Discipleship Week 5 • Family

Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast.

This is where you can find audio for our current and past sermons.

We hope that you enjoy this week's installment, and be sure to check back next week to hear

the latest message.

Thanks for listening.

Well, good morning.

Glad that you guys are all here with us today, and thank you all your families for having

your kids in here with us.

They'll keep us moving, they'll keep us on our toes, and we're excited.

If they cry, if they make a noise, I'm going to say that's the Lord speaking through them

saying amen, and it's just going to encourage me even more, all right?

So we're glad to have so many of you guys here today in worshiping with us.

If you've got your Bible, go ahead and open it up to Deuteronomy chapter 6 is where we're

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

going to be this morning as we conclude our series on discipleship.

Also, as you're turning there, we will take Lord's Supper at the very end of the service

together after the band comes up and leads us in one more song of worship.

So if you did not get your elements, they are located back here at the exit sign at the

back of the auditorium.

And right now, you can just head on back there and grab you some if you did not get any while

you were coming in.

And then last and definitely not least, if it's a first-time guest that's here, I'd love to

meet you.

And so after the service is over, I'll be standing back here at the Connections table

as well.

Would love to have the opportunity to connect, learn your name, and thank you so much for

worshiping with us today.

Well, I can report we have our family mission trip that is going on this weekend in Black

Mountain, North Carolina, Black Mountain's Children's Home.

And I can report it is going extremely well.

I had the opportunity to head up Friday and to spend Friday night and most of the day with

all of the families, my family's up there right now as well, serving together, fellowshipping

together, spending time together.

And so everything's going wonderful.

When I get done preaching today, I'll head back up there so that we can be a part of family

worship together tonight at Black Mountain, and then we'll all be heading back tomorrow.

So if you're asking me, by the end of tomorrow, do I know every detail of I-26?

The answer to that is yes, all right?

I can put cruise control, autopilot, and just go and do that.

And so, but it's just been a wonderful, wonderful time that we can spend together.

As I said, mentioned, we're wrapping up our family discipleship series this week.

Next week, we're going to begin a 12-week series in James.

And so really excited about that.

I know a lot of our small groups are going to be journeying through that with us on Sunday

mornings.

We're going to be using the right now media material to kind of work through that.

And so maybe you're looking for something for your family.

Maybe you're looking for something to join as a family or as an individual in a small

group.

And there's lots of opportunities to be able to walk through that and journey through the

book of James.

And then I realized this this morning, and like, this is crazy because I know it's hot

outside still.

But when we get done with James, we'll start our Christmas series, right?

So it's just right around the corner.

Hope you're saving up and getting all your shopping stuff done early, right?

So what we got to do, but we're going to look at Deuteronomy 6, starting in verse 1 this

morning.

So let's all begin there.

We're going to read verses 1 through 9.

Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the rules that the Lord your God commanded

me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you were going over to possess

it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping

all his statutes and commandments, which I commanded you all the days of your life, and

that your days may be long.

Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and

that you may multiply greatly as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you in

a land flowing with milk and honey.

Verse 4.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all

your might, and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit at your

house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

Verse 9.

You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates.

So we're concluding this discipleship series.

We've moved through different aspects of discipleship as we think through, as we lose this mindset

that discipleship is encompassed by, is isolated to a singular event that we go to, whether

it be a conference, whether it be a Bible study, whether it be a Sunday school class, whether

it be a worship service, and instead look at that God has called us to be disciples, that

God's called us to make disciples.

And what we find in the context of discipleship is that it happens when we're doing it the

way that God's designed it to, that it happens in both the formal and the informal settings

of our life.

So is my small group a part of discipleship for me?

Absolutely yes, it absolutely is.

But also, is discipleship the part of what happens when my daughter and I go sit down at Starbucks

to have a conversation, just one and another?

Absolutely.

Is discipleship what happens when we sit down and have lunch with our friends and engage them

in that?

