Proverbs on Family

I'm so thankful this morning that we serve a God who doesn't run out of being himself. We're gonna read one of my favorite scriptures here in a minute, but I'm just so thankful that though our seasons change, our moods change, our life circumstances might change, that He doesn't change and He is who He says He is and He always will be. So let's read this together, all out loud together. Have you not known and have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might, He increases strength. Even youth shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted, but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Amen, Lord, we just come to you. However we came today, tired, excited, full of life or really weary, Lord, and we worship you because you're worthy of it, Lord, not because of how we feel. And we thank you that you have everything we need. You are everything we need. And so we worship you, Lord,

with the breath that you put in our lungs, Lord, we sing, you are worthy to be praised. We love you, Jesus. Let's sing this chorus together. Sing, it's your breath in our lungs. ♪ Oh, it's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise ♪ ♪ It's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise to you only ♪ ♪ It's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise ♪ ♪ It's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise to you only, well ♪ ♪ Great are you Lord, we sing great are you Lord ♪ ♪ Great are you Lord, it's your breath ♪ ♪ Oh it's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise ♪ ♪ It's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise to you only ♪ ♪ It's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise ♪ ♪ It's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise to you only ♪ ♪ We sing great, we sing great are you Lord ♪ ♪ Give him worship, we sing great ♪ ♪ Oh great are you Lord, great are you Lord you are ♪ ♪ Oh great are you Lord, oh great are you Lord you are ♪ ♪ Oh great are you Lord, oh great are you Lord you are ♪ ♪ All the earth will shout your praise ♪ ♪ Our hearts will cry, these bones will, come on sing it out ♪

♪ Great are you, oh we know that we know that we know ♪ ♪ Oh we know that we know that we know ♪ ♪ And all the earth will shout your praise ♪ ♪ Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing ♪ ♪ Great are you Lord, oh the earth, oh the earth ♪ ♪ And all the earth will shout your praise ♪ ♪ Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing ♪ ♪ Great are you Lord, oh the earth, oh the earth ♪ ♪ And all the earth will shout your praise ♪ ♪ We'll cry, these bones will say ♪ ♪ Where are you Lord ♪ ♪ It's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise ♪ ♪ It's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise to you only ♪ ♪ It's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise ♪ ♪ It's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise to you only ♪ ♪ We sing great, great are You Lord, great are You Lord ♪ ♪ Great are You Lord, great are You Lord ♪ ♪ Great are You Lord, You're so worthy of worshiping us ♪ ♪ We sing great are You Lord, great are You Lord ♪ ♪ We sing great are You Lord, great are You Lord ♪ ♪ It's your breath, it's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise ♪ ♪ It's your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to you only ♪ ♪ We sing great are You Lord, worthy worth of love ♪ ♪ Great are You Lord, thank you Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ Lord, thank you Jesus, thank you ♪

Yes Jesus, you are so worthy. You are the faithful one. You're so faithful God. God of Abraham, you're the God of covenant, of faithful promises. Time and time again, you have proven, you do just what you say. Though the storms may come and the wind may blow, I'll remain steadfast. And let my heart learn when you speak a word, it will come to pass. Great is your faithfulness to me. Yeah, let's sing it out. Great is your faithfulness to me. From the rising sun to the setting same, I will praise your name. Oh, great is your faithfulness to me. Oh, you're faithful Jesus. Oh, you've always been and you always will be. Oh. In God from age to age, though the earth may pass away, your word remains the same. Your history can prove there's nothing you can't do. You're faithful and true. Though the storms may come and the winds may blow, I'll remain steadfast. And let my heart learn when you speak a word, it will come to pass. And great is your faithfulness to me. Sing great, great is your faithfulness to me.

From the rising sun to the setting same, I will praise your name. And great is your faithfulness to me. ♪ Your faithfulness to me ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ And never runs out, never runs out, never runs out, oh ♪ ♪ Never runs out, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ You are faithful, you are faithful, never runs out, never runs out, never runs out, oh ♪ ♪ I put my faith in Jesus, my anchor to the ground ♪ ♪ My hope and firm foundation, he'll never let me down ♪ ♪ I put my faith in Jesus, my anchor to the ground ♪ ♪ My hope and firm foundation, he'll never let me down ♪ ♪ He'll never let me down ♪ ♪ I put my faith in Jesus, my anchor to the ground ♪ ♪ My hope and firm foundation, he'll never let me down ♪ ♪ I put my faith in Jesus, my anchor to the ground ♪ ♪ My hope and firm foundation, he'll never let me down ♪ ♪ He'll never let me down ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ And His faithfulness to me, and His faithfulness to me, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Is your faithfulness to me ♪ ♪ From the rising sun to the setting same, I will praise your name ♪ ♪ And great is your faithfulness to me ♪ ♪ I put my faith in Jesus, my anchor to the grave ♪ ♪ My hope and firm foundation, he'll never let me down ♪ ♪ I put my faith in Jesus, my anchor to the grave ♪ ♪ My hope and firm foundation, he'll never let me down ♪ ♪ He'll never let me down, he'll never let me down ♪ ♪ He'll never let me down, he'll never let me down ♪ ♪ He'll never let me down, he'll never let me down ♪

