God Can Rewrite Your Family's Story | Jeff Borton | Ruth 4:2-6

We are a church on a mission, a mission to make disciples who make disciples. At Long Hollow, this is who we are. This is what we're about. Empowering every person, every age, every stage of life to live out the calling that God has placed inside them, to follow Jesus and to make disciples every single day. Because discipleship was never meant to be confined to a room for one hour a week. It's the Word of God shaping who we are and influencing how we live where God has placed us. In the Old Testament, Joshua stood before the people of Israel and made a declaration that has echoed through generations. As for me and my house, we will worship the Lord. This isn't simply a statement about attending church, This isn't simply a statement about attending church. It's a declaration of identity, of calling, of conviction. A declaration over your family, over your street, your classroom, your workplace. Every environment God has placed you in, He has placed you there with purpose to reflect Jesus and to make Him known. A new season is here, new rhythms, new routines, new opportunities. Let's not stumble into it. Let's step into it with intention. As for me and my house, we will worship the Lord. Good morning, Long Hollow. How's everybody feeling this morning?

Good, my name's Jeff. Honored to speak today. It's Family Day. If you're like, hey, are you Pastor Robbie? I'm not. He'll be here next week, just in case there's some confusion with height. No, no. Okay, I'm honored to speak today. Welcome to Family Day. I'd like to welcome Gallatin and our friends watching on the Pando app. We're honored that you're here today. I'm particularly grateful for Pastor Robbie, and honestly, I know when we get up, a lot of us say this, but it's so true. For over 10 years, I've had a front row seat to his leadership, and I can tell you that this man carries a humility and a love for our church that is not found in a lot of leaders at his level, just personal opinion. I deeply appreciate how he leads and how he loves us. So, Pastor Robbie, thank you for the opportunity. Today, as we are in Family Day, we're gonna talk about the family and a lot of things. This summer is coming to a close. Anybody excited about school starting? Anybody ready? Okay, just the parents, good.

That's what I expected. So, you know, this summer kicks off, and family ministry, you may be like, what is family ministry? Family ministry is birth through 12th grade here at Long Hollow. Why we call it family ministry is because we wanna help equip the family to raise up students and kids. We will always disciple and lead them to Jesus and baptize as well, do all those things, but we wanna help equip the family to do that as well. So, we really ramp up in the summertime, and we have several camps and opportunities and different things, and the team was talking, and we were like, man, we should celebrate what God has done this past summer as our summer comes to a close. You saw, if you were here, kind of the video of all the things happening. And so, I wanna share some of those. We don't share a ton of numbers. Pastor says that, we agree with that. But I kinda wanna share with you some of the numbers from this summer, because each number is a name, and each name has a soul, and God has done some incredible things in the lives of our kids, students, and leaders this summer. You know, for our kids' ministry,

we did two major things, and that was Kids Con and Kids Camp, right? And we saw just over 1,700 of our elementary kids engage in that this summer, which is unreal. Our middle school and high school students went to camp, saw just about 1,100 of them go to camp. And our volunteers, our team members, our people that make it happen, our incredible leaders, just under 1,978 of our volunteers made that happen. So, thank you for how you serve, and you give, and for believing in the ministry. We saw fruit from this summer. We saw about 150 students give their lives to Jesus. We saw, we've got dozens and dozens of baptisms, praise God, lots of other decisions, and even some of our students feel called to go into full-time ministry. So, much to celebrate. It's been a very eventful 10 weeks, and we are incredibly grateful for all that God did. You know, as we're here at Family Day, I was trying to think of some things. What are some families that we all can kind of recognize and agree with? I think most of us would agree that it's almost that time of year to take the annual family photo, right? Everybody know what I'm talking about? Has anybody taken their annual family photo yet?

