Not On My Watch

“Not On My Watch!”

Ezekiel 3:16-21

1-4-2026 AM

I believe in Bible preaching, and I lean very heavy into “Expository Preaching” because understanding the Bible will help us to stand for truth.

But what are we teaching our young?

These last couple weeks I have had a thought that would not go away.

This will not be a normal “Sermon” because I am praying for a new normal concerning the Bible.

It is related to a story I read and I would like to share it with you.

Story:

I wish I knew 25 years ago what I've learned too late…

"My pastor's son just told him he's an atheist - and suddenly I looked at my 12-year-old and realized he can quote scripture but can't answer a single "why" question.

It was 7:32 PM on a Wednesday when Pastor Mike told our small group.

His son Daniel.

Homeschooled through high school.

Memorized entire books of the Bible.

Now a sophomore at a Christian college, telling his dad that "faith is intellectually dishonest."

Pastor Mike's voice cracked when he said it.

"He said I taught him what to believe but never taught him why any of it is true."

I drove home in silence, my hands gripping the steering wheel too tight.

When I got home, my son Caleb was at the kitchen table finishing his AWANA homework - filling in blanks about the twelve disciples.

I sat down across from him.

"Caleb, why do you believe the Bible is true?"

He looked up, confused.

"Because... it's God's Word?"

"But how do you know it's God's Word?"

Blank stare.

"Because the Bible says so?"

My stomach dropped.

"And how do we know the Bible is right when it says that?"

His face went red.

"I don't know, Dad. That's just what we believe."

Just what we believe.

Circular reasoning.

The exact trap that destroyed Daniel's faith the moment a professor questioned it.

I sat there watching my son - this kid who could recite Romans 8 from memory - completely unable to defend the most basic claim of Christianity.

The next morning, I tested him again.

"Why did Jesus have to die? Why couldn't God just forgive us?"

"Because... we needed Jesus to save us?"

"But WHY? What would happen if God just said 'you're forgiven' without the cross?"

Silence.

He had no idea.

He knew the story. He didn't understand the theology.

That Friday at men's breakfast, I brought it up.

Four other dads had the same story.

Kids who aced Sunday School.

Kids who got baptized.

Kids who couldn't explain why they believed a single word of it.

We were building a generation of Bible experts who would crumble the first time someone asked "why?"

I spent that weekend obsessed.

1:47 AM Saturday night, I was reading articles about Gen Z and deconstruction.

The pattern was everywhere.

Christian kids getting to college, meeting their first atheist professor, and having zero answers.

Not because they were rebellious.

Because they'd been taught WHAT to believe but never WHY it's true.

3:22 AM, I found myself on Daniel's Instagram.

Scrolling back three years.

Bible verse posts.

Youth group photos.

"Blessed beyond measure " everywhere.

Then freshman year of college, the posts changed.

Philosophy quotes.

Richard Dawkins references.

Then nothing about faith at all.

I could see the exact moment it happened.

Week 3 of his Intro to Philosophy class.

A post that said: "Turns out I can't answer basic questions about what I claim to believe. Maybe I never really believed it."

Sunday morning, I couldn't focus during the sermon.

I kept watching Caleb in the pew next to me, coloring his bulletin.

He looked so confident.

So sure.

But it was a house built on sand.

One good professor. One smart atheist friend. One hard question.

And it would all collapse.

That afternoon, I did something I'd never done before.

I asked Caleb to explain the Trinity.

He knew it was "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."

But when I asked HOW that works, he had nothing.

When I asked WHY it matters that Jesus is God and not just a good teacher, he guessed.

When I asked how we know the Bible wasn't just written by men and changed over time, he said, "I think someone checked?"

My twelve-year-old had spent eight years in Sunday School and couldn't defend his faith for sixty seconds.

Two weeks later, I was at Books-A-Million, standing in front of a wall of apologetics books.

William Lane Craig. Lee Strobel.

All way too advanced for a twelve-year-old.

I needed something that would teach him to THINK theologically, not just memorize better.

That's when I heard a conversation behind me.

A dad and his teenage son, maybe fourteen.

"So if someone says Jesus was just copying other religions, what would you say?"