Stronger Homes - Saddleback Weekend Service

I'm clean, sin was dain on me, shame was runnin' deep, but love was built on cavalry, Oh Holland you're unclean, God how can it be, I'm man so married deep, I'm standing in your victory, Oh Holland you have been washed in the water, washed in the blood, I'm as good as me, Oh Holland you have been washed in the water, washed in the blood, all because of you, Oh Holland you are clean, it's not what I have done, but what you've done for me, ♪ The pain in all upon that tree ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah, I'm free ♪ ♪ The love lies overcome ♪ ♪ My mercy is to me ♪ ♪ I'm dancing in your victory ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah ♪ ♪ I've been washed in the water ♪ ♪ Washed in the blood ♪ ♪ I'm as good as you ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah ♪ ♪ I've been washed in the water ♪ ♪ Washed in the blood ♪ ♪ I'm because of you ♪ ♪ I'm singing again ♪ ♪ I've been washed in the water ♪ ♪ Washed in the blood ♪ ♪ I'm as good as you ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah ♪ ♪ I've been washed in the water ♪ ♪ Washed in the blood ♪ ♪ I'm because of you ♪ ♪ Come on, put your hands together like this ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ 'Cause you took away my shame ♪ ♪ Have you nothing to the cross ♪ ♪ You got me running on the grave ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Here I come ♪

♪ 'Cause you took away my shame ♪ ♪ Have you doubted to the cross ♪ ♪ You got me running on the grave ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Oh, he took it away ♪ ♪ Oh, he took away my shame ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah ♪ ♪ He took it away ♪ ♪ Oh, he took away my shame ♪ ♪ You got me running on the grave ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Oh, he took away my shame ♪ ♪ Have you known to the cross ♪ ♪ You took away my shame ♪ ♪ Have you known to the cross ♪ ♪ You got me running on the grave ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Oh, he took away my shame ♪ ♪ Oh, he took away my shame ♪ ♪ Oh, he took away my shame ♪ ♪ Oh, he took away my shame ♪ ♪ Oh, he took away my shame ♪ ♪ Oh, he took away my shame ♪ ♪ Oh, he took away my shame ♪ ♪ Oh, he took away my shame ♪ ♪ Oh, he took away my shame ♪ ♪ Oh, he took away my shame ♪ ♪ Oh, he took away my shame ♪ ♪ Oh, he took away my shame ♪ ♪ Oh, he took away my shame ♪

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♪ Oh, he took away my shame ♪ - It's actually raining a little bit, but that's okay. We've got an amazing baptism about to happen. I'd love to introduce you to my friend Brianna. She, over a year ago, she experienced just a tough loss. She lost her grandma, but her grandma was a strong Christian and always encouraged her to chase after Jesus. And through that loss, she was able to accept Jesus. And then her mom gave her an invitation to come here to Saddleback, and she has been here every day since. And now it's taken her about a year before she's ready to get baptized. But after a year of watching a lot of people get baptized, today's her day, finally ready to go public with her face. So we are so excited for her today. Now, there's nothing special about this water. It is warm. It's great. We got rain here happening. It's okay. But what is important and what is special is the moment that's going to take place in this water. The significant moment, because as she stands here today, she's going to let you know not only that she loves Jesus, but that she is committed to following Jesus. church family yeah can we celebrate that so I want us as she comes up out of that water I want to hear the loudest cheers the hoots and haulers and I think we can do better than that let's let's hear it right now let's practice all right Rihanna I think they're ready are you ready all right let's get dunking there was no way till you made one grace upon grace

even though I don't deserve it did it even though I couldn't earn it you gave it whoever that you keep me on you're my God I'm just grateful for you God I'm just grateful for you and all my love you've been right here by my side I got I'm just grateful for you God I'm just grateful for you Holy Hallelujah there's only one King of glory for all that you've done oh even though I don't deserve it we did it even though I couldn't earn it give it you are so you're not who am I that you keep me on you're my God I'm just grateful for you God I'm just grateful for you oh my life you've been right here by my side God I'm just grateful for you God I'm just grateful for you who am I that you keep me on you're my God I'm just grateful yes we are oh my life oh my life you've been right here by my side I'm just grateful for you God I'm just grateful for you oh nobody loves me like you do come on see this in faith tonight and I I I I'm living both of my hands because you gave me chance after chance after chance I'm giving all that I am you gave me chance after chance after chance come on sing that I'm living both of my you gave me chance after chance I'm giving all that I am you gave me chance after chance after chance again so who am I that you keep me on you're my God I'm just grateful for you God I'm just grateful for you and oh my life you've been right here by my side God I'm just grateful for you who am I that you keep me on you're my God I'm just grateful for you oh my life you've been right here by my side I'm just grateful for you God I'm just grateful for you I serve all I serve all and I'm here to testify God I'm just grateful God I'm just grateful that you're my God I'm just grateful for you

God I'm just grateful for you Caught you in a reason to be grateful tonight! - We serve an amazing God, amen. Well, we thank you that you've made a way for us to approach your throne with boldness tonight. We thank you, Lord, that you are who you say that you are, that you are the same yesterday, today, and forever, Lord and that. When the world fades away, the one thing that we can look back on is your faithfulness. The one thing that we can look back on, Lord, is your mercy. So tonight, Lord, we worship you in spirit and in truth. As should you just come and fill this room with your presence, Lord. But there is no one like you, Jesus. There is no one worthy. There is no one more holy, no one more deserving of our praise than you, Lord. And so tonight, Lord, we worship you. It gives you the honor and the praise that you deserve. (gentle music) - Thank you, Jesus. (speaking in foreign language) ♪ I am an instrument of exaltation ♪ ♪ And I was born to lift your name above all names ♪ ♪ You hear the melody of all creation ♪ ♪ But there's a song of praise that only I can bring ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one ♪

