The Family's Mission - All In The Family Week 3
Pastor Matt Bell
Sermon Summary
Pastor Mark continues the "All in the Family" series by examining the Dominion Mandate found in Genesis 1:26-28, arguing that the biblical family is God's primary instrument for cultivating the earth and propagating His glory. Contrasting the biblical mandate of fruitfulness with secular and Marxist ideologies that view the nuclear family as a threat and children as environmental burdens, the sermon emphasizes that marriage is a God-ordained covenant designed to produce godly offspring. Heads of households are challenged to reclaim their God-given responsibility for the spiritual and moral formation of their children—rather than abdicating it to the state—by implementing daily, life-integrated discipleship modeled in Deuteronomy 6. Ultimately, families are called to act as miniature Kingdom outposts, faithfully establishing generational legacies of obedience that shape culture and advance the Kingdom of God.
Sermon Transcript
All in the Family: The Original Commission
We're going to continue our summer series called All in the Family this morning. We started this series two weeks ago, and in this series, we're looking at what God's Word says about the family. God's plan for the family, God's plan for marriage, for sexuality, for raising children. And we thought as leaders of the church, it would be good to take the summer and have a series on this because there's a lot of confusion in the culture today about the family and about marriage and sexuality and children.
The family really is under attack in our world today. The devil has been at work to bring confusion on what a family is. Is a family necessary? Is marriage necessary? Is marriage a good thing? Are children a good thing? Should we bring children into the world that we're living in today? The enemy is trying to bring confusion on these things. And so we wanted to take the summer to bring clarity from God's Word on what His Word has to say about these things. God's Word is our authority, not man's word, or his ideas, and definitely not the ideas of Satan. And so we want to biblically look at what God's Word says about the family.
So if you could open with me this morning to Genesis chapter 1. We're going to be looking at three verses this morning, 26, 27, and 28. Two weeks ago, Pastor Matt began this series by looking at man. And he answered the question, what is man? And in that sermon, we saw that we are created beings. We have been created by God the Father. And not only are we created, but we are created in His image. That means that every one of us in here today are image bearers of God. We were created to image God, or reflect God, or be a mirror of God everywhere we go to those around us. That is why we were created.
So this morning, we're going to be looking at God's very first command to His image bearers. After He created man, He created them in His likeness. He commanded them something. And so this morning we're going to look at what that command is, as in that, we will truly find our purpose and what it is we were created to do. So I know y'all just sat down, but if you could stand up again, as we read our main text this morning in Genesis 1. We stand for the reading of God's Word because it's a posture of recognizing that these are not man's words. These are not my words, these are the words of the living God. Genesis 1, starting in verse 26:
"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'"
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for your Word. Lord, I thank you that we have your Word as our foundation. God, we don't have to wonder what we are supposed to be as a family, what we are supposed to do as a family. Lord, your Word shows it to us and shows it to us very clear. So, Father, I pray as we work through this passage today that you would soften our hearts to receive from you, and also that you would give us the power by your Holy Spirit to live out what you are asking of us today. Lord, we thank you for this. In Jesus' name, amen.
The Dominion Mandate
Well, you may have a seat this morning. These three verses in Genesis 1, specifically verse 28, is known as the Dominion Mandate, or the cultural mandate. Now, as I said, this was the very first command that God gave to His creation, to His image bearers. In the New Testament, after Jesus died and rose again and was about to ascend to the right hand of the Father, He gave His disciples the Great Commission. We see this in Matthew 28. But here in Genesis 1, God is giving mankind the first and original commission.
This Dominion Mandate is God's command to mankind to steward, to cultivate, and govern the earth under His authority. Again, this is a call for humanity to steward, cultivate, and govern the earth under His authority. A lot of times when people hear dominion and that we are to take dominion, they tend to think negatively about that because they fear that man is just going to rule and do whatever they want and take dominion. But that's not how we are supposed to view this. As we're called to go and subdue the earth and take dominion, it always has to be under the authority of God. When things get out of line and things get out of balance is when we replace God with man and man is in the authority taking dominion. But that is not what we are called to do. That is not what God is commissioning Adam and Eve here to do and not what He is commissioning us to do.
As God's image bearers, we're called to go and image Him in every area of life. In every aspect of life, we are called to go show forth His glory to the whole world. And no doubt that also includes in our families and in our homes. And so today, I want to make the case that the family is the primary means for accomplishing this mandate, that it's through the family as the primary tool of accomplishing this Dominion Mandate.
Let's begin working through this original commission, if you will, verse 28 of Genesis 1. We just looked at it, but it says, "And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'"
The first thing I want to highlight here is that God blessed Adam and Eve before He even gave them any type of command. The very first thing that God did when He created humanity was He blessed them. Now, many times people view God as kind of this taskmaster who just threw a bunch of laws at us and wants us to live in obedience to Him, and He's just looking for those who are disobedient to judge and punish. He's kind of this angry guy with a lightning bolt that's just looking to punish you. But we don't see that here. In fact, before He even commissions them, God blesses them. Adam and Eve hadn't done anything to earn this favor, to earn this blessing, but yet God, out of His love for His creation, out of the love that He has for His image bearers, blesses His creation.
Created for Fruitfulness
As we move on now, we have this first command to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. Right here in the first chapter of the Bible, we have this idea of a family. Before you even get to the second page of Scripture, we see the makings of the family, because the only way for humanity to multiply is through procreation. And as we saw last week, God's plan for procreation is in the confines of a marriage between one man and one woman.
We saw last week also that marriage is the God-ordained context for fruitfulness. Marriage isn't a human invention. Marriage is something that was designed by God. It's a covenant and institution that God put in place. And so we believe that God is the one who gets to define what marriage is, not man. When we're discussing marriage, again, we have to define what it is because of the day and age we live in. When we're talking about marriage, we're talking about a covenantal, heterosexual, lifelong union between one man and one woman established by God. Anything outside of that is not a marriage. In fact, you could say it's a mirage. Anything outside of a heterosexual marriage between one man and one woman instituted by God, under God, in covenant, is not a marriage, no matter how our world tries to define it.
Within the context of this marriage, as Adam and Eve began to procreate, and their sexual union was joined together, they began to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. We see this same command from the Lord right after the flood subsided in the book of Genesis chapter 8. After God had just destroyed the world because of their faithlessness, they had turned from Him, but He preserved humanity through Noah and his family. He gives them this same command right as they leave the ark. Genesis 8:16-17 says:
"Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth."
Even after God destroyed the world with the flood, His purpose for humanity was still the same—that humanity created in His image would be fruitful and multiply and show forth His glory throughout the world. Notice here, it is commissioned to families: Noah and his wife, his sons, and his sons' wives. God's plan is for the family to be fruitful. The family was created for fruitfulness.
Psalm 127—we looked at this passage last week as we were celebrating Father's Day, verses 3 through 5. It says:
"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate."
The psalmist says that our children, which is the result of being fruitful, are a reward. It also says that those who have children are blessed. Our children are a blessing. I was hoping to get at least one amen from that. Goodness. Our children are a blessing! Amen. They are not a burden.
Sadly, there are many in the world today who don't view children as a blessing, but they in fact view children as a burden. Let that not be said of us. I thank God that our church is one that is full of fruitfulness. Especially in this section—this is the very fruitful section over here. We hear a lot of that fruit every Sunday, which is a good thing. When you hear the noise of children in here, do you think, "Oh, what a blessing it is to have children in here," or do you think that they are a burden?
It's good to remind ourselves what God's Word says about our children. Because the culture has a very different view of children. There's a very humanistic ideology that's infiltrating our culture today. For example, there's a leading environmentalist and feminist whose name is Stephanie Mills, who is famous for advocating not having any children at all, because they are a blight on the world's carbon footprint. That every child that comes into the world is furthering the problem of global warming and harming the environment. And so she says not to have any children, but if you must have children, only have one child.
This way of thinking is totally pagan and just outright wrong, because if everybody bought into this ideology and believed it and obeyed it, it wouldn't take long before there's nobody left on the earth. You kind of need to multiply to continue the human race. But our world sees children as a burden.
For us who are Christians, for us who believe God's Word—God's Word that says children are a blessing, that children are a reward, that children are something to celebrate—let's unashamedly celebrate that fruitfulness. When we go to a restaurant, I'm not saying just let your kids run wild and dominate the place, but don't feel bad if they're making a little bit of noise, because we are to be fruitful and multiply. That doesn't mean just at home, but everywhere we go. Let's parade our children in a way that shows that we're thankful for them. I don't think we, as Christians, when we go out, should look frustrated at our children and have a demeanor that we're so bothered by our children out in public. That is not helping to encourage others, especially the unbelieving world that views children as a burden, to be fruitful and multiply. So we should be celebrating our children wherever we go because they are a blessing.
