FAMILY REVIVAL | SUNDAY 11TH MAY | BEN & BRITTNEY SERPELL

So awesome to have uh Ben and Britney

here and the family. Thank you so much

for coming across, guys. I'm so aware

that everywhere you go, you're Danny

Silk's daughter. Like um and so if it

makes you feel a little bit better, my

only experience with Danny was we

visited uh Reading and Heidi Baker was

speaking and we went to the overflow

service and uh we went in to be ushered

and the usher was Danny Silk. So, if you

don't know who he is, Britney's dad's

just a guy who used to usher me. So, you

know, like so um uh but you know, it was

such a treat to get the email from uh

Jessica and we um for years in central

Targetago and previously when we were in

Toadonga, we would run loving our kids

and purpose and I actually got employed

by a a secular organization to go in and

run the videos and uh so I kind of felt

like for years I'd actually been in a

gospel partnership of bringing the good

news and that's just uh and so obviously

uh Ben and Britney were on those videos.

And so most of the time, as I said last

week, when we get an email saying,

"Would you like this speaker?" I'm like,

"No, no, we've got things planned." But

I'm like, "Wow, this is like someone

that I already feel like we've got

gospel partnership with that we've seen

families helped and transformed." So,

uh, we're so honored that you guys would

come and, uh, why don't we just give a

huge welcome as they come and that'd be

great.

Well, good

morning. I think you guys are trying to

make us cry. Goodness

sakes. Wow, that

greeting. Stop

it. Whoever was a part of that, that was

uh that was really special. So super

honored just just to be here. This is

this is amazing. I'm just going to say a

couple things so I can say hi and then

set her loose. So be

careful. Um we've been married almost 22

years. Got married at 12 years

old. Because every time we say that

people look at us and go, "How old are

you?" I'm like, "Well, first of all,

back off. None of your business." And

I'm 41. So,

um, this is I I I actually, okay, I

guess I'm being really honest this

morning. We just met. This is this is

weird, but I just went to the bathroom

on on the way back. You didn't want to

know that, but I told you. Now we're

friends.

Okay. I'm jumping right in. But, as I

was walking back, I was sitting there

thinking, just listening to the worship,

thinking, I I think I just fell in love

with a

nation. And uh God God actually started

stirring my heart for New Zealand about

two years ago. And I gathered a few

people, Jess being one of those, Jess

and Ryan in the second row right here.

And we prayed for 30 days for your

nation. It was just on my heart. And to

be here is really special. And and and

even what Britney's going to talk about

today, I really feel like it's going to

begin to stir something and really just

add a log to your fire, if you will.

So, I just want to pray real quick

because I I I want to stop talking and

and just just let the Lord begin to use

her and stir things up. So, put hands in

front of you real

quick. Jesus, Holy Spirit, we thank you

that you're here right

now. In Isaiah 6, it says in in the year

that that Uzziah died, King Uzziah died,

I I saw the Lord and the throne and the

the train of his robe filled the temple.

As it describes right there, it filled

the temple. What it means is as it

filled the temple, it kept filling and

kept filling and kept filling. It's not

this it got full and it stopped. It just

keeps its overflow. So my prayer this

morning is is that This would be a

moment of

overflow. And God, we don't want just

enough. We want too much. That it

overflows to our neighborhood, to our

families. God, that mothers walk out of

here today with with an identity and

understanding of who they're called to

be more than ever before. God, that in

our workplace with the children who got

lost, that they just run into the

overflow. Holy Spirit, would you come

and do something radical this

morning in Jesus name?

Amen. Get him, honey.

He's a great opener, right? I want to

take him everywhere I go. Well, thanks

for inviting us. I mean, we kind of

invited ourselves, but thanks for

receiving us. Um, maybe it's the

American in me. We just didn't think

you'd mind. Um, so, but wow, what a

greeting. Sarah and Aaron, thank you

again for having us. Sue and I didn't

catch your name. Eley. Oh, wow. That was

amazing. Addie, I don't know where she

is. She's somewhere probably. But that

was just powerful. Really powerful. I'm

like, what an honor. I mean, not very

many moms can say I spoke on Mother's

Day in New Zealand with all of my

children here. I mean, what a gift. What

a

gift. That in itself is I'm just What a

gift. Um, I know I have a time limit and

I will do all that I can to honor that.

Um, I also want to be obedient.

So, just saying. Um, I know I'm going to

speak about a topic that I I absolutely

know is very dear to mom's hearts

because I am

one. But it's for every family

represented in this room. So, don't just

disregard what I'm saying because I

might focus and linger on some of the

moms here and there for a moment. Um, I

do want you to catch this, all the men

in the room, anyone that isn't a mother,

because what I want to impart is this

this desperation to see revival in

family.

Um, so because I I have to do these

things, they tell me, tell me, tell me,

don't don't forget these things. I want

to invite you to a few things real fast.

This is our family prayer network that

happens every Tuesday, which would be

your Wednesday at 2 o'clock our time,

which I have no idea what time it is

here. Um 10 o'clock. Okay. But we jump

on and we just pray for

families. We pray and believe that God's

going to move and shift and we're

building a community of people. So, if

you're interested in joining us, we

would love to see New Zealand

represented because there's a stirring

happening here and we want to know that

you were part of it. So, we want to

welcome you to that. Um, okay, that's

that's Danny Silk if you didn't know it.

Okay, that's him. His goatee is just

getting wider and wider as we go. Um,

I'm just looking better and better. No

gray showing up anywhere in there. Um,

but you know, hey, so he makes a great

usher. You're right. Uh, he makes a

great dad as well. But we have something

called the Kylo Show podcast. If you're

interested in podcasts, that's what we

do. It's a relationship focused podcast.

It's really great. We love it. It's um

super practical and and I'd encourage

you to listen. Last thing is I wrote a

book a couple years ago and I traveled

with 25 to this country. That's it. And

I don't even have 25 here. I think I

have five, including this one. So,

you're going to have to come and madrush

my husband if you want one.

But, did any fathers in the room did not

get their wife a Mother's Day gift?

If you want it, you come and get it and

you show that you needed a Mother's Day

present. All right. The people we rode

with. Okay.

Way to humble yourself,

right? In case you didn't know, those

are my wonderful children right there.

You guys want to stand

up? Delaney, Addie, Lincoln, turn around

so they can see your beautiful faces in

person. So great. Um, they don't know I

did this, but I thought I'd open with

something kind of

humorous. You know you're a mom when

This is Delaney.

You cook dinner every single night and

still have people hungry 30 minutes

later. How much time do you think

mothers spend prepping for meals in a

week? Roughly. How many hours do you

think? It's four hours a week just in

meal prep. You know you're a mom when I

thought you would appreciate this whole

sheep thing that we had going on

here. You work five full-time jobs.

cooking, cleaning, laundry, moming, and

wife. On average, how many different

hats do you think moms wear in a single

day? You got to work with me. Come on,

give me

10. 10 different

hats. We like safety in America,

apparently. You know your mom win.

You've picked someone else's nose.

How many words can a mother understand

before their baby can even speak? That's

the grunts and different things that

they make. How do how many of those do

you think they

understand? Over a

thousand. You know your mom, when you

don't remember the last time you

showered

alone, what's the most critical tool to

calming a

baby? A mother's

voice. Moms, give yourself a

hand. All right. Well, I'm going to jump

into a topic that I I do absolutely

love, which is talking about seeing

revival in family. And I'm going to give

kind of some four key areas, and I'm

going to talk around them a little bit.

So, if you're taking notes, either pull

out your phone because we all know you

have one or write these down so you

don't forget. Um, and we're going to

discuss them a little bit. But the the

key for me is like we are on a journey

of what is family revival look like?

What does that mean? I I honestly I'm

I'm learning. I'm discovering. We've got

three wonderful kids and every day is a

journey of, well, that worked. Oh, that

didn't work.

Oh, God was there. Oh, God was not

there. So, these are my discoveries, if

you will. This is what I have learned

along the way, and I'm going to give

them to you as we go. The first, so

these are things that you're going to

need to own, I think, to steward revival

in family. The first thing is to stay on

fire.

to stay on fire for

Jesus. You as the parents in the home,

mom and dad, you are responsible to stay

closest to the flame of the father. to

be the one that runs to the Lord in your

darkest hour, when your finances aren't

coming

through. When your jobs are failing,

when the relationships around you are

shaky, your job is to model, to run to

the father and stay on

fire. Because if my kids believe this

thing, this walk of Christianity to my

core, because I've modeled it, I've

modeled it to them what it means to be a

lover of

Christ. That it's not

words, but it's a

lifestyle. I want to stay close to

Jesus. I want to stay on

fire. But not just for me. I'm going to

be really selfish and say a lot of it's

for me but it's because the legacy in

which I'm leaving behind

me and if I don't stay on fire how can I

expect them to stay on fire? My lukewarm

Christianity will give them a lukewarm

Christianity and then it's diluted year

and generation and generation after

that. So the unsaved generation started

somewhere upstream.

my thing to own. I have to stay on

fire. I have to stay on

fire. I have to remember that my

relationship with the father is not a

set of

rules, but an intimate

relationship. Because nobody wants

another judge walking around telling

them where they failed.

