SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Family Church's Sermon of the Week.
SPEAKER_01: We're so glad you're here.
SPEAKER_01: Each week we share a message from God's Word to encourage your heart, strengthen your faith, and help you grow in your walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We hope this time blesses you and draws you closer to the heart of God.
SPEAKER_00: I grew up uh uh watching Saturday morning cartoons.
SPEAKER_00: Remember that?
SPEAKER_00: You know, now you can watch cartoons anytime, but it used to be Saturday morning cartoons, and and my favorite were the superhero cartoons.
SPEAKER_00: You know, some of y'all anybody grow up reading comic books, you know, all the Superman, Batman, all that stuff.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody grow up doing that?
SPEAKER_00: All right, so so so like four of you.
SPEAKER_00: So this may not be this may not be the illustration for this crowd, but it's all I have.
SPEAKER_00: But uh, you know, I used to grow up watching all the superheroes, and when I got older and they started making the Marvel movies, that was just like being a kid all over again.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I was just so excited about those things.
SPEAKER_00: I got to go see uh the uh uh uh the first Avengers movie.
SPEAKER_00: I got special tickets, and I got to go the night before opening night, and I took some took my kids with me, and I was more excited than they were.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I just think these things are cool.
SPEAKER_00: So if you if you grew up in that world or you live in that world now, you then you are you know, your your opinion on this is that there are three kinds of people in the world.
SPEAKER_00: There are DC comic fans, there are Marvel comic fans, and there is everybody else.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, how many how many DC comic fans do we have?
SPEAKER_00: All right, that's Superman and Batman, okay?
SPEAKER_00: How many Marvel comic fans?
SPEAKER_00: All right, it looks like Marvel's a winner.
SPEAKER_00: I grew up a DC comic fan, but after the first Captain America movie, I converted to Marvel.
SPEAKER_00: So so I just love the superhero things.
SPEAKER_00: But but most of the major superhero characters, they have like this fortress.
SPEAKER_00: They have a place they go where they're protected and they do all their all their thinking and everything.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Batman had the Batcave, Superman had the Fortress of Solitude, uh Tony Stark, Iron Man, he had he had this the Stark Industries building.
SPEAKER_00: You know, he they they had all these things.
SPEAKER_00: And and they were they were protected there.
SPEAKER_00: That was their fortress.
SPEAKER_00: And those fortresses were compromised when they brought people into them that shouldn't have been there.
SPEAKER_00: The Batcave was compromised when Batman brought Catwoman into the Batcave.
SPEAKER_00: And the Fortress of Solitude was compromised when Superman brought Lois Lane into the Fortress of Solitude, you know?
SPEAKER_00: So, so that tells you, that tells me two things that are important to this sermon, or tells you two things that are important to this sermon.
SPEAKER_00: First, your pastor knows way too much about superhero backstories.
SPEAKER_00: But secondly, sometimes the most dangerous enemies we have are the ones we invite in our homes.
SPEAKER_00: The most dangerous enemies we have are the ones that we invite in our home.
SPEAKER_00: And this morning I want to talk to you about building your family fortress, building a home that protects your family.
SPEAKER_00: Because we have an enemy, and I've said this before, Satan hates your family.
SPEAKER_00: Satan, Satan wants the destruction of your family.
SPEAKER_00: You look at every major cultural thing that we look at and go, oh, that's that's totally against what God's word says.
SPEAKER_00: All of them attack the family.
SPEAKER_00: In one way or another, all of them attack the family.
SPEAKER_00: So, so I when I started planning for this 40 days of family and studying uh for these these uh sermons, I mean, this was this was back in August last year, I came across this verse and I thought, that's that's the that's that's an important verse.
SPEAKER_00: That's a verse we need to talk about.
SPEAKER_00: But it's Proverbs 14, 26.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: If you fear God, you are building a fortress in your heart and your mind and in your home.
SPEAKER_00: And if you fear God, your home is a place of refuge and protection for your children.
SPEAKER_00: If you fear God.
SPEAKER_00: So the big question is, you know, what does it mean to fear God?
SPEAKER_00: Because don't we serve a God, don't we serve a God who who is a God of love and who's a God of refuge and strength, and he's our Savior and Redeemer and friend?
SPEAKER_00: Yes to all of that.
SPEAKER_00: So it almost seems counterintuitive to think I have to fear God if he's all those things.
SPEAKER_00: But think about it this way.
SPEAKER_00: When I was in eighth grade, I uh, you know, the I think the best way to describe me in eighth grade was young and dumb.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I was young and dumb.
