- Well hey everybody. Man, it is so good to be back with you this weekend. I've had some time with the kids, we went on vacation. It was awesome. Family time is awesome time. Then I got to come back and spend some time with you guys down at Bristol, you Bristol campus folks. Amazing, had a great day, and then up in Bluefield, man, it's incredible what the team in Bluefield is doing. The students are coming back to college and it's just a great, great setting in Bluefield. And hey, how about last weekend everybody? Let's give it up for 59 people that got baptized last week and took their next step, you know, wasn't that awesome? That was awesome. God used Ronnie in a great way. And think about this. Up at our Marion location, they had four salvations and 13 people took their next step of baptism. It was crazy. So shout out to all of you guys up at Marion. God's doin' some amazing things. All right, today, I, you know, obviously I've had a few weeks to work on this message, and today I wanna talk to you about something that really stirs my heart. I wanna talk to you and I want you to engage with me on what we need to do about fighting for the next generation, fighting for the next generation. It's something I'm extremely passionate about, and it's because I really believe that there is an all out war today that is being lashed out against our children, and not just this generation. I mean, I think this actually war against our enemy has been a concerted effort against our kids from day one. And church, there are times when you just have to take a stand, and you gotta be willing to fight. So let me ask you at all of our Highlands locations, those of you that are watching online today and on TV, let me ask you this question. Are you willing to fight for the next generation? Are you willing to do that? Because how we answer that question as a church will have so much to do with our future. So as we talk about this, I'm gonna tell you why we put such an emphasis on our HF kids programs at all of our locations. We're tryin' to engage you with your kids online as well, because I want all of you to know what this means for you and your homes and your families. So let's look at what the scriptures say on how you should raise your kids. A little history lesson here. I don't even know if you believe this or not, but this is what I personally believe, that this war against our kids got started between the generations all the way back to the time in the Garden of Eden. The Bible says that God created, right, in Genesis chapter one and two, God created the heavens, he created the earth, he created all mankind. Everything was good, God said it was good. And then in Genesis chapter three, you see the enemy, the devil, he comes against what God has done, and he begins to try to pull away people from God. That's what always the enemy does, right? And the Bible says that Adam and Eve were actually deceived by the devil, and they ate from the tree in the middle of the garden, and the scripture says God became angry and he cursed the serpent, which was the devil, right? And God said, "Devil, let me tell you what's gonna happen. "You now will crawl on your belly "and you will eat dust all the days of your life." And God says these words over in Genesis chapter three, look at verse 15. He says, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, "and between your offspring and hers." Now, what does that mean? In other words, there's gonna be a war that's gonna take place between her kids and the devil. And he said this to the devil, this is what God says to the devil, he's talkin' about human offspring, these kids, this is what he goes on to say. He says, "He will crush your head "and you will strike his heel." Now, you may have never heard a message on this before, but I personally believe this is a prophetic calling on future generations, on young people, all right? And here, I want you to understand this. I'm not talkin' about all those young people that statistics tell us that fell away from the Lord, that fell prey to the devil like we see so much today, but I really believe that God has always raised up, and he is now raising up, a generation of young people to crush the devil's head. I mean, he's done that, right, in the past, I mean, that's the reason we're still here today. I still believe God's doin' that today. And because that's true, then I think the devil says, "All right then, if that's the case, "tell me what I'm gonna do. "I'm gonna stop those generations "before they ever get to me." And that's why you see all throughout the scripture, all throughout the Bible, the generations of how the devil has had to, how he has tried to stop and fight against our kids. Always you see this, that's why in Moses' day, go all the way back to Moses, and you see Moses as, you know, he's leadin' the children throughout the desert and all these kinds of things. Remember the history before Moses, all right, When Moses sort of, you know, he's given up on Moses to die, but the scripture says that the devil knew there was a deliverer comin'. I mean, he knows it, right? And he didn't know who he was, he just know he was comin'. And so that's why the devil put into the heart of Pharaoh to kill all the kids, and my goodness, I mean, only God knows they took 'em out and they threw 'em in the Nile, and all these children were drowned, and there were thousands upon of babies that were murdered in that river, and yet God spared Moses, the deliverer. And then in Jesus' day, you know, you see the same thing, right? The devil knew there was a