Now, as we're looking here at the family being God's design for multiplication in the world, I don't think He just had numbers in mind. I don't think God created the world, and then created Adam and Eve and realized, "Oh, this is a really big planet I created, and there's only two of them, so I need them to get busy just so there's numbers all over the world." No, the reason for this multiplication was to fill the earth with His image bearers. The reason for multiplication is so that God's glory would be multiplied across the planet. As His people rightfully serve Him, rightfully obey God's Word, rightfully submit themselves to God's Word, His glory will show forth across the whole nation, across the whole world. And I believe that as we do this faithfully throughout generations, what Habakkuk 2 says will come true: that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea.
Families play a big part in that coming true. Pastor Matt last week talked a little bit about what a powerful thing procreating is as we bring eternal beings into the world. Think about that. Every child that is born is an eternal soul that is coming into the world. It's also an image bearer that we are bringing into the world. And so God's plan was to fill the earth with people who would reflect His character and His glory across the world. So in this command to be fruitful and multiply is the idea that families would do this, that families would mirror and image His glory.
I know I'm kind of repeating myself and I'm saying this over and over again, but I really want us to take this away with us today: our role, whether you have a big family, whether you're empty nesters at home, whether you're just beginning your family or whether you're single and have yet to marry, your role is the same. As His image bearers, go out and show forth His glory and His character.
Seeking Godly Offspring
We see all throughout the history of Israel that God was concerned with His people as family units walking in obedience to His law. They were to stand out from the rest of the world. That's why God gave them His law, so that they would know His character, they would know His heart. They would know what He loves, they would know what He hates, and that they could walk in obedience to that and stand out from the rest of the world and really be a light and a model for the rest of the world.
This is why over and over again in the Old Testament, He warns against idolatry. And He warns against marrying foreign women and bringing paganistic ways into the people of Israel. It's because God wanted His character to be multiplied, not man's ideas and man's character. In the book of Malachi, the prophet gives a strong rebuke to the nation of Israel because, specifically, the leaders and the priests, they were abandoning their covenant wives, their Hebrew wives, and they were marrying foreign women. And so through the prophet Malachi in chapter 2, starting in verse 13, the Lord says this:
"And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. But you say, 'Why does he not?' Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 'For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.'"
We see this very strong rebuke here because in the process of abandoning their covenant wives and marrying foreign wives, the result was not godly offspring. The result was not producing families that would show forth the image of God. In fact, it was the opposite. And as you read through the Old Testament, you see the result of that, as the nation of Israel just continues in decline as they go further and further away from the Lord. But here we see again in this passage that God is seeking godly offspring.
This is why God was so clear to the people of Israel on how they were to raise their families. He gave them very clear instructions on how they were to do it. It's also why in the Mosaic law, the most capital of punishments is laid out towards those sins that attack the family. So, for instance, if you commit adultery, the punishment was death. Why? Because of the impact it had on breaking apart the family.
In Deuteronomy chapter 6, Moses gives the people of Israel the blueprint for raising godly offspring. And this is for us today as well. Most likely in this series, this isn't going to be the last time we look at this passage as it truly is foundational for families and parents raising their children. Deuteronomy 6, starting in verse 6, Moses says:
"And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart."
What words? The law of God, the commands, the statutes, the testimonies of the Lord. Verse 7 says:
"You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
This is what it looks like to be fruitful, multiplying image bearers of the Lord. God commands the people of Israel, He commands the families, essentially, to make God's Word central in your family. He doesn't really leave anything out.
I would ask you today—you don't need to raise your hands as a show of if you're doing this or not, but ask yourself: Are you teaching your children diligently? Are you talking about God's Word when you sit down? The times that you're sitting down together in your home? Hopefully you are sitting down together with your family at home. As you have your meals in your house, that's at least one way you should be doing that. But as you sit in your house, are you opening God's Word with your family?
