WEBVTT

00:00:09.256 --> 00:00:11.808
"I've been a Christian for three years,

00:00:11.808 --> 00:00:15.221
and I sometimes feel I can't do anything for God.

00:00:15.221 --> 00:00:18.572
I feel like I'm immature and a young Christian.

00:00:18.572 --> 00:00:20.466
And it feels like it will take years

00:00:20.466 --> 00:00:23.123
before I mature into the standard man of God.

00:00:23.123 --> 00:00:26.797
How can I testify to my friends and those around me

00:00:26.797 --> 00:00:30.323
when I am still weak and in need of growing?

00:00:30.323 --> 00:00:32.989
Sometimes I feel like I'm not mature enough

00:00:32.989 --> 00:00:34.906
to do something for Christ.

00:00:34.906 --> 00:00:36.402
Sometimes when I fall into sin I feel like

00:00:36.402 --> 00:00:39.249
I'm not ready to go to school or to speak to people.

00:00:39.249 --> 00:00:42.239
I only feel ready when my mind is focused on Christ

00:00:42.239 --> 00:00:44.305
and when I lead a more mature walk.

00:00:44.305 --> 00:00:46.231
I don't think this is the Biblical mindset,

00:00:46.231 --> 00:00:49.788
but I'm not sure."

00:00:49.788 --> 00:00:56.303
I'm just going to end by saying one thing to Ken.

00:00:56.303 --> 00:00:58.446
There are a number of things that could be said,

00:00:58.446 --> 00:01:04.254
but Ken, I would have you go to Scripture,

00:01:04.254 --> 00:01:08.812
and very specifically to Mark 5:15,

00:01:08.812 --> 00:01:10.741
maybe even start a little earlier there,

00:01:10.741 --> 00:01:13.464
because it's the account of the demoniac,

00:01:13.464 --> 00:01:19.566
the man that was full of the legion of demons.

00:01:19.566 --> 00:01:21.574
Once that man was delivered

00:01:21.574 --> 00:01:24.660
and he was set in his right mind,

00:01:24.660 --> 00:01:27.558
you remember he was at times chained

00:01:27.558 --> 00:01:28.956
and he would break the chains.

00:01:28.956 --> 00:01:30.767
He ran around in the tombs.

00:01:30.767 --> 00:01:32.269
He would slash himself.

00:01:32.269 --> 00:01:33.361
He would cry out.

00:01:33.361 --> 00:01:35.427
People couldn't even go that way.

00:01:35.427 --> 00:01:37.452
I mean, he was just fierce,

00:01:37.452 --> 00:01:41.474
and we actually understand from Matthew's Gospel

00:01:41.474 --> 00:01:43.291
that there were two men.

00:01:43.291 --> 00:01:48.593
But, what happened after this man was

00:01:48.593 --> 00:01:50.781
set in his right mind,

00:01:50.781 --> 00:01:53.508
delivered of all these legion of demons,

00:01:53.508 --> 00:01:56.961
the people from that area came to Jesus.

00:01:56.961 --> 00:01:59.320
They saw the demon possessed man,

00:01:59.320 --> 00:02:00.539
the one who had had the legion

00:02:00.539 --> 00:02:02.993
sitting there clothed and in his right mind.

00:02:02.993 --> 00:02:04.462
They were afraid.

00:02:04.462 --> 00:02:05.862
Those that had seen it described to them

00:02:05.862 --> 00:02:07.747
what had happened to the demon possessed man

00:02:07.747 --> 00:02:09.210
and to the pigs.

00:02:09.210 --> 00:02:10.486
You remember, the legion of demons

00:02:10.486 --> 00:02:11.608
went out into the pigs,

00:02:11.608 --> 00:02:13.960
and the pigs all ran down into the ocean

00:02:13.960 --> 00:02:16.141
over the cliff into the ocean.

00:02:16.141 --> 00:02:17.577
They died.

00:02:17.577 --> 00:02:19.082
They began to beg Jesus to depart

00:02:19.082 --> 00:02:20.837
from their region.

00:02:20.837 --> 00:02:22.286
And as He was getting into the boat,

00:02:22.286 --> 00:02:24.093
the man who had been possessed with the demons

00:02:24.093 --> 00:02:27.246
begged Him that he might be with Him.

00:02:27.246 --> 00:02:30.602
And He did not permit him, but said to him,

00:02:30.602 --> 00:02:32.766
"Go home to your friends,

00:02:32.766 --> 00:02:35.500
and tell them how much the Lord has done for you,

00:02:35.500 --> 00:02:37.785
and how He has had mercy on you."

00:02:37.785 --> 00:02:41.610
And, Ken, no matter how immature you are,

00:02:41.610 --> 00:02:43.779
no matter how recently saved you are,

00:02:43.779 --> 00:02:49.144
let that man be an example for us.

00:02:49.144 --> 00:02:51.466
Christ did not think he was too immature

00:02:51.466 --> 00:02:54.472
to go speak to his family and his friends

00:02:54.472 --> 00:03:00.875
and his kinsmen and his city.

00:03:00.875 --> 00:03:04.939
We have to be careful about that whole attitude.

00:03:04.939 --> 00:03:07.414
We don't feel like we can do anything for God.

00:03:07.414 --> 00:03:11.063
It's not really as though God needs us to do anything.

00:03:11.063 --> 00:03:13.411
In fact, what Scripture makes very clear

00:03:13.411 --> 00:03:16.682
is without Christ we can do nothing,

00:03:16.682 --> 00:03:18.180
and if we're not abiding in Him,

00:03:18.180 --> 00:03:19.743
we can do nothing.

00:03:19.743 --> 00:03:22.780
And when we talk that talk, I just don't feel like

00:03:22.780 --> 00:03:24.473
I can do anything for God,

00:03:24.473 --> 00:03:26.262
the fact is the best thing,

00:03:26.262 --> 00:03:29.931
the smallest thing, the most trifling thing

00:03:29.931 --> 00:03:32.788
that we can ever do that's worth anything,

00:03:32.788 --> 00:03:34.195
He has done through us.

00:03:34.195 --> 00:03:35.916
We are His workmanship

00:03:35.916 --> 00:03:40.568
created in Christ Jesus for good works.

00:03:40.568 --> 00:03:43.212
And if we're not abiding in Him,

00:03:43.212 --> 00:03:45.975
and He's not supporting it and strengthening it,

00:03:45.975 --> 00:03:49.972
and giving us the grace to carry it out,

00:03:49.972 --> 00:03:52.501
we simply can't go there.

00:03:52.501 --> 00:03:54.726
God is not waiting around for us.

00:03:54.726 --> 00:03:57.443
Didn't God say in the Psalms,

00:03:57.443 --> 00:04:00.842
"Look, if I were hungry I would not come to you."

00:04:00.842 --> 00:04:05.231
Why? Because all the food is His.

00:04:05.231 --> 00:04:09.105
He doesn't need us in that fashion.

00:04:09.105 --> 00:04:12.335
And if there's uncleanness in the life,

00:04:12.335 --> 00:04:19.471
then it's true, and we hear it on Sunday afternoon.

00:04:19.471 --> 00:04:24.176
You're a fit vessel when you're a clean vessel.

00:04:24.176 --> 00:04:25.370
And if there's sin in the life,

00:04:25.370 --> 00:04:28.291
we need to repent of the sin.

00:04:28.291 --> 00:04:30.901
Clean vessels will get used.

00:04:30.901 --> 00:04:34.164
They'll be profitable for the Master's use.

00:04:34.164 --> 00:04:37.778
That's what Paul taught Timothy.