WEBVTT 00:34.813 --> 00:35.393 [SPEAKER_00]: Good morning. 00:36.714 --> 00:39.676 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, it's pretty cool to be able to walk up to a video. 00:40.476 --> 00:43.598 [SPEAKER_00]: So, hey, I'm so thankful you're here today. 00:44.379 --> 00:50.142 [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I'm among friends, and we're just going to have a good time having a conversation about relationships. 00:50.783 --> 00:57.046 [SPEAKER_00]: How many of you were here last week for Pastor Adams introduction of our Generacy Series? 00:57.086 --> 00:57.787 [SPEAKER_00]: By show of hands. 00:58.435 --> 00:59.056 [SPEAKER_00]: pretty good. 00:59.116 --> 00:59.477 [SPEAKER_00]: Pretty good. 00:59.497 --> 01:02.802 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, I think he did try to apply a little guilt, right? 01:02.822 --> 01:04.645 [SPEAKER_00]: He said, you need to be here every week. 01:04.705 --> 01:07.509 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm glad you're here even when he's not. 01:07.930 --> 01:08.270 [SPEAKER_00]: All right. 01:11.287 --> 01:11.727 [SPEAKER_00]: I love him. 01:12.128 --> 01:22.074 [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, he did a great job of introducing today's topic, and we're gonna dive in that deeper, and it's the importance of intergenerational relationships. 01:22.654 --> 01:25.836 [SPEAKER_00]: And Adam mentioned some people who had poured into his life. 01:25.876 --> 01:37.304 [SPEAKER_00]: Remember he talked about his grandfather and some older men at an older co-worker, and then he mentioned several men here at first street, and he graciously named me, 01:42.393 --> 01:48.879 [SPEAKER_00]: Long before I could invest in others, I desperately needed someone to invest in me. 01:50.120 --> 01:56.005 [SPEAKER_00]: I came to Christ at 18 years of age and I came to faith with a fair amount of baggage. 01:57.346 --> 02:00.188 [SPEAKER_00]: As a child, my family moved every two to three years. 02:01.209 --> 02:02.791 [SPEAKER_00]: I was always the new kid. 02:03.431 --> 02:07.214 [SPEAKER_00]: I was always on the outside of friendships that had been established. 02:07.294 --> 02:09.716 [SPEAKER_00]: I was always that new kid in class. 02:10.528 --> 02:15.252 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, when you're the new kid in class, should you come across to smart or should you just lay low? 02:16.012 --> 02:17.594 [SPEAKER_00]: I never laid low, all right? 02:18.234 --> 02:21.016 [SPEAKER_00]: So probably didn't do myself any favors. 02:21.917 --> 02:30.804 [SPEAKER_00]: I lost my dad at 15 years of age to a heart attack, and my mother was fighting so many of her own battles leaving her unavailable. 02:31.465 --> 02:35.088 [SPEAKER_00]: So by 15, 16, I was making my own decisions. 02:36.163 --> 02:38.846 [SPEAKER_00]: And if you're a 16 year old, you don't know Christ. 02:39.466 --> 02:41.688 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of those decisions were not very good. 02:42.289 --> 02:47.114 [SPEAKER_00]: And I grew up regretting and reckoning with those decisions that I made. 02:47.654 --> 02:54.421 [SPEAKER_00]: And on Sunday mornings, I would sit in a pew, not really understanding what any of it meant. 02:55.487 --> 03:00.771 [SPEAKER_00]: Then at 18, I had a friend who went away to college, became a Christian, and came home, and shared with me. 03:01.671 --> 03:15.501 [SPEAKER_00]: And I, as a result of that, she introduced me to Jesus, not to a church, not to a set of rules, but to a Savior, to a God who desired to have a personal relationship with me. 03:16.301 --> 03:17.362 [SPEAKER_00]: And everything, 03:18.352 --> 03:19.333 [SPEAKER_00]: began to change. 03:19.913 --> 03:27.898 [SPEAKER_00]: I experienced the truth of 2 Corinthians 5, 17, which says that if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. 03:28.879 --> 03:37.945 [SPEAKER_00]: The old is passed away, and the newest common eye cling to that, the old has passed away, and that it was a new person in Christ. 03:38.385 --> 03:41.948 [SPEAKER_00]: And what a wonderful life-changing news. 03:43.290 --> 03:48.233 [SPEAKER_00]: Then I discovered something else that took me years to really fully understand. 03:48.773 --> 04:00.961 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's this, even though God was all sufficient and all knowing and all powerful and all loving, he chose to use ordinary people. 04:01.722 --> 04:06.445 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, some with words, you know, to speak into our lives. 04:07.357 --> 04:11.580 [SPEAKER_00]: to instruct us, to encourage us, to help us to grow. 04:11.620 --> 04:12.940 [SPEAKER_00]: Why would God do that? 04:14.161 --> 04:17.963 [SPEAKER_00]: Isn't that oddly amazing when you think about it? 04:19.344 --> 04:22.126 [SPEAKER_00]: First, that's the Lonion's Bible 11 puts it simply. 04:22.166 --> 04:27.609 [SPEAKER_00]: It says this, that we are called to encourage each other and to build each other up. 04:27.649 --> 04:30.311 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the relationship that we are to have in Christ. 04:31.620 --> 04:44.651 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, it didn't take me long to realize that I needed people in my life, people who were further along than I was, people who had survived what I was walking through and who would be willing to sit with me in it. 04:45.860 --> 04:58.825 [SPEAKER_00]: When I came to Christ at 18, I needed someone who could look me in the eye and say, that grace, that grace that you have received is more than a concept, it is real. 04:59.526 --> 05:05.108 [SPEAKER_00]: It is real and it has sustained me for decades and it will sustain you. 05:07.030 --> 05:15.654 [SPEAKER_00]: I needed a brother and sister in Christ to remind me as I thought back on my sin before I knew Christ and experienced that guilt and pain all over again. 05:15.694 --> 05:26.418 [SPEAKER_00]: I needed a brother and sister in Christ to remind me that Jesus had borne the full weight of my sin and that his forgiveness was perfect and complete. 05:28.188 --> 05:33.492 [SPEAKER_00]: I was fortunate to meet my lovely wife and college, and we got married at age 22. 05:34.113 --> 05:48.383 [SPEAKER_00]: And at that point in time, I needed couples, healthy people, and healthy marriages to show me what it looked like for me to love my wife as Christ loved the church, selflessly and sacrificially. 05:48.403 --> 05:52.166 [SPEAKER_00]: The year last probably not something a 22 year old has on his mind, right? 05:52.347 --> 05:54.008 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's think of the other person first. 05:55.363 --> 06:00.646 [SPEAKER_00]: As newly wedged, we finished college, and we started into entry-level jobs. 06:01.907 --> 06:04.229 [SPEAKER_00]: We literally had nothing. 06:04.269 --> 06:09.432 [SPEAKER_00]: Our first apartment was where, let's just say it was on the wrong side of the tracks. 06:09.492 --> 06:12.474 [SPEAKER_00]: It was not the nice part of town. 06:13.694 --> 06:15.456 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes I'll tell you a little bit more about that. 06:16.296 --> 06:20.119 [SPEAKER_00]: We also had one car that we shared, get through, would drop me off at work. 06:20.719 --> 06:21.900 [SPEAKER_00]: It was a brown, 06:23.012 --> 06:28.417 [SPEAKER_00]: Dotson B-210 with hell damage and a whole lot of rust. 06:28.477 --> 06:32.741 [SPEAKER_00]: The biggest question would, how much of the car would I leave in the parking lot? 06:33.982 --> 06:35.263 [SPEAKER_00]: So we were poor. 06:35.784 --> 06:37.745 [SPEAKER_00]: We were poor by standards. 06:38.546 --> 06:45.553 [SPEAKER_00]: We needed somebody to help us understand what it meant to trust God when finances were tight. 06:46.735 --> 07:01.667 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, we were taught early that giving was an act of worship, not just this hedge against uncertainty or against calamity, not an insurance policy, and that lesson helped shape how we managed money from the start. 