>> Okay, great, good afternoon, everybody. I was a little bit worried that right after lunch, we'd all be a little sleepy. Good thing they have this room down to ice cold. >> >> So that we can all sleep. Now, the second session is entitled, The Anchor Family, and we're gonna walk through being anchored in Christ.

This arena is of our life. And I'm so very thankful for the last session that we had. In thinking about, ultimately, our salvation, and thinking about a key concept like purpose. Now, what I'm saying is I'm really digging the entire analogy or illustration of the anchor, long term, things like that.

Because truly when it comes to these major stages of our lives, whether it be that we're moving from student life to young adult life. Or moving from young adult life to singlehood and marriage. And ultimately then starting your own family. And then you're moving to another stage where you have children.

Within each of these stages, there is a drift. Meaning there is a potential threat of strain because there's so many different things that come at you, right? Whether it be temptations, distractions. You can even literally call it storms because sometimes it's incredibly difficult to navigate through these things. When it comes to starting a family, you guys have experienced that maybe some of these distractions, the difficulties, are more intense.

Because it simply gets multiplied. You thought you were busy when you were single. And the next thing you know, you're like, well, goodness. The busyness just tripled, quadrupled. And some of you guys, whatever the term is for six people, right? You just got bigger and bigger. And what's more, you experience your fatigue grow at an exponential rate.

How tired you are. And people are looking at each other like, man, you think you're tired. Let me tell you how tired I am. And people are all competing with each other, talking about how tired we are. Okay? But in the midst of all those various storms, whether it be not only fatigue and tiredness, but the worries.

The worry multiplies. The concern, right? It's multifaceted. Within these things, we recognize that we absolutely need an anchor. And it's so good that we're thinking on the lines of, Jesus Christ is absolutely our stronghold. But the paradoxical thing about our Christian lives is that He is not simply an anchor so that we can walk this earthly life well.

He is also the goal, right? He is the anchor to the goal of Him, to pursue Him. And so I was so thankful that Pastor Peter Chung reminded us that not only is our desire to be in Him, but our purpose is for Him. And so if you guys recall, the statement that he said multiple times was, "Front to end, everything God." So we were created by God, created for God, to love God and serve God.

Excellent way to summarize our purpose. Now, as we think about this, and we have our verse here. Sorry. Our verse here put into a nice graphic that I found on the internet. And there's something interesting about it. We recognize that Jesus Christ is the absolute stronghold. We recognize that He is weighty.

He's glorious. He's wonderful, and beautiful. And what's more, Jesus Christ should be what we're looking to. But one of the core questions that Pastor Peter Chung left off with in the last sermon is that where is your linkage to that? Notice how in this graphic up here, there is no chain.

And what I want to do is actually focus on this idea that we absolutely need to, yes, maintain and strengthen the linkage, the connection, and the chain that we have to Christ. Because yes, conceptually, we can all agree and confess Jesus Christ is a stronghold. But where are your chains?

To what degree have you tied yourself to that stronghold? And what is the current status? Is it well-maintained? Is it strong? Or on the flip side, is it unclear? Is another photo for your class? Is it all rusty and worn down? I had a picture for you just a moment ago of this photo.

And some random facts for you guys. This is a US ship. I think it's called the-- I have it there. The US NIMIS. Cool fact is that their chain is so weak, it actually outweighs the anchor. An analogy-- don't try to think about the Christian spiritual analysis from there.

What I'm saying is, how important is it to actually maintain that chain? You have these individuals who have a 60,000-pound anchor. But in terms of the chain, the whole of the chain that they have on the boat is 244,000 pounds of chain. And they have to maintain that because over time, it rusts.

My question to you is, how strong is your family's link to Christ? To what degree have you given attention to these things? And so what I'd like to focus on in this sermon is the part of the identity, priority, and the activity of the family as links to the solid anchor that is Christ.

The identity, the priority, and the activity of the family has served as links to the solid anchor that is Christ. So let me begin by saying this. A Christ-anchored family has a family identity tied to Christ. The Christ-anchored family has a family identity tied to Christ. Now, if you think about that, when we thought the term "identity," it's a huge term.

It's a little vague. And so we have to identify a little bit. And we actually have to define it. The best and simplest way to say it is identity is just talking about who you are as a whole. And that's why it's so broad. It's simply what describes and defines you.

And so people can look to all sorts of things-- your purpose, your skill. And on a worldly level, that's how people typically identify themselves. They identify themselves by what they see. So when it comes to family, and not just you as an individual-- you as an individual may be thinking about your skill set, your personal looks.

