Pursuing The Kingdom In The Household

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Go to TruthNetwork.com and click on the Fan the Flames Bibles for Asia. Hello, this is Matt Slick from the Matt Slick Live Podcast where I defend the Christian faith and lay out our foundations of the truth of God's Word. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. We are here with Kingdom Pursuits. Good morning. I'm so happy to be able to serve you in this way, and we're going to talk about specifically, getting straight to it, pursuing the kingdom in the household. So much of the show talks about ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

And in this climate where in our culture we think more about hustle, we think more about money provision and things like that. We think about, oh, I want my child to be, you know, up in the Lord, strong in the Lord. So what am I going to do? I'm going to put them in youth group. OK, like that's awesome. Do that. I'm going to put them in church. That's awesome. Do that. I'm going to put them in Christian school. That's awesome.

Do that. But guess what? There's a story when we think about the Reformers back in history where so many people were being saved and preaching the gospel and pastors would say we do not need more pastors.

That's crazy. Like, of course, we need more pastors. We need more families making disciples. And so when you think about making a disciple as a parent.

Your children God has given you to make disciples. Wow. Let's just think about the numbers. OK, so if you have what, one hundred and one hundred sixty nine hundred sixty eight hours in a week, let's say you have them in Christian school. Cool. That's some some chunk of change. Say you have a youth group, youth group or church. So that's a Wednesday night. Let's say Wednesday night, Sunday night.

Let's say we throw in an extra thing. That doesn't even come close to the amount of hours and time that a parent has with their children. I was raised by a single mother. And one thing that she did that I am extremely grateful for is she shared Bible stories and she shared Bible stories, not just at bedtime. She just shared Bible stories all the time.

If we were cleaning up, we were listening to music and she'd be telling stories and and all that things, all those things. And eventually I come to know the Lord around 17, 18 years old. And now I have this massive database, this collection of stories from the Bible. That makes me and helps me understand the scriptures. Of course, in my youth, I used to look at it like, oh, that's, you know, I was just know some Bible stories, but no, like that really she taught me scripture. And in that, that did way more impact as far as time, as far as closeness, as far as like, what is it, relevance. As a parent, when you're teaching your child, you have way more influence than anyone else.

And my mother certainly influenced me, but not just me. I got one of my good friends with me this morning. Sarah Sarah Joe. Hey, Miss Sarah. And she's been a great friend of mine for years. OK, let's be fair. She knew my wife first. And so they were friends.

But of course, that means I get a new friend. And so with that, Sarah is a mom, a wife, awesome friend and also a nurse, CNA, CNA. Hey, listen, that's a hard job. It is definitely a hard job.

That's a really hard job. And so when we think about parenthood and we think about pursuing the kingdom, Sarah is going to talk about not just her background, but she's going to talk a lot about how they pursue the kingdom in their family and how important it is for them to go against. Not necessarily just go against the culture just to do it. But why it's actually important, because I'm going to tell you now there's people, there's entities, there's organizations smartly wanting your children, wanting our children. And if we're not proactive, they will have them. Jesus said, forbid not the children to come to me. For theirs is the kingdom.

So if Jesus is going for children, why wouldn't the evil spirits of this world, the systems of the way of this world go for the children, too? And so we'll be talking a lot about that today. We'll be talking a lot about influences and how we should influence our households for the kingdom. Not just because we want to look cool or look conservative or proper or whatever, but there's lives at stake. It's not a game.

It is not. And so I would love to do that. I also have another story. I was in Honduras.

I was in Honduras and there was a man named Mr. Gomez, and Mr. Gomez was an incredible man. He led us through all the trails and everything. And so with that, of course, me having a single mom automatically, if I'm hanging out with an older man, I'm just going to be all in his business and asking him thousands of questions and everything. Now, granted, I'm like at this time, I think I was probably 19.

Yeah, I was probably 18, 19. And he asked me a question. He said. We're you know, we're ministering to people, we're sharing the gospel. And he looked at me real hard and said, do you do this at home? Threw me off.

