Sermon - Family on Mission: "Kingdom Relationships" Series

God's design for us has always been for families to pursue him together.

That's God's design for the family to pursue the Lord together.

But how how do we do it?

Well, Moses gives us the ingredients in Deuteronomy chapter 6.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

And the first thing he's gonna say of the family is that kingdom families begin with surrendered hearts.

Welcome to the Church of the Lakes weekly sermon podcast.

We're so glad you've joined us, and we're honored to be part of your spiritual journey.

This year, Church of the Lakes is focusing on having a kingdom mindset and all that we do by living counterculturally to the world to become more like Jesus.

Today, Pastor Jared Priestett continues our sermon series called Kingdom Relationships, which will help us think about how we relate to each other, our spouses, friends, co-workers, families, and even the people who don't treat us well.

Today's message is titled Family on Mission.

Kingdom families are not defined merely by who lives in the house, but by who reigns over the house.

The kingdom begins in the home before it spreads to the world.

And now, here's Pastor Jerry.

Be blessed.

Today we are continuing on in a series of messages we're calling kingdom relationships, uh living the love of the king.

And throughout this series, uh that Brian, Pastor Brian, and Pastor Robbie kicked off the past couple of weeks, we're learning that the kingdom of God, hear me, isn't just a place we'll experience someday.

It is that, but it's so much more than that.

The kingdom of God is really this reality that we're called to live in today and every day.

Every part of our lives is supposed to come under the loving rule and reign of King Jesus.

And nowhere is that more visible than within our circles of influence, primarily the circles that are most are closest to us.

You know, it's one thing to say that Jesus is king, but it's quite another thing to let his kingdom actually shape how we interact and relate to one another.

Like how we treat our spouse, or how we treat our children, or how we treat our friends or other family members, even how we treat those who maybe have hurt us in a deep way.

You know, I think we've been conditioned by our culture, and it's really at this tension point, but our culture really tries to train and teach us to protect self, doesn't it?

To win every argument, to keep score, to love those who only are gonna love you back.

But man, Jesus and his kingdom offer us a different way.

It's in the kingdom of God where we come to realize that you know what, strength is really exhibited in our humility, that greatness is found in serving, that forgiveness triumphs over bitterness, that peace is pursued at all costs instead of avoided within relationships.

That love is given not because somebody deserves it, but love is given because Christ had first given us and loved us.

So today we're gonna turn our attention to the family unit.

Because, friends, kingdom families hear this, are not defined by who lives under the roof of a home.

Kingdom families are defined by who reigns over that home.

The kingdom of God is indeed most visible when the love of the king is reflected in the lives of his people.

Again, primarily and maybe um initially within uh the relationships we have with those in our homes and within our communities.

Listen to God's word.

We're gonna dip back to Deuteronomy chapter 6.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

Uh, this passage of scripture is known as the Shema in Israel.

The Shema is simply the statement of faith.

It is one of the most it is the most important prayer that the Jewish people pray not only once a day, but multiple times every single day.

Again, known as the Shema.

Uh it's Deuteronomy 6 if you want to follow along in your Bibles.

If you don't have a Bible, please let me be one to give you a Bible today after worship.

I would love to put the Word of God in your hand if you don't have one.

That's how much I value and appreciate and believe in the Word of God as the authority of a life.

You need the Word of God.

If you don't have it, let me give you one.

Uh but Deuteronomy chapter 6, starting in verse 4 and following.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

This is what Moses, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has to say to the people of God.

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

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

Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.

Recite them to your children, talk about them when you are at home, when you are away, when you lie down, when you rise.

Find them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Hear, O people of God, the Lord our God is one.

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

Friends, this is the word of God for the people of God.

Thanks be to God.

Let us pray.

Almighty and holy God, if I'm being honest this morning, I'm exhausted.

And I need you to take over this message.

God, I need your anointing.

Wash over these words of the blood of Jesus, empower them and undergird them with the Holy Spirit so we can be edified and encouraged and challenged by what you have to share with us this day.

It's in Christ's name we pray all these things.

Amen.

You know, I think there are few things that Christian parents want more for their children than for their children to fall in love with Jesus.

Is that a fair statement?

