WEBVTT 00:00:03.780 --> 00:00:07.679 I think by sunshine, Alex meant biblical rain. 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:14.519 Today's reading is from Deuteronomy chapter 6, 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:22.339 verses 4 to 12. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our 00:00:22.339 --> 00:00:27.059 God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God 00:00:27.059 --> 00:00:31.030 with all your heart. With all your soul and with 00:00:31.030 --> 00:00:34.890 all your strength. These commandments that I 00:00:34.890 --> 00:00:40.090 give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress 00:00:40.090 --> 00:00:43.590 them on your children. Take them when you sit 00:00:43.590 --> 00:00:47.689 at home and when you walk along the road. When 00:00:47.689 --> 00:00:53.009 you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as 00:00:53.009 --> 00:00:57.350 symbols on your hands. Bind them on your foreheads. 00:00:57.789 --> 00:01:00.750 Write them on the door frames of your houses 00:01:00.750 --> 00:01:06.469 and on your gates. When the Lord your God brings 00:01:06.469 --> 00:01:10.670 you into the land he swore to your fathers, to 00:01:10.670 --> 00:01:16.689 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you a land 00:01:16.689 --> 00:01:20.250 with large flourishing cities you did not build, 00:01:20.390 --> 00:01:24.950 houses filled with all kinds of good things you 00:01:24.950 --> 00:01:32.890 did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards 00:01:32.890 --> 00:01:36.890 and olive groves you did not plant. Then when 00:01:36.890 --> 00:01:40.689 you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you 00:01:40.689 --> 00:01:44.430 do not forget the Lord who brought you out of 00:01:44.430 --> 00:01:49.430 Egypt, out of the land of slavery. The word of 00:01:49.430 --> 00:01:53.359 the Lord. You've probably all seen the Four Dummies 00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:55.980 book series. There's like 2 ,500 books in this 00:01:55.980 --> 00:01:59.260 series now. So, you know, there's Banjo for Dummies. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:01.459 There's a chapter in there, How to Tune Your 00:02:01.459 --> 00:02:04.980 Banjo. Another chapter, How to Apologize to Your 00:02:04.980 --> 00:02:08.379 Neighbors for Even Owning a Banjo. There's the 00:02:08.379 --> 00:02:11.379 Air Fryer Cookbook. I don't know why, you know, 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:13.360 you need a dummies book on air fryers. They really 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:16.240 only have like two buttons. But anyways, then 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:20.500 there's like Blockchain Data Analytics. for dummies. 00:02:20.500 --> 00:02:22.580 There really is, you know. I mean, what do they 00:02:22.580 --> 00:02:25.580 take us for? Idiots? Of course, we all know about 00:02:25.580 --> 00:02:29.419 blockchain data analytics. There's, of course, 00:02:29.460 --> 00:02:32.340 there is Christianity for dummies, and there 00:02:32.340 --> 00:02:37.719 is farming for dummies, too. Now, we are actually 00:02:37.719 --> 00:02:39.780 in this teaching series, which we're calling 00:02:39.780 --> 00:02:42.599 Growing Season. It's a series about farming and 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:44.419 faith and the connection between agriculture 00:02:44.419 --> 00:02:48.879 and spirituality. And I'm not slagging any of 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:51.159 these books. I'm a dummy in many ways. In many 00:02:51.159 --> 00:02:52.860 ways, these books would be very helpful for me 00:02:52.860 --> 00:02:56.020 in learning certain things. But actually, not 00:02:56.020 --> 00:03:01.240 everything can be learned from a book. And that's 00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:03.240 because there's actually a different kind of 00:03:03.240 --> 00:03:05.719 learning out there. And it's a kind of learning 00:03:05.719 --> 00:03:09.919 that I want to talk to you about today. And this 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:11.759 learning doesn't come from a book. It doesn't 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:13.740 come from a classroom. You can't get this kind 00:03:13.740 --> 00:03:15.919 of a learning from like a YouTube video or even 00:03:16.139 --> 00:03:20.979 chat GPT. This learning is passed on. It's passed 00:03:20.979 --> 00:03:24.360 on from one person to another person, from one 00:03:24.360 --> 00:03:28.969 generation to another generation. And when it 00:03:28.969 --> 00:03:31.750 comes to farming, I will have to tell you just 00:03:31.750 --> 00:03:34.069 about everything that I learned about farming 00:03:34.069 --> 00:03:39.069 just came person to person with my dad, who you 00:03:39.069 --> 00:03:41.550 just met. And actually, wouldn't you know it, 00:03:41.590 --> 00:03:43.430 my dad is actually going to be here today at 00:03:43.430 --> 00:03:46.930 the 1115 service. So if you did want to kind 00:03:46.930 --> 00:03:49.229 of meet him and get his autograph, you could. 