Circles | Clayton Hentzel

Are you excited to be in church? Let me hear what?

What? Hey, time changing stopping

anybody around here. We decided to show up and have

some fun and grow in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and I am so

excited to be hanging out with you.

Some of you might be asking Clayton, how do I know that?

God loves Jerry Harris, more than me?

It's because when Jerry preaches, it doesn't snow on

Thursday and he doesn't get the time change weeks.

That's how I know that God loves Cherry more than me.

I had an opportunity. What was it two weeks ago, times

and going fast to go to a Pastors conference while I was

there. I met a gentleman by the name of

Glenn Elliot you can look him up on Facebook.

He is a part of Pantano. Christian Church in Arizona And

he used to be a missionary in the Ukraine, and he posts

updates every single day of how the church is doing and how

people are responding than. It's been a great way to kind

of, just keep tabs on what's happening through a Christian

perspective. While I was talking to him, we

started interacting this past week in back and forth.

And he said that one of the pastor's that he knows heard

that there were some kids in an orphanage who had been abandoned

and he went and he found them and they were in a bomb shelter

57 kids, I think it's 57 or 50 60, 24 year old sleeping on the

floor, in a damp bomb, shelter him and the church went in.

They grabbed all those kids, they took him to their church

basement. They've been providing them

Round. The Clock care that.

Round-the-clock clerk are is getting expensive because

obviously prices are going through the roof.

And I want you to know that this past Wednesday.

Our church sent a check for ten thousand dollars on behalf of

every single person we send a dollar on behalf of every single

person who's going to be hearing this message this weekend.

And for those of you who partner with the crossing financially, I

just want to say a big thank you because you've put our church in

a position where when we hear of a need we can immediately

respond and have the space to do so and I want you to know that

what you're doing is not just blessing our region, but it's

having worldwide impact and things that you're seeing on the

news right now. And to think that those kids are

being loved and cared for out of just our normal active obedience

and I'm just so proud to be a part of this church alongside of

you. And if there are other needs

that arise, we will respond again, as long as God makes us

able. Well, we In the sermon series

called better how to win at home.

And we started off this sermon series talking about how we as a

church believe and I hope you believe this to that God can

redeem broken things. And we talked about can Suki,

which is when a piece of pottery gets broken that is not the end

of its life. It only represents One Moment in

its history and that God can take his beautiful golden finger

of restoration and he can put us back together and he can put us

back together and In such a way, that it almost appears more

beautiful than when before we were broken.

And then Jerry spent some time talking about the best way for

your family to win, is for you to have a really strong

foundation. And we believe here at the

Crossing that there is no better Foundation than the rock of

Jesus Christ that through him, you can whether everstorm, you

can overcome every obstacle and every challenge that when you

hold on to him, you're holding onto the only thing that you

need to hold onto you can hold onto.

I mean, but that can disappear. You can hold onto friends but

they can have their own challenges.

You can hold onto politics. You can hold onto, whatever you

want to. But I'm telling you what, unless

you're holding on to Jesus, unless you're building your life

on Jesus, eventually, it will fail.

And last week, Jerry talked about marriage and he discussed

how we are generally wired around gender and how we are

generally, wired are emotionally and that was a great opportunity

for us to kind of Think through how we were doing it.

Jennifer our laughing through that message, as we recognize

the differences in us and then we challenge you all to go on a

Crossing date night. And I've been watching on social

media, as many of you guys have taken that challenge and enjoy

that Jennifer and I enjoyed watching it.

We decided to do our date on Friday, and we did a

drive-through date and she got to pick what she wanted for me

to eat off Panera. And I left very hungry just so,

you know, very, very hungry and it was kind of Honey.

Maybe some of you guys have the same experience.

We were kind of like, all right, let's get through this.

Let's do these things and our lets punch out question number 1

or lets punch out envelope. Number two, let's Punch Out

number three and then it started to slow way down and we start to

have a deep and meaningful conversation.

And over the course of that, our we decided we would just things.

Just start Louis started connect even deeper and have

conversations that maybe we've been wanting to have, but just

haven't had the right context to have.

