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Mar 27, 2022

DNOW22 | How to Reach & Keep Gen Z

DNOW22 | How to Reach & Keep Gen Z

Speaker: Ryan Fontenot

Series: DNOW

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: worship, faith, jesus, sunday, god, sermon, gospel, hope, believe, bible study, live music, dnow, livestream, burnt hickory baptist church, discipleship now, gen z, burnt hickory worship, how to share the gospel, teaching students about jesus

DNOW – short for Disciple Now, is an intensive weekend for middle and high school students to gather together for amazing worship, in depth bible studies, competitive recreation, and bonding fellowship. This year was an amazing weekend, and it spills over into Sunday morning with our DNOW guest speaker, Ryan Fontenot leading us in how to reach Gen Z for Jesus and how to keep them on the path towards growing deeper in their relationship with Him. Ryan teaches us that we must invest, include, invite, inspire, introduce, and intercede for the next generation of students before they are lost.

Good morning, as you guys have already seen, we have had an amazing weekend here for our Disciple Now weekend with so many decisions, baptisms that are taking place all because you guys have jumped in and supported the student ministry here. But we're also excited this morning to welcome our speaker to the stage, who has been a phenomenal communicator to our students this week and has done a great job already this morning. And so welcome to the stage this morning. Ryan Fontenot as he comes.

Oh man. Good morning, church family. Y'all weren’t ready, I could tell. You want me to back up and try it again? Let's try one more time. Good morning, church family. Oh man, it's so good to be here. What an honor to be able to open up God's word this morning and just share with you a little bit about the heart and the passion, I believe of what God's heart and passion is for this next generation. So let me invite you to do two things. Whether you're in the room or you're watching online or you're in one of the overflows, let me encourage you to do two things. Number one, get out your Bible, go ahead, get out your Bible, look at your neighbor if they're not getting theirs out and say, Hey, he's talking to you. All right, go ahead. Do that, all right. That you could use the paper one. If you got that, you can use the electronic one. It's legit as well. All right, so it works all the same. So, get out your Bible as you open up your Bible.

Open it up to Judges chapter number two if you have no idea where that is. seventh book in the Bible Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Y'all got this Bible drill, people what? Joshua, then? Nailed it, man. I know, I know y'all got this OK Judges, judges, chapter two and in every Bible that I've ever looked at Chapter two right after Chapter one, you're welcome. Come on. All right, so grab your Bible. Judges chapter two. We're going to be there in just a moment.

Number two, here's the thing I need you to do. Get out something to take notes with. And a hush fell across the crowd. Get out something to take notes with if you got your phone. Get out your phone, you can take notes with it. You just can't be on Tik Tok, Grandpa, Don't do that, OK? So, get out your phone. Get something to take notes with paper. Man, I love these students right here, man. They got their Bibles out; they got their pens and paper out. Can we give it up for the students in the room this morning? Come on. Well, I apologize. They didn't really give it up for y'all, they were like. That was not good. We'll do better here in a minute.

All right. Well, my name is Ryan and I live in Fort Worth, Texas, and I got to fly in this weekend and be part of DNOW Weekend called Restore. And I got to see God do some incredible stuff. 32 students said, Yes to Jesus is king. Come on, somebody. All right. 32 and I think 15 or so went public this morning in baptism. Come on, everybody I’m telling you, Yeah. I've just got to say, do not take this for granted. Let me just dial you in. There are churches that don't see 32 people saved all year long. And we have seen God move and stir and bring people into the kingdom all weekend. And I believe even this morning, some of you in this room that don't know Christ, it's going to be your day where you say yes to Jesus, asking some of you who are in this room and you're trying to figure out where your church home is supposed to be, God is going to stir you up and say, This is my place, I'm all in.

Some of you, you are saved, but you're like the young lady who earlier you're like, you've been saved. Jesus is your king, but you've never been baptized. You've never gone public since being saved, and you're going to just feel the spirit of God say to you, you need to go. You need to take that next step. And so, I'm excited just to be a small part of that. I get to travel all over the country with our ministry. Our ministry is called Rage Ministries. Now that simply stands for reaching everybody, say reaching. You didn't say that like you meant it, let's try it again. Everybody say reaching a generation, say generation endangered everybody say endangered. See, we believe the real endangered species of this generation is not the spotted owl, the humpback whale or the Bengal tiger. The real endangered generation is this generation of teenagers that are right here in the front of the church this morning. Their friends, their peers, their classmates, their teammates that don't know Jesus. They are the real endangered generation.

