Untitled Sermon (10)

FAMILY FIVE.

Family Five.

Introduction

We are starting a new series called Family Five, looking at 5 biblical truths  that we can place in our heart to help us build a strong healthy gospel centered family.

God has given me one truth that we can apply that will radically transform our life.

Healthy families put Jesus first above every other Relationship,Activity or Asset.

Testimony

I recall when i met Jesus my whole  life changed , my protise changed , my friendships changed i received a whole bunch of new christian friends that cared about me and wanted to help me , my finance changed i started tithing , my protized  to my time management changed i would wake up early every day to  read my  bible . I came up with this conclusion if Jesus is the most important person in my life then i need to spend time with Him before i spend time with other people, so i would wake up talk to Jesus ,

sing a song to Jesus  ,

Write in my jorrnal what he wanted me to do for that day and try to do it.

I  went to church when there was church events i would go , and if there was a conflict of interest on activities it was settle , put Jesus first the rest follows,i would go to small groups, prayer meetings sunday meetings leadership meetings these meetings on top of my daly disciplines transformed my life and still does today.

I would say no to the good to say yes to the best, Jesus was always the best and he is still today..

BECAUSE I settled these  priorities to place Jesus first He could use me.

I  remember my father flying  up from cape town as He  wanted to spend time with me on a sunday i didn't see him for about a 2 years,

I said great ,

BUT WE GOING TO CHURCH .

He said i don't go to church i said ok see you later then as i am going , i put Jesus first, he said alright and came with , and then i said oh by the way we going to the old age home to pray for seniors, he said i don't do that.I said i do , i am going , he said alright i will come with .

And as a result he got saved ... He saw the commitment I had in my heart to doing Jesus' work and following Jesus above all.

If we are lukewarm in our relationship with Jesus every one will see, including those closest to us..our family that we want to win to Jesus.

The best Gift i can give my children genuie ,real love for Jesus.

They need to see my obedience and commitment to Jesus, we will see shortly as to why.

The best gift or sacrifice we can give God is a life of surrender TO Jesus  filled with the Holy Spirit and having a heart that will obey Jesus in every area ,relationship, activity or above any assist.

With this in mind please turn with me to Luke 14:26-35.

Luke 14:25–35 (NIV)

25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:

26“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.

27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

28“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?

29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you,

30saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

( To build a building is hard work, you have to start and finish it, when the going gets tuff push through and make Jesus first priority)

31“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.

(Jesus is saying consider carefully whether you want to follow him, count the cost)

33In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

34“ Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

Many christian blend into the world , but are unwilling to stand out for Christ. To be a disciples take great commitment , Jesus said if christian lose their distinctive saltiness, they become worthless .  Just as salt flavors and preserve food , Christ disciples are to preserve the good in the world. Being salty for Jesus is not easy; it takes planing, diligence and sacrifice and a willingness to advance the Kingdom of God.

35  It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

Family I would like to ask you , what is in your heart that you desire more than Jesus…

What idol is in your heart that has stolen your affection and love for Jesus and His  WORD.

What relationship is more important than your relationship with Jesus.

What activity is more important than your relationship with Jesus..

Are you willing to keep your saltiness for Jesus?

Jesus needs to be number 1 in your life….. We need to learn to put Him first in every situation.

POINT 1 HEALTHY FAMILIES-PLACE JESUS FIRST.

Luke 14:26 (NIV)

26“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.

27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

The bible is not saying to hate your family, as there are many other verses that say we need to walk in love, and bless our enemies etc.

Matthew 5:44–45 (NIV)

44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

However what it does mean is our level of love for Jesus needs to be extremely high, we need to raise up our level of devotion and love  for the Kings, our level of sacrifice for Jesus needs to be real.

Our love for Jesus needs to be so high that our whole heart is first fully committed to the Lord.

Besides being willing to love Jesus more than any others and more than life itself, the true disciple must be ready to carry the cross and follow HIM

Jesus’ audience was well aware of what it meant to “carry the cross.” When the Romans led a criminal to his execution site, the criminal would be forced to carry the cross on which he would die.

This showed submission to Rome and warned observers that they had better submit too.

Jesus gave this teaching to get the crowds to think through their enthusiasm for him. He encouraged those who were superficial either to go deeper or to turn back.

Following Christ means total submission to him—perhaps even to the point of death.

We have to learn to follow Jesus, and teach our children to follow Him.

Your cross can be the very thing Jesus asks you to do for Him, your full submission to Him, dying to your wants ,and earthly passion, picking UP Jesus' passion, plans and purpose for your life  because you love Him.

Jannes -story.

Application:

We need to learn to plan, and sacrifice our wants to advance the Kingdom of God.

POINT 2 THE GREATEST GIFT YOU CAN GIVE YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS IS A GENUINE LOVE FOR JESUS.

The greatest gift my wife can give me is to love Jesus more than me,

The greatest gift i can give my wife is a genuine love for Jesus.

The greatest gift my children can give me is to love Jesus more than me, the greatest gift you can give your small group leader is to love Jesus more and more each day.

The greatest delight you can give Jesus is to know Him and love him deeply,

How do we really put Jesus first and love him..

The great commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart , soul and mind, we need to develop putting Jesus first habits in place.

In Jesus' eyes love is spelt obedience, He said if you love me you ill obey me.

We have the great commandment, great commission.

Love God with all our heart, soul and mind.

Love expressed is expressed in the great commotion .. make disciplines.

Application

We as believers need to watch drifting, we drift away from God

POINT 3. LOOKING AT A FATHER THAT PUT GOD.

Abraham must have been tempted to love God’s good gifts more than he loved God himself

Genesis 22:1–18 (NIV)

1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

5He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

6Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,

7Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and

arranged the wood on it.

He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.

12“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

13Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

14So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

15The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time

16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,

17I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,

1  8and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

Some background, Isaacs is the promise to Abrham.

God said I will give you a son, God gave him a son, this is the blessing… this is the seed that the nations will be blessed with ,THROUGH  the Abrham promise.

Quite interesting, this Son Isaacs is not a toddler, as at this stage Abrham is well over 100 years, Isaac is a broad strong son, that is strong and can carry the WOOD to make a fire.

Interesting God said to Him, take your son whom you love….

Interestingly this is not like God taking the child away while the person is sleeping, or the child deciding to go to a different place because God has said etc. or like a family member passes away .

Or the child goes to a different nation to serve God under a difficult situation..

This is different Abraham is taking His son to kill as a sacrifice.

They only way a parent will get a ISAAC to follow Jesus to the point of death as we see Isaac willing to do , is by having parents that are totally sold out to Jesus , Abraham was sold out to Jesus therefore Isaacs is sold out to Jesus ,

How many Isaacs today would hit their Father and run away.

This Isaacs carried the wood for free, this Isaac had a warmth in his eyes for His Father and His father God in heaven, this Isaac trusted His father on earth and Father in heaven , because he saw His earthly Father have a genuine commitment for Jesus.

Isaac honored his healthy Father and heavenly Father, Abraham honored his heavenly Father.

Application:

Putting God first and obedience to God will always bring a blessing to us and our children.

IN CLOSING.

Please stand, may you please ask the Holy Spirit what is he saying to you through this message, and what he wants you to do with this message.