FBCPS
Sermons, teachings, and podcasts from First Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
FBCPS
God's Story on Repeat | Deuteronomy 1:9 - 4:49
At the tender age of five, I made a decision that shaped the rest of my life: I gave my heart to Jesus. This pivotal moment from my childhood is just the beginning of a journey we'll embark on together, exploring how sharing our personal faith stories can be transformative for ourselves and others. We draw deeply from the wisdom of Revelation 12:11, which reminds us of the overcoming power found in the blood of the Lamb and our testimonies. We'll also reflect on the often underestimated book of Deuteronomy, uncovering its profound significance and frequent citations by Jesus during pivotal moments of His ministry.
The book of Deuteronomy might not be a common feature in sermons, but it holds timeless truths about salvation, human frailty, and a call to uplift future generations. As we unpack its themes, we'll see how they resonate with our spiritual journeys, urging us to keep God's incredible promises alive in our hearts. There's a call here—a call for us to recognize our imperfections, not as barriers, but as openings for grace and transformation. The growth of our church community serves as a testament to this transformative power of faith, capturing moments like a father and son choosing baptism as a testament to their spiritual alignment.
Equipping the next generation with faith's vibrant legacy is not just a responsibility but an urgent need. We'll explore ways to nurture young believers, inspired by the story of Joshua leading the Israelites, and our roles as current church leaders in mentoring them amidst worldly distractions. Through community initiatives like movie nights and Candypalooza, we aim to foster outreach and engagement, ensuring the torch of faith remains lit for generations to come. Let's embrace our journey of salvation and discipleship, boldly stepping into our mission fields with stories of hope and transformation, sharing them for God's glory.
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All right, good morning. Welcome again to First Baptist Church, Powder Springs. Aren't you glad you came to church this morning? Put your hands together right now for all that God is doing in us and among us. He is so good. If you're a first-time guest, I just wanna pastorally say thank you for coming. If you're watching us online, I wanna pastorally say thank you for tuning in. If this is your first time tuning in, we just pray that the Lord speaks to you as all of us this morning, that God just blesses us through his word.
Speaker 1:If there's a story in my life that I love to repeat, that I love to tell over and over and over again and, as you know, I love telling stories it would be the story of when I was five years old. It would be the story when I was five years old and I remember I was on my way to school that morning. My mom was driving me in the car. We were it was 1983. And my mom was driving me in the car and we were going to she was taking me to kindergarten that morning. And so I remember thinking in my mind that morning you may have even heard me tell the story before thinking in my mind that morning that if I didn't give my life to Jesus then I would be living for the devil, and how dumb that would be. I was thinking that in my little theological philosophical mind, and I think I probably heard it when I was in my kids' ministry at church If you're not living for Jesus, you're living for the devil. You know, you only got one of two choices kind of a thing, and the Holy Spirit just spoke to me, right. And so I remember looking at my mom as we're in the car and I said, mom, you know what I want today. And she knew me and all my sin over the last five years and what I would typically say. So she said what toy do you want today, chip? And I just said no, I want to give my life to Jesus today. And my mom loves Jesus. You know. She loved Jesus then, she loves Jesus now. And so my mom, out of her passion for Jesus, she became a NASCAR driver at that point and she put her pedal to the metal and drove me straight into the pastor's office, walked me in.
Speaker 1:My son wants to be saved and now that I'm a pastor I kind of understand maybe, what he was going through. I didn't know what meetings he had on his calendar that morning. I didn't know what emails he needed to respond to or what appointments he had set up or what work he needed to do. But here's what I know what my pastor did. He sat down with me in an unexpected visit and he spent time with me and he shared the gospel with me Amen. He talked with me about Jesus and Jesus' death and Jesus' resurrection and my sin and my need for salvation, and I got baptized. I'm sorry, I got saved that morning.
Speaker 1:I got baptized just shortly thereafter, but that was me right there, five years old. Five years old. Look at how I was going to preach my first sermon. There I am and we're going to teach Sunday school or something. But those glasses are back in style, by the way, and I think I wore that same tie this morning. Kind of crazy, but I didn't look like this all the time. I said Mom, dad, give me some pictures. When I was five, they also sent me this one right here. I just love that. So I was all boy too. That was the time that mom told me to just go out and play in the backyard, and I think I took off pretty much all my clothes and just I remember I put the hose pipe in the mud and just started playing in the mud that morning and but, man, this would be another picture of like. Maybe this is what I was like before I was saved, and then when I was saved, I don't know. But but but you know, god's always got a plan for us and I just wanna encourage you.
