SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Family Church's Sermon of the Week.
SPEAKER_00: We're so glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: 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_00: We hope this time blesses you and draws you closer to the heart of God.
SPEAKER_01: We're starting a new series today, and the series is called Blueprint for a Blessed Life.
SPEAKER_01: And there are four things that God promises us that if we are obedient to Him in these four things, that these things come with a blessing.
SPEAKER_01: There's a specific blessing attached to each one of these things.
SPEAKER_01: And those things are honoring your mother and father, tithing, keeping the Sabbath, and fasting.
SPEAKER_01: There's a special blessing attached to each one of those.
SPEAKER_01: And so since it's Mother's Day, it just made sense to start with honoring your mother and father.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're going to be talking about that all month, but uh today we'll start with honoring your mother and father.
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to look at Ephesians 6, 1 this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians 6, chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: It says, Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do.
SPEAKER_01: Honor your father and mother.
SPEAKER_01: This is the first commandment with a promise.
SPEAKER_01: If you honor your mother and father, things will go well with you, and you will have a long life on earth.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: So Paul is quoting the fifth commandment.
SPEAKER_01: He's quoting the fifth commandment specifically from Deuteronomy 15, 16, and he starts by saying, Children, children, obey your parents.
SPEAKER_01: Kids, over and over again in the scripture, you are commanded to do one thing.
SPEAKER_01: You got one job, and it's obey your parents.
SPEAKER_01: He says it over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible said the Bible never says children, love people.
SPEAKER_01: It never says, children, be a servant.
SPEAKER_01: It never says children used kind words.
SPEAKER_01: When it speaks specifically to children, it always says, Children, obey your parents.
SPEAKER_01: Obey your parents.
SPEAKER_01: You have one job.
SPEAKER_01: And if if God only gives you one job, it must be an unbelievably important thing.
SPEAKER_01: And you have to respond to that like it's the most important thing for you to do.
SPEAKER_01: All right, kids, you got one job that's to obey your parents.
SPEAKER_01: And when you do, God makes you a promise.
SPEAKER_01: It says, when you honor your parents, there's a blessing that goes with it.
SPEAKER_01: And the first blessing that you that he mentions is that you may live long on the earth.
SPEAKER_01: Children, obey your parents, honor your mother and father, that you may live long in the earth.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's not a guarantee that you're going to live to be a hundred years old, and the weatherman at the Today Show is going to wish you a happy birthday.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a guarantee.
SPEAKER_01: But what it's saying is that if you obey your parents, God's going to bless you with safety and a longer life.
SPEAKER_01: Think about it this way: there was a basketball player in the 80s, a guy named Lenny Bias played for University of Maryland.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody remember Lenny Bias?
SPEAKER_01: Remember that story?
SPEAKER_01: Lenny Bias was one of the greatest college basketball players there ever was.
SPEAKER_01: He was drafted by the Boston Celtics.
SPEAKER_01: The Celtics thought, we're going to draft Lenny Bias because we need somebody that can shut down Michael Jordan.
SPEAKER_01: That's how good he was.
SPEAKER_01: But Lenny was a was raised in a Christian home, and he had a reputation of being a man of God through college while everybody else was out partying everything.
SPEAKER_01: Lenny was doing the right thing, making good choices.
SPEAKER_01: And because he was raised in a Christian home by Christian parents and grandparents that invested in him and taught him this is the right way to live.
SPEAKER_01: That was his reputation.
SPEAKER_01: He got drafted by the Boston Celtics.
SPEAKER_01: Two days later, went to a party, and for the first time caved to the pressure of his friends, and he tried cocaine.
SPEAKER_01: One time.
SPEAKER_01: Two hours later, Lenny Bias was dead from heart failure from a cocaine overdose.
SPEAKER_01: One time.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when God promises you a long life on this earth, what he is saying is if you listen to your parents, you're going to lengthen your time on earth.
SPEAKER_01: Because your parents love you.
SPEAKER_01: They want you to be safe.
SPEAKER_01: They want you to be secure.
SPEAKER_01: They want you to live.