No, because we have roads and we don't have to walk through the woods to get to people's houses. And he was like, it's like, no. Do you do this? Do you do ministry? Do you proclaim the gospel to the people close to you and to your neighbors or or are you one of those? And when he when he said one of those, he was meaning, are you one of the people that just, you know, kind of save up all of your evangelism and everything to go to the field? And in that in that second, I said, I don't I don't I just want to tell the gospel to anybody. But he was like.

It's important to not just do it here. This dude didn't know me from nothing. And I was almost about to be like, listen, man, I'm in this kind of group and I do this and I go to Liberty and I'm.

But I didn't do none of that. I'm like, I'm sitting with his older man. I'm going to listen. Because what he was saying was your proximity.

Who? The people that are closest to you are the people that should be hearing the gospel from you the most. And when he shared that with me, it changed my life.

I didn't even have kids yet. But guess what? Because he told me that and because I have I've had friends and pastors that really dug into. You should be sharing to those around you, pursuing the kingdom for those around you. It inspired me to already know, hey, kids, I better buckle up because we're going to be pursuing the kingdom. And that's what we do. That's how we're ordinary yet doing extraordinary things. Sarah, I want to give the rest of this time for you to just kind of talk about who you are, where you're from and what you're doing right now. Well, I'm a mom and I work full time. What else?

I live in Winston, Winston, Salem, North Carolina. Yep. Originally from Walkertown. Oh, snap. Yeah. Yeah. And so Walkertown is. Like right in between Kernersville and Winston, Salem, it's out more more eastern.

Yeah, definitely more eastern. Yeah. Just kind of.

I'm married. That's important. Just kind of, you know, being a parent, living life. Yeah.

Doing normal stuff. Yeah. Trying to focus. Yeah. It's really hard to focus these days.

But yeah. And she has the most incredible, beautiful son I've ever seen in my whole life with these golden, glorious locks reminded me of the glory of God with the shining. I literally tell people I'm like when he runs, he's like Goldilocks.

You can see his little bouncy curls just flowing in the wind. And I'm just like, I can't handle your cuteness. Stop it. No is a hard word for me with him.

Very, very hard. Me, too. Me, too. But so, yeah, as we go, we're going to continue more about pursuing the kingdom in the household, pursuing our passions, which should be making disciples. I would love to actually hear 866-348-7884.

Listen, we're youngins. We need to hear maybe some more experienced parents and how you all pursue the kingdom in the household. So go ahead and call in. I would love to hear your stories. 866-348-7884.

You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Pursuing the kingdom in the house since Richard Shannon, we are here enjoying Miss Sarah and we're really just having a really good time. We're going to share our stories and we're going to pray that God uses those to encourage the family that may be struggling a little bit. Encourage the family that ain't doing anything and remind the great ones to call in at 866-348-7884 and tell us how we should do better. So as we talk about this, once again, we are talking about pursuing the kingdom in our household and how ordinary people do extraordinary things. And if you are a parent listening, it's Mother's Day tomorrow, you're a parent listening, understand that you are doing an amazing thing. And Sarah, mother, friend, wife.

CNA extraordinaire. She's going to tell us and share with us her story. And so, Sarah, what was it like growing up for you?

Oh, that one's a hard one. I'm sorry. No, that's OK. Yeah.

That means you have a really good story. Yeah. Yeah. Getting a little emotional. That's OK. Yeah.

No, you don't have to apologize. Yeah. So as as we we understand that even as adults, when we are pursuing the kingdom, there's a lot of things that happens in a lot of things, stories that we get as we grow up that really affect us to this day. And so as we think about those stories that affect us, remember, as a parent, we don't have to be the ones as adults blaming our parents for all the different things that happened or didn't happen or whatever. A lot of times people are just doing the best they can. A lot of times people are doing the best they can and using the tools that they have.

And so when we think about that, use and find the best tools that you have in the gospel to pursue the kingdom with your children. Sarah, I'll start. I'll cut you off. I'm sorry.

That's OK. Well, when I was a little girl, I actually grew up in a. In an addicted home. My dad, he was a he's a good Christian man.

But. He was a very strong addict. It was very, very hard for him.

And he struggled a lot and he brought that home to us. And I thank God every day that. I had my mom.