Speaker 1:You know, this morning, as we are talking about Deuteronomy, we're calling this series, we're calling it Repeat. Everybody say Repeat, repeat. And the reason we're calling it Repeat is because God now has, he has his people, the children of Israel, and he has brought them now through the wilderness for 40 years, and now they're on the other side of the Jordan River. They're overlooking the Jordan River and they're looking into the promised land. They can see this promise with their own eyes, what God has been telling them, where God has been leading them, what God has been promising them. There they are, and then God has the audacity to stop them and say we're gonna stay here for two months. And for two months, which is the book of Deuteronomy he just reminds them who he is, he reminds them who they are, he reminds them what he is calling them to, giving to them the land, and he is reminding them what he is calling them to do as well. It's all about God's story.
Speaker 1:When it comes down to it, if there's anything that I'm talking about this morning, it is just very simply putting God's story on repeat. And here's why Because I want to remind you the importance, but also the power of your story. You, the importance but also the power of your story, the power of your salvation testimony of what God has done in your life. Do you realize that Revelation, chapter 12, verse 11, says that you have the power, through Christ, to overcome the evil one. You have the power to overcome the devil. You have the power to overcome Satan. And here's what he says that we can overcome the evil one by the blood of the lamb. So it's never our power, it's always Jesus's power. He's the lamb of God that you can overcome the evil one by the blood of the lamb and hear me and by the word of your testimony, which means every time you tell your salvation testimony when God saved you, it does something in your life right. It helps strengthen your love for Jesus, it reminds you that there was a day that you didn't have Jesus and Jesus called you, and now you've been saved by Jesus. It does something in you, but it also does something in the people, or the person that you tell. If they are saved, it encourages them to share their story. If they're not saved, then it encourages them to make Jesus' story as a part of their story, just like you did.
Speaker 1:And so we see here this book of Deuteronomy that is so incredibly important in our lives. It's a very important book of the Bible. To be honest with you, it's one of the least read, least preached books in the entire Bible. It's actually, if you look at the New Testament, many people tell us it was, it could have been, jesus's favorite book of the Old Testament. Why? Because Jesus, first of all. He. Some people tell us that he quoted from Deuteronomy more so than any other book of the Old Testament. Other people tell us that he quoted from Deuteronomy more so than any other book of the Old Testament. Other people tell us that when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness remember, jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days. Israel was in the wilderness for 40 years. Jesus is reliving that in his 40 days in the wilderness.
Speaker 1:When Satan comes and he tempts Jesus. Of those three powerful temptations, jesus gives him a scripture for every temptation, and each of those three scriptures come from the book of Deuteronomy. When the Pharisees come up to trap Jesus, to trick Jesus which is never a good idea, never try to trap or trick the most wise being of the entire planet or the universe right. And so they come to trap him. They come to trick him and they said hey, out of the 613, some Jewish laws, which one would you say is the most important, trying to trap him? You know what Jesus said. Jesus said to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Do you know where that came from? It came from the book of Deuteronomy. Could it be that Deuteronomy is so powerful, that it's so helpful in our spiritual life against temptation and for Jesus, that maybe Satan tempts us to not read it? Maybe Satan tempts us as churches to not go through it?
Speaker 1:Deuteronomy is actually very interesting. It's fascinating. It's written differently than any other book. It's written in the form of an ancient peace treaty. There was a very common thread or outline of a peace treaty back then that a superpower, a world superpower, would come and they would adopt a smaller nation. They would say, hey, we will include you in our nation, we'll give you our resources, we'll protect you, but all you need to do is be loyal to us and to love us and to include yourself, to consider yourself as a part of us.
Speaker 1:In Deuteronomy, moses is writing this book and basically what he's saying is is that God is the ultimate superpower and we're the one who are in need of his protection, in need of his blessings, in need of his help. And God is saying I'm willing to give you all of me. You just give me all of you. And that's exactly what Jesus is calling us to do in our salvation. And so we have five sermons through this series. We're sermon two our salvation. And so we have five sermons through this series. We're sermon two.
