Next Generation Sunday // Guest Speaker Pastor Cody

Thank you guys so much.

We're so proud of them.

They did such a good job.

This is obviously going to be a slightly different Sunday.

It already has been.

As we emphasize the next generation because we say this all the time, we're going to test you guys again.

Okay, the next generation is not the church of tomorrow, but the church of today.

You guys got it.

That is awesome.

But what does that mean is awesome.

But what does that mean?

But what does that mean when we say the next generation is not the church of tomorrow that might've been leftovers from the youth all nighter or something starting to play over there but the church of today.

And what's your involvement in that?

Or what are we as a church supposed to do with the next generation?

Some of you in here, you're like I'm part of the current generation or past generation.

That's a bad time.

I probably shouldn't say that You're part of this generation.

What's your role in the next generation?

What's our church's role?

We're going to be in Psalm 78, verses one through eight, today and before we jump in, I kind of want to give us a background of what's happening in this Psalm.

What's going on in it in Psalm 78, one through eight.

This Psalm was written during a crucial moment in Israel's history.

The nation of Israel in the Old Testament, god's chosen people, king David if you've heard of him, the same David from David and Goliath, who's the king over all of Israel is trying to centralize the worship of Israel, to unify Israel together to worship God.

So he brings in this guy, asaph.

Asaph is a Levite, which means he's the worship leader, so he's in charge of being the worship leader for this entire nation.

And this guy, asaph, he writes this song after he is appointed by David, this song to remind people of God's faithfulness and their own history of rebellion.

If you guys know the story of Israel, they have this pattern of serving God and then running away from him and bad stuff happens to them and they run back to God and they're faithful again and they kind of forget about his goodness and they go back into the rebellion and repent and they do this over and over again.

Maybe, if we're honest, some of us follow that same pattern in our lives sometimes.

And Asaph is trying to write this goal not just to teach the current generation to continue in worship and service to God, but his goal is to train up generations to come, to keep them out of this pattern of falling away, coming back, falling away, coming back.

So he sets up this pattern for Israel of what the nation is supposed to do to continue training up the next generation.

That's what we're going to look at today.

Psalm 78, 1 through 8, says this my people hear my instruction, listen to the words from my mouth.

Here's what he's saying.

He's saying listen up Everyone, look at me.

I have something to tell you.

I will declare wise sayings.

I will speak mysteries from the past, things we have heard and known that our ancestors have passed down to us.

We will not hide them from their children, but we'll tell a future generation the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, his might and his wondrous works he has performed.

They were to rise and tell their children so that they might put their confidence in God and not forget God's works but keep his commandments.

Then they would not be, like their ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not loyal and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

It's talking about the past generation who had some time of rebellion, some stubbornness.

Any of us in the room you went through a phase in your life of some stubbornness and rebellion yeah, all of us in here, right.

So we read this Psalm.

What does it say?

We're gonna kind of dissect it and talk about what that means for us, what we can do as a church body.

Number one we see this God's design that faith is meant to be generational.

God designed our faith to be generational, to be passed down from generation to generation.

He said this in verses one through four.

My people hear my instruction, listen to the words from my mouth.

I will declare wise sayings.

I will speak mysteries from the past, things you have heard and known and that our ancestors have passed down to us.

Verse three talks about us passing on the knowledge that we have heard the gospel, that we have heard the things that we have heard, and passing it on to the next generation.

For most of us in this room that are Christ followers, you have had someone do this to you, someone that invited you to church, someone that shared the gospel with you, maybe a family member that you know was constantly praying for you.

Or maybe you came to church all on your own and someone within the church poured into you.

You heard a sermon that affected your life.

All of us have been affected some way by someone passing their faith onto us.

If you've experienced that, would you raise your hand?

Someone poured into your life.

You've been affected by someone else's faith.

Yeah, all of us.

I can remember when that happened to me, when my faith was impacted by someone who poured into my life, it was when I was in the third grade and there was this church there that had something called Patch the Pirate Club.

