Families in a Time of Crisis - Joshua 24 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] I'm going to be coming to you from the scriptures in the book of Joshua chapter 24 so if you have your Bible with you open up to Joshua chapter 24 I found this little quip I want to begin with great truths about life that kids have learned number one no matter how hard you try you can't baptize cats number two when your mom is mad at your dad don't let her brush your hair number three if your sister hits you don't hit her back they always catch the second person number four never ask your three-year-old brother to hold a tomato that's good wisdom number five you can't trust dogs to watch your food what we've had that haven't with so many times we put our food down the dog comes up while we're getting up to get water boom it's gone number six don't sneeze when somebody's cutting your hair number seven never hold a vacuum cleaner and a cat at the same time number eight you can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk number nine don't wear polkadot underwear under white shorts let me revise that don't work polkadot underwear at all ever but but anyway number ten the best place to be when you're sad is grandpa's lab I like that one I want to talk to you about the family tonight and especially a family going through a time of crisis you may be a family watching this but I'm also mindful that not everybody who's joining our service now is with their family you might be single you might have never married or maybe you raised a family but your family is in different parts of the country and you feel isolated right now you feel alone if that is the case I want you to know you have a spiritual family we love you we want to necked with you we understand that this is a terribly isolating situation we're all in but we're gonna get through this and we want to get through it with you we want to do life with you and if there's creative ways we can reach out to pray for you to encourage you we want to do that but having said that the family unit and I'm speaking about the family proper is the fundamental component of all societies in fact before there was ever any institution before there was any human government God created marriage and then he instituted the family and it is the most important part of a culture as the family goes so goes society so goes the culture now I mentioned my family I'm married to Lenny ma she's sitting right here in our little stage studio my son Nathan is here if first of all it's a miracle that we got married I would say that just the history she said asking why cuz she's baiting me wanting you to tell the story here's the bottom line I was a flaky individual now let me revise that I am a flaky individual and as a flaky individual it just took me so long to make a commitment and to ask the question right so what we did and we raised our family we came to New Mexico we waited five years before we had children and our first born is our only born Nate and he is such a blessing to us we tried to have other children we were unable to do that for infertility reasons but Nate married a wonderful gal that some people here know and if not we're gonna introduce her in a little bit janae his wife and they have two wonderful kids our grandkids Seth and Katie we love them very very much and not only do we have a family but we've had our share of crises before as families oh you had infertility issues Linda both of us together had infertility issues we worked that we work through the death of my father and the death of my mother and losing children in the womb you've had that before we've had medical crises you've had cancer and your two eleven years I think almost 12 years cancer-free I've had my own medical issues with the back surgery two brain surgeries we've had the crisis of moving from Albuquerque to another place and then moving back and the stress that created and now we're in the middle of another crisis and that is the corona virus so what I want to do is share with you just a few thoughts out of Joshua because in the book of Joshua Joshua who is the general in charge of the nation of Israel the armies and is the successor of Moses so he is basically the commander-in-chief of the leadership of Israel Joshua is leading a nation that has been and is in crisis they had been in Egypt they got kicked out of Egypt the Lord delivered them from Egypt they went through the wilderness for forty years and all of the trials that that caused there in a land surrounded by enemies trying to settle the land so they're a nation that has been for awhile in crisis and in this section Joshua chapter 24 probably one of the most famous verses in scripture as for me in my house we will serve the Lord Joshua where's effectively three hats he wears the Hat of the chairman of the nation he wears the hat as the Challenger of the people of God and he wears the Hat of the choice maker for he and his family and all three hats are seen in chapter 24 of the book of Joshua now the book opens up where Joshua as the chairman gathers the people together so in verse one of Joshua 24 it begins then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel for their heads for judges for their officers and they presented themselves before God Joshua gathered the leaders together because he could he was the leader he had a final message he wanted to impart to the nation and especially to and through the leaders now the nation of Israel is a group at that time of about three million or so people they're settling the land of Canaan at the time according to Flavius Josephus the Jewish historian Joshua who by the way at this time is about a hundred years old he was born in the slavery of Egypt and he was probably about 19 years of age during the exodus when the children of Israel left Egypt and so he was he was a part of that wandering remnant going through the desert on their way from Egypt to Canaan you remember also he was one of the two spies when Moses sent 12 spies into the land there were two good ones and ten bad ones ten ones gave a bad report only two gave a positive report that is they knew there were giants they knew there were problems they knew there were issues but they also knew that their God was bigger than the big guys in the land they came with faith and it was Joshua and Caleb said yes there's Giants yes there's