The Children the Lamb is Building

Pastor Zach Whitehead

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

In my study this week and just my prayer and my my my conversations with God, my my heart has been, Lord, would you show me something new? I don't want to bring, I don't, I don't want to live off of old manna. I don't want to live off of what was before. I I love the word of God because every time that you open it up, I I truly believe that God still still reveals new things and the word is alive and is living. Um for the past, you guys can be seated. Thank you so much for your worship today. Not that it benefits me, but you got to think about it. Church, the message isn't for God. The message is for us. The worship's for him. The worship's for him. That's why we worship so exuberantly and so passionately, and we sing and we, even if we can't sing, we sing at the top of our lungs and make a joyful noise. We clap, we dance. Um David, David was led. Go read this, go read the scriptures, go read about David and the way he worshiped. And we just it it's it's our response to who God is. And so we want him to we want him to know that in the time that we dedicate to worship, I know the worship, that's what's crazy about God. We'll we'll worship him, to bless him, to love him, to give back to him, and even in the middle of worship, he'll bless us. Even in the middle of worship, he'll do miracles. Even in the middle of worship, he'll encourage you. That's just how good God is, and that's how much he loves you. Is that even when you try to give to him, he still out gives us. I love God so much, and I'd I'm excited for this morning. Uh, over the last couple weeks, over the last couple weeks, we've been on this continual thought and this continual path of looking through at Scripture through the lens of the Lamb. Looking at Scripture through the lens of the Lamb. I don't really want to call it a series because I don't want to get that notion in your head that this is just, you know, gonna come out of some book or this is coming out of just some way that, you know, we're we're I we've got to have content to fill, but I I just I feel direction that for some realignment in how we read the word of God. I don't want to just read the word to say I checked the box off and I read I did my devotion for the day. That I just I read scripture because this word, if we truly believe that it is, it is, it is, it is, it is God, and it straight from every word that is pinned uh comes from men and women who have been divinely inspired by God to write this and what they're what they're what they're telling us is that I want to read this to understand it. I want to read this to comprehend it. I want to read this that I would hide your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. I want this to be uh understood. And so I I know this probably sounds counter counter counter to things before, but I would rather read a scripture and have a deep understanding of it than complete my day of my my day of 10 if I'm trying to get through the Bible through the year, you know, my chapters and whatever, and then you know, the psalm that I'm supposed to read. I would much rather have an understanding standing in the day of one or two scriptures, pray and meditate on those, have a new revelation of God's love, his mercy, his grace, his plan for my life, who he wants me to be, than to just blow through a reading plan and just say, Hey, I did it. Again, I want to understand, I want to understand God's word, and I want to be able to see him with it. And so for the past three weeks, we've been looking at God's original design through the lens of the Lamb. Week one, we talked about that God wasn't simply building a house, that he was building a place that his presence would dwell. Week two, we God wasn't uh that that we we we we read that God wasn't after our outward behavior, but he was after our hearts. And week three, we we talked about last week that marriage wasn't created to point to itself, it wasn't meant to glorify itself, but marriage was created to reveal Christ. And so today we arrive at the next generation or the next stop downstream. And not simply children, but legacy. And so I want to ask this question, and before, like last week, don't worry about this last since last week I told you don't worry about it being a marriage sermon. Don't worry about today being a sermon on parenting. I I'm I wish that I wish every day and I work towards it every day to be a better parent, but I wanted to I I really want to define in scripture of what we're what what we're why did God give us children? So the question is not today, how do we raise children? Um there are many people way more qualified than I to answer that question, but I want to ask this question to you today. Why would God why did God give us children? And I don't just mean biological children. I know some of you want to start checking out because maybe you don't have biological children. Um you're a teenager, you're you're 12 years old, you don't have no listen to me this morning. I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna show you in scripture what what we're talking about. Because some of the greatest men and women who helped shape my life didn't share my last name. Let me say that again. Some of the men and women that helped shape my life did not share my last name. Some of them taught me in Sunday school. I can name, I I could I could go through their names. I can go through some of the people that preached to me. I can point to you to men who corrected me. I can point you to some that encouraged me. And I can point to you some that just simply lived it out faithful in front of me. Every one of us is leaving something in someone. Every one of us is leaving something in someone. So here's the question that'll guide us today. Who is God calling me to raise? Who is God calling me to raise? Keep that in your mind today. And if he speaks to you and tells you who that person is, write it down. Make note of it. Let's go to the first plan of discipleship in the Bible. Would you pull up Deuteronomy 6 and 4 for me? And so we like to quote this scripture a lot as as apostolics because it this points to the oneness of God. And while this is true, it shows us something more because here the the context of when this scripture of what's happening is Moses is giving instruction to the people. This is in the book of the law. And so these are the things that the children of