Numbers 27 | In the Wilderness

Listen to this week’s sermon, In the Wilderness preached by Rev. Benjamin Kandt from Numbers 25:15-23.

Episode Transcript

Rev. Benjamin Kandt (00:06):
Hello everyone, this is Pastor
Benjamin.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City Orlando.
At New City, we long to see ourFather answer the Lord's
Prayer.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at Newcity Orlando.com.

Gina Fickett (00:21):
Please join me in praying the prayer of
illumination.
Holy Spirit, open our hearts tohear your word, and through
your word, create in our heartsa home for your presence that we
might live for the glory of theFather and the kingdom of his
beloved Son.

(00:41):
Through Jesus Christ we pray.
Amen.
Today's scripture reading isfrom Numbers 27, beginning in
verse 12.
The Lord said to Moses, Go upinto this mountain of Abiram and
see the land that I have givento the people of Israel.

(01:02):
When you have seen it, you alsoshall be gathered to your
people, as your brother Aaronwas.
Because you rebelled against myword in the wilderness of Zinn,
when the congregationquarreled, failing to uphold me
as holy at the waters beforetheir eyes.
These are the waters of Meribahof Kadesh in the wilderness of

(01:23):
Zinn.
Moses spoke to the Lord,saying, Let the Lord, the God of
the spirits of all flesh,appoint a man over the
congregation, who shall go outbefore them and come in before
them, who shall lead them outand bring them in, that the
congregation of the Lord may notbe as sheep that have no

(01:44):
shepherd.
So the Lord said to Moses, TakeJoshua, the son of Nun, a man
in whom is the Spirit, and layyour hand on him.
Make him stand before Eliezerthe priest and all the
congregation, and you shallcommission him in their sight.
You shall invest him with someof your authority, that all the

(02:09):
congregation of the people ofIsrael may obey, and he shall
stand before Eliezer the priest,who shall inquire for him by
the judgment of the Urim beforethe Lord.
At his word they shall go out,and at his word they shall come
in, both he and all the peopleof Israel with him, the whole
congregation.

(02:30):
And Moses did as the Lordcommanded him.
He took Joshua and made himstand before Eliezer the priest
and the whole congregation, andhe laid his hands on him and
commissioned him as the Lorddirected through Moses.
This is God's word.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt (03:05):
And let's go.
Numbers 27, verse 12 says this.
This word Abarim means inHebrew, regions beyond.
So I think it is a it's aliteral mountain, it also has
some metaphorical meaning to it.

(03:26):
See, in this moment, the Lordis telling Moses to go up on
this mountain and to look out.
What's he looking out at?
The culmination of his life'swork.
Everything Moses has done, hisentire life up to this moment,
is this climbing up of the Mountof Abarim to look out at the

(03:47):
promised land.
And what does he see?
He sees glory.
He sees the thing he was madefor, every sacrifice, every
sleepless night, every step inthe weary wilderness was for
this moment, and he's just nowbeginning to see it with his own
two eyes.
And what does the Lord say?

(04:07):
Look at Numbers 27, 13.
When you have seen it, you alsoshall be gathered to your
people.
That's a Hebrew idiom fordeath.
You will die, as your brotherAaron was.
Because you rebelled against myword in the wilderness of Zen,
when the congregation quarreled,failing to uphold me as holy at

(04:27):
the waters before their eyes.
You see, the Lord's saying,Moses, your journey is done.
It ends here.
Moses at this threshold.
He can view the land, but hewill not enter the land.
Is this cruelty?
No, it's reality.
You see, we have eternity inour hearts, but mortality in our

(04:51):
bones.
And that causes us to ache.
And the Bible puts a word tothat feeling, that ache.
It's called groaning.
We have mortality in our bonesbecause, like a branch cut off
from a tree, anyone who turnsaway from the Lord, death is the
consequence, the naturalresult.
But we have eternity in ourhearts because we know that we

(05:13):
are unending spiritual beingswho have an endless life or
endless death unfolding beforeus.
And so as Moses is glimpsingthis, he's taught by the Lord
how to handle this groaning.
Some of you are in here like,what if I don't really buy into
this whole eternity thing?
That's okay.
You still want your life tolast and to matter beyond your

(05:37):
death.
You still have a concern toleave the world better for the
next generation than how youfound it.
That's almost everybody hasthat desire.
And so there's this ache in usfor our lives to matter beyond
our lives.
That's where we find ourselvesin the text.
God's giving Moses a vision ofa life that lasts.