♪ I put my faith in Jesus, I put my faith in Jesus ♪ ♪ I put my faith in Jesus, I put my faith in Jesus ♪ ♪ Great is your faithfulness to me, great is your faithfulness to me ♪ ♪ From the rising sun, setting sea, bless your name, great is your faithfulness to me ♪ ♪ And I'll still bless you, I'll still bless you, I'll still bless you, I'll still bless you ♪ ♪ In the middle of the storm, I'll still bless you, when I'm going through, I'll still bless you, I'll still bless you, I'll still bless you ♪ ♪ I'll still bless you, I'll still bless you, I'll still bless you, I will bless you ♪ ♪ I'll still bless you, I will bless you, I'll still bless you, I will bless you ♪ ♪ I will bless you, God yes I will bless you, God yes ♪ ♪ I will bless you, God yes I will bless you, God yes ♪ ♪ And I will bless you, God yes I will bless you, God yes ♪ ♪'Cause I will bless you, God yes I will bless you, God yes ♪ Reach. ♪ Is your faithfulness to me, great is your faithfulness to me, great is your faithfulness to me ♪ Bless you Lord Jesus. ♪ Jesus, Savior, in this world that's ever changing, you are faithful. ♪ ♪ Forever the same. ♪ Sing that again, sing Jesus. ♪ Jesus, Savior, in this world that's ever changing, you are faithful. ♪ ♪ Forever the same. ♪ ♪ Forever the same. ♪ Sing faithful is the sun. Sing that again. ♪ Faithful is the sun. ♪ Oh we declare. ♪ Faithful is the sun. Faithful is the sun, so unchanging. ♪ Oh. ♪ Faithful is the sun. Faithful is the sun. Faithful is the sun, so unchanging. ♪ We sing faithful. ♪ Faithful is the sun. Faithful is the sun. Faithful is the sun, so unchanging. ♪

And we will stand up. And we will worship. And we will give our lives to the one who gave his life for us. You are always faithful, so unchanging. Oh. And we will stand up. And we will worship. And we will give our lives to the one who gave his life for us. You are always faithful, so unchanging. Yeah. ♪ Faithful is the sun. Faithful is the sun. Faithful is the sun, so unchanging. ♪ Faithful. ♪ Faithful is the sun. Faithful is the sun. Faithful is the sun, so unchanging. ♪ ♪ Changing ♪ ♪ Faithful is the Son ♪ ♪ Faithful is the Son ♪ ♪ Faithful is the Son ♪ ♪ So changing ♪ ♪ Faithful is the Son ♪ Takes our breath away, doesn't it? The faithfulness of Jesus. When we're not faithful, He still is. One of the ways that He shows us His faithfulness is through this promise of Matthew 11. If you'll come to Him, those who are burdened or heavy laden, He'll give you rest for your soul. He promises in exchange that He'll take the heavy burdens and then let you keep company with Him in such a way

that then you'll live lightly and freely. But it requires a personal, intimate exchange and interaction with God where you take your burdens and your struggles and your pains and you bring and place them at His feet. I don't know about you, but a lot of times I'll say things like, oh, I don't wanna be a burden. Don't worry about it. You know, I got this. And Jesus is like, that's the whole point. You don't got this. So come and bring it to me. Let me take it so that you can live lightly and freely and easily. But there's that action on us of us praying and saying, okay, we give it to you. And so this prayer is gonna be on the screen here for a moment. I just welcome you right now to come intimately to Jesus and start praying this repeatedly to yourself under your breath, that action of admitting I don't have it and I'm giving it to you. Let's do that now. Maybe you need to name it. Name the burden, the person, the situation, the place of fear. Just bring it specifically to the Son of God. Why would we do this? Ephesians chapter one, verse four has a beautiful promise.

It says, long before he laid down earth's foundations, God had us in mind. He had settled on us as the focus of his love to be made a part of his love. And he had settled on us as the focus of his love. And he had settled on us as the focus of his love. And we are made whole and holy by his love. Has you in mind and wants your wholeness to occur. It speaks to the fact that maybe there's some places that are fractured apart, that need to be brought back together that only Jesus can do. And sometimes I'll have thoughts like, why am I not connected to God? Or why is something not working like it should? But if you do a little digging into the surface, you might find that's because there's some places of grief underneath the surface or some place of pain or loss that I just kind of keep moving and don't realize is there. And maybe you've felt that way at times as well. The beautiful thing about Jesus is that when he came to earth, he was given a chance to preach one time and he stood up and he said, I have come to bind up the broken hearted, to put all those parts together. Again, another intimate exchange from God saying, I wanna be your healer. I wanna step into those places that maybe have felt

like they're in pain or loss. And maybe it's small little disappointments to major woundings. He steps in and says, none of that is too big for me. Just give them to me. And so again, some prayers are gonna come on the screen. And I just wanna invite you even now, just to pray these prayers to the Lord. Very intimate prayers of just inviting him to come into places maybe that you don't even know have been affected by the last week. or when you were a kid but you're just inviting Jesus who's saying I'm the one who binds up the brokenhearted who makes you whole and as these prayers just rotate just pray them repeatedly to him invite him into those places we're not in a rush we're just going to stay here we're just lingering in the presence of Jesus enjoying his presence and inviting him into those hard to reach places for us easy to reach places for him thank you that you are the one Lord who gives ashes takes ashes and returns it with beauty Psalm 34 promises you are close to the brokenhearted you rescue those who are crushed in spirit and so we just invite you now open up the eyes of our heart to see Jesus every part seeing Jesus let's make this song our prayer Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. I want to see you. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. I want to see you. To see you high and lifted up. Shining in the light of your glory. Pour out your power of love as we sing holy, holy, holy. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. I want to see you. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. I want to see you. To see you high and lifted up.

