Navigate - A Tower Life Center Podcast
Navigate is a discussion-based podcast designed to help us live our lives as followers of Jesus in a fallen and ever-changing world. In this discussion based format, we are diving into topics that will help to shape and form the framework of how we live our lives. Our goal is to help all of us navigate our lives by becoming more like Jesus.
Navigate - A Tower Life Center Podcast
Now Gen - Week 3 Discussion - Celebrating the Next Gen
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What would it look like if the church became known for something other than criticism? This week we talk through the opportunity we have as a church to be a church who celebrates other people - not for what they've done but for what God has placed in them, is doing in them, and can do through them.
Welcome to Navigate, a podcast discussion from Tower Life Center, where we talk about how to navigate life, living as a follower of Jesus in a fallen and ever-changing world. Let's join the discussion.
SPEAKER_00What is uh Hello Man? Welcome back. It's been so long.
SPEAKER_03We're back.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for you together.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's like sabbatical. Too long. Just navigate sabbaticals in there. Yeah. Man, I'm so pumped to be here though. Yeah. With you guys.
SPEAKER_03So good. So good to be back. How's everyone doing?
SPEAKER_00Good. Yeah. Yeah. Coming finally like rebounded from camp. We're good. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Got some sleep.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Sleeping. How many hours a night did you sleep at camp? Well, it wasn't too bad, honestly. Like, because we encouraged the kids. We were like, hey, it's going to be full days. Lights out was at uh midnight. And honestly, I was surprised, like, how they were ready. They were ready.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00And that was cool because it was just like, hey, there, we God is going to be doing a lot this week. And there's going to be a lot of stuff going on.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So, like, I don't want you to feel like you need a nap midday to miss out on whatever. Yeah. So they're good. But the lat so how impact works too, which I love. It's just like the the church family of God coming together. Um, working together. Oh, my coffee's making some. What's cool is there's not like a paid impact next gen staff. It's all leaders from other churches around come together to put this on. Cool. So um that's neat. They were gonna be the last day of camp. Um, so we left Thursday on Wednesday night. They were gonna be taking down all the the worship like lights and packing up all the office stuff that they um have posted at this campsite.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So Seb and I were like, hey, we'll we'll help out. And we tore down till 5 a.m.
SPEAKER_03You're kidding.
SPEAKER_00And then had to wake up at 7. So we had a little bit. Kids included, or just you guys? No, it was just actually we had um two kids that wanted to help us. So um, but then wow.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, it was uh how many of you were there tearing down?
SPEAKER_00Um I'd say there was probably 10 to 15.
SPEAKER_02Now I know why you said your biggest takeaway was go the first week, not the second.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. So for sure. Wow, but it was lost.
SPEAKER_03That's neat.
SPEAKER_00So I think that was what then hit hard coming home and like looking forward to being in the bed. But no, it's it's so no kidding. It was so good.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, and that's kind of what we're talking about. We're in our um series with the next gen. We had week one of protecting the next gen. Last week was praying for the next gen. And now we're gonna work through just like celebrating, celebrating the next gen and what what we're all a part of. I think you did such a good job yesterday, Pascal, and just like hitting on like the man, we like calling out when what God is doing. Yeah, because in our human nature, once again, in our ways, it's so easy to like just point out like, man, I feel like what's what's happening, what's going on around us, but when we can just see, like, okay, there is growth, there is good things happening. You are a child of God, and calling that out. And um, I know we'll be diving into this, but just like celebrating what God is doing, calling out you know, well, I think it's it's important to understand we live in a culture of negativity, right?
SPEAKER_02Like we just do, not just next gen.
SPEAKER_03Our flesh is wired towards negativity.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's all that our it's all that we put in our brain. Naturally, what we intake is all negative. Like news, discontentment, things we don't have. Like how often if you just think about your prayer request, or your prayer request, like if God could do this thing that he hasn't done or give me this thing he hasn't given me, as opposed to thanking him for what you do have and what he hasn't. You know what I mean? Like we just live in a culture of negativity. That's what it's so to celebrate the next gen or anybody is not natural. Like it's so the opposite of the world we live in. I'm not saying there aren't people like you, Brad, who are sevens on the Enneagram, right? Who are like optimistic, and still like those types of people, like you're the unicorn. Right? How can you find the silver lining in everything? How can you be so positive? Well, it's all it is is we live in a culture of negativity. Yeah, I mean you think about the news, think about the things on social media. You it it either portrays negativity or it makes you feel negatively about yourself, right? And I'm not this is not like an anti-social media thing or anti-news or anti I'm not saying put your head in the stand. I'm just the reality is celebrating is hard because it's not natural.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because it it's not the world we live in, the culture we live in. And so, yeah, we w I wanted to talk yesterday about the concept of celebrating the next gen, also while understanding that that's not limited to a generational thing, right? Like you can celebrate generations up, you can celebrate generations down, you can celebrate generations horizontally, right? Like people around you. Like, can we do a better job at celebrating?