Any, like, really high achievers in here? Okay, there's a couple. God bless you, don't judge us. We're gonna do it, right? So, we have this family photo, right? Our family does it, too, where we. Get everybody together and we take the picture and the picture usually will go out on a Christmas card or on social media or whatever it is and we take this picture and what's the goal of the picture, right? That everyone is together and that everyone is happy, right? And that we all love each other and we're all smiling and it's awesome to be together, right? Like that is the goal for the picture because what? We want that for our family. Sometimes it's aspirational, right? Like hey, this is what we want for our family. This is the best we want to put forward. I get that. Now, we get lots of Christmas cards. I love every single one of them. We hang them all up but I don't think I've ever gotten like a follow-up letter that describes the near-death experience of what it takes to put those pictures together, right? I mean, you know, you've done this. Now, unless your family has really got it together, it's this kid won't look at the camera. That one doesn't wanna leave his shirt on, right?

It's too hot. I hate him. Whatever that is, right? Like you go through all these emotions and about 200 pictures later, you get the one, right? Like that's, this is it. This is the holy grail that we will use this year. I give that example. One, I think we can relate to it but I think it also, it's kind of a microcosm of a bigger picture and that is this, is that we all want the best for our families, right? We all do. We all have dreams, goals, aspirations for our families. We want the best for our families but we also know behind the scenes what it takes for us to get there. We know that if we want our families to follow the Lord and serve the Lord and do the things that we feel like we're supposed to do, that it's gonna take some effort, it's gonna take some sacrifice for that to happen. And as I look at what we're looking at today in Ruth chapter four, I can kind of see that this is a great picture for us. That literally, as we're saying, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That as we aspire to do that, that as we serve the Lord, we know that behind the scenes, sometimes it's far more difficult. We're gonna talk about family a lot today

and let me just give a disclaimer. If you're a parent here, obviously, it's gonna be an easy connection. If you're a student here, listen, you're like, hey, I'm not a student but I'm not married yet. Listen, this doesn't disqualify you from listening. In fact, I would encourage you to listen close today so that you have a good, proper understanding of what it means to lead in your family and to move that way. I would also say this. Maybe you're a grandparent or an aunt or someone else who maybe doesn't have direct kids at home anymore or maybe you're an adult who doesn't but you have influence over kids in some ways. Listen, I wanna encourage you with this. What we're gonna learn today in Ruth chapter four, here's the thought I want you to get. First, I want you to understand this, is that this is a level playing field. That no family is perfect, all right? I don't care what you see on social media where it looks like every, there's not. There's not a perfect family. We're all broken in some way and here's the truth. We all need God's grace every day, right? So let's start from that premise and here's what I wanna encourage you with. That is this truth and we're gonna hang around this one thought today,

that God can rewrite your family's story, right? That God can rewrite your family's story. We're in Ruth chapter four. If you've been reading in the Old Testament with us, then you've seen this. We're gonna spend some time here this morning. But before we jump into the story that happens in Ruth chapter four, I think we've got to get a little background to what happened in Ruth chapters one through three. Because here's, I'm convinced that if we understand what happened in chapters one through three, chapter four holds that much more weight for us. There's a lot more gravity because we understand what has happened. So hang with me, we're gonna do a little recap from Ruth one through three, all right? Ruth kicks off with two people, Elimelech and Naomi, right? Elimelech and Naomi. They live in Bethlehem and they have two boys, Malon and Chilion, all right? Just in case you're trying to find a perfect name, you're pregnant, Malon and Chilion may be a good option for you, all right? The boys, there's some famine in Bethlehem and so they all move to Moab. The four of them move to Moab. The boys get married, Malon and Chilion get married. They marry Ruth and Orpah. And then about, it doesn't say how long they were there,

but we see that Elimelech dies. We don't know why, but Elimelech dies. And then about 10 years later, they don't have children, but we see that Malon and Chilion also die and we don't know why. So what we have left is Ruth, Orpah, and Naomi. Naomi encourages her daughter-in-laws, hey, go back to your people, go back to your gods. I'm going back to Bethlehem. Orpah eventually says, that's a great idea, I'm out. Ruth has a very different perspective. She actually says, Naomi. I mean, not only am I not going, where you go, I go. Where you lodge, I'll lodge. Your God will be my God and my people, your people, my people. Ruth is committed to Naomi, so they make the trek back to Bethlehem, and in Bethlehem, when they arrive, everyone's excited to see Naomi, but she sets this up. She says, hey, hey, don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara, because Mara means bitter, and when I was here and I left and I had my family, I was full, but now I am empty, and I'm broken, and I'm bitter, so you call me Mara. Well, her and Ruth begin now. Well, who's in Bethlehem? Bethlehem, they have a relative, and his name is Boaz. He's well-respected in the community. He's a man of means, and he's a relative of theirs

