Friday Night Sermon 06-14-02

Discussion in 'Religion Archives' started by ISDAMan, Jun 15, 2002.

  1. ISDAMan Thank You Jesus! Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
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    Well, this is the FNS that's, for the most part going to be my sermon this Sunday. Please keep me in prayer as this is my first time preaching from the pulpit.

    Because this FNS is so much to post, I'm only posting it in one place other websites will get a link to the post.

    Bless God America!
    IDAMan

    [GREETING]

    [PRAYER]
    Dear Heavenly Father,

    In Your mercy, You have given us another day to come together and worship You to the end that You might be glorified. By Your grace, You have made Your children higher than the angels and joint heirs with Christ. We ask You now, Lord, Help us to keep Your Words. As Christ has said in John 14:23, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we [!] will come unto him, and make our abode with him." Lord, we trust You as our only life. As You are alive in us, Lord, make us to be humble before You,… and wise,… and harmless before men. And if anyone here does not have a personal loving relationship, through Jesus, with you now, call out to them Lord. Speak to that person's heart that, through this message, that person would finally come to trust Christ and have abundant life. [Add whatever special requests there are as needed.]

    In Christ's name we pray,
    AMEN

    [*** OPENING OF PREFACE ***]

    Because this is Father's Day, in my mind, I could envision myself sharing this great message that would really invigorate the fathers here today and inspire them to live for the Lord as they have never lived before. But then,… if I were speaking to the fathers only, I'd be leaving something very precious out. You see, a father can't be a father without a child. And, he most certainly can't have a child without a woman [hopefully, that woman is his wife [?]].

    As I studied, as I prayed, as I paid attention to the things that God was showing me, I had to realize that I can't preach to or about fathers without also preaching to and about families. It's not simply that I find it important to try and make sure that every particular group ends up feeling like they didn't get left out. What I want to share with you today is that A FAMILY WITHOUT A FATHER'S LEADERSHIP FALTERS AND A FATHER THAT FALTERS IS THE RUIN OF HIS FAMILY!

    Now,… after an opening like that, you're just going to have to be patient and trust me when I say that this sermon will have an inspiring outlook. I know that some might be concerned that my "baptisizing" up here will be too strong to survive but, Lord willing, you're going to live to see the end of this sermon. I do hope, though, that you all took Ralph's advice and packed lunch.

    Fathers, I want to encourage you to be strong Godly men who foster loving, happy, peaceful, patient, and gentle family environments that are good, even when nobody else can see you, because you, as a father, faithfully lead the family to actively trust and serve,… that is, trust and obey,… the Lord Jesus Christ. The honor that God has given you is great. Thought the burden seems great as well, Jesus promised, and we can read this in Matthew 11:30, that His yoke is easy and his burden is light. Dad, if you serve God first, in your life, you can't help but to treat your family right.

    Wives and children, I hope to show you that, the husband and father, who is the head of your household, is a mighty blessing that you can be proud of and rejoice in rather than turn away from. Where he is weak and imperfect, bolster him up with love. Encourage him to turn his eyes upon Jesus just as you must also do. If what you want is a loving, happy, peaceful, patient, and gentle family that's good even when no one's looking, you've got to do your part. You've got to have faith,… not in yourselves and the good things that you can do,… not in the man who is the head of the household,… but, in Jesus Christ who is the only one that has the power to forgive sins and redeem our souls from the literal Burning Hell that waits for all that die without Christ.

    If the head of your household is an ungodly man and does not know Christ as his Lord and Savior, you will do him no good by fighting with him. Instead, display Christ in your life. To do that, you've got to keep your relationship with God in good order. Remember this, you can't give what you don't have. If you are going to be an encouraging spirit of righteousness in that man's life, you're going to have to allow God to work in your life to change and more greatly conform you to the will of God. As he sees the power that God has by way of you having the faithfulness enough to allow God to shape your life, God may bring him under conviction that he, too, needs to give his life to Jesus.