Absolutely.

Is discipleship what it means when I open my Bible to have my quiet time, I put in a podcast

to listen to that teaches me God's Word?

Yes, that discipleship is all of those in that.

And today we're going to look at this passage of Scripture that I come back to quite often

because what I believe that it does in talking about discipleship in the family is God, through

speaking through Moses, does a beautiful job of saying to the nation or saying to the congregation,

this is what it looks like to raise up a generation for the Lord.

This is what it looks like for the community of believers, the community of the followers of

God, to say we're going to raise up the next generation and the next generation and the next

generation to serve the Lord while giving ownership to the family.

Really quickly, an illustration that I'll use to kind of see this in a very tangible way that

I'm living in the benefit of that, right, is this evening we'll have family worship together,

all right?

And so what's going to happen is Grayson, my son, who a couple years ago started learning

the guitar, working through learning how to sing and lead worship and do those different

things that he feels like the Lord may have for them is going to lead worship for us tonight.

And then I'm going to get up and kind of do this message again for everybody that's up

there.

And that didn't happen because Grayson sat down with me and said, Dad, I want to lead

worship.

And I sit with him as a guy who doesn't know how to play the guitar.

Believe me, a guy who can't sing and like say, this is what this means then, right?

But it's a responsibility of mine to help grow him and nurture him as God's son, as a child

of God, but then also to be able to say, like, who else can step into his life to pour in

in different ways and help grow him in what God's calling him to do, right?

And even today I was sitting there and there's two guys up on the stage this morning that

have done such a great job in different ways of pouring and investing into him to see that

happen.

And so it's not just on the family, but it's on the congregation.

And that's what we're going to get to at the end.

So the first thing I want us to look at is I want to look at and begin to understand the

setting of this in God's covenant, God's covenant.

Let's reread the first three verses.

Now, this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the Lord, your God commanded

me to teach you that you may do them in the land to which you were going over to possess

it, that you may fear the Lord, your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping

all his statutes and commandments, which I commanded you all the days of your life, that your days

may be long.

Hear, therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, that

you may multiply greatly as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you in a land

flowing with milk and honey.

So we've talked about this a lot, that our God is the God, the only God, but our God is

a God who makes covenants with his people.

And God, in making covenants with his people, God fulfills what he says he is going to do.

And what we see from this is a continuation in the covenant that God has made with Israel

that we refer to as the Mosaic covenant.

And you can see this at Mount Sinai, it's what happens in Exodus 19 through 24.

We're not going to go through and read all that, but in Exodus 19, 5, what God does is

God reminds his people who are his people of their obligation in being his people to obey

him and to obey his law.

And then in Exodus 19, 8, they agree to do so.

And so in this, what we begin to see is in this covenant, what God says to them is, Israel,

if you will obey me, God's people, my people, if you will obey me, that God will bless them.

But if you disobey, then God's going to punish.

And it's this dialogue that we see and you can go through and that you can read and you can see

as God's people begin to stray and God disciplines them with a purpose and a passion

to draw them away from what they're pursuing and back to themselves.

And so it's this cycle that we see over and over and over again in the Old Testament.

And it's a whole nother different message for a different season and a different time, right?

But there's so much of that that we can identify within ourselves of what God does as he disciplines

us and draws us back in relationship with him when we wander.

But what we see here in Deuteronomy chapter 6 is Moses is teaching the people about God's

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

expectation for them, or maybe a better word than teaching is Moses is reminding God's people

of God's expectation for them and specifically when they will enter into the promised land.

And it boils down to this concept of obey, obey, obey.

I'm a dad.

I love it when my kids obey.

And what we see and what my parents wanted to beat into my stubborn, hard-headed self then

and maybe even still today, right, is that in the obedience to our Father, in the obedience

to that is where the sweetness of life is found.

And so what Moses reminds them of is as he's calling them to this, he said there's going to

be some things that happen when we obey the Lord.

