Pass It On

Silence is expensive, especially when it costs the next generation their chance to hear what God is really like. We open with Psalm 100 and let it set the posture: joyful worship, gratitude, and a steady confidence that the Lord is good and faithful to all generations. From there, we lean into a direct question: if God’s faithfulness lasts, what are we doing to make sure our kids, grandkids, friends, and coworkers actually know it? 

We walk through Psalm 145 and focus on the responsibility of one generation commending God’s works to another. That starts with remembering. If your mind goes blank when you try to name what God has done, we talk about meditating on his wondrous works and creating quiet space for prayer and the Word so your testimony becomes specific again. We also turn to Joshua at the Jordan River, where the call to “consecrate yourselves” becomes a practical challenge about preparation, obedience, and living a lifestyle that matches the name Christian. 

Joshua 4 and Psalm 78 sharpen the legacy: memorial stones, family conversations, and faith that is taught on purpose so children yet unborn can set their hope in God. We even contrast inheritance with heritage, because what we leave behind should be more than stuff it should be stories of God’s faithful hand that push the next generation toward Jesus. If you’re ready to build a generational legacy of faith, listen, share this with someone you love, and then subscribe and leave a review so more people can hear the call to pass it on.

Transcript

Welcome And Invitation To Worship

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Hey, what's going on, everybody? Welcome to another episode of Beyond Sunday. I am your host, Pastor Lee Day, and I pastor Christ Family Outreach Church, located in Amelia Courthouse, Virginia. If you've not yet made your way out to visit with us on a Thursday night service at 6:30 or a Sunday morning service at 10 a.m., I really hope that you can get out soon and just see what the Lord is doing. Here lately, the the Holy Spirit has led me to preach, at least for the past couple weeks, on the topic of spiritual warfare. And it has been a time, I'm going to tell you, it has been, it has been a blessed, anointed time in the Lord. The people of God are growing. I'm growing. The Holy Spirit is teaching and leading and guiding and directing us through his word. And it has been a wonderful, wonderful time going from faith to faith and glory to glory. So come on out. Be part of what God is doing at CFO Church, Christ Family Outreach.

Psalm 100 And God’s Goodness

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If you got your Bibles, we're going to get right in to the 100th Psalm. Psalm 100. It's only five verses. It's a short psalm, but that's where we find ourselves in the very beginning of this episode. So just pay close attention. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into his presence with singing. Know that the Lord, he is God. It is he who made us. We are his, we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. For the Lord is good. His steadfast love endures forever. And his faithfulness to all generations. Now the fifth verse, pay close attention. I'm going to read it to you one more time. For the Lord is good, his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. This fifth verse reminds us that the faithfulness of God endures to all generations. God has been faithful from the beginning, and he always will be faithful. Now think about that. God is faithful to all generations. My friends, that's good news. And as followers of Jesus Christ, you and I, we got a job to do concerning the faithfulness of God. We've got a responsibility. And so I just want to take a look. Just looking at four verses here. The 145th

Tell The Next Generation

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Psalm 1 through 4 says this I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. Pay close attention to the fourth verse. Here it is. One generation shall commend your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts. Now, let's break that down for a moment. Our job as Christians, my brothers and sisters, is to make sure that the generation coming up behind us knows exactly who God is. The people of this world cannot afford for the church to be silent any longer. Matter of fact, the people of this world cannot afford for the church to be earthly Christians any longer. The lost need you and I to speak up. The unsaved family members need you and I to speak up louder. Our friends and our coworkers, they need us to speak up louder than ever before. The sick need you to speak up. The desperate need you to speak up. The lonely and the abandoned need us to speak up. The depressed and those struggling with anxiety and fear and doubt-ridden, they need us to speak up. Desperately, they need us to speak up. As Christians, according to the text, it's our job to tell of the work that God has done in our lives. Now, if you're thinking to yourself, well, I don't really know or I can't even remember what God has done for me in my life. Well, that is why the fifth verse says, and on your God, on your wondrous works, I will meditate. If you're taking notes, write that one word down, meditate. We're going to kind of focus on that right here. Because when the psalmist says in the fifth verse, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate, we can take a lesson from that. Take time thinking about what God has already done in our lives. So that means that we're going to have to get at times into a quiet place. That means at times we're going to have to get into a quiet place and pray, be still, listen, watch, and allow God to begin the process of showing us things and let him faithfully reveal some things that he's already done in your life. Now, God will do that because his plan is that generation will tell the next generation all about them. That's right. God's plan is that this generation will tell the next generation all about them. That's your job. That's my job.

