Jim Van Gelderen: chapter number 29, if you take your Bibles, Proverbs and chapter 29. Just want to preach on one proverb this morning, Proverbs 29, we'll be looking at the verse 25. Proverbs chapter 29, and we'll be looking at 25.

I appreciate so much the testimonies that have been given. Perhaps you've been a little bit stunned, a little bit shocked at the candor of which these testimonies are given. I believe that's the case for a couple of reasons.

Number one, when you're delivered, you're just grateful God delivered you and you want other people to be delivered. Number two, the Bible says God gives grace to the humble. And humility is just honesty, young people.

It's being honest, pulling the face mask off and saying, I got issues, but Jesus is the answer. You got issues, and Jesus is going to be the answer for you too. And that's what it's all about in the appropriate way when God leads for us just to be honest about what God's doing in our hearts.

And one thing about it is God has a plan for every young person in this room. There's nobody that has passed hope. You have a decision to make in these days because God is bringing some of you to a crisis point.

You've got a decision to make, do I deal with my sin biblically and thoroughly, or do I keep pushing and kicking the can down the road? The danger, friend, is there'll come a day when you'll kick the can for the last time, and I believe that Gabe, as he gave his testimony, I believe that Cola Clash was his last opportunity.

And God brings us to points, and you may be at that point, and God is telling you your life is going to go a different direction, And there will be some things that will be irrecoverable. And certainly God's grace is a wonderful thing, but I can tell you people who get right at 35 or 40 grieve over the lost years and the poor decisions that are now unable to be altered.

And so let me encourage you in these days, as God has directed these testimonies, to allow God to speak to your heart. And let me just tell you right now, if you're here and saying, Preacher, I really don't want to hear you preach, I need to get right with God. You would not offend me to leave this room, head to somebody that's in leadership, and say, I've just got to get some things right.

I'd rather have you getting things right with God than kicking that can down the road. So even in these moments, the moment we're going to pray, if you need to slip out during the prayer to get some things right with God, you do that. And workers in the back, you be aware if there is any movement to help that person get to the right people to help them.

Proverbs chapter number 29 and verse number 25, we're going to read the text of Scripture and begin with a word of prayer. And I'll just read the text and make a statement that I'll make several times during the message. But the Bible says, The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be saved.

So it's going to be like this. If you fear man, you don't trust God. And if you trust God, you're not afraid of man.

Now let's pray. Now Lord, I pray for these young people that you use Bible truth to set them free. there are young people in this room who are in bondage to the fear of man.

The reason they already have not moved is not because you didn't deal with them, you are dealing with them, but Lord, they're afraid. They're afraid of what man may think. They may be afraid of consequences.

They may be afraid of parents and the consequences there. They may be afraid of peers and laughter or whatever. But Lord, we know the fear of man brings us there, that we need to trust you and just do right.

Lord, Lord, use the message to help young people see the lie of the enemy and the fear of man for what it is. And we'll thank You in Jesus' name, amen. The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be saved.

So again, let me just say it, if you fear man, you don't trust God. And if you trust God, you're not afraid of man. So the question for all of you in this room is, do you fear man?

I remember, or do you trust God? I don't know about you, but I think all of you in this room would recognize that fear motivates. Fear motivates you to do things that you don't normally do.

Now I'm told, I'm not sure who tells us this, but I'm told that every one of you guys has three, four, five, maybe six fears. And I'm told that all you girls have fears in the double digits. Okay, but that's what I'm told, okay?

And that's what they say. I'm not sure who they is, but anyway, that's what they say. Now all of us have fears.

Now many fears we probably wouldn't admit, but I'll tell you one fear I'm not afraid to admit. I'm just going to tell you the truth. My number one fear is heights.

I do not like heights. I remember going up the Sears Tower years ago in Chicago. I'm hanging on to the elevator shaft thinking, let's get out of here.

This is crazy. I've been to the upper deck of ball games and I have to concentrate on the game. I don't like, I just do not like heights.

That's just the way it is, always will be. Don't mind airplanes, but if it's attached to the ground, I don't like it. Okay.

But so, so hi, everybody has fears. Some of you guys still sleep with a night light, you know what I'm talking about? Afraid of the dark.

Okay, unbelievable. Check your bed, okay, before you go to bed. Underneath it, just to make sure there's no monsters there.

Okay, but you know the point is, everybody has fears. Some of you, somebody throws a daddy long leg on you, you lose it, you know what I'm talking about, and you blabber like an idiot for about a half hour. Okay, you know, so everybody's got fears.

Oh, the rubber snakes on some of you girls, oh, that's unbelievable. Okay, but you know, everybody has fears. I was talking to one guy, a pastor one time, and he said he was in a cave.

And the guy that was in charge said, now there's bats in this cave, so just be careful. And, of course, his mother-in-law is right behind him, and he has a black glove with him, and he flips the black glove over his shoulder. That's not smart.

