Preparing for the Future

Well, thank you, Mr. McNamee, and good afternoon once again to all of you. You know, brethren, one of the most difficult things for us as humans is preparing for what's to come in the future. We talked a lot about this issue when I was in education. We talked a lot about how the rate of change in society, the way that society's change occurs, it actually is changing so rapidly, it's practically exponential.

The things have changed so quickly that as every little bit it becomes more and more and more and more and more change as time goes on. We actually talked about what that meant for us as educators because we were trying to prepare young people for the world, but we couldn't necessarily predict where that world would be in eight to ten years.

We couldn't even necessarily predict what was going to exist as far as careers, as far as needed technical skills, as far as any of those things, eight to ten years out after that middle school student had gone through four years of high school, four years of college, and maybe two years of postgraduate work, what would that world look like? The only certainty we knew is that ten years out it was going to look a lot different than it did before. Think back ten years ago, 2024, that's wait, that's this year, 2014. Think about how different the world is today than it was in 2014.

Think about that. As a result, it made it really difficult for us to prepare kids for a world that we weren't even certain about. In fact, we were trying to train kids for careers that didn't even necessarily exist yet. We were trying to get them ready to go into a career that hadn't even been created yet. For example, those of you that have been around for a while, would you have ever predicted the need for social media managers? For literally someone who sits and manages someone's social media, whether or not that is a corporation or a person or whatever, would you have predicted that ten to twenty years ago?

No way. Would you have predicted that sometimes those people can make six figures managing a business or managing a celebrity's social media? Would you have predicted the need for big data analysts or big data? You take a look at how the world has changed. Cloud computing, app developers, UAV operators, drone operators. Ten to fifteen to twenty years ago, that wasn't a thing.

And yet it is today. And it's a necessity today in many capacities. Wind turbine technicians. What? Right? Things change. These are jobs that have really only become huge and relevant and needed in the past ten to fifteen to twenty or so years. Things change. Issues shift. Technology develops. And it can be a real challenge to be able to predict exactly where things are going to be. In fact, we used to joke when I was in education that it was like shooting at a moving target while you were blindfolded on horseback.

Like you just don't even know where you're aiming sometimes. So what we did, the whole reason I tell that story and bring that up, is what we determined educationally was that our focus needed to be a lot less on producing people who did specific jobs, which is kind of what it was before, into more focused on the skill sets that have a much wider range of application across a wider range of career options. So for example, we began focusing on critical thinking, problem solving, written expression, verbal expression. Doesn't matter if you're a drone operator, doesn't matter if you're a social media manager, carpenter, plumber, whatever it might be.

Those things are universal needs across the board of what that is. There's individuals, groups of individuals, think tanks, so to speak, that keep an eye on trends to try to kind of predict what was going to be coming down the line. You may have heard, oh, ten years from now, nursing's going to be huge. So a whole pile of people go into nursing, and then ten years later nobody needs nurses because it's flooded.

So there's groups that keep track of these sorts of things sometimes. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're dead wrong with regards to trends and technologies. Flying cars. Where's my flying car? They were dead wrong. It's 2025 almost. We don't have flying cars. Not yet. Not yet. It's really hard to know exactly what's coming for certain. And so as a result, you do the best you can to prepare for that which is to come.

You do the best you can to prepare for what you have to work with. Try to at least meet those challenges the best you can head on proactively as opposed to waiting for an event to occur and then reacting to that event. I'd like you to start today turning over to the book of Genesis. If you would please, over to the book of Genesis. Genesis 41. We're going to see the example here of Joseph. Genesis 41, we'll see the example of Joseph here. Joseph was a young man.

He was around the age of 17 when he was sold by his brothers to a caravan of traders that were bound for Egypt. A group of traders coming through the desert. His brothers had tossed him into a pit, thought about killing him, decided, well, let's not kill him. Let's make some money. Let's sell him to some traders and we'll have a little bit of money here in the process.

They were upset over a series of prophetic visions that Joseph had been provided by God. They were mad because those visions showed his family, all of his family bowing down to him and foretold a time when they would come to him for their sustenance and ultimately bow to his authority in Egypt. Genesis 41, we see this story develop and you can skim along if you'd like here.

