Establishing a Family of Faith

I wanna bring you a special message for this Mother's Day on establishing a family of faith, establishing a family of faith. All of us have a great desire to create a family, a legacy of faith underneath us, and I just want you to know it's not gonna happen accidentally. There's gotta be intentionality behind it when it comes to influencing the children God's given you, maybe it's the grandkids, maybe you're an aunt or an uncle, but this is a moment for you to really take hold of what the Bible says our responsibility is of establishing a family of faith. Katie and I are in the midst of trying to figure out this thing, parenting and family. This summer, Katie and I will celebrate 16 years of marriage. Come on, somebody. And it's been a fun ride, and 16 years of marriage, if you don't know our family, we have five children, and what's crazy about them is my oldest is 13, she'll turn 14 this summer. She was born in July, 25 months later, my second was born in August, 25 months later, my third, my only boy, was born in September, 25 months later, my fourth was born in October, and you'll never believe it, 25 months later, my fifth was born in November. Your boy's a planner, ladies and gentlemen, I know what I'm doing.

But parenting is the hardest thing that we've ever done, and we're trying to figure this thing out, so I want you to understand that there are godly principles that you can apply to make sure that you are influencing the next generation, even the people you are in contact with and connected with, to making sure you're establishing a home and a family of faith. When you think of dynasty, what comes to mind? The word dynasty, and some of y'all think of duck dynasty, and that's because you were raised in the deep south, but that's not the dynasty I'm thinking of. Maybe you think of the Kennedys and the political dynasty, if you got JFK and then RFK, you got all these, the Kennedy dynasty. Maybe you think of the Walton dynasty, where you have Sam Walton who established Walmart, now his kids run it, and then grandchildren run it. It's like this dynasty of wealth. Maybe you think of the Manning family. This is Archie Manning, was a great NFL quarterback, and then he has two sons. Both of his two sons even go further than him when you got Peyton and Eli both winning Super Bowls. It's a dynasty within even the own family, and I want you to understand this. Those dynasties are great, and I don't know what you're trying to pursue, but I want you to hear this, that the greatest dynasty isn't built on fortune or fame,

but it's built on faith. It's built on faith. It's passing down faith to the next generation so that you really can see the next generation go further in the things of God. I'll just say it this way. With all love, your greatest hope for your children is not that they get to Harvard, but that they get to heaven one day, that they actually have a real relationship with God. So I'm gonna show you how it's possible and how we can be intentional about this. Some of y'all are in a season where you don't got little kids at home. Maybe they're raised, and you're gonna get some hope today. Some of you don't have any children, and you're that aunt or that uncle or that mentor. I believe these things are gonna be put into practice so that you can actually help establish a family of faith. We're gonna look at it through the life of a guy named Timothy. Say Timothy. Timothy. One of the great heroes. One of the great fathers of our faith. And we're gonna see the insight on Timothy's life, 2 Timothy 1, verse three through five. It's written by a man named Paul, the great apostle. He's a mentor to Timothy, and he says,

I thank God whom I serve as my ancestors did. With a clear conscience as night and day, I constantly remember you in our prayers. So you gotta think, Paul is thinking of Timothy. He's remembering him in his prayers. They have a deep relationship. And he says, recalling your tears, I long to see you so that may be filled with joy. They had this great mentorship relationship. And then he says, I'm reminded of your sincere faith. Can you say sincere faith? Sincere faith. This is his sincere faith. But look where it started. It first lived in your grandmother Lois, and then your mother Eunice, and now I'm persuaded it lives in you also. Look at this dynasty. Look at this legacy. Lois receives Christ as her Lord and Savior, passes it down to her daughter, Eunice, who then goes and passes it down to her son, Timothy, who would go to change the world, become one of the great apostles, one of the great church builders in the world today. Now, we get an insight on Timothy's upbringing in the book of Acts. The first time we see Timothy in the book of Acts, it says it this way. He came to Derbe and then to Lystra,

