6/18/2018 “An Elephant In The Room” A large issue or problem that’s conspicuously present, and everyone’s aware that it’s there. It won’t go away on its own. Even though it deserves attention and should be openly addressed, most people ignore or avoid it, preferring not to think or talk about it. “Elephants In The FAMILY Room” • Life is too busy and too fast-paced, and family life suffers as a consequence. • Missionary families aren’t perfect either, and face some unusual challenges. • Some families must endure the additional stresses of special needs, physical and mental illnesses, addictions, gender confusion, etc. • Many adults experience family life (and church family life) as a single. 1
6/18/2018 “Elephants In The FAMILY Room” • Grown children should continue to honor their father and mother, which may include parenting one’s parents. • Family life today is lived in the age of digital technology with all its advantages and disadvantages. • Mistakes and sins stain all of our family lives, sometimes resulting in strained family relationships. But do we own and learn from our failures? Today’s “Elephant” • Following Jesus (and having the Holy Spirit living in us) should make a positive and noticeable difference in our family relationships. CHRISTIAN family life should be healthier and more harmonious than what’s experienced in the typical non-Christian family. Family Life In The Story Of The Bible God created families as the basic building block of human society. Ephesians 3:14-15 , NIV For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 2
6/18/2018 Family Life In The Story Of The Bible Since the fall of the human race, sin has severely damaged and broken relationships–most painfully in families. 2 Timothy 3:2-4, NIV (See Genesis 4-50) People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God… Family Life In The Story Of The Bible In Christ, there is redemption –which repairs what’s broken, including family life! Malachi 4:6 & 2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents…if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here. We Have “Inside Help”! The indwelling Spirit provides us the desire and power to yield lovingly to each other in our family relationships. Ephesians 5:18-21, NIV …be filled with the Spirit…giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. The next sixteen verses describe how family members should submit to each other! 3
6/18/2018 A Different Outlook Too! Spirit-filled Christian families provide their children with an eternal perspective and a framework for making godly decisions. Hebrews 11:24-26, NIV By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. Christian Families Are Different! The goal is not to make an easy path for the child… but to prepare the child for a godly path! 4
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