(05:59):
You see, because Miriam, hissister, has died, Aaron has
died, Moses will die.
What's next?
Well, Israel needs a newgeneration of leadership.
And so as we're grappling withour mortality in light of
eternity, what do we do?
The psychologist Eric Ericksonsays that we have a choice

(06:21):
between what he callsgenerativity or stagnation.
You see, generativity is whenyou find a sense of purpose in
your life by living in such away that you're guiding the next
generation.
This is through parenting ormentoring or creativity or
building institutions.
The alternative to generativityis what he calls stagnation,

(06:41):
which is when we becomeself-absorbed and live for our
trips and our toys.
You see, every adult is gonna,if you live long enough, you're

gonna face the question (06:50):
will my life serve the next generation
or only myself?
That's a question Moses hasfaced here.
And so here's my point.
If you live for what lasts, youwill disciple the next
generation.
If you live for what lasts, youwill disciple the next
generation.
So I want to talk about this.

(07:10):
I want to talk aboutgenerational discipleship using
one of my favorite frameworksfor the stages of life, because
it's simple, and I'm a simpleman.
This is from Ronald Rollheiser.
He says, your life is reallythree stages.
The first stage is the struggleto get your life together, then
the struggle to give your lifeaway, and then the struggle to
give your death away.
And we see all three of thosethings in our text.

(07:31):
So, with that, the struggle toget your life together.
Look at verse 15 with me.
This actually is in yourworship God as well.
Moses spoke to the Lord,saying, Let the Lord, the God of
the spirits of all flesh,appoint a man over the
congregation.
As Moses is looking over hislife and he's facing his death,

(07:53):
what does he do?
He prays.
That's not surprising to us atthis point because Moses, if
he's anything, he's a man ofprayer.
We've seen that throughout thewhole book of Numbers thus far.
But he does something inparticular here that I want to
point out.
Moses uses a name for God,Yahweh, the God of the spirits

(08:13):
of all flesh.
No one else in Scripture callsGod that.
Moses only uses it one othertime in Numbers chapter 16.
We actually saw that texttogether.
Why does that matter?
Well, we nickname our friends,our spouses, our kids.
We name things that we haveintimacy with, people that we
have intimacy with, that we havea close connection with.
And Moses does that with theLord.

(08:36):
Do you do that with the Lord?
Do you have ways that you termand name God in the secret
place?
Do you have a history in Godwhere you have ways of speaking
to and with God that are uniqueto you?
Moses did.
And he names God in light ofMoses' own need.
You see this phrase, the God ofthe spirits of all flesh, is

(08:57):
really heightening this factthat God is over the spirits of
people, that inner realm whereyour thoughts and your desires
and your will and your choices,where all of that exists.
And so when Moses needs God toappoint a man that can lead the
congregation, he needs God, thesearcher of hearts, the one who
knows the spirits of all flesh,to designate who that man might

(09:17):
be.
Jesus also had a name for Godin prayer, Abba Father.
Nobody else before Jesus hadever called God Abba Father in
the scriptures.
You see, when you're in amoment of need, you need to name
God properly in prayer.
That's what Moses and Jesusboth teach us.

(09:38):
And so what does Moses actuallypray for?
Look at verse 16.
He says this Let the Lord, theGod of the spirits of all flesh,
appoint a man over thecongregation.
Moses is asking God to raise upthe next generation of
leadership.
That's what he's asking for.
Because Moses knows that thereare things that he will never do

(09:59):
because they're not his to do.
Things that Moses desires todo.
He wants to lead them acrossthe Jordan into the promised
land, and the Lord said, No,that's not your job to do.
You see, because God hasplanned obsolescence built into
his strategy.
He intends for his leaders to,as Nicholas von Dinsendorf once

(10:19):
said, preach the gospel, die,and be forgotten.
And that's okay with him.
He's doing that with Moseshere.
And we actually, in Numbers 8,there's this really obscure
little law in there that Iparticularly like.
In Numbers 8, the Levites beginserving in the tabernacle at
age 25.
And then it says that they aredone at age 50.

