The Church of Tomorrow

Being a parent is not an easy job in today's society. There are so many things out there in this world that come against our children, that to make sure they are safe is a daily chore.It seems like everyday on the news we see where someone has been arrested for child abuse, child endangerment, sexual misconduct with a child or one of over 100 different crimes against children. We hear of Children who have been killed because of a car accident in which either speed, alchohol, drugs or at times just bad circumstances. Our young people are our future, not just of our nation and our goverment, but they are the future of our CHURCH!!!! Thats right folks, if the Lord tarries and decides that his return is 20,40,50 years down the road, then we must realize that our Children, our nephews and nieces, our grandchildren are our future and they are the future of the body of Christ, so we need to take a hard long look at the condition of the youth of America, and the world for that matter and say what condition is the church of tomorrow in right now. This was not what I originally had planned for the blog this evening, but while walking my dog, Nemo, this afternoon after we got home from Church and having lunch, I heard something that really disturbed me, and I was standing in my own yard at the time. Here I am walking my dog and just enjoying the day and I see my neighbor down the roads two sons out in their yard playing. Now like little boys of their age, they appeared to be roughly 5or 6 for the younger one and 10 or so for the older one,they were playing with colored sword so I figured they were either playing Star Wars or pirates, when the youngest one ran back towards the house and yelled out to his older brother, hey look I AM A MURDERER. I almost fell down spinning around to look his way , I mean did I just hear a 5-6 yr old boy say he was playing a murderer, when all at once he said hey remember when the old lady died , well I cut off her arms and stabbed her.WHAT AM I HEARING. Well I walked my dog back in the house and was just amazed at what I had heard. When I was a young man, like most men of my generation, we played cowboy and indians or soldier at war, and we used to run around with our toy guns and holler bang bang your dead, and of course the person who just got shot would holler back no I'm not you missed me, but we knew that what we were doing was make believe because we knew the shows we watched on tv or at the movies were fake.Why, because our parents made sure we knew that and they monitored what we saw on tv, because they taught us, or trained us in what was real and what was fake, and what was right and what was wrong. The bible says in Proverbs 22:6 to Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it (KJV)., and our parent's did that. In Deuteronomy 11 Moses is speaking to the children of Israel giving them instruction on what God requires of them, and in Verses 18-21 he says "Imprint these word of mine (God's) on your hearts and minds, bind them as a sign on your hands and let them be a symbol on your foreheads. Teach them to your children,talking about them when you sit down in your homeand when you walk along the road.Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.So that as long as the Heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers."(HCSB). In other words we should commit to memory the words of the bible , making them second nature in our speech and our actions. We should then teach our children the ways of the Lord at every turn in ther lives. When we sit down to eat , when we lay down to go to sleep at night, when we rise in the morning. In every aspect of our lives and our childrens lives the word of God should be upfront and out front for the whole world to see so that our children can be the ones who continue the Lords work into the next 20,30 40 50 years, if the Lord delays his coming that long. If we, as the Christians/parents we are, or claim to be, start when they are young training them on the word of God then we wont have situations like Columbine Co, Virginia Tech, or The University of Texas in 1996 or 2010, or one of several dozens more that I could list. We wont have situations like we had just last week in Granville County where a student was found with a gun at school, a middle school. We wont have to worry that when our Children go out of the house night or day, are they going to make the right choices and not drink and drive, or not take the drugs that the world is offering up. If we "train up our Children in the way they should go" then we will not have to worry about them choosing the world over God, for their walk with God will be one that when the world comes at them with drugs, alchohol or other temptations they will have the strength to say "Get thee behind me Satan, for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of man." Mark 8:33 (KJV). And the kingdom of God shall advance forward, for when they become parents, they shall train up their children and on that glorius day that Christ returns they will recieve the promise of eternal life through Christ that was promised to their fathers and their fathers fathers many years ago. I hope that after reading this you will join with me in praying for the youth of today, the church of tomorrow and I also pray that if you have children in your home, that today would be the day that if you haven't reached out to them with God's word , that today would be the day you start. God bless you Brother's and Sister's in the days to come and may God's will for your life be revealed for your life.

In Christ's Love,

 Bill