We want a loving father that we run to.

So you representing who the father is is

so crucial. And I believe that's how we

see revival in family is is it starts

with I stay on fire. I stay on fire. I

move towards God. And we had this

conversation with our kids. They have an

online school. So that means they get to

travel with us. We went to their retreat

and we were talking about this concept

of what is revival and family? What does

that even mean? And you know, if you

give your kids just a little bit of

room, they're going to show up to you

and say the smartest

things. So, we asked our two kids, "What

does it look like to see like what is

family revival? What does that even

mean?" And Adeline said, "It it means

that we move closer to him, not further

from him." I said, "I can get behind

that."

You know, and I they were talking about

the steps I take, the priorities of my

pursuit of the Lord is something that we

all do and is a priority that we're

pursuing. It's seen. It's felt. It's

modeled. The other thing that they said

is we make room for

God. He goes where he's

wanted. He stayed where he's hosted.

I have to be on

fire if I want my kids to respond like

that. Now, the really fun thing is I got

a little cocky in this moment because I

was like, "Yes and amen to your answers,

kids. Can I get a let's

go?" And I was like, "Okay, now like on

Family Revival, on a scale of 1 to 10,

where are we at? This is where my pride

is." Okay.

And both of them without a moment's

hesitation said six. I was like,

"Ouch." I was thinking more like an

eight or so, but you know, okay, six,

room to grow. I was shocked. You could

tell cuz Adeline was like, um, is that a

bad thing? Do we say the bad wrong

number? I said, I wasn't expecting a

six. She's like, well, I think it's room

to grow. I said, right, yeah, it's room

to grow. And then she

goes, "Don't you want room to grow with

God?" Again, mic drop moments from my

15-year-old. Yes, I do. Thanks for the

reminder.

Ouch. My mom has described

revival as the inrush of the spirit to a

lifeless corpse.

I don't really know New

Zealand's cultural norms of families.

I'm familiar with the

states and I

know that there's a bunch of lifeless

corpse walking around the United

States and they need an inrush of the

spirit of God

so that they are revived

and returned back to the father their

creator. And the only way that that

happens is if a people

believes that revival and family is for

today,

which means I'm ready to be marked. I'm

ready to be weird. I'm ready to be

dangerous, which looks like all sorts of

things. And every personality and makeup

that God's created, I love because Ben's

going to walk around and pray for every

single person he sees.

I'm probably not. I'm going to think it.

Ben's going to do it. How I do it is a

little bit different. I usually have it

through

conversations. So, it doesn't have to

look the same, but we both we all have

to carry that fire. And then it's got to

manifest through you in whatever way

it's meant to show up.

All right. Next

one. The right priorities.

This is crucial for family revival

because a lot of times the family isn't

the

priority. I would say that the father

isn't the priority even. It is money. It

is

security. It

is

control. The priority in our life often

isn't our family. So how can there be a

revival in our family if they're not

prioritized? when they don't feel like a

priority in your

life, they will go where they do feel

like a

priority. So there are children that

don't run to you likely don't feel like

they have the space to run to you

because you haven't made space for

them. So to have the right priority, we

need to honestly look and go, okay, can

I put down

the yes I gave away to somebody else and

turn to my children and say, "Is is that

the right yes? Is that the yes I want to

give?" Because our yeses and no have

great

power. Now, I grew up in church, okay?

I'm a church kid and I'm still saved.

So, praise God for that. We'll just

start right there. PK still holding the

mic and it's going well.

But my way of dealing with not feeling

like there was space for me was passive

aggressiveness. I mean, my dad was a a

pastor of a small smaller church. I

mean, we joke that on Christmas and

Easter and Mother's Day, there was 200

people in the room. The rest of the

time, we didn't know where they were.

There's like 50 to 100 back in

Weaverville days.

And we would go to the grocery store and

there would be women that were in

troubled marriages and crisis moments

following us around the grocery store.

And my dad gave them all the time when

it was him and I that were supposed to

be in the

store. Now the hard part is that sent a

message to me as a

child. You are

secondary. Now he is a man of God. He

was a pastor of a small church. Was he

wrong? I'm going to tell you that he

gave away my space to that lady in the

grocery store all the

time. Did he mean to ever send that

message? No. Did he? Yes. All the time.