Well, that translates to family, too. People are very concerned about family honor. People are very concerned about being a respectful family in the community. That's why certain individuals cannot, cannot bear the idea of having their children fail school. No way. Not my kid. What's more, do families-- are they concerned just like an individual is about the produce, meaning what they can actually contribute to society?

Do they care about family income? Yes, they do. Do they care about family possessions? Is home ownership not a struggle? Of course it is. Of course it is. The other day, me and a buddy were talking about that thing, and how that thing is a killer of time. If you guys have ever had that itch, and you wanted to live for homes, and next thing you know, you're on that thing, all of a sudden, you think, oh my goodness, it's been an hour.

You've been searching for a long time. Why? Because your interest and your desire and longing is there. To look for homes, to look for own values, to look for things that could be answers for you. All I'm saying is this. All of those things are visible, tangible things. Why?

Because this world operates by sight. Your identity is based on what you can see. But believers, we as Christians, our identity is 100% wrapped up in the unseen gift of God. God gives you an identity based on faith, and that identity, he says, is in the person of Jesus Christ, whom you do not see right now, but whom you love.

And I have given him to you. And what's more, I'm going to complete that in the days to come. Now, Blankey turned your Bibles to 1 John 3, verse 2 to 3. Pastor Peter referenced it. It is a beautiful passage concerning your identity, which is already and yet to be fulfilled.

So it's 1 John 3, verse 2 to 3. OK? In talking about our Christian identity, the way I've kind of briefly summarized it is that you have an identity given by God, given to you by faith, yet to be fully realized. Do you understand that? Pastor John says this, beloved, that we are children of God.

That's an identity thing. You are, in terms of your essence, in terms of your relational being, in terms of your definition, you are a child of God. And it has not yet appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be what? Like Him.

Because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. So you bring those two things together in terms of what we've been studying and what we've been thinking about in terms of being this incredible hope, the hope of God's promise, the promise that you will be with me and you are able to enter into my presence forever because of Christ, and that this promise does not change because His oath never changes and because His word never changes, His character never changes, and He is not a God who lies.

Now as we think about that, I ask you this question. Pastor Peter challenges us. God has given us a purpose. He's given us a vision of what our families should be. This world is constantly trying to look at themselves. They're staring at themselves in the mirror saying, who am I?

And when they are able to produce, oh, I broke my leg and can't play basketball. Who am I? I lost my job and can't make money. Who am I? They're constantly looking at themselves and wondering, who am I? Who am I? But we as Christians are not operated by science.

Now, as Pastor Peter said, we have been created by God. That's an identity statement. We've been created for God. That's an identity statement. And we are to love Him and serve Him. That we know is a vision also for our families. The main question for you then is, have you accepted that?

Do you desire and long for that vision for your family where in 1 John he says, you are going to be like Him? God wants Christ's character in you as an individual and in your home? Is that the vision for your family? Have you not only accepted that, but have you desired it and longed for it?

You see, in my mind-- I'm not going to go on about this for too long. But in my mind, when individuals struggle with an identity crisis, and they're sitting there thinking, oh my gosh, I don't know who I am. It's not really, really, I don't know who I am.

If we were honest, the statement is, I don't like who I am. Let me repeat that. Identity crisis is not so much like, I have no clue who I am. I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know what's my deal, so to speak, in life. If we were honest, the simple statement is, I don't like who I am.

I don't like what I see in you. Well, guess what? It also could be that when God gives us His vision for our family, we can respond in a simple way where it's like, I see it, but I'm not sure I'm happy with that. I see your vision. I'm not sure I can take it.

The application, first and foremost, has to be for us. Yes, I see a picture of what you want to do with me and my home. You desire this place to be a place of worship, a place of truth, a place of love, a place of joy, a place of glorifying God as our assembling Christ.

Yes? For us, we have to be linked to that to be able to say, I want that. That is my express desire. I want what God has designed for my home. And that's where it's got to start. The application has to be, first and foremost, yes, that is the good design and identity, the characteristic, the expectation, the purpose that God has for me.

And not, yes, I hear you, but first, let me have my home with three bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2.5 kids, and three cars. This is sometimes the kind of vision that people have when they fantasize. Question to you is, what kind of a vision for your family are you fantasizing about?

