I Believe, Therefore I Confess

So my dear young brothers and sisters, I want you to remember one thing that when Jesus chose his first disciples, he chose a lot of young people. I mean they were not 17 or 18, but they were much younger than the leaders of Israel at that time. Most of the leaders in Israel, the Pharisees and all, were 60-70 years old.

And Jesus chose young people. The oldest among them was 30 years old. Some of them may have been 27, not much older than some of you.

And they were the ones whom Jesus chose to turn the world upside down. And he spent just three years with them, trained them, spoke to them, and then he went and filled them with the Holy Spirit. And then those 11 apostles who were not educated, almost every one of you is more educated than those fishermen apostles, they turned the world upside down.

And the work they started has lasted for 2,000 years. And they were faithful till the end, even if it meant being tortured or killed. That's the thing that's always encouraged me, to believe that even today Jesus is ready to choose young people.

I don't believe those, I believe all those apostles were younger than Jesus, and Jesus was 30, so they must have been between 27 and 30 years of age. And they didn't suddenly qualify to become disciples. I think the Lord must have seen that maybe from the age of 18 or 19 or 20, people like Peter and James and John and all, had some fear of God.

You don't suddenly become qualified to become a disciple of Jesus. And so the Lord began to work in them from an age at which all of you are. Please remember that.

See, a lot of times we see pictures of the apostles all with gray beard and all, that's when they were old. But think of when they were chosen, when God began to work in their lives. God began to work in my life when I was 19 and a half years old.

And my whole life was turned around. And everything that's happened in my life in the last 65 years, I'm 84 now, began when I was 19 and a half. That's the age some of you are, or and if you're even older than that.

God can do a work in you that can last for your entire lifetime, if you begin right now. So I want to show you a verse in 1 John chapter 5 and verse 4. We know that the pressures in the world are so strong to tempt you. In many, many areas, young people are tempted by the things in the world.

And it's a battle to overcome. And here it says in 1 John 5 verse 4, the victory that overcomes the world is our faith. So how do we overcome the world? We've always thought you've got to resist it and fight it and run away from it.

But it begins by faith. Faith is the leaning of your entire personality upon God. Remember this.

It's the best picture of faith that I always speak about. I've spoken about it for many, many years. It's like a branch in a tree.

That branch can do nothing apart from the tree. The tree does not expect it to produce any fruit, but expects the branch to remain in the tree. You know that every branch, an apple tree or pears or anything, if it remains in the tree, the tree supplies it all that's necessary for the fruit to come.

So picture faith like that. That's the picture of faith that's helped me the most in my life. Whatever I have to do, I go to the Lord and I say, Lord, I'm as helpless as that branch in a tree.

I can't do a single thing for you. Do you believe I say that? I say that. I even say that when I even get up to speak.

Lord, I can't. I want to be like that branch in the tree. And if you give me strength and power, I can overcome anything.

I can face any situation in the world. If you will give me the strength and wisdom and the ability to handle it. So faith is that helpless dependence upon God like a branch in a tree.

Never forget that. But it is a dependence upon God that has faith is also confidence. When you say you have faith in somebody, it means you have total confidence in them.

If you say, I trust my dad, that means you have confidence in your dad. So to have faith in God means I have total confidence. Confidence in what? So let me mention three things you should have confidence in.

First is that God's love for you is without any conditions. God doesn't say I love you when you're good. He loves you even when you're bad.

When it says God so loved the world, is everybody in the world good? A very well-known verse. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish. But the world was so much against God and God loved.

So what's the first thing you learn about God? His love is unconditional. He doesn't wait for you to become better. He loves you and thus turns you to make you better.

Because you know so often the devil will always condemn you. God doesn't love you. You're not good enough.

Don't listen to those lies. So many young people go astray because they listen to the lies of the devil. So you need to be rooted and grounded in God's unconditional love for you.

That's the number one thing that you need to believe in. Faith is to believe, not just believe, but to have total confidence in God's unconditional love. And secondly, you must have total confidence in God's almighty power.

You know when Jesus taught us to pray, we all know the prayer, our father who art in heaven. Two things. When you call him father, you believe in his unconditional love.

When you who art in heaven, you're believing in his absolute almighty power that can solve any problem, that can help you in any way you want. Please take this seriously. I hope you're absorbing what I'm saying.

It'll make a tremendous difference in your life after you go away from this camp. You just believe these simple truths. Faith is not something blind, that I have to believe blindly in something.

No. It is confidence in God's unconditional love. He's my father.

