Our One Task: Formation

God bless you praise the Lord everybody amen what a wonderful time we're having at Camp Meeting thank you for letting us be a guest here you're so gracious if you'll let me go I'll go ahead and be seated I I want to hand out some flowers and then I'll I'll start a little bit man I've been I've been to blessed to travel a little bit and I just want to say whoever those ladies are that make that food over there they're testing my faith on that issue of gluttony I it was amazing they've been so sensitive to our needs particularly and we love them very much thank them for their service and I know this can't happen without a host of people that serve in so many ways your District leadership of course Brother Martin brother Hughes have been so kind to mention those people and and you're appreciated and how many of you enjoy the fact that we just get to come in and partake and it's wonderful would you give them a great big hand and as I started I want to just say thank you to brother and sister heart and of course brother Cole the youth committee for allowing me to speak to the youth today and you wonderful pastors have a group of young people that are hungry for the will of God and the word of God and I applaud you for that their attention was rich and it always pulls it out of a Preacher to do that thanks for letting the old guy in the room amen I want to talk about something today a little different a little maybe out of out of the norm I'm gonna maybe I title this are one task or one task after we if we understand what the baptism of the Holy Ghost is and we understand that after we're filled with the baptism of the Holy Ghost that Jesus's command to go into all the world and to make disciples where to disciple we're to shape we're to form that's what I want to talk about today I want to talk about our one task and I would call it formation so I'm going to give you today if the Lord will help me seven points on formation the task of the church now why why talk about that brother Killmon because we have to know what we're about or if you aim at nothing you hit it every time and I know I talked a little bit about world view here a few years ago and I love the topic I have to be careful but I feel directed today to maybe share this to help maybe a struggling a parent to know what their task is to help a a maybe a youth leader to understand like I was when they put me in the room with a bunch of young people and said teach them something about the Bible and I I know that that was a gift to me it gave me broad latitude within the confines of scripture to do some things but you have to understand what your task is so let me let me illustrate this maybe with a great story that I heard rc Sproul was talking about what he calls his personal baptism in the public education crisis now you have to forgive me my mind's a teacher she's a math teacher high school math teacher I don't believe in Works righteousness brother Shotwell but she may go to heaven just for that and and so we've been in the education business maybe our whole marriage and and we're approaching that 25 year mark I love you very much and we've dedicated our time in our life and feel like the Lord has called us particularly to the vocation of teaching I preach as well but I feel particularly called to a be a teacher and if you know anything about public education I heard somebody already getting up and talking about the the the home school corporate cooperation and Christian Schools like where my wife has been teaching her entire career and I applaud you for that so rc Sproul began to share what he calls his personal baptism in this public education crisis he said he took his daughter to a place in I believe it was Boston and it was a a very acclaimed kind of progressive School in terms of not bad Progressive but it was supposed to be about advancing education making sure that they trained people well now the problem with parochial schools or Christian Schools is you have to give more money you already pay so much in taxes and you have to get more money so why would you sign up to do that so they had something called appearance night and a parent's night is when the leadership gets together the principal particularly and they sell the school which is what we do at ibc sometimes we have to sell the school a little bit why should they come and it's important to do that and and he got up and he began to share and and rc Sproul said he was Winsome and he communicated in a very great way and he says when you get home and you ask your child what are you what did you do in school today they're going to tell you we played with jigsaw puzzles in class and you're going to think why am I spending all this extra money to spend them to school they can play with jigsaw puzzles at home what are they doing at that crazy school over there and he says what I need you to understand is from 9 to 9 17 A.M they your children will play with puzzles that are designed by pediatric neurosurgeons at John Hopkins University to develop the motor School skills of the muscles in the fingers of the left hand and he went on to talk about how every segment had an activity that was tied to some type of function and and and every bit of the day was packed with little things like that and at the end he said as are there any questions and of course there was laughter in the room because who would dare ask a question in a setting like that but unfortunately for them they had the philosopher in the room and he said to him yes sir he said I am profoundly impressed by your careful analysis and you've made it clear that everything you do is aimed at a purpose but there are only so many minutes in a day and you have to be selective about the purposes that you aim at so what specific purposes do you want to achieve and why he says I guess my question is something like this why did you