16-06-2019
Being a father is the most difficult job in a godless world.
Fathers are at the forefront of this challenge to bring them up biblically.
Between God and what we do is the father and mother.
Jesus in the Gospel of John reveals the heart of the Heavenly Father.
We see interconnectedness between Jesus' heart and God's heart.
When hearts are connected there is a sense of belonging.
It is the heart that calls us to be aligned to the values and conviction of the family instead of a set of rules.
When hearts are connected, it is no longer a duty.
If we are not careful to build on things that are solid, we are in danger of building a consumer mindset.
When we are connected, we are able to bring up values. It is the values that we build together.
There is ownership and belonging in what we do.
The challenge for us is to take heart of what God says.
Time waits for no man. Time passed cannot be retained. There are so many things that would distract our hearts.
Over time, we have developed a consumer mindset. When we come to church, we come with a consumer mindset that looks only to our own needs. It will never have ownership and a sense of belonging.
We must go beyond a consumer mindset. We plant seeds that will grow and have lives. We plant our effort and time that will one day bear much fruit. We need to build and to plant.
Make it a family commitment to be on time.
We build a spiritual home for everyone.
Together we open the presence of God. Let's have our hearts connected. Create a culture to be responsible to build deep relationships where hearts can be connected.
Jesus gives a picture of God being a gardener.
If we begin to understand that God is a gardener, deep relationships cannot be random but intentional.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 New King James Version (NKJV)
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
We need to be intentional as parents to create good memories at home.
Catch those teachable moments.
Stay interested in our children's lives and empower our older ones. Truths are often caught than taught.
Do the values that you believe in the Bible come out in good times and bad times?
Spiritual families need to be intentional in our steps to God to become disciples.
Churches have become tourist attractions because they have lost the values of being intentional disciples. They cannot be random disciples.
There is unity in strength but weakness in individuality. Find time to be intentional.
We need to remain faithful. We need to remain to endure.
As we remain faithful, we need to dig in to change the soil, put fertilisers, prune and later come to a point to reap.
It is not always our children's problem. Fathers and mothers are equally responsible to change.
Ephesians 3:14-21 New King James Version (NKJV)
Appreciation of the Mystery
14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father [a]of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
We are chosen to be a father and a mother. And God recognises that.
The journey in life is to go and bear fruits that will last, just as Jesus spent three and a half years with His disciples. It is the will of God. When we pray the will of God, it is executed in your life and your relationships.
John 15:16-17 New King James Version (NKJV)
16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.
Love brings the hearts close. We need to love with sincerity of our hearts.
God loves us. We love God and we love one another.
We have a Heavenly Father that is long term.
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