[Music] how great [Music] thou how great thou how great thou oh [Applause] [Music] mean me at the alar of divine Ro and all I have to offer feels like empty head what a miss you long to be with me I pour all my love on you all of my love on you my worship like sweet perfum I pour out my love pour out my love on you worth of Love would never be in love A Life Time full of songs could never tell it all what a [Music] my you to be with me I pour out my love on you all of my love on you my worship like sweet perf I pour out my love I pour out my love I pour out my love on you all of my I love all you my worship like sweet perfume I pour out my love pour out my love on [Music] you who else is like you God you deserve every breath every breath in my lungs I live God and all I have is just one life I'll lay it down a million times for you deserve it God you are worth it no cost too great a sacrifice just like you did I give my life for you deserve you are worthy and all our high is just one life I'll lay it down a million times for you deserve it my God you you were worth it no CA to great sacri just like you I'll give my life for you Ser God you are [Music] worthy pour out my love on you all of my love on you my worship like sweep [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] hello gway Church how is everybody doing this hot afternoon huh 100° outside and it feels really good in this room doesn't it I want to invite everybody if you want to come to the outar just like you guys always do I love that this is open for us to come and worship the Lord and just get in front of his presence so it doesn't have to be just the youth it can be anybody that wants to be out here we invite you to come forward and I just want us to do something today I want us to get our hearts ready to encounter the Lord and hear a word from him amen would you just get ready and just let's get into a place of expectation would you put your hands up with me and say Lord we welcome you into this place Lord may your presence be in every seat in every place and may we encounter you today as we worship you and lift up your holy name in Jesus name we pray and everybody says amen let's worship come on we ready to worship today Jesus we love you be glorified in this place God can we sing and I'll raise the hallelu in the presence of my enemies come on and I raise the [Music] [Applause] hallelu louder than the unbel the ra the hallelu my weapon is a melody [Music] it's our reason [Music] hallelu when heav comes to fight for me yeah come on we sing and I'm going to sing in the middle of the storm louder and louder you're going to hear my Praises Ro up from the ases hope will arise death is defeated and the king is alive he come on can you lift the out of Praise yes God and I ra the Hallelujah with everything inside of [Music] me it's our ra the Hallelujah come on sing sing it out for when I will watch The Darkness flee I raise her Hallelujah in the midle of the mystery I raise the hallelu come on let me hear you sing it come on we speak to fear you lost your hold on me come on everyy voice oh I'm going to sing in the middle of the star louder and louder you're going to hear my Praises Roar Up From the Ashes hope will arise cuz death is defeated the king is alive he's alive he's alive alive thank [Music] you come on we sing a little louder sing a little louder I'm going to sing a little louder sing a little louder I'm going to sing a little louder sing a little louder oh I'm going to sing a little louder I'm going to sing a little louder I'm going to sing a little louder in the presence of my enemy I'm going to see a little louder oh louder than the unbel I'm going to see a little louder my weapon is a Melody I'm going to feel it louder Oh Heaven comes to fight for me I want to sing a little louder in the presence of my enemy could have sing a little louder oh louder than the unel couldn't sing a little louder my weapon is a Melody couldn't sing a little louder Oh Heaven com to fight for me could s a little louder oh I'm going to sing in the middle of the Storm come on louder and louder you're going to hear my Praises Ro up from the eyeses hope will arise cuz death is defeated the king is alive oh I'm going to sing in the middle of the storm oh louder and louder you're going to hear my Praises Lord up from the hope will arise cuz death is defe the king our raise the hallelu Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah and Reas [Music] hallelujah hallelujah Sor the hallelu yes God lord yes God and I'm going to sing in the middle of the storm louder and loud you're going to hear my praises TR Up From the Ashes hope will arise death is defeat the king is do we believe that people and I'm going to sing in the middle of the storm louder and Lou you're going to hear my Praises Ro up From the Ashes oh will [Music] arise the king is alive the king is alive yes we're waiting here for you with our hands lifted High high in praise and it's here we adore singing [Music] our I'm going to sing in the middle of the storm if faith can move the mountains let the mountains move we come with expectation we're waiting here for you all the people sing we're waiting here for you you're the Lord of all creation and still you know my heart the author of Salvation you've loved us from the [Music] start we're waiting here for you with our hands lifted higher in [Music] praise and it's [Music] you we adore singing all your way [Music] we're waiting here for you Jesus you are everything promise your faithfulness is true and we're desperate for your presence all we need is you [Music] this way waiting here for you with our hands lifted high in pra it's [Music] you we adore sing it I [Music] [Music] hu we're waiting here we're waiting here for you [Music] Jesus we're see [Music] huuah we're singing Hal [Music] waiting here for you with our [Music] hands Lift It Up In Praise In You We Adore we adore oh we adore seeing it on your we're waiting here just we're waiting here for you with our hand lift it up in pra and it's you Jesus we adore oh we love singing Here We singing [Music] H we're singing [Music] we're waiting here for you with our [Music] hands lift it high praise and it's here we adore singing all [Music] yeah we're [Music] singing we'll keep singing we're [Music] singing who [Music] you in my heart Burns [Music] fear and my heart burns Fe [Music] Jesus [Music] in [Music] worthy Jesus you are worthy no one more de sering we give you [Music] praise [Music] holy Jesus You Are Holy every heart is Longing To See Your Face [Music] we lift our eyes it's you we see behold the king of majesty you're amazing and we standing over of [Music] you we give you all things on we lay our lives before you for all our [Music] days Glory we're CAU up in your glory we worship and adore [Music] we give you praise we lift our eyes we lift our eyeses you we sing behold the king of majesty you're a mighty and we stand in all of [Music] we lift our hands we give you praise we lift you glory through this place you're amazing and we standing all of you yeah all the saints will rise Earth and Sky will praise Ever Lifting High the name name of Jesus All The Heavens cry all the Angels sing Ever Lifting High the name of Jesus Worthy is the Lamb forever he will reign here we magnify the name of Jesus sing unto the Lord give him my own praise Ever Lifting High the name of [Music] Jesus he we lift our eyeses you we sing beh all the king of majesty you're amazing and we stand in all of you [Music] [Applause] we lift our hands we give you praise Lord let your glory build this place you're amazing and we stand in all you oh yeah oh yeah we lift our eyes we lift our eyeses you we sing be all the king of mesty you're amazing and we standing over [Music] you you're amazing and we stand in all of [Music] you you're [Music] amazing we standing all [Music] you [Music] God you're amazing and we're standing all of [Music] you you're amaz and we're standing for [Music] you you're [Music] amaz yes you're amazing and there will be no one like you and no one beside you you Al are worthy of all praise can we agree on that today and there will be no one like you and no Bes you Lord are worthy of all your presence is all I need your presence is all I need it's all I want and all all I seek him without it without it there's no [Music] me your presence is the air I breathe the song I sing and the love I and without it without it I'm not live I will exalt I will exalt you Lord I will exalt you there is no one like you God come on justess your presence I will exalt you no other [Music] name I will exalt come on I will exalt you Lord I will exalt you Lord there is no one like like you I will exalt you Lord I will exalt you Lord I will exalt you Lord no other name be lifted High there will be no one cuz there will be no one like you and no one beside you alone are worthy of all PR and there will be no one like you and no one beside you alone are worthy of all all come on all the Earth and all the Earth we'll shout your praise our hearts will [Music] cry hey and all the Earth Will shout your praise our hearts will cry these bones will sing [Music] all the Earth in all the Earth Will shout your praise our hearts will cry these bones will sing great great are you Lord great are you Lord It's your breath it's your breath in our lungs so we pour out our praise pour out our praise into your bread in our lungs so we pour out our praise to you oh your bread in our lungs so we pour out our praise pour out our Praises your bre in our LS we pour out our praise to you oh Hallelujah come in the pra yes God there is no one like you there is no one like you God yes God yes God We Praise You King Jesus there is no one like you we declare as your body today there is no one like like our God Amen isn't that true amen can we say Amen can we praise him in this place our God is so so good amen amen well hey why don't you turn around and greet each other it was so good worshiping with you worshiping the King of Kings greet each other be friendly and then you can be seated thank you for being at church today [Music] I think volunteering is important for me and for us as a family because it gives us the opportunity to put into practice what we're learning it's gone from being Church to our church we enjoy serving with each other it makes our community feel a lot more closer and knit together it makes it home sometimes Gateway can feel big but it's really not if we all come together and connect in those small ways that's part of us all growing up as the body of Christ it's part of us fulfilling what God's called us to do I started off thinking I could give a little but what really happened is I received way way more than that we were created and we were built to serve one [Music] another well today we have the privilege to honor our volunteers ain't that amazing you know in mark it says this it says this is what the son of man has done and he has come to serve and not to be served isn't that amazing and then he continues to say and then to give away his life in exchange for many who are held hostage so he came to serve us and then he gave his life for each and every one one of us and it's a beautiful thing this is when we're most Christlike when we serve each other so today we're going to start by doing something I'm gonna call Grace Canon to come over here with me would you give it a hand for Grace Grace is one of our volunteers she serves in a guest experience and if you have walked through the doors you have seen this smile welcome you into this place one of the things that we love about Grace is that she has this love and passion to serve this house and she has done that many times over and in these times and in this Seasons it's being hard you have love for people well for your team and for everybody around you and we're so thankful for you Grace so we honor you today and we honor your service today thank you and so we're going to pray over Grace but I want any volunteer that is in this room would you stand would you uh if you serve in any capacity any group leader or any and if you are on our prison campuses would you stand up at our prison campuses too or on one of our um Gatherings we want to honor everybody that serves in the house called gayway church amen amen would you stretch your hands towards them and let's pray over them Father thank you for the house and for the heart of service that they have father we say would you refresh their hearts father as they father refresh others Lord thank you because you have placed them in this house for a reason and a purpose and Lord today we celebrate them we ask that you will be with them that they will always be under the shadow of the almighty and they will serve you every day of their lives as well as their families in Jesus name we pray and everybody says amen amen give it one more time for everybody hey Gateway family thank you so much for joining us today at Gateway we're all about people because we know God is all about people if you're a guest today please know that we would love to get to know you you can meet us in the lobby at connect Central after service or text connect to 71010 we have so many ways for you to get connected to God and to others no no matter what stage of life you're in we believe that there's something for you check out a few things happening [Music] soon giving is at the core of who God is and we believe we're called to reflect his heart by being givers ourselves if you'd like to give today you can give through our website the mobile app or in an envelope at any of our campuses