Families in a Time of Crisis - Joshua 24 - Skip Heitzig

I'm going to be coming to you from the scriptures in the Book of Joshua chapter 24. So if you have your Bible with you, open up to Joshua chapter 24. I found this little quip I want to begin with, great truths about life that kids have learned.

Number one, no matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats. Number two, when your mom is mad at your dad, don't let her brush your hair. Number three, if your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.

Number four, never ask your three-year-old brother to hold a tomato. That's good wisdom. Number five, you can't trust dogs to watch your food.

Boy, we've had that, haven't we, so many times. We've put our food down. The dog comes up while we're getting up to get water. Boom, it's gone.

Number six, don't sneeze when somebody is cutting your hair. Number seven, never hold a vacuum cleaner and a cat at the same time. Number eight, you can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.

Number nine, don't wear polka dot underwear under white shorts. Let me revise that. Don't wear polka dot underwear at all, ever. But anyway, number 10, the best place to be when you're sad is grandpa's lap. I like that one.

I want to talk to you about the family tonight and especially a family going through a time of crisis. You may be a family watching this. But I'm also mindful that not everybody who's joining our service now is with their family.

You might be single. You might have never married. Or maybe you raised a family, but your family is in different parts of the country, and you feel isolated right now. You feel alone.

If that is the case, I want you to know you have a spiritual family. We love you. We want to connect with you. We understand that this is a terribly isolating situation we're all in.

But we're going to get through this. And we want to get through it with you. We want to do life with you. And if there's creative ways we can reach out to pray for you, to encourage you, we want to do that.

But having said that, the family unit-- and I'm speaking about the family proper-- is the fundamental component of all societies. In fact, before there was ever any institution, before there was any human government, God created marriage. And then he instituted the family. And it is the most important part of a culture. As the family goes, so goes society, so goes the culture.

Now, I mentioned my family. I'm married to Lenya May. She's sitting right here on our little stage studio. My son Nathan is here.

First of all, it's a miracle that we got married. I would say that. Just the history-- she's asking why, because she's baiting me, wanting you to tell the story. Here's the bottom line. I was a flaky individual.

Now, let me revise that. I am a flaky individual. And as a flaky individual, it just took me so long to make a commitment and to ask the question. But we did. And we raised our family. We came to New Mexico.

We waited five years before we had children. And our first born is our only born, Nate. And he is such a blessing to us. We tried to have other children. We were unable to do that for infertility reasons.

But Nate married a wonderful gal that some people here know-- and if not, we're going to introduce her and a little bit-- Janae, his wife. And they have two wonderful kids, or grandkids Seth and Katie. We love them very, very much.

And not only do we have a family, but we've had our share of crises before as families. You had infertility issues, Lenya. Both of us together had infertility issues. We worked through that.

We worked through the death of my father, and the death of my mother, and losing children in the womb. You've had that before. We've had medical crises. You've had cancer. You're 11 years, I think almost 12 years, cancer free.

I've had my own medical issues with a back surgery, two brain surgeries. We've had the crisis of moving from Albuquerque to another place, and then moving back, and the stress that created. And now we're in the middle of another crisis. And that is the coronavirus.

So what I want to do is share with you just a few thoughts out of Joshua. Because in the Book of Joshua, Joshua, who is the general in charge of the nation of Israel, the armies, and is the successor of Moses-- so he is basically the commander in chief of the leadership of Israel. Joshua is leading a nation that has been and is in crisis.

They had been in Egypt. They got kicked out of Egypt. The Lord delivered them from Egypt.

They went through the wilderness for 40 years and all of the trials that that caused. They're in a land surrounded by enemies trying to settle the land. So they're a nation that has been for a while in crisis.

And in this section, Joshua chapter 24, probably one of the most famous versus in scripture-- that's for me in my house. We will serve the Lord-- Joshua wears, effectively, three hats. He wears the hat of the chairman of the nation. He wears the hat as the challenger of the people of God. And he wears the hat of the choice maker for he and his family.

And all three hats are seen in chapter 24 of the Book of Joshua. Now, the book opens up where Joshua, as the chairman, gathers the people together. So in verse 1 of Joshua 24, it begins, "Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, for their officers. And they presented themselves before God."

Joshua gathered the leaders together, because he could. He was the leader. He had a final message he wanted to impart to the nation and especially to and through the leaders.

Now, the nation of Israel is a group at that time of about 3 million or so people. They're settling the land of Canaan. At the time. According to Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian, Joshua-- who, by the way, at this time is about 100 years old.

He was born in the slavery of Egypt. And he was probably about 19 years of age during the exodus when the children of Israel left Egypt. And so he was a part of that wandering remnant going through the desert on their way from Egypt to Canaan.

You remember, also, he was one of the two spies when Moses sent 12 spies into the land. There were two good ones and 10 bad ones. 10 ones gave a bad report. Only two gave a positive report.

That is, they knew there were giants. They knew there were problems. They knew there were issues.

But they also knew that their God was bigger than the big guys in the land. They came with faith. And it was Joshua and Caleb said, yes, there's giants. Yes, there's problems. Yes, there's issues.

But we serve a big God. And we are able to overcome them. We need more of that kind of talk going forward. We serve a big God. And Joshua was one to do that.

