Our (Kingdom) Family Culture Matthew 2: 1-23

I was walking down to my sister's house, Amalia's

house, because my friends were doing date night

and I hang out at their house for my first date

night, so I'm not on my own for not three hours,

I believe. And as I was walking down, there was

about an inch of snow covering the ground. I

couldn't see the grass. I couldn't see the sidewalk.

So I was walking and as I got... Farther along,

probably about halfway there, I looked over and

there was about two squares of the sidewalk that

was uncovered, the actual sidewalk, uncovered

from the snow. And that's when I realized I was

about five feet to the right of the sidewalk.

I was not walking on the sidewalk, I was walking

on the edge of the road. So then I moved back

over on the sidewalk as I finished walking down

there because that was a small area. And it kind

of reminds me of the sidewalk as the way Christians

are supposed to walk, and where I was walking

will immediately get lost. So we'll move to another

place, but God will and can uncover a way for

you to find healing back. Wow, that's awesome.

Well done. Well done. All right, who else? I

wasn't originally going to do this today, but

I think God is telling me to. So on Friday in

the youth group, I went over, I had them do a

worksheet. It had 14 verses or something like

that on it. And basically I had them read the

verse and then write down what they think it

means. And then we went over most of them together.

I don't think we did all of them, but we went

over most of them together and I explained to

them a little bit more what it meant. But it

all boiled down to going over this piece of paper

right here that I have. I'll read it real quick.

It says, I do solemnly resolve to serve God with

all my heart, mind, body, and soul, honoring

Him in all that I do in order to glorify His

name. I will stand up for what is godly and dismiss

all that is ungodly. I will look to God for wisdom

as I grow to become a godly adult. I will seek

wise godly counsel in my decision making. I will

honor my father and mother according to God's

plan. I will strive to be a godly example to

those who are around me. I will not allow myself

to be a stumbling block to others or myself being

led by God. I will strive to understand, confront,

and accept the consequences of my actions. I

will respect and love everyone in the way Jesus

loves us. I understand through Christ, through

Jesus Christ, I am a new creation, understanding

that now I must live like Christ in all that

I do. I will do this because God has called me

to live my life for the one and only Savior,

Jesus Christ. So, originally when I was going

through this, I thought it would be a good thing

for the young kids, the young people. But then

the more I read, the more I studied it, and I

put countless hours into it. Just those few little

things that I just went, I trained and thinking

and studying a lot. And it really came to me

last night while I was trying to go to sleep

that that is not just for teenagers. It's not

just for young people. It's for everyone. And

I was explaining to them on Friday that it opened

my eyes to a lot of things that I'm doing in

my life and changes that I have to make in my

own life because there's a lot on there that

I have struggled with and came up real short

with. And so through that, I've committed myself

to standing up for what's God. And making that

the priority in my house, and making that the

priority of my life. Amen. That's a good word.

Okay, anybody else? I had one I wanted to share,

and it ties in with our spiritual discipline

focus. We're talking about, now through May 27th,

we're talking about prayer and meditation. Let's

focus on prayer for a second. A lot of times

we publicly pray. The Bible warns us about publicly

praying just as we sing. And be careful about

that, right? That is not the purpose of public

prayer. But public prayer, nonetheless, is ordained

in the Bible. We are supposed to do it, but we

shouldn't do it just to be seen. So Jesus is

hanging on the cross. And he prays, and in the

original language he said this, right? Eloi,

Eloi, lama sabachthani. And that's sort of like,

basically it means, my God, my God, why have

you forsaken me? And last night we were doing

Ariana's devotional before bed, and in the middle

of the devotional, we were talking about that

prayer, and she said, why did God forsake Jesus?

Why did God turn away from Jesus while he was

on the cross? He was doing what God wanted him

to do, even though he was taking on the sins

of people, which is true. He was doing what God

wanted him to do, so why would he turn away?

And so I said, well, there's an interesting thing

there. Let's finish up the devotional, and then

we'll look it up. And so then we did. And you

may or may not know, but those words are the

beginning of Psalm 22. And back in the day, there

were no titles for the Psalms. There really aren't

now, right? You just look at Psalm 22, Psalm

53, Psalm 111. There's no titles, right? And

they didn't have numbers then. So what they would

use is the first phrase, the first words of the

Psalm. So Jesus was praying the first words of

Psalm 22. Now, if you go and look at Psalm 22,

which was written a thousand years before Jesus'

birth, it lays out the details of his death.

It talks about him being nailed in his hands

and feet. It talks about him being stretched

out on the cross. It talks about them gambling

for his clothes, them mocking and sneering at

him. All that's in there in Psalm 22. All what

was going on while he was hanging on the cross.

And it was written a thousand years before. So

Jesus, in praying that one phrase, that one little

statement at the beginning of Psalm 22, was showing

them, see, this is what's going on right now.

And if they knew Psalm 22, and a lot of Jewish

people who were there did know Psalm 22. then

they knew as he prayed that that psalm was about

the suffering Messiah. The psalm was about what

was happening right before them. But the other

part, the rest of that psalm, is about how God

will save people through that activity. God will

make them eternal. God will call them out. You

can kind of see born again in the psalm. It's

all there. So that one prayer was laying out

for them Everything about the sacrifice and the

resurrected nature of Jesus and the born -again

nature that we can have in Jesus. The question

was, why did God forsake Jesus? And a lot of

people will tell you that while he was on the

cross, because Jesus took on the sins of man,

God looked away. But that's more of a philosophy

or a possibility. It doesn't actually say that,

right? What do I take away from this or about

prayer? Remember when you're praying that the

people that you're praying with are listening

to what you're praying. It's really good to pray

the word of God. It's really good to pray in

line with what God would say. You might pray

for people to be saved and there might be somebody

there that's listening to you pray and they're

not saved. Right? And they might hear you pray

for people to be saved and in that moment they

might get saved. You might pray how a person

gets saved, or you might pray about sin, or about

healing, or about being born again. You might

pray out of love, right? And if the words that

you're praying line up with the scripture, then

so much more is said than what you actually say.

But the obverse is also true. If the words that

you are praying do not line up with scripture.

