Jim Van Gelderen: Welcome to the Thee Generation podcast. In just a few moments, we have a very encouraging testimony from a young man who, just a few weeks ago, got some things right with God. I believe testimonies can really help by encouraging young people who may be on the wrong side to be encouraged that others have gone before them, made right decisions that put them in a place of freedom in Jesus Christ.
But before we get to that testimony, just a few news items that might encourage your heart. First of all, Thee Generation now has opened up a telephone line that you can call and ask a question. Perhaps you’ve wondered about something and you’d like to have that question addressed. Well, we’d like to have some podcasts dedicated to answering questions that young people would phone in and give us. So the number is 262-355-THEE. Now, if you’d like the numbers for that, that’s 262-355-8433, and that’s the telephone number that you can call in.
And by the way, if you’d like to, you can just give a testimony, perhaps. Your testimony would be chosen to be used on a podcast to encourage other young people to take a step of faith that you have taken. So I hope you’ll give us a call and leave a question or give a testimony if the Lord would put that upon your heart.
Also, last week we had the Cola Clash+. It was wonderful to see over 300 young people attend that particular conference, and many decisions were made, many young people really came to full surrender and full dependence upon the Lord Jesus. What a joy it was on that final day to have literally scores of young people come forward and enter into a prayer meeting with cries of dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ. I know God hears cries like that, and I’m sure many of those young people, God has already been working in their hearts and lives.
Perhaps you’re listening and came to the Cola Clash+. I hope you’ll keep looking to Jesus and depend upon Him for the strength to live the Christian life that is all impossible to live without that strength that only He can give. So that was certainly encouraging.
And this week we’re in Cordova, Tennessee, the War Special Forces team. We’ve had two wonderful nights of evangelism. I’d say at least fifteen young people have stepped out to trust Jesus Christ. The joy has been many of them have just given a clear testimony after their decision that they have come to full assurance of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing their sins are washed away and they’re on the way to heaven. What a joy it is to see a young person come out beaming, knowing he saved.
Well, we have a special testimony today. A young man a few weeks ago, God worked in his heart. I think his testimony will strike you. I would like to make a few comments when it’s finished, but at the very end of his testimony, he throws some things in the fire. Perhaps as you hear the testimony, you’ll hear some crackling and recognize the testimony was given at a campfire service. That crackling, of course, was the campfire.
At the very end of the testimony, there were things that had entered into his life that he had come to conviction about that the Holy Spirit had showed him were wrong. He knew that they were displeasing the Lord, so he threw them in the fire. It was a joy to be there that night and watch quite a few things be thrown in the fire and consumed. And basically, he was obeying that verse in Proverbs 28:13. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. And he was forsaking. He was saying, I don’t want these anymore, out of my life. By the way, when God convicts you, that’s what you need to do—forsake. Make it difficult, impossible, hard to go back, and that’s what He did. It was a joy to watch that night. And I hope you’ll be encouraged as you listen to a young man who really was coming to full surrender and full dependence upon Jesus Christ as a result of God’s gracious work in his heart. You listen and be encouraged.
“For the past couple of years, I have had a lot of bitterness towards my father. It has eaten me away and has done major damage to my Christian life. A couple of weeks ago, oh no, a couple of months ago, I got into viewing stuff that I should not. It was not becoming of a Christian or even a Christian who wants to be a pastor. I confessed to my father last night, my bitterness towards him. And I told my parents the stuff that I had been looking at. Now that stuff that I had been looking at, it made me feel different. It helped me forget everything that I had been feeling—all the bitterness, all the anger, everything. But you know, it wasn’t a good feeling that I needed. It was the wrong feeling.
“You know, my father showed me mercy last night. I mean, I deserve not to even be here tonight because of the stuff that I have been doing. But you know, God and my father showed me mercy. And you know, I’ve never felt, I’ve never felt this good. Confessing everything that I had to my parents, to God, it just, it felt so good. So I’m here tonight to throw all of this in the fire. I want to get all of it out of my life. It does not belong there. Praise the Lord for God working in a life. Now he can work in your life too.”
Perhaps you’re struggling with bitterness. Perhaps you’re struggling toward anger, toward someone who’s wronged you. The first step, friends, is to believe that Jesus Christ can work things together for good even when people do wrong. Certainly, God has nothing to do with people sinning, but thank the Lord, He can work it all together for good when we trust Him. So start with trusting, then forgiving, and then getting right with the people you’ve wronged. Notice that young man was bitter toward his dad, but he went and got right with him about his sin, his failure, and God freed him. You could sense the freedom in his voice, the joy, the peace that came when he let things go and trusted God, got right about his failure in his life.
I hope this testimony will encourage your heart that God can do something in your life as well. If you need more help, you can, of course, go to theegeneration.org. There’s wonderful messages that can continue to help you about forgiveness and bitterness. Until next time, keep in total dependence and total surrender to Jesus Christ.