And second, in his almighty power that can handle any situation, solve any problem. And one more thing. It's a confidence in God's perfect wisdom.

That means God knows better than me what is good for me. Don't parents know better than their three-year-old child what is good for them? See, when you compare God with us, it's like a parent with a two-year-old child. Before God, you and I are like two-year-old children.

What do you think with a two-year-old child? Can he do anything for himself? No. He's got to depend on his parents for everything. Jesus said, to come to the Lord, you must come like little children.

So this is what dependence and faith on God means. Remember that again. Three things.

His unconditional love. There are no conditions for it. He loves you just as you are.

You may be the worst sinner in the world. He loves you. Don't forget that.

Secondly, his perfect, his almighty power. There's nothing he cannot do. There's no problem he cannot solve.

And thirdly, his perfect wisdom. That means what you think is good for you may not be good for you. You know, just like a two-year-old doesn't know what's good for him.

He puts mud into his mouth. And we are like that. When it comes to spiritual things, we don't know what is good for us.

So if you humble yourself, you say, Lord, your wisdom is perfect. So faith is based on these three things. But here it says also, this is how we can overcome the world.

All the temptations in the world we overcome if we believe these three things about God. But our faith, I want to show you another thing about faith in Romans chapter 10. Faith is not something we just believe in our head.

Romans chapter 10. You know, a lot of Christians always speak about faith. The Old Testament, they were not much speaking about faith, but the New Testament is always speaking about faith.

And it says in Romans chapter 10, verse 10, with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness, with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation. You see the connection there between faith in your heart and what you say with your mouth. What you believe in your heart, you must confess with your mouth.

Very important. You know, in electricity, there are two wires when they come in touch. If you go inside and look at a switch, if you open up that switch, there's just two wires, electric wires that are kept apart from each other.

And when you put on the switch, all that the switch does is make those two wires touch. And as soon as they touch, the light comes on. But if they don't touch, there's no light.

What we believe in our heart, we must confess with our mouth. When that belief in the heart and confession with the mouth touches, then the light comes on. Very often what you believe in your heart, you don't confess with your mouth.

You keep quiet about it. Think about it. There are many things you believe, but you never confess with them.

But here it says here, remember Romans 10, 10, with your heart you believe and with the mouth you confess. That's what brings the result. Otherwise you can have those two wires and that switch just standing so close to each other, never touching and there's no light in the room.

And let me show you one more verse in this connection. It says here in Revelation chapter 12. Please look at this verse in your Bible.

This is a verse referring to how we overcome Satan. We overcome Satan by the word of our testimony. Do you know that you have to give a testimony to Satan? To tell Satan what you believe.

That's how you overcome him. You believe something in your heart, tell the devil, tell him my sins are forgiven. You can't touch me, Satan.

Satan, you were defeated on the cross by my savior. If you don't confess these things, you cannot overcome him. So what is faith? I believe, therefore I confess.

Can you remember that statement? I believe something in my heart, therefore I confess with my mouth. Okay, here I'm going to tell you eight things that you must remember today. Number one, in John 17 and verse 23.

It's one of the great verses in the Bible. God the father loves me as he loved Jesus Christ. Very often the devil would like to prevent you from knowing how much God loves you.

Here is the very first thing you need to understand. I believe, therefore I confess. I believe that God the father loves me as he loved Jesus.

And so I will always rejoice. Why do I always rejoice? Not because everything is going well for me, not because I get what I want, but because God loves me as he loved Jesus. Therefore I will always rejoice because that never ceases.

That's the number one thing. But it's no use confessing if you don't believe in your heart. I believe it in my heart because God said so.

John 17, 23. God loves me as he loved Jesus, therefore I will always rejoice. Write it down if you're writing it.

For those of you who've got a good memory, well, keep it in your mind. But it's very, very important. That's the very first thing.

If you don't have your faith grounded in God's perfect love for you, your life will shake all the time. All types of things can happen. I mean, I've gone through all types of situations in 65 years of being a Christian, but my faith has never shaken in 65 years because of one reason.

Not because I'm so good, no, but because I know that God loves me just like he loved Jesus. Do you believe that God loved Jesus? I don't think any of you have a doubt about that. John 17, 23 says he loves you as he loved Jesus.

Put your foot on that and say, Lord, I believe that. That sounds unbelievable that a rotten sinner like us, God would love us. That's the greatness of God's love.

He doesn't love perfect people. Jesus said a doctor does not look for healthy people. Doctor comes to heal sick people.