SPEAKER_00: And so one night I was at a basketball game at school, went to a Christian school over in Fairfax, and I was at a basketball game, and two high school boys walked up to me and they said, Hey, come here.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, Mazingo, would you, you know, just go around and go, you know that door on the side of the building, you know, back behind the locker rooms?
SPEAKER_00: Just go there and open it for us.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay.
SPEAKER_00: So I started to walk away, and I thought, I probably ought to find out what they're they're gonna do, you know, when I open that door.
SPEAKER_00: So I asked them, why do you need me to open that door?
SPEAKER_00: They said, Well, we're gonna throw a firecracker into the building during the basketball game.
SPEAKER_00: And and, you know, I said, that sounded reasonable to me.
SPEAKER_00: I said, okay.
SPEAKER_00: You know, like I said, young and dumb, that just made sense.
SPEAKER_00: You know, so I walked around, I propped the door open for them, and then I went back and was watching the basketball game.
SPEAKER_00: About 10 minutes later, I heard I hear an explosion.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this was not like a firecracker, this was an explosion.
SPEAKER_00: The place got quiet, the game stopped, and somebody yelled fire.
SPEAKER_00: And guys from all over the rooms grabbed fire extinguishers and were running that way.
SPEAKER_00: There was no fire, it was just a lot of smoke, and it wasn't no firecracker, it was an M80.
SPEAKER_00: You know what an M80 is?
SPEAKER_00: That's like an eighth of a stick of dynamite.
SPEAKER_00: That's what they threw in there.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm, you know, I just sat real still and, you know, was kind of minding my own business and watching the game.
SPEAKER_00: About 20 minutes later, I see the principal down at the bottom of the bleachers, and he points at me and goes, and I'm like, Oh, I'm a dead man.
SPEAKER_00: So I started walking down, following him to his office, and the whole time I'm thinking, I can get out of this.
SPEAKER_00: You know, all I did was open a door.
SPEAKER_00: I'm young and dumb, you know, I can I can get out of this.
SPEAKER_00: So we turned the corner and I opened the door to his office, and my dad is sitting there.
SPEAKER_00: My dad never went to a basketball game.
SPEAKER_00: He called my dad, and my dad said, I'll be right there.
SPEAKER_00: So in my mind, I went from being the conniving uh little eighth grader trying to figure out how am I gonna get out of this to looking my dad in the eye and feeling so much shame for what I had done because I knew what I did was wrong.
SPEAKER_00: You know, and this was no longer this was no longer about me trying to get out of this and not get in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: This was about I had I had to stand before my father and admit to everything that I had done.
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of what the fear of the Lord feels like, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Now, my dad, I was never frightened of my father.
SPEAKER_00: You know, my dad was not an abusive man, he was not an angry man, he wasn't one to lose control.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he was the king of chill.
SPEAKER_00: He never lost control.
SPEAKER_00: And and but but to be able to have to look him in the eye and say, this is what I did, that destroyed me.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the fear of God is like.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the fear of the Lord is like.
SPEAKER_00: Um and and you know, it's not that we're afraid of consequences.
SPEAKER_00: There are definitely consequences to our sin, but it's not that we're necessarily just only afraid of consequences, which we should be.
SPEAKER_00: We should be for our consequences should make us think twice about our actions, but it was the fact that I had to stand before him.
SPEAKER_00: And and the fact that we have to stand before God and be accountable for our actions, a God that loves us so completely, and that died for us and is our Savior and Redeemer.
SPEAKER_00: The fact that we have to stand before Him, that's what the fear of the Lord looks like.
SPEAKER_00: It's not that we're scared out of our mind.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, I can't disappoint my dad.
SPEAKER_00: I can't disappoint my father.
SPEAKER_00: And there's some benefits to practicing the fear of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And the first one, uh, the fear of the Lord offers a better life.
SPEAKER_00: It offers a better life.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 14, 27, the fear of the Lord is a life-giving fountain.
SPEAKER_00: It offers escape from the snares of death.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're gonna be afraid of something.
SPEAKER_00: That's just life.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be afraid of something so that you can make the choice that says, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be afraid, I'm gonna have practice the fear of the Lord rather than always being afraid of my consequences.
SPEAKER_00: You know, to always have have something going on where you're always looking over your shoulder, wondering when's the last, you know, when's that gonna when that gonna be found out?
SPEAKER_00: When is when am I gonna get the consequences for those actions?
