Welcome to The Thee Generation Podcast. I’m Bobby Bosler, and I’m speaking to you today from Chester Springs, Pennsylvania.

As I mentioned in my last podcast, we are going to be all over the place here this summer with our ColaClash team. And I really do, I really am serious about extending the invitation to any of our listeners. If you go to colaclash.org and check out our schedule, and if you see that you’re nearby one of those meetings, we would love to see you. The rally nights are Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. But we’re excited about what God is doing.

God has certainly put our team on a journey of faith and growth. And it’s always the case, you know, young people, I just got to say it’s so wonderful to be in the will of God. It’s wonderful to be serving him, to be in the ministry, to be out on the front line where God has to intervene for you, or it’s just not going to work. I’ll tell you just a little bit about some of the things God has been doing recently.

A couple of weeks ago, we were in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and our team went out. We got a lot of recruits, and we had an okay crowd on the first night, but I’ll tell you, it was a difficult crowd. And I won’t go into all the details, but a number of us on the team, myself included, we kind of blew it there that night. Whether it was the team and some aspects of things that we’ve trained them to do, or just me and how I led the team, we definitely failed a little bit.

And yet, I don’t remember the exact number. I think it was six, seven, eight young people got saved there that night. And we just praise the Lord for the power of the gospel. Young people, you might not think you’ve got it all together, but can I tell you, the gospel is powerful, and God will use it if you’ll declare it, even if you’re not perfect.

Anyway, God used that to bring us really to a low point. As a team, even myself included, and just caused us to feel pretty much like we were stupid. And as we met for prayer that next day, there was something I’d heard in a message recently. The disciples failed, and the person that they had failed essentially was starting to wonder whether God could.

And he asked Jesus the question, if you can, and I just loved Jesus’ answer, if you can believe. Oh, young people. As we prayed, just God was working in our hearts, if you can believe, and we humbled ourselves before the Lord, and we cried out to him. And there that evening, I just gotta say, God was there.

God was flowing in us, and through us, God was giving us love and joy and peace. And we just had a great time, and God moved in our midst, He moved in our hearts. And we all, at the end of the night, were rejoicing because God was bearing the fruits of His Spirit in our hearts, and it was just wonderful. Young people were saved, and that was encouraging.

But you know, the next week, our crowds had been kind of low early on in the summer, and we had a church, Pastor Josiah Kagan, they filled in one of our cancellations that had filled in, and the church was just doing great, honestly, super pumped about the spiritual health of that church. And as we came in, and as we started recruiting, God was helping us. This team, they’ve done a great job with inviting teams and just getting the numbers. And as we got around to Wednesday, when our team typically goes through the calling and the texting and approaching that evening, as we met, I just got the sense that we were all a little discouraged.

You see, even though our crowds were low, we had been getting the names and numbers in recruiting. And I think we were starting to just in our hearts wonder whether we could even get them out. You know, we can invite them, we can get them to sign up, but can, you know, can the Lord bring them out? And I know some of the team members were even just talking to my wife, just wondering if this was working, just really discouraged, really just doubting in our hearts.

And as we got together and met for prayer, I, there’s a young man who traveled on our team several years ago, Will Esayenko. He was a man with just absolute audacious faith. And I was looking at the statistics for our times there at that church, and I saw just a number of our yeses, those that we call and they say that they’re coming, versus actual attendance. We were sitting at about 80% most of those years.

So 80% of those that we had recruited and therefore called and who said they were going to come that first night, only about 80% of them historically there had actually shown. And except for one year, 2019, that’s the summer, Will Esayenko traveled with us and that fella, he asked audacious things of God and he believed God for audacious things. And as I talked to the team about that interesting little statistic, God started stirring my heart. Well, why don’t you ask for audacious things?

If you can believe, I will work. And so as we got on our knees to pray, I asked that God would bring more teens there that evening than we had ever, ever had in a single night there at Kettering. And boy, God stirred our hearts. It was confirmed.

Just all of us were feeling like, wow, this is what God wants to do. And we got up from our knees with just an encouragement that God had heard us and God had led us and that He was going to do that. I didn’t know what it looked like. Some of the other team members were praying for 60 teens to come.