It's why I had a goldfish tank full of

scum sucking fish because I named them

after all the ladies in the church I

didn't like.

Okay, I have worked through it. But that

is my passive aggressive way of working

out some

things. I don't want any scum sucking

fish after this.

Okay. We have to be aware of what we

give our yes to. It may not feel like

it's that big of a yes, but to our

families, it is. Husbands and wives,

what is the yes that you're giving away?

I get that you've been home with the

kids all day and you just want some time

alone. I get that. But if the routine is

to create isolation, you will never have

revival. We have to set the priorities

right. We have to lean into this space,

put down our agenda, pick up the Lord's

if we want to see him thrive in our

homes. When he thrives in our homes,

it's like this contagious thing. It's

kind of like CO. It gets everywhere.

But we want to spread

that. We wanted to get into our

communities. We want to be seen as this

people that like, why do your kids like

each

other? Why do your kids

not? Why do I have to be the weird one?

I want this to be

normal. Our oldest daughter, she's been

two years out of um our house now. She's

done some

uh this summer. She comes home for the

summer and that's when our food bill

come goes up. But after that then she

goes away. And so we had our our first

Thanksgiving which you guys don't have

over here. So whatever. But you know

what it is. We had our first

Thanksgiving and I'm like okay we're

going to her because she's working. So

I'm going to communicate the priority.

I'm coming to

you. Now my mother we all have this big

house. We have five acres. We bought it

together. We have a a

multi-home function going on. There's so

many people in this house and too many

dogs. It's great and crazy all at the

same time. So, I tell my mom, "We're not

home for Thanksgiving. I don't know what

you're going to do, but we're going to

go see Delaney." And she's like, "Well,

I'm coming with you." I said, "Well, I

don't know that there's space at the

house in which we're coming." She's

like, "Well, you're going to have to

figure it out." like,

okay, here's the priorities. She's

letting me know I don't want to feel

disconnected and she's coming with us.

So, she

did knowing the right priorities. This

is how we

steward family

revival. Mother Teresa has this

powerful, beautiful

quote. The way you help heal the world

as you start in your own family.

I don't think that we pay attention to

our family as much as we should. I will

say

that moms are probably the ones that

carry this the heaviest. I know this

firsthand because I'm a mom. A fun story

about how much I know this firsthand of

all the things I think about being a

mom. I I've traveled all over the place.

I've been so blessed to travel on

international trips. I we travel

nationally all the time. I love it. I

love coming to new places and sharing

the passion that we have for family. I

love rallying people around this cause.

I have packing down to a tea, guys. I

can take a carry-on for 10 days,

including

shoes. Okay. Yeah, that's it. It is. My

mom's jealous, but it's great. Okay. I

am a

pro. We come to New Zealand. It's just

stunning, by the way. Can't get over

that. And we bring our children. I love

these people. I'm so happy they're here

with us. Oh my goodness. It's like the

most fun

ever. But when I have to pack for

myself, I all I think about is

myself. When I have to include my

children, all of a sudden, my brain is

split four ways. Any moms relate to

that? Yeah. So, I'm not packing for just

me. I'm packing for her even though

she's 19. I'm packing for her even

though she's 15. I'm packing for him

even though he's 13. How many times have

I been asked to check their bags? I

don't know, guys. At least twice

each. She says five.

Okay.

So, my brain capacity and and

prioritization of my family, making sure

their needs are met surpassed my own is

the normal I think for women.

which let me tell you seems

noble, seems

admirable, seems

right

until you're

depleted, and you've got nothing else to

give. Then you become

irritable,

disconnected, frustrated, and your

greatest ally that's on the front lines

with you, your husband, you're like, "I

hate you.

Don't ever touch me

again. I tell you that whole story

because you want to know what I came to

New Zealand

without? I forgot a pair of

jeans.

Exactly. I feel so silly that in all of

my experience because my mind is so

focused on nurturing my family I have

forgotten myself which also means I

can't lead them very

well. So prioritizing our family does

not mean that I lower the standard for

me. It means I'm filled up first so I

can give out well.

