Family

Family

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Today we are celebrating Family Sunday in our church. For this, allow me to share this morning on why God made Family.

Key Scripture: Psalms 68:6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land. (NKJV)

John Gill’s Commentary says that the Jewish writers generally understand this scripture to speak of the increase of families with two people getting married and having children. They cite Abraham and Sarah as examples: two single, solitary ones, joined in marriage, having numerous offspring.

The Targum, the Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Bible, says:

“God is He that joins, couples single ones into a couple, as one, … to build a house out of them” (John Gill’s Expositor)

Another commentary concludes this scripture:

But those who will not be family are “removed from all the comforts of home.” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown)

Psalms 68:6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

When God could have cast Himself in any image, He chose that of a Father and mankind as His family.

Certainly He could have hand made each one of us just as He did Adam and Eve. However, He chose another agency to have this privilege - God chose the family to carry on His work.

God ordained the family before He ordained the Church.

What we expect from God, God expects from family.

Even Jesus, the Only Begotten of the Father, was given into a family’s charge for protection, direction, instruction and care. God wanted His Son to be raised in a family environment - a traditional family setting.

Why? Because God has set a law in motion. We read it’s wisdom in:

Proverbs 22:6 ¶ Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. (NIV)

God knows that if you raise up a child in the way they should go it trains them for the future and sets them in that mold for the rest of their lives.

Where else can a person be prepared to live life?

Well, in America today:

We send our children to school to learn to read and write.

We send our children to church to learn about God and Eternity.

We send our children to camp to learn about nature.

We send our children to college to learn a profession or trade.

We send our children to soccer or tumbling to learn sportsmanship.

But where do we send our children to learn family?

Family is God’s plan for every person to learn the basic skills and courtesies of life.

Family is the place where we learn:

* Please - Thank You and May I?

* Excuse Me and I’m Sorry - I Was Wrong

* Yes Ma’am and No Sir, the common respect and honor God wants our elders to have.

* It’s where we are taught to shop for food, cook a meal, set a table, wash dishes and clean up after ourselves.

* It’s the place we learn to change a flat tire, put oil in a car, mow the grass and paint the house.

* It’s the school of relationship and conflict management.

* It’s where we learn about God’s plan for our life and the importance of Church and community support.

I venture to say that if my mama had not taught me to sew on a button, make my bed and take out the trash that I would have been much less equipped for many of the small, yet continuing challenges of life.

Family is God’s school of life.

I felt it valuable to teach my children how to repair things. Brenda felt it reasonable to teach them proper etiquette.

Parents are not just babysitters. You know the difference between a babysitter and a parent?

A babysitter makes no investment in your child’s future but only cares for the moment. Parents give tools to build a healthy life.

Proverbs 1 (NLT)

8 Listen, my child, to what your father teaches you. Don’t neglect your mother’s teaching.

9 What you learn from them will crown you with grace and clothe you with honor.

Listen parents: If we don’t teach our children, who will?

Five Things Every Family Should Teach

1. Relationship

* With God

* With Family

* With Others

I cannot stress this enough:

Note: Teaching is done on purpose.

* First with a set time and a lesson plan

* Then an evaluation

* After that, correction

* And then continuing education

What I am attempting to do this morning is to get us to pay more attention to our God given family responsibilities. God expects a lot from family. It is His only chosen vehicle of life.

2. Discipline

* Both the daily regime of life and the meaning of no

* Self restraint

* Patience and Persistence

* To harness ourselves in the productive flow of daily life

3. Life Skills

* From cooking to balancing a checkbook

* From holding a job to cleaning house

* From acts of charity to being a responsible voter

* From sewing on buttons to changing flat tires

* From bedtime to meal time

Someone has to teach every one.

Who will model family? Why would our children ever make the effort to have daily quality family time if we don’t value it ourselves. If we can’t harness our own lives, establish priorities and give time to raise the next generation they will only rise to become babysitters.

4. Priorities

* God’s plan

1. Make a living

2. Make a life

3. Make a difference

* Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time for every thing.

* God - Family - Others

> All three in it’s proper place (manage time for all 3)

> No one can cancel out the others

5. Future (If we don’t teach them who will teach them thatJ

* Our greatest day is yet ahead

* Don’t take a temporary situation and create a permanent problem

* Be a Builder not a Survivor (Thriver or Survivor)

* The Journey Is Our Friend

* Become a parent, not a babysitter

If we don’t do it, who will?

Ask yourself this question:

* If I don’t teach it, who will?