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_02And so that's what we were talking about yesterday. And I think the thing that the kind of we were setting this whole thing up is as we talk about protecting and praying for and celebrating, and next week we're gonna talk about investing in the next generation. The concept that we've can continue to talk about is this thought process that like we call them the next gen, but yet the graphic we have for the series has the word now kind of like taped over the word next. And the thought process that I want us to understand is like we're only protecting, we're only praying for, we're only celebrating and investing in because all of those things are different parts of discipling the next gen. And I wanted us to have the word now instead of next because I want this mental image in our head as parents, as church family, as friends, as aunts, as uncles, as grandparents to understand that the next generation isn't this like church of tomorrow, right? Many times we talk about them being, well, they're the church of tomorrow. But the reality is they're a part of the church today, and discipleship is not an adult thing, it's a human thing. Right? Like it's a human thing, and so we have to be intentional about discipling the next generation, right? The one who is birthed through twelfth grade because it's what God has called us to, but that doesn't mean we stop after 12th grade. We need to be intentional about discipling adults and the parents and the grandparents and all of that. The reason we at TLC put such an emphasis on it is because we are so dispro disproportionately heavy in the attendance realm, in the youth group realm, and the kids' ministry realm of saying we have a disproportionate number of what has been labeled the quote unquote next gen. And so I'm wanting us to understand that the next generation isn't the church of tomorrow, they're part of God's church today, and we have a responsibility. Starts with protecting and praying for them, starts with celebrating them, and then next week we'll talk about investing in them. Right. And as Brad said, you know, it's it's easy for us to look at these different generations and say, hey, you know what? Like, well, they're not like us. They're not built the same way. They I said yesterday, well, it's easy for people uh generations even ahead of me to say, well, they don't they didn't have to walk uphill both ways to school. Right, like they don't know what the dial-up world is like. Well, you know what? The people who were a generation ahead of dial-up generation, they would have said, well, they don't know what it's like to have to get on a landline and or the party line, right? Like everybody, yeah, everybody thinks, well, this generation, yeah, right, and it becomes so negatively focused because it's a world we live in. It's a comparative society. And the only way I can feel good about myself is if you are torn down.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, just so sad.
SPEAKER_02A hundred percent, but it's a world we live in. And so I prose the question to kind of set up everything we were talking about yesterday. Is what if we, as a church, became known for something different than that? What if we were known for something different than the comparative language that tears down?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. What if we flip the script and flip perspective?
SPEAKER_02For sure. Right. And so I said the world is always gonna point out what's wrong, but what if the church became known for identifying and calling out what God is doing in the lives of other people?
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Right. Like how often are we doing that? Not just identifying it and not calling it out, right? Or not just saying, well, that one was right in front of my nose, so I had to call it out. Like, what if we're searching for it? Like searching for what they're doing well and calling it out. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, and like being obedient to actually calling it out too, because how often do we think about it in our heads and it was like, oh, that was cool that that happened, or that was neat that they did that, or oh, I really saw God in them when they acted out in their obedience, and you think that, but how often are are you actually saying it?
SPEAKER_00Right. Especially when we look at like, you know, what it says in Genesis chapter one, like the we're made in his image. Yeah. I love like the story that you shared yesterday of like the example of this now pastor. Yeah. But at the time, you know, maybe he wasn't walking in obedience with what the Lord had in his life. He was filling himself with like, you know, whether it was the party scene or drinking or maybe smoking something, or you know, being like in these unhealthy relationships, but still, like when his grandma saw him, she's like, How's my man of God? Yeah, and he's like uh grandma only if you knew like this ain't no, but no, you are a man of God, like yeah, calling him higher. Yeah, um, and like speaking life over yeah, that is such an an incredible way of like speaking life into that because yeah, I feel like in that moment, there's just that natural like conviction, like you know what, I I am, yeah, but I'm not but I'm not acting like it. That a hundred percent. So it's like you know, it's transformative language. I even because of that yesterday, like looked at some of our daughters and it was like, are my daughters a god this morning? Yeah, you know, just because it is like just like that, like man, speaking in that like truth.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's so funny.
SPEAKER_03So you build them up into that. That's so sweet.
SPEAKER_02So let me get there real quick, and then I'll tell you a story that I think is really funny that goes with that. So, so we were saying to kind of to get us to where Brad just took us, is we have to be intentional about celebrating in people in the next gen, right? Who God created them to be, who he's transforming them to become, and who he's calling them to impact.
SPEAKER_04Right?
