July 6, 2025 • 47 mins
Faith over fear. We hear this phrase often, but what does it truly mean in the context of parenting? Through a memorable (if slightly messy) object lesson involving an egg, Jason delivers a profound message about the difference between raising rule-followers and raising disciples.
Many Christian parents find themselves gripping their children tightly, desperately trying to shield them from a world that seems increasingly hostile to faith values. We focus on behavior modification – sit quietly in church, speak respectfully, follow the rules – without addressing the deeper transformation that God desires. But what if our protective instincts are actually hindering our children's spiritual growth?
Drawing from Romans 8, we are reminded that God is for us, not against us – a truth that should transform our parenting approach. Rather than parenting from fear, we're called to parent from trust, helping our children understand not just what to do, but why faith matters. This involves modeling authentic relationship with God, explaining the purpose behind our practices, and trusting that God loves our children even more than we do.
The sermon powerfully references Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac, illustrating the ultimate surrender – trusting God completely with our most precious gifts. While we'll never face that exact test, we are called to loosen our grip, remembering that God's plans for our children exceed even our deepest hopes for them.
Whether your children attend public school or private, participate in sports or arts, the most important thing isn't protecting them from every potential danger – it's equipping them to be light in darkness, just as Daniel and Esther were in biblical times. Because ultimately, transformed disciples don't just follow rules on Sunday mornings; they reflect Jesus everywhere they go.
Ready to shift from raising well-behaved church kids to raising disciples who change the world? Listen now and discover how to create a home where faith flourishes not through fear, but through freedom in Christ.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm going to turn that mic off real quick.
So, in case you're wonderingwhy I have an egg up here, I
promise I'm going to get to it.
By the way, this is a real egg.
The reason it's in this bag andI told Daniel that I wanted to
do this as an object lesson andshe's like I'm like I'm going to
break an egg in my hand.
She's like you can't do that.
I'm like you bet, like, andshe's like you can't.
(00:23):
And I'm like, okay, like I'mgoing to try, right, and I'm
going to get to it, but Ipromise I can do it.
I've done it.
I practice because I want tomake sure, before I embarrass
myself in front of everyone,that I actually pull it off.
But there's something prettyinteresting about the structure
of an egg.
It has to do with how thepressure is distributed.
It's hard, it is really hard,to squeeze an egg and break it
(00:45):
in your hand because it's pretty, the foundation's pretty solid,
like.
This is a really cool designthat God made right.
But we're going to get to this.
So, just so you know, this is areal egg.
It will break and I'm going todo everything I can not to get
it on anybody.
That's why it's in this littlebaggie here, because the one
that I broke in my hand lastnight was not in a baggie and I
(01:05):
had to take my shorts offbecause it was all like I was
covered in it Now.
So we've been talking aboutfamilies.
And stop, rob, I was focusedman, I know that's right.
I was thinking like I'm tryingto break an egg and Danny's mad
that I'm wasting food.
I'm trying to break an egg andDanny's mad that I'm wasting
food, but there's a point Ipromise.
(01:27):
And so we've been talking aboutfamilies, and a couple weeks
ago we talked about theimportance of foundation, and
last week we talked aboutobedience and obedience.
I think a lot of times we pressobedience but we miss the
importance of transformation,and I see that in the church
sometimes we want people to cometo church and we want them to
(01:49):
act like church people.
By the way, I don't know whatthat means.
I think that's such a funnystatement.
You're not acting like a churchperson.
I don't know If I'm not actinglike Jesus.
That's a different conversation.
But a lot of times when we talkabout obedience, we really
focus on outside behavior, butwe're not looking at internal
transformation.
(02:09):
And when we look throughoutScripture.
That's what obedience is.
Everything that God has done asfar as discipline Old and New
Testament is geared towardsbringing people transformation
to change them, and so we'vetalked about that with kids that
a lot of times we just wantkids to comply but we're not
actually helping them to developand to understand and to try to
(02:35):
be the kind of men and womenthat God wants them to be.
We just want them to listen,sit down and be quiet.
And I said I'm not opposed tothat because I do think there's
a time and place for that.
If you've ever seen me aroundmy kids, there are times where
I'm like just sit down Again.
There's nothing wrong with that.
(02:56):
But I need to help themunderstand why, right, so, like
we're back there and you knowDanny's in nursery and Everett
and Griffin are with me and I'mtrying to worship and they keep
talking to me and I'm like we'renot talking right now and
Everett's like why?
I'm like because this time inservice is focused on praising
God.
This is not a time for you totalk to me.
(03:19):
And Everett's like well, I haveto say something.
I'm like well, you can waitright, and I think that that's
an important conversation,because I can tell him to be
quiet, and he will.
But really what I should do isI should explain to him that
this moment in worship isfocused on God, that everything
else around you doesn't matterat this moment, okay.
And so we have to teach that.
We have to teach that, and wehave to not only teach it, but
(03:41):
we have to model that for ourkids.
So if our kids are standingnext to us and we're saying, hey
, don't talk, but we're talkingto the person next to us about
lunch, we're not modeling that.
So, again, obedience isimportant, but transformation is
what matters, and so helpingkids understand that.
And so this morning we're goingto talk about, when it comes to
(04:03):
our families, the reliance thatwe have to have on God.
I don't know about you, but myfamily is not perfect.
So if anyone in here, if yourfamily is perfect and you've
never messed up and your kids doeverything right, you could
just go ahead and get up andleave.
I'll wait, no Good.
(04:26):
So we're all on the same page,right?
Families are messy.
Kids are.
I love having kids, but kidsare tough.
Man, I have three kids raisedin the same house, pretty much
under the same guidance andthey're completely different
people.
Everett's like really calm andcollective and he like just
(04:47):
wants to hang out.
Griffin will talk your ear offbut, like, he's really just like
to ask.
He asks a lot of questions butagain, he takes instruction well
.
And then Miles I know I talkabout him a lot, but he is the
kid that like he will look youin the face and eat a cookie you
(05:10):
told him not to eat and then doit again, just because he
thinks it's funny.
Right Yesterday we were.
I love him.
He's going to be such he is anamazing kid.
Do not get me wrong.
I love it because you're like,oh, he's so cute, he's adorable,
he is amazing.
He just sometimes he does stuff.
You're like, buddy, I don'tknow what's going on.
We were at the event yesterdayand Griffin had put this like
(05:31):
sand thing together.
Miles walked up, picked it upand dumped it out.
I'm like I don't know what todo with you, right, but kids are
messy.
Families are messy.
By the way, biblically,families are messy, right.
So let's look at you have Cainand Abel perfect example of how
brothers should love each other.
You have Jacob and Esau againbrothers looking out for each
(05:59):
other's best interest and notbeing selfish in any way, shape
or form.
You have Saul and David.
Saul absolutely loved David,never tried to kill him, not
even one time did he try to takehis life.
And these are just a couple.
Noah, his family was a mess.
(06:20):
He was a mess.
I mean, we look throughoutScripture and then you have mom
and dad of the lovely boy Jesuswho, on a journey, they forget
that their kid is not with themand they just keep walking.
Can you imagine that they lefttheir kid behind?
(06:40):
Families are messy.
Again, it's never been aboutbeing perfect, but it's about
allowing God to help usunderstand and to be the kind of
parents that we need to be, andwe have to rely on him for this
(07:03):
.
We're not meant to do thisalone.
We're not meant to parent alone.
That's why the Holy Spirit issuch an important part, and we
talk about this, and I do.
I think Scripture teaches thatwhen we accept Christ, not only
do we experience the forgivenessof our sins, but the empowering
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of the Holy Spirit, and it'sthe Holy Spirit in us that helps
reassure us that everything isgoing to be okay, and I think we
get stressed sometimes, and Iwas thinking about this Like my
mom is like I love my mom.
My mom is like, if you everwanted someone to watch your
kids, like my mom's it, becausemy mom is like a hawk man.
Like the moment like one of mykids walks away from her, she's
like where are they?
I'm ever wanted someone towatch your kids.
Like my mom's it, because mymom is like a hawk man.
(07:45):
Like the moment, like one of mykids walks away from her, she
said where are they?
I'm like, mom, they're behindyou.
Okay, like you know.
But I love that because shecares right.
And I feel the same way about mykids, like like I want nothing
for the best for them and sosometimes like, oh, I broke.
Sometimes like, oh, I broke italready.
Wow, well, thank you.
