A significant study was done where they went to college students who came from churches,

and then when they got to college, they turned their back on the Christian faith.

And they wanted to know the reason.

In fact, all of the questions center around one question.

What turned you off Christianity? The main answer that they received again and

again was this. They were turned off when the churches began to seek to ingrotiate themselves

to them instead of challenging them. These were kids who attended church in high school, but then they found that the mission

and the message of their churches, quote, vague.

But there's more.

They said, offering superficial answers to life's difficult questions did not help them.

This study went on and quoting these students again to be saying that the ministries

that they respect the most were those who, quote, took the Bible seriously.

Not those who sought to entertain them and become buddies with them.

The study concluded that the common theme among students who turned away from the faith when they went to college is that they

respect the people with conviction providing they know what they were talking about.

End of court. But there's more. They said, playing down the truth or watering down the truth

is more of a turnoff, is more of a hindrance for their believing it. If there is an indictment

upon modern day churches, more convicting than this, I don't know what it is. We began a short series of messages on claiming, training, and praying for the next generation.

We looked at Psalm 127, where I told you that this particular Psalm began with society or the community or the city

and then ended with the family. Psalm 128 is the Psalm right after it, written by the same person,

Solomon, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, does exact opposite. It starts where the family

goes into the community or society.

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