select the purposes that you have chosen and what is the standard to decide the purposes you select in other words he says what kind of child are you trying to produce and why he said the principal with a space went Ash and white and then beat red and without any Rancor with a a gracious amount of humility he replied well candidly I don't know no one has ever asked me that question before and he said sir I deeply appreciate your candor and your spirit but frankly your answer terrifies me we have to know what we're about we have to know what we're called particularly called to produce we have to be thoughtful about every aspect of church work that we do we don't just let Church happen to us there is a design that God has called us as Believers to make disciples there is something and I'm trying not to preach and see it's the problem of Youth committee I already preached about this about worldview formation you gotta get the right type of ideas inside of a person why because if they don't know what a man is and what a woman is if they don't know what family looks like they're going to be defined by the world and left to kind of meander themselves as they trip their way through life and and God is saying I've given you the word and my my will and my purpose to bring blessing into your life and you don't have to trip through the issues of life you actually can aim at something beautiful and Grand and endorsed by heaven I'm gonna try to go show up okay we'll try to behave brother Mark teach not preach second point if that's what it's what is that we should know what we're about then the second point is that institutions are about something particular what do you mean by institutions I mean families I mean churches I mean organizations I mean movements I mean governments all of the world's institutions should be based on particular things and and they're about formation formation for what brother coming what should we be aimed at making you should be making people for what we call a liberty or for freedom and I I've talked about this last time I got to be careful because I could go down this Rabbit Trail so far we'd never get back out of the woods freedom is brother Hinson is not the it's a very low level definition of freedom to say the freedom to do what you want because what we will tell young people is do whatever you want I'll be particular I shared this with the young people the and I'll share it here again that that in the state of California since the 1980s the state of California it's opened up 23 prisons and one University and 98 of the prison population is Young and male and this is what they will do they will tell a a young man you go do whatever you want to do and don't let your preacher don't let your mom don't let your dad don't let any mentors don't let that youth pastor tell you that you got to keep your life pure and you got to keep on the right track that you want to make sure that you do what's right and not do what's wrong don't let them limit your freedom and the problem is when they're done with all of that and they can't control that young man anymore they're going to say we're going to lock you up from the tune of 23 to 1. That's why we have 23 prisons for you and only one University but if you know what formation for Freedom looks like God can Glory inside of a Young Man you gotta know what you're aimed at we unabashedly you know are going to aim at at high things at glory that's why proverbs 31 verse 27 talking of wisdom says she looketh well to the ways of her household that's why Mama is going to do the right thing that's why Daddy's going to do the right thing because at this house she doesn't eat she eat it not the bread of idleness she looks at the ways because even in your home you gotta win battles stand at the door of my home and it's like some things don't come into my house why because I love them he's 21 years old now he's got a call of God on his life and at the end of the day I'm going to make sure that everything that comes into that home is going to be blessing everything that comes into that home is going to be about the right ideas and not the wrong ideas that's why in Luke chapter 7 verse 35 it's the Bible says Jesus speaking but wisdom is Justified wisdom everything that calls itself wise has to be tested wisdom is Justified of all of her children now what does that mean and you can look it up on your own but Clark has it right this is a hebrewism from the Old Testament where Jesus is speaking of the products or the fruit of wisdom it's by your fruits you will know them can I be really candid I'm just going to act like you said yes Brother Martin at the end of the day if I'm a good father and a good husband and a good man the fruits of that will be demonstrated in the type of home that I create that by the way shapes that young man that's under my roof wisdom is Justified of all of our children I get it they criticize John even though he led thousands to repentance and cr and prepared the way of the Lord they criticized Jesus because he reached for the lost and prepped them for ultimate salvation and they're saying look he said I get it you don't you don't want the guy that's going to be an ascetic a guy that's dedicated to a separated life out in the desert kind of doing his thing and you don't want me if I bring a party and bring all the sinners in and try to reach them you're you're gonna you're gonna say we don't want either one of you we're going to reject both of you well at the end of the day the problem is what you decide how you're going to live your life you got to be justified you have to have some fruit that demonstrates that the way that you want to lead people is right now I'll try to calm down I I found a great little writer his name is Yuval Levin and and he wrote a book a great little book called a time to build what I love about this book is there there's a statement