Shining in the light of your glory. Pour out your power of love as we sing holy, holy, holy. To see you high and lifted up. ♪ I lift it up ♪ ♪ Shining in the light of your glory ♪ ♪ Pour out your power and love ♪ ♪ As we sing holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy I want to see you ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, I want to see you ♪ Sing holy. ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy I want to see you ♪ One more time, sing holy. ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy I want to see you ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, I want to see you ♪ So Jesus, we just confess you are the object of our attention and our affection, our love, and we're grateful that you see us. We surrender those places to you that you alone can touch, heal, empower, free, redeem. We just want to behold you, the lamb of God, who's come to take away the sins of the earth. And our collective heart this morning and cry is thank you.

Thank you, Jesus. It's in your name that we pray, amen. Amen, you can take a seat. So beautiful, just to acknowledge that he is in the room with us here. So we acknowledge him, we love him, we obey him. We're just gonna keep following him through the rest of our service. Our ushers are gonna come now and prepare to take our offering and there's gonna be multiple ways for you to be able to give. That would be, you know, if you're a pastor, you're gonna be able to give. If you're a pastor, you're gonna be able to give. If you're a pastor, you're gonna be able to give. If you're a pastor, you're gonna be able to give. If you're a pastor, you're gonna be able to give. That will be listed on the screen. And just again, wanna thank this church for being such a generous people. As Jason and I were in a prison this week and sharing with some of the guys there and they made a comment that Antioch Church, they said Antioch Church gave us some simple chairs. We had been sitting on the floor and they gave us some simple chairs and they were actually some of our chairs from our older buildings. And they used this phrase, y'all changed the culture of a prison

because men would wanna come and they would sit in our discipleship times and they didn't wanna hurry and get up and leave because they were sitting on metal benches, which is what they usually have. He's like, you just get simple giving. And so I just wanna thank you for your generosity. You have no idea that there's some, maybe some men in Gatesville that would say, you changed the culture here because of your generosity. Lord, we're just grateful for all that you've given us. We give back today just as a simple way of saying thank you to you. We want our hearts to be clean and free and reminded that we can't do anything apart from you. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. Well, as our offering baskets pass, we're gonna continue on with our service and with our series. I know that last week we all got to meeting, but I did just wanna pause for a moment and just say we are so grateful to have Vincent and Tanya back from their sabbatical. And they were away for six months. And I know that he walked on stage last week and led us in a very powerful ministry moment. And it was just a little glimpse of what God had done in him. But we really appreciate it. also so we are thankful they are back and they are also this weekend celebrating 33 years of

marriage right so 33 years of marriage this last weekend and so we're thankful for their faithfulness to one another and to this house and so anyway we love you guys and we're thankful that you're back from your sabbatical you'll be seeing them around and eventually we'll get him up in the pulpit but today we're excited that Zach Daniel is going to come and continue our series on Proverbs so pull out your notes let's take notes and let's keep moving forward all right if you will open your bibles to Proverbs 24 that's where we're going to be today my name is Zach if I haven't had a chance to meet you I'm one of the pastors here and excited this summer that we're going through the book of Proverbs together we started the year saying what we sense the holy spirit leading us into as a church is that he wanted to strengthen our family both our spiritual family and our own households strengthen us with his grace strengthen us with his power strengthen us with his love that we might multiply that grace love and power everywhere that we go strengthen the family to multiply so in the spring we went through the book of Ephesians and we were strengthened in our inner being by the power of the holy spirit and this summer we're going through the book of Proverbs and believing God to strengthen us with wisdom that we need for all the aspects of life that he's called us to walk in last week we looked at God's wisdom for friendships and this week we're going to look at God's wisdom for family so last week was friendships this week is family love the feedback that I got last week we love friendships here at Antioch God loves friendships and God loves family and these relationships are some of the ones that can bring the best out of us and the best things in life can be found in friendship and family and at times some of the most painful or challenging aspects of our lives are found in our friendships and our families and so we need God's wisdom we need the Lord's wisdom amen for friendship and we need it for family so today we are going to look at family last week was friendship Proverbs 24 starting in verse 3 and 4 this will be our main scripture for today and it says this by wisdom a house is built I'll just stop right there for just a moment remember context of Proverbs David and Bathsheba are speaking to King Solomon they're training him up he's their son they're training him up to be the man that God had called him to be to walk in the purposes of God for his generation and to lead well as a king right and so when they're talking about house here I just want to remind you we think house we think physical structure but in their day and what they're training Solomon for when they say house they're not talking about physical structure per se they're talking about