Speaker 1:Last week we talked about the preamble, the introduction. Remember. God says I know who you are, I know where you are, I know what I've called you to. And today is the history, or in other words, it's the retelling of the story between God and his people. And it's interesting that this whole book, or this portion, this sermon this morning, is putting God's story on repeat, and that's the whole point that I think you need to put, and I need to put God's story on repeat in our lives because we need to constantly remember and be reminded who is God and who am I, and what has he called me to do, what has he done for me and what has he promised for me? We need to put God's word on repeat. We need to put God's story on repeat. We need to put the gospel on repeat. Can I get an amen? We need to be reminded what God has told us. We need to put it on repeat. So here we go.
Speaker 1:The three chapters, by the way, that I wanna show you that we need to put on repeat are the three chapters of any God story. The first chapter, chapter one, is God's salvation. That's when our life really begins. Chapter two is our rebellion Talking about my rebellion, your rebellion, our sin not as fun, but it's a part of our story. And chapter three is, very simply, the next generation, or who God is calling us to pour our lives into so they can experience him. Like we get to God's story on repeat. Here we go. Number one God's salvation.
Speaker 1:Everybody say salvation, god's salvation, salvation is one of the most beautiful words of all of the English language, and that's what we see that God is doing here in Deuteronomy, chapter one, verses 10 and 11. It says the Lord, your God, has multiplied you. That's very important there. Multiplied you and behold, you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven. May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times, a thousand times as many as you are, thousand times, a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has already promised you. What he's doing here in this passage is he is actually taking us back to Genesis 12 through 15. We talked about this back in January. You can go back and listen to it if you want to.
Speaker 1:But God went to one man and that one man's name was Abraham. And God went to Abraham and God told something Abraham absolutely crazy. God said Abraham, you are going to be the father. He didn't say the leader, he said the father. You're going to be the father of a great nation.
Speaker 1:The problem was Abraham was childless. Bigger problem Abraham was 75 years old. His wife was past birthing years. God made him a promise that he was gonna be a father of this huge nation. That was gonna be the blessing of a world. It was impossible. It would take a miracle. But don't you believe that our God is a miracle working God? Can I get an amen? And God did a miracle.
Speaker 1:25 years later, abraham and Sarah had a son. Abraham was what? 99, 100. Sarah was 90 and they had the son Isaac. And then the generation started flowing. And here we are five years later. Just as God promised Abraham that your descendants, when God told Abraham, look into the sky, your descendants are gonna be as many as the stars, here we are 500 years later and God has been faithful to his promise. Can I get an amen? God has multiplied them. God's people, the Israelites, have become numerous as the stars and now they are continuing to multiply time after time again. Why? Not because of who they are, but because of who God is.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you who God is. He loves to bless you. He loves to do miracles in and through your life. He loves to make audacious promises to you and to be faithful to those promises. God loves to watch his church, to watch his people multiply. Why? Because he promised that in the very beginning, in creation. God promised that and he said and God said I wanna bless said, and God said I want to bless you. And God said I want to make you fruitful and I want to multiply you and I want you to fill the earth. He wants to bless us, he wants to make us fruitful, he wants to multiply us and he wants us to fill the earth.
Speaker 1:If you remember these words in Hebrew, the word to be blessed is the word bara, the word to be fruitful is para, the word multiply is revah and the word to fill is mala. They all rhyme. God made them rhyme so that we could remember them bara para, revah, mala. If you remember, back in January, and we said and they needed a lot of java Hebrew coffee in order to do that Right, but that's not actually the Hebrew word for coffee. And we said and they needed a lot of java Hebrew coffee in order to do that right, but that's not actually the Hebrew word for coffee. But we noticed that man this is what God is calling us to.
Speaker 1:God loves it to watch his people. God loves to grow his people and to grow his church. That's why we have read before in Acts, chapter six, verse seven, and the word of God continued to increase. Everyone say increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. In other words, god loves to increase our faith. He loves to make us fruitful, that's spiritually, that's us becoming more like Jesus. He loves to multiply us. That is, people getting saved, people getting baptized and people joining our church. Because of the way that you're inviting, because of the way that you're ministering, because the way in which that you're telling your story and the way that people are coming to faith in Christ, I've got to show you this. What God has been doing in our church is nothing short of a miracle. We are in the midst of a revival season. Can I get an amen? God is working in such a powerful way Now we just actually this is what's called our annual church report, our ACP.