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:51.939 You could come back and stick around and meet 00:03:51.939 --> 00:03:54.120 him at the barbecue and all that. But anyways, 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:55.879 what I learned from dad, there was no formal 00:03:55.879 --> 00:03:58.139 education. There was no binder he gave me that 00:03:58.139 --> 00:04:01.000 was like, here's farming 101. He didn't give 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:04.680 me quizzes on proper manure spreader operation, 00:04:05.080 --> 00:04:09.419 right? I learned to milk. A cow just by watching 00:04:09.419 --> 00:04:13.500 him milk the cows night after night. And I learned 00:04:13.500 --> 00:04:17.279 to back a tractor up with a hay wagon. That's 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:20.160 a lot of axles. With him standing on the ground 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:23.779 saying, no, left, left. Your other left, your 00:04:23.779 --> 00:04:26.959 other left, right? And I also learned, as I said 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:29.560 in the video, how to cut hay. I remember distinctly 00:04:29.560 --> 00:04:31.980 him riding with me in the tractor around and 00:04:31.980 --> 00:04:33.920 around the fields, and eventually he stepped 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:36.800 down, and I kept on going, and now I was doing 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:42.839 it on my own. Some wisdom just travels best when 00:04:42.839 --> 00:04:48.250 it goes from life to life. And a book can explain 00:04:48.250 --> 00:04:52.350 to you, for example, when cut hay is ready to 00:04:52.350 --> 00:04:55.129 be baled. But a farmer can kind of walk into 00:04:55.129 --> 00:04:57.449 the field, pick up a handful of it, smell it. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:00.180 Crackle it through his fingers and then say, 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:02.060 no, you know what, it needs another six hours 00:05:02.060 --> 00:05:06.819 of sunshine. A book could tell you what the symptoms 00:05:06.819 --> 00:05:10.480 are of a sick cow. But a farmer can walk into 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:12.500 the barn, look at the herd and say, you know 00:05:12.500 --> 00:05:14.860 what, there is something wrong with that one. 00:05:14.899 --> 00:05:18.100 Let me tell you how I know. That kind of learning 00:05:18.100 --> 00:05:22.379 is often called something we call intergenerational 00:05:22.379 --> 00:05:26.750 transmission. And that refers to, quote, the 00:05:26.750 --> 00:05:30.089 passing of experience and accumulated knowledge 00:05:30.089 --> 00:05:34.889 from one generation to the next. And it's very 00:05:34.889 --> 00:05:36.949 interesting because for a few years, Sally and 00:05:36.949 --> 00:05:39.889 I, we actually lived and owned our own farm. 00:05:40.089 --> 00:05:42.350 And I was always on the phone with my dad asking 00:05:42.350 --> 00:05:44.310 him questions. I'd be like, dad, you know, the 00:05:44.310 --> 00:05:46.569 pump in the barn is not working anymore. What's 00:05:46.569 --> 00:05:49.129 wrong with it? Or dad. You know, the electric 00:05:49.129 --> 00:05:53.170 fence is weak. Why is it so weak? Or dad, I need 00:05:53.170 --> 00:05:55.569 to get someone to shear the sheep. Who do I even 00:05:55.569 --> 00:05:59.269 call about that? And a book could have told me 00:05:59.269 --> 00:06:01.129 some of that. But, you know, if I just asked 00:06:01.129 --> 00:06:02.810 my dad, it was like so much easier because he'd 00:06:02.810 --> 00:06:05.709 already done these things and he knew how to 00:06:05.709 --> 00:06:09.110 do them. I can remember, this is a very vivid 00:06:09.110 --> 00:06:12.610 memory I have. I can remember once when I needed 00:06:12.610 --> 00:06:17.329 to castrate. a group of male piglets, little 00:06:17.329 --> 00:06:20.110 boars. We'd had this big litter of piglets. And 00:06:20.110 --> 00:06:21.850 I assumed, oh, I know what you do. You call the 00:06:21.850 --> 00:06:24.790 veterinarian. And I said, and dad said, no, don't 00:06:24.790 --> 00:06:27.449 do that. He said, I'll come over and show you 00:06:27.449 --> 00:06:30.129 how to do it. And I was like, really? And so 00:06:30.129 --> 00:06:34.610 over he came and he pulled these piglets one 00:06:34.610 --> 00:06:37.850 by one. And, you know, it was like cut, cut, 00:06:38.069 --> 00:06:44.089 pop, snip, toss. disinfect, and then he'd be 00:06:44.089 --> 00:06:47.209 like, okay, Rob, now it's your turn. And I'd 00:06:47.209 --> 00:06:49.050 be like, I didn't see it quite right. Maybe you 00:06:49.050 --> 00:06:51.829 should do that one again, Dad. And, you know, 00:06:51.870 --> 00:06:54.509 cut, cut, snip, toss. Okay, now it's your turn. 00:06:54.550 --> 00:06:56.269 How about one more, Dad? Why don't you just show 00:06:56.269 --> 00:06:58.009 me one more time? I'm not sure I quite, quite, 00:06:58.009 --> 00:07:01.370 quite got it. But eventually I had to do it myself 00:07:01.370 --> 00:07:04.089 because, again, there are some things you can 00:07:04.089 --> 00:07:07.509 only learn by attempting them with somebody else 00:07:07.509 --> 00:07:11.740 at your side who knows what they are doing. Now, 00:07:11.779 --> 00:07:14.600 if you grew up in the country, you probably have 00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:18.120 heard of 4 -H. 4 -H were these kind of clubs 00:07:18.120 --> 00:07:21.660 for kids, clubs for farm kids, where you could 00:07:21.660 --> 00:07:23.579 go and you would learn about farming. You could 00:07:23.579 --> 00:07:26.540 learn about sowing or cooking or homesteading 00:07:26.540 --> 00:07:30.259 and all that. And 4 -H had a motto. And the motto 00:07:30.259 --> 00:07:35.339 was this, learn to do by doing. And in fact, 00:07:35.379 --> 00:07:37.579 really what the motto was, was learn to do by 00:07:37.579 --> 00:07:42.360 doing. from someone else who has already done 00:07:42.360 --> 00:07:46.779 it. And that is how farming wisdom was passed 00:07:46.779 --> 00:07:49.899 on. It was passed on generation to generation, 00:07:50.100 --> 00:07:54.040 passed on life to life. And here's the thing. 