[0:00] One of my favorite things about getting to know families is learning their family traditions.
[0:20] ! Learning their family traditions. Learning the things that have been passed down through the generations. Some of you are athletically inclined families. Sports just seems to come naturally to the kids that come out of your home.
[0:35] Some of you are academic. Some of you are musical. There's just all sorts of things that we pass down through our family line. Now, my family has a couple. One is all the men in my family, we can balance things on our face.
[0:50] And I'm serious. None of the women in our family can do this. This isn't a patriarchy thing. This is just, I think the women in our family have better things to do with their time.
[1:01] But all of us, all the men, can balance things on their chin. I don't know when it started for me. I think it started somewhere around middle school. I guess it's just like you reach an age of accountability and that gene just kicks in.
[1:15] But all the men in our family can do that. Now, another thing that a lot of our family, all of our family enjoys is we enjoy music. Music is something that has been passed down in our family for as long as we can remember.
[1:30] All of my aunts, my grandmother, my mother, they're all accomplished pianists. They teach piano. They play in church. All of the men in our family, whether it be cousins, uncles, my dad and brother, we're all instrumentalists and we sing.
[1:45] And this is just something that's been passed down. And it was passed down not because we would sit down around the dinner table at night and have music theory lessons. It wasn't like that. I've had a lot of people ask, you know, what was it like growing up in that environment?
[2:00] Well, it wasn't really an educational environment. What it was, was it was something that we all experienced together. We just grew up around it. There was this culture of music.
[2:10] I remember growing up, there was never a day when the piano wasn't playing in our house. Whether my mom was teaching lessons or maybe she was practicing music getting ready for Sunday. My father, the worship pastor at our church, he would go downstairs and he would sing along with mom or he would get his horn out and play along with her.
[2:28] So it was just something that my brother and I grew up with. And from personal experience watching the other elders in my family enjoy it, we would go caroling once a year.
[2:39] We've been doing that for about 40 years. We would also sing at churches. And I just grew up seeing the enjoyment that they got out of music, but also seeing the way that it blessed other people.
[2:51] So we didn't develop a knowledge and an education for music in our family. We just experienced it together and we developed a love for it. For some of us, it became a vocation to teach in church or to teach in schools or to maybe serve the Lord in ministry.
[3:08] For my brother, it became a career path to service country in the army band. So it's just something that's been passed down, again, not because we forced it, not because we necessarily taught it, but we just experienced it and loved it together as a family.
[3:26] Today we're going to be going through Psalm chapter 78, the first eight verses. And as I read this passage, I've read the Psalms several times, but this passage really became a conviction for me when I became a parent.
[3:43] And as I read this, it really impressed on Nicole and I that we needed to be passing something on to our children that was lasting, that was eternal, that wasn't going to fade with time.
[3:58] Athletics fades with age. Music can even be taken away from you. But what are we passing down to our children that's going to stand the test of time, that's going to last into eternity?
[4:14] So as we read this passage, I want to pose the same question that really this Psalm forces us to ask. What are you doing to pass on the faith to the next generation?
[4:28] And this isn't just something for parents. This is something that God has called all of the community of faith to take part in, passing the faith on to the next generation. So while a lot of the things I'm saying seem like they relate to the home and to parents, this is a call to all people to pass on the faith to the next generation.
[4:49] So if you would, stand with me. We're going to read Psalm 78, verses 1 through 8. The word of the Lord says this, Give ear, O my people, to my teaching.
[5:02] Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known that our fathers have told us.
[5:14] We will not hide them from our children, from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord and his might and the wonders that he has done.
[5:25] He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments, and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.
[6:02] You all may be seated. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray before we continue in our sermon. Father, we thank you for your word. Lord, we thank you that you have blessed us with it.
[6:14] And Lord, I pray that today that Christ would be exalted through the proclamation of your word. And Lord, that all hearts and minds would be focused on him. I pray for all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
[6:25] So I posed the question earlier. How do you pass on the faith to the next generation? From this text, I want to kind of narrow that question in a little bit.
[6:36] How do we pass on the faith in the home? Because the next generation, where do they have the most influence over the young people, over those that are coming up?
[6:46] In the home. In the context of a family. So again, I just want to say this again. There's a lot of what we're saying refers to the home, refers to a mother and a father or someone that's raising children.