problems yes there's issues but we serve a big God and we are able to overcome them we need more of that kind of talk going forward we serve a big God and Joshua was one to do that by about age 59 or 60 is when Joshua took over as chairman of the nation president of the nation Prime Minister of the nation Moses left the scene Joshua is put in charge he has led the children of Israel through many battles through settling their tribal allotments and now this is his final speech at least recorded in the Bible is his sort of last State of the Union message this 100 year old legend speaks as a leader to the leaders that he gathers so he speaks as the Chairman he puts that hat on but not only does he speak as a leader of the nation he speaks as the leader of his family right he gathers him together he challenges them and then he makes a very personal choice toward the end of what we're about to read what you need to know about Joshua is his priorities first of all they were God but then his priorities were people they were never politics they were never his own personal position they were never property they were always people God's people he wanted God's people to thrive in their trust of God so he puts on that hat gathers them together now I'm going to take you all the way down to verse 14 for the second hat that Joshua puts on first was the Hat of chairman of the nation second is the Hat of the Challenger to the people in verse 14 we read now therefore this is Joshua's speaking now therefore fear the Lord serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your father's served on the other side of the river and in Egypt serve the Lord and if it seems evil to serve the Lord choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve whether the gods which your father's served that were on the other side of the river or the gods of the amorite s' in whose land you dwell now verse 14 begins with the word therefore and I therefore need to tell you what he was referring to he's referring to the first 13 verses in verses 1 through 13 joshua rehearses their history tells them who they are as a people of God where they came from what God has done through them for them with them Joshua speaks of the blessings God gave them the covenants God gave them how they migrated from Egypt through the wilderness into the land which they are dwelling in he mentions the difficulties they went through the challenges they went through the hardships they faced and then he gives her therefore in verses 1 through 13 he speaks as if the Lord is speaking because he says the Lord said to you and and there are these phrases I took I gave I sent I brought you out this is speaking on behalf of God I brought you into the land I delivered you so he's saying remember where you've come from remember all that God has done with you for you through you now here you are in the land God promised therefore fear the Lord serve Him in sincerity and truth what Joshua is doing and watch what he's doing he's being very logical he's being theologically logical and up by the way I found the theology being theological is often to be very logical what he's saying is because of what God has done for you therefore this is how you should respond here's the logic in this think back children of Israel who you are what God has done what God has given therefore because of that and so what he does here is the commitment that Joshua demands is based as a logical result on the blessing God has given it is very similar to Paul the Apostle in Romans chapter 12 after after 11 chapters of describing the mercies of God he begins chapter 12 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable which is your logical or reasonable service he's being theologically logical it only makes sense that you would present yourself to God based on all that God has done for you that's the idea here in the book of Joshua so the principle is this we make our decisions and then our decisions turn around and make us you are making decisions during this time of crisis choices every day if you're an employer you're making decisions about your employees about your future business if you're a parent you're making choices about your family you're making choices about your children there's no schooling you are making choices every single day but these choices are going to turn around and mold and shape the future for you and for your families so he's challenging them there what does he challenge him to do I love it now therefore fear the Lord fear the Lord pause on that phrase for a moment that phrase fear the Lord our fearing God or the fear of the Lord is a phrase that has found more than 50 times in the Bible a lot of people kind of hear the fear of the Lord than to think oh yeah I suppose means I'm supposed to be afraid of God walk around crunching no it's it doesn't mean that it's not like a Wizard of Oz thing where where the straw man and the lion were afraid of The Wizard of Oz or that God has somehow up there with a frown and mad all the time and I'm afraid of God it's a beautiful phrase and if you don't know it as a Christian I hope it becomes something that unlocks a door for you because the fear of the Lord is one of the most foundational things it says in the Bible it's the beginning of wisdom it's the beginning of knowledge the Hebrew term fear of the Lord is the hebrew constructors construction yet not yahweh year not Yahweh the fear of the Lord and this is what it means it means to honor or to revere it is the same word used of parents honoring or children honoring their parents giving reverence to their parents because of their position the fear of the Lord means it's it's a humble submission or the reverential awe let me put it this way reverential awe produced by a humble submission to a loving God I realize God is loving God has my best interests at heart therefore I humbly submit to him and I have an awe that is based on that so it's a reverential awe that produces humble submission to a loving God it's one of the most beautiful phrases in the Bible the fear of the Lord get this is always based on relationship not on rules it's because he's my father and I know he loves me it's not based because he said do this do that or else no it's it's if there's a fear it's that I'm afraid that I'm gonna displease this father who loves me so much that's the idea of the fear of the