Whether you're 2 or 92, there's some things that begin to happen and begin to take place

in you and in your life of what happens when you say, I'm going to obey God and what God

has for me.

He says that what's going to create out of this in these first several verses is a fear

of the Lord.

A fear of the Lord, and it's a good thing, is going to be birthed within you and is going

to grow in you.

And when we hear that, it's a hard word for us to comprehend because when we think of things

we're afraid of, they're not necessarily things we want to be close to.

But this word fear is not where we get our word afraid.

And it actually has a double meaning that we see in Scripture that joins itself.

And the first thing that when you fear the Lord is that you stand in awe or in reverence

of him.

That to fear the Lord is to acknowledge how big and powerful he is and how little and weak

we are.

And then when we understand that our God is for us, it produces in us a sense of awe and

reverence.

And then the other part, what comes from that, is a devout relationship to him.

So when I stand and I realize the awesome power of God, and then I understand that he wants

a relationship with me, what this produces.

And so Moses reminds the people, when you obey the Lord, what is created within you is the

fear of the Lord.

And it deepens your relationship with him.

But then in several phrases also that Moses uses, another thing that comes from this, another

aspect of this, is what I'm going to call just a blessed life.

The fruit of the relationship with the Lord.

There's several different things that we see within here, that your days may be long, that

you will multiply greatly, that you will be in a land flowing with milk and honey.

So Moses says, when you obey the Lord, there's this picture of long life.

There's this picture of many descendants.

There's this picture of inheriting a land, taking ownership of a land that flows with milk

and honey.

And what Moses is communicating to them, what we're being communicated to today, is that this

is a picture of a blessed life, the fruit of the relationship with the Lord.

Now, it must be noted, it's not the promise of an easy life, it's not the promise of a life

that doesn't have its own specific challenges, but it is a life that is still filled with the

milk and the honey that comes from a relationship with the Lord.

And so here's what this looks like, that when we go through the battles, when we go through

the difficulties, what we're not left with is the bitterness within us, but that even when

we go through the difficulties that this world will throw at us, what produces within us as

the Spirit of God works and moves is the milk and the honey, the sweetness, and the sweetness

of the relationship with the Lord.

And so Moses begins by reminding people in our call to obey, this is what he has, and then

he gives God's command.

Look at verse 4 and 5.

So he reminds them, he gives them the great command, and he begins by saying it's right

a great acknowledgement of who God is.

Like, when we take a step back, just a picture that God reminded me of this weekend is that

everything that God gives us points us to him.

Everything.

Yesterday, we worked in the morning, and then we had lunch, and then we worked after lunch,

and then we had times where families could get together, individuals could get together,

or an individual family may decide during this mission trip that they're just going to go

spend some time just as an individual family.

And my family, it's been chaotic lately in the Bradbury household.

It feels like all four of us are going different ways.

Very few nights are all four of us there for dinner together.

And so I just said, hey guys, on Saturday, like, let's just take this couple of hours and

let's just spend some time together.

And so we're there at Black Mountain, kind of walking through.

If you've been there before or seen the pictures, it's beautiful at the West Campus where we

stayed.

But as we're walking through, I remember looking at the mountains and thinking, man, God did

this.

I'm walking through these trails in the woods, and I'm having conversations with my family.

And it was the reminder of God gave me this.

On the drive home last night, went through some rain, went through some crazy road construction,

went with some crazy drivers on 26, right?

And I got home, and it was the reminder that God kept me safe.

And everything in this world is a reminder and a picture of who God is and what God is doing

for us, right?

And so Moses reminds in the command of God that there is only one, that there is no other.

And that's going to be a struggle for God's people then, right?

And that's still a struggle for God's people today.

One God, one God and who he is, right?

And so he reminds us, God's command reminds us that in this, right, there's no room for the

other gods that we'll attempt to make.

That they made their golden calves, and so do we.

And that in that, there's only one true God.