in there that gets to the fabric of the way that you have to understand we got to approach the world the right way if you if you approach the world with a basic ignorance of how life works that's a detriment to you God loves you too much to leave you without Direction now what is that what does he say brother Killmon he says the argument of this book that he wrote is a time to build is a conservative one now I have to be careful here notice he didn't say republican I'm going to make enemies no matter what I say so it is what it is he said a conservative one because there are some things worth conserving like family like ethics like religion like limited government but I'll leave that alone it's a conservative one of a particular sort it begins with the premise that human beings he says are born as crooked creatures prone to waywardness and sin now I know you had to teach your little two-year-old this you had to get your little two-year-old and said this is what I want you to do we're gonna we're gonna go to the checkout aisle and right when we get to the checkout oh right up there by the candy I want you to ask for something I'm going to say no then I want you to lay down on the floor begin to kick and scream could you please do that for me you don't have to teach your kid to do that because the fall affected the world Genesis 3 happened and if you okay if you approach that little baby and say you you go ahead honey and do what you want to do and you go ahead and do and nobody's going to correct my children I'm not going to let the youth pastor dabble in my little boy's business that that yellow boy's gonna he's gonna wake up one day filled with rebellion and the world is going to teach him some lessons that he should have learned in your formation of your home why because you love him more than the World's Gonna Love Him the world's going to teach him and not be as nice lock him up in prisons so what he's saying is that they're prone to waywardness and sin that we therefore always require moral and social formation and that such formation is what institutions are for now that's right the quote G. K. Chesterton he would say there are many ways to fall down but there's only one way to stand up straight teach a young man to stand up straight teaches young men to have moral character and a fabric in him that's different than the Fallen age that's why if you will understand that that's why the institution of family is such as under such attack in our culture why because institutions are are the issue in our country politics is so polarized first of all number one by lack of faith in institutions how many of you believe that you can really trust the teacher at your public school how can you tell a politician is lying you know the joke and I get it I'm not saying that there aren't good teachers and and that there aren't good politicians striving to do what's right and we should pay attention to that and support that and I'll leave that alone for your pastors to talk to but basically politics have become polarized in our nation first of all by lack of faith and institution and second our lack of expectation in those institutions we okay we should expect that some things are there to help form our families for the right ideals you should expect that your pastor would have to every once in a while stand in the pulpit and preach his conscience clean as he tries to say your little babies and get your families on the Pathway to Victory I need to be formed by the word of God and the will of God to get into the freedom that he wants from my life so we we believe in that now I'll try to hurry today never works Hannah Arendt way back in 1954 Progressive reconstruction area Jewish philosopher now why quote liberals brother killman because I think it's fascinating to me brother chatwell that liberals sometimes will say things stronger than pulpits so I just want to be as strong as the liberal this is an admission she wrote a great little work called the crisis in education she says I need to expose the progressive eras liberal ideas of the false ideas around education what are they she said well there's a few of them number one that children are pure give that up my little baby's an angel I reminded my boy Joel he went to Walmart I think it was or some shopping center and he's with Mama and that Little Tikes I can mama can I have a prize that's Mama's love language mama can I have a prize can I please have a prize please mama can I have a prize and and brother martin she's like no Joel no but please mama you you know you don't give me you don't ever give me anything I know you guys never did that it's like well she said well first of all buddy no I can't get your price first of all Mom and Daddy can't afford to get you a prize every time you go to Walmart and second of all if we could that wouldn't that would make you a jerk and Mommy would be a bad mummy a little dude put his head down he's kind of sitting in that little seat in the shopping cart and he goes sometimes I wish I had him bad mommy and I get it sometimes you wish you had a bad mommy a bad preacher a bad youth pastor somebody that would look and say to you something less but if you're going to be formed into the type of young man that can interact with other people and love and be selfless and have Grace on the inside of you you need somebody to say you can't be a little jerk all your life let me get some glory in you let me shape some ideas that'll launch you into your future on a bachelor the second she said we the notion that we need to step out of our children's life because we corrupt their Natural Freedom uh-huh and thirdly she says another false idea is don't impose your Authority but Burns that didn't fly to Killmon household when I was a kid my Mom and Dad loved me too much to let me do what my little heart desired I'm not talking about being abusive we don't I'm not