Dear Father, heaven, please fill the path through your spirit and please give a little ear to see the wind this night.
Thank you for watching. Oh, thank you for saying Jesus coming to this world. We pray in Jesus name. Amen
Man, the title of my sermon this evening is third generation christians
Third generation christians the bible reads here in second timothy 1 verse 5 when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith
That is in thee which dwelt first in thy grandmother lois
And thy mother eunice and I am persuaded
That in thee also so here timothy
Has a mother that had great faith in the lord and a grandmother. So he's basically the third generation
And so what we mean by a first generation christian would be someone who didn't grow up in a christian home
Their parents weren't safe. So let me just ask for a raise of hands who here would say that you
were
The one who got saved before your parents or you got saved as an adult, but you didn't grow up in a christian home
Well, you know that's most of the people in the building that's it's it's like almost all the adults here
Okay, who here would say that your second generation meaning that your parents were saved before you your parents were christians
They raised you in a christian home
Right and then you know third fourth generation
Will put their hand up where parents grandparents even maybe even great grandparents. Well, you know, i'm a third generation christian
Uh, i'm not really fourth generation. I'm third generation because my parents
Got saved before their parents got saved. So or sorry, did I mix that up?
Yeah, I did. Okay. Well my parents and my grandparents kind of both
On my dad's side both got saved like at the same time like my dad got saved and his dad got saved
The same day so he was like 10 years old and his dad was uh saved when he was 10 years old
Uh the same time and so basically on that side of the family
I'm like third generation and then on my mom's side i'm kind of second generation, but then her parents got saved later
So i'm not really third generation on that side
So i'm kind of a third generation person, but this sermon is basically about
people who grew up
With christian parents maybe even christian grandparents
And so maybe they don't necessarily have that same experience as the person who got saved as an adult
And so often when you see first generation christians people who
They got saved and they were already an adult and their parents weren't saved when they got saved
but they're kind of
excited or zealous because you know
They kind of they've kind of been on the other side of things and so they're really thankful to be saved now
And they're really excited about discovering the bible and discovering christianity and discovering the truth
And discovering something real in their lives
Whereas there could be a tendency for those of us that are second third even fourth generation christians
To maybe become complacent or take things for granted
And just be kind of ho hum
Because we just grew up with it. It was just handed to us. And so look what the apostle paul tells
Timothy in the context of him being a third generation christian talks about lois and eunice and then he says in verse 6
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up
The gift of god, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands
And so the advice first of all to third generation christians is that they stir up the gift of god
Which is in them, you know you that are children growing up in a christian home
And teenagers and young adults that have grown up in a christian home
You need to get excited about the things of god and you need to stir up the gift of god that has been handed unto you
By your parents or other people that have gone before you and not just take that for granted get excited about it
You know those that are first generation
They're excited because they know how empty and worthless life without christ is and they know
What it's like to not have christ and to be without god and without hope in the world
And so they're excited about getting saved and and going to church and serving god
But sometimes easy for those of us who grew up with it to not have that same zeal or excitement
But we need to stir up the gift of god and you know, it's never too late
To stir up the gift of god that's in you. I don't care if you've been saved for two years five years ten years
There needs to come a point where you stir up the gift of god where you basically take that poker
And kind of stir up those embers
That have maybe become dormant in your heart where you were once on fire for god
But now it's just kind of a little bit of smoke coming out
And you're not even sure is this fire even active or not?
And you have to get in there with the poker a little bit and stir it up and then it starts glowing red a little bit
Okay, there's still some life there
Well, you know i'm here to poke you a little bit tonight to try to stir you up to get you to stir up
The gift of god that is in you, you know, it's really sad when christians are not excited
About serving god at all and they're more excited about everything else that's going on in this world. That's really just vain and meaningless
And I just wish that I could just take
excitement that I sometimes feel for the lord and I wish I could just like
Bottle it and just give it to you and make you drink it or something because I just wish that I could just pass on
The excitement and the zeal and the urgency for the things of god because you know what there's a fight going on
And it is exciting to be on the lord's side in this battle
You know, there's so many things to get excited about why not get excited about getting people saved about doing soul winning
You know heaven and hell are real
And people are going to heaven people are going to hell
And it's our job to go out and preach the gospel to every creature and you know what?
It's exciting to go out there and win someone to christ to get someone saved. It ought to be exciting
And you say well pastor anderson
I know i'm saved. I believe in christ
You know, i've been saved for years. I'm a third generation christian. I'm a second generation christian, but I just don't feel
The excitement that you speak of well, you know what you need to find a way to develop that excitement
You need to find a way to get excited about the things of god
I don't know if you need to read your bible or if you need to pray or if you need to
Listen to preaching
Or show up at more church services. I don't know what you need to do, but you need to figure out a way
To get motivated about the things of god, you know, you see people in this world. They get excited about so many things, don't they?
