In February of this year I had the privilege of traveling to Michigan and preaching the funeral for my paternal grandmother, Margaret Jennings. The experience did several things for me, one of which was impart a greater appreciation for the winter weather we enjoy here in central Arizona. (Maybe the Michigan constituency of the PCG can help me identify the cold, white substance that fell from the sky that afternoon–it’s foreign to us native “Phoenicians.”) More importantly, I was impacted by the legacy that she left behind: 12 children, 11 living–all of whom are serving the Lord–and 40 grandchildren, a vast majority serving the Lord. It’s a family testimony that is almost unheard of in our culture today.
As we prepare this month to celebrate the 90th anniversary of our movement, we cannot take for granted the legacy that has been left with the Pentecostal Church of God. The Pentecostal Messenger has done a tremendous job in recent months relating how this legacy has impacted our movement. Thousands of leaders, ministers and constituents have contributed to this legacy throughout the decades with the sheer determination to follow the call of God and fulfill the Great Commission. A legacy is simply “something that is handed down from the past–from an ancestor or predecessor.” Legacies are left by someone to someone, and then it becomes the responsibility of those who have been entrusted with it to steward it, guard it, and pass it on to the next generation. The fact is, however, if a legacy is going to continue, there has to be an heir. There has to be someone to leave the legacy to or else the legacy will die with the current generation.
Much has been discussed over the past 10 years of the “graying” of the PCG and the lack of younger ministers coming up through our ranks. It is a well-documented trend not unique to the PCG. Other Pentecostal and Evangelical movements across our nation face the same problem and are diligently and prayerfully searching for answers as to how this phenomenon can be reversed. I submit to you that if we want our legacy to continue in the Pentecostal Church of God, we have to be passionately committed to guarding the destiny of the next generation.
In Genesis 3:15 God gave Adam the promise of a Seed that would be carried from generation to generation culminating with the birth of Messiah. I’m not sure that when God called Abram several generations later and gave him the promise of the Seed, that he fully realized how God would guard the destiny of his Seed. Every natural seed has destiny to become something great, but the seed cannot release the destiny within unless it is properly guarded and given what it needs to succeed (soil, sunlight, water, fertilizer, etc.). The Seed promised to Adam in the Garden was preserved 42 generations from Abraham to Christ spanning 2000 years. This is nothing short of miraculous when you consider wars, famine, oppression of other nations and other circumstances that could have killed the seed’s destiny.
When David became the second Monarch of Israel, it placed the Messianic Seed in an even more vulnerable position, because the enemies of Judah became focused on eliminating the royal line. The enemies of God’s people knew that if they could eliminate the royal lineage it would throw the nation into anarchy and severely cripple their ability to stand strong against them. The princes of Israel survived because there were certain people who committed themselves to guarding the destiny of the Seed–the destiny of the next generation.
For us today, every young man and woman who makes up the constituency of the PCG could be looked at as the princes of the Church who will one day become the leaders–the kings, if I may use that metaphor. The seed of destiny in them is ordained for great things, but just like a natural seed, it has to be guarded, nurtured and given what it needs to succeed.
We live in a culture where our young princes are vulnerable. Everything in the kingdom of darkness has set its sights on trapping and killing the seed because it knows that if the royal lineage can be taken out, it will severely cripple us in our quest to advance the kingdom of God–and dare I say, if the kingdom of darkness can take out the princes of the Pentecostal Church of God, it will severely cripple our ability as a movement to continue our legacy into the next generation and beyond. What we need are “Kings,” fathers in the faith who will lay it on the line and commit themselves to guarding the destiny of the next generation.
In the 400 years or so of Judah’s history, the destiny of the Seed was preserved in many ways, but in the following instance its preservation goes beyond description and leaves a profound truth for us as we seek to guard our princes and see them fulfill their destiny as kings.
When Ahab and Jezebel were wreaking havoc in Israel, Jehosaphat was king over Judah. Toward the end of his reign, Jehosaphat made a decision that nearly set up the Messianic Seed for destruction. He entered into a ship-building contract with Ahab that turned disastrous. In the process of this unholy alignment, his son (and heir to the throne) Jehoram married Athaliah, who was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. Jehoram and Athaliah bore a son named Ahaziah, a prince who became heir to the throne of Judah. There was one problem, however: God had instructed a man named Jehu to destroy the entire house of Ahab and rid the land of its influence. Because of the unholy alliance formed by Jehosaphat, his grandsons (the Seed) were now part of the house of Ahab. Ahaziah and his 42 brothers were slain by Jehu. Athaliah then tried to finish off the Seed forever.
2 Chronicles 22:10
Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal heirs of the house of Judah.
There was no one to protect the princes and guard the destiny of the Seed. Now all of the heirs are apparently dead and Athaliah thought her evil plot had been executed to perfection. But God had two people in place who saw what was happening in the land–two people who understood the current culture and the legacy that had been handed down from God to Abraham–two people who were willing to risk everything and do whatever it took to guard the destiny of the next generation and see that the legacy was preserved. I absolutely love the next part of the story.