that could potentially be of help, so Ruth meets Boaz, and she's serving in his fields, and then Naomi and Ruth, again, this is just a flyover. Naomi and Ruth, Naomi approaches her and says, hey, I've got an idea. You wait until Boaz has had a lot to eat and a lot to drink, and then when he goes to lay down, you go in, uncover his feet, and lay at his feet, and you ask him to be our kinsman redeemer, and we'll talk about that in just a moment, but that's exactly what Ruth does. She uncovers his feet, lays down his feet. He wakes up and says, who are you? He's like, hey, I'm Ruth. Will you be our kinsman redeemer? He says, okay, wait a second, yeah, but there's someone in line first. Let's do this. Before we go any farther, I wanna make sure we have a clear understanding of what a kinsman redeemer is, because get this, our whole talk today kind of hinges on what this means and why it matters for us today, so a kinsman redeemer is a near relative who is able to rescue and restore what would be lost. A kinsman redeemer is a near relative who is able to rescue and restore that would be lost. Pretty easy to see in this picture, right, that Ruth and Naomi are on their own, a kinsman redeemer, someone who could rescue

and restore what was lost, very helpful. Here's what they could do. They could buy family land, they could free a relative from slavery or debt, or they could preserve the family line. God instituted this as a way to protect and provide for the family, but here's what I want you to get, that ultimately, this kinsman redeemer that we're talking about in Ruth chapter four, this is a picture of what's to come in the person of Jesus Christ, okay? So the kinsman redeemer, Boaz has been asked, and he says, Ruth, before I can say yes, there's someone else in line first who has this opportunity. He's like, I need to talk to him, and so that's where we're picking up our scripture today. Ruth chapter four, verse two, all right? It says, Boaz then took 10 men of the town's elders and said, sit here. They sat down. He said to the redeemer, this first guy, Naomi has returned from the territory of Moab. She's selling a portion of the field that belonged to our brother Elimelech. I thought I should inform you, buy it back in the presence of those seated here and in the presence of the elders of the people. If you want to redeem it, do it. But if you do not want to redeem it,

tell me so that I'll know, because there isn't anyone other than you to redeem it, and I am up after you. I wanna redeem it, the first guy answered. Boaz said, great. On the day that you buy the field from Naomi, you will acquire Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the deceased man to perpetuate the man's name on his property. The redeemer replied, I can't redeem it myself. If I do, I will ruin my inheritance. Take my right of redemption because I cannot redeem it. So there's someone in line to be this kinsman redeemer, to buy this property and to have Ruth as a wife, but he wasn't interested in getting this because it would cost him. Now, Scripture doesn't say, it says inheritance. We can assume that's money. We can assume that's other things. We can assume he has a wife and bringing in another wife might be problematic, right? I mean, there's a few things to consider here. Now, if you read theologians, they would look at this first redeemer's response and say, that's pretty selfish. I agree. I would think it's definitely ruthless, for sure. Yes, dad jokes on family day. All right, we're tragging. All right, you're with me.

That makes me so happy. So these guys continue, right? They continue the negotiations. They take their sandals off and they make a deal, right? So now, here's where we pick up in verse 13. Boaz took Ruth. Remember, he's got the property. Now he gets Ruth. Boaz took Ruth. She became his wife. He slept with her and the Lord granted. conception to her, and she gave birth to a son. Pay attention close. The women said to Naomi, blessed be the Lord. Underline, circle, highlight, if you do any of that, catch that phrase. That phrase in scripture shows us that a significant event is about to happen. And so we're looking at some future things here. Check that. Says, blessed be the Lord who's not left you without a family redeemer today. May his name become well-known in Israel. Underline that phrase too, well-known in Israel. You'll see why. He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. Indeed, your daughter-in-law who loves you and is better to you than seven sons has given birth to him. Underline that phrase when we say well-known in Israel, you're gonna see that how this chapter ends