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna live in that kind of fear, or you can live in the fear of the Lord that says, I'm gonna do right because I'm gonna honor my Father.
SPEAKER_00: That's the fear of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Second, the fear of the Lord offers protection.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 19, 23.
SPEAKER_00: The fear of the Lord leads to life, bringing security and protection from harm.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: It offers you protection.
SPEAKER_00: You want a protected life?
SPEAKER_00: Fear the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Uh it the fear of the Lord also offers growth and wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Growth and wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Um Psalm 111.10 says, The fear of the Lord is a fountain of true wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Praise him forever.
SPEAKER_00: When you fear the Lord, that means you're walking in obedience to his word.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're walking in obedience to his word, you know, that implies that you are you are spending time in his word.
SPEAKER_00: You're reading God's word.
SPEAKER_00: You're getting to know him through the word.
SPEAKER_00: And and, you know, just all those things that it says, escape the snares of death, protection, growth, wisdom, those are all great incentives to choose to fear the Lord, to choose to live a life that lives in fear of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about the choices that we need to make if you want to live a life, you want to live in the fear of the Lord in a healthy way, and build that fortress that's gonna protect your home, because the fear of the Lord is a protection for your home.
SPEAKER_00: So, six choices you need to make to build your family fortress.
SPEAKER_00: First, you need to choose to invite humility into your home instead of pride.
SPEAKER_00: Invite humility into your home instead of pride.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 22, 4.
SPEAKER_00: Humility is the fear of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Its wages are riches and honor and life.
SPEAKER_00: So you need to invite humility into your home.
SPEAKER_00: You need to teach your kids humility.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what humility looks like.
SPEAKER_00: Humility looks like serving.
SPEAKER_00: When you're humble, you serve other people.
SPEAKER_00: You don't put your own needs first.
SPEAKER_00: When you're humble, you put everybody else's needs ahead of you.
SPEAKER_00: So are you serving in your home?
SPEAKER_00: Are you teaching your kids to serve in your home?
SPEAKER_00: Are you modeling service to your to your kids and to other family members?
SPEAKER_00: Are you modeling service in your home and at your church?
SPEAKER_00: Do other people see you serve?
SPEAKER_00: That's what humility looks like.
SPEAKER_00: Humility also looks like submission.
SPEAKER_00: You know, is submission to God and obvious practice in your home.
SPEAKER_00: Do people see you submitting to the law of God, submitting to the commands of Scripture?
SPEAKER_00: Do people see you doing that?
SPEAKER_00: Do you model submission to authority in your home?
SPEAKER_00: That's important.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I can remember being in uh like friends' homes when I was when I was a kid, and uh the phone would ring, and my friend would answer the phone, and it'd be as for his mom, and he'd look at her and she'd go, tell him I'm not here.
unknown: Tell him I'm not here.
SPEAKER_00: You know, she'd tell her son to lie.
SPEAKER_00: You know, she's not submitting to the authority of God, she's setting an example that says, Oh, it's okay to lie as long as we're you know on the phone.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, are you setting the example of submitting to the to God's authority in your home?
SPEAKER_00: Um, do you model submission?
SPEAKER_00: You know, do your kids see that?
SPEAKER_00: Uh or do your friends see your submission to God and submission to authority at work?
SPEAKER_00: Do the people you work with see you submit to the authorities at work?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so humility looks like submission.
SPEAKER_00: And are you teaching your kids to submit to authority?
SPEAKER_00: And earthly submission is important, especially when there are kids in the home, because how are they gonna learn to submit to a God they can't see?
SPEAKER_00: They don't learn to submit to the to the authorities on earth that they can see.
SPEAKER_00: You want you want your kids to submit to authority, then let them see you submit to earthly authority.
SPEAKER_00: Then submitting to God's authority makes sense when they're older, when they understand it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Um number two, choose to invite purity into your home instead of sin.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 813.
SPEAKER_00: All who fear the Lord will hate evil.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I hate pride and arrogance, corruption, and perverse speech.
SPEAKER_00: All who fear the Lord will hate evil.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Remember, the most dangerous enemies are the ones you invite into your home.
SPEAKER_00: The most dangerous enemies are the ones you invite into your home.
SPEAKER_00: Last week we talked about technology and the dangers of technology.
SPEAKER_00: If you missed that sermon, you can go back and listen to it on the podcast.
SPEAKER_00: But you but but you know, we invite things into our home that we would never invite otherwise, but they come in into our home and we give our kids phones, you know, they they they have access to that stuff.