remember to follow us on soci social media or join your campus Facebook group to stay up to date with everything that's going on thanks again for joining us hi my name is Callie I'm Bella I'm Jaden I'm Hudson and this is my story I grew up in the church but I never really had a relationship with God I was sitting on my bed before Camp extremely just depressed depressed and suicidal and I said Lord if I don't meet somebody at this Camp I'm coming home and I'm taking my life and that first night I met my two best friends coko and Tristan I had somebody prophesy over me that one day I was going to be a pastor and just right there the Lord just ignited something in my heart growing up my family was just really heavily into witchcraft really heavy in Buddhism and it really had a stronghold over my family we started coming the Gateway and I gave my life to Jesus and I got to get baptized I went to a conference it completely wrecked my heart for Jesus and he set a fire in my heart that I couldn't deny and he called me his daughter so I kind of just came to gway because of a boy I hadn't gone to church in like a couple of years I didn't really think I was going to enjoy it I attended the Gateway students um last and clear conference it was such like a warm and beautiful feeling inside of me it was amazing and I was just like I'm going to go full in for Jesus when I was in eighth grade I gave my life to Jesus for the first time I kind of walked away from the Lord I felt like I didn't need God anymore but I always heard the Lord kind of in the back of my mind but I would always just kind of push it away and ignore it I went to a church camp and I had this crazy moment with the Lord and he just reminded me that he's been with me the whole time and that I was welcome [Music] home being able to lead together and mature together I don't think we're like the same people that we were when we all first met each other everybody gets super close to each other and sometimes too close sometimes too close when we start you know acting like siblings but get closer with our leaders they took time to just prophesy over us cuz they just listen to the Lord and then they know what the Lord wants to say yeah it taught us how we can find our identity in Christ and that our purpose is to be a child of God our discipleship in church and then also like us just leading other kids I think it also helped us a lot to lead in our school just knowing that like Hey we're here to see our school see Jesus so I was walking up the stairs and I'm seeing these people literally spilling out of the lecture hall and I'm like what is happening we we have like these 80 students just lined up getting all this pizza and stuff we go back the second week we had 140 something students come at that week and it's just amazing to see how the holy spirit's moved um how he's just been able to come into our school and start a Revival there one student is is touched one student is changed and they will go and share their faith with somebody else and here's what I heard the Lord say to me today he said challenge the people of gateway to believe leave for a 10,000 Soul teenage youth Revival 40 and under 10,000 souls in 2024 your sons will be I'm sick of seeing and hearing that this is the dead generation no this generation isn't dead we're just sleeping waiting for somebody to come in and wake us up it's so amazing that the Lord has chosen us to be able to usher in some of that we don't always get to see where God is moving but when we do it's just like [Music] [Applause] [Music] amazing come on gway let's give it up for these young people incredible oh praise God it's good to be back in church good to be back at our home home church for sure uh big shout out to all of the campuses let's give it up for the whole Gateway family whatever room whatever campus you're meeting in we're so glad you're here a extra shout out actually to the NR campus uh it was such an honor for me to be with you at that outdoor parking prayer meeting that you had to had Outdoors because your your Auditorium was was a bit messed up by a fire but that fire did not stop you from praying you know devil always want to keep keep us away from praying but he's going to fail again and again and again so much love to you at NR I can't wait to also meet all the other Gateway campuses I I have so much yet to explore I hear the Dallas campus has great coffee I hear the frisco campus is really close to Ikea so those were all things that will relate to a swed like me I'm really excited about the word today and I want to share a word with you that has been ringing inside my heart ever since you know these past two months where that has been so special and and so shaky in me in very many ways this is a word that actually was vital and essential to bring our church through the crisis we passed through in like 10 years ago and from the very beginning of what has happened here lately I have felt this word just ringing in my heart as part of the future and part of the next chapter for Gateway now before we go into the word I want to say to you who might be here feeling I I'm still hurting you know i' i' I've struggled even thinking about the future let me just tell you that's okay it's okay to not be okay sometimes and we all heal according to different Tim tables amen and that's okay that's allowed but you know sometimes vision is actually essential for the process of healing as well because if we don't know where we're going we risk staying behind in the valy of Tears a little too long where God really wants us to pass through the valley of Tears slowly gently and holding the hand of Jesus Amen but let me just share a word with you that I pray will bring encouragement and strength and inspiration for you um if you brought your Bible which is a good thing to do when you come to church or have your U version app or whatever you could um look uh up Exodus 3 and verse 15 this is going to be one of our key scriptures today Exodus 3 and verse 15 this is one of the many Old Testament references where God introduces himself by a certain name and when he does it's always to reveal an element of his character and this verse actually blows me away it says God act also said to Moses say to the Israelites the Lord thy God of your fathers the god of Abraham the god of Isaac and the god of Jacob has sent me to you this is my name forever the name you shall call me from generation to generation now the people of Israel had heard God introduce himself in many ways and by many names but this was very unique because this is actually the god of the universe the creator of all things saying I'm going to name myself according to these three guys I'm going to take the name of three human beings tiny small parts of my creation and I'm going to call myself