this is talking about Paul's journeys, were a disciple. named what? Timothy. Come on, help me out today. He named what? Timothy. Timothy, there he is. Whose mother, we just saw who that is, that's Eunice, was Jewish and a believer, but her father was a Greek. Now, what it's telling us is that Timothy's situation, though it looked beautiful, was complicated. How many can just attest to, you know what, what's shown on Instagram is beautiful, but behind the scenes, it's a little complicated. Yeah, yeah, we got Timothy's life, who's this great apostle, who's this great church planner, and his mother is celebrated, but now we find out his dad wasn't even a believer. He was Greek, so he's raised up in a divided home. I wanna look right at the camera because I know there's some people in Pinellas County. I know there's some people there at a brand new location, and you're in that divided home. Maybe you're the dad that's bringing your kids to church, or you're that mom that's dragging those kids to church, and maybe it's the other weekend, they don't even get to go, and the situation is broken. I wanna bring you some hope. I wanna bring you some peace today

that God can still use your children, that God can come through for your children. You can establish children in faith. Come on, somebody. It's not too far broken. It's not too far gone. God can still use your life. Can I get a better amen today, creative church? Yeah. Because here's what you have to understand. The situation was broken, but you don't need perfect circumstances to raise godly children. You just need some intentional faith. You just need some intentional decisions to say, I'm gonna do it right, no matter what age and stage that they're in, so that I pass down and establish a home of faith. So how do I do this? I'm gonna give you five points, and I'm gonna give them to you really, really quick today, and I think they'll help you. Number one, how do we establish a family of faith? You gotta train them early. Train them early. Now, this is gonna be so encouraging and helpful for some, and it's gonna be so discouraging for others, so just stay with me. Train them early. Children begin forming their worldview

as young as 15 months old. That shows how impressionable they are. It's so vital that from an early age, you make an intentional decision that my children are going to follow the Lord, and I'm gonna do everything I can do to make it happen. By the way, George Barna, who is the ultimate researcher when it comes to all things Christianity, when do people get saved, Christianity trends, he's always marked it all as what's the probability that a child follows the Lord and will follow the Lord the rest of his life? The probability goes, if they're between the ages of five and 13, they have a 32% chance of following God. We actually put it together on a scale right there. So it starts with a 32% chance. You have a one in three chance, basically, when they're young that your children will make a decision to follow Christ and follow him all the rest of their life. When they get to the teenage years, it drops in half to about 13%. When they get to the young adult years, and they're off in college, it drops to its lowest point, which is about 4%. And then when they get to their mid-20s, if they're not following God, there's still about a 5%, 6% chance that someday in their life, they'll follow the Lord.

And it's proven because you all know, many of you have made your decision to follow Christ. God got ahold of your life when you were raised up in the church at a young age. It shows how vitally important it is to start young. It's like the stock market. It's like your 401k. If you start investing at 19, you have an unbelievable return at 65. If you start investing at 45, you're gonna have a hard time retiring. Some of you are like, that's my life right now. It's the same when it comes to faith. And I want you to hear this. Listen, when it comes to faith, it is never too early to start training your children in the ways of the Lord. It is never too early to train them in the things of God, to teach them the Bible, to pray over them, to get them into church. You're not waiting for some moment where they mature enough to understand it. You are trying to get it embedded in their soul at an early age. And when you get this deep inside of them at an early age, it will impact the rest of their life. That's why the Bible says, start children off in the way that they should go. And even when they are old, look what happens, they will not turn from it.

This is hope for all of us, that if you will do the right things early on with your children, that they might go through some rough patches in their teens and their 20s, and some of y'all are in the midst of that, but you hold on to the promise of God. that one day they will return to God. One day those seeds will bear a harvest in their life. They have heard the word of God and it never returns void. Are you grateful for the power of God's word to change our children's lives? And we see this in Timothy's life. Look what it says in 2 Timothy chapter three, but as for you, continue in what you learned. Paul's telling him, hey, continue in this, and have become convinced of, because you know from whom you've learned it. You learned it from your mom and your grandmother and how from infancy you have been made known the Holy Scriptures. Look at that passage right there, from infancy. No wonder Timothy went on to change the world, why? Because from a young age, his mother and his grandmother, despite what the dad was doing, were teaching the word of God, teaching them the principles of God. It makes an impact. And you go, well, my kids are older. Then let me tell you, start now.