SPEAKER_01: So if you do what your parents tell you, you are less likely to go to an early grave.
SPEAKER_01: Had Lenny Bias listened to his parents, what they taught him his whole life, and he had and he had stood strong under that pressure, Lenny would have gone on and had an amazing career with the NBA.
SPEAKER_01: But one time he disobeyed.
SPEAKER_01: But that's what that means.
SPEAKER_01: That's what it's saying.
SPEAKER_01: So, kids, if you want to avoid an early grave, start by obeying your parents.
SPEAKER_01: Do what your parents tell you to do.
SPEAKER_01: But there's a second part to that promise, and it says, honor your father and mother, and things will go well with you.
SPEAKER_01: Things will go well with you.
SPEAKER_01: That's another way of saying you can have joy in your life.
SPEAKER_01: You can live a life filled with joy.
SPEAKER_01: You know, even as a kid, even as a teenager, you can have a life filled with joy.
SPEAKER_01: Last week we had four of my five grandkids staying in our house for pretty much the whole week.
SPEAKER_01: And it sounded like joy all the time.
SPEAKER_01: Loud, boisterous joy.
SPEAKER_01: But kids, you know, it was two babies and two toddlers, and and toddlers can find joy in anything.
SPEAKER_01: My my grandson uh Judah found a slug.
SPEAKER_01: Like a gross, slimy slug that you know leaves the trail.
SPEAKER_01: He found a slug.
SPEAKER_01: He picked it up, carried it around for two hours, named him sluggy.
SPEAKER_01: And Sluggy was Judah's best friend for two hours.
SPEAKER_01: He found joy in a slug.
SPEAKER_01: Toddlers can find joy in anything.
SPEAKER_01: But the older you get, the harder it is to find joy.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and some of you that are teenagers, you're thinking, I don't have joy.
SPEAKER_01: I just don't have joy right now.
SPEAKER_01: And and and it be it's harder to have joy.
SPEAKER_01: And part of the reason why it's harder to have joy when you become a teenager is because you you spend so much time, you almost become enslaved to the idea of living up to the expectations of all the wrong people.
SPEAKER_01: You live up to the expectations of all the wrong people.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and you look, you look at uh the kids that you go to school with or whatever, and you know, you see the the uh popular girl, and you think, oh, if I could just be like her, you see the star athlete, oh, if I could just be like him, or or maybe, you know, you think, you know, I'm I'm not gonna fit in anywhere, so maybe I should just be like the kids that don't fit in and become like them.
SPEAKER_01: You know, so you for whatever it is, you change, you change the way you look, you change the way you dress, you change the way you wear your hair, you change all these things just so you can meet the expectations of all the wrong people.
SPEAKER_01: And finally you look like you fit in and you're with a crowd or whatever, and you stop and you think, I still don't have joy.
SPEAKER_01: I still don't feel good about myself.
SPEAKER_01: I fit in, but I don't feel good about myself.
SPEAKER_01: It's because you're living up to the expectations of all the wrong people.
SPEAKER_01: You're living up to the expectations of people that want you to be like them.
SPEAKER_01: If you live up to the expectation of your parents, your parents want you to be like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Which is the better choice?
SPEAKER_01: Kids, which is the better choice?
SPEAKER_01: So don't waste your time living up to the expectation of the wrong people.
SPEAKER_01: And when your parents try to teach you these things and tell you all this, and they say, I know what it's like, I know what you're going through, they mean it.
SPEAKER_01: Because they were teenagers.
SPEAKER_01: It was a long time ago, but they were teenagers too, and they wanted to fit in, they wanted to be popular, they wanted to be part of the in-crowd.
SPEAKER_01: They everything you're going through now, your parents went through too.
SPEAKER_01: And here's something else your grandparents went through that.
SPEAKER_01: They get it, they know what you're going through.
SPEAKER_01: So when they talk to you and they say, you know, don't just just be yourself, be who God created you to be.
SPEAKER_01: Be be just be happy with who you are.
SPEAKER_01: They're saying it because they went through the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: And they know you better than any of your friends do.