♪ Yeah, only you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one only you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Lord, you are the infant ♪ ♪ God of the ages ♪ ♪ Yet you chose to make my heart your dwelling place ♪ ♪ You hear my brokenness ♪ ♪ Show me your glory ♪ ♪ So I have songs of thanks ♪ ♪ Not even angels sing ♪ ♪ Who else who else is worthy ♪ ♪ I'll let you go sing that ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one ♪ ♪ There is no one ♪ ♪ Only you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one ♪ ♪ Only you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one ♪ ♪ Only you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one ♪ ♪ Only you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Cool, can we join in with the song of heaven tonight ♪

♪ What the elders gather 'round his throne ♪ ♪ And singing holy, holy ♪ ♪ Worthy is the lamb seated on the throne ♪ ♪ Well, we put you in your rightful place tonight ♪ ♪ We ask that in all things you would have ♪ ♪ Three minutes you would have the authority ♪ ♪ And we speak that tonight ♪ ♪ Come on and sing this out in boldness and faith ♪ ♪ Sing Lamb of God, come with your voice ♪ ♪ Lamb of God, anointed one ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ Sing it on the throne above ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Right, just one who shed his blood ♪ ♪ To prove to us the Father's love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, we lift it up ♪ ♪ Oh, come on, holy ♪ ♪ Lamb of God, anointed one ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ Sing it on the throne above ♪ ♪ Oh, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Right, just one who shed his blood ♪ ♪ To prove to us the Father's love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, we lift it up ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ No ♪

♪ There is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Come on, thank God ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ There is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪ ♪ Oh, there is no other one ♪

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♪ But it starts with you letting us know that you're joining us online for the very first time ♪ ♪ And so you can let us know if you're watching on YouTube ♪ ♪ There's a link that you can click in the description that will take you to our digital program ♪ ♪ Just make sure you set your campus to online community ♪ ♪ And then fill out that new here form ♪ ♪ Or even better, we have a Saddleback Church app that you can download ♪ ♪ And it's a great way to stay connected with what is going on in the life of our church ♪ ♪ And even follow along with the message notes as Pastor Andy preached us today ♪ ♪ But we can't wait to get to know you ♪ ♪ And we hope that you'll fill out one of those forms ♪ ♪ So that someone from our team can personally reach out to you and help you get connected ♪ ♪ But today I'm so glad that you are here because I wanted to share one of the ways ♪ ♪ That God is moving through our church ♪ ♪ And that's through our Saddleback extensions ♪ ♪ Extensions at Saddleback are volunteer-led gatherings of in-person people coming together to watch service ♪ ♪ These leaders, these volunteers that put on the Saddleback extensions ♪ ♪ Get to bring the Saddleback Church experience to people in their local communities ♪ ♪ And today I want to highlight our assisted living extensions ♪ ♪ Our assisted living extensions serve over 25 assisted living care facilities all throughout Southern California ♪ ♪ And it's so cool because they bring the Saddleback Church experience to hundreds of seniors that are living in these communities ♪ ♪ That wouldn't otherwise be able to experience Saddleback and go to church ♪ ♪ And we're so grateful that they get to be a part of our church through these extensions ♪ ♪ It's so cool over the years we've seen so many people gave their lives to Jesus in their last years through these extensions ♪ ♪ We also, our leaders at these extensions, get to celebrate holidays and get to put on special events with live music ♪ ♪ They even donate some handmade gifts occasionally to the people that are living there ♪ ♪ And it is so special to see church happen in these extensions and in these assisted living homes ♪ ♪ And so maybe you're joining us from one of our extensions right now ♪ ♪ We want to say that we see you and we are celebrating all that God is doing in your extension ♪ ♪ And maybe you want to find an extension near you or learn more about what it looks like to be a part of one or to start one ♪ ♪ So we want to invite you to head to Saddleback.com/extensions to learn more ♪

♪ And we would love to share more about what it would look like to bring Saddleback to your community ♪ ♪ And another exciting thing that we have going on in the life of our church is Dream Team Rally ♪ ♪ Maybe you serve on one of our dream teams here at Saddleback ♪ by praying for others, by being a small group leader, or maybe you help people with our follow-up team to take a next step in their faith. There are so many of you across our online community that serve and help bring the love of Jesus to people. We wanna take a moment to honor you and to celebrate you. We are so grateful for you. And so we wanna invite you to join us for dream team rally that's happening on October 20th. You can register for it through the Saddleback app. And if you're not serving yet, we would love for you to join us still. You can join us and find out more about what it would look like to be a part of our dream team and to celebrate with us on October 20th. So make sure you sign up through the Saddleback app. Well, church family, let's join the rest of our church as we hear what's going on in the life of our church. Hey Saddleback, we're so glad you're here this weekend. If you're newer around here, you might be thinking, there is a lot going on. How do I find out about it all? And we get it. That's why we have something called activate. Activate is your starting point to everything here at Saddleback. It's designed to help you discover

what Saddleback is all about and take your next steps with God. Let me tell you about Alex. He's newer to our church and came to activate just last month. Alex was in a sober living facility and working on his recovery. And God's really been moving in his life. After attending activate, he felt God was calling him to get baptized. So last month, Alex decided to put his full faith in Jesus and was baptized on baptism weekend. Alex's story is a reminder of why we help people take their next step because we want everyone to experience what God has for their life. I encourage you to join for the next activate. You can sign up in the Saddleback app. Now this week, we're already in week four of our five week challenge during stronger. We've been talking about God's design for men, women, and marriage and how our lives get stronger when we do things his way. And that takes practice. Coming back each weekend gives us another chance to hear from God and take what we're learning into our relationships and our homes. That's why we're doing this challenge together. Remember to check in this weekend through the banner in the Saddleback app.

