Live For Today, Build for Tomorrow

So, I'm glad that I caught you before they put that slide up. We're in a series called Passing the Baton. Ultimately, this is a family series, and our hope through this series is to give you both encouragement in the fact that God can do immeasurably more than you can ask, think, or imagine. Not just in your life, not just over your mind, not just reducing your anxiety, but that he can do more than you think when it comes to your family.

Some of us, we feel so like paralyzed in relation to our family because we can't control what they do. But I want you to know this that faithfulness to God has an impact that moves beyond you. And that's the goal of the series. The first two weeks we talked about the story of Noah who most likely, we believe, brought his family along in the process of building an ark through which God would protect them while he destroyed the world.

Afterwards, we talked about some of the things that we as parents, as husbands, as wives, as families and leaders run into. some of these generational curses that God wants us to defeat in the name of Jesus now that we have access to God. And last week we talked about David bringing back the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. If you don't know what the ark of the covenant is, the ark of the covenant essentially houses the presence of God for the people of Israel in a physical space.

So when David the king becomes king and brings the ark of the covenant back to Jerusalem, this is David saying in front of everybody, I'm choosing to put God first. So it was a really powerful moment. But we talked last week about how difficult it can be to have that powerful moment. There are barriers between us and God that we have to reduce.

Now Jesus is broken down the dividing wall of hostility that keeps us from him. But that doesn't mean Satan's not telling us in our minds that we're not good enough. That doesn't mean there aren't still habits that we have formed over 20, 30, 40 years that we need to start defeating so that we can bring God where he deserves to be. God wants to be first in your life.

And that's what last week was about. How do we start the process of putting God first? This week, uh, it's pretty simple. I'm going to give you some complexities, but I want you to know it's very simple.

It's about building a legacy. It's about building a spiritual legacy. Now, we'll be in the Bible in a moment. There are several passages we're in, so I'm not going to have you turn anywhere specific, but it's about the idea of building a spiritual legacy for those that follow us.

That could be your biological children. It could be people that you impact. It could be employees. Lord, I pray that our church is here beyond me.

And then that means we will be passing the baton to another generation of people. And what will he we have built by that time in your family? What will you have built by that time? And as I was prepping this message, talking about legacy, it clicked to me that my entire life, we've kind of been in a season of of culture where we've overcorrected, not in the direction of building a larger legacy, but more in the direction of experiencing today better.

It's kind of this this overcorrection that we've had. And I I remember when I was in college, I was in this class that I had to take. I don't know if you took it. It's a class that we should all probably take.

I would I would prefer us to take that over calculus in high school is personal finance. And you'all have a personal finance before you graduated high school. Personal finance class. You see, this is the problem with our country.

You know, it's like what? We do finances every day. I want you, if you're young, you do finances every single day. You should totally have a personal finance class.

But that's what we got Dave Ramsey for. Anyways, I was in a personal finance class and it was at a Christian school and my professor, he talked about a bunch of different things. And a couple of them that he talked about were just investing, tithing, and insurance. And since that, I'd never thought about building a legacy.

I'd never thought about investments before that class really. And so, I'm in this class and he starts talking about insurance. If you didn't know this already, if you don't know this, you should totally like just jump on chat GBT and start learning about general livelihood cuz this will help you a bunch. And it's not my goal to teach you about insurance, but if it helps you, I'm down, right?

So, there are two main types of insurance. Edward Jones, people going to call me out because there's like 50 different types of insurance, but essentially there is whole life insurance and there's term life insurance. Whole life insurance used to be something that was used a lot more heavily than it is today. And the beauty of whole life insurance.

I'm going somewhere with this. I swear I see your faces. You're like, "What is he talking about? " Now, whole life insurance was um used more back before the 70s when people didn't have as much access to their 401ks or uh mutual funds or basic ways to invest like they do today.

Before then, one of the ways you invest in such a way that blesses those that follow you, being your kids or your estate, would be you have whole life insurance. and when you pass that passes to them. Uh that was whole life insurance. Now in the 70s along with a cultural shift in our mindset as a whole, we have a shift in this focus on term insurance versus whole life policies.

Now the beauty of whole life policies is if you chose to do so, you could legitimately set up your kids for success at your death. It it was an interesting process that I I never even thought of until I was doing research and thinking about legacy building and thinking about what I'm trying to do for my kiddos. And then term came in in the 70s. Term, the beauty of term was it was cheaper.

