Community In Family

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Morning, CCW.

That's the best you've ever done.

Y'all are ready for church.

Finally, it's been over a year.

You're ready.

Turn your Bible to Matthew chapter 19.

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

Last week, we opened up this series on tribe, looking at the call to community.

God has placed you in a community for a time for a season such as this one.

And today we're going to dive a little deeper to the specifics of your community.

God has placed you in a family.

Some of you said, I don't know how I got here, Pastor, but I'm in this one.

You are.

This is your, you have been placed in a family.

But I want you to know the family is God's design, it is his foundational institution from God for society, for community.

The family is for the church and for his glory.

And hear this today: the proposition, when the foundation of the family is shaken, Mark 3.25 says a house divided against itself cannot stand.

The society that rests upon it is then in peril.

When false definitions are given through civil and society institutions that divorce themselves from God's design, be sure that the judgment of God can follow.

It's crucial today that we, as the church of the living God, have clarity on what God's design for the family is.

Would you pray with me?

Father, we love you.

And I pray, God, that you would speak to hearts this morning.

God, we did not come in here for a tradition.

We came in here to be moved by a living God.

And so, God, we pray that you would rest on us, fall on us.

I know there are people that have come in this morning that are discouraged.

Some people it might have been near the worst week of their life.

There are people that need to meet with you and not just have another Sunday morning.

So, God, we invite and ask and plead for the presence of your Holy Spirit.

Let your word do its work in Jesus' name.

Amen.

In Matthew chapter 19, I want to read verses 4 through 6.

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

The first point this morning is this Leave and cleave.

Matthew 19, this is what it says.

And he answered and said to them, Have you not read that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female?

And said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

So then they are no longer two, but one flesh.

Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate.

Teenagers, I want you to hear something today, what he says.

Listen to me.

He said, Leave and cleave your father.

Leave your father and mother and cleave unto your wife.

He said, Leave and cleave, not stay and play.

Post my time at Tennessee Temple University, my parents made a really easy deal for me.

They said, You can live in our house under our rules and pay a little bit of rent.

Or, option number two, you can live in your own place under your own rules and pay a little bit of rent.

After about six months, I said, option B.

Option B sounds good.

And so I have a picture I want y'all to see, the first apartment building that I've ever lived in.

This is Stonegate Apartments.

It's in Elkton, Maryland.

Pretty nice, right?

And in whatever year that was, you can't see it.

I could see it.

Well, I'm sorry for you.

It looked good to me.

Somebody in a bag in doing their job.

It was good up here.

We'll try again.

No, that's me.

Well, anyhow, you can Google Stonegate apartments in Elkton, Maryland, and you'll get you a picture of a nice apartment.

So in that apartment, when I moved in, I had one chair, I had one single bed, okay, and I had a 19-inch TV that sat on a moving box.

Y'all getting the picture?

That was my.

And in fact, I had a shower, no curtain.

You say, how could you live like that?

Well, I'm a man in my own apartment.

Why would I need a shower curtain?

Y'all with me?

I survived.

It was primal and it was awesome.

Let me tell you.

There might have been three things in the refrigerator in six months.

Okay.

Heather came in, we got married, she came in, I'm telling you, it was magic what she did.

I don't even know what happened.

It was half a week in the place.

It never looked better than that.

She put a 360 on it.

But I want you to understand this passage.

It says, leave and cleave.

And I said, I'll take letter B.

Leave and cleave.

And I want you to know today that is God's design for marriage.

Letter A this morning is that.

God's design for marriage.

I want you to go back to the very beginning, Genesis chapter 2.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

And I want you to see something.

Genesis chapter 2, verse 23 and 24 kind of lays out God's design, how it all started.

Genesis 2:23

Genesis 2, 23 and 24.

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.

She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.

Therefore, again, this is what Jesus was reiterating.

Therefore, a man shall leave his father, a mother, and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

And so woman was made.

Amen?

Oh, all the husbands, you better.

Let's try again.

A woman was made, amen?