By about age 59 or 60 is when Joshua took over as chairman of the nation, president of the nation, prime minister of the nation. Moses left the scene. Joshua is put in charge.

He has led the children of Israel through many battles, through settling their tribal allotments. And now this is his final speech, at least recorded in the Bible, his last state of the union message. And this 100-year-old legend speaks as a leader to the leaders that he gathers.

So he speaks as the chairman. He puts that hat on. But not only does he speak as a leader of the nation, he speaks as the leader of his family.

He gathers them together. He challenges them. And then he makes a very personal choice toward the end of what we're about to read.

What you need to know about Joshua is his priorities. First of all, they were God. But then his priorities were people.

They were never politics. They were never his own personal position. They were never property. They were always people, God's people. He wanted God's people to thrive in their trust of God.

So he puts on that hat, gathers them together. Now I'm going to take you all the way down to verse 14 for the second hat that Joshua puts on. First was the hat of chairman of the nation. Second is the hat of the challenger to the people.

In verse 14, we read-- this is Joshua speaking-- "Now therefore, fear the Lord. Serve Him in sincerity and in truth. And put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the river and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell."

Now verse 14 begins with the word therefore. And I, therefore, need to tell you what he was referring to. He's referring to the first 13 versus.

In verses 1 through 13, Joshua rehearses their history, tells them who they are as a people of God, where they came from, what God has done through them, for them, with them. Joshua speaks of the blessings God gave them, the covenants God gave them, how they migrated from Egypt through the wilderness into the land which they are dwelling in. He mentions the difficulties they went through, the challenges they went through, the hardships they faced. And then he gives a therefore.

In versus 1 through 13, he speaks as if the Lord is speaking, because he says, the Lord said to you. And there are these phrases. I took. I gave. I sent. I brought you out.

This is speaking on behalf of God. I brought you into the land. I delivered you. So he's saying, remember where you've come from. Remember all that God has done with you, for you, through you.

Now here you are in the land God promised. Therefore, fear the Lord. Serve Him in sincerity and truth.

What Joshua is doing-- and watch what he's doing. He's being very logical. He's being theologically logical. And by the way, I found that being theological is often to be very logical.

What he's saying is, because of what God has done for you, therefore, this is how you should respond. Here's the logic in this. Think back, children of Israel, who you are, what God has done, what God has given-- therefore, because of that.

And so what he does here is the commitment that Joshua demands is based as a logical result on the blessing God has given. This is very similar to Paul the Apostle in Romans chapter 12. After 11 chapters of describing the mercies of God, he begins chapter 12, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is your logical or reasonable service.

He's being theologically logical. It only makes sense that you would present yourself to God based on all that God has done for you. That's the idea here in the Book of Joshua.

So the principle is this. We make our decisions. And then our decisions turn around and make us. You are making decisions during this time of crisis, choices every day.

If you're an employer, you're making decisions about your employees, about your future business. If you're a parent, you're making choices about your family. You're making choices about your children. There's no schooling. You are making choices every single day.

But these choices are going to turn around and mold and shape the future for you and for your family. So he's challenging them there. What does he challenge them to do? I love it.

Now, therefore, fear the Lord. Fear the Lord. Pause on that phrase for a moment.

That phrase, fear the Lord, or fearing God, or the fear of the Lord is a phrase that is found more than 50 times in the Bible. A lot of people hear the fear of the Lord and they think, oh, yeah, it means I'm supposed to be afraid of God, walk around cringing. No, it doesn't mean that.

It's not like a Wizard of Oz thing, where were the straw man and the lion were afraid of The Wizard of Oz or that God is somehow up there with a frown, and mad all the time, and I'm afraid of God. It's a beautiful phrase. And if you don't know it as a Christian, I hope it becomes something that unlocks a door for you.

Because the fear of the Lord is one of the most foundational thing. It says in the Bible, it's the beginning of wisdom. It's the beginning of knowledge. The Hebrew term fear of the Lord is the Hebrew construction [HEBREW], the fear of the Lord. And this is what it means.

It means to honor or to revere. It is the same word used of children honoring their parents, giving reverence to their parents because of their position. The fear of the Lord means it's a humble submission or the reverential awe-- let me put it this way-- reverential awe produced by a humble submission to a loving God. I realize God is loving. God has my best interests at heart.

Therefore, I humbly submit to Him. And I have an awe that is based on that. So it's a reverential awe that produces humble submission to a loving God. It's one of the most beautiful phrases in the Bible.

The fear of the Lord-- get this-- is always based on relationship, not on rules. It's because he's my Father. And I know he loves me.

It's not based because he said do this, do that, or else. No, if there's a fear, it's that I'm afraid that I'm going to displease this father who loves me so much. That's the idea of the fear of the Lord.

Now, the fear of the Lord we'll do a couple things for you. Number one, it'll keep you clean. It'll keep you clean. It'll keep you pure.

In Proverbs 16, it says, by the fear of the Lord, one departs from evil. By the fear of the Lord, one departs from evil. We see this in the life of Joseph.

Joseph was imprisoned in Egypt. He was in the house of Potiphar. He was alone with Potiphar's wife everyday. Nobody was looking. Nobody was around to hold him accountable.

