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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 You're listening to Waters Church podcast, where faith meets real life. Where 1 church, many locations, and 1 mission, to see lives changed by Jesus. No matter where you're listening from, you0:12 are a part of Waters Church family. Now let's dive into today's message from our pastor.0:20 So it's funny because my wife and I, we don't have kids of our own. But when people ask me how many kids I have, I say hundreds. Got hundreds of kids because I've been serving in youth ministry and well, not youth,0:32 but kids ministry and now youth ministry for about 7 years now, 7 and a half or so years. And it's it's it's training grounds. Right? I've I've served in every room back there except the baby room all the0:44 way from the the 2 year olds all the way up through youth, and it's been such a blessing. And I consider them all my kids. I love all of them so much. So I've been part of the youth ministry kids ministry from day 10:56 since I started coming to this church in the front lines of the war that is going on for your kids' lives right now. How many of you know the enemy wants your kids? They want1:07 them. And, I mean, he the enemy wants your kids. And right now, as we speak, there's a war going on right now in Waters kids for your kids' souls right now as we speak at this moment. The only thing is we only have an1:18 hour and a half with them every Sunday. Right? So we're gonna get a I'm I'm already getting ahead of myself. I'm so excited about this about this series. So young minds are extremely moldable as we know. They're1:30 very I don't know if this is a word, but I'm gonna make it a word, influenceable. That word? They're easily influenced. You could tell them that SpongeBob is the the our lord and savior and Plankton is the devil, and1:42 they'd probably believe you. That's why it's important to get them here, to get them in front of other Christians, other people that have submitted to the word of God. That's why it's important to get them1:53 in the church and get them in front of Christ now in their lives. Right? So the title of today's message is I am an influencer. Somebody say, I am an influencer. I2:05 am an influencer. You are an influencer whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not. You are influencing other people, especially the next generation. You're wearing what you're wearing2:17 right now because you saw somebody else wear it first, or maybe you saw a commercial, and you're like, yo, I'm gonna go buy that. That's a nice shirt. I'm gonna go buy that shirt. And then now somebody's gonna see you2:29 wearing that shirt, and they're gonna be like, that's a nice shirt. I'm gonna go buy that shirt. And then that's you you without even trying, you've influenced that person. You're interested in what you're interested in2:40 because you saw somebody else do it first. And you're like, you know what? That looks like something I might be good at. That looks fun. I'm gonna try that. And then somebody's gonna see you doing it, and then they're2:48 gonna do it. Influence. You're here right now because somebody told you about Christ. Maybe somebody told you about Waters Church. Maybe somebody shared their testimony with you, and that's why you're here. And then you,3:00 hopefully, I pray that you hear the gospel and you receive Christ, and then you go tell somebody else about Waters Church or just about your testimony or about Christ, and they come because of you. Influence.3:12 Right? So the way you live your life affects more than just you. Right? I was I was a story. I used to live in Boston. Right? So, toward the kind of the end of that season3:24 of my life in Boston, was try I was on my way back here back to Attleboro, and I was on the phone making some calls with some friends and some family and with some job opportunities and trying to kinda, like, situate my3:35 life before I came back. And I was like, you know, maybe I should wait to get a job before I come back. Like, maybe I should, like, get set up with a job first before I come back. I'm talking to my dad on the phone a3:45 couple days later. He's like, yo, son. I got you a job. I'm like, cool. Okay. And he's like, you he's gonna hire you. Just come just come talk to him. I'm like, weird. But okay. Cool. I'll go meet with the3:57 guy. I meet with the guy, and he's like, you're hired. I don't I'm not gonna interview you. I'm like, cool. I was I was super excited. Turns out the reason that this guy hired me is because he knew4:09 my dad. He knew my dad was a godly man. He knew my dad was trustworthy. He knew that my dad was a man that forgave. He4:21 had godly qualities, and this man trusted my dad. So he said, because I trust your dad, I trust you. And he gave me the job without even an interview. You