Releasing Warriors

Today we close out our GENERATIONS series. We’ve focused on the importance of passing on the message of Jesus from generation to generation.

We need to understand that if we have kids, we’re not just raising children, we’re raising parents, and leaders and teachers and pastors and creators and innovators.

More importantly we need to understand that we are all involved in raising the next generation that will take the church to the next level. That we need to pass on the reigns of the church to the next generation so that they pass it on to the next generation.

Our theme verse for this series...

Psalm 145:4 “One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts.”

Declare – show, not just tell – I have to commit the Word of God to motion. It’s alive and they need to see it in action. That’s what God did!

God showed us this. As a Father, God showed us the priority of presence over words. IMMANUEL – GOD WITH US.

Here’s the thing: your children are what they see, not what you say. And we need to be what we see....GOD. Jesus. Holy Spirit.

Your children will live what you model. Show them.

Travel agent vs Tour Guide - Dallas Cowboys Stadium

Series recap

Week 1 - Bridges

Week 2 - Legacy

Week 3 - Arrows

And, last week I closed with the importance of shaping our arrows -

Psalm 127:3-4 “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth.”

Children are a GIFT, not an inconvenience.

We must be good stewards - responsibly manage or even multiply the gift we’ve been given.

Parable of the talents - we are to invest in our children? Why? Because they are the long range weapon against our enemy.

Influence - competing influences...

We need to stop leasing out our responsibility to shape our arrows.

Arrows are meant to be released - to be effective. When we invest in our next generation, we make them more effective.

How do we shape our arrows? Let me say it like this:

How do we train warriors?

Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

How do we make sure we are effectively investing in and training our next generation to be released effectively?

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 NASB95

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. “You shall teach them diligently to your sons 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 up. “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Immersion

Train Through immersion

Immersion vs Integration Illustration – 100% chance of eternity; becoming parents; becoming spouses

Don’t lease out your position of influence – parents, we have responsibility in making sure the feathers are right, making sure the blade is sharpened, making sure the arrow is shaped and capable of hitting the mark.

If we’re not shaping them, other influences are:

- The typical amount of time a working parent spends with their child is 30 min a day

- On average, children watch over 1,500 hours of tv a year

- They see 20,000 commercials per year

- They spend over 900 hours in class at school

This doesn’t even hit screen time - maybe one hour a day? 365 hours a year of outside influence

On average, children ages 8-12 in the United States spend 4-6 hours a day (1500+ hours) watching or using screens, and teens spend up to 9 hours. (3,000+)

- They spend less than 100 hours a year in one-on-one activity with their parents

- Contrast with this:

o They will spend less than 50 hours a year in church

What we build into a child’s life prior to the age of 13 represents the moral and spiritual foundation that defines them as individuals and directs their choices for the remainder of their life. – George Barna

Our children are IMMERSED in every day life; how much more so do we need to immerse them in everything JESUS?

Think basic training…removed and immersed.

every where you go, there are warrior ethos, and army values, soldier’s creed

you recite these things before entering a class room, or the dining facility

you learn the culture and the language

Think missionary…immersed into a culture

the fastest way to learn a new language and culture is by immersion

Total immersion is key to mastering a foreign language quickly. The more you immerse yourself in the foreign language — such as reading, listening to the radio or speaking to people — the more rapid your progress will be.

You need comprehensible input to learn; i.e., you need to understand what is being said. If that's possible, yes you can learn through just immersion, but it's unlikely that you'll understand much beyond repeated words/short phrases, unless you are already very very familiar with the culture and what is being said.

teach them diligently (verse 7) - another version says “Impress them upon your children”

Deuteronomy ((3) Exhortation to Teach Them (6:6–9))

impress the words of covenant faith into the thinking of his children by inscribing them there with sharpness and precision.

The image is that of the engraver of a monument who takes hammer and chisel in hand and with painstaking care etches a text into the face of a solid slab of granite.

The sheer labor of such a task is daunting indeed, but once done the message is there to stay.

So that when they grow old, they will not depart from it.

Every generation has a worldview that opposes the bible. And the devil will “hide” what God did in the previous generations…Deut 6:20 ““When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean which the Lord our God commanded you?’” God will use the natural curiosity in our children to ignite a passion for the word in us.

talk about them when you sit down and when you’re on the move, when you lay down and wake up (verse 7)

bind them as a sign on your hand and forehead (verse 8)

Phylactery - An object worn on the head and arm during prayer. The object consisted of a kind of box containing scripture verses.

write them on the doorposts and your gates (verse 9)

Why? Immersion - even in your coming in an going out

Deuteronomy ((3) Exhortation to Teach Them (6:6–9))

an important demand of the covenant relationship was that it would continue beyond the immediate generation of those with whom the Lord made it, for its promises and provisions were for generations yet unborn

This is the mindset we need to have: this gift is for generations yet unborn.

This requires a regular routine of instruction!

You can’t remove your children from the world, but you can immerse them in the Word!

But what we need to see is the progression from verse 6 thru 9. It starts with keeping these commands, this covenant upon our hearts. From the heart will flow the behavior. In other words it starts in the home (heart) and flows out the gate (speech and behavior).

It’s not just about repeating scripture, but that our children understand the scripture. How do we do that?

Bible - make it fun; visual

Abby and Revelation

Prayer - make it interactive and proactive

Idea - google earth

Prayer is a proactive response not a last minute reaction.