[7:01] But again, this is something for everyone that is here. This is something that we all need to apply to our lives because all of us have children or the next generation of our sphere of influence somewhere.
[7:11] So this is something for all of us. But we're going to hit on three things today. The first is this, that we need to become ambassador parents, not owner parents.
[7:23] We need to teach it. And then we also need to apply it. So ambassador parenting, this is kind of a term that Paul Tripp used in this book that's actually out there in our Welcome Center.
[7:36] This refers to more of a mindset change, this difference between ambassador parenting and owner parenting. As owner parents, let's talk about that first.
[7:48] This is a mindset that can easily take hold of a lot of people. And to a certain extent, that's even pushed, that we have ownership over our kids. That they are somehow completely ours to mold into our image.
[8:02] And you see this in a lot of ways take root in the family and the things that we try to push on our kids. You know, I think to a certain extent, every parent enjoys seeing their kid take on their traits.
[8:17] They enjoy seeing their kid do things that was of interest to them. But when owner parenting takes hold of you, what that looks like is that you are trying to tie your success as a parent to the things that you're passing on to your kids that are of value to you.
[8:36] And you see this happen a lot with parents, like maybe forcing sports on their kids. Maybe forcing music on your children. Or a really high level of academic performance.
[8:49] Thank goodness that was not something that my parents were depending on for me. But the list can go on. And it's easy to fall into this trap of trying to make your kids successful at the things that make you proud as a parent.
[9:03] And don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with sports. There's nothing inherently wrong with music, with all these other things. I think it's good and healthy for kids to be involved in those things. But too often, we make these things idols.
[9:16] We make these things happen in our lives as parents and in the lives of our kids. So our kids are not meant to be our source of fulfillment and joy. That's another thing that I want to hit on here.
[9:27] In owner parenting, we tie all of our self-worth into our kids. Our completion as people into our kids. All of our joy into our children. Now, I would be concerned if somebody came up and said, my children bring me no joy at all.
[9:41] That would be bad. But the truth is, all of our fulfillment, our true sense of joy, is in Christ. Our children were never meant to fulfill that role in our lives.
[9:54] Christ is our true sense of joy, our fulfillment. He is the only one that can complete us. You see the same mentality happen with newlyweds. They say, well, we complete each other. No, you don't.
[10:06] Christ completes you. You complement each other. It's two people becoming one flesh, not two halves becoming a whole. It's the same thing in parenting. Our children were never meant to fill that role in our lives.
[10:18] And when we put them in that position, what happens is we make our children an idol. Now, on the flop side of things, with owner parenting, another trap that can be fallen into for our kids is that our approval can become an idol in their lives.
[10:36] Their life becomes this constant struggle to try and win their parents' approval. And when I was in youth ministry and just at other churches where I've helped out in the youth group, I've talked with kids that are just exhausted, trying to meet all the demands of their parents, going to all these different events, being part of all these different clubs and sports, and they're just constantly running themselves ragged.
[10:57] But they do it because they want to win their parents' approval. This isn't the way our kids should live. Our kids should never have to wonder, are my parents approving of me?
[11:09] Do they love me? Am I successful in their eyes? So parental approval can become an idol in the lives of our children as well. So my question is, what makes up your children's world?
[11:26] What makes up your world? Because the words of Christ come to my mind. He said, what does it profit a man or a child to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul?
[11:41] So what are you training your children to make their world up? Like, what is their worldview? What are you teaching them is most important? Now we want to jump into this idea of ambassador parents now.
[11:54] This is a completely different mindset. As an ambassador parent, the Bible makes it clear that our citizenship is not of this world. That we are people on a pilgrimage longing for our true home.
[12:07] And we need a parent with that mindset at the forefront of our thoughts. Our children are not ours. They are God's. They are God's creation and they are created to bear His image, not ours.
[12:24] And that's a completely different mindset from what the world would tell you. Our children are not made to reflect our image. They are made to reflect God's.
[12:34] So with that in mind, what does our plea to our children need to be? As ambassador parents, what does our call to our kids need to be? 2 Corinthians 5.20 says that therefore we are ambassadors for Christ.
[12:50] Since God is making His appeal through us, we plead on Christ's behalf. Be reconciled to God. He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God.
[13:08] The church of the world is lost. And the natural state of our kids is no different. There's no child that is born saved.
