James A. McMenis | Oblivion | Part 4

i want to go back and revisit this and if you would just put you a bookmark if you'd like here in psalm 78 as we pick up part four of oblivion now what does that word even mean and as we continue in this series uh today i'm actually going to be continuing in last week's topic because last week we talked about how to secure the next generation and i want to talk about that and let me just say this this is for everybody you can be young and single and this is for you you can be you know no children no marriage and not even be on the radar this is for you this is for everybody all right don't think this is a parental message that you got to be a parent to be a part of it's just not true we as the church need to hear this message trust me as it unfolds you'll see the reason why the word oblivion that word has a two-part definition and what we're going to do today is we're going to continue in the first part of that definition then lord willing next week we'll wrap this series up dealing with the second part of that definition it may take a couple of weeks after today the first part of the definition is this the fact or condition of not remembering that's what the first definition of oblivion means not remembering and so we've been talking about the importance of remembering the word and the warnings that we get in scripture of what happens to a generation that forgets god or a people that forget god are a nation that forgets god the word says uh that that nations that forget god are turned into hell and i think somebody might say amen to that right i mean it's not good when we live in a nation that has forgotten god and so when you look at that word oblivion the first part means it's been forgotten the goodness of god the word of god the truth of god the name of god forgotten that's oblivion now the second part of that definition that we'll deal with lord willing next week is a state marked by a lack of awareness or consciousness seeking the oblivion of sleep so the two-part definition is number one first part of oblivion something's been forgotten and the second definition is there's a there's a loss of awareness because the people are asleep and that's something that jesus speaks to in the new testament that we'll cover lord willing next week because i'm concerned that his church has gone to sleep and a lot happens when you're asleep we'll deal with that next week now i want to go back here to psalm 78 as a continuation of what we dealt with last week about securing the next generation and the importance of making sure that our children know the lord that our children know his word and that our children's children know the lord so watch this in psalm 78 i'll go back over it again verse one give ear o my people to my law incline your ears to the words of my mouth i will open my mouth in a parable i will utter dark sayings of old that was a prophecy spoken of jesus verse 3 which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us now i need to say this up front biblically biblically if you believe the word of god god places the responsibility of children and children's children knowing the lord and his word he places that responsibility on fathers all right now that does not discount the role or the influence of a mother even in second timothy paul writes to timothy and when he speaks to timothy who would be his successor in ministry he says when i consider the word and the faith that was in your grandmother and in your mother and i am persuaded that in you also when paul is writing to timothy who would become the successor of his ministry he attributes his wisdom and his faith and his knowledge of the scriptures recorded in second timothy chapter three he attributes all that to his grandmother and his mother now i know and i've done this and i think i know i did in the last service i may have done it at eight but how many here today your faith has been influenced by a mother or a grandmother would you just raise your hand right now now look around the room we see the influence of godly women we see the influence of mothers and grandmothers and that's why the church is packed at least twice a year on easter sunday because we know what jesus did for us and on mother's day because we know what mama did for somebody say amen all right so we i'm not discounting the influence of a grandmother or a mother and even having having been serving in church since i was 17 years old better than five years now i can tell you i see more women that bring their children to church than i do men so praise be unto god for godly women especially godly single moms who get their children up early prepare them and take them on to the house of the lord and make sure that they're taught the word of god praise be unto god for you amen so i don't want you misunderstanding what i'm saying biblically god is holding the father responsible it i'm not taken away from the influence of a mother or grandmother i'm just saying when i stand before god what my children knew god's going to hold me accountable for because he is the god of abraham isaac and jacob and he and not only is he holding fathers responsible he is a generational god he's not just the god of abraham he's the god of abraham isaac and jacob which means when he saved abraham he had he had jacob on his mind and we have to recognize that god is not just looking at me he's looking at my children and he's looking at my children's children because that's the kind of god that he is as a matter of fact one of his promises in psalms 115 verses 14 and 15 is that he would bless us and our children so when god blesses even us as parents we have to know he's looking at the bigger picture he wants his blessing on my life and on my children's life and on my children's children's life praise be unto god that's a good god amen now watch this in psalm 78 he says in verse 4 we will not hide them from their children showing to the generation to come the praises of the lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he hath done so verses one through three are talking about the word and making sure that our children know the word and we've been talking about this all the way in the last week streamed last week's