WHAT AM I PASSING DOWN? | Pastor Shaun Nepstad

We have been in a very fun series.

I didn't know how much I was gonna love this series.

Have you been enjoying it?

Last week we talked about Abraham.

Oh my gosh.

If you did not hear that sermon, go back and re-watch it on YouTube.

And we're revealing stuff from the scriptures, making connections I've never seen before.

So we're taking one Bible character a week and we are we're trying to unpack, give an overview.

I can't go into great detail on every aspect of their life, but I'm trying to create such a curiosity in you that you go back and you read the stories yourself.

Fall in love with the Bible again.

But today we're talking about Isaac.

It was Abraham, then Isaac, his son.

The Bible says this.

This is the first covenant that God made with Abraham.

Follow me, I'll build something, and then we'll I'll take you somewhere.

God said, I will make you into a great nation.

Which, by the way, when I was reading that yesterday, I was reminded of the word for the year is make ready.

God said, I'm gonna make you ready.

I'm gonna make you into a great nation.

I will bless you.

How many know anytime God blesses you, it's not just for you.

I'll make your name great and you will be a blessing.

I'll bless those who bless you, and I'll take care of those who curse you.

You don't have to do it.

I'll curse those who curse you, he said.

And all the people on the earth will be blessed.

Read this out loud.

Come on, say it again out loud.

Through you.

So that's a big promise.

God made a covenant, starts with Abraham, passes down to his son Isaac.

And last week we talked about how Isaac was offered as a sacrifice, and it's an incredible story.

By the way, God never intended and never was going to allow Isaac to die.

But it was a picture pointing to Jesus who would come one day to be the sacrificial lamb of God.

Come on, everybody.

Like God stopped Abraham.

God would not stop himself from offering his own son.

Anybody grateful for Jesus taking our place as a sacrificial lamb to pay for sin?

But how many know after that day, Isaac had some stories in him?

I can imagine.

Anytime he didn't get a toy, his dad said no at the store.

He's probably like, You want me to tell mom what you almost did?

No, he wasn't a kid.

He was actually 25 to 37 years old when that happened.

And he he learned faith from his dad.

And I want to talk to you about this is very important.

As we are starting the journey from where faith began, it started with Abraham, but you need to know this: God's a generational God.

He's the God of Abraham, he's the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.

Say Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.

All through the Bible, about 12 times, God is referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And this is important because there's a chosen lineage that God started this whole thing with.

And the promise, the covenant that he gave Abraham, which passed to Isaac and Jacob, and then beyond, it included land, boundaries, a great nation, and then blessing to all nations, and then a lineage that would ultimately include Jesus Christ.

42 generations beyond from Abraham came Jesus.

And this is the next verse.

He said, I will establish my covenant.

It's bigger than a contract.

This is like unbreakable.

Between me and you and your come on your descendants after you.

I fear that most times we're only coming to church to receive a blessing and we're not thinking about passing it on.

If you're not careful, you only think about yourself.

And somebody posed this to me one time.

If all your prayers were answered, if every prayer you ever prayed was answered, would it only benefit you?

Or are you thinking about the next generation?

So it starts with Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob.

But but it doesn't go to every single son.

There are covenant carriers.

It didn't just go to Ishmael, it went through Isaac.

Isaac had two boys, uh Jacob and Esau.

It didn't go to Esau, it went through Jacob.

So these covenant carriers, and then New Testament, I'm laying the groundwork now.

Peter's preaching and he refers to the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus.

He's tying Jesus back to the covenant patriarchs, the very beginning.

And if we break this down, I want you to understand this framework.

Because Abraham, he is the pioneer.

Jacob, the grandkid, he becomes, he becomes really the father of the nation.

And Isaac is somewhere in the middle.

He's almost like a bridge between the promise and the fulfillment.

So he's he's very, it's very important.

His role.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.

Abraham is the father of the faith.

Isaac's the son.

Now here's something about Isaac, maybe a lot of people miss.

He never left the land of promise.

He's the only one.

Abraham came from Ur.

Jacob would leave for a while.

Isaac never left the land.

Okay, watch.

That's not accidental.

That's theology.

Because he represents inheritance.

He represents what God's given.

So write this down.

This is not in the notes, but I'll give you this.

I'll throw this in for free.

Okay, you're getting a you're getting a deal.

Abraham represented the promise given.