And so if you haven't done that yet, I want to encourage you.

It will be a blessing to you. Your kids, your family for you

to go on that Journey. Take the challenge.

If you don't have stuff talk to your campus Pastor he'll get you

hooked up but today we're going to talk about parenting but

listen to me this message is not just for parents, it's not just

for grandparents, it's for you because I believe that the

principles were going to talk about in this message.

Apply first and foremost to you as a person to you as a Christ

follower in, this sermon will be a little bit different.

Did a lot of the sermons are preached so just kind of hang on

to the end. But I'm really have a desire to

put tools in your tool belt to be able to handle the different

challenges that you're going to face.

And one of the hardest things you'll ever do is raise a child.

Those of you who are parents or our grandparents you'll say

amen. Yeah it's thinking hard.

Jim Gaffigan was once asked what it's like to have four kids and

he said, imagine you're drowning and someone hands you a baby.

That's what it's like having four kids.

That's why Jennifer and I had three were like, we're not good

swimmers. We're done.

Okay. We can't we can't do this.

It was someone once said that motherhood is an extreme sport.

That's why women are always wearing workout clothes, okay?

They're like it's just that's just how it is.

Jerry Seinfeld said having a two-year-old is like having a

blender that's on but you don't have the top for it.

Those of you who have two year olds, you like yeah.

Preach Clayton. Preach how many of you have this

will be fun. How many of you ladies?

Come on. Help me out here.

I kind of wish deep down inside that you are a Pinterest mom.

But you realize your Amazon Prime you're an Amazon Prime

mom. Yeah.

We're an Amazon Prime church. Preach.

Okay. Yeah, that's us.

Word of warning to those of you who are going, man, we just we

just can't wait to have kids. It looks so much fun.

I mean we just can't wait. Here's a little test for you.

Just go home today. Find any cartoon the actually

any of them but find an annoying one.

Just leave it on all day loud. Do that all week and just know

that that's the next four years of your life.

If you just have one kid, okay? If you have two years, you can

be stuck in a decade of Hannah Montana, okay?

Or whatever it is, it gets bad. I remember us just walking

around the house. Going when does this stop?

And those of you who are fresh to Parenting, I want to give you

a pro tip. Those of you been there before,

you know, the truth about what I'm about to say.

But to literally like, man, we're just having a hard time

like finding our kids. Like sometimes you're like,

where are My kids. How do I get them to listen to

me? How do I find them all?

Here's all you have to do just sit down on the toilet.

And they will find you. You won't hear them for a long

time. Like where are they?

Kids, kids, nothing, you sit down the toilet, dad, doubt me

alone. Okay, get away from me.

This is not a good time, okay? Um, so if you are a person who's

thinking about having kids or maybe you are, I want you to

know this message is for you. If you're pregnant, this message

is for you. If you are navigating the

challenges of the terrible twos, This message is for you if

you're dealing with the murky Waters of Elementary and Junior

High School, this message is for you.

If you're dealing with high school students, I don't have

any hope for you. Now this my joke in this message

is for you. If you are holding on and

holding your breath, as your kids are leaving High School

into the great unknown. This message is for you.

If you've already raised your kids but you still have a

minivan because you're picking up the grandkids.

This message is for Are you if you are a person who just wants

to be a Jesus follower? This message is for you.

I believe deep down inside every parent, every deep down inside,

they want to be able to say what John says, in third, John

John 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1, I have no Greater Joy.

Then to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Parents. Is this not your heart that deep

down inside one day you want to be able to say, my kids are

walking in the truth. That nothing would fill your

heart up more. Not that they have a job, not

that they're happily married, but that they are walking in the

truth. And the truth is that they're

walking in the ways of Jesus, And we can feel incredible

pressure to try and make our kids turn out.

Okay. Better come out better off than

we did. Avoid some of the same

disastrous mistakes that we made in having a child, is like

having your heart walk around outside of your body.

And there's not enough Bubble Wrap in the world to protect

him, and I need you to hear me say this, when it comes to

Parenting, you are responsible for your part.

Your part. There are different parts that

come into play when it is raising a kid.