07:02.328 --> 07:04.350 [SPEAKER_00]: We knew we couldn't outgive God. 07:05.551 --> 07:06.672 [SPEAKER_00]: So why am I telling you this? 07:07.452 --> 07:10.175 [SPEAKER_00]: Why am I sharing my story because here's what I want you to hear. 07:10.971 --> 07:25.700 [SPEAKER_00]: Whether you're 16 years old with your first set of keys, or you're in your late 40s, and your teenagers getting ready to head off to college, I see people in that category, we're 70, and wondering what the next chapter holds. 07:26.781 --> 07:31.684 [SPEAKER_00]: Each of us is navigating a season we've never experienced before. 07:32.643 --> 07:37.170 [SPEAKER_00]: Every season of life brings its own needs. 07:37.971 --> 07:48.966 [SPEAKER_00]: And I believe that God has designed this, so those needs are met within an intergenerational community of believers who lovingly invest in one another. 07:50.121 --> 07:58.624 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think this is what the apostle Paul is describing as he writes a young pastor, Titus, on the island of Crete, consider what he says. 07:58.644 --> 08:02.885 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's, if you have your Bible's turn to Titus II, we're gonna look at verses 6 through 7. 08:02.945 --> 08:11.468 [SPEAKER_00]: And it says this, as for you Titus, promote the kind of living that reflects wholesome teaching. 08:12.548 --> 08:16.070 [SPEAKER_00]: Teats the older men to exercise self-control, 08:20.496 --> 08:24.639 [SPEAKER_00]: They must have sound faith and be filled with love and patience. 08:25.579 --> 08:30.683 [SPEAKER_00]: It said similarly, teach the older women to live in a way that honors God. 08:31.443 --> 08:34.445 [SPEAKER_00]: They must not slander others or be heavy drinkers. 08:34.905 --> 08:36.666 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, they should teach others what is good. 08:36.706 --> 08:42.770 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I need to pause here because I have invited friends some work to watch online and they're saying what? 08:44.872 --> 08:47.854 [SPEAKER_00]: The older women aren't to slander others or be heavy drinkers. 08:50.601 --> 08:51.281 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's the deal. 08:52.402 --> 08:56.505 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul is writing to Titus, who is on the island of Crete. 08:57.185 --> 09:05.370 [SPEAKER_00]: Even today, the people on Crete have a reputation for being a little wordly, you know? 09:05.750 --> 09:10.033 [SPEAKER_00]: There was a philosopher who said that all Cretans are liars and this and that. 09:10.173 --> 09:17.918 [SPEAKER_00]: And I met a young man from Crete, he said, yeah, we're little something, you know? 09:19.328 --> 09:21.850 [SPEAKER_00]: He was a believer, though, and he came to Christ. 09:22.090 --> 09:32.097 [SPEAKER_00]: And what we have here is a brand new church in a place that has got a very worldly background, and they're learning what it is to live differently. 09:32.137 --> 09:35.038 [SPEAKER_00]: And so you see this, and you say no wonder he says that. 09:35.579 --> 09:44.205 [SPEAKER_00]: But then he goes on, after telling the older women that, he says this, these older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children. 09:44.965 --> 09:56.050 [SPEAKER_00]: to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be subject to their husbands, and then they won't bring shame on the Word of God. 09:57.070 --> 10:09.176 [SPEAKER_00]: In the same way, encourage the young men to live wisely, and you, yourself, hide as you must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. 10:09.936 --> 10:11.517 [SPEAKER_00]: Let everything you do, 10:12.279 --> 10:16.823 [SPEAKER_00]: reflect the integrity and the seriousness of your teaching. 10:16.843 --> 10:22.047 [SPEAKER_00]: Now let's dig into this a little bit because this really is the key passage from what everything builds this morning. 10:23.188 --> 10:24.709 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, Paul is writing to Titus. 10:25.329 --> 10:26.711 [SPEAKER_00]: He's a trusted coworker. 10:26.751 --> 10:32.815 [SPEAKER_00]: He's overseeing a church on Crete, it's likely a small church, maybe some house churches that are involved there. 10:33.396 --> 10:40.782 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a community of people who are new to faith, who are still working out what it means to live differently. 10:41.853 --> 10:46.775 [SPEAKER_00]: And his letter to them reflects how a healthy community should function. 10:47.216 --> 10:49.197 [SPEAKER_00]: It's instructions to them in that respect. 10:49.997 --> 10:52.378 [SPEAKER_00]: But notice here what Paul does. 10:53.078 --> 10:56.120 [SPEAKER_00]: He addresses all of the groups, all four groups in order. 10:56.160 --> 10:57.461 [SPEAKER_00]: He begins with the older men. 10:57.541 --> 10:59.041 [SPEAKER_00]: And then he talks about the older women. 10:59.061 --> 11:00.622 [SPEAKER_00]: And then he talks about the younger women. 11:00.642 --> 11:02.263 [SPEAKER_00]: And then he talks about the younger men. 11:03.143 --> 11:05.965 [SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't leave anyone out. 11:06.940 --> 11:08.641 [SPEAKER_00]: And he doesn't just address the leaders. 11:08.661 --> 11:11.442 [SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't say, hey, past away our status is for you. 11:12.042 --> 11:14.263 [SPEAKER_00]: And you alone, this is for everybody. 11:14.463 --> 11:16.704 [SPEAKER_00]: Everybody's included in this instruction. 11:17.584 --> 11:21.106 [SPEAKER_00]: And he's not just describing a mentoring curriculum. 11:21.166 --> 11:23.107 [SPEAKER_00]: He is describing a posture. 11:23.407 --> 11:26.128 [SPEAKER_00]: He is describing how we should carry ourselves. 11:26.188 --> 11:27.529 [SPEAKER_00]: This should be our lifestyle. 11:27.549 --> 11:29.609 [SPEAKER_00]: This should be the way that we naturally operate. 11:29.689 --> 11:30.710 [SPEAKER_00]: It is a posture. 11:32.435 --> 11:38.060 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a community where everyone is both a learner and a teacher. 11:38.881 --> 11:46.509 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a place where every generation that no generation simply gives and simply receives. 11:46.729 --> 11:47.810 [SPEAKER_00]: Everybody does both. 11:47.970 --> 11:50.292 [SPEAKER_00]: Every generation gives and receives. 11:51.654 --> 11:52.875 [SPEAKER_00]: Now let me pause and ask. 11:54.316 --> 11:55.718 [SPEAKER_00]: Isn't that what we want here at first? 11:57.050 --> 12:00.792 [SPEAKER_00]: When you love to have that, wouldn't you like us to be known for that? 12:00.852 --> 12:02.814 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think, not saying that we aren't. 12:03.174 --> 12:06.236 [SPEAKER_00]: But what something, this is wonderful to aspire to. 12:07.537 --> 12:14.441 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, in verse four, Paul uses a Greek word that's worth pausing to consider. 12:15.480 --> 12:19.265 [SPEAKER_00]: The older women are to train the younger women. 12:19.506 --> 12:20.667 [SPEAKER_00]: What do we mean by train? 12:21.088 --> 12:22.630 [SPEAKER_00]: What does this mean we says train? 12:23.231 --> 12:26.155 [SPEAKER_00]: The word is soft for need, so soft for need, so. 12:26.856 --> 12:30.521 [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't mean lecture, it doesn't mean teach a class, 12:31.397 --> 12:33.639 [SPEAKER_00]: And let me tell you here, I'm going to step back and say this. 12:34.039 --> 12:41.804 [SPEAKER_00]: I am sometimes hesitant to really try to expound on Greek texts because I don't have formal training in Greek, all right? 12:42.605 --> 12:49.290 [SPEAKER_00]: But in this case, the concept is so strong and so worth the time I wanted to spend on this. 12:49.350 --> 12:59.177 [SPEAKER_00]: And John Richardson and I just returned from Greece where we were meeting to encourage the local church that we support there, the church at Kipsalee. 13:00.037 --> 13:11.291 [SPEAKER_00]: wonderful people, and so I was able to ask the leaders and the elders and say, hey, this word, something needs to be said, am I saying it right? 