YWCTW (THE FAMILY)
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SUNDAY, JANUARY 11, 2026
Pastor Muche Ukegbu
A plea for delighting in God:
Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds;
rejoice before him—his name is the Lord.
v4
The Brook must grow as a community of delight in God & desire for God if we are to grow well or grow at all.
A picture of God’s heart for the family:
His name is the Lord.5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.6 God sets the lonely in families,
v4-6
God’s heart for family—biological, relational, & spiritual.
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
John 19:25-27
The building block of healthy families are healthy men & women.
But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
Joshua 24:15
The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.
Proverbs 14:1
Family should provide protection & care.
Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. 4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth.
Psalm 127:3-4
Family should provide growth & sending.
God sets the lonely in families
v6
Family should provide connection & belonging.
“‘So you will be my people, and I will be your God.’”
Jeremiah 30:22
God sets the lonely in family through His family.
[Welcome] one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed 9 and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.
Romans 15:7-9
“All Christians are called to practice hospitality in their homes. Households run by single Christians are just as vital, necessary, and needed in the practice of hospitality as those run by married people. Households without children and households with children each model Christ’s blessings. The redeemed rich and the redeemed poor and everyone in between are called to practice Christian hospitality in households, dorm rooms, bus stops, and community gardens.”
-Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World
Practices for making God’s heart our own:
Receive God as Father & Jesus as an older brother.
Commit to & pursue growing as a man or woman after God’s heart.
Identify people you can be a brother, sister, aunty, uncle, mother, father, grandmother, and/or grandfather to, & then be it.
Contemplate your passion & answer the call.
Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds;
rejoice before him—his name is the Lord.
v4
The Brook must grow as a community of delight in God & desire for God if we are to grow well or grow at all.
A picture of God’s heart for the family:
His name is the Lord.5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.6 God sets the lonely in families,
v4-6
God’s heart for family—biological, relational, & spiritual.
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
John 19:25-27
The building block of healthy families are healthy men & women.
But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
Joshua 24:15
The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.
Proverbs 14:1
Family should provide protection & care.
Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. 4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth.
Psalm 127:3-4
Family should provide growth & sending.
God sets the lonely in families
v6
Family should provide connection & belonging.
“‘So you will be my people, and I will be your God.’”
Jeremiah 30:22
God sets the lonely in family through His family.
[Welcome] one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed 9 and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.
Romans 15:7-9
“All Christians are called to practice hospitality in their homes. Households run by single Christians are just as vital, necessary, and needed in the practice of hospitality as those run by married people. Households without children and households with children each model Christ’s blessings. The redeemed rich and the redeemed poor and everyone in between are called to practice Christian hospitality in households, dorm rooms, bus stops, and community gardens.”
-Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World
Practices for making God’s heart our own:
Receive God as Father & Jesus as an older brother.
Commit to & pursue growing as a man or woman after God’s heart.
Identify people you can be a brother, sister, aunty, uncle, mother, father, grandmother, and/or grandfather to, & then be it.
Contemplate your passion & answer the call.