you
Oh, yeah? You guys are new?
Look at that.
That would have been skydiving,
bungee jumping,
swim shotting, rubber poster.
Is that how it is?
Oh, okay.
Train bus? Bus and train?
Yeah, bus, train, bus.
What?
Oh, why?
Because it didn't work today.
I just wanted to tell you that.
Yeah, because I had found something
and then I put the cabinet on.
I'll get you the tape on the nose.
Yeah.
How do you know?
There's a lot of stuff
on the trip.
In the trip, yeah.
There's a lot of stuff on the trip.
Yeah.
There's a lot of stuff on the trip.
Are you preaching on Genesis 2 that it's of the garden only?
No.
Because Genesis 2 teaches that all the birds, everything that was made...
I'm not preaching on that though.
I'm preaching on marriage.
That's alright.
Alright brethren, please find your seats. Grab your hymnals.
We're about to begin.
Find your seats. Grab your hymnals.
Welcome to church this morning.
If you can please turn to hymn number 16.
Let's start with hymn number 16.
Majestic sweetness sits and thrown.
Hymn number 16.
And when you have found it, can you please stand?
Hymn number 16. Majestic sweetness sits and thrown.
Alright, let's sing it up to the Lord.
Majestic sweetness sits and thrown.
Upon the Savior's brow.
His head with radiant glory is crowned.
His lips with grace o'erflow.
No mortal can with Him compare
among the sons of men.
Fairer is He than all the fair
who fill the heavenly train.
Who fill the heavenly train.
He saw me punch in deep distress
and flew to my relief.
For me He bore the shameful cross
and carried all my grief.
And carried all my grief.
To Him I owe my life and breath
and all the joys I have.
He makes me triumph over death
and saves me from the grave.
And saves me from the grave.
Alright, great singing. Heavenly Father, Lord,
we thank you for the opportunity to be in your house this morning.
Lord, I just pray that our songs will be lifted up to you in praise
and in worship, Lord, that you'll receive the thanksgiving
that we give you as a church. Lord, we thank you so much for salvation.
That you've given us a free gift of everlasting life.
And Lord, we just seek to praise you this morning to please you.
And I pray that your Holy Spirit will touch our hearts and minds
as we learn from your Word this morning.
Amen.
You may be seated.
Alright, hymn number 45 now.
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear.
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear
Hymn number 45.
Across my peaceful rest
And not away
Of trouble road
Across my peaceful rest
Alright, you've put away your hymnals
and take your Bibles and turn to Psalm 19.
Take your Bibles and turn to Psalm 19.
We'll sing Psalm 19.
Psalm 19.
So, I can't remember how familiar you are really with it.
But we start with verse number 7.
You may recall verse number 7
and then the chorus is verse number 10.
We start with verse number 7 and the chorus is verse number 10.
So, Psalm 19 in your Bibles.
Hopefully you guys remember how to sing it.
Verse number 7. Ready?
The law of the Lord is perfect
Convert in the soul
The testimony of the Lord is sure
Making wise the simple
Verse 10
More to be desired
Are they then gold
Yea, they're much fine gold
Sweeter also than honey
And the honey conversates
The statutes of the Lord are right
Rejoice in the heart
The commandment of the Lord is pure
Enlighten in the eyes
More to be desired
Are they then gold
Yea, they're much fine gold
Sweeter also than honey
And the honey combs
Verse 9
The fear of the Lord is clean
Enduring forever
The judgments of the Lord are true
And righteous altogether
More to be desired
Are they then gold
Yea, they're much fine gold
Sweeter also than honey
And the honey combs
Verse 11
Moreover by them
Is thy servant warned
And in keeping of them
There is great reward
More to be desired
Are they then gold
Yea, they're much fine gold
Sweeter also than honey
And the honey combs
Verse 14
Let the words of my mouth
And the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord
My strength and my Redeemer
More to be desired
Are they then gold
Yea, they're much fine gold
Sweeter also than honey
And the honey combs
Genesis 2
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished
And all the host of them
And on the seventh day God ended
His work which He had made
And He rested on the seventh day
From all His work which He had made
And God blessed the seventh day
And sanctified it
Because that in it
He had rested
From all the work
Or His work
Which God created and made
These are the generations of the heavens
And the earth
When they were created
In the day that the Lord God
Made the earth and the heavens
Every plant of the field
Before it was made
Before it
In the earth
Was in the earth
Every herb of the field
Before it grew
For the Lord God had
Not caused it to rain upon the earth
And there was not a man to till the ground
But there went up a mess from the ground
From the earth
And watered the whole face of the ground
And the Lord God formed
Of the dust of the ground
And breathed into His nostrils
The breath of life
A man
And man became a living soul
And the Lord God planted in the garden
A garden in eastward in Eden
And there He put the man
And whom He had formed
And out of the ground the Lord
Made the Lord
To grow every tree
That was pleasant to the sight
And good for food
And the tree of life
Also in the midst of the garden
And the tree of knowledge
Of good and evil
And the river went
Out of Eden
Water
And the river went out of Eden
To water the garden
And from thence it was
Parted
And became four heads
The name of the first was Pison
That is
It which compaseth
The whole land of
Havilah
Where there is gold
And the gold
Of that land is good
There is
Bedilium
And the onyx stone
And the name of the second river is
Gaon
The same is that which compaseth
The whole land of Ethiopia
And the name of the third river is
Hiddekel
That is
It which goeth
Toward the east of Assyria
And the fourth river is
Euphrates
And God
The Lord God
Took the man and
Put him in the garden of Eden
To dress it and to keep it
And the Lord God commanded
The man saying
Of every tree of the garden thou mayest
Freely eat
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
Thou shalt not eat of it
For in the day that thou shalt
In the day that thou eatest thereof
Thou shalt surely die
And the Lord God said
It is not good that man should be alone
I will make
Him and help me
For him
Help me for him
And out of the ground
The Lord God
Formed every beast of the field
And every
Foul of the air
And brought them unto
Adam to see what he would call them
And whatsoever he called
Every living
Creature that was its name thereof
And Adam
Gave names to all cattle
And to all fowl
Of the air
And to every beast of the field
But for Adam was not found
And help
Meet for him
And the Lord
God caused
A deep sleep
To fall upon Adam
And he slept
And he took one of his ribs
And closed up the flesh thereof
And the rib
Which the Lord God had taken from man
He made a woman
And brought her to the man
And Adam said
This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh
She shall be called woman
Because she was taken from man
Therefore
Shall a man leave his father and mother
And shall cleave unto
His wife
And they shall be one
Flesh
They were both naked
The man and his wife
And were not ashamed
Let's pray
Father, thank you for bringing us to church today
Lord, I pray for the people that are sick today
And Lord, I pray that you would bless
Pastor Sepulveda
While he preaches the word to us
In Jesus' name we pray
Amen
Alright, we have Genesis chapter 2
Very famous story of course
Of how God created Adam
And then created Eve from his side
And if you have a look at Genesis chapter 2
And just look at verse number 22
Genesis 2 22
It just says there
And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man
Made he a woman
And brought her unto the man
And Adam said
This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh
She shall be called woman
Because she was taken out of man
Therefore shall a man leave
His father and his mother
And shall cleave unto his wife
And they shall be one flesh
The title for the sermon this morning is
Finding identity and stability in family
You see here
We're talking about day number 6
When God created man
As soon as he creates Adam
Well the same day he creates his wife
And we see immediately on day number 1
Not just the creation of man and woman
But the creation of family
Family is a very important institution
That God has created
Even before the church existed
Even before the house of God existed
God created family
And we're going through the perfect man series
And if we're talking about the perfect man
Being complete, being whole
What the perfect man needs
Is a complete and whole family
Family is so important
In your growth as a Christian
It's so important in you
Finding identity and stability
It's such an important factor
That gets overlooked
Society today does not care for families
Society does not think that a man and woman
Getting married
That should be the only criteria of family
Since 2017 we had
The change of marriage laws
To be same sex marriage
LGBT, filthy, disgusting
Creatures that they are wanting to get married
Man and man and woman with women
And they call this family
That is not family
Society is trying to destroy what family is
They're trying to tell you that children are a burden
Let someone else raise your children up
They're just going to restrict you from your career development
They're going to restrict you from living the life
The exciting life that you want to live
Society does not value family
But God values family
He creates that from day number one
And I want you to notice that even though Adam and Eve
Did not have children as of yet
They were still a family
He left mother and father
In fact they did not even have mother and father
They had no earthly parents
And yet it is so important to God
That he gets jotted down here
Therefore shall a man leave father and mother
And cleave unto his wife
You see when you leave your family
You create a brand new family
When you get married you are not part of another family
You create a new family unit
Husband and wife
Family is so important to God
And when we think about the Christian life
We think about the experience that we go through
As a Christian, if you're saved
You are going to experience
Three different families
Ideally, the possibility is
That you can experience three different families
In this life
Especially if you are saved
But the reason why family is so important
And this is where people kind of miss the point
The reason family is so important to God
Is because family exists
Within the nature of God
Family exists within the nature of God
Keep your finger there in Genesis chapter 2
Come with me to John chapter 17
John chapter 17 and verse number 4
Family exists within the nature of God
There is a reason why
When we talk about the triune nature of God
We say God the Father
God the Son
God the Holy Spirit
These aren't just titles
With no meaning
There's a reason why he's the Father
There's a reason why he's the Son
Is because there's family
You know the institutional family
Exists within the nature of God
I've already told you that
Within the nature of God exists
Authority, a structure
A chain of command but so does family
A father and son relationship
It says there in John 17 verse 4
Jesus Christ says these words
I have glorified thee on the earth
He's glorified his father on the earth
I have finished the work which thou gaveth me to do
He says father I'm doing the work
You're in charge
I'm doing the work that you've asked me to do
Verse number 5 look at this
You see family existed
Even before the world was
How did family exist?
