I was walking down to my sister's house, Amalia's
house, because my friends were doing date night
and I hang out at their house for my first date
night, so I'm not on my own for not three hours,
I believe. And as I was walking down, there was
about an inch of snow covering the ground. I
couldn't see the grass. I couldn't see the sidewalk.
So I was walking and as I got... Farther along,
probably about halfway there, I looked over and
there was about two squares of the sidewalk that
was uncovered, the actual sidewalk, uncovered
from the snow. And that's when I realized I was
about five feet to the right of the sidewalk.
I was not walking on the sidewalk, I was walking
on the edge of the road. So then I moved back
over on the sidewalk as I finished walking down
there because that was a small area. And it kind
of reminds me of the sidewalk as the way Christians
are supposed to walk, and where I was walking
will immediately get lost. So we'll move to another
place, but God will and can uncover a way for
you to find healing back. Wow, that's awesome.
Well done. Well done. All right, who else? I
wasn't originally going to do this today, but
I think God is telling me to. So on Friday in
the youth group, I went over, I had them do a
worksheet. It had 14 verses or something like
that on it. And basically I had them read the
verse and then write down what they think it
means. And then we went over most of them together.
I don't think we did all of them, but we went
over most of them together and I explained to
them a little bit more what it meant. But it
all boiled down to going over this piece of paper
right here that I have. I'll read it real quick.
It says, I do solemnly resolve to serve God with
all my heart, mind, body, and soul, honoring
Him in all that I do in order to glorify His
name. I will stand up for what is godly and dismiss
all that is ungodly. I will look to God for wisdom
as I grow to become a godly adult. I will seek
wise godly counsel in my decision making. I will
honor my father and mother according to God's
plan. I will strive to be a godly example to
those who are around me. I will not allow myself
to be a stumbling block to others or myself being
led by God. I will strive to understand, confront,
and accept the consequences of my actions. I
will respect and love everyone in the way Jesus
loves us. I understand through Christ, through
Jesus Christ, I am a new creation, understanding
that now I must live like Christ in all that
I do. I will do this because God has called me
to live my life for the one and only Savior,
Jesus Christ. So, originally when I was going
through this, I thought it would be a good thing
for the young kids, the young people. But then
the more I read, the more I studied it, and I
put countless hours into it. Just those few little
things that I just went, I trained and thinking
and studying a lot. And it really came to me
last night while I was trying to go to sleep
that that is not just for teenagers. It's not
just for young people. It's for everyone. And
I was explaining to them on Friday that it opened
my eyes to a lot of things that I'm doing in
my life and changes that I have to make in my
own life because there's a lot on there that
I have struggled with and came up real short
with. And so through that, I've committed myself
to standing up for what's God. And making that
the priority in my house, and making that the
priority of my life. Amen. That's a good word.
Okay, anybody else? I had one I wanted to share,
and it ties in with our spiritual discipline
focus. We're talking about, now through May 27th,
we're talking about prayer and meditation. Let's
focus on prayer for a second. A lot of times
we publicly pray. The Bible warns us about publicly
praying just as we sing. And be careful about
that, right? That is not the purpose of public
prayer. But public prayer, nonetheless, is ordained
in the Bible. We are supposed to do it, but we
shouldn't do it just to be seen. So Jesus is
hanging on the cross. And he prays, and in the
original language he said this, right? Eloi,
Eloi, lama sabachthani. And that's sort of like,
basically it means, my God, my God, why have
you forsaken me? And last night we were doing
Ariana's devotional before bed, and in the middle
of the devotional, we were talking about that
prayer, and she said, why did God forsake Jesus?
Why did God turn away from Jesus while he was
on the cross? He was doing what God wanted him
to do, even though he was taking on the sins
of people, which is true. He was doing what God
wanted him to do, so why would he turn away?
And so I said, well, there's an interesting thing
there. Let's finish up the devotional, and then
we'll look it up. And so then we did. And you
may or may not know, but those words are the
beginning of Psalm 22. And back in the day, there
were no titles for the Psalms. There really aren't
now, right? You just look at Psalm 22, Psalm
53, Psalm 111. There's no titles, right? And
they didn't have numbers then. So what they would
use is the first phrase, the first words of the
Psalm. So Jesus was praying the first words of
Psalm 22. Now, if you go and look at Psalm 22,
which was written a thousand years before Jesus'
birth, it lays out the details of his death.
It talks about him being nailed in his hands
and feet. It talks about him being stretched
out on the cross. It talks about them gambling
for his clothes, them mocking and sneering at
him. All that's in there in Psalm 22. All what
was going on while he was hanging on the cross.
And it was written a thousand years before. So
Jesus, in praying that one phrase, that one little
statement at the beginning of Psalm 22, was showing
them, see, this is what's going on right now.
And if they knew Psalm 22, and a lot of Jewish
people who were there did know Psalm 22. then
they knew as he prayed that that psalm was about
the suffering Messiah. The psalm was about what
was happening right before them. But the other
part, the rest of that psalm, is about how God
will save people through that activity. God will
make them eternal. God will call them out. You
can kind of see born again in the psalm. It's
all there. So that one prayer was laying out
for them Everything about the sacrifice and the
resurrected nature of Jesus and the born -again
nature that we can have in Jesus. The question
was, why did God forsake Jesus? And a lot of
people will tell you that while he was on the
cross, because Jesus took on the sins of man,
God looked away. But that's more of a philosophy
or a possibility. It doesn't actually say that,
right? What do I take away from this or about
prayer? Remember when you're praying that the
people that you're praying with are listening
to what you're praying. It's really good to pray
the word of God. It's really good to pray in
line with what God would say. You might pray
for people to be saved and there might be somebody
there that's listening to you pray and they're
not saved. Right? And they might hear you pray
for people to be saved and in that moment they
might get saved. You might pray how a person
gets saved, or you might pray about sin, or about
healing, or about being born again. You might
pray out of love, right? And if the words that
you're praying line up with the scripture, then
so much more is said than what you actually say.
But the obverse is also true. If the words that
you are praying do not line up with scripture.
