Understanding How You Can Be The Gatekeeper For Your Family

Steven Roberts: [00:00:00] Amen, amen. What is up, Journey? All right, man. How are we doing this morning? Good. Well, as you just heard, Pastor James would love to welcome every single person who is here this morning. And if you were watching online, man, just welcome to Journey this morning, man. It is a blessing to be in the house of the Lord. Amen? Amen. Obviously, I am not Pastor James. So as you just heard, he's out of town, just celebrating, celebrating. If you didn't know, as he said, man, 48 years of marriage. So they are celebrating that. Today is also Pastor's birthday. So happy birthday, Pastor, man. Just celebrating, man. That's awesome. And they deserve it. They deserve it so much. So Pastor, after you watch our sermons because I know you're watching, even though you should be celebrating, I know you're watching online because, Journey, let me tell you how much Pastor loves you guys that on an anniversary, on a birthday, on a Hamilton celebration, I can guarantee you he's in the chats right now to be here with you. So not every pastor is that. So let's give it up for Pastor James real quick. All right. So, Pastor, when you're done watching all of this, please go celebrate. Take lots of pictures because I love to see the pictures when you come back. And if you did not know who I am, my name is Pastor Steven.

Steven Roberts: [00:01:28] I am the world's most blessed children's pastor, and I love my job. I love it. Actually, we were joking last week, and we said, we got the best children's department in the whole universe. And there's not a single alien church that's better than ours. And I said, I don't actually know if that's true or not, but I am the most privileged leader, man. I got a great team. A lot of my team is here right now. I see my team all over the place. So they are here to learn so they could bring a blessing to your children. So give it up for them too. Children's department. I love them. I love them. I love them. And least on my list but very first in my heart is, man, I want to say a big thank you to my beautiful bride. I made a promise to myself when I first got into ministry quite a few years ago, I made a promise that whenever I got to come up on stage and give a sermon, I would always thank my wife because without her, I could not be here. We had a life. We were married. We had a child before I decided I was going to follow God's call into ministry, which isn't always the easiest call. But she had my back the whole time. She prays for me when she just knows that I need it, even when I'm sitting in the front row.

Steven Roberts: [00:02:57] I normally sit right there. She rubs my back just because she knows that brings me comfort. So huge thank you to my beautiful wife because I legitimately could not be here right now without her. Yeah, that's it. That's it. My baby, Miranda. So when you see her, give her a huge high five because she is really the reason that I'm able to stand up here. But I say all of that for really two main points, right? First one is I'm a children's pastor. So I'm used to preaching to children. So I'm probably going to be wandering around. I'm clearly wearing really bright colors. I wear bright colors because for children, the psychology is they're going to pay attention more and they're going to hear what God is saying. So after this sermon, let me know, is my outfit, did it keep you entertained? Did it keep you listening to God? Or is that just a kid thing and maybe you guys are too old for that? But I'm going to be wandering around, but I promise I will always come back to the center because that's where my notes are. So I'll always be back here. Production guys, I'm sorry. You guys are fixing to work this morning. So but the second point, and this is the important point, right? This is the important one. When I'm back there, when I'm back there at the kids department, I write those sermons for kids.

Steven Roberts: [00:04:20] I write it at the cognitive level for a child. I preach God's Word, I preach the Bible, but I preach it in a way that a child is going to cognitively receive it and grow and learn. This sermon is not that. Okay? This sermon is for you. This sermon is for adults. And I was kind of joking when I wrote this, but it is serious. I'm kind of the substitute teacher, right? I mean, we're used to seeing Pastor James up here, and I used to love when substitute teachers would come in. And I'm showing my age. They would roll in the TV cart. And I knew, I knew it was going to be a good day because I was going to watch a movie and I wasn't going to do anything. I promise you, that ain't today. So buckle up, baby. All right? This message is from God, and I believe that this message is for somebody in here today because God told me, be the microphone, Steven, because God's going to be speaking. Can I get an amen? All right. So let's start. If you have your Bibles, go ahead, open it to Hebrews 8. I'm going to start right off the bat with God's Word. Hebrews 8, verse 3. And we are knocking it out. So for every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So it is necessary that this high priest have something to offer.

