Romans 15:4 "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
13 Let love of your fellow believers continue. 2 Do not neglect to extend hospitality to strangers [especially among the family of believers—being friendly, cordial, and gracious, sharing the comforts of your home and doing your part generously], for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as if you were their fellow prisoner, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body [and subject to physical suffering].
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Love’s Generous Expression
Hebrews 13:1-3 Common English Bible
Our acts of service and sacrifice
13 Keep loving each other like family. 2 Don’t neglect to open up your homes to guests, because by doing this some have been hosts to angels without knowing it. 3 Remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them, and people who are mistreated as if you were in their place.
Keep Loving each other like family.
Do not neglect to open your homes to guests.
Remember the prisoners as if you were in prison with them.
What an incredibly interesting array of both ancient, contemporary ideas!
Loving each other like family – respecting and honoring one another!
Respecting the home, respecting the life of the family and their belongings.
By showing kindness to strangers, you could be showing kindness to a messenger of God.
Paying it forward, buying an extra burger to share with a homeless person, helping someone change a flat tire on their car, offering a ride to a colleague who needs one—in these ways and countless more, our God often gives us all opportunities to show hospitality and compassion for someone who has a need.
As I encounter people who are not part of a faith community, it saddens me when they describe Christians as less-than-compassionate people.
Words I often hear in these conversations are that Christians are aloof,not friendly or forthcoming; cool and distant.and judgmental and condescending.
Many people see church buildings in their communities as little more than social clubs, entertainment centers or worse, only occupied on any Sunday.
Any other day, the parking lots are 99.99% empty of cars and any activity.
They hear church people speak out mostly about what the members oppose.
Where is that sound of “little children of all ages” glorifying God and Jesus?
The world needs to see the Body of Christians as people of compassion—good-news people who minister and act like Jesus.
That will happen only when we finally nurture a habit of practicing compassion.
It is not by accident that the writer of Hebrews urges readers to love each other and to look out for the needs of strangers.
It’s easy to overlook the unusual or the unfamiliar.
It takes the love of Christ to step out, move out and reach out to the stranger who might just bring a singularly unique blessing that you never saw coming.
Learning, Growing, Living, in the Family of Faith
There’s all the difference in the world between describing what it means to ride a bicycle and actually helping somebody learn to get on the seat and pedal away.
Making a layer cake seems to be fairly straightforward when I look at the recipe books, but I haven’t had much success in making one that actually tastes right!
What I need is hands-on guidance: somebody to actually take the time to teach me to do it in front of me and then patiently allow me to try my hand at it too.
The moral instruction provided for us in Hebrews 13 is to be trained and formed in our lives not by learning to apply abstract principles but as a result of seeing these principles successfully or erroneously worked out in the family of faith.
We can read, for example, about what it means to love one another, but it is far better to observe such love in the lives of loving people.
We can understand that we are supposed to care for strangers, but we can experience it firsthand if we are brought up and raised in a home where such care, consideration and compassion for one another is faithfully practiced.
We can read the principles and hear sermons, demands for sexual purity, but we will do far better if we are raised in a flourishing home where they are modeled or we are even able to sit in such homes as we visit other families in our church.
Praise God, the list of mission and ministry opportunities goes on and on.
Establishing these ethical norms is demanding.
It takes the first love of God, our time, effort and patience, and involvement.
The miracles wrought through purposeful discipleship, transformation cannot be achieved by searching the internet, watching a video or reading an article.
If information was enough to bring about transformation, then all we would need to do is write it down or say it.
But you can’t learn love, honor, and faithfulness from the content on a screen.
No, if you are to be content, pure, loving, and hospitable, then that is going to have to be proactively discovered and actively worked out in the family of faith.
Look, then, to your brothers and sisters who exemplify Christ-likeness in these ways.
Read Hebrews 13:1-3 again, praise God for those you know who live these verses out, then be sure to learn from them so in these ways you become like them.
Make it your aim to follow their example that you, like Paul, might humbly be able to say to others, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).
Easter is but a short time away.
Celebrating the ultimate act of agape love and sacrifice and service.
What will your efforts at discipleship and transformation in preparation for this coming Easter look like, sound like, be more Christ like in these coming weeks?
I have heard repeatedly: “it takes an entire community, an entire village.”
According to Wikipedia, the original quote “it takes a village to raise a child” is an African proverb meaning it takes a whole community of people interacting with a child to ensure he or she grows in a healthy and safe environment.
