This Is Going To Be Different - Week 6 - This Generation Will Be Different - Jacob Entinger - July 19, 2026

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of God, of all ages.

Welcome to the City Place Church Podcast, wherever you are in the world.

We thank you for making the time to tune in.

Take a moment to get focused.

Clear your mind, close your eyes, open your heart and receive what God has for you on this day.

So without further ado, uh, we'll get into the word.

So like I said, I hope you guys are ready for some scripture.

So y'all grab your Bibles and open up 'Cause we are continuing our series, This Is Going To Be Different.

And I love the title of this series because it's honestly so bold.

It is, it is a serious statement to say, "This is going to be different," right? It is not passive.

It's not saying like, "Oh, maybe things will change.

Maybe things will be different."

No, we are declaring through the power and authority of Jesus Christ that this will be different.

Yeah.

Come on.

Our focus in 2026 is to move from cautious to courageous.

Uh, Pastor Damon has been leading us through Joshua 1:9, and we'll, we'll do a little bit of fill in the blank here, so I need some participation and see if you guys have learned our key verse for 2026.

Joshua 1:9

So in Joshua chapter, uh, chapter 1 verse 9 it says, "Haven't I commanded you, be Oh, guys, that was...

Did that sound strong and courageous? It sounded a little unsure and shaky.

All right, let's try it again.

All right, Joshua 1:9, "Haven't I commanded you, be Absolutely.

Joshua 1:9

Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God is with you wherever you go.

Now, inherent to this vision that Joshua is setting for Israel, and inherent to the vision of CityPlace Church of going cautious to courageous, when we declare that th- that this will be different, we are going to be taking steps, right? We have to move from cautious to courageous when we declare that this will be different, because it's the only thing left.

We have- we cannot m- ha- take cautious steps and be courageous at the same time.

We must be courageous.

We must take on courageous behaviors, courageous attitudes, and so we must be different.

Joshua's generation was one filled with God's promise and his presence, and last week PD really ended us with a very strong challenge, and I, I love that he always does this 'cause he knows he was gonna be away.

So he loves to preach the house down when he does that.

But he left us with the challenge that we are going to be different because we prepare for different.

That's right.

We are going to be different because we prepare for different, right? And because PD knows that a generation s- that seeks God and seeks the Lord can shift the culture and a generation.

Check out these two scriptures.

Psalm 24:6 says, "Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob."

Psalms 24:6

Psalm 102:18 says, "Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord."

Psalms 102:18

Now, church, we were once those people.

There are generations and generations of the church and our families that came before us that prayed for this moment.

They didn't know CityPlace Church exactly would exist, but they prayed for their future family.

They prayed for the future church, that we would be established, that we would continue to preach the word of God on this earth, and that we would move forward the kingdom of heaven.

And we are those tone-setters now, right? We are the next generation.

Let's pray before the Lord before we jump into some scripture.

Father God, we thank you for today, and we thank you for the opportunity, uh, to open the word of God freely.

Uh, we thank you, Father God, that you speak through the word of God, that it is the truth and the undeniable truth, Father God, that will not change and is yet so effective, Father God, to change the lives of those that hear it.

We pray that you will move, uh, in this body today, Father God.

In Jesus' name, amen.

All right, so you guys have your notes on your seat.

They are blank.

Uh, we'll just say that was intentional and not that, uh, I was at ECYC and had no time to give you guys fill in the blanks.

Uh, today you guys are the students just like ECYC, so you have blank notes.

So you will have to take some actual notes today.

Uh, but the title of my message, which I think is, is the only thing filled in for you, uh, is that this will be different.

Or sorry, this generation will be different.

And make no mistake, I'm not just preaching to our students.

We are the generation of the church right now.

And so this message is for everybody in this room, that this generation will be different.

And if you don't believe me, check out what the Lord himself has declared about his church.

Says in 1 Peter 2:9, it says, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light."

1 Peter 2:9

And so we are the generation that will move the church forward.

We are the generation of the church that will prepare for the generations that are yet to come.

And today we're gonna take a look at some scripture to define some characteristics of a generation that will be different.

So if you could, go ahead and open your Bible to Joshua 24:15 Joshua 24:15.

Joshua 24:15 Joshua 24:15

Hopefully this, uh, verse is familiar to you.

It is yet another bold statement.

Like, I love Joshua because he had all the confidence in the world.