Jacob represented the promise expanded.

Isaac in the middle, he represents the promise preserved.

It's very important.

Abraham, promise given.

Jacob, promise expanded.

You need somebody in the middle to preserve it.

In other words, Isaac didn't build the covenant, but he did carry it.

You can be a carrier of God's promises for the next generation.

Watch this.

God tells Isaac, stay in the land for a while, and I'll be with you and I'll bless you.

Sound familiar?

Yeah, God said that to his dad.

For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands.

Sound familiar?

Yeah, he told Abraham the same thing.

I'll confirm the oath.

I swore to your father, Abraham, I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars.

He said the same thing to his father in the sky, and I'll give them all these lands, and through you and your offspring, all the nations of the earth will be blessed, said it to his father.

But this is the phrase that jumped out at me this week.

Because Abraham obeyed me.

I'll do all this because Abraham obeyed me.

Did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees, and my instructions.

That one phrase, because Abraham believed me.

Watch, watch.

Isaac is now living in the blessing of the Lord because his father obeyed God.

Look, your faith can impact the future blessings of future generations.

I don't think we think about this or talk about this enough.

And when a famine came, everybody's bouncing to Egypt to go get food and everything.

God told him, Don't do that.

Don't do what you're feeling.

I'm gonna give you instructions.

Don't go to Egypt, stay here.

And he stayed there and obeyed God.

Okay, watch.

Where in the world did he learn how to trust and obey God?

His father.

His father obeyed God.

He saw his father leave everything to follow God.

He saw the faith in his dad on Mount Moriah.

He saw his dad build altars of worship.

He saw his dad pray.

He saw his dad teach him how to give.

And I say that because parents, listen to me, it's so much more than just bringing your kids to church.

Isaac learned how to be a man of God by his father's faith.

His father implemented this.

He saw faith lived out in front of him.

And parents, we're told early on in the Bible to teach our kids.

The Bible says, in these words, God said, which I command you today, shall first, first, hey, it's got to be in your heart, and then you shall teach your your uh teach them diligently, systematically, intentionally to your children.

How?

Talk about them when you sit down in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up.

Like look at the pattern.

How do when should we talk about God?

All the time.

When you're driving in the minivan and they're spilling French fries on the car, talk about God.

When you're when you're putting them down to bed, don't don't sing them them dumb songs.

Rockaby baby on a treetop.

When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.

That cradle's gonna fall.

Sweet dreams, honey.

What are we talking about?

You just told them they're gonna fall from a tree.

They don't need some dumb nursery songs.

They need the word of God.

Teach them David and Goliath, teach them Jesus, teach them Peter and Paul and Ruth, Esther, teach them the word of God.

When?

All the time.

Every time we would jump in the car, to this day.

I mean, the girls have their own cars now, but when they were little, I'd say, somebody pray.

Just teaching them how to pray.

Talk about God at the dinner table.

When you put them down to sleep before they go to school, teach them the pattern of God because the faith of God was never meant to just stay in church buildings.

It was meant to be distributed in families and in households.

Can I hear a good amen?

And children hear a lot more about what how we live than what we say.

So Isaac didn't just hear his dad talk about faith.

He saw altars built.

He heard prayers that his dad was praying.

He saw sacrifices being made.

Obedience lived up.

And the next generation is watching us.

They're watching how we respond to hardship.

They're watching how we respond to blessing.

They're watching if we panic like the world does right now, or if we carry a confidence and a trust and a peace of God.

So they're watching.

And since they're watching, come on, everybody, let's show them how to love God.

They're watching how we worship, they're watching how we serve, they're watching how we tithe or not tithe.

They're watching how we give or not give.

They're watching how we talk about the bride of Christ and the church and leadership.

They're listening all the time.

And what real faith looks like, it's got to be passed on to the next generation.

Here's why.

Because God is a covenant generational God.

He's the God of Abraham, He's the God of Isaac, He's the God of Jacob.

And watch this.

God, He is that generational God because He loves generational faith.

He never wanted this thing to die with one generation.

And one generation starts it, another generation carries it, another generation multiplies it.

So here's the question: which one are you gonna be?

And if this faith was not passed down to you, here's my advice: let it begin with you.

Come on, you be the one to begin to build a generation, a lineage of faith.

It's gotta start with somebody, might as well be you.

Amen, Sean.

