← Church of the Highlands - Sunday Messages - Audio
Church of the Highlands - Sunday Messages - Audio
How to Build a Strong Family
00:31:36
Part 2 of Lets Talk About it
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Well, happy Sunday, everybody. It is so great once again to see everybody here at Grants Mill at all of our locations. Come on, church one last time. Put your hands together for your church family. It's awesome. Awesome. And I'm so excited to jump straight into the Word of God today. And a great way for you to follow along in the message today is actually to go ahead and either open it or even download our Highlands app. And so if you're new around here, you can find it, of course, in App Store, both Apple and Android. And it's a great way today to take notes because everybody who takes notes automatically gets into heaven. Just saying. And then secondly, all week long, it's a way for you to follow along with everything that's happening here at Highlands. And we are going to jump straight into the Word of God today. We're in the second part of a series that'll be all month long here in May called Let's Talk About It. And what are we talking about? We're actually talking about the topics that you requested at Easter. So last week we talked about how to read our Bibles. That was a requested topic. I think over 10,000 people asked for that. And today was another one of the topics that was requested by so many people here at Highlands. We're going to talk about how to build a strong family. Come on, look at your neighbor and say family. Talking about family in the house of God today. And so this is what I want to just establish before we get into it, a little bit of a framework. This is a huge topic. Family is so important to God. This may be new information for you, but it's really fun to reflect on the fact that the first institution in Genesis, chapter two that God created wasn't even the church. It was the family. And God built his covenants through family. And Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, was born into a family. God loves family. And this is a bigger topic than our time today. But I just want you to know, as a church, we love families and we are fighting for families. You even saw that earlier with our parent child dedication. And I want to announce this. For the first time this fall, we're actually going to have a parenting event that we'll tell you more about in the weeks and months to come, because we just hear constantly, especially in the world we live in today, I need help with my family. And so it's an honor for us to come alongside you and to minister to you. And as you heard Jill say a moment ago, we got four boys. So all that Ministry is really for us as well, but God loves family. And so really big topic. But as I was praying today for our time together, very clearly, I don't say this every week, but it was just extra clear this week that I have two specific assignments that are going to kind of divide our time together today from heaven, from God, today. And the first is to bring encouragement to every family. And when I say every family, write it down in your notes. Today, families come in all shapes and sizes. In this room right here, through that camera, every location online, there are traditional families and blended families. We have single parent homes, we have foster families. And I just want to stop right there and say, praise God. Thank God for all the foster parents in our house. Can we put our hands together? Thank you for that ministry. What a powerful, powerful ministry. We have adoptive families, we have grandparent raised homes, and we even have, of course, spiritual moms and dads and grandparents who are spiritually raising kids today. So here's the deal. And this is our framework for today. And this is gonna be how the Lord encourages us today. No matter what label your family wears, what matters most is not the structure, it's the spirit. I'm gonna say it one more time. What matters most is not the structure of our family, but the spirit of our family. This is what CS Lewis said. He said, you can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending. So where we are now is where we are. Can everybody today in church just receive the grace of God? God loves you. He sees you. And here's what we got a chance to do today. And I'm going to preach this strong. No matter where we are, we have a chance to change every day moving forward. We are responsible for the culture and the spirit of our family moving forward. So we're not going to look back today. Can I get an amen? But we are going to take responsibility moving forward. And here's a declaration I want to make over every home in the sound of my voice. Joshua 24:15. But as for me and my household, we will. Let's say that out loud. We will serve the Lord. We are declaring that from this day forward, we're going to serve God. Families come in all shapes and sizes. Here's number two. There is no such thing as a perfect family. Family. Can I get a better amen in church? Starting with the guy who's talking to you right now? There is no perfect family. There are no perfect parents. Jill and I are in the trenches right now, as parents, here's a picture of our crew. This is back at Easter with boys, you only get a couple pictures a year where everybody's looking. There's no dirt or mud or blood. And this probably was some of that later on this day, but this was Easter. And so we have a 17 year old, a 16 year old, a 14 year old, and we have an 11 year old. And so we're right in the thick of it. Three of those are teenagers. Come on. Parents at every location of teenagers, raise your hand if you have a teenager in your house. Can we just have a group hug at