Are you excited to be in church? Let me hear what?
What? Hey, time changing stopping
anybody around here. We decided to show up and have
some fun and grow in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and I am so
excited to be hanging out with you.
Some of you might be asking Clayton, how do I know that?
God loves Jerry Harris, more than me?
It's because when Jerry preaches, it doesn't snow on
Thursday and he doesn't get the time change weeks.
That's how I know that God loves Cherry more than me.
I had an opportunity. What was it two weeks ago, times
and going fast to go to a Pastors conference while I was
there. I met a gentleman by the name of
Glenn Elliot you can look him up on Facebook.
He is a part of Pantano. Christian Church in Arizona And
he used to be a missionary in the Ukraine, and he posts
updates every single day of how the church is doing and how
people are responding than. It's been a great way to kind
of, just keep tabs on what's happening through a Christian
perspective. While I was talking to him, we
started interacting this past week in back and forth.
And he said that one of the pastor's that he knows heard
that there were some kids in an orphanage who had been abandoned
and he went and he found them and they were in a bomb shelter
57 kids, I think it's 57 or 50 60, 24 year old sleeping on the
floor, in a damp bomb, shelter him and the church went in.
They grabbed all those kids, they took him to their church
basement. They've been providing them
Round. The Clock care that.
Round-the-clock clerk are is getting expensive because
obviously prices are going through the roof.
And I want you to know that this past Wednesday.
Our church sent a check for ten thousand dollars on behalf of
every single person we send a dollar on behalf of every single
person who's going to be hearing this message this weekend.
And for those of you who partner with the crossing financially, I
just want to say a big thank you because you've put our church in
a position where when we hear of a need we can immediately
respond and have the space to do so and I want you to know that
what you're doing is not just blessing our region, but it's
having worldwide impact and things that you're seeing on the
news right now. And to think that those kids are
being loved and cared for out of just our normal active obedience
and I'm just so proud to be a part of this church alongside of
you. And if there are other needs
that arise, we will respond again, as long as God makes us
able. Well, we In the sermon series
called better how to win at home.
And we started off this sermon series talking about how we as a
church believe and I hope you believe this to that God can
redeem broken things. And we talked about can Suki,
which is when a piece of pottery gets broken that is not the end
of its life. It only represents One Moment in
its history and that God can take his beautiful golden finger
of restoration and he can put us back together and he can put us
back together and In such a way, that it almost appears more
beautiful than when before we were broken.
And then Jerry spent some time talking about the best way for
your family to win, is for you to have a really strong
foundation. And we believe here at the
Crossing that there is no better Foundation than the rock of
Jesus Christ that through him, you can whether everstorm, you
can overcome every obstacle and every challenge that when you
hold on to him, you're holding onto the only thing that you
need to hold onto you can hold onto.
I mean, but that can disappear. You can hold onto friends but
they can have their own challenges.
You can hold onto politics. You can hold onto, whatever you
want to. But I'm telling you what, unless
you're holding on to Jesus, unless you're building your life
on Jesus, eventually, it will fail.
And last week, Jerry talked about marriage and he discussed
how we are generally wired around gender and how we are
generally, wired are emotionally and that was a great opportunity
for us to kind of Think through how we were doing it.
Jennifer our laughing through that message, as we recognize
the differences in us and then we challenge you all to go on a
Crossing date night. And I've been watching on social
media, as many of you guys have taken that challenge and enjoy
that Jennifer and I enjoyed watching it.
We decided to do our date on Friday, and we did a
drive-through date and she got to pick what she wanted for me
to eat off Panera. And I left very hungry just so,
you know, very, very hungry and it was kind of Honey.
Maybe some of you guys have the same experience.
We were kind of like, all right, let's get through this.
Let's do these things and our lets punch out question number 1
or lets punch out envelope. Number two, let's Punch Out
number three and then it started to slow way down and we start to
have a deep and meaningful conversation.
And over the course of that, our we decided we would just things.
Just start Louis started connect even deeper and have
conversations that maybe we've been wanting to have, but just
haven't had the right context to have.
