1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,860 Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest 2 00:00:15,860 --> 00:00:21,060 questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search 3 00:00:21,060 --> 00:00:27,300 and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead 4 00:00:27,300 --> 00:00:32,440 pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth 5 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:43,080 for the life we're searching for. We are so glad that you're with us. Take your 6 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:48,800 Bibles this morning and turn to Psalm 78 as we talk about investing deeply in the next 7 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:53,560 generation. This is our Out of the Shallow series. This is where we're talking about 8 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:59,400 what it means to go deeper in your relationships. We began talking about going deeper in your 9 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:05,960 relationship with God. We began going deeper in relationship with others around you based 10 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:09,960 on the great commandment, which you remember says, love the Lord your God with all your 11 00:01:09,960 --> 00:01:14,840 heart, all your soul, and all your mind and strength, and you love your neighbor as yourself. 12 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:19,440 So we began talking about what it means to dive deeply into relationships. Last week 13 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:25,440 was about marriage. This week is about passing it on to the next generation. Psalm 78, would 14 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:34,720 you stand with me as I read Psalm 78 and the first eight verses there of that Psalm. Psalm 15 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:40,600 78 is written from the background of failure. It's written from the background of a generation 16 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:47,080 that did not follow God. And so now the psalmist is saying to the present generation, we don't 17 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:52,720 need to be like those who failed to follow God, failed to pass their faith on. And you'll 18 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:57,720 see why as you see the instruction. Listen, O my people, to my instruction, incline your 19 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:03,240 ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings 20 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:07,560 of old which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not conceal 21 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:12,920 them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord 22 00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:19,160 and his strength and his wondrous work that he has done. For he established a testimony 23 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:23,440 in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers that they should 24 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:28,200 teach them to their children so that the generations to come might know, even the children yet 25 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:33,680 to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children that they should put their 26 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:39,920 confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments and not 27 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:45,280 be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not prepare 28 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:52,280 its heart and whose spirit was not faithful to God. All about investing in the next generation. 29 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:57,200 Let's pray together. Father, thank you so much for the opportunity today to look at 30 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:04,000 the important calling we have to pass faith on. And Father, to understand the responsibilities 31 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:09,840 we have and also the challenges and the complications we have in passing faith on. But Lord, give 32 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:16,440 us today under the illumination of your Holy Spirit all we need to be faithful to do that. 33 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:23,440 And I ask this in Jesus' name and I'll guide people said, amen. Please be seated if you 34 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:28,960 would. You know, one of the things I like to watch on television besides football, and 35 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:33,920 by the way, I am really glad football is back on TV today. Can I get an amen? I mean that 36 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:38,840 may be my best amen all day. Yeah, I've got some guys back there clapping their hands. 37 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:42,520 It's the Cowboys tonight, so we never know how we're going to feel on Monday, right? 38 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:49,520 But I love to watch track and field. I love to watch, especially the relay races, where 39 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:56,800 a baton handoff is critical to the success of a race. I like the four by one hundred 40 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:01,920 meters or the four by four hundred meters where these incredible athletes are running 41 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:07,400 with a beautiful form their leg of the race, but also the complication of what it means 42 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:12,960 to hand a baton off from one runner to the next and then for that second runner to take 43 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:19,400 its course and then the third and then the fourth. And really it's unusual that the team 44 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:26,400 that is absolutely the fastest on paper wins the race because so much depends on that baton 45 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:31,280 handoff. Because you move from a relatively simple movement of running to a little bit 46 00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:35,520 more complicated movement of handing it off to someone else that's running and that's 47 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:41,000 why these great runners spend a lot of time in relay races. They spend a lot of time preparing 48 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:45,360 with the baton handoff. I've learned there are three different styles of baton handoff. 49 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:51,520 Who knew? But everyone has the best way to hand off that baton because it's so critically 50 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:56,640 important. Sometimes the fastest runners in a race don't win the race as a team because 51 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:02,280 they fail to pass the baton off. I want you to think about that with me today as we talk 52 00:05:02,280 --> 00:05:08,720 about this Psalm 78 because really it's all about passing the baton to another generation 53 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:14,480 of people who can understand what it means to believe by faith in God. Everybody wants 54 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:20,360 the next generation. Have you noticed that? Culture wants the next generation. Some of 55 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:24,240 you young people in the room today, I assure you the whole world is focusing on you through 56 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:28,480 social media and advertising and everything else. They want your heart. They want your 57 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:35,320 life. They want your morals. They want everything about you. Businesses want you and they want 58 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:40,920 the next generation. Their marketing strategies are built in order to gain business for the 59 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:47,120 next generations for life. So companies pursue this all out. But the people that really need 60 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:54,120 to want the next generation are people like us who want to pass faith onto the next generation. 