So prioritizing family means I know

where I'm

aiming, not what I'm taking

from. So I think when Mother Teresa

talks about this is she wants a whole

and healthy person to show up to

lead to create a whole and healthy

family. But that means moms

moms I don't know how you say it but I'm

I'm trying. It's not

working. I have been practicing in my

head for like the last hour how to say

your town correctly and I'm still not

going to say it because I

am Yeah, let get maybe at the end. Maybe

at the end, but right now I'm still a

little scared. I'm still a little

scared because I want to say it right

because it's so

beautiful. But paying attention to I

have to get filled up first. So I have

something to prioritize.

Well, the next thing is community, which

I would say watching everyone up here,

that was a beautiful display of unity.

And I would think community, I don't

know what you gather around here, but I

do have this great sense of um just

absolutely love and and intimacy and and

um partnership in this space. I that's

really the essence in which I I felt

from the moment I walked in here and

even your little flagger guys out there

parking like I don't that's a parking

situation out there I tell you what it's

a new one for me I didn't know where we

were at the church as we came down the

street I was like what are we where

what's

happening is it a garage sale what's

going on everyone's on the side of the

road all that to say I I I felt the

welcome

as I came

in. But the thing about community that

you need to be checking for is that

they're the people pushing you back in

the

game, not whining and complaining and

making sure that we're all still

victims. True comm community should not

keep you in a victim mindset.

True community goes, "That was a hard

day. That was a hard blow.

What are you going to do

tomorrow? How are you going to get back

in there? Because you can't quit now.

They need you too bad. This can't end

this way. So, they got to throw you back

in that game. And you have to be that

same person. Even if it hits your

trigger spot, you got to put away your

own junk and lean into your friend and

call out their greatness so they can go

back in and fight for revival in their

family.

We don't hang out with people that don't

have a value for marriage and family.

You don't get a meal with us. You You

might We get to meet you at Mackers. Do

you say

that? Mackers. I don't even know how we

don't say I don't go to Mackers or

McDonald's. But

um I mean you might get a meal there

because it's quick quick turnover. But

if if if I can see that you have ve

value for family and marriage, you get a

home-cooked meal by Britney

Circle because I want to invest in

someone that's going to run with

me. I I'm not interested in someone that

wants surface

level

Christianity, surface level family.

I want to go and do covenant with people

that want true intimacy that are going

to call me to my feet when I'm

misbehaving. We uh go to this online

school. I mentioned it before. And there

was this young girl

that I uh Ben and I did a service we

often do for their family camp. And the

first year she was there, her parents

forced her to go. She was mad and angry

that she had to be at this

school. And I g shared my testimony. I

shared about reconciling with my parents

and repenting and coming back to the

Lord. She came up to me afterwards and

was weeping and said, "I just hugged my

dad for the first time in about six

months and I just want to say thank you.

And I said, "Hey girl, thanks for being

brave and prioritizing your family."

Well, fast forward to last

year. Addie was getting ready for prom

and she was in the room and she shyishly

kind of came over to me, you know, as

teenagers do, like I don't notice that

they want

something. And I caught her eye. I said,

"Hi, sweetie. How are you?" She said,

"I'm good. I don't know if you remember

me." I said, "I remember you from last

year." I said, "How you doing?" She

goes, "I'm doing so good. I just wanted

to tell you that since last year when I

repented and I came back to the Lord and

I hugged my dad, my mom and I are now

closer than we've ever been

before. Thank you for sharing your

story." That's community.

Community is not afraid to show the

scary, messy stuff if it brings you out

of something and you move closer to the

father. And to do that, you need to know

how you're called, who you're called,

and what you're equipped to do. I Ben

and I have this verse is kind of like

our life verse, if you will.

It's Nehemiah

Nehemiah 4:14

4:14. And in this verse, it is uh

Nehemiah is a cup bearer. And

he discovers that Jerusalem is just in

ruins. And he's so sad and overwhelmed

by this that he asks if he can go back

and rebuild it with his people. and he

goes and he begins this process of

rebuilding the wall. And and it's not an

easy rebuild because they've been trying

to rebuild this sucker for years, like

hundreds of years. For some reason, they

can't get their act together. I don't

know, permits. I'm not sure what was

going on, but there was limitations back

then. And

uh so Nehemiah is looking at this broken

down

wall and he

says to the

people to not be

afraid. And then he begins to assign

them by family and position them at the

holes in the wall.

Now, that's really

important because Nehemiah knew that if

he would station at the broken down

pieces of the wall by family, they were

going to fight and defend to protect

that portion of the wall until it was

rebuilt differently than if they were

just next to their

brother. Because if I'm standing next to

Jess, which I really love, and Sarah,

which we just met, and they said,

"Defend this position right here." I'd

be like, "Cool. You seem both really

great and I know we all believe the same

things. But if those crazy people start

running at me, I'm trying to figure out

which of us is bowing out

first because I'm not sure that you two

are worth dying

for. I mean, I love you in Jesus name,

right?