    Widows,… single mothers,… God will not suffer you to be alone. Trust in Him and He will be and provide all [!] that you need. He is more than any Earthly man can ever offer. Even more, God would encourage you to trust in Him completely because He longs to give you your heart's desire. As you mature in Christ and are conformed to God's will in your spirit, whether or not He places a man in your life, He will bring you satisfaction. He will be your source of Joy.

    [*** END OF PREFACE ***]

    In Galatians 6:7, God's Holy Word says:

    "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

    Parents!,… Teach your children, by living this in your lives day in and day out! What you do, whether or not you know they see you, matters! The choices you make in open and in secret will impact your family now and for ages to come.

    We can all understand this concept if you turn it into matters of money. The more good investments you make now, the bigger the payoff in the long run. If you don't make any investments or, if all you make are bad ones, you'll get the same garbage and nothingness out of investing that you put into it.

    Now, men, how is it so hard for us to see this in regard to our wives and children?! It is not up to them to be what we would want them to be. It's up to us to be what God wants us to be. Then, it is up to us, as God's appointed leaders of the family, to nurture, in them, all the good things that God would have of them and us too.

    Would we look into our investment portfolio and expect that it would change and manage itself according to our needs and desires? Of course not!!!! Somehow, though,… we expect this of our wives,... we expect this of our children. The onus is on us to be managers but,… more than managers. We must be servant leaders. We lead by example. That's how Christ leads. If we want them to be selfless and giving,… if we want them to be honest and true,… if we want any good thing out of them,… guess what?,… we've got to show them exactly what it looks like by living it ourselves. And we can't give what we don't have.

    Moreover, we've got to know that God did not give us families so that we, as men, could have people to serve us. Jesus said that His burden is light. He did not say that it is nonexistent! The family was ordained by God, for God, and for our social good,... When families are united and focused upon God and what He would have of them, they are successful. When you've got a whole rash of families serving God, you've got something very special. Romans 8:31 says, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" This church and this community will not be bettered by better social services. We will be bettered by families on fire for God.

    Families, including fathers, are meant to find their joy and freedom in serving the Lord together. Thus, we have a job to do men. For the sake of our families,… for our sakes,… and for the Glory of God,… we have got to foster, in our families, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who gives salvation freely to all who would ask. For we know that the Bible says in Hebrews 11:6 that without faith, it is impossible to please God and that He rewards those that diligently seek Him. Will you diligently seek God?! Before you walk out of these doors, I pray that you will realize that the kind of relationship your family has with God is powerfully influenced by you.

    Fathers, it is up to us to set the spiritual pace for the family. We can either look for the rewards that God, the maker of the universe, has to offer or, we can settle for the things that we can scrape together in the here and now with the efforts of our own hands. We could live for wealth, fame, prestige, and pleasure and most assuredly send our families to ruin. Conversely, God gives us the opportunity to put our trust in Him and His ways and reap real and lasting joy and happiness as a reward. For all the things that this world has to offer that we can aspire to attain, nothing,… nothing compares to all that God wants give to us.

    Praise God! The Bible is full of answers and encouragement on how to live life. Notwithstanding all of the great lessons that the Bible has to teach, if you don't have a right relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, you will not be able to take hold of the truth the Bible has to offer. Now, listen to me! I'm not just talking to fathers here. No matter who you are, if you have not trusted Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life and Savior from the debt of sin that you owe and cannot pay to God, you have no hope,… listen to me,… no hope,… of being the man, woman, boy, or girl that God would have you to be. The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us in chapter 1 verse 14:

    "I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit."

    You know what? You can try to get joy and satisfaction from your work, from people in your family or outside of your family, from amassing wealth, or by trying to become excellent in whatever arena you find that your strengths are in. Still, we read in Matthew 16:26 that Jesus said, "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" There's no substitute for a right relationship with God.