(08:06):
No, I'm just kidding.
No, well, that was a fun failedattempt, okay.
So what I was going to do is Iwas going to hold on to the egg
while I was talking, because alot of times I think, when we
talk about our kids and theworld that they're living in, I
think sometimes we hold onreally, really tightly to our
(08:28):
kids because we're so afraid ofthe world that they live in and
listen.
As a parent of three boys, Ifully understand how difficult
that is.
I fully understand howdifficult that is my kids are, I
(08:54):
would consider.
Everett is kind of fairlyinnocent in the way he thinks,
and we try to protect them.
That's our goal, I think.
As good parents, our goal is toprotect our kids at all costs.
I heard something a couple weeksago and I love it.
It says parenting is only hardfor the parents that care, and I
think there's some truth tothat, because I think when
you're worried about your kidsand your well-being and how are
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they going to be treated atschool, what's the world telling
them?
Our kids go to public schooland listen.
I personally have nothing wrongwith public school.
It doesn't mean I agree witheverything that's in a public
school, but I went to publicschool and I turned out okay.
And I don't think your kidnecessarily has to go to a
(09:36):
Christian school.
Again, that's not bad either.
I'm not saying that either way.
But I think sometimes we'reworried about our kids so much
and what they're exposed to thatwe try to cover them and we try
to protect them.
We try to hold on to them witheverything that we have, because
we just don't want them to havebad life experiences or to make
(09:59):
tough choices and listen.
My experience has been thatsometimes that causes a lot more
damage than we think it does,because I think we're trying to
protect them from everything,but again, when we talk about
behavior, we're not teaching theimportance of transformation.
(10:20):
When I was in high school, Idated a girl that went to a
Christian school, and let metell you my very limited
interaction with Christianschool kids is the Christian
school kids have the sameproblem as the public school
kids.
They do.
It's the same struggles.
You would not believe this, ormaybe you will, but there are
(10:41):
bullies in Christian schools.
You would not believe this ormaybe you will, but there are
bullies in Christian schools.
There shouldn't be, but thereare those kids my age were in a
Christian school and they weredealing with alcohol being
presented to them as teenagersBlew.
My mind Never thought of it,and I get it right.
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Mom and dad is doing everythingthey can to protect them, and
so sometimes, when we removethem from the world, we think we
are, but the reality is sinfinds its way in everywhere,
because we're broken, all of us.
So sometimes we hold on really,really tightly, and I think
this is where, as parents, it'simportant that we have to rely
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on God to protect them.
Romans 8.22 through verse 31says we know that the whole
creation has been groaning, asin the pains of childbirth,
right up to the present time.
Not only so, but we ourselveshave the firstfruits of the
Spirit grown inwardly as we waiteagerly for our adoption to
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sonship, the redemption of ourbodies, for in this hope we were
saved.
But hope that is seen is nohope at all.
Who hopes for what they alreadyhave?
But if we hope for what we donot yet have, we wait for it
patiently.
In the same way, the Spirithelps us in our weakness.
We do not know what we ought topray for, but the Spirit
himself intercedes for usthrough wordless groans, and he
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who searches our hearts knowsthe mind of the Spirit.
Because the Spirit intercedesfor God's people in accordance
with the will of God, and weknow that in all things God
works for the good of those wholove him, who have been called
according to his purpose.
For those God foreknew he alsopredestined to be conformed to
the image of his Son, that hemight be the firstborn among
many brothers and sisters.
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And those he predestined.
He also called those he called.
He also justified those hejustified.
He also glorified.
What then, shall we say inresponse to these things?
If God is for us, then who canbe against us?
And so, again, paul is writingto this early church and he's
saying listen, god is on yourside.
(12:56):
I need you to understand this.
The world around you doesn'twant you to be anything like
Jesus.
You live in a Roman culture.
If anything, they act like,they accept your beliefs but in
reality they put up with it.
That's a common practice.
(13:17):
You just kind of let everyonedo their own thing.
But Paul says listen, don't beworried and so concerned about
the things of this world, butinstead trust that God is on
your side.
He has a plan for your life.
It's all about being changed.
And if you read through the bookof Romans, that's what Paul
continues to address is the ideathat, as things happen in this
(13:40):
world, that they're not alone.
So, as this passage teaches abeautiful lesson in hope because
of our connection with God asfree, justified, saved children
in Christ, suffering, thoughreal, unavoidable and painful,
cannot break this connection.
So the Spirit is active stillwithin us, a deep sense of God's
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love as the basis for our hopeand to act as God's pledges that
he will continue to work on ourbehalf.
So we still live in a worldimpacted by sin, but destined
for total redemption.
We can't see how or when thatmight happen, but we trust.
As we persevere in this fallenworld, the Spirit cares for it
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and empowers.
When we have no words, theSpirit carries us.
That's why we truly believethat everything will work out in
the end.
This doesn't mean that lifewill be easy, especially as God
uses the circumstances of ourlives to grow us, to shape us
and to mature us to betterreflect Jesus.
However, we have an overarchinghope in the storms of life that
(14:44):
, as God is for us, nothing istoo big for him to handle.
I think that's such an importantconcept because, again, we can
teach our kids to be obedient,to do all of the religious
(15:05):
things Don't talk in church,wear the right things, say the
right things.
We can teach behaviormodification Again, not
necessarily bad, but really Ithink we should teach our kids
to rely on who God is in theirlife.
We need to teach our kids thathaving a relationship with God
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is not only their choice, butit's something that they have to
make happen.
It's not enough just to come tochurch because mom and dad drug
you there.
It's not, because what thatproduces is resentment, what
that produces is bitterness.
(15:49):
What that produces is thatSunday morning becomes an
obligation.
It's something that you know.
You come in on Sunday morning,you kind of put in a check mark
and then you go about the restof the week and nothing has
changed for you.
Again, not wrong to bring yourkids to church.
I bring mine to church.
It's important.
I believe that I absolutely100% believe you to bring your
kids to church.
I bring mine to church.
It's important.
I believe that I absolutely100% believe you should bring
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your kids to church 100%.
But you have to teach them whychurch is important.
And it's not just because youdrugged them here, because they
need to understand that there isa God who created them, who
loved them, who loved them somuch that he died for them, and
he loved them so much that hecontinues and he put the spirit
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in them to live out that lifethat he's calling them to live,
that he is for them, even if theworld is against them.
That's what breedstransformation.
It's helping our kids tounderstand that God is the most
important thing they can investtheir time and resources into,
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and that comes from you and me.
We have to model that for them.
Everett's nine I'll be ten thisyear.
We've had a coupleconversations about faith, a
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couple conversations aboutbaptism recently.
As a dad, that excites me, buthere's what I'm afraid of and
here's what I'm afraid of andhere's what I don't want.
I don't want my kids to acceptJesus because they feel like
they have to, but because theywant to.
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Those are differentconversations, because I could
make him go through the motions.
I could have him come up andtake his confession.
I can have him get baptized.
We can do all of that.
But if he hasn't reallyunderstood or if he hasn't
really made that decision on hisown, then all he's doing is
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he's mimicking.
But I need my kids tounderstand that God is the most
important thing in their life.
By the way, this goes back toour conversation.
This is why, during worship, Itold them we shouldn't be
talking.
Not because it's wrong to talk,because your focus needs to be
up right now.
You need to.
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I have to teach them that youneed to be focused on God,
because in this moment, in thisroom.
The most important thing that'shappening right now is we're
standing in the presence of theAlmighty God and we're thanking
Him for who he is that matters.
We have to model this for ourchildren, but we also have to
trust that God is working intheir life.
(18:45):
I live in the same world thatyou live, believe it or not.
It's rough man.
It scares me.
Some of the stuff I see, someof the stuff that's become
acceptable, some of the stuff weteach, some of the stuff that's
become normal.
Listen, this is probably a petpeeve of mine and this is really
(19:13):
like a little thing.
It's not a big thing, but thereare commercials on TV now for
ladies.
I remember when I was younger,no idea what they were talking
about, because they were reallygood about talking about things
in a really roundaboutconversation.
Now they say stuff and I'm like, oh man, I'm going to have to
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answer a question.
So when Griffin's about to askme what that word means, or I
think about this, this lastpolitical season, the amount of
negative ads was atrocious.
I had to explain to my kidswords that they shouldn't have
never heard yet.
But we're out here destroyingpeople's character and we call
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it normal.
