Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] To begin with today, I want to show you the picture of what we would consider our first ever VBS at Ashland Church.
[00:00:11] And you see there, there's a group of folks gathered, I think it was Irvin McDowell park around 2010, 2012 in June for our first VBS. And I haven't counted the number of kids in the picture, but it's not as many as we will have this week. You probably count a lot more adults there. You probably noticed that is Clay over here.
[00:00:37] His hair is a lot different.
[00:00:41] And there he is. Clay's always, always been center stage at vbs.
[00:00:48] And this was the first round of clay in the Claymations there.
[00:00:53] Grant and Tyler. This was in the building over here on Fox Lane, where we had to divide the building into like two corridors because of the H VAC system was in the middle, and we had to knock out walls. And so half of the congregation sat on one side and half on the other, and they didn't even see. It was like two churches we were preaching to at once.
[00:01:16] And then you'll see how kind of VBS grows or has grown around here over the years. This was here on South Keeneland when we were having VBS there. And you kind of see it gets bigger, bigger every year.
[00:01:45] And then the picture kind of stays the same, but there are a lot more people in these pictures.
[00:01:50] So this week, I think we already have over 200, maybe 250 pre registered for VBS. And I want to show you that just to be reminded of God's grace.
[00:02:03] VBS was one of the first ministry efforts we ever took part in here in Madison County.
[00:02:10] And there's some of you that have been involved in every VBS since, been a part of this strategic ministry.
[00:02:20] And every year this week is kind of a celebration of one of the staples of. Of our ministry as a church. It's not just vbs. VBS is a tool, and it's a tool to call the next generation to hope in God, but it's a celebration of how God has used our church to do that over the years. As you've seen the numbers grow and you've seen how God has blessed, it's important that we remember that. And we celebrate.
[00:02:53] We celebrate that God has given us a responsibility, children, the lives of kids to steward well. And we never want to forget that, that this is what God is doing.
[00:03:05] And Psalm 127 helps us to understand why we do this.
[00:03:10] Not just why we do vbs, but why we do children's ministry and why we put so much time and energy into this week.
[00:03:20] Why? We labor for months, and we will be exhausted this week. And then we'll wonder, should we ever do that again? That was exhausting. And then next year we'll do it again. And it just kind of goes and goes. Why would we do that?
[00:03:35] Well, Psalm 127, written by King Solomon, gives us a why today, a why as a church, but also a why for you.
[00:03:45] Why should you be involved in vbs?
[00:03:49] Why should you be involved in this strategic outreach that we have planned as a church to minister to kids and families this week? And the first reason we'll see is because we want to sleep well, we want to rest well, and not just from exhaustion. Notice verse 1.
[00:04:09] Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
[00:04:15] Now, in the Bible, specifically the Old Testament, this idea of house referred to kingdom or dynasty. We think about the house of David. We think about the line of David, we think about the legacy of the house of David. And so the house that's being talked about here is God's house that he is building through his kings. Kings like David, kings like Solomon. And what he is saying through Solomon here is, it doesn't matter who the king is.
[00:04:49] God must build the dynasty.
[00:04:52] God must build the legacy. God must build the kingdom. Only God will get credit for the kingdom, no matter who the king is.
[00:05:04] You see, at one point, David went to God.
[00:05:08] This man, King David, who was so zealous for the glory of God, passionate for God's glory, loved the Lord, was a man after God's own heart.
[00:05:22] And he goes to God and he says, I want to build you a house.
[00:05:26] All the other gods we know of have a temple, house of worship. I want to build you a house.
[00:05:31] And God said, no, you're a man of bloodshed. And he would not allow David to build the house. And there's some symbolism there. David, you can't build me a house.
[00:05:41] I'm the only one who builds the house.
[00:05:44] And then he allows Solomon, David's son, to build a temple. But we see throughout history the house, the extravagant, very extravagant house Solomon builds. God is often torn down and destroyed.
[00:06:01] And it's not until another king comes along and he stands before the temple that the people of God know of in his time, where they worship the Lord, the house of God.
[00:06:16] And first of all, he calls it a den of thieves.
[00:06:19] God's not the one building this house.
[00:06:22] It's a pit of destruction.
