Evangelism and the Power of the Family Table by Jim Tsantles. How can families evangelize to the unsaved through the dinner table? Your children will be changed by seeing you preach the Word and dialogue with unsaved neighbors and friends. We must cultivate a love for the unsaved.

The National Center for Family Integrated Churches welcomes Jim and Taylor Santles with the following message entitled evangelism and the power of the family table Thank you Al and we pray that you're good and comfortable because it says an hour in the schedule, but it's gonna be about five We have we have text that it's just gonna be such a blessing to you and let's start right with text. Let this text of Scripture permeate your heart and your mind. So I hope in the back that you can see this text from there. I'm gonna read it for you as well. My son and I were driving up here, he said, "'Dad, you gotta have this text as part of this.'" So this is the front end of this text.

This is Proverb 24.11. The Lord says to us, deliver those who are drawn toward death and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. Verse 12, If you say, Surely, we did not know this, does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps Your soul, does he not know it? And will he not render to each man according to his deeds?

It's a heavy dose of scripture and it speaks to the responsibility that we're all here to consider this is why we're here together this is why the Lord led you to pack up all your things and drive from I've met people from Oregon Toronto California you're from all over the place because the Holy Spirit of God has moved you to come and partake in something that's uniquely holy and wonderful. And here's our mission statement at White Under Harvest 2012. It is, at White Under Harvest 2012, a Great Commission mega conference we will seek by the grace of God to unpack the Great Commission. As it applies to the individual, the home, and the church, there's no more powerful force at work in the world than the life-saving culture transforming disciple making power of the gospel of Jesus Christ and to that every one of us should say amen amen so this is who we are father and son Jim and Taylor samples we reside in North Carolina the Lord's allowed us to be a part of little sovereign Redeemer Community Church it's a plant from Hope Baptist Where we serve with Jason dome and and the family of believers there.

It's a it's a blessing to us little Youngsville If you blink while you drive through you'll miss us And The reason we're here is to share with you one of the most powerful things we've Experienced and that is this it's evangelism It's not just evangelism But it's evangelism that comes with an element that I think a lot of us overlook It's the power of the family table. So it's this element that we're here to consider together So I've put it I've added a few things last night because if you were in there a lot of the men heard Carlton MacLeod it was a blessing to me because he just spoke from the heart He was basically saying essentially as an african-american man the experiential life that they've led is like nothing close to the things that we're learning from a reform standpoint, right? I mean, we've grown up on rap music and a lot of fathers weren't in homes and so the context, what he was saying to all of us In the room was the context of our lives. This is so out of the normative pattern of anything. We've ever experienced you guys You don't understand and he was just expressing gratitude To Scott and Paul washer and Doug Phillips and all these men that have labored and so I put I put Carlton McLeod and I here's why I want to say this as it relates to this subject The I part of it is this I asked my wife earlier this week.

I said, honey Can you remember back to your family life? How many times you guys sat around at the table as a family? Can you remember? And you know what her response was? The same look that we all have right now.

Nothing, nothing. Oh sure, there was the annual Thanksgiving event where the football game is on So the men would take their food that was put together so nicely by the ladies and they would promptly walk over and watch the ball Game it was the same in my home Never never was there an element where the table was used to even bring about family forget about the element of God that wasn't a part of either equation for my wife and I growing up and I want to set this as an important context before we can consider the subject biblically so you all that it may be grown up in these Christian homes perhaps your family table Exists every night by the grace of God. That's not the culture you live in. Amen. That's not the culture We live in the culture.

We live in has zero concept of what this is zero The culture we live in has my TV in my room your TVs in your room We'll come together grab the plate of food and I go to watch my show and you go watch yours. You don't believe me? Go check with your neighbors. You know this is true, do you not? If this was part of your upbringing, that was mine.

So We believe this is true of most of Christian America. They would say we love Jesus, but as it relates to the family life, we're totally disconnected. This is the normative pattern of what we see in our culture. So what are we here to consider? We're here to consider what does the word of God say to us and this is important that you can visualize this picture.

This is such a great picture. Hey, and for the family table, here's what I want you to know. We're going to leave for this presentation. We're going to leave the story of Saul wanting to pin David against the wall with a spear We'll leave those stories out of this presentation, right? We'll skip those uses of the family table from this presentation No spear chucking at your tables.

That's not we're gonna focus on. Okay, so listen We Just want to communicate that the spirit we asked that the Spirit of God would communicate this in fact what I want to do before We even begin this let's just seek the Lord for just a few minutes, okay? Oh Lord What amazing amazing grace you give us God that you we would even be able to sit in this place, call Your name and be a son and a daughter of Yours. Oh God, how humbling. How amazingly marvelous.

It's a miracle. And yet we so often hold back this miracle from sharing it with other people. What a shame to us. What a blight. Oh God, I pray that you would start here with the speakers.

God, you would break us for so often holding back. And now as we consider the holiness of your word, God, may your word communicate. May you remove speakers and opinions and thoughts but only be thoughts that you would ordain to fall upon the ears of your listeners today. God, break us. Break us and by your Holy Spirit, God speak to your children.

God, we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. So you saw the command we started with in Proverb 24. Now you get to see this lived out biblically. We're given all these examples.

