August 31, 2025 • 32 mins
What does it look like to build a faith that outlasts you? In The God of Generations, Tyler Lynde opens Titus 2:1-8 and shows how God’s plan for cultural transformation is forged not in grand gestures but in ordinary lives that look like Jesus at home, at work, and in the neighborhood. Drawing from Paul’s instructions to Titus—sent into a Crete as broken as any modern city—Tyler urges older men and women to live with dignity, reverence, and self-control, creating a living pattern that younger believers can imitate. Integrity, he says, is the unwavering determination in the heart to do the right thing for the right reasons, and self-control is a Spirit-given fruit the next generation desperately needs to see.
Tyler roots this call in God’s very nature. God reveals Himself across generations—from the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to His name as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Abraham reflects the Father as progenitor of many nations; Isaac prefigures Christ in his “almost” sacrifice, where the Lord provides the ram in Genesis 22; and Jacob’s wrestling and limp picture the Spirit’s transforming work that breaks us to make us whole. This is more than history; it’s a map for discipleship, reminding us that Jesus not only removes sin but also teaches us how to live holy, Spirit-led lives.
The message lands tenderly for parents and grandparents wondering how to shepherd children in confusing times. God has not left you to do this alone. Sometimes the most powerful parenting move is a sincere apology that models humility and grace. And if you don’t have biological children, you still have a crucial part in God’s generational plan by investing in spiritual sons and daughters through mentoring and discipleship. Later years are not a retreat from impact; they can be the most fruitful season to pour wisdom into hungry hearts.
Tyler invites the whole church to embrace Psalm 145:4—let each generation tell its children about God’s mighty acts—and to see spiritual generations as every bit as vital as natural ones. Imagine a community where older believers embody holiness and younger believers imitate that life with joy. That’s how regions change. Will you build a faith that outlasts you? Watch or listen and be equipped to live like Jesus for the sake of generations to come.
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Episode Transcript
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Tyler Lynde (00:15):
Let's turn to Titus , chapter 2, verses 1 through 8.
Older women, likewise, are tobe reverent in behavior, not
slanderers or slaves to muchwine.
They are to teach what is good,and so train the young women to
love their husbands andchildren, to be self-controlled,
pure, working at home, kind andsubmissive to their own
(00:39):
husbands.
That the word of God may not bereviled.
Likewise, urge the younger mento be self-controlled.
Show yourself in all respectsto be a model of good works and
in your teaching, show integrity, dignity and sound speech that
cannot be condemned, so that anopportunity sorry, so that an
(00:59):
opponent may be put to shame,having nothing evil to say about
us.
Let's pray, father.
We thank you for this day, wethank you for all the things
that have already occurred andwe thank you for what is to come
.
But, lord, we ask that you'dhelp us to tune in to the words
of scripture that teach us thatyou are the God of generations.
(01:20):
Father, we pray that you wouldhelp us to catch your heart for
generations, that we would notbe content to just see the Lord
move in our lives and in ourtimes, but that we would be
convinced that this good news isworth sharing and spreading to
future generations.
And, lord, we ask that youwould help us, father, to see
(01:43):
you in this, in the middle ofall of this, and to heed your
word and to not only be hearersbut to be doers.
In Jesus name, amen, amen.
So Paul is sending one of histrusted sons in the faith.
We're used to hearing aboutTimothy, his son in the faith,
but this time he's sending Titus.
Titus.
(02:04):
And where is Titus going to besent?
To Crete.
Just to give you an example,crete would have been like Vegas
is to us.
Crete was not a pleasant placeto go.
If you were a believer, it wasa very difficult place.
Whatever happened in Cretestayed in Crete.
Right, that's kind of that'swhere concrete came from.
(02:24):
No, I'm just kidding, but Ijust made that up.
That was sort of funny, almostit was on the border of being
funny.
So, anyway, he was sent toCrete.
He is tasked with helping thechurches in that region to
understand the power that theyhave to address the cultural
problems.
And guess how they were goingto do it?
Guess how this church or thesechurches in the region of Crete
(02:45):
they were going to do it.
Guess how this church or thesechurches in the region of Crete
were going to make a differencein a culture that was so filled
with debauchery.
Were they going to stand in thepublic square and cry something
out?
Maybe so.
Were they going to, you know,just have good church services
and ask people to attend churchservices.
(03:05):
That was part of it.
But what were they actuallycalled to do?
What was God saying to Titus?
Was the answer to the culturalproblems that they were facing?
It was for them to live likeJesus.
Can you imagine how different aculture could be if churches
within a region would determinetoday not just to preach good
(03:29):
sermons or have good performanceor have excellent worship or,
you know, have an amazing meal,but if churches within this
culture, within this region ofTennessee, would rise up
together and say we are going to, by the grace of God, live like
Jesus.
What a difference would be madeand experienced in everyday
(03:53):
life.
And that's what God knows,obviously, as the master planner
, and that's what Paul knew,because he was experiencing it
himself.
And now he's passing this on toTitus and encouraging him to go
and speak to the believersabout these very important
things.
What does it look like torepresent Christ in the way that
we live our everyday lives, ourworkday lives, our home lives,
(04:18):
our lives at school or atWalmart or wherever it is that
we find ourselves.
How about when we're driving?
We won't land there, but thereare lots of ways and lots of
places.
Everywhere that we go in oureveryday lives, we should have a
heart's desire to live likeJesus, and this is especially
(04:41):
true when it comes to ourunderstanding of generational
life.
Generational life.
I'm so thankful that some ofour children and young people
are in this room this morning,because it's important for you
to understand that what I'mtalking about up here this
morning is not just for yourparents, it's not just for your
grandparents.
In fact, we will have failedmiserably if you don't
(05:05):
understand this fully andembrace it for yourself.
Because of the work of the HolySpirit in your lives.
We are called to begenerational people because God
is a generational God.
Notice the focus here twothings teaching and training.
(05:25):
Teaching and training.
Teaching principles to othersis important, but training is
showing people how to dosomething, showing people how to
live.
Showing people how to live likeJesus, how to walk like Jesus
and talk like Jesus and act likeJesus and be motivated like
Jesus.
