The Rock Family Sermon of the Week
The Rock Family Worship Center is a multi-cultural non denominational church led by Pastors Scott & Britt Silcox.
The Rock Family Sermon of the Week
Build The House | Building The House Together - Pastor Scott Silcox
What if revival depends less on our sprint and more on our surrender? We explore how true renewal begins with repentance and gains strength when generations choose one another: elders who shepherd by example and young leaders who carry holy fire with humility. From Rehoboam’s divisive bravado to Jesus’ gentle yoke, we contrast leadership that fractures with leadership that heals. Then we stand with Ezra at a new foundation, where tears of regret and shouts of joy collide—a picture of monument meeting movement and a blueprint for building a church that lasts.
We share a practical, lived model of generational partnership: passing the “hammer” of wisdom and the “nail” of vision so the next frame actually holds. Peter’s counsel in 1 Peter 5 sets the tone—willing shepherds, humble learners, shared burdens. Legacy is not built by speed but by surrender; not by titles but by motives. When elders give access instead of guarding relics, and when the young receive correction without losing fire, the house grows stronger. This is how families stabilize, marriages endure, and a city feels the warmth of contained, purposeful flame.
You’ll hear clear takeaways you can practice this week: choose Christ’s easy yoke over pressure and posturing; honor the sacrifices that brought us here while investing in the movement that takes us forward; and make humility your default so grace can do its deepest work. If you’re ready to help build a church the gates of hell can’t shake, lean in with us—bring your tool, share your story, carry some weight, and make room for someone younger at your side.
If this resonated, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review so more people can find the message. Then tell us: what part of the house will you help build this week?
Welcome to the Rock Family Sermon of the Week. For more information about our church, please visit therockfamily.tv. Now join us for a message from Pastor Scott Silcox.
SPEAKER_01:It's going to be a great day today. Super excited that I have almost no time to do this. That's really exciting. But I'm going to do my very best today to get through this for all of those who do or do not know this. Just a reminder, we're in a series on Build the House. Build the House. Anybody enjoying the Build the House series yet? I mean, it's been great. Absolutely fantastic series that we're in. And so before we jump off into it, I I just want to say to you how much I appreciate you leaning in in this season, especially during this series. And I would encourage you, if you haven't or you've missed any of the messages that have been given, I encourage you to go back and check them out. I would really encourage you to go back and check out Pastor Christian's message last week, which was absolutely fantastic, by the way. Love Pastor Christian is a little off and weird, but like man, like once you get past that part of him and his face dynamic. He's dynamic. And uh I I I I say that tongue in cheek. I've I've been involved in his life since he was uh, well, he would I would say 12. He would say I didn't even know his name and forgot him at 12. Uh so he has a great story but about that, but but most of his life and seeing him grow up here. Do you ever you ever um anybody have had any kids in sports or anything like that? Or or maybe they're in in some kind of drama and you've shown up. And how many of you have ever just get more excited watching your kids do stuff than than you ever did doing it? Am I the only one? I do this when I watch my kids play sports. Uh I watch my little girl who's growing up, she's just six, but she's a beast right now. In fact, my wife just said this. She's better at six than both of my boys were at like sports and active, and she's like fired up, and she beat me in a little game yesterday, which was I was not proud of. I was just having a bad day. I was off a little bit, but she she wore me out in it. And but the the nothing nothing excites me more is to watch my kids do something great and just go beyond and do, and I love it. That's the same way I feel when I see some of these guys that have been sharing the pulpit with me. When I see Pastor Sicily and Tim and all of our team, and I see Pastor Christian get up here, and I see Rico, and I I see these guys, it it ignites something in me when I get excited about saying, that's it, that's it. Right? So I encourage you, if you you haven't leaned in on this series, please do go back and check it out. It will change your life. I'm gonna lead with a quote today. In fact, I have quite a few quotes today, and in fact, I've got a lot going on in this, so you're gonna have to just buckle up. And let's just do the proverbial buckle up real here. Can we do that? Just reach over and just snap it on. Like, we're gonna go quick, we're gonna be moving fast. I'm buckling up, I'm ready to take in all that we're doing today. But I'm gonna lead with this quote right here. Mark Sayers, pastor at uh Red Church, he's in uh Australia, but he says this renewal doesn't begin with a new generation, it begins when any generation repents of the illusion that it can renew itself. When we when we we are in a series right now, and today we're gonna be talking about generations. Now, now I was telling my wife this earlier, uh, like what we're gonna talk about today is something we all know. We all we all we all heard it and we all think we understand it, but but unless we start operating in this idea that that what we get to do as an expression of Christ on the earth with generations, both old and young together, until we really have a revelation on that, we we're gonna continue to pray empty prayers for revival that we're not willing to work at. To his point and what he's saying here, until we start with a level of repentance and ourselves to say, God, we can't be our own gods. Until a generation looks back and says of itself, I don't want to go forward without you. Till they get that idea that Moses got when he says, if your presence doesn't go with us, we don't want to go. Like this, this has got to get back in our vernacular, it's got to get back in your everyday life. I don't want to step out in whatever I'm called to do. I don't care what you do, I don't care what business you work at or what school you attend, but if we don't actually walk out with this understanding that we aren't we aren't our savior. But Christ is that that one. He's the one. He is him. He's the one who made a way for us. And so that that that beginning part has to start with a revelation that I can't save myself, it's him. And I will just take it a step further. We hate to hear this word, but there's a word right back here behind me that nobody wants to talk about. What is it? Now, how did y'all know that? Because it's the thing to say repentance is needed means there is some breach. You have to own something. You can't step into repentance without the ownership of missing something. There's no reason to even mention that word, right? Like I had with my daughter this morning. Right? You have to get to that place where I'm looking for repentance out of some things that you're doing, but how many know we don't want to address that because we don't want to even admit that anything's wrong? So we can live in this disillusionment that nothing is wrong, we're all great, just let grace cover it, we're good, and we don't have to talk about the R word. I'm here