You can follow along if you'd like. Genesis 41, we're going to go ahead and pick it up in verse 17 after Joseph has been thrown into prison and after he's had the experience with the butler and the baker of Pharaoh. So those situations he was tossed into prison after the situation with Potiphar's wife. He met the butler and the baker of Pharaoh. He was able to, God provided him with the understanding of their dreams.

They promptly forgot who he was, didn't manage to mention it to Pharaoh after they left. But a couple of years later, he was called before Pharaoh to do it again. And that's where we'll pick it up in Genesis 41 and verse 17. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, behold, in my dream I stood on the bank of the river. Suddenly he says seven cows came up out of the river, fine looking and fat and they fed in the meadow.

Then behold seven other cows came up after them poor and very ugly and gaunt. Such ugliness as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt and the gaunt and ugly cows ate up the first seven.

They ate up the first seven, the fat cows. When they had eaten them up, no one would have known that they had eaten them for they were just as ugly as at the beginning. And Pharaoh says, so I awoke. He says, also I saw in my dream and suddenly seven heads came up on one stock full and good. And then behold seven heads withered thin and blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them. The thin heads devoured the seven good heads. And he says, I told this to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me. There was no one that was able to provide Pharaoh with the interpretation of this particular dream.

He goes on in verse 25 and we see Joseph respond to Pharaoh. Verse 25, Joseph said to Pharaoh, the dreams of Pharaoh are one. God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years and the seven good heads are seven years. The dreams are one, he says.

The seven thin and ugly cows which came up after them are seven years and the seven empty heads blighted by the east wind are seven years of famine. This is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. Indeed, seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt.

But after them, seven years of famine will arise and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land because of the famine that follows it. You imagine a famine to the degree that you could forget completely that times were ever good before.

That is what he is saying. That these good years that had come before would be forgotten because of the level of those bad years. That they would be so bad that all the abundance of before would ultimately be forgotten. It says, and the famine will deplete the land. It says, so plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following for it will be very severe.

And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice, Joseph says, because the thing is established by God and God will shortly bring it to pass. So God reveals the meaning to Joseph who then reveals it to Pharaoh that seven coming years of bounty were predicted followed by seven years of famine. And God tells Pharaoh things are going to be good for a number of years. You don't have anything to worry about. There's going to be plenty of food.

Be plenty of wine. There's going to be plenty of everything. But he says there is a coming time where all that's going to dry up. Livestock are going to die. People are going to die. And the famine is going to be severe. What Joseph tells Pharaoh to do is to be proactive. Joseph tells Pharaoh to be proactive. Verse 33, he says, now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this and let him appoint officers over the land to collect one fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years. And let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh and let them keep food in the cities.

Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land, for the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt that the land may not perish during the famine.

And Joseph tells Pharaoh, store up a small amount of produce each of those successive years, one fifth of the incoming harvest essentially, each of those seven years, and keep the food in the cities. Keep them stored in the cities and prepared for those years of famine that were going to be coming so that the land would not perish. You know ultimately, Pharaoh, at least this Pharaoh, seemed fairly reasonable. You know, you listen to what Joseph said.

You know, he sees that he recognizes the wisdom in that statement. He says, you know what? That's a good idea, Joseph. You do it. Right? Joseph, he recognized was someone wise. He recognized God was working with Joseph. I don't think Joseph was angling for it. It doesn't sound like he's saying, ooh, pick me, pick me. I think he just told Pharaoh what Pharaoh needed to do and Pharaoh said, you're the guy for this job, Joseph. You do it. So we see Joseph placed over that task in Pharaoh's eyes. And as we see ultimately as the story progresses, the very vision that got Joseph thrown in the pit in the first place is fulfilled through Jacob and his sons coming to Egypt for food when they bow down before Joseph as the second in command, so to speak, of Egypt.

God declared the end from the beginning. God often does that. He declared the end from the beginning. And through a series of prophetic visions, he provided a focus for Joseph. He provided a focus for Pharaoh. He provided a focus for the people of that region.

