”Fighting For Your Family” | Pastor John Tilley Jr | Joshua 15

Here's the title this morning if you're

taking notes. If you'd like to take

notes, the title of the sermon is simply

this. Fighting for your family. Fighting

for your family. You know how it goes.

It's a story that's been repeated over

and over and over throughout history.

Movies have been made about it.

Corporations have been established

because of it. Businesses have been

built on it. Stories have been written

because of it. And the entire entire

worlds seemingly have been created

because of this same story.

Something like this. A kingdom exists

and within that kingdom is a beautiful

princess girl. Therefore the threat

again there is a threat against the

kingdom and no one is brave enough to go

and defeat the enemy. No one is strong

enough to go and defeat the threat.

And somehow usually the girl will get

captured by the enemy. And then here

comes the knight in shining armor. And

this knight shows up and he fights the

enemy and he defeats the enemy. And then

you know the sentence or the phrase they

fall in love and get married and live

happily ever after. We see some

rendition of this story over and over

and over. In fact, it may be the most

repeated story of all time. some aspect

of it. Disney World was built on this

story and it goes over and over and this

story is not so different from the story

that we read in our text this morning in

Joshua chapter 15. Now, before I get

Joshua 15 · chapter mention

there, I've got to lay just a little bit

of groundwork and give you the big

context. So, we're preaching through the

book of Joshua. This morning, I'm taking

a small portion of verses from chapter

15 and and then next week we're moving

into chapter 16. We're skipping a lot of

verses. The reason is because these

verses that we're skipping over are um

uh the description of the division of

the land. Chapter 1 through 5 of Joshua,

they're preparing the people to go into

the promised land. Chapters 6 through

12, they're entering the promised land.

And now we're on the end of that. Now

they're in the promised land. The main

group, the main central ground has been

conquered. And now it's up to the

individual tribes to finish driving out

the inhabitants of their allotment of

land. And in Joshua chapter 15, you will

Joshua 15 · chapter mention

find the divisions, the boundaries for

the tribe of Judah. And it'll lay out

where their boundaries are and what they

uh what land they possess, the tribe of

Judah. Now, within all of this, this

division of land and all of these

boundaries and the names of these cities

and and really a lot of things that are

hard to pronounce, there is in the

middle of all of this in verse 13 of

Joshua chapter 15, this little

Joshua 15 · chapter mention

narrative. This little story jumps to

our attention, and it's the one that I

want us to focus on this morning that

Caleb has just conquered. Caleb is the

the figure we talked about last week.

He's just conquered the surrounding land

and the city of Hebron for the tribe of

Judah. He's then in he's gotten his

inheritance. And now he identifies

another city, another enemy that lies

ahead. It's the city of Debur. Now it's

also called Kerjaf Sephir. Um so you

could call it either one. It's called

both in our text. However, this time

Caleb, you remember Caleb from chapter

14, just a chapter ago. What did Caleb

do? goes to Joshua, 85 years old, goes

to Joshua, says, "I'm as strong as I was

40 years ago. Give me this mountain. I

want to go conquer this land." And so

that was chapter 14. Now we get to

chapter 15 and there's another city and

and Caleb's not so eager to go. Maybe he

wore himself out. I'm not sure what

happened. He thought, "Wow, that was a

lot harder than I thought it was going

to be." But this time he says, "I'm 85

years old. I'm going to let one of these

young guys do it. There's an enemy.

There's a city. The city of Dur. It

needs to be conquered. Those guys need

to be defeated. And so here's what I'm

going to do. I'm going to make an

announcement. And whoever the young man

is that can go and defeat the city of

Kirjifer, I will give to that man my

daughter to be his wife. So you have the

story. You have the enemy outside of the

kingdom. You have the beautiful princess

girl. And then there is a young man who

rises to the challenge. His name is

Anneil. And he's going to go and he's

going to defeat the city of Debor.

and literally

literally fights for his family. It is

with his victory over the city, his

victory over the enemy, his victory over

the giants that live there that now he

is able to build his family. I don't

want to do a disservice to the text this

morning. Uh, and I don't want to

overallize anything this morning, but I

do think the applications I'm getting

ready to give you are here in the text.