But there was one he knew was always around to hold him accountable. And that is Got. The ways of man, the proverb says, are before the eyes of the Lord. He ponders all his goings.

Joseph believed that and lived with that. So on that day, when Potiphar's wife grabbed Joseph and said, sleep with me, come to bed with me, he said, how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? That's the fear of the Lord. When you live with the fear of the Lord, it keeps you clean.

The second thing it does, it keeps you confident. It keeps you confident. It says in Proverbs 14, in the fear of the Lord is strong confidence.

Remember Abraham when he was called upon to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on that altar? And he brought Isaac. And he brought the bundle of wood.

And he said to his servant, stay here. The lad and I will go yonder and worship. And we will come back to you.

That's confidence. Because God told him to kill his son. How can that father say, taking his son, whom he says, I'm going to go sacrifice, we will come back to you?

He must have been confident that either, A, he's not going to go through the sacrifice. God will stop him. Or there's going to be a resurrection. Either way, we're coming back, both of us together.

He had confidence. So when he raised that knife to slay his son and the angel of the Lord stopped him, he said, see that you don't do it. For now I see that you fear God.

So you see, the fear of God keeps you clean. And the fear of God keeps you confident. So Joshua says, now, therefore, fear the Lord.

Fear the Lord. Serve Him in sincerity and truth. And put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river in Egypt. Serve the Lord.

One of the problems that the children of Israel had-- not only here but throughout their history-- were other nations who had other gods, and other belief systems, and other ways of worshipping. And the children of Israel found themselves largely throughout their history influenced by pagan belief systems, so much so that they took some of those belief systems and combined them in their own worship of Yahweh. It's a belief system known as syncretism.

It's not that I'm rejecting God. It's that I'm worshipping God, and I'm worshipping the idols of other nations or the lifestyles of other nations. That became a problem. And the only way God could cure that was a 70-year captivity eventually.

So Joshua, foreseeing the problems of being surrounded by belief systems of others, is that God's people could be influenced by them. So he says, fear the Lord. Serve only the Lord. Put away the foreign gods that you've worshipped in Egypt. Don't let them influencing you.

I've got to ask you a question based on this, especially with your family. What are you letting influence you and your family? What are you allowing in your home, what voices, what pictures, what ideas? What values are shaping the way you do family?

Because I'll tell you, if you're exposing yourself to social media all day long, and soap operas all day long, and secular stuff all day and all night long, that is shaping how you see marriage and how you see raising children. We have to be careful that we don't let the gods of the other nations influence our relationship with God and with family. I found this sad but interesting quote from Kingsley Davis, who is a demographer.

They do a study of demographics. And they look at different age groups in different parts of the country. And this study of demographics, Kingsley Davis, was from UC Berkeley and USC. He had tenure at both.

And he said, at no time in history, with the exception of imperial Rome, has the institution of marriage been more problematic than it is today. Now, I believe his research, but I'm really concerned about the Church being influenced by a culture like that. We have to be very careful that we fear the Lord. We serve the Lord. And by so doing, we put away those influences that are straining and strangling our pure relationship with God.

So, so far, he has two hats on. He has the hat of the chairman of the nation. He puts on the hat as the challenger of the people.

But there is a third hat. And this is really the crux of this wonderful chapter. And that is, he's the choice maker.

Because he says, put away these gods. Serve the Lord. If it seems evil for you to serve the Lord, then figure it out. Choose this day whom you're going to serve.

But he says this at the end of verse 15. "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Here's Joshua saying, look, I've stood before you as your leader. I've challenged you as a nation.

But I can't speak for the whole nation. I can't tell you what choice you're going to make individually or one tribe to another tribe. But I can tell you what I'm going to do. And I can tell you what choice I've made.

Not only have I made this choice, but I and my family have made this choice. And that is, we will serve the Lord. We will serve the Lord.

There's a principle that you shouldn't miss here. Our personal, spiritual commitment ought to affect every other relationship in life. Our personal, spiritual commitment should impact every other relationship we have in life.

The great missionary to China, Hudson Taylor, once said, if your father, your mother, your sister, your brother, if the very cat and dog in your house are not happier because you have become a Christian, then perhaps it's doubtful that you really have become a Christian. In other words, this principle-- if you become a Christian, it will affect everyone around you.

And here's Joshua, the leader of the nation-- the reason he was able to be this chairman and challenger is because of the personal choice he made. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Now let me just let you know that what Joshua was following was something that was indoctrinated him, inbred in him since he was younger.

Before Joshua is the Pentateuch, the first five books of Moses. The last book Pentateuch is Deuteronomy. Moses gives the law of God to the children of Israel. In Deuteronomy chapter 6, one of the seminal chapters in that Pentateuch, he says in verse 4-- you know this verse-- hero Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord, your God with all your soul, all your strength, all your heart-- all your heart, all your soul, all your strength.

But then he says this. And these words, which I command you today, shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up.

You will bind them as a sign. On your hand, they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates. This is God's pattern for passing on truth.

God's pattern is that we pass truth from one generation to the next generation. Then that generation passes it from them to their next generation. And it goes person by person, generation by generation.

