Families Serving God

Introduction

Good morning. It is so good to see all of you here this morning. It is a blessing to be able to be with God’s people to worship God in spirit and in truth. I want to thank all of our brothers who have done such a wonderful job leading us in our worship to God, and I am grateful for the opportunity you’ve given to me to stand before you and lead and lead in a study from the Word of God. In fact, as we begin the study this morning from God’s Word, I want to begin by directing your attention back to those verses that Shawn Michael just read for us from Ephesians 5 and 6. I realized that that was a lengthy reading from the Word of God, but I asked Sean Michael to read those verses because they talk about something very important.

They talk about something that is relevant to nearly every single person in this room. They talk about family.

Have you ever stopped and considered the numerous families that make up this church?

You ever thought about how in this church right now we have so many families? In this church, we have a lot of married couples.

We have so many families in this church. And the question is: what are you doing with yours? What are you doing with your family? If you are blessed to have a family, like I am blessed to have a family, are you serving God with your family? Are you doing what Joshua says he did with his family in the Old Testament? In Joshua chapter 24. And Joshua chapter 24, after the children of Israel had finally conquered the promised land by the blessing of God, and after they had divided that land up, Joshua, the great leader of God’s people, he stood before the people and he made this declaration. In Joshua 24 and verse number 15, he says, if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served, which were beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you’re living, but as for me and my house, as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.

Notice what Joshua is declaring on that occasion. Joshua is committing, committing himself to serving the Lord. He is committing himself to serving the Lord who had blessed him, and he’s also committing to serving the Lord with his family. Joshua’s going to serve God with his family. The question is, are we doing that? Are we serving God with our family? I want you to seriously think about that. Because in 2026, the theme that our elders or our shepherds have chosen for us has to do with family. It has to do with my family and your family, particularly, it has to do with families serving God. Family serving God. This year we’re going to talk a lot about that. We’re going to talk a lot about married couples serving God.

And we’re going to talk a lot about raising children as parents to serve God. And we’re also going to talk about the need for families to prioritize God in a busy world and connect and communicate and help each other with their spiritual struggles. And we’re even going to consider the importance of grandparents and being good stewards of our blessings and how you can serve God with your family, even if you’re married to somebody who’s not a Christian. Family serving God. That’s what our focus is going to be as a congregation this year. And in case you’re wondering why this topic, why did the elders pick this? Why is this so important? Well, let me submit that this is important first because of God. Because of God, because God wants families to serve Him.

We learn this as early as the second chapter in the Bible in Genesis chapter 2. We learn that not long after God made the world in which we live, God then made the first man and the first woman, and they were married and bound, and they formed the first family. God made the first family all the way back in the beginning, and he gave them instructions to serve him and obey him. In fact, not only did God want the first family to obey him and serve him, but he wants that for every family. This is a requirement for every family. It was required of all the all the Israelite families. And Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 7. And Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 7, Moses said to the children of Israel, you shall teach them diligently to your sons, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.

What is Moses saying there? Well, Moses there is simply telling the child the children of Israel that you need to teach the word of God to your children. You need to talk about God and His commandments with your children all the time while you’re eating breakfast in the morning, while you’re going about life and daily activities, even right before you go to bed at night. You need to constantly help your children understand who God is and how to apply his word in their lives. God wanted the Israelite families to serve him, and he also wants that for Christian families today. We see that in Ephesians 6 and verse 4, whereas the apostle Paul speaks to fathers, the leaders of the household. He says to Christian fathers, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord beyond raising our children to be good model citizens in this country.

God also wants us to raise our children to serve him. God also wants us to raise our children to love him. He wants us to teach our children his commandments and the need to prioritize him in their lives. This matter is important. Families serving God are important because of God. This is important to God, but not only is this important to God, family serving God is also important to the church. It’s also important to the local church. You know, in 1 Timothy 3 and in Titus 1, we learn that one of the things that God wants in every local church is leadership. He wants churches to have qualified elders and deacons serving his people. And praise God, this church has had men in those roles and positions for a very long time.