Father-son relationship
And one thing that's going to help you
Understand the value of family
The value of family and the value that God has
With parents and children
Is just understanding this makes up
The nature of God
He already has a family unit within
His triune being
When we talk about the most famous verse
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son
It's not like
God just gave himself
He gave his son
When you think about parents you think about the value of your children
How much you love them
How much you care for them
How much you don't care if they're protected
Well God was willing to offer up his son
Was willing to give up that protection
So the son can die in our place
And offer us salvation
That was not an easy process for God to do
Just as much as it would not be easy
For you to give up your child
And offer them up as a sacrifice
Towards your enemies
But when you understand the value of family
When you can experience those emotions
Experience the responsibility of taking care of family
You can truly appreciate why the father
Gives up his son
Because families are really in the nature of God
It already exists
And this is where people get mixed up
Because sometimes people look at
Human beings
And we understand that before a son
Can come into being
The father must be there first
Some people start teaching well Jesus Christ wasn't really the son
Until sometime later
That's because they're trying to take human
Characteristics and applying it to God
You've got it mixed up
That's not how you describe God
You understand God through his word
And you can understand as the son glorifies the father
He asks the father can you glorify me in the same way
Before the world was
This relationship already existed
It did not come into existence
This is the nature of God
And God understands the value of this nature
And says when I create man
I want them to experience some of this family
Life
And so he creates man and woman
He creates the ability to have children
This is a good thing to have
It's a good thing to experience
Come with me to first John now
Come with me to first John
First John chapter 2
First John chapter 2 and verse number 23
First John chapter 2 verse number 23
Now parents
If you've got your children that you love very much
You've worked hard to provide for them
To give them clothes
To give them food to give them education
What if some stranger
What's up to your child
And despises them, hates them
Abuses them
Bullies them
Beats up your child
How would you feel about that individual that does it to your child
Obviously you would not have good feelings
Toward that person
Obviously you'd try to step in
And protect your child
And if it requires you to step in and be physical
To protect your child you would do that
You'd be willing to do whatever it takes to protect your children
And again this then brings to light
When you reject the son
How does the father feel about you rejecting the son
When he's offered up his son
As a sacrifice
And you say
The ungodly wicked world says
I don't need the son
I think I can make it to heaven on my own merits
I don't think it's
People say to me
The reason I don't believe in Christianity
Is because how can a father sacrifice his son
That doesn't seem right to me
They're rejecting the son
They're rejecting the sacrifice
How do you think the father is going to feel
By you rejecting the one who gave his life for you
It says in 1 John 2 verse 23
You cannot have the father without the son
You reject the son
How do you think the father is going to feel about that
If you mistreat my kids
If someone mistreats your kids
How are you going to feel about that
Are you going to be just accepting toward that person
Oh yeah just go ahead, keep rejecting my child
Keep ignoring my child
Keep abusing my child
Are you going to accept that? No of course not
So you can understand if you don't acknowledge your son
If you don't receive the son
If you don't believe in the son
Why would the father want anything to do with you
To slap in the face
Especially when you offered him up
To be your sacrifice
I'm drawing you back to the Lord God
Because it's within his nature
He values family
You reject the son
Don't tell me you got the father
Judaism, they reject the son
They don't believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah
They don't believe Jesus Christ is the son of God
Islam does not believe God has a son
You reject the son, the father is going to want nothing to do with you
Nothing to do with you
You're not right with God
And we can understand this
When you have families, you have children
And you see people reject them
Of course it's going to make you feel cranky
Of course it's going to make you upset
Of course you're going to want to reject that person
As I said, generally speaking
A Christian will be part of three families in their lifetime
As a general rule
The first family, of course, is your family at birth
Your family at birth
And you got no choice as to which family you were born into
I mean, mum and dad got together
You were born into that family
And no family is perfect
I had the blessing of growing up in a Christian home
Many of you did not have that blessing
Some of you did, some of you didn't
But there are
Whether it's a Christian home or not
And of course when it comes to a Christian home
You can learn about Jesus
You can learn about the Bible
You can learn about what God expects
