In his sermon 'Don't Waste Your Families Lives,' Steve Hopkins emphasizes the importance of prioritizing spiritual growth within families. Drawing inspiration from a sermon by Paul Washer, Hopkins stresses that Christianity is about a personal relationship with Christ rather than merely adhering to ethics or morality. He warns against idolatry by being captivated by anything other than Christ, and he reflects on Psalm 73, emphasizing the pursuit of Christ-likeness. Hopkins calls on husbands and fathers to lead their families in spiritual matters, particularly through listening to sermons together. He warns against the distractions of entertainment and sports, urging families to focus on things that contribute to spiritual growth. The sermon underscores the urgency of preparing for eternity by making deliberate efforts to prioritize spiritual matters over fleeting worldly pursuits.

Before we open the scriptures, I was listening to Paul Washer this past week. Brothers and sisters, please take time to listen to sermons and be sure to choose out men to listen to who understand the gospel and who exhibit love for the people of God and for the lost and who exhibit humility. And Mr. Washer is such a man and he was preaching Christ as he always does. In this clip I was watching, he was preaching from 2 Corinthians chapter 5, therefore we have as our great desire, as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

Washer says Christianity has an ethic, but it's not about an ethic. Christianity has a morality, but it's not about a morality or principles. It is about a person. It is about Him, a person, the person, the most glorious person who if you and I were this moment to catch just a fraction of His glory, it would fracture us into a million pieces. The beauty of it would kill us.

Yes, the beauty. It is about that person who sacrificed himself that is what is to move you. If anything else moves you, it is idolatry. And he was saying if anything else captivates you, if anything else on earth moves you, if anything else on earth becomes your passion in this life, it is idolatry. It's him, it's him, it's him, and that, Washer says, that's what captured the heart of Paul, and that's what owned him, and that's what destroyed his life and took it away from him and made it worth something.

So I was thinking about his message there, I was thinking about what he was saying, that passage from Psalm 73 came to mind, Whom have I in heaven but thee, And there is none I desire on earth beside thee." Can we say that? Can you say that? Can I say that? Last night Eric and I were praying together as we as we do on Saturday nights for the congregation, crying out to God for this flock. And in our prayers, we both prayed that there would be such a pursuit of Christ and Christ-likeness in this flock.

And, you know, brothers and sisters, we have so little time on earth, and we're here to be sanctified, to be prepared for glory. And I just want to encourage you all to make use of the vast number of sermons by godly pastors both modern and from antiquity and resolve to listen to sermons with your family. And husbands and fathers, this is probably, this probably isn't going to happen if you aren't taking the lead and making it happen in your home. I know there's so many things that are competing with the things of God, impeding our spiritual growth of our families. Please, do not waste time.

Do not waste your family's lives on things that do not build you up in the faith, that are not building up the family in the faith. Some families are addicted to entertainment. Some are addicted to sports. And the things that most matter are impeded, obstructed, and competing loyalties clash, and the most important things get put on the back burner, and yet they're those things that assist the spiritual growth of our families. And you've got to, you have to make efforts to cut them back and sometimes cut them off.

And you have to put in the time and the effort to pursue Christ as a family, understanding that those things will not and cannot fill the void in your family's life. And they can actually reach the point where they're actually retard the spiritual growth of your family. So we have to deliberately, intentionally set aside the competing loyalties and fleeting vanities of this life. Pursue the things that we will wish that we had pursued five minutes inside of eternity when we are standing face to face with Jesus.