Life Around "The Fire"
This podcast is dedicated to those wanting to experience a living and real relationship with God as well as growing together in love for one another. We consider that to be a true sign of spiritual growth as we journey along The Way. If this is you then come along with us as we co-operate with God in what He is doing around the corner and around the world!
Life Around "The Fire"
Guest Speaker Trevor McMahan: The Throne of Justice: Raising Children in God's Divine Purpose
The journey from brokenness to purpose unfolds dramatically in this heart-stirring conversation with Trevor McMahan, who shares how Christ transformed him from a homeless drug addict to a devoted family man with a burning passion for God's Word.
Trevor takes us deep into 1 Samuel 8, revealing a profound parallel between Samuel and Eli—two men who failed their families despite their spiritual prominence. The sobering truth emerges that Samuel, having witnessed the devastating consequences of Eli's parental neglect, tragically repeated the same mistake with his own sons. This powerful insight challenges us to examine where our priorities truly lie. Are we so consumed with work, ministry, or personal pursuits that we're neglecting our most sacred calling?
Drawing from Genesis 18:17-19, Trevor unpacks why God chose Abraham—because he would teach his children justice and righteousness, the very foundation of God's throne. With remarkable clarity, he connects the justice rendered through Christ's sacrifice to our responsibility as parents and believers. His own family practice of creating a "family altar" offers practical wisdom for those seeking to establish God's presence in their homes. By gathering weekly for worship, recording prayer requests, and celebrating answered prayers, even his youngest children have developed unshakable confidence that God hears and responds.
Perhaps most compelling is Trevor's fresh perspective on Proverbs 22:6. More than general religious instruction, he encourages parents to seek divine revelation about each child's unique purpose and calling. "Before God ever fashioned you in your mother's womb, He sat down and wrote a book about you," Trevor reminds us, challenging listeners to partner with God in discovering and nurturing their children's divine design. What might change in your family if you began actively seeking God's blueprint for each child's life? Join this transformative conversation and discover how to break generational patterns while establishing a legacy of faith that will endure for generations.
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Shalom to you and your home.
All right, folks, I want to welcome you back to Life on the Fire and we have today with us in the house, we have Trevor McMahan, and this is a real treat. You're going to love what he's going to be sharing. We're going to be sticking with the book of 1 Samuel, but Trevor has just a real anointing on his life to bring the Word of God to life. And Trevor, welcome and you have free reign to go, brother.
Speaker 2:Thank you, brother. Thank you, brother. It's my pleasure to be here. So we're picking up in 1 Samuel, chapter 8, and this is a real turning point for Israel. Up until this time, god was their king, and so this is kind of like a heartbreaking chapter of the Bible, but it opens up a lot of different questions and a lot of different revelation for us. So if we go into 1 Samuel 8 and we move down to verse number 3. It says but they were not like their father, for they were greedy for money, they accepted bribes and perverted justice. And in this portion right now, it's talking about Samuel's sons. My brother David.
Speaker 2:He opened up about Eli's sons very well and it's very interesting because Samuel was actually raised by Eli and he was raised with his sons, and his son had done atrocity in the eyes of God and Samuel had to witness this. And Samuel was actually the one who God chose to bring the prophetic word to Eli that you need to get your sons right or these horrible things will happen to them, and actually Israel will be cursed because of this. And so Samuel, witnessing all of this through the lens of God, chose to walk in the same footsteps as Eli. It's so interesting that he watched all of these horrible things happen to Eli and his children and Israel and then he still chose to neglect raising his kids. In the same manner, that's an eye-opening place for us today. Yes, it is same manner. That's an eye-opening place for us today that we cannot be so busy with our own lives that we forget our first ministry. And so Israel was founded because of the covenant that God made with Abraham. So I always like to go back to the story of Abraham and exactly what God has said to him and promised him, and look and examine that to see where Israel is at, because a lot of mysteries are opened up to us through that lens.