But the question is, how can we ensure that that continues? How can we ensure that this wonderful church continues to have qualified men serving as elders and deacons, men who meet the family qualifications of Scripture? How can we ensure that this church continues having strong Bible classes and Bible class teachers and Christians who are willing to attend those classes and participate in those classes and bring their kids to those classes? How can we ensure that this work will continue to grow and thrive and remain a beacon of light that shines brightly in this community for decades to come? I submit to you that families dedicated to serving God plays a huge role in that. Godly fathers plays a huge role in that. Godly mothers plays a huge role in that.

Godly children plays a huge role in that. When families serve God together, the church benefits. The Bible classes benefit. The worship assemblies and the edification of those assemblies benefits. The church is equipped to grow and thrive, and it is better positioned to always move forward, even when the current seasoned saints are no longer there. Family serving God is important to God. And it’s important to the local church, and it’s also important to our society.

There’s an old adage that says, as the home goes, so goes the nation. And another says the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Both of those adages are saying the same thing. They’re telling us that families are important. Families serving God are important. They not only impact our family, but they also impact our society. They impact our communities and our country. Let me tell you something. If we have more families serving God in this country right now, I seriously doubt that we would currently have over 60% of parents saying that they would be okay with their children being homosexual. And I also seriously doubt that we would have only a little over half of parents thinking that abstinence until marriage is important. And we certainly wouldn’t have hundreds of thousands of divorces taking place in this country each year.

And so many marriages that consist of verbal and physical abuse and immorality and lack of intimacy and commitment. And there certainly wouldn’t be over 70% of young people between the ages of 13 and 17 who’ve been exposed to pornography. And nearly half of all high school students admitting to drinking alcohol, and over 30% of them admitting to already having sex. It reminds me of what the scripture says in Judges. Judges 21, 25. You’re familiar with that verse, right? Whereas the Bible describes the darkest time in Israel’s history, the time of the judges, it says, in those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Doesn’t that seem like where we’re going? This is why this is so important.

Family serving God is vital to the moral fabric of our culture and society. They’re important to God. They’re important to the upbringing and raising of children. They’re important to the work of this church, they’re important even to our country. They’re important in so many different ways. And thankfully, in the Bible, we find numerous examples of them. They’re all over the place. And I’m just going to show you a few examples. And the ones I’m going to show you from the Old Testament are going to be found in one book. I’m not going to take you all over the place. We’re going to go to one book and see some. Go to Nehemiah. Go to the book of Nehemiah, please. I love the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah is one of my favorite leaders of the scriptures.

And in Nehemiah chapter 3, we find Nehemiah leading the people to rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. And in this chapter, what you have is a whole bunch of names, a bunch of names that Sean Jeffries can’t say. And I’m not going to try to.

What do we find going on there? Well, in that verse, we see among the people who were helping Nehemiah rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in record time was a man named Sholem and his daughters. You see that? Sholem and his daughters were both involved in this critical work for God. They were side by side, rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. What do you find here? This is a family serving God. A family serving God right there. Go now to Nehemiah chapter 8, because in Nehemiah chapter 8, beginning in verse 1, the scripture says in Nehemiah chapter 8 and verse number 1, and all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the water gate. And they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel.

Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women, and watch this now, and all who could listen with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. He read from it before the square, which was in front of the water gate from early morning. Watch this, in case you want to complain about time this morning. Look at this. From early morning until midday, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand, and all the people were attentive. They actually paid attention to the book of the law. What do you have going on in those verses? Well, that there you have a congregation, an assembly of Israelites who have come together to praise God. They’re bringing glory to God. They’ve come together specifically to hear reading from the word of God.

You have men gathered, women gathered, and all of those who could listen with understanding. Who are those people? Well, when the Bible talks about those who could listen with understanding, it is referring to children. It is referring to children who were old enough to both listen to and comprehend the word of God. What you find there are families serving God. Families coming together to bring glory to God and to hear teaching and reading from the Word of God. Let’s add to that what we find in Nehemiah chapter 12. Go in your Bible to Nehemiah 12. Because in Nehemiah 12, this is after the wall has been rebuilt in less than two months and 52 days. It’s an incredible feat, and the people give the glory to God.