So, for example, if your prayers are always,

God, give me a new car. God, heal the sick. God,

take care of our finances, right? And if you

pray around the dinner table every night, bless

the food, heal the sick, get your finances taken

care of, make us strong and healthy, then what

your kids or the other people that you're eating

with or whoever it might be or if it's a restaurant

and people sitting around you at the table, I

hope you're doing that, by the way. It's a great

witness. But anyway, if you're sitting around

you at the restaurant and here you pray, they

think, oh, God's a sugar daddy. They just think

God will just give them everything. And so be

aware. People are listening when you pray, and

it says a lot more than you say. And in Jesus'

case, he doesn't say that God really forsake

him, right? It says that in that moment, God

was doing that, that thing. And they should have

been able to see it. And they might have. I guess

they couldn't. I guess they didn't. But they

could in his prayers. Yes, ma 'am. Mine does

not really wind up in the spiritual discipline.

But I have something that I've been struggling

with and sending on, and I just found this passage

a couple days ago. came to mind again this morning.

I've been sick this week. I was in bed for two

whole days. I'm still not feeling great. But

one thing that I have learned over the past couple

years, really, but strongly over the past couple

months, really, is the power of perseverance.

And I mean that in a way, not just, I gotta do

it, I gotta do it, I gotta do it, but I feel

like crap. but I'm going to do it anyway because

that's what God wants me to do. That type of

perseverance. And I'm reading from Romans chapter

Romans 5 · chapter mention

5 and it says, Therefore, having been justified

by faith, we have peace with God through our

Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have

obtained our introduction by faith into this

grave in which we stand and we celebrate in hope

of the glory of God. And not only this, but we

also celebrate in our tribulation, knowing that

tribulation brings about perseverance. Perseverance,

proven character, and proven character, hope.

And hope does not disappoint because the love

of God has been poured out within our hearts

through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

The part in there, the perseverance was the part

that I was looking for, but the part in there

that really stood out to me was proven character.

I had to look up exactly what that was talking

about. And the definition that I got is the tested,

reliable, and approved quality of a person's

inner self that emerges from enduring hardship

and suffering through dealing with one's true

faithfulness and strengthening hope in God's

promises. Not only do we need the power of prayer,

we need the power of perseverance and togetherness

in order to be our true selves, to be the true

character that God wants us to be. Okay, we're

going to pray at this time. Tony, I'm going to

ask you to pray in just a moment. We are praying

for tithes and offerings. As we're taking out

our tithes and offerings, remember this is an

act of worship. It is honoring the Lord as we

do this. And that's why we do it during our worship

time. We visited my parents' church over last

week on vacation. I went there to see my mom.

And they set their offering plates up on the

floor on the dais up here on the bottom step

and just let people afterwards to come up and

check after the services all over. And I don't

believe that. And I'm not saying anything bad

about them. That's the decision that they made.

That's the choice that God had them make. But

we aren't going to do that. This is an act of

worship. Remember that when you pass the offering

plate, even if you don't put anything in the

offering plate, you are symbolically passing

everything that everyone else puts in the offering

plate. Even if they give electronically, if you

give like on your debit card or give on the website,

if it doesn't go on the offering plate, you're

giving what they gave. And you should. You should

give what they gave and also give whatever God

would have you to give. All right? And that's

an act of worship. We say thank you, God, for

all the things that we've received by giving

back of tithes and offerings. And that's why

we do it during the worship time. So if you can

join me, we'll do this in prayer and remember

to bless the tithes and offerings and then we'll

do that act of worship. Father, Lord, thank you

for another day of giving us. Thank you for a

new year, a new week, new opportunities. Lord,

even though we celebrate a new year, every day

you give to us is a new day where we can strive

to do better, to study harder, to work harder,

to do everything we have within us for you. and

help us forward in that. We just ask you, Lord,

to be of our service. Be with those, Lord, that

couldn't make it today. They're sick under the

weather. For whatever reason, Lord, just ask

you to bless them. And as we pass the offering

plate, Lord, we ask you to bless that too. Help

us forward to give what we, out of the goodness

of our hearts, we're giving to you. We're giving

just a portion of what you've given to us and

you've given us. Everything we have, we can claim

that you gave it to us. And we're just doing

this offering, being the prized giver, being

the giver, the gift and the giver. And we're

just asking that you continue to bless us and

give to us. back about the times when I had nothing

but big dreams still in my head that were hanging

by a thread that fueled desire in my chest but

I'm released looking in the eyes of my children

Sharing all the stories of my family. I'll tell

you a couple quick stories. The first one, I

was about 14 years old, and I'm riding in the

back of the car. And one of my friends, I don't

remember for sure who it was with me, was in

the passenger seat in the back of the car as

well. And my dad was driving, and my mom was

in the front seat, and we're going through Chicago.

Now, if you ever drove through Chicago, if you

haven't, I'm going to tell you a little bit about

what it's like. Basically, Chicago is a 50 -mile

-an -hour parking lot from one side to the other.

That's what Chicago is like. The speed limits

are 55, 60, 65, 70 these days to get across but

the truth is it is busy, busy, busy. They have

a skyway. A skyway is like a giant bridge that

you can get on on the one side of Chicago and

you can drive completely to the other side of

Chicago. And during that time, you can only get

off. You can't, no one can get on. So you jump

on one side, drive all the way to the other side

and get off. And then that's how people who work

on one side of town get to the other side of

town. Because in between there, the expressway

is a 50 to 60 mile an hour parking lot until

there's an accident. And then they have a little

like, if you're not dying, push your car off

to the side spot because there's a 50 mile an

hour. parking lot going by and you will get killed

if you break down on the expressway. So we're

in the middle of that parking lot. We did not

take the skyway. My parents didn't want to pay

the money because it's a toll road. So we're

driving that 55 mile an hour parking lot and

we come to our exit to turn off to go where we

were going. And my mom is like, okay, the exit's

coming up. She's in the passenger seat. She says,

the exit's coming up. My dad said, okay. And

he's looking to try to get over. And we get to

the point where you've got to get over now to

get off or you're going to be driving a while

to the next exit, right? And it's a left side

exit. You've got to get over to the left to get

off. A lot of them are, most of them are on the

right, but this one was on the left. And my mom

says, you've got to get over now. And he turns

and he looks to his left and there's a semi still

right there in his blind spot and he can't get

over. And he says, but there's a truck over there,

just like that. Well, immediately our family

latched on to that saying. And for the remaining

roughly, let's see, I'd say about nine years,

I lived in my house with my parents and my friends

were doing it and my brother latched on to it.

