I want to talk to us today about holding on to the next generation.
Researchers tell us that young people born between 1985 and the early 2000s will be the
largest generation in American history. They are referred to as Millennials and Generation Z.
They are different from their predecessors in the following ways. Millennials are tech-savvy, civic-oriented,
community-conscious. They are global citizens, entrepreneurial, and very flexible. Generation
Z are money-driven and ambitious. They love to travel. They are prone to anxiety. They are known to set
boundaries. They are avid gamers, and they use social media in a unique way. Facebook is for old
people. Generation Z are into TikTok, Instagram, because their attention span does not dictate
anything long, and they don't have time for anything or anybody old. But worst of all, 61%
of young people between their 20s and 30s are spiritually disengaged. They have no church life.
They have no God roots. Which says to me, Lily Grove, that the harvest truly is plenteous. But
the laborers are few. And I want to distinguish this morning between what we've been calling them
and who they are. Young adults, young people, children, I want to distinguish between what
we've been calling them and who they are. They are not a lost generation. They are not a lost
generation. They are a left generation. We've left them to raise themselves. We've left them to figure
out life on their own. We left them because we are not through being children ourselves. We have
left them to be raised by tablets and screens because we don't want to be bothered with them
because we are too busy finding ourselves. The time to find yourself is before you have children.
You should be found by the time you start having babies. And if not, then you are the one who is
lost. I wish I had a witness here. Awesome under consideration. Focuses on the transmission of
faith from one generation to the next. Its purpose is to encourage parents along with the faith
community to teach their children about God's wondrous works. The superscription of the Psalm
in your Bible and mine, this Psalm is a masquile song. It's the masquile of ASAP. The word masquile
has to do with wisdom, with insight and the success that flows from having wisdom and insight.
You're not wise because you're old because it's a whole lot of folk who are old and they are foolish.
Somebody ought to help me talk here. ASAP was a Levitical musician appointed by David to preside
over the service of song in the house of Yahweh. If one generation fails to pass along their
faith and the stories behind their faith, the chain will be broken and faith will likely be
lost forever. Parental leadership, parental leadership was and still is crucial to faith
development. The first purpose of teaching children about God is that they might set their
hope in God. That's the first reason you ought to teach your children about God, that they get
their minds off any and everything that is ungodly because these children are up against more than you
and I have ever been up against. They don't know anything about an ice tray. Many of them have
never seen a stereo. They laugh when you talk about an eight track player. That's how we used to
listen to the Isley brothers and the temptation and they say who is the Isley brothers? Because
that's not where they are. The second purpose is that they might not forget about the works of
God. You need to get it over to your children that the way they have it now was not the way you
had it growing up and the reason why they are able to enjoy the many blessings that they enjoy is
because you came through the struggle and because you struggled to make it easier for them, they
ought to struggle to make it better for their own children. The third purpose of teaching children
about God is that they might keep God's commandments because the commandments of God are
attached to the promises of God. I wish I had help to preach it. You can't just get what God has
without getting God. No, no, no, no, no, have your children understand. You can't borrow my money
unless you tell me what you want to do with it because it's not your money. You and my house,
that's my door you just slam. Talk back to me if you can. Notwithstanding the uncertainties
surrounding the author of this Psalm and its historical setting, the message of this Psalm is
unmistakable. It speaks with authority and has a relevant message for the people of God even today
because the past is the great interpreter of the present and the great safeguard for the future.
Churches begin as a movement and then after a number of years, churches become a monument and
if you don't pass your faith on to your children, the church will become a memory. You need to tell
them what good things God has done for you. You need to sit them down and tell them not just
about your faith but the stories behind how you came to your faith. You are not where you are just
because you went to church. You have some pain in your life. You've had some setbacks in your life.
You've had some heartbreak in your life and the reason you shout so much is because God has opened
so many doors. Your children ought to ask you, what do these stones mean? Mama, why you got to be
the only one hollering on the pew? That's embarrassing. I go to school. That's all my friends talk
about. Let them talk about your mama holler. You got somewhere to stay tonight. You got food on
your table. Them Jordans you wearing, your mama sacrificed for that. Somebody ought to help me
preach it. That's why you ought to teach your children to say yes ma'am and no sir thank you and
I appreciate it because you are where you are and the world will step out of your way if you've got
manners and good sense. Teach them, sit down and tell them your story. Tell them how you overcome.