We have the privilege of doingthis.
(05:47):
We are the light of the world.
We are the salt of the earth.
We have a chance to berevolutionary in the way that we
experience life ourselves andin the way that we help other
people to see that there's adifference in those who believe
in Jesus.
(06:07):
And he encourages two groups ofpeople.
First, older men.
Are there any older men in theroom?
Okay, are there any men in theroom over 50?
Oh, my gosh, thank you.
Thank you, I hear that whistle.
(06:31):
I'll take that If it helps you.
Let me just say this Older menis not always an age thing.
It's about spiritual maturity.
Spiritual maturity.
You can be 30 years old andhave been saved since you were
five years old and be prettyspiritually mature and be able
to help other people togenerationally understand what
it means to live like Jesus, towalk like Jesus, to act like
(06:53):
Jesus right.
But he's talking specificallyto men of stature, men of wisdom
, men who have spiritualmaturity, and he tells them to
build their lives on solidground.
Scott did a great job last weekof reminding us the scriptures
that the foundation that webuild our lives on matter.
They absolutely matter so much.
(07:13):
And so God is instructing Titus, through Paul, to tell the
people that it's important tobuild their foundation on the
right rock, on the right stone,right, and we can inspire those
in the younger generation to payattention and to learn from
them.
I'm so grateful for thissection right over here.
(07:35):
All of you, I really appreciateyou so much, seriously, so
grateful.
I was able to be at youth groupa couple of weeks ago and just
to see your hunger for God andyour desire for truth and the
fact that you're making thisyour own is inspiring to me.
It really is, and so we loveyou very much.
Can we give them a hand?
(07:57):
Thank God, for our young people.
So the older men were to besober minded, dignified,
self-controlled, sound in faith,in love and in steadfastness.
(08:19):
Does that sound like you?
Here's what we could do.
We could have you ask your wife, but we won't do that right now
.
But ask the Lord.
You know what I.
You know what I want to sayabout myself.
I want, I.
In some ways, I'm living inthis way, and yet Lord helped me
to live even more right.
(08:41):
Help us, lord.
Notice that one of the biggestlessons that the younger men
need is how to liveself-controlled lives.
Guys, we who have some grayhairs or maybe no hairs.
We who have lived some life andhave walked with Jesus for many
years, we need to live asself-controlled people.
(09:02):
It is a fruit of the spirit, itis something that is
transplanted in our lives.
It is something that growsbecause of the work of the
spirit in our lives.
We have the ability to say noto the things that God says no
to and to say yes to the thingthat God says yes to.
And what a difference it wouldmake with younger men if we
(09:25):
would live self-controlled lives.
Moving on, the older women areto live godly lives so that they
can teach and train youngerwomen how to fulfill their
God-given roles in such a waythat represents Christ and his
word to the fullest.
The older women were to bereverent in behavior, not
(09:46):
slanderers.
What is a slanderer?
Somebody who uses their mouthto cut somebody else down, to
speak lies, to gossip, notslanderers or slaves to much
wine, not to be drunkards.
Through their teaching andtraining, the younger women
would know how to love theirhusbands and children well, how
(10:09):
to be self-controlled.
Again, this is something that'sshared between both the older
men and the older women how tobe self-controlled, how to be
pure and how to be kind.
Just because your kids are outof the house, it does not mean
that God's finished with you, doyou hear me?
(10:29):
God is still at work and hestill needs you.
He still needs you in theeconomy of the kingdom.
Older men and older women,spiritually mature men and
spiritually mature women thenext generations are counting on
you to get it right, as rightas you can, so that you can
share it with them in a way thatencourages them to know that
(10:52):
they can do it too.
And Paul doesn't stop there.
He encourages Titus himself tolive a life of integrity and
dignity and to use proper speech.
When he instructs these groupsof people how to pass on the
essence of the God kind of lifeto future generations, he calls
him to be a man of integrity.
(11:14):
What is integrity?
At its base form, integrity isthe unwavering determination in
the heart to do the right thingfor the right reasons.
Friends, parents, dads, it doesnot work for you to tell your
parents what to do while you'reliving the opposite way.
(11:36):
Hello, we are required to livewhat we believe, to act out what
we believe and, in so doing, toteach and train those around us
how to do life the right wayfor the right reasons.
Ultimately, Paul is encouragingTitus to implore those who are
(11:58):
mature in their faith to livelives of integrity, just like
Jesus.
How many of you know thateverything that Jesus did, he
did perfectly.
Everything that he did, he didbased on the fact that he had
the right heart and the rightreason and the right action.
Right, that's a lot of rightshe did.
(12:19):
That was who he was and, myfriends, jesus died on the cross
.
He took, took our sins uponhimself, not only to set us free
from sin, but to teach us howto live.
So many times, I think that wefocus on what he takes away,
that we forget about what hegives to us.
He gives to us his spirit sothat we can understand.
(12:42):
On the inside, we have thatgreen, yellow, red red light
going on where, when we startapproaching something that's
dangerous or something that weshouldn't do our motivation's
wrong, the yellow light startsgoing off on the inside of us
and we recognize God's sayingsomething.
The Holy Spirit is trying towarn me, and all of us have come
up against the red light andpushed the gas pedal right
(13:04):
through it, haven't we?
And aren't you thankful thatthe grace of God and the mercy
of God is available to us andnew every morning.
So are we preachingperfectionism?
No, we're not preachingperfectionism, but we're
preaching holiness.
Be holy, for I am holy.
God has called us to live likeJesus.
(13:30):
In order to more fullyunderstand this, let's go back
in time a little bit and giveyou just a quick snippet.
God is the God of generations.
This statement means that God'sactions and promises in the
Bible often extend acrossmultiple generations,
emphasizing continuity andlegacy.
That's foundation is built onthe grace of our God and father.
(13:51):
How many of you realize thatthe Godhead itself reflects the
value of generations?
God could have representedhimself in any way that he chose
, and yet he chose what.
Father and son and spirit,father and son, generations
themselves are so much in theheart.
(14:13):
And not only is the Trinityitself representative of
generations, but also in the OldTestament, god represented
himself to Israel throughgenerations.
(14:35):
You know, a lot of times asyou're reading through and we're
still in the Old Testament inour Bible reading plan sometimes
it's like rinse and repeat.
The Israelites did this.
They messed up.
God rebuked them.
They fell.
They were disciplined.
They repented.
God built them back up.
They were successful again forabout five minutes and then they
(14:55):
do it again.
But don't miss, in the pages ofthe Old Testament, so many
signs and symbols that point usto a new way, a new covenant, a
new life that was going to beprovided because of Jesus Christ
and what he did for us.
So let's remember that as we'rereading the Old Testament and
(15:16):
none can be truer, in my opinion, of God representing himself
generationally as Abraham, isaacand Jacob.
Many times throughout scripture,god, the Father, chooses to
represent himself as the God ofAbraham, the God of Isaac and
the God of Jacob.
We know that Abraham's son wasIsaac and Isaac's son was Jacob,
(15:38):
and so we have threegenerations built into this
family.
And Abraham represented fatherGod as the father of many
nations he was.
He was called to be the fatherof many nations.
When he was old, when Sarah wasold, god promised him that they
were going to have a child.
We know the story of Hagar andIshmael, and if you want to know
(16:00):
the problems in the Middle East, you don't have to go any
further than right there.
That's where it started andthat's what we're dealing with
even now.
But Abraham was called to bethe father of many nations, and
how many of you know that isrepresentative of our heavenly
father?
Aren't you thankful that whenwe get to heaven, there's not
going to just be white people,there's not just going to be
(16:22):
black people or brown people?
The Bible says about Jesusworthy are you to take the
scroll and to open its seals,for you were slain and by your
blood you ransomed people forGod, from every tribe and
language and people and nation.
God is a God of nations.
(16:43):
He's the father of many nations.
So how did how did Isaacrepresent Jesus?
He represented Jesus throughhis I'm going to call it his
almost sacrifice.
In the same way, or in similarways, abraham laid the wood for
the sacrifice on Isaac, his son,and God laid the cross on Jesus
(17:08):
.
Abraham was willing to offerIsaac as a sacrifice to obey God
and God was willing tosacrifice Jesus to save us.
In Genesis 22, it says andAbraham took the wood of the
burnt offering and laid it onIsaac, his son, and he took in
his hand the fire and the knife.
(17:29):
So they went both of themtogether and Isaac said to his
father Abraham, my father.
And he said here I am, my son.
He said behold the fire and thewood, but where is the lamb for
a burnt offering?
Isaac was starting to figure itout.
Abraham said God will providefor himself the lamb for a burnt
(17:53):
offering, my son.
So they went both of themtogether.
When they came to the place ofwhich God had told him, abraham
built the altar there, laid thewood in order, bound Isaac, his
son, and laid him on the altaron top of the wood.
Then Abraham reached out hishand and took the knife to
slaughter his son.
But the angel of the Lordcalled to him and said Abraham,
(18:14):
abraham, never in his life wouldhe have appreciated being
called by his name more than hedid.
Right then he said here I am,tears flowing.
I'm sure the angel said do notlay your hand on the boy or do
anything to him, for now I knowthat you fear God, seeing you
(18:36):
have not withheld your son, youronly son, from me.
And Abraham lifted up his eyesand looked and behold, behind
him was a ram caught in athicket by his horns.
And Abraham went and took theram and offered it up as a burnt
offering instead of his son.
So Abraham called the name ofthat place Jehovah Jireh, the
(18:57):
Lord will provide, as it is saidto this day, on the Mount of
the Lord, it shall be providedit was.
Abraham was tested, but how manyof you know, father God
followed through on hiscommitment and promise and laid
his own son on an old, ruggedcross.
So Isaac was an example ofJesus.
(19:19):
Jacob also is an example of thework of the Holy Spirit.
Jacob wrestled with God and itsays of Jacob this is really
interesting that he would havewon unless God reached out and
touched his hip and put it outof socket.
This wasn't a cruelty to Jacob,but it was a sign to him that
(19:43):
we are not God and that we needthe work of the Holy Spirit in
our lives to change us.
How many of you are thankfulfor the work of the Holy Spirit
in your life?
Many of you are thankful forthe work of the Holy Spirit in
your life moving and operatingand shaking you and transforming
you and helping you, giving youall that you need to walk with
(20:03):
him.
So, in conclusion, god's planis generational.
God's plan is generational aswe've seen in this passage in
the backstory of the Bible.
Generations really matter toGod and in turn, they should
matter to us.
His plan is generational andeach one of us has a part to
play in it.
(20:24):
There's a great verse in thebook of Psalms, in verse chapter
145, verse four let eachgeneration tell its children of
your mighty acts.
Let them proclaim your power.
Parents, I want to encourageyou.
God didn't call you to himselfto leave you.
God didn't ask you to raisethese children to make you do it
(20:48):
alone.
He is with you and if he's withyou, you can do this.
You can be to them the gospelyou can live to them in front of
them and for them, the gospelof Jesus Christ.
You can help them to understandwhat a transformed life looks
(21:11):
like.
You can help them see that Godis a generational God and that
that you know that this doesn'tend with us.
It's been the greatest privilegeof Amy and I's lives to walk,
to watch our children not taketheir first steps as important
as that was or, you know, saytheir first words, which was
(21:34):
always no, wasn't it?
I think none of those things.
Our greatest privilege was tosee them believe in Jesus.
My mom was miraculously savedafter my brother died at an
(21:54):
early age, many, many years ago,and through her example and
through her faith I was saved,and then my dad got saved, and
my brother got saved, and and Ibecame my dad became a pastor
and I became a pastor's kid, andnow I have four children and
they're all saved and they'reall serving God, and now I've
got a future generation.
(22:15):
We have five grandkids that arehere now, and I'm so excited
about the day when each andevery one of them comes to know
Jesus as their savior.
We are living Abraham, isaac andJacob in this life, and I want
(22:36):
to encourage you and tell youit's worth it.
And if it's not happening foryou right now, do not give up.
Do not lose hope.