And so I want to just make a couple of

simple and very practical applications

from this narrative in Joshua chapter 15

Joshua 15 · chapter mention

that I think will help you and I fight

for our families in our culture. Can we

look at it together? Verse 13 of Joshua

15. By the way, if you want to make a

little note on the off to the side, this

exact same narrative is repeated in

Judges chapter 1 verse 12- 16. You can

Judges 1:12–16

find the exact same story written there.

We'll begin reading in verse 13.

And unto Caleb the son of Japune, he

gave a part among the children of Judah

according to the commandment of the Lord

to Joshua, even the city of Arba, the

father of Anch, which is the city of

Hebron. And Caleb, verse 14, Caleb drove

then the three sons of Anch, Shishi and

a high man, and Talmi, the children of

Anch. So he drives them out of Hebron.

And he went up then to the inhabitants

of Durr. And the name of Deborr was

before Kirjath Cifir.

And Caleb said, "He that smiteth Kirjath

Sephir, and taketh it, to him will I

give Oxa my daughter to wife."

And Oel the son of Kenaz, the brother of

Caleb, took it, and he gave Oxa his

wife, Oxa, his daughter, to wife. Now,

if you pay co close attention to the the

relationship of Oneal and Caleb and all

of the things going on, you'll come to

the conclusion that what we have here in

this story is a case of kissing cousins.

Now, don't be alarmed by that. It was a

very different time back then than it is

today. And the things were permitted

back then that are not so uh permitted

today. Um just go to West Virginia. It

still exists some. Okay. Um so, don't be

alarmed by that. If you figured that

out, you looked at that, don't be

alarmed by that. Different time,

different culture, different things were

accepted than what are today. So, let me

give you these things how to fight for

your family. You ready? Number one,

there must be a priority of God's word.

There is first of all the priority of

God's word. In verse 13, we see this

phrase according to the commandment of

the Lord to Joshua. Now, this took place

years before. Caleb is 85 years old.

Joshua is at least 90 years old at this

time and and years before the word of

the Lord came to them and it told them

the land that Judah was going to get.

God had already laid all of this out.

And so what are they doing? They're

simply abiding by what God has already

said. Generations before comes on the

sea scene years before Oxa is ever born.

There is a dad. There is a man who said

I'm going to abide by God's word. we

mentioned last week. I'll remind you

this morning that there are six places

in the Old Testament. Three of them are

in Joshua chapter 14 where the Bible

Joshua 14 · chapter mention

says of this man Caleb that he wholly

followed the Lord. Caleb had a testimony

that he was going to follow what God had

said. Caleb had a testimony from years

prior all the way up until he was an old

man that he was going to do what God had

told him to do. No one could change his

mind. No one could talk him out of it.

He was going to obey God's word. And

what we need in our culture today are

some dads and some moms and some

grandmas and some grandpas and some

aunts and some uncles who will say, "In

my home and in my family, we will abide

by God's word. Nobody's going to talk me

out of it. Nobody's going to change my

mind. Nobody's going to give me an

excuse. I understand the Bible is God's

truth. It's God's love letter to man. I

will abide with God's word. I'm going to

prioritize it in my life. I'm going to

prioritize it in my family. I'm going to

prioritize it by attending church. I

will abide by what God's word has said.

A couple things will happen. And we

notice them from verse 13 and 14. Number

one, if you abide by God's word, if you

will prioritize God's word in your

family, number one, there will be

blessings.

Notice what he says in verse number 13.

Caleb, unto Caleb, the son of Japune, he

gave the part among the children of

Judah. Here's this man who follows the

Lord, who who obeys what God has said,

who prioritizes God's word in his home

and prioritizes God's word in his

family. And what does he receive? He

receives the blessing of the land. They

give under Caleb this lot, this

allotment of land and said, "This is for

the tribe of Judah, Caleb."

And this morning, I want to let you know

that if you will prioritize God's word

in your life, there will be blessings

that are unexplainable in your life.

