Building a Family That Knows and Worships God

Moses calls Israel, standing on the edge of the promised land, to remember who brought them out of slavery. The question is no longer how to get out of Egypt, but how to keep Egypt out of their hearts once blessing comes. Deuteronomy 6 puts the home right in the middle of that question. The greatest investment is not a retirement account, a portfolio, or more stuff. The greatest investment is a family that knows God, loves God, remembers God, and worships God for generations to come.

The Lord’s oneness matters because children need to know the true God before the world hands them a bunch of little gods. Moses starts with theology before parenting. Correct behavior grows out of correct belief, not mere behavior modification. A family’s functional god shows up in whatever gets the most attention, concern, discussion, and sacrifice. God must be more than one priority among many priorities. God must be the center of the home.

Love for God matters because children can spot hypocrisy. Church attendance can be faked, but passion cannot. Children learn what their parents love as they watch, hear, and experience it day after day. God does not demand perfection from parents, but He does call them to live with excellence and real devotion. The words of God must live in a parent’s heart before they can move toward a child’s heart.

Moses describes discipleship as a lifestyle. God’s words belong in the conversations around the house, on the road, at bedtime, and when the day starts. The home is meant to be a holy place where attitudes, entertainment, decisions, and actions get laid on the altar for God’s glory. The primary spiritual formation of children does not belong mainly to a program, class, or weekly event. Parents and grandparents carry that calling, while the church comes alongside them as family.

Gratitude matters because prosperity can create spiritual amnesia. Israel would receive cities they did not build, wells they did not dig, and vineyards they did not plant, so God warns them not to forget Him. Families need to tell the stories of salvation, hardship, provision, and God’s faithfulness. A spiritual heritage matters more than anything left in a bank account. Even where generational sin has shaped the past, God can begin a new heritage.

Worship matters because every family is building an altar somewhere. God’s jealousy is covenant love, not insecurity. A family can sit in church every Sunday and still worship a different god through the other six days. Christ calls the church to become a real family, praying for one another, holding each other’s arms up, and making sure no one walks through hurt alone.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. The home reveals its functional god The functional god is not necessarily the God a family says it believes in. The functional god is whatever receives the deepest concern, repeated conversation, greatest sacrifice, and strongest emotional energy. Children learn that worship by watching what adults organize life around. [60:43]
• 2. Passion cannot be successfully faked Children may see parents attend church, but they also see whether Jesus is loved at home. Convictions become believable when they are lived in ordinary moments, not merely stated in religious settings. Real devotion gives children something more solid than borrowed language. [62:22]
• 3. Discipleship belongs in everyday life God’s words belong at the table, in the car, during grief, and at the end of the day. The home becomes holy when daily life is laid on the altar rather than divided into sacred and secular compartments. Parents and grandparents become disciple makers through honest, repeated, ordinary conversation. [67:55]
• 4. Prosperity can make families forget Blessing can quietly persuade a family that it no longer needs God. Gratitude fights that spiritual amnesia by naming the gifts that God supplied and remembering the slavery from which He rescued His people. Testimonies of salvation and provision build a heritage money cannot provide. [72:23]
• 5. Every family builds an altar The question is never whether a family worships, but who or what it worships. Jobs, success, sports, approval, and comfort can become rival gods when they claim the sacrifice that belongs to Christ. God calls families to find their identity in Jesus rather than in what the world keeps screaming at them to become.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [45:36] - Welcoming the Football Families
• [48:18] - A Gospel Focused Church
• [50:00] - The Greatest Family Investment
• [55:08] - Deuteronomy 6 and the Promised Land
• [56:44] - Keeping Egypt Out of the Heart
• [57:44] - How a Family Defines God
• [61:28] - Who a Family Loves Matters
• [64:43] - Living God’s Word at Home
• [67:55] - Parents as Primary Disciple Makers
• [69:50] - Gratitude in Times of Blessing
• [74:49] - Every Family Worships Something
• [77:22] - A Call to Pray as Family
• [79:26] - The Church as the Family of God
• [87:04] - Gospel Focused, Family Centered, Mission Driven

Bible Reading

Deuteronomy 6:4-12

Verse 4: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” [55:07]

Verse 5: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” [55:08]

Verse 6: “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.” [55:13]

Verse 7: “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.” [55:13]

Verse 8: “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.” [55:13]

Verse 9: “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” [01:07:55]

Verses 10-12: “And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” [55:32]

Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” [59:56]

Exodus 20:3-5: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,” [01:15:29]

Matthew 22:37-38: “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.’” [01:01:34]

Observation questions

1. In Deuteronomy 6:4-5, what two truths does Moses place before Israel before he says anything about teaching children?
2. What everyday settings are named in Deuteronomy 6:7 for talking about God’s words, and what do those settings show about the kind of discipleship Moses describes? [01:05:02]
3. In Deuteronomy 6:10-12, what gifts would Israel receive without building, filling, digging, or planting them, and what danger would follow after they were full?
4. According to the message, what kinds of things can reveal a family’s “functional god”—the thing that receives the most attention, concern, conversation, and sacrifice? [01:00:43]

Interpretation questions

1. Why does Moses begin with the truth that “the LORD is one” before addressing a family’s behavior and daily instruction? How would a wrong view of God affect the way children understand success, suffering, and decisions? [58:27]
2. Deuteronomy 6 says God’s words must first be “on your heart” before they are diligently taught to children. Why is a parent’s or grandparent’s real devotion more powerful than simply giving religious instructions? [01:02:22]
3. Proverbs 22:6 calls God’s people to train children, but it should not be treated as a guarantee that removes a child’s personal responsibility. What faithful, hopeful training can look like even when parents cannot control every outcome? [59:56]
4. Exodus 20 calls God “jealous,” and Deuteronomy warns against following other gods. Why is God’s jealousy better understood as covenant love rather than insecurity, and what modern idols most often compete for a family’s devotion? [01:15:29]

Application questions

1. What does the rhythm of your home, schedule, spending, conversations, and emotional energy suggest is most important? Is there anything that may be functioning as a “little god” in your life or family? [01:00:43]
2. Children and those closest to us can see whether our faith is real. Where do you want your love for Jesus to become more visible—not just in church, but in your words, reactions, habits, and relationships? [01:02:22]
3. What is one ordinary moment this week—at a meal, in the car, during bedtime, on a walk, or in a hard conversation—where you could naturally bring God’s Word and prayer into daily life? [01:08:23]
4. Have you shared your salvation story or stories of God’s provision with your children, grandchildren, relatives, or close friends? What story of God’s faithfulness do you need to tell more often? [01:12:31]
5. Where might comfort, success, money, security, sports, work, or approval be tempting you to forget that every good gift comes from the Lord? What practice of gratitude could help you remember Him this week? [01:12:03]
6. If your family background includes hurt, unbelief, or generational sin, what would it look like for you to begin a new spiritual heritage through faithfulness to Christ today? [01:14:17]
7. The church is the family of God, including singles, parents, grandparents, young adults, and those walking through hardship alone. Who in this church family could you intentionally encourage, pray for, or help carry a burden this week? [01:19:26]