I mean, there's your part and then there's God's part and then

there's their part. The parents and you hear me say

this, you do not do God's part and you're not responsible for

their part. You are responsible for, if I

say it with me, your part. Now I got good news for you.

God always does his part. And God is also equipped you

with his word as a guide, to do your part and he's equipped you

with his Spirit to help you do your part.

But you can't do their part. Here is a truth that we all have

to recognize that when we are dealing with our kids, the

younger, they are the more control we have and the older

they get the less control we have and some of you are like

yeah, yeah. I mean when your kid is like,

you know, car seat age, you have all the control in the world,

all of it. Like, you control everything,

you you, when they're in the car seat.

I know some of you. You're like, when do I get out

of the car seat stage where I have to keep lugging this thing

around everywhere? Listen, don't despise the car

seat stage because you are in absolute control in car seat

stage. And when they're like, five, you

say things like this. Because I said, so, Because

you're in control. Try that when they're 30.

Because I said so okay Mom and half of your like what is that?

I don't understand what that is. Okay.

You actually it's not even that you just end the conversation

over text. You don't even know how to talk

on the phone. Okay.

Over time we lose control but at the same time that we are losing

control, there is an opportunity for us as parents that as we go

down in the control, we have the opportunity to go up in the area

of being a consultant. You're not a consultant.

When they're five, you're a dictator.

You dictate everything. You prepare every meal.

They make, you make all the financial decisions.

You pick out their clothes, you even put their clothes on them.

But when they're like 25 to 40 at best, you're a consultant.

And you will spend most of your life as a parent in the

consultant stage, not the control stage.

And the way you make sure that they have a good future and that

you get to be a part of that future is how we manage the

transition out of control and into consultant.

And one of the ways that we do this is with circles and

everyone needs a circle, I want to give a shout out to Josh

Bailey who's a part of our 48th Street campus, who helped me put

some of the language around this message and Every single person

needs a circle. And it is through these circles

that we get to learn how to do our part.

Now let me show you what I mean by a circle.

Let's take a kid. Will name this kid Emerson?

Okay now this kid has a circle, he has a parents, he has a mom

and a dad and beyond that. He has family extended family.

Aunts Uncles, grandparents Grandma's.

All of those things nephews, nieces all of those people

become the family and beyond that.

There has another Circle. These are the coaches teachers

band, directors, choir, Directors, all these people

become a part of the, their Circle, and then you've got

their friends that they put, in their Circle and beyond that.

Maybe you're a kind of person who believes in church and they

have church people that are part of the circle and all of these

circles help create a perfect environment for Emerson to grow

and develop and become a Jesus follower.

And when there are breaks inside of one of these circles, the

other Circle fills in the Gap, grandparents I just want to say

thank you. I see a lot of grandparents

bringing their grandkids to church.

You're filling in the gap. I know some of you you make

investments in kids that are not your kids because you want to

help fill in the gaps. Now.

Let me show you how important circles are because nobody was

ever designed to be alone. It was in the Perfection of Eden

that God looked at Adam and said it is not good for man to be

alone. He put a circle around him when

Jesus came Jesus, who is perfect and all-powerful came to Earth

before he started his Earthly Ministry.

Do you know what? Jesus, This did he made a, he

made a circle, he had an inner circle.

James are Peter, James, and John were his inner three.

Then he had another Circle, the remaining nine, and those three

plus nine, made up his Apostles, beyond the circle of The Twelve.

He had the 72 beyond the 72, he had the 120 be on the 120, he

had the multitudes. In fact, Jesus is a circle unto

himself. You have God, you have the

spirit and you have the Sun, the Trinity are their own Circle.

And another way of looking at a circle is to see it as a

boardroom. And here is a question, if you

are the company who are making the decisions for your life

because you are not making those decisions by yourself, there is

a boardroom, there are circles at play in your life.

And as you think about your kids, as you think about you,

quick question, this will be an Size for you, and you get home.

Who are the 11:52 loudest voices in your life?

Who sits in the boardroom of your life.

