Thank you for listening to this message from
Lifehouse Church. And there is power in family.
Second week, we talked about the testimony in
family and how powerful it is to hear one another's
testimony. That should happen all the time in
this house. We need to hear the story of what
Jesus is doing. Last week, we went to Genesis
chapter two, really unfolded the entire chapter,
talked about some of God's system structures
and plans in there and how his provisional work
is there in our lives and the gift of work itself
and the gift of choice, right? Love is choice.
How many know if you love somebody, there's a
choice involved in all that? Amen? It's true.
And at the end of last week's message, I landed
on something I just began to touch on, what the
God glue is in family. I don't know if you know
it or not, but there's God glue in family. And
that particular term that I came up with, that
God glue, is unity. Say unity. Unity. Being one.
Being one, all right? So I'm getting ready to
take you into Matthew. We're going to go into
the New Testament this week, into Matthew 12,
verse 33. So I'm going to ask you, if you would,
I want you to stand just one more time this morning,
and then I'll let you sit down. I want to do
a couple of things. You can head to Matthew 12.
We're going to start at verse 33. And while you're
standing, hey, listen, you're already standing
up. Turn to somebody. Give them a high five.
Tell them it's good to see you in church. Good
to see you at LifeHouse today. Tell them they're
looking okay. They cleaned up okay on a Sunday.
Yeah, come on. You can even tell them it's going
to get sticky in here, all right? We're going
to talk about glue today. But I want, we're going
to pray and then we're going to read God's word.
Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for
each person that's in the house and the opportunity,
God, to dive into your word that is truth and
it is life. And God, Lord, God, it opens us bare.
It lays us open to you. And Lord, I pray that
you would touch our hearts. God, you would touch
our minds. God, that you would, Lord, minister
in our souls. God, that it might change our actions
and that we might be pleasing to you. And we
just give you praise. We give you glory and honor
in Jesus' name. And amen. you would just stay
standing for the reading of the word. And just
to give you just a little background as we go
into this scripture, this is where Jesus is talking
about this serious nature of unity. While in
the middle of a tension -filled conversation
with Pharisees, he really... blurts out or talks
about what is so important about unity. Matthew
12, 22 says this, then one was brought to him
who was demon possessed. Now, what took place
is the Pharisees are questioning Jesus because
Jesus heals a man who is demon possessed and
blind and mute. He casts out the demon and heals
this man of the blindness and this mute tongue
that he has. So then one was brought to him who
was demon possessed. blind and mute, and he healed
him, so that the blind and the mute man both
spoke and saw. And all the multitudes were amazed
and said, could this be the son of David? They
were saying, could this be the Messiah? Now,
when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this
fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub,
the rulers of demons. The Pharisees were against
Jesus, and they came and they actually accused
him of casting out this demon by the prince of
demons, really Satan himself. Verse 25 says,
But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them,
Every kingdom divided against itself is brought
to desolation, and every city or house, say house,
divided against itself will not stand. If Satan
casts out Satan, he's divided against himself.
How then will this kingdom stand? And if I cast
out demons by Beelzebub, whom do your sons cast
them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges.
But if I cast out demons by the spirit of God,
surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
You may be seated this morning. What's the truth?
What's the principle that Jesus is teaching?
What is the universal law that Jesus is placing
out as he begins to debunk the argument of the
Pharisees and the accusations that came against
him? And it is this, a house. divided against
itself cannot stand. A house divided cannot stand,
right? Jesus said that a house, a kingdom, a
city that is not united is going down. Sooner
or later, it's going to divide. It's going to
split. If the house is good or the house is evil.
Either one, if there's division in the house,
it's going to go down. Jesus was really kind
of moving us into a universal law of God. It
really is. He was letting the Pharisees know
that this is a universal law that applies. It's
a spiritual law that applies. It includes everyone.
It includes him. It includes me. It even included
Satan and his kingdom, right? And this is a spiritual
law that holds true whether you believe it or
whether you don't. believe it. Some things you
might believe and some things you might not believe.