Or is that just a Jared uh hope?

Like, well, let's be honest, we all hope that our children do well in school, right?

We hope that they make good decisions, that they find work that they um feel mean that is meaningful.

We hope that they will marry well.

But if we could only choose one thing that was foolproof, that would exactly that would actually happen, wouldn't it be this?

That our children would have a love affair with Jesus Christ.

I I can't tell you the number of times when my children were little that I would crawl in their room at night, kneel on their side of their bed, and plead with the Lord.

Lord, at all costs, let my children know you, love you, and be faithful to you long after I'm gone.

So if that's the hope, then the question is, how does this happen?

Does this happen because we take them to church once a week on a Sunday morning?

Does this happen because we occasionally will remember to pray before we break bread and eat?

Does this automatically happen because our children grow up in Christian homes?

Like it happens through osmosis or passivity?

Moses would answer those questions with a resounding no.

He would say, listen, faith is not inherited as much as it is cultivated.

I love what Pastor Nancy says.

I'm not sure if this is an original Pastor Nancy or if she took this from somebody else.

Us preachers tend to share statements.

But Pastor Nancy says that God the Father has no grandchildren, only children.

Like every generation, friends, must choose whether the Lord Jesus will truly be their king.

That's why at the end of his life, Joshua, the successor of Moses, uh, he would lead uh Israel into the promised land after taking leadership reins from the hands of Moses.

At the end of his life, he stood up before Israel and said in Joshua 24, choose this day whom you will serve.

Church, I say the same to you, choose this day whom you will serve.

And Joshua goes on to say, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Now notice what he did not say.

He did not say, As for me, I will serve the Lord.

He said, But as for me and my house, we will serve the war the Lord.

Why?

Well, because, friends, God design, God's design for us has always been for families to pursue him together.

That's God's design for the family, to pursue the Lord together.

But how?

How do we do it?

Well, Moses gives us the ingredients in Deuteronomy chapter 6.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

And the first thing he's gonna say of the family is that kingdom families begin with surrendered hearts.

Listen again to verse 5.

Moses says, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, love the Lord your God with all of your heart, your mind, your soul, and your strength.

So before Moses is gonna set out and help parents know what to teach their children, he's gonna start with saying, Let me tell you whom to love.

And this is an important thing.

And the reason this is important, friends, is because you cannot pass to the next generation what you yourself don't possess.

Right?

You know, listen, one thing I have learned about children is children have this uncanny ability to smell a fool.

Remarkable radar children have.

Like we can fool a lot of people as adults, but you can't fool kids.

Kids will know when faith is genuine in a person.

They will know if church has merely become obligatory to their parents.

They will know if Christianity is simply something that we do on Sunday mornings and no other day of the week.

Again, you can fool a lot of people.

You cannot fool a child for long.

Therefore, the greatest gift you can give your children is not a perfect home.

It's not beautifully pressed laundry.

That stuff's important.

It exhibits your love, maybe for your kid.

But the greatest gift you can give your family is a heart that genuinely pursues Jesus.

Parents, grandparents, please listen to me.

Your greatest influence isn't your perfection.

Your greatest influence over the life of your children and your grandchildren is your authenticity of faith.

It's letting your children see you pray.

It's letting your children see you pour over the pages of scripture and study.

It's letting your children see you repent of sin, to ask for forgiveness, to offer someone else forgiveness.

It's to see you worship.

I just absolutely love it when families bring the whole family into church Sunday morning worship.

Like, listen, our children learn how to worship by watching mom and dad worship.

But somehow in America, we we decided to split Sunday morning into one hour, and parents and grandparents and adults go to worship and kids go to Sunday school.

Now, Sunday school is important, don't get me wrong, but let's make it a two-hour Sunday where we all worship together for an hour, and then the kids get sent off to Sunday school, and the adults also go to Sunday school.

Kids need to see you worship.

Kids need to see you that you trust God when life is hard and when life feels unfair.

What's the old adage?

Faith isn't taught as much as it's caught.

Friends, kingdom families begin with hearts that have been surrendered to the king.

Moses will then move on and say, kingdom families make disciples, not just memories.

Look at verse 6.

He says, These commandments I give to you are to be on your hearts.