Parents pass it on to their children. Don't just take them to Sunday school. They teach their children biblical truth. They pass it on. They model it, and they teach it.

One of the great evangelists in modern history-- more modern history, though, about a century old almost now-- was Billy Sunday. And Billy Sunday has said this. The great tragedy of my life is that, though I have led thousands of people to Christ, my own sons are not saved. It's a heartbreak. So I'm a heartbreaking thing to hear.

As for me and my house-- and the word is household, my family, the Hebrew word bayith-- as for me and my bayith, my household, my family, we will serve the Lord. We've gotten together on this. I've raised them. I've transferred the truth from my generation to them. And they'll pass it on to the next.

So those are his three hats, chairman, challenger, and choice maker. Parents, let me say this. The world needs the kind of children that only you can produce.

We need Christian men, and Christian women, Christian boys, and Christian girls, those who madly love the Lord, their God. They know why they love the Lord, their God. And they're going to be able to pass it on to their generation.

You have a very unique role as a parent. You as a parent are a partner with God in disciplining your children. What that means is you have to be dedicated yourself.

We have the beautiful practice here of dedicating our children when we gather together in the group. And we'll do it again-- can't wait to do it again. In fact, I believe we're going to be dedicating some coronavirus babies, babies who were born during this time, because of all the stay-at-home policies-- great, hallelujah. We need more of them.

But when you dedicate your babies, you yourself have to be dedicated first. If you're not dedicated to Christ, they're going to see it. If you're not sold out to Jesus Christ, they're going to know it.

I'm going to close with this illustration. A guy named Clovis Chapel-- maybe you've never heard of him. But if you're a preacher, you might have heard of him. He wrote many sermons, and he was a great, great teacher of the word of God in America.

Clovis Chapel used to tell a story about two tugboats, two steamboats that left Memphis, Tennessee for New Orleans, Louisiana on the Mississippi River. They were transport boats. And they were steaming out of their port on their way to New Orleans.

And some of the men aboard one started chiding some of the men aboard the other, yelling at them. And it's like, you guys are slow. We can beat you. And so they put more coal to make the thing burn faster to make the boat speed up.

So what became just a normal run down the river now became a race. As one of the tugboats started lagging behind the other-- because the other was putting more coal in, and this boat ran out of coal-- one of the sailors had a bright idea of taking some of the cargo and throwing it into the oven. They discovered it burns just as well. And it provides fuel.

So they discover, we have enough coal to make a run. But we don't have enough coal to win a race. The only way to win a race is to burn the cargo. So they just burned all the stuff that they could on the ship.

And they made it to New Orleans. And they won the race. But they burned their cargo.

I want to ask you a question, parents. In the race of life, are you burning the cargo? You have precious cargo above the journey that you're taking.

You have a spouse. You have children. You have grandchildren.

Is anything worth losing the spiritual relationship, the cargo that is aboard the ship. Don't burn the cargo to win the race. Make sure that you take care of the precious cargo that you have in tow, those little minds that are impressionable, those little eyes and ears that are listening and watching.

Our life is basically lived on two planes, the vertical plane and the horizontal plane. And they're are a fixed axis. If one gets off of balance, everything else gets off balance.

So our relationship with God, when that's on point, then our relationship with people is going to be good. Because we're living in the fear of the Lord. We're serving the Lord. We're seeking first the Kingdom of God. So everything else is going to be in balance.

When our relationship with God gets off balance, everything else in life gets askew. That's why Jesus did say, seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. And everything else will be added to you. So whether you're the chairman of an organization or the challenger of an organization, at the very least, no matter who you are, you're a choice maker for yourself and for those around you, perhaps. Make the right choices.

I'm going to ask my family to come up. I have a few questions I want to ask them about. And I'm going to introduce them to you as they come.

This, of course, next to me is my wife Lenya May Farley Heitzig. And we've been married how many years, Lenya?

39.

Wow.

Isn't it?

It's been hard, hadn't it, being married to me 39 years?

Perfection is hard live next to.

[LAUGHTER]

I got to admit.

OK, so we've been married 39 years. Then next to you is our grandson, Seth.

Yeah.

Seth, how old are you?

I'm nine.

You're nine years old. When are you going to be 10?

This year.

Wow. So pretty soon, your age isn't going to have one number but two.

Mm-hmm.

Two numbers, 10, one, zero. And then pretty soon, you'll be a teenager. Wow. Are you excited about that?

Yeah.

And then next to you is your dad.

That's terrifying.

That's terrifying for Nate.

He might be excited about it, but I'm freaked out.

OK, so Nate is my son. And he's a pastor on staff here at our church, a very apt communicator. Next to him is Cadence Joy. And what a joy she is. Cadence, how old are you?

Seven.

Seven years old. You're going to be eight soon, aren't you?

Mm-hmm.

Wow. Are you excited about your birthday coming up?

Yes.

Yeah. Are you going to be eight before he's 10?

Yup.

Yeah, that'll be good, huh? Because then there'll be less age between you guys. Yeah, you'll be closer together.

Then next to you is Nate's beautiful wife, Janae. Janae, welcome. Thank you for coming.

Thank you.

How long have you guys been married?

Going on 12.

12 years. Yeah, it was 11 last November. This November will be 12.