Another question who sits in the Board Room of your kid's life

You we've all heard the phrase that it takes a village to raise

a child. Let me take a quick break for

just a second. There is a young lady on a staff

at our church who works in our multi-site offices on my team

and her and her husband put together a Ministry called

connect. And what they try to do is they

are us they try to fill in the gaps in circles for foster and

adoptive parents and biological families who are navigating

foster care and adoption and they kind of come around and To

love and support them as they go through that process.

And if you were to go to my Facebook page, my Instagram

page, there is a link to where you can actually buy this

sweatshirt or this sweatshirt and different colors.

And the proceeds from that actually go to Resource them so

that they can fill in the circle for other people.

And if you're the kind of person who wears clothes, this is a

great way for you to do that. Okay, if you're going yeah you

know I definitely need something for tomorrow.

In a couple weeks like you know, you can buy one of these.

And what it'll do is it'll actually help Foster and

adoptive parents and it'll help people who are trying to be

Circle makers for other people. There is a phrase that I heard I

asked this on Thursday night and almost nobody raised their

hands. I don't know if I just, you

know, you guys are smarter than them or not.

So how many of you have heard that your life will be the

average of your five closest friends?

Okay, okay, so I guess we're over to a long time ago,

sociologists put together, they are some facts and what they

realized is that your life will be the average of your five

closest friends, you will make about the average of your five,

closest friends. Your marriage will be about the

average of your five closest friends.

The way you navigate life, your happiness quotient will be the

average of your five closest friends.

So who you surround yourself with?

Matters. Well, they did sociologist did

an even deeper dive into this. And what they found out was,

it's not just the average of your five closest friends, but

it's the average of your five, closest friends, five closest

friends, they track this through two factors, one was obesity and

the other one was drug use. So check this out, okay.

Obese. If you have an obese group of

people in your friend group, you are 45 percent, more likely to

gain weight, For the next two to four years.

Some of you just unfriended me, okay.

You just like wow, I cannot be friends with that guy.

I love my family too much. I get it.

I can't be friends with me either but check this out.

If a friend of a friend becomes obese, your likelihood of

gaining weight increases by 20% when it comes to drug use, if

you have a friend in your circle, you are 61 percent more,

likely that uses drugs, you were 61 percent, more likely to use

drugs. if you have a friend of a friend, your 29 percent more

likely, if you have a friend of a friend of a friend, your 11%,

Then they tracked it through happiness, and a friend of a

friend of a friend who is happy. You have a 6% chance or your six

percent, more likely to become to become happier or you will

experience a 6% increase in your happiness quotient and you're

like six percent. That's not that much.

Okay, let me quantify it for you.

If today, your boss were to call you up and give you a ten

thousand dollar raise, that would increase your happiness

quotient by 2%. Who you have in your circle, is

more important than how much you make to your happiness, quotient

who you put in your circle matters.

The friends of your friends of your kids end up having

significant influence. The Bible told us this a long

time ago, it knew this way before sociologists were

invented. Look what it says in Proverbs

Proverbs 13 · chapter mention

Chapter 13 walk with the wise and we, and become, as I say

this, yeah. For a companion of fools

suffers, who you put in your circle matters.

Well, let's go back to this control, graphic and consultant

graphic. When you are looking at your

kids, the younger, your child is the more control you have.

You control who's in their friend group, you control who's

in the Board Room as your child gets older, when they're 15.

I mean, there still may be asking you, hey, you know, can

I, can I go to my friend's house because you're the one driving

them. Right.

But you also recognize that there's things that they're not

asking you anymore when your kid finds himself in their 20s.

How much control do you have? I mean, if you're paying for

college, you have some When they're in their 30s, what

control do you have like I guess whether or not you're going to

leave them in the will whether or not you're going to watch

their kids? Like you have almost no control.

And if you have almost no control and your only

consultant, your job is to help make sure that they have people

in their Circle. And what you want to be as a

parent is you want to be a person that they will consult.

So you have a say in who they put in the boardroom of their

life. Why is this important you

already know this? Is because a better Circle

provides a better experience. The quality of your circle,

increases the quality of your child's life their choices and

their Direction. Ecclesiastes chapter 4 tells us

Ecclesiastes 4 · chapter mention

what we already knew. Two are better than one because

they have a good return for their labor.

