The Power of Generational Impartation - Part 3

080420The Power of Generational Impartation 3

Tim Franklin

Bridging the Gap

Introduction:

Coming soon, April 24-26 is our second annual Making Room for Generations—Children’s Equipping Conference. I want to begin preaching into this conference so that we can maximize our effectiveness in receiving what God has planned for us.

Please do not think that this conference is just for children. It is designed to equip children but at the same time equip parents and grandparents in the art of equipping your heritage.
It is a conference for the whole church. Singles should be there—because you will be exposed to information and activations that could determine your children’s future. It also will better prepare you to serve at FCC regarding our children.
It is a conference for the whole family from Grandfather to grandsons/daughters.

I want to share with you today the power of imparting to your children the truths that help prepare us for life.

Impart—Gr. – metadidomi-to give, to share. To make know or disclose. To transmit to another.
Rom 1:11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established NKJV
1 Thess 2:8 we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. NKJV
I want to talk to you about imparting to your children and grandchildren. I believe this to be one of the most powerful tools we have as adults and yet one of least used when it comes to our faith.

Successful impartation to the next generation creates bridges for the generations to connect.

Concerning the generations, gaps are used in defending a position.
In warfare, gaps are used to create distance between you and the enemy. Ie. Moats, rivers, swamps, mountains, etc.
Satan has swept generations away at times because the generations have promoted gaps rather than bridges.

1 A Vision for One Generation

It is the will of God that the generations be connected. And there is a calling going forth both in secular and in the Christian community for the connecting of the generations.

i. Sociologist are seeing the effect of the breaking down of the generations and its impact upon our communities. George Barna has been talking about this for over a decade as he has addressed the needs of the Boomer, Buster, Gen Xers and Gen Yers.

ii. God has always had a plan of working through the generations that interact with each other rather than isolating themselves.

iii. In fact, one of the titles God gives himself is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is a multigenerational God.

Throughout the Word of God the righteous declare that their purpose is to declare the glory of God to the next generation.

i. Ps 71:18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come. NKJV I will declare Your strength and Your power.

ii. Ps 145:4 One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts. NKJV

Satan plan is to destroy the generations

i. 2 Tim 3:1-4 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, NKJV Some would read this and abandon all hope but God has other things in mind.

ii. Mal 4:5-6 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 6 And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse." NKJV

iii. God’s plan is that at the same time the world appears to be at it very worse the church will be at its very best.

1. God is already at work restoring the generations, knitting them back together for his Kingdom purposes

2. He is restoring a one generational mindset again. Hold on to that thought because I will show you this from scripture in a few minutes.

Closing the Gaps

Illustration of wheat: As a child, my grandfather would give me freshly harvested wheat to chew. It would be crunchy in your mouth but after a few minutes it would become like chewing gum. A lump of dough in your mouth. Later he showed me how to do this myself. He would pull a few heads of wheat off the stalk and then show me how to get the grain out head of wheat and out of the chaff. You would literally grind the wheat together until the grain was loosed from all that held it back. God is using our difference, as generations, and is grind us together for a purpose. The very thing that rubs you the wrong way in the other generation is the very thing that God will use to separate the wheat from the chaff in our hearts.
How to please God. This may sound silly but it is probably the greatest gap in the church. And it probably creates the greatest rub. Each generation will have a totally different answer to that question of ‘How should we please God?’ for example:

i. What are the limits one should keep, as they reach out to a lost and dying world?

ii. The issue of legalism that masquerades as holiness?

iii. The issue of true holiness that is misconstrued as legalism?

iv. How tolerant is the Lord of our cultural blind spots?

v. What are His greatest hates? Prov. 6:16-19.

vi. What are His greatest loves?

Three things to do to close the gap.

i. Love God/Jesus with all your heart soul mind and strength.

ii. Love each other.

iii. Live daily being intimately lead by the Spirit to do the first two.

1. Jesus did away with the rule book and demonstrated a life lived out by the first two rules. As He obediently followed the Spirit he caused the law and the Spirit of the law to embrace and thus fulfilled the law and the prophets.

2. That is what makes him our champion! You cant argue with the simplicity of his faith! And that is what he is pointing the generations back to.

How do we get there? Die! You have to die to yourself.

i. To the older generation: If you are being rubbed the wrong way, don’t be offended, you need to be quiet, go pray, allow the Holy Spirit to work on your character and see what God is doing in the following generations. Be a peace maker.

1. It will require that some of you die to your cultural ways. To do so is painful because in so doing you lose your identity.

a. The good news is—you find His.

b. Are you willing to lose who you are so that Christ may be formed in you?

2. It will require you to allow others the grace to arrive at the place you are spiritually without judging them for their appearance or lifestyle that is unacceptable to you. We do not want them conformed to rules we want them conformed to Christ with a passionate love they will guard as a treasure.

3. You cant expect instant maturity.

ii. To the younger generation: If you are being rubbed the wrong way, don’t be offended. You need to keep your mouth shut, go pray, allow the Holy spirit to work on your character and see what you can learn from those who went before you. Be a peacemaker.

1. You need to remember the encouragement of scripture in these passages.

a. Eph 6:1-3 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise: 3 "that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth." NKJV

b. Deut 32:7 Read up on what happened before you were born; dig into the past, understand your roots. Ask your parents what it was like before you were born; ask the old-ones, they'll tell you a thing or two.(THE MESSAGE)

c. Heb 13:7-8 remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. NIV

2. There is wisdom in the older generation. If all you are doing is defending your view you are missing an abundance of wisdom and understanding gain from those who went before you.

a. Their standards are for your protection. If you look deep enough you will find there are good reasons for their standards.

b. There is nothing more foolish than a youth who thinks they have seen it all.

c. Holding the standard of the past generations does not constitute a religious spirit.

One Generation the result of no Gaps

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; NKJV

i. This is speaking of one generation that spans centuries of time

ii. In God there is no time therefore He sees his people or those who call upon His name as one people.

iii. We are the same generation no matter what age we live in.

Ps 24:3-10 Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive blessing from the LORD, And righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face. 7 Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. 8 Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. 10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory. NKJV

i. Again the picture is of one generation

ii. There exists a spiritual generation that has nothing to do with your date of birth.

iii. It is those who are of Jacob- we have been grafted in by faith in Christ Jesus.

Acts 2:17-18 And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. NKJV

i. The generation that Peter addresses here is the same generation that we belong to—those who seek His face.

ii. Therefore let us not look at each other in the flesh but after the Spirit of God that is within us.

iii. Let us intentionally mingle with other generations, yielding to the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion:

Isa 58:12 Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. NKJV

Isa 58:12 You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past.

You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. ( THE MESSAGE:)

Pastor Tim Franklin, 4/19/2008