Regardless of which stage of life we are all in: parents raising children, married with no children, single, or late adulthood, even a church, we need community.
In these times of recovery, perhaps we need to go back to the essential basics of the Gospel to learn it all over again – to teach it unto each other all over again?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Heavenly Father, thank You that while we were yet sinners You loved us and gave Christ to be the propitiation for our sins. Help us in word and deed to increase and abound in brotherly love for one another, just as we also do for You. Give us wisdom as we enter into mission and ministry to our brothers and sisters in Christ and may we speak the truth in love to Your praise and glory. This we ask in Jesus name, AMEN.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
12 “Honor (respect, obey, care for) your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged in the land the Lord your God gives you.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
The fifth commandment is simultaneously a simple instruction and an indispensable element of the well-being of entire societies.
When the Lord gives the command “Honor your father and mother,” He is laying down the essential blueprint for maintaining the stability of families, communities, the Body of Christ and His churches and hosts of all nations.
What does it mean to honor your parents?
The word for “honor” carries the notion of weight and heaviness; children ought to feel the weight of respect for their parents.
By this fifth commandment, God places the full weight of responsibility for the lifetime of moral and ethical upbringing of the children and their instruction in righteous living, firmly and squarely on the shoulders of the father and mother.
By this “God” weight, this weight of God, Parents are owed such high regard because God has placed upon them in their roles, the stewardship of such a role, accountability to such a role, to raise the next generation of children, is worth many times over, far beyond its utmost maximum possible weight in honor.
While children are in view here, the Bible also has much to say about parenting that honors God (see also Ephesians 6:4; Colossians 3:21). — More on this later.
How does a child display this honor?
In several ways.
For one, a child ought to show practical respect to his or her parents.
This can be as simple as speaking well of our parents, showing them courtesy, looking them in the eye, and addressing them with a due sense of deference.
Second, it involves genuine love; there should be heartfelt expressions of affection between parents and their children.
Third, unless it would involve disobeying God, a child ought to obey what his or her mom and dad say.
This expectation is found all over Proverbs: for example, “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching” (Proverbs 1:8).
Fourth, a child should submit to their parents’ discipline and authority.
All good parents discipline their children (though it must not be done in anger nor vindictively or disproportionately), and children should ought to be taught to implicitly trust such discipline is for their long-term good (Hebrews 12:5-11).
In ancient Israel, respect for ones parents was valued so highly that those who disregarded it flagrantly or persistently faced the death penalty (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).
Why such a significant consequence?
Because the home provides the most essential and vital training ground, the success of which affects how the child will relate to authorities of all kinds.
We never outrun authority in our lives.
There are political authorities we are called to obey (Romans 13:1-7).
Spiritual authorities we are to respect (Hebrews 13:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:12).
And those of advanced years we are commanded to honor (Leviticus 19:32).
Most significantly, when children are taught how, when they learn over time to honor their parents, even despite their parents’ many imperfections, they learn what it too means to learn how to honor our ABBA, our perfect heavenly Father.
Reverence for parents is an integral part of reverence for God.
Because parental authority is God-given, for children to learn to honor their parents is to come to that place of spiritual maturity and honor God Himself.
So if you are a parent [age not specific] with children [age?] at home, it is not loving (though it may be easier) to fail to insist that your children honor you.
If you are an adult with parents still living, it is a matter of obedience to God you still show them the honor they are due, not according to how well (or other- wise) you feel they raised you but according to the position the Lord gave them.
As you honor them, you will be pleasing Him and showing those around you that God-given authority, when exercised in a godly way, is a blessing to all.
Honoring Parents …
It may come as a surprise to many of us this commandment is not age-specific.
It’s a commandment not just for the young but for children of all ages.
God asks parents be worthy of honor in the way they relate to their children.
And God commands that children obey and show respect for their parents in line with doing what is right.
This means both are to act appropriately at each stage of their lives together.
This commandment came to a society without the support systems that many of us are used to.
Adult children were totally responsible to look after aging parents.
God reminds us that as long as we have parents, we are to honor them, seeing that their living is respectable and they are well cared for.
It’s not just a matter of doing what our parents tell us to do when we are young.
It’s a matter of showing our utmost respect, life-long honor to the parents who gave us life, sacrificed incredibly all to raise us, launched us upon life’s journey.
