Disciple Making Grandparents with David Upchurch

God Wants Your Junk

This powerful message takes us through the stages we experience in life's waiting rooms, drawing a profound parallel between the stages of grief and the stages we walk through when waiting on God. At the heart of this teaching is the beloved parable of the prodigal son from Luke 15, but we encounter it through a fresh lens. We see ourselves in this young man who squandered everything, finding himself so desperate he longed to eat what the pigs were eating. The journey maps four distinct stages: the situation that brings us into waiting, the looking back with 'what if' questions, the bargaining with God where we make deals and ultimatums, and finally God's restoration that asks no questions. What makes this message particularly striking is the reminder that the father was watching the horizon, waiting for his son's return. Similarly, our Heavenly Father is not distant or disappointed, but actively watching for us, ready to run toward us in our mess. The central challenge laid before us is whether we will choose to invite God into our waiting, or whether we will shut Him out. The son had a choice to make, and so do we. Will we trust God even when we cannot see the plan? Will we allow Him to sit with us in the uncertainty? This is not a message about having perfect faith, but about choosing, even in our doubt and pain, to turn toward a Father who loves us exactly where we are.

Where Is God In The Wondering?

This message takes us into the heart of Exodus chapter 3 and 14, where we encounter a nation caught between slavery and freedom, between an army and an ocean, between fear and faith. The sermon explores a profound truth: God wasn't just trying to get Israel out of Egypt; He was working to get Egypt out of Israel. We discover that while physical deliverance can happen in a moment, spiritual transformation usually happens in the wilderness. The Israelites could see God's presence in a pillar of cloud and fire, yet they still struggled with trust—reminding us that proximity to God's presence doesn't automatically produce faith. Trust must be learned in the waiting. The message challenges our cultural lie that 'God won't give us more than we can handle' and reframes it with biblical truth: God won't give us more than He can handle. Through Moses' command to 'stand firm and be still,' we learn that sometimes faith isn't about having answers—it's about refusing to run when we don't understand what God is doing. The wilderness has a way of exposing what we trust most, and if we stay in God's presence during the waiting, it won't destroy our faith but deepen it. The greatest miracle God performs may not be around us, but inside us.

Where Is God In The Waiting

This message takes us deep into the uncomfortable reality of waiting on God, using the powerful metaphor of a hospital waiting room. We've all been there—anxious, uncertain, surrounded by people yet feeling utterly alone. The story of Lazarus in John 11 confronts us with three challenging truths about our seasons of waiting. First, God knows the outcome and sometimes chooses not to change it, even when He has the power to do so. This isn't cruelty; it's divine wisdom seeing the end of a story we're still living. Second, our struggles exist to build our faith—they're not punishments but opportunities to grow closer to God or tragically turn away from Him. The disciples needed to see Lazarus raised from death to truly believe, and sometimes we need our impossible situations to witness God's power. Finally, and perhaps most comforting, when we hurt, God hurts with us. Jesus wept at Lazarus's tomb not because He lacked power, but because He genuinely grieved with those He loved. Our Heavenly Father doesn't stand distant from our pain; He enters into it with us, inviting us to notice His presence and take His hand as we walk through the valley together.

Children Honoring Parents

This message centers on a command that never expires: honor your father and mother. Drawing from Ephesians 6 and the Ten Commandments, we discover that honor isn't just about childhood obedience—it's a lifelong calling that evolves as we mature. When we're young, honor means obeying our parents' instructions. As adults, it transforms into caring for aging parents, speaking respectfully about them, and valuing the weight of their role in our lives. The sermon challenges our culture's tendency to mock what God calls sacred, particularly the family unit. We learn that honor carries the idea of weight and value—refusing to treat our parents lightly regardless of our age or circumstances. Perhaps most convicting is the warning from 1 Timothy 5 that anyone who doesn't provide for their own family has denied the faith. This isn't merely a suggestion; it's a spiritual imperative that reveals the condition of our hearts. Even Jesus, in His final moments on the cross, ensured His mother would be cared for. The message doesn't shy away from difficult realities—acknowledging that some of us carry wounds from broken or painful family relationships. Yet even here, biblical honor doesn't mean pretending sin never happened or enabling destructive behavior. It means choosing Christ-like character in response to un-Christ-like treatment, refusing to let pain become hatred, and recognizing that while we cannot change our past or our parents, we can decide what kind of sons and daughters we become through the transforming power of Christ.

Building Marriages That Last

This exploration of marriage takes us back to the very beginning, to God's original design before sin entered the world. Drawing from Matthew 19, we encounter Jesus confronting religious leaders who were more interested in finding loopholes for divorce than understanding God's heart for marriage. What's striking is how Jesus bypasses their legal debates entirely and redirects our attention to Genesis, to that sacred moment when God declared two people would become one flesh. The message challenges us to see marriage not as a contract we can negotiate our way out of, but as a covenant that reflects God's own faithfulness. We're reminded that lasting marriages aren't built on feelings or convenience, but on a daily choice to fight for each other rather than against each other. The sermon honestly addresses the reality of sin's impact on relationships while pointing us toward Christ's perseverance as our model. For those of us struggling in marriage, there's both challenge and hope here. For those who've experienced divorce, there's grace without condemnation. And for all of us, there's a vision of what's possible when we refuse to let our culture define marriage and instead hold fast to God's beautiful, difficult, life-giving design.