Lord now the fear of the Lord will do a couple things for you number one it'll keep you clean it'll keep you clean it'll keep you pure in proverbs 16 it says by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil by the fear of the Lord one departs from of evil we see this in the life of Joseph Joseph was imprisoned in Egypt he was in the house of Potiphar he was alone with Potiphar's wife every day nobody was looking nobody was around to hold him accountable but there was one he knew was always around to hold him accountable and that is God the the ways of man proverbs says are before the eyes of the Lord he ponders all his goings Joseph believed that and lived with that so on that day when Potiphar's wife grabbed Joseph and said sleep with me come to bed with me he said how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God that's the fear of the Lord when you live with the fear of the Lord it keeps you clean second thing it does it it keeps you confident it keeps you confident it says in proverbs 14 in the fear of the Lord is strong confidence remember Abraham when he was called upon to sacrifice his son I SiC on that altar and he brought Isaac and he bought the brought the bundle of wood and he said to his servants stay here the lad and I will go yonder and worship and we will come back to you that's confidence because God told him to kill his son how can that father say taking his son whom he says I'm gonna go sacrifice we will come back to you he must have been confident that either a he's not going to go through it the sacrifice God will stop him or there's going to be a resurrection either way we're coming back both of us together he had confidence so when he when he raised that knife to slay his son and the angel of the Lord stopped him he said see that you don't do it for now I see that you fear God so you see the fear of God keeps you clean and the fear of God keeps you confident so Joshua says now therefore fear the Lord fear the Lord serve him in sincerity and truth and put away the gods which your father's served on the other side of the river in Egypt serve the Lord one of the problems that the children of Israel had not only here but throughout their history were other nations who had other gods and other belief systems and other ways of worshipping and the children of Israel found themselves largely throughout their history influenced by pagan belief systems so much so that they took some of those belief systems and combined them in their own worship of Yahweh it's it's a belief system known as syncretism it's not it's not that I'm rejecting God it's that I'm worshiping God and I'm worshiping the idols of other nations or the lifestyles of other nations that became a problem and the only way God could cure that was a 70 year captivity eventually so Joshua foreseeing the problems of being surrounded by belief systems of others is that that God's people could be influenced by them so he says fear the Lord serve only the Lord put away the foreign gods that you worshiped in Egypt don't let them influencing you I've got to ask you a question based on this especially with your family what are you letting influence you and your family what are you allowing in your home what voices what pictures what ideas what values are shaping the way you do family because I'll tell you if you're exposing yourself to social media all day long and soap operas all day long and secular stuff all day and all night long that is shaping how you see marriage and how you see raising children we have to be careful that we don't let the gods of the other nations influence our relationship with God and with family I found this sad but interesting quote from Kingsley Davis who is a demographer they do a study of demographics and they look at different age groups in different parts of the country and this damaja demographers the study of demographics Kingsley Davis was from UC Berkeley and and USC he was had tenure at both in he said at no time in history with the exception of Imperial Rome has the institution of marriage been more problematic than it is today now I believe his research but I'm really concerned about the church being influenced by a culture like that we have to be very careful that we fear the Lord we serve the Lord and by so doing we put away those influences that are straining and strangling our pure relationship with God so so far he has two hats on he has the Hat of the chairman of the nation he puts on the hat as the Challenger of the people but there's a third hat and this is really the crux of this wonderful chapter and that is he's the choice maker because he says put away these gods serve the Lord if it seems evil for you to serve the Lord then then figure it out choose this day whom you're going to serve but he says this at the end of verse 15 but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord here's Joshua's saying look I've stood before you as your leader I've challenged you as a nation but I can't speak for the whole nation I can't tell you what choice you're gonna make individually or one tribe to another tribe but I can tell you what I'm gonna do and I can tell you what choice I've made not only have I made this choice but I and my family have made this choice and that is we will serve the Lord we will serve the Lord there's a principle that you shouldn't miss here our personal spiritual commitment ought to affect every other relationship in life our personal spiritual commitment should impact every other relationship we have in life the great missionary to China Hudson Taylor once said if your father your mother your sister your brother if the very cat and dog in your house are not happier because you have become a Christian then perhaps it's doubtful that you really have become a Christian in other words this principle if you've become a Christian it will affect everyone around you and here's Joshua the leader of the nation the reason he was able to be this Chairman and Challenger is because of the personal choice he made as for me and my house we will serve the Lord now let me just let you know that what Joshua was following was something that was in indoctrinated him in bred in him since he was younger before Joshua is the Pentateuch right the first five books of Moses the last book in the Pentateuch is Deuteronomy Moses gives the law of God to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy chapter six one of the seminal chapters in that Pentateuch he says in verse 4 you know this verse here o Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one and you shall love the Lord your God with all your soul all your strength all your heart all your heart all your soul all your strength but then he says this and these words which I command you today shall be in your heart you shall teach them diligently to your children and shalt talk of them when you sit in your house when you walk by the way when you lie down when you rise up you will bind them as a sign on your hand they shall be as frontlets between your eyes you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates this is God's pattern for passing on truth God's pattern is that we pass truth from one generation to the next generation then that generation passes it from them to their next generation and it goes person by person generation by generation parents pass it on to their children don't just take them to Sunday school they teach their children biblical truth they pass it on they model it and they teach it one of the great evangelists in modern history more modern history though about a century old almost now is Billy Sunday and Billy Sunday has said this the great tragedy of my life is that though I have led thousands of people to Christ my own sons are not saved it's a heartbreak it's a heartbreaking thing to hear as for me and my house and the word is household my family the Hebrew word buy eat as for me and my buy eat my household my family we will serve the Lord we've gotten together on this I've raised them I've transferred the truth from my generation to them and they'll pass it on to the next so those are his three hats chairman Challenger and choice maker parents let me say this the world needs the kind of children that only you can produce we need Christian men and Christian women Christian boys and Christian girls those who madly love the Lord their God they know why they love the Lord there and they're going to be able to pass it on to their generation you have a very unique role as a parent you as a parent are a partner with God in disciple children what that means is you have to be dedicated yourself we have the beautiful practice here of dedicating our children when we gather together and in the group and we'll do it again can't wait to do it again fact I believe we're gonna be dedicating some coronavirus babies babies who were born during this time because of all the stay-at-home policies great hallelujah we need more of them but when you dedicate your babies you yourself have to be dedicated first if you're not dedicated to Christ they're gonna see it if you're not sold out to Jesus Christ they're gonna know it I want to close with this illustration um the guy named Clovis Chapel maybe you've never heard of him but if you're a preacher you might have heard of him he wrote many sermons and he was a great great teacher of the word of God in America Clovis Chapel used to tell a story about two tugboats a two steamboats that left Memphis Tennessee for New Orleans Louisiana on the Mississippi River they were transport boats and they were steaming out of their port on their way to New Orleans and some of the men aboard one started chiding some of the men aboard the other yelling at them and like you guys are slow we can beat you and so they put more coal to make the thing burn faster to make the boat speed up so what became just a normal run down the river now became a race as one of the tug boats started lagging behind the other because the other was putting more coal in and this boat ran out of coal one of the sailors had a bright idea of taking some of the cargo and throwing it into the oven they discovered it burns just as well and it provides fuel so they discover we have enough coal to make a run but we don't have enough coal to to win a race the only way to win a race is to burn the car go say they just burned all the stuff that they could on the ship and they made it toward New Orleans and they won the race but they burn their cargo I want to ask you a question parents in the race of life are you burning the cargo you have precious cargo above the journey that you're taking you of a spouse you have children you have grandchildren is anything worth losing the relationship the spiritual relationship the cargo that is aboard the ship don't burn the cargo to win the race make sure that you take care of the precious cargo that you have in tow those little minds that are impressionable those little eyes and ears that are listening and watching our life is basically lived on two planes the vertical plane and the horizontal plane and they're a fixed axis if one gets off of balance everything else gets off balance so our relationship with God when that's on point then our relationship with people is going to be good because we're in living in the fear of the Lord we're serving the Lord were seeking first the kingdom of God so everything else is going to be in balance when our relationship with God gets off balance everything else in life gets askew that's why Jesus did say seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and everything else will be added to you so whether you're the chairman of an organization or the Challenger of an organization at the very least no matter who you are you're a choice maker for yourself and for those around you perhaps make the right choices I'm going to ask my family to come up I have a few questions I want to ask them about and I'm going to introduce them to you as they come this of course next to me is my wife Linda Mae Farley Heitzig and we've been married how many years linea 39 Wow isn't it it's been hard hadn't it been marry give me 39 years perfections hard I got it admit okay so we've been married 39 years then next to you is our grandson Seth Seth how old are you you're nine years old when are you gonna be 10 this year wow so pretty soon your age is your age isn't gonna have one number but two right two Tutuola numbers ten one zero and then pretty soon you'll be a teenager Wow are you excited about that yeah and then next huge that's terrifying that's terrifying pretty excited about it but I'm freaked out okay so Nate Nate is my son and he's a pastor on staff here at our church a very apt communicator next to him is cadence joy and what a joy