What If Culture Is The Storm That’s Eroding Your Home

Storms don’t ask if your schedule is clear. They hit fast, hit hard, and they expose what you’ve really built your marriage and family on. We open Matthew 7:24–27 and sit with Jesus’ blunt contrast: two homes face the same rain, floods, and winds, but only one stands because it’s founded on rock. The difference is not personality, luck, or even good intentions. The difference is the foundation, hearing God’s Word and doing it.

We connect the storm imagery to everyday life by naming three external pressures that tear at homes from the outside: the culture we live in, the crises we live through, and the changes we live with. Culture is like heavy rain that seeps into everything, shaping values and expectations over time. We talk through major cultural forces that destabilize families, including confusion about marriage, sexual immorality, economic and material stress, and modern self-first thinking that pits “my rights” against lasting covenant love.

Then we turn to the floodwaters of crisis: illness, job loss, grief, financial collapse, and family hardship that can make people want to walk away. Our strongest practical takeaway is a single word: commitment. Not a vague feeling, but a decided loyalty that says, “We’re in this together,” even when life gets painful for a while. If you want biblical marriage help, Christian family guidance, and a clearer way to stormproof your home, hit play, then subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more families can build on the rock.

Transcript

Welcome And Series Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Foundations of Truth. This is the podcast and radio program of Firm Foundations Ministries. Our mission is to help you build your life on the unshakable foundation of God's Word. Rooted in Scripture, anchored in the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our teacher is Dr. Timothy Mann. Storms don't schedule appointments, they don't check your calendar or wait until you're ready. They come suddenly, they come forcefully, and they reveal what's been built and what hasn't. And today on Foundations of Truth, Dr. Timothy Mann takes us to the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter seven, where we discover that every home will face the storm. But not every home will stand. This message is another in our series, Home Security, God's Protection Plan for the Family. Here now is Dr. Timothy Mann.