You may not believe this, but it's true anyway.
It's a little bit like the law of gravity, all
right? How many know we all are under the law
of gravity if you live on this planet? Raise
your hand if you know that. All right, the rest
of you are going to figure it out soon, okay?
There's a law of gravity that's in place, right?
And it's the truth whether you believe it or
not. It's not relative to my circumstance. It's
not relevant to my situation. It's not even relevant
to my bias. It doesn't even matter what I think
about gravity. Gravity exists. If you're a human
located somewhere on this sphere that we call
Earth, right, gravity affects you. You stay firmly
planted on the ground. this morning because of
gravity, whether you believe in it or not. How
many know I can flap my arms as long as I want
to, and I'm not going to fly off at this stage,
right? If I go off at the end of this stage,
gravity is going to take me down. Now, I might
fall gracefully, all right? I may bounce and
roll right out and jump right back up on my feet.
I might try to make it look good, but I'm not
going to fly. I'm not going to shoot up through
that dome in some kind of manner because gravity
is a universal law. And this is a universal law.
If you lack unity in your house, if there's division
present, cracks are going to come. And Jesus
said, if that goes long enough, desolation's
in your future. I know, nobody's going to say
amen to that, right? Right? Any group of people.
Larger than the number one is a family. Actually,
if you're a Christian and your number is one,
you're single, and you're a Christian, you've
already got two in your family because it's you
and Jesus, right? It's Jesus and you. And there's
already two in your family. So there can't be
division because division creates problems. If
the house is divided, how many of you get in
a rowboat and you start rowing? If there's two
people in the rowboat and each person has an
oar, the idea is this, right? You want to row
the same direction and you want to row with the
same cadence. What happens if one person isn't
in unity with the other person? One person's
tired. You're like, I don't want to row. And
the other one's going, I'm going, I'm going for
it. What do you start to do? You start to turn,
right? You're going to head for the riverbank.
You're going to smash. What happens if one's
rowing one direction and one's rowing the other
direction? Oh, yeah, you're going to spin in
circles. I use this analogy all the time. You're
going to spin in. If you've got division, you're
going to spin in circles. And how many know if
you spin in circles long enough, you start to
get angry? Because you can't get anywhere, right?
And how many know if you stay in the boat long
enough, instead of paddling water with that oar,
you're going to get it out and smack each other
with it, right? You're going to get irritated
with it. And it's division. So if there's division
in the house, if you're going two different directions,
if you're not in the same cadence, if there's
not unity, right, and it happens long enough,
you're going to have, you're going to come to
a place of desolation. You're going to abandon
ship. You're going to dive out of the boat and
head for swim for sure. Desolation is a complete
emptiness or destruction of something. That's
what Jesus said. I didn't say it. He said it.
And people like to think, well, that's not really
true in my family. You know, that's not us. You
just got to understand who we are. You know,
we just fight all the time. We got division all
the time, right? That doesn't apply to us. That's
just how we roll, Pastor. That's what we do in
our house, right? Let me tell you something.
Gravity applies to you too, right? This is a
universal law. In any family, between one and
100, and I don't know anybody in this house that's
got 100 people in your family right now, but
it could be, right? But unity is the glue in
your family. If you're single and you're following
Jesus and it's just Jesus and you, unity is the
glue. If you're married and it's your husband
and your wife and Jesus, unity is the glue. If
you've got children and the circle starts to
expand out with all the kids, whether that's
one, two, three, or a dozen, right, unity is
the glue. If you're following Jesus with a body
of other believers in this house, unity is the
glue. that holds us together. We have to be in
unity. We got to get ready. If you're not in
unity, we start to become unglued. We start to
separate. So here's the thing. You got to stay
vigilant when it comes to unity. In your home,
in this church, when we're together, we got to
be vigilant about what we're unified on. We got
to be checking. the glue on a regular basis.
