If I Could Start All Over: Six Lessons for Your Twenties

the following resources from desiring gorg six things that I would do if I were twenty-two again in 20 minutes number one if I were twenty-two again I would marry a radical risk-taking go anywhere for Jesus world Christian woman in fact I would marry Noel Henry not long after we met when I was 20 I was head-over-heels in love already talking about marriage three weeks into this relationship and said if God called me to be a missionary to Africa would you go she said yes I would see myself called to be by your side wherever we

married when I was 22 and my first job was teaching in college and when I was 33 I felt the irresistible call to be a pastor and I asked her the morning after that meeting with God if she would support me in that and she said yes one year into that ministry I was so discouraged I put my face in my hands at the dining room table she was in the bedroom I said out loud pretty serious I think I'm going to Africa and she didn't miss a beat from the other room and said tell

me when to pack this released this is really significant that you married the right woman four years into that ministry we weathered that discouragement I said to her one day when God had met us in World Missions powerfully at the church I said what if we invited everybody from the church who was interested in missions to come over on Friday night they was put him on the living room dining room and see if we can inspire them and she said sure let's do that and 100 people showed up and and twice a year for 20

years we had a hundred people in our living room down room and took old furniture and put it upstairs in the bedroom that's a lot of work and women don't like their houses intruded upon like that usually so lesson for you pray unless you're called a singleness pray that your future or present spouse be a radical risk-taking go anywhere for Jesus world Christians that's number one number two if I were twenty-two again I would take that young wife of mine and join a Bible believing Bible preaching Bible structured Bible obedient church and I would take

her to church every Sunday morning without fail and we would throw ourselves into the Ministry of that local church in the hope that that community of believers would care for us and guard us and help us discover our gifts at age twenty two three four and then catapult us into a lifetime of ministry so we joined Lake Avenue Congregational Church in Pasadena California when we were I was 22 she was 21 and she discovered a gift for working with mentally disabled adults and I discovered a gift teaching by teaching seventh grade boys the first year

in ninth grade boys the second year and the young Galilean merits Sunday school class the third year and that Deacon group took hold on me and Glen Dawson laid hold of me and watched over me for three years sent me to Germany for three years watched me at Bethlem for a year brought me out and they ordained me seven years later that's a relationship you cannot overestimate so lesson for you find a Bible believing Bible preaching Bible structured Bible obedient church join it serve it discover your gifts their be accountable to that community as they

help you discover and follow God's call on your life number three if I were twenty-two again I would go to seminary and I would spend three or four years totally immersed in the most rigorous study of the Greek and Hebrew that I could possibly find for a lifetime of fruitful discovery of the glories of Christ in the Word of God in such a way that I would never waver no matter what in my commitment to believe and speak whatever the Bible teaches wherever God puts me I would not prioritize in seminary practical courses and no

as valuable as those are but every chance I got I would prioritize taking exegetical courses because of my conviction at age 72 and I would put it back on that 22 year old that in general practical skills are learned better in the on-the-job in the church and deepening and sharpening of exegetical skills for a lifetime a fruitful reading are best accomplished in a rigorous give-and-take classroom setting with the watchful eye of a skilled teacher lesson for you whether you're a 10-7 Airy or not become as Bible saturated as you can putting yourself under the influence

of the most insightful Bible teachers both dead and alive number four if I were twenty-two again I would resolve to read my Bible every day for the rest of my life as more important than eating or getting exercise or kissing my wife there have been about eighteen thousand three hundred and forty days since I turned 22 and I think I have read my Bible on more of those days than I have eaten I have certainly read my Bible on more of those days than I have watched television or videos and I am also certain that

I have read my Bible on more of those days than I have kissed my wife because she doesn't go with me on the road usually like here and my Bible does always does never leave my Bible leave my wife not my Bible but I have learned a few things about reading the Bible that I didn't know when I was 22 and I would form my resolve at any to like at 22 like this I resolve every day to read my Bible and not to settle for a hazy vague awareness of it but push through the

haze to the wording itself and I would push into and through the wording of the text itself to the intention of the author's human and divine and I would push through the intention to the reality behind the words and the grammar and the logic and I would push into that reality until it was an emotionally experienced reality of a push into and through that emotionally proportional reality until it became a word and a D on my life and I would push through that deed and that word until other people saw the reality and join me

in my encounter with God in the Bible that's why I would formulate my resolution to read the Bible every day nothing is revealed more quickly on the mission field than a superficial encounter with the Living God and the glorious realities he has revealed in Scripture superficial Bible reading that does not penetrate through the words and intentions and reality and experience to deed and life and an encounter with the Living God will be of little use on the mission field in the face of massive demonic forces among the unreached peoples you won't survive lesson 4 you

read your Bible every day every day of your life no exceptions never say I'll read it if I have time if you have time for breakfast if you have time for breakfast you have time for your Bible skip breakfast don't get your Bible reading pleasure from the fact that your conscience is clear because you check the Bible box get your pleasure from reading the Bible because of an encounter a meeting of fellowship with the Living supernatural reality that you meet in the scriptures number five if I were twenty-two again I would become a Christian hedonist

which I did and would do again that is I would seek to find more joy in God than anything else in the world for the sake of personal holiness perseverance through pain and promotion of the glory of God that's why I would become a Christian hedonist that is I would get clarity and certainty around the sentence God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him I would nail that sentence and I would either believe it or not believe it and if I believed it I would go for broke and being a

satisfied in God as I could possibly be 24/7 over everything else which means that by means of savoring the sweetness of the promises of God and in this precious book I would put to death every rising quiver of Pride and self-reliance and lust and greed and fear and by the power of the holy spirit seek to kill all those sins by the superior pleasure that we have in God because unless those sins die I will be dogged from 22 to 72 by fruitlessness of life and Damned in the next I would recognize at age 22

that the fight for joy in God through the bright and dismal circumstances of life is the is sin silky in my mission in life for authenticating holiness fruitful perseverance so that God gets the glory being happy in God more than you are happy in anything else is the key to holiness and fruitfulness to the glory of God so lesson for you become a Christian hedonist whether you call it that or not doesn't matter don't aim at the pleasures of fame don't aim at the pleasures of sexual gratification don't aim at the pleasures of wealth don't

aim at the pleasure and contentment and comfort of safety aim at all satisfying joy in God which will empower you for humility and chastity and simplicity and risk-taking sacrificial love for other people lastly number six if I were twenty-two again I would recognize that I am not my own that I have been bought with a price and that I belong body and soul to Jesus Christ for his use and his glory in this world any way he please [Music] and I would offer myself up to God at age 22 and tell him helps to say

it out loud to him repeatedly tell him that he may do with me anything he pleases he may kill me he may torture me he may send me anywhere he can do me no wrong he owes me nothing and I would tell him that any time he plays anywhere he please I am his at his disposal and I would memorize Psalm 25 he's had a very crucial role for me in seminary I would memorize Psalm 25 and trust the amazing promises of guidance that are in those precious verses good and upright is the Lord therefore

he instructs sinners in the way he leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his way you don't have to be left to your own wisdom as to what you spend your life doing if you believe those verses in Psalm 25 he's going to teach you his way for you lesson for you memorized Psalm 25 pray it as your own and give yourself wholly up to God and his mission and trust him I would do a lot more things at age 22 but that's what I would do if I had 20 minutes

to tell you thank you for listening to this resource from desiring God org if you found it helpful we encourage you to enjoy and share from thousands of resources on our site including books sermons articles and more available free of charge desiring God the doric exists to help you treasure Jesus more than anything else because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him