(10:41):
They're to retire at age 50.
And really it says, if you readthe margins, it says that
they're supposed to move toFlorida and spend their golden
years collecting seashells onthe beach.
No, it's not what it says.
In fact, the text in Numbers 8,26 explicitly says the
50-year-olds are supposed toretire from serving in the

(11:02):
tabernacle in order to servetheir brothers and guard them.
What a beautiful picture.
God hardwired, designed intohis ministry that you start
ministry at 25, you labor untilyou're 50.
When you're 50, you're notdone.
You're not sidelined.
You use your best years to pourinto the 25-year-olds.

(11:24):
You're supposed to serve themand to guard them.
Listen, there's young people inthis room right now who need
nothing more than somebody who'solder than them to look at them
and say, I see you.
You matter.
I'm here for you.
I want to guard you.
I want to care for you.
I'm concerned about yourwell-being and your flourishing.

(11:45):
And that interaction might setthem on a trajectory that they
wouldn't have had otherwise.
God is brilliant in his designto plan obsolescence into the
way that he leads in the world.
He doesn't need anybody.
Moses, if there was anybody,God would exalt as the highest
leader among his people, it'sMoses, and Moses is dying.

(12:09):
And his time is over, and hebetter have raised up the next
generation.
And so I'm convinced that sinceone of the primary, maybe the
primary strategies of the devilis that the devil is always
trying to destroy God's design,I think this is one of the
reasons for the distrust betweengenerations.
Let me make that plain.

(12:31):
The cynicism in okay, boomermight just be demonic.
That's what I'm saying.
Because where else is theyounger generation going to
learn how to go out and to comein, except for from the
generation before them?
And that's what we see inNumbers 27, 17.
Look at this.
This is the kind of man Mosesis praying for.

(12:53):
The man who shall go out beforethem and come in before them,
who shall lead them out andbring them in, that the
congregation of the Lord may notbe as sheep that have no
shepherd.
Here is what where we get tothe heart of what it means to
get your life together.
Now you might have passed bythis, but I'm inviting you from

(13:13):
now on, whenever you see thatpairing of going out and coming
in in your Bible to underlineit.
It's a theme in Scripture.
It's one of those subtletiesthat Scripture has that if once
you know, you know.
And so what's happening here isnot something incidental, it's
not just a mere saying.
This is actually integral tolife with God, this rhythm of

(13:33):
going out and coming in back andforth.
And it's so important, permitme, I'm going to show you a
bunch of scripture to prove mypoint.
This is like 30% of the textsthat I have on this topic of
going out and coming in.
Look with me at Deuteronomy 31.
Should be on the screen behindme.
Moses said, I'm 120 years oldtoday.
I am no longer able to go outand come in.

(13:55):
Joshua 14, I am still as strongtoday as I was in the day that
Moses sent me.
My strength now is as mystrength was then for war and
for going out and coming.
Verse Samuel 18, but all Israeland Judah loved David.
Why do they love David?
For he went out and came inbefore them.
Second Chronicles 1, Solomon,the son of David, is trying to

(14:19):
figure out how am I going to beking over Israel?
And he asks the Lord, give menow wisdom and knowledge to go
out and to come in before thispeople, for who can govern this
people of yours, which is sogreat.
His going out is sure as thedawn.

(14:48):
He will come to us as theshowers, as the spring rains
that water the earth.
Now we get to the NewTestament, and Jesus Himself
says, I am the door.
If anyone enters by me, he willbe saved and will go in and out
and find pasture.
Acts 1 21, this is how you knowwho an apostle is.
It's so so one of the men whoaccompanied us during all the

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time that the Lord Jesus went inand out among us.
Last one, Acts 9 28.
So Paul went in and out amongthem at Jerusalem, preaching
boldly in the name of the Lord.
Wow, that was a lot.
I'm done.
What's the big deal?
This pattern of going out andcoming in.