whatever they are called and and I mean when we hear that I think we normally just assume that these three guys must be Stand Out human beings they must be the most amazing people that has ever walked the Earth in order for God to name himself according to their names and we look at the first one Abraham yep check check the box for sure Stand Out human being father of the Jewish people father of us all through faith and then we look at Isaac and we go okay A bit mediocre but still you know okay and then we come to Jacob now this dude has serious problems he lied to his father he tricked his brother to sell him the birthright this guy had SE serious problems and still God names himself according to this person but this is where we have to realize God is not talking about Merit he wants to make another statement he wants to tell you and I that he is the god of generations he is the god of generations his kingdom is a kingdom of generations and why is this so important for you and me because one of our highest callings as a church is to reflect the nature of God to this world we're called to Proclaim to prophesy to live out everything that God is amen we know God is love so we want to love our world to reflect the nature of God we know that God is good so we want to spread goodness to our world to reflect the nature of God we know that God is a god of forgiveness so we want to forgive our debtors so that we can reflect and proclaim the nature of God God is a generation God so we what I'm glad you asked gway so we will build a church where Generations are standing side by side loving each other praying for each other blessing each other and remembering that Generations are not called to compete but to complete one another in the middle of a society where Generations are torn apart greater than ever more than ever I I think the calling of our church is to go the other way and build a church that truly reflects the god of generations can we say Amen in the house of the Lord now in Malachi 4 and verse 6 this is the very last verse of the Old Testament and I found it fascinating that God chooses to end the entire Old Testament with this verse it says he will turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the hearts of the children to their parents or else I will come and strike the land with total Destruction God chooses to end the entire Old Testament not with a verse of about prayer or worship or love in general but about generational connection this speaks to my heart how important this is to the heart of the Lord and I want you to take a notice about what Malachi is saying here because there are some elements to this verse that are so important for you and I and I realize that today in weekend Services I'm speaking primarily to the parent generation and this verse directs the parental generation you and I and he says that he the spirit of God will turn the hearts can we say Hearts the hearts of the parents this is the first first thing we need to realize in in the process of building a generational aware church it's a heart thing he doesn't say that he will turn the sense of fashion of the parents God forbid he doesn't say that he will turn the taste of music of the parents to the children God forbid too he says he will turn the hearts he will turn the love the appreciation the prayer and the encouragement of the parents to the children it's a hard thing and also please note that way that it says it starts with the hearts of the parents any generational connection process needs to start with you and I realizing we're not just individuals separated completely we are links in a chain God looks at us as spiritual parents for the Young Generation that you just saw flash by on those screens he will turn the hearts of the parents that's where it needs to start and the first time I came throughout this process to you was back in June that was the first weekend after everything happened and and we were all thrown into this Whirlwind of confusion and grief and that weekend was very special for me because on Friday night I spoke at the student conference and I saw thousands of teenagers encountering the glory of the Lord and the next day I spoke to you and we were at a different place but in my heart these two Blended together and I heard the spirit of the Lord says say this is the next step this is the future I will pour out my spirit upon the Next Generation and only later did I hear about the prophecy of from Pastor Jensen 10,000 young people flooding into this church that will not happen automatically though young people will only come to a house where they feel wanted they will only come to a house where there are parents so gway please don't misunderstand me this is not about you understanding the Young Generation maybe you feel I don't get the young people I got good news for you they don't need you to get them please if you're 80 don't wear leather pants and pierce your eyebrow and think I'm really relating now to the next gen yo dude that will not make you relevant that will make you pathetic let me tell you this the Next Generation don't need another friend they have friends what they need is a spiritual father and a spiritual mother they need to fall into the Embrace of a generationally connected church that sees them appreciates them prays for them and love them can we say Amen again now when we started the process in our church or making our church more generational aware and more generationally connected I had some church members come up to me and say oh is it only about the young people now are they the only ones who are important important I'm not important anymore and I said you know what to say that is like a young family who's just had their first baby saying to one another oh we're not important anymore we guess it's only about this baby now my friend you just became twice as important as you've ever been in your life because now you're a parent now you have responsibility to pray and to raise and to encourage and to lift this child up to everything that God has called it to be so the generationally connected church is not one generation instead of another it's every generation together the hearts of the parents turn to the children the hearts of the children turn to the parents so what are we to do then we who may be belonging to the parental generation those of us who identify as grown-ups let me tell you two things that are so important as we prepare to receive the answer to this prophecy of 10,000 young people number one pray for the Next Generation pray for the Next Generation regardless of whether you have biological children or not you can have spiritual children and as you pray for the Next Generation I know what what will happen your heart will open up and you're going to start loving the Next Generation because whatever you pray for will become important for us amen and why do we need to do that for many reasons my friend one of the mo one of these reasons is that this next Generation The Young Generation of today is a vulnerable generation the devil seems to hate this generation because he's throwing everything he has of darkness and and and depression and and uh all kinds of of of a challenges right at its face but that's actually an encouragement to me in one way because you remember the greatest story of Salvation in the Old Testament that was The Exodus out of Egypt the children of Israel got got to leave the years of slavery behind and come back to the promised land that beautiful outpouring of Salvation And Freedom was preceded by a dramatic attack on the Young Generation ation the devil panicked and placed in the heart of pharaoh to try to wipe out the babies of the Jewish people so that he would be able to try to wipe out the Savior among them but he failed and then we move to the New Testament and we see the greatest story of Salvation in the New Testament obviously it's Jesus coming and again Jesus's coming was preceded by an attack on the Young Generation the devil placed it in King har 's heart to try to wipe out the Jewish babies so he could Wipe Out the Savior and again now I see the same thing happening with the young generation of our time we see suicides rate go go crazy we see mental health problem increasing and even nowadays they don't even the Young Generation is not even given the the security and the stability of knowing that I'm a boy or a girl everything is taken away from them the devil seems to hate them now that tells me one thing there is an outpouring of Salvation coming our way God is about to do something incredible and the devil has every right to be nervous but still we need to pray for the Next Generation as spiritual fathers and mothers we need to take our responsibility and pave way for the Next Generation in our prayers I want to tell you a story and I want to rewind because I'm a I'm a history buff I want to rewind to the year 1755 and to a certain little village in Great Britain and I want to introduce you to a 15-year-old boy 15y old boys don't look like that anymore though but you know fashion comes and goes so just give it a few more years and all over Texas I guess there will be 15y old boys looking like that I don't know this little boy was called William and at the age of 15 he partook in a service and he heard a man speak and this man's name was John Newton John Newton used to be a captain of a slave trading ship for decades he had been kidnapping and transporting African men and women to the British colonies he had the blood of thousands of people on his hands but one day he experienced the storm and he looked dead in in the eye for the very first time ever and he realized he wasn't ready to die so in agony he called out in the storm God help me save me and if you do I will serve you forever the storm calmed down John Newton gave his life to Jesus and then he served him for the rest of his life preaching two things salvation through faith in Christ and preaching against the slavery that used to be his profession he would Al also actually go down in history as the the author of the hymn Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a Wretch like Me young William hears John Newton preach and he has his life encounter with the Lord his heart catches fire and this 15-year-old makes up his mind this is what I want to do with my life I want to spend it fighting the slavery and the slave trade in jesus' name and for the glory of God and this 15-year-old realizes that I can't do this by being a um Pastor or a preacher I need to get in among the decision makers so we started studying really hard and every single of one of us knows that when a 15-year-old boy start to study really hard that means that God himself is on the move right that's so he studies really hard and after only five years at the tender age of 20 he's elected into the British Parliament and here he launches his plan he starts preparing a speech that he will call the abolition of the slave trade and he doesn't prepare this speech for weeks and months he prepares it for 10 solid years and after 10 years at the age of 30 he enters the pulpit of the parliament and he holds his speech three and a half hours long going through every argument wise slavery is a horrible Abomination it's it's unrighteous it's against the heart and the nature of God and then at the end of his speech he takes a vote to say to the parliament let's vote out the slave trade out of the British Empire and everybody said no because they all had slaves and they didn't want to lose them but young William was back again the next year same speech no again next year he is back no again year after year after year 10 years 15 years 16 years 17 years on the 18th year of him holding the same speech the parliament finally said yes because I guess they realized this is the only way to get rid of this young man and that day the slave trade became illegal in the British Empire now young William moves on to the next phase of his mission and to give a long story make a long story short that took another 24 years of hard political labor and his purpose was to set the slaves free those who were already in the Empire somewhere and in 1833 the British Parliament took a vote and made slavery illegal completely that day 1.5 million slaves became free people and only only four days later William wilburforce died at the age of 74 and I I trust that he heard the voice of God say Well done good and faithful servant and and when you go to Great Britain you will see monuments you will see statues celebrating this amazing man and I couldn't be more in agreement he should be honored but what few people know was that he was not alone he had a spiritual father backing him up all the way and that spiritual Father Figure was a man called John Wesley John Wesley was the founder of the Methodist movement he was a Revival preacher and what touches my heart in a special way was that when young William wilburforce started out his journey John Wesley was already coming to the end of his race but before he did John Wesley the parent generation looked back and he saw the hand of God upon the Next Generation even though that hand of God took on a bit of a different expression he recognized it and realized the spirit of God is upon this young man and he started praying for him every single day and if you go to London you can actually go to the house of John Wesley which is now a museum and I love to visit there every time I come and there are letters all all over the walls letters written by this spiritual father to his spiritual son and I love stopping by those letters