So, for example, if your prayers are always,
God, give me a new car. God, heal the sick. God,
take care of our finances, right? And if you
pray around the dinner table every night, bless
the food, heal the sick, get your finances taken
care of, make us strong and healthy, then what
your kids or the other people that you're eating
with or whoever it might be or if it's a restaurant
and people sitting around you at the table, I
hope you're doing that, by the way. It's a great
witness. But anyway, if you're sitting around
you at the restaurant and here you pray, they
think, oh, God's a sugar daddy. They just think
God will just give them everything. And so be
aware. People are listening when you pray, and
it says a lot more than you say. And in Jesus'
case, he doesn't say that God really forsake
him, right? It says that in that moment, God
was doing that, that thing. And they should have
been able to see it. And they might have. I guess
they couldn't. I guess they didn't. But they
could in his prayers. Yes, ma 'am. Mine does
not really wind up in the spiritual discipline.
But I have something that I've been struggling
with and sending on, and I just found this passage
a couple days ago. came to mind again this morning.
I've been sick this week. I was in bed for two
whole days. I'm still not feeling great. But
one thing that I have learned over the past couple
years, really, but strongly over the past couple
months, really, is the power of perseverance.
And I mean that in a way, not just, I gotta do
it, I gotta do it, I gotta do it, but I feel
like crap. but I'm going to do it anyway because
that's what God wants me to do. That type of
perseverance. And I'm reading from Romans chapter
5 and it says, Therefore, having been justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have
obtained our introduction by faith into this
grave in which we stand and we celebrate in hope
of the glory of God. And not only this, but we
also celebrate in our tribulation, knowing that
tribulation brings about perseverance. Perseverance,
proven character, and proven character, hope.
And hope does not disappoint because the love
of God has been poured out within our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
The part in there, the perseverance was the part
that I was looking for, but the part in there
that really stood out to me was proven character.
I had to look up exactly what that was talking
about. And the definition that I got is the tested,
reliable, and approved quality of a person's
inner self that emerges from enduring hardship
and suffering through dealing with one's true
faithfulness and strengthening hope in God's
promises. Not only do we need the power of prayer,
we need the power of perseverance and togetherness
in order to be our true selves, to be the true
character that God wants us to be. Okay, we're
going to pray at this time. Tony, I'm going to
ask you to pray in just a moment. We are praying
for tithes and offerings. As we're taking out
our tithes and offerings, remember this is an
act of worship. It is honoring the Lord as we
do this. And that's why we do it during our worship
time. We visited my parents' church over last
week on vacation. I went there to see my mom.
And they set their offering plates up on the
floor on the dais up here on the bottom step
and just let people afterwards to come up and
check after the services all over. And I don't
believe that. And I'm not saying anything bad
about them. That's the decision that they made.
That's the choice that God had them make. But
we aren't going to do that. This is an act of
worship. Remember that when you pass the offering
plate, even if you don't put anything in the
offering plate, you are symbolically passing
everything that everyone else puts in the offering
plate. Even if they give electronically, if you
give like on your debit card or give on the website,
if it doesn't go on the offering plate, you're
giving what they gave. And you should. You should
give what they gave and also give whatever God
would have you to give. All right? And that's
an act of worship. We say thank you, God, for
all the things that we've received by giving
back of tithes and offerings. And that's why
we do it during the worship time. So if you can
join me, we'll do this in prayer and remember
to bless the tithes and offerings and then we'll
do that act of worship. Father, Lord, thank you
for another day of giving us. Thank you for a
new year, a new week, new opportunities. Lord,
even though we celebrate a new year, every day
you give to us is a new day where we can strive
to do better, to study harder, to work harder,
to do everything we have within us for you. and
help us forward in that. We just ask you, Lord,
to be of our service. Be with those, Lord, that
couldn't make it today. They're sick under the
weather. For whatever reason, Lord, just ask
you to bless them. And as we pass the offering
plate, Lord, we ask you to bless that too. Help
us forward to give what we, out of the goodness
of our hearts, we're giving to you. We're giving
just a portion of what you've given to us and
you've given us. Everything we have, we can claim
that you gave it to us. And we're just doing
this offering, being the prized giver, being
the giver, the gift and the giver. And we're
just asking that you continue to bless us and
give to us. back about the times when I had nothing
but big dreams still in my head that were hanging
by a thread that fueled desire in my chest but
I'm released looking in the eyes of my children
Sharing all the stories of my family. I'll tell
you a couple quick stories. The first one, I
was about 14 years old, and I'm riding in the
back of the car. And one of my friends, I don't
remember for sure who it was with me, was in
the passenger seat in the back of the car as
well. And my dad was driving, and my mom was
in the front seat, and we're going through Chicago.
Now, if you ever drove through Chicago, if you
haven't, I'm going to tell you a little bit about
what it's like. Basically, Chicago is a 50 -mile
-an -hour parking lot from one side to the other.
That's what Chicago is like. The speed limits
are 55, 60, 65, 70 these days to get across but
the truth is it is busy, busy, busy. They have
a skyway. A skyway is like a giant bridge that
you can get on on the one side of Chicago and
you can drive completely to the other side of
Chicago. And during that time, you can only get
off. You can't, no one can get on. So you jump
on one side, drive all the way to the other side
and get off. And then that's how people who work
on one side of town get to the other side of
town. Because in between there, the expressway
is a 50 to 60 mile an hour parking lot until
there's an accident. And then they have a little
like, if you're not dying, push your car off
to the side spot because there's a 50 mile an
hour. parking lot going by and you will get killed
if you break down on the expressway. So we're
in the middle of that parking lot. We did not
take the skyway. My parents didn't want to pay
the money because it's a toll road. So we're
driving that 55 mile an hour parking lot and
we come to our exit to turn off to go where we
were going. And my mom is like, okay, the exit's
coming up. She's in the passenger seat. She says,
the exit's coming up. My dad said, okay. And
he's looking to try to get over. And we get to
the point where you've got to get over now to
get off or you're going to be driving a while
to the next exit, right? And it's a left side
exit. You've got to get over to the left to get
off. A lot of them are, most of them are on the
right, but this one was on the left. And my mom
says, you've got to get over now. And he turns
and he looks to his left and there's a semi still
right there in his blind spot and he can't get
over. And he says, but there's a truck over there,
just like that. Well, immediately our family
latched on to that saying. And for the remaining
roughly, let's see, I'd say about nine years,
I lived in my house with my parents and my friends
were doing it and my brother latched on to it.