And people that are excited about things
They just can't help talking about what they're excited about right when people are on a kick or something
And they get excited about something and they're just they just talk but you know, like that
I caught you talking about that carnivore thing again
But anyway, you know people get excited and they just they talk about stuff, you know
Like I get excited about running i'm talking about running all these different running events and people they they discover something and they get excited
About something don't they and people get excited about sports
people get excited about
I don't know a new recipe or something they get excited about
whatever they get excited about I mean what do you people get excited about
what do people get excited about I already said that the cookie bake-off I
hope so yeah they get excited about family seeing family they get excited
about Christmas they get excited about a video game coming out they get excited
about a YouTube channel that they watch they get excited about some new movie
that's got some TV series that everybody's talking about right and
everybody's excited about they get excited about some new workout what was
that yeah they get excited about politics they get so fired up about the
election and they get all excited about you know I don't think anybody's excited
about Joe Biden but I mean people get all excited about Trump or whatever
right they get all fired up about this guy and that guy and don't they just
talk about it and they're motivated and they're pumped up and you see people at
a sporting event just screaming and yelling and cheering and you see them
just painting their whole house the color of the team there's some guy in
Tempe that has a whole house painted for the Green Bay Packers a team in
Wisconsin you know we're in Arizona he had his whole house green and yellow and
then the garage door was a Packers logo I was thinking like either this guy's
not married or or his wife doesn't really make a lot of decorating
decisions in the home yes so you know people get excited about stuff but you
know what we ought to get excited and get motivated and fired up about serving
out and I'm look I'm not against getting excited about other things right I mean
we do lots of things in our life hey you're excited about this that or the
other amen great just not about some professional sports team but you know
there's nothing wrong with having other interests and other pursuits but it's
sad when you can get excited about those things and you don't have any excitement
for the things of God the things that really matter the most in this world
okay and so you need to stir up the gift of God that is in you get excited get
motivated get fired up and you know what if you go to faithful word Baptist
Church and you're not excited and you're not stirred up and you're not
motivated what would you be like in a dead church I mean what would you I mean
we have so many going on at our church so many times like seven days a week we
have our people right now on a foreign mission field right now I'm not gonna
say where it is but you know we have our staff and our people and our brothers
and sisters on a foreign mission field right now just tearing it up just
preaching in churches winning souls doing great works for God we have
missions trips going on all the time we got a crew going to what that is the
Bahamas got a crew going to the Bahamas in a few weeks going doing a bunch of
soul winning over there constant missions trips people being saved
virtually every day of the week through our soul winning program okay we've got
all kinds of people getting baptized we got all kinds of stuff happening and I
mean we got all kinds of drama that goes on where we got all kinds of fights and
we get it's always we're in the media and I was and it's just like what would
you do in a dead church I mean what would you do in a church that hands out
door hangers once a month you know what would you do in a church where their
biggest outreach is a Christmas play or something that they do once a year I
mean look our church is on the front lines serving God our friends are on the
front lines serving God we got a bunch of friends all over America their
churches are winning souls all the time their churches are seeing people
baptized lives change they're constantly running mission strips if we don't have
enough mission strips they've got a bunch of mission strips for you to jump
in on you they just went to Belize a couple weeks ago yeah where's that one
coming up in the spring Bahamas again Bahamas part two okay so it's just
constant action constant things happening I mean we've got the Bible the
most exciting but you know I read this book every single day and I'm still not
sick of it I'm still reading it every single day of my life preaching reading
the Bible praying singing hymns mission strips soul winning all kinds of action
going on and yet people get just dead in their excitement and they get bored but
you've got to make the effort to stir up the gift of God that is in you it's
natural for every human being to get bored this is our nature so it doesn't
mean there's something wrong with you because you get a little bit bored or
take things for granted or you're not excited but you need to recognize hey
it's upon me to stir up the gift of God that is in me and to get excited about
serving God why don't you get excited about going out and getting someone
saved you know there was a time when I used to pray and beg God that I could
just get one person saved in my entire life I used to pray that every night as
a teenager because I'd never want anyone to the Lord and I just prayed every
night that I could win one person of the Lord and man I remember one time just
witnessing to somebody as a teenager and they didn't even get saved but I was
just so excited that I had actually witnessed to someone and I was like
running around the house like whoa I did it I gave someone the gospel yes they
didn't even get saved they're probably still not saved but I was excited
because I was like I did it I opened my mouth I tried I gave the gospel and you
say well it doesn't sound that exciting well you know what that's spoken like a
second or third generation Christian because for the first generation
Christian it is pretty exciting the first time they witness to somebody or
gave the gospel and I even am a second third fourth generation Christian it's
exciting for me even you know the first time I gave someone the gospel because I
wasn't in a soul-winning church and so that was kind of a really edgy kind of
you know radical thing to do to actually give someone the gospel because
unfortunately that's how it is in most churches pretty dead man you got to find
a way to get excited get back your first love right get in your Bible get on your
knees pray for God to give you the excitement you know listen to preaching
and you know what maybe if my preaching is not doing it for you anymore because
you just you're just sick of me you know then download somebody else's preaching
that gets you excited do something sit on a nail or something but get excited
about serving God and stir up the gift of God which is in you okay you've got
to be excited think about the fact that there's heaven and hell if you couldn't
get somebody saved that's a great work that you've done not only can you get
people say but you know you can fight the good fight I mean our country's