The apostle Paul calls this “the first commandment with a promise.”
God indicates when we honor the parents with whom we are in relationship, he will honor us and He will surely and certainly bless us.
Some parents are easier to honor than others.
But respecting to the utmost those whom the Lord has chosen to place over us opens a door to abundant blessings.
By honoring our parents and others whom God places in authority over us, we honor and glory and our utmost worship and praise unto our Father in heaven.
Which is what each and everyone of us were created, shaped by God, to do …
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
Let us Pray,
Heavenly Father, ABBA Father, thank You for my parents and for giving me life. My First ABBA, Thank You for the lessons I have learned and the good times we have shared together. Forgive me for the times when I have not honored my father and mother as I ought – for I am aware that this is dishonoring to You. From this day forward, I pray that I may honour You in all my interactions with my family and my friends, and may my whole life be honoring unto You. This I pray in Jesus’ name.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
62 1-2 God, the one and only— I’ll wait as long as he says. Everything I need comes from him, so why not? He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, An impregnable castle: I’m set for life.
3-4 How long will you gang up on me? How long will you run with the bullies? There’s nothing to you, any of you— rotten floorboards, worm-eaten rafters, Anthills plotting to bring down mountains, far gone in make-believe. You talk a good line, but every “blessing” breathes a curse.
5-6 God, the one and only— I’ll wait as long as he says. Everything I hope for comes from him, so why not? He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, An impregnable castle: I’m set for life.
7-8 My help and glory are in God —granite-strength and safe-harbor-God— So trust him absolutely, people; lay your lives on the line for him. God is a safe place to be.
9 Man as such is smoke, woman as such, a mirage. Put them together, they’re nothing; two times nothing is nothing.
10 And a windfall, if it comes— don’t make too much of it.
11 God said this once and for all; how many times Have I heard it repeated? “Strength comes Straight from God.”
12 Love to you, Lord God! You pay a fair wage for a good day’s work!
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Psalm 62 … God and God Alone is Our Only Rest and Salvation
When you wait on God, you find He is your salvation and provider of all you need. Only God can fill the need of your soul.
Your Salvation
If you are like me, my first response when faced with a significant problem is to gather up all my resources and do everything I can to fix it.
The bigger the problem, the more frantic and anxious I become.
King David wrote this psalm during a particularly difficult time in his life.
He was facing constant attacks from his son, who was trying to overthrow his rule as king.
Instead of gathering his army and advisors, the first thing he did was go to the Lord.
David understood that trusting in men was foolish.
It was not about his strength or wisdom but God’s deliverance.
David saw God as his only true source of salvation.
He stopped everything to get with the Lord.
David didn’t come to God with loud cries or pleas for help.
He came to God in silence.
He waited before the Lord without speaking.
When I face a problem, I want to tell God all about it.
Too often, I come before Him filled with fear and anxiety.
David came before God in complete rest.
David had a quiet confidence that God would see him through.
So often, we think prayer is about what we say and how we say it.
If we can just use the right words, God will surely see our needs and answer our prayers.
David understood it was not about his words but his faith.
When you set your mind and soul to wait silently before the Lord, it’s not only an expression of your openness to God but a complete dependence on Him.
Salvation and deliverance are always gifts of grace from God and God alone.
David didn’t trust in his strength or the wisdom of others.
He didn’t panic and try to fix everything.
He went to the source of his salvation and waited silently for Him to provide.
One of the great truths of life—if not perhaps the greatest truth—is that when all else fails, when everything else falls apart, there is one and only one person on whom you and I and everyone else can absolutely rely.
And that person is not yourself: it is God. God and God alone.
That is the theme of this psalm. “For God alone my soul waits in silence”(62:1).
“He alone is my rock and salvation” (62:2).
“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence” (62:5).
“He alone is my rock and my salvation” (62:6).
“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my H.O.P.E. comes from him.” Psalm 62:5
As Christians, we are called to hope.
Not wishful thinking, imagining things, or pining for better days.
Hope.
Hope is not a pipe dream or a fairy tale.
It is a strong action instead of a reaction.
Hope is always alive in Christ Jesus, Our Lord and Savior.
When we choose to live in Christ Jesus …
When we choose to live and choose live in our Savior’s complete hope we:
H – Heed His Word. Hang onto encouraging verses in Scripture in times of trouble, stress or doubt. Recall His promises, read, mark and memorize helpful verses, and repeat them often.
