[0:00] Bibles, if you would, and turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter 2. Oh, don't do that. Turn to Psalm 78. I'm going to read to you 2 Timothy chapter 2. No need. You have to go all the way over there. You know, it's always funny around here. I supposedly keep the church like an igloo.
[0:16] And so I have been trying my best to keep her warmer every time. And I just got two texts. What are you trying to do? Everybody's fanning in this room. I cannot win for losing. So I just might go back to being comfortable. Say amen. All right, go to a second. I want to read to you 2 Timothy 2. I sometimes think that the Holy Spirit and God, they just have just like one thing they do. And discipleship is like the big thing in God's economy. One of my favorite verses to teach and preach in the whole Bible, and I use it all over the world, is 2 Timothy 2. And it says, the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. If you look at that verse, it is one guy listening to what another man said, teaching it to another man who will be able to teach it to another man. That's what discipleship is. That's what we do when we train people to do the work of God. Now, if you take your Bibles and go back to Psalm 78, and I am debating. I have five good points and 26 pages of notes. About half of that is Bible verses. So we're going to read the Bible. I'll get you out on time. Don't panic. You'll be warm, but you'll get out on time.
[1:47] I want you to realize that being a parent is like the greatest opportunity to disciple anybody ever gets. And being a grandparent is another chance to disciple. And being a great grandparent, I don't know about that yet. I think it may happen quicker than I expect, but it's a great chance. So if you've got your Bible before you begin reading, could I just get you go to verse four and circle the word children, find the word children in verse four.
[2:20] It says, we will not hide them from their children. And I want you to skip down to verse five and circle the word children. I want you to skip down to the word six and circle the word children. I am relatively certain he was thinking about children. And then the beauty of this is that we get to be parents. This is his mother's day. And, uh, I just felt like it's good because it's a great chapter to do that. It all starts with me first listening. Look in verse one, give ear Austin, give ear to my law and climb your ears to the words of my mouth. So as Austin Gardner and as a dad and a husband and the granddad and the, and, uh, and all in my family, I am to start by giving ear to the words, the law in second Timothy chapter two and verse two. Interestingly, he says that what you have heard interesting, you give ear. And then he says in verse two, I want to tell you some stuff.
[3:30] I skip down to verse three, which we have heard and known. And our fathers have told us underlying our fathers told us that not everybody in this room has had that privilege. My dad did not have that privilege, but as I prepared and studied and meditated on this passage of scripture for several hours over the last few days, you know, I thought about the many times I, that the Lord used my parents to teach me things about Jesus. I remember learning that the Bible was called a sword.
[4:00] When I was a kid, I wasn't probably six years old. I knew that the Bible was a sword of the spirit. It's the word of God. It was a sword of the spirit. I knew that my parents took taught me. I went to church. I heard it all taught to me. And then he says in verse four, now they taught us and we got a copy of the Bible. All of us got a copy of the Bible. You had an opportunity. And I know you're the Sunday night crowd. I know you don't miss anything. You were in Sunday school this morning and, and, and you've probably been through discipleship and maybe being your discipling people and you probably are having family devotions and you're probably reading your Bible and praying.
[4:39] But he says, now you can't let it stop with you. Look at verse four. We will not hide these things from our children. We're not going to hide what our daddy taught us about the word of God.
[4:52] We're not going to hide what we've heard from the law of the Lord. We're going to show it to the generation to come. I'm going to show the generation to come. The generation to come, that's my kids. That's my children. And I want you to read what we're going to show them.
[5:08] The praises of the Lord and his strength. You know, I need to stop there just a second. I'm not complaining. I'm not whining. I'm not talking about bad stuff I've suffered. I'm talking about, let me tell you how big my God is. My kids ought to hear me say, boy, I serve a big God.
