You In Five Years
Your Family in Five Years!
Today, we have decided to extend our January series called “You In Five Years”, for one more week, because we felt God leading us to address change in our children and families. What will our children and families believe in five years? (That’s up to us!)
Financial report/ vision – God has blessed Real with over 20% financial growth in 2019/ Building fund update/ Discuss merger conclusion/ Address future building plans.
Today, I want to talk to us about a critical season of spiritual investment with a message titled – Your Family in 5 Years!
The cultural mantra defining our world today is, “Silence is love and Truth is hatred!”
The biblical mantra defining our faith always is, “Truth is love and Silence is hatred!”
James 5:20 “remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over [shield] a multitude of sins.”(Love turns lost!)
Ephesians 4:15 (NIV) “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” (Love isn’t silent!)
Love constantly cautions about the Cliff!
It is the divine responsibility of people who can see, to warn those who are blind!
The problem today is that this cultural silence mentality is entering our parenting!
But I want my kids to be open-minded and choose for themselves what to believe!
Where’s that in the Bible? When my kids turn 18, they can choose whatever they want to believe, but while they are under my roof it’s my job to teach them what to believe!
Joshua, who was not only the successor to Moses, but was also a parent, spoke up and said in: Joshua 24:15 “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
If fathers and mothers don’t start speaking up, our families and children will be lost!
> I’m sorry, but you can’t have that App on your phone!
> I’m sorry, but you don’t need to have Snap Chat at 13!
> I’m sorry, I know it’s popular, but we don’t support that lifestyle!
> I’m sorry, I know you want to hang out, but we don’t go to those parties!
> I’m sorry, but you haven’t passed pre-algebra, you’re not ready for a boyfriend!
Call me crazy, but the last time I checked, the people who pay the bills call the shots!
Free-range parenting doesn’t work! (You shape your children or someone else will!)
We’ve got way too many “grass-fed” teenagers today! (You’ll get that on the way home!)
The easiest way for children to become deceived is to blind them from the truth!
2 Corinthians 4:4 (NIV) “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (The pinnacle agenda of Satan in 2020 is to silence all truth!)
Matthew 24:24 “For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” (Christians can be deceived!)
The easiest way for people to recognize deception is to be exposed to the truth!
John 8:32 (NIV) “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
David said in Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”
God’s word always reveals two things to us whenever we open it up:
Where our feet are currently standing (The Bible reveals our location!)
What path God is wanting us to take (The Bible reveals God’s position!)
When we fail to reference God’s Word, we lose sight of our location and God’s direction!
Psalm 119:9-11 (NIV) “How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. 10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. 11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
Romans 10:17 (NIV) “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” (Parents we are the mouthpieces!)
Billy Graham – “If you are ignorant of God’s Word, you will always be ignorant of God’s will.”
Beth Moore – “We must go to God’s Word to know what’s true about ourselves.”
Someone else said – “When we fill our minds with God’s truth, there’s no room for Satan’s lies.”
We get 6,570 days, 936 Sundays and 18 birthdays to shape our children under our roof, and the greatest investment we can ever make is to teach them the Words of God!
What will our children look like in 5, 10, or 20 years from now if we read them the Bible every day? (God’s Word is the only parental investment that comes with a guarantee!)
The prophet Isaiah in referring to Gods word says in: Isaiah 55:11 (NKJV) “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void [empty handed], But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
I want to give us 3 biblical truths about how to invest biblically in our families:
It needs to start at Home! (Whatever is modeled at home will mold our children!)
Moses taught Israel to start in the home: Deuteronomy 6:4-7 (NIV) “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
Moses told Israelite parents to do 3 things regarding God’s Word in this verse:
> Make it a priority in your own life!
> Make it a priority with your children!
> Make it part of your family conversations!
***A lot of times we get mad at our children for not being what we didn’t model!***
We can have a form of godliness, but deny it’s power! We’ve got the Bible on the nightstand, and a few Scripture pictures up on the walls, but it’s more show than go!!!
The book of Luke tells us that Martha and her sister Mary were friends of Jesus, and one day as he was passing through town, they invited him to their home. Mary sat with Jesus on the carpet and listened, while Martha stayed busy working on other things. Jesus graciously responded in: Luke 10:41-42 “And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Martha was excited to have Jesus in her living room, but he wasn’t worth sitting with!
His presence never altered her priorities! (Too many Christian homes are like this!)
If we want our kids to take Jesus seriously, he needs to become a conviction, not just a decoration! They need to see that he’s important enough to sit with on the carpet!
(2) It needs to start with Fathers! (But spiritual leadership has been left to mothers!)
T.D. Jakes – “We have a society of Milk Carton men because they have gone missing!”
Ephesians 6:4 “Fathers, do not exasperate [frustrate] your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Training starts with fathers!)
The presence of a godly man is the most consequential influence in the home!!!
> When a father gets saved, there is a 93% probability the entire family will follow!
> When a mother gets saved, there is a 17% probability the entire family will follow!
Nearly every adult social pathology has been linked to either absent or abusive fathers!
***It’s time that men reappear and start leading again spiritually in their homes!***
The only reason the women’s movement started is that men haven’t been moving!
(3) It needs to start when they are Young! (It’s a lot easier to prevent than the reverse!)
Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Little by little, we daily shape our children’s beliefs with God’s Truth!
Not only does training our children need to start young, but it needs to be layered:
We need to READ the Bible to our children! Whether it’s a nighttime devotion with a children’s Bible or family devotions after dinner, the Bible needs to read in our homes!
We need to REFER to the Bible when our children have questions! No matter what the question is, we need to always take our kids to the Word for the answers!
2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (There’s not a question God doesn’t answer!)
We need to REINFORCE the Bible when our children are facing problems! The most damaging thing that Christian parents can do to the spiritual foundation of their children is a cave under the pressure. We must reinforce truth regardless of culture!
The reason so many teenagers are confused is that their parents are wavering!
*I don’t care if it’s not politically correct, because I want to be biblically correct!*
Ministry: Offer Salvation! Pray over parents to build a biblical foundation in their homes!
Need Prayer? Email: prayer@realchurchohio.com