If you haven't started it yet, it's not too late. You can jump in today. We also have something really special to celebrate. And that's the one year anniversary of our Love Local 10. If you haven't heard of it, the Love Local 10 at our Lake Forest campus is a place to find practical ways to serve our neighbors, meeting real needs, caring for vulnerable people, and sharing God's love through local outreach. Volunteers gather here to pack food boxes and care bags then get them out to neighbors who need them, including military families, foster families, and people experiencing homelessness. In just one year, more than 1.1 million donations have come in, more than 266,000 donation boxes have gone out to help our neighbors, and more than 92,000 bags for people experiencing homelessness. Plus, nearly 18,000 food boxes have been hand put together and distributed. Think about how much it means to receive groceries when you're not sure how you're going to feed your family, or to get a bag of everyday essentials when you don't have a place to call home. Those things say you matter. God loves you and you don't have to face us alone. Because of your regular giving, people in our communities are experiencing that kind of care. To worship today through giving of your tithe or offering, you can open the Saddleback app

or use the Giving envelope near you. Church, this is where we get to be a part of. People taking steps towards Jesus, neighbors finding help, and lives being changed. God is at work and we all have a part to play. (audience applauding) - Well, welcome to Church, everybody. It's so good to be together. I want to welcome our campuses, and those of you who are joining us online. And of course, all of our extensions today, we are in the third or fourth week, I should say, of our stronger message series. And I've loved this series. It's really been an opportunity for us as a church to look at God's desire for us to live with His strength, in particular, focusing in on God's design for men, for women, for the home. And today we're going to talk about God's design for us to live with a stronger home. And I love how we have a lot of different homes represented in our church family. We have some of you that are single. We have single parents. We have grandparents. We have everything in between. And I believe today God wants to fire us up around His vision for our homes. Now, I gotta give you a little bit of a warning on the front end of this message.

This is a message that is deep in my heart. It's burning in my heart. There are some messages that are kind of build you up. This is a fire you up message. So I'm wondering if there's anybody that's kind of ready today to be fired up. Maybe just a little bit. Lake Forest is, we'll see about the campuses. Now, for Stacy and I, personally, the whole message of building a stronger home became a deeper message. caveman, as he was getting closer to the end of high school. His senior year came really fast. Those of your parents know how fast it happens. And I remember in that year just sensing urgency in my heart, like as he's stepping into this next season of life, the significance and the importance of mobilizing equipping him to be ready to move into the world as a young man. And one of the things I started to notice as I was talking to other parents with kids about the same age is how many people do this journey of the parenting journey and in particular their home not feeling resourced enough to actually carry out God's design. And so about two years ago what we said was we want to give a greater emphasis as a church family to strengthening the home. So we launched something called stronger homes and that was a part of our dream now initiative. Many of you participated in that. You prayed. You gave to that. And so for the last two years we've really been focusing in on the family and on home. And I want to share with you some of the things that God's done through you. So we said we're going to help men. We're going to help women. We're going to help marriages. And so we've had all these events the last year or so with our men's event, our women's event, a marriage retreat or conference that we did. And through all of that close to 5,000 people got served with all of those events. It shows you that there's a felt need there. And then in addition to that, we started the stronger podcast, which is really designed to strengthen the home. And in just three weeks since launching, there've already been 40,000 listens to episodes, full listens to the episodes, which shows you the hunger that is there, the desire to have a stronger home. Now today we're going to look at two verses in the Bible. These two verses are two of my favorite

verses from the Old Testament. I want to invite you. We're going to read these aloud at all of our campuses. But this particular set of verses is kind of like a William Wallace Braveheart war cry. So I feel like these two verses cannot be read while being seated. So I'm going to ask you to stand up with me all of our campuses. And we're going to read these two verses like we are William Wallace's army about to charge into battle, okay, against tyranny. Here we go. In Joshua chapter 24 verse 14, let's read it together. It says, "Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the God your forefather's worship beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. Whether the God your forefather served beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites and whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." Well done. Amen. You can be seated. I love these verses. And they're a call to radical response to the heart of God, radical obedience and worship to give our whole heart to God. Now you have to imagine for just a moment, this is Joshua. Joshua is the one that Moses appointed to be the leader of the Israelites. He gives him the torch. He carries the nation of Israel with God's help across the Jordan River into the promised land. He's about 110 years old when he gives this speech. And yet you can feel the strength in him. There's some grandparents that probably need Joshua's example, like this old man. And he's about to die. And he's like, "Before I die, I have a few things I need to say to you. Worship God with your whole heart." And then the Israelites, after he says this to them, they're like, "We will." And Joshua says, "No, you won't." And then they say, "No, yes, we will." And it's this back and forth, this rally cry to be whole-hearted worshipers of God. But when you look at Joshua, you've got to go back a little bit. You've got to go back to the first five books of the Bible where Joshua was following Moses around as his aid, his assistant. And there were many moments where Moses would go up on the mountain and Joshua would come right there with him. Joshua was there when Moses got the 10 commandments. But I think about Joshua in the moments where Moses had set up this place called the tent of meeting, where Moses would go to see the face of God, to hear his voice. And as Joshua would come with him, there were many moments where Moses would go back to the camp. And Joshua would be there worshiping God, just hungry for his presence. So this is a man who at 110 has a vigor that started when he was a young man with this obsession for God that burned in his soul, this longing to worship, to pursue God that God would be the one ambition of his life.