[5:25] You wouldn't believe what he did. You saw he, you see, he saved me and he saved your mama and he, and he got us together and he put us in a church and he, he did this for us. We know there was that time in our family when we was having that issue. Whoa, God just came through. Let me tell you kids about our good God. And we praise the Lord with our children. And we talk about the Lord's strength, his strength and his wonderful works that he had done. Now, before this chapter's over, we're also going to know that he's reminding Israelites to do that and to show them all that God has done in their country. Look at verse five. He established a testimony in Jacob. Now that's, that's a, that's a way of saying he established a testimony in the United States of America in George Washington. He established a testimony with Abraham Lincoln, Jacob. It's Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he said, he's appointed a law in Israel. And he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children. And so, and by the way, when we study Abraham,
[6:27] Abraham was known to be a man who would obey God and command his children after him. And so I know what the word of God says. I've got it written down for me. I don't have any question or any issue.
[6:39] I don't live in a day and time where I'm listening to oral tradition. I got a printed copy of the word of God. It can be trusted. It can be believed. And I am to make it known to my children. I need to take the opportunity to make it known to my children. And then it says in verse six, that the generation to come might know them. I want my kids to know the word of God, even to the children which should be born, who should arise and declare to them to their children. I want my children and my children's children and my grandchildren, my great grandchild. I want them all to hear the word of God. I want it to be passed down. That's kind of like second Timothy chapter two and verse two. I just like to say, as we get started here, it's a lot of work to do this. It takes intentionality. It takes diligence to see to it that we talk about the Bible, because there is a part of us, whether you recognize it or not, that's like, I'm Christian on Sunday and I love God every day of the week.
[7:43] But I mean, on Sunday, we really talk about God, but we don't think that much about God Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, but by Wednesday night, we'll bring him back up again or Thursday night at vision and God doesn't really get into all the picture of everything we're doing. And we're too busy with math and history and science and we're too busy with business and we're too busy with all that.
[8:03] But he said, man, I want my kids to know what I want my grandkids to know. And everybody in this room knows this, but we're just one generation away from losing our families and our churches. When I travel in churches, I am often shocked. I can be in a large congregation and I can say to myself, this place is going to be dead in 20 years unless something happens. When I'm in a church and I'm young at my age, that's not good. This church, I'm old and I get reminded of it all the time. That's great because we ought to have all these young people that you're training and your children and what all you're doing for them. Look at verse seven. What are we going to teach them? Here's what we teach our kids that they might set their hope in God. I don't want them to set their hope in any kind of politics.
[8:57] I don't want them to set their hope in any kind of medicine. I don't want them to set their hope in any kind of science. That doesn't mean we're against medicine. It doesn't mean we're against science, but I want my family to have their eyes always on Jesus. If you agree with that, say amen.
[9:13] They might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God. They ought never forget all he's done. Do you realize that, do you realize that everything that happened in Egypt, which is what this chapter is about, he's going to run them through all of Israel's history before it's over.
[9:32] The Psalmist is going to say, let's just stop here. We need to go back through our history. So we see how big our God is. By the way, when Stephen stood to preach before they killed him, you know what he did?
[9:43] Took them all the way back through their history. He said, well, we serve a big God. Watch this. And he just told the story of God. And he says, so let's don't forget what God's done. Let's don't forget that God broke every scientific rule in the book when he brought us through on dry ground to the middle of a sea. Did you realize God is bigger than the death angel came? Nobody could stop it.
[10:06] Let's talk about our big God. Don't forget him. But when you remember him, you keep his commandments. If you love him, you obey him. In the world we live in, every pressure around us is to get our eyes off of our God and off of what's right and to conform to this world, to be like them. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed. Don't let the world put you in their mold. Don't let the world get you to thinking like they think and acting like they think. That's not who we are.
[10:44] And that's not what we do. Verse eight, we don't want them to be like some of our fathers that were rebellious and stubborn and they weren't steadfast. They were stubborn. They weren't steadfast. They stood against God and they wouldn't stand for God when they needed to stand for God. And in a day of battle, they turned back. And in verse 10, they didn't keep the covenant of God.