and read them especially one of them this letter must have been penned by John Wesley at a time where I guess young William was tempted to give up after all these years of failure failure failure all the time year after year he must have come many times to the point where he said I've done my best but it's doesn't seem to work and then there's that letter from John Wesley from a spiritual father to a spiritual son saying Rise Again young William rise again if God is for you who can be against you rise again young William rise again he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world rise again young William rise again nothing is impossible for God so I praise God for William wi theforce but I also praise God for Spiritual fathers like John Wesley let's agree and step into that responsibility of praying encouraging and Paving the way for the Next Generation can we say amen amen the second thing the second thing we need to do to create this generationally aware church this house of safety and warmth and allow the thousands of young people to flood into our community and to our churches is basically this add spiritual parent to whatever you're called to do add spiritual parent to whatever you're called to do if you're a businesswoman or a businessman add spiritual parent to that if you're a housewife add spiritual parent to that if you're a doctor add spiritual parent to that take on that identity of a spiritual parent because we all share this calling and because men and women of God did so throughout the Bible we saw the Next Generation rise up and flourish and there are so many examples of this we have the story of Moses and Joshua oh how I love that story Moses and Joshua has described in Exodus 33 I feel for Moses he was called to be the pastor of the worst Church in human history I did nothing but complain throughout and I guess that at the end end of the day he would be so sick and tired of all these complaining people that he couldn't wait to go into the Tabernacle and just spend time alone with God but you know what he had added spiritual parent to his calling as the leader of Israel so he didn't walk in alone even though I guess he would have wanted to he brought a teenager named Joshua into the presence of God and I can see these two men one father one son son Moses introducing Joshua Joshua this is what it feels like when the presence of God is here Joshua this is how you listen to his voice spoken into your heart Joshua this is how you position Yourself In Worship in awe before the presence of the almighty and this chapter ends with Say by saying that Moses left the Tabernacle but Joshua stayed behind and inside that Tabernacle the next leader of Israel is born but it could be born because of spiritual parent opened the door for him and introduced him to the presence of God we have the same story or a similar one in the story of Eli and Samuel 1 Samuel chapter 3 little Samuel is basically raised in the temple just like some kids at Gateway basically grown up in a super Christian environment but still this chapter says that Samuel did not yet know the Lord he knew of the Lord but he did not yet know him personally and then one night the voice of the Lord calls out in the middle of the darkness going Samuel Samuel don't realize he doesn't realize what's going on he misunderstands he goes over to Eli and said why did you call and Eli said I didn't call and this happens two or three times and finally Eli understands the Lord is calling Samuel and again he takes on the role of a spiritual parent adding to his calling as a priest and it says Samuel next time it happens this is what you say this is the position you take ask him to speak tell him that you will be his servant and Samuel goes back with the advice given from a spiritual father and the next time God speaks Samuel knows how to respond how to relate to God's presence and God's word starts to speak into the the the ears of Samuel and one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament is born because the priest added spiritual parent to his calling and we see this even as Samuel himself grows up in 1 Samuel 16 how he enter ERS into the house of a man whom God has spoken to him will be the father of the next king of Israel and this father lines up all of his sons apart from one talk about rejection right there he was asked to line up all of his sons and then he lines up all of them without apart from the youngest and he just goes nah he didn't even bring the boy to the audition but Samuel has the eyes of the Lord he has the eyes of a spiritual parent realizing isn't this isn't it one more and he this boy David is brought in from the fields and Samuel sees beyond the exterior sees the hand of the Lord he anoints the boy and from that moment on as you read on in 1 Samuel you'll see that not only is Samuel now a prophet of Israel he's also a spiritual father for the Next Generation he added the the role the identity of a spiritual parent to his calling as a prophet of Israel and I want to close with this a final story that relates to you and I in such a special way and then we're going to do a very special prayer prophetic Proclamation standing in the gap for generations and just declaring ourselves to want it to be a church that reflects the god of generations we did that this back home at Word of Life and starting to raise our awareness that we are Generations called to coexist back one another up pray for one another and bless one another and we saw the outpouring of the Lord in Beauty and Glory come upon us as we did I could stand there until tomorrow and just give you examples of Miracles and and beautiful things that happened just two years after our crisis we decided to build a big big Sports Arena as a a gift to our next Generation the parental generation raised the money we launched the construction of the sports arena and didn't intend to make money of it or anything it's just a gift to our next generation and then we completed it and all of a sudden the city our city came to us and said hey whatever time that you don't need this Arena we want to rent it for for our schools and we said okay so we blocked every slot that we needed that we wanted for our own kids and Youth and then the city rented every single times slot that was left which means that now all of a sudden we have 5,000 young people coming into our church campus every single week 5,000 young people which has just revolutionized our whole Evangelistic approach in our youth ministry God is ready to open up any doors that that uh that he has in his heart as we respond to the calling to be a church that reflects the god of generations The Last Story actually my favorite one in the Bible is the story of Elizabeth and Mary Elizabeth and Mary how I love this Luke 1 ver 26 in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth a town in Galilee to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph a descendant of David the virgin's name was Mary and then the angel goes on to describe to this little girl probably 14 or 15 years old that God has a calling upon her life and that her life is so much more important and valuable and precious than she might have ever realized and this teenage girl is trembling at the information and then she responds verse 38 I am the Lord's servant Mary answered answered may your word to me be fulfilled then the angel left her I love that line so much because I've seen it a thousand times I've seen the married generation drawn ey to Jesus in countless youth meetings and youth conferences I saw it at the student conference here at Gateway just a few months ago I saw thousands of young Marys responding trembling crying lifting hands to the holy call of God upon their lives yes Lord I want to serve you yes Lord I want to do whatever you want me to do yes Lord I Want Your Will and your purposes for me to be fulfilled but then it says and the angel left her the youth conference came to a close the Goosebumps were not there anymore the emotional high was gone the big question is then what then what but you see the beautiful thing Gateway was that God had not only given this young girl Young Generation if you will a calling he had also provided it with a spiritual parent a spiritual mother verse 36 even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age and she is now she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month Mary I prepared a spiritual mother for you I prepared someone who is older than you but can relate to what you're going through because she's going through the same thing but she's further in the process she knows what is going to happen to you and you can be safe in her Embrace of prayer and love and it says in verse 39 at that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the Hill Country of Judea where she entered zachariah's house and greeted Elizabeth that Journey from Nazareth in the north to ANM in Judea would have taken about two and a half days to travel can you see this teenage girl just touched by the Lord but also realizing now that I need more than my peers now I need more than my friends I need to rest in the safety and the prayers and the love of a spiritual mother who can tell me what lies ahead of me now and it says when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit gway could you please for just a second not think of these two women as two individuals but as two generations the married generation recently touched by the Lord full of inspiration and and commitment to live their lives for the glory of God but might not necessarily know exactly how what's going to happen what is the next step and then the Elizabeth generation who is already pregnant but has gone further in the process when these two generations come together the Holy Spirit falls on both of them and we realize it's not just Mary who needs Elizabeth it's the Elizabeth generation who needs the mared generation as well one generation brings enthusiasm inspiration energy another generation brings stability experience from having walked with the Lord for a longer time when we look at our past as a CH as Christianity we look at the different moves of Revival and refreshment that has come upon the world in the past 100 years sadly most of these movements have been one generation movements and I didn't think I don't think that God intended for that to be so but I think time and time again we have failed with our generational connection but what if in the months and years to come we could rise up as a church and decide we're going to build a church that will reflect the god of generations we will build a church when the generations will stand side by side in Love Prayer appreciation and encouragement of one another and as we do as we come together as Elizabeth meets Mary the spirit of God will fall on both generations and the name of Jesus will be [Applause] [Music] [Applause] glorified I I have a secret prayer it's not going to be secret anymore because I'm going to share it with you that if Jesus does not come in my lifetime and if I get to live to be an old man the last thing I want to see spiritually before I close my eyes for the last time is the back of the Next Generation passing by the point where I stopped to go on to see greater outpourings of the spirit than I ever saw and build greater churches than I ever built and reach more people with the Gospel of Jesus than I ever reached and I just want to welcome you and encourage every single one of you that might relate to yourself as a grownup as the Elizabeth generation to join me in that prayer and that desire right now we're going to do something in all the campuses all over our Gateway Family we're going to pray for the different Generations we're going to have two representatives for those two generations one representing the Mary generation and one the Elizabeth generation and we're going to have gener the generations praying for One Another Blessing one another and we're going to pray that God will pour out his Spirit on both generations and give us the strength and boldness to move into the future as a generation church so all over the campuses and including here at South Lake can I ask every single one of you who are 40 or younger to please stand up right now if you're 40 or younger please please stand to your feet you're representing you're representing the generation that God spoke to us about prophetically this is the generation is going to flood into this church and all over the campuses in every campus that in in the Gateway family with every single one of you who are 40 or younger just stand in the presence of God and we're going to dismiss the campuses but just don't go anywhere we're going to have a few minutes of prayer and allow the presence of the spirit to touch both generations and make this work in our hearts to connect us so that the spirit will fall on both of us I'm going to ask the person representing the Elizabeth Generations in all the campuses to lead us in prayer as we now dismiss all the campuses and we move on to pray and bless one another [Music] as I was worshiping I heard the Lord say that hope is arising From the Ashes that we've all experienced recently and it's arising in the faces of every single one of you standing and it's arising across generational lines so I'd like to pray a blessing over you if you'll just hold out your hands and close your eyes and receive Lord we just thank you that each and every person standing in this room hope is rising right now in our church community in our convictions in every place father that needs these people father I thank you that you are there I thank you that your word says in in Hebrews 14 that you are the same yesterday today and forever and Lord I Thank you that you're not just a story we read about you're the god of again and you're going to do Miracles and wonders in these individuals again and again and again Lord we just thank you that whatever they're navigating right now in their own lives whether trials or tragedies we thank you that this imparts for them to understand that now is the time that they can lead people to the one that can take those toxic things in their lives and turn it into a sweet healing tonic for the world to experience Lord we thank you and we bless this generation we we bless them that they come together in unity and lead in the place that they need to rise thank you Father amen amen in jesus' name in jesus' name you may be seated and can I ask the Elizabeth generation to stand up if you are are 41 or more praise God there's enough stability in this room to to embrace and launch the Next Generation no worries at all will every single one of you just open up your hearts and lift up your hands and allow God to touch your heart right now and place that parental responsibility that parental identity inside your heart as we will have someone from the married generation pray God's blessing upon you father God I just want to thank you for this day thank you for every single heart at Gateway Church father I pray specifically for the ones who are standing in this room that father God you would give them strength and that Lord you would anoint their tongues God that you would anoint their feet father God that you anoint their hands and that everywhere they go Jesus you would be with them Father God and the people around them whether whether it's their kids God whether it's their co-workers father I pray that they would see a reflection of you on them Father you've been so good in this Church Father God you've been so good in their lives father I pray for continuation of a blessing over all their lives father Yes I pray for those who are struggling financially that Jesus you would be with them and that you would uh bless them financially father I pray for those who are struggling in their health that father please please please send healing among them all yes Lord God you are so good God you are so powerful and magnificent God I pray that their wisdom that they've accumulated over the years of their lives that Lord it would fall down on my generation that God my generation would be open to correction thank you so much for this day and thank you for all you've been doing in this church father that's in Jesus name amen amen [Applause] amen hold on to you I don't want to let this one go we have all the Mary stand up again and just find someone that is not really your age and just give them a high five or a hug and just let us demonstrate that we are a Generation Church here to support one another pray for one another love on one another thank you Lord Jesus thank you Lord Jesus now let's just lift up our hands and Worship the Lord father we we thank you we thank you for doing a beautiful work in our heart we thank you for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit as Mary comes to Elizabeth and Elizabeth comes to Mary May the presence of God the spirit of God will P be poured out on both Generations all generations and may we reflect the god of generations as we move on in the weeks and months to come and all people say amen let's Worship the Lord together [Applause] Lord bless you and keep you make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] amen amen [Music] am [Music] amen amen [Music] amen aen his fa be upon you in thousand generations and your family and your children and their children and that children may his favor be upon you and a thousand generations and your family and your children and their children oh may his favor be upon you had a thousand Generations and your family and your children and the children and the children may favor beor you in a thousand generations and your family and your children and let children and let children may his presence go before you you and behind you and beside you and around you within you he's with you he's with you in the morning in the evening and you're coming and you're going is you're weeping and rejoicing his you he's for you he's for you he's for you he's for you he's for you he's for you he's for amen amen [Music] amen am am sa oh his favor be upon you and a thousand generations and your family and your children and this children and this children make be you and about you can you all around you and within you he's with you he's with you in the morning in the in you're coming and you're going your weeping and rejoicing he for you it's for you it's for you it's for you it's for you it's for you for you is for you it's for you [Music] oh I want us to stay in that place everybody stay put I know is the end of service but I feel that something that the Lord is doing in this church tonight and it's the beginning of a fresh anointing over this generation and we can't let it go by by by us we want to say to each and every one of you that are here in the front may the Lord bless you and keep you you may the Lord shine his face upon you and be gracious to you and may he give you peace as we see you walk every day in the calling of the Lord over your lives we will see your back in many days to see you fly into that calling the Lord has for you and today we bless bless you gayway Church says we are ready to see you lead and we are with you and for you and we'll be with you in every step you take amen amen can you say thank you to this youth thank you Lord for what you're doing in our church tonight and Lord today we just declare that tonight it starts the Walk of our new generation right before our eyes in Jesus name everybody says Amen to that amen wow and so we don't want to pass something along too if you need prayer we're going to be here in the front our prayer team is going to come forward but I want you to stay and look for a young person tonight before you leave and can you give them a blessing can you pray for them can you just say how thank you you are for them being in this house amen amen let me pray over us so we can dismiss and father tonight tonight we take this word into our hearts Lord and we walk this calling of several Generations together as one and Lord help us see in every young person the benefit father and the thing in the calling that you put over their lives so today Father we walk with a different lens and we look for your presence and every person we encounter in jesus' name and everybody says amen amen it was so good to worship with you and we will see you here on Wednesday for prayer see you soon [Music] [Music]