All right, guys. Wes talked to the parents. Harrison talked to everybody else. I get to talk to the kids. Parents, turn to your kids. Take away the iPad, take away your phone, and take out the headphones. Don't take any bathroom breaks. Just hold it, unless you're about to have an accident. Kids, this is for you. I get to talk to the kids because I have kids, and I've been working with kids here at Watermark for the last 15 years. My wife's name is Alli. My oldest son is Chapman, and then there's Cole and Annabel.
My kids have taught me a lot about you, about kids in general. One thing I've learned is kids are really good at imitating people they admire. I'm a little bit embarrassed, but all these clothes on this rack come from closets in my own house. They're full of jerseys and princess dresses because those are the people my kids love to imitate.
Here's what I want to do. I want everybody to participate. Parents, you're included. Kids, you get to yell in church. I'm going to hold up a jersey, and you tell me who my kids are imitating when they wear this jersey, dress, or shirt. Last night, they were not very good at this game. I don't think they were the sporty crowd. They were coming to church on a football day.
Who's this guy? That's right, it's Dak Prescott. We're going to do another easy one. Who's this? That's right, it's Steph Curry. We're going to go a little bit deeper here. My son Cole is a huge fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I don't know why. Who's this? It's Le'Veon Bell. Cole likes to dress up like Le'Veon Bell. Let's see one more. Do you know who this is? Serge Ibaka. That's a deep cut.
This one is for you, girls. Who is my daughter imitating? Moana. "Make way, make way!" Who is my daughter imitating when she wears this? Belle, from Beauty and the Beast. Shame on you guys for knowing that.
Kids are really good at imitating people they admire. They love it. You guys are great at imitating athletes. You're great at imitating Captain America and superheroes. You're great at imitating princesses. Teenagers, you maybe outgrow this stuff, but do you know who you're good at imitating? Each other. They imitate their peers in their pockets of culture. Everybody dresses the same and acts the same. We're good at imitating people we admire.
Here's the challenge I have for you this morning, kids. I want to challenge you to not only imitate athletes, superheroes, princesses, and the popular culture around you. I want to challenge you to imitate people who follow Jesus. Kids, I think you can follow along and pay attention. I'm going to give you one verse and three key words. We're all going to say them together so you can remember this. Kids, get out your activity sheet. You can take some notes. You can remember this, and you can apply this.
Here's the one verse that's going to challenge you to imitate people who follow Jesus. It's Hebrews 13:7. It says, "Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith." Our three key words from this verse are going to be remember, consider, and imitate.
1._ Remember_. We are called to remember our leaders who spoke the Word of God to us. Guys, if you spend any time around this place, you have an incredible gift. If you're in K-1 RACE, On Your Mark, Crossroads45, Kaleidoscope, Wake, or the High School Ministry, you have an incredible gift, because you have leaders who speak the Word of God to you week after week.
But there's a problem, kids. I think most weeks, you walk out of your classrooms, and you completely forget your leaders exist. Right now, if I were to ask you, "What are the names of the leaders in your class?" could you think of them right now? Good job. Some of you can't. My middle child could not do it. That's a shame, because we're supposed to remember our leaders. They're gifts, and we don't have any problem remembering gifts, do we?
Chapman just had a birthday. My oldest son turned 10 last Wednesday. Do you want to know what we heard all day? "When do we open presents? Can I open my presents now?" You guys do that at Christmas, don't you? "Mom, can I open one early? When are we opening presents? Do we have to wait until after dinner? Can we open presents now?"
When you have a gift waiting for you, you don't forget it. You remember it. Your leaders love you, care about you, and they want to teach you about God. That is an incredible gift, so we're called to remember our leaders who spoke the Word of God to us.
2._ Consider._ We're called to remember our leaders who spoke the Word of God to us, but then we're supposed to consider the outcome of their way of life. What does that mean? Kids, this is simple. "Consider the outcome of their way of life" is just a fancy way of saying, "Get to know your leaders." Get to know them better.
Think about this, kids. When you walk into your class, probably the first thing your leaders say to you is, "Hey, how's it going? How was your week? Did you do anything fun this week?" They want to get to know you and hear about your week. "What do you have coming up this week? Do you have any games? How were your sports? How were your tests? What's going on in your family? Did you take a trip?"
You're telling your leaders all about yourself, but kids, how many times have you stopped to get to know your leaders and asked them, "How was your week? What do you have coming up? What's going on in your life?" Kids, do you know if your leader is married or single? Where do they go to college? What do they do for a job? Most importantly, when did they start following Jesus? Why did they decide to follow Jesus? Why did they decide to even teach your class?
