On Tuesday evening, Brother Mike asked, "Are you prepared?" It was mostly for unsaved people or those who might have been unsure about salvation. I still took something away from that evening. There is an urgency to prepare for eternity. We must tell others about eternity because life is brief and life is uncertain. (That is one of the reasons why we titled our blog as "Our Vapor." Please read the verse description under our blog title.) Our life is but a vapor. We are only here on earth for a little while. We, as Christians, need to help others be prepared for eternity.
One thing that I want to make sure that I explain to you is that salvation doesn't come from good works or praying to an idol. It is about faith in a God who is still alive. All of us have sinned and have fallen short (Romans 3:23) but God sent His Son to take the punishment for our sins (John 3:16). All we have to do is put our faith and trust in Him (Acts 20:21). Mark 1:15 tells us that we need to "repent and believe." If we confess our sins, God is faithful to us and He will forgive us our sins (I John 1:9).
_______________________
Wednesday's Service was a little bit different. It was Family Night so Brother Mike preached on the family. The design of the home is support. Ecclesiastes 4:10 tells us that we are to uplifting. There are a couple of ways that we should be uplifting in the home. We should uplift with our attitudes. I Peter 3 tells us that husbands are supposed to give honor to their wives and wives are supposed to obey their husbands. Ephesians 6:1 says that children are to honor their parents. One thing to remember is that before honor comes humility. A second way that we can uplift is with our words. The Bible tells us that the tongue is a deadly poison (James 3:8). We can change our tongues by changing our hearts.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 tells us that we are to be protectors. A view that even society agrees with is that family sticks together! If you're in trouble, you're family is always there to bail you out. The Bible also talks about godly discipline (Proverbs 19:18, 22:15, 29:15). This is a view that society has warped our minds about. Discipline is not what you do TO a child, it is what you do FOR a child (Proverbs 23:13-14). One thing to remember is that you need to stay in control when you discipline and you do it out of love for your child.
The delight of the home should be satisfaction. The home is where we can find comfort in the time of need and it is also where we find a cause to live. We should make our home a happy place for our families. At the end of the day, they should love coming home. One important thing to remember is that you need to keep God first. You can't do right by your family unless you're right with God and you can't be right with God unless you do right by your family.
The defense of the home should be spiritual (Ecclesiastes 4:12). The family should be a three-fold cord: two family members (husband and wife) and God bound together as one. Also, there should be three altars in our home. The public altar is church attendance. Only 1 out of 40 families that attend church together end in divorce. Church attendance is one thing that strengthens families. What we do as parents will set the course of what our kids do. Another altar is the private altar which says that any family is a strong as its weakest member. The final altar is the family altar. We should not only be spending daily time in God's Word individually but also as a family. It's our fault, as spiritual leaders of the home, if our family isn't led in the Word of God.
We only have two more nights of services. Please continue to pray for Missouri Avenue Baptist Church and its members. So far this week, two visitors have made professions of faith and many people have made decisions for, not only their spiritual lives, but their families as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment