Young Man After God's Own Heart , livre ebook

Harvest House Publishers, Inc. - Jim George

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107 pages

English

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Pursuing God really is an adventureone that can get extreme, one you'll never tire of.Becoming a young man after God's own heart is a lot like climbing a mountain. You'll find all sorts of challenges on the way up, but the awesome view at the top is well worth the trip.Real success in lifethe kind that counts with Godstarts by discovering God's priorities for you. These include...building your faithchoosing the right kinds of friendsgetting along at homewinning the battle over temptationmaking right choices about the futureOnce you get started on this journey, you'll never be the same!Includes new and revised content.

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Philosophie et théologie

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Publié par	Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
Date de parution	01 avril 2015
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780736959797
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0554€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version . Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Italicized text in Scripture quotations indicates author s emphasis.
Cover by Harvest House Publishers, Inc., Eugene, Oregon
Cover photos svariophoto, Kuznetcov_Konstantin, melis / Shutterstock; lzf / iStock
A YOUNG MAN AFTER GOD S OWN HEART
Copyright 2005, 2015 by Jim George
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
ISBN 978-0-7369-5978-0 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-7369-5979-7 (eBook)
All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author s and publisher s rights is strictly prohibited.
Contents
A Personal Letter to You
Part One: Beginning the Adventure
1. What Is Your Heart s Desire?
2. What Does It Take to Be All That You Want to Be?
3. What Can You Do to Make Your Goals a Reality?
4. What Makes You a Man After God s Own Heart?-Part 1
5. What Makes You a Man After God s Own Heart?-Part 2
Part Two: Getting on the Fast Track
6. Training at Camp Home -Part 1
7. Training at Camp Home -Part 2
8. Going Somewhere That Counts
9. Making the Right Choices About Friends
10. Fighting the Battle Against Temptation
11. Reaching Out to Others
Part Three: Going for the Gold
12. Pressing for the Prize
13. Integrity Make a Difference
14. God s Purpose in You
Extreme Spiritual Workout Schedule: A One-Year Daily Bible Reading Plan
Notes
About the Author
About the Publisher
A Personal Letter to You
Dear Friend,
As a guy, I love adventure of every kind! And as you and I are about to begin a joint journey into adventure, I am thinking about one particular extreme adventure. It fits our aim in this book of becoming a man after God s own heart.
I don t know how many times I ve seen it from the air and admired it from the ground, but there s something very special about Diamond Head. That s the name of the extant volcano that forms a rugged, unmistakable landmark at the southern end of Waikiki Beach on the island of Oahu. On my last visit to this tropical island, I was challenged by my son-in-law (also an extreme adventurer) to not just look at Diamond Head, but to actually hike it!
So, off Paul and I went on an extreme adventure. We hiked. We climbed. We pushed on until we made it to the top. And boy, was the effort worth it! The view across Oahu was incredible-truly an awesome sight.
Isn t that the way it is with the climb to experience the view from the top of any mountain peak, or high hill, or citadel where a castle or fort formerly stood-difficult, but worth it? But tragically, many young men never know what an utterly breathtaking view life is from the top (and I m no longer talking about mountaintops!). Why? Because they never make it to the top of anything. Somewhere along their climb to something, they stop, or get distracted, or stumble, or fall. And they never get back up, or they turn back, because the climb is too extreme.
But my new friend, that s not what I want for you. No, I want you to feel and experience that spectacular view from the top of your mountain called life. And to help you get there, I have written this book. I originally wrote this book ten years ago. Now, ten years later, I m thrilled to have another opportunity to add new insights after reading letters from and talking to young men from around the world who have benefitted from this book. I m excited that the publisher has asked me to update the text and add two new chapters that reflect the feedback I ve gotten from young men like you.
My desire as you read this book about your priorities as a young man is that you would not make some of the mistakes that I and others have made on the way to the top of our mountains. Mistakes can cost you many years in your quest for reaching the top-in your desire to make it, to succeed, to reach the summit, to become a man after God s own heart.
In this book my goal is to simply and clearly lay out some of God s priorities for you as you start your climb to greatness. Making these priorities your own is vital to preparing you for your life s climb.
To sharpen your focus and heighten the adventure, I have added some material at the end of each chapter. In Tough Decisions for Today, you ll find a list of thought-provoking questions about the priorities discussed in that chapter. The Cutting Edge exercises are aimed at getting you into your Bible to reinforce your knowledge of God s priorities. You ll learn about the priorities you need to focus on, and you ll also learn some quick and easy ways to put them into practice.
So come on! The journey to understanding what God desires for you as A Young Man After God s Own Heart is an exciting one. Don t miss out on the quest you will never be the same!
Your fellow traveler,
Part One

