Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Welcome to the Bridge Church VB Podcast, your weekly source for uplifting and transformative Sunday messages! Each episode features insightful, practical teachings rooted in Scripture, designed to inspire and guide you on your spiritual journey. Led by our passionate Lead Pastors, Archie and Tangie Callahan, we strive to create a welcoming environment that encourages individuals from all walks of life to connect with the person, power, and purpose of Jesus Christ.
In this podcast, we delve into relevant themes and timeless biblical truths that speak to the challenges and joys of everyday living. Whether you’re commuting, exercising, or simply seeking encouragement, our messages aim to empower you to grow in faith and discover your unique purpose.
Join our vibrant community of believers as we explore how to apply God’s Word in practical ways, fostering a deeper connection with Him and one another. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to enrich your life through these dynamic teachings. Connect with us and find out more at www.bridgechurch.tv!
0.000000 4.000000 >> Well, good morning, Bridge Church, how's everybody doing today?
4.000000 7.000000 Man, the first service did better than you guys.
7.000000 10.000000 How's everybody doing today?
10.000000 13.000000 All right, I hate to have to throw a competition,
13.000000 15.000000 with the first service to get you motivated today.
15.000000 18.000000 For those that don't know me, my name is Scott.
18.000000 21.000000 I serve as the executive pastor here at Bridge Church.
21.000000 24.000000 And our lead pastors, pastors, Archie and Tangi are away today.
24.000000 27.000000 But to have no fear, they will be back next week.
27.000000 31.000000 Everything in your little church world will be back together soon.
31.000000 35.000000 But it is a delight to be with you today and be speaking with you.
35.000000 38.000000 At this time, we are going to start a brand new series.
38.000000 40.000000 I like brand new series.
40.000000 41.000000 I like things new.
41.000000 44.000000 And today's series is kicking off.
44.000000 47.000000 It's called Family Ties, Family Ties.
47.000000 50.000000 And you won't want to miss this series.
50.000000 52.000000 It'll be going on for several weeks.
52.000000 56.000000 And so make plans now to be a part of everything that God wants to do.
56.000000 59.000000 And speak to us through this series.
59.000000 64.000000 Now, this is probably going to be a more of a teaching day for me today.
64.000000 66.000000 It won't be sweating up here.
66.000000 67.000000 It won't be hollering.
67.000000 70.000000 I don't need a hanky to wipe my forehead or anything like that today.
70.000000 76.000000 But we're going to look at family ties because family and marriage affects all of us.
76.000000 79.000000 Some of us are wanting to get married.
79.000000 80.000000 Some of us are married.
80.000000 85.000000 Some of us have maybe come through a divorce and are struggling with that.
85.000000 88.000000 Others, we're all in families of some sort.
88.000000 93.000000 Whether we like our family or not, we are in a family relationship somehow.
93.000000 96.000000 And so relationships are important to God.
96.000000 98.000000 And they matter to him.
98.000000 102.000000 And so they are very much a part of our lives each and every day.
102.000000 111.000000 And so we want to take the time to discover how God's plan or what God's plan and design is for this thing called marriage and the family.
111.000000 116.000000 And so if you have your Bibles today, we're going to look at Genesis chapter 2.
116.000000 118.000000 And then we're also going to go to Deuteronomy.
118.000000 121.000000 So we're going to be an old-school Old Testament today.
121.000000 124.000000 So Genesis is the first book of the Bible.
124.000000 127.000000 So if you get past the contents, you are in Genesis.
127.000000 131.000000 And Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Bible.
131.000000 136.000000 And we're going to be looking or starting with verse 18 and Genesis 2.
136.000000 142.000000 So if you have a download of the bridge app, I encourage you to do that, all those sermon notes are in there each and every week.
142.000000 145.000000 And you can follow along with what we have.
145.000000 154.000000 So Genesis chapter 2, starting with verse 18, and then we're going to jump down to verse 21.
154.000000 159.000000 And it says this, "The Lord God said it is not good for man to be alone.
159.000000 164.000000 I will make a helper." And let me go ahead and put my first Paul's in.
164.000000 170.000000 When we talk about helper, it's not a difference in value, it's a difference in design.
170.000000 174.000000 Okay? So it is not like a helper, like go get this, go get that.
174.000000 179.000000 It's not like you're at a construction site and you know when the new guy's there and you're like go get the coffee.
179.000000 180.000000 Right? It's not the helper.
180.000000 188.000000 In fact, the word that is used here in the Hebrew is also the word that is described the Lord and talking about him being a helper.