Listen to me church. And if we look at your neighbor right now and say he's talking to us. Go ahead, tell them alright. This message is not a teenager message. This message is a church message. See, every time we open up God's word, the Holy Spirit just pierces hearts with his work that only he could do. And I just last time I checked the Holy Spirit can get anyone, anywhere, any age, any time. And I just want to pray over our church that God would just stir this body of believers up in a fresh and a new way. And this morning, I just want to challenge us with a simple reality check. Church, I want to talk to you this morning about how we can reach and keep Generation Z. Now some of you are going now, Ryan, why do you call this generation an endangered generation?

Well, because of stats and realities that we know about this generation. Do you realize when a recent study was done, we found out that Gen Z teens are more atheistic than any other generation we have ever known. Church. Don't miss these stats, don't let them just gloss over. I hope you'll write them down and you'll write them on your heart, and you'll let the Holy Spirit of God begin to break you and fill you up and fire you up to not just reach but keep this next generation. When study teens ages 13 to 18 years old, they were twice as likely to identify as atheists than their parents. 13% of Generation Z teens say, You know what? I don't even believe there is a God. Among Generation Z teens in the U.S. Don't miss this. There's a higher percentage of those who claim to be atheists than any other generation we've ever known. Just let it sink in for a little bit. When I talk about reaching this next generation. If we don't get serious, if we don't get for real and ferocious about it, we will lose this next generation. Because you know what happens to endangered species, right? If they're not protected, if they're not guarded, if they're not taken care of, if they're not helped to reproduce what happens, they move from being endangered to what? To being extinct. And in Judges Chapter two, there's a powerful verse that I think really does paint a picture of this generation. Because not only are they less Christian. Ladies and gentlemen, we also find out more at this day. We found out also they are less Christian. Check out this finding. When surveyed Generation Z teens, we found out that only 4%. That's four out of every 100 teens in the U.S., only 4% hold to a biblical worldview. Only 4% see the world through the biblical lens. Teens ages 13 to 18 10% fewer today identify as followers of Jesus than just the generation ahead of them. That means, ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you, that means we aren't gaining ground.

We're actually losing ground. Look at somebody right now and say we got work to do. Go on and tell them right now we've got work to do. And this stat may be one of the most startling heartbreaking is that 35% of teens surveyed one out of every three surveyed they identify as atheist, agnostic or having no religious affiliation at all. See, we are staring at a generation that is indeed endangered. And this morning, I want to talk to you church about reaching and keeping this next generation. I want to challenge us this morning to not just be complacent on having a good weekend. And we have we've not just had a good weekend, we've had a God weekend, but look at somebody right now and say, But God ain't done. Go ahead. Tell him right now, right? God ain't done. God has only just begun.

Here is why it is so important church for you to grasp this. Your mind is about to be blown. Here's why it's so important. Teenagers, here's why you guys, your younger brothers and sisters, this is why the next generation has to be the priority of who we are after. Here's why. Check it out. 70% of those who ever come to Jesus do so on or by their 18th birthday. Over 70% of anyone who ever says yes to Jesus is king. They do so before they turn the tassel. That means Eli, Katy, y'all got the ministry that if we don't reach them before they get out of here, it's over. By and large, they will never come to Jesus. Let me just do a little survey. Y'all think I'm crazy. I'm not. Check it out. If you are in this house and you are a follower of Jesus, you're in this house. Jesus is your king. Would you just say, Oh yeah, OK, all of you just said, Oh yeah, I've got a question? If you were, Sade said yes to Christ is king on or before your 18th birthday. Hold your hands up high. Hold them up high all over the room. Y'all look around the room. Y'all look around and y'all think I'm crazy.