Israel are supposed to do. So they're saying this, Hero Israel, the war, the Lord our God is He, the Lord is one. And oftentimes that's where we'll start running the aisles, we'll start shouting and get excited about. But but watch this. And he goes to say, and this is called the Shema, because this is a commandment they give to him. He said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. Everybody say, Your heart, all your soul, and all your might. And so he give he gives a line for it, and then he says, And these words I command you today shall be on your heart. So, not just, I don't want you just to hear it, but I want it to be on your heart. And so here's the specific instructions that he gives. He says, You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlet between your eyes, and you shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates. Notice the order. Slow down just a little bit in reading that, and notice the order. God never begins with teach your children. He doesn't begin the instruction there with teach your children. That's not what he tells Moses. He begins with these words shall be in your heart. These words will be in your heart. Parents can't reproduce convictions they don't possess. And by saying that, the same goes for churches. Churches can't reproduce convictions they don't possess already. Faith is not something that can simply be downloaded. It's not something that can be simply shared via a USB drive, and one day you show up and automatically you have it. Faith has to be lived out. Here's the Jewish perspective on it. The Jewish home was often described as a little sanctuary or a little synagogue. Not because it replaced corporate worship. There was still a place of corporate worship. There was still a gathering, there was still the assembly, but because the home rhythmed the worship, though the rhythms of worship began at the home. Here, watch this. The father was expected to lead the family in remembering God's covenant, reciting the Shema, which is what we just read in Deuteronomy 6, telling the story of the Exodus, blessing the children, and explaining why. Everybody say, why? They believed what they believed. The synagogue reinforced what the home had already been cultivating. Faith wasn't reserved for the Sabbath. Faith wasn't reserved for the day of worship. It was woven into ordinary life. When you sit, when you walk, when you lie down, when you rise. We unintentionally reversed God's pattern. We often hope that the church will disciple what the home never discusses. But the church was never meant to replace the home. The church equips and the home. The home cultivates. And when the home is broken, the church lovingly steps in as a family, not as a substitute for God's design, but as an expression of it. But then Jesus has something to say that's quite remarkable in the New Testament about this. Let's look at the way that Jesus saw children. Let's go to Mark 10, 13 through 16 for me. And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuke them. Go back to that scripture real quick. Have we noticed the pattern of talking about the disciples in the last couple weeks? They get a lot of stuff wrong. They get a lot of stuff wrong. So Jesus is teaching, and people are bringing him children that he can heal them, that he can speak to them, that he can touch their lives. And the disciples rebuke him. And so go to verse 14. And then when Jesus saw it, he was indignant. He was mad. He was angry. And he said to them, and these are words in red, if when you open up your Bible, let the children come to me. Do not hinder them, for such belongs to the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, Jesus is saying, listen to this point here. This is it. Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. And he took them in his arms and he blessed them and he laid his hands upon them. The disciples saw this as interruption. That Jesus has better things to do. He's got adults to teach, and he's got adult miracles to perform, and he's got great things to do. But Jesus didn't see this as an interruption. Jesus saw the children as inheritance. Catch that this morning. The disciples saw it as an interruption, but Jesus saw these kids as an inheritance. The disciples thought the children were distracting the ministry. But Jesus treated them as they were central to the kingdom. And then this connects to what we did in Matthew 18 that unless you become like little children, again, words of Jesus, children become the picture of kingdom dependence. Children become the picture of kingdom dependence. Because what happens when we grow up, we're optimistic. We believe that God can do anything, but at any length of time of being an adult, whether you're single, whether you're married, or whatever stage of life you're in as an adult, a lot of times if we're truthful and honest, is that cynicism creeps in? This is this way it's been, the way it's always gonna be. This is the way church has been, the way it's always gonna be. This is the way my marriage has been, this is the way it's always gonna be, this is my way the relationship with God's gonna be, this is the way this always be. But have you ever sat down with a child long enough to notice the wonder in their eyes, the faith that they speak, that they still believe that God can do anything. And so the question is now, so what happens between there as a child and now what happened what happens with adult is that we we we somehow we've lost it along the way. But Jesus is redirecting it unless you have that kind of faith, unless you see it through the eyes of the children. Why? Because children are dependent on their parents, and that we as believers sometimes we get this so routine and we get this so right, and we know all the right boxes to check is that we don't quite depend on him like we're supposed to. But that's not covenant, that's not what God intended from the garden. God intended from the garden for us to be locked in to who he is, to where he's going, to where he's leading, to follow in his footsteps, and to trust him that when we can't walk, he'll carry us. That every one of our needs is that the Bible says that we can bring boldly into the throne room. You don't go boldly into a throne room unless you know the one on the throne. Scripture also says that we cry, Abba, Father. Abba was the term of endearment. Is that we've got this, we've got this great and grandiose God who is the Lord of both heaven and the