Lost and Found: Lessons from the Life of Jesus

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Thanks so much, Kel. Keep your Bibles open to that passage. We'll need to refer to that as we go along. My name's Dave, one of the pastors here. Add my welcome to that of Doug's, special welcome to the family and friends online. Hopefully you can hear us by now. Apologies for the problems we had a little bit earlier on in the service. Last Sunday for 2025, eh? Goes so quick, only a few more days till 2026. Christmas is done. How was your celebration? You had a good one? Hands up, you had a good one? Family and friends? Yep, okay. Keep your hand up if you lost any kids in your travels. No, maybe one hand. Hopefully you didn't. It's every parent's worst nightmare, isn't it? To leave a kid behind or to lose them, lose track of one of your kids, especially at Christmas. Maybe it's happened to you before, you know what I'm talking about. You don't know where your kids are. Maybe it's been after church on a Sunday or you've been out shopping somewhere. You don't know where your children are and all of a sudden your brain is overloaded with all of these worst case scenarios. Where are they? What's happened? Who have they run off with? What sort of danger could they be in? What mischief are they getting up to? There's all sorts of things going on in a parent's mind when that happens. We're worried, we begin to search anxiously for the kids, we retrace our steps, we call their name, we check in with folk who may have seen them and it can be pretty intense. I reckon this is probably a universal fear across cultures, across time for anyone that's ever been a parent or been in the charge of little kids. Certainly we see this same fear gripping Mary and Joseph in our texts this morning as they face the reality of finding their son Jesus missing after travelling all that way to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. It's a pretty simple story. It's not a lot to it there. Kelly read it out for us. You can cast your eye over the text there, Jesus and his parents go down to Jerusalem from Nazareth. It's approximately somewhere between 126 to 145 kilometres in distance from Nazareth to Jerusalem depending on whether you took the trade route, the shortest, quickest route that went through Samaria or whether or not you go a little bit east and you kind of skirt all around Samaria because the Jews didn't want to go there and you take the longer way depending on which route you took. It could be anywhere from those distances. It could have taken up to about a week to get there again depending on how fast you walk and which track you take. Mary and Joseph were told in the text they're walking down with a large group with family and friends. They're going down to celebrate the Passover. Now it's important for us to understand this isn't just one meal. They're not travelling 146 kilometres just to have one meal. It's a week-long festival. Yes, there's the Passover meal as they remember. They're Exodus from Egypt. God rescuing them from slavery and bringing them out as free people, as a people for himself. But alongside that Passover meal was a whole week-long celebration, the festival of unleavened bread. This was one of the pilgrimage festivals. This meant that those who were close enough to Jerusalem to do so would actually leave their hometown. They'd go to Jerusalem. They'd all gather there together and they'd celebrate and worship God together as one people. Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph travelled down as they'd done every other year. And this one time as they're beginning to come home, something goes awry. Obviously they trust the folk that they're travelling with because Mary and Joseph go a whole day before they figure out that Jesus isn't with them when they leave. We see Luke tells us in verse 44 that they were travelling with friends and relatives. So maybe that's why it was they didn't realise he was with him. There's all sorts of other ideas. Some people say maybe the women and the kids walked at the front and the men walked at the back and because Jesus was 12, he's kind of in this in-between, this kind of coming-of-age kind of state where he's still a child but he's almost an adult as far as the religious situation goes in Jerusalem. He's almost able to participate fully as a man in the religious ceremonies and rites. So he's kind of in both camps. So could he have been at the front with the women? Could he have been at the back with the men? Who knows? We're not even sure. We just know that they went for a day, they couldn't find him. And so they are now being a day away from Jerusalem. They turn around, they go back thinking logically of course he's probably there where we left him. And they go back a whole other day of travel into Jerusalem and then Luke tells us that they spend yet another whole day looking for Jesus. I don't know where they looked to begin with. Maybe it was all the usual places one might look when searching for one of your kids. Maybe you go back to your friends or your relatives that you stayed with while you're in town and you check out there. Some of the homes you might have visited for the festival. Maybe you go to all the places where the 12 year old kids were likely to hang out and congregate. We don't know. But finally they end up at the temple and Mary and Joseph see this kind of unique and amazing sight. He is 12 year old Jesus sitting not with 12 year olds playing a game in the dirt. No, no, he's sitting with religious leaders. He's