That is not smart. You want to have a nice relationship with your mother-in-law. Okay, but anyway, that really did cause a little tension there for the moment because she totally flipped out.

Okay, I thought a bat had landed on her. But, you know, everybody's got fears. I don't know if I'd like a bat landing on me for that matter, but we all have fears and those fears motivate us to do things we don't normally do.

Let's just be honest. We don't normally blabber like an idiot or scream like a junior high girl. But unless you're a junior high girl, maybe then you do, but the point is we have fears.

I remember years ago hearing the story and this guy was hitchhiking in Bartholomew, Spain and and he pickup trucks come down the road pickup truck pulls over guy waves him in the back He jumps in the back of the pickup truck. Pulls back on the road and they're driving down the road and this guy's just sitting all alone in the back of the pickup truck and it starts to rain. He's getting wet.

Now, there was something in the back of the pickup truck when he jumped in and he wasn't too interested in investigating. It was just a coffin, a coffin just sitting there and he figured, "I'm not going to look just in case." And, but now he's getting wet and he thinks, "You know what?

It won't hurt to look." So he kind of opens it up. Sure enough, it's empty, dry, clean.

He jumps in the casket and he can hear the pitter-patter of rain on the lid of the coffin. He can basically hear everything else. He hears the engine slow.

He hears the pickup truck move over to the side of the road. He hears gravel coming up in the wheel wells of the pickup truck. He hears the driver wave two more hitchhikers in the back of the truck.

So two more guys jump in. Of course, he feels the truck give a little bit as the two guys jump in. And all the while, he's hearing the pitter-patter of rain on the lid of the coffin.

Well, it revs up, you know, it goes on the side of the road, gravel coming up on the wheel wells. And he hears, you know, feels it getting on the pavement. And all the while, hearing the rain, the pitter-patter of rain on the lid of the coffin, and the conversation between these two guys.

Well, they're going down the road, and he almost feels like he knows them. He's listening to their conversation, and all of a sudden, no longer is he here, the pitter-patter of rain on the lid of the coffin. He figures it stopped raining.

So forgetting where he is, he thinks, you know, I really need to introduce myself to these two fellow hitchhikers. So he opens the lid of the coffin, he sits up straight, and he said to two very startled hitchhikers, hey, fellas, has it stopped raining yet? Those guys were so scared, they jumped out of the pickup truck going 55 miles an hour.

Now, I've lived a long time, I've never seen anybody jump out of a pickup truck on 55. But that day those guys were motivated, you know what I'm talking about? They were motivated.

See, fear motivates you. It motivates you to do things you don't normally do, say things you don't normally say, and go places you don't normally go. Fear motivates, we all understand that.

Now the Bible helps us understand it in even more clear fashion. It says, "The fear of man bringeth a snare." That is a very interesting picture.

It literally has the idea that fear of man puts a ring in your nose. Now most of you are city slickers, but I understand some of you are farm kids, so you're going to get this. You put a ring in the nose of a large animal.

Why? Because that animal is stronger than you, and it's bigger than you, and that ring allows you to control that animal. In a bull or a steer, sometimes a cow, they'll put that ring in the nose so they can tie a rope to it, and then when they tug on the rope, you know what that animal does?

does exactly what you want it to do. It goes in your direction because it's a very sensitive part of the animal, and of course much pulling, it's going to bring pain and discomfort, so it will go places it doesn't want to go, it will do things it doesn't want to do. Why?

Got a ring in its nose. So the Bible says the fear of man brings the snare. So if you fear man, you have a ring in your nose.

You laugh at jokes you wouldn't really know you shouldn't laugh at, you do things you know you shouldn't do, you say things you know are not right to say, you don't do things that you know you ought to do. Why? Because you're afraid of what man might think.

You've got a ring in your nose. Not a very pretty picture, but that's the picture God gives. A lot of young people, I believe, fall prey to this.

They've got a ring in their nose. Now notice the opposite.

It says, "The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be saved." Well, isn't that interesting? You'll be saved.

Because many times we fear the so-called harm of what people might do. Normally it's laughter, but nonetheless, or mockery or rejection. But nonetheless, we fear that.

And the Bible says, don't worry about that. If you trust me, I'll keep you safe. Many years ago, I don't know where I found it, was an old beat-up paperback book of a young man who grew up in the Bronx in New York City back, I believe, in the 60s, 50s and 60s, and his name was Tom Skinner.

I remember reading the paperback biography. Since then, I've done a little research to confirm what I remember reading. But Tom Skinner grew up in a preacher's home, but he rejected his dad's religion.

I have no idea if his dad was a gospel preacher, but the impression I get that he was. And he joined the violent black liberation movement of the 60s. He was not the passive side.