188.000000 196.000000 So it is a helper to each other and that God had designed man and woman to rule and reign together.
196.000000 200.000000 It's a partnership and so I just want to bring clarity to that right up front.
200.000000 202.000000 All right? So let's keep going.
202.000000 204.000000 So the Lord God said it's not good for man to be alone.
204.000000 209.000000 I will make a helper suitable for him, verse 21.
209.000000 212.000000 So the Lord God calls the man to fall into a deep sleep.
212.000000 218.000000 And while he was sleeping, he took one of man's ribs and then he closed the place with flesh.
218.000000 225.000000 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man and he brought her to the man.
225.000000 229.000000 The man said this is how now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
229.000000 234.000000 She shall be called woman for she was taken out of man, verse 24.
234.000000 242.000000 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife and they become one flesh.
242.000000 247.000000 Verse 25, "Adam and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame."
247.000000 251.000000 Let's go over to Deuteronomy chapter 6, starting at verse 5.
251.000000 256.000000 "Love the Lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
256.000000 261.000000 These commandments I give to you today are to be on your hearts.
261.000000 267.000000 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road.
267.000000 274.000000 And when you lie down and when you get up, tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
274.000000 281.000000 Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates."
281.000000 290.000000 Marriage and family are both amazing and crazy all at the same time.
290.000000 298.000000 Think about it, you find someone that you've never met before, you start dating, right?
298.000000 302.000000 You grow in love, someone says, "Hey, we should get married."
302.000000 306.000000 And then you spend the rest of your life going, "Hey, what in the world just happened?"
306.000000 311.000000 And you're trying to figure each other out and you can't understand sometimes each other.
311.000000 317.000000 And then somewhere along the way, somebody says, "Hey, since we don't know each other and can't figure each other out,
317.000000 321.000000 let's bring some little people into the world that we don't understand and don't know them either."
321.000000 324.000000 And it's just like this one big happy family.
324.000000 333.000000 And this is what I've learned is that this infant comes along and all they do is eat, sleep, and go to the bathroom.
333.000000 339.000000 And they have no verbal capability, so you have no idea what's going on in their world, right?
339.000000 341.000000 You can only kind of guess.
341.000000 347.000000 But then when they turn teenagers, the same thing happens again. All they do is eat, sleep, go to the bathroom.
347.000000 352.000000 They can use words, but you still don't understand what's going on in their world.
352.000000 356.000000 And that is the cycle of marriage and the family a lot of times, right?
356.000000 360.000000 And so we have to understand that God has a plan for us.
360.000000 364.000000 In fact, God had instituted three things in his word.
364.000000 369.000000 He instituted, or one first institution, is this thing called marriage and the family.
369.000000 373.000000 The second institution that God put in place was government.
373.000000 377.000000 And I know some of you are going, "Hmm, that was God's idea. I'm not sure I like that one."
377.000000 387.000000 Right, but government was there after the fall to help us along the way to bring along the order, law, and order in the life of a community.
387.000000 390.000000 And then the third institution was the church.
390.000000 393.000000 God established his church in the New Testament.
393.000000 397.000000 And the church in the New Testament was supposed to be the body of Christ in the earth.
397.000000 407.000000 It was to be his hands of feet that we would be ministers of reconciliation to the world, leading people back to the Father.
407.000000 417.000000 And so we have to understand that the first institution, the marriage and the family, is the building block for all the other institutions.
417.000000 430.000000 That a good, healthy marriage and family helps produce a good, healthy government or good, healthy churches, good, healthy communities, good, healthy cities.
430.000000 437.000000 Right, so as our marriages and family go, often our community goes along with it.
437.000000 448.000000 Right, and so I thought it'd be good to give us a biblical kind of definition of marriage and kind of get an idea for us to all kind of come to a same starting point.
448.000000 450.000000 And so let me use this definition.
450.000000 459.000000 It's a lifelong covenant relationship designed by God for a man and a woman to come together as husband and wife.
459.000000 470.000000 It is a lifelong covenant relationship designed by God for a man and a woman to come together as husband and wife.
470.000000 485.000000 So no matter your background, no matter the places that you and your spouse come or the person that you're dating come from, that God has to be the foundation for any successful marriage, for any home to be built.
485.000000 500.000000 It's sort of like trying to build a puzzle and never knowing what the picture is. Right, you're trying to take pieces and there are many pieces that will fit together, right, have you ever, but you go and say, well, that doesn't look right.
