Today, we’re going to dedicate the bulk of our service to praying for the students and staff starting off a new school year. We’re expecting God to work through His Holy Spirit within us to speak words of knowledge and prophecy to strengthen, encourage, and build up those who are being prayed for.
Although there will be a group of people up front praying, this is an all-hands-on-deck event. Please be agreeing with them in prayer and seeking after God for each one yourself as well. We want to cultivate an atmosphere where God’s Presence is more than just welcomed and invited, but honored and glorified and valued.
Why do we invest so much time and effort in ministry to kids here at New Hope? So many other ministries have risen up for seasons and then ended, but there is always an effort to ensure that we have kid’s ministries. Why is that?
Well, we learn from the mistakes of God’s people who have gone before us.
I don’t know about you all, but I’d rather learn from the mistakes of others than to learn the hard way by living it out myself! Sadly, I’d personally rather do that, but I usually still learn the hard way… 🙂
This is going to be more of a devotional than a message, but we’ll turn today to Judges 2. This was written after God’s people were delivered from Egyptian bondage. After that generation, a generation rose up with the faith and trust in God to put an end to the crazy cycle their parents were caught in who kept complaining and grumbling against God instead of cooperating with Him.
This generation broke the chains of this cycle, entered boldly into their promised land and saw miracle after miracle firsthand as they took back from their enemies what God had promised to them!
That generation was older and passing away and they were leaving behind all of those victories and promises to the next generation.
Judges 2:6-23
6 After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance. 7 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.
8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.
Now, I’m sure that they heard all of the testimonies and all of the stories about the awesome miracles that God had done for their parents. This generation grew up knowing about the miracles, but never experiencing and encountering the miraculous. This generation grew up knowing about God, but not knowing God.
That’s why we are so intentional and purposeful about days like this. We don’t want the next generation just to hear about God and His miracles, we want them to personally know God and experience and encounter His miracles!
A lesson learned is soon returned. A lesson lived is wisdom gived.
Yeah, I stole that from Veggietales! 🙂
What’s the big deal, though? Isn’t it enough to sit in a class and be taught about God from the Bible? Can’t the kids just go back to class? Why do we need to do hands-on ministry like this as a whole church? Why do we bring the kids back in during worship?
Well, because if they don’t build their own relationship with God and have their own encounters with Him, but only learn about Him, they’ll miss out! All that God built through you and I will fade away and be tore down! We’re working to build momentum so that the generation rising up behind us can enter in easier and go further than we did! They will forget about God and go their own way.
11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.
16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 17 Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands. 18 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. 19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
20 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 22 I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.” 23 The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.
God is not an angry god. God is slow to anger, compassionate, patient, gracious, merciful, and so much more!
However, when you bail someone out of trouble and they run back to it, then you bail them out again, and they run back to it, and you do that again and again and again… If you love that person and care about them, it makes you angry!
You have good things planned and prepared for them and you sacrifice everything to make it possible for them to simply receive it. However, they turn away from you and all that you have done for them and waste their lives on lesser things. If you love them, that makes you angry!
God loves you and gave up everything for you; for your good and benefit! He made a way for all of us to be fully forgiven for all of our sin. God lived life just as you and I live it. Jesus faced all of the same weaknesses and temptations and trials that we face and yet He never gave into any of them even once! He lived a sinless life.
Then, He chose to pay the cost of sin by giving His life on the cross. Since He paid a debt that He did not owe, He can freely pardon the debt that we all owe because of our sin. All that He asks is that we put our faith in Him. He only asks that we trust Him with our lives and live as He lived.
He wants only to give us a hope and a future and a purpose; only good things for us! However, like the ancient Israelites, we keep on rejecting Him and living life our own way. Today is a new day, though! Today is the first day of the rest of our lives! Today, we can be forgiven and set free from all of our pasts and become a new creation through Jesus!
All that we have to do is turn to Him and ask Him to save us. Then, we choose to live by faith in Him and trust Him with our lives. He is able to bring beauty from ashes and life even from death. He is able to do a new thing in and through our lives; a good thing!
So this morning, let’s look to Him our Way Maker! After we give Him some worship and praise that He is so worthy of, we’ll have any students and staff returning to school come forward and pray over each one; letting God speak into their lives through ours to strengthen, encourage, and comfort them as they enter into a new school year.