And basically what there's a truck over there
meant was whenever you really know what you're
supposed to do, you're saying like, I ask you
to hand me the salt and you say. I can't hand
you the salt because something's in the way or
whatever. So instead you would say, but there's
a truck over there, right? And so like, I told
you to clean up your room. And you say, well,
but there's a truck over there. Meaning there
was some good reason why I didn't clean up my
room, right? So that was added to our family
culture. In my family culture as a dad. When
Alicia was little, Alicia had a tendency to say,
I can't. She was my first child. She got the
worst parenting of all of my kids. That's just
the reality. And so she was the first one to
live under the mantra, you can't say, I can't.
And so now for going on 30 years in the Stevenson
family, you're not allowed to say, I can't. In
fact, we would go so far as to say, if you say,
I can't, can't means you quit trying before you
succeeded or died. That's what I can't means.
And so we would say, you can't say, I can't.
You can't do it. You're not allowed. Don't say,
I can't. James Bond would agree, never say never,
right? So you can't say can't in my family. And
then we also talked about, as Alicia got to be
like a preteen and we would hang out with friends
and stuff, we talked about inclusion, like including
someone is excluding everyone that you're not
including. So when the youth group embraces each
other and all the teenagers are hanging out together
and a new teenager shows up and they don't automatically
seek to include that person, then actually they're
excluding that person. You got to search them
out and try to bring them in. And if two people
come in and you search out and include one, but
don't search out and include the other, you're
actually excluding that person. And we are not
an excluding people. So these are things that
develop inside family culture. And one more I'll
give you. This one is kind of a newer one. It
came about, I think, when Arden was young, but
it's now been with us for 15 years or so. And
it is, you have to do what you have to do before
you do what you want to do. And that became a
rule for us and part of our family culture. So
family culture has a great role. Family culture
guides. So you're like, well, this is who we
are. Bristers are. Stephensons are. Whatever.
Shopes are. McCrory's are. And you have these
little guidelines, these little rules, right?
That's who we are. And so then that can be very
useful. It gives you a lot to go on when you
don't have anything else to go on. It guides.
It encourages. Look, we don't give up. We're
bristers. We don't stop. We're not going to quit,
right? Or we don't take a few hits here, but
we can keep going because we've been through
worse. Stephensons have been through worse, right?
They save maybe. There's times where young people
say, well, I might try this little vape thing,
or I might get into this marijuana that everybody's
doing, right? Or I might slip into watching a
little something on my phone. Everybody says
it's really not a bad thing. Okay, it's okay
for me to watch that in the world. And the church
says no, but family culture, well, but Stevenson's
don't do that, right? So we already know that
we don't do that. So I'm not going to do that.
I'm not going to give in and go that way because
of who I am as a Stevenson. So sometimes they
save us from our trouble. Sometimes they heal
us, right? So we eat, right, we eat our vegetables
before we eat our meat and our dessert, for example.
Or, you know, we're muscular, so we've got to
have enough protein to drive that because our
family has DNA, it's muscular DNA, so we've got
to make sure we eat our protein, things like
that. So it heals your body, heals your mind
sometimes, things like that. So as we read what
is a classic text in the Bible today, I want
you to think along the lines, and I'll try to
point it out to you. Really what's going on here
is a conflict between two family cultures. I
want you to see that. And family culture conflict
is something you're going to deal with every
single day of your life. Every workplace, every
school you ever go to, you go hang out with your
in -laws, everywhere. You're going to deal with
family culture every day. So watch this as two
families clash. Grab your Bibles then and go
with me to Matthew chapter 2. Thank you very
much for being with me. And you will recognize
this text. I'll point out a couple of historical
facts in here as we go. Matthew chapter 2, beginning
in verse 1. As Jesus was born in Bethlehem of
Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from
the east arrived unexpectedly in Jerusalem, saying,
Where is he who was born? who has been born king
of the Jews, who we saw his star in the east
and have come to worship in. When Herod the king
heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem
with him. So not just Herod, who was king, who
kind of maybe had a replacement in the often
was troubled, but also all the people of Jerusalem.
Now in that little statement that they were troubled
is a lot, right? It says that another king coming
up who was not of Herod's line. taking the rulership
away from Herod was a real problem, not just
for Herod, but for the entire kingdom. Herod
had already, by this time, killed three of his
sons, one of his wives, his mother -in -law,
and 300 priests, temple workers, Sanhedrin members,
I'd say ruling Jews. He'd already killed all
those people to protect his throne. There's a
lot to be troubled about. So, verse 4. Gathering
together all the chief priests and scribes of
the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah
was to be born. Realized he'd already killed
300 chief priests and scribes for not doing what
he wanted them to do. So when they're getting
called into the throne room, they're probably
a little nervous here, so they're going to do
their best. And he calls them in. And he asks,
where was the Messiah? According to scripture,
and they had the whole Old Testament at their
disposal, according to scripture, where would
the Messiah be born? They said to him, in Bethlehem
of Judea, for this is what has been written by
the prophet. And you, Bethlehem, land of Judea,
are by no means least among the leaders of Judah.
For out of you shall come forth a ruler who will
shepherd my people Israel. So God laid that prophecy
out well before Jesus was born. They knew it
was a messianic prophecy. This is one of the
many. There are over 300 very clear messianic
prophecies. And they had already by this time
isolated about 200 of them. So they should have
been able to know that Jesus was going to be
born in Bethlehem. And here the scribes and chief
priests tell him that's where it's going to happen.
Verse 7. Then Herod secretly called the Magi.
That's the guys who came from the east. Wise
men, kind of. probably Zoroastrians, which means
they worshipped or looked at the stars for direction,
determined from them the exact time the star
appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said,
Go and search carefully for the child, and when
you have found him, report to me, so that I too
may come and worship him. So that verse right
there could be the whole sermon. He said, Go,
find the child. and report to me so that I may
come and worship him. But he was lying about
that. Obviously that wasn't his goal, was to
worship him, or he was going to worship him and
then kill him, one or the other. And then notice
also that he inquired when the star appeared.
