Silver Spoons - Week 3

In Jesus' name. Amen, Amen, and amen.

You know we're gonna continue in our series today, silver spoons.

And while we talk about this, we live in a

different world than we used to live in.

How many of you know that.

You know, it's just things are not the same as

they were when I grew up. As a matter of fact,

statistics now say that gen Z over the course of

their life are going to have somewhere between seventeen and

nineteen jobs in the course of their life, over five

to seven different careers. Let me just let me say

that again, seventeen to nineteen different jobs, spanning five to

seven different careers. You know, when when I grew up,

my family they worked in the same job almost their

entire lives. My grandfather only had one job his entire life.

My father only had one job his entire life. They

stayed and they worked, and they had a sense of

obligation and loyalty and they carve that path. But we

live in a different world now, and it's not all generations.

The generation's fault, it's not all they're doing. The world

just changes at such a pace now and there's new

jobs that will exist a year from now that don't

even exist in fields that don't even exist now, and

God calls people into those areas. Did you know that

more than half of the people that go through college

work in jobs right now that don't even require a

bachelor's degree, And the vast majority of people that go

through college work in fields outside of their major. So

they went through college and now they work in a

job that has nothing to do with what they majored

in in school. And when we begin to look at

all of these things, we begin to see that that

institution that we once depended on to give guidance and

direction and to make the way is not doing those

things anymore. No problem of theirs, it's just the world

is changing. So that means that we must take responsibility

as leaders and parents to pour into the next generation

so that they can begin to find the content in

their heart of who God is calling them to be.

Come on, somebody, because I don't know about you, but

raise your hand. If when you grew up your identity

was kind of tied to your job.

Some of you don't do it.

Because it doesn't feel spiritual, right, but listen, Almost everywhere

I go, I stick out my hand and I say, hey,

I'm Pastor Steve.

Nice to meet you.

And I remember doing that one day and I stuck

up my hand. I said, hey, I'm Pastor Steve. It's

nice to meet you. And the Holy Spirit spoke to

my heart and he said, is that all you are?

And I said, well, what do you mean? He said,

are you only pastor? Why do you tie such significance

to the vocation? And why are you tying such significance

to a title, because you're more than that.

And he began to speak to me.

He said, you're a son, your brother, your husband, your father,

you're so many other things. You're you're you're a friend,

you're you're all of these other things. Why are you

tying your identity to a vocation even though you're proud

of the vocation that you're in. And I begin to

just seek my heart and and begin to repent and say, God,

you know I have tried to Uh, I've tried to

be something that that I'm not only that, come on, somebody,

but I'm so much more.

And God, just fill my heart and allow.

Me to see the significance in the other roles of

my life. And as I begin to evaluate all of

those things and look through those things. Over the years,

I have realized that I'm a lot better at some

of those other things that I am at pastor.

Amen, I don't mind admitting that to you. I'm a

lot better at some of those other areas that I

am at that.

And the enemy would you use the fact that I

tied my identity something, and the church would go through

hard times and I would.

Think, Wow, I'm not much.

Or the church would go through good times and I

would be like, yeah, I'm all that, and the enemy

would get involved in all of those times and in

all of those instances, in all of those moments, and

my life was like a roller coaster and it would

go up and down because I gave such value to

something that probably, in the grand scheme of who God

is calling us to be, even though I'm a pastor,

is probably a pretty insignificant part of who I am.

Because my chief role is to be a child of God.

My chief role is to worship Him and lift him

up above everything else in the world. And when we

understand that, we begin to have a little bit different view,

a little bit different outlook on how maybe we should

live our lives and guide ourselves. If you go to

Proverbs chapter twenty two, verse six. Proverbs chapter twenty two,

verse six. I want to read one passage of scripture.

There. It says, train up a child in the way

he should go, and when.