61 00:05:54,120 --> 00:06:01,680 A well-worn statement but altogether true is that Christians live just one generation 62 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:07,960 away from extinction. If we don't pass our faith to the next generation then who will 63 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:12,880 pass it to the following generation? It's such an important thing because faith is passed 64 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:18,480 on not just by transfer but by example and by word and by teaching and instruction and 65 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:22,240 all the things that we'll talk about today but it's incredibly, incredibly important. 66 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:26,680 Now let me give you some facts as we dive into Psalm 78 and it's going to say everything 67 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:32,160 about the why. Why do we need to be talking about a Psalm written thousands of years ago 68 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:42,040 and why is it relevant today? Let me tell you why. 80% of high school graduates moving 69 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:48,360 on to college who have been involved in church and have held to the faith of Jesus Christ, 70 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:56,000 80% of them abandon church, ultimately sometimes abandon faith in itself before the end of 71 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:03,200 their college years, 80%. Recent surveys say that one in eight professing Christians hold 72 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:09,920 to a biblical worldview. We talked about worldview not too long ago. Some say it's even worse 73 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:15,480 statistics than that. More like one in ten who profess Christ hold to a biblical worldview. 74 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:20,600 Now a biblical worldview would be very simply put someone who believes the doctrines, for 75 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,480 example of the Baptist faith and message that we hold to, the doctrines that are on our 76 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:30,000 website. Viewing life through what scripture says is true. That's a biblical worldview. 77 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:38,320 It's not complicated, it's not complex but very few really hold to a biblical worldview. 78 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:43,600 Recently I read an article that was probably the most revealing article based on a survey 79 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:49,480 that perhaps was the most creatively constructed survey getting specific answers instead of 80 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:55,960 just generalities about why young people leave their faith and I found it very intriguing. 81 00:07:55,960 --> 00:08:01,720 I want to give you some reasons as to why this survey says people have lost their church 82 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:07,960 involvement and then later on their faith in recent decades. I'll give you five reasons 83 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:13,480 that this survey gives us among about 15 that they detailed. The first was at the top 24% 84 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:19,000 of those who left church and then later on said left faith was because of the way the 85 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:25,880 church treated those in the LGBTQ plus community. It wasn't about whether they agreed or disagreed 86 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:31,960 with the morality of that movement, it was about how the church treated people that were 87 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:39,560 in that movement. 16%, the second reason is they abandoned church and later on faith because 88 00:08:39,560 --> 00:08:44,080 of the general behavior of people who said they were Christ followers but didn't look 89 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:49,480 like they were Christ followers at all. They were mean spirited, they were judgmental, 90 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:54,400 or they were hypocritical, not authentic. Their faith only seemed to be a Sunday morning 91 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:59,080 only kind of faith. It wasn't real enough for that particular person that answered that 92 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:06,680 way on that survey to embrace it as a whole. The third reason and emerging reason was politics. 93 00:09:06,680 --> 00:09:11,440 That shouldn't surprise anybody. Politics sometimes turns people off to the church and 94 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:15,980 turns people off to faith in general. Here's another reason that I think all of us could 95 00:09:15,980 --> 00:09:21,240 predict and see coming and that is loss of trust and leadership. The only people today 96 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:26,340 say we've lost trust in any corporation in the government and any position of authority 97 00:09:26,340 --> 00:09:31,280 and leadership, we've just lost trust in them. And the reality is sometimes church leaders 98 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:38,080 earn that distrust instead of earning the trust they should. And then number five, a 99 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:42,560 problem with intellectual integrity. And basically what they're saying in that is they're saying 100 00:09:42,560 --> 00:09:48,240 that I can't reconcile what the Bible says with tough questions that I can't seem to 101 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:52,760 answer. Questions like, and this was a question that was referenced, how can a good God allow 102 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:57,840 evil to be on the planet? I can't answer that and that makes me discouraged in my faith 103 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:04,760 and makes me want to walk away from it. One of the most disturbing things I read were 104 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:08,520 the results of that survey and another 14 or 15 reasons after that, but those were the 105 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:15,520 primary ones. I read recently a man by the name of Richard Rorty, who was a long time 106 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:23,040 tenured professor at a major university on the East Coast. He said, when we American 107 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:28,800 college teachers encounter Christians in college classrooms, we do our best to convince these 108 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:33,960 students of the benefit of secularization. Rather, I think those students are lucky to 109 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:38,780 find themselves under the benevolent teaching of people like me to have escaped the grip 110 00:10:38,780 --> 00:10:45,780 of their frightening, vicious and dangerous parents who believe in the Bible. That's 111 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:52,280 what young people encounter sometimes in colleges around the world. 112 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:58,760 So with all those challenges, that gives me the why to be motivated to pass faith on to 113 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:04,200 the next generation in the best possible way. We're not the first generation that has faced 114 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:09,600 these kinds of challenges, but it's so important for us to understand what's in front of us. 115 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:13,840 I remember when I was growing up and I grew up in probably one of the best Christian homes 116 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:19,200 you can grow up in. And I say that only having grown up in one home, but comparing with all 117 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:24,080 the other homes that I knew about, my mom and my dad were phenomenal parents. My dad 118 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:30,120 was a pastor, my mom was an amazing pastor's wife, they were an incredible couple together. 