Guarding Faith: Protecting Our Children from Atheism

Good morning, everybody! Let's give it up for Jesus today. So glad you're here and welcome to the Courageous Church.

We have been in a series called "Fit Check," and in honor of this amazing series, I'm wearing an amazing multicolored coat of many colors here today. The concept of "fit check" is something that people say when they're getting ready to go into the world. They're like, "Check out my FIT. How am I looking?"

Well, it's back to school time, and I'm wanting to strengthen some things in the heart of the church, in the mind of the church, in relation to what we believe. And so, we're going to tighten up our belt of Truth. Look at your neighbor and say, "Tighten up your belt of Truth."

Let's look at the Word of God this morning in Ephesians 6:10. It talks about the spiritual battle that we're engaged in and involved in. It says, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might" (Amen to that!). "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil."

So, the church and people who believe will experience resistance and attack. It's just so clear. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities. The enemy has used spiritual adversity and government to come against the church historically. Just throwing that out there.

Against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, because of that, therefore, whenever you see "therefore," you got to ask, "What's it there for?" Oh, okay, alright. Take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of Truth. When it comes to the armor of God, the belt is not something in battle you take off and use like your mama did with you maybe when you were smart-mouthing or whatever. But the belt was there to hold up everything else. And it's no mistake that it's called the belt of Truth. What we believe about this book, what we believe about the Savior that this book is about, holds up everything else in our life. Can I get an amen to that this morning?

So, we're gonna cinch up that belt of Truth, and we're going to look at a bunch of "isms." We've looked at some; we'll be looking at more. But today we're going to talk about atheism.

Our children and our students are in the battleground in culture wars. This is talking about it's happening now. It's not some further space down the road. It's now. And society and the evils within society and government are coming after your kids because they can't have their own.

And so, children, like I think it's... I think there is a push, and I'm seeing the rumblings of the push to normalize children and sexualize children. Definitely, the concept of human trafficking is much more prevalent than it ever used to be. I never knew the phrase when I was a kid. The attacks of the godless upon children are abounding, and students are abounding. Everywhere, it's everywhere.

And I want to take a moment and applaud the massive financial investment of this church. You gave so much to send our students, our young people, to Access Conference. Many of them had a great experience with God. Give yourselves a hand for that. It was a blow-you-away type of generosity. I want to thank you for that.

And so, you know, since May, in our church, 196 people have stepped up and served children or youth in this church. That is amazing. Give yourselves a hand for that. Almost 200 people serving God.

And then, we just had a few weeks ago, Summer Jam, which is our summer intensive for discipling students and leading them closer to God. We had 145 dream teams serving for 150 kids. It's, like, almost a one-to-one. I mean, what in the world? One more time, give this team a hand. Look at that picture. It's amazing.

And one of the images that stuck with me from Summer Jam is our security team was there. You know, because you have so many kids, and I mean, they're your kids, they can be crazy, just like my kids could be crazy, right? But we stationed, you know, we have this all the fun that's going on on the front lawn of our South Campus, but the South Campus is right up against Highway 60.

And so, I watched as several men in the church, their whole job was to stand between Highway 60 and the children. The children were being taught about Jesus. They're having fun. They're experiencing joy. But there are some vigilant ones standing. They're not there for fun. They're there to protect what matters.

And they're there to make sure that the next generation receives what they're needing from God without any kind of distraction. So, I want to say that's what the church is supposed to be. We're supposed to allow for the next generation to experience the joy of Jesus, the wonder of the community of the church, and yet, guard against what's in the highway. Amen, somebody?

So, I want to thank all of our dream team for serving, for serving students and children this summer. And our summer season is focused on the next generation. We know that.

But I'm just haunted by the biblical account of the Canaanites, where they were throwing their children on the altars of Molech to be burned and sacrificing them to please their false gods. We're not going to sacrifice our children at the Courageous Church.

One of the reasons we have to expand is the church, is because our kids' areas, more often than not, are full because we're discipling and teaching biblical truth to the next generation.

You need to get your kids to the house of God. You don't need to put other things as a greater priority than the house of God. Coming to church one out of six Sundays is not going to disciple your kids. And the church alone is not going to do it.

Anyway, you have to have a focus in your life that says, "As for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord." Come on, somebody, give Him praise this morning.

So, America is rotting from the inside out, and the powers that be are trying to sacrifice an entire generation's souls for their own sexual deviation that they've embraced. And it's a perversion fueled by God haters and the hatred of children.

And the godlessness of our society is the only safe thing to promote. Like, it's okay to promote godlessness. And so today, I'm talking about atheism. And these are old philosophies being reintroduced with new vigor and new methods.

Okay, the definition of atheism is "all without theism." It's got a passive meaning that says, like, "I lack a belief in God." An aggressive meaning that says, "God does not exist." It affects both of them, okay?

But there's something in the human heart that knows there is a God. There's something in the human heart that is designed to worship. We are a species that worships. We have eternity in our hearts. We have worship ingrained in our hearts.

And so, the big dilemma for the atheist is, who do I thank? Who do I worship when there's no one to be grateful to, right? Like, thankfulness is one of the most distinguishing traits of the human spirit.

You know, every once in a while, you might see a video where a chimp was raised by humans, and he comes back, he's like, and thankful. But ultimately, you're not seeing thankful cows, thankful deer. They're not thankful. They're just looking for the next meal.

Thankfulness is the unique thing that's been put in the heart of humanity because we're image bearers of God.

So, the big dilemma for the atheist is, "Who do I thank? Who do I worship when there's no one to be grateful to?" Because thankfulness is one of the most distinguishing traits of the human spirit.

You know, every once in a while, you might see a video where a chimp was raised by humans, and he comes back, he's like, [gibberish] and thankful. But ultimately, you're not seeing thankful cows, thankful deer. They're not thankful. They're just looking for the next meal.

Thankfulness is the unique thing that's been put in the heart of humanity because we're image bearers of God.

And so, the big dilemma for the atheist is, "Who do I thank? Who do I worship when there's no one to be grateful to?" Because thankfulness is one of the most distinguishing traits of the human spirit.

You know, every once in a while, you might see a video where a chimp was raised by humans, and he comes back, he's like, [gibberish] and thankful. But ultimately, you're not seeing thankful cows, thankful deer. They're not thankful. They're just looking for the next meal.

Thankfulness is the unique thing that's been put in the heart of humanity because we're image bearers of God.

The devil worshipers declare themselves to be atheists and yet they worship the devil. So, they believe in the darkness, but they don't believe in the light. The Bible talks about how they suppress the truth by denying God, but the devil worshipers are causing themselves to be atheists.