    Fathers, what is it that we are really teaching? What lives are we living in the sight of our families today,… and YES!,… whether you want to believe it or not, they do get their cues on how to live their lives by watching you. Children tend to amass an idea of what God is like by way of what you are like. When they look at you, will they see you trying to gain the whole world [which is a fruitless task you can't complete anyway]? Maybe you might say, "Well, I'm just trying to gain my part. After all, it's for my family." Really now!,… Is IT?! Do you know what your family wants from you more than anything? They want your time! They want you to love them with time and as much of it as you can give. Thirty years from now, your wife and children will never remember or love one thin dime that you give to them. When you die, they won't longingly look back and wish that they had another trust fund or a bigger IRA. They'll want what I and my brother and sister and my father wish that we could have from my mother,… they will long to have more personal interaction with you. This means more than money and stuff ever could to them. What you accomplish out in the world won't give them what they really want and need. It's what you accomplish in your family's heart for God that will make all the difference!

    Fathers, your first relationship needs to be with God and your second needs to be with your spouse. How you and your wife live for God before you have children and before you ever even marry will greatly determine your children's walk with God. Here's some things that you both need to know.
    MEN:
    1) You are to be the priest over the household.
    You are the one that is responsible for the spiritual direction of the family. There are no excuses! Take charge by being the first to submit to God. Let your family see you give the same reverence to God that the Old Testament priests would give as they entered the Holy of Holies in the Temple. They feared for their lives when they entered that room. What do you fear when you approach God?
    Be faithful in study and prayer both with and for your family. BTW, single men,… teens, prayer is something that you should be diligent in well in advance of getting married.
    2) You are to love your wives like Christ loved the church.
    Take note. We are not told to love our jobs, our sports, our hobbies, our best friend, or even our children,… like Christ loved the church. That high status is given first and only to our wives. We are to be one flesh with our wives. The connection, to the surprise of some, is not just below the belt. We are to join with her spiritually and physically. Is it possible to disregard, belittle, subjugate, suppress, or even hate a whole half of our own body?
    Christ did not take the best for Himself first. Instead, He gave the best of Himself. If you say that you love your wife, how much are you willing to give to prove it?
    Because King David loved God, he said that he would never give God anything that cost him nothing.
    Love is more than three little words spoken every so often or a role in the hay now and again. Love costs more than a roof to sleep under, the finest clothing, or the most savory meals. The value of Real Love can only be measured in sacrifice. Real Love longs to satisfy someone else's best good first. Real Love never says me first. In fact, let's look at what God's word has to say about Real Love.
    1 Corinthians 13:4-7 New KJV
    4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
    5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
    6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
    7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
    What did real Love cost God?
    John 3:16
    For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
    Does the Bible's description of love sound like you? Do you endure all things for the sake of your woman? Do you believe in her and let her know that you have confidence in her? Really?!?! How do you treat her when it comes to money? Would you ever trust her with your deepest secrets? Do you long to hug her when she's mad at you for something that's not your fault? Are you constantly looking for a reason to praise her and not your own accomplishments? Are you seeking to ease her of her burdens?
    Men, If you're not willing to be the workhorse in the relationship; you don't want a relationship!!! A "Husband" is a "Farmer". That is the literal meaning of the word. You had best be ready, willing, and able to work for what you want to see grow!!!!!!!! Not all rewards are instant either,... and Pitiful effort brings Pitiful reward.
    Let me dispel one of today's pervasive myths. Marriage is not a 50/50 down the middle business. You might be better at certain areas than you wife and might have to bare more than what you feel is your fair and equitable 50%. Let me tell you something. 50% is a Pitiful goal to strive for!!! Sure, it's great to be able to bare the load together. Nevertheless, you might just be called upon the bear the total load in an area and you've got to be willing to do so no matter the outlook. Love does not bear it's fair and equitable 50% of all things. Love bears and endures all things!!!!!! Love is not contingent upon what she does or does not do. Love, if it is Real Love, exists simply because it is your desire to love. She can neither earn your love with good works nor loose it with bad. Otherwise, she would just be somebody,… anybody,… filling a useful role.
    Not understanding this is why we have so many couples claiming that they just don't love each other another anymore. It is not a lack of love. It's the foolish and greedy lack of willingness to love. Love is not what she can do for me. Love is how I can help affect her for her best good.
    How is it that Christ Loved the church? When it came to suffering, responsibility, and bearing the burdens, that's when Christ said [so to speak] "Me First!" In that way, He freed us as we should free our wives. He freed us in sacrificial Love!