500.000000 511.000000 Right, I was trying to put a puzzle together for the back where it's just all the cardboard. Right, you could put some pieces together, but on the other side, the image really does look like what it's supposed to be.
511.000000 529.000000 And that's the way it is with us with God is when we try to build our marriages, when we try to build our families and our homes, without the foundation of God as the starting point, then the picture of marriages comes, comes distorted.
529.000000 544.000000 And Jesus said this in the New Testament, he says, those who hear my words, and they fail to do what I say to do, it is like the man, the foolish man who builds his house on the sand.
544.000000 558.000000 Now, I don't know much about construction, but I know sand is not a great thing to build your house upon. Right, and so he says, when he did build it on that sand, that the storm came and then suddenly his house fell over with a big crash.
558.000000 566.000000 Now, that was a man who did not take the opportunity to hear the word of the Lord and apply it to his life.
566.000000 575.000000 The Psalmist said in Psalm 127, he who builds the house, unless the Lord builds the house, he who builds the house labors in vain.
575.000000 581.000000 So I don't want to be someone that labors in vain to build a house that the Lord's not involved in.
581.000000 588.000000 I don't want to build a house that comes to the end of life and realize that I've been building on the wrong foundation.
588.000000 595.000000 So we're going to look and see what God's plan is and we always have to start from this place with God's plan.
595.000000 610.000000 All right, and so God's plan, if you look back at Genesis, chapter 2 verse 24 says this. That is why man leaves his father and his mother and is united with his wife and they become one flesh.
610.000000 617.000000 That is the starting point for marriage. That is the starting point for establishing a family.
617.000000 624.000000 In fact, this scripture is used by Jesus and the Apostle Paul, both in the New Testament.
624.000000 634.000000 So I think the Lord is wanting us to understand or see a divine order that he has in place when it comes to establishing of a family and a marriage.
634.000000 643.000000 And the first of all, he says it's this idea, it's this leave unite become one, leave unite become one.
643.000000 652.000000 It is our responsibility as parents to help our children grow in a healthy environment.
652.000000 662.000000 In fact, as I go back and think about my own life, my parents, I grew up in a good home, good godly Christian home, my dad was a minister.
662.000000 669.000000 And so I saw a healthy marriage, but there came a point in my life that I needed to leave.
669.000000 674.000000 And there came a point in my parents' life that they wanted me to leave.
674.000000 681.000000 And so this is part of it. It is hard for us to grow in a place where we begin to outgrow that environment.
681.000000 691.000000 And so I brought a blanket to help illustrate this. Right? This blanket is over 30 years old. Isn't that impressive? Now I normally don't keep a blanket that long.
691.000000 702.000000 Someone gave it to my wife and I for our wedding gift. And somewhere in here it has our date and everything kind of put on there, somewhere in there.
702.000000 709.000000 So there it is. But it's like this. This is kind of how I kind of represent it. And when I was talking to my son, it's like this.
709.000000 723.000000 It's like as a father, my job as a father is to provide a covering for my wife and my kids. That's what I do. Right?
723.000000 735.000000 It's to help bring guidance and direction to bring love, to try to bring you into a place an understanding of who Jesus is and the work of Jesus in your life.
735.000000 748.000000 And that's my job. And that was what my parents did for me. And then at some point I had to leave my mom and dad because it would look really ridiculous for my dad to have his covering.
748.000000 754.000000 And then me to try to be inside of there building another covering. That would be kind of goofy, wouldn't it?
754.000000 773.000000 And so I had to leave. It was my job to leave. So as a parent of a son, your job parent is to make sure that your son knows how to protect and lead and lead and spiritual things to give guidance and to be the man that God has called him to be.
773.000000 789.000000 Now in our broken society, we have to understand that many times because of maybe a loss of a husband or a father or maybe a divorce or for whatever reason, many times women are having to take the role of being the covering.
789.000000 799.000000 And if you're a single parent mom in here, let me just say, God bless you. He sees you. He knows what you're doing and he will bless your efforts.
799.000000 810.000000 Your children are not going to be any less off because of the grace of God that's on your life. He sees what you're doing. He sees that you are providing covering where there's a lack there.
810.000000 829.000000 And if you're a parent of a daughter today, right? Here you go. I'm going to help everybody. If you're a parent of a daughter today, your job is to help her see a man that knows how to have covering.
829.000000 840.000000 You got to be able to say, you know what, honey, I'm not really wanting to tell you what to do, but that guy, he doesn't know how to cover you.
840.000000 856.000000 Right, and so there's this covering that needs to take place in as we leave in the godly fashion that we leave our home. There's a new covenant that is created and that is the uniting together. That's the second part.
856.000000 869.000000 There's a difference between marriage and a wedding. A wedding is a ceremony, a marriage is a covenant. A wedding will last you about 30 minutes and cost you about $25,000.
869.000000 882.000000 A marriage is a covenant that will last you a lifetime and most of us don't invest anything at all of it. And so you and I, it is not until we come into covenant that coverage is created.
882.000000 892.000000 Is when I come into a covenant with my spouse, when I come into covenant with Robin, that covering is created there.
892.000000 901.000000 Let me just say it this way, sex does not create covenant. It is to consummate a covenant.
901.000000 907.000000 Okay, so it is through covenant that I have covering.
907.000000 919.000000 Let me say it this way as gently and as lovingly as I can, just because you've got under someone's sheet, doesn't mean you got under covering.
919.000000 929.000000 Just because you created a baby, doesn't mean you created a covenant. And you're trying to consummate a covenant that has never been created.
929.000000 939.000000 See, when you and I, when we marry our spouse, we are creating a covenant in the heavenlies that have never been created before.
939.000000 951.000000 So my wife and I created a covenant that had never been created before. Now, there have been other marriage covenants created, but there's never been one created with her and I, our DNA exactly alike.
951.000000 962.000000 In fact, if you were at a religious ceremony, at the end of the ceremony, it would say the minister would say something like before God and these witnesses.
962.000000 976.000000 So God serves as a witness to our marriage, to our covenant. And that's what we live by. So today, I just want you to know again, we're teaching.
976.000000 990.000000 This is not judgmental, but I want you to know that if you are having sexual relationships outside of the covenant of marriage before the covenant of marriage, you are standing against God.
990.000000 1003.000000 I want you to know that because I think you deserve to know the truth. And what you do with it is up to you. But it is a sin against God. I would want someone to tell me if I am violating God's God's standard.
1003.000000 1015.000000 What did he say? He who finds a wife finds a good thing and finds what favor? When does favor come? When the covenant and coverage begins. That's where favor comes on my life.
1015.000000 1026.000000 So he says this, you got to leave, you got to unite, and you become one. You become one. The process is not what just happens on the honeymoon.
1026.000000 1036.000000 Okay, so not just the physical, that is part of it. That's not the only thing. And when we talk about becoming one, we're talking about coming one spiritually.
1036.000000 1050.000000 We're talking about coming one in the like-mindedness. Paul talks about being like-minded with one another. There's this like-mindedness. I don't know if you've ever been around some long-married people, but they kind of like read each other's minds.
1050.000000 1060.000000 You ever notice that? Like they can look at you and like more often can look at me and she goes, I know what the look means. It's time to leave.
1060.000000 1065.000000 Don't lock up the church. It's not your time to do that. Someone else is on the schedule to lock it out. Right?
1065.000000 1077.000000 So you can tell each other, right? You got the same like-mindedness. So there's this like-mindedness, spiritual. All of these things, it is a unity and it takes a lifetime to do.
1077.000000 1088.000000 It takes a lifetime to do so that's when losing a partner, losing a spouse is so difficult because that unity has been wrapped up together for so long.
1088.000000 1095.000000 And it's hard to let it go. It's hard to even divorce because you have even a level of unity that is taking place.
1095.000000 1106.000000 And let me just say this. If you're singling here, it's a lot easier to grow in unity when you have like-mindedness when you're dating.
1106.000000 1119.000000 So in other words, most of us, a lot of us, I won't say most, but a lot of people will just go with the idea. Does he look good? What kind of watch does he have on the wrist?
1119.000000 1127.000000 What kind of bills does he flash when he's paying the bill at the restaurant? Right? That's one level there and there's nothing wrong with that.
1127.000000 1139.000000 If you go spending a lifetime with someone, you might want to make sure they're good-looking because you don't have to look at them for a long time. It's a covenant. Right?
1139.000000 1145.000000 But did we go a little bit further? We go beneath that and we say, "Okay, are there common interests?"
1145.000000 1154.000000 Are there common interests? Well, we like hiking, we like biking, we're fitness gurus or we like just camping, we like being sitting by the campfire.
1154.000000 1163.000000 We like watching hallmark movies or whatever it is you happen to do. That's great too. That's another level of development.
1163.000000 1173.000000 But really, I think the deeper level is this, not just how they look, not just do you have similar interests because all of those things can change.