He was like, when he w- was, uh, went to go look at the land of Israel before they were out of the wilderness, he said, "Yeah, there's giants.

We can do it, though.

We can take it, no problem."

He gets to the land of God, he says, "Be strong and courageous.

We're going to take the land."

He then goes on to lead Israel through battle after battle after battle.

He sees the sun stand still in one battle, and here he is after they have fought and conquered and occupied the land.

In verse 15 it says, "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day who you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served be- beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living.

But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

Such a bold and beautiful statement.

Talking to the people of Israel, he's like, "Look, you have your freedom now."

You can take ho- We have taken hold of God's promises, and now it's up to you to decide what you're going to do.

It's up to you to decide if you are going to be a different generation.

And you see, after Jos- uh, Joshua led the Israelites into the promise, they, they chose to serve the Lord for a little bit, right? They grabbed hold of God's, what God declared for them.

Uh, the Bible lets us know that, uh, th- that they had elders along the way that helped correct them when they steered off the path, when they kinda forgot what the Lord had done with them.

They had elders that helped them along the way, and they spent a long time trying to find their way and find what it looked like to actually live out in the promised land of God.

They relied on these judges to help God, uh, keep God's commandments in the land that they had inherited.

And yet this worked for a while, but eventually they started to look around at the culture around them.

They had their generation built in God, and yet there were generations of people who did not know God.

And they started to look to them, and they said, "What do you guys have? This promised land, it was nice at first, but now we're looking around and everybody has this, and I want a little bit of what you have."

And so the Israelites started talking, and they were like, "Man, we wanna be this greatest nation.

If we are God's nation on Earth, we have to be the greatest compared to everybody else, and we don't have a king."

And so they went to the judges, they went to the prophets, and they said, "We need a king.

If we're gonna be God's greatest nation here on this Earth, we need a king on our own."

And yet the prophets were like, "You don't want that.

I don't think you understand what having a physical king means.

God is your king."

And they're like, "No, no, no, we want a physical king."

So they warned them, and they said, "Okay.

Well, the king's gonna take your children.

He's gonna take your land."

He's like, "That's what's due to them as, as their authority over you."

And they said, "Great.

We'll take it."

And so today we're gonna explore the lives of two different kings.

King Saul, who is different from Saul turned to Paul in the New Testament.

But this, this King Saul, he was the first king of Israel, and we're gonna take a look at his life and the, the life of King David, who you might know from the David and Goliath story, and see how one king chose to be, to lead a different generation, and one king failed to meet that mark.

Because ultimately, when we become man-dependent, we start to shift our focus from God's provision- Yeah to man's capability, right? We begin to lose focus on what God has already provided and seek to, to, uh, what we might take on our own hands.

So let's, let's set the scene.

If you could turn to Samuel, 1 Samuel 9, we're gonna introduce our first king, King Saul.

Now, 1 Samuel 9:1, it says, "There was an influential man of Benjamin, a man st- a man of standing whose name was Kish, son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin," right? Nice pedigree.

1 Samuel 9:1

"Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else," right? Israel asked for a king, and God said, "All right.

I will give you the most kingly guy in all of your land."

He came from an influential family.

He was, you know, he was tall, dark, handsome, right? There was nobody else like him in all the land of Israel.

And yet, right, that in and of itself, no problem because God chose him.

He sent Samuel to anoint him as Israel's first king.

Now, when we look at David, you can jump up to 1 Samuel chapter 16.

1 Samuel 16 · chapter mention

In verses 10 through 12, we get an introduction to, to David and his family.

In verse 10 it says, "Jesse had seven sons passed before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, 'The Lord has not chosen these.'

So he asked Jesse, 'Are, are these all the sons you have?' 'There is still the youngest,' Jesse answered.

'He is tending the sheep.'

Samuel said, 'Send for him.

We will not sit down until he arrives.'

So he sent for him and had him brought in.

He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features."

Right? So again, right, handsome.

He's, he's, he, he could make a fine king one day, but he comes from a little bit more of a humble family.

He was the last of his siblings.

He was a shepherd.

He wasn't even invited to, to speak, uh, to Samuel as one of the sons presented to him, and he was overlooked.

And so we see already at the beginning in these two Bible stories a little bit of a contrast coming up.

But at the same time, remember, still both chosen, both anointed by God.

So we're gonna take a look today and look at a few characteristics of what it takes to be a generation that chooses to be different because both Saul and David were anointed and chosen by God.