119 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:35,640 They treated my brother and I in just the best possible way. I just can't imagine a 120 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:40,060 better set of parents. And yet in spite of that, and in spite of the fact that I'd made 121 00:11:40,060 --> 00:11:45,720 a decision to follow Christ as a young boy, I found myself about at the age 18 doubting 122 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:51,400 my faith, doubting the veracity or the validity of my faith and wondering if I was really 123 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:56,280 born again, really saved, was I really a child of God. And I had a very personal encounter 124 00:11:56,280 --> 00:12:01,160 with God, desperate to know God in a real way. I had a very personal encounter with 125 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:06,920 Him and never again doubted my faith. But no matter what kind of home you grew up in, 126 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:10,760 everybody has to come to the place where they own their faith and know that their faith 127 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:17,760 is their own. You can't make it on mom and dad's faith. You can't make it on your son's 128 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:22,400 school teacher's faith. You can't make it on some book's author's faith. You have to 129 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:26,520 have your own faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know the wonderful thing about that 130 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:34,120 is that's what God is all about, helping you know Him personally. Isn't that great? But 131 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:39,640 what we do have a responsibility of doing is passing on our faith in the sense of serving 132 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:44,400 it up for others to understand it from one generation to the other. And that's what this 133 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:50,240 text is all about. What does it mean to accomplish the handoff, the baton handoff from one generation 134 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:54,000 to the other? Now you may be in the room today and you may be saying, you know, I don't have 135 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:58,560 any children. This message doesn't apply to me, but it absolutely applies to you because 136 00:12:58,560 --> 00:13:03,120 there are younger people around you that wonder why you believe what you believe. It applies 137 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:09,240 to all of us in this room today. Nobody escapes application today. Nobody escapes responsibility. 138 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:13,480 If you have faith in Jesus Christ, you have an amazing and important responsibility to 139 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:19,520 pass it on to the next generation. And you can do that through Psalm 78 and its instruction. 140 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:23,480 How do we accomplish that? What do we pass down? That's the first point. What do we pass 141 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:32,440 down? What is the baton? Psalm 78 in verse four says, we will not conceal them from their 142 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:38,800 children, but tell them to the generation to come. I want to focus on that for just a few 143 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:44,200 moments. We don't want to hide the tenets of our faith. We don't want to hide the reality 144 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:50,800 of our relationship with God. The psalmist says, don't conceal those things from the 145 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:56,000 next generation, but rather tell them to the generation to come. Sometimes when we think 146 00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:02,000 about passing on faith or doctrine or truth, we tend to fall into a classroom mode, but 147 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:07,680 that's not the phraseology that we have here. The word tell is not instruct, it's not teach 148 00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:12,200 in the sense of standing up in a classroom behind a lectern and others sitting in chairs 149 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:17,960 looking your way, but it's more of a conversation that families or individuals are to have with 150 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:25,480 the next generation, helping them know things about God. So what are those kinds of things 151 00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:31,080 that we first experience and then testify about, if you will, tell others about it, 152 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:36,840 if you will. How do we do that? What do we tell them? In Psalm 78, we have five things 153 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:41,320 that I'll try to cover very briefly, very quickly that we are to pass on. If you're 154 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:44,920 taking notes today, I'm going to give you five of these things to pass on. First of 155 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:50,160 all, the first thing we pass on is what we know about God's character. What we know about 156 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:56,200 God's character. Who is God? How does God respond? What is his personality? How does 157 00:14:56,200 --> 00:15:01,500 God reveal himself? We pass on what we know about God's character. We find that in verse 158 00:15:01,500 --> 00:15:07,040 four where it says, we don't conceal, but we tell the generation to come the praises 159 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:13,560 of the Lord. That word praise is a word in the original that simply is a general word. 160 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:18,280 It's a word that describes something that we would put in a song or something we would 161 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:24,160 put in a phrase that talks about who God is and our experience with God and how we can 162 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:29,720 share him with others in a very real and a practical way. It's really about sharing about 163 00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:34,240 God's character. You say, well, what do you mean by God's character? Well, when I make 164 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:39,880 a statement like God is faithful, I'm talking about the character of God. When I say God 165 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:45,400 is love, that's part of God's character. When I say God is a forgiving God, that is his 166 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:49,960 character. When I say God is patient and long suffering, that is the character of God. When 167 00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:54,280 I say God is holy, that's part of the character of God. Anytime I read the scriptures and 168 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:59,040 see who God is in the text, and by the way, quick time out, when you read the Bible, no 169 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:05,040 matter what text you're in, be sure you ask the question, what does this text say about 170 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:09,400 God? Because when you get the answer about what this text says about God, you're finding 171 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:18,760 out God's personality and God's character. It doesn't take a difficult study to know 172 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:25,280 God's personality and God's character. So what we know about God's character is so incredibly 173 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:31,000 important and for us