And so if you haven't done that yet, I want to encourage you.
It will be a blessing to you. Your kids, your family for you
to go on that Journey. Take the challenge.
If you don't have stuff talk to your campus Pastor he'll get you
hooked up but today we're going to talk about parenting but
listen to me this message is not just for parents, it's not just
for grandparents, it's for you because I believe that the
principles were going to talk about in this message.
Apply first and foremost to you as a person to you as a Christ
follower in, this sermon will be a little bit different.
Did a lot of the sermons are preached so just kind of hang on
to the end. But I'm really have a desire to
put tools in your tool belt to be able to handle the different
challenges that you're going to face.
And one of the hardest things you'll ever do is raise a child.
Those of you who are parents or our grandparents you'll say
amen. Yeah it's thinking hard.
Jim Gaffigan was once asked what it's like to have four kids and
he said, imagine you're drowning and someone hands you a baby.
That's what it's like having four kids.
That's why Jennifer and I had three were like, we're not good
swimmers. We're done.
Okay. We can't we can't do this.
It was someone once said that motherhood is an extreme sport.
That's why women are always wearing workout clothes, okay?
They're like it's just that's just how it is.
Jerry Seinfeld said having a two-year-old is like having a
blender that's on but you don't have the top for it.
Those of you who have two year olds, you like yeah.
Preach Clayton. Preach how many of you have this
will be fun. How many of you ladies?
Come on. Help me out here.
I kind of wish deep down inside that you are a Pinterest mom.
But you realize your Amazon Prime you're an Amazon Prime
mom. Yeah.
We're an Amazon Prime church. Preach.
Okay. Yeah, that's us.
Word of warning to those of you who are going, man, we just we
just can't wait to have kids. It looks so much fun.
I mean we just can't wait. Here's a little test for you.
Just go home today. Find any cartoon the actually
any of them but find an annoying one.
Just leave it on all day loud. Do that all week and just know
that that's the next four years of your life.
If you just have one kid, okay? If you have two years, you can
be stuck in a decade of Hannah Montana, okay?
Or whatever it is, it gets bad. I remember us just walking
around the house. Going when does this stop?
And those of you who are fresh to Parenting, I want to give you
a pro tip. Those of you been there before,
you know, the truth about what I'm about to say.
But to literally like, man, we're just having a hard time
like finding our kids. Like sometimes you're like,
where are My kids. How do I get them to listen to
me? How do I find them all?
Here's all you have to do just sit down on the toilet.
And they will find you. You won't hear them for a long
time. Like where are they?
Kids, kids, nothing, you sit down the toilet, dad, doubt me
alone. Okay, get away from me.
This is not a good time, okay? Um, so if you are a person who's
thinking about having kids or maybe you are, I want you to
know this message is for you. If you're pregnant, this message
is for you. If you are navigating the
challenges of the terrible twos, This message is for you if
you're dealing with the murky Waters of Elementary and Junior
High School, this message is for you.
If you're dealing with high school students, I don't have
any hope for you. Now this my joke in this message
is for you. If you are holding on and
holding your breath, as your kids are leaving High School
into the great unknown. This message is for you.
If you've already raised your kids but you still have a
minivan because you're picking up the grandkids.
This message is for Are you if you are a person who just wants
to be a Jesus follower? This message is for you.
I believe deep down inside every parent, every deep down inside,
they want to be able to say what John says, in third, John
chapter 1, I have no Greater Joy.
Then to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
Parents. Is this not your heart that deep
down inside one day you want to be able to say, my kids are
walking in the truth. That nothing would fill your
heart up more. Not that they have a job, not
that they're happily married, but that they are walking in the
truth. And the truth is that they're
walking in the ways of Jesus, And we can feel incredible
pressure to try and make our kids turn out.
Okay. Better come out better off than
we did. Avoid some of the same
disastrous mistakes that we made in having a child, is like
having your heart walk around outside of your body.
And there's not enough Bubble Wrap in the world to protect
him, and I need you to hear me say this, when it comes to
Parenting, you are responsible for your part.
Your part. There are different parts that
come into play when it is raising a kid.