We got to be talking with one another. We got
to be inspecting, right? We should be looking
for the cracks in unity. We should keep our eyes
peeled for these things. We should guard against
division and disunity and spot it as soon as
it starts to take place and catch it on the front
end before it gets too far. We got to root it
out, right? We got to be watching. Don't tolerate
division of the house. Don't dismiss it. Don't
downplay it. Don't pretend it's not happening,
right? Don't say that's just how we roll. Don't
excuse it because division is the enemy of the
family. Amen? I know it's tough preaching this
morning, right? And many times it's Satan's attack
to take down the house. He knows that this is
a universal principle. He knows that this applies
in good or evil. He knows that if he can get
division, if he can get cracks, if he can start
to make things go this direction, one go one
direction, one go the other, one get out of cadence
from the other, if he knows if he can make that
happen, that if he can do it long enough, desolation
comes, right? I ran a survey this week. Super
interesting. This is from Forbes Advisory Survey.
This was taken in 2023. And the interesting part
of this is that Forbes typically is a financial
survey group. And this is a secular group. This
isn't a Christian survey group. But listen to
what they say. It says this, that only 5 % of
divorcees say that there was no way their marriage
could have been saved. Only 5%. out of everyone
that gets divorced. A whopping 63 % said that
if they had a better understanding of commitments
prior to marrying, they could have helped them
avoid divorce. And 54 % said if they had a better
understanding of their spouse's morals and values,
priorities to getting married, they might still
be together. Do you know what that survey reveals?
That 95 % of couples who are divorced said they
could possibly still be married if they were
in unity, if they were on the same page about
something. 95 % of them. And this article goes
on to spell out the reasons. For the divorce.
And it's not what I thought. Honestly, I read
statistics many years ago, and it really isn't
what I thought it was. Number six is this. They
give the top six. Number six is finances. Number
five is relationships with friends. Number four
is relationships with family. Number three is
division of household labor. Chores, man. Chores
will mess you up in your house. All right? Parenting
differences is number two. Number one is career
choices. I was shocked when I saw all these.
The reason for division of the house is not that
the other person in the marriage is this horrible,
morally bankrupt person. That's only 5 % of them,
right? It's not some degenerate that somebody
married, and it's just a total mess. It's all
these reasons. It is the God glue of family.
People are out of unity with each other. They're
not stepping with one another. They're not working
this out. Jesus said it. Every kingdom divided
against itself is brought to desolation. And
every city or house divided against itself will
not stand. The God glue of family is unity. So
we got to ask ourselves. We got to ask ourselves
the question, right? You got to ask yourself
the tough question. How united is my family?
Come on. Some of you got to say amen. I'm getting
scared up here. Nobody's saying anything. How
united is my family? How united is our church,
right? Unity in the house. Listen, if we're gonna
stand, Jesus said it. If we're gonna stand, we
gotta be united. So how do we do it? How do we
do it? How do we produce this God glue right
for family? Because Lord knows we have plenty
of division. We have plenty of division in our
personal families. We've got plenty of division.
Sometimes it takes place in churches, right?
How do we get this God glue? Well, I'm going
to give you some basic ingredients. I'm going
to give you one today. You got to come back two
weeks from now. I'm going to give you another
one. All right. That was a little teaser, by
the way. Get you back. Father's Day is going
to be awesome. Desmond Wellington is going to
be here. Bishop Desmond. But come back the second
week. But what are the basic ingredients of this
God glue for family that I'm talking about? For
unity. Well, the first one is this. It is leadership.
Say leadership. who is leading this family who
is leading the individuals that make up this
family who are the individuals um believing is
leadership right it's what you believe who are
the individuals in the family who do they believe
that the leader of the family is who do they
perceive that is leading the family, right? Leadership
is one of the ingredients of God glue, of unity
in the family. And you could go around this church.
You could ask any three -year -old, amen? We
got a lot of three -year -olds here. You could
go and ask any three -year -old who the leader
of the family is, and they're probably not going
to be able to give you an answer. But how many
know they think they are? Come on, at age three.