family they're talking about household that's why in the Bible it says like the house of David meaning the household of David the family of David the household of Israel meaning the family of Israel when Joshua says in the book of Joshua he says as for me and my household we will serve the Lord he's talking about his family so right here they're saying by wisdom a house is built by wisdom a family is built by wisdom a household is built and by understanding it is established by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches now look at those three phrases you have by wisdom by understanding and by knowledge by wisdom by understanding and by knowledge I want you to hold on to those three phrases we're going to look at one other verse that uses those three phrases as well Proverbs 3 19 through 20 by wisdom there's that phrase again by wisdom the Lord laid the earth's foundations by understanding he set the heavens in place and by knowledge there it is by knowledge the watery depths were divided and the clouds let drop the dew so what I want to point out to you here in Proverbs 3 we see that God's wisdom his understanding and his knowledge brought forth what we call creation out of the wisdom of God out of the grace of God out of the mind of God he went to work bringing forth the beauty of creation the the white sandy beaches that I hope you get to go to this summer to watch the water come in that was in the mind of God and by his Wisdom, he brought that forth. Maybe you're a mountain person and you're thinking, I don't wanna go to the beach, I wanna go to the mountains, a Colorado mountain range, your favorite place to be. By understanding God brought that forth. The heavenly artist bringing forth creation. Maybe you say, well, I just like right here in Waco, in Texas, the sunsets in the summer, the fireflies, lightning bugs running in the yard. God, the great creator, by his knowledge, he brought that forth. Out of, he made beauty out of the cosmos, he made order out of the cosmos,

he made fruitfulness out of the cosmos. And what David wants Solomon to see, and what I believe God our Father wants us to see, is that that same wisdom and knowledge and understanding that God used to create the cosmos and bring beauty all around us in creation, that same wisdom, knowledge, and understanding was available to Solomon for the building of a house, the building of a family, the building of a household. And that same wisdom and knowledge and understanding from God our Father is available to you and to me for our own families, for our own households, for what he's calling us to as a people. It's for your house. God has wisdom for your family. God has understanding for your family. God has knowledge for your family, and he wants to give that to you and to me. That's like a bold statement, isn't it? It's bold what the word of God is saying here. It's bold what we see is that God wants to give you and me wisdom for our marriages. God wants to give us wisdom for parenting. He wants to give us wisdom in the places where we are a son or a daughter, an aunt or an uncle, a husband or a wife, a grandparent. God wants to give us wisdom, and I want you to show you what type of wisdom that God wants to give. He wants to give wisdom that builds family, that lays foundations in family.

God wants to give you that kind of wisdom. He wants to give you understanding that wouldn't just build a family in a moment, that wouldn't just be here today, but that your family would be established. This word established is what they use to talk about establishing thrones for kings, where they would have a dynasty that would last. God wants to establish your family and mine. Look at this. Acknowledge God wants to fill the rooms of our household. He wants to fill our families with all precious and pleasant riches. God has joy and blessing and pleasant things for you in your family. That gets me excited this morning. That gets me stirred up this morning. That gets me like, Lord, I want to have your vision for my family, for what you're trying to build in my family. I want to see like that. Now, we look at Solomon's life, and we know it's really important for a king, because their family shapes the nation. So, of course, they would need wisdom and knowledge and understanding. But this isn't just for kings of old. This is God, your father, speaking to his people, sons and daughters, saying, this is what I have for you. Antioch-Wacoh, this is what I have for your family. This is what I have for your house.

That's what we're gonna speak about today. That's what we're gonna look at today. It's what we're gonna get excited about today. Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, laying foundations, bringing forth life, bearing fruit, and inaugurating creative wonders in our families. So, we are gonna take a few minutes, because I imagine you didn't come here with that first thing on your mind, but scripture is very clear that in the places that we need wisdom, that if we will ask God, that God is generous and gives without finding fault, particularly in the area of wisdom. So, before we look at how does God give us wisdom for these different areas of our family, I wanna invite you, maybe with someone you came with, maybe with someone in your family, to pray and to ask God that he would give you fresh wisdom, knowledge, and understanding for your family and the things that you're going through. We are all part of a family. We all have a mom and a dad, a grandmother, and a grandfather. We've come from grandparents. We've been shaped by our families. Many of us share day-to-day life. life with people that are in our family, and we need wisdom for those families. So would you turn to the person next to you, if it's a family member, great,

but we're gonna take maybe 60 seconds or so, and we're gonna ask God to give us wisdom today for the building, establishing, and filling of our families. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Father God, thank you that you are a God of all wisdom and understanding and knowledge. And thank you that you've said in James that anyone who lacks wisdom, that we can ask and that you, God, give generously and without finding fault. Lord, so I pray for everyone in our congregation today as we lift our voices to you, God. We are asking for wisdom for our families. We're asking for your creative wisdom that brought forth beauty in creation, Lord. That that creative wisdom would flow in our families today, would flow in our marriages today,