Start the process now. Train them even now, in their teens, in their 20s, to learn the things of God, and I'm telling you, it'll impact the rest of their life. Number two, this one's vitally important. You gotta teach them biblical truth. I'm gonna let you write it down, and then I want all your eyes looking up here in just a second. Because it's about to get real. Hear me out, church. There is an all-out assault on the worldview of your children. There is an all-out assault on your children right now from the enemy of our souls. He's attacking their identity. He's attacking their sexuality. He's attacking their purpose. And he's starting from a young age. It's in all the TV shows. It's rampant on social media. It's all over the schools. And they are being bombarded by the things of the world because the enemy knows if I can get them, then he can keep them for the rest of their life. And somebody has to make up their mind that as for me and my household, we're gonna serve the Lord. And somebody's gotta make up their mind that I'm gonna combat the worldview

that is coming against them with the biblical truths of this book. And I'm gonna teach my kids the Bible. I'm gonna teach my kids what God says. Kids are so confused this day on who they are, on what the world says they are, and they need somebody. They need a mama. They need a grandmama. They need a dad. They need a cousin. They need an uncle. They need a mentor. They need a teacher that'll sit there and say, you are not what you feel. You are not what they say. You are who God's word says you are. This is what we live by. And hear me out, because it is massively important that we take personal ownership of this, because hear me out, and you can write it down in your notes, because if you don't train up your kids, the world will. And they're working overtime at training up your kids to be broken and dysfunctional. But we're gonna raise them up in the things of God so they can walk in life and light to the full. Because that's our responsibility.

Now, first of all, I'm grateful for the church. I'm grateful for Radiant Kids and Radiant Youth that are serving your children. Can I just take a second and just honor them? Because that team works so hard at every location. And they're pouring into your children, and they're praying over that baby, and they're speaking God's word over your teenager. That is massively important, and you need to have them in church. But hear me out. Any diet that is encompassing one healthy meal a week will leave you malnourished. So good. So if you're sitting there and going, the entire strategy we have to raising up our kids in the Lord is to bring them to church once a week, you're missing it. Because they're being bombarded Monday through Saturday, full on with the things of the world. And you've gotta figure out a better strategy to say it's not just church. It's churches that add on a supplement to a lifestyle in the home of training up our kids to follow the Lord. That's what it says in the book of Deuteronomy. I love this. It says, these commands I've given you today

to be on your hearts. So we're gonna look at the word of God. It's on our heart. It says, impress them on your children. Think of a cow, all right? That you're branding, and it hurts them. And no cow's ever walked over and goes like, please, give me a brand. But you know as the owner, this is what's best. I'm impressing it. I mean, parents, we gotta get a little bit more. We're forceful even about this. We're putting it into our children. Talk about it when you're at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, when you get up. It's all encompassing in your lifestyle. My kids laugh about this a lot. My daughter Lily and I, she was driving me to church this morning, we were laughing about it. And because everything that me and her mom do, I'm like, especially Katie. Katie is so big on getting God's word into our children. So it's like everything we do, there's a connection back to the Bible. So they're like, they're in, it's a small world. It's a seven minute ride at Disney. Miserable. Have you ever been in there?

It's like terrible. My daughter Lily was like, yeah, when we ride that ride with mommy, she's talking to us. Listen, this is gonna be like heaven with every nation, tribe, and tongue. But you gotta make sure you're witnessing your friends to get them there. And they're like, no, it's annoying. This is like, it's everything. It's every history lessons connected back. Well, if they would have known Jesus, this is what would happen. It's so vital. It's like part of our life. Why? Because it's not just something that you just teach it one time and they get it. It's gotta be in part of everything. This is why family devotions and praying together and connecting and going to youth camp and getting them into different programs are so vitally important. Get God's word in their life. It will transform them. Are y'all with me today, church? Number three, you gotta talk with God. If you're gonna parent and you're gonna raise up a family, you gotta talk with God, which just means this, ready? You gotta pray.

