November 16th

Holey Moley

I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. The people will be oppressed, every one by another and every one by his neighbor; the child will be insolent toward the elder, and the base toward the honorable. Isaiah 3:4-5

Have you ever been stuck under an incompetent leader? It's frustrating, isn't it? But then have you had a chance to lead after that and couldn't do any better? See, it's very easy to tell when things are not going how they ought to go, but it's much more difficult to know both how to fix it and how to get others to follow you to the solution.

Leadership really isn't an easy thing for most people, which is why our verses today pro-

claim a message with terrible consequences for Israel.

What happened was that all their godly leaders had been replaced with something else.

All their wisdom had been replaced by disrespect as one generation of godly kings failed to pass on their faith to their children, allowing them to grow up completely ignorant of God. Now, I don't know about you, but that sounds a lot like America these days.

That's why we, as a church, are doing all we can to reach out to the next generation, so that we could see God raise up a new generation that seeks to please Him with their lives.

But for those who are raised apart from God, you start wondering, Well, how are they going to run things when they're put in charge? How are they going to treat us? The Bible tells us exactly how they'll treat us-with disrespect and insolence. And if you think about it, you can begin to understand how this was part of what brought the downfall if Israel, because it led the nation in a downward spiral.

So if this is the direction that America could be heading, what do we do about it? Well, if nothing else-not that this is a small thing-for goodness' sake, get your kids to church. We hear the voice of godly leadership in Joshua, who said to Israel, Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15). Talk with your kids and be the leader in your home. Tell them, Hey, you know what, the world might choose to serve other things, but our family already has made its choice. We serve the Lord. That means we go to church. That means we read our Bibles. That means we pray. And that means don't do the things the world does; we honor God instead.

Don't let the next generation become a curse upon America. Invest in them today so that they learn to love Jesus.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

You are the God of my family and there is no other! Please teach me to raise my children to love and follow You and bring honor for Your name back to America!

Amen