I mean, there's your part and then there's God's part and then
there's their part. The parents and you hear me say
this, you do not do God's part and you're not responsible for
their part. You are responsible for, if I
say it with me, your part. Now I got good news for you.
God always does his part. And God is also equipped you
with his word as a guide, to do your part and he's equipped you
with his Spirit to help you do your part.
But you can't do their part. Here is a truth that we all have
to recognize that when we are dealing with our kids, the
younger, they are the more control we have and the older
they get the less control we have and some of you are like
yeah, yeah. I mean when your kid is like,
you know, car seat age, you have all the control in the world,
all of it. Like, you control everything,
you you, when they're in the car seat.
I know some of you. You're like, when do I get out
of the car seat stage where I have to keep lugging this thing
around everywhere? Listen, don't despise the car
seat stage because you are in absolute control in car seat
stage. And when they're like, five, you
say things like this. Because I said, so, Because
you're in control. Try that when they're 30.
Because I said so okay Mom and half of your like what is that?
I don't understand what that is. Okay.
You actually it's not even that you just end the conversation
over text. You don't even know how to talk
on the phone. Okay.
Over time we lose control but at the same time that we are losing
control, there is an opportunity for us as parents that as we go
down in the control, we have the opportunity to go up in the area
of being a consultant. You're not a consultant.
When they're five, you're a dictator.
You dictate everything. You prepare every meal.
They make, you make all the financial decisions.
You pick out their clothes, you even put their clothes on them.
But when they're like 25 to 40 at best, you're a consultant.
And you will spend most of your life as a parent in the
consultant stage, not the control stage.
And the way you make sure that they have a good future and that
you get to be a part of that future is how we manage the
transition out of control and into consultant.
And one of the ways that we do this is with circles and
everyone needs a circle, I want to give a shout out to Josh
Bailey who's a part of our 48th Street campus, who helped me put
some of the language around this message and Every single person
needs a circle. And it is through these circles
that we get to learn how to do our part.
Now let me show you what I mean by a circle.
Let's take a kid. Will name this kid Emerson?
Okay now this kid has a circle, he has a parents, he has a mom
and a dad and beyond that. He has family extended family.
Aunts Uncles, grandparents Grandma's.
All of those things nephews, nieces all of those people
become the family and beyond that.
There has another Circle. These are the coaches teachers
band, directors, choir, Directors, all these people
become a part of the, their Circle, and then you've got
their friends that they put, in their Circle and beyond that.
Maybe you're a kind of person who believes in church and they
have church people that are part of the circle and all of these
circles help create a perfect environment for Emerson to grow
and develop and become a Jesus follower.
And when there are breaks inside of one of these circles, the
other Circle fills in the Gap, grandparents I just want to say
thank you. I see a lot of grandparents
bringing their grandkids to church.
You're filling in the gap. I know some of you you make
investments in kids that are not your kids because you want to
help fill in the gaps. Now.
Let me show you how important circles are because nobody was
ever designed to be alone. It was in the Perfection of Eden
that God looked at Adam and said it is not good for man to be
alone. He put a circle around him when
Jesus came Jesus, who is perfect and all-powerful came to Earth
before he started his Earthly Ministry.
Do you know what? Jesus, This did he made a, he
made a circle, he had an inner circle.
James are Peter, James, and John were his inner three.
Then he had another Circle, the remaining nine, and those three
plus nine, made up his Apostles, beyond the circle of The Twelve.
He had the 72 beyond the 72, he had the 120 be on the 120, he
had the multitudes. In fact, Jesus is a circle unto
himself. You have God, you have the
spirit and you have the Sun, the Trinity are their own Circle.
And another way of looking at a circle is to see it as a
boardroom. And here is a question, if you
are the company who are making the decisions for your life
because you are not making those decisions by yourself, there is
a boardroom, there are circles at play in your life.
And as you think about your kids, as you think about you,
quick question, this will be an Size for you, and you get home.
Who are the 11:52 loudest voices in your life?
Who sits in the boardroom of your life.