O – Obey. Sometimes we have to do things simply because someone in authority says so. If we can trust God and obey, then in hindsight we may look back and see more clearly why He told us.
P – Pray. Instead of fretting, if we can drop to our knees and lay it at the cross we will find an inner peace which, as Paul states, surpasses our understanding. Much better than jogging in a hamster wheel of worry and churning it over and over in our minds. Pray, lay it down, walk away.
E – Expect. The more we rely on God’s promises and His timing, then experience will show us things work out for the best when we “let go and let God” handle it.
So pry your fingers off the situation and relax.
A Prayer for the Sabbath – Your Daily Prayer
Exodus 20:8-11 Amplified Bible
8 “Remember the Sabbath (seventh) day to keep it holy (set apart, dedicated to God). 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath [a day of rest dedicated] to the Lord your God; on that day you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock or the temporary resident (foreigner) who stays within your [city] gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested (ceased) on the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy [that is, set it apart for His purposes].
Rest is so important to God that he put it in the Ten Commandments.
He wants you to take a day off every week.
That’s called the Sabbath, which literally means a day of rest, and God wants us to do it every seventh day.
The day isn’t important.
It doesn’t have to be a certain day, just every seventh day.
It’s so important that even God rested on the seventh day when he created everything — not because He was tired but to give us the ultimate example of how we should be more like God and take that gift of the seventh day to rest.
What do you do on this Sabbath day to actually have it be a day of rest?
1. Rest your body.
God has made us so that we need rest.
If your car engine heat light were showing red, you would stop because you would know it’s going to damage the engine.
God says if you don’t take one day out of seven to rest, if you keep pumping the adrenaline all day, every day, seven days a week, your engine is going to break.
So for your heart to be at its best, your body, mind and soul all requires rest.
You have to take the time to rest.
2. Recharge your emotions.
Just Be Still and Know only God can be, and is God … Psalm 46:10-11
Just be quiet before the Lord!
David’s Prayer
18 Then King David went in and sat [in prayer] before the Lord, and said, “Who am I, O Lord [a]God, and what is my house (family), that You have brought me this far? 19 Yet this was very insignificant in Your eyes, O Lord God, for You have spoken also of Your servant’s house (royal dynasty) in the distant future. And this is the law and custom of man, O Lord God. 20 What more can David say to You? For You know (acknowledge, choose) Your servant, O Lord God. [2 Samuel 7:18-20 AMP]
Like King David, take time for God, just sit still, be quiet before the Lord God.
Maybe you need to reconnect in your relationships.
Maybe there’s some kind of recreation that rejuvenates you.
I’m not talking about competitive recreation.
Some of you are not recharging your emotions out on the golf course.
You are just getting angry at your golf clubs or at the other guys golf clubs!
3. Refocus your spirit.
During your Sabbath, you do not take a day off from God.
You worship!
Worship puts life into perspective.
If you’re too busy for God, you’re just too busy.
To make this happen, you have to schedule it.
Psalm 127:2 “It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don’t you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?” (MSG)
God enjoys giving rest to those he loves.
Be intentional about taking your Sabbath, and make it count!
62 1-2 God, the one and only— I’ll wait as long as he says. Everything I need comes from him, so why not? He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, An impregnable castle: I’m set for life.
5-6 God, the one and only— I’ll wait as long as he says. Everything I hope for comes from him, so why not? He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, An impregnable castle: I’m set for life.
11 God said this once and for all; how many times Have I heard it repeated? “Strength comes Straight from God.”
12 Love to you, Lord God! You pay a fair wage for a good day’s work!
be quiet, sit still, Make these confessions.
My salvation comes only from the Lord.
When I face troubles, I look to the Lord.
It’s not about my words but about God’s grace.
I will sit still in the Presence of God my Savior.
I will wait quietly before the God of my salvation.
I will shut my mouth, close both my eyes and open my ears.
Thanksgiving for the Lord’s Favor.
A Psalm of David.
138 I will give You thanks with all my heart; I sing praises to You before the [pagan] gods. 2 I will bow down [in worship] toward Your holy temple And give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word together with Your name. 3 On the day I called, You answered me; And You made me bold and confident with [renewed] strength in my life.
