This being graduation Sunday and since we’re focused on our youth I would like to begin by sharing some examples - the tip of the iceberg - some recent examples of what is taking place within the next generation.

In March 1998: In Dallas, Texas, four teenagers claiming to be vampires went on a drug-crazed destruction spree - vandalizing dozens of cars and homes, spray-painting racial slurs and burning down the office and fellowship hall of the Bethany Lutheran Church.

In April 1998: In Yonkers, New York, a 15 year old girl, upset that her teacher called her parents about her poor academic performance, attacked the pregnant instructor with a hammer. The teacher suffered multiple skull fractures.

In April 1998: In Indianapolis, Indiana, police have begun random searches for weapons on school buses and in elementary schools after an 8 year old boy allegedly pointed a gun at a female classmate who was teasing him about his ears.

Today, the pressure on kids and parents is tremendous - drugs, stealing, violence, extramarital sex, disease, loneliness and emptiness.

What are parents to do? What is anyone - who has a concern for the next generation - to do? How can we educate our children to survive in today’s world - and live in our cherished beliefs and culture?

That’s what we’d like to focus on in the next few minutes - 2 practical truths to help us to help the next generation. I invite you to turn with me to Deuteronomy 6:1-9.

Moses has just finished delivering the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel. In Deuteronomy 5 the people have told Moses that they desire to walk in obedience to the commandments of God. In Deuteronomy 6 - Moses deals with the practicality of what that means. What does it mean to obey God - and how are we to help the next generation to live in obedience to God - especially in a land which is hostile to the time honored values and culture we cherish. These verses in Deuteronomy 6 are some of the most powerful words of instruction to parents in the all of the Bible.

Verse 1: Now this is the commandment, the statutes and ordinances which the Lord your God commanded me to teach you - these are all the decrees and laws that we read in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and the rest of Deuteronomy - the Thou shalts and the Thou shalt nots - Listen to the commandments of God - that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to posses it - the Promised Land - Canaan - (2) - Do these - that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son - obedience creates within us a response of awe - of respect - reverence for God - a multigenerational respect for God - to your son’s sons - by keeping all His statutes and His commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged. (3) Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them; that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

The commandments of God are not given to restrict our lives but to give us fullness of life with God and in our community - live in obedience to God and our lives will be blessed - even our livestock - our means of employment and livelihood will be blessed.

As a bottom line - isn’t this really what we want for the next generation? - to experience the blessings of God - personally and in their relationships with others - regardless of the society and culture we live in.

In verse 4, Moses moves from the philosophical to the practical. How do we help the next generation to live within the blessings of God? First, this foundational statement of our belief: (4) Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; (5) and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might - There are a lot gods out there - objects and philosophies and religions to worship. But we worship the God who is One - unique among the gods - the only One worthy of the devotion of our lives - all we are.

(6) And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; (7) and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (8) And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets - these little boxes that had passages of scripture in them as a reminder of God’s commands - and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. (9) And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

2 practical truths to help us to help the next generation.

1. WE CAN ONLY TEACH WHAT WE KNOW vv. 4-6

Just south of Stockton is the town of Patterson. And in Patterson, two teenagers - Felipe Garza, Jr. and Donna Ashlock - fell in love with each other. Felipe and Donna dated until Donna cooled the romance and began dating other boys. But, it seems that Felipe never stopped loving Donna.

One day, Donna doubled over in pain. Doctors discovered that Donna was dying of a degenerative heart disease and desperately needed a heart transplant. Felipe heard about Donna’s condition and told his mother, “I’m going to die and I’m going to give my heart to my girlfriend.”

Sometimes teenagers say things that sound pretty irrational to their parents - so his mother didn’t really pay too much attention to it. After all, Felipe appeared to his mom to be in perfect health.

Three weeks later, Felipe woke up and complained about a pain on the left side of his head. He began losing his breath and couldn’t walk. When he was taken to the hospital they discovered that a blood vessel in his brain had burst - and he died.

While he remained on a respirator, his family decided to let physicians remove his kidneys and eyes for people in need of those organs, and - according to Felipe’s wishes - his heart for Donna. So, Donna received Felipe’s heart!

After the transplant, Donna’s father told her that Felipe had evidently been sick for about three months before he died. He said, “He donated his kidneys and eyes.” There was a pause and Donna said, “And I have his heart.”