What do you desire? Have you adopted the picture of a family that God has already given us in scripture? Now, as we think about that, there's a second application that I actually wanted to focus on here, which is this. A clear identity of God's vision for your family will allow you to make clear explanation of God.

I didn't know how to best phrase this in a summary way, but that's the first thing I wanted to say is, you have clear identity. This is a vision that God has for my family. And I just gave a rundown list of it. Because of the limitation of this sermon, I'm really talking about the linkage, but I do want to challenge you.

If someone asks you, what is God's expectation for a biblical family, and your mind goes blank, then your first application is, I should have really stood in the scriptures and asked, what are the character traits of a godly family? But when you see that clear identity and vision for the family, then there should be a clear explanation of God.

And this is what I mean. Please turn your Bible over to Deuteronomy 6, verses 7 through 9. Deuteronomy 6, verses 7 through 9. There's a corollary passage in Deuteronomy 4, but for the sake of time, we're going to skip it. We're turning now to Deuteronomy 6, verses 7 through 9.

And this is that very famous, famous scenario where Moses brings all the people, God's people, together, and he is reviewing the law. He has chapter 6, verse 1, the whole great Shema. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is one." Yes? Moses is going to teach everybody, this is God, and therefore, this should be you.

And as he's doing that, this is what he says. "You shall teach them diligently to your sons, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, when you rise up, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house, and on your gates." Observe. Because you are a chosen nation, with a great God, and with an amazing law from this great God, you are to be filled. I mean, if you observe that, what he's saying is, basically, you sit, and you write, and you're sleeping, all over your house, you are to be filled with God's truth.

There should be a clear explanation in your home, this is God. I'm going to draw this out a little bit more. Oops, sorry. Please go to Psalm 78, verses one through eight. Psalm 78, verses one through eight. Please turn there, and we'll read together. Psalm 78, one through eight.

So he says, "Listen, people, to my instruction, and climb your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wondrous works that he has done.

For he has got us a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come might know even the children yet to be born, that they may arrive and tell them to their children that they should put their confidence in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments, and not be like their fathers, stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not prepare its heart, and its spirit was not faithful to God." What I'm saying is, remember, my sermon here and now for our families is to ask, yes, you've identified Christ is the solution to sin, Christ is the solution to the tide and the storm, Christ is the solution to your drifting, but the question more specifically is where is your linkage?

Where is your chain, right? And what I'm saying is, when your identity is clear, this is who I am in God, this is what he's done for me, this is what I'm supposed to do, in God's purpose for me, there should be a clear explanation, and this is God.

Let me make it a little bit more specific. For those of you out there that have children, anytime you do something, when your children get to a certain age, they will ask you, "Why?" Hey everybody, get in the car, we're going to church. Why are we going to church?

Do you respond typically with that kind of annoyance, or we're already five minutes late, get in the van right now, right? - He's like, "Why?" - "Oh, did you ask me why one more time?" You know, "How dare you ask me why? "Just do what I say!" Right? I'm pretty sure you don't use that voice.

But when the children start asking why, it is, you know, it hits on our nerves. But think about this. We believers in Christ who have an identity in Christ, our linkage that's clean, that's maintained, always can answer the why. Why in the world do you go to church so often?

Because we know we have the death, we have everything, we have everything. That would be a formal answer. Why are we not able to give the appropriate answers? Look, good question. Do you know how good God has been today? In my mind. Do you know how amazingly God has lavished his love?

All the amazing, you know, when he started talking about the mosquito, I was like, "Oh my gosh." Right? Like, do you guys feel that? When he's in the past, we were talking about the mosquito. Like, he wanted to be one with the mosquito. (audience laughing) I just like, right?

My mind was just going nuts. Can we, like, when I say your identity should be clear, you should have a very clear answer from your identity to your children. Do you know how good God has been today? We're gonna go because, man, we're gonna sing, "Thank you, Lord." And then if the children ask, "Good, how's it been good to you?" Then you're like, "Perfect, thank you, Lord." This is where I wanna teach the gospel.

Now, you might be like, "Oh, okay, "you know, that doesn't happen all the time. "You know, you don't just preach the gospel "every time your child asks why." Well, I want you to think about this. I've got some verses for you from scripture. In Exodus chapter 12, you guys recall, when God redeemed the nation of Israel out of Egypt, He established certain rituals.