SPEAKER_02Or another way to say it is we celebrate what God has done, what he's doing, and what God will do. Yeah, right. Right. We're not celebrating them as like this individualized generation or person who we just think is awesome, right? We're celebrating God in and through them. And if we keep it about that, then we can always celebrate them because that doesn't change. Right. And so what got us to Genesis chapter one is we said, hey, I think there's three things in that realm that we can be intentional about celebrating. The first one was celebrate God's image in them. Right. And so Brad referenced Genesis chapter one, verse 26, where God said, Let us make human beings in our image to be like us, right? Then he said what their role was going to be. And then in verse 27, it says, So God created human beings in his own image. Right. And so calling out this like, how did God create you? This man of God, this daughter of God scenario. So I was talking to a guy the other day, and he said he's been working with his son on just like speaking um like attributes into him. So every night before bed, like, which he has a son and a daughter, whichever one he puts to bed, he like walks him through like, hey, say, um I'm kind. And he said, the kid says, I'm kind. Say I'm strong, say I'm strong, I'm courageous, I'm courageous, I'm a son of God, and it goes through all of this, right? And just like these affirmations of like things that the Bible says about how God created him to be. And it was so funny. So the other day they were at their family's, I promise this story's going somewhere. They were at their they were at their family's house, and this this family, the family's house that they were at has a pond, and then it has in their pond something I've never heard of. I don't know the right word, but it's a place like it's like a duck house on the pond. It's like a duck shed or something. Like they're like raising ducks, apparently. I don't know. And so there, the boy was like really kind of like intrigued by it. The young boy, I think he's like three. He's really intrigued by it, and then all of a sudden the ducks are kind of like getting closer and he's getting a little scared. And uh my friend's wife was like, Hey, buddy, remember, remember what daddy reminds you every night? You're strong. And he's like, I'm strong. You're courageous, you're courageous, you're you're I forget what it was, you're brave. And he's like, I'm brave. And and I can kill a duck. And he went and he grabbed the duck's throat. Oh my god. And the duck just vomited right all over him. And so he let go of it. And it's like the power of the words, like the power of celebrating that in him, right? Took him from being timid and afraid and whatever to like very courageous and uh confident. Yeah, to like, oh, all of a sudden I went from I'm scared of this thing to I can kill it. Yeah, right. And it's afraid. Scared. Afraid, afraid. I said what I meant and I meant what I said.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And but but think about like how that speaking the the image of God into into him, right? Like you were created to be strong, you were created to be brave, you're courageous, right? And all of a sudden, just those reminders took him from like, I'm gonna run from this duck to I'm gonna choke it till it vomits on it. That's funny, right?
SPEAKER_03And so we have to that's good imagery though.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. That's right. Like we have to just celebrate that principle of it in uh the next generation, in those around us, right? Like you might say, I don't have kids yet, or my kids are gone. So how do you do that in your marriage, in your home, in at work, at school, right? Like, how do you do that with those around you? Celebrate God's image in them, right? Because it's this is not celebrating their um personality, their production, their obedience, their performance. This is celebrating God's design in a child that he made in his image. Right? Like it's not saying good job being brave, it's saying you are brave because you were made to be that way. Yeah. Right? You're made in the image of God. Right? Like, we want to celebrate that God created you exactly the way he wanted you to be, and we're gonna call that out of you. Right? Then we're gonna celebrate God's character growing in them. Right. So now this is like this concept of how do I see the character of God or the character of Jesus in you? How do I see the Holy Spirit working in your life? And so we walked through this process yesterday, looking at 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17, that says, When we belong to Christ, right, so as a follower of Jesus, we become a new person. The old is gone, the new has begun. This week we saw nine people get water baptized, go through the expression of that verse, right? The old life is gone, the new is here. Right? They've become a new creation. Well, what happens whenever we belong to Christ? Well, 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 22 says he and he identifies us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our heart. Okay, so follow me along this journey real quick. If we follow Jesus, we're gonna see the character of God growing in us because we belong to Christ. He identifies us as his own because we're following Jesus. So now the Holy Spirit has been placed in our heart. Now, what do we do with the Holy Spirit that's been placed in our heart? Paul encourages us in Galatians chapter five, he says in verse 16, so I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Okay, don't forget this is the Holy Spirit's placed in the heart of a believer, of someone who's following Jesus. And so Paul says, While it's in while the Holy Spirit's in your heart, while he's there, let him guide your lives. Well, what would that what would that look like in your life? A couple verses later, he says, the Holy Spirit will produce this kind of fruit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Right? Like that's what it's gonna produce in our life. So what if we begin to celebrate those things? Because that's a character of God growing. So I'm gonna, I'm going to celebrate that man. Hey, baby, I saw when you were really kind to your friend. I saw how you shared. Yeah. I saw how you did not like not just celebrating all of the achievement-based things, which aren't wrong. Yeah. Right?