And Jesus said he came not for the righteous, but for sinners. That's what he kept on saying throughout his time on earth. He was called the friend, not a friend of righteous people.

They gave Jesus the title, the friend of sinners. Are you a sinner? Jesus has come to be your friend. God the Father loves you as he loved Jesus.

This is so important. You may think, oh, I know all that. Well, you may think you know that, but your life shakes if you don't believe in it.

So this is the first statement. I believe, therefore I confess. God the Father loves me as he loved Jesus, so I'll always rejoice.

Okay, now I go to the second point. The Bible says in 1 John and chapter 1. 1 John chapter 1 and verse 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to cleanse us from all our sins. So I'm sure that God has forgiven me.

How do I get rid of my sins? 1 John 1 line says we confess our sins. Then God is faithful to forgive me and to cleanse me completely. And there's a word in the New Testament called justified.

It's a word that you might know the meaning of. That's in Romans chapter 5 and verse 1, which says we are justified by faith. I'm sure you've all read that word, but the meaning is God looks at you as if you were righteous always.

He does not only blot out your sin. He does not look at you as a sinner. He looks at you as one who has been forgiven.

Not only forgiven, but justified, declared righteous. That's why we have peace with God, Romans 5.1. If I know that I'm righteous before God, I can come boldly before him. I want to ask you young people a question.

When you pray, think about it honestly and answer. Don't answer to me, answer to yourself. How many of you are absolutely sure that God's listening to you? How many of you are absolutely sure that God's accepted you? That's why he's listening to you.

The devil always makes you feel God's not accepting you. He doesn't love you. That's what did we read in the beginning.

We overcome Satan by the word of our testimony. You have to give your testimony to Satan, not just to other people in the church. I speak to Satan many times.

I've stopped speaking now because he doesn't trouble me anymore. The olden days when he troubled me, I would rebuke him, rebuke him, and speak to him, speak to him. And I don't need to do it so much now.

And it'll be like that in your life. Satan will stop harassing you when he knows sure that your sins are forgiven. And because of that, I will never live in guilt.

God has forgiven all my sins, so I'll never live in guilt anymore for the rest of my life. Okay, number three. God will fill me with his Holy Spirit.

The Bible says that in Romans chapter 8, verse 32, if he did not spare his own son, Romans 8, verse 32, how will he not with him also give us freely everything else? And the greatest gift God can give us is the Holy Spirit. And if when you were a sinner, you didn't ask God to send Jesus to this earth. He sent him to the earth when nobody invited Christ to come.

God will fill you with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I confess, I'll always be strong enough for anything God asks me to do, for every task. So here is what I believe in, and here's what I confess.

God will fill me with his Holy Spirit. Now, are you all sure that if you ask the Lord to fill you with his Holy Spirit, he will fill you? This is not a once-for-all experience. I pray to Jesus to fill me with the Holy Spirit every day.

It's just like we eat our food every day. We need to be strong every day. We need to be fit every day.

You need to ask God, just like you go and have a shower, you need to be clean. We ask God to cleanse us. We must ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit.

It's amazing what God can do through any one of you young people. If you ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit, it's one of the earliest things I kept asking the Lord for when I was a young man. I said, Lord, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

My early 20s, I think the first time I prayed was when I was 21 years or so. I said, Lord, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and I've been praying that prayer ever since. Nowadays, I pray it every day.

I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit every day, because if I'm filled with the Holy Spirit, I will always be strong for any task that God gives me. I can handle anything. I don't know what God wants me to do tomorrow, but I know I can handle it if I'm filled with the Holy Spirit.

With my own cleverness, there's a limited amount I can do, and what I do may mess up God's work, but I'm filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will guide me what I should say, even when witnessing to people. You see, I believe all of you should pray that God will make you his witness to your friends and your relatives as you get opportunity.

Basically, we're all shy, hesitant to speak about Jesus to other people, afraid. Afraid they'll make fun of us or something like that. I'm not saying that we should go and speak to everybody you know, but pray that God will give you an opening to speak to somebody.

Why don't you pray like that? You've got friends. You've got relatives. Why don't you pray, Lord, will you give me an opening to tell some of them about Jesus who has saved my life, and to get the boldness for that, you must ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit.

So here's the third confession. God will fill me with his Holy Spirit. Therefore, I'll be strong enough for anything that God asks me to do.

There are a lot of commands in the Bible which are very difficult to obey, but God will fill you with the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, he can't do it. You know, if a father sends his little boy to the store to buy something, don't you think the father will give him the money? Son, here's ten dollars.

