 Good evening everybody. Yes, I was a student here way back in the 80s and Later tonight, maybe I can share with you stories about young Dave Pavanca Who was a junior when I first came here? And a wonderful man of God and a friend even then. Well, it's such a joy to be with all of you It's a joy even more so because we were not able to gather last year, amen Isn't it good to be together in the flesh as people of flesh I? Had so many conferences and meetings moved online or cancelled all together last year And I can't tell you how many times the scripture verse came to me from second John the second letter of John where he says I have much to say to you, but I would rather not use pen and ink or zoom Or Facebook or YouTube you remember that line in the The letters of the New Testament, right Well praise God that he's brought us here together And then this group is especially wonderful because you're people who are hungry for the word of God You're people who love the word of God And I get to share that passion with you. What a joy Well, I'm going to be speaking about lessons from the desert generation So let's pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen Oh Lord our God We suffer sometimes as people who are in the desert Spiritually we have been through something of a desert experience But Lord What a privilege it is What a privilege it is beyond what your people of the Old Covenant had Who had your presence with them in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire? guiding them Lord all the more do we have you in Your real presence in your son Jesus in your Holy Spirit With us guiding us Leading us. Oh Lord To the promised land you have for us Lord we pray that you would open our hearts tonight each one of us to the specific revelation that you have for us from that desert generation our Ancestors in the faith Lord that you would give us specific wisdom Guidance for our own desert journey Lord so that we will not only Reach the goal of that journey, but that we will also help lead others on the way We ask this through Christ our Lord Amen the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen Thank you, I want to take my starting point from one Corinthians chapter 10 Where St. Paul recalls that desert generation and he's reminding these new Christians in Corinth of the events of the Exodus That they no doubt knew about most of them were not Jews But no no doubt from Paul and others they had begun to read and learn the Old Testament And they knew about the crossing of the Red Sea and the pilgrimage in the desert for 40 years The cloud of God's presence and the manna and the water from the rock and all the amazing things So Paul brings that up And he says the point is don't be like them Don't be like that generation Don't desire evil the way they did don't be idolaters like they do don't indulge in sexual immorality like they did Do not put Christ to the test like they did do not grumble like they did Wow Lot of lot of things to unlearn from that generation. He says then in one Corinthians 10 verse 11 Now these things happen to them as an example But they were written down For our instruction on Whom the end of the ages has come They happen to them as an example The Greek word is from the word type boss, which is where we get type meaning a figure a prefigurement an event in history is History of salvation that in a mysterious way Points forward to and signifies The greater things that are to come So Paul is telling them these new Christians who are still kind of taking baby steps in the Christian life That would happen to that original generation of Israel That generation that spent the 40 years in the desert with God at the beginning of their history of that as a nation Was written down For our sake Who live in the end times? Who live in the very last times as we're awaiting the very last day? Ever since the ascension of Christ We're in the last times and awaiting the last day and it's for us That these things were written down How wonderful that we're spending three days at this conference Talking about those things that were written down for our sake that Exodus generation Was the generation really at the beginning of Israel's history as God's people They already existed from the time of Abraham But it was really the exit of Exodus event that made them Into the nation in covenant with the Lord God It's where they discovered who God is when he did the mighty act of rescue Delivering them from slavery. It's where they sealed the covenant with him on Mount Sinai and the 40 years following that in the desert Was their formative time For God to teach them his ways In their infancy as a nation and so that time in a particular way lays down Principles that are valid for the entire rest of the history of God's people old covenant and new covenant in other words All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten The Exodus was the kindergarten for God's people the 40 years were the kindergarten for God's people now It's it's curious that before kindergarten God had his chosen people spend their toddler years in Egypt Their toddler years as a nation so God had them according to his perfect plan spend centuries in a nation known for its idolatry a powerful empire of Such wealth and advanced learning and technology that literally scholars are still trying to figure out how they built the pyramids and some of the other great works of the ancient Egyptians and And yet It was also a culture that had sunk to such a low level of idolatry that they worshipped creeping things like beetles and snakes a Nation that enslaved God's people