Good preaching.

So Abraham believed the promise.

Isaac carried the promise.

Jacob multiplied the promise.

Oh, don't miss next week.

Oh, I'm gonna talk about Jacob.

It is spicy.

Do not miss next weekend.

But the faith was not just taught.

It's demonstrated.

Fathers, let this be the you you step up.

Mothers, let this be the you you step up.

Let our kids see moms and dads who love God, who teach your kids about the word of God, teach them how to worship.

And and I want you, watch, I want you to begin to teach your kids the Bible, the word of God, like if you didn't do it, they would never get it.

With that level of intentional responsibility.

Because a lot of parents, they just they throw all the spiritual growth and responsibility for their kids on a youth pastor or a church.

We're not called to just pastor your kids.

You're called to pastor your kids.

So teach them.

You be the priests of your home and you watch.

Oh, you watch.

When you do it, God's gonna bless it.

Even if you do it awkward, God's gonna bless that.

These kids are gonna get this, it's gonna be generational because God is faithful.

So you pass on the baton.

But button, watch this.

In order to pass on a baton, you have to at least first have a baton.

Listen, you cannot pass on what you do not possess yourself.

So let's be moms and dads who love God.

Let's be moms and dads who pray.

Let's be moms and dads who serve.

Let's be moms and dad who show them how to trust the Bible because it'll shape them for their destinies.

You're gonna pass down blessing that'll that'll be with them for the rest of their life.

When a mentor mentors you, legacy is not just giving you stuff and money and inheritance, it's they pass down the spirit of who they are in you.

So let's pass that down to our children.

Amen, everybody.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.

Now, a lot of stuff in Isaac's life.

He would mess up sometimes.

He lied about his wife being his sister, just like his daddy did.

So there's some stuff that was passed down there too.

But one particular thing that stood out to me in Genesis 26 is that Isaac would redig the wells that his father Abraham dug.

Doesn't seem too significant, but as I explain it, you're gonna sense the weight of it in just a second.

Abraham dug wells, then he died.

Here's how the story goes.

The Philistines, who were the enemies of God's people back then, they came after Abraham died and they started to throw dirt in the wells.

And then Isaac comes along and clears the dirt out of the wells.

Okay, watch.

The Bible says God blessed Isaac so much, he became so rich, so wealthy.

Business people, by the way, you don't need to go to the world for business strategies.

Come to the Bible.

I'm talking about God's word has things that can help you in your business.

Matter of fact, business people do this.

Proverbs, the book of Proverbs, has 31 chapters.

Read one chapter every day.

I guarantee you, I guarantee you, you will learn business strategies that you didn't know about and character strategies you didn't know about.

It'll help you be a better leader and a business entrepreneur and a leader.

So so he's being blessed, but how many know not everybody's happy when you succeed?

So the Philistines look at him like, we gotta stop this dude.

Uh, what do we do?

Let's mess with this money.

So they came over and they start putting dirt in all the wells of his father.

And to us today, that's not a big deal.

You're like, all right, we got a little dirt in the water.

No, no, no, you don't understand.

Back then, that is a big deal.

Because where they lived in Gerrara, it's a it's the edge of the desert.

Water was like gold.

And to have a well in a land, you were basically laying stake to and claim to the land.

So archaeologists have actually discovered these ancient locking mechanisms that would be over the well to protect the well.

So when somebody threw dirt in your well, that's not a college prank.

It was an act of war.

So they're trying to destroy Isaac completely.

And in the desert, they know whoever controls the wells controls the future.

They were trying to control Isaac.

But something that they missed, something they didn't understand was that they thought the wells was Isaac's source.

But they didn't know the well wasn't Isaac's source, God was.

Oh, listen to me, church.

There might be some people that try to block your opportunities.

There might be some people that try to sabotage you.

Listen, that source didn't come from your job.

Your platform's not your source, those followers aren't your source, that opportunity's not your God is your source, and if God's your source, listen to me, then nobody, and I mean nobody, can shut off your supply.

There are two types of people in the world though.

People who dig wells and people who plug them up.

Two different types of people in the world.

Some people they build, other people tear down.

Some people plug wells, some people throw dirt.

You see this in conversations.

There are some people who are life-giving, encouraging, other people are critical all the time.

What are they doing?

They're throwing dirt, they're filling wells.

Some people have so much vision, other people are poking holes and everything.