Yeah. Shout out to moms. And so your mom pretty much was protecting you, your father, your father was probably still providing and and doing all those things and being there. I grew up in a situation where my father was not necessarily in my home.

And so I always. Had this pain of my father not being there. But then when we talk about yours, your father was there. But it looks like in some sense that he really wasn't. He really wasn't. I mean, he was he was present. Yeah, he was there, but he wasn't mentally.

Yeah, not there. Gotcha. He's he did support us and he did raise us in the church.

Yeah, I think that he was trying to balance sin. You know what I mean? 100 percent. But my mom is a prayer warrior. Yeah. She is the fiercest warrior.

I have ever met. Yeah. When that woman buries a man. I know what's going to happen. Yeah. Because I always tell her, I'm like, Mom, I need you to pray for me. And as soon as she does, I know she does, because he always answers my prayer. Yeah.

If it really, really wasn't that for her, I do not think that I would be in the position that I am with my family in my life. Yeah, that's beautiful. Listen, guys, prayer works. It really does. Prayer works.

It really does. And you know, what's really funny is she prayed him out of addiction. Wow. Yeah. He is now clean and sober. Yeah.

Because of her prayers and her fervent fasting and being there with God. Amen. And truly, as a family, we are still together. Yeah.

I have two brothers. They are still around. We all talk. Yeah.

But it did affect us greatly. Yeah. And as a mom, I do my best to not make the same mistakes. So I have steered clear of all that mess, you know.

But I'm sorry to get emotional. I mean, that's just the story. That's how it goes. Your wife, actually, she was a huge prayer God sent for me as well. Because there were times that when my dad was high, I would call her and want to come over. Yeah. And spend the night because anywhere was better. I needed a friend. I needed somebody. And she was always there for me.

Yeah. That's one thing I think we also need to think about so many times. And I'm saying this as a younger guy, listening to older parents talk about friends, about the people that are around you. When you're pursuing the kingdom, you also want to be sure that your children have friends that are pursuing the kingdom, that are going to encourage trusting and believing in the gospel and being there for when they need the friend. Like, what are your friends telling you? I think we have tons of examples of the wrong kind of friends.

But we should definitely be highlighting as people that want to pursue the kingdom in their household. The good friends, the friends that you need to be around, not just the I mean, how many times have your kid gone to church or the youth group and that's the only time they see those other kids and they got their own set of friends? Now, you can't make your kid have friends, except I think I think you can. But that's your own personal thing.

My kids are surrounded by friends I want around them, but, you know, they're younger. So we're talking about real little. So I think with that, that's a beautiful thing. So now with all of that, all that pain, all that seems to be affecting you now. But I don't just see pain. I see a lot of gratitude. I see a lot of gratitude in that. A hundred percent.

Yeah, because. As an adult, I feel like I'm very strong. Yeah, I can handle a lot more.

Yeah, I'm OK with a lot of things I have. I learned to pray. Yeah. And I learned to hope. Yeah. That was like my salvation when I was a child was hope.

Hope. Yeah. Yeah.

I even have it tattooed on my back. Yeah. But I learned to.

Grow in the trenches. Yeah. You know, because that's literally where I was at. Yeah. I mean, hiding in closets, you know, doing things like that because dad's home, you know, got to hide.

We don't want don't don't let him see you type of thing. Right. I mean, right. So as an adult, I feel like I can handle a lot of situations and be OK. Yeah.

You know, I'm not I don't freak out. Yeah. Like I've had friends in the past that they they just have this complete meltdown. Yeah. Over things that happen in life. And I'm just like, hey, man, it's just another thing. Yeah.

You know, we can pray. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

Pray it away. You know, I'm I'm just I'm calm. You know, I feel like I'm relatively calm. Yeah. When it comes to the storms, because. For so long, I felt like I was in a constant hurricane and I always had God. He was always my foundation.

He was always there. Yeah. And I learned to grow in that. That's awesome. I know.

That's awesome. And I really I don't want William to like William is my son. He's three. But I don't want my son to obviously he's more willing. He will not have any type of experience that I had. Yeah. You know, God forbid something happened to me and my husband, you know. Right.

