Youth lesson on confession/repentance.

[Gingerale]

Here is the lesson I am teaching tonight, in case we don't get to go to the sectional rally, on the account of the windstorm we are having.




March 14, 2008

Title: Man! You need to clean your HOUSE!


We go to school everyday. We have our hair hanging to our knees, we have our skirts to our ankles. You young men are clean shaven, and have a glow about you.
It is obvious. We are Pentecostal. There's only a few other organizations in the United States that follow the Biblical Standard for Holiness that we do.
We come to church on Sunday, and Wednesday. We pray. We clap our hands to the Lord, we have an outward appearance of Godliness. But what is IN our temple?

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 
[[1 Corinthians 3:16]]


We must search ourselves, just as the Bible says. Sure. God knows what's in there. He has to try to live there. You wouldn't want to have a junky house full of dirty clothes, if you were expecting our president to come over. You wouldn't invite people over to your house without cleaning your toilets, would you?

How do I search myself?
It's a daily thing. Each night, before you go to bed, think about all you did that day. Some of us might have to think back longer than one day. Is there anything you would be embarrassed to tell here? Did you cheat someone? Did you disobey the authority of your parents? Did you curse?

If God were to have shown the video of your day at this meeting, would you be proud? Or would you feel like crawling under the couch? If you search yourself, and find something, what would you do? Sweep it under the carpet? Or would you put it in a dust pan and throw it away?

What if you could confess it to God, when NOBODY is listening, and completely rid yourself of that trash? When you are cleaning your home, it is not wise to just sweep all the dust under a rug. It would only build up and build up, and when you FINALLY had to clean it up, it would be a lot harder. When all you had to do, was sweep it up, throw it in the trash, and take the bag out to the dumpster.

See, that's how the God we serve works. He is always there to take the trash out to the dumpster. We just have to sweep it up [confessing], put it in the trash can [asking God for His forgiveness], and He'll take it out to the dumpster.

WE ALL SIN!
For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God
Romans 3:23

Which means. God gave us the gift of His forgiveness because He KNEW we'd be full of fault. NOBODY is perfect!

So, what do we do? We ask God for His forgiveness on a DAILY basis. Not just when we feel guilty. We ask Him to show us our secret sins, that we might not have known we committed. And pick ourselves back up, and keep on fighting the good fight!!!!