Everybody like cheaper, right? The beauty of term was that it was cheaper. And there was this person, his name was Art Williams. He kind of ushered in this catchphrase.

He says this, "Buy term and invest the difference. " And what he was saying was you can spend less money on insurance and more money investing. Less money on insurance, more time experiencing life, right? This is all happening in the 70s and the mindset was shifting there.

Couple I swear I'm going somewhere with this. I did it first service and and they were kind of tracking with me. I just want to make sure you know I'm going somewhere with this. first, like you got the boomer generation that's kind of getting older, and their mindset was specifically, I worked hard for my wealth, so should my kids, so why would I leave them a a large life insurance policy?

Uh, and there's a good argument for it. I'm not telling you what you should do with your finances. Uh, number two, the investment tools were becoming increasingly accessible, like 401ks, mutual funds, IAS, all that stuff. And then number three, the cultural mentality shifted to let me transfer all of my assets that I've built over 50 years of work to my kids.

It shifted to let me experience life, live for the moment, and spend my money before. This is what term insurance is. Term says you got 20, 25, 30-year term, and hopefully you'll live that long. And when you live that long, your term policy expires and you have to get a new one.

Right? The idea being you spend your money before you die. Here's where I'm going with this. I think we've overcorrected.

And this isn't just about life insurance. This is actually not a sermon about life insurance. That would be weird. It's a sermon about your spiritual legacy where in our culture, we have moved away from this focus on what goes beyond us and into a culture of experiencing here and now.

And I need to teach you a word. This is a helpful word for you in your faith because you're going to run into it all the time. Everybody say after me, say tension. Tension.

Y'all know what tension is, right? Tension. Tension is is when something cannot be one or the other. It has to be a mixture of both.

This is one of those things, and there are so many in your faith that are tensions that you have to manage. You're not going to solve the problem. One's not right over the other. I think it's very valuable to build a legacy.

I think there are a lot of passages where Jesus talks about building a legacy or at least thinking forward into the future about what you're trying to build. I I think he says, "Hey, who who builds a house without first considering what it's going to take to build this house? " Which means you're planning and preparing to build something. He tells you to consider what it looks like to step into your calling.

He gives us all this data and information about planning for the future. And this isn't about finances. This is about your faith. I can think of so many scriptures where Jesus tells us to plan ahead and start thinking about what we're building long term.

But he also wants us to be present and mindful in the moment. I think it's great if you want to pick up your kids and and your spouse. Hannah, I think we should go to Japan next year. I'd like to.

That'd be cool. Some people might think that's why Japan. I don't know. Cuz I cuz I want to experience life and I want my kid to share experiences with me so that when he gets older and I'm dead, he remembers what we got to experience together.

Isn't that good? Jesus says, "Don't worry about tomorrow. There's enough fears and worries for today. " He says, "The birds of the air don't worry about tomorrow.

Neither should you. You should live for today. " It is attention that we're all called to manage. But don't overcorrect on either direction.

Back in the day, they worked so hard for 40, 50 years saving for retirement. And then when they were older, they Someone told me the other day, they said, "I don't want to save all my money. I still want to I want to be able to spend my money while I can still hike a mountain. " Is what they said.

And I'm like, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, that there's an overcorrection there. It's good to save, but man, you you want to experience life. God has something for you today that you can experience if you're not too focused on the future.

But it's also good to focus on the future. And I've been focusing on the future a lot more. I think it's important for us to focus on the future. So, let me introduce you with my sermon title.

We're going to dive through this. It's live for today, build for tomorrow. It's both. Jesus talks about both presence and preparedness.

It's always both. You're called to do amazing things in the name of Jesus right now. Called to be spontaneous. Enjoy the good parts of the cultural moment you're in.

Enjoy your freedoms. Live your life. And you're called to prepare for tomorrow. Build a household that benefits your family long term.

Think about where your kids are going to be 5, 10, 20, 30 years from now. Think about where you and your extended family will be. Start stewarding what God has given you now to steward. And stewarding is more than just today.

It's long term. It's it's both. Uh because while life is meant to be lived, God wants to do something, I think, that lasts beyond you. I don't know if you've ever thought about that.

I think I've spent so much of my life trying to uh build my life so that I can experience what I've built. But I heard someone say a long time ago that churches way back in the day had something right. They said they built buildings. And when they built the church buildings, it would take them three generations to build some of those buildings.

They were thinking so far ahead. But don't we live in a culture that thinks about the here and now? And often we fail to think about what might happen 20, 30, 40 years from now. Lord, it would be so good for us to get a building one day that lasts 20, 30, 40, 150 years.