[00:06:25] And then he refers to his flesh and blood, and he says, this is God's. House.
[00:06:32] And if you tear this house down, God will rebuild it. God will build it back up in three days. Jesus.
[00:06:41] Jesus is the presence of God.
[00:06:44] And it is in Jesus that God's house is built. Him dying for sins and. And being raised up on the third day. In doing so, God uses him as a cornerstone.
[00:06:57] And everyone who believes in him is connected to him, this cornerstone. And God is building this temple in the world, his church, which Jesus says, I will build. And the gates of hell will not prevail against it. You see, all other kingdoms, all other houses being built, they will fall in the end. But the house I'm building, my kingdom through, my church in the world connected to me, it will not fall ever, unless the Lord builds the house.
[00:07:30] God through Christ. Those who labor, they labor in vain. But notice, he takes this concept even further. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake.
[00:07:43] Vain. We think about cities of men and those who are the security along the walls. And they're to stay up and make sure enemies cannot invade and destroy the city.
[00:07:56] And he says, it's in vain unless the Lord is protecting the city.
[00:08:01] Cities were representation of man's glory. We talked about that through the Book of Genesis, beginning with the Tower of Babel, which was a city that displayed the glory of men. And cities ever since have done that.
[00:08:18] They're the center of kingdoms, the kingdoms of men. And they display their power and they display their glory. They also display their security.
[00:08:27] Look how fortified this city is. Look how powerful these men are.
[00:08:33] But the Bible points to one city that will last forever.
[00:08:38] Where there is one king who secures is not just Jerusalem, but the new Jerusalem that will come from heaven. And what will happen in that city? Notice verse 2. It is in vain that you rise early and go. Go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil. Doing what? Trying to secure your city.
[00:09:02] For he gives his beloved sleep. You see, the cities of men will come and go, but there is one city that is coming for God's beloved.
[00:09:14] And who is that?
[00:09:16] Ultimately, the church for which Jesus dies.
[00:09:20] You see, God's house, God's city ends with Jesus ruling and reigning. And the bride for which he died eternally secure with him forever.
[00:09:31] The city, the new Jerusalem.
[00:09:33] And unless God does this, we build in vain.
[00:09:39] And we try to keep the city secure, wearing ourselves out.
[00:09:44] Only he will give us a city where there is rest.
[00:09:49] And the first point here is that there is no significance, no legacy in no security in anything that you're building right now or anything that you're looking for for security if it is apart from Jesus Christ.
[00:10:08] You see, the truth of these two verses is that you can spend your whole life building homes, building legacies, looking for significance.
[00:10:20] And at the end of the day, in the end, be left homeless without nothing. If you are building on something other than Jesus Christ.
[00:10:29] If you are building for something other than Jesus Christ, you can spend your whole life and it be a waste, be vanity, building things for yourself.
[00:10:42] You see, if you're not in Jesus and you're not building for Jesus, you're not a part of his story.
[00:10:49] What happens is you will spend your life clamoring for significance. Some of you are doing that right now.
[00:10:56] Why do I exist? What is my identity in the world? I need to have significance.
[00:11:03] And that's good, that's not wrong.
[00:11:07] As long as you understand that all of your significance and all of your identity must be wrapped up in Jesus.
[00:11:15] You see, you can strive for those things your whole life. You can say, I find identity in my job, I find identity in my schoolwork. I find identity and significance at the gym. I find identity and significance with my kids, what they accomplish. And you can build and you can give yourself over to all those things clamoring for significance. And at the end of the day, stand before Jesus and be left with nothing if it is apart from Christ.
[00:11:44] God is building a house that you must be a part of Jesus kingdom. Or you can work all day to secure cities in your kingdom that only keep you up at night.
[00:11:54] For some of us, that's why you can't sleep at night, because you're the one trying to secure a city for yourself.
[00:12:01] And you go to bed every night realizing it's insecure because you can't do enough to secure your own city, your own identity, your own accomplishments. You can't do enough. And so you never rest because you're trying to always make it more secure. There's never enough money, there's never enough stability. And then you go to bed at night and you think, and there's always tomorrow, and something bad could happen tomorrow. And you realize at bedtime you are frail and you are weak and you can't secure your city.
