7/21/13
The Family From God’s Viewpoint
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Scripture Reading:
Matthew 5:1-12 The family. We all have one. Many of us grew up in a wonderful, loving family. And some of us grew up in a “not-so-wonderful” home. Yet, the origin of the family goes back to the Book of Genesis. God created the first family. First, He created Adam from the dust of the ground; then He put Adam to sleep, performed the first surgery and took a rib out of Adam. With that rib, He created Eve. And so began the family. And then He said to Adam and Eve “fill the earth. Be fruitful and multiply.”
I want to say something about the blessedness of the family today. I did not grow up in a home with two loving parents. Actually our home was completely torn apart when I was a boy and my dad went to prison. But here’s my personal testimony. Not only did God save me when I was fifteen. I gained a whole lot more than what I’d lost in my family. When I was ten, I gained a “second mother” that I still know very well to this day. We just got together in Florida this past month while we were on vacation. And through my second mother, I found the LORD. And through my second mother, I attended Practical Bible Training School. It was while I was at Practical that I met my wife Janet. We’ve been married now thirty-six years. We’ve raised our children in the joy and fear of the LORD. They’ve all gotten married to Believers in Christ. They are all involved in ministry in some way in their Churches. And they are all teaching their children the ways of the LORD. |
Now, notwithstanding anything I faced before I was ten years old, God has wonderfully blessed Janet and I beyond what either of us could have ever imagined. We’re far from perfect. We’ve had lots of fights. We’ve had problems with our children. But we have the wonderful blessing of a family. Just recently while in Florida we all got together again. We all get along reasonably well. And, as you all know, we have three more joining us in October.
Family is imperfect, yet very satisfying. And the reason it’s imperfect is because we human beings are imperfect. But needless to say, I firmly believe what the Bible teaches on this matter of the family. I’ve titled today’s sermon “The Family From God’s Viewpoint.” Shall we pray? Do you heartily believe the Bible? Do you sincerely want to do what the Bible says you are to do? Do you believe what the LORD says about the family? Would you like to see just what the LORD’s view of the family is? Here’s what Page one of your Bible says. Genesis 1:26 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (28) And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: ...” |