to tell you that our ability to move forward and to build the kingdom of God is contingent on you taking ownership at step one. Is that fair? All right. So I'm gonna take you through three scenarios today, three totally different scenarios. So we're gonna talk about where we've missed it, both as followers of Christ, as the children of Israel, how they missed it, how they in the sense of saying like they wanted to be their own gods, they wanted to be their own solution to things, and then we're gonna just see generationally how that broke down. Now, this matters because we're talking about build the house, which is build the temple. Who is the temple? Come on, who's the temple? Yes, you are the temple. Do you not know that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit, right? You are the temple now, right? Christ, who became that so that we could become the temple. Right? So we see that fulfillment all the way through. But before that, we have the Old Testament version of that, which is a literal temple. A place to meet with God. Right? It was the sacrificial system for people to engage with God the Father after the fall of man, he makes himself available to men again through a set of systems, right, that men can then engage. And in that process, they were they were good days and bad days, right? Come on, there were days where they were on it, and then there was a lot more days where they weren't. Isn't that fair? And if you go back and look at the history of the Old Testament, it's it's really the story of men who are called out by God to be and to carry an identity, and that same man who receives the identity, he forfeits that responsibility to be himself and to do what he wants to do. And because he thinks his way is better, there's a cost. Did you know there's a consequence for every decision made? And the people of Israel experience this. That, hey, we just want to do it our way. Okay, you want to do it your way? Then God is God is God is um what's the word? He is He is He is um He is willing to allow you for a season to have your way. Isn't He? He's gentlemen that way. Okay. That's what you want? And then He'll let us have what we want. And this is the story. And so I'll take it from this one here. You are probably familiar with this story. If you're not, I'll catch you up a little bit. But it's 1 Kings 12, 6 through 8. Then King Rehaboam, which is Solomon's son. Solomon's son. Now, now we're gonna read this passage, but it's good to note this is that Solomon has created this enormous amazing temple. He's got the kingdom, he's got it all, he's got concubines, he's got wives, he's got all the things God told him not to do. Do not connect yourself with this, because eventually it will make you compromise your place in me. I'm paraphrasing. This is what God says to Solomon. He does it anyway. And so the byproduct of what we're about to read is there is a there's an agreement with what Solomon wanted and a disagreement with what God wants on the earth, and so there has to be a consequence. And the word of the Lord comes to him and says, That consequence is going to come through your son. Jeroboam, or Rahboam, excuse me, not Jeroboam, that's the other king. Rahboam. He says, Took counsel with the old men who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, How do you advise me to answer this people? And they said to him, If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them and speak good words to them, when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever. Verse 8, but everyone say, but he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with who? The young men, who had grown up with him and stood before him. Verse 9, and he said to them, What do you advise that I answer this people? Who have said to me, Lighten the yoke that your father puts on us. Verse 10, right over here, you can see it in your notes. And download the app. It's all there. Okay, download the app or scan. I think it's all there. You can check it out. All right, so verse 10. And the young man who had grown up with him said to him, Thus shall speak to the people who said to you, Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us. Thus shall you say to them. This is a bizarre saying. Listen to this. My finger, my little finger, is as thick as my father's thighs. I can't wait to use this on my dad at some point. Just to say, my finger is as thick as your thighs. This is a strong statement. And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions. I want to just stop right here and realize that in this very moment, this is the deciding factor. When what Pastor Christian talked about last week, if you recall, he talked about two kingdoms where Israel is split. Tribes are split, two and ten. Right? You're gonna get into that, and we're gonna get into a lot of that in the next couple of weeks as well. But I just, I just want this is the pivotal, this is the turning point. That he was speaking of, it was right here. It's when this man made this statement off of this advice from his buddies, right? His his inner circle. We could just stop right there and preach about who's in your inner circle. Who are you listening to today? Every single one of us got here. Come on, listen. By our own will. Who we let influence us, what we let influence us. You need to know who your inner circle is. Now, Raya Bohm, he is clearly he was smart enough to get the wisdom, but not smart enough to fulfill or to move forward with it. I think that's that's interesting to me because this can we can find ourselves when we're talking about the the greater overarching concept of what we're talking about, build the house. The question is, is that that we or not the question, but the the challenge is for us is that we need each other. Come on, look around to your left and to your right. See if you can find someone who's not your age. Evidently a very difficult task down here. You know what the beauties of this room is that is that there's a multi-generational, multicultural expression in the room. Love that. Absolutely love that. But if those two don't figure out how to come together, you'll find out that energy begins to absorb back into almost literally like nothing. We're not gonna do anything. It'll just be lost energy, lost momentum. Ray Bohem finds himself in that situation, but he single-handedly, through God, how many know God is in control, he knew what was gonna happen, so this didn't catch him off guard. He's gonna use it to do what? He's gonna use it to protect the line of David. God's gonna use the the disorder in Solomon because what God said is not disordered, Solomon's act on it is disordered. So he's gonna honor his word through correction. Nobody wants to talk about him honoring his word through correction. We want honoring his word through blessing. Make me a millionaire and give glory to your name, Lord. Like, are you kidding me right now? Like, that can't be our pursuit. We have to recognize he'll use whatever means necessary to get what he's trying to do. And that's the beauty of God. He can move in and out of that. And so he finds himself where he moves, moves on, on, and speaks to Solomon. I'm actually gonna split the kingdom with your son, but I'm gonna save David. Now, here is the full circle moment of this moment, right? Of the what's happening. 400 years later, Ezra pops up on the screen. 