[13:21] And you know, I'll be honest with you, it fills me with a sense of pride to see my kids do things that resemble me. And I think all parents have that to some degree. We all want to see our kids, you know, resemble us.
[13:33] I think one of the most recent things that happened to me was my daughter, Skylar. She's seen pictures and videos of me when Nicole and I used to teach martial arts, and she wanted to start learning.
[13:49] So like any good parent, I went to the local store that sold all this stuff, and I bought my six-year-old a pair of nun checks. Well, we started going out in the front yard every day.
[14:01] Skylar started doing all these little Chuck moves, and it was great. Well, the week I was coming in view of a call here, she slapped me right across the face with those things. I thought I was going to have a black eye when I came in view of a call that day.
[14:14] It hurts so bad. It's the cutest and most lethal thing that's ever happened to me. But thankfully, there were no marks left, and that's the last that we have worked on those nun checks.
[14:26] I'll get you another pair, baby. Don't worry. But more than anything, the thing that our kids have inherited from all of us is the same thing that has been passed down through all of humankind, and that is a sinful nature.
[14:41] We all have a sinful nature, and ambassador parents, that is what they're parenting towards. It's not that any amount of rules are going to save them, but as ambassador parents, we recognize our children's greatest need is Jesus.
[14:55] You know, my children, they can inherit the best parts of Nicole. They can inherit the best parts of me, and that would still fall embarrassingly short of the righteous standard that God has set for us, and that's something that can only be met in Christ.
[15:16] So for those of you that are parenting, or maybe those of you that are just here in the church, you teach a Sunday school class. You work with kids in Awanas, or maybe you just have interaction with them here at the church.
[15:29] I don't know what your level of involvement is with the kids that are in your life, but what are you teaching them towards? Do you teach them to become better children, or is your heart's aching desire that they come to know Christ who can make them new, who can destroy that sinful nature in their lives, and one day promise them an eternity with Him?
[15:54] So how do we pass on the faith? You know, we kind of talked about the mindset of ambassador parenting versus ownership parenting. Faith is not hereditary, so we need to teach it.
[16:08] It needs to be taught in our homes. The psalm said this, that we will not hide them from our children, the works of God. This was a command from the psalmist to not hide these things from God.
[16:21] God has given a solemn task to the older generation to pass on the faith. And we see that in the psalms, and we also see that just all throughout the laws of God. You know, if you ever read through the Old Testament, just take note of all the festivals, all the laws, all the monuments that God had commanded Israel to construct.
[16:43] And you'll see normally at the end of it that God claimed the reason why this was to be observed. So that when your children ask.
[16:54] So that when your children ask. The whole law, all the festivals, these were designed to point the next generation to the Lord. And when they observed these things, that would happen.
[17:05] They would see these things with their own eyes. So just think about this for a second. You're a young Hebrew boy who's finally able to start noticing these things. And you notice one day, hey, Dad brings home this perfectly white lamb.
[17:19] Wow, what a gift. This is going to be an awesome pet. We're going to give it an, oh, the lamb's dead now. And its blood's all over our doorpost. What's going on here? Dinner looks different tonight.
[17:30] Dad's got his walking staff in hand. We're eating this bread that's not fully cooked. It doesn't taste that great. And they're telling us to eat it in a hurry. So the kid asks, Dad, why are we doing all this?
[17:41] And that's when the dad gets to explain, this is what God did for us so long ago in the land of Egypt when he delivered us with a mighty outstretched arm.
[17:54] Growing up in a Jewish home and in the Jewish culture was supposed to be a time of just awe and wonder and curiosity for the things that God had done in their past. And it was in this that they were supposed to pass on these things to the next generation.
[18:08] Now, fast forward to our time. I can't think of a single Christian parent that would ever tell me, I am working to hide my kids from the things of the Lord. If that's your attitude, we've got some big problems that we need to work through.
[18:21] But we are called to do the same thing in our homes. We are called to pass on the things that the Lord has done and we teach it to them.
[18:33] We observe the communion today. An example of that, that's one of the sacraments that we observed as a Baptist church. And I remember the first time Skylar got to see it and she, again, just like the Lord said, Dad, why are we doing this?
[18:46] And it was then that Nicole and I got to start talking about Christ's body and blood broken and spilled for us. I mean, she's heard about it before then, but she got to see what it represents and why we do these things.
[18:59] So this is not something that's going to happen on our own. We have to intentionally teach our kids these things, make an effort to explain these things to them. And I'm always going to be an advocate for bringing your kids to church, all right?
