This video (and series) is about what happens around the time of puberty or 'age of reason', from a spiritual standpoint. The time where you transition from being under Mom and Dad's spiritual wing; from innocence into accountability.
You don't have a free ticket to heaven anymore... you know too much. You're accountable for your own sin now. You have to receive Jesus for yourself; your own personal relationship. Not the one of your parents.
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Being a teen is a tumultuous time, especially spiritually. You just popped up on the enemy's radar. When the enemy would look down before he'd only see Mom & Dad's covering, but now he sees this new dot next to them. And if the enemy can entice you and get you to sin and then condemn yourself straight out the gate... if he can get you to believe his lies instead of the truth... if he can't turn you from Jesus, he can tap you off from Greater Works and moving in the power of Jesus. Essentially a saved but powerless Christian. Well, we don't want that... we want alllll the promises of God manifest in our lives!
The first attacks for those coming out from under Mom & Dad's wing are most notably of 'the flesh'.
As a child, a baby... you cry when you need something, whether a diaper change, food or love... and that need was taken care of by an adult. In your exodus from a child into adulthood, satan's first line of attack is appealing to the basest of our physical needs. In Luke 4:1-2 we find out that Jesus having just been baptized, goes immediately into the wilderness for forty days.
(Luke 4:2b) "And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry."
What was the first attack? Remember, it was a challenge to satisfy that base need of hunger in turning Stones to Bread.
Jesus answers satan in this attack by saying:
"One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God."
What can we learn? As we come out from under Mom and Dad, it's not our circumstances or what people say that matters, but it's what God says that alone is the truth. And this can be comforting... because some of you out there have had a rough childhood... Mom or Dad may have not been around... you may have been hurt by people in authority positions, or even at church that speak the gospel but then don't follow it's instruction. As a child you had to go with what you were given; your parents or caregivers will have to account for what they did or didn't do in your care. Even though you're accountable on your own now don't feel your youth disqualifies you... what did young David do?
1Sa 17:26 "Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, 'What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?'"
David didn't look at the circumstances... when the bear charged or the lion... He believed God and could ignore Goliath's taunts because of God's promises and truth. The Bible is your benchmark now... so invest spending time building relationship with God, so you can stand confidently when Goliath comes to taunt you!
In my next video, I'd like to go more in-depth with how satan first attacks using temptations with our base physical needs. And this is a key time because we go beyond those base needs of love, care and food... in maturing, we have the addition of sexual maturation, which keeps the human race going, right? The thing is, is that satan will use this new thing that you don't quite understand... bodily changes and the hormonal mood swings... he'll try to use all that to confuse you and get you to defile yourself... turning what God says is good and holy and natural into something dark, dirty and a vice that satan can use to condemn you and make you feel like you can't have restored relationship with Father God after you've heartily repented. Even if it's too late and you already screwed up... let's know that Jesus offers us complete forgiveness with no condemnation...
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