(15:30):
What's the significance of it?
Well, in the Garden of Eden, itwas to walk with God and to
work the garden.
For Old Testament kings, it wasworship and warfare.
For older saints, they used tocall it the contemplative life
and the active life.
For the Benedictine months,they used to call it aura et

(15:51):
labora, prayer and work.
In theology proper, it's theimminent trinity and the
economic trinity.
That was for my nerds in here.
For us here at New City, wecall it communion with God and
commission for the world.
It's this rhythmic nature,breathing in, breathing out,
that sustains our very life.

(16:12):
Some of y'all are like, comeon, preacher, make it plain.
What are you actually sayinghere?
Listen, this is what I'msaying.
Do you have daily and weeklyhabits that fill you up so that
you can pour your life out?
Does the rhythm of your lifesustain your life?
That's what I'm talking abouthere.
It's why we make such a bigdeal about the common rhythm.

(16:34):
Because we really believe fromscripture and from history and
from personal experience thatscripture, prayer, worship, and
rest enable you to feast, fast,listen, and bless.
You see, there's rhythms oflife that aren't a checklist.
It's a way to abide in Jesus sothat you can show up with love,
joy, and peace in the rest oflife.

(16:55):
And to properly lead Israel,you needed to be the kind of
person who knew how to come inand meet with the true and
living God so that you could goout and face the world.
It's life with God for the lifeof the world.
It's abiding in Jesus so thatyou are fully alive for your

(17:15):
nine to five.
This is what this rhythm is ofcoming in and going out.
It's so integral to what itmeans to walk before God in the
world that it gets repeated somany times in Scripture.
This is the struggle to getyour life together.
But then we see the struggle togive your life away.
Look at verse 18 with me.

(17:37):
So the Lord said to Moses, TakeJoshua, the son of Nun, a man
in whom is the Spirit, and layyour hand on him.
Why Joshua?
Well, because Moses discipledJoshua.
If you've been paying attentionfrom Exodus basically up until

(17:57):
now, Joshua's a shoe-in.
You're like, oh, we know whothis guy needs to be.
I love Moses' humility.
Like he's been developingJoshua for 40 years, and he's
like, Lord, you do the workhere.
Appoint a man over thecongregation.
And the Lord has to go, dude,we both know who it's going to
be.
It's Joshua, the son of nun.
Why?
Well, because Moses knew how tolive for what lasts.

(18:20):
He knew how to make disciplesof the next generation.
And so he's been doing that.
He took Joshua as a young buckunder his wing.
Apologize for the mixedmetaphor.
The Bible does it too, so Ifeel permission to do that.
You see, Joshua comes under thewing of Moses and he teaches
him.
He disciples him from themoment they pass through the Red
Sea, as far as we know, all theway up until Moses dies.

(18:42):
It's a 40-year discipleshipjourney for him.
I want to look at a few momentsin those 40 years.
Right after Israel comesthrough the Red Sea, they're
faced with their first realexternal threat, the Amalekites.
And what does Moses do?
He says, Joshua takes some menand go down there in war against
the Amalekites.

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And what does Moses do?
He stands up on a vantage pointwhere he can see the
battlefield and he lifts hishand in prayer for Joshua.
And he's got Aaron and Ben Hur,a couple other old dudes on his
sides, and they're holding hisarms up because he can't do an
arm press for very long.
And he's praying for the younggun down on the battlefield.

(19:24):
I hope you see where I'm going.
We need this.
The younger generation needsthe older generation to lift
their hands in prayer for themas they go out into the world to
extend the kingdom of lightinto the domain of darkness.
This is what Joshua had.
He had the comfort and theconfidence of knowing Moses had

(19:45):
his back.
He could go out and face whatwas in front of him.
It's a beautiful picture ofgenerational discipleship.
And there's even this momentwhen the Lord says to Moses,
write this as a memorial in abook and recite it in the ears
of Joshua.
You see, younger men and womenneed to be reminded of victory,

(20:08):
especially in the moments oftheir defeat.
The Lord knew that.
He knew Moses needed to do thatfor Joshua, and you need it as
well.
The second story I want topoint out is when Moses invites
Joshua into his communion withGod.
There's two points in theExodus story.
Exodus 24, there's thispowerful moment when the people