going down the toilet morally why don't you get involved fighting for what's
right why don't you speak up for what's right and stand up for the truth and get
involved the Bible says in verse 6 wherefore I put thee in remembrance that
thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting out of my hands for
God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound
mind so here's the next piece of advice for third generation Christians not only
to stir up the gift of God but not to be afraid to stand up for what's right or
not to be ashamed of the things of God and that's a theme in this chapter
because he says God's not giving us the spirit of fear and then he follows that
up with be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me as
prisoner he's saying don't be ashamed of the Word of God don't be ashamed to be a
Christian and don't be ashamed of the people of God either says don't be
ashamed of the word but also don't be ashamed of me his prisoner Paul said
don't be ashamed of me and he said but be thou partaker of the afflictions of
the gospel according to the power of God and so God wants you to take a stand for
what's right and not be afraid or ashamed of that and you say why would
that apply to a second third generation Christian well because a lot of times
the grass is greener on the other side of the fence and so when you grow up in
a Christian home you don't always necessarily recognize how good you have
it growing up in a Christian home and you might even look at otherworldly
sinful people and think that they have it better but that's an illusion my
friend that's a facade of course everyone makes their own life look
better on the outside for other people so looking at people through the lens of
social media or just looking at people decide that they show you when they
invite you over or whatever you should know that when companies over your
family acts a little different than when company is not over well guess what
everybody's like that okay everybody's family everybody's house everybody's
life has a darker underbelly that you don't see and so it's pretty easy to
look at other people and just think that they're perfect and everything's great
and they've got it all together and to envy the wicked or envy the covetous
because they look so but see the first generation Christian they know that
no they know that the non-christian life is garbage and they're thankful to be on
the Christian side of things they're thankful to be living for God they're
thankful to be in a fundamental Baptist Church but to the second third
generation Christian they can have this attitude where the grass is greener on
the other side of the fence and so then they have this desire to fit in with
this world and not to be seen as different not to be seen as a Christian
or a fundamentalist or or a peculiar people but rather they want to fit in
with this world and and be embraced and accepted by this world that we live in
and the Bible is saying look don't be afraid of what other people think about
you don't be afraid of the persecution don't be ashamed of the chain the Bible
says in verse 16 the Lord give mercy unto the house of onus syphorus for you
oft refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain don't be ashamed of Paul's
chain don't be ashamed of the Word of God don't be ashamed of the people of
God stand up for what's right God has not given us the spirit of fear but of
power and of love and of a sound mind and so as third generation Christians we
need to take a stand for what's right instead of saying well maybe I can kind
of be a crossover guy and kind of fit in and be accepted by this world now look
obviously when a man's ways please the Lord he maketh even his enemies to be a
peace with him and as much as lieth in us we should seek to dwell peaceably
with all men obviously we're to be in the world and not of the world so I'm a
hundred percent for you getting along and fitting in at your job or wherever
you go and being a team player and being a good employee but I'm talking about
more broadly fitting in with this world you know you're not gonna be the big man
on campus you're not gonna be the coolest kid at school you're not gonna
be the coolest dude on the block if you take a stand for the things of God you
just need to own it and just be like hey this is who I am I'm a Christian I'm
Baptist I'm not trying to win a popularity contest I'm not running for
office thank God we're not politicians trying to run for office trying to make
sure everybody likes us you know it's important that we just be real and have
integrity and not be ashamed of the things of God but to stand up for what's
right and not be this weak watered-down version of what our parents gave us
right like our parents give us this fired up Christianity and then we kind
of water it down and just kind of maintain at half strength for the next
generation that's what a lot of churches are like you know that the
church starts out founded by some hard preaching soul winning dude and then you
know eventually the next generation comes along and it's just kind of handed
to them and then they just kind of soften things up and water it down and
just kind of just you know try to maybe appeal to this world or whatever so
number one stir up the gift of God that's in you number two don't give in
to that spirit of fear don't be ashamed of God's Word or of the people of God
you know just be thankful and glad that you're a Christian and and love and
embrace your family your actual physical family your parents your church family
your Christian spiritual family because all of us that are saved in the whole
world are brothers and sisters in Christ so we're family in that sense embrace
the people of God says God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power
so number one stir up the gift of God number two don't give in to fear but
number three don't forget about the power of God okay now here's the thing
the Bible talks about how in the last days there will be these false teachers
that will come along having a form of godliness but denying the power
thereof from such turn away and there are a lot of fake Christians out there
who are those false teachers that he's warning about there that they have a
form of godliness but they deny the power there they don't believe in things
like the virgin birth or the resurrection of Christ or they don't
believe in the miracles of the Bible they don't believe in the Holy Spirit
they don't believe in angels and demon they just don't believe in spiritual
things they're just carnal and they have a form of godliness they're going
through the motions of being a Christian but they don't believe in the
supernatural elements of Christianity whereas we as Christians need to
understand that the power of God is real the power of God is real okay and that
means that we should pray for power right why don't we pray for the Holy
Spirit's power why don't we pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit why don't we
tap into the power of God and understand the power of God's Word that
if we preach God's Word it has the power to change people has the power to change
lives it has the power to save souls and the Holy Spirit has the power to fill us
with boldness to transform us and to make us into someone that we never
thought that we could be how about the power of the gospel the power of the
Word of God the power of God is real okay and so if you actually believed in
