 48 hours to bring three more people to Jesus Christ.

You know, and this leads to the discussion I’d like to have here in the podcast today.

You look at a young man like Ian and you ask yourself the question, why did God use him?

Well, I can tell you one thing, God did not use him because he was super impressive.

Ian’s probably 14 years old.

He’s a sharp young man, but I don’t think he was trying to be wise or mighty or noble to sway his friends into coming to Christ.

I think Ian just wanted his friends to get saved, and he was willing to open his mouth and to tell him, at the risk perhaps of friendships, you need to trust Christ as your Savior.

You know, that willingness.

And I’m sure there’s a certain sense in which in his heart he was just trusting the Lord to work.

But God used him.

And God wants to use you like that too.

In 1 Corinthians 1, verses 26 and following, the apostle Paul says, For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, But God hath chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.

And God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.

But of him, that is of God, are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

And here the apostle Paul is simply making the point that you do not have to be impressive to find Jesus as your savior.

Those of you that are listening understand that you did not come to Jesus and claim salvation because you were impressive.

You came to Jesus because you were weak.

You goodness of sins and eternal life outside of the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

And you simply came to him in humility and simple dependence and counted upon him to do all of the saving.

And it’s in that context that he continues in chapter two, verse one of first Corinthians and says, and I brethren, when I came to you came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God, for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified.

And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.

And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

You see, Paul here continues his thought that not only do you not have to be impressive to find Jesus, You don’t have to be impressive to share Jesus.

In fact, when we come in our weakness and in simple faith depend upon the Lord to tell somebody else about Jesus, God gets all the glory.

Because when we recognize our weakness and do not depend upon our eloquence or our wisdom or our might or our nobleness and simply depend upon him, what happens is he is the one who does all the work.

And therefore, he’s the one that gets all of the glory.

You know, young person, as you’re here today, you might look at someone else and think, boy, they’re a lot better at talking than I am.

You might look at somebody else and say, boy, they look a lot sharper.

They’re more handsome than I am.

They’ve got better communication skills.

But you know what?

You don’t have to have great communication skills for God to use you.

All you have to do is simply depend upon the Lord and look to him for your might and power.

You see, you don’t have to be impressive to share Jesus because if you try to look impressive and sound impressive, it’s going to be you that gets the glory because it’s you that did the work.

But when you recognize your weakness and simply come to Jesus and ask him to use you in simple faith, just like Ian, God will do the work and miracles will happen because it wasn’t you.

It was him.

You know, that’s what we’re all about here at the Thee Generation.

It’s a generation that’s willing to yield to the will of God in everything, in soul winning, in your life’s work, in the one you’re going to marry one day.

It’s simply yielding to God.

It’s total surrender and total dependence because you can’t do it.

Only he can.

Young person, I challenge you this week.

Do not let your lack of talent be an excuse to not tell somebody about Jesus because it is your very lack of talent that qualifies you to bring God much glory when he uses you supernaturally.

I trust this has been a blessing and encouragement and may God bless you as you continue to live a life of total surrender and total dependence.