And in this call that Joshua gives to the Israelites, there's a call for us today to build stronger homes. I think about was emerging. And he was at the front end of this. God used him in a very powerful way for one of the greatest awakenings in movement in modern history. I mean, there were like whole towns that were radically transformed. There were bars that were emptied out and lost their business because the town and community was so transformed. And Duncan Campbell said that when the fire of God falls, when the move of God happens in a generation, there are four altars that God lights on fire. It's the altar of our hearts. It's the altar of our homes. It's the altar of our churches. And it's the altar of our community. And sometimes when it comes to wanting more of God in our lives, we have to put some logs on the fire to say, "God, come burn in my heart a passion for you." And in this passage, there's some logs that we can put on the fire of our heart today to burn more brightly for God in our homes. There's nothing more significant and sacred in this hour than an emphasis on the home. The home has been under emphasized. It's been undercut. And it's the most upstream place in all of society. So if you want to change a community, if you want to impact a world, you start with the home. If a home is set on fire as a place of worship for God, there's no stopping the kingdom of God moving forward. So I pray in my heart that the homes of Saddleback Church would be places, altars of worship, where Jesus is glorified, where he is the king, where that worship emanates from that house to communities. And that's what we're after today when we look at this passage. And I want us to notice, first of all, I want us to notice, first of all, Joshua, when he calls the Israelites to make this decision, he says, "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve." It's like this cry of urgency that he's saying, "You have to make an intentional decision. Who will you worship in your home? Who will be the person that gets the adoration and the affection of your home?" And the truth is that someone or something is being worshiped in your home. No matter who lives in your home, how many people are there? Five people, 50 people. No matter how big your home is, no matter how small it is, someone is getting the attention and the affection of our homes. And we have to ask the question, who will be on the throne of this home? So who's going to be the one in charge of this home? And if you're a follower of Jesus, Joshua is saying the call, the rightful place for God to be in our home, is that he would be the one that receives the object or receives all of our worship. And he calls them to a decision by saying, "Choose this day whom you will serve." And he's making a point that you are intentionally

deciding or accidentally drifting into the future with your life. Every day when we wake up, we are either intentionally deciding or accidentally drifting into the future. And homes for followers of Jesus that don't come back to center to say that King Jesus will be the focus of this home. They drift further and further away from God. And I love this call because it's not a decision that you just make one day and then the rest of your life, all of a sudden, every day God gets your worship. It's a daily decision that has to be made. And there are 30,000 decisions that we make every single day. So this decision is made every day countless times who's going to get the attention and the affection of our home. And I want you to notice how Joshua, as he calls to the Israelites and he says, "Fear the Lord." He says, "Fear Him and serve Him with all faithfulness." Now this is important for us because I think in a lot of ways in our culture we have diminished the fear of the Lord, the reverence of God to understand who He is in His capacity, that He's the creator and the sustainer of the universe, that He holds it all together. Stacy and I were walking on the beach this weekend, walking down the beach, and there's the storm for our international campuses. There's a storm approaching Southern California. Apparently we're going to get .25 inches of rain. It's a hurricane, but it's coming. And the waters are all churned up and there's these huge waves. They're like 15 feet tall and they're crashing into the shoreline. And I was just thinking as I was watching this, is if I were standing at the edge of that shoreline, I love the beach. I love the water. It's beautiful. But that wave, if I'm in its way, it's coming over me. And there's no standing in its force. It's powerful and mighty. So it can be enjoyed. It can be adored. It's wonderful. It's beautiful. But it also is to be revered for its power and its strength. and our homes that we would say, yes, we wanna love God. Yes, we want our affections to be turned up towards Him. But at the same time, there needs to be a reference of who He is. So Joshua says that fear of the Lord. Now, fear the Lord. And he says, serve Him with all faithfulness. The word literally means with your whole heart that you would serve Him. That you would give Him your ambition and your affection.

And he's making a point that there are times in our lives where things will begin to creep into that spot that only belongs to God. That there's this constant battle for who or what will be on the throne of our lives. And there are a lot of different families. Like, I know there are different families and seasons of life that we've already talked about, but you've got different types of family. Like you've got the sports family. And they love, they love sports. Their kids are in travel leagues. They play four sports. It's every night. That's what the family revolves around. And then you have the education family. Now, Stacey and I grew up in different families. Her family, there were lots of really good students in my family, not so much. And we got married, we've met in the middle in marriage on this whole education thing. We love education, grateful for teachers. I'm digressing, putting myself into a hole as I talk. But there are education families that that's the ambition that if my kid could have a certain GPA and if they could get into a certain university, then I will have arrived as a parent or a home will have accomplished its purpose. But you've got to ask the question, is God in that rightful place

that God will not take second place to school? God will not take second place to sports. God will not take second place to our hobbies. He's to be first place. He is king of kings and lord of lords. He is to receive that rightful place of worship. So the call that Joshua is making is it's a bold call. Choose for yourself this day who you will serve. Who's going to get the affection and the adoration of your home? And there are a lot of really good things in our lives that our wonderful gifts from God. You know, I think about this with my kids. They love football. We love football in our family. Somehow, two of my kids, I feel like this is one of my greatest failures as a parent. Two of my kids are Seattle Seahawks fans. It is, I'm still trying to figure out before the Lord how that happened, repenting on a daily basis for it. But they love the Seahawks. They love football. And sometimes I have to be like, that's great that you love Seahawks, but you got to demote them in the ranking. Like they're nowhere close to God. Love the Seahawks, awesome, wonderful, could pick a better team for you to love, but they need to be weighed on.