Just consider this right? I often when I read scripture, I wonder what it would like if I were there in that moment, do you do that? If it were me sitting there and I was there. So here we have a terra binta tree story. So Abraham is under the terra binta tree.

And the setting is the angels who are going to cast judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah are coming by and Guess who's there to meet him? It's Abraham and he jumps up and he runs to greet them And this is where we pick up the story if you can see the text Set your eyes on this because you got to catch this vision That's our whole point is to communicate a vision from the Lord from his text of Scripture my lord This is Abraham my lord if I have now found favor in your sight do not pass on by your servant This is Genesis 18 3 through 8 Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. Listen to what he says here. And I will bring a morsel of bread that you may refresh your hearts after that you may pass by in as much as you have come to your servant they said well as much as the Abraham's finishing his thought and says in as much as you have come to your servant and their response do as you have said so what it what does he do Does he keep his word and go to get his morsel of bread?

That's what he's saying, right? The morsel of bread is on the way. So Abraham hurries. This is just a great story. He hurries into the tent.

There's Sarah. And he says, quickly, quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal. Knead it, make some cakes. And Abraham ran to the herd, takes a tender and good calf, gives it to the young man, and he hastens to prepare it. So he took the butter and the milk and the calf which he'd prepared and set it before them, and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.

I'm in the sales field, right? My company always talks about under promising and over delivering versus the opposite over promising and under delivering. They are off the charts. Hey, a morsel of breads on its way. Talk about over delivering, right?

Do you see what I'm you see what I'm sharing with you here. Is it the spirit that was upon Abraham and Sarah is the subject at hand? We also see in Scripture so many other amazing examples we see the same the terebinth trees involved here, too Maybe we need to grow one in our yard. We need to get terra-binth trees That'll help us. So Gideon Gideon's involved here It's the angel of the Lord as well and judges 619 and you see the same spirit with Gideon He says one thing and then he goes and he just over me over does it it's amazing read this story And he says the same kind of thing.

Oh, do not go until you take my offering. He's begging him, stay, stay. The beauty of Martha serving her heart out, right? While Mary comes and anoints the feet of Jesus. Where is this happening?

This is happening at the table. Or next, we have in John 13, Jesus is with his disciples, they're finished their meal, And he extends his ministry to washing their feet the most humbling thing So Jesus extends this ministry beyond the table and he's blessing his followers or in Matthew 26 the Passover lamb himself Our Lord and Savior sets this example as he takes the bread at the table and he breaks and he says this message of inclusion, this is my body. I'm about to break this for you This is the cup of the new covenant of my blood all of you drink this and it's Jesus work at this table that's blessing and ministering to these men and Finally we have positive commands in the New Testament as well. We know this verse do not forget. Hey, ladies and gentlemen Here's what news flash as Vody says all news flash You're gonna be entertaining angels strangers that you bring into your home.

You might be entertaining angels So let's not be unwitting about this. And that brings us to our text and that's where I'm gonna ask Taylor to take it from here. It's great to be here with you guys this afternoon and this is something that as dad has already described the Lord has been teaching us over time and revealing to us the beauty and the importance of what he can accomplish through this vision of opening up our homes to the loss and allowing our homes to be a ministry center for the gospel to impact people's lives. And so I want to ask you to turn in your Bibles with me to 1 Kings chapter 10. We're going to read verses 1 through 9.

1 Kings chapter 10 verses 1 through 9. And this will be the text that we're going to center this talk on and use to really drive home the heart of the message because we see here such a vivid example of what Dad's already been describing in some of these other texts. We see this play out in such a beautiful way here. This is Sheba coming to Solomon. So let's read this together.

1 Kings 10 verse 1. Now when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels that bore spices very much gold and precious stones and when she came to Solomon she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. So Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing so difficult for the king that he could not explain it to her and when the Queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon the house that he had built the food on his table the seating of his servants the service of his waiters and their apparel his cup bearers and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.

Then she said to the king, it was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. However, I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard, happy are your men and happy are these your servants who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom. Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel, because the Lord has loved Israel forever. Therefore he made you king to do justice and righteousness.

So we're gonna break this down and we're not going to comprehensively cover every aspect of this narrative but we want to present a vision for family life and for the gospel integrating with family life in your home through this passage here. So let's look at verses 1 and 2. Verse 1, now when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord. She came to test him with hard questions. So we don't know much about the Queen of Sheba.

The historical record according to Josephus is that she may have been the queen of Egypt and Ethiopia, but this we do know that there was a word that went out across the world. Apparently it was Solomon's kingdom was so great, the wisdom of God and what he accomplished through Solomon's kingdom was so great that it reached the queen of Sheba. And not only did it reach her but it was powerful enough to prompt her to say, pack your bags, we're going, we're going to see what this is all about. And we see later in the text that she even had doubts about whether it was real or not, she didn't know what she would find, but she went, she left, she packed her bags and she went to see what was taking place at this kingdom you know hearing of the fame of Solomon reminds me of the church in Thessalonica and Paul writes this in first first Thessalonians verses chapter 1 verse 6 through 8 And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe.

For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out so that we do not need to say anything. So we're not here to merely speak of the input into our homes. What we bring in, who we bring in, we're here to speak about the output too because it's so tied in with this. If you're gonna bring people in, there ought to be something that is flowing out of your home, and we all know that we can't generate this.