going to try to qualify that too much what I'm talking about is shaping them forming them for the highest level of Freedom there was and look at what this Progressive Jewish lady says the problem with that is three things number one you only get the tyranny of the majority you send them out and it's what the majority says that will end up ruling them second of all she says children have no reason nor judgment they don't know what they need somebody ought to love them enough to say now listen every once in a while daddy you just have to say look let me show you some scars you don't want I wish I could tell that boy I have never tried drugs I remember the first time baby doll we had to have that tight conversation I wish I could say I didn't backside my freshman year of high school and I had to peel back that layer and show him some scars but I can tell it there's a God who redeemed me and there is nothing out there in that world you need to go ahead Daddy and say let me be vulnerable enough to tell you that you don't need to do what you want to do let me show you how to get into victory and third she says what ends up happening is children get together in their own little those little clubs at school and they pursue fashions and then they inflict them on each other and that's the reality she says As for the child in the group he is of course rather worse off than before for the authority of the group even as a child is always considerably stronger and more tyrannical than the Severus authority of an individual person can never be what is this liberal Jewish lady saying unabashedly the world is either going to tell your kids how to dress or you're going to teach them how to dress the world is going to tell them what matters in life what success looks like what successes a man looks like is it money is it popularity they're going to either inform that or you're going to tell them there's something called Glory that God can you can be a man of substance you can be a man of integrity that actually things like humbleness it's a Way Forward all right number three you gotta hurry number three we have to the then be formed for True freedom that's what you're aimed at as a parent that's what you're aimed at as a Sunday school teacher forming them with the right ideas for the greatest Freedom available to humanity I'll give you some quotes Alexis de Tocqueville one of my favorite thinkers wrote Democracy in America he says the two Brother Martin he came to America he said the two greatest institutions that make America Great Is is Family and church he says Liberty cannot be established without morality nor morality without faith and as an aristocrat from the from France he wanted to see why America Rose to the top around the world in just a few hundred and just 100 years how did you get to the place where you're eclipsing everything else he says it's because of morality defined by faith somebody's going to hand them ethics it has to be more than the sociology professor at a university because what they're saying is resulting in damage and destruction and deep figuring young kids bodies and at the end of the day we have something else to give them I might as well talk about the real issues all right so what does that look like number four what I'm saying today is we cannot afford to leave formation to others to be more plain the world is after them Satan is after them hell is after them we wrestle not against a flesh and blood but against principalities and and spiritual wickedness in high places and and I wish we had time to deal with that but I'll leave that alone it's a spirit behind that now now here's what will happen is Parental sovereignty can be acquiesce because maybe you were raised Apostolic and you don't want to be too hard on your kids you better forget that because the world's going to be hard on your kids now I'm not and again you I don't have to qualify that do it do you talk to your pastor I'm not talking about abusive stuff but here's the issue with parental sovereignty eventually parental sovereignty you take them to church you just love on them they have to face what we call peer culture what's more defined biblically as the world worldliness as a spirit of the age and here's what can happen those forces can become more powerful than the family and church how does that happen brother Killmon well there's a guy in the history passage John Locke he says formation is a cultural priority and if you acquiesce it that's when you're in trouble now why would he say that he had Puritan Roots he had biblical Roots he says it's easier when they're young Catholics say give me your children until they're five they'll be Catholic the rest of your life so the best thing you can do daddy is make sure every time Sunday school is happening you get your little doll baby family loaded up and you get them in the car and you win the issue of formation he said and it should continue through their school he said that's an obligation and he says here's what happens brother Burns he says parents in society need to fear more something more than bad parenting I don't want to be too authoritarian he says you need to fear the worst tyranny appears now I'll try to say this carefully because I don't want to disclose too much baby at all but when we're in California and we're watching a a dad pull his daughter over to the side of him and begin to pray over that girl because all of a sudden Lexi wants to be called Lex and she's in California with all of the chaos of that culture and she's thinking about doing things by the way and if and it's it's a legal issue now because in California If you deny that he can go to jail you're going to send me to jail Paul was in jail turn to your neighbor say I love Jesus no prices not worth paying for my kid what did what did tugville would say what John Locke would say what even John Jacques Rousseau the