And basically what there's a truck over there

meant was whenever you really know what you're

supposed to do, you're saying like, I ask you

to hand me the salt and you say. I can't hand

you the salt because something's in the way or

whatever. So instead you would say, but there's

a truck over there, right? And so like, I told

you to clean up your room. And you say, well,

but there's a truck over there. Meaning there

was some good reason why I didn't clean up my

room, right? So that was added to our family

culture. In my family culture as a dad. When

Alicia was little, Alicia had a tendency to say,

I can't. She was my first child. She got the

worst parenting of all of my kids. That's just

the reality. And so she was the first one to

live under the mantra, you can't say, I can't.

And so now for going on 30 years in the Stevenson

family, you're not allowed to say, I can't. In

fact, we would go so far as to say, if you say,

I can't, can't means you quit trying before you

succeeded or died. That's what I can't means.

And so we would say, you can't say, I can't.

You can't do it. You're not allowed. Don't say,

I can't. James Bond would agree, never say never,

right? So you can't say can't in my family. And

then we also talked about, as Alicia got to be

like a preteen and we would hang out with friends

and stuff, we talked about inclusion, like including

someone is excluding everyone that you're not

including. So when the youth group embraces each

other and all the teenagers are hanging out together

and a new teenager shows up and they don't automatically

seek to include that person, then actually they're

excluding that person. You got to search them

out and try to bring them in. And if two people

come in and you search out and include one, but

don't search out and include the other, you're

actually excluding that person. And we are not

an excluding people. So these are things that

develop inside family culture. And one more I'll

give you. This one is kind of a newer one. It

came about, I think, when Arden was young, but

it's now been with us for 15 years or so. And

it is, you have to do what you have to do before

you do what you want to do. And that became a

rule for us and part of our family culture. So

family culture has a great role. Family culture

guides. So you're like, well, this is who we

are. Bristers are. Stephensons are. Whatever.

Shopes are. McCrory's are. And you have these

little guidelines, these little rules, right?

That's who we are. And so then that can be very

useful. It gives you a lot to go on when you

don't have anything else to go on. It guides.

It encourages. Look, we don't give up. We're

bristers. We don't stop. We're not going to quit,

right? Or we don't take a few hits here, but

we can keep going because we've been through

worse. Stephensons have been through worse, right?

They save maybe. There's times where young people

say, well, I might try this little vape thing,

or I might get into this marijuana that everybody's

doing, right? Or I might slip into watching a

little something on my phone. Everybody says

it's really not a bad thing. Okay, it's okay

for me to watch that in the world. And the church

says no, but family culture, well, but Stevenson's

don't do that, right? So we already know that

we don't do that. So I'm not going to do that.

I'm not going to give in and go that way because

of who I am as a Stevenson. So sometimes they

save us from our trouble. Sometimes they heal

us, right? So we eat, right, we eat our vegetables

before we eat our meat and our dessert, for example.

Or, you know, we're muscular, so we've got to

have enough protein to drive that because our

family has DNA, it's muscular DNA, so we've got

to make sure we eat our protein, things like

that. So it heals your body, heals your mind

sometimes, things like that. So as we read what

is a classic text in the Bible today, I want

you to think along the lines, and I'll try to

point it out to you. Really what's going on here

is a conflict between two family cultures. I

want you to see that. And family culture conflict

is something you're going to deal with every

single day of your life. Every workplace, every

school you ever go to, you go hang out with your

in -laws, everywhere. You're going to deal with

family culture every day. So watch this as two

families clash. Grab your Bibles then and go

with me to Matthew chapter 2. Thank you very

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

much for being with me. And you will recognize

this text. I'll point out a couple of historical

facts in here as we go. Matthew chapter 2, beginning

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

in verse 1. As Jesus was born in Bethlehem of

Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from

the east arrived unexpectedly in Jerusalem, saying,

Where is he who was born? who has been born king

of the Jews, who we saw his star in the east

and have come to worship in. When Herod the king

heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem

with him. So not just Herod, who was king, who

kind of maybe had a replacement in the often

was troubled, but also all the people of Jerusalem.

Now in that little statement that they were troubled

is a lot, right? It says that another king coming

up who was not of Herod's line. taking the rulership

away from Herod was a real problem, not just

for Herod, but for the entire kingdom. Herod

had already, by this time, killed three of his

sons, one of his wives, his mother -in -law,

and 300 priests, temple workers, Sanhedrin members,

I'd say ruling Jews. He'd already killed all

those people to protect his throne. There's a

lot to be troubled about. So, verse 4. Gathering

together all the chief priests and scribes of

the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah

was to be born. Realized he'd already killed

300 chief priests and scribes for not doing what

he wanted them to do. So when they're getting

called into the throne room, they're probably

a little nervous here, so they're going to do

their best. And he calls them in. And he asks,

where was the Messiah? According to scripture,

and they had the whole Old Testament at their

disposal, according to scripture, where would

the Messiah be born? They said to him, in Bethlehem

of Judea, for this is what has been written by

the prophet. And you, Bethlehem, land of Judea,

are by no means least among the leaders of Judah.

For out of you shall come forth a ruler who will

shepherd my people Israel. So God laid that prophecy

out well before Jesus was born. They knew it

was a messianic prophecy. This is one of the

many. There are over 300 very clear messianic

prophecies. And they had already by this time

isolated about 200 of them. So they should have

been able to know that Jesus was going to be

born in Bethlehem. And here the scribes and chief

priests tell him that's where it's going to happen.

Verse 7. Then Herod secretly called the Magi.

