Keion Henderson - Passing The Flame

Today, I want to talk on this subject: passing the flame. Pass the flame, touch your name, and say it’s time for us to pass the flame. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Listen, I’ve got a short video clip that I want to show you, and then I’ll be ready for the Word of God. We just all want her to get there. She 's given everything she possibly has; she is running to complete exhaustion, and she is so brave. This is incredible, and she’s running fast. Remember, she’s 30 minutes slower than what the time is because she started earlier. That 's a fantastic time. That 's what winning looks like.

If you’ve never felt like that, you haven 't given it your all. What you may not know is that she actually won the race; she’s 30 minutes in front of everybody. There isn’t a person within a half hour of her. She has given all that she has. When I read this story, it shocked me because the woman’s name is Chandler Self, but she couldn’t win by herself. It’s amazing. She 's named Self, but she needs somebody outside of herself to help her complete the journey. What 's amazing is that the young lady you saw helping her is only 17 years old-another generation. See, that’s what’s supposed to happen; we are supposed to run to exhaustion and reach the place prior to the finish line, where there is a meeting of generations, so that we can transfer the struggle and the next generation can pick up the blood -stained banner and continue running the race of God.

When the couple that was on the screen talked about how their four-year-old was excited to come to church, the four-year-old did not come out of the womb one day and say, «Mommy, I want to go to church.» Mommy and Daddy brought the baby to church, and somewhere along the line, the baby caught the blood-stained banner and the baton and decided, «You know what? I want to continue what my parents started.» I’m getting somewhere with this. What we have in this world is a battle against the generations. You 've got the older generation that can’t stand young folks, and you’ve got young folks who can’t trust y’all. So, you have this battle of the generations going on, and here is the problem: the older generation doesn’t mean the younger generation any harm; they’re just trying to help them and show them that if you don’t build certain parameters in your life, if you don’t have a retirement plan, you’re going to get to that finish line and break down.

Y’all are not saying Amen! If you spend all your money on clothes, cars, houses, purses, and hairdos, life is going to break you down. If you don’t have any substantial investments, a savings account, and money put aside, you’re going to break down before you get to that finish line, and nothing’s going to be able to pick you up. But the young people think they’re never going to break down. They believe that they’ll always have the energy to lift and pick. They think that because they’re strong today, they’ll be strong tomorrow. And because they’re cute today-baby, you ain’t going to look this good forever. You can keep getting injections if you want to, and you can get nipped, tucked, and cut, but let me tell you something: they don’t do anything for your heart, liver, or kidneys. You 're still going to be fine on dialysis. Y’all are not saying Amen in here.

Something has got to happen because we have to understand that God wants the two generations to come together. There has to be a passing of the flame, and trust has to be built. Baby boomers and millennials must understand that you’re nothing but one breath away from the same grave. We have to realize that God is calling us to help each other. We need to stop separating our churches into young adult, teenage, young people, and seniors. We are all God 's children of different age brackets with the same identity and purpose: to seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Oh, I wish I had five-year-olds seeking Him and 15-year-olds seeking Him. My heart was so happy when I looked at Ty sitting on the front row. This young man, who’s here-I don’t know how old he is-but they were worshiping and giving God praise. I said, «Isn 't it amazing that on the front row, sitting next to ministers, you have teenagers with their hands lifted?»

We 're trying to pass the baton. When you come to church, it can’t always be about your breakthrough. It can’t always be about your miracle. It can’t always be about your house, and it can’t always be about what you need. Sometimes, David, you got to understand that your day is over, and now it is time for you to help Solomon. Unfortunately, the children who need the Dream Center can’t build it. They don’t have the jobs; they don’t have the resources, but they have the need. Are y’all praying with me? So, David shows us that at some point in our lives, our focus has to shift from reputation to legacy. I know this isn 't going to be a popular sermon because people think the church is really like a layaway plan, where they can come and get stuff they can’t afford.