They know that God is the reason why this has been accomplished. And they are going to come together to worship and give thanks. Look at verse 43. Just look at verse 43, please. In verse 43, it says, On that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, because God had given them great joy. Even look at this, the women and the children rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar. You have Israelites coming together to worship God. They’re worshiping, praising God. And notice that’s not just limited to men. That’s not just limited to adult males on this occasion. No, this involves entire families. There are women and children involved in this. These are families serving God. These kind of examples are all over the place.

They’re all over the book of Nehemiah, they’re all over the Old Testament, but not only are they sprinkled and revealed throughout the Old Testament, they’re also all over the New Testament. For example, in Luke chapter 2, remember in the brief information we have about Jesus as a child, we learned that that included going up to Jerusalem from Nazareth, which was about 80 miles to worship. Jesus went up to Jerusalem every year like clockwork at the feast of the Passover to worship God with his family. He was part of a family that served God.

Because in Acts chapter 21, we learn about the travels of the Apostle Paul. And the Apostle Paul is making his way to Jerusalem, and he has Luke with him, the writer of Acts, and they go through Koes and Phoenicia and Cyprus, and eventually they end up entire. And in Acts 21 and verse 4, in verse 4, it says, after looking up the disciples, we stayed there seven days, and they kept telling Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem. When our days there were ended, we left and started on our journey while they all, with wives and children, escorted us until we were out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach and praying, we said farewell to one another. Then we went aboard the ship and they returned home again.

You got families here. Before continuing on on a dangerous journey to Jerusalem, families came together at Tyre, families of Tyre came together to bid Paul farewell. Christian fathers, mothers, and children gathered near his ship to encourage him and pray with him and wish him God speed. This morning, I’m blessed to say that my mentor is here, Max Dawson and his wife Lee. And Max has been preaching a long time. Max has taught me everything I know about preaching, so all the bad stuff, blame it on him. It’s all his fault. But Max taught me, taught me everything I know about preaching. He started teaching me 20 years ago, and he’s still teaching me to this day. And I remember when I was working with him back in 2006, 2007.

In 2007, we went to Africa together. And I begged him to let me go. I was 24 years old. And I really wanted him to go. I didn’t know I was going to fast for 30 days on that trip, but I begged him to let me go. And he he let me go. I went with him and another elder and a deacon. And he may not remember this, but I do. Before we went on that trip, before we went to the airport to make our way to Johannesburg, there were some Christian families that met us in the parking lot at the church building. And they prayed with us. And they encouraged us. And some even gave money so that we can give it to starving brethren in Zimbabwe.

Those were families serving God. Doing exactly what these families did here with Paul and Luke. Family serving God in Tyre. But let’s keep going to verse 7. Look at verse 7, please. Look at verse 7. Acts 21 and verse 7 goes on to say this. When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we, now Luke notice writing in the first person, he’s with Paul. We arrived at Ptolemas, and after greeting the brethren, we stayed with them for a day. On the next day we left and came to Caesarea and entering the house of Philip the evangelist. This is the same Philip that we read about in Acts chapter 8, who preached to the Samaritans. This is the same Philip who preached to the Ethiopian eunuch. He is the same Philip who was one of the first deacons in the church at Jerusalem.

It says, on the next day we left and came to Caesarea and entering the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we stayed with him. Now this man had four virgin daughters who were prophetesses. Notice carefully what we see going on here. Notice how here Luke tells us that when they got to Caesarea, they stayed with a family. They stayed with Philip and his daughters. Philip and his four daughters who were prophetesses, they opened their homes to these traveling preachers. They showed hospitality. They blessed them with an opportunity to get some rest before they continued on to Jerusalem. A family serving God. They’re all over the place. All over the Old Testament, all over the New Testament. We find so many examples of families who loved God.

