Back to School Sunday

My name is Russ, one of the ministers here. You were supposed to hear from Josh this morning, but he's playing hooky or better said he was supposed to be on a flight that got in last night around 9pm we think, and he was hoping he's on a flight right now. And so he had a long night last night. So he's not here. I am.

You are. And so let's. We got some Bible stuff to do and some recognition and celebration of who God is and what he's doing specifically in the lives of our kids, our students, our young adults. And so actually with him being gone, I realized, well, this is kind of who we are anyway, that we don't depend. The church doesn't depend on any one individual, any one program, any one thing.

That we are this big band of people who come together and all of us get to bring who we are together and what we have together into this active, welcoming, relational community. And everybody's invited to join in. You are invited to join in. And so if you've walked in here today and if you're new or if you've walked in and said, hey, I haven't really taken a step towards serving or sort towards joining into community, we'd love for you to take that step. Real simple for you to do that.

You go to the info desk out in the center of this building and just walk up and say, hi, I'm Russ. Don't say Russ, that's me, whatever. Fill in your name and just say hi and tell them what you're looking for, the step you're taking, or just say, I'm new here. They would love to help you. This is the kind of church we are.

We're also a church that has committed to being a church. That's the language is this. The word is intergenerational. So today we've got our attention on what we call next gen around here. That is our kids, our students, our young adults.

And then we've also got our attention on this community wide experience. That's this thing that sort of ripples out for all of us about going back to school. And if you go, well, yeah, my kids don't go to school. Yeah, but you get behind a bus for a certain time of year, right? This is all of our lives.

And so we're gonna take time today to pray for our students, our school staff, before they head back into the classroom. And we want to remind ourselves of our role, our role in helping all generations follow Jesus. Being an intergenerational church, we don't just want to be a church that has multiple generations worshiping, worshiping in the same building at the same time. We actually want more than that. Two years ago, in September of 2024, we cast out a vision for what we thought in the next three, 36 months, three years, the kind of church that we could become.

And in that language was this paragraph. We want to champion the next generation by raising up young disciples and leaders who actively help shape our church's future. At the same time, we want to honor the wisdom experience of older generations and create opportunities for people of every age to learn, witness, learn from, support and encourage one another as we grow together in faith. This is not some new idea. We're not novel around here.

This is deeply embedded in the story of scripture. From the beginning, God intended faith to be passed on from generation to generation, just as we just passed the piece to pass it on. This was intended to be accomplished in the home, but also then beyond that, it was designed as this whole community effort. Deuteronomy 4 We see it all the way back as God is shaping and preparing his people for how they could live in the promised land as his people. He instructs them that they should live as a community of people who are faithful to him.

Deuteronomy 4:39 acknowledge and take heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. Keep his decrees and command, which I have given, I am giving you today so that it may go well with you and who your children after you, and that you may live long in the land of the Lord your God, the land that God gives you for all time. You see it right there, this intergenerational this from you to the next generation to the next. He goes on to explain practically how to do that actually.

Deuteronomy 6 Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children, talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Psalm Psalm 78 continues this thought. My people, hear my teaching, listen to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth with a parable. I will utter hidden things, things of old, things we have heard and known things our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their descendants.

We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power and the wonders he's done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born. And they would in turn tell their children when they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds, but would keep his commands. You see this. The primary way God's designed for this to happen is inside of our family, right for us as parents to disciple our kids and us as grandparents to disciple our grandkids.

But the words for children and the words for children's children in that psalm, those are really broad language. The much bigger way that God designed for this to happen is that there is this community of people, the brothers and sisters, the family of God. And we view it as our responsibility to pass on what God has done, his good work and his ways and his boundaries, onto the next generation. One generation experiences the faithfulness of God, and they tell the next generation what they've seen. And that generation puts this trust in God and passes it on to the next.

This is who we are as we follow Jesus. Those of us here who have walked with God longer, and I might be one of you, I don't know. I think I'm at least three people up here, if we added their ages up. I'm older than all three of them together. So it makes sense that I'm preaching today, right, as we celebrate this.

But if you're like me and you've walked with God longer, it's the invitation, the challenge, the tell those stories, pass on the wisdom, testify to his faithfulness, and help the next generations recognize God's work in their own lives. We see this happen in Scripture, but we also see times where it doesn't happen. And there are moments where it's heartbreaking. Judges, chapter two. We see the people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.

Here's the generation who had followed God. And three verses later, we read after that whole generation had gathered, been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done in Israel. And what was the result? Almost an entire nation begins to worship false gods. And they go their own way, back to Genesis 3.

We decide to be our own gods until the faithful few pass on their faith by telling of God's faithfulness in their own lives. That's when it didn't happen. But we also see these stunning stories of when it did. There's this young king named Josiah. He's a boy, he's 8 years old when he becomes king.

He's in a nation that had completely forgotten God. His father and his grandfather had been wicked leaders. The temple was in ruins. The scriptures literally were collecting dust in a closet. They had forgotten they existed.

And so one day, as they're doing some spring cleaning, the scriptures tumble out and Josiah had the words read aloud and his heart was pierced and he tears his clothing. It's this old school language of repenting. He tears his clothing, he repents. And then he leads the entire nation and a generation back to faithfulness. You see it in that one generation forgot, another remembered.

See, faith doesn't automatically pass. It doesn't just automatically pass from one generation to the next. We have to participate. Just because kids grow up in church buildings doesn't mean they'll grow up knowing and loving Jesus. Just because we've experienced the faithfulness of God doesn't mean the next generation behind us will know those stories unless someone tells them.

Somebody or somebodies have to carry it forward. And throughout Scripture, God places this particular responsibility on those of us who have walked with him longer.

In Timothy 2, there's this passage that sticks out to me over and over again about what it looks like to follow Jesus. 2nd Timothy 2, 2 and the things you've heard me say, this is one guy, Paul, inspired by God, writing to a guy named Timothy. And he says, what you've heard me tell you in the presence of many witnesses, entrust those to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. Do you catch the generational language in that? Here's Paul, and he says, look, I passed it on to you.

That's first generation to second, right? And then he says, now take that and give it to reliable people. Third, and then you pass. They can pass it on to the next. This is what it looks like as we follow Jesus.

It is, are we paying attention to God? Are we hearing what he wants us to do and are we responding? Are we taking his steps? And then there's a simple thing that says, who can I help do the same? Who can I help do the same?

I'm taking a step. How can I help somebody else do the same? What does the next generation look like? You see four generations just in that passage. God's goal was never just hey, make sure you get it or make sure you and your kids get it.

The goal is take what God has given to you and pass it. It's one of the great responsibilities that comes with spiritual growth and spiritual maturity. So for those of us in the room who have been following Jesus for 10, 30, 50 years, you possess something. You possess something that has to be passed on. You know what it's like you've done this.

You know what it's like to trust God when answers don't come easily. You know what it's like to walk through grief and discover that God's still there.

You know what it's like to fail and to repent and to get back up and discover that his grace is trustworthy. You've seen prayers answered. You've watched God provide for you. You've learned that some of the things you once thought were the most important things in life really aren't.

You have the wisdom that comes from walking with God. This language. A guy named Eugene Peterson said, a long obedience in the same direction you've been in that long obedience. And the expectation from Scripture isn't that you take all that wisdom with you, it's that you leave it behind. So you pour it out.

And our world has this very specific picture of what the later years in life are supposed to look like for us. You know, the goal is work hard, accumulate enough money and freedom, and then what do you get to do? You retire, right? You spend the rest of your life doing whatever you want to do and paying people to do the stuff you don't. Right?

And it's good. I mean, retirement is good. So don't hear that any differently. Retire from your job, travel, play golf, buy the rv, go back to work, whatever it is you want to do. Go somewhere warm in February, enjoy the fruit of your hard work.

But know this, there is no retirement from following Jesus. There's no retirement from his mission. There's no retirement of being sent into the world he loves. I have a friend whose father in law is a career pastor. He's 90 years old, spent the last couple years caring for his wife as she was failing.

She passed away. And at her funeral, his 90 year old dad said, this 90 year old father in law said, I am asking God right now what he wants me to do next.

Everything that God forms in us over a lifetime has been entrusted to us so we can invest it to whoever is coming behind us. Here's another Psalm. Psalm 92. The righteous will flourish like a palm tree. They will grow like the Cedar of Lebanon planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.