Now, I'm not health and wealth preacher,

and that's not what I'm preaching. I'm

not saying you're going to get wealthy

and you're going to get healthy and

everything's going to work out fine if

you read your Bible every day. No. The

Bible said, Jesus said that in this

world you will have tribulation. There's

going to be trouble and there's going to

be heartaches and there's going to be

trials. But there is a blessing that

comes with the word of God that will be

unexplainable. There will be a peace

that passes all understanding in your

life. Uh that there will be a joy that

comes over your spirit. There will be

strength that comes over you. There will

be blessings, spiritual blessings far

greater than any material blessing that

will come into your life if you will

make a decision to prioritize God's word

in your family. But not only do we see

blessings, second, we see that if you

will prioritize God's word, then you'll

be blessed with boldness. Look at verse

14. And Caleb drove thence the three

sons of Anch. Now these sons of Anch are

described for us in other places as

being giants.

These are we know the story of David and

Goliath. This is a whole city of

Goliaths.

A whole city of giants. And here's an

85year-old man who goes into the city of

Hebron and drives out the giants. It

doesn't make sense in our human mind.

How how could that be possible? because

he was wholly following the Lord. And

there are giants that are going to come

into your family. There are giants that

are going to come into your life. And if

you are not prioritizing God's word, you

will at the very best become distracted.

At the very worst, you'll become

completely destroyed

because you're not focused and

prioritizing what God has said to

prioritize. Oh, that we would have some

families who would prioritize the word

of God. I I am so tired of families

finding every other reason to do every

other thing. But when it comes time to

expound the word of God that they find

every excuse to miss. When it comes time

for corporate worship, we find every

reason not to be here. It it's so easy

for us to do everything else, but when

we wake up on Sunday morning, it's so

difficult to get to church. Esther said

this this morning while the kids were

getting ready. She said, "Every day of

the week, you guys get ready in two

minutes and it takes you two hours on

Sunday mornings." Why is that?

Every family that has kids understands

that, right? Every morning they're like

out of bed, ready to go, dressed and

energetic. It's Sunday morning. Oh, I

don't want to get out of bed. I don't

like my breakfast. I don't want And it's

a whole thing.

Oh, that we would have some families who

would say, "The devil may try and

distract us. The devil may try and get

us to miss. The devil may try and put

something in our life that makes us

think it's more. Nothing is more

important than prioritizing God's word

for my family. We talked about this

Wednesday night. If you was not here on

Wednesday, go back on YouTube and watch

the sermon from Wednesday night. A

burden of my heart. Psalm 84. We talk

about the blessing of the house of God

and how there is nothing more important

anywhere in the world happening on a

Sunday morning than what is happening in

local churches where the Bible is being

expounded. Nothing is more important.

The bed isn't more important. Your sleep

isn't more important. Nothing. The lake

certainly isn't more important. The golf

course isn't more important. Nothing is

more important on Sunday than

prioritizing

God's word. And if we will prioritize

God's word, we will find that we are

then emboldened to resist the attacks of

Satan. That's number one. You want to

fight for your family. Number one, have

a heritage

of prioritizing God's word. I wrote this

statement down and I I won't miss I I

almost missed it. I wrote this down. We

cannot effectively fight for our family

until we have emboldened been emboldened

in our faith.

And the greatest way to become bold in

your faith is to become busy in God's

word.

The greatest way to become bold in your

faith is to become busy in God's word. I

wonder, is the Bible a priority in your

family? Write down number two. How do

you fight for your family? Well, we see

that in the example of Caleb and Oneo's

family. There is this priority of God's

word in Caleb's life that I assume was

passed down to his daughter and to his

nephew. But what was else was in this

family? Well, number two, there was the

possibility of a godly home.

And and this is amazing to me. In verse

15 and verse 16, Caleb goes up in verse

15. He looks at the city. For whatever

reason, he decides he doesn't want to

tackle this city. But he'll allow

whoever the young man is who takes this

city, the city of Kir Jifpher, then they

can have his wife. Look at what or his

daughter as their wife. Look at verse

16. And Caleb said, "He that smiteth Kir

Jifpher and taketh it to him will I give

aa my daughter to wife." He said, "I'm

going to give my own daughter to the

young man who is brave enough and bold

enough to go and conquer this city for

the nation of Israel." What's

interesting to me is that every young

man in Judah got the same offer.