French aristocratic very liberal terrible man said is you need to fear Mass public opinion why he says first of all less powerfully formed people crash on the shoals of these other formative institutions I'm gonna be really playing you had better have a whole lot formed into them by the time they get to the school that's why God gifted you a Sunday school teacher we're going to talk about the five-fold ministry how about we talk about teachers how about you value Sunday school as much as you value prophecy now I know you do but I know you do so I'm not preaching at you I just want to get something in your spirit so that you can resist the spirit of the age and say I know what's important formation of my little baby's mind is important so I'm going to get them to the house of God and no no ball gang no karate class is more important than cam meeting why because I want that youth committee to put glory in their life he said their last less powerfully formed they crash on on these other ideas of these other institutions that are after your babies he says so secondly formation must be against Mass public opinion for Freedom now if John Jacques Rousseau can say that why in the world can't you say that that peer culture is the issue and that if you follow all of your little friends Mama come and say baby if all your friends are going to jump off a cliff what was she saying you can live different than your peers you can have a different future than your peers you can have a different you can have a different destination you can have a different marriage you don't have you you don't have to raise your babies by yourself young lady because you hooked up with some guy that left you alone let's see if you wanted to have the abortion or raise that baby by yourself God can put a man of substance in your life and you're not going to settle for anything else because your heart has been farmed for the right relationships I'm trying to behave so that conformerism is passed on to us he said from our society what does that look like it burns I I there's a place called Hillsdale College I love it it's amazing they offer free courses online if if if how many of you think that you young people are thinking of college you know better to make fifty dollars an hour than ten I'm just saying then by the way don't take a degree in underwater basket baby because that's not a marketable degree we went down to Crashed downtown I took about a dozen ibc students and we got to meet Larry Arnn there's about four thousand people there gathered to hear him speak because it's fascinating to me how many families in America are looking for conservative institutions you know how to have success on the mission field just be conservative you send that signal to people they will throw money at you if Hallelujah I know you are they can trust you they can trust you with their kids they can trust you with their grandkids and they will fund things why because people that believe in conservative values that believe in biblical ideals will say we will fund the right things I'm trying that's why it's still brother well the most the largest churches even in the denominal world we're praying that they get the revelation of the truth but even in the denominal world the largest churches are still conservative and I'll behave all right so we're at we're at this little meeting and Larry Arnn being gracious with this time and he's the president incredible Communicator I'm Brother Martin he's got this young guy standing off on the side like you'd be Larry Arnn he's kind of talking and and it went down from like 4 000 people to he hung out and hung out and hung out and hung out it got down to where there was only like 30 of us and he stayed and until eventually it was just he and I and the ibc students and he was thoroughly impressed with them and their conservative ideals and and was expressed that very kindly but I remember there was a young man standing off to the side and as he's standing up on the side you can see him he's kind of tossing a little bit and later on gives him a look twice because he's answering questions and he can tell he's rehearsing his speech in his mind because he wants to add something pointed to Larry Arnn but he doesn't want to look like an idiot and so he he finally gets so he says yes you have a question he said yeah I want to come to Hillsdale College but he says I'm I'm worried that my opinions won't be taken seriously I just I watched Larry Arnn and he just kind of went uh-huh he said how old are you he said I'm 18. He said yeah we don't care about that now what was he saying he said what have you read what have you studied what do you know what have you experienced because you ready you have to be formed by people who know what you should aim at that's why the Bible says the older men should teach the younger the older women should teach the younger you should be listen you don't get to just come to church and show up and leave with your little family and go hang out with your friends and he you got to be inside that building why because as a Young Man a young lady that needs an example they need a mentor they need somebody on a basketball court they can slip in something about ethics the form for the greatest Freedom possible so abandonment of that Duty to help them see through the ideas that will malform them that will destroy them abandonment like we talk about dads I mean Reagan coined the term deadbeat dads I wish we had time to deal with that but fathers so or mothers that are abandon their children how many say that's horrible that's you know but abandonment what about the abandonment of the duty of the church where a Sunday school teacher is tempted to just come in and babysit where all of a sudden it becomes entertainment hyphen becomes High fun she's going to get together and have a lot of fun no you're there to do something particular the