to represent that character to the next generation as a complete description 174 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:36,120 of God's character. Now I'm going to take a step backwards for a moment and address 175 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:40,800 one of those reasons that sometimes people fall away from the church and fall away from 176 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:47,160 faith and sometimes it's about the attitude that believers have towards those that are 177 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:54,240 not sympathetic to the morality of the Bible or to the truth of the Bible. At certain times, 178 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:58,120 at certain moments, we want to represent only one side of God's character and that is His 179 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:06,120 justice. We want to say, okay, God is going to zap you. God is going to annihilate you. 180 00:17:06,120 --> 00:17:10,320 We want to say those kinds of things. And it could be that we misrepresent the whole 181 00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:16,120 character of God. I mean, for the grace of God, go us, right? I mean, God has every right 182 00:17:16,120 --> 00:17:20,160 to zap me as well, but I love the mercy of God and the forgiveness of God and the loving 183 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:24,720 kindness of God when I'm interacting with the next generation, when I'm talking to people 184 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:29,120 that may not be in sympathy with what the Bible says about what truth is, what purity 185 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:34,280 is, what morality is. We've got to represent God's whole character. Yes, He's a holy God. 186 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:39,280 Yes, He's a just God, but He also extends an invitation for you to come to Him, turn 187 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:45,080 away from your sins, come to God and experience His mercy and His love and His forgiveness. 188 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:52,080 So we are to pass on to the next generation the character of God, what we know about His 189 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:58,160 character. I know today some of the quick responses that people have when they hear 190 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:04,280 about God's character. I think those that don't know Him often say, well, that's not 191 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:11,280 the kind of God I worship or that's not the God I know. Sometimes the statement itself 192 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:16,040 is a statement that basically says, I really wouldn't want the God I worship to be like 193 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:21,520 that. And what they're hopeful for is shaping God just a little bit in their image, but 194 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:25,520 we really don't have that option, do we? We don't have the option of shaping God in our 195 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:30,280 image. We don't get to define God. All we get to do is choose whether we follow God 196 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:35,120 or not. And that's why it's important that we pass on to the next generation a very well 197 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:42,120 defined detailed description of who is God and what is His character and what we praise 198 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:48,520 Him for. It's so important that we do that well. The second thing that we're told to 199 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:53,280 do in passing this baton on is to teach what we know that He is able to do. You see that 200 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:59,160 next line? It says, and His strength in verse four. That's just a reference to the strength 201 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:05,040 and the thirstness and the power and the ability and the might of God. And when we see that, 202 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:09,000 when we see God's might and His power and His ability, when we read about it, when we 203 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:16,000 experience that for ourselves, we are able to talk about what God is able to do. Now 204 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:22,120 I will say this for today's generation. We live in a generation where we think every 205 00:19:22,120 --> 00:19:28,280 answer that we need in life comes from man himself. Somebody's going to invent something 206 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:35,280 to get us out of this mess, right? Like artificial intelligence. I can't wait for artificial 207 00:19:35,360 --> 00:19:40,440 intelligence. I mean, intelligence is only one of two words that describe it. The other 208 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:47,440 word is artificial. It's not real. But today people look at artificial intelligence as 209 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:53,880 a hope to solve some of the problems of the world. We have all kinds of ways that we look 210 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:58,520 for those to solve the problems of the world. And I'm not saying we shouldn't use technology. 211 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:03,600 I'm not saying we shouldn't use human ingenuity. But what I am saying is we should never forget 212 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:09,520 the ability of our God to do above and beyond anything else. Never, never should we ever 213 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:16,120 think that anything can replace God's wisdom, God's power, God's ability, God's strength. 214 00:20:16,120 --> 00:20:22,520 So it's important for us to talk about God's power, even in the most technical of generations. 215 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:27,920 I walked into the Bible. It doesn't take me long to talk about God's ability. He was able 216 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:33,200 to speak and the heavens and earth came into being. God created the heavens and the earth 217 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:40,200 with such amazing, amazing synchronization. He spoke and that which was not became. He's 218 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:44,200 able to create heaven and earth. He was able to part the Red Sea. I read my Bible and see 219 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:49,520 how He parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to walk across. He was able to keep Bishak 220 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:53,400 Shadrach in a bed and he'd go from burning in the fiery oven. He was able to close the 221 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:58,400 mouths of lions so that Daniel would not perish in the lion's den. Able to stop the enemy 222 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:03,200 in Gideon's day. Able to stop the sun from going down in Moses' day of battle. Able 223 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:08,640 to bring down the walls of Jericho in Joshua's day. Able to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem 224 00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:14,320 in Nehemiah's day. God is able. God is able. And when I talk about God, I want to talk 225 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:21,320 about the ability of God to do things that humanly we can't accomplish. Because if I 226 00:21:22,120 --> 00:21:28,880 don't do that, the next generation will say, somebody will find an app for that. Somebody 227 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:34,360 will find a fix for that. Someone will find a solution to that. No, God already has a 228 00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:40,120 solution. And you know if you read the New Testament, we get it over and over again. 