Hurricanes As A Life Metaphor

The House On Rock Or Sand

Rains Floods Winds Explained

Culture As The Eroding Rain

Four Cultural Pressures On Families

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Turning your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7, the first book in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 7, and we're talking about home security, God's protection plan for your family. And we have addressed a number of issues already. We've talked about God's original design for the family, God's original design for marriage, what is a family for? And now today we're in Matthew 7. We'll continue on with our study this week in this series. And so we're going to be reading verse 24 through 27 here in just a few moments. Living in Florida, we understand storms. But we we understand storms. Hurricanes. We know hurricanes. If you've lived here any amount of time, you're aware of that. Some of you no doubt very well remember 2004, when I believe four hurricanes came across the state through the season and caused a lot of lot of damage. And what do we do? We try to prepare. We try to prepare and we try to respond in a way that will secure our house if possible. We try to do that. We know these storms have the possibility of being devastating. If they don't move on quickly, they can be so devastating. And we do our best to get ready when we know a storm is coming. We do all kinds of things to prepare. We'll stock up on food, we'll stock up on water, we'll stock up on propane, we'll stock up on gasoline, we'll try to batten down the hatches. And if we can't do that, if we feel like there's no way we can really do that, many people will just leave, evacuate the area, and some people will just try to ride it out. Some of us will even go so far as to purchase a$600 generator that we don't use at all, and then think about maybe I ought to take that back. But then you realize that wouldn't be the right thing to do either. So you just keep a generator in your garage in the way that you don't use. I'm just speaking from experience here. That's all I'm talking about. But we try to get ready, right, when a storm is coming. And in life, storms come as well, metaphorically speaking. We know they will come. We know these storms will come. And sadly, many times we are unprepared for those storms. And so this morning we're going to continue in Matthew chapter 7. I'm going to begin reading in verse 24. Matthew 7, verse 24. If you're ready for the scripture, say amen. Jesus is speaking here. Verse 24, he says, Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, that's key. Whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house, and it did not fall. For it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rains descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell. And great was its fall. Let's stop there. I want to talk to you this morning about how to secure your home from the storm. How to secure your home from the storm. How to secure your family, your marriage from the storm. And I want us to think of it in terms of this morning, particularly verse 25. Verse 25 says, And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall. It did not fall. Now, what do we see in this story that Jesus tells? He says that two homes are built. Two homes. One is built on rock, one is built on sand, two builders. One is wise, one is a fool, foolish. The same circumstances come. Violent storms come. The rains come, the floods come, the winds come, and yet there are different results. One stood firm and one collapsed. Why does that happen in families? Why does that happen in relationships? Why does that happen in marriages? Why is it that two families, two marriages can go through the exact same circumstances, generally speaking, and get differing results? Why is that? Well, I want us to look this morning at external circumstances that can hurt your home, that can hurt your family, that can devastate your marriage. And Jesus says the difference between these two is what's the difference between these two? The foundation. The foundation, that's right. And I think that it is just as true in a marriage, it's just as true in a home as it is in building a literal house. The foundation makes a difference. It's just as true. And so we're going to look at how to stormproof, storm protect your marriage. And I want you to notice, first of all, this morning, that there are three external factors in this passage that tear down a house, that tear down a home, that destroys relationships externally. The first is the rains. It's the idea here in this verse, the word that Jesus uses, it's the idea of violent rains. We literally could say monsoons almost in this situation. Then there's floods. And then there's winds. Rains, floods, winds. And the idea is storm, is strong gale force kind of winds. So these three kinds of realities, three kinds of things, rains, floods, and winds, will come against and destroy a home. Will come against and destroy a marriage. It can break up a family, literally. And I think it's just as important that we understand and are alert to the forces that break up a home, break up a family, a marriage, from the outside, just as much as we need to be alert to those issues internally on the inside, which some of the that we've talked about already, and we'll talk about more of those in the future. But these external forces, and they are this, this is how I'm going to apply it this morning when we think about rains, floods, and winds. We're talking about culture we live in, the crises we go through, and the change we live with. The culture we live in, the crises we live through, and the changes that we live with. And if you're going to protect, storm protect your family this morning, first of all, if you're going to stormproof your home, stormproof your marriage, you need to be, first of all, prepared for the culture that we're living in. Now, the culture are very much like the rains. That's how I'm applying this. And just as the rains soak everything in sight, the heavy rains of culture permeate our homes and our families and our marriages. And they are, these are the forces in society that work against the family. You know this morning that there are actual groups today, and it's absolutely true. I don't have time to detail them all out for you, but if you want some information, I'm glad to send it to you if you email me. There are actual forces today that are committed to the destruction of the biblical family. I mean, a hundred percent. Absolutely committed to it. And we need to be aware today of this. How many of you would agree with me this morning that we need to be aware of the fact that culture does affect even Christian families? It absolutely does. And just like continuous rains have an eroding effect on a house, our culture has an eroding effect on families and on marriages and on relationships. I think probably, this is my humble opinion, I think it's probably harder to stay married today than any other time in history. It's just so much is against you. Now, maybe it's always been hard, and maybe we're just more much more aware of it today. I think maybe it's more difficult to raise a family today. It's more difficult to have healthy relationships today. George Gallup, in a book that he did several years back called Forecast, as he was looking at the coming century, he one of the chapters in that book is called The Faltering Family. The faltering family. And George Gallup of the Gallup poll, he took a nationwide poll to find out, and I quote the survey, what are the cultural factors that hurt a family? What are the cultural factors that hurt a marriage? What that we need to be aware of. And Gallup, and he's probably one of the best-known pollsters around today, and he's passed away now, but his organization continues on. And he did this nationwide poll, this survey, and the responses that he received, he ultimately boiled down to the top four main, four main factors in culture that affect our family were these. Number one was this. The very first one was alternative lifestyles in culture that impact the family. Alternative lifestyles. Number one factor. There are so many differing opinions and challenging voices out there today. There's absolutely mass confusion regarding what is a real family. Mass confusion regarding what is real marriage. Everybody has all of these ideas today. The media, the media in particular, promotes very unclear roles and unclear goals. I mean, how many times? Think about it. Let me ask you, how many times do you actually see a happily married couple on TV or in the movies? How often is that portrayed? Ever thought about that? Not very often. And then there's all of this confusion about what marriage is.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Strong homes are not built on good intentions, they're built on biblical truth. And that's exactly what this program is about. If you believe in helping families stand firm, partner with us at firm-foundations.org. Now let's get back to Dr. Timothy Mann talking more about how to shelter your family from the storm from our series Home Security, God's Protection Plan for the Family.