Impress them on your children.

That word impress in the Hebrew carries the condemnation of engraving.

It's not a passing conversation.

That's not what Moses is speaking of here.

What he's speaking of is repeated statements that cultivate character, that shape core convictions.

You know, as my father did for me growing up, I try to do to my children.

I have all these dadisms that I just repeat over and over and over that I want them to digest and to kind of uh assimilate into them so they can cultivate good character, godly character, and core convictions.

Uh my kids could probably ramble some of them off to you.

I've known Brian, Pastor Brian, long enough where he has his own isms.

Uh some of his own your life, make a plan.

Poor planning on your part doesn't necessitate an emergency on mine.

Those are some of Brian's isms.

Here are some of the ones my father passed on to me that I'm trying to impart to my children.

My oldest son now is 15 years old.

And uh he I don't see much of Elias on the weekends because he's off with friends enjoying life.

And before he leaves the home, I tell him every time, Elias, remember who you are.

Remember who you are.

Not only do you represent this priest at the household, but you represent the living God.

Remember who you are.

Um what are some of my other ones?

Uh ever since my kids were you know, we little toddlers, I would always tell them, you are a leader.

You are a leader even at your age amongst your peer groups, amongst your siblings, which means you have influence over other people.

And good leaders pull people up, they don't push people down.

Another one of my isms is we are a family that needs to be known for our kindness towards one another and other people.

Another one is we are a family that abides and believes in the authority of God's word and a life is worth being built upon that and that alone.

That Jesus Christ is the only Lord and Savior that we have.

I I think today in America, because we are so so lured by our culture, we spend an enormous amount of our time and energy and money trying to create the perfect experiences for our kids, don't we?

The perfect vacation.

They need to be involved in every sport under the sun if they're gonna excel in life.

Or or it's celebrations, goodness.

Preschool graduation?

That that wasn't a thing in the 80s.

Why are we always graduating from something?

But but I digress.

Listen, if all we live our children, leave our children our fun or fabric uh manufactured perfect memories, but we've never given them the love of Jesus, we've missed the greater mission, church.

But like we need to disciple our kids in such a way that cultivate with within them a love for Jesus Christ.

Church, hear me carefully.

Your greatest calling as a parent, hear me, is not that your kids grow up to be successful contributors to society.

As important as that is.

Church can move, prayer can move, the word of God can move, serving can move.

Listen, the message our children hear isn't the one that we intend them to hear.

The message they hear is the one our priorities preach.

Deuteronomy, Moses is saying that the home is the very first discipleship center.

Do you hear me?

It's not the church.

The home is the discipleship center.

Now the church is involved, right?

Ephesians 4, we're called as a church to equip and to partner with families in this discipleship work.

But discipleship begins, hear me, in the home, around dinner tables, at bedtime prayer, at evening devotion, on car rides.

Put the phones down.

And when you're driving your kids' places, have conversations about faith with them.

It happens on ordinary Tuesdays.

Notice how practical Moses gets in this text.

He says, talk about God's word when you sit, when you walk, when you lie down, when you get up.

In other words, faith isn't reserved only for an hour on Sunday morning.

No, it becomes the atmosphere in which your home is enveloped.

Faith that friends is cultivated in the home becomes the assumption of the home, becomes the natural rhythm of every day of every single week.

Kingdom families make disciples, not just memories.

Here's the third and final one.

Kingdom families, they live on mission together, not separate.

So back in 2020, 2021, uh Meredith and I felt God calling us to become licensed foster caregivers, to utilize some of the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the gifts God had given us to take in vulnerable homes, vulnerable kids into our homes, no fault of their own, to disrupt the dysfunction of their lives, of their existence.

We felt really called to that.

And so it was an exciting time for us.

It was intimidating.

We wondered if we had the capacity to even do it and to do it well.

But before we took in our first placement, which was two brothers, Noah and Christian, in October of 21, we sat our children down.

We had a conversation.

We said to them, Hey, we need you all to know that the Lord is calling us to foster children in our home.

But you need to know this is not just a mom-dad ministry.

It is going to be a collective family ministry.

You are going to be called upon to help, to serve, to sacrifice.