she is cadence how old are you seven seven years old you're gonna be eight soon aren't you Wow are you excited about your birthday coming up yeah are you gonna be eight before he's ten yeah that'll be good huh cuz then there'll be less age between you guys yeah you'd be closer together the next two years Nate's beautiful wife Jen age and a welcome thank you for coming yeah how long have you guys been married going on 12 12 years yeah I was 11 last November this November will be 12 Wow okay so I have a list of questions I'll see how I can get through all of them but Lenny I talked about the fear of the Lord and I know that has always been one of your big issues in life why is that and and how has that concept I remember you learned that as a young Christian and you believed in that as a kind of a core priority principle and and and so how did how was the fear of the Lord affected your choices probably in every way but I was a young Christian and in youth of the mission and an amazing teacher joy Dawson taught on the fear of God and it just it twisted everything around it made all things more elucidated and clearer for me of course that I would serve him and seek Him first but I think more it was this idea of relationship with others and the impact that I can have on other people and I take that seriously how my personality and one of the illustrations and she said you know if you're a woman and you're going to a pastor for counseling and and you say to the pastor gosh you know I kinda have a crush on you or whatever she's like that isn't having the fear of the Lord because it puts an idea and that person's head and there are some things we shouldn't say some things we shouldn't do because of the fear of the Lord and so I try and cautiously walk in respect of my brothers and sisters and that I don't stumble somebody I think the fear of the Lord is does that in my life as you do that and it brings conviction in my heart I watch you do that you'll kind of say or do something you'll pull back on it because of that concept and and then you go no I shouldn't do this or say thank you repent yeah you are you're quick to own up to it and quick to repent which brings conviction to me because I don't always see it until you do it so you've been a good check for me the fear of Laura - and that's living in fear of what other people are gonna say you should do but being mindful that you're following what God says you should do and I think we talked about this a lot in ministry there's a million people who think you should do things a certain way you should raise kids a certain way you should do this you should do that at the end of the day I don't care what anyone else thinks about me and my family or what I'm called to do except Jesus and and I think that we need to ultimately make our decisions based on our business based on our family based on whatever we do not we're in or whether people say or think someone's always going to say why'd you do that why did you do that I think it's important to a certain extent have Rhino skin and say I'm doing what I feel God has called me to do not what you've called me right fear of God not fear of me right if you can kneel before God you can stand before any man's ass okay so I want to ask Nate and Jen a a question then I Katie and Seth I have questions for you - okay so both Nate and Jenna you've been raised by Christian parents how has that been an advantage to you how is that trained how have you been equipped by that how did that spiritual training equip you honestly it's it's always having a hope in something greater than yourself are greater than your family something that you can always look - I feel like a lot of times growing up in California I had a lot of who didn't believe in the Lord who didn't have relationships with the Lord and they were mind-boggled by that but for me when they stumbled or when they are having a hard time and you you're trying to explain to them like cry out to God and and cling to something greater because you don't understand and maybe your parents can't explain it to you but the Lord can bring you peace and he can give you direction and all of that and they just didn't understand that concept so for me being somebody who's super emotional and needing to feel one I think my parents did a really good job of being Jesus with clothes on or with skin on and another thing is just having the hope of in something greater than myself greater than my parents that I could really cling to so good I think for me the word the word that I would say is a firm foundation he gave me a firm foundation I think one thing I always say kids crave is stability there's nothing more stable than a relationship with Jesus and when you grow up in a household where it's like whoa believe whatever you want to believe if it's good for you it's it's a disaster there's no stability for kids there's nothing to really sink your roots into and ground yourself in and I think having a very firm foundation built for me of what is right what is wrong what is truth what is fact what is fiction you know even things like talking about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny I was very much raised with an understanding of this is not real and this is real and if that's important because I think a lot of times parents have really err on the side of you know oh it's all that's real that really is a tooth fairy yeah his name's Nate and generamon Graham Parker and paychecks and they give it to their I'm generous when it comes to losing teeth you are very generous 20 bucks a tooth man when you have a bedrock on something that's actually there that really creates for you I think not just stability but it also creates I think a sense of stability just growing up as an individual in yourself even it creates certain element of not self-reliance but of just firmness and who you are you really have a firm understand this is Who I am and I'm not going to back down from that good core dependence because knowing that personal relationship is not your parents relationship with the Lord but it's yours you know when pouring into that and investing in that is your decision you have a choice to believe your parents aren't making this choice for you what if I were to flip that question around and say you were raised in a Christian home you told me the advantages do you ever feel like you missed