[11:09] They refused to walk in the, his law. So there were people in Israel that had just flat out said, we're not going to serve God and we're not going to do what God wants us to do. Every day in our country, it seems that somebody else turns their back on God. If you were, if you ran around in the, if you ran around in the religious circles like preachers do, you'll always hear some, another famous Christian singer just announced God. Another theologian just announced God.
[11:43] Another guy who wrote for the coalition, the gospel coalition just turned his back on God and said, God's not real. I can't let that happen. I got to make sure I guard my heart and I got to keep telling the truth to my kids. I don't want my kids to get to that place. I don't want them to do that. Verse 11, they forgot his works and they forgot his wonders that he'd showed them. Somewhere along the way, I ought to stop and just, do you ever think about this? Do you ever think about how many times he said, y'all just build a stack of rocks and stick it in the middle of the river?
[12:17] What in the world was that about? He said, that's so they'll remember. I'm always like, it's underwater. And then he said, build another stack here on the shore. What for? So they'll remember. And when your kids ask you a question, you need to remember, you need to know what the word of God says. Don't let them forget. Don't let them forget. God saves people out of filthy times in past. I was just sitting in the office and I got a notice from Facebook about a lady that was a drunkard and I've told you her story and she got saved and, and she's serving Jesus and it's mother's day. And so she hugged Betty from a distance. She said, and talked about the sweet and godly lady that Betty was. And I thought, you know, I hope she never forgets where she was when God found her because he found her in that place and he brought her back. Look, if you would, at verse 12, he did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. Verse 13, he divided the sea. Verse 14, he led them with a cloud and he led them with the light of a fire. In verse 15, he gave them drink out of great depths.
[13:28] In verse 16, streams also out of the rock. And, and, uh, I want to stop right here. I just, do you understand what happened there? They didn't see that. These kids and grandkids and great grandkids weren't there. It'd be pretty hard to deny it if you'd have seen all that, but they were telling their kids the stories of what God had done. That's what we're supposed to be doing. I was supposed to sit down with my kids and said, boy, you're not going to believe what God did. There ought to be miracle stories in your life where God heard and answered prayer. Brother Sam, just a second ago, wherever he is, he stood and said how God answered a prayer, how God answered a prayer. And see, I ought to have some of that going on. And my, my kids need to know I've read about it in the Bible and I've heard about it from other people, but mom and dad, they know God and boy, God's answered their prayers. And don't you let them forget that. It says in verse 17, they sinned yet more against him. They, even though they knew all of that, these people continued sinning against him. And I would just like to show you what they did. I want to, uh, we're in the book of Jude in my Sunday school class.
[14:43] Boy, it's a powerful thing. He said, we've got to contend for the faith. And then he starts naming people that did wrong and God just took them out. God just took me. He said, you don't do wrong against God. God'll take you out. You don't do wrong against God. God'll take you out.
[14:57] And so I want my children to know you don't play with God. You don't play with God. You don't play with the Bible. You don't play with sin. I want to show them that. And look at, look at you in verse 17, they provoked the most high in the wilderness. They made God mad. Did you know you can make God mad?
[15:17] Do you know, I can anger God. I could provoke him. Uh, you know, don't provoke me. Don't push me. Don't keep shoving me around. I'm not going to put up with it much longer. God said he, they did that.
[15:28] You know why that, how they did it. Prosperity gospel verse 18. Look at it. And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust. See what, what, what he did, what they did was they said, uh, I'm not satisfied what you're doing for me. Verse 17, chapter six and verse six, godliness with contentment is great gain. But right here in this patch of scripture, every morning they just step outside their tent and breakfast, lunch, and dinners laying there on the ground. And it's, it's angels food and, and it tastes good and it meets every need they have.