There's things of this worldthat terrify me, the things they
watch, the things they can livestream, the things that are
easily accessible.
I worry about them and I shouldbecause I'm a good dad, but I
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can't protect them so much theydon't understand how to handle
it themselves.
I can't allow them to live in abubble like there's not a
problem with things going on Inmy house.
We have to have toughconversations, sometimes maybe
not even conversations that I'mready for, but I need my kids
and I think you and I, we needour kids in our stand that, even
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though the world doesn't seemto be in favor of us, that God
is still in charge.
Even if the world is burningdown around us, god is still in
charge.
And I think one of the thingsthat I think we've done as
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Christians is we've removedourselves so far from the
culture.
We protect ourselves, we hideourselves, we come into our
buildings on Sunday morning andwe just want everything to be
nice and clean and pristine.
And listen, that's just not howit works.
Jesus spent all of his timewith some of the worst people of
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his day, intentionally, and so,again, we want to protect our
kids, but we also have to teachour kids to go into the world
and to be God, to be like Jesus,in their setting.
Maybe it's at a baseball game.
Maybe it's the way they handlethe loss.
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Maybe it's at practice, wheneveryone else is slacking off
and your kids set in the tonebecause they understand that
working hard for God isimportant.
Maybe, when it comes and you'regoing out to lunch, you decide
not to go out to lunch on Sundayand instead you and your family
take some time to go volunteersomewhere.
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Maybe you skip Thanksgivingdinner so that you can pack food
for other people.
Maybe you give your time andyour money and your resources
and you invest them in things ofthe church, not just the things
of this church, but things ofthe church in general, things
that are designed to help bringpeople to eternity.
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Maybe it's walking in a paradeif it's just a little too hot
out.
Maybe it's sitting in a boothhanding out toys, but hoping and
praying that your kids will seethat you love God and they
should love God and they shouldtell other people about God,
because that matters.
You and I can hide our kids awayor we can teach them to be like
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Jesus in a world that's full ofdarkness.
I think about Daniel, right, wejust got through this
incredible series on Daniel.
Daniel could have been in exileand complained the entire time,
and no one would have been madabout it, but he didn't.
Daniel stayed faithful to God.
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He modeled a relationship withGod, so much so that he rose
through the ranks Influencingkings.
He lived a life right.
He lived a life that waschanging those around him.
You and I have to teach our kidsto be like Jesus.
I look forward to the day thatmy kids bring their first friend
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to church.
That'll be cool.
I look forward to the storiesof their life when they get
older, when we hear about howthey're prayed with a friend who
is struggling.
I look forward to when my kidsask me questions about who God
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is, even some of the harder onesto answer.
Because you and I, we have twooptions in this world.
We can either be so afraid ofthis world that we wrap our kids
in bubble wrap and we hope theydon't break, or we can be
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broken for this world and spendour time teaching our kids to be
disciples who make disciples.
I said this last week yourfirst discipleship opportunity
is in your home To teach yourkids to follow Jesus and to
watch that play out in theirlife.
(25:05):
See you, and I don't have tolive in fear.
What's the saying that's allover t-shirts right now?
Faith over fear.
Listen, we talk about that at avery high level.
The world's burning down.
Faith over fear.
We talk about it in thepolitical climate Faith over
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fear.
But what if we step back andactually brought that into our
homes and said, god, we're goingto trust you with our families.
We're going to trust you withour kids.
We're going to trust youwhether our kids are in public
school or private school.
We're going to trust you withthem.
We're going to trust you andwe're going to surrender them to
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you.
We're going to do everything wecan to live out a life that's
dedicated to you, but we aregoing to teach them, more than
anything, how to follow you,because that's the only thing
that will make a difference intheir life is whether or not
they have a relationship withyou.
Everything else will fade,except for you.
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I came across this this weekendand I thought it was interesting
.
This is a gentleman calledPastor Clark Fraley.
He says one tangible place thistension plays out is in public
schools.
He's talking about this faithover fear, he says.
Too often Christians respond toeducation crisis with
withdrawal and condemnation.
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But what if we followed theexample of leaders like Pastor
Clark Fraley, who launchedPastors for Oklahoma Kids, to
stand with local schools, notbecause the system was perfect,
but because hope requirespresence?
It says people were saying ourschools were Marxist, socialist,
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atheist, fairly recalled thatjust wasn't our experience, the
discussion from fellowChristians.
He said he felt like it was afalse narrative.
He said instead, what theyfound is they found people who
were hurting and lost, whoneeded hope.
Our fears often grow in theshadows of the unknown, but when
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we show up at school boardmeetings, in classrooms, on
playgrounds, in neighborhoods,we begin to see things clearly.
We see real people, we seeshared struggles.
We see shared struggles.
We see opportunities to serve,because here's the truth it is
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really hard to be cynical whenyou're busy serving those around
you.
You know I think about this inmy own life that sometimes I
fail in being a gracious person.
I know that I'm harder onpeople than I need to be and
listen.
Most of that time is becauseI'm so hard on myself.
But you and I, we share thesame struggle.
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We're trying to be like Jesus.
That's the point.
And so we have this opportunitythat we can either hide in our
churches and hope that peoplefind Jesus, or we can walk into
the fire and trust that thefourth man is going to show up
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Again.
I love Daniel.
Daniel never wavered in hisfaith, but he lived out his
faith and he trusted God and hebecame a beacon of hope A beacon
of hope in a pagan culture.
He changed the lives of kings.
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Do you understand that?
He changed the lives of kingsor Esther?
Let's talk about Esther.
Esther is one of my favoritestories.
By the way, it's the only bookin the Bible that doesn't
mention God directly.
I think I've said that before.
It's inferred A whole lot ofeverything, but I love the story
of Esther because her peoplewere about to be exterminated
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and she walks into the presenceof the king uninvited Could have
died instantly, could have diedWalks into the presence of the
king and because of thatdecision to boldly live out her
faith, she's saved a nation.
What does the verse say?
That for such a time as thisright?
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So you and I have two options.
We can sit here and reflect onthe good old days when things
were going perfect and thechurch never had any problems,
right, because 40 years ago thechurch never had any problems.
We can reflect and complainabout the generation now and how
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rude they are and I can't standthem or I can't believe they
act like that.
And listen, I have moments likethat.
I'm about to be 40.
There's some of these teenagersthat I'm like no, you're not my
kid, not you, ari, I wouldn'tsay that while you're sitting in
here.
But we can look at the world,we can look at the challenges
(30:16):
and, by the way, this generationfaces more challenges than you
and I realize Social media hasruined their self-image.
Tiktok lies to them, even onstuff about faith.
Some of the stuff on TikTokdrives me nuts.
They're constantly comparingthemselves to each other,
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constantly trying to find hope,constantly trying to find a
purpose in life, and I'm tellingyou right now they're never
going to find it in the world.
They're only going to find itin your home.
We have to be the example forthem.
We have to model for them theonly thing that matters, and
that's faith in Jesus.
We have to demonstrate for themwhy it matters to come to
(31:02):
church, why it matters to serve.
All of these things areimportant.
Our kids have to see this, notbecause they have to.
That's the thing, man.
I want my kids to do the thingsthey do because they want to.
I don't stand there on Sundaymornings because I have to.
I don't follow God because theywant to.
I said I don't stand here onSunday mornings because I have
to.
I don't follow God because Ihave to.
(31:25):
I follow God because ofeverything he's done for me and
if I can have a small littleplace in this world before I die
to know that I helped otherpeople find that same
transformation and I didsomething with my life, that's
(31:47):
what I want for my kids.
I want them to understand thatGod is for them and I want to
live in such a way that I trustGod with the lives of my
children.
Genesis 22, 1 through 18, hasto be the hardest thing that I
(32:10):
think I've ever read, being adad that.
Sometime later God testedAbraham and he said to him
Abraham, here I am.
He replied.
Then God said take your son,your only son, whom you love,
isaac, and go to the region ofMoriah.
Sacrifice him there as a burntoffering on a mountain that I
(32:32):
will show you Now.
Understand that it had taken avery long time for Isaac to come
to the picture and God hadpromised that it was through
Abraham's offspring that forIsaac to come to the picture,
and God had promised that it wasthrough Abraham's offspring
that he was going to build anation.
And so God comes to Abraham andhe says take your son, your
only son, isaac, and take him toa mountain to be sacrificed.
