ME
What
if I told you today that the Holy Spirit has been revealing to the church both
locally and worldwide the most fertile demographic to bring the grace of Jesus
to? If we could tell you today which group, if you brought them the Kingdom,
would respond the most favorably, would you get excited? If we told you today
where your evangelism could be most effective, would you be inspired to action?
• This group
comprises 1.2 Billion people worldwide.
• In Champaign
County alone, there are approximately 27,000 people in this group alone.
• According to
the researcher George Barna, the “spiritual identity is set” during this group,
so there is a perfect opportunity to both lead them to Jesus (evangelism) and
teach them the truth of His gospel of grace (discipleship).
• This group is
so technologically savvy (and at home with technology) that worldwide they are
allowing long-held strongholds of belief & tradition to be broken down…
what an opportunity to destroy satan’s lies with the truth of the gospel of
grace!
• Finally, 85%
of first time converts to the gospel happen during this time.
• In fact, in my
home alone 2 of the 5 of us fit this demographic.
We
want to talk with you today about bringing the gospel of grace to the “4-14 Window”... which
simply means this: How do we become a church that is focused on bringing the
Kingdom to every child between the ages of 4 and 14?
Here
at the Vineyard, we believe that all of the kids get to play. In Kingdom Kids
and in my family, every week our children are learning to pray for each other,
share Jesus with others, and be an extension of God’s Kingdom to a lost and
broken world.
Prayer &
Welcome
WE
We
don’t want this to be guilt-driven experience today. We don’t want you to walk
away feeling like you should have done more with your own kids or that you
should be doing more now. Rather, we want to show you the incredible
opportunity that we have both in our own lives and in our churches.
We’ve
been trying to motivate our church to action all year long:
1)to extend God’s Kingdom in every area of your lives.
2)to be intentional and naturally supernatural with every
person that you meet.
As a
parent of 3, I know that I have windows of time that are best to train my kids
in things. The first 6 months are about “sleep training,” the next 6 are about
“eating & walking,” then teaching other boundaries, potty training and so
on.
I am
now given a blueprint of the best
years (4-14) to do the spiritual training of my kids. To demonstrate and have
them partner in Kingdom ministry with me now, so that they will be free and
brave to do it on their own as they grow a little older.
You’d
think it strange if I was still changing my kids’ diapers at 10 years old.
You’d think, “didn’t someone tell him to stop doing that like 7 years ago and
potty train his kids?!”
Well
you and I have been given a plan of the best years to be “Funnels of God’s Grace to the
Children.”
Matthew
19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the children
come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are
like these children.” 15 And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed
them before he left.
In
the Vineyard, we are Kingdom of God people! I’m excited today to think about
the opportunity before us. We have:
• The amazing
message of the gospel (share
the gospel message here).
• A group of
27,000 people in Champaign County that are hungry and are the most likely to
give their lives to the gospel.
• The Holy
Spirit within us to empower us to action as we funnel God’s grace to the
children of our community.
GOD
Let’s
take a few minutes to unpack what Jesus has to say about children and funneling
the Kingdom towards them. Then, we will unpack some practical things that you
can do individually and that we can do as a church.
Mathew 18
1 About that time the disciples
came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” 2 Jesus
called a little child to him and put the child among them. 3 Then he said, “I
tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little
children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4 So anyone who
becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of
Heaven.
A) I think that
Jesus understood the 4-14 Window better than anyone ever has. He understood
that great fruit for the Kingdom would come through children. But, even beyond
that, He seemed to grasp that when we are younger, we are more receptive to
what the gospel of grace could do in and through us.
B) So truth #1 for
us from Jesus is this: Before you can
funnel the Kingdom to children, you need to become like them!
C) This is so
important for us. We must put aside or past and be born anew in God’s grace so
that when we funnel the Kingdom to children, they will receive only who Jesus
is in us and not the dead person we used to be.
D) We need to walk
in our identity as kids of the King, so that we can funnel the King to the
kids.
5 “And anyone who welcomes a
little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. 6 But if you cause one of
these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you
to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of
the sea.
And verse 10 “Beware that you
don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven
their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.
A) The second
truth that Jesus seems to be saying is this: I want you to make the most of your opportunities to funnel the Kingdom
towards children.
B) In another
passage, the apostles are actually trying to keep parents from bringing their
kids to Jesus for Him to teach and bless them. Jesus strongly corrects the
disciples and then spends significant time laying hands and blessing the kids.
C) I think Jesus
knew this might have been His one opportunity with those families. He laid
aside His busy schedule of teaching and healing to extend the Father’s heart to
those kids. In fact, you see Him over and over again going to the aid of
children who need healing, who need the Kingdom to show up powerfully in their
lives.