(20:31):
stay at the foot of themountain, the elders go partway
up, Joshua alone accompaniesMoses a little further, but only
Moses entered into the glorycloud, into the very presence of
God.
But notice who got to go withhim?
Joshua.
You see, Moses showed Joshuawhat it looked like to commune

(20:52):
with the living God.
Moses would go into the tent ofmeeting.
Guess who would stand at thedoor?
Joshua.
Moses, when he was intercedingfor the people of Israel who
failed in their idolatry inExodus 32 with the golden calf,
Moses goes in to plead with theLord on their behalf.

(21:13):
Guess who's watching andlistening?
Joshua.
You see, the younger generationneeds to learn from the older
generation what does it mean todraw on life in God through
communion with God?
Moses taught Joshua how to comein and to go out.
Third moment I want to drawyour attention to is when they

(21:35):
needed to raise up spies inNumbers 13 to send into the
promised land.
Guess who goes?
Joshua.
It's a powerful moment becausethe reality of this is that
Moses must have known thatJoshua got to do something he
would never get to do.
Moses sent Joshua into thepromised land.

(21:55):
Only Joshua and Caleb come backand give the proper report.
The Lord's on our side.
We can do this.
Where did Joshua learn thatface?
From Moses.
Because Moses discipled Joshua.
Because Moses got his lifetogether so he could give his
life away.
But not only that, Moses alsogot his life together to give
his life away in such a way thatthe Lord could say in verse 18,

(22:19):
Take Joshua the son of Nun, aman in whom is the Spirit, and
lay your hand on him.
Make him stand before Eliezer,the priest, and all the
congregation, and you shallcommission him in their sight.
It's such a gift when theyounger generation receives
public acknowledgement andrecognition from the older
generation.
Few things more strengtheningthan that.

(22:41):
You want a good return oninvestment?
You want some ROI?
Pour into the next generation.
Because you're going to die.
That's the point of the text.
You're going the way of Mosesand me and everybody else in

(23:02):
planet Earth.
Invest in the next generation.
You get some good ROI.
That's what the scriptures arepointing are pointing out to us.
Verse 21.
And ye shall stand beforeEliezer the priest, who shall
inquire for him but by thejudgment of the Urim before the
Lord.
At his word they shall go out,and at his word they shall come
in.
You notice this.
Now he speaks.

(23:25):
Because spiritual leadership isabout integrity.
Joshua has the integrity, hecomes in and goes out.
And so therefore he can tellthe congregation when to come in
and go out.
And both he and all the peopleof Israel with him, the whole
congregation.
You see, by the time we read,reach Numbers 27, Joshua is a
man in whom is the Spirit,because Moses had spent decades

(23:47):
of his life giving his life awayto him.
And now Moses has to give hisdeath away.
Look at verse 22.
And Moses did as the Lordcommanded him.
He took Joshua and made himstand before Eliezer, the
priest, and the wholecongregation, and he laid his
hands on him and commissionedhim as the Lord directed through

(24:08):
Moses.
You see, Joshua is the nextgeneration leader, and he has a
big task.
He's got to lead the people ofGod into the promised land.
And so in Deuteronomy 3.28, itsays this but charge Joshua and
encourage and strengthen him.
He needs to be charged, heneeds to be encouraged, he needs

(24:29):
to be strengthened in order todo these things from Moses, from
the previous generation.
For he shall go over at thehead of this people, and he
shall put them in possession ofthe land that you shall see.
This is crazy because this isMoses' calling being fulfilled
through another man.
This is the great desire ofMoses' heart.