Only Christ can fill our homes with something that is worth exporting, that is worth being spread and sounding forth into the world. Verse 2, she came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue with camels that bore spices very much gold and precious stones and when she came to Solomon she spoke with him about all that was on her heart. So the word retinue here can also mean not just servants and slaves carting along the bags and the camels But it can also mean the wise men in her kingdom the musicians the orders Those who were the elite in her kingdom may have been a part of this caravan to come see what this is all about. She had genuine interest in knowing what is happening here. I've heard of the fame of the Lord and she came.

So what's the principle for us? How does this affect us? We see here that the Word of God and the wisdom of God are causing a stir globally. I don't know the exact distance between the kingdoms, but we know that there weren't neighboring kingdoms. This was something that went forth from Solomon's kingdom.

As a result of what went forth, she packed her bags and came. So we need to consider the impact of what is flowing out of our homes. We'll address this more, but just in these verses, see the importance of that. And she didn't see Solomon himself. It was the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord.

It was centered on the Lord. So what did Sheba want to know? What questions did she want to ask Solomon? We don't know. But in our own lives we can be assured of this.

If we're not willing to open our own gates, If we're not willing to receive the lost into our doors, then we don't know what opportunities we may have missed to answer those questions that those who need the great physician, who need a healer, are seeking. Sheba came with questions. The lost, I guarantee you, have questions when they meet a Christian family out in public. Whether you're evangelizing on the street or wherever you may be, they have questions. And if we can use these things to drive the loss to Jesus Christ as we center it around the Word of God.

That's powerful. The world seeks their wisdom from Oprah, Dr. Phil, and Christendom. Modern evangelicalism, you may even go to Joelstein to figure out how you can live your best life now. But we know this is not the wisdom that the world needs.

And so we have an opportunity to give them something greater. And this is what Sheba came to seek in Solomon, and this is what the lost should seek and what they should find in our homes. So quick applications on these verses. What should these two verses make us consider about our witness? What is the identity of what is the source and identity of your witness?

Do you have a witness going forth from your family? Is there truly a Christ at the center of that that's worth sharing, that's worth spreading? Do people see and experience something different about your family that leaves them seeking answers? It's a question we need to consider. Does the seeker even get an invitation to your home?

Does the seeker get true biblical counsel from you under the careful leading of the Holy Spirit? Solomon in this text was ready and he was willing and able. We need to mirror this in our own lives and our relationship to the lost, desiring to open up ourselves for what God would do in the home. Verse 3, Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing so difficult for the king that he could not explain it to her.

We know that wisdom from above is a gift from God and God and Solomon asked of God wisdom and God granted him that gift but we also have been given the Word of God as believers now so moving off of Solomon here and to us here do we have no hope of answering the questions that are posed to us we have no hope of giving hope to the lost no we have every hope in the world because we've been given the living hope which is the Word of God And so with confidence and with boldness, trusting in the Holy Spirit, we can study and read and bring the Word of God to bear to any topic of life and allow that to impact the lives of unbelievers. Bible says, be ready in season and out of season to give a defense for the hope that lies within us. So there's a few things I'll just add to that is that, you know, it's true of me. Are we being the kind of students of the Word of God that are preparing ourselves, right, as men, that we can lead. This is a critical question, and one we're gonna, I'm gonna give you some scenarios here.

Our fathers, mothers, are you preparing your children? Are you preparing your 11, 12, 13, 14 year olds to give the hope that lies within them. So if you're like us, here's what happens, right? You're out in town, they see all your family, people come up or you host people or you're interacting with folks. See if this holds true to you, It holds true to us.

They seem to like want to corner your kids when they get a chance You know like they're they're talking to you But if they get a minute they can corner they can corner the children and ask the older children Who's had this come on? You've had this happen, right? So are your children prepared how about this question You've heard this try this on for size Don't your girls ever wear pants? What are you gonna be for Halloween What college are you going to attend? Young lady, so tell me exactly, what do you want to be when you grow up?

You're shaking your head because you know these are all true, right? Are you guys Mormon or Catholic with all those kids? Come on who's had that happen, right? Let me get serious for a second about this father's the buck stops here this is our responsibility I cannot tell you how many times it's been true of my own family my own children my older children and I am without excuse if I'm not equipped my children to be able to give a defense for the hope that lies in them how many times if we've been around this is true of my own home, so I don't want to give some pious platitude like we've got this stuff all together folks, trust me. It's a work in progress, sanctification, amen?

Okay, and so, how many times have you experienced this? The child is asked a question and you get this. Or the head's on a swivel. Mom, Dad, rescue me! Rescue me!

I'm not saying that to make light or make fun. It's been true of my own home, but shame on me if I've not equipped my older children to be able to speak with a sense not of not of nervous trepidation like how do I come up with the right verb into that community but with joy of the Holy Spirit they've embraced this thing that's our whole goal right in this journey of faith is that our children embrace these things from God above It's not just applied onto our children and they put it on and let me put on this hat this mental hat that I've got To walk according to all these no, they embrace it in their heart and so fathers Me How well are you equipping your children to give a defense for the hope that lies in them as it relates to these specific? Areas where it gives your children the opportunity to praise the grace of God and speak the truth and wisdom of Jesus Christ and his word His law word into the hearts and minds of the lost world and everybody in our day that says they're Christian right Here's another thing on a practical note.