Look around the room, see, guys, this is the importance of what we do on weekends like this, this is the importance and the reality of why it can't just be a weekend. This is why, as a church body, we've got to be serious about reaching and keeping the next generation. It's not because someone can't get saved after they're 18 years old. I'm just saying by and large, man, we need to pour all our eggs into the basket of reaching this next generation. Why? Because if we don't reach them by the time they cross their graduation stage, the likelihood that they ever will say yes to Jesus plummets. So, I'm going to give you six things this morning. Look at somebody and say, you better take notes, go and tell them right now, you better take them. I'm going to give you six things this way. Here's what I tell you to take notes. Number one, because I'm not that good, you will not remember them all. I promise you. I alliterative them. But you will not remember them all. I promise you. And number two, because you ain't that smart. So, write it down, OK? Write it down. I promise you this morning, I'm not that good. You're not that smart. We need to take notes, look at your neighbor and say he's talking to you. Go ahead. Go ahead and let them know. OK, so how are we going to reach them? How are we going to go after this next generation? How are we? What are the steps we need to take as a corporate body? What are the things I need to do as a follower of Jesus, as a mom or dad or grandpa, grandpa, single adult, whatever? What are the steps I need to do to make sure we reach and keep this next generation number one? Write it down. If we're going to reach them, we must write it down invest in them. What do you mean?

Well, I mean, exactly what Paul wrote to the church in Galatia. He said, do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. Write it down somebody, Amen. What? Reaps, say it. What? Say it? He. You put apple seeds in the ground, you get what? Apple trees, right? And apple trees make, what? Apples? Let me tell you something, if you want to see this next generation reach, we have to continue to sow into this next generation, he says. Let us not become weary in doing good. How many of you leaders are tired from the weekend? Come on, somebody right? Now does not mean don't get tired. That means take a nap, get up and get after it again. Let us not become weary in doing good for in the proper time. We will reap a harvest. I love that promise. We will reap a harvest, say it with me, church, we will reap. I said say it. Yall better speak up back there. OK? Come on, let's go. We what? Say it somebody. Will reap a harvest if we, what church? Do not give up. You want to know why every year, 3000 churches in America closed their doors. I didn't stutter. You don't know why. Because somewhere along the way, they gave up on the next generation. Somewhere along the way, they decided, you know what Enough of it. It's all about me. They turned inward instead of outward, and they have closed the doors. Listen to me. If we want God to continue to work in and on and through Burnt Hickory, listen to me close.

We've got to invest in this next generation. How? I'm glad you asked. Three ways. Number one, invest in them spiritually. You need to pray for the next generation without ceasing. If you are a person of prayer in here, would you say oh yeah. OK, all of you oh yeah-ers. I need you right now to put on the top of your prayer list generation Z. And every day you need to pray for this next generation. On my phone at 2:10 p.m. every day. An alarm goes off and it reminds me at 2:10 p.m. to pray for this next generation. You're like Ryan, why 2:10pm? Well, I'm glad you asked. I told you to open up your Bible to what judges? Chapter two. And guess what verse? Y'all are smart. I love this, right? Here's what Judges 2:19 says. It says that after that generation had been gathered to their fathers or their ancestors after an entire generation, Joshua, Moses, Aaron. All of these mighty men and women of God who saw God do great stuff.

That whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors. They died. Look at what happens. The Bible says another generation grew up and look at what it says about them. Number one, it says they did, say it with me somebody not. What? Know the Lord. Nor did they know what the things he had done. See if we're going to reach this generation and we're going to go after this next generation. We've got to sow into them spiritually. That's why I set my alarm at 2:10 every single day because I want that verse to never be said of another generation again. In other words, my heart's cry is not on my watch. My kids will know about the Lord. My kids will hear about Jesus. This generation will know there's a God who loves them, made them and wants them. We will pursue them and go after them. I will not get comfortable. I will not be complacent. I will invest. I will invest in them spiritually. I will invest in them financially. Here's what I love weekends like this don't happen unless you give. Look at your neighbor and say he's talking to you. Go ahead and let them know. All right, so let me just say on behalf of the leadership of this church, hear my heart.

Listen, thank you. Thank you for giving. Thank you for giving sacrificially, generously, regularly. And might I even say cheerfully. Thank you for investing in this next generation. These weekends don't happen. We threw down some coin to make this weekend happen and guess who didn't pay for it. These students. Y'all know it's true, right? Y'all know it's true. Like, parents shelled it out. Adults shelled it out. There are students who are here, probably because they were a scholarship because you gave. And I just want to say on behalf of the church, thank you, and secondly, don't stop. Keep sowing into this next generation, but also, hey, invest practically. You need to serve without wavering. Listen, guys. My guess is Eli, Katie, Chip. They'll probably tell you, Look, look, we got great. They have incredible leaders. But you know what? We always need more. I've never heard a youth ministry ever say, no, we're good man.