SPEAKER_01: They they probably know you better than you do.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: So don't try to live up to the expectations of other people.
SPEAKER_01: And you'll find joy.
SPEAKER_01: You can have joy by honoring and obeying your parents.
SPEAKER_01: Honoring and obeying your parents is a high priority to God.
SPEAKER_01: God puts a high value on us honoring our parents.
SPEAKER_01: It was important enough to include in the Ten Commandments.
unknown: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: He included in of the ten most important things he wanted us to do.
SPEAKER_01: Number five was honor your parents.
SPEAKER_01: It's that important.
SPEAKER_01: In in Ezekiel uh 22, um the prophet is is warning Israel.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, Okay, remember, remember when when God about a thousand years ago said, you know, if you if you obey me and if you follow me and you worship me, everything's gonna be okay.
SPEAKER_01: But if you start to worship idols and you start to sin and you start to be violent and and and all that, you know, another country is going to come and invade you, and it's gonna take you captive and it's gonna destroy Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: So the prophet was saying, that's about to happen.
SPEAKER_01: God said that a thousand years ago, you didn't keep your prom, you didn't keep your end of the bargain, and so it's about to happen.
SPEAKER_01: You're about to be destroyed.
SPEAKER_01: And so he started listing the sins that Israel was known for.
SPEAKER_01: And it's the sins you would think, you know, bloodshed, violence, sexual perversion, all those things.
SPEAKER_01: And he lists this on that list of awful sins.
SPEAKER_01: He says in Ezekiel 22, 7, fathers and mothers are treated with contempt.
SPEAKER_01: Honoring God is that important to God, or honoring your parents is that important to God.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says the same thing in Romans 1.
SPEAKER_01: When he's talking about wickedness in the world and how wicked man can become and how desperately we need the grace of God, he starts listing the sin.
SPEAKER_01: Romans 1, 29-30 says, their lives became full of every kind of wickedness.
SPEAKER_01: Sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.
SPEAKER_01: They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful.
SPEAKER_01: They invent new ways of sinning and they disobey their parents.
SPEAKER_01: That long list of awful sins, he adds, disobeying your parents at the end of it.
SPEAKER_01: Obeying and honoring your parents is that important to God.
SPEAKER_01: And when you are honoring your parents, God promises joy and a long life.
SPEAKER_01: God blesses you with joy and a long life when you honor your parents.
SPEAKER_01: And adults, when we read that commandment, honor your parents, you know, we might think, well, that's that's for the kids.
SPEAKER_01: That's for the kids.
SPEAKER_01: But God never said that.
SPEAKER_01: You know, God didn't give the ten commandments to say, have no other gods before me, don't bow down to idols, uh, don't take my name in vain.
SPEAKER_01: Remember the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, oh, and here's one for the kiddos.
SPEAKER_01: Honor your parents.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't say that.
SPEAKER_01: Honor your parents is a lifelong commandment.
SPEAKER_01: All of us are to continue honoring our parents.
SPEAKER_01: And and when the Bible addresses children, it says obey.
SPEAKER_01: But it doesn't say obey in the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_01: It just says honor your parents.
SPEAKER_01: Honor your parents.
SPEAKER_01: And the original Hebrew word for honor is kebab, and the literal translation of that is heavy.
SPEAKER_01: Heavy.
SPEAKER_01: So heavy seems like an odd way to describe how we honor our parents.
SPEAKER_01: But think about it like this.
SPEAKER_01: In that day, after Israel had left Egypt, you know, when they would trade, when they would do, you know, when they would purchase things, they would use gold and silver.
SPEAKER_01: And the value of the gold and silver was determined by its weight.
SPEAKER_01: So they would put it on a scale like this to determine how much the gold or silver weighed.
SPEAKER_01: And the heavier it was, the more valuable it was.
SPEAKER_01: The heavier it was, the more valuable it was.
SPEAKER_01: So when when the scripture describes honoring parents as heavy, he's talking about ascribing value to your parents, ascribing value to them.
SPEAKER_01: So it's not about just saying their value.