Speaker 1:This is actually it's gonna be confusing for a second, but I'll explain. These numbers are from a September to an August. So September to August, going into the August of 2023, compared to this past year. From September 23 to August of 2024, if you're with me, say yeah. So here we go, our worship. This is just what God's been doing People attending our worship services. So here we go our worship. This is just what God's been doing. People attending our worship services that time period. In 2023, 450. In 2024, 517. About a 15% increase. Average church healthy growth is about 7%. So God has doubled in healthy church growth.
Speaker 1:For us in our church, only what God can do Sunday groups Sunday groups has moved from 397 to 480, about a 21% growth. Baptism 16 to 35, about a 100% growth. Membership from 30 to 92. We see three times the amount of people over the past year joining the church, giving 2.1 million to 3.1 million. God has moved in your hearts to give 50% more than you did the year before. I mean God is doing things that are miracles, that are amazing, that we could never do. No pastor could ever do, no staff could ever do, no church could ever do. This is only what God can do. Put your hands together for him, what God is doing in our church.
Speaker 1:Now. I just wanna explain just just a little bit. Just in 2024. Now this is different. I'm sorry but I know it's confusing, but January to now in 2024, just January to now. A little bit different Sunday groups so Sundays, wednesdays and all of our groups that happen during the week, did you know? On average, 804 people attend our groups during the week. Baptisms this morning in the 930, we just just in 2024 alone, we just baptized our 49th person just this year alone. So the 50th you're gonna get confetti and streamers. Okay, it's gonna be awesome. Membership just this morning through those baptism 101 people have joined our church just this year.
Speaker 1:And giving I don't even know yet. Y'all are doing such a great job and I just wanna remind you that God doesn't need our money, but God uses our money and every single penny that we give is being leveraged to reach people with the gospel. In fact, through the end of the year, you're gonna get an opportunity to be able to give to foreign missions to see people saved around the world. You're going to get to give to local mission to see people saved around our community, and these are things that only God can do. I want you to know that just last Sunday, just last Sunday, I announced in the service that we were going to baptize a lady in her 80s on Tuesday.
Speaker 1:This happened just this past Tuesday, so I announced it on Sunday morning and one of you stopped me as I was leaving the service after the service last Sunday and you said so you do baptisms during the week? And I said, yeah, if they can't get baptized on Sunday, of course we'll baptize them during the week. And he said I'm gonna go home and I'm gonna tell one of my friends because he needs to get baptized. He can't do it on a Sunday and I wanna see if he can get baptized during the week. And then we did baptize that lady that I announced this past Tuesday, a lady in her 80s right here and another lady in her I'm not even saying her age because I don't know but another lady said I wanna get baptized too in a week coming up very soon. Then on Wednesday I was driving home.
Speaker 1:I called a man and I said hey, I heard you and your family got to come for the first time and I guess it'd been like 20 years or something like that, since he had been here and he brought his family back. They were invited by some friends at a ballpark and I said man, I heard that y'all came. And he said Pastor Chip, yes, we came. He said my 10-year-old son prayed the salvation prayer, received Jesus got saved and he wants to get baptized and he's gonna get baptized in the next few weeks. I get to church and one of you walked up to me and said hey, this is actually in the 930 service walked up to me and said hey, my son is getting baptized. I wanna get baptized with my son. And it just so happened that this man in his 30s he had been saved when he was 15, but he had been baptized before he was saved he wanted to get his baptism on the right side of his salvation and so he got baptized one of the four people that got baptized in our 9.30 service this morning.
Speaker 1:I'm just here to tell you God is moving in a very unique way and we are incredibly thankful and we see it right here in the word of God. So if I'm you, I'm asking this question if God multiplies and if God increases, and if God grows his church, then how are we still all gonna know each other? Right, that's always the question that people ask. And how are we gonna know each other? Well, listen to what God's plan is, because here's what I believe as a church grows bigger, a church must equally grow smaller. As a church grow bigger, a church must equally grow smaller. Deuteronomy 115.
Speaker 1:Moses said so I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men and set them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens and officers throughout your tribes. In other words, moses is saying there are several million of you. Speaking of the Israelites, he said we had to break you down into thousands and hundreds and fifties and tens. And that's what God does in his church. We don't have thousands in our church. We've got two to 300 in this service, two to 300 in the 930 service. We have 50s in our ministries, whether it's kids ministry or a preschool ministry or our student ministry or young adult ministry or senior adult ministry or adult group ministry. Then when we talk about tens, we talk about our Sunday schools, our groups, and the whole important is this the important thing is be a part of the worship services, be a part of serving in the ministries, be a part of our group ministry, because that is the way that God breaks us down so that we continue to be a loving, relational church. That's the way in which that you are known and that's the way that you know others and know what God is calling us to do. That's God's salvation.