Their, their backgrounds and their circumstances aren't what ultimately dictated how they ended up acting as kings over Israel to lead God's people.

So if you're taking notes, which I hope you are, your first, your first point today is that a generation that chooses to be different will rely on God and trust God for their success.

Good.

That was a lot, so I'll give you a second.

A generation that chooses to be different will rely on God and trust God for their success.

See, Saul began his calling honorably.

He began his calling seeking out a man of God.

We, we find out that, uh, in his story, he-- his father loses a donkey, right? So Saul, being the honorable son, he goes and looks for the donkey, but he can't find it.

And when he can't find it, he's talking to the person that's with him, and he says, "Let's go and find a man of God.

I hear there's a prophet in a nearby town.

Let's go and offer sacrifices, and perhaps the Lord will show us where this donkey is at."

And through this process, Saul gets anointed by the prophet Samuel.

He ends up going to accept this anointing, and as he's going about his business, he stops through a town.

He ends up prophesying with a group of prophets, right? He is, he is speaking the words, uh, uh, the, the Lord's word f- uh, on his own with these prophets, and he ends up taking over the kingship, and he leads the people of God to victory over their enemies.

Everything that this king should.

David also accepts his calling, but David begins his calling in a field.

He gets called out from being a shepherd, from tending to his father's flock, to be anointed a- as, as a young man.

David was accustomed to caring for and protecting the sheep of his father.

He was accustomed to relying on God, whether he was in a field, uh, protecting sheep from lions and bears or dealing with, I'm sure, his six older brothers who liked to put him down and send him out to the fields, or whether he was fighting a nine-foot giant The difference between these two kings is that Saul, although he starts out well- Uh-huh he loses focus along the way.

His reliance on God shifts to reliance on God to reliance on himself.

Yeah.

Over time, Saul becomes accustomed to solving problems on his own.

If you turn to 1 Samuel chapter 13, we're gonna read in verse nine through 14 to see where Saul starts to slip a little bit.

1 Samuel 13 · chapter mention

We'll see the difference in how he acts with God, uh, from the beginning of his kingship to the end.

So 1 Samuel 13, looking in verse nine.

It says, "So Saul said," now, uh, uh, sorry, a little bit of context is Saul's in another battle, right? This was his job as king.

He- they were still clearing out their land, and Saul comes in, and he's fighting battles, and this is where we start to see a little bit of fear creep in, and Saul's starting to veer off of being a generation that chooses to be different.

In verse nine, it says, "So Saul said, 'Bring me the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings.'

And then he offered the burnt offerings.

Just as he finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived, so Saul went out to greet him, and Samuel asked, 'What have you done?' Saul answered, 'When I saw that the troops were deserting me and you didn't come within the appointed days and the Philistines were gathering at Mikmash, I thought, "The Philistines will now descend on me on Gilgal, and I haven't sought the Lord's favor."

So I forced myself, I forced myself to offer the burnt offering.'

Samuel said to Saul, 'You have been foolish.

You have not kept the command which the Lord your God gave you.

It was at this time that the Lord would have permanently established your reign over Israel.

But now your reign will not endure.

The Lord has found a man loyal to Him and because the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people because you have not done what the Lord has commanded.'"

So here we have Saul, right? Because a generation that will be different will rely on God for their success.

And Saul at this point had already had military successes, and yet he waited seven days for this prophet to come, and as on day seven when he, when he was late and his troops started leaving, he said, "Well, I gotta take this into my own hands.

Surely I know what is right."

And he went and offered the sacrifices, which was not his responsibility.

It was the responsibility of the priest to offer these sacrifices on his behalf.

Uh, we see this continue in First Samuel chapter fif- 15 in verses nine through 11, where again, Saul is officially rejected as king because during another campaign, rather than, uh, being afraid of losing, we see how Saul handles his successes because he doesn't trust in what God had asked him to do, and he actually disobeys Him.

In verse nine it says, "Saul and the troops spared Agag," who was a king, "and the best of the sheep, cattle, and choice animals, as well as the young rams and best of everything else.

They were not willing to destroy them, but they did destroy all the un- all the worthless and unwanted things.

Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel.

He says, 'I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from following me and has not carried out my instructions.'

So Samuel became angry and cried out to the Lord all night."

