PROTECTING YOUR FAMILY IN AN ANTI-FAMILY WORLD

Deuteronomy 6:5 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. ⁶ And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: ⁷ And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. ⁸ And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. ⁹ And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

There are many things we do to protect our families…

·      From the places we choose to live, to the places we choose to play.

·      From Lawn mowers to kitchen cabinets.

·      From food to friends.

·      From poison control notices, insurance, clothing, toys, cribs.

The Changing American Family | by Herbert S. Klein. "For all the changes Americans have experienced from the colonial period until today, there was surprisingly little change in the structure of the family until the past quarter century. Until that point, the age of marriage changed from time to time, but only a minority of women never married and births outside marriage were traditionally less than 10 percent of all births.

But this fundamental social institution has changed profoundly since 1980. In fact, if one were to define the most original demographic feature in the post-1980 period in the United States, it would be the changes that are occurring in both families and households in all sections of the national population.

The traditional American family has been undergoing profound transformations for all ages, all races, and all ethnic groups. Every aspect of the American family is experiencing change."

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1 in 5 pregnancies in US end in abortion. Over 1 million abortions last year.

40.7% of all births in America are to un-wed mothers.

43% of couples live together outside of marriage.

1.   DEDICATE YOURSELF TO THE LORD. Joshua 24:15 If it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve;... but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

·      Our children know if our relationship with the Lord is Supernatural or Superficial because our actions speak louder than our words.

·      One of the lessons we learn from biblical history is God desires to bless his people…

2.   DEDICATE EACH CHILD TO THE LORD. Psalm 127:3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

·      By doing this you acknowledge the true ownership of your child is God.

·      By doing this you acknowledge your stewardship before Him.

3.   GUIDE EACH CHILD TO RECEIVE CHRIST. Luke 18:16 Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.

·      Never take the salvation of your child for granted.

·      Make sure each child personally accepts Christ as their own Saviour.

4.   TEACH EACH CHILD THE FEAR OF THE LORD. Prove 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.

The “Fear of the Lord” is named as one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in Isaiah 11:2

The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;...

Proverbs 1:7 & 9:10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

John Mallon writes, the "fear of the Lord" is often misinterpreted...

·      As "servile fear" (characteristic of servitude)

·      It should be "filial fear" (the fear of hurting someone we love).

Psalm 130:3-4 If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

The Fear of the Lord is the continual awareness that I am in the presence of a Holy, Righteous, and Just God; and the every thought, word, action, and deed is open before Him and is being judged by Him.

5.   TEACH EACH CHILD TO IDENTIFY WHAT IS EVIL. James 4:6-10 God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. ⁷ Submit your selves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you… ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

1 Peter 5:8-9 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: ⁹ Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

6.   TEACH EACH CHILD ABOUT UNHEALTHY UNIONS. 2 Cor 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

You are known by the company you keep!

7.   TEACH EACH CHILD TO RESPECT AUTHORITY. 1 Samuel 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

8.   TEACH EACH CHILD HOW TO PRAY. Psalm 107:6 They cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.

The normal Christian life is one in which we experience regular, daily answer to prayer. Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread, for forgiveness, and for deliverance from the attacks of those who are evil.

Matthew 6:9-13 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

We are to have a regular, daily, unhindered communion with God, so that we may ask & receive,.. seek & find,.. knock & be opened unto. Jesus said, Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full (John 16:24).

9.   PRAY DAILY FOR EACH CHILD. Job 1:10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?

2 Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.

SARDIS | Church of the Living Dead

Revelation 3:1-6 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. [2] Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. [3] Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. [4] Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. [5] He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. [6] He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Paramedics arrive on the scene of an accident where the victim seems to have crossed the barrier separating life and death. There is no heartbeat or respiration; all the vital signs of life are absent, but the paramedic doesn’t accept this as final. They begin CPR and inject a drug that stimulates the heart. For a few frantic moments, nothing happens. Then, the heart begins to beat, pulsing life through the body; the victim begins to cough and takes a few breaths. In a few minutes, the victim is stabilized, and instead of sending a corpse to the morgue, the ambulance takes a patient to the hospital.