Wow. OK, so I have a list of questions. I'll see how I can get through all of them. But Lenya, I talked about the fear of the Lord. And I know that has always been one of your big issues in life.

Why is that? And how is that concept-- I remember you learned that as a young Christian. And you believe in that as a core priority principle. And so, how has the fear of the Lord affected your choices?

Probably in every way. But I was a young Christian and youth at the mission. An amazing teacher, Joy Dawson, taught on the fear of God.

And it just twisted everything around. It made all things more elucidated and clear for me. Of course, that I would serve seek Him and seek Him first-- but I think more, it was this idea of relationship with others and the impact that I can have on other people. And I take that seriously, my personality.

And one of the illustrations she used-- and she said, if you're a woman, and you're going to a pastor for counseling, and you say to the pastor, gosh, I kind of have a crush on you or whatever, she's like, that isn't having the fear of the Lord. Because it puts an idea in that person's head. And there are some things we shouldn't say, some things we shouldn't do because of the fear of the Lord. And so I try and cautiously walk in respect of my brothers and sisters and that I don't stumble somebody. I think the fear of the Lord does that in my life, as well.

You do that. And it brings conviction to my heart. I watch you do that. You'll say or do something. You'll pull back on it because of that concept. And then you go, no, I shouldn't do this or say this.

I'm quick to repent.

Yeah, you are. You're quick to own up to it and quick to repent, which brings conviction to me, because I don't always see it until you do it. So you've been a good check for me.

Thank you.

I think there's another side of the fear of the Lord, too. And that's living in fear of what other people are going to say you should do but being mindful that you're following what God says you should do. And I think we talk this a lot in ministry.

There's a million people who think you should do things a certain way. You should raise kids a certain way. You should do this. You should do that.

At the end of the day, I don't care what anyone else thinks about me and my family or what I'm called to do except Jesus. And I think that we need to ultimately make our decisions based on our business, based on our family, based on whatever we do not worrying about what other people say or think. Someone's always going to say, why did you do that? Why did you do that? I think it's important to, to a certain extent, have rhino skin and say, I'm doing what I feel God has called me to do, not what you've called me.

Fear of God, not fear of man.

Right. If you can kneel before God, you can stand before any man.

Exactly.

That's right.

OK, so I want to ask Nate and Janae a question. Then Katie and Seth, I have questions for you, too, OK? So both Nate and Janae, you've been raised by Christian parents.

How has that been an advantage to you? How have you been equipped by that? How did that spiritual training equip you?

Honestly, it's always having a hope in something greater than yourself or greater than your family, something that you can always look to. I feel like, a lot of times growing up in California, I had a lot of friends who didn't believe in the Lord, who didn't have relationships with the Lord. And they were mind boggled by that.

But for me, when they stumbled or when they were having a hard time-- and you're trying to explain to them, cry out to God, and cling to something greater, because you don't understand, and maybe your parents can't explain it to you. But the Lord can bring you peace. And He can give you direction and all of that.

And they just didn't understand that concept. So for me, being somebody who's super emotional and needing to feel, one, I think my parents did a really good job of being Jesus with clothes on or with skin on. And another thing is just having the hope in something greater than myself, greater than my parents that I could really cling to.

That's so good. I think, for me, the word that I would say is firm foundation. He gave me a firm foundation. I think one thing they always say kids crave is stability. There is nothing more stable than a relationship with Jesus.

And when you grow up in a household where it's like, well, believe whatever you want to believe if it's good for you. That's no stability for kids. There's nothing to really sink your roots into it and ground yourself in.

And I think having a very firm foundation built for me of what is right, what is wrong, what is truth, what is fact, what is fiction-- even things like talking about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. I was very much raised with an understanding of this is not real, and this is real. And I think that's important.

Same.

Because I think, a lot of times, parents really err on this side of, oh, that's real, that's real, that's real.

But there really is a Tooth Fairy.

Yeah, his name's Nate and Janae.

[LAUGHTER]

Currently.

Or Grandma and Grandpa.

And they take money out of their hard-earned paychecks. And they give it to their kids, because they love them.

I am generous when it come to losing teeth.

You are very generous, $20 a tooth, man.

[LAUGHTER]

I need to start pulling them out.

[LAUGHTER]

When you have a bedrock on something that's actually there, that really creates for you, I think not just stability. But it also creates, I think, a sense of stability just growing up as an individual in yourself, even. It creates a certain element of not self-reliance, but of just firmness in who you are. You really have a firm understanding of this is who I am, and I'm not going to back down from that.

Good core or good foundation.

Yeah, really good--

Even independence. Because knowing that personal relationship is not your parents' relationship with the Lord, but it's yours.

Mm.

And pouring into that and investing in that is your decision. You have a choice to believe. Your parents aren't making this choice for you.

What if I were to flip that question around and say, you were raised in a Christian home. You told me the advantages. Do you ever feel like you missed something?

If you asked me when I was younger, I probably would've been like, yeah, I didn't get to stay out and do reckless things. And I got in trouble, and grounded, and got in trouble. I look back now, and I'm just thankful for that moral guideline that came obviously from the Bible but totally instructed by my parents. I was held to that standard through my parents.