[00:12:40] No, God is building this kingdom for Christ where he will rule and reign with his church forever, and she will be secure in that city. And we want to be a part of that story because that's where we find significance and security.
[00:12:56] That's where we must.
[00:12:58] You see, in God's kingdom and the legacy he's building for Christ, you can Spend every day working in God's plan and then sleep well at night.
[00:13:09] If your motive every day is I am living for the glory of Christ, first and foremost in my job, my family, my resources, everything that I do, my education, my skill, all of that is to be leveraged to make much of Jesus. And you live every day like that. Then you can go to bed at night realizing that that legacy secure. Because nothing can take away the glory of Christ. God's doing that.
[00:13:36] But if you're building the kingdom yourself for yourself, it's always going to be insecure.
[00:13:42] It's true.
[00:13:43] C T Stud once wrote this, one life to live will soon be passed.
[00:13:54] Only what is done for Christ will last.
[00:13:58] You only get one life.
[00:14:01] One.
[00:14:04] I was talking to an 88 year old man two weeks ago.
[00:14:09] I was trying to figure out how to share the gospel with him. And I said, you're 88 years old.
[00:14:15] What is the meaning of life? I always like to ask people how do they find significance? And he looked at me and he says, I don't know.
[00:14:25] 88 years getting up, building a kingdom, looking for security. And he gets to the end and there's nothing.
[00:14:34] You get one life. What are you going to do for Christ?
[00:14:36] Whose house are you going to build? Whose city are you going to be a part of as kingdom citizens?
[00:14:43] This is a glorious truth here. If we are folded into God's legacy and what he's doing in the world, we don't have to sleep like atheists.
[00:14:53] We don't as if there's no God and there's no meaning and there's no purpose wondering why we exist and having no security, we don't have to sleep like atheists. And so I want to encourage you this week and in the weeks to come to treat bedtime as a spiritual discipline in your life. Bedtime.
[00:15:13] We need to add that to the spiritual disciplines book. Last spiritual discipline. Bedtime.
[00:15:18] How do I go to sleep to the glory of God?
[00:15:22] You see the reality. God has worked sleep into our life. That's talked about here in this verse saying you can keep yourself up all you want, but you got to go to sleep because you're human. Only God can build the kingdom. You literally have to have to be put unconscious every night to recharge and to survive the next day. If you don't sleep, you won't live.
[00:15:46] So God has worked into the world that you have to go unconscious for a time because you're weak and you're temporary and you're not sovereign. So how do you Go to bed that way, before you get in the bed or after you lay in the bed, verbalize that. I have to lay in this bed because I'm not God and I have to go to sleep because I'm temporal and I'm weak and I'm not sovereign and I can't control the world. I'm not God. So say that to yourself before you go to sleep tonight.
[00:16:18] And then say, I don't have to work for security.
[00:16:22] My security is in Christ. Remember that.
[00:16:26] All that you did during the day that you accomplished or that you failed to accomplish, you're not working for security that you can have in Christ.
[00:16:35] No, In Christ your sins have been forgiven through the cross. In Christ, you are covered in his righteousness. And in Christ, you can lay down and go to sleep at night and say, I don't have to work for my security.
[00:16:49] I don't. No matter what happens tomorrow, no matter what happened today, I failed, I sinned. And no matter what happens tomorrow, I'm secure in Christ. Say that to yourself before you go to bed.
[00:17:01] I'm secure in Christ so I can sleep tonight.
[00:17:06] Nothing that's taken away from me tomorrow will jeopardize my eternity.
[00:17:10] I am secure in Christ.
[00:17:12] And then all the work I did for Jesus today is secure. You understand that at the end of the day, the things you do for Jesus, they don't fade away. They are secure. They are in a locked treasure chest that will not fade away.
[00:17:28] The things you do for self, the things that you do to dishonor God.
[00:17:35] The things that not for Jesus, they fade. But you can get to the end of every day and say, what I did today for Jesus is secure every day.
