A sermon often does a man most good when it makes him most angry. Those people who walk down the aisles and say, “I will never hear that man again,” very often have an arrow rankling in their breast.
C.H. Spurgeon

A Tip For Teens

A Tip For Teens

A TIP FOR TEENS

It’s A Wonderful Life!

This is an age of music, motion and money. It is an age of fads, fashions and fanatics. You really have to be on the “in” and get with it or else you aren’t going anywhere.

So they say!

This is a sharp, keen, alert, educated age. If you sit still, you are apt to be run over and killed in the rush. You either go – or you’re a goner!

But where? – and why?

I asked some young people, your age, to level with me on a question. I asked, “WHAT DO YOU WANT MOST OUT OF LIFE?”

I expected a barrage of money – fun – freedom – liberty. But – no. These 2Oth century history makers obliged with frankness. They gave it to me with a heavy dose of sincerity and honesty.

Most of them said,

We want to be somebody! (That’s SUCCESS.)

We want to be liked! (That’s POPULARITY,)

We want to be happy! (That’s PEACE.)

We want to know where we’re going! (That’s DIRECTION.)

I got the message loud and clear.

I have only ONE BOOK with the answers – my BIBLE ! I turned to John 14:6. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Jesus is the Way-Maker, the Truth-Holder and the Life-Giver. Why look elsewhere?

I WANT TO BE SOMEBODY. The ladder of success is long, but I like to see young people with ambitions and aims. I’ll cheer you on when you set your goal toward the TOP. Being somebody is noble and natural.

But – knowing SOMEONE is more important !

At the malt shop I overheard, “It’s not what you know but whom.”

I said, “What?” Then I caught myself with a “wait a minute.” If you meet and accept the right one, you are on your way UP – that’s success!

Jesus said, “Come unto me.” “I have come that you might have LIFE.” “He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life” (John 5:24) .

Life with a capital “L.” Knowing Christ and having real life go together. Life without Christ gets to be a “merry-go-round” when you live it just for yourself. It spins you into a senseless whirl. Christ gave Himself for you so that you may have life.

Knowing Christ, accepting HIM and getting somewhere in life make a great combination. Be sure that you are listed in God’s “WHO’s WHO” book – the book of LIFE.

I WANT TO BE LIKED. The signs of the teen times are usually topped by a sudden worry about, “What do others think of me?” Let’s not kid ourselves, we all try to make impressions. We want to be accepted. We brush our teeth, comb our hair (over and over again) and flash our best smile. Popularity – the desire to be approved. It runs a close second to the need for “belonging.”

But the “people popularity panic button” is pushed too often. Where do you stand with God? That’s important. God is the final word. Let’s get on the inside track.

But how?

God said, pointing to Jesus: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him” (Matt. 17:5). Jesus’ reply to you is, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).

That’s it!

Do as God says. Believe and receive His Son as your Saviour. You get LIFE and the approval of God.

One more thing!

The Bible says, “Such as are upright in their way are His delight” (Prov. 11:20b). That’s talking about GOD. Knowing what to do, and then doing it according to God’s command makes you a wise son and daughter. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:9).

Accepted by Number One-Heaven’s Supreme and Eternal Judge !

I WANT TO BE HAPPY. “Happiness is different things to different people” says a popular song. Then it names a dozen other things marked “Happiness.” So, get one before they are all gone. “Happiness, 2 for 25 cents. Buy some today.”

Way out? It sure is!

You can’t pursue happiness and catch it. You can’t buy it. Happiness does not depend upon what happens on the outside of you, but what happens on the inside of you – that I like!

Happiness and peace go together. You can’t run down to the corner drug store and buy it in a bottle. It comes from inner possession !

Receive Christ into your life. Acknowledge your guilt of sin. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Come – commit – confess. Simple as A B C and as complete as the entire alphabet. Christ is our inner peace (Eph. 2:14,15).

I WANT TO KNOW WHERE I’M GOING. Some so-called thinkers would say, “Pleasure is the chief end of man.” Others join in with, “Life is a lemon, so squeeze it for all you can get out of it.” Still others argue: “Everybody’s doing it.” But it doesn’t get you anywhere. It doesn’t last!

You’re tired of it, and want a way out.

I don’t blame you a bit!

What’s ahead ?

Show us the way!

It’s not kids wading ankle deep in empty beer cans, upsetting cars, setting fires, smashing windows and throwing bricks – just for kicks. It is not the excess of evil or lack of love and law and mixed up morals.

That certainly can’t be the route that’s right! It is time to wake up to reality and start living right. Life is too important to fiddle around with a “no future” sign.

So. Let’s get out the road map of dependability and reliability – the Bible. It is the Direction Book for teens who want life. “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life” (Matt. 7:14). “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall DIRECT thy paths” (Prov. 3:5,6).

But, you say, “That broad way is wide and bright! Many travel it. It is crowded.”

Sure. One of the billboards on the broad way reads: “Everybody does it.”

We learn conformity almost from the cradle. Everyone is born an original but dies a copy. Whom you copy determines your destiny. The tragedy is that so few choose their own way and goals. The crowd sweeps them along from the time they are able to think.

“Everybody does it.”

Really? There are hundreds of young people – hundreds – who are different because they really have something to live for. Someone worthwhile to live like – Jesus Christ.

There’s nothing shameful about being different. The men who have led the world have all been different from the crowd. They were men willing to stand out. They were different. Notice, I said different – not odd!

Get off the band wagon of “everybody does it.” It’s heading in the wrong direction.

At your invitation, Christ will come to live in your life, bringing with Him a freshness, a joyous newness of life that will set you free from being just another statistic, a mere number in the crowd.

Life without Christ is a hopeless jigsaw puzzle.

Life with Christ is SUCCESS – APPROVAL – PEACE – DIRECTION.

Life in Christ is available to those who will take it.

Life in Christ is longer than time. It is eternal!

God is only a prayer away. “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:6,7).

YOU settle your own destiny in life.

God has provided a way – Jesus Christ.

Heaven is yours. Salvation is a free gift.

You decide what you want.

My advice: “Take it today without delay.”

by Mel Johnson
Tips for Teens
“Radio for Young People”

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