Becoming Your Child's Advantage | Jabin Chavez | City Light Church

Hey, what's up, everybody? Javen here, and we are about to jump into God's Word, and I am believing that it is going to be a blessing to you, a blessing to your world, a blessing to your life. The Bible says that at the entrance of God's Word, it brings light, it brings revelation and understanding, and I believe that's going to happen for you today in Jesus' name. Just before we go to the Word, our team is asking all the time for you to like and subscribe and hit the notification bell, all the things. I guess it helps with the algorithm. I don't know what the algorithm is, but I guess it's real, and that would help us, and it would help us get the Word of God to you. I also want to thank all of you for your financial support. Thank you for helping us bring the beautiful message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus right here to Las Vegas, the most unchurched city and the most unchurched state in America. We are doing everything we can to win souls and make disciples, raising up the next generation right here in Vegas, and if you are looking for good ground to sow into, this is it. If you want to help us reach more and more people for the Lord, this is a great place to do it. For you who are already giving, thank you. It means the world to us. I love you so much. Come on, let's jump into God's Word. If you've been tracking with us over the last few months, we just finished up a 14-week series on Hebrews chapter 11, and I promise you we're out of that series on faith, but here we are again in Hebrews 11. My bad. So you're just going to have to deal with it because there is a powerful verse here. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 23. Hebrews chapter 11 and verses 23 through 27. By faith, Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born. So they hid him by faith, not out of fear, but out of faith, because they saw, they saw, how did they see? By faith. They saw something by faith, that he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict. So they didn't hide him because they were afraid. They actually hid him because they were not afraid. What was the king's edict? What was the king's edict? It was Pharaoh saying, all boys two years and younger are going to be killed. And they said, we're not afraid of that. We're actually going to protect our son by faith, Moses. So now watch that. Moses' parents had faith. Now he has faith. When he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, he chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead

to his reward. By faith, he left Egypt. He left that system. He left that mentality. He was in Egypt, but Egypt didn't get in him. Not fearing the king's anger. So now notice that the parents didn't fear the king, and now Moses doesn't fear the king. The parents had faith. Now Moses has faith. This is so powerful. He persevered because he saw him who is invisible. He saw God who is invisible. I want to talk specifically to parents today, but I promise that it will be relevant to everybody. But I do want to speak specifically to parents, and I want to talk about becoming your child's advantage. Becoming your child's advantage. Becoming an advantage for your child. Where your ceiling becomes their floor. Hallelujah. You give them what you never had. You give them faith that changes their life. Becoming your child's advantage. Father, I pray you speak now. I pray for a word in the house. I thank you that today there's going to be wisdom. There's going to be grace. There's going to be favor. I thank you that one word from you can change everything about our life. And so I'm expecting a word in the house today. I thank you that you're big enough to go beyond my words and give everybody what they need today. Feed your sheep, I pray, in Jesus' name. Everybody say, my heart's open. Speak, Lord. And speak to my neighbor. In Jesus' name. Amen. Come on, let's applaud the Lord one more time. You like who you're sitting next to? Do you like your neighbor? Do they need a word from God? Do you need to pray for them? A little extra today? All right. Anybody expecting? Any ladies expecting? Expecting? Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Anybody else? I see Anna. I see Sarah. Anybody else? Up here. Hey, girl. Hey, girl. Hey, girl. Is that a hand? No? Something behind you? Okay. Okay, now, anybody else, anybody else? Okay, all right, oh, hey, good to see you. All right, I got some great Bible names for you. I want, if you've been thinking about what to name your child. Hannah, you're gonna love this one. I hope you're ready. Write this one down, you're gonna love this. These are great Bible names. Amram and Jochabed.

Is it boy or girl? Boy, Amram, Yo-am, you know how I like it. Yo-ram, okay, okay, before we go any further, this is a joke, do not name your kids this because they'll be like 20 years old and sue me for getting these names. So don't, I don't know if you've ever heard these names before, I honestly kind of didn't until this week. Amram is the father of Moses and Jochabed is the mother of Moses. We all know Moses, but God recognizes his parents. We all celebrate Moses, but God celebrates his parents. We all know the faith of Moses, but God celebrates the faith of his parents. Lot of people naming their son Moses. Not a lot of people naming their son Amram. But Moses' story does not begin with Moses. Moses didn't just appear, hello? He came through the faith of his parents. They were not famous, but they had faith. They were not famous, but they were faithful. Most of us did not know their names and most of us will not remember their names, but they were remarkable. Though we celebrate the son, God celebrates the parents so much so that he put them in Scripture. It was their faith that protected Moses from Pharaoh. See, money can open up doors and education can create opportunities.

