Family Fight Round 4: Week #3

Fighting for a Godly Line

Today we continue Family Fight! This series is so rich and so much fun. Today’s message is fighting for a Godly Line!

What is that exactly? Wrestling through definitions I developed one that makes sense to me. And that is good because I am very simple so you should understand this one.

A Godly line: Producing generationally people who think right about God.

Because here is the reality…a vast majority, though they agree about important theology about God…

• Creator of the universe
• He is Love
• Created Man
• Sent Jesus (by the way…who is God)
• Who died for our sins
• Rose from the dead.
• Doesn’t want us to kill people or sell drugs.

…they miss key elements of who He is that completely impact us in the human experience…that we have to think right about.

• God’s Holiness and as a result of that relationship… our own.
• God’s Purpose and Strategy in Human History (We are not Random)
• How God chooses to express his Character and Nature.
• God’s ideas about Relationship and How He chooses to express love.

And if we are going to understand and relate to these things we have to think right about God. 

ILL: Have you ever had the wrong idea about someone…had some wrong info and thought they were sort of a jerk. So you just didn’t get to know them…then found out later that they were actually wonderful? 

How many people are robbed from a full and wonderful relationship with God because of wrong information…they didn’t think right about God. 

APP: So, if we are going to Fight for our families to produce a Godly Line, we have to come into agreement about some truth from God himself. Because truth is really non-negotiable. 

Where do we start?

1. You have to be convinced of the authority of God’s Word.

Without it there is no source of truth

Today truth is fluid and based on opinion and not fact. 

The argument in Progressive Christianity today is that man wrote the Bible based on their experience with God and His World, so it is fluid and changeable as society changes. 

It’s the same with science… today’s science is the science of opinion and feelings instead of fact. That’s why now gender is considered fluid though science says it’s fixed. 

If you are going to fight for Godly Generations through your family you have to be convinced of Godliness based on what the Word of God says. 

If it’s not believed that the Bible is Inerrant and infallible…if it’s not our sole guide of faith and life… then anything goes.

But the Bible is the Word of God! 

• It is described by the Apostle Paul as God breathed.
• Yes it was written by man…but men moved on as the Holy Spirit revealed and spoke to and through them. 
• 2500 prophecies in the Old Testament with over 2000 fulfilled. Impossible odds. 
• There are over 324 messianic prophecies that Jesus himself fulfilled.
• Jesus referred to and quoted the Old Testament. He didn’t say…that was 1000 years ago. It’s not relevant anymore.
• Because he knew that those Words were the Words of His Father and His Father is unchangeable.
• The Bible can never mean what it never meant. 

So what it says about you is just as alive now as it was then!

So after the Word, what was God’s first strategy of getting the news out about who He was and what He was like?

Enter …the Family. The next truth we have to agree with God about is that,,,,

2. The FAMILY is the source of Generational Godliness

1. And to do that…first… We have to know the origin story.

Every hero has an origin story.

• Superman has one
• Batman
• And my fav…The Amazing Spiderman!!
• The hero of the Bible is…the Family.

Without Family there is no Jesus!

Without Godly Lines…there is no Heroic moment. 

Your story isn’t over.  You are sitting there thinking that my family line is a hot mess.

Jesus’ Family line had a prostitute in it…Shut up!

Genesis 1:26-27, 2:20-24  Then God said, “Let us make man^[a] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it,

The key phrase here is not Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth…it’s…And God Blessed Them!!

To bless is to bestow not only a gift but a function. In other words He was saying…

• I bless you so that as you reproduce, I will show up in your generations…together we will fill the earth.
• Without Blessing there is no Fruit.
• Without Blessing there is not multiplication.
• Without Blessing there is no filling.

The key to the Origin Story is the Blessing…not the command!! 

You are blessed to produce Godly Generations!!

Next…If you are Going to Understand Family 

2. You have to Understand the Love Story

Chapter 2

The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam^[a] there was not found a helper fit for him. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made^[b] into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.” 

²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Woman… is the first of creation to come from a living being.

Every other created being including Adam came from the elements. 

Adam was the only being to carry the breath of God. A living Soul!

So, what God did was bring the Woman from the Man to insure she was equal in substance and to maintain the unity of the human family. 

They enjoyed that unity despite something else God did… their sexual difference…and this created an interdependence and leads to the term “One Flesh” because She was always supposed to come back into man.

Also, God paraded the animals in front of Adam for him to see that he had no match? 

• So, when Eve shows up he learns she is not to be dominated like they are…She is his equal…Bone of His Bone…

Also God created the Female for the Male and Blessed (Loved) his creation. 

From this moment on humanity comes through the woman through an intimacy that is only compared to when God originally created them! 

This is the consummation of Godliness. It’s why marriage is important. It’s why unborn children are sacred. 

But Pastor Brent…they blew it in the Garden. Yes! But it didn’t ruin the origin story or the strategy.