And so here we see Saul continued to set himself up, trust that he knew what was best rather than being a different generation that trusted and relied on God for everything that he had Now, when we look to David, you can turn to 1 Samuel 17.

See, I kept y'all in the same book, so at least you don't have to do much flipping.

But in 1 Samuel 17, we're gonna see in verse 45 through s- 47 that the first test that David has, he trusts in the Lord with everything that he has.

We should all be familiar with this story.

This is the story of David and Goliath.

And in 1 Samuel 17:45 it says, "David said to the Philistine, 'You come against me with a dagger, spear, and sword, but I come against you in the name of Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel's armies.

1 Samuel 17:45

You have defiled him.

Today, the Lord will hand you over to me.

Today, I will strike you down, cut your head off, and give the corpses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the creatures of the earth.

Then all the world will know that Israel has a God, and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord's.

He will hand you over to us.'"

You see, Saul was in another position.

This time he, he was, he was acting through inaction.

He was not willing to go out and fight Sa- uh, uh, Goliath.

He wasn't willing...

No one else in his army was willing to step up and go out.

But David saw the opportunity and he said, "I know where my success comes from.

It comes from the Lord."

Throughout David's, uh, rei- well, uh, process to getting to be king, David would actually wait s- like almost two decades to become king after he was anointed over Saul.

We know that Saul would eventually try to kill David.

David would be sent on the run.

David would even have opportunities to take matters into his own hand and seize the throne.

For those of you that don't know, while David was on the run, there is a moment where he comes to the cave.

Saul goes to rest in this cave, and David's actually in there with his, like, whole group that's with him running.

They're hiding in the back of the cave.

Sa- uh, Saul goes in and he's resting, and David goes up and takes some of his cloth.

He, like, he rips some of his cloth off with his knife and he says, "Look at what I could have done.

But I know that God had anointed you to lead the people of Israel, and so I spared your life."

And so in a moment where David could have acted like any other king, it could have been like the greatest drama, right? The Odyssey movie just came out.

He could have secured the throne of Israel for himself and for his family in that moment, and it would've been over in an instant.

But David chose to not only believe in the anointing on his life, but believe that Saul still had a chance to be different and turn to God and rely on Him for his suce- his success and for his family You see, we must be careful not to confuse what feels right for w- uh, true obedience to God.

Yes.

'Cause at every ch- every chance that Saul had later on in his life, he could, he could have waited for the priest, but he said, "I must sacrifice to the Lord.

I haven't done anything, so I must do it," rather than obeying in what God had already set for Israel, right? He had the victory in hand, and rather than saying, "I'm gonna trust that the Lord wants everything," he said, "I'll keep some back and choose what is the right sacrifice for the Lord."

So we must be careful not to confuse what feels right for re- for true obedience to God.

Good.

Second thing today, a generation that is different will repent and return when we have sinned A generations that's different will repent and return when we have sin.

So we see Saul, right? He's kinda-- He's, he's starting to get a little shaky, right? We know that he's disobedient.

We know that he kinda takes things into his own hands.

But Saul really starts to take a turn after, uh, David enters his service and the people of Israel start crying out and praising David's name.

He starts to get a little worried.

He starts to see the writing on the wall, right? That Samuel had already prophesied that the kingship would no longer be his.

Uh, and yet early on in the life, we see again a characteristic of Saul in s- in 1 Samuel 15, where we see that when he is caught out in these moments where he has been disobedient or he chose not to trust in the Lord, we see that he, he doesn't truly understand what it means to repent and return to the Lord.

In 1 Samuel 15:20-31, it says this.

1 Samuel 15:20–31

It says, "Samuel said to Saul," it says, 'The Lord has torn the kingship of Israel away from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.'"

Ouch.

"Furthermore, the Eternal One of Israel does not lie or change his mind, for he is not man who changes his mind.

Saul said-" You got me, I sinned.

He said, "I sinned."

But check out the immediate thing he says after that.

He says, "I have sinned; please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel.

Come back with me now so I can bow and worship to the Lord your God."

And S-Samuel goes on, he goes with him, but it's that immediate response.

He said, "Ah, I have sinned," but, "But do we need to let the people know? Would you really abandon me? Would you please do me the honor of coming before the people of Israel so that they will know that I am still their king?" He says, "And when we do that, I'll, I'll worship the Lord.

I'll make sure everything is right."

But he had that...

It's almost like the you're explaining something and you go, "But," and it kinda negates everything that goes for it, before it.