You know what's crazy about that is God, before He even pulled them out in chapter 12, He told them, "I want you, as soon as you get out, "to start practicing some of these." And when you do this, look what He says, "When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, "as He has promised, you shall observe this rite." Okay, "And when your children say to you, "what does this rite mean to you, "you shall say, it is a Passover sacrifice "to the Lord who passed over the houses "of the sons of Israel in Egypt, "when He smoked the Egyptians, but spared our homes." God spared me, and the people bowed low in worship.

And then in Exodus chapter 13, He says, "You shall tell your son on that day, saying, "it is because of what the Lord did for me "when I came out of Egypt." Parents, husbands, wives, is your identity in Christ so clear you have the linkage and connection to say, this is why I come to worship?

That's what I'm asking, right? And we might think, like, yeah, it's kind of awkward every time. In this passage, pretty much back then, the Father commanded us to ask, right? You would ask me why, I'd tell you, right? I mean, it was almost so formal and so ritualistic, but literally, the Father commanded the children, you ask me why, right now, when I do this whole thing with the staff and the sash and all that stuff, you ask me why.

And the child's like, why? (audience laughing) And the Father answered. He goes, you know who I am? I was a slave, an absolute misnomer, but God loved me. So we go to worship, right? Those of you who don't have children, there's gonna come a time when your spouse is not up for it.

I don't wanna go to church today. I'm pretty sure it never happens here, but you know, sometimes, you know, we all have moments where we're like, oh gosh. And we have our excuse of good reasons. Too tired, not feeling it. I don't know, sometimes I try, don't feel the reciprocation.

We have plenty of excuses and reasons why we don't wanna go. But is your reasons clear? So that even if your spouse, the one you love, is not down for it, they say, you know what, tonight I'm gonna just stay home and watch the baby. Are you prepared and your linkage so clear you can describe, remember, this is what we do.

Right? So I ask you, is the chain clear? To say that you have an amazing, solid, waiting anchor is Christ is great. But would you ever use that if you had no chain? If you had no tie? That would be your first tie. Moving on to the second one.

We know that our clear identity will build a priority. So our identity, it builds to your priority. Okay? When your identity is clear, it starts establishing the priorities of your life. So I say in the second link, a Christ-anchored family has a priority tied to Christ. Okay? They have a system of sorting their time.

They have a system of sorting their agenda, and they can sort it by importance and value. Basically, if you're on an Excel sheet, you know how there's a little triangle and it filters? Is that for your whole family life? And I'm gonna ask you some important assessment questions for your family right now.

What is dictating the top agenda for your family? Okay, what is dictating the agenda for your family time? What is dictating the use of your energy? Where does most of your energy go? Okay? What is filling your family schedule? What do you have to constantly work around? What are some things that go on your family schedule that everything else has to work around?

It's like, oh, we can't do it because we got that in there. Some of you are like that. I'm not saying you're bad, wicked people. I'm just saying everybody operates on a certain function, and some families are a little bit more structured, so they already have a family schedule, they have a family calendar, everybody puts it in, it's all synced on everyone's device, right?

If that's you, great! This evaluation would be really, really fast for you. What are the schedule items that go in there first and you can't move because it's so important to you? And everything else in life has to work around that on your schedule. That is an important thing to ask, isn't it?

It is. It's a very important thing to ask. It asks the question of what comes first. Remember that for our families, it is the same truth that is taught to each disciple of Christ. The scripture says, "Seek ye first the kingdom." When Christ said the word first, he's teaching priority, right?

That is an ordering of your life based on what is most valuable and most weighty. "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness "and all these things will be added to you." Here's an interesting thing. If you turn to 1 Kings 3, there is a real life example of this in King Solomon.

There is a real life example of this. 1 Kings 3, verse 11 through 13. God said to him, that is Solomon, "Because you have asked this thing," if you remember the thing, is King Solomon asked for wisdom. He asked for wisdom, "the rule I govern over the people." He says, "Ye have not asked for yourself long life, "nor have you asked riches for yourself, "nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, "but have asked for yourself discernment "to understand justice.

"Behold, I have done according to your words, "and behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart "so that there have been no one like you before you, "nor shall one like you arise after you. "I have also given you what you have not asked, "both riches and honor, "so that there will not be any among the kings like you "all your days." Jesus said, "Seek his righteousness first." In this period of time, King Solomon searched for that which is more weighty in God's eyes.

I want you guys to think about that for your family. Has there been consideration and question and evaluation? Where has our first agenda, first top tier energy, first considerations gone? Has it been to pack our schedule with every single experience in life? We gotta make sure to go visit every single monument in the US, and every single monument in South America, and every single experience that I've had, anybody can experience in this life, I want my kids to have.