miss something if you asked me when I was younger I probably would have been like yeah I didn't get to stay out and do it reckless things and I got in trouble and grounded and got in trouble I look back now and I'm just thankful for the that moral guideline that came obviously from the Bible but totally instructed by my parents I was held to that standard through my parents and looking back now I'm grateful for it because it did help me stay as straight and narrow as possible of course I swayed from that but I think without that the moral balance even looking at society today of believe what you want to believe in allowing kids to make mistakes it's like no I needed that guidance to say you're going to make that mistake if I chose to do it on top of that well there were consequences of that not only spiritually with the Lord but actually here as well yeah and I would say just because you're raised in a Christian household doesn't mean you don't make dumb decisions mistakes so I miss out missed out on what well I still did some stupid things I still went to parties I still did went to parties and drank sometimes I still did some dumb things as a kid and so I didn't miss out on anything I think if anything it made you realize that when you do make mistakes there's grace in those mistakes and you know you're not coming home to a dad who is you know drunk and is gonna hit you you're coming home to a dad who says man you made a really big mistake but I love you and there's grace and that grace is found there because of Jesus Christ and so I think you don't miss out on anything as a matter of fact you know we always talk about when you come to know Christ yeah you're gonna you're gonna have to give some things away you're gonna have to give away your sadness you're gonna have to give away your desperation you have to give away your longing but what you're gonna gain is so much more in return so it's like do you miss out on certain things yeah but those are things that I'm glad I miss yeah Thank You mr. things I'm glad I didn't you have because what I have and what I got is so much better very good Seth and Katie can I ask you guys a question so you have the microphones now and and so tell me what what do you think about what's going on right now in the world do you know what's happening out there everyone's freaking out everybody's freaking out that's actually good stars are closing all the stores are closing there do you know what's happening you know about why that is the corona the corona virus rise this disease is spreading around you know about that your parents what do you think about that it's dangerous right so you're you've been taught to what have you been taught to do because of that stay away from people and and and do anything what do you do with your hands wash them every time you touch your face that's that's good Wow that's funny so that it also means you guys are not going to school right now right what is that a good thing or a bad thing I don't know what I thinks it's a good thing Katie thinks it's a sad I think it's good boys yes girls girls friends keep let me ask this who's more strict mom or dad or your teachers parents good job okay so what is what's the most fun thing you kids have done or what is the most fun about staying home you don't have to do so much as you usually do oh you don't have as much work to do because you're not in school right I like it because once you finish your word like all your work that you do per day you can just get to having fun instead of working for a certain amount of time and so you have work to do every day Seth what do you have to do put your put your mic up I have to do math language and then like learning how to type on a computer and then reading yeah okay so lenio let me just turn it back to you for a second and you're a wife you're a mother you're a grandmother what have you seen the coronavirus do and affecting your roles in the family I love being a nurturer so it just really brings out that part of me I want to cook I want to have the family over I want a cuddle I want to light fires and nails Wow so amazing so for me when something's going wrong I want to bring my people close and take care of them so I think a lot for me is just spending time as much as we can with our families together and and making sure that it's all still everything safe still it's good and so I like that I just think too that there's prayers that I would have prayed for the United States and would never realize that this is answering those prayers no that we would return to God and return to church and that we would as families go home and have meals together and value that and you see people in parks and walking with their dogs and kites and you're like yes this is really you know what life is about so so many of the things that I would have prayed and said boy I wish the United States or we as a people would get back to these core values and and I see that happening not just in them and me as well that you know you're getting the main thing the main thing good let me ask all the adults now a question you can all chime in what do you think is the most challenging part of being quarantined I'm a homebody and I never thought I would want to get outside my home so I think the most challenging part is I mean I think we've done a really good job of still being social and with the proper distancing and still having those intimate circles that you hang out with and so I think we've done a good job of that but I feel like you kind of it just feels like Groundhog's Day over and over again when you're get up and you have the same routine so it's kind of hard and challenging to change it up a bit even for the kids I don't want them to just grow weary of getting up and having to go on the computer and go do school and it's hard to be a little bit more creative in that while still abiding by the government's guidelines yeah you know I think the word that I would use is grace I think that's been hard to find a new measure of grace it's a lot to be a parent without coronavirus especially raising raising young kids kids who are learning schoolwork and coming up with homework having sports there's no sports now but that requires a certain measure of grace for that but I think in this there's an additional measure of grace someone I phone on Instagram said I'm not seeing any posts from