Yeah.

For you see, true reprnt- re- true repentance requires humility.

He wasn't willing to accept that what he had done against God, how he had broken His command, and how he had chose not to trust Him was that big of a deal.

He said, "Surely the Lord anointed me, and surely He will do it again."

Right? But when we look to David, we see somebody whose heart is humble.

We see somebody whose heart is truly sold out for God because when David sinned, because keep in mind, although David started out strong and we see that he had cho- he'd at an early age chosen to be part of a different generation that relied on God for their success, we also know that David made mistakes.

He made some big mistakes, y'all.

In fact, like, I mean, we won't get into all the details, but he got involved with a woman he shouldn't have, and it was true daytime television played out.

He had the husband killed, he took on the baby, and he was like, "Cool.

We're cool.

It's all good.

We're cool.

It's all good.

God anointed me.

We'll just keep moving."

And yet David gets called out on his sin.

If you go to 2 Samuel chapter 12, so we gotta go one book forward, we'll see that there was a prophet by the name of Nathan, and he actually calls David out in the same way that Samuel called out Saul.

2 Samuel 12 · chapter mention

But David's response is so different from Saul's.

If you go to 2 Samuel chapter 12 verse 13, we see after Nathan, he gives David this whole parable about how somebody had all these sheep, his neighbor had one, and the one with all the sheep goes and steals the one.

2 Samuel 12:13

David's like, "Kill that man.

I can't believe he would do that.

Who would do that?" And Nathan looks him straight in the face and he says, "That's you.

You, you, you did that.

You, you had everything and you decided to, to take your neighbor's wife."

And so here in verse, uh, 13 or, uh, yeah, verse 13 it says, "David responded to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the Lord.'"

Very similar response to, to King Saul.

If you jump down to verse 20, we will see that his actions were completely different.

You see, Nathan handed a judgment immediately to David.

He said, "Unfortunately, you have sinned, and it's great that you admitted that, but the Lord is still going to require payment from you, and he is actually going to take the life of the child, uh, that will come from your sin."

And in fact, the child does get sick, but here is David's response.

In verse 20 it says, "Then, uh, David got up from the ground after his child had died.

He washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes, went to the Lord's house and worshiped.

And, uh, then when he went home and requested something to eat, so they served him food and he ate."

And his servants were beside themselves.

They're like, "Why would you do this?" And David said in 21 it says, his servants asked him, "What did you just do? While the baby was alive, you fasted and wept, but when he died, you got up and ate food."

David answered them, "While the baby was alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, 'Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let him live.'"

You see, David had a truly repentant heart, and at the m- the moment that the blinders came off and he recognized that his heart was no longer turned towards the Lord, he tore his clothes, he fasted, he wept.

And yes, it was for his child, but it was also for the state of his heart, because after this, we do not see another time where David turns his heart from the Lord.

David had realized that he had allowed h- uh, his, his mindset to shift from relying on God to relying on his own capabilities After this, we see that David went to live righteously before his family.

We know in 1 Kings, uh, in, uh, in chapter two that David would go on to set up and, and set the stage for his son Solomon.

A couple weeks ago, I actually was up here again, and I preached to you guys on the fact that we are built to last, and I preached this same verse, uh, in 1 Kings chapter two, verses two through four that says, "I am about to go the way of all the earth."

He said, "So be strong and act like a man."

Sound familiar? "Be strong and act like a man and observe what the Lord your God requires.

Walk in obedience to him.

Keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations as written in the Law of Moses.

Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go and that the Lord may keep his promise to me.

If your descendants watch how they live and they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne."

You see, David had a heart for the Lord's kingdom.

He had a heart to, to not only trust in the Lord for his success, but also to repent and return when he was caught sinning Number three for today, a generation that is different will prepare the next generation.

David wasn't satisfied on just having a, a, a heart for the Lord himself.

He knew that after losing his child, he said, "I will never again let my house fall the same way that I did."

He continued to build up his house so that he would have a, a line on the throne and a kingdom that would go beyond him.

You see, when we look at Saul's life, it's actually a little sad because Saul had a really awesome son named Jonathan.

He was best friend to David.

He would go on to save David, David's life.

Uh, Isra- like, Jonathan had done many, many amazing things, uh, in terms of, like, battling and winning battles for, uh, for the Lord.

He himself had great faith in what God could do.

