Archive for September, 2006

The Best Thing a Parent Can Do

Sunday, September 17th, 2006

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Read at beginning of service:

Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him.” When the man Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always.” “Do what seems best to you,” Elkanah her husband told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the LORD make good his word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him. After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, “As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD. I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.” And he worshiped the LORD there.
1 Samuel 1:19-28 (NIV)

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever given your children back to God? (Some of you are thinking, “I?d like to give them back?but I didn?t think God would take them back. I thought He had a ?no return? policy on kids! Besides, I lost the receipt!”)

The truth is, there is not a parent here who hasn?t had a few moments or days when they wouldn?t have liked to package up that kid and take him/her back to God?s customer service counter and demand, “I want my money back!”

ILLUSTRATION: Kerryanne and I: “When first married we had 4 theories on raising kids?now we have 4 kids and no theories!” (j/k)

Well today when I ask you if you have ever given your children back to God I?m not suggesting you return your kids to God and try to get your money back. I?m asking this because I believe that this is the best thing a parent could ever do for their child. When I ask this question I?m asking have you ever really:

Recognized your children are a precious gift from the Lord, and they belong ultimately and always to God first?not to you?

Released ownership of your children to Him?understanding God is responsible for the way in which they were designed and already knows the plan and purpose for their future?

Realized God has chosen you to show them His way?

There are many examples of parents in the Bible who brought their children to God and gave them back to Him:

There is the classic example of Hannah bringing her son Samuel (the son for whom she had prayed), and presenting him to God, and handing young Samuel over to Eli the priest. (I Sam. 1:27-28) as was read at the beginning of the service
Then there was Joseph and Mary who brought their infant child Jesus to the temple following his circumcision at 8 days. They brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; (Lk. 2:22).

The example I want to focus on today is that of Abraham offering Isaac on Mt. Moriah which is found in Genesis 22. As we take a closer look at this story today I believe I?ll be able to show you why giving your children back to God is the best thing a parent can do.

READ TEXT GENESIS 22:1-13

Abraham literally, totally, irrevocably gave Isaac back to God. I mean, that had to be hard and painful for Abraham. After all:

? Abraham loved Isaac. V.2 God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love, and sacrifice him …”

? Isaac had been a MIRACLE baby. He was born when Sarah was 90 and Abraham was 100 years of age.

Just try to put yourself in Abraham?s place for a moment. Imagine how incomprehensibly painful it was for Abraham to strap his dear son on an altar and a stack of wood, raise a knife to slash open that boy?s chest and throat, cremate the body and sit by as he smelled the stench of the burning flesh of his boy?and then watch his son literally disintegrate into a pile of ashes!

Whew! I remember the first time I read this passage after Zachary was born and how it impacted me because I don?t know if I would do what Abraham did?even if God asked me! But in a very real sense, I know I MUST DO THAT with all 4 of the precious children God has given me.

The best thing Abraham ever did for Isaac as his parent was to tie him to that altar and to surrender him back to God?

Had Abraham refused to give Isaac back to God, he would have forfeited all God?s promises and plans for Isaac. Isaac would have lived and died in obscurity?a nomad, and a nobody.
Because Abraham obeyed and gave Isaac back to God, Isaac received the fullness of God?s best plan and promise for his life:

Isaac became a wealthy man.

Isaac became the forefather of God?s own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Isaac?s life is still having an impact on and blessing millions of people worldwide through his offspring?Jesus Christ.

And so, you and I need to learn from Abraham today. If we refuse and fail to give our children back to God?we may very well be forfeiting God?s best plan and purpose for their lives. And when we entrust our children back to God?we secure for them the covenant of God?s best purpose and plan for their lives.

FOUR ELEMENTS OF GIVING YOUR CHILD BACK TO GOD:

1. Giving your child to God is a CONFIRMATION of your love for God.

The first thing you are saying when you give that child back to the Lord is simply this…that you love God even more than you love that child. Your child is a most prized possession?but don?t allow them to take the place of God! It?s when your mindset is “I love you, child, so much, that I want the very best for you. If that means giving you to God, disciplining you, setting boundaries, adjusting my life for your benefit?I?ll do whatever it takes!”

This is exactly what Abraham proved by his willingness to offer Isaac. He was demonstrating that his love and fear of God were supreme in his life above all else. Abraham loved God above the most prized treasure of his life…his only son Isaac.

“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Matthew 10:37-38 (NIV)

Not only a Confirmation?

2. Giving your children to God is a CLARIFICATION of ownership.

When you give your child back to God, you are openly declaring that:

This child is a gift from God.

This child does not really belong to you.

This child belongs to God.

Recognize that you have the privilege to love and train this child. But this child first belongs to God!

Was this not what had to be on Abraham?s mind when he lay Isaac on the altar? Was he not saying, “Lord, this young man belongs to you?not me?” He was saying, “You do with him as you please. He?s yours!”

Hey listen! That little boy or girl does not really belong to you?they belong to God! They are a precious gift from God, on loan to you.

Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.
Psalms 127:3 (NIV)

This implies a couple of important things to remember?