Suddenly they knew there were times coming that were challenging and they had a reason and a focus to be able to prepare for those times. Turn with me please to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 29 and verse 18, we see a scriptural principle that's put in place that is one that's very important for us to consider and one that's very important for us to keep in the forefront of our own minds.

Proverbs 29 and verse 18, often as humans, we need something to kind of point our bow at, so to speak. We need something to navigate towards, to keep a focus on, to keep us kind of moving in a general direction. Proverbs 29 and verse 18 speaks to this concept. It speaks to this idea in mankind. Proverbs 29 and verse 18 says, where there is no revelation. Some of you, your Bibles may say vision, where there is no vision. Where there is no revelation, where there is no vision, the people perish, some translations say, or the people cast off restraint.

Notice there's a second part of that, but happy is he who keeps the law. Most folks, often when we see this quoted, more often than not, we stop right after that first part. We stop right after the first sentence. Makes the point that vision is important, you've got to have vision, it's essential, and then they go on to try to sell their vision, right, and what is that you should ultimately follow. And then the follow-up passage, which is directly connected to the first, happy is he who keeps the law.

Happy is he who has the law as that focus, who has the word of God as that focus, who has perhaps even direct revelation or prophetic revelation. But what we see as we go through scripture and what we see as we go through examples in the Bible, when people do not have that focus, they cast off restraint. They cast off restraint. You don't need to turn there, you can if you'd like, you can follow along with the story.

But the events of Exodus 32, many of you are familiar with the events of Exodus 32, and it's an example of this very thing taking place. Moses goes up the mountain to meet with God, he goes to receive the Ten Commandments. He was up there for a while. Okay, Moses was gone for some time. The people of Israel assumed Moses was gone. He's toast. God killed him. He's gone. What are we going to do? And so they turned to Aaron and they said, Aaron, make us a God. Make us something that we can worship. Provide us with something. And so we see Aaron as they were concerned that Moses was dead, he collected and melted down their golden earrings, and he made a golden calf.

He formed a golden calf. As the horrible excuse of the Bible says, this calf just popped out. I don't know what happened. I stuck the golden there and then boom, out came this calf. So the people were left with idle hands.

Can't get it? Idle hands. All right, that was pretty bad. That was a real bad pun. But they weren't left with idle hands. And so they come to Aaron and they try to get Aaron to do something that Aaron should have known better. Aaron should have understood why this wasn't okay. But instead, we see Aaron form the golden calf, we see him build an altar, we see him go as far as having the audacity to proclaim a feast to the Lord, and then we see the people of Israel sinned against God.

But Exodus 32, verse 25 reads as follows. Now, when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained, is the term that is used in the New King James version, that the people were unrestrained, for Aaron had not restrained them to their shame among their enemies. So this had to do with a loss of vision. It had to do with a loss of focus. It had to do with what happens when that focus and vision is lost.

The people cast off restraint. Moses is gone. What do we do? But the people of Israel cast off restraint. They lost sight of the vision. They lost sight of what it was that was guiding them. The law of God, they lost sight of what God's expectations were, and they were no longer pointed in the right direction, having gone after that now, which was not godly. It's an interesting word picture that's created here. You ladies, you'll have maybe a greater understanding of this, perhaps, than the gentlemen in the audience.

But the word that's used here for casting off restraint, so the word root in Hebrew that's used for casting off restraint is the Hebrew word parah. P-A-R-A-H, there it is, parah, without the consonants, obviously, in Hebrew, but that's a transliterated term. And it's the same root that's used in Proverbs 29 verse 18.

It's the same root for unrestrained. What it means is to let go or to go out of control. So it means to let go or to go out of control. Now what's interesting about that is as languages change, right, English has words that were used in one context many, many, many years ago and are now used in a different context.

Ooh, that's bad. That means cool now, everybody, in case you were curious. I don't think anybody's using that anymore. You know, 100 years ago, bad meant something different. Today it means something different. Words change, meaning as time goes on. What was interesting is this term of to let go or to let free or to go out of control, parah, contextually in later Hebrew was used to describe the unbinding of someone's hair. So someone had taken their hair and they'd put it up into an intricate ponytail or an intricate hairstyle and had bound it, had restrained the hair back into certain restraints.