SPEAKER_03Like Or just even asking the question. Do you realize that was self-control right there? What you just exuded was self-control, and that's what God asks of us, and that's a fruit of the spirit, and you know, using it as teaching moments too to speak life.
SPEAKER_02For sure. I mean, even think about us. Like we work so hard to get first words, first time singing, first steps, all of that on camera, so we have it. But when were you ever like, and or me? Like, you know what we should do? We should try to get her first time forgiving someone on camera. That'd be so awesome.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's so sweet. Right.
SPEAKER_02You know what I mean? Think about the first time she shared a toy. No, no, no, don't share yet. Let us get the camera out.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I've never thought that till right now in my life. So I'm not like saying, listen, we've got it all figured out.
SPEAKER_03First time she prayed on her own, you know? Yeah, right. Which I do record prayers, and that's a really sweet thing to do. Record their prayers, it's so sweet.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But yeah, like how often are we thinking about that? And that isn't like the cultural norm to go and record those things. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And too, I think it's a good reminder, like we want like these things just to like oh just get it, you know, just figure it out type feel. But it's like growth, especially like just this like um deep growth takes takes time. Yeah. Like we were at camp, like we mentioned this past week, and there was one time where there was this this leader worship session, and it was kind of just like an acoustic version. And um, there was a song I haven't sang for 20 years, and I it was it hit me hard just because it was the song Um From the Inside Out. Oh, yeah. I remember singing that song. Yeah, take it back to I was involved in youth group a whole lot in in high school, and um and that probably played a big role into why I struggled with the things I struggled with. But uh I remember being in this uh youth group for this short time being and singing that song, 13-year-old Brad. Yep, very like not even lukewarm. I would say probably on the other side of a little chilly, yeah. Yeah, or like, or yeah, it's just kind of this is gross, yeah. Like probably more hot than like you know, like I'm not gonna drink this water plain, like this is disgusting. So um, anyway, not not a good relationship with Jesus. I remember singing that song, and now and I remember like there's times where I'll thank some of those people that you know, like, man, I'm sorry for how I like 16-year-old Brad acted and did these things. But now, fast forward, you know, 20 years, I'm 33 and I'm singing that song again, it just gives me a whole new perspective. Yeah, like I remember then I was lost, confused, um, you know, just but then even looking back at you know, 10 years from then, 23-year-old Brad had a little bit more together, right? But still learning. But then, and now 10 years from that, 33-year-old Brad, yeah, still lurking, working through things, but I'm like, man, the journey that he has us on. And it's not just like an instant like boom, you're gonna get understand, but it's just like being patient, speaking truth when truth is needed, you know, encouraging, celebrating. Yeah, and then in that there's gonna be some beautiful fruit.
SPEAKER_03And remembering the way I mean, I think that's just really sweet too, how the Lord met you in his kindness and just said, Hey, I'm gonna take you back to where we were.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And then we're gonna remember all that I've done and bring you back to where you are now and just have that moment of reflection too, which is just another piece of that. That's so sweet.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03That's cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, which is it's just cool that you get the opportunity to say. It's not just about the practices or the rhythms or the things, it's like look at the the character, yeah. The the growth of the character so that we can begin to celebrate how has God grown character in you?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. And I I say that because like sometimes with you know, our now generation that is in front of us, sometimes you're like, oh my goodness, like I love you so much and I care so deeply for you. Like, why are you choosing to still make those But I just want to shake you? But exactly. But then I'm like, hey, be reminded.
SPEAKER_03Yes, like we need to be brought back to our journey. Yeah, to our journey.
SPEAKER_02There's there's a line that has to be there's you you have to find the balance because 13-year-old Brad probably needed to be shaken a little bit. Yeah, like that's the hard part. It's like just because God because we've seen this doesn't mean that now we can have we soften our a hands-off approach, yeah. Right? Because maybe you Where you're at at 33, you could have been there at 23. For sure. If somebody was like, I'm gonna shake you a little bit in a kind and loving way. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Mm-hmm. Right. In the way that produces a lot of grace.
SPEAKER_02In the way that produces the character of God in me. Right. With all of the fruit we just talked about.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_02And that's what we're talking about. We're asking is we're not just celebrating it in them, we can celebrate it in each other and say, hey, here's the deal. Like, we're part of discipling this generation. And how do I get my hands dirty, so to speak, by being involved with the next generation? And so I think it's just uh it's good to be able to celebrate that in yourself or in other people who are of the same generation. Say, hey, listen, look what God's done. Look what he can do. And he did it for you over the course of 20 years, he did it for someone else over the course of eight, someone else over the course of 40, right? However, it's his timing, but what role do we play in that for other people? So we're gonna celebrate God's image in them, we're gonna celebrate God's character growing in them, right? And we we said we posed a question in this realm of like whether it's achievement-based or is it character-based, like what gets celebrated in your home?