If either of them falls down, one can help the other up but

pity anyone, who falls and has no one to help them up.

Also if to lie down together, they will keep warm.

But how can anyone keep warm alone?

The one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves?

A quart of three strands is not quickly broken.

There is going to come a time in your child's life where they are

going to fall. Where they are going to be cold

and they are going to have to defend themselves and we as

parents want to put enough people in the boardroom, the

kind of people that will help them when they fall down.

Keep them warm when they are cold and not abandon them when

they need someone to fight for them.

And the way we do that is make sure that we behave ourselves in

the boardroom of Life can hear. Is sometimes what happens is you

look at your kids board room and you know, Do you have a seat at

the table? You know that when you're

sitting in the Board Room? Like you had a seat at the

table. In fact they're used to just you

used to be the only seat but over time, there were more seats

added and while you're in the boardroom in still trying to

operate as a controller, instead of Consultants you misbehaved,

Let me put it this way. Parents, when you start fighting

your kids start asking themselves, do I want you in the

boardroom the way you speak about their stepmom or their

stepdad impacts whether or not they want you to be in the

boardroom? How you treat the kids that they

are inviting into the boardroom other life?

You know what ends up happening is over time, you used to be

sitting right next to him and they've slowly pushed you down

and you find yourself far away from where the decisions are

made in the boardroom. You still have a right to a

seat. But they're not listening to

your voice anymore, and they start looking for other people

to fill your seat because you didn't manage the control.

That is why you need people in your circle in your boardroom

who will guide and direct you. We need first Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 kind of people in the boardroom of our life and we

urge you brothers and sisters warn those who are idle and

everybody say this word. Disruptive encourage the

disheartened. Help the weak be patient with.

Yeah. Keep going.

Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for Should I read that

part again, for all your divorced?

Parents out there. Step parents out there, angry,

ticked off people out there. Make sure that nobody pays back

wrong for wrong. You need to be in the circle,

and you need to be stopping people.

Don't pay back wrong for wrong. Be patient with everyone

encourage the disheartened, but always strive to do, what is

good for each other and for everyone else, if you're in the

boardroom and you're trying to do, what's good.

For you. You're not the kind of board

member your kid needs and if you don't have people on your board

who are telling you, what is good for everyone else not for

you, you have got the wrong people in the boardroom of your

life and as your child ages, they're going to start filling

in seats even if you do everything right.

You'll be driving down the road and you'll hear them say

something you back. Where did where did you hear

that? Well, Bob says Okay.

What else does Bob say? Okay, I don't think that's right

man. I mean you know it was Bob a

doctor. Okay.

I don't think so. Let me I think he's 7, he wore

different colored shoes on to school the other day.

I don't know if we should be trusting him.

They'll say something else about.

Where did you hear that? Becky.

Okay. Yeah, I'm Becky knows.

Lots of things. Dad, does she and what you want

to say back? He's an idiot.

Becky's trash. Like we don't, we don't want to

listen to Becky anymore. So you know what you end up

saying? Oh that's cool.

She sounds, she sounds fun. Parents track with me because if

you go off on Becky, Well, how did that work for you?

When you were growing up, when your parents tried to isolate

you from somebody, Did it make you want to leave them alone?

Or did it make you want to be around them even more?

How you handle the boardroom matters, how you shift out of

control and into consultant matters, because it works both

ways because parents, there's going to come a day when you

will have been saying the exact same thing over and over and

over again to your kid and they won't listen to a word of it.

And then one coach will just say it in passing after practice and

your kid will come home. Like they've had an epiphany.

Right, I've got a friend of my life.

I, you know, I've been navigating stuff with them and

I've been given good, solid advice, hasn't listening to a

word of it. I called up somebody that we

both respect said, hey, would you call this person?

They're like, sure they call my friend.

They give my friend this exact. Same advice that I've been given

my friend calls me and says, hey, I just talked to.

So, and so and they had some really great great insights on

how I should navigate this. Hold on.