Talent can gain attention, but faith determines destiny. We gotta give our kids what money cannot buy, what education cannot give, what talent is not enough to do. When you give your child faith, that is what will determine the destiny of your child. Look what Jesus said about children in Mark chapter 10. The people brought children to Jesus hoping he might not touch them and the disciples shooed them off, but Jesus was irate and let them know it. Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me. I just want you to know that should be the mission of our lives, of our families, of this church. We are doing whatever we can to not get in between our children and Jesus, amen. I think it's the new slogan of City Light Church. What's City Light Church all about? We doing everything we can not to get in between our kids and Jesus, amen. Parents, you need a job description. Parents, you need a vision statement for your family. Let's not get in between our babies and Jesus. By the way, that's why we have this incredible kids ministry. That's why we want your kids in kids ministry and not in here, not just because I'm ADD, not just because I'm easily distracted, but because we want your child around other children experiencing Jesus with other children

at a level that they'll understand. I promise you the greatest gift you could give your kids is putting them in kids ministry where they're worshiping with other children, experiencing the presence of the Lord at their level. That is not babysitting. Those are not babysitters. That is ministry, and our children are getting saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, impacted by God. Amen. Our youth that's happening on Wednesdays, our young adults on Thursday, we are all about our children experiencing Jesus. Watch this. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Wow. What is at the very center of the heart of Jesus? Children, children, children. Not the preacher, children. Not the worship leader, children. Not big church, children's church. Like, I think God's moving in here. I think God loves this service, and I think God loves everybody in here, but I don't know how God splits up his energy, but I just kind of think he cares more about over there. I just gotta be real with you. If children are at the very center of the Lord's focus, they should be at the center of ours too. As a church and as parents, children are not replaceable.

They are invaluable. Let me remind you that all of the children, excuse me, all of the disciples of Jesus were teenagers. Maybe Peter was 20, but all of the other disciples were teenagers. Jesus was the original youth pastor. He didn't look like me in a boring polo and linen pants. He looked like Brandon. Brandon, show your age real quick and jump up here real quick. Don't use the stairs, you're young. Jump, jump up here. See, because I can't do that either. I can't even do that. Bring it in tighter, guys. I got, Angelina, get up here and take some pictures of us real quick. So when I was in high school, those were called Jinkos. Now I'm Mexican, so I can say what I'm about to say. And the Cholos wore Jinkos. And when Jinkos came down our hallway, I went the other way. You're gonna get knifed. You put a knife in Jinkos, put a gun in Jinkos, could have put a machete all the way down in Jinkos. You gotta run. Now you pastors are wearing them. If Jesus was here today, he would not be dressed like me. My God. He said, amen.

He said, glory to God. I just wanna tell you, Jesus took this ragtag group of teenagers and they changed the world. They weren't ready. They weren't spiritual enough. They weren't mature enough. They didn't know enough of the word. They were just young, immature, on fire teenagers. And they shook the Roman world and they shook what became the West. And the world is different today from a youth pastor and his youth group that got filled with the Holy Ghost and changed the world. And God's still using young people to change the world. And that's why as a ministry, we are completely committed to our young people. We must be committed to sowing so our children can reap. You gotta think generationally. If you're gonna come to a church like this, you gotta think generationally. You can't sit there and go, is this church too young for me? Is it too loud for me? Are the lights too bright for me? Those kids are up there jumping. It hurts my knees to just watch them. Don't think that way. Think like, wow, I'm a part of what's coming. I'm on the ground floor

of something God is about to do in the earth. And I get to cheer for it. I get to give to it. I get to pray over it. I get to see it with my eyes. Nobody in this room is too old for City Light Church. We need every generation doing what it's called to do so that the very center of the kingdom, children, have a place. I'll let you clap if you want to. You don't have to. Okay, how do I become my child's advantage? Number one, see them, see your children, see them. Moses' parents, watch this, by faith, saw that he was no ordinary child. If you read the Bible, you're gonna find out Moses was like super ordinary. His parents are going, he's special. He's not ordinary. He's extraordinary. He was so ordinary. He was emotional. He was violent. He had major control issues. He was trying to pastor two million people. He wouldn't let nobody else lead. He had a speech impediment. You know, we think about, let my people go. You know, he didn't say that. Aaron said it, because he couldn't talk.