wanna set the next generation up for4:33 success? Live a godly life. Amen. That's the best way to set the next generation up for success for success. If you all stand with me for the reading of God's word, it is on your4:44 fill in the blank. But if you have a bible, open up to Genesis 39. We're gonna start right in the beginning. Genesis 39 verses 1 through 6.4:56 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian, who was 1 of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The lord was with with Joseph so that5:08 he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the lord was with him and that the lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his5:19 attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted his care to everything he owned. From the time from the time he put in him in charge of his household and all that he owned, the lord5:30 blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had both in the house and in the field. So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph's care. With Joseph5:42 in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Let's pray. Dear lord, I just pray that today you use me to speak to your people, lord. I pray5:54 that that chains are broken today, lord, that we didn't even know that we had. I pray that we are that we are motivated for the next generation to sow seeds into the next generation, Lord.6:06 Because we were, at 1 point, the next generation, and people sowed seeds into us, Lord. So I pray that today, Lord, you open our hearts to to show us what you want us to do for the next6:17 generation. I pray that lives are changed today, and I pray that you have your way with this service. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. You may have a seat. Alright. So 1 thing I love to do is6:29 break down scripture. So let's talk about what we just read. So this this particular passage is a guy named Joseph. Joseph was a Hebrew. Right? He was 1 of he was he was Jacob's son. He was a man of6:41 God. He was a man that vigorously obeyed and chased after God. He was a man that was after God's own heart. That's Jacob. I'm sorry. That's Joseph. Where is he? He's in Egypt, which6:53 most of you know is not a place that a a Hebrew or an Israelite would wanna be. Egypt's spiritual world wow. Spiritual, wow, worldview directly7:04 opposed God. The God of Israel directly opposed him. They are they were a polytheistic nation, meaning they worshiped and praised and believed in many different gods. And then Egyptians were view7:16 were viewed Hebrews as inferior. So Egyptians looked at Hebrews. They looked down on Hebrews. Hebrews weren't on the same level as Egyptians according to the Egyptians. And then there's Pharaoh. So pagan king of7:28 Egypt considered God on Earth by his people. So right off the bat, Joseph is in a weird spot because he he follows the God of of Israel. He follows Yahweh. He follows the God that we serve.7:40 And then he's in this land where the these people look at this man as a God. Right? And as we know, Pharaoh is the guy who eventually ends up enslaving Israel. He hasn't done it yet, but just the fact that7:52 we know that that is inside him, that's on his heart, that's something that he's capable of, gives us a little bit more context as to how how, of a bad situation Joseph is in right now by being in Egypt. Right?8:04 So Joseph is clearly in enemy territory here. He ends up in the house of the captain of the guard, which is like Pharaoh's personal little security team. Right? So the the captain the the guard was Pharaoh's little8:15 security team, and Potiphar was the leader of that. So this is like Pharaoh's right hand dude that kept him safe. Right? In Genesis 39 3 and 4, when his master saw that the lord was with him8:27 and that the lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and entrusted to his care everything he owned. Takes you to8:37 point number 1. When people see the Lord in me, I can find favor with them. Keep in mind, again, like I said, Joseph is an enemy territory. He was first8:48 enslaved. Now he's in the house of the captain of the guard where he could easily just be thrown to the side. He could've killed him. He could've beat him, whatever. He was a slave. And Potiphar was obviously9:00 an Egyptian, so he was obviously an enemy of God as well, but but Joseph found favor in his eyes because he saw the Lord in him. Potiphar ended up putting him in charge of his whole9:11 household and entrusted to his care everything he owned. Think about somebody who is a trustworthy person. Usually, that person has godly characteristics or godly9:23 traits. Just like my dad. I got the job because the guy that owned this business trusted him. Right? I trust you. You're trustworthy. I can I can, delegate things to you? I know you're not9:35 gonna, you know, you're not