One of the things that I wantto encourage you with is that,
as you help bless other children, other people's kids, other
people's prodigals, as you reachout to them and minister to
(22:58):
them, god is faithful to sendsomebody across the path of your
children and your grandchildren.
They are not going to be ableto outrun God.
There's nowhere that they cango that he can't be found, and
how many of you know, when hechooses to find them, they will
be found.
(23:18):
So I want to encourage you don'tlose heart or lose hope, and
one of the greatest tools in thetool bag of any Christian
parent is an apology when wemess up.
Be real about it, be honestabout it, be open about it.
Tell your kids, tell yourgrandkids pop shouldn't have
done that, I was wrong.
(23:41):
Can you imagine in this churchif every single family decided
that, as for me and my house, wewill serve the Lord?
Grandparents, you're not offthe hook either.
We're not finished yet.
God's still got work for eachand every one of us, your kids.
(24:10):
Sometimes your grandkids stoplistening to your kids.
Do you remember when thathappened to you, when your kids
stopped listening to you?
Sometimes your grandkids stoplistening to your kids and you
have a chance to come alongsideyour kids and to encourage your
grandkids to follow Jesus, toobey mommy and daddy right and
(24:31):
also spoil them and send themhome.
But that's just.
That's something different.
That's another message.
But especially, we have theopportunity to model what it
looks like to be a follower ofChrist.
You could serve in TCC kidsministry.
If you don't have family,that's here.
Maybe you don't have childrenyet.
(24:51):
Serve in our kids ministry,serve in the Forge youth group
Many different ways.
You can serve with Rob andChris and YWAM Knoxville.
We specialize in ministering tokids and to families.
You can minister to generationsin many different ways, in and
through this church.
I want us to get a vision todayof what it would look like if
(25:14):
every single one of us decidedthat this was going to be the
way that we were going to liveour lives, that we were going to
represent a God of generations,the God of generations in our
day and our time, in a NewTestament version of Abraham,
isaac and Jacob.
We have the ability, by God'sgrace, to carry this beyond the
(25:35):
generation that we are from.
And my final point is spiritualgenerations are just as
important as natural ones.
I'm going to have my wife comefor just a minute and close this
portion of things out, and sheis.
This woman is amazing.
I'm blessed to be married toher for 32 years 32 and a half
(25:59):
years and she is personalitywise, is introverted, and yet
she has seen the heart of Godwhen it comes to discipling
other people, and especiallyyounger women, and so she has
really taken that on, and Iwanted her to just share for a
minute as an encouragement to usand then see you may, and then
(26:21):
we eat, all right.
Amy Lynde (26:28):
Good morning.
In Luke, chapter one, there's alot of angels speaking and
they're speaking to Elizabethabout John the Baptist and Jesus
is coming and Mary finds outthat she's going to have a baby
and after the angel speaks toher, she makes haste and goes to
her older relative, elizabeth,who is six months pregnant.
(26:49):
At that time this young,betrothed young woman finds out
she's pregnant and the firstthing she does is she makes
haste and runs to the older,wiser, seasoned woman.
That is a relative that sheknows is a safe place and lives
with her for three months andthey're both pregnant together
(27:10):
and she gains wisdom.
And I just think that's abeautiful example in the Bible
of God's love for women, hislove for children and his love
for generations that he putElizabeth there for Mary to
handle that.
And it is a privilege for usand I always say older women but
(27:31):
I think if you're younger andyou're sitting on the side and
you're 15, you're 16, and you'rehelping in youth group or
you're helping, you know, servethe nursery you are an example
to somebody else.
If you're a believer and you'rethree years in the Lord and you
get your friend saved at school, you are an older woman in
wisdom to them and so really toall the women.
(27:53):
We have a calling and it's aprivilege in our lives to give
back to the kingdom we have beengiven.
Much and much is required andexpected of us.
The gifts we have through theHoly Spirit are not just for us,
they are for the generations,they're for our children and
when I say children I mean youngchildren, not just biological
(28:16):
right.
They are for our children, theyare for the grandchildren in
this body.
And we have to make anintentional decision.
I'm going to do this, I'm goingto reach out, I'm going to make
a difference in somebody's life.
I'm going to give of myself andmy time and if you don't know
how to get started, pray and askthe Lord to put somebody on
(28:38):
your heart.
Text somebody hey, can we meetfor coffee?
But choose one or two peoplethat you can serve and pour into
them.
And, like Tyler said, it's notbased on personality whether you
just like to have coffee withone person or you like to have a
party Right.
Personality, whether you'rejust like to have coffee with
(28:59):
one person or you like to have aparty right.
Make the effort, because it'sso much the Father's heart and
it's rewarding it's really.
It is so beneficial to yourself.
It keeps you on your toesspiritually, and it's such a
privilege to be entrusted by Godto advance his kingdom.
(29:26):
God uses our personal stories,whether we our testimony of how
we got saved, the sin westruggled with before we got
saved, or after we got saved,his victories of breaking the
bondage in our lives, the wisdomhe's given us through training
our own children, or things thatwe've learned at work, how
we've learned to communicatewith our family members all
those things God has put in eachone of us and every one of our
experiences are different and hewill use those experiences to
(29:48):
serve the women that he bringsto you.
They need your stories that hebrings to you.
They need your stories.
So you know, raising fourchildren that was always my
dream.
I just want to be a wife and amom.
My youngest now is a senior inhigh school, but as I started, a
few of mine got married and Istarted becoming a Instagram is
(30:13):
what they said, grandma, rightaway.
That's really when my shiftchanged and I realized there is
more to life than just focusingon just me and mine.
There is more and we have tosay I'm going to do it because
(30:41):
the world wants to take right.
They want to indoctrinateeverything that is contrary to
God and his word.
But we have the privilege toadvance the kingdom through the
word of God, through the word ofour testimony, the blood of the
lamb, the word of our testimony.
And I believe that the lateryears of our lives, the older we
get, don't have to be lonely,they don't have to be unfruitful
(31:02):
.
It's a choice of ours to sayI'm going to pour out, and it
can be the most fruitful time inour lives, because maybe then
you have more time and insteadof meeting with two women, you
can meet with 12 women.