Speaker 2:So if you go to Genesis, chapter 18, 17 through 19, it says this is this is God or Jesus or the three angels speaking to themselves. So it's a very interesting concept. Right here there's a lot of debate whether it was Jesus, you know, or if it was the angel of the Lord or God himself. So it says in verse number 17, it says Should I hide my plans from Abraham the Lord asked For? Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right or the righteousness, and what is is just or the justice. Then I will do for Abraham all that I have promised.
Speaker 2:The King James says that Abraham shall keep all the way of the Lord to do the justice and righteousness of God. God is showing us right here that Abraham, the father of faith, that he chose him because he would teach his children the justice and the righteousness of God. This is such an important concept because in Psalms it talks about that the foundation of God's throne is justice and righteousness. He said what proceeds out of that justice and righteousness is love and truth. Right, but what holds and what lifts up and what produces the atmosphere for the love and truth of God to go forth is the foundation of justice and righteousness. This is such an important concept for God that we understand and that not only that we understand, but that we actually teach our children this concept.
Speaker 2:Now, the justice in the Old Testament is a little bit different or, you could look at it, a lot different than the New Testament, but essentially in the Old Testament, sin equals death. There must be blood or life to cover sin. Now, god showed Adam this from the very beginning, whenever he slew the animals and clothed them with the clothing of the animals he slew. Now, if you move all the way into the New Testament, god's justice was rendered upon Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ, he lived a perfect life. He did no wrong, he only did good. He died on a cross for our sins. It says in 1 Corinthians that he actually became sin so that we could become the righteousness of God. That this sin issue kept us at enmity with God all the way up until Jesus Christ came. So now that we can become in right standing with God, this concept we have to teach our children. Not only teach it, but live it. A great wise man once told me that the definition of truth is when word and deed agree. So whenever we're raising our kids in the justice of God, we actually have to live this justice also, to preach Jesus, to teach Jesus, to walk Jesus in everything we do. And then the righteousness of God, the righteousness, his ability to be right, that through the blood of Jesus Christ now we can become the righteousness of God I'm talking about.
Speaker 2:In the Old Testament. This was unattainable by the law. Abraham understood this by just believing God that he became righteous in God's eyes. But through the law, through our works, through our deeds they're filthy rags to God, but by the belief in Jesus Christ we can become righteous in God's eyes. Romans 10.10 says for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. This is awesome news. Yes, it is.
Speaker 2:A holy God would devise such an amazing, outstanding, crazy-sounding plan that he would send his only son, jesus Christ, into the world to take on millions and millions and millions of sins, to take them on his own body on a cross. To take them on his own body on a cross so that now we can come to Father God. Amen, boldly, humbly and lovingly, to experience him like we've never had before in history, and that's available to each and every person under the sound of my voice today. There's no sin that is too great for him not to forgive Me. I was a drug addict, I was homeless. I've done horrible, horrible things, but because of that precious blood of Jesus Christ, I'm on a microphone right now declaring how good our God is and how wonderful he is, and only God, jehovah, could do that for us.
Speaker 2:Father God, if there's anybody listening today that is downtrodden, or that just the world has beat them down, that they think that they've done things that are just so horrible that they can never be forgiven, there's hope that are just so horrible that they can never be forgiven. There's hope. Jesus Christ has seen that, and he still chose to give his life just for you. So I have one mission in this world, and that's to bring the revelation of my Messiah, jesus Christ, to every person that I can. And so by that, jesus Christ has given me a family, a beautiful family. I had nothing at all, living on the streets, a drug addict, drug dealer that had been beaten down, but Jesus Christ picked my life up, turned it around, and now he's gave me a purpose. I have a wife and five kids. Now I'm so astounded. I wake up in the morning just saying thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus for saving my life. And now I have a wife and five kids, and I don't want my kids to turn out like Eli's children or like Samuel's children.
Speaker 2:So this principle that I'm speaking of, about the righteousness and justice of God, is so poignant. It's so poignant In 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17,. It says all scripture is given by inspiration God breathed and it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction, for instruction in righteousness. So it's so important that we get into these scriptures with our kids and just dive in and to begin to teach them how Jesus Christ works and the principles of God. I've been reading this book. God Put it Across my Path. It's called Fire on the Family Altar by Cheryl Sachs, and this book has really opened my eyes and when I counsel people, I bring them to this book because it causes the family to gather together weekly and to worship God, sing hymns together, to petition God on the family's behalf, because God created family, he loves family and so you can come together as a family and worship him and praise him and then petition God on the family's behalf and watch him work.
