Genesis 6:9-14
9 This is the account of Noah and his family.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark
Genesis 6:17-18
17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.
So Noah obeyed God, built the ark
, put his family into it, put animals into it, rode out the storm
, and trusted God through it all. God established the family unit to reflect Him and His church.
Singleness
Be on mission while you’re single!
In your single years, one of the greatest things you can do is drown yourself in a vision bigger than you and watch as God does crazy things you never knew to be possible!
Newly Married
Whatever is going on in your life, live you life on mission while you’re newly married. Nomatter what, do ministry where you are, and if at some point it becomes an “official ministry” then great!
Think about the lost people around you as you choose a job, buy a house, decide on hobbies even!
Married with Kids
Be on mission as a family!
1 Corinthians 11:1
Imitate me as I imitate Christ.
In this season you’re teaching your children:
- WHY and HOW to obey God
- WHY AND HOW to live with purpose
Empty Nesters
Be on mission in later years! You never “retire” from ministry. In this season, you now you have the time and financial means to be more free than you’ve ever been in your whole life.
When I think of these years, I often think about the story of Joshua. Here’s what it says towards the end of his life:
Joshua 13:1
When Joshua had grown old, the Lord said to him, “You are now very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over.
Then, AFTER THIS “he had grown old” stuff,
There’s 10 chapters in the Bible about the tasks God gave Joshua to do in those “old years”—really BIG things that set up the nation of Israel to live how God intended them to live in the promised land.
Joshua 23: 1-11
After a long time had passed and the Lord had given Israel rest from all their enemies around them, Joshua, by then a very old man, 2 summoned all Israel—their elders, leaders, judges and officials—and said to them: “I am very old. 3 You yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the Lord your God who fought for you. 4 Remember how I have allotted as an inheritance for your tribes all the land of the nations that remain—the nations I conquered—between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 The Lord your God himself will push them out for your sake. He will drive them out before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the Lord your God promised you.
6 “Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left. 7 Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them. 8 But you are to hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have until now.
9 “The Lord has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you. 10 One of you routs a thousand, because the Lord your God fights for you, just as he promised. 11 So be very careful to love the Lord your God.
Joshua continues here to instruct the people in the laws of God and challenge them HARD to hold fast to the Lord. And THEN…after all of that:
Joshua 24:29
29 After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten.
Did you see that? After Joshua had “completed his ministry”, he still had another 11 chapters of amazing things God did through him!
If we want the Kingdom to build our families, we have to be families that build the Kingdom. It’s BOTH AND at all times.