Some people come in and light up a room, some people suck the life out of a room.

You just get to decide who you're gonna be.

Are you redigging wells or are you gonna throw some dirt in people's wells?

And here's what's what they knew: when the wells get muddy, listen, people stop drinking.

They stopped going to the wells.

So Isaac, watch this.

He redug the wells that his father dug originally.

Now, instead of going to fight for new territory, conquer new land, he just went back to the very wells that his father first discovered.

You're not getting it.

Let me give it to you this way.

Sometimes revival isn't finding new water, it's just uncovering old wells.

Revival isn't always innovation.

Come on, sometimes it's restoration.

Sometimes it's just we always think revival is like it's gotta be something new, gotta be a new idea, a new system, new movement.

No, sometimes revival is just simply returning to what once flowed and it's just been buried, and we have to recover it again.

Because the water's always been there.

Water, the source has always been, it's just been covered up by time and distraction and neglect.

And so he begins to redig these wells, and it's interesting, even the names of the wells.

The first one's called Esek.

The first well is named Esek, that means contention.

The second well is Sitna, that means hostility.

Ironically, the word sitna comes from the same root word as Satan.

And then the third word, third well, is Reoboth.

That means room.

It means wide open space.

And even if you look at the progression of this, you see first conflict, then opposition, and then room made ready.

Let me give you to this way.

If you dig and follow God long enough, he will eventually make room.

Come on, he didn't stop at one well, he kept digging and digging and digging.

And we're using this as an analogy because isn't it interesting how the devil tries to plug up our wells?

These wells that God has given that were meant to be refreshing for us, the devil's been trying to come and throw dirt in these wells.

The Philistines, they they didn't they didn't remove the wells, they just covered them because they knew something.

If you stop the wells, you stop life.

They were trying to kill Isaac, not directly, but indirectly.

And the Bible says that the Philistines, verse 15, they filled the wells with earth.

Let me say it another way.

They filled the wells with the world.

How much of the world are you gonna allow in your wells?

How much dirt from the world are you gonna be allowed to throw onto the wells in your life?

Because Abraham dug the well.

Isaac comes and reopens the well.

And listen, the devil does the same thing today.

He fills our wells of peace and joy and forgiveness and salvation.

He fills it with busyness and comfort and compromise and distraction and familiarity.

Come on, the water's still there, it's just been buried.

The devil knows you don't have to remove the water, you just have to bury it.

So that's what happened spiritually today.

Presence of God, still there.

Hey, the truth of God's word, still there.

Grace, still there.

Peace, it's still there.

You think it's not there, it's still there, it's just been filled with mud.

And pretty soon we have believers who stop drinking because they feel like the well's dry.

The well is not dry, it's just been buried.

Here's what I love.

Isaac didn't complain about it.

He just grabbed the shovel and started digging.

Hey, here's a great word you need to learn.

It's a valuable word.

Here's the word you need to learn.

It's the word until.

How long do I have to dig?

Until.

Until you find God, until you find purpose, until your marriage is healed, until those kids come back, until dig and dig again.

Because Isaac could have said, he could have been like, Man, why am I gonna go redig what somebody else has already dug?

He knew I'm gonna go redig because there's inheritance in the ground that belongs to me.

There's inheritance that God has put in place, and the devil's tried to bury it.

I'm here to tell you, it belongs to you.

That peace, it belongs to you.

Salvation, it belongs to you.

Don't let the devil bury these wells, and and pretty soon we don't even go back to them anymore.

You think about it.

He he he just removed the dirt, and pretty soon water began to flow again.

Here's something else I saw.

These wells were meant, they were created for every generation to drink from.

Say generation.

So here's what happened the Philistines covered the well.

Isaac redug the well.

How?

Watch it, he got the mud out.

Look at me, look at me, look at me.

If we don't clean the wells, our kids will drink muddy water.

They will have a wrong view of God.

And what happens is many people, when they have a water that is cloudy, it's unusable, it's ineffective, they they stop returning to it.

So what did Isaac do?

He redug.

I looked that word up.

It's not even an English word conversationally, but it is your calling.

We're called to redig some wells.

Can I hear an amen?

The enemy doesn't remove the wells, he just buries them.

And notice something very important, Genesis 26.

They didn't destroy the wells, they just covered them with dirt.

And here's why.