has much to do with what's happening in these moments right here. So church, as we read this story, we understand, listen, these are real people, these are real lives. God is weaving this whole story together. And as we read this passage, I think there's some pretty concrete things we can pull out for ourselves. So we're gonna look at three things that we can apply today that come directly from this passage, right? And so here's the first one that we see based on the text that we've already read. Number one is this. Following God's plan for your family is costly. Following God's plan for your family is costly. I don't wanna sugarcoat this. But if you're gonna follow Jesus and you're gonna raise children that follow Jesus, this whole idea, as for me and my house, if you're gonna do that, it is gonna be costly. It will cost us something. Following God's plan does not happen organically. It only happens with intentionality. Here's where we see that. The original kinsman redeemer did not want this responsibility. He had the opportunity to rescue and restore something that could be lost. In essence, the cost was just too great for him to do that.

He said no to fulfilling a God-given responsibility. He said no to restoring a family. So something in him said, you know, this might be great, this seems like a good idea, but it's gonna cost me, and that's not a price I'm willing to pay. When I read this, I wish this example wasn't just in Scripture. Excuse me, I wish it was just in Scripture. I wish we'd look at it and go, man, that was unfortunate. But here's the truth. I wish families weren't neglected in the pursuit of success, right? That's kind of our modern day way of saying it's too great to invest, to sacrifice, to spend the time. I wish families weren't neglected in the pursuit of success. I wish marriages didn't dissolve before spouses could humble themselves and submit to each other. I wish children weren't left to be discipled, whoever has the loudest voice. Listen, when it comes to our family, we can choose, although it's not God's plan, we can choose to be like the first kinsman and redeemer to hand off the incredible responsibility that God has given us for our families. God has called us, if you're a parent or a grandparent, or if you're not now, one day you will be, Lord willing, listen, God has given us the great responsibility of being the primary disciple makers in our home,

of being the ones who are leading our families. God forbid, but we can hand this off to someone else. We can let screens and media raise our kids, we can let the loudest voice or just others influence us, but hear me, the greatest place for sacrifice in our homes is not in the protecting and providing for our families. That's amazing, that's real, you should do that, but a lot of times we associate sacrifice with just how we work and how we give. The greatest sacrifice is when we disciple them and we show them what it means to be a living example of a Christ follower. Here's why, and I know we're talking parents and I know we're going in on it today, but if we don't talk about this in church, where are we gonna hear it? There's no shortage of people that want to raise and influence your children today, there isn't. The truth is, when outside influence raises our kids, it's rarely the results we wanna see, and here's the very stark truth, that whoever wants our children the most is going to win them. May it be us. I heard this statement this week and it was one of those that was like, ah, here's what it was. Our children do not inherit our. convictions, only our priorities. Our children do not inherit our convictions,

they only inherit our priorities. If you're looking around going, I don't understand this, why this is happening, or why this is this way in our family, an honest evaluation sometimes helps with that, but here's the truth. Yes, raising our family's God way is a sacrifice, it's costly, but here's a great encouragement that we don't have to do this on our own, and here's where the kinsman redeemer comes to play, and that is this, is God is rewriting stories every single day. God is rewriting stories every single day. As we dig into the text, as we begin to understand a little bit more, get this, this kinsman redeemer is a foreshadowing of Jesus. In fact, Boaz, as a kinsman redeemer, is 1,100 years before Jesus, but we can see how this plays out, right? Ruth and Naomi are broken, and in and of themselves, they can't do anything, but Boaz is able to buy back and restore them. It's a beautiful picture of who Jesus is for us. Jesus became flesh, our kin. He redeemed us from the debt of sin and can restore us to God's family through adoption. We are much like Naomi and Ruth. We have no hope apart from Jesus. He is the one who changes the trajectory of our lives. God is the one who is writing stories. So who can be a kinsman redeemer, and why does this matter?