and wanted to keep them in bondage so God Deliberately had his people spend their toddler years there And then he brought them out And they had their kindergarten time with the Lord their time in the wilderness for God to test them and and teach them his ways Isn't it curious to That Jesus the son of God incarnate Also spent his toddler years in Egypt The Lord had his own beloved son Live in that nation known for its idolatry known for enslaving God's people and wanting to keep them in slavery When the prophet Hosea says out of Egypt, I called my son God is saying through Hosea Hosea is talking about Israel God called his son Israel out of Egypt But then Matthew in his gospel Takes up that scripture and says this is a type of foreshadowing of Jesus out of Egypt. I called my son the whole history of Israel is Relived in Jesus the son of God so Egypt that wicked nation of idolatry in the ancient world Represents the world and still today Egypt stands for the world Wealthy powerful very advanced in technology and science But worshiping creepy things like for instance total sexual self-indulgence and total self-indulgence in the grab for power and prestige and possessions and position and Still to this day Wanting to keep God's people in bondage we too Spent our toddler years so to speak in Egypt. We start out our life before we are in Christ in the world and Then through baptism God has brought us out of Egypt and Now our whole life on earth is our kindergarten time with the Lord For him to teach us the the basic Lessons of who he is Who we are in him how he wants to act in our lives so that when we finally get To the promised land the real promised land of which the the lush Abundant luxurious land of Canaan was only a pale Shadow when we get to the promised land of the kingdom. We'll be ready Because of our kindergarten time in the desert so we have a lot to learn from that generation. I think especially now Because if we've all lived in desert times for at various seasons of our life The past year and a half has been a desert time For the entire world But in a particular way for God's people Throughout the world. This has been a time of Deprivation a time of dryness a time of hardship a Time of being stripped of the usual comforts a Time of having to depend on God more radically So I think it's a particularly good time to study again What was written down for our sake for our instruction about that original generation? So as I prayed about it The Lord highlighted three lessons from the desert generation that I want to share with you and They're roughly from the beginning the middle and the end of their desert journey So I'm going to tell you what they are as I go along the first lesson that the Lord highlighted for me is The Lord will fight for you The Lord will fight for you Okay, now here's the context When the Israelites were in Egypt They did not yet know the Lord personally When they were enslaved exodus tells us they groaned and cried out for help and their cry came up to God If you read that carefully it doesn't say they cried out to God It says they cried out for help and Their cry came up to God They didn't even know who to pray to They didn't know who to talk to it was the groaning of human beings under deep Oppression and darkness and brothers and sisters that cry is going up to heaven now From so many around us who are still in Egypt and don't know the Lord They didn't know his name even Moses didn't know his name They had forgotten the history of the patriarchs But then God sent them Moses He began to go talk to Pharaoh then God sent the plagues on Egypt the Israelites got to witness God judging the gods of Egypt and Then they're at a different stage No longer Once they have seen God act Can they say they are ignorant of God? God has revealed his name to Moses at the burning bush. I Am who am and Now they've seen him do signs and wonders just as he had said he would do He's visited the plagues on Egypt the whole point of the plagues on Egypt was revelation of God Throughout the whole sequence of plagues again and again. It says I'm doing this that you may know That there is no one like the Lord our God that you may know I am the Lord that you may know there is none like me in all the earth Now they've experienced God's mighty deeds They have a greater responsibility to trust him Experiencing God's action actions in our life brings a greater accountability To trust him because now we know him by name So in chapter 14 of Exodus They've now just celebrated the Passover for the first time They've put the blood of the Passover lamb on their doorposts and their lintels the angel of death has gone through Egypt Putting to death the firstborn of Egypt and sparing the Israelites and they have fled But then you know the story Pharaoh changes his mind right He comes after them he pursues them to the Red Sea and they get to a place called pihahiroth Pihahiroth it means mouth of the gorges and they're trapped To their right and their left are steep rocky impassable gorges Behind them is the most powerful army in the known world in front of them is the Red Sea and This is where this lesson is about to come So they're trapped there at pihahiroth Has anybody felt at some point in the last year and a half that you were in pihahiroth? Between a huge army and the Red Sea no way out gorges Steep craggy gorges on both sides. No way out anybody. I know I have Okay, this is where it says they said to Moses Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us and bringing us out of Egypt? Don't you love the sarcasm? What large architectural structures is