Savior that was coming, a deliverer for his people. He knew there was some potential in that young seed, there was someone coming who had the potential to crush his head, and he said, "That's fine." So what'd the devil do? He put in the heart of Herod to murder all the babies, right, and thousands upon thousands of babies were murdered. I personally believe that's why you see the slaughter of innocent babies even today, because our enemy still knows, if he can murder 'em before they're ever born, then he takes them out before they expose him of all of his evil ways. And that's why we must always fight for the next generation, for our children, and we gotta do our best to raise our kids so they will not fall prey to the devil. You know, we have to raise a generation of kids that will fight against the devil and actually crush his head. Now, let me tie something else together here so you can understand it a little bit better. I'll get a little theological here, but just stay with me and we'll get to some practical points. I wanna break it down to where you can understand this. That's also why God is fighting for marriages to stay together today. I realize there's a bunch of people here today and they're listening online, watching on TV, hey, I get this. You've grown up in broken homes, you've suffered through divorce, and listen to me, I'm, I wanna be extremely clear. Our God is a God who forgives you, our God is a God of second chances. This is what I would say. If you've gone through something like that, hey, be forgiven and do your best to get better. But let me remind you, guys, that God says, "I hate divorce," and when you look at the Bible, there's not a bunch of places where God actually says he hates something, and here he says, "I hate divorce." Well, my goodness, why does he hate it so much? It's because it's just not about the husband and wife, in fact, what's going on between you, sir, and your wife, or you, ma'am, and your husband, that little skirmish that's goin' on, it's just not about you two. The devil has bigger plans than just the two of you. And guys, you need to hear this. The enemy is tryin' to, you know, just sort of let that trickle down effect of what's goin' on in your lives impact the kids that are in your home. And that's why it says over in Malachi 2:15, where God says, "Look, I hate divorce." And here's why God hates it, all right, look at what he says. "He's not the one God, "has not the one God made you? "Has not the one God made you. "You belong to him in body and spirit." "And what does the one God seek? "What does God seek? "He seeks godly offspring," godly children. "So be on your guard and do not be unfaithful "to the wife of your youth." God desires godly offspring, and that's the same word in the Hebrew that he used all the way back in Genesis chapter three. It's the Hebrew word that we translate in the English language seed. There's potential in seed. There is potential there, and the enemy was tryin' to create something in the family to destroy the seed, to destroy the potential, so that that seed never reaches its ability to grow. Godly offspring, that's what God wants. So he says, "Be on your guard. "Don't think what's goin' on is just all, you know, we can't get along. No, be on your guard, decide to fight for your marriage, because God says, "I wanna do something "to help you win the battle in your family." That's the reason the church is so important, right? It's just really important in today's culture when everything shouts to you, "Life is all about you." No, life is not all about you. Most of you know, Brenda and I have, we've got five kids, and we're still in the process of raisin' these kids, and I wanna tell you something. Guys, here's the truth. raising kids and fighting for my kids, honestly, I mean, it's the hardest thing I'm called to do. It's hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life. People ask me when I travel or go to other places and they hear about Highlands and they'll say, you know, "Hey Pastor, what's it like being the pastor "of a large church?" And here's my answer every time. It is not near as hard as raising five kids, I can tell you that. But I'm tellin' you, I've been in a fight. Not only that my kids would learn to love God and serve God, I'm in a fight for your kids as well. I'm in a fight for your kids, and that's the reason we've invested so much at all of our physical locations. We're tryin' to do the same thing online, in our HF Kids ministries. we've got incredible leaders, gifted people, we've got great curriculum, we provide fun spaces, and we're always looking for passionate kids, volunteers, and guys, I would just say, step up to the plate, volunteer and help us fight for the next generation, why? It is so important for our future. I'll also say this. Man, we're havin' a ton of fun raisin' our kids. I mean, we really are. Again, we just got back from the beach, you know, we had a little vacation together and all the kids came down to the beach. I'm not a big beach guy, but man, all of the kids are. I don't really care where we go if we can just all get together. And the older I get, man, the more cherish times like that with our family. It's the greatest part of my life. But I'll be honest with you. I'm concerned for my kids. I'm concerned for 'em at the same time, aren't you? Because I think about the struggles, I look back in my life than I had growin' up, and it was tough. I mean, I remember how the devil was always constantly just sort of makin' a play for me, always givin' me opportunities to sin, do