They will still bear fruit. When in old age they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming the Lord is upright, he is my rock, and there is no wickedness in him still bearing fruit. I'm counting on this. Maybe some of the most important kingdom work of your life is not behind you, still ahead of you, no matter how old you are today, that Maybe there's a 12 year old who needs you to know their name. Maybe there's a 16 year old girl who just needs another woman who loves Jesus and who can believe in her.

Maybe there's a young adult who's trying to figure out marriage or work or faith or adulthood and who just desperately needs someone, someone down the road, 30 years ahead of them to say, hey, come sit with me. I'll tell you the mistakes I made. I'll tell you what I've learned. Maybe the next chapter of your faithfulness is less about you and more about who you can invest in.

Every one of us, we carry something younger generations desperately need. But it doesn't just pass on by itself. It doesn't pass on by attending church in the same place at the same time. It's. It passes on in relationship.

So often I'm in conversations with people who, and I am the same, where I look at the world around me and there's enough chaos, enough chaos that I go, can we just do something to make a change? And realistically, a lot of the big issues, they're big enough. Most of us, most of us aren't going to make a giant impact in it. And then I realized simply this, if you want to make a deep impact, a deep impact, do it with the people you can get face to face with. Worked in Kentucky about a decade ago and there still, that opiate epidemic was still high on people's minds.

And they were like, I'm going to do something. And what we learned was this, is that if you mentor a kid, just join in with them as a lunch buddy and if you spend an hour a week with a kid paying attention, listening that by the time they graduate high school, their odds of them becoming addicted plummets. And we were going, hey, but I want to do something important. Yeah, the change happens in the context of relationship. You may have noticed these hands on your way in.

Maybe you grabbed one. Be sure to grab one on the way out. Every one of us can use these. This is clearly not my hand. Right, so.

But first let me talk to the parents this hand is for you. This is just a simple visual about how we want to remind ourselves daily how important it is both for parents to have other believers outside your home investing in your kids. But then for the rest of us, the rest of us who don't have kids or have kids in other generations to be reminded of the responsibility we carry to pass our faith on to the next generation. So parents, for you, your task with this is simple. You take this home, you sit down with your kids and you identify five people.

Get it? Five fingers, five people. I learned school real good. I know how to count to five. Five people outside of yourselves.

You don't put mom and dad here, you just say, are there five other adults, people that your kid can identify who or you can, who loves Jesus, loves your kid and can have an impact on their life? It's grandparents, coaches, small group leaders, teachers, family friends, kids, kids, volunteers here, student leaders, whoever it may be. Five people who can reinforce what you're trying to pass on to them at. And you write those names, one on each finger and you let them know that these people are in your kid's hand and then you go ask those people to pray for your kid to check in and call them by name when they see him and invest in them. And if you do this as a parent and you're like, well, I got three, I had four.

That is not something to feel guilty about. It's just simply opportunity. It's an opportunity to do something about that, to start praying for God to fill out your kids hand. So that's for you as parents, for the rest of us, everybody else, we take one of these and we put five names on it. But we're not putting five adults who influenced us.

We put five kids names, kids, students, young adults who are not your own, who are part of this church family that you can actively invest in, pray for, learn a name, be there for five names. Five names of people you pray for. Kids you notice five names you recognize in the hallway and people that you know that they can know that you care about them. This is the kind of church we want to become. A church that is intergenerational in the sense that it takes the passing of the responsibility of patching the torch of faith to the next generation.

This is biblical generational, disciple making is what it is. And I know many of you want to do this and you may not know how. Like you would love it if we just gave you a list of kids names of someone you like and you just write it in there or Others of you realize, and it's a good thing that it's a bad idea just to walk up to a random kid and tell them, hey, I want to put your name on my card. You know, that's creepy. Don't do it.

Here's the really good news. It is as simple as going to where they are. I had the chance last summer to go to a Christ in youth conference. A week in Cleveland, Tennessee, in July. It was the hottest, most tired I've been in years.

But I got to spend time with a band of students. I went to where they were, and I have this connection, this friend I make while I'm sitting there. A guy named Preston who's friend had brought him to Christ. His friend's name is Gabe, who I've spent time with. And so you start to go, well, there's this Timothy, Paul to Timothy, to this person, to this person.

I spent time with Gabe. Gabe brought Preston along. I now meet Preston. Here's the thing. None of them know a guy named Dave.