And there might be something for you that competes for the throne in your heart. And the tendency is to get very confused about that, to say, well, this is a good thing. This is from God. Yes, it's a good thing. It is from God. But when it becomes your object of worship, when it becomes the thing that your whole life revolves around, there's this concept in business called an organizing principle. And what an organizing principle is, it's like the hub of a wheel that all these spokes go out from and everything rotates around that day in, day out. So in our lives, we have an organizing principle that our lives are set in motion around. And we know what that organizing principle is based upon what we do with our time and based upon what we do with our money. So if we want to know, we just look at the family calendar. Look at the calendar of the home. Look at your checkbook. Anybody have checkbooks anymore? Look at your bank statement. And you'll see what is the thing that is the priority of our homes. And there are some things in our lives that need to be dethroned. Your job is a good thing. Like work is a gift from God. I'm grateful that I have a job.

I'm grateful that we get the ability to produce and partner with God, to make heaven, to bring the kingdom of heaven here on earth as it is ultimately in heaven. But when that job, when that career, I'm speaking to those of you men who are advancing in your career, when your career begins to take place over God, when it begins to take place over your family, what can begin to happen is we start to make subtle decisions, little values decisions that rotate around that organizing principle, that if I could just get into that office, that corner office, if I could just have that job, that title on my name. And what can happen is then we can pursue or choose something that maybe puts you on the road a little bit more from your family or put you in a place with your lifestyle. Maybe you out-purchased your lifestyle. And now you've got to work around the clock. And now your spouse has to work in ways that she shouldn't have to work. And the invitation from God, yes, work hard. Yes, give your best energy. So it's an intentional daily decision. Who's going to be on the throne of my life and in our home? And not only is Joshua calling for this intentional decision, he's also calling for a wholehearted devotion out of the Israelites. A wholehearted devotion that says there will be no lesser lovers that compete for the adoration and affection of this household. That Jesus will be, that God will be, Yahweh will be the object of worship. And there are so many things that compete for top priority in our homes and our families.

So I've got to ask the question, what things are competing for top priority in my family? But there is nothing that should take the place of God. Now, here's the challenge. There are times in your life where there are things that need to be completely removed from your life. So watch Joshua's words. I want to come back to this for just a moment. Joshua says, "Now fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness." This phrase that should be on the screen, "Throw away the God your forefather's worship beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord." Can we say that phrase together? "Throw away." He's making a bold statement. He's saying, "There are these little g-gods that you have brought with you from Egypt that you are now worshiping. And these little g-gods are not just to be dethroned or to be thrown away. Now in our family, trash at one point was a big deal. And I remember all the stress and anxiety every week who takes out which can. And we had like times where our daughter was younger and there was a weird number. So then every week there was like one can that was not taken out. And how many of you know that when the trash doesn't get taken out, all of a sudden the trash ends up other places and it starts stacking up and it's outside the trash can and then it smells really bad. And there's flies all over the place. And apparently in California, we've got these really interesting flies that when it gets really hot, they like to come inside the house because they can't handle the heat. So it's human outside. I'm a California fly. I'm going inside baby. But that trash that trash just builds up and it's there. And sometimes in our life, there's some things that have been building up. They just need to be thrown away. They just need to be out of our lives. And I think the challenge is that like if I were to say to you, you know, okay, maybe your issue is eating too much and you feel like you might struggle with some gluttony, which from time to time, I face that when the cookies come. But that gluttony, you're like, yeah, I can throw away the cookies, but I still got to eat. But there are some things in our lives

that you can completely eliminate from your life and your life will not suffer. Your family will not suffer from this point for the rest of your existence. But that if you were to say, I'm done with it and I'll remove it. I'll give you a couple of examples. If you're listening to my voice right now, and you find yourself at a place where you are struggling with alcohol, and it's beginning to dominate your life and your family. Now, I understand that an alcoholic often doesn't see themselves as an alcoholic. But if your wife or your husband or somebody in your life keeps telling you that you are struggling, that this issue is impacting our family, you don't need three less beers. What you need is to take it and put it in the trash and never drink again. I understand I'm simplifying it. I understand that's why we do celebrate recovery. That's why we got that's why we got CARES Ministry, but we want to help you. But that kind of urgency that I will I will rid my home of anything that competes against God being the center piece of my family in my home. So the question for us to wrestle through is what needs to be dethroned or removed from our lives. There's some things today that God wants to put his finger on in your heart to say it needs to go and never come back. There's some apps that need to be deleted and never to return to your phone. It is mind-blowing to me the number of people that will waste away their lives gambling on sports games, spend thousands of dollars of their family's money that could be invested into their children or their grandchildren or the kingdom of God and they're so addicted to it and they cannot detach from it and they tell themselves they're going to do it less, but they can't end up going back over and over and over again. It needs to be deleted and removed from your phone for the rest of your life. I told you I was going to preach today. I've got more. There are times where so many men, especially, they get their impacting relationship with their wives or impacting the way that they see the world around them and God wants to set you free. God wants to liberate you, but you have to say, I will throw it out with God's help. I will work with God. Now, come back just one more moment, this verse. It says, when he says, throw away the God, your forefather's worship beyond the river