When they removed that, now that hair was unrestrained. It could go anywhere. It could do anything. And some of you may realize on staticky days, sure enough, you pull that out and blah, you know, it does whatever it wants to do in that sense. But when it's unrestrained, that hair goes wherever it wants. It is no longer being restrained. It's no longer being held in place. It's no longer being guided, so to speak, in that sense. So the word of God, as we see in Scripture, the word of God or direct revelation from God gives people something to focus on.

It gives them something to be connected to. And as a result, they're all bound together in that purpose. As a body of believers, we are all guided by the word of God. We're guided by the Spirit of God that leads us. We're all being governed by a system of commandments. We're all being governed by a need to put on Jesus Christ. And as a result, that puts all of us traveling in the same direction, so to speak. We recognize the same guardrails. We recognize the same road. We recognize the same direction. And all of us are moving along in the direction, similar to what Mr. Miller was speaking about this morning. We're all singing harmonious notes, so to speak, such that when there is a discordant note you go, ooh, that doesn't sound quite right.

Or you see somebody walking in the opposite direction. When everybody's going this way, it kind of stands out, right, in that sense. But we are going in the same direction toward God's kingdom as we build character and as we ultimately continue to become more like Jesus Christ. That's one of the things that guides us. It's one of the things that guides us. When I was in the classroom, one of the topics that I used to teach was the topic of magnetism.

Some of you have taken physics, you've studied electricity, you've studied magnetism, you probably have a decent amount of knowledge on this particular topic. But it's a fascinating topic. Magnetism is really interesting. It's actually been around for a really long time. It was originally kind of described and I won't say discovered because I don't know that they necessarily discovered it, but it was described by the Greeks.

Theilis of Miletus actually wrote a little treatise on lodestone. He discovered a stone that had some naturally magnetic properties, and so he noticed that it attracted to iron and to other lodestones. So he wrote this a little bit about that. But ultimately what was determined was there are only certain elements that form what we'll call ferromagnetic items that exhibit magnetic properties. That's iron, nickel, and cobalt. It was the only three naturally occurring elements that distribute those things and their alloys. So those particular things show magnetic properties. In a lab, you can create a couple of others, neodymium being one of the most popular.

You're probably familiar with neodymium magnets. It's a rare earth alloy that they've used to make magnets in a lab setting today. They're not naturally occurring. They're in a lab setting. What was also discovered as time went on is that there's a direct relationship between electricity and magnetism that you can take and you can actually magnetize an item that is made of these elements by passing a current through it.

You've probably all done the experiment and if not, you haven't. Your kids probably have.

You take a 16-penny nail, you big old framing nail, you take a length of wire and you take a AA battery and you coil the wire around that nail all in the same direction. You hook up the battery terminals and, bada-bing, now your nail is an electromagnet. Why that works isn't always fully understood. Why that works, why that direction between electricity and magnetism in that sense. Inside of that little iron nail, all of the atoms of iron in that nail belong to what are called domains. There are little groups of atoms that are in there that have similar electric charges because of their electron positioning. So, everything's got an electron. They've got certain position of electrons. They have certain domains that have different charges. What happens when you pass an electric charge through it perpendicularly through that wire is it forces all of those domains, which normally are completely random, vibrating in different directions, they're moving around, they're not all lined up. When you pass current through it, it forces all those domains to line up in the same direction. And now suddenly you have a positive on one end and negative on the other. Well, that makes it magnetic. That provides a north and a south. You unhook the mag or you unhook the battery, knock the nail on the table a little while, and it won't do anything after that until you charge it again, or you don't charge it rather, but you run the current around it again. Those domains can be arranged in certain ways. Those domains can be moved. They can be shifted. In the case of an electromagnet, without those domains all pointing in the same direction, that item cannot be magnetized. It does not have efficacy unless it is all focused going in the same direction.

