Have you been discouraged when you were in your youth from your parents, peers, friends, and teachers? Or did you have a good time while you were in youth?

As we continue studying this series on “God’s Calling for Younger Generation,” I would like to bring the subject on seeking God in early life. Why I bring out this subject? As we read about the life of Jeremiah, God called him to be one of His chosen prophets before his arrival from his mother’s womb. And God called him to bring out the people of Israel and lead them into Him. Even though Jeremiah received some negative responds from his people in his young age, he continued to do God’s will.

Although to be in youth age, God called children to rejoice in their lives. Read with me Ecclesiastes 11:9-10.

Rejoice, O young man, in your youth,
And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth;
Walk in the ways of your heart,
And in the sight of your eyes;
But know that for all these
God will bring you into judgment.
Therefore remove sorrow from your heart,
And put away evil from your flesh,
For childhood and youth are vanity.

Being in the first 16 years of life that children are in is great point of start life. Yet, after children reach the age of 18, the word youth will become useless in their lives, because they are in adulthood. From ages 1 day to 2-years old, the child will get a lot of attention from mommy and daddy. From 3 to 5, they would begin to learn ABC, counting the number, and will have little responsibility. As they get older, they will have more responsibilities as they are in the care of their parents. Of course, they will have a lot of free time of doing many activities while they are in home and schools.

Also, the children are in good ages to seek the community and variety of touching and looking at materials and other people around them. But we also want let our young people to know who brought them into this world. When the baby comes out from his mother’s womb, he will first hear the words, momma and dada. As the child starts to learn the first two words, he uses to using these simple words throughout his infant stage.

We also need to teach the child the name of Jesus or God. Most time, in a Christian family, people fail to teach the child the name Jesus in his early life. Most people would think that they brought the children into the world themselves and don’t teach them the word Jesus to them. For example, in Catholicism, many believers worship Mary, the mother of Jesus; because they believe that she received a divine power from God to bring Jesus into this world as coequal to God; instead of, God called Mary to bring His Son to this world to take care Jesus for Him until He would depart from her to reunite with His Father after His mission.

If we devote to teach the child about the Word of God before he/she would become adulthood, that child will have fully walked with Jesus Christ throughout his/her life. Deuteronomy 11:19 says that we need to teach our youngsters what God had done in our lives, not for our sake but His. As the child receives the Word of God in his hearing, that child will continue to desire for God in his life.

Now let me to talk with youths and young adults. Being in young generation in your life is not easy. Although some of you live with your family, there will be new responsibilities and challenges to take care yourself and your family. Couple years ago, one of young women came to me and shared with me about how she wanted to live her own, to get out from her family, so she could have easy life. If she likes to live her own without further planning, she would have great deal of problems in her life. Being independent living is not easy, she still have responsibility to live with. I’m living independently with personal assistant now, but I’m still struggle with my life. Being in government financial assistant doesn’t help much with living expenses. I still struggle to meet my bills deadline. DEADLINE is ugly word in our vocabulary, because we need to pay bills by such date. If we don’t meet deadline, bill collectors will add about 1.5% more from previous bill amount.

Even though God tells youths to enjoy their lives while in their ages, they need to know that God will judge them according to what they would have done. He will be either as their Savior or Judge. Although they are young, it doesn’t mean that they’d be freed from the judgment according to God’s book.

And we also need to encourage young people and to help them to understand the way of God. If we let our youngsters do according to our wishes, they would feel corruption. But if we suggest them, they would feel much safe to do their accomplishments.

If you are youth or young adults, don’t feel like that you are useless, when other people say to you that you cannot do it. You are precious child to God. Just as Jeremiah, God knows you what you can do or you cannot do. Even though you hear all the negative things about you, there is only one person who will not let you down. That is God. God, who created you. God, who knows everything about you before you were born. If your parents decide to disown you because you have found the truth from the Word of God, you still have your Father in you—God. He will never forget you or forsake you, unless you’d decide to follow other ways to live life.

MTV will not help you, but they will make you more miserable. Playing lottery tickets will not help you to get $1 million, but they would make to loose that money. Trying to reach more success will not help you to gain more business achievements rather than they will make you apart from God, family, and friends.

Hold what you have accomplished while you were in schools, with family and friends who were devoted to God. Don’t make yourself to be in jail bar. Paul says in I Timothy 4:12, “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

What do you have in your hand to avoid from going to Satan’s traps? What do you have in your hands to reach others with the love of Jesus Christ? What do you have in your hands to pass your senior year of high school? What do you do if your parents do not have Jesus Christ in their lives?

Although these questions may make you confuse, God knows what you can accomplish. Even though you cannot make your parents come to Christ, God will work on your behalf to continue knocking their hearts. You only need to trust Him and do whatever you are doing.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this study is to help you to become closer relationship with Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, `Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occults in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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Since Adam and Eve felt into the temptation of the serpent, Satan has overcome to control the world that God created. Jesus said, in John 14:30, before He would face His death by His people, "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me."

