Sermon Tone Analysis

Turn to and read Psalm 78:1-7.

According to psychologycampus.com,

“In a perfect world, children and teens would grow up to be happy, healthy, functioning adults.

However, there are hundreds of influences that they will encounter throughout their early lives that will have an impact on their development - both in negative and positive ways.”

“There are various issues and disorders that adolescents may face in the turbulent times of their teen years.

An adolescent feels all kinds of pressures - from parents, school and peers.

They are in a transitional period where they are moving from childhood to adulthood.

As well, the influence of peer pressure and the introduction of such pressures from drugs, alcohol and the opposite sex take their toll on any teen.”

http://www.psychologycampus.com/teens-children/

According to recent statistics, there are 8,897 residents living in Pineville, NC. 20.2% of that population is under 18 years of age.

That means that there are approximately 1,797 young people living in Pineville, NC.

According to other statistics, 49% of the population of Mecklenburg County claim no religious affiliation.

Without thinking too hard, that would mean that there this a large group of young people living just outside the walls of this building who, Biblically, are not prepared to face the problems which our secular society says that they are going to face!

How will we, as a church, respond?

We

I and the rest of a group that includes me : you and I : you and I and another or others

If you are serving during the week of Neighborhood Bible Time, please stand.

If you serve in our youth Sunday school department, please stand.

If you serve in Master Clubs, please stand.

If you serve in the nursery, please stand.

If you serve in the bus ministry, please stand.

If you serve in South Charlotte Baptist Academy, please stand.

If we, as a church, are going to make a difference in the lives of the generation to come it will be because we have done it together!

Will

A few weeks ago, Mr. Myers spoke on being intentional in our Christian lives.

That little word, “will,” speaks of being intentional.

Intentional: Done with design or purpose.

When you attend church it is intentional.

Neighborhood Bible Time is intentional.

Those who volunteered to serve in Neighborhood Bible Time did so intentionally.

When a Sunday school teacher prepares their lesson, it is intentional.

When you share the Gospel with another, it is done intentionally.

The Christian life should be intentional!

It is designed to be lived intentionally.

When God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth to die on the cruel cross, He did so intentionally!

As such, God intentionally made a difference.

If we, as a church, are going to make a difference in the lives of the generation to come it will be because we did it intentionally!

Not Hide

Did you know that “hiding” is intentional?

When an individual hides something, they have done so intentionally.

This little light of mine; I’m gonna let it shine!

Are we hiding?

We are hiding when we don’t open our mouths and speak up when we should.

We are hiding when we live in a way that is contrary to God’s Word.

We are hiding when we live in a way that is contrary to how our lips say that we live.

There are plenty of “causes” in this world that have supporters who are unafraid to pronounce their allegiance to that cause; to walk in parades, to march on Washington, DC, to give financially for their “cause.”

Paul said...

Polycarp, the pastor of the church in Smyrna, who lived from AD 66 - AD 156, when threatened with death because of his faith in Christ, said...

“Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?”

He did not hide.

May God give us the boldness and courage to not hide - this week, next week, or any week!

Them

What is “them?”

Do we really need to ask that question?

I think that we know very well what “them” is!

In the context of Psalm 78, though, the psalmist says...

We will not hide the praises of the Lord.

We will not hide the strength of God.

We will not hide the wonderful works of God.

To God be the glory great things He has done

So loved He the world that He gave us His son

Who yielded His life an atonement for sin

And opened the life gate that all may go in

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord let the earth hear His voice

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord let the people rejoice

Come to the Father through Jesus the Son

Give Him the glory great things He has done

That should be our song each and every day; not just on Sunday!

From Their Children

“But Pastor Campbell,” you say, “I don’t have any children.

Why should I care about Neighborhood Bible Time?

The bus ministry?

They’re not my children!”

Psalm 78:4 should quite any such argument.

We have a responsibility to the children of this community.

A responsibility to shew them - to make known to them - the truths of God and His Word!

How many, of the almost 1,800 young people that live in Pineville, NC, is include in the phrase, “their children?”

All of them!

May God allow us the strength and the ability to bring all children - not just our own children - to Jesus Christ!

Why?

What is the purpose.

Simply put the reason for all of this is...

That They Might Set Their Hope In God

In a Washington Post op ed piece, from last November,entitled...

An Entire Generation Is Losing Hope.

Enter The Witch.

The writer says...

“I think the growing interest in witches and witchcraft speaks to a uniquely unsettled moment in U.S. history — and an unprecedented loss of hope felt by an entire generation.

Absent anything else to hold on to, we’re reaching into the dark.”

“Witchcraft’s new appeal can be linked to larger social realignments: In surveys on religion, the religiously unaffiliated are the fastest-growing share of the U.S. population, a trend even more concentrated among young adults.

But this disenchantment with aspects of organized religion seen as patriarchal and dogmatic has not ended our human search for meaning and deep longing for community.

Add to that a general movement toward the natural, the herbal, to lifestyles and practices that are seen as authentic — more authentic than your parents’ Christianity, at least.”

“There is a sense that today’s problems are so entrenched that it will take something otherworldly to fix them.”

Enter the witch.

Does that concern us?

Should that concern us?

The author finishes with this...

The search for meaning has grown more urgent as other certainties have fallen away; millennials’ need for direction has clearly become more acute.

But this generation is realizing that it may have to make its own magic.

Why does this generation - the generation to come - feel as though they must create their own magic?