Speaker 1:Next, our rebellion. Everybody say rebellion. You didn't say that one is happy Rebellion. Right, this one's a little harder, this one's not as fun, but it's a part of my story and it's a part of your story and it's a part of our story that we should not hide. It's a part of our story that we should tell. Why should you tell the rebellion part of your story?
Speaker 1:Let me tell you why. Because the world thinks that we think that we're perfect, even though we don't think we're perfect. They think that we think that we're perfect, and so one way that we get to prove to them that no, we don't think we're perfect, we think Jesus is perfect is we talk about our imperfections so that we can talk about his perfection. We talk about our sins so that we can talk about his perfection. We talk about our sins so that we can talk about his forgiveness. We talk about our rebellion so that we can tell them about his grace, so that they can experience his forgiveness like we can experience his forgiveness. Can I get an amen? Deuteronomy 1, 21 and 22 says see the Lord, your God, has set the land before you.
Speaker 1:Let me just set this up for a second. So, basically, moses picks out one sin In 40 years of the entire wilderness. He picks out one sin. Now, he could have picked out a lot of different things, because there was a lot of sin. There was a lot of sin in their life. There's a lot of sin in my life. There's a lot of sin in your life. Don't look at me so spiritual. We a lot of sin in your life. Don't look at me so spiritual. We're all sinners, right. And so here's the deal. He only picked out one. He picked out the worst. He picked out the greatest sin that they ever committed, and in my study this week, I was shocked as to which one that could be. He could have picked out when they complained that there was no food and then God gave them food. He gave them manna, gave them quail and gave them quail, and they started complaining about the man in the quail. He could have said about the golden calf. He could have said about the way that they rebelled against Moses. He could have said the way in which that they accused God of trying to kill them. But that's not the one sin that God highlighted in Deuteronomy. That was the worst sin that they committed. Watch what the worst sin was.
Speaker 1:See the Lord, your God, has set the land before you. Go, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed by the way. This happened on year two, in the wilderness journey. God was giving them the land and God said I want you to go in, I want you to take it, says. Then all of you came near me. Moses said you, came to me and said hey, moses. God said to go, we're kind of feeling woe, right Like no. He said let us. They said let us, send men before us that they may explore the land for us and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which that we shall come. In other words, god told them to go and take the land. The land is yours, I'm going before you, I will provide for you, you will win the victory. And they said God, hold up a second. We need to be a little bit more calculated, god. It takes a little bit more war strategy. God, you just don't seem to understand all that it takes to do what you call us to do. And they just forgot so easily what God had done in and through them. And that's the same thing that is true for me, and it's the same thing that is true for you.
Speaker 1:God often tells me to go. God often tells you to go. He tells us who to go and talk to. He tells us who to go and serve. He tells us who to go and minister to. He tells us who to go and tell our story to, to go and share the gospel with, who to go and pay for their coffee, pay for their meal, invite them out to eat, invite them over to our home. Why so? The whole purpose is so that God can minister to them through us. And God says to go and we say God, whoa. Let me just pray about this for a couple of weeks, like I gotta think about what to say. And Jesus said I'm gonna tell you what to say in the moment. Nope, god, whoa, whoa. God, slow your roll, god, I need to think about this a little bit more. And that's the way our sin works. That's exactly what is happening here. Verse 29,.
Speaker 1:Moses said then I said to you, do not be in dread or afraid of them. The Lord, your God, who goes before you, will himself fight for you. Just as he did, god's gonna fight for you. He already did that in Egypt, right before your eyes and in the wilderness where you have seen the Lord, your God, has been carrying you. He's been doing this the entire time, just like a man carries his own son, all the way you went up until you came to even just this place.
Speaker 1:Yet, in spite of all of this word, you did not believe the Lord, your God, who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents in fire by night, in cloud, by day, to show you by what way you should go. In other words, I would have thought the worst sin they committed was disobedience. God is saying no, your worst sin is disbelief. Maybe the worst sin in your life is not your worst sin is disbelief. Maybe the worst sin in your life is not your worst sin. Maybe the worst sin that I've always thought in my life is not my worst sin. Maybe our worst sin is not your disobedience, my disobedience. Maybe it's our disbelief and not going and doing what God has told us to do to spread the gospel of Jesus. Maybe that's our greatest rebellion. See, what God is doing in us is God is telling us to go and then he's given us the power to go and then he's given us the way to go and then he provides for us as we go. We just have to believe him. And God gave me an illustration this week to tell you that. I didn't wanna tell you, but I'm gonna go and tell you anyways.