and in Egypt and serve the Lord. What is happening in this moment is the Israelites have gone back in, historically speaking, to bring with them these little g-gods that they are worshiping. And what the Scripture is saying is that you have brought the slavery with you that God set you free from in your past. And there is a sense in which in the moment that you open your heart to Jesus, he wipes the slate clean and sets you free from the power of sin and death. And then we make choices to drag into the future our place of slavery from the past. And what God wants to do is he wants to set you free by the power of his grace and the spirit of the living God within you. But there has to be some cooperation on your part. There has to be some urgency inside of you. It's not just about you, sir. It's about your children. It's about your grandchildren. It's about your great-grandchildren. That that sense of urgency that I would say, I eliminate it from my life. Okay, I got a couple more. Preach a little bit more. I know that there are a lot of grandparents in our church. And maybe for some of you, it's not like, oh, I just got to, I got to get rid of golf. It's okay. I got to get rid of golf. But might I challenge you for just a moment that there is a moment at which in our lives where we've worked hard, we've paid our dues, and we slip into comfort. And what we need in this church is we need you to re-enlist. We need you back in the game with your kids and grandkids. We don't need you moving to Tennessee and buying a bigger house away from your family. We need you here to say, I'm going to pour my life into my kids and my grandkids to not put my life with this altar of comfort that I worship, that I would put God as the affection

of my heart. God is not after being a lesser lover in our lives. Could you imagine if when Stacy and I got married, we've been married for 24 years, I said to her, babe, I love you so much. I'm giving you 361 days of the year. Four days is for my ex-girlfriend. We're going to hang out. Go with that, she would not go for that because she wants my whole heart. And that's what God is after. He's not after some lukewarm fitting into our lives. He's after your whole heart. I'm speaking to those of you who've been bought with a price that Jesus paid the price for your sin, that he has conquered death and gives you the hope of eternity. And he's filled you with his spirit. He did not fill you with his spirit so that you could live a lukewarm, anemic version of Christianity. He filled you with his spirit so that you can live with strength, but you have to partner with him. You have to say to him, God, I will live with a sense of urgency and carry out the mission that you have for my life. Now understand, this is hard. Understand. Because I'm firing you up and you're going to go pick your kids up from kids ministry or your students and you're going to tell them, man, God is the centerpiece of our home. And they're going to look at you and be like, okay, can we watch the Dodgers, can we play a game together? They're not going to get the same fire that you get immediately. So I understand. How do I do this? And I think that there's something so important about actually living this out.

So Proverbs 24 verse 3 says, by wisdom a house is built and through understanding it's established. So there's actually the application of this fire that God wants to put in our hearts into our lives. And what I want to do for just a few moments is I want to share with you just some really practical things for me that I think about when it comes to putting God as the centerpiece of our homes and what that looks like in our lives. So these practical ideas, I'm going to fly through them. You can find them in the app. It's going to be hard to keep up with me because I'm going to walk through. You can take a picture, but I want you to see some of the ways that you can practically do this on a day to day basis. This is my list. This is not a list to yoke. Put on your shoulders and yoke you down and weight you down is to give you vision. Okay. So here's some examples. Church every weekend, unless you are very sick or out of In our family, you gotta be bleeding out of both ears to not go to church. And this has been like this since they've been little kids. I'm always surprised by parents that tell me they can't get their kids to come to church. I'm like, you are four times as big as them. You can get your kids to come to church. You pick them up, you find a some kind of car seat that they can't get out of, you lock it in the car, you put them in the car seat and you drive them to church. Amen, I'll amen myself on that one. Okay, model daily time with God through Bible reading and prayer.

I feel like for me personally, this is one of the greatest responsibilities I have as a husband, as a father. This Stacy models this as well. But I do my time alone with Jesus at the center of our physical home. There's a little fireplace there. I turn on worship music on the TV in our living room. Sometimes it goes all day long. Keras asked me yesterday when the music was going. She said, how long has this music been going on? All day long, worship music's been on the TV in our house, filling our home. And there's something so powerful about a child waking up to see dad or mom or their grandparents with the Bible open, seeking the heart of God. In addition to this, eat dinner together as many nights as possible. This is harder in our season with 2018 and a 12 year old. But this is a value when you're around the table. I also put do your best to make family time fun. It's not always fun, but you can do your best. And sometimes they get and fights are on the table. And we've prayed and we've asked God to make it an awesome time and play games and tell stories and jokes and they still argue with each other. I remember one time when the kids were really young, they would argue about the placemats. And so we got them two identical placemats so that they could not argue.

And we gave them the placemats one morning and one of the kids said, give me my placemat. And I'm like, they're the same. And he said, no, I took my sticker off so I could know it was mine. It's like, okay, so do your best. Create a family vision, shared values and code of conduct. So in the podcast this week, Stacy and I talked about this. Also a year ago, we did a series called Fight for Your Family. We did a whole message on that if you wanna go deeper. Discuss what you see in the world around you, movies, other families. So we wanna have conversations with our kids about what we believe and what the Bible teaches. Give them a biblical lens to see the world through. Give them a vision for what is God's design and to see this authoritative word of God from Genesis to Revelation that we see it as a filter through which we view the whole world. We see our lives and the world through the lens of the Bible. Now listen, some of you might be saying, this is brainwashing your children. And what I will say is I am responsible before Almighty God to disciple my children. And there are wonderful teachers in our school, in our church that love Jesus and need to be in the school system to disciple, to pour in, to do their very best. But there is an agenda that's coming from another level

to change the thinking of my children and your children. And I assume responsibility. I don't care if people judge me. I don't care if you don't like the approach. I'm gonna do everything I can that when my children are sent into the world, that I've equipped them with a biblical worldview to see God's design for how life is to work. In addition to this, tell your kids or grandkids, what a blessing they are to you. Like breathe it into them. You are a blessing, you are a gift from God. Children are a blessing from Almighty God. When Jesus was here on earth, kids were drawn to Jesus. So remind them, find ways to affirm what is right in them. Sometimes there's so many things to train, but find those things and speak it over them and let those words get into their heart so that they see themselves the way that God sees them and let your words fuel that. Seek to share Jesus' stories with them. So in our family, we love to share what God's done in our lives, around us. Put God first in your finances and talk about it. My kids get sick of me sharing stories about what God's done for our family. I'll keep telling them until they have their own kids and then their kids will get sick of them telling stories because I want it deep in their hearts. I want them to know we serve an awesome God.

I want them to know he does great things and he's done it for us. He's blessed us. So we disciple them by sharing stories. In addition to this, we did a family giving summit the last two years where we give them a sum of money to give away with ministries that we believe in kingdom of God ministries, do rites of passage with your kids. We did this with all three of our kids, one when they were 10 to 12 where we take them away and we talk to them about everything that's coming up with relationships and dating. Then we did it again at 17, 18 in life-giving environments around godly adults. How many of you are grateful for SK for everything that happens with Saddleback Kids, for our ministry with high school, with junior high, that they pour into those kids. They love on them other families that have the same values, get them around them, keep your kids connected in serving and in small groups. There's something so powerful about serving alongside our families. Be vigilant about technology. I have paid hundreds of dollars for people to come to our home and help me download and know how to do all the software and put filters on everything. And we do everything that we can to filter the devices in our home. Firewalls, they can get around them sometimes, they figure out. And then we find a new system, we put another filter in place because I feel the responsibility before Almighty God to be vigilant about protecting my children from all the messages that come through technology. I don't want my kids, we don't want our kids to be more discipled by an algorithm than by the Bible or Almighty God. So that requires us to take that responsibility. A lot of other two things, and then I'll be done with this long list. Talk about hard things in love. The parents that have hard conversations address the things. When they're young, have those difficult conversations, it's hard, but do it in love for their good. And then finally remove harmful influences or relationships from their lives. You're their dad, you're their mom, you have that responsibility

and the freedom from God to do that. To say this influence is not moving my family or my kids in the direction that we want them to go, that God wants them to go. Now this is a very practical list. You could come up with your own, you might pick one or two on that list, you might be in a different season of life, but I encourage you to say, how does this wisdom of God translate into my personal life on a day-to-day basis? And then finally, as we do that, there's one last part of this story I want to finish on. And I want to come back to Joshua's last statement. I want to put it on the screen. Joshua 24, 15, if you'll throw that up for just a moment. When Joshua makes the statement, he says, "As for me in my household, we will serve the Lord." Doesn't matter who goes with me, could be me and five other people in my household, could be me and five other families, but though none go with me, I will serve the Lord. Though it costs me, I will serve him with my whole heart. And Joshua is making this statement at a moment when he knows his life is about to be over. And he's wanting to pass on the faith to the next generation with a sense of urgency that your whole-hearted worship of Almighty God is the thing that God is after that blesses future generations. And so many people have this casual, comfort-driven ease of life, my way, view of God, that God exists to make my life more comfortable when we have brothers and sisters on the other side of planet Earth in Nigeria that are having their heads cut off on Sunday morning because they gather for worship. And we have gotten so confused in our culture of what it means to actually follow Jesus. And I understand, if you're new, welcome to church. So glad you're here for the very first time. I understand this is a high call, but he is worth your whole life. He is worth everything that you could give to him. And there is nothing on planet Earth that will satisfy you. Nothing on planet Earth that will bless your children and your future grandchildren and your great-grandchildren like a whole-hearted, burning for God in your heart. And I want to encourage you that there is something about a bold declaration that says, "As for me, as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord." There will be no lesser lovers in our home. There will be no king above the kings. There will be no Lord above the Lord of Lords. He will be the one that is the centerpiece of our home. As long as I'm responsible for this home, this is what this home will be about. And there's a responsibility. I'm speaking especially to those of you who are men right now. I understand society, not all marriages are evil. But you feel like your your spouse is kind of hanging on by a thread and what I would say to you is dads

Get up on Sunday morning Get up and take your kids to church without your wife if she won't go get them dressed and ready You set the cadence for your family you go first you worship God with your whole heart You open your Bible you get in the front row and lift your hands in front of Jesus and and pursue him until your family Catches up to you that you kind of wondering if they're gonna pursue God They're waiting for you to chase after the heart of God and they will follow if you will lead I want to encourage some of you man God wants to light a fire in your soul today that you would make a bold declaration at all of our campuses as For me and my household we will serve the Lord. There will be no other king other than King Jesus that is true in my home that is true in this church that Jesus will be the one that is exalted and The decision that we make to boldly declare that I love how baptism is happening this weekend at all of our campuses That bold declaration this weekend is people saying I'm gonna follow Jesus I'm gonna pursue him. I know I'm gonna do it imperfectly. I know I'm gonna mess up I know I'm gonna be impatient with my kids I know I'm gonna have bad days, but my whole heart is in and today if you want to get baptized You can do that all of our campuses all of our services are prepared for you to take that step today at the end of the service Or you can take the step to go at the next baptism as you say on your card today I want to get baptized, but that bold declaration is so crucial in just a moment I'm gonna ask you to make a bold declaration if you're saying as for me and my household We will serve the Lord, but I want to tell you a story before I wrap up and Before I lose my voice. So let me read this story This is about Jonathan Edwards who was a Puritan preacher in 17 and the 1700s before the Revolutionary War Before the Revolution. He was a part of the first great awakening He attended Yale at the age of 13 and later went on to become the president of Princeton College He married his wife Sarah in 1727, and they were blessed with 11 children Now he is known as one of the greatest theologians in modern history written profound sermons and books wrote a sermon called sinners in the hands of an angry God he talks about the wrath and the justice of God and what it means to fear him and

Turn from our sin to receive mercy, and this sermon was used to reach literally Hundreds of thousands or millions of people in the first great awakening But the greatest influence that Edwards had was not just in his church But it was generations that would come after him so his 11 kids were deeply impacted every night He would spend time with them about an hour. He would pray over the kids He would bless them. He talked to them about God. He and his wife Sarah both whole-hearted followers of Jesus So later on about a hundred and fifty years after his death this guy named A.E. Winship Decided to trace all these descendants of Jonathan Edwards and what he found was something so remarkable So he starts to dig in and find all of these people that have been descendants of Jonathan Edwards and about the same time There was this other guy named Max Jukes that had a lineage of hundreds of people and he started noticing this vast difference And I want you to see what he found in Edwards first. He found out that Jonathan Edwards. This was his lineage Literally a hundred and fifty years later one US vice president one dean of law school one dean of a medical school Three US senators three governors three mayors 13 college presidents 30 judges 60 doctors 65 professors 75 military officers 80 public office holders a hundred lawyers a hundred clergymen and 258 college graduates a hundred and fifty years after his life the impact of this one man Generationally that he and his wife would say we're gonna have a home Where God is the centerpiece of our home compare that to Max Jukes very sad story Somebody found out about him a sociologist started studying his family in 1877 Realize that from this man about the same number of people descended But 42 different men from his family were in the New York prison system trace back their lineage to Max Jukes in In addition to that there were 70 murders. There were 60 thieves. There were a hundred and ninety prostitutes 150 convert convicts three hundred and ten people know and of the 1200 descendants that were studied, there were 300 of them that died prematurely out of Max Duke's lack of emphasis on God, but also his alcoholism and his anger that impacted generations to come. And I lift this up as an example. Now next week we're going to talk about future generations, but I lift this up as an example to put a sense of urgency in our hearts, whether you are married or single, whether you are a parent or a grandparent or don't have kids, there is a ripple effect of our lives and especially for those of us that still have children in our home. It surprises me how many parents relegate the responsibility of discipling and

training their children into the future. There should be a holy sense of fear in our hearts, the reality of what happens when we relinquish discipleship of the children in our home to somebody other than the church and our family and godly people pouring into them and investing in them. And there's something about that decision that says, God, I will make you the centerpiece of my home. As for me and my house, we will build it on the rock, on the solid foundation of the Word of God, the authority of God, the goodness of God that we will worship him, will love him, will serve him, and there will be generations after that are blessed by this decision right now in this moment. And if you want to say today and all of our campuses, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I want to ask you to stand up right now, just saying, I will declare I will serve the Lord, my life, my family, my home. It will be about him and your declaration to the world around you. God will bless, God will pour out grace. It's challenging. There are difficulties, but God is looking for an available heart. So we say to you, God, have our homes, have our homes, God, may the marriages and the parents of Saddleback Church be people that pour out their lives, Lord. God, we will go into the breach for our sons and daughters. God, we will stand in the gap for a generation that have been assaulted by the enemy. God, we say no more. God, we say not on our watch, that we will have a holy sense of urgency. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, God, we bless your name. King Jesus, we crown you with glory. You are worthy of our praise. You are worthy of our whole heart, of our life. And so, Lord, today we ask that you would bless as a father, that you would bless our yes to you right now, that you would pour out your spirit. I'm asking you to pour your spirit into men that feel shame over their past right now. God sees you. There's some men listening to my voice right now. You're saying, oh, I wish I could go back and do it over. I wish I could have a few years back, reverse. God to say, right now is the moment. Right now, the rest of your future, he's pouring out his spirit onto you. Thank you, God, for the gift of your spirit. And now I pray that you would embolden us and strengthen us and bless our homes, Lord, that the world around us would look at our families and say that's an example of love, of kindness, but obedience, a life that's marked with holiness and a difference. Lord, thank you for the gift of home and those that are standing today in the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's worship God together. Come on. In a rain came when through my house was built on you. I'm safe with you. I'm gonna make it through. Come on, Tracey, sing this out. Rain came when through my house was built on you.

I'm safe with you. I'm gonna make it through. Rain came when through my house was built on you. I'm safe with you. I'm gonna make it through. Oh, I'm gonna make it through. Oh, I'm gonna make it through 'Cause my house is built on you Christ is my firm foundation He's the rock on which I stand When everything around me is shaken Oh, I've never been more glad I stopped with my faith in Jesus He's never let me down He's faithful through generations So I would keep him now Oh, I believe in He won't know he won't fail He won't fail He won't fail Oh, we give you praise tonight Jesus Thank you I am so glad that you joined us for church today And I have loved this stronger series that we've been in together As we've talked about stronger marriages and stronger families And today, stronger homes as Pastor Andy brought the message And I want to encourage you, maybe God was moving in your heart And you were saying today, I want to set the foundation of my home on Jesus We would love to know about it, so as a church we can come alongside you And be praying for you So make sure you fill out an next steps form or even a prayer request Of something that might be going on in your life that we as a church can be praying for Let us know through the digital program And also maybe you and your personal life decided that you want to set the foundation of your life on Jesus

For the very first time We would love to come alongside you and be sharing what that journey with Jesus might look like So we can't wait to hear how God was moving in your life today Church family, we are so glad that you're with us this weekend And we hope to see you again next weekend as we continue our stronger series [Music]