greatest enemy of Liberty of freedom of what God wants once in raising children and and shaping young adult is the power of public opinion the world the worldly ideas that are in conflict with the scripture and that means things like the power of passion and the power of reputation and the power of custom and I'll be really pointed the lust of respectability now I gotta lean in a little bit I I remember when it happened to me Brother Martin and I was on a seminary campus and I went to a really wild place we talked about a little bit it was not Apostolic at all I I remember the I was walking down the street or the hallway brother Hanson and and the greatest guy they had there Ron Isle on hands down his greatest teacher they have in the school I loved being in his classes we don't believe like at all it's hysterical and and but I remember I'm walking down the hall and he I said hello Dr Alan he said hello Bobby and then he says to me Bobby I said yes sir he said you know your your work the second half of the semester is just taken off he said and you're going to force me to give you an a he said I hate giving A's I was like thank you and of course it was all tongue-in-cheek snarky highbrow yeah aren't we the inside intellectual gods and as I walked away the Lord checked me he said did you catch it the shift from ridicule making fun you know as tongue talkers those that actually believe the Bible is the word of God and that it's preserved they would make fun of you for those types of belief you believe in Divine penmanship and I'm like in the back row bad Bobby yep that's me I believe in whatever you want to call it inspiration yep Divine penmanship that's me but there came a Time Sister Martin where it switched to praise and the lust for acceptance and respectability doesn't go away just because you're no longer a youth or a young adult when you step into any environment whether you're a parent or a leader or a preacher or a teacher you're going to be tempted to be conformed to the ideas of this world because you want to be an Insider and all of a sudden you want to listen it's not just the it's not just musicians that want to get on Big platforms and I remembered as I watched two apostolics lose their faith in that same Seminary and I I thank God for my I remember what my Bishop my father in the Lord said he said brother Killmon stick with what you were raised with he said I don't even mean Calvary Tabernacle he said I mean your mom and daddy my dad who was dying of cancer in 1968 who had a third grade education he was a Kentucky plow boy but he loved the word of God he gave himself the study he took us to church I had a drug problem as a kid I was drugged to church every time the doors were open and I was strengthened in that formative god-giving institution and it helped me reign in my desires I don't I wish I could tell you the formula other than getting to church and understanding the word of God and Diving deep into scriptural things and having long conversations with my mother and father about values in the world and what they say matters and how do I know what the Bible says is true all of those things hey God I didn't mother Burns I didn't care what the world thought about me I walked in I had that issue my freshman year but after that I just walked into that school and said I don't care if you like me or not I'm a Child of God I got something deep on the inside of me that's been formed that's stronger than this institution win the battle in places like this camp meeting thank you for being here I'm working towards a close number five what I'm trying to say is formation will not happen accidentally John Dewey that incredibly liberal terrible person changed American Education after John Dewey got done designing what he called the common school public school he removed every reference to God in the Bible out of American Education it's up to you it's up to you to frame your children's understanding about history look I don't even apologize anymore there are so many resources available if you want to talk to about those come see me I would love to talk about it but John Dewey said this part of the purpose of the common school public school is to separate children from the Prejudice of their family we don't even doubt that at all now because it's become so blatant but that's the start of the public school I'll give you another one Woodrow Wilson the president of Cambridge later the president of the United States he said I think college is the place to make young men as least like their fathers as possible the Latin phrase in loco parentis in the location of parents used to be a commitment that I would never brother Henson teach anything to your daughter who came to ibc I would never teach her anything other than what you as a father and as a husband and as an Apostolic Minister want to be taught in the location of parents now that phrase has been changed to Define itself is I'm now replacing your parents what are you saying brother coming we have to shape them so how do we achieve this I want to get really practical I'll give you three aspects of how to achieve this you got to deal with three things I know this is going to sound a little cerebral turn to your neighbor say it's going to be practical truth propositions hard orientation behavioral commitments that's why the scripture says as a man thinketh ideas truth propositions you have to be into the study of ideas you have to tell them what's true and false brother Kevin I'm just trying to work 40 hours a week and I know God's gifted you teachers that's why you got if you have a hunger for the word of God they will have a hunger for the word of God okay I'm gonna be really strong here that's how you win dad if you know oh man I know I run a risk here I'm not being I'm not trying to be pejorative I'm trying to show you how to win the battle for formation if you know