message we talked about the importance of teaching our children the word of god but now here he says in verse 4 not only do i want your children and your children's children to know the word of the lord i want them to know of the works of the lord that has generated praise praise god in other words my children our children and our children children need to know why we praise the lord why do we gather together and praise the lord what drives this passion in the worship center what leads us to put this music on in our vehicles when we're doing you know the carpool thing what is it about the lord that we fill our you know our rooms with praise and we worship him driving down the road and in church what's authored this praise he's saying make sure your children know why you author or offer praise to god make sure they know of the wonderful works that he hath done hallelujah count your miracles and then tell your children of those miracles hallelujah oh y'all hear what i'm saying to you how you healed my mother how you redeem my father even in the death of my brother your faithfulness listen we have to be able to impart to our children while we worship and why we praise the lord i didn't sing that i just quoted a couple of lines by the way all right verse 5 for he established a testimony in jacob and appointed a law in israel israel which he commanded our fathers here we go that they should make them known to their children now let me make this statement we got a whole lot more to look at i'm going to make this statement because this will bless you and if you think about it and process what i'm getting ready to say you know it's true show me a show me a church show me a ministry show me a family show me a father show me a mother that's invested in their children and i'll show you a church a ministry a home a mother or father that is blessed if you think about it you you know this is true you've seen it in your own life show me a man that forgets he has kids show me a man that is not intentional about his children's physical mental emotional and spiritual well-being i'll show you a man that's in a struggle i'll show you a man that himself is collapsing and looks to be under a curse i'm going to show you why because biblically there is a spiritual principle that god will bless those that bless the next generation those that are centered on the next generation there is a supernatural blessing i've seen it when i look at families and say man what a beautiful family and you see parents that are invested in the physical mental or emotional or spiritual well-being of their children you'll see the blessing god will at home and it doesn't matter where they go to work and it doesn't matter how much money they make that's not what i'm talking about i'm saying you'll see the peace of god and the wholeness of god and the blessing of god on a home that is intentional about family you see it in that single mama you'll wonder yourself how she does what she does how does she drive that car how does she live in that house raising those kids going to work and even going to school herself i've seen supernatural favor on the lives of single women who were raising their children in the fear of god because you cannot escape it and i'm going to prove it in this word that god will put his blessing on anyone that is invested in the next generation yes and amen i'm going to prove to you what i'm saying if you are a father and you forget you have children you are clogging god's conduit of blessing in your life if you are a mother and you forget that you have children you are going to clog the conduit of blessing of god in your life let me take this further if you are a church and you are not intentional about teaching children you are going to clog the conduit of blessing into your ministry you're going to wake up one day and you're gonna look around the room and you're gonna see ten white heads and you're gonna wonder what is happening we are fading away and i'm not knocking the silver-headed folk because there's wisdom in you i'm just saying that we have got to listen to the silver-headed folk and pour some wisdom into these youngsters because churches that are not intentional about raising up children end up fading away you can blame anything you want to blame i get blamed out in public all the time for being the big box church that i'm responsible for the demise of small churches you wouldn't believe that stuff i get hit without in public i had a lady go off on me up one side and down the other that i was the reason the holy spirit left her church i want every church that's preached in jesus field i'm all pro my father's business i am pro my father's business it don't matter where you gather if the word of god is being preached and the name of jesus is being proclaimed it doesn't matter to me may it be filled may it be an overflow may it take three four five serve that that's my heart i don't want to see no church empty [Applause] amen i'm glad i got it off my chest brother judgment man i'll tell you i get hit by these folk in public oh my soul what i remember years ago we were building down the street and we were building our first facility 4 000 square foot facility at that time we had maybe almost 100 members and i had this guy say man are you going to build us a little church across the street from that big gigantic church and he said that doesn't bother you doing this liberty church a cross street from that big old church and i said not at all that's my father's business over there too same daddy back to the book he says in verse four we will not hide them from their children i can't hide the word from my children i can't hide the reason i praise him from my children why because when i'm gone i want to leave them more than just you know family tokens and memoirs i want to leave them faith i want to leave them the word of god i want to leave them a testimony i want to leave them the name of jesus and know how to pray and to know his word hallelujah he says in the latter part of verse 5 that they should make them known to their children verse 6 that the generation to come might know them watch this statement even the children which should be born how can i make sure children that have not been