Egypt known for? Pyramids what are they? graves Is it because there are no graves in Egypt you let us out here? They're terrified and they go on and they say Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness Funny how memory works If you've read Exodus chapters 1 through 12 Do you remember the part that says where the people said Moses leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? We love making bricks in the hot sun all day, especially when we have to collect the straw ourselves We love having our baby boys thrown into the Nile to die. Just leave us alone Moses Of course, they never said that But all of a sudden When faced with possible death Egypt looks so good. I'd rather be enslaved Then have to trust God I'd rather go back to the world and The ideas of the world and the thoughts of the world Then have to trust God Brothers and sisters don't we have that tendency deep within us Have we not seen that tendency Manifested in a powerful way throughout the pandemic in the last year and a half There has been a pandemic of fear That has been enslaving the world seeking to enslave the human race and coerce people by fear into yielding themselves to greater and greater slavery because People resist having to trust God They would rather be enslaved to governments and government policies and Ideologies and false narratives Then to trust God Now I'm not talking about proper precautions Appropriate safety and things like that, but I'm talking about a level of fear That is stirred up by the enemy that goes way beyond Anything legitimate especially for those who have seen the Lord do mighty deeds and rescue us from slavery and so We have to listen to this lesson that Moses now gives to the people He said to the people fear not stand firm and See the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again the Lord will fight for you and You have only to be still Here is God's great first lesson on the battles his people will face From this point on through the rest of salvation history the Lord will fight for you How about if everybody just takes two seconds and think of a battle you're facing in your life Maybe it's in your family situation Maybe it's in your health. Maybe it's in your finances. Maybe it's in your work Relationships just think of a battle you're facing and the Lord is saying to you I Will fight for you Do you trust me? And could everybody turn to a person on your right and your left and tell them the Lord will fight for you Okay, say it one more time like it mean it Amen, amen Well after saying that Moses stretches out his hand over the sea the sea divides into Israel passes through the Red Sea on dry land The waters come back upon the Egyptian army pursuing them and they're drowned in the depths of the sea God does it by a blowing of wind Ruach Do you know that Hebrew word Ruach? It means wind, but it also means spirit God's spirit wind blows over the deep divides it into That which had trapped them it just it's gone It's moved out of the way in it totally unexpected way I mean they probably were as likely to think they were gonna have a helicopter rescue in 2000 BC as the waters parting and Forming dry land Now a wind blowing over the deep a dividing of sea to form dry land does that remind you of anything else in the Pentateuch? Creation there's a new creation going on here God is recreating his people the Exodus is a new creation and the very thing that the Israelites were most terrified of the sea the place of of chaos and and danger and shipwreck Has suddenly miraculously become the very way to life The very way that God brings them out of the trap they were in Life right through death passing through death into life isn't that what baptism is and Isn't that what God still does for us? They respond with a jubilant song of praise the song of Moses I will sing to the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously the horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea the Lord is my strength in my song and he has become my salvation The right way to respond to a work of God is to praise him whether it's a tiny little work like you had a you had a stubbed toe and it felt better or It's a mighty work of God like you had a loved one who was close to death And they got healed or you had somebody far away From the Lord in the church and you see the Lord bringing them back the right response is to praise him and Acknowledge You did fright fight for us Lord yours is the victory yours is the glory Now it's interesting that later on God reinforces that same lesson the Lord will fight for you, but there's a new element In Exodus 17 Israel gets attacked by the Amalekites Deuteronomy later tells us that the Amalekites attack the stragglers The weak ones who were lagging behind the rest of the nation that probably the moms with little kids the elderly The sick who were who are slow The Amalekites attack them cowards as they were This is Israel's first combat ever This is their first actual combat Here they are a ragtag band of runaway slaves In the desert not trained armed warriors with the latest iron age technology Just a bunch of ragtag slaves But interestingly This time God doesn't tell them to be still He tells Moses to tell joshua Go fight Go fight You have a part to play I'm not calling you to be passive in this battle Nevertheless It's still the Lord who fights for you Sometimes the Lord says Stand still The Lord will fight for you and sometimes the Lord says Go fight The Lord will fight for you How do we know the difference? There's no formula. There's no substitute For hearing his voice His personal voice, but