Why is this so significant? A kinsman redeemer had three requirements. They had to be near enough. They had to be near enough to the family, to the situation. They had to be strong enough. They had to have the means to be able to do this. They had to be willing enough. And what we saw in the first redeemer was that he just wasn't willing enough, but as we look at this from a perspective of Jesus, we see that Jesus meets all of the criteria to be our kinsman redeemer, right? Because the hope is not in us. It is only in the person of Jesus, and here's how Jesus meets that criteria. Number one, Jesus is near because he came near. He took on flesh and lived among us. Where do we see that in scripture? John 1, 1 and 14. That in the beginning was the word. The word was God. The word was with God, the word was God. In 1, 14 was it saying the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus was near. Here's the second one. Jesus is strong enough because he was sinless, he was blameless, and able to defeat death, sin, and the grave.

He's strong enough to be our kinsman redeemer. Hebrews 4, 15 reminds us that he's a high priest without sin. 2 Corinthians 5, 21 reminds us that he who knew no sin became sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God in him. Jesus is the only one who meets the criteria for our sin in our life. Here's the last one. Jesus was willing enough because he laid down his life so that we could be rescued and restored to God. John 17, he reminds us that I lay my life down and no one takes it from me. Church, hear me. Whether it's you as an individual or your family, when we say God can rewrite your family's story, it's because he's been doing it for centuries, right? He's been doing this. You are not stuck, you are not without hope. God can rewrite your story or your family's story, and that is through our redeemer, Jesus. Here's what we see. Raising our family God's way is gonna be costly, but God is rewriting stories every day, and here's an encouragement for us. That your family is a story of legacy, not just survival. That your family is a story of legacy, not just survival. If we casually read the text, we could think this is just about Ruth and Naomi getting taken care of and having a family.

That's very true, that's very significant. Like I said, these are real people, that matters. But I want you to see something. This chapter, chapter four, ends with a genealogy. Why? Why so-and-so begat so-and-so? Why would God do that? Because the fruit from the family was gonna be very significant. Remember, we said, hey, in verse 14, he'll be well-known in all of Israel. How does that fit? Check it out. Ruth 4, 18 to 22, follow along. It says, these are the family records of Perez. This is just down from where we read from Boaz. Perez fathered Hezron, Hezrod fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amenadab, Amenadab fathered Nishan, Nishan fathered Sam, and Sam had fathered Boaz. Boaz fathered Obed. Obed followed Jesse, fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David. Wait a second. Make sure you catch that. Ruth is the great-grandmother to King David. And if we follow that family line of David, who do we read in Scripture is in the house and lineage of David? Jesus. So what looks like a story of God putting back together

is God actually weaving this Gentile woman into the covenant story and into the family line of the Messiah. I don't want you to miss this, right? Don't miss this. Ruth did not know God's plan ahead of time. She thought she was caring for her, and Naomi, she was being obedient. Boaz was fulfilling his role as kinsman redeemer. He was just being what? Obedient. Hear me. This is so often how God works. He takes ordinary acts of faithfulness inside ordinary families and uses them to accomplish extraordinary purpose. God isn't just rescuing a family. He's rewriting the story for the whole world. And it's happening. Parents, hear me. God is rewriting stories, but you are writing a legacy. No, no, of course the Messiah's not coming through your line, but listen. You are writing a legacy. This is why what happens in our homes matters so much. You're not just trying to survive the first 18 years. You're shaping a legacy that will outlive you by generations. Help me out. The days are long, but the years are short.

We absolutely have to run and push and denounce and get rid of any notion that we just don't have time for spiritual things. Here's what legacy is. I don't wanna be super clear on this, because we hear a lot about legacy. In fact, mostly on TV, I see, oh, leave a legacy. It has something to do with something monetary. But I want you to hear this from a biblical perspective. Legacy is not your monuments or the material things you leave behind. Those are great, and if you can do that, praise God. But understand, that's not a legacy. Legacy is not the wealth that you leave behind. Although, if you can do it, praise God. Do the best that you can, absolutely. But that is not your legacy. In fact, data shows that most legacy wealth, or most generational wealth, excuse me, is gone in two to three generations. Certainly, a legacy is longer than that. Legacy is not even the stories that people will tell about you. Your legacy, your real legacy, the legacy that matters. Listen, your legacy is the story people tell because of you, because of your faithfulness, because of your love for Jesus, because you passed down the faith. Get this, a different story can be told than the one before it.