Tell them how you're more than a conqueror. Tell them how you got stripped to make it to where
you are right now because you made good choices and right decisions because somebody had to pray for
you. In verses one, two and three there's an explanation. Give ear, O my people, incline your
ear to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings
from old things that we have heard and known that our ancestors have told us. Give ear, incline.
Give ear, incline. Here is what it is a picture of. It's a picture of putting your hand behind your
ear so that you can hear it better. Young adults and young children don't know anything about this
but when you when you cross a certain threshold you don't hear as well as you once did.
But it's not just for the elders to hear, it's for young people, young adults, young children
to bend and strain and ask God, what did you say? Because brothers and sisters, our children sometimes
listen to us but they rarely hear us.
And so that's why as a parent you've got to say, did you hear what I said?
And according to the inflection in your voice, they changed their attitude.
I wish I had some parents here who were not scared of your children.
And when I knew my mama wasn't playing, she'd say, I'm not going to say that again.
So I had to strain to hear because she was not going to repeat the instruction.
And as a child of God, there are things that God wants us to hear that we got to strain to hear
because there's so much other noise.
There are a cacophony of voices straining for the attention of young people.
There are these false teachers on TikTok and Facebook and Instagram.
Many of them with PhDs and many of them are life coaches and young people are taking their advice
and their life cues from these people who have no hope in Christ. They don't go to church,
they don't have any spiritual background. These people are not your heroes. These people are not
your friends. They're making money. These people are trying to tell you how to live their lives
after they've screwed up their own lives and then they're trying to tell you how to live your...
Listen, children do not come with directions, but they come with instructions.
And the instruction is, train up a child. I wish I had a Bible reader in a way that he should go
and when he's old, he will not depart from it. The instruction is, spare the rod
and you spoil the child. Have I got a witness here? The instruction is foolishness is bound up in him,
but the rod of correction will drive it far from it.
Some of you who are women now, there was a time in your life when you would roll your eyes at your
mother because you thought she didn't know what she was talking about.
And some of you have this testimony. When you rolled your eyes at your mother,
you were on the other side of the room and before you could say Jackie Robinson,
she was all over you like a bad dress with her fist barred up.
Heffa, what did you say?
I brought you in this world. I wish I had somebody who was raised like I was raised.
Those of us here who are men, we came to a certain point where we thought we could take our father.
We had already sized him up.
Because when I was growing up as a boy, my daddy would not let us walk around in the house with
our t-shirt on because my mama and both of my sisters were in the house and my daddy would
have us to get up all the boys, eight boys in my family, my dad would say get up and put some clothes
on and look like you're going somewhere. A man ought to look like he's got something to do.
Get up and put your clothes on. Don't walk around in this house with no shirt on.
And I sized him up.
And I said to myself,
when I get to be a man, I'm going to walk around naked in my house if I want.
And one day I got my own house and my daddy came to my house
and he said, son, put your shirt on, please.
Now in my mind,
I said, who you think you're talking to?
Who you think you are? But you know what I did?
Because our parents were not our friends. I wish I had some help to preach right here.
They fed us, they clothed us, they provided for us, but our
parents, that we could not cross. And parents, you need to set up some boundaries
to let your children know I am your provider. I am your protector, but I'm not your pal.
Give ear to my instruction.
Inclined to the words of my mouth and I will teach you things in parables.
My grandmother used to sit us down and tell us stories, remind us of our history,
bring us back to the time when we were nobody.
We couldn't dress like we dress here on Sunday morning.
The reason why a church started at 11 o'clock was because they had to get the master ready
to go to church early. And by the time they got all of the master out of the house,
it was 11 o'clock and they started having church out behind the slave quarters
in Hushabas where they could not even be heard or seen because they were nobody all the week long.
But Sunday morning, something got a hold of them and they realized that they were not what they
were told they were, but in their hearts and in their spirits, they were children of God.