400 years later, there's a complete divide in what's happening. You see, Ezra stops, step up, and now he is going to lead, but but even after that, what Christ does, he fulfills this exact scripture. Go back to Matthew 11, 28. And it says, This come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden. Listen to the posture change here. Rehaboam says, I'm coming at you, and your your persecution's about to get worse. Because I took the advice of young men who didn't understand the wisdom of the moment. But Christ redeems it with this who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you what? Look at what Christ is doing here. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart. This is this is why I mentioned this early, is because I want you to see what started as a dividing moment, a destructive moment. Christ redeems and empowers us, the temple, to carry this message. This is a safe place. It's an invitation to come. What what what what I almost called him Dean Jackson, because that's just on autopilot for me right now. What Daniel Jackson, who was leading us in worship there just a second ago, is doing that very thing. He's talking about that invitation to something more. To or to to orbit around and center your life around Christ, not yourself. Right? And this is what he's saying. I'm not gonna make it difficult for you, I'm making it light. I'm gonna lighten this burden if you'll allow me to do it. So this is one example of when it happens, but let's look at Ezra. What does Ezra say? Oh, I think I have a quote here, maybe. Yeah, yeah, I do I do have a quote. John Tyson says this every generation will either react to react to the one before it or redeem it. The wise choose redemption. Talking to you. Talking to the young ones. Now, when I say young, I don't mean like young at heart. Come on. Let's just own it. I can't call myself young. I'm not young. Not young. I'm young at heart. I'm in the I'm at the I'm the I'm at the edge of young at heart. We're young at heart. But but the truth is, I'm talking about our our next generation young men and women, people below 30. Right? I'm I'm talking to you and I'm and I'm and I'm saying this to you, is that the wise don't look back at what was before and and resent it, but you try to redeem it. What Ezra's doing in this next passage is he rick recognizes and there's a split, but he's gonna be used by God to redeem the moment. He's gonna be the faithful step forward. Remember, in Babylon now, they've been exiled, the kingdom is almost nothing anymore. And in fact, there's really only the little remnant left, and the other kingdom's completely pagan, they're lost, they have no identity, they have no purpose, the other ten tribes are gone. But this will be the catalyst of bringing it all back together again. But listen, right in the middle of this, Ezra 3, there's an interesting passage that I think is fascinating, and you see the generations come back together again. Now let's read it. Let's look at this. It says Ezra 3, 10 through 13. And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priest in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites and the sons of Asaph with symbols to praise the Lord according to the directions of David, king of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. How many times have we heard that in church? For his mercy endures forever. This is where they got it. Right here. Israel. His promise is true to them. That promise of you will be a people, I will be your God, and I will have a place to meet with you. That's what they're doing. They're creating the foundational stones of this. Everyone laying something, bringing something to the table. And then it moves to this. It says, and all the people shouted with great shout, with uh they praised the Lord because the what? Foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of father's houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice. Nothing worse than someone crying on the party. Come on, somebody. You know, like when you're having a good time, and it's that one kid, it might be your kid that you brought to the party, is yelling and screaming and fighting and snuffing and mad and yanking stuff out of people's hands, and everybody just wants that kid to go home. Wrong? No. Right? Nothing worse than when there's everybody's having a great time and somebody can't just get out of the dumps. Anybody ever invited that friend over? You're trying to have a good time with the guys or watching the game, and all they want to do is talk about depressing things? Like, hey, dude, we just want to watch the game. Yeah. I wish I had a way to watch the game at my house. Like, what, bro? You're here. You're invited. You're at the table, man. Like, get you some wings, lighten up, let's go. You know, you know, Ken, you know what I'm talking about? That person who just has to find something to be sad about. If you're not careful, you can read this passage and just chalk it up. It's like, yeah, what are y'all crying about? But actually, there's there's actually power in what's happening here. And I'm going to talk to you about it. I'll read the rest of it. When they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound between the joyful shout and the sound of people's weeping. So the old are are are mourning. The young are excited about their future. How is that supposed to work? And I would just challenge us in this is that if we're not careful, we can chalk up and look at the older generation and say, well, they've had their hour, and they're just sad that they don't get to have it anymore. Or you could be an older person in the room and say, Well, yeah, I mean, I'd I just I'd rather I just have all the great memories of what used to be. And these kids don't know anything. They don't even know how we got here. They don't know what it cost. See, one of the things uh the older generation understands is the cost of faith. Pastor Ryan says, there's a cost of faith. There's no just like, there's no just like this wasn't like this when you showed up. No, no, there would no, there are no cushy seats. No, you don't you don't even know. Hard wooden pews. Pew. A giant plank of wood. There's no there's no there's no cushy bathrooms. If you had a bathroom, it was out back. Come on, somebody. The cost of of faith. Now I'm using something silly, but I'm talking about just the cost of spiritual advancement. There are things that we're living in. Pastor Christian talked about to open his sermon last week, so I thought was brilliant. There's things we're living in today that is the overflow of the effort of generations before us. And when we lose the ability to highlight that, recognize it, and honor it, we actually steal the potency of what we're to do as the body. See, see, the the there's there is something to be said about the monument of remembering something, but you can't you can't you can't surround the monument of something and not embrace the movement of something. And this is this is where monument and movement come together in the scripture. Now we see it over and over, but in this case today, I'm just trying to tell you, in building the house of God, we cannot afford to be on one side or the other exclusively. If we stay on the side of joy, we get a bunch of young kids who are excited about life, who think they can do anything, and nothing can go wrong. I mean, surely nothing can go wrong. Right? We want all the things, but none of the sacrifice. I want all the benefits the church has, but I don't want to give to it. I want you to have every program imaginable for every need that I might potentially have. You ain't even got half the things you want me to provide for. Yeah, but we might have a day where we're running a little bit late. We need a whole nother wing attached for us to not feel guilty about being late. That sounds crazy, doesn't it? That's a real