We're full, you know, have no room for anyone else to serve. And I know some of your god, man. I just, I don't know, man teenagers scare me. Yeah, I heard haha, that nervous laugh, I heard y'all. Right, I heard you. Yeah, they do that. I don't even like my own teenagers. I know how it is. I get it. Listen, guys, I'm not saying you all need to come up and serve in small group or life groups, but I am saying this there's some way you can serve. If you want to know a way to serve and bless these people. Ask Eli. Ask Chip. Ask Katie. Just ask them. I promise you they got a list they will share with you. Number one, if we're going to reach them, we got to invest in them. Number two, it starts to get messy.

Write this down. We don't just have to invest in them. Write it down. We have to include them. Paul wrote this to the church in Corinth. Follow me as I follow Jesus. Imitate me as I imitate Christ. Here's what Paul was saying. Come follow me. Come work with me. Isn't this exactly what Jesus said by the way? His first invitation? Come follow me. And here's what we need to do. If you are serving, you're giving. You're leading. You're reading. You're growing as a follower of Jesus. You need to find some of these students and say, Hey, come follow me. We've got to constantly be giving ministry away. Listen to me. These students don't want to come and just watch. They want to come and be part.

I'll say it again. They don't want to come and just watch. They want to come and be part. And we've got a hand leadership over to them. I'm not talking about tomorrow giving them a mic and say, you're preaching Sunday. That's not what I'm saying, but what I'm saying is you ought to be raising up preachers. You ought to be raising up door greeters. You ought to be raising up worship leaders. You ought to be raising up people who can run all this audio and video stuff. Trust me, they can figure it out way faster than we can. See, we got to hand this over to them. We got to say, listen, you don't just need to show up, man, we want you to serve, we want you to be part. You know, you don't know, you know the truth. Here's the truth. Those who stay. Studies have shown this. Those students who stick around after they graduate high school, every one of them. Those students serve. They served somewhere. And because they served, they stuck. See, Generation Z, one other thing that we've noticed about them is they're one of the most cause-oriented generations we've ever known. So, here's the truth. Give them a cause here, we have the greatest cause on the planet. His name is Jesus. Give them a cause here. Get them involved here, listen to me close or they'll go get involved somewhere else. And we want them here, and we want them serving. We want to find ways, create ways for them to be part. Bring them alongside of you. Teach them how to be part of the body. We've got to include them and listen to me. It's messy and they will mess up. You'll give them a mike and they'll say something stupid. Trust me. Been there. Done that. All right. But we got to train them up. Let them fall, if you're going to let them fall, let them fall here. Teach them. Hand ministry over to them. Everybody with me say, I'm with you.

See if we're going to reach them. We've got to invest in them. We've got to include them. But thirdly, write this down. We have to invite them. Invite them. Here's what I love, I don't know how it happened, but something happened. Between Wednesday and Friday, over 100 new students signed up for Disciple Now weekend. Now I have no idea how that happened. Here's my guess. Some of Y'all started actually inviting your friends and annoyingly inviting them, right? You got to be part. You got to come. You got to get here, right? I love in Luke, in Luke Chapter 14, the Bible says. And the master said to the servant, two letters, one word capital G. Little o. Everybody say it with me. The master said to the servant, Everybody say, What do you say? He said. That was pretty good, let's try it again, he said, what? Go. He said, go, hey, in just about 30 minutes, we're going to go, we're going to get out of here and you know, we're going to go? We're going to go to the highways and the hedges. Or you could say it like this. We're going to go to the high schools and the middle schools. We're going to go to the ball field and the track meet. We're going to go to the ball court and the band hall and we're going to go everywhere.

We're going to go to the lacrosse field and we're going to go to the coffee shops. And everywhere we go, we're going to invite people to come see what God is doing at burnt hickory. Amen. Y'all scared me for just a second. I was like, are y'all here? Let me just give you a really simple challenge. Let me give you a real simple challenge. Adults, I'm talking to you, too. There should not be a single week that goes by in your life. There should not be a single week that goes by in your life, that you don't invite somebody to join you on Sunday at your church. I'll say it again. Because I think some of you think I'm kidding. Like, there shouldn't be a single week that goes by that you don't invite someone to join you on Sunday at your church. Like this house isn't full. You're like, its full, we haven't got room. Look at somebody right now, and say we got room. Go ahead and let them know, right? We got room. And here's the beautiful thing guys, if the house gets full. We'll just build a bigger house. I know y'all got the money. Don't even play around, OK? Like, I know. Listen, God's at work. We'll add services. We'll figure it out. Don't you love having to figure that stuff out? Here's a better thing to figure out. Hey, how do we make more room instead of, do we need to close the doors?