Hey families. We've done this. My wife is really gifted at this She'll stand the kids up right there on their chair at the table carefully Not on the table going on the chair. This is when we don't have company although sometimes it is when we have company Stand the kids up. Let's practice these stand up.

Let's practice. You're nervous talking to your family Well, let's get you out of the comfort zone. We're get out of your comfort zone. Come on. We're all family here Let's stand up.

So we'll throw some of these questions at the kids roleplay this Don't be afraid to roleplay with your kids roleplay parents roleplay roleplay roleplay Give them the Word of God that gives them the the confidence to speak boldly the name of Jesus Christ and the truth of scriptures. I always want to touch the screen. So I'll give you this one testimony before I turn it back over to Taylor. I call on physicians in my work, right? You talk about the most knowledgeable, the wisest of the wise.

I mean, there's some really wise guys and gals even right. So they are you talk about education on steroids. I Had an occasion good friend of mine a believer who I walk out of the room and I hear him with my then 11 year old Allison and There's the questions. I walk out of the room. I'm changing in the other room, but I left the door open purposefully So I could hear because I'm you know when it's gonna happen Right.

And so here comes the question. So, uh, like you Are you gonna go to college? Like what are your aspirations? And I think all five of those, or however many there was there, all those questions got asked. And I listened to my daughter, who was only 11 or 12, right, she was young.

And it shamed me. Not because my daughter didn't represent me no no God forbid any of that at all Is that she wasn't I had not prepared her to give a defense for the hope of? The glory that God was revealing in our hearts and Reformation in all these ways, right? I hadn't prepared her So that just convicted me and so on and now needed to go prepare my children to embrace these truths So with that I'll turn back to tell you So let's let's pick back up in 1st Kings 10 and look at look with me at verse 4 verse 4 and 5. This is this just try to picture this in your mind as we read this because this is an amazing picture.

And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord. There was no more spirit in her." So what the Lord is communicating I believe through this section is that there's more than Solomon himself and his wisdom That is affecting the Queen of Sheba here. That's more than that That's bringing her to this state of awe she sees this and and she is left breathless So there's more of The element there's more elements to his kingdom than himself that affect her in this powerful way And so how does that tie to our homes? It's more than just having the right words to give to the lost if they're invited into your home. You may think you have the wisdom but news flash the lost have their eyes on a lot more than just the wisdom.

Queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom, the house, the food, the seating, the service, his cupbearers, and she's taking in all of these things. And so I want to encourage all of us to think of our homes in light of this. Your children, the order of your family, the relationships, the way you communicate with each other, all of these things add to this experience, not a conjured up fake experience, but Christ working and building in your family a picture of His kingdom, which we'll get to in a little bit. But I pray that that's the picture we would see here. All of these things contributed to what ultimately brought her to a sense of awe where she's saying, I've seen these things and we'll see the results of that when what she says in just a moment but she is amazed and it's not just by the wisdom of words it's by the reality of what she sees before her eyes.

What will people see before their eyes when they enter your home? If you live this out faithfully and you invite people into your home what will they behold in your home are all of these little details that we may think unimportant are unimportant do they reflect the work of Christ in your home and are all of these things that you may even think menial are they pointing to Christ in a way that you don't even recognize so good and so going back to the opening it never happened for me in my home so just a testimonial here of what's what's occurred the Lord took my family and I out of Florida and We moved up to Wake Forest where I got the invitation to come back to Scott and Deborah's dinner table And I think it's such a normative practice for them. You know, they just invited me to their table which to me was it To them it was like oh, yeah, come over to come over and eat with us It's just a habit of practice. You'll see in their life They got people over all the time But for me it was if I felt warmed and welcomed by the fact that I'd be invited so I go at their I go To their table.

It's the first time I'm not lying to you. It's the first time in my life, ladies and gentlemen, that I've sat at a table other than my own. The Lord had begun to do this reformation work where I sat at the table and watched a man just sit with his family and take the word of God. We're going to talk about this practically in a few minutes, but what Taylor is saying and what we're saying and what the text is saying is is burn in your soul this vision in your mind that takes people that are so lost and so even Christian America that's in such disarray I was saved for 10 to 10 15 years before I sat in Scott and Debra's home, I'd never been invited by other Christians to go sit in their home at their dinner table and open the word of God. Maybe I was over for dinner and we watched again, you know what I'm saying?

And so this was just a powerful thing. And another testimony on this front, we were out, we do this little evangelism thing that we go out and our little church. We invited a mother and Her daughter and her daughter. So as a grandmother her daughter three ladies you get that picture so three of them they come to the house and The Lord I mean, it's just such a blessing. So I'm gonna get ahead of the game and tell you some of the details later.

But let's just say this. At the end of it, here's what she says. In my life, I've never been invited into somebody else's home like this. She was, she's probably 60, 2, 3, 4. Never, I followed the Lord my whole life.