somethin' wrong, constantly. You know, I felt like the enemy was just knockin' on my door, especially in my teenage years. You ever feel like that, just constantly being bombarded? You're tryin' to serve God. Man, you know, over here's the enemy sayin', "Hey, come on, let's do this," you know, "you ought to do this. "Life's about you." And now, you know, so many years later, man, I watch my kids go through this hellish battle and mine was tough, I mean, it really was, but man, my kids are goin' through a battle and your kids are goin' through a battle, if they're tryin' to serve God, that is at a whole other level. I mean, when I was young I at least had, I had to go lookin' for sin, right? I mean, I had to go, I actually had to go search for it. I had to go out and find it. Not today, no. I mean every kind of sin that is imaginable, most of us, including me, we have put this little rectangular device in the hands of our kids. Now it's called a phone, but they don't use it to call anybody, and in that phone they have access, my goodness, to everything imaginable. And I feel like I am constantly fighting for my kids, and to challenge them to serve God. And I remind myself that I don't need to be afraid, because sometimes you get so discouraged, you know, and you just feel like you're just losin' the battle completely, but I reminded myself of what I taught earlier in the message. Here's the truth. We don't need to be afraid of the devil. Parents listen to this. If you know Jesus Christ, "Greater is he that is in you than he that's in the world." Nehemiah taught this, right? I mean, look at this verse all the way back in Nehemiah. You know, he's buildin' the walls and he's buildin' the walls around God's city, Jerusalem. The enemy comes to attack them, destroy them, and notice what Nehemiah says in chapter four, verse 14. He says, "Hey, after I looked things over, "I stood up and I said to the nobles and the officials "and the rest of the people, 'Don't be afraid of them.'" It's the enemy, right? "Remember the Lord who is great and awesome." And notice what he says. "And fight for your families." Let me tell you somethin' guys. If you don't fight for your family, nobody else is gonna fight for your family. You don't fight for your kids, you're fooling yourself, you think somebody else is gonna fight for your kids. Fight for your family, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes. I refuse to be afraid of the devil and all his schemes and all his plans to steal my kids and your kids and grandkids, the kids in our church. And I'm gonna remember that our God is great and he is awesome. And I don't know about you, but I'm gonna fight for my family, and I wanna encourage you to fight for your family. I think we all gotta get on this game, guys, and we gotta fight for our marriages and our homes and our kids. Let me tell you somethin', church. Highlands, we're gonna fight for your kids. And here's what I need you to know. Every one of you, I don't even care if you're older in this, I need you to understand, if you're gonna make Highlands home, and that's what we ask you to do, I expect you in some way to join in the fight as all of us together raise up our kids to follow Jesus Christ. You gotta get in the game. We need you in the fight, because it is an all out hellish battle in our world today. All right, that's sort of the history, that's the passion. Let me give you four things, parents. I think the Bible teaches real practical here as we wrap this up. Four things, if you do this, trust me, you'll win the battle for your generation of kids. Here's the first one. Help 'em establish winning friendships. This is so important. Some of the most important decisions of your entire life are the friends that you choose, and when you choose your friends, man, it's gonna shape in so many ways who you will become. So let me be clear about it. You are right now, all of us are, the sum total of the relationships that we've been around up until this point in our life. I think every one of you can tell me the people who have impacted you, who have inspired you, for good or for bad, right? I mean, we can either be shaped for good or we can be shaped for bad. And we all know those people who have shaped us either good or bad. That's the reason here at our church we encourage you to be part of a small group of folks who are fighting for their families, who are fighting for their kids, who are thinkin' about the same things that God wants us to think about, and it helps us keep, be accountable for each other. So you gotta choose your friends wisely, right? I mean, you just do. You gotta be careful about the people you hang out with. And some of the most important decisions of your life are your relationship decisions. This is taught all throughout the scripture. Look in Proverbs 13:20. This is why Solomon says, "Walk with the wise and you'll become wise, "or if you walk with fools," what, "for a companion of fools suffers harm." There are so many good kids who get around the wrong folks, and you know what happens? They're in for a struggle for their life. It happens to us as adults as well, right? And look, I know there's some battles that you fight as parents, and some you may choose not to fight, but this is one I'm gonna fight every time. I wanna know what kind of friends my kids have. I'm gonna fight that battle. And I know, young people, that creates a little tension sometimes when you hear that, but listen to me guys, this is important, and you will be shaped by the people you hang around. Years ago, I preached the