Speaker 1:It's kind of like when Vandy beat Bama a couple of weeks ago Goodness, gracious, what in the world? It's kind of like when Vandy beat Bama and Vandy was a three or four touchdown underdog. Vandy had all right in the world to say you know what? We're not even gonna go out and play today, we don't have any business playing against Alabama, we don't have any chance of winning, and so we're just going to forfeit. But guess what? They didn't forfeit. They went out and they fought and they believed and they had faith that they could win and they slayed the giant. God forbid, they slayed the giant In the same way, I think often we already chalk it up as a loss before we even get into the game.
Speaker 1:And we've gotta believe what God has for us. We've gotta believe what God has promised us and praise the Lord that Jesus came. Amen. Jesus came to die for our sin so that I could be forgiven of not just my disobedience but I could also be forgiven of my disbelief and he died for you. So not just to be forgiven of your disobedience, to be forgiven of your disbelief. That's how good Jesus is. He cleanses us and, hear me, he cleanses you to make you useful for ministry. In other words, satan wants to say don't you remember what you've done, don't you remember what's been done to you? God could never use you. And that's the greatest lie that ever Satan could ever say to you. It's not what you've done, it's what Jesus has done. It's not what's been done to you, it's what Jesus has done for you. And Jesus is the only way. Not our self, but Jesus, our savior, is the one that makes you useful for ministry. If you believe that, say amen. And then, lastly, the next generation, and I'm done. Deuteronomy 1, 34 through 40.
Speaker 1:This is the third chapter in any God story who we hand our ministry off to, who we pour our lives into. And the Lord heard your words and he was angered because they sent the spies in. They didn't go into the land and he swore not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give your fathers. In other words, nobody made it into the promised land of that first generation who is ages 20 years of age and older, except for two men Verse 36, except for Caleb. Caleb was the first man.
Speaker 1:Everybody say Caleb. The name Caleb means faithful. The name Caleb also means dog. For all you Georgia fans out there, he's your favorite guy in the Bible. Caleb means dog. If you're a dog in the sports world, caleb means dog. If you're a dog in the sports world, he's a dog. That means he plays hard. That means he gives it everything he's got. He says except for Caleb.
Speaker 1:Caleb didn't believe what the other spies said. Caleb didn't believe even what he saw with his own eyes. He believed what God said and what God said he was gonna give to him. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden because he has wholly followed the Lord. Moses said, even with me. The Lord was angry on your account and God told Moses you can't go in. Even Moses didn't go into the promised land. Remember, moses struck the rock when God told him to speak to the rock. Can I just take a time out for a second?
Speaker 1:Millions of people did not enter into the promised land. Leaders did not enter into the promised land. Moses did not enter the promised land Because they did not enter into the promised land. Moses did not enter the promised land Because they did not enter into the promised land. Does that mean that they did not go to heaven? I don't think so, because Moses was in the hall of faith. Hebrews, chapter 11.
Speaker 1:I believe that they believed in God. God gave their life to God. Then God gave them to heaven, the same way that we believe in Jesus and give our life to him. While some, or maybe many we don't know may have still made it to heaven, they did not get to see the blessing that God had for their life. They did not get to see the blessing that God had for their life of seeing the next generation take possession of the land.
Speaker 1:One of the greatest travesties of the entire wilderness journey is that the first generation wasn't there to lead the next generation in, wasn't there to disciple them, wasn't there to help them. So Joshua was there. He was the son of none, who stands before you. He shall enter, encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. Joshua's Hebrew name is Yehoshua Jesus' Hebrew name Yeshua.
Speaker 1:Who is Joshua. Joshua is this man that was like to be like Jesus, to foreshadow Jesus, to take the people of God into the land, as Jesus would take us to heaven. And he said and as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, your little ones, they shall go in, your children shall go in, and to them I will give it and they will possess it. But as for you, turn the journey into the wilderness, the direction of the Red Sea. Here's what God is doing. He's sharing with us the most important part of our church, the most important part of our mission. Did you realize the most important part of our church, the most important part of our mission the Lord has given us that I'm done is the next generation. You realize that Satan is going after our children. You realize that the world is going after our children? You realize that politics are going after our children? You realize that politics are going after our children.
