Impacting the next generation via God’s Word.

Impacting the next generation via God’s Word Deuteronomy 6:6-8

“6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

Introduction.

➢ Generation is not humans’ creation; they are made and designed by God.

➢ And so, it in paramount to note that God loves every generation and prefers to work

within its framework.

➢ One generation shapes the next and chain goes on and on.

➢ The generation that is going off is to pour into the generation that is coming up.

Likewise, the rising generation is to follow the example of the older generation.

➢ Illustration: passing the torch goes beyond a sign of official opening of Olympic Games. Is means to hand over a job, responsibility, duty, or knowledge to a successor. The idea

is that one is going into a sort of retirement or is ending a successful career. To pass the torch involves trusting one’s successor to do a good job or even much better than what you’ve accomplished. Usually, one will pass the torch to someone whom he or she have groomed for the position.

➢ The Washington post note “By passing the flame from one person to another in stages, the Torch Relay expresses the handing down of this symbolic fire from generation to generation.”

➢ This is what we are called into as Christian, “And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:2.

➢ Consider with me this morning 3 ways we can impact the next generation using God’s word.

A. KEEPING GODS WORD IN YOUR HEART V6.

➢ “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.” v6.

➢ God gives us the perfect a place to storage his word- in our hearts.

➢ Heart is the engine of human life.

➢ It’s the central control unit, the command centre.

➢ It is the essence of who you are.

➢ It is your authentic self—the core of your being.

➢ The heart is where all your dreams, your desires, and your passions live.

➢ Once we store Gods word in our heart then we are able to have a clear view and know

how to live.

➢ Listen to what the psalmist says “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not

sin against you” psalm 119:11.

➢ God himself inscribed his word in the hearts of his people. “But this is the covenant

which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Jeremiah 31:33.

➢ What is stored in your heart is precious and so is its power to change other lives. Those who pour their heart transforms those around them.

B. IMPRESSING GOD’S WORD V7A.

➢ “Impress them on your children.” v7.

➢ God's Word is to be passed down generationally.

➢ Baker says, “The idea here is that just as words are cut into a stone tablet with a sharp

object, so the Law should be impressed on the hearts of the children of every

generation.” (Complete Word Study Dictionary)

➢ To Impress carries an aspect of repetition, doing it over and over. Impress simply is

teaching.

➢ The word will not automatically get in one’s heart and mind, it involves hard work.

➢ We shape the next generation by diligently impressing/ teaching them God’s

commands.

➢ Impressing God’s word’s to the next generation is the greatest agent of change we can

do

C. TALKING ABOUT GOD’S WORD OFTEN V7B.

➢ “Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” v7b.

➢ Before we get into this point let me point this, the word Talk used here doesn’t mean telling - it’s creating a conversation.

➢ Talking can produce such dramatic results when taken as two-way communication.

➢ God employed His people to constantly have a conversation about His word.

➢ I have personally found out that you retain more from conversations that took place at

meal time, travel time, sleeping time and first time when you wake up.

➢ This is where you begin to build your days plans, rebirth of your dreams and visions.

➢ King Solomon in his advice calls his son to make Gods word part of his life because

“When you walk about, they will guide you; When you sleep, they will watch over you;

And when you awake, they will talk to you.” Proverbs 6:22.

➢ Talking about God’s word often changes lives. It’s the agent of transformation in

human life.

D. VISUALISE GOD’S WORD V8-9.

➢ “Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” vv8-9.

➢ By visualising God’s word, we make it easier to understand and remember.

➢ Illustration: Wearing wristbands containing Kenyan flags or map as become popular

nowadays. The idea is not just for beauty or fashion, its primary reason is that it’s a

symbol of “unity and patriotism”.

➢ Our hand is what we usually use to do things, by binding God’s word in your hand is

literally letting God's words order your actions.

➢ By wearing God’s word on their forehead and writing it on the door post symbolise that

God’s word was indeed part of people’s lives.

CONCLUSION

➢ The call for us today is to make God’s word part of our daily life.

➢ We shape the next generation based on how we handle God’s word.

➢ Remember this transformation of any child’s life begins at home not at church.