Consecrate Yourself For Tomorrow

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Now, if you got your Bibles, I want you to go to the book of Joshua, chapter 3, beginning with the seventh verse. Joshua 3, beginning with the seventh verse, says this. The Lord God said to Joshua, Today, I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. And as for you, command the priest who bear the ark of the covenant, when you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan. And Joshua said to the people of Israel, Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. And Joshua said, Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizites, the Gergashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. So in other words, speaking of Israel's enemy. The eleventh verse he says, Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan. Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe of man, and when the soles of the feet of the priest bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand up in one heap. So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priest bearing the Ark of the Covenant before the people, and as soon as the bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priest bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water, now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. That's important to remember right there, my friends. The waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heavy heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarthan, and those flowing down the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off, and now people passed over opposite Jericho. Now the priest bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan. Now, just before all of this, Joshua said something to the people that I believe still stands for every generation of believers today. It's one verse. I know I've done a lot of reading so far on this episode, but it's God's word, right? So that's what we're supposed to do with it. We're supposed to read it, we're supposed to study it, we're supposed to listen to it when it's read. So I'm going to show you in this one verse, Joshua chapter 3, verse 5, what Joshua said that again, I believe still stands for all believers today. Here it is, Joshua chapter 3, beginning with the first, the fifth verse. Then Joshua said to the people, consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Basically, what he told them was this go get ready. Go get yourself right with God. Go prepare yourself, for God is going to do wonders in your life tomorrow. Now, here's a question for you. Have you personally yourself, have you consecrated yourself? Have you made yourself ready today for what God wants to do in your life tomorrow? Or when tomorrow gets here, will you still be struggling with what you believe? Will you still be struggling with what you're facing today? Okay? Write this down if you're taking notes. Two words. Prepare myself. Prepare myself. Write this down. Preparation takes time. Preparation takes time. Time spent in prayer, time spent in God's word, time listening to his voice, time spent watching for God to work in your life. Preparation takes time. Loving people you don't feel like loving, sharing the gospel message with strangers, taking time to praise and worship the God of all creation. Preparation takes time. Coming to church every week, listening to Christian music faithfully, investing in godly relationships, spending time with Christian friends, helping others in their hour of need, giving to others, being an example, being an ambassador of God. I'm going to say it again. And oftentimes people who claim to be a Christian do not have the true lifestyle of a born-again Christian simply because they have not prepared themselves. In other words, they claim Christ, but they simply don't live like Christ. You have to prepare yourself, spend time with God, quality time with God, and prepare yourself to see God do wonders in your life. Praise God. Now, Joshua chapter 4, we're jumping forward a little bit.

Memorial Stones And Living Testimony

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Joshua chapter 4, beginning with the first verse, says this. Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe, and Joshua said to them, Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children, now, remember earlier I began his podcast talking about what God's word says from generation to generation. Okay? Now watch this, verse six, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, what do those stones mean to you? Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever. The entire nation, this is powerful. The entire nation passed over that day, and every single one of them had a job. Their job was this prepare yourself, go in faith, be obedient to God, witness what God was doing, and tell the next generation what they had seen God do. Their testimony had to travel from generation to generation. What do you want the generation after you to say about you when it came to your relationship with God? What do you want the generations after you, even when you're gone, what do you want them to be able to say about your faith walk with God? If if you're thinking to yourself, well, I haven't I haven't walked with God, therefore I can't think of anything, well, then start today. Start right now, right where you are right now. Begin a relationship with God today that is so real, so personal, that by accepting Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Savior, that it becomes so real that you see God begin doing work and wonders in and around and throughout your life, and then begin telling the next generation, okay, what God has begun doing in your life. That next generation that's already here, they they just haven't taken over yet, if you will. They're younger than you are, but listen, they're they're listening, they're willing to listen. You gotta teach them. You gotta teach them. If