That's like an old school kids Bible thing.

Anyone ever hear of Patch the Bible Club?

Yeah, probably not Everyone.

Hear of Awanas?

Maybe a few people.

Yeah, it's similar to Awanas in that it's this midweek program that kids go to.

But Patch the Pirate Club, it was all pirate themed.

So all the songs were pirate themed.

You didn't call the teachers, mr and Miss, they're all like captain and first mate and it was all pirate themed to help engage kids into the Bible.

And I remember there is this 40-year-old dude His name is Captain Al.

I still call him Captain Al today when I see him this 40-year-old dude who would come every Wednesday night dressed up in this crazy pirate outfit Like he had the eye patch, he had this pirate costume on and he would come and he would teach all these kids about Jesus and who he was.

And that's where I trusted Christ as my savior, because this 40 year old dude was willing to make a fool of himself, dress up as a pirate and come and pass his faith down to a bunch of kids.

It took his act of boldness, his sacrifice, and now I have the privilege of being here teaching God's word today, continuing to follow in the faith because of that one's man willingness to pass down his faith to me.

We know this we say this in our church that growth happens one step at a time.

Maybe this morning, your next step is to share your faith with someone.

Maybe it's something you haven't ever done or, if you think back, and it has been a long time since you've actually shared your faith with someone.

Maybe your next step is to share your faith of what someone did to you when they passed it on to you to pass it on to someone else.

We have a photo of this passing the baton.

Anyone in here ever be a part of a track and field?

Maybe back in the glory day, a couple of us run track and field.

Yeah, how many of you you've seen people run track and field in the Olympics and you watch them.

You go, man, and then you like, cheer them on and you're like I could run faster than they were so slow.

Yeah, those people All right, we've all probably seen it, experienced it.

One of the most fun events to watch is the relay race.

Now, what is the most important part in the relay race?

Passing of the baton.

It doesn't matter how fast the first person runs or the second person runs in the leg of the race.

If they drop the baton, the race is over, the race is done.

They can't continue to run.

The same thing is true in passing on our faith to the next generation.

We have the responsibility to take what has been given to us and pass it on for others to continue to run that race.

We're all runners in God's race, but if we don't pass on the truth of who God is and what he has done, we risk a general breakdown in our faith.

Psalm 78 is a warning and an invitation for us to take responsibility for the faith of the next generation.

Because here's the reality If we don't train up the next generation, raise up new leaders, pass our faith on, then eventually our church will cease to exist.

If we're not raising up these kids that we just saw and pouring into them.

Eventually a church will quite literally die out if we're not passing that faith on to the next generation.

We have the responsibility to pass on what has been given to us.

And, number two, we have this our responsibility to share God's work in our life.

To share God's work in our life.

That comes through verses four through five.

It says this that we will not hide them from their children, but we'll tell a future generation the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, his might and his wondrous works he has performed.

He established a testimony in Jacob and set up a law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children.

The goal here that Asaph is setting out for them is not simply to teach them rules and laws.

He's saying teach them about what God is doing in your life personally.

You are to talk about the things that are praiseworthy how is God moving in your life, how is he working in your life and pass those things on to your children, to those around you.

But sometimes that can be kind of difficult to talk about our faith, talk about what God is teaching us, what we're learning, and the reason is maybe you haven't been engaging in God's word, maybe you don't really have anything to share with other people.

Here's the reality.

We can't share what we don't have.

We can't share about how God is working in our lives and in our own hearts if we're not spending the daily time with him to allow him to sanctify us.

Here's a simple, silly illustration for this.

I have this cup here.

Now, if I were to pour this cup out, what's going to come out of it?

Nothing.

You guys are so smart.

If I were to pour this cup out, nothing's going to come out of it.

Why will nothing come out of this cup?

Because the cup is empty.

So many Christians we try to share our faith.

We maybe even learn these techniques of trying to go out there and share with people what God has done, but it almost feels like we don't have anything to share, we don't have the right words to say, because our cup is empty.