earth and spoken all into existence, yet we have access to them as like a little child that has a need that comes up and says, Dad, I've got a problem and I need help. And God is asking us, and Jesus in particular in scripture right here is pointing us back to that. It's trying to show the disciples and the people around them is you're missing the point. I didn't come here just to fix your adult problems. I didn't come here just to solve what you thought I was gonna do with the Romans and what your preconceived notions was of the scripture and of the law and how you interpreted what was gonna happen. But I came to bring you back to a childlike faith that you would depend on me for absolutely everything. Why? Because I want to walk in relationship with you again. Because I want to know you again. I want you to trust me again. I want you to trust me that when I say go, that everything's gonna make a way. And when I say stop and I close the door, it's not because I'm punishing you, but it's because I love you. Jesus wanted us to open up our eyes and see that we've gotten somewhere along the way, we've lost the freshness of our faith. We've lost the childlike belief that God can do absolutely anything. And if children matter this much to Jesus, I think the question goes without asking, how much do they matter to us? And I'm not talking about just the kids in our home. I'm not just talking about my three kids or Will. I'm not just talking about you and your kids. I'm talking about the spiritual children too that God places in our life. Because here's where this this goes beyond this. Would you would you pull up Psalm 127 for me? I I I and if you haven't noticed, I've got I've got something strange in the middle of my guitars over here. Will was a little too happy when I asked him to bring this in. He was playing big time. So don't judge me. This is my practice bow. I wasn't gonna bring my actual bow. It's got a it's got a fish and reel and everything hooked up to it, and I didn't want to scare anybody. It's like a death contraption. But let's read, let's read this. And this is Psalms 127. He says, Behold, the children are what? Heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward. And he goes and he makes this illustration. The psalmist says, like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the child, the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with him, and he shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies at the gates. Just like new believers do. But attention, potential alone isn't purpose. Because potential requires formation. We all know somebody in our life that we've grown up with, or maybe we've seen in sports, or we've seen somewhere along the way that that that we've seen that, oh my goodness, they have fantastic potential. But just because someone has potential, especially because someone has untapped talents or ability, just because someone has that doesn't mean potential comes to fruition all the time. Why? Because there has to be there has to be intentionality and there has to be purpose. Because when an arrow, an arrow is just a stick until you add some other stuff to it, right? An arrow needs a point. An arrow needs to be feathered, an arrow needs to be notched, an arrow needs to be straight. And so we can have we have children and we have these, we have these little people in our hands, and we also, again, also in what the context of what scripture tells us, we have new believers in our hand that have all the potential in the world, but not all of them come fully formed. They usually don't. 99% of them don't. They don't come fully formed to us. And there has to be some intentionality, everybody say intentionality in the formation of the arrow. My kids can have all the talent and all the gifting and all the ability that God has poured out in their life because before they were ever, before they were ever shaped in his mother's womb, he knew them. He knew the plans for their life. He put the good gifts that each one of them have in their lives. The gift of faith that Zayn has, that he believes God for anything. When he prays for people, he prays like it, and God responds to it. And there's potential in that. But I've got to steward that. I've got to teach him to what it's like to hear the voice of God and what it's like to follow after it. I've got to put that, I've got to put that into action. I've got to make sure that that that arrow has the point, that the arrow has the tip that it needs, and it's it's notched, and it's and it's got it's got that. I've got to make sure that the arrow is right. But that's not the only part that that's that the psalmist talking about. He talks about the arrow being pretty straightforward, being children in the hands of an archer. But who's the archer? Who's the warrior in this scenario? Who's the psalmist talking about? We immediately go to the idea that it's parents, but that's just one part of a very, a very a very large thing. It's parents, but it's also grandparents. It's also mentors, it's disciple makers, it's Sunday school teachers, it's youth leaders. It's anyone who intentionally invests in somebody else's life. It's anyone who intentionally somebody else's life. And here's what happens. Eventually, every arrow becomes another archer. Every arrow is intended to find its target and become another archer. And start, oh, it's start to cycle over again. That's discipleship. That's discipleship. And I was reading this and like there's I and I know it's obvious, but but it there's something there's something more to it. Because again, in my literal literal brain, this is arrows in the hand of a ready warrior. What am I supposed to do? Just throw this arrow at you? No, there's another part. What's the bow in this situation? I'm not trying to insert in scripture. Just just just think for a minute. If children are the arrows in the ready hand of a warrior, and we've we we've talked about the formation of children, and we've talked and we've defined more of who that that archer is, there has to be a delivery system for those arrows. There has to be something that propels that arrow through the air more so than just my hand would do. I mean, you can throw an arrow, and there's crazy people who can throw anything and make it into a weapon, but there's gotta be something. There's gotta be something that propels this arrow, that pushes it more further than it could go just by by with by my hands alone. There's gotta be something