But if you stick me at a portion of the

wall that I'm meant to defend and put my

babies next to me and say, "Don't let

those bad guys in." I go,

"Okay." Go

ahead. Completely different posture.

That's what happens when I know what it

is I'm protecting.

So Nehemiah puts the families at the

portions of the wall and says,

"Rebuild and fight for your

families, your sons, your daughters,

your

wives." All of us are called to a

different portion of the wall.

Ben and I's portion of the wall and our

kids and whatever we're defending is

different than Aaron and Saras. Their

portion of the wall is going to look

different than Ryan and

Jess because God has called us uniquely

in the body of Christ to stand, defend,

and rebuild. I will never reach the

people you will reach.

God's equipped you, called you to go

into your communities and be that light

of community to be the example of what

does revival in family look like. I

cannot do it for

you. You have to stand and defend your

portion of the

wall. That is yours to

own. The last one is leadership.

We are called to be leaders in our

home. There's a few things, you know,

scriptures that says, "Train up the

child in the way they should go." Well,

that requires

leadership. Fathers, don't provoke your

child to anger. That requires leadership

because the the next thing is to

instruct them with

discipline, not scare them into

submission.

Leadership is what he's looking for.

He's looking for you to

lead an example of what does revival and

family mean.

when Lincoln was about

um let's

say I think he was five every He was

running around in his Ninja Turtle

underwear. So that was about that

era. Yeah. Well, you know, happy

Mother's Day.

We lived in this house that had um

pretty much just a pool in the

backyard and a big old fence to the

neighbor's

property. And uh one day I the hear the

doorbell ring and the girls answer the

door and there's this guy standing there

with a military haircut and a baggie

full of

rocks. And the girls look at me and I

come to the door because they're like,

"What are we supposed to do with that

guy?" Okay. I'm like, "Yeah, it's not

the pizza." And uh I said, "Hi, how are

you?" He goes, "Hello, my name's Jim.

I'm your neighbor down below. I don't

believe we've met." I'm like, "I'm so

sorry we have not met." And he goes, "I

believe these are

yours." Hands me a bag of

rocks. Thank you. I was looking for

those. and he says, "Um, someone has

been throwing these over the fence into

my

yard

and

someone could hurt my grandbabies. They

play in the pool. I would appreciate it

if that would stop." I said, "Of course.

I'm so sorry. Sorry, I didn't realize

that anyone's lives was at

stake. And um we will find out who's

doing this. Now, as you can imagine, I

have two girls and then a boy, which

really means he has three

mothers. So, as soon as I close the

door, both the girls hands on hips, foot

tapping, looking at their little

brother. They both go, "Lincoln." And I

said, "Girls, I got it. Thank you very

much." They go on their merry way.

And I said to Lincoln, I said, 'Hey

buddy, sounds like we've scared our

neighbor. He goes, "I don't know what

you're talking

about." I said, "Okay, well, let's try

this again." So, we sit down on the

stairs and I said, "Buddy, did you throw

the rocks over the

fence?" He starts to cry. He says, "I

didn't mean to hurt anybody's

babies." I said, "I know. I know you

didn't mean to hurt anybody's babies. I

don't think anyone got hurt, but I think

we scared our neighbor. And we are meant

to love our neighbors. We are meant to

take care of our

neighbors, which means you've got a mess

to clean up. He says, "No,

mama. Please, no, mama." Because he

knows when I say he has a mess to clean

up that there comes some

ownership. Why? because I am leading

this little boy into becoming a great

man. I am leading him into discovering

that we protect the people around us,

even if they're our neighbors. We're

called to love and nurture these

relationships. So, I'm holding him to a

different standard than maybe some of

his

friends because I'm a good

leader. So, I said, "All right, buddy.

Let's go." We go walk down to the

neighbor's house. We've practiced what

he's going to say. He's trailing behind

me, really

close. We get to the neighbor's house. I

knock on the door. The man answers and

he's surprised to see me. I said, "Hi,

I'm sorry. Don't know if you have time."

He says, "Yeah, how can I help you?" I

said, "Well, my son would like to clean

up his mess with you." He goes, "Oh, no.