What we expect from God, God expects from family.

Let’s strive to be the family God wants every child to have.

Give It To God

Give It To God

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Life may not always seem fair but God is always good. And God cares about you.

When we don’t know what to do, where to turn or how to pray, we can always give it to God and trust Him to take care of it.

Our God is an ever present help in the time of trouble. Psalms 46:1

Our story this morning will come from the book of 2 Samuel, beginning in chapter 13 and following for a few chapters. Before we conclude we will be reading a few verses from 2 Samuel 16 to see how David, late in life, in trouble once again, didn’t know what to else to do so he just did once again what he had always done before and gave it to God and trusted Him to take care of it.

King David was a great man, warrior and king, however, at the same time David was a fairly dysfunctional father. Although he could slay the bear, the lion and Goliath, woo Michael, win Abigail and steal the heart of Bathsheba, nonetheless, David never quite captured the hearts or earned the loyalties of his children.

One of David’s sons, Amnon, fell into incestuous love with his sister, Tamar. After conspiring with another brother, Amnon raped Tamar and then, as it is written: “The hate wherewith he hated her was more now that the love wherewith he had loved her.”

2 Samuel 13:15 Then Amnon hated her exceedingly, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, "Arise, be gone!" (NKJV)

David cared to know nothing about these family matters allowing them to fester and ultimately, after two years, a third brother, Absalom, took matters into his own hand and murdered Amnon for raping and abandoning his sister.

For this murder Absalom was banished from David’s kingdom. After three years David allowed Absalom to return to his kingdom however their relationship was never fully restored.

Absalom began to conspire against his father, stealing the hearts of the people and enticing David’s leaders to change their loyalties.

2 Samuel 15:6 In this manner Absalom acted toward all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. (NLKV)

One day Absalom made his move … he rose up against his father’s reign to take the kingdom for himself. In the face of certain overthrow, David fled Jerusalem and escaped into the wilderness of Judea.

With several friends, family members and close companions, David crossed the valley and started up the Mount of Olives bare footed, and Absalom came into the city of Jerusalem.

I have brought us to the point of the story now which I want to explore this morning. This is a difficult moment in the life of David. After all David has been through, now, chased out of his kingdom by the son of his love, David meets another man in the hills who comes out to add insult to injury.

Lets look at what this man, Shimei, says, and specifically how David handles this added injustice.

2 Samuel 16 NLT

5 ¶ As David and his party passed Bahurim, a man came out of the village cursing them. It was Shimei son of Gera, a member of Saul’s family.

6 He threw stones at the king and the king’s officers and all the mighty warriors who surrounded them.

7 "Get out of here, you murderer, you scoundrel!" he shouted at David.

8 "The LORD is paying you back for murdering Saul and his family. You stole his throne, and now the LORD has given it to your son Absalom. At last you will taste some of your own medicine, you murderer!"

9 "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king?" Abishai son of Zeruiah demanded. "Let me go over and cut off his head!"

10 "No!" the king said. "What am I going to do with you sons of Zeruiah! If the LORD has told him to curse me, who am I to stop him?"

11 Then David said to Abishai and the other officers, "My own son is trying to kill me. Shouldn’t this relative of Saul have even more reason to do so? Leave him alone and let him curse, for the LORD has told him to do it.

12 And perhaps the LORD will see that I am being wronged and will bless me because of these curses."

13 So David and his men continued on, and Shimei kept pace with them on a nearby hillside, cursing as he went and throwing stones at David and tossing dust into the air.

David could have taken matters into his own hands but that would not have changed anything. What David needed only God could do.

So, David decided to give it to God and trust Him one more time to take care of it. It was the same pattern we see in David’s life when he was wrongfully accused and chased for years by King Saul.

What can we learn from David’s example?

When we are evidently being done wrong and when there seems nothing we can do about the real problem or the problem makers … take David’s example and:

Give It To God!

How does one do that? Glad you asked!

1. Don’t curse it. (the problem or the people you see as the problem)

2. Don’t nurse it. (this will only serve the enemies goals in your mental, emotional and physical well being)

3. Don’t rehearse it. (telling others and infecting them with the same poison and pain you have will do nothing but prolong the process)

4. Trust God to reverse it.

Give it to God and trust Him to take care of it.

Just as with David who was restored back to his throne with all of his enemies defeated, God will also take care of your problems and vindicate you, deliver you, restore you or whatever you deserve in His eyes.

So when someone does you dirty or life cheats you out of some blessing:

Don’t curse it; Don’t nurse it; Don’t rehearse it & God will reverse it!

When all else will fail!

Give it to God!

no really!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Give it to God!

Lord, Teach Us To Pray Series: Part 4b - Five Prayers of the Apostle Paul

Lord, Teach Us To Pray

Series: Part 4b

Five Prayers of the Apostle Paul

gtcotr/ws101806

Tonight we continue our series on prayer.

We find several examples in the bible of people who prayed to God, Godly prayers, prayers that not only moved the hand of God and changed the lives of people in those days, but prayers which continue to move our hearts and change our lives today.

In the book of Acts alone we see church leaders and congregations alike praying to commission people, heal sicknesses and diseases, to receive boldness, salvation, direction, protection, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and even raise people from the dead. Prayer is very much a part of the believer’s daily responsibilities of life.

At least 30 times in the 28 chapters of Acts mention is made of prayer being the key factor.

You see:

Prayer is not the spiritual spice we sprinkle over our life to give it a God flavor … rather prayer is the key ingredient through which we find the receipt for life.

It is in the book of Acts that we find such testimonies as:

Acts 2:42 ¶ And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Acts 3:1 ¶ Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

Their problem that day began with prayer and ended with prayer …

Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

Acts 6:4 "but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word."

It is in Acts that we find one of the things which moved the hand of God on behalf of Saul of Tarsus …

Acts 9:11 So the Lord said to him, "Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying.”

Acts 12:5 ¶ Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.

Acts 12:12 says that many were gathered together that night at the house of Mary, John Mark’s mother, in order to pray for Peter.

Acts 16:25 ¶ But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

So you see, prayer was the standard set by the early church and the bible testifies that prayer works.

Last week we began looking at what I call the five prayers of Paul. We only had time to go over the first two on my list:

I. Prayer One - Ephesians 1:16-20

II. Prayer Two - Ephesians 3:14-19

Tonight let me go over the other three and we will see that Paul prayed even at times when he was not in danger, trouble or need.

III. Prayer Three - Philippians 1:9-11

Philippians 1 NKJV

9 ¶ And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment,

10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ,

11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

IV. Prayer Four - Colossians 1:9-12

Colossians 1 NKJV

9 ¶ For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;

12 ¶ giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

Continued faith confession:

13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

V. Prayer Five - 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

2 Thessalonians 1 NKJV

11 ¶ Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power,

12 that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus

Sideline Note: Paul also mentions giving thanks for the believers in the church of Thessalonica in the beginning of this letter in brief.

2 Thessalonians 1:3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other (NKJV)

Lord, Teach Us To Pray Series: Part 4 - Five Prayers of the Apostle Paul

Lord, Teach Us To Pray

Series: Part 4

Five Prayers of the Apostle Paul

gtcotr/ws101106

Tonight we continue our series on prayer. In the few weeks we are spending on this most powerful subject we will end up covering:

* The Model Prayer

* The Lord’s Prayer

* The Five Prayers of Paul

* The Prayer of Jabez

* Jacob’s Covenant Prayer

We will understand the difference between:

* Individual and Corporate Prayer

* Praying With Our Understanding and Praying In The Spirit

* Praying Under Authority and Praying In Authority

(The ‘not my will’ prayers; ‘Pray for’, not ‘pray against’)

* Prayer; Confession & Command

(We pray to God; Confess to ourselves; Command spirits)

(Prayer is only to God - we may voice command in Jesus’ Name to bind and loose or move mountains, but prayer is to God)

* Prayers God Hears and Prayers God Refuses To Hear

(1 John 5:14ff; John 9:31; 1 Peter 3:12)

This series will teach us that our praying should be:

* Instant

* Frequent

* Purpose-filled

* Persistent

Together we will come to know The one goal for all prayer. This helps us to keep our focus and not become distracted, detoured, derailed, disillusioned, disconnected or dissatisfied in prayer.

Remember what that one goal for all prayer is?

That God’s Kingdom would be established and that God’s Will would be accomplished.

This is the single purpose and goal for all prayer.

Tonight we will take a look at five prayers which the Apostle Paul prayed. These prayers reveal both the heart of God and the aim of an intercessor. I have used these prayers as a guide for more than twenty-five years now and have found they cover crucial components of life and ministry as well as release anointing to accomplish God’s will in the lives of those I pray over.

I. Prayer One - Ephesians 1:16-20

Ephesians 1 NKJV

16 (I) do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,

18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power

20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places

Continued Explanation: Here Paul begins teaching. Read in NLT.