the end of church? I'll meet you down front. So we all. Hey, guys. We all make mistakes. There's no perfect family. And I just felt like it would be good for us today to get some things off our chests, to air some things out with a little game that I'm calling tell us why. All right, so tell us why. Kids, this is for all the. Listen, nobody's safe for the next three minutes. I'm just warning you. Tell us why. Kids, you can't load the dishwasher, but you can build an entire world in a video game. Come on, tell us why. Tell us why you think brushing your teeth means running the toothbrush underwater and calling it a day? Coming after you. Kids, Kids. Tell us why in public, loudly, to strangers. You repeat everything we don't want repeated. And this next one's really ministry for me right here. This is for all the parents of teenagers put on the screen. Parent, where are you? Kid, out. Parent, out. Where? Teenager with people. Parent. What people? Teenager K. All right, tell us why. Wives, Tell us why. Your gas are connected to the brake pedal when we're driving. Tell us why does this look okay? You ask that question knowing it's a multiple choice question where every answer is wrong. Tell us why. Tell us why. You don't care where we eat, but you aren't feeling any of the places that were suggested. All right? Husbands coming after you. Us. Me. Us. We're in this together. Tell us why. Husbands. You pick the movie. This is me. So this is me. You hike the movie, then you fall asleep 11 minutes into the movie. Tell us why. Ladies, you're gonna love this. Tell us why. Husbands. You think what's for dinner is the thing your wife wants to hear most every day around 5:45. This next one's extremely personal. I think Jill dropped this one into the chat. Tell us why you accidentally lost track of where Knox, our youngest, was on his scooter last Saturday. Between the hours of 10:00am and 3:00pm all right, here's one last one. This is for grandparents. I told you, nobody's safe. Grandparents, I'm coming after you right now. On behalf of all of us who are raising kids right now, tell us why. Grandparents, you are guilty of ignoring all the rules you made for your own kids growing up. Come on, put your hands together. Tell us why. So there are no I'm having fun today just to stress. There are no perfect families. We all miss a moment, we all lose patience. Hey, come on. We all overreact. We're all silent when we should have spoken. There's times where we're too busy. We all wish we had a do over. We're either gonna stay stuck in that though church or we're gonna move forward. I'm trying to encourage some people today. Come on. All shapes and sizes. There are no perfect families. But number three, God wants to work in our families. God, the God of heaven, wants to work in our families. I don't know where you are today. Maybe your home is right now walking through a season of brokenness in your marriage, or you walked in church that had been praying so much for the moms, but really the parents and even grandparents and just all those who would walk in today with kid pain. There's just nothing. There's no pain like kid pain. Maybe you're here in uncertainty today about what the future of your family looks like. Or maybe you fought on the way to church, which Jill and I have done that before and I was the guy preaching. Maybe you're that discouraged mom today from heaven for you. Isaiah 41:10 says this. Do not fear. Don't fear. Come on. Receive the word of God today in your hearts. Do not fear, for I am with you. God is with you. Do not be dismayed. Dismayed means. Means to be broken like pottery on the inside. Don't be dismayed, for I am your God. And here's our promise today. I will strengthen you and I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. There is no perfect family but church. We have access to a perfect God. You have access today. I have access today. We have access today to a God who wants to bring his presence into your home, who wants to bring his grace into your home. He wants to bring his peace and his power and his forgiveness into your home. And come on, somebody. When God steps in, everything changes. Can I get a better amen in church today? And no family is ever too far gone for God. And today, if you're kind of disqualifying yourself or walking in shame or condemnation. We break that off in Jesus name. I've just been around too long. And Pastor Chris on the front row and our entire team could all testify the same thing. We've just been around too long. We've seen families that had no hope that God stepped into and the entire story changed. We've seen those marriages healed. We've seen those kids come home. We've seen what was broken be reformed by the grace and mercy of God. But everybody look at me right now. This is strong. We have to invite him in. He stands at the door and knocks. And it's not a one time invitation. It's every single day, throughout the day. We have to invite the presence of God not just into part of our family, but into every part of our families. I love Nehemiah 4:14. This is a key scripture for us even moving forward as we talk around this topic of family and parenting. This scripture God has given me for the really, I believe the spirit of this church in 2026 and beyond as we fight for families in such a perilous time. I love the conviction of the scripture. It says, after I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, do not be afraid of them. Y' all, look at me today. We're not gonna listen. There's a lot going on in the world. But we are the people of God with the power of God. We're finished being afraid. We stand strong in the power of our God. We're not gonna be afraid. What are we gonna do? And this is the invitation. We're