[00:17:47] We are, too. This is what we do. I don't see the signs. Maybe we took them down from vbs. You are sent all over this. We say it at the end of every service. Some of you don't know what that is. You are sent out as a witness every week from this church to witness the Kingdom of Christ. To live as a citizen to the Kingdom of Christ, to declare that Jesus is Lord. And you do that where your feet are. No matter where your feet are, when you're at school, when you're at the ball game, when you're around the family table, whatever you're doing, you are a witness. You are sent to say, jesus is King, Jesus is Lord, the only one who is defeated.
[00:18:28] And God is giving you opportunity, and he's giving you resources. And he's giving you skill and talent, intellect to do that. Wherever you are through the week and at the end of every day when you come back and say, I witnessed Jesus, where God put me, that legacy is secure day in and day out.
[00:18:50] And you should do it this week. If you're here serving, you're here corralling the chaos, you're here telling kids about Jesus. And you get home at the end of every day and you can say, what I did today is secure. What I did for Jesus is secure. Everything else may be taken away, everything else may fade. The money, the security, the status. But what I do today for Jesus lasts forever.
[00:19:19] You don't have to work for security. All you do for Jesus is secure. And all you ever do for Jesus will be secure.
[00:19:26] As you lay down tonight, this is morbid for some of you, but think about the day you will be laid to rest.
[00:19:37] Every night.
[00:19:38] God's reminding you of that.
[00:19:41] When you go to sleep, there's a day you will be laid to rest.
[00:19:45] And it's kind of like a train.
[00:19:48] The train's going by. Well, this is my stop. It's time for me to get off.
[00:19:53] You know what's going to happen to that train?
[00:19:55] It's going to keep on going.
[00:19:58] The legacy of Christ never ends.
[00:20:01] Even when your time is over, even when you get off the train, it still goes.
[00:20:06] And you can be thankful that you are a part of it. And you can go to bed every night asking the question, what will what I've done today keep going?
[00:20:16] Here's the reality.
[00:20:18] Your great, great grandkids will not know you. I'm sorry, some of them, there's exceptions. Okay, Some of you gonna text me. Well, my great, great granddad. Okay, you know what I mean? Your great, great, great grandkids probably won't know you.
[00:20:37] The question is, will they know the Jesus that you know?
[00:20:41] Will you leave such a legacy that that train keeps going?
[00:20:46] You see how you invest in generations to come. You see how you build the house. You see how you secure the city. You can hand off houses and cities in vain that will fall.
[00:20:58] But if you hand off Christ, that keeps going forever.
[00:21:02] That legacy is secure. And so we do VBS because we want to sleep well, because we want to know what we have done for Christ keeps going. We also do this because we've been blessed by God. Notice verse three. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward. Here, the word children, it is actually sons, and it's a play on the word earlier in the passage. Builders.
[00:21:32] And there's something the psalmist Solomon is doing here. It's a play on words. What he is saying here is the builders of the house will be your heirs, will be your sons who inherit the kingdom. They will continue to build this house. So where do the builders come from?
[00:21:50] They come from God who gives the reward of the womb. This is what God does. He is the one that gives children notice. They are a heritage. It's very similar to the word inheritance.
[00:22:04] And children here are tied to the land.
[00:22:07] Israel has given the land as an inheritance from God. How do they keep the land in the days ahead?
[00:22:15] Well, God gives them children, inheritance of children so that they will continue to live in the land.
[00:22:22] So in giving them kids, he's continuing to make, make them secure and build this house in the land they continue to occupy as God gives generation after generation. This is how God will continue to build the house and secure the city through families that fear the Lord.
[00:22:40] So Satan hates kids because they are a display of God fulfilling his inheritance and his promise to his people and in the land. As kids continue to come into the world, the enemies of God see that the people of God will continue to inherit the promises.
[00:23:04] And ultimately we see that this promise is fulfilled as God brings many sons to glory in Christ. Heirs, children of God who experience new birth and new life. This is what this verse points to.
[00:23:19] The inheritance or the sons who will come in Christ.
[00:23:24] Sons and daughters, children of God who are heirs of the kingdom. This is how God is going to give the kingdom to his people. And just because this, this promise is spiritual, it doesn't negate the blessing of children that's given to families and churches. God still gives us children as a steward, as an inheritance that we are to make sure they are folded into this legacy.