So this is not taking place near the birth of
Jesus. He's asking, when did you first see the
star? When you were in your home country, before
you packed up, before you bought everything you
needed for your journey, before you loaded up
the camels, before you started to walk all those
weeks or months to get here. When did the star
first appear, right? That's what he wants to
know because he's trying to nail down when the
birth of Jesus did because he knows how old Jesus
is. That's one of the demographic factors of
being able to deal with Jesus, right? So we got
his skin color already. We already know that
he's young. How young is he? Well, a little less
than two years old. Okay, well, that means I
can deal with him if I have to. I'd like to go
and worship him, but at least tell me how old
he's supposed to be so I can deal with him if
I have to. All right, so it's packed full of
stuff there. All right, so he asked them to tell
him where he was at. Verse nine, after hearing
the king, they went their way. And the star,
which they had seen in the east, that very first
star, the very first star that appeared on the
night of Jesus' birth, went on before them until
it came and stood over the place where the child
was. They're triangulating. It may sound a little
weird. People think we see the picture of the
stables, the mandarin, and the stars right at
the top, like the star came down out of the sky
and hovered over that exact stable. They didn't
need that. They're Zoroastrians. They can nail
their position down on the planet within a few
feet by triangulating the stars. So that's how
sailors did it. most of the time for sailing
in the tall ship. Most of the time, they nailed
down their position by looking at the stars.
And the Zoroastrians were so good at that that
that star could be triangulated to be exactly
above that stable. That's all they needed. After
hearing the king, they went their way and the
star, which they had seen in the east, went on
before them until it came and stood over the
place where the child was. When they saw the
star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
After coming into the house, they saw the child
with Mary. Notice, coming into the house, not
the stables. They saw the child with Mary, his
mother, and they fell to the ground and worshipped
him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented
to him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Nothing in this text gives us the number of wise
men. So, we three kings from Orient are traveling
from afar. That's just a song. It's not biblical.
The kings presented three gifts, gold, frankincense,
and myrrh. There were not necessarily three kings.
There could have been two kings. There could
have been 12 kings. We don't actually know how
many kings. We just know there was more than
one because they're plural. But they presented
three kinds of gifts, gold, frankincense, and
myrrh. Now a little spoiler for a later story,
which we probably will not cover next week, but
these become the resources. They are symbolic
of his life, death, burial, and resurrection.
But these become the resources for Joseph to
take his family to Egypt. to flee Herod. They
just got wealthy. They just became wealthy. Verse
12. And having been warned by God in a dream
not to return to Herod, the Magi left for their
own country by another way. Interesting because
these are not people who are Christians. These
are not people who have the Holy Spirit. Right?
But God warns them not to go back to Herod and
tell Herod anything, or not to go back through
Herod. The truth is, probably, if they'd gone
back through Herod, it would not just have been
Jesus' demise that would be an offing, but possibly
theirs as well. Remember, he kills everybody
that's a threat to his throne, and they're the
ones proclaiming there's a new king. So odds
are, they die. Right? But he says, don't go back
that way. God tells them, don't go back that
way. So they don't. They left for their own country
by another way. Now, when they had gone, behold,
an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a
dream and said, get up, take the child and his
mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until
I tell you. For Herod is going to search for
the child to destroy him. So Joseph got up and
took the child and his mother while it was still
night and left for Egypt. He remained there until
the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what
had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet,
out of Egypt I called my son. Which they, again,
even though that is in the text that it's originally
written in, could be referring to Israel being
called out of Egypt, right? They saw it as a
messianic prophecy. So somehow the Messiah had
to wind up in Egypt and come out of Egypt in
order for that prophecy to be fulfilled. Verse
16. Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked
by the Magi, he became very enraged. And he sent
and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem
and all its vicinity from two years old and under,
according to the time which he had determined
from the Magi. So he's looking at when the star
first appeared, calculating the baby should be
a little less than two years old, right? And
a little before then, he's going to kill everything
that looks like it's two years old and under.
So he's trying to wipe Jesus out. So we know
that the Magi came to the house to deliver their
gifts, and we know that they fled to Egypt sometime
before Jesus was two, but surely after he was
one. Okay? 17. Then what had been spoken through
Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled. So this is
the third prophecy just in this text. A voice
was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused
to be comforted because they were no more. So
their soldiers went around and killed every baby
two years old and younger. But when Herod died,
behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream
to Joseph in Egypt and said, Get up, take the
child and his mother, and go into the land of
Israel. For those who sought the child's life
are dead. So Joseph got up, took the child and
his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning
over Judah in place of his father Herod, He was
afraid to go there. Then after being warned by
God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee
and came and lived in a city called Nazareth.
This was to fulfill what was spoken through the
prophets. He shall be called a Nazarene. So yet
another prophecy being fulfilled. Notice then
that when Joseph is about to bring Jesus and
Mary back out of Egypt, he starts thinking to
himself, but Archelaus, is now ruling in Herod's
stead. You see what's happening there? Is Archelius
a bad man? Is he a murderer? Is he going to murder
people like his dad did to protect his throne?
Well, you don't really know. But what you do
know is that family culture affects the way people
act, right? The way you raise your children affects
who they'll be when they grow up and so on. So
he started thinking, well, Archelius, you know,
he may not want a new king either because his
dad didn't. So we have two family cultures in
conflict, and we have God warning God as the
head of their family, essentially, right? Warning
them multiple times to avoid conflict with the
family culture of Herod and his offspring. So
a few things I want you to see in this text then.
It starts with this. God, to this day, it's always
been this way, but to this day, God continues
to make arrangements. He is always working. And
Acts 17 says he laid out the boundaries in which
we live, the events of our lives, and so on.
God is continuing to make arrangements. See how
those who came from so far away were given everything
that they needed to find Jesus and worship him?