gonna remember. We have access to God. We're gonna remember Lord, who is what? He's great and he is awesome. Anybody grateful for God today that we don't do all of this alone, that we have a great and awesome God who wants to step in. And then when he does, this is what we receive through the power of the Holy Spirit. And this is our stance here at Highlands. We're gonna fight for families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes, y'. All. Okay, if we fight a little bit for families today, listen, we're standing on the truth of the word of God and the power of our God. And this topic for me is, I know it's partially because of the season of life, but even for Jill and I, our ministry has really been around the next generation, and we just could not be more passionate for families and parenting, especially in this time. And so there's so much I want to share today. So kind of told you, number one, just encouragement. God is there. We're going to invite him in. There's a million things I want to share. We got a lot of time together. I'm not going anywhere. There'll be plenty more sermons for us in this area and even that event this fall. But as we finish out our time today, I really felt again, a specific assignment from God today to focus on parenting, specifically to come alongside parents, guardians, and grandparents. I think there's something in here, by the way, for everybody. So don't disqualify yourself, but specifically for you to know you are not in the fight alone today. So every parent, grandparent, guardian, today we're gonna stand on some truths as we walk out of church today that I believe can help you build a strong family no matter where you are right now. And here's number one. It's gotta start here. And this is really a revelation that will change everything. And that is our children, number one, belong to God. Our children belong to God. This truth really changes everything. Y' all look at me today. Our kids don't belong to us. Some of you are like, praise God. Always knew it. They don't belong to us. They belong to God. Psalm 127:3 says, Children are a heritage, a heritage from the Lord, offspring, a reward for him. Their heritage is God. And why this is so powerful is it clarifies and corrects, and I even believe heals us in so many ways as parents or as guardians. Because if we're living in the wrong job description, parenting is full of weight and pressure. And listen, there's always going to be weight on parenting, but an unhealthy, unnatural we will assume. If we assume the role of owner, we're going to assume a weight and a pressure that none of us are strong enough to carry. And look at me today. It will crush you as a parent. And honestly, at the end of the day, it will crush your kids because it's hard enough for all of us to take care of ourselves. Can I get an amen? Much less try to control or to facilitate the life of any other, including our kids. And I just want to lean in right here because I know what that weight and pressure feels like. Even recently. This happens a lot when you're getting ready to preach a topic, as Pastor Chris knows, you kind of experience some of the warfare. And many times even God will open your heart up in a new way. And it was last week, as I'm already praying and preparing for this message. I was sitting down with one of our kids devices and devices are such a blessing. But come on, parents, where you at? I mean, they are so dangerous at the same time. And we're walking through all those same kind of prayers and try to discernment. And for our older kids, I have one of their devices and I was trying to install some software to make sure that it was a safe environment. And your boy's not it, by the way, at any way, shape or form. And so I'm thinking, okay, if I do this, they're gonna be safe. And so. But as I was finishing up, I was like, I wonder if there's anything else I can do to make sure this device is safe. And I got just like y' all do, I got on ChatGPT and I was like, I just downloaded this. Is this enough? And it said, oh, no, it's not enough. And it listed like 10 more things that I would need to install. And I'm telling you, in that moment, the spirit of discouragement came at me like a bear. You're not going to be able to protect your kids. This world is coming after them. And I was just in that moment, so discouraged. And I was reminded of what I was about to preach, that I'm not the owner, I'm just the steward of my child. That God is their perfect heavenly father. And we do our best to. But come on, somebody. The key for all of us is that we reset our job description and understand we none of us have enough, but we have a God who does. 1st Samuel 1:27 28 says, I prayed for this child. The Lord has granted me what I asked for, so now I give him to the Lord. Our job is not to be an owner. Our job is to be a steward. And here's a daily. It's what I prayed in this moment, the moment I just described. Here's a daily prayer for you, God, I am putting my child, my children back in your hands. I let go of my control and I'm trusting you. I'm putting them in your hands. I'm trusting in these areas. I'm going to do my best. But God, can you come around that to give me the wisdom and discernment and the peace and God, can you open their hearts up to you, God, I'm just going to do my best to really, at the end of the day, point them at Jesus. And that's good news, everybody, because God loves our children even more than we do, so we got to trust him with them. All right, there's no doubt our children belong to God. Here's number two. And I want to get really practical here. That is, our children require intentionality. Everybody say intentionality. I love this word. It's all throughout the