00:07:54.839 --> 00:07:58.740 Our faith is passed on in much the same way. 00:07:59.079 --> 00:08:01.879 Of course, Christianity, you can learn some stuff 00:08:01.879 --> 00:08:04.639 from a book. You can learn some stuff from taking 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:07.980 a class on it. But learning to follow Jesus, 00:08:08.519 --> 00:08:13.620 Happens best when we do it alongside someone 00:08:13.620 --> 00:08:17.540 who has already walked that road before or is 00:08:17.540 --> 00:08:22.000 currently walking that road. Today in our reading, 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:26.420 Moses reminds God's people that the faith that 00:08:26.420 --> 00:08:30.699 they have received must be passed on to the next 00:08:30.699 --> 00:08:35.179 generation because no generation can live. on 00:08:35.179 --> 00:08:38.019 the memory of god from a previous generation 00:08:38.019 --> 00:08:40.539 every generation must receive the faith every 00:08:40.539 --> 00:08:43.039 generation must live the faith and then every 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:47.100 generation must pass that faith along to the 00:08:47.100 --> 00:08:49.679 next and it seems obvious to say but we must 00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:53.240 state it that in order to pass something on to 00:08:53.240 --> 00:08:56.080 the next generation the first generation has 00:08:56.080 --> 00:09:00.179 to actually grasp it and understand it for themselves 00:09:01.049 --> 00:09:02.950 You know, I can remember my kids when they were 00:09:02.950 --> 00:09:05.169 doing homework. Sometimes they'd say, hey, dad, 00:09:05.309 --> 00:09:06.950 how do you do this? And I'd look over their shoulder 00:09:06.950 --> 00:09:09.169 and I'd say, well, you just do this, that and 00:09:09.169 --> 00:09:11.769 the other. And then they'd look at me and they 00:09:11.769 --> 00:09:16.029 knew. They knew I had no idea what I was talking 00:09:16.029 --> 00:09:20.370 about. And the truth is you cannot pass on knowledge 00:09:20.370 --> 00:09:25.840 that you do not possess. And before we can pass 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:28.759 on faith to someone else, it must first take 00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:32.940 root in us. Just look at the order of how Moses 00:09:32.940 --> 00:09:35.259 explains this in the reading we just read. He 00:09:35.259 --> 00:09:38.200 says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord 00:09:38.200 --> 00:09:40.879 is one. Love the Lord your God with all your 00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:44.120 heart. and with all your soul and with all your 00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:46.620 strength, these commandments that I give you 00:09:46.620 --> 00:09:51.039 today are to be on your hearts, right? So before 00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:53.620 he gets to saying, tell your children about this, 00:09:53.720 --> 00:09:56.679 the first word is for them to hear it for themselves. 00:09:56.940 --> 00:10:01.860 It has to be on their hearts. So before Israel 00:10:01.860 --> 00:10:04.700 tries to do this generational transformation 00:10:04.700 --> 00:10:08.799 communication thing, it must be rooted in the 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:12.220 hearts of the parents. And faith transmission 00:10:12.220 --> 00:10:16.919 always begins with personally receiving what 00:10:16.919 --> 00:10:21.379 God has done. So we should not think for a second 00:10:21.379 --> 00:10:23.159 that the first thing Moses is telling us this 00:10:23.159 --> 00:10:26.259 morning is, hey, parents. You need to do a better 00:10:26.259 --> 00:10:28.860 job of reading Bible stories to your kids. Or, 00:10:28.860 --> 00:10:31.100 hey, Trinity, you need to do a better job of 00:10:31.100 --> 00:10:33.799 sharing the faith with those outside in the world. 00:10:33.860 --> 00:10:37.220 No, our first responsibility is not instructional. 00:10:37.879 --> 00:10:41.679 It's devotional, right? To love the Lord our 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:45.279 God with all our hearts and all our mind and 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:50.240 all our strength. Because, again, to put it plainly, 00:10:50.259 --> 00:10:54.100 you cannot pass on what... you haven't received 00:10:54.100 --> 00:10:58.440 yourself. Just as my parents, just as my kids 00:10:58.440 --> 00:11:03.580 could see through my poor homework help, you 00:11:03.580 --> 00:11:06.960 know, people can tell whether the faith that 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:09.500 we're trying to communicate is actually something 00:11:09.500 --> 00:11:13.240 that we truly believe and something we truly 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:15.960 practice or whether it's just something that 00:11:15.960 --> 00:11:19.779 we say. You know, they notice whether prayer 00:11:19.779 --> 00:11:22.220 is something we talk about or is actually something 00:11:22.220 --> 00:11:25.879 that we do. And they will notice whether generosity 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:29.159 is just an idea we have or whether it's actually 00:11:29.159 --> 00:11:33.299 our own way of life. It's stuff like that. I 00:11:33.299 --> 00:11:35.220 came across this quote from a pastor. His name 00:11:35.220 --> 00:11:37.700 was Landon Chase. I was watching a video by him 00:11:37.700 --> 00:11:39.080 this week. And this is what he says. He said, 00:11:39.139 --> 00:11:43.740 Gen Z doesn't need your fog machine. They need 00:11:43.740 --> 00:11:46.500 to know if this is real. And the churches that 00:11:46.500 --> 00:11:48.340 will reach them aren't the ones with the best 00:11:48.340 --> 00:11:51.559 production. They're the ones with the most authenticity. 