069 Sticky Faith: Reactive or Proactive?

I have four audiences in mind for this message. 

1.     Youth
You who are in junior high school or high school face the challenge of making the faith your own faith. 

2.     Young Adults
You are the Church’s hope for the future.  It might encourage you to know that ever since the 1st century the greatest Kingdom movements came from 18-29 year-olds. Stay strong.  Shine your light and shake your salt.

3.     Parents
Research indicates (and this was kids saying this), the #1 influence in their lives was their parents.  However, those same kids said that influence wasn’t manifest in what those parents said as much as in how those parents lived.  

4.     Grandparents
The importance of your role cannot be overstated.  Perhaps your kids have dropped the baton with their kids.  You can pick it up and pass it on to your grandchildren.   

Or perhaps you can intentionally look for those kids outside of your family who don’t have an engaged parent and make a difference.  You have experience and wisdom, and above all, you have time.  

The bottom line?  We’re all in this together.  And it’s going to take all of us buck the odds.  

2 Timothy 1:7 says: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind.”(NKJV)

What is seen here is that when we face the challenges of life, we can take two different responses. The first is…“timidity/fear” – a reactive response.

We can look at the matter of passing on the faith to our children in an increasingly depraved world and worry ourselves sick that our kids might become a statistic.  The thing is, not only will that lead you into misery, but ironically it can make things worse.   

What God has given us is a spirit of “power, love, and a sound mind” – a proactive response. 

• Power

In order to access the power of God to pass on the faith to the next generation is the proactive position of prayer. Not reactive prayer where we pray after a crisis surfaces, but proactive prayer where we pray before a crisis surfaces.

God has also given us a spirit of…

• Love

The Greek word here is agape.  That word means “love without limits, love without cause.”  It’s the sort of love that God has for His children – a love that gives the best and forgives the worst.  As those who’ve been given this love, we’re to pass it on. 

The proactive position is care. Agape love is not simply a feeling, it’s an action.  Research has shown that young people who end up with a sticky faith experienced care (well-calibrated grace and truth) from their parents and grandparents. 

God has given us a spirit of power, love, and a…

• Sound mind

80% of the young adults who walk away from their faith admitted they never thought they would do so. So, the proactive position is to prepare. 

How can you help prepare your children for life when they’re not under your roof?  We need to be strategic and intentional. To have unduly sheltered your children while in your home without preparing them for life outside your home is to send them out totally unprepared.  

Check out the book Sticky Faith by Kara Powell and Chap Clark which served as a major resource for this series. 

Text: 2 Timothy 1:3-7

Originally recorded May 4, 2014, at Fellowship Missionary Church, Fort Wayne, IN.