And there are churches everywhere trying to figure out how do we pay the bills? I'd rather any day be trying to figure out how do we add more chairs. Invite somebody, invite them to come in. Invite them to be part, Hey, students, can I lay a challenge to you? These are my high schoolers in here. Am I right? If you're in high school, say, Oh yeah, good, I'm glad you just owned up to this. Here it is. There's not one student that should be able to graduate your high school without having been invited to your church. Here's your mission. No one turns the tassel who hasn't been invited. Your friends need to know they are welcome at Burnt Hickory. You need to be inviting them every week, not the same person, or annoy the same person every week, I don't really care but invite people every week. Your ball team is your mission field. Your science lab, your mission field. Your coffee shop, your mission field. Invite them in. Everybody got it? Say, I got it. Adults, do you got it? There's not a coworker that shouldn't be invited, you're like, I think they go to church, you don't know, ask them. And invite them all they're going to tell you is this I go to church somewhere. Or no, thank you. We were at the pizza place the other night I forgot the name. What's the name of the place Eli? Peace and Love, man. Some good pizza man. We have some good pizza. Literally, man. There was a lady. There with her three daughters and they were the same age as my kids. We had connected as they came in, and we were walking out and I went over to her. I said, Hey, listen, I'm not from here, but listen, there's a great church in the area. I don't know if you go to church anywhere, but if you are ever looking, you should come by and check out Burnt Hickory. She looked at me as stone cold. She goes, Oh, I'm not a Christian. And you know what? I wasn't offended. I was like, hey, that's all right. You're still welcome. Hey, there's a lot of people that aren't Christian in here. Don't point at your neighbor, that's weird, OK? That's super weird, right? Like, OK, that's all right. You come on. And then we talk for a little bit. I say, Listen, if you ever looking for a place. If you ever need a place. Come on. It took, what, 60 seconds for us to do that for us just to invite somebody, we run into people all the time. So, we got to invest in them. We got to include them.

We got to invite them. And can I say this church? If we want to reach the next generation? We must inspire them. One of my one of my favorite versus is Hebrews 10:24. Check this out. Let us consider. Let us dream up. Let us think of ways, to what? Somebody say it with me, to stir. What? Up. OK, I need everybody to do this by everybody. Hold your hand out like this. I'm looking I can see you guys. The lights are bright, but I can see everybody just hold your arm out like this hold it out like this. Come on, y'all got this. All right, now, stir it. Come on. Stir the pot. Come on, everybody. Oh, y'all are good out there. All right, OK. Oh, I like this man. We are stirring the pot now. Now here's why I did that. Because I want you to be thinking of ways to stir up that. See, they won't stop. Y'all are done. Y'all are like, OK, good. Yeah. But you got to figure out ways to stir up this next generation to encourage them to inspire them. Let's stir up one another toward love and good works. By the way, if you're a high schooler, stand up for me right now. Come on church. Let's inspire them right now. Can we tell God? Thank you for these students being here? Come on, come on. Look at all these students, man. Look at all these high schoolers. Let's go stand up. There you go. Come on. Church, we can do better than that. I said, Inspire them. Come on. We're glad you're here. You're welcome here. You're wanted here, man. We want you in this house. This house is made for you. All right. Come on now. Now y'all sit back down. Now it's weird. Sit down. All right. Cool. Yeah. But listen to me, there should not be a student that walks out of these doors that somebody with gray hair or no hair doesn't give them some knuckles and go, I'm glad you're here. Right. Because it's my job, right? When I tell them, Hey, I'm glad you're here, it's good to see you this morning, man, I had an incredible weekend. This is my job, right? But when you do it and they don't know you, they're like, Who is that?