And that what we're to give, what we're to bring, that we should love, it's described as all of our

heart, all of our soul, all of our might.

And what we see in this is the intellect, the emotion, and the physical being of the person.

And what God desires, and what God wants, and what God commands, in awe and in reverence of

who he is, and in devout relationship to him, is the totality of us.

God doesn't want the parts of me.

God wants all of me.

God doesn't want the polished, God doesn't want the refined, God doesn't want the gifted,

God doesn't want the confident, God wants all of me.

And God wants all of you.

And so then what Moses does is he gives us, and this is what we're going to look at mostly

this morning, what we'll wrap up with, is he gives God's plan.

He gives God's plan.

He says you're to remember and to know who God is.

You're to obey his commandments.

You're to stand in awe and in reverence of him.

And then here's what this is going to look like in your life.

Look at verses six through nine.

And these words that I commanded you today shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house

and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates.

As we look at discipleship, we can look at discipleship and we can look at and evaluate ourself.

And we as individuals, if we're not careful, we can become the end all of discipleship.

This is how I'm growing.

This is what the Lord is doing in me.

But at the heart of the discipleship, right, from the Great Commission, our call while in ourselves is discipleship.

And last week we looked at that in personal responsibility.

But it is our call to go and make disciples.

And so that's what we're doing.

And so in here, God even sees and notices and reminds his people that, yes, you're going to focus on your individual relationship.

It shall be on your heart who you are, an authentic relationship with him.

I heard somebody say one time, you can't give away what you don't have.

And it's got to begin with you, but also for all of us.

Not just pastors, not just church staff, not just elders, not just small group leaders, not just youth ministry workers, not just kids ministry workers,

but for all of us that we press into each other.

And Moses says this to the nation as he makes the picture of what he's doing, the family.

Here's what I would encourage you.

Every person, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ,

has a calling and a responsibility

and the unique giftedness and the abilities that God has used in your life

to ensure the discipleship

of the younger generations

that God has blessed us with.

And we continue it on.

The words that God uses in Deuteronomy 6

is that you'll share it with your sons

and your sons' sons.

It's a continuational, what we see

not only in a family,

but in a people group

of a lineage

of a generations

of faith

passed on

and taught

about the right relationship

with the Lord.

And then he gives them a plan.

And the plan is

it's so simple.

And the plan

encompasses

so much

in fact

all of our life.

In verses 6 through 9

what Moses says

when this happens

he gives us two words, right?

We're to teach

and we're to talk.

We're to teach

and we're to talk.

Right?

Some of us like to teach.

Some of us like to talk.

God gives us all the ability

to do both

in the context

that he lays out before us.

He says teach these

to your children

and talk about them

as well.

Right?

I get up here

every Sunday

almost every Sunday

and I teach

I preach

it's what God's

called me to do.

Right?

But can I tell you

what I've never done

at my house?

Actually that's not true.

Twice over COVID

I preached in my house.

Right?

I don't think

my family dug it.

You know?

But we talk.

We talk.

We talk.

And I'll be honest

with you

what a great injustice

to my kids

and to my wife

if the only time

I talk about

the things of the Lord

is when I'm teaching it

to them.

And more time

talking with them

about it.

And so

God says

you should teach these

diligently

to your children

and you shall

talk of them

when you sit

at your house

when you walk

by the way

when you lie down

and when you

rise up.

I love this.

When do we talk

about things

of the Lord?

Always.

Always.

Always.

So plan number one

is we teach

and we talk.

We teach

and we talk.

Right?

The blessing

of what God's given me

so many times

in doing this

is the beauty

of what is called

Carline.

We talk.

He gives us

the beauty

of the dinner table.

He gives us

the beauty

of the doctor's office.

He gives us

the beauty

of lunches together.

That God's done

so many times

where we don't

have to

pull out

our Bibles

and walk through

word by word

what this is

but instead

we have our time

where we talk

about the things

of the Lord

but then also

that we

give reminders.