And his parents are going, he's special. He's anointed. And guess what? He became what they saw in him. See, Moses didn't look different. His parents saw different. Parents, you gotta fight for that. When you're, when you just have a baby, I'm looking at these young couples that are about to have babies. When you just have a baby, and you're holding that little three-month-old, that little two-month-old, that little six-month-old, and they can't talk yet, you just look at them, and you go, you're gonna change the world. He's so special. You're not ordinary. You're gonna be different. You're gonna be a billionaire. You're gonna pay for my retirement. You're so, you'll be so anointed. You're gonna sing good, and you're gonna play sports good, and you're gonna be smart, and you're gonna be handsome, and you're gonna be beautiful, and you have the faith for that. And then they say, They start growin' up, they start slammin' doors, and they start cussin', and they start sayin', I hate you, and they start datin' people you don't want them to date, and they start sneakin' out,

and they start havin' attitudes, and they start, and you've gotta fight for the same faith you had when they were little and innocent, and you've gotta look at that 13-year-old and go, you are not ordinary. You've gotta look at that 16-year-old and go, you are special. You've gotta look at that eight-year-old and go, you are made in the image of God. You've gotta look at that two-year-old that just bit you and go, you're gonna be so passionate. You're gonna be such a great worshiper one day when we figure out how to not bite anymore. You're amazing. Come on, you gotta speak life over your adult children and over your grandchildren, come on. You gotta see by faith. Give me an amen right there. Fight for that, fight for that, fight. Don't lose that. His parents were able to see what every other parent in their generation could not see. Pharaoh says, I'm killing every boy under two years old, and every other parent went, here's our son. But they went, no, we see something. He's special. Seeing by faith means we see beyond the behavior and we see the potential. It does not mean that we don't see the behavior. It doesn't mean that we don't bring correction.

It doesn't mean that we don't help. It doesn't mean that we don't teach. It doesn't mean that we don't correct. It means that we see beyond it. See, children usually become what their authority figure consistently sees in them and speaks over them. You gotta see it by faith and you gotta say that by faith. They've gotta know that they have somebody in their corner. Let me say that one more time. They have to know that they have someone in their corner. Because their friends don't have their back. They're all fighting for social acceptance and they're all fighting for popularity and they're all fighting for who's gonna be the leader of the pack and they're all fighting for who's gonna be the most popular and who's gonna be the best looking and who's gonna have the most, they're all fighting for that especially teenagers. It's just a massive battle. Everybody's gossiping. There's all this stuff. I mean, if they're not in Christ, you understand what I'm saying right now. There's FOMO and there's worries about social rejection and peer pressure and they don't wanna do that and they wanna honor God but they're afraid of losing their friend group. All of that is happening. They have to come home to parents who believe in them and who see the best in them and who understand

that they're not gonna lose social credit by being themselves. Look at Genesis chapter 49. All these are the 12 tribes of Israel and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He blessed them. How did he bless them? By what he said. Words, not money, words. Not iPads, words. Not toys, words. Not clothes, words. Not New Jordans, words. Not Nujinkos, words. Not a new purse, words. Not a Target Run, words. I'm not saying those things are wrong. I'm saying though, the number one thing you can do for your kids, you can talk to them and say, I see you and I love you and I bless you and then he did this. Giving each the blessing appropriate to them. Meaning, he had 12 sons. He didn't go, love you guys. He looked at each one. He said, Judah, come to me and he blessed them. And he said, Perez, come to me and then he blessed them and then he took every tribe and he blessed them. He took every son and he gave them a prophecy.

What's a prophecy? It's a Holy Ghost roadmap that you can then walk. And he gave his kids something that he could carry into his future after he would die because Jacob's going towards the end of his life. So though, as a parent, we die physically, our words live on. Wow. Your kids need more words of blessing. They need more words of possibility. They need more words of potential, not less. Your kids need to know what love is so that when counterfeit love comes, they can see it, recognize it and reject it. Amen. Mm. Hallelujah. When your 15-year-old girl comes to school and that 15-year-old boy. She looks at her and says, sleep with me if you really love me. She goes, no, no, no, no, no, no. This ain't real love. I got a daddy at home that loves me. I know what real love is. When that friend group says, you need to do this drug if you wanna be, no, no, no, no, no. I know what, this is pressure. This isn't love. This isn't friendship.