That's the guys who came from the east. Wise

men, kind of. probably Zoroastrians, which means

they worshipped or looked at the stars for direction,

determined from them the exact time the star

appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said,

Go and search carefully for the child, and when

you have found him, report to me, so that I too

may come and worship him. So that verse right

there could be the whole sermon. He said, Go,

find the child. and report to me so that I may

come and worship him. But he was lying about

that. Obviously that wasn't his goal, was to

worship him, or he was going to worship him and

then kill him, one or the other. And then notice

also that he inquired when the star appeared.

So this is not taking place near the birth of

Jesus. He's asking, when did you first see the

star? When you were in your home country, before

you packed up, before you bought everything you

needed for your journey, before you loaded up

the camels, before you started to walk all those

weeks or months to get here. When did the star

first appear, right? That's what he wants to

know because he's trying to nail down when the

birth of Jesus did because he knows how old Jesus

is. That's one of the demographic factors of

being able to deal with Jesus, right? So we got

his skin color already. We already know that

he's young. How young is he? Well, a little less

than two years old. Okay, well, that means I

can deal with him if I have to. I'd like to go

and worship him, but at least tell me how old

he's supposed to be so I can deal with him if

I have to. All right, so it's packed full of

stuff there. All right, so he asked them to tell

him where he was at. Verse nine, after hearing

the king, they went their way. And the star,

which they had seen in the east, that very first

star, the very first star that appeared on the

night of Jesus' birth, went on before them until

it came and stood over the place where the child

was. They're triangulating. It may sound a little

weird. People think we see the picture of the

stables, the mandarin, and the stars right at

the top, like the star came down out of the sky

and hovered over that exact stable. They didn't

need that. They're Zoroastrians. They can nail

their position down on the planet within a few

feet by triangulating the stars. So that's how

sailors did it. most of the time for sailing

in the tall ship. Most of the time, they nailed

down their position by looking at the stars.

And the Zoroastrians were so good at that that

that star could be triangulated to be exactly

above that stable. That's all they needed. After

hearing the king, they went their way and the

star, which they had seen in the east, went on

before them until it came and stood over the

place where the child was. When they saw the

star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

After coming into the house, they saw the child

with Mary. Notice, coming into the house, not

the stables. They saw the child with Mary, his

mother, and they fell to the ground and worshipped

him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented

to him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Nothing in this text gives us the number of wise

men. So, we three kings from Orient are traveling

from afar. That's just a song. It's not biblical.

The kings presented three gifts, gold, frankincense,

and myrrh. There were not necessarily three kings.

There could have been two kings. There could

have been 12 kings. We don't actually know how

many kings. We just know there was more than

one because they're plural. But they presented

three kinds of gifts, gold, frankincense, and

myrrh. Now a little spoiler for a later story,

which we probably will not cover next week, but

these become the resources. They are symbolic

of his life, death, burial, and resurrection.

But these become the resources for Joseph to

take his family to Egypt. to flee Herod. They

just got wealthy. They just became wealthy. Verse

12. And having been warned by God in a dream

not to return to Herod, the Magi left for their

own country by another way. Interesting because

these are not people who are Christians. These

are not people who have the Holy Spirit. Right?

But God warns them not to go back to Herod and

tell Herod anything, or not to go back through

Herod. The truth is, probably, if they'd gone

back through Herod, it would not just have been

Jesus' demise that would be an offing, but possibly

theirs as well. Remember, he kills everybody

that's a threat to his throne, and they're the

ones proclaiming there's a new king. So odds

are, they die. Right? But he says, don't go back

that way. God tells them, don't go back that

way. So they don't. They left for their own country

by another way. Now, when they had gone, behold,

an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a

dream and said, get up, take the child and his

mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until

I tell you. For Herod is going to search for

the child to destroy him. So Joseph got up and

took the child and his mother while it was still

night and left for Egypt. He remained there until

the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what

had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet,

out of Egypt I called my son. Which they, again,

even though that is in the text that it's originally

written in, could be referring to Israel being

called out of Egypt, right? They saw it as a

messianic prophecy. So somehow the Messiah had

to wind up in Egypt and come out of Egypt in

order for that prophecy to be fulfilled. Verse

16. Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked

by the Magi, he became very enraged. And he sent

and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem

and all its vicinity from two years old and under,

according to the time which he had determined

from the Magi. So he's looking at when the star

first appeared, calculating the baby should be

a little less than two years old, right? And

a little before then, he's going to kill everything

that looks like it's two years old and under.

So he's trying to wipe Jesus out. So we know

that the Magi came to the house to deliver their

gifts, and we know that they fled to Egypt sometime

before Jesus was two, but surely after he was

one. Okay? 17. Then what had been spoken through

Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled. So this is

the third prophecy just in this text. A voice

was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning,

Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused

to be comforted because they were no more. So

their soldiers went around and killed every baby

two years old and younger. But when Herod died,

behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream

to Joseph in Egypt and said, Get up, take the

child and his mother, and go into the land of

Israel. For those who sought the child's life

are dead. So Joseph got up, took the child and

his mother, and came into the land of Israel.

But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning

over Judah in place of his father Herod, He was

afraid to go there. Then after being warned by

God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee

and came and lived in a city called Nazareth.

This was to fulfill what was spoken through the

prophets. He shall be called a Nazarene. So yet

another prophecy being fulfilled. Notice then

that when Joseph is about to bring Jesus and

Mary back out of Egypt, he starts thinking to

himself, but Archelaus, is now ruling in Herod's

stead. You see what's happening there? Is Archelius

a bad man? Is he a murderer? Is he going to murder

people like his dad did to protect his throne?

Well, you don't really know. But what you do

know is that family culture affects the way people

act, right? The way you raise your children affects

who they'll be when they grow up and so on. So

he started thinking, well, Archelius, you know,

he may not want a new king either because his

dad didn't. So we have two family cultures in

conflict, and we have God warning God as the

head of their family, essentially, right? Warning

them multiple times to avoid conflict with the

family culture of Herod and his offspring. So

a few things I want you to see in this text then.

It starts with this. God, to this day, it's always

been this way, but to this day, God continues

to make arrangements. He is always working. And

Acts 17 says he laid out the boundaries in which

we live, the events of our lives, and so on.

God is continuing to make arrangements. See how

those who came from so far away were given everything

that they needed to find Jesus and worship him?