Those domains are doing different things, and when they're all over the place and they're vibrating around and they're not all pointing in the same direction, all that nail is good for is framing a house, which is a good thing. That's a good thing. Picking up paper clips with a nail is really a secondary use to a nail. But without those domains being aligned in the same direction, there can be no real collective efficacy. When you align them up and when you align them, now you have something that has an extremely interesting new property that it didn't have before that we consider collective efficacy, the ability for a group to work together toward a common goal. In that spiritual analogy, if we kind of bring that down to the spiritual level, so to speak, or perhaps up to the spiritual level, it speaks for us needing to all be on the same page with God. It speaks to us all on that kingdom focus, working to overcome and live this way more effectively. And the more that each of us individually are aligned, the more we are aligned as a body because we're all aligning in the same direction. That's the goal, right? We're all aligning in the same direction. If you would turn with me, please, to 2 Corinthians 8. I want to take a look at an example in Scripture. We actually went here a few sermons that we didn't go to 2 Corinthians 8. We went to the other mention of it in Acts 11. But 2 Corinthians 8 is like the back end of the picture, so to speak, where Acts 11 is the front end. We went through this in the sermon that I gave shortly after I got back from Africa as we were talking about the needs that are taking place there. And I was showing you an example of a time in Scripture when this had been done. What I'd like to do a little bit, though, is to explore the back end of this to see the mindset that's there. As I mentioned in that message, Jerusalem experienced a pretty significant famine in the year 45 and 46 AD. It was during Claudius's reign. Claudius had decimated the crops in Mongolia, decimated the crops in and around Judea. There were a whole bunch of—there was drought. I mean, it was like just a pile of different things. Death of a thousand cuts, and Jerusalem got hit really, really hard. Jerusalem got hit very, very hard. This particular famine was predicted by Agabus, who was a prophet, and that prediction is in Acts 11. You can jot that in your notes if you'd like. Acts 11, Agabus comes and says, this is what's going to happen. He tells everybody. And that famine not just affected Judea. It affected the entire world.

That was a huge famine. But they were hit particularly hard. Josephus actually records that there were many in Jerusalem, he said, and this is his words, who died for want of what was necessary to procure food. So not only was there a famine, it was an economic crash as well. So as you imagine, suddenly the bottom goes out of the market, so to speak. And as often happens, a wheelbarrow full of money can't buy a loaf of bread kind of thing. So you have this situation that takes place.

And Agabus gave his prophecy in Antioch. So Agabus' prophecy actually took place in Antioch. And when the people of Antioch heard what was going to happen, they put together of their own volition, just quickly put together this big collection to send to the brethren that were in Jerusalem. Well, 2 Corinthians 8, where we are now, 2 Corinthians 8, has the Apostle Paul's words to the brethren in Corinth as he reflects back on this.

And as he's thinking about this, and as he takes up a second collection ultimately that took place from the Gentile churches in that area, 2 Corinthians 8, he talks to this need and their part in it. He says in verse 8, 2 Corinthians 8 and verse 8, he says, I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that through the—did it again, I need to get my eyes checked—that though, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. And in this, Paul writes or states, I give advice.

It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began, speaking to this desire for collection and were desiring to do a year ago, but now you also must complete the doing of it, that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have. For if there is first a willing mind, it's accepted according to what one has and not according to what one does not have. For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but by an equality that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance may also supply your lack, that there may be equality.

Verse 15, as it's written, and he quotes here Exodus 16 verse 18, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack, referencing back to the miraculous manna that God had provided to his people. Paul makes the point that if the brethren focused on the vision and on the mind of Christ, who for their sakes became poor, that they might become rich through his poverty, he says that he encourages them to show their love for others as Christ showed his love for them.

And that ultimately they would then follow through on what they decided to do earlier, that in their abundance they might supply that which others lacked, and that ultimately that would be done through the spirit of Jesus Christ's care and provision for others. He got at this idea that their vision, their focus, their mindset, that which guided them, that they were utilizing the mind of Christ, that mind and that love of God, is that thing that focused them into desiring to help.

He goes on in verse 16. Verse 16 as he now moves into the administration, to some degree as he's moving into the administration of this particular gift as the Judean saints have been collected for. Verse 16 he says, thanks be to God who put the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus, for he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent he went to you, it says, of his own accord.

We sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches, and not only that, but who was also chosen by the churches to travel with us with this gift. And you got to think about this, like Paul didn't have a pocket full of checks, okay, it was this collection here. This was not a pocket full of checks, this was chests of money on the roads at that point in time as he was taking these things to Judea. It may have been food sources, it might have been sacks of grain, it might have been in the middle of a famine.