that that this arrow has to it. And so we have we have the bow. And what is the bow in this situation? If the idea is about discipleship and raising generations and raising legacies and children being a heritage, then the bow becomes intentional discipleship. It's the prayer, it's the scripture, it's the meals around the table, it's the blessing, it's repentance, it's serving together, it's daily rhythms, because without the bow, the arrow will never reach its purpose. The arrow would never reach its intended target without the bow. We can get the formation of children right, and we can get ourselves right as a ready archer, whether we're parents or we're grandparents or we're Sunday school teachers or we're youth leaders, we can get that stuff down. But if we miss the delivery system, the intentional discipleship of making moments at our table at home, asking about, hey, what have you read lately? What has God spoken to you about lately? And even if He hasn't yet, you know what you've just done to your child, or you've done to that person, or you've done to that person that God's entrusted you with, is now you've opened up their eyes to wow, God may maybe actually God really can speak to me. Maybe God really does have a plan for my life. Maybe God really does have a purpose. You don't have to be, you don't have To be a prophet to speak prophetic things over people. To prophesy simply means to speak vision. Maybe simply you just beginning to speak that over someone begins to open up their eyes to who God really is in their life and who he wants them to be. I know we've read books. I know we've we've we've seen models time and time again about discipleship, but there is something about the power of the home. Because you're usually here at church once or twice a week, and you're at home way more than you're here. There's more time at home, there's more meals at home, there's more interaction at home, there's more intimacy at home, that there's more opportunity to speak the word of God and to speak the things of God over our children and over the people who enter our home and though of those who God is asking us to raise up and to entrust. But even with the arrow and even with the archer, and even with the bow, the delivery system, we now have to think we've got the right formation of children. Maybe we've we've we've we've we've we've prepared ourselves as parents, as as spiritual leaders, and conviction and knowing what we've got to teach and understanding what we've got to teach and be able to talk about the why behind the what. But here's the thing. We can get all of this lined up, we can get the bow tuned, we can get the systems tuned, we can get the children formed right, we can get ourselves right and ready and practice as an archer. But here's the thing: what are we actually aiming at? Where am I supposed to put this arrow? What's the target? What's the intended goal? What's the writer trying to tell you? It's not success. We see plenty of people hit a measure of success and really trying to not be successful in their life. It's not just scholarships for college, and those things are those things are a blessing. That's how I went to school, and I was I was very blessed with them. But that's not that's not what we're aiming for. It's not it's not the perfect career. And again, a career can be a blessing, and it can be an aid to the kingdom of God, and it can be a blessing to your family and and and parents. Your goal is not simply to raise good kids. God didn't call us just to raise good kids. But what are we actually aiming for? Christ. We're raising disciples, not just well-behaved children, then move naturally into the church. Because here's the thing if someone were to receive the Holy Ghost this Sunday and to be born again and to become a babe in Christ, who's walking with them on Monday? Who's walking with them out of the delivery room into home? Into the real life. I know I'm asking some heavy questions today. I just I feel so convicted in my spirit. The birth, the new birth isn't the finish line. People being born again of water and spirit, baptized in Jesus' name and being filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost, is not the finish line. The finish line is well done, thy good and faithful servant. The new birth is just the beginning. And for too long and too often, as churches as a whole, we we've just just let's get the people in the door, let's get them, let's get them, let's get them under the water, let's lay hands on them, get them baptized with the Spirit. But where are they at in a year? Where are they at in five years? Where are their children at? Where are their families at? Where are they at? Why? Because we want a bigger church. No, because we understand that there is potential in every arrow that God sends our way to every person, whether they're messed up, whether they're broken, whether some have more potential than others, whether some that have that, because what's gonna happen is eventually they're gonna become right, eventually they're gonna get straightened out, eventually they're gonna mature in Christ. And it's our job as developers, it's our job as disciple makers to aim the arrow at the target and we'll refine the systems, we'll do what we have to, we'll make it happen, we'll we'll follow the Spirit of God that we get the bow right, because eventually when they hit their target and we point them towards their purpose, and we point them towards their God-called purpose in their life and and what he has for them in ministry and what he has for them in their lives and where he's sending them. Because what they're gonna do is they're gonna land where they're supposed to, and they're gonna they're gonna become an archer themselves. And they're gonna identify potential, potential arrows. Just like somebody spoke that into them. Just like somebody looked at them in the middle of their brokenness, in the middle of their hurt, in the middle of their failures, their fears, their insecurities, in the middle of them running from God. God loves you, man. Yeah, you mess up. God doesn't love the sin, but he still loves you. The dirt in your life, He can He can clean that up, He can fix that. But it's more than just trying to speak an encouraging word. It's why don't you come to my house for dinner? Why don't we talk about where you're at and what's your story and what's going on? Have you noticed that Jesus interacted with people, that ministry wasn't just about him