To fulfill the prophecies of God? Yes. And the

prophecies of God include that everyone who is

willing to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior

will be saved. And that means there are people

who have not yet heard the gospel. They live

in that corridor of people in the world that

don't speak English. I just read about a great

revival in a country that doesn't speak English,

and they just baptized like 1 ,200 people down

there in one day. And so there's amazing things.

God is going to make sure that anyone who genuinely

would accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior

will receive him. They will have an opportunity.

He's making arrangements. So if you came from

afar, then you know that God has made arrangements

for you to get there. See how God set up everything

for every person, Romans 17 says, provided creation

as a testimony so that all people are without

excuse, Romans 1 says. So people who are standing

in a field going, oh, is there a greater meaning

to life, can look at trees and clouds and sun,

feel the rain on their face, watch the plants

grow, see the cycle of life in animals and in

organisms. microscopic organisms that are so

complex and have so many parts, there's no way

they evolved up from anything else. Look at the

molecules that hold human cells together and

see that they are shaped in the shape of a cross,

etc., etc., etc. And God has provided all of

that testimony so that people are without excuse.

Jesus came in the flesh to overcome death and

sin once and for all. and sent generations of

his people, of God's people, of the kingdom of

God people, of the family of God, for all those

who have accepted Jesus are given the right to

be called children of God. And he sent generations

of people, of Christians, before us. People that

snuck Bibles behind the iron curtain. People

that served the sick and dying and themselves

died. In the flu epidemic, so the 1920s. Oh,

is that pneumonia? I get those two confused.

Anyway, the point is, always, in every generation,

he has preserved for himself a people of a witness,

and that ultimately resulted in somebody to preach

the gospel so that I could hear, you could hear.

And we are part of that greater effort. God is

still making arrangements. And you could change

your name to arrangement number whatever, because

God is arranging you in this generation to stand

up for him and see to it that people have the

opportunity to hear the truth. There are plenty

of people from other family cultures, other than

God's, that are speaking a lot of untruths, that

are deceiving in a lot of ways. But our culture,

our family culture is supposed to be God's family

culture, not to get ahead of myself. And we are

delivering the truth. We are part of the arrangements

that God has made. God has always been making

arrangements for anybody who would to come to

him. Next. Notice that there are on the earth

a part of society, I guess really has always

been, because we see maybe at the very beginning

of time, the Bible is not super clear about exactly

how it went down, but a power struggle that took

place amongst the angels. So there have always

been power structures. There have always been,

and will always be until Jesus comes again, controlling

people, manipulating people, deceiving people,

kings. Princes, presidents, governors, right?

People who enforce their will upon others. Backstabbers

who rise up in the ranks of companies because

they cheat others, lie to others, deceive others,

throw others under the bus when they do wrong.

They have always spent systems of evil, ways

that things can be accomplished, right? In fact,

around the time of Jesus' day, amongst the wealthy

Jewish, it was considered a great jewel in your

crown if you could lie. to a king or a politician

or whatever and get away with it. That was like

the crowning achievement. The greatest thing

you could possibly do would be go lie to somebody

who had all kind of power and resources and get

away with it. And lots of people tried and died.

but there were those who succeeded. You see it

in the histories of Josephus, who was a Jewish

man who wrote about the time of Jesus and that

Jesus walked, lived, died, and then was seen

alive again, even though he was not a Christian

himself, a historian. And he talks about how

he and other Jewish men like him were trying

to placate kings, trying to manipulate governors,

right? And they would try to lie to them to get

them to do whatever. That was kind of like a...

A jewel in their crown. There have always been

systems of evil. And today, there is enticement

of sex. There is the... The wealth and riches

motivation that's being pushed on society. The

walk away from people who don't agree with you

mentality that's being pushed on teenagers, etc.,

etc. There is a feeling of rebellion that's being

pushed on people. Like, you can say no. You can

just say no. It used to be just say no to drugs,

which, by the way, are bad for you. Now you can

just say no to your parents, to your teachers,

to the police. You can just say no to anybody

that you want. And it's this mentality. There's

always been systems of evil. There have always

been things that have been worshipped as idolatry.

Things that get a hold of your life and become

bigger to you, more important to you than what

God wants. It used to be little silver statues

you carry around in your pocket. Now a lot of

times it's on your phone or it's on your TV or

it could be parked in your garage or in your

driveway or it could be on your paycheck or it

could be in the words of the persons that you

work with or in your family members' mouths.

There are all kinds of targets of idolatry, things

that we worship and we set ourselves up to follow.

But they're all failing. All of those things

are failing. They just fail forward. They keep

proliferating from generation to generation and

we keep having... power structures, controlling

people's systems of evil, targets of idolatry,

because there is another family culture in which

those things kind of belong, right? They fit

there and people function well there under those

circumstances because they too use those things

to try to get what they want. That is not for

us. God takes power from kings and kingdoms.

Now, interestingly enough, God also gave them

the power in the first place. Who made Herod

king? God. God made Herod king, right? God puts

all kings on the throne. Now, did he use the

Roman government to do it and Herod was a great

politician and so on? Sure, but God put Herod

on the throne. So if God put Herod on the throne,

look at all the things that Herod was doing to

keep the throne for himself and his offspring.

But God is the one who let him be king. You notice

that God does not destroy him. God does not destroy

Herod. The whole time Herod is seeking to destroy

Jesus. That's not the route that the kingdom

of God family takes. God takes power from kings

and kingdoms, offers freedom to the oppressed,

exposes lies and lying, and tramples false gods

underfoot. In the Old Testament, we see they

put the Ark of the Covenant in the temple of

Dagon when the Philistines had it and Dagon fell

down. So they went and stood Dagon back up, the

statue that they were worshiping. They were literally

bowing before him and they were having sex on

his altar and they were sacrificing food and

money and everything else on the altar of Dagon.

And they put the Ark of the Covenant in there

and Dagon fell down. So they were like, oh no,

Dagon fell down. So they stand Dagon back up.

And then the next day they come in and he fell

down again and he broke and he broke and rolled

across the altar or rolled across the threshold.