Everybody had the same possibility, but

only

accepted it. Anybody could have had Oxa

as their wife. Anybody could have

married into this godly heritage and

this godly home. Anybody, any young man

who was just bold enough and had faith

enough to stand up and go defeat the

enemy could have had this home. But only

stands up and goes to fight the giants.

And what strikes me is this morning we

live in a culture and I'm going to give

you some statistics here in a moment

that is so corrupt and so messed up. But

the possibility of a godly home does

still exist.

There is still a possibility that if you

will have enough faith and and you will

be bold in that faith and you will be

busy in God's word, there is possible to

still have a godly home in the United

States of America. Now listen to what

I'm getting ready to tell you. It may

not seem like it, but hopefully I can

encourage your faith here in just a

moment. Did you know 50% of a mar 50% of

marriages end in divorce in the United

States?

Maybe you're thinking, "How can I have a

godly home if I can't even stay

married?"

50% of people who get married can't stay

married. Less than half of all US

households are married couples. 47% to

be exact. 47% of American households are

married couples. The rest of them are

unmarried.

Most adults are more concerned about

their career than they are about their

kids.

Most adults are more concerned about the

money in their bank or getting money

into their bank than they are about

their children being raised in a godly

home. 20% of high school students have

considered suicide in the last year.

20%.

15% of high schoolers use vapes and over

20% reportedly consume alcohol on a

regular basis. In some places, it's

probably much higher than that. 25% of

all children under the age of 18 are

being raised in a single family home.

We look at our culture and we wonder,

God, what is happening? I believe that

the devil has attacked the home in the

United States of America. And we look at

these statistics and they're just

numbers.

Usually statistics just bounce off of

our heads because it's just a number.

But all that we would understand the

gravity of what these numbers represent

that there is a home crisis in the

United States of America. There is a

crisis of godly moms and godly dads who

prioritize God's word and put God first

and limit the influences that they allow

on their kids. Listen, it may be old

school and it may be old-fashioned and

there's probably people who would

disagree, but there are shows that my

kids are not allowed to watch and

they'll tell you. They go to your house

and you turn on a show and they'll say,

"Oh, mom and dad, don't let us watch

that." And I say, "Good for them.

They're not allowed to watch certain

things. They're not allowed to go

certain places. They're not allowed to

do certain things. They're not allowed

to hang out with certain people because

I'm limiting the influence of the world

on my kids."

There is a home crisis. People call it

old-fashioned and out ofd and and

disconnected from society.

I say I just love my kids enough to

raise them right.

I love my family enough. And there is a

possibility that if we will prioritize

God's word and make that the biggest

influence in our kids' life, there is a

possibility that we can still have a

godly home. I don't believe all hope is

lost.

that anyone could have had oxa.

Perhaps what's wrong with the American

home and the American family is not the

drugs and the alcohol and the single

parents and the divorce rates. Perhaps

what is wrong with the American home,

what's wrong with the American family is

that we have lost our desire for a godly

home. We've just become complacent that

things are the way they are. And people

now get married. Not. They don't make a

lifelong commitment when they get

married. No, they just get married to

try it out and see how it goes. And if

it doesn't work out, then we'll go on to

the next one. There's no commitment to

it. They don't have kids. People have

kids for all the wrong reasons, if they

have kids at all. Did you realize that?

Uh the the the rate of uh kids being

born is dropping drastically in the

United States because people don't want

to deal with them. Abortion rates are

up. Why? because people don't want to

invest in a child, in a in a small

child.

But I still believe that you can have a

godly home. I still believe you can

raise godly children in this culture. I

still believe that you can stay married

till death do us part in this culture.

Still believe that you can prioritize

God's word in your home in this culture.

I still believe that you can protect

your kids from the filth of the TV and

the propaganda of pop culture. I still

believe that a marriage is one man and

one woman for one lifetime. I still

believe that a young couple can stay

pure until they get married on the

marriage altar. I still believe that

couples can stay married for 50, 60, 70

years as long as God gives them life. I

still believe that boys and girls can

grow up hiding God's word in their

heart. I still believe that if you are

born female, then you are and always

will be a female. And if you are born

male, you are and always will be a male.