doing miracles, but maybe ministry was about him identifying potential in the crowd. Because we see with our eyes, but you've got to realize that Jesus was both fully man and fully God at the same time, and what he was seeing was their past, their present, and their future all at the same time. He saw what they were, he saw who they were currently, but he saw who they could be. Jesus came to this earth with a mission and a purpose. He was very targeted, he was very purposeful. And what he did on Calvary had such greater purpose because it could look beyond more than that moment there in Israel. And it looked into the future where you and I were. Because on Calvary, He saw us in our imperfection. He says, I love you anyway. I love you enough to pay my life for it. I love enough to cover that. Why? Because there's potential in you. There's something in you you don't see yet. And it's gonna take a process to get there. It may be uncomfortable. Sometimes bending it back, spending this back to place, sometimes it it snapped and it's gotta get fixed. There's there's some things in your life that's gotta be worked out, there's things that have to be washed out, but if you trust him enough, he can do those things out. And what happens is now instead of just going and being arrows that have full of potential, he turns us back into archers and over and over again. I mean, it's the model of disciples. Again, his disciples got it wrong all the time. He corrected them all the time. Why? Because he knew at some point he was he was leaving to go home and prepare a place. And eventually somewhere there was a light bulb that clicked, and the disciples figured out discipleship. Funny enough, when they did, they became apostles, and they began to raise people. Think about Barnabas raised Timothy. I mean, Barnabas raised Paul, and Paul raised Timothy. Timothy was history tells us, was about 16 years of age when Paul, the great apostle Paul, said, Hey man, God's ready to use you to pastor. At the age of 16. Why? Because Paul understood something that there's potential in those arrows. And if God is entrusting me with every arrow, not just my children, but every spiritual baby that is walking into this house, that is crossing across my path in life, then I have to be intentional about what I'm doing with it. Here's the thing the church has to become a family that raises spiritual children. If he's the father, the church then becomes the spiritual mother. Read 2 Timothy 2, 1 through 2. I want to talk about Paul and show you in scripture. He says, You then, my child. Look is the language that Paul uses writing to Timothy. He says, My child. Paul was never married, as far as we know, and never had children, as far as we know. As far as we know, in in historical and in his in history, Paul never never was married, never had children, never never had children. But he calls Timothy my child. Why? Because the kingdom is something so much bigger than just biological family. The kingdom is something so much bigger than biological family. I when he says my child, I can bet, I can bet the last dollar in my bank account. Paul loved Timothy like a son, and he didn't just say it, he meant it. Paul, Timothy, read this. He's a child of Christ Jesus. And you have heard from me in the presence of whom many witnesses uh entrust of faithful men who will also be able to teach others also. So look at Paul says it goes from Paul to Timothy to faithful men to others also. This is the pattern of the kingdom. My parents are not in vocational ministry. My parents have walked away from God. My parents have made mistakes. My parents have gotten things wrong. But it but they've shown me over the years working hard and faithfulness and working through working through situations that weren't fair and things that weren't that. But but here's the thing, it wasn't just my family who was raising me. It wasn't just mom and dad. It was there were people about who weren't in my family. I I I can I there that when I when I was when I was uh when I when I was working at at a church at home, I was the creative and uh pastor and the student pastor down there. And I didn't I I I just I was the I was the nerdy little kid who just wanted to work in church his whole life. I didn't know what that meant. I just wanted to work in church. Like I just thought it was the coolest thing in the world. And my pastor at the time, we were riding in that we were riding in the truck, and he asked me, he said, Zach, have you ever thought about being a pastor? No, I thought I couldn't do that. I I genuinely thought I couldn't do it. And he said, I see something in you. That was the first time in my life I actually believed that. Because when I went home, I I talked to Angela about it. I was like, I really think I could be. I think maybe there's something there worth praying about and we're talking to God about and seeing it. So and and I I again I I'm so grateful for this opportunity and for you guys trusting me because I I didn't, I'll be, I'll be God honest. I didn't we didn't see this on our radar. I didn't see Zachary on my radar. I didn't see see pastoring here on my radar, but God had different plans. And because somebody spoke that into my life, look where I'm at now. What if he hadn't listened to the voice of God and told me that? I had I had I had don't get me wrong, I had self-confidence then. I just didn't think, I just didn't think I would I my calling was to be a pastor. I didn't see that in myself. I thought I was doing good just to be make making as a student pastor, not getting in trouble. I I could tell you about Sunday school teachers who spent extra time with me because I had tons of questions about the Bible. I can tell you about my Uncle Josh, who before he was ever my uncle, that I can remember the Sundays, the Sunday services at at first church in Baton Rouge, that's where I grew up, that there was there would it be it would be Uncle Josh and it would be it would be Kevin and it would be Adrian. And unfortunately, Kevin and Adrian are already been living for God right now. But I can remember as as eight nine-year-old boy watching them being older, uh, you know, uh in the older part of the youth group, that they would worship God, that they would dance with God. And I didn't understand it, but I thought that was the coolest thing in the world. And so I would make my way out of the pew and I would go worship my heart out with them, and I would go dance with them. And