Bible. Ephesians, chapter five says it this way, says, be careful how you live. Not as unwise, but as wise. Making the most of every opportunity, being intentional. So earlier on, we talked about, we're going to take responsibility. This is the greatest area of responsibility that all of us can leave church today. Again, we're not looking backwards. The grace of God is there. We're looking forward that we can all walk out of here maybe for the first time, honestly, or even a refresh of, I'm going to take responsibility and make my home not a perfect home, but an intentional home. As for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. We're going to be intentional. And this is so important because the days are evil. Y' all know it. You know, when you have little kids at home, every day feels extremely long. I know parents out there have little children. Right now you're like, today's not just long. The night is long because we're not sleeping. But parents, as your kids get older in high school and college, I know y' all would all agree the days are long, but the years are short. And time goes by so fast. And we need to make sure we are intentional. So Jill and I, in no way, shape, or form are perfect parents. We are doing our best to raise our kids, and we're making mistakes along the way. But can I tell you this? I'm standing here today as someone who has studied this for the last 20 years, and I've read books on parenting and family. I've looked through curriculum. But I'm going to tell you my greatest wisdom. And what I'm going to share with you today is actually wisdom that has come from this house. It's intentional. Families sharing their wisdom with us has radically transformed the way we parent. It's defined the way we parent. What I'm about to share with you has come from Pastor Chris and others in this house. These are the five T's of intentional parenting that we have built our entire last 17 years of parenting around these ideas. And I believe if you do these, your home will be intentional. Not perfect, but intentional. Number one. Time. Time. Both quality and quantity. Time. Quality time just means as best as I can every single day that every child. I got four of them. So there's a lot you won't Nail it every day. But that I do my best to give attention and presence and connection to every child. And this. Listen, even when I travel, I try to have at least a two or three minute FaceTime. Like I just wanna make sure there's daily one on one a presence with them, that I give them that quality time. And if I can give you a hack right here, this is one I learned from Pastor Dino. Enter into their. The greatest way to create quality time is do something they love to do. Like enter into. Even if you don't love to do it. We're gonna be intentional and it's not always that way. But find pockets of time where you just find the thing that they love. And if it's fishing, you fish. If it's video games, dads are gonna love this. Play video games with them for a little while. Whatever it is, just enter into there and you'll immediately feel a connection that you may not get otherwise. And also quantity time. And this is much easier when they're younger. When they're younger, you're like, can I just get a little time away from you? As they get older after 16, everything changes because now they're driving, they're all out. And as a parent of older kids, we have to fight for minutes. So just be intentional. Fight for every minute matters. Every minute matters. So right now, our third born actually is finishing middle school. It's the last year that I'm going to drive him to school. I drive him to school every single day. It's five minutes for us, five or seven minutes for us. I endure a carpool, I go through all of it. Because next year he's gonna be in high school, he's gonna ride with his brothers to school. And those five to seven minutes matter. And you can think that way about any pocket of time. Don't overthink it. Quality and quantity time. Number two, T is touch. Intentional, appropriate, physical touch is a game changer. And all the stats reflect this. That every single day I'm gonna find a way to come around my kids physically and make sure they get that touch. And it's needed daily. Every, every stat says it improves growth, it improves intelligence, it improves happiness, overall health. And we tend to move away from this. I'm preaching to somebody right now. We tend to move away from this as they get older. And that's when they need it the most. It's when they need it the most. So every day I got four boys, every day I kiss my boys, whether they want me to or not, in front of Their friends. And I hug my boys and sometimes I punch them and. And it's all amazing. Not in the face, you know, like in the shoulder. It's good. They're boys. Touch number three. T is talk. Communication is key. If we're talking, we're winning. If we're talking, we're winning. If we're talking, we're winning. If we're talking, we're winning. Did y' all hear that today? If we're talking, we're. We're just going to talk. We're going to look for an open and knock on and open. And then take advantage of windows is kind of how to think about it. When they open up and you can have a conversation. We're just gonna take advantage of that and just go in and tell you parents. I'm gonna say something you already know is true, and that is. This is always inconvenient. When they wanna talk is when you don't wanna talk. Typically late at night. Anybody out there? Last week, one of our boys came in. I'm already in that glorious position. Like, I'm in bed. Jill and I are in bed. I'm already, like, right between wake and sleep. Y' all know when. You just know you're about to go over into sleep, and you're right