[16:04] And it takes care of them. And instead of saying, thank you God for what I have, having food and raiment, let us there with be content. They said, God, you're not a very good God. And they forgot all God was doing because they were thinking not about what God was doing, but what they wish God to do more than they were. Look at what they said to me. If you would, in verse 19, they spake against God. Look at the words the Bible uses. They spake against God and how they speak. They said, can God furnish a table in the wilderness? That's a really dumb question. He's been doing that ever since they've crossed over into, into, into the wilderness. He's been feeding them every day. And when they ran out of water, he opened up a rock. When he ran out of water, he'd always doing everything they need. And now they look at God and say, can God do it? I've been known to do that. Have you ever done that?
[17:01] You ever gotten to a place where you just wish God to give you something you didn't have. And you, you kind of got aggravated. And instead of being accepting of what God gave you, simply grateful for what God gave you, you began to not be content. You began to covet after other things. In verse 20, he smote the rock and waters just out streams overflowed, but can he give bread?
[17:20] Can he give us meat to eat? We'd like some other meat to eat with some other food to eat. We're tired of this angel food cake he's given us. We're tired of it. I want something different. Verse 21, hang on.
[17:39] The Lord heard this. And he was wroth. That means he was like angry and a fire was kindled against Jacob, but anger came up against Israel. God was like, that's it. You made me mad. What did, what did he do that made him mad?
[18:03] Look at verse 22. They didn't believe God. They didn't trust in God's ability to take care of them. Look at the verse. They believed not in God. They trusted not in his salvation. They looked to God and said, and you go back up and underline if you didn't in verse 19, he said, can God furnish a table and a woman? Is God able? Will God do anything? Will God take care of us? Will God meet our needs?
[18:30] Will God get us through what's going to go on? In verse 20, can God give bread? Can God give us some meat to eat? And God's already doing all that. And God's like, you don't believe me?
[18:43] You don't believe me? I'm the God that brought you out of slavery. I'm the God that worked miracle on top of miracle and destroyed every Egyptian God. I'm the God that opened up the Red Sea. I'm the God that brought you across the Red Sea. I'm the God that led you in the day by a pillar of cloud and at night by a pillar of fire. I'm the God that takes care of you. And you say that about me.
[19:07] I think I do that to him though. Don't you? If you're honest, sometimes I get an attitude. You don't get attitudes. I'm probably the only sinner in this room, but we get attitudes.
[19:19] Look at it. I really felt almost guilty, but I really prayed about it. I really think I just want to, I'm just going to read you the passage, but because it just says it all by itself. It really don't need anybody say anything. Look at if you would at verse 22, they believe not in God. They trusted on his salvation.
[19:37] And they did that even though he had commanded the clouds from above and opened the doors of heaven and rained down manna. He had given them the corn of heaven. Verse 25, he'd given them angels food and he sent them meat to the full. God had met every need. You know, if we stop just one second and remember what happened, their shoes didn't wear out. They walked in the wilderness for 40 years of shoes didn't wear out. They walked in the wilderness for 40 years of clothes didn't wear out, but I'm guessing he just got tired of wearing the same thing every day. I mean, if you're wearing the same identical thing every day for 40 years, everybody's fussing, everybody's complaining, everybody's wanting something different. I wish you'd underline if you would, in verse 26, by his power. He wanted them to know he did it. Somewhere along the way, we get almost a coincidental idea of God. It's like, you know, I guess you've probably heard this, you know, the person's driving through the parking lot and they say, God, I need a good parking spot. They come around the corner and there's a spot and they go, forget it, God, I found one. That's how we tend to do things. You know, I don't really need you,
[20:53] God, except when I need you. And when I find it on my own, I don't need you. And I'll remind you. And God said, no, I did that. I'm the one that gave you water and I'm the one that gave you bread. And then I rained bird meat on you. Verse 27, I rained feathered fowls. I read, I laid, I let birds fall out of the sky till it was like the sand on the seashore. And I let it fall all over your camp.
