Sermon Tone Analysis

“THE INTENTIONAL VILLAGE”

2 Timothy 3:14-16

I want to preach to you this morning from 2 Timothy 3.

For the past few weeks Pastor Sam has been preaching a series about fighting for our family, and I, as I am sure all of you, agree with him that our families are not only worth fighting for, BUT WE MUST BE INTENTIONALLY FIGHTING FOR THEM!!!

This morning I am going to somewhat piggyback on that series and preach from the title: “The Intentional Village.”

PRAY

I am going to preach this morning from the title:

“THE INTENTIONAL VILLAGE”

At some point in all of our lives, we have heard, or said these words… “It takes a village to raise a child.”

Now, whether you think you agree or not, we all live that out to some extent every day…well at least for 9 months out of the year, when we send them to school

For most of us, we have kids, then the reality hits that our life as we knew is WAS OVER!!!

For the first 9 months or so sleep quickly disappears and becomes a distant memory.

Around a year old OR SO they begin to walk, and your sanity quickly disappears and becomes a distant memory as the very thing you waited for, becomes the very thing that keeps them in harms way.

Then they begin to talk… NEED I SAY MORE?

If you have teenagers you have probably had fantasies of going back to that day before they began talking.

The point I am making is, KIDS ARE EXHAUSTING!!!

We love them between 50 and 99% of the time, BUT THEY ARE EXHAUSTING.

Between their inherent need for food, new clothes, entertainment, and who knows what else, and their constant pursuit of becoming their own person, they can wear on the nerves, SO…

So, we rely on grandparents to give us breaks.

When the grandparents aren’t available we might call an aunt or an uncle…maybe a good friend, and if all of those fail, we consider the creepy guy in the white panel van.

OF COURSE I’M KIDDING….MOSTLY….

BUT THE REALITY IS, It is easier to raise well-rounded children and young adults when we rely on the wealth of knowledge wisdom, and experience of the tribe around us.

The majority of us send our kids to public schools.

My sister has chosen the home school option, but even there, they attend what they call a “co-op” where they share experiences, knowledge, understanding, and entertainment.

ALL Because whether they use those words or not, IT TAKES A VILLAGE.

I think that we can probably all agree that never before in our lifetime has it been more important for the church to be AN INTENTIONAL VILLAGE that binds together to raise up children in the way they should go!

The context of the passage I read this morning starts pretty bleak; it’s dark and doesn’t shine a lot of hope!

The passage starts in...

Unfortunately, I believe that is the very world we live in!

Unfortunately, we see all of those things predominately displayed in the society around us.

Unfortunately, those are the very attitudes, actions, and behaviors that have ruled failing societies for millennia.

Paul is probably writing this final letter to Timothy around 67 or 68 AD.

He is probably in jail awaiting the death penalty.

Rome is ruling the then known world with Nero at the helm.

Hedonism is the rule of the day.

FEELING GOOD TRUMPS DOING GOOD and FEELING GOOD CERTAINLY OUTWEIGHED FOLLOWING GOD.

But as Paul is writing this, he has hope.

As Paul is writing this, HE KNOWS WHO HE IS WRITING TO!

When Paul said, “Continue in what you have learned and firmly believed...”

He had faith that he wasn’t writing empty words.

He had faith that when he continued writing and in 2 Timothy 4:1-2

When he wrote those words, Paul knew that he had a disciple that loved the Lord and loved sharing his faith.

I believe that we have a great opportunity and responsibility to call on and raise up some Timothy’s TODAY!

As a matter of fact, I believe that if we don’t we are being disobedient to Jesus, and we will be yet another “nation gone under”

Using 2 Timothy as a guide we must commit to being people they can learn from while they are children, not only teaching them truth, but showing them how to apply it to their lives!

I. WHO THEY LEARN FROM

Paul said, “continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it...”

The charge was to continue in what you have learned.

The charge was to keep the faith, and keeping that faith required action.

Keeping that faith meant preaching the Word.

Keeping the faith meant sharing the Good News!

I believe that AT MINIMUM, every person here desires their children, their children’s children, and their children’s children’s children to serve God.

AT MINIMUM, you want them to believe, and AT MINIMUM, you wan them to be good people.

Maybe you aren’t hoping for them to be pastors, evangelists, or missionaries, BUT AT MINIMUM, you pray that they will keep to a certain set of standards that we can read about in This Word.

A couple things there....

I think we need to raise our minimum expectations.

WIth that in mind, we need to raise our minimum efforts

We Need To Do It Together

Fathers Are The Priest of the Home

Timothy’s Spiritual heritage tracked back through his mother 2 Timothy 1:5

c.

Timothy had a spiritual mentor Acts 16:1

AND 2 Timothy 1:2

It seems that then, and even today, The Timothy’s are the wild card.

They seem to be the ones we want to raise up, but somehow we keep missing the mark.

Certainly there are some Timothy’s being raised up, but it takes An Intentional Village.

It takes a group of people willing to pour into young people…AND VERY YOUNG PEOPLE!

IT TAKES MOMS, DADS, EXTENDED FAMILIES, IT TAKES ME, PASTOR SAM, AND IT TAKES YOU!!

It takes a village that is willing to get involved, to be vulnerable, willing to get hurt, willing to push some boundaries, willing to love beyond what you think you are able!

In the book of 2 Kings 18:1-7

We would think that a father that gets those kind of credentials in the Bible would have kids that shine brighter than HE did.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case...

IN SECOND KINGS 21 TALKING ABOUT HEZEKIAH’S SON IT SAYS THAT MANASSEH...

I’m not going to stand here and tell you that you can’t do it alone!

I’m not going to be so arrogant as to think that a mom and a dad can’t pass biblical values on to their children in a way that causes them to live all in, all their days for Jesus.

What I will stand here and say, and show you some research later, is that it is far more likely for students to turn into adults that stay active and serving when they have a group of people around them teaching them and cheering them on!!!

THEY NEED “AN INTENTIONAL VILLAGE”!!!

The Intentional Village UNITED

The Intentional Village IN PRAYER

The Intentional Village INFORMED

Maybe as important as WHO THEY LEARN FROM is WHEN THEY LEARN

II.

WHEN THEY LEARN

In a study conducted by Barna a few years ago they discovered a few things.

Around 44% of teenagers in church said they were “absolutely committed to the Christian Faith.”

Out of the same group of students only 33% said they would likely continue to participate in church life when they left home.

THE WHEN AND THE WHO ARE CONNECTED!!!

Starts at Childhood…in that same study the authors cite research on the small minority who “stayed the course” throughout their adult lives.

“There were six common influences in the lives of these teens—four occurred while they were kids.

These four were: (1) Christian faith deeply imbedded in their family; (2) at least three adult Christian mentors; (3) involved in ministry by age ten; and (4) going to a church defined as “cool”

2 Kings 21:26–22:2 (ESV)

26 And he (Amon, Manasseh’s son) was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place.

1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.

His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.

2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

What do we think caused Manasseh and Amon to go the wrong way.

Manasseh had a Godly father.

Maybe he was absent, maybe Hezekiah was too busy when Manasseh was a child, MAYBE Hezekiah didn’t surround his son with Godly leaders when he was a child.

To say any of those things is conjecture and assumption.

We really don’t know why!