You are called to break down the walls between age groups in your community by actively serving alongside those younger and older than you. Start by volunteering in children's ministry or mentoring the next generation to show them God's love firsthand. When we unite across these divides, we create a powerful legacy that impacts generations to come.
It's a blessing to be the children's pastors at this church, my wife and I, for the past 5 months. You guys don't know this, but look, we've had to spend like way too much time with pastor Courtney and pastor David, like more than we want it. Okay? And he is the same person that you see on the stage. Okay?
As he is in the staff room. Okay? As he is on the street and at his home. It does not get any more real than pastor David and Courtney. Hence, the name is "Real Church".
And, it has been a blessing and an honor to be a part of this church and to be on this staff. And so, it's awesome. My heart is full this morning to be in front of you guys, and not just once, but twice. Right? But my wife, she's she's over watched some kids right now, but we've been on this journey for the past 5 months, and you know, I was a youth pastor for several years and she was When we were married, you know, she was there helping me, but it's been This is different.
Okay? This is different. There is nothing more beautiful than being with your spouse side by side, moving in the calling that God has placed on your life. It is an amazing thing to see what God is doing in her and watching her do it. God.
So the only regret, okay, the only regret about my wife is that I didn't marry her sooner. That's it. Because look, we met in Clearwater 2005. We didn't start dating till 02/2013. Okay?
It's Yeah. There was something wrong with me. It wasn't her. It was on my end. Okay?
But again, thank you guys for today. Being with the children for you know, all the kids taking care of the real church kids, there has been just a "weight on my heart" for the generations. Our God is the a generational God. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Alright?
And when when we hear that the thoughts and the idea that he is a generational God, some of you it clicks and it makes sense. Right? Because you're in this room today because of the prayers, because of the decisions that were made by your parents, your grandparents, and great grandparents, there is a legacy of faith that brings you into his presence today. Amen? Amen.
I gotta thank my grandparents who grew up in New York City, you know, Spanish church. I'm Puerto Rican. And because of the decisions that they've made, my children are here today to learn about God, to be in that relationship with him because of the seeds that they sowed decades ago. And then there may be some of you that are in this room that you are the first person in your generation to come into that relationship with God. And that's a powerful thing because the excuse me.
The decisions that you are gonna be making today are gonna be impacting *generations* and the people all throughout. And so we can't discount that because *God* loves every single generation. Okay? And so how how are we gonna be addressing? How are we talking about the generations today?
Did you know that in the world today, there's as much as 5 generations living at a time. Okay? And for the sake of our message today about embracing the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we're gonna be focusing on those 3. Alright? And so for this, I will need some participation.
Alright? So I want we're gonna start with our Jacob generation. If you were in the Jacob generation, you would be between the ages of 20 and 40. Okay? If so that's you, I need you to raise your hand.
Okay? Alright. Cool. You can look around guys to see who's who's also there. Alright?
So then after that, we're going into the Isaac generation. That is 41 to 60. Okay? The Isaac generation, if that is you, I wanna see some hands. Amen.
Look, it's okay to raise your hand. No Somebody knows your age. Alright, guys? Man, I feel like people are like Alright. Okay.
And then finally, this is where it gets good. The Abraham generation. Those 60 to 80 and even higher. Alright? If that's you, yes.
Okay. Alright. Alright. We must unify the generations. We It has to happen because John-17 Jesus said, it was Jesus words.
I gave them the glory that you gave me that they may be 1 as we are 1. I in them and you in me so that they may be brought to complete unity. The *generations* must be unified. Yeah. And it's so important because there is a war happening.
There is war going on in our culture today. They want us divided. Yeah. Want us separated and everybody in their boxes. Why?
Because it makes them more money. It gets them more influence over that. And what And you can see it in social media, on the internet, every part. So what happens is the older generation, they look down on the younger generation. Right?
And they they say they're weak and mentally unstable. And then the younger generation, they look towards the older and they shake their fist at them saying, the world is the way that it is now because of what you have done to it. And so then we have the very little ones. Right? They're growing up and their role models are people on the internet.