would flow in our parenting today, would flow in our extended families today, Lord. That by your wisdom, our houses would be built, would be established, and would be filled with all the good things that you have for us. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. So when we start talking about God's wisdom, building a family, we're gonna start by looking at foundations. And the first foundation is, what is your family built around? So if you're taking notes, you wanna write that question down. Every family has a cornerstone. Every family has a fountain or something that sits at the center of that family that sets the tone for family life, that everything else is built around. Do you know what is that cornerstone for your family? Think about where does your money go? Where does your time go? Where does your family spend their energy? What are the arguments about? What does everything else work around, or what person does everything else work around? Think about why is that? Pause for a moment with a temptation and think about what your neighbor's family is centered around, or the family at your school,

or even maybe the family sitting next to you, and reflect on, God, what is the cornerstone of my family? Maybe it's pain from the past. There's been pain in a person, or pain in a generation, or pain in a relationship that sets the tone for your family. Perhaps it's addiction. Perhaps it's money, or appearances. Maybe it's sports, or a crisis, or fear. Maybe pleasure is a thing that is the cornerstone of your family, or again, maybe it is a certain family member. What we see in God's Word is that while all those things may be happening in our family, the wisdom that God has as he builds and establishes our family is that he himself wants to be the chief cornerstone. Proverbs refers to this as the concept of the fear of the Lord, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, that the fear of the Lord, the honoring and reverence for God, that is the cornerstone that you and I want to build our family around, and that when we do, what it unlocks is God's wisdom for the rest of our family. I think in two weeks, Carl's gonna take us.

I wanna give you a deep dive on the fear of the Lord, but I wanna give you one great scripture today that talks about what happens when we build our families with the centerpiece as the fear or honor of the Lord. Proverbs 14, 26 and 27, it says this, "'Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, "'and for their children, it will be a refuge. "'The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, "'turning a person from the snares of death.'" So what does this say, Antioch, about the fear of the Lord? That the fear of the Lord creates a secure fortress for your family. That having the fear of the Lord as your cornerstone, it creates your family into a place of strength that is secure. The fear of the Lord creates a place that is a refuge in your family for children. The fear of the Lord gives a family a fountain of life that brings life wherever it goes. And the fear of the Lord gives a family a guard against the snares of death that would want to come against your family or the people in your family. This is why we want to make the fear of the Lord the centerpiece or the foundation of our family. David and Bathsheba knew that Solomon was called to build. He would need to know that he built with the fear of the Lord as the cornerstone to his family and his day. In Antioch Waco, the Lord wants to speak that to you and me today. I remember talking about this with a gentleman

that my wife and I had led to the Lord, and he was dating a girl, and they were looking at getting married, and we were talking about what did it look like to walk with God in your family? As we got into some of the specifics, what it looked like to walk in the fear of the Lord, he said, you know, I'm sure I've heard this before, but I think I just, I closed my ears to it because I thought that if I did this, it would take away all the joy and the life in the relationship, but what I'm realizing as I follow Jesus and I open myself up to the fear of the Lord being the foundation of my family is that this leads to life. It doesn't take away life, but it leads to joy and leads to blessing. Maybe you're here today, and you've kinda stiff-armed maybe what God would say about your family or the relationships in your family. Maybe you're like my friend, it's like, maybe I'd close my ears to that, and today is a day of opening up, of saying, Lord, I want to know your ways. I want the fear of the Lord to be the center of my family. I want my family to be a fortress and a refuge. I want my family to have a fountain of life and protection from snares, Lord. I wanna go that way. I know another friend, a father, who was struck with, man, I want to make the fear of the Lord

the centerpiece of my family, the cornerstone of my family. Wife, couple kids, so he's like, okay, I don't really know where to start, but what sounds good is I'll get the Bible out. We'll read some Bible at mealtime, and this was a big step for him of saying, I wanna try and lead my family spiritually in a way that I've not. Sometimes your kids are really, really honest, so he gets the Bible out, he pulls it off the shelf, dusts it off a little bit, puts it at the table, starts to try and share from the Scripture about wanting to lead his family in his way. His son says, Dad, why are you getting that book out? You never read from that. So, dads, you might be taking steps of faith, and sometimes your kids can say things that make you feel a little deflated, not all the time, but sometimes, I just want you to know, we're cheering you on as you're trying to take steps to say, I want the fear of the Lord and God's ways to be the cornerstone of my family. So, with that as the cornerstone, let's look at a big part of family, and that is the selection of a spouse. Now, I realize not everyone in our church is in the season of selecting a spouse, but we do have a lot of young people in our church, and a lot of people, maybe you're not young and you're in a season of selecting a spouse.