He was painting a target on their backs just traveling these roads. He goes in, he says, that was also chosen by the churches to travel with us with this gift which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord himself and to show your ready mind avoiding this that anyone should blame us in this lavish gift which is administered by us.

They're talking about how they have the ability to now go and administer it, but providing honorable things, verse 21, that not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of men. We've sent them with our or sent with them our brother whom we've often proved diligent in many things but now much more diligent because of the great confidence which we have in you. If anyone inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you, or if our brethren are inquired about, they are messengers of the church, the glory of Christ, therefore show to them and before the churches the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf.

And so he sent this, I imagine, group of people, you know, as they go, among which one was Titus. I imagine Titus walking in the front, just all scary so nobody comes up to rob the van, probably not, or the caravan.

But he speaks to that love that Titus has for the brethren in Corinth. He speaks to them being chosen to travel with this gift of collection for the brethren in Judea as that gift was ultimately going to be administered. And those church congregations in Macedonia initially of their own accord and then later kind of a result of Paul seeing the need and realizing the need to do it again, he administered a drive ultimately caring for those brothers in the faith.

But they gave of their abundance to care for those who were in need. And this is not about another collection. This is not in the least bit about that. What I'm trying to illustrate is what can be done when there is a common focus and a common goal and a common mind.

We think about what do we have in abundance. There's a lot of things that we have in abundance, not just talking about money. We're not just talking about charity in this case. We have an abundance of the truth of God. We have an abundance of the truth of God. There is going to be a time that is going to be a famine of the word. In which case, this truth of God needs to be stored up. It needs to be spread. It needs to be grown for that time coming when there will be a famine of the word.

We have in this room an abundance of wisdom in living this way of life. You've done it for years. Now I mentioned in the pastor's corner this morning there's an old farmer's insurance commercial slogan that says, we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. You living in this room, you've seen a thing or two as you've lived this way of life and as you've focused on God and as you've navigated this world.

You've seen the changes. You've seen how it's shifted. Those things are valuable. They're valuable. We have the ability and abundance sometimes, not always, of time, of energy, perhaps of skills that we're able to share, that we're able to provide for one another. So it's not just money. It's not just charity. It's not just these sorts of things. There are abundances that we have that we can provide to others in their lack. But it's a testament to what can be done when everyone's pointed in the same direction.

Just like that iron nail, when all the domains are going in different directions, sometimes things don't get done. But when you can unite and bring all those domains going the same way until they're aligned, so they're focused on the mind of Christ and really focused on that love that God calls us to, we're not able to do the things that we often need to do. We mentioned a couple of months back the need for cross-generational connection. We talked about that need for cross-generational connection.

We talked about bringing back this program decades ago that took place where there was like a pen pal, basically, between older members and younger members. And it needs to be cross-generational connection that's not just haphazard. It's not just random. It's not just organic in the sense that somebody decides, oh, I'm going to write a letter so-and-so.

Even though that's happening, sometimes to make something like this work, it has to be structured. There has to be a focus. There has to be a drive towards it. So we are going to be restarting that program. We're going to be going through and looking at getting that taken care of. In fact, the hope is to have the first letters flying in the month of January. The hope is that'll be coming up soon. In fact, there are sign-up sheets on the back table today.

I'm going to soak those for the next couple of weeks. There's one for adults. There's one for youth. Please youth, get parent permission before you sign up on that. But there's one for youth. There's one for adults. Please make sure you sign up on the right one.

Check to see that it says adult list on the one versus the other one. For those that are younger participants that want to participate, we're going to make the minimum age on this go around the age of eight. So eight and up for that. And the reason being is because what we're wanting to share is specific things about living this way of life. Things about, you know, there'll be prompts each month that come out.

One for the older person, one for the younger person, or a couple for the older person and a couple for the younger person. With the idea of this month, here's the prompt. You know, here's the thing that we're writing about. Here's the thing that we're sending so that we can get to know one another better across those generations. As I, you know, mentioned the last time, I strongly encourage our teens to participate. There is no better way to learn how to live this way of life than to talk to somebody who's done it.