He lists a bunch

of different ones

there in verse 8.

You shall bind them

as a sign on your hand

and they shall be

frontlets between your eyes.

You shall write them

on the doorpost

of your house

and on your gates.

And so there's so

many things

that are pictured

in here

of what God says

that what I'm gonna do

of what you're gonna

set before yourself

is the reminders

and the goodness

of the faithfulness

of God

and it's a reminder.

Today I'll swear

the greatest disciple maker

in my life

was my grandmother.

My grandmother

greatest disciple maker

that God

has ever given me

and if you were to ask me

what was this

in her life

I would tell you

it was her Bible.

It was her Bible.

The reminder

of her relationship

with the Lord.

Here's what was

unique

and beautiful

about my grandmother

as I remember

in her life.

So at my grandmother's

house

my granddad

had his chair

my grandmother

had her chair

and they both

had tables

beside them

and my grandmother's

Bible sat

beside her chair

and it was always

sitting beside

her chair

or sitting

in her lap

and the beauty

of my grandmother's

Bible was this

the pages

were worn out

and there was

never dust

on the cover

and it's the reminder

of who God is

in his faithfulness

right

parents

church

make sure

that the relationship

that you have

with the Lord

is not an event

that you go to

but that your

relationship

with the Lord

is intermingled

between all aspects

of your life

and you're sharing

this

make your home

the main source

of discipleship

not just parents

but church

let's hear this

when our kids

stand before

God

it will not be

their GPA

their batting average

or their bank account

that gets them

into heaven

it will not be

the things

of this world

that we so

often make

the God

that we chase

I'm not saying

let's pull

our kids

out of school

I'm not saying

let's pull

your kids

out of athletics

I'm not saying

let's don't set

goals for our kids

all three

of those things

in my house

are things

we talk about

and we work toward

but we look

at them

and view them

as the opportunity

of what God

has

and they are

not ultimate

in the moment

they become

God's

or the moment

or the moment

that we need

to fall

in repentance

for him

and this is

the hope

that we have

of our home

of our life

and our church

the command

that God

gives us

hear O Israel

the Lord

our God

is one

you shall love

the Lord your God

with all your heart

with all your soul

and with all your might

and that's for all of us

that we don't look

and just say

who do I isolate to

but that we look

and we say

who do I pour

into

would you pray

with me

God I thank you

so much

for this moment

and these times

that we could

be in here together

Lord I thank you

for these families

that have come here

this morning

Lord I thank you

for their desire

for their children

to be

raised up

Lord I pray

for us

as a church

family

that we will

partner

with them

join hands

and hands

with them

so that we raise

up this generation

and the next generation

and the next generation

to live on

mission

for you

to be found

in relationship

with you

and to

live in every

aspect of their

life

that is Christ

and Christ

alone

Lord look

have us

through the power

of your spirit

examine our lives

and where has

our faith

turned into

this sinful

selfishness

where it's just

all about me

maybe Lord

that's

in our relationship

with our neighbor

that we need

to share

our faith story

with

maybe that's

in our relationship

with our

child

who we feel

like

you know

what

they just

they teach

him that

at church

but that's

not where

I am

maybe that's

at the stage

of life

where we feel

like we've

done that

we've moved

past that

and now

it's up to

someone else

to now

do it

Lord have us

see

the selfishness

of our lives

to lay it

down

before you

Lord grow us

in our fear

of you

Lord grow us

in our obedience

to you

may we live

in the sweet

blessings of joy

that rise above

our circumstances

and that are

found in you

and in you

alone

it's in Jesus

that we pray

thanks again for

listening to the

Willow Ridge Church

weekly podcast

we hope that you

enjoyed listening to

this week's message

if you'd like to

learn more about

who we are

or explore

additional resources

visit us online

at www.willowridgechurch.com

or by searching

for Willow Ridge Church

on Facebook

and Instagram