Exodus 3:15 - God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers - the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob - has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.’
Psalms 78:3-7 - (The) things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us, we will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.
He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.
- As Moses, the deliverer of Israel, was about to be born: ”Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile” (Exodus 1:22)
- As Jesus, the deliverer of the world, was born: ”When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under” (Matthew 2:16)
Through history, the church’s greatest challenge has been passing the baton.
Matthew 20:1-7 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
The new gen has to be actively invited. Our approach toward them has to move From ’welcomed and appreciated’ to ’essential and needed’
Genesis 21:18 - Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.
Including the new gen means giving it our best support, to lift them up and take them by the hand as they walk into their destiny.
Throughout the Bible and history, there are so many great examples of generational connections, but also tragic stories on when this support and inclusion has not been there.
Matthew 20:7 - “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
The generational church should be a green house for the seeds inside the new generation!