Let's do this, ladies Choose toadvance him, to praise him, to
shout his glory and to teachthese women to not just be so.
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All I can handle is this.
No, let's handle loosely andteach our children as our
grandchildren see us pouring outto others, pouring into them.
Let them receive it and winthis race.
(31:52):
Father, we just thank you somuch that you are God of the
nations, you are God ofgenerations.
And, father, I thank you thatyour Holy Spirit is with us to
empower us to do what you'vecalled us to do, and you've
called us to share our faith andnot only share it but, on a
personal level, have them in ourhomes, be part of life.
(32:14):
That's messy and so, father, Ijust pray for each person here,
for men and women, lord, that wewould hear your call, that we
would choose to invest in yourkingdom.
We would sow seed, we wouldplow the ground and we would
have families that are just onfire for you and being fruitful
and multiplying the kingdom.
And we give you praise.
(32:35):
Jesus' name, lord, we thank youfor the lunch and we pray that
you bless the food and all thosethat are serving as well.
Jesus' name, amen, amen.
Let's turn to Titus , chapter 2, verses 1 through 8.
Older women, likewise, are tobe reverent in behavior, not
slanderers or slaves to muchwine.
They are to teach what is good,and so train the young women to
love their husbands andchildren, to be self-controlled,
pure, working at home, kind andsubmissive to their own
(00:39):
husbands.
That the word of God may not bereviled.
Likewise, urge the younger mento be self-controlled.
Show yourself in all respectsto be a model of good works and
in your teaching, show integrity, dignity and sound speech that
cannot be condemned, so that anopportunity sorry, so that an
(00:59):
opponent may be put to shame,having nothing evil to say about
us.
Let's pray, father.
We thank you for this day, wethank you for all the things
that have already occurred andwe thank you for what is to come
.
But, lord, we ask that you'dhelp us to tune in to the words
of scripture that teach us thatyou are the God of generations.
(01:20):
Father, we pray that you wouldhelp us to catch your heart for
generations, that we would notbe content to just see the Lord
move in our lives and in ourtimes, but that we would be
convinced that this good news isworth sharing and spreading to
future generations.
And, lord, we ask that youwould help us, father, to see
(01:43):
you in this, in the middle ofall of this, and to heed your
word and to not only be hearersbut to be doers.
In Jesus name, amen, amen.
So Paul is sending one of histrusted sons in the faith.
We're used to hearing aboutTimothy, his son in the faith,
but this time he's sending Titus.
Titus.
(02:04):
And where is Titus going to besent?
To Crete.
Just to give you an example,crete would have been like Vegas
is to us.
Crete was not a pleasant placeto go.
If you were a believer, it wasa very difficult place.
Whatever happened in Cretestayed in Crete.
Right, that's kind of that'swhere concrete came from.
(02:24):
No, I'm just kidding, but Ijust made that up.
That was sort of funny, almostit was on the border of being
funny.
So, anyway, he was sent toCrete.
He is tasked with helping thechurches in that region to
understand the power that theyhave to address the cultural
problems.
And guess how they were goingto do it?
Guess how this church or thesechurches in the region of Crete
(02:45):
they were going to do it.
Guess how this church or thesechurches in the region of Crete
were going to make a differencein a culture that was so filled
with debauchery.
Were they going to stand in thepublic square and cry something
out?
Maybe so.
Were they going to, you know,just have good church services
and ask people to attend churchservices.
(03:05):
That was part of it.
But what were they actuallycalled to do?
What was God saying to Titus?
Was the answer to the culturalproblems that they were facing?
It was for them to live likeJesus.
Can you imagine how different aculture could be if churches
within a region would determinetoday not just to preach good
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sermons or have good performanceor have excellent worship or,
you know, have an amazing meal,but if churches within this
culture, within this region ofTennessee, would rise up
together and say we are going to, by the grace of God, live like
Jesus.
What a difference would be madeand experienced in everyday
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life.
And that's what God knows,obviously, as the master planner
, and that's what Paul knew,because he was experiencing it
himself.
And now he's passing this on toTitus and encouraging him to go
and speak to the believersabout these very important
things.
What does it look like torepresent Christ in the way that
we live our everyday lives, ourworkday lives, our home lives,
(04:18):
our lives at school or atWalmart or wherever it is that
we find ourselves.
How about when we're driving?
We won't land there, but thereare lots of ways and lots of
places.
Everywhere that we go in oureveryday lives, we should have a
heart's desire to live likeJesus, and this is especially
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true when it comes to ourunderstanding of generational
life.
Generational life.
I'm so thankful that some ofour children and young people
are in this room this morning,because it's important for you
to understand that what I'mtalking about up here this
morning is not just for yourparents, it's not just for your
grandparents.
In fact, we will have failedmiserably if you don't
(05:05):
understand this fully andembrace it for yourself.
Because of the work of the HolySpirit in your lives.
We are called to begenerational people because God
is a generational God.
Notice the focus here twothings teaching and training.
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Teaching and training.
Teaching principles to othersis important, but training is
showing people how to dosomething, showing people how to
live.
Showing people how to live likeJesus, how to walk like Jesus
and talk like Jesus and act likeJesus and be motivated like
Jesus.
We have the privilege of doingthis.
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We are the light of the world.
We are the salt of the earth.
We have a chance to berevolutionary in the way that we
experience life ourselves andin the way that we help other
people to see that there's adifference in those who believe
in Jesus.
(06:07):
And he encourages two groups ofpeople.
First, older men.
Are there any older men in theroom?
Okay, are there any men in theroom over 50?
Oh, my gosh, thank you.
Thank you, I hear that whistle.
(06:31):
I'll take that If it helps you.
Let me just say this Older menis not always an age thing.
It's about spiritual maturity.
Spiritual maturity.
You can be 30 years old andhave been saved since you were
five years old and be prettyspiritually mature and be able
to help other people togenerationally understand what
it means to live like Jesus, towalk like Jesus, to act like
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Jesus right.
But he's talking specificallyto men of stature, men of wisdom
, men who have spiritualmaturity, and he tells them to
build their lives on solidground.