I don't want that type of situation for him. But. Yeah, I mean, I get it. I get it. We think about our kids and we want them we want them safe.

We want them in an environment. I think actually it's really interesting you say that, because I think I think about when I relate to my son. My son is older, not older, but he's you know, he's five. And so I remember there's times where I'm like, hey, I'm going to the store or I'm going to this or I'm going to that.

Do you want to come? He's like, no. And that used to offend me so much. I used to be so upset. And I just remember talking to my wife one time and I'd say. I wished my dad would have just randomly invited me to something. I wish my dad would be like, hey, I'm going to such and such or I'm planning this.

So let's do this. And instantly I realized something. My child wasn't raised in my context in the sense of my child isn't wondering, you know, when dad goes to such and such. I know he's coming back. Right. When dad does, you know, advise me this.

I know I can go to the next thing because I usually say, OK, well, we can go to the next thing. He's not raised in that context. And so there's one part of me that's like, oh, man, is he going to have the grit? Like, is he going to have this?

He's going to have that. But then I'm like, that's not my job. It's not my job. I'm not I'm not I'm not training him to live in a world where his father is inconsistent.

I'm not training him to live in a world like that. And so when we get back, we need we want to discuss and talk about the things that we're doing now in our households to take care of our family and pursue the kingdom. Eight, six, six, three, four, eight, seven, eight, eight, four. I want to hear how your families pursue the kingdom because it's awesome.

And that's what we should be doing. And so call in eight, six, six, three, four, eight, seven, eight, eight, four. Let's hear those kingdom pursuing household stories.

You're listening to the Truth Network and Truth Network dot com. Hello, we are back. We are pursuing the kingdom in the household. And guess what? We got a caller. We have Gabriel from North Carolina. Hey, Gabriel. Gabe.

Real. Oh, we know. OK, well, we're just going to move on from that one. Well, good golly.

So since we don't have that, I think it's time to go to some jokes. This is so silly, but it just brings me so much joy and I think it brings you all joy to to do this, but the church has been sponsored by Honda. You know what they have to do?

What do they have to do? They all have to now be on one accord. Oh, my. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness.

That made me feel some type of way. You got better jokes. I know.

I know. Knock knock. Who's there? Interrupting cow. Interrupting cow. My son loves that joke. He loves it.

He loves it. If you think about three gorillas, what's the first thing that you think about? Don't know. You don't want to know that this joke is bananas. OK, it's not. I'm sorry. Listen, listen, I'm sorry.

Audience, it's called anti jokes. I'm sorry. It has to be my own my own flavor. For instance, if you if you have red paint and blue paint, white paint paint, what does the red paint smell like?

Yellow paint. Come on, guys. All right.

I know. I'm going to stop and I'm going to stop. Since we have a Christian car guy, we have a Christian car guy earlier. I can only think of car riddles. And so here is my riddle. You ready?

Go for it. Have a thousand wheels, but move. I do not call me what I am. Call me a lot.

What am I? Eight, six, six, three, four, eight, seven, eight, eight, four. Call in. And Christian, what happens if they call in and they get it right? They're going to win one of our fabulous prizes from the King of Pursuits Prize Vault.

That sounds awesome. So call in eight, six, six, three, four, eight, seven, eight, eight, four. And I'll say the riddle again.

I have a thousand wheels, but move. I do not call me what I am. Call me a lot.

What am I? So you go ahead and call in when you have that. You'll do what Christian said.

And so that's awesome. And so now to get back to what we were talking about, we're talking about pursuing the kingdom in our households as ordinary people. We have ordinary children and we do the ordinary things, but they become extraordinary when we're pursuing the kingdom. You just heard a powerful story from Sarah talking about her background and her family and how much and how important hope and prayer is. That is something that is very important to grow up with.

And unfortunately, sometimes it takes really hard things for us to value something like that. And so now when we think about family, OK, now it's you. It's the amazing Daniel who's here to your husband.

And so with his background and then your background, what does that create with your household? How are you all pursuing the kingdom together? So Daniel comes from a background where he wasn't really raised in the church like I was. I was raised in the church like three days a week. We were in church and then I went to a Christian school and we had chapel three days a week. So I literally had church every single day. Oh, yeah.