gonna, you're not gonna mess these things up. Right? So Potiphar trusted Jacob, Joseph not because of anything else other than the way he lived. Joseph wasn't out there, like,9:47 praying over over Potiphar or even preaching to Potiphar or anything like that. Those aren't bad things, but he wasn't doing any that. He was just living his life according to the will and way of God, and Potiphar9:59 saw the Lord and Jacob. So if you have those godly traits and godly characteristics, people will trust you. You will grow favor with them. If somebody's going through something,10:10 right, they're gonna call you for sound advice. If somebody needs something taken care of that's valuable, like a family member or a friend or something valuable to them, they're gonna call you because they're gonna10:20 trust you with that thing. In Genesis 39 5, from the time he put him in charge of his household and and of all that he owned, the lord blessed the household of the10:32 Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the lord was on everything Potiphar had both in the house and in the field. Point number 2, we're getting through these quick. If I live my life surrendered to10:44 the way and will of God, I set others up for success. Mind you, again, Potiphar, Egyptian, enemy of God, not somebody who's praying to God for blessing in his household.10:56 God didn't bless Potiphar because Potiphar did anything. God blessed Potiphar's household because Joseph was in it. So what does that mean for us? That means that once you become a11:08 Christian, once you accept Jesus as your Lord and savior, and you're living your life according to his will for your life, and you've submitted and surrendered to him, it's not about you anymore. Yes. Come to church.11:20 Yes. Read your bible. Yes. Go to small group. Yes. Serve. Yes. Worship. Do these things to grow your relationship with your lord and savior. But once you have the holy spirit in you and you have a relationship with11:31 God, it's time to tell other people now. It's time to bless other people. Right? And this is exactly what happened. Joseph was clearly surrendered to God's will for his life, and all he did was live his life11:43 accordingly. And because of that, the people around him were blessed. Potiphar's household was blessed because of Joseph. And if the Lord can bless an Egyptian who who was11:55 an who was an enemy of God through 1 of his children, how much more is he gonna bless your friends, your family, your coworkers, your community through you when you live your life12:06 according to God's will for your life? So the story goes on. Potiphar accuses Joseph sorry. Potiphar's wife accuses Joseph of sleeping with him. Potiphar12:18 throws Joseph in jail. In Genesis 39 21 to 23, the Lord was with him. He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the12:30 prison. I think this is funny. And he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he12:41 did. I've never been in prison before, but I don't think it works like that. I don't think prison wardens just be like, hey, man. I like you. You have good values, prisoner. You have a good moral. You know what? Take12:51 care of I'm a go home and eat dinner real quick. Make sure they're back in their cells by 6, and lights out at 8. Cool. You got that piece. I don't think that's how it works. But the prison warden13:03 saw that the lord was with Joseph, so, again, he had favor with him. So, again, the story goes on. The cup bearer and the baker of the of the pharaoh ended up in the13:15 same prison as Joseph. They had some weird dreams. Joseph interprets them favorably for them. Pharaoh has a weird dream, and he's like, I heard Joseph interpreted those dreams favorably. So Pharaoh called for Joseph.13:26 Joseph meets him, and Pharaoh says, hey. Hey, Joseph. I've been had this weird dream. Can you interpret it? And and Joseph says probably the most important thing, in my opinion, in this whole13:38 this whole the whole book the whole book of Genesis with Joseph's part anyways. In verse 16, he says, I cannot do it. And when I when you first read that, it's13:50 like, what do you mean you just did it? What do you mean you can't do it? You just did it. But if you continue on in that verse, but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires. That's your next fill in the blank.14:03 And you know what? I have nothing for you to fill it in. This is up to you. What is on your heart? What is convicting you right now? What is it that you need the strength of God to overcome? I cannot be a good14:14 parent, but God will give me the strength to be a good parent. God is a good father. He's been a good father to me. And if I just adopt his ways, I will become a good parent. He'll give me the14:26 strength. I cannot overcome this addiction, but God will give me the strength to overcome this