The sermon, titled 'Three 5 Minute Charges 06 12 26', discusses the theme of the compelling life of a home builder, emphasizing the need for a new heart through Jesus Christ to find fulfillment in this role. It highlights the importance of personal faith over inherited faith, urging individuals to step out of their parents' faith shadow and develop their own relationship with God. The speaker addresses spiritual maturity, using Hebrews 5 to illustrate the transition from spiritual milk to solid food, and the importance of discerning good from evil. The sermon also warns against cultural pressures, particularly on women, to prioritize career over family, using examples to underscore the potential costs. It advocates for a life guided by God's will, emphasizing transformation through salvation and devotion to Jesus.

We've done this for a past number of retreats to have just a few quick hitting five minute charges by a few people just to set the stage for what's to come. So I'll go first and then Taylor will come behind me and then Gary will finish us up and then we will blow teacups into oblivion. So the theme of our conference as I've already said is the compelling life of the home builder. God has given home builders just a compelling wonderful life ahead of them. But you can only be that and you'll only find it compelling if you have a new heart.

Meaning people who haven't come to Jesus feeling great need and coming to him for what only he can give, which is mercy because of what he did on the cross. They don't have a new heart, and so they can read these things, you can preach to them on these things endlessly, and they'll be unmoved by them, and they will never find these things compelling. So we don't want to skip past that and preach like everyone has a new heart. We want to start by saying these things will only make sense to you one way. These things will only have value to you one way.

You'll only have any ability to do these things one way. And that's if you go to Jesus Christ for mercy and you're born again because you placed your trust in him and he gives you a new heart. The new heart actually will love these things, will recognize that they have such a sound footing in scripture and so they'll love these things. So, daughters, I have two things I want to say to you in my few minutes. One, I do not settle for less than that.

There are counterfeits, there are pretend versions of this that fall short of the transformation that the New Testament calls being born again and being made a new creation. In the end, they're a cheat. They'll never satisfy you. Do not settle for less than having it all in Jesus Christ. You can fool yourself, you can fool your parents, you can fool your neighbors, but none of us can fool God.

And in the end, our life apart from Jesus is so sad. Like, I'll talk about our recitation text again. The first part of that, the meaning is, if everything gets stripped away from you, but you have Jesus Christ, you're incredibly rich. But if you have the whole world, but you don't have Jesus Christ, you're terribly, terribly poor. Your dads have come here to tell you, we know by life experience that that is so true.

Don't ever accept less than that. Secondly, and finally, I want to say, I want to call you out of the shadow of your parents faith. So understand what I am saying don't misunderstand and hear what I'm not saying. Here's what I mean. Their faith, meaning the faith of your parents, is the faith.

It's the one true faith. We're betting our lives on the Bible and we're delighted after going down that track. We found it to be true and it delivers on all its promises. So the Bible represents the faith. So using that word in the sense that it is the body of truth that must be believed.

The other use of that word is your is your trust. So embrace the faith of scripture. Amen. Of course. But their faith, their trust in these things is not transferable to you.

So step to whatever extent you're just in the shadow of that step out from it. And own trusting in scripture and especially trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ who he is and what he's done for yourself. Own it for yourself. Which means that going forward, your parents won't have to direct all of your spiritual life. They'll continue to direct some of it.

You're going to church with them. You're probably reading the Bible with them and things like that. But there should be pursuits in your life that show that you have an independent appetite for the things of God. We really long to see that in our children, that you yourself have an appetite for the things of God. I wanna talk about, and this I think piggybacks really well off of what Jason just said, the word maturity.

And I know we talk a lot about definitions and out in the world, maturity might mean a lot of different things to people. It might mean, hey, I hit 18, I'm an adult now, I'm mature. We know that's most often not the case. It might be measured for some people in their education. What kind of accolades have they achieved?

What letters are beside their name, right? For you it might be, hey, I get to hang out with my older brother or sister. I'm mature now, right? We all have varying degrees of measuring what maturity is. But I want to help give a biblical lens just briefly from Hebrews 5 of what spiritual maturity is and I want to give an encouragement to dads for their daughters and encouragement to daughters for the weekend.