You can punch him if he failed on that.

Okay, it's okay.

And then it says, therefore.

Anytime you see that, what do we need to do, church?

If you see a therefore, you need to figure out why it's therefore.

It says, Male and female were made, therefore.

Understand that for now.

Male, because male and female were made, Adam was lonely, therefore he made them.

And he says to every man, now leave and cleave his father and mother.

What does that mean?

Biblical marriage, by the definition of the Bible, biblical marriage is a covenant between one male and one female.

The word for male in the Bible is a rain in Greek, and that word arrain signifies strength or stability.

Now, this is interesting.

The word for female in Scripture is thalus.

It's from the Greek root from the word thaladozo.

And hear this.

God was not confused from the start.

The word thalazo goes into the meaning of a word that means one who can nurse.

God clearly distinguished from the onset of creation.

God did not have any identity issues.

He did not misunderstand what he created when he created male and female.

Okay?

Clearly, today, not a male in here can nurse a child.

So God from creation, when he even the word woman comes from a word that means to nurse.

He didn't have gender identity confusion.

Says men lean towards stability and women lead towards nurture.

My boys will forget their lunch.

Go to school.

They'll forget a lot of things, but lunch is just one.

And they'll get there, and Heather will say, Oh, they forgot.

And I, for me, as a male, I'll go, that's awesome.

This is a great opportunity for them to learn the power of pain.

Pain is a great teacher, Heather.

If they will not eat all day, I bet they're gonna think the next time they see lunch on the counter.

And Heather, stability, right, man?

Yes, learned the hard lesson.

And Heather goes, I can't stand it.

My babies won't eat all day.

I can't do that.

And as mad as she might be, she will run that lunch anytime.

And there will be sweet little notes in it and everything.

If I'm taking a note, there's gonna be a if I take the lunch, there might be a note.

Don't do this again.

But God said, stability and nurture are my plan for family.

He said, Therefore, I made a male and a female, stability and nurture.

Therefore, leave and cleave.

And then he tells us later to go and multiply.

See, we have chaos in our communities and our families today because society at large wants to redefine God's design for family.

The Bible knows nothing of a same-sex marriage.

By God's definition, it's because he made a male and a female in covenant.

There's no such thing in God's world, in the biblical world, as a same-sex marriage.

Marriage by itself is defined, Genesis 2.23, male and female, therefore.

You see this, it is a covenant between a male and female.

In Genesis, and again in the New Testament, because people say, well, that's just Old Testament, Pastor.

And Matthew here, Jesus is repeating the teaching, and he repeats the same thing, male and female, therefore.

And so I want you to understand that is a cut that is a covenant.

But government and civil society today want to redefine, and I want to tell you, they don't get to redefine what God instituted.

When society attempts to usurp God's authority, it antagonizes the wrath of God.

In Genesis 6, we saw it from the very beginning.

It says, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes, and violence and corruption broke out in the land, and God sent forth a flood in Genesis 6.

We saw later in the city of Sodom.

It was pervert perverted sexual wickedness that caused the entire institution of that city to be judged.

I'm not trying to give you an opinion today.

I'm trying to give you the word of God.

Go to Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Paul says, Romans chapter 1, verse 21, because although they knew of God, different from a relationship, they did not glorify him as God.

Romans 1:21

He's talking about people that were not living a Christian life, nor were thankful, but became feudal in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and talking about all kinds of idolatry.

Therefore, God, listen to this, gave them up to their uncleanness in the lust of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves.

They exchanged the truth of God, the word of God, they exchanged it for a lie, and worship and serve the creature rather than creator who is blessed forever.

And for this reason, God gave them up to their, listen to these words, vile passions.

Vile.

Not okay or toleratable, vile, for even their women exchange the natural use for what is against nature, likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman and burned in their lust for one another.

Men with men committing what is shameful.

New Testament.

So the world today wants to tell us this is how we're going to redefine society and marriage.

And there's a biblical definition of marriage.

He said, male and female, therefore.