he wants to tell each one of us in each battle that we face Either be still The Lord will fight this one for you Or go fight The Lord will fight this one for you so Moses goes up to the top of a hill With the staff of god he raises his hand and whenever moses held up his hand Israel prevailed and when he lowered his hand amalek prevailed But moses his hands grew weary so they took a stone and put it under him He sat on it Aaron and her held up his hands one on one side and the other on the other side So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun and joshua mowed down amalek and his people with his sword Two hands raised in the air. What does that look like? Well for one thing it looks like praise of god, right? Praise of god. What was moses doing with his arms in the air? Praising god for the victory that was not yet won, but he trusted that god would win One other thing hands raised like this looks like Looks like a figure of jesus on the cross doesn't it? moses a type of jesus It says in psalm 63. I will bless you as long as I live In your name. I will lift up my hands lifting up our hands physically Is a bodily gesture that gives god glory I encourage you to do that for whatever times of worship where we have left in this conference to Raise your hands like moses because there is a way that when we do that We are signaling to the demonic realms and the forces that are arrayed Against god and against his people We are signaling to them that the lord fights this battle and that the victory belongs to jesus christ Who has already won the battle on the cross and that we're not going to just give in to the enemy and his tactics And we're not going to fall down in fear Because he's won He's won so we stand with moses On that hill and with jesus on calvary and with god's people through the ages who have praised him for his victories Israel learned this lesson. They really did learn it Centuries later in the time of king jahosaphat Israel's enemy the moabites formed an alliance with two other nations to attack the people of juda This huge army of three allied enemy nations camps against them. They're terrified So king jahosaphat sends out the army to defend juda And guess who he puts in the lead archers the artillery The singers The singers What kind of a war you know military leaders that He puts the singers in front and their job was to sing and praise the lord as they went before the army Give thanks to the lord for his mercy and durse forever Sure enough the levites go in the front praising the lord And what do you know at the it says in two chronicles 20 verse 22 At the moment they began their jubilant hymn The lord laid an ambush Against the ammonites moabites and those of mount seer who were coming against juda So that they were vanquished for the ammonites and the moabites set upon the inhabitants of mount seer And completely exterminated them and when they had finished with them they began to destroy each other When juda came to the watchtower of the desert and looked toward the throng They saw only corpses fallen on the ground with no survivors So brothers and sisters if we have this powerful anti-gospel ideology coming at us from this side and this evil Anti-gospel ideology coming at us from the other side and this one coming from another side Who do we want to put in front? of the army of god The singers the the those who praise and worship that's all of us And the angels with us and the saints with us praising and thanking god And knowing that the lord is the one who fights our battles So in other words, when is the right time to praise god? You got it You mean when things are going fine, right? You mean when? You know, we've had a victory in the battle when we've we've had uh Things go our way, right? No Always, but especially when the battle it really heats up and it's intense That's when it is most the time To praise and thank the lord. It says in hebrus 13 15 Through him through jesus. Let us continually Offer a sacrifice of praise to god continually Our praise in times of desert in times of battle is especially Fragrant and pleasing to god. It's especially Precious to him. It's like pressed oil When we are in times of struggle when everything's going great and we feel good and everything is going swimmingly It's still good to praise the lord, but it is especially precious in the difficult times because it's an act Of radical trust To praise god is to say i don't know how in the world i'm gonna get out of this or you're gonna get me out of this lord But you're worthy of my praise and i know that you will get me out of it And i know that the victory is yours And the the amazing thing i've seen in my own life again and again When we do that When we praise god in the most difficult circumstances It releases God's power in the situation It releases god's power when we praise him it in a mysterious way He chooses to act when we are in the right Disposition opening ourselves to allow him to act by making that act of trust in praising him And believing that he's going to fight the battles for us So that's the first lesson. It's in certain ways. I think it's the most important The second lesson that the lord teaches his people of the desert generation Shows us kind of the opposite of what praising god looks like It's called murmuring It's the murmuring generation. You know what murmuring is right? Me me me me The Hebrew word could be translated gripe groan grumble complain Or me me me me me me This is what the wilderness generation became known for The generation that saw the greatest miracles in the history of the world up to that