In Hebrews 5 the author is talking about some of you guys have been on the the milk of the word for too long. Milk is what do babies start on kids? We have one in the house right now. She's drinking milk. She's not eating steak.

Okay. She's not eating steak. Dad will get her there very quickly, but she's eating milk. And eventually in about a year, she's going to move to solid foods and she's going to start eating real food and she'll grow bigger and stronger. And so spiritually, the author's talking about that, that many people in the church have been on the milk of the word and they need to move to the solid food.

And here's the verse I want to read to you, just one. Hebrews 5 14, solid food belongs to those who are of full age. That is, and there's some tricky language here, but bear with me. Those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. You may find this shocking, but you do not come out of the womb with your uses exercised to discern good and evil.

Your senses refine to discern what is good and evil and guess what? Praise God he's given you parents who are walking alongside you with the Word of God as their lead to help train your senses on what is good and evil. I was struck as we as we look around at our girls here in the room tonight there's a sense in which we're surrounded by future adults, future women. These are these are women who will be mothers hopefully, who will be teachers, who will be future counselors, confidants to their husbands, mentors, friends, and pillars in their own homes and churches and communities. And so we need to do our daughters the service of teaching them to reach maturity in Christ, which begins with the heart, as Jason said, it begins with the heart surrendered to the Lord, and it continues with the pursuit of the knowledge of what is good and evil.

And here's what I wanna say to you daughters. Your parents have done a lot of work through their own life, the good and bad, learning lessons that God's taught them on what is good, what is right, what is righteous to pursue and what is not. We've had lessons learned, we've received the discipline of God, we've received teaching from our parents handed down to us, a lot of work's been done. But guess what this verse suggests? It says, those who are on solid food, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

So as Jason said earlier, there's a sense in which mom and dad can encourage you, but guess what? Your senses have to be trained. Your senses have to be aligned to the word of God. And you are not passive in that. Here's what I want to say this weekend, you'll hear some teaching.

Don't be don't be just a listener that lets that go in one ear and out the other you have the opportunity to be honing and training and sensitizing your senses to what is good and what is excellent. I should pursue this. And what is evil. And here's what I wanna say to dads. Did I drop my paper?

I think I dropped my paper, but here's what I was gonna say to dads. There's a lot that we wanna guard our children from and maybe our daughters from. Have you ever considered that one of the best ways to do that is to train your daughters to pursue wisdom? To pursue understanding? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but wisdom is something you go acquire and that's done through the patterns you establish in your home every day.

It's done not just through building a system that they operate within. It's done by encouraging them to think, encouraging them to apply. I'll close with this. Philippians 1, it says, this I pray that your love may abound still more in knowledge and in all discernment. So he's praying that the love in the church would grow through what knowledge and discernment that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

It is easy work for us to build fences and say that on the other side that's wrong and you know what as parents we have the right to do that and should at times. But our goal for you young ladies is that God as you grow and as you mature in your faith and move from the milk of the Word to the solid food of the Word, that you would have your senses by the Holy Spirit of God exercised to discern what is right and wrong, and that the greatest protection against the attacks of the world or what we see on the outside isn't just fear of what that is, but it's a desire for you, as Philippians 1 says, to approve the things that are excellent. So let's go after that this weekend. That's my admission, and there's my paper behind my Bible. It's okay.

Good evening. I took a slightly different approach to the assignment. Romans 12, verse 2. Paul writes, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So I want to call your attention to this object.

Some of you may know what it is, some may not. That's okay. Scripture calls us as believers to not be conformed to this world but rather Than just have that as a negative command. We do have a positive To be transformed by the renewing of your mind or offer that alternative So this is after being called to be a living sacrifice in verse one, and to Jason's point, it is post salvation. So this is certainly a call to believers to go ahead and be a living sacrifice and then do not be conformed to this world.