    WOMEN:
    · Submit to your husbands.
    Why do you think that God said this? Was this some way to get back at Eve? No. There's no grudge at all. Let me show you something.
    God made us in His likeness and made us male and female. He assigned some of His attributes to men and some to women. He is referred to in the masculine because those attributes as the head were given to men. Those attributes as a helper, the very same ones through which came our Savior, the Lord, Jesus Christ, were given to women. Both are of God. God is Perfect. Neither aspect of attributes is less in value.
    I promise you that the best thing that you, as a wife, could ever do for your husband is to keep him pointed in the direction of the ways of God. If not, his ego, his short sightedness, and his forgetfulness, will get the best of him.
    So that you can better understand where I'm coming from, here is just a small part of a long Online conversation I had some two years ago with a couple of women with some highly feminists views:
    Searcher
    My husband is not my "boss", any more than I'm his "boss", but he does have a great deal of influence on my behavior. The same can be said the other way around. We are equal, and we respect each other as equals. That's the way it should be. We both bring home the bacon, and we both fry it up in a pan.
    The idea that a man should be head of household by virtue of what's hanging between his legs is just macho stupidity. The idea that a woman needs to be "taken care of" is just more of the same.
    SkyeBlue
    ISDAMan -
    Let me get this straight here, so what you are saying is that even though the woman gets stuck in the kitchen while hubby hobnobs out in the living room, she's appreciated for it, and that's all that matters? Well, that's just peachy, where do I buy one of those Grandma aprons, because that's the kind of treatment I want!! 'Cause, you know, as a woman, I couldn't possibly have any kind of intelligent thoughts to add to the conversation. I also couldn't possibly be expected to make business deals either, I suppose. Or perform mathematical equations beyond figuring which is cheaper, tomato or mushroom soup. Gosh, ISDAMan, please, tell me where I sign up!? I guess I better start walking 3 feet behind my husband, and never question his actions. I'll just have to hope he thinks of me when he makes decisions, and if he doesn't, I suppose I'll just give in gracefully.
    You don't seem to understand that women and men are equals - sure, there are some differences, but overall, equal.
    Sorry to break the news to you, but women are just as capable of being in the limelight and taking support from thier husbands. You're right on one point, there should be no shame in supporting your spouse. I just think it's very wrong to shove the woman into the support role all the time. I think it's wrong to shove EITHER into that position all the time. It's give and take, 2 way street. Not "I'll be the giver, you be the taker, but then you take care of me, okay?". NO! Not in my lifetime will I accept that, never.
    ISDAMan
    Searcher,
    That's your assumption that it has anything to do with physical attributes. The attributes God gave man and those He gave woman are not physical in nature. Incidentally, the word husband means to cultivate. A man cares for his wife because he loves her. You seem to keep missing over the parts where I say that real love serves. A husband that loves his wife also serves her. This goes to you too SkyeBlue. When did I ever say that it was good for a man to relegate his wife to kitchen duty? A helper is not a slave. Did you skip over the part where I said, "A woman that simply does what she is told is of no value as a helper. The Bible tells both men and women that their flesh is not their own but the property of the other.", and, I also said, "In everything a man does, he should first consider the value to the woman in his life before himself."? Is it any good to her if she is stuck in the kitchen while hubby hobnobs out in the living room? Of course not! You two seem to be applying your pre-prescribed notions of what is Biblical about women. I say one thing and you bring claims of another. Correct me if I'm wrong, but, wouldn't one of the best ways to find out about your wife's needs be to actually talk to her and spend time serving her? The good farmer will forego his own needs and desires for the sake of his passion. There is no boss in the relationship. There is a head. That head has a responsibility to see that the best good is bestowed upon his wife! Being the head doesn't mean that you get to bark orders and everyone is supposed to jump. Being the head means that you are responsible for the well being of all that happens in your charge and you are the first to take any hard knocks that are coming your family's way. To be the head is to be the shield in a storm of flaming darts and a steady rock beneath the feet of those you care about to keep them high above the flood. Just because everyone around a man gives that man the glory, it doesn't mean that he needs to pay it any mind. The Christian man's concern is to set the standard for God in the home. The Bible is replete with warnings against high mindedness. Do many men have it? You bettcha they do! It's wrong. To love a woman is to serve her. Please explain to me how it is possible to serve someone and not take care of their needs. I'd like to know how it could be done. If you would not give of yourself to a person, even to the point of taking from yourself, then, you do not love that person fully. This is the love Christ has shown. It has nothing to do with the capability of being in the limelight. It has nothing to do with more or less value. The Bible makes it clear that if you want to be exalted by the Lord; you need to base yourself before other people. The first person that a man is to serve (base himself before) is the wife that he has sworn the oath of the covenant of marriage towards. The best support a woman can show a man is to do two things. First, open her heart to him. Men don't like to admit it but, we