The God Centered Family

Hello my friends Michael Yousif here. I just wanted to thank you for connecting with leading the way. Our entire team is wholly committed to passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth of God's word and it cannot be done without you learn more about what God has charged us to do around the world by clicking around LTW.org that's LTW.org.

Thank you and may God richly bless you as you seek the family in America is under a relentless attack. I know some of the parents that I talk to are overwhelmed at the bombardment that we are receiving from every corner. Literally there is a war that was waged upon our children's minds and hearts spirit, soul from the media from government policies from schools and from the culture at large and that is why I want to speak to you about the importance of the Bible places on family and on children and if you turn with me please to Psalm 127. You gonna notice that verse three says children are a heritage from the Lord. In fact, this is only one of two Psalms that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit was written by King Solomon the son of King David wrote the book of Ecclesiastes and the song of songs, and so he says your children a heritage of the Lord, and I could not help but think of the various stages in which my wife and I were parenting our kids, and I thought the no wonder those of you young moms and dads when you are knee-deep in and diapers you wonder children are what and those of you who have new drivers just started when is staying up late and I've done many times are when I'm staying up late until I hear the carpels in the driveway. It will say children know what I am sure that when you get frustrated with the school problems and in the relentless financial pressures and all of the difficulties that we face and I'm sure that at these and many times you must have wondered what does the Bible exactly mean by children are a heritage from the Lord. The statistics that I read now there's a vast number of couples who married never want to have children because I think it's going to get in the way of the lifestyle and that number is on the increase nationwide. But when you understand that our children are really not ours. But they are God's children and he entrusts them to us as parents to bring them up for him. Then you will be uplifted to know the children are a heritage from the Lord, and there are a reward from him when you realize that God entrusts you to be a steward of the children and he is the one who's in control. That is going to give you comfort your God entrusts us with many things in life.

He entrusts us with some resources to manage for him.

We don't own anything he owns everything we have managers he entrusts us with his reputation then you realize what it means for God to entrusts parents with children his children to bring them up for him. The burden of parenting can only be Easter when you understand that you, as parents, grandparents, a mere stewards, not owners of the children.

The deep responsibilities of parents feel in can turn into joy when you realize that our children belong to God not to us, our worry in our anxiety will ease when you realize that we have a majority partner in this business of parenting our fretting over our children and the future of our children and grandchildren will become unnecessary when you realize that God owns them, and we don't. And that is why Solomon before he can come to verse three and say children a heritage of the Lord, and a reward from his hand before he could do that. He goes in verses one and two of that Psalm was Psalm 127 and says that God is the one who does the heavy lifting in the business of parenting that God is the one who takes the lion share of responsibility and parenting that God is the one who is the majority shareholder in our parenting business and that should really comfort us and that is why the psalmist begins the Psalm by saying that it is useless if you try to bring up your kids in your own strength useless is a favorite word of Solomon used with a lot of used it in the book of Ecclesiastes is as useless everything is useless. You know it is vanity, but that's the same word vanity all is vanity. He said, and what Psalm 127 balls down to this. Listen carefully. Please.

You can work as hard as you could you could provide as much for your children as you could. You can give them all of the cell phones and all of that texting implements and equipments and that you could give them talk to each other anymore. The text each other.

You can send them to the best schools that you can afford. But if God is not at the center of your home.

All these things will counter nothing. All of these things will ultimately be useless. All of these things is like chasing after the wind and I was thinking about chasing after the wind and I remember reading a story years ago from the windy city Chicago was in the Chicago Tribune about a man who was walking along and then he decided that is going to take a shortcut across the tri-state freeway and he got in the middle of the freeway when his hat blew off and as he reached back to his hat, he was struck by an oncoming traffic and killed him instantly and the last sentence in that story and that article in the Chicago Tribune read as follows.

It is amazing how you can lose everything chasing nothing. Have you ever stopped and asked yourself the question, one of my chasing a life.

Have you ever stopped and asked yourself what price am I paying for the chase and Solomon is saying that without God's power without God's strength without God's blessings. You could be chasing after nothing that you could work as hard as you could you come up empty. You can leave your children, so the greatest financial inheritance that the rents but if they have not inherited the most important thing that material. Inheritance can bring them pain and the joy there's nothing wrong with inheritance numbers. Understanding the Bible says in Proverbs that it is good to leave your children and inheritance, but leaving them material inheritance without a spiritual inheritance would be the ruin in the Bible is clear. The Bible said children are a heritage from the Lord that they are next year salvation. The most valuable thing that you can have. You have inherited them. It is in God's will and testimony that you would have those children and that is why next year salvation that are the most important thing that your heavenly father can entrust you more than anything else.

And the problem is in the West, we tend to compress demise. Everything we separate work from home and we separate spiritual from what we call the temporal week.

We separate God from business so we take pride in separating God from country and we call it separation of church and state, which is absolutely unconstitutional and it shows you how when you can tell lies so often it becomes believed as the truth and that's what people are trying to tell us now.

Be that as it may, the Bible is so clear.

The Bible knows no separation in the life of a believer in the life of a believer should be totally integrated. Not fragmented, a life of a believer should be one unit not compartmentalized in the Bible believers knows of no division so if you ask him what is a house for for the family. Of course, what is the policeman in the securities and all the things that we have as a country wasn't for to protect the family.

Of course, in the Bible makes it abundantly clear that the family is the most important element of society, that family is the backbone of any society undermine the family, and you undermine society weaken the family and you would. We can society disintegrate the family and you disintegrate society redefine what a family is and you will end up with a shell of a society destroy the family and you will destroy society. That's the bottom line and we have forces that have worked in the dark.

In the past. Now they coming out in the open and I have one purpose in mind destroy the redefine marriage, redefine family, redefine parenting, redefine parents, why because they ultimately want to destroy Western civilization. How because they know that society can be destroyed from within, much faster than have an enemy, and fire shot from the outside in the psalmist or saying something here about the most importance is saying that the basic family unit unless it has God at its very center open adrift on this God is at the center of our family.

That family is unsafe or not secure unless every decision is made with God's will in mind and God's will being sought first unless every plan that is made in the family, for God's glory as the foremost unless every move is braised with prayer, then that family is out of God's protective covering shield.

But let me put it positively that when God is at the center of our family. God grows.

That family God blesses that family.

God guides that family and God protects the family. Let's look at those four promises together when God is at the center.

He grows the family Solomon is saying to us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that when God builds a house. The family that lives in that house is going to grow in wisdom is going to grow in maturity is going to grow in strength is going to grow and influence is going to grow in peace is going to grow because the presence of God is there and when the presence of God is in a family. God fills the house.

God fills the dwellers God fills the minds and the hearts and the spirits and the souls of his presence with his Holy Spirit.

The problem, of course, that with this godless policies of today.

They think that family is that idea. It is not families God's idea, they try to mess it up. Listen to me as a father who is conscious of his own failures and mistakes, but I can truthfully tell you that it would've been impossible for my wife and I to have brought up our family without the author complete and literally helpless dependence upon our heavenly father. I remember times when I went to the Lord literally in utter helplessness as a Lord I can do it without you. When God is at the center. He grows a family. Secondly, when God is at the center. He blesses that family, praying only in times of crisis would make children grow up to believe that you can only go to God when you want something, and Solomon is saying that when families foundation is built upon prayer and praise when the prayer life of a family is not a rarity.

When a prayer life in the family is not an occasional thing that is done as needed basis. God continuously blesses that family is gone, the blessed family. You don't even have to ask for his blessings. He's just gonna do it now we live in an instant society we want everything fast. We want everything yesterday. Everything must happen immediately, but that's not how God thinks you have to understand that the blessing of God often takes time because family growth takes time and sometimes we feel that God is not blessing us, but he does he blesses the God centered family think of Abraham when God said to him that your descendents will be as the stars in the sky.

He didn't have one kid, what are you talking about God. I don't have one job you telling me that my descendents you and God kept his promise to Abraham. God always keeps his promises. That is how God blesses them look back and receive the Scripture said that all those who are in Christ Jesus are the descendents of Abraham, spiritually speaking.

Look at the numbers of believers around the world. God grows.

The God centered family. God blesses the godsend a family. Thirdly, God guides the God centered family. When children see their parents asking God for guidance in every area of life, not just in the big things in every area. They will grow up seeking to receive guidance from the Lord from his hand. When children see their parents examining the Scripture looking for direction in life. They want to grow up examining the Scripture looking for direction in life. When parents value the leadership of the Lord in their life.

The kids will grow up valuing the leadership of the Lord in their life.

