RELIGION AT YOUR DOORSTEP: Promoting the Gospel through Our Care of Parents and Family
Rosemount Bible Church
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Speaker: Nick Azzuolo
Deuteronomy 5:16
Message 4 in our 8-part series called The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission: Promoting the Gospel with More than Our Lips
A command with a promise
Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
Deuteronomy 5:16
1 Timothy 5:8
If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Provide for your Widows
Martin Luther“What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God.”
D.L. Moody “I believe the family was established long before the church, and my duty is to my family first. I am not to neglect my family.”
Cain and Abel
Cain is jealous over the God’s favor of Abel’s offering.
Sarah and Hagar
Hagar is sent off with her son Ishmael.
Jacob and Esau
-Esau sold his birthright
-Jacob and Rebekah deceived Isaac
Joseph and his brothers
Joseph is sold to Egyptian slave traders.
King David
Family dysfunctional. Son Absalom wanted to kill him.
Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah
“Your people shall be my people, your God my God”Ruth 1:16 (ESV)
2 Corinthians 9:10
Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
Caring for Parents
• Do I consider it to be a burden or a privilege?
• Do I feel obliged or do I do it joyfully?
• Do I have good relations or am in on bad terms?
• If so, what efforts have I made to restore the relationship?
Caring for Family
• Is there a feeling of trust or suspicion?
• Do we build up or do we tear down?
• Are we authentic or superficial
• Tolerant or impatient?• Gentle or Harsh?• Respectful or rude?
Caring for Parents• When we have to make a decision about caring for them, our first thought is how this will affect us and our lives. We are selfish and think about what is convenient for us instead of sacrificing for them.
Assess
What’s working and what’s not working?
1 Timothy 2:1, 4 (ESV)
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Meditate on Scripture
Texts that provide relational guidelines.
Matthew 5-7
Ephesians 4-6
Exodus 20
Book of Proverbs
RE-FOCUS YOUR ATTITUDE
• Consider others better than yourself
• Make allowance for each others faults
• Re-evaluate how you spend your time, energy and resources.
• Develop and attitude of meekness and compassion that binds together in love.
WHAT MAKES THEM UNIQUE?
TAKE NOTICE
Increase your knowledge equity
The Gospel “Bite”
“In reality, most of our opportunities
to speak about Christianity will
occur in passing, in the to-and-fro of daily conversation”
-John Dickson
AT HOME
ALWAYS BE PREPARED TO MAKE A DEFENSE TO ANYONE WHO ASKS YOU FOR A REASON FOR THE HOPE THAT IS IN YOU.
1 PETER 3:15
Summary of steps• Assess your situation• Pray for the soil to soften• Meditate on relational scriptures
• Re-focus your attitude• Take notice of what makes them unique.
• Improve your knowledge equity
Traits of a Healthy Family - Dolores Curran
The healthy family...
•communicates and listens. •affirms and supports one another. •teaches respect for others. •develops a sense of trust. •has a sense of play and humor •exhibits a send of shared responsibility. •teaches a sense of right and wrong
Traits of a Healthy Family - Dolores Curran
The healthy family...
•has a strong sense of family in which rituals and traditions abound. •has a balance of interaction among members. •has a shared spiritual core. •respects the privacy of one another. •values service to others. •fosters family table time and conversation. •shares leisure time. •admits to and seeks help with problems.
IS GOD AT WORK?
OBSERVE AND EVALUATE
PROVERBS 3:1-4
My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.
Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.
Happy Mother’s Day and remember religion begins at our doorstep.
