Growing Beyond in Ministry: Fortifying the Family
FORTIFYING THE FAMILY
Deuteronomy 6:1-15
** What advice would you have given to the Israelites as they prepared to enter into the Promised Land?
- Many foes to fight
- Many fears to face
** God wanted His people to be strong and stay strong.
So what did He tell them?
What was His counsel?
What grand strategy did He propose?
1. Doesn’t tell them to increase their defense spending
2. Doesn’t tell them to strengthen the military
3. Doesn’t advise them to stockpile their weapons
HE SIMPLY SAYS — — — “FORTIFY THE FAMILY”
Why this emphasis on the family?
Because whatever strengthens the family, strengthens the nation. God created the first individuals. From those individuals God produced the first family. From that first family God molded the first society. God ordained that the family should be the foundation of society.
| The ancient sage and philosopher, Socrates, once said: "Could I climb the highest place in Athens, I would lift my voice and proclaim: Fellow citizens, why do you turn and scrape every stone to gather wealth, and take so little care of your children, to whom one day you must relinquish it all?' " |
| An old Chinese proverb states, "It is harder to lead a family than to rule a nation." |
If we as a church do not link arms with our families to lead the children to godliness, graciousness, and goodness, it won’t matter who rules the nation. You may as well put a different label on the same bottle of poision.
EMPHASIS OF “GROWING BEYOND”
Children
Next Generation
| ART MURPHY — served more than 20 years as a children’s ministry pastor – currently at FBC, Orlando, FL, where 2000 children are enrolled: “Churches must see children’s ministry as a key part of the church’s strategy for reaching non-Christians. Churches must realize that a dynamic children’s ministry is a key to reaching today’s family. It can be one of the greatest outreach tools of the church.”* |
*
I. WE MUST INVITE THE NEXT GENERATION TO RECEIVE THE LORD (v. 4)
* To a Jewish person, that verse is as familiar as John 3:16 is to a Christian.
SHEMA – from the Hebrew word translated “Hear.”
From this one verse we see four things we must teach the next generation:
1. There is a God ("the Lord our God")
2. There is only one God ("the Lord is One")
3. That God is Lord ("the Lord our God")
4. That God is to be our Lord ("the Lord our God")
Our number one responsibility, church, is to see to it that the next generation establishes a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that is real and lasting.
Years ago, I read something by James Dobson that I have never forgotten.
He said:
"The mission of introducing one's children to the Christian faith, can be likened to a three-man relay race. First, your father runs his lap around the track, carrying the baton, which represents the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At the appropriate moment, he hands the baton to you and you begin your journey around the track. Then finally, the time will come when you must get the baton safely in hands of your child. But as any track coach will testify, relay races are won or lost in the transfer of the baton. There is a critical moment when all can be lost by a fumble or a miscalculation, the baton is rarely dropped on the backside of the track when the runner has it firmly in his grasp. If failure is to occur, it will likely happen in the exchange between generations!
According to the Christian values which govern my life, my most important reason for living is to get the baton--the Gospel—safely in the hands of my children. Of course, I want to place it in as many other hands as possible, and I'm deeply devoted to the ministry to families that God has given me. Nevertheless, my number one responsibility is to evangelize my own children.”
WE HAVE A TASK, CHURCH,
OF PRESENTING THE GOSPEL
TO THE NEXT GENERATION
BECAUSE WITHOUT JESUS, NOTHING ELSE MATTERS!
OVAL OFFICE
KREMLIN
NORTH KOREA
IRAN
IRAQ
None of it matters if we fail to reach the next generation with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
II. WE MUST INSPIRE THE NEXT GENERATION TO REVERE THE LORD (v. 5)
** It is not enough for us just to teach the reality of God.
** We must also teach them their responsibility to God!
– That responsibility can be summed up in one word – LOVE!
** Not talking about the average kind of love that the average Christian has for God.
NO!
I’m talking about the kind of love that
GOD DESIRES
GOD DESERVES
GOD DEMANDS
A. WE ARE TO LOVE THE LORD FERVENTLY – with all our heart
** Nothing breaks the heart of God like the sin of a half-hearted love.
Christians, a half- hearted love doesn't make God happy. If you don't have a wholehearted, blazing, burning, passionate love for the Lord Jesus Christ, and pass that love on to your children, you are missing what God wants!
B. WE ARE TO LOVE THE LORD FAITHFULLY – “with all of our soul”
** To the very core of our being – to the very depths of our existence.
C. WE ARE TO LOVE THE LORD FIRMLY – with all our strength
DELTA AIRLINES SLOGAN “We love to fly and it shows.”