00:11:52.620 --> 00:11:56.440 You see, in the age of AI and edited photographs 00:11:56.440 --> 00:12:01.720 and filtered lives, I think kids today are asking, 00:12:01.820 --> 00:12:04.440 what is real? Is this real? Is the song real? 00:12:04.659 --> 00:12:07.960 Are these words real? Is this person real? Is 00:12:07.960 --> 00:12:10.120 this news article real? How do they know if the 00:12:10.120 --> 00:12:14.110 faith is real? Right? It won't be because they 00:12:14.110 --> 00:12:15.629 read it in a book and it won't be because they 00:12:15.629 --> 00:12:17.350 saw a YouTube video on it. There's no way to 00:12:17.350 --> 00:12:19.230 tell if that's true. It won't even be because 00:12:19.230 --> 00:12:21.429 they hear a sermon about it. They're going to 00:12:21.429 --> 00:12:24.129 know that it is real because they saw it embodied 00:12:24.129 --> 00:12:28.220 in a person's life. And it doesn't have to be 00:12:28.220 --> 00:12:30.600 embodied perfectly. It doesn't have to be embodied 00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:33.980 flawlessly, but at least honestly, and at least 00:12:33.980 --> 00:12:36.960 with authenticity. And yeah, we may fall down. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:39.139 And yeah, we may stumble and screw up and then 00:12:39.139 --> 00:12:43.100 get back up and follow God again. Keep coming 00:12:43.100 --> 00:12:46.700 back to God. People can tell if something's real. 00:12:46.759 --> 00:12:50.679 They can tell if our faith is real. And we can't 00:12:50.679 --> 00:12:54.879 sow seeds. that we don't possess ourselves. The 00:12:54.879 --> 00:12:57.480 seed of faith has to first be received, planted 00:12:57.480 --> 00:13:00.419 deeply and rooted in our hearts, and only then 00:13:00.419 --> 00:13:05.639 can it become seed for someone else. But now 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:08.539 we come to the real question. What is the best 00:13:08.539 --> 00:13:12.139 way to sow that seed into the lives of people 00:13:12.139 --> 00:13:15.470 around us? Well, actually, Moses gives us an 00:13:15.470 --> 00:13:17.610 answer to that question too. And it's not nearly 00:13:17.610 --> 00:13:19.769 as complicated as you might think it would be. 00:13:19.870 --> 00:13:22.269 It doesn't require expensive curriculum. You 00:13:22.269 --> 00:13:24.529 don't have to go get theological education. This 00:13:24.529 --> 00:13:28.250 is what he says. Talk about it, right? Talk about 00:13:28.250 --> 00:13:30.389 these words when you sit at home and when you 00:13:30.389 --> 00:13:33.330 walk along the road, when you lie down and when 00:13:33.330 --> 00:13:37.970 you get up. In other words, the best classroom 00:13:37.970 --> 00:13:41.330 for passing on the faith to others is just ordinary 00:13:41.330 --> 00:13:45.940 life. This is what I mean when I say faith in 00:13:45.940 --> 00:13:50.159 the furrows. A furrow is just this long trench. 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:54.299 in a field that's made by a plow. It's just simple. 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:56.840 It's dirty. It's ordinary. It's earthy. It's 00:13:56.840 --> 00:14:00.120 unglamorous. But that's where the seeds ultimately 00:14:00.120 --> 00:14:03.940 get planted. And every life has furrows. Your 00:14:03.940 --> 00:14:06.899 life has furrows. The daily roots, the daily 00:14:06.899 --> 00:14:09.820 rhythms, the back and forth, the people you see 00:14:09.820 --> 00:14:13.519 day in and day out. And Moses says, yes, that's, 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:16.220 those are the places. That's where you plant 00:14:16.220 --> 00:14:20.710 the seeds of faith. In farming, that means the 00:14:20.710 --> 00:14:23.309 best place to learn is in the barn at 6 a .m. 00:14:23.309 --> 00:14:26.250 in the morning, right? The best place to learn 00:14:26.250 --> 00:14:30.830 is, you know, in the truck on the way to the 00:14:30.830 --> 00:14:33.409 feed store. It's around the dinner table at the 00:14:33.409 --> 00:14:37.360 end of a busy day. Most of the stuff I learned 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:40.779 from dad, it was not in any way, shape, or form 00:14:40.779 --> 00:14:43.220 like formal teaching. It was just we were walking 00:14:43.220 --> 00:14:45.659 through a field together. We were checking a 00:14:45.659 --> 00:14:48.600 fence together. We were castrating piglets together, 00:14:48.700 --> 00:14:51.419 and he would, you know, point something out, 00:14:51.480 --> 00:14:54.419 or I would ask a question. And the same way, 00:14:54.460 --> 00:14:59.200 it's the ordinary rhythms of life that are the 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:02.460 classroom of faith. That's what Moses means when 00:15:02.460 --> 00:15:05.159 he says, when you sit down, that's the time. 00:15:05.240 --> 00:15:07.759 When you walk, when you lie down, when you rise. 00:15:07.860 --> 00:15:10.360 In other words, faith is woven into breakfast. 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:13.200 It's woven into bedtime. It's woven into the 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:15.799 car rides, to the soccer games. It's woven into 00:15:15.799 --> 00:15:17.980 those kitchen table conversations when you're 00:15:17.980 --> 00:15:21.340 making decisions or experiencing disappointments 00:15:21.340 --> 00:15:26.559 as a family. A child learns about prayer when 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:31.299 a parent stops to pray. Because the family's 00:15:31.299 --> 00:15:32.919 going through something difficult. That's when 00:15:32.919 --> 00:15:38.399 they learn. A child learns about grace and forgiveness 00:15:38.399 --> 00:15:41.379 when a parent says to them, you know, I was wrong. 