When you trifle with God's method for family, you are an opponent to his wrath.

I had a chart, I don't, it may show up for you, but there was a picture of natural disasters, and I was studying it.

There we go.

Let me check.

We good?

Okay.

Look at this chart here.

Okay, if you notice, very early from 1900s to about the 1950s, there were 44 natural disasters around that number.

Low in natural disasters.

As you increase and as the definitions of marriage have declined and changed, we see a massive increase in natural disasters and judgment.

So in 2022 alone, there were 42 natural disasters.

From 1900 to 1950, there was 41.

Do you think God's judgment exists?

Absolutely, it exists.

Go look it up.

It's happening all around us.

God is judging.

And who controls the weather?

We say that a lot around here.

Boy, it's been awful hot, God.

Maybe a reprieve.

God's design, hear me, church, and I don't mean this in a judgmental way.

I mean this in a biblical way.

God's design is male and female.

When government, societal situations, school boards attempt to indoctrinate our family with its redefinition, we're then subject to God's reaction.

He says, therefore, a man and a woman leave and cleave.

The word cleave is perilous, and that means glue.

And he goes on to talk about the two become one.

Perilous, it means glue.

You're to be glued together.

Okay?

And I want you, I need the men to perk up for a second.

I need you to hear this because it says, men leave and cleave.

It's an important thing to understand.

He calls out the men.

The role of men is leading and protecting your family.

Men, we're responsible.

Do you remember in Genesis after Adam and Eve failed?

God came and he said, Adam, where are you?

Eve ate the apple first.

God came and said, Adam, where are you?

Do you see that?

Because you failed, culture is now in trouble, and he brought thorns and thistles and a curse on the land.

Ladies, you're expected in Ephesians 2 to submit to the leadership of your husband, to be his helpmate.

You submit the lead, men, we submit our life.

You hear me?

Both have submission.

She submits her leadership opportunity.

We submit our life.

And if she sees the way that Christ submitted his life, she sees a picture of the church.

And that leave and cleave there is called glue.

If your marriage is like glue, the biblical definition, you'll have a strong marriage.

Together, you're a picture of Christ.

So that takes us this morning to letter B.

God's design for multiplication.

For marriage, but then for multiplication.

Look at Genesis 1:28.

Genesis 1:28

Right after God finished creation, created male and female in his image, verse 28, then God blessed them and God said to them, Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.

Marriage is God's plan for procreation.

Right subsequent to the creation of male and female, God's plan was then to continue creation through procreation.

God's plan for the Christian family.

Male and female to be intimate.

All men say, Amen?

God thought it up.

He created it.

Teens?

Nope, I'm sorry.

Marriage.

Okay.

If you're here today, you can thank one male and one female for that happening.

You understand?

It was God's plan for populating, subduing.

God designed a world where his children, like Pastor Dave would go on to talk about the heritage, his children would continue his legacy through generations.

That is multiplication.

But when it comes to mathematics, remember what Satan delights in.

Satan delights in division.

We live in a day in which government thinks that they own the family.

God said multiplication, but children are seeing division all over.

I want to hit another thing.

I know it's a lot, but God's design in Matthew there, as you open into it, he was talking to them and he was defining why divorce, they were asking him, is there a reason for divorce?

And I need you to know that society has said, you know, you don't have to have a real reason.

You don't have to have a biblical reason, and there are biblical reasons.

Society as large is like, oh, you don't want to be married.

Well, get a divorce.

You don't have to do this.

We'll just grant this to you.

And biblically, a marriage is a covenant.

It's holy, it's sacred.

And I made a vow to my wife, and I meant my vow.

And I meant to keep my vow.

The great philosopher said, if you like it, you put a ring on it.

That's what I did.

I told Heather on the topic of divorce, if she ever thinks about leaving me, pack me a bag because I'm leaving him too.

Jesus said, Let no man hear me with his laws and his rules and his non-biblical ways.

Let no man divide what God has brought together.

Society has crassly redefined my covenant.