We?d better be careful how we treat and care for God?s property!
God did not authorize the state to raise children. And God did not authorize day care centers or schools to raise kids. And God did not even authorize His church to raise you son or daughter. God authorized Mommies and Daddies to raise kids!

Far too many parents are abdicating their responsibility as parents to raise their children by leaving it up to others. Day care centers, schools can assist in helping the children grow, and churches a very important component in assisting you as a parent in training a child in the things of God and his relevancy to our lives. Yet the primary responsibility for the raising of a child is the parents God has entrusted them to!

Not only a Confirmation, Clarification?

3. Giving Your Children to God Is A COMMITMENT to Raise Your Children God?s Way!

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4 (NIV)

LISTEN…To give your child to God is not just a CEREMONY…It is a COMMITMENT. It is a commitment that you are going to:

Be a Godly parent.

Teach this child about Christ.

Keep this child in church.
(not sending them with someone else but going with them ? oh and by the way?they will pick up on your priorities?)

Love this child. (even if loving them means disciplining them / letting God discipline you!)

Pray for this child.

Train this child.

Make your home a holy place.

Put away worldliness.

Live a righteous life.

Of course, a glance at that list is enough to make one shudder with the weight of the responsibility and the seeming impossibility of meeting it. But as parent?s it?s important to remember that God will not abandon you to try and do this on your own. But He does want your commitment and that includes follow-through.

I think some people see baby dedication as a magical ceremony. Let me tell you?this little ceremony means nothing?zero?if you are not making a sincere, life-long commitment to raise this child God?s way! I like what Joshua told the children of Israel as they settled into their new home, the Promised Land.

“Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
Joshua 24:14-15 (NIV)

In other words, “I want my family to turn out right, and so, as a parent, I?m going to begin to lead them right!” And friends that is the kind of commitment God is looking for in parents today!

Not only a Confirmation, Clarification, Commitment?

4. Giving Your Children To God is a CLAIMING of God?s plan and promises for that child?s life.

Isaac inherited God?s blessings, protection and promises because his dad, Abraham, gave him back to God.

The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
Genesis 22:15-18 (NIV)

Your children are blessed by your obedience to God AND cursed by your disobedience to God. It is true they have a free will and are responsible for their own actions but you stack the odds in their favor or against them by the way YOU live! As you obey God with your life, and as you give that child back to God, you are placing your child in the position to receive God?s very best for his/her life.

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)

CONCLUSION

So when you give your children back to God?

1) It is a CONFIRMATION of your supreme love for Christ.

2) It is a CLARIFICATION of ownership (God owns that child).

3) It is a COMMITMENT to raise that child under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

4) It is a CLAIMING of God?s best plan and promises for that child?s life.

This is exactly what transpired when Abraham took Isaac up Mt. Moriah and laid him on the altar to give him to God.

1) Abraham was CONFIRMING his love and fear of Jehovah.

2) Abraham was CLARIFYING that Isaac really belonged to God.

3) Abraham was COMMITTING to be a Godly parent.

4) Abraham was CLAIMING God?s plan and promises for Isaac.

Parents don?t miss out on the best thing you can do as a parent! If you never considered these questions then I encourage you to consider them this morning, have you?

Recognized your children are a precious gift from the Lord, and they belong ultimately and always to God first?not to you?

Released ownership of your children to Him?understanding God is responsible for the way in which they were designed and already knows the plan and purpose for their future?

Realized God has chosen you to show them His way?

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Looking Around and Falling Down

Sunday, September 10th, 2006

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INTRODUCTION

When I drive a car sometimes I like to look at the scenery as we?re driving down the road. Now that?s okay if you are the kind of driver who can look left and drive straight. I?m not. So my wife has “carefully” and “peacefully” reminded me and “trained me” to keep my eyes on the road! Sometimes I forget. One day I nearly had a head on collision that fearfully reminded me to not look around when I?m driving!

So aimlessly looking around and not paying attention to the road is something that I?ve learned should not be done. Yet any good driver knows that sometimes a driver has to look in the mirrors or look left and right and forward at an intersection ? but that?s not looking around ? that?s looking carefully with purpose! There?s a difference between observing a car coming towards you in the opposite lane and trying to make out what the passenger of that car is reading by looking at the cover of the book!

I?ve used this example to illustrate the point this morning that like driving cars, aimlessly “looking around” in our lives is dangerous spiritually. But as with cars there is a difference between looking around and paying attention or looking carefully with purpose. Tonight there are a few warnings I?d like to share with you from God?s word about the dangers of looking around while traveling on the road called life?

When I look around and compare my strength to your weakness pride can side track me.

Luke 18:9-14 (NIV)

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men–robbers, evildoers, adulterers–or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

In verse 10, we see that the Pharisee is comparing himself to others. In verse 14, Jesus tells us that his sin is pride.

We can always find somebody to compare ourselves to make ourselves look good!

a. I may be fat but I am not as fat as ?

b. I may not come to church as I should but I come more than?

c. I may be lazy but I am not as lazy as?

d. I may not have a good singing voice but I can sing better than?

we need to pay attention and remember that no matter what our strengths are ? we?re still weak before God!