addiction and resist temptation. I cannot let go of the past. I cannot forgive. I can't let what these people did to14:38 me, I can't let that go. And guess what? You can't, but God will give you the strength to do so. So point number 3, I influence people for Christ when I14:50 acknowledge that he is the source of everything good in my life. This is exactly what Joseph did. Pharaoh said, yo, Joseph, can you do the thing that you just did?15:01 And he's like, I can't. Imagine what Pharaoh thought like in that moment, I just saw you do it. But what Joseph did is he put himself aside. He humbled himself before the lord and said, I can't do any of this.15:13 It's only because of God that's giving me the strength to do this that I'm able to do this. So what's the very next line? And I think this is so significant as well. The very next line, again, Pharaoh comes15:25 to Joseph says, interpret my dream. Joseph says, I cannot, but God can. I don't know if I told you who Pharaoh is yet, but he's an enemy of the Lord. Right? He worships his own gods. He worships15:37 himself. He wants nothing to do with the God of Joseph. But Joseph gives credit to God for his ability, and then what does Pharaoh say? What are the next 3 lines? What are the first 3 words in verse15:48 17? Then Pharaoh said. I think it's on your sheet too. Then Pharaoh said, by Pharaoh telling Joseph his dream, he's kinda16:00 unintentionally admitting that God is is powerful. He's unintentionally giving God the credit because Joseph already gave God the credit. What do you think Pharaoh might have said? Or what do you16:12 think he should've like, if we didn't know the rest of the story, I would think a guy like Pharaoh would be like, God. No. I want you to do it. I don't need I am God. And there's all these other gods here. I don't need16:22 God. I'll put you to death. I'm you know who you're talking to? I'm Pharaoh. You do it right now. That's what I would think somebody like Pharaoh would say. Right? That makes sense? But he said but but what it says in16:33 verse 17, then Pharaoh said. So he's unintentionally kind of agreeing with Joseph about God's power, which I think is so significant. So the story goes on, he interprets Fowl's dreams. And then in16:45 verse 39, he unintentionally gives God credit again when he says, then Fowl said to Joseph, since God has made this known to you, there is no 1 so discerning and wise as you. He didn't16:57 have to put that whole since God made this known to you part in there. I think Joseph is having an a positive influence on Pharaoh in this moment. We know that it it didn't end up like that in the long end of the17:09 story, in this specific story. But in this moment, I feel like Joseph was kinda having a positive influence on Pharaoh. He said, since God has made this known to you, there's no 1 as17:20 discerning and he might as well have just said there's no 1 as discerning and wise as God. He might as well have just said that in this moment, and I think that's huge. So Genesis 41 41 40 and17:32 41, You shall be in charge of my place, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you. So Pharaoh said to Joseph, I hereby put you in charge of the whole land17:44 of Egypt. So basically what he's saying, he's like, you are equal to me. You have the same access as me. You have the same power as me. You have the same authority. Only difference is I'm still that guy. I'm still17:55 Pharaoh, but you will be equal to me. And then he says, I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt. And this is all because of just how Joseph lived his life in front of other18:06 people. Can people see the Lord in you by how you live your life? Nothing wrong with evangelizing. Nothing wrong with going out preaching the gospel. Nothing wrong with praying over people, laying hands. Nothing wrong18:18 with putting your hands up. These are all good things. But can people see the Lord in how you live your life just on a daily on a on a on a daily basis? So think about it like this, the Lord's involve and I should have18:30 put this on the sheet. The Lord's involvement in your life should influence the people around you. So Joseph positively influenced all these people because of how he live, but this can go both ways. If18:42 you go to book of Joshua, we're getting a little bit in a in a different part of the bible here. You go to book of Joshua, the Israelites are they they come across this place called Jericho, and inside the walls of18:51 Jericho is the Canaanites, also enemies of God. So God says, I'll give you this city. You will destroy everything in this city. You'll kill everything. You'll destroy everything, but keep these19:03 certain items for me. Keep these these certain items for me. Don't take these items. Destroy everything except these devoted things. And exactly what God said will happen