I love the Bible. I've never had this experience. Going back to some of the practical things that Taylor was talking about Is there a sense a biblical a sense of biblical order you saw in the servants Hey, it was even the way they dressed. I'm not saying we all you know, you get your kids all gussied up And they look perfect Taylor mentioned this we don't put on facades folks. This is who we are.

Just come into our home warts and all you're just gonna see who we are, but The sense here is something beautiful that's being communicated in this home And is there Is there enough of a sense of order and structure in your home that when people come to your table? They're not interrupted every five minutes or maybe they have great questions for you But they can't ask it because you're so busy chasing around disobedient children I mean that that's a hard truth that we need to receive myself included that if my children are constantly interrupting while we're trying to share the gospel and We're gonna get to how to include our children here shortly So are your children obedient enough to be able to pull this off? There's a lot of a lot of things for us to check off here, especially as fathers So this is another critical element the practical side of well, so what do you do? What you do, I believe is you have a pregame and postgame analysis. Here's what I mean by that sports guy growing up I'm sorry.

I've got to pull this in You make a pregame plan You make the game plan the coach shares it with the team, and they say hurrah, and they go out and they do their thing and they come back and evaluate it later, make the changes too, right? You do this with your children. This text of scripture gives the actual picture specifically of the kinds of things that we ought to be talking to our children about and so our children understand hey tonight so this is I don't know if I mentioned this in the opener but in our home is we set out goals for the year which I'm terrible at by the way I don't want to make it sound like I've Got it all together here But one of the things we chose was hey, we're gonna implement Shiba time This text description my wife brought forward and said look at this picture. I said let's go for this Shiba time What does that mean in my home? That's my kids.

I'll tell you what it means. This means game on Game on and we pregame plan. Hey, guess what kids my four-year-old my five-year-old my six-year-old kids are selfish Hey, man, have you ever had that happen in your home? They're selfish. They're not interested.

They're not engaged So you ask the question. Well, how do I really engage my kids then you make preparations fathers mothers. Hey tonight Oh wait till you see the smile on the face of Mrs. Jones when she comes, and tonight you get to be the one who serves her water. And watch your little child perk up with, like, I play a role in this thing called evangelism.

Whoa, I'm involved. Happy are his servants. Happy are his servants because they were involved in something they were communicating bigger than them. They were communicating something. Is your six-year-old connected with communicating the gospel with you?

If not for me and for you both shame on us Because that is not the picture of the text of Scripture and so Let me give you one more I told you we need like six hours for this. Let me give you another picture of the benefit of the blessing of doing this in your home. You study the proverbs with your children, right? You open the proverbs and you try to get the pearls out of them, you bring the kids to the table, tell me what you saw. Well, a lot of these things for our children, they've not experienced this.

There's been no experience of the violation of these proverbs. You could take news reports and give them an abstract story, right? This is, oh, look at how they violate, it's one of the things that we try to do is we, I'll try to read a story sometimes and I'll ask the children where do you see proverbs being violated here and let them do their own search of the scripture so they take ownership right so now now it's let's invite the neighbors over I live on a small it's a small cul-de-sac And I say this with all the humility and grace that Jesus would give me. It is a disaster. There's eight homes.

These people have all been in our home. And proverb after proverb and after proverb has been completely pillaged. The instruction that Jesus Christ by his Holy Spirit is giving my children by simply doing what Solomon did. Come into the home, sit at my table, protecting my children, being trying to be wise to make sure they're not being tainted usually people bring a different presence when they see you open the Word of God and you open up in prayer right it changes a lot of the exterior stuff so they clean it up they know better I'm here to tell you every scripture of proverb you could possibly imagine is being violated in this little Q-tip, I call it. At the end of the cul-de-sac, I call it the Q-tip of every violation of proverbs you can imagine.

And we're not to look and make fun of that or to say, shame on or any of those things because that's us, amen? That is us apart from Jesus Christ. But the Lord tells us to behold, behold the vines that have grown over and torn down the wall, behold, we are to behold. And my children are receiving such an amazing Education that if we're not opening our homes you miss out on all that you can teach your children the Word of God Amen, and I'm not too minute, but please don't perceive that but what I'm saying is when you bring it to life Experientially and they hear and they see firsthand the stories of devastation Divorce my cul-de-sac divorce drunkenness Invite a neighbor over sitting down. I'm thinking whoa This is a little glassy-eyed before you know it leaning back in the chair and before you know it and my kids You know the verse on don't mingle long at the wine That's in the cup you think that has application now for my children like it's never had before Because this same neighbor backs out and smashes into my gate Drunk as can be and you say god forbid and I know we're to separate ourselves appropriately But I saw it as a gift from God because I had daddy now had everyone's attention.

Did he not? Everyone Of that home understood what it meant now to mingle long at the wine and to teach that anyway So as not to ramble I'm gonna give it back over to Taylor So, let's let's go back to first Kings here we're gonna wrap wrap this up in just a second. I'm excited to get to the end because there's really, this is building to something that I think would be, we'd be amiss if we didn't see this in such a greater light so we're headed towards that so hang on we're gonna go through the rest of this text. Verse 6, then she said to the king it was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. However, I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes and indeed the half was not told me.

Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard. Happy are your men and happy are these your servants who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom. So Sheba did come with hard questions. We see that earlier in the passage. But she also came with doubts.