So you've got that advantage
You're going to hear the gospel much earlier in life
And you'll be able to call upon the Lord much easier
But there are still advantages
To growing up in a strong loving family
There are still advantages
Even just an ungodly, unsafe family
If they've still got the love that exists
Between husband and wife
They still have love that is given to the children
There are advantages to a strong loving family
And what I'm going to read to you
It's not my list
It's not a Bible list
It's something that I just looked into from secular material
Looked up online
What are some advantages to a strong loving family
What does the research show
If you're growing from an independent Baptist website
Or anything like that, or a pastor
This is just some research that was done
About the advantages of a strong loving family
Number one
So this is for the children
Children growing up in a strong home
Number one
It improves the mental health of the children
Okay
If you grow up in a family unit that's strong and together
Your child is going to be more mentally strong
Than a child that grows up in a broken home
Okay
You know, if you've got a family, if you're married
And you've got that
This is one reason you want to stay together
This is one reason you're going to fight for your marriage
Because it's going to influence your children
You know, you break your family
It's going to influence your children
Affect your children in such a negative way
Number two
If you have a strong loving family
It helps children perform well academically
Okay, they'll do well in their studies
If they see a loving family
Number three
It lowers the risk of behavioural problems
Lowers the risk of behavioural problems
Now
The reason this one rings a bell to me
Is because when I grew up
I grew up in Canleyvale, just a suburb away from here
One suburb away from Cabramatta
And in the 80s and the 90s
There was a lot of gang problems
In my area
There was a lot of criminal activity
And the reason this existed
Is because we had the migration of many people
Many from the Asian countries
And many of the migration was illegal
Illegal migration, boat people
You know, that kind of terminology
And sometimes
I'd hear stories where children
Are put on a boat so they can live a better life
In Australia, but the parents have to stay behind
Or stories where the parents
Have travelled with the children
But the parents have perished at sea
And so you have these Asian children
Coming to Australia illegally
Without parents, without a strong family
Unit
And they get into communities like Cabramatta
Or so, okay
And then what do they do? They try to find family
They're trying to find identity
Because they haven't got mum and dad
And so they get together with other children
Of their age, other children that have suffered
Other children that have lost their families
They get together and they become a family
In their eyes, they become a gang
Okay, and what do you notice?
Again, lowers the risk of behavioural problems
When you have a strong loving family
Well if you haven't got that family
These children get up to criminal activities
They've got each other's backs
You know, they're full of corruption
They attack shop owners
They say, hey, we're going to protect your shop
If you make sure you pay us this amount of sum
By the end of every week, we're going to come and collect that sum
So we protect your shop, meaning
If you don't pay the sum, we're going to come and destroy your business
Things like that, and there was a high
Gang activity, at least in the 80s and 90s
I think it's been cleaned up now
But it's because we had children
Coming in from Asian countries
Without their families
Family is so important
Number four
It boosts self-confidence
When you have a strong, united family
Self-confidence
And the reason for this, fathers, there is something
About being a father that you cannot overlook
Your children want to know
That you approve of them
That your children, I know your children
Disobey, I know your children do wrong
But they need to know that
Dad loves me
Man, there is an authority in my life
That cares for me, that I'm included
As part of that family
Because when they don't have that loving father
They start seeking approval
From other places
Other places that are not, sometimes even approval from a pastor
Sometimes I have that, people who are trying to get my approval
Trying to treat me like a father
But I'm not a father
I'm not that father
There's this problem, and you can have people
In their 30s, in their 40s, in their 50s
And they're still trying to seek approval from their father
You say, why, you should grow up by now
Yeah, but they didn't grow up with that authority
With that acceptance when they were children
They've lost that
Number five, the advantages of
A strong loving family
Is that it helps the children
Learn future parenting skills
I mean, it makes sense, if they see mum and dad
Do a good job, then they know how to become a parent
They've seen it by example
And they can follow after their parents
Number six, it teaches effective
Conflict resolution
Because I know what it's like, a household with 11 kids
There's conflicts
As much as my kids love each other
And are friendly, there's going to be conflicts
And unlike another situation
Where you can run away from problems
Within family, you can't run away from problems
You're there, you're under the same house