See, when we spend that time in prayer, we're adding some water to that cup.

When we spend time searching out the scriptures, we're adding some water to that cup.

Where, when we spend time searching out the scriptures, or adding some water to that cup, where we tell people man, you know what I read today.

You know what I learned about.

And we can't help to tell people about what God is doing, because that being able to share our faith with our children and those around us it comes from the overflow of what God is doing in our lives.

It doesn't come from the strategic planning of trying to do this.

What God is doing in our lives and how he's working is what we are supposed to pass on to the next generation, but he has to be doing something in our lives in order for that to happen.

So here's my question when was the last time you've spent time in genuine prayer?

What are your daily habits look like of searching out the scriptures so that you have a full cup, ready to share with other people, ready to pass down that faith?

Maybe you need to reestablish some rhythms in your life so that your cup can continually be filled.

Sharing your faith comes from the overflow of what God is already doing in your life.

I so far, so we've seen these two things.

God design faith is meant to be general, generational.

We see our responsibility to share God's work in our life.

And number three, we see this the warning what happens if we don't?

What happens if we don't pass on our faith Verse 8 says this then they would not be like their ancestors a stubborn and rebellious generation, generation whose heart was not loyal and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Verse 8 is this tragic alternative A generation who didn't receive, didn't remember and didn't remain faithful.

And here's the thing.

This isn't some theoretical thing that Asaph is talking about.

He's telling the nation of Israel look back in your past, because we have failed to do this over and over again and we need to put a stop to it.

When we don't pass on our faith to others, it ends in a faith that ceases to exist.

Here's why Faith that is not passed down becomes a faith that is abandoned.

Faith that is not passed down becomes faith that is abandoned.

He's giving them a warning that silence leads to spiritual forgetfulness and forgetfulness leads to rebellion.

If we don't consciously take the steps to pass down that faith to others, it'll be a faith that is forgotten.

So we see what he commands churches to do, what he commands a nation of Israel.

He sets this pattern in place.

Now, what can you and I do practically within the church?

This is old Testament Israel.

What can we do practically within our church?

What can Old Testament Israel, what can we do practically within our church?

What can you do to be a part of the next generation and to get involved with what God is doing here and how he is working in our students and in our teenagers?

Number one is pray To cover them in spiritual protection.

This is the most important thing that any of us can do.

Here.

We can have the best atmosphere we can play can do here.

We can have the best atmosphere.

We can play the best games, we can have the best curriculum, but if God's Holy Spirit is not working in and through these kids, none of that matters.

The most important thing you can do for our next generation is to pray for them, to cover them in spiritual protection.

And here's the great news.

This is the most important thing and it's the thing that all of us in this room can do.

Every single one of us can pray for the next generation.

Maybe you say, man, I'm not really sure how to pray, what I'm supposed to pray for.

Can I give you three prayer prompts, things that might help you with this.

Some examples of how to pray is this to pray for wisdom in their choices.

They're making some crucial decisions in their lives right now, deciding on what they're going to do with their faith, and not Give them wisdom in their choices.

Pray for a hunger for God's word.

It's not enough for us to teach them.

They need to be willing to seek out God's word for themselves and pray for godly friendships and mentors.

Just like you and I need a church community and friends that are going to help us stay on the right path.

These teenagers, these students they need that too.

Here's my ask when it comes to prayer, would you commit to praying for our next generation three times a week?

Would you make the commitment that I'm going to add them to my prayer list at least three times a week?

I'm going to pray for the next generation at FCC that they would continue to raise up and to follow God with their lives.

What can you do practically?

I'm asking you, as their youth pastor, would you be willing to pray for them?

Number two the second thing we can do in here is to give to invest into their future.

We have amazing youth ministry programs and kids programs.

The reality is that takes resources for us to invest in them when we have a new student come into youth group for the first time, or a new kid come into Kingdom Kids for the first time and they don't have a Bible.