00:15:42.120 --> 00:15:46.580 Will you forgive me? The deepest conversations 00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:49.440 about faith don't actually happen in a church 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:52.019 at all. They begin when something's just going 00:15:52.019 --> 00:15:55.080 on in our ordinary life, a relationship change, 00:15:55.440 --> 00:15:59.480 a crisis, a difficult news, whatever. Some unexpected 00:15:59.480 --> 00:16:02.679 question comes up. Moses says, start there. Start 00:16:02.679 --> 00:16:06.379 in those places. That is the best place to share 00:16:06.379 --> 00:16:08.019 your faith. And yeah, it's unglamorous. And yeah, 00:16:08.100 --> 00:16:11.570 it just looks like a line in a field. But that's 00:16:11.570 --> 00:16:13.889 the life that is happening in front of you right 00:16:13.889 --> 00:16:18.389 now. Now, I just want to say, when we're talking 00:16:18.389 --> 00:16:19.830 about all this, we're not just talking about 00:16:19.830 --> 00:16:23.330 intergenerational transmission between parents 00:16:23.330 --> 00:16:26.169 and children, right? We're also talking about... 00:16:27.119 --> 00:16:30.039 Transmitting our faith to those just in the wider 00:16:30.039 --> 00:16:32.259 world, right? Because even Moses says, talk about 00:16:32.259 --> 00:16:34.200 these things around your table, but he also says, 00:16:34.220 --> 00:16:36.159 talk about these things when you are walking 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:38.720 along the road, when you go out the door, when 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:41.919 you encounter people out where life is actually 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:44.960 being lived for us. And Jesus, of course, did 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:47.440 this all the time. He talked to people that he 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:49.279 met at the well. He talked to a bunch of guys 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:51.460 that were fixing their nets along the seashore. 00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:53.899 He talked to sinners and tax collectors as he 00:16:53.899 --> 00:16:57.600 sat around tables with them. Church cannot simply 00:16:57.600 --> 00:16:59.879 stand on our side of the fence yelling things 00:16:59.879 --> 00:17:02.100 into the field to other people. No, we need to 00:17:02.100 --> 00:17:05.539 carry the seed of the gospel with us into those 00:17:05.539 --> 00:17:08.640 places where we spend our days. Into the workplace, 00:17:09.019 --> 00:17:12.839 if that's you. Into the classroom. Into the hockey 00:17:12.839 --> 00:17:17.240 arena. Into the chat rooms. Whatever. Those ordinary 00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:21.319 furrows of life. Now, I was thinking about this 00:17:21.319 --> 00:17:23.839 in relation to Camp Trinity. I have to tell you, 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:27.200 it's so exciting to see the seeds of faith that 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:30.019 we are planting in the lives of these campers 00:17:30.019 --> 00:17:33.019 this summer. And while it's amazing to see stuff 00:17:33.019 --> 00:17:35.119 like this, you know, churches filled with kids 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:38.440 standing on their seats, which I'm still not 00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:41.039 sure what I feel about that, but, you know, singing 00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:44.240 songs and hearing Bible teaching, you know, I 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:48.849 would say that It's still actually the other 00:17:48.849 --> 00:17:52.210 moments that probably are doing more seed planting 00:17:52.210 --> 00:17:54.970 in their lives. It's when one leader sits down 00:17:54.970 --> 00:17:56.829 with another camper and they're braiding a bracelet 00:17:56.829 --> 00:17:59.589 together or when they're walking to the pool 00:17:59.589 --> 00:18:02.829 together or taking a bus ride together. It's 00:18:02.829 --> 00:18:06.470 when there's a homesick camper and a leader is 00:18:06.470 --> 00:18:10.069 kind of caring for them and just, you know, it's 00:18:10.069 --> 00:18:12.430 those ordinary moments, the ordinary moments 00:18:12.430 --> 00:18:15.690 that are the classroom of faith. And that's where 00:18:15.690 --> 00:18:19.410 we are sent to, to sow the seeds that we ourselves 00:18:19.410 --> 00:18:24.109 have received. And now comes the question, are 00:18:24.109 --> 00:18:29.950 we doing it? Are we sowing enough seed for the 00:18:29.950 --> 00:18:32.829 future? There is a bit of a crisis in farming 00:18:32.829 --> 00:18:34.650 today. You probably know this, but every year, 00:18:34.730 --> 00:18:38.230 thousands of Canadian family farms disappear. 00:18:39.059 --> 00:18:42.700 And with that is lost a huge amount of that wisdom 00:18:42.700 --> 00:18:44.680 and knowledge that I was just talking about. 00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:47.640 And actually our family is an example of that. 00:18:47.779 --> 00:18:50.140 You know, grandpa passed on farming to dad. Dad 00:18:50.140 --> 00:18:53.180 had four kids and he, you know, tried to pass 00:18:53.180 --> 00:18:55.579 it on to us. And some of us have even dabbled 00:18:55.579 --> 00:18:58.339 a little bit in farming. I even tried to pass 00:18:58.339 --> 00:19:00.299 a little bit of it on to my own children, but 00:19:00.299 --> 00:19:03.599 we have to be honest. The farming legacy of the 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:07.339 Herkman's family will probably come to an end. 00:19:08.089 --> 00:19:10.430 And that is not necessarily a tragedy. I mean, 00:19:10.430 --> 00:19:13.490 kids don't have to become carbon copies of their 00:19:13.490 --> 00:19:18.849 parents. But the church. The church faces a similar 00:19:18.849 --> 00:19:22.150 crisis. And I tell you, the stakes are much, 00:19:22.230 --> 00:19:25.529 much higher. Just a little history. In 1950, 00:19:25.789 --> 00:19:28.250 do you know that two -thirds of people in Canada 00:19:28.250 --> 00:19:31.650 went to church every single Sunday? 