Go and buy this from the store. He won't send him to the store without giving him the money. How in the world do you think God will tell you to do something without giving you the power of his Holy Spirit? That's the devil who doesn't let you know that.

God will definitely give you the power of the Holy Spirit. Please believe this, my brothers and sisters. Okay, let's go to number four.

Many of us are complaining about our situation, and we are discontented. So remember that God has determined all my boundaries. I want you to see a verse in Acts of the Apostles.

Let's look at Psalm 139. That's the best thing. In Psalm 139, it says in verse 13 that God formed us in our mother's womb, and when he formed us in our mother's womb, he saw verse 16, my unformed substance, and he knew what my limitations were going to be, and he decided where I'm going to live and what I'm going to be.

And now we can turn to Acts chapter, Acts of the Apostles, chapter 17. It says here in verse 26, Acts 17, verse 26, you see the word boundary here. You know what a boundary is, a circle around a property or something like that.

And it says here that the last part, God has determined the boundaries for all of us. That means he's decided how much of an influence I can have, how many people I should know, how many abilities I should have as a human being. We read in Psalm 139, God planned us when you were in your mother's womb.

He gave you, equipped you with certain abilities when you were in your mother's womb. Let's read Psalm 139 sometime. I didn't have time to read the whole Psalm.

When each of you, think of this, when you were in a wee little embryo inside your mother's womb, God equipped you with certain abilities because he had a plan for you as you grew up. So you don't have to compare yourself with somebody else. When that fellow was born, was inside his mother's womb or her mother's womb, God equipped them with certain abilities because he had a different plan for them, and he has a different plan for you and me.

I believe that when I was in my mother's womb, God equipped me with certain things. He equipped me with a certain amount of intelligence in my mind and ability to remember certain things. That's not my ability.

God determined that because he had a plan for my life. And if you can believe that, you know, you won't have any complaint against God if you understand this, that from your mother's womb he's equipped you and as you've grown up he wants to use that ability that he's given you so you can be his witness. God has determined your boundaries, so therefore don't compare yourself with somebody else.

So many people say, I wish I was as good looking as that person, or I wish I was as tall as that person. Some people say I'm too tall, some people say I'm too short. God has determined all my physical boundaries, and then some people compare themselves with other people whose parents are richer.

Oh, his parents are so rich, they can get so many things for them, but my parents are so poor. Listen, God decided that. He drew a financial boundary around your home.

You should be born in a home that has so much income. But all of you are a hundred times better than all the poor people I've worked with in India. You know, sometimes you can look at rich people and say, oh, I wish I had like that.

Some of you should go to India and see some of the very, very fine believers in the religions I've worked with who don't have even one percent of what you have in your home. So quickly the devil makes us complain, I don't have this, because he makes you compare yourself with somebody who has more than you. Go and see pictures of those who have less than you.

If you go to the internet, you'll find pictures of people in poor countries who have a hundred times less than what you have. God has determined your boundary. He's given you much more than all of them.

So don't ever complain. Be content with what you have. Always be content, otherwise the devil will get power over you.

Don't compare yourself with somebody who was more gifted. God gifts some people with the ability to speak or to do certain things. They're clever in their mind to get a certain type of job.

Maybe you are not so clever. It doesn't matter. God's not looking for computer scientists and great scholars in his church.

He'll enable you with the abilities he has given you to earn your living and to fulfill his plan on this earth. So please remember this, because this is one area where so many young people don't openly complain. They wish in their mind, I wish I were a little fairer and too dark.

Who decided you should be dark? God. Or who decided you should be short, shorter than others? God. Who decided that your intelligence should not be as much as somebody else's? God.

But do you think he made a mistake? He has not made a mistake. He has a particular plan for your life. Do you know what the height of the Apostle Paul was? You don't know.

4 feet 11 inches. History tells us that. All of you are taller than the Apostle Paul.

Are you afraid you're short? Okay, let me tell you something else about Paul. He was bald. 4 feet 11.

Bald. Young people don't like to be bald. Nobody likes it.

You like to have a full head of hair. Another thing about Paul, he had a hooked nose. It wasn't straight like ours.

A hooked nose, bald, 4 feet 11 inches. That's the man that turned the world upside down with his preaching. Would you like to be like him? You read about the Apostle Paul in the Bible and say, oh, I wish I could be like the Apostle Paul.