Wouldn't that be We can't even think about a building right now. We're just in a school. We're just in a school. But my point is, it's both.

And as we go to this finish out this pass the baton series, this family series, remember that you're called to build something that your kids can inherit. It's not about money. I need to remind you it's about faith. And so, let me catch you up in where we're at in the passage.

So, David brings the ark of the covenant back to Jerusalem. And God tells him, "By the way, you're not going to be the guy that builds the temple. " David wants to build the temple. Why do you think he brought the ark of the covenant back to Jerusalem?

He wanted faith, the presence of God to be at the forefront for the people of Israel. And I can promise you in his thought process, scripture indicates this. His next step is going to be getting everything ready so that he can build this temple in which he's going to put the ark of the covenant, the presence of God for the people of Israel. And God tells him, "You're not the guy.

" Here's what he says in 1 Chronicles 28:3. You are not to build a house for my name because you are a warrior and have shed blood. Now, David reigns for 40 years and he does a lot of amazing things to prepare for the day that his son Solomon would build the temple and bring the uh bring the ark of the covenant into the holy of holies which is the inner place of the temple. David did a whole lot of good things but I I can imagine how David must have felt when he heard this news from God.

probably pretty frustrated. And if you think about it, many of us are in the same boat. It says this. It says, "You're not to do this for my name because you are a warrior and have shed blood.

" Now, we know in post that there are various ways that David shed blood. He shed blood because he was trying to consolidate the empire so that his son Solomon could inherit it and they would have tons of clout and influence all over the Middle East. Um, but he also shed blood in other ways. I I don't have time to tell you about the story with him and Ba Sheba and the fact that he sent his her husband Uriah the Hitittite out to the front of the battlefield to be slaughtered.

He had blood on his hands and it might have been something that was environmental because he was the first of his family to enter into that level of leadership and authority. It could have been that he failed and sinned by sending Uriah the Hitittite out or many of the various other ways that David struggled. But regardless, he had blood on his hands. And I've realized this about my own life.

I don't have physical blood on my hands, but I but I've got something that inhibits me to uh from fully grasping all that I want. I I've got God trying to remind me that he's called me to faithfulness. But something within me, maybe it's the desire to encounter something within our culture, maybe it's a comparison trap that I continually continually fall into. I am constantly in this place where God has clearly given me my calling, but I see more that could be accomplished than what God has given me in my specific role.

And and so I feel inadequate because I want to do more, yet I'm in my place right now. And and I I get frustrated because I feel like, well, I have blood on my hands. Like I I I was I was the first to do a lot of things in my family. Any any one of you the first to break some curses in your family?

Be honest. Be be bold. Come on. Come on.

Be bold, guys. Like I I was the first to like go to college. I was the first to do I was the first to do a lot of those things. And you're the first to do a lot of things in your family.

And that's amazing. Yet at the same time, I'll interact often with people who are kind of walking in this thing we call in the church sunship. It's like, "No, your parents fought those battles and you get to walk in something different. " And I'm in this place where I'm doing a lot of firsts.

The first to follow Jesus, the first to go into ministry, the first to graduate college, the first to do this, this, this, first to break some generational curses. And that is amazing. I want you to know if you're that person. That's amazing.

What? Look what God has done in your life. Look at all he brought me through. We owe him praise for all the amazing things that he's done in us.

But still, we stand there and we look at what could be done. We look at what could be done and we're like, "Man, I wish you had called me to do more. God, I wanted I'll never forget I was 24 years old. I was in public accounting and I was on my way back from an inventory observation.

" You don't even know what that is. I'm just telling you to be detailed. On my way back from an inventory observation and I sit across the aisle from this guy. He, it turns out he was 17, but he didn't look 17.

He was dressed to the nines. He's what you would call a Chad or like he was um not that Chad. Uh like you could tell he played like lacrosse or something that you could you know the lacrosse play. I don't know.

You could tell he was he told me he was coming back from a boarding school in Rhode Island. You're getting the image, right? And then he said, "Well, I I flew from there to New York or wherever Dartmouth is. I don't know where Dartmouth is.

" And he said, "I just finished my final interview for school at Dartmouth. " It's he almost had like a borderline British accent, but he didn't. and he was just that well endowed with speech and social intelligence and emotional intelligence. And I look at this 17-year-old and I'm like, yo, I'm not it.

This guy, look at this guy. He's 17 years old. I remember I had such an engaging conversation with him. He was so mature and I was just impressed.