born know the word when they're born it's by teaching their parents which means as as an individual as a minister as a pastor and pastor tyler i know this will resonate with you you have to think about youth ministers and young adult ministers and pastors and coaches and teachers you have to think you have to think about it you're not just ministering to the person in front of you you are ministering to their future children you are ministering to whoever they end up bringing into this world when you put the word of god in someone's life when you put a truth in someone's life it outlives their life the word of god outlives my life the word in my life outlives my life it lives in my children's lives and it will live in their children's lives should jesus delay his coming glory to god he says teach them make sure that they're known to children which should be born they're not even born yet who should arise verse 6 who should arise and declare them to their children which means parents we're not just raising children we're raising parents because one day they have children you know the bible says in luke 2 52 that jesus as he grew that he grew in wisdom he grew in stature and he grew in favor with god in man so three things the bible says jesus grew up as a and as a child he grew in wisdom stature and favor favor with god and man one more time he grew in wisdom stature and favor favor with god and man that word stature is literally translated maturity maturity just like our bodies physically mature god has ordered that they mentally emotionally and spiritually mature ephesians chapter 4 says the reason that god gave us pastors and teachers was for the stature of the body of christ and that word stature doesn't mean size and number that word stature means maturity which means according to ephesians chapter four the reason we have pastors and teachers is for the maturing of the body of christ and maturity goes beyond your physical stature it speaks to your mental emotional and spiritual stature which means as parents we have to be invested in not just the physical nourishment of our children but also the mental emotional and spiritual nourishment of our children that's true maturity and if they grow in wisdom and they grow in true maturity they inevitably will walk in favor with god and man and isn't that what we want for our children to walk in favor with god amen well it starts with you giving them wisdom and developing them in maturity listen our world is filled with too many immature grown folk i read an article recently that that that people are marrying later in life and there was a study done it may have been done by barn i forget who did the study but there was a study done that said women was ex reasoning women the women they polled their reasoning for marrying later or not being married yet was that they were struggling to find mature men single ladies that was your chance right there you could have said amen single men this is your chance to rise up because right now there's a void in our society of maturity could it be that parents have just raised kids that are still kids they can only be hired to do what the physical body is able to do which is labor but can't be hard to do mental critical thinking skills because they were never mature to the point where they can critically think and that has created a vacuum even in the workplace of being able to hire leaders in businesses managers and businesses that actually can advance in in in in economically because we don't have anybody mature enough to critically think what does that point to you all that's the problem with society but how did society get here it got here because of parenting he got here because of churches not investing in future generations and we have raised up a group of people who the word of god and faith in the name of jesus is in oblivion forgotten y'all getting me worked up all over again what what wha why what's this verse 7 that they might set their hope in god that's why that's why the next generation needs to know the lord i don't think any of us five years ago 10 years ago 20 years ago mean it's hard to believe that 9 11 happened 20 years ago i remember that morning i remember my mom calling me telling me what was happening i turned the tv on i remember being like no way i couldn't have seen this world right now i couldn't have fathomed a world like the one we're living in and i don't know how unbelievers do it i'm being for real i'm not being negative and i'm not being critical i'm being real i know at the end of the day and the struggle i'm facing i know at the end of the day and all that's facing me as an individual it's my hope in god that's getting me through it's my understanding of his word that's getting me through it is my understanding that at any moment i can go to the lord and pray for myself that i don't have to go work my way to some man called priest to speak to god but through jesus christ i speak directly to him any driving down the road sitting in my house out in my yard on a lawn chair on the front porch on the back patio mowing my grass i can speak to the lord i don't know how folk make it that don't have that direct hotline to god it is only my faith it is only my hope it is only the security that i have in his word that gets me through these hard days we're living in now imagine the people that are living on this earth without it between pastor brian and myself we ministered to at five funerals just this week we all have to admit that death is all around us fear is all around us we're facing a global pandemic that has divided people we are divided we've allowed we've allowed a pandemic to make us political and we're more concerned about making political statements than we are statements that actually generate health and security and peace of mind for people we we've gotten so divided and yet many can't see it that this is scripture being fulfilled that jesus warned us that this was coming and we are living in it right now enemies we thought were gone uh countries that we thought we had converted overnight go right back to where they were 20 years ago and we see just how fragile our society is and that our enemies have not really moved away and it is as real today as