There's just no better way. No amount of reading, no amount of going through the process of like studying it. You have to talk to somebody who has the experience and somebody who's been there. So I would strongly encourage our teens to participate and get those names on the sheets on that back table after services today. And just right back over there. And again, parental permission, please.

Make sure you talk to your parents before you sign up. We have opportunities to work together to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have opportunities to work together to preach the gospel. You're going to receive a survey before the end of this year. It's an online survey that we're putting together here locally that asks your thoughts on some ways we can do that, some methods that we can do to make that happen, how we can get behind spreading this message that God has given us more effectively this coming year.

Talk about some things congregationally that we might be able to get behind and might be able to do that enable us to do that. Again with the goal of getting all behind and driving in the same direction, these efforts can only be successful if we're all pulling in the same direction.

If we see and we understand the same vision, whatever we determine. But if we see and we ultimately understand that same vision. Now we also realize that these sometimes can be our own personal desires. They can sometimes be things that we desire and they sometimes can be things that God might not desire. And so there's a recognition that we need to be seeking God's will in these things. Turn with me please to Proverbs 19. Proverbs 19 verse 21. Proverbs 19 verse 21.

I often thought, you know, if Solomon had ADHD, he would have used different stronger words than this. Proverbs 19 and verse 21. Proverbs 19 verse 21 says there are many plans in a man's heart. If you had ADHD, many, many, many, many plans in a man's heart. But nevertheless, what we see is that the Lord's counsel, it says, that is what will stand. You think about life, you think about what you've got going on, you've got lots of plans, you've got lots of things, you've got things that you want to do, things that you want to put together. But I think we all recognize at the end of the day, it's God's will that stands.

And there's times where the plans that we have, they don't go against God's will. There's times when the plans that we have, you know, God has that same will for us and it works and it's great and it's wonderful. But seeking God's will in all of these things is critical. There's a principle that we can see if you turn to Acts 5, we'll go ahead and turn there here for the last passage here today. Acts 5, we'll go ahead and turn there. God's will is critical. God's will is absolutely critical in these things. And Agabus, Gamaliel, speaks to this in Acts 5. As you're turning over to Acts 5, we'll pick it up in verse 34. But there's been some backstory that gets us to this point. Peter and the apostles by this point in Acts 5 have been arrested for speaking the truth of God. They have gone out and they have talked about Jesus Christ, they have talked about how he was the Son of God, they've talked about the resurrection, they've talked and preached the gospel. And ultimately, the Sanhedrin, in the process of that, working many miracles, being esteemed by many of the people, so the people had quite a high esteem for Peter and the apostles. Sanhedrin, not so much. Sanhedrin, not so much. So the high priest and the Sanhedrin plotted, they took Peter and the apostles by force, says they laid their hands on them. That means exactly what you think it means. They beat them up, they smacked them around and grabbed them and put them into prison. It says they toss them into prison, kind of into a common prison. As the story goes, God sent an angel, opens the prison doors, let them out, tells them to go to the temple and to speak to the people the gospel message. Okay, you let us out of jail? Yes sir. So off they go. They go right back into the temple to teach and to preach, right, you know, where they were essentially arrested prior in that sense. And when the Sanhedrin sent to the prison to have them brought before them to be questioned, they were informed that they weren't there. They were actually in the temple preaching and teaching. So they go and they collect Peter and the apostles, they bring them before the high priest and this is where we see this now famous we ought to obey God rather than men statement that comes in. Sanhedrin became very upset, oh very upset at that comment. They were not pleased. And so they plotted at this point to put Peter and the apostles to death. I want you to realize what we're really saying here. They brought them before them. They didn't like the answer and they said, you know what, it's just going to be easier to kill them. I think we'll just kill them. That was the current plan. So at that point we pick up verse 34. At that point Gamaliel stands up. Gamaliel stands up. He's a very notable, very respected rabbi at the time. In fact, Paul studied under Gamaliel. And when Gamaliel is the kind of person that when Gamaliel stands up to speak, people listen, right? I mean, you know people in your life that are like this.

