Forming Continuing Faith

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0:14Good morning. Join me in prayer. Where else can we go, oh, Lord? You have the words of eternal life, and so we ask you to show us your glory this morning. As we approach your word, reveal your glory. Show us Christ. We come this morning as famished ones, as needy souls, whose only hope for freedom and satisfaction is to hear you speak to us. So, Lord, make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ. Prepare our hearts and open our ears. I ask that you would speak through me as I seek to proclaim you faithfully to your people. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, good morning, Church. My name is Andrew Cagle, and it is a joy to bring God's Word to you. I am new to the pastoral team here, serving as the pastor for children and families since January this year. So, for those who don't know me well, let me tell you a little bit about my family. I am actually from North Carolina, but I married a lovely St. Paul native, Hannah.

1:22You'll see her with red hair, and we're actually expecting our third girl. My oldest is Charlotte. She's four. My second is Chloe, who's almost two. Her birthday is the due date, which is July 4th. So, I may have my phone ready, but I don't expect we'll be this early this morning. Looking around this room, I know there are some of you who have grandchildren older than my oldest daughter. I am a young father. I'm still in the throes of sleepless nights, toddler tantrums, and diaper changes. I don't come to you this morning as someone who has mastered parenting. I'm not a leader who has conquered the battlefield. No, instead, I come to you this morning as one who desperately needs God's truth.

2:11I am learning this. And so, I bring to you Paul's letter to Timothy in the humility that this truth will instruct all of us. Today, we are taking a brief one-week intermission from our study through Matthew to focus on this one vital question for us as a church family. How do we pass on our faith in such a way that the next generation continues, that they last? We want to form in our children and in ourselves a lasting, continuing faith. But if we're honest, this task, passing on the faith, can often feel like a baton relay race. I grew up in a church that did Awana. If you're not familiar with Awana, Awana is a midweek children's ministry for scripture memory, mainly, but there's two components to the night, the scripture memory time and the game time.

3:12I loved scripture memory. I was good at it. I could recite verses quickly. The game time, just ask my wife, I'm not athletic. She has to handle that part with our girls. The Awana baton relay races, I dreaded them. There is nothing more chaotic than being forced to sprint around a circle with all of your peers screaming at you from all four sides, and on top of that, you have to remember to carry and pass on a baton. This plastic cylinder, they come in four colors for the four teams. And more times than I would like to admit, I would start running without getting the baton. Or worse, arrive back to my team, still clenching it.

4:04This is how many of us feel in parenting and in family ministry. We're trying to pass on the baton of the gospel. We're cheering them on. Keep running, kids. Start running, perhaps. While a chaotic world screams and competes for their attention. We aren't just passing a baton on an Awana circle or a smooth track. No, we are passing the baton on a battlefield. That's exactly how Chap Bettis describes what we do as families in his book, "The Disciple Making Parent." We're trying to pass on a baton in a battlefield. And it's no wonder, unfortunately, that some of our children walk away. The world is screaming at your children strategically, deliberately, aiming at them, and there is an overt agenda to capture their attention. It is June, for example, and the agenda this month is under the name of Pride and the banner of the rainbow.

5:04Our children, in ways that will capture their attention and their imagination, hear lies like this, "Follow your heart. You are what you feel. You do you. The truth is relative. Oh, maybe there is no truth. Gender is a social construct. The Bible, that church-organized religion stuff, it's outdated." These are all lies. Amen. If parents in the church are not actively teaching the truth to our children, believe me, the culture's media, schools, and fancy algorithms will teach them. They are more than happy to step in. Satan undermines faith. He does so with a highly coordinated secular catechism.

5:50He is seeking to have our children drop the baton. When given the opportunity to preach a standalone message as your new pastor for children and families, I couldn't think of a better text to address this very battlefield than 2 Timothy 3:14-17. You see, Apostle Paul, his relationship with Timothy actually embodies the very priority of baton-passing faith. He wants to pass on continuing, persevering faith to his protege. Writing from a Roman prison, so this is much later than Matthew's Gospel, Paul shares his fatherly desire for his young protege in what may very well be his last letter. He wants Timothy to continue to endure or abide in his faith. Why? The same reason we just talked about in our day, the cultural waters were rising against Timothy.