all the wives saying I'm so blessed my husband's the best husband ever right now you're not seeing all those posts right now because everyone's stuck at home with each other and look there's blessings to that it's awesome to be able to be home and spend more time with the kids we brought it's challenging yeah we got to play outside more go on picnics both the dogs more go in the hot tub more things like that but at the same time when you're stuck at home with anybody for over 30 days that can be trying and I'm blessed be able to still have a job and go to work and get out of the house and there's you know elements of that but if you're stuck at home 24/7 with somebody I don't care how much you like that person there's going to be moments where you're like man I just want to get away and so I think the big thing that I would just stress to families is grace have grace on each other kids have grace with your parents they're doing the best they can and you can sometimes you need to put your parents in timeout just say attitude no I'm just kidding you have you ever really I can do that well no I mean we've had a couple of squabbles as well honey that it's just hard when you're home and you're not used to having that much intensity and so you're right grace is what what you really need I think you said what do we miss or what's the hardest part what was your hardest part hardest part I miss my friends I not just my family I'm a friend oriented person and so they're important in my life as well so I really miss my friends Lenya let me talk ministry for a minute because you've had to change up how you do she ology how you do reload love your podcast how are you managing to do all those things during this time well just this week we kind of merged podcast and women's ministry so that we were studying the Holy Spirit so now via the podcast were interviewing and going through the motivational gifts seven of the motivational gifts and you can go to Lenya Heitzig calm and take the spiritual test that we do with life track spiritual gifts test yes or you could go to all the things podcast and take the test it's in our thing so we're encouraging women that look Naturals not going to do it right now normals not going to do it there are sometimes you need supernatural and you need something more than what you've got really it's all the time but it's much more acute now so I think now is a time for us to really seek first the kingdom and what is our purpose and we know our purpose by what gifts he's given us what callings he's given us and how could we be using those gifts and callings and talents to help this hurting world what is God calling us to do if you have a gift of exhortation you start calling people man calling them out calling them up and you know and encouraging them or you know if you have the gift of mercies you can do a ding-dong-ditch you can drop and run you know leave things for people so we're really wanting to encourage the women that just because you're at home doesn't mean you can't be using the gifts you know the gift of intercession is important and so let's tap into the Holy Spirit power Seth and Katie when you grow up what do you think you're going to remember most about this time okay this is one of the things I know you guys write lots about it but I got to play my dad's video game it's a war game and it's really fun and so you're gonna remember that growing up that was the time I got to play my dad's game it was awesome okay good that's a positive way to look at it I'm here to win getting my puppy oh you got a new puppy tell us about your puppy he's really sweet he loves snuggling he's really sweet and he chews everything you choose everything can I've noticed a lot of people are getting puppies during this time yeah they're running I mean Moses yeah I think one thing janae and I talked about is we wanted you know as much as this is a huge change in their lives they're not doing sports anymore they're not going to school we wanted to try to make this as normal as possible if they'd come out of coronavirus and this whole pandemic not saying that was the worst three months ever they come out of it with memories and and you know with joy and so we've tried to have family movie nights we've tried to have friends over in social distance but have friends over and be able to have them interact with some people and some kids to keep that going we wanted to get a puppy because we wanted you know there's nothing that brings joy into a household like a new puppy so we got a cute little puppy to try to bring some joy there we've tried to let them go to the park still and go play at the park and do things like that do picnics at the park like we talked about jenay's been taking them out on bike rides and just trying to make that some community how about I'm looking forward to my whole pantry yeah so they came over and they cleaned up my whole closet we're on ladders and they work hard they work very hard yeah you do okay so you I just want to give everybody a pass because everybody's gonna feel this you would say Nate engine a it has been challenging in your marriage to be quarantined like this right there's been challenges during this time just like Lenny and I said there it's not always easy right would you say that it's funny we have a really good relationship but there are times where we butt heads of course it's just I think it's just a weird season you know and I think I probably reach a level of like okay my patience has worn thin I've been home with the kids all day and he comes home and I'm like I'm done top tag you're it you know and he's like I've been working all day what do you mean tag you're it and so probably that's where the probably the biggest challenge is but he is my best friend so we spend every waking minute together when we can so it's we're pathetic yeah we have four really pathetic I think something important of that too it just hits a good point though just as much as it's important to cultivate normalcy for kids it's really important to cultivate normalcy in your relationship and I think cultivating romance is so important in this time because if you don't cultivate romance and you're not being romantic with one another you're just gonna become roommates who are raising kids with each other and that really is difficult to do and so I mean if you talked about it there's me a lot