request. Can we just have a side door? Can we just get in? Can we just slide in? We don't want to be in there. So that we have people that want all these demands of the church but don't want to give towards it, work towards it. You know, we really should reach the neighborhoods. And you guys should do that. It's like, no, no, no, you're gonna come up here and do it with us. And then this is now no no, it's my favorite. Favorite. When we're all young, it's like, it's like, honestly, isn't isn't us just doing ministry to ourselves? Isn't that the ministry? How can, here's famous language right here. You ready? How can we help them if we are not healthy? How am I to go? If my health is not, I have to be ready. Child, you ain't never gonna be ready. You can't get to the end of that kind of help you need. Jesus is gonna have to bring you that distance. You can't wait to minister to people waiting for you to be the healthiest. See, this is what I'm talking about. Old folks know that. They already tried that. Huh? You already tried that. That playbook was broken years ago. You finally came to the realization if I sit around and wait on me to be a better me, I'll never do anything. Or I just tune my ear in to move forward. Trust the Lord. Right? There's a cost of faith, and and it's important. So we can't be so, so, hey, let's just have a church of 20 somethings. Well, you know, you know what? Now we can't afford anything. Right? It's only, and we're just young kids. Yeah, well, now we're out in the field, and that's that's all we can afford. Right? Kumbayas, high fives, and some Taco Bell. Like, that's it. That's it. On the other hand, we can't live in monument. The church can't live in the past. It's movement, not monument. God, I I said this as a young kid, I picked this up from uh, his name was uh Bishop Robert Morrison, I think was his name. And this is way, way back. And I remember him saying, God's I, God I movement, not monument. And I was like, that's my that's my phrase. I just got that phrase and I just kept running with it. But but what I've come to realize in now maturing in the in the Lord, realizing is actually the two have got to work in tandem. Because uh a young church that doesn't know how it got here will lose its way quick. It is it is susceptible to to opinion and ideas and culture that isn't kingdom-minded or focused. Furthermore, anyone that wants to lock in and never look into the future but wants to constantly look back turns into a pillar of salt. I want to stay here because the good old days were better days. Then you don't understand Christ and you don't understand his work, and it's actually hindering his moving forward by us trying to say it can't get any better than what we did. And so we do, we don't have vision to move the next generation forward. We just want that generation to come back and say how great we are for doing what we did. Which is still making you the center of the story. The same way they the center of the story here, you want to be the center of this story. Look at my goodness. Pat me on the back, make me feel good, honor me. Nothing like forced honor. There's nothing more life-giving than forced honor. Because you know, that's crazy. You will honor me, you will say nice things to me, you will thank me for the sacrifices. Come on, somebody. Because if we're not careful, we will spend our lives in this place, not ever looking forward, but wanting us to bring flowers to all the things that we did do. We'll spend all of our time being like, oh, that's a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Let's lay that on this tombstone of once what was. Graveyards are are fascinating things, and in the South they're they can be really weird. Not just are they can be haunted, you know, because that's that's what young people believe. It is. It's the way it's presented. It's like, oh, you don't want to go in there, don't go at night. You know, it's like like something is I mean, you know, there's there's all this stuff there, but then but but the purpose of it is not to go and set up camp there like we do at like like Pastor Dad, you know this, decoration day. So you don't even know about decoration day in the South. People take whole months of the summer and travel all over the su the uh the south to visit graveyards, put flowers on it, and have have a cookout. I know. All you folks that just moved here from up north, you're like, what are you talking about, bro? I'm talking about that's life down here. You hear someone say about decoration, just be like, I'm out. Just don't, they want to invite you. I wouldn't go. You know, I just I don't think it's gonna mean as much to you, right? Right, but that this is this is a time of remembrance, is the point, right? Reunion. What a graveyard should be is a point for us to look. I'm my dad, my dad did this. All the time. We traveled all over the place. I mean, traveled all over. And it didn't matter where we went, he would find an opportunity to walk through the graveyard somewhere. He's not morbid. It sounds a little morbid. But it's interesting because you, in walking, you pick up the historical markers of the community. Who this is, how long they were here, and then every once in a while they have like little funny sayings, you know. So-and-so was here and, you know, was glad to be gone or whatever. It's like, you know, sayings of like they left their wives and, you know, good luck. Or, you know, all these weird. But when you walk through, the point of walking through something like that is so that you get a vision about what was sacrificed to see the community become what it's becoming. It's to point you back to something that anchors you to truth and vision. This is why you have to have old and young in the room. Because they have the stories, they have the know-how. They have the wisdom. And we need it. You need it. You're desperate for it. In fact, you're you're many, there are there are young couples in this room today who have been floundering in life because you're trying to prove you can do it. And the invitation is you should invite the community around you to help you. You guys don't really this is why like it bugs me about um marriage right now. Can I just be honest? I'm just gonna get on a soapbox for about two minutes. Can you handle it? What bugs me the most about young people that want to get married is that they're so desperate to be different that they they spill covenant out of the marriage vows and relationship. They're so much smarter than anybody else in their life. They want to have a shower that doesn't involve anyone older than 20. When it used to be showers were things to help you know how to better handle your life. You don't know what kind of hell you're about to step into. Huh? You don't even know. You start around it with a bunch of 20-year-olds who think having babies and doing life and some Instagram post. There's nothing on the lords of watching a young person give birth and then the the reality hits. Ring ring, mama, but no, don't get them in on the front end. No, they're just a drag. This is this is lies. We're living this, we're trying so hard to do it separate of each other. Vice versa. When it's time to install something in my house, my mom's not asking my dad to do it. He's not. I might get the phone call. No, don't call them, don't call them, don't call them, don't call them. I got it, I got it, I got it. No, you're gonna tear something up. I'm just, it's I'm uh it's funny, but it's it's weird that we're we're polarizing each other all the time. We we absolutely should crave and desire the input. That wisdom will ground me. This