asking them questions. He's engaged. He's listening to the teaching. He's engaging in questions and answers. And we're told that there was a crowd around and they were amazed at his understanding. Everybody was astonished with his questions and his answers. It's interesting to note that part of the teaching methodology in the ancient world was for teachers to ask students questions. And Jesus is kind of getting involved in this. It's almost like we're seeing a bit of a transition from Jesus in asking and answering questions as well too. It's quite an interesting and weird scene. And then you can understand I guess anyone who's been a parent, especially mothers, you can understand Mary's emotion filled rebuke when she finds her son finally after three anxious days of searching. Where have you been? We've been anxiously searching for you. Imagine that was your child. Imagine not knowing where they were for three days. Anxious would be an understatement, I reckon. My kids were gone that long. I'd be freaking out. I don't know if Jesus had a middle name but I put myself in his shoes. If that was my mum coming to find me, it wouldn't be son. What have you done to us? She'd be pulling out the full name. I'd be pulled by my ear. You know that name that only gets said when you know you're in real deep trouble. I reckon that's what would have happened. My mum would not have been impressed. What do we to make of this event? It's a pretty strange little story when you think about it. It's one snapshot of a single event in the childhood of Jesus. In fact, it's the only record we have of Jesus childhood. That is this period after his birth but yet before he steps into the scene as an adult and begins his public ministry around the age of 30. We read some of those infancy accounts during our Advent series as we preached and taught over the Christmas period, as we had our carols event. We have two Gospel accounts in Matthew and Luke in those first couple of chapters of each of those Gospels that give us these accounts of Jesus' birth and of his infancy. We have a lot of information in all four Gospels about Jesus' public ministry as an adult. In fact, John actually says towards the end of his Gospel that Jesus did many other things in the sight of others and in actual fact, if everything was written down that Jesus said and did, John reckons the whole world wouldn't be able to account for all the books that would be written about Jesus. We've got quite a lot already but John says there's even more of what he did as an adult. Yet here we've got just this one episode, this one event in between. Jesus as a boy, as a 12 year old is weird. I think it raises more questions than answers. As I was reading that through during the week, I'm thinking you know, is Jesus being disobedient? Is he being disrespectful? Certainly the way in which he stays in Jerusalem and responds pretty coolly to his parents when they're freaking out kind of feels a little bit disobedient and disrespectful. What was he doing in the temple courts? Why wasn't he out playing with the other 12 year olds? What's he doing sitting here listening to religious leaders and engaging in that? Why does he play it so cool with his parents when they're upset? Why did Mary and Joseph not understand Jesus' reply? And I think that there's a big question that we need to ask as we look at any passage of Scripture and that is particularly passages about Jesus. What can we learn from this about from the life of Jesus that we might apply and obey as followers of Jesus? I think there's a lesson or a couple of lessons in this for us. I think there's two lessons we can take away from this. One is for those of us who are parents, grandparents, foster parents, aunts, uncles, big brothers, sisters, kids ministry coordinators, volunteers, pretty much anybody who ever has some role to play in the training or teaching of another child. So that could be a big brother or a big sister. So think about it. If you're only little now, as you grow up, you may have an opportunity to be a model for your younger siblings. So there's a lesson for you. Maybe you'll grow up to be a parent. So don't tune out. Listen in. There's some good stuff in here for us to think about anyone that has an influence on little children. But I think there's a second lesson we can learn, and that's for everyone who is a child. And you think about that. Everybody in this room, if you know and love Jesus, if your faith and hope and trust is in him, we're told that in the Bible we're a child of God. And so we're all children. And so there's lessons here for us about what it means to be a child of God. And we need to look at that as well this morning. But before we do that, we need to unpack a little bit a few of those questions we raised earlier. Before we do that, let me just pause. Let's pray together and ask God's help in this. Oh my God, we do. You just want to thank you for your word. Thank you for this encounter that we have, this record of this event in the life of the boy Jesus. Father, we just pray as we dig into your word together that you would help us. Help us to make sense of these questions. Help us to make sense of what's going on here. It seems to be a significant supernatural event. Lord, we just want to unpack that and learn what it means for us who might be parents, have influence over other children, but also to Lord understanding that those of us who seek to follow Jesus, we're your children. And so Lord, we want to understand from Jesus own example what it means to be children of God. Help us Lord as we do this. We ask your blessing on our time now. In Jesus' name. Amen. Firstly, we just quickly want to look at was Jesus being disobedient or disrespectful? First glance, it doesn't feel like Jesus was being a modelled child. It feels like he was being something else. If you think giving your parents a heart attack is a good model, yeah, I don't think so. I think I'm with Mary on this one. I look at this text and I go, whoa, how did Jesus respond like that? At first glance, it looks a little bit like disobedience. They all left. He stayed behind. Then they come back worried sick and he brushes it off with a cool reply. Surely Jesus knew the fifth commandment to honour your father and your mother. Exodus 20 verse 12 tells us that. Honour your father and mother so you'll live long in the land the Lord is giving to you. Doesn't look like Jesus is honouring his father and mother at first glance. When his parents say it's time to go, he decides to stay behind. It's hard to understand how that's being obedient to his parents. And yet we know, don't we, that the Bible tells us that Jesus was sinless. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 22 tells us that, hey, Jesus committed no sin. No deceit was found in his mouth. So how do we make sense of a text like this this morning? One thing I've learnt as I've studied the Bible is that it pays to read it carefully, pay attention to the verses around the ones that seem to be confusing at first. We look out for context clues that might help us. And I think thankfully Luke gives us a few helpful phrases which provide some much needed context here. Look at what he says in verses 49 to 51 after Mary's exasperated rebuke. Jesus says in reply to Mary, he says, why were you searching for me? Verse 49, didn't you know I had to be in my father's house? But they, Mary and Joseph, they didn't understand what he was saying to them. And then he went down to Nazareth and he was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. I don't know if you notice those little helpful phrases there, bits of context that help us to kind of unpack a little bit of what's going on here. Jesus says in verse 49, I had to be in my father's house. This is a phrase that he would go on to use later and later in his ministry. Luke actually records a number of instances of this for us where as we read through Luke's gospel, Jesus uses similar language to I had to be. I must do this or it must be, it has to be is the type of language that Jesus uses. And in every case in Luke's gospel, Jesus is referring to things that he must do in order to fulfill his God given mission. Give you a couple of examples. Luke chapter four and verse 43. Jesus says, Luke records for us there, he says, but he, Jesus said, I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent. Notice the link between what he must do is to fulfill the mission that God had sent him. Luke chapter nine and verse 22. And he, Jesus said, the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law. He must be killed and on the third day raised to life. It's the same language. Jesus had to be. And in each of these cases, in every cases as Luke gospel unfolds, we see the thing that Jesus had to be doing was fulfilling his God given mission. And so Jesus replied to Mary's exasperated question in verse 49 of Luke chapter two. In context of the gospel, it's not like average 12 year old kid. It's not some teen gamer complaining they've got to finish the game or they've got to save the level or wait until the game is finished before they can come to Dinamum. It's something else. Jesus is saying that he has this God, God has given him something that he has to do here. Don't try that excuse at home, kids. Not unless angels have come out of the sky when you were born and shepherds came and kings came and yeah, it's a bit wild. Jesus is saying that there's something bigger happening here. I think what he's saying is I'm fulfilling something that my heavenly Father has said in place for me to do. Now the next context clue we get in verse 15, Mary and Joseph, they didn't understand. They just didn't understand what Jesus was saying. How could they? I mean this is a weighty thing. Jesus is something significant and supernatural. It's hard to wrap your head around it that Jesus is both fully God and fully man. It's wild. And yet Luke is foreshadowing in this little phrase they did not understand. Events that would later transpire when Jesus is older. Often Jesus disciples, as you read through all the gospels, you'll find times when Jesus disciples, his own followers, don't fully understand what he's doing or the importance of the situation that they were in or the significance of what Jesus was saying. There are many times when we read these words in the gospels, particularly in Luke's, that they didn't understand. Just one example, Luke chapter 18, verses 31 to 34. Jesus took the 12 aside and he told them, we're going up to Jerusalem. Everything that's written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They'll mock him, insult him and spit on him. They'll flog him and kill him. And on the third day, he will rise again. The disciples did not understand any of this. The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them and they didn't know what he was talking about. Luke 18, 34, again, the disciples don't understand. Sometimes the disciples fail to understand because of misguided expectations about what the Messiah was going to be or do. Sometimes it was a spiritual blindness. The Holy Spirit kept it from them for a reason, maybe like in this case. Other times they didn't understand what Jesus was on about because of fear or confusion. There was at least one occasion when they were debating something amongst themselves and they weren't sure what Jesus was on about and they were too scared to ask him because they didn't understand. It can be hard to fully grasp this divine spiritual reality of Jesus' mission. Sometimes just focusing too much on their human understanding was enough to cause them to not understand the deeper spiritual significance of what was going on. Sometimes that can be the same for us as well too, can it? Mary and Joseph were no different. They were upset, they were anxious, frustrated and yet they missed what was going on here. They weren't able to see the bigger picture. They weren't able to see it for some time, some years later. They did see it, I'm sure they did. We get that sense as we read the Gospel accounts. We see in verse 51 that Luke says that Jesus was obedient to them. I think it's really helpful that Luke gives us this little bit of context clue because we understand even though this kind of looks bad in the way Jesus responds so coolly to his parents' anxiety, Jesus was indeed an obedient son and he did honor his parents, which is why Peter so confidently wrote that Jesus committed no sin because this is who Jesus was. He was obedient to the commands of God which said to honor and obey your parents. That's who he was. Luke includes that helpful context clue for us. Then he gives us, finally, the last piece of context there. Mary treasured all these things in her heart in verse 51. I think it's lines like that that make some scholars suggest that Mary could have been one of Luke's sources as he wrote this Gospel. We know Luke, he was a doctor, a historian. He interviewed a whole bunch of eyewitnesses to write this ordered account of Jesus' life and ministry and the things that happened up to and after his death. Luke wrote Luke and he wrote the book of Acts and he did that by interviewing all these eyewitnesses. Some scholars suggest that maybe Mary was one of Luke's key witnesses in all of that. It could actually be the case. We're not sure. That could actually be part of the case. When she was older maybe, Luke sat down with her and interviewed her. Perhaps she brought back some of these treasures that she pondered that she kept in her heart and described some of Christ's early life and his public ministry to Luke. Certainly it appears, at least by Luke's little bit of context here, that after a bit of time, despite the stress of the moment, Mary had a different perspective on these events. What was initially the focus of these anxious days searching for her lost boy were now focused on something more positive. She's able to treasure these things in her heart. I think all of that context helps us to see that something significant and profound is occurring. Something we need to pay attention to. What are some lessons that we might dig out of this this morning? I think firstly there's a lesson for parents or anyone that would have a role to play in modeling, mentoring or shaping the lives of younger people. There's a little bit of helpful background. Again, look earlier at verses 39 to 41 of Luke chapter 2. 39 to 41 of Luke chapter 2. It says, when Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee into their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong and he was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was on him. This was the end to the last of the infancy accounts of Jesus. Around about a month or so, maybe 40 days after Jesus was born, as was the Jewish custom, he was presented to the Lord in the temple. Mary and Joseph would offer a sacrifice for sin, they were told that they could only afford to buy some pigeons because they were poor. So they traveled to Jerusalem, again obedient to the law of God. They make this sacrifice and then after they've done everything required by the law of the Lord, they return to Galilee. Then Jesus grows, he becomes strong, he's filled with wisdom, the grace of God is on him. The next time we see them, verse 41, what are they doing again? They're going back to Jerusalem for another festival in order to be obedient to the law of the Lord. What we see here in this example of Mary and Joseph is they were devout Jewish followers of God. It mattered to them, their faith was on display, they followed the laws, the customs, the traditions of the Jewish faith. Luke makes this link between godly parenting and Jesus' physical, mental, spiritual and emotional growth in verse 40 there. He became strong, he grew, he was filled with wisdom and the favor of God was on him. If you're a parent, if you're a caregiver, if you're a foster carer, a grandparent, uncle, aunt, whatever role it is that you have to play in the life of a child, this is a role that should never be underestimated. It's a divine calling. Jesus was fully God and fully man. He still had to grow as a child, he would have been a baby, he would have to learn to walk, he would have to learn to speak, his parents would have had to teach him things. Godly parenting comes into play here. This is part of how Jesus grew and developed so well. Mary and Joseph, as followers of God, they knew the best way to share their faith with their kids was to live it out. They lived it out as they went to church, as they went to the temple together. They would have discussed the Scripture in their homes, they would have followed the laws that were required