[00:23:51] Children are still a gift that we must steward as God's people in the world so that we continue to inherit and experience God's blessing.
[00:24:05] And so we work to see them folded into Christ's legacy. That's why God gives us children as families and as a church.
[00:24:15] It's a blessing, it's an inheritance, it's a reward that we are to steward well and make sure they hear and believe the gospel, that they are secure in the city of God forever. That they are adopted into the family of God by faith.
[00:24:31] God blesses us with this responsibility just like he blessed Israel train up their kids in the fear of the Lord and to continue to live in the land.
[00:24:40] God has blessed us.
[00:24:42] And we have plenty of those blessings around here right now.
[00:24:47] They're everywhere.
[00:24:49] And you should be Thankful for that. Some of you heard them back there running around because the doors open. You're like, I can't repent.
[00:24:58] We say all the time, would you rather go to church without kids? Why?
[00:25:02] Because a church without kids, their legacy is about to die.
[00:25:07] This is frank, as I can put it, and there's all kinds of reasons for that.
[00:25:13] Some of it's beyond what the church knew to do or could do. And so I'm not casting dispersion on any church.
[00:25:21] But when you see that, you don't see the life legacy is coming to an end.
[00:25:27] And it's scary.
[00:25:28] We don't live there. We don't do ministry there.
[00:25:32] In a hundred years, there will be all new people doing what we're doing now.
[00:25:39] And guess where the new people are today. They're eating goldfish, drooling on their craft.
[00:25:50] And we say, blessing. Why?
[00:25:52] Oh, legacy continues. That's what God is doing. God's doing that. He's blessing us. He's giving us an inheritance to steward.
[00:26:04] We must steward the inheritance. Well, and I want to say this as much grace and kindness and pastoral love as I can.
[00:26:15] We have too many blessings around here for anyone to say, I've done my time and that's somebody else's job. Now, listen, it's God's time. First of all, it's not your time and what God is doing for you. Listen, in a church like this where there's lots of kids, you know what God's doing for you. He's being kind to you because he's allowing you to take your time that could be very insignificant and extend it.
[00:26:43] He's giving you more time as you invest in kids.
[00:26:46] He's extending your life between just where you are right now and you can't find significance and you don't have security. Well, guess what God's doing. Here's some kids, teach them about Jesus. And guess what? That goes on and on and on.
[00:27:02] See that?
[00:27:05] And I'm saying that for your joy.
[00:27:07] Everyone's at a different season in life, but you can do something.
[00:27:11] You can do something.
[00:27:16] See, I believe in heaven. There's going to be a hall of local church legends, and they're all going to be children, ministry warriors.
[00:27:26] I remember five years old. Some of you, some of you say, how do you remember when you were five? I don't know.
[00:27:31] I remember when I was five and I remember my first Sunday school teacher, or the first one. I remember her name was Lucille Thompson.
[00:27:42] She couldn't walk. She had a problem with one of her Legs.
[00:27:46] And she was ushered in this classroom every week to teach five year olds about Jesus. She's in her 80s and I never forget her name.
[00:27:58] She taught me about Jesus when I was a kid. I'll never forget her.
[00:28:03] I think about folks at Ashland Avenue Baptist Church, Diane Dorsen, Dave Huffman, John Greatbach, who are with Jesus now and the things they would do with kids. Just John Greatbatch one time outside behind our church in Lexington, he had tied this cable to the dumpster of the church and he ran it down. And there's a group of, I think fifth grade boys gathered around this spot.
[00:28:34] I think Luke Prince was probably one of them.
[00:28:37] And he lit this cable on fire. I don't know if he poured gasoline on it. He was crazy.
[00:28:45] And you were driving by, you thought, what in the world is going on out there? He lit this cable on fire. And this fire rushes down in between these kids and explodes.
[00:28:56] It would have shut forth on the farm down.
[00:29:00] And you know what? He's teaching them about Elijah.
[00:29:05] And if you say John Greatbach around Ashland Avenue Baptist Church, you think Elijah, he's a crazy prophet too.
[00:29:13] But his name is associated with this legacy. And he's gone. He's with Jesus. He's not gone. We ain't lost him. He's with Jesus.