But then I left and I'm like, that dude's more mature than me at 17. Then I'm at 24. And then I got sad because I start looking back and I'm like, man, metaphorically, I've got I've got I've got blood on my hands. I was I was raised in something that didn't encounter anything near that level of operating in social intelligence.

I wasn't I wasn't raised in that level of etiquette. I wasn't around those spaces. And so I left that plane flight thinking, man, it's too late for me to be anything special. Now I want you to know that mindset is terrible because God can do anything he wants to in your life.

You are not limited by what happened in the past. But there are some truths to that emotion. And one of those truths is there are some things that you will never do. But everybody say but.

If you think about building a legacy, focusing on the future in the way that God's called you to build, you might be able to create a legacy where your kids or those that follow you see territory that you never get to encounter. And that's where I'm at right now. I I'm trying to trying to be like David where I learn to be content in my limitations because I have blood on my hands. And though I've got blood on my hands, there's still plenty that can be done by my hands.

And there are three main summary things that David does over his lifetime that 40 years. And I'll summarize them really quickly. Um, one of the first things that he does is he starts to consolidate the kingdom. We've already seen a semblance of this.

He has to consolidate the kingdom. If he doesn't consolidate the kingdom, then there's nothing for Solomon to inherit. And then there's no uh materials or there's no like good stability for Solomon to actually build the temple. So, David has to consolidate the kingdom.

The second thing he needs to do, and I don't know if you realize this, it was a weakening priesthood because King Saul, who came before David, wasn't the best king in the world. Definitely was not spiritually focused. So, what David did was he spent a lot of time reorganizing the Levitical priesthood. I'm going to go somewhere where with this later.

This is going to be real good. It's like my three main points I'm going to give you. Uh he he organized the Levites. This is a worship focus that David has.

He says, "I've got to get the priests right and ready because we really screwed the pooch when it came to bringing the ark of the covenant in the first time. So when Solomon brings it into the holy of holies because he builds the temple, I'm going to make sure the Levitical priests are ready with an understanding of the legal code so that we can do it properly. " And then number three, he had to gather the materials. And in consolidating his the Davidic kingdom or the empire, he has to have relationships with people who have like, you know, wood, timber, materials.

He has to gather those things so that D uh Solomon when he walks in sunship can actually do what God says he's going to do. David had plenty. And so I want to tell you this. Even if there's blood on your hands, be it upbringing, environment that you were raised in or something that you had all the opportunity in the world, but you screwed up and it's too late.

It precludes you from certain things that you feel like you were called to do originally, but you can't now because of that screw up. Regardless of whether it's nature, an environment, or something you did, you're still called to do what God called you to do. You can do what God called you to do. It might be limited and that's okay.

We're all limited. We're all limited. It's only God who's unlimited. Everybody's got their limits.

And everyone who has something that you want has it because God blessed him and possibly because someone came before him and did the same thing that David did for Solomon. And that's what I've learned. This shouldn't make you feel better than them because you're the first. Don't be looking at people at all.

Look at God. Be faithful and fruitful in what God has called you to do. do what he called you to do. David wanted to build a house for Yahweh, but God wasn't concerned.

He actually tells him this or he he tells him to do those three things. Uh here's what he says in verse oh, I'll bring it up later. Where did I put it? Anyways, I did a new like uh manuscript style and so I'm I'm learning how to use it a little more effectively.

My point is that God is calling you to do something specific and you're going to miss it if you're too focused on what you haven't been able to accomplish at this point in your life. And whatever limitations there are, if you do what God called you to do, then you're going to find joy if that's where you're focused because because you can't gain the thing that you lost. Have you realized that? Like how much time you me come off my pedestal.

I know it's sad and I am empathetic. I don't know what it is. It could be somebody that that was really valuable to you. It could be a season of life that you miss and want to go back to.

It could be I don't it could be any number of items. But how how much good would it have done David to lament his entire life frustrated because he didn't get to do something he wanted to do. There was too much good for him to do. And often we lament the things that we weren't able to accomplish or do or the fact that someone else gets to walk in something we'll never get to experience.

Rather than do that, what do you I mean, you're just like David. David would look at all of your lives and be like, "Yo, I was a king. That's cool. I could tell people to do whatever I wanted to.

I could literally murder them and not get in big trouble. But but you've got a good life. " And if David were to lament the things he wasn't able to do, he would have missed out on the fact that he slayed his tens of thousands. That he had mighty men.