message, sometimes somebody will still text me, it was sort of the tagline. "Show me your friends, I'll show you your future." I believe that's so true. Fortunately for me, when I got saved at 16, I got around some folks who loved Jesus and followed the Lord, and man, I know that that is the reason I'm where I'm at today. So listen to me. One of the best decision you can make for your kids, okay, is to get them engaged in church. Now, think about this, parents. We get 'em engaged in everything else, don't we? I mean, the world tells us we gotta get 'em in this and we gotta get 'em in that. Oh, if they don't get in this, they're gonna be left out and blah, blah, blah. Hey, this is what you need to get your kids engaged in. You guys are watching online TV, get you, somehow get engaged online, get engaged through TV, get your kids engaged. And then I really wanna encourage you, get your kids engaged in an in-person gathering in a church, in our youth programs, in our children's programs, get your kids engaged. 'Cause here's the deal. This is the only other place besides your home that's gonna teach your kids to follow Jesus Christ. Nowhere else in our culture are your kids gonna be challenged to put their creator first and foremost in their life. That's the reason all of us need the Church. Now you're thinkin', "Well, you're a preacher. "I mean, that's sort of self-serving isn't it?" I don't care. It's what the Bible says, right? Notice what the scripture says. here in Psalm 92, chapter 92, verse 12, this is what it says. "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree. "They will grow like a cedar of Lebanon "planted in the house of the Lord. "They will flourish in the courts of our God." That's the Bible. You make a commitment to somethin', and you watch what I'm talkin' about. Your kids, your family, your marriage will grow and flourish when you're engaged in the house of God. So young people, listen to me. Make the right call on your friendships. Here's the second one, it's extremely important. I think we as parents and as a church have to help our kids understand their God-purposed design. Many of you are livin' out your life right now based on your mistakes, your past, your problems, all those bad relationships, so you're livin' out a script. It's not God's script, all right. You're livin' out your life with the wrong script, and any one of the greatest gifts that we can help you with as a church is to help you understand God designed you for a purpose, a unique purpose. Listen, every one of you, God has a plan for your life, and it's better than the plan you'll dream up for yourself. And we want every child that comes to Highlands Fellowship to know their God-designed purpose. Now, notice the scripture here. I love Paul. He's all the time talkin' to these guys who are intellectuals and they don't believe in God and they're skeptics, and he's tryin' to convince a bunch of intellectuals that God's real, and Paul says, "I've got an argument "for why you need to serve the real God." And here's the argument he used over in Acts 17. Look at verse 26. It says, "From one man, Adam, he made all the nations, "that they should inhabit the whole earth, "and he marked out their appointed times in history "and the boundaries of their lands." So this is what God said, this is what Paul was saying. God said, "I'm gonna put some of you in the 1400s, "some of you will be born and live in the 1900s, "and some of you, I'm gonna put in 2021." God did that intentionally. You also understand from this verse that God has placed you where you are, wherever you're listening from on TV and online, for those of you in person, you're in Southwest Virginia, God chose you for this. And not only did God choose, you know, when you would live and where you would live, but he has a God-designed purpose for you. Think about that, guys. Could it be that actually God picked me to live now and here. Why would God do that? Well, notice what he says in verse 27. "God did this so that they would seek him "and perhaps reach out for him and find him, "though he is not far from any of us." The truth is, your life is never gonna make sense until you talk to the God who has written a book on your life. God has a unique designed purpose for you, and the closer you get to God, the more your life will make sense. Here's the third thing. We have to teach our kids, our children, to put others first. There's something truly wrong in our culture today. we are seeing a generation of entitlement. What is entitlement? It is an obsession with self. And when we get obsessed with self, then all of a sudden we feel entitled, and entitlement always, 100% of the time, it will lead to ruin. One of the greatest principles that we can teach our kids and grandkids is to live their lives with a focus on others. Jesus did this, right? Paul did this. Notice here in Philippians chapter two, look at verse three. He says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition "or vain conceit, "rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, "not looking to your own interests, "but each of you to the interests of others." You know, if you make your life all about you, you're gonna have a miserable life, I'm tellin' ya. But if you start makin' your life about others and you begin to deny yourself and serve others, all of a sudden your life becomes worth living. Man, it's encouraging. That's what we need to do. Get over entitlement. The only thing that you don't earn is your salvation, right? The rest of it, God's called us to work, he's called us to earn things, to