[00:29:22] I think about Ron Heisel who taught all my boys in BFG or Sunday school.
[00:29:31] He's 78 years old right now. He's been sick the last few years. If you went over to Lexington this week where they have over 600 kids running around. Him and his wife Pat are laboring in registration. And that's a hard job.
[00:29:46] 78 years old there with a smile on their face.
[00:29:50] Listen, you can do something, volunteer, do one thing.
[00:29:53] Do one thing to push that train forward.
[00:29:57] Do. Do one thing.
[00:29:59] And it's. It's like, we got a lot of people here. We don't need you.
[00:30:04] We do kind of. But it's not about that. It's about the. It's about this. It's about you being able to sleep well, knowing your legacy continues even when you're gone.
[00:30:18] So I gotta hurry up.
[00:30:21] We want to sleep well. We've been blessed with a lot of kids and we're at war. Notice verse 4. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.
[00:30:29] Here Solomon combines warfare and biology.
[00:30:34] And he said he's trying to explain Israel is this warrior.
[00:30:39] God is going to bless them with a lot of kids. They're going to teach their kids to Obey the law of the Lord, and they're going to remain in the land. And. And what that does is that fends off the enemies because God will continue to protect his people. So it's kind of like warfare, having kids, teaching them the law of the Lord.
[00:30:56] For generations, they're trained in the Lord. They have peace with God, so they'll have peace with their enemies. Their enemies look in and go, well, they still love the Lord. We have no hope because God's taking care of them. And it's like warfare. And we see here the blessing of kids.
[00:31:12] It's not for you, but it's for the glory of God. God has given you kids for warfare against the forces of darkness.
[00:31:21] Parenting and children's ministry is warfare.
[00:31:24] It's not sanctified babysitting.
[00:31:28] It's warfare.
[00:31:30] And if you don't know this, understand, look at the world right now. It's very dark. Life is really hard. And Satan, Satan hates them and wants to ruin their life. You understand that about your kids, right?
[00:31:46] It's not sunshine and roses out there, right?
[00:31:49] And Satan wants to make it really hard and destroy their life. So they will not give glory to Christ.
[00:31:56] And so you got to raise them that way, and we have to disciple them in this church that way.
[00:32:03] We're raising arrows to be shot out for the glory of God.
[00:32:08] They can't be pampered and overprotected.
[00:32:11] They got to be loved.
[00:32:14] But you got to be honest with your kids. Life's hard. And I need you to believe in Jesus.
[00:32:19] I need you to trust in Jesus. You're not going to make it without Jesus.
[00:32:23] I may give you money and resources and all those things, but if you don't get the Jesus I'm giving you, you're not going to make it.
[00:32:33] And we disciple our kids to give Jesus 100%.
[00:32:37] Some of you think about grades and you think about school and you think about all these things. You got to be 100%. Don't miss practice. Do your homework. And that's right. And you should do that. And you're all in on those things. But when it comes to Jesus, it's if we have time.
[00:32:55] And what's going to happen is that kid's going to leave your house and. And it's going to be, if I have time.
[00:33:02] No, you are raising them to say, we give Jesus 100%. And by the way, we take athletics and we take school and we take all these things and we do them for Jesus.
[00:33:12] But it's about Jesus. He gets 100%. Of your life.
[00:33:16] And so when they leave, they get it and they understand it and they go out into the world and they reproduce what you've done in the home and in their home and in the world and in their church that they live in. It's warfare. It's boot camp. It's preparation for battle. That's what you are doing as a parent, and that's what we're doing in children's ministry. And notice this verse 5. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them, who has lots of kids.
[00:33:44] He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies at the gate.
[00:33:49] You see, in our culture, it's weird to have a lot of kids.
[00:33:54] There's a lot of jokes I almost went into, but we look at families with lots of kids and we go, oh, that's weird.
[00:34:01] In this culture, it meant happiness and honor.
[00:34:05] Why?
[00:34:06] Because children were those who protected the family legacy in society.
[00:34:12] And so a man with a lot of kids, his legacy was protected for a long time. He would always have someone defending his honor in the gates.
[00:34:25] And so no one's going to come in and take what God blessed him with, his land.