what I I didn't I didn't understand what they were teaching me, but there was spiritual principles in that because now I've got little people that are watching me and watching my worship. And even though, you know, Kevin and Adrian, I was able, I was able to share that with them at my uncle's funeral, and it broke them down in tears. And and and but I I pray to God that they make their way back to God's house. Because what they poured into me, even though they may not be living for God right now, has changed my worship, has changed the way that I see things. I I I I can tell you about corrections from my pastor uh growing up, Pastor Josh Payne. He would correct me because I would go into the media booth and he would walk up to me, and that's funny because he said it this way. He said, Zach, did your dog die this morning? Just like out of nowhere, the first thing he asked me when I get in the booth. And I was like, Pastor, what are you talking about? No, my dog didn't die. I would have told you that. He said, Why does it look like that on your face? Fix your face. But I had a pastor that loved me enough that saw potential in me and knew that what was on the outside, people were gonna see that, that that body language does matter. And it was funny because years later, I was actually, I he was teaching, he was teaching at at a at a men's conference, and I went and sat in his session, and I said, Pastor, I still hear your voice in my head today that when I walk in a room, if I'm frustrated, there's been a lot on my mind. Did your dog die, Zach? Fix your face. Why? Because those things matter. I could go on and on, and I could tell you about people who have deposited into my life spiritually, saints, teachers, pastors, mentors. But here's the thing: legacy isn't limited by your last name. Legacy is not limited by your last name. Someday, think about this. Someday, somebody's gonna else will own your home or live at where you're living at currently. Somebody else will drive that nice truck or car or vehicle that you have. Somebody else will spend your savings. Someone else will inherit all your possessions. But big capital B-U-T here. The greatest inheritance you'll ever leave your children isn't what was in your will. It was what was in your worship. The greatest inheritance you'll ever leave your children isn't what was in your will. It was what was in your worship. Let me let me let me expand that a little bit. Your greatest legacy will never be what you leave to people. It will be what you leave in people. I know the spirit feels heavy in this house today, and I know God is speaking to some of you right now, and it's okay to respond to his conviction. God loves you enough to correct us because he knows the potential that you have as a disciple maker, as a spiritual mother, and as a spiritual father. He knows your story, he knows your testimony. He was there the whole time. But even though he died for us as a personal savior, he died as your God and your God and your God. He still died for the world collectively. I'm thankful for every person that calls this church home. I'm thankful for every family that calls this church home. But I want to be intentional about the other arrows that are out there. Ones that other people that have picked up in their life and they've shaped them wrong and they've put them off target. Because there's other archers, there's other people in this world who see potential. And I know some of you have been affected by it. That they see potential and they use you for all that potential, and then you end up off in the ditch somewhere far off from the shooting gallery where God intended you to go. And some of you this morning may feel like you're off in the, you, you're off and you, you, you're you're done, you're bent out of shape, you're messed up. You know, the blade on your the blade on the sharpness in your life is is messed up and over. But can I tell you there is a God who is still searching? And there's a God who commissions men and women who are true disciple makers to go out and find those arrows and straighten them out and put you back in the potential that God had for you. I don't know who you are this morning, I don't know what your age is, I don't know where your your your station at is in life, but God's not done. It's not over until the trumpet sounds. Doesn't matter if you're 15 years old up and you think you've messed your entire life up, or you're 55 years old and you've you feel like you've messed your entire life up. It doesn't matter if you're 85 or 90, you there there's always there's always another chance with God. There's always another opportunity with God. There's always time to accomplish that purpose. And even if you feel like you've messed up plan A, B, C, D, all the way through Z, guess what? God's not confined by what you think you screwed up and what you messed up. But God's saying, as long as you come back to me, as long as when I send you the people to speak into your life, to speak in love, to speak into correction, to speak hope, to speak to that potential, that when you trust me, even whether it feels good and it gives you a boost of confidence, or you feel conviction down in your spirit, both of those are the same kind of love that are coming from Him. And some of us this morning, where we've we've we've been in this God thing for a while now, and we feel like we've practiced with the whole archer thing, and we've got some good things in our life, and maybe we've had a disciple or two that we've made, and we're just sitting idly by with the bow waiting for the arrow. Can I tell you what your job to do is then? Is go find them. Go find them. And you know where they're at? They're where God's already sending you, they're right in your workplace. Students, they're already in the classrooms that you're scheduled to be in. Grandma, grandpas, it's your grandchildren's friends. They're all around you. They're there. They're just waiting for somebody who God has poured out in their life enough to say, you know what, it's my turn to not be an arrow anymore and depend on somebody else, but my turn to go from milk to meat and to step up as as a as a as a Christian and say, you know what? I need to put some arrows in my quiver. God, who are you leading me to? Lost people are lost. They need the GPS, they need the navigation. That's what the spirit is in you. Quit praying that lost people would cross your path and say, God, would you put me in the path of lost