I want my family to have. We gotta do this. Has that been the case? Now remember, we're talking priority here. If some of you are into traveling, that's fine. But has that been the determining factor of your schedule for the next two years? Right? There are individuals so dedicated to entertainment, they've literally scheduled themselves of how to be entertained for the next three seasons.

I'm gonna watch this episode, I'm gonna watch that episode, and they've scheduled it in. Now, if that's you, there has to be this question. Has this more scheduled in my spiritual life? Am I constantly, every time I smile, saying, "Oh, I can't even fit in my quiet time. "I can't fit in family worship.

"I know I should talk to my wife "about where I am spiritually." It just can't seem to fit in. And yet you've got the next four seasons scheduled. That's, you've gotta really assess that. So as we think about this, I wanna give you a little example here. Have you guys seen, there's a YouTube series called Worth It?

You guys know what I'm talking about? For those of you who are foodies, it's like your dream job ever. (laughs) It's like your fantasy dream. Basically what it is, you have these two young guys, they say, "Okay, we're gonna see what's worth it. "We're gonna go in and try three types of tacos.

"One taco's $2, but it's amazing. "One taco's $12, and it's on the next year, "and there's a $100 taco." And basically what these guys do is they go and eat it. Now the reason why I find it just awesome is 'cause people love food. It's like, "I wish I had your job, man." 'Cause they just sit there and they slobber away.

They're like, "Mm." But what's really cool about it is they start talking, it's like, "Man, it's $2 for an amazing taco, "but it's the greatest and the most expensive, the best?" And they're like, "Ooh, how do we decide? "Why do I bring this silly example up?" When people talk about Orange County Christianity and how difficult it is, well, obviously, it's not difficult as in it's like strenuous and suffering, right?

I believe the difficulty comes because you have way too many options. And with the many options that you have, you want it all, right? I'm just kind of grossly summarizing Orange County Christianity and its difficulty. But essentially, you have so many options and you want all of them. You want a manageable home, you want a manageable church, you want a manageable work schedule with a manageable family life.

And if you can have all of it, that's your Orange County dream. Yeah. And what's really interesting about that show is you have these individuals that, "I can't decide." Because why? "I want it all." "Give me the hundred dollar, the $12,000, the $2,000 top of all day." Right? That would be a dream.

But you're forced to decide. There are some of us that have a hard time choosing what should be priority. My challenge to you is, as a family, you have to decide. Is our family going to fulfill the Orange County dream of having everything? Every experience, every luxury, and every dream of the Orange County life?

Or are we going to, by necessity, pick our priorities? That's something families have to sit down and talk about, husbands and wives, especially before you have children. You need to start thinking through that, yes? You need to start discussing, where are going to be some of our top priorities that, because it's a priority, it might not be sinful, it might not be wrong, it might not be like, "Oh, if we do this, "we're going to be vile Christians." No.

We're just going to be all the more dedicated. And we're going to put our practice in. Instinctually, I believe most of us do this. We do this questioning of prioritizing. So by a quick way of review, the application builds. The last application was this application of, we know Christ is the anchor, can you link to it?

Is Christ as the anchor you desire, and you can describe that to your family? Does your vision for your family show a linkage to Christ? Here, in this second point, we're summarizing and saying, does the way you schedule your family life, does it show that you've tied yourself to Him?

Does it show that you have linked yourself to the Lord? Now, I just want to give further motivation and oomph to that, because I'm going to be honest, the last several years of my life, I've been really busy. And so there is this knee-jerk reaction in me. Every time somebody says, "Hey, Pastor Mark," or, "I see you're really busy, you've got to start prioritizing stuff," automatically, my defense comes up, and I'm like, "You don't know how busy I am." "But I'm busy!

I'm connecting!" And then there's this knee-jerk defensiveness that comes up that just wants to say, "I'm really, really busy." Now, I think what I need is a moment of humility to say, "Okay, I have to evaluate." Because the Scripture, like, the last study in the book of Colossians, so much of it is ringing in my head.

If you guys recall, in Colossians 1, verse 18, the Scripture said that Jesus Christ, He is the first, He is the Creator, everything is sustained through Him. And I'm going to read to you verse 18. "He is the head of the body of the church, He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything." I've got to have the humility to sit there and say, "You know, I'm like your money.