is is what happened. They went in, they19:15 destroyed the city, they killed everything, they put the devoted things aside except for 1 guy. His name was Aiken, and he took 1 of the the devoted things, selfishly put it in his tent, and then what happens after that?19:26 The Lord doesn't just blame Achan. He blames Israel. He blames the whole group of them. And he actually goes on to say in in Joshua 7 verse 10 and 12, Israel has sinned.19:39 They have violated my covenant. They have taken some of the devoted things. They have stolen. So this act of this person just deciding to live in an ungodly way, just displaying19:50 an ungodly trait in this moment, it didn't just affect him, it affected it negatively influenced all the people around him. Ungodliness in your life negatively influences people around20:02 you. So it goes both ways. It goes either way. You can either positively impact people for Christ, you can negatively impact people not for Christ for not Christ. So if you are20:14 a Christian, if you have the Holy Spirit, if you submitted to God in your life, I have news for you. God is with you. Just like he was with Joseph and just like he was with20:26 Aiken. The the the choice is up to us. Right? The choice up to us. Once we have Christ, we're not gonna be perfect. There's still gonna be temptation. There's still gonna be struggle. There's still gonna be battles.20:38 There's still gonna be items, little shiny things that we're not supposed to do anything with that if we selfishly take and people see that in our life, we're negatively influencing20:50 them. Right? The difference between Aiken and Joseph is people saw godliness in 1, and people saw ungodliness in the other. What will people see in you? What do people see in you, in your life, in the21:02 way you live your life? What does how can we how how can your life influence the next generation? How can your life influence the people coming after you? There's a couple ways21:14 that that that you can how you can live your life to influence the next generation. The first 1 is invest in them spiritually. That's the most important thing. Of course, as we know, Christ is our21:25 strength. The Holy Spirit gives us discernment, conviction, those types of things. So praying for them, of course. But bringing them to church, bringing your kids to church is like 1 of the most21:37 important things that you could possibly do. Show your kids that church is more important than football. Hey, Patriots fans out there, they're doing pretty good this year. Show your kids that church is more21:49 important than work. Oh, my boss said I gotta work Sunday. Hey. If you can't get Sunday off, find a new job. The Lord will provide. Show your kids that church is more important22:01 than these things. Yo. I don't have kids yet, but when I have kids, they're gonna hate me. They're going to church every single day. Anytime the church has something for my my children at their age22:12 appropriate level, they're going to it. I don't care if it's Monday morning. They're going. And my my dad taught me that, like unintentionally. He probably doesn't even know it. But my dad, he said it not not word for22:23 word, but he said something along the lines of, I don't really care if my kids like me. I want them to, but what I care more about is their eternity. What I care more about is if they are leading a godly life.22:35 They they might go their own way, but at least I know I did the right thing in the eyes of the Lord for my for my kids. Right? And that's something that when I become a parent, that's that's right there, and it's right22:46 here. My kids are going to church. And and it's funny because going off that, my dad made this rule in the house, and it's kinda funny. He said, if any of your friends sleep over on Saturday night,22:58 they go to church with us on Sunday morning. And it's funny, right around that same time, people started stop sleeping all over our house. Right? But bring your kids to church. This is23:10 more important than anything else that they could possibly for the next generation. I've heard countless testimonies of teens and now young adults who hated coming to church. Parents made them come to23:22 church every Friday for youth or Wednesday, whatever it was, every Sunday. They hated it. Now they're serving all over the church in youth. They're serving in other ministries, and they're on fire for the Lord because23:34 their parents made them come to church. Hey. They might get mad. They might get upset. They might, oh, I gotta go to church today. Oh, I gotta I can't go to the mall with you. I gotta go to youth tonight. They'll thank23:44 you 1 day. Right? So speaking of youth, by the way, youth youth leader here, youth is flourishing. Youth is on fire right now. We have23:56 anywhere between 60 and 80 teens every single Friday, And