Giving God To The Next Generation

Intro: everything I needed to know, I learned in Kindergarten. Share everything, play fair, don’t hit people, put things back where you found them, clean up your mess, don’t take things that are not yours, say you’re sorry if you hurt someone, take a nap every afternoon, hold hands crossing the street, stick together. This is all so good, but the most important thing is left out, theology. Who is God, where did I come from, is there life after death, is there such a thing as heaven. Moses stood before Israel, and gave them the command from God, to train the next generation in theology, so that the next generation can teach the next generation and the next generation to serve God.

GIVING GOD TO THE NEXT GENERATION

DEUTERONOMY 6:1-16 a

The other day someone asked me if we sing hymns at Bethel and my response was this: we have a variety of music and worship, because we want the next generation to know the song, Amazing Grace.

We want our children to know who we are and what we stand for!

Here is what we learn about God in these verses:

I. God is Awesome—v. 2 feared or respected or awed

1. if you are going to be awed by anyone, God is the first one you should consider. Some people are awed by people of success or people of popularity, or people who have excelled in sports or some other venture. But God is the only truly Awesome one, and we need the next generation to understand who He is.

2. God is awesome, and scripture gives these statements about God-

· Genesis 1:1- God is creator—now that is awesome, He created the heavens and the earth. Everything that is made, was made by Him.

· John 4:24—God is Spirit—He is a spiritual being and we must worship Him in Spirit. He isn’t carnal, fleshly or worldly, He is a Spiritual being, who only relates to man through Spirit and Truth.

· I Peter 1:16—God is Holy—He cannot sin, He cannot lie, His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts higher than our thoughts.

· I John 4:16—God is love—agape love—perfect love, everlasting love, His love is unconditional, He loves us before we loved Him.

II. God is Good—v.3 He desires the best for us, He desires to bless our lives.

· God wants to bless your life, God wants the best for you. He has good plans, good thoughts toward you.

· God wants to bring you somewhere—He has a plan, purpose and will for your life.

· Every good and perfect gift comes from above—James 1:17—God doesn’t give you anything that is bad for you.

Ill) wrong theology of God—God is out to get you, God is waiting for you to mess up so He can punish you, God doesn’t want you to have any fun or enjoy life in any way.

III. God is it—6:4 theology 101

a. there are no other God’s beside our God—all other God’s are made up God’s, God’s of wood and stone. God’s that can’t speak or hear. Idols that can do no one any good.

b. God of Covenant, God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob—Israel. If you wonder why the Jewish nation is so despised, if you wonder why Christianity is so hated, it is because we declare one God.

c. All roads don’t lead to the same place. If you believe that, go to the Atlanta airport, take any plane, and say they all take you to the same place. It just doesn’t work that way, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, no one goes to the Father except through the Son.

IV. God is Jealous—v.15 Now this doesn’t seem to fit the other categories of God. All the others seem good, but this doesn’t seem like a good thing, but it is a true theology about God.

a. He won’t accept being number two—Ill) Lauri getting call on our first date, I said, tell him your busy, for the rest of your life.

b. God won’t appear on the bachelorette—He won’t let you kiss everyone else and then decide. He demands a one love relationship.

c. If you don’t love Him with all your heart, you don’t love Him at all---v.5

Close: we need to give the next generation good theology. Everything we needed to know we didn’t learn in kindergarten. We need to see the power of God and that God can do anything, even the impossible things He can do.

Here is a great example: this is a true story---a preacher had a kitten that climbed up a tree. The tree wasn’t sturdy enough for him to climb and nothing could cokes the kitten down. So the preacher got this idea. He tied a rope to the tree and also to his truck, and decided he would pull the tree down little by little until he could reach the kitten. But the rope came lose and flung the kitten airborne. He looked everywhere but the kitten was no where to be found. A few days later he noticed one of his neighbors at the store buying kitty food who he knew was not an animal lover. He said, so you bought a kitten, she said, not exactly preacher, but you can’t fight God. She said, her daughter asked for a kitten and she said, we aren’t getting a kitten. She said her young daughter went into the back yard and prayed, and preacher, right out of the sky this kitten came flying down, so you can’t fight God.