Yeah. I think God made him like that because he knew he's got such a mighty ministry for him that he shouldn't become proud of his good looks or his handsome and tallness and the other. Sometimes God does certain things so that we don't ruin ourselves with pride.

So I want to say to you, dear brothers and sisters, God decided your height, your intelligence, the color of your skin, what family you should be born in, what your dad's income should be, what education he can afford to give you. Name it. How capable you are.

You know, you hear somebody in music, you hear some people can sing well and you can't. Never mind. God decided that.

Somebody can play an instrument and you can't. Don't worry about it. If you can learn an instrument, well and good.

But if you can't learn it, never mind. Learn this one lesson. God has determined my boundaries.

So I will always, always be content with what God has given me. I'll use whatever God has given me. And if you're content like that, God will be able to fulfill all his purpose through your life.

But God, the devil always wants you to compare yourself with others. One of the most foolish things you young people can do. Will you listen to me? One of the most foolish things you young people can do is to compare yourself with somebody else.

Even in a camp like this, you can compare yourself with others and wish you were like somebody else. Finish with it when you go from this camp. Lord, I'll never compare myself with anybody else.

I will always be thankful and always be content with the way you made me. Okay, I've got to rest through these things, but you can go through them afterwards and meditate on them. Number five, every command of God is for my good and therefore I will always obey them.

Let me turn you to 1 John and chapter 5 and verse 3. 1 John chapter 5 verse 3 says, This is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not a burden. Do any of you feel that God's commands are a burden, a heavy weight that he's put on your head? That's a lie of the devil. Now do you know when John the apostle wrote this letter? He was 95 years old when he wrote this letter and he had walked with God for 65 years and he'd lived a spirit-filled life and his testimony is, listen to his testimony, after 65 years of obeying God, I want to tell you fellow something, God's commands are not a burden.

I mean some young fellow saying that we can say, oh he doesn't have any experience. John is saying it at the age of 95 and saying after 65 years of experience, I'm telling you God's commands are not a burden. Doesn't the devil always tell you, oh it is so hard to obey this command, so hard to obey that command.

It's a lie of the devil. Then he won't have faith that you can obey them. So here's number five, God's commands are all for my good.

Everything he commands you. Turn with me to Romans chapter 8 verse 28 and 29. God causes everything to work together for good to those who love him, who are called according to his purpose and that good is in verse 29, that we might become like Jesus, conformed to the image of his son.

So everything that God plans is to make you like Christ, which is the, what is the greatest good that God can do for you? It's not to make you a millionaire. A lot of millionaires are unhappy and commit suicide. No, the greatest good that God can do for you is to make you like Jesus Christ, where you can be a people on this earth before you leave.

I'll tell you that. You don't have to make a lot of money. God can fulfill his purpose through you and he's equipped you for it.

I told you he's determined your boundaries. Every command of God is for your good. Therefore you must say, I'm going to obey all of God's commands because they are for my good.

You know how people want to eat food that is good for their health? Sometimes parents tell you this, eat this, this is good for your health. Some foods are not so tasty, but they're good for your health. You take them.

God's commands are all for our good and therefore I want to obey all of God's commandments always. Do you find some commandment in the Bible which is, hey, how can I obey that? Well, if you believe that they're all for your good, you will obey them. That's one of the great things that has helped me in my life to know that every command that Jesus gave, every command that the Holy Spirit given in the New Testament is for my good.

Sometimes little children don't understand what their parents say is good for them, but as they grow up, they realize some of you and your little children, you may not have understood why your parents told you not to do certain things. But as you grow up, you understand that the more we grow, the more we realize that a lot of advice that our parents gave us was for our good. How much more God, everything that God has commanded in Scripture.

If you can believe this, my dear young brothers and sisters, if you can believe that everything written in the Bible is for your good, every command, you know what will happen? Your attitude will be, then I want to obey all of God's commandments always. I never want to disobey God's command. For example, never to tell a lie.

There's no situation where telling a lie will bring you better success. Perhaps a short time in the world, you can get some advantage by telling a lie, but in the long run, it will ruin you. Every lie that you ever say will ruin you in some way.

It's like taking a little bit of poison. You won't die with a little bit of poison, but you keep on taking it, it'll kill you. Telling a lie is like taking just a tiny bit of poison.

And yet, there are many, even many Christians who in a very difficult situation, they'll tell a lie. The person who loves God will say, God's told me never to tell a lie because the Bible says Satan is a liar. Let me show you John's gospel chapter eight.

I mentioned this because telling lies is a very common thing among most people, even older people, even many Christians. They don't believe that God's command don't tell lies is good for them. John chapter eight and verse 44.