They left the Garden…forgave each other…next thing you know Eve is saying “With the Help of the Lord I have given birth to a man”

Even with the murder of Godly Abel…God was reaching out to Cain…did everything he could to reach him.

Cains story wasn’t over…no longer a farmer. Now he’s a builder. But his Generations weren’t Godly…

But Seth’s were.

Don’t you see?  You we are responsible for the Godly Line…Your family matters…You matter. And your generational story isn’t over.

 And last, if we are going to fight for a Godly Line in your family…we are going to have to agree that.

3. As Parent’s Our Children Learn the Love Story From Us!!

With Quinton and Aubie moving to their next assignment the search for another youth pastor began. (Though right now Corey and Bri are primed for this). It got us talking. 

We learned that there is literally a shortage of qualified Youth Pastors across the nation. 

It revealed a major flaw in the American Church. We have relied on professionals to Parent our kids in how to see the Wonder of God instead of embracing our original assignment. 

No one does it like you Mom and Dad!!

With Youth Pastors this is where we are in the United States!

Gen Z—today’s young people—what do they believe? Well, in America, a whopping 74% believe morality is relative, 1 in 6 identify as either LGBTorQ, and they are twice as likely to be atheists than preceding generations. 

They’re surrounded by secularism, destructive LGBTQ agenda, and christian “deconstruction” and “exvangelical” stories, and voices loudly proclaiming progressive Christianity as the “true” version of Jesus. 

For those in Gen Z who profess true faith in Christ—how will they stand? And what about the generation (Alpha) coming after them?

I’ll tell you how…through sold out Parent’s who want to know God and their kids…instead of just surviving with our kids.

And believe me…your kids want you to embrace this role. They want you to know what they are thinking…and they want Godly direction from you!

Would you like to hear what they are thinking? Well I asked them to answer this:

I Wish My Parents Knew: 4^th grade thru High School

• I don’t read 20 minutes a day. (So now you know)
• I wish my parents knew people are rude to me at school and sometimes bully me.
• I act like I hate my dad but I really love him.
• I wish my parents knew I said bad words.
• I struggle in math! 
• I wish my parents knew I hate dresses and girly girly things. (This is real life…TomBoy)
• I wish my mom knew I loved her because I act like I don’t love her and I love her goodnights.
• That I need you to talk to me about sex, it’s something I think about and I want information from you to help me navigate this subject. 
• How hard I try to be enough for them, even though I know they don’t think so. 
• I wish my dad knew that he didn’t have to buy me stuff to show love.
• I wish my parents knew how their fights make me feel.
• I wish they knew I have suicidal thoughts. 
• That I feel invisible.

Raising children in the world is not passive, it’s active.

How do you do it? Let me walk you through it. We learn it from the greatest leader to ever live. Moses.

Deuteronomy 6:1-13  These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, ² so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.

1. The Jordan represents a decision that leads to a Promise

A Godly Line doesn’t happen on this side of the Jordan with Good intentions.

• The Promise is on the other side.
• But there are battles on the other side.
• Don’t forfeit a Promise because you lack the courage to fight.

⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.

2. Godly Generations come from Godly Hearts.

You can’t fake this…your kids know. 

• You can’t transfer what you don’t possess.
• 2 Timothy 1:5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.
• Want to rescue your kids…your best shot is you sell out to Jesus. 

 ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

3. Talk Isn’t Always Cheap

Your words are like Gold to your kids. They literally bankroll their futures.

• This isn’t family devos…this is real conversation. You are taking real interest in them. Asking questions (and not “how was school today”)
• You can’t open the door to God if you haven’t entered a persons world. 
• In their rooms…in the car…in the morning…before bedtime.
• Know your kids more than your coworkers!!!

 ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands 

4. Demonstrate the Jesus in You

Your actions are the illustration to your instruction.

• How you love their mom.
• How you react when they blow it
• How you handle a crisis
• Your laugh your tears your hugs.

and bind them on your foreheads.

5. Be Ready to Answer the Tough Questions

The Great thing about the Gospel is that it makes sense.

• It’s a tough world and your kids will have tough questions
• There is an agenda out there that is Anti-Christ…your kids will be wrestling with the dogma. Don’t freak.
• Walk it out with them. If you don’t know…find out. But don’t dismiss and don’t condemn.
• 1 Peter 3:15  but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect

 ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

6. Your House is a Sanctuary

It is the place where safety dwells

• Your kids friends should come there and feel like they belong. 
• Your children should come home and know that if today sucked…home won’t! 
• The Presence of God in Your home can overcome even the rebellion that your child may carry for a season. 
• You are the parent and therefore the Spiritual Gatekeeper of your home!
• Gates actually point to your social life…God directs your community relationships.

Conc. To Fight for a Godly Line…

1. You Have to be Convinced of the Authority of God’s Word.
2. Understand that The Family is the source of Generational Godliness
3. As Parent’s Our Children Learn the Love Story of God From Us!!