6:49Just look with me again, 2 Timothy 3:14-17. I'll actually have you scan right above our section. Look at what Paul warns Timothy of in verse 13. "Evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." The stakes are incredibly high because for many of us, many of our children, long before they will ever read God's Word, they are reading us. Are we going to be caught with the evil people and the imposters, progressing on from bad to worse? Indeed, we are raising our children in the very same days with the very same evil people and imposters.

7:38Children form their first ideas about God's character by what they observe in the people around them, particularly in the parents and the adults who are raising them. If this feels heavy, and it should, this is a heavy responsibility. There is no automated formula for manufacturing faith. Perhaps you're hoping that I'll just say, "Now here's what to do to combat the battlefield." But I'm not here to tell you that there's a magic formula. No, instead, I believe wholeheartedly that only God changes hearts, and so we desperately ask him to do it. But God does use means to cultivate saving faith in our children.

8:21And what is that means except a community like us, a community of parents and teachers who instruct our children in the truth and model genuine faith. As we look at 2 Timothy 3, we're going to find a past paradigm of Timothy's faith. As we look at this paradigm, we will then learn a present prescription for our families and for our church today. As we seek to form continuing faith, we can use the exact same means and priorities that sustained Timothy. Because at the end of the day, to form continuing faith, the next generation needs to hear the Word from us and see the Word in us. They have to hear it, but they need to see it, too.

9:06Paul shows us that we follow this paradigm by passing on the gospel through the Word we teach and live out, and this is our main idea this morning from 2 Timothy 3:14-17. We pass on the gospel through the Word we teach and live out. We're going to see three ways that we must do this. We're going to pass through these verses a few times to see that we ought to teach the truth of the gospel, testify to a life transformed by the gospel, and treasure the gospel in action. Take a look with me again at verse 14. Paul says, "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed."

9:52For Timothy to continue in his faith, Paul reminded him, you learned it. You became convinced of this truth. As opposed to, if you just drag your eyes up or scroll to verse seven, Paul described those who are always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Timothy, on the other hand, did learn firmly, and he arrived at a knowledge of the truth. So as we pass on continuing faith, what should we do? Well, we need to teach deliberately and intentionally. We want our children to learn doctrine and truth. From a very young age, we must teach them truths like the ones we sing about in our nurseries. I'm going to join the group of admirers and praise God for the faithfulness represented in our nurseries.

10:44After only a few weeks here, my youngest daughter, Chloe, she started walking around our house chanting and acting out the great truths of our faith. She would walk around with her hands like this, "God made me. In my Bible book, it says that God made me." She would scream at the top of her lungs. Or even better, she would say, "My God is so..." Kids, help me out. Big. "So strong and so mighty. There's nothing our God cannot do." Or perhaps our favorite at bedtime, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." We ought to teach children like that, and we do. Praise the Lord. Thanks be to God for a nursery and for homes and for great worship leaders who deliberately and intentionally teach from the youngest of ages.

11:41But we cannot assume that that's all it takes. For Timothy, he didn't just learn simple songs of truth. No. Look again at the phrase that Paul uses. He firmly believed it. In other words, it means to become utterly convinced or persuaded. Timothy didn't just inherit a family religion. As we often hear, even from our baptized this morning, he worked through the truth himself. We saw that in the testimonies. Working through this and becoming convinced, "I believe it and I'm going to act on it." And that's exactly what Timothy did. Brothers and sisters, if I had to pinpoint exactly where Christian households drop the baton, it's right there.

12:28Becoming convinced. We sort of think this stage will happen on its own. We assume it. We think, "They'll become convinced. They sat in the row. They sang the songs in my home. We had them in their classes." We drop the baton on convincing and persuading our children. We assume their questions will get answered somehow. God has ordained that we would answer those questions. Toddlers ask why, believe me, more times than we can count in one car ride. And teenagers will ask things like, "Is that really real and true?" When those questions come, do we welcome them? Do we seek to convince them or do we write them off?

13:13"You'll figure it out when you get older." Continuing faith requires us to create environments where kids can bring their doubts and objections, where we patiently help persuade them of the truth. This past winter, Pastor Ben taught at our father-son retreat, which we do every year for third through fifth graders and their dads. He taught on Deuteronomy 6. I never thought of the text this way, and I think you'll find it helpful, too. He pointed out that the becoming convinced stage was actually anticipated by the Lord for Israel's discipleship strategy. Deuteronomy 6, we know the beginning. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." Good.

13:54Look at verse 20 if you'd like. Deuteronomy 6:20. "When your son asks you in time to come," When your son asks you in time to come, "What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?" As Pastor Ben says, there's middle school ministry right there. Deuteronomy 6. So we teach, we persuade, we answer their questions and doubts with truth. We want our children to learn and to be firmly convinced, to have firm belief. What is it, though? What are we teaching him? Okay, we've been waiting for that. What are we going to teach them? Paul tells us what Timothy learned. Look with me at verse 15.

14:38He learned the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Timothy was taught the sacred writings. What does that mean? It means the Holy Scriptures. If you have a copy of God's Word, a real one, not an electronic one. That's real too, though. But you look on the side, if it's not worn out like mine, you'll see Holy Bible on the outside or the spine. This verse is one of the many reasons why we call God's Word the Holy Bible. Paul is referring to God's Word as recorded by human authors in writing. He is not, though, referring to all scriptures or writings that some might consider to be sacred. So for example, we do not believe that the Quran is sacred.

15:30We do not believe that the Book of Mormon is part of the Bible, nor the Apocrypha, and I could go on and on. We believe that this is God's Word. This is the Holy Bible. Here's the way our elder affirmation of faith says it. It actually starts with this. We believe that the Bible, consisting of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, is the infallible Word of God, verbally inspired by God and without error in the original manuscripts. Remarkably, what Paul says about those sacred writings is how they ought to be used and applied. You see, of course, Timothy, what did he hear? He heard mostly the Old Testament.

16:17He grew up in a Jewish household, so he heard the great stories of the Jewish faith, the law. And yet Paul says those very sacred writings, the same ones we have, make us wise. They made Timothy wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. That's the point of the Bible. Every page of God's Word points to him. There's a great book on teaching the gospel to kids by Jack Klumpenhower. I think the title says everything you need to know about that book. "Show Them Jesus." That's our commission. That's what we teach. With God's Word, we show them Jesus because we need to see him and so do they. Timothy was able to learn Jesus from the Old Testament of all things.

17:06Remember, there are great stories like David or like greedy Gehazi, if you're looking for a fun story to go over today. Those are good stories. We want to be brave like David. We want to be honest and true. We don't want to be greedy like Gehazi. So Timothy learned those stories, but he didn't just learn how to be moral and good. So we don't just teach our children isolated moral stories. No, instead, we teach them the whole counsel of God so that they would see the grand story of Jesus. So we want to show them King David, but not just so they can fight giants, but so that they can see that one day there would come one who is great David's greater son, the once and forever King.

17:54We want to teach them about a little boy named Mephibosheth. One of my favorite stories. Mephibosheth was an outcast from Saul's family when David went on the throne. He was crippled when he was running away, when his nanny was trying to take him away so that he didn't get killed. With the rest of Saul's family. This crippled outcast doesn't just teach us sort of an odd history lesson. It's not just a fun aside. No, instead, the crippled story here, the story about a crippled little boy who's an enemy of the king, but then brought to the king's table. Someone who ought not be received in was brought in and placed as if he was a son at David's table. Why do we have this story?