And looking back now, I'm grateful for it. Because it did help me stay as straight and narrow as possible. Of course, I swayed from that. But I think, without that, the mole balance-- even looking at society today-- of believe what you want to believe and allowing kids to make mistakes, it's like, no, I needed that guidance to say, you're going to make that mistake. If I chose to do it on top of that, well, there are consequences of that not only spiritually with the Lord, but actually here, as well.

Yeah. And I would say, just because you're raised in a Christian household doesn't mean you don't make dumb decisions, mistakes. So miss out-- miss out on what? Well, I still did some stupid things.

I still went to parties. I still went to parties and drank sometimes. I still did some dumb things as a kid. And so I didn't miss out on anything.

I think, if anything, it made you realize that, when you do make mistakes, there's grace in those mistakes. And you're not coming home to a dad who is drunk and is going to hit you. You're coming home to a dad who says, man, you made a really big mistake, but I love you.

And there's grace. And that grace is found there because of Jesus Christ. And so I think you don't miss out on anything.

As a matter of fact, we always talk about, when you come to know Christ, yeah, you're going to have to give some things away. You're going to have to give away your sadness. You're going to have to give away your desperation. You're going to have to give away your longing.

But what you're going to gain is so much more in return. So it's like, do you miss out on certain things? Yeah, but those are things that I'm glad I missed out on.

Things that make you miserable in the end.

--things I'm glad I didn't have. Because what I have what I got is so much better.

Very good. Seth and Katie, can I ask you guys a question? So you have the microphones now. And so tell me, what do you think about what's going on right now in the world? Do you know what's happening out there?

Everyone's freaking out.

Everybody's freaking out. That's actually good answer.

All the stores are closing down.

All the stores are closing. Do you know what's happening? Do you know about why that is?

The corona.

The coronavirus, right, this disease that's spreading around. Do you know about that? What do you think about that?

It's dangerous.

So what have you been taught to do because of that?

Just stay away from people.

And what do you do with your hands?

Wash them every time you touch your face.

That's good.

Wow.

Before you touch your face.

How many faces--

[LAUGHTER]

That's funny. So it also means you guys are not going to school right now, right?

Yeah.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

I don't know.

Seth thinks it's a good thing. Katie thinks it's a sad thing.

I think it's good thing.

[LAUGHTER]

Boys, yes, girls, wah. You miss your friends, Katie.

Let me ask this. Who's more strict, mom, or dad, or your teachers?

Hmm.

Parents.

Good job, Seth!

No, I'm serious.

I'm serious.

No, I'm serious.

OK. So, what's the most fun thing you kids have done? Or what is the most fun about staying home?

That you don't have to do so much work as you usually do.

Oh, you don't have as much work to do, because you're not in school.

I like it, because once you finish all your work that I have to do per day, you could just get to having fun instead of working for a certain amount of time.

So, you have work to do every day, Seth?

Yeah.

What do you have to do? Put your mic up.

I have to do math, language, and then learning how to type on a computer, and then reading.

Wow.

And then that's all. Yeah.

OK, so, Lenya, let me just turn it back to you for a second. You're a wife. You're a mother. You're a grandmother. What have you seen the coronavirus do in affecting your roles in the family?

I love being a nurturer. So it just really brings out that part of me. I want to cook.

I want to have the family over. I want to cuddle. I want to light fires and go for walks.

The meals have been so amazing.

So for me, when something's going wrong, I want to bring my people close and take care of them. So I think a lot for me is just spending time-- as much as we can-- with our families together and making sure that it's all still everything safe still. It's good. So I like that.

I just think, too, that there's prayers that I would have prayed for the United States and would never have realized that this is answering those prayers, that we would return to God, and return to church, and that we would, as families, go home, and have meals together, and value that. And you see people in parks, and walking with their dogs, and kites, and you're like, yes. This is really what life is about. So, so many of the things that I would have prayed and said, boy, I wish the United States or we as a people would get back to these core values-- and I see that happening not just in them, in me, as well-- that you're getting the main thing, the main thing.

Good. Let me ask all the adults now a question. You can all chime in. What do you think is the most challenging part of being quarantined?

I'm a homebody. And I never thought I would want to get outside my home.

[LAUGHTER]

So I think the most challenging part is-- I think we've done a really good job of still being social and with the proper distancing and still having those intimate circles that you hang out with. And so I think we've done a good job of that. But I feel like it just feels like Groundhog's Day over and over again when you get up and you have the same routine.

So it's kind of hard and challenging to change it up a bit even for the kids. I don't want them to just grow weary of getting up, and having to go on the computer, and go do school. And it's hard to be a little bit more creative in that while still abiding by the government's guidelines.

Yeah. I think the word that I would use is grace. I think it's been hard to find a new measure of grace. It's a lot to be a parent without coronavirus, especially raising young kids, kids who are learning schoolwork, and coming home with homework, having sports. There's no sports now. But that requires a certain measure of grace for that.

But I think, in this, there's an additional measure of grace. Someone I follow on Instagram said, I'm not seeing any posts from all the wives saying, I'm so blessed. My husband's the best husband ever right now. You're not seeing all those posts right now, because everyone's stuck at home with each other.