We want to be able to supply them with that, that we give them a Bible that they can take home and read on themselves.

We have camps every year for our youth group and right now we're able to offer like $300 off for every student that goes.

Because of your generosity.

They can go, they can hear the gospel, their lives can be changed and impacted because of that generosity.

We have kids curriculum and crafts and you guys know we just finished up our at the movie series.

I think we have a picture of that with some of our kids dressed up as like the superheroes.

When they came in, we were able to give them like a little cape and a little mask for them to dress up as why?

So we could help connect them with God's word, just like that guy who dressed up like a pirate did for me when I was a little kid.

When you give, you're giving to allow things like this to happen.

When you give, you give to our youth internship.

You saw a couple of our teenagers this morning giving a communion talk, a celebration moment that took investment, that took time, that took resources to be able to have them for the whole summer, to teach them and train them up.

And when you give, you're giving to a safe place for students to come and hear the word of God.

A lot of our kids and teenagers they don't necessarily come from the best homes.

Maybe you have been one of those and you know what it's like.

The church is a safe haven for them to come here to know that they're going to be loved, they're going to be cared for.

There was this girl, one of our students, here, and it was her birthday like two months ago, and I was talking to her and obviously when they tell you like they're like Pastor Cody, my birthday's coming up, and I'm like that's awesome, what do you want for your birthday?

Like you ask people when it's their birthday.

But I was not prepared for the answer that she gave me.

I was thinking like you know, some new shoes or a new shirt or the newest game or whatever.

That's what I thought she was going to tell me that she wanted.

I said what do you want for your birthday?

She looked at me and was kind of silent for a little while.

She said for my birthday, I really want my dad to give me a hug.

I haven't seen him in a couple of years and I texted him.

I said, dad, hey, it's my birthday party this Saturday.

I'm really hoping you can come and just give me a hug for my birthday.

And stories like that that break our hearts as we think about these kids who they don't always come from those loving homes.

When you give and invest in their future, you're telling them that there's a whole church that cares for them, that maybe when they go home they don't have those families that love and care for them the way they should, but they have a church family who will surround them with love, who are willing to give when they don't have that family at home and to be that family for them.

That's what our giving does.

It creates this atmosphere of belonging where they can come and have this safe place.

We also have some testimonies from some students in our youth group, just to see what they're learning in youth group and how what you're doing is affecting them.

So we're going to go ahead and play that video right now from these teenagers.

Hi, my name is Ella and I go to First Christian Church.

My name is Lucy, my name is Elijah.

Hi, my name is Elijah.

I go to First Christian Church in Sassoon, California.

Being part of youth group has allowed me to develop my relationship with God even more.

I've learned to trust Him and acknowledge that he knows everything about me.

I just have to go to Him.

My relationship with God definitely changed for the better.

I read the Bible more, prayed more.

I've been being more grateful for things, I've gotten to know more really good people and I found a group of people that I can go to when I need help and other things like that.

Francesca and Graciela have really made me feel included and they encourage me to become closer with God, and Pastor Cody really makes youth fun and makes me excited to learn about God.

I would say all the leaders have had some impact in my life, definitely Pastor Cody, mr Rob.

Specific people that I'm thinking of that have made the biggest impact on me is Mr Rob, because once I went to him for help because I was feeling really sad and there was stuff going on in my life that I didn't really share with anyone else he was helping me and guiding me and shepherding me.

Being a part of church allowed me to take next steps in my faith.

Through serving in a few different ministries, I've learned what prayer means and how to do it, and why it's important.

Being in church in the youth group has definitely led me to new habits like reading the Bible.

Before I was in the youth group, I didn't really read it at all.

Now I read it, I try to read it every day.

I pray every day.

A new habit that I have since joining this church is being on the serve team.

Specifically the welcome team, the church community, especially on Sundays, makes me feel super included.

I really love that about our church the youth leaders.

When I first came, they were super excited as well for me to join and that just made me want to go even more.