D) Jesus wraps up
this teaching with a very familiar parable that we’ve traditionally applied to
all evangelism, but Jesus seems to be aiming it right at how we funnel the
Kingdom towards children.
12 “If a man has a hundred sheep
and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine
others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? 13 And if he
finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the
ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! 14 In the same way, it is not my heavenly
Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.
A) Our final truth
from Jesus is this: When you have the
Father’s heart, you will stop at nothing to funnel the Kingdom to every child.
B) I don’t know
about you, but when I read this parable in light of my own kids, it really
motivated me. If one of my 3 kids wandered from the gospel, I would leave my 2
who were solid in a heartbeat to pursue the one who was lost.
C) I would be on
my knees every day in prayer for that child. I would talk to them every day
about how much Jesus loves them and will never leave them. I would try and
surround them with kids who know the truth of the gospel… and if they returned
to faith in Jesus… I’d definitely throw a party!
D) And there’s no getting
around this: every child (all 1.2 billion around the world and all 27,000 in
Champaign county) is our heavenly Father’s child. And He is excited to pursue
them. He is excited to use us as His Kingdom Funnels to this generation.
YOU
Again,
this gets me excited to think that we get to partner with the King to bring His
Kingdom to a generation that is ready for the truth of the gospel of grace!
So,
when we look at action steps, I think we need to focus on 2 areas: both local
church initiatives and international partnerships.
Grace funneled LOCALLY to
children
1) Crescendo
initiative – spend significant time talking about how one of our main focuses
in the campaign is reaching the next generation.
2) Kingdom Kids
& middle school Revolution – how can you be involved?
3) Your family –
for those who are parents, reminder of the high calling on parents, the
incredible opportunity, and how kids today still say mom and dad are their
greatest influence. Doing the stuff of the Kingdom in your family is very
important. Tell stories of kids praying
for us & each other.
4) Some of you may
even decide to expand your influence to children as you invite more kids into
your home… through your own kids, through doing a kid-focused small group, or
even through foster-care and adoption.
Take a look at this VIDEO
TESTIMONY (sorry no link here) by the Campions sharing how they decided to funnel God’s grace
towards more children.
Quite
a good testimony! Tom and Sherri were able to extend God’s grace & expand
their family beyond what they’d even planned for their family. Let me share one
more story of adoption:
My
friend Jon Wallis and his wife have 5
children of their own. After they were done with their biological family, they
began to feel the call to bless other kids with the grace of Jesus. They now
have 15 more children they have adopted from several different countries. They
truly are living out the call on their lives to funnel God’s grace to kids both
locally and all over the world.
WE
Many
of us will not adopt 15 more kids into our homes, but we can still partner with
Jesus to funnel God’s grace all over the world to kids from many different
countries. In fact, you’ll get a chance to begin that process today!
1) Reminder of the
4-14 window (830,000+ of the 1.2 billion
or ¾ are in the 10/40 missions window).
2) World Vision
a)
Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to
working with kids, families and communities to reach their full potential.
Focused on poverty and injustice.
b) 100
million people in nearly 100 countries.
c) Motivated
by faith they serve alongside the poor and oppressed to demonstrate God’s
unconditional love.
d) Provide
daily needs and partner with churches and individuals to encourage spiritual
transformation.
e)
Global infrastructure enables them to quickly
respond to survivors of hurricanes, earthquakes, famines, civil wars and
outbreaks of disease.
3) Compassion International
a) Compassion
International exists as a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases
children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enables them
to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults.
b) Founded
in 1952, Compassion began providing Korean War orphans with food, shelter,
education and health care, as well as Christian training.
c)
Today, Compassion helps more than 1.2 million
children in 26 countries
4) Tell people
about the opportunity to partner with both of these missions in the commons
over the next 2 weekends.
5) Share our
experience with a Compassion child. Maybe share Thad’s story of running for
WVision.
We
have been given an amazing opportunity as a church and as Kingdom people.
Whether you are like me and have 3 little lives to pour into every day OR you
have to get intentional & seek out opportunities through the Vineyard
and/or one of missions today, the harvest is plentiful!
Let’s
get motivated today that the King wants to partner with each and every one of
us to tell & demonstrate the Kingdom (Psalm 78:4 – “We will not hide these truths from our
children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the
Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders.”) to the 4-14 Window. We
get to be His funnels of grace to this generation.
ADAM: prayer
& offering
MINISTRY
TIME:
1) brokenness from your own childhood
2) loss of grace for your own kids
3) realized your giftings and callings
today
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