Investing in the Next Generation: A Legacy of Ministry

Paul said, we have this ministry or we have this New Testament

ministry in earthen vessels, that again, that God may be glorified,

that he may get all the credit.

Right.

It's good to have the Stences family with us tonight.

And I was visiting with other Stinsis before service tonight just

for being reminded.

I believe we've supported them about 12 years.

And we were in Uganda with the demerists, and we also support the

Huckabees there as well.

And then brother, Brother Stintsis has been there.

He'd been there a long time.

His family's been there a long time.

And I think your card said family legacy.

I love that.

So Brother Stintis, you come on and he's going to has a video

like any, you know, normal missionary does.

All missionaries.

When I was a little kid, I used to love when the missionaries

came and they turned the lights off and we get under the pulpit

or under the pew and the church we were in when I was a kid,

the carpet fraying and I can remember pulling the carpet, nothing.

Okay, you're welcome, dad.

It's time for confession.

Amen.

Well, it is great to be back here at Heritage Baptist Church and

what a blessing to see all of the development and all that's going

on here.

Thank you so much for your faithfulness.

And as pastor said, we do want to just stop by tonight.

Just.

And it's.

It's hard.

I was talking to a missionary the other day and talking about furlough

and the pros and cons of furlough and coming into a church

and, you know, being there for, you know, many times not even

an hour, but at the most, maybe two or three hours, and then

you're gone for another four years.

And is it really worth it?

But I believe it is important to be able to come back to the churches

and be able to share with you what your investment is going to.

And when you see what your investment is going to, I believe

it encourages you in your giving, it encourages you in even

praying about what you can do as far as missions is concerned.

Maybe God will be speaking to your heart about the mission field

as well.

And so we're excited about being here, if nothing else, just

to thank you for your investment in our ministry.

Y'all have been faithfully supporting us over these past few

years, and we're so grateful for that and so honored to be able

to represent Heritage Baptist Church where you guys were when you

came to Uganda.

We're about three hour drive south of there in a place called

Masaka.

And that is where our main church is.

That's where we started our ministry when we first went to Uganda.

And then from where you had the medical clinic, if you were to

drive five hours north, northeast, that is where our other

ministry is, Kalido.

And that is what you're going to see, mostly talked about on the

video tonight is our ministry there, as we have established a ministry

training pastors and encouraging these pastors to continue

a legacy of ministry for the next generation.

And so I hope that the video is an encouragement to you about

what the Lord is doing there.

And if you haven't done so already, let me encourage you to

go back by the display back there and pick up one of our new

prayer cards and take one of those home, maybe replace the one

you have, or if you don't have one, take one.

And I would encourage you to pray for us as well.

Maybe, you know, we.

We do send out a bimonthly prayer letter and thank you for posting

that for people to read.

But something else that I started a few years ago is a weekly

podcast.

And so every Friday I upload a new podcast called the Always Abounding

Podcast.

And on that podcast, we'll give you an update, a weekly update

on the ministry and what is going on there, as well as our family,

as well as encouraging God's people to always abound in the work

of the Lord.

And so if you're interested in that, I know podcasts are not for

everybody, but if podcasts are your thing, then just go on your

favorite podcast platform.

And if you want to get the prayer card, the QR code is there,

and that way you can follow and keep updated with our ministry

on a weekly basis instead of having to wait on a bimonthly basis.

So anyway, let's go ahead and show that video.

And then after the video, we'll come back and give you something

from the Word of God tonight.

The total glory for everything, the how he has worked

through our lives, but also the way he has worked through churches

all around the country, helping us to be able to do that

work.

So pray for us.

We're nearing the end of our furlough.

We'll be going back on March 19th.

So that's just right around the corner.

And so pray as we get things packed up and ready to go back home

and start doing the work that God has called us to do there in

Uganda.

If you have any questions about our ministry, about our family,

anything that we might be able to help you with to give you a better

understanding of our Ministry, then please take the time.

We'll be back there by the table after the service, and we'd

be glad to talk with you about what the Lord is doing there and

try to answer any questions that you might have.

Take your Bibles, if you would, and turn to Psalm 78, Psalm

78, Psalm 78,.

I believe that the ministry.

And when we talk in the video about a legacy of ministry, I do

thank the Lord for the legacy that I have in my family.

I'm grateful for a mom and dad that raised us on the mission field

and then being able to continue that not only in my life,

but in my brothers there went to the mission field, my sister as

well.

And God has just put in our family a great burden for missions,

a great burden for the mission field.

But it is not a legacy of a name that is important.

What is important is the legacy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

If I have spent 29 years in Uganda and I leave Uganda and everything

falls apart, then all of that labor is in vain.

That means all of the labor that we put ourselves into, all the

money invested, all of it would have been depending upon me,

the missionary.

And we have not properly taught the Ugandans to depend on

God and set their hope in God and, and.

And to have a relationship with God.

Their hope is basically just in a.

In a missionary that comes over there and just provides for

them.

You hear about all of this, and I have firsthand, and I'm not

trying to get political here tonight, you hear all the screaming

that's going on today about cutting funding to different countries

and things of this nature.

And a lot of that comes because America has become a, what

shall I say, an unending source of funds with no one teaching

them how to handle those funds and no one teaching them how to take

those funds and build themselves so that they can live

without them.

And that is why the problem.

That is why there's such an outcry.

Because finally we're making someone be accountable.

And finally they're getting over there and they're starting to

see, hey, we better start fending for ourselves and we better

start learning how to invest in ourselves.

Because this money is just not going to be unending.

Now we see that so much so in our churches.

We see it so much in our men over there.

And a lot of times as missionaries come over to the field,

Ugandans and a lot of countries that are third World are

more than welcome to have you come in.

Because when they see you as a white person from America they think

that you have money that grows on trees.

They think that you just have an unending source of funds.

And so they naturally want you to come and develop their villages.

And you have to be very careful.

And I have to be very careful as a missionary not to be cynical,

because there's constantly that battle of trying to have the

wisdom to discern who is truly interested in churches and who is

truly interested in just bringing development to their villages.

You hear stories all the time.

Missionaries coming and saying, man, this chief wants us

to come to his village and start a church, and this chief wants

us.

Hey, we get that all the time.

There is not any village in our country there that would not

love to have us come in there and start a church.

But it's not a church they're interested in.

It's development.

Because with a church building will come a school.

That's their thinking.

And with a school will come an orphanage, and with an orphanage

will come a hospital.

And so if they can entice you to come in and bring investment in

their villages, that makes them to be very big in the eyes of

the population and very big in the eyes of the government.

And so who wouldn't want that?

And so that is why we have to be very, very careful in our investment.

And we have to make sure, just as you saw in the video, that we

do things in a reciprocal way so that they are not expecting us

to do everything for them.

We expect them to have skin in the game.

We expect them to do a great, vast majority of the labor.

We don't go in there and pay for people to come in and do the

work for them.

They're responsible to the work.

And if they're willing to invest and they're willing to sacrifice

and they're willing to labor, then we can come alongside and help

where we can and be a blessing to them when we can.

I realize they're poor, and I realize they don't have a lot, but

we have to be very careful that as missionaries, we do not become

a welfare system to them.

And so what we're trying to do is develop a relationship with our

Ugandan brothers over there so that they learn to stand on their

own two feet.

They learn to get ahold of God.

They learn to have a relationship with God.

And so, therefore, when the day comes that my family is not able

to be there or because of health or political situation or

whatever it might be, the work of God is gonna continue.

Because it's not based on me.

It's not based on my shoulders.

It's not based on my finances.

It's based upon the word of God.

And so the Bible says here in Psalm 78, and he says there, give

ear, oh my people, to my law.

Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth in a parable.

I will utter dark sayings of old.

Now this is a psalm of Asaph.

Asap was one of David's song leaders, one of his musicians.

And he if you go through and you read the psalms of Asaph, they're

pretty amazing psalms.

But he.

He says, people, give ear.

I want you to listen to what I have to say.

He says, I'm about ready to open my mouth in parables.

I'm going to tell you some stories, and I'm going to remind

you of things that have happened in years gone past.

And if you go through the chapter, chapter 78, it's a lengthy

chapter.

It has 72 verses in it.

But basically, this psalm is an overview of the history of Israel.

The times that they served God, the times that they rebelled

against God, the times that God blessed them, the times that

God cursed them, the times that they had victories, the times

that they had defeats.

And so Asaph is reminding them of all of that.

But then he says here, he says, I will open my mouth in a parable

and I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known

and our fathers have told us.

Now, that is a very important scripture there, because these dark

sayings of old, these parables that he's about ready to inform them

and remind them of, they just can't go home to their house and

open up the Bible and read these stories.

They did not have Bibles in their tents at that time.

As a matter of fact, they would have to go to the priest to

be taught the word of God and the law of God.

The king would have a copy of the laws next to his throne, and

so he could consult that law as he would lead his kingdom.

But as far as the common man having a copy of the Scriptures and

having a copy of the law, it just wasn't there.

And so what the habit was was that the fathers would sit the children

down and they would present these stories to their children,

and they would tell them about the stories of Adam, and they would

tell them the stories about Noah, and they would tell them the

stories about how God worked with Israel and how God did amazing

things.

And they would talk about the parting of the Red Sea and the plagues

in Egypt and all of the different Miracles that they beheld

when Joshua had the sun stand still.

All of those stories, all those dark sayings, all of those

parables that were in the past, he said, I am reminding you

of these things.

But the way that I can remind you of these things is, is because

our fathers have passed on this information to us.

Now the Bible says here in verse number four, and this is kind

of the theme verse for our furlough, why we're on this furlough.

He says we will not hide them from their children.

Showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and

his strength and his wonderful works that he has done.

One of the things that is burning my heart and one of the things

that is been a challenge to me is to see a drastic change in the

years that I have been coming back to the United States.

The, the drastic change in the idea of ministry.

I remember when we first went to the mission field back in 1996.

We went on deputation and, and raised our support.

And I remember in those early years in the mid-90s and the late

90s, when you'd have a missions conference or when a missionary

would come through and preach, you were constantly hearing of, of

couples and you would hear of teenagers and you would hear of people

in the church that would surrender their life to go to the

mission field and surrender their life in a full time Christian

service.

But nowadays I would be hard pressed to tell you the last missions

conference.

Where I heard that take place and.

My question is this, why aren't we seeing people going into

the ministry?

Why aren't we seeing our young people having a burden?

Why aren't we seeing the youth coming out of our schools and out

of our youth groups with a, with a desire to serve God and desire

to give their lives for the cause of Jesus Christ.

I'm telling you, since we have been In Uganda from 1996 until today,

we have seen 35 missionary families come to Uganda and leave

Uganda.

Some for good reasons, some for not so good reasons.

But the reality is, is that the, the missionaries that we have

today, this furlough, just this furlough alone, I've had at

least 35 to 40 churches contact me looking for missionaries

to come and be in their missions conferences, looking for

missionaries to support because they can't find any missionaries.

I remember the day when it was a competition.

I mean, if you heard about a.

Good missions conference, you heard about a good church, you kept

it to yourself until you found out you got the meeting.

And then you would tell other missionaries about it.

Why?

Why, why is that happening now?

Where is the burden for ministry?

We have a burden for everything else, but where's the

burden for ministry?

And I truly believe, and this is why God has put this on my heart

as we've traveled across the United States, is to try to remind

us of the responsibility that we have to pass on a legacy to the

next generation.

Not of our family name, not of.

Not of our businesses, but a legacy of ministry.

A legacy so that when we leave and when we're no longer a part of

Heritage Baptist Church, the ministry that I was involved in will

continue.

That place that was in my seat in the church service is going to

be filled because I have invested in other people's lives.

Let me ask you this question tonight, and I don't want you to

raise your hand, but if I could ask you to look around this

building tonight and point out the people that are here because

you invested in their lives, how many people could you point out?

Do we come to church to get for us, or do we come to church so

that we can look for opportunities to invest in the next

generation?

It's the next generation is going to carry on the word of God.

It's the next generation is going to carry on the gospel.

It's the next generation that is going to provide the preachers

and the missionaries that we need to continue the work that we

have done in these days.

And if we are not concerned for the next generation, we're going

to lose it.

We're going to lose it.

Here's the problem.

I believe the main problem we have is our definition of ministry.

We have taken ministry, and I've done this as well, and I'm just

as guilty as anybody else.

But we have.

We have allotted the term ministry and to a certain group of

people.

And we say, these men, they're the pastor, they're the missionary,

they're the evangelists.

Those are the ones that are in the ministry.

And by process of elimination, that indicates that if they are the

ones that are in the ministry, then we are not in the ministry.

And that mentality has permeated our churches to the point

where we have delegated our responsibility of ministry to our

church leaders, to our pastors, to our.

The staff members of the church.

And we've said that is their responsibility.

And I'm telling you today, if you're waiting for Brother Crawford,

if you're waiting for the staff of this church to be able to

take that responsibility, they can't do that.

And so what God has done is God has given you a pastor and God

has given you men of God in this church with a purpose.

And that purpose is to perfect you for the work of the ministry.

It is to get you involved in the ministry.

It is to get you to say, hey, where can I serve now?

What is the ministry all about?

The ministry is about people.

The ministry is about investing in people.

It is about saying, hey, I want to take my life and I don't

want it to be concerned about myself and building up my own self,

but I want to take what has been put into me.

I want to take what has been put into my heart and I want to turn

around and I want to pour it into other people's lives.

We go to the mission field and you expect us to invest in people's

lives.

You expect us to have Bible institutes and praise the Lord, you

have one of those here.

You expect us to teach and you expect us to soul winning.

You expect us to train, you expect us to disciple.

But I'm asking you, why aren't you doing that?

Why aren't you involved in that?

And so ASAP says here, he said, listen, we have got to pass

this on to the next generation.

Now notice he gives two reasons here.

Why we must pass on this to the next generation.

Verse number six.

That the generation to come might know them.

Even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare

them to their children.

He says, hey, it is important that we pass on to this to the next

generation so that our children might know them.

Might know what?

Notice what he says in verse number four.

The praises of the Lord, the strength of the Lord, the wonderful

works that God has done.

I'm telling you today we have totally forgotten all about the testimonies

of grace and how God has provided and how God has done wonderful

works and mighty deeds and, and, and, and we're not passing that

to our children.

And so the children of our day and the youth of our day, they don't

even understand who God is.

They don't understand what a walk with God is like.

And so our churches are filled with young people who know all about

the latest sports and they know all about the latest video games

and they know all the latest news about Hollywood and they know

all about the politics and they know all of these things.

And we're raising a generation of very knowledgeable kids that know

a lot of things about everything.

They know how to make money, they know how to build a career,

they know how to go to Bible college, they know how to do all

of these things.

But I ask you this question.

Do they know how to walk with God?

Do they know how to know him?

Do they.

Do they have a relationship with God?

Do they have a desire to walk with God and a desire to serve God

and a desire to put themselves in the ministry for the next generation?

Because listen to me very carefully.

If we do not do that, then Heritage Baptist Church, all it's

going to take is one generation for it to die.

He says we've got to teach them so that they might know them.

Verse number seven.

He gives a second reason that they might set their hope in God.

Oh, listen to me.

He says that they might set their.

Hope in God and not forget the works of God.

I want our men in Uganda to not hope in me.

I don't want them to hope in America.

I want them to set their hope in God.

I want to teach my children to be able to get on their knees and

cry out to God and say, God, we need you to supply this.

We need you to bring this in for us.

But listen, the days of.

Of getting on our knees, in the days of praying and the days

of crying out to God are gone.

And we've replaced it with credit cards.

We've replaced it with bank loans.

We've set our hope in everything but God.

And it's no wonder that our country is in the shape that it is

in, because we are hoping in everything.

We're hoping that the government is going to solve our

problems.

We're hoping that the bank will solve our problems.

And instead of trusting God and instead of getting on our knees

and saying, God, please meet our needs, God, please supply our

needs, we'll turn around and we'll just put it on the card.

I don't want my kids, when they.

Have a need, I don't want them.

To start hoping and saying, well, if I just keep going more into

debt, more into debt, and more into debt and more into debt, then

that's the answer.

I want them to get our needs.

And I want them to see God provide.

I want them to see God meet those needs.

I could stand up here and tell you story after story after story

that we have seen in Uganda of God doing things that were impossible

to us, providing things that were impossible to us, working situations

out that were impossible to us.

And we can share those with our children.

We can share those with our Africans.

And we can say, hey, look at the wonderful works of God.

They've got to set their hope in God.

Let me close with this illustration in the Bible There is

a man by the name of Hezekiah.

Hezekiah was a great king.

He came in during a time when Israel was at its lowest time.

The temple had been boarded up.

There was no worship of God.

There was nothing.

So Hezekiah comes in and he opens up the temple.

I mean, immediately he restores the worship of God.

He brings revival back to Israel.

And great were the days of Hezekiah.

But Hezekiah reached a time in his life when he was about ready

to die.

Isaiah comes to him, says, hezekiah, set your house in order.

You're going to die.

Isaiah walks out.

Hezekiah lays in his bed there.

He prays to God and said, God, please don't let me die.

God comes to Isaiah, isaiah, go tell Hezekiah I'm going to give

him 15 more years.

And so he goes in there and Hezekiah, you've got 15 years.

I wonder what we would do if we knew we had 15 years.

I wonder what we would accomplish.

I wonder what we would think about if we had 15 years.

Well, there was two things that happened during those 15 years.

One of those was an ambassador from Babylon came in.

And Hezekiah, in a moment of pride, began to show them all of

of Israel and all of Jerusalem and all of his home, all of his riches,

everything showed him it all.

And Isaiah, the prophet came to him, said, because you have showed

them all of these things in the pride of your heart, your children

will be taken into captivity by that very kingdom.

Another thing that happened in those 15 years was three years into

those 15.

Years, he had a son by the name of Manasseh.

And so three years in, if you use your math properly, Hezekiah

had Manasseh for 12 years.

12 years in which Hezekiah could have invested in his son.

12 years where he could have said, manasseh, look at the revival

that God brought in this land, and look at how the worship is accomplished

in this land, and look at how God has provided and how God has

done amazing things and how God has provided for our country.

He could have taken those 12 years and invested in Manasseh's

land life.

But he did not.

You say, why didn't he do that?

Because here was his attitude.

When the prophet came to Hezekiah and said, your sons are

going to be taken to captivity, here's what he said.

He said, good is the word of the Lord, for at least I will have

peace in my days.

At least I have peace in my days.

At least things are going well for me.

I don't need to think about my children.

I don't need to think about the future.

At least I have peace in my days.

And I'm afraid with sadness in my heart.

That is the testimony of many of God's people in churches today.

I have peace in my days.

I've got a nice church.

I've got a nice income.

I read my Bible, I pray, I give in the offering plate.

Yes, but what about the next generation, man?

It took one generation to go from Hezekiah's revival to his son

Manasseh becoming the worst, most evil king that Judah ever had.

Just one generation.

And all it would have taken for him to invest in his son for

those 12 years.

And so my question today as I wind up is just asking you this.

Who are you investing in?

Who are you preparing for the next generation?

Father, I pray that you'd take this message tonight.

Use it, Lord, for your honor and your glory.

Challenge hearts in a way that only you can.

I thank you so much for this church, the investment that they've

made in our ministry.

I pray that we'll continue, Lord, to represent them properly

in reaching the Ugandans with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Thank you, Father.

I pray in Jesus name.

Amen, Pastor.

Thank you.