4 All the kings of the land will give thanks and praise You, O Lord, When they have heard of the promises of Your mouth [which were fulfilled]. 5 Yes, they will sing of the ways of the Lord [joyfully celebrating His wonderful acts], For great is the glory and majesty of the Lord. 6 Though the Lord is exalted, He regards the lowly [and invites them into His fellowship]; But the proud and haughty He knows from a distance.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me. 8 The Lord will accomplish that which concerns me; Your [unwavering] lovingkindness, O Lord, endures forever— Do not abandon the works of Your own hands.
Have faith God will see you through it, and claim His promise as your own.
In the name of God the Father and God, the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Father God, let us always choose to hope in You instead of fretting, or getting stressed over things we have no control over. Replace our qualms with quiet, our fears with faith, and our worries with wisdom. Dear Lord, help us make every Sabbath about you alone. Quiet my heart, give rest to my soul, refocus my spirit—for true renewal, true revival, comes only from you. Holy Spirit please help me to be intentional with my time and worship, and encourage me to find rest in you alone. In Jesus’ name.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
6 And when Joshua had sent the people away, the [tribes of the] Israelites went each to his inheritance, to take possession of the land. 7 The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel. 8 Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9 And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 10 Also, all [the people of] that generation were gathered to their fathers [in death]; and another generation arose after them who did not know (recognize, understand) the Lord, nor even the work which He had done for Israel.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
How amazing!
An entire generation had passed after Joshua died (aged 110) that did not
“know the Lord or knew the work that He had done”.
How could this happen to God’s chosen people?
These were the same people He performed miracle after miracle for.
Again, a whole generation of Israelites don’t know who God was!
This might seem like a familiar story to you if you live anywhere on earth.
A generation is currently on the rise that has never stepped foot into church, never or barely reading their Bible, never taught or even learned about Jesus.
What do we make of this?
It can be easy to place blame on others but, really, the next generation comes down to you and me.
We are responsible for the discipleship and upbringing of the next generation.
Let us stop passing the blame and start taking responsibility.
If you have kids, don’t just expect the church or school to teach and disciple them; be involved.
If you have generations of people coming to your church, do not just expect the church alone to reach and teach and disciple them; be and become the involved.
If you have friends or family or neighbors who are struggling, take an active role in their lives, and in sharing with them the truth about God with them.
My legacy is not what I did or I will do for myself, it is what I am doing right now, what I will do in all of my collective tomorrow’s for the next generation.
Our ministry and mission is to serve all generations for the coming generations.
Acts 13:34-37Amplified Bible
34 And [as for the fact] that He raised Him from the dead, never again to return to decay [in the grave], He has spoken in this way: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David [those blessings and mercies that were promised to him].’ 35 For this reason He also says in another Psalm, ‘You will not allow Your Holy One to see decay.’ 36 For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was buried among his fathers and experienced decay [in the grave]; 37 but He whom God raised [to life] did not experience decay [in the grave].
There are many deeds that David did during his life.
He did many great things even as a young man.
He did many not so great things for the generations of his own children.
Despite all of that, God still referred to David as “Man after my own heart.”
However, none speak as loud to us as this text. “David served his generation.”
The question is in our goodness and mercy, “can we serve our generation?”
The question is in our faults and failures, “can we still serve our generation?”
Can we still acknowledge, preach, teach God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
Can our witness and our testimony remain genuine and influential for others?
Our witness and testimony as a church is to reach our generation for the Lord.
Considering socio-economic, political pressures, the task seems impossible.
Jonathan Edwards said “The obligation of every generation is to understand what God is doing and then do it with Him.”
Reverend Andy Stanley asks me one question that simply wrecks me as I pray.
He asks this question of me and of all generations: “What breaks your heart?”
He framed the question with this statement: “You do not have to change the world, but you do have a responsibility – you have to change something.”
His point was God did not ask us to change everything, but he did give us each particular gifts and passions – it is those passions that pave the road to change.
The moment he asked the question, I knew my answer.
My heart breaks for the coming generations – of my step son, and of his son.
My heart breaks for young, younger people growing up in a culture increasingly antagonistic, negative and downright brutally hateful towards Christianity.
My heart breaks for the next generation and the hostility they face from both the outside and the inside of the church.
Yes, inside the church – their knowledge of the real Jesus Christ of the Gospels.
I want to fight for them.
I want to affirm them.
I want to prepare them.
I want to teach them and even preach to them ….
I want to witness and testify to the real and genuine Jesus Christ to them.