really do need to know that there is a woman that loves us no matter who else doesn't or whatever else is going on. It's more comfort to a man than you might know to just place his arms around her and know that she is there. He truly is incomplete without her. Second, she can help keep him focused on the ways of the Lord. Men, in general, are quick to fight, seek their own dominance, and parade their achievements. These things are contrary to God. What happens in the kitchen is anyone's work. Personally, I hate dishes and the fussing that comes with them. I tend to wash my own when I'm done and avoid the nonsense. I love to cook. I've always washed my own clothes and done my own ironing. It's no fun. It's just life. Both the man and the woman should be in the support role as much as they can. Again, I speak of matters of the heart and of affection. Cleaning and the such should be shared until you have children. As they grow you can give them responsibilities that can make them ready for the world. Please, understand that to help and to support is not to be a slave. If the help and support is first of the heart; it's easy to be a cheerful giver of the simple physical things of dishes and the like. Both partners should support the other whenever they can. The relationship will be better for it. Service breeds intimacy. The battle of the sexes is a battle of a lack of perfect love through right orientation to God.
    SkyeBlue
    ISDAMan:
    A head of the family is responsible for seeing to the good of his wife? What if the woman is the head of the family? This is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. What makes a man more suitable for being the head of a family than the woman? His ability to lift heavy objects? His ability to write his name in urine in the snow? That hair growing on his back?
    Searcher
    ISDAMan,
    SkyeBlue asks a legitimate question, and I am also interested in your answer. What makes the man "head" of the household? Shouldn't a married or cohabitating couple (now there's another can of worms!!) be considered joint heads of household? If not, why not? I'm pretty certain that the only answer you've got up your sleeve is "Because God says so, and I'm not in the habit of questioning God!" But that's not really an answer as far as I'm concerned - it's only a cop-out for people who don't want to have to think for themselves. I'd like a real answer, if you have one.
    ISDAMan
    SkyeBlue,
    Again, I tell you that the attributes of Himself that God has bestowed upon humans are not physical and you still bring it back to the physical.
    By His choosing, and I'm not qualified to discern His reasoning, He loaded the man up with things that drive him to make order. He loaded the woman up with things that drive her to maintain order. They're two peas in a pod. A good woman gives a man direction.
    Two ax heads and no handle will produce few logs for the fire. The same is true of two handles and no head. You tell me which part of the ax is better,... the head or the handle? They are made to be joined and work together. Though the man may be the head, they are both called to follow the direction of the one wielding the ax. The importance is whose hands will you place yourself in? Will it be God's? I can only pray that it will be someday.
    I find is astonishing that to respect a woman and to entreat her with honor because she is a woman and a gift from God is seen as a disservice to women these days. No matter what you or anyone says, I will continue to see her as more valuable than the finest gold or the richest treasure. Her words to him are better than food and more sustaining than water. With God's woman as his bride, a man can stand in the fiercest storm. She is God's personal and hand picked representative to him. It is a shame not to honor her with service. On one hand you are fed up with the perception of a man's high mindedness. On the opposing hand you are against his service. Would you rather that he just leave you altogether alone?
    QUOTE:
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I don't need to be coddled, or served in any way. I don't need to be protected. I don't need anyone to open my doors for me. Now, if a man does hold a door for me, I thank him, that's just politeness. And if I'm going through a door, I tend to hold it for whomever is behind me, male or female. That's polite. What annoys me is men that will refuse to walk through a door that I am holding, or one that gets annoyed when I don't wait at the door for him to open it for me. That's not polite, at least not in my book.
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I I I The Bible makes it clear that the I's don't have it. When you boil it down, one of the biggest problems that most people have with God's Word is that there is no assertion of self. Rather, praise be to God. Glory to the Father. Give to him that takes from you. Be kind to your enemies. Repay evil with good. Show mercy. Have pity on the poor. Take strangers unto yourself. Give without expecting return. And probably the worst thing of all, Love those that Hate you. What you display is a focus upon yourself. It is oh so common for people to think that just because one person got one thing and they got another that the other person's thing is better or that the other person is given better position. Someone with the Biblical focus of servanthood, be they man or woman, would know that it is a gift just to be able to serve one so high as God. There are greater rewards, in this life and in Heaven, for the Christian, than could ever be found through assertion of self. Every child of God can attest to this. In your quest for self-assertion, you find no peace from your phantom enemy. In servanthood, there is more peace than you know what to do with.
    Does anyone understand why these women were so contentious? You might think to say that it's just because they adhere to some of the more feminist ideals that infest our society but,… there's more to it than just that. To find the root, we need to go back to what God had to say in Genesis 3:16.