SPEAKER_01: You ascribe value to them.
SPEAKER_01: You treat them differently.
SPEAKER_01: You treat them as if they are valuable.
SPEAKER_01: You you you regard them as valuable, and it changes the way you treat them, the way you speak to them, the way the way that you act around them.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Think about it like this.
SPEAKER_01: So, this violin, everyone, everyone would agree that it's valuable.
SPEAKER_01: I don't play the violin.
SPEAKER_01: Some of y'all thought I was gonna play the violin.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you thought I was.
SPEAKER_01: I don't play the violin.
SPEAKER_01: But, you know, you'd all agree that this is valuable.
SPEAKER_01: This is a valuable instrument.
SPEAKER_01: And and if you have, if you put time into it and you've learned to play it, it's even more valuable.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: But but if you take a light and you shine it in here, you shine it right in there, you see a very old, almost faded stamp, and it says Strativarius 1798.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Antonius Strativarius was an instrument maker in the 1700s, late 1700s, early 1800s, and he he made a thousand or more instruments, about 600 of them were violins.
SPEAKER_01: And they're regarded as the finest instruments ever made.
SPEAKER_01: And there are only there are only about there's less than 500 of those violins left.
SPEAKER_01: And they range in value anywhere from a million dollars to 10 million dollars.
SPEAKER_01: That's how valuable they are.
SPEAKER_01: So when you know the value of something, you you treat it differently.
SPEAKER_01: You know, because you know, this stamp in there that says Stradivarius, you know, I'm gonna handle it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna let anybody else touch this.
SPEAKER_01: You know, there's insurance taken out on this to protect it.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's that valuable.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what God is saying.
SPEAKER_01: The weight of honoring your parents is ascribing value.
SPEAKER_01: And if God values something, it's like God has put his inscription on the on the heart of that person, parent.
SPEAKER_01: And we're to value that person.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't say stratavarius, it's Sears and Robo.
SPEAKER_01: But you get the point.
unknown: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: So you treat something of that kind of value even greater.
SPEAKER_01: You treat it even greater.
SPEAKER_01: When God says to honor your parents, it didn't simply mean just love your parents.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't mean to just obey your parents.
SPEAKER_01: He said place a high value on them and regard them as most valuable.
SPEAKER_01: Regard your parents as most valuable.
SPEAKER_01: Now, that's not not an easy task for everyone.
SPEAKER_01: I understand that.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I was blessed, I had amazing parents.
SPEAKER_01: My parents were easy to honor.
SPEAKER_01: Very easy to honor, but not everybody can say that.
SPEAKER_01: There are some people that have, you know, they spend years in therapy because of their parents.
SPEAKER_01: You know, there are some people that don't even know who their parents are.
SPEAKER_01: We understand that.
SPEAKER_01: But there's nothing conditional about any of God's commandments.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing conditional about any of God's commandments.
SPEAKER_01: God never said, Thou shalt not commit adultery unless your husband's a jerk, then it's okay to commit adultery.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't say that.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't say, thou shalt not steal, you know, unless you really need it and you don't have the money for it, then you can steal.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't say that.
SPEAKER_01: None of the commandments are conditional.
SPEAKER_01: So when he says, honor your parents, he didn't say, honor your parents as long as your parents are good people, as long as they are honorable people.
SPEAKER_01: He said, honor your parents unconditionally.
SPEAKER_01: And I know that's not that's not easy for some people to do.
SPEAKER_01: And you might think, well, John, you don't know my parents.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, yeah, yeah, I don't.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know your parents.
SPEAKER_01: I don't.
SPEAKER_01: But God does.
SPEAKER_01: And God knew that your parents would be who they are, and and that your parents might be responsible for a certain amount of hurt in your life.
SPEAKER_01: He knew that when he said, unconditionally honor your parents.
SPEAKER_01: Honor your parents.
SPEAKER_01: You know, God, God tells us, you know, love your enemies.
SPEAKER_01: He says, pray for those that persecute you.
SPEAKER_01: If he would say that about people who want to hurt you, you know, it just makes sense that he would say, honor your parents even when they're not honorable.