vision will excite me. And you need it. You gotta have both. They've got to be present. They've got to be present. Okay, okay. I've got to move. Legacy isn't built by speed, it's built by surrender. The future depends on those willing to slow down and build with eternity in mind. Build with eternity. Isn't that a great phrase? Build with eternity in mind. What Ezra was doing in this passage was it's like, I recognize there is there's a place where there's an indistinguishable sound. There's sadness and joy, but those are not wrong expressions, they're proper for the moment. Their vision of what was, they had seen what? Those fathers had seen how opulent and how extravagant that that Solomon's temple was. But that's not what made them sad. What made them sad was regret. Not that we didn't have a new temple, but they had lost the original one through disobedience. And the reality of sitting in front of them was we're gonna have to build again. And in this time, it doesn't seem as opulent. It doesn't seem it's over the top, but this is God's call for them. He says, I'm actually gonna do greater things. That's the message that they actually get. I know everyone's sad, but dry it up, Sally. Because the house you're building will be greater than the former house. That's the prophetic word. How does it get there? Not by one single generation carrying the load, but by the collective effort of the many. You want to have a church that the gates of hell cannot come against or cannot penetrate. It won't be in memorial alone, and it won't be in movement alone, but it'll be in our ability to carry the weight and responsibility of this church, this community, this city, and our families together. That's the fix. That's how it works. Fast forward, New Testament, 1 Peter 5. This is interesting because Peter's dealing with a church that's been planted, right? He is a, he is an he is an apostle, but he's also like, he's like a he oversees the planting of all of the new works. Am I right? You following? You tracking with me? And so because he's doing that, he's found himself, and in, and again, the people of Israel, the the followers of Christ, us, this is a great close enough example for us, find themselves in the same problem. And you know what it is same generational hiccup. And so, because of this, he has to come in and he says, Let me help train you on how to build the most successful, strong church, that this is what Christ gave his life for, and I'm gonna remind you. And he gave us this passage. So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the suffering of Christ. Do you see what Paul did right there? Paul appeals to the elders as an elder. This is important, just to pay attention. When you read it, listen to how he words things. He said, I'm not telling you something that I am not doing. I'm telling you something I've had to learn. I've had to learn this. Listen, church, I've had to learn this. Fellow elder, follower of Christ, what is his instruction? He says, as well as the partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed, shepherd the flock! Shepherd the flock! I'm pausing here to be more direct to the people of our church. When I say to our elders and our deacons and our leaders and our pastors, my call to you is shepherd the flock. This is the this is the this is the instruction. You have a job. I'm just waiting for more identity, more purpose, more clarity. Just stop. Stop with that prayer. Shepherd the flock. Oh, I don't know. I just used to be a leader, but now I'm really on the edges and fringes now. What are you talking about? Anybody on the edge and fringes are is isn't choosing the edge and fringe. The invitation is to step in and carry weight. The invitation is to come in and lead. Just don't not make any excuses. I wish I just had an opportunity. Well, you used to woke up with breath in your lungs, didn't you? Today, are you breathing? Everyone take a deep breath. The signs of life. Purpose. You don't need the person next to you to define purpose. Christ did that by giving you breath. Lead. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight. What is this? Not under compulsion. Isn't it interesting how he directs language to the older, the elder? Because the temptation is to make them feel compelled to work. Compelled. Man, it's hard to get young people to get involved. We don't have to turn around and just force them to do it. Right? He says this, not under compulsion, but what? Willingly. You shouldn't have to be forced to lead. It should be a heart cry to lead. It's that we could be be cautious here, but there's many of us that have been in the church so long that we like, well, I've already done my time. As if it were a sentence. Like serving was a sentence. Like I've already done mine. I mean, they don't even know. They don't even know how many bags I pack for Thanksgiving blessing. I don't even know how many hours I spend at the hospital. They don't even know, like. Come on, man. Breath in your lungs, the job doesn't end. Great call. Whoever said that. Not under compulsion, but willingly. As God would have you. Not for what? Shameful gain. We're mature leaders. Elders know we're leading in this house, not so that I gain, but that Christ's kingdom advances. And so long as I'm here and I'm assigned to this church and I'm in this place and I'm building this house, I'm here to support it. I'm here to lift it up. I'm here to give leadership to it. I knew that would go over well. Not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. Now, that's where I want to stop right here on this. What Peter's giving in an instruction right here, Peter's trying to say this. He's saying, here's what I want from you. This is what I want from you. Be an example. If you could just like sum up what he's saying. Shepherd the flock, lead well, be an example. What this generation is desperate for is moms, dads, husbands, wives, listen to me, to be not just the godly example in your home, but to fight for your marriages. We want to know why it's so easy for the next generation to get divorced, is because they haven't seen a value for it in the generations before. This is no shame on anyone who's been divorced or is even going to. That's not what I'm doing. But I am telling you this: there has got to be a call to fight for what God brought into covenant relationship. You and her and under God. And I don't know who it is, but I'm telling you, go back and revisit. Come on. I'm not talking about those those extreme cases where there's been some bad things. I'm talking about where there's an ability to drop your pride and work towards the center. You've got to work. Now you say, why are you, I mean, what are we talking about today? Why are you digging around in there? Because this is the thing that we don't want to talk about. But that's what it means to be faithful. Lead well. See, see, most people are like, man, I'd love to lead in this church. Man, I want to do this, I want to do that. And then I would just say, like, how are you leading your home? How are you leading your personal life? Man, I don't anybody else just tired of just like, we'll just let anybody lead and say anything? No, there's there's a thing where you have to just like, we have to get to this place. There is there is a call for holiness and leading in the direction God ordained. And like, like, I'm so tired of people wanting me to lower that standard. It wasn't mine to put, it ain't mine to lower. That's the way I said I can't lower it. This is his. And he's calling everybody with the grace to meet it. What does it say to the young people? Peter says this.
unknown:Right?