the gospel is being preached, and lives are being changed. But what kinda blows my mind, why are24:08 there only 80 teens at youth? I see teens all over this church. I see teens all over the community. Why are they not at youth on Friday? I see that as a as a as an issue. We need to get our next24:20 generation to church. Yeah. Right? They're hearing the gospel at their level, at their age appropriate level. How many of you remember when you were a teenager? The stuff that you were going through as a teen that not24:32 a single other person on planet earth that was going through was or so you thought. Right? So these these these teens need to be here every single Friday. Alright? And this is24:44 kind of a little side note speaking of gospel at age appropriate intellectual level. I love when parents come up to 1 of the the the Waters kids leaders and say, why can't I bring my 6 year old in24:56 the sanctuary? I promise you, your 6 year old has no idea what pastor Tim's talking about. Promise you. But guess what? Like I said earlier, there's a battle. There's a war going on right now in those25:08 kids' rooms for your kids' eternities. That's not day care. It's not babysitting. I know you see the games on through those glass windows, and you're like, I would never go in there. That's just the beginning. We gotta25:18 get their energy out. So when they get in the room, they're hearing the gospel right now as we speak. The gospel's being preached to every 1 of your kids right now. There's a war going on right now for your kids. They're25:29 hearing the gospel at their age appropriate level. Oh, but my son is a little bit too spiritually mature to be back. Good. Send them back there and allow them to positively influence the other25:41 kids. I might be getting a little intense right now, but it's very important, like, not we're we're lucky not lucky, but we're blessed go to a church25:53 that has a program for your kids at every age. From baby room all the way up through youth, all the way to and we have a young adults ministry also. Right? So send your kids, bring your kids to26:05 church, get them in their room, and they're gonna hear the gospel at their age appropriate level. Get them to church. There's a book called Raising Spiritual Champions by George Barnett. In this book, there's a study26:15 that showed children this is crazy. Children begin forming their worldview as early as 15 to 18 months. Thought I was gonna say years. Right? No. It's a little old.26:27 But 15 to 18 months is when they start forming their worldview, and at 13 years, their worldview is almost completely formed. 13. They already have a full26:39 opinion of what the world they're living in is. And then the study goes on to continue that it says that this study showed that children ages 5 to 13 have about a 3226:50 percent probability of accepting Christ, which is pretty low in my opinion. And then for ages 14 to 18 drops to 14 percent. Now this is just a27:02 study, just statistics. God is above that. Right? But when you take numbers into account, that should if that doesn't tell you get your kids here now, I don't know what else does. It drops to 14 percent27:14 from ages 14 to 18. Proverbs 22 6, start children off in the way they should go. And even when they are old, they will not turn from it. The the the word of God never comes back void. Way number 2 that we can27:26 influence in the next we can influence the next generation, invest in them financially. We have this incredibly great opportunity coming up with this with this offering. I know what some of you probably think, oh, I27:37 thought I was this pastor Tim talks about money every week. You got this guest preacher. He's talking about money too. Hear me out. Hear me out for 2 seconds. Let's see. Excuse me. Excuse me, ma'am. Right here with the27:49 glasses. Oh, I know you. Did you pay for that seat? Did you you didn't pay for the seat? Are you you didn't do Black Friday shopping last week and said this chair looks nice. I'm gonna bring this to church on Sunday28:01 and sit in it. No? Okay. Did you did you pay for that 1? No? Okay. Was this did you did you bring that to church today? Does anybody know where who paid for these these seats?28:13 So where's Shane at? He might know. I'm joking. I don't know who paid for them either. You wanna know why? Because 20 years ago, in somebody's living room, a small group of people met for the first28:24 time, heard the gospel, decided that it was important enough for other people to hear the gospel, and they invested a seed financially in the next generation. And that28:36 built to more people and more people and more people and more people sold financial seeds into the future of the gospel, and these chairs that you're sitting in right now were paid for by the people that came28:48 before you. You were at 1 