You see, I believe the next generation should receive the church from us better than we found it.
We should prepare the next generation to take the baton and run past us.
Ephesians 4:17-24Amplified Bible
The Christian’s Walk
17 So this I say, and solemnly affirm together with the Lord [as in His presence], that you must no longer live as the [unbelieving] Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds [and in the foolishness and emptiness of their souls], 18 for their [moral] understanding is darkened and their reasoning is clouded; [they are] alienated and self-banished from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the [willful] ignorance and spiritual blindness that is [deep-seated] within them, because of the hardness and insensitivity of their heart. 19 And they, [the ungodly in their spiritual apathy], having become callous and unfeeling, have given themselves over [as prey] to unbridled sensuality, eagerly craving the practice of every kind of impurity [that their desires may demand]. 20 But you did not learn Christ in this way! 21 If in fact you have [really] heard Him and have been taught by Him, just as truth is in Jesus [revealed in His life and personified in Him], 22 that, regarding your previous way of life, you put off your old self [completely discard your former nature], which is being corrupted through deceitful desires, 23 and be continually renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude], 24 and put on the new self [the regenerated and renewed nature], created in God’s image, [godlike] in the righteousness and holiness of the truth [living in a way that expresses to God your gratitude for your salvation].
We have an accountability to God for those future “great clouds of witnesses!”
Handing the next generation a battered and beaten and defeated version of the church we inherited means we fail to add to God’s “great clouds of witnesses.”
Truth is: Investing in the next generation isn’t easy.
Truth is: Investing in the next generation is never going to be easy.
Truth is: Investing in the next generations was never meant to be easy
Truth is: It involves Christ-Like sacrifice.
Truth is: It involves Christ-Like grace.
Truth is: It involves Christ-Like humility.
Truth is: It involves a Christ-Like future-focus.
Truth is: It involves our becoming like Christ Jesus.
Truth is: Jesus has a lot to say about reaching the next generation.
I want to highlight a few of those.
Here are 4 things Jesus tells us about reaching the next generation.
1.) Jesus came down to others. He didn’t expect others to come up to his level.
Salvation and redemption are a product of Jesus refusing to accept equality with God (Philippians 2).
He wasn’t content with his throne in heaven.
He came down to us.
Jesus had more knowledge and power than any person on earth.
Yet he used the power to serve others.
He used the knowledge to reach those who were powerless.
For us to acquire power and knowledge but not use them to affirm, serve and encourage those without it is not only horribly bad stewardship, it is ungodly.
I hear these statements often.
“The next generation needs to practice patience. They need to stop making everything about them. We sat in pews every Sunday and listened to boring sermons. We paid our dues. The next generation needs to do the same.”
Now, does the next generation have selfish tendencies?
Absolutely.
But this is not a generational problem.
It is a human problem.
So, what does Jesus reveal to us about solving this problem?
He comes down.
He empties himself.
He does not tell the apostles to come up to his level.
He gave up everything, humbled Himself – He humbly came down to them.
When the church asks the next generation to give up all their desires and ways to connect with God, we are not effectively modeling the ways, mind, of Jesus.
We are expecting those less mature, less powerful, and less knowledgeable to reach up.
Instead of coming down and engaging the next generation on their level, they must come up to ours.
Truth is: It is selfish pride.
Maybe the next generation is leaving the church because they are exhausted from constantly having to feed those who are already full.
Maybe the next generation is leaving because they are tired of reaching up and conforming to our way of doing things. Maybe the next generation is leaving because the church’s attitude is more self-centered than Christ-centered.
2.) Jesus spoke the language of the culture.
When I was in high school if you wanted to call someone, you used something called a dial phone.
Anyone under 20 or even 30 has no idea what I am talking about.
Today, land lines are virtually non-existent.
Why?
They aren’t the most effective way to communicate.
That title belongs to cell phones.
Cell phones allow us to message anyone in the world instantly, check social media with a click, make phone calls anytime and accomplish virtually any task in life no matter where we are.
Today, if are not using a smartphone, you and I are generations behind.
What does this have to do with Jesus?
Glad you asked. Jesus believed strongly in effective communication.
This is why he spoke in parables.
He didn’t use large “churchy,” academic words when speaking to crowds.
He could have, but he chose not to.
Why? He wanted to effectively communicate.
That is why he used stories.
Stories connected.
Stories were the most effective way to communicate God’s message.