at the time, we're told that they did. They participated in the feasts and the festivals of the Old Testament. We put that into modern times and we think about our role as parents raising Godly kids in a Godly way. It's more than just sending them to school that has a Christian religious instruction class. It's more than just sending them to a Christian school if we're able to do that or it's more than just sending them out to kids church or telling them to be good on a Friday night and dropping them off at kids club or youth group. It's more than that. Mary and Joseph lived out their faith in front of their family. In the craziness of the world that was around about them, remember they lived in a town, in a world that was occupied by the Romans. There's a whole mess of ideas about spirituality and what it means to be blessed, what it means to live the good life and yet in the midst of all of that, they kept their faith, they kept their focus on God and they lived it out visibly in front of their kids. Anyone who's been a parent knows that it can be hard to parent your kids. I think particularly more so in a world that is becoming increasingly hostile towards Christianity. I just want to encourage you parents this morning, grandparents, anyone that's got a role with young people. You've got a most wonderful role and responsibility to live out your faith in front of your kids, to train them in the way that they should go. This has always been our charge. Godly parents, Moses taught the people of Israel all the way back in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 1 to 9 that they were to train their children in the ways of the Lord. In verse 6 of Deuteronomy chapter 6, Moses says, these commandments that I give to you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down, when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. It's a picture of like all of life in a family, isn't it? It's the coming out, it's the going in, it's the sitting down, it's the lying down, it's the getting up, it's the eating together, it's the traveling together, it's the talking together. It's all of it and the mess. The best way for our kids to become followers of Jesus parents is for them to see you following Jesus. I think that's a really big lesson that we need to get out of that this morning. How do we show our children to be disciples of Jesus? Well, we show them by living it out. It's not just going to be up to Pastor Dylan or Sheryl or the kids church team or Chris and the kids club team or the youth group leaders who are running our kids program. They have a part to play. What a blessing that we're in a faith community where that old adage, it takes a village to raise a child can be true. But it's not just their role. It starts at home. How are we living out our faith? An actual fact, even if you don't have children, if you're a part of our family of faith, HIPAA Kabuchah Baptist Church, then when we gather together corporately, your faith is on display. It's amazing just how much little ones take in. They're watching us. We all have a part to play. So parents, pray with your kids, pray in front of your kids, make going to church and being in gospel community a priority in 2026. Schedule it into your weekly rhythms. Do it now before your calendar fills up for 2026. Make it a priority like Mary and Joseph did. Make it so much so that not going to church is the exception rather than the rule. Another way you could do that is encourage your kids to serve in church. Find ways you can serve together with your kids. Get involved in the mission of God. I think that's a really key lesson for any of us that are parents this morning. Every child is watching the grown-ups live out their faith. So how are we living it out? Finally, we need to look at a lesson for kids. Just as Mary and Joseph made God their number one priority, we see that in the life of the boy Jesus, don't we? He said, how could I not be in my father's house? You might have a little footnote in your Bible there. Some of the other translations, how could I not be about my father's business? Again, how could I be or how could I not be linking back to the things that he must do in order to fulfill his mission? Even at this tender age, Jesus was aware that Joseph wasn't just his father, that he had a heavenly father, and he had been given a divine mandate, a divine mission by Almighty God, and he made it his priority, even over above his own family. That could be a hard thing to think about. I think what we see here is a little bit of a glimpse into the identity of Jesus, and this is why it's a key transition piece for us in contrast to his earthly sonship as a son of Joseph, we're actually starting to see a divine sonship as the son of the living God. Jesus is not a disobedient child, he's a divine child. He's both fully God and fully man. This is like a moment of revelation, as he says to Mary, didn't you know I had to be in my father's house? It's shining this spotlight on Jesus' identity as a son of God. Matthew's account of Jesus' birth tells us that Joseph and Mary were told to name their son Jesus because he would save their people from their sins. He was going to be the Messiah, he was going to be the Savior, but here in this account we see a glimpse of another title of Jesus, and that is the Son of God. I think it's remarkable that later on the grown-up Jesus, as he speaks about the Father in Heaven, his Father in Heaven, as he's teaching his disciples to pray in Luke chapter 11, he says, this is how you pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Jesus as the Son of God is including and bestowing on those who would follow after him that same sonship. We get adopted into the family of God, that's the wonderful good news of the Gospel, that we get to be called sons and daughters of the living God, and so as a child of God, just like Jesus was, I think we want to follow in his example, don't we? What did we find Jesus doing in the temple there? He's sitting at the feet of God's Word. He's engaged in learning and growing in the Word of God. He's being prepared and equipped to do the work of God, to be engaged in the mission of God. And friends, what an encouragement that is for us as children of God, we need to do that as well. Just as Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men, part of the reason why he grew that way was because he sat at God's feet, he wanted to learn what the Father had to teach him, and then be obedient to all that God had said that he should do. That's how we grow as followers of Jesus, how we grow as his disciples. You think about it, as a child of a parent, most of us learn a lot of things from our parents. I'd hazard a guess that many of you, if not most of you, drove here today. Maybe it was your parents who taught you how to drive. Maybe it wasn't, but maybe it was one of your parents who taught you how to drive. Maybe on Christmas or Boxing Day, as you were celebrating with your family and friends, perhaps you took along a classic family dish to share with people as you celebrated there together. Maybe that was passed down to you as a younger person, as you were taught how to cook that dish and to be a part of the family in that way. Even the way we engage with people as we grow is something that we learn from our parents, whether it's a mannerism that they have or whether it's just how we relate to people, whether it's something that's overtly taught or something that's indirectly that we pick up as we watch them, we learn so much from our parents. And it's no different with our Heavenly Father. He's got knowledge that he wants to pass on to us, just as our earthly parents have. And it does us well as children of God to listen to him, to be in his Word, to be at his feet in that position of a learner, ready to hear what it is that he would say to us. Is that the posture that you're going to take into 2026? That you want to be growing just as Jesus grew in wisdom and stature in favor with God and men. What a great goal to have for 2026 to do that. We need to be at our Father's feet in his Word learning from him. It's interesting too that everyone who was listening to Jesus was amazed at his understanding and his answers, even when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And again Luke I think is doing a little bit of foreshadowing for us about Jesus' upcoming teaching ministry when he would come onto the scene as an adult and begin formally his teaching ministry. Luke is kind of foreshadowing even at this young age that there's something that people can learn from Jesus. So it's not just everything God wants to tell us in the Old Testament, everything Jesus was learning, but it's also everything Jesus taught and said and did in the New Testament that we can learn from. It's everything that his apostles then went on to teach in the letters of the New Testament and the rest of the scriptures that we have. It's all provided by God so that we, his children, might grow. He wants us to learn from him. He desires that we would become more like him. And so kids, children, all of us in the room who are children of God, if we want to do that in 2026 we've got to be in the Word. We don't have to do that alone. Though that's good to do that alone. We also do it in community. It's why Sunday services is such a big deal for us because it's our family, like our family meal. We gather together around the Word. We engage in it together. We meditate on it. We talk about it over tea and coffee. We take it home with us during the week. Maybe we open up our Bible again during the week in a discipleship group with one or two other brothers or sisters who were committed to digging into God's Word together or praying together. These are all good habits to have. If you don't already have them, I'd employ you to make them a habit in 2026. God desires that his children would grow. And we do that by following the example of Jesus. Let's resolve to do that, to follow him in 2026, amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do just want to give you thanks and praise for you, our God. Thank you that you have adopted us. You have called us into your family that we are yours, your children. Father, we do ask and pray that you would help us to follow the example of Jesus, that we might sit at your feet in 2026, that we might grow in our understanding of who you are, of how you've made us and called us, and what it is that you would say to us in response as your people, as your followers of Jesus. Help us to be obedient disciples who are making disciples, engaged in the mission and the work of God. Father, would you add a special blessing to those of us who are parents, those who have a role to play in the mentoring and shaping and equipping of young people. Lord, would you help us to that end in 2026? May we, like Mary and Joseph and Jesus, make God our priority. May it be factored into our weekly rhythms, to our family schedules. Lord, we want to grow in ways that honor and glorify your name. Help us, Lord, to do that. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.