August 4, 2022
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Albert Einstein's great-grandson doing a commercial? Yeah, he did a few years ago. This particular auto manufacturer was showing that a new generation of drivers was choosing their make of car; not just their fathers and grandfathers. And he would go, "This is not my father's ___." Now, I'm not going to name the car. They've got to pay for that. No, wait, we don't have commercials here.
But they also had the sons and daughters of famous people peeling out in their - shall we call it their new car X - sometimes with their father as a passenger. This is not my father's car X. Obviously some advertiser thought that they needed to develop a new market among the sons and daughters of the older generations who had bought that car. The next generation has to make their choice of how they're going to travel.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Mama and Daddy Can't Get You to Heaven."
Our word for today from the Word of God is in 2 Timothy 1:5. Paul was writing to his spiritual son in the faith, Timothy. He says, "I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother, Lois, and in your mother, Eunice, and I am persuaded now lives in you also." Okay, here's a guy with a great heritage. He has a godly grandmother who has chosen Christ. He has a godly mother who knows Christ. And now, it says, "It's reached to you, Timothy. I remember your sincere faith." Even though Timothy had a great spiritual family, a great heritage, a great environment, that wasn't enough. It took his own, personal, sincere faith in Christ to bring it into his life. He couldn't hitchhike on a godly grandmother. He couldn't hitchhike on a godly mother.
That word sincere in Latin, it means "without wax." They used it to describe plates that you'd buy at the market, or pottery that had not been patched up with wax by the merchant. So, you know, he tried to use that to cover up the cracks. When you held it up to the sunlight, really it was what it appeared to be. It was cynacera; sincere - without wax. Well, God is saying here, "Timothy, I know about your sincere, un-fake, first-hand stand-the-test faith.
See, you need to have a personal visit to the cross. You can't get by on somebody else's. You might be able to rewrite the commercial and say, "This is not my mother's Christian faith. This is not my father's Christian faith." Possibly you've been trying to get by on a "me too" faith. Maybe you wonder why your efforts to live the Christian life keep collapsing. Maybe there's no foundation. Could it be that you've never begun a relationship with Christ yourself? You've sort of been coasting on your Christian environment instead of really digging into Jesus for yourself. That's why it's so hollow.
See, a "me too" faith won't make it in a world that's running away from God. You've got to have a faith that's skin like part of you, not like clothes that you change for every different occasion. Maybe it's time for you to step out of the false security of a nice Christian environment. You need Christ in you, not just around you. You don't need to rebel against your parent's commitment just to prove your individuality. You've got to find your own commitment to Christ...personal, powerful, and stronger than your parent's.
Second Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves to see whether or not you are in the faith." You're not going to be able to get to heaven on your family's faith or your church's faith. Can you look at your commitment and say, "This is not my parent's Christian life, it's not my church's." Because you're going to crash if you try to drive someone else's faith. It's time for you to say, "Jesus, you loved me. You died for me. I'm making you my Savior, my Rescuer from my sin."
If you've never done that, tell Him, "Today is the day, Jesus, I'm Yours." Go to our website. Make sure you know that you belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com. See, then choose how you're going to travel and go from "me too" to "my personal Savior."