(32:56):
Now it's funny becauseyesterday we were sitting with
Alicia and she was like we tellpeople all the time, if you come
to church, we're notsacrificing children, we're not.
This is one time in ScriptureOkay, so stay with me.
It says take your son andsacrifice him.
So early the next morningAbraham got up and loaded his
(33:18):
donkey and he took with him twoof his servants and his son
Isaac.
When he had cut enough wood forthe burnt offering, he set out
for the place God had told himabout.
On the third day, abrahamlooked up and saw the place in
the distance and he said to hisservants Stay here with the
donkey while I and the boy goover there, we will worship and
(33:38):
then we'll come back to you.
Abraham took the wood for theburnt offering and he placed it
on his son Isaac, and he himselfcarried the fire and the knife,
and the two of them went ontogether.
Isaac spoke up and said to hisfather Abraham, father, yes, my
son Abraham replied the fire andthe wood are here, isaac said,
(33:59):
but where is the lamb for theburnt offering?
I can imagine Abraham answered,trying to choke back some tears
, that God himself provided thelamb for the burnt offering.
My son and the two of them wenton together when they reached
the place God had told themabout, abraham built an altar
(34:20):
there and arranged the wood onit.
He bound his son Isaac and laidhim on the altar on top of the
wood.
Then he reached out his hand,took his knife to slay his son,
but the angel of the Lord calledout to him from heaven Abraham,
abraham, here I am.
He replied.
Do not lay a hand on the boy.
He said.
Do not do anything to him.
(34:43):
Now.
I know that you fear Godbecause you have not withheld
from me your son, your only son.
Abraham looked up and there inthe thicket he saw a ram caught
by its horns and he went overand he took the ram and he
sacrificed it as a burntoffering instead of his son.
So Abraham called that placethe Lord will.
And to this day it is said onthe mountain of the Lord, it
(35:05):
will be provided.
You know, I've always wonderedabout the return conversation
home.
I do.
When I was younger I used tothink that Abraham, maybe he
ignored it, right, dad?
(35:27):
Dad, why did you put me on thealtar?
Don't worry about it.
But as I've gotten older Irealize that I don't think he
did.
I think that entire walk back,he took the time to explain to
Isaac what it means to bewilling to give up everything,
to say to his son I love youmore than you will ever know,
(35:50):
but I love God more than you.
And listen, that's a hardconversation, right, but I think
it's important because I thinksometimes, sometimes I think God
wants us to surrender our kidsto him.
(36:10):
He wants us to trust him withthem.
And that's tough because wewant to live and we want to
protect them and we want to holdon to them with everything we
have.
But God in this moment issaying to Abraham I need you to
worry about me and I'll worryabout him.
You worry about me and I'lltake care of Isaac.
(36:31):
And I think that's what we haveto live is God.
I'm going to worry about my andyour relationship and I'm going
to trust you with my children,because I can't protect them
everywhere that I go.
Everett, at some point in hislife, is going to find himself
somewhere where he probablydoesn't even want to be, and
(36:53):
he's going to find himself in asituation and I pray that I
taught him enough that hechooses God over whatever that
is.
I pray that, as he walksthrough life and he has his own
challenges, that he realizesthat, no matter how bad things
(37:16):
are, that there's a God wholoves him.
There's a God who is for himand not against him.
And I pray, as a parent, that Ilearn to trust God more with my
kids the older they get,because God wants more for them
than even I do.
That's the beauty of it.
It's not like we're handing ourkids off to someone who doesn't
(37:37):
care.
We're handing our kids off tosomeone who wants them to be
everything they're supposed tobe, and God is really good,
really good at getting us there.
So, when it comes to behaviors,to behaviors, don't worry so
(38:04):
much about whether or not yourkids behave in church.
Worry about whether or not theywant to be there at all.
Don't worry so much aboutwhether or not your kids say and
do the right things all thetime.
Worry more about whether or notyour kids say and do the right
things all the time.
(38:24):
Worry more about whether or notthey're spending time with the
one who created them.
Don't just seek obedience forobedience sake, but help them be
transformed into the little menand women that God is calling
them to be.
Set a tone for them.
Help them understand that Godis important, that spending time
(38:48):
and when I say church, I'm notjust talking about on Sunday
morning.
Get involved, spend time withother believers.
That's where so much growthhappens.
My favorite part about Thursdaynights in our house is all the
kids who come and play together.
That, to me, is cool.
Don't worry about whether ornot your kid looks the part.
(39:13):
Help them understand theimportance of seeking Jesus
first.
Don't just worry about beingreligious.
Teach your kids to have arelationship with God.
Model that for them, becausewhether they're here on Sunday
(39:37):
morning or they're not, myprayer is that my kids are being
like Jesus wherever they are,wherever they are.
You know, I know a lot of youfamilies.
You guys are busy.
Sports are crazy.
Man, I get it.
It's crazier now than it everwas before.
I get it, it's crazier now thanit ever was before.
(40:07):
And listen, I've probablyshifted a little bit in my focus
because for the longest time Ithink I would probably beat,
whether I meant to or not, Ifeel like I could beat people up
for not being here on Sundaymorning because of something,
for a reason, they're not here.
And listen again, I think thechurch is important, but a
couple months ago I startedpraying for everyone who's not
(40:29):
here and my prayer is God,wherever they are, let them be
you.
Let them be you in whateversituation they find themselves
in.
We miss them.
I look forward to seeing them,but my prayer is that, wherever
you are, that you're being Jesusand that you are bringing God
into wherever you find yourselfat.
(40:55):
Because that, to me, is animportant thing for our kids to
understand that God is not justhere on Sunday morning.
But he's at the baseball field,he's at the football game, he's
at the wrestling match, he's inthe theater production that you
might be in, he's walking in aparade in 95-degree weather,
(41:15):
he's sitting in a booth on aSaturday evening meeting kids
and families, that he goes withus.
So we need to stop being soconcerned about whether or not
we're protecting ourselves fromthe world and really are we
being the light that this worldneeds.
That's what I need to teach.
(41:36):
That's what we need to teachour kids is that everywhere they
go, god goes with them, becauseGod is everywhere.
You can have church anywhere.
It doesn't have to be abuilding like this.
That was my favorite thingabout church planting.
Our first church plant was in acoffee shop Coolest thing ever.
(42:00):
Every morning, every Sundaymorning, sometimes Saturday
night, 70 people gathered inthis little corner of a coffee
shop and we had worship and wepraised God.
We met in a theater one time.
That was fun.
Seating was spectacular, butthat's because church is bigger
(42:20):
than a building.
Church is where we are.
You and I are the church thatmatters.
Teach your kids that thatmatters.
Don't teach them to just beobedient, good-behaved kids.
Teach them to be like Jesus.
That'll change their life.
(42:43):
At the end of the day.
One of the greatest gifts thatGod has given us is the
reassurance that he neverchanges.
No matter what comes, he standsfirm.
Our place in his family issecure.
We are fully known, fully lovedand never condemned in Christ,
romans 8.1.
So that kind of unwavering lovedoesn't change us.
(43:05):
It gives us a model to follow,especially in how we love our
families.
For our children, especially inmoments of high emotion,
uncertainty or failure, theydon't need us to match their
chaos.
They need us to reflect God'scalm.
Just as we can approach ourHeavenly Father with confidence,
our kids need to know that theycan come to us without fear of
(43:26):
rejection.
One of the greatest gifts wecan offer them is to become
their safe place, the steadypresence they can run to in the
middle of the storm, whenemotion runs high.
May they borrow our calmbecause we are grounded in the
truth that God works all thingsfor good.
But they don't believe thatunless we live it.
(43:50):
Think about babies.
Even puppies Sleep better withthe steady sound of a heartbeat
or a ticking clock nearby.
The rhythm soothes them.
We're not that different.
We use fans, ocean waves orrainfall sounds to calm our
nerves and quiet our minds.
Why?
Because they steady us.
So, in a world full of noise,is your home a place of peace?
(44:12):
Can your kids find grace, truthand calm in their life through
you?
Part of being a parent, again,it's not about being perfect,
but it's showing them thatthey're loved Without condition,
(44:36):
without fear.
We model for them what it meansto be loved by a God who is
willing to die for us.
And, at the end of the day, wetrust our children to the lives
of the one who created us.
We trust God to take care ofthem, to protect them, to watch
(44:57):
over them even when we can'tbecause he made them.
Protect them, to watch overthem even when we can't because
he made them.