This isn't care. And they're able to reject counterfeit love because they've got real love, real blessing at home. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Whoo. I like this sermon. Yeah. Amen. Number two, number two. Gotta give you three points, I'm a pastor. Number two, hide your children. How do I give my child the advantage? I hide them. Yeah. By faith, Moses' parents hid him. They didn't hide him by fear. They hid him by faith. Yeah. What am I saying? I'm not talking about control. I'm not talking about overreaction. I'm not talking about being in denial of the realities of our world, but I am talking about I am hiding them. I'm protecting them. I'm covering them. Not because they were afraid,

but because they were not afraid of Pharaoh. We're not afraid of culture, but we are protecting our child's calling. And how did she protect him? How did she hide him? The Bible said she made him a wicker basket, which that word basket there is the same Hebrew word as ark, what Noah built, Noah's ark. Noah built his family an ark, and Moses' mother built her son an ark. Think about this. Think about that. This is powerful. The Bible says that that whole generation took their sons two years and younger. They killed them, and they threw them into the Nile. How dark, how awful. They lost a generation, and that's why we're fighting for a generation. That's why we care. That's why we care. Now, she also put Moses in the Nile, but she put him into the Nile in an ark. Not denying the Nile, not denying Egypt, not denying our culture, not denying the realities of our world, not denying the realities of temptation and what our kids are going through, but we've created an ark of protection in the middle of it.

Y'all catching, we live in Vegas. This is Sin City, y'all. It's crazy. It's crazy to be a Christian here, let alone trying to raise a Christian family in a city like this, but you can do it, not by denying it, not by acting like the strip doesn't exist, but by creating an ark for our family that can be covered in, I'm not afraid of Vegas, but I do wanna be covered in Vegas. I'm not afraid Vegas is gonna get my kid, but I am creating an ark of safety for her. People would ask us that when we first moved here. You're gonna raise a family in Vegas? Yeah, we are. Not Vegas. I'm gonna raise my daughter, not Vegas. Takes a village, amen. No, it doesn't, it takes a mom and a dad. That's what it takes. It don't take a village. Y'all don't parent my kid and I don't parent your kids. That is weird political jargon that is demonic that takes responsibility off of the home. Only you can build an ark for your kids. I can't do it for you. The government can't do it for you. A teacher can't do it for you. And grandma and grandpa cannot do it for you

while we're at it. Glory to God. Let me just push on that one more second because I feel things in the spirit. And grandma and grandpa, you can't do it for your kids. You can't do it for grown adults. Grown adults, you gotta take responsibility to build something for your children that covers them and protects them. Not in denial of what I'm in, but is protecting them from the crocodiles and from the piranhas and from the wild beasts of the Nile and of Egypt. That is gonna, I'm making sure my kid is covered by building an ark for my children. Here's what I'm saying. Not everyone and not everything deserves access to my child. I'll take an amen or an oh my or an oh me or a ouch or something. Good preaching, somebody said. Thank you, I'll take it. I told you a few weeks ago that we took YouTube away from our daughter. when she was four. She's now about to turn 10, I can't believe that. So she's about to turn 10, so she hasn't had YouTube in almost now six years. And Friday night, she came into the bedroom and I'm studying for the sermon. I'm giving you my best, I'm writing my sermon,

I'm praying, I'm seeking God, I'm in it. And she don't care, amen, come on, she's nine. So she jumps in bed, she goes, dad. I go, yeah, yeah, I'm here. She goes, let's watch Outdoor Boys. Does anybody know what Outdoor Boys is? Oh my God, it is the most, just white bread. It's this Mormon family from Alaska, it is so fun. He's like a survival guy. And as you could tell, I'm like really into that kind of stuff, right? I'm really into camping, survival. I'm really into living off the land. I don't talk about it a lot, don't put it on my socials, but. So anyway, he goes out into Alaska and he'll build a homemade igloo and start a fire from sticks. And he's amazing, this guy's crazy. Outdoor Boys, okay, anyway. And then he brings his kids out and they just suffer through it the whole time. He's like, aren't you happy, little Johnny? They're like, man, cold, you know. Anyway, we love watching these little kids suffer. So anyway, Outdoor Boys. So she goes, dad, can we watch Outdoor? I go, honey, I gotta study. I can't watch Outdoor Boys right now. And then I just kind of, a little bit out of frustration,

I didn't show it, but I just, I go, can't you just like go pull it up somewhere? And she goes, no, I don't have YouTube, remember? And I went, yeah, I do remember. Get out of my office. No, I didn't. I said, give me an hour, let me finish this sermon. We'll watch some Outdoor Boys. She's gonna have YouTube one day? She's gonna have a phone one day? She's gonna learn about the birds and the bees one day? She's gonna learn about all this crazy gender stuff that's going on in our culture one day? She's gonna figure all that out one day? But she's nine. So right now, she's in my ark. She's in our basket. She's under my cover. And it's not because I'm afraid of the West. It's not because I'm afraid of Western culture. It's not because I'm afraid of progressive agendas. It's not because I'm afraid of Pharaoh. It's not because I'm afraid of Nebuchadnezzar. It's not because I'm afraid of what's going on in our world. It's because I actually see that she has a call and an anointing on her life. And because of my faith, I'm keeping her covered until she can have her own faith. Say amen, everybody. Amen.

How do I cover my kids? Pray for them daily. Pray for them every day. Share when the door is open. If your kid opens up, jump in. Don't overreact. When your kid does open up, and they tell you something crazy, just have like a bottle of water ready to just like, oh, really? Get like a really chewy, nasty protein bar ready to just chew. Don't freak out yet. Listen to them. Build an arc of God's presence in the home. Don't fight in front of them. I know you're gonna fight. Don't fight in front of them. They don't need to see you yelling and cussing and getting all mad. Don't fight in front of your kid. Wait till they sleep. Amen, and then throw a plate. Come on, somebody. No, don't. Speak well of people. You know, my wife and I, we speak well of the church, and we speak well of our staff in front of Goldie, right? I don't want her walking in, she sees Bianca, I heard about you.

We complain about Bianca when Goldie's asleep. No, it's just that we don't ever hear a joy. My point is, to Goldie, our staff is like right below the Trinity, you know what I mean? I mean, she just, these are ministers. These are men and women of God, right? We cover that so when she comes to church, she doesn't have weird thoughts. Cover your kids, cover your kids, cover your kids. Leslie, Leslie, let me have the team come. Teach your children. If you're gonna give your children the advantage, teach them, teach them, teach them. The Bible said that Moses rejected Egypt and the treasures of Egypt for the sake of Christ. Where did he learn that? Learned it from his parents. Where? Acts chapter seven says that Moses was educated in all the wisdom of Egypt. So he's, again, he's learning about life, he's learning school, he's, let me just say it like this. He learned Egypt at school, but he learned God. at home. Egypt may have educated his mind, but his parents disciplined his heart. Man, I just want this to get in your spirit. Instead of buying your children all the things you never had, teach them all the things you were never taught. Come on, Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee with the word.

My God, Bruce Lee got the best clap of the day. Not even a Christian. Okay, I'm not offended. It's powerful. And by the way, and because, especially if you're new to money, if you're new money, and you're maybe the first to have an education, you're the first to make six figures, you're the first to make seven figures, you're the first to, you got, you got some things that maybe you didn't have as a kid. The first thing you want to do is just give your kids stuff. But you have to give them what money can't buy. And I promise you, they'll never have a money problem. Your kids won't have a money problem if you give them what money can buy. Okay, so I'm gonna ask you, I'm gonna ask you a very challenging question. I don't know if it's gonna feel challenging, but I promise you, this should convict all of us of what I'm about to ask you. So I want you to open your heart to this. Open your heart to this. What do your children believe is important to you? I want to let this simmer for a second. If we, if we went out to kids ministry right now with a microphone and a camera and said, what's important to mom and dad, what would they say? Football, golf, shopping, Louis Vuitton, Target, Starbucks, the Dodgers, the Cowboys. Pray for you later. Easy, easy. Take, I shouldn't have said it, sorry. I'm in the flesh. Let me get back in the anointing. Watch, watch, because children don't inherit our convictions. The Holy Ghost has to do that, but they inherit our priorities. Write that down, write that down.

