Ep 154 | Cover to Cover 33 | Pastor Ryan Clark | Aug 16, 2026

Hello, this is Pastor Ryan Clark.

You are listening to a message from St.

John's Lutheran Church in Buffalo, Minnesota.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Before listening to the children's heartbeats, a nurse in the pediatric ward would place a stethoscope into the kids' ears and let them listen to their own hearts.

Their eyes would always light up in amazement.

But she never got a response quite like one day where she did that with a four-year-old.

She placed the disc above his heart and said, "Listen, what do you think that sound is?" He furrowed his eyebrows for a minute and he gazed up trying to figure it out.

Then a beautiful smile filled his face and he asked, "Is that Jesus knocking?" It could very well have been, huh? Why? Because Jesus really loves kids.

We see it over and over again in the Old Testament and the New Testament just how much God loves the little children.

In Matthew 19, in our gospel lesson for today, it says, "People brought their children to Jesus to have Him place His hands on them and pray for them.

But the disciples rebuked them, and Jesus said, 'No, let the little children come to me.

Don't hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'"

So we had these parents that were bringing their kids to Jesus.

They were intentionally bringing Him, bringing them to Him, and saying, "Jesus, could you bless them? Could you put your hands on them and pray over them?" And Jesus absolutely loved it Jesus loved what the parents were doing in bringing their kids intentionally to Jesus.

Now that is very different from popular logic today that I hear out of some parents.

And it's crazy how much Pastor Ryan and I hear this from people, something along the lines of this: "I'm not gonna force religion down my children's throats.

I'm gonna give them room to make that decision for themselves."

Has anybody ever heard that? Has anybody ever heard that coming out of your own mouth? Well, if so, that's what we're gonna address here today because a lot of our passages for this past week had to do with kids and bringing them intentionally to the Lord.

There's a lot of problems with this statement up here, and we're gonna look at some of those problems biblically, and here's the first one.

To not share the truths of God with the younger generation, there's no way around it, it's direct disobedience to God's command.

And that's basically what that statement up there is.

It says, "I'm not going to force anything down my kids' throats.

I'm not going to intentionally bring them to Jesus.

I'm gonna let them make that decision on their own if they want to follow Him or not."

But to not tell them, to not share with them, is direct disobedience.

In Psalm 78 that we read this week, it says, "I will open my mouth with a parable.

I will offer hidden things, things from of old, things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us.

We will not hide them from their descendants.

We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, the power and the wonders He has done."

Have you ever thought about it that way? That to not share with a younger generation is like hiding the things of God from them.

And the psalmist here says, "No, we're not gonna do that.

We're gonna tell the next generation what we have learned about the Lord."

And this isn't just in the Old Testament, it's in the New Testament as well.

In Ephesians 6 it says, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children.

Instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."

There's an intentionality there, isn't it? Fathers, do your job.

Teach your kids about Jesus.

In Proverbs 22 it says, "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they're old then they won't turn from it."

The job of parents and an older generation is to start the younger generation off on the right foot, to get them started in the right direction.

And you can't do that by saying, "I'm gonna let them make their own decision if they want to follow the Lord or not."

Here's the second problem with this logic.

If we don't do our part in sharing what we know about God, it might not only steer that generation astray, but successive generations to come.

Back to Psalm 78, "He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born.

And then they, in turn, would tell their children."

That's God's intention with His gospel, is that it would be passed down from generation to generation to generation.

And so if we're the generation that says, "You know what? I'm not gonna force it down the next generation's throat.

I don't want them to get a bad feeling about it, so I'm just not going to share it."

Not only will it affect that generation, but it could affect their children and their children's children on down the road.

I love this passage from 2 Timothy 1.

Paul is speaking to the young pastor Timothy and he says this, "I'm reminded of your sincere faith which first lived in your grandmother Lois, and then in your mother Eunice, and as I am persuaded, now lives in you also."

Paul was saying that this relationship that you have with God, it didn't start with me, your mentor.

It started with your grandmother when she passed it on to your mother, and then your mother passed it on to you, and that's why you have such a sincere and strong faith.

Here's the third problem with this logic, and I think this is a big one.

We are by nature sinful, and therefore, without guidance, we will always choose against a relationship with God.

It's not a 50/50 thing.

If we don't share with our children, if we don't share with the next generations about who the Lord is, it's not like they're gonna, "Well, maybe, maybe not."

We are sinful.

That's what we see in Psalm 51.

It says, "Surely I was sinful from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me."

And because of that, we have an affinity toward evil, toward rebellion against God.

And without guidance, we are always going to choose that.

And so by not sharing with the new generation, we're basically saying, "You're gonna go after the things of this world.

You're gonna go after the things of the enemy, and I don't care that much."

Here's another problem.

God offers for us to come to Him when we are in trouble, but how can they call on Him and wait on Him in faith unless it has been shared with them how God operates? It's not just being able to recite scriptures, but it's also in addition to that, sharing with your children, with your grandchildren, sharing with the new, the younger generation what you have experienced in your own relationship with God about how He operates in your life.

In Hosea 4 it says, "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge."

The next generation will be destroyed without the knowledge that we have to give to that generation.

In Hebrews 11 it says, "And without faith it's impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists," number one, "and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

What does it mean to earnestly seek the Lord? It means to seek him with your whole heart.

It means sometimes that when you call out to God when you're in need of him, and it doesn't seem like anybody's listening, it feels like you're just talking to the ceiling, it doesn't seem like anything's changing, to earnestly seek him means that you're not gonna give up.

It means that you're gonna be persistent.

It means that you're gonna keep on seeking him until you find him, until you get the help that you need.

That kind of thing has to be passed down from one generation to the next.

If you look in Psalm 88, one of the psalms that we read this week, you see the psalmist doing exactly that.

It says, "Lord, you are the God who saves me, and day and night I cry out to you.

May my prayer come before you; turn your ear to my cry.

I call to you, Lord, every day; I spread out my hands to you."

That's the testimony of a person who's being persistent in their prayers because they realize that's sometimes how God operates Now maybe you're one of the people that think that if you just keep on calling out to God, maybe you're bugging Him, maybe He doesn't like that persistence.

If that's kinda where you are, I just wanna tell you here today, just the opposite of bugging Him, God loves that when you do it.

In fact, He sees that as faith because He's saying even though nothing has changed in your situation, even though it feels like nobody's listening, you're not giving up on me.

You're putting all of your eggs into my basket And without faith, that kind of faith, it's impossible to please God.

Here's another problem with this logic.

Since those who follow God will be blessed, by not teaching my children the things of God, I'm inviting on them curses instead of blessings.

It's not a neutral thing once again.

To follow God is to invite blessings into their life.

To not follow God is to invite curses and damage in their life that they didn't otherwise need to have.

Back to Psalm 78, "Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget His deeds, but would keep His commands.

They would not be like their ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious generation whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to Him."

There were generations of people that were unfaithful to God.

And God says, "I want you to tell your kids, I want you to tell the next generation about me, about how I want them to do life.

Tell them about my great love for them.

And as you do, they're not going to be like that stubborn and rebellious generation that I had to discipline harshly.

They're gonna be a blessed generation."

In Psalm 81 it says, "If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways, how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes.

Those who hate the Lord would cringe before Him and their punishment would last forever.

But you would be fed with the finest of wheat.

With honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

He says, "If you listen to me, if you follow me, if you have a relationship with me, I'm gonna be there for you.

I'm going to help you.

I'm gonna bless you throughout your life."

But that all begins with hearing the word of the Lord from the generations above you.

In Psalm 92 it says, "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree.

They will grow like a cedar of Lebanon.

Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.

They will still bear fruit in old age."

And as I'm getting older, I like that verse.

"They will stay fresh and green."

Listen to the blessings that come from knowing about God and then diving into a relationship with Him.

Now, the key words up there are actually the first two words.

The righteous will experience all this stuff.

So what does it mean to be righteous? Does it mean that the people that do everything right all the time, the people that are always saying no to evil, the people that have a perfect record, is that what it means to be righteous? Well, actually, this is the good news, this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that righteousness for us on this side of the cross has nothing to do with that.

Look at what it says in Romans 3, "The righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.

This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe."

Where does righteousness come from? And remember, if you're righteous, then there's all these blessings that God wants to give to you.

Righteousness doesn't come through what we do or what we don't do.

Righteousness comes by putting our trust in Jesus Christ.

And in Romans 10 it says, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ."

Where does faith come from that makes us righteous? It comes from hearing it.

Where are they gonna hear it? They're gonna hear it from the generations that are older, more experienced in their relationship with the Lord, sharing it with the next generation.

That's where their faith is gonna come alive, God's gonna consider them righteous, and then all the blessings that come with following the Lord become theirs.

Now maybe you're thinking this, "Well, I don't have any children at home to teach.

How is this message applicable to me?" Maybe your children are all grown up.

Maybe you don't have any children Maybe you don't have any grandchildren.

Who do I teach? Well, remember, number one, the, all of these passages talk about sharing with the next generation.

It's not necessarily the children from your own womb, it's all of those that are younger than you.

We see that in Titus 2 where Paul is speaking to Titus.

He says, "Teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live.

Not to be slanderers or addicted to too much wine, but to teach what is good."

He says, "So teach the women how to live a life that is pleasing to God," but then look at this.

"Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the Word of God."

He says, "Titus, teach the women what is right, and then let them do what they're supposed to do in sharing with the younger generation, not necessarily their children, but women that are younger than them, what it looks like to follow the Lord."

Similarly, he says, "Encourage the young men to be self-controlled in everything.

Set them an example by doing what is good.

In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned."

He says, "Also, look upon the young men, Titus.

Share with them in word and in action what it means to follow Jesus."

Once again, look to the next generation.

Look to those divine appointments that God gives to us to share what we have learned with a generation that may not know that yet.

And there's lots of opportunities to do that.

One of those opportunities that we've been talking about over the l- last few weeks is this: helping out with Sunday school.

We need more Sunday school teachers, full-time teachers, part-time teachers, teachers that would be willing to work with others, people that would be willing to be on a sub list.

I can't think of a better way than to pass on what God has shown you about Him to the next generation.

And if God is really speaking to your heart right now, I encourage you to go and find Kelly sometime this morning and just say, "What would that look like?" Maybe the Lord is calling you to be a part of that ministry this coming year.

As we finish this message, just one more Psalm to look at, and may this be the prayer of each and every one of our hearts.

The Psalmist says, "Even when I'm old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, until I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come."

And indeed, may that be our prayer in Jesus' name, Amen.

You've been listening to a sermon from St.

John's Lutheran Church in Buffalo, Minnesota.

If you would like more information about St.

John's and any of our ministries to our community and beyond, you can go to our website, www.

stjohnsbuffalo.

org.

Thank you and God bless you.