I still believe in old-fashioned

training up a child in the way he should

go. Principles according to the book of

Proverbs. I still believe that young men

can be called to preach. Young ladies

can be called to minister. I still

believe that God is still calling

teenagers to sing and preach his word. I

believe God is raising up another

generation of young people who will

honor God and serve God. I believe that

God is big enough to build up some more

giants of the faith in the next

generation. And in my generation, I

still believe that there are some

parents out there that see the filth of

this world and the mess of this culture,

but you've not given up hope yet. And

that God is still big enough to give you

a godly family. Yes, there may be some

giants in the city of Kirjath Sephir.

Yes, there may be some giants in the

culture ahead of us. Yes, we may have to

embolden our faith. Yes, we may have to

be busy in God's word. Yes, we may have

to pray diligently for our family. But

have faith and be encouraged. The

possibility of a godly home still exists

because the possibility of a godly home

is not dependent on the culture. It is

dependent on who our God is. And he has

not changed.

>> So we can still have godly kids and we

can still raise godly families.

Write down number three.

We see number one, fighting for my

family. You must have the priority of

God's word. Number two, there is the

possibility of a godly home. Write down

number three. The persever perseverance

of godly people.

The perseverance of godly people in

verse number 17.

Oeneal the son of Kenaz the brother of

Caleb took it

and he gave Oxa his daughter to wife.

The Bible simply describes the battle in

two words. Everything that takes place.

Anneil and the the city of Kirjifir, the

giants, the sons of Anch, everyone who

was there. The whole thing is summarized

in just two words. He took it. What

happened? Well, we don't know. Did he

organize an army of people? Maybe. Did

he get some guys to come help him?

Maybe. I don't know. In my mind, I kind

of like the hero strategy. He just

sneaks in and just starts knocking them

out and they don't even know what

happened. Just one man show in there and

he takes the whole city. I don't know

how he did it. God knows. But what we do

know is that he persevered and he took

it.

I'm assuming that there was a battle

though. I mean, these are giants in this

city. These are men of war in this city.

I'm assuming he didn't just walk up,

knock on the gate of the city and say,

"Hey guys, uh, this is my city now. Move

it."

No, there was a battle. There was a

fight. There were swords and and and

there were spears and and it was

intense. But he said, "I'm going to

persevere and I'm going to defeat the

giants that would hinder me from having

a family. I want oxa. I want a godly

wife. I want to raise a godly family.

So, I'm willing to fight the giants. I'm

willing to persevere in the face of the

enemy so that I will have a godly home."

What a principle for you and I today.

Sometimes we get this idea that that

it's going to be just really easy to

serve God in this culture and that it's

going to be really easy to raise a godly

home and raise godly kids. Can I tell

you it's the most difficult thing I've

ever done in my life

and it's going to stay that way. I don't

think it's going to get any easier to

raise godly kids to keep them focused on

what's right. And and some of you are

saying, "Yeah, you you're still green.

Yeah, I'm barely into this thing and

it's difficult.

It's hard. But oh, God says there's a

blessing for those who will persevere,

for the offneils,

who will not put away their sword, who

won't stop praying, who won't stop

ministering to their kids and and going

after their children and their

grandchildren. Keep fighting the giants.

Listen, there are some giants in this

culture.

There are some giants that exist in our

schools.

And if the church doesn't stand up and

say things, stand on truth, call sin

sin, and call right, then who's going to

do it? It's not going to be the schools.

It's certainly not going to be the

government.

It's the local church's job to stand up

against the sin and the corruption and

start slaying some giants in our culture

so that our kids can come up serving

God. Don't give up. Persevere. Push on

through.

Your family is worth it. There's a

possibility of a godly home. But oh,

it's not going to be easy.

We need some perseverance of godly

people. Giants await us. Enemies await

us. Evil influences await us. Confused

children await us. Lost friendships

await us. Lost jobs await us. It is

never easy to swim upstream against the

current.

Oh, that we would have a a an

understanding of how important our

children are.

When moms and dads would understand that

the most important thing is that child's

upbringing.