Uh, and yet, there is not one time where we see Saul building a future for his son.

We never see Saul encourage Jonathan to pursue after the Lord.

We never hear Saul talk about how his son Jonathan will be the one that will lead God's people.

We only see mentions of Jonathan's successes and his own faith.

And ultimately, Saul's lack of preparation left his son fighting for a moment rather than his future, right? And I, I would hate for us to become a generation that misses this because we need to be a generation that is so t- committed to God that we think back to Psalms 102 verse eight that says, "Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that people yet to be created may praise the Lord."

We have to look beyond ourselves, look beyond the moment, and even if we are living in the promise of God, to look beyond what the Lord has already delivered us, to see how we can pull the next generation along with us so that the church will remain alive and healthy You see, David, again, he had a vision and a heart for God's house.

David trained Solomon to live for God and lead the people.

1 Chronicles, uh, uh, chapter 29, verse 19 talks of the devotion that David had for getting his family to honor the Lord with their life.

David made declarations like this.

He said in verse 19, he says, he said, "And give my son Solomon the wholehearted devotion to keep your commands, statues, and decrees, and to do everything to build the palace structure for which I have provided."

See, David's passion for God would set the stage for Solomon and all of Israel.

We know that Solomon's story would go on when he accepts the kingship.

God would challenge him, and he said, he would say to him, "Ask anything, and I'll give it to you.

You are the new king of Israel.

If you ask anything, I will give it to you."

And Solomon asks for wisdom because I believe he had a father that prepared him for that moment to take the next generation of Israel into even further glory for the Lord.

See, sometimes I think it's hard for us, even when we reach those, those mountaintop moments, to believe that there is an even greater glory awaiting for us.

But God knows no bounds, and it is not our glory that we go for, but we sometimes limit it or say, "We got, I got mine.

Thank you, Lord.

What's the next thing?" But it's on a different mountaintop.

We don't stay where the, the, where the Lord has taken to us and say, "Lord, let's go higher."

'Cause I don't know about you, but I wanna be like Moses.

I want to ascend the mountain and not just be happy that I ascended the mountain and got some stone tablets written on.

I want to see the glory of heaven open before me, and I wanna see the, the, the, the, uh, the hem of God's robe fill the Earth, right? There are greater glories to see when we pursue Him and we begin to prepare this next generation You see, David knew that God and God alone would secure him and the next generation.

Look at the, look at the passion of David's heart.

In Psalm 27:4-5 it says, "One thing I ask from the Lord, one thing I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.

Psalms 27:4–5

For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high on a rock."

David first and foremost had a zeal and a passion for the Lord that was unshakable.

It didn't matter if he, if he got off, uh, off his path for a little bit, he could repent and return because he was set on being a generation that would be different.

He was set on taking that passion and zeal and seeing it alive in the next generation.

Church, when we have a heart for God, we will have a heart for God's house.

We need to have a passion to see what we have here spread beyond CityPlace, spread to our new building.

Pa- uh, Pastor Damon is so intentional, you guys.

We have zip codes that we pray over regularly because we know that the Lord has placed CityPlace Church here to affect those zip codes.

There are over 100,000 people in, like, a five-zip-code district from us, and we have been praying for the one, just 1%, that CityPlace Church would be able to impact that 1% and see them not only accept Jesus Christ, but be planted in the local body and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ So as I close, the band can start playing.

Last but not least, a generation that's different will be a generation that is strong and courageous.

Good.

Amen.

Because all of these things hinge on the fact that we are willing to be bold and strong and courageous for the Lord.

When we are strong and courageous, we will have the ability, the, the wherewithal to, to look at God's promises and say, "Lord, I trust you."

Yeah.

"Even in the waiting, I trust you."

Yeah.

Come on.

Personally, this is something that I have started walking through myself.

As most of you know, Becca and I are believing for, uh, an adoption, to, to, to adopt a child.

We started this process 18 months ago.

We thought we'd be done by now.

Thought we'd have a baby.

We thought, in fact, we thought by Easter we would have-- we would actually wouldn't even be here for Easter this year, because we had matched with a mother, and that mother chose to ch- uh, to parent that child.

And to God be the glory for that.

But it left us a little uncertain of what's happening, left us a little broken.

And here we are six months from that, not a single match.

And I don't say this to s- to say wa- to say woe on me, but we have to have faith that in our waiting seasons, in those tough seasons where we have been believing for God for so long, that He will continue to hold His promises true.