He was the more advocating violence. And as a result of that, he got himself educated, and he was brilliant, had a brilliant mind, and understood, you know, Schleiermacher and all those different philosophers. He could articulate philosophy, and he also was the leader of a Harlem gang there in the Bronx.

And he rose to the top of that gang, became its leader, and the reason he became its leader because he was phenomenal when it came to strategy in gang warfare. Now most of us have probably never thought about gang warfare, but as I understand it in gang warfare, it has to occur in literally minutes. The battlefield will be chosen.

The two teams will engage, two teams, the two gangs will engage each other in battle and conflict. When they hear the police sirens, of course, they bolt for the neighborhoods, leaving the dead and wounded. It's a very brutal, gruesome warfare, but that's what it is.

And he was very good at it. I think he had over 100 young men in his gang. I can't remember the exact number, though I've read the exact number.

And over 100 young men in his gang, and he was planning, it was like a five or six-way battle in Harlem between rival gangs. He was planning that, and of course he was known as the master strategy guy, and he had chosen a battleground, like an abandoned warehouse or an apartment or whatever building, and he had chosen the battleground, and he was planning that.

One day as he was planning that, he had turned on the radio, and for whatever reason, he began to hear a gospel preacher. I got the impression it was a gospel preacher from the south, and the gospel preacher was ripping it. He was going after it on the radio.

Man, you're a sinner. You're going to die in your sins. You're going to burn for all of eternity in hell.

And he was preaching it, sin black, hell hot, and it irritated him. But for whatever reason, he was so intrigued by it, he couldn't turn it off. And by the end of the message, when the preacher gave the invitation, you don't have to die in your sins and go to hell.

You can trust Jesus to save you. Tom Skinner got on his knees and trusted Jesus Christ to wash his sins away and keep him out of hell. A new fire lit his heart.

Tom Skinner had, I think the next day, a gang meeting where they were going to organize for this gang warfare. He walks into the abandoned warehouse, which was their clubhouse. He comes to the front and explains to the gang, yesterday I got saved.

He then explains the best he knows how. He gives the gospel to his gang, and he says, you guys need to get saved. And then he said, because I'm a Christian, I can no longer lead this gang.

As of this moment, I resign as the leader of this gang. And he turned and he walked down the center aisle to go out of that abandoned warehouse. Now, yeah, you have to understand something.

Tom Skinner knew something that probably you don't know. He knew, he came to that warehouse, and he knew that when he resigned, it was the job of second in command to kill him. He went to that warehouse to die.

He made the announcement, made his Christian, walked out the door, fully expecting cold steel to be plunged in his back on the way out. Fully expecting it. That's what he came to do.

When he walked out the door and he saw the blue sky, he was stunned. He never thought he'd see a blue sky again in his life. Later in the day, in the neighborhood, he saw second in command.

He walked up to him and said, okay, what gives? Why didn't you kill me? Second in command said everything inside of me wanted to.

He said there was only one problem. He said, what's that? He said, I couldn't move.

He said, I was paralyzed. I tried to move. I couldn't.

I couldn't move a muscle. I was paralyzed.

The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso puteth this trust in the Lord shall be…

See, the truth is, I'm talking to teenagers in this room who are afraid to do what God wants you to do because you're afraid somebody might laugh at you and Tom Skinner wasn't even afraid of dying. The fear of man puts a ring in your nose. But if you put your trust in the Lord, you'll be okay.

God says, I'll take care of you. Be okay. You'll be safe.

So the question is, do you trust God or do you fear man? Now, I've explained the verse, now I'd like to apply the verse in a little more specific fashion. Number one, the fear of man brings a snare, could snare you from getting saved when God's convicting you of salvation.

Now I trust and hope that everybody in this room knows Jesus, and it may be true that everybody does. If you certainly have come to faith in Christ and you know that there's no other hope of heaven but Jesus, and you have personally depended and trusted Him to save you, the Bible says He will. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

Sometimes I ask the question, if a thousand teenagers believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, how many get saved? And the answer is 1,000. So if you are truly a believer, I could say a depender on Jesus and what He did on the cross, certainly the Bible says He'll save you.

But there may be somebody out here, because sometimes I run across teenagers who deep in their heart know they've never trusted Jesus. They've never depended on Jesus to keep them out of hell. And yet they're afraid to get saved because they're afraid what somebody might think or somebody might say.

It's interesting in the Bible, there's a verse of Scripture in Revelation 21:8 that gives a bunch of different people that will one day burn in hell.

It's very interesting because the very first category says, "But the fearful." And then it goes on and says, "And all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." The very first category God says is in hell in Revelation 21:8 are simply people who are afraid to get saved.

They were afraid. For some reason they were too afraid to get saved. What a tragedy that would be.

I remember one of the early messages that I preached, I came across some illustration somewhere. The illustration was of a young lady, I believe a college-aged young lady, who came every night to a revival meeting. The preacher would preach the gospel.