Her father said, “Yes, that was what he and his family wished.” Her expression changed just a little. She then asked her father who knew. He told her, “Everybody.” Nothing else was said.

Several days later, there was a funeral procession through the orchards and fields around Patterson - that seemed to go on forever. The procession was so long it could have been for royalty or a celebrity. But it was for Felipe. His only claim to fame was his love and his heart.

It’s unforgettable when a person gives up his life so that someone he loved could live. It would be unforgettable for us - if we had received a new and healthy heart from someone who loved us more than we could appreciate. And every moment we would live - would be a tribute to the one who loved us so much that he gave his life for us.

Moses says in verse 5 - and Jesus repeats this to us in the New Testament as the greatest commandment - “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might....and these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart.”

The greatest commandment is not a long indexed list of “thou shalts” and “thou shalt nots” - but a call to the total surrender and devotion of our lives to God - who has given us His heart - His Son Jesus Christ. Obedience is learning to respect, to love, to thank, and to worship God - with everything we are in every moment of our lives - in a loving relationship with the God who has loved us so completely.

Loving God is not just trying to live in obedience to His commandments. Its because we love God that we seek to live in obedience to Him. And our children - those around us - will know if we are simply obeying God or if we are deeply in love with Him.

Our kids know us. They know if we just come here because we’re Armenian Evangelicals and that’s what Armenian Evangelicals do. They know if we do things for the church because we feel we’re obligated to. They watch to see if we act one way here and another way at home - they listen to our words. They know if we live up to a set of morals or standards because of our culture or because of our relationship with God.

And the bottom line is this: If we are trying to teach our children to love God and obey Him - and we ourselves are not committed to the priority of loving God - our children will reject our teaching as hypocritical - and more than likely will reject God.

We can only teach what we know.

The second practical truth to help us to help the next generation is:

2. TO TEACH AND TO KEEP ON TEACHING vv. 7-9

There isn’t a single moment when we are not teaching the next generation about God.

When I was younger, our family would go on these camping trips with another family. We’d get up in the morning and their boys and I we’d be ready to go. There were trails to be hiked and lakes to be swam in - lots of stuff waiting to be done. The sun is up - why aren’t we moving?

But, the parents had this religious conspiracy thing going. Every morning - even though it wasn’t Sunday - we’d have to have devotions. One dad would open his Bible and read us a passage. And then while we all had to sit there he’d explain what the passage meant to him.

I knew what it meant. It meant that it was at least 8:30 and we could have done about a million things already. And then - they’d have us spend time in prayer.

Even though back then it was torture for me to sit there, I learned something about my parents. God came first.

One time I was thinking about buying a car. And I really wanted the car. It was a Mustang fastback in really excellent condition - and it was white with a blue interior and blue is my favorite color. And then my parents asked me a really irritating question, “Have you prayed about it?”

I didn’t want to pray about it. God was going to talk me out of buying the car and I wanted the car. But I learned - Seek God first.

The great disaster in our society today - and in our homes - and in our culture - is that we have forgotten that God comes first. People just don’t see how a relationship with God makes sense in their everyday lives because many times they’ve never been shown what it means to live with God in the everyday circumstances of our lives.

Dr. James Dobson - of Focus on the Family - commenting on the severe circumstances in which our children are growing up - Dr. Dobson writes, “The bell sounds.... for a nation that is turning its back on the moral law it once cherished - a law written on every human heart, yet unrecognized by many members of the younger generation who have never heard about it from their elders. Are we surprised at the spectacle of children killing children? Are we shocked to open our newspapers, turn on our TVs and look into the faces of a couple of Opie and Beaver look-alikes charged with five counts of capital murder?”

Moses writes - Teach the commandments diligently. When you’re sitting around the house - being a couch potato - in the morning - at night - when you go in and when you go out - at the mall - keep these commandments always on your mind. There is no time when we are not teaching about what it means to love God. In every circumstance live loving God - obeying Him - and the next generation will learn what it means to know God in the everyday circumstance of their lives.

Teach and keep on teaching.

We as children of our Heavenly Father need more and more to ask Him to provide us with His knowledge, wisdom, guidance, and power to become the Godly parents and grandparents He wants us to be. To deepen our relationship and love for God. We need to be praying not only for ourselves and the other parents we know, but also for our children and their children, as well as for the children all around us who are struggling with deep moral issues and at times even life-and-death issues.