Another question who sits in the Board Room of your kid's life
You we've all heard the phrase that it takes a village to raise
a child. Let me take a quick break for
just a second. There is a young lady on a staff
at our church who works in our multi-site offices on my team
and her and her husband put together a Ministry called
connect. And what they try to do is they
are us they try to fill in the gaps in circles for foster and
adoptive parents and biological families who are navigating
foster care and adoption and they kind of come around and To
love and support them as they go through that process.
And if you were to go to my Facebook page, my Instagram
page, there is a link to where you can actually buy this
sweatshirt or this sweatshirt and different colors.
And the proceeds from that actually go to Resource them so
that they can fill in the circle for other people.
And if you're the kind of person who wears clothes, this is a
great way for you to do that. Okay, if you're going yeah you
know I definitely need something for tomorrow.
In a couple weeks like you know, you can buy one of these.
And what it'll do is it'll actually help Foster and
adoptive parents and it'll help people who are trying to be
Circle makers for other people. There is a phrase that I heard I
asked this on Thursday night and almost nobody raised their
hands. I don't know if I just, you
know, you guys are smarter than them or not.
So how many of you have heard that your life will be the
average of your five closest friends?
Okay, okay, so I guess we're over to a long time ago,
sociologists put together, they are some facts and what they
realized is that your life will be the average of your five
closest friends, you will make about the average of your five,
closest friends. Your marriage will be about the
average of your five closest friends.
The way you navigate life, your happiness quotient will be the
average of your five closest friends.
So who you surround yourself with?
Matters. Well, they did sociologist did
an even deeper dive into this. And what they found out was,
it's not just the average of your five closest friends, but
it's the average of your five, closest friends, five closest
friends, they track this through two factors, one was obesity and
the other one was drug use. So check this out, okay.
Obese. If you have an obese group of
people in your friend group, you are 45 percent, more likely to
gain weight, For the next two to four years.
Some of you just unfriended me, okay.
You just like wow, I cannot be friends with that guy.
I love my family too much. I get it.
I can't be friends with me either but check this out.
If a friend of a friend becomes obese, your likelihood of
gaining weight increases by 20% when it comes to drug use, if
you have a friend in your circle, you are 61 percent more,
likely that uses drugs, you were 61 percent, more likely to use
drugs. if you have a friend of a friend, your 29 percent more
likely, if you have a friend of a friend of a friend, your 11%,
Then they tracked it through happiness, and a friend of a
friend of a friend who is happy. You have a 6% chance or your six
percent, more likely to become to become happier or you will
experience a 6% increase in your happiness quotient and you're
like six percent. That's not that much.
Okay, let me quantify it for you.
If today, your boss were to call you up and give you a ten
thousand dollar raise, that would increase your happiness
quotient by 2%. Who you have in your circle, is
more important than how much you make to your happiness, quotient
who you put in your circle matters.
The friends of your friends of your kids end up having
significant influence. The Bible told us this a long
time ago, it knew this way before sociologists were
invented. Look what it says in Proverbs
Chapter 13 walk with the wise and we, and become, as I say
this, yeah. For a companion of fools
suffers, who you put in your circle matters.
Well, let's go back to this control, graphic and consultant
graphic. When you are looking at your
kids, the younger, your child is the more control you have.
You control who's in their friend group, you control who's
in the Board Room as your child gets older, when they're 15.
I mean, there still may be asking you, hey, you know, can
I, can I go to my friend's house because you're the one driving
them. Right.
But you also recognize that there's things that they're not
asking you anymore when your kid finds himself in their 20s.
How much control do you have? I mean, if you're paying for
college, you have some When they're in their 30s, what
control do you have like I guess whether or not you're going to
leave them in the will whether or not you're going to watch
their kids? Like you have almost no control.
And if you have almost no control and your only
consultant, your job is to help make sure that they have people
in their Circle. And what you want to be as a
parent is you want to be a person that they will consult.
So you have a say in who they put in the boardroom of their
life. Why is this important you
already know this? Is because a better Circle
provides a better experience. The quality of your circle,
increases the quality of your child's life their choices and
their Direction. Ecclesiastes chapter 4 tells us
what we already knew. Two are better than one because
they have a good return for their labor.