The highest we had ever had at that particular location was 55, I think was our high night ever over the six times I had done it for them. And so the team got about their calling and texting. And I think when we met for lunch, we didn’t have a lot of people that said they were going to come. And it was just kind of like, are we going to believe God?

Are we going to get discouraged? And on top of all of that, there was this big storm that was forecast to come in and rain on our parade. And it was just like, what’s going on, God? And long story short, there that evening, just a little bit before we started, it started raining.

And normally when it rains, it keeps everybody away, scares everybody away. But there that night, they started showing up and they kept coming. And by the time we had everybody on site and everybody had showed up, we had 74 teenagers. And it wasn’t just like the quote luck of the draw.

It was God who answered our prayer. And we believed him and he worked. And it was such a thrill. 18 young people trusted Christ over those three nights.

Some really neat stories of how God had worked. And just Lord taught us an important lesson, a lesson that I hope you all will learn in the front lines. You really can’t get it done. I may have a good team.

I have a great team, great kids on the team. They’ve got a ton of potential. They’ve got the skill set. They’ve got the sincerity, the desire to go win people to Christ and bring them out to the event.

But the desire and skill set doesn’t mean it’s going to work. We need God. And so young people, I just want to encourage you in whatever situation you find yourself in, whatever ministry endeavor as you’re yielding to the Lord, believe Him. If you can believe, all things are possible to them which believe.

And as you seek Him, just be ready for Him to do a work. That being said, this is like, I don’t know, episode one of two here today. I’ve actually got a separate burden on my heart. There’s a verse of scripture the Lord’s been stirring with me over the last couple of days.

And I wanted to start the podcast off kind of on an encouraging, inspiring note, but I do actually have something I want to get down to business in a little bit. A sin that I’ve personally seen observed in a variety of different places all over the country. This sin is, I fear, a sin that if we’re not careful in teenagers and in teen groups, we can commit this sin all the time. It’s a sin that I’ve committed.

It’s a sin I’ve seen some people that I respect greatly commit. It’s a sin that I’ve seen teenagers in peer groups. I’ve seen parents. I’ve seen this happen in workplaces.

I’ve seen this happen all over. And the sin that I want to speak about is spoken of in James chapter 2. James 2 verse number 1, he says, My brethren have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. The idea of that word, respect of persons, kind of the literal idea of that is to accept the face, and it’s to make unjust distinctions between people by treating one person better than another.

Another idea of that is to show favoritism, to be partial or to show partiality. You know, young people, it’s a real temptation sometimes to play favorites. I want to read a little bit more of the context of this, because James has some pretty strong things to say about this. He talks about it particularly in the context of a local church, but there’s a broader context than that, too.

Verse 2 goes on, and he says, For if they’re coming to your assembly, a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, and ye, here it is, have respect or prefer or play the favorites with him that weareth the gay or kind of the loud, not loud but like nice clothing, and saying to him, sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor, stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool. Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? And that’s not saying they’re going to judge evil thoughts, but they are judges who have evil thoughts. In other words, the very thoughts of partiality, James is saying, are evil.

Can I tell you young people to play favorites in your youth group? Is evil. To play favorites in your family is evil. He’s going to go on, he’s going to make this clear.

This is not just something that I think is evil. This is something God says is evil. Now specifically here, I think it’s important to point this out in the context, he’s talking rich versus poor, preferring one person because he came in, because, oh, maybe he could do something for our church, or maybe he’s an influential person, so let’s roll out the red carpet and pull out all the stops and wine and dine this person because woohoo, this is a big giver. And so it’s possible here, he says, listen, don’t play favorites.

And he talks a little bit about the fact that hath not God chosen, verse 5, the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom, which he hath promised to them that love him. He’s saying, listen, when you really look around at God’s kingdom, are they really all the rich people? No, really God’s kingdom, at least visibly here in this side of the rapture, it consists of a lot of poor people, yet they’re poor, maybe financially, economically, but they are oftentimes rich in faith. But he says in verse 6, but ye have despised the poor.

Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which you’re called? And he’s saying, listen, you’re preferring the rich people, but isn’t it the rich people oftentimes that are like persecuting you and doing all of these things? Listen, you’re neglecting the poor, the people who appreciate you, the people who are rich in faith for these people that oftentimes hate God.