We see her in verse 6, or verse 7, I'm sorry, at the beginning. However, I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes. How many of you have experienced this with those who don't know Christ in your life where there is an inherent doubt of your intentions. They're kind of perplexed. I mean you wait till you invite them over to your house.

You know if you've only known somebody for five minutes and all you've done is hit them with the law of God and the gospel and then you're asking them over for dinner they're like what's your problem so there's a sense of doubt in terms of what they might see what they might find what is there and that's why it's so important that Not only do we go out and evangelize, but if we bring people in, it validates in one of the strongest senses what we're preaching. Because if you're living that out in your home, they're seeing a living picture of everything you've communicated to them. You're pouring your heart out on the street, giving the gospel to this man. But yet, play this out. You invite this man now who's heard your heart heard the gospel into your home and he sees your family transformed by that gospel he hears a testimony of what God is doing he sees you open the Word of God with a humble heart and he recognizes that there's something greater than you at work, there's something greater than me at work here.

It's the Spirit of God. And so you can't experience that again until we're willing to open up our doors and open up our gates and invite those in. So the second part of this here is such a beautiful part of this text. Happy are your men and happy are these your servants. Dad already made a brief reference to this and this goes back to some of the things we've already addressed.

You know, what is the spirit of your home? Do your children carry smiles, joy, the love of Christ with them as they're serving? Is there truly a sense of joy in your home? If not, you're not inviting someone in to experience Christ. You may invite them in to see homeschooling or a set of rules or a certain model.

Not that those things are wrong, but without the Holy Spirit and the joy that Christ brings about in a home, they really don't have anything to see there. Because you don't want to make, as Christ warned the Pharisees, twice a son of hell. So I beg of you, if you don't have the joy of Christ in your home, search your own soul before God. Search your own soul to know whether you've experienced the gospel of Jesus Christ. You now are not a servant in Christ's kingdom, you're a son.

There should be so much joy in becoming a son of Jesus Christ and living out a picture of his kingdom in our homes, if this joy is not in you. I'm not saying we don't experience the trials of life that knock this up and down, but if this joy is not a part of your home, search your soul, search your heart. Pray that God would give it to you, pray that God would save you, and that this would be something that you would bring people into a home transformed by the gospel that's living out this exciting, exuberant, powerful, contagious joy that can only come from Christ. And so the Bible says here, and this is along the same lines, in Galatians 6-8, for he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. So consider the contrast here.

The joy that is in your home because of Christ is so different than what the world is experiencing. They're sowing to the flesh and they're reaping of the flesh, corruption. Unbelievers like Sheba should be perplexed, should be amazed, should be in awe of the joy that they find in your home because of Jesus Christ. And this leads us to the last verse Which is sheba's response to all of these things so I'll invite dad to talk about that So what's what's the result of all the investment of King Solomon and having she been her whole her entire entourage? I mean that that's a serious spread you're having to put on right And so what's the result of it?

The result of our labors and the result of the labor of Solomon was the closing comments that we see in verse nine just look at these words. You have to look at these words. Can you see it up there if you got your Bibles in front of you? So she enters remember how did she come in? Loaded down with questions questions so much it made her travel, traverse the plains for long ways to come.

And here's what she says, here's the conclusion. This is our whole point and the whole purpose. Blessed, blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel because the Lord has loved Israel forever therefore he made you kink to do justice and righteousness and so may we consider what the latter end is as we close out there's a There's a couple things finally that we want to share with you, and I'm going to have Taylor start. So turn with me really quickly in your Bibles to Matthew 12 39. When the Lord brought this before us in preparing for this message, this was exciting.

Because this picture takes on so much more meaning when we see it in light of Christ and the picture that our homes become Similar to what Solomon's kingdom is like here in 1st Kings 10. So Matthew 12 verse 39 turn there with me Says the queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and indeed a greater than Solomon is here so I want to warn you I'm pulling this out of context and I'm not going to pull meaning out of this text itself other than to show you that Christ is making the parallel here between, not the parallel, he's saying someone greater than Solomon is here. You don't recognize that. He's addressing the Pharisees who don't recognize the coming of Christ and he says someone greater than Solomon is here and the Queen of Sheba will rise up in judgment of you. But that's not why I want you to see this text.

I want you to consider this because I think we should look at 1 Kings 10 through the lens of Jesus Christ. Some of us may be thinking, well I don't have that kind of kingdom, that caliber of a kingdom to invite people into what you know, he had riches servants You know the temple there were all the architectural wonders. I mean all the things that Solomon had you may think wow Okay, Can we really measure up to that? Can we really add up to that? Can we really create the sense of all with what we have?

Well, let me share with you in Colossians 1 13 and 14 says he has delivered us from the power He Christ has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love in whom we have redemption through His blood the forgiveness of his sins. So I want to remind you today, as I remind myself, that we have been transferred from one kingdom to another. If you are Christ's, you've been conveyed, You've been brought out of the kingdom of darkness and brought into the kingdom of Love the kingdom of the Son of His love Those who were talking about here today those who don't know Christ are living life day by day under the power under the Dominion under the kingdom of the prince of the power of the era, of the kingdom of darkness. The disorder and chaos of a life ruled and governed by sin bears out its fruits day by day in their lives. This is what they're living under.