Now, conversely, I want to say this about CCW.

We have had some couples who have dug in and fight for their marriages.

And let me tell you about the beautiful picture it's been.

People that it's there's been adversity, and Satan's been knocking on the doorstep and trying to divide, and they stood up and they were strong and worked through it.

And let me tell you the picture.

As a pastor, it's a beautiful picture of Christ's love.

Beautiful picture.

There's another statistic, and I was reading through this this week.

I need you to know it's it's sad, it's alarming.

In the United States, 23% of our families, 23% of our families are fatherless families.

Children are being moved from home to home.

Children are being released to the care of government and foster systems.

Children brought up in a home without a father and in a godless civil system.

They're being brought up by an electronic today.

They're being brought up by a phone today.

They're being brought up by a coach in a sport today.

What they need is a mother and a father, a male and a female.

Are you hearing me, church?

This is God's design for family.

Malachi 4 said, because the family was in disarray, that I cursed the land.

This is the foundation of who we are.

Okay, so Pastor, now that it's defined, what do we do?

Second point this morning is this seeking and schooling.

That was the definition.

This is what we're to do, families.

Matthew 6.33 says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

I want to say this just on the side here.

If you're here today and you don't have children, if you're here and your children are grown and you're a part of this church body, I want you to hear me.

The children that are a part of this body are a part of a tribe called CCW.

And we need all of you here.

My children, let me tell you, they need some godly people in their life.

They need a godly voice that's not always dad.

Are y'all with me?

They need a godly voice that's not always mom, that's reinforcing the things that are happening.

I'm telling you, if my kids do something wrong, you see it, please come tell me.

And I believe you'd want the same thing.

And so you're a part of this body, and it's our responsibility.

When we do a child dedication service, we bring everyone together, we have the church stand in recognition that alongside these parents, we're going to do everything to nurture children in the ways of God.

And so we take a covenant on that, and we believe in that.

At the back end of Matthew chapter six, there, he's given a loaded scripture full of how not to worries.

In Matthew chapter six, he says, How not to worry about your life, how not to worry about your clothing, how not to worry about food and drink and clothes.

And he says, Priority number one for a God who knows all your needs, seek first the kingdom of God.

He spoke in Matthew 6, 19.

He said, This, don't lay up for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and rust does corrupt, where thieves can break through and steal.

He says, That's not what it's all about.

These things that we think we need are not the substance of life.

He says, Don't worry about all of these things.

He said, Instead, seek first.

And you'll understand Philippians 4, 4.

Paul said, My God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory.

But seek him first.

Well, as it goes with seeking and schooling, I want you to go back to Deuteronomy.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the fifth book.

I want you to in Deuteronomy chapter 6.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

Seeking and schooling.

God didn't take long in Deuteronomy chapter 5.

Deuteronomy 5 · chapter mention

God goes to the Ten Commandments.

People are stopping me in a lobby and say, What is that?

So I had to get real with it this morning.

And so brought my own copy.

Kept me from going to Exodus 20, Genesis, or Deuteronomy chapter 6.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

He says, Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you that you may observe them in the land that you're crossing over to possess.

That first verse is all about.

What happened in Deuteronomy chapter 5?

Deuteronomy 5 · chapter mention

He went through the Ten Commandments.

Now, verse 2, he says, that you may fear the Lord your God to keep all his statutes and all his commandments, which I command you.

And listen to this you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.

He says first in verse 2, fear the Lord.

So for you and me to be a great teacher, seeking and schooling, it takes first seeking.

We have to fear the Lord.

That word means morally revere.

To be held in awe of something.

I think we struggle sometimes to fear God because we lose our awe.

I think it becomes sort of elevator noise of life.

Oh, I came in and worshiped, and the worship was good, and I left.

God did something and we saw it, and we went, man, that was it.

God answered a prayer and we we see it and it came and it left, and and things become sort of elevator to our ears.

The Bible says the heavens declare the glory of God.