The church community has helped me feel supported when I'm like reading the Bible and I'm uncertain about something, or I'm uncertain of how to move on and continue to grow my ownership of God.

The church community helped me feel supported and included by inviting me to like events and stuff, and I really enjoy that.

I feel welcome in this home.

If somebody my age were trying to go to church but they weren't sure about it, I tell them my own story and how going to youth and having a community is really important and it made me feel supported.

I would say to someone who's unsure about their faith, just to give it a try, because you really you have nothing to lose and it's a lot of fun to be here with these teenagers in the youth group and it's a lot of fun.

If you're curious about our church, just do it, because I promise you it's gonna change your life forever.

And once you find God, you found your safe place where he's not gonna make fun of you, he's not gonna bring you down, he's gonna bring you up.

He wants the best for you and he wants you to be the best version of yourself.

Being a part of the next generation of the church is having the opportunity to spread the word of God and encourage people, even my own age, to do the same.

Being a part of the next generation at this church means I can be closer to these people in the youth group, which means a lot, and also it makes me feel more comfortable talking and sharing my faith with people that are outside of the church.

Nowadays people are like it's like a little weird to go to church, but our job as the next generation is to bring the church back from being weird.

That's the job, the next generation.

It's not the church of tomorrow.

But the church of today.

Didn't they do such a great job with that.

That's awesome.

It's a fun, awesome video to watch.

But here's the reality when you give, you are giving so those teenagers can learn, so our students can learn and go on and pass their faith on to share that faith with others.

And here's why we give.

We give because God has given everything to us.

We realize that Jesus was willing to die for our sins, to lay it all down for us.

We want to be able to pass that on to the next generation.

This is what Matthew 6, 21 says that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

If our hearts are truly with raising up the next generation, that's where our treasure will go.

And when you give, you're not just giving to rooms, you're not just giving to these cool, fun events.

You're giving to make an impact on these kids' lives as they go on and to learn about Christ and to continue to follow him with their lives.

A couple of practical things you can do to help raise up the next generation.

One is to pray.

Number two is to join in giving and to invest into their future.

And last thing you can do is to serve.

Serve to make a lasting impact.

Maybe you've been on the fence of whether you want to get involved, or maybe you were involved before and want to jump back in.

Serving is one of the best ways you can make an impact on these students, and I'm thankful for all of the teachers we already have and the youth leaders we already have.

Can we do this?

Can we give them a round of applause for those that are already serving in this ministry somewhere, just to thank them for already doing that?

But we do have some areas where we could have some opportunities to serve, and here's where those opportunities to serve are is nursery, preschool and K-6 grade.

Now, sometimes, when we talk about opportunities to serve like this, a church can view it as a bad thing.

Oh, they're just trying to recruit more teachers and more TAs.

No, here's what's amazing God is bringing more families and more children into our church than we've ever seen before, that.

He's bringing all of these young people for us as a church to steward, to love, to teach them about who Jesus is.

We have these opportunities to serve in nursery and preschool, in K-6 grade, and we actually have another video that we want to show in a second about some parents, some teachers and some kids of everything they're learning in those ministries and what's going on in there.

So we're going to play that video for us right now.

Together, we're the Latinos.

And we're parents of Kingdom Kids.

And we're the Kellys.

My name is Tricia and I serve in Kingdom Kids.

Hi, my name is Jen and I get to teach in Kingdom Kids.

What my child is learning in Kingdom Kids is great songs that help remind her about the Bible Octavia in Kingdom Kids has learned about generosity and love, and she's always coming home asking more questions about Bible stories.

I have learned in Kingdom Kids joy, compassion, peace and helping others.

One thing that I have learned in Kingdom Kids is singing and memorizing the books of the New Testament I started serving in Kingdom Kids is singing and memorizing the books of the New Testament.

I started serving in Kingdom Kids because I have a passion for kids.

I wanted to plant the seeds of learning about the Bible and about God.

I started serving in Kingdom Kids because we had been going to church for a couple of years.