21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,

23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

II. Prayer Two - Ephesians 3:14-19

Ephesians 3 NKJV

14 ¶ For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,

17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—

19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Affirmation: Notice the similarity is close to the Model Prayer in Matthew 6:13 (… For Yours is the Kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen.)

20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

III. Prayer Three - Philippians 1:9-11

Philippians 1 NKJV

9 ¶ And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment,

10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ,

11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

IV. Prayer Four - Colossians 1:9-12

Colossians 1 NKJV

9 ¶ For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;

12 ¶ giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

Continued faith confession:

13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

V. Prayer Five - 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

2 Thessalonians 1 NKJV

11 ¶ Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power,

12 that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus

Sideline Note: Paul also mentions giving thanks for the believers in the church of Thessalonica in the beginning of this letter in brief.

2 Thessalonians 1:3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other (NKJV)

The giving of thanks to God was worth mentioning and even boasting about due to the faith, love and unity of the believers in that church.

Appointments

Appointments

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Eternal realities dictate earthly responsibilities.

Mark your calendar. Set time aside. There are three dates you won’t want to miss, in fact, these three dates you won’t miss, no one will miss, not people now in heaven, those awaiting the lake of fire nor the as yet unborn souls of man.

God has informed us in His word that He has already marked our calendars with three future dates hoping to keep us motivated and focused on the future. What are these future dates?

1. The Great White Throne Judgment

Revelation 20 NKJV

11 ¶ Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.

12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Note: This is the judgment seat of Almighty God.

This day motivates us to personal evangelism.

This day keeps me focused on eternal realities.

* Every person will spend eternity in either heaven or hell

* There is no way for us to reach a person beyond the grave

* Only an individual’s personal commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior can secure eternal life

* How shall anyone know this except someone is sent to tell them.

Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

We are not responsible to save the world but we are responsible to tell them in a credible and understandable way.

Conclusion:

* Every man, woman, boy and girl will face the Great White Throne Judgment of God.

* You will and I will.

* No one else can stand there with you or for you

* The books will be opened: The book of works and the book of life.

* Only those found listed in the Lamb’s Book of Life will be allowed into heaven to live eternally with Christ. Everyone not found in that book will be cast into the lake of fire along with death, hell, the devil and his angels to be tormented without relief forever as punishment for rejecting God’s Messiah and refusing His sacrifice for their sins.

This is told to motivate us and to encourage us to keep our focus on personal evangelism.

2. The Judgment Seat Of Christ

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

This judgment occurs at the return of Christ.

* Matthew 16:27 Jesus will reward every man according to his works.

* Luke 14:14 Believers shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

* 1 Corinthians 4:5 We are told to judge nothing before the time, when the Lord shall return.

* 2 Timothy 4:8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

* Revelation 22:21 I come quickly, My reward is with me, to give to every man

This is a judgment of the believer’s works, not the believer’s sins.

* Matthew 12:36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

Sins have been atoned for, they will be addressed, confessed, forgiven, tears wiped and the sins remembered no more.

Good works will be rewarded and remembered forever and ever.

This day motivates us to purity, integrity and good works.

* Each will be exposed, judged and rewarded according to their works done while in the body whether good of bad.

* The whole eternal assembly will truly understand not only the deeds done by each while in the body but also the motivating factors, the thoughts, aims, secret agendas and plans which were well hidden from human discernment.

* This is an instrument and intention of God to make a distinction between those who have fully followed Him with holy motives and those who have only scarcely obtained eternal reward by grace alone with no reward for continuing works following salvation.

Note: Entrance into heaven is gained by the grace of God only, however eternal status, rank and reward is obtained through the works done by an individual’s faith and faithfulness.

3. The Gathering Of All Nations

Revelation 5:

6 ¶ And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

This day motivates us to continued prayer and world missions.

The Living God is a Missionary God.

A stone thrown in one pond does not cause ripples in another.

Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

We are told to go into all the world in ever increasing concentric circles, and when the whole world shall have heard, then God shall close this age.

Eternal realities dictate earthly responsibilities.

I challenge you to commit your life or recommit your life to these eternal realities:

* The Great White Throne Judgment demands we commit ourselves to personal evangelism.

* The Judgment Seat of Christ encourages us to commit ourselves to purity, personal integrity and good works.

* The Gathering of All Nations unto God calls for our commitment to continued prayer and world missions.

Mark your calendars - these days are approaching!

Make your reservations now!