SPEAKER_00: We as adults have access to that stuff.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're bringing it into our homes now.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, think think about it this way.
SPEAKER_00: You know, some of y'all were alive back in the 50s and 60s, and you know, and you you you were a kid when you were watching uh uh Gunsmoke and I Love Lucy and Dick Van Dyke, those great shows.
SPEAKER_00: If you go back and watch those reruns, there are no bad words in those shows.
SPEAKER_00: No swear words.
SPEAKER_00: It just wasn't wasn't permitted, you know?
SPEAKER_00: And and like if they showed a bedroom, a husband and wife in a bedroom, they were in separate beds.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's how that's how pure they wanted things to be on television.
SPEAKER_00: That all changed in the 70s.
SPEAKER_00: We had Archie Bunker and George Jefferson, and they introduced a couple of swear words, you know, that just became kind of normal, just kind of became normal on on TV beginning the 70s, and that was the standard all the way through the 80s, and then the 90s hit, and we got cable TV.
SPEAKER_00: And things changed because cable didn't have the same restrictions.
SPEAKER_00: So now we're hearing all the cuss words, all of them, and then some.
SPEAKER_00: We're learning new ones, ones we had never heard before.
SPEAKER_00: You know, and and this the this is how this happened.
SPEAKER_00: A buddy of mine down in Florida was an executive for one of the three major networks, and he was in charge of all the music in every show.
SPEAKER_00: He had final say of all the music, every show on that network, and he told me, this was after he was part of that, he was saved and out of that world, he said, the networks would get together and decide, okay, this week we're going to introduce this swear word into the prime time lineup.
SPEAKER_00: And so all the networks in the same week would would put the same swear word in there so that it just kind of looked like, well, everybody's doing it.
SPEAKER_00: This must be normal, you know?
SPEAKER_00: And they would kept adding them.
SPEAKER_00: Then we got into you know the last ten years and streaming.
SPEAKER_00: Now, now everything comes into our house.
SPEAKER_00: You know?
SPEAKER_00: And it and it happened over a long period of time, very gradually, so that so that really you almost didn't notice that it was happening.
SPEAKER_00: That's how sin works.
SPEAKER_00: When when you invite uh sin into your home instead of inviting purity into your home, it's gradual and it's patient, and and Satan is willing to play the long game to get you to compromise things.
SPEAKER_00: And if it takes a year, two years, ten years, whatever it takes, Satan will uh cause you to compromise a little bit on this and a little bit on this until finally you look back and go, man, I never used to do this before.
SPEAKER_00: I never used to talk like this, I never used to act like this, never used to do these things.
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly you are.
SPEAKER_00: That's how sin works.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, you know, I know we're talking about families, and we are a family church, but single people, you don't get a pass on this.
SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes uh in talking to some single, especially younger single people, you know, you grow up with this stuff.
SPEAKER_00: It's just kind of normal, so so you know, you you don't draw the hard lines and saying this, you know, I'm not gonna do this.
SPEAKER_00: Now's the time to do it.
SPEAKER_00: If you're young and single and one day you plan on having a family, now's the time to do it because it doesn't get any easier when you have a family.
SPEAKER_00: It gets harder.
SPEAKER_00: But if you draw those lines now and you you say, I'm gonna build my family fortress now when it's just me, then I'm gonna be ready when I do have a family to build that fortress.
SPEAKER_00: So build that family fortress now.
SPEAKER_00: Invite purity into your home instead of sin.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, um, well, just getting ahead of myself here.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel 1.8.
SPEAKER_00: You remember Daniel, book of Daniel, talked about him a minute ago.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel lived where all of that is happening now.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel, Daniel was in Persia, and and when he first, actually was in Babylon when it first happened.
SPEAKER_00: He never moved, but the kingdom's changed.
SPEAKER_00: But in Babylon, when he was first uh taken captive, he was forced to serve King Nebuchadnezzar, who was an evil, wicked man.
SPEAKER_00: And they told Daniel, you have to eat whatever the king puts before you.
SPEAKER_00: And so they put a plate of food in front of him, and he's like, I'm not allowed to eat any of this according to the Jewish law.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what Daniel said in Daniel 1.8.
SPEAKER_00: He said, But but Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to him by the king.
SPEAKER_00: He chose, I'm not going to do this, I'm gonna stand on what I know to be right.
SPEAKER_00: No matter what everyone else is doing, it would have been real easy to say, well, you know, I'm in their country, I gotta do what they do.
SPEAKER_00: It's you know, it's a cultural thing, everybody's doing it.