I was like deep in. But for him and I, when when we first started dating, you know, I told him, you know, I'm a Christian. That's what. Yeah, that's what I'm looking for.

And he did get saved. Yeah. And it's almost like he he's a baby Christian, you know, so I'm having to show him and teach him the Bible and the ways of the Lord. Yeah. So he can have a better understanding because let's be real.

I mean, you're in you're in school for what, 15 years of your life. Oh, if you're there for, you know, if you start in preschool earlier than that. So I feel like I could pretty say that I have a really, really strong foundation. Oh, for sure. Biblical matters. So I definitely am able to help him, you know, navigate those waters and whatnot.

But I've had to kind of take the reins when it comes to how we're going to move forward as a family in regards to the church. Gotcha. Things like that, because I feel like I know probably a little bit more. Yes. Yeah.

The culture. Exactly. Exactly. But that's basically his you know, how how that. Yeah. Cool thing. Yeah, I get it.

So when you have a background, which is so is so interesting because it seems like, you know, you have the strong Christian background, you have all the scripture, you got the school, you got your mom, you got all that. And then, you know, Daniel doesn't have that. And he still but I mean, honestly, like when I talk to him, you know, like strong, gentle, strong at the same time. Yeah.

Man. And in some sense or whatever, like he has vision, he has dreams, all these different things and leading y'all and talking about that. And I just think that that's amazing. I didn't even ask what church do y'all go to? We got a gospel light. Gospel light. Awesome.

Gospel light. That's out in Walkertown, correct? Yes. Yes. A gospel light in Walkertown. That's right.

Because they have the school. So that makes sense. OK. And so I would imagine then still, you know, with that, that would mean, OK, there's more of a reason to have the church, more of a reason to be surrounded by not just our kids having friends, but us as adults having friends that will encourage the church, that will encourage the church, that will do all of that. And so it seems like you kind of, at least from my understanding, because it seems like you're kind of going the same route, like y'all are going to be in the church. Oh, yeah.

At the church. Oh, yeah. So when I think about that, I think there's so much of our culture right now that, like I said earlier, they want to raise your children. No, that's what they do. That's what they want. Oh, I know. But I'm not going to let them. No, no.

We need to be pursuing the kingdom because the system is not pursuing the kingdom. And so when we think about the perceptions specifically as a mom, I think right now, right now, it seems like we're in a weird place because a thousand people can say something to you. And it seems like everybody's saying that. And so when you think about social media and stuff like that, there could be a thousand people that say this one thing. You think, oh, my gosh, that's the way it is.

And then it could be a thousand other people that's like, no, it's like this. So there is a nuance. But it does seem to be that there's maybe a transition, maybe in our generation, as in millennials, where there is the shift of not just women having to go work, even though based on the economy and everything, that is kind of a thing. But you see more of a there's these phrases like traditional wife, trad wife, like all this stuff. So as a mom who is working, do you feel or perceive that there is a push either way?

Like, do you feel like there's a push for you to you need to be the mom that's working or you need to be the mom that's traditional and stay home? Like, is there? Oh, yeah. I feel like I'm being pulled in both directions. Oh, wow. Yeah.

Because it depends. Depending on what you're specifically looking at, like if you're on Facebook, social media is going to pull you one way. Yeah. They're going to pull you toward the working mom. You know, they want you to be a certain a certain type of way when it comes to that. Yeah. And then for you know, when it comes to church, they want you to be more of a traditional mom. They want you to have them in the house and you be the traditional woman and all that kind of stuff. I definitely feel like I'm being pulled in both directions.

Awesome. And so when we get back, we want to navigate all these perspectives, all this culture, all this stuff. How do we pursue the kingdom amongst all of those things?

You're listening to the Truth Network and Truth Network dot com. Pursuing the kingdom in our households, what a privilege, what an honor. But man, is it hard. We're here with Sarah Jo. I can't call you Sarah Jo, I'm sorry. But we're here with Sarah and talking about some of the perceptions of culture, perceptions of maybe even what we're seeing. It might not even actually be culture sometimes, because like I said, a thousand people on social media can say one thing and it could be wrong.