If you bury a well, eventually people even forget it's there.

There are some wells that believers have forgotten are even there because they've been buried for so long.

And the devil doesn't.

When stress and worry and panic happens in the world, we don't even go back to God and the wells He's given us.

We go to these otherworldly wells that don't have the capacity to give us what we need.

Are you hearing what I'm preaching?

So there's some wells we need to redig today.

Let me give you four.

Write these down.

Uh there's a lot more, and I won't have time to get into all of them in detail, but you'll get the idea, all right?

First well we need to redig is the well of prayer and fasting.

Come on, church.

This well has been buried, and people don't pray much today.

Matter of fact, there is an entire generation that does not know how to pray.

They feel uncomfortable praying.

Isn't it crazy how the devil will put so much dirt on the well of prayer and fasting that we don't know how to pray?

The very basic fundamental communication to our God and believers who have access to God feel uncomfortable.

We don't even go to the well anymore because it's been buried.

This will have a profound negative impact on the next generation if we don't teach them how to pray.

And if you're uncomfortable, most people are uncomfortable praying.

Like if I said, hey, could you come up here real quick?

Just come up here on the mic and pray.

Most of you would vomit in your mouth a little bit.

There'd be a couple people that would die.

Because you'd suffer from panic attacks.

You would have performance anxiety.

You would feel like, I gotta get up here and I gotta sound like somebody else.

You don't need to sound like anybody.

If you can talk, you can pray.

It's as simple as that.

And and by the way, you were uncomfortable in first grade, the first day of school.

Did you drop out?

No.

You kept on going.

You were uncomfortable the first day of that new job.

Did you quit the second day?

No.

You showed up.

Why are we gonna let comfort dictate whether we grow or not today?

If you're uncomfortable praying, start praying.

One of the greatest questions we had at our marriage conference.

I'm so glad this guy asked it.

It seems elementary, but it's a powerful power, it's gonna help a lot of people.

He said, I'm uncomfortable praying for my wife.

How do I get comfortable?

And my answer was very deep.

I said, start praying for your wife.

There's no other way.

There's no substitute for reps.

Start praying.

You do it awkward until it's not awkward anymore.

Come on, church.

We have to redig these wells.

Start talking to God again.

First Thessalonians says that you pray without ceasing.

You can't pray without digging.

You have to pray.

When you're digging, you're digging through feelings.

We don't always feel like praying.

Pray anyway.

I don't always know what to say.

Pray anyway.

And so we actually have a well that we dig on Wednesday nights.

It's a prayer meeting, 7:30.

We just call on the name of the Lord.

This is a place to practice on how to pray.

Come on, we're gonna redig the well of prayer.

Second well is the this is big.

This is the redig the well of the health of praise and worship.

The hell, I'm not talking about songs, I'm talking about literal praise and worship.

Because you need both praise and worship.

Let me just deal with praise for a second.

The Bible says in Isaiah, to give them beauty for ashes, the joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

If you take out praise, joy, laughter from the church, then people are stuck just carrying the heaviness and the weight of the world.

When you come in, why are we singing these fast songs of praise?

It's not to get you in a good mood.

It's breakthrough time.

We're taking our heaviness, saying, God, here's my heaviness, but I'm not going to focus on what weight I'm carrying.

I'm focusing on the glory of King Jesus.

Come on, the Bible says in Psalm 150, let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.

But let me explain something.

Praise is not praise unless it is spoken or shown.

Because you cannot show me a place in the Bible where somebody praised God unless it was spoken, shown, or sung.

And I say that because we come in and we're like, no, that's not how I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I have my own way of praising the Lord.

We don't have a way.

Praise is an outward expression of adoration to God for who he is, for what he's done.

And so our church writes worship songs, praise songs, and we're very careful on the words that we choose for FC music because we want to make sure these songs are to God and about God.

Because right now there's a lot of songs out there.

They're good songs.

You just can't call them worship songs and praise songs unless they're about Him.

A lot of them are about us.

Like, hey, you can do this, you could do this, you're this, you're that.

Okay, that's encouraging.

It's not worship, though.

It's an encouraging song.

We need praise songs that go right to God.

Vertical.

Amen, everybody.

Come on, let's learn to worship his majesty, to sing of his glory, to thank him for who he is.

Let's lift our hands together.

Let's begin to praise out loud, sing out loud.

Even some of you, some of y'all can't sing.