1 Corinthians 1:25 (NIV)

25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

I believe true humility is understanding that without God you can do nothing and you are nobody. Pay attention!

When I look around and compare my weakness to your strength envy can side track me.


1 Corinthians 12:15-16 (NIV)

15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.

A. Paul used the example of the human body to show how we sometimes envy one another.

B. The foot is not as glamorous as the hand. And so, it is easy to envy the hand.

C. Envy is seeing something that someone else has and liking it, wanting it for yourself and eventually carries you to the place where you don?t want them to have it. “It” can be anything ? a possession, a characteristic, a talent, an ability. As I often say, envy is saying, “I like what you have, I don?t like the fact you have it, and I want it!”.

Someone who is not talented musically can easily envy someone who is.

?pay attention because every person has a part to serve in the body of Christ and God wants you to do what he called you to do!

Don?t focus on what you can?t do but rejoice in what you can do and do it to the glory of God!

1 Corinthians 12:18-26 (NIV)

18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Friends, instead of looking at other?s strengths and envying them we should observe others strengths and rejoice in them. We must pay attention to the truth that God hasn?t created us to be clones of one another nor does he want us all to strive for sameness. Instead, his desire is that we strive for unity as we work together in our diverse abilities, talents, and personalities in building His kingdom! In His kingdom, there are no superstars for we all have an important and critical role in the function of His body. But if your aimlessly looking around at what others are doing you won?t be doing what you were created to do?

3. When I look around and measure what I am doing compared to what you are doing my competitiveness will side track me.

Philippians 1:15 (NIV)

15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill.

There are some people that make everything a competition. What is terrible is when you work with someone like that. They keep track of everything they do and they keep track of everything you do.

To be honest, pastors and churches fall into this trap. We start comparing ourselves to the church down the street.

? pay attention because the Christian life is a journey that we travel together and not a competition in which we are competing against one another!

Listen to what Paul wrote as we continue to read from the passage in Philippians:

Philippians 1:15-18 (NIV)

15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice,

* Now please don?t misunderstand me. I?m not saying all competition is bad ? but unbridled competition can lead to all sorts of foolish behavior and needless worry. When competition leaves the sports realm and enters our daily life it brings restlessness, anxiety and boastfulness. The thing is, this competitive spirit is so insidious in our lives that a lot of times we don?t even see it. How many families have gone bankrupt because they have to keep up with the Jones?s standard of living (and in the process spending way beyond their means)? How many people have committed suicide because they just can?t “win” at life? How many churches have fallen apart because instead of working together to reach the lost with a common vision and purpose ? the different ministries in the church compete for finances, workers, and recognition?

When I look around at my life and cannot see past the failures, guilt will side track my faith.

There are some people who are spiritually paralyzed today because of their past.

They think that because of their past God cannot use them or because of their past they are not good enough to inherit eternal life.

Certainly if there?s anyone who could have felt this way it would be Paul? yet,

?pay attention to your present and hope for the future because God can use you!

Paul puts it best:

Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

A quick look through scriptures reveals that God is willing to use those with questionable history and mess-ups in their lives who are willing to let go of their past and give their future to God.

He took a liar, schemer, and coward named Jacob, gave him the new name of Israel and made Him the father of the twelve tribes of God?s chosen people.

He took a man who experienced abuse at the hands of his brothers, who was sold into slavery, falsely accused, slandered, and thrown into prison ? and made him into a great ruler in Egypt ? second only in power to the Pharaoh. You know his name? Joseph. He took Moses, a murderer and exile and made him into the one who would lead nearly one million people miraculously through a desert to a land full of promise.

If I had the time I could go through a whole list of people. People like Rahab the prostitute, Jonah ? the man who ran away from God, Samson ? a womanizer, countless people Jesus hanged out with who were considered the scum of society, or Saul ? a man who stood by at the death?s of many early Christians, and went out of his way to eradicate them from the earth.

If God can use people like this ? then He can use you! Don?t continue to stare at your past and failures in your life. Pay attention to what you can learn from them, confess your wrongs, your sins ? but then gaze on your present and give your future to Him who cleanses you and gives you purpose and meaning in what you do from now on!

When I look around at my life and think I am better than I am, my deception will side track my Christianity.

Galatians 6:3 (NIV)

3 If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

There are some people in life who think they can do no wrong. Everyone else in the world does wrong.

There are people who have deceived themselves into thinking that they are really good people.

?pay attention because without God?s grace and Christ?s work on the cross you are a sinner doomed to eternal death.

Romans 3:23 (NIV)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23 (NIV)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(remind the people of the tax collector?s behavior in prayer)

CONCLUSION

In order to stay safely on the road that God has for us to travel we must pay attention and fix our eyes on Christ!!

Romans 12:3 (NIV)

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

The safest place to be in life is to have my eyes fixed on Jesus. When I do, I get a good picture of who I am and where I?m going?

The worse place for me to be is looking at others or looking at myself without the benefit of God?s grace!

There is a whole bunch of ways to look at others and yourself. The only way to keep going forward is to pay attention and fix your eyes on Christ.

Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV)

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

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