Because parenting will drain you, exhaust you, frustrate you. And God gives us hope. And our hope is when we pray, things change. When we pray, God moves. I want you to hear it across all of our campuses. Your kids can ignore your wisdom. They can shut their door and push you out of their life, but they are defenseless against your prayers. They can tell you we don't want anything to do with your faith. But I'm telling you, when you, as a praying mama, a praying daddy, a praying grandparent, a praying aunt and uncle, when you pray, things happen in their life. It's weird how circumstances show up. Friends show up in their life. A mentor, a youth pastor, things start happening in their life, why? Because when parents pray, children are transformed. So my challenge for you is never stop praying for your children. Your prayers are making a difference in your children's life. Let me give you a story with this. In the fourth century, there was a lady named Monica, a woman of deep faith. She was praying for her son, and her son seemed to go from bad to worse. I don't know if you've ever had any children

that every time you pray, it seems like they get worse and worse. Well, this child was brilliant. He was very smart, very academic, but kept going more and more worldly. He ended up getting a girlfriend and living with her for a while, pursuing the things of the world. And this mother was in such distress. And the solution to her child's craziness was prayer. And Monica started praying. And it was year after year, she would pray for her son to come to know the Lord, follow the Lord. She would cry and she would wail and she would weep for her child's salvation. She went and met with her local bishop in North Africa. And as she met with this local bishop in North Africa, she says, what else do I do? I just keep praying. And the bishop responded with this phrase. She says, it is impossible that the son of so many tears should perish. Let me put that in 2026 language. There ain't no way your child is not gonna follow God if you've been praying that much. So she kept praying. She prayed for 17 years. And finally, God got a hold of this guy. He surrenders his life to Christ

and his name is St. Augustine of Hippo, who ends up being one of the great church fathers who goes to be one of the greatest authors and writers and apologists and theologians of history. When it came to his salvation, it was all rooted in a mama who didn't stop praying. Aren't we grateful that we wouldn't be where we are if it wasn't for that mama, that grandmama, that uncle, that dad who just kept praying. Don't stop praying for your kids. Here, hear me out, Radiant. Listen, listen, because here's what prayer is. Prayer is the difference between the best you can do and the best that God can do. And you're gonna get to a limit when it comes to your. parenting, when it comes to your business, when it comes to your health, that you've done everything you can do. Can I challenge you? Lean into God, pray fervently, pray with perseverance, and believe that your prayers are making a difference. And let me just say it this way, when you pray, God shows up and moving. You might not see the results immediately, but you will see the results in your life because God comes through when his people pray. I love the verse in Romans 8 where it says, where Paul's saying, he says, in the same way the spirit helps us in our weakness. Don't you feel, even as a parent,

sometimes you just feel weak? Grandparent, aunt, uncle, I just feel weak at times. I don't know what to do. I'm looking at these kids sometimes, I'm like, are they gonna be all crazy? All in therapy, all the time. So when I'm weak, here's what I do. We don't even know what we ought to pray for. And parents, some of y'all are in that world, you don't know what you even are supposed to pray for. You don't know what to do. He says, and when we don't know what we're supposed to pray for, here's what we do. The spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. Sometimes you're just laying on that couch and you're praying and you're crying and you're just groaning and I'm telling you, God hears that. You're praying in the spirit, man. And it makes an impact in your children's life. Let me just end this section with just saying this. The prayers you pray for your children do not expire. Really good. They never return void. When you pray those prayers over their life, they are seeds that are planted that'll impact generations to come. So don't stop praying, don't stop believing, don't give up hope.

