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From the Pulpit
It is foolish to build a house on the sand; even more so to build a home on the shifting sands of humanism, etc. There are two types of threats to homes, internal and external. Concerning the internal, Matthew 10:36 tells us, "and man's foes shall be they of his own household," Some things that can cause a house or home to fail are lack of discipline, lack of spiritual training, lack of praise and lack of love. Proverbs 13:24 reads, "He that spareth the rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes (promptly)." Proverbs 23: 13-14 says "Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shall beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell." This is not talking about child abuse, this is meaning discipline. There is a difference. We can't always point our fingers at the schools, judges or even the church. Lack of spiritual training goes hand in hand with discipline. Ephesians 6:4 tell us, "And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath (anger); but bring them up in the nurture (training) and admonition of the Lord." Proverbs 22:6 tells us, "Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it." We need to spiritually apply 1 Timothy 5:8 which says, "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel or unbeliever. Lack of praise will cause problems in the home. If a child lives with criticism, he or she learns to be critical. Parents need to set the example as pointed out in Proverbs 31:28, "Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and praiseth her." We need to be as quick to praise as to punish or point out faults. 1 Peter 2:13-14 instructs us, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake; whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. A major concern of mine is the lack of love in homes, even in America. If love prevailed there would be no fighting, cheating, defrauding, arguing, abusing, or divorcing. The hurting would stop. We need to apply 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 to our homes. It says, "charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up; doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in inquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." Luther said, "for still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe." Ephesians 6:11 tells us, "put on the whole armour of God; that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." There are many external things troubling our homes today. Among some of those are audio-visual availability, too many electronic games, homes with no fathers because men are not wanting to be men of God, parents that have made working and making money their god, and mothers in the home struggling to do it all by themselves. Last but not least, people have forgotten to honor our heavenly father and his house on Sunday, the day the Lord arose and gave his church a reason to worhip him. Our children do not love church as our grandparents did, because we have forsaken to assemble ourselves together in true praise and worship to him in the father's house.
We are paying the price and will continue to pay the price until we line up with God's word and live our lives accordingly.
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