And although they were bathed in the slave quarters, they sang, I got shoes.
You got shoes. All God's children got shoes. And when I get to heaven, I'm gonna put on my shoes
and shout all over God. You got shoes this morning. Shout. You got a car this morning.
Shout. You got a job this morning. Shout.
Oh, he's been good. He's been good. He's been good.
Oh, oh, peace.
Peace and safe. That the Lord is
is good.
In verses four through 11, as I hurry, not only is there an explanation in the text,
but there's an exhortation in the text. God holds parents responsible for the spiritual instruction
of their children. The worst mistake you and I can make as a parent is to say these ignorant words.
I'm not going to force my religion on my children. I'm going to let them make up their own minds.
And when they're old enough, they can decide. That's crazy talk.
Children don't have the psychological nor spiritual wherewithal to make up their minds
about what they want to do. Listen, we didn't even make up our minds about what we were going to eat.
Now, I know this is a different time and this is a different generation,
but some things just don't change. No, we didn't make up our minds about what we were going to wear
or where we're going to go. It was no question about whether we were going to church or not.
If God got us up, we were going to church. Talk back to me if you were raised right.
That was no question of you talking back to your mother and your father,
because if your mama was like my mama, she could drive and whip at the same time.
Talk back to me if you can. She would have her hand on the steering wheel
and was hitting everything behind her and never got in a wreck. Because they were
determined that you have some sense. They were determined that you be intelligent.
When you leave this house, act like I raised you.
Well, you know, Pastor, times have changed.
Things are different now. You can't whip children no more.
You can't raise children like that anymore. You have to put them in timeout.
And we have to say to them, Susan,
don't speak to mommy like that.
That happens across town.
But on this side of town,
I'll bust you in your face with these people.
Have I got a witness here?
I don't know if I kicked them.
They didn't always do it right. Some of that was abuse.
My mama should have went to prison.
But she kept me out of prison.
Somebody ought to help me preach here.
If you raise them right and put them in God's hands, God will make a way out of them.
God will help you get them through college. God will help you push them through life.
To those of us here who think times have changed,
do you think, do you actually believe that God does not know the difference
between the greatest generation born from 1901 to 1924?
A God does not know the difference between the silent generation born between 1925 and 1945.
A God does not understand the trend of the baby boomers, my generation from 1946 to 1964.
You think God doesn't know anything about Gen Xers born between 1965 and 1980?
You think God does not provide for millennials born between 1981 and 1996?
A God does not understand generation Z from 1997 to 2012?
A God does not understand the alpha generation born since 2013?
God's been God since God's been gone.
And from everlasting to everlasting, he's alpha and omega.
He's the beginning and the end.
God took care of your grandparents and the same God who took care of your grandparents
took care of your mother and father. The same God who took care of your mother and father
is the God who's taking care of you and the God who's taking care of you will take care of your
children. David said I've been young. I wish I had helped to holler right here.
But now I'm old and I've never seen the righteous forsaken. Na is see.
Here again for Brie.
I'm through. I've kept you too long. I've got to go do a podcast with my young friends.
I don't have time to play with you old people anymore.
But lastly, there's a celebration in this text.
From verses one through verse three is explanation. From verses four through 11 is exhortation.
But for 60 verses, the Psalmist talks about how good God is.
He opened the red sea and they went over on dry ground. When they got hungry,
he rained manna from heaven. When they got thirsty, they drank sweet water
from a rock. They were walking around for 40 years and their clothes would not wear out.
Their shoes would not wear out. When the enemy tried to route them,
God was a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. It was dark on one side and light
on the other side. God provided, God took care of them and even when they disobeyed God, he made a way.
I'm finished now, but I want you to listen to me, my young adult friends.
Michael Masser wrote these lyrics and Whitney Houston made it into a recording
nominated for record of the year at the Grammys. And the song goes like this.
I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.
Show them all the beauty they possess inside. Give them a sense of pride to make it easier.
Let the children's laughter remind us how it used to be. Everybody searching for a hero.
People need someone to look up to. I never found anyone who fulfills my needs.