The child might seem far away right now, but your prayers are making a difference and hold on to the fact that your prayers are not, the outcome of your prayers is not up to you. Your job is just to bring it to the Lord, bring it to the Lord in faith, and bring it to the Lord in perseverance and watch, God will come through at the right time. Can I hear a good amen across Tampa Bay? Y'all getting some hope today? God will move on your behalf. Number four is where it gets a little intense. Number four, you gotta testify through your life. So if you wanna establish a family of faith, it can't just be what you say, it has to be what you do. Let me say it this way. Kids don't do what you tell them to do. They do what they see you doing. So what you say has value, but how you live has even greater value. Yeah. Your kids don't need some motto to say, they need a model that they can follow. And they are like sponges soaking it up. So that shows us that how we live Monday through Saturday is almost as important as what you do on Sundays. Because they're trying to evaluate, is what I see on Sundays a show or is it sincere faith

that's actually lived out Monday through Saturday? So parents, this is why how we live actually matters. And you know this, you know the stats. If you are a smoker, you smoke cigarettes, you all say the same thing to your children. So every person I've ever met that smoke cigarettes, they all say the same thing to their children. They say, hey, just want you to know, this is bad for you, never do this. They all say the same thing. And their stats are that children that are raised with parents that smoke are four times more likely to smoke. But yet they have heard their entire life, it is bad for them. But they still smoke. Why do they still smoke? Because kids do not do what you say, they do what you do. So that's a tough weight on us. It's like my kids. I don't know about you, I'm always fighting the screens with my kids. From a young age, they wanna grab a screen. It's crazy. And then I'll get so frustrated. You guys are addicted to your screens. And then I'll do this. Hey, dad, can I do this? Really busy, hold on, hold on. What did you say?

I totally toned it out completely. And then I'm frustrated that they're addicted to screens. Why are they addicted to screens? Because they don't do what I say, they do what I do. So it shows us the more important thing we do is living out sincere faith every day throughout our life. Which the opposite of that is also true. Like they're watching how you live. They're seeing you do your devotions in the morning and they're going, oh, that's what it means to be a man or woman of God. Listen, listen, listen. Paul said it this way. Whatever you have learned or received or heard or seen in me, put that into action. to practice. And here's the result, and the God of peace will be with you. Look at this model. You follow Paul's leading and you will receive what in your life? Peace. Hear me out, parents. If your children modeled their life after you, would they walk in God's peace? Would they walk in God's peace? Do they see you spending time in the morning with the Lord? Because that's what they're going to model their life after. Do they see your hunger for God's word? Because that's how they're going to model your life. Can I just say it this way? When somebody deeply offends you, do they see forgiveness or do they see bitterness and resentment? Because that's what they're going to model their life after. When they are at a place of crisis financially, do they see you get stingy and pull back? Or do they see you continue to honor God with your tithe? Do they see you sit there and trust God and go, God's going to supply all of our needs, kids. He's already told us. Do they see those moments of faith? That matters a lot when establishing a family of faith. You can do this. You can model a life of sincere faith. Hear me out. Listen. Sincere faith doesn't mean perfect faith. It means faith with intentionality. It's apologizing to your kids when you mess up and you've blown it. It's leaning in. It's going, hey, we're going to go to church even though it's not convenient and it's perfect weather