If we want our kids to be likeJesus, if we want our kids to
understand that God loves themand that God is for them, if we
want to understand that nothingin this world can ever stop him
from getting to them, they haveto see it at home first.
(45:20):
From getting to them, they haveto see it at home first.
It's never been about obedience.
It's always been abouttransformation, and
transformation comes fromknowing the one who loves us,
(45:41):
the one who accepts us and theone who died for us.
God is with us everywhere,always, at all times.
Make sure your kids know that.
All right, let's pray.
I'm going to turn that mic off real quick.
So, in case you're wonderingwhy I have an egg up here, I
promise I'm going to get to it.
By the way, this is a real egg.
The reason it's in this bag andI told Daniel that I wanted to
do this as an object lesson andshe's like I'm like I'm going to
break an egg in my hand.
She's like you can't do that.
I'm like you bet, like, andshe's like you can't.
(00:23):
And I'm like, okay, like I'mgoing to try, right, and I'm
going to get to it, but Ipromise I can do it.
I've done it.
I practice because I want tomake sure, before I embarrass
myself in front of everyone,that I actually pull it off.
But there's something prettyinteresting about the structure
of an egg.
It has to do with how thepressure is distributed.
It's hard, it is really hard,to squeeze an egg and break it
(00:45):
in your hand because it's pretty, the foundation's pretty solid,
like.
This is a really cool designthat God made right.
But we're going to get to this.
So, just so you know, this is areal egg.
It will break and I'm going todo everything I can not to get
it on anybody.
That's why it's in this littlebaggie here, because the one
that I broke in my hand lastnight was not in a baggie and I
(01:05):
had to take my shorts offbecause it was all like I was
covered in it Now.
So we've been talking aboutfamilies.
And stop, rob, I was focusedman, I know that's right.
I was thinking like I'm tryingto break an egg and Danny's mad
that I'm wasting food.
I'm trying to break an egg andDanny's mad that I'm wasting
food, but there's a point Ipromise.
(01:27):
And so we've been talking aboutfamilies, and a couple weeks
ago we talked about theimportance of foundation, and
last week we talked aboutobedience and obedience.
I think a lot of times we pressobedience but we miss the
importance of transformation,and I see that in the church
sometimes we want people to cometo church and we want them to
(01:49):
act like church people.
By the way, I don't know whatthat means.
I think that's such a funnystatement.
You're not acting like a churchperson.
I don't know If I'm not actinglike Jesus.
That's a different conversation.
But a lot of times when we talkabout obedience, we really
focus on outside behavior, butwe're not looking at internal
transformation.
(02:09):
And when we look throughoutScripture.
That's what obedience is.
Everything that God has done asfar as discipline Old and New
Testament is geared towardsbringing people transformation
to change them, and so we'vetalked about that with kids that
a lot of times we just wantkids to comply but we're not
actually helping them to developand to understand and to try to
(02:35):
be the kind of men and womenthat God wants them to be.
We just want them to listen,sit down and be quiet.
And I said I'm not opposed tothat because I do think there's
a time and place for that.
If you've ever seen me aroundmy kids, there are times where
I'm like just sit down Again.
There's nothing wrong with that.
(02:56):
But I need to help themunderstand why, right, so, like
we're back there and you knowDanny's in nursery and Everett
and Griffin are with me and I'mtrying to worship and they keep
talking to me and I'm like we'renot talking right now and
Everett's like why?
I'm like because this time inservice is focused on praising
God.
This is not a time for you totalk to me.
(03:19):
And Everett's like well, I haveto say something.
I'm like well, you can waitright, and I think that that's
an important conversation,because I can tell him to be
quiet, and he will.
But really what I should do isI should explain to him that
this moment in worship isfocused on God, that everything
else around you doesn't matterat this moment, okay.
And so we have to teach that.
We have to teach that, and wehave to not only teach it, but
(03:41):
we have to model that for ourkids.
So if our kids are standingnext to us and we're saying, hey
, don't talk, but we're talkingto the person next to us about
lunch, we're not modeling that.
So, again, obedience isimportant, but transformation is
what matters, and so helpingkids understand that.
And so this morning we're goingto talk about, when it comes to
(04:03):
our families, the reliance thatwe have to have on God.
I don't know about you, but myfamily is not perfect.
So if anyone in here, if yourfamily is perfect and you've
never messed up and your kids doeverything right, you could
just go ahead and get up andleave.
I'll wait, no Good.
(04:26):
So we're all on the same page,right?
Families are messy.
Kids are.
I love having kids, but kidsare tough.
Man, I have three kids raisedin the same house, pretty much
under the same guidance andthey're completely different
people.
Everett's like really calm andcollective and he like just
(04:47):
wants to hang out.
Griffin will talk your ear offbut, like, he's really just like
to ask.
He asks a lot of questions butagain, he takes instruction well
.
And then Miles I know I talkabout him a lot, but he is the
kid that like he will look youin the face and eat a cookie you
(05:10):
told him not to eat and then doit again, just because he
thinks it's funny.
Right Yesterday we were.
I love him.
He's going to be such he is anamazing kid.
Do not get me wrong.
I love it because you're like,oh, he's so cute, he's adorable,
he is amazing.
He just sometimes he does stuff.
You're like, buddy, I don'tknow what's going on.
We were at the event yesterdayand Griffin had put this like
(05:31):
sand thing together.
Miles walked up, picked it upand dumped it out.
I'm like I don't know what todo with you, right, but kids are
messy.
Families are messy.
By the way, biblically,families are messy, right.
So let's look at you have Cainand Abel perfect example of how
brothers should love each other.
You have Jacob and Esau againbrothers looking out for each
(05:59):
other's best interest and notbeing selfish in any way, shape
or form.
You have Saul and David.
Saul absolutely loved David,never tried to kill him, not
even one time did he try to takehis life.
And these are just a couple.
Noah, his family was a mess.
(06:20):
He was a mess.
I mean, we look throughoutScripture and then you have mom
and dad of the lovely boy Jesuswho, on a journey, they forget
that their kid is not with themand they just keep walking.
Can you imagine that they lefttheir kid behind?
(06:40):
Families are messy.
Again, it's never been aboutbeing perfect, but it's about
allowing God to help usunderstand and to be the kind of
parents that we need to be, andwe have to rely on him for this
(07:03):
.
We're not meant to do thisalone.
We're not meant to parent alone.
That's why the Holy Spirit issuch an important part, and we
talk about this, and I do.
I think Scripture teaches thatwhen we accept Christ, not only
do we experience the forgivenessof our sins, but the empowering
(07:24):
of the Holy Spirit, and it'sthe Holy Spirit in us that helps
reassure us that everything isgoing to be okay, and I think we
get stressed sometimes, and Iwas thinking about this Like my
mom is like I love my mom.
My mom is like, if you everwanted someone to watch your
kids, like my mom's it, becausemy mom is like a hawk man.
Like the moment like one of mykids walks away from her, she's
like where are they?
I'm ever wanted someone towatch your kids.
Like my mom's it, because mymom is like a hawk man.
(07:45):
Like the moment, like one of mykids walks away from her, she
said where are they?
I'm like, mom, they're behindyou.
Okay, like you know.
But I love that because shecares right.
And I feel the same way about mykids, like like I want nothing
for the best for them and sosometimes like, oh, I broke.
Sometimes like, oh, I broke italready.
Wow, well, thank you.
(08:06):
No, I'm just kidding.
No, well, that was a fun failedattempt, okay.
So what I was going to do is Iwas going to hold on to the egg
while I was talking, because alot of times I think, when we
talk about our kids and theworld that they're living in, I
think sometimes we hold onreally, really tightly to our
(08:28):
kids because we're so afraid ofthe world that they live in and
listen.
As a parent of three boys, Ifully understand how difficult
that is.
I fully understand howdifficult that is my kids are, I
(08:54):
would consider.
Everett is kind of fairlyinnocent in the way he thinks,
and we try to protect them.
That's our goal, I think.
As good parents, our goal is toprotect our kids at all costs.
I heard something a couple weeksago and I love it.
It says parenting is only hardfor the parents that care, and I
think there's some truth tothat, because I think when
you're worried about your kidsand your well-being and how are
(09:16):
they going to be treated atschool, what's the world telling
them?
Our kids go to public schooland listen.
I personally have nothing wrongwith public school.
It doesn't mean I agree witheverything that's in a public
school, but I went to publicschool and I turned out okay.