[19:12] So what I'm about to say is not a dog on bringing your kids to church. That is scriptural, it is biblical, you need to bring your kids here. All right? There's so many things, there's so many benefits that come with being part of a body of believers and that's the way that God intended for Christians to function.
[19:29] That's a whole other sermon series for a whole other time. But a lot of times we bring our children to church thinking that that's going to be their only spiritual outlet.
[19:40] That's where they're going to learn the Bible. That's where they're going to develop a faith. Now, I will tell you, at this church, I have no doubt that when my kids get dropped off to Sunday school and Awanas, that they are being taught the gospel.
[19:55] Just the other night, last week, I was talking to Skylar. We were on our way back from church. I asked her, so what did you learn in Sunday school? She just spout off the whole story of Jonah. I mean, so she remembers. You all are teaching great things in Sunday school.
[20:08] And for our Awana workers, our Sunday school leaders, Pastor Eric, Hannah, I'm always going to be grateful for people like you that are investing in our kids in that way. But what about the rest of the week?
[20:22] What if we took that approach to other things in our life? What if, like our kids' education? Let's think about that. If you had told your kids, you know, we're going to go to school one day a week for three hours.
[20:33] I hope you get it all and I hope it sticks. Bar none, I was the worst math student anyone has ever had. And I was going to class five days a week, I was going to tutoring a night, and I still could not get it to stick.
[20:48] If I was going to school one day a week and having math one day a week, I can only imagine the turnover rate in math teachers in our schools. Oh my gosh. Or sports. Maybe your kids skip practice every day.
[21:03] Let's just go to the pre-game warm-up. We can't take that attitude with how we disciple our kids, with how they grow in the Lord. Kids need to grow up in an environment where the gospel is regularly talked about.
[21:16] Paul wrote this in Romans chapter 10 verses 14 and 15. It's a familiar passage. How then can they call on him they have not believed in? How can they believe without hearing about him?
[21:29] And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.
[21:39] the church, your home, is your miniature church. And you as parents, or maybe grandparents that are raising your grandchildren, I don't know what situation you fall in, but you are the preachers that are being sent out.
[22:00] You are the feet of those that are to bring good news to your children. And the call to be the feet of those that bring good news, again, it's for all believers.
[22:12] Maybe you're the Awana worker that's teaching the kids their verses. Maybe you're the Sunday school teacher that gets 45 minutes a week with them. That call to be the feet of those that bring good news is for all believers. We have all been called out as ambassadors for Christ.
[22:25] But in the home, the home is your church and you as parents, as caregivers, as guardians, foster parents, whatever it is, your sphere of influences in your kids' life. You are called to be the feet of those that bring good news.
[22:41] So how do we teach the Bible? This is a question that comes up a lot. The Bible is a big book. I mean, where do you start? How do you teach it? And by the way, just another plug for that out there, there are great children's Bibles that if you just go through these with your children, they pose great questions.
[23:01] They teach the Bible in a way that points all things to Christ. So I encourage you to go out there and look at those. But we teach the Bible with Jesus as the connecting thread. As Paul said, that he passed on to us what was most important, Christ and him crucified.
[23:18] Jesus is the connecting thread that makes the Bible make sense. Because a lot of times we can fall into this trap of teaching the Bible like a collection of moral stories. We read it to our kids at bedtime. We tell them, okay, this is why you don't lie.
[23:31] This is the moral truth here. The story is about Jesus. And when you use Jesus, when you teach the Bible as it's supposed to be taught, Jesus is the context that makes all this make sense.
[23:47] You get stories like Joseph and the coat of many colors. It's not a story about good guys finishing well, nor is it just a story about the healing power of forgiveness. Rather, it's the story of a favored son who was betrayed into the hands of his enemies for silver into a foreign land and through obedience was exalted to the highest place to deliver God's children from destruction.
[24:12] salvation. Does that sound anything like Christ yet? David was not the little guy that God used to do big things. David was the good shepherd that God called from the field to deliver Israel from an unbeatable foe, just like we needed a good shepherd to deliver us from our unbeatable foe of sin.
[24:31] Jesus is what gives the Bible the meaning that it was always supposed to have. And again, we as parents need to pass that on to our kids. Christ and Him crucified.