SPEAKER_01: God works that way.
SPEAKER_01: Honor your parents even if they're not honorable.
SPEAKER_01: And as parents, you know, as our parents get older, it gets even harder.
SPEAKER_01: It gets even harder because now we have to start caring for them.
SPEAKER_01: We have to start looking out for them.
SPEAKER_01: We have to start making decisions for them.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and sometimes they don't like it when we make those decisions.
SPEAKER_01: And if you've if you've been estranged from your parents, you've been estranged from your mom or whatever, and you have suddenly have to make those decisions, that's a hard place to be.
SPEAKER_01: But God knows what you're going through, and God still says, honor your parents.
SPEAKER_01: Honor your parents.
SPEAKER_01: So whether your relationship with your parents is functional or dysfunctional, it's distant or close or whatever, you know, God's commandment is always to honor your parents.
SPEAKER_01: And in the book of Ruth, there's a there's just a beautiful picture of what it looks like to honor your parents.
SPEAKER_01: And Ruth honors her mother-in-law.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you may if you know the story, you know this.
SPEAKER_01: You know that uh there was a man named Elimelech, and he was married to a lady named Naomi, and they had two sons.
SPEAKER_01: There was a famine in Israel, so they left Israel and went to Moab, which was a pagan city.
SPEAKER_01: Their two sons married pagan women, Moabite women, and then all the men died.
SPEAKER_01: Elimelech died, and the two sons died, left these three widows alone in a pagan land.
SPEAKER_01: And Naomi told the ladies, go on back to your father's, you know, get a new husband, start over again.
SPEAKER_01: It's okay, I'll figure things out.
SPEAKER_01: And so one of them left, but Ruth said, No, I'm gonna stay with you.
SPEAKER_01: You're you're you're the mother of my husband.
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, in that culture, you are now my mother.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna honor you.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what Ruth said in Ruth 1.16.
SPEAKER_01: She said, Wherever wherever you go, I will go.
SPEAKER_01: Wherever you live, I will live.
SPEAKER_01: Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.
SPEAKER_01: Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.
SPEAKER_01: That was her commitment to Naomi.
SPEAKER_01: And because she was a Moabite, if she went back to Jerusalem, went back to Israel, actually, they were from Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_01: If they went back to Bethlehem, there's a good chance because she was Moabite that she would never be permitted to marry.
SPEAKER_01: She would never be permitted to work or anything.
SPEAKER_01: She would just have to exist and do the best that she could.
SPEAKER_01: That was possible.
SPEAKER_01: But she said, I'm gonna stay with you, and and and uh your God will be my God.
SPEAKER_01: Your God's gonna protect me.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the choice that she that she made.
SPEAKER_01: And so so from from that verse, I will go where you go, I will live where you live, your people will be my people, your God will be my God.
SPEAKER_01: From that commitment that she made, we see three things that we can do to honor our parents.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Of any age.
SPEAKER_01: If if your parents are older, teenagers, you can do this honoring your parents right now.
SPEAKER_01: If you're estranged from your parents, here's three simple ways.
SPEAKER_01: Three simple ways to maybe maybe reunite and maybe seek to restore and redeem that relationship.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the first thing you can honor your parents with your time.
SPEAKER_01: Honor your parents with your time.
SPEAKER_01: When Ruth said, I'll go with you, wherever you go, your people will be my people.
SPEAKER_01: She was committing to time with Naomi.
SPEAKER_01: You can honor them with your time, just being there with them.
SPEAKER_01: Just just just spending time with them, prioritizing time with them.
SPEAKER_01: Before my mom passed, she was in an assisted living facility, and you know, I would go and visit her, and and I'd go in, I'd kiss her, I'd say, Hey mom, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: And she'd be like, Great, and then she'd fall asleep.
SPEAKER_01: And I'd sit there for two and a half hours and watch mom sleep.
SPEAKER_01: And I'd wake her up and I'd kiss her when it's time to go, and she would say, It meant so much to me that you spent time with me.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we didn't talk the whole time.