Children don't inherit our convictions. They inherit our priorities, meaning they can pick up what you care about. Even if they don't understand it, they can pick it up. This is powerful. So what would they say about you? They've got to see that modeled. Would they say prayer? Would they say worship? Would they say the house of God? You know, your kids shouldn't have to ask, are we going to church? They should only ask, what service are we going to? Your kids should be shocked that you didn't go, that you didn't go to church. That should be the rare thing. Well, we're on vacation or we got, we got a lot of family in town or, you know, I got a little sick, went to Taco Bell, ate the lettuce. We got to, I need a weekend. Y'all hear about that? Y'all hear about the lettuce? All right. Amen. I'm just trying to stay relevant. Whatever. Can't wear the big pants, but doing my best. My point is, that should be a shock. If we didn't go to church on a weekend, Goldie would go, what's wrong? And it's not because we're the pastors. We've only known the house of God. I wasn't always a pastor. We just, we're in, we're in church. We're just in church, serving, forgiveness.

Why are you nice to everybody at Christmas, even though they see all the attitudes and all the things? Again, they can't, they can't pick up your convictions. God has to do that. They can learn your priorities. God is giving the children of Israel all these instructions. This is Exodus 13, verse 14. He's giving them all these instructions on how to celebrate the holy days and how to bring an offering to God and how to worship God and how to act in the temple. There's this, all of these ceremonies that God's giving the people. And here's what God says in Exodus 13, 14. And in the future, your children will ask you, what does all this mean? Okay, catch that. They don't understand why this matters to you. Y'all catching this? It matters to you. It don't matter to them. And they're going, why does this? Dad, why do you serve in the parking lot? It's 118 out. Mom, why are you holding babies? Mom and Dad, you tithe? Yeah. What? You 10%? Yeah. How much do you make? What we make? You give away. What?

Your kids won't get it. Dad, why do you worship the way you worship? Why do you praise the way you praise? Why do y'all pray the way you pray? Why are you so forgiving? Why are you so kind? A guy cut me off the other day, and Goldie goes, honk! That's awesome. I went, number one, high five, I'm so proud of you. Number two, no. Why? I go, what's he going to do? I already cut me off, sorry. I just love that she yelled that though, honk, idiot! Let's go, you know? Okay, isn't that cool? Dad, why are you, why have you given your whole life to the gospel? Why are you, why do you pray in tongues? Why do you, why do you worship the way you worship? And you'll look at your kids, you can't teach them your convictions, but you can show them your priorities, with the mighty power of His mighty hand. The Lord brought us out of Egypt. God delivered us, God saved us, God filled us with the Holy Ghost, God healed us, God set us free. How can we not serve? How can we not give? How can we not praise? How can we not pray? How can we not be in church? God's been too good!

Can I get about 100 people at that testimony to shout to the Lord and give God the glory? And that story gets in your kids. Listen, by faith Moses' parents, next verse, by faith Moses. When did the faith go from his parents to him? I don't know! And when is your faith going to drop down from you to your kids? I don't know, but don't give up. Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts. Let them proclaim your power. Awesome. Awesome. Keep telling the story to your babies. Keep teaching them. Keep being an example. I'm just, I'm committed to this. I believe the greatest songs have yet to be written. The greatest books have yet to be written. The greatest sermons have yet to be preached. The greatest ministers have yet to, yet to even be born. I am so committed to your children. I am so committed to the next generation. I am so committed to our youth and our young adult. I'm just, I'm all in. I'm all in. I'm all in. I've never been so excited. I want you to look at me and I want you to, I don't know if you believe me or not, I've never been so excited about the ministry, about the gospel, about preaching. I was listening to that new Elevation Rhythm record on the way here today, it's these young people writing songs, about to see revival like we've never known.

Something out the Bible, the impossible, and I'm just driving to church, just sobbing. Something out the Bible, the impossible. I feel the room is ready for a miracle. Oh man, I just, I'm just going, yeah. Yeah. We didn't write songs like that. Yeah. Now I'm getting fired up in the Holy Ghost. I don't know, you got to listen to that record. This one just came out Friday. I'm not judging anybody that I know the words already. No big deal. My point is, I just, I've never been so excited. And if you're older in here, I need you to get a fire for the next generation. I need you to get on fire for these young people on Wednesday nights. I need you to get on fire for these young adults on Thursday nights. I need you to get on fire for these kids. I need more people to serve in the next generation. That's not where I was. I haven't said that in any of the other services. I'm just telling you, you're not too old for this church. Unless if you miss it, and you just kind of watch it, and the devil will go, you're too old for this church. You can't find a church your age. Then you got to go, devil, shut up. They need me. These kids need me. They need my faith. They need my story. They need my testimony.