[21:18] And I'll let you eat till you were stuffed. I gave you what you want. Look at him. He said, I gave them their own desire. And I need to stop for a moment and realize this.
[21:33] God oftentimes doesn't want Austin to have what Austin wants to have. I, a lot of times want things and God's in heaven saying that that's not best for you.
[21:44] That's not best for you. I didn't know what God had in mind as a boy preacher. And, uh, I was pastoring my first church at 23. I'd started the church by myself, my wife and I, and we go, I went door to door probably 30 to 40 hours a week after I, after work all the time, I'll try and get people. I begged God to give me a big crowd. I begged God to give me hundreds. I asked him for a thousand at the end of a year. I was 23. I didn't have any brains. He never did. I had 35, 40 at the end of a year. Uh, six of them or four of them were gardeners. And, uh, so 31 people really.
[22:32] And I busted it. I asked God to let me have a Bible college. And I asked God to let me train men. And I asked God to let me send mysteries. I asked God for all these things and he never did it. Thank God that God did. God's looking down and saying, son, I got a bigger job for you.
[22:49] And what God was going to do with me was send me to prove and give me everything I'd ever asked for in the place I never would have dreamed of being. And finally, one day I looked at him, I said, okay, just forget it. I don't care about ever getting any of the stuff I've asked for. It's okay.
[23:02] I'll just be satisfied. Don't bother me anymore. I won't bother you anymore. Just whatever. And then the Lord really moved in my heart and we moved to Peru and I just went to work and I was like, I ain't never going to have anything. You want to just do my job nowhere, but I ain't never going to have Bible college. I ain't never going to train men. I ain't never going to send people around the world. I'm never going to be involved in any of this. And then one day I realized, man, we had all these churches going, all these preachers sitting around me and I'm teaching all the time.
[23:28] I got a Bible college going and I went, I think it's happening. You see, God knows where he wants you and God knows what he wants to do with you. And God has a plan for your life. And if these people had been satisfied with that, but they weren't verse 30, they were not estranged from their lust.
[23:51] In other words, besides the estranged just right, they didn't turn from their lust. They still, no matter, even though God rained down bird meat on them until it was coming out their nose and ears, they still wouldn't quit wanting what they wanted. And so God chastened them. Verse 31, the wrath of God came upon them and God killed them. He slew the fattest of them. That's the day all y'all glad you're on a diet. Say amen. God goes to the crowd and said, you're out, you're out, you're out. And the skinny people are walking around going, praise Jesus. I'm skinny today.
[24:28] He slew the fattest and he smoked down the chosen men. That's like the deacons and the pastor of the church. We're dead. The fat people are dead. And all the rest of you going to sneak through this. Why? For all this in verse 32, they sinned still and did not believe his wondrous works.
[24:46] Verse 33, their days did he consume in vanity and their years in trouble. Use it underline vanity and trouble. You know, they are going to wander around in the wilderness and their kids are going to grow up waiting on them to die. That's a terrible story. You ever read that story? It's like the most horrific story. God's still good to them all the time. He is good. Even though they've been bad, he's good. And so he never lets your shoes wear out. He never lets your clothes wear out. But right across there was the promised land and everything God had ever promised was theirs. But since they won't believe God and since they keep doing all this silly stuff and they keep sinning against God, he sends them in circles and says, now when all y'all that are 20 and above die, can you imagine your 19 year old kid? His job every day is to bury the old people. And I, and you know, now he, now he's 59 years old. He's been burying people for 40 years. And I imagine they're looking around saying, there's a last one right there. When that old man dies, we're getting over there. Where are we supposed to be? And they did, they waited. Their years were consumed in vanity. He slew them.
[26:03] Look at verse 34. When he slew them, then they sought him. That is probably a terrible verse to read, isn't it? You know, when they wanted to find God, when he was killing them. I don't want to wait on that. I don't want to wait till God has to do something drastic in my life to come back and call on him. I don't want something. And I know, you know, this is 2021. We don't believe.