To fulfill the prophecies of God? Yes. And the
prophecies of God include that everyone who is
willing to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
will be saved. And that means there are people
who have not yet heard the gospel. They live
in that corridor of people in the world that
don't speak English. I just read about a great
revival in a country that doesn't speak English,
and they just baptized like 1 ,200 people down
there in one day. And so there's amazing things.
God is going to make sure that anyone who genuinely
would accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
will receive him. They will have an opportunity.
He's making arrangements. So if you came from
afar, then you know that God has made arrangements
for you to get there. See how God set up everything
for every person, Romans 17 says, provided creation
as a testimony so that all people are without
excuse, Romans 1 says. So people who are standing
in a field going, oh, is there a greater meaning
to life, can look at trees and clouds and sun,
feel the rain on their face, watch the plants
grow, see the cycle of life in animals and in
organisms. microscopic organisms that are so
complex and have so many parts, there's no way
they evolved up from anything else. Look at the
molecules that hold human cells together and
see that they are shaped in the shape of a cross,
etc., etc., etc. And God has provided all of
that testimony so that people are without excuse.
Jesus came in the flesh to overcome death and
sin once and for all. and sent generations of
his people, of God's people, of the kingdom of
God people, of the family of God, for all those
who have accepted Jesus are given the right to
be called children of God. And he sent generations
of people, of Christians, before us. People that
snuck Bibles behind the iron curtain. People
that served the sick and dying and themselves
died. In the flu epidemic, so the 1920s. Oh,
is that pneumonia? I get those two confused.
Anyway, the point is, always, in every generation,
he has preserved for himself a people of a witness,
and that ultimately resulted in somebody to preach
the gospel so that I could hear, you could hear.
And we are part of that greater effort. God is
still making arrangements. And you could change
your name to arrangement number whatever, because
God is arranging you in this generation to stand
up for him and see to it that people have the
opportunity to hear the truth. There are plenty
of people from other family cultures, other than
God's, that are speaking a lot of untruths, that
are deceiving in a lot of ways. But our culture,
our family culture is supposed to be God's family
culture, not to get ahead of myself. And we are
delivering the truth. We are part of the arrangements
that God has made. God has always been making
arrangements for anybody who would to come to
him. Next. Notice that there are on the earth
a part of society, I guess really has always
been, because we see maybe at the very beginning
of time, the Bible is not super clear about exactly
how it went down, but a power struggle that took
place amongst the angels. So there have always
been power structures. There have always been,
and will always be until Jesus comes again, controlling
people, manipulating people, deceiving people,
kings. Princes, presidents, governors, right?
People who enforce their will upon others. Backstabbers
who rise up in the ranks of companies because
they cheat others, lie to others, deceive others,
throw others under the bus when they do wrong.
They have always spent systems of evil, ways
that things can be accomplished, right? In fact,
around the time of Jesus' day, amongst the wealthy
Jewish, it was considered a great jewel in your
crown if you could lie. to a king or a politician
or whatever and get away with it. That was like
the crowning achievement. The greatest thing
you could possibly do would be go lie to somebody
who had all kind of power and resources and get
away with it. And lots of people tried and died.
but there were those who succeeded. You see it
in the histories of Josephus, who was a Jewish
man who wrote about the time of Jesus and that
Jesus walked, lived, died, and then was seen
alive again, even though he was not a Christian
himself, a historian. And he talks about how
he and other Jewish men like him were trying
to placate kings, trying to manipulate governors,
right? And they would try to lie to them to get
them to do whatever. That was kind of like a...
A jewel in their crown. There have always been
systems of evil. And today, there is enticement
of sex. There is the... The wealth and riches
motivation that's being pushed on society. The
walk away from people who don't agree with you
mentality that's being pushed on teenagers, etc.,
etc. There is a feeling of rebellion that's being
pushed on people. Like, you can say no. You can
just say no. It used to be just say no to drugs,
which, by the way, are bad for you. Now you can
just say no to your parents, to your teachers,
to the police. You can just say no to anybody
that you want. And it's this mentality. There's
always been systems of evil. There have always
been things that have been worshipped as idolatry.
Things that get a hold of your life and become
bigger to you, more important to you than what
God wants. It used to be little silver statues
you carry around in your pocket. Now a lot of
times it's on your phone or it's on your TV or
it could be parked in your garage or in your
driveway or it could be on your paycheck or it
could be in the words of the persons that you
work with or in your family members' mouths.
There are all kinds of targets of idolatry, things
that we worship and we set ourselves up to follow.
But they're all failing. All of those things
are failing. They just fail forward. They keep
proliferating from generation to generation and
we keep having... power structures, controlling
people's systems of evil, targets of idolatry,
because there is another family culture in which
those things kind of belong, right? They fit
there and people function well there under those
circumstances because they too use those things
to try to get what they want. That is not for
us. God takes power from kings and kingdoms.
Now, interestingly enough, God also gave them
the power in the first place. Who made Herod
king? God. God made Herod king, right? God puts
all kings on the throne. Now, did he use the
Roman government to do it and Herod was a great
politician and so on? Sure, but God put Herod
on the throne. So if God put Herod on the throne,
look at all the things that Herod was doing to
keep the throne for himself and his offspring.
But God is the one who let him be king. You notice
that God does not destroy him. God does not destroy
Herod. The whole time Herod is seeking to destroy
Jesus. That's not the route that the kingdom
of God family takes. God takes power from kings
and kingdoms, offers freedom to the oppressed,
exposes lies and lying, and tramples false gods
underfoot. In the Old Testament, we see they
put the Ark of the Covenant in the temple of
Dagon when the Philistines had it and Dagon fell
down. So they went and stood Dagon back up, the
statue that they were worshiping. They were literally
bowing before him and they were having sex on
his altar and they were sacrificing food and
money and everything else on the altar of Dagon.
And they put the Ark of the Covenant in there
and Dagon fell down. So they were like, oh no,
Dagon fell down. So they stand Dagon back up.
And then the next day they come in and he fell
down again and he broke and he broke and rolled
across the altar or rolled across the threshold.