there. And he comes in and sits on the end of the bed, and he starts rattling off some stuff. Stuff that he'd been struggling with, stuff that he was walking through. A thought he had about some friends. It was 30 seconds long. And he gets up like, hey, I'm good. And he's walking out. And I'm thinking, praise God, you know, we did it. Now I can go back to sleep. And Jill, who's godlier? And I saw it coming. And I'm not saying I was not godly in that moment. Cause I was thinking, please don't. Please don't. She goes, hey, I got a question for you. Here we go. 45 minutes later, we actually got to the heart of the matter, and it was huge for us. You just got to keep pulling. And it doesn't always happen like that, but when it does, just look for those windows. If we're talking, we're winning. Last pro tip here. Don't react. Respond when they start talking, because they're going to say some things and you're going to be like, pasture your face. Just praise God. We're hug it out. And as you hug it out, cry on those shoulders, all right? Past your face. And just keep asking more questions. Here's the next One that is traditions, things that make your family your family. And this one is another great one. This is like. I learned this from Ken, one of our trustees here, years ago. And it's been so defining for us is just find the certain things. And there's no. Like, you can't go study a list of this. This will be unique to every family, every shape and size. Find the things that make your family your family, your traditions, your hobbies. For us, that's camping. We're about to go camping in a few weeks, right when they get out of school. We love that. Activities and even daily rituals that just make the culture of your home. It's kind of predictable and warm and fuzzy, and it just has all of those feelings. And here's why. It's a secret weapon that even if they want to leave, they can't find that anywhere else. It doesn't have to be spectacular, doesn't have to cost a lot of money. It's just things that make you you. And those are the things that will draw them back. And then here's the last one. And this is really the most important one. That is T. The last T is testimony. The God story of your family. Hey, everybody. Your kids need to know your testimony. This will be strong for some people. The good, of course, but also the bad and the ugly. Always age appropriate. But there's nothing greater you can do to honor God than to tell the story of how God brought you through all of that to where you are now and bringing them into the story. Listen, there is so much fake news out in the world today. Kids are looking for something real. So don't keep them boxed out of the real story of God moving in your life. Yeah, there's some things that we may not be proud of, but let me tell you, God brought you through those things, and you are where you are now. And guess what, everybody? They're gonna go through some things, too. And that's going to encourage them. Of course, age appropriate. And even now in our growth track, we actually help. Now part of step one, and we finish it in step three, you learn how to tell your God stories. Maybe that's been a struggle for you. We actually would love to come alongside you and help you learn how to tell the story of what God has done in your life. But it's not just your testimony of what has been. Y' all look at me here. It's also the testimony of what God's doing now. Your kids need to see an activated faith. We're taking responsibility right for the culture of our home activate our faith. Never perfect, but activated. And I just read some great research from Barna, the group that does so much research for the church and the body of Christ. And they found that the most resilient. This is strong. The most resilient families who can weather storms and go through things, check it out. Three things that we can all do. This is the markers of the resilient family. Number one, they attend church regularly. They are in the house of God. I loved seeing those kids on the platform today. Being raised in the house of God, I know it's not always convenient, but I'm calling us back every single week. The national average is 1.9 Sundays per month for a Christian. Can we please be better than average here at church of the Highlands? That I'm gonna just be in the house of God? Number two marker of resilient family is that they don't just attend church, they serve alongside their kids. If you've never done that, serve day coming up in a few. A little over a month and a half. And the summer's a great onboarding for that where you can serve side by side in those red shirts. But getting on the dream team and serving is huge. And then finally, this one's strong. It's generosity. The most resilient families. Kids see their parents being generous with money and with time and that creates resilience. And bottom line here is we want to do everything we can as a church to come alongside you. I want to put this on the screen. Highlands kids would love to partner with you. We have tons of resources. If you are a parent of a Highlands kids age kid, you can text kids kids to 74,000 for our teenagers. Text parent 74,000. And a final reminder, next Sunday we are going to pray over every high schooler graduating. Do not miss it. It's going to be an amazing day here at church. Bottom line is this. And Tyler, go ahead and come out with keys here. We're going to close us out today. Parents, every parent, grandparent, guardian, look at me. Receive the grace of God for yourself. No guilt or condemnation is going to help you fulfill all that God has for you. That's the devil's quicksand for you. And then number two, I want to speak to every young person, many here on this side of me at every