We're supposed to consider the outcome of their way of life and the way their lives have turned out. We're supposed to get to know them, because God has given them to us as a gift, an example for us to follow, and we can't follow their example if we don't know them.
I was really, really convicted about this as I was preparing to talk to all of y'all about it, because I realized my oldest son has had the same teacher for three years, and all we know is his first name. I don't know Tyler's last name. I don't know where Tyler works. I don't know if he's married. I don't know why he's teaching that class or when he became a Christian, and my son doesn't know that, either.
As an application of this point, one thing my wife and I have committed to do is we're going to stalk Tyler. We're going to find out his last name and his phone number, and we're going to invite him over to our house for dinner. My kids are supposed to consider the outcome of Tyler's way of life, but they can't do that if they don't know Tyler.
3._ Imitate._ Kids, the challenge is to remember your leaders. Remember you have an incredible gift from God. Then, you need to get to know them and consider the outcome of their way of life. Then you can imitate. Imitating is easy. You guys already know how to do it. To imitate your leaders and their faith, all you have to do is do for someone else what they are doing for you.
I work in the high school ministry, and I've been here for 15 years, so I've gotten to see this played out time and time again. I want to share with you what this could look like, kids, if you were to remember your leaders, consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
Becca Nail's leaders in high school were Karla Self and Karen Smith. Now, Becca has graduated high school and college, and she now leads her own eighth-grade small group. She remembered her leaders who spoke the Word of God to her. She got to know them and considered the outcome of their way of life, and now she's imitating their faith.
It doesn't stop with Becca. Carter Tamlyn came to Wake back when we met at Lake Highlands High School in the cafeteria. Now Carter is in his third year leading his own small group. They're now in eighth grade. He has been with them since sixth grade, because he remembered Braun Brown and Ryan McNutt. He considered the outcome of their way of life, and he's imitating their faith.
Jason Delph remembered Jason Schroer, Cody Friddle, and Chad Crain, and now he's leading his own small group of twelfth-grade guys. Jillian Martin remembered Lon Trent. She considered the outcome of her way of life, and she's imitating her faith. Jillian is leading her own small group. So is Sallye Hale, who was also in Lon Trent's small group. Sallye remembered and considered, and she's now imitating by leading twelfth-grade girls.
Kate Padgitt was led by Lisa Miller, Sarah Franks, and Kristen Shepelwich. She's leading eighth-grade girls. Maggie McCarty was in Kristin Laughlin's small group. She remembered and considered her, and she's now imitating her and leading eleventh-grade girls. Marlow Holland, now Marlow Blake, was in Kristin Laughlin's small group. She is leading eleventh-grade girls.
Rachael Delph, who ended up, amazingly, marrying Jason, was in Kristin Schroer, Stephanie McNaughton, and Jen Holt's small group. Now she's leading twelfth-grade girls of her own. It's multiplying, guys. Elizabeth Wampler had Tara Bozeman. She remembered, considered, and is imitating her by leading twelfth graders.
This one is my favorite. Caroline Snavely, now Caroline Sears and Lindsey Gray remembered, considered, and are imitating my wife, Alli Penuel, who was their small group leader. Now they are leading tenth-grade girls of their own.
Kids, lock back in here and listen to me. You don't have to wait until you graduate college to come back here to Watermark and lead a small group. I want to tell you about another kind of imitation. I want you to pay attention next week when you walk into the place, because you're going to see pre-teens, teenagers, and maybe even younger…
You're going to see another kind of imitation. They're not wearing jerseys or dresses. They're wearing Starting Blocks shirts. All around this church, there are hundreds of kids serving kids. They're wearing shirts for K-1 RACE, On Your Mark, Crossroads45, The Dash, Kaleidoscope… There are kids all over this church who are already remembering their leaders, considering the outcome of their way of life, and imitating their faith. We have kids teaching kids at this church.
Kids, I want you to hear me loud and clear. This is your church, and this verse is calling you to be a leader in this church. I'll bet we have some kindergarteners and first graders out here. Listen to me, guys. This is your church. You can lead. Did you know this? If you have a parent with you and you're not an incredible distraction, you can serve in Starting Blocks.
Kindergarteners, you can go teach someone younger than you what someone else has taught you. If you've learned anything about Jesus, you can teach it to someone else, and all the way up. I want to invite you to come lead this place with us. All you have to do is remember, consider, and imitate. Guys, listen. If we can all do this, this place will never be a museum.