the power of God you know what you do you'd pray because you'd say hey you
know what God has the power to change my life God has the power to give me the
desires of my heart God has the power to intercede and change things for me I
need help right now I'm gonna look to God to help me because I believe in the
power of God the ability of God and so many times as Christians we could lose
sight of that and just kind of go through the motions in our life and just
start doing everything ourselves do everything in the flesh and I could just
get up three times a week and just write a sermon in the flesh I could just come
up with ideas and just you know but I really appreciate the fact that not only
do I pray for God to help me every time I preach and I pray for God to fill me
with the Holy Spirit and I pray for God's help and I and I tell God I'm God
I can't do a good job without you helping me without the Holy Spirit it's
not gonna work and you know what but I appreciate the fact that not only do I
pray that but before I before I preach other people will pray that you know
somebody will be called upon hey pray for the summer and they say fill pastor
Anderson with your spirit as he preaches tonight and you know some of those
people maybe they're just kind of just saying that and and hopefully they
really mean it but no matter how much they mean it or don't mean it when I
hear someone pray that I'm thinking to myself I'm always like echoing that in
my mind like yes Lord please answer that prayer Lord when I'm walking up to the
pulpit I hear someone praying for me to be filled with the Holy Spirit I'm
praying like yes Lord please do what they just said what he said Lord yes
that's what I'm literally thinking every time I hear that because I know
that that's what I need okay hey say all pastor Anderson you've done this
thousands of times you could just get up and but here's the thing that's not how
this works because it's a spiritual activity and if you don't understand
that then something's wrong with you okay or you just don't get it or you
don't know okay but soul winning is spiritual preaching is spiritual Church
is spiritual it's all spiritual so we don't want to deny the power thereof and
just make everything carnal make everything academic right make
everything intellectual no we need to realize that God has not given us a
spirit of fear so when you see this weak watered-down kowtowing to the world that
didn't come from God God didn't give us that spirit of fear and also God gave us
the spirit of power right so the power of God needs to be something that we
think about and that we're mindful of but he said God has not given us the
spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind now why bring that
up doesn't that feel a little out of place it's like power yeah no fear yeah
love yes not being insane I mean isn't that what a sound mind means it's it
almost seems like a little out of place like no fear power love and let's be
saying out there guys it's like huh it feels a little out of place doesn't it
so what you know why is he saying you know God has not given us the spirit of
fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind I kind of skipped the love I
gotta get back to I'll get back to the love in a moment but what what's the
sound mind doing on the list what but you know what a lot of times the second
third generation kind of watered-down Christians and I'm not criticizing you
if you're second or third generation because I'm second third generation when
I was born my parents were both saved going to an independent fundamental
Baptist Church King they put a King James Bible right there in fact I was
I'm so King James I was born at 1611 in the afternoon that's how you I posted my
birth certificate online to prove it I was born at 4 11 p.m. that's 1611 that's
how King James I am okay so I was born and raised and my parents brought me up
in the faith so I'm not down on you if you're second or third generation but
you know what the tendency can be for the kind of watered-down second
generation or third generation to do is to say oh you know what my parents are
crazy my parents are weird church our church is weird you know what there's
nothing weird about faithful word Baptist Church there's nothing weird
about your parents I can't vouch for everyone who's watching at home but you
might have weirdo parents but I'm saying like you know if you go to church here
no your parents aren't weird our church isn't weird you know what's weird is is
that world out there that's getting weirder every day and then it's so funny
to even act like oh you know pastor Harrison's a little radical really
because have you heard what's going on out there it's crazy out there and you
know what you're looking at right here pastor sound mind you go to sound mind
Baptist Church and you know what that's a good name for a church I don't think
it's been used up yet when I started faithful word Baptist Church I really
wanted to start church with a unique name I didn't want to just call it grace
Baptist or something and so I was googling stuff and I typed in the
wildest names and they were all taken because there are just so many you know
thousands of thousands of Baptist churches out there I typed in obscure
things and they were all taken and I remember I said that and I was gonna
type in in all quotes faithful word Baptist Church and I almost didn't hit
enter because I'm like this name is too good there there's gonna be 50 of them
because I typed in the most obscure things and it was just ten of them Mount
Derisen Baptist Church ten of them Mount Ebal Baptist five more you know I
was just like any mountain any place I'm like faithful word it's a direct quote
from the it's it's too perfect I'm like I'm not even gonna bother I hit enter
zero hits I was like God has been reserving this name for me thank you God
now there are more than zero hits when you type that in but some of them are
not flattering of our church but the thing is sound mind Baptist is probably
not taken okay because it's kind of a weird name but you know what you go to
sound mind Baptist Church something crazy about our church something crazy
you know pastor Anderson crazy rants volume 1 on YouTube or you know pastor
Anderson crazy rants part 3 you know no it's just somebody speaking the words of
sanity in an insane time in an insane world somebody getting up and what's
funny is that you'll literally click on pastor Anderson crazy rants insane rants
and it's like me with a nut and a bolt like putting them together and then I'm
trying to put two bolts together yeah and I'm trying to put two nuts together
and it doesn't work and and I'm the one who's insane I mean that made that's a
sound mind right there that makes sense what's insane is people that thought
that I was wrong when I had those nuts and bolts up here it's just a basic
object lesson okay but the point is that as a second third generation Christian
don't fall into this trap of letting the world tell you what a sound mind is and
thinking Christians are crazy the Bible is crazy fundamentalists are crazy no my
friend Christ is the the sound mind Christ is the representative of the
sound mind right the Word of God is sanity and sobriety and they they call
Paul insane you know Paul thou art beside thyself much learning hath made
thee mad right you've studied so much Paul that you've lost your mind they
said to him and he said no no these are the words of sound doctrine these are
