God's Instructions For His People

If you will, if you have your Bibles, if you'll turn with me

to Deuteronomy chapter eleven, Deuteronomy chapter eleven. This morning, we're gonna start

in verse on one, Deuteronomy chapter eleven, Verse one. So I really

was hoping that you'd have a chance to hear doctor Cheryl this morning. And

I'll tell you he's a gifted speaker and a gifted visionary, and he's just

been such a blessing to to meet to our school, and so I long

for him to have a chance to speak to you someday and one day that

that will work out. But this morning, I really believe that Lord's led

me to this passage of scripture, and and it's just excited to see how

It's amazing as I was working on this just over the last a little bit

that I had forgotten that that song was going to be sung before our preach,

and it's amazing just to see how in line just that very song gives

with this passage of scripture. You know, we all live our life from

the moment that we're in preschool to kindergarten, through elementary school, middle and

high school. We all live our life following instructions right when preschool, we're

learning how to get in line right, and it's important for us to follow

the instructions of how to line up with our class. As we get a

little older, we have to follow instructions and how to write the papers and

how to do well on that paper or that assignment. We have to follow

in the instructions the teacher gives us. As we get a little older and

maybe get out of college, we have to follow the instructions or find instructions

of what are we to do when we get married, what's it like to

be a husband, what's it like to be a wife, and we need

to follow instructions there. We have children like many of you here today,

and grandchildren great grandchildren in there. There's no instruction manual for that, right,

but we have instructions that our parents have given us and others we've given

and we try to find out whether it's books or different or the Bible,

or we find instructions at how to care for these children. We ask children

have to find out how do we obey our parents and follow the instructions that

our parents give us and the things that you as parents have taught your children

and things that your parents have taught you as an adult, you have to

follow those instructions. We go and follows instructions as trivial as just how do

you do car maintenance on your vehicle? Or that cabinet that you bought from

Walmart? How do you put that thing together? You follow the instruction manual

that's in and then you receive instructions as a BCA parent of how to survive

car line. And you really need some constructions if you're going. Now,

here's the thing about instructions. Instructions are really important and there really are like

a guide for us that we were to live our life under. I heard

a story of a little boy one time, and he was riding his little

tricycle around the block over and over again. Suddenly a police officer noticed that

he kept going around and around the circles. So the police officer went to

the young boy and said, yeah, man, what's going on. What

are you doing? He says, well, I'm running away from home.

And he says, well, why do you keep going around the block because

my mom says I was not allowed across the street. You see, instructions

are important, right, but instructions are no value if we don't obey them.

Right if you if you don't obey your instructions as a preschool, you're

going to fall out of line. Right. If you don't obey your instructions

for your professor, you're going to fail the class. If you obey in

instructions in your marriage, you will your marriage will have trouble. If you

don't be the instructions how to care for your children, you'll have trouble with

your children. If your children don't obey your instructions, your children will have

trouble with you. Right, your car will fail, your furniture will fall

apart, and you will not survive car. Line. Right, We've got

to follow instructions. Vass Heppner was a pastor and he said these words,

you have not really learned. He says commandment. But I wouldn't say instructions

here until you've abayed it. Yeah. I think he's right, isn't it.

You know, we all get different instructions, and those things are important,

but really we really have not learned that command from the Lord, or

that instruction that we have given until we first ebad. It's it's pointless,

it's meaningless. It's just letters on a piece of paper. Until we've abade

it right. Well, this morning, as we come to this passage of

scripture, I think all of us, all of us here, It does

not a person in this in this room that doesn't want to know what does

God have from me? And furthermore, you want to follow that a little

bit? What does God want from me? But what does God want from

my chair children? What does he want from my family? What does God

want me to do? And as we come to this passage of scripture and

den onto me eleven, it's very simple. God gives very simple instructions.

It's not just instructions for one individual. He actually gives instructions to an entire

nation. He gives them instructions of how they are to live. What does

He desire for them? And the very simple answer is just was found in

that song. He wants it all. What does he say to this nation

called Israel? He says, very simply, three things that I want from

you. Three instructions I have for you, Israel, people of God.

Three instructions in a tone of my sermon, is God's instruction for his people.

