Family Values: Honoring God
Notes
Transcript
SunRise Family Values
SunRise Family Values
Honoring God
Honoring God
Last week we started this series on Sunrise Church Vegas and where we are.
About really knowing where we live and the Hope we have in and through our relationship with God.
So now that we know where we live let’s talk about what we value as a family.
Here as Sunrise Church in Las Vegas we view the Church as Family.
We strive to do life together, and be part of something bigger than Sunday afternoon.
Lets start with what a value is, what is a family value?
Family values are the ideas that bind your family together.
Let’s pay special attention to that last word.
Together
the dictionary defines the word together as with each other or as a unit.
so what might bind a family together?
A few example of family values might be:
Moral Values
Work Ethic
Traditions
In the Irwin family some of the examples you might find are work ethic and the fact that we eat together every possible chance we have.
Over the next 3 weeks we are going to talk about Sunrise Vegas’ Family Values
The first family value that we are going to talk about is Honoring God
SunRise Vegas believes that we are called to Honor God with every aspect of our lives
So what does honor mean?
honor means to hold someone or something in high respect or great esteem
So as we look to how we are to honor God, let’s look at whom the Bible says we are to honor:
We are to honor:
The elderly
In the book of Leviticus we find the following in Chapter 19 Verse 32, here we find that God is speaking to Moses and providing him instructions on how certain things are to be handled
32 “You are to rise in the presence of the elderly and honor the old. Fear your God; I am the Lord.
We are to honor:
The elderly
2. Our fathers and mothers
We see this in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 16 here we see that Moses is reminding all of the people of Israel of the things that they are supposed to do.
16 Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and so that you may prosper in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
We are to honor:
The elderly
2. Our fathers and mothers
3. Those in authority
13 Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority
14 or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good.
Now lets look at verse 17 in that same chapter we see this continued
17 Honor everyone. Love the brothers and sisters. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
In these passages we see that Peter is reminding us of how we are to behave in every day life. We are called to honor our leaders, we are called to honor everyone
We are to honor:
The elderly
2. Our fathers and mothers
3. Those in authority
4. Everyone
The most important call to honor is to honor God, we see this multiple times in the Bible, not only do these verses direct us to honor God but they tell us how.
Lets look at Revelation Chapter 4 verse 11 We find ourselves with 24 elders, gathered around the throne room of God and laying down their crowns this is what they proclaim:
11 Our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because you have created all things, and by your will they exist and were created.
We are to honor:
The elderly
2. Our fathers and mothers
3. Those in authority
4. Everyone
5. God
Now on to our focus for today, as a church family we are to Honor God
Honor God
We are going to look at 5 ways that we are to Honor God
Five ways we are to Honor God
Time
So lets ask ourselves:
How are you using the time you have been given to glorify God?
Let’s see what scripture says about how we use our time:
In colossians 4:5 we see
5 Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time.
13 “If you keep from desecrating the Sabbath, from doing whatever you want on my holy day; if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, seeking your own pleasure, or talking business;
14 then you will delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride over the heights of the land, and let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
We have to use our time wisely, we can be tempted to take from God’s time by prioritizing things that we shouldn’t
This is tough in our world, we can look at youth sports we can look at pro sports, there could be any number of excuses that are used to rationalize how we use our time.
Five ways we are to Honor God
Time
Talents
10 Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God.
When God gives you a talent, he expects you to use it. It’s like a muscle. If you use it, it will grow. If you don’t, you’ll lose it. If you have a talent but are afraid to use it, or if you get lazy and don’t use it to benefit others, you’re going to lose it. Like the parable of the 10 talents in Luke 19, if you don’t use what God has given you, he will take it away and give it to someone else who will.
12 Therefore he said, “A nobleman traveled to a far country to receive for himself authority to be king and then to return.
13 He called ten of his servants, gave them ten minas, and told them, ‘Engage in business until I come back.’
14 “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to rule over us.’
15 “At his return, having received the authority to be king, he summoned those servants he had given the money to, so that he could find out how much they had made in business.
16 The first came forward and said, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten more minas.’
17 “ ‘Well done, good servant!’ he told him. ‘Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, have authority over ten towns.’
18 “The second came and said, ‘Master, your mina has made five minas.’
19 “So he said to him, ‘You will be over five towns.’
20 “And another came and said, ‘Master, here is your mina. I have kept it safe in a cloth
21 because I was afraid of you since you’re a harsh man: you collect what you didn’t deposit and reap what you didn’t sow.’
22 “He told him, ‘I will condemn you by what you have said, you evil servant! If you knew I was a harsh man, collecting what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow,
23 why, then, didn’t you put my money in the bank? And when I returned, I would have collected it with interest.’
24 So he said to those standing there, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’
25 “But they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas.’
26 “ ‘I tell you, that to everyone who has, more will be given; and from the one who does not have, even what he does have will be taken away.
But if you use your talents wisely, God will give you more. If you use your time wisely, God will give you more time. If you use your energy wisely, God will give you more energy. If you use your influence wisely, God will increase your influence.
Five ways we are to Honor God
Time
Talents
Temple
Our Temple is our bodies- Lets look at 1 Corinthians 6: 18-20, what does this say about us?
18 Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.
19 Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
20 for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.
How do you take care of your body?
Five ways we are to Honor God
Time
Talents
Temple
Treasure
This is our Finances, this one is tough many times we try to rationalize what we believe about this to fit what we want and not what scripture says. Lets look in at a couple of scriptures that relate to this: Let’s start with what Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:21
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
9 Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest;
Lets’s look at what Proverbs says, the first produce of your entire harvest, not the leftovers.
Let’s look at how this is characterized in Malachi
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me!” “How do we rob you?” you ask. “By not making the payments of the tenth and the contributions.
9 You are suffering under a curse, yet you—the whole nation—are still robbing me.
10 Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this way,” says the Lord of Armies. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.
Here we see that not tithing to the church is Robbing God. I know that most of us have seen the fruits in the lives of others when they have given even when the world told them they did not have to give
I dont want to leave our treasure there, lets look at one last set of scripture:
6 The point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously.
7 Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.
God loves a cheerful giver, give because that is what is in your heart
Let’s look at the last of our five your ticker, or your heart
Five ways we are to Honor God
Time
Talents
Temple
Treasure
Ticker
Isaiah
13 The Lord said: These people approach me with their speeches to honor me with lip-service, yet their hearts are far from me, and human rules direct their worship of me.
Wow- giving lip service because your heart doesnt belong to Jesus
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding;
23 Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.
26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
10 God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
So why is this important?
God wants to be most important to you, God wants to be at the center of everything you do in your life.
Let’s look at Matthew 6:24
24 “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
In Exodus we are given a command
2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.
3 Do not have other gods besides me.
4 Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.
What does Jesus tell is is the most important
29 Jesus answered, “The most important is Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
God wants to be the Lord of your life—not just with your words, but also with your actions. God wants you to carve out time for him and commit your best to him.
When we started this afternoon, we talked about Family Values
Not only as a church should we honor God in these ways but we as individuals and as families should Honor God in these ways. these are the only ways that we should Honor God, but these are some very broad ways that we can Honor God as a family.
Lets pray-
God, “How can I honor You today? Please help me to honor You with the time, talent, temple, treasure, and ticker You’ve given me. Jesus gave His life for you, and He promised to give you the Holy Spirit to help you in all things. The Holy Spirit lives inside every one of us as believers—to counsel, comfort, and guide us, I ask that you allow us to rely on the spirit.