If either of them falls down, one can help the other up but
pity anyone, who falls and has no one to help them up.
Also if to lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can anyone keep warm alone?
The one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves?
A quart of three strands is not quickly broken.
There is going to come a time in your child's life where they are
going to fall. Where they are going to be cold
and they are going to have to defend themselves and we as
parents want to put enough people in the boardroom, the
kind of people that will help them when they fall down.
Keep them warm when they are cold and not abandon them when
they need someone to fight for them.
And the way we do that is make sure that we behave ourselves in
the boardroom of Life can hear. Is sometimes what happens is you
look at your kids board room and you know, Do you have a seat at
the table? You know that when you're
sitting in the Board Room? Like you had a seat at the
table. In fact they're used to just you
used to be the only seat but over time, there were more seats
added and while you're in the boardroom in still trying to
operate as a controller, instead of Consultants you misbehaved,
Let me put it this way. Parents, when you start fighting
your kids start asking themselves, do I want you in the
boardroom the way you speak about their stepmom or their
stepdad impacts whether or not they want you to be in the
boardroom? How you treat the kids that they
are inviting into the boardroom other life?
You know what ends up happening is over time, you used to be
sitting right next to him and they've slowly pushed you down
and you find yourself far away from where the decisions are
made in the boardroom. You still have a right to a
seat. But they're not listening to
your voice anymore, and they start looking for other people
to fill your seat because you didn't manage the control.
That is why you need people in your circle in your boardroom
who will guide and direct you. We need first Thessalonians
chapter 5 kind of people in the boardroom of our life and we
urge you brothers and sisters warn those who are idle and
everybody say this word. Disruptive encourage the
disheartened. Help the weak be patient with.
Yeah. Keep going.
Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for Should I read that
part again, for all your divorced?
Parents out there. Step parents out there, angry,
ticked off people out there. Make sure that nobody pays back
wrong for wrong. You need to be in the circle,
and you need to be stopping people.
Don't pay back wrong for wrong. Be patient with everyone
encourage the disheartened, but always strive to do, what is
good for each other and for everyone else, if you're in the
boardroom and you're trying to do, what's good.
For you. You're not the kind of board
member your kid needs and if you don't have people on your board
who are telling you, what is good for everyone else not for
you, you have got the wrong people in the boardroom of your
life and as your child ages, they're going to start filling
in seats even if you do everything right.
You'll be driving down the road and you'll hear them say
something you back. Where did where did you hear
that? Well, Bob says Okay.
What else does Bob say? Okay, I don't think that's right
man. I mean you know it was Bob a
doctor. Okay.
I don't think so. Let me I think he's 7, he wore
different colored shoes on to school the other day.
I don't know if we should be trusting him.
They'll say something else about.
Where did you hear that? Becky.
Okay. Yeah, I'm Becky knows.
Lots of things. Dad, does she and what you want
to say back? He's an idiot.
Becky's trash. Like we don't, we don't want to
listen to Becky anymore. So you know what you end up
saying? Oh that's cool.
She sounds, she sounds fun. Parents track with me because if
you go off on Becky, Well, how did that work for you?
When you were growing up, when your parents tried to isolate
you from somebody, Did it make you want to leave them alone?
Or did it make you want to be around them even more?
How you handle the boardroom matters, how you shift out of
control and into consultant matters, because it works both
ways because parents, there's going to come a day when you
will have been saying the exact same thing over and over and
over again to your kid and they won't listen to a word of it.
And then one coach will just say it in passing after practice and
your kid will come home. Like they've had an epiphany.
Right, I've got a friend of my life.
I, you know, I've been navigating stuff with them and
I've been given good, solid advice, hasn't listening to a
word of it. I called up somebody that we
both respect said, hey, would you call this person?
They're like, sure they call my friend.
They give my friend this exact. Same advice that I've been given
my friend calls me and says, hey, I just talked to.
So, and so and they had some really great great insights on
how I should navigate this. Hold on.