Resisting The World’s Value System

Crises As Floods That Overwhelm

Commitment As The Marriage Anchor

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Well, biblically, and I don't have time to go down that road fully this morning. There's all this confusion about what marriage is. Biblically, listen, it's one man, one woman, one lifetime. Biblically, that's what marriage is. One man, one woman, one lifetime. And I know that we as humans, we've we mess that up, but that doesn't change the reality of what biblical marriage is. It's one man, one woman, one lifetime, making a vow before God, saying, God, you have brought us together, and we recognize that. One man, one woman. And so that's the first cultural factor, was all of these alternative lifestyles. In the very first sermon that I preached in this series, I told you that the average length of marriage today in America is eight and a half years. A few years ago, it used to be seven years. So you might think, oh, marriage is doing better. It's eight and a half years now as opposed to seven years. That's not the case at all. Because actually what's happening is this millennials and Gen Zs see marriage as a problem. They see the failures of the previous generations, and so what they're doing is they're just not getting married. They're just living together. They're trying it out. And they may live together four, five, six years, seven years, and then finally decide, okay, it looks like we're going to make it, so let's get married. And so it's not that marriage is held any higher, it's actually held a low, it's actually held at a lower view now. And that's a real problem. Second cultural factor that Gallup found that's coming against marriages today, first is alternative lifestyles. The second one is this sexual immorality. Sexual immorality. He actually talks about in the survey that the vast majority, vast majority of teenagers have premarital sex. It's also interesting, half of the men in that nationwide survey admitted to committing adultery on their wives. 50% admitted it. Committing adultery on their wives. And it's interesting, he interviewed one psychiatrist, and that psychiatrist said, In my practice, I've been particularly struck by how many women have been able to use an affair to raise their consciousness and their confidence. Did you hear that? That's the world's value system. That's the world's value system. That's the culture we live in. Isn't it very telling how on television and in movies the only people you ever see going to bed together are not married or they're married to somebody else? I mean, when was the last time you actually watched a happily married couple walk into a bedroom on TV or in a movie? Think about that. You just don't see it. It's almost as if the media promotes you can have relations with almost anybody else except your spouse. That's what's promoted. Gallup concluded this is very disturbing to the family. It's a cultural factor that is a storm that is eroding our families. The third cultural factor that he noted was economy. Economy. Economic pressures, materialism that's trying to get more and more. You know, it used to be called the American dream. I think it's turned into the American syndrome. And you know what I mean by this. You get yourself committed to a house payment, you get yourself committed to a couple of car payments, and then you get so in debt that you have to hustle, that you both have to hustle to make ends meet, and then you don't have time for each other. You don't have time for your family, you don't have time for your kids. Have you ever really noticed what we do? We go in debt with money we don't have for things that we don't need to impress people we don't even know or like. That's the American story. And that's really kind of crazy, isn't it, when you think about it? The family is deteriorating before our very eyes, and everybody's going in different directions with less time. George Gallup, in the survey, it says, and I'm just I'm just quoting pieces of it. Gallup says, women joined the workforce in response to economic needs. One result has been the increase in emotional strain on marriages and families. That's from people that they interviewed. And we need to face things like that and call it what it is and be honest about them. Materialism is an external stress in the culture. The fourth one was this. This was number four, and it just rose to the top, and I'm just going to share it with you. It's what it is. The fourth cultural factor that Gallaud came up with that had a negative impact on families in the culture is this. And this is the term radical feminism. Radical feminism. And he quotes this. He says, radical feminism is a disturbing factor in its present form, whatever that means, in its present form, it appears to exert a destabilizing influence on family relationships, husbands and wives. Why? Well, this is just me. This isn't Gallup. This is me. Because I'm going to tell you, radical feminism is just as self-centered as chauvinism. Both are wrong. Chauvinism and radical feminism are both just as wrong. They're self-centered. They're both wrong. It's this attitude of I'm going to live for me. I'm going to do what I want. I'm going to do what I want regardless of what anybody else thinks, what my husband thinks, what my wife thinks, what my children might think. I'm going to look out for my rights. I'm going to look out for my needs. And that's the culture we live in. Now we could talk about many other factors, but that's the culture we live in. Now, what's the Christian response to that? What should be the response of a follower of Jesus Christ as it relates to storm protecting your family, storm protecting your home against the rains of culture. Well, Romans chapter 12, verse 2 says this. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed. And that's not just talking about how you dress and how you look and those kinds of things, although that may play into that to some degree. But what we're really talking about here, what the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, is saying when he says, Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed. What he's talking about is your value system. What you value. Don't adopt the world's values. I like the Philips translation of Romans 12.2. It says, Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold. Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold. Somebody said their goal in life was to get all you can, can all you get, sit on the can and spoil the rest. That's materialism, right? I love the way one of the new translations renders Exodus 23.2. It says this don't follow the crowd in doing wrong. Don't follow the crowd in doing wrong. Now that's a good verse for teenagers. We'd like to quote that verse to our kids, right? Our children and our teenagers. But adults do the same thing. I mean, just watch what's going on around the world. Don't follow the crowd in doing wrong. I mean, if my buddy gets a 70-inch smart TV, well, I need to get one. If my neighbor gets a new Winnebago, then I need to go get a new Winnebago. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. Listen, we need to be aware of the culture that we live in. It's like a heavy rain. It erodes God's values for the family. It's like a monsoon that comes in. This culture we live in. Secondly, second thing we need to do is we need to prepare, be prepared, not only for the culture we live in, but for the crises that we live through. That crisis that's going to come. I'm talking about the things that turn your life upside down. And they come in every family, they come in every marriage. These external factors that absolutely just throw you down into low gear and you wonder what in the world is going on, what in the world is going to happen? This flood of crisis that comes in, this flood of adversity, and they overwhelm you. And you are up to your neck and you think you're going to go under. You know, maybe one of the most devastating forms of natural calamity is a flood. I remember early on as a kid in the town in which I lived is a paper mill town. And there was a river that ran through the middle of town, of course, that fed the paper mill. And there was a community that was made up of the workers of the paper mill. And of course, if you know anything about a paper mill, it's fiber, that's the idea. And this neighborhood was called Fiberville. All of these houses, and I remember when the, as a kid, even when the Pigeon River flooded my town, and it completely wiped out that neighborhood. That neighborhood no longer exists today. One of the most devastating natural calamities is a flood. The greatest calamity that's happened in the last 200 years happened in China in 1887. It was the Yellow River flood, and seven million people were killed. Seven million in a flood. Floods are devastating. And floods will inevitably flow into your marriage. Floods will inevitably flow into your family. If you stay together any length of time, it might be an accident. It might be a bankruptcy. It might be a rebellious child that ends up in bad trouble. Whatever. It's all kinds of things. A tragedy, grief, losing your job. And listen, folks, at this point, many people simply walk out. They just walk out. They just say, I can't handle this. This is too much. They come under pressure and they think it would just be better just to split. Up and start over instead of having to face all these hardships, instead of having to face all of these pills or whatever it might be. And one of the tests, one of the tests of marriage strengths, one of the tests of relationship strengths, truthfully, is how do you handle it when your life gets turned upside down? How do you handle it? How do you handle it when things don't work out the way you planned? How do you handle it when things don't work out the way you wanted? We have to be prepared, not only for the rains of culture, but be prepared for the floods of crisis, adversity that's going to come into and flow into your life. And the key, the key is commitment. Commitment. For better, for worse. The key is commitment. And it's not easy. I understand that. No commitment is easy. That's the key, though. Commitment. Psychology Today had an article that said why marriages last. And that's no Christian publication, by the way. This is just in general. Psychology Today. They went back and they asked people who'd been married over an extended period of time why they got married and what kept them together. And you know what came up over and over again? And that is that in a crisis, the only thing that holds you together is commitment. Commitment. One woman who had been married for 35 years said, you can't run home to mother when every time trouble appears. A man who had been married for 20 years said, commitment means a willingness to be unhappy for a while. That's interesting, isn't it? Commitment means a willingness to be unhappy for a while. You don't just jump off the ship when trouble comes. Let's see how many folks we can get in to be honest in this room here this morning. How many of you would admit that sometime in your marriage, at least sometime in your marriage, whether it's a day or a week or a year, how many of you would admit that sometime in your marriage you've been unhappy for a while? Now the rest of you need to remember where you are. You're in church this morning, alright? Revelation 20 says something about liars and where they go. Okay, just remember that. That's called commitment. It's called commitment. That means you stick with it even when it isn't any fun. By the way, that goes for church, too. I don't like what the preacher said or how he said it or how he looked or how he dressed. I'm leaving.

unknown 24:35

Man.

Closing And How To Listen

SPEAKER_01 24:37

That's not what you do. It's not always fun. There's going to be an inevitable crisis that's going to come into your marriage, into your family, that's going to happen. It's going to be a death, it's going to be a job change, it's going to be an illness, a crisis, whatever it is. And successful marriages, I'll take it a step further. Godly marriages. Simply have this attitude. We're in this together. We're a team. We're allies. And we're going to work on it. We're actually going to make it work no matter what. And you know what it means when two become one? You know what that means? That means when one hurts, the other hurts. When one's going through a hardship, the other goes through the hardship. That's what that means.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

Thank you for joining us today for Foundations of Truth. If you'd like to listen to this program again, you can download the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to us daily, weekdays at 10 a.m. every morning on AM 990 101.5 FM. The Word Orlando. To support this ministry, visit firm foundations.org. And join us next time as we continue our series Home Security, God's Protection Plan for the Family.