Proverbs talks about them as arrows in

the hand of a mighty archer. You got 18

years to aim that thing,

sometimes less.

and you pull that thing back. It's a

that child is as if it's an arrow and

you aim it at the mark and then when you

let it go, you let it go.

And once you let it go, you can't get it

back.

It's gone.

Oh, that we would have some parents who

understand you only get so many years

with your kids. You only get so many

years with your grandkids.

You only get so many years with the

children that are downstairs right now

learning about I think they're learning

about Moses this morning.

We only got so long to invest and pour

into them and show them the what is

right and what is wrong and stand up for

truth and encourage them. Oh, may it

never be said in this church that we've

ever discouraged a child from serving

God. Kids can serve. They're not the

church of tomorrow. They're the church

of today. Let them serve. Let them get

involved. Encourage them. Talk to them.

Shake their hands. Hug their necks.

Tell them that they they look sharp

today and give them a fist bump. And

tell those little girls they look pretty

today.

Encourage those kids. Let them fall in

love with the house of God. Let them

fall in love with the word of God.

Let's raise up some kids. It's not going

to be easy. Going to have to face some

giants out there.

But a godly home is worth it. I got one

more thing for you this morning. Number

four,

there's a prayer for God's blessings. I

didn't read these verses at the

beginning,

but in verse number 18, we see Oxa, the

daughter, and Oneil, the man. He goes,

he takes the city, he conquers the city,

Oxa becomes his wife, and I assume that

the the story ends there, right? They

lived happily ever after. Well,

actually, there's a lot of history that

continues to happen. This family is far

from done when it comes to fighting.

Something's going to take place in these

next two verses, and I'm going to tell

you about it in just a moment. But it's

interesting that actually becomes the

first judge of the nation of Israel. You

go and read the book of Judges in Judges

Judges 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3, and you'll find that I

believe it's the same guy. It could have

been a different, but I think it's the

same guy. He becomes the first judge

then of the nation of Israel. God had

big plans for him. He becomes this this

godly man and he marries this godly wife

and they begin a godly home all because

he said I'm willing to put on my sword

and go fight the enemy. And that's what

we need in our day. But notice what his

wife does. Shows us a little bit of her

character in verse 18. And it came to

pass as she came unto him. She moved him

to ask of her father a field.

Oxa comes to her now husband Oneal. She

said, "Oneil,

I'm so glad that God's put this

together, but I want more for our

family.

I'm not satisfied with just what we have

here. I I want more blessings for our

family. So, I'm going to go to my father

and I'm going to ask that he gives us

another field that he gives us a greater

blessing because he's my father and I

can go ask him whatever I want." And

it's a beautiful picture. Look at what

happens. The end of verse 18, Caleb said

unto her, "What woodest thou?" Verse 19,

she answered, "Give me a blessing, for

thou hast given me a south land. Give me

also springs of water." And he gave her

the upper springs and the nether

springs. Number four, if I didn't tell

you already, number four, write this

down. You want to fight for your family,

you've got to have the prayer for God's

blessings.

Don't be afraid to pray for God's

blessings.

Anneal defeats the giants. He conquers

deburr. Caleb gives Oeneil his daughter

Oxa. She becomes his wife. They start a

family together. I can only assume so

from the text. They're not done fighting

yet. Oxa approaches her father and ask

him of the springs of the well.

So, Dad, I want more.

I'm not satisfied with this much. I

don't think she was being greedy. I

think she just understood

that her family was worth more. And so

she went boldly to her father and she

prayed for a blessing.

When's the last time,

Dad,

mom,

grandma, grandpa, when's the last time

you knelt before your father

and said, "I want more

for my family.

Lord, I look at the blessings you've

given me already. And I'm thankful for

the blessings that you've given me up to

this point,

but I want more

for my family.

I want more for my kids.

It is not good enough that they just

stay out of jail.

I want more.

Perhaps where the American family really

lost it was when we thought that we

could just get along with what we had

already

and we lost our boldness

to go seek the face of God for more

blessings on our families.

There is nothing wrong with going to

your heavenly father who owns the cattle

on a thousand hills and saying, "Dear

God, my family matters to me.