Parents do I want my kids to get the right advice and listen to

it or do I want them to give me credit for it?

I want them to get the right advice and follow it.

Who cares who gets the credit? I just want them to have the

right, people in the circle that they have wise counsel in their

Circle. And that's why we as a church

want to partner with you, we want to help you fill out your

kids Circle in the circle of your kids.

We want to make sure that they have difference makers and

mentors and life group leaders that will all play age play a

huge role in the spiritual development of you and the

spiritual development of your child.

My parents. With me on multiple occasions,

they put older people that I thought were cool in my life to

make sure that I was getting Good.

Counsel reinforced, we were so thankful for our daughter,

Kennedy who had difference makers and small group leaders

make an investment in her life when she was going through

Journey Junior and high school years.

I love it that some of the coolest people on planet Earth

to my kids are people who called this church home.

My parent, my kids are my boys, They're still old enough that

they want to be me when they grow up.

It was only like two years ago, like up until two years ago,

they thought I was the strongest guy in the world and then I took

him to CrossFit and they met same dancer and they're like,

Dad. I don't think you can beat him

up like I don't think so either. Okay till I tell you should arm

wrestling like no no I'm good, that's good.

You know they asked me the day before.

Can you pick up a car? I'm like out of like one car at

a time. Yeah, probably.

And then the next day, they're like do you think you could arm

wrestle Sam? And like, if you haven't seen,

same dancers arms their thighs. Okay.

And it's like, oh, but my kids still want to be me, but I know

the days coming. And I love it when they start,

when I'm picking him up and I'm driving them home and they're

talking about some of the cool things that people who call this

church home are saying to them. That when they come in here,

they're looking for other grown man to give high fives to that

are following the Lord. We need to make sure that we are

putting the right people in their Circle.

Just so, you know, let me give you a little insight secret.

We asked all of the difference makers at our church, to pick a

service to serve. So that way, when your kid To

church, they will regularly. See the same person who will be

making a Strategic investment in them every single week.

So they're not having like their spiritual leaders rotated out,

but they'll have the same person reinforcing what we're teaching

at home. That's why Camp is so important

because it gives them more time with a circle.

That's why regular Church. Attendance is important because

it reinforces principles and it gives them plenty of time with a

circle because every Circle needs to challenge them.

A good Circle will never leave you where you are, it will

accept you and it will love you but it will also love you

enough. Not to leave you there.

Proverbs 27 says this as iron sharpens, iron.

So one person sharpens another, I'm not saying that your circle

shouldn't comfort you because we can't neglect what it says in

Galatians chapter 6 carry each other's burdens.

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

And in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ, but I

am saying that your circle should push.

You look what it says in Proverbs. 19 verse 20, listen to

Proverbs 19:20

advice and accept. A point.

And at the end, you will be counted among the wise, we as a

church are not going to delay spiritual maturity.

We do not need to put off challenging and pushing each

other and our kids in the area of spiritual growth, we don't

get everything, right? And so we are going to need

people to coach us and help us navigate the challenges of life.

You heard me talk about this on Super Bowl weekend.

We've been in the process of revamping our 02:18 Ministries,

and we've been rolling stuff out at all of our different

locations. And one of the changes we've

made in this might not seem like a big deal to you, but it's a

huge deal to us for the longest time, we've called 02:18 this,

our next gen Next Generation, we try to have shortened up.

So to be hip and cool and you know, you might go in but we've

actually changed what we're calling 02:18 Ministry.

It's no longer next-gen, we're calling it this gin because

they're not next there. Now, they're facing challenges

right now and they need to be equipped to lead.

Now we're not raising up leaders just for Auro.

We are going to raise up leaders for today.

We wanted them to be prepared to make a difference.

We want them ran ready to handle their faith at an early age.

We want to make sure that they are equipped to be the right.

Kind of kids that you want in. Your kids has Circle, we want

them to be empowered to be in somebody else's boardroom, at an

early age, and being in a circle, takes commitment.

And sometimes it takes goes unnoticed, and sometimes it's

unappreciated and this week, we want to challenge you at all of

our Different locations to take some time.