And I don't think your kidnecessarily has to go to a
(09:36):
Christian school.
Again, that's not bad either.
I'm not saying that either way.
But I think sometimes we'reworried about our kids so much
and what they're exposed to thatwe try to cover them and we try
to protect them.
We try to hold on to them witheverything that we have, because
we just don't want them to havebad life experiences or to make
(09:59):
tough choices and listen.
My experience has been thatsometimes that causes a lot more
damage than we think it does,because I think we're trying to
protect them from everything,but again, when we talk about
behavior, we're not teaching theimportance of transformation.
(10:20):
When I was in high school, Idated a girl that went to a
Christian school, and let metell you my very limited
interaction with Christianschool kids is the Christian
school kids have the sameproblem as the public school
kids.
They do.
It's the same struggles.
You would not believe this, ormaybe you will, but there are
(10:41):
bullies in Christian schools.
You would not believe this ormaybe you will, but there are
bullies in Christian schools.
There shouldn't be, but thereare those kids my age were in a
Christian school and they weredealing with alcohol being
presented to them as teenagersBlew.
My mind Never thought of it,and I get it right.
(11:02):
Mom and dad is doing everythingthey can to protect them, and
so sometimes, when we removethem from the world, we think we
are, but the reality is sinfinds its way in everywhere,
because we're broken, all of us.
So sometimes we hold on really,really tightly, and I think
this is where, as parents, it'simportant that we have to rely
(11:26):
on God to protect them.
Romans 8.22 through verse 31says we know that the whole
creation has been groaning, asin the pains of childbirth,
right up to the present time.
Not only so, but we ourselveshave the firstfruits of the
Spirit grown inwardly as we waiteagerly for our adoption to
(11:49):
sonship, the redemption of ourbodies, for in this hope we were
saved.
But hope that is seen is nohope at all.
Who hopes for what they alreadyhave?
But if we hope for what we donot yet have, we wait for it
patiently.
In the same way, the Spirithelps us in our weakness.
We do not know what we ought topray for, but the Spirit
himself intercedes for usthrough wordless groans, and he
(12:12):
who searches our hearts knowsthe mind of the Spirit.
Because the Spirit intercedesfor God's people in accordance
with the will of God, and weknow that in all things God
works for the good of those wholove him, who have been called
according to his purpose.
For those God foreknew he alsopredestined to be conformed to
the image of his Son, that hemight be the firstborn among
many brothers and sisters.
(12:33):
And those he predestined.
He also called those he called.
He also justified those hejustified.
He also glorified.
What then, shall we say inresponse to these things?
If God is for us, then who canbe against us?
And so, again, paul is writingto this early church and he's
saying listen, god is on yourside.
(12:56):
I need you to understand this.
The world around you doesn'twant you to be anything like
Jesus.
You live in a Roman culture.
If anything, they act like,they accept your beliefs but in
reality they put up with it.
That's a common practice.
(13:17):
You just kind of let everyonedo their own thing.
But Paul says listen, don't beworried and so concerned about
the things of this world, butinstead trust that God is on
your side.
He has a plan for your life.
It's all about being changed.
And if you read through the bookof Romans, that's what Paul
continues to address is the ideathat, as things happen in this
(13:40):
world, that they're not alone.
So, as this passage teaches abeautiful lesson in hope because
of our connection with God asfree, justified, saved children
in Christ, suffering, thoughreal, unavoidable and painful,
cannot break this connection.
So the Spirit is active stillwithin us, a deep sense of God's
(14:01):
love as the basis for our hopeand to act as God's pledges that
he will continue to work on ourbehalf.
So we still live in a worldimpacted by sin, but destined
for total redemption.
We can't see how or when thatmight happen, but we trust.
As we persevere in this fallenworld, the Spirit cares for it
(14:22):
and empowers.
When we have no words, theSpirit carries us.
That's why we truly believethat everything will work out in
the end.
This doesn't mean that lifewill be easy, especially as God
uses the circumstances of ourlives to grow us, to shape us
and to mature us to betterreflect Jesus.
However, we have an overarchinghope in the storms of life that
(14:44):
, as God is for us, nothing istoo big for him to handle.
I think that's such an importantconcept because, again, we can
teach our kids to be obedient,to do all of the religious
(15:05):
things Don't talk in church,wear the right things, say the
right things.
We can teach behaviormodification Again, not
necessarily bad, but really Ithink we should teach our kids
to rely on who God is in theirlife.
We need to teach our kids thathaving a relationship with God
(15:27):
is not only their choice, butit's something that they have to
make happen.
It's not enough just to come tochurch because mom and dad drug
you there.
It's not, because what thatproduces is resentment, what
that produces is bitterness.
(15:49):
What that produces is thatSunday morning becomes an
obligation.
It's something that you know.
You come in on Sunday morning,you kind of put in a check mark
and then you go about the restof the week and nothing has
changed for you.
Again, not wrong to bring yourkids to church.
I bring mine to church.
It's important.
I believe that I absolutely100% believe you to bring your
kids to church.
I bring mine to church.
It's important.
I believe that I absolutely100% believe you should bring
(16:11):
your kids to church 100%.
But you have to teach them whychurch is important.
And it's not just because youdrugged them here, because they
need to understand that there isa God who created them, who
loved them, who loved them somuch that he died for them, and
he loved them so much that hecontinues and he put the spirit
(16:32):
in them to live out that lifethat he's calling them to live,
that he is for them, even if theworld is against them.
That's what breedstransformation.
It's helping our kids tounderstand that God is the most
important thing they can investtheir time and resources into,
(16:55):
and that comes from you and me.
We have to model that for them.
Everett's nine I'll be ten thisyear.
We've had a coupleconversations about faith, a
(17:15):
couple conversations aboutbaptism recently.
As a dad, that excites me, buthere's what I'm afraid of and
here's what I'm afraid of andhere's what I don't want.
I don't want my kids to acceptJesus because they feel like
they have to, but because theywant to.
(17:36):
Those are differentconversations, because I could
make him go through the motions.
I could have him come up andtake his confession.
I can have him get baptized.
We can do all of that.
But if he hasn't reallyunderstood or if he hasn't
really made that decision on hisown, then all he's doing is
(17:58):
he's mimicking.
But I need my kids tounderstand that God is the most
important thing in their life.
By the way, this goes back toour conversation.
This is why, during worship, Itold them we shouldn't be
talking.
Not because it's wrong to talk,because your focus needs to be
up right now.
You need to.
(18:20):
I have to teach them that youneed to be focused on God,
because in this moment, in thisroom.
The most important thing that'shappening right now is we're
standing in the presence of theAlmighty God and we're thanking
Him for who he is that matters.
We have to model this for ourchildren, but we also have to
trust that God is working intheir life.
(18:45):
I live in the same world thatyou live, believe it or not.
It's rough man.
It scares me.
Some of the stuff I see, someof the stuff that's become
acceptable, some of the stuff weteach, some of the stuff that's
become normal.
Listen, this is probably a petpeeve of mine and this is really
(19:13):
like a little thing.
It's not a big thing, but thereare commercials on TV now for
ladies.
I remember when I was younger,no idea what they were talking
about, because they were reallygood about talking about things
in a really roundaboutconversation.
Now they say stuff and I'm like, oh man, I'm going to have to
(19:35):
answer a question.
So when Griffin's about to askme what that word means, or I
think about this, this lastpolitical season, the amount of
negative ads was atrocious.
I had to explain to my kidswords that they shouldn't have
never heard yet.
But we're out here destroyingpeople's character and we call
(20:03):
it normal.
There's things of this worldthat terrify me, the things they
watch, the things they can livestream, the things that are
easily accessible.
I worry about them and I shouldbecause I'm a good dad, but I
(20:29):
can't protect them so much theydon't understand how to handle
it themselves.
I can't allow them to live in abubble like there's not a
problem with things going on Inmy house.
We have to have toughconversations, sometimes maybe
not even conversations that I'mready for, but I need my kids
and I think you and I, we needour kids in our stand that, even
(20:51):
though the world doesn't seemto be in favor of us, that God
is still in charge.
Even if the world is burningdown around us, god is still in
charge.
And I think one of the thingsthat I think we've done as
(21:13):
Christians is we've removedourselves so far from the
culture.
We protect ourselves, we hideourselves, we come into our
buildings on Sunday morning andwe just want everything to be
nice and clean and pristine.