the words of sanity sobriety it's true and I would say the same thing I don't
consider myself a radical preacher I consider myself just an ordinary
preacher just preaching the Bible in fact I strive for moderation I mean I
I'm serious I constantly I'm striving for moderation because I don't I don't
like to go to extremes or or to you know sometimes people overreact and go too
far in one direction or the other you know I really strive for balance in my
life and moderation in all things that's who I am but it just feels fringe
because this world's losing their mind God has given us the spirit of a sound
mind okay they're crazy we as Christians are the ones who are sane and sober in
here okay so he said stir up the gift of God number one number two power number
two don't give in to the fear number three don't forget about the power of
God and then we went straight to number five the sound mind but let's back up
how about power and love and of a sound mind you know another thing that second
generation or Christian a third generation Christians could fall into is
basically this attitude of looking down on or despising other people because of
the fact that everything's been handed to them as far as they were taught the
Word of God from a young age they grew up you know with all this wisdom and and
and you know just being taught the Bible and being raised in a Christian life you
know to basically despise this world as far as the people in the world and and
not love them right and and to just not have a love for the lost but to just
think oh they're they're idiots nuts to them you know and what is it that
motivates us to go out and win people to Christ it's got to be love right the love
of Christ constrains us to go out and win people to the Lord you know when
Jesus is faced with unsaved people even when they were bozos he still loved them
you know he looked on that rich young ruler that was kind of an idiot and he
looking on him loved him and had compassion on him so you know when we go
out soul-wording we knock on the door the door opens you know we had to love
that person and we're gonna win more people to the Lord if we actually have
that love in our heart if it's actually real compassion for lost people and we
need to understand the fact that not everyone had our upbringing right not
everyone had our upbringing and so we need to be patient with people and
understand that we could have ended up like a lot of these other people if we
weren't blessed with the upbringing and you know there's all this talk today
because because the the left wing in our country is obsessed with race aren't
they so that they're they're obsessed with race and everything's about race
and so they talk a lot about white privilege right who hears about this
all the time you know you hear white privilege you know it's a big thing
right but here's the thing forget white privilege it doesn't exist but let me
tell you what does exist Christian privilege Christian privilege is real
check your privilege my friend because Christian privilege is real because you
know what if you're white that doesn't necessarily they mean that everything
was handed to you it doesn't mean that you necessarily grew up with all these
advantages that supposedly all white people have and guess what just because
you're black doesn't mean that you grew up with every disadvantage maybe you did
maybe you didn't but maybe your parents did everything for you and you had a
great parents and stuff it's it's racist to even act like being whites a
privilege like what are you trying to say that white parents are better than
than black parents I mean see how that see how stupid that is but see I don't
believe in white privilege but you know what I do believe in Christian privilege
and you know what if you're born in a Christian home if your parents are as
black as the night but they're Christians you grew up privileged amen
if you grew up Chinese but your parents love Jesus Christ you're privileged you
know what you're way more privileged red yellow black and white growing up as a
Christian than being as white as snow in some atheist home that's not a privilege
growing up unsaved growing up Muslim Hindu Buddhist Jewish that's not a
privilege okay growing up agnostic growing up Roman Catholic growing up
Mormon that's not a privilege I don't care how white you are no the privilege
is growing up in a Christian home so you know what I'll admit everything's been
handed to me amen I am NOT a self-made man I did not pull myself up out of the
gutter you know Jesus Christ didn't even have to pull me up out of the gutter
because I wasn't even in the gutter because my parents handed everything to
me because of my privilege Christian privilege that's what we ought to be
talking about Christian privilege about white privilege white black red yellow
doesn't matter there's two kinds of people in this world Christians and
non-christians saved and unsaved that's the division that matters not ethnicity
not oh well you grew up rich you're privileged folks it's not a privilege to
grow up rich if you're if you're not growing up with Jesus if you're not
growing up with Sunday school if you're not growing up with the Bible if you're
not growing up with church well guess what you're not privileged but if you do
grow up with those things I don't care how poor you are I don't care how many
hand-me-downs you wore I don't care what kind of demographic or ethnicity or
financial standing your parents had if you grew up in a Christian home if you
grew up reading the proverb of the day if you grew up being taught the Bible
and brought to church and the gospel was shared with you you are privileged and
you will probably succeed in this world way more than people who didn't grow up
like that you ought to be thankful for that every day and if you don't succeed
in this world you're you're squandering what's been handed to you the privilege
that you've been given and so therefore once we realize that we've been given
this great privilege of having godly Christian parents that we have this
privilege of growing up in a Baptist Church they have the privilege of
parents who loved us and made sacrifices to get us in church and to get us where
we could be under the preaching of God's Word once you realize that then
you know what you can you can have compassion on other people and not just
think all these people are such idiots nuts to them you think you know man
these poor people they didn't have the advantage that I have I'm gonna meet
them where they're at I'm gonna be patient with them I'm gonna reach out to
them I'm gonna try to help them because hey they didn't have the advantages that
I had look if I grew up in some other home where I wasn't taught the Bible
where I was taught a bunch of garbage you know I hope I would have eventually
gotten saved but I probably wouldn't have got saved at six years old and I
probably would have made a lot of mistakes first and done a lot of things
differently and I made a lot of mistakes as it is but I probably would have made
a lot of more and worse mistakes if I didn't have godly Christian parents and
so we need to make sure that we keep our love for people strong and that we don't
become unloving and calloused toward the lost and toward the unsafe because we
just think there's a well you know that they're idiots and you know we're so
much better and this is one of the things that I worry about with Christian