** We ought to love God so much that it shows, and our children can see it.
| Teacher talking to a group of kids one time at a Sunday School class, and he asked them, “Why do you love God?” He got a variety of answers. But the one he liked best came from a little one who said, I don’t know why I love God. I guess it just runs in my family.” |
1. Invite the next generation to receive the Lord
2. Inspire the next generation to revere the Lord
III. WE MUST INFLUENCE THE NEXT GENERATION YOUR CHILDREN TO RESPECT THE LORD (v. 2, 13, 24)
We must teach the next generation to fear the Lord.
I know that many of you are raising either a question or an objection that goes like this: "You are telling me to fear the Lord, I thought you just told me to love the Lord!" That's right, because the person who fears God most, loves God best.
DEFINITION OF THE FEAR OF GOD:
“The fear of the Lord is the continual awareness that I am in the presence of a holy, just, and Almighty God, and that every thought, word, action, and deed is open before Him, and is being judged by Him.”
*** The fear of God is the awe and the respect we should have for God, that makes us diligent not to offend God, and be devoted to pleasing Him.
SHOW BY:
• the way you live
• the language you use
• the places you go
• the things you watch
• the books you read
THAT YOU FEAR THE LORD!
DEUTERONOMY 5:29
If only they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commands, so that they and their children will prosper forever.
IV. WE MUST INSTRUCT THE NEXT GENERATION TO REFLECT THE LORD (vv. 6-7)
A. WE MUST TEACH THEM DILIGENTLY
TEACH ===== Hebrew words means “to sharpen”
“sharpen your children”
| Engraver of a monument – takes a hammer and a chisel and etches that text into the face of a solid slab of granite. IT IS HARD WORK, BUT ONCE IT’S DONE, THE MESSAGE IS THERE TO STAY. |
Engrave the truth of God’s Word on the heart of your children.
** It is our goal through every ministry we have with children, to diligently teach them the truths of God’s Word! **
B. WE MUST TEACH THEM DAILY (v. 7)
** Always be relating the Word of God to everyday life.
** Not a formal lecture, but simply to talk, in everyday conversation
— A ministry that continues past Sunday morning —
C. WE MUST TEACH THEM DELIBERATELY (vv. 8-9)
We want to be a city set on a hill!
We want to be a lighthouse of truth!
** WE WANT The Word of God and the God of the Word to saturate every thing we do!
Our desire is to teach them to:
1. Find the will of God
2. Obey the Word of God
3. Walk in the ways of God
1. Invite --------------- to receive the Lord
2. Inspire --------------- to revere the Lord
3. Influence --------------------- to respect the Lord
4. Instruct --------------------- to reflect the Lord
V. WE MUST INVOKE THE NEXT GENERATION TO REMEMBER THE LORD (vv. 10-12)
** Moses gives the people a solemn word of warning. They are warned of two dangers:
A. THE DANGER OF FORGETTING GOD
** When a people forget God, they begin to ask the question, ‘Who is God?’
B. THE DANGER OF FORSAKING GOD (vv. 13-15)
** When a people forsake God, they begin to ask the question, ‘Who needs God?’
— This is EXACTLY what happened to the nation of Israel.
– After they entered into the Promised Land,
GOD PLANTED THEM
GOD PROTECTED THEM
GOD PROSPERED THEM
* Then you find them going through four stages of spiritual corruption:
1. Independence
2. Indulgence
3. Indifference
4. Irreverence
THEY FORGOT, AND THEN THEY FORSOOK GOD!
*** We desire this to be a place where neither takes place!!!!!
We are living, I think, in the most irreverent times in the history of America.
We have gone after the gods of:
materialism
hedonism
intellectualism
humanism
secularism
“Me”ism
And what is the result of all of it?
THE BUILDING BLOCK OF SOCIETY – THE FAMILY – IS FRACTURED, FALLING, AND FAILING.
WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
FORTIFYING THE FAMILY
* President can’t do that
* Governor can’t do that
* UN can’t do that
* Preacher can’t do that
ONLY DADS AND MOMS CAN DO THAT!
CHURCH IS CALLED ALONGSIDE TO HELP IN THAT!
*** Growing Beyond is all about people – with a special emphasis on the NEXT GENERATION of the people of our church!
Without them, there will be no church!
Without our reaching, teaching, training, and discipling
them to be like Jesus, there will be no next generation!
YOUR OFFERINGS WILL HELP
US, CHURCH, REACH THE NEXT GENERATION
AND FORTIFY THE FAMILY FOR THE
SAKE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD!!!!