While I was at Orange Beach a few weeks ago on vacation, and I'm standing, I'm looking at the ocean, and God in my devotions brings me a scripture that says, Give praise all those who see the coastlands and the inhabitants of all those who see the sea lands forming around you.

And I went, That was not my plan.

But I'm there looking at God's sea land, and he's talking to me about it, and was like, Y'all might think that's a little thing, oh, but I said, God.

Y'all might believe in coincidence, but I don't.

And God touched me in a moment, and he decided he didn't need to.

But in his word, which speaks to us, he spoke to me in a moment.

And the awe of God hit me, and that sense of wonder hit me.

There's a song lyric that I love.

And Benji's gonna come out in a moment.

The song lyric says this if the stars were made to worship, so will I.

If the mountains bow down in reverence, so will I.

If the oceans roar of your greatness, so will I.

Now I know it might not be normal to you to in the middle of a sermon get up and sing about the awe of God, but I think we just need to do it.

So can we stand on our feet and can we recognize the wonder of who God is?

Spoke to the dark and fleshed out the wonder of light.

Chorus and as you speak, how do you feel the capital in the paper of your breath?

Don't speak in vain, just a little empty old.

Abandon in darkness to die, and as you speak, a hundred billion failures disappear where you lost your life, so I could find it here.

If you left the grave behind you, so we can see your heart in everything you've done.

Every part is done in the work of my heart.

I can see your heart a bit in different ways.

Amen.

Amen.

Can we give him a clap offering?

Church, you may be seated.

What our little boys and little girls need is a mommy and daddy who has the awe of God in their life, who looks at God and doesn't get over what he's done.

A mom and dad who are not perfect, but love loving Jesus.

You see, when we think about that scripture in Deuteronomy, he says, fear God, proper placement of God in our life.

God cannot be second.

Proverbs 1 7 says, the fear, the respect, the awe of God is the beginning of all wisdom.

Your placement of God in your life.

Listen to me, when you come into this place, do you recognize that this is holy ground?

It's a place where the Holy Spirit of the living God don't lose your sense of awe.

There's an old song by Leanne Womack that says, Don't ever lose your sense of wonder.

He is holy, he is sovereign, he is the sustainer of all things, the same God that keeps the sun 92 million miles perfectly to keep the earth in orbit.

He is the God of all creation.

And I say to him today, so will I.

He said, Seek God first, fear God.

Well, listen, look at verses 5 and 6 of Deuteronomy chapter 6.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

It says, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

He is Lord, He is monotheistic, and He is a jealous God for you.

You say, Well, Pastor, isn't jealousy a sin?

Man, in your relationship with your wives, if your ladies were chatting it up with another guy, don't you expect that he would be jealous?

Heather's looks, her little touches, her little laugh, that's for me.

I'm jealous for that.

She broke up with me once.

It wasn't long because I worked my magic.

But she did break up with me, and I saw her through my window in my college dorm outside talking to another guy.

That's all I saw.

I saw talking, and it made me furious.

We weren't together.

But I left that dormitory, I run straight to the gym, man.

And you know what I did?

I got I got the dumbbells out, I got a barbell out, and I stacked 345s.

You know what I'm talking about?

315.

And I got on, and there wasn't nobody else in the gym.

And I got that off the bar, which is a miracle.

I said, and then it went.

And there wasn't nobody in there, and I was choking myself.

And then I was really mad.

I was jealous.

That was mine.

And I got it back, so it's all good.

I didn't have to go hurt nobody, y'all.

Praise the Lord.

The principle God was teaching about relationship is this: we're to be fixed.

In your relationship with your husband and wife, you're to be fixed.

You're to be fixed on God first, then spouse, then your family.

Now, hear me, that's God's order.

Don't get that out of order.

We do that.

1 Corinthians 14, 33 says God is a God of order.

He does everything decently and in order.

Understand, God is a God of order.

And to operate in God's way, it is God, spouse, family.

Now, some people like to go, God, family, or children, spouse.

That's wrong.

Okay?