And so they put him back up there and put him

back together again and said, well, we can't

keep the Ark of the Covenant in the same room

with Dagon our God because Dagon our God always

falls down. Listen, this is the way it is. Dagon

falls down. Elijah's offering was consumed when

the prophets of Baal, 400 of them, beat themselves

and cut themselves and spit and spewed evil words

and everything else. And Elijah's offering, they

poured water over the whole thing to make it

soaking wet. And then the fire rained from heaven

and it was consumed while their offering was

nothing. And then Elijah called on the men of

God and they killed all those prophets of Baal.

Joseph came to power in Egypt to save God's people

after being thrown into a pit, sold into slavery,

betrayed. They lied about him and said that he

raped Potiphar's wife, was thrown in prison and

literally forgotten. While what was going on?

Egypt worshiping Pharaoh and all those false

gods, all of that was going on. Another family

culture was prospering. If you could rise up

in the worship of the frog god in Egypt, you

could be all that in a bag of chips. You could

have a big house and three wagons and a whole

bunch of horses and a bunch of whores work in

your house all day long. If you were somebody

special in the frog worshiping god community.

Meanwhile, Joseph's in jail. Then... Joseph is

the second man in Egypt and the country only

survives because of Joseph's leadership. And

then God's people come out of the promised land

and they settle in Goshen and they only survive

because of Joseph's leadership. But then down

the road, the family culture of Pharaoh in Egypt,

it continues to progress until there comes a

Pharaoh who does not remember Joseph or what

God did for Egypt. And all the Egyptians are

enslaved. And so God crushes Egypt, one plague

after another, and every one of those plagues

deals with, unequivocally, one of those false

gods until the last one, which killed the very

first son of Pharaoh himself. Because Pharaoh

is no god, and the frog god is no god, and the

Nile is not a god, and the god of gnats, not

a god, and so on. And the magicians have no power.

And so God... has always been crushing things

that rise up. So if you've got something in your

life and you're giving it worship, it's important

to you, and you're giving it a place and it's

not God, just realize that eventually God is

going to crush it because that's what God does.

God has been crushing the objects of idolatry

since the beginning. Since Jesus, Jesus' followers

walk away from sinful lifestyles, freed from

addiction, freed from excessive habits, freed

from foul mouths. We are made clean. Peace is

bestowed where turmoil previously reigned, and

Jesus sets people free. God was always doing

that. Is there a different family culture? Yes,

there is. But it ends a place that you don't

want to go. The family culture of the kingdom

of God, where God destroys power structures,

sets apart controlling people, deals with systems

of evil, deals with targets of idolatry once

and for all. takes power from kings, and offers

freedom to the oppressed, exposes lies and lying,

and tramples false gods underfoot. That's the

family you want to be part of. That's the initiative.

That's the outreach that you want to be part

of. The next thing to see in there then is that

this war that we're talking about, this struggle

between family cultures, has victims. Even victorious

war has high costs. One man dying on the battlefield

is somebody's brother, somebody's son, somebody's

father. He could have been the deacon in his

church or a pastor or an evangelist, a sharer

of the gospel, a lover of life, a giver of gifts.

And now he lies dead, blood and mud. War has

victims. even victorious war has high costs.

Often the enemy, the other family culture, if

you will, will not lie down. They must be overcome

in a way that cannot be disputed by God's power.

God even hardens the hearts of false gods and

false god worshipers, worshipers of false gods.

so that when they do their best to resist God

and still fall, their example may be seen and

people may come to him. Again and again it says

that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Until finally,

even the firstborn son of Pharaoh was destroyed.

It sounds mean. David takes out Goliath. who

had taken out so many before, Goliath mocked

God, David stands up for God, David basically

a boy, takes out Goliath. Seems unfair to Goliath,

doesn't it? And that day, Goliath could have

got out of bed that morning and said, you know

what, I'm going to worship the God of the Israelites

instead of continuing to worship the gods of

the Philistines. But he didn't. He stayed as

part of the family culture that stands up against

God. He stayed the course to the end. He dismissed

his shield bearer and took a stone to the forehead

and then literally lost his head to his own sword.

And it's been going on like that. Is it a threat?

Am I threatening you with the family culture

of the Lord versus the family culture that you

may have otherwise adopted? It's not a threat.

This is just the reality. If you jump off a cliff,

you will hit the bottom, however far down it

is, quite abruptly. If you leave a plane without

a parachute, you will fall. If you run your car

90 mile an hour into a wall, your airbag and

your seatbelt will not save you. This is just

the reality of life. The reality of life is that

God's family culture wins in the end. They do

their best to resist them and God may even bolster

their hearts, encourage them to stand firm so

that they will be crushed. The bigger you are,

the more capable you are of standing on your

own, the harder you fall when the time comes.

For our family has a culture of how to deal with

these things. Number one, we mourn the losses.

I have eight. I have cried. I have begged God

for an alternative outcome when I have seen people

walk away from the Lord. And you should as well.

If you don't have a child right now or a sibling

or somebody in your household or somebody that

you work alongside and you've worked with them

for 20 years and you know they're lost and they

just won't hear the gospel. And if you don't

know that pain, I can't describe it to you. There

is an ache that accompanies loving someone and

knowing that they are living outside the family

culture of the God of the universe where real

love exists. So we mourn the losses. Also, we

see the evil clearly. Let's be very realistic.

Satan's after your kids. He's after your friends.

And if he can, he's after your witness so that

you can't save anybody else. So you can't make

a difference in anybody else's life. He wants

to blow you up. Not that he wants to kill you,

because if he kills you, he'll send you straight

to heaven, but he wants to take away from you

those arrangements that God is trying to make

through you. And lastly, we must be completely

victorious. To be completely victorious, we align

ourselves with the kingdom values, with the things

that the Lord is doing. That brings us to our

conclusion then, and it is a word of caution.

By now you already probably have figured out

what it is. And it is that even family can become

idolatry. Even your last name can become an idol.

Your hobby, your favorite food, your thoughts

about going out on your birthday or giving gifts

on Christmas. Even family and really any good

thing in your life can become idolatry. And why

not? Family culture guides, encourages, saves

maybe, heals. Is that not where we started at?