18:40So that we could see ourselves, the spiritual cripples, the enemies of God, who are then brought at the table of the king, treated as sons. Or another great story we teach our children about the commander Naaman. Commander Naaman, he had a skin disease, and there was a little girl in this story, a servant, who told him, "There's only one way that you might be healed. Go find the prophet." Why do we have this story? To show that Jesus, the once and future better suffering servant, can only heal us from the disease that we all suffer from. It's through him and what he did on the cross, he cleanses us.

19:25We are buried with him and raised that we would walk in newness of life, cured of the disease of sin only by his blood. So every page of this book is designed to help our children be wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. I've once heard many times from great pastors, they say, "This is a Him book." So would you point to him? Teach him. We must show them Jesus. What gives us any confidence that teaching the truth of the gospel to the minds of our children from the Bible will actually produce continuing faith? Take a look at verse 16. Paul just throws this statement in there, "All scripture is breathed out by God." We could spend the next week talking about the meaning of this statement. I won't go into detail on every single thing that this could possibly mean, but I think very simply for today, let's say it means authoritative and sufficient.

20:21God's Word is breathed out by him. When Paul says all, all scripture, I believe he actually means to include both the Old Testament and the New Testament. I could go into several references to prove that, too. But mainly, I'll remind you what Peter said about Paul's letters. On the one hand, he said they might be kind of hard to understand. We're doing our best this morning. But more importantly, he called them scriptures. And so there was an understanding early on as the apostles were delivering the gospel message and writing letters to churches, that they were inspired by the very Holy Spirit to write the word of God to his people.

21:05And so we often call this, theologians call this verbal plenary inspiration. This is what God has done through the human authors to give us his word. He used indeed their personalities, of course. Jesus is both fully divine and human. We know this, but have you thought about how that might be true of the word of God, too? The written word of God is both fully divine and fully human. So God did use the style, historical context, and the personalities of those human authors to communicate, to breathe out his word to his people. It's not as if they wrote something and then he sort of breathed on it and said, "I approve of it."

21:44He was involved in the whole process, nor was it simply that they got a message from him and they wrote it down word for word. God used their personality, their historical context, to communicate a divine message. But let's be clear, this message is never something from human origins. It's the very issue Paul is warning Timothy against. Earlier in Second Timothy, he said, "Avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene." So as opposed to that kind of message of human origins, what did he say? Irreverent babble, gangrene talk.

22:30I couldn't think of two better phrases to describe what you might hear on social media from influencers. Paul instructed Timothy instead, don't look to the message of human origins. No, instead, rightly handle the word of truth, the very message of God, scripture that has been breathed out to him, so we can be confident that when we teach the Bible, we are not handing our children the latest trend on social media or human opinions. No, instead, we are handing them a divine message, the truth. We are handing them the very breath of God. And so we need to pass the baton of our faith by teaching the truth to our children. They must know it. They must become convinced of it.

23:17However, continuing faith doesn't stop there. Second, we must form our children's faith by testifying to the truth, by our lives transformed by the gospel. Just take a look again at the end of verse 14. "Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it. And how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings." Did you see that phrase, knowing from whom you learned it? Timothy learned from people he knew. In Second Timothy, at the beginning of the letter, Paul told us exactly who he learned from. It's remarkable. Chapter one, verse five, "I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well."

24:08And how does Paul refer to Timothy? The beginning of the letter and the beginning of chapter two, he says, "My beloved child." Let me just give you a brief overview of Timothy's life. We are first introduced to him in Acts 16. We're told that he has a Jewish mother, who's a believer, and a Gentile or Greek father, meaning he's not a believer. So Timothy grew up in a household that had faith on one side and unbelief on another. So Paul then would assume a fatherly role in Timothy's life. As we track his story through the Book of Acts, Timothy would go with Paul to so many places. Paul actually would have him circumcised.

24:49I'm not going to answer why that happened right now. Great question. You're going to send that over to Pastor Dan. For Timothy, perseverance in his faith meant the regular, consistent testimony of his grandmother and his mother, and then, of course, the Apostle Paul. I think Pastor Steven said this well actually a few weeks ago in the parable of the straying sheep. Perseverance in the faith is a community project.

25:20So for such a testimony, consistent and regular from those we know and love and trust, for that to be an effective maneuver to hand the baton of the faith to our children, it requires that we are consistent. I like to put it this way. Our lives need to match what we say with our lips. Our lives, what we do, should match what we teach with our lips, and we need to testify to what we really believe. And Paul modeled this well and continued to instruct Timothy in this. I actually find here in this letter a fulfillment of what he said to him in 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy 4:16, Paul reminded Timothy, "Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers."

26:11Our faith is an embodied life of becoming godlier in word and in deed. Good. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians, "Be imitators of me as I am of Christ." So let me ask you very poignantly, are we the kind of people that someone can watch and see Jesus? If we were to watch you, we would see Jesus clearly embodied in your life. In our actions, do we show that we believe Him and we are becoming like Him? In our attitude towards others, do we serve? Are we humble? In our perseverance through suffering and pain, do we endure as Christ endured? Our affections and loves, do they stir ultimately our love for the Lord? This is an evaluation we must continue to do.

27:01We have to watch ourselves and what we teach. Remember again Israel's commission, Deuteronomy 6, where God commands His people to love Him, and He tells them how they ought to do it, teaching His words diligently to their children at home, on the road, before bed, and at the start of the day. All of life. God has always intended, His design is an all-encompassing, everyday discipleship, that our lives should match what we teach with our lips. So again, let me ask, do you embody the character of God because your children will read you? And do you show them the very character we see in God's Word?

27:44Ted Tripp has a wonderful analogy for children, saying that children are like wet concrete. Hmm. What does he mean by this? He means that what happens in childhood sets their trajectory for adult life. So let's explain how that works. In our childhood, the structural rhythms of our home create the form that we pour the wet concrete into. The things that we prioritize, the people that we have our children around, the things that we say, the way we live, it provides the structure, and then our children harden into the firm, formed beliefs that are established in their childhood. Paul highlights this very reality in verse 15 for Timothy because he says he was acquainted with the sacred writings when?

28:38From childhood. Some translations even say from infancy. So from the youngest of age, from his earliest days, the daily rhythms of Timothy's home shaped who he would become. How are you shaping the wet concrete of the children around you? And oh, by the way, this isn't just for the parents in the room. This is all of us. We as a church are committed to shaping the children around us and raising them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. As we testify with a life transformed by the gospel, we don't just sort of move past the Bible. No, from childhood, Timothy was acquainted with the sacred writing.

29:16So the Bible itself is a living testimony to the hearts of our children and to us. Hebrews 4:12, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Do you really believe this about God's Word and wield it for your own soul and for the good and ultimate well-being of your children? As we tell and retell Bible stories and declare God's Word in prayer and memorization, we are wielding a powerful weapon of conviction and transformation. So do you truly believe it and show that?

30:02Here's one way you ought to show this. You should have a planned, consistent, regular reading and studying of God's Word. You yourself, first. Before you do so with your kids, and you must, and you should read and study God's Word with your children, you should yourself study God's Word. Know Him because He's revealed Himself through this. Let me just commend a few simple resources that my own family has benefited from. I would encourage you, perhaps start with a storybook Bible, like "The Biggest Story." This is a great retelling of the key stories of the Bible, and just to make it even easier, "The Biggest Story" comes with a free podcast and free videos. So just put it on and it'll read the stories to you while you're in the car. Or another resource, "Theology." It's like the word theology but misspelled.

30:52"Theology" by Marty Machowski. This is a great story for those who are a little older. It's actually a retelling of the story of the Bible with an eye to teaching theology as God revealed it through the story. Written very well and very captivating. And finally, consider a catechism. A catechism is a collection of questions and answers. My family really benefited from one called "Big Picture Questions and Answers for Kids." "Big Picture Questions and Answers for Kids." That actually has a preschool level and an older kids level. It's by Lifeway. You can find it for free online. This answers questions about God, ourselves, and the world, the kind of questions that kids are going to have anyways, so let's teach them the answers from the truth of scripture. Here's my main encouragement.