kids is just pride because they grow up with so many advantages and then it's
easy to just be prideful and just to think that they're better than everyone
else but you know what it's not necessarily that we're better it's just
that we were given so many more advantages you know and so and even if
you know what even if you are better why are you better though well just cuz I'm
better no because it was given to you because it was a gift from the Lord it
was a gift from your parents it was a gift from the Holy Spirit so we want to
make sure that we don't become calloused or unloving toward our fellow man look
obviously I'm disgusted by this world that we live in but when I talk to the
individual and want to win them to Christ I need to look on them with love
and compassion and not despise others and think that I'm righteous but to
realize that but for the grace of God there go I right we all could be out
there but thank God that we got saved when we did thank God that we're inside
and not outside amen and so number one stir up that gift of God number two
don't have a spirit of fear number three don't forget about the power of God
number four don't forget about the love of God we need to love the Lord that has
to do with also stirring up and being excited love the Lord with all our heart
and love our neighbor as ourself and love the lost and want to win the loss
to Christ not to despise them and think that we're better said power love of
sound mind and and then lastly in that verse don't think that Christianity is
insane or the Bible is insane or your parents are insane or pastor Anderson's
it I mean come on pastor Anderson isn't exactly a mainstream Christian pastor
you know I mean he's on he's on this list of the Southern Poverty Law Center
and you know I mean what am I supposed to think this guy's normal I supposed
to think his church is normal yes yes this is the most normal church ever this
is the normalist of the normal Baptist Church here's another name for you just
hi I'm pastor Stephen Anderson from just an ordinary Baptist Church another old
Baptist Church nothing to see here folks it's just a Baptist Church and you know
what's funny is that when I started faith for Baptist Church you want to
know what my goal was I wanted to start a new movement no you know what my goal
was when I started this church my goal was this to just be another Baptist
pastor that's it that was the whole goal I accidentally started a movement because
the old fundamental Baptist got so weird I didn't even mean to they made me do
this I was trying to start some movement I mean I I remember just
thinking how great my pastor was and how I could never hold a candle to him but
man I would just like to be a Baptist pastor I just want to be a pastor I just
want a pastor a church you know and that's what I've done I've created just
an ordinary ministry here for myself and just just just here I am just doing my
thing and and you know this movement is just all it is is just the old IFB just
got super watered down and just is like fizzling out or something in so many
ways and we're just trying to be like they were like 20 30 years ago we're
just maybe tightening a few things up fixing a few things no big deal but I'm
telling you my friend we've got a sound mind over here okay at the end of the
day I'm just trying to serve the Lord the best I can and you know this is his
book right here right this is his church it's the house of God Jesus said upon my
rock I'll build this church and he has built faithful word Baptist Church
according to his promise and I just get up and preach the Bible I knock some
doors I give the gospel to some people and and here we are I'm just doing my
thing and there's nothing weird going on except out there there's a lot of weird
stuff going on and then it's like can you believe what this guy said about the
faggots it's like can you believe that you think it's okay to be a faggot I
mean look see faggot didn't used to be a bad word now I get up here and say it
has the effect of like saying the f-word to people like literally when
people come to our church and they're not used to our church I'll say that and
they like they like literally it physically hurts it's like a physical
assault on them I literally watch people like jerk and twitch and cringe when
they hear because they're just like huh you know I I think if I said the I think
if I said the other f-word I get less of a reaction from people nowadays I'm not
gonna test that okay but I think I think I get less of a reaction but
here's the thing when I grew up faggot was not a bad word everybody said it it
was the most normal word in the world and I remember I remember I remember
sitting on the sofa with my dad as a teenager and we're watching Bill and
Ted's Excellent Adventure or something and basically they said faggot in the
movie and the TV bleeped it out and me and my dad looked at each other like huh
like what just happened and we're like since when is faggot a cuss word and we
were freaked out that was literally the first time it ever even dawned on us
that that could be a cuss word does everybody see what I'm saying it was
just it was a different time back then but now it's like Pastor Anderson is
cussing and saying all these things but it's it's really just I'm just I'm just
preaching the Bible I'm just using solid vocabulary that everybody understands
and all of a sudden I'm this wild and crazy guy because you know all I'm not
saying anything that Bill and Ted didn't say 30 years ago you know what I mean
what's the big deal but I'm crazy right but even worldly people said that and it
was no issue now all of a sudden it's like oh oh oh you know Pastor Anderson's
so radical how could he say that but really you know I even I even found I
was even looking up like ancient Bible versions and I want I wanted to find one
that said faggot in it you know like really old Bible versions because
there's this part where Paul like grabs a bundle of sticks and throws it into
the fire I was like man if I look at enough translations I'm gonna find it
and I did find it somewhere I found some really old you know quotation of that
verse that said it so you know times change don't they well they change for
some people but some of us are just staying by the old stuff and you know
we're not really worried about it and you know first-generation Christians
aren't thoroughly that worried about it that's why this church is packed with
first-generation Christians did you notice that when I asked who here's a
first-generation Christian it was virtually every adult in the building
did you guys notice that it was virtually every adult in the building
obviously we got teens and and kids here that are second generation because there
are teens and our kids and you know that's who I'm preaching to tonight I'm
preaching to the teens I'm preaching to the kids obviously we can all benefit
from the Word of God but I'm preaching that second generation but why do you
think that this church is filled with first-generation Christians wouldn't you
think it'd be packed with the second generation packed with the third
generation where are they at you know where they're at they're down at the
first church of the deep freeze okay there are they're not excited enough to
be here they're not fired up enough to be at a church like ours our church is
too radical for them our church too crazy for them they're not stirred up
enough for this kind of church that's what's going on my friend that's why