SPEAKER_01:He didn't leave the young ones out. I love this. He says, and when the chief uh shepherd appears, you'll receive the unfading uh crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Don't shout, no. Hallelujah, shatter. Submit yourselves to the young people. Humility is required. You can't respond to the generations before you without humility. In fact, it's impossible because if you do not understand how to humble yourself before God Almighty first, right? It will show itself when you try to humble yourself to mankind. You'll know right out of the gate. Someone who is someone who is resistant to humble themselves to the spiritual leadership and covering and the leadership that's around you, someone who cannot do that, it is clear that you struggle with submitting your Lord your life to the Lordship of Christ. It's like a cheat code for all of us older folks. It's like you think you're hiding, but it becomes real obvious. Right? Asked to do anything, it's met with resistance. Or asked to do anything and you're offended, like, don't you know how busy my life is, or whatever. It's like, no, hold on, hold on. This is what you're asking for. A family that can come alongside of you, you can build this family unit. And then Peter's saying, as a church, you you can't you can't even advance the church without a humble heart. How did you expect to advance the kingdom of God without carrying the character qualities of who He is? Humility is the beginning stages, it's the foundational building blocks of your faith. Yeah. Be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you. With what? Humility. What does he say? See, we can stop there. With humility, that's right. You know what? Follow it towards. It's not just humility, it's got to be directed. That has a direction. I am humble, I am humble, I am humble, I am humble, I am humble. Listen to how humble I am. Even my language is humble. It's like the way I say humble is humble. Oh man. It's not what you say, it's the action piece on the back side of that. Humility would bring about an action. The other end of that action is a person. That's what it is. Y'all get mad at the Bible. Get mad at Peter. You can tell him when you get to heaven, you should have never said that. You can give it to him. Why does he say this? To one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Isn't it fascinating? The greatest message for a young generation is we want grace. But nobody wants to humble themselves to get it. Give us grace could be summed up in our last 25 years of Christendom, has been the greatest message of give us grace. Let us be who we want to be, let us say what we want to say, let us do exactly the way we want to live, let us be just like Solomon and pray for grace. Give us grace. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. The humble. Why didn't we move further than this? It'll be because we didn't understand how to get in and push and empower. Understand the story. This is the testimony of God. This is what He will do for you. This is how I'm gonna help you get there. I'm gonna put you on shoulders and lift you into this. Right? But the other is the same too. If we do not understand as a young generation how to honor, we can't be upset when there's no energy in the elders anymore. They don't even know what to do next. Because you're not appreciative of what they've done already. Honor. That's a strong statement, isn't it? Very strong. A few things I want you to take away with this passage, and then I'm gonna just model something. I got just short time to do it, but I gotta do it quick. Here's things I want you to take away. Motive matters more than title. Motive matters more than title. Why are you serving? Why are you leading? What is the secret motive from within? It matters more than your title. Your heart posture is what people are looking for. That's what they're finding out. First Peter's talking about this. Lead by example, not force. What kind of life am I living? Not the one I'm telling people I'm living. Which life am I living so that the next generation sees and says, I want that? I had the privilege of bumping into a kid that grew up in our youth group. Young guy, haven't seen him in years physically. But really, I know what he's doing, I know where he's been, I hadn't seen him in years. And he came busting out and just wanted to tell me what you have done for me, you will never know. And I'm thinking to myself, I can't remember what that was. I can't remember. But this this this surge of energy for myself was just like, yeah, yeah, we're doing this together. He's doing amazing things, he's doing all kinds of awesome stuff in his life. But this this idea of like, it's not forced. This isn't a forced thing. This is this is I lived something that motivated him to live differently. And then I pray and I'm like, did we do that, Britt? I mean, did we? I thought we were trying to, but you don't know sometimes. You look back and it's like, where are we living something worth following? This is the call today. Lead with eternity in view. What am I doing in preparation for eternity? Where's that investment going, that time going? When I think about our kids right now, there's this movement of young people that are meeting, and they were just baptizing kids in a big uh uh uh cow trough this weekend. I think some of them are here today, probably in the back. I see you back there, Bradley. I see you, bro. Right? Some of these guys back here, like like radical, they're in the field. I think Nick, is that you too? Is you back there? Yeah, Nick's the one that was in it. That kid got baptized right back there. Like that's so awesome. How sick is that? We didn't even have to do any music for it. But we would. But the beauty is, is when when when there's something that drives kids in a movement, there's something more and they're hungry for it. I want to get behind it and push. What I don't want to do is figure out how to systematize it for them. Well, here's how you have to set the order, you know. Let me get you real fixed now. Let me tell you how to take all the fire out of it. But it'll be in order. Choose fire. Choose fire. Choose fire. And then surround yourself with wisdom. Help guide the fire. How many? A fire under control is awesome. Anyone love just getting around a fire? It's awesome when it's contained. When that mug's burning every house up, it's a little different. Or when I get a phone call from the Reyes family when all their boys tried to burn their house down as kids. How many know that that's a different type of panic of fire? Like we like fire, but not like that. You need the two. Fire of God and those people who can guide and direct you, but not take it. Not try to squash it out. Not try to prop up some paper version of fire and call it fire. No, it's still consumable, but it's got some restraints. Right? So that it can burn efficiently. That's the goal. Young people, listen to me. Leadership and followship are both acts of grace. It's not one or the other. For the young and the old, they're both acts of grace. We both are gonna have to work at it. Speaking of working at things, I I got I got an illustration for you. Anybody else remember? I remember this. This is uh this is cool, this is a picture. It's an ornate frame, beautiful fruit. Um, as you might have guessed, this came straight out of my mom's house. Now this is this is gonna carry on with us. No, it's gonna carry on with us, Terry. This is coming in my house. It's gonna be there. This will be an heirloom, it's being passed down. I'm excited about it. I I bring it up, I bring it up because it's got fruit, and and I want to just use it as an illustration today, is in the idea of that that every generation, every generation is is receiving something to be passed down. In this case, we I asked her to bring this one because it represents fruit, fruit of the spirit, the kingdom. This sort of like has this