Break The Cycle In Your Family

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you got your Bibles, we're gonna jump over to the 78th Psalm for a moment. All right, let's get there together. The 78th Psalm. All right. I'm flipping, I'm hoping you're flipping. Psalm 78, look at four verses. This is what it says. Give ear, O my people, to my teaching. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord and his might and the wonders that he has done. Notice what Asaph says in the second and the third verse. He said that he would open his mouth and that others should speak about things that they too have heard that their fathers told them about. If you look at the fifth verse, it says this He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments, and that they should be, and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. Listen to me, church. If you don't come from a family that went to church, then it's your job to break that cycle. All right? I'm talking to the church right now. I'm talking to safe folks right now, okay? It's your job to break the cycle. It's your job to be the difference maker. If you've never had a dad or a mom talk to you about God, if you've never had a grandmother or grandfather talk to you about God, then start today with your children and your grandchildren. Can somebody say amen to that? Start right now with the generations after you. Let them know. Take them out to breakfast, take them out to lunch, take them out to dinner, set them down. Have them over to your house. Take them out for ice cream. Set them down and let them know what God has done for you, what you have witnessed God do. Let them know that you know that God's real. You know that God's alive. Give them hope in Christ. Let them know that God loves them. Verse 6 mentions the next generation, the children yet unborn. Verse 7 gives us the reason that they would set their hope in God. Now, to those in the room who are older in age, let me encourage you for a moment now is not the time to stop. Now is not the time to let the next generation take over from here. Okay? There's no retirement from being a Christian. The next generation still needs you. Write this down. And I want everyone to listen very, very closely to what I'm about to say. Every generation must work together. Every generation must work together. I'm going backwards a little bit in the book of Psalms, and I'm gonna land in Psalm 71. I'm gonna read three verses to you 15, 16, 17. Actually, we're going to 18. I'll do uh four verses. Psalm 71, beginning with the 15th verse, and this is what it says. Hold tight. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord God, I will come. I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone. O God, from my mouth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. That's so good. Even with old age and gray hairs, a Christian's job is to proclaim the might and power of God to the next generation. My friends, God's not done with you yet. The job of sharing the gospel is never done. The job of telling of the goodness of God is never done. The job of telling others of the faithfulness of God is never done. From generation to generation, I will tell of God's faithfulness in my life.

Heritage That Outlives Inheritance

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Psalm 119. Let's go there quickly. I'm gonna I'm gonna read one verse to you. Psalm 119, verse 111. This is what it says. Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. Did you hear that? Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. The word heritage means something that is handed down from the past. It is something that belongs to the individual. And as a Christian, we know what we believe. We know what God has done, we know what God has brought us through, and we must remind the next generation what they have in store as well. Amen. Praise God. Glory to God. You see, they must be told that the same God who did all of this for me wants to have a personal relationship with you right now as well. It's your heritage. It's your heritage. And this is what we need to sit down telling and be telling the next generation, and even the generation that's not born yet that's coming. We've got to consider and think about and meditate on the things that God has done so that we do not forget them. So when the next generation that's that's not born, the one coming, that that when they're here and they get raised up, that we're still sharing, the next generation that is here already right now, that generation that we begin sharing with them right now. Now, when people die, I want you to think about this. When people die, they leave behind a wheel. And it can be so easy to focus on the inheritance rather than the heritage. And you know what would be more valuable to me than all of my parents' stuff when they die? What would be more valuable to me would be a book of testimonies where they would have written out times in their lives that they had seen the faithful hand of God and then encouraging me to press into God. You see, that's my heritage. That's my heritage. Now, before I close in prayer, I want to remind you of something that I said earlier. Our

Prayer And Final Charge

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job as Christians is to make sure that the generation that's coming knows who God is. My brothers and sisters, it's time to get busy. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the opportunity to share your word and all of this scripture. We we've we've we've run through a lot of it on this episode. I thank you for the opportunity to share all of this scripture with your people. Father, I pray that that it has helped them. I pray that it has equipped them. I pray that it has strengthened them, that they would understand. And hopefully, this episode has spurred them along in the knowledge and in the wisdom that we must share from generation to generation, the faithfulness of our God. Father, I pray that that people listening have been encouraged to sit down with children and grandchildren and share with them the goodness of God, to not just rely on Sunday school teachers to do it, to not just rely on youth pastors to do it, to not just rely on the pastor of the church to do it. But it's our job as parents, it's our job as grandparents to share the faithfulness of God, the heritage with those that we love. So, Father, I pray in the name and in the blood of Jesus that by the strength, the might, the power of your Holy Spirit, we would get to work in Jesus' name and blood. We love you, Father. Amen. Until next time on Beyond Sunday. Stay in prayer and stay in the word of God.