SPEAKER_00: It would have been real easy to say that, but just on this one thing, and it made a huge difference in that kingdom, not just in his own life, it made a big difference in the kingdom if you read the story.
SPEAKER_00: But he said, I'm not gonna do that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna eat, I'm not gonna eat the king's food because my king said I'm not supposed to eat that.
SPEAKER_00: So stand, take a stand on those things.
SPEAKER_00: Um number three, choose to invite obedience into your home instead of rebellion.
SPEAKER_00: You remember King Solomon in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: King Solomon, wisest man that ever lived.
SPEAKER_00: God said he's Solomon prayed, and God told him, I'll give you whatever you want.
SPEAKER_00: You'll make you the wealthiest man on earth, make you the smartest man on earth, give you whatever you want.
SPEAKER_00: And Solomon said, I want wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: And God honored that and gave him wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says he was the wisest person that ever lived.
SPEAKER_00: But just because God gives somebody wisdom, doesn't mean they always exercise wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Because Solomon did not exercise wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Solomon didn't exercise wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Because wisdom says, I'm gonna obey the laws of God.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if God's gonna give me this wisdom, I'm gonna obey his laws, and that's where the wisdom comes from.
SPEAKER_00: But let me tell you some of the rebellious choices that Solomon made, sometimes that he did not choose to obey.
SPEAKER_00: He looked for satisfaction and wealth, says the admitted to himself.
SPEAKER_00: He drank too much.
SPEAKER_00: God's law said that the king of Israel shouldn't make alliances with pagan nations.
SPEAKER_00: Solomon made alliances with pagan nations.
SPEAKER_00: God's law said that the king of Israel should marry one wife.
SPEAKER_00: He should not have multiple wives.
SPEAKER_00: Solomon had seven hundred wives.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, there's nothing wise about that.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Number five, he permitted his wives and children to worship pagan gods, and this one kills me.
SPEAKER_00: He commissioned the construction of a pagan temple for the worship of the god Molech.
SPEAKER_00: Molech was a god that supposedly demanded child sacrifice, and he built that altar on what would become the Mount of Olives.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a wise man.
SPEAKER_00: That's not a, that's not, that's that is a man given wisdom that is not making wise choices.
SPEAKER_00: Towards the end of his life, he he wrote, as he's looking back and thinking, boy, I really messed things up.
SPEAKER_00: He wrote the book of Ecclesiastes.
SPEAKER_00: And in the book of Ecclesiastes, he said, I tried, I tried money, I tried alcohol, I tried women, I tried power, I tried all this stuff.
SPEAKER_00: All of it left me dissatisfied.
SPEAKER_00: All I wanted was more, more, and more.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what he said.
SPEAKER_00: That's the whole story.
SPEAKER_00: This is the last the last chapter of Ecclesiastes 12, 13.
SPEAKER_00: That's the whole story.
SPEAKER_00: Here now is my final conclusion.
SPEAKER_00: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone's duty.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to protect your family from uh spiritually, protect your home spiritually, protect yourself spiritually, create a culture of obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Be obedient to God's word.
SPEAKER_00: It's too easy to neglect.
SPEAKER_00: There's too much at stake.
SPEAKER_00: So create a culture of obedience in your home.
SPEAKER_00: There are plenty of people in this world that want to cause you to disobey, that want to cause your children to disobey.
SPEAKER_00: So you have to make that conscious choice that says, I'm going to fear God and I'm going to be obedient to what he says.
SPEAKER_00: You have to make that choice.
SPEAKER_00: Number four, choose to invite wisdom into your home instead of foolishness.
SPEAKER_00: Solomon had that chance.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 1 7.
SPEAKER_00: Solomon wrote this, so obviously he learned his lesson.
SPEAKER_00: Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
SPEAKER_00: I keep using that word, fools.
SPEAKER_00: Every sermon that has come up in the verses I'm using.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not doing it on purpose.
SPEAKER_00: But I think I could have called this 40 days of foolishness instead of 40 days of family.
SPEAKER_00: But, you know, if wisdom, if wisdom is not guiding your home, then foolishness is.
SPEAKER_00: That's just, you know, the scripture is very clear about what wisdom is.
SPEAKER_00: And it says this, Proverbs 9, 10.
SPEAKER_00: Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not fearing God, you're walking in foolishness.
SPEAKER_00: You're leading your home in foolishness.
SPEAKER_00: Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.
SPEAKER_00: The fear of God is the foundation of wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Anything else that calls itself wisdom might look like wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: It might resemble wisdom, but in the end it's built on a weak foundation and it's just going to leave you disappointed.