Speaker 2:My kids love this. I'm talking about my kids make little skits to Jesus, they'll come together, they'll dance, they'll sing, they'll praise. It's so beautiful they long to have this time with the Lord and God shows up so big. We have a piece of paper that we write down our prayer request on and the kids write down their prayer request on, and then we put a time and a date that we ask God for it, and then we come back the following week and we see that God had answered it. So we get to thank God for it. So even my little children know God is a God who hears us and answers our prayers. I'm talking about God loves us.
Speaker 2:And then Proverbs 22, 6 says Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. And when he is old he will not depart from it. This is a beautiful promise from God to the family, to each one of us, that if we train up a child in the way that he should go, when he is old he will not depart from it. And this is encouraging for a lot of parents today because I've seen the heartbreak of a lot of grandparents and parents that are like you know. I've taught my kids the scriptures, I've taken them to church, I've taken them to youth group, I've taken them on to these youth retreats, and then they rebel and go out into the world. Well, I'm telling you that you can claim this promise for God. He said that if you do your part, he'll do his part. That's good, and so I thank you, jesus, for that. Thank you Jesus, thank you, lord.
Speaker 2:I take this scripture a little bit deeper than a lot of people and because we have a relationship with God. It says train up a child in the way he should go. So we should be petitioning God about our kid's future from day one, because every kid is created differently, with different giftings and different talents and a different ministry. So I go before God and I'm like God. Will you please reveal to me the gifting set that you have placed inside of my children, so that I can encourage them and help build them up into the way that they should go? And he'll do this for you. He'll open your eyes to this path, and because whenever you realize that in Psalms 139, 16, it talks about that, before God ever fashioned you in your mother's womb, he sat down and he wrote a book about you all the days of your life.
Speaker 2:So that means every child has a divine purpose God created them for, and no child will found as much joy and as much peace and as much love until they start to walk in that purpose. And so as you get that revelation from God that, hey, you know you can speak into your child's life. I believe God wants you to be. You know a cook. You know just somebody who cooks food for the homeless. As you get that revelation and you start to speak that into your kid's life, some joy sparks up into them. Now they want to go out and try to take culinary classes or do whatever they have to do, and this peace comes about them because God created them for this purpose, and so, as parents, it's our place to petition the Father on what our kids are divinely orchestrated for. So this time in Israel's history is like no other. Before they had God as a king, and now they're about to choose man, and this will open us up into our next segment.
Speaker 1:And this will open us up into our next segment. These points that Trevor's sharing are so pertinent to the world that we live in today and we and because of its importance, we're going to be doing this in two parts and, as Trevor said, this is part one and we're going to be going into part two. But, trevor, would you please pray for the individuals that just come to your heart and mind and what the Lord might show you right now.
Speaker 2:Yes, father, we love you, we love you, we love you, father.
Speaker 2:Yes, father, we just come to you with such a grateful and humble heart for everything that Jesus did for us on that cross.
Speaker 2:Father, father, I ask that if we've fallen short in any place and, like Eli or like Samuel, have neglected our very first ministry with our children, father, I ask that you'll bring that spirit of conviction into our lives, father, that we lay this at the feet of Jesus and we turn from it and begin to walk in the righteousness that God has provided for us, that we begin to have an empowerment to teach and to train up our family in the way that they go, and we can claim your promises that, when they are old, they will not depart from it. Father, father, I ask that, if anybody does not know you out there, that the revelation of Jesus Christ just be revealed to them like never before, that the Holy Spirit would just draw them right now and that they can lay their life down and pick yours up, that they completely surrender and abandon their own lives to receive yours. And, father, I just thank you in Jesus' mighty name, amen.
Speaker 1:Folks, we love you and if you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at lifearoundthefire at gmailcom that's our email address or you just type in liferonthefire and look us up on the web. We would love to hear from you In the meantime. Adios amigos.