And listen, that's just not howit works.
Jesus spent all of his timewith some of the worst people of
(21:41):
his day, intentionally, and so,again, we want to protect our
kids, but we also have to teachour kids to go into the world
and to be God, to be like Jesus,in their setting.
Maybe it's at a baseball game.
Maybe it's the way they handlethe loss.
(22:01):
Maybe it's at practice, wheneveryone else is slacking off
and your kids set in the tonebecause they understand that
working hard for God isimportant.
Maybe, when it comes and you'regoing out to lunch, you decide
not to go out to lunch on Sundayand instead you and your family
take some time to go volunteersomewhere.
(22:22):
Maybe you skip Thanksgivingdinner so that you can pack food
for other people.
Maybe you give your time andyour money and your resources
and you invest them in things ofthe church, not just the things
of this church, but things ofthe church in general, things
that are designed to help bringpeople to eternity.
(22:43):
Maybe it's walking in a paradeif it's just a little too hot
out.
Maybe it's sitting in a boothhanding out toys, but hoping and
praying that your kids will seethat you love God and they
should love God and they shouldtell other people about God,
because that matters.
You and I can hide our kids awayor we can teach them to be like
(23:10):
Jesus in a world that's full ofdarkness.
I think about Daniel, right, wejust got through this
incredible series on Daniel.
Daniel could have been in exileand complained the entire time,
and no one would have been madabout it, but he didn't.
Daniel stayed faithful to God.
(23:33):
He modeled a relationship withGod, so much so that he rose
through the ranks Influencingkings.
He lived a life right.
He lived a life that waschanging those around him.
You and I have to teach our kidsto be like Jesus.
I look forward to the day thatmy kids bring their first friend
(23:59):
to church.
That'll be cool.
I look forward to the storiesof their life when they get
older, when we hear about howthey're prayed with a friend who
is struggling.
I look forward to when my kidsask me questions about who God
(24:21):
is, even some of the harder onesto answer.
Because you and I, we have twooptions in this world.
We can either be so afraid ofthis world that we wrap our kids
in bubble wrap and we hope theydon't break, or we can be
(24:43):
broken for this world and spendour time teaching our kids to be
disciples who make disciples.
I said this last week yourfirst discipleship opportunity
is in your home To teach yourkids to follow Jesus and to
watch that play out in theirlife.
(25:05):
See you, and I don't have tolive in fear.
What's the saying that's allover t-shirts right now?
Faith over fear.
Listen, we talk about that at avery high level.
The world's burning down.
Faith over fear.
We talk about it in thepolitical climate Faith over
(25:27):
fear.
But what if we step back andactually brought that into our
homes and said, god, we're goingto trust you with our families.
We're going to trust you withour kids.
We're going to trust youwhether our kids are in public
school or private school.
We're going to trust you withthem.
We're going to trust you andwe're going to surrender them to
(25:47):
you.
We're going to do everything wecan to live out a life that's
dedicated to you, but we aregoing to teach them, more than
anything, how to follow you,because that's the only thing
that will make a difference intheir life is whether or not
they have a relationship withyou.
Everything else will fade,except for you.
(26:11):
I came across this this weekendand I thought it was interesting
.
This is a gentleman calledPastor Clark Fraley.
He says one tangible place thistension plays out is in public
schools.
He's talking about this faithover fear, he says.
Too often Christians respond toeducation crisis with
withdrawal and condemnation.
(26:31):
But what if we followed theexample of leaders like Pastor
Clark Fraley, who launchedPastors for Oklahoma Kids, to
stand with local schools, notbecause the system was perfect,
but because hope requirespresence?
It says people were saying ourschools were Marxist, socialist,
(26:51):
atheist, fairly recalled thatjust wasn't our experience, the
discussion from fellowChristians.
He said he felt like it was afalse narrative.
He said instead, what theyfound is they found people who
were hurting and lost, whoneeded hope.
Our fears often grow in theshadows of the unknown, but when
(27:13):
we show up at school boardmeetings, in classrooms, on
playgrounds, in neighborhoods,we begin to see things clearly.
We see real people, we seeshared struggles.
We see shared struggles.
We see opportunities to serve,because here's the truth it is
(27:37):
really hard to be cynical whenyou're busy serving those around
you.
You know I think about this inmy own life that sometimes I
fail in being a gracious person.
I know that I'm harder onpeople than I need to be and
listen.
Most of that time is becauseI'm so hard on myself.
But you and I, we share thesame struggle.
(28:01):
We're trying to be like Jesus.
That's the point.
And so we have this opportunitythat we can either hide in our
churches and hope that peoplefind Jesus, or we can walk into
the fire and trust that thefourth man is going to show up
(28:23):
Again.
I love Daniel.
Daniel never wavered in hisfaith, but he lived out his
faith and he trusted God and hebecame a beacon of hope A beacon
of hope in a pagan culture.
He changed the lives of kings.
(28:44):
Do you understand that?
He changed the lives of kingsor Esther?
Let's talk about Esther.
Esther is one of my favoritestories.
By the way, it's the only bookin the Bible that doesn't
mention God directly.
I think I've said that before.
It's inferred A whole lot ofeverything, but I love the story
of Esther because her peoplewere about to be exterminated
(29:06):
and she walks into the presenceof the king uninvited Could have
died instantly, could have diedWalks into the presence of the
king and because of thatdecision to boldly live out her
faith, she's saved a nation.
What does the verse say?
That for such a time as thisright?
(29:27):
So you and I have two options.
We can sit here and reflect onthe good old days when things
were going perfect and thechurch never had any problems,
right, because 40 years ago thechurch never had any problems.
We can reflect and complainabout the generation now and how
(29:51):
rude they are and I can't standthem or I can't believe they
act like that.
And listen, I have moments likethat.
I'm about to be 40.
There's some of these teenagersthat I'm like no, you're not my
kid, not you, ari, I wouldn'tsay that while you're sitting in
here.
But we can look at the world,we can look at the challenges
(30:16):
and, by the way, this generationfaces more challenges than you
and I realize Social media hasruined their self-image.
Tiktok lies to them, even onstuff about faith.
Some of the stuff on TikTokdrives me nuts.
They're constantly comparingthemselves to each other,
(30:38):
constantly trying to find hope,constantly trying to find a
purpose in life, and I'm tellingyou right now they're never
going to find it in the world.
They're only going to find itin your home.
We have to be the example forthem.
We have to model for them theonly thing that matters, and
that's faith in Jesus.
We have to demonstrate for themwhy it matters to come to
(31:02):
church, why it matters to serve.
All of these things areimportant.
Our kids have to see this, notbecause they have to.
That's the thing, man.
I want my kids to do the thingsthey do because they want to.
I don't stand there on Sundaymornings because I have to.
I don't follow God because theywant to.
I said I don't stand here onSunday mornings because I have
to.
I don't follow God because Ihave to.
(31:25):
I follow God because ofeverything he's done for me and
if I can have a small littleplace in this world before I die
to know that I helped otherpeople find that same
transformation and I didsomething with my life, that's
(31:47):
what I want for my kids.
I want them to understand thatGod is for them and I want to
live in such a way that I trustGod with the lives of my
children.
Genesis 22, 1 through 18, hasto be the hardest thing that I
(32:10):
think I've ever read, being adad that.
Sometime later God testedAbraham and he said to him
Abraham, here I am.
He replied.
Then God said take your son,your only son, whom you love,
isaac, and go to the region ofMoriah.
Sacrifice him there as a burntoffering on a mountain that I
(32:32):
will show you Now.
Understand that it had taken avery long time for Isaac to come
to the picture and God hadpromised that it was through
Abraham's offspring that forIsaac to come to the picture,
and God had promised that it wasthrough Abraham's offspring
that he was going to build anation.
And so God comes to Abraham andhe says take your son, your
only son, isaac, and take him toa mountain to be sacrificed.
(32:56):
Now it's funny becauseyesterday we were sitting with
Alicia and she was like we tellpeople all the time, if you come
to church, we're notsacrificing children, we're not.
This is one time in ScriptureOkay, so stay with me.
It says take your son andsacrifice him.
So early the next morningAbraham got up and loaded his
(33:18):
donkey and he took with him twoof his servants and his son
Isaac.
When he had cut enough wood forthe burnt offering, he set out
for the place God had told himabout.