Steven Roberts: [00:05:44] They're referencing Jesus here, giving you a little background in the book of Hebrews. So this high priest in here means Jesus. So now if He were on Earth, He would not be a priest at all since there are those who offer the gifts according to the law. In verse 5. So who serves? So that's us. So who serves as a copy? So when they're talking, they were building a tabernacle, they were building a church, and in Hebrews, this was a letter written to the Hebrew Church. And they were talking about their sanctuary, so their church. And they were saying this sanctuary is to be a copy, a replica, a blueprint, if you will, of heavenly things. So just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the Tabernacle. And keep on going into verse 6. And God said to Moses, you see, He says, that you make all things by this pattern. So God said to Moses, this is really important. You probably going to want to get this right. And He says, by the pattern, which I showed you on the mountain. Continuing on into verse 6. But now He has obtained and He again, Jesus, remember everything's dating back to Jesus here. But now Jesus has obtained a more excellent ministry to the extent that He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which He has enacted on better promises.

Steven Roberts: [00:07:27] For if that covenant, the first covenant, the covenant that Moses brought, had been free of faults, no circumstances would have been fought and sought for another. Let's pray real quick. Lord God, I just come to you, Father, and I pray right now, Lord God, that we hear your Word, Lord Jesus. God, we pray, Father, that your word would be echoed in all of our hearts, Lord Jesus. And as I'm getting really excited just reading this, Lord Jesus, getting excited about the message that you have, Father, I would pray for the hearts of every single person here this morning and online that we hear you and that our chests start beating in excitement at your Word, Father. Amen. Man, so that's a lot of scripture, right? I kicked it right off with a whole bunch of scripture. But I promise you, we're about to break it down. So the sanctuary that they are currently doing ministry at when this book was written, the sanctuary, the church, what we are in right now is supposed to be a copy of the Tabernacle that Moses originally built. So we are a copy of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle is a copy. Everybody say copy. Is a copy of things seen in Heaven. So how crazy is that? So what we are sitting in right now is really a copy of a copy.

Steven Roberts: [00:08:53] But what we are sitting in God designed for us to be able to see a glimpse of what He has in Heaven waiting for. So are we doing that? I guess not. Are we doing that? Okay. So I don't know if you caught that, right? So here was Moses, right? A little back story, Moses. Moses fought really, really hard in Egypt, right? He fought. He prayed with God. He went before the most powerful man in the whole world at that time. And he would sit down face-to-face with the pharaoh, and he fought tooth and nail for his people, God's people, to be freed because they were slaves. And that is all Moses did. So Moses fought tooth and nail the whole time. God finally makes a way for them to get out. They get out. And if you've been with us during this series, you heard Pastor James preach on this either last week or the week before. They immediately started to complain as they were walking around, right? There were griping. They were complaining. They were saying, things were so much better when we were slaves. Things were so much better when we were living in bondage. Things were so much better. Can we go back? And Moses says, God, don't listen to them. You're awesome. And God says, Moses, come here with me. So Moses goes to the top of a mountain, and with all of that complaining, and this is important for me to remember.

Steven Roberts: [00:10:34] So I assume at least one other person is as much of a sinner as I am. This is a little bit important. Moses goes up to the mountain, and God says, man, all of these people are complaining. All of these people are sinning. They're doing wrong. They want to go back to the vomit that they were living in. But I still want to give them a glimpse of Heaven. So Moses, write this down and get it right. So Moses in all of that complaining, and that's mind-blowing for me being a human because I hear the children complain and bicker a lot and sometimes—here’s my confession—I don't always want them to see a little glimpse of Heaven. All right? But then here's God. And God is saying, I don't care how much they complain. They're still my children, and I want to show them the good things. So Moses takes 40 days to write it all down, 40 days to get every angle, every curve, every inch. He said, God, I'm going to get this right because you just told me how important this is. So then Moses takes 40 days up on top of the mountain, writes it all down, and then comes down from the mountain. And I could just picture Moses, right? Moses is about to deliver good news.