This cannot be so. Because when Satan saw this, when Jesus said these words, Satan knew division it is. I will divide them, and then that creeps into the church. We cannot have that happening. And this is why it weighs on my heart, church.
This is what God has been has been putting on me for this past 5 months. We must there's a challenge today. Okay? I wanna there's a challenge I'm putting out to you. Okay?
That we must refuse to be "generationally selfish". We must refuse and there's a term for that. Okay? It's called uni generational. Uni generational.
And what that means is all about my generation. Okay? Specifically, own. If we look at 1 Peter-2:9, okay, this is a famous scripture. He says, you are a royal priesthood, a chosen generation.
Right? And then people take that scripture and they say, it's my own generation. This is just for me. And so the Jacob generation looks at that scripture and it's like, it's us. We're the ones.
We're the ones who are gonna bring about the next move of God. And then the Isaac generation says, no, not you guys. It's this is for us. And thus vice versa, and we look and there's infighting and they we cannot have that happening. Because when you think about it, right, this is the family of God.
And if you're in the Jacob generation, you will not stay there for long. Okay? You're gonna get to 40. Right? And then you get Jacob becomes Isaac.
Isaac becomes Abraham. So you'll Don't get comfortable in the generation you're in because you will be moving to another spot eventually. And so what I'm gonna do today, I wanna point out a few scriptures. Right? Few areas because there's the question is why does this matter?
Yeah. We know we're supposed to be together. What's the big deal? I wanna point out a few specific scriptures. And then I got there's this there's a there's a story in the Bible that it's it's terrible.
I'm just letting you know. It's just It's terrible, guys. And you You'll see. You'll see. We'll get there.
Okay? But I wanna start with *Exodus-3*. We're starting with Moses. Because *God* reveals himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Because we know God has names for him.
He when he reveals attribute in a character of who he is, you know, Jehovah Nissi, you know, the Lord my banner, Jehovah Jireh, my provider. There's many different names of God because our God is so big. Right? Just 1 name can't can't hold him. And so 13 times in the Bible, God refers to himself as the God of Abraham, Jacob or Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And so what we're gonna be looking at right here in Exodus is the very first time. The first time he he reveals himself in that way. And so just the lead up to where we're at, we have Moses. He's going for a stroll in the desert as we all do. Okay?
And he comes across a bush that is on fire, but it's not being consumed. And so Moses says, I gotta check this out. I need a closer look as to what's happening. Right? And as soon as he gets up to that bush, it says when the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, *God* called to him from within the bush.
Moses, Moses. And Moses said, here I am. Don't come any closer, God said. Take off your sandals for the place where you're standing is holy ground. So we're stopping right there.
Stop right there. Okay? So Moses comes up and God says take off your shoes. Because the ground, the very ground that you are standing on is holy because I am also standing on that ground. I'm in this bush.
I don't know about you, but if I heard that, if God said this is the holiest moment that has ever occurred in your life, take off your shoes, I would get riled up. Right? I'm like, oh my God. Oh, wow. Because what's happening next?
*God*, what are you gonna say? The next words that are coming out of God's mouth, I need to know what they are. Because this is a "holy moment". This is important. And what is the first thing?
What's the first thing that God says? He says, I am the God of your father. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. That's the first thing he says. And so the we know if some of us know what happens after that.
Right? He says, you know, let my people we're gonna deliver my people from Egypt, all that stuff. When we read the Bible, sometimes we just need to slow down. We just need to slow down and pause because we run over what God is saying to the next thing, and we don't let it run over us. Because this is huge.
This is a this is a powerful statement right here. Look, just to paraphrase what God is saying in that statement. He looks he's talking to Moses says, look, throughout the generations, there have been false gods, little g gods that have been trying to impact and to move through generations. And he says, I am making a statement right here that I'm the 1 who creates the generations. I'm the 1 who gives life to the generations.
I'm the 1 who moves through all the generations. He he says, I'm the God big g. I'm the God of all those things and they don't even come close to who I am. And what does Moses do right after that? Immediately after he hears God say those statements, he hides his face in fear because he knows how big this is.