2 Chronicles 22:11-12
But Jehoshabeath... took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were being murdered, and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. So Jehoshabeath... hid him from Athaliah so that she did not kill him. And he was hidden with them in the house of God for six years, while Athaliah reigned over the land.
Ahaziah’s sister, Jehoshabeath, and her husband Jehoiada took the only remaining prince of Judah, Joash, and hid him from the destruction that was being levied on the Messianic Seed. For 6 years they risked their own lives to guard the destiny of the next generation. Joash was the only remaining heir to the throne, but the Seed was still alive! Her husband Jehoiada, the priest, then made four bold moves that ended up releasing the next generation (Joash) to fulfill his destiny.
He Strengthened Himself
2 Chronicles 23:1 — “In the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself.”
This means he became fixed on a purpose. He became full of resolve that the legacy was going to continue for generations to come. This priest of God made up his mind that the enemy was not going to win and that the young prince and heir to the throne was going to take his rightful place as leader and king. Dare I say that if the legacy of the Pentecostal Church of God is going to continue, the current generation is going to have to strengthen itself and become fixed on a purpose? Are we ready to become full of resolve that even though the enemy is attacking our princes we will see to it that our young princes will one day take their rightful place as kings and fulfill their destiny?
He Made a Covenant with the Captains of Hundreds
2 Chronicles 23:1 — “...and made a covenant with the captains of hundreds.”
He gathered the warriors–the battle-tested soldiers of Judah–together. What a strategic move this was. Jehoiada knew that Athaliah wouldn’t take the news of a rightful heir lying down. He knew the enemy would stand toe to toe and fight to protect its perceived gains. If the legacy was going to continue, it had to be defended by the voice of experience in battle.
We must realize that our young princes need the battle-tested soldiers of our movement to step to the plate, believe in them and fight for them. They want the captains of hundreds who have been in the trenches planting churches and raising up leaders surrounding them and going to war for their destiny. The cry for help from the next generation is going out across this land to the previous generation, and if we truly believe in the destiny of our young princes, we the battle-tested captains will be the first ones to grab a sword, look the enemy in the eye and say “I dare you to stop us!”
He Gathered the Priests and Fathers
2 Chronicles 23:2 “And [they]... gathered the Levites... and the chief fathers of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.”
The need for spiritual fathers and mothers is great in this day. Joash
was a boy whose father had been killed and his uncle recognized that
if the young Prince was going to succeed as a king, he would need
fatherly influence and protection in his life. The young princes of the
Pentecostal Church of God are no different. Many of them have never
had a true spiritual father or mother in their life to mentor, speak wisdom, influence and protect them. They need fathers and mothers consistently speaking into their lives, reminding them who they are and
what the seed in them represents.
He Made a Covenant with the King
2 Chronicles 23:3 — “Then all the congregation made a covenant with the king...And he said to them, “Behold, the king’s son shall reign, as the Lord has said.”
Sacred bonds were formed. A covenant was made. The declaration was loud, to the point, and in the face of the enemies of the Seed: “Behold, the King’s son shall reign.” This was all done for the sole purpose of guarding the destiny of the next generation. Jehioada, the captains of hundreds, the priests and fathers of Israel were fully committed to an unknown 7-year-old boy who had been protected for 6 years as Athaliah further drove Israel into the worship of Baal. It begs the question for us today in the Pentecostal Church of God: How committed are we to protecting the destiny of the next generation? To what lengths are we willing to go to preserve the seed and insure that the legacy will continue? All God needed was one Seed and two people willing to risk everything to keep the destiny of the prince alive while culture and society was trying to kill it.
When my oldest son, Chris, was 11, my wife and I noticed he was starting to go down the wrong path. He wasn’t a bad kid, but we saw that he was being influenced by the wrong people and knew we had to go to battle for his destiny. I scheduled some time and went to the World Prayer Center in Colorado Springs for three days to fast and pray for family and ministry. The second day I prayed long and hard for Chris. During that time of travail, something rose up in my spirit and I made a bold declaration to the enemy. I said, “If you want to get to my son, you’ll have to go through me!” I made a decision right then and there that no matter what, I was going to guard his destiny and not let the enemy cut off the seed inside of him. Later that summer, Chris had turned 12, and at youth camp he entered our cabin after an evening service saying God had called him into ministry to be a youth pastor. He is now nearly 16, leading worship, active as a student leader in our youth group, and moving forward toward what God has called him to do.
At the end of the day, Jehoiada along with the captains, priests and fathers surrounded Joash on every side, brought him forth in the midst of hostility and made him king–all the while daring Athaliah and her hordes to try and stop them. I believe the seeds of destiny within the Pentecostal Church of God are many and great. After 90 years the legacy is with us, but it will be up to subsequent generations to see that it continues another 90 years. That will only happen if we, the captain, priests, fathers and mothers of this great movement rise up and say in the midst of enemies who seek to destroy: “If you want to get to our princes, you have to go through us! We are full of resolve and committed to guarding the destiny of the next generation.”
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