    "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."

    Did you catch that latter part? Here we see a portion of God spelling out the curse of sin to man. Before Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, they looked to God in everything. They saw His Holiness. Their nakedness wasn't an issue. They did not contend with one another in anything. As soon as their eyes were opened to sin, they no longer had it in their hearts to look to God in His Holiness. Instead, Eve, with great envy, saw Adam and desired to have his position. Adam, with his great pride, turned his eyes upon his desires and sought to rule in his own authority.

    Some would claim that this verse teaches that a woman needs a man to rule over her. Why?! He's just as much a sinner as she is!

    What this verse really tells us is that, since the fall of man, there has been disunity between men and women and between people and God.

    Women, if you want to encourage unity and personal value in your household, encourage Godliness! Put the spotlight on Jesus!

    The way God planned it out, there would be a Godly man as leader, a Godly woman to literally help him be a leader, and children reared in the fear and admonition,… in the respect of the Lord. But, since the fall of Adam and Eve, men selfishly struggle to make a way for themselves in the world, women chide with men, jockeying for position in social and familial settings, while children are left to grow in the way of their own sinful bents,… with ungodly leaders,… without rules,… being told that it's better for them to make their own way than to hear the instruction of the Lord.

    Please, parents,… children do not just automatically grow up to do right and serve God. How many of us know that you don't have to teach a child how to be a sinner? It's a natural thing. It comes automatically.

    Now, my brother is here today and I love my brother but, I'm going to pick on him for just a minute. He loves when I tell this story anyway. It's a perfect example of why we need to have Christ centered homes.

    My brother had the amazing ability to be able to lie before he could ever speak. As a toddler, he use to constantly try to get into the canned good closet and would be just so mad when he got caught. So, in his little toddler brain he came up with the most amazing plan ever. It was a brilliant plan considering that the boy was only around a year old. The scheme was simple. First, he'd wait for just the right moment. The adults had to be distracted. Second, arriving at his objective, he'd plant a decoy. Then he could immediately immerse himself in the full and unbridled enjoyment of canned goodness.

    Now, is when his great lie comes into play. At the very first detection of an adult presence, his right hand shot like a rocket. With flawless guidance and in the blink of an eye, he'd clinch his bottle and presented it to us drawn in tightly to his body as though he was saying, with his little half-smile full of fear, "Look!!! I'm innocent. I was just getting my bottle."

    As cute as this story sounds, this is what we face. We have children who break the womb already able to conceive in their hearts to do wrong. It's up to us men, as fathers, to lead the family for Christ.