I'm a pastor, so most of my activity has some kind of correlation to church and people. But is Jesus Christ having first preeminence in everything, especially my family?" That is a legitimate question to ask. And another way to kind of motivate you to make these priorities is this. I think about the Pharisees a little bit, and how the Pharisees had a question of first place.

Think. If you guys recall, it was the Pharisees. They were asking Jesus all these questions. And then they were stumped, and then Sadducees was like, "Oh, what in the world?" They brought up a lawyer, and the lawyer was the one who asked Jesus, "What is the?" You guys remember?

"The greatest of them." He was asking for what is the first priority in life. What is the first thing God wants from us? That's very hypocritical. Why? Because they didn't care for that kind of stuff. And Jesus answered, "You shall love the Lord your God," right? "With all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is what I'm going to say as a point of conviction.

It is to our humbling and our implication to the Lord. The vast majority of the time is that your priorities are automatically set by your personal principles and longings. Meaning, let me try to make sense of what I'm saying. I believe that the Pharisees had an operating principle. And what the operating principle was the operating principle that is most common in our day and age.

Have you guys heard the phrase, "You know, you got to do you." Have you guys heard that? I've heard that so many times. And you know what else? Every time I talk, I listen to like a sports athlete who's talking and doing some kind of interview, you know what they typically say?

They'll be like, "Oh yeah, you know, I just got to do what's best for me when I'm picking a team and doing all this stuff." I remember very distinctly, this was already 10 years ago, so sorry to bring an old analogy, but when LeBron was making his decision, he had a TV episode, right?

He broadcasted the whole thing. And in the middle, he looked all awkward, but then he realized, "Okay, this was kind of a bad idea." But if you guys remember what he said, he's like, "LeBron's got to do what's best for LeBron." He says LeBron. You know what I mean?

It's so silly. I believe that the Pharisees operated on the exact same principle. "Pharisee's got to do what's best for Pharisee." Right? That was pretty much their sin. Why do I say that? You read Matthew chapter 23, and Jesus says, "You Pharisees, woe to you because you love the places of honor.

You love to sit atop and put people beneath you. You love to make people do stuff, and you won't even pick up a finger. You love this stuff where you're in power, and you look like you're on top, and that's why you're so judged. Because you're always looking out for you.

Your priorities are set," is my point. We might sit there and be like, "Oh, no, what should I do first?" Actually, if we're honest, our priorities are typically already set by the principle, "I got to do what's best for me and my family." That is going to be, to us, one of the biggest challenges for our family.

If your dedication to Christ is that, "I first need to love him, and I'm satisfied with my family," it might be inconvenience, but we love him. When we say our vision is to serve him, and say, "I'm satisfied with my family and serving God," even if that comes to a cost to my family, that should be when you feel like, "Things are good." But if your dedication is, "You know what, family got to do what's best for family," you will struggle, because that is not the priority God's giving you.

Amen? Now, my next point's going to be a little bit shorter. When we set our priorities, that's how we end up deciding what to do next. And so, from our priorities, from our priorities, we have our activity. And it builds, right? That the family that is anchored on Christ will have their activity tied to Christ.

And the way I'm going to describe it is this. Your actions, your activity, is essentially your values and desires plus opportunity. Okay? Your actions are essentially your values and desires plus opportunity. Okay? Now, there's a classic concern, or a classic, I don't want to call it complaint, between ladies and men, especially in romantic relationships, right?

There's been a classic scenario where the lady asks the guy to do something. "Can you do this?" And the guy just completely and blitterly forgets. "I'm sorry, I forgot to do it." Right? And the lady looks at the guy and goes, "You didn't do it because you didn't care!" Right?

"You don't want to!" Okay? Ladies, I'm just going to confess, that's like 90% of the time, right? We still need convincing that that's a worthwhile doing. We still need convincing that it's important, okay? But it's not always the case. It's not always, okay? It's not always. Majority of the time, yes, but not always.

Sometimes we genuinely lack the opportunity. Sometimes we're just genuinely busy, we don't have the know-how, we just don't know how to do it, right? We don't have the time, whatever it may be, we don't have the resources. I would like this last point to be like a motivation for all of us.

Because what I'm saying right now, in terms of your identity, in terms of your priority, is not novel, new things that you've heard. But it's things that I just want to encourage you to evaluate in your family life. And to revisit and do the work of maintaining, right? Taking these change and making sure that you sand off the rust.