On the third day, abrahamlooked up and saw the place in
the distance and he said to hisservants Stay here with the
donkey while I and the boy goover there, we will worship and
(33:38):
then we'll come back to you.
Abraham took the wood for theburnt offering and he placed it
on his son Isaac, and he himselfcarried the fire and the knife,
and the two of them went ontogether.
Isaac spoke up and said to hisfather Abraham, father, yes, my
son Abraham replied the fire andthe wood are here, isaac said,
(33:59):
but where is the lamb for theburnt offering?
I can imagine Abraham answered,trying to choke back some tears
, that God himself provided thelamb for the burnt offering.
My son and the two of them wenton together when they reached
the place God had told themabout, abraham built an altar
(34:20):
there and arranged the wood onit.
He bound his son Isaac and laidhim on the altar on top of the
wood.
Then he reached out his hand,took his knife to slay his son,
but the angel of the Lord calledout to him from heaven Abraham,
abraham, here I am.
He replied.
Do not lay a hand on the boy.
He said.
Do not do anything to him.
(34:43):
Now.
I know that you fear Godbecause you have not withheld
from me your son, your only son.
Abraham looked up and there inthe thicket he saw a ram caught
by its horns and he went overand he took the ram and he
sacrificed it as a burntoffering instead of his son.
So Abraham called that placethe Lord will.
And to this day it is said onthe mountain of the Lord, it
(35:05):
will be provided.
You know, I've always wonderedabout the return conversation
home.
I do.
When I was younger I used tothink that Abraham, maybe he
ignored it, right, dad?
(35:27):
Dad, why did you put me on thealtar?
Don't worry about it.
But as I've gotten older Irealize that I don't think he
did.
I think that entire walk back,he took the time to explain to
Isaac what it means to bewilling to give up everything,
to say to his son I love youmore than you will ever know,
(35:50):
but I love God more than you.
And listen, that's a hardconversation, right, but I think
it's important because I thinksometimes, sometimes I think God
wants us to surrender our kidsto him.
(36:10):
He wants us to trust him withthem.
And that's tough because wewant to live and we want to
protect them and we want to holdon to them with everything we
have.
But God in this moment issaying to Abraham I need you to
worry about me and I'll worryabout him.
You worry about me and I'lltake care of Isaac.
(36:31):
And I think that's what we haveto live is God.
I'm going to worry about my andyour relationship and I'm going
to trust you with my children,because I can't protect them
everywhere that I go.
Everett, at some point in hislife, is going to find himself
somewhere where he probablydoesn't even want to be, and
(36:53):
he's going to find himself in asituation and I pray that I
taught him enough that hechooses God over whatever that
is.
I pray that, as he walksthrough life and he has his own
challenges, that he realizesthat, no matter how bad things
(37:16):
are, that there's a God wholoves him.
There's a God who is for himand not against him.
And I pray, as a parent, that Ilearn to trust God more with my
kids the older they get,because God wants more for them
than even I do.
That's the beauty of it.
It's not like we're handing ourkids off to someone who doesn't
(37:37):
care.
We're handing our kids off tosomeone who wants them to be
everything they're supposed tobe, and God is really good,
really good at getting us there.
So, when it comes to behaviors,to behaviors, don't worry so
(38:04):
much about whether or not yourkids behave in church.
Worry about whether or not theywant to be there at all.
Don't worry so much aboutwhether or not your kids say and
do the right things all thetime.
Worry more about whether or notyour kids say and do the right
things all the time.
(38:24):
Worry more about whether or notthey're spending time with the
one who created them.
Don't just seek obedience forobedience sake, but help them be
transformed into the little menand women that God is calling
them to be.
Set a tone for them.
Help them understand that Godis important, that spending time
(38:48):
and when I say church, I'm notjust talking about on Sunday
morning.
Get involved, spend time withother believers.
That's where so much growthhappens.
My favorite part about Thursdaynights in our house is all the
kids who come and play together.
That, to me, is cool.
Don't worry about whether ornot your kid looks the part.
(39:13):
Help them understand theimportance of seeking Jesus
first.
Don't just worry about beingreligious.
Teach your kids to have arelationship with God.
Model that for them, becausewhether they're here on Sunday
(39:37):
morning or they're not, myprayer is that my kids are being
like Jesus wherever they are,wherever they are.
You know, I know a lot of youfamilies.
You guys are busy.
Sports are crazy.
Man, I get it.
It's crazier now than it everwas before.
I get it, it's crazier now thanit ever was before.
(40:07):
And listen, I've probablyshifted a little bit in my focus
because for the longest time Ithink I would probably beat,
whether I meant to or not, Ifeel like I could beat people up
for not being here on Sundaymorning because of something,
for a reason, they're not here.
And listen again, I think thechurch is important, but a
couple months ago I startedpraying for everyone who's not
(40:29):
here and my prayer is God,wherever they are, let them be
you.
Let them be you in whateversituation they find themselves
in.
We miss them.
I look forward to seeing them,but my prayer is that, wherever
you are, that you're being Jesusand that you are bringing God
into wherever you find yourselfat.
(40:55):
Because that, to me, is animportant thing for our kids to
understand that God is not justhere on Sunday morning.
But he's at the baseball field,he's at the football game, he's
at the wrestling match, he's inthe theater production that you
might be in, he's walking in aparade in 95-degree weather,
(41:15):
he's sitting in a booth on aSaturday evening meeting kids
and families, that he goes withus.
So we need to stop being soconcerned about whether or not
we're protecting ourselves fromthe world and really are we
being the light that this worldneeds.
That's what I need to teach.
(41:36):
That's what we need to teachour kids is that everywhere they
go, god goes with them, becauseGod is everywhere.
You can have church anywhere.
It doesn't have to be abuilding like this.
That was my favorite thingabout church planting.
Our first church plant was in acoffee shop Coolest thing ever.
(42:00):
Every morning, every Sundaymorning, sometimes Saturday
night, 70 people gathered inthis little corner of a coffee
shop and we had worship and wepraised God.
We met in a theater one time.
That was fun.
Seating was spectacular, butthat's because church is bigger
(42:20):
than a building.
Church is where we are.
You and I are the church thatmatters.
Teach your kids that thatmatters.
Don't teach them to just beobedient, good-behaved kids.
Teach them to be like Jesus.
That'll change their life.
(42:43):
At the end of the day.
One of the greatest gifts thatGod has given us is the
reassurance that he neverchanges.
No matter what comes, he standsfirm.
Our place in his family issecure.
We are fully known, fully lovedand never condemned in Christ,
romans 8.1.
So that kind of unwavering lovedoesn't change us.
(43:05):
It gives us a model to follow,especially in how we love our
families.
For our children, especially inmoments of high emotion,
uncertainty or failure, theydon't need us to match their
chaos.
They need us to reflect God'scalm.
Just as we can approach ourHeavenly Father with confidence,
our kids need to know that theycan come to us without fear of
(43:26):
rejection.
One of the greatest gifts wecan offer them is to become
their safe place, the steadypresence they can run to in the
middle of the storm, whenemotion runs high.
May they borrow our calmbecause we are grounded in the
truth that God works all thingsfor good.
But they don't believe thatunless we live it.
(43:50):
Think about babies.
Even puppies Sleep better withthe steady sound of a heartbeat
or a ticking clock nearby.
The rhythm soothes them.
We're not that different.
We use fans, ocean waves orrainfall sounds to calm our
nerves and quiet our minds.
Why?
Because they steady us.
So, in a world full of noise,is your home a place of peace?
(44:12):
Can your kids find grace, truthand calm in their life through
you?
Part of being a parent, again,it's not about being perfect,
but it's showing them thatthey're loved Without condition,
(44:36):
without fear.
We model for them what it meansto be loved by a God who is
willing to die for us.
And, at the end of the day, wetrust our children to the lives
of the one who created us.
We trust God to take care ofthem, to protect them, to watch
(44:57):
over them even when we can'tbecause he made them.
Protect them, to watch overthem even when we can't because
he made them.
If we want our kids to be likeJesus, if we want our kids to
understand that God loves themand that God is for them, if we
want to understand that nothingin this world can ever stop him
from getting to them, they haveto see it at home first.
(45:20):
From getting to them, they haveto see it at home first.
It's never been about obedience.
It's always been abouttransformation, and
transformation comes fromknowing the one who loves us,
(45:41):
the one who accepts us and theone who died for us.
God is with us everywhere,always, at all times.
Make sure your kids know that.
All right, let's pray.
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