They think they're leading the family, right?
Sometimes until they're about 13 and then beyond,
right? They think they're leading the family.
And if they're not sure who the leader is, they're
just going to go ahead and lead anyway, right?
And, you know, a three -year -old, when they
want to lead, they don't do it like you and I.
They don't command and demand. They just begin
to scream and cry and howl, right? We call that...
having a hissy fit. Anybody seen a kid have a
hissy fit? Anybody know what that is, all right?
It's when they throw themselves down, right?
And you know what they're doing right then? They're
trying to lead, all right? They're like, you're
not doing what I want you to do. You need, you
got to follow me right now. That's what a three
-year -old's saying. Just slide in behind me.
I'll take you where we're going to go to the
promised land, all right? Whatever that is for
a three -year -old. That's what they're saying,
right? And how many of you got some children
in your house that are over five feet tall and
they still having hissy fits? Come on, yeah,
amen. Don't look at anybody right now. Don't
say anything, all right? It's true. It's true.
You know, but the moment the family members start
looking to different individuals as leaders in
the home and they're not sure who's leading,
they're not sure what's going on, they'll start
to decide or they'll make themselves leaders.
They'll call it out themselves, right? That's
what leaders do. And some of your kids are leaders,
right? Some of you know what I'm talking about.
Some of you kids, you got strong willed kids.
They're like, hey, nobody's gonna lead. I'll
take command right now, right here. Give me the
controls, all right? They'll do it, right? But
it's about who's leading. Division of the house
will occur on some level in your household if
we don't know who is leading, who the ultimate
leader is, right? E. Stanley Jones, a missionary
theologian and author said this, talk about what
you believe and you will have disunity. Talk
about who you believe in and you're gonna have
unity. Unity is a product of believing in the
same leader, following the same leader. Unity
is a product of believing in the same leader.
If you're looking for unity in your family, any
family, we got to discernment. We got to decide.
We got to honestly answer who's leading the family.
Is it Jesus leading your family or is it someone
else leading your family, right? We got to look
to who that ultimate person is. You know, is
Jesus leading the way as we go forward in family?
Are we modeling that? Are we seeing that? Are
we talking that? Are we teaching that? Are they
catching? this right? Or is someone else? John
Maxwell says, leadership is influence. Who's
influencing the people in your house? Is it Jesus?
Because different leaders will divide the path.
They will. Now, I was going to do this morning.
We don't have time for it. But I was going to
get two people up here and make them leaders,
a couple three -year -olds. Get them up here
and make them leaders, right? And have people
come in behind them. And no matter what two leaders
I got up here, if I got two adults up here and
I said, you're the leader, you're the leader.
And I said, six other people will follow in behind
them. Now I want you to lead them somewhere.
And I tell them, just walk around the church.
How many know they'd be on two different paths,
right? They're not going to walk the same way.
If you've got two leaders, if you've got three
leaders, they're not going to take the same path.
Even if I told them to walk down the middle aisle,
one would be on one side of the aisle and one
would be on the other side of the aisle, right?
Different leaders. You've got to determine who's
leading this deal, who's leading this family.
So many times in families, we're addressing the
symptoms of division when we never get down to
the core of the division. We're trying to figure
out, we're trying to patch up all the fights,
right? We're trying to make sure everybody comes
to a place of peace. And we're trying to make
peace. We're trying to do all things. But we
don't get down to what's cracking the glue. You
know, what's causing the fissures? What's causing
the chasms in the family? And I'm telling you,
it's leadership. It's one of the reasons. You
don't have God glue without leadership. You've
got to determine who we're following in this
house. What's this look like, right? Are the
members of my house following Colossians chapter
3? Let me read Colossians chapter 1, verses 9
through 20. It says this. And for all patience
and long -suffering with joy. Giving thanks to
the Father who has qualified us to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
He has delivered us from the power of darkness
and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of
His love, in whom we have redemption through
His blood and forgiveness of sins. Jesus is the
image of the invisible God, the firstborn over
all creation. For by him all things were created
that are in heaven and on the earth, visible
and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or
principalities or powers. All things were created
through him and for him. And he is before all
things, and in him all things consist. And he
is the head of the body, the church who is the
beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that
in all things that he may have preeminence. Say
preeminence. Do all the family members believe
that Jesus has preeminence? In the family, right?