This is a difficult task because as it calls us, it calls us to be very counter-cultural. Our American society is hard at work trying to separate families, not just divide, but separate into individuals with little regard for one another. Independence is the cry. Not always a bad thing, but we need to be very careful on how we navigate through this life. We want to be well within the will of God.

So today, women make up 46% of the workforce in America. Now, nearly half. Now, while there are certain professions and careers that are good, right, and proper for women in specific circumstances, it's not always ideal and can run counter to God's design. Remember this? This is a pipe wrench.

It is designed for a very specific purpose. Can I use this as a hammer? Yes. Absolutely. It's heavy, it's sturdy, it's thick, and in certain circumstances it would do the job and do the job well.

However, is a hammer this object's created purpose? No, it is not. And so even though it's possible to use this as a hammer, it would not be the purpose that this was designed for. So what do we learn here? Adequacy does not equal best use purpose we're calling.

So it's the same thing with women. There are some very effective female workers in a multitude of professions today. They work hard, they move up the ladder of success, they reap the accompanying rewards. Is that their best calling? I'm not going to judge.

I can't speak for every working woman. I'm not saying that God's will can't use women in the workforce, but look at the potential costs. There are many who trade family for career or hire others to nurture, educate, and mentor their children into adulthood. The ultimate cost is to the family or lack thereof as relationships were never fully developed or worse yet women become like a woman an attorney I knew years ago. Katherine was a very successful attorney for a firm that I worked with in an adversarial role.

She was facing retirement after a lengthy career. Becoming a senior partner in the firm and having her name prominent on the letterhead, she poured heart and soul into the firm at the expense of everything else. No social club, no church affiliations, no family. Nothing other than career. Now, she would be considered an American success story.

As I got to know her, she marveled at the size of my family. And she said that she had nothing to look forward to in retirement, just her and her cat. And how sad and how empty that's going to be. Ultimately futile. In about 10 years, no one is going to care about the work that Catherine put into the firm that she so tirelessly worked for to build up into a successful practice.

Now I know another lady, her name is Patricia. Patricia never married. Now we can say with confidence, because she is of an advanced age, that she was called to singleness. So, and she would certainly fit the bill for what Paul called out in 1 Corinthians chapter seven. She had a career in corporate world, in the corporate world to meet her financial needs and was very involved in her local church, particularly in children's ministry and choir, ultimately working as church secretary before she retired.

Now today, she has very many family, in quotes, connections with her niece and her children, as well as those that she knows from her church involvement. Psalm 68, six said, God puts the solitary in families. Patricia has a legacy of faith and service to God, even as a single woman. What do you do with that here today? What do we do with it?

I don't share Catherine's story as a scare tactic, but to say that the risk is real. If you are aware of the risk early, then you can prepare to make wise decisions at the appropriate time. Whether you're called to singleness, or marriage and family, what you can work on now is to focus on God's will, working out your salvation with fear and trembling, and work on a heart for family, your family, your church family, any future family that the Lord blesses you with, and develop that sense of nurturing and empathy for others. Motherhood, or nurturing, is a part of God's design and purpose for women. Not all women will be mothers, and I'm not disparaging anyone for their specific situation.

Don't get me wrong. I am saying to resist the cultural pressure to pursue a successful career at the expense of motherhood or family. Families are determined in their own status and actions under God's leadership. I'm saying to follow the scriptural mandate of being transformed through salvation and devotion to Jesus and allow the one who knows all and knows best to guide your path. Proverbs 3, 5 through 7.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil." That's how you resist the culture and serve your Master with gladness. We all have a Master.

Isn't it wise to have a master who loves you and offers guidance, provision, and wisdom for this life in preparation for the next? That's countercultural. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the opportunity to pour into these young ladies and to minister to their fathers. We ask that you would pour wisdom out on these tender hearts at a young age.

Call them first to yourself. Lord, let salvation come to this group and let them grow in the wonder and wisdom and knowledge of your son Jesus in whose name we pray, amen.