[26:33] That God ever chastens people like that. And we don't believe that ever happens, but it's right here in the word of God where we're reading. He slew them. He killed them. And when he killed them, they looked for him. I don't want God to have to come into my family and do something to wake me up.
[26:51] Could I get an amen there? You say he would never do that. Well, he did at least once. What the book says. When they saw it, when they slew him, they saw it even they returned.
[27:03] So after they got, after enough of their family died, they came and said, God, we're here. We'd like to talk to you. And then in verse 35, they remembered that God was their rock, the high God, their redeemer. But then even in the middle of them seeking God, some of them are lying to God. There are people that are amongst us in our every church in the land that aren't sincere in their love for God. And God brought us here. And supposedly everybody here loves God. But look if you would at verse 36 and verse 36 is that they did flatter him. You know what flatter him means?
[27:40] They didn't use sincere speech. They were lying to him. God, we love you. And God's like, no, you don't. God, we worship you. And he's like, no, you don't. We sing songs to God. No, you don't mean a word of that. Have thine own way, Lord. Not really. God's in heaven going, no, don't do it. They don't mean that. They lied. Verse 36 with their tongues, their heart. Verse 37 was not right with him. They wouldn't obey the word. Now, maybe the most beautiful verse in this chapter, verse 38, but God, he's so sweet. Look at it. But God, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not. Yea, many a time turned he his anger away and did not stir up his wrath. We should meditate on that verse a while. Boy, God should have done a lot of stuff he didn't do because God's just too good. And everybody wants to tell us how bad God is. But the Bible says right back in the Old Testament in Psalm chapter 78 in verse 38 there, it says, God being full of compassion, full of compassion. Our God is the fullest. He's full of love and tenderness and sweetness.
[29:08] I mean, when he should have killed me, he didn't kill me. When he should have come into my family and destroyed my family, he didn't do it. And he forgave iniquity and he didn't destroy them. And a lot of times over and over, God said, awesome. But I won't. I love you. What a God. Verse 39.
[29:29] I love this. He remembered they were just human beings. Underline that. He remembered they were but flesh. And he remembered that they were like a wind that passes away and comes not again. God looked down and said, well, they're just human beings. They're not going to do that good.
[29:48] And he remembered us. God, God puts up with us and loves us in spite of us because God's good. God's not good because we're good. God's good because God's good. Verse 40. How often did they provoke him in the wilderness and grieve him in the dead, in the desert? I just, it's just amazing how he keeps going back to the story. Obey God. Listen, tell your kids, boy, they didn't, but God was good.
[30:19] And then he says, and then he says, and man, they sure kept doing wrong. You ever read the story of the Old Testament? They do right, then they do wrong, then they do right, then they do wrong.
[30:29] I'm praying all the time. I pray it every day that God will send revival here because we get so complacent. I get complacent. And we need God to move among us and shake us and wake us up.
[30:43] To be used of him. But they, look at what it says, underline in the verse, they provoked him, they made him mad, and they hurt him. They grieved him. Underline that. Verse 41. They turned back and limited God, attempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
[31:04] You know, if you underline the word limited, you know what? We can hold God back. God just wants to do so much in our family, so much in our life, and so much in our church. But because of our half decision, because of our half heart, because of our lack of hunger, for our lack of desire, God's up in heaven and said, I'd do more, but y'all one's holding me back.
[31:28] I'm not, I'm not bad, not one to work. In the New Testament, we found out he didn't do many mighty works because of their unbelief. Verse 42. How'd they limit him? Well, they didn't remember what he had done. Underline that. They forgot what he'd done. Take the time to remember what he's done.
[31:47] Remembered it not his hand, or the day when he delivered from their enemy. They forgot how he wrought signs in Egypt. They forgot how he turned rivers into blood, and how he took floods that they could not drink. He made water, and all that water turned to that. He made flies in verse 45, and frogs.