It says David had mighty men. And each of these mighty men were like slaying people with with ankle and hip bones. These guys were crazy. David was able to expand a kingdom.

David was well-liked by people. There were so many good things about David. And if he had lamented the one thing that God told him he was not going to be able to do in his lifetime, he would have missed out on these opportunities. And so many of us, we live in victimhood, in our limitations, frustrated because somebody else, and I want you to know, I've done it and I get it.

But in no season of my life ever has it been helpful. So, let's change that. Let's have a better attitude. Let's do what God called us to do.

I remember and I I'll talk about this till I'm dead probably because I love this word that I got from the Lord so much and I mentioned it before. Um, but I remember that God spoke to me in a season where I was struggling and he gave me a revelation that I think was a revelation could have been indigestion but I think it was a revelation and it echoes so much of what God says here to David in 2 Samuel 7. It starts in verse 11 should be on your screen. says this, "The Lord declares to you," this is to David, "that the Lord himself will establish a house for you.

When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. " He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. " And what I heard from the Lord is very specific, and this is for me. I hope it's for you.

He said this to me. If you remain faithful to me, Micah and Lucas, those are my kids, will tread on ground that you never get to see. And I think that's a word for people in this room. I don't know how old your kids are, but you got someone looking at you.

And and if you remain faithful to God, it will have a direct or indirect impact on people around you. And because of your faithfulness, others around you will be able to tread in areas that you'll never get to experience yourself. But I wonder if they'll ever get to tread if you keep living in dread of not getting to do the thing you want to do. That isn't that what causes generational curses?

We live in our stuff and then it passes to our kids because we never did what we needed to do in terms of faithfulness to God to root it out of our lifestyle and household. I don't know. Uh when you're faithful and fruitful with what God gives you, you begin to create that environment, though. An environment that enables those who come after you to explore new territory.

We see this in scripture. I'm not just making it up. Noah's faithfulness blessed his kids. Abraham's faithfulness blessed his kids.

David's faithfulness to God creates an opportunity for one of his sons, Solomon, to walk in sunship as an heir to God's promises. And if we flip to First Kings 8, we actually see the first fulfillment of that promise right here. I'm going to read it. It's going to take a second, but I just want you to see what can happen if we start seeing beyond ourselves, building a legacy and not living in our pain and frustration any longer.

Let's move forward with what God called us to do. Verse one, it's uh First Kings chapter 8. Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families. He he brought them up to bring up the ark of the Lord's covenant from Zion.

That's where David brought it, the city of David. All the Israelites came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month. When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark. Now, this is a comparison.

I'm juxtaposing these two. Last week, we talked about David bringing it to Jerusalem. This week, I'm talking about Solomon bringing it into the Holy of Holies of the temple that he just he just built. When all the elders of Israel arrived, verse three, the priests took up the ark, and they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting, and all the sacred furnishings in it.

Watch this. The priests and Levites carried them up. And King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counting. Isn't that crazy?

David did it wrong the first time. He fought the battle, learned a lesson, lost Usuza, and now he's taught his son how to do it properly. I love seeing this fulfillment right here. But it continues, "The priests then brought the ark of the Lord's covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the most holy place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim.

The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles. These poles were so long. Compare this to last week if you were here. The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the holy place.

And they are still there today. Now, just as a reminder, last week they put the ark of the covenant on a cart. Now, they fixed it later, but that's why it went so poorly the first time. David made a mistake and he learned from it.

And now Solomon, he made those poles so long, everyone was going to see these polls. No cart here. Polls. See, this is such a cool way to read the fulfillment of what h God promises to David in 2 Samuel.

Let me continue. I'm so sorry. All right. Verse 9.

There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out to Egypt. When the priests withdrew from the holy place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud. Y'all say this with me. for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.

Don't you? Ain't that That's cool. That's cool. Hey, don't y'all think David would have liked to see that?

I I think my kids are going to walk in things and experience things I'll never get to see and from heaven I'll probably be excited for him. But now when I think about it, I'm like, "But I want to see it. I want to experience it. " Moses standing there.

He sees the promised land, but he doesn't get to enter it. There's something about the the works of God that sometimes he gives us a task that we're going to accomplish and we won't see beyond it. But he does call us a task to a task because he knows what will happen beyond it. And and my encouragement to you is if you start faith now, if you lean into your walk with God now, you'll see victories.