people? Would you direct me to the lost? Would you direct me to the broken? Who's that person at my job? Who's the person in my classroom? Who's the person in my family? Who is that person when I go to Walmart or when I go to the restaurant? Or when I where whatever I may do, God, God, I want everywhere that I go, I want to see with your eyes. I want to look for arrows because somebody put that, somebody spoke that in my life. Somebody took the time to look at me and all my mess-ups, all my failures, all my mistakes, everything else that the world said I got wrong. I said, nope, God's got a bigger plan for your life. And I'll help you along the way. And you know where that happened a lot, it wasn't just in churches. It happened at dinner tables, it happened over a cup of coffee, it happened just riding in a truck while my pastor was. I would drive my pastor to go drive and speak at places because you know why? Because it was a moment that I had him that nobody else had him, and he would speak into my life, and he we we would be able to have conversations that we wouldn't be able to normally have, but I but because he saw something in me. I'm telling you, there are men and this women in this house who have a wealth of wisdom in the kingdom of God. Who want to love on you, who want to serve you, who want to feed you spiritually, but they also want to feed you at their homes too. There is more week, more Monday through Saturday than what happens here on Sunday. Church is almost over effectively. We can't do everything in 90 minutes in one Sunday school class. I wish that we could. But something has to happen in this moment. Somebody has to make a decision in this place that I can't keep doing things the same way. I've got to be intentional. Why? Because the harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few. God's saying, I've got plenty of people out there who are lost and broken. I need some people to pick up the mantle. I told you this wasn't this wasn't how to fix your parenting 101. God will convict you if you if you feel like your parenting's off and you've got things to fix. That's not that's that's not that's not my job. That's his. My job is to point us back and steer this back into the direction. What was God's intention? From the beginning with children, they're a blessing and they're a reward. I'm telling you, he wants to build a healthy house because he intends to fill it. And we live in a world, and I've seen this, and it's opened my eyes as a teacher and as an instructor, that some of the most problematic kids I think I have are just because of behavior and stuff. But when you go look at their information and you go look at their home sheets, they don't live with mom or dad. Mom or dad have separate names, dad's not even listed on there. They live with grandma, they live with auntie, they live with somebody else. There is no home structure, there's no person. And even if they don't have their blood relatives around, they don't have a church that they're connected to where there's men and women who are willfully and excitingly pouring into their lives. God forbid we miss those. God forbid we miss those. That there's that we miss the intentionality that God steered our lives in. Is it a Sunday school teacher? Was it a pastor? Was it just a saint? Was it somebody that you wouldn't know that's never preached a conference, that's never seen tens of thousands of people receive the gift of the Holy Ghost that's preached overseas? And the warmth that you feel in your spirit right now. And you can remember those moments of what it was like when they spoke over you, when they encouraged you, when they blessed you. Because that's been imprinted into you, and because that's been your vessel's been filled with that. God's just simply asking you to turn around and pour it out. So here's my altar call today. My altar call is not just for parents, for moms and dads. And if you've got children in this house, we want to steward our children well. And I I tell you that not just as a pastor, but I tell you that as a dad, because I would I I I want a church that's going to steward my children well. My children were excited to come to this church before we knew anything. They love coming to AC. They were excited every time. Kelly, thank you so much for making it for working so hard at the Sunday School Department to make that happen. Every one of you who serve as a teacher and serve as a helper, thank you so much for making that happen. My kids are excited to get up at 6:30 and drive here for a Sunday school. That tells you something. Because it's not just gonna be me who leads them to the Lord. I'm not gonna neglect my responsibility, and I'll tell you that. I'll fight all the hell for it. But it takes a village to raise a child. That's biblical principle. It takes everyone surrounding. Sonny, my son loves your big warm hugs. He asks every Sunday if you're gonna be here. He needs that. Why? Because he needs to know he's coming to a place where people love him that aren't just his mom and dad. He gets excited when he gets here because of that. It's as simple as that. The ministry of big great hugs. We've overcomplicated this. Some of you can just spend a time with young men, some of you know how to build things, and spending a time with a young man teaching him how to build or teaching a lady, a young lady how to how to how to paint, how to do crafts, how to do that stuff. You again, I said it last week that children catch more than they're actually taught by words. And I want to have the right covenant relationship with God first, so that when I'm in the right covenant with somebody else and right of the part or part of the right house, that the byproduct of who I am and who what I'm connected to pours into them. And so the altar calls not to parents and grandparents. I want you to serve your kids faithfully. I want you to raise your grandkids faithfully. But I want you to open your eyes beyond that and ask, God, who are you asking me to raise? This is a disciple-making commission. Every parent, every grandparent, every Sunday school teacher, every youth leader, every every every every every person who you regularly have, people in your home, those who are intentionally discipling new believers, anyone who just simply desires to invest in somebody else's life, I ask you one more time. And I ask you to find a place with God today and tomorrow and Tuesday and Wednesday and every day that ends with why. Who is God calling me to raise? And if it's one, be the one. That just hit my spirit really hard. Because sometimes all it takes is one to unlock a community. Sometimes all it takes is one to unlock a school. Sometimes all it takes is one to unlock a whole new neighborhood, to unlock a whole new, a whole new, a whole new arena of people. So here's my commission this morning, whether it's your son, it's your daughter, it's your grandchild, it's a student in your classroom, it's a teenager in our youth group, or it's someone who just received the Holy Ghost. Don't leave them to find their own direction. Be an archer. Build the rhythms that point them to Christ. And by the grace of God, watch them become archers for the next generation. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is still in the build, the business of building generational blessing. And even though your name's not Abraham, and my name's not Isaac, and my son's name's not Jacob, the same promises still apply. God is trying to build something in this church and each and every one of us that outlasts us, that outlasts our children and our grandchildren, because what we do in these moments and what we do in these life has eternal impact. And so, God, we hear your voice this morning. God, we feel the prompting of our heart. We feel the we feel the potter going back and putting our hearts on the wheel again and beginning to shape. God, working some things out that we've tried to make it our vessel into that it shouldn't be. And God, God, would you help us to hear through the noise of life and all the other stuff that we've added to life? That we would hear the still small voice and the direction and the guidance of a God who pointed people to our life and said, Go love on them, go bless them, go pour out in them, and help us to take that what we've been poured out and what we've been blessed with, and we go pour it out to somebody else. God, we may not see their future, we may not see the eternal impact, it may outlast us, it may outlive us, but God, there is a world that is hungry, and more specifically, there is a city right here, and there are neighborhoods, and there are people and there are families, and there are the lost crying out for someone to find them where they're at. So, God, here I am, send me. Here I am, send me, and I know along the way that you'll make me who I need to be. You'll equip me with the words, you'll give me boldness. God, you'll give you teach me in your ways, you'll teach me to understand scripture, you'll teach me the why behind the what, you'll help me build those daily rhythms, you'll help me develop a prayer life, you'll help me develop my Bible reading, you'll help me work on my marriage, you'll help me work on my family. Because God, when I get there and find that person, I want them to see you more than they see me. So, God, baptize us afresh in your spirit again this morning. God baptize us in your spirit this morning and help us to realize that we never graduate the gospel, that we never graduate beyond where we're just, you know, we're saved and we just wait for you to come back. The new birth is only the beginning. God help us to find men and women who are seasoned not just with age, but with wisdom and experience to pour into our lives and help us to become an ever-continual fountain that we're getting poured into, and thus we must pour into others. And don't let this stay here, God. Don't let this be a moment that stays here in this church and what we do on the Sabbath and celebrating you and worshiping you in the gathering, but let us take this and go build our homes. And let our homes be little tabernacles and little synagogues and little temples all over this city. Let them be refuges that when people walk in, they feel the tangible presence of God in our homes, that they feel peace like they've never felt before. They feel love that requires them nothing. They feel joy like they've never felt before. That the anxiety and depression that they've been carrying has to stay at the door because our doors of our homes are marked with the blood of the Lamb. They walk into our home and find healing not just in their bodies, but in their spirit, in their mind, in their marriage, and in their finances. God, let the greatest sermons of this church not come from this pulpit, but the ones that we teach around our coffee tables and the ones that we live out in our lives and the ones that we have at our dinner tables. Let us bring us back to what you designed it to be. Let us let go of our preconceived notions of discipleship and make this thing personal again, God. In your name we pray. Amen. Church, I love you enough to challenge you because I know that God is challenging me. If we want to build and prepare a healthy house for Him to fill it, we've got to be healthy bricks first. And we're gonna keep moving through this and we're gonna keep working through this. And again, just remember this God's not a God of condemnation. The same love that called you out of your darkness is the same love that speaks conviction in your life because he has a better way for you. You can win this city, you can win your neighbors. You can win the ones you're at odds with. Keep it fresh in your hearts each and every day. AC, I love you. More importantly, God loves you. Remember, uh the youth, the youth will be here at six tonight, having a great time. Rafa meets at 6.15 on Thursday, starts the meal. Okay, yeah. The meal is 6.15 next door, and then the lessons start over here at 7. And then uh and then we'll meet here back again. Remember, Tuesday, Tuesday midweek is at 7. And what if if you feel like you need help? We're talking, we just here we're we're just we're just eliminating scripture. Tuesday, we take this and we break this down into practical things that we can do. So every week uh we we talked about covenant, we we talked about we have practical ways to live out holiness, practical ways to live it out in our marriages, and we're gonna talk about practical ways to live it out with our children and the disciples that God's calling us to create. So that's Tuesday at seven. Come and be a part of it if you really feel like God's moving on you and convicting you. We love you so much, AC. We believe in you. More importantly, again, God believes in you. I want you to hear that this morning. God believes in you, He believes in you. So let's go out those doors and let's hit the mission field and be exactly who God called us to be.