How can a young man cleanse his way

“How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word” Psalm 119: 9 ADOLESCENCE

Biblical Guidance Through the ADOLESCENCE

“Adolescence” Lat. adulescens “growing up, not yet come to full growth, youth” (Lewis & Short).

“Adolescence” “The state or period… extending from about fourteen to twenty-five years of age in man and from twelve to twenty-one in woman” New Century Dictionary of the English Language

The Latin Vulgate “For childhood [adolescentia] and youth are vanity” (Ecclesiastes 11: 10 b). “Train up [adulescens] a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22: 6).

“In Bible times there was no transition period from childhood to adulthood. As children they worked hard at chores and were responsible for helping their family survive. They married young; they had to work to survive; and they had a shorter lifespan. Because we are healthier, better cared for and nourished, adolescence today begins earlier and lasts longer. ” Jerry W. Pounds, Sr. Hormones in Tennis Shoes , pg. 10

The Roman Empire “Law fixed marriageable age [for women] at twelve years, and custom made it fourteen. When a girl passed her nineteenth year she was no longer, under ordinary circumstance, eligible for marriage” Roman Life in Pliny’s Time, “Women and Marriage”

India & Saharan Africa Over 50% of women marry between 15 -19 Women in the World: An International Atlas , Seager & Olson, 14 -15

Laura left home and started her job as a school teacher… At Fifteen years old!

Challenges of Adolescence Not a Child – Not Yet an Adult

“I sometimes want to live in both worlds. I know in the long run God’s the best choice but I want to be a teenager and experience life and make my own choices even if they aren’t the best”(Pounds).

Challenges of Adolescence Not a Child – Not Yet an Adult Peer Pressure

“As a Christian, I sometimes get left out of certain activities, therefore, my group of friends has changed. Some of my friends don’t accept how I am ‘good. ’ And it can really be hard in such a party city” (Pounds).

“An intemperate youth brings to old age a worn-out body” Cicero, De Senectute , ix, sec. 29 ADOLESCENCE

“Become old early if you wish to stay old long” Cato the Censor, De Re Rustica, quoted by Cicero in De Senectute , c. 10, sec. 32 ADOLESCENCE

Challenges of Adolescence Not a Child – Not Yet an Adult Peer Pressure Establishing a Secure Identity

Questions Teenagers Ask Themselves 1. Who Am I? (Struggle for Identity) 2. What Attitudes Will I Choose? (Struggle with Responsibility) 3. Whose Rules Will I Respect? (Struggle with Authority) 4. Which Lifestyle Will I Adopt? (A Struggle with Conformity). Chuck Swindoll, The Strong Family

Challenges of Adolescence Not a Child – Not Yet an Adult Peer Pressure Establishing a Secure Identity Generational Conflicts

“It’s all that the young can do for the old, to shock them and keep them up to date. ” George Bernard Shaw Fanny’s First Play 1911 ADOLESCENCE

“In the old there is no taste, in the young no insight” Babylonian Talmud, Shabath, fo. 89 b ADOLESCENCE

Biblical Guidance to Adolescents 1 The Example of Joseph – Genesis 39: 1 -5 “ 1 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. 2 The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3 And his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand…”

Biblical Guidance to Adolescents 1 The Example of Joseph – Genesis 39: 1 -5 “. . . 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority. 5 So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had in the house and in the field. ”

“The LORD was with Joseph” (vs. 2 a). • “He was a successful man” (vs. 2 b). • “The Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake” (vs. 5). The Lord had promised him that his family would bow before him (Genesis 37: 5 -11).

Biblical Guidance to Adolescents 2 Example of Rehoboam – 1 Kings 12: 1 -11 “ 1 And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. 2 So it happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (he was still in Egypt, for he had fled from the presence of King Solomon and had been dwelling in Egypt), 3 that they sent and called him. Then Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying…”

Biblical Guidance to Adolescents 2 Example of Rehoboam – 1 Kings 12: 1 -11 “… 4 ‘Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you. ’ 5 So he said to them, ‘Depart for three days, then come back to me. ’ And the people departed. 6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, and he said, ‘How do you advise me to answer these people? ’…”

Biblical Guidance to Adolescents 2 Example of Rehoboam – 1 Kings 12: 1 -11 “… 7 And they spoke to him, saying, ‘If you will be a servant to these people today, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever. ’ 8 But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. 9 And he said to them, ‘What advice do you give? How should we answer this people who …”

Biblical Guidance to Adolescents 2 Example of Rehoboam – 1 Kings 12: 1 -11 “… ‘have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’? ’ 10 Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, ‘Thus you should speak to this people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us’ —thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist!’…”

Biblical Guidance to Adolescents 2 Example of Rehoboam – 1 Kings 12: 1 -11 “… 11 ‘And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!’”

“So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God” James 1: 19 -20 ADOLESCENCE

“It becomes a young man to be modest” Plautus Asinaria l. 833 ADOLESCENCE

“Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits. ’” 1 Corinthians 15: 33 ADOLESCENCE

Biblical Guidance to Adolescents 3 Example of Josiah - 2 Chronicles 34: 1 -3 “ 1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. 2 And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David; …”

Biblical Guidance to Adolescents 3 Example of Josiah - 2 Chronicles 34: 1 -3 “…and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images. ”

Biblical Guidance to Adolescents 4 Example of Daniel – Daniel 1: 8 “ 8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. ”

“ 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” Romans 12: 1 -2 ADOLESCENCE NON-CONFORMITY

What You Say… “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers” Ephesians 4: 29 ADOLESCENCE NON-CONFORMITY

What You Do… “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. ” Hebrews 13: 4 ADOLESCENCE NON-CONFORMITY

What You Put into Your Body… “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” 1 Peter 5: 8 ADOLESCENCE NON-CONFORMITY

What You Put on Your Body… “…Adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing” 1 Timothy 2: 9 ADOLESCENCE NON-CONFORMITY

Biblical Guidance to Adolescents 5 Example of Jesus – Luke 2: 51 -52 “ 51 Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. ”

“Youth is meant to obey and old age to rule” Plutarch Moralia, Old Men in Public Affairs. Sec. 789 e ADOLESCENCE

“A child costs the parents many, many dollars along the way for clothes, food, doctor’s bills, school expenses, and many other such things, but he should not be made to feel any debt for the expenses except the debt of gratitude. If he has shown that gratitude by his big smiles and a hug now and then, and if he has been obedient and trustworthy, he has paid his way, and the parents feel the wish that they could do more instead of less for him. ” Irvin Lee, Good Homes in a Wicked World 76

“ 1 But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: 2 that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience” Titus 2: 1, 2. ADOLESCENCE PATIENCE

“ 6 Likewise exhort the young men to be sober-minded, 7 in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, 8 sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you” Titus 2: 6 -8 ADOLESCENCE SELF-CONTROL

“ 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love” 2 Peter 1: 5 -7 ADOLESCENCE SELF-CONTROL

“ 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. …” 2 Peter 1: 8 -10 ADOLESCENCE SELF-CONTROL

“… 10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble” 2 Peter 1: 8 -10 SELF-CONTROL ADOLESCENCE