You'll experience your life. You're going to have experiences with your kids that are powerful and beneficial. You may get to see some people come to faith that you never anticipated would come to faith. But if you stay faithful all the way through your life, then I can promise you this that those who saw you live are going to be positively impacted and the ground that they tread will be even higher.

I don't know. I I I know I'll reach a plateau one day, but I'm trying to make that plateau really high so that when Lucas and Micah start, they're able to move forward from it. I get excited to see that in the scriptures because David would have loved to have seen the Holy of Holies. The temple definitely the cloud that filled the temple.

The glory of God filling that space. David would have loved to have seen it. But had he not leaned faithfully into his God assigned task, Israel would never have seen the glory of God in that way. David's response of faith when he would never see the result blesses those who live beyond him.

And David could have built the temple. I don't if you ever thought about that. David could have built the temple. He wanted to.

He could have built the temple. The problem is God may not have filled it. And many of us, if we focus on our own will and our own plan, rather than being faithful and fruitful in what God calls each of us to, we're going to miss out on his glory because we're too busy building our own thing. And I just need you to know that God fills what he wants to fill and what he's designed for to be filled in the future.

He fills that. There have been many times where I've tried to do stuff, but God's like, "No, I'm not in that. " And I just need you to know if you start with God, faithful, fruitful, he will fill something in the future. And maybe you'll see some of it, but if you build it right, those beyond you will see more of it.

That's what I want us to see. And I'm going to give you three pragmatic points because I swore I'd give you something both encouraging and practical today. It's three things that come straight from what I told you about David's life. The first thing that David did really well is he consolidated the kingdom.

I want to tell you this. Fight the battles so your kids won't have to fight your battles so the kids won't have to. I think about little battles. How many of y'all got little battles?

Chores. Chores are a little battle. Um, but the battle is not with my kid, though. That's annoying.

Getting them to do chores is really frustrating. It's even more frustrating when I'm really bad at chores myself, but I'm telling him to do chores. You know what I'm talking about? That's me.

Cuz cuz in order to I saw a statistic that said the one thing common across all successful people that are high levels of success, high capacity individuals, 40 under 40, those types of people, as they all had chores growing up. So I've been trying to give my kid more and more chores and it's enjoyable. Actually, I've been trying to give my kid more and more chores because I want them to be successful. And I've learned this about giving him a lot of chores is I got to be good at my own.

And if I want him to uh, you know, tithe, save, invest, I've got to tithe, save, invest. If I want him to spend properly, Hannah, we're we both have to learn to spend. It's not her, it's both of us. Just to be clear, we've got to learn to spend properly.

I have got to shift the way that I operate and fight some battles within myself so that I can put them on higher ground. I've also got limiting mindsets, negativity, insecurity. There's probably a manifold like witness of others of those issues that I've got. You guys know them better than me probably.

But I'm thinking about some of these limiting mindsets like I default to negative. But in Christ, God is shifting my mourning to dancing, my weeping to laughing. He's teaching me to be joy or joyful. And and the more that I focus on my calling, the more joyful I am.

I was telling somebody recently, I said, "Dude, there was a day about a year in where I really started enjoying this at a new level. " And it was when I stopped looking at theirs and just focused fully on this. And I've been so filled with joy all summer. It's been great.

I'm pumped about it because when I focus on my calling, I have joy. I'm getting rid of the insecurities because I know that God's got it covered down the road. Even if it's not through me, I know that he's going to do something through somebody that I have an impact on. And I've learned this over the years that God sometimes uses the person that comes after the faithful person more than he uses the person who started the whole trajectory.

And so that's something I want you to keep in mind. It's not selfish ambition any longer. It's got to be selfless, but it's still ambitious. You got to have a drive to be faithful and fruitful.

We dive into the second one. The second one he did was organ second thing he did was organize the Levites. I put this, you got to make godly worship a focal point in your household. Because if you don't worship God, you're worshiping something.

Don't make that mistake. You are worshiping something. And if it's not God, it's something lame. I'm just being real with you.

You know, it's true. I mean, it God's better than everything you're going to worship. And I did a I did some research to find the things that people they wouldn't say it's an idol or it's worship, but that's they worship this stuff. The first one was family.

And um I want to talk on that for a second because I've been saying this whole time your family's important, but your family is not worthy of worship in the way that you worship God. Your family is is deserving of so many things. I want to be so clear with you. Uh your family is deserving of love, honor, dignity, respect, time, intention, creativity, intimacy, anything else you can think of, but not worship.