She would weep during the invitation. People would come up to her, put her arm around her, plead for her to trust Christ. Every night was the same answer.

Oh, I can't get saved. What do my friends say? I cannot get saved.

What do my friends say? One day the preacher noted that she wasn't there, probably just figured something was up. Two or three days, noticed she wasn't there, asked some people, they said, oh, haven't you heard?

She's in the hospital in critical condition. The preacher immediately made plans the next day to go to the hospital and came into the young lady's room and pled with her again to trust Jesus. And again, the same thing happened.

She began to weep. She said, oh, preacher, you don't understand. I can't get saved.

What do my friends say? I can't get saved. What do my friends say?

The preacher left with a heavy heart because he knew she was in really bad shape physically. And found out two or three days later she died and best he knew never came to Jesus Christ. She died and her sins lost.

But the fearful, what a tragedy to reject the gospel because you're afraid of what somebody might think. You might be out here and say, everybody thinks I'm saved. My mom told me about my salvation.

I can't remember a thing about it. Now, a young person, I understand you can be three years old and get saved. You can be four years old and get saved.

If you know enough to trust Jesus to wash your sins away, certainly you can get saved, but there may be some out here, you don't have any recollection of it. Somebody called it home movie salvation. In other words, your only assurance comes from what your mother or father tells you, you have no remembrance of it at all.

And then perhaps you're unwilling to deal with it, or unwilling to get the thing nailed down, because in your heart you're afraid. Afraid, what people might think. But the fearful.

But the fearful. So number one, I don't think this is a big need in the room, but it wouldn't surprise me if there's one or two of you, the depths of your hole, no, you're not a depender, a believer on Jesus for eternal salvation, but afraid to get saved when God's dealing with you about it. Number two, number two, the fear of man will snare you from taking a stand for God when you know you should.

The fear of man will snare you from taking a stand for God when you know you should. I don't know why it is that kids who love the devil and love the world and love sin speak up all the time. You know what I find in Christian schools?

Kids that tell dirty jokes, guess what they do on the property of the Christian school? Tell dirty jokes. In other words, it's amazing to me the boldness that people in sin have, even in Christian scenarios.

They're not afraid what the Christians might think. They tell their dirty jokes. They mock their parents.

They make fun of the teachers. They talk about their movies they're watching that no Christian has any business looking at, unashamedly. Okay, so you put the Christian kid in the same Christian school or in a public school or whatever, or in a youth group, a homeschooler in a youth group, and something happens, and what do they do?

They keep their mouth shut. The fear of man snares a lot of people from taking a stand for God when they know they should. I remember years ago, 1986 to be exact, we were in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the teenagers had finished recruiting, and everybody was taking a break for supper.

We were going to come back at 7 and continue recruiting. and found out later the group of guys jumped, or a group of, I think it was mostly guys, jumped into a station wagon driven by one of the teenagers. Now most of you have no clue what a station wagon is.

It's an antique. Ask somebody with gray hair, they can tell you all about a station wagon. But it was a long type of vehicle, and they had piled into the station wagon, and there was no adults in the station wagon.

The church was kind of up on a hill. This is Colorado, and there was a little squiggly driveway that went down into town, and this kid was going to drop off people on the way home. Some of them, I suppose, would come back at 7.

And they pulled out of the parking lot, began going down the driveway, and somebody in the front seat reached for the radio and turned it on, clicked. Music began to pour out of the speakers, which clearly was music that displeased God. Every Christian kid in that car knew that.

Finally, from the back of the car, after just a few moments, a sophomore in high school in the very back of the station wagon lifted up his voice and he said this, Stop the car! Car pulled over to the side of the road, and the driver looked back and says, what do you need? He said, either you turn off the music or you said, I'm out of here.

The driver said, there's the door. He stepped out the door, went over to payphone. You can ask gray-haired people about that, too.

Went to a payphone, threw in his quarter, dime, whatever it might have been back then. Picked up the phone, called his dad. His dad came about two miles, picked him up.

Now, would it shock you this morning if I told you that young man is now a missionary in South America? I don't think it would shock any of you. You know why?

Because that day he was saying, "You know, I trust God, but I'm not afraid of man." You see, the fear of man can snare you from taking a stand for God when you know you should. Now, learn this high school, young people, because it really is true.

Generally, you have a choice to make in high school, it's this: Will I be popular or will I be respected? You can rarely be both. In some cases, you can be both, but it's not usually true, particularly in high school.

You'll either be popular or you'll be respected. So the question would be, if somebody in your class was doubting their salvation, would they come to you? Would they come to you?

Well, if they respect you, they will. If you're popular, not necessarily, not if you're not respected. I remember I was preaching in a Christian school in the state of Virginia.

I'm guessing 40, 50 kids in the school. I remember giving an invitation, and almost all the kids, except for a small minority, came forward to get right with God. They're all being dealt with up in this balcony area, and there was a stairway down from the balcony, and I was at the bottom of the stairway just doing follow-up.