Scott did a great job last weekof reminding us the scriptures
that the foundation that webuild our lives on matter.
They absolutely matter so much.
(07:13):
And so God is instructing Titus, through Paul, to tell the
people that it's important tobuild their foundation on the
right rock, on the right stone,right, and we can inspire those
in the younger generation to payattention and to learn from
them.
I'm so grateful for thissection right over here.
(07:35):
All of you, I really appreciateyou so much, seriously, so
grateful.
I was able to be at youth groupa couple of weeks ago and just
to see your hunger for God andyour desire for truth and the
fact that you're making thisyour own is inspiring to me.
It really is, and so we loveyou very much.
Can we give them a hand?
(07:57):
Thank God, for our young people.
So the older men were to besober minded, dignified,
self-controlled, sound in faith,in love and in steadfastness.
(08:19):
Does that sound like you?
Here's what we could do.
We could have you ask your wife, but we won't do that right now
.
But ask the Lord.
You know what I.
You know what I want to sayabout myself.
I want, I.
In some ways, I'm living inthis way, and yet Lord helped me
to live even more right.
(08:41):
Help us, lord.
Notice that one of the biggestlessons that the younger men
need is how to liveself-controlled lives.
Guys, we who have some grayhairs or maybe no hairs.
We who have lived some life andhave walked with Jesus for many
years, we need to live asself-controlled people.
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It is a fruit of the spirit, itis something that is
transplanted in our lives.
It is something that growsbecause of the work of the
spirit in our lives.
We have the ability to say noto the things that God says no
to and to say yes to the thingthat God says yes to.
And what a difference it wouldmake with younger men if we
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would live self-controlled lives.
Moving on, the older women areto live godly lives so that they
can teach and train youngerwomen how to fulfill their
God-given roles in such a waythat represents Christ and his
word to the fullest.
The older women were to bereverent in behavior, not
(09:46):
slanderers.
What is a slanderer?
Somebody who uses their mouthto cut somebody else down, to
speak lies, to gossip, notslanderers or slaves to much
wine, not to be drunkards.
Through their teaching andtraining, the younger women
would know how to love theirhusbands and children well, how
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to be self-controlled.
Again, this is something that'sshared between both the older
men and the older women how tobe self-controlled, how to be
pure and how to be kind.
Just because your kids are outof the house, it does not mean
that God's finished with you, doyou hear me?
(10:29):
God is still at work and hestill needs you.
He still needs you in theeconomy of the kingdom.
Older men and older women,spiritually mature men and
spiritually mature women thenext generations are counting on
you to get it right, as rightas you can, so that you can
share it with them in a way thatencourages them to know that
(10:52):
they can do it too.
And Paul doesn't stop there.
He encourages Titus himself tolive a life of integrity and
dignity and to use proper speech.
When he instructs these groupsof people how to pass on the
essence of the God kind of lifeto future generations, he calls
him to be a man of integrity.
(11:14):
What is integrity?
At its base form, integrity isthe unwavering determination in
the heart to do the right thingfor the right reasons.
Friends, parents, dads, it doesnot work for you to tell your
parents what to do while you'reliving the opposite way.
(11:36):
Hello, we are required to livewhat we believe, to act out what
we believe and, in so doing, toteach and train those around us
how to do life the right wayfor the right reasons.
Ultimately, Paul is encouragingTitus to implore those who are
(11:58):
mature in their faith to livelives of integrity, just like
Jesus.
How many of you know thateverything that Jesus did, he
did perfectly.
Everything that he did, he didbased on the fact that he had
the right heart and the rightreason and the right action.
Right, that's a lot of rightshe did.
(12:19):
That was who he was and, myfriends, jesus died on the cross
.
He took, took our sins uponhimself, not only to set us free
from sin, but to teach us howto live.
So many times, I think that wefocus on what he takes away,
that we forget about what hegives to us.
He gives to us his spirit sothat we can understand.
(12:42):
On the inside, we have thatgreen, yellow, red red light
going on where, when we startapproaching something that's
dangerous or something that weshouldn't do our motivation's
wrong, the yellow light startsgoing off on the inside of us
and we recognize God's sayingsomething.
The Holy Spirit is trying towarn me, and all of us have come
up against the red light andpushed the gas pedal right
(13:04):
through it, haven't we?
And aren't you thankful thatthe grace of God and the mercy
of God is available to us andnew every morning.
So are we preachingperfectionism?
No, we're not preachingperfectionism, but we're
preaching holiness.
Be holy, for I am holy.
God has called us to live likeJesus.
(13:30):
In order to more fullyunderstand this, let's go back
in time a little bit and giveyou just a quick snippet.
God is the God of generations.
This statement means that God'sactions and promises in the
Bible often extend acrossmultiple generations,
emphasizing continuity andlegacy.
That's foundation is built onthe grace of our God and father.
(13:51):
How many of you realize thatthe Godhead itself reflects the
value of generations?
God could have representedhimself in any way that he chose
, and yet he chose what.
Father and son and spirit,father and son, generations
themselves are so much in theheart.
(14:13):
And not only is the Trinityitself representative of
generations, but also in the OldTestament, god represented
himself to Israel throughgenerations.
(14:35):
You know, a lot of times asyou're reading through and we're
still in the Old Testament inour Bible reading plan sometimes
it's like rinse and repeat.
The Israelites did this.
They messed up.
God rebuked them.
They fell.
They were disciplined.
They repented.
God built them back up.
They were successful again forabout five minutes and then they
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do it again.
But don't miss, in the pages ofthe Old Testament, so many
signs and symbols that point usto a new way, a new covenant, a
new life that was going to beprovided because of Jesus Christ
and what he did for us.
So let's remember that as we'rereading the Old Testament and
(15:16):
none can be truer, in my opinion, of God representing himself
generationally as Abraham, isaacand Jacob.
Many times throughout scripture,god, the Father, chooses to
represent himself as the God ofAbraham, the God of Isaac and
the God of Jacob.
We know that Abraham's son wasIsaac and Isaac's son was Jacob,
(15:38):
and so we have threegenerations built into this
family.
And Abraham represented fatherGod as the father of many
nations he was.