A lonely place to be. And so I learned to depend on me. I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's
shadow. If I fail, if I succeed, at least I'll live as I believe. No matter what they take from me,
they can't take away my dignity. That's a beautiful song. I don't like to hear nobody sing that song
but Whitney Houston. But here is where the song goes off track. Because the greatest love of all
is happening to me. The song really goes off track with the next lyric. I found the greatest love
of all inside of me. That's blasphemy. That's secular humanism. That's impersonal idealism.
The greatest love of all is not inside of you. The greatest love of all was born in a stable.
The greatest love of all was wrapped in swaddling clothes. The greatest love of all was 12 years
old when he questioned doctors and lawyers. The greatest love of all when he got to be 30 years
old left his father's carpentry shop and went down to the Jordan to be baptized of John the
Baptist. The greatest love of all stood in the Jordan River and the heavens opened and a dove
descended saying this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. The greatest love of all is
not inside of you but the greatest love of all healed the sick. He raised the dead. The greatest
love of all gave sight to the blind. He made the lame to walk. He made the dumb to speak. He made
the deaf to hear. The greatest love of all was on a ship one day and a storm blew up on the
sea of Galilee and the greatest love of all waved his hand and said peace be still. The greatest
love of all was on his way to Jairus's house to raise Jairus's daughter from a sick bed but a woman
had an issue of blood and she touched his clothes and when he stopped the blood stopped because
the greatest love of all saw a woman going to bury her only son. He put his hand on the casket
and that boy came back to life again. The greatest love of all is not inside of you. The greatest
love of all is on a hill called Calvary. The greatest love of all died one Friday. Didn't he die?
If you were raised right you can help me right here. Bright early Sunday morning. The greatest love
of all got up from the grave with all power in his hand but that's not the end of the story.
The greatest love of all is right now this morning seated on the right hand of God
and whatever comes up in your life he's able to make a way out of no way. He's able to open doors.
He's able to answer prayer. He's able to be your friend. He's able to dry your tears.
He's able. He's able. He's able. He's able. I need somebody who knows he's able.
I need a witness this morning who can help me testify. He's able to make a way out of no way.
I want to tell you young people when life gets hard for you and you look like you can't see your way
when mama and daddy is not around. When it looks like you're up against it by yourself.
I want you to fall down on your knees. Lift your hands toward the heaven and repeat these words to
yourself. Now under him. Now under him. Who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all
you can ask or think according to the power that's working in you. Won't he do it? Won't he do it?
And if that doesn't work get on your knees again and say now under him who is able to keep you
from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding great joy
to the only to the only to the only to the only wise God to the only wise God be glory and majesty
and dominion and power now and forever. Won't he keep you? Won't he deliver you? Won't he provide
for you? Why don't you grab somebody? Tell him he's a keeper. He's a keeper. He's a keeper. I knew he's all right.
Oh, he's all right.
He walks with me. He talks with me. Won't he make a way? Why don't you tell somebody
to be not dismayed? Why the hell would be time? God will. God will take care of you. Won't he take
care of you? I said won't he take care of you? Won't he provide? Won't he keep you in perfect peace
if you keep your mind?
I'm not talking to young folk now. Let me talk to some old people now. Won't he make a way?
Won't he open doors if you're over 40 years old? I'm talking to you right now. Won't he put food on
your teeth? Clothes on your back? Mame it in your pocket. I know he's all right.
I know he's all right.
I know what you're saying.
I know what some of your young people are saying. You're saying Reverend, you're old timing.
You're old school. You don't understand. Just keep on living.
Just keep on saying good morning.
And your attitude will change. Because the stuff that makes sense to you now,
when you get up here where I am, you will have the testimony of all of the old people like me in
here. If I had known then what I know now, I would have left that food right at his mama's house.
If I had known then what I know now, do you know how much money I would have saved?
If I had known I was going to live so long, I would have took better care of myself.
But God is still keeping me. And God can keep you. He can keep you on the college campus.
He can keep you in your dormitory. He can keep you on your new job.
He can keep you in perfect peace. But you got to keep your mind. Stayed on there.