In previous message, we brief studied on bad and good sides of the young people that they have impacted in this world. Before we would look more into the good side of the young people, we study on the bad side. If you miss the first part of this message, please feel free to read it on MGJC Home Page at mysite.verizon.net/jrappkor.

Satan loves to attack our young people, so they wouldn't become children of God. He would love them if they learn to hate everything that God provided for them, so he could control them and send them into his kingdom, Hell. Even Satan loves to attack infants. In fact, they are two historic records that he killed infants.

Before we look into the two passages, please don't get mix up when God dealt His people by murdering their infants. Although God did these acts toward to His chosen people to lead the nation, He did this for reason: He disciplined His people to turn back to Him from the pagan gods and sins.

Read with me Exodus 1:8-22:

⁸Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁹And he said to his people, "Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; ¹⁰come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land." ¹¹Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. ¹²But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. ¹³So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. ¹⁴And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage--in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.

¹⁵Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; ¹⁶and he said, "When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live." ¹⁷But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. ¹⁸So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive” ¹⁹And the midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them." ²⁰Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. ²¹And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them. ²²So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive."

In this passage of Exodus is where the new King Pharaoh began to have jealous on the Israelites, because he may don't know who Joseph was or the previous King Pharaoh, who gave Joseph to be the governor of Egypt (Gen. 41:37-57). However, this new King Pharaoh would probably took over the land of Egypt many years after Joseph's death. And he didn't know about what Joseph had done.

Now, let me read the study note of Exodus 1:8 from The MacArthur Study Bible. Sometimes, we would need to look different view to get more information of Scripture, but not too often.

Now let's read the note of Exodus 1:8: "This king is either to be identified as one of Hyksos kings during the period of political disintegration, or as Pharaoh Amose I, founder of what archeologists have designed as the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom period in Egyptian history. It is probably best to take this new king, who knew not Joseph, as a Hyksos ruler. Furthermore, the term "rose" signifies "rose against," which accords well with a foreign seizure of the Egyptian throne. The Hyksos (ca. 1730-1570 BC) came from outside Egypt (cf. Acts 7:18)."

So, now we read that this new king did not have relationship with the previous King Pharaoh, and did not know about Joseph and Hebrew people. As we read in Exodus 1:8-22, we see that this new Egyptian leader wanted to have contest against the Hebrew nation, so that his nation would become much stronger.

Ok, we'd understand that King Pharaoh had an issue with Hebrews, but why he wanted let Hebrew women to kill their boys and not girls. We would probably think this was the strangest thing that ever heard. But, if we read throughout the Bible, God choose His men to lead their lands, families, and businesses. King Pharaoh wanted girls to be alive, because they are weaker than boys and more beautiful than boys; and if they are married, women would become men's partners or supporters. But, this king would probably want let women would become his servants while men are working hard at the hot sun.

In the New Testament, King Herod wanted to kill children, so he can find the Messiah to kill Him and let him to be the ruler of Israel (see Matthew 2).

In both cases, we see that Satan was involved with these two kings, so that he can control God's people. Unfortunately, he lost the war. By the time Satan tried to use two different era kings to kill the young people, God already saved His children.

Now let's go to our generation, which is right now.

Our society has become more like disastrous world. If we look through the past history, we would see that America was built by Christianity and by founding our national fathers, who’d believe that they were firm believers in Jesus Christ. Before the mid 20th-century, American was built by Christian. We heard that students had the freedom of prayer and reading God’s Words in their schools, which the court/ACLU set up. Many children TV programs were probably had less violence for them to watch. Now we come to the 21^st-century and look what we have done to make our young people miserable.

We still carry King Herod’s legacy, which we call “abortion.” Now, the court/ACLU released the freedom of right to kill the unborn child before he/she would come out from the woman’s womb. In the entertainment industries, producers create more action TV programs and movies for children to watch that contain violence, sex, alcohol, and occultism. In schools, our government gave the right for children to learn what the others produced in the entertainment industries. “Thus, un-Godly influences aimed directly at our young children are pouring in daily through TV, movies, videos, magazines, books, and tapes. However, one of the most important avenues by which Satan is trying to capture children's hearts and souls is through our public school system.” (See Cutting Edge Radio Transcript on “Our Children in the New World Order” at http://www.cuttingedge.org/ce1010.html.)

Why is Satan attacking our young people through the public school system?

The Cutting Edge Radio Transcript continues, “The first step is to destroy the old system, which in America is based on Biblical Evangelical Christianity. This system permeated all aspects of society, especially the Family and the Schools. Children received foundational home instruction in religion, morals, discipline, and normal person-to-person relationships as modeled in the home. The child came to school with this protective and sustaining foundation, and was thus ready to receive an academic education. Parents supported the education of their children in all these ways. Without this parental involvement and support, no child could properly learn.”

The Goal: Satan wants to destroy our young people’s souls. Thus, they cannot see the light from the darkness of sins.