13:12.353 --> 13:18.540 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, your first pass really sounds like a guy from a small town in Western Missouri. 13:20.213 --> 13:22.714 [SPEAKER_00]: might be better if it sounded more like somebody from the hill. 13:22.734 --> 13:24.874 [SPEAKER_00]: Soft for need, so, yeah, so. 13:25.375 --> 13:28.375 [SPEAKER_00]: Soft for need, so, soft for need, so is the word. 13:29.036 --> 13:32.657 [SPEAKER_00]: And they agreed with what it literally was involved. 13:33.037 --> 13:46.661 [SPEAKER_00]: Soft for need, so means to bring someone to their senses, to bring someone to their senses, to help them to think clearly, to think clearly, and to restore right-mindedness, 13:48.198 --> 13:56.006 [SPEAKER_00]: It describes the kind of influence that only happens over time in close proximity. 13:57.127 --> 13:59.810 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not just any relationship. 14:00.791 --> 14:05.135 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a relationship that has enough trust to tell the truth. 14:06.016 --> 14:11.382 [SPEAKER_00]: And a relationship that has enough love to be heard when the truth is hard. 14:12.832 --> 14:19.837 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul is not describing some informal thing that you get from being with people for an hour or two one Sunday mornings. 14:20.457 --> 14:29.543 [SPEAKER_00]: He is talking about something that happens every day of the week, every morning, every afternoon, every evening, seven days a week. 14:30.284 --> 14:36.848 [SPEAKER_00]: He's describing what happens when an older woman who's been married for 30 plus years, 14:37.769 --> 14:48.893 [SPEAKER_00]: Since across the table, from a young woman who's been married three years and it's struggling in her marriage and that older woman says, let me share what I know. 14:50.333 --> 14:54.835 [SPEAKER_00]: Let me tell you what I would do if I could go back. 14:54.915 --> 14:57.036 [SPEAKER_00]: This is what I would say to myself. 14:58.196 --> 14:59.817 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what Sopra needs so does. 15:00.617 --> 15:02.137 [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't happen in a class. 15:03.178 --> 15:06.279 [SPEAKER_00]: It can only happen in a relationship. 15:07.923 --> 15:11.286 [SPEAKER_00]: Now look at what the older women are training the younger women toward. 15:12.067 --> 15:18.573 [SPEAKER_00]: Loving their husbands, loving their children, being self-control, pure, and kind. 15:20.115 --> 15:27.002 [SPEAKER_00]: Now think about that, those concepts, those patterns of life are more caught than taught. 15:27.062 --> 15:31.847 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you can go to a seminar, but you really understand what it means to love your husband and your children. 15:32.769 --> 15:42.292 [SPEAKER_00]: These are patterns of life that are caught more than taught and they're absorbed through proximity to someone who is actually living them out. 15:44.133 --> 15:47.294 [SPEAKER_00]: And there's one other thing I want to see before we move on from this passage. 15:47.334 --> 15:48.554 [SPEAKER_00]: And that is at Paul. 15:50.025 --> 15:51.466 [SPEAKER_00]: says something we should overlook. 15:51.506 --> 15:56.750 [SPEAKER_00]: He grounds every one of these relational instructions in the gospel. 15:57.371 --> 15:59.152 [SPEAKER_00]: Look at verses 11 through 14. 15:59.713 --> 16:00.433 [SPEAKER_00]: It says this. 16:00.793 --> 16:18.167 [SPEAKER_00]: It says, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions into the live, self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope. 16:19.122 --> 16:21.483 [SPEAKER_00]: and then verse 14, such a wonderful verse. 16:22.203 --> 16:32.668 [SPEAKER_00]: He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. 16:33.749 --> 16:38.931 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, the word for training here that Paul uses is different than soft for nature. 16:38.951 --> 16:47.875 [SPEAKER_00]: So this is a term that's used for a parent shaping of a child, it's intimate, it's sustained. 16:48.986 --> 16:55.780 [SPEAKER_00]: It's personal and when you look at it, I think Paul's claim is stunning. 16:56.942 --> 17:02.524 [SPEAKER_00]: He says this that the same grace that saved us is our primary mentor. 17:03.164 --> 17:09.526 [SPEAKER_00]: And the community that we see described in Titus II is where that grace training takes place. 17:10.206 --> 17:20.189 [SPEAKER_00]: This is God's grace made visible in a community like first free where people who are saved by grace encourage one another toward that same hope. 17:21.249 --> 17:22.089 [SPEAKER_00]: Isn't that beautiful? 17:23.250 --> 17:24.230 [SPEAKER_00]: Isn't that what we want? 17:25.710 --> 17:29.616 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, Paul's vision here is not abstract. 17:30.076 --> 17:31.719 [SPEAKER_00]: It is real, it is very real. 17:32.360 --> 17:38.729 [SPEAKER_00]: And scripture is filled with portraits of one generation investing in another at great personal cost. 17:39.416 --> 17:41.977 [SPEAKER_00]: producing what otherwise would not have been possible. 17:42.598 --> 17:44.859 [SPEAKER_00]: And I want to share three relationships. 17:44.959 --> 17:48.141 [SPEAKER_00]: I see in Scripture that show us what this looks like. 17:48.161 --> 17:51.003 [SPEAKER_00]: The first is in First King's 19. 17:51.663 --> 17:56.526 [SPEAKER_00]: And here we have a wonderful interaction between Elijah and Elijah. 17:56.586 --> 17:59.928 [SPEAKER_00]: Now I am going to do something that may get on your nerves. 18:00.348 --> 18:03.710 [SPEAKER_00]: I am going to over pronounce Elijah 18:04.330 --> 18:11.612 [SPEAKER_00]: in a life shot so that you are not confused because sometimes when I do that it sounds like it's the same. 18:12.092 --> 18:13.032 [SPEAKER_00]: They're different people. 18:13.272 --> 18:14.373 [SPEAKER_00]: I want you to catch that. 18:14.933 --> 18:16.353 [SPEAKER_00]: And so look at verse 19. 18:16.853 --> 18:20.674 [SPEAKER_00]: So Elijah departed from there and found a life shot. 18:21.054 --> 18:25.915 [SPEAKER_00]: The son of Shayfat who was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen. 18:26.195 --> 18:27.916 [SPEAKER_00]: Make note of that 12 yoke of oxen. 18:28.842 --> 18:38.771 [SPEAKER_00]: Elijah passed by Elijah and he cast his cloak on, and then Elijah arose and went after Elijah and assisted him. 18:40.733 --> 18:45.937 [SPEAKER_00]: We need to pause and just feel the weight of this scene. 18:47.013 --> 18:49.195 [SPEAKER_00]: Elijah, it's not in a good place. 18:49.235 --> 19:00.563 [SPEAKER_00]: If we go earlier in the chapter, if you have your Bible's opening, you go earlier in chapter 19, you're going to find Elijah collapsed under a broom tree and asking God to let him die. 19:00.603 --> 19:02.565 [SPEAKER_00]: That is not a good place to be in. 19:03.306 --> 19:09.030 [SPEAKER_00]: He's depleted, he's afraid, he's running, and he's at the end of his rope. 19:09.050 --> 19:15.475 [SPEAKER_00]: If you guys ever felt that way, anybody here ever experienced that ever felt that way? 19:17.041 --> 19:17.642 [SPEAKER_00]: Look, thank you. 19:18.924 --> 19:19.565 [SPEAKER_00]: Appreciate it. 19:19.906 --> 19:21.208 [SPEAKER_00]: You feel free to speak up, too. 19:25.590 --> 19:28.372 [SPEAKER_00]: God restores Elijah first. 19:28.512 --> 19:33.455 [SPEAKER_00]: He gives him food, he gives him rest, he shares his presence. 19:34.156 --> 19:36.817 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that might be some good advice for all of us. 19:36.837 --> 19:38.378 [SPEAKER_00]: This is just parenthetical, okay? 19:38.899 --> 19:40.600 [SPEAKER_00]: So you're experiencing that burnout. 19:40.620 --> 19:41.841 [SPEAKER_00]: You're feeling that. 19:42.341 --> 19:45.263 [SPEAKER_00]: And God restores Elijah that way. 19:45.783 --> 19:47.124 [SPEAKER_00]: Think about that formula. 19:48.125 --> 19:53.168 [SPEAKER_00]: When you're feeling down, when you're really struggling, get something to eat. 19:55.496 --> 20:00.798 [SPEAKER_00]: Take a nap, get rest, and then spend time in God's presence. 