229 00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:44,640 Listen to these verses. God is able to make all grace abound toward you. Not to him who 230 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:50,360 is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. He is able to aid 231 00:21:50,360 --> 00:21:54,400 those who are tempted. He is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against 232 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:59,600 that day. Not to him who is able to establish you. Or he is able to save to the uttermost 233 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:04,480 those who come to God through him. I mean over and over in the Bible, the God is able 234 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:11,480 is all over the place. Now I talked about my home and my parents. I have to tell you 235 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:18,520 that my mom had a he is able verse for every problem I ever came up with. And I came up 236 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:25,240 with a lot of problems. Some of them others created, some of them I created. She had a 237 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:32,240 God is able verse for me every single time. I love a mom like that. I needed a mom like 238 00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:38,360 that. The next generation needs someone in the present generation, an older person in 239 00:22:38,360 --> 00:22:42,800 this generation to say to a person facing challenges, they cannot fathom how they'll 240 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:47,880 get over those challenges. They need to hear people say God is able. I've got the years 241 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:52,280 behind me, I've got the decades behind me to be able to be qualified to say that no 242 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:57,280 matter what happens in life, God is able. We need to have those three words in our vocabulary 243 00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:02,400 and talk about the works that God has done. That's part of passing on faith to the next 244 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:09,400 generation is talking about what we know he's able to do. It's not just a story, it's 245 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:16,400 a testimony of God's power so that when people come face to face with adversity that they 246 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:22,360 can't imagine getting through, you can say to them, I've experienced it, you will experience 247 00:23:22,360 --> 00:23:29,360 it, God is able. God is able. The third thing we pass on according to Psalm 78 is what God 248 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:35,480 has demonstrated. The line there in verse four says, and his wondrous works that he 249 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:40,240 has done and the psalmist was referring to things he had heard that God had done but 250 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:47,240 also would include extraordinary miraculous things God had done in the people's lives. 251 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:53,400 Now what that means in terms of application is being real with those of the next generation 252 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:57,840 about the prayers that God has answered in your life, the provision that he has made 253 00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:03,960 in your life. It means having conversations in a church context where we, the people of 254 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:09,600 God, can hear what God did in someone else's life and hope and pray he'll do that in our 255 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:13,440 life. Listen, if you're not in community, if you're not in a small group, if you're 256 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:17,800 not hearing how God is answering prayers, you're missing part of what it takes to pass 257 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:22,040 on faith to the next generation. That's why we want you in small groups and connection 258 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:26,280 groups. That's why we want you to hear what God did in somebody else's life with their 259 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:30,140 prayers so that you'd be encouraged in your prayers so that you can pass on to the next 260 00:24:30,140 --> 00:24:35,640 generation how God worked in your life. So how God works is a big part of how we pass 261 00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:44,040 faith on. And that's why the church is so important. You know, and this is not a church 262 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:47,480 attendance rally, but when you miss church, you miss the testimonies that happened during 263 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:54,000 the week that God has worked in somebody else's life. You miss hearing that answered prayer 264 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:58,840 that somebody prayed with you the week before and now you know that you prayed for something 265 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:04,200 that God answered. You miss the provision stories that are being told whenever someone 266 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:08,960 needs something that God provides. You miss the healing stories that are shared whenever 267 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:13,920 someone comes and says, look what God did in my life or in somebody else's life. And 268 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:18,720 in a sense, what you miss is fuel for the fire of passing on to the next generation. 269 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:24,200 We have to have those stories. We have to pass those stories on. Number four, the stories 270 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:31,020 of his faithfulness. Verse five, where he established a testimony in Jacob. So here 271 00:25:31,020 --> 00:25:37,480 is a specific testimony through a specific person and family. The application would be 272 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:43,760 what has God done in your family that you pass on to the next generation. Now I've got 273 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:49,240 a great story of my family. My great grandma Castle, she was known as mama Castle. And 274 00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:54,360 when I was 10 years old, I was in Tennessee where she lived and she lived in this little 275 00:25:54,360 --> 00:26:01,000 farm house out on a farm. And she was a woman that mostly sat in her chair all the time 276 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:06,200 that I was in the house and read her Bible. And she had almost lost all of her eyesight 277 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:09,840 by the time I got to know mama Castle. But I was told she had read through the Bible 278 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:15,040 50 times before she lost her eyesight. And she was still trying to read through the Bible 279 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:20,800 after she lost her eyesight. He was a praying woman. And one of the stories I heard after 280 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:25,740 I was called to preach is that mama Castle prayed that God would raise up in her family 281 00:26:25,740 --> 00:26:30,880 a line of preachers. And the first one to be raised up was my father. He was a rebel 282 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:36,920 until he heard the call to preach. And I didn't hear the whole story until I was called to 283 00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:40,920 preach and then they told me the whole story and I realized, wow, I thought I was in control 284 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:49,080 of my life. Mama Castle was in control of my life. Sometimes I tell that story so that 285 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:55,880 my kids can know this. There's a spiritual heritage here, a spiritual influence, a testimony 286 00:26:55,880 --> 00:27:04,120 from one generation to the other that is undeniable. It's undeniable. You can't argue your way 287 00:27:04,120 --> 00:27:08,840 out of that fact that God has used people in our family. We have a testimony in this 288 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:16,120 family just like there was a testimony in Jacob. And if you have no story of God's faithfulness 289 00:27:16,120 --> 00:27:22,680 in your family's past, allow him to provide that story in you and pass it on to the next 290 00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:32,160 generation because it's your story of what God has done. You know, it's so important 291 00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:38,040 to be able to say to somebody that's of the next generation, anybody younger than you, 292 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:45,080 let me tell you, let me tell you a story of what God did in my life. If you don't introduce 293 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:50,720 that, sometimes people think that you did that or that through your wisdom or ingenuity 294 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:57,080 or whatever it is that was accomplished. But just to pause and say, let me tell you a story 295 00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:04,600 about what God did in our family or what God did in my life. No matter how secular, no 296 00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:11,240 matter how relativistic a person listening to that is, they have to give credence to 297 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:18,080 the fact that you experienced God in a special way. That it will linger in their minds until 298 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:25,040 they reconcile it in some way. Pass on the testimony, pass on God's faithfulness to 299 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:29,120 the next generation. Then number five, the laws and values he's given. The last thing 300 00:28:29,120 --> 00:28:35,320 it says here is in verse five, and appointed a law in Israel. Now I like the fact that 301 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:40,520 this list doesn't begin with the law, but it ends with the law. What God says to us 302 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:46,520 in the law and in the statutes makes much more sense to our minds when viewed through 303 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:51,000 the eyes of his love and commitment to us. That way we see God's commandments as being 304 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:56,040 for us, as being a part of what God is doing with us and around us. And not just these 305 00:28:56,040 --> 00:29:01,560 10 things that you must do, but we see God's law as being something that helps us, that 306 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:06,760 enables us to live according to his alignment and according to his values. I love that it's 307 00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:12,840 last and tip first. But nevertheless, when I share with the next generation, I tell them 308 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:20,680 why it's always wise to live under the commands of God instead of rebellious to the commands 309 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:26,520 of God. And after they hear the reality of a relationship, the reality of the experience 310 00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:32,640 we have with God, all of a sudden the character of God, the realness of God, the authenticity 311 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:40,800 of a God in our lives, those commands are very easy to want to come under. So it's important 312 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:45,680 for us to pass these things on. Did you read chapter 6, verses 6 through 9, very famous 313 00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:52,240 statement after the Shema, exactly part of the Shema. And it says this in verse 6, it 314 00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:56,080 says, these words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach 315 00:29:56,080 --> 00:30:00,360 them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when 316 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:04,480 you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them 317 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:08,680 as a sign on your hand that shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on 318 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:15,360 the door post of your house and on your gates. So did Rodney is telling us, and let me paraphrase, 319 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:19,440 lest your heart, your home, your walls, your doors, whatever you wear and whatever you 320 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:25,760 say point to the God you worship. I don't want to use the phrase, where is the brand 321 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:34,280 of God, but we wear the brand of everything else, don't we? I mean, everybody knows that 322 00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:38,920 I'm a Dallas Cowboys football fan, I tell them. And everybody knows that I don't think 323 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:45,880 they'll ever win a Super Bowl again in my lifetime, but I'm still a fan. My family 324 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:51,360 knows there's only one truck on the road, that's a Ford truck, they know my brand. My 325 00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:58,080 truck, my Ford truck has never been found on Road Dead, never. They know my favorite 326 00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:02,840 food, they know my favorite restaurant, I'm a Tex-Mex guy and I'm going to La Ha after 327 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:08,440 church, everybody knows that. Now why do I know, why do I pass that stuff on? I pass 328 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:14,800 that stuff on to my family because that stuff is important to me. You know what's more important 329 00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:21,080 to me than all those things? God, that's who's more important to me. And He's more important 330 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:26,000 to you than all those other things. As freely as you talk about your football, as freely 331 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:30,760 as you talk about your Ford, as freely as you talk about your food, you talk about your 332 00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:39,400 food. And you pass on to the next generation who He is in your life. There's this great 333 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:45,840 little statement in the book of 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 5 where Paul is writing to 334 00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:50,560 Timothy. Most people don't know that Timothy was raised in kind of a mixed home. He has 335 00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:54,840 a Greek father and most suspect that this Greek father never came to Christ, at least 336 00:31:54,840 --> 00:32:01,000 not by the time of his writing. And Paul is calling Timothy to be a son in the faith. 