point the next generation, and somebody that never even you're never gonna see invested in you so you could be here today to hear the29:00 gospel. So we have an incredible opportunity coming up in a couple weeks to for for you to be able to do that. Right? Last year, 12 to or I'm I don't remember if it was last year before. I wasn't part of29:12 youth yet, but it was about 12 or 13 teens got a life changing experience in Peru. Like, 5 of them were paid for by your tithes and offerings and by people that, sponsored some some29:23 kids. This past August, went to camp with, like, 85 teens went to camp. I think about 15 of them were paid for by people from the29:34 congregation by giving financially, sowing a seed financially. At Friendsgiving, just last week, we had 8 we had I didn't get an exact head count, but it was about 80 teens that showed29:46 up, and there was about 12 new teens that we've never seen before that showed up, and the gospel was preached that night. And the reason I know the gospel was preached that night is I preached it. And these things are29:58 only possible because of your generous tithes and offerings. So invest in the next generation financially. Proverbs 13 22, a good person leaves an inheritance for his child for his children's children, but30:10 a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous. Giving generously in this offering is a great way to invest in the next generation. Last way that you can influence next generation, invest in30:22 them, and let's see, exemplarily. Exemplarily. I stayed up all night trying to pronounce that correctly. Exemplarily or leading by example. Invest in them by leading by example. How your kids act,30:34 react, interact, think is almost like 99.9 percent a reflection of you. If you're only honoring God Monday through30:45 Saturday in the home and then come to church on Sunday, there's nothing wrong with praising and worshiping and praying and being involved in this in the service, but if you're only doing that on Sunday, Monday through30:56 Saturday is the complete opposite, your kids see that. Your kids see how you treat your spouse, your husband, your wife. They see how you you react to tough situations. They see how you react to that dude that31:08 cut you off in traffic on the way here this morning. They see these things. They absorb these things. They learn these things, and they imitate these things. I'm not saying to fake it in front of your kids.31:19 Obviously, sometimes you need to because you gotta protect them from whatever, but this comes from inside. Right? It shouldn't be this this influence that we're talking about on the next generation shouldn't just be31:31 something you just do on the outside. It comes from the inside. Right? Like Joseph. Joseph didn't just have all this favor because he because he acted like it. All this favor was on him because the31:43 Lord was in him and with him and people saw that. It was from the inside. So point number 4, last point. Positive influence starts with my full submission to Christ.31:57 How you live your life on the outside should come from the heart change that has already happened inside. So first Samuel 16 verse 7, the Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the32:09 outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. A genuinely God centered outward appearance, godly lifestyle, living for positive influence towards Christ comes from inside, comes32:21 with from within, comes from the heart change. You need to be changed and healthy from the inside for the outside actions to be genuine. And just if you don't remember anything from this whole32:32 service today, just remember this, your kids are watching you. And your kids that aren't even your kids are kids are watching you. Kids are watching. They're learning. They're observing. Like I said, they're learning.32:43 They're absorbing. They're making their opinions. Even if you don't have kids, they're watching you. Deuteronomy 6 verse 6 and 7, these commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your32:55 children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. So are are you influencing your kids or just the next generation to Christ by how you33:07 live? Are you are you modeling Christ at home? And may maybe you don't have. Maybe you don't have kids. Maybe you're sitting here like, don't have kids. I'm not a parent. Maybe you checked out, like, 15 minutes33:19 ago when I started talking about parenting. Do you have a job? Do you have coworkers? You do anything else outside of something you like? Do you do you interact with other humans at any point in your life? Then33:31 everything that was just talked about applies to you as well. Are you reflecting Christ in how you live at work? Your boss gives you it's Friday night. You're going. You're ready to go home. Your boss gives you another33:42 assignment. Do you you flip out and throw your computer and don't think anybody actually does that. I just saw it in a movie 1 time. But how do you respond? Like, are you representing Christ in how you act and how you33:54 live your life? Second Corinthians verse 5 0, sorry. Second Corinthians 5 verse 20. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us.34:06 What this verse means is basically like the way I the way I like to think about this verse, pretend there's no bible, pretend nobody knows who God is, and you're the only 1, and you have to show people who God is not by34:17 sending them to church, not by reading the bible, not by praying for them, but just by how you live your life. Like, does your life reflect Christ in that way? Like, it's eat like, yes. Invite people to church. When you34:28 invite someone to church, that's easy. Yeah. Come to church. The pastor would tell you. But how are you and how are you influencing that person outside of Sunday? So when you're outside of these34:40 walls, you're representing a lot, but you're representing 3 main things. Christ, like if you're if you're wilding out at the dude who cuts you off in traffic, oh, that's how Christians act. Okay. Noted. You're34:51 representing Christ. You're representing Waters Church, if this is your home church, and you're representing your family. These are just 3 main things you're representing. Right? So living a godly way, living a godly35:03 life is a positive influence towards Christ. First Peter 3 15, and we're gonna wrap it up right here. But in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks35:15 you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. Does this verse let me ask you a question. Do you think this verse means literally? Like, I need you to answer every question35:26 correctly that everybody ever asks you about anything that has to do with anything that has to do with Jesus? Not a single person on earth has all the answers, and nobody on earth ever will have all the answers.35:38 If you don't have all the answers, what do you have? Your testimony, how you live your life, how you exemplify Christ through your actions. Right? So when somebody35:50 is looking at you, like a like a non Christian is looking at you saying, oh, this person, that person, trying to nitpick at you for all these things. What do you how are you gonna respond? Are you gonna resemble a Christ36:02 like attitude? A Christ like life? This is how you positively influence people towards Christ. Sermon in a sentence. It's a long 1. By surrendering my heart to Christ,36:14 living godly in all that I do, investing financially, and leading by example, I leave a lasting influence on the next generation. Give you a minute.36:26 No. It's a little paragraph there. By surrendering my heart to Christ, fully giving your whole being to Christ, Your life, your your job, your relationship,36:38 everything. Giving your whole self to Christ. Living godly in all I do. Positively influencing people towards Christ. Investing financially. Sowing seeds financially into next generation. And leading36:49 by example, I leave a lasting influence on the next generation. And low key, I could have probably put eternal instead of lasting. I leave an eternal influence on the next generation. Because again,37:01 we're not talk this isn't temporary. We're talking eternity. We're talking souls. We're talking the all your all the kids and all the next generation, we're talking their eternity. This is not a game. This is not a37:13 joke. Would you all stand with me? We need to resemble Christ in our lives to let this next generation know37:25 that this is this is real. This is this is eternity that we're talking about here. And as as adults and as young adults and as older teens and, you know, parents and grandparents, aunts,37:36 uncles, we have to we are the people that God has in this position for this for this specific reason. So with all heads bowed and all eyes closed, I just wanna give you an opportunity to just accept37:48 Christ as your Lord and savior because it is him that gives us the power and the strength and the ability to positively influence people towards him. And if you want that, if you want that relationship with him today,38:00 all you gotta do is say this prayer. Keep in mind the prayer does not save you. I do not save you. The church does not save you, but Christ comes into your life and he saves you. So repeat this prayer after me. Say,38:10 Lord, I admit that I'm a sinner. I believe that you are the truth, the way, and the light. I38:21 confess my sins and that I'm I am not perfect. Lead me. Guide me. Change me. Save me.38:34 In Jesus' name.Show more
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Guest Message - Pastor Geyser Pastor Tim Hatch
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