Faith That Starts at Home and Fills the House of God
Primary Text: Romans 10:17 "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
Introduction
Morning, church. I want y'all to think about something with me this morning.
You know, I've been a dad for a good while now. And I can tell you — there are days when I've had to walk into my house and say, "Lord, I don't know what I'm doing." Maybe some of y'all have been there too. You've stood in the kitchen, you've sat at the dinner table, you've knelt beside your kid's bed at night, and you've thought, How am I supposed to lead these people? How am I supposed to point them to Jesus when I can barely find Him myself some days?
But here's what I've learned, church. Faith isn't something you manufacture. It's not something you pull out of thin air. Faith comes by hearing. It comes by hearing the Word of God. And if that's true — and it is, because the Bible says it — then that changes everything about how we live in our homes and how we live in this church.
I want to talk to three groups of people this morning. I want to talk to dads. Then I want to talk to moms. And then I want to talk to the church. And I want us to see that faith has to start somewhere, and it starts by hearing.
Let's go to our text first for our faith.
I. The Faith Required of Dads: Hearing First, Then Leading
Church, think about this. Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing. Now, before a dad can lead his family in faith, he has to be hearing the Word of God himself.
I think about Joshua. You remember Joshua? The man who stood before all of Israel and said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." That's a bold statement. That's a man who made a decision. But Joshua didn't wake up one day and decide that on his own. Joshua had been hearing the Word of God for years. He walked with Moses. He stood on the mountain. He heard the voice of God. His faith came by hearing.
Dads, I ask you today — are you hearing? Are you in the Word? Because here's the thing: you cannot lead your family somewhere you haven't been yourself. You can't point your kids to Jesus if you haven't been listening to Him. You can't teach your little ones about faith if your own faith is running on empty.
I remember a season in my life — and I'll be honest with y'all — when I was so busy doing church stuff that I wasn't actually in the Word for myself. I was preaching it, teaching it, talking about it. But I wasn't hearing it. And my family could tell. My wife could tell. There was something missing in our home, and it was because I wasn't feeding my own faith.
Dads, your family is watching you. Your kids are watching you. They're watching to see if you open that Bible. They're watching to see if you pray before meals — not just the rote prayer, but the real prayer, the one where you talk to God like He's actually there. They're watching to see if your faith is real on Monday morning, not just Sunday morning.
And here's the application, and it's simple: Open the Word. Before you try to lead your family anywhere, get alone with God and hear from Him. Read a chapter. Read a verse. Just start somewhere. Because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And if you're not hearing, you're not leading — you're just guessing.
I think about my own dad. He wasn't a perfect man. But I'll tell you what — I saw that man open his Bible. I saw him pray. I didn't always understand what he was doing, but I knew it mattered to him. And that planted something in me that I carry to this day. Dads, your kids may not remember every word you say, but they'll remember if your faith was real.
II. The Faith Required of Moms: Hearing and Nurturing
Now, enough of that. Let me talk to the moms for a minute. And moms, wives, I ask you from this day forward to hear this and carry it with you.
If faith comes by hearing, then one of the most important things a mom can do is make sure her home is filled with the Word of God. Now, I'm not talking about just playing Christian music in the background — though there's nothing wrong with that. I'm talking about something deeper.
I think about Timothy. You remember young Timothy? Paul calls him his son in the faith. And in 2 Timothy, Paul says to Timothy, "From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures." Now, who do you think was filling that little boy's ears with the Word of God? Paul mentions Timothy's grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. Those two women planted the Word of God into that young man's life from the time he was small. And that seed grew into a mighty man of God.
Moms, you have a power that nobody else has. You have access to those children in a way that nobody else does. You're there at bedtime. You're there at breakfast. You're there when they're sick. You're there when they're scared. And in those moments, you have the opportunity to speak the Word of God in