That's not necessary." I said, "No, no.

in our home. We believe in taking

ownership of messes that we make and

it's really important to us. I said,

"So, if you have time, I'd love for him

to have a moment of your time." He goes,

"Sure." I couldn't have prepared be more

prepared for what he was going to do.

Like, he responded so well. He got down

on his knees. He's probably this

65year-old man. And gets face to face

with

Lincoln. And Lincoln proceeds to say,

"I'm sorry for throwing rocks at your

babies. I will never do it again. Thank

you.

Bye." So he w Leon takes off and walks

up the driveway. He's long gone. Man

stands up and I said, "Thank you again

so much for your time." He goes, "You

really didn't need to do that." I said,

"I know. I know." I said, "But I'm I'm

raising an amazing young man." He goes,

"That you are.

He

says, "That's not like most parents." I

said, 'Well, I'm not like most

parents.' He goes, "I wish there were

more parents out there like you." I

said, "Believe me, I'm doing everything

I

can. Being a

leader for your family is crucial."

We tried to give a definition to seeing

revival in

family. If we could define it, if we

could put words around it, what would

that look like? What would that mean?

And we came up with this. A revival in

the family changes the direction of a

nation. An improvement in the condition

and the strengthening of

something. I want that the next time I

come to New Zealand, you have testimony

upon testimony.

how there's revival that's happening in

family. And let me just let me just

comfort you in understanding that when I

say revival in family doesn't mean that

everyone's laying out in the spirit

before

breakfast or that your toddler's walking

around speaking in tongues

cool cheerios like it's that's that's

not what I'm looking for. I'm looking

for you to make room for God to

move rather than you just getting lost

in the day-to-day grind of functioning

as a

family. I want the spirit of God to be

in every opportunity that you walk

around with your

kids. Which means that when you are at

the diner and you have a lady that's

giving you your whatever you eat at

diners here, boiled

tomatoes that you greet her with. How

can we bless her today? That the

normalness of the supernatural shows up

in the mundane things of your

life because you make room for him to

move.

So that Lincoln gets to give his first

prophetic word to some random lady at

the diner who's sobbing by the end of it

asking how did you know? And his word

was as simple as I feel like God says

you're a good

woman. It doesn't have to be crazy. We

make God like he's got to be

fireworks. No, we have to be

obedient. That's all it is. So revival

in family happens when we're

obedient. Ben has a great story where we

were hanging out watching a basketball

game with a family friend of ours. Our

kids were gone at something else and

their kids are all there. They got five

kids. And the dad says something about

his one leg being shorter than the

other. And the mom says Ben says, "Oh,

I've seen those legs grow out." And the

mom's like, "That'd be crazy." And Ben

goes, "We should pray." And she goes,

"Totally, next

Sunday." Why are we waiting until Sunday

for God to

move? Cuz he wants to move right now. So

Ben says, "Okay, let's pray right now."

She goes, "Right now? Right now?" She's

like, "Yeah, right now." She goes, "It's

Monday. I'm pretty sure you're going to

come with us all week, right, Lord?" Yes

and amen. Thank you.

So he says, "Okay, you're going to

pray." She's like, "Okay." So the

husband sits in the chair and she picks

up his feet. She's holding him. He goes,

"Okay, now you just command that leg to

grow." And she's like, "Okay." She's

holding him. We're just looking at her

like, "Is this a is this an unspoken? Is

this quiet one? We're not gonna not

gonna say it out loud." She goes, "No,

I'm building my faith." I'm like,

"Okay, take your time, I

guess." Faith the size of a mustard

seed. I don't know if you remember what

that looks like, but it's pretty

tiny. So, she says, "I command these

this leg to

grow and then repeated it multiple

times and his leg begins to

grow and she is shocked." So that whole

building of faith thing wasn't

necessarily as uh reliable because she's

just as shocked that it's happening.

She's like, "What's happening?" I'm

like, "That thing you asked for is

happening." She's like, "Oh my gosh."

But then they go and get every single

kid and she's like, "Look at your dad's

leg." And then he had a knot that

happened from that injury and it

disappeared almost completely. And

everyone's rubbing dad's leg and they're

running around the house like, "What

just happened?" They're like, "Did you

see that? Did you see that? is and she

goes on a Monday

night. God moves on a Monday night.

He moves when we make room for him.

Revival and family shows up when you

make room for

him. We have to make room for

him. We have to make room for him. We

often don't make room for him.

We settle for every day not making room

for

him. Moms, we are guilty of giving

everyone their

needs except for our

father because it's so easy to meet the

needs of all those little demanding

people. So

easy. So easy. But we forget our father.