SPEAKER_00: That's all it is.
SPEAKER_00: It's not wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: The wisdom comes from God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Number five, choose to invite worship into your home instead of indifference.
SPEAKER_00: Choose to invite worship into your home instead of indifference.
SPEAKER_00: Let the whole world fear the Lord and let everyone stand in awe of him.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it means to worship is to stand in awe of God.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the word literally means ascribe worth.
SPEAKER_00: So when somebody comes into your home, does your home ascribe worth to God?
SPEAKER_00: You know, and you might think, well, you know, we I mean people know we go to church.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's nothing in our home that would say otherwise.
SPEAKER_00: But does it ascribe worth?
SPEAKER_00: Do people walk in there and say, these people are really committed?
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I went to a house one time and uh um the whole house was done up in redskins and commander stuff.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this guy had been collecting this stuff for years, and it was everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: He had signed autographs on the wall, signed jerseys framed on the wall.
SPEAKER_00: He's got coffee mugs, and I mean just stuff everywhere, a clock on the wall that you know it's the the redskins look.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, everywhere you looked, and I'm thinking this guy is gotta be the Easiest person to shop for at Christmas time.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's just gotta have just gotta have commanders or redskins on it.
SPEAKER_00: You know, but but you know, it was very obvious to walk in that home and assume that he worships a God that wears a maroon and gold robe because of what his home looked like.
SPEAKER_00: You know, our our homes should really be such that people walk into our homes and within minutes know these people are committed to following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not talking about your decorations, I'm not talking about what's hanging on your walls.
SPEAKER_00: That stuff's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: You know, that's great.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm talking about your your conduct and your conversation.
SPEAKER_00: People should know right away.
SPEAKER_00: Man, these people are committed to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Number six, choose to cover your home with prayer.
SPEAKER_00: This is the most important thing.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 145, 18 through 19 says, The Lord is close to all who call on him.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, to all who call on him in truth.
SPEAKER_00: Truth is God's word.
SPEAKER_00: He grants the desires of those who fear him.
SPEAKER_00: He hears their cries for help and rescues them.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is the most important thing you can do for your home.
SPEAKER_00: It is your greatest weapon.
SPEAKER_00: It is offensive, it is defensive, it is the most powerful tool you have in your arsenal to protect your family.
SPEAKER_00: Most powerful thing.
SPEAKER_00: And you should constantly cover your home in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Constantly cover your home in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Just like we prayed over these kids today.
SPEAKER_00: Pray over your children all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Pray over their future spouses.
SPEAKER_00: Pray if they're if they're tiny little kids, pray that they meet Jesus soon and talk to them about it.
SPEAKER_00: Let them grow up not knowing when they first heard about Jesus because they've heard about it so much.
SPEAKER_00: You know?
SPEAKER_00: But pray over your home, pray over your children, pray over your families.
SPEAKER_00: If you're single, pray over your home that your home is a place of protection for you, that you will fear the Lord, and you'll walk, walk in his grace and in his mercy, and that people will see in you who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: That's your greatest protection is prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to I want to end the service a little bit different this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I want I want to I'm gonna put uh a psalm up on the screen, and it's Psalm 91, and I want us all to stand, and I want us to read this psalm as if it were a prayer, and I want you to think about what you're praying, what you're saying back to God.
SPEAKER_00: These are things he said to us.
SPEAKER_00: What are you saying back to God about how your family can be protected?
SPEAKER_00: So let's all stand.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go ahead and put Psalm uh 91 up there.
SPEAKER_00: There we go.
SPEAKER_00: All right, let's read that together.
SPEAKER_00: Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
SPEAKER_00: This I declare about the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety.
SPEAKER_00: He is my God, and I trust him.
SPEAKER_00: For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease.
SPEAKER_00: He will cover you with his feathers, he will shelter you in his wings, his faithful promises are your armor and protection.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day.
SPEAKER_00: Do not dread the diseases that stalk in the darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
SPEAKER_00: Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you.
SPEAKER_00: Just open your eyes and see how the wicked are punished.
SPEAKER_00: If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you.
SPEAKER_00: No plague will come near your home.
SPEAKER_00: For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.
SPEAKER_00: They will hold you up with their hands so you won't even hurt your foot on a stone.
SPEAKER_00: You will trample upon lions and cobras, you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord says, I will rescue those who love me, I will protect those who trust in my home.
SPEAKER_00: When they call on me, I will answer.