I don't know why. I've never done it since, never done it before, just did it that day. Kids were walking down.

I asked them this question. I said, I want you to think of all the popular kids in this school. You got them in your mind?

Yeah, I do. I said, I got a question for you. If your mother was dying of cancer, would you ask those kids you just thought of, would you ask them to pray for your mother?

Now, you tell me what was their answer, and the answer is, no, no, no. You may mark this down. they were popular, but they weren't respected.

I want to ask you, friends, and when you graduate from high school, I want to ask you a question. Are the people in your class, if they had spiritual problem, would they consider calling you? Would they consider saying, hey, I'm doubting my salvation, I got an issue in my life?

Would they call you? If you're respected, they will. But not if you're popular, not necessarily, no, no, no, not if you're not respected.

You see, young person, the fear of man can snare you. It can snare you. from taking a stand for God when you know you should.

Now that brings us to a third application. Number three, the fear of man can snare you from making a decision for Jesus when you know you should. You ever been sitting in a service and it's like the Holy Spirit's talking to you?

Like everybody else disappears, it's just you and the preacher are really more reality, it's just you and God. And God is just speaking to you and saying, that preacher's talking about you. And I will tell you, friend, you know what you need to do, but you sit there and you push off God Why?

Many times because you're afraid. The fear of man can snare you from making a decision for Jesus when you know you should. Now there's different aspects of the fear.

You could fear your peers. You could be afraid you're going to be laughed at. You could be afraid you're going to be mocked.

You could be afraid there's going to be consequences. You'll no longer be popular. You'll be pushed out of the click or the popular.

Sure, those are realities. Sometimes it's what even Gabe alluded to, fear of the consequences. Fear you're going to get in huge trouble.

You'll be grounded for life. And I remember one young man telling me, he said, when I sat down with my parents to tell them everything, he said, I thought I'd be grounded for life. He said, but when I opened my mouth, he said, all of a sudden I knew Jesus was with me.

And he said, there were consequences, but it wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be. The Bible says if you confess and forsake, you'll have mercy. Do you know what mercy means?

It does not mean there are no consequences. It simply means it won't be as bad as it would have been if you'd have gotten caught. And just like Gabe said, it is never as bad as you think it will be.

The devil always wants you to think it will be way worse than it is. And some of you out here refuse to talk to your parents and get right with that junk. You refuse to get the things right you know in your life.

Maybe with the place you've cheated, the school you've cheated in, you refuse to get them right because you're afraid. The fear of man is snaring you. But if you trust in the Lord, God said, I'll take care of you.

Now, I've done this for 33 years, going on my 34th year. I've challenged probably tens of thousands of teenagers to go to their parents and to get things right with God. I have probably had thousands, and that probably is a low estimate, of young people who've done it, and I have never had one come back and say, boy, I wish I hadn't have done that.

I've probably had hundreds, maybe more than that, via testimony, personal note, personal conversation, who have expressed the fact, man, that was the greatest decision I've made in a long time. In fact, just a few weeks ago, testimony after testimony after testimony after testimony after testimony of kids getting right with their parents, getting right with God, getting right with teachers, standing giving testimony. I love what one kid, they have some place up there called Mulligan's where he goes.

I guess it's like a Chuck E. Cheese, I guess. I have no idea.

I don't go to stupid places like that. Okay. I mean, who wants junk pizza?

Okay. But anyway, so to play a few games. But the point is, he got up and says, you know, I know what happiness is.

Happiness is going to Mulligan's. And everybody laughed. I have no idea what Mulligan's is.

I just assumed it was. He said, that's happiness. He said, but getting right with God.

He said, I have true joy. He said, that's way different than happiness. I thought, wow, pretty profound for a kid probably about eighth grade.

You see, that was just a couple weeks ago. That's why it's fresh in my mind. And I have his testimony.

We have it transcribed, but I don't have it in front of me. But the point, my friend, is simply I just want you to understand the fear of man will snare you from getting right with God when you know you should. Now, I'm telling you, some of you know you need to deal with that.

Some of you did yesterday, and I hope every one of you that did yesterday came totally clean. But sometimes you say, man, I'm just going to get everything out except for that one thing. I just can't get that one thing.

I'm not trying to be unkind, but as you've already heard, if you don't unload the whole truck, it won't work. In other words, you've got to deal with everything God's telling you to deal with, all of it. If you hold back just one thing, it doesn't work.

You've got to be thorough, otherwise you're still hiding and you won't prosper. It simply means you say, well, preacher, I remember one kid telling me he had so much garbage. He said, I got right with my dad about everything.

And he said, it took two weeks. God kept reminding me. It took two weeks to come completely clean.

Mr. Bosler alluded to that last night, getting that onion all the way peeled down so there's no onion. But the point is, God will show you.