31:37Don't overcomplicate this. Work these simple resources, or others like them, into your regular rhythms, whether it's at bedtime or the dinner table, or when all the kids are strapped in their car seats and are forced to listen to you. That's fine. Put the podcast on. Ask them some questions. We aren't simply trying, though, to raise Bible-smart kids. We want our kids to love the truth because they see it lived out authentically. We testify to it because we believe it. Now, let me be honest, parents, you and I will fail to demonstrate perfect faith. We're going to mess up, and this is why we desperately need the church.

32:20We need the community project of the local church. Your kids need to see the gospel is bigger than just mom and dad. They need the testimony of other believers. This might be comical and a misuse of a Bible story, but someone once said that the church is like Noah's Ark. It's pretty messy and smelly on the inside, but a whole lot safer on the inside than on the outside. So that's what our children need. But our children and we need the messy, beautiful church. We need the consistent testimony of other believers to form their hearts with the truth of the gospel. Like Timothy, we want our children to look back on childhood, and likewise, we need the consistent example of other believers. So we want them to look back and say, "That is a confirmation that I ought to continue."

33:10Continue in your faith knowing from whom you learned it, because their lives testify what they teach with their lips. Finally, we see Paul encourage the formation of Timothy's continuing faith by this, treasuring the truth in action. Continuing faith, it is a faith expressed in action, mission, and obedience. Look again at the final two verses of our text. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. So Paul reminds Timothy that scripture is profitable. He's using treasure language.

33:56He's saying, "This word of God is worth treasuring, highly esteeming." For Paul, this means seeing its value in everyday application, living out what you learn. Jesus taught us how treasure works, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. All of us are value-motivated human beings. Here's how I know that. Your calendar and your bank statement and your habits, they leave a trail to what you truly treasure. For Timothy, Paul lays it out clearly. The most valuable asset you have for a faith that endures is the word of God, and here's the test if you treasure it. What do you do with it?

34:40You're not just learning it to store it in your brain. God's word is something we do something with. As James says, "Be doers of the word, not just hearers only." So gospel doctrine creates gospel culture. Pretty sure I stole that from a pastor. I can't remember which one. Gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture. Paul continues coloring in this picture then by describing exactly what we do with God's word. How do we treasure it? Positively, we instruct, and negatively, we correct. Isn't this what Paul said to parents in Ephesians six? Christian growth entails both nurture and correction, instruction and discipline. That's what these four verbs mean here.

35:25Paul says to teach and to train, to reprove and correct. Together, these verbs actually paint a picture of teaching what we really believe and showing it in how we behave. We should teach true doctrine and reprove or rebuke false doctrine. This is what Timothy was called to do and what we ought to do with the same word. We should correct or set straight, literally, any straying from godly, Christ-like behavior, and we ought to train in righteous living. Right belief leads to right behavior. Right learning leads to right living. This is our responsibility to the next generation, that we develop godly character and conviction.

36:09We don't, however, get to decide the standard. Instead, God's word gives us the absolute standard of righteousness. Paul David Tripp says it well in his book, "Parenting." He says that every child is born believing two lies, that they are autonomous and that they are self-sufficient. Just try to ask a toddler to help them tie their shoes or that they put it on the wrong feet. We resist being ruled and we don't want help. That's true of all of us. Therefore, our work as a church and as parents, with the help of the Holy Spirit, is to be a faithful tool in God's hand to create a submission, to cultivate submission to God's standard.