67 % went 00:19:31.650 --> 00:19:34.950 to church. By the year 2000, that number had 00:19:34.950 --> 00:19:39.769 dropped to 20%. And in 2025, where we sit right 00:19:39.769 --> 00:19:44.480 now, 2026, it's around 10%. 10%. And Statistics 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:46.759 Canada will tell us that the main reason for 00:19:46.759 --> 00:19:51.579 this decline is due to generational change, right? 00:19:51.779 --> 00:19:56.119 Younger generations are just less likely to participate 00:19:56.119 --> 00:19:59.500 in church or consider faith something that has 00:19:59.500 --> 00:20:04.230 anything to do with their lives at all. You know, 00:20:04.250 --> 00:20:06.710 it's actually always been a danger. Even in Moses' 00:20:06.910 --> 00:20:09.069 day. Do you know why Moses was giving these instructions 00:20:09.069 --> 00:20:11.490 to the people? He was giving these instructions 00:20:11.490 --> 00:20:13.190 because they were about to enter into the promised 00:20:13.190 --> 00:20:14.890 land. And the promised land, he knew, was going 00:20:14.890 --> 00:20:16.809 to be filled with new cultures and new religions 00:20:16.809 --> 00:20:20.130 and new people and new ideas. And if they didn't 00:20:20.130 --> 00:20:23.089 carefully and intentionally transmit their faith 00:20:23.089 --> 00:20:25.509 through the generations, it was going to be swallowed 00:20:25.509 --> 00:20:29.130 up. Much like we're seeing in our own world today. 00:20:30.630 --> 00:20:32.329 And I'm not trying to say this because I think 00:20:32.329 --> 00:20:35.259 we should panic. about it, right? The gospel 00:20:35.259 --> 00:20:38.319 is not going to disappear. And Jesus has promised 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:42.000 to build his church. But on the other hand, it 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:46.099 is a sobering reminder, right? No farmer can 00:20:46.099 --> 00:20:47.819 be certain his kids are going to take up the 00:20:47.819 --> 00:20:52.380 farm. No Christian can be certain that their 00:20:52.380 --> 00:20:55.319 kids are going to take up the faith. No church 00:20:55.319 --> 00:20:59.420 can be certain that their own future is secure. 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:03.819 Every generation must receive the gospel. Every 00:21:03.819 --> 00:21:07.039 generation must find a way to pass it on. You 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:10.759 know, Paul says, how are they to believe in one 00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:12.660 that they've never heard of? And how are they 00:21:12.660 --> 00:21:16.460 to hear without someone proclaiming it to them? 00:21:17.480 --> 00:21:22.460 What we receive is not ours. to store and to 00:21:22.460 --> 00:21:25.900 hold on to. Listen, if a farmer held all of his 00:21:25.900 --> 00:21:28.140 grain in the barn, yeah, he'd have a whole lot 00:21:28.140 --> 00:21:30.259 of grain, but he would not have a harvest next 00:21:30.259 --> 00:21:33.500 year, right? No, some of that grain must go back 00:21:33.500 --> 00:21:36.779 out to the field. It must be planted into the 00:21:36.779 --> 00:21:40.039 soil where it can grow. And faith works in the 00:21:40.039 --> 00:21:44.299 same way. Someone planted a seed of faith in 00:21:44.299 --> 00:21:48.480 me and in you. And if we only receive it for 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:51.660 our own comfort, ever becomes about our own family, 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:55.059 if it only even becomes just about our own congregation, 00:21:55.460 --> 00:21:57.220 then we have missed the point. The point is not 00:21:57.220 --> 00:21:59.880 to keep it in here for ourselves or our family 00:21:59.880 --> 00:22:01.920 or our church. The point is that it must go back 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:05.960 out and be planted again and again and again 00:22:05.960 --> 00:22:10.940 and again. Paul gives Timothy this same calling. 00:22:11.160 --> 00:22:14.160 He says, Timothy, what you've heard from me through 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:16.640 many witnesses and trust to faithful people. 00:22:17.390 --> 00:22:19.269 who will be able to teach others as well. Do 00:22:19.269 --> 00:22:21.009 you know that in this one verse, there are four 00:22:21.009 --> 00:22:24.730 generations of transmission? Paul, number one, 00:22:24.829 --> 00:22:28.009 what you've heard from me, he's talking to Timothy, 00:22:28.170 --> 00:22:31.930 number two, right? And trust to faithful people, 00:22:32.109 --> 00:22:35.509 that's the third generation, who will be able 00:22:35.509 --> 00:22:38.589 to teach others as well, the fourth generation. 00:22:38.650 --> 00:22:42.109 The gospel is always moving, always moving to 00:22:42.109 --> 00:22:47.099 people who haven't heard it yet. One way to think 00:22:47.099 --> 00:22:50.859 about this would actually be to think of a chain. 00:22:51.140 --> 00:22:53.880 I mean, every farm has got a few of these things 00:22:53.880 --> 00:22:57.819 hanging around. And the thing about a chain is, 00:22:57.900 --> 00:23:01.079 of course, every link is linked to the link before 00:23:01.079 --> 00:23:06.079 it. to the link after it. And this is kind of 00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:09.240 how, you know, faith is handed on, link to link. 00:23:09.400 --> 00:23:13.559 And it doesn't just happen intergenerationally 00:23:13.559 --> 00:23:17.839 through families. It actually also happens in 00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:20.680 friendships and relationships outside of our 00:23:20.680 --> 00:23:24.200 families. After all, Paul called Timothy his 00:23:24.200 --> 00:23:27.059 son in the faith, but they weren't actually related. 