We've got thank you cards at the steps that many of our

locations, some of them will have them at an info bar, but we

want you to do is we want you to come up and we want you to grab

some Crossing, thank you cards, and some envelopes.

And this week, we want you to write some thank you cards to

the circle, makers in your life and in your kids, as life,

because there are people who have been making sacrifices on

behalf of you and on behalf of your kids and it goes unnoticed

and unthanked on a regular time. And as a church, We want to make

sure that they know that we noticed and we are thankful and

we recognize all the love and care that they've been

providing. Maybe it's a teacher.

Who's loving your kid? Well, through a difficult time,

maybe it's a Difference Maker at one of our locations, maybe it's

a life group leader who's been pouring into you and helping you

navigate, some of the challenges.

We want them to know. We love them.

We're thankful for him. And we care about them because

being in a circle, is sometimes a thankless job.

I said this earlier, I'm always impacted every single week.

By the number of grandparents, I see bringing their grandkids

They could have checked out and bought a home in Florida and

just enjoyed the warm weather and definitely.

But instead of buying, you know, their retirement car, they just

got another beat up minivan so that they can be there for their

grandkids. And I love that they haven't

checked out. In fact, they checked in, they

didn't just check in some of them are doubling down, and I

want you to know. I am thankful for you and I know

that you don't get all the thank yous that you wish you got from

your kids. But I notice and it matters.

Now hear me, this sermon is not just for your view about your

kids. This sermon is about you and

about who is in your circle and whose Circle are you in, and

what kind of board member are you being and what kind of board

member? You want to be, and I know we're

at church and I told you this term was gonna be a little bit

different, but let me tell you something.

I firmly believe That you will never be the parent, the

grandparent, the board member, The Circle Maker that you were

that you want to be until you put Jesus Christ in the

Chairman's seat of the boardroom of your life.

I've said this multiple times. I don't know if other campuses

get to hear it. I say it a lot here at 48th

Street, when I'm laying in the plane.

But the best decision that I ever made was making Jesus

Christ, the lord and savior of my life.

My biggest regret is that I didn't do it sooner.

Because there's not a situation that I face.

There's not a problem I have to navigate.

There's not an experience that I'm going to have that.

He is not perfectly and flawlessly equipped to lead me

through and I know you're going. But Clayton, that might be great

for you, but I'm actually navigating some real challenges.

And I just need you to know Jesus.

He's really stinking smart. Like he came up with life.

But he invented all of this. You haven't invented anything.

He's smart but Clayton, I'm dealing with people who wronged

me. Just throwing this out there.

He's navigated that too. But because right now, I'm going

through some really challenging circumstances, I need you to

know. He went through some pretty

challenging circumstances to the Bible says, he was tempted in

every way the difference between you and him is when he went

through challenging circumstances, he didn't sin not

even once. Because now, I've got people in

my life who abandoned me? Yeah, he went through that.

Well, I'm, I'm going through and navigating some circumstances

because I had people abused me and hurt me, and Jesus would

tell you. Yeah.

I've been there too. Clayton.

I've had people betray me. And leave me all alone.

And I need you to hear me say this, Jesus went through that

too, but he went through it perfectly, he went through it in

such a way where he didn't lose his character, he didn't abandon

who he was. In fact through that process.

He redeemed, you, and me, that's one of the things I love about

Jesus, is he left his privilege in heaven and came to identify

with my poverty here on Earth. He stepped into my situation to

redeem my situation. He gives me the perfect example

of how to love my family and how to make a circle and how to

navigate each and every circumstance.

I'm firmly and fully convinced that you will never live the

life that you were designed to live until you met.

Jesus Christ, the chairman of your board, the director of your

path, The Shepherd of your life. And I believe that it is only

after you do that that. Everything else has the

opportunity to be made, right? The Bible says search see.

First, the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these

things will be added unto you that until we get that decision,

right? We'll never make every other

decision, the way it's supposed to.