it was 20 years ago where would we be without hope in his word yet if we don't rise up we're going to raise up a generation that this word is going to be oblivion it will be it will have been forgotten now let me let me make this clear hey all the way up to the moment that gabriel puckers his lips to blow that trumpet at that last call oh y'all hear what i'm saying to you the trumpet of first thessalonians chapter four the trumpet of revelation chapter four with the body of christ that will rise up to meet the lord in the air up until that moment there will always be a remnant of people in this earth there will always be somebody preaching jesus in this earth there will always be somebody declaring the word of god in this earth the last book of the bible has already told me so but the question is will it be your children will it be your children's children will it be your family will it be your seed that is a part of that remnant now i don't know about you but i will not let a magnetic faith go into oblivion i will not let my children not know the lord i will not just sit back and let my children's children not know what saved my life changed my life fuel my life hallelujah church that's what we got to get to as a church and i don't even know if i realize how serious god was about this until recent years but i want to show you something let me finish this up verse number seven he says that they might set their hope in god that they might set their hope in god wednesday night this past wednesday night we took communion as a church and i've been doing a communion series on wednesdays if you've not been getting here get it this is after the time you can stream it and what all i'm trying to do is get in the word and say let's let's let let's let what jesus did build our faith up yeah we're facing a pandemic yes sickness and death and so much destruction is all around us but there's got to be hope in his word and i believe that there is so we took communion we took communion the night before we started our school word of god academy opened up this past thursday with 413 students pre-k all the way through 12. got 13 graduates this year glory to god we took communion as a church that god would protect our students from covet aren't we people of faith can we believe god to keep us covered free can we do that or or do we just say no no way what do we do church tell you what we do we have faith so i got a text thursday morning from one of our staff members text my wife and i said it was taking our son to school today and asked him which mask he wanted to pick out to wear today and the child said back pastor said we're covered free now i actually never said we were covered free we took communion that we could be coveted free but in the faith of that child in the mind of that child i've already got the answer to call for it i've already got to answer and i thought look at the faith of a child see what the reason i bring that up is verse 7 says that they might set their hope in god church of the funerals that i've ministered more than i could ever begin to count the hardest funeral i ever did was for an individual my mother asked me to do this you know for an individual that nobody not one person his might he outlet he passed away for his mom and dad no one could say he was saved no one could say he'd ever even been to church or baptized no one could ever say it ever uttered the name of jesus now he might have got to say right before he died i don't know i believe god is rich to all that call upon him amen i believe your person can be at the point of death and call on the name of the lord and be saved yes amen the thief on the cross did it so i don't know where that man's soul went but it's hard to preach a funeral when you have the expressions and can't nobody express that they witness faith that when the pastor over the or our minister can't say they let him no one knew hardest funeral i ever did even he said no i've done the funeral of children and that that's got to be the hardest because there's no way why didn't this god in this child live out their days and i know that's a hard struggle and it's painful to minister those kind of services but the most painful conversation to have about death is when someone didn't know the lord because that meant they did not know of the eternal hope and right now when you think about the the death and it's just plaguing and becoming a part of our narrative from day to day i don't know about you but i am grateful i am in a win-win situation i know that jesus died for me so that i don't have to be afraid of death i know that once a spirit has been created it will live forever and that i'm going to spend eternity with jesus you can say oh you're crazy preacher help yourself i'm crazy about jesus i know what he did in me and i know where my hope is and i know where i'm going to spend eternity but imagine people that don't have that hope and that's where the enemy wants us jesus only healed in earth to prove that he could forgive the greatest gift of god is forgiveness not healing he says that they might set their hope in god i mean verse 7 of psalm 78 and not forget the works of god but keep his commandments and might not be as their fathers a stubborn and rebellious generation a generation that set not their heart a right and whose spirit was not steadfast with god turn back with me to genesis i want to go to the 18th chapter so this goes beyond parenting this goes beyond mothers and fathers this is a word to the church and to everyone in between what are you doing to secure the next generation because if as a believer a teacher a minister a pastor a coach a an influencer an aunt an uncle what am i doing with my seat of influence to advance the kingdom of god in the next generation now i made a statement earlier that i'm about to prove to you that any time an individual develops a conviction toward the next generation you're going to see the blessing of god on that individual not just a mother not just a father you're going to see the blessing of god on that church that ministry watch this that volunteer that serves in children's ministry that has no children of their own you know a parent ought to sign up right because i mean you you ought