Becoming a Man of Unwavering Faith by John Osteen

name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). We’ve always placed a major emphasis on the Great Commission at Lakewood Church and always will.
    But notice that Jesus states the beginning point is
at Jerusalem
, which means where you live. In essence, Jesus was saying, “Certainly, My heart is to reach every nation. But if you don’t first reach your Jerusalem, you won’t do much for the rest of the world.”
    Song of Solomon 1:6 says, “They made me the keeper of vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept.” God has made us keepers of vineyards. What is our
vineyard
? Our families, our friends, our neighborhoods, and ourassociates. We’re not going to keep other vineyards and forget our own vineyard. As men of unwavering faith, we’re going to have faith for our families and friends!
    Yes, God has commanded us to go into all the world with the Gospel, but never at the expense of neglecting our own families. Oh, what a condemnation would come over us if we must confess that “my own vineyard I have not kept”!
    What if I won the whole rest of the world to Jesus and neglected my own family? I can’t fathom even one of my children dying without their faith being in Christ. Or my daddy, my mother, my nephews and nieces, or an old friend. God has made me a keeper of my family, and I am responsible to be a godly example and watch over them and pray for them.
    Occasionally, someone will say to me, “Well, you know, I’m just not going to influence my child as to what religion is right. He needs to grow up and make his own choices.”
    How ridiculous is that? The world is influencing your child—the drug culture, pornography, television, the entertainment world, and liberal thinking in the school! It’s time for us to rise up and bring our faith to our own families!
    Perhaps you have read the book
Acres of Diamonds
by Russell H. Conwell. It’s the story about a man who had such an insatiable desire to find diamonds that he sold his property and went off to search for them. He traveled all over the world but never found any diamonds. Meanwhile, the new owner of his home discovered that a rich diamond mine was located right in the backyard of the man’s property. Conwell’s message to his audience: “Dig in your own backyard!”
    I heartily support those who desire to take the Gospel to all of the world. But I’m telling you, the greatest treasure you have in the world is in your own backyard—your own wife and children and extended family. That is your own vineyard.
    In Malachi 3:17, God said, “ ‘They shall be Mine,’ says the L ORD of hosts, ‘on the day that I make My jewels…’ ” I hope you realize your children and wife are diamonds for God. Treasure them!
“W E W ILL S ERVE THE L ORD ”
    Let me ask you this. If you were charged with the crime of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Do your neighbors know you belong to Jesus? Your children? Your other family members?
    The Word of God is repeatedly clear regarding the bringing of our faith to our families and our neighbors:“Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 11:18–20).
    After Joshua had led the people of Israel into the Promised Land and was apportioning the land to the people, he declared,
“As for me and my house, we will serve the L ORD ”
(Joshua 24:15). As men of faith, we need to stand up and declare the same.
    Will you stand up? Where are the men who are embracing their responsibilities as husbands and fathers, bringing their faith to their families day in and day out? Where are the daddies who take time for their sons and