There came a point where I felt like I needed to do something to serve.

My children.

Being in Kingdom Kids has had a wonderful impact on their life.

Octavia often comes home talking about the stories that they learned.

She understands the values that are portrayed in the Bible.

My favorite part of Kingdom Kids is getting snacks.

I will pay the after teacher so I can know English from the Bible.

The impact that I've seen on faith is putting God first and learning to live like Jesus.

My favorite part of Kingdom Kids is worship singing, because I love to sing and honor God.

I've grown personally serving in Kingdom Kids.

By my relationship growing with God, I've learned more about the Bible and I've seen so many kids be baptized Before serving, I really didn't think that God had given me anything to give back.

God has just grown me and I've learned as I've gone.

If you're on the fence about serving, in Kingdom Kids, I would say do it because God wants to use you to encourage other kids and others around you.

Because you're on the fence.

That means God's speaking to you about it.

Sometimes he asks us to do things when we're afraid.

Just jump in and he will give you what you need to do the best job you can do.

The next generation is not the church of tomorrow but the church of tomorrow, but the church of today.

They did such a good job in there in that video as we watched, that you guys got to just see a little glimpse of what God is doing in Kingdom Kids and what he's teaching them.

But here's the thing about serving too.

It's not just for the kids.

I promise you this that serving with kids will sanctify you.

Okay, if you served with kids, they will sanctify your patients.

They will help you.

But they will also do this is they'll challenge your Bible knowledge a little bit.

Kids are very inquisitive and they're going to ask you all kinds of questions and you will very quickly realize I don't know as much as I thought I knew when it came to the scripture, because I've never thought about all these questions they have to you.

It'll help your faith.

It'll also do this.

It'll help keep you accountable when you know you have these little ones looking up to you, modeling after you, looking at how you react to situations, what you're going to do, looking at how you react to situations, what you're gonna do, maybe you would do something.

But you remind yourself that man, what if those kids saw me do this?

It helps keep you accountable.

It helps sanctify you when you serve in those ministries.

Maybe you've been on the fence about it.

I wanna encourage you.

If you wanna take that step, you can do so by talking to me after the service or going to the next steps table in the lobby and signing up to serve.

If you wanna get involved, if you wanna get plugged in we had this special Next Gen Sunday there's three things that you can do.

Number one pray.

I'm asking all of us pray, commit to three times a week.

Would you pray for our next generation To give?

If you already give, continue giving.

Or maybe you need to take that step in your faith to start giving.

And lastly, maybe God's been working on your hearts to serve, to jump in on one of those serve teams and start pouring into those kids in your lives.

Let's do this.

Let's bow our heads and close our eyes this morning.

If you're here this morning as we pray and spend this time, we're going to do something a little bit different.

I don't know what God is asking you to do right now, but how many of you would say this with your eyes closed and would you just raise your hand and say, hey, I'm willing to commit for praying for our teenagers.

I'm willing to pray for them, for our students, for our kids, all the way up.

I wanna pray for our next generation.

Would you be willing to commit to that?

Yeah, several hands around the room, thank you so much.

How many of you?

Maybe for you it is the second one that you need to commit to giving, or you're already giving towards them and you want to continue giving.

If that's you, would you raise your hand and say I want to continue in my giving?

Or I realize and I want to start giving to what God is doing?

Yeah, so many hands, thank you.

You guys can put your hands down, maybe.

Lastly, it's service and I promise you, if you raise your hand, I will not come find you after and say hey.

I saw your hand up when you at, but maybe God's working in your heart right now to serve.

If that's you, would you just raise your hand this morning?

Maybe you want to jump in?

Yeah, several hands around the room.

Thank you for that.

If you would put those down.

If you have a person you want to talk to as we pray, you can go to the prayer next steps banners and pray with someone to help you keep to one of those commitments.

Or if your commitment was to serve to go to the next steps table lobby and just get some information about what that looks like when we do this, I just want to pray for us as we