to get invested in the program that that's that exists to the benefit of your children but watch this when you have young people that single uh or are without children and they sign up to serve in children's ministry i mean a couple of things could happen you might not decide decide not to have children or it might make you process a little bit longer who it is you marry but if you're making that investment i'm about to show you in the word that your seed is not ignored that god puts his blessing on people that are sensitive about the next generation so watch this in genesis chapter number 18. y'all are at the 11 30 service welcome to the last service all right can i tell you a quick testimony it won't take me a couple minutes i really say that because the clock really shouldn't matter y'all came to the last service you want clock tomorrow to come to 8 9 45. i was preaching at 9 45 minute i was sweating and preaching and spitting and then i said i got a close and somebody holler and say no just keep on and i said i can't 11 30 is coming they're not going to sit in your lap okay social distance with somebody in your lap can you move your head i can't see the preacher you're at the service nobody else is coming when we is it we leave thank you darling so about 10 plus years ago i was invited to sit on a school board and i thought that was like the greatest honor i went home told my wife baby they asked me to sit on the board i barely got out of woodlawn high school i'm about to sit on a school board i don't have no initials behind my name so i go to the first school board meeting i'm sitting there everybody in the room was older than me i'm the new guy just came on the board i make a motion we accept james big minnesota's board members second half of second half all favorites and so they went around the room and the school was in the red it means he didn't have enough money to fund itself and this man and his wife they had a great conviction for education and educating children they were funding the thing but then you know it was limited and they said man we don't know what we gonna do you know what i'm talking about and and they were all going around the room maybe we do car washes why does the first thing churches want to do when they need money is wash cars isn't that something man i told i i've said this for you i said we are not saying this is off the topic this is a rabbit trail but that's why you love this i said we are not going to send our users out there watch no cars no we're going we can believe god to get them to that youth camp without them about their washing some car and then the girls wearing them halter tops and all that no i knew no no ain't putting my daughter out down the street oh no sign no never uh um not gonna happen and we sure ain't going to gather no buckets on all corners talking about what you give to my church no thank you brother so they were going around and saying what can we do what can we do and i'm just thinking man there's no reason why this won't work there's no reason why this won't work and this is what i said i don't think i ever said it at the board meeting i said in genesis 18 i'm about to read it yeah i said in genesis 18 god blessed a man by the name of abraham we shall you just a minute i said he built a nation of one man who had the conviction i must teach my child children the word of god that's what i said to the board today i said if god could build a nation israel off of one man who had a conviction to teach his children the truth surely he could build a school you know i'm serious about a good word to little preacher next the chairman of the board asked me the next the day shortly thereafter he said do you have time for lunch today i said no i got lunch appointment he's i said but i'm open for breakfast he said let's go to breakfast we sit down at breakfast and before they could even get the coffee cup on the table he looked at me he said would you be interested in buying the school i said sold we bought it it became word of god academy word of god academy exists today we bought it with 22 students k-5 today we enrolled over 400 pre-k all the way through 12 and a special needs program with over 40 families being affected and it and it's it's grown it is growing and i was over in bozier and it won't be long it's going to be growing there yes word of god academy is going to be in bozier too hallelujah but i'm telling you i watched god do something supernatural with a little old school that was a startup school in the red i watch god bless it and continues to bless it to this day why how i will show you how and why watch genesis 18 because if the church could get a hold of this it would change everything not just word of god all churches we've kicked our kids to the curb for too long just one of them babysit don't go to office depot on a saturday night on the copy machine because you're going to see a line of sunday school teachers running off black and white copies for their children for sunday morning on a saturday night at the office depot and so we give our children a little sheet of paper with a little picture on there of a big old giraffe setting in what's supposed to be called an ark but it looks like an overcrowded bathtub and you got you got all these animals tucked in a little little bitty art and they all hanging out and we're going to lay that on the shoulder no don't i don't oversized desk not meant for a child and they're going to sit up in adult chair not men for a child and be given a broken crayola noah built their art not color this and is it any wonder when they turn 18 and they get out of church they leave church because it was not relevant it was not intentional and it was not based on truth there was no giraffe and no overcrowded bathtub when god called noah to build the ark what i'm saying is these churches we got to be intentional you can't set children in overgrown chairs at overgrown desks in rooms that don't look like that was meant for them and then think we really care about your spiritual health when they walk in they need to know that they need to know that this was done for me this lesson was put together for me this chair is even my size this desk is my size the people in this room