Not we only need to blame these disasters on our young people to our public school and court systems and to our enemy, Satan; we also need to concern what we teach our youngsters in their own family and church family. The hardest thing for kids to have is on showing bad examples from their own parent(s). For instant, if the children see that their parents would decide to divorce from each other, they will start to collect unpleasant emotions and confusions in their lives. As they would get older, kids would follow the same methods of living as their parents, but their problems would get worse than what their parents dealt with.

Divorce within a family is the number one of America issue today. Most of them are from the Christian family. Why? Even though we hear more messages on the Christian family from our pastors, we may not hear often on how we need to live our lives as Jesus lived. Messages on family, money, and Christian life may seem great, but there is more to how we need to live a Christian life. We need to go to meat of the Christian life as we would lead our youngsters, whether we are married or not, have kids or not in our homes, to the next generation of their lives. Thus, leading them into Jesus Christ by demonstrating them our examples of how we need to live as Christ did. That doesn’t mean we need to die at the cross or speak in different language to them. Instead, we need to bring God’s Words into reality in their lives by loving and caring to our young people’s needs as Jesus did for us.

If you don’t have children as yours or you’re young adult, you still can reach into other children, teenagers, or other young adults into Jesus Christ with His love and care.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this study is to help you to become closer relationship with Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, `Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occults in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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This week topic is on for those are in younger generation. If you are under age 30, this message may give some inside of what God has planned for you.

As we see in today's world, many TV programs that young children, teenagers, and young adults watched have impacts on violent, drug, and any kind of addictions that pull themselves from God. As we see in movie theaters, there are more PG-rated movies than G-rated movies. Or we hear about some teenagers would decide to set up a false bomb thread alarm in the school to make everybody would be frighten. I had been in this situation before while I was in high school and rehabilitation center. It was not fun at all.

Is there hope for children, teenagers, and young adults from all the destructions in their lives? When children become teenager years, they started to make many hard choices in their lives. They will listen to many advices from their peers, friends, parents, and teachers as they are going through transaction period. Overall these, is there any hope that they can survive throughout their lives? If we are single young adults, is there any way to escape from loneliness, depression, and sadness? What we, as single adults, can help the other people who are younger than us?

Read Jeremiah 1:5 with me:

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

The Book of Jeremiah is about how God used this young man, Jeremiah, as a prophet of God to lead the nation. Throughout his life, Jeremiah cried out to the people to bring them to God. Most of Jeremiah's speeches were harsh to the people of Israel. Because of his harsh words, many people, even his own family, hated him without knowing that his words came from God. Some of Jeremiah's obstacles are death threats (see Jer. 11:18-23), isolation (see 15:15-21), stocks (see 19:14-20:18), arrest (see 26:7-24), and challenge (see 28:10-16).

If we, as single young adults, face these or more challenges in our lives, what we do to protect ourselves from harm? Some of us decide to look for drug, sex, or violent activities to get the solution to the problem. As we see on the news, MTV, and other mass Media, we see that many teenagers and young adults are killing themselves in the spiritual round. Satan is controlling our young people through many television, radio, toys, and movie industries--pulling them from God.

As Christian young adults, we first need to understand that our physical bodies are not just bodies, but they are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). We bought at a price (I Cor. 6:20). Jesus didn't just die for our sins, but He died for us with His compassion, love, and care for us, so we could be saved. If we destroy with alcohols, having sex outside the marriage, committing crimes, and putting tattoo on our bodies, we actually are destroying God's House.

We need to build ourselves with the strong foundation rather than what the world offers. What are they? How we build strong foundation in our lives as young generation?

1) Establishing relationship with Jesus Christ. As we read about Jeremiah's life, he faced many obstacles in his life, from his youthful age to adult. Although he had many challenges, Jeremiah didn't give up the problem. He was going to give up once (Jer. 1:6a), but God kept give him encourage and hope in his life to do difficult assignment. God didn't just give him encouragement, He walked side with him during the difficulty. God said in Isaiah 43:2, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; ad through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you."

If we have the relationship with Jesus Christ, we can accomplish anything in His name.

2) Don't say I am too young to do the will of God. God always choose young people to accomplish His plan. In Genesis, God choose Joseph to bring out His people from the seven years of famine. In 1 Samuel, God choose young David to lead the nation of Israel, which it leads to the promise of the coming of Messiah.

Why? Why He choose the young people to accomplish His plan?

The Bible tells us that God loves us as His children. He knows us before we were born (see Jer 1:5). He created us, so that He can have relationship us. He calls us to show example of obedience of God's children to others, so they can be citizens of His family.

Paul says in I Timothy 4:12-16, "Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you."

As we close in this portion of topic, ask yourselves with this question: What God has planned for me with this young age? Don't say you are too young to be on the missionary field. Or if you are adult, don't just say you're too old to reach to the needy. God can use any of us to accomplish His plan.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this study is to help you to become closer relationship with Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, `Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occults in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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