Your your kids and your spouse, they're not they're not worthy of your worship. They can handle your worship. We already struggle with selfish ambition enough. You want a bunch of narcissistic people worship your kids.

Oh, that's that's a problem with the world is just these all us millennials, we got worship with our particip I'm not going there. I'm not trying to be that pastor. Um, but that's that's why we think we're the be all endall living in our individualist society thinking everything's about me, all about my preference, all about consumption. But you're called to worship God and that's what gives you true joy.

And when you worship yourself and you worship your family, you're creating an environment where God's not worshiped. They are. And when they're worshiped, they're going to grow up and they're going to feel they're going to look spoiled and they're going to operate um completely against what you wanted for them. And we see this in the parable of the prodigal son.

I'm not saying the prodigal father was, you know, the prodigal's father was a bad parent. We don't know anything. It was just a parable. But what we do know is that kid was living the opposite of how he should have lived.

And it took him coming to a realization. But if you create an environment in your home that focuses on godly worship, you're going to change the game for your entire not just your family, your extended family. You got to you got to focus on building godly worship in your household. There are other areas um that can be idolatry.

Uh you got, you know, paycheck, finances, investments. Some people worship their pets. It's a strange thing. There's nothing wrong with being a dog mom or a dog dad, but first, your poodle's not a p your poodle's not a person.

Um, I've got a poodle, so that's why I'm talking about poodle. Um, number two, they're not worthy of your worship. They're just they're dogs. U we're not Egyptians, you know.

It's like they they worship. I don't know why I'm going there. Um, I was doing some more research and people are worshiping influence. Uh, some people would be worshiping CrossFit.

They don't think it, but they do. Let's be real. You've been to CrossFit gym? I love CrossFit.

I've done it so many years. Um, but there's some people that's their that's that's their idol. It's their god. Sourdough, Taylor Swift.

Uh, I I learned everybody's talking about Taylor Swift and Killer Trav and it's just like that's chill out with that godly worship at the focal point of your household. That is more important. And if you're spending more time talking about someone getting engaged than you are engaging with your creator, you've got a problem that you need to fix. Sorry, that sounded cooler than I thought it would.

Let's go. Oh man. Hey, I'm going to say one more thing on this. And if I go long, I totally apologize.

We don't do it all the time. We used to sit in hour and a half sermons. This is only going to be a tops 45minut sermon. So, it's going to be good.

But I'm going to say this. Get your bus to church. That's part of your worship. And you might think that you can worship God on your own.

It's 100% true. But that's not how God created you. He created you to worship him in spirit and in truth with community. It's so crucial for you to spend time in church.

In fact, just like life insurance, that shift really tipped over in the 1970s. The individualis individualism uh moving away from collectivism has been happening for centuries, even a millennia, but it really tipped over from the 1970s until now. And what I'm trying to tell you is this whole mentality that says I can worship God on my own. Who needs a church?

That is not from God or the Bible. It is completely against the Bible. I'm not telling you where I think it's from because I don't want to offend you too bad. But I'm telling you, that is a bad mentality of individualism that goes far against what God has called us to.

And if you're going to worship God adequately, if you're going to do what he's called you to do, if you're going to fight these battles, you have to have people alongside you. So get your butts to church. Number three, David gathered the materials necessary. He didn't put the temple together, but he put the materials together so that God could bless it when Solomon came in.

And just like David got the temple materials, each of us are called to bring all the ingredients necessary together so that our children or those that follow us can walk in what we never get to experience. We want to give them the ingredients that give them spiritual success. Are you creating that within your household? The Bible says, "Train up your child in the way he should go, and when he's old, he will not depart from it.

" And I've been assembling materials a lot. Like I'll never forget when I was in college. It was a Christian college. I thought you had to do that if you're going to go to ministry.

You don't. But I did. And I was in my Old Testament, New Test. It was a New Testament survey class.

And I'd read the Bible. I I knew the heck out of that Bible. I'd read the whole thing. It was so good.

I loved it. But I didn't I didn't grow up in church. So I didn't have all the materials. And one of them was I didn't know how to say Fleiman.

That's a book in the New Testament, by the way. Filiman. I said, "Hey, in Filimon it's that whole class laughs at me. " And I remember thinking like I was cocky at the time.

So I was like, "Yeah, at least I know what it says. That's how but but I remember thinking at that time was sadness because all these all these people knew like they knew. " And and you might be tempted to to look at other people and say, "You know more than I do or you've read more than I do. " And and I just want you to know that wherever you're starting, it's time for you to start gathering the materials.