[32:04] In verse 46, caterpillars and locusts. In verse 47, hail and frost. In verse 48, hail and hot thunderbolts. In verse 49, he sent evil angels among them. He sent evil angels among them, and he made a way, in verse 50, to his anger. He spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to pestilence, and he smote all the firstborn of Egypt. So all these Egyptians, man, they were hard and against God, and they didn't believe in God, and they rejected God, and so God said, watch this. I'm fixing to do a lot of nasty stuff and show you I'm God. And you know that almost every one of those plagues, you do a little bit of study, every one of them had to do with one of their false gods.
[32:48] They worshiped frogs, so he gave them all the frogs they could handle. Everything they wanted. The Nile, he turned it to blood, because God was saying, I am God. But all the time he was being rough on them. Look what he did to verse 52. He made his own people to go forth like sheep, and he guided them in the wilderness like a flock. See, he punished those who wouldn't believe, but he took care of his own people. That's us. And he led them on safely, so they feared not for the, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies, and he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, to the mountain with his right hand that he had purchased. I'll stop just a second. Can I remind you that every Jew listening to this psalm didn't see it happen? They needed a Bible lesson.
[33:39] I didn't see a lot of stuff happen, but I've seen a lot of stuff happen, because I can read it, and I can believe my God and believe what he did. And in verse 55, you know what he did? He threw out the heathen, and he divided up the land into an inheritance, and he gave them a place to live, and he gave them their country. In verse 56, you would think that by now they're going to really get right with God, but in verse 56, they tempted and provoked the most high God, because that's what we do. We're in trouble, we believe. We're not in trouble, we quit believing.
[34:13] And they kept not his testimonies. They turned back. They dealt deceitfully, just like their daddies had done. Verse 58, they provoked him to anger. They built false worship places with idols and graven images, and God got angry in verse 59, and he hated Israel.
[34:35] And he forsook the tabernacle, and he delivered his strength into captivity. He let them come get the ark. He gave his people over to invaders. He was angry with his own people. The fire consumed their young men, and maidens were not given in marriage, and their priests were killed by the sword.
[34:57] Verse 65, here he comes back. Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep. It's like God's just waiting on us to want him bad enough. And he smote, in verse 66, his enemies.
[35:15] He smote his enemies. And then God will go along to choose David. I'd just like to end with this.
[35:28] My kids need to know the stories of God. Most young people that come to the training center to study and prepare have never read their Bible through one time. I hope it's not true in your family. I hope you're helping them read their Bible through. They'll get here saying they want to be a missionary, saying they want to preach, saying they want to be a missionary's wife. They've never read their Bible. They don't know these stories. They don't know the greatness of our God. They don't know his power. Their parents love Jesus, and they love Jesus, and they want to serve God, but they don't know him.
[36:04] We have an awesome responsibility to tell our children about our God. I want to tell my children all these things that happen in the Bible, and I want to tell my children all these things that God has done in my life. I was standing to preach in a city in, I guess, probably in Lima at that time.
[36:26] My son, Chris, was probably 16 years old, and I was telling him story after story of miracles I'd seen God work in my life. And we got through the service, and I walked out, and Chris walked out to me like a kid that still really got those eyes of respect for his dad and said, Dad, I had goosebumps the whole time because I remembered those stories. I saw that happen.
[36:48] I know God did that. Your children, my children need to know how much I love God. I need to take everything I've heard and everything I've read, and I've got to get it into my kids.
[37:01] I don't mean this to be rude, but older Christians are often the most wonderful, sweetest people you'll ever meet, but they fail to tell their children and their grandchildren.
[37:17] And you'll go into a church, and it'll be void of young people. Where are the kids? Where are the grandkids? Where are the young people?
[37:28] We have to tell the stories of Jesus. Father in heaven, I love you. I thank you for the chance to serve you. I thank you for these wonderful people. I pray your blessings on everyone. I give you glory for all you do. In Jesus' name, amen. Announcements.