Three instructions I have for my people. Love me, serve me,

and obey me. You can put them in any order, but in eleven

to Deuteronomy, the whole chapters about those three instructions. And so this morning

I as we've our theme for BCA, as Christ as our firm foundation.

It's it's based upon Matthew seven twenty four that says, everyone, then who

hears the words of Mine and does them, will be like a wise man

who's built his house on the rock. The rain fell, and the floods

came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did

not fail because it had been founded on the rock. That is our theme

verse for this year for BCA, and this the idea that Christ is our

firm foundation. This is the song that we sung just a minute ago,

but the imagery of this pastor of scripture that Christ is our firm foundation.

He is the rock. But it is obedience in that rock is what holds

us. It's what how allows us to stand when the storms of life come.

And so this morning, that is the message that we've been teaching our

students this year at BCA and our all year long. They've heard that Christ

is my firm foundation, and how important it is today Christ. So this

morning I think it's interesting as we come to this pastor scripture. I believe

that not only we've taught that to our children, but I want you to

see today what does that mean for me as a parent? What does that

mean for me as a grandparent? What does that mean for me as a

single adult? What does it mean for me as an individual coming today?

What does God have from me? And what does God want from me?

And how does this what does this mean as far as me following God's instructions

from my life? Of course, all of us here today. I remember

one time I was I was I was a little boy and we were driving.

I had a little mom and dad had a little white Honda Cord and

we were going to Oceanau Beach and I was in the back of that car

behind my dad because I was the smallest at that time, so I gave

him the most leg room. And I had said something or did something and

I was not supposed to do and my dad disciplined me in the car.

He says, don't do this. I don't even remember what it was,

but I do remember what he said, and I remember what I said.

He got on disciplined me about doing something, but he had done it.

So I said to dad, Dad, you just told me not to do

this, but you do it. Yeah, that was probably not smart.

I guess I was in the back scene. But my dad's word were these

words. Don't do as I do, do as I say. Well,

that may sound right, but that doesn't work, does it. But the

reality is I tell you that because many of us are just like my dad.

We want our children Christ to be their firm foundation. We want our

children to obey the Lord. But I don't know about me, Pastor,

I don't know about me. Lord. Well, this morning, as we

see this pastor scripture, this is God's instruction for his people. It's not

just for children. It's not for just one group of people. It's for

all his people. And so this morning I want to see what God says.

Why we should love the Lord, Why should we obey the Lord?

Why should we serve the Lord. It's let's stand together and let's read God's

word to his people. God's word to us his people deard Onomy eleven,

starting the verse one, listen to these words, and you shall therefore love

the Lord, your God, and keep his charge, his statutes, his

rules, his commandments. Always consider today since I'm not speaking to your children

who have not known nor seen it. Considered a discipline of the Lord,

your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm, his

signs, and his deeds, that he did in Egypt to Pharaoh, the

King of Egypt, to all his lands, and what he did to the

army of Egypt, to the horses and to their chariots, and how he

made water the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued after you. How

the Lord has destroyed them to this day, And what he did to you

in the wilderness until you came to this place, And what he did to

Death and and Abraham, the sons of Eliba, the sons of Reuben,

and how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up in their households,

their tents, and every living thing that followed them in the midst of all

of visual For your eyes have seen all the great work that the Lord of

the Lord, that he did. You shall therefore keep the whole commandments.

I command you today, that you may be strong and go in and take

possession of the land that you're going over to possess, that you might live

long in the land that lords war to his fathers to give them and to

their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land that

you are entering to take possession of. It has not light the land of

Egypt for which you have come, where you sowed your seat and irrigated like

the children, like the garden of vegetables. But the land that you're going

over to possess in a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by

the rain from heaven. A land that the Lord your God cares. For

the eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning

of the year to the end of the year. And if you will indeed

obey my commands, I command you today to love the Lord your God,

to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. He will

give rain for you and the lamb in its season, in the early rain,

in the later rain, that you may gather your grain and your wine

and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields and your livestock,

and you shall eat it and be full. Take care, leash your

heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods, worship them,

then the anger the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will

shut up to heaven, so there will be no rain, and the land

which yield no fruit, you will pierce quickly off the good land that the

Lord your God is giving you. You shall therefore lay up these words of

mine and your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as

a sign on your hands, and I shall be frontless between your eyes.

You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you're sitting in

your house, and when you're walking by the way, and when you lie

down, and when you rise, let spray together. Father, I thank

you Lord for your word to day. I thank you Lord that these are

your instructions to your people. The Lord, I pray we would come with

heavy hearts and open mind and open ears. Lord, not to listen to

words from Pastor Jonathan to day, but listen to words from you God,

and we'd recognize that these these are your words, your instructions, not just

for our children, not just for our grandchildren, our great grandchildren, and

not for another adult. Lord, these are words for us this morning.

Will we come today ready to hear from you God? Or were united in

one voice and one heart and one soul and Lord. That's with the desire

Lord, to hear from you, God, a desire for your spirit to

move in this place. So Lord, we need you to understand. We

need you to open up our hearts in our minds. So Lord, may

your spirit have its way to day in and through us. We pray,

Amen, you may be seated once you see. First God's instruction was to

love, to obey, to serve God. And why first love, obey

and serve God because of your past. It's interesting as it comes to this.

This is Doudaromy chapter eleven and Doudaromy chapter five. If you go all

the way back and you read, God instructs Moses to bring the people together.

The people together. Have the people have been forty years in the wilderness.

They have survived that they've now in be or Pure, which is the

area after they defeated two kings and kind of taken over some land. They're

about to get ready to go into the Promised Land. Cross with the Jordan

insto the Promised Land. And these are kind of, if you will,

God's final instructions to his people through Moses. Because Moses, and as you

follow, the dialogue is about to pass away and is going to pass on

his leadership to Joshua. So he so because of that, they're kind of

are getting ready to intruce the Promised Land. So God instructs Moses to get

all the people together again. And in this particular instruction, he actually asks

Moses to bring all the adults in it kind of like where we are now,

and let me speak to them one time. And starting in chapter five,

he starts sharing testimony. He reminds them of things that he did before

they entered in the wilderness. He reminds them of testimony. He reminds them

of commands. We're coming to the end of that section. In chapter eleven,

he's told them about and reminded them of what he did on the Red

seas, reminded them of the things of the past. And now we're kind

of coming to the final instructions of Deuteronomy chapter eleven. And in these final

instructions, he reminds ends them of these commands. If you've remembered doing on

me six, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind,

soul, and strength. That's in this section. He's kind of coming back

and he's summarizing that at the end. And so at the beginning. Listen

to what he says to him. He says, at that time, the

Lord said to me, I'm sorry. Verse I went to ten chapter or

levy, he says. So he says to them, as he ends,

you shall therefore love the Lord your God, and keep his charges, his

statutes, his rules, he's commandments. These are all the things that he's

just shared in the last five chapters. And then he says today, consider

today, says I'm not speaking to you and your children who have not known

or seen. And then he says he wants them to think about some things.

So what's you think about you today? I would say, according to

God's word, God's speaking to you today. God's commanded to all of you

to love him, to serve him and obey him. And then that he

wants you to think about some things of your past. That's what he calls

caused him do. Verse two, he says, consider today, and anyway,

he wants them to think about things of the past. He wants you

to think about things of the past. Listen to what he says. Here's

the things that he wants them to consider. Look at verse two. Consider

first the discipline of the Lord. He says, Consider the discipline of the

Lord your God. Consider God's greatness, consider his mighty hand, his outstretched

arm, his signs, and his deeds that he did in Egypt to Pharaoh.

And he goes on and he starts giving like different illustrations of things that

they have seen what he wants them to do. In this section of this

passage scripture, he's calling of every adult Israelite to remember what God had done

in their past. I would say to you everyone in this room today,

God's instruction for you is to love him, to obey him and serve him.

And the foundation of why you should love him, why you should serve

him, Why is you used to obey him, is because what God has

done for you and past for Israel. One thing God had done for them

in the past is he had disciplined them. There had been times that they

had gotten away. There's times that they were rebelled. There's times that it

worshiped other gods. There's times that they grumbled against the Lord. You've ever

grumbled against the Lord? Lord? Why me? Why God, You've brought

this on me? Lord? I don't deserve this. Why you're allowing this

happened to my family, my children on and on had grumbled against the Lord.

There's times where in their past they had grumbled against who God had put

in leadership. I don't know why he's leading. I don't know why they're

doing this God. And they had grumbled against the Lord's leadership. And because

of their rebellion, because of their turning away from God, because of their

grumbling, God had disciplined them. He even goes back and and and my

my struggle is today is I could we've reached entire sermon just on this first

point, and I cannot do that today because you would like to go home

at some point. And so, but if you see in verse eleven,

he reminds them of how he disciplines them. Look at verse six he says,

and what he did to Dathan and Abra and the sons of Eli,

but the sons of Reuben in number sixteen, And I encourage you, if

you just want some reading today, I encourage you to go read the entire

chapter of number sixteen. But number sixteen tells us of a two hundred and

fifty different groups of people who came against Moses and Aaron. And basically the

short of it was, as they thought that he shouldn't be the leader.

He should be the leader of Israel. He should not be the one who's

leading God's people. It should be our tribe. It should be his tribe.

And then grumbled against them, and the Lord brought discipline against them,

the Bible tells us in numbers sixteen thirty one through thirty five, because they

grumbled against who God had put in leadership. The Bible says that I'd opened

up the earth and he swallowed them up. God this one his people.

Why to bring them back? Heard a story about a little boy and he

was went out and he had a little toy boat, and he put it

the toy boat in the pond, and the toy boat kind of got away

and kind of got in the middle of the pond, and next thing you

know, he saw on the other side there was a man one other side

of the pond. He started throwing rocks at his boat. A little boy

got upset and started, who's this man trying to destroy my boat. He

suddenly realized not long after that that the man was throwing rocks and he was

missing where the rocks would hit would cause a ripple and it would push the

boat back to the boy, you know there's times in your life. Listen

to me. There's times at your life you feel like God's throwing rocks at

you and it's callings, ripples and struggles in your life. But God's throwing

the rocks what to bring you back? And some of you right here today

listen, you can look back on the past of your life and you could

see the discipline hand of the Lord, that he loved you enough at times

to be a rod of discipline to shake you to what bring you back home.

He did that in the times of Israel, and he's saying why should

when they say why should we love the Lord in the future, Why should

we serve the Lord in the future, Why should we obey the Lord in

future? Because I remember when God sought me. I remember the times when

I went away. I'm times to remember when I grabbed on to something I

shouldn't have been involved in, or I chased that to something, and God

so loved me like a loving father that he came to me and he disciplined

me that he might bring me back. Can you today, when you think

about God's instructing you today to love the Lord, to serve him, to

obey him, can you think about the times, and maybe it's today.

Maybe some of you've come in here today and you've wondered, why have my

last month been, say to a living just disaster. Maybe today the Lord

is trying to bring you back home. He's trying to bring you back by

his hand and discipline, and he does that because he loves you and he

wants you back. I could go on and on, but that's just one

little I've just hit the very first one. But there's so many different ones.

Think about His greatness, his mighty hand. You think about the mp

times that you just said. Man, there was the times in my life

that I didn't know how I was going to get through that. It seemed

like my backwards against the wall. Things were coming against me, and it

just seemed like God part of the red sea in my life. And God

led me through on dry ground, and he led me to a place that

there's no way I could have gotten through that without God. And God says,

remember those pasts, and because of what God has done for you in

the past, may that be the fuel which which causes you to say,

in the days to come, I'm going to obey him. And the days

to come I'm gonna love him, and the days and to come, I'm

going to serve him because what my God has done for me in the past,

I want you to see. Secondly, it's noways she love and obey

and serve God, because we are a past, but we are loving,

obey and serve Him for your future. Now, hold on everyone, because

I want you to see what he says here so applicable to our families from

BCA, but also just our butts as the community. Everyone's here, no

matter who you are with your young adult, whether you someone who doesn't have

children yet, or whether you are someone who who does, or maybe you're

a grandparent or a great grandparent. This applies to all of us because again

he's speaking to adults here in this passage of scripture, and this is what

the Lord says. In verse two, he says, consider today, and

he's getting him to think about the past. And then he you see this

section in parentheses. Since I'm not speaking to your children who have not known

or seen it, it's very clear that Moses wants them to understand. People,

visual you have seen God do some things in your past that your children

have not seen. And I'm not speaking to them. I'm speaking to you.

He even goes as far as in verse seven to say, for your

eyes have seen all the great work that the Lord that he did. It's

not your children's eyes have seen it. You have seen it. He's calling

their attention that this is this is something that only they have the experience,

is something that only they have seen. Their children have not seen it.

And so one of his instructions here to is people, is what because you

have seen it, they have not. It's your responsibility to love and obey

and serve him for your future generations. It's for those who are coming after

you, and your responsibility, hear me, as a young adult, as

a young parent, as a grandparent or a great grandparent, or a church

member, your instructions according to the Lord, as a love the Lord,

your God, to serve him and obey him and listen, and to teach

those who have not seen, To teach your children, to teach the children

of this church, to teach the children of our academy. It's God's instruction

for us that we are to love, obey, and serve for future generations.

Remember what I said about my dad, and in the back of that

Honda accord. Don't do as I do, do as I say. Reality

is, that does not work. We cannot expect our children, our grandchildren,

or our children and our academy or children and our church to obey,

love and serve the Lord. If we do not. It starts with us,

and we must instruct them. That's why in this passage scripture I didn't

get to it earlier, but turned to verse nineteen with me. Listen to

what says you shall teach them your children, talking of them when you're sitting

in your house, when you're walking by the way, when you lie down,

when you rise, you shall write them on your doorposts of your house,

and on your gates, that all that your days and the days of

your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers

to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. It

was God's instructions, right. It's hey, your children have not seen this.

I'm not speaking to them. I'm speaking to you. You've seen what's

happened in the past. Your children has not seen the Red Sea. Your

children didn't see what happened to the cop fights. Your children. I have

not seen what I did with the plagues in Egypt. Your children have not

seen that, but you have. And you should love the Lord, your

God, and obey him and serve him because what he's done for you.

But you will love it because your children need an example to follow, and

you are that example. Now, I've one of the things that doctor Cheryl

has taught me over the last six weeks or two months now is really stuck

with me, is just what's happening in our world to our children. He

gave this statistic and it just really has stuck with me. I shared it

a few weeks ago with our church, and I know he's shared with our

staff this and US families may have heard this as well. But studies show

there's one hundred and sixty eight hours in a week, right, according to

research, Research tells us that our children spend a certain amount of time every

week with getting receiving instruction from someone. Right. Studies tell us that the

average time that a child spends with their teacher face to face instruction is forty

hours a week. Makes sense, right? At school eighty hour eight hours

a day, Right, for five days a week, it's forty hours a

week that they're one on one instruction with their teacher. The same child,

on average spends seven hours a week face to face instruction with their parents.

Think about that. Studies tell us that you may see your child, you're

like a lot, right, but your time that you spend with that child

face to face instruction statistically tells us they're only receiving seven hours instruction from you

a week. Studies are saying that that students or children or young adults and

teenagers are spending two to three hours a week from instructions in their from their

church. One one hour Sunday morning, what the preacher goes along. It

is probably maybe hour fifteen hour, thirty hour on Sunday school or growth group,

or hour on Wednesday night, So one to two hours a week they're

at church. So they're receiving instructions from their their church family. Studies now

tell us that teenagers are students children are receiving eighteen hours of instructions from media,

social media, their phones screens. Doctor Cheryl asked this question, who's

the greatest influencer of your child? I thank the Lord that we have BCA,

but that's a Christian academy that we have teachers who believe the gospel who

believe the Word of God, and they're partnering with you as parents and giving

your child Christian instruction. But study says the number one influence of a child

is their teacher. You know what used to be historically it used to be

the second number one influencer of a child's life was their parents. Studies are

showing that's now third. You know what the second most influential person in the

child's life or student's life today their phone media. Here's what I want you

to hear today. Listen to me. Somebody will teach your child, whether

you do it or whether you let someone else do it, somebody is going

to teach them something God says. Listen. Listen to me today with all

love that I care the primary role discipling children, and I love that we're

partnering with you. But the primary role discipling children is not BCA academy.

It's not but that's the Baptist Church. Their primary role of discipling children and

teaching them how to love, serve, and obey listen is their parents.

No matter what statistics say, you should be number one, and God taught

Israel. You want to know why you should love and obey and serve me

because your generations and your children are depending upon it, and because there's another

there's a lost world out there that wants to do it for you. Love,

obey and serve for the future. I want you see. Thirdly,

love obey and serve for his blessing. You know, I don't think there's

anybody here today that doesn't want the favor of the blessing of God in their

life. All of us. There's not one of us that said, no,

I'm I'm okay with you know, things coming against me and disaster and

trouble and strive my whole life. I really want that. No, know's

not one of us want that. We all want God's favor in our life.

We want God's blessing in our life. And this pastor of Scripture,

he really gives a compare and contrasts. He bet he really gives. All.

Right, here's what I'm asking you to do. Here's your instructions.

But kind of as I did in my sermon. Right, destructions and commands

are not a good. If you don't obey them, then what you're gonna

You're gonna fail. You're gonna fall out a line. Right, you're gonna

fail the class. You're gonna have trouble in your marriage, You're gonna have

trouble with your children, You're gonna have trouble. Right, and in this

pastor scripture, really the Lord does the same thing. He basically says,

if you look at verse thirteen. He says, if you, if you

indeed obey my commands, I command you today to love the Lord your God,

to serve him with all your heart and your soul, then listen,

he says, and then he'll bless you. Right, He'll give rain,

he says the verse fourteen, He'll give grass your field. See, he'll

he'll pour out his blessings on you if you'll love and obey him and serve

him with all your heart. But then look at what happens in verse sixteen.

But if but you verse sixteen is very powerful, take care, least

your heart be deceived and turned aside, and serve other gods and worship them.

He gives the imagery and another sermon from them of the time you're gonna

worship something, You're either gonna worship me with all your heart, your soul,

you serve me, or you're gonna worship some other. God. So

know your heart can is deceptive and it longs to wonder Lord. I feel

it long to leave the God I serve, He says, don't be deceived.

There's a there's a danger in you. And if you turn her aside

and serve and worship something else, listen away, he says, then the

anger the Lord will be kindled against you, and they'll shut up the heavens,

and there'll be no rain, and there will be no land of fruit,

and you will perish off quickly. We want the blessings of the Lord

right well, the blessing of God for us individually. And your walk with

the Lord starts with what you saying. God, Christ will be my firm

foundation, the rock on which I stand. I will love the Lord.

I will obey him, I will serve him with all my heart. And

God, when I give you my all, then God, you will pour

out your blessings on me. But God's are not a genie like Aladdin that

I can say and give him lip service. God, I want you,

just say you can rent benefits of my life about God. I'm not going

to obey you, serve you, or or love you. I want I

want your blessings without the love, service, and obedience. Lord says,

love me with your whole heart. He wants it all today. DA Carson,

on his devotion about de Ramy eleven, points out, I think a

staggering thought, and the thought is that these blessings are dependent upon us love,

obeying, and serving, but it also dependent upon what us being faithful

for the first two. The idea is that when we think about the past

and remember what God's It's done in our past, it should fuel us for

obedience, love, and service. When we love and care and love and

obey and serve the Lord and tell our children, then we'll have a future

blessing ahead. But if we love and serve the Lord and we forget the

past, or we love and serve the Lord but we don't tell our children

guess what, they won't be blessings in the future. I'll tell You'll give

you. A biblical example of this biblical exampleists is Judges chapter six. I

mean not Judges chapter six, Judges chapter two and Judges chapter two is one

of the most disheartening passages, maybe in all of the Old Testament. The

story is Moses told that people of visual these words and the people of usual

followed. After he passed away, he passed on his leadership to Moses,

I mean not Moses, to Joshua, according to God's instructions. And Joshua

did just what God had told him. He loved the Lord is God.

He obeyed him, he served him, and just as God promised, God

gave them the land. It's a beautiful land, the land of promised.

God gave them portions of the land. He spread them out of all the

nation. He disposed of all the enemies that were in there in Canaan.

He gave them what their hearts desired. And Joshua did just as God commanded.

He remembered the past. He was there. He told the future generations.

But scripture tells us there was a generation that did not do that.

And in Judges chapter two says, when Joshua dismissed the people, the people

of Issue, they went to his his inheritance to take possession of the land.

And the people served the Lord the days of Joshua and all the days

of the elders who outlived Joshua, who has seen the great work of the

Lord had done in Israel. But verse eight says, and Joshua was the

son of nine the servants of the Lord died at the age of one hundred

and ten. In Verse nine talks about where they buried him. But look

at what verse ten says, and all the generations that were gathered to their

father, and there arose a generation after them. Listen to this who did

not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. God

commanded in numbers, I mean in Deuteronomy eleven, love and obey and serve

me for the past. But tell the future generations and you'll be blessed the

people and judges. There was a generation that did not tell, and therefore

there was a generation that came up that did not know God. One said

about this passage, We're only one generational way from a people who do not

know God. Think about that in your family, one generational way from a

generation that doesn't know God. It's in your hands. How will you say

from me, I will love him, I will serve him, I will

obey him because what he's done in the past. Because my children and the

future generations needed to see an example. They need to know. Can I

tell you children, I mean I mean parents, grandparents, great grandparents,

young adults. Children need to know about how God disciplined you and how God

brought you back. Children need to know how you came to know the Lord.

You need to tell them how you receive Jesus. You need to tell

them about the things that God has done. They will they have not seen

what you've seen, and it's so important that you tell them. We want

the blessing of God to be in our life, and we want the blessing

of God to be in the future generations. It starts with us. Will

you pray with me? And who asked the band to make their way up?

Father Lord, We're so thankful for our ademy and our families, of

our academy and just their partnership to raise up a child that loves you.

Lord Lord. We all have our role in this room, Lord of following

your instructions. So oftentimes, Lord, we get disillusioned of why things are

happy in our life, and while we're struggling, struggling our marriage, struggling

our finances, struggling in different areas of our life. And I pray today

we would just lay all that aside and just come down to the very basics

of today. If how we as individuals are loving you God? How are

we obeying Lord your word? How are we serving you? God? Lord?

I pray today there be people all across this room would remember the past

and God what you've done for them, and Lord that were a newer commitment,

and some today that says, Lord, I'm not today right where I

am. I'm not loving you like I should. I'm not serving you're like

I should. I'm how to bang you like I should be today. Lord,

So I think about what you've done for me in the past. Lord,

Today I want more of you, Jesus. Lord. I pray for

a parent here today, or a grandparent or a young adult that sees as

struggles that their children are having or someone's having and their family there's not living

for you now and they're worried and Lord, today, I pray they would

be those that say, Lord, it starts with me. I can't ask

them to be somewhere spiritually that I'm not Lord, help me love you,

Lord, so that day might love you Lord. Lord. I pray there'd

be those today that just says, Lord, I'm I feel like my life

is more filled with curses more than blessings. And Lord, I want to

point out all the reasons and why I don't deserve this instead of just saying

Lord, Today, more than anything else, Lord, I want you,

Lord Jesus. I want to love you. Lord. I want to know

how to love you. I want to know how to serve you. God.

I want to know how to obey you Father. And I know,

Lord, when I surrender all of myself, when I give it all to

you, Lord, you will reign down on me. He said. Lord.

Come, Lord Jesus, Come Lord. There is a presence in this

room right now, and I pray that it be people all early to this

room today would not be looking to the left, to the right of others

and what others need to be doing with their relationship with a lot with the

Lord. But right now, right where they are, they would consider where

they are with you, Lord. I pray there's someone here today doesn't know

Yours, Lord and Savior. Today would be the day that they place their

faith in You for salvation. They'd recognize today, they would meet today that

their sinner. They'd believed today that You died on across to their sins,

and today Lord, they w confess their need for You a savior. And

they confess today that they want to be saved. The Bible says, if

we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth, you will be saved.

And I pray they'd be those today who would call upon you to be

saved. Today, Lord Lord, as we ended his time of invitation,

I just pray that you would leave people to respond. If that's a mom

and dad need to just come to this altar and just place their children on

the altar of the Lord and say, Lord, their yours, help us

love and be an example to our children. I pray that some would do

that, or some I need to pray with me, and I would I

would love to pray for some if the Lord leads word, if some need

to talk, come down and talk to someone about how they could put their

faith in you, Jesus Lord. I pray they'd be those who would follow

in obedience. I pray to some right just need to pray right where they

are in their seats, or however you lead us now, or may we

or just respond to you, Lord, or thank you for your work today,

thank you for pursuing us. Father. Today your name, we pray,

Amen Jesus, pay to