SPEAKER_01: She was snoozing, you know?
SPEAKER_01: But she said it meant so much that you spent time with me.
SPEAKER_01: So you're gonna honor your parents with time.
SPEAKER_01: Second thing, you can honor your parents with your presence.
SPEAKER_01: Now you might think, well, that sounds an awful lot like time, but you can spend time with someone and not be present.
SPEAKER_01: You can be distracted, you can be busy, you can be, you can be uh uh uh uninvolved, but honor them with your presence.
SPEAKER_01: If you're gonna spend time with them, be there with them.
SPEAKER_01: Pay attention to them.
SPEAKER_01: Teenagers, you can do that now.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: I know you're with your parents a lot, so it's easy to say, well, I spend time with my parents, but you need to be present with your parents.
SPEAKER_01: So more of this and less of this is being present with your parents.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, but be present with your parents.
SPEAKER_01: College students that are home for the summer, thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_01: Congratulations on finishing another year or finishing completely.
SPEAKER_01: I got we know we've got a couple grads in here, but but when you come home for the summer, don't drop your laundry off and go spend all your time with your friends.
SPEAKER_01: Spend time with your parents.
SPEAKER_01: I learned this from Melinda.
SPEAKER_01: When Melinda and I were dating and engaged, we would uh uh go up from South Florida up to Virginia and see my parents and we'd hang out with them, and I'd be like, let's go somewhere.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, let's go out to dinner, let's go, let's go somewhere, you know?
SPEAKER_01: And she'd be like, How about we spend time with you with your parents?
SPEAKER_01: You know, how about we spend some time with them?
SPEAKER_01: That never would have crossed my mind.
SPEAKER_01: At that age.
SPEAKER_01: You know?
SPEAKER_01: But I learned from her that my parents need that kind of time.
SPEAKER_01: You know?
SPEAKER_01: And so she slowed me down.
SPEAKER_01: She said, let's spend some time with your parents.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: You can spend time and and and be with them, but not be present.
SPEAKER_01: So make a commitment to be present.
SPEAKER_01: And the third thing, honor your parents by serving them.
SPEAKER_01: Serve your parents.
SPEAKER_01: Later in life, Ruth or later in the story, it says that Ruth, they went back to Bethlehem, and Ruth would go and she would do what they call gleaning.
SPEAKER_01: And the law, the the Mosaic law provided for this that when you harvested, that you would drop a certain amount of grain for uh for poor people or homeless people.
SPEAKER_01: Or you would leave a certain uh amount of rose on the border of your crop so that homeless people could come and get something to eat.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: So Ruth was gleaning.
SPEAKER_01: That's how poor she was.
SPEAKER_01: Making the decision to go back to Bethlehem with Ruth meant a life of poverty.
SPEAKER_01: So she was gleaning and she would gather grain off the ground, grain they would drop, and she would harvest from the edges of the field.
SPEAKER_01: And and and so every time she did that, she would take she didn't just do it for herself, but she would take some back for Naomi.
SPEAKER_01: She would spend extra time working to take food back for Naomi.
SPEAKER_01: She met Naomi's means she served Naomi.
SPEAKER_01: And and you're never more like Jesus than you are when you're serving.
SPEAKER_01: So you know, you got an estranged parent, a strange relationship with your parents.
SPEAKER_01: And you want to you want to start the process of reconnecting and redeeming that relationship, start by serving.
SPEAKER_01: Because you're never more like Jesus than you are when you're serving.
SPEAKER_01: Serve unconditionally.
SPEAKER_01: Don't serve expecting anything in return.
SPEAKER_01: You can honor your parents by serving.
SPEAKER_01: I had a uh in my Thursday morning Bible study with our guys, we read this verse, and I said, Oh, I'm so gonna use that Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: But it's first John 4 11.
SPEAKER_01: Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: You know, think about that in your relationship with your parents.
SPEAKER_01: God loved us so much that we should love each other.
SPEAKER_01: We we forget about verses like that when it comes to family.
SPEAKER_01: We think family's the exception.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have to love them because Jesus loved us.