Don't you want your children and those you influence to have a different story than you did? That comes from handing down the faith. So what do we do with this? How do we, what do we do? I know it's a lot. I know it's a lot to consider, but get this. This isn't an overnight six. This is not an overnight fix. This is a journey of faithfulness, listen, of your story that is still being written. Praise God. The answer's not us. If we could fix it, we would. So what is our responsibility? Here's what I would encourage you with is a posture. What is our posture before God? Because God hasn't changed. God's been the kid's redeemer. God's been rewriting stories. Great, so if my actions have not lined up with you, God, then what is my response? Here's my first one, is a posture of repentance. God, I'm sorry I've been living my life my way. I'm sorry I focused on other things. I'm sorry other things have been a priority. God, you are the most important. God, I repent and I wanna change how I'm living and how I'm leading. God, help me to do that differently.

The second is a posture of obedience. God, I want what you want for our family or for the people that I influence. God, I wanna hear you, I wanna listen, I wanna obey, and I wanna lead those around me to do the same. I will set that example. That is how we leave a legacy. God, I'm listening and I'm obeying. Last week, I got home earlier this week. Last week, I was with students and leaders from here at Long Hollow, and we were on a trip to Europe. And so it's part of this organization called Student Leadership University. It's open to all of our high school students. They can be part of it. But the whole idea is learning leadership and learning leadership at the feet of Jesus. And what does it look? like if you could do whatever you could for the glory of God and would not fail. What does that look like? So our students are learning that. Part three of this journey, it's a three-year journey, takes place in London, Normandy, Paris, and Oxford. And so all along the way, you're seeing things and learning leadership lessons. So that brings us to this. So while we were on that journey, some of the places we visited were these really old churches, right?

If you've been to Europe, then you know you've seen this. I mean, it's insane. We were in churches that were built in like 1300, which is insane. It's five years older than our whole country, and it's brick and mortar and stuff. But as you move throughout Europe, particularly in France, you know, because we've heard it so many times, but Christianity is very, very sparse, almost non-existent. There are some movements happening, praise God, but France is far from being anything called Christian. In fact, I talked to one Uber driver, and he could not wrap his head around the idea of actually being part of a church. It just wasn't possible. So we would visit these churches, and we'd be in awe, right? The architecture, the structure. I mean, it really is, from a human perspective, it's very beautiful. Historically, as we walked in, it was very, very impressive. But the flip side of that is from a spiritual perspective, it was almost haunting. Because people weren't going to these churches to experience God. They weren't going to hear his voice. They weren't going to be in community with others. They were simply going to admire the architecture. And it really made me wonder,

something that I kind of chewed on week. In fact, our students noticing decisions made by the church were like, what is happening? And here's the truth. Somewhere along the line, when Europe was somebody, Europe was producing theologians, and all these things were happening. Somewhere along the line, someone stopped discipling and telling the story. It stopped. It reminded me of Judges chapter two, what we read not very long ago in Judges chapter two, if you're following along. Judges chapter two, the Israelites, they'd experienced all the goodness of God, all the greatness of God, and they got to the promised land. Joshua passes away, and it says, just two generations later, two, 60, 80 years, maybe a little longer in that day, two generations later, it says this. They didn't know who the Lord was or what he had done for them. Handing down our faith, that's why God calls us to be the primary disciple makers. Listen, if not us, then who? I'm reminded that our kids don't inherit, they don't inherit our convictions, they inherit our priorities. Church, hear me out.