location. Kids of all ages, look at me right now. Have some grace for your parents. We're figuring it out. We've never been parents before. Have some grace for us as well. And a grace filled home. It's a beautiful place to live. Never perfect, but grace filled. We're in a fight. This is really kind of. As we close, for all of us, we're in a fight. Not just for our families, but for this generation. And final point of today, this generation needs us to take a stand. I'm telling you, Youth Ministry for 20 years, God's hand is on this generation. There is so much potential in them, but the devil's attack is stronger than ever. That's probably why, by the way, they're in a battle, and they need all of us as a church family. Ephesians 6 says this. Finally, be strong in the Lord and his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can what? Take your stand. The devil is scheming. There are dark powers at work. But good news, everybody. We have the power of God with us. And as a church, we take a stand. Because the one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world. We're done being afraid. We're taking our stand. Oh, come on, church. We're taking our stand. Devil, you can't have our young people. You. You can't have our young people. We're taking a stand for their hearts. I speak over every young person right now. We come around you. We take a stand for your heart. What the enemy meant for harm, God will use for good. All the days of your life, you will follow him. We take a stand for your faith. He who began a good work, and you will carry it to completion. We take a stand for your future. You are Ephesians 2:10. You're a masterpiece, prepared in advance by God to do good works that he will carry on to that completion. Faith, heart and future, we come around you. And I love that Ephesians 6 scripture, because it talks about spiritual warfare. And this is such a big topic, not just for our families, but in the world we live in today, this dark world. We're not against people. Come on, church. We're against prince of Italian Principal. Principal. Yeah. You know what I'm talking about. There's a lot of peas all at once. How many out there would love to know how to fight some spiritual warfare? Come on, wave at me. Come on. You ready to fight? Take a stand. Anybody out there? Good. That's what I'm preaching on next week. I'll see you in church. But here's a sneak peek. I'll finish with this. Romans 8:37 says, Know in all these things, we are more than conquerors. Through him who loved us. Love to pray for us today. Close your eyes and bow your heads at every location. We're gonna stay together as an entire church family today. And I want to start with a prayer we do every, every week because it's so important. And that is for anyone who needs to begin or even come back to a real relationship with Jesus. And I just love that last scripture I read that talks about through him. Can I ask you a question today? Do you know him? Do you know Jesus and the messages have been preached. This is the invitation. If you know him, you know that you do. And today you don't. Or again you've walked away. Don't miss this moment, not just for your family or for your kids, but in every area of your life. Through him you can be more than a conqueror. Having a real, not religion, a real relationship with J. Jesus. This is called the gospel and it's available to you today. Here's how you can receive. I'm not going to call you down front or embarrass you. We would never do that. But I'm going to pray for you at every location in this moment. If that's you, I'm going to pray a prayer. You repeat these words and God's going to go to work. Say Jesus today. Come on, make this your prayer. Jesus, today you want to get saved. This is for you. Jesus, today I give you my life. Forgive me of my sins, my mistakes. I repent turning away from all of that. And today I'm running to you. I declare you're my Lord, you're in control. You're my savior. You've forgiven me of my sins. And God, finally I ask you to fill me with your Holy spirit so I have the power to live for you. God, I thank you. For those who just prayed that prayer, we all as a church family, bless them. One final prayer of the day for parents, grandparents, guardians. Honestly, any situation, we're up through a small group. You're connected to the next generation. Would you open your hands right where you are. I want to bless you today, right now, in the name of Jesus. We break off shame and condemnation and guilt. They are of the enemy. And in Jesus name we receive grace and mercy and truth today. Come on, breathe in right now. Just a fresh breath of the peace of God, the love of God. For you. God, we thank you so much that our kids belong to you. We thank you for that. And we put them right now. Come on, put them. We put them back in your hands, they're yours. May we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear and honestly the discernment on how to do our job which is to point them at you and to steward their life. God, fill us with your wisdom. God, I pray right now for intentionality. Come on, let's all just ask the Holy Spirit. God, would you help us be an intentional family? Whether it's those five ideas or not that we would make the most of every opportunity. Never perfect but from this day forward intentional. To raise our family in the house of of God and then finally God, we all just take a stand for this generation and we say the enemy's plans are broken. And God we just thank you for the hope and the future they have and what an honor it is to have them in our house, the house of God. We pray all this in the name of Jesus and everybody said amen. Can you join me in giving God some praise today for all that he's done.