Yeah.

I look to scripture where, y'all honestly, sometimes I-- it's laughable that in our Western culture, our, our level of patience is, is so small.

There were people in the Bible that waited 40, 50 years for promises.

Longer.

Generations, they waited.

Yeah.

And so we have to be bold and courageous to say, "God, even on the worst day, I will believe that your promises still hold true."

Yeah.

We must be strong for us and the next generation, right? We must be bold and courageous to believe that they will take up the charge.

It's so easy to look on the generation, the generations below us and say, "They're so silly."

We might, we might say words that are worse than that, right? As Miss Marla like to say with her class, "They're a hot mess," and that is so true.

That is so true.

They are a hot mess.

But they also have such great capacity to be strong for the Lord.

Benny gave a challenge today in our dream team huddle and, and continued to hit home with the fact that David was a young man when he was called.

The prophet Samuel was a young man when he was called by the Lord.

The King Josiah, which was a king in Israel's time that, uh In fact, guys, the, the book of the law was lost.

Israel had no guidance.

They didn't have their scripture.

It was lost, and King Josiah at the year, uh, uh, at, at eight years old, found the book of the law and led the people of Israel back to the, back to glory, back to being able to trust in him, to repent and return, to prepare for the next generation.

We have to be bold and courageous to invest in these students, to recognize that you have something to offer.

Because sometimes it's not even about the students, it's about the lack of belief in yourself that you have something to offer the church that will go beyond yourself.

But the Lord of God, the Lord God, has, has called each and every person in this room to be a part of the church, to see it thriving, to s- to, to allow his glory to blossom in front of people that come inside this church.

He didn't just call some people a light on the hill.

He called the church a light on the hill, and if you're in this building, you are a part of that light I was trying to figure out how I could work in some of the, the points from, from ECYC because I have pages and pages of notes because we were blessed with speakers who are anointed by Lor- by the Lord to, to bring His scripture to us.

And on our third day, on Thursday, which is always one of the more intense days, we had a speaker that posed a story to me in a way that I had never seen before.

In Mark 4:35-41, I'll just read, I'll, I'll read it.

Mark 4:35–41

It says, "That day, when evening came, He said to His disciples, 'Let us go over to the other side,' leaving the crowd behind.

They took Him along just as He was, in the boat.

There were also other boats with Him.

And a furious storm came up and waves broke out over the boat so that it was nearly swamped.

Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion, and the disciples woke Him and said, 'Teacher, don't you care if we drown?' Then Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 'Quiet.

Be still.'

And the wind died down and it was completely calm."

And you might be asking why this story? Why talk about a storm? Because you'll remember Joshua 1:9, "Be, be bold and courageous."

Joshua 1:9

When David charged his son Solomon, he said, "Be strong and, and act like a man."

Church, we're gonna be called through storms.

We're gonna be called through tough times.

It's not an if, it's when.

And that's the reality of living for Christ, is that life is not going to be easy.

It was never promised to us.

We will have waiting seasons that are hard.

We will walk through deserts.

We will walk through wildernesses when the Lord will sometimes pull Him from us and see what our reaction is.

But we have to look to that storm and say, "I will be bold and courageous."

Because you see, here's the thing that I took away from the, from this, uh, particular verse, is that we have to go through the storm because do you know what the very next chapter in Mark is? Mark chapter 5 begins with a demon-possessed man that Jesus has to save.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

The disciples went through a storm to test their faith so that they could cross to the other side because there was a man who needed to be set free.

Church, as we look to be a different generation, as we look to rely on God for our successes, to have the ability to re- to humble ourselves and repent and return and prepare for the next generation, we have to have the ability to be strong and courageous, to walk through the hardest times of our life because on the other side there is somebody who is waiting for freedom in Jesus' name.

But we can only get there when we feel like there's no way that we can possibly cross to the other side.

And so my final question to the church today is will you be a part of this different generation? Will you commit yourself to be a different generation that will rely and trust on God in everything? Will you be a generation that will repent and return when we mess up? Will you be a different generation that prepares the next generation? And will you be a different generation that is bold and courageous? Thanks for joining us.

If you've been encouraged by this message, be sure to subscribe to the City Place Church podcast and we want to hear from you Post a picture on any of your social media outlets with the hashtag City Place Church to be a part of the conversation.

Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next time.