From My Youth

Date: September 5, 2013

For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth; O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. (Psalm 71:5; 17)

Beloved,

According to the Barna Research Group, less than one out of every four born again Christians (23%) embrace Christ after their 21st birthday. This means that it is vitally important for young people to hear the gospel message of Jesus Christ while they are still in their youth. The number one reason for young people to come to Christ is to be raised by parents who love Jesus Christ. The best evangelism will always be when parents pass on the truths of the gospel to the next generation. It is responsibility of every Christian parent to teach the hope held out in the gospel to their children.

My prayer is for the young people at Park Baptist Church that they will be able to say along with the Psalmist, “For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. O God, from my youth you have taught me.” We want our children to come to faith in Christ at a young age. We want them to hope and trust in Christ as their Savior. This should be the heart’s desire of every Christian parent.

Although this is the hope for every Christian parent, this is not the hope of every parent. Many parents have abdicated their spiritual responsibility leaving their children susceptible to the lies of the evil one. If parents do not believe in Jesus Christ, neither will their children. Therefore it is our responsibility as a church to aggressively fight for the souls of the youth in our city. As the statistics show, the hearts of youth are more receptive to the gospel message. We need to go to our youth with the gospel. To that end, I pray you will support our church’s effort to take the gospel to youth which, Lord willing, will be spearheaded by our new director of youth ministries, Casey Espich. Casey is a passionate young man with a great fervor for the glory of Jesus Christ. It has been an honor to get to know him and see his heart to reach young people with the gospel of our Lord.

The Psalmist had come to the Lord in his youth, but writes this psalm at the end of his life. Listen to the lifelong impact that the gospel had on this man when he says, “O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.” He came to the Lord as a young man and was still proclaiming the wondrous deeds of the Lord to end of his life. Beloved, imagine how many teenagers are in our city that could one day say as senior saints, “O Lord, from my youth, you have been my hope and my trust. You taught me from my youth and I am still proclaiming your wondrous deeds.” Let us fight for the souls of our young people with the gospel of Christ. Let us be intentional as a church to be a vehicle for the spread of God’s glory throughout this city.

In Christ,