Do I believe and act like Jesus is preeminent?
Preeminent means that he's supreme. He's the
supreme leader, right? He's the first leader.
He's the most powerful. He surpasses all other
leadership in the house, including myself, right?
Do I believe and not just recognize that Jesus
holds the highest rank in his family, that he
calls it, what he says goes? Do I live, move,
and have my being in this? Because if Jesus is
the preeminent leader in our home, right, there's
going to be unity if everyone believes that.
It holds true. And if not, there's division.
Luke 12, 49, sometimes people really wrestle
over this scripture. And Jesus said this, and
it's true. Let me read this for you. And it came,
and it says this. I came, Jesus talking. I came
to send fire on the earth and how I wish it were
already kindled. But I have a baptism to be baptized
with and how distressed I am to what's accomplished.
Do you suppose that I came to give peace on the
earth? I tell you not at all, but rather division.
From now on, five in one house will be divided.
Three against two and two against three. Father
will be divided against son and son against father,
mother against daughter and daughter against
mother, mother -in -law against her daughter
-in -law, and daughter -in -law against her mother
-in -law. Wow. Why did Jesus come and speak this
with an agenda to break up families, to dissolve
the glue of unity between us? No. A thousand
times no. But Jesus knew this. As he came as
God in the flesh, as he came to be the Prince
of Peace and the price that would pay for our
salvation, as he came to reconcile us back to
God and to be the preeminent leader in our lives,
he knew that some in the house would not receive
or believe in him. He knew that. He knew that
in one household, there will be three that will
believe that he's the preeminent leader, and
there will be two that won't, or there'll be
two and three the other direction. He knew that
there would be mother -in -law and father -in
-law, you know, or daughter -in -law divided
on this. He knew that. He knew that this would
not always be true in families, right? That it
would cause opposition. He's the glue. He's the
leader in their family. But also, right, it can
be a place of division. It's a place of division.
And I know this is difficult, right? This is
not amen kind of preaching. I wish it was. All
right? I know this is hard things to hear, but
it's true and it's universal. It's a law that
applies to all of us. And I'd love to say, you
know, well, if you just got the right intentions,
and, you know, if you're a Christian, you get
excluded from all this. I'd love to say that,
but it's not true. Jesus said this is how it's
going to be. So you've got to learn how to work
through this. You've got to learn how to wade
through this at every level of family, right,
at every stage of family. How do I navigate this?
What's this look like? If it's not always perfection,
right? It's not always that everybody's serving
God in our families. It's not that everybody
believes that he's the preeminent leader. So
what do I do with this? Well, I'm going to break
this out in three things, all right? I'm going
to talk to parents of young children. If you've
got young children, raise your hand, all right?
Raise your hand. A bunch of you got young children.
I'm going to tell you this right now. Leverage
this truth as much as you can when your kids
are young. You are a huge influence in your children's
lives. You are almost the exclusive influence
till they get up to age seven or eight years
old, intentionally move to make Jesus the supreme
leader of their life. Walk them through. Explain.
Show them the Word of God. Lead them to a place
of salvation. Live it. Talk it. Model it in every
way that you can. Let it be your obsession while
your children are young, right? Make it a top
priority to model that Jesus is the preeminent
supreme leader in this household. Make it possible.
And let me tell you right now, that doesn't guarantee
that your child's going to believe when they
come to a place of faith on their own. But you
do everything you can. Adopt, can I tell you
something? Adopt a Joshua mantra, all right?