And so they put him back up there and put him
back together again and said, well, we can't
keep the Ark of the Covenant in the same room
with Dagon our God because Dagon our God always
falls down. Listen, this is the way it is. Dagon
falls down. Elijah's offering was consumed when
the prophets of Baal, 400 of them, beat themselves
and cut themselves and spit and spewed evil words
and everything else. And Elijah's offering, they
poured water over the whole thing to make it
soaking wet. And then the fire rained from heaven
and it was consumed while their offering was
nothing. And then Elijah called on the men of
God and they killed all those prophets of Baal.
Joseph came to power in Egypt to save God's people
after being thrown into a pit, sold into slavery,
betrayed. They lied about him and said that he
raped Potiphar's wife, was thrown in prison and
literally forgotten. While what was going on?
Egypt worshiping Pharaoh and all those false
gods, all of that was going on. Another family
culture was prospering. If you could rise up
in the worship of the frog god in Egypt, you
could be all that in a bag of chips. You could
have a big house and three wagons and a whole
bunch of horses and a bunch of whores work in
your house all day long. If you were somebody
special in the frog worshiping god community.
Meanwhile, Joseph's in jail. Then... Joseph is
the second man in Egypt and the country only
survives because of Joseph's leadership. And
then God's people come out of the promised land
and they settle in Goshen and they only survive
because of Joseph's leadership. But then down
the road, the family culture of Pharaoh in Egypt,
it continues to progress until there comes a
Pharaoh who does not remember Joseph or what
God did for Egypt. And all the Egyptians are
enslaved. And so God crushes Egypt, one plague
after another, and every one of those plagues
deals with, unequivocally, one of those false
gods until the last one, which killed the very
first son of Pharaoh himself. Because Pharaoh
is no god, and the frog god is no god, and the
Nile is not a god, and the god of gnats, not
a god, and so on. And the magicians have no power.
And so God... has always been crushing things
that rise up. So if you've got something in your
life and you're giving it worship, it's important
to you, and you're giving it a place and it's
not God, just realize that eventually God is
going to crush it because that's what God does.
God has been crushing the objects of idolatry
since the beginning. Since Jesus, Jesus' followers
walk away from sinful lifestyles, freed from
addiction, freed from excessive habits, freed
from foul mouths. We are made clean. Peace is
bestowed where turmoil previously reigned, and
Jesus sets people free. God was always doing
that. Is there a different family culture? Yes,
there is. But it ends a place that you don't
want to go. The family culture of the kingdom
of God, where God destroys power structures,
sets apart controlling people, deals with systems
of evil, deals with targets of idolatry once
and for all. takes power from kings, and offers
freedom to the oppressed, exposes lies and lying,
and tramples false gods underfoot. That's the
family you want to be part of. That's the initiative.
That's the outreach that you want to be part
of. The next thing to see in there then is that
this war that we're talking about, this struggle
between family cultures, has victims. Even victorious
war has high costs. One man dying on the battlefield
is somebody's brother, somebody's son, somebody's
father. He could have been the deacon in his
church or a pastor or an evangelist, a sharer
of the gospel, a lover of life, a giver of gifts.
And now he lies dead, blood and mud. War has
victims. even victorious war has high costs.
Often the enemy, the other family culture, if
you will, will not lie down. They must be overcome
in a way that cannot be disputed by God's power.
God even hardens the hearts of false gods and
false god worshipers, worshipers of false gods.
so that when they do their best to resist God
and still fall, their example may be seen and
people may come to him. Again and again it says
that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Until finally,
even the firstborn son of Pharaoh was destroyed.
It sounds mean. David takes out Goliath. who
had taken out so many before, Goliath mocked
God, David stands up for God, David basically
a boy, takes out Goliath. Seems unfair to Goliath,
doesn't it? And that day, Goliath could have
got out of bed that morning and said, you know
what, I'm going to worship the God of the Israelites
instead of continuing to worship the gods of
the Philistines. But he didn't. He stayed as
part of the family culture that stands up against
God. He stayed the course to the end. He dismissed
his shield bearer and took a stone to the forehead
and then literally lost his head to his own sword.
And it's been going on like that. Is it a threat?
Am I threatening you with the family culture
of the Lord versus the family culture that you
may have otherwise adopted? It's not a threat.
This is just the reality. If you jump off a cliff,
you will hit the bottom, however far down it
is, quite abruptly. If you leave a plane without
a parachute, you will fall. If you run your car
90 mile an hour into a wall, your airbag and
your seatbelt will not save you. This is just
the reality of life. The reality of life is that
God's family culture wins in the end. They do
their best to resist them and God may even bolster
their hearts, encourage them to stand firm so
that they will be crushed. The bigger you are,
the more capable you are of standing on your
own, the harder you fall when the time comes.
For our family has a culture of how to deal with
these things. Number one, we mourn the losses.
I have eight. I have cried. I have begged God
for an alternative outcome when I have seen people
walk away from the Lord. And you should as well.
If you don't have a child right now or a sibling
or somebody in your household or somebody that
you work alongside and you've worked with them
for 20 years and you know they're lost and they
just won't hear the gospel. And if you don't
know that pain, I can't describe it to you. There
is an ache that accompanies loving someone and
knowing that they are living outside the family
culture of the God of the universe where real
love exists. So we mourn the losses. Also, we
see the evil clearly. Let's be very realistic.
Satan's after your kids. He's after your friends.
And if he can, he's after your witness so that
you can't save anybody else. So you can't make
a difference in anybody else's life. He wants
to blow you up. Not that he wants to kill you,
because if he kills you, he'll send you straight
to heaven, but he wants to take away from you
those arrangements that God is trying to make
through you. And lastly, we must be completely
victorious. To be completely victorious, we align
ourselves with the kingdom values, with the things
that the Lord is doing. That brings us to our
conclusion then, and it is a word of caution.
By now you already probably have figured out
what it is. And it is that even family can become
idolatry. Even your last name can become an idol.
Your hobby, your favorite food, your thoughts
about going out on your birthday or giving gifts
on Christmas. Even family and really any good
thing in your life can become idolatry. And why
not? Family culture guides, encourages, saves
maybe, heals. Is that not where we started at?