deal. It's ornate, it's got all this stuff going for it, and it's being passed down. But but but I don't know about you, but when I was a young man, everything I wanted to do when it came time to hang pictures, all I wanted was the hammer. As a kid, I just wanted the hammer. They they make toys as little kids, right? And and early on, like now, they're ornate. Kids got toys now that are better than most homes I grew up in. You know what I'm saying? Their little house is better than most houses we lived in. They can make real food in those things. We had like plastic food where you pretend, and then you took the banana out and called it something else. And it was just the thing. But you remember as a kid, they made toys where you just bang on stuff. Here's a toolbox, here's a little hammer, and you just wear it out. Todd, you know what I'm trying to just and then in your mind as a boy, you're just like, every time you see a hammer, you're like, I'm ready. I'm ready. I've been I've been trained for this since an early age. Put that thing in my hand. You know, and you just wanted to you wanted to wield it, you wanted to hold it. It's like, I'm I'm gonna be the hammer if I can just do this. But you know what? I go back later and I think of like my first couple of houses, Rico, trying to be like that handyman husband. Bro, I put 400 holes in walls. Trying to impress Brit. She'd find something, I'm gonna put that up there. Oh, I got you, girl. I'm gonna hang that. Like nine hours later. Can anybody know what I'm talking about when you're a kid and you don't know what you're doing? You know what you're doing? She's trying to make the house a home. She's gonna make it look beautiful, banging around in there, and then then like like I think it looks great like this. Making excuses because it won't stay straight. I I was an artistic expression, an asymmetrical look. No, man, you just didn't measure right. That's not the center of the wall. Some of y'all got husbands like this. I'm telling their tricks right now. They want to be men. Now, the difference between them is they have YouTube. We didn't have YouTube. We had a little set of tools that your parents passed down to you. And they were all the ones they were giving away because they weren't any good for them. Or at least that's been my experience. Robert would give me a bunch of tools. Here, use these. Alright, yeah, yeah. I know what to do with that. I have no clue, Joe, what I'm doing. I'm just banging walls up. So, so, analogy for us today, just to think through, is when we're talking about the young and the old, and we get inherited things like this that are precious and and it's Christ and it's and it's been given to us. Sometimes it takes, I I hand it out to two guys today. I handed one hammer and one nail out today. If you guys would join me up here. Thank you. Ed and Tyler. Ed and Tyler. Now you might you might tell why I gave the hammer to Ed. Doesn't Ed just look like he should have a hammer? Like, yes. And and in his hand, it is a weapon. Can be. Tyler's Hans, on the other hand, is the most confident, capable human, or so he says, to do anything. I mean, how many conversations have I had with this guy? He's brilliant, he's smart, super creative. I was upstairs working on some murals, trying to get graphics done, and he walked up, he's like, Yeah, I can do that. I was like, yeah, okay, well, thank you. You're amazing. He's like, no, seriously, I can do that. Probably better than you, but uh who's who's who's who's asking? Literally, he's like, I made a whole mural of cats. Was it cats or something that you made a mural of? I can't remember. It was cats? Yeah. He likes to draw cats. And then that night, before I could go to bed, he'd already sent me proofwork of all the things he can do better than me, basically. And I was just like, oh my gosh. I love him. I'm giving him a hard time and he can take it. He's he's an amazing guy. Here's here's something interesting. If Ed, can I have this borrow this from me for just a second? If Ed ever wants this to be displayed in its proper, like where others can enjoy it, what he can't do is use this to protect it. What he can't do is turn around and post it up over here, like, hey, this is all good and stuff. This is that thing where I can just kind of look back at it, but you know what, Tyler, you're not gonna really ever understand this. Would you like to use this? No. Because I can already tell you're not ready for this. The responsibility. Do you know what it takes to do that? No, you don't. You don't. You think you do? You draw cats. Like. If Ed spends his entire life looking back at what God has done, but not actually empowering or finding a way. To display it further into generations to come, then he has a gift and a wisdom, a monument that lacks power, that lacks focus, that lacks what? Vision for what could be. Because Ed is convinced that nobody can carry the hammer as good as he can. Vice versa, Tyler also can't look at what's possible in Christ and figure out how to take his tool and display it. How do I get it up? And instead, it becomes a pipe dream. It becomes a lot of hope and a lot of energy. But it's really hard to hammer a nail with my hand. Or with some other tool. Anybody been victim of that? Where you decide, I know I have purpose, I know I have a call, I know I have destiny. Ed knows what I need to make this happen, but because he won't give me that, I'll just use the butt end of a of a of a butter knife and try to hammer this in. Can anybody relate? Are you looking at where what is this? This is a wrench. Yeah, I can use that. Bang, bang, and before you know it, your hands bleeding. And you're using tools that weren't meant. The difference is if, if Ed and this is the goal, in order for this, the kingdom of God, to really get its best expression, they have to find each other. They have to find each other. There has to be humility. You can't, you can't, you can't hammer this without a humble heart. Your humility has to be there because when Ed wants to help guide you, if you're so busy trying to be perfect at something, you have to humble yourself and say, I just actually don't know how to do it. But I'm open. That is the recipe to see this kingdom advanced in his life. Vice versa. If Ed will humble himself with the tool that God's given him, the wisdom, the insight, and not guard it like it's some precious gift that can't be touched anymore. Some relic that we want to come around and put flowers on because you've been here, first family, amazing. Pastor Lisa had a dream, you were in it, right? We can go through all of that and then excuse ourselves from giving it away to future generations. You could just be like, well, that's us, that's our story, and wish you had been here because we knew what we were doing then. Y'all don't know what you're doing now, that's actually, I'm just sticking around, not to help, but just to make sure you don't burn it down. That attitude will keep us from seeing what is possible in our church. But if Ed will humble himself as well, look back and say, there's some gifts here that you know what I remember when I was overlooked. I remember when I wasn't getting an opportunity. I remember, I wish somebody had told me that. And then he postures himself to say, Can I bring you into this? Can I can I invest into you? Can I have breakfast with you? Can I spend an hour a month with you just to encourage you and pray over your family? Can I just dig into your life? You should just join my freedom group. You should be a part of our rock groups. You should come and serve with me in security because I think it'd be a great way for you to meet some communities, some people. You'll learn some skills. You guys tracking with me? So I'm gonna sit this here. Last but not least, today I want to invite. Two years ago, I handed out, let's see. Two years ago, I handed out this. Two years ago we had a transition service here with