It's okay.

The Bible says make a joyful noise, okay?

So you're still included.

We praise God not to be a distraction, not to draw attention to us.

We're giving glory to King Jesus for his goodness and his grace.

He is worth worthy and deserving of all of our praise.

We should be comfortable and praise and worship.

But the devil's thrown, he's thrown dirt on that well of praise and worship to now people come in and they they watch other people worship on stage and praise, but they're not praising.

We should be very comfortable praising God.

How do you get comfortable?

You start doing it.

It starts half mass, you know.

Your hands are here, and pretty soon they're here.

Pretty soon as I see some of y'all, it starts in the foot.

It's okay.

Give God a foot praise.

So I start there.

That's good, good.

Pretty soon we need to be free.

Come on.

Our kids need to see hands lifted, tears streaming down our face.

We praise God.

Without, hey, kids, without God, we'd be lost.

Let's give Him glory.

You getting anything out of this?

This is a big one.

This is a big well we have to redig respect for the Bible.

Oh, there's been a lot of dirt thrown on this well to the point where people are not even going to the well of the Bible anymore.

And I'm telling you, we need to teach that the Word of God has the final say.

Average Christian feels like they can just cherry pick the Bible.

I'm gonna just take a verse here, a verse there, but not all the Bible.

And what happens is you're trying to survive in life based on an inspirational quote from social media instead of the Bible.

We are basing our life on this book.

We need to read the book.

And then what some people are like, ah, the Bible's flawed.

You haven't even read it.

Study the Bible, study how we got it.

I have some sermons on how we got the Bible.

Is it trustworthy?

We have 5,000 original manuscripts more than any other book in the world that proves the existence of Jesus and the burial, the cross, the resurrection, more than anybody else in the world.

And yet people are like deconstructionists and professors and podcasters trying to destroy the Bible.

We're giving more attention and time listening to their voice than we are God's voice.

No wonder, no wonder we're not going to the well anymore.

There's been dirt thrown on it.

And some people complain, I'm not being fed.

No, there's a difference between not being fed and not eating what's in front of you.

Read the word of God every day.

Because otherwise it causes confusion.

And when our world collides with the word of God, only one surrenders.

So Paul said, all scripture.

How much of it?

All scripture.

All scripture.

Is God breathed?

That was me rewinding the tape.

Is God breathed and is useful for what?

Teaching us, rebuking us, correcting us, training us in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Come on, clap your hands for the Bible.

Yeah.

Hey, do you remember the first time you got on an airplane?

How intently you listened to those instructions?

They got on a little speaker.

They started telling you in the instructions.

You set your phone down, you looked at it, told your friend, zip it and listen.

You got the manual out, you're following line by line.

You acted like you've never put a seatbelt on before.

They're telling you how to put a seatbelt on, you're like, yeah, okay.

You're looking around for the exits.

You're making sure your seat really doesn't turn into a flotation device.

You're paying attention to every word.

And now you don't pay attention to anything they say.

Pop the ear pods in, go to sleep.

Watch.

Your attitude is now.

I know, I I know all this, I know, I know, I know.

Ignoring the instructions you once held dear.

Sound familiar?

Do you remember when you first became a Christian?

How intently you listened to the word of God, how open your heart was.

Yes, Lord.

You it's revelation.

I'm taking notes.

And now, after a few years, if you're not careful, dirt's thrown on that well.

You turn around, you're like, man, I already know this.

Come on, it's time to redig some wells.

Read the Bible every day.

Take notes, honor the word of God, press through your feeling.

Let God's word be a lamp into your feet and a light into your pathway.

Amen.

Somebody.

All right, last one.

We need to redig the well of purpose and serving.

Redig this well.

Many people live and die and never find purpose.

Here's a big problem, okay?

Big problem is that I believe we have learned how to attend church instead of be the church.

And we think by simply attending church that we're we're we're giving the ultimate sacrifice of what it means to follow Jesus.

No, you're called to serve.

We here's something funny.

We love the term servant until somebody starts treating us like one.

Oh, I'm just a servant.

And then you're treating like one, you're like, I'm not a doormat, okay?

Jesus told us, if you want to be great, hey, nothing wrong with want to be great.

You want to be great?

It's great.

But Jesus shows us what greatness looks like.

The greatest among you.

Servant.

And for those who exalt themselves, you will be humbled.