And I don't think anyone would have disagreed
with that statement when it was made. And so
why would it not possibly become adultery? But
here Jesus say to the man who said, I will come
and follow you, but let me first go and bury
my father who just died. And he said, let the
dead bury their own dead. And so basically he's
saying, wherein any connection that you have
with the world stands in the way of your following
faithfully the Lord. Let the world take care
of the world and you take care of your following
the Lord. That's what he's saying. Hear Jesus
say, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
And he goes on to illustrate that there will
be family member against family member. Mothers
against daughters and vice versa. Sons against
fathers and vice versa. And by no means was he
saying dismiss your father as lost and have nothing
to do with them. Be rid of him if he's not a
follower. But what he was saying is that there
will be a division between those who faithfully
follow the Lord and those who do not. And the
family culture does not follow your last name.
It follows who is dad, who is the leader of your
house, of the house in which you live. And so
if you have a husband and a wife and the husband
is the leader of, he's following the Lord, he
wants to follow the Lord and she does not want
to, then there will be a rift between them. And
the family culture that they will make will have
holes. It will have... earthquakes and tremors
and war. Does that mean a divorce then, if that
should happen? No, it does not. It does mean
that both parties have to work together then
to come to the place of peace in the Lord Jesus
Christ. So the lost one should accept the Lord.
But if they will not, there will never be real
peace. Hear Jesus say, Hate your father and mother.
His words. Now, he doesn't mean hate them, right?
But he does mean put God first. God above all.
He says that those who cannot hate their father
and mother and even their own life also. Why?
Because the good things in your life can become
an idol, right? So if you do not hate your father
and mother and even your own life also, then
you cannot come to me, cannot be my disciple.
And again, he's not talking about hating. He's
talking about putting the family culture of the
kingdom of God first. Jesus first. And believe
me, if you have a person that you love and they
don't know the Lord, they will forever be dragging
you away from Jesus. And God is hardening their
hearts so that someday they may come. It could
be that when they come, It'll be you that will
be blessed the most. You're yearning for that
person to come to the Lord and God is hard in
their heart. They're not coming yet. God is hard
in their heart. They're not coming yet. They're
not coming yet. 20 years goes by, 30 years go
by and you pray and you pray and you pray. And
finally they come. What an encouragement. What
an amazing thing that this person who said they
would never know Christ, said they would never
have anything to do with the church, everything
to do with God, finally becomes a Christian.
Because God is making arrangements and you are
part of those arrangements. Even family can become
adultery. And why not? Family culture guides,
encourages, saves, maybe even heals all good
things. But the family culture that we are meant
for is the family culture of God as our Father,
of the church. And the church should get this
right. I must know and be known by the God of
the universe through His Son, Jesus Christ. I
must know and be known. And to know and be known
is to recognize that I have sinned and to repent
and turn to the Lord. And to submit to God so
he can do whatever he wants to do and to leave
behind my old ways and to believe. Some people
will not do this. Some will live their lives
in darkness and ignorance, not even of their
own making. They didn't do it. But it is comfortable
and familiar to them because it has become their
family culture. They will live as foot soldiers
in an army that they did not sign up for and
do not understand. And having given everything
to testify to himself, God is still not willing
that any should perish. God says, there is now
therefore no excuse. And on this hand he says,
but I am not willing that any should perish.
So I will remain patient for as long as is just,
as long as is possible. I will remain patient,
hoping, desiring, working, sending testimonies,
sending my children, sending the word of God
over another sermon, another Holy Spirit deliverance,
another example of what happens in the kingdom
of God before people so that they can see it.
I will keep doing that in the hopes that all
who would will come. And this is our family culture,
at least in part, that we are not willing that
any should perish either. Can you not believe
that God has done everything necessary and will
do abundantly and beyond whatever we may expect
to see souls access the kingdom of God? God has
not stopped being amazing. He has not become
limited in power. He has invited us to behave
as His children, as part of His family, and our
family exalts God. We praise him, not because
we want to be blessed. Although that's a nice
side effect. But because he deserves our praise.
We should let our regenerated hearts lead whenever
we can. So when you get saved, you get a regenerated
heart. Your mind is being renewed constantly,
right? But your heart is regenerated immediately.
So whenever you can, let that heart that's been
regenerated inside you lead. And it will renew
your mind. So we can know our Father's good and
perfect will. Paul writes in Romans 12. And wherever
that is possible for us, we carry it out. I suppose
family culture can be that where the family has
become Christian. And it should be that in the
church where the family is only partly Christian
or not Christian at all. The family culture becomes
smoke and mirrors trying to encapsulate lessons
learned, goals achieved, goals desired. What
do we want to do? What do we want to be? Who
are we? What did we say? Let's mark it down for
all time. But everything a man designs outside
Jesus, even a family or a people, is going to
be tied to this worldly thinking and the impact
of worldly reasoning, which means while it may
be beneficial in one moment, it may be the worst
kind of abandoning hope for another moment. In
Dante's Inferno, Dante and his guide Virgil arrive
on the doorstep of hell. And written there over
the doorstep of hell is this phrase. It says,
it's actually in Italian, which I can't do Italian,
but I can tell you that in English it translates
to, abandon all hope ye who enter here. So beyond
the line into hell, there is no hope. No hope
of salvation, no better living, no breath, no
next meal, no paycheck, no comfort, no hug, no
encouragement. No, nothing. I submit to you that
here is another place beyond, another line beyond
which there is no hope. A place in which we embrace
a family culture that is not in line with God.
Kid yourself not, eventually God wins. The scoreboard
is already frozen showing God's victory. The
game changes completely. When it is played out
to a certain result. If you went to a basketball
game and the scoreboard said 42 -34 up there
on the board and they just started playing the
game and it never changed and the whole game
it built up until in the last second somebody
made the last shot and the scoreboard ended 42
-34. If that's how basketball games were played,
pretty soon they'd have a lot less fans. That's
the part of why God doesn't have as many fans
as we think he should. Because God has already
determined the outcome. There's no changing the
game now. The only way you'd be able to do that
would be able to institute another God for yourself.