I don't know, but I'm glad they did it. And I just want to tell you, man, we need to inspire them, why? Because what is celebrated is replicated. And when these students know they are not just welcome here, listen, they are wanted here. News spreads fast. News spreads fast, and when we celebrate them and make a big deal about it, then everything begins to shift. So, what do we have to do if we want to reach some ladies and gentlemen? We have to invest in them. We have to include them. We must invite them. We've got to inspire them. But fifthly, write this down. This is most important. We must introduce them to Jesus. So as much as I want a house packed with next generation students, listen to me close. If all they get is church and they miss Jesus, they've missed the point. So let me just say it like this, I like to say things blunt. Sometimes it gets me in trouble, but I'm just going to say it. Burnt Hickory Baptist Church is not the point. You're welcome. Some are like, Oh. What? It's not the point. Listen to me close, don't ever forget this. Jesus is the point. Jesus is the point. And once they've got Jesus, let me just tell you something, church is way better with Jesus, by the way.

All right. I mean, when they've got Jesus, man, everything changes. So, we want them here, but we want them to know Jesus. That's what Paul said. For I am not ashamed. Listen. He didn't say I'm not ashamed of my church. It's not what he said, what he says. I'm not ashamed of the, say it somebody, the gospel. For it is the power of God, for salvation, to everyone who believes that's why last night I got up to preach at all my slides ready man. I was ready to go, and everything just went cray. I mean, it just I mean, sides literally on the screen is like ----. Am I right students? It was like, it was like doo doo doo doo. I was like, I don't know what's happening, but don't touch anything else. Turn them off, right? And the Lord said, Hey. Just teach them the gospel. See, 32 students crossed from death to life this weekend, but there's 22,452 in our reach. And they need Jesus. And so, I said students listen God in the sovereignty, knew everything was going to blow up and in His sovereignty, we had given them all these wristbands right before service began. Has four symbols on it, and the four symbols are also four emojis. If you don't know what emojis are, that's these symbols right here. I know you students know, that was for your parents. All right, so. There's also four emojis, and so I said, Hey, get out your phones, put these four emojis in your phone. Look at these four symbols on their on your wristband. With this message, you can tell anyone, anywhere, anytime about Jesus, and all we did last night was just walk them through this. Hey, there's a God who loves you, a God who made you a God who wants you. Everybody got it. Say I got it. But there's a problem. There's a problem. We are separated from the God who made us, loves us and wants us, and we're separated because of what everybody? Because of...

Dude, y'all got this already. It's amazing, right? Because of sin. What a sin. It infects us. It separates us. It kills us. There is a God who made us, loves us and wants us. But we are separated from this God. Why? Because of sin. But there is hope. Hope has a name, and his name is Jesus. The cross reminds us of Jesus. What did Jesus do? He came, died, rose again. Say with me, everybody. He came, died, rose again. Come on and say one more time. He came, died, rose again. You're going to hear that in your sleep because that's the gospel, right? Jesus Christ came. Why do you come? He came to seek and save the lost. What do you do? He died. He died. Why did he die? Not for his sins. He died on the cross for my sins. Check this out. Here's what Romans 5:8 says. God demonstrates his own love for us while we were still sinners. Come on somebody, what? Christ died for us. But he ain't dead. Hello, somebody. He's alive, and because he's alive, he now offers you eternal life, eternal life as he brings you back into relationship with the father. That takes us to the question mark, which only means this we have to what we have to decide.

Like, you've got to choose. Hey, dad, listen, showing up to church does not make you a Christian any more than showing up at McDonald's makes you a happy meal. And I know some of y'all been eating some happy meals I can see, all right. It ain't showing up. It's surrendering. Jesus, I'm yours. Some of you beyond 18, you're thinking, man, there's no hope for me, there is hope, hope has a name, his name is Jesus, and on the cross, he died for your sins. He took your place. And today, right here today, if you would say, Jesus, I am yours, Jesus, I turn from sin, I turn from self. I trust in you as my King, come and take over as ruler of my life.

Today, mom, today dad. Today, grandpa, he can save you. You can break the algorithm. The 70% rule blow it out of the water, you're like, I'm 70, I need Jesus, come on. The same Jesus that can save a 17-year-old can save a 57-year-old. It's the same cross, the same blood, the same life that he offers. So, if we're going to reach them, we've got to introduce them to Jesus. Look at somebody beside you and say, Yeah, you need Jesus. Please tell them, all right? You need Jesus. Lastly, the band is going to come and. I think this one, this is number six, I think it's as important as any, I think it ought to be the first thing and the last thing we do. That if we're going to reach this next generation, please hear me. Please, please hear me. Don't, don't miss this because if we are going to reach this next generation, yes, we've got to invest in them. Yes, we must include them. Absolutely, we must invite them. No doubt we ought to inspire them, For sure, we've got to introduce them. But please don't miss this. If we're going to reach the next generation, we have to intercede for them. Like, we have to pray for this next generation.