Like God is calling all of us into this mission field.

Like we wanted our children to understand that opening our home was going to require sacrifice on their part.

They were going to have to share their toys and their rooms and their mom's and dad's attention.

They were going to have to share their emotions.

There was going to be joy.

There was going to be heartache.

A lot of heartache, there still is.

But we believed God wasn't simply calling mom and dad to it.

He was shaping our whole family in this collective mission together.

Now, looking back on five years now and counting with fostering, I can honestly tell you fostering has changed all of us.

Not always because it's been easy.

It's actually been really hard.

You get really attached to these kids, you have to eventually say goodbye to.

Except Jaden, who we adopted June 29th, which was the greatest moments of my life.

Excuse me.

Jesus called us as a family to this mission, and this mission really has shaped our collective family ethos.

Like our children, friends, have learned compassion that cannot be taught in the classroom.

They've learned patience and forgiveness and flexibility and sacrifice and hospitality.

They learn that they can do hard things for Jesus and with Jesus.

Like they've seen that following Jesus isn't something we merely believe.

It has got to be something that we live every single day.

Church, that's kingdom family.

That's the vision Moses has for us.

The goal that God has for all of us isn't simply to live under the same roof with those that are closest to us.

No, it's He's inviting us to live on the same mission under the rule and reign of Jesus Christ.

You know, one of the greatest gifts, hear me, you can give your children and grandchildren is letting them see you serve Jesus.

Better yet, serving Jesus alongside of them.

Well, like pack meals for the homeless together.

Go to soup kitchens together.

Swing a hammer and a weekend at Habitat for humanity together.

Visit someone who is lonely together.

One of the first things I did when I was pastoring in Aurora for several years, five years, when my kids were still young, whenever I'd go to the nursing homes to do visits, I'd always bring one of my kids along with me.

You know, you want to bring a smile on a person's face who lives in one of those facilities, bring in an animal, particularly a dog, not a cat.

Bring in an animal or a child.

And not only do you make an difference and impression on the person you're seeking to serve, but you make a difference in the life of your child.

When children grow up seeing ministry from the sidelines, what they think is ministry is only done by church people.

But when they grow up doing ministry with and alongside mom and dad, they grow up realizing, oh, this is just who we are.

Right?

Like the kingdom it's spread.

Through families, friends who serve together.

Here's the beautiful thing: you don't have to have young children for this message that I'm preaching today to matter.

Look, like some of you are grandparents and grandparents, please hear me.

You have tremendous influence still over your adult children and over their children.

I want to tell you pray for them without ceasing and with intentionality.

I know in our culture today there's this thing where if adult children have parents that disagree with where they are politically, these children are beginning to ghost their parents, and maybe you've been ghosted.

I don't know.

But keep praying because God is still working.

Tell your children and grandchildren what God has done in your life and that you know God can do something in their life as well.

Some of you are empty nesters.

Praise God.

You survived it, right?

But listen, your mission hasn't ended.

You now have opportunities in your schedule to invest in younger families within this collective faith family.

Some of you here are single.

Listen, never believe you're excluded from God's family mission.

The church has always been intergenerational in its complexity.

Like every single one of us has someone to encourage, someone to disciple, someone to serve.

The kingdom of God in the family of God's kingdom is so much bigger than a last name.

Okay, let's be honest.

Some of you are hearing this message right now, and these are really good things for people starting out, but you're thinking to yourself, man, I wish I would have done more.

I wish my children were walking with Jesus now and they're not.

I wish I didn't miss opportunity.

Listen, this message today is not to make anyone feel shameful or guilty.

Shame and guilt is of the devil, it is not of the Holy Spirit.

Okay?

Listen, the gospel is this truth.

It's not try harder, it is there is grace.

Peter failed, Moses failed, David failed, Joshua failed, Jared has failed.

But in every case, Jesus Christ kept pursuing and is still pursuing.

Parents, you cannot save your children or grandchildren.

Only Jesus is in the business of saving.

Your job is faithfulness.

Let him worry about the transform transformation.

But you never stop praying.

Never stop loving.

Never stop pointing other people to Jesus Christ.

Because no one, not even your prodigal child, is beyond the grace of Jesus Christ.

