May: Family Month
Theme: “Families Where Grace Is In Place”
Sermon Series: “Families Where Grace Is In Place”
Texts: Galatians 1:10, Galatians 5:1, 1 John 3:1, Ephesians 4:15, Ephesians 4:25-26
Sermon #1: Moving from Performance to Personhood in Our Families
Text: Galatians 1:10
SCI: We Don’t Perform for Approval—We Live from Acceptance
Billboard: Move From Performance to Personhood!
Sermon #2: Trading Control for Connection in Our Families
Text: Galatians 5:1
SCI: Living by the Yoke Is Control, But Living by Freedom Is Connection
Billboard: Trade Control for Connection!
Sermon #3: Anchoring Our Identity in God’s Family
Text: 1 John 3:1
SCI: Our Spiritual Identity Is More Important Than Our Physical Identity
Billboard: Anchor Your Identity in God’s Family!
Sermon #4: Filling Our Families with Truth in Love
Text: Ephesians 4:15
SCI: We Don’t Work Hard to Please Men—We Work Hard to Please the Lord
Billboard: Honor God Through Your Vocation!
Sermon #5: Removing Ungodly Anger from Our Families
Text: Ephesians 4:25-26
SCI: We Don’t Need Uncontrolled Anger That’s Ungodly—We Need Controlled Anger That’s Godly
Billboard: Remove Ungodly Anger from Your Family!
Each Sermon Central Idea is developed in the form of an indicative.
Each Billboard is developed in the form of an imperative.
Sermon Series Overview and Outline
Prepared by Pastor Trevor Crenshaw for May 3, 2026 – May 31, 2026
All outlines are subject to divine adjustment.
Helpful Quotes
Jeff VanVonderen: “Grace is not just a way to get to heaven. It is a way to live on earth. In a family where grace is in place, the members are free to be who they are, not who they think they have to be to be ‘okay.’”
Paul David Tripp: “If your heart is not ruled by the rest of the Gospel, your parenting will be ruled by the anxiety of the law. You will try to do God’s work of heart-change through the human tools of control.”
Charles Spurgeon: “A family without prayer is like a house without a roof, open to every storm. But a family without grace is a house without a foundation; it may look grand, but it cannot stand the internal pressure of sin.”
Timothy Keller: “To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from charades.”
Dallas Willard: “The most important thing in your life is not what you do; it’s who you become. That is what you will take into eternity. Grace-based families focus on the ‘becoming’ rather than the ‘doing.’”
Brennan Manning: “My life is a witness to the power of invisible grace. In the family, grace means that I am loved not because I am good, but because I am His. When children know this, they stop performing and start growing.”
Elyse Fitzpatrick: “Your children don’t need a perfect parent; they need a parent who points them to a perfect Savior. Grace allows us to admit our failures without losing our authority.”
Lewis B. Smedes: “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. In a family, grace is the constant act of setting one another free from the debts of yesterday’s mistakes.”
Eugene Peterson: “The family is the primary setting for spiritual formation. It is not a place for ‘programmatic’ holiness, but for the messy, daily practice of speaking the truth in love.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them. Just as love to God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them.”
Dr. Dan Allender: “Shame is the most powerful tool of control in the universe, but it is the enemy of intimacy. Grace-based families must ruthlessly eliminate shame to make room for the Holy Spirit.”
N.T. Wright: “The point of the Gospel is not that we are ‘let off’ our chores; it is that we are recruited into a new way of being human. A grace-filled home is a small outpost of the New Creation.”
Ruth Bell Graham: “A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers. A happy family is the result of those two forgivers refusing to let the ‘CURSE’ of legalism take root in their children.”