of Corona babies because we're all staying home and married people make babies that's what they do that's a good um so I think it's important to I mean not schedule that but it's important to be intimate when you're at home it's important to make sure you're cultivating romance you're cultivating within a marital relationship sexual activity those kind of things because that's really important one of the things our kids love seeing is when we kiss I was just mass than that it's I think it's important do you want to kiss right now no on camera dad kiss a lot they do like three times we only do ten we have to count them okay every keep track only ten times a month so like one to one-and-a-half a week this is why you don't have kids on TV right one of the unique things about this family is the ministries were involved in and you know as a church we've been able to reach out to our community we've been able to bring food to them we've been able to call families and talk to them and pray with them and we've just decided in a crisis let's just pivot and shift the way we do ministry let's become very personal and that's why we're again so thankful that people have have seen that and I think they want to be a part of it and they've continued strong financial giving so that we can in turn bless the most vulnerable but I'm so proud of our pastors and staff they've called over 5,000 people from our church and every day it's somewhere between 200 and 500 people that we're trying to continue to reach out and and I do that every day look I have a mom that lives in Michigan she has macular degeneration she's blind in one eye she's 82 years old she has some heart arrhythmia issues and I call her like three times a day to check in on her because of being a nurturer I'd be on an airplane I don't know how many times I've checked tickets to see if I can go help my mom and so I just think that calling people loving people going you know making sure everybody's okay and one of the things that you have done before the virus hit is you Lenya and you nae traveled with reload love to build a church and to help people who are really hurting in that part of the world and so would you give us an update because we collected a lot of money on Valentine's Day weekend and and how is that being used now well I mean the money has been dispersed to build the churches obviously coronavirus has changed a lot of things that's one thing I keep having to remind myself of this is not a United States thing this is a world thing yeah it's not just Albuquerque that closed the world is closed like that's weird to say literally the world business yeah everywhere and so the money's been dispersed we've had some updates one of the churches were partnering with Moses they drained a swamp that they're filling in with dirt yeah so it won't cause disease they can also build more homes for people in their church that's happened and that's really exciting some of some of the again as far as the big projects the church buildings I don't believe those have started yet because they are clearing sites some of the supplies have arrived for them to build them but I shout out for prayer one of our missionaries is in Burma in the chin area and they have been attacked their village a couple of times so there is coronavirus and the Burmese army is attacking them so we want to pray for those missionaries that we're sponsoring and they could use food in that region so I mean we've dispersed the money but we'd like to disperse some more to that region for food and the the same thing in Jordan we have people that we work with there and in Jordan and moff Rock they're already working with refugees from Syria right so from the Syrian conflict you have refugees that have no money and have no safety net and this pastor is ascending out just tons of money they are food they've given out food and made their payment to their staff for this month but next month so you know we still would like to disperse some things and help people other places and I'm so proud of our church you know prompting our kindness campaign I am too let me just say as we bring this to a close that if you're joining us and you don't know the Lord part of becoming a Christian is joining a family you you join a large international family God's family and God becomes our Father Jesus becomes sort of our elder brother and we're in relationship with each other as brothers and sisters and we really do try to take care of each other we we kind of see the church as an extension of our own personal family if you don't know the Lord we want to give you that opportunity to do that right where you are allow the Lord to change your life and give you a future and a hope well it comes by simply receiving what he's done for you God isn't asking you to earn your own salvation or work at it in some way but to just receive what Jesus has provided for you on the cross if you want to do that if you're willing to admit that you need him and you're willing to turn to him you can pray right now and I'm gonna lead you into prayer if you want to receive Christ as your Savior say this to God say lord I know that I'm a sinner I admit that I'm sorry for my sin I believe you sent Jesus to this earth to pay for my sin to die in a cross but then to rise from the dead I turn from my sin I turn from my past I turn to Jesus your son as my Savior I pray you fill me with your spirit help me to live for you in Jesus name Amen now whether you did that for the first time or this is a rededication after straying away from him if you prayed that prayer I want you to text text 5:05 509 5 4 3 3 text the word saved to that number five zero five five oh nine five four three three text saved to that phone number or visit calvary n m dot Church and click where it says no God click there and allow us to reach out to you and and put something in your hands congratulate you and share with you what to do next walking with the Lord but from our house to yours from our worship team and our Christian family here this small little family gathered here to you god bless you [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 5,961

Rating: 4.814815 out of 5

Keywords: Bible Study, Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Sermons, Calvary Church

Id: coh7B471tQ0

Length: 59min 41sec (3581 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 16 2020