337 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:06,120 And he makes this statement in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 5. He said, I'm mindful of the sincere 338 00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:12,360 faith within you which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and 339 00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:20,200 I'm sure that it is in you as well. Do you count how many generations he's talking about 340 00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:28,960 there? He's talking about a grandmother Lois, a mother Eunice, and also in Timothy. And 341 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:35,280 Timothy later became a very prominent leader in the New Testament. So what does that say? 342 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:42,320 It says somebody had a baton and that somebody didn't have the ideal home in which to pass 343 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:49,600 it off, but they were able to pass it off. And that grandmother and that mother had such 344 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:56,280 an influence over Timothy that now Paul is calling Timothy to be with him a son in the 345 00:32:56,280 --> 00:33:04,880 faith. Wow. Became a prominent leader. So this text goes on and tells us something else. 346 00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:09,320 It answers the question, what do we hope to accomplish? If we do all those things, what's 347 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:14,080 the goal? What's the net goal that we're moving for? And you find it in verse 6 and 7, it 348 00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:18,600 says that the generation to come might know even the children yet to be born that they 349 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:23,200 may arise and tell them to their children. And here it is, but they should put their 350 00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:33,200 confidence in God and not forget the works of God. Put their confidence in God and not 351 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:39,720 forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. Now notice the end connective here. It puts 352 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:45,160 these two phrases together and we can say it like this. Remembering God's words gives 353 00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:52,240 us confidence in him in the future. We're to pass on to the next generation all the 354 00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:58,320 great things that God has done in our life and for them to remember the works of God 355 00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:03,880 that happened in our lives as we told the story, it helps them to put their confidence 356 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:13,040 in God in their generation. They can learn to hope in God. And that faith can live on. 357 00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:17,680 It has the potential to live on if we pass the baton well. It doesn't guarantee that 358 00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:22,400 it will catch in every next generation, but it guarantees that we've been faithful to 359 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:32,040 do our job of passing that baton off. You know when the baton runner runs his leg, the 360 00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:37,120 relay runner runs his leg, and he hands the baton off or she hands the baton off to the 361 00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:42,560 next runner, do you know what they do after they hand the baton off? They step off the 362 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:49,760 track. They step off the track because their job is done. They've run the race, they've 363 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:55,040 handed off the baton, and they step off the track because it's the responsibility of that 364 00:34:55,040 --> 00:35:02,640 next person who now has the baton to do the very same thing to the next generation. I 365 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:06,640 want you to think about that for just a moment. There's some of you in this room that are 366 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:12,840 living out reality as I do. And sometimes you ask the question, Lord, what if they disregard 367 00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:17,560 you in your ways? And all the attempts that we have of passing faith on to the next generation, 368 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:23,320 whether it be our children or our grandchildren or great grandchildren for some or just younger 369 00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:29,880 people that I'm around, what if they disregard your ways? What have I done wrong? You ever 370 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:34,040 ask that question? Don't need to take a hand display of who has asked that question, but 371 00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:39,720 I have asked that question many times. I want you to remember three things. Remember three 372 00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:45,240 things first of all. Faithful parents and teachers sometimes see children disregard 373 00:35:45,240 --> 00:35:55,320 God. Sometimes that happens. It happens frequently in this generation. It's important for you 374 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:59,440 to know that Psalm 78 is written in that context. I've mentioned that earlier, but if you go 375 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:04,960 back and look at verse eight, it references that. So if the generation to come won't be 376 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:09,880 like the generation that's been, who have ignored God, who have denied God, who have 377 00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:17,520 disregarded God, the Psalm actually references that. It happens. A few years ago I spoke 378 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:24,120 with a young man who attends our church. He's a very prominent business person and a great 379 00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:27,840 man of faith. And we were talking about his family. I was getting to know him and he told 380 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:32,440 me about his mom and his dad and just talked about their faith and the reality that they 381 00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:36,160 were great, great parents. I said, well do you have any brothers and sisters? He said, 382 00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:39,760 I've got a brother. And I said, well what's he like? He said, exactly the opposite of 383 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:43,840 me. I said, what? What do you mean? He said, well he's been in and out of jail a lot. He 384 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:47,600 said he's had drug problems. He's had all kinds of problems and like. And he said the 385 00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:51,560 funny thing is, he said we were both raised in the same environment. We both had the same 386 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:56,440 opportunities. We both had the same two parents. He said, I can't figure out what's gone wrong 387 00:36:56,440 --> 00:37:03,440 with my brother. And I said, theologically speaking, it's free will. It's free will. 388 00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:11,240 It's the fact that you had a choice. You chose Christ. You put your faith in Christ and He 389 00:37:11,240 --> 00:37:18,240 has not. That is a big deal. And the truth is not all embrace faith. And sometimes it's 390 00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:26,080 the most difficult thing in the world for us to handle. You know we can control a lot 391 00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:29,560 of things as parents. I enjoyed parenting most when my kids were under the age of 18. 392 00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:36,560 You know why? Because I could fix the problems they had. And under age 10 I could fix them 393 00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:43,560 real fast. But after they get over 18, 20 years old, you don't fix them at all. You 394 00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:53,280 ask God to fix them. You pray. You counsel. You're available. But you can't fix what 395 00:37:53,280 --> 00:38:00,280 they have. So the key is to pass the baton off in a clear conscious. Do your absolute 396 00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:08,080 best to bring them to the place of knowing your faith and knowing what you have experienced 397 00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:13,800 with God and letting them then experience the Lord in their own life. That they may 398 00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:19,000 have their own faith. Second statement I'm going to give you is 399 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:25,040 some disregard of God for His season and then return. The Bible has a number of stories 400 00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:31,160 of that. One of them being the prodigal son. Isn't that a great story? I mean here's a 401 00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:35,680 guy that had everything. He said not