point Became known as the murmuring generation The grumbling generation When they got thirsty they murmured when they got hungry They murmured when they got tired of all the manna that god was feeding them miraculously they murmured In numbers 11 verse 5 it says The people said we remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing The cucumbers the melons the leeks the onions and the garlic But now there's nothing at all but this manna to look at Cost nothing that fish in Egypt they cost nothing like the manna the miraculous bread from heaven is so expensive The free daily nutritious meal god is giving them That cost them nothing and and here they are again Wanting to go back to Egypt It takes a long time to get it takes longer to get egypt out of israel than to get israel out of egypt, right? True for us as well well centuries later The psalms recall that wilderness generation and warned against their example especially in psalm 95 It's a well-known psalm because st. Benedict Made it the first psalm of the day that his monks would pray day after day after day And it is now the opening psalm for morning prayer for all priests religious and many lay people throughout the world today If you hear his voice Harden not your hearts as at maraba meaning rebellion As on the day at masa meaning testing In the wilderness when your father's tested me and put me to the proof though they had seen my work So the psalm is telling us That to murmur which that generation did Is actually to harden your heart against god To complain Is actually an act of hardening your heart against god It's actually saying My problem is bigger than god It's actually an act of unbelief When we murmur A classic example of murmuring for that generation was A little over a year after they had left egypt They had had the covenant with god at mount synei that spent almost a year at mount synei And then shortly after that they arrive at the very border of the promised land in kadesh And god tells them to send scouts to spy out the land. You know this story, right? How how many days do they send out the scouts? 40 days a time of testing Now why didn't god just bring them right into the land? I mean, it's not like You know, they had to choose whether it was going to be that land or another land You know, this was the land that god promised them the land of kanan Why did they have to send scouts for 40 days for the land that they already knew god was going to bring them into? Because so often When god wants to bring his people into greater blessing He first tests them He brings them to a point of decision Will you trust me? Because only if you trust me Can I bring you into that place of greater blessing that I have for you Only if you have made that Further radical Decision of faith that I will be your god Can I bring you into this promise land flowing with milk and honey? Knowing that you won't Quickly turn away from me In idolatry because you will have been matured By your having been tested by faith that has been proven And tested and strengthened So that's why god did it so the scouts go into the land They cut down a cluster of grapes so huge they have to carry it on a pole They return and they report Yes, god was right. It's a land flowing with milk and honey. It's amazing Only god forgot to tell you that the people who inhabit it are like giants and we look like grasshoppers next to them We're outnumbered out fortified out gunned and there's no way we're going to be able to conquer these people murmuring A direct contradiction To what god had promised them Going all the way back to abraham that he would give them this land Well two of the spies thankfully Gave a different report Than those scouts the the other ten True it is flowing with milk and honey The the inhabitants are giants and we do look like grasshoppers next to them But one thing the other scouts forgot to tell you is that god is with us And god Plus one person is a majority And if god promised this land he will enable us to occupy it So after that rousing speech by joshua and calib. What do the people do? Rally to the cause They panic Would that we had died in the land of egypt Or would that we had died in this wilderness? Why does the lord bring us into this land to fall by the sword? Clearly the god who who sent all the plagues upon egypt and part of the red sea And sent us water from the rock and manna from heaven is clearly not able to conquer the canaanites A total rejection Of god's plan of salvation for them right within sight of the goal Within sight of the goal They get cold feet And they want to turn back to egypt God says to them How long will this people despise me and how long will they not believe in me in spite of all the signs I have wrought among them They've put me to the test Ten times Ten is a hebrew number of completeness The fullness Of what god gives us and what he wants from us God sent upon egypt ten plagues The people respond to the ten miracles Freeing them from their enemies And then ten Commandments at mount sinai Teaching them how to live in relationship with god how to walk in god's ways With precisely ten acts of rebellion And unbelief and disobedience Unbelief and disobedience are really two sides of the same coin Faith is not faith without obedience If when we don't obey it's because we don't have faith Well, we don't have faith We don't obey Now god says then I will forgive them after moses pleads for them But there is a consequence your prayers are answered Be careful what you pray for you prayed that we want to go back to egypt Okay So be it Would that we had died in this wilderness