The point is, just deal with everything he's dealing with today. He'll show you if there's anything else. See, but the fear of man snares you, doesn't it?

Some of you say, you know, my parents are going to explode. Listen, I've had kids who said, I thought my parents would be livid. I thought they'd explode.

And many of them come back and tell me my parents wept. They told me they were proud of me. Our relationship was restored.

See, the fear of man can bring a snare in your life. So it can snare you from getting right with God when you know you should. And number four, the fear of man can snare you from giving a testimony for Jesus when you know you should.

When you get right with God, it's not a dead-end deal. When you get right with God, it's not so just you can experience joy and peace, though you will. It's so you can be a channel of the life of Jesus Christ.

What this world needs, friends, is not anybody in this room. I'm telling you. There's not a teenager on this planet that needs me.

But there is teenagers. They are teenagers who need Jesus Christ. And my friend, they don't need you.

The world doesn't need you, but it does need the Lord Jesus. And the Lord Jesus has chosen today to manifest His presence through the life of teenagers just like you. As a young person in this room, the Lord Jesus' life could not be manifested through you if you thoroughly get right with God and then look to Jesus to enable you.

This afternoon you'll hear a message on how to look to Jesus, that 0100 truth. That's, by the way, as I mentioned, not inactivity. It's not passivity.

It's trusting His activity to work through me. It's a total dependence on a strength that is not yours. None of us have supernatural strength.

We're all human. We have physical strength, but none of us have spiritual or supernatural strength, but Jesus does. And the Bible says, I can do all things through, anybody know?

Which? It's His strength. And Jesus can strengthen you to do everything He wants you to do, and when that happens, it's His life that is seen, not yours.

And Jesus always lives people. When people are walking with God, He always lives people. I've said this before.

I don't know if I've ever said it here at the Cola Clash Plus, but if I could pick one person to come to my funeral, I wouldn't, hands down, it would be Jesus Christ. You know why? It wouldn't be a funeral anymore.

Jesus couldn't attend funerals because they wouldn't be a funeral. Now, we look at that from a physical standpoint. Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and everywhere we went on this planet, He proved it.

Even in His own life, it was proved. But the point is simply this, friend, when you are allowing the Lord Jesus to live His life through you, you become a channel of His life, He likes people, but it's spiritual life, which is a greater miracle than physical life. He likes people through you, but that'll never happen as long as the wall between you and God.

That'll never happen as long as you're saying no to God. That'll never happen as long as there's some issue, you're saying, God, you can't have that door, you can't have that area of my life. Anybody will tell you, you read any biography of man or woman who was used of God, it always comes down to this, total, absolute surrender to God, which means not only getting right with God, but being willing to be a mouthpiece for deity.

I've lived 57 years, and I'm going to tell you, young person, the greatest privilege of life is being a mouthpiece for Jesus Christ. A mouthpiece for deity, there is nothing more fulfilling and satisfying as being a mouthpiece for Jesus. God is calling some of you young men to literally get in vocational ministry and serve the Lord full time.

You say, preacher, I can't do that. Well, join the club. Which of us thought we could when we were your age?

See, God doesn't call the gifted. He gifts the call. And if God calls you, He will equip you to do everything He's called you to do.

And you are, I'll say to this young person, you are uniquely equipped of God to do something that only you can do like God made you to do it. Nobody can do it like you. In other words, can I say this in a certain sense?

You're irreplaceable. So when you say no to God, do you know what that means? Every time I see a kid who's clearly gifted of God, stiff-armed God, and walk off, I think, I wonder how many souls will go to hell because of his selfish decision.

And you know, when you're a selfish decision, I will tell you the biggest loser is you, because the greatest joy is to be in the center of God's will and to see Him use you. It's an absolute, you can't get over it. It's like, whoa, that's unbelievable.

But I'm almost starting to preach tonight's message, so let's continue on to simply say, young person, a fear of man will snare you from speaking up for Jesus when you know you should. It just might be a personal conversation. It might be in a testimony service that we may have before this week is over, and God will say, give a testimony of what God's done in your life these days.

What a tragedy when you push God off and say no, instead of standing and saying, okay, I'm going to tell people what God did. You know what I find when young people are obedient to the Lord, and they stand and give a testimony at the appropriate time, I find two things happen. Number one, when God lays it on your heart to give a testimony, He does it for a purpose.

There's somebody that needs to hear what you have to say. And what you have to say will impact at least one, if not more. I've seen it multiple times.

People just touched by a testimony. Why? Because God wanted that testimony to be given, and He uses it.

The second thing that happens when you obey Jesus and give a testimony is, you're blessed. Because there's nothing like knowing, God wanted me to give that testimony, and when I stepped out and did it, he met me. He strengthened me.