Or some people might say, spouse, family, God.

That's wrong.

God is a God of order.

Hebrews 12, 2 say keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

We keep our eyes fixed on Him first.

If sports runs my home, we can bond over it.

But my eyes got to be fixed on Jesus first.

It'll disappoint and fade.

If money runs my home, or activities runs my home, or things run my home, or vacations run my home, those are temporary satisfactions.

And they always end.

Jesus has no end.

You have to fix your eyes on something that is eternal and not temporal.

So hear me, students.

There's a lot of things vying for your attention right now.

They're very temporary.

So how do I do that?

Verse 5 told us.

He said, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, that's how we function in it.

Hear me.

If you love your kids with all your heart, soul, strength, and God second, it's flawed.

We have to do this God's way, because when we function with God in mind, it allows our expectations to draw from something that is not faulty.

And if your expectation for happiness is in something that's faulty, which is something human, if your expectation for perfect happiness is in your wife, husbands, it's gonna mess up.

If it's in your kids, it's gonna mess up.

And if you're living vicariously through their award, it's gonna mess up.

Hear me, it is God first with all of our heart.

And if we got them foundations messed up, we will get edgy, we will get rude, we'll get moody, we'll be discouraged because people are human and they will disappoint you.

But God will not if you function first in Him.

How do how make this practical past?

How do I do that?

Before anything else, you need to go to God in your day.

Joshua said it.

It seems real simple in church.

He says, Meditate on your word day and night before anything else.

Before you give time to anything else, first is God's place.

And then he said, after everything else.

So at the end of your day, your your thoughts, your focus, spending time in the word.

How do I love him with all my heart, soul, and strength?

Go to the source and find a way to meet with him.

Go on a date with God.

Take your Starbucks picture and your Bible verse, ladies, do that, please.

That's what you need.

You need to be with God first.

Man, there's been a lot of days where my time and my devotion has saved me from being an angry father.

And I'm trying to think through how do I say this in a way that doesn't stir up my kids to wrath?

Because I'm pretty good at stirring people up to wrath.

On my own.

So we need that.

We need worship.

And then we continue in it all day.

It's not just morning and night.

We have a relationship with God.

How many of you, your wife and you, are texting all day long?

I mean, we text.

We're communicating all day long.

We need that with God our Father.

It's a continuous relationship.

That takes us to verse number six.

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.

If you do that, it'll be in your heart.

If you practice that, it'll be here.

So when stuff happens, when an opportunity to mess up happens, the word is in my heart.

He said, Rehearse these commands.

It'll be in my heart.

It'll be there when things go down.

Because we're fixed on him, heart, soul, and strength.

Letter be.

It's God's design for family preparation.

Faithfulness to the Lord is both caught and taught.

That is why in this first part, he spent it more on you than on your children.

It's caught.

They need to catch godliness in you.

One of the greatest things, man, that we can do for our children is show them how much we love their mother.

They need to know what it looks like for a husband and wife to be in a relationship.

How well do you love their mother?

How well do you date their mother?

Haven't been on a date in a while.

That conversation should happen in the parking lot on the way out.

I'm just being real.

We don't need to get over that.

Wives do you show your kid that you care for their dad?

They need to see your closest friends are godly people.

It's caught.

If they see that your closest friends are only people that you're asking prayer requests for because they're not godly, if they see that.

They need to see godly people.

They need to see you work hard.

Not just talk about work hard, but they need to see you work hard.

Church, I want to tell you more than anything in this world, I want my kids to know that I love Jesus.

That's what I want.

That's my legacy.

That's my wife's legacy.

You know, I've never had to tell Callie that she had to like the Red Sox.

Okay?

I've never had to tell her that.

But when schools have sports days or jersey days or special days, or if she's asked.

She's only watched a few innings that I know of with me.

But if you asked her who is the best team in baseball, she would say Red Sox! I'm gonna tell you the kid gets straight A's.

She's brilliant.

Hear me, parents.

That's a caught thing.