SPEAKER_01: But think about loving your parents and honoring them because that's what Jesus did for you.
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's we he doesn't say that because anybody deserves it.
SPEAKER_01: He says it because that's the example we've been given.
SPEAKER_01: And when he says uh uh God loved us that much, surely we ought to love each other, he uses the word agape, which is unconditional love.
SPEAKER_01: That's a love that is associated with actions.
SPEAKER_01: That's a love that says, I don't know you, I might not even like you, but I'm gonna show you the love of Christ through my actions.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we need to make the choice to do that for our parents.
SPEAKER_01: Teenagers, you need to make the choice to demonstrate that kind of love to your parents.
SPEAKER_01: What a gift to mom on Mother's Day for mom to get to the end of the day and go, I have an amazing kid.
SPEAKER_01: He's amazing.
SPEAKER_01: He served me all day.
SPEAKER_01: And then to do that every day, to be a servant in your home, to honor your parents.
SPEAKER_01: If you've got older parents serving them, meeting their needs, if you've got a strange parent stepping up and saying, I'm gonna serve those people, I'm gonna serve my mom, I'm gonna serve my dad, not because, not because they've earned it, but because Jesus did that for me.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus did that for me.
SPEAKER_01: You know, so you could take that verse, and I think it's on the screen behind you, and you could replace some words in that.
SPEAKER_01: And so let's replace the word love with serving.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: So read it with me.
SPEAKER_01: Read it out loud with me.
SPEAKER_01: Dear friends, since God served us that much, we surely ought to serve each other.
SPEAKER_01: You know, if that kind of love is characterized through action, well, there's a great way to put it.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna serve to demonstrate the love of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Time.
SPEAKER_01: Let's put time in there.
SPEAKER_01: Read it with me.
SPEAKER_01: Dear friends, since God gave us so much time, we surely ought to give time to each other.
SPEAKER_01: You give time to your parents to honor them.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you get the point.
SPEAKER_01: You understand what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: That's what it looks like to honor someone.
SPEAKER_01: That's what it looks like to honor your parents.
SPEAKER_01: And if we do that, it's not because it's not because we're honoring them, it's because we're honoring God.
SPEAKER_01: We're it's not it's not because of what we feel, because you may not feel that for your parents, but it's because we've been commanded to.
SPEAKER_01: That's the example that we've been given.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we do it.
SPEAKER_01: Let me have every head bowed and every eye closed.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you're your reason for being here.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's a thousand reasons why people are here today.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and and maybe you're here because it's Mother's Day and mom said, for Mother's Day, I want you to go to church with me.
SPEAKER_01: It's all I want.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why you're here.
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: But there's another reason why you're here.
SPEAKER_01: You may have never heard this before.
SPEAKER_01: That you can spend eternity in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: You can know for sure, absolutely no question, that you're gonna spend eternity in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Not because of anything you did, but because of what Jesus did on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was crucified, buried, and rose again on the third day.
SPEAKER_01: So that we can be redeemed, we can be forgiven of our sin, and we can spend eternity with Him.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe whatever reason you're here today, if you walk away knowing that you can have eternal life, that was the reason.
SPEAKER_01: That was the real reason.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're here today and you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, it it's it's simple.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus wouldn't hang your eternal soul on something complicated that is hard to accomplish, hard to do.
SPEAKER_01: So this has nothing to do with how good you are, has nothing to do with how often you go to church or how generous you are or how kind you are, it has nothing to do with any of that.
SPEAKER_01: Has everything to do with the fact that you say, I'm gonna follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give my heart to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And you can do that today just by simply saying, I'm gonna trust in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for my salvation, and I'm gonna trust in the shed blood of Christ on the cross for the forgiveness of my sin.
SPEAKER_01: And and ask forgiveness of your sins.
SPEAKER_01: And you can do that however you want, but if you struggle putting uh those thoughts, whatever's going on in your heart and mind, you struggle putting that into words, you can just pray something like this, and it's not about repeating a prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone can repeat a prayer.
SPEAKER_01: This is just me helping you put that what you're going, what the Holy Spirit is doing in your heart and mind into words.