And the cry that every mother I've ever

talked to, what they desire most is that

their children will love Jesus more than

anything. And yet, we don't make room

for

him. I'm sure most of you want to see

revival happen in family, but you have

to make room for

him. You have to make room for him.

It's funny because in Nehemiah 4:14, it

Nehemiah 4:14

talks about standing at the wall and

fighting for your

family. And then in Esther, the very

next chapter of the Bible,

4:14, this is for such a time as

this. Perhaps you were put in this

position for such a time as this.

What if revival and family was for such

a time as

this? For this

moment, for today, for every family

represented, because we decided, I'm

going to make room for you. I'm going to

make room for you. I think we sang that

song earlier

today. I know we have a few minutes. Um,

I'm gonna have Ben come up here, but I

was wondering how hard is it to get that

person up here to sing that

song. Easy. Great. Can we make that

possibly happen? Great. Um, Ben, why

don't you come on up

here? I want to actually give a

space for the moms that haven't been

doing a good job of this because today

is Mother's Day and I ended early on

purpose so you have no excuses to say,

"I got to rush out here to lunch.

You have five extra minutes to stand up

and receive the ministry that you need

to turn your heart towards the father

and give him the the adoration that he

deserves. I I made room for you to make

room for

him because he wants to move in your

family. But it takes courage to say, "I

haven't been doing a good job right

here."

But he meets those who are

humble and he wants to meet with

you. I was thinking this morning uh

we're up at 5:30 a.m. and she was

sharing what she was going to say share

today with me as we drank our coffee

because we're wide awake cuz we're from

America. And uh I I was thinking about

this. We we say this phrase all the time

that men set the standard for love in

the

home. And the way we do that is through

sacrifice. The way we do that is through

going first, being the first to humble

oursel. And I was just thinking, what

what better day than Mother's

Day for some of the men in the room just

just to respond because this feels like

something we have to respond to. What I

don't want to do is go that that was

nice. Yeah, it was good. She was pretty

funny. She took her earrings off. That

was weird. and then leave. And that's

fine if you do. There is zero pressure

this morning. But I also don't want to I

I I want to make room that if you need

to respond this morning, please don't

leave without doing that because and I I

want to start with the men, which might

feel funny on Mother's Day. I actually

think it's

strategic

that first I'm I'm ask the men. You you

you might married, you may may be young,

but if you would say today that that I

want to be someone in my community, in

my family, in my church that begins to

set the standard for love in the home,

which means I restore the standard of

love. When someone looks at my family,

they go, "What's happening over

there?" We had an experience a while ago

at at a little restaurant thing. We I

guess we eat out a lot. Not really. But

this this moment happened and this this

ball hit our drink and went all over

Lincoln and this whole thing happened.

And for some reason, the way I responded

as we're leaving, this guy comes up to

me. He goes, "I just want to say thank

you for how you responded to that what

could have ensued anger and all this

stuff. Thank you so much for doing it

like that. Who are you

people? Are you Christians?" I said, "We

are." And we started talking about

loving on purpose. Here we are sharing

our life. But it was simply through how

we

loved something as simp as simple as

that.

So I was going to have you close your

eyes. Keep them open. I'm going to say

this men start with you. If you would

say I want to be someone who sets the

standard for love in my home first. I

ask you to stand for a minute.

We were talking earlier that I just

heard a a a a study recently that the

largest group right now in America, it

could be everywhere, but the largest

group coming back to church and coming

to the Lord, this is unheard of in

generations is men and it's young men.

That's a big deal

because when a partnership happens,

women, you've been doing this for years.

You should pat yourself on the back.

You've been doing a great job. For a lot

of us men, we've been scared or not

knowing how to how to how to push

through what's happening inside of us.

It's

changing. Stretch your hands to the men

around you real quick. Men, just put

your hands out again.

Say,

"Jesus, teach me how to

love." That's it right there. Jesus,

teach me how to

love. Come, Holy

Spirit. All right, we're going to sing

this song. Um, and ladies, if you need

to press into this moment and declare,

I'll make room for you. I want you to

stand up and enter this. And husbands,

if you want to practice being the

standard of love, I want you to pray for

your wife as she gets filled up by the

spirit, as she begins to minister to the

father and she makes room. So, we're

going to go ahead and just sing that

song and we're just going to enter into

this space and just give it back to

him. And again, men, this is your

invitation. Support your wives if

they're going to stand in this space.

And I would encourage you ladies, take

it. Take this moment. Don't be afraid.