But if you humble yourself, God will exalt you.

There's there's something that we have called growth track.

This growth track is not, it's not just there if you need it.

I want everybody to go through it.

Because this is a three-week class.

It starts typically the first Sunday of every month, but for Easter, we're gonna take Easter off, and then we'll start at the second Sunday, just so you know.

But this is a class where you hear the vision of the church.

Second week, we give you a spiritual gifts assessment because you're all gifted in some area and some of you don't know it.

There's gold in you.

We'll help you to find it.

And then the third week is there's an interview.

Like, hey, if you agree with our statement of faith, our values, you carry the culture here, you're gonna get on the team, start serving, start building.

You're gonna come alive because you're using your gifts to make a difference in other people.

That's what's missing in so many people's lives.

We would take our kids serving with us on the outreaches, they'd serve with us in kids' areas.

We'd serve whatever age group our kids were, we served in that.

Our kids were in kids' church, we're over there serving.

They're in youth group, I'm coming to youth group.

Like, I just wanted them to know mom and dad are serving alongside of you.

We'll show you how to do this thing.

And they begin to find it themselves, and now they serve.

I'm afraid that there's so many believers that want water without work, they want treasure without turmoil, they want to be spiritually blessed without prayer, they want revival without obeying the word of God, they want breakthrough without consistency.

That's not how this thing works.

Grace is free.

But I'm telling you, you're gonna have to get your hand on a shovel.

You're gonna have to start digging because the devil's been throwing dirt on these wells.

And the Bible says the Philistines kept throwing dirt on the wells.

Well, guess what?

Just because you cleared out today doesn't mean the devil's never gonna try again tomorrow.

He's banking on the fact that you're not, you're gonna be too tired tomorrow, that you'll stop believing and going to the wells that God's given tomorrow, because he's trying to outlast you.

You have to outlast him.

So I wrote a book called Don't Quit in the Dip.

Yeah, don't quit in the dip, but don't also don't quit in the dig.

Dig again.

You'll hit water.

Like revival happens when somebody says, I'm going back to the well and I'm gonna dig until.

Let me close with this.

Many people miss this.

Many people have never seen this before.

Do you remember John chapter 4?

John 4 · chapter mention

There's a story of a woman at the well.

Jesus is at the well, and a woman comes, the Bible says, in the heat of the day alone.

Which we know she probably had a bad reputation because women would come together in groups in the morning or in the evening in the cool of the day.

Never alone, never in the heat of the day.

So she probably has a bad reputation.

She's just coming by herself.

Jesus is there, sparks up a conversation with her, and she says, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you're a Jew, I'm a Samaritan.

Oh, what are we what are you talking to me for?

We don't talk to each other.

Anybody grateful, Jesus crosses racial boundaries.

So watch this.

He says, Can I have a drink?

And and she's like, Oh, you know, him and an on.

And then Jesus answers that, girl, if you knew the gift of God, who was that asked you for a drink?

You would ask him, and he would give you living water.

Anybody who drinks from this water, they're gonna be thirsty again.

Water I give, they'll never thirst.

So this woman bel she comes to faith in Jesus, goes back and becomes an evangelist to her whole village.

The whole village comes to believe in Jesus.

But you ready for the great reveal?

This is this is big.

Sir, the woman said, Have you nothing to draw water with?

Well is deep.

And where can you get this living water?

Are you greater than our father?

Jacob, who gave us this.

Abraham dug a well.

Isaac redug the well.

Isaac taught his son Jacob how to dig wells.

And now this well, 1,000 years later, is being used as a sermon illustration by Jesus Christ Himself to save a lost and broken woman.

I'm telling you, the wells we protect may just become the place where somebody meets Jesus one day.

Listen to me.

You're not just digging for you, you're digging for the next generation.

And the wells you protect today become the water that the next generation drinks from.

So the water is still there.

It's not gone, it hasn't disappeared.

God still has wells.

All you have to do is be dedicated to dig because God's not run out of living water, he's not run out of hope, he's not run out of salvation or forgiveness.

We've just stopped going to the wells because the devil has thrown dirt on them.

So my plea to you is dig again.

Dig into the Bible again, dig into prayer again, dig into fasting again, dig into praise and worship again, dig into serving again because God is a generational God.

And the wells that the previous generation dug, listen, we're now responsible for.