This is what they're experiencing and rightly so. I'm not saying it's unfair. It's the rebellion against God. The table that they've set has molded bread and poisoned water. This is what they're feeding themselves.

This is what they're feeding their children day by day. This is what their kingdom is like. So now I want you to imagine, picture this kingdom in your mind, the kingdom of darkness that they're walking under. I want you to imagine the power of bringing someone like this into taste the kingdom of light, the kingdom of Christ in your own home. I want you to consider the fact that your home is a picture of the kingdom of God.

You are servants now, you are sons in the kingdom of God, and you, Christians, brothers and sisters, right now have a greater kingdom than Solomon had. You have a more beautiful kingdom than Solomon had because it's Christ's. And that should be exciting to us. We have something so beautiful to invite the lost into. Not our home is not that kingdom, but we are living out by God's grace and through the help of his spirit a picture of his kingdom.

We're servants in his kingdom serving our King and That's what people have the opportunity to see when they come into our homes. Listen to Romans 14 17 This verse is incredible For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy and the Holy Spirit. That's the fruit of the kingdom of God. You sow to the flesh, you reap corruption, sin leads unto death, but if you're in the kingdom of God, You have righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. We cry out to God in humility that this would be our home.

We can't create this. I can't create this. I fail miserably on a daily basis to create this. And that's because we can't. Only by the mercy of God can he create an atmosphere in our home that's reflecting the light of his kingdom, the joy of his kingdom, the order of his Kingdom, the beauty of His Kingdom, the majesty of His Kingdom, the wonder of His Kingdom greater than Solomon's, so much greater.

So I want to tell you a brief story of something the Lord did in our home mainly I think to illustrate this example to our family. My wife is sitting in the back there and she's really the the secret weapon behind our hospitality evangelism and what the Lord has led us to do. But we work in a downtown area And in Wake Forest, many of you have been to Wake Forest, there's a coffee shop out there. And there are a group of young people who gather out at this coffee shop in the afternoons. You can tell just by the group, the way they dress, the way they act, the way they talk, that they've had a rough life.

They haven't had functional families. They haven't grown up in a Christian home. And so being down there often, the Lord, you know, the Lord continually presses things upon your heart in different ways. The Lord was pressing on my part heart heavily that I needed to talk to these young people. And I fought it for weeks.

And finally the opportunity came up. I was working in the coffee shop, and the Lord wouldn't leave me alone. And so I went out and basically made a fool of myself. There are about ten of them out there and I didn't know how to, you know, there's no real pretty way to introduce myself. You know, I look different than them.

I'm a total stranger. So I just said, hey everyone, I'm Taylor and if you could have seen the looks. Buddy, what is your problem? And so the Lord used those feeble words. I mean, honestly, it had all the formula Adding up to failure, but God can use things for his glory and and so three or four guys Actually split away from the group and wanted to sit down with me and talk with me So for an hour and a half, I was able to pour out the gospel answer their questions.

These were all atheists some of them gothic and at the end of the conversation the Lord laid it on my heart, we need to have these young men into our home. So I invited them, not knowing what their response would be. They accepted the invitation two weeks later, they were in our home. And from the moment they came, until the end of the time, after eating dinner and just sitting around, you could see such a sense of this awe. Not in us, not in anything we create, but they had never seen a family sit at a table together.

They had never seen a husband and wife who loved each other. And these young men sat up and we went upstairs in our living room and we sat with them for an hour and a half and I didn't even open the Bible I didn't prompt a spiritual conversation questions poured out of them I said okay you know what about this what about that All of them centered around the gospel. My wife and I had bought four Bibles for them and engraved their names on them. And as they got up to leave, We handed each one of them their Bible and one of the men, young men there, welled up with tears in his eyes and he looked at me and he said, I've never been given a Bible in my life. Thank you.

This was the man who just told me I don't believe in God, I hate God. And he's receiving the word of God saying thank you. Thank you. Don't underestimate the power of what Christ can do. They're not some advanced program that you develop, not some...

This is not complicated. What we're desiring to communicate to you today is that God can use simple obedience, love for His word, love for His gospel, pouring out from your family to truly affect and change people, we have a continual relationship with these men now. None of them have come to know the Lord, but we pray for them and we look for new opportunities to gather together with them, to continue to surround them with this picture of the kingdom of Christ. So that's really the heart of what we're communicating here. Consider the power, the tool that you have at your disposal right now, if you're Christ.

This kingdom of Christ is being lived out in your home and the lost have an opportunity to be brought into that and to experience Christ himself. To experience his word. To experience the transforming power of the gospel. Don't underestimate that. It's so powerful.

And So with that I'll leave dad at the summary. So they asked the man at the luncheon what's burning in your soul. You feel a burning in your soul? I mean that's really what our desire was, that the Holy Spirit would descend and his truth would cause a burning in our soul to grab a vision of something that's so much bigger than what any of us are. I pray that none of you see guys standing up here and trying to promote things we've done or not done.

That's filthy rags. It's Jesus Christ and the love that this world so desperately needs. And you're his ambassadors. We're it. We're it.

Not a plan B. You're plan A. Chosen, sanctified, set apart by not a single thing that you or I did and so As we have just a few minutes left. I just want to give some final exhortations especially to to fathers. Fumble dads, fumble, stumble, stutter.