That you protect it. That you make sure it's solid. That there's no kinks in the chain, no neither is any break. But when we think about this then, we're talking about our activity and it has to flow this way. And as we think about this, that our desire, I'm going to assume your desires are there, right?

We're not making like a classic male excuse of like, you know, "Ah, you just asked me to do stuff "I don't want to do," you know? No, I'm just going to assume all of us, we want to more so fulfill the desire of God, the will of God in our families.

But sometimes all we're doing is waiting for the opportunity. We're waiting for like, how come the church didn't put together this one program where we all get together and then we all do family worship at home? Because the expectation is you would do it, right? That you would make your own opportunity.

I can't make the opportunity for you in your home. How come we don't have this program where we all take rotations to come and serve at church? I can't make that opportunity for you all the time. When I say I, I'm not saying like, "Oh, I'm going to structure this whole thing for you." Nobody can.

Those opportunities, you have to search out. You have to make them. So I want to have a little bit of a motivation time and application saying, we have to move forward to say that we're never going to necessarily teach our children through osmosis. Just like Pastor Peter Chung said, it doesn't necessarily happen, but because the parents are godly, it just naturally flows over and the light shining from God into us hits our children as it goes down, right?

It just doesn't happen that way. Nobody drifts into good husbanding. Nobody drifts into good life goals. (audience laughing) We have to make sure that we make those opportunities. Many times when I talk to people and say, "Oh yeah, me and the wife, "we need to sit down and talk about these things." We just didn't have a chance.

These are the moments when we have to hear the explanation. The desire is there. You have to bring the opportunity, yes? You have to bring that opportunity. What is keeping you? If honestly, like let's say, we're being honest, if you notice I'm trying to cut down the various excuses we give.

Especially let's say when it comes down to like home worship, family worship. In your own house. Is it a necessity that you do family worship every single day of your lives together? No, the Bible doesn't say, "Thou shalt have seven p.m. dinner "and eight p.m. family worship." The Bible does give a great, great pattern, example, that the husband teaches.

That the husband leads the family in thinking about God, worshiping him and saying, "Thank you for all this." Right? It's a pattern. And for the most, most of the time, it's not for a lack of like, do you think it's a good idea to do it? No one's gonna sit here and be like, "Nah." You know what?

"That's not a good idea." It's because we're afraid. You know what? We haven't done it. It's gonna be ultra awkward. Right? Like I'm gonna be 100% honest. When I first got married, I was thinking like, "Yeah, we should have some family time worship." My wife is very discerning. She knows the scriptures well.

At the time, you know, I'm gonna read a passage, she's gonna be like, "What?" You know, like, "Are you sure about that?" You know, like, "I don't know." I was very, very like insecure in my own ability to speak on the matter. You know, that kind of thing. So most of the time, we're not doing it because of fear of awkwardness or fear of like, or if I'm wrong.

What if I teach stuff that's just not kosher? Right? We have to make sure more of those things are more honestly done. That's not for lack of opportunity, is it? It's not for lack of opportunity. So today, we're talking about action, we're talking about priority, we're talking about identity.

And I wanna give a challenge. The scripture does not say, "Thou shalt do family worship." But very clearly, the home is a centerpiece of giving God honor by collectively thinking about His truth and rendering thanks to the Lord. Yes? We want those things to be a regular part, a regular part of our growing maturity in faith.

And what I'd like to do, by way of starting to wrap things up, is go to Hebrews chapter 12, because if there is a passage that talks about, "Let's move your identity, "let's move your priority, "all into action," Hebrews chapter 12 is like, "Whoa, you better do it!" So let's go there.

If there was, you know, Hebrews is an amazing book because it challenges so many individuals who are driven, whether because of the worries of persecution or just because of false teaching or just because of their individual lack of growth. Look at Hebrews' challenges against it, and within a very exhortational section, chapter 12, this is what he says, "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud "of witness surrounding us, "let us also lay aside every encumbrance and sin "which so easily entangles us.

"Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, "fixing our eyes on Jesus, "the author and perfecter of faith, "who for the joy set before him, "endured the cross, "despising the shame, "and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. "For consider him who has endured such hostility "by sinners against himself, "so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

"If there was ever a moment "you were tempted to give excuse, "'Oh, God, this is gonna be awkward. "'Oh, God, this is gonna be weird. "'Oh, God, people are gonna point the finger. "'Oh, God, I don't know how.'" This portion says, "Look at Jesus. "He has overcome every single one "of those possible scenarios and possible excuses, "overcoming the shame, enduring the cross.