It's a lost generation. But I believe in many ways they are a revival generation, because here's the truth the darker the day, the brighter the light. And students, Jesus in you, He's the light of the world and now has made you the light of the world. Now church, look at this verse Ephesians 3:20. If you don't have this marked in your Bible, I would market highlight and underline and put stars by it. I would say this is it right here. Now to him. Look at somebody and say, That's the Lord. Now to him, I love this next part three words. Don't say it quietly. Say it loud. Say it proud. Now to him. Say it with me somebody. Who is able? Do you believe our God is able to reach this next generation? Do you believe God can bring revival in this generation? Do you believe this generation can change the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do you believe that? Yes, they can. You want to know why? Because our God is able, and he's able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think. But according to the power of the work, that is, where? It's not your question, its open book, it's right there, right? Within who, within us. Oh, man. Students, please look at me. I'm glad, man. I'm honored to have been here this weekend with you all.

But it ain't over, it's just starting. Yes, go home, take a nap before you go to bed, do it, man. Awesome. Then get up tomorrow, get in your schools and get after it. You got friends who knew Jesus, family who needs Jesus. They're not going to come listen to me, but they'll listen to you. And I want us to intercede for this generation, because here's the truth. When we get on our knees for this next generation, when we get on our knees before the Lord, for this next generation, we will see this next generation get on their feet for the Lord where they are. But we got to pray for him, so here's what I'm going to do. High school students stand up in this room. Stand up all over this room. Stand up all over this room. High school students stand up all over this room. Maybe some junior high snuck in this room. Come on, stand up middle schoolers. Come on, come on. Stand up. Here's what I'm going to ask you to do. Y'all got to do it quick. It's maybe weird, but we're going to do it.

I want you to just line up this whole front right here, OK? Y'all, just come on. Come on in the back. Come on. Come on. And I just want you to line up. All y'all. Y'all, stay over there. You got to stay over there. Just scoot up right there. Scoot up right there. Scoot up right there. Scoot up right there. Awesome, y'all. Come on, we got to make room for everybody. Can we praise God for all these students? Come on somebody where y'all come from? I love this. Come on. Just spread out. Spread out all across. Spread out left. Spread out right. Come on. Hey, y'all, move that way. If we need your room, y'all move out. All right. Move that way. Move that way. Listen, you've got to spread out because we're about to do something. We're going to need some room. So spread out over there. Spread out. You should only be a couple of people deep. Come on, y'all. Keep spread out. This is awesome. Y'all move up closer. There you go. I love it. Don't get on a stage. I know some people trying to do it. I can see it already. I know. I know they crazy. See, guys, if we're going to reach a next generation, we got to remember reaching the next generation, it's not a me thing, it's a we thing. And if you want to connect with us, just search that hashtag any social media. You'll find us. Look guys, this is a we thing. We're in this together, and I'm talking about Rona. I'm talking about the gospel.

OK, we're in this together. You have friends that need Jesus, they're never going to hear from me, but they're going to hear from you. Open up your mouth and tell them about Jesus. You know how, send the text. You know how to do it. Adults, it's time for us to tell the enemy you will not have this generation on my watch. You will not have this generation on my watch. So, here's what we're going to do. If you're in this room and man, you're a family looking for a church home. Our pastor is over there to my right, you're left. He’s over there. Yeah, there is Pastor Matt. Some our leadership's over there. Listen, if you're in this room, you're like, Man, this is my church home. This is where I need to be. In a moment when we stand, would you just go over there, find one of them and just put your hand in their hand and say, Hey, I think this is where God's called us to make our church home.

Everybody got it. Say got it. If you're in this room and you don't know Jesus, hey, students, if you're in this room and you haven't said yes to Jesus as your king. When we stand up in a moment, don't come up here. Go over there. Go over there and tell them. All you got to say is this, I need Jesus. Say it with me, everybody. I need Jesus. And, man, they'll lead you to Jesus today. Maybe you are saved, and you saw these people get baptized, you're like, Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I've never done that. Do I need to do that? Just come talk to one of our pastors and say, Hey, I need to be baptized. Can you? Can we talk? And then they'll help you take that next step.

