May 31 '26 "Generations" Genesis 10:1-32 Joel Zaborowski

forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods, these other lords of the peoples around them, and they provoked the lord to anger. So follow now. That first generation, Joshua's generation, they knew god, they experienced God, and therefore the people served God. That second generation, they knew of God, they saw God work, and the people still served the Lord. The next generation, they did not know God, did not know what he'd done. They forsook the Lord and did evil in the Lord's sight. And this should concern us. We're just three generations away from the lord not being involved in our family tree. That's right. [01:09:36] (51 seconds)  #ProtectFamilyFaith

My grandfather would weep if he could see that tree. Makes me want to weep when I see that tree. Whatever generation you're in, we're passing something down. Am I following Jesus and experiencing him work? Am I putting my kids in a position where they don't just see him work, but they have to experience him work? Am I telling them about See, whatever spiritual ceiling a parent sets, that's typically where their kids grow to. We set that that ceiling. And it wasn't just Joshua. You think about Noah. Noah was that first generation who knew God, experienced God. His kids, they saw God work, and then their kids and generations later, they didn't even know they didn't even know God. [01:11:47] (61 seconds)  #SetTheSpiritualCeiling

We wanna raise our kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews, kids that we work with in the church. We wanna raise them to know the Lord. Now, want our kids to be successful, to be independent. We don't wanna live in our basement till they're 40 years old. We want them to be gainfully employed. We want them to have a good job, good career, own a home, have a reliable car, no debt. Those are all good things to be successful. But if they have those things, but no character, they're selfish or they're greedy, have an unhealthy marriage, they're proud, they're dishonest, they don't follow Jesus, well, then that's that's a fail. Because there's things that are important to God, and we a few chapters later in Genesis, we see what's important to God. And this is this is our mission in life for everybody. [01:14:06] (54 seconds)  #CharacterOverSuccess

Love your spouse. When when your kids see that you love each other, man, it gives them a sense of security. Love your spouse. And then that church family, partnering with the church family and the the family ministries that we do, building into that next generation. Man, generations can be one of the biggest blessings in your life, or it can be one of the biggest disappointments and regrets in your life. Now, different languages, with that doesn't really matter. Different locations, that really doesn't matter either. But different lords, man, that matters. Do your best as unto the lord for the next generation. I'm gonna I'm gonna pray for us, and I think our worship team's gonna come up. [01:19:54] (48 seconds)  #LeadByLoving

So bring them to church. Pastor them. Pilot them. A pilot leads. A pilot sets the course, sets the path. Pilot them by making God the center. Now for our current generations, there's all types of different competing forces to be the center of your family's life. Sports, scouts, band, school, a number of other things, they want you to revolve around them. We revolve around Jesus. We've got a pilot that. Police them. That means to correct our kids, discipline our kids, give them consequences. Our kids need to hear us say no to what they want. No to certain friends. No to certain screens that they have. No to too many activities. Police them. Now, pirate them doesn't mean get them a patch and a parrot, pirate from other families. Learn from other people how they're raising their kids. Look around for somebody who's got kids older than you and who are doing a great job, and then ask them what they're doing. How are your kids turning out this way? What have you done specifically? And steal it. Steal that information from them. Pirate it. Read books. Listen to podcasts about that. And then finally, partner. Have unity with your spouse. You're both pulling in the same direction together when it comes to the next generation. [01:18:29] (85 seconds)  #PilotThemInFaith

to keep the way of the Lord. Amen. That that's what that's our whole life. If it's sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety years the Lord gives us, this is what it's about. Direct our children and household after them, future generations, to follow the way of the Lord. Now as we close, I've got 10 p words to help us to do that, to raise a godly generation. First one is the word provide. Provide a loving environment in the home. environment of encouragement. Provide the truth for our kids, not the lie. Provide physically for their needs, not necessarily their wants, because providing all their wants leads to spoiled and other problems. So, provide. Protect. Spiritual protection. Pray against the enemy. I have from day one, when we knew we were having kids, even before they were born, [01:15:12] (61 seconds)  #ProvideProtectPray

acceptable in culture. But as the people of Christ, man, that distinguishes us. It sets us apart when we don't engage in profane language that way. speaking different languages was revealed in Genesis 10. Also, living in different locations. Verse 32, from the three sons of Noah, the nation spread out over the earth after the flood. They we saw the maps where mankind, families, and then clans and nations and generations, they spread out all over the earth. Now, eventually, cities were built, nations and countries were established on all the different continents. Remember, the maritime people, boats went out everywhere and explored and expanded across the seas, [01:03:39] (49 seconds)  #ChristlikeSpeech

different locations for different generations. Now, it's a blessing to have family that are all close by. Same proximity, location. It's nice to have grandparents building into grandchildren and passing on values, passing on languages and things. If you are near to your generations and your families, man, enjoy it. Take advantage of it. Connect with each other. Invest in each other. And even if it's not blood relative, in the church family, connect with each other. Invest in each other. If you're far away from your blood family, if you're a parent and your kids are are far away, man, work to stay connected. Two t words. Use technology [01:04:28] (55 seconds)  #InvestInFamily