[00:34:30] No one's going to come and take anything away from him because he's always going to have generation after generation protecting his legacy. And this is folded into Israel.
[00:34:40] God will continue to fill their quiver with kids so that the enemies cannot come and take what is theirs. And so there's honor. They'll never be put to shame by their enemies as long as God continues to bless them with life, and as long as they continue disciple and teach the life to fear the Lord, they won't be put to shame.
[00:35:03] And that's what we want as a church.
[00:35:05] What's going on here isn't just some flash in the pan.
[00:35:10] Let's go to Richmond and plant a church and let's have some fun for 20 years for Jesus and then see what happens. No, we want a hundred years from now to have an outpost for the kingdom here in this city that is sending people around the world that will not be put to shame.
[00:35:32] A hundred years. Think about that.
[00:35:35] Think about that as you serve this week. 100 years from now, what do we want?
[00:35:41] Well, we want a full quiver of kids who are believing and following Jesus and ready to charge the gates of hell with the gospel.
[00:35:49] That's what we want. We want this reproduced year after year after year.
[00:35:54] This is why the local church is where it's at.
[00:36:02] You hear?
[00:36:03] I want to change the world.
[00:36:06] I want to make an Impact, even an impact for Christ. I want to do all these great things for Jesus.
[00:36:13] Think about the impact a local church can have long after you're gone.
[00:36:19] You really want to impact not just the world, but generations for Jesus? Plug into your local church and plug into the children's ministry legacy that extends well beyond your time. It's not a flash in the pan that Satan forgets about in 28 years.
[00:36:38] It's over and over an assault on the enemy. Okay, that generation's gone. I got them now. Nope. There's another generation that believes in Jesus and is sending people to the ends of the earth. Oh, there's another one. There's another one. There's another one. And it is a full on salt for year after year after year on the enemy.
[00:36:57] The quiver is full of kids who believe in Jesus and are serving Jesus.
[00:37:04] Let me show you what that looks like.
[00:37:06] It's another picture I want to show you from 1938.
[00:37:13] 1938.
[00:37:18] It's Ashland Avenue Baptist Church.
[00:37:21] That's the old church building on Ashland Avenue in Lexington.
[00:37:27] Look in the windows. There are kids coming out the windows.
[00:37:32] Thousands of kids. Ashland Avenue Baptist Church was one of the first churches to bus kids to church.
[00:37:39] Bought buses to bring kids to church.
[00:37:44] Bible school every year. Now I wonder. I was looking at this picture this week, and I wondered when some of the adults in the picture, you know, they're getting ready for vbs. You see, there's no spaceships there, but they're getting ready for vbs. They probably didn't think about this.
[00:38:00] They would be scandalized by this.
[00:38:03] They would say, that's not our legacy.
[00:38:05] It is.
[00:38:08] It is their legacy, like it or not.
[00:38:13] Some of y', all, your parents, I will say, are in that picture.
[00:38:21] Some of your parents were discipled by people in that picture.
[00:38:29] That's how it works, right?
[00:38:31] Some of y' all will be weird Bible story characters this week, you'll be crew leaders. This week, you'll take a picture. At the end of this week, 300 red shirts.
[00:38:46] That sounds like a cult. 300 adults with red shirts on 300 kids.
[00:38:55] And some of the kids that will be at VBS this week will then disciple your kids 50 years from now. Think about that. That's how this works. That's why this is where it's at if you want significance and security.
[00:39:11] And this church, Ashland Avenue Baptist Church, they went through some rough times, but arrows kept flying line, and it led to this.
[00:39:21] The question for us this week is, what will this lead to?
[00:39:26] What will this lead to?
[00:39:28] A quiver of kids hear about Jesus, generations of pastors, missionaries, church planting, but mostly just faithful church members who disciple and keep filling the quiver with arrows.
[00:39:45] And maybe every now and then, a group of folks years from now will put up that picture.
[00:39:53] A picture like that picture we'll take this week in this space galaxy.
[00:40:02] They'll say, I have no idea what's happening there. I have no idea what's going on in that picture.
[00:40:09] But they'll say they steward the blessing well, and I'm sure they're sleeping well.