Everybody with me? Say I'm with you. Now, you like, Ryan, why do you have all these teenagers up here? Because here's what we're about to do. We're about to have a prayer meeting right here in the house. OK. Have a prayer meeting over these people right now, students, here's what I need you to do in just a moment. Just like last night, I just need you to put your hands, not yet, put your hands on the shoulder of the people around you. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to pray for your friends, on your left and on your right. OK. In just a moment, I want you to begin to pray for the people on your left and on your right. Listen to me. Y'all know how we do this, students. We ain't praying no Baptist prayers, right, in our head and our heart like. Now we're Pentecostal this morning, all right, we're going to pray out loud. All right. We're going to pray out loud. OK, we're going to. Why? Because there's something that happens when you hear a friend praying for you, there's something powerful about that.

Now, adults, here's what I might ask you to do. It's going to get a little messy, but you know, God can handle our mess. I going to ask some of you men to come up here and pray over some of these young dudes. Listen to me close. There are some dudes in this room who've never had a grown man pray for them. And I want you to pray, not in your head and your heart, I want you to pray out loud over these young men. That God would raise up some men who love him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. That God would raise up missionaries, that God would raise up men and young women who would go to the ends of the Earth. Ladies, they're young ladies up here that need you to come and lay hands on them. Put your hands on their shoulders and just pray over them out loud. And ladies, they need, they need moms, they need friends, they need women of God who are praying over them and for them and with them. Because some of these young ladies have never had a woman pray over them before.

Now, I want to invite you to come and just lay hands on them and pray for them. So right now, adults, if you feel led to do so, would you just get up and would you come? And would you just begin to pray over this generation as you feel led. If you need to take a next step with us at this church and you want to know, hey, how can you be involved? How can you be part? You need Jesus. Go to my right, your left, just walk right over there. Put your hand in the pastors’ hand, and say I want - and whatever the next step is, just let them know. But you begin to pray right now. Students right now begin to pray for each other, begin to pray over and for and out loud over one another. Y'all spread out and get them. Just lay hands on them. Hey, if you can't get to a student, then you just can't. You put your hand on an adult in front of them. Just let's pray over this generation.

Let's pray for this generation. The rest of y'all in the room. Would you just stand right now as we stand in this room? If you need to take a step, you take that step. You come let one of our pastors know, Hey, I need to just let them know, and they'll help you take that next step. We're going to sing. Man, we're going to worship a little bit. Oh, we're going to pray right now. Students don't look at me. Begin to pray for one another. Lift up one another. Cry out for one another. Ask God to bring revival and awakening in this next generation. Pray healing. Pray against anxiety and depression and brokenness and gender confusion. Pray for spiritual darkness. Pray against it. And ask God to break the bonds of the enemy on this generation. Pray Jesus, this light would shine like never before. That they would be lifted up that they would be encouraged to Burnt Hickory would be a place that students are wanted and welcomed and pointed to Jesus. Pray for families that need to join right now to come. People that need Jesus right now to step out and go as we're praying here. You step out. You pray right there. You get together with your family and you begin to pray. Dads lead out right now. Put your arm around your wife. You begin to pray for your family. Grandparents. Put your arms around each other and pray for your grandchildren. Hey, singles in the room. Put your arms and link arms together and just ask God to bring revival in this place. There's a generation in need of Jesus. God has put us here for this time.

God, I pray that you would take what some consider a graveyard generation z. They consider them a spiritual graveyard. And God today, I pray that you would raise up gardens that glorify you. God, that you would raise up young men and young women to know you love you, pursue you. Stand up for truth to speak the truth in love. Point a confused generation to the God who can bring life, hope, healing, meaning. Lord, speak to us.

As we sing this out together as a church family, you continue to pray adults, I would ask if you're done praying or when you're done praying, would you just lift your hands over this generation and just pray over them? Would you lift your hands and just sing this over a generation, a generation that many consider a spiritual graveyard? Would you pray that God would wake up a garden of glorifying God students who would love him and follow him? Sing this out with your hands lifted high over this next generation.

Follow Along with the Message

How to Reach & Keep Gen Z

March 27, 2022

Judges 2:10
After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who did not know the Lord nor the things He had done.
Galatians 6:7–9
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows… 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
1 Corinthians 11:1
Be imitators of Christ, as I am of Christ.
Luke 14:23
And the masters said to the servant, “Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.”
Hebrews 10:24
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
Ephesians 3:20
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us…

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