And look, there's blessings to that. It's awesome to be able to be home and spend more time with the kids.

But it's challenging.

Yeah, we got to play outside more, go on picnics, play with the dogs more, go in the hot tub more, things like that. But at the same time, when you're stuck at home with anybody for over 30 days, that can be trying. And I'm blessed to be able to still have a job, and go to work, and get out of the house. And there's elements of that.

But if you're stuck at home 24/7 with somebody, I don't care how much you like that person. There is going to be moments where you're like, man, I just to get away. And so I think the big thing that I would just stress to families is grace. Have grace on each other.

Kids, have grace with your parents. They're doing the best they can. It's hard.

And kids, sometimes you need to put your parents in time out. Just say, attitude-- no, I'm just kidding. You have to respect your parents.

I'm old.

If you ever do that--

[LAUGHTER]

Really, I can do that?

Well, no. We've had a couple of squabbles, as well, honey-- that it's just hard when you're home and you're not used to having that much intensity. And so you're right. Grace is what you really need.

I think you said, what do we miss, or what's the hardest part? What was your exact--

Hardest part.

The hardest part. I miss my friends-- not just my family. I'm a friend-oriented person. And so they're important in my life, as well. So I really miss my friends.

Lenya, let me talk ministry for a minute, because you've had to change up how you do sheologie, how you do Reload Love, your podcast. How are you managing to do all those things during this time?

Well, just this week, we merged podcast and women's ministries so that-- we were studying the Holy Spirit. So now via the podcast, we're interviewing and going through the motivational gifts, seven of the motivational gifts. And you can go to lenyaheitzig.com and take the spiritual test that we do with Life Track.

Spiritual gifts test.

Yes. Or you could go to All the Things Podcast and take the test. It's in our thing. So we're encouraging women that-- look, natural is not going to do it right now. Normal is not going to do it.

There are some times you need supernatural. And you need something more than what you've got. Really, it's all the time. But it's much more acute now.

So I think now is a time for us to really seek, first, the Kingdom, and what is our purpose? And we know our purpose by what gifts He's given us, what callings He's given us. And how could we be using those gifts, and callings, and talents to help this hurting world?

What is God calling us to do? If you have a gift of exhortation, you start calling people, man, calling him out, calling him up, and encouraging them. Or if you have the gift of mercies, you can do a ding dong ditch. You can drop and run, leave things for people.

So we're really wanting to encourage the women that, just because you're at home, doesn't mean you can't be using the gifts. The gift of intercession is important. And so let's tap into the Holy Spirit power.

Seth and Katie, when you grow up, what do you think you're going to remember most about this time?

OK, this is one of the things-- I know you guys might laugh about it-- but I got to play my dad's video game. It's a war game. And it's really fun.

And so you're going to remember that growing up. That was the time I got to play my dad's game.

It was awesome.

OK.

[LAUGHTER]

Good. That's a positive way to look at it.

I'm going to remember getting my puppy.

Oh, you got a new puppy. Tell us about your puppy.

Archie.

He's really sweet. He loves snuggling. And he's really sweet. And he chews everything.

He chews everything. I've noticed a lot of people are getting puppies during this time.

Yeah, they're running-- most places--

They're running out.

I think one thing Janae and I talked about is we wanted-- as much as this is a huge change in their lives, they're not doing sports anymore, they're not going to school, we wanted to try to make this as normal as possible. They'd come out of coronavirus and this whole pandemic not saying that was the worst three months ever, but they'd come out of it with memories and with joy. And so we've tried to have family movie nights. We've tried to have friends over-- and social distance-- but have friends over and be able to have them interact with some people and some kids to keep that going.

We wanted to get a puppy, because we wanted-- there's nothing that brings joy into a household like a new puppy. So we got a cute little puppy to try to bring some joy there. We've tried to let them go to the park still, and go play at the park, and do things like that, and do picnics at the park like we talked about.

Janae's been taking them out on bike rides and just trying to make this something they come out of looking forward to.

Seth and Katie helped me re-do my whole pantry.

Yeah, they do.

And so they came over. And they cleaned up my whole closet. We're on ladders and cleaning.

And they work hard. They stay at it.

They work really hard.

Yeah, you do. OK, so I just want to give everybody a pass. Because everybody's going to feel this.

You would say, Nate and Janae, it has been challenging in your marriage to be quarantined like this. There's been challenges during this time, just like Lenya and I said, it's not always easy. Would you say that?

It's funny. We have a really good relationship. But there are times where we butt heads, of course. It's just a weird season. And I think I probably reach a level of, OK, my patience has worn thin. I've been home with the kids all day.

And he comes home. And I'm like, I'm done! Tap, tag, you're it! And he's like, I've been working all day. What do you mean, tag, you're it?

And so probably that's where probably the biggest challenge is. But he is my best friend. So we spend every waking minute together when we can.

[LAUGHTER]

We're pathetic. We are really pathetic.

I think something important of that, too-- it just hits a good point, though. Just as much as it's important to cultivate normalcy for kids, it's really important to cultivate normalcy in your relationship. And I think cultivating romance is so important in this time.

Because if you don't cultivate romance and you're not being romantic with one another, you're just going to become roommates who are raising kids with each other. And that really is difficult to do. And so you talked about it. There's a lot of corona babies, because we're all staying home. And married people make babies. That's what they do.