In the last part, it says, whoever speaks a lie speaks from the devil's nature because he's a liar. See verse 44, your father is the devil. John 8 44 and towards the end of that verse, he says that Satan is a liar and the father of lies.

Did you know that? When you tell a lie, who's the father of that lie? Satan. He managed to get a hold of your mind to convince you to tell a lie in that situation. Now, if you allow the devil to get in, it's like allowing a serpent, a snake to bite you.

Aren't you a foolish person if you open yourself to get bitten by a snake? It's like that. You must believe that when God tells you to speak the truth, it's for your good. I have experienced many situations in my life.

You know, I've been a Christian for 65 years when I could have told a lie and got away with it. I'd have ruined myself. I'm thankful that I spoke the truth.

It became difficult because of that. Never mind something good came out of it. Always.

I've been in many situations. I remember once when some religious people took me to court and the lawyer said, I want to tell you, I want you to tell a lie. I said, never, I'll never tell a lie.

I'm never going to tell a lie to escape anything. I'll speak the truth. And when I spoke the truth, I found God delivered me.

He'll deliver you. I tell you, God is on your side when you speak the truth. God's commands are all for your good.

So always obey God's command. Number six, God controls all the people and events that affect my life. And therefore I will always give thanks.

God is in control of all the people. In the book of Job, there's a verse in the book of Job, Job chapter 23 and verse 10. There's a translation of this in the living Bible, I think it is, which says, God knows every detail of what is happening to you.

Do you believe that? That he controls all the people and events that affect you. Like in that verse we read in Romans 8, 28, God causes everything to work for our good if we love him. Now, how can he do that unless he controls all the people and circumstances that come into your life? Every single person and circumstance that comes into your life, God is in control of it.

You must believe that. And if you believe it, you'll be thanking him in every situation, even it looks as if this is going to turn against you, but it'll work for your good. It's a great promise in Romans 28.

God causes everything to work for good. It doesn't look as if it's going to be for your good. God makes it work for your good.

Let me give you an example in the Old Testament. Well, these Old Testament stories are wonderful. You know the story of Joseph, how he became the second ruler to Pharaoh.

And remember those days, Pharaoh was the ruler of the whole world. The most powerful, not the whole world, but he was the most powerful ruler in the world. And to be second to him, what a powerful position that was.

But do you know how Joseph got there? You know that story in Genesis. He had 10 brothers who hated him, jealous of him, and wanted to kill him. Think of that.

Do you have people who are jealous of you and hate you? Okay, think of the story of Joseph. And they were so evil that they sold him off as a slave to some traders. His own brothers sold him as a slave to traders who took him to Egypt and sold him as a slave over there.

And there as a slave, some evil lady told lies about him and got him locked up in jail. What all evil. First of all, his brothers turn against him, sell him off as a slave.

And there when he goes as a slave, he works hard, but some evil woman accuses him falsely and puts him in jail. And he's sitting in jail. And you know how long he sat in that jail? 13 years.

He went as a young man 17 years away. Younger than most of you. But he trusted God.

Joseph is a great example for young people. Hated by his brothers, sold as a slave, falsely accused, locked up in jail for 13 years. And there he did not grumble.

He was good to people in the jail. The others who were there, he encouraged them. And one day, God opened the door for him to come before Pharaoh.

Yeah, I don't have time to tell you the whole story. You know the story you read it in Genesis, how Pharaoh appointed him as the second ruler in Egypt. Now when you read these stories, remember what I'm just telling you.

God controls all the people and events that affect me. Therefore, I will always give thanks. If Joseph could have seen the end, he would have thanked God.

Thank you Lord that my brothers have sold me as a slave. I'm going to go to Egypt. Thank you Lord that this lady is accusing me.

I'll go to prison. In the prison, I'll meet Pharaoh's butler who will give me an introduction to Pharaoh. If he could see the future, he'd have been giving thanks all along.

The things written in the Bible are to encourage us to believe that God causes everything to work for our good. Okay, number seven. This is very important to understand that Jesus defeated Satan on the cross.

Many people know that Jesus took our sins on the cross, but they don't know that Satan was defeated on the cross as well. In Colossians chapter 2, there are two things mentioned that happened on the cross. Colossians 2 14 and 15.

The letter to the Colossians chapter 2 verse 14. First of all, it says he took away the debt of our sin on the cross. That's the first thing he did.

He cancelled. You know, sin is like a debt. Supposing you have a debt of a hundred thousand dollars to somebody.