actually love me look at all the colors look at all the lights this is beautiful this was meant for me i love church mommy i love church daddy i want to go to church again that's the way we got to make church oh man [Applause] if you go into the preschool room even the little toilet was meant for a child true they go to the bathroom say man they knew i was coming look at that little toilet they never seen a little tall that little we gotta tell us in there this big just like right here i'm telling more than y'all probably want to know watch this let me get back to this watch this genesis 18 verse 17 and the lord said and the lord said shall i hide from abraham that thing which i do abraham don't even know what i'm up to he don't even know why i chose him i'm doing something that's bigger than him i'm doing something that's going to outlast him and he's not even aware of what it is i'm doing verse 18 seeing that abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him and we are fulfillment of that promise today because galatians 3 29 says if you be christ then are you abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise that means if you belong to jesus christ every time you read in the word a promise made to abraham you can say me too because that promise was intended for you and i which meant he had us on his mind when he made that promise with abraham showing that god makes promises generationally to think that he could do something in your life and he's got your child's child child's child on his mind my dad came home from the military and his older brother wanted to go to bible college so he paid from his older brother to go to bible college his name was james too he became a pastor and planted churches all over arkansas i don't think my daddy knew it and i certainly didn't know until he hit me recently that there was my daddy who planted a seed in his brother's life to go to bible college so he could be a pastor and now his son is a pastor i feel like a harvest that i'm walking in was planted by my daddy and what he did for the work of ministry you never know my point is is you never know how god will take a seed planted in one generation and then it ends up coming to harvest in a future generation because that's the way god works so he says abraham don't even know how big this thing is should i keep it hid from him verse 19 verse 19 are you in verse 19 genesis 18 verse 19 because this is going to explain why any entity church ministry family father mother grandmother aunt uncle coach mentor teacher when you invest in the next generation you will see the blessing of god come on you the verse i'm about to read is going to prove it to you here's what god said about abraham he said i know him that he will command his children and his household after him and they shall keep the way of the lord to do justice and judgment that the lord may bring upon abraham that which he hath spoken of him so what's he saying he's saying i could not bring to pass what i spoke about abraham if abraham did not instruct his children and his household after him he's in essence saying that if i if abraham did not have future generations on his mind i could not have used him to fulfill a generational blessing because it would have died when abraham died i used to live in a neighborhood but this is this this elderly couple they had the most immaculate yard i'd ever seen i was convinced that in the night that brother must have heard if a stick fell maybe stick just fell it wasn't a piece of straw out of place it wasn't a pine cone i mean it was an immaculate edge driveway clean man just beautiful i was driving by man that thing was nice he passed away and right after his wife passed away kids inherited it wasn't but a matter of months that thing got taken over with weeds and you would never know how beautiful it once was there was no succession i was buying hay from this guy a few years ago and loading the trailer hey older guy thousands of acres tractors everywhere barns loaded with hay he said yeah he said i don't know what i'm gonna do when i die i thought he was talking about eternity i'm like hey that's what i needed here as a preacher about to lead you to jesus now he knew jesus he was talking about his he was talking about his fields his thousands of acres and his farm equipment and his barns he said yeah here's what he said listen to very carefully he said i can't i can't get my children interested in it i can't get my children interested in it he said even my grandkids show no interest in any of this he said but i can't get them off their ipads as soon as he said i can't get my children interested in it i understood what he meant in other words he's going to die and then maybe it gets sold who knows what comes of all the acres and tractors and barns that he owned but when he said i can't get my children interested it it hit me i was like man that's the problem with the church we've not gotten our children interested in it are you feeling me we've got to do ministry in such a way that young people are interested where where our kids are interested like what like you know we we got to get outside the box we can't do it the way it was done in the 80s we got to do it in a new relevant way and there is a way for us to package truth without changing the integrity of truth just because the lights and leds and walls and all this stuff change it doesn't change the message i'm preaching out of a king james bible it doesn't get any older than that and still be english we got to get our kids interested and parent if you've got a child it's interesting you better feed that interest mommy daddy we going to church today oh no not not today baby don't you ever say there because even a child shall leave them go back with me to genesis 15. well pastor i hear you but it's hard to do these days oh no they are i've seen the sports fields it ain't hard no you got a parent that thinks they got the next whoever on the field on the court no make every practice on time bring a lawn chair set in the sun in the heat go pick their child up from practice practice supposed to let out at six you're a coach coach ward you know i'm telling the truth practice supposed to let out at six but coaches are notorious brother jefferson you're a coach oh no we ain't ready he ain't got that drill down yet and so the parent says in the car man they're supposed to get out of six godly it's 6 15. oh i supposed to get a six man started at 6 30. but you know they did play bad in that last game i'm sure coach is working on him we make all the investment but can't even set the whole church service make five practices through the week but we'll make one church sir why pastor we're scared of kova yeah you're only scared to cover that church that's the problem yeah i see you everywhere else all right all right genesis 15 i'll leave you alone watch this genesis 15 verse 1 after these things the word of the lord came unto abram in a vision saying fear not abram i am thy shield and i am thy exceeding great reward that's the second time god came to abraham the first time he came to abraham was back in chapter 12 when he came to him and he said uh abraham i'm going to make you a great nation i'm going to bless you i'm going to make your name great you're going to be a blessing i'm going to bless anybody that blesses you and i'm going to curse anybody that curses you and in you will all families of the earth be blessed that's a that's some kind of introduction that's the way god introduced himself to abraham so he came back the second time in genesis 15. and he said abram don't be afraid of me i am your shield and i am your great reward now watch what abraham is going to ask in verse 2 and i'm almost done and abram said lord god what will thou give me read up to the comma seeing i go jobless why would you do all that for me there's no one to pass it on to there's no legacy there's no succession if you do it to an old man with no kids and god had to tell him no no no no abraham don't worry about your age or the age or your wife because i'm going to give you seed outnumber the stars that's what he ended up showing him and then in the 17th chapter he made a blood covenant to prove it but it was until the 18th chapter that god disclosed the reason he showed abraham in the first place is because he said here's a man here's a man here's a man that'll be intentional about the next generation this is the one i'm going to choose what would happen if we as a people were that way what would happen if we as the body of christ had that concern what would happen and i'm going to say this and and pastor i'm tired i'm you might be tired of me pointing fingers at you but man you're an asset to this ministry in the kingdom and i just want to encourage you um because i know the impact you're making with our youth and with our young adults and man if we can have a young adults minister and they're meeting this week that'll win the young adults with 18 to 30 years old that otherwise might be out of church then we're winning children that hadn't even been born yet [Applause] hey what you say glory to god but this is something that ben shetler dear friend of mine said and i'm going to quote him quote he said youth ministry should be focused on raising up fathers to bring their children up in the nurture and admonition of the lord instead too often quote unquote youth ministry replaces the father ben shetler i thought that was profound when i heard him say that in other words youth ministry can't be the replacement for bad parenting church ministry children's ministry can't be the replacement for a lack of parenting it should be the supplement in other words it's not your sunday school teacher's responsibility that your child know the word of god and it's not your youth minister's responsibility that your child know the word of god it is your responsibility that your child know the word of god i will teach and we will teach and we will do all we can but if you don't get them here we can't reach them it is the parents responsibility now once you get intentional about it you're going to see the blessing of god i think we all have enough family folk and relationships to know about that individual that just forgot they had kids and when you say man that oh what happened that guy oh man i don't have that lady and it had been many of us that have seen it firsthand they were not for grandparents that's what grandma's in here know i'm talking about they had to step up because god doesn't bless it when it's not gener generate generationally uh intentional you want to kill the church stop making the church matter for children you want to lose the blessing of god on a ministry eliminate children's ministry don't minister to the home don't minister a word to marriages don't minister a word to parents see how far that church goes it won't grow it won't be blessed because it has forgotten the foundation we got to get back because the enemy wants it all to go into oblivion and that's where we're at right now how is it that and i i really am closing and jesus is coming quickly how is it he is and i am how is it that one of the top three causes of death among teens and adolescents top three cause of death suicide how could that be how can that be how could a teenager or an adolescent young child how could they think what i'm facing right now is so strong so severe that i'm gonna make an eternal decision based on a temporary situation we've messed it up in the home somewhere another we missed it in the home we miss it in a church they're bearing more weight than god ever intended them to bear it ought to be speaking to us something's wrong we got to get it back church we got to get it back psalm 119 verse 16 says this it's a good word to leave you with it says i will delight myself in thy statutes and i will not forget thy word same chapter psalm 119 verse 83 says for i am become like a bottle in the smoke yet do i not forget thy statutes that's where we got to be things might look obscure things might look cloudy can't see clearly but i won't forget his word psalm 119 verse 93 i will never forget thy precepts for with them you have quickened me or given me life psalm 119 verse 109 my soul is continually in my hand that means you're broken and in despair yet do i not forget thy law psalm 140 119 verse 141 i am small and despised yet i do not forget thy precepts the world looks too big the circumstance looks too big i feel small i feel