1. Worship God With Our Family

They loved others and they did God’s work together. The question is, how can we be like these people? How can our families be like these families? Well, let me close very quickly by giving you some practical things that we can do right now to be like these families. Let me give you some practical things that we can do right now. We don’t have to wait till the end of the year to do these things. Then we can do them right now to serve God with our family. And the first thing is obvious. The first thing we’re doing right now is worship God. Worship God with our family. Like the people that we read about in the time of Nehemiah, worshiping God is a way in which we can serve God with our family.

Getting up together as a family on the Lord’s Day. Getting dressed, being on time for Bible classes, participating and helping each other stay engaged. Encouraging our children during a time like this. To not just sit there and count the clock, watch the minutes go by. No, get a Bible. Open up a Bible. Listen to the Bible. Take some notes. Do your best to pay attention to the teaching. Give our children some money to put in the collection box so they can learn right now about the value and the need to give to support God’s work. Encourage our children to sing, to sing loud, to sing out, and not just sit there in the pew.

Bow our heads together as a family. And as a brother leads us in prayer, we concentrate together. We talk to God through prayer as a family, discuss the things we’ve learned today in the car ride on the way home. Worshiping God is one of the ways in which we can serve God with our family. And let me just say that I am so encouraged by all these families I see here today worshiping God. God bless you. That’s encouraging to me. I’m so encouraged to look out at this audience right now and see so many married couples. They’re here to worship God. And you got parents, you got grandparents. You got single parents, you got people who may be married to people who are not Christians and you’re doing your best to still be here and worship God.

You may even be bringing your children to worship God and you’re teaching them the value of worshiping God despite your situation. You need to be commended for that. Families.

2. Grow in the Word of God With Our Family

Do you remember Cornelius? God wanted the apostle Peter to go to the household of Cornelius to preach to him the gospel. Cornelius is going to be the first Gentile to respond to the gospel. But look at what the Bible says in Acts 10 in verse number 24. In Acts 10 in verse number 24, it says, on the following day, he, talking about Peter, entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them, and he had called together his relatives and close friends. Notice the scripture says that among the people who were gathered in Cornelius’ house on this occasion to hear Peter preach was his family. It was his relatives. You would agree that that would have included his wife, right? And that would have included his kids and his grandkids if he had grandkids.

Here we see that Cornelius was the kind of man who believed in studying the word of God with his family. He believed in studying the word of God with the people who were closest to him in his life, and we can do the same thing today with our family. Like Cornelius does here, we can make opportunities to grow in the word of God with our family. I don’t care how busy we are, we all have busy schedules. We all do. But we can still make time to do daily Bible reading with our family. We can carve out at least 20 or 30 minutes a day to read the Bible with our kids. We can help them prepare for their Bible classes. We can discuss with them what they learned from the sermon at lunch today.

3. Pray for Others With Our Family

We can discuss with our kids at the breakfast table the spiritual struggles and the spiritual doubts they’re having right now. And then we can use the word of God to help them work through those things. We can grow in the word of God with our family. And we can also do some praying. We can pray for others with our family. You ever stopped and considered just how many people God tells us we need to be praying for? It’s all over the place. I mean, in the Bible, we learn we need to be praying for our rulers and the people and positions of authority in our country. And we need to pray for all men, and we need to pray for one another, and we need to pray for workers in the kingdom, and we need to pray for brethren who confess their sins.

There’s so many people that who need our prayers every single day, and that is something that we can be and should be doing with our family. Every single day with my family, I should be praying for the people God tells me to pray for.

4. Serve Others in the Church With Our Families

Prayer is something we can do to serve God with our families, and we can also serve others in the church. We can serve our brethren with our families right now. Go in your Bible, please to the book of Titus. In the book of Titus, chapter 2, and the book of Titus, chapter 2, and in verse number 14. After talking with us about the grace of God that has been revealed through Jesus Christ, in Titus chapter 2 and in verse number 14, the apostle Paul says that Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous, excited for good deeds. Look at chapter 3 and verse 1. Chapter 3 and verse 1. Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed.