SPEAKER_00: I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue and honor them, I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.
SPEAKER_00: So just think, you may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Just think, you know, if if you prayed that over your home, you know, you just made that a regular thing and you prayed those things over your home.
SPEAKER_00: That kind of protection, how different would your would your life be, would your family be in the next six months?
SPEAKER_00: If God just answered even 25% of those things.
SPEAKER_00: If God blessed you with 25% of what he promised in that, how different your life would be?
SPEAKER_00: And all that through prayer.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if God's saying, I will do these things, he's waiting for you to ask.
SPEAKER_00: Now, that doesn't mean that our our families are going to be conflict-free or or disease-free, or you know, it doesn't even mean there won't be cobras in our house.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you know, some of you are thinking, yeah, this this kind of this part kind of isn't relevant, the cobra thing.
SPEAKER_00: I think that mean I think that was a big problem for them then, so you just translate it that into whatever your big problem is, God can protect you from that.
SPEAKER_00: You know, that way, you know, when those things do come into your family, if you're praying that, then you know God has purpose in this.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if I've prayed against that, but it's still part of my life, God has purpose in it.
SPEAKER_00: And you can say, okay, God, what what is going on in my life right now?
SPEAKER_00: What is going on with my family right now that that you have allowed this?
SPEAKER_00: You know, and and is it Satan that does those bad things?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe, but Satan doesn't make a move that God doesn't know about.
SPEAKER_00: So for whatever reason, God has allowed those kind of things to come in.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're if you're covering your home in prayer, you're probably gonna see less of those things, and when they do come, you're gonna know God has a part in this.
SPEAKER_00: So cover your families in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Fear of the Lord is accompanied by prayer, talking to God.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when I sat, when I sat in that principal's office, all that shame, knowing I had done wrong, trying to make excuses, my dad just spoke truth to me.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Dad, I just opened a door for him.
SPEAKER_00: He goes, We're you know, they're supposed to come in the front door, the door's locked for a reason.
SPEAKER_00: He just spoke truth to me.
SPEAKER_00: You know?
SPEAKER_00: So, did I fear my dad?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Did my dad still love me?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Did my dad still care for me?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Did he punish me?
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00: But I deserved it.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there are consequences for our actions, but our consequences come from a God that loves us and wants the best for us.
SPEAKER_00: And if we walk in fear in our families, we walk in the fear of the Lord, that is the protection that God promises us.
SPEAKER_00: That's the protection he promises.
SPEAKER_00: Let me have every head bowed and every eye closed.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're here today and you kind of look at your family and look at situations in your house, extended family, work, whatever, and you think, God, why is all this happening?
SPEAKER_00: You know?
SPEAKER_00: You know, God has purpose in all of it.
SPEAKER_00: And and maybe, maybe, maybe today you need to just say, God, I surrender to you.
SPEAKER_00: I want to walk in the fear of the Lord because I know I serve a loving God, a God that that uh wants what's best for me.
SPEAKER_00: A God that will allow things to come into my life, not because he's mad, but because I need it.
SPEAKER_00: That's how I grow.
SPEAKER_00: That's how I become more like him.
SPEAKER_00: Peter said we identify through Christ, we identify with Christ through his suffering.
SPEAKER_00: The more we we go through things like that, the more we become like Christ, the more a family goes through things like that, the more they become like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But that protection comes when the family says, God's in control.
SPEAKER_00: The family says, we're gonna live in such a way that the world sees how great a God that we serve.
SPEAKER_00: If you're here today, and you feel like, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: There's some changes that I need to make.
SPEAKER_00: I told you I was gonna challenge you with every one of these services.
SPEAKER_00: There are changes I need to make in my home.
SPEAKER_00: There are things we need to do differently, things we need to say differently.
SPEAKER_00: We need to add, we need to add serious prayer to our home.
SPEAKER_00: We need to change some of our habits and entertainment choices.
SPEAKER_00: We need to make those changes.
SPEAKER_00: Here's I want you to lift your hand and say, yeah, we're gonna make those changes, but we need prayer.
SPEAKER_00: So lift your hand if you're if you're saying, yeah, we're gonna make some changes in our home.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna do things differently.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna do it, we're gonna do things in a way that people walk into our house and know this family serves a loving God.
SPEAKER_00: God, thank you for these people that have raised their hand.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that you would bless them.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that all of us would continually evaluate our lives, evaluate our choices to make sure that we are living in such a way that we are honoring the God who created us, the God who loves us, the God who sent his son to die for us, that we're honoring him.
SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, throughout this week, I pray that as Family Church goes about their day, Lord, that you would bring to mind things to us in our hearts and minds that we need to change.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, as we as we as we just go through our normal routine, we think, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Prayer would make this a lot better.
SPEAKER_00: Turning this off would be a lot better.
SPEAKER_00: Spending more time doing this would be a lot better.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, bring those things to mind and give us courage and wisdom to follow through and do those things.
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray that you would bless every family in this room.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, Lord, I pray that you would protect us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that you would give us that desire to walk in the fear of the Lord and protect us.
SPEAKER_00: Still with heads bowed and eyes closed.
SPEAKER_00: If you're here today and you've never accepted Jesus as your Savior, that's where it all starts.
SPEAKER_00: You want protection in your home?
SPEAKER_00: Start by accepting the love of the God who wants to protect you.
SPEAKER_00: And it's simple.
SPEAKER_00: God wouldn't hang your eternal uh uh uh your eternal security on something that is complicated or something that is that is hard to accomplish.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus did it all for you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus did it all for you when he hung on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And so accepting him as your savior is just a matter of saying, I'm gonna do this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna choose to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna trust in his shed blood for the forgiveness of my sin, and I'm gonna trust in the death, burial, and resurrection for my eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: And when you do that, you can know that your sins are forgiven, and you can know that you have a home in heaven just by accepting him as your savior.
SPEAKER_00: And it's very simple.
SPEAKER_00: You just tell him what I just said.
SPEAKER_00: You talk to him, pray to God, tell him what I just said.
SPEAKER_00: And if you struggle putting those, whatever's going on in your heart and mind, you struggle putting that into words, then you can you can say something like this.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not about repeating the prayer, it's not about, it's not about reciting this, it's about meaning this in your heart and mind and say, Dear God, thank you for sending Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that he paid the price for my sin on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And today I choose to accept that gift of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: I choose to trust in his shed blood for the forgiveness of my sin.
SPEAKER_00: And I choose to trust in the death, burial, and resurrection for my salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And I repent of my sin and I choose to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're here today and you just prayed that for the first time, you just prayed that, I'd love to know about it.
SPEAKER_00: So lift your hand.
SPEAKER_00: Lift your hand so I can see it.
SPEAKER_00: Let me know that you prayed that.
SPEAKER_00: All right, I see a couple hands here and there.
SPEAKER_00: Let me pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: God, thank you so much for these that made the decision to follow Jesus today.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that you would uh just bless them.
SPEAKER_00: God, help them to understand the decision that they've made, help them to understand the love that you have for them, and and Lord, help them to understand that they don't have to do anything to earn that love.
SPEAKER_00: They don't have to do anything to earn their way to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: You did it all for them.
SPEAKER_00: So, God, surround them with people that will encourage them and help them to grow, give them a passion for your word, and and God, I pray that uh that these people would grow and understand your love for them.
SPEAKER_00: If you're here today and you just prayed that, if I just prayed for you on your way out, I want you to do a couple things.
SPEAKER_00: First, our prayer team is down front.
SPEAKER_00: There's some down front, there's gonna be some in the back, but just stop and talk to one of them, let them pray with you.
SPEAKER_00: Uh let them know the decision that you've made.
SPEAKER_00: And uh then on your way out, there's uh some black bags hanging in the little lobby right there.
SPEAKER_00: You can uh uh pick up one of those.
SPEAKER_00: It's got a Bible and some other information for you that that you can uh take home that'll help you understand the decisions that you've made.
SPEAKER_00: And if you have questions at all, don't don't hesitate to reach out to me, John at myfamilychurch.com or stop me in the lobby, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about it.
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about the decisions that you've made.
SPEAKER_00: God, thank you so much for your love for us.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for Family Church.
SPEAKER_00: Bless this church, God.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that that you would uh become very real in the hearts and minds of the people in this room.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that as we go out and and and represent you, represent your church, represent the love of your son, Jesus Christ, I pray that people would see that in us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, put people in our path that need the love of Jesus and give us the wisdom and courage to show it to them.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, we ask all of this in your precious son's name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening to Family Church's Sermon of the Week.
SPEAKER_01: We pray this message encouraged you and helped you grow in your faith.
SPEAKER_01: If it blessed you, share it with a friend and follow so you never miss a new episode.
SPEAKER_01: You can learn more about Family Church at myfamilychurch.com.
SPEAKER_01: If you are in the area, join us on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: We meet at Patriot High School 10504 Kittle Run Drive.