36:49This happens by the regular intake and application of God's word to the ultimate goal, as Paul says to Timothy, that we would use and treasure the profitable truth of God's word to be complete, equipped for every good work. Paul uses a word, and I think this is a good word to focus on at the end. He says, "Be complete." In other words, this means to be thoroughly fitted, to be thoroughly equipped. I think the image of Ephesians 6 is actually a helpful one here because Paul describes how we ought to be fitted with the very armor of God. Why? What do we do with the armor of God? We extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one.

37:33In the battlefield that's raging around us, we are fitted by the word of God to fight against Satan. Treasuring the truth of the gospel means that we stand firm, dressed for battle, ready to run on mission. So this is what God's word does. It equips us for every good work. Let me just ask you a few questions then. Do you see your home and your bank account as tools for radical generosity and hospitality? Are you investing your time and your energy here in this local church or in another one like it to see the gospel spread? Do you pray regularly? As Paul asks for prayer in Ephesians 6 for those who are fitted with the armor of God, he says, "Pray that I would have an opportunity to boldly proclaim the mystery of the gospel." Do you pray like that for your neighbors, for your coworkers, for those in your life that do not yet know Him?

38:27The next generation needs to see us treasure the gospel like this, treasure God's word like that in action, because we want our children to grow up to be oaks of righteousness. Together, we will serve as a garden city, a city on a hill that's shining the light of Christ to our neighbors and the nations. This is the great community project of the North Church. We pass on the gospel through the word we teach and live out. We teach it so they understand it. We testify to it by being transformed by the gospel ourselves, and we train our children to treasure the gospel in action. As we hold tightly to the baton and try to pass it on, let's remember the one who holds us.

39:10Therefore, we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us then lay aside every weight and sin that clings so tightly, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising its shame and is seated at the right hand of God. To the unbelievers in the room, you've heard me describe the most important thing you will ever believe. We believe here at the North Church and in many gatherings like this that your only hope in life and death is that you would belong wholly to Jesus.

39:49Amen. Your only hope is to turn from your rebellion against your creator and to believe, to trust, receive the offer of eternal life from the one who gave His life that you would have it. The Apostle Paul said, "This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." That's where faith begins, in repentance for your sin. Parents, you're not alone. Embrace your responsibility, but share it. Let us help you. And volunteers, remember this, the harvest is abundant and the laborers are few, so we ought to pray earnestly that the Lord of the harvest would send laborers. I'll just end with some facts and figures.

40:37We need 35 volunteers to serve in addition to the ones who would please continue and renew your passion to spread the supremacy of God. We need 35 additional volunteers for the fall, and I have a word from the Lord for you. He's called you. Some of you in this room are the answer to the prayer, and so I ask you to consider it. And even this summer, our nursery continues. We have over 70 children in our childcare in the summer. So if you're interested in serving, then come talk to me or Carmen or others on staff. We would love to explain how you can use your gifts to teach, testify, and treasure the gospel. Let's pray.

41:17Lord, we pray now that you would be glorified as your word goes forth from our gathering and into our lives this week. Oh, help us. Help us by your Spirit to live out this vision for disciple-making. I pray that some sitting in this room right now would indeed be the answer to our request for more laborers. But most of all, give us grace that we would run this race, passing the baton and keeping the faith. Keep our eyes fixed firmly on Jesus. May we not lose heart as we struggle with sin. Give us endurance as we long and wait for our groom to return. Teach us to love and spur each other on. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

41:58Amen.

Jump to live
Jump to live

Christ Has Come, He Will Come Again

The End Is Not Yet

Woe To Hypocrites!

Forming Continuing Faith

Christ Has Come, He Will Come Again

The End Is Not Yet

Woe To Hypocrites!

The Humble Shall Be Exalted

Son of David, Son of God

The Greatest Commandments

God of the Living

God, or Caesar?

The Parable Of The Wedding Feast

The Rejected Cornerstone

A Tale of Two Sons

Jesus’ Authority

A Serious Call to Repentance and Prayer

Our Passover Lamb: The Provocation of Jesus’ Anger

Jesus’ Entry Into Jerusalem

Behold the Merciful Messiah

The Great Servant King