Drop down to verse 8 and verse 8 of chapter 3. This is a trustworthy statement. And concerning these things, I want you to speak confidently so that those who have believed in God would be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men. Look at verse 14. Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds, to meet pressing needs so that they will not be unfruitful. Do you see it’s everywhere? It’s all over the place. Throughout the book of Titus, God tells us that he wants us to be excited about doing his work. He wants us to be passionate about doing his work. He wants us and our families to be excited and passionate and looking for ways to be involved in his work.

We got guests every Sunday. And that means we have an opportunity to do something with our family every Sunday. We can greet guests. With our family, we can thank them for being here. We can try to get to know them better. We can maybe even ask them to go to lunch with us. We can do that with our family. And we can also write cards or make phone calls to all the sick people who are listed in our bulletin this morning, and we can check on widows and try to provide companionship to those who may be struggling, struggling with loneliness right now. We can do that with our family, and we can also make meals and drop them off to shut ins. And we can look around this morning and notice all the people who haven’t been here maybe in the last three or six months, and we can try to contact those people with our family.

5. Practice Faith Beyond the Church

We don’t have to say, well, that’s the job of the elders. They can do that. No, I can do that with my family. I can reach out to those people. I can try to find out how they’re doing. I can see what’s going on with them spiritually. I can do that with my family. There’s so many different ways in which we can serve others in the church with our family. But let me close with this. Let me close by saying that we can also with our family practice faith beyond the church. Beyond even the things we do here in this building. And I’m going to one verse to make this point. Will you go to 2 Timothy chapter 1, please? 2 Timothy chapter 1 and in verse number 5.

And 2 Timothy 1 and verse 5, Paul talks to his young friend Timothy. And he says, For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I’m sure that it is in you as well. I want you to notice the part where he says Timothy had a sincere faith. That means that Timothy had a genuine faith, an authentic faith. He was the real deal. He wasn’t a hypocrite in the church. He wasn’t a Sunday only kind of Christian. Timothy was the kind of guy that what you see on Sunday is what you get all the time. He’s got a real, genuine faith. The question is, how did he get that? How did that happen?

Well, Paul tells us about that. I believe that Timothy developed this by first seeing it in members of his family. He saw it in his mother and his grandmother. Like Lois and Eunice, we can do that as well. Timothy saw genuine faith practiced by them every single day at home. And we can have that same kind of impact on our kids today. Like Lois and Eunice did for Timothy, we can also practice real and genuine faith before our kids every single day. We can show them how to practice faith. We can show them that it is not enough just to come in here on Sunday with nice church clothes on and sing these songs and pray these prayers and hear sermons from the Word of God.

No, we have to live for the Lord every day. That’s what being a Christian is all about. It’s about living for the Lord every day. And that means that we’re not just going to be streaming anything we want on Netflix and Prime and Hulu. And we’re not just going to say anything we want to people whenever they make us mad, and we’re not going to gossip about others when we are alone. And we’re not going to dress in modestly at school or work or when we’re at the beach on vacation. And we’re going to be humble and we’re going to be honest and confess our failures when we mess up. And we’re going to continue to trust God and praise God and be thankful to God, no matter what challenges come our way as a family.

Conclusion

Worship God. Grow in His Word. Pray. Serve others in the church. Practice faith, real faith at home. These are five practical things that we can do right now to serve God with our family. These are five practical things that show us why this theme is important. Why the elders picked this thing for our church family. Family serving God is important to God. And it’s important for this church. In fact, speaking of this church, maybe a good question to ask as we get ready to wrap up this lesson is are you part of the church? Are you part of God’s family? The church.

What is required to be is to be a member of His church. And you can gain access to God’s family this morning by obeying the gospel, by believing in Jesus Christ, repenting of sins, confessing him as Lord, and being baptized in water for the forgiveness of your sins. If you will do those things, the Lord, not the preacher, the Lord will add you to his church or his family. And if we can help you with that, we invite you to come as we stand and sing.