And we're gonna let the next generation drink the living water, the grace of Jesus Christ.

Amen, somebody.

Come on, clap your hands and say good amen.

Would you bow your heads with me?

I know God's talking to a lot of us in a different way.

You watching online and in this room, there's some areas, some wells that have been polluted.

And today, God's encouraging you to get a shovel, give time and effort to begin to redig the wells.

And I believe we're gonna find a new season of refreshing as a church.

Thank God for the life of Isaac, what he teaches us.

But God wants you to be somebody that helps pass this on to.

If you're here and you say, Sean, my life isn't right with God, but I want it to be.

I'm gonna lead you in a commitment prayer.

You can pray right where you are.

Watching online in this room, in just a moment, I'm gonna lead you in the prayer.

But if you are there or you are once close to God, but you've drifted away where you're not as close as you used to be, and you want to recommit your life to God because you're straight.

Listen, God's arms are wide open.

The door's wide open to recommit your life to Him today.

So on the count of three, I'm just gonna ask you to lift your hand.

If you're saying, Sean, count me in that prayer when you pray it.

I'm giving my life to God today.

I want Jesus to be my Lord and Savior.

If that's you, come on.

Raise your hand up right now.

One, two, three, lift it up and just leave it up.

Yes, yes, yes.

Leave it up high.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Come on, every hand is a yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Great, great.

You watching online, just respond in the chat.

I'm in, I'm in.

And I'm gonna give you the words now.

We're all pray this out loud so you don't stand alone.

We're with you.

But just say this, but mean it with all your heart, all right?

Just say, Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me first.

Today I give you my whole life.

Forgive me from my sin, wash me clean, be my Lord and Savior.

From this day forward, I'll follow you.

Thank you for the wells.

Help me to be dedicated, to clean them out, to use them again.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Come on, can we clap our hands and encourage everybody who just prayed that prayer?

Great, great job.

So proud of you.

So proud of you.

Do me a favor, take your phones out.

As every week we do, tap the circle on the chair in front of you.

It'll bring you a series of links.

The first one's a connection card.

We ask you to fill that out every week.

Put your name, email on there.

But if you rose your hand, you get to do another step, go halfway down on that card, and it says, My decision today.

Oh, this is goal.

Let us know what the decision you just made.

I'm giving my life to Christ, or I'm rededicating my life to Christ.

And then what should you do next?

Go through growth track.

Come to prayer, get in a small group, get on the dream team.

We're helping you, we'll help you.

But as we give today, can we also begin to teach our children how to give?

I've been giving since I was in sixth grade to God.

My little offering, my little tithe.

But when the girls were young, we would teach them how to pray.

Like we get in the car, the minivan, and I would say, somebody pray.

And they'd all, you know, they have to decide who's gonna do it that day.

And if somebody had a big bad attitude, I was like, you need to pray.

But we pray.

Even to this day, we get in the car and I say it kind of fun, but I also I'm encouraging them.

I want you to be comfortable as a child in the fundamentals of faith.

And even when we would give, we would help.

We I'd write a check.

Remember checks?

I'd write a check and I'd tell the girls, we're giving this as an offering.

This is our tithe to God.

We honor God.

We're worshiping, not just what we say, but we're giving him this.

You want to know why, kids?

Because without God, we'd be lost.

We're teaching them.

We when they would earn their little commission, we never gave allowance, we gave commission.

Come on, you gotta work for this stuff at your house.

They would take their little dollar, bring in the offering.

This is my tithe.

I'm I'm this is my 10% of my$10 I got.

Just teach these kids the the essence and the and the and the reason why we do what we do.

Hey, they'll get it, but they need to see it modeled in you.

So as we give today, let's give with a grateful heart.

Getting ready for these big outreaches.

Oh, we're gonna reach a lot of people.

Easter, a lot going on.

So let's be generous, let's give, let's pray and ask God what we should give.

And if you want to give, you can text it in, give online.

There's offering envelopes there, and there's offering boxes on the back walls.

God bless you in Jesus' name.

God, provide for us in every area of our life, spiritually, relationally, physically, financially.

I pray that we be we would walk in the favor of Almighty God.

Bless us to be a blessing to others.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

As you stand your feet, don't miss next week.

It's gonna be spicy, I'm telling you right now.

And if you need prayer, our team will be under the screens today.

God bless you.

Have a great, great week.