Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz19971130.htm

GOD'S RENEWAL FOR HOUSEHOLDS
Part XXX: Sustaining A Renewed Household's Welfare

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

(1) This past week, a little girl who apparently had been kidnapped as an infant out of her bed while she slept in San Diego 7 years ago was found alive in Mexico living with another woman who claimed to be her mother. Her birth mother and father were ove rjoyed to learn of her appearance.

original parents have since divorced, so the government has to figure out just who gets custody of the girl! The only "parent" she now knows is the woman who calls herself her "mother" in Mexico!

When I heard the story on Tuesday's news, I felt really bad for the little girl, what she has been through and all, and wondered just HOW such tragic dismantlings of family could be avoided for other children!



names together on the same piece of paper!" This remark hit a chord with me, for over the years, a number of family units many of us even in Nepaug Church have known have gone through tragic dismantlings in one form or another.

Is there some way, some hope of SALVAGING the family units we have today from deteriorating?!



(We turn to the sermon's "Need" section . . . )



Need: Having obtained insight through these sermons on how to structure or improve my family life, I still worry about the FUTURE, about SUSTAINING my family's welfare! Is it too much to ask how may I keep my family unit healthy, united and functi oning well?!"
  1. As we have shown in this family series, the STARTING point of renewal is the INDIVIDUAL'S realignment to Christ, Jn. 3:16.
  2. In Christ, the INDIVIDUAL enjoys God's PERSONAL care securities with SPIN-OFF effects for his FAMILY'S welfare:
    1. When one believes in Christ, he is put into God's eternal plan (Eph. 1:3-5) which also thereby includes His current care, Rom. 8:32, 28.
    2. Under God's current care, God underwrites all areas of need so that the righteous believer is equipped to live and serve God effectively:
      1. God secures the salvation status of the soul so that the believer's relation to God is always secure, Jn. 5:24; Eph. 4:30.
      2. That being said, God promises to guide the believer in this life, backing up the promise with His Name, Ps. 23:3; Ro. 8:14.
      3. That being said, God gives every believer a spiritual gift (1 Pet. 4:10) so he can always succeed in ministry where God leads him in life if he develops & uses the gift, 2 Tim. 1:6f; 1 Tim. 4:14ff.
      4. That being said, by depending on the Holy Spirit, the believer can retain his doctrinal purity while serving God, 2 Tim. 1:13f.
      5. That being said, God promises to help the believer succeed against ALL opposing actions that all others -- even family -- might do to try to block him from achieving God's goals for his ministry assignment, Jer. 1:5-8, 17-19 and 12:5-6 via Rev. 3:14.
    3. These combined securities of the obedient individual provide a shield around him that lead to spin-off security blessings for his family:
      1. In one sense, God never promises a Church era family will be blessed if it is upright, for INDIVIDUALS in the Church era decide even if they will believe in Christ just to enter His care, Rev. 22:17! Thus, there exists NO FAMILY-WIDE divine "insurance program" per se in the Church's dispensation!
      2. Yet, there are "spin-off" family blessings from individual holiness:
        1. If just one party in a family knows and fellowships with Christ, there is some degree of protective, spiritual "sanctification" set up around the household of even unbelievers, 1 Cor. 7:13-14.
        2. Specifically, IF a godly believer serves GOD by way of his or her spiritual ability, using the resources offered in II,A,3 above to the full, he or she succeeds and is divinely sustained! That logically leads to some sustainment of the others of the home who live in family-relation with that believer, Ps. 37:25-26!
        3. Thus, the believer's exposure to and use of Scripture on a daily basis that affects his own obedience level to God has profound spin-off providential blessings for all around him, Dt. 17:18-20.
  3. Now, IF other family members REJECT Christ AND proper relationships with a godly member, the family unit may FOLD UP, but the GODLY INDIVIDUAL will STILL be able to FLOURISH!
    1. The blessings God promises in section II,A,3 are made to individuals who function in God's will. They do not cover the family per se.
    2. Thus, ungodly family members can sin so as to destroy the family unit regardless of the godly family member's uprightness.
    3. Yet, godly individuals will stand out as sources of divine blessing even though the family unit around them unravels due to sin, for their source of sustainment is GOD ALONE, cf. Jer. 17:5-8.
Application: To maximize the opportunity for blessing in one's family, a concerned individual in that family must (1) believe on Christ as Savior from sin to enter God's "much more" care, Jn. 1:11-13; Rom. 8:32 and II,A,3 above. (2) Then he mus t (a) fellowship with Christ via confession of sins that arise (1 Jn. 1:9) and depend on the Holy Spirit for the empowering (Gal. 5:16-23) to heed God's Word for divine blessing, 1 Jn. 3:3-6. (b) Also, he must develop and use his spiritual gift and t he Holy Spirit's power to heed God's will in life (sec. II,A,3) to maximize God's positive influences and blessings for other members in the family. (3) It MAY be that SOME other family members will RESIST God and the godly individual involved, even destro ying the family as a unit: THOUGH this occurs, GOD will STILL provide an emotional, mental, physical and spiritual "clearing" in which the godly may still function to obey God's will and blossom in His blessing, cf. Jer. 17:5-8 and 1:5-8, 17-19 with 12:5-6.

Lesson: There is NO guarantee of the preservation of a FAMILY today, for God works with INDIVIDUALS as having SONS, not GRANDSONS! However, an INDIVIDUAL who heeds Christ gives his FAMILY a much greater OPPORTUNITY for welfare by way of spin-off blessings!

Conclusion: (to illustrate the sermon's lesson . . . )

 Several years ago, I witnessed a breath-taking advertisement on television. It began by picturing an attractive young woman in her late teens starting to sing acappella the song, "Amazing Grace." As the camera moved backwards, she was joined by a surroun ding choir of voices in a large cathedral. It was a very ornate, moving setting, something you would expect to see in a Christian music video.

It was then that the commentator overshadowed the choir as he began to describe something about this girl. She had survived an abortion attempt by her mother. Her body bore horrific scars beneath her clothes where she had been punctured and sliced by the surgeon.

Yet, she had lived and had come to believe in Jesus Christ as her Savior. There she was, on an anti-abortion advertisement, singing of her faith in Jesus Christ and how God's grace had "saved a wretch like me."



However godless had been her mother or the father who had sired her, however godless had been the medical personnel who had tried to kill her at birth, this young woman was still singing to the glory of Jesus her Savior! THROUGH CHRIST SHE HAD SURVIVE D A DISMANTLED FAMILY STRUCTURE AT ITS WORST, AND LIVED TO TESTIFY OF GOD'S GREAT GRACE IN SPITE OF IT!

individual in spite of what happens to his or her family unit, and do so with great personal blessing to others, even the family, in return! We must turn to Him!