You're always wondering, how will I be able to pay? This guy will lock me up in jail. I don't have money to pay. And somebody pays your debt.

Boy, what a freedom that'll be in your heart. I've like a debt. Many of you don't realize every time you sin, you're in debt to God.

And think of all the sins you committed in your life like a huge debt sitting on your head. And Jesus paid that debt on the cross. That's the first thing he did on the cross.

He cancelled out verse 14. The debt that you owe to God, nailed it to the cross. It's gone.

You're not in debt anymore. And then verse 15. The second thing he did on the cross was he disarmed the rulers and authorities and triumphed over them.

Those are the evil rulers, Satan and all his forces. They were not killed. Satan is still alive.

But they were disarmed means their armor or their weapons with which they could harm you were all taken away from them. Satan cannot harm you because his weapons were taken away on the cross. He was disarmed.

You know the meaning of disarmed? His armor was taken away. He's like a snake that's not killed, but has been knocked unconscious. Satan is not dead.

But he's not able to harm a child of God because his power has been taken away. As far as God's people are concerned, Satan has no power over them. I don't know whether you folks believe this.

It'll make a tremendous difference in your life. I know when I believe it, it completely changed my attitude to Satan. For many years, I was afraid of the devil.

I'm not afraid of the devil now. I know the Lord told me as the devil is afraid of you. Do you believe that you can come to the place where the devil is afraid of you? I believe that.

You believe that the devil runs away from you? Let me show you that in James. That's for you also. I'm not just thinking of myself.

James chapter four, how to make the devil run away from you. James four, verse seven, very two sentences. Submit completely to God.

Resist the devil. He will run away from you. Isn't that in your Bible? Don't try to resist him if you don't submit to God.

First, submit to God completely. Say, Lord Jesus, I'm giving my whole life completely to you. That's what I said.

And I believe that when you died on the cross, you defeated Satan completely. And it says here, I have to resist him. I say to Satan, in Jesus name, Satan, I resist you.

You have to run away from me. You're not going to walk away. You're going to run away from me.

When you find yourself in a situation, whether in school or college or in your home or with anybody who's trying to trouble you, it's the devil who's using them to trouble you. You quietly go to some corner and say, Satan, I resist you in Jesus name. When there's a fight going on in your house, go to some corner and resist the devil and bind him and cast him out in Jesus name.

Why don't you do that? You've got authority. If you're a child of God and your sins are forgiven and you submit your whole life to God, it says here, submit to God. Resist the devil.

He will run away from you. That's what the Lord told me. As you were afraid of the devil once, now the devil is afraid of you.

Isn't it wonderful, you young brothers and sisters, if you can say the devil is afraid of you? You say that's a very daring thing to say. Yes, it's in the Bible. Who's the one who runs away? The devil will run away from you because you're like the lion and the devil runs away from you.

Therefore, I will never be afraid. No fear at all because Jesus has delivered us from the power of Satan. Satan was defeated completely on the cross.

So my confession is Jesus defeated Satan and freed me from his power. So I will never be afraid. Okay, the last one.

God wants to make me a blessing, so I will be a blessing to others. I want you to turn to Galatians in chapter 3. In Galatians chapter 3, do you know that Jesus became a curse when he hung on the cross? A curse. Jesus died for our sins, we can understand.

But that Jesus became a curse on the cross, a curse by God because of our sin. We don't understand fully how much Jesus suffered for us on the cross. Galatians 3 13 says he became a curse.

Have you read that? Not just that he was cursed, he became a curse for your sake and mine. Why did he become a curse? Verse 14, so that the blessing of Abraham might come upon us through the Holy Spirit, through the promise of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes in, when you ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit, you know what you get? The blessing of Abraham.

Blessing is the opposite of curse, you know that. Curse and blessing are opposite. Jesus took the curse so that you can get the blessing, so that we can get the blessing.

And the blessing is the Holy Spirit coming in and filling us and giving us the blessing of Abraham. Now I want to show you what the blessing of Abraham is. Please turn with me to Genesis chapter 12.

Genesis 12 and verse 2, in the middle of verse 2. I will bless you and you will be a blessing. Just two sentences. I will bless you, that's you'll fill you with the Holy Spirit and you will be a blessing from your life.

The Spirit will bless and help many other people. So I want to conclude there. You must believe with all your heart that God, even though he may be very weak and feel very unsure of yourself and feel very inferior to others, God wants to make you a blessing.