My kids matter to me. My wife matters to

me. And I want more." We're living in a

culture and in an age that is okay with

the state that we are in. We are

complacent and we're satisfied

and we we we think, "Yeah, that's the

world. Yeah, they're going to get

married." And young people, they just

think they're so in love and then

they're just going to fall out of love.

Listen, you don't fall in love. You

don't fall out of love. You grow in love

and you decide to get out of love. It's

a choice.

But we just think, "Oh, they just fall

in love and then in a few years they'll

fall out of love and it is what it is.

It's just the culture that we live in."

No, it's not the culture that we live

in. It's Satan. It's sin. It's

wickedness. And God said, "One man, one

woman, one lifetime." And I still

believe it's possible, but we can't be

satisfied with where the culture has

drawn the line. Let's get back to the

Bible. Get back to what God has said.

Get on our knees before a holy God and

say, "That's not good enough for the

family you've blessed me with. You are

big enough to defeat any giant of this

culture. You are big enough to protect

my kids. You are big enough to build a

godly home." And so God, I'm asking, I'm

praying, I'm pleading in faith that you

would give my family more.

Not satisfied with the status quo. You

know, Christians, the divorce rate in

the church and out of the church is not

different really at all.

Christians and lost people, there's no

different. You can't see the the nature

of Christ hardly at all.

It's the same because Christians and the

church and what's supposed to be godly

homes have become satisfied with

everything going on in the culture and

we've just adop adapted and adopted

their philosophy that you know I guess

it just is what it is and we've become

complacent in our church and complacent

in our homes.

We need some families

who will say I'm ready to fight

for my kids.

I'm not okay

with what the status quo is out there.

I'm not okay with my kids just being

good enough and not getting in trouble

at school.

No, God, I want more. You can come to

the piano.

We fight for our family the most

when we fight from our knees.

The best weapon that you have right now

against the culture and against the

world and against the sin and against

the wickedness. The best weapon we have

right now in this place is not getting

enough strength. It's not it's not

mustering up enough courage and getting

pumped up by Pastor John and saying, "Oh

yeah, let's go get No, no. The best

weapon that we have against the culture.

The best weapon we have to fight for our

families is our God

prayer.

Go to him.

When was the last time that you just

prayed for your family?

Some of you tell me regularly,

"Wish my family was in church.

Wish my family was here with me today.

Wish this had happened. Wish they would

come."

And I do, too.

I can't make them come, though.

I can't make them come to church. I

can't drag them in. and I'd go to jail.

But I know somebody who can drag them

in.

I know somebody who is big enough to get

them here.

We've been praying and praying and

praying for them.

I know a God who if you would get on

your knees and say, "Dear God, bring my

children back. Bring my grandkids back.

might not happen overnight, but I have

faith enough to believe that God will do

what what only he can do.

And it could be as soon as next Sunday,

we see some people start coming into

these doors

who we've been praying about because you

just kept praying one more time. You

just asked God one more time.

Please, Lord, get a hold of their heart.

Please God, get a hold of their I want

more for my family.

I'm a young guy. I got a young family.

We're just starting out in this thing.

Oh, I want so much for my kids. And I

know some of you, you remember being in

my place.

And maybe over time things have

happened.

And you walked in this morning,

losing hope.

Don't lose hope.

Don't lose hope. God is big enough to

bring them back home.

For those of us with younger families,

hey, let's pray for our kids.

God, give my family more.

I'm done. Here's what I want us to do

this morning. I want you to just take

some time while she plays.

You can come bow on an altar.

We've got plenty of time this morning.

We're early. Why don't we just make this

a prayer room today

and let's ask God for some blessings.

I'm not God. I've I'm not content. I'm

not satisfied with the state of my

family. I I want more spiritual

blessings. I'm not talking about money.

Don't pray for money this morning. Don't

pray for a new car. That's not what I'm

talking about. They can get a job and

buy their own car. No, I'm talking about

spiritual blessings. God, I want your

presence in my kids' life.

I want them to have a hunger and a

thirst for you.

She asked for water in a desert place.

Did you notice that? She asked for

springs in a desert place.

Jesus said, "I am the living water."

You ask this morning, ask the living

water

to flow through your family.