more about your football team then scripture turn off the podcast turn down what you're watching a little bit pick up the word of God when I got up in the middle of the night brother burns my dad it was invariably so I got up to go to the restroom or get a drink of water in the middle of the night I don't know how my dad worked like he did and raised seven kids and he would be pouring over that scripture if you have a hunger for God and church and study they will and secondly not just two chopperses proposition heart orientation because not as a man thinketh in his mind as a man thinketh in his heart the heart is the Hebrew notion of the seed of the will the seed of the passions where your treasure is your heart will be what you treasure is in your heart and that decides Jesus says keep the heart with all diligence why because out of it are the issues of life so that hard orientation the motives of the heart the issues of being willfully blind in the heart I wish we had time to deal with that to oh yeah I don't want to hear what the preacher's saying so it's a hard issue not a mind you can show people the truth but if the heart wants to be willfully blind there's where we have to do the hard work God help me value the right things help me change what I need to change so I win Victory and then the Bible says as a man thinketh in his heart so is he that's the behavioral commitments you live out what you know and place deep within the desires of your heart I'm closing what does that look like brother Kevin the last thing I'll say you need three core kind of dispositions to win this battle first of all number one ownership you have to say it's my responsibility it's not your pastors it's not the youth leaders it's yours turn to your neighbors say it's mine second you need to embrace awareness you have to have your eyes wide open you need to know what's happening in the world the attacks that are coming against your children you have to pay attention as your pastor's preaching and teaching so that you can understand the issues that you're facing as a family thirdly a commitment to meaningful engagement in the process of formation means you just got to work at it what's the problem with that brother most people don't know their world view they probably have not taken an active ownership of building it themselves instead they simply live from their ideas instead of knowing what they are then secondly people are not aware of the worldview development process that the ideas that you listen to what you see are constantly forming and reforming your heart my mama had seven kids if you'd have told her honey you just need to get away and be alone with Jesus she'd been like how I tell you what she did she had the biggest tape collection I ever saw she'd play records anybody know what records are play records and our house was filled with worship music and preaching constantly what are you saying yeah I'm saying that's how you win those ideas will get into the heart of your child and help them succeed I'll close with this man I want to say so much today there was a study brother Burns a great guy I don't know how he came up with that he decided to do a study on the ages of like 16 to 23 the formative years of Youth and Young adults and he he asked people who are the who are the young adults that you think have the strongest biblical worldview that you can think of he did a massive study on it and the surprise the the things that he found in that were astonishing I just want to help encourage you a couple today some parents trying to raise children they said what are parents in his parents he said it was paradoxical when I interviewed the parents they said we were worried that our kids were growing up in a bubble we were intimidated by that by sometimes well how are they going to reach the world they don't know the world but no I was just here to go down that road but I hear all sorts of things like that well I'm just worried I want him to I want him to be exposed no I don't want them I don't want my baby exposed okay well well you know that Mighty Oak Tree Grows Up out there in the forest they tell us brother Matthew Martin sorry I can't call you but Matthew Brother Martin but you know they don't talk about all the other hundreds of acorns that died and the fascinating thing is in contrast to what parents were afraid of those young adults said the thing I appreciate the most now as a solid young adult was that I was protected from so much how many of you parents say I think I want to do something like that brother killed me then it's going to cost you sacrifice I took the bonus room of the place that we were written baby and I I filled it up with games and toys and all the things I could do why because I can control that environment I can make it fun and everybody wants to come to Joel's house and I can make sure that's healthy it's going to cost me time as a dad it's going to take me cost me space it's going to cost me finances but I'm gonna make my house the most Godly fun place why because young people want to hang out there that's the only environment I can control that's how you win I'll conclude this what does that formation look like I want to encourage you as Sunday school teachers and youth workers and all of you that are on your pastor's team stay committed to this great work I mess with my boy since he was born like you know I'll pay for the psychology later I guess remember he came out of Sunday school and I'd ask him but would you learn in Sunday school what'd you learn in Church children's church today and I never let him off the hook he'd be like we learned about Samson I'm like okay dude you know that's not enough what about Samson that's a great tactic as a dad because it taught my son he had to pay attention in Sunday School where'd you get that brother killman my parents formed and I said all right dude what about