Part 2: Young Men
Okay, let's turn our Bibles once again to 1 John Chapter 2.
Verse 13 "I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one."
Verse 14 "I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one."
In these verses, "Young Men" is translated from the Greek word "Youth", so don't think that this applies only to young men, it has the same application to young ladies.
Youth are the ones who have moved on from infancy and have begun to use the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. They have learned to feed themselves and defend themselves against temptation and many kinds of sin. This is not to say that they are perfect of course, even a soldier with the best training can still be wounded. However, they are strong, the warriors of God. They have overcome and are no longer bound by sin, youth are still immature in many way but they have the hearts of champions and are moving forward. They have soaked in the Word of God and have a passion and a fire for our King Jesus. They have learned about the power and authority that we have in the name of Jesus. This is usually the point where people start to think that these youth are radical. By now they have usually overcome most if not all fear of man, and understand that following Jesus is all that matters. Not looks, money, comfort, or anything else but the cross. They have the hearts of martyrs and are willing to die for the sake of Jesus. However, they still need the spiritual fathers to disciple them. Without guidance from a spiritual father, the passion they have can become misplaced and lead to teaching false doctrines and pride.
Many times people get to this stage and think that this is all there is to it. Be on fire and radical for Jesus, just go for it! This is a mistake though, because even though in this stage there is great adventures and exploits for the sake of the Kingdom, there is still more maturity to be attained. With more maturity comes greater authority and power. Even though growing to this stage is better than being stuck as an infant, it is still sad when people get stuck here. We will talk about more reasons why in our next teaching. The stage we all must aspire for. Many times ministers, missionaries, and any other Christians stay here as I said before. They tend to be leaders because they are the ones who are willing to move forward. The baby Christians can't handle the responsibility yet, so the youth step up and lead. This is good because youth need to learn leadership, however without the spiritual fathers we end up where a lot of churches are stuck now; which is spiritual youth leading spiritual babies. Everyone ends up thinking that youth is the end and you come out with a church that is only half baked..
I hope you've enjoyed this teaching, and learned something as well! I will be posting the 3rd and final part of this teaching tomorrow, so stay tuned!
Don't forget that you can always write us with prayer requests at seekingnewheights@gmail.com!
Blessings!
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