God willing, this will never be us. God willing, we will refuse to let the next generation rise up and not be taught on how to experience and hear about the goodness of the Lord, right? That we will be the church that says, no, our children will learn, and they will grow, and they will hear of the goodness of the Lord, and they will see it true in our lives. And while our response is our posture to God, we also know that we can learn and grow in this area and learn ways to do this more effectively. Two of the top things we hear from our parents are, listen, I really do, and I believe it. We wanna disciple our kids, but we're really short on time, and I really don't know how to do it, and I respect that. So let me just give you a couple quick things. Number one is this. Make your faith a priority at home. When pastor says, get into the word until it gets into you, that's not just a fun, cliche thing. It means that it actually changes us. You understand when you open God's word, it's an invitation for God to bring change and to speak life and hope into us, right? Like, it's not happening to you. You're inviting God to do that. When that happens in your life, and you begin to experience God through his word,

that's gonna have a trickle effect into the lives of the people that are around you, how you interact, how you lead, how you teach. Make your faith a priority. Have conversations about what God is doing. Share how you struggle with what's happening. Let your kids hear, I'm sorry, all those things. Number two, a challenge for you if you're not, I know a lot of you are, a lot of you are killing it, but if you're not, ask the Lord to give you a conviction to disciple your kids. To disciple your kids, to spend time with them in the word. We've got some resources you're gonna hear about. We can help you. But the most important thing you could do is say, God, would you give me a conviction to lead my family this way? And last but not least, if you have not. been discipled yet, and I wanna encourage you to do that. I wanna encourage you to get discipled, to be in a group. Listen, this isn't just something that we say. Like, I'm in a life group with my wife, we're surrounded by friends that we love, that we love doing life with. It brings life, right? And we're in a lot of the same stages, so we're having a lot of very similar conversations. We're both in D groups. I meet with some dudes in a barn on Tuesday at 6 a.m., and it's so life-giving.

But I'm learning. I'm learning from them, and they're learning from me. You don't have to do this alone. This is not an island that you're on that you gotta figure out, man. This church believes in you and in discipleship and in raising up the next generation. If for some reason you think in all of this, hey, Jeff, are you encouraging me that I've gotta be perfect? Not at all. In fact, that's the last part, because discipleship is messy, being a parent is hard. Here's what I'm encouraging. I'm encouraging progress, which means what? Just take the one next step. Wherever at. If you're a disciple and you're kids, what's the next step for you? If you're not, what's the next step? If you need to surrender, God, I need to repent of my way, I need to be obedient. Whatever your next step is, then you take that one, right? Discipleship, spiritual growth, this is not a microwave process, right? This is a crock pot, and we're in this together. Today could be the first page of a brand new story for you. We talked about legacy. Hear me out. Legacy is rarely built through one dramatic decision.

Rarely, rarely, rarely. It's built through thousands of ordinary acts of faithfulness that point our children to Jesus. Listen, God can rewrite your story. He'd love to do it. If you're here and you're thinking from a personal perspective, God, my life's a mess, I need things to change. God can rewrite your story. If you're thinking from a family perspective, God, if things aren't the way that they should be, it's not that picture that I want it to be. God can rewrite your story. He's been doing it, and he'll do it for you. Would you close your eyes with me? I wanna give you a moment to just look inside your heart. Here's why we do this, so that you can just have a moment to think about it. A moment to evaluate. If the Lord has brought something to mind, if the Lord has touched your heart in some way, this is an opportunity for you to decide how you're gonna respond to him. And our prayer is that you will. Our prayer is that you will respond to how he has spoken to you. Don't do this, though. If the Lord has touched your heart in some way, convicted you, or shown you, or encouraged you, whatever that is,

don't walk out the door without talking to him. Don't walk out the same person that you walked in. Spend some time with the Lord right now. Heavenly Father, you are so good. Thank you for Jesus, that he's our Redeemer. God, thank you that you rewrite stories. You alone are able to rewrite our stories. And so, Lord, today we humbly come before you and say, Lord, we know there's things that we wanna change. We know that there's things about us, even if we're doing our best, Lord, that we want to walk closer with you. We want to influence our children, our families, those around us for your glory. And so, Lord, would you just give us an honesty before you? Would you help us to develop the convictions that we need to develop? God, give us the courage to do what it is you're putting in our heart to do. In the name of Jesus, we pray, amen.