That is the picture of the church at Sardis. Jesus says it is dead, but there is hope that spiritual CPR may revive it. This church, though dead, was still full of activity. It was still functioning like a church – it was still holding services, singing hymns, offering prayers, delivering sermons, etc. Each week, a congregation gathered and went through the motions of worship, but Jesus said it wasn’t alive.

                                    

We need to understand what that means. We need to know how to discern the difference between a living church and a dead one.

1.   Their Condition. Dead, Dying, Defiled.

Dead [nekros = lifeless, corpse like, dormant] (v 1). “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”

• Appearances can be deceiving. This church enjoyed a good reputation; the community respected it and its members. When men looked at it, they admired what they thought was the spiritual life of the church.

• Activity doesn’t equal life. A church doesn’t live by doing things that benefit the community. Life in a church can only come from the Spirit of God. The church at Sardis was socially active, but spiritually lifeless.

• This congregation outwardly professed to be Christians, but possessed no spiritual life within. They would be offended if you suggested that they weren’t Christians, but the majority had never been born again. They were Christian in name only.

Dying [apothnesko = in the process of dying] (v 2). “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.”

When a paramedic arrives on the scene and finds a victim with no pulse or respiration, they have to determine if there is any hope of reviving the victim. If there is, we can say that the victim is in the process of dying. He is ready to die in the sense that unless the paramedics can get blood and oxygen to the vital organs, they will be permanently damaged and any hope of revival will be lost.

It is the job of the emergency personnel to “strengthen the things that remain;” to get blood and oxygen to the organs before they are terminally damaged.

What remains in a dead church? The formalisms of godliness.

1. Hymn books often preserve the great songs of the faith.

2. Prayer and the Word of God.

3. The Confession of Faith preserves the great doctrines of the Bible.

The truth is there, but is lost in ceremony, ritual, and formalism.

Defiled (v 4). “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.”

• The good news? There were some in Sardis who walked with Jesus. There were still some born again believers there.

•  The bad news! This represented the minority. For the majority, their brush with the truth through the forms and rituals made no difference in their lives.

2.   Their Diagnosis? Not without hope! The outlook for the church didn’t look good, but Jesus tells them what to do to be revived.

Return to the Word of God (v 3a). “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent.”

• The words “heard” and “received” remind us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. At some point in the history of the church at Sardis, formalism replaced faith and dead works replaced the Spirit of God.

• This also explains why Jesus presented Himself as the one who held the seven stars in His hands. The seven stars represented the pastors. It is the responsibility of the pastor to be a man filled with the Spirit of God and lead by the Son of God when preaching the Word of God.

•  There were three apparent faults in the preaching at Sardis!

1. It didn’t produce saving faith.

2. It didn’t equip people to live holy lives.

3. It didn’t prepare people to meet the Lord.

Recover the hope of the Lord’s return (v 13b). “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”

• The Return of Christ is called “the blessed hope of the church.” God wants us to take comfort and courage in the promise of His coming.

We are to live with the realization that at any moment that Lord could return and we will be caught up to meet Him in the air.

•  For the unbeliever, Jesus will come as a thief. He’ll take His saints, and be gone and those who have never trusted Him as Savior will be left behind. Yet, there are churches full of people calling themselves Christians, who never give one thought to the coming of Christ. After He comes, they’ll probably continue going to church, performing their rituals, because they never came to a saving faith in Christ.

CONCLUSION: The basic need of the church in Sardis was a genuine experience of salvation. They needed to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. They needed the assurance of eternal life; that their names would never be blotted out of the Book of Life. That is the assurance that God gives to those who believe in Jesus Christ for salvation. Their sins are forgiven and a place is secured for them forever in heaven. No believer will ever be denied before the Father in heaven. But there will be some to whom Jesus will say, “depart from me, I never knew you.” There are some who call themselves Christians and will be left behind when He comes. That is why it is important to make sure that you have truly accepted Christ as your Savior and why we cannot accept unregenerated members into the church.