00:23:27.779 --> 00:23:31.200 But the gospel is always creating new spiritual 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:34.849 families. And so I just want to say that, you 00:23:34.849 --> 00:23:38.430 know, some of you, you are here today. And the 00:23:38.430 --> 00:23:40.089 reason you're here today is because you inherited 00:23:40.089 --> 00:23:44.170 a really strong link. You know, someone brought 00:23:44.170 --> 00:23:45.990 you to church when you were little. Someone prayed 00:23:45.990 --> 00:23:48.950 with you. Someone read the Bible to you. And 00:23:48.950 --> 00:23:51.289 you watched them and you learned from them. And 00:23:51.289 --> 00:23:54.170 now today you are the recipient of a rich, rich 00:23:54.170 --> 00:23:57.670 faith, heritage, and tradition. That is something 00:23:57.670 --> 00:24:02.769 to give thanks for. A moment for us to ask the 00:24:02.769 --> 00:24:06.869 question, how am I going to pass on what I have 00:24:06.869 --> 00:24:12.650 received? How will I keep the chain going? And 00:24:12.650 --> 00:24:14.609 then I want to just say it out loud. There are 00:24:14.609 --> 00:24:17.730 many people here who struggle because they feel 00:24:17.730 --> 00:24:20.589 like the chain has somehow in their family or 00:24:20.589 --> 00:24:23.369 in their life been broken. And you know what? 00:24:23.390 --> 00:24:25.730 You prayed with your kids. You went to church 00:24:25.730 --> 00:24:28.089 with your kids. But then for whatever reason. 00:24:28.890 --> 00:24:31.609 They want nothing to do with Christianity now. 00:24:31.849 --> 00:24:34.289 And you might wonder, oh, what did I do wrong? 00:24:35.130 --> 00:24:37.210 And you might even feel guilty about that or 00:24:37.210 --> 00:24:40.410 find yourself comparing your situation to other 00:24:40.410 --> 00:24:45.430 people's situations. But please, I want you to 00:24:45.430 --> 00:24:49.980 hear me on this. We can sow faithfully. But we 00:24:49.980 --> 00:24:52.400 cannot control the soil. We can put the seed 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:54.460 out there, but we cannot control the soil. Faith 00:24:54.460 --> 00:24:57.799 cannot be forced. And even Jesus had to watch 00:24:57.799 --> 00:25:01.019 people walk away from him and from his message. 00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:06.019 So we are not the saviors of our children. Jesus 00:25:06.019 --> 00:25:09.759 is. I think all we can do in those situations 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:13.799 is keep praying for our kids. And keep... the 00:25:13.799 --> 00:25:16.559 relationship open with our kids and our grandkids. 00:25:16.619 --> 00:25:18.000 Because, you know, who knows? You know, some 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:21.559 seeds sit under the ground a good long time before 00:25:21.559 --> 00:25:24.660 they germinate and start to grow. And the story 00:25:24.660 --> 00:25:29.980 is not over yet. For others, you may feel like 00:25:29.980 --> 00:25:33.240 you inherited kind of a damaged link of a chain. 00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:35.839 You received. The Christian faith, but it was 00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:39.039 some weird, wacky version that was cold or controlling 00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:44.200 or it was abusive even. And I would say you do 00:25:44.200 --> 00:25:47.440 not have to pass that on. You know, some links 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:49.880 in the chain need to be broken and they need 00:25:49.880 --> 00:25:54.099 to stop and were meant to be interrupted. But 00:25:54.099 --> 00:25:58.140 grace also meets us at those broken chains and 00:25:58.140 --> 00:26:01.779 where the break is, that is also a place where 00:26:01.779 --> 00:26:06.279 we can begin making a new. And finally, I just 00:26:06.279 --> 00:26:08.200 want to say there are some of us here, and this 00:26:08.200 --> 00:26:09.880 is, I think, really exciting. Some of us here. 00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:12.579 And you're like the first link in a chain, you 00:26:12.579 --> 00:26:14.559 know, because you never went to church before. 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:16.500 Maybe you're from a different religious background, 00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:18.839 a different culture, but this Christianity stuff 00:26:18.839 --> 00:26:20.779 is all brand new to you. No one ever taught you 00:26:20.779 --> 00:26:23.039 to read the Bible yet. Nobody ever taught you 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:25.160 how to pray yet. And that is so exciting. You're 00:26:25.160 --> 00:26:26.519 not at the end of the chain. You're possibly 00:26:26.519 --> 00:26:28.720 at the beginning of a brand new chain. And who 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:31.019 knows where that chain is going to lead and the 00:26:31.019 --> 00:26:32.880 lives that are going to be touched as you continue 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:35.339 to grow and share your faith down through the 00:26:35.339 --> 00:26:38.119 generations and over the years. It is just absolutely 00:26:38.119 --> 00:26:41.619 amazing how it works. generation to generation. 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:46.420 And here's the thing. This isn't new because 00:26:46.420 --> 00:26:50.279 this is how it all began in the first place. 