And I don't think anyone would have disagreed

with that statement when it was made. And so

why would it not possibly become adultery? But

here Jesus say to the man who said, I will come

and follow you, but let me first go and bury

my father who just died. And he said, let the

dead bury their own dead. And so basically he's

saying, wherein any connection that you have

with the world stands in the way of your following

faithfully the Lord. Let the world take care

of the world and you take care of your following

the Lord. That's what he's saying. Hear Jesus

say, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

And he goes on to illustrate that there will

be family member against family member. Mothers

against daughters and vice versa. Sons against

fathers and vice versa. And by no means was he

saying dismiss your father as lost and have nothing

to do with them. Be rid of him if he's not a

follower. But what he was saying is that there

will be a division between those who faithfully

follow the Lord and those who do not. And the

family culture does not follow your last name.

It follows who is dad, who is the leader of your

house, of the house in which you live. And so

if you have a husband and a wife and the husband

is the leader of, he's following the Lord, he

wants to follow the Lord and she does not want

to, then there will be a rift between them. And

the family culture that they will make will have

holes. It will have... earthquakes and tremors

and war. Does that mean a divorce then, if that

should happen? No, it does not. It does mean

that both parties have to work together then

to come to the place of peace in the Lord Jesus

Christ. So the lost one should accept the Lord.

But if they will not, there will never be real

peace. Hear Jesus say, Hate your father and mother.

His words. Now, he doesn't mean hate them, right?

But he does mean put God first. God above all.

He says that those who cannot hate their father

and mother and even their own life also. Why?

Because the good things in your life can become

an idol, right? So if you do not hate your father

and mother and even your own life also, then

you cannot come to me, cannot be my disciple.

And again, he's not talking about hating. He's

talking about putting the family culture of the

kingdom of God first. Jesus first. And believe

me, if you have a person that you love and they

don't know the Lord, they will forever be dragging

you away from Jesus. And God is hardening their

hearts so that someday they may come. It could

be that when they come, It'll be you that will

be blessed the most. You're yearning for that

person to come to the Lord and God is hard in

their heart. They're not coming yet. God is hard

in their heart. They're not coming yet. They're

not coming yet. 20 years goes by, 30 years go

by and you pray and you pray and you pray. And

finally they come. What an encouragement. What

an amazing thing that this person who said they

would never know Christ, said they would never

have anything to do with the church, everything

to do with God, finally becomes a Christian.

Because God is making arrangements and you are

part of those arrangements. Even family can become

adultery. And why not? Family culture guides,

encourages, saves, maybe even heals all good

things. But the family culture that we are meant

for is the family culture of God as our Father,

of the church. And the church should get this

right. I must know and be known by the God of

the universe through His Son, Jesus Christ. I

must know and be known. And to know and be known

is to recognize that I have sinned and to repent

and turn to the Lord. And to submit to God so

he can do whatever he wants to do and to leave

behind my old ways and to believe. Some people

will not do this. Some will live their lives

in darkness and ignorance, not even of their

own making. They didn't do it. But it is comfortable

and familiar to them because it has become their

family culture. They will live as foot soldiers

in an army that they did not sign up for and

do not understand. And having given everything

to testify to himself, God is still not willing

that any should perish. God says, there is now

therefore no excuse. And on this hand he says,

but I am not willing that any should perish.

So I will remain patient for as long as is just,

as long as is possible. I will remain patient,

hoping, desiring, working, sending testimonies,

sending my children, sending the word of God

over another sermon, another Holy Spirit deliverance,

another example of what happens in the kingdom

of God before people so that they can see it.

I will keep doing that in the hopes that all

who would will come. And this is our family culture,

at least in part, that we are not willing that

any should perish either. Can you not believe

that God has done everything necessary and will

do abundantly and beyond whatever we may expect

to see souls access the kingdom of God? God has

not stopped being amazing. He has not become

limited in power. He has invited us to behave

as His children, as part of His family, and our

family exalts God. We praise him, not because

we want to be blessed. Although that's a nice

side effect. But because he deserves our praise.

We should let our regenerated hearts lead whenever

we can. So when you get saved, you get a regenerated

heart. Your mind is being renewed constantly,

right? But your heart is regenerated immediately.

So whenever you can, let that heart that's been

regenerated inside you lead. And it will renew

your mind. So we can know our Father's good and

perfect will. Paul writes in Romans 12. And wherever

that is possible for us, we carry it out. I suppose

family culture can be that where the family has

become Christian. And it should be that in the

church where the family is only partly Christian

or not Christian at all. The family culture becomes

smoke and mirrors trying to encapsulate lessons

learned, goals achieved, goals desired. What

do we want to do? What do we want to be? Who

are we? What did we say? Let's mark it down for

all time. But everything a man designs outside

Jesus, even a family or a people, is going to

be tied to this worldly thinking and the impact

of worldly reasoning, which means while it may

be beneficial in one moment, it may be the worst

kind of abandoning hope for another moment. In

Dante's Inferno, Dante and his guide Virgil arrive

on the doorstep of hell. And written there over

the doorstep of hell is this phrase. It says,

it's actually in Italian, which I can't do Italian,

but I can tell you that in English it translates

to, abandon all hope ye who enter here. So beyond

the line into hell, there is no hope. No hope

of salvation, no better living, no breath, no

next meal, no paycheck, no comfort, no hug, no

encouragement. No, nothing. I submit to you that

here is another place beyond, another line beyond

which there is no hope. A place in which we embrace

a family culture that is not in line with God.

Kid yourself not, eventually God wins. The scoreboard

is already frozen showing God's victory. The

game changes completely. When it is played out

to a certain result. If you went to a basketball

game and the scoreboard said 42 -34 up there

on the board and they just started playing the

game and it never changed and the whole game

it built up until in the last second somebody

made the last shot and the scoreboard ended 42

-34. If that's how basketball games were played,

pretty soon they'd have a lot less fans. That's

the part of why God doesn't have as many fans

as we think he should. Because God has already

determined the outcome. There's no changing the

game now. The only way you'd be able to do that

would be able to institute another God for yourself.