Samson you know that's not enough he said well Dad he was strong on the outside but he wasn't very strong on the inside and I thought man some Sunday school teacher helped me today it's like teaching at ibc and a young man is over there and we're having a now we we believe in the spirit we're not like other colleges we believe in a move of God brother Burns and I'm teaching in class servant leadership and intro to Ministry and I'm talking about the fact that lots of things I won't go down that road but I remember there's this young boy from New York there and he was a pretty talented singer and he was a little full of himself and I love him and I he's doing so well today but I remember he was over there and I saw him in the class in the middle of it he got on his phone and and and I thought okay that's weird but I didn't feel any check in my spirit so I just kind of Let It Go Brother Martin and I and I went on to talk to the students and we had a little prayer meeting right there in class it was phenomenal great move of God is Grace and and that young like an extrovert does he was on a scale of one to ten he was a 15 extra words think out loud and right there in class he lifted up his hand and I said yeah he said brother killman he said I'm sorry for making a phone call in class he said I was at my church in New York we have two services and I'm serving on the worship team he said my mom came up to me in the worship team and and in the middle of the services they were cleaning up the trash off the pews and he said she asked me son can you come help me pick up the water bottles and things like that and he said I looked at her and said I'm not a trash person he said I had to call and apologize ask her to forgive what's that call that's called winning that's called formation because everything if you can get it into their I'm telling you young people are hungry for it you stay the course for the right issues you stay strong in your teaching you stay strong in your preaching you be loving you sacrifice to make it work well in your home and I promise you at the end of the day it will pay dividends that you can't imagine that's our one task how many of you say I commit to that Lord Jesus name stand with me if you would I'm going to invite parents that are raising kids Sunday school teachers people that have influence over the next Generation would you just come and stand across the front of this this Tabernacle for just a moment we're going to pray our world needs what we just heard and we need to we need to do what we just heard in Jesus name amen we're going to pray and ask the Lord to help us to form these things with his help in this generation that we're responsible for amen and if you don't have any response the truth is everybody's everybody's influencing somebody everybody's influencing somebody you may be a grandparent their grandparents are raising grandkids today you're influencing them we all have to ask the Lord help us to form the right things Lord help us to be the right kind of teachers would you just I'm not I'm asking you to pray yourself and ask God to help you to do this this is our own personal prayer now would you do that right now Lord Jesus I'm asking you to help us Lord I pray that you would help us Lord to form in this generation that's coming on help us to form in them Lord with your help the right things God help us to teach help us to train help us to live God I pray for every parent in this room Lord that's trying to raise their children in this very untoward generation God I'm asking you Lord to give them wisdom I pray that you would give them wisdom and understanding Lord to do the right thing to say the right thing to be the right parent Lord I pray for these grandparents Lord that have the the wonderful privilege of of reaching two generations not just one but two generations Lord and maybe three I pray that you would anoint these grandparents Lord help us to stand strong and help us God to give the right influence and be the right influence God I'm asking you Lord to touch every Sunday school teacher I pray that you would increase their strength God I pray that you would help them as they stand in front of that classroom Sunday after Sunday Lord realizing that they're making a difference Lord in the Next Generation and I pray for every youth pastor and every youth leader I pray God for every Pastor that's that's trying to make a difference Lord I pray your anointing on us Lord our world is in such trouble God but we have the answer through you I pray that anointing in the name of Jesus help us God to let this formation work through us oh God I pray your anointing Lord across this Tabernacle God and those that are watching online today God I pray that you would help them to feel what we're feeling here right now Lord this did this state Lord needs us they need our our influence God they need your influence Lord I pray that anointing in the name of Jesus I pray God that you would give us fortitude and strength Lord help us not just to try to be the best friend of our kids and and those around us but help us to be the leaders that we need to be God I pray that you you would give us anointing and straight Heavenly Father we need your help God you would never ask us to do something that we were not able to do with your help God and I believe you can help us now Lord I pray for stronger youth groups across Oklahoma I pray for stronger Sunday schools across our state God I pray that anointing of your spirit Lord to do a miracle work give us courage to stand up and be what our parents were of and what our predecessors were God I pray that anointing on us in the name of Jesus I pray that anointing in the name of Jesus hallelujah hallelujah I thank you for what you you're doing right now God and I thank you for what you're going to do Lord in the name of Jesus I pray in Jesus name in Jesus name praise God