20:01.318 --> 20:03.739 [SPEAKER_00]: I think this is good advice for all of us to follow. 20:04.639 --> 20:10.482 [SPEAKER_00]: But then what God does after that he gives Elijah a burned-out profit, a commission. 20:10.502 --> 20:13.783 [SPEAKER_00]: He says this, he says, go find Elijah. 20:14.531 --> 20:15.772 [SPEAKER_00]: Go find Elijah. 20:16.132 --> 20:17.113 [SPEAKER_00]: So Elijah goes. 20:17.393 --> 20:18.414 [SPEAKER_00]: He finds Elijah. 20:18.854 --> 20:23.077 [SPEAKER_00]: And Elijah is a prosperous man with 12 yoke of oxen. 20:23.397 --> 20:27.079 [SPEAKER_00]: Whose life is settled and who's future is secure. 20:28.440 --> 20:30.682 [SPEAKER_00]: And Elijah does one thing. 20:31.453 --> 20:32.393 [SPEAKER_00]: He does one thing. 20:33.134 --> 20:34.814 [SPEAKER_00]: He throws his cloak over him. 20:34.834 --> 20:35.915 [SPEAKER_00]: There's no speech. 20:36.695 --> 20:38.576 [SPEAKER_00]: There's no application process. 20:38.616 --> 20:40.057 [SPEAKER_00]: There's no John Form. 20:40.557 --> 20:46.419 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, he is just one act of intentional personal investment. 20:47.039 --> 20:52.662 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, in the ancient world, a cloak was far more than a piece of clothing. 20:52.682 --> 20:54.443 [SPEAKER_00]: It was, it represented who you were. 20:54.463 --> 20:59.425 [SPEAKER_00]: If you saw a prophet with a cloak, with a man alone at you would say that guy is a prophet. 21:01.936 --> 21:08.199 [SPEAKER_00]: And so in one physical act, he says, what I carry, I give to you. 21:09.320 --> 21:10.420 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna have a drink here. 21:10.440 --> 21:12.581 [SPEAKER_00]: Give you a chance to catch up with me. 21:18.625 --> 21:24.147 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's just spend a moment reflecting on Elijah and what we know about him. 21:24.868 --> 21:26.549 [SPEAKER_00]: Elijah is a younger man. 21:27.429 --> 21:29.870 [SPEAKER_00]: He is very successful in life. 21:31.676 --> 21:39.083 [SPEAKER_00]: See, a man who owned a Yoke of Oxen that's two Oxen was considered to be a successful middle-class person. 21:39.704 --> 21:40.084 [SPEAKER_00]: All right? 21:40.604 --> 21:53.496 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what the equivalent would be today, and you know, that you got two cars in the garage and one's whatever, but he is very at one Yoke of Oxen, two Oxen considers you a success. 21:54.357 --> 21:55.778 [SPEAKER_00]: Remember what we said about a Lansha? 21:56.692 --> 22:00.954 [SPEAKER_00]: He has 24 oxen, 12 yolk, 24 oxen. 22:01.394 --> 22:05.415 [SPEAKER_00]: He is wealthy, he is prosperous. 22:05.996 --> 22:08.376 [SPEAKER_00]: And yet look at Elijah's response. 22:09.157 --> 22:09.777 [SPEAKER_00]: What's he do? 22:10.757 --> 22:12.218 [SPEAKER_00]: He slatters the oxen. 22:13.158 --> 22:16.820 [SPEAKER_00]: He burns the plowing equipment in order to cook the oxen. 22:17.460 --> 22:20.221 [SPEAKER_00]: And then he feeds the meat to the people. 22:21.205 --> 22:26.741 [SPEAKER_00]: And then he leaves, he leaves it all behind to follow Elijah. 22:27.641 --> 22:31.823 [SPEAKER_00]: Despite his prosperity, he's eager to learn from an older man. 22:32.323 --> 22:33.624 [SPEAKER_00]: He's fully committed. 22:34.044 --> 22:35.345 [SPEAKER_00]: There's no turning back. 22:35.945 --> 22:40.167 [SPEAKER_00]: And what follows here are years and years of apprenticeship. 22:40.808 --> 22:44.129 [SPEAKER_00]: Elijah doesn't just take a course in prophetic ministry. 22:44.149 --> 22:45.830 [SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't listen to podcasts. 22:45.890 --> 22:48.552 [SPEAKER_00]: Rather, he watches Elijah. 22:48.972 --> 22:50.132 [SPEAKER_00]: He accompanies him. 22:50.593 --> 22:51.613 [SPEAKER_00]: He assists him. 22:52.053 --> 22:55.915 [SPEAKER_00]: He absorbs what Elijah carries by being close to him, 22:57.935 --> 23:09.681 [SPEAKER_00]: And to the younger people who are in the room this morning and perhaps online, let me ask you this, would you be willing to learn from someone who's older and maybe less prosperous than you? 23:10.502 --> 23:16.825 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you have an idea that, hey, I can only receive feedback from somebody who's successful in life. 23:17.872 --> 23:23.959 [SPEAKER_00]: We're looking for people who are faithful to God, who know what it is to work with God, who can provide us with encouragement. 23:24.299 --> 23:27.222 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you able to look past that as Elijah did it? 23:27.242 --> 23:28.584 [SPEAKER_00]: Is he follow the Elijah? 23:29.845 --> 23:33.149 [SPEAKER_00]: This is Sophra Nietzsche in the Old Testament. 23:34.290 --> 23:38.235 [SPEAKER_00]: Now later in second Kings 2, Elijah is preparing to leave the earth. 23:38.255 --> 23:39.015 [SPEAKER_00]: You know how he, 23:39.737 --> 23:48.963 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you know the story that he is going to suddenly disappear in a world wind, go up to heaven, and Elijah says this. 23:49.023 --> 23:53.986 [SPEAKER_00]: Elijah says to Elijah, ask what I shall do for you before I'm taken from you. 23:54.566 --> 23:58.628 [SPEAKER_00]: Ask, I'm going to be leaving, tell me what I can do for you before I leave. 23:59.249 --> 24:00.529 [SPEAKER_00]: And Elijah says this. 24:00.569 --> 24:06.833 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me, a double 24:09.937 --> 24:10.517 [SPEAKER_00]: What is that? 24:11.398 --> 24:16.121 [SPEAKER_00]: A double portion is the inheritance that's due to a first-born son. 24:17.101 --> 24:24.605 [SPEAKER_00]: Elijah is Elijah, sorry, Elijah is asking to be recognized as Elijah's spiritual heir. 24:25.506 --> 24:27.427 [SPEAKER_00]: And look at the condition for receiving it. 24:27.467 --> 24:28.407 [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's telling. 24:29.028 --> 24:36.192 [SPEAKER_00]: He says this, if you see me when I'm taken from you, you'll receive your quest. 24:37.201 --> 24:39.303 [SPEAKER_00]: But if not, you won't. 24:40.303 --> 24:41.404 [SPEAKER_00]: You've got to be here. 24:41.484 --> 24:42.965 [SPEAKER_00]: You've got to be paying attention. 24:43.005 --> 24:44.306 [SPEAKER_00]: You have to be present. 24:44.846 --> 24:45.547 [SPEAKER_00]: You hear that line. 24:45.567 --> 24:46.828 [SPEAKER_00]: You've got to be present to win. 24:46.868 --> 24:47.969 [SPEAKER_00]: That was the case here. 24:48.849 --> 24:51.291 [SPEAKER_00]: You must be present when it happens. 24:52.112 --> 24:52.672 [SPEAKER_00]: Any was. 24:53.573 --> 24:55.014 [SPEAKER_00]: The mentor throws the cloak. 24:55.814 --> 25:00.698 [SPEAKER_00]: The student refuses to go home in the spirit falls. 25:02.247 --> 25:06.828 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, the second portrait I have for you is something that probably you're a little more familiar with. 25:07.208 --> 25:09.709 [SPEAKER_00]: It really, it's about Paul and Timothy. 25:10.169 --> 25:14.330 [SPEAKER_00]: And where we start here is an Acts chapter 16, Acts 16. 25:15.571 --> 25:19.572 [SPEAKER_00]: And it reads this way, that his cycle was their name, Timothy. 25:20.132 --> 25:22.692 [SPEAKER_00]: The son of a Jewish woman who was a believer. 25:23.453 --> 25:28.294 [SPEAKER_00]: She was well spoken of by the brothers at Listera and Iconium. 25:33.083 --> 25:35.085 [SPEAKER_00]: So here we are, what's happening here? 25:35.725 --> 25:37.086 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul's on a missionary journey. 25:37.767 --> 25:39.068 [SPEAKER_00]: He's got places to visit. 25:39.748 --> 25:40.809 [SPEAKER_00]: He's got people to meet. 25:41.450 --> 25:42.971 [SPEAKER_00]: He's got things to do, right? 25:43.231 --> 25:44.092 [SPEAKER_00]: Just like all of us. 25:45.393 --> 25:53.480 [SPEAKER_00]: And if he were a bit more like me, I'm a very task-oriented guy planning an organization as important to me. 25:53.560 --> 25:54.841 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm very focused. 25:54.901 --> 25:55.842 [SPEAKER_00]: My friends know, 25:56.790 --> 26:07.353 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a little hyper focused once I get my idea on something and it's hard for me to shift gears, Paul's not that way, Paul's not that way. 26:07.693 --> 26:10.154 [SPEAKER_00]: He could have said, hey, we've got to schedule the key. 26:10.854 --> 26:13.235 [SPEAKER_00]: Timothy's a sharp gifted guy. 26:13.595 --> 26:15.376 [SPEAKER_00]: He'll figure it out, he'll figure it out. 26:15.736 --> 26:17.457 [SPEAKER_00]: And we'll see him on our way back. 26:17.977 --> 26:18.957 [SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't do that. 26:19.717 --> 26:21.918 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, what Paul does when he meets Timothy, 26:25.646 --> 26:48.968 [SPEAKER_00]: He takes them along, not as a passenger, but as an apprentice, and he brings Timothy into his work and into his life, and he entrust Timothy with increasingly challenging assignment, which is what you want to do when you're bringing somebody along and you're training them and you're helping them grow in their walk with God. 26:50.294 --> 26:53.597 [SPEAKER_00]: He brings them along with increasingly challenging assignments. 26:54.217 --> 26:58.040 [SPEAKER_00]: When people say, oh, that Timothy, he's a little young. 26:58.060 --> 27:02.203 [SPEAKER_00]: You think Paul says, don't let them look down on your youth. 27:02.783 --> 27:05.806 [SPEAKER_00]: He tells them not to let the churches underestimate him. 27:06.786 --> 27:12.331 [SPEAKER_00]: The letters that Paul writes to Timothy, there are two letters in the Bible and they are among the most personal. 27:12.871 --> 27:14.692 [SPEAKER_00]: They're filled with candid messages. 27:14.733 --> 27:16.334 [SPEAKER_00]: They're filled with challenges. 27:20.206 --> 27:24.309 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul doesn't see Timothy as a project. 27:25.209 --> 27:26.350 [SPEAKER_00]: He's not a project. 27:27.271 --> 27:28.311 [SPEAKER_00]: He's not a project. 27:29.012 --> 27:30.933 [SPEAKER_00]: He's his beloved child. 27:31.994 --> 27:35.096 [SPEAKER_00]: The relationship here is more than professional. 27:35.556 --> 27:36.557 [SPEAKER_00]: It's familial. 27:37.057 --> 27:38.018 [SPEAKER_00]: It is close. 27:38.038 --> 27:42.821 [SPEAKER_00]: It is close net is a loving family relationship. 27:44.102 --> 27:44.702 [SPEAKER_00]: And guess what? 27:45.643 --> 27:46.623 [SPEAKER_00]: What happens with this? 27:46.663 --> 27:47.504 [SPEAKER_00]: What's the result? 27:48.870 --> 27:53.694 [SPEAKER_00]: that investment produces a four-generation chain. 27:54.454 --> 27:59.998 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is a verse for those of you who grew up in some sort of discipleship ministry. 28:00.018 --> 28:01.700 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, second Timothy, too, too. 28:03.441 --> 28:16.651 [SPEAKER_00]: Just say it in your own mind here, what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses in trust to faithful men who are able to teach others also, 28:17.555 --> 28:19.815 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a four-generation chain, and what is it? 28:20.215 --> 28:25.316 [SPEAKER_00]: It's Paul to Timothy, to faithful men, to others. 28:26.277 --> 28:31.798 [SPEAKER_00]: Discipleship done well is not addition. 28:32.838 --> 28:33.738 [SPEAKER_00]: It's multiplication. 28:34.538 --> 28:36.638 [SPEAKER_00]: Discipleship done well is not addition. 28:36.678 --> 28:37.679 [SPEAKER_00]: It's multiplication. 28:38.699 --> 28:44.100 [SPEAKER_00]: And it begins with an older person investing in a younger one. 28:47.292 --> 28:56.235 [SPEAKER_00]: Find it worthwhile to spend time investing in someone else if you knew that this was starting that sort of multiplication, that sort of change. 28:56.595 --> 28:57.875 [SPEAKER_00]: There's great value in it. 28:58.275 --> 29:01.996 [SPEAKER_00]: It's worthwhile, will you please consider that? 29:02.917 --> 29:10.839 [SPEAKER_00]: Older men and women, are you willing to give up the comfort of your current lifestyle to invest in younger people? 29:12.165 --> 29:19.570 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, we've reached a point in life, perhaps we've retired, we're winding down, things are not as tight as it used to be. 29:19.590 --> 29:24.613 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, it's time to go and chill out. 29:25.934 --> 29:34.019 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you willing to give up that inconvenience to be inconvenienced to give up the lifestyle that you've come to really enjoy? 29:35.905 --> 29:39.547 [SPEAKER_00]: The third portrait I have for you is of Naomi and Ruth. 29:39.867 --> 29:48.573 [SPEAKER_00]: Naomi and you, Ruth, and I like this when I included this one because in this case, the younger person pursues the older. 29:49.313 --> 29:49.973 [SPEAKER_00]: Think about it. 29:50.414 --> 29:52.375 [SPEAKER_00]: Ruth is pursuing Naomi. 29:54.076 --> 30:00.780 [SPEAKER_00]: Ruth's 1616 says this, but Ruth replied, don't ask me to leave you or to turn back, 30:01.693 --> 30:04.056 [SPEAKER_00]: Wherever you go, I will go. 30:04.736 --> 30:07.820 [SPEAKER_00]: Wherever you live, I will live. 30:07.840 --> 30:14.046 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're on the worship team and you sing Chris Tomlin, wherever you stay, I will stay. 30:15.075 --> 30:16.035 [SPEAKER_00]: It's all the same. 30:16.876 --> 30:17.816 [SPEAKER_00]: I am committed. 30:18.237 --> 30:20.518 [SPEAKER_00]: Your people will be my people. 30:20.978 --> 30:23.299 [SPEAKER_00]: Your God will be my God. 30:24.059 --> 30:28.561 [SPEAKER_00]: And the relationship here inverts the typical dynamic. 30:29.162 --> 30:35.045 [SPEAKER_00]: It is the younger woman who pursues the older and refuses to let go. 30:36.765 --> 30:39.587 [SPEAKER_00]: Little context here at this stage Naomi is bitter. 30:40.492 --> 30:42.854 [SPEAKER_00]: She's broken, and she has right to be. 30:42.934 --> 30:44.175 [SPEAKER_00]: She's lost her husband. 30:44.495 --> 30:49.859 [SPEAKER_00]: Her two sons have died, and she has two daughter-in-laws without any means of support. 30:51.540 --> 30:54.902 [SPEAKER_00]: She feels like she has nothing left to offer. 30:55.363 --> 30:58.325 [SPEAKER_00]: And so she tries to send Ruth back to her homeland. 30:59.415 --> 31:00.816 [SPEAKER_00]: Ruth refuses. 31:01.657 --> 31:02.837 [SPEAKER_00]: She refuses to go. 31:03.578 --> 31:15.646 [SPEAKER_00]: And Ruth's loyalty is not based upon what Naomi can provide her to her, but on who Naomi has been, and on the God that she has come to know through Naomi's life. 31:17.167 --> 31:17.627 [SPEAKER_00]: And listen. 31:18.860 --> 31:31.946 [SPEAKER_00]: Because Ruth stays, because she stays, Naomi now offers quiet, wise guidance to a young woman in a foreign land to help her to navigate a culture that isn't hers. 31:33.307 --> 31:35.768 [SPEAKER_00]: Ruth has courage and loyalty. 31:36.669 --> 31:41.671 [SPEAKER_00]: Naomi has wisdom and neither is sufficient without the other. 31:42.632 --> 31:46.994 [SPEAKER_00]: So in this case, we talked about outcomes in the other examples, what about this one? 31:48.172 --> 31:49.112 [SPEAKER_00]: Ruth has redeemed. 31:50.233 --> 31:57.676 [SPEAKER_00]: She becomes David, great grandmother, and she appears in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. 31:58.216 --> 32:01.838 [SPEAKER_00]: This is a chain that runs all the way to the manger. 32:03.399 --> 32:07.360 [SPEAKER_00]: And let me pause and just summarize where we are now. 32:08.841 --> 32:09.641 [SPEAKER_00]: Does it mean we're done? 32:09.761 --> 32:13.023 [SPEAKER_00]: It means I'm helping you remember the points we just made. 32:13.963 --> 32:15.344 [SPEAKER_00]: In each of these portraits, 32:18.441 --> 32:20.943 [SPEAKER_00]: It's proximate, it's costly. 32:21.863 --> 32:24.625 [SPEAKER_00]: None of them are part of a formal program. 32:24.865 --> 32:27.367 [SPEAKER_00]: All of them are built on a relationship. 32:28.147 --> 32:31.429 [SPEAKER_00]: They've invested in a future that they cannot see. 32:31.449 --> 32:34.431 [SPEAKER_00]: And really, isn't that what faith is? 32:34.491 --> 32:36.592 [SPEAKER_00]: Isn't that what Hebrews 11 one tells us? 32:37.713 --> 32:39.814 [SPEAKER_00]: We're investing in a future we can't see. 32:41.395 --> 32:43.817 [SPEAKER_00]: Can we be a church that first free 32:47.888 --> 32:49.356 [SPEAKER_00]: of age or experience. 32:50.558 --> 32:54.920 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, this biblical gallery is inspiring, and it's, yeah, that's aspirational. 32:54.940 --> 32:56.881 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to do that, but you know what? 32:56.981 --> 33:01.864 [SPEAKER_00]: The Bible is equally candid about what happens when investment fails. 33:02.464 --> 33:16.251 [SPEAKER_00]: When the older generation fails to pass down to the younger generation or when the younger generation chooses its peer group over wisdom or when a community disperses rather than committing to one another. 33:16.311 --> 33:18.052 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to show you two examples of this. 33:20.493 --> 33:29.336 [SPEAKER_00]: And this shows what happens when Wisdom is written down but not passed along. 33:30.437 --> 33:33.838 [SPEAKER_00]: Solomon was perhaps the wisest man who ever lived. 33:33.858 --> 33:36.919 [SPEAKER_00]: Certainly he had that reputation, though we all know he made mistakes. 33:37.619 --> 33:42.861 [SPEAKER_00]: He wrote the book of Proverbs, which he explicitly addressed to a son. 33:43.661 --> 33:48.343 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's filled with accumulated wisdom of a life that's devoted to God. 33:49.188 --> 33:52.550 [SPEAKER_00]: And yet here's what first King's 12 says in verses 6 through 8. 33:54.011 --> 34:00.694 [SPEAKER_00]: Then King reabonged to counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive. 34:01.515 --> 34:10.900 [SPEAKER_00]: But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him, and he took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. 34:10.920 --> 34:14.301 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, let me help you. 34:14.462 --> 34:15.042 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm older. 34:15.612 --> 34:17.853 [SPEAKER_00]: But I think I've looked at this objectively, all right? 34:17.873 --> 34:19.694 [SPEAKER_00]: So this isn't just old man bias, all right? 34:20.634 --> 34:23.355 [SPEAKER_00]: The old man's, the older man's council was good. 34:23.955 --> 34:24.476 [SPEAKER_00]: It was good. 34:25.196 --> 34:25.956 [SPEAKER_00]: It was wise. 34:26.616 --> 34:27.597 [SPEAKER_00]: It was relational. 34:28.097 --> 34:34.980 [SPEAKER_00]: It was rooted in decades of observing what truly builds loyalty and what sustains the kingdom. 34:36.040 --> 34:37.981 [SPEAKER_00]: Reabomb had access to it. 34:39.233 --> 34:54.645 [SPEAKER_00]: But he chose his peers' counsel instead, men who had never governed anything, men without scar tissue from hard decisions, men who told them what he wanted to hear in order to feel powerful. 34:55.566 --> 34:58.288 [SPEAKER_00]: And the kingdom split permanently. 34:59.189 --> 35:01.190 [SPEAKER_00]: 10 of the 12 tribes walk away. 35:02.772 --> 35:06.535 [SPEAKER_00]: Reabomb did not lack access to wisdom. 35:07.840 --> 35:13.542 [SPEAKER_00]: He lacked a humility to receive it from those who were older and different from him. 35:15.182 --> 35:21.184 [SPEAKER_00]: And really, I think that Reabomes response also raises a question for us about Solomon. 35:22.544 --> 35:28.006 [SPEAKER_00]: The Proverbs he penned didn't reach the heart of the Son who needed them most. 35:29.058 --> 35:37.600 [SPEAKER_00]: And my takeaway on this is that wisdom written down is not the same as wisdom that's passed along through a relationship. 35:38.180 --> 35:45.142 [SPEAKER_00]: Wisdom that's passed along, that's read is different than something that has passed around on person to person in a personal relationship. 35:46.803 --> 35:50.724 [SPEAKER_00]: Last week, Adam said that content is everywhere, but community is rare. 35:50.764 --> 35:53.544 [SPEAKER_00]: Remember that content is everywhere, but community is rare. 35:54.365 --> 35:55.285 [SPEAKER_00]: Solomon is proof. 35:56.021 --> 36:02.003 [SPEAKER_00]: He gave his son some of the best content ever written, but it wasn't enough. 36:03.144 --> 36:07.885 [SPEAKER_00]: Insolence failure wasn't literary, the Proverbs are fantastic. 36:08.726 --> 36:09.866 [SPEAKER_00]: It was relational. 36:10.666 --> 36:15.148 [SPEAKER_00]: He gave us some information when his son needed proximity. 36:16.957 --> 36:21.762 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think there's a sobering message for all of us in the room that we're parents. 36:21.802 --> 36:28.730 [SPEAKER_00]: And it doesn't matter if you're parents of young kids, if you're parents of adult kids, as I am, it's still the same. 36:29.451 --> 36:35.417 [SPEAKER_00]: To sobering message, our children need more than our words about faith. 36:36.203 --> 36:38.465 [SPEAKER_00]: Our children need more than our words about faith. 36:38.485 --> 36:39.666 [SPEAKER_00]: They need our lives. 36:40.466 --> 36:46.231 [SPEAKER_00]: They need to see what it looks like to trust God on a Tuesday when nothing is working. 36:46.832 --> 36:50.194 [SPEAKER_00]: They need to watch a struggle and remain. 36:51.555 --> 36:54.498 [SPEAKER_00]: Our children don't need to witness perfect faith. 36:55.278 --> 36:57.240 [SPEAKER_00]: They need to see genuine faith. 36:57.280 --> 36:59.122 [SPEAKER_00]: They need to see authentic faith. 36:59.962 --> 37:00.723 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, amen. 37:03.177 --> 37:07.240 [SPEAKER_00]: There's another passage that depicts what happens when we neglect meeting together. 37:07.280 --> 37:16.826 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is probably, for those of you who did the site, you know, some sort of verse packs when you were first saved, you had John 3, 16 down. 37:16.866 --> 37:19.247 [SPEAKER_00]: I know that because if you watch football, you got it, right? 37:19.267 --> 37:23.510 [SPEAKER_00]: So Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. 37:23.550 --> 37:26.472 [SPEAKER_00]: How many people, not you don't have to say it, show of hands. 37:26.512 --> 37:27.753 [SPEAKER_00]: How many people have memorized that? 37:28.597 --> 37:29.458 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, don't be modest. 37:29.918 --> 37:31.739 [SPEAKER_00]: I'll read it and you'll say, oh, yeah, I knew that one. 37:32.080 --> 37:38.364 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, says this, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. 37:39.385 --> 37:45.469 [SPEAKER_00]: Not neglecting to meet together as as a habit of some, but encouraging one another. 37:46.250 --> 37:54.115 [SPEAKER_00]: In all the more as you see the day drawing near, the Greek word here for neglecting means to abandon, 37:58.283 --> 38:08.450 [SPEAKER_00]: And look at this, the writer is saying that this is already the habit of some, you know, we might think, you know, it's a recent shift, you know, it's due to COVID. 38:08.490 --> 38:17.416 [SPEAKER_00]: People going leaving the church and then not coming back or young people's discontent with how their parents' faith worked and what the condition of the world is. 38:17.476 --> 38:21.619 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not that they have been neglecting meeting together forever. 38:23.220 --> 38:26.202 [SPEAKER_00]: Hebrew shows us it's been that way for a long time. 38:27.164 --> 38:32.768 [SPEAKER_00]: But notice, notice what we lose when we fail to commit to one another. 38:34.189 --> 38:40.414 [SPEAKER_00]: We lose the capacity of how to consider how to stir one another up. 38:41.695 --> 38:48.180 [SPEAKER_00]: We need to know each other well enough to see what somebody needs in their particular season of life and to meet them there. 38:50.382 --> 38:51.563 [SPEAKER_00]: You may not agree with this. 38:58.163 --> 39:04.627 [SPEAKER_00]: You can't stir up someone you don't know and you can't encourage someone the way that you want to. 39:05.128 --> 39:10.191 [SPEAKER_00]: If you never see them in person, you've got to have that relationship. 39:10.291 --> 39:12.833 [SPEAKER_00]: Life is extraordinarily busy. 39:13.673 --> 39:16.736 [SPEAKER_00]: What gets our best and what gets the rest? 39:17.456 --> 39:22.639 [SPEAKER_00]: When our church family consistently gets what's left over after everything else has been 39:27.265 --> 39:32.746 [SPEAKER_00]: Children learn priorities more through observation than through instruction. 39:33.367 --> 39:37.768 [SPEAKER_00]: Children learn priorities more through observation than through instruction. 39:39.128 --> 39:42.749 [SPEAKER_00]: There's another way that we neglect meeting together in a more subtle way. 39:42.769 --> 39:46.910 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm treading lightly here, don't want to offend anybody. 39:47.330 --> 39:51.551 [SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps you don't agree with me on this, so perhaps this is a bit controversial. 39:52.653 --> 39:59.235 [SPEAKER_00]: But I think we neglect meeting together when we build our spiritual lives over multiple communities. 39:59.775 --> 40:15.560 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not saying that we can't do that, but if you listen to a podcast here and you're attending a Bible study there and you're doing a church program activity and you're doing something else over here where it's just all carte blanche and you don't build a relationship within one church. 40:16.868 --> 40:27.150 [SPEAKER_00]: Let me tell you, those resources are genuinely valuable, especially if you're a place where that need isn't being met or that community isn't there. 40:27.230 --> 40:35.292 [SPEAKER_00]: I have a son who's in his 30s in single, and that is a tough place to be in St. Louis County and St. Charles County and Jefferson County. 40:35.732 --> 40:42.774 [SPEAKER_00]: There are not a lot of groups for single people, and so that category folks, they're going all over. 40:47.275 --> 40:54.360 [SPEAKER_00]: And so there's a need that's not being met, but there's a trade-off when you spend all of your time in these different places. 40:55.361 --> 41:01.706 [SPEAKER_00]: We lose the opportunity to build depth with people who know us across the lifetime. 41:03.537 --> 41:16.585 [SPEAKER_00]: One of the difficult things, I love my church family, I love you guys, Kenny and I have been here for 24 years, and we've seen people coming going, and this is not first free, this is true of every church everywhere. 41:17.206 --> 41:25.131 [SPEAKER_00]: You're in a relationship with somebody, you've built that relationship, and then for whatever reason, some good, some bad, they choose to leave. 41:25.811 --> 41:29.694 [SPEAKER_00]: And they say, well, you know, we'll still see each other, we'll still do, it's not the same. 41:30.645 --> 41:36.486 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not the same what you're losing is that deep connection, that deep relationship. 41:37.066 --> 41:42.768 [SPEAKER_00]: You're losing the opportunity to build depth with people who know you across the lifetime. 41:43.268 --> 41:50.049 [SPEAKER_00]: People who were there when you received your diagnosis, people who prayed for you when your marriage was hard. 41:50.549 --> 41:53.890 [SPEAKER_00]: People who were praying for you when your kids were going through a tough time. 41:54.932 --> 42:01.614 [SPEAKER_00]: People who will tell you the truth because they have a relationship with you, not an agenda. 42:02.752 --> 42:07.115 [SPEAKER_00]: And this kind of knowing requires roots. 42:08.016 --> 42:09.217 [SPEAKER_00]: It requires roots. 42:10.057 --> 42:14.160 [SPEAKER_00]: Naomi and Ruth's relationship requires sustained proximity. 42:14.681 --> 42:17.763 [SPEAKER_00]: So did Elijah and Elijah, so did Paul and Timothy's. 42:18.704 --> 42:26.930 [SPEAKER_00]: None of these relationships could have been conducted across multiple competing communities where no one builds that relationship. 42:28.573 --> 42:32.308 [SPEAKER_00]: So, if I'm taking that shot, what do we do here? 42:32.489 --> 42:33.313 [SPEAKER_00]: How can we help you? 42:33.393 --> 42:34.136 [SPEAKER_00]: What's going on? 42:36.138 --> 42:42.922 [SPEAKER_00]: What do intergenerational relationships look like here at first free, not in theory, but in real life? 42:43.703 --> 42:47.625 [SPEAKER_00]: First, we already have structures in place that can create conditions for this. 42:47.665 --> 42:48.886 [SPEAKER_00]: We have kid connection. 42:49.346 --> 42:52.268 [SPEAKER_00]: We have moms of littles and the mentors that work with them. 42:52.609 --> 42:56.711 [SPEAKER_00]: We have all our Bible studies, women and women's Bible studies. 42:56.751 --> 42:58.452 [SPEAKER_00]: We have Sunday morning communities. 42:58.893 --> 43:03.696 [SPEAKER_00]: We have encore, we have student ministries, we have care ministries, we have leadership pathways. 43:04.436 --> 43:09.938 [SPEAKER_00]: But remember what Pastor Adam said last week, he said that he wanted to be candid. 43:09.958 --> 43:17.101 [SPEAKER_00]: He said that some of our groups in our ministries are wonderful, yet they can sometimes isolate us. 43:18.081 --> 43:23.963 [SPEAKER_00]: We can end up segregated instead of connected, and it doesn't have to be that way. 43:25.824 --> 43:29.966 [SPEAKER_00]: As part of our generations initiative, we're going to look back at all of our programs 43:33.820 --> 43:34.540 [SPEAKER_00]: What's not? 43:35.140 --> 43:41.162 [SPEAKER_00]: What creates silos and what encourages one generation to contribute to the lives of another? 43:42.343 --> 43:43.723 [SPEAKER_00]: Our programs aren't the point. 43:44.543 --> 43:48.745 [SPEAKER_00]: The relationships that those programs make possible, they are the point. 43:48.825 --> 43:56.687 [SPEAKER_00]: They are meant to be the doorways that we walk through with the same intention as Titus II, not drive throughs on our way somewhere else. 43:57.888 --> 44:01.329 [SPEAKER_00]: Adam also said last week that these things don't happen by accident. 44:02.223 --> 44:05.925 [SPEAKER_00]: Those relationships happen when people take the initiative. 44:06.485 --> 44:10.888 [SPEAKER_00]: In part of that requires us to step out of our comfort zones. 44:12.448 --> 44:13.569 [SPEAKER_00]: So what does this look like? 44:13.689 --> 44:16.270 [SPEAKER_00]: What does this really look like in different stages of life? 44:17.331 --> 44:23.674 [SPEAKER_00]: For a younger person who's just come to faith and carries the wounds that they've never told anybody about. 44:24.595 --> 44:30.678 [SPEAKER_00]: It looks like an older person who won't flinch when that new believer shares their messy past. 44:33.563 --> 44:45.254 [SPEAKER_00]: a new person in Christ should never feel that, because we are all broken, we have all sinned, all of us experience that sin that separates us from God and we were messy. 44:46.295 --> 44:49.978 [SPEAKER_00]: We were messy, and some of us still are messy, all right? 44:51.499 --> 44:59.187 [SPEAKER_00]: For a young couple that's trying to build a marriage on almost nothing, I like look back to young Jeff and Kathy without a whole lot. 44:59.990 --> 45:03.751 [SPEAKER_00]: It's an older couple who invites them to dinner. 45:04.612 --> 45:06.553 [SPEAKER_00]: They take them to a nice restaurant. 45:07.293 --> 45:08.693 [SPEAKER_00]: And they pay for it. 45:10.054 --> 45:13.115 [SPEAKER_00]: And then they answer their questions honestly. 45:14.296 --> 45:25.420 [SPEAKER_00]: They don't give you the sanitized version of your marriage, but the one that includes the seasons that they nearly didn't survive in what they learned from it. 45:26.841 --> 45:36.904 [SPEAKER_00]: I have been humbled on many occasions for the poor decisions that I have made, and the things I have said that I should not say to my wife that becomes known to our wonderful friends. 45:37.464 --> 45:38.404 [SPEAKER_00]: And here's the beauty. 45:39.144 --> 45:50.388 [SPEAKER_00]: When you're in a warm, loving relationship and you have somebody that really cares for you with that depth, they will still love you, they will still accept you, they will still forgive you. 45:50.908 --> 45:54.909 [SPEAKER_00]: They want to know the real you, the authentic you, and they will accept that. 45:55.998 --> 45:57.419 [SPEAKER_00]: Otherwise, we're just pretending. 45:58.779 --> 46:12.967 [SPEAKER_00]: For the couple that's in their forties who are navigating careers and teenagers, a full slate of activities, and perhaps growing church responsibilities all at once, it looks like somebody who's already survived that and can say this. 46:14.167 --> 46:15.408 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's what you hold on to. 46:16.508 --> 46:21.311 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's what you can let go of, and here's what ultimately matters. 46:23.329 --> 46:28.575 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm lined in this thing down and I'm doing it with two specific challenges for us this morning. 46:29.556 --> 46:34.142 [SPEAKER_00]: Alright, for those of us who are further along, I've got two words. 46:35.383 --> 46:36.805 [SPEAKER_00]: Finish strong. 46:38.162 --> 46:44.270 [SPEAKER_00]: Venice, strong, the most significant part of your ministry life may still be ahead. 46:44.890 --> 46:55.283 [SPEAKER_00]: Volunteer with kid connections, whole babies from moms of littles, serve as a mentor couple in a Sunday morning community that's composed of younger people. 46:56.340 --> 47:00.341 [SPEAKER_00]: I've got to need as the group's pastor today that I could show you some help with. 47:01.061 --> 47:09.884 [SPEAKER_00]: I've got some younger families with small children who want to be part of a small group, but we do not have an inventory of groups like that. 47:10.924 --> 47:17.586 [SPEAKER_00]: We need people who will invest in younger families and children who will open their homes. 47:17.626 --> 47:22.747 [SPEAKER_00]: They can facilitate the group for younger families who want to be part of something like that. 47:26.037 --> 47:29.940 [SPEAKER_00]: That'd be a way to finish strong and come see me if you're interested in doing that. 47:31.141 --> 47:33.902 [SPEAKER_00]: Identify a person and take the step. 47:34.963 --> 47:40.427 [SPEAKER_00]: Now for those of you who are earlier in the journey, here's what I say. 47:41.688 --> 47:44.510 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't waste the wisdom in this room. 47:45.370 --> 47:49.093 [SPEAKER_00]: The wisdom that you need might be in the fuse around you. 47:50.944 --> 47:55.807 [SPEAKER_00]: And the people who've been where you're going and who bear the scars is proof. 47:56.607 --> 47:57.528 [SPEAKER_00]: Take the initiative. 47:57.968 --> 48:01.510 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't assume that anyone is too busy or too old. 48:03.151 --> 48:12.016 [SPEAKER_00]: I've been told that part of my problem as an old guy is that people want to direct answer. 48:12.276 --> 48:19.840 [SPEAKER_00]: I was in Greece, I was sitting across the table from that young man in Crete, and we were talking about working out at the gym. 48:20.785 --> 48:22.406 [SPEAKER_00]: and he asked me a question about that. 48:24.128 --> 48:28.971 [SPEAKER_00]: And I started, I proceeded to tell him about why I needed to work at. 48:29.151 --> 48:34.616 [SPEAKER_00]: All of these years of working behind the desk, tight hamstrings, this, that, wait, like all of these different things. 48:35.116 --> 48:37.658 [SPEAKER_00]: And he pauses and he says, Jeff? 48:38.717 --> 48:41.880 [SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps it was the English, my English wasn't good. 48:42.480 --> 48:45.843 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to know what you do at your gym, not why you got it. 48:45.943 --> 48:51.367 [SPEAKER_00]: So, all guys like me, we tell stories, and perhaps you don't have a capacity for that. 48:52.508 --> 48:54.390 [SPEAKER_00]: Still, take a chance on us. 48:54.770 --> 48:58.793 [SPEAKER_00]: We're fine, we're good, we can quit telling stories. 48:59.914 --> 49:03.157 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, don't assume that somebody's too busy or too old. 49:03.257 --> 49:05.799 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't wait to be invited, ask someone. 49:06.443 --> 49:21.186 [SPEAKER_00]: And I had the delighted that person is in the room now, so I won't say his name, but I was attending Bible study on Wednesday night, and I was preparing the sermon and I was thinking about this, and this person said to me, hey, I'd like to get together and talk with you. 49:21.646 --> 49:22.527 [SPEAKER_00]: Can we have coffee? 49:23.187 --> 49:27.128 [SPEAKER_00]: And I go, wow, wow, sorry for needs of right here. 49:27.568 --> 49:29.048 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, so here's an opportunity. 49:30.341 --> 49:33.624 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I'm closing, but I want to share something through you. 49:34.025 --> 49:46.697 [SPEAKER_00]: For those of you who are serious about these things, this week's sermon-based questions include tips for building intergenerational relationships, and it includes some conversation starters. 49:47.278 --> 49:50.761 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're part of a small group, those have likely been distributed. 49:51.337 --> 50:02.847 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, but if you're not, and you want that, if you want to see that tool, just go to our website, go to messages, and there'll be a link right next to it that provides the questions tied to this week. 50:03.227 --> 50:04.008 [SPEAKER_00]: Take a look at that. 50:04.028 --> 50:05.689 [SPEAKER_00]: I think it'll be a helpful tool. 50:06.650 --> 50:07.831 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's what I want to finish on. 50:08.792 --> 50:10.493 [SPEAKER_00]: We each have a cloak. 50:11.574 --> 50:14.657 [SPEAKER_00]: Someone at first free needs it, toss it to them. 50:15.537 --> 50:18.720 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't invest in each other because we're naturally 50:20.507 --> 50:27.409 [SPEAKER_00]: We invest in each other because we have been invested in by a God who gave everything he had for us. 50:28.209 --> 50:29.209 [SPEAKER_00]: All of us are broken. 50:29.469 --> 50:31.930 [SPEAKER_00]: All of us had sinned that separated us from God. 50:32.410 --> 50:39.892 [SPEAKER_00]: And God said his only son, Jesus Christ, that take that debt that we owed and to pay the penalty for that by his death on the cross. 50:40.652 --> 50:48.013 [SPEAKER_00]: And Titus two tells us this that that same grace that saved us is now training in forming us 50:50.934 --> 51:01.921 [SPEAKER_00]: This week, I identify one person, a generation older, or a generation younger than you, decide not to let another Sunday pass without making that connection. 51:03.082 --> 51:03.562 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's pray. 51:04.923 --> 51:09.686 [SPEAKER_00]: Father, we are so thankful that you don't leave us to figure out life alone. 51:09.706 --> 51:18.112 [SPEAKER_00]: You have designed us for community beyond our peer group Lord, spanning generations, where wisdom moves and our cloaks are thrown. 51:19.100 --> 51:21.481 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, please give us the courage to reach out. 51:21.501 --> 51:24.903 [SPEAKER_00]: Give us the humility to learn from someone else. 51:25.403 --> 51:29.785 [SPEAKER_00]: Remind us that the double portion goes to the one who refuses to leave. 51:30.726 --> 51:33.007 [SPEAKER_00]: This week, Lord, please make us people of action. 51:33.047 --> 51:34.228 [SPEAKER_00]: Put a name on our hearts. 51:35.168 --> 51:38.150 [SPEAKER_00]: We do this because you did it first. 51:38.730 --> 51:41.351 [SPEAKER_00]: Because of you, Lord Jesus, we're not in debt. 51:41.812 --> 51:43.472 [SPEAKER_00]: We are free to give. 51:43.973 --> 51:45.674 [SPEAKER_00]: We pray these things in your name, Jesus. 51:46.074 --> 51:46.334 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen.