Where Are The Witnesses?

He's been in the place, amen.

One thing I love about praise and worship

and just say in the name of Jesus,

which we've sung all about this morning,

is that when his presence inhabits

the praises of his people, amen.

When we praise, as Sandra already mentioned,

it's a sweet savor unto God and his presence comes down

and we feel him in the place.

But the most wonderful thing about that presence

is the power comes with it, amen.

The power of God, which changes people's lives and hearts,

which sees healings take place, amen.

I love the presence of the Lord and thank you for praising him

in the house of God this morning.

If you have your Bibles, I'm gonna be preaching

out of the book of Judges, chapter two this morning.

I'm gonna be starting in verse eight

and going through to verse 14.

If you have it, say amen.

Just a few of you will wait a little longer.

Judges chapter two, we're gonna start in verse eight

and go through to verse 14.

Now if you're ready, say amen.

And starting in verse eight, it says,

and Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died

being 110 years old, and they buried him

in the borders of his inheritance,

in Timnath-Heres and the Mount of Ephraim

on the north side of the hill Gash.

And also all the generation were gathered

unto their fathers and there arose another generation

after them which knew not the Lord,

nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight

of the Lord and served Balaam.

And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers

which brought them out of the land of Egypt

and followed other gods of the other gods

of the people were round about them

and bowed themselves unto them

and provoked the Lord to anger.

And they forsook the Lord and served Baal and Asheroth.

And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel

and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers

and spoiled them and he sold them

into the hands of their enemies round about

so they could not any longer stand before their enemies.

In these few scriptures we see a culmination

of God's covenant.

The people of Israel were dwelling in the promised land

that Joshua had led them to but his life came to an end

as well as Joshua, the people of Israel who followed him

and entered in the Canaan from the beginning were also gone.

Then we have one of the, what I believe

to be the saddest scriptures in the Bible

where it says there arose another generation after them

which knew not the Lord nor the works which he had done

for Israel.

I wanna priest you today if I could for just a moment

on where are the witnesses.

If I, I'll pray for you if you pray for me.

Father, I love you this morning and I thank you

for this opportunity to stand behind your sacred desk

and preach the word of God.

I pray that your help will arrive

and that I would preach under the anointing

of the Holy Ghost and Lord,

that you would guide my mouth this morning.

As you burn this in my heart, I pray that we would,

as a people would have ears to hear

what your spirit is saying.

And in Jesus name, everybody said, amen.

As we look into the context of these scriptures today,

we'll see that we have come to an end of Joshua's journey.

Joshua being the leader of the Israelite people

after Moses' death who led them out of the wilderness

and into the promised land.

The book of Joshua records that he led them through,

led them out of the wilderness and into through

many obstacles on the way to Canaan.

They made their way down to Jordan,

the Jordan River where God gave Joshua instruction

as to how he was going to get them across that great river.

Then he instructed Joshua to get the priest of the Levites

and take up the Ark of the covenant.

And they were to carry it before the people.

Joshua then instructed the people that once they saw

the Ark pass by to follow.

And it was Joshua chapter three, verse seven that read,

and the Lord said unto Joshua, this day,

I will begin to magnify thee in the sight of all,

that they may know that as I was with Moses,

so I will be with thee.

And as that proclamation was laid to Joshua from the Lord,

as the priest walked out into the Jordan

and they came to the brink of the waters, they stood still.

And as their feet touched that brink of the water,

the water which came down stood above

and rose up a great heap or a wall.

And there was there, it was there that God stopped

the flow of the river and the people of Israel

walked across on dry ground.

And when the kings of the Amorites

and the kings of the Canaanites heard all

that the Lord had done and dried up the river

for the people of Israel,

the Bible says that their hearts melted.

Neither was their spirit in them anymore.

It was then that they shut up the city and locked it down.

No one was coming in and no one was going out of the city

because they knew that the people of Israel

were on their way and that the God of Israel was with them.

Joshua then led them to Jericho.

And we see which seemed like an impossible obstacle

to overcome, it had impenetrable walls

that could not be overtaken,

but further instruction came from God

on how to overcome this great obstacle.

It was there that the mighty walls of Jericho fell flat

because of God's power and Israel's obedience.

Next, in the Battle of Gibeon,

we see nine opposing kings and their armies gathered together

and in camp before Gibeon and waged war against it.

Joshua ascended from Gilgal with all the people of war

and the mighty men of Valor.

And the Lord said to Joshua, fear them not,

for I have delivered them into thine hand.

There shall not a man of them stand before thee.

The Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them

and their enemies were destroyed.

It was later that Joshua asked the Lord

to pause the sun in the sky.

It was there that the sun stood still

and the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies.

We know and understand that there are many,

many more miracles that happened in the book of Joshua

because God truly was with him.

You see, the book of Judges is the antithesis

of the book of Joshua.

In the book of Joshua, we see conquest.

In Judges, we see compromise.

In Joshua, we see victory.

In Judges, we see defeat.

We see freedom in one side and bondage on the other side.

Progress versus regress, obedience versus disobedience,

passion versus mediocrity, heavenly inspiration in Joshua

versus earthly inspiration in Judges,

joy versus sorrow, strength versus weakness, unity

versus disunity, strong leadership versus weak leadership,

and God's word and will versus Israel's will.

You see, the differences in the two books are drastic

and are powerful and have great meaning.

In these comparisons, I cannot help but draw

a unique parallel with the world which we live in today.

The past victories, the past power of God,

the past miracles, the past manifestations,

the past leadership, the past life we led,

having God at the head guiding us seems very far

from this present day that we live in.

Then we look in the, when the book of Joshua closed

and the people were gathering around,

are enjoying the benefits of Canaan.

They're enjoying the promised land that they were promised

so many years ago.

Then the question becomes, why did that change?

You see the shift from Joshua into Judges

and why did that change?

Well, it says that there arose a generation

that did not know the Lord.

The people that went in with Joshua,

we're two generations removed from those very people

that walked with Joshua and encountered Canaan

for the very first time, but they did not know the Lord.

What we realize is that the word did not get out.

The stories of what God had performed

in the midst of the people were not shared.

Testimonies had no voice.

There were no one found to be a witness

of the great works of God.

What you have to understand this morning

is we are one generation away from losing it all.

We are one generation away from losing our families.

We are one generation away from losing our communities,

losing our schools, our very own church.

We're one generation away from losing it.

As a body of Christ, we are this close

to losing everything that we take for granted for now.

Prior to Joshua's death, we read in Joshua chapter 24

Joshua 24 · chapter mention

that he would gather all the tribes of Israel

and its judges and its leaders.

Then he began to walk them through the history.

He began to tell them about all the wonderful things

that they experienced and that God had done.

The promises of God and the covenant

he made with their fathers,

many of them served false gods and did evil.

Joshua urged them to put away false gods

and with sincerity and in truth serve the Lord.

We read in Judges that they forsook the Lord

and served false gods.

Well, I came to tell you today

that it doesn't have to be that way.

I came to tell you today

and that somebody needs to hear that it's time

that we as a church, we as a mom and dad,

we as our generation of grandparents

and grandparents stand up and say what Joshua did

and he warned the next generation to lend an ear,

do not lend an ear to the deceptions of the enemy

and to serve these false gods.

What am I talking about?

I'm talking about the false god of identity.

I'm talking about the false god of social media.

I'm talking about the false god of attention

and selflessness.

I'm talking about the false god of money and finances.

We chase too many things.

It's time, mom and dad, that we stand up and proclaim

as Joshua did, as for me and my house,

we will serve the Lord.

The generation coming after you needs to hear it.

Yes, it will be hard.

Yes, it will seem at times that you are facing an obstacle

you can't overcome.

Yes, it will seem like a losing battle

but the trust and faith that you have that is in God

will be with you through it all.

We have the promise this morning.

Give God praise.

Isaiah 41, 10 says, fear not for I am with you.

Be not dismayed for I am your God.

I will strengthen you.

Yes, I will help you.

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

That's the strength and the power we have behind us

to say no, I will tell my children.

As for those that live in my household,

we will serve the Lord.

You can make your own decision when you get old

and move out but in my house,

we're gonna serve the Lord, amen.

It's time that we stand up as a mom and dad,

as a men and women and take back our homes, amen.

We've allowed the enemy to come into our homes,

to infiltrate our homes, to allow our children

to see things that they don't understand

and maybe they shouldn't understand

but they hear things that's not right

and they can't tell it right from wrong

but it's time we took it back.

After Joshua died and was buried,

another generation arose that did not know the Lord.

The generation before saw the Jordan River stop

and dry ground became exposed.

The generation before saw the walls of Jericho fall.

They saw these miraculous things happen

that could not have happened

if it weren't for God's power and might

and now this generation that we have in Judges chapter two

did not know the Lord.

Why?

Sometimes along the way,

somewhere along the way we have forgotten to testify.

Somewhere along the way we have forgotten to be a witness

to the things that God has performed in our life.

Sometimes where along the way

we have forgot to tell our children

how the power of God and what he's manifested

not only in our lives but we've seen him do in others' lives.

It's a shame that we have taken away the opportunity

for testimonies to be shared.

We've taken that away.

We have the church, the body of Christ.

We don't tell our children the great things God has performed

that grow up not understanding Acts 17, 28

where it says, for in him we live and we move

and we have our very being.

I don't know if you have today

but I've already thanked him for the breath of my lungs.

I've already thanked him for life and the ability to stand

for it's not my ability that God's seeking,

it's my availability.

And I stand before you today being available to God

and I would ask you to do the very same thing.

Be available unto God.

Study to show thyself approved.

Give your heart and your life back to God

and let him be the leading factor.

Instead we let our kids watch Harry Potter

and all kinds of shows that promote LGBTQ

and they become numb to the evil that's being displayed

in front of their very eyes.

And then their ears become very numb

to the things that they hear, the music they listen to,

the words that are spoken on television everywhere.

They see social media and news articles and broadcasts.

I don't know if they read as much as they watch

but you know what I'm saying.

It teaches them that it's okay and they accept it

because they're conditioned to it.

Are we forgetting to condition our children about the Lord?

Are we forgetting to share the good news of the gospel

in our own households?

To the youth, to the high school students,

some in here are teachers.

Are we forgetting to be the light

that's supposed to shine so bright

that it pierces every bit of darkness?

We have forgotten to tell our children and young people

about Jesus and the miracles he performed,

the redemptive work that he performed on the cross

at Calvary.

We have forgotten to tell our stories

and our testimonies and our witness.

My children would not know about the healing

that God performed in me had I not told them.

When I went to the doctor and I was having trouble

with my bladder and things were going on in my life,

I had to go get looked at.

So I went to a doctor and they tell me I have this tumor

inside my bladder, on the wall of my bladder.

And the doctor sitting there telling me and my wife

and the prognosis is, son, I don't know for sure.

We'll go in and do surgery and take the tumor out,

but I'm on, I bet the house that you've got bladder cancer.

This is the most common thing that we see

and the result is this.

And I bet that's the case.

He didn't realize who he was talking to.

He didn't realize who he was talking to

because that very next Sunday,

I made my way down to the altar

and a preacher man came down and laid hands on me

and proclaimed something over my life

that no one will ever take from me.

He said, you may be worried,

something I worried about that I didn't even share

with my wife, he said, you may be worried

that you're not gonna be here to see your kids grow old.

You may be worried that death will take you way too soon,

but God said, I'm not done with you, my son.

The proclamation was laid over my life

and I held on to that.

I held on to what thus saith God.

I held on to that, but my kids wouldn't know

if I didn't tell them.

The tumor was taken out, they sent it off for tests

and I go back for my follow-up appointment,

of course, to find out the result that I expected.

I don't have bladder cancer.

It's a one-off tumor, they don't understand it.

They can't tell me how it's not cancer.

All I can, I looked at them and I loved it.

I looked at the doctor and I said,

man, I'm just here for you to confirm what I already know.

I'm not here for you to tell me that I don't have cancer.

I know that's the result because I prayed,

I've saw God, God has spoken into my life

and he's healed me.

Yeah, well, you weren't healed, you never had cancer.

I believe I was healed.

Now, when I tell the story, guess who's getting the glory?

My mighty God is getting all the glory, amen?

We've got to tell our children of the mighty works of God.

Where are all the witnesses?

They need to hear about a father that will never hurt them.

They need to hear about a son who paid the ultimate price

that we can have everlasting life.

They need to hear about the Holy Spirit who dwells in us

and leads us and convicts us and strengthens us

and comforts us.

They need to hear the truth.

The generation, this generation did not know the Lord

because the ones before them did not tell them.

Nowhere does it say that they spoke about it.

What happens is what typically happens.

Time goes by and we forget to take the time

to think about what's important,

to think about the future and where we're headed.

We forget about it and then time goes by

and they knew not the Lord.

It's a dangerous place to be,

but the first step in losing a generation

is not sharing our stories.

That's the very first step.

Everyone in here has a story to tell.

If you're saved, you have the greatest story to tell of all.

If you're not, then we can fix that here in a little while.

That's okay.

Amen.

But if you've saved and Jesus sanctified you

and saved you from your sin

and you are now living and serving him,

you have a testimony, you have a witness,

you have some opportunity to go to some young kid,

to some high schooler, to some middle schooler,

to your very own children in your own home

and tell them what God did for you.

We must share our stories, our witness,

our testimony of what God has brought us through.

We must tell the next generation,

we must engage our young people.

We must share our stories with our people and our children.

Instead, we tell stories of back in the day.

We tell stories of, man,

I remember what church used to be like.

I remember when we used to jump the pews

and shout the aisles

and dance all around the front row during worship.

We talk about the past like it's not available now.

We talk about the past, but I'll ask you what's changed.

What's changed about the past?

The Bible says, God's the same.

Hebrews 13 and eight says,

I'm the same yesterday, today, and forever.

If God hasn't changed, what's changed?

We have.

We as a people have changed.

But I'm asking today, child of God,

men and women of God, the body of Christ,

can we get back to the focus and foundation

on Jesus Christ and preaching and teaching

our children and our youth about the power

that he moves every day with, amen?

The second step to losing a generation

is not knowing the Lord.

If you don't tell the stories, you don't know the Lord.

We're gonna lose the next generation.

The world starts falling apart

when we don't pass down the stories of truth.

You can't be afraid to tell your children the hard things.

You can't be afraid to discuss the hard things.

What do you mean the hard things?

You can't be afraid to talk about the birds and the bees

with your boy or girl.

You can't be afraid to talk about drugs

and vapes and cigarettes.

You can't be afraid to talk about those things.

I can promise you this, and being a youth pastor,

you know I know, they're already hearing it.

They're already hearing it.

My son is seven years old,

and he comes to tell me the other day

that there's a kid in his class that's already vaping.

Why do you even know what a vape is?

You're seven.

It blew my mind.

But it's scary because they're already hearing it.

Why are we not telling them about the good things?

Why are we not telling them about these things?

Before they get in the school system,

we're already seeing it and healing it.

As I said earlier, evil's all around them.

They're gonna hear it, they're gonna see it,

they're gonna think it, they might even do it.

But as a man and woman of God, you have an obligation.

Your first calling as father, your first calling as mom,

your first calling as mom, your first calling as grandparents

is to shelter your children.

The Bible says to raise them up in the way they should go,

and they will not depart from it.

They may stray for a little while,

but they will come back in time.

They should be hearing from you first.

Amen?

They can handle it a lot better than you think.

They can handle it.

I immediately sat down with Neathen and started explaining to him.

He already knew that it was wrong

because he's been watching,

he's been listening, he's been hearing.

But I sat down and talked with him.

And I said, son, you understand, and he did, impress me.

But we've got to do that.

We've got to take our children back.

We've got to take our children back.

At the end of the day, they will believe truth or lies.

They will either serve God or Satan,

but they must know the truth.

They have their own choice, but they must know the truth.

I received a phone call a couple weeks ago

from a high school kid, and he was in tears.

He was crying, he was struggling,

and he called me for help.

He didn't know what to do.

He was struggling with an addiction,

an addiction to pornography.

This is a high school kid.

And I counseled him.

I went over scripture with him, which he already knew.

But I talked to him, I encouraged him, I guided him,

I led him, I did everything I knew to do,

and everything I felt like the Lord was saying.

Telling me to say, I told him.

And we got off the phone, he felt a lot better,

but the enemy will not stop.

You guys need to understand, the enemy will never give up.

And I tell the youth, I said,

the enemy does not care about you.

He only cares that you don't make it

into the presence of the Father.

He doesn't care about you.

He doesn't care if you end up in hell.

He doesn't care.

His job is to make sure you don't end up with the Father.

And I tell them that, but we have to as well.

They can't just hear it on Wednesday night.

They can't just hear it on Sunday morning.

They've got to hear it every day of the week.

And when you get an opportunity

that God does something in your life,

and you get an opportunity to example the power

that God performed, you must tell the children.

You must tell the youth.

I came to tell you, don't back down, Dad.

Don't back down, Mom.

Don't back down, child of God.

You are fighting for the next generation.

They need to know, what do they need to know?

They need to know that we are more than a conqueror.

They need to know that I can do all things

through Christ who strengthens me.

They need to know that no weapon

formed against me shall prosper.

They need to know that Jesus is Savior,

sanctifier, water baptizer, and soon coming King.

They need to know the truth.

John 832, very popular scripture says,

and ye shall know the truth,

and the truth will make you free.

In the book of Judges, we see a disobedient

and idolatrous people get defeated time and time again

because of their rebellion against God.

God raised up judges to throw off the yoke of bondage

and restore the nation to pure worship.

But every new judge that sits in the seat of the seat

of the judge that spoke of the Lord

after every new judge would come and they would return,

but they would always return back to their wicked ways

and he would have to raise up another judge.

It's difficult sometimes when you feel like

you just can't get through.

Maybe you're talking to your high schooler,

maybe you're talking to your kid and you're thinking,

there's nothing I'm saying getting through.

It may be difficult, but when you think

the prayers for your children aren't being heard,

when you think that nothing's working

and things just keep going wrong,

and all around you and all you can see

is this next generation is headed in the wrong direction

and all is lost, let me remind you

and encourage you out of Acts chapter two verse 17.

And it shall come to pass that in the last days,

saith God, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh.

And who?

Your sons and your daughters will prophesy

and your men shall see visions

and your old men shall dream dreams.

There's a plan in place for our young people.

God said it, he's gonna perform it, amen.

Let's make it greater, let's make it bigger,

let's share our testimonies, let's spread the gospel

to the youth as much as possible.

That's how we do it.

I came to encourage you today to hold on.

Hold on, child of God, and keep fighting.

Contending for the sake of the next generation

because God will work a miracle, amen.

This is a stubborn generation, I know.

This is a stubborn generation,

but you know what they have allowed me to see?

That if they accept it,

they'll be your hardest fighters for it.

Can I tell you that if you share the gospel

with your young people when they accept it

and they believe it as truth,

they will fight harder than you've ever seen

somebody fight for it, amen.

Let's fill them up, let's direct them

and point them in the right direction.

They must taste it, they must hear from us.

Be a witness to the next generation,

share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

share the stories that God has performed in your life.

Isaiah 43, 10 through 12 says,

ye are my witnesses, said the Lord,

and my servant whom I have chosen,

that you may know and believe me

and understand that I am he.

Before me there was no God formed,

neither shall there be after me.

I, even I, and the Lord,

and beside me there is no savior.

I have declared, I have saved,

and I have showed when there was no strange God among you,

therefore ye are my witnesses,

saith the Lord, that I am God.

The people of this generation,

the people of the generation of the future

need to know who God is.

They need to know of his power and his might

and what a life field following his footsteps looks like.

Let's be that generation

that doesn't let the future generations fall.

Let's be that generation right now

that fights and contends for the faith

for our future generations, amen?

You can come to play the piano, I'm closing.

And you can stand.

It's been said that it's easier to build strong children

than to repair broken men.

And that's another reason why it's so important

for us to build strong children.

And the strongest way that I know how

and the strongest way that I can encourage you to know how

is that everything you do honors God.

Every walk you do, every time you get an opportunity

to tell them about what God is doing for you.

Share those stories.

Be a witness not only to strangers, not only to the world,

but even to the ones in your own home.

Even to the friends of your kids

when they come over to your house to stay the night.

Show them what it's like and what it means

to be a true child of God, a true Christian.

And I'm not saying that to be hard on certain people.

I love them.

I love everyone, whether you know Christ or not, I love you.

But that's why I wanna share with you

because I don't wish that anybody gets,

I want everyone I run into to make it to heaven with me.

I've always had this mentality of I hope heaven is packed.

And if it's not, let me get some people to go with me

so we can pack it out.

But I think it's gonna be packed.

I'm excited.

And one of the things that excites me

when I talk about this and sharing our stories

is in Matthew 24, 14, it says that once the,

and I'm paraphrasing, but once the world hears

of the good news of Jesus Christ,

then the end will come.

That means as soon as we get the word out,

God's coming back to get us, amen?

And I'm praying for that day.

No, I wanna grow old, I wanna see my kids grow

and I wanna have grandbabies.

I don't want all that, but I want the Lord to come.

Because more often not, I find myself waking up

not wanting to go to work the next morning.

I don't want the bills and all the stuff that comes with it.

God blesses, but I'd rather be in heaven, amen?

I'd rather be in heaven.

So this morning, if you find yourself in a situation

where you have sons and daughters,

grandsons and granddaughters

who maybe they've strayed from the Lord,

maybe they've walked away and I know there's prayers

in this house of daughters and sons and grandchildren

and great grandchildren who have strayed.

I know their stories in here.

I would like for everyone who has that and is willing to

to come up to the front

because I wanna pray for those sons and daughters.

I wanna pray and believe that God will move and intervene

and meet them right in the very midst of where they are.

I pray that God grips their heart and touches their spirit

because I know they've been told,

some of them have been told they've been raised in it.

They've been guided by it.

But sometimes we stray.

Sometimes we push a little hard

and we push them further away than we meant to do.

But God can perform the work.

It's not up to us to perform the work.

We're to be the witness.

We're to be the one that's showing them what it looks like,

but God performs the work, amen?

It's time that we take our future generations back.

There are so many things in this world now,

more now than ever before,

where the enemy is keeping them distracted,

keeping them confused.

And it's time, men and women of God,

that we take our future generations back, amen?

Stretch your hands toward heaven.

Let's just begin to pray.

Pray for each other.

Pray for your own.

Father, we love you today.