[24:46] The last thing that we're going to talk about is how do we apply this? As far as passing on the faith to the next generation, application is important. And this is really what's supposed to happen in the home.
[24:59] So as parents, I want to pose two things for you. The first is that we need to apply in our own lives first. We need to model it in front of our kids.
[25:10] They need to see us living out our faith. As a child, my parents' life spoke louder to me than their words did. Because honestly, as children, we're going to emulate what our parents do, not what they say.
[25:25] You know, there's been times I've looked at my children in shock whenever they've done something that they were about to get in trouble for. But it doesn't take long for them to say, well, we saw you do that once.
[25:37] Or it doesn't take long for me to trace back my steps and think, oh, that's where they saw that. Our kids are going to model our lives more than they are our words. Now, again, as parents, as people that are called to pass on the faith to the next generation, I want to say this, that your sanctification is crucial to your ability to pass on your faith.
[26:05] You can't skip that. You can't lead a double life. Your sanctification has to walk hand in hand with how you pass on the faith to your children. Because again, they are going to watch what we do more than they listen to what we say.
[26:19] The second way that we apply the gospel is by making it a regular part of their lives in the way that we discipline and in the way that we form their worldview.
[26:35] I want to say this, rules do not save our children. We cannot make our children live as Christians and hopefully that turns into genuine faith. Okay? So, what I'm saying here is not a works-based faith.
[26:48] rules don't save our kids. But, what it does do is that it trains them in righteousness. It trains them to think in a Christ-centered worldview of, well, this is how I live the good life.
[27:03] No, this is how you live to become more like Jesus. And the rules that we make, the discipline that we enforce, that's what it's meant to point our children to. When we discipline, it shouldn't be out of a stance of anger, but out of a stance of, this is how you've deviated from the image of Christ, this is how you live to become more like Him.
[27:24] And again, you can live a Christian life and not be saved. Your children's faith is going to be between them and God. But when God does call them into their marvelous light, they have a solid foundation that you have laid in God's Word in their lives that will allow them to soar in their new faith.
[27:43] So God's Word needs to be the foundation for everything that we do as parents. And it's also going to be how we educate our children informally.
[27:54] This is called an informal education. It's not, while you should have times where you sit down and read and study the Bible with your kids, they're going to learn a lot just from the informal education.
[28:05] Teaching them as they go. Making your home a gospel centered environment. Now in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 4-9 this is called the Shema.
[28:17] And this is Moses, he is about to send the children of Israel into the land of Canaan to conquer it. And he is laying down kind of these final instructions for the children of Israel and how they're to live in obedience and how they're to pass the faith on to the next generation.
[28:36] So in chapter 6 of Deuteronomy starting in verse 4 Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your might.
[28:51] And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise.
[29:08] You shall bind them as a sign on your hand. They shall be as frontlets between your eyes and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
[29:20] See the picture that God is trying to paint here? Our homes should be a gospel culture that our kids grow up in. And it's not a thing of faith being hereditary.
[29:35] Our sinful nature is hereditary, but the gospel culture that our kids grow up in is going to be a lifestyle where they regularly hear the things that God has done.
[29:47] Where you regularly get to be the feet of those that bring good news that are constantly investing the word of God into your children's lives. Not just by the times that you sit down and read the Bible, but by the life that you are teaching them to live.
[30:02] So why is all this important? Because the default position of our children is not a position of grace.
[30:15] It's a position of wrath. All of us have a sinful nature that has separated us from the Lord. And church, I've known parents that were so much more mature than me in their faith when they first started having children.
[30:31] And one promise that I can make to you is that there is no one that gives birth to saints. Our sinful nature has been passed down to all of us. And Jesus is the only hope for that.
[30:47] A rebirth is the only hope for that. John chapter 3, verse 6-7, Jesus said this, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
[30:59] Do not be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again. And here's even more sobering reality. If we stay silent, if we don't bring our kids to church, if we stay silent in the home, our children will not be able to stand before God one day and say, I never heard of that.
[31:19] That will not stay God's wrath or satisfy his righteous standard that's needed to be able to have eternal life with him. so what are the things that you are investing in your children now?
[31:34] For you that are here at the church that are around children week in and week out, if you were part of the community of faith, you have the next generation within your sphere of influence. Maybe you are discipling the parents.
[31:46] Maybe you're the Sunday school teacher. Maybe you're just the adult that is just passionately pouring out your heart to God every week and children are noticing that. What is it that you are investing into the next generation?