It says, "when you walk by the way." Now for us, you can put in there as you drive around town. As you're in your car, are you talking about the things of God with your family? "When you lie down." When you put your children to bed at night. Husbands, when you go to sleep with your wife at night, are you praying over them? Are you bringing the Lord into that situation? And then it says, "when you rise." The heads of households, are you blessing your children in the morning before you leave for work? Are you surrounding them with the Word of God and with prayer?
This is the expectation for everyone who is part of the family of God, that we are to be daily investing God's Word into our family. And as parents, we can only teach what we know. We're commanded here to teach God's Word diligently. And so in order to teach your children, husbands, in order to teach your spouse God's Word, you have to know God's Word. The only way to know God's Word is to open it and read it. Yes, you can listen to sermons, you can listen to podcasts, but the best way to get God's Word in your heart is to open it up and read it. It's going to be really hard to teach your children if you're not reading it. You'll be relying on ChatGPT to do your family devotions. Which I'll admit, I've used once or twice in a pinch to create a nice little lesson plan for me for a family devotion. But our expectation is that we know God's Word.
Another thing is this old saying that more is caught than taught. As parents, are you exemplifying a lifestyle of one that loves God's Word in your home? My grandparents, John and Ruth Bell, they were the model of this. I believe many that knew them that are here today, not only did they receive from their teaching, but they just caught a lot from them by the way that they lived their lives. Many times when I would spend the night at their home, when I was going to bed in the guest room, I could hear my grandma while she was kneeling down beside her bed at bedtime, crying out to God, literal tears weeping before God for those that she loved, praying intercessory prayers for her loved ones. And then in the morning, as I would wake up, I would see my grandparents at the breakfast table with their Bible open, reading their Bibles together. That had an impact on my life. Yes, they taught me the Word too, but just seeing that, I caught it and it had an impact on me.
Parents, let's open our Bibles in front of our kids. Do your kids—and I'm guilty of this—do they see you watching TV and on your phone more than they see you with your Bible open? I would encourage you to not just open it with your children, but have purposeful times where you're reading your Bible in front of your children, where you're praying in front of your children. That they don't just hear the words of you saying, "God's Word is important. You need to read your Bible, you need to be praying," but they never see you doing it. In fact, they see you doing a whole bunch of other stuff that you're telling them isn't important and that they shouldn't be doing. That is what's going to be caught. So we, as parents, as heads of households, whether you're leading a family or just leading your spouse, we need to be people of the Word, who are in the Word, often. Amen.
Subduing the Earth and Creating Culture
So we've looked at this first part of the Dominion Mandate to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. I truly believe this is best realized with a godly marriage, raising godly children, who will, in turn, marry a godly spouse, and then be fruitful and raise godly children themselves, doing it all for the glory of God.
Now, this last part where God says to subdue the earth and have dominion over it. How does the family play a role in this? Well, families create culture. Families play a part in creating the culture, because each family unit really is a miniature kingdom. And so your family can either be used as a miniature outpost of the Kingdom of God, or it can be used as an outpost for the kingdom of darkness. And as families, we build our lives on the foundation of God's Word. As we do that, as we apply God's Word to every area of our lives, it builds culture.
Dr. Joe Boot says this in his book, The Mission of God. He says, "In the economy of human life, the family lays the foundation for human society for the believer and the non-believer alike. And the family is the nursery of knowledge, worship, government, and all social order. Thus, when the family collapses, all society breaks down." When the family collapses, all society breaks down. And you know who believes this, and I think is living this out and taking this truth and applying it more than anybody else, is the devil. Satan knows that if he can get the family to collapse, if he can break apart the family, if he can lower the significance and the importance of the family in the culture, that society will collapse and break down. Because strong families create culture. The devil knows this, and I pray that we will begin to see this and believe this as well.
The enemy has been trying to attack the family since the beginning of creation. We live in a day today where the traditional nuclear family, where husbands rule the home—they rule rightly, they love and respect and serve and sacrifice for their wives, but the husbands rule, the wives submit to their husbands, and they work to create, to make their place a home where their family can flourish—this idea of the traditional nuclear family, it's under attack today. And it's really been ramping up over the last 200 years, very subtly, to where now we're seeing the fruit of it.
