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NEC Youth

Kameron DeVasher

2. Live

We laid the foundation, the theological philosophical foundation, that all sin, all transgression of the law is a form of selfishness, is an extension of that selfish principle in the heart.

I wanted to share with you a statement from the pen of inspiration.

If you brought your 1888 materials with you, you can open up to page 1763.

Satan's first sin was a manifestation of selfishness.

A species of insanity led him to seek to supersede God.

And the temptation that led Adam to sin was Satan's declaration that it was possible for man to attain to something more than he already enjoyed, possible for him to be as God himself.

The sowing of seeds of selfishness in the human heart was the first result of the entrance of sin into the world.

God desires everyone to understand the evil of selfishness and to cooperate with him in guarding the human family against its terrible deceptive powers.

And then it aids these finishing 2 sentences and all of that encompass what we covered this morning.

Now we transition from what the problem is to what do we do about it?

The design of the gospel is to confront this evil by means of remedial missionary work and to destroy its destructive power by establishing enterprises of benevolence.

The goal, the aim of the gospel is to confront this evil and to offer a solution in working for others.

As we begin our final message this evening, please bow with your heads with me for a word of prayer.

Again, Heavenly Father, what a blessing it has been today here in the North England Youth Conference, Youth Day.

Lord, we have studied your word, we have sung praises to your name, and now, Lord, we want not only to be filled with your Spirit, we don't want to just be faithful to you, Lord, we want to be useful for your cause.

Teach us, Lord, to think not of ourselves but to others, to minister to others as Christ would have us, so we can hasten this coming of Christ and see Him face to face.

Matthew chapter 12, verses 43 through 45 gives us a principle we're gonna build on for our closing message.

Thinking about not thinking about something never works.

It does not work to think about not thinking about something.

In fact, if I told you something to not think about, you would start thinking about it.

Just the mention of it, the topic itself, makes you think about it.

So not thinking about something, by not thinking about it, doesn't work.

Matthew chapter 12, starting with verse 43, Jesus addressed this type of thinking.

He says, when an unclean spirit goes out of a man, and hopefully today we killed some selfishness, amen?

He goes through dry places, seeking rest and finds none.

Now notice that the, what he's talking about here is not the man, he's talking about the unclean spirit.

He goes out, seeking rest and finds none, so where does he decide to go?

Verse 44, then he says, I will return to my house from which I came.

Well, he kicked me out of the house, cleaned the place up, but left it empty so I'm just gonna move back in.

Then verse 45, then he goes and takes with him 7 other spirits more wicked than himself.

And the last state of the man is worse than the first." He says, so shall it be with this wicked generation, applying it to the heroes in his day.

But there surely has to be a lesson for us.

Focusing on your need to be less selfish is still actually being selfish.

If you dwell on, how can I not think about myself so much today?

You are doing the thing you don't want to do.

So you might have kicked it out but you haven't filled it with anything else and often the focus on yourself comes back.

God designs to fill your life with something besides continual concern for yourself.

You exist not unto yourself, but God has a purpose for you to do something for other people.

First Corinthians chapter 13 is the love chapter, and it describes the nature of God.

For instance, God is love, scripture says, and First Corinthians 13 tells us what love is.

1 Corinthians chapter 13, the Apostle Paul writing under inspiration says, in verse 4, Love suffers long and is kind.

And notice the contrast, what we were talking about today, against selfishness.

It says, love does not envy, that means want stuff for itself.

Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, like the arrogance of Lucifer.

It does not behave rudely, and notice this, it does not seek what?

So if you're not seeking your own, you're seeking for others.

Love is that principle of putting others first, seeking not your own but looking after the needs of others.

John chapter 3 and verse 16, you probably all know it by heart, but for God so loved the world that he what?

Notice that continually there's a synonymous relationship, a parallel between loving and giving.

Love always manifests itself in giving for others.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.

Here again the Apostle Paul returns to this theme, Galatians chapter 2 in verse 25.

He talks about his crucifixion with Christ, what we spoke about this morning, and then he says this.

I'm sorry I gave you the wrong text there.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives where?

He didn't just die to self, he puts Christ's life in.

The Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, and he defines who that Son of God is, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Notice he sees God as, and Jesus Christ as the 1 who loved me and gave himself for me.

Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 25, husbands love your wives.

Love always, the true love is always expressed in giving yourself for others.

We're gonna do a very brief survey of the life of Christ, very quickly thumbing through scripture, but I want to show you a pattern.

Matthew chapter 4, Jesus is tempted in the wilderness to seek for his own, but he chooses not to.

He lives not by bread, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God, he thwarts the attacks of Satan, and then he heads off into ministry.

Then in chapter 5, 6 and 7, he stands up and gives what is now known as the Sermon on the Mount.

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2. Live

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