They need fathers and mothers. You know, Paul said, there's a lot of teachers. There's few fathers. Why? Because most fathers give up. I'm not talking about, I'm talking about spiritual fathers. Churches give up, and churches die, because they stay old. And you're going, why the heck are you preaching like this? The church is eight years old and full of young people. Because I'm just fighting for this. I'm fighting for it now at eight years old, so that we don't turn 20 and go, what the heck happened? Why is everybody my age? Why isn't everybody 60? What the heck happened? I'm just not going to let it happen. So my friend in Texas, he just told me this story. It just recently happened. Church is 26 years old, and so he's, I think that's why I'm so fired up about this, because he's me in a few years, and he's just committed to the next generation. And the music's loud, and the preaching's rowdy, and the lights are bright. And he's just not giving up on kids. And so I'm going, I'm going, I'm going to be a father. I'm not giving up on kids. And so he had a host, an usher, like one of these guys that helps,

you know the guys you fight with when they tell you where to sit? You know these guys? By the way, you know they're volunteers, right? They're just out here slugging it out for the Lord, letting you give them an attitude, and they're doing it for me, so be nice. Give them a tip on your way out. You know what they should do on your way out? They should go, did you, oh, thank you, no pressure. Just whatever you want to, I should do. Can I sit at the end of a row? Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, sure, yeah. Whenever you're ready. Okay, nobody pays for a seat. I just, I can, I already could see the TikTok. You know, at City Light, people pay for good seats. It was a joke, dummy. Watch this, watch this. 70 years old, and he comes to the pastor of Texas, and he goes, hey, pastor, I'd just like to sit down with you. That's why I'm talking about all these kids in church. And the pastor said his heart just sunk. He went, oh, this guy, you know, probably feeling too old, and it's too loud. So he goes, all right, yeah, come into the office. So they go to the office. He goes, I just want to talk to you about all these kids in church, all these young people.

He goes, all right, and he goes, I love it. He goes, oh, yeah, me too. His attitude starts changing. He goes, yeah, he goes, they're keeping me young, pastor. I like that loud music. I feel my heart beat whenever the music plays. I love seeing all these young people. It reminds me of my grandkids, you know. He's telling them, and the pastor's going, that's awesome. And he goes, pastor, what's on your heart for the church? And so the pastor goes, well, I just, you know, starting a college, starting a Christian school, literally like what we're doing now at eight years, they're doing at 26 years. We're starting a college, starting a Christian school. We're really excited. He starts telling the vision, starts telling the story. He goes, well, what's that gonna cost? And he goes, well, a lot, because a lot's kind of just a good number to throw at people, because you don't, you know, $50 might be a lot to you, and a million might be a lot to you. I don't know, you know, so it's just good to say a lot and kind of just let people, he goes, well, it's a lot to do all that. And he goes, well, pastor, would 75 million be enough? This just happened to my friend in Texas. I'm trying not to be jealous. And the pastor goes, yeah, yeah, that would,

that'd be enough. All the dorms and all the new school that they're building. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that'd be enough. He goes, all right, great. Because I don't know if you've ever heard of Nvidia, but I just had a feeling about Nvidia when it first opened and when it first went public. And I went all in on Nvidia and I just sold all my shares. The pastor went, God bless Nvidia. That man just gave that church 75 million. Watch this, watch this. Here's why, here's the principle. He's 70 and he could have walked into a church like this and gone, I'm too old for this. I'm gonna go find a church of other 70 year olds. But instead he just went, it's keeping me young. I was talking to, who's our friend, Goldie loves so much. Older lady, she does the hats. Ethel, I was talking to Ethel last night, she said. 77, and she goes, that's why I love this church. It's keeping me young. She's bouncing, because Ethel's always bouncing. 77, it's keeping me young, Pastor, I love it. Where's my Goldie? I want to say hi to my Goldie. I just love that, I just love that, I just, I love that. And that man is now, they're going to build those schools, and it reminds me of Psalm 102, verse 18.

Let this be recorded for future generations. So that a people not yet born will praise the Lord. I think about this, until Jesus comes back, there's going to be Christian education in that city in Austin. There's going to be a Christian school, and a strong Christian church, and they'll never know that this guy sacrificed probably his preference for the next generation.