He was called to be the fatherof many nations.
When he was old, when Sarah wasold, god promised him that they
were going to have a child.
We know the story of Hagar andIshmael, and if you want to know
(16:00):
the problems in the Middle East, you don't have to go any
further than right there.
That's where it started andthat's what we're dealing with
even now.
But Abraham was called to bethe father of many nations, and
how many of you know that isrepresentative of our heavenly
father?
Aren't you thankful that whenwe get to heaven, there's not
going to just be white people,there's not just going to be
(16:22):
black people or brown people?
The Bible says about Jesusworthy are you to take the
scroll and to open its seals,for you were slain and by your
blood you ransomed people forGod, from every tribe and
language and people and nation.
God is a God of nations.
(16:43):
He's the father of many nations.
So how did how did Isaacrepresent Jesus?
He represented Jesus throughhis I'm going to call it his
almost sacrifice.
In the same way, or in similarways, abraham laid the wood for
the sacrifice on Isaac, his son,and God laid the cross on Jesus
(17:08):
.
Abraham was willing to offerIsaac as a sacrifice to obey God
and God was willing tosacrifice Jesus to save us.
In Genesis 22, it says andAbraham took the wood of the
burnt offering and laid it onIsaac, his son, and he took in
his hand the fire and the knife.
(17:29):
So they went both of themtogether and Isaac said to his
father Abraham, my father.
And he said here I am, my son.
He said behold the fire and thewood, but where is the lamb for
a burnt offering?
Isaac was starting to figure itout.
Abraham said God will providefor himself the lamb for a burnt
(17:53):
offering, my son.
So they went both of themtogether.
When they came to the place ofwhich God had told him, abraham
built the altar there, laid thewood in order, bound Isaac, his
son, and laid him on the altaron top of the wood.
Then Abraham reached out hishand and took the knife to
slaughter his son.
But the angel of the Lordcalled to him and said Abraham,
(18:14):
abraham, never in his life wouldhe have appreciated being
called by his name more than hedid.
Right then he said here I am,tears flowing.
I'm sure the angel said do notlay your hand on the boy or do
anything to him, for now I knowthat you fear God, seeing you
(18:36):
have not withheld your son, youronly son, from me.
And Abraham lifted up his eyesand looked and behold, behind
him was a ram caught in athicket by his horns.
And Abraham went and took theram and offered it up as a burnt
offering instead of his son.
So Abraham called the name ofthat place Jehovah Jireh, the
(18:57):
Lord will provide, as it is saidto this day, on the Mount of
the Lord, it shall be providedit was.
Abraham was tested, but how manyof you know, father God
followed through on hiscommitment and promise and laid
his own son on an old, ruggedcross.
So Isaac was an example ofJesus.
(19:19):
Jacob also is an example of thework of the Holy Spirit.
Jacob wrestled with God and itsays of Jacob this is really
interesting that he would havewon unless God reached out and
touched his hip and put it outof socket.
This wasn't a cruelty to Jacob,but it was a sign to him that
(19:43):
we are not God and that we needthe work of the Holy Spirit in
our lives to change us.
How many of you are thankfulfor the work of the Holy Spirit
in your life?
Many of you are thankful forthe work of the Holy Spirit in
your life moving and operatingand shaking you and transforming
you and helping you, giving youall that you need to walk with
(20:03):
him.
So, in conclusion, god's planis generational.
God's plan is generational aswe've seen in this passage in
the backstory of the Bible.
Generations really matter toGod and in turn, they should
matter to us.
His plan is generational andeach one of us has a part to
play in it.
(20:24):
There's a great verse in thebook of Psalms, in verse chapter
145, verse four let eachgeneration tell its children of
your mighty acts.
Let them proclaim your power.
Parents, I want to encourageyou.
God didn't call you to himselfto leave you.
God didn't ask you to raisethese children to make you do it
(20:48):
alone.
He is with you and if he's withyou, you can do this.
You can be to them the gospelyou can live to them in front of
them and for them, the gospelof Jesus Christ.
You can help them to understandwhat a transformed life looks
(21:11):
like.
You can help them see that Godis a generational God and that
that you know that this doesn'tend with us.
It's been the greatest privilegeof Amy and I's lives to walk,
to watch our children not taketheir first steps as important
as that was or, you know, saytheir first words, which was
(21:34):
always no, wasn't it?
I think none of those things.
Our greatest privilege was tosee them believe in Jesus.
My mom was miraculously savedafter my brother died at an
(21:54):
early age, many, many years ago,and through her example and
through her faith I was saved,and then my dad got saved, and
my brother got saved, and and Ibecame my dad became a pastor
and I became a pastor's kid, andnow I have four children and
they're all saved and they'reall serving God, and now I've
got a future generation.
(22:15):
We have five grandkids that arehere now, and I'm so excited
about the day when each andevery one of them comes to know
Jesus as their savior.
We are living Abraham, isaac andJacob in this life, and I want
(22:36):
to encourage you and tell youit's worth it.
And if it's not happening foryou right now, do not give up.
Do not lose hope.
One of the things that I wantto encourage you with is that,
as you help bless other children, other people's kids, other
people's prodigals, as you reachout to them and minister to
(22:58):
them, god is faithful to sendsomebody across the path of your
children and your grandchildren.
They are not going to be ableto outrun God.
There's nowhere that they cango that he can't be found, and
how many of you know, when hechooses to find them, they will
be found.
(23:18):
So I want to encourage you don'tlose heart or lose hope, and
one of the greatest tools in thetool bag of any Christian
parent is an apology when wemess up.
Be real about it, be honestabout it, be open about it.
Tell your kids, tell yourgrandkids pop shouldn't have
done that, I was wrong.
(23:41):
Can you imagine in this churchif every single family decided
that, as for me and my house, wewill serve the Lord?
Grandparents, you're not offthe hook either.
We're not finished yet.
God's still got work for eachand every one of us, your kids.
(24:10):
Sometimes your grandkids stoplistening to your kids.
Do you remember when thathappened to you, when your kids
stopped listening to you?