SPEAKER_04Right?
SPEAKER_02What what are we celebrating in our homes? Because the reality is what gets celebrated gets encouraged, and what we encourage gets repeated. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yep.
SPEAKER_02It's not as clean as what gets celebrated gets repeated. There's a middle step that we have to understand because the thing we celebrate is what our children or the next generation or those who are in our influence think that we're encouraging.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I celebrate good grades, nothing wrong with that, but I celebrate it. Well, now I'm only I'm encouraging that value comes from academics.
SPEAKER_03Like what are you building your children's identity around?
SPEAKER_02Yep. Right. Because then is it sports?
SPEAKER_03Is it grades? Is it accomplishment? Is it yeah, any of those things? Or is it the the fruit of the spirit?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Not and none of academics, athletics, those aren't bad. After school programs, right, extracurriculars, clubs, whatever. None of that is is inherently bad.
SPEAKER_03It's just bad when it becomes the idol and the thing you build your identity around. Sure.
SPEAKER_02Would you rather your kid be an amazing athlete or a straight A student or the star of that show or whatever? Or would you rather them be loving, peaceful, patient, kind, generous, joy-filled? Like, what would you rather? And if you can't honestly say, man, I'd rather my my kid be get cut from the team or not make the performance or struggle to get C's, but man, they're filled with the fruit of the spirit. Yeah. And I'd rather have that, then that's where we have to begin to say, hey, where is our compass as parents or as leaders or as the church body missing it?
SPEAKER_03Right, right.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And that's hard because it's important to evaluate that.
SPEAKER_02Good grades and great resumes and all of that gets you money off college. It makes everybody. I'm just like, you can measure it. How do I measure how kind someone is and what good does that get them in the in the very next phase, right? Like how do a college doesn't care if they're kind, they care if they have good grades, if they were on the team, if they were the captain, if they did 10 years of 4-H, if they, if they, if they.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Right. And so we naturally put it in because the world values those.
SPEAKER_00And I think that's why we can have such a misconch misconception on like how we earn God's love. So many times we're like, man, if I do this, then there's gonna be good that kind of like, or if I perform well, right, if I but then all of a sudden, like I I don't, and now I'm running from God because I don't feel like I'm like, oh, he doesn't want, he doesn't want this. Right. You see, he doesn't want this mess.
SPEAKER_03How he loves you.
SPEAKER_00And so therefore, or like saying, like, oh man, I gotta see. Yeah, I can't tell my parents. But instead, it's like, you know, just modeling that, like, hey, no, you are still did you did you try your best?
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Like, I appreciate you like putting in the the time, but also showing yourself forgiveness. Like, hey, and there's another one that's coming. And it's gonna be a good thing. And how can I help you?
SPEAKER_03And how can we get you additional help?
SPEAKER_00I think so many times, like everything we do in life is just so performance-based.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And then like we think the father's love is is the same way.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And I think we have to we think it's conditional and it's definitely not unconditional.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I think it's important to understand that we can celebrate them and call them higher at the same time. Like, I'm not just celebrating a C because you got a C. Yeah. Right?
SPEAKER_03Like, but I'm going to create a safe space for you to bring the C, and then I'm going to encourage you and call you higher and see how I can help or we can get you a duder.
SPEAKER_02You know, there's two different types of C's in the world.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02There's if I would have got a C in current events where we read a newspaper and talked about it during fast. Yeah. And the C that I got in AP calculus. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Right. I worked so much harder for the C in AP calculus than the 110% that I got in current events.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_02Like if it's about maximizing the gifts and the talents God gave me, then I should have been more convicted about only having 110% in current events than having a C in calculus. Right. Right. And so it's it's the nuanced conversation of we're not celebrating a C or an A or a B or a D or whatever the grade is. We're not celebrating what did God place inside you and how is His character growing in you? Right. And then as we do that, then the third thing we said is we can celebrate God's calling on their lives. We looked at Ephesians chapter 210, uh, and it says we're God's masterpiece. He created us anew in Christ Jesus, which is a process we just talked about, right? We're created new because we're following Jesus. The old is gone, the new is here, so we're created new. And I always love to pause here every time and say, why did he create us new? Did he create us new so he can put us in his museum of great Christians who are awesome and he just stares at us like a doll every day? No, he created us new because it says, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Now, there are good things that he has planned for every person who's listening. He planned, and we got to continue to do those things. Part of those good things can be impacting the lives of the next gen or celebrating the next gen because he also gave them good things to do. Right. So how do we call that out in them? Right? We don't only celebrate who they are, we celebrate who they're becoming. Right? Who not just who are you today, not just what did I see in you today, I saw you be kind, I saw you be loving, I saw you be joyful, I saw you be peaceful, right? Not just celebrating this snapshot in time, but now can I celebrate who I see you becoming?