"He's despising all of that. "He has accomplished his purpose, "to honor the Father. "Jesus did it." And then verse four is one of the most convicting passages when it comes to your application and putting things in practice. Verse four, it says, "You have not yet resisted "to the point of shedding blood "in your striving against sin." We live in a generation where people are constantly, constantly seeking to be affirmed in their weakness.

We regularly say, "Oh, God, look at my pain "and look at my struggle," and they seek validation. And at any time, people say, "Oh, man, in those moments, you were weak. "Oh, how dare you?" Right? But the reason why that is bad is because we lower God's expectation to the standard of our weakness.

Here, the Scripture does not do that. It challenges us beyond what we think is capable and says, "You have not yet gone to that degree." Does this sound too offensive for us? Especially where it is very, very important to our family lives. You have not gone to that degree.

Verse five, we carry on, it says, "And you have forgotten the exhortation "which is addressed to you as such. "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, "nor faint when you are reproved by Him. "For those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines, "and He scourges every son whom He receives." That, again, is all identity talk.

You're experiencing all of this stuff, the hardships, the need to grow, these moments of testing, the storms that may come. Why? Because God's guiding you like His child. Right? And as we look forward, it says, "It is for discipline that you endure. "God deals with you as with sons, "for what son is there whom his Father has not disciplined?

"But if you are without discipline, "of which all have become partakers, "then you are illegitimate children and not sons. "Furthermore, we have earthly fathers to discipline us, "and we respect them. "Shall we not much rather be subject "to the Father of spirits and live? "For they disciplined us for a short time, "as seemed best to them.

"But He disciplines us for our good, "so that we may share His holiness. "All discipline for a moment seems not to be joyful, "but sorrowful, yet to those who have been trained by it, "afterward, yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness. "Therefore," look at this, verse 12, "straighten the hands that are weak, "and the knees that are feeble.

"Make straight paths for your feet, "so that the limb which is lame "may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed." I just wanna give a really, really strong encouragement and motivation. I believe one of the great, great opponents of good family life is going to be the regular business and you saying, "Goodness gracious, I am tired." And I wanna give an exhortation.

God desires us not to simply concede to that and say, "Ha, yeah, if you live life, if you've gone through this, "you know how it is. "This is the way." What am I saying? The great temptation is to just simply assume, although yes, God wants to strive for unity in our marriage, although God wants us to strive to be true, to be filled, although God wants us to be rejuvenated by joy, by strength.

You look at your life, you're all tired, and you say, "You know what, though? "This is the way it is." The great, great enemy of Christian family is to look at the various things that go wrong and say, "You know what, though? "It's okay." The motivation and challenging thing I wanna say to you is this.

When we talk about the activity, that God's plan for you is so much more than what it is now. And it's really a challenge and hesitation for us to not only accept that, but to make the opportunities, to make incremental steps as need be, and to pursue those things with all our heart.

And so by way of conclusion, by way of conclusion, we know that there's various tides, temptations, not only fatigue, but worldly ambitions. Not only worldly ambitions, the little evil overlord in my heart that dictates the pattern of our living. And we have to combat that. And although the temptation might be to look around and be like, "Whoa, everybody else is like this." We have to tie ourselves to Christ so that we are able to say, when the Scripture challenges and commands us to hold on, that I did.

I saw God's purpose and vision for us, and I tied myself to it. I saw the various priorities that Christ has set for the families, and I tied our family's schedule to that, and what's more, rather than conceding a week, I put into action the things that are important to the Lord.

In this way, let's make sure that there is a clear, clear chain to the strong anchor that is Christ. Let's pray. Our God, there is so much more to say about how Christ should influence and dictate and guide our lives. And I pray, Father, Lord, that every single one of us will be on this path of walking together as a family according to the design and measure of Christ.

I pray, Father, God, if any of us have thought like we've either grown this way or the kind of link and clear connection to Christ has been lost, may we truly desire, Father, Lord, to tie ourselves to you. God, if there be anything that we need to repent of, Lord, I pray you would convict us of the spirit to confess those things.

And what's more, in humility, be open to the scrutiny of your word. And then, Father, God, with your spirit, empower us, truly, not by our own might, but by conviction of who you are, who you've made us to be, and to hear your call, help us to respond. And, Father, we just continue to pray that you would then all the more provide, Lord, the sustaining power necessary, and, God, that you would be our necessary supply to walk with you faithfully.

We thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, and we pray.