He enabled me to do what I didn't think I could do. And it blows young people away when they see God use them, but that's the way God works. But the fear of man snares, I believe, a lot of young people will not speak up for Jesus.

How many young men, stiff-armed God, go off and do what they want to do when God's called them? Listen, young people, let me just tell you, sheer math tells me with 7 billion people on the planet, God's not calling less young men to preach. He's got to be calling more.

And the problem is I heard from several people, now it was not reflected here at Baptist College of Ministry, but I heard from several people that are independent Baptist Bible colleges in the fundamental realm across the country, I heard that across the country the freshman class going into the ministry was significantly down. Now I'm telling you it's not down because God's calling less people. Are you with me?

It's down because we've got too many Netflix Christians. You know what I'm talking about? far more concerned what Hollywood has to say than what the Holy Word has to say.

And I'm telling you, that stuff's killing us. Some of you kids know far a lot more about movies than you do about the greatest story of all, the story of redemption. You just dropkick your Netflix Christianity and start to realize that God's real and he wants a relationship with you.

Hollywood doesn't have nothing on God. I would not trade a movie on the planet for one week of serving Jesus Christ, not one time. And I'm just telling some of you need to recognize that in your heart of hearts, you've got a decision to make.

You're going to let the fear of man keep your mouth shut, or you're going to just trust God, step out and open your mouth when God wants you to, and find that God will meet you in His will and enable you to do what you didn't think you could do.

Listen, I am telling you, I think of that young man, Tom Skinner, who he later on had some problems in his life, but early in his early ministry, he went all throughout the ghettos of New York preaching the gospel, and people got saved by the bucket loads. In fact, the guy was supposed to kill him. He led to Jesus Christ.

I want to tell you something, friends. We need young men called to preach. We've got problems all over our country.

We need young men called to preach to go in the ghetto, and I believe we could have sweeping revivals through our ghetto if the right guy would open his mouth and start to claim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of you have burden for people groups. There's people groups who need Jesus all across this world, and God's going to equip and burden some of you to go to those people groups and have a move of God that will sweep in thousands into the kingdom.

Now, you say, well, preacher, why does that not happen a lot? Well, it is in other places. Why in the U.

S.? Because a lot of young people just like you fear man.

Get a snare instead of trusting the Lord and being safe. All I'm going to tell you, friend, I'm not trying to call you to preach. It won't work if I call you to preach.

But I am telling you this, if Jesus is calling you, you need to listen and say yes. Because I'm telling you, I'm just going to tell you, I've said this many times, but the greatest thing about the Christian life, and I'm telling you there's truth, it's the greatest thing. The greatest thing about the Christian life is Jesus Christ.

If you grieve Him, can I say this carefully, you ain't got much left. You don't have a real relationship with Jesus Christ. That Christianity is not just a set of do's and don'ts.

Christianity is a relationship, a spiritual relationship with a real person. His name is Jesus, and he wants to supernaturally use you to touch other lives. But the fear of man keeps our mouth shut.

I'm talking to some of you who have next-door neighbors who need Jesus. Some of you go to public school. I'm telling you, I know it's not easy.

There was a kid who got saved in West Virginia, I think, two years ago. I need to get more of the detail. He got so burdened, he walked into his public school and started preaching the gospel in the hallways, and they said hundreds of people came to Jesus.

It spun into revival services where thousands came to know the Lord Jesus in the hills of West Virginia. Because a one kid your age walked in the hallways and opened his mouth. I don't know what God will tell you to do, but I'm telling you the fear of man will bring you a snare.

I remember years ago I was preaching in a camp in Colorado and challenged the kids like I'm challenging you, A young man, I don't know how he got my phone number. He calls me up about two days later. He said, Brother Van Gelderen, I've got to tell you what happened.

He said, you said about you need to tell people about Jesus. He said, so on the way home when we stopped to get a hamburger, he said, I was on the lookout. He said, I saw a bunch of kids in the burger joint walk out of the burger joint.

He said, I followed them. He said, they went right next door to a hotel. They all walked into the room.

He said, I just knocked on the door, opened the door, and there were more teenagers in the room than walked in. They asked me what I wanted. I said, I'd like to tell you something.

So they invited him in, sat everybody down. He said, I told him that Jesus could wash your sins away, save him. I gave him the gospel best I know how.

He said, now, Brother Van Gelderen, did I do the right thing? 99 out of 100, if you're a normal cross-section teenager, wouldn't do that. You know why?

I'm going to tell you why. Because you don't believe the gospel? No, you believe the gospel.

Because you're not saved? No, you're saved. Because you're not from, you know, you're not having a certain amount.

No, you've got a certain amount of growth in your life. What's your problem? Fear of man.

The fear of man puts a ring in your nose. Hey, all you kids that laugh at dirty jokes, you've got a ring in your nose. You smile at things you know you shouldn't smile at.

You laugh when somebody's sarcastic, when somebody's disrespectful about their parents. You laugh. You've got a ring in your nose.