He's old, he'll not depart from it. One more time,

train up a child in the way he should go,

and when he's old, he'll not depart from it. You know,

we a lot of times quote that scripture in a

different way. We throw train up a child in the

ways of the Lord, and when he grows old, he'll

not depart from it.

But that's not what scripture says.

Basically, Scripture says, look at the giftings that are inside

your child and help the child become everything that God

created them to be. You know, it's not just about

it's not just about church. God has created us as

holistic beings, and those giftings and tall us that He's

put on the inside of us need to be discovered

and need to be trained. It's our job as parents

and leaders to help our children discover their gifting and

to develop it. And let me tell you what, it's

not your job as a parent to be everybody, look

at me for a second. Stop doing whatever you're doing,

look at it's not your job as a parent to

try to get validation and live the life you.

Wanted through your kids.

If you go on, clap clap, If not just I mean,

and this may be one of those days where you know,

if you don't want your toes step, don't keep your

shoes on, right, this may be that they may turn

into that.

I didn't anticipate it, but it may.

You know, a lot of times we push our kids

into things that we like and that we want because

we want to somehow validate our lives.

We want to live through them, and we want to

obtain the.

Joy through them, and it's our responsibility to find what

they like and what they're good at. Now that made

mean that they do some other things come on now,

but we keep the primary thing, the primary thing. And

you know, I raised two daughters that are very different,

very that their night and day and sometimes their night

and day, but they are all these opposite poles.

And in the process of that.

I found out that I couldn't just make blanket policies

as a parent. I had to really look and see

what each of them needed and how each of them

behaved as children.

You know with with one, she.

Was an overperformer. She would reach the quality and just

raise your hand if you got to kill you reach

the place where there's an a is accomplished, and they

do ten hours more work and they cry and they

stress out because it's not perfect.

And then and I.

Had one that never wanted to open a book and

never wanted to study, and never wanted to do anything

and sat down in class and still made a's on everything.

And the reality is, if you treat both of those

the same way.

You end up neglecting one and putting the other on

a pedestal.

Because the outcome is the same.

That we see their gifts and their talents, and we

help develop those gifts and talents so they become well built,

put together young people who are pursuing the Lord. Don't

make listen if your kid hates soccer, don't make them

play soccer, and listen to me. If your kid loves soccer,

I want to repay it to listen to And this

has nothing to do with the fact we're in a

capital campaign, right that has.

Nothing to do that. Well, I'm about to say, okay.

Listen if your kid loves soccer, but you watch your

kid play.

You need to put take the mommy and daddy goggles

off for a second.

Okay, And you watch your kid out there running around

with everybody else, and they're four steps behind and every

time they try to kick the ball they fall down.

Do not spend ten thousand dollars putting them in travel

soccer or club soccer. They're not the next pelet. Come on,

somebody there. They're not messy, that's not They may be messy,

but they're not messy. But find out what they love,

and find out what they're good at, and find a

way to use what they love to reward when.

They accomplish what they're good at, and.

Begin to create a system that moves them ahead, and

you make their strengths even stronger than they currently are.

The best way to accomplish more is not to spend.

Time trying to develop your weakness, says, It is to

make your strength stronger. And that goes for you too,

not just your children, but the things.

You're good at.

You need to spend an extraordinary, unbalanced amount of time

getting better at the things you're good at instead of

trying to get better at the things you're not good at.

Because chances are you'll never be good at them, and

one day you may end up like me, just kind.

Of average at everything.

I wish in those days when I was younger, that

I had not pursued things I wasn't good at, and

had gotten really good at the things that I was

good at, and maybe I could have been extraordinary in something. Amen,

help your children be extraordinary in something. Help your children

find their slant in life. Train them up in the

way they should go, and when they grow old, they'll

not depart from it. Now, you can't remove complete spirituality

from that, because there is a spiritual.

Element to it.

Yes, you should teach them the precepts. As a matter

of fact, let's go to Ephesians chapter six, Verse one. Children,

obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right.

Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment,

with promise that it may be well with you and

you may live long on the earth. And you fathers,

do not provoke your children to wrath. Bring them up

in the training and admonition of the Lord. You know,

we often use scripture to wait things in our favor,

but we have a responsibility as well.

You know. We want to quote obey your parents.

How many of you have how many of you have

ever looked at your child in a moment of frustration,

even a niece, a grandkid, and you look at them

and you say, you know what Bible says, obey your parents.

I've done it. I got so one time. I remember

which girl it was. I looked at him and I quote,

I said, the Bible says, if you want to have

long life, you obey me, like three or four years old.

And they looked at me and went ahead and kept

doing whatever they were doing. And I said, do you

know what that means? That means you're about to die

if you don't stop. Long life. Guys, there is a

certain thing. There is a responsibility that we have, not

just that they obey us, but we also train our

children in the admonition of the Lord. That we have

a responsibility. It's not just obey me. But why should

they obey you? If you're not training, why should they

do their part of the scripture. If you're not fulfilling

your part of the scripture to be the trainer and

the spiritual impetus.

Of growth in their life.

That is your responsibility as parents. So don't expect them

to do something. If you're not willing to do the

other side of the covenant, there is not Listen, the

generation of children right now are not bad kids. Let

me say that again. The generation of kids right now

that everybody looks at and says, oh, my goodness, where

will the world be when they're leading?

They're not bad kids.

They're the exact same kids that were fifty years ago

and one hundred years ago and two hundred years ago.

The differences that parents are not as good. The differences

is we don't parent the same way. We get them

a cell phone and we tell them.

To go to their.

And now in the world of AI, come on, somebody,

they have access to the answers to all of their questions.

And if you don't take an active role in their lives,

GPT or Claude or Jeeves or whoever it is, is

going to end up parenting your child.

And you do not want.

The instruction that it gives being what is married into

the brains and hearts of your young people. I read

a disturbing thing on Instagram. There was a new model

of church that this person was talking about, and they

were gonna launch a new church and they called it

a hub, and I thought that sounds weird, so I

started reading the caption and they said, okay, there's no

more where you just come in and you get whatever

the pastor decides to give you. We're gonna have one

room set up and it's going to be for nine hours.

It's just gonna be music and you can just go

and worship, and then another room every thirty minutes. You're

gonna get teaching for nine hours, and if that's what

you want to do, you could do that. And then

in another room there's just going to be a place

for fellowship and you can go and there's gonna be

food there and you're gonna be able to buy food

and coffee at a costs that you can just hang out.

And people started asking questions, well, that doesn't sound good, everybody,

What are talking about?

It doesn't sound good?

Is like, okay, well, who's gonna who's gonna sing all

these songs? And they said, we got it covered. Who's

gonna do all this teaching, who's in charge, who's the leader? Nobody,

we got it covered. And you could tell the person

kept getting frustrated and frustrated and frustrated, and then the

question was there's.

No way this model is viable. You can't afford that.

And the person came back and said, AI is going

to do the music, and AI is gonna teach, and AI.

Is gonna leave the church. I want to tell you

there is a place for artificial intelligence.

There is a place. It can help you with some things.

It can help you do things cheaper. But it better

not be the spiritual input in your life. Because something

without a soul, that is not redeemed has no business

giving you instruction and giving you spiritual insight and leading

you spiritually. And it has no place raising your children

because it doesn't have the same value system that you have.

You should absolutely indoctrinature children in the ways of the Lord.

You should absolutely speak the word of God in your home.

You should absolutely invade their privacy and know who their

friends are.

All the kids were shouting.

Just a second ago, and there they're like, oh no,

pick up their phone and look at their text messages.

There are adults in this room right now. There are

adults who I've been having a conversation with. Unless not

first time guests or anybody like that. I mean these

people I have done life with for a long time

I've been sitting at a table and they're struggling with

something that I just look at them and say, hand

me your phone, hand me your phone. I did it

to Kayla one time, and this was her response. You

could see it tomorrow. See it tomorrow, because here's the reality.

If you care, if you're parenting, if you are raising

your children up in the way they should go and

teaching them to love the Lord, you should be involved

in every area of their life. You should know where

they are, who their friends are. You should know what

they're studying at school. You should know what they're watching

on the internet. You should know all of those things.

And if you don't know all of those things, you

need to go home today and you just sit down

with your children and you need to have that conversation

because they are too valuable of a recce to the

Kingdom of God for something to happen now that ruins

their opportunity to thrive and pursue their purpose tomorrow. It

is your responsibility to raise them up the admonition.

Of the Lord.

And when we shuck those responsibilities, we're looking at the

Lord and we're saying, you know what I'm gonna do?

A little bit, but I'm not gonna do all of it.

I'm gonna take all the good things, but I'm gonna

stay away from the hard things sometimes to go to

the next level in our worship, in our relationship with Jesus,

it causes us to do the hard things with the

people around us. Man, you can come and get ready

right now. In this room, right now, there are people

asking the asking the question have I done enough? You've

just heard those brief things that I just said, and

your thinking Have I done enough? Have I been involved?

Have I ruined my children? Have I allowed things to go?

Now? My children? My children are adults, and I.

Didn't do those things. So where are they at now?

My response to you is start right where you are

right now today, because that's what the Lord does with us.

Every single one of us are made in God's image,

every single one of us, and his desire is for

us to be his children. But the reality is that

in this room some of us are not. Some of

us have not yet surrendered our lives to the Lord.

And you don't become a child of God simply because

you're born. You become a child of God because because

you surrender your will and your decision making and the

sin and your life to him, and you repent and

you allow him to be your lord. And this is

his promise to us when we do that. His promise

to us.

When we when we surrender our will to.

Him, is that he guides us, He protects us, he provides,

he watches.

Over us, and he shows us the purpose and the

destiny that we were created for. And a life without

purpose is a dangerous life because there's no direction, there's

just wandering.

God doesn't want you to wander. God wants you to

realize the love he has for you and the plan

he has for you to point you in a direction

or kingdom success. And if you're here today and you've

never asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins, you've

never asked him to be the lord of your life,

But today you want to do that, I'm gonna give

you an opportunity in just a moment.

Parents, if you're here.

And you feel like the burden of parenting is just

wearing you out, You feel like every decision you make

is the wrong decision.

You feel like you haven't done enough.

You're operating in guilt and shame, just a moment, I'm

gonna ask you to come and let us.

Pray for you.

See the Lord renew you so right now, with every

head bowed and every eye closed. If you're here, you've

never asked the Lord.

Save you.

To forgive you of your sins to be the Lord

of your life. But you want to trust him today.

You want to ask him to forgive you. Slip up

your hand and say that's me, Pastor, pray for me.

I want to give my life to Jesus today. I

want to meet the one that gave his life for me,

that loves me in spite of all my dysfunction.

Just put your hand up, put it right back down. Amen.

If you're hear it, you'd say, Lord, just help me

with a parenting thing. I want to make the right decisions.

I want to operate in wisdom. That's your slipping at

up and say that's me, Pastor, show me, help me,

guide me, direct me.

Hey man, everybody stand up with me. All over the room.

Some of our alsar team to come. Only count of three.

If you raise your hand for either one of those reasons,

or if you realize now you should have raised your

hand but you didn't, you can come too. On the

count of three, I want you to step out and

move make your way to the front. One, two, three,

step out and move right now.

Come on.

I just need your Lord, I need your help. I

need your guidance, I need your wisdom. I need your peace.

Is the band things. The altars are open. You can

come if you're gonna be baptized. If you go ahead

and get ready to be baptized, you can meet me

right over here beside the stage.

Pastor Clay H.