there's so many first generation so here's what I don't want to happen I
don't want our second and third generation to grow up and be like oh
man this is too crazy we got to go over here and go to some babysitter Baptist
Church because there are all these churches out there that are just a sort
of babysit people who other people got saved you know what I'm saying like they
just kind of exist to be like a holding tank for people who are saved Christians
but they're not really that zealous they don't really want to do much and they
kind of want to just show up three times a week or even once a week and just kind
of be told stuff that they already believe and that they already know and
that they're already doing and they kind of just want to be comfortable and safe
and and you know not hear any rough language or anything and they go to
these churches that I consider kind of like a holding tank or like a little
babysit you know it's like when you go to Ikea and they have that little place
you can drop your kids off Smoland okay which Smo is Swedish for small
apparently so you know you you know Smoland Baptist you know like the adults
are over here you know serving God winning souls knocking doors and then
it's kind of like you know you got drop off these perpetual babes in Christ over
at Smoland Baptist okay where they can just be kind of like babysat until Jesus
comes right like somebody's got to kind of babysit them until Jesus comes cuz
they have to go to church somewhere so they kind of just go there and they just
it's safe for them and it's all padded and childproof there's little plastic
covers over the outlets so that you know they're not gonna get hurt right but
this is big boy Baptist right here okay this is the upstairs at Ikea all right I
don't know where this illustration is going but I was trying to tie in the 99
cent macaroni and cheese somehow but I don't I don't think it's gonna work they
probably don't even have that anymore that was like what 15 years ago in
inflation or they don't even serve macaroni and cheese anymore they don't
have Smoland anymore okay there's anything about this illustration
accurate at all well they don't have Smoland but you know what the Baptist
world definitely has about a hundred Smolands in the state of Arizona alone
so okay anyway be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord
verse 8 nor of me his prisoner but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the
gospel according to the power of God who had saved us and called us with the
holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and
grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began but is now made
manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who had abolished death and
has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel whereunto I'm
appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles for the which
cause I also suffer these things nevertheless I'm not ashamed for I know
whom I have believed for and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that
which I've committed unto him against that day hold fast the form of sound
words which thou has heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus
look the thing that you've been handed hold on to it don't be like Esau and
just sell your birthright for this world's bowl of soup that they want to
serve you hold fast the form of sound words which thou has heard of me in
faith and love which is in Christ Jesus that good thing which was committed unto
the second generation Christian third generation Christian children teenagers
growing up in church that good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the
Holy Ghost which well this notice the constant reference to the Holy Ghost the
power of God the Holy Ghost the power of God the Holy Spirit the power of God
because he's trying to make it clear to Timothy that serving God is a spiritual
thing and that we need to be tapped into the power of God and not just become
ones that just go through the motions with our Christian life we need real
zeal and and passion that comes from the Holy Spirit burning inside of us this
thou knowest that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me of whom are
five jealous and homogeneous you know what else is the danger for third
generation Christians is that they could become disillusioned with how many
people have left over the years right because when your first generation
Christian and you you show up and you join the church and you're new you
haven't been around long enough to see all the train wrecks and you haven't
been around long enough to see all the desertions and the departures and the
frauds and the backstabbing and everything like that but you will
because Paul saw it look what the Bible says this now know is that all they
which are in Asia be turned away from me I mean this is a guy who did all kinds
of great soul winning and preaching in Asia Minor founding churches winning
people to Christ I mean this guy founded churches all over the place and yet
everybody in Asia turned away from him I mean that's a pretty strong statement
all they which are in Asia be turned away from me isn't that hard to believe
I mean after this guy has preached so much done so much reached so many people
and then everybody just turns away and you know for the second and third
generation Christian that could be disillusioning to see people turn it
look don't ever get to the point where you become jaded or calloused or where
you just become so disillusioned like oh everybody's a phony everybody's a phony
what's the point you know the Apostle Paul even though he had a lot of people
stabbed him in the back he had a lot of people turn on him he had a lot of
people turn away from him I mean read 2nd Corinthians I mean he goes on and on
about all the the things that they're saying about him and all the the the
traitors and the the wicked people that have turned on him and everything in the
book of 2nd Corinthians and it's being alluded to right here but you know he
didn't stop serving God he didn't stop loving people he didn't stop training
young men for the ministry you know he's still training Timothy he's still
training Titus he still wants to reach people he didn't just get disillusioned
like oh people suck I'm done but you know what it could be easy for the
second or third generation Christian who maybe grew up seeing disappointment
after disappointment and failure after failure but you know what here's the
thing everybody who's had a lot of successes in their ministry had a lot of
failures too because that's just life the only way to not fail is just to not
do stuff but if you do stuff you're gonna fail and succeed you know we've
had a lot of really successful mission strips you know we've also had some
mission strips that were kind of a bomb they were kind of a flop you know we've
had some cool ideas at our church of some pretty cool ministries that went
pretty well we've also had some ideas that totally bombed and were a flop and
a waste of time and money but we just keep doing stuff right and here's the
thing you know you see women that have a lot of kids I'll bet you they probably
had a miscarriage along the way maybe two maybe three miscarriages along the
way because that's kind of just part of having a lot of kids you end up having
some miscarriages you end up going through some heartaches like that okay
but if you were just on birth control the whole time you're not gonna have any