Because you know deep down that wasn't right. You know deep down that wasn't right. But you've got a ring in your nose.

You've got to do it. It's what you've got to do to be accepted. But if you trust in the Lord, God says, you don't have to do that.

You'll be okay. God says, I'll take care of you. The fear of man can snare you from giving a testimony for Jesus when you know you should.

I could give many stories here in conclusion, but I remember several of them. But I remember one in particular. It was the year 2000.

We were in a Christian school, about 100. I remember when our team got there, you could tell the kids, there were spiritual needs, and the kids got all in to the program, all in. War of Special Forces is three teams.

And they were all in the whole week. We were having a great week from a competition standpoint. But anyway, it was about Thursday when I began to realize that every time I got up to preach, although they loved the program, they loved the scoring, they loved the skits, they loved everything about the program, I noticed when I got up to preach, it was ice.

I knew there was nothing personal because when I began personal conversations, kids responded to the team, but when it came to preaching, ice. found out later that basically the pressure had been all over the high school, don't make a decision. People were literally telling kids before we arrived, don't make decisions.

And you could sense it. Well, that week as the week went on, I remember a few junior high kids made some decisions. I don't think they were part of the peer group pressure, though I'm sure they could sense it.

I remember one high school young man made a decision. That was it, one. He was a freshman.

Very popular kid, so what he did was significant. And a couple of girls got right with God, And I remember them weeping when they got right with God and found out later it wasn't so much conviction. It was the fact they were scared to death because they had gone against peer group pressure.

I'll never forget that afternoon on Friday. I'm preaching a split session. No, we do a split session, but everybody was together.

I don't remember why. And as I was preaching, I had them quote back to me Philippians 4.13.

I can do, they would say all things. I'd say through, they'd say Christ. I'd say which, and they'd say strength.

I've done this before. so we've heard this story, but it was all in the treble clef. I remember, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

That's how it came back. Now, you know when that's treble clef in a Christian school, you know that those speaking are the girls, and yes, you poor junior high guys who voices MJ. Don't worry, time will take care of that.

Okay, but anyway. In other words, the high school guys that weren't saying a thing, not a thing. They would sit there with their arms folded, their mouths were not even moving.

I couldn't believe it. I could not believe it. And I remember God burdened me, and I addressed it very strongly.

So strongly that I later thought, I think that was too strong. I remember thinking to myself that afternoon, I started to get discouraged. I thought, nobody's going to come tonight.

Nobody. And the Holy Spirit, I believe, very clearly spoke to my heart. Why don't you trust me?

Okay, I'm going to trust you. I'm going to trust you. You're going to bring him out.

And God did. He brought the whole school out that night. there was only two guys that I would remember that were significant that did not come.

The rest of them, they were all there. Never forget that night. We did our games.

We posted the final score. They were all into that. Came time for testimonies.

I thought, this is going to be short. A few junior high kids came up, and I got to give them credit. They gave some great testimony.

Scared half to death, but they gave some great testimony. And then it happened. The one high school guy who'd made a decision all week long, like I said, very popular kid.

He was on the in crowd. stands, his name was Thomas, he stands to give a testimony, and when he does, this is the first time I remember this ever happening. This is the year 2000.

I'd done special forces already for about five or six years, but I'm holding the microphone, listening to the testimony, and I begin to think to myself, wow, this is powerful. I'm thinking, am I missing something? This really seems powerful.

He's done with his testimony. He didn't have to wait long. A couple of testimonies A sophomore in high school, a young man who hadn't moved all week long stands to the microphone and the kid sobbed.

Hardly could speak. He said, I've never seen Tom act like that. That was God, and there could not ever have been a truer statement.

It was God. And all I can tell you from that moment on, you could sense it. You could sense the presence of God.

He was there. All of a sudden, the big junior comes up. This kid was agitated.

was bothered. He grabs the microphone from me. Normally I'm holding, he just grabs it.

He starts pacing like a caged tiger, and he starts going. He said, I'm sick of it. I'm so sick of it.

He said, I'm so sick and tired of the preacher giving invitations. And all we juniors and seniors sitting around looking at each other, scared to death to get right with God. He said, I'm sick of it.

He said, I'm getting right with God, and you need to too. I'm thinking, I don't need to preach. I think he said everything.

That needs to be said. I look down in front of me, two girls, popular girls, just sobbing. Just tears streaming out of their face.

Now I'm telling you, when popular girls sob, their faces turn into modern art. You know what I'm talking about? Blue, purple, black, it's all just coming down the cheek, just like.

And then it happened. The big athlete, the leader, gets up. sobbed.

He said, I'm one of the ones that was trying to keep people from getting right with God. God broke the whole thing because a freshman in high school stopped fearing man and trusted God. It took one.

Just one? Could I ask every head bowed, please, and every eye closed?