so be it None of you will see the land That I swore to give your fathers You're going to wander in this desert until you've all dropped dead And i'll bring your children in Well then all of a sudden they change their tune Oh well, you know, come to think of it we can conquer the canaanites Because god is with us But after god has already decreed his sentence upon them now it's presumption Now it's not faith now it's presumptuousness And what happens they're routed by the canaanites Psalm 95 is reflecting on all this Today if you hear his voice Hard and not your hearts The tragedy at kadesh Is that the lord wanted to bring that original generation into the land He wanted them to enjoy what they had heard about The land flowing with milk and honey But they missed out on it Because they murmured and they hardened their hearts When the lord tests us It's because he wants to give us an upgrade He wants to bring us into a greater blessing He may want to bring us into a greater level of responsibility in his plan in his kingdom He wants to bring us into a a greater level of intimacy with him And if we murmur We can miss out If we murmur instead of praise him There was a time a few months ago where the lord really convicted me of this I suddenly as I was praying I realized that I had Dropped into an attitude of complaining about the whole pandemic situation The mask mandate the social distancing all this stuff, you know that we all suffered from But I had dropped into a mode of complaining about it And not praising the lord in the midst of it and even for it And the lord convicted me that that is a sin against him because it's actually an an act of unbelief When I complain it's saying the problem is bigger than god And so I I repent and I said lord I'm so sorry for having that Attitude of complaint and I know that whether I speak it out loud or not it affects the people around me And it it lowers the spiritual atmosphere And so I I was really freed from that I I had a new joy in my heart after I I had made that repentance the letter to the Hebrews Centuries after psalm 95 Also reflects on this same generation and their same unbelief that they showed In Hebrews 3 12 it says Take care brethren Lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart Leading you to fall away from the living god But exhort one another every day As long as it is called today That none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin For we share in Christ if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end Hebrews was speaking to a generation of Jewish believers in Jesus Who under the pressure of persecution And probably seeing the Roman destruction of the temple looming in the near future We're tempted to fall back away from Jesus Away from All that they had been given in him through faith and baptism back into the ways of the world And so he's exhorting them Don't let there be an unbelieving heart in you leading you to fall away, but also exhort one another every day Brothers and sisters We need to do that We need to be like iron sharpening the iron of the faith of the people around us We need to exhort those who have over the past year and a half Fallen away from their first love Fallen away from Christ from the church As it has become more inconvenient more difficult Not only to literally get to church But even more To be a absolutely believing faithful Christian in the public square today As as as the culture is telling us with more and more insistence Burn incense to Caesar Bow down before the ideologies of the world How many Are giving into that pressure and walking away And so we have to exhort one another every day as long as it is called today And help one another to get all the way through that time that we have whatever time is left to us in the desert of this life To make it all the way into the land We we want All of those around us to come with us. It's not just about you know I'm here to get to heaven one day. I'm here to get as many other people to heaven with me as I can I'm here to make to bring as many people into the land infinitely more glorious than Canaan as possible So we have to exhort one another and and Let go of repent for any attitude of complaining which actually hardens our heart against god and actually blocks us From the blessing and the upgrade that he has for us Okay, the third lesson I want to do this more quickly The third lesson of the desert generation comes at the very end of their time in the desert When they are about to enter the land once again After Kadesh they had 39 more years wandering around And finally the next generation is ready to enter the land and moses gives his last will and testament His sermon his his farewell address to the people of israel Before he dies he himself will not see the land But he gives them this farewell address. It's the entire book of deuteronomy I guess he wasn't known for back then they didn't have the 11 minute homily rule The very heart of that book is the great shema Deuteronomy 4 6 hero israel The lord our god is one lord And you shall love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength I love that last word with all your strength literally in hebrew. It's muchness That's the only way to translate it literally With all that you are your muchness exceedingly It's like four exclamation points love god with everything that you are. How can god demand that kind of absolute fidelity and love Because that's how he loves us with his muchness with everything he is with his whole heart and soul And so moses gives that command and then he goes on And these words that I command you this