Look at verses one and two again. There's an incredible contrast here between verses one and two in one hand and verses 3 to 5 on the other and this contrast is between a frantic self absorbed, self-sufficient work, which comes up empty over against the quiet confidence in the Lord's guidance in the long run. In fact, this contrast between verses one and two on the one hand and verses 3 to 5 on the other hand is so powerful and list God builds the house is God. God's the city all but what results he gives it to you right there. The family is going to have victory over their enemies.

Satan might try but hand and succeed society and the world at large will try, but they'll fail. That's what he say not know probably somebody here saying you know Michael, I did not grow up in a Christian family. I don't have a role model, and my father, my mother's as godly people know I'm the only one with first one to come to the Lord in my family and I just haven't seen that happen. But let me give you an Encouraging Word today all you need to do is model your heavenly father parenting and you will do all right. You'll do great model. The parenting of our heavenly father. And if you do that with your children. They will be victorious over their enemies. How do you model the heavenly father will look at how he deals with us his children in Genesis 2815. Our Father in heaven said, I am with you and that builds confidence in Isaiah 5112. Our father said I will be with you and that gives us assurance in Deuteronomy 20 verse four. Our father said I will give you victory and that gives us security and Psalm 149 verse four. Our heavenly daddy said, I am pleased with you and that gives us peace and acceptance in first John 31 I heavenly father said I love you and that should give us joy unspeakable and Jeremiah 31, 34, our heavenly daddy said I will forgive you and that should give us power and strength in the times of difficulties and Psalm 34 verse 15 I heavenly father said I will listen to you.

I tell you I learned the hard way and let me tell you dad to have daughters they don't want answers to their problems. Did you get that limit repeated they don't want answers to their problems. They want you to listen man every time become a problem that we are arming. I got all the answers you do this and you do this and so finally, when I learned the hard way. God not only grows a Christ centered family blesses the God centered family guides the God centered family. The psalmist said that he protects the God centered family technology is wonderful and I thank God for technology, but the problem is that technology also brings on a whole lot of new weapons for the enemies to use against our children. There was a time when we trusted the school teachers to teach our kids what we teach them at home at the confirm and affirm what we teach them and I thank God for the godly teachers who are really working under difficult circumstances and are being persecuted, but there are so many teachers going to teaching with a goblet agenda in mind that so many teachers are going into teaching with the idea to enforce and to force that godless agenda upon the minds of the young, even in what used to be Christian schools are now glorifying immorality as simple choice in this God guards the city in this God protects our children. This God defends our family unless God shelters our families is in vain. All of our effort. So what does that mean to the bleak appearance of today setting the example being a role model and staying on the knees of prayer on behalf of your children remaining on the knees of prayer on their behalf, believing that God and God alone is the one who grows, blesses, guides and protects the family. When you teach your children the protective shelter of the Lord and how to stay under the protective shelter ended the same time they want you staying under that protective shelter will do far greater than you can even imagine audit some time ago something that stuck with me so strongly about how a mother hen when she sees a hawk circling in the sky overhead. She instinctively gives a warning sound and immediately the baby chicks come running and hiding beneath her wings, then went to see a menacing storm clouds and fill the sky rolling thunder's and jagged lightning.

She quickly issues a certain sound that beckons her brood to herself where they find protection from the element and has nighttime approaches in the shadows links and she gives a quick call and they gather for rest, not thought about how one of my favorite songs on 91 he who dwells in the shelter of the most high, the beloved, listen to me.

He's not talking about occasionally, as-needed basis. When you're in trouble is talking about these will permanently dwell in the shelter of the most high. There were rest in the shadow of the Almighty today. You can make your family to be a God centered family material something if I did not believe with all my heart that God is a God of new beginnings. That is never, never, never, never, never too late with God. I give up preaching is never too late. It doesn't matter where you are.

Whether your parents or grandparents. It doesn't matter where you are doesn't matter where situation you written, you can start today to God. I want to be a godsend at family want to be a God centered family because only God grows, blesses, guides and protects the God centered family father. It is impossible for me to comprehend the incredible grace of God. It is impossible on this side of heaven to conceive the incredible love you have for us and for our families and how you long to gather us under your wings running around busy making a living and doing things for ourselves and come up empty father in the name of Jesus I pray through the power of the Holy Spirit remind us of fresh that you are longing in your waiting in your arms are open and you're welcome us back with pricing.

We bless you and we thank you for who you are and what you have done what you wanted to. In Jesus name