He knows that his life is about to change, that it's gonna this is going to impact the world forever. *God loves all the generations*, Every single 1 of them, and it is his desire to move through each and every 1 of them. And so look, well, let's go to another part of scripture, and this this is a famous 1. Okay? This is *Joel-2* 28 and 29.
Why is this important? The God of generations because he said he would pour his spirit out on all of them. So for looking at Joel, it says, and afterwards, I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams.
Your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit in those days. And again, we we look at who it's pouring out on, but the big deal is God's spirit poured out among all people. Everyone. And this shatters every expectation.
Look, this is in the Old Testament. Then Peter, once again in Acts, refers to this scripture, right, at the day of Pentecost. This is shattering all societal rules because he says not just your old people, not just the old men and women, but the young ones. And then he brought in the servants too. Okay?
He says, now it's gonna be your servants, both men and women. The spirit of God being poured out among the generations. And I gotta ask this, what good is it if you only spend time with 1 generation? Let's think about this. Okay?
In this aspect. If the if the spirit of God is is split up among the generations, 5 generations on the earth at a time, that means that each generation is getting a fifth. Okay? A fifth of the oil of heaven. And if you were to get just 1 portion of that, that is 20%.
And in school, if you got a 20% grade, what is that? That is a "failing grade". This is why we should be reaching out. Have being in relationship with the other *generations* because it is powerful. There is so much to learn and so much to see.
1 of the greatest problems in the church today is that she has multi generational services filled with generationally selfish humans. And I need to get to that this story where it's just not good. It's a terrible 1. K? This is 2 Kings-20:16-19.
King Hezekiah. Okay? So King Hezekiah, he gets some guests from Babylon. And, this is a big deal. This is a much bigger nation than the nation of Judah.
Right? It's huge. And so, they wanna come and they wanna see how Hezekiah is doing. And, he goes into full pride mode. I mean, he's showing them every part.
Everything is like, okay, let's go to this room. Look how much treasure I have over here. Look how much people in my armies there are. He's he's he just gave them "full access" to every part of the kingdom. Right?
And then Isaiah, the prophet has a word for him. Isaiah said to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord. The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all your predecessors, all the things that your predecessors have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left says the Lord. We're stopping right there for a second.
Okay? If you heard that, if God spoke to you and you made a mistake and you heard everything that you have, even the stuff that your ancestors had collected, it's all gonna be gone. What would your reaction be? Okay. Cool.
I'm fine. Or would you cry out to God? Would you get on your knees and say, God, I'm so sorry. Just be so repentant for the mistakes that you made just got. God, I I'll do anything that I possibly can so that this does not happen.
Is that what you would choose? Remember you said that. Okay? Remember that. Because he's not done.
Isaiah is not done. He says, and some of your descendants, so not only all the possessions in the nation. He says, and some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Again, stopping. Now now they're going too far.
Right? This is is too much. You took my stuff away. I was okay, but now you wanna take my kids? There's no way I would be okay with this.
There's not a chance. Would you not get even lower? Would you not just just your the tears would flow and you know, in in biblical times, what did they do? They "tore their robes". You know, they put dirt on their heads.
All anything they could possibly do. God, please. If you made a mistake that would impact your children, and your children would have to suffer for those things, I would be it would be crazy. I would just go nuts. Like, God, please do something.
I'll take it. I'll take that on. And so what was Hezekiah's response? The word of the Lord you have spoken is good. Excuse me?
What? How is this a good word? Does that make any sense? Well, in Hezekiah's mind it does because look at the next phrase he says, for he thought, will there not be peace and security in my lifetime? This is the temptation of every generation.
Pleasure for me, suffering for them. This is exactly what we're saying when it comes to being generationally selfish. He said, at least there's gonna be peace for me. Whatever happens to my kids and my possessions, as long as I'm okay, we're I'm fine with that. And look, I hate to get political in this, but I gotta go there.