Speaker 1:In fact, I've heard it said, and I love the statement, that whoever wants them the most will win them, and I believe that God wants them the most and God's the one that stirs us up for the next generation, that we have to be leaders and pastors and Christians that say that we have to be leaders and pastors and Christians that say what do we have to do as a church to win the next generation. Let's do that. Let's reach these children for Jesus. Let's reach these teenagers for Jesus. Our preschool ministry has doubled over the past year. Our elementary ministry has exploded over the past year, but what hasn't grown is our volunteer base.
Speaker 1:I would encourage every single one of you to be praying and ask God, god, what would you have me to do in order to reach the next generation, in order to disciple the next generation? We have twice as many baptisms in our kids' ministry this year than last year. God is working. What is it that God wants us to do in our kids' ministry, in our student ministry, so that we can reach the most of the next generation as possible? Because God says in Psalm, chapter 78, verses four through seven we will not hide God's truths from our children. We're gonna tell the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, of his might, and the wonders that he has done, 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. Jesus said in Luke, chapter eight, verse 18, 16, let the children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Speaker 1:I believe that there are three chapters in every God story God's salvation, our rebellion and the next generation, in other words. That's why we do things like movie night to reach the next generation that's coming up on October the 23rd. That's why we do things like Candypalooza the Sunday before Halloween. Are we celebrating Halloween? No, are we redeeming Halloween to reach kids for Jesus? Yes, so we see Jesus' story, the gospel plus your story, your testimony, equals God's story and that's what we get to put on repeat and tell it to others so that God can work in their life just like he's worked in your life, so that we can reach people for his son, jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Can I ask y'all to bow your heads and close your eyes? Nobody looking around, every head bowed and every eye closed. And maybe this morning you just need to have an honest conversation with God and you just need to tell the Lord right now and just say God, thank you for what you've done in my life. God, thank you for your salvation. God, I'm so sorry for my rebellion. God, help me to pass my faith along to others and maybe right here, right now, maybe today is your day of salvation.
Speaker 1:Maybe you haven't given your life to Jesus and maybe even right now, you just need to believe in Jesus because he wants to save you and he wants to forgive you and he wants to come into your life and he wants to give you his life. And I can't pray that for you. I can't do that for you this morning, but you can pray it right now and I can help lead you through that prayer. If you need to give your life to God this morning, you can say oh God, I believe you, I need you and I believe that your son died on the cross for my sin and I ask you to forgive me of all of my sin. And I believe that your son, jesus, rose from the dead. He's alive, he's real, and I turn from my sin and I turn and I give my life to him. And the Bible says promises that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead. You will be saved. Call on Jesus to be your Lord, your God, your Savior, and he'll save you.
Speaker 1:And God, we believe that we pray that all in Jesus' name and all God's people said would you put your hands together this morning for anyone that gave their life to Jesus? Welcome to the family. We're so excited that you are now with us and one of us a believer in Jesus, and I just wanna encourage you to take your Next Step card and, just for anybody and everybody, whoever you are, write down your Next Step card. What is it that God is doing in your life? We just wanna come alongside you and help you in your journey with Jesus. You can take that to our Next Step Center or stations after the service.
Speaker 1:As for now, let's stand. I wanna pray for us one more time as we're gonna worship Jesus One more time as the church of Jesus Christ, before we scatter this week and go into our mission field. Let's worship him. Heavenly Father, we love you and God. We just pray in Jesus' name and we just wanna say thank you for your salvation, god, thank you for Jesus and his death on the cross for our sin. Thank you for his resurrection. Thank you for our salvation. Thank you, god, that you use our story in the lives of other stories.
Speaker 1:And, god, I pray that you would lay out our heart this week who we need to share our story with. And, god, I pray that you would lay on our heart this week who we need to share our story with. And God, I pray that it would fit with their story so their story can become your story. God, help us to be real about our rebellion, honest about our sin, so that people would never think that we think we're perfect, but they would know that Jesus is the perfect one. And God just put a burning desire on our hearts for the next generation. I pray, God, may we do whatever it takes to reach them, to disciple them as a church, god, so that you can win them and they can live their life for Jesus too. God, we love you and we pray these.