I told you this sermon is not just for those of you who are

parents and grandparents, this sermon is for everyone because

when you get that seat fixed when you put Jesus there,

everything else has a chance. I want you to think about that

as we move to this time of decision, So I know this sermon

was weird, so I appreciate you guys kind of tracking with me,

hopefully it kind of gave you some some ways, to some

terminology to kind of put in your parenting and in your life.

And some of you right now, I just want you to really

evaluate, is, is Jesus in the chairman seat?

Is he where he's supposed to be? Because for some of us, we've

never started that intimate personal relationship with

Jesus. And for one reason or another,

you've watched other people do it.

You've seen other people. Get baptized, and you've gone,

man, that looks like it's great for them.

I just don't know if it'll work for me, and I just need you to

know. It will work for everybody

because Jesus isn't a savior for some, he's a savior for all

which means he's a savior for you. the issue, the issue for

you is you're going but Clayton I've got to I've got a lot of

challenges. I've got a lot of Hill things,

I'm navigating. And if I can get these things

figured out first, then maybe and I just need you to know the

answer to that. Question is a resounding?

No, you don't get your life fixed and then find Jesus

because he's a savior, you don't save yourself and then start

your relationship with him. You recognize that you need a

savior and he comes and he rescues the crazy thing about

Jesus is he made the first move. He came on your Before you ever

messed it up. And if you're willing today to

ask those questions and maybe you're going, you know what, I

want to talk to somebody about it and just a few moments, when

the people around you stand up and maybe as they come to the

steps to pray or to grab cards, you'll make your way over by the

baptistry, they'll be somebody there.

Who wants to talk with you about what that looks like and how to

start it to the rest of you. In the room who already have a

relationship with Jesus? I want to encourage you to do a

couple things one. Would you come up here when you

get down on your knees and would you pray over your kids, pray

over your grandkids That you would be a better.

A better Circle Maker, a better Circle, contributor and while

you're down here, would you pick up some of these?

Thank you cards and that we would be the kind of people that

say thank you to the circle makers in our lives.

I know some of us have a brain new appreciation for teachers

after having to kind of pseudo homeschool our kids during the

pandemic. Like I know we got frustrated at

teachers like yeah, man, you know, they want more money and

they want their Summers off and we like did like two days of

virtual schooling or like forget this give them as much money as

they want and get my kid back in the school.

I am not doing this. Yeah.

Maybe we should love them a little bit more.

Maybe we should say thank you for putting up with stuff.

I've never heard a parent. Go man, I just wish summer would

just keep coming. I love it.

Like usually by the end of June there.

Like when is school starting, is it?

Next week. Oh August.

I have to make it from now till August.

Okay, maybe we should send some. Thank you cards to teachers.

Maybe we should send some, thank you cards to principals and

superintendents, who I'm guessing just throwing this out

there. I bet they're year hasn't been

super easy. I bet the last two years have

been challenging and maybe Christian should be known for

our thanks, not just our critiques.

Maybe we should go. Hey, I see you and I'm thankful

for you. Thank you for the investment

that you're making in my kid. Maybe there's people who are

difference-makers here at our church that serve selflessly.

You see their face every single week but you don't know their

name and they are serving in the midst of their pain and their

own struggle. But they're still making time to

invest in your child here at the Crossing, we don't offer

childcare, we offer spiritual environments for kids to develop

an intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

They are training your kid. While you're in here, being

trained and maybe we should tell them.

Thank you, but maybe more than anything, we should get down on

our knees and said, God help me. Navigate help me navigate, help

me navigate. The transition from control to

consultant because that's how he's operated with.

You does god control you? Could he?

Yeah but does he know. Does he have all the answers?

Yeah. Has he given you his word?

Yeah. And does he pick up the messes

that you make by your own free will?

Yeah. How good is our God?

Maybe we should follow his example.

Would you stand with me? God used this moment right now,

use this time right now to bring about a change in every heart

and every life, and this room and watching online, God uses us

to draw people closer to you use us to draw better circles,

stronger circles and got his parents and grandparents get

down on their knees. And we pray and lift up our kids

and our grandkids meet us. In this moment, seared into our

hearts Your name I pray. Amen.

Your name I pray. Amen.