outside and we want to be on the vote, but God's first in our life. It's modeling sincere faith. It doesn't mean perfect faith. It means faith with intentionality. Y'all with me today, church? Number five. We'll close with this one because some of y'all are like super depressed now because you're like, all right, failed, failed, failed, failed, and your kids are crazy. So what do we do? Number five. Then you got to trust God with the outcome. All right. Let me just pause there for just a second. I want you to get these five because some of you are not parents yet. You're praying for children one day and we're going to believe God over your life. We're going to pray for all the families in just about five minutes on all of our campuses. Some of you got young kids at home and you're going to start this early. Some of you, your kids are teenagers and they're just going through a difficult season and you're going to implement these values. Some of them, they're out of the house and they're crazy and gone and you don't know what to do. There is a moment at the end of this where you just learn to trust God with the outcome. Understanding this, hear me out. You are not the Holy Spirit. You cannot change your children. Only God can. You are a vital part of your kid's faith, but eventually God is the one that'll change their heart. And the areas we feel like we have failed and messed up and blown it. Aren't you grateful that God fills that gap with his grace, with his power, with his ability to change lives even when we didn't do the best we could do? Can we give him some praise today, church? Amen. Paul says it this way. He says, I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. I love this. I think it's a good connection for the church, by the way. This is why your kids need to be in church. Because even my kids, my kids will go to youth group on Wednesday night. They're there every Wednesday. We have an amazing youth ministry at all of our campuses. Get your kids there. And when my kids go up there, I'll go, what did they talk about? Oh, Pastor Susanna said this. Oh, it really helped me. Pastor Uriah said this phrase. Pastor Delia said this. And I'm like, I say that all the time. And I am so much smarter than all of them. But aren't you grateful for the body of Christ that I plant? And then God brings people, mentors, friends, aunts, uncles, grandparents in their life to water it. But eventually, hear me out, hear me out. We can't make it grow. Only God can make it grow. So let me help the parents. Parents, you're not responsible for the harvest, but you're responsible for planting seeds. You've heard the age old phrase, the best time to plant a tree is 30 years ago.

The second best time to plant it, right now. So you missed it. You've blown it. You didn't plant the seeds you wanted to. Start right now. And what I'm believing over our families is that no matter whatever age and stage or connection you have, that as you planting seeds of life over them, that God will bring the supernatural increase. that your children are not too far gone, that with a little intentionality, you can bring God's word into their life. You can pray and watch God move, and we will see your children following the Lord. I'm believing in faith that there will not be one child at Radiant Church that strays away, that as they are planted in the house of God, they will prosper. And for your children that are suffering, here's my word over your life, do not grow weary in doing good. I'm telling you, you keep sending them those scriptures, you keep inviting them to church, you keep believing God's best over their life, because in the proper time, that's not my time, that's not your time, that's God's ordained time. You will reap a harvest if you do not give up. Can we give up some praise that God will bring us the harvest when we don't give up? Come on, church. Do you stand to your feet all across our campuses? We're gonna have a moment of prayer. We're gonna have a moment of submission to the Lord in the last five minutes we have as a service.

But I want you to stand because I want every teenager, I want every young adult, I want every person that you were dragged here by your mama today to look right at me. I want that tight shot on me. I need a tight shot right on my eyes. Here a second. I want to speak to those who have strayed away. Maybe you were raised in the right house. Maybe you had that mama and that grandmama that had been praying for you, and you said, I won't have anything to do with God. I want you to know God loves you. God has been patient with you. But it's time for you to recognize that you cannot live off of your parents' faith anymore. My challenge for you is stop borrowing your parents' faith, and it's time to get your own. Get your own. I love it about Timothy that is raised by his grandmother who had great faith and his mother that had great faith, but eventually he had to make it his own faith. And let me just say it. It's not your grandmother's prayers. It's not your daddy's prayers that are gonna get you into an eternity in heaven. It's you making a personal decision to say, Jesus, you have my life. I'm going all in. It's not just my parents' thing.

It's my thing. I'm going all in with God. And there's been others of you that you never had that mama, you never had that grandmother, and you're gonna be that woman of faith. You're the Lois that'll start this thing, that'll be the one for generations to come, that'll be impacted because one person said, I'm getting serious about God. Come on, church. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's close your eyes all over the room. I wanna take a moment, just let you cast your worries and your cares on the Lord. Many of you have really difficult scenarios going on with your children. Let's just take about 15, 20 seconds. Just take a second and pray. Just take a second and just cast your cares on the Lord. Maybe it's a child that's struggling right now. Come on, call out their name to the Lord. Maybe it's a moment that's happening right now. Maybe it's with a grandchild. Maybe it's a niece or a nephew. Maybe they're battling their identity. Can we just turn this place into a place of prayer for just a little bit? Lord, we bring our children to you.

We pray that you would grip their heart. We pray even this summer for those going to youth camp and those that are radiant kids and those are in RYA and youth and young adults ministry. Lord, I pray that you would do something supernatural in them. And we pray for your help and your power and your provision and your peace in our life to help us.