That's a good thing.

So I think it's important to-- not schedule that. But it's important to be intimate when you're at home. It's important to make sure you're cultivating romance, you're cultivating it within a marriage relationship sexual activity, those kind of things. Because that's really important. One of the things our kids love seeing is when we kiss.

I was just going to ask them that.

I think it's important to do that.

Do you want them to kiss right now?

No.

On camera.

[LAUGHTER]

No.

Do your mom and dad kiss a lot?

No.

[LAUGHTER]

Not at all.

Not at all.

[LAUGHTER]

That is hilarious.

That's something thing that they do, like, three times a month.

[LAUGHTER]

Kids say the darndest things.

Or do you want to say 10 times?

10 times.

Yes.

We only do 10. We have them count them. And we keep track-- only 10 times a month-- so one and a half a week.

This is why you don't have kids on TV.

[LAUGHTER]

One of the unique things about this family is the ministries we're involved in. And as a church, we've been able to reach out to our community. We've been able to bring food to them. We've been able to call families, and talk to them, and pray with them.

And we've just decided in a crisis, let's just pivot and shift the way we do ministry. Let's become very personal. And that's why we're, again, so thankful that people have seen that. And I think they want to be a part of it. And they've continued strong financial giving so that we can, in turn, bless the most vulnerable.

I'm so proud of our pastors and staff. They've called over 5,000 people from our church. And every day, it's somewhere between 200 and 500 people that we're trying to continue to reach out. And I do that everyday.

Look, I have a mom that lives in Michigan. She has macular degeneration. She's blind in one eye. She's 82 years old. She has some heart arrhythmia issues.

And I call her, like, three times a day to check in on her because of being a nurturer. I'd be on an airplane. I don't know how many times I've checked tickets to see if I can go help my mom-- and so I just think that calling people, loving people, making sure everybody's OK.

And one of the things that you have done before the virus hit is you, Lenya, and you, Nate, traveled with Reload Love to build a church and to help people who are really hurting in that part of the world. And so would you give us an update. Because we collected a lot of money on Valentine's Day weekend. And how is that being used now?

Well, the money has been dispersed to build the churches. Obviously, coronavirus has changed a lot of things. That's one thing I keep having to remind myself of.

This is not a United States thing. This is a world thing. It's not just Albuquerque that closed.

The world is closed. That's weird to say. Literally, the world is closed for business--

It's shut down.

--everywhere. And so the money's been dispersed. We've had some updates. One of the churches we're partnering with, Moses, they drained a swamp that they're filling in with dirt so that it won't cause disease, and they can also build more homes for people in their church.

That's happened. And that's really exciting. So again, as far as the big projects, the church buildings, I don't believe those have started yet.

They are clearing sites. And some of the supplies have arrived for them to build them. But I shout out for prayer. One of our missionaries is in Burma in the Chin area.

And they have been attacked, their village, a couple of times. So there is coronavirus. And the Burmese Army is attacking them.

So we want to pray for those missionaries that we're sponsoring. And they could use food in that region. So we've disbursed the money. But we'd like to disperse some more to that region for food.

And the same thing in Jordan-- we have people that we work with there. And in Jordan, in Mafraq, they're already working with refugees from Syria. So from the Syrian conflict, you have refugees that have no money and have no safety net.

And this pastor is sending out just tons of food. They've given out food and made their payment to their staff for this month-- but next month. So we still would like to disperse some things and help people other places. And I'm so proud of our church, collecting, Our Kindness campaign.

I am, too.

Let me just say as we bring this to a close that, if you're joining us and you don't know the Lord, part of becoming a Christian is joining a family. You join a large international family, God's family. And God becomes our Father. Jesus becomes sort of our elder brother.

And we're in relationship with each other as brothers and sisters. And we really do try to take care of each other. We see the church as an extension of our own personal family.

If you don't know the Lord, we want to give you that opportunity to do that right where you are. Allow the Lord to change your life and give you a future and a hope. Well, it comes by simply receiving what He's done for you. God doesn't ask you to earn your own salvation or work at it in some way but to just receive what Jesus has provided for you on the cross.

If you want to do that, if you're willing to admit that you need Him and you're unwilling to Him, you can pray right now. And I'm going to lead you in a prayer. If you want to receive Christ as your Savior, say this to God.

Say, Lord, I know that I'm a sinner. I admit that. I'm sorry for my sin. I believe you sent Jesus to this Earth to pay for my sin, to die in a cross, but then to rise from the dead.

I turn from my sin. I turn from my past. I turn to Jesus, your son, as my Savior. I pray you would fill me with your spirit, help me to live for you. In Jesus' name, amen.

Now, whether you did that for the first time or this is a re-dedication after straying away from Him, if you prayed that prayer, I want you to text 505-509-5433. Text the word saved to that number, 505-509-5433. Text saved to that phone number.

Or visit calvarynm.church. And click where it says Know God. Click there. And allow us to reach out to you and put something in your hands, congratulate you, and share with you what to do next walking with the Lord. But from our house to yours, from our worship team and our Christian family here, this small little family gathered here to you, God bless you.

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