SPEAKER_03And reminding them who they're becoming.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_03A woman of God, a man of God back to your original story.
SPEAKER_02Yep, and what does that mean? Like, hey, I see, like, call it out in them. You can't just make stuff up.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_02Like nobody should have ever told me, I see a really great NFL player. No, of course not, even though that's what I wanted to be. Like, that's not that's not calling out. You have to be like in line with the Holy Spirit, but people could say, hey, I see a great dad, I see a great father, I see a great husband. Right. I I I still remember somebody told me that they that I was gonna be a pastor one day. I'm like, that sounds terrible. Turns out they're right. No, I'm kidding. Not about it being terrible, but turns out they were right.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But that's somebody spoke.
SPEAKER_01I hate talking in front of people. That does not sound like something I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Right. I let me confirm that with my two worst grades that are not AP calculus being speech.
SPEAKER_00But I think it's so cool though, because man, when you have that, like so many times too, we can just be like, oh, I don't want to share that, or like I'm afraid to just like speak life. No, like if someone, if the Lord like prompts you in that, like man, speak life into that person. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_02What if you viewed not speaking life when the Lord prompts you as disobedience to God?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, it's an obedience issue at the end of the day. Like, oh, that was not saying that was sin.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Because man, I just we've talked about this before in here, but I know and like the more that I grow in my faith, like the Lord loves like talking to his children through his children. Yeah, you know, and so like you get to speak the words of God over somebody today, yeah, yeah, you know, this week, every day, and when he brings that into your you know, mind of man, I see this and the man, yeah, speak life, yeah call it out. Yeah, you know, because and it's funny because looking back on like you just saying that like triggered some stuff of like man, when people said some stuff that was life-giving to me and like thinking, like, oh man, yeah, that is something right now that I'm like really enjoying in life.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But you know, in college, like when someone said that, I didn't yeah, I didn't think anything of it. Well, it'll be a good one. So now it's like, oh man, yeah, it's good.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, a lot of the time too, God'll use that. Maybe it's a moment that that person is facing doubt or insecurity, and he gives you this prompting of obedience, right? Where he's like, hey, speak life here. And it's almost like that confirmation for that person. They're hearing from the Lord through what you're saying, and it's like, oh, that crushes my doubt, that crushes my insecurity. So um don't be disobedient to the promptings like that because you never know what the uh the fruit is on the other side for that person.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02For sure. So we're already talking about it. So we said there's three ways that real practical, how we can celebrate. Not what to celebrate, but how. The first one is celebrate with your words. We're talking about that right now. Yeah. Proverbs 18, 21 says the power of the tongue contains life and death. Now, in that context, there's a what as you guys are talking that just came to my mind was like, we have to understand how powerful our words are because even misplaced good words carry unintended negative consequences.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_02Uh, I was talking to somebody last week who was sharing me a s a story uh with me about his son, and just like he's getting ready to figure out like what does he want to do for a career? And and he was trying to speak life into his son, being like, Hey, hey, you know what? I don't think he's gonna do what I do. He doesn't have the personality for that, he has the personality for this, he'll be great in this aspect. And he's like, I said that a long time ago, and he's like, as he continued to get older and older and older, his personality has blossomed, and he has the personality to do what I do. But anytime anybody asks him, he's like, I don't have the personality for that. I'm gonna do this instead.
SPEAKER_03And he's like become his inner voice.
SPEAKER_02And he's like, I wasn't even trying to like talk him out of something, I was trying to like encourage him with words of life in this other area. Yeah, like, hey, you'd be great at this.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You'd be like, you don't have to, like, you don't have to be me. You can go be this. Like, let me release you into that, let me empower you into that, right? And so, but he's like, Man, I've had to go back and be like, hey, I I misspoke. I didn't mean that you couldn't, I meant that you'd be good at this.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_02And he's like, but he's still has internalized that for so far. Yeah, yeah, like it was like, hey, miscommunication, misunderstanding, that's not what I meant. I meant this. Yeah, yeah, right. Like, I think you'd be great at this now. Yeah, right. Like, but it's my point is like words, even good intentions can carry negative consequences. And to me, it's like that's not even a knock on any of us because it happens all the time. It's understanding how powerful words truly are. Yeah, right. Right? Like, it's like sometimes it's like being like, Well, I was looking for a gun and I got a bazooka, and there's just some unintended like consequences that it's such a powerful thing. Yeah, yeah, you know, like it's so powerful, and so we gotta be really, really careful. Which is I don't know where it's at in Proverbs, but it's like Proverbs, like, hey, the wise person hardly ever talks because they understand. Yeah, right, like and we think so many times, well, you know, you know, we should be more talkative. We should communicate better and clear more clearly for sure. That does not mean we should stack up and see how high we can get our word counted. Right. And I think that's the thing that like words, even with good intentions, can carry negative consequences if we're not careful.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's I had a meter tell me that one time like in business. Like you get there's conflict and there's disagreements, and you know, you're dealing with an employee. If you get upset, you can say something now, yeah, and you go back to your office and today or tomorrow you're like, I probably shouldn't have said that. You know, pause, go back to the office, wait even till tomorrow. If you still want to say what you want to say, you can say it.