Parents do I want my kids to get the right advice and listen to
it or do I want them to give me credit for it?
I want them to get the right advice and follow it.
Who cares who gets the credit? I just want them to have the
right, people in the circle that they have wise counsel in their
Circle. And that's why we as a church
want to partner with you, we want to help you fill out your
kids Circle in the circle of your kids.
We want to make sure that they have difference makers and
mentors and life group leaders that will all play age play a
huge role in the spiritual development of you and the
spiritual development of your child.
My parents. With me on multiple occasions,
they put older people that I thought were cool in my life to
make sure that I was getting Good.
Counsel reinforced, we were so thankful for our daughter,
Kennedy who had difference makers and small group leaders
make an investment in her life when she was going through
Journey Junior and high school years.
I love it that some of the coolest people on planet Earth
to my kids are people who called this church home.
My parent, my kids are my boys, They're still old enough that
they want to be me when they grow up.
It was only like two years ago, like up until two years ago,
they thought I was the strongest guy in the world and then I took
him to CrossFit and they met same dancer and they're like,
Dad. I don't think you can beat him
up like I don't think so either. Okay till I tell you should arm
wrestling like no no I'm good, that's good.
You know they asked me the day before.
Can you pick up a car? I'm like out of like one car at
a time. Yeah, probably.
And then the next day, they're like do you think you could arm
wrestle Sam? And like, if you haven't seen,
same dancers arms their thighs. Okay.
And it's like, oh, but my kids still want to be me, but I know
the days coming. And I love it when they start,
when I'm picking him up and I'm driving them home and they're
talking about some of the cool things that people who call this
church home are saying to them. That when they come in here,
they're looking for other grown man to give high fives to that
are following the Lord. We need to make sure that we are
putting the right people in their Circle.
Just so, you know, let me give you a little insight secret.
We asked all of the difference makers at our church, to pick a
service to serve. So that way, when your kid To
church, they will regularly. See the same person who will be
making a Strategic investment in them every single week.
So they're not having like their spiritual leaders rotated out,
but they'll have the same person reinforcing what we're teaching
at home. That's why Camp is so important
because it gives them more time with a circle.
That's why regular Church. Attendance is important because
it reinforces principles and it gives them plenty of time with a
circle because every Circle needs to challenge them.
A good Circle will never leave you where you are, it will
accept you and it will love you but it will also love you
enough. Not to leave you there.
Proverbs 27 says this as iron sharpens, iron.
So one person sharpens another, I'm not saying that your circle
shouldn't comfort you because we can't neglect what it says in
Galatians chapter 6 carry each other's burdens.
And in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ, but I
am saying that your circle should push.
You look what it says in Proverbs. 19 verse 20, listen to
advice and accept. A point.
And at the end, you will be counted among the wise, we as a
church are not going to delay spiritual maturity.
We do not need to put off challenging and pushing each
other and our kids in the area of spiritual growth, we don't
get everything, right? And so we are going to need
people to coach us and help us navigate the challenges of life.
You heard me talk about this on Super Bowl weekend.
We've been in the process of revamping our 02:18 Ministries,
and we've been rolling stuff out at all of our different
locations. And one of the changes we've
made in this might not seem like a big deal to you, but it's a
huge deal to us for the longest time, we've called 02:18 this,
our next gen Next Generation, we try to have shortened up.
So to be hip and cool and you know, you might go in but we've
actually changed what we're calling 02:18 Ministry.
It's no longer next-gen, we're calling it this gin because
they're not next there. Now, they're facing challenges
right now and they need to be equipped to lead.
Now we're not raising up leaders just for Auro.
We are going to raise up leaders for today.
We wanted them to be prepared to make a difference.
We want them ran ready to handle their faith at an early age.
We want to make sure that they are equipped to be the right.
Kind of kids that you want in. Your kids has Circle, we want
them to be empowered to be in somebody else's boardroom, at an
early age, and being in a circle, takes commitment.
And sometimes it takes goes unnoticed, and sometimes it's
unappreciated and this week, we want to challenge you at all of
our Different locations to take some time.