We need wisdom in this area. Maybe you're a dad or a mom, maybe you're a grandparent, an aunt or an uncle, and you've got someone in your life who you care about who's thinking about this, and we start talking about building our families with God's wisdom. The selection of a spouse is incredibly important, and we need to be careful to understand what God's Word says and what God's wisdom would say on how to do that God's way. So, look at Proverbs 12, verse four. Proverbs 12, verse four. Now, remember, this is the context most likely of David and Bathsheba. Sheba talking to Solomon, so they're trying to help him think about a bride. They're trying to help him think about a wife, and it says this in verse four. It says, Proverbs 12, verse four, an excellent wife is the crown of her husband. Now again, Solomon is becoming king. He would wear a crown. So they're saying, Solomon, if you do well here, it will be like a crown for a king, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones. Wow, so what's this saying here? They're telling Solomon, Solomon, the selection of a spouse for you is going to be one of the most consequential decisions that you make, that this has a chance

to be like a crown of glory on your head, or it could be like rottenness in your bones. I love the fact that the Bible is brutally honest about the ways that things can go. Unless you think this is just advice for a son in choosing a wife, in our day, this would be equally applicable to a daughter in choosing a husband, that who you partner yourself with in marriage has the opportunity to be like a crown on your head, or rottenness in your bones. So Solomon might be like, well, Dad, okay, that seems like a big deal, but I've got you, I've got Mom, y'all are gonna help me. Look at Proverbs 19, 24. Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord. So what's that saying, right? We might receive an inheritance from our parents, you might receive a house, Solomon was gonna receive a house, he was gonna receive an inheritance from his mom and his dad, there are things that his mom and dad could help him with. But what we see right here is that the receiving of an excellent bride, or an excellent husband, a prudent wife, or a prudent husband, does not come from the family that you come from, it comes from the Lord. So what is it saying? It's saying that this is something we need to go to God for wisdom on.

We need to seek God's wisdom, God, I need to know, I need you to provide a prudent spouse for me, I need your wisdom in this area, I need to call out for your wisdom in this area. Two things with that, if you are a young adult and you are in the season of perhaps selecting a spouse or thinking about that, this Tuesday night at the Young Adult Service, they're talking on the topic of dating, they're going to do a deep dive. Maybe even if you're not a young adult, but you're in that season, you are welcome to go. Jeremy, you can thank me later. Deep dive on dating, we need God's wisdom so that we could choose wisely and that we could walk in marriages that are like crowns on our heads. Second thing that I want to encourage you with, parents and grandparents, I want to give you charge that before our children or our grandchildren are of age where they are navigating these waters, I want to charge you to disciple them in the word of God and help them understand what God says to look for in a spouse. I think this is an awesome opportunity for us to parent our kids and if you are a grandparent, to parent, grandparent your kids, to invest in them and impart wisdom to them. This is not a road to go alone. The word of God has much to say on this and this is a place where we can disciple well the next generation.

Next, wisdom for establishing your house. So if that has to do with some foundations, let's look at establishing your house. This is about its quality and its endurance. God's desire is that our families would not be a flash in the pan type of building. I'm thinking about our phrase for this year. This is a strengthening of our families so it will last. The idea is used of a king's throne or the Lord's throne being established, a sanctuary being established, a city being established, a nation being established, your family being established. So again, on the topic of marriage, if we need a wise spouse, if that's something we need to go to the Lord for and seek his wisdom on, I wanna talk with you for a minute about the ongoing cultivation or establishment of marriage, of a marriage that would be like a crown on your head and I wanna give you two phrases for those that are married and you're running the race together. The two phrases are delight and discipline, delight and discipline. This is what God wants to speak to us today about establishing marriage. Our families, again, I know this doesn't apply to everyone in the room, but it applies to many. Proverbs 5, 15 through 20. Drink water from your own cistern. Running water from your own well. Should your springs overflow in the streets?

Should your streams of water in public squares? Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with a stranger. May your fountain be blessed. May you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer, may her breasts satisfy you always. May you ever be intoxicated with her love. Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man's wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman? What's this saying here? David and Bathsheba are imparting to Solomon, I think they knew their son, and they knew particular areas where he was gonna be tempted, if you read his life story. And they're saying to him, they're saying, hey, beyond just choosing an excellent spouse, you need to be very diligent and attentive to delight in your spouse in an ongoing way. You need to drink deep from that relationship, from that fountain, that marriage is to be a place of joy and delight. And there's a warning against looking for that joy and delight in other things that would pull you away from covenant faithfulness to your spouse. So there's delight, the exhortation towards delight, and it's interesting, the words in here are not suggestions, but they're commands, they're direction, they're like,

Solomon, you need to pursue this. And there's warning, delight and discipline at the same time. As I read through Proverbs, I saw the repeated warnings against adultery, or to use the language of the fountain, the temptation to drink the waters of other cisterns and wells. And I saw the warnings of quarreling and strife, the amount of Proverbs that warn against quarreling and strife in the marriage relationship as being something that eats away at it like rottenness of the bones. So I share this to our church today, to each one of you today, if you are married, I share this as an exhortation that we might be intentional to pursue delight and joy in marriage and in our spouse, not just in the early days of a marriage being established, of laying the foundations, but in an ongoing way, that we would find great joy in one another, and that we would have wisdom for the places of temptation, where you today might be tempted to find joy in another, or the places where we've let strife and quarreling take too much of a place in our home, in our marriage, and it's eating away at it. And I've been praying that the Lord would bring conviction to all of us in the ways that He does, that He might show us on both ends,