In 1848, Karl Marx co-wrote the Communist Manifesto, and in it, he called for the abolition of the family. In his view, the traditional nuclear family reinforced capitalism and inheritance and private property. What terrible things, right? That you would own your own property and leave an inheritance for your family. But he saw the nuclear family as a threat to state power. And so, really, since 1848, Karl Marx's ideas have been infiltrating the culture to where now you have people who are starting organizations and leading organizations as Marxists, and they're bringing these ideologies into their companies, and now it's really taking root in our culture.
For example, the two founders of the Black Lives Matter organization, they describe themselves—and these are their words—they describe themselves as trained Marxists. At one point on their "About Us" website, which has since been taken down because people, really during 2020, when people were finding out about their movement, going to their website, reading what they were about, they had this listed on their "About Us" website as one of the things that they were trying to accomplish. It said, "We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement." And so, it turned out that they are more concerned with just, you know, social injustice, but they actually had a plan as trained Marxists to destroy the nuclear family.
Last week, Pastor Matt talked a little bit about the sexual revolution and how it's had an impact on families today and on our culture. How sex is now treated as a risk-free form of entertainment, where there's no commitment, there's no covenant, there's no strings attached to it. And now you can get the morning-after pill in all 50 states over the counter at any age. There's no age restriction on the morning-after pill. Also today, pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry every single year. It's estimated to be between 10 and 100 billion dollars every year. They have a hard time tracking it exactly as people aren't lining up to report their pornography usage.
But all of these things are an attack on the family, because Satan knows if he can get a foothold in the family, if he can get you to question whether or not a family is important or not, with the sexual culture that we have today where there's no strings attached, no commitment, no covenant, sex takes place outside of marriage. This produces broken homes. It produces broken families. And it's accomplishing what Karl Marx was setting out to do of destroying the nuclear family.
So we have to be aware of this. We have to be willing to speak out against this, but as God's people, we also have to be living lives in accordance to God's Word. As I talk about a hookup culture, that has no place as children of God. So if you're currently engaged in sexual activity of any form outside of marriage, whether you're married or not, that has to stop today as people of God. If you're engaging in pornography, you need to repent and cut it out and stop that. I'll make a little plug for Celebrate Recovery: if you find yourself in the habitual sin of pornography, I want to encourage you to attend Celebrate Recovery on Friday nights. I've met many people who have found freedom from that specific sin at Celebrate Recovery, as there's a community there of believers who many of them have dealt with the same things and have found freedom in Christ. Christ came to set us free from these sins. The devil wants to put God's people in bondage. He wants to break apart families. He wants to wreck the traditional nuclear family, but that doesn't have to be the case as we who are filled with God's Spirit, walking out in the power of Christ, can have victory over sin. Amen.
Going back to this nuclear family being broken apart, God gave parents, and God gave the family, the responsibility to educate their children, to care for the health of their children and the nutrition of their family, and the welfare of their children. That was the responsibility that God gave to parents and to families. But as these ideologies have infiltrated our culture, and as hookup culture has produced broken families and fatherless families, the result now is that these responsibilities—because out of need, because the security of the father and mother in the family has been ripped away—families are now turning to the state to fulfill the responsibilities that God initially gave to families.
And I think we can all agree that the state is not interested in God's image bearers taking dominion in the world. So they're not designing their programs for health and welfare and education with the end goal of nations being discipled for Christ. God didn't design the Department of Education to educate your children. God designed you for that purpose. And so as godly parents, we need to reclaim what was given to us and our responsibility in all of these areas and not just hand the responsibility over to the government.
As Christians, we need to recognize that Satan has a plan for your family. Satan isn't thinking, "You know, what do I need to do to destroy this family and disrupt it and break apart the traditional family?" No, Satan has a plan. The question is, do you have a plan for your family? Do you have a blueprint for how you are going to train your children, for how you are going to lead your spouse, for how you are going to raise them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord?
The Mustard Seed and Generational Legacy
Every day, each one of us who are part of a family, we have a purpose within our family. We have a mission to be fruitful, to multiply, to cultivate, to subdue, and to have dominion as God's image bearers. Again, this is for all of us, whether you have children in the home or not. Our purpose in life is to be fruitful, to cultivate, to subdue, and to have dominion as God's image bearers.
I know this can seem overwhelming. When we look at the landscape of our culture and when we look out and see the depravity, the onslaught that is against us, it can be overwhelming. But we're not called or expected to do this on our own. God has given us His Holy Spirit. God has given us the power of His Spirit to lead our families, to say no to sin, to overcome sin.
Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God as a small mustard seed that is planted and slowly over time grows into this tree that now birds are making their nests in, and it's a fruitful, flourishing, growing tree. And for us, as heads of households, we can be encouraged in this. Because there's times where we look at our families and we think, "Man, is anything I've been teaching them, is it sticking? What's going on here?" But we can remind ourselves that the Kingdom of God isn't something that you can microwave. It takes time. It takes daily teaching and leading your children.
Similarly, like when you go to the gym, it takes time, I've noticed, before you can really see results. But if you're faithful and you continue to go and you daily exercise, you daily eat right, you daily lift weights, you will start to see some change. But it doesn't happen overnight. The same is true with the Kingdom of God. And the same is true with our families. We're not looking for this overnight, you know, "God, I'm ordering a faithful, God-fearing child on Amazon Prime, and I expect to see that delivered tomorrow." No, it takes time. We invest daily. That's why this passage in Deuteronomy 6 is so important. It's a daily cultivating. It's daily praying for them. It's daily opening the Word with them. And I believe over time we will see fruitfulness. And as we model that for our family, and they see it, and they have children, and they model it for their family, this is how God's Kingdom advances.
What's interesting also about the mustard seed and the mustard tree is it can grow in barren places. And so as we look out today and we see our culture, don't be discouraged. Don't say, "Well, there's really no hope. What's the use? The culture, the world is just going to have such an impact on my children. I can't really do much to fight against it." No. Like the mustard tree, it can grow in barren places. We can be fruitful, we can multiply God's Kingdom even in the culture we live in today. And so be encouraged. Be faithful to raise your children in the fear of the Lord. Be faithful to pray for your spouse, to lead your spouse in the Word.
I pray that your family would buy into this, that this Dominion Mandate would be something that all of us truly understand and grab hold of. Because now we have Christ, this Dominion Mandate has been redeemed and renewed in Christ. Where Adam failed to fulfill and obey this first commission, Christ has now redeemed it, and we have been given the Great Commission. So all of us play a role in this, whether you have a family or not, you can be obedient in going into all the world, teaching them to observe and obey everything that Christ has commanded you. And in that Great Commission, Jesus promises to be with us. We have been given His Spirit so we can live victorious lives in Him.
Each household represented here today at Christ the King Church is an outpost for the Kingdom of God. Think about that. If we all grab onto this teaching of being fruitful, multiplying, advancing Christ's Kingdom—not just in the four walls of our home, but training and equipping our family to go out and advance Christ's Kingdom everywhere we go—think of the impact it would have on our culture. If only just our church grabbed onto that. But imagine if all the churches in San Antonio grabbed onto this, how quickly our culture would be reshaped. There would be revival taking place in San Antonio.
Maybe you're in here today and you're a first-generation family, and you're just figuring all this out. The concepts and the truths from God's Word that you're hearing about is new to you. I want to encourage you that you can start a new legacy. Whatever was the past of your family can be the past, and you truly can start something new today that will have a lasting impact for generations to come. Because I truly believe that, as Scripture says, greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world. We were singing of the greatness of God today. No matter what your past was, you are now a new creation in Christ. You have the living God living inside of you. So walk in that confidence and boldly disciple your children, boldly proclaim the truth to your family. And let's create a culture of one that goes out and glorifies the Lord in every area of our lives.
As I close this morning, I want to close with this passage, Psalm 78. If we could have the worship team come up, and our deacons, if they could find their spot for communion. Psalm 78, verses 1 through 7, it says:
"Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments."
This is how the Kingdom of God grows. Families growing in the Word, families passing down their testimonies, their stories of salvation, their stories of what God has done in their lives to the next generation, who can then take that and pass it down to the generation after that. And like that small mustard seed that is planted, as we faithfully do this every day, slowly over time, God's Kingdom will grow into something big, to where truly the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
So this starts with us. Heads of households, this starts with you. I want to ask you to make a commitment today to lead your family in the Word daily. Daily open your Bible with your children, with your wife, with your family. Daily sow seeds. And as Joshua said, choose you this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I pray that that's the declaration of everyone that is in here today. I don't care what the culture's doing. I don't care what they're teaching on marriages. I don't care what they're teaching on sexuality or children is. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Amen.