They see what is most important to you.

They see it.

It's on display all the time what is most important to you.

It's noticed.

And it's caught.

It made me think of the situation in Genesis with Abraham and his son Isaac.

And we don't have time to turn there and go through the experience, but Abraham was told to take his son Isaac, who he waited all his life for.

Take him and to take him to a mountain and to sacrifice him.

Abraham was obedient to God, and his son would become involved in the greatest testimony of watching something his father and he had to go through.

Abraham was going to do what God said no matter what.

And Abraham got him, he got Isaac bundled up, he had him hands behind his back.

He said, Climb on the altar and Abraham.

God said, Now sacrifice your son.

The knife went in the air, and as he was coming down, I wish I could have the conversation with Isaac.

What is going through your head?

And as he was getting ready to obey God to the very last, just at that moment, God said, Stop! And over here, he gave Isaac and Abraham the first picture of the prophetic Jesus that one day would be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world before them.

He showed them this picture.

The salvation of Jesus that would come.

I believe Isaac knew with all his heart that his father loved him.

But he would obey God first.

And God came in with that lamb.

It's a picture of salvation to us today.

Isaac caught it.

If you look, we don't have time to go there.

Genesis 26, 24 through 25.

It says that God then blessed Abraham and his son Isaac and blessed generations.

Isaac was a good man.

He caught those actions.

Well, it's caught and it's taught faithfulness to the Lord.

Look at verse 7 through 9 in Deuteronomy chapter 6.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

You shall teach them diligently to your children.

I shall talk of them, that's talking by the commands.

Of them when you sit down in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up, you shall bind them as signs on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

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

Faithfulness to the Lord is taught.

Heather went to a conference right as we first came to this church, and in the conference, God struck her heart.

The only things that are on our walls in our home are either pictures of the family or scriptures.

When you walk into the right, there's a scripture.

To the front of the dining room table, there's a scripture.

To the left of the wall, there's a scripture.

When you get to the TV, there's one on the floor.

There's one behind the couch.

There's one walking down the hallway.

And so we're to bind the word of God in front of our kids.

He said, Teach them my commands.

What about these commands is important.

You know, the first four commandments of the Bible was all about your relationship with God.

So he says, Teach them about this relationship with God.

No other gods, no craven images.

Take his name in vain and remember Sunday being God's house.

The first four are all about teaching your children how to have a fixed focus on God.

And then the next six are about relationship to others.

Kids, you know what the first one is after that?

Honor your father and your mother.

Don't murder, no adultery, don't steal, don't lie, don't covet.

It says, Teach these things, keep it before your children.

Here's why, parents, and I'll be wrapping up.

God's word is eternal.

You and I will leave this earth.

And one day your kids are gonna be looking for an answer.

And you may or may not be there with an answer.

All of life's stuff, all of our cars, all of our houses, all of our trophies, they're all gonna be gone.

But the word of God will get you through hard times.

The word of God does not return void, it'll give you advice.

Hear me, kids.

When I can't.

God's word will give you peace when you feel lonely.

When money can't buy happiness, when people can't bring a smile, when works, successes won't fulfill.

Jesus will.

The competition to cross the finish line.

Well, one boat began falling behind because of its level of fuel.

There had been plenty of coal for the trip, but not enough for a race.

As the boat dropped back, a young sailor took some of the ship's cargo and realized by tossing it into the ovens, the ship began to pick up the pace.

They saw supplies burned as well as the coal, and it fueled the boat with all the materials that were to be transported to a place.

At that point, doing everything to win that race, and they did that.

They won the race.

But in the process of the race, they burnt up all the cargo.

Hear me, church.

God has entrusted cargo to us.

We have spouses and children, friends and ministry.

And our job is to do our part in seeing that the cargo reaches its destination.

How much cargo do we sacrifice in order to achieve the world's successes?

God doesn't need us to be number one, He is that.

He said, seek first the kingdom of God.

He needs you to show others that he is number one.

And then help carry his cargo safely until you're gone.

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