Person of probably few words, but when they speak the room hushes and people listen. That was Gamaliel. That was the kind of person that he was. Acts 5 and verse 34, this is what is recorded. It says, then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, teacher of the law held in respect by all the people and commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while. So he moves them out of the room and he said to the men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. Gamaliel basically tells the Sanhedrin, guys, this isn't a good idea. This just isn't a good idea. For some time ago, Thudeus rose up claiming to be somebody. It says, a number of men, about 400 joined him. He was slain and all who obeyed him were scattered and it came to nothing. After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew many people away after him. He also perished and all who obeyed him were dispersed. He says, verse 38, now I say to you, keep away from these men. Let them alone. For if this plan or of this work is of men, it will come to nothing. But if it's of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest you be found to be fighting against God. Gamaliel tells the Sanhedrin, let alone, don't intervene. If it's of God, Gamaliel tells him, you won't be able to stop it. And if it's of man, it's going to take care of itself. It will fade away and it will ultimately not become anything. We take a look at the plans that we have. We consider the things that we want to do. If it's in line with God's will, it's going to happen. God will enable it to happen, provided we put the work into that process. Ultimately we see that if it's not, it won't. It won't. The fact of the matter is, we really don't know what the future holds. We have certain waypoints that God has put into place prophetically. We have certain things that God has provided that let us know events that generally are coming into the future. But the how? The who? The when? These are all things that are elusive to us, scripturally. Similarly, to the example that we began with today, we're trying to work to prepare the next generation spiritually for a future that in some capacities is unknown. It's unknown. We know they'll face challenges. We can see at least a scope of what those challenges look like in Scripture, but the specifics like Paul said, it's like looking through a glass starkly. The preparation has to in some ways be general so that they are prepared for whatever eventuality comes down the pike. That spiritual preparation, like the relationship with God, prayer, study, opportunities to serve, opportunities to help others, to integrate into a more meaningful role in our church family includes physical preparations, training them in the skills that are needed to serve in these capacities. We've heard plea after plea after plea. We need help on the sound crew over and over and over. If you're able to help on the sound crew, we need help.

We need help. Young people, we need help. Old people, we need help. We just need help for a variety of things. We need help for a lot of things, but here's the thing. We need to be mentoring. We need to be building these things with our young people. We need to be giving opportunities to build relationships with our young people. We need to be providing them a place that feels like a home, whether that's a home home, a physical home, or whether it's just a place that feels like home. It feels like a place for them to shelter in when those storms come. But you know what's really difficult at times is we look at all of those things. You know what's really challenging sometimes is to know what God's will is in it. Is Christ going to return in my lifetime? I don't know. I don't know. I'm sure a lot of you that have been around a whole lot longer than me have thought about that same exact question. And as you're hitting your sunset years, you're starting to wonder the same thing. Is it going to happen in my lifetime? Is it going to happen in the lifetime of my children? I don't know. I have no idea. When Christ returns, will we be as a church body settled and stable? Or will we be nomadic? Will we be moving from place to place to place? I don't know. I have no idea. Will God grow the body of Christ between now and the end? Or will the church continue to be winnowed down with time? I don't know. I honestly don't know. What I do know, brethren, is that these are the good times. These are the years of abundance. Right now are the years of abundance. I want to ensure, as we prepare, I want to prepare as though Christ will not return in my lifetime and then be thankful and surprised if and when he does. But I want to prepare in such a way that the next generation is taken care of and that it's cared for and that this work can continue and that this way of life can continue, like we talked about a couple of weeks back, that that baton can be handed from one to the next.

And that ensures that the next generation, we have to ensure they're spiritually prepared. We have to ensure they're physically prepared. We have to ensure that the work itself is getting done. We cannot say with certainty, with absolute 100 percent certainty, exactly what's coming. Again, we can get an idea. We can see dimly. But what we do know is that we have been instructed to preach the gospel as a witness to the world and we have been instructed to make ourselves, as the bride of Christ, ready. Together, all together, with a common vision, a common mindset, a common focus, our minds centered squarely on God and Christ, we can prepare for the future. We can be proactive in that process so that that gospel can continue to be preached, that the next generation can be prepared until the coming of our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ.