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September 7, 2022 12:00 am
Number seven today will continue to the strong series with practical guidance for building and maintaining a strong family. God created the family yes or no perfect families. In fact if you look in the Scriptures you fun pretty quickly. Adam and Eve had a very difficult time in their family. Not only was a conflict between them because you remember when she said to Adam. I want to take a bite. He told God she made him do it. So that's what she said.
He said that, of course, the two sons, one killed the elbow and Eli sons. The priest both his sons. The Bible says were evil. Abraham married Sarah. They get along real fun, and then the Hagar comes on the scene and have a conflict that you could move all the way to the Scriptures… Take David who is the supreme of all the kings of Israel. There was lying Mirta rate and rebellion in his family and this was an awesome family and he was an awesome king and yet the family was a total disaster. So when you're thinking about your family, your thinking we not doing too well with this.
Remember this. Just because your family isn't doing too well is because you can be better other words, you can improve what's going on. If you will, in the work at it. It's difficult in these days to have a strong family. Yet that is exactly what I want to talk about in this message. And God intends for us to have strong families and proof of that is this if you turn to Deuteronomy chapter 6 for a moment I want us to look at a few verses that absolute proof that God was very interested in his family's being strong families. If you look in the six chapter and I'll just start reading in verse three and notice what the Scripture says Scripture says oh Israel.
You should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly. Just as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you in a land flowing with milk and honey that he says hero Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your might.
These words which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.
And then this is what he says about the family is proof that he was strong families. He says to them.
Speaking primer to the fathers you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lower down and when you rise out. That is the teach the word of God to his children. Family. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets on your four head. You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates, and he was simply saying the word of God.
I want in your family. Everywhere you turn there is evidence that the word of God is in your family. So when you look at your family and you say well, some of you may save all my family is gone now.
I can't do anything about it will dawn where the words if you can call the telephone. You can reach them.
Somebody says a lot. I text him once in a while you know what, that's so impersonal there's no feeling in the text you save a lot. Tell them I love them but that's still a text is something about sweetheart. I love you honey I love you.
You just fantastic sweetheart… All of the reason that LUV U what's happening to a society that we can even communicate with each other. God wants us to have strong loving family. So some of us as well. So how would you define the count of them not simply say this and that is we mean by strong family, one in which the members of the family have a love and devotion to one another love and devotion for one another. No other substitute just love and devotion for one another. That's the beginning of a strong family and it doesn't just happen.
It takes work. I think one of the reasons many people don't have strong families is the father and the mother of one of the two. They're not willing to do what is necessary to build strength and of their family.
So the purpose of this message is this is to give you the characteristics of a strong family.
It doesn't mean that you have to do every single one of these things it does mean this. These of the characteristics of strong families now personally I been on all sides of this and I'm simply saying this to you. You don't have to give up no matter what happens you can keep moving on in your life and keep having an awesome influence in the lives of your children know better what happens but it depends upon us and our relationship to God somewhat you listen carefully to this message and I want you to think about your home and how you can improve how you can make it stronger wherever it might be. And don't give up, no matter what's happened.
You don't give up. God placed you there for a reason and if you will listen to him carefully. He can make you a strong influence and your children will grow up to have the right kind of influence and testimony in the El Paso what you pass on to them and that will make a wonderful family for you. So let's begin with the first one and that is a limit is that is right up front when I say this person you can say well at this count me out and on the no because I'm coming to the part where their families are divided and separated and blended, and so forth.
So stay with me from the very beginning.
First of all, godly parents, you want a strong family.
You need a strong father strong mother who love God and are devoted to him.
That is the most powerful of all the elements of a strong family. Secondly, one of the very important things about having a strong family is that parents are consistent. That is if you say something do what you say because here's what children do they hear what you say but they do what you do and children watch that very carefully. If you want consistency you have to do what you say you're going to do very important.
Then of course you need to be a good listener. Everybody wants to be listened to, and children want to be listened to and if you want to turn the child away and separate yourself from the child with it's a little boy little girl or teenager just get too busy to listen. Listening is a very important activity in the family.
You may not always be interested in what they have to say. But remember this, they honor you as their father and their mother and they think that you are smarter than they are. So they want you to listen to what they have to say because you may be able to help them and everybody wants to be listened to and you want to be listened to on your job and your family among your friends that you feel like that's very important to refuse to listen to somebody is to shut them out and ready to make the statement you not worth listening to you, not importance on that you listen. Be sure not to let that happen in your family. Then of course discipline them without rejection. A very very important point, which simply says this you don't discipline your children when you're angry with them.
If you angered something they did get over it walk away do something to get over the anger to you and God can settle your feeling about that. Then you come to them and discipline. You see, if you discipline your child out of anger. You probably going to hurt them. Secondly, they'll feel your rejection.
You don't want them to feel rejection you want to say to them that you doing this for reason.
So I made it a policy earlier in my kids life, not to ever discipline them until first of all, I explained what I was you had to do. I would never in discipline touch my child with my hand. When you when you slap a child with your hand but it's a face of some other part is something about that that transfers into rejection is something psychologically very destructive about that.
Then of course parents loving one another, build security in a child's life. If a child growing up with the six or the 16 and he sees dad and mom really love each other. They feel that love. They hug each other. They kiss each other right in front of everybody. And he talks before the wonderful gal she is and he's a wonderful guy. I know it's when that goes on in the family.
What that does that build security in the life of those children and his what they say it's kind love I want. That's kind of woman I mapped out I will marry a woman just like my mother even that song I want to gal just like the gal that married dear old dad.
You don't remember that song was a wonderful idea and it's because two people genuinely love each other and if you love somebody you can keep it to yourself. People who pout golf and act like children, you know what the disability strong family breaks it down the strong families built by mom and dad who love each other and don't mind demonstrated in the right fashion. Then, of course, praying together about everything. I think this is so very important parents, they will you know what some things I want to prevent one of the something that's that private. That's one thing but for the most part, and that we had a coffee table so we: low, then we can sit around it and so that's where we do have praying together and we didn't pray together every single night when kids get little that you don't. But at least once a week we get around the table and that's where we sort of brought up things and issues that we would need to prevent as a family and the my kids would tell you, there were times when the we be praying in the and I would go fast asleep and they they pray and then they would slip out while out of all our steel sleeve all Robert wake up pretty soon you know we all make mistakes. I served under say no but nobody's perfect.
But at least they knew that once a week we got on the table. That's where we shared different if there were financial issues, or some kind of issues that we had to deal with is a good place for us to pray together and the and listless when you listen to you kids pray you will know when they know how to pray when you listen and pray you know that they know how to get in touch with God and of course reading the Bible together it be amazing to know how many Christian homes as we would say where the parents of the kids read the Bible together. There's not a dad alive who's too busy is not a mother live too busy. You may make yourself busy.
But what could you do more important to a young child elicited to keep this Bible before them, and to magnify the word of God and to talk about the word of God and reading with them in or near the whole family and you may not renew the whole family every single day. Would you read at least once a week, but you can help them learn to read the Bible daily and let me say this is your guidebook for life. It's there guidebook for life.
You are the one who is to instill within them. Watch this, the wisdom, the wisdom of guiding their life by the word of God if I should ask you will you want your children to read the word of God and to be guided by that yes will, who shall be the most affected. Not the pastor. I can talk about it just an hour on Sunday you got six days and 23 other hours it's what you do and what you think is important and what you place in your house and if you can MIS you probably thought about just about every room and so I would say to you, if you think it's important make it aware that you think it's important by your wicked survivalist is a particular kind they won't do it early in life, so that all the days of their life. The word of God has been a part of their family as you have read it to them oftentimes and explain and know the rest. Then, not just reading the descriptions of both together, but you need to attend church together and listen carefully. If you happen to be one of those parents and you go to your church and you drop your kids off for Sunday school you come to will be called big church then you go pick them up after sentence. You take them home. You know what you've done. You said number one. Worship is not important or big church is not important during the pastor's sermons not importing you in the Sunday school you got some training so that's it. What you think they going to do when they get a little bit older, you know they'll do instead of coming the big church there go somewhere else and you think will they do when they get to college when all listen. Everything is stacked against most kids when they go to college because of what they going to hear.
