Hymn 284

Psalms 48 is about knowing Zion the city of God and the city of the Great King. Psalms 48:12-13, “Walk about Zion, and go round about her, tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.” Judges 2:10, “And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel.” This is one of the saddest verses in the Bible. They knew the form, but not the spirit of serving God. Many years ago, Willie Smiley was worried that the third and fourth generations might know all the form and traditions of serving God, but lack the fear, spirit and love required to truly have a personal relationship with God.

We have a responsibility in our day and generation to give clear directions for the generations to come. Psalms 78:2-7, “I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He hath done. For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children; that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.” There are four generations mentioned:  our father, our generation, our children, and children to come. Each generation is like a link in a chain. We are linked with those before us and those following us.

We can also compare it to a brick wall. A brick wall requires a solid foundation. Christ as the chief cornerstone provides the sure foundation. Each row of bricks is like a generation and we are attached to two other generations — the generation before and the generation following. Each brick has 6 sides. The bottom side attached to the preceding generation and the top to following generation. The two ends are attached to others of our generation. There are two other sides, one side that is seen by all and another side that is seen only by God. For the wall to be strong, it must all be in alignment with the Chief Corner stone. What happens if our run (generation) gets out of line? Are we concerned that we are safe for the coming generation to build upon?

Exodus 12:25-27, “And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as He hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, 'What mean ye by this service?' That ye shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.' And the people bowed the head and worshipped.” Egypt is a type of the world and we need to pass on our testimony of when we left the world for the Promised Land. There are two avenues to God’s heart — hearing and seeing. The same avenues speak to us.

My testimony begins with my ancestors. In 1896, Aunt Dora Holland was searching for salvation. She heard God’s servants speaking in a Methodist Church and made her choice for truth. She spent five years in the ministry in Ireland then in 1905 she came to the Canadian Prairies. In 1908, she and Ruby Long came to Emo, Ontario where the rest of my family had immigrated. Uncle Harry Holland was the first to profess and was followed by my mother and then, one by one, the whole family chose truth.

Exodus 16:32, “And Moses said, 'This is the thing which the LORD commandeth:  fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.'” What had sustained them was to be kept for a remembrance.

Numbers 11:7-9, “And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium. And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.” It is important to let your children and grandchildren know what is most important to you — what fed me in the desert. On Saturday night, it is good to look back and ask, “What fed me this week?” The bread of heaven is necessary food.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7, “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” Share with the next generation. Teach children 24 hour a day for 7 days a week. They need to learn to love what God loves and hate what God hates. The cry of a baby during meeting is like a New Year's resolution — made to be carried out. My parents had a practice that all was to be in order and there was one and a half hour’s quiet time before the meeting.

Joshua 4:8-9, “And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the LORD spake unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood, and they are there unto this day.” These were hidden and an unhidden memorials. Crossing the Red Sea was a type of baptism. Crossing the Jordan River was leaving a wilderness behind. A hidden memorial is between God and us. I remember well a pole-building at Bakersfield convention where God began to deal with me about the ministry. My reasoning was, “I can’t sing,” “I can’t spell.” The mailbox where I mailed my letter offering for the ministry is a hidden memorial for me. We should share our memorials with our children and grandchildren.

Joshua 22:24-27, “And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, 'In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, "What have ye to do with the LORD God of Israel?" For the LORD hath made Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of Reuben and children of Gad; ye have no part in the LORD: so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the LORD. Therefore we said, 'Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice but that it may be a witness between us, and you, and our generations after us, that we might do the service of the LORD before him with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings;' that your children may not say to our children in time to come, 'Ye have no part in the LORD.'” Two and a half Tribes wanted their inheritance on the east side of Jordan. The altar was a witness that they were part of Israel — not separated. There was a family in Arizona that took a lunch to eat in the car and drove two and a half hours to get to the gospel meeting. Their explanation was, “We want our children in gospel meetings and in fellowship with other professing young people.” Not separated.

* This was Sydney’s second to last convention message