(24:51):
Maybe it's number one to forGod to show me your glory.
That's probably number one.
Number two was I want to go tothe promised land.
120 years of Moses' existenceis to get into the promised land
and he doesn't get to go, butthe young buck gets to go.
And we get no hint of jealousyor bitterness or resentment from

(25:15):
Moses.
Only strength andencouragement.
Why?
Because discipling the nextgeneration is like spiritual
parenting.
It takes the maturity of afather or a mother, a spiritual
father or a mother, in order todo this.
One of the, I believe he was aStoic philosopher named Cicero
said it like this only to a sondoes a man say to another man, I

(25:38):
hope you surpass me in everyway in all things.
Moses believed that aboutJoshua.
The next generation needs youto believe that about them.
I hope you surpass me in everyway and in all things.
This generational mindset isthe only way to live for what
lasts.
Often looks like helping thenext generation go where you

(26:09):
couldn't possibly go.
That's why in Joshua 4 it saysthis on that day the Lord
exalted Joshua in the sight ofall Israel, and they stood in
awe of him just as they hadstood in awe of Moses all the
days of his life.
Mission accomplished.
You see, Moses is teaching uswhat to do when we face the

(26:33):
limits of our own lives.
It's to raise up those who willstand where we cannot.
And so if you live for whatlasts, you will make disciples
of the next generation bystruggling to get your life
together, giving your life away,and even giving your death
away.
And let me close by pointingout how the gospel addresses
some of the top objections Ihear whenever I preach on this.

(26:55):
Some of you are like, dude,this is your heart song.
It is.
I really believe in this.
Objection number one, I don'tfeel qualified to disciple
anyone.
Maybe that's true, actually.
Someone once said, When you'reborn, you look like your
parents, when you die, you looklike your decisions.
I like that.
But some of us have made somebad decisions and we live with

(27:17):
regret and we think, How could Ipossibly show anybody else what
it looks like to walk withJesus?
Well, in verses 18 and 23,there's this language of
speaking of this laying on ofhands.
And in the story of Scripture,there's only two times you do
that.
You lay on hands for blessingor for curse.
You see, the patriarchs, whenthey were blessing their sons in

(27:40):
Genesis, they would lay theirhands.
And in the Levitical law, whenany worshiper brings an animal
for sacrifice, they would laytheir hands on its head and
confess their sins over thatanimal, conferring their sins
and the due curse that thosesins deserve to that animal to
die in its place.

(28:01):
The heart of the gospel is thatJesus Christ had your sins,
your mistakes, your failures,your regrets, those things that
keep you up at night, thosethings that make you
disqualified to pour into thenext generation, those were
transferred to Christ on thecross, and he died in your place
for those sins if you belong toHim.

(28:22):
That good news means that it'sall of grace or it's not at all.
It means no one is qualified.
That might be the primaryqualification.
Maybe actually the number onething the next generation needs
to learn from you is a lifestyleof repentance.
Like the older generationlooking at the younger

(28:44):
generation and saying, hey,listen, I've gone down that
path.
It doesn't end well.
You still have time to kind ofturn back.
And this is how I did it.
This is what it could looklike.
It's why in our premaritalcounseling, we always tell the
mentor couples, share some ofyour failures with the
newlyweds.
Because they probably won'tremember any of the cool things

(29:04):
that they learn in the books andwhatnot.
They will learn that from yourfailures.
Like, I can't believe you didthat.
And then they do it and theygo, wow, I can't believe they
did that too.
I'm so glad.
Feel refreshed.
You see, because one of theprimary things people need is
not your righteousness, but yourrepentance.
The world doesn't know how torepent.

(29:27):
You can't learn that from apodcast or a blog.
You gotta learn repentanceincarnate from another human
being.
And so the number two thing Ihear is I don't know who to
disciple.
This one's easy.
Do what Moses did.
Ask the Lord.
Just say, Lord.
That's what he did in verses 15through 17.

(29:48):
Three of the verses of our textis Moses just prayed.
Just ask the Lord, would yougive me somebody?
This is what Jesus prays for inJohn 17.
He says, I'm praying not onlyfor them.
The disciples that Jesus made,but also through all of those
who would believe in them,believe in me through their
word.
Jesus cares more about thisthan you do, than I do.

(30:09):
Ask him.
I don't know who to disciple,ask him.
The third thing I hear the mostis no one discipled me, so how
am I supposed to know how?
I get it.
That's a real thing.
Our joy as pastors is to equipyou to disciple the next
generation.
It's our joy, truly.
So that's one way I wouldrespond to that.