Joshua said this. Joshua was surrounded by individuals
in Israel who did not want to serve God. And
he said, but as for me and my house, he said,
we're going to serve the Lord, right? In this
house, we serve the Lord while your children
are young. Mom and dad, you call it when your
kids are young. You call what happens in your
house. You call what doesn't happen in your house.
I like to tell parents, listen, when your kids
are little, you are the king and she is the queen.
Amen? Come on. Now, listen, that makes them,
right, princes and princesses. But you got to
call it. You got to lead in this. You got to
show them that Jesus is preeminent. Right? Walk
it out. But how many of those little ones, they
grow up? They don't stay little. I've been through
all these stages, by the way, all right? I know
what I speak. They turn into teenagers. Glory
to God, I'm praying for you. They turn into teenagers,
these little people, right? And it changes when
they turn into teenagers. It shifts. And a lot
of times parents, sometimes parents don't want
to make this shift or they don't even recognize
it. You got to, when it changes and when they
start thinking and working through their own
belief systems and what they believe and what
they don't believe, you got to get a little more
investigative in nature and not just calling
it, right? You got to start asking good questions.
You got to find out what your teenager believes
and what they don't believe. And here's how the
conversation is going to go. So what do you think
about that? Eh, nothing. How was your day? Eh,
okay. Right? You got to get them talking. How
many know out of the buns of the heart the mouth
speaks? You've got to get in conversation. You've
got to find out where the cracks are. You've
got to find out what they believe. What do they
believe? Don't let them just say something. If
they say something that's completely contrary
to what you're saying as a parent and following
Jesus, don't let them just walk away. You don't
got to yell at them and say, well, I hear what
you're saying now. You need to sit down and defend
that. Because I'm going to defend what I believe,
what Scripture says and what Jesus says, right?
You've got to get in conversations with them.
You've got to be a living example. You can't
put down being a living example. Listen, if you're
being a hypocrite in your own life, how many
know teenagers will sniff that out in a heartbeat?
I used to be a youth pastor. I used to work with
youth. Adults, they're nice. If you're a hypocrite,
they'll say, God bless you, shake your hand and
move on. They'll talk about you behind your back.
Teenagers won't do that. They'll call you out.
All right? You cannot be a hypocrite in front
of teenagers. You've got to live what you believe,
and you've got to believe what you live. And
you've got to speak it out. If it is a teenager,
get in conversation. Get godly influence around
them outside of you. Young parents, hear me in
this. So many young parents, I know your kid
is three or four, and the whole world revolves
around mom and dad. But I'm telling you, when
they start getting older, you're not the only
influence in their life. And sometimes parents,
they just keep going with blinders on, and they
think that's true. When a kid is a teenager,
when they start moving towards teenager, get
them around godly influences because they're
starting to listen to other voices. You've got
to get them around people who are rowing the
same way you're going. It is one of the most
important things you'll do. My daughter, Alyssa,
is sitting on the front. And I remember when
they were in the house, the teenagers, and they
would get around some of the preachers that I
knew, and they would hear preaching, and they'd
be like, Dad, you should hear this message. And
they're like, they're expounding on it, and they're
explaining it. And I'm thinking, I just preached
that last week. They didn't even hear me. You
got to get them around other influence. You got
to get them around people who are going to speak
into their lives and speak over their lives.
push in that direction, make them, drop them
off, get them there. They've got to hear other
influences in their lives. They need to hear
it. You're not going to be the only voice. They're
going to look to other leadership and other environments.
You're still a big part of their life. You're
still big influence in your life, but you're
not the only voice. Amen? Come on. It's true.
Now, let me talk to parents that have late teens,
18, 19s. Sometimes 17, right? And young adults
in your home. Your young adults are going to
make decisions. Everybody decides what they believe.
Everybody decides if they're going to follow
Jesus. Jesus, I preached on this last week. You
have choice, right? That's why Jesus put the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the
garden. Because Adam had a choice because God's
love and love always has a choice. And your teenagers
are going to choose, or your young adults are
going to choose whether they're going to follow
God or not. So the past is a little bit different
when they come to age, when they get to that
place. First, you've got to pray, all right?