Prayer and prophecy as children - over their siblings…culture of honor

Worship

SHOW THEM; encourage them

Abby and All Hail King Jesus

Help them understand WHY we worship.

Worship is a reminder of the present-ness of God. His NOWNESS.

In a culture that’s always focused the pain of yesterday or the uncertainty of tomorrow; our children need to understand the NOWNESS of God.

Exodus 33 God tells Moses “I’ll send an angel, but I’m not going to go with you.”

Moses’ response - If your presence doesn’t go, I don’t want to go.

He makes an incredible statement:

If your presence doesn’t go with us, how will we be different than any other people in the world?

The reason we’re different is because God shows up himself when we meet together.

Have church with your family - they are your first church.

My family is my first church.

KEEP God at the forefront - Deut 6 is teaching us and instructing us to keep God in the focus, not the periphery.

Matthew 6:33 ““But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

All of these - reading the word, praying, and worshipping - keep us humble. Keep us from exalting ourselves.

Seek his kingdom and his righteousness - character.

Probably the biggest struggle we have as a nation is a problem of character. How do we fix it?

Submission

In Submission

Living in submission to God - we inherit this posture through immersion in the word, prayer and worship.

Deuteronomy 6:10–15 NASB95

“Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, then watch yourself, that you do not forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. “You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.

There’s this constant reminder throughout these verses “YOU DID NOT...”

It was because of God - not you.

Look at verse 13 “You shall fear ONLY the Lord your God”

Fear - HONOR - synonymous “reverence”

Honor puts us in a place of servant hood.

Teach them honor - respect is earned, honor is given

o The less honor you have, the more rules you have to have

o You’re either heavy honor, or heavy rules

o Our world has less honor so we have more rules

God’s word places a huge emphasis on honor:

236 passages of scripture

Honor God

Honor People

Honor your father and mother

Honor our elders and clothe ourselves in humilty

Our elders are worthy of DOUBLE honor

Honor those in position of authority

There are competing stances in today’s culture - even values shaped in every day life during biblical times

HONOR and SHAME

Honor was the primary measure of social status

Ascribed Honor - inherited, family status or social unit; think priests and genealogies (this is why Matthew and Luke make a point to provide the pedigree of Jesus Christ)

But even the lineage of Christ is littered with stories of shame

Christ redeemed the lineage - the roots

Acquired Honor - gained through deeds and public performance <— this is big today…acquire…gimme gimme gimme

Honor at the expense of others; causes shame

Based on human acceptance

We often shame people to feel accepted

Our goal should be to honor (add value), not shame.

Love God, Love People.

Honor God, Honor People.

Not that we are taking honor away from God, but we are exhibiting the character of God.

Honor God. Honor People.

to raise them up, to add value

Honor is a Covering

Noah’s sons (Genesis 9:18-27)

Noah gets drunk and gets naked in his tent

Ham, the father of Canaan sees him and goes and talks about it with his brothers (shames…gossips)

But Shem and Japheth took a garment and walked backwards and covered (honored) their father

Noah wakes up

Curses Ham - he must be a servant - even a servant of servants

Blesses Shem and Japheth - let God enlarge Japheth - add value

Peter says to honor all people. What happens when we lack honor?

Give honor, you’ll receive honor

Give shame, you’ll receive shame

Give and it will come back to you, pressed down, shaken together and running over

And God says in 1 Samuel 2:30-31 ““Therefore the Lord God of Israel declares, ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever’; but now the Lord declares, ‘Far be it from Me—for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed. ‘Behold, the days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father’s house so that there will not be an old man in your house.”

Honor God - Honor People

when we honor God and adopt His character, we can’t help but honor people.

See through the LENS of Christ - in humility

Seek first His kingdom and character; Deuteronomy 6, God is showing them the importance of sharing the testimony with the next generation

Deuteronomy 7 he talks about where He’s taking them

But before they can see where he’s taking them, they need to write in their hearts, commit to memory where they’ve been and how his hand has been there every step.

Know WHO I am and you’ll see WHERE you’re going.

Millennials and Gen Z have a problem with decision making because of an overwhelming amount of options

Teach them that God is the option - He’ll take care of the rest

I’ll close with this...

Vision

We need to teach our children to Chase Vision

Living in submission to the WILL of God - His vision for their life

Proverbs 29:18 NASB95

Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law.

DIVINE REVELATION

This is godly vision - not mommy or daddy vision

The next generation also has a problem with decision making because of Helicoptering parents. They had parents make the decision for them. We can’t take away the freedom to make decisions. That’s the beauty of relationship with the Father – FREE WILL.

We should also exercise this as well. Trust in the release that you’re training in mentorship and teaching has been enough.

We need to trust the release!

We need to understand our children have a calling and we need to foster an environment for their calling to thrive.

Enable and Empower

The right environment RELEASES the anointing

you are anointed and appointed to lead your children; lead them well

But understand their calling may look different than yours

Parental Guided...

RESPONSE

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?

It’s our heart that you leave here changed -

Maybe it’s for a prodigal son or daughter

Maybe it’s for a son or daughter that’s on the fringe and you need wisdom to bring them back in

Maybe you just need wisdom for raising godly children

Need a spirit of honorAny need, any area - where two or three agree, it’s done.

Matthew 18:19-20 ““Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.””

Maybe you need healing? Or freedom from pain or brokenness? Addiction?