miscarriages you're not gonna have to go through that pain but you're not gonna
have any kids either so that's just the way life works and so as second third
generation Christians don't get disillusioned when you see people turn
out to be bogus when people let you down when preachers let you down when church
members let you down when you see you know people that were once our friends
turning away from us don't be disillusioned by that Paul's
acknowledging the fact yeah everybody in Asia is turned away from me but you know
what he spends one verse saying this thou knowest that all they which are in
Asia be turned away from me of whom are by jealous and homogeneous but then you
know what he quickly switches over to the bright side and starts talking about
the people that didn't turn on him the Lord give mercy under the house of
Onesiphorus for he oft refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain but when he
was in Rome he sought me out very diligently and found me the Lord grant
unto him that he may find verse mercy of the Lord in that day and in how many
things he ministered unto me at Ephesus thou knowest very well so you know one
verse about people turning away from him and three verses about the guy who's
still with him you know yeah we've had some people turn out to be bogus we've
had some people stand stab us in the back but what about all the people who
didn't what about all the tons of pastors and church members laymen and
church workers that have been faithful that have served God with us that have
been our good friends for five ten fifteen twenty years what about that
right so don't get focused on the negative and disillusion and so
tonight's sermon is just to hopefully give you second third generation
Christian something to think about again I myself am a third generation Christian
both my dad and grandpa were saved before I was born my dad and grandpa
both got saved on the same day in 1960 I was born in 1981 right my mom got saved
around the same time she got saved around 1960 as well and then her parents
got saved later and the point is that as a third generation Christian I've been
able to be excited you know and it's passages like this that have given me a
formula to get excited and I and I want to get you excited because I want you
children and teenagers that are growing up in our church you know don't go out
of here and and become some normie Baptist okay you know be like us the
good thing that we've given you keep by the Holy Ghost which well the whole fast
the form of sound words you know grow up and continue serving God and you know
what find the excitement for yourself because I can't remember I talked about
bottling excitement and giving it to you I cannot bottle excitement and give it
to you I can give you information I can preach to you I can talk to you I can
yell at you but the one thing I can't give you is love I can't make you love
God I can't make you love people I can't make you be excited I can't make you
stir up the gift of God you have to do that for yourself you have to find the
love for God in your own heart you have to find the love for other people you
have to stir up the gift of God yourself you have to find that power in the Holy
Ghost yourself I can't bottle the whole sorry Simon but I can't sell you the
Holy Ghost in a bottle you can't purchase the gift of God with money and
I wish I could I wish that I could just bring you up here and slap you on the
forehead and say hakala gandala and then you would just be filled with the Spirit
and you would love God and you'd be excited and you'd go out of here like
whoa let's get somebody saved yeah let's go stand up for what's right
let's stand on the Word of God Jesus Christ is my Savior I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ man I would that'd be great if I could somehow just put
that in an envelope and mail it to you or something but I can't it's the one
thing I can't do for you you have to find the Lord on your own and you know
what I'm glad that you're saved I'm glad that you believe in Jesus and that you
believe that Jesus died and rose again and that he's your Savior and you trust
him as your Savior you've got the Holy Spirit and so you've got the gift of God
okay I've done that for you right I've given you that or your parents have done
that for you or some other faithful soul winner or godly Christian has done that
for you and at least given you that gift of God we've done that for you okay but
you've got to stir up that gift of God and there came a time in my life where
the faith of my parents became my faith where my parents church and religion you
know I had to make that my own and I had to find the Lord for myself right and
I'm not just talking about salvation I mean salvation is important but then I
had to get to a point where you know I'm not reading the Bible because someone's
making me read the Bible I'm reading the Bible because I want to I want to see
what it says I want to see what the Bible says and then and then I'm reading
I'm getting excited about it I'm getting fired up about it and you know I mean
look I'm constantly reading not just the New Testament but the Old Testament too
right we got to read the whole Bible right and man I'm reading the Old
Testament and I'm reading about all these prophets of God and all the the
wild things that they did and all the wild things that they preached and I'm
reading about all these battles and all this stuff and you know what when I read
about that stuff it gets me fired up saying hey you know the same God of
these stories is the same God in 2022 you know where's the Lord God of Elijah
and so the same God that did all these miracles and that inspired all these
great works for him back then he's the same God right now you know and we can
do great things for God right now and I'm sorry if that's not as exciting
for you as a TV show or the latest diet or the latest you know exercise craze
or the latest sports team or the latest whatever and look again I'm not saying
that it's bad to be excited about those things I get excited and talk about you
know just everyday things that I do too I get excited about you know lifting
weights I get excited about running and so you know we get excited about these
things but you know what I'm a lot more excited about the Bible and I know you
are too you first-generation people but hey second generation third generation
people you got to be you got to be like that you got to get fired up right you
got to get passionate about the things of God and and stir up that gift of God
let's borrow words of prayer father we thank you so much for your word and we
thank you so much for of course the gift of Christ on the cross our Savior
Lord but also thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit so that when we read
your word our heart burns within us and and when we hear preaching our heart
burns within us Lord and help us to stir up the embers in our heart and get fired
up Lord and help us to get excited about getting somebody saved to get excited
about speaking the truth and and standing up for what's right help us to
get excited about living the Christian life and and passing on the faith to the
next generation help us to get excited about living a righteous life and letting
our light shine in this crooked and perverse generation help us Lord not to
just fizzle out in the second and third generation in Jesus name we pray men