The state of our nation right now and the way it is is because in America, we have been kicking the can down the road, printing money constantly. And the only people that are suffering are our children's children. This is what happens when we only think in the moment for ourselves. This is completely This story is against the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. A healthy human owns what they must own for the rest of their family.
Life in a fallen world is a divine treasure hunt where some of the most valuable kingdom treasures you will ever find in this life will be found by doing life with the generation that is not yours. Let's think for a second. What if God promised you, okay, that every time you sat down with the generation that was outside of yours, whether younger or older, that you would receive something significantly spirit spiritually significant valued at more than 1000000 dollars. How often would we then overlap lives with each other? Does it not say in Proverbs how the wisdom is more precious than gold and silver?
There is something spiritually super there's something supernatural that happens when you choose to overlap lives with someone that is from another generation. And Satan wants to screw that up constantly. Because when you think about it, each generation speaks a slightly different language than the 1 before it. Like, as of as of recently, I just learned what the word cap means. Okay?
Because when I'm growing up, cap was the hat that you wore on your head. That's not what it means anymore. It means the lies that you tell. That's cap. And, it's funny because when I was younger, the older generation I would hear them say how I speak.
That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Right? And I said, no, you're the dumb 1. And now, look, I'm not too old, but yeah, I'm getting old. 37 years old, I look back and I see even my young son.
He's only 7 years old. And he starts explaining some things to me that I learned like, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I'm nice to him. Right? So I don't say that's like, okay, son.
Good good job. Yeah. That sounds good. But I I in in my mind, I'm like, nope. That's not for me.
Okay. But look, here what I wanna do, I wanna give you 4 quick ways. Right? That we can that we can connect with other generations, and then we'll we'll pop into Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob really quickly as we go through. Right?
So 1 of the things, if you're wanting to connect with that other generation, first thing, the first thing you have to do is see their strengths. You cannot view the other generations through any other lens except this 1 first. Because if you look at them and view them any other way, it's gonna lead to frustration. Second is see their weakness. Guys, this is good for any relationship.
Right? Because I mean, if you're in a marriage, you know, if you're in boyfriend girlfriend, whatever it is, if you look at their weaknesses first, that's terrible. Right? It's not gonna go it's not gonna go well because you need to see their strength, their God given strength, and then you look at their weaknesses. Then we leverage their strengths.
That's 3. Because they've been empowered by the Holy Spirit to do things specifically, and so why would not take what's strong and then help them to do better. And then finally, use your strength to do something about their weakness. For very simple steps that can get very expensive. And so for this next section, we're gonna look at Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Right? And we're gonna look at some strengths and weaknesses for each of them. And so let's look at the Abraham generation. I'm just gonna read just a little portion of it because in Genesis-12:1 through 5, we have it says, the Lord said to Abram, go to your country, your people your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. Okay?
Just stopping right there. Because right after that he says, I'm gonna make you a great nation. But the very first thing he says is, you have to leave where you're at. Okay? Leave where you're at.
God wants you to try new things. God is doing a new thing in this world, and it doesn't matter what age you are. Because Abram was 75 years old when God called him to go. And then he was 90 whenever he was gonna have his first child. God cares more about your willingness than your age.
Even though he was old Abraham was still willing. Right? Because we in the scriptures we've seen Abraham say, God, I don't even know how this is possible. I'm old and you're gonna say my my descendants are gonna be as vast as the seed that doesn't make any sense. But I trust you God.
But I still trust you. Being old is never an obstacle for God. He desires a willing heart. And so some of the strengths of the Abraham generation is wisdom. Wisdom of God earned through walking with God year after year.
It's powerful. So that's 1. Right? Wisdom. And then their testimony.
1 of the most powerful things of the Abraham generation brings to the table, it is the testimony of *God's faithfulness* and power. What's a weakness? Right? Our bandwidth and our history. Notice how I said our.
Right? Our. Even though I'm not in the Abraham generation yet, I'm gonna get there. Okay? We're move we will be moving into those things because this is what the family of God looks like.