do good works, to serve, and to help others. Here's the last thing, and I think this one's so important. We gotta teach our kids to have a genuine faith, a genuine faith. We all know what fake faith, what inauthentic faith looks like. There's a lot of it out there today. Jesus spoke about it. He didn't like it very much. And notice what he says here in Matthew 15, look at verse eight. He says, "There will be a generation of people," and this is what he says. He says, "These people honor me with their lips, "they'll come, they'll sing songs, "they'll read scriptures, they'll go to church," but he says, "their hearts are far from me." Maybe that's some of you today. I'm not sure. You just grew up goin' through the motions. He goes on to say, "They worship me in vain. "Their teachings are merely human rules." Just following the teaching, but actually not knowing the person behind the teachings. Well, that's religion, right? That's not relationship. Christianity is all about a relationship. In fact, no matter what location you go to in person or any service that you watch online, if it's connected to Highlands Fellowship, I wanna tell you somethin'. We teach this at every opportunity that God gives us, we teach it over and over, the simple truth that all of us need a relationship with Jesus Christ. You do, you need one. So as I close, I just wanna tell you, guys, I am fine guiding for the next generation, and I make a commitment to you right now in the presence of God and every one of you guys that we're gonna do everything we can to win the next generation for Jesus Christ. We're gonna do it by helping 'em understand they gotta get some winnin' friendships, you know, they gotta know their God-designed purpose, they gotta live their life where they put others first, and we want every child to have a genuine faith in Jesus Christ. And I'm asking you to join me in this fight for the next generation today. Would you do that? Man, you're needed, you're needed. I trust you'll do it. Would you pray with me? God, I thank is so much. We have seen from the outset of how the enemy wants to wipe out and destroy our children. God, that war has been going on, we see it from Moses time, we see it from Jesus' time, and God, we seen it multiplied in our day. But the good news is, "Greater is he that is in me "than he that's in the world." And Lord, just like you've raised up generations in the past to crush the devil and his schemes, I believe, God, you are raising up a generation of young people and kids today that will continue to crush the enemy. And God, as a church, we wanna be a church that fights for the next generation, that helped them to be winners over the enemy, and to live a life where they know their God-designed purpose, where they got awesome friendships with others that love Jesus, where God, they truly desire to know you in a personal relationship, and Father, that you might use them in a way that will change our world. God, it's a fight. I mean, it is a fight, and I'm asking every Highlander to join the fight for the next generation. Now, you may be here today, and when I talked about genuine faith, you've just gone through the motions, and you've never trusted in Jesus, I wanna give you the opportunity. All you gotta do is just say, "Jesus, that is me, "and right now I ask you to forgive me of my sin, "come into my heart, and save me. "I wanna be a child of God. "Thank you for forgivin' me, "and thank you now for allowing me "to be a part of your family." If you made that decision today and you're watching online, just click that little raised hand button so we can celebrate with ya, write it down on your cards at one of our locations, and hey, understand today that all of us who know Jesus, we are needed in the fight so that we can raise the generation to crush the devil. I believe we're more than conquerors through Jesus Christ today. Thank you Lord, for what you're gonna do. In Jesus' name amen.
- And over in-person venues today, we have the opportunity to dedicate children to the Lord, and it's really an opportunity for our church to, and our parents to say, "Hey, we're gonna do everything we possibly can "to raise these children to know Jesus," and it's not a thing that, to where we say we're, we know that they have salvation, but we're gonna do everything we can to raise these children so that they might one day give their lives to Jesus, and we're gonna do all these things that pastor Allen just talked about. We're gonna fight for them to know Jesus. And so today, if you're watching online or you're watching on TV, we wanna give you that opportunity to join us in that, in praying for them, and we're gonna sing a song, Rachel and I, and we're just gonna pray this blessing over them, and we wanna ask you to just have a moment with us where we pray a blessing over all of those kids who will be dedicated, and, in this moment, at all of our live venues, but also, maybe there's a child in your life, maybe there's a child in your family, maybe there's a grandchild in your family, maybe there's an adult child who needs some spiritual influence. Maybe there's somebody who you wanna pray a blessing over today, a child who's in your life that you wanna pray over. So I wanna invite you to just take this moment and spend some time in prayer as you see some images of these kids who will be dedicated in our live venues and our in-person venues, and maybe there's someone who comes to mind that you'd like to pray over today. And let's just spend a few moments and pray a blessing, and pray a blessing over folks today.