If they're not following God, if there's division
in the house, you got to pray for a change of
heart. You got to call out to God because it's
the Holy Spirit and you at this point. They need
the Holy Spirit. You got to pray over them. You
got to pray that God will reach them. You got
to pray that God's going to open their ears,
right? You got to continue to live the life.
You cannot be hypocritical at this point. You
can't. If you thought they could figure it out
when they're teenagers, when they're young adults,
they see everything. They understand what's going
on around. Hypocrisy will get you nowhere. But
you've got to pray. You've got to put them in
God's hands. And then secondly, you've got to
manage the division. You've got to manage the
division. All right? How you're handling that
son or daughter who does not believe that Jesus
should be the spiritual leader of life, you got
to handle and manage the division. Now, let me
take you to a verse of scripture that will help
you with this. Colossians 4 .2 says this, continue
earnestly in prayer. There it is for the first
step, right? Got to pray. Be vigilant in it with
thanksgiving. You got to pray. Meanwhile, praying
also for us that God may open to us a door for
the word to speak the mystery of Christ. This
is Paul writing to the... Colossians, for which
I am also in chains that I may make it manifest
as I ought to speak. Now he gives some instructions.
He says, walk in wisdom towards those who are
outside, outside the faith, right? Who don't
believe, redeeming the time. Let your speech
always be with grace, say grace, and seasoned
with salt. Say seasoned with salt. Worship team,
if you start to make your way. You have to be
a spiritual sweet and salty bar with young adults.
You got to be a spiritual sweet and salty bar.
Your speech has to be with grace. Now, how many
know when sometimes when the young adult in your
home is not living like you think they should
be living, the last thing we give is grace. Amen.
We get fired up, man. I'm with you. I blew this
a million times. You get fired up. You want to
tell them how it is, right? You want to pretend
they're like five again, and they think the world
revolves around you. The Word of God says, this
is the Word of God speaking, let your speech
be full of grace. Grace. Grace is favor, kindness.
It's attractive. It is beauty. There's elegance.
There's gratitude. Are you hearing the Word of
the Lord this morning? Let it be full of grace,
not contempt, not frustration. Go vent that somewhere
else. Get your head together and then come back
and talk, right? Not a judgmental tone. Just
come in with grace. And if you blow it, ask forgiveness
and come back again. But once you come with grace,
that should be seasoned with salt. Salt. Salt
has a lot of different qualities. Salt adds flavor
to something, right, if you sprinkle it on. But
how many know if you add too much salt onto something
you're trying to flavor, it ruins it? You ever
have the top come off of a lid, and you're putting
salt on instead of sprinkling, you dump the whole
thing on, and you just mourn the steak right
there. You have a mourning, a moment of mourning,
and then you gather yourself, like, if I scrape
it off, I think it'll still work. And you scrape
it all off, and you put some steak sauce on it,
right? But it'll ruin it. Too much salt, right?
But if you put the right amount of salt on something,
salt preserves. If you put the right on, it heals
what it touches. The right amount of salt will
purify and soften water. It will melt. ice and
it will crack concrete. It'll crack something
that is hard. So when we come to young adults
and we're speaking to them in our home, you got
to have full of grace. You got to be, but you
better have some salt with it, right? You better
bring some truth with it. You better bring something
that is solid from the throne room of grace and
you mix those together. So it's what you want
to just confuse the daylights out of them. You're
just as kind as can be. And then you nail them
with salt, right? Little sweet, little salt,
little sweet, little salt. Sweden, Saudi, for
those who don't believe, you gotta show the love
of God. Jesus was a master at this. He was a
master at it. He was always gentle with the person
who was far from God. He was always gracious
with the person that was far from God. Look at
it in scripture. But man, the hypocrites, the
Pharisees, the ones who should have known better,
he was salt and he poured it on. Amen, it's true.
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