We've got thank you cards at the steps that many of our
locations, some of them will have them at an info bar, but we
want you to do is we want you to come up and we want you to grab
some Crossing, thank you cards, and some envelopes.
And this week, we want you to write some thank you cards to
the circle, makers in your life and in your kids, as life,
because there are people who have been making sacrifices on
behalf of you and on behalf of your kids and it goes unnoticed
and unthanked on a regular time. And as a church, We want to make
sure that they know that we noticed and we are thankful and
we recognize all the love and care that they've been
providing. Maybe it's a teacher.
Who's loving your kid? Well, through a difficult time,
maybe it's a Difference Maker at one of our locations, maybe it's
a life group leader who's been pouring into you and helping you
navigate, some of the challenges.
We want them to know. We love them.
We're thankful for him. And we care about them because
being in a circle, is sometimes a thankless job.
I said this earlier, I'm always impacted every single week.
By the number of grandparents, I see bringing their grandkids
They could have checked out and bought a home in Florida and
just enjoyed the warm weather and definitely.
But instead of buying, you know, their retirement car, they just
got another beat up minivan so that they can be there for their
grandkids. And I love that they haven't
checked out. In fact, they checked in, they
didn't just check in some of them are doubling down, and I
want you to know. I am thankful for you and I know
that you don't get all the thank yous that you wish you got from
your kids. But I notice and it matters.
Now hear me, this sermon is not just for your view about your
kids. This sermon is about you and
about who is in your circle and whose Circle are you in, and
what kind of board member are you being and what kind of board
member? You want to be, and I know we're
at church and I told you this term was gonna be a little bit
different, but let me tell you something.
I firmly believe That you will never be the parent, the
grandparent, the board member, The Circle Maker that you were
that you want to be until you put Jesus Christ in the
Chairman's seat of the boardroom of your life.
I've said this multiple times. I don't know if other campuses
get to hear it. I say it a lot here at 48th
Street, when I'm laying in the plane.
But the best decision that I ever made was making Jesus
Christ, the lord and savior of my life.
My biggest regret is that I didn't do it sooner.
Because there's not a situation that I face.
There's not a problem I have to navigate.
There's not an experience that I'm going to have that.
He is not perfectly and flawlessly equipped to lead me
through and I know you're going. But Clayton, that might be great
for you, but I'm actually navigating some real challenges.
And I just need you to know Jesus.
He's really stinking smart. Like he came up with life.
But he invented all of this. You haven't invented anything.
He's smart but Clayton, I'm dealing with people who wronged
me. Just throwing this out there.
He's navigated that too. But because right now, I'm going
through some really challenging circumstances, I need you to
know. He went through some pretty
challenging circumstances to the Bible says, he was tempted in
every way the difference between you and him is when he went
through challenging circumstances, he didn't sin not
even once. Because now, I've got people in
my life who abandoned me? Yeah, he went through that.
Well, I'm, I'm going through and navigating some circumstances
because I had people abused me and hurt me, and Jesus would
tell you. Yeah.
I've been there too. Clayton.
I've had people betray me. And leave me all alone.
And I need you to hear me say this, Jesus went through that
too, but he went through it perfectly, he went through it in
such a way where he didn't lose his character, he didn't abandon
who he was. In fact through that process.
He redeemed, you, and me, that's one of the things I love about
Jesus, is he left his privilege in heaven and came to identify
with my poverty here on Earth. He stepped into my situation to
redeem my situation. He gives me the perfect example
of how to love my family and how to make a circle and how to
navigate each and every circumstance.
I'm firmly and fully convinced that you will never live the
life that you were designed to live until you met.
Jesus Christ, the chairman of your board, the director of your
path, The Shepherd of your life. And I believe that it is only
after you do that that. Everything else has the
opportunity to be made, right? The Bible says search see.
First, the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these
things will be added unto you that until we get that decision,
right? We'll never make every other
decision, the way it's supposed to.