Our bandwidth and our history. Because when it comes to bandwidth, you're not able to do in this Abraham time period. Right? You're not able to do the things that you did when you were younger. Right?
But that means God is calling us to be more of a specialist than a generalist. To do specific things for what what you can. And then also history. Now, you may ask, well, if the testimony is a strength, how can the history be also a weakness? The temptation in the Abraham season of life is that when you have seen the testimony of what God has done, power of God lived out, A testimony is to believe that that is the way God will do it, and that is the only way he can do it going on to the future.
This is the beauty of 80 year olds sitting with 20 year olds. The 20 year olds can look to the 80 year olds, and they can see that God is still faithful. He still does things, and it still works. And then the 80 year olds, they look to the 20 year olds, and they can see God is doing a new thing. This is the this is the beauty of the generations being connected and being unified.
I'll say 1 last thing for that for the Abraham generation. It is also tempting to think that you don't matter anymore because you've hit a certain age, and that you can't be useful. Let me just let the young people they're doing a great job, they're they got the passion. Let me let me just let them do that. They don't wanna hear from me.
Do not be quiet, Abraham generation. Amen. Do not be quiet. Amen. Because we need to hear from you and don't quit.
I was speaking with an older gentleman just some weeks ago and I told him, I said, there's so much wisdom that you have, that you've been given. I need you to take care of yourself so that other people can hear it too. Come on. We need you around as long as we can.
That's right. Because
*God still is gonna use you to impact all the generations*. Amen? Let's go over to the Isaac generation, and look, when it comes to Isaac, there was all sorts of drama with Isaac. Holy moly. There's mean, he was if if we're looking at *Genesis-25:27* through 28, he's remember, had 2 sons, Jacob and Esau.
Esau was a skillful hunter. Right? And then but Jacob liked to "stay back". It said Isaac who had a taste for a while game loved Esau, but Rebecca loved Jacob. He was playing favorites.
Thank God that God doesn't play favorites for the generations. His ways are not our ways. Thank you so much for that. And then when we come to Genesis-26:1 through 7, we can see that Isaac is making the same mistakes that his father had, Abraham. Because it says when the men of the of that place asked him about his wife, he said, she is my sister because he was afraid to say that she is my wife.
He thought the men of this place might kill me on account of Rebecca because she is beautiful. He's repeating the same mistakes that his father did. And you may be in here right now, and you and what you're doing right now and how you're living, you see those mistakes and the it seems like the sins of your parents are just repeating, and they're active right now. God has called us to be a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come.
*Jesus* is in your heart and we're to be look, your parents may be great. They're not perfect. Jesus is the perfect 1. And so we should be striving not to be our parents, but to be God. Be like Jesus.
And to take every thought captive because those thoughts, they wanna destroy you and pull you away from who God has called you to be. And we cannot let that be. Okay? But look, when it comes to the Isaac generation, many view between the 40 60 to be the prime of your lives, of our lives. Right?
Because now we're able to be we're able to take on more weight. We thought we could take on weight in the Jacob season, but we've actually that weight was crushing us. Right? But now we've gone through the tests and the trials, and now when we're coming into this Isaac generation, we're able to do more. Some will have the most strength and stamina in the room, the ability to carry more weight, carry more weight.
But then we look at the weakness and that tends to be selfish and distracted. Terms like "strike while the iron is hot". Okay? Many spend the time during their prime quote unquote chasing the things that matter the least at the expense of what matters the most. We become distracted by our goals rather than focused on our calling.
*God is doing a work in each of the generations* in that Isaac season while you're you're building your life and it's it's getting into it's maturing. We can we cannot be all about ourselves and all about our generation. We must lift up. Right? Lift up the young lift up the Jacobs and Josephs while also seeing the wisdom of people who have gone through that before.
It's a powerful thing. And finally, we're coming across Jacob. Right? So in Genesis-32:24 through 30, it says, so when Jacob was left alone and the man wrestled him with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
Then the man said, let me go for it is daybreak. But Jacob replied, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Look, the Jacob generation, they got tons and tons of energy. Okay? We have tons of energy.