But a thousand people said it. So it has to be right. Right. But so we were talking about perception. And so you were saying how you feel that you're being pulled both ways in the sense of being a working mom and then being a traditional like stay at home mom. And so you said you were being pulled both ways. How so? How so?

That's an interesting question. Just when you go to work, the economy, I mean, just the world in and of itself, you know, they're they're telling you you have to be a certain type of way. That's that's that's across the board for all women. Yeah.

And then I do strongly feel like, you know, in the church, they really, really want you to be a certain type of woman and, you know, being submissive, which I totally agree with. You know. Yeah. But personally.

I really, really like being a traditional traditional wife and mom. Yeah. Really, really do.

I really want my son, William, to be. A very strong Christian man. Yeah. You know, so I'm trying to show him that you can do both. Yeah. Yes.

You can work and be a parent. Yeah. You know, so even though you are being pulled in both directions, there's a balance. Yes. Yes. You have to find the balance. That's hard. Yeah. You know, prayer.

There you go. Prayer and hope. And so that's what I think is so amazing is, is I think one of the things that we can do as parents is not we don't have to be on the defensive.

We don't have to be reactive. You're telling him right now, like, hey, you you have a choice on what you want to do. You have a choice on how you're going to how to do that. And I think one of the things that seems to be so consistent throughout learning anything is attitude, mindset. Oh, yeah. And so when you think about, you know, pretty much what you just summed up is one of the things about being stay at home is that you really want to impact the mindset. I think about that so much because our attitudes can sometimes get in the way of actually discipling our kids.

Oh, yeah. Like how many times have our kids heard us complain about the shows or things going on on TV? How many times have our kids heard about us complain about, you know, somebody didn't pray or somebody did pray or somebody did this at church or whatever?

All the things that make us upset that we react to our children pick up on. But what if just just thinking, just remember now I'm a young guy, so I'm I'm not trying to be revolutionary here. But what if we just focus more on what we're doing?

You're telling him to do both. What if we're telling our children like, yeah, of course, man is going to work. But just because you go to work doesn't mean your witness turns down.

Just because you go to work doesn't mean that God's not providing for you. So much about what we're doing has been, in some sense, hijacked because we're reacting the whole time. Yeah. And no one likes that. No one likes that. And your children probably won't like that or they will be just as reactive.

And the goal that you have to pursue the kingdom won't happen. When I think about once again, talk to my son because he can talk the most. And so we have conversations. And one of the things that we want that I definitely want to do is listen. Yeah, I want to be able to listen because it seems like in listening, not only do you take on, you know, like a role, as in like our father listens, like our father in heaven listens.

And as we said in the earlier show, rejoices over you and wants to hear from you. We're creating an opportunity for our children to talk, not lead. Come on, y'all.

Come on, y'all. We're talking about leading here. We're talking about talking. We're talking about discussing what's going on inside and how they shouldn't be afraid to do that. If we put that in the household and we match that with pursuing the kingdom and you make that attitude, they become invincible.

My son is invincible in a lot of ways because, one, my wife is awesome and she has instilled in him. If it hurts, say it. Yeah. If it feels good, say it. Share it. Share, share, share, share.

We take on a posture of our father to say, come to me, child. And honestly, if we take anything away from anything we said today in any story, maybe that to be the most practical thing is to. Listen. To listen to our children, not listen to the culture, not listen to the systems, not listen to the books that are being produced, not listen to all these different things. It's good to take advice.

It's good to have accountability and community and fellowship and all of those things. I need it. We need it. But let's listen. Let's listen to that child. And so when we think about that as a parent, you're pursuing the kingdom, pursue the kingdom in your household first.

Like Mr. Gomez said, are you doing it at home? So as we pursue the kingdom, we thank you, Sarah, for everything you've done. And we get to share all the cool stories. And as we continue to pursue the kingdom, let's do it. Well, let's do it with fervor. Let's pray.

Let's hope. Let's be strong because the world ain't winning anyway. So are we listening to people that's not winning?

I totally agree. Let's go win. We already are. We already. That's what I'm saying. We're already winning. So let's go pursue the kingdom and all the things we do, including our household. Thank you for listening.