Pastor Rusty. The morning before I, I um, the morning before that, I got, I was like, I couldn't sleep. I mean, what are we doing? I'm about I'm about to take over the church with Pastor Rusty. Who sleeps the night before that? Nobody. Scared to death, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm asking the Lord. Tells me to do a few things, crazy things. I I I took, uh, Andrew, you gave me a necklace years ago. You remember that necklace? Little dog tag? I I have it by my bed, I keep it all the time. That morning, I felt like the Lord had put it on. I put it on underneath my jacket, I'm holding. Then he reminded me of like ten things that I had kept that people had given me as words connected to it, and I brought all of them. That day, this is a funny story. I was wearing all kinds of garb that you couldn't see. In this pocket was this meaningful thing, in these pockets was this. I had my back pocket things around my neck, three different necklaces that were given to me that had attached words. I was wearing a watch and a ring that was given to me specifically for things years ago. I just, I just did. And then there was a stack of$2 bills. As I remembered, my dad used to get these out on the missions field and stuff like that. And I always keep a stack of them just as a constant reminder to think about others and to think about how rare this is at times to find and see, and then use it as a witnessing tool. And two years ago, the Lord said, put a stack of those in your in your in your jacket, and then I'm gonna show you what to do. And on the drive to that morning, he started to show me young men and women to give these to. People that are in our church that that he wanted to highlight. Now, I need you to hear me. That doesn't mean that everyone isn't in here just special to my heart, and you're special to God. But but I did not actually know how this was gonna play out until I started going through this week's sermon and realizing I think this is the time where we're supposed to bring this out. Now, if you're here today and you, you know, I I contacted you, and listen, I I know that I probably missed one or two of you, so please like come to me later and I'll make it up to you. But but if if you if you're here today, I gave you one of these and you're here, your your husband, wife, would you come and join me right here at the front? And I want you to face me. I want you to face me. If you're here, don't be ashamed, don't be afraid. If I gave you one of these, there's purpose in what I'm asking you to do, and you guys knew that I was gonna ask you to come and do this today. I want you to stay. Don't have to face them because that'll be weird. You face me. Just stand and face me. In a row. It'll be great. In a row. Just like one, two, three. Really small. Really small. That's right. Tyler's one of those. Come on down. And then yeah, just kind of come, don't get bunched up down on that end. We got others coming. We got some space right down here. Good, good, good.
unknown:Good.
SPEAKER_01:Alright. Now, this is this is I got this one today. I got this one today. This one came to me from Israel today. Now, how weird is that? Now I I didn't plan on that. I got my two-dollar bill from Israel? Are you kidding me? Jericho, I think, is where it was, Pastor Steve. He sent me a picture of this, not knowing what I was doing this weekend. He's in Israel. He sends me a message. You're never gonna believe some lady gave me a$2 bill. This is your$2 bill, I'm bringing it back to you. And I'm thinking to myself, oh my gosh, how cool is that? Now, two years ago I handed you this, and you think I totally forgot handing you this. No, technically, you've been on my phone as a prayer list. I've been praying for you guys for two years straight. I look in the eyes of what you faced when I think about the stories and the things I've heard about your life for the last two years. Crazy. Some of you have been through hell and back. I mean really rough. And I and I and I get it. And man, everything you mean wanted to come in and swoop in and try to save the day. But I knew I knew I was doing something. But back at home six months, eight months later, after I gave you these, I thought, I can't actually do this by myself. So you don't know this, but I gave these same two dollar bills out to leadership. Now they don't know you. I never gave them your names. I never said anything about who you were specifically. But I began to ask our elders, and those I gave other$2 bills out, I said, all I want you to do is anytime you come across it, I want you to lift up. There's some young families that I that I've been investing into. And they're not gonna know it. But for the next two years, they're just going through life. But what they don't know, and what you're gonna find out today, is you've actually had a group of people covering you every week, every month, just praying for you. Myself, myself, but others who have come along the two-dollar bill later and said, I don't even know who I'm praying for. I hate that. My elders were just like, You've just left us in a mystery. Yeah, I did, and it's on purpose. And now I know why, because of this moment right here. Now, I why why am I telling you this? Why, why, church? You say, Why are we doing it like this? Because I wanted to see it modeled. What happens is there are young men and women who are in the church who have got fire and energy and vision and you want to do something, and God's called you to it, and your intention. What do I do with that? Do I dump it into business or family or marriage now, Daniel? Congratulations, that's a big win. I call that just a grand slam. Jess, I know you're in the room. But there's there's been lots of new visions for business and ministry all of a sudden. I mean, there's there's a ton new babies during that time. Isn't that amazing? There's there's so much up here, and yet I'm gonna ask at this moment, I've asked those elders that were praying and pastors that are praying to just come and stand behind you. And all I'm gonna ask them to do is I want them, I just want them to pray over you. Like officially now. To meet each other. Get an idea. It doesn't matter. You just come and find the one. You get behind a couple that you feel God's brought you into, just go ahead and come in. They're gonna move in behind you, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Don't be like, I don't know, who do I get? They don't know who they're getting either. Stop. Doesn't matter. That's not the point. That's not the point. Just making sure that everyone's got got somebody. Make sure. I got some down. Do we have got a couple here? Chima right here. I need one right here. Got got McLean's right here, right here. Steven's right here. This is good right here. And you got anybody down there? Come on, Britt. Christian. Right here. Good. Good, we're good, we're good, we're good, we're good. Alright, be ready, be ready. Listen, I I we have one Daniels? Daniels, I'm comfortable. I'm comfortable, Daniel. Pete, come on up here. Dad, why don't you come up here and just stand with Pete on this? Scott, stand with her. Come on. Don't let her just go by herself, dude. Come on. You're with her now. Do you like it or not? Fight for it. Now, this is what I want you to do. Would you stretch your hands out in prayer in the congregation? Where we're praying. What are we doing? Generational ministry. Young people who had no clue that their back has been covered, even though they felt uncomfortable. And then this amazing opportunity for this group to turn and invest into you. I should say it like this. Hammer. I want to introduce you to your neighbor. And now I want you to just pray.
SPEAKER_02:We hope and pray this message was encouraging and impactful. Join us live on our website or Facebook on Sundays at 9 and 11 a.m. You can stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram at The Rock Family. Have a Jesus filled week.