The church should want to effectively communicate as well.
“Why doesn’t the next generation call someone instead of always texting?
Why are they on social media so much?”
Well, the answer is because text messages and social media are the most effective and quickest forms of communication today.
It’s ridiculous to use a dial phone to do business, and it is ridiculous to not embrace the most effective ways to communicate.
So, we can stop throwing up our hands because the next generation does not communicate like we do.
Or we can embrace a new, more effective form of communication.
After all, Truth is: They might have something significantly GOD to teach us.
3.) Jesus did nOt lecture. He loved.
“When it comes to the next generation, we need to stop lecturing them and start loving them like Christ first Loved them.”
I can’t tell you how many “lectures” I received from my dad over the years.
“what were you thinking? You know better than that! here’s why you are wrong, I cannot believe you could ever make such a terrible decision!”
And you know what those lectures did for me?
EXACTLY! Pushed me further away.
Maybe it’s time to admit lecturing the next generation does little to change or influence change within them.
What the next generation needs to know is we are FOR them.
They need to know we love them.
They need to know they will struggle.
They need to know they will fail.
They need to know they will have their share of faults.
But when they know they are affirmed and loved, they will be compelled to get back up and keep moving, they will run toward the cross and not away from it.
When the next generation constantly hears what they did wrong, what message are we sending to them?
I know what message was sent to me: You better not mess up or God will be mad at you. Unless you do things the “right way,” you aren’t accepted around here.
It’s weird.
Jesus seemed to understand better than anyone that lecturing did not serve the ultimate goal or purpose of transforming people.
The only ones Jesus lectured were the Pharisees.
But that’s because they were gluttons of knowledge and power.
They did the very opposite of Jesus.
The Pharisees expected others to come up to their level.
You won’t find an example of Jesus lecturing those aware of their sin.
Instead, you will find Jesus loving them and embracing them.
You will find Jesus speaking life to them.
He did not excuse their sin, but he did not lecture them either.
There is a way for one generation to push the next generation towards God without lecturing them.
Truth is: Just look at Jesus.
Jesus not only came down to those with less power, he invested in them.
He spent his time preparing a group of men to take over after he left.
Jesus knew his time on earth was short, and he knew his mission was larger than his time on earth.
Jesus didn’t come to earth seeking to build an earthly kingdom that wouldn’t sustain after his departure.
He came to build God’s kingdom that would last forever.
Jesus came to prepare people, not allow people to feed him.
The problem with many churches is they aren’t preparing the next generation.
They aren’t concerned with the church after their departure.
“Who cares what happens after our departure? After all, we paid our dues, now it is time for us to enjoy the fruit of our patience.”
If Jesus had the attitude of many church leaders today, the church would be non-existent.
But Jesus did not believe power, wisdom, and title were grounds for others to feed him.
He poured into others.
2 Timothy 4:6-8Amplified Bible
6 For I am already being [a]poured out as a drink offering, and the time of [b]my departure [from this world] is at hand and I will soon go free. 7 I have fought the good and worthy and noble fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith [firmly guarding the gospel against error]. 8 In the future there is reserved for me the [victor’s] crown of righteousness [for being right with God and doing right], which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that [great] day—and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved and longed for and welcomed His appearing.
The goal was for everyone to cross the finish line.
Not just him.
Not just those alive during his earthly ministry.
Everyone.
Jesus came to earth with a future-focus.
He came to earth with a selfless focus.
Jesus knew if the message terminated on him, his mission failed.
The same is true for the church today.
If our infinitely selfish actions and attitudes create an untenable environment is not sustainable for the “great clouds of witnesses” next generations, we’ll fail.
The church is infinitely larger than us.
The church is infinitely more than the here and now.
Again, the next generation is my passion.
I will never give up on them.
I vow to spend more time affirming and loving them than condemning them.
The real and genuine and living Jesus of the Gospels shows us some principles for reaching into every single one of all those “next upcoming generations.”
– I pray we’ll think seriously about them!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us pray,
Psalm 100Amplified Bible
All Men Exhorted to Praise God.
A Psalm of Thanksgiving.
100 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Serve the Lord with gladness and delight; Come before His presence with joyful singing. 3 Know and fully recognize with gratitude that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, [a]not we ourselves [and we are His]. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter His gates with a song of thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, bless and praise His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His mercy and lovingkindness are everlasting, His faithfulness [endures] to all generations.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 