SPEAKER_03Yes. But you can't take it back.
SPEAKER_01You can't take it back if it comes out now.
SPEAKER_02So you've been told that by your mentor, yeah. Yeah. And you've put it into practice. Not everybody's not everybody, but yeah. But you've put it into practice, you've done it. Yep. How many times the next day did you want to say the same thing you were gonna say?
SPEAKER_01Probably a lot less.
SPEAKER_02I mean, like sign I would imagine significantly less.
SPEAKER_01And I would say not even the next day. I would say within minutes to hours. Yeah. Like there's a better way I can't.
SPEAKER_03I was gonna say, and the way in which you would present that would be completely.
SPEAKER_02The tone, the severity, and in the moment, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01All the above.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02The tone and intensity. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. For sure.
SPEAKER_03And the heart behind it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_02That's good. So celebrate with words. The other thing we said was celebrate with your presence. We talked about what does it mean to be present. There's physical presence, there's emotional, mental presence. And when we can combine those things, right? That's beg that's when we begin to be really present and celebrating. Um, I had this written down, I didn't say it because it wasn't on a slide. So if it's I don't put it on a slide, it may not get ever get said. But I said we don't just celebrate milestones, we celebrate moments. Right. So can we can we be present enough to celebrate all the little moments, all the little things?
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because we're there, not just to be like, well, I made it to the performance, I was at the game, yeah, I was at graduation, whatever the things are, right? I'm not just there for the milestones, we're there for the moments, and we're gonna celebrate the moments because in the moment, that is when you're carrying out God's character.
SPEAKER_00That's when we see his identity. Yeah. I think those are gonna be the things too that those people remember the most.
SPEAKER_03100%.
SPEAKER_00They're like even when you look back at like my memories as a child and adolescent and all these, like, I've got a lot of memories, but a lot of them just like almost just like run together and I like can't recall specific, but like there's specific moments that were monumental.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, like throughout life. And I think like if we just create those moments to to speak life, to encourage like those are gonna be huge in the person's faith walk.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And I don't go ahead. Somebody gotta say something. Yeah, my god.
SPEAKER_01I still gotta nod it back and forth to each other. Yeah, my mom kind of got me started. Like when the girls come home from school, I would say, or she'd say, What was your favorite thing and what was your least favorite thing? And talk through that. So I do that, and then I don't always ask the same thing first. Like you can tell by their attitude if they had a bad day. It's like, well, what was what was the least favorite thing today? Start there.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And then go to the favorite thing. Yeah. Like help change the mood. Yeah. Or if they're really pumped, like try to do both. Like, here's things you can work on, or here's something you can change for the next time. Yeah. But you also had a good day.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like, yeah. In the grand scheme of things, you still had a great you still had a good day. Yeah. Right. That's good. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I I think something too, even this morning, like after listening to yesterday and then waking up this morning, I I just hear our daughter just belting out who else is worthy. Yeah. First thing this morning as I was doing my makeup. And I didn't know she was awake yet. I had no idea. And I'm doing my makeup, and I'm like, I could finish my makeup, and that would be, you know, five minutes, or I could interrupt what I'm doing. I could drop all the makeup and I could walk out there and I could call her higher, call her out, and be like, that is mommy's favorite thing to wake up to. And that makes God's heart so happy to know that you're praising him first thing in the morning when you wake up. Like it was that moment where it was like, Am I gonna be obedient and am I gonna drop what I selfishly want to continue doing? Or, you know, am I actually going to um act in obedience and go out there and call her out for what I see or what I hear? And it was just nice because I think had I not listened to the message yesterday, I probably wouldn't have dropped what I was doing to go do that and to connect with her in that way. Um, but it's just good to have these little reminders of like, oh yeah, there's a lot of those moments that that we do need to act in obedience on. So yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and so can we celebrate with our words, celebrate with our time, right? Or our presence. Right. It's not just time because time's only part of it. So celebrate with words, celebrate with presence, and then we kind of ended up with saying celebrate with blessing, right? Which is a thing that we see a lot in the old testament. It's a generational thing, it's a patriarchal thing of speaking blessing over, speaking affirming the word of God over them. I'm not saying like, hey, we're gonna celebrate your blessing as like, hey, you're gonna be really wealthy. Hey, you're no, like that's not a promise in the word of God that we're all gonna be wealthy, right? But like speaking the the truths of the word of God over them because they live in a culture of lies, of counterfeit little g idol, little g gods or idols, right? Like they live in that. So how do we communicate blessings, which are just affirming the promises of God over them? Right? It's not just saying, Hey, I see this in you. Yeah. That's I mean, you use your words for blessings, but it's just different, right? Like it's not celebrating God's image in them, it's not celebrating God's character growing in them, or even who God's calling them to be. It's saying, hey, God's word says about says this about you as his child.