rejected but i won't forget thy precepts that's like david when he faced goliath and was mocked for his age and his size but yet david said wait a minute by the name of the lord i defeated the lion and by the word of the lord i defeated the bear and this uncircumcised philistine shall be as one of him the one of them that david in his small youthful state had had a knowledge of the word of god and it was his knowledge of the word of god that allowed him to defeat giants and i'm concerned that we're not giving our children the tools they need the name they need and the word they need to face the giants that are coming against them and that's why we're seeing such catastrophic results among our youth we've not equipped them psalm 119 verse 153 consider my affliction and deliver me for i forget not thy law psalm 119 last one verse 176 i have gone astray like a lost sheep seek thy servant i do not forget my commandments and what that speaks of is the prodigal advantage if you're taking notes write that down prodigal advantage the prodigal son one of two boys who took his daddy's inheritance and went away to ride his living when he lost all his money and didn't have nothing what did he do he remembered his daddy he remembered how he once lived he had the prodigal advantage in that he knew what he had left he knew what he had left and the bible says he gathered his senses and he went back to his father's house parents even if you raise your children and they backslide or they go away if you have taught them the truth when they were young they at least have the prodigal advantage they know what to go back to hallelujah we need to give our children that advantage i want to pray for you today and i know this has been intense but it's it's needed and and i i hope you don't think i met anybody because i'm not i'm just passionate about this thing we got to get intentional about the next generation we can't afford to raise up another generation that doesn't know the lord let me pray with you and for you this morning father we thank you for your word we thank you for your word father i begin with your church not just this church but your church that there be awakening in the heart of every minister and pastor and church member that an investment in children and youth is worth it and that you will bless it word of god members with your head bad let me say this to you we're turning we're having to turn away children we're having to close classes because we don't have enough volunteers to feel those classes that can't happen we've got the tools we've got the curriculum we've got the means to plant the word in these children's lives step up churches from speaking to a pastor via this stream or telecast i encourage you get invested in the next generation and you'll see the blessing of god come on your church parents and grandparents we must take the responsibility to secure faith to secure truth to secure his word in his name in the next generation we can't we can't just sit back and think well well somebody will reach them we got to leave our home every day with hope in jesus and we got to stop all this preaching doom and gloom our children need to hear hope come out of our mouths faith come out of our mouths life come out of our mouths they're surrounded by things that they might not be able to even articulate in a conversation but their behaviors reflect what's going on in their little minds and our homes need to be miniature churches miniature sanctuaries safe places we don't let the fear of the world contaminate our home and our living space and we don't let the deception of the world contaminate our home and our living space no it's a place where jesus is praised it's a place where his word is quoted it's a place where we speak life and encouragement hallelujah where we plant memories that will last for eternity and grandparents you still have influence over your kids use that influence not only for your children but for your children's children if your children are grown and all is well and you're prosperous you say what can i do why don't you sponsor a child call word of god academy tomorrow and say you know what i want to sponsor a student because i guarantee you there are families that would love to have their children at the academy that may not have the money for tuition that you could just go ahead and make that happen everyone if we all do something we got to want these kids more than the world does there's a reason why mtv bought nickelodeon this is many years ago there's a reason why mtv bought nickelodeon it bought nickelodeon because it wanted to get the children at a younger age so that they would inherit more viewers the world is going after our children parents let's say not on my watch you can't have the mind of my child they're my most precious seat they're more important than where i live they're more important than what i drive they're more important than what i wear [Music] sure this is getting to me church i invite you to pray with me heavenly father [Music] i've seen in your word today the importance of reaching the next generation our children and our children's children and that we not allow future generations [Music] to live in our communities without a knowledge of you your word your name your love your truth use me to secure the next generation thank you for every godly influence that secured my faith in you i ask you for the wisdom and the strength to be who you've called me to be to do what you've called me to do to advance your kingdom to bring you glory and to secure that for generations to come help me see past myself and the power of a seed and to know that you are a generational god not just the god of abraham but the god of abraham isaac and jacob may i be generationally minded i believe jesus died for me i believe that you love the world i asked forgiveness of my sins that you would cleanse me of all unrighteousness fill me with your spirit so that i can take your word to the world that whosoever would believe could be saved also so use my life for your kingdom and for your glory in jesus name amen [Music] you

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Length: 63min 4sec (3784 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 28 2021