Beginning the Adventure
1
What Is Your Heart s Desire?
I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.
-A CTS 13:22
W hen I was 12 years old, my parents and I went on our one and only family vacation. Leaving from my boyhood home in Oklahoma, we passed through Dodge City, Kansas, on our way to Colorado. Of course, we had to stop in this historic old-west town and visit the famous Boot Hill Cemetery-you know, the place where all the famous outlaws are buried.
To this day I can still remember looking down at a tombstone with a message something like this:
Here lies Old Joe.
He died with his boots on.
And, would you believe it, at the end of the grave were two boots sticking up out of the earth! Later I learned that Old Joe wasn t actually buried there. And much later I found out that the words on a tombstone are called an epitaph , which means a short tribute to a dead person.
Since that unforgettable visit to Boot Hill, I ve collected a few other epitaphs. For instance, a Greek poet wrote this on the tomb of Spartan heroes in the fifth century B.C .:
Go, tell the Spartans, gentle passer-by,
That here, obedient to their law, we lie.
This next one was written in memory of the great English poet Shakespeare:
He was not of an age, but for all time.
Because I have a science degree from college, I like what was written about a scientist who died at the age of 85:
He Died Learning
All of these epitaphs were written by someone who knew the dead person. Benjamin Franklin, however, the famous American statesman, wrote his own tribute:
The body of B. Franklin,
Printer
Like the cover of an old book
Its contents torn out
And stript of its lettering and gilding
Lies here, food for worms.
But the work shall not be lost
For it will, as he believ d, appear once more
In a new and more perfect edition
Corrected and amended
By the Author. 1
There are also humorous epitaphs, such as
All dressed up and no place to go.
Or
Remember, friend, when passing by,
As you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, soon you will be,
Prepare for death and follow me.
To which someone later added
To follow you I m not content.
Until I know which way you went.
To me, the epitaph that is the most inspiring of all is one found in the Bible. It s a tribute to King David, one of the most famous people in the Old Testament. Of him God writes,
I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do (Acts 13:22).
Checking Out a Man After God s Own Heart
The life of David is a fascinating character study. David lived a life of extreme adventure. As a young man, probably about your age, he killed the giant Goliath. He once protected his father s sheep by killing a lion, and on another occasion, by killing a bear. His story is one of the great rags to riches accounts. David started out a shepherd boy and ended up as a king. He became a great warrior and turned the tiny nation of Israel into a powerful kingdom that ruled most of the Middle East during the tenth century B.C .
But David s greatest claim to fame is God s epitaph, I have found David a man after my own heart .
I don t know about you, but I find this tribute curious. In it, God is stating His approval of David s heart and life. That is interesting because David s actions were not always godly! For instance
David was a warrior who shed much blood (1 Chronicles 22:8).
David sinned with a woman named Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:4) and then ordered her husband to be put into a dangerous battle position so he would be killed (2 Samuel 11:5-17).
David had many wives (2 Samuel 3:1-5).
David was a neglectful father, and his family suffered strife and tragedy as a result (2 Samuel 13:15-18,28-29; 18:33).
David went against God s command and pridefully counted the number of his troops. The result? Seventy thousand of his people died in a plague (2 Samuel 24:10,15).
And yet God states, I have found David a man after my own heart. How can that be? How could God possibly praise a man with this kind of background?
Yes, David committed some sins that most of us can t even imagine or conceive of doing! Yet over th