People say all the time, well, I just leave that to the gifted evangelists. Stop believing that lie. Stop that. Just repent. Just repent.

Who's given the command to be good Bereans? Who's given the command to share the gospel? Who's given the command to preach? I realize I'm not diminishing. God doesn't give additional gifts to people.

There's gifts God gives. But the truth is, a father stumbling through the word of God perhaps he's never opened at his table with somebody else who doesn't know The Lord and he's stumbling through it. Let me tell you something as I have many times Guys, you don't need a five-point eschatological plan Let me give a five-point sermon to the put all this pressure on myself. I used to feel that way like okay I want to be like these you guys you know these that do all this stuff and and I I'm gonna be I want to be used by God that's all good but it's wrong if we're stepping out in front and we're trying to manifest something that's fake people can see right through that guys fumble through the Word of God open it up at your table let your children get a hold of this vision younger children encourage our older children encourage your younger siblings exhort your mom and dad Let's go activate yourselves for the gospel of Jesus Christ in the home. You can evangelize.

There are several areas you're out evangelizing. Well, everybody's being evangelized. We're out on the street. That's the tattoo covered guy who's cursing somebody on the phone and turns around to us and says yeah I love Jesus are you kidding me this is the world if you've not been out there get out there and you see everybody loves Jesus don't they everybody yeah I love Jesus wait a minute Oh introduce me to your three children man where is that dad it's uncomfortable questions dad you know where's dad well there were three different fathers but praise God I love Jesus come to my home please come sit at the table as I fumble through the words of Scripture And me when that went tonight before hosting tonight Emmy when that lady walks in that door Oh baby, you communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ. You serve that woman.

You pull out the chair and you smile for the grace of God because you understand it's not by daddy leading this home that I have to speak all the words. You are Speaking non-verbals that are communicating more power. It's nuclear and its capability Serve that cup of coffee Seven year old five don't take the hot coffee five-year-olds leave that to the older ones you follow what I'm saying so here we are we're considering the Great Commission you know Kevin Swanson Vody And all these guys they love math equations. They do these math equations if we just out populate everybody true. It's true Amen, let's go at it.

Let's really let's out populate him right? Let's out populate him Could you imagine do this math in your head? I'm gonna try it How many families you hear at this conference roughly 500 they say four to five hundred? I'll take five hundred for easier math I didn't do well in math 500 families will you decide you catch a vision from the Lord albeit imperfect for all of us It's gonna look different in every home, but you catch a vision from the Lord and you say children. It's time to activate Let's activate for the glory of God.

Let's take this text and actually go home and do something about it and 500 families decide they're putting a line in the sand And saying from this point forward by the grace of God this home is gonna be open. It's used for God It's owned by God. We don't own it. It's his let us get our sin and our flesh out of the way and 500 families say hey, we'll skip a couple months. We're traveling but 10 of those months once a month, we'll bring somebody into this home.

We'll purpose, by the grace of God. Do the math. 500 families. That's a lot, isn't it? That's 5, 000 glorious pictures of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Touching the hearts of people. Imagine if you doubled that. What does that look like in 20 30 40 50 years everybody's worried about politics and what's gonna happen politically go to work for the gospel of Jesus Christ would you close us in prayer to him Lord we we understand how dependent we are upon you for all of these things. Lord, if we were to try to create anything that would be appealing to the lost that would draw them to Christ in and of ourselves it would be in vain. And so I pray Lord today that you would do a few things here in our midst.

Lord that one you would give us a love for the lost, this whole weekend that you would continue to grow our love for our neighbor, love for God and love for neighbor that flowing out of our love from you that would manifest itself and a desire to preach the Word of God to those who are perishing. God I pray that you would show and manifest the joy that it is to give and to minister to the lost in this way to open up our doors that you would reveal the blessings that come Lord through this kind of ministry a giving up of self and just a pouring out of Christ upon these people. Lord, would you put that upon the hearts of these people here, even to take small steps in that direction, God, to be faithful to your word, to live out the gospel, not only in their workplace, not only on the street if they're evangelizing, but in their homes. And Lord, I pray for repentance in my heart and all of our hearts, for not seeing how great and comprehensive this commission is that you've given us God that it doesn't just affect one thing God it affects all of our lives that our lives ought to be conformed and ought to be patterned around the Great Commission pray that you'd help us to do this and specifically God in the way of the family table, home, the opening up of the home.

God would you make every single one of these homes in here, homes filled with joy, filled with delight in the gospel of Jesus Christ. God the children who are here I pray that you'd save them. Lord that the joy that would be manifested through them would be real, that it would be from God, and that it would pour out to those who are lost. Lord we are so humbled by the reality of what you are able to do through your people. So we humbly submit before you and we ask that you would use us, we ask that we would be submitted to you, that we would have love for others outside of ourselves, that we would open up our homes as a ministry center to spread your word and to see others come to know Jesus Christ to be brought into the kingdom of light.

In Jesus' name, amen. The National Center for Family Integrated Churches is dedicated to proclaiming the sufficiency of scripture for church and family life and to the establishment of biblically ordered churches. For more information, resources, and products, please visit our website at www.ncfic.org.