Steven Roberts: [00:11:55] He's probably skipping. He's probably heel-clicking. He's stoked. He gets all the way down to the mountain, and he's got the Tabernacle. He's got something that he says is going to be a glimpse of Heaven directly from God to you. And do you know what the people were doing? There were worshiping a golden calf that they made out of gold jewelry that they had laying around. Forty days. Moses was gone for 40 days. That's it. And in 40 days, the Israelites, God's chosen people, completely forgot that God just brought them out of slavery, that God just brought them out of bondage. And in 40 days, they were worshiping a golden calf that they created. You know, the real problem, and hear me when I say this, the real problem is not what was going on in that moment. The real problem was not them worshiping the golden calf although that is certainly an issue. But that is not the problem. The real problem, Journey, hear me, the real problem is that when they were in Egypt, they let their houses open. When they were in the Egyptian culture, they were letting the Egyptian culture into their house. The fathers, the mothers, the parents. They were not being good gatekeepers within their homes. And when they were forced to live within the culture, they were allowing the culture to live within them. Somebody better hear me this morning, Journey.

Steven Roberts: [00:13:21] So what do you have entering into your house this morning that shouldn't be there? What do you have that you're allowing from our culture in your house, in your family, with your children that God has warned us is not of us? It is not God culture. It is society culture. You know, the real issue here is that when the Israelites got out of Egypt, they didn't get Egypt out of the Israelites. So let's be honest for a minute. We're allowing too much crazy in our lives. We're allowing way too much crazy in our lives. And you know how I know that? Because I tell people, and I'm about to tell a whole lot of people, all of you here, all of you online, I don't watch a lot of news. I don't. I watch just enough news to get by. And when I tell people I don't watch a lot of news, they look at me like I'm irresponsible. Me. They look at me like I'm the irresponsible one because I don't watch a lot of news. And maybe, maybe I'm too busy trying to protect the God culture that I'm creating in my house that I don't want the world's culture to come in. And maybe I'm too busy trying to protect my mind, trying not to submit my mind to the crazy. Maybe I'm too busy. I've got a little daughter. I'm trying to protect her beautiful mind.

Steven Roberts: [00:15:00] I'm trying to protect my wife's mind from the world, from the crazy. Maybe that's what I'm trying to do. And then I always hear and they say, yeah, but you won't be informed. Okay. Maybe. But I'm also not going crazy. You know? Amen. If we are too busy trying to copy the culture of the world, I can guarantee that you're going to miss the Kingdom culture that God's trying to bring into your family. So that was my first point. If you're taking notes, if you've got the bullets in, my first point, if you missed it, was be careful what you allow in your family from culture. Not everything's bad, but not everything should be there. Amen? Point number two, if you are so inclined to keep writing your notes, and I hope that you are. Be careful what you allow in your family from people. So what do I mean by that? Now, listen, there's nothing wrong with taking mentors, right? There's nothing wrong with looking to successful people and trying to aspire to be like that. Don't misquote me on that. So if you're writing notes, write them correctly. Don't misquote me and blast me on the internet. I'm probably not going to see it anyway because I don't follow the media. Okay. So there's nothing wrong with that, right? The issue is when we take a snapshot.

Steven Roberts: [00:16:40] We take a snapshot, a cropped picture, and we try to start applying that and copying that to our lives. So I mean, I was talking to Pastor Darrell, and I don't see him in here, but I was talking to Pastor Darrell, right? If you didn't know, great photographer. We got Pastor James, Pastor Darrell, Pastor Josh. If you've never seen their artwork, man, here's my shameless plug. JamesWGreer.com has Pastor James’ pictures. Check out Josh's or Darrell's Facebook page. Their artwork is absolutely beautiful. And I was talking to Pastor Darrell, and I said, Pastor Darrell, you're a great photographer. How long does it take you from the moment you snapped the picture until the moment you post it online? And he goes, I couldn't even tell you. Hours, days. Who knows? And I said, well, you probably got to get the white balance correct in the photo and maybe add a little bit of warmth. And by that point in the conversation, it was obvious I had no idea what I was talking about because I'm not a photographer. But the point of that is it takes a very long time from the moment he snaps that picture until the moment he posts it online. See, the thing that we see is we see what Pastor Darrell wants us to see in that picture. He may have completely changed the color. He may have made it more vivid, more bright, more attractive.