Your family, your family mantras, rules, your
phone, whatever. Put another God in place. Abandon
all hope ye who enter here. With another God,
there is no hope. It's the Bible versus every
mantra. 1 John 4, 1 says, test the spirits because
not every spirit is the spirit of God. Okay,
so I'm going to do something to myself now in
front of you. I'm going to look at the mantras
that I first gave you an example of. I'll use,
we don't say can't. All right? So we have said
for almost 30 years in my family that we don't
use the word can't. Now, the truth is we still
a little bit use the word can't, right, when
it's outside our power ability. But even then,
we hear it in our heads. You can't say can't,
right? So as long as you can't say can't. then
you're really ruling out the fact that God may
not want you to, aren't you? Because you can't
do anything that God doesn't want you to do.
You see how every mantra, no matter how good
it is, at a certain moment in time has to be
abandoned? So how do you solve that? You say,
okay, no matter what mantras we grab, no matter
what sayings we do, no matter what we add to
our family culture, it's all going to be submitted
to this number one thing. Jesus is Lord, God
and creator of the universe, and we will follow
him. And so if this saying interferes with that,
it's gone. The sayings can remain. But just be
100 % sure that before you say, we can't say
can't, you say Jesus is Lord. What if God gives
you a task to do that you can't do? Then what?
Has it ever happened? Well, there's a list of
martyrs who come into the kingdom of God first.
It happened. They couldn't outlive their, other
than to go to heaven, they couldn't outlive their
burning at the stake, their crucifixion. They're
being whipped to death. They were supposed to
spread the gospel over the whole world. The disciples,
every single one of them was supposed to spread
the gospels over the whole world, right? Jerusalem,
Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of
the earth. Did any of them succeed in that mission?
No, because it still hasn't happened to this
day. But that mission was to be handed down to
us and has been over and over and over again
until it got to us. And we are part of that.
Will we make sure the gospel reaches every end
of the earth? Probably not. But is it still our
task? Yeah, and we can't do it. So then what?
Then we submit it to the Lord. You have to live
and not fear because grace covers sin. But this
is no excuse for not training yourself to test
the spirits. For not putting Jesus first in all
things. For not walking the highway of holiness
to the best of your present ability. Herod, as
I said earlier, did all those things to protect
his throne which God had given him. Eliminating
family and rivals. His wife, Mariamne. His mother,
Alexandra. It wasn't his mother -in -law. I apologize.
It was his mother. He killed his own mother.
He had three of his sons killed. Antipater, Alexander,
Aristobulus. He ordered the execution of 300
court officers and Sanhedrin members early in
his reign. How far will you personally go to
protect what you think God has done in your family?
Is it sinful far? Is it excuse far? Is it violence
far? Is it family culture in contrast to scripture
far? Then you're not realizing that you have
what you have because God did it in the first
place. Even a family culture that says, we thank
God for all we have. would not save you. Because
you would not know. You would be thinking, I'm
thanking God for all I have, but in your heart
you would know it's really not. I'm really not
thanking God for all I have. So, are you spending
your effort in enforcing your family culture
rather than in walking with Him? If so, then
your family culture has become an idol. List
out in your head right now one thing that your
family always does. That one thing had better
be in line with Scripture, better be followers
of Jesus good, or otherwise it better be submitted
to the Lord. List one thing in your head that,
you know, I always think, I always do, I would
always, always take the opportunity to do that,
given the opportunity. It better be in line with
following Jesus. Otherwise, as you pursue that
thing, God will harden your heart over and over
again. until you finally submit it to Him. I'm
going to pray briefly, and then we're going to
have the praise team come forward and lead us
in our final hymn. Father in Heaven, as we begin
this new year, for some of us it might be right
now in this moment that we're thinking about
accepting, believing, receiving leadership from
the God of the universe, that You would be in
charge of us. instead of us being in charge of
us. By the renewing of our mind and the testing
of all spirits, we would examine all that we
have become, all that we have added. The Scripture
makes it clear that we should now and then set
up a pillar to mark a moment in time, that we
should say, ah, that's not to be forgotten. The
Scripture makes it clear that we should stand
up for our loved ones, that as men we should
do everything in our power to be spiritual leaders
in our homes. As women, We should work alongside
our husbands, do everything in our power to make
them able and then to be able ourselves to lead,
to serve, to govern, to provide just the same.
As every young person in the room, we're supposed
to honor and obey our parents in all things and
step up to follow the Lord into dark places to
bring light. We should abandon everything that
looks like rebellion. And follow the God of the
universe. With all that we are. That we might
be made victorious. I don't know why it is that
we think we can build a half God, half man kingdom.
And live that into heaven. That is not what scripture
says. We live in an all God kingdom. It's called
the kingdom of God. And there will be probably
as many family cultures and varieties. inside
there and outside there as there are people.
It's not even true that in the same family, for
example, that both parents think the family culture
is the same thing. Nobody sees any two things
exactly the same. But today, Lord, I'm asking
you to help us submit our family culture as a
church and as every family here represented for
singles and for young people and for parents
and grandparents. and aunts and uncles and brothers
and sisters, that for every single one of us,
we would test the spirits and decide, when we
add something to ourselves or add something to
our family, that that thing, whatever is added,
must first be submitted to you. For myself, I
pray it. For every person present, I pray it,
even fully knowing that there might be amongst
us those who will fall. Those who will walk away
and not be changed by what you've said. Those
who will not experience the power that you offer
to build a family culture truly inside the kingdom
of God. And I mourn them. I hope better for them.
I pray for them. And I pray I would not be one.
And I pray instead that you would be God and
I would be a child of God. And I pray this in
Jesus' name. Amen. I ask the praise team to come
forward and lead us in our closing hymn. If this
word from God's word has affected you in some
way and you feel like you need to make a public
decision, this is your opportunity to do so.
You can walk to the front of the room or raise
your hand wherever you're at and just say, hey,
that's me. I'm turning my life over to the Lord
in some certain way today, confessing a sin,
giving up something, whatever it might be. And
then we'll pray for you and look forward to seeing
the great things that God is going to do. Okay?
As we sing, would you stand with me? And then
you sing, but if you're deciding, or walking,
or raising your hand, you don't have to be singing
right this second.