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:53.940 Passing on faith life to life is not something 00:26:53.940 --> 00:26:57.640 human beings invented. This is how God got it 00:26:57.640 --> 00:26:59.559 all started in the first place with us. Like 00:26:59.559 --> 00:27:04.119 a farmer who comes alongside his kids, God drew 00:27:04.119 --> 00:27:07.799 near to us. You see, when people were wondering, 00:27:08.519 --> 00:27:10.539 You know, people were wondering, who is God and 00:27:10.539 --> 00:27:13.500 what is God like and how do I live my life? You 00:27:13.500 --> 00:27:15.420 know, God, I suppose, could have sent us some 00:27:15.420 --> 00:27:18.299 kind of list of facts and a collection of rules. 00:27:18.619 --> 00:27:22.720 But God did not send us a textbook from heaven. 00:27:22.759 --> 00:27:27.200 Instead, God came himself and the word became 00:27:27.200 --> 00:27:31.740 flesh. and dwelt among us, and Jesus walked around 00:27:31.740 --> 00:27:34.220 this earth with us. Jesus sat at tables with 00:27:34.220 --> 00:27:37.160 us. He traveled the roads with us. He entered 00:27:37.160 --> 00:27:39.460 our homes. He visited our village. He walked 00:27:39.460 --> 00:27:42.700 through our fields with us. The disciples, they 00:27:42.700 --> 00:27:45.839 watched Jesus pray, and they watched him welcome 00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:49.279 children, and touch lepers, and wash feet, and 00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:53.160 love his enemies. And this is exactly how it 00:27:53.160 --> 00:27:57.920 worked with Jesus. 4H in, you know, 30 AD, right? 00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:03.799 Learn to do by doing. The disciples would see 00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:05.720 Jesus preach and then he would send them to preach. 00:28:06.259 --> 00:28:09.400 Jesus healed and then he sent them to heal. Jesus 00:28:09.400 --> 00:28:11.759 served and he said, I want you to go and do what 00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:15.460 I have done for you. Do it for others. And like 00:28:15.460 --> 00:28:18.839 many kids who are learning farming from their 00:28:18.839 --> 00:28:21.140 father, these guys made plenty of mistakes too. 00:28:21.259 --> 00:28:23.779 They denied Jesus. They misunderstood Jesus. 00:28:23.980 --> 00:28:26.480 They ran away from Jesus. They argued with each 00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:29.910 other. And when Jesus died, it must have felt 00:28:29.910 --> 00:28:33.349 like that chain was broken for good. But after 00:28:33.349 --> 00:28:35.029 the resurrection, you know what Jesus did? He 00:28:35.029 --> 00:28:37.349 gathered them back together and invited them 00:28:37.349 --> 00:28:39.990 into his work again. As the Father has sent me, 00:28:40.109 --> 00:28:46.549 so I send you. Jesus is still the God who is 00:28:46.549 --> 00:28:49.809 standing beside us. The future of the church 00:28:49.809 --> 00:28:53.210 and the future of your family. does not depend 00:28:53.210 --> 00:28:56.190 on our ability to transmit the faith. It depends 00:28:56.190 --> 00:28:59.869 on the risen Jesus working in our lives and in 00:28:59.869 --> 00:29:03.509 others' lives. I'm going to end with a story. 00:29:05.109 --> 00:29:07.750 I think this brings it all together. Last week, 00:29:07.750 --> 00:29:10.089 while we were here worshiping in Mississauga, 00:29:10.250 --> 00:29:14.809 two of our young people, Micah and Caleb Percy, 00:29:15.170 --> 00:29:18.430 were up at Camp Minioi near Port Sydney, Ontario, 00:29:18.750 --> 00:29:23.700 and they were baptized. Their grandfather is 00:29:23.700 --> 00:29:26.099 Harold Percy, who used to be the rector here 00:29:26.099 --> 00:29:28.019 at Trinity Streetsville, and their parents are 00:29:28.019 --> 00:29:34.619 Joel and Julian. Their baptism was a moment when 00:29:34.619 --> 00:29:38.700 the chain of faith gained, you could say, two 00:29:38.700 --> 00:29:41.559 more links. When the seeds of faith that were 00:29:41.559 --> 00:29:44.960 planted across generations began to bear fruit. 00:29:45.119 --> 00:29:48.359 And family was an essential part of that transmission, 00:29:48.619 --> 00:29:52.369 but the church also played a role. Ryland, our 00:29:52.369 --> 00:29:56.170 youth leader, was invited to go up and be part 00:29:56.170 --> 00:29:59.190 of that moment. And here's why. Because Micah 00:29:59.190 --> 00:30:03.609 and Caleb were built into and Ryland invested 00:30:03.609 --> 00:30:07.470 in them over countless Friday night youth groups, 00:30:07.609 --> 00:30:11.289 conversations at McDonald's, car rides, you know, 00:30:11.289 --> 00:30:13.950 praying together, reading scripture together. 00:30:15.019 --> 00:30:17.559 Ryland was, you know, someone who came alongside 00:30:17.559 --> 00:30:22.279 these guys and said, let's walk this field together. 00:30:22.779 --> 00:30:25.359 And so that day, look at all the things that 00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:28.880 came together. Family transmission, church impact, 00:30:29.359 --> 00:30:33.259 camp influence. And of course, the hidden work 00:30:33.259 --> 00:30:36.680 of the Holy Spirit all came together to carry 00:30:36.680 --> 00:30:40.859 the gospel from one generation to the next. That's 00:30:40.859 --> 00:30:44.339 how faith gets passed on. Older believers walking 00:30:44.339 --> 00:30:47.019 beside younger believers, parents and congregations 00:30:47.019 --> 00:30:49.819 working together, some planting, some watering, 00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:55.019 and God giving the growth. Who walked with you 00:30:55.019 --> 00:30:59.039 into this field of faith? Who are you walking 00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:03.440 with today? And how are you sowing seeds into 00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:08.900 the lives of others? Because the same Jesus we 00:31:08.900 --> 00:31:13.160 received is the Jesus we must pass on. life to 00:31:13.160 --> 00:31:18.059 life, generation to generation. Amen.