If they're not rooted and grounded in the word of God they going to come out of college. Listen, having laid aside what truth you try the Telemann. If you look at the statistics, it's horribly unbelievable how many kids leave college do not believe in God. I do not believe anything about the church or into thing about Jesus Christ anymore you the pattern. It's what you teach them of what they see reading the word of God together is an awesome awesome lesson and that just being there with them in opening the word. For example, is what they'll do when you gone sometime they don't find you violent fluency with you.
Martin put you on the London and what all that says is this my dad thinks is some really important about this verse have a look at this more again.
And so what you doing is you're enriching their life in ways that are very simple but will absolutely affect them as long as they live in if I should ask you today. How many of you read the Bible with the children. How many of your children have seen you read the Bible have heard you read it and heard you tried to explain it. Where's the Bible the word of this is the eternal infallible word of the living God, and is our guidebook for life and the bugs of which you know be judged. Where is it in your family and if you think about it for a moment. Your children probably if it's it's there's none around. They probably wonder why you don't read the Bible. I cannot tell you how important this book is its thick guide book for life we not be having the problems we are having we not be in the mess we are in this country.
If the people in leadership and the people of its and Townsley city are state in the country, we wouldn't be where we are. If the principles of the word of God were lived out by those who rule over us and that is true in the family, as well as any other place in life so you want you want to you want to encourage them to have private devotion, not just what you already together but they need to get in the habit of reading it by themselves and just say if there's something you read, you don't understand you come asking out help you understand it. If I don't, we'll find out the answer, don't just leave them hanging will find out what the answer is and then of course you need to explain to him how to handle money down somewhat is as real as somebody should've explained that the me a long time ago will. This is how simple it is, you can say too little child will. Here's what you do, you save some. You give some and you spend some just those three things.
And if you get them in the habit of saving very early in life.
It may not be much, and one of my friends was telling me his mother passed away when he was rather young but she told him when he got his first job to do that to save some and to give some and to spend some and so he put us out of the hollow.
He set up in practice. Not only is his 40 some years old. He told me how much money had and if I tell you the kind of job you had. You think that you know what those things multiply and so ask yourself the question, how do you look at money if you got a stack of credit cards do you have money, you have a lot of debt of the have money in the thing if you think about this. I don't this is my personal opinion, the only have ever been in debt for as buying a house. That's the only thing the only other time I've ever barred in the money was when I was had my first paper route, I had to buy the paper route and so would cost hundred and $25.
My mother and I went to the bank because she didn't have the money and so I made a deal with them naturally dive him back at two dollars a week so I paid it back in such a way that I paid off in the year and so we teach our children to save some teach our children to give some and teach your children to spend some and we teach them that the biblical examples of that is tithing the first 10%.
I taught my kids that I never tired, always gave more than that because my attitude was a little cheap to me to give God change I made four dollars and to give God $0.40 when I was thankful for job. I gave him a dollar and I've never tired of always given more than that. I taught my children debt and debt debt to say, okay, here's how much you have never, if you divide this is a 10 of 10 pennies and if you gave got one of those.
How much would you have left. And of course we got out of the pinion age pretty fast but I taught them with cabins about and both of them have tied all of their life and stayed at a debt and you said it was too late for me it's not listen pay it off if it all possible. Don't get back in debt. A wise use of your money teach you children that the save some puts on the side because if you if you start now.
One of these days you want to burn any money to do anything just to start young start early and putting it aside if you will help them do that you will be grateful and they'll be grateful all the days of their life. Thank you for listening to part one of a strong family any like to know more about Charles Stanley or intense ministries that my intense data lighting back after the presentation of intense minutes seen Atlanta, Georgia