MESSAGE 3
"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou" ON TARGET SPIRITUALLY. -- (PART 1)
Judges 20:16 "Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss."
When I was a lad, lost in the world, the home team was behind by 1 point at the basketball game with just seconds left to play. One of our boys got the ball and dribbled to about mid-court and threw up a desperation shot. Our eyes were glued on that ball...would it be on target and bring victory for Payette, or would it miss and bring victory for the opposing team? I have your attention now, don't I? But the fact of the matter is, who won that game was of little importance, while whether one is "on target" spiritually is eternally important. Young people who concentrate on worldly targets often "miss it" eternally. But, yes, Sherman Swisher, the Payette lad, made "a swisher" and Payette won the game. Pandemonium broke loose! We yelled and screamed in exultation, and went home just as lost and "off target" eternally as before that ball went through the center of the hoop.
I remember also, when we were swerving so far astray from the heavenly mark, listening to a radio program which played new, popular songs and the M.C. would ask a panel of judges: "Will it be a Hit, or a Miss?" Once again, it really didn't matter what it was. As a matter of fact, young people, generally whatever is a Hit with the world is a Miss with God.
Now-a-days I have been known to "whoop it up" when someone hits the target spiritually at an altar of prayer. Of course while the world "goes wild" when their man hits the mark athletically, they think us insane for getting even slightly excited when the one we have been praying for "strikes fire" spiritually at the altar. Poor, deluded world! Young person, we'd better be a miss in the eyes of the world if that's what it takes to be a hit with God.
David did not miss when he slung that stone at Goliath, and, with one exception, he was "on target" spiritually all through his life. Saul, on the other hand, not only missed the target when
he threw javelins at David, but he "missed it" most of the time throughout his life and probably forever. Young person, be thou "on target" spiritually, and consider these facts about being so:
Being "on target" spiritually concentrates on [STRIKING THE SOURCE]: "I will smite the king only: and I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace." 2 Sam. 17:2-3 Here we see that one man, the king, was the source of the opposition, and Ahithophel counseled Absalom to concentrate on striking him. It was for a bad cause in this case, but it was good counsel nonetheless. Young person, don't concentrate first on the perimeter of your spiritual problem, but aim at the center of your need. Behind every symptom is a source. Strike at getting rid of the source. The source of fear is often guilt; behind sinning is rebellion; beneath carnal uprisings is the old man; in back of the smoke screen of confusion is falsehood, and the fountain of anxiety is doubt. You will miss the mark unless you aim straight at the source of your problem.
Being "on target" spiritually eliminates [SYMPTOMS]: "the man whom thour seekest is as if all the people returned.." Two wordly friends visited Coney Island, and the last attraction they went to was a shooting gallery where they had celluloid balls being bounce up and down on jets of water. A man worked a mechanical pump and the marksman was to take a certain number of shots at those balls to see how many he could knock down. The first of the two friends fired every one of his shots and didn't hit even one of those elusive, bouncing balls. Then, his friend took careful aim, fired one shot, and every one of those balls disappeared! His companion said: "Bill, that's the best shooting I ever saw on earth! How in the world did you do it!?" Bill replied: "I shot the fellow working the pump!" Ha Ha! Take that story "with a grain of salt," but anyway, it illustrates how striking at the source eliminates symptoms, if your're catching on. When the man working the pump was eliminated, than all the uprising symptoms of his work were eliminated with him. And, so it is when the old man is eliminated, or any other source of a spiritual problem.
Striking the source not only eliminates symptoms immediately and totally, it also eliminates them eternally. You remember how the Philistines shaved Samson's hair, but didn't destroy the source of that hair on his head--the roots. As a result, in time "the hairs of his head began to grow again after he was shaven." Judges 16:22 They shaved Samson, but he regained his strength and slew them! Its the same way with the old man of indwelling sin, children. If you just shave off the symptoms of carnality without getting the roots destroyed he will regain his power over you, rise up and pull your spiritual house down on top of you. Don't take the old man to the barbershop for a haircut. Take him to the cross for an execution! Then his symptoms will die forever with him! Consider this scripture: "out of the Serpent's root shall come forth...a fiery flying serpent...I will kill thy root." Hallelujah! Jesus will slay the serpent's root in you and then you will no longer explode like lying serpent yourself when your carnality is crossed, agitated, and ignited! Isa. 14:29-30
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