Steven Roberts: [00:18:09] He may have had to crop something out. He may have had to shift our focus. And from the moment he snapped the picture until the moment we see the picture, it could be a completely different picture because we're only seeing what he wants us to see. And now we're taking that snapshot, we're taking that copy of something that's completely different than this original picture, and we're trying to apply that into our lives. But we have not taken into account the surcharge or the sacrifice that he had to pay for the hours of work that he had to put in to us seeing that one snapshot. Be careful what we are copying from other people. So I live an awesome life. I'm going to be the first one to admit that. I have my dream job. I have my dream girl. My wife is beautiful. She's awesome. She's a hard worker. She always has my back. I have a beautiful, beautiful daughter who makes me so proud to be a dad. Every single day, I get to come up here and preach. Every Sunday, I get to hang out with children. I have a great life. I do. But just a mere two years ago, when the only ministry job I could find was part time and apart from the part time work, I still had a wife and a child to feed. I had to go out, and I had to substitute teach every single day that I could.

Steven Roberts: [00:19:26] And then on top of that, I still wasn't making ends meet on that. I had to go down to the plasma bank twice a week just to put food on my table to feed my beautiful family. The me that you see here, you need to take into account the whole picture of what God brought me and my family through to get me here. So when you look at this snapshot of us, you need to take into account that surcharge. Can I get an amen? Amen. Okay. All right, man. So up until this point, we have really been talking about trying to keep the negative out, which is hugely important. That's why I had two whole points designed around that. Keeping the negative away. And as adults, as parents, as dads, as moms, as grandparents, as aunts, as uncles, as respected members in our society, God tasked us with that. That is your job. But there's a whole third point, right? There's a whole third point into your house. And here's a real danger that God really put on my heart that I want you to hear this morning. And the danger is this. God wants me to warn you about keeping promises within context. And you're probably thinking, what does that mean? What does that mean? Let's go back to Hebrews verse 6.

Steven Roberts: [00:21:00] Hebrews verse 6. There we go. But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry to the extent that He is also a mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. For if the covenant had been free of fault, no circumstances would have sought for a second. So what does that mean in your life? It means that the whole reason Jesus came with the New Covenant had nothing to do really with the original covenant. That original covenant was perfect. I promise you that original covenant was from God. And what God makes, God makes perfect. Everybody say perfect. All right. You're still with me. So what God makes, God makes it perfect. So there was nothing wrong with God's end of the old covenant, which means what was wrong with the old covenant? You. Absolutely. Me. We were what was wrong with the old covenant. So and here's the thing. The old covenant, and we continually focus when we when we look at that, we continually focus on this old covenant that we could not obtain. We could not hold our end of the bargain. So Jesus came down and Jesus being God that we learned even when we're—I almost said a word that I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say. It wasn't a cuss word, but I'm not going to say it. When we're not smart, when we're not kind, when we're doing bad things, God still wants to show us Heaven.

Steven Roberts: [00:22:36] So that's where Jesus came down. And the problem is if we keep looking back to the old covenant, we're never going to see the glory of the New Covenant, the grace of the New Covenant that God is trying to bring into your life. If we keep trying to copy the old covenant in a context that does not make sense for us because we are living under the blood, we are living under the new covenant, we are going to completely miss the miracle that Jesus has for you. So I want to look at John 5. It's going to jump around. So don't worry. We're going to put it up on the screen. John 5, verse 6. So Jesus, everybody say Jesus. Jesus upon seeing this man lying there and knowing he had already been in that condition for a long time said to him, do you want to get well? And we're going to keep going. Maybe. So Jesus, and because of the things that He was doing. So we just saw the things that Jesus was doing, Jesus looked at a man who was ill. He had been ill the whole time. And Jesus looks at this man, and He heals that man. And He heals the man, and it happened to be on. Does anybody know what day it was? The Sabbath, the Sabbath. And He heals on the Sabbath, and the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees began to persecute Jesus. So the Pharisees were willing to let somebody die because they viewed that as working on the Sabbath, which I mean, if you ask me, I think persecuting is also kind of working on the Sabbath. But we're going to let that one slide for the sake of this sermon.

