Roots for Future Generations
Rev. Blake Altman

God intends to change you by His Word. How is He at work in you to do that?  Read the following passage and consider these questions.

READ

Deuteronomy 32:7 (ESV)

[7] Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you.

Psalm 78:1-8, 70-72 (ESV)

[1] A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! [2] I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, [3] things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. [4] We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. [5] He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, [6] that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, [7] so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; [8] and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. 

[70] He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds; [71] from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance. [72] With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.

DISCUSS

Tell of his miracles

1. God works through every facet of life, both “naturally” and miraculously. Describe a time in which you witnessed God work in a seeming miraculous way with regard to:

   a. Spiritual growth and/or salvation

   b. Health

   c. Generosity

2. Why is it important to tell of his miracles to others in the covenant community? To our covenant children?

3. If you had a Macgyver-esque thirty seconds to tell your children of the Lord’s kindness to you, what might you say?

Teach his ways

4. How can we teach our covenant children of the Lord’s ways in such a way that it’s not law-driven but gospel-driven?

Two results

5. Pastor Blake mentioned two results from the passage: that the next generation 1) sets their hope in God, and 2) remembers the gospel and lives in light of it. How do we live in such a way that diligently seeks to have our future generations hope in God and remember the gospel, yet trusts God for the “results”?

ROOTS GENEROSITY CHALLENGE

6. What am I intentionally doing right now to ensure that my children or others whom I influence around me are learning the value of generosity? 

PRAY

Ask the Father to give you a godly heritage that is both physical and spiritual, and that your generations would rest in the God of grace.