Sometimes your grandkids stoplistening to your kids and you
have a chance to come alongsideyour kids and to encourage your
grandkids to follow Jesus, toobey mommy and daddy right and
(24:31):
also spoil them and send themhome.
But that's just.
That's something different.
That's another message.
But especially, we have theopportunity to model what it
looks like to be a follower ofChrist.
You could serve in TCC kidsministry.
If you don't have family,that's here.
Maybe you don't have childrenyet.
(24:51):
Serve in our kids ministry,serve in the Forge youth group
Many different ways.
You can serve with Rob andChris and YWAM Knoxville.
We specialize in ministering tokids and to families.
You can minister to generationsin many different ways, in and
through this church.
I want us to get a vision todayof what it would look like if
(25:14):
every single one of us decidedthat this was going to be the
way that we were going to liveour lives, that we were going to
represent a God of generations,the God of generations in our
day and our time, in a NewTestament version of Abraham,
isaac and Jacob.
We have the ability, by God'sgrace, to carry this beyond the
(25:35):
generation that we are from.
And my final point is spiritualgenerations are just as
important as natural ones.
I'm going to have my wife comefor just a minute and close this
portion of things out, and sheis.
This woman is amazing.
I'm blessed to be married toher for 32 years 32 and a half
(25:59):
years and she is personalitywise, is introverted, and yet
she has seen the heart of Godwhen it comes to discipling
other people, and especiallyyounger women, and so she has
really taken that on, and Iwanted her to just share for a
minute as an encouragement to usand then see you may, and then
(26:21):
we eat, all right.
Amy Lynde (26:28):
Good morning.
In Luke, chapter one, there's alot of angels speaking and
they're speaking to Elizabethabout John the Baptist and Jesus
is coming and Mary finds outthat she's going to have a baby
and after the angel speaks toher, she makes haste and goes to
her older relative, elizabeth,who is six months pregnant.
(26:49):
At that time this young,betrothed young woman finds out
she's pregnant and the firstthing she does is she makes
haste and runs to the older,wiser, seasoned woman.
That is a relative that sheknows is a safe place and lives
with her for three months andthey're both pregnant together
(27:10):
and she gains wisdom.
And I just think that's abeautiful example in the Bible
of God's love for women, hislove for children and his love
for generations that he putElizabeth there for Mary to
handle that.
And it is a privilege for usand I always say older women but
(27:31):
I think if you're younger andyou're sitting on the side and
you're 15, you're 16, and you'rehelping in youth group or
you're helping, you know, servethe nursery you are an example
to somebody else.
If you're a believer and you'rethree years in the Lord and you
get your friend saved at school, you are an older woman in
wisdom to them and so really toall the women.
(27:53):
We have a calling and it's aprivilege in our lives to give
back to the kingdom we have beengiven.
Much and much is required andexpected of us.
The gifts we have through theHoly Spirit are not just for us,
they are for the generations,they're for our children and
when I say children I mean youngchildren, not just biological
(28:16):
right.
They are for our children, theyare for the grandchildren in
this body.
And we have to make anintentional decision.
I'm going to do this, I'm goingto reach out, I'm going to make
a difference in somebody's life.
I'm going to give of myself andmy time and if you don't know
how to get started, pray and askthe Lord to put somebody on
(28:38):
your heart.
Text somebody hey, can we meetfor coffee?
But choose one or two peoplethat you can serve and pour into
them.
And, like Tyler said, it's notbased on personality whether you
just like to have coffee withone person or you like to have a
party Right.
Personality, whether you'rejust like to have coffee with
(28:59):
one person or you like to have aparty right.
Make the effort, because it'sso much the Father's heart and
it's rewarding it's really.
It is so beneficial to yourself.
It keeps you on your toesspiritually, and it's such a
privilege to be entrusted by Godto advance his kingdom.
(29:26):
God uses our personal stories,whether we our testimony of how
we got saved, the sin westruggled with before we got
saved, or after we got saved,his victories of breaking the
bondage in our lives, the wisdomhe's given us through training
our own children, or things thatwe've learned at work, how
we've learned to communicatewith our family members all
those things God has put in eachone of us and every one of our
experiences are different and hewill use those experiences to
(29:48):
serve the women that he bringsto you.
They need your stories that hebrings to you.
They need your stories.
So you know, raising fourchildren that was always my
dream.
I just want to be a wife and amom.
My youngest now is a senior inhigh school, but as I started, a
few of mine got married and Istarted becoming a Instagram is
(30:13):
what they said, grandma, rightaway.
That's really when my shiftchanged and I realized there is
more to life than just focusingon just me and mine.
There is more and we have tosay I'm going to do it because
(30:41):
the world wants to take right.
They want to indoctrinateeverything that is contrary to
God and his word.
But we have the privilege toadvance the kingdom through the
word of God, through the word ofour testimony, the blood of the
lamb, the word of our testimony.
And I believe that the lateryears of our lives, the older we
get, don't have to be lonely,they don't have to be unfruitful
(31:02):
.
It's a choice of ours to sayI'm going to pour out, and it
can be the most fruitful time inour lives, because maybe then
you have more time and insteadof meeting with two women, you
can meet with 12 women.
Let's do this, ladies Choose toadvance him, to praise him, to
shout his glory and to teachthese women to not just be so.
(31:24):
All I can handle is this.
No, let's handle loosely andteach our children as our
grandchildren see us pouring outto others, pouring into them.
Let them receive it and winthis race.
(31:52):
Father, we just thank you somuch that you are God of the
nations, you are God ofgenerations.
And, father, I thank you thatyour Holy Spirit is with us to
empower us to do what you'vecalled us to do, and you've
called us to share our faith andnot only share it but, on a
personal level, have them in ourhomes, be part of life.
(32:14):
That's messy and so, father, Ijust pray for each person here,
for men and women, lord, that wewould hear your call, that we
would choose to invest in yourkingdom.
We would sow seed, we wouldplow the ground and we would
have families that are just onfire for you and being fruitful
and multiplying the kingdom.
And we give you praise.
(32:35):
Jesus' name, lord, we thank youfor the lunch and we pray that
you bless the food and all thosethat are serving as well.
Jesus' name, amen, amen.
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