only do I want everything, I want everything now. 402 00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:39,320 Give me my inheritance. He goes off and spends it and riots his living. He comes to the end 403 00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:43,120 of himself. He says I return to my father just to be a servant because I don't deserve 404 00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:46,880 to be a son. And the father is standing there waiting for him and embraces him and says 405 00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:52,000 no you're a son, kill the fatty cat. That's the prodigal son in one minute or less right 406 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:59,000 there. The powerful picture is a compassionate father that's waiting for this one to come 407 00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:05,580 back but the reality is he's waiting for the prodigal. Some disregard God for His season 408 00:39:05,580 --> 00:39:12,580 and then return. Years ago my wife and I read a book by Ruth Graham Bell or Ruth Bell Graham, 409 00:39:12,580 --> 00:39:18,540 the wife of Billy Graham and it was about their family. The title of the book was Prodigals 410 00:39:18,540 --> 00:39:24,820 and Those Who Love Them. And in that book she details two sons that they had that were 411 00:39:24,820 --> 00:39:29,540 rebels. They weren't following the faith of Billy Graham and his wife and one of them 412 00:39:29,540 --> 00:39:33,620 was Franklin Graham and she tells a story, a great story of being at a drive in like 413 00:39:33,620 --> 00:39:40,620 a sonnet drive in and Franklin was so disobedient, so loud, so disruptive that she opened the 414 00:39:40,620 --> 00:39:44,420 car door, pulled him out, opened the trunk, put him in the trunk and shut the trunk. She 415 00:39:44,420 --> 00:39:50,260 actually did that. And I read that and I thought well if she got away with it I could get away 416 00:39:50,260 --> 00:39:57,260 with that. She actually did that, I mean that's in her book. I mean I might do that but I 417 00:39:57,260 --> 00:40:02,620 wouldn't write a book about it right. I don't know how long the laws, the statutes are for 418 00:40:02,620 --> 00:40:10,620 that kind of thing but nonetheless. My point is Franklin Graham today preaches the gospel. 419 00:40:10,620 --> 00:40:16,780 You don't always know where someone's going to be because you don't know the whole picture. 420 00:40:16,780 --> 00:40:23,660 But what you do know is that sometimes people disregard God for a season and then they return. 421 00:40:23,660 --> 00:40:30,100 Pass the baton and leave the rest to God. That's all you can do. The third thing I'll 422 00:40:30,100 --> 00:40:37,100 say to you is we all stand before God alone. Man as much as I'd want to hold my kids hand 423 00:40:37,740 --> 00:40:44,740 when he stands before God I can't do that. As much as I'd want to shield them, give excuses 424 00:40:44,900 --> 00:40:51,900 for them, give reasons for them, can't do that. Each of us will stand before God alone. 425 00:40:53,580 --> 00:40:59,140 That's important for us to tell them that but it's also important for you to know. You 426 00:40:59,140 --> 00:41:04,220 can't take it all the way home. They have to take it all the way home. They have to 427 00:41:04,220 --> 00:41:09,300 put their faith in God. They have to trust him. But I want you to remember that the same 428 00:41:09,300 --> 00:41:14,700 God who called you is capable of calling them. The same God that got your attention is capable 429 00:41:14,700 --> 00:41:21,700 of getting their attention. Aren't you glad about that? Amen, amen. So be faithful to 430 00:41:21,700 --> 00:41:28,700 what you're called to. Trust his faithfulness to complete it. Tell the stories that God 431 00:41:33,420 --> 00:41:38,140 has worked in your life. Make sure the next generation knows what he's done and whatever 432 00:41:38,140 --> 00:41:42,860 you're calling is whatever it is be diligent to pass that baton off in the best possible 433 00:41:42,860 --> 00:41:49,860 way then trust God through prayer and through waiting. That's the call we have in our lives. 434 00:41:49,860 --> 00:41:56,860 That's the baton that we are to hand off to the next generation. You know a recent 435 00:41:56,860 --> 00:42:03,860 race that was on television involved international teams and one team in particular dropped the 436 00:42:04,260 --> 00:42:11,260 baton in the baton handoff and it was a group of females who were running the 4x100. And 437 00:42:11,900 --> 00:42:17,740 you only have a short amount of distance to cover of course and so they dropped the baton 438 00:42:17,740 --> 00:42:21,820 and one of the runners took a step back and got the baton and realized they were already 439 00:42:21,820 --> 00:42:25,420 out of the handoff zone so they went all the way back to the handoff zone and then made 440 00:42:25,420 --> 00:42:29,940 the proper baton handoff and then finally ran the race and of course they came in dead 441 00:42:29,940 --> 00:42:36,940 dead last. The important thing for us to know today about baton handoffs is that you just 442 00:42:37,380 --> 00:42:44,380 get one chance to do it and it's so important that you're fully focused and fully present 443 00:42:44,380 --> 00:42:51,380 in what you're handing off. You only got one shot but give it your best shot. Give it your 444 00:42:52,900 --> 00:42:59,900 all. Have a clear conscience in doing that and trust God with the results. I'm going 445 00:43:00,140 --> 00:43:06,180 to give you three invitations today as I always do. Number one, we've talked about a great 446 00:43:06,180 --> 00:43:10,660 deal about what God has done in our lives and how we have testimonies. I think every 447 00:43:10,660 --> 00:43:16,700 one of us would say this today that the greatest testimony we have is that Jesus Christ died 448 00:43:16,700 --> 00:43:21,540 on the cross, rose again and offered eternal life to us and we want our kids to have that 449 00:43:21,540 --> 00:43:27,280 faith in Jesus Christ. By the same token I would say if you've never experienced the 450 00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:34,280 reality of the forgiveness of God that swallows up the holiness of God in their life, in other 451 00:43:34,620 --> 00:43:39,300 words the judgment that you rightly deserve that I rightly deserve swallowed up by the 452 00:43:39,300 --> 00:43:44,460 forgiveness of God if you've never experienced the forgiveness of God demonstrated on the 453 00:43:44,460 --> 00:43:49,620 cross by Jesus Christ today, we want you to know that. We want you to put your trust in 454 00:43:49,620 --> 00:43:55,900 Jesus for forgiveness to make you whole, to make you clean, to give you a faith that you 455 00:43:55,900 --> 00:44:01,620 can pass on what you've never had. And as you leave in just a few moments the invitation 456 00:44:01,620 --> 00:44:06,220 will be to stop at this decision station that is on either side of our building on your 457 00:44:06,220 --> 00:44:10,780 way out, talk to somebody about that. We want to encourage that. Secondly, I invite you 458 00:44:10,780 --> 00:44:14,740 to the guest reception room where I'll talk with you just a few moments about Cross City 459 00:44:14,740 --> 00:44:19,020 Church and the next steps. We'd love for you to do that. Thirdly, I invite you to invite 460 00:44:19,020 --> 00:44:23,300 somebody as they come back next week as we go deeper into relationships with those around 461 00:44:23,300 --> 00:44:30,300 us. Such an important thing that we live out relationships well. Let's stand together for 462 00:44:30,300 --> 00:44:37,220 that. Father, in Jesus' name I am so grateful today for your word, for the calling that 463 00:44:37,220 --> 00:44:42,020 you put on our lives, for the baton that we're supposed to hand off. Lord, thank you that 464 00:44:42,020 --> 00:44:47,060 for generations now batons have been being handed off. Faith has passed from generation 465 00:44:47,060 --> 00:44:51,980 to generation. Thank you so much for those who've come before me that helped me know 466 00:44:51,980 --> 00:44:56,860 you personally. And Lord, I pray that I can be faithful. I know all in the room want that 467 00:44:56,860 --> 00:45:02,500 faithfulness testimony in their lives. Father, direct us to make the decisions to take the 468 00:45:02,500 --> 00:45:30,500 steps that will lead to knowing you. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen and Dismissed. God Bless.