Dave, when I was in college, invited me into community with him. Invested time in me once a week, every week for a year. And the next year I showed up and I said, are we gonna do that again? And he said, I'm gonna do that with some guys, but not you. And I was like, are you kicking me out?

And he said, yes, go pick some freshmen. Do it with them. It went from Dave to me to Gabe to Preston. Got breakfast with Preston on Friday. He and Gabe both leave next week to head off to the University of the Cumberlands on a ministry track, where one day they'll start to do the work than I do.

And they learned about that from a student leader here in this building, the number of relationships and impact it makes. But here's the thing. We don't need a list. We don't need to be creepy. All we need to do is go where they are.

Here, that simply means volunteer where they are. And we'll help you do this. We train you, we background check you, we find a great spot for you to serve. You get connected to kids, to students, to young adults, right where they're at. And when I say that, don't think well.

Russ is saying, I need to go teach a Bible Sunday lesson, Bible school lesson every Sunday for the rest of my life. Maybe that's it. Maybe you will teach. But for you, it might mean just greeting families and learning kids names as they walk in the door. It might mean helping them check in, setting up a room, serving food, driving for an event, praying weekly, writing cards of encouragement, or showing up on a student night.

Or maybe you're just good at building stuff. You fix things, you cook things, you organize things. You know how to make an event fun. Or maybe you can coach a student or young adult with a skill you already have. Maybe you can lead a small group.

It's honestly simpler than you've ever imagined. Or maybe you could become a marriage mentor or be part of a premarital counseling. See, when you serve, you learn a name, a relationship forms, and trust grows, and you get to celebrate what God is doing in them as you simply pass things on. And over time, you become another faithful voice pointing them towards Jesus. And I will tell you, God has used my time this year with Preston and with Gabe to grow me far more than I believe what I've done for them.

So let's be the kind of intergenerational church that doesn't just worship in the same place at the same time, but actually knows and invests in and impacts the next generation. So it can be said of us that we were a generation that passed the torch of faith, that we passed it on. Now we have some of our kids who just come into the room in this moment. In just a minute, I'm gonna invite you, I'm gonna invite them to come up here to the front. And when we do that, we want it to be like a pep rally in this room.

And so we're gonna play some fun music. And all you need to do is hoop and holla. Can you do this? Are you prepared? I hear some people getting ready.

Here we go. Okay, we're working it up. I just wanna run through a few things that we've seen God do in the lives of our kids, students, and young adults this year. And then I'm gonna bring em up. The music's gonna kick in and you all can celebrate like you're at the game and throwing.

And so. But just. Just as we prepare ourselves to celebrate, here's the thing. Our kids ministry here, we're seeing faithful volunteers build real relationships with kids week after week. We've seen some small group leaders decide to move up with the group of kids that they were leading because they want to continue investing in that specific group of kids.

We're seeing new volunteers. They're stepping in. We see kids who are being known and loved. And many families who first connected with us through summer picnics in our parking lot are beginning to make Whitewater their church home. That's our kids.

Yes. In our student ministry, our attendance has roughly tripled just this past summer in student ministry.

We hit a peak of 106 kids in July. More than 160 students have been active in the ministry over the past six weeks. More than 70 of them first time coming through our doors. And over half of those have come back a second time. That is such good news.

Even more importantly, three students committed their lives to Christ. Three of our middle school kids through ciy mix, and more than 30. Yeah, more than 30 high school students spent a week at ciy hearing the gospel and being challenged by their faith. We're seeing young adults in this church step up to serve students and other adults from across the church, using their gifts to help lead and encourage and create meaningful experiences. And we've seen the impact beyond our walls.

This afternoon, 120 students will be on our campus receiving brand new shoes from Shoes for Soles. And that ministry, yes, that ministry will continue throughout the year. In partnership with local school Counselors, we've invested $5,000 to help support international teachers in Lawrenceburg whose lives and influence will touch students throughout the whole school system. Such good news.

God is at work in this church and he is moving in the next generation. Kids being known, students being invited by their friends, Young people who are saying yes to Jesus, and adults who are stepping up to invest. This is the kind of church we want to be. A church that is fully intergenerational. Right?

Growing together, learning and passing it on. And passing it on.