He is the hound of heaven, and he is pursuing every lost sheep.

Okay, here's what the point of all of this is, and what it is pointing toward.

Deuteronomy tells us that we are to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Here's the problem.

None of us have done that perfectly in every moment of our existence, have we?

No.

Every one of us at some season in our life has loved something or someone more than God.

Maybe it's our comfort or our reputation or our success or our money, or maybe it's another person.

That's why we don't need better parenting strategies.

What we need is a better savior.

And we get the better savior in Jesus.

Friends, Jesus is the Son of God, right?

The second person of our Trinitarian nature, God, who left his throne in heaven, condescended himself, and fleshed himself with our humanity, lived among us as God's one and only Son, perfectly loved his heavenly Father with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Like when Israel failed, Jesus obeyed.

Friends, when we wander, Jesus remains faithful.

And then he went to the cross to pay for our failures, to pay for our sin by shedding his blood.

And then three days later he rose from the dead.

Why?

So you and I could become the children of God.

Man, the good news of the gospel is that through Jesus Christ, we don't simply become better families.

No, no.

We become part of God's forever family.

And that's my invitation to you today, to become part of God's better family, his forever family.

And you do so by responding to the gospel, by trusting in the blood Jesus shed and giving your life to Him.

But by allowing His love to fill your heart.

And when it fills your heart, what it does is it begins to overflow into your homes.

Friends, the kingdom of God, it begins in homes before it can spread into our world.

Why?

Because healthy, God-fearing families build healthy churches, and healthy churches bless healthy communities, and healthy communities point people to Jesus Christ.

But it all begins with one question Who reigns over your house?

Not what scripture hangs on your wall.

Not what scripture you've had cross-stitched and put on pillows that sit on your couch.

Not whether you attend church on Sunday morning.

No, no, no.

Who is truly your king?

Who reigns over your house?

Joshua stood before all of Israel and he declared, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Each and every one of us, friends, is invited to make that same declaration.

Not because we're perfect, but because Jesus is worthy.

And it is his blood that makes us perfect.

So let me ask the question: what would change this week if your family decided to live on mission together?

Like if you chose to cultivate an environment where you loved God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, that your goal wasn't just to make fun memories with your children and grandchildren, but was to make them faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.

Maybe it's praying together before you all go your separate ways during the day.

Maybe it's it's doing devotions on Friday evening before you watch your favorite TV show as a family.

Maybe it's inviting a neighbor over for dinner.

Maybe it's forgiving someone who lives under the same roof as you instead of walking by them and not even giving them a glance.

Maybe it's just simply today saying for the first time, King Jesus, I want you to reign over me.

I want you to reign over my house.

Because, friends, when the king reigns in a home, his love begins to change every relationship in that home.

And that love doesn't stay just in the house.

It pours out into the neighborhoods, into the schools, the workplaces, and ultimately into our world.

So this week, don't just hear the king's words.

Live the king's love.

Amen.

Will you pray with me?

Heavenly Father, I want to thank you this morning for speaking to us through your life-giving word.

God, we confess that there are times when other things have taken first place in our lives.

As we prepare our hearts to receive Holy Communion this morning, I just want to ask for your forgiveness.

Forgiving, God, forgiveness for me for the times I've done that, but forgiveness for all of us.

God, will you help us to love you with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength?

And Lord, would you reign over our homes?

God, may our families be places where your love is seen by others.

Where your grace is shared, where your name is honored and revered.

God, by the power of your Holy Spirit, in this moment give parents and grandparents wisdom to pass on the faith, to draw their children and grandchildren into a lifelong relationship with you.

Lord, for those of us carrying burdens for loved ones who are far from you, maybe prodigals, will you fill them with hope?

Will you remind them that your grace is still at work?

Holy Spirit, make us families that are on mission together.

Help us to pray together, to serve together, to love together, so that our homes may reflect the love of our King.

And Lord, may we leave this place today not simply hearing the King's words, but faithfully living the King's love.

We pray this all in Jesus' name and all of God's people, Son.

Thank you for listening to the Church of the Lakes podcast with Pastor Jared Preset.

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Until next time, stay encouraged and keep walking in faith.