[31:58] I want to give you this promise from scripture in Isaiah chapter 55 verse 11. God said this, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
[32:21] When you invest the word of God into your children, God says here that it will not return void. It will accomplish what he has meant it to accomplish.
[32:33] When you pray for your children, when you invest scripture into the life, what you are doing is you are trusting your children into the hands of a perfectly holy and righteous God that is going to work all things out for his glory.
[32:48] So how do we respond to this? The first thing is we need to respond with urgency.
[32:59] The time to start investing God's word into the lives of your children is now. And maybe you're a parent that's a few years late on this.
[33:11] It's never too late. God didn't put an expiration date on, well, this is when my word ceases to be effective in the lives of your children. It is never too late to start right now investing the word of God into the lives of your children, to passionately pray over them every night that God would save their souls and make them into new creations.
[33:32] It is never too late to do that. So now is the time to start. Now is the time to start investing God's word to teach them these spiritual disciplines in hope and in faith that God would make them into a new creation.
[33:46] That bears his image to a lost world. Maybe you're someone that has an older kid. Maybe your kid's an adult now. Maybe they're in their teen years and you just see them drifting away from Christ.
[34:02] From God's word. In my life personally, I have seen that there is no one that is too far gone for God to call back and to make into a new creation.
[34:13] There is nothing that is too broken that God cannot redeem and that includes your children. The word that was in the beginning is the word that is still present today and he is the word that is still making things new and will one day make all things new and he can make your lost child new as well.
[34:33] So pray. Pray that God would begin to do a work in their lives and every single opportunity that you get invest the gospel into their lives. Speak the truth to them.
[34:45] Because again there is no one that is too far gone for Christ to save. And again for those of you that are out there that are not parents, that don't have children in your home, don't ever underestimate the impact that you have on the gospel environment that they are growing up in here at the church.
[35:06] They see your faith. They hear the words that you proclaim, the scriptures that you read in front of the church. They hear the way that you pray.
[35:17] Maybe you're their Sunday school teacher. They remember the lessons that you taught. Maybe you're their Awana worker. They remember the scriptures that you have helped them memorize.
[35:31] And again, maybe you are just the person that they see again, passionately worshiping God. They see your love for Him and that strikes their curiosity. curiosity. So don't ever underestimate the value that you play in the environment that the next generation is growing up in.
[35:50] This next year, one of the things I really want to do as your pastor of discipleship is to shine a light on the family ministry here. I want Highland Park to be a place where parents can be called, can be equipped and can be sent out to be the preachers, to be the feet of those that bring good news to their children.
[36:16] I want this to be an equipping zone for parents to raise up the next generation in faith and in the knowledge of the mighty things that God has done. And right now, I want you to start just by praying with me.
[36:34] Start by lifting this next generation up in prayer. Start by praying for the parents, for the grandparents, step parents, foster parents, anyone that is raising a child, start by praying for them, that they would have the wisdom to be able to invest God's word in the lives of their kids at every single opportunity in turn.
[36:56] So church, I want to invite you to pray with right now as we get ready for our invitation time. Would you all stand and bow your heads with me? Father, scripture has issued the call for us.
[37:14] Lord, there's a world that is lost and that is dying to know you. And for some of us, that world, that next generation is in our homes.
[37:27] For some of us, the next generation is around us when we attend church. So Lord, I just pray that all of us would take up this call as ambassadors to be the feet of those that bring good news, that pass on the mighty things that God has done in our past, in our present, and is still longing to do in the lives of those that would call on him for salvation.
[37:57] Lord, I pray for the children in our church. Lord, as they come to Sunday school, as they go to Awanas, as they go home, Lord, that you would begin to do a work in their hearts that only you can do.
[38:11] Lord, make their hearts receptive to your word, to your gospel call. Lord, call them to yourselves. Make them into new creations. And for those of us that teach, for those of us that parent, Lord, give us wisdom.
[38:26] Give us the words to say. Fill our hearts with boldness. Lord, that we would be always willing to preach the truth to our children. Lord, we thank you for this task.
[38:38] Lord, children are not a burden. They are a blessing. And Lord, you expect us to be wise and fruitful with the blessings that you have given us. So Lord, we pray that we would disciple your children.
[38:52] Lord, that we would bring them up to bear your image. Lord, I pray for all these things. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.