where do we need to be more intentional to delight in one another? And where do we need to be aware of places where we're tempted to drink of other cisterns and wells? Amen? Amen. Look what it says, flipping over to Psalms 128, on that picture of delight, Psalm 128, it said, blessed are all who fear the Lord, so there's that cornerstone, who walk in obedience to Him, you will eat the fruit of your labor, blessings and prosperity will be yours, a lot of the same language, look at this, your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house, your children will be like olive shoots around your table, yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord. So on that idea of delight, what this is saying is that when we make the fear of the Lord the centerpiece of our home, one of the fruits of that is that we cultivate husbands, we cultivate our wives to where their experiences, they are like a fruitful vine because of the way that husbands, that we love, that we serve, that we encourage, that we cherish, that we come alongside, that our wives would prosper and be like a fruitful vine. It's interesting, the word for husband in English is connected to that idea of being a gardener or a farmer

to cultivate land and to cultivate beauty and may our wives be cultivated in fruitfulness. fruitfulness because of the way that we have loved and served them. It's getting quiet in here this morning. For our wives, Proverbs 31, 10 through 12, an excellent wife who can find. She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not harm all the days of her life. It's interesting the word excellent here for wife is the same descriptive word that's used to describe David's mighty men. It's women of strength, women of valor, women of excellence. So what we have here is vision for delight and discipline. That our marriages would be a place of joy, that we would have discipline against those things that would pull us away. Husbands, that we would be stirred up today in vision by God's wisdom to be the type of person that brings the best out in our wives and wives that you would be stirred up today to have vision to be an excellent spouse to your husband and to do him good all the days of his life. Next I wanna move to filling the house. There's a lot in Proverbs on family. I look at this through the angle of children and again that phrase delight and discipline.

So if we have the selection of a spouse, we have the ongoing cultivation of marriage, now we're looking at the filling, the delight and the discipline with children. Proverbs 3, 11 through 12. My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline. Do not resent his rebuke because the Lord disciplines those he loves as a father the son he delights in. Proverbs 13, 24. Whoever spares the rod hates his son but who loves him is diligent to discipline him. So what we see again here, those same ideas of delight and discipline. Parents, we are called to delight in our children in a way that reflects how God delights in them. That begins to fill our house with pleasant things. We are to delight in our sons and our daughters and we would be intentional to discipline them. Note that it says that that discipline flows from our delight, flows from our love for them, flows from our love of them. And that if we don't discipline them, what we're really saying is that we hate our children. So we need to be intentional to discipline our kids and delight in them. Now you know this is very personal for David as he talks, right? David had a blended family. His firstborn son was named Amnon

and at one point in David's life, Amnon assaulted one of David's daughters by way of another marriage. This is a very painful situation that ended up unraveling his family. It's very painful. And the word of God says that though David was angry for his son Amnon assaulting his daughter Tamar, that David did not do anything about it. And in some translation it says he did not do anything about it because he loved his son. He didn't discipline him. What that led to was a fracture in their family. Another one of David's sons, Absalom, took offense over this. Absalom goes after Amnon, Absalom goes after David. It destroys David's family. So when he's talking to Solomon and he's saying, Solomon, you need to be faithful to discipline your sons out of love. He's talking because he knows the consequence or the sting of not doing that. Sobering. So he's saying this and he's saying, Solomon, you need to be intentional and to delight in your children. And because you delight in them, you need to be faithful to discipline them. So if you'll go back to Proverbs 24,

by wisdom a house is built, by understanding it is established, by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. I know I can't address every family situation in our church, but I wanna be faithful to share some of the family situations that Proverbs speaks directly into. And I wanna exhort all of us today that we might go to God in a fresh way this morning and in the season for the wisdom, the knowledge and the understanding that God would want to give us to strengthen our own families. Whether you are a son or a daughter, a husband or a wife, an aunt or an uncle, a grandparent, any of those places, God wants to bring strength to our family. And I wanna invite you to stand. If you'll notice in the Gospels, many of the Gospels open with the genealogy of Jesus, describing the family that he was born into. And if you study those family lines, they are families that have been through quite a bit. Some interesting characters in the family line of Jesus, some traumatic stories. And I think that's intentional, but I think God wanted us to know that he was coming into families like yours and like mine. But he's not afraid of those places,

but he was coming to bring redemption into those places, restoration, strengthening. And I was thinking and praying about this service, and I was thinking about the last 15 years or so, Waco has been known for the restoration, the strengthening, the edifying, and the beautying of the physical structure of the home. And I wanna believe that over these next 15 years, that God would give us an anointing as a church, and God would give us an anointing as a city, not for the restoration of a physical home, but for the restoration and the establishment of families. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. We need the Lord, we need his wisdom, and he's here today to bring strength to your family. He's here today to establish your family in a fresh way. He's here today to bring redemption and restoration in places where you're like, man, this is not going according to how I thought it was gonna go. God wants to step in, and that we might see families restored, that we might see families strengthened,