(30:29):
The other thing I'd say isnotice the simple framework of
coming in and going out.
What does your life with Godfor the life of the world look
like?
So, what I'm not saying is theyonly need to learn how to study
the Bible and pray.
They absolutely need that.
They also need to know how doyou balance a budget and how do
you show up to work on time?
Because it's coming in and it'sgoing out.

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It's all of life.
It's not just this weirdsecular sacred divide where some
of life matters to God and therest is just, you know,
whatever.
Discipleship is for all oflife.
And so, what does it look likefor you to come in and to go
out?
That's what you offer to thenext generation.
The fourth, and maybe the mostdifficult one I hear is my
schedule is insane.

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Where am I going to find timefor this?
I've said before that thenumber one discipleship
difficulty here for New City,it's not addiction.
It's not bitterness and gossip.
It's not, I mean, fill in theblanks, but political
divisiveness, it's busyness.

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It's busyness.
And so as I come to this, I'mthinking, man, we need a sermon
series on this.
I've got three bullet points.
It's not enough.
I get it.
But here's what I'd say RonnieWare was an Australian
palliative care worker who spentthe last, she spent eight years
working with patients in thelast three to twelve weeks of

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their life.
And during this time, shewitnessed consistent patterns in
the regrets that theyexpressed.
And these were diverse patientsfrom various backgrounds.
And the number two most commonregret that was expressed was I
wish I hadn't worked so hard.
So listen, if one of thereasons for your busyness is
that you prioritize productivityover people, maybe just

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consider what that might looklike to change.
Maybe just take a 10%, a 1%movement towards discipling the
next generation, putting that asa big rock in your jar as you
consider your schedule for thenext year.
I know that doesn't address allthat there is to say about it,
but the last one I want to pointout is people will say, Well,

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I'm discipling my own kids.
100%, you absolutely should dothat.
That's permission to play.
That's one of the mostimportant things you can do.
Discipling the next generationstarts with your kids.
But here's the only issue withthat is that research has shown
that 12 to 20 year olds needparents, I'm sorry, adults,
their parents' age, in order tocorroborate what you've been

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doing in your house for thefirst 12 years of their life.
Let me make that plain.
So now we do have cool, fun20-something year olds that are
serving in our with our youngadults, with our students,
middle and high school students.
They're amazing.
We also have aged 40s and50-year-olds who we love deeply

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and are so valued, uh, who servein student community as well.
Why?
Because the thing that sixththrough 12th graders need, they
need their parents to live anauthentic lifestyle before
Jesus, and they need thatcorroborated by other crazy
people who think Jesus is thepurpose of their life.
And if you only disciple yournuclear family, who's gonna be

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there for all of those otherkids?
Who's gonna be there for thefatherless and the motherless?
And so disciple your kids, itmatters.
It's just not the extent ofwhat passing on the faith to the
next generation looks like.
And so, listen, in all of this,Jesus has come in and gone out
before us.
The name Jesus is the same nameas Joshua.

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In Hebrew, they both meanYahweh saves.
And so Jesus is the trueJoshua.
He is the one that goes intothe promised land before us.
He is the one that goes beforeus, taking our mortality,
resurrecting it, and placing itin eternity.
So we actually have hope beyonddeath.
And Jesus comes down in orderto be among us.

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He came down from the heavenlysanctuary in the presence of
God.
He came out to meet with us inorder to bring us back in.
That's a significant movement.
But before he went back up toheaven, he used language very
similar to verses 19 and 20 inour text.
He commissioned us by investingsome of his authority in us so

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that we would go to makedisciples of all nations so that
they might obey Jesus.
It's all the same language thatwe see here.
And so if the gospel does notjust have a geographical
expansion, but a generationalexpansion.
Say that differently.
If the gospel is to go to theends of the earth, it must go to
the end of time.
And the only way that thathappens is to live for what

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lasts by making disciples of thenext generation.
Let's pray.
Spirit of God, you alone canempower us to do this work.
Wherever we feel.
Maybe some of us are comfortedand encouraged, others of us are
confronted.
I pray, Spirit of God, that youwould lead us.

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That you would lead us fromhere.
So that we might live for whatlasts beyond our life.
Pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
As we always do, we