1173.000000 1183.000000 But the bottom thing is do you have similar values? Do you have similar values? In other words, how does that person feel about raising their family or raising the kids in a church?
1183.000000 1194.000000 How does that person feel about how they manage money? What are the values that they have when it comes to that? What are the values that they have when it comes to marriage in the family?
1194.000000 1204.000000 Because those are the deeper rooted things that when the storms of life come and when things begin to shake and you don't look like you used to, I had more hair when I was younger.
1204.000000 1214.000000 When this quilt was made, I had more hair. I was skinnier. There's a lot of other good things I had going for me that I don't know if they're there anymore, right?
1214.000000 1222.000000 But I just know that those things will fade, but it's the values that keep us together. It's the values.
1222.000000 1234.000000 And so you and I had to walk these things out. We had to carry these things out. And so I just wanted to tell you to hear today, you say, well, Scott, maybe we didn't follow God's plan.
1234.000000 1241.000000 I want to let you know that there's grace for that and there is forgiveness that is available. Right? There's forgiveness out of it.
1241.000000 1252.000000 And I said it that way on purpose. Grace is available. And forgiveness is available. But will you and I can't step into a place of forgiveness until there's been repentance?
1252.000000 1261.000000 So you receive the truth and then you go, okay, what am I going to do with the truth? As it is often been said before, there's two types of people.
1261.000000 1271.000000 When they hear the truth, it's the person who's going to bend their life to the truth of God's Word, or there's people that are going to try to bend the truth to fit their life.
1271.000000 1278.000000 Who will you be today? Right? But there is forgiveness available. But you and I have to repent.
1278.000000 1285.000000 And first down, one night it says this, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. And what?
1285.000000 1296.000000 It cleans us from all unrighteousness. So even if we messed up, we all messed up. Right? We're all imperfect people. We're all broken people. We're all affected by sin.
1296.000000 1313.000000 But there is hope and redemption that is available to us, that we can set our marriages on the right foundation, that we can build that and that God will bless our marriages, that he will bless our families, that he will bless generations.
1313.000000 1323.000000 I am standing on the shoulders of a great grandfather, who I've never met, because of his heart and desire to lead his family in the things of God.
1323.000000 1333.000000 And because of him, my grandfather chose to lead his family in the things of God. And because my dad saw that, that he chose to lead his family in the things of God.
1333.000000 1345.000000 And here I am, I'm trying to lead my son and my daughter and my wife in the things of God. I'm not perfect at it. I struggle. I fail. You can talk to them. They'll tell you plenty of them.
1345.000000 1352.000000 But not really. Love keeps their record wrong and so they love me. They love me.
1352.000000 1372.000000 She'll tell me later. So yes, so you and I have to come to this place that we build our lives on the foundation. And it's at that point that we do that, then we can move forward, and steadily build and lead our family in faith every day.
1372.000000 1381.000000 When we begin to place our marriage on the foundation of God, then we can slowly build a steady faith for our family.
1381.000000 1394.000000 But here's the thing, you and I have to be ones who pursue to build the faith in our own life first. I cannot impart to a family something that I do not possess.
1394.000000 1408.000000 That there's a place that I have to grow and mature. I have to be a self-feeder, sort of like steering a car, right? If you go on a journey of steering a car, you are constantly making small adjustments with the steering wheel.
1408.000000 1419.000000 You're constantly making small adjustments all along the journey. Like you don't wait till the last minute and then swerve real fast and then swerve over here real fast, right? That's reckless driving. They pull you over for that.
1419.000000 1435.000000 But a lot of times that's how we live our spiritual lives. We go from Sunday, one swerve, and we wait till the following Sunday, one swerve, to get a message, to get some spiritual hype or juice or whatever you want to call it.
1435.000000 1448.000000 When really we have the access to our Heavenly Father on a daily basis to just spend time with God and just to receive that. So I'm constantly making small little steady changes in what's going on.
1448.000000 1467.000000 So in Deuteronomy 6 verse 5, it says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give to you today are to be on your hearts." In other words, Moses is saying this, "Love the Lord your God."
1467.000000 1482.000000 So the question is, who is or what is your God? Right because all of us begin to drift in our focus. All of us begin to go different ways. We can kind of, we're good, we fix our eyes on Jesus, they all turn the finisher of our faith.
1482.000000 1495.000000 But then sometimes over time we can begin to kind of just change a little bit. It's this idea of repeating error like if you were shooting a rocket or if you were shooting a missile, even though it might be like one degree off at the start.
1495.000000 1502.000000 Over time and distance, I get further and further away from what it is that God has called me to.
1502.000000 1511.000000 So we got to make sure that even in the small places of our life that we are honoring the Lord. So what is or who is your God?
1511.000000 1519.000000 Like is it wealth and possessions? Is maybe that the God that we oftentimes bow down to? There's nothing wrong with wealth and possessions.
1519.000000 1531.000000 But do I begin to make decisions based on those things, based on not losing my wealth and possessions? Is it based on pursuing more wealth and possessions?
1531.000000 1540.000000 Is it those things that I begin to make decisions that end up costing me my marriage? I may not see it at first, it's only one little degree.
1540.000000 1553.000000 But over time we begin to get further and further apart. Maybe it's this idea of ease and comfort. Maybe we bow to the God of ease and comfort.
1553.000000 1563.000000 That's very real. A few years ago they took a survey of pastors in America and they said, "What is the American idol of the church?"
1563.000000 1577.000000 And the number one thing that pastor said was the God of comfort. The God of comfort. That we are at ease and we are just, you know, if it conveniences me at the slightest, I'm not doing.
1577.000000 1595.000000 Are we bowing down to the God? Maybe it's the worship of our family. Right? This is a message on family ties. So sometimes we might get into place where we begin to bow at the altar of athletics for our family.
1595.000000 1615.000000 Oh, don't go there, Pastor Scott. I got to be at another Paul practice. Someone's got a Suzie's got to be at the dance practice. He's got to be at T-Ball, football. They've got to be at cheer. They've got to be, and so we've spent, you know, thousands of dollars.
1615.000000 1630.000000 Give a lot of time. Are you against sports? No. My son played him. I went to the games. I said on the bleachers and all of these things. I did all of that. I sat in the parking lot waiting for practices to end. That went long.
1630.000000 1640.000000 But we had standards of how far we were going to let things go. Youth was on a Wednesday night. We said, "Okay. You're going to be done at this time. Tell your coach this time. You got to go."
1640.000000 1655.000000 And there were days that my son Nathan came to youth, not smelling so great. But that's why we chose to do. We just said, "Hey, we're not going to do things because this is what we value as a family. This is what we value."
1655.000000 1667.000000 And so I've looked this up, and I looked it up several times just to make sure that I'm trying to give you a correct statistic. But less than 1% of the kids that play sports actually go professional.
1667.000000 1685.000000 So I know that you think Gloria Johnny and little Susie are the best ever. And they might be. But the truth of the matter is, less than 1% will go professional. But 100% of them will stand before God one day.
1685.000000 1703.000000 So how will I lead my family? This is the great thing about God and His love. He gives us choices. Again, there's nothing wrong with any of the things that I've mentioned. But as we begin to make them an idol, that's where the danger becomes.
1703.000000 1719.000000 And so Moses says, "Hey, you've got to love the Lord God with all your heart." In fact, Jesus in the very thing I was just talking about with children in Matthew 10, verse 37, he says, "Anyone who loves his parents or his children more than me is not worthy of me."
1719.000000 1736.000000 So Jesus even kind of covered this thing too. And so we have to make sure that we are living lives that honor the Lord. So this love that Moses is talking about is a sincere whole hearted love. It's an undivided love to God.
1736.000000 1753.000000 And so you and I have to, we grow in this. It's the triangle effect. As I'm growing and seeking the Lord and my spouse is growing and seeking the Lord, we are eventually coming closer to the Lord, but we're also coming closer to each other. And we're becoming more like Him.
1753.000000 1765.000000 And so out of that development, out of that growth of my personal spiritual life and investing in myself, then I can securely pass on faith to the next generation.
1765.000000 1775.000000 See, the next generation has to choose their faith. They don't get to ride on my faith. My son has to make his own choice about his faith.
1775.000000 1790.000000 I mean, I remember when he was born, I read every book I can get. You know, I don't know if you guys ever heard of James Dobson, but I was reading James Dobson book. I was reading, bringing up boys, I was reading Whisker Robbs, I was reading everything that I can get my hand on because I was just like, I don't know.
1790.000000 1804.000000 I know what it was like when I grew up, but I don't know anymore. I wanted to make sure that I was trying to give him the best biblical foundation. And so, you know, he talks about, in verse seven, Moses says this,
1804.000000 1827.000000 "Empress them on your children." What is he talking about? He's talking about the commandments I give you. "Empress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, when you get up, tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates."