SPEAKER_01: So you can just pray something like this and say, Dear God, thank you for sending Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Because on my own, I could I could never earn the right to go to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: I could I could never be good enough, I can never be kind enough, I could never deserve it, I can never earn it.
SPEAKER_01: So thank you that Jesus paid the price for my sin so that I can spend eternity in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: So today I trust in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for my salvation, and I trust in the shed blood of Christ for the forgiveness of my sin.
SPEAKER_01: And I ask for I ask you, God, to forgive my sin.
SPEAKER_01: And today I commit to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So if you just pray that the Bible says, the Bible says that if you if you prayed that and meant it, if you if you made that commitment to Christ and you meant it, says that that you can know for sure, 1 John 5 tells us, you can know for sure that you have eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: You can know that you're going to heaven because you accepted him as your Savior.
SPEAKER_01: It says that you have crossed from death into life.
SPEAKER_01: Your sins are forgiven, they are remembered no more.
SPEAKER_01: Your name is written in the Lamb's book of life, and nothing can undo any of that.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're here today and you just prayed that and you just accepted Christ as your Savior, I want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: So I would love it if you just raise your hand real fast and let me see that uh you've you've prayed that prayer today.
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: God, thank you so much for for these couple people that that raised their hand that said that they accepted you as their savior today.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray that you would bless them.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that you would you would help them to understand the decision they've made to follow you.
SPEAKER_01: Help them to uh uh grow closer and closer to your son every day.
SPEAKER_01: Help them to draw strength from your word and to understand your word as the Holy Spirit takes up residence in them and reveals truth to them through your word.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, just bless them.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray that we can be there for them as a church.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, just thank you.
SPEAKER_01: We know the angels rejoice when a soul uh is redeemed.
SPEAKER_01: So, Lord, we rejoice with these people today.
SPEAKER_01: Still heads bowed and eyes closed.
SPEAKER_01: If you're here today and you just need prayer about your relationship with your mom or your mom and you need prayer about your relationship with your kids, I just want you to put your hand up real fast and let me pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: I know that's a hard, hard thing to deal with.
SPEAKER_01: And I know that I know there's some hurting parents out here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I was praying with some before uh the service started.
SPEAKER_01: I know that's a hard, hard thing.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna pray for you, but just know our prayer team is here.
SPEAKER_01: There's some down front, there's some in the back.
SPEAKER_01: They have the uh prayer uh prayer team lanyards on, and you are welcome to walk up to them and and they'll pray with you and spend time with you, and you can let them know what's going on in your life.
SPEAKER_01: But let me pray for you right now.
SPEAKER_01: God, thank you for for again for sending Jesus, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We we know that whatever we're going through, your word says, cast all your cares on Jesus because he cares about us so much.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, all these moms that are hurting, all these all these kids that are hurting because because of strained relationships with mom, Lord, you you know that, and we can cast that care on you because you love us so much.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, you understand their pain, you understand what they're going through.
SPEAKER_01: So, God, I pray that you would just bless them.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, put an extra special measure of grace on them today.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, I pray for those that need to restore a relationship with their kids or need to restore a relationship with their parents.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that today would be the day that that restoration starts.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, it's on us, it's on us.
SPEAKER_01: We're here in this room.
SPEAKER_01: We've heard your word today.
SPEAKER_01: So that restoration is on us.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to take the first step towards restoration.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, just bless those that are hurting.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we know that you you allow us to hurt for a reason.
SPEAKER_01: We become more like Jesus when we suffer.
SPEAKER_01: So, Lord, I just pray that this would be a time where relationships are mended and we grow to be more like Jesus every day.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we love you.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for loving us.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for for uh sending your son.
SPEAKER_01: And thank you for moms.
SPEAKER_01: And in Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to Family Church's Sermon of the Week.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this message encouraged you and helped you grow in your faith.
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SPEAKER_00: You can learn more about Family Church at myfamilychurch.com.
SPEAKER_00: If you are in the area, join us on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: We meet at Patriot High School 10504 Kittle Run Drive.