    Here's where I think that the message really gets hard men. We've got to resist our own laziness. We cannot raise our children to God's glory by taking the path of least resistance.
    This is a world whose children are walking rotting corpses! Nothing is of value and there is no truth wherein they may find comfort. Illogically, there are absolutely no absolutes. If we hope to teach our children to honor God, we have got to settle for no less than that they should honor us! For God has commanded that children should honor their parents.
    Our God is a God of order and He has established absolutes in the universe. The foremost of them being TRUTH! He requires that He should be worshiped in Spirit and in truth,... and let me tell you something. The truth is the easiest story in the world to tell. It only comes in one version. Don't let your children be swayed by the world's adulterated standard of truth. No matter what all of their friends are doing, you lay down the good, hard, and true boundaries found in God's Word and that's how your children will learn to not be conformed to the world's standard of living.
    By the world's system of doing things, their children have no hope of knowing the LORD,... and sadly, the world's thinking and theology is spilling over into many Christian homes. Even worse, Christian parents make excuses for it. They say things like, "My children don't go to church and don't worship God but, they're good moral kids and I know that they would never do anything really wrong." Does it matter?!?!?! When they die without Jesus, because you didn't teach them to choose to honor God,… because you didn't teach them to choose to honor you,… they'll go to just the same hell as those totally immoral kids down the block! If you want your children to learn how to make good choices, here's what you need to do:
    1) Be right with God yourself.
    2) Always behave and speak with a Godly character.
    3) Always reward and encourage good while properly admonishing evil with a temperance of mercy.
    4) Starting when they are young, regularly set before your children an array of only good choices,… you know,… Good Better Best. Give them the freedom to choose whatever they want within the safe and loving bounds you responsibly provide for them.
    5) Accept no substitutes! If they step outside of good boundaries, waste no time getting them back into safety.
    Having gone to my mother's funeral, I know that there are many comments about how good looking the corpse is. People regularly refer to how good of a job the funeral home does with making the dead loved one look lifelike. I have news for you. Funeral homes are not homes. People don't live there and corpses don't look good or lifelike. I learned that day. They look just like dead people we love.
    Homes where Christ is not displayed and held up for children to follow are no better than funeral homes. You've got dead people coming in and out of the doors. While at the same time, the corpses of those children are being maintained with little more than social make-up. There's a touch of spiritual Revlon here and there and a splash of politically correct embalming morality to take the place of the Life Giving Blood of JESUS!
    Fathers, challenge and teach your children to Love Jesus! They've got to see it in you first. And do realize that sanctification is a process. It's not your business to make the family sanctified. They won't instantly be right. It is your business, though, to point the family toward God and take no mess from the devil.

    In closing, I'd like to leave you with the example of Gideon. If you read past the story of his great fame, you'll see that his Godly leadership was sorely inconsistent. Keep in mind that with children, more of their behavior is caught from you than is taught by you. Gideon had some 70 sons,… and just one of his sons, with a small army of bums [that's exactly what the Bible shows them to be], slew all but one of his son's,… one at a time,… on the same rock! Go and read that story in the book of Judges. The overall moral of the story is that, despite what you look like to the rest of the world,… in spite of all of your accomplishments,… no matter which of the sins you consider to be major sins that you're proud to have not committed,… your children are going to catch the real you,… and the same sin you foster in your life will likely be the ruin of them all!

    Fathers,… Mothers,… will you take hold of this, [HOLDING UP THE WORD] God's Word, in your hearts?! Will you trust Jesus?! Will you be the good example and encourager that makes the difference in someone else's life?! Dad's are you going to make the choice to be the Spiritual Leader in the home and keep your family from coming to ruin?! Single person, will you trust Jesus?! Or, will you walk out that door unsure of what will happen to you when you die,… unsure of the right way to live your life day to day?! Do you want to know Jesus and have real Peace and Real Joy?! Do you want to experience God's plan for happiness in your life?!

    [*** PRAYER & ALTER CALL***]
     

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