Not every rich person hates God, but he’s just saying, listen, characteristically, aren’t these people the people that blaspheme Jesus? Okay, and that’s kind of, he just wanted to make it kind of show how stupid it was that they were preferring these rich people over just an average poor Joe here. But in verse eight, he gets into the heart of why he’s saying that it was evil. He says, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.

Now, if you’ve heard my podcast, you know I’ve been on a kick as of the last year or two about this matter of love. You can have everything right. You can dot every I, cross every T, but if you don’t have love, you’re a failure in God’s kingdom. And he’s saying right here, listen, hey, if you’re doing what God wants here and loving, great, good job.

But verse 90 gives the other side of that. But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin. Listen, young people, to play favorites, mark it down, underline it in red, is sin. When you walk around and you say, oh, I like these people, I’m going to listen to these people, these people are my favorites here.

I don’t care who you are. I don’t care what your title is. I don’t care how influential you might think you might be. I don’t care if you’re the big man on campus at your school, at your college or in your home.

I don’t care if you’re the most popular kid in your neighborhood. If you play favorites, you are sinning. This is what James is saying here. I’m not saying this.

This is what James are saying. And he takes it to the next step. He says, he goes on and says, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. So he’s saying, listen, I’m not just saying that you’re sinning.

He just talked about that command to love your neighbor as yourself, right? He says, good job if you do that. But if you’re playing favorites, you just broke that law. He’s saying, playing favorites is to break the law to love your neighbor.

It is sin. And he says, you’re convinced of the law as transgressors. In other words, you just crossed this line, and the law, that command that I just gave you, that convicted you. You broke it, and you’re a transgressor.

That means a law breaker. And it’s so interesting. This next command, this next verse, verse 10, this is a verse we use for the gospel all the time, but this is not talking primarily, at least in its context, about the gospel, though it certainly does apply to that. But he’s talking about Christians who in the church are playing favorites.

And he says, for whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. You know, sometimes it’s the very people that want to give the impression that they’ve got it all together, right? That they’re the squeaky, clean, goody-two-shoes Christians that play favorites. And he’s saying, listen, you can keep the whole law, but you break this one command of loving your neighbor as yourself by playing favorites.

You’ve broken them all, bro. He goes on and he says, For he that said, he’s talking about God here, he that said, do not commit adultery, said also, do not kill. In other words, God’s the one who gave all these commands. The point is not the command.

The point is the one whose command you’ve broken. He says, now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. In other words, he’s saying, listen, God’s the one that said, don’t commit adultery. God’s the one who said, don’t kill.

And so, okay, maybe you didn’t go out and commit adultery, but you murdered someone. Guess what? You’re still a law breaker. And clearly the point that he’s making here is, listen, maybe you didn’t commit adultery.

Maybe you didn’t kill. But if you play favorites, you’re a law breaker. You’ve broken God’s law. You’ve sinned.

And he gives the kind of the summary of it. He says, So speak ye, and so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy. And mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

What’s that talking about? Essentially, he’s saying, listen, you reap what you sow. To what measure you meet, it shall be meted to you again. You play favorites with others.

God may just withhold mercy from you. Now, he’s not saying you’re going to die and go to hell, but I think he is saying God’s going to play by your rules. If you aren’t equal in the way that you deal with other people, if you prefer some over the other, if you lack objectivity in how you handle situations because you just value a certain person so far above someone else, he said that’s exactly the same twisted, perverted standard that God’s going to use with you. It’s only just.

It’s only just, young people. Again, the other day, I was just looking up more about this matter of favoritism. The Bible has other things to say about it. It’s actually explicitly forbidden by the law.

It’s not just that command, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Leviticus 19.15, it says, Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment. Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty, but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor. And again, the implication there is, if you prefer one over the other, if you play favorites, you are doing unrighteously.

Deuteronomy 1.17 says, Ye shall not respect persons in judgment, but ye shall hear the small as well as the great. Ye shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God’s, and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it. Once again, he says, when you’re doing judgment, when you’re assessing situations and trying to figure out what’s right, don’t play favorites. Proverbs 24.23 says, these things also belong to the wise.