day shall be upon your heart And you shall teach them diligently to your children And talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise Your covenant love relationship with the lord Must be passed on to the next generation Very intentionally It will not happen automatically The next generation must be very intentionally with Great perseverance brought into that covenant love relationship with the lord And he goes on you shall you shall bind these commandments as a sign upon your hand To mark what you do and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes To mark what you think and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house To mark your families coming and going And they shall be on the gates on your gates Meaning in everything you do in the public sphere in public life Let it be marked by your love for the lord Israel took that commandment to heart And the Passover liturgy every time they celebrated it and still celebrate it Today is like a catechesis for their children and the youngest child Asks why is this night different from all the other nights and the father then says let me tell you About how good god is let me tell you about what god did for me When he brought me out of egypt 500 years later Let me tell you what god did for me when he brought me out of egypt Every one of us needs to be able to say to our children and our god children and our grandchildren and our nieces and nephews Let me tell you what god did for me When he saved me from sin and death when jesus came into my life When jesus changed this Sin pattern in my life when jesus freed me from this addiction or whatever the marvelous works of the lord in your life When jesus led me to my spouse when jesus showed me what his plan was for my life We need to be able to tell that story Not only be able to we need to tell that story to the next generation Because what happens When we don't the next generation will be uncataclyzed They'll be very aggressively catechized by egypt And that is happening right now At a speed an intensity That i don't know has ever happened before Our children and grandchildren and god children are being catechized with incredible intensity and pressure right now By the secular culture By ideologies diametrically opposed to the gospel Just a couple of examples You you know probably that lgbtq plus ideology ideology is being promoted in disney movies now In tv shows for small children children's libraries throughout the country are hosting drag queen story hours lgbtq ideologies also on cereal boxes and being promoted in toys like legos At an even worse level a recent op-ed In a supposedly mainstream newspaper like the washington post claimed that So-called kink culture Of the kind you see in pride parades is good for children and children should be exposed to it And the san francisco gay men's chorus was in the news recently because they put online this song Beautifully sung by them all of them together The lyrics that said this You think we're sinful you fight against our rights you say we all lead lives you can't respect But you're just frightened you think that will corrupt your kids if our agenda goes unchecked Funny just this once you are correct We'll convert your children happens bit by bit Quietly and subtly and you will barely notice it Every once in a while the mass comes off And you see what's really going on and it's spoken so openly and clearly It startles everyone it should shock everyone There is an epic battle being fought right now for the next generation Just as there was at various times in israel's history egypt seeking to lure The next generation back to itself and back into slavery and out of their covenant love relationship With the lord and so brothers and sisters whether you have any small children in the home right now or you Like me you're a godparent Or an aunt or an uncle or a grandparent whatever it is I really believe the lord is calling us in a particular way today Teach your children diligently Whatever opportunities you have i know it can be delicate if their parents are not Going in the same direction as you but take whatever opportunity you have a few weeks ago I was on vacation with my family. I was at mass with my nieces and nephews some of them are teenagers I felt like the lord said you need to sit down with them and give them theology of the body I said lord they're on vacation. They're having lots of fun with their friends If you want this to happen you got to make it happen So after mass I go out there's a there's this little gaggle of teenagers all talking to each other and having fun And they got their motorbikes and everything and I said, how would you like to have an evening of theology of the body here in the chapel? How much chance for that, huh? Lo and behold the oldest one who was 18 Says oh wow that would be awesome He's the leader that all the other ones look up to And they're like yeah, let's do that So I sat them down in the chapel We had a great time talking about theology the body and what to do when your friend comes out as transgender And questions like that that was what the lord told me to do He's going to tell each of you to do something very specific in accord with your gifts But teach the next generation diligently Evangelize the next generation who are being so so lured away by the world So there are the three lessons the lord will fight for you Hard and not your hearts But instead praise him And teach your children Diligently and they With us then will enter into that eternal unshakable kingdom that promised land of which Canaan was just a pale shadow Glory to god