That's 1 of the strengths and also a strength is the future. Because in the Jacob season, okay, you have so much time to live out and to learn from the other generation, not make the same stupid mistakes that they did. Right? It just makes sense. It also, wisdom says that in this season to have more friends that are in the other generations than in your current 1.
Because how is someone who's 25 If you're 25, how is someone who's also 25 gonna tell you how to live their life also? You need someone that's 25 years older than you That's right. Yeah. Who's been through it, who's lived in those situations. And so 1 of the 1 of the weaknesses, right, it is untested and immature.
It's the principle of generations because you may be in the Jacob generation today, but you won't always be. Right? And we can and those of us who have who've gotten up in age, right, we can look back to our younger years. Look, I'm not in the Isaac I'm almost there. I'm 37, but I can still look back when I was in my twenties and say, what was I doing?
Why was I acting like that? Right? Those terrible decisions. I'm laughing now. Right?
And so, it's okay to make mistakes. Right? Knowing that God is gonna take care of us and because he will strengthen us, we're going through some of the toughest *battles* in that Jacob season. Because we're trying to figure out our calling. Right?
Where God wants us to be. What's the job we're supposed to be doing? What's my purpose? All those things in the Jacob season. But God is with us, and you don't have to do this alone.
You have the other generations. They're there for you. And so I I wanna hit on something at the very last. So we're almost done right here. But how many Jacobs have been propelled forward in their God given calling because of the *prayers* of the Abraham and Isaac generations?
Church, it is my desire. This this maybe doesn't make any sense, but I don't care. Okay? It is my desire that every single person in real church, every adult, would at least 1 time serve in kids church because we must raise them up. We must.
The younger generations they need to know who Jesus is. Who is gonna teach the 6 year old about the parting of the Red Sea And that miracles, they happened in the Bible, they still happen today. A few weeks ago, I was serving in the elementary first through fifth with Robin Doka, and she told of a miracle that God did while she was on the mission field in Africa of how they had a flat tire in the middle of nowhere in Africa, and then all of a sudden the tire was reinflated by God. Those kids were able to look and say that's amazing. It still happens today just as we're reading and teaching them those things in the bible.
And then, I'm holding little babies. Okay? Little infants, and they're crying and they're asking for their mothers, but I'm able to pray over them, and and say, God loves you. He cares for you. He has a plan for your life, even as I'm wiping butts.
We must raise them up because there's a war going on. The culture wants our children. They want all the generations for themselves. And it is us. It is our responsibility to raise them up.
Church, I need you. I have 3 young children. My son who's 7, daughter 5. I'm a youngest who's turning 2 next month. It takes the family of God to raise the children of God.
They're gonna be going through battles. They don't even understand what's coming yet. And it is up to us to be there for them, to raise them up in the way that God has called and to show them the miracles and things God has done in our lives. They may be the generation that brings in the next move of God, and we cannot act like he's not coming back again because he is. He cares for all the generations, church.
Every single 1 of them. And it is so important that we we get that, and then we band together. And so it's each generation reaching for the next 1 because taking their wisdom, lifting up the people that are coming, the Jacobs, the Josephs, and bringing them along and showing them what God has done. It's powerful because Satan is so scared. He is trembling because when the people of God link arms together, "storm the gates of hell", and we take back what he's stolen from us.
That he has no chance. But it's up to us. Amen? Amen. Amen.
That's all I got.
Yeah. "Praise the Lord". Powerful word. I wanna tell you how revival happens. Throughout generations, a lot of times, this is the way.
People say it starts in the young ones. It starts in the younger generations. That's where it's first visible. But it actually starts by the prayers of the older generation. The older generations begin to get unselfish and love the younger generations in prayer.
And then as an answer to their prayer, *God, the Holy Spirit's poured out on the younger generation* in passion. And then the younger generation begins to honor the older generation. The older generations disciple and help to sow in character and direction. And the older generations are then catch the passion of the younger generations. So it's it's their sowing in character and learning passion.
And so there's a synergy
that happens.