And your pantry might not be as big as somebody else's when it comes to the spiritual materials you gather together for your kids to be spiritually successful, but if you get started, it'll be bigger than it will be if you keep lamenting what you don't have. Please build on what God has given you to build on. Train up your child in the way that he should go. And I didn't start with a lot.

Um, but now I've got goals. Look at your neighbor. Look at your neighbor. I'm trying to finish.

Look at your neighbor. Tell them I got goals. I got a financial goal. I want to buy my kids a house at across the stadium from the college that they end up going to cuz I want them to make a lot of money on parking and pay me a royalty and room.

No, but I have a personal goal because when they sell that house, then they're going to be in a financially successful position that I never got to start from. And I say that that's just a financial thing. Don't make fun of me if I don't do it. I'm trying, you know, I'm trying to figure out finances still.

I'm a first generation financiier, if you will. Um, but spiritually, spiritually set goals. One thing we, my wife and I did recently is we did, I mean, like we prayerfully entered into letting them watch K-pop Demon Hunters. And so, what that did was it enabled these kids, they they want to be pop stars now.

And so, I'm starting to think like, okay, how do I h how do I how do I steward this? I'm not a pop star. I don't know how to sing very well. I'm a jack of some of these instruments.

Like, I'm barely good at any of them, right? I'm trying to figure this stuff out. How do I How do I get there? I don't know how to train them in this.

And so we're thinking like, okay, well, let's start. Let's like let's put the Alexexas are in the room and they're only allowed to listen to worship music. Now they keep listening to worship music. So now all the songs and now I've put all of our instruments.

I've got way too many for my lack of talent. Uh I've got I put my instruments out and then they're sitting there and the kids constantly see those instruments. And my prayer is that one day they'll get excited about it. Then we'll pay for some lessons because it's worth the investment because if I get to stand up here while I'm still alive and see one of them playing an instrument and leading people in worship, it's just going to it's going to change things for me.

What I they don't have to enter into that. They might be back in the kids just teaching people. They might be out here being the best greeters that exist. I don't know what it is, but I've got spiritual goals for them so that they would walk at levels I never get to experience, especially at the age that they'll get to do it.

And if they're 16 standing up here, I'll be breaking down right here. I'm just letting you know. But you've got them, too. What can you build?

I I want spiritual households here who set goals for those that follow them so that the impact that each of those households has lives beyond the person who's currently living. You can create that. Let's do it. And while Solomon was the fulfillment of that first covenant, that covenant to David, he really was.

He was a fulfillment. He's the one who built the temple. Um, we look in post and we recognize that he wasn't the the eternal fulfillment of the Davidic covenant. We see Jesus, um, he came in and he did something radically different.

He fought the battle that you couldn't fight. He made a way for us to worship in spirit and in truth rather than at a physical temple. In fact, he makes our body a temple that he can fill with his glory by the power of his holy spirit. And so we're not only looking at our kids, we're looking from a perspective of building a legacy that brings Jesus forward from generation to generation.

And here's the encouragement for each of you. If you have confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then he's fought the battle you couldn't fight. He's made a way for you to worship in spirit and in truth. And now your body is a temple.

And we're all just waiting to see how the glory of God is going to fill it. And you will not get where someone down the road gets. But if you focus on what God's called you to, you're going to get farther than you think you will. And then those that follow you, oh, they're going to walk in a legacy.

And it's not just life insurance. It's it's spiritual legacy that has such an impact that we'll only see um in eternity. So be encouraged because if you start now, you can make some headway. Father God, I thank you for the people in this room.

It's my prayer that everyone under the sound of my voice right now would feel inspired to start building a spiritual legacy for their households that radically shifts the way that they think about life and radically changes the trajectory of those that are their descendants. And God, for anyone in this room right now who has never trusted in you, I pray that they would feel the power of your spirit guiding them and that they would make a decision to follow you. In fact, everyone who's got their head bowed, eyes closed already, I if you want to make Jesus the center of your life, if you want to bring God to the forefront, if you want to start seeing some of the victories that I've talked about up here, all you have to do is confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. And I'm going to lead you in a prayer right now.

Here at the church, we pray this together for the benefit of those who are praying it for the first time. So, repeat after me. Say, "God, I believe that Jesus is your son. I believe he died on the cross and rose from the grave.

Father, forgive me of my sin. Make me new and I will focus on what you've called me to. It's in Jesus's name that we pray. " And God's people shouted.

Let's celebrate those who just trusted in Jesus.