Your family, your family mantras, rules, your

phone, whatever. Put another God in place. Abandon

all hope ye who enter here. With another God,

there is no hope. It's the Bible versus every

mantra. 1 John 4, 1 says, test the spirits because

not every spirit is the spirit of God. Okay,

so I'm going to do something to myself now in

front of you. I'm going to look at the mantras

that I first gave you an example of. I'll use,

we don't say can't. All right? So we have said

for almost 30 years in my family that we don't

use the word can't. Now, the truth is we still

a little bit use the word can't, right, when

it's outside our power ability. But even then,

we hear it in our heads. You can't say can't,

right? So as long as you can't say can't. then

you're really ruling out the fact that God may

not want you to, aren't you? Because you can't

do anything that God doesn't want you to do.

You see how every mantra, no matter how good

it is, at a certain moment in time has to be

abandoned? So how do you solve that? You say,

okay, no matter what mantras we grab, no matter

what sayings we do, no matter what we add to

our family culture, it's all going to be submitted

to this number one thing. Jesus is Lord, God

and creator of the universe, and we will follow

him. And so if this saying interferes with that,

it's gone. The sayings can remain. But just be

100 % sure that before you say, we can't say

can't, you say Jesus is Lord. What if God gives

you a task to do that you can't do? Then what?

Has it ever happened? Well, there's a list of

martyrs who come into the kingdom of God first.

It happened. They couldn't outlive their, other

than to go to heaven, they couldn't outlive their

burning at the stake, their crucifixion. They're

being whipped to death. They were supposed to

spread the gospel over the whole world. The disciples,

every single one of them was supposed to spread

the gospels over the whole world, right? Jerusalem,

Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of

the earth. Did any of them succeed in that mission?

No, because it still hasn't happened to this

day. But that mission was to be handed down to

us and has been over and over and over again

until it got to us. And we are part of that.

Will we make sure the gospel reaches every end

of the earth? Probably not. But is it still our

task? Yeah, and we can't do it. So then what?

Then we submit it to the Lord. You have to live

and not fear because grace covers sin. But this

is no excuse for not training yourself to test

the spirits. For not putting Jesus first in all

things. For not walking the highway of holiness

to the best of your present ability. Herod, as

I said earlier, did all those things to protect

his throne which God had given him. Eliminating

family and rivals. His wife, Mariamne. His mother,

Alexandra. It wasn't his mother -in -law. I apologize.

It was his mother. He killed his own mother.

He had three of his sons killed. Antipater, Alexander,

Aristobulus. He ordered the execution of 300

court officers and Sanhedrin members early in

his reign. How far will you personally go to

protect what you think God has done in your family?

Is it sinful far? Is it excuse far? Is it violence

far? Is it family culture in contrast to scripture

far? Then you're not realizing that you have

what you have because God did it in the first

place. Even a family culture that says, we thank

God for all we have. would not save you. Because

you would not know. You would be thinking, I'm

thanking God for all I have, but in your heart

you would know it's really not. I'm really not

thanking God for all I have. So, are you spending

your effort in enforcing your family culture

rather than in walking with Him? If so, then

your family culture has become an idol. List

out in your head right now one thing that your

family always does. That one thing had better

be in line with Scripture, better be followers

of Jesus good, or otherwise it better be submitted

to the Lord. List one thing in your head that,

you know, I always think, I always do, I would

always, always take the opportunity to do that,

given the opportunity. It better be in line with

following Jesus. Otherwise, as you pursue that

thing, God will harden your heart over and over

again. until you finally submit it to Him. I'm

going to pray briefly, and then we're going to

have the praise team come forward and lead us

in our final hymn. Father in Heaven, as we begin

this new year, for some of us it might be right

now in this moment that we're thinking about

accepting, believing, receiving leadership from

the God of the universe, that You would be in

charge of us. instead of us being in charge of

us. By the renewing of our mind and the testing

of all spirits, we would examine all that we

have become, all that we have added. The Scripture

makes it clear that we should now and then set

up a pillar to mark a moment in time, that we

should say, ah, that's not to be forgotten. The

Scripture makes it clear that we should stand

up for our loved ones, that as men we should

do everything in our power to be spiritual leaders

in our homes. As women, We should work alongside

our husbands, do everything in our power to make

them able and then to be able ourselves to lead,

to serve, to govern, to provide just the same.

As every young person in the room, we're supposed

to honor and obey our parents in all things and

step up to follow the Lord into dark places to

bring light. We should abandon everything that

looks like rebellion. And follow the God of the

universe. With all that we are. That we might

be made victorious. I don't know why it is that

we think we can build a half God, half man kingdom.

And live that into heaven. That is not what scripture

says. We live in an all God kingdom. It's called

the kingdom of God. And there will be probably

as many family cultures and varieties. inside

there and outside there as there are people.

It's not even true that in the same family, for

example, that both parents think the family culture

is the same thing. Nobody sees any two things

exactly the same. But today, Lord, I'm asking

you to help us submit our family culture as a

church and as every family here represented for

singles and for young people and for parents

and grandparents. and aunts and uncles and brothers

and sisters, that for every single one of us,

we would test the spirits and decide, when we

add something to ourselves or add something to

our family, that that thing, whatever is added,

must first be submitted to you. For myself, I

pray it. For every person present, I pray it,

even fully knowing that there might be amongst

us those who will fall. Those who will walk away

and not be changed by what you've said. Those

who will not experience the power that you offer

to build a family culture truly inside the kingdom

of God. And I mourn them. I hope better for them.

I pray for them. And I pray I would not be one.

And I pray instead that you would be God and

I would be a child of God. And I pray this in

Jesus' name. Amen. I ask the praise team to come

forward and lead us in our closing hymn. If this

word from God's word has affected you in some

way and you feel like you need to make a public

decision, this is your opportunity to do so.

You can walk to the front of the room or raise

your hand wherever you're at and just say, hey,

that's me. I'm turning my life over to the Lord

in some certain way today, confessing a sin,

giving up something, whatever it might be. And

then we'll pray for you and look forward to seeing

the great things that God is going to do. Okay?

As we sing, would you stand with me? And then

you sing, but if you're deciding, or walking,

or raising your hand, you don't have to be singing

right this second.