I told you this sermon is not just for those of you who are
parents and grandparents, this sermon is for everyone because
when you get that seat fixed when you put Jesus there,
everything else has a chance. I want you to think about that
as we move to this time of decision, So I know this sermon
was weird, so I appreciate you guys kind of tracking with me,
hopefully it kind of gave you some some ways, to some
terminology to kind of put in your parenting and in your life.
And some of you right now, I just want you to really
evaluate, is, is Jesus in the chairman seat?
Is he where he's supposed to be? Because for some of us, we've
never started that intimate personal relationship with
Jesus. And for one reason or another,
you've watched other people do it.
You've seen other people. Get baptized, and you've gone,
man, that looks like it's great for them.
I just don't know if it'll work for me, and I just need you to
know. It will work for everybody
because Jesus isn't a savior for some, he's a savior for all
which means he's a savior for you. the issue, the issue for
you is you're going but Clayton I've got to I've got a lot of
challenges. I've got a lot of Hill things,
I'm navigating. And if I can get these things
figured out first, then maybe and I just need you to know the
answer to that. Question is a resounding?
No, you don't get your life fixed and then find Jesus
because he's a savior, you don't save yourself and then start
your relationship with him. You recognize that you need a
savior and he comes and he rescues the crazy thing about
Jesus is he made the first move. He came on your Before you ever
messed it up. And if you're willing today to
ask those questions and maybe you're going, you know what, I
want to talk to somebody about it and just a few moments, when
the people around you stand up and maybe as they come to the
steps to pray or to grab cards, you'll make your way over by the
baptistry, they'll be somebody there.
Who wants to talk with you about what that looks like and how to
start it to the rest of you. In the room who already have a
relationship with Jesus? I want to encourage you to do a
couple things one. Would you come up here when you
get down on your knees and would you pray over your kids, pray
over your grandkids That you would be a better.
A better Circle Maker, a better Circle, contributor and while
you're down here, would you pick up some of these?
Thank you cards and that we would be the kind of people that
say thank you to the circle makers in our lives.
I know some of us have a brain new appreciation for teachers
after having to kind of pseudo homeschool our kids during the
pandemic. Like I know we got frustrated at
teachers like yeah, man, you know, they want more money and
they want their Summers off and we like did like two days of
virtual schooling or like forget this give them as much money as
they want and get my kid back in the school.
I am not doing this. Yeah.
Maybe we should love them a little bit more.
Maybe we should say thank you for putting up with stuff.
I've never heard a parent. Go man, I just wish summer would
just keep coming. I love it.
Like usually by the end of June there.
Like when is school starting, is it?
Next week. Oh August.
I have to make it from now till August.
Okay, maybe we should send some. Thank you cards to teachers.
Maybe we should send some, thank you cards to principals and
superintendents, who I'm guessing just throwing this out
there. I bet they're year hasn't been
super easy. I bet the last two years have
been challenging and maybe Christian should be known for
our thanks, not just our critiques.
Maybe we should go. Hey, I see you and I'm thankful
for you. Thank you for the investment
that you're making in my kid. Maybe there's people who are
difference-makers here at our church that serve selflessly.
You see their face every single week but you don't know their
name and they are serving in the midst of their pain and their
own struggle. But they're still making time to
invest in your child here at the Crossing, we don't offer
childcare, we offer spiritual environments for kids to develop
an intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
They are training your kid. While you're in here, being
trained and maybe we should tell them.
Thank you, but maybe more than anything, we should get down on
our knees and said, God help me. Navigate help me navigate, help
me navigate. The transition from control to
consultant because that's how he's operated with.
You does god control you? Could he?
Yeah but does he know. Does he have all the answers?
Yeah. Has he given you his word?
Yeah. And does he pick up the messes
that you make by your own free will?
Yeah. How good is our God?
Maybe we should follow his example.
Would you stand with me? God used this moment right now,
use this time right now to bring about a change in every heart
and every life, and this room and watching online, God uses us
to draw people closer to you use us to draw better circles,
stronger circles and got his parents and grandparents get
down on their knees. And we pray and lift up our kids
and our grandkids meet us. In this moment, seared into our
hearts Your name I pray. Amen.
Your name I pray. Amen.