It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment. So again, the Bible clearly forbids this. It’s not James twisting and kind of making more out of that command, which by the way, James is inspired scripture. But even more so, we’ve got clear commands about this.

But you know, God demonstrates this principle and that he punishes sin without playing favorites. In other words, the ground is level when it comes to man’s sin. Here’s two verses here. Romans 2 verses 11 and 12 says, for there is no respect of persons with God, for as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.

And again, he’s making it very clear. God is going to punish sinners whether you’ve got the law or not. Again, he’s talking to people there. Some people say, well, look at me.

I have the law. Surely, I’ve got to be in a special category with God. No, he’s saying whether you own a Bible or don’t, God is not playing favorites. You break the law, you’re going to be held accountable by God for it.

Colossians 3 verse 25 says, But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of persons. He’s making it very clear in Colossians, God is not going to play favorites when it comes to this matter of punishment. But you know, on the contrary side, God is impartial in bestowing His blessing. Also, He doesn’t play favorites in bestowing His blessing.

In Acts 10, Peter was up on the roof of the house, and God gave him the vision of the sheet, and God said, What I’ve cleansed, call not thou unclean. And it says, Then Peter opened his mouth and said, Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. He was not wanting to go and give the gospel to Cornelius and the Gentiles because he thought, Oh, they’re unclean, and God is making it clear. What I’ve cleansed, don’t you dare call unclean.

And he says, Oh, God’s not a respecter of persons. God wants to pour out his blessing on not only the Jews, but the Gentiles too. Aren’t you glad that God’s not a respecter of persons? Ephesians 6 verses 8 and 9 says, Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.

And ye masters do the same things unto them, forbearing, threatening, knowing that your master also is in heaven. Neither is there any respect of persons with him. He’s saying, Listen, because God doesn’t respect persons, whether positively or negatively, you ought not play favorites either. And you know, in 1 Timothy 5, and this kind of comes back to the beginning where we started, it makes it very clear that within the church, that there ought not be any respect of persons.

1 Timothy 5 verse 21 says, I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels, boy, he’s putting kind of a strong note on this command here, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality. Young people, can I tell you, in your peer group, there ought not be any favorites that are being played. Treat everybody equally, all right? In your family, there ought not be favorites, you ought not prefer and play the favorites with one sibling over another.

Listen, the sin of partiality is one it’s so easy to slip into. Some people we jive with better, right? Our personalities kind of work well. Some people just annoy the fire out of us.

Some people we respect. Some people we don’t. Some people we think they know what’s going on, and other people don’t. And so we are just so quick to play favorites for whatever reason.

And all I’m doing here is I’ve been stirred by this here recently, and I just wanted to put it out there here for you young people, regardless of what situation you’re in. When you play favorites, you are breaking God’s law. I know this is a little bit of a heavy session, but if I can maybe buoy it up a little bit here at the end, praise God, He doesn’t play favorites with us. Listen, you may look across your youth group at other young people, or maybe as you’re maybe in college.

Again, we’ve got a lot of young people from Bible colleges across the country. And you look around in your college and you think, man, those kids come from a good home. Maybe they’re pastors kids. Maybe they seem spiritual.

Maybe they’ve done a lot more for the Lord. Or maybe you’re even out of college, right? And you’re looking around and thinking, oh, the other young college and career age people, they just seem like they’ve got it better together, and they come from a better family. They haven’t messed up like I have, and you can tend to think that God’s going to play favorites with you.

If God has been so strong in these verses, do you think He’s going to play favorites? God doesn’t play favorites. To kind of maybe tie together what I talked about at the beginning, if you believe, all things are possible to them which believe. Listen, young people, why don’t you try something for God?

Go out there. Listen, you may be a mess. Maybe you’re the kind of person, you made some huge mistakes. Why don’t you go out and try to win somebody to Christ?

Why don’t you go try to share the gospel? Why don’t you seek the face of God and look to Him for His blessing and believe that He’s able to bless you? Because He is no respecter of persons. Listen, as you surrender to Christ and as you depend on His power, it doesn’t matter who you are, where you’ve been or what you’ve done, God will meet you and God can use you. He is no respecter of persons.