generations impacted for the glory of God. So if I can invite the prayer team to come forward. Now, Stephanie, if you wanna come up as well, we're gonna take time to minister into this word. I know there's a lot here, and you may have on your heart a family member that you've been contending for, that is away and estranged, and we wanna pray into that today. Or maybe you're in the season of selecting a spouse. We wanna pray with you that God would give you wisdom, or in your marriage, there are places that have eaten at your marriage, or places where you need to delight in a greater way. We wanna pray into those things for wisdom in parenting. There's some generalities, and Stephen has some specifics. Good morning, Antioch. Yes, we said a few words at our team as we were waiting upon the Lord this morning. One of the words, it's amazing how they lined up with your message though. We had a sense that there were individuals, couples, or families who were really wrestling with discouragement and questioning if God really cares. And we felt that God was saying that not only does He care, but He's actually carrying you in this season. So I wanna encourage you to receive ministry if that applies to you. Another team member heard the name Joyce,

and then followed by the scripture, rejoice, I say, and the Lord rejoice. Joyce, we believe the Father wants to heal your wounds. He wants to touch your heart, and Jesus is calling you to the fountain of life and waiting for you there. We also heard that there are people who have let others who are around them define who they are versus allowing God who says, I made you, I know who you are, I've gifted you. And He wants you to come to the Lord to receive from Him who He says you are in Him, a son of the King, a daughter of the King, an heir of righteousness, and with the gifts He's given you. And then lastly, we heard that there are spouses who are no longer finding delight or joy in the spouse of their youth and who've been even tempted to drink from another sister. So I'm like, wow, this is, God wants to come alongside you in this season that there is grace to tap in, grace to receive His mercy and help in this season. Love it. Thanks for sharing that. So I wanna invite you to come forward to receive ministry. If you'd like someone to pray with you, you can worship the Lord from where you are, but let's go to God and ask Him for that wisdom that we need, that creative wisdom

that we need for our families. ♪ You're worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You're worthy of it all ♪ ♪ For from you are all things and to you are all things ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory ♪ ♪ Oh, you're worthy, you're worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You're worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You are the Lord ♪ ♪ For from You are all things ♪ ♪ And to You are all things ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory ♪ ♪ Day and night ♪ ♪ And day and night, night and day the incense arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day the incense arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day the incense arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day the incense arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day the incense arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day the incense arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day the incense arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ You're worthy of it all we sing ♪ ♪ You're worthy of it all we sing ♪ ♪ You're worthy of it all, always you are ♪ ♪ For from you are all things and to you are all things ♪ ♪ Oh you deserve the glory, you're so worthy ♪ ♪ You're worthy of it all, you're worthy of it all ♪ ♪ For from you are all things and to you are all things ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory, oh you're worthy, you're worthy ♪ ♪ You're worthy of it all, you're worthy of it all ♪ ♪ For from you are all things and to you are all things ♪

♪ You deserve the glory, oh you deserve the glory ♪ ♪ Oh you deserve everything, oh you deserve it all ♪ ♪ You deserve, you deserve it all Lord ♪ ♪ You deserve it all Lord ♪ ♪ All hail King Jesus, all hail the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ All hail King Jesus, all hail the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ All hail the Savior of the world, all hail King Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ All hail the Lord of heaven and earth, all hail King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail the King Jesus, all hail the Savior of the world ♪ ♪ He's the Savior of the world, He's the Savior of the world ♪ ♪ He's the Savior of the world, day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ We sing day and night, night and day, let incense arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day, let incense arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day, let incense arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day, let incense arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day, let incense arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day, let incense arise ♪ ♪ Night and day from our family's Lord ♪ ♪ Oh day and night, night and day let incense arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ You're worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You're worthy of it all ♪ ♪ For from you are all things and to you are all things ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory of our God ♪ ♪ You're worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You're worthy of it all, King Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, for from you are all things and to you are all things ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory of our God ♪ I know that ministry is happening all around the room. We want that to be able to continue

as we begin to close and wrap up our service together. And again, if you are one of our guests, we would love to connect with you in our Connect Center at the conclusion of this service. Just head over there and just be a few minutes of connecting with you and then we'll let you be on your way. I'm gonna pray to close our time, but just also wanna let you know as a church family that this is a big week for us. Our youth ministry took off this week to go serve at Camp Nikos in Austin. They did youth camp just last week, had over 600 students that were there from our various Antioch churches. And now they're headed to Austin to serve at this camp there for people, kids that are coming that are really in need of a touch from God. All week long, there's gonna be a mission trip happening to Waco that Jason Ramos will be leading. And so just a lot of beautiful things happening, but elements that we wanna pray over. So I'm gonna pray over those specific trips that are happening and also close our time. Would you pray with me? We thank you that we serve a God called Emmanuel, God with us, and you call us, we can call you Father. We thank you for the work that you did this morning in our hearts individually and the work of family,

this word that's been imparted to us, God. And we're also asking for our youth as they go to Austin that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit for the work that you called them to there at Camp Nikos. And as this team of people here from our midst start to share all over the city of Waco, we ask God for divine appointments and breakthroughs that would lead to heart change and transformation here in our city and beyond. Thank you for your work here. We just invite you to be that voice behind us this week, leading us in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen and amen. God bless you as you head out. Have a great Sunday. We'll see you back next week for Father's Day.