Steven Roberts: [00:24:26] The Pharisees were taking this concept, right? The concept of not working on the Sabbath. Well, that concept was not constructed for when the Pharisees were. That concept, that law was designed at a time when the Israelites were not giving God glory, they were not remembering God. They were working and working and working, and they were never resting. They were never home with their family. They were never giving God the glory that God deserves. So God had to create a law that said, fine, you want to work six days a week? One day you're going to remember who's allowing you to work those other six days a week. And that was when that law was originally made. So the Pharisees were so caught up with this old covenant, this old law that did not make sense anymore because they had temples, they had synagogues, they had sanctuaries, built, designed that people were coming and worshiping and remembering God. They were trying to atone for their sins. They were doing all of these things. They did not need the old Sabbath law, but the Pharisees could not get over the law. And they were putting the law over the people, and they were willing to let somebody die to protect their law.

Steven Roberts: [00:25:42] See, if you are focused on rules of the past, if you are focused on everything that you did yesterday, you're never going to get to stand there and see what God has for you today. So here's a question, right? Here's a question that I really wrote down for myself, but I'm going to let you in my head. Don't be scared. We're here. Are you so focused on rules and on the past and on the things you did last year and on a situation that you created in your house or that your parents created when you were a kid or that your grandparents rules had for your home that you're willing to miss the opportunity that God has for the future of your family? Or another question, are you still trying to force something in your classroom, force something in your home that God is no longer calling you to do? You know, I'm going to start closing here. I learned that from Pastor James. I'm going to start closing here. This whole message really boils down to one point. Okay? In kids church, I always preach one point, one point sermon. So you got a little bit more than that today. But I call it the big idea. And if they leave and they go home, and all they remembered was that one sentence, that one big idea, I'm happy.

Steven Roberts: [00:27:22] So for you this morning, if you leave here with this one big idea and you could post it online, matter of fact, I'd love to see you post it online. Show me that you know this one big idea. And I'm going to be happy, and I'll consider myself a good microphone for the Lord. So today's big idea is be careful what you allow in your home. You're the gatekeeper, guys. You are the gatekeeper for your home. You're the gatekeeper for your family. Whether you have been married a very long time, maybe you're single, maybe you're about to get married, you are the gatekeeper for your family. What are you going to allow inside your house when you leave here today? You know, this whole idea of the gatekeeper was built off of the New Covenant. The New Covenant was all based on Jesus shedding His blood and pouring it over your household. This whole covenant is a promise that God is giving you that says, I'm going to be the sentry and I'm going to stand guard outside. But you're the gatekeeper of what you're going to allow God to do today. And maybe you're sitting there and you're saying, okay, well, how do I have Jesus as my sentry? How do I have Jesus as my guard? And Jesus says, all you got to do is ask.

Steven Roberts: [00:29:06] Jesus said, this whole new covenant does not rely on us anymore like the Old Covenant did because we couldn't do it. This whole covenant is built on a promise that Jesus made for you, and you just have to ask Jesus to be the guard in your life. You just have to ask Jesus into your family, and Jesus will change. He will change everything within your house, I promise you. He will always put food on the table, which I found out. But you've got to ask Him. So in just a few moments, you know, Pastor Darrell is going to have a team up here, and they're going to be at the altar. If you've never done that before, start today. Get the Egypt out of your household, and let God and His culture start coming into your household. Build this house on that foundation that God promises you. Can I pray for you? All right. Let's stand. Lord God, we thank you so much, Father. We thank you, Lord God, that we are able to build our house upon your foundation, Lord God. And right now, I pray, Father, that this message from you is resonating in somebody's heart. Lord God, that this message is resonating, Lord Jesus, and that they are going to put actions and steps to your word. Lord Jesus, we love you so much, Father. And in your holy and precious name. Amen.

Bruce Goulart: [00:30:41] Thank you, Pastor Steven so much for that awesome message of All in the Family. Y'all, thank y’all for joining us this morning. On behalf of Pastor James. I just want to say thank you for being here this morning and thank you for tuning in to our online experience. Y’all, it's been an amazing series of All in the Family, and I can't wait till next week. But hey, y'all, if y'all need someone to pray with y’all, I need y’all text the word ‘move’ to the number (318) 416-6422. That number is (318) 416-6422. And you just need to text the word ‘move’ and a link will come to you. That way, someone will get with you right away. Hey, again, I just want to say thank you so much for joining us this morning as we continued our series, All in the Family. And you know, if you want to tune in for next service, we all have Pastor Richie join us in preaching a great message. So thank y’all again and see y'all next week.

Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.