So you confess, I will always be a blessing to others. I won't be a nuisance to others. I will be a blessing to others.

What a wonderful way to conclude. So let us think of all these things once again. Let's start with number one and go through the whole list.

Remember you have to say, I believe, therefore I confess. If you don't believe, no, you're just blindly repeating it. Okay, number one, God the Father loves me as he loved Jesus.

So I will always rejoice. Number two, God has forgiven me all my sins. So I will never, n-e-v-e-r, never live with guilt.

Number three, God will fill me with his Holy Spirit. Why not? You're his child. Jesus said, if people ask their father for bread, the father will give them bread.

How much more the heavenly father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. So I will always be strong enough for every task. Without the power of the Holy Spirit, I can't do everything God wants me to do.

Come on, God's commands are difficult, but God give me the power of the Holy Spirit to do it. Number four, God has determined all my boundaries around me. How I should be, what I should have, what I shouldn't have, he's decided it.

And therefore I will always be content and never, never complain about anything in my life. Number five, God's commands are all for my good. And so I want to obey all of God's commands.

If something is for your good, won't you take it? If you believe God's commands are all for my good, I'll obey them. Okay, number six, God controls all the people and the events that affect me, the things that happen in your life, circumstances, people. And if God is controlling it, it must be for your good.

So I will always give thanks because God is in control. Our father who art in heaven. Okay, number seven, Jesus defeated Satan and freed me from his power.

So I will never be afraid. On contrary, Satan will be afraid of me. Jesus defeated Satan and freed me from his power.

I confess that. Therefore, I will never be afraid. And the last one, God wants to make me a blessing.

So I will always be a blessing to others. I will not be a nuisance as I've been in the past. I will be a blessing.

My dear young people, can you imagine what your life will be like if you really believe these things in your heart and keep on confessing them? And this becomes a way of life with you, where your confession is what you believe deep in your heart. You don't have to always say it with your lips, but if you're tempted in some situation, don't hesitate to give a testimony to Satan. What did we read in Revelation 12, verse 11? They overcame Satan by their testimony.

Many of us know what it is to get up in a meeting and give a testimony in the church. How many of you have given a testimony to Satan? I give my testimony to Satan all the time. I say, Satan, you can't touch me.

I belong to Jesus Christ. You can't do anything to harm me. Nothing that you can do will ever hinder God's purpose in my life.

What is the worst thing that the devil ever did on this earth? Can you think of what is the worst thing the devil ever did on this earth? I'll tell you. Crucifying Jesus Christ. That's the worst thing.

Okay, let me ask you, what is the best thing that ever happened on this earth? The crucifixion of Jesus Christ. You see how the worst thing that the devil did, God turned it to be the best thing for us. That is a message that comes through the cross.

Many people get only one message on the cross. Christ died for my sins. Here's another message that comes from the cross.

Listen carefully. The worst thing that the devil did, God could turn it to be the very best thing for humanity. So the worst thing that the devil can do to you, God will turn to be the very best for you and for others through you.

So these are things that we must believe in our heart first and then confess it. Don't repeat it blindly. List them down.

Keep it in a written on a piece of paper with you and inside your Bible and look at them often. All these eight points and say, Lord, I believe this and I'm going to confess it with my mouth. Confess it every day if you like.

It can change your life completely. Bow heads in prayer. Will you pray that God will make all these things real to you and they'll be written in your heart so that in the time of need, you know, sometimes God speaks to us in a meeting and some months later in a time of need, it'll come back to your mind.

Remember, faith is not something that must remain in your heart. You must confess it with your mouth. Then only the two wires touch and electricity flows through and the light comes on.

Very often what you believed in your heart, you have not confessed with your mouth. To whom should you confess it? Confess it to the devil. Confess it to yourself so that you have faith.

Speak with your mouth. I believe God loves me. I believe he's forgiven my sins.

I believe he will fill me with the Holy Spirit. I believe God's controlled all my circumstances and boundaries. His commands are for my good.

I confess it. I confess that God is in control of all the events and people in my life. I confess that Jesus has defeated Satan on the cross.

I'll never be afraid. He wants to make me a blessing to everybody. I tell you, it'll make a world of difference.

You believe in your heart first and confess these things. Again, let me say, don't just believe it and keep it there. The two wires must touch your heart and your mouth.

Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth. Heavenly Father, I pray for all these lovely young people. I pray their lives will be completely changed from today as they take these truths in your word and apply them in their lives.

I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you all for listening to me patiently.

God bless you all. Make your lives a blessing to others. Thank you.