1827.000000 1840.000000 That word "empress" there is to leave a lasting mark. Let me be clear about this. This is not leaving a lasting physical mark. They will lock you up for that.
1840.000000 1853.000000 But it is a lasting impression on their character. And it's this idea that you and I have the ability to leave lasting impression that is both negative and positive.
1853.000000 1863.000000 That you can leave a lasting impression on your spouse and on your children by the words you say and by your actions and responses to them.
1863.000000 1872.000000 But he's saying, "Empress the good things on them. Impress the good things, the positive things on them. Make it so sweet. Make it so good."
1872.000000 1887.000000 Not spoiling them. I'm not talking about that. But make Christ beautiful to them so that they see Him and want to pursue Him. It's this idea of biblical integration.
1887.000000 1898.000000 That in every area of my life, I have a world, a biblical world view, and that in every area of my life, I learn how to incorporate God and His Word into every part of my life.
1898.000000 1911.000000 Now this is not being over preachy. It's not like trying to be really hard-nosed about something. But it can be simple things like when it's time to put the kids to bed that I pray for them.
1911.000000 1918.000000 When they go out the door by my spouse and my children, they get a prayer blessing before they leave.
1918.000000 1929.000000 If there's a difficult challenging situation in my life that we come together as a family and pray about it. When grandma's sick, we pray about it.
1929.000000 1940.000000 If dad or mom needs a new job, we pray about it. We are inviting them into our faith at that point so that they can grow and develop their own faith
1940.000000 1952.000000 when they leave, when they go out on their own. And so that is the heart of a parent. That is the heart of a marriage of a spouse.
1952.000000 1960.000000 Is that we bless? We don't argue. You know how sometimes parents, we say some dumb stuff. We say some dumb stuff.
1960.000000 1972.000000 I said plenty of dumb stuff. The obvious dumb stuff is when you're sitting there and it's like you've drove ten hours and they're acting up and you say hey don't make me turn this car around.
1972.000000 1984.000000 Ain't nobody turning that car around. Ain't nobody driving ten hours back the other way. Stop lying. Just stop lying right there. Just cut it out. Nobody's doing that.
1984.000000 2002.000000 But we will say things and we will use the word of the Lord to beat and abuse people verbally. Right? And so in our own religiousness and our staunchness that we make Jesus unattractive to our spouse and to our family.
2002.000000 2015.000000 But that needs to be, we need to have the winsome love of the Holy Spirit, guiding and directing and leading us. And so God has this beautiful plan for marriages.
2015.000000 2025.000000 God has a beautiful plan for family. And He loves family and He loves you. He sees you. You're doing a great job.
2025.000000 2036.000000 This is not a beat you up series. It's a build you up series. To give you things that can help you. But I want you to know that God loves you and sees the effort.
2036.000000 2044.000000 I know you want to pull your hair out at times with your kids. I've been there. Maybe that's part of my hair loss problem. I don't know.
2044.000000 2056.000000 But we all had these moments that if somebody were to take a polaroid picture, a snapshot of those moments in our life, they would not be the best moments.
2056.000000 2063.000000 But don't judge yourself. Don't judge your marriage. Don't judge your family on those polaroid moments.
2063.000000 2075.000000 And just know that, you know what, God's still working on us. There's hope. There's a plan. And we're going to start building our lives on the foundation of God.
2075.000000 2089.000000 We're going to build our lives on His kingdom. And so I want to encourage you today that God loves you with the everlasting love. In fact, He loves you so much that He wanted a family with you in it.
2089.000000 2104.000000 That God loves you so much that He created a covenant, just as we talk about leaving and uniting and becoming one, that He created a covenant through His Son, Jesus Christ, that you and I could come into fellowship with a heavenly father.
2104.000000 2112.000000 And that we can walk in communion with Him, that we can be part of a bigger family. Maybe your family wasn't the ideal family.
2112.000000 2123.000000 Maybe it was a tough family. Maybe it was a hard family. Maybe you had an abuse of father. So it's maybe difficult to see God as a heavily father, as a loving father.
2123.000000 2137.000000 But I want to tell you that God really does love you. That God really does care about you. And don't let the physical things, the natural things of what you experience begin to take your vision or your understanding of who God is and His love for you.
2137.000000 2145.000000 And that He has a genuine love. He loves His children. In fact, over in John 1, 12, it says this.
2145.000000 2161.000000 Yet to all who died, I'm sorry, for all who did receive Him, talking about Jesus, receiving Jesus, to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.
2161.000000 2173.000000 God has adopted you and me into His family. If you've accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord Savior, He has adopted us into His family. We have the right to become children of God.
2173.000000 2192.000000 Just as Pastor Michael was talking about his testimony today of the protocol and coming back home, they God welcomes protocols. He welcomes all sorts of people. All of us are hurt, lost and broken. None of us are perfect. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
2192.000000 2206.000000 But God invites us to come and sit at His table as a child and be adopted. We stand with Me today. God's gracious to us.
2206.000000 2225.000000 And we all come from different backgrounds. We all come from different places. So the stories I share about myself are never in any kind of prideful way or promoting way. It's just the only stories I have. It's the only thing I got.
2225.000000 2240.000000 So I just use what you got. But my story is not perfect. My story is not all figured out. I don't even know what tomorrow holds. Neither do you.
2240.000000 2250.000000 But I know that I have come to a place of putting my trust in God and even trusting Him for my marriage and trusting Him for my children.
2250.000000 2261.000000 That He, it's so crazy. God actually loves my children more than I do. And He really cares about Him. And He wants the very best for them.
2261.000000 2271.000000 That God cares about my marriage more than I do. And He wants it to succeed. He cares about your marriage and wants it to succeed.
2271.000000 2290.000000 He wants the very best for us. Like Jesus said, if we are evil and wicked, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more does your Heavenly Father know how to give good gifts to you.
2290.000000 2302.000000 And so that's what we're going to walk in over the next couple of weeks. Is that we're going to just say, God, I want to receive everything that you have for me in this area of marriage and in my family.
2302.000000 2310.000000 And I want to place my marriage in my family upon the rock of Jesus Christ and the truth of your Word. Will you pray with me today?
2310.000000 2321.000000 Father, I thank you so much for great grace. I thank you for your love and for your mercy. Lord, I thank you for this love that we have in Christ today.
2321.000000 2331.000000 Lord, I thank you that you've loved us with the everlasting love and that you've given us your son, Jesus, as an example of the great love that you have for us.
2331.000000 2343.000000 That truly you love the world that you gave your one and only son. And so Lord, we thank you for that. And so Lord, I just pray right now a blessing over every individual in this room.
2343.000000 2354.000000 God, I pray for the adorning of God to rest upon them. Lord, I pray for sonship and daughtership to rest upon them. God, I come against negative words that have been spoken over their lives.
2354.000000 2368.000000 I come against every negative impression that someone in authority has placed on them. God, we break that off in Jesus name. And God, I just declare for newness and freedom in Christ today.
2368.000000 2380.000000 Lord, I just pray that you begin to renew minds today, Lord, where there have been thoughts and not even the door of divorce and not just the broken families and painful things and bitterness that people have said.
2380.000000 2395.000000 And I break those things off in the name of Jesus and I ask for wholeness and newness in your name today. God, I just declare that your people are moving forward. God, I declare that Lord, you are in their marriage and that you are turning things around.
2395.000000 2413.000000 Supernaturally, I just begin to declare you are turning things around that you are moving by your spirit where it seems hopeless. There is hope coming today in the name of Jesus. I speak life to every dark place in the name of Jesus and I declare freedom in Jesus name.
2413.000000 2429.000000 I declare freedom in marriages. I declare that marriages are coming together. I declare that children who watch turned away from their parents are coming back. Lord, God, there is a relationship that is being built in the name of Jesus and I declare that today over your people.
2429.000000 2449.000000 I declare that in Jesus name, Lord, that you love marriages, that you ordained it and that you plan for it. God, that you love that we were in the family together, Lord, you love that we have children. Lord, even though it's difficult sometimes, God, I just pray you give strength to that single parent today.
2449.000000 2459.000000 Single parent moms and single parent dads, God, I just pray that you would give them the strength. Lord, that you would just begin to blow a fresh wind underneath them today.
2459.000000 2478.000000 Supernaturally, God. Supernaturally, just begin to turn things. Begin to turn things. We give your marriages. We give your families. For those that are in here that are not married, God, I just speak a blessing over them. Lord, I just pray that you would give them wisdom and give them the eyes to see.
2478.000000 2497.000000 The right people and the right relationships that they need to be involved in. God, I just declare that right now. Supernaturally, give them the wisdom to see. Lord, I just pray that you would be their comfort today, that you would be their relationship today, that they would find their rest and their joy in you today.
2497.000000 2502.058062 That, Lord, that you would fill all of the places that they're longing for.