SPEAKER_03You're chosen, you're just some favored, you're anointed, you're you are equipped.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. You are a son of God or a daughter of God, you are a co-heir with Christ, right? You are loved more than you can imagine. Those types of things that are just true of humanity for some things, and then true of followers of Jesus for some of the other ones. Right. So, how do we speak those over them in ways that are affirming the truths of the world?
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Or the truths of the word, not the lies of the world. Right. And so that's probably the most challenging, I think, because it it it and ri uh requires us to have to know those things. Yeah. Like we have to know the word of God for us to be able to communicate that over our child. We can memorize one verse, well, one and a half verses, and it'd be love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Okay, boom. I can memorize that. I can call those things out in my child or in my kids, my friends' kids, or in the people I know at school or whatever, right? Like, I can call that out. I can celebrate that they were made in God's image for sure. But now, how do I speak this blessing over them? Well, I've got to know what the word of God says.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_02I've got to know what those promises would be. I've got to understand all of that so that I can effectively speak those blessings over them. And so that's where, like, as the people who are called to celebrate them with blessing, is we're gonna have to dive into the word of God. We're gonna have to see what it says. We're gonna have to communicate those over and over and over again to be able to get them in us.
SPEAKER_03Which I think is so special about discipleship because when you're discipling someone else, I mean, it throws you back into the word of God over and over and over again. They're asking questions, they don't know what the Bible says. You're you know you're responsible for speaking blessing and um words of encouragement and character of God over them. So, I mean, it throws you back into the word of God. You have to know what the Bible actually says.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, so discipleship is a two-way street, and you are learning just as much, and your faith is growing as you are discipling the next generation, too, which is a sweet blessing that we get.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure. And it's this conversation to me is a really simple conversation to understand, right? Like, how hard is it to be like, hey, find the identify what God's doing in someone's life and call it out? Not that hard to like understand. Right. Like it's not complex, but man, is it hard to do on a consistent basis? Is it hard to make a that a rhythm of your life? Right, right, right. And so the challenge is how do we be intentional about doing that?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_02How how do we be intentional about putting those rhythms in place?
SPEAKER_03Um yeah, how do we practically walk it out?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. And so I'm excited to kind of see what how our church, and I don't mean the organization of the church, the body of the church begins to put some of this stuff into place. And if they do, you know, we got a text from uh one of our one of our friends who was like, hey, we're trying to figure out what would this look like in our house, right? How would we begin to do this on an ongoing basis? Like, what's the rhythm we can put into place? And so I'm excited to see what that looks like because I think that this is something that is so countercultural to the concept of like the world we live in and how we embrace the next generation or even people who are different than us, right? Like that's so different, and so putting it into practice will be challenging because it's so countercultural, not because it's hard to understand.
SPEAKER_03But it will also be such a blessing to both sides.
SPEAKER_02Of course, totally agree.
SPEAKER_03One receiving the blessing and the one giving the blessing.
SPEAKER_02That's right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So what are we missing? Anything else we want to discuss?
SPEAKER_03I don't think so.
SPEAKER_02We left you out early. We left you out of the class early today. Come on.
SPEAKER_03Words of life this week.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Encourage, build up, strengthen.
SPEAKER_02Okay, who wants to close us in a short prayer?
SPEAKER_03Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_03Dear Lord, thank you so much for this time. Thank you for this week that you've given us. Thank you for the now generation that's before us. Help us to steward them, help us to guide their hearts, help us to speak words of life and encouragement and love. Help us to call them higher. Help us to have uh motherly and fatherly lenses to see them the way that you see them. Uh help to break our hearts for what breaks yours in their lives, Lord, and uh just help us to raise up this next generation, to know you, to love you, to pursue you, um, and to want to be activated for the kingdom, Lord. We pray a sweet blessing over this now generation, and I just pray over every listener that they would be uh a fire would be sparked in their hearts to care for this next generation, to want to disciple, to want to dive in. Um I just pray for the desires in their hearts to grow uh continuously as we walk in what you've called us to. We love you, Jesus. In your name we pray. Amen.
SPEAKER_02Amen. All right, y'all. We'll be back next week talking about investing in the next generation. Love you guys. See ya.