Kids these Days Night School 9.24.23
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Intro
Intro
I wanna start tonight talking about a culture
A culture that has heard about God has seen what God has done but refuses to give him credit for who he is
A culture that seems to have traded in wisdom for foolishness
A culture that seems to abhor truth
And those who espouse truth are called fools
A culture that values animals and plants and climate more than humans
A culture that praise un natural relationships
Homosexual relationships
A culture where crime abounds and seems to go unpunished
A culture that seems to want to destroy the nucler family
parents are the enemy
All this goes on and those in charge seem to cheer the peopl who do these things on
They pass laws and make rules approving of this
Believe it or not this is not our culture today this is Rome in about 57AD
Read Romans 1: 18-32
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
This is where we start today when we think about kids these days
They dont live in a world much different than kids those days lived in
Sure it seems like the influences of culture are greater
Social Media
Phones
The internet
etc...
But you dont think the societal influences were strong in Rome in 57 AD?
Everywhere you look it seemed like this is the way a Roman should live
Sexual temptation
Deciet
Maliciousness
the list goes on
This is what surrounded the youth of that day
This is what surrounds the students today
We as christians try to shield our kids from such things
How many of you expected to have to talk to a 6 year old about gender identity
How many of us wanted to explain how timmy could have two mom’s
How many of us are prepared to explain to your child why a bunch of kids their age are having sucidal thoughts
This world is just as broken today as it has been since the fall
We could look back at all the civilizations and see a brokeness
A domination of sin in the culture
and ask man how did they make it?
we can look at our culture today and say how are these kids going to make it
I have some statistics for you
Suicide was the second leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10-14 and 25-34 , the third leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 15-24, and the fourth leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 35 and 44.
Among adults across all age groups, the prevalence of serious suicidal thoughts was highest among young adults aged 18-25 (13.0%).
This is suicide
What about gender issues
NBC News “Percentage of LGBTQ adults in U.S. has doubled over past decade, Gallup finds”
More than 1 in 5, or 21 percent, of Generation Z adults identify as LGBTQ, Gallup found. That’s almost double the proportion of millennials, who are 26 to 41, at 10.5 percent, and nearly five times the proportion of Generation X, who are 42 to 57, at 4.2 percent. Less than 3 percent of baby boomers, who are 58 to 76, identify as LGBTQ, compared to just 0.8 percent of traditionalists, who are 77 or older.
This article was Feburary last year some of the new data says higher
I’ve heard as much as 50% of students age 14-25
How will kids these days make it ?????
I’m not a magic teenage whisper I dont have some special dispensation to be able to reach students because I have a title youth pastor
But what I do have is the same thing Paul had and every culture since has had
A clear understanding of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ
Lets look at what paul says just before this
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
The Gospel is the power for salavation
Paul diagnosis a cultural problem in Romans 1
And he goes on in the next 15 chapters to confront this problem
And he does it by time and time again reminding the roman people of the Gospel Work ofJesus Christ
He doesnt tell them how to vote
He doesnt call for protests
He doesnt call for attacking the leaders of rome
He doesnt tell believers to hide away and live in a christian bubble
No he explains the Gospel
Why do evangelist use the Romans Road in evangelism
Because it is this message the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is the cure for kids these days
How will students our children be able to stand against the cultural pressures that are drowning them
With a clear understanding of the Gospel and Jesus Christ
And the Holy Spirit working in their lives
What is the instruction Paul gives to timothy
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Notice what paul says to timothy in verse 14 and 15
Continue in what you have learned
Timothy did discover
He has learned he has had a teacher
Someone who has explained to him
These sacred writings
Someone has taught timothy
He didnt have spiritual parents that said I dont want to force anything on my child
A super cop out by the way
I hate that and I cant tell you how many parents I have heard that from
No people took the time to teach the scripture to Timothy
The spirit worked through those teachers to convince Timothy of the truth of the scriptures
But someone had to lead the horse to water so to speak
What power do these writing have
They make one wise for salvation through Christ
This word
This truth that we hold is so powerful that it can make on wise unto slavation
This truth this gospel message clearly presented is the cure to what ails kids these days
What ails adults
What ails senior citizen
What ails lost people across the centruies
These word are profitable
For teaching
reproof
correction
training in rightrousness
That the man of God may be complete, equipped
This Word is the one tool we must give kids these days
We must root their feet firmly in this word
So when the world asks them to give an answer for the hope that lies within them
They dont say because my youth pastor said
because my parent said
because a mentor said
But they say because God said
When they are asked if boys can girls
They say no because God says so
When they are asked if homosexuality is an immutable trait
They say no because God said so
When they are encouraged to engage on whatever type of lawlessness
They saw i cant because God said so
Parents, Grandparents, Youth pastor, Youth mentor
Your words dont carry the weight of God’s word
We must teach them God’s word so they may be complete and equipped for every good work
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
This was commanded to the Israelites
And it is commanded to us
We must teach our children this word
in all that we do
So that
Deuteronomy 6:20–25 (ESV)
20 “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?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. 25 And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’
I want to end with some more stats
The fastest growing parts of religion today are the conservative orthodox forms
Why because kids need truth
When we remove the gaurdrails kids are lost
They need parents leaders mentors to teach them
To look them in the eye and say thats a terrible idea
Dont do that!!!!!!