And so you've got to learn how to get along
You have to learn how to make peace
And this is important, because when you learn to make peace as children
Then when you go out into the real world
And you have major conflicts
Then you learn how to make peace with people as well
It's encouraging your family
Your kids aren't going to learn conflict resolution
It reduces stress
Number seven, number eight
It promotes adaptability
And resilience
So it gives your children thicker skin
They won't be so offended by every little thing
And I think, again, it becomes
The reason for that is because
They have acceptance in their family
So they're not needing acceptance in other places
You know, when they don't have acceptance
With you in the family, again, they're trying to find acceptance
Somewhere else, and if they don't get it
They might get offended, they have thin skin
They're always offended, you know
But you can find adaptability and resilience
Within family
Number nine, it enhances physical health
This is all research
Your health is improved
When you're brought up in a loving family
And number ten, it lengthens
Life expectancy
Now this is really interesting
It lengthens
This is, again, not a biblical
Article that I'm reading from
This is a secular article
It says if children grow up in a strong, loving family
It lengthens
Their life expectancy
And that should be no surprise
I'll quickly read to you
Ephesians 6 verse 1
I'll just read it to you quickly
Children, obey your parents to the Lord
For this is right
Honor thy father and mother
Which is the first commandment we've promised
That it may be well with thee
But not on the earth
That's what God says
If you honor Mum and Dad
You're respectful to Mum and Dad
And the way they honor, the reason
The way your children can be obedient to Mum and Dad
Is by Mum and Dad passing down instructions
Putting down boundaries
Giving rules around the house
So the children can learn how to obey
And when they obey and they honor their parents
God says you have a longer life
And even secular research says
Hey, when a child grows up in a family like that
Then the average child
See, God's word is always true
God's word knows
And so, you know, if we're Christians
And we are, we're saved and we have children
There's a few families here today
I've got my children
I want the best for my kids
I want them to live a long, good life
You know, and so it's so important
Even when Mum and Dad sometimes have conflicts
That in the children's eyes
They see Mum and Dad united
You know, husband and wife
You know, conflict
Go to the bedroom, sort it out
Apologize to one another
Then go back out and let the kids see Mum and Dad united
Not arguing and fighting
Okay, it's good for their mental health
Okay
Now, another article, what are some of the disadvantages?
Disadvantages to children in a broken
Or loveless marriage
So this is where there might be divorce
Or there might be remarriage
Or there might be step-parents
Or loveless, so Mum and Dad are together
I've spoken to people like this, they know
Mum and Dad, yeah, we never got divorced because they didn't believe in divorce
But they hated each other's guts
It's like two individuals living in the same house
But they have nothing to do with each other
Or they're arguing, they're fighting
Maybe even physical abuse took place
Because Mum and Dad were old school
And they did not believe in separation and divorce
Well, even in that scenario, these are the disadvantages
It says
Children in families
Whether parents have broken
Or loveless marriages
Are prone to depression
And emotional disorders
Not only do they grow up
Having a disturbed mindset
This is what's interesting
Their opinion on almost
Everything
Is extremely negative
And I've seen that
I've observed that
People that grow up in a broken home
Or a loveless marriage
Life to them, they're getting through life
But everything's negative
They complain about everything
Whine about everything
Everything's bad
They never see the positive side
They always see the negative side
And there are people like this
I guarantee you there are people like this
Even within our church
That have grown up in broken homes
And if you were to ask them, hey, is that like you?
Do you have a negative mindset?
They'll be like, yeah, I do
And the reason for that is because they've grown up in a broken home
Everything's negative
When they see that broken
It breaks them
The thing that they want and desire the most
Mum and dad to love one another
And that gets destroyed in their life
Of course, in light of everything else
Life sucks
When mum and dad don't get along
It continues
It says they also have
Major trust issues
To the extent that they can't
Even trust their own parents
Well mum and dad, I thought you guys were going to be together
Mum and dad, I thought you guys were going to look after the children
And love us
And we're going to have a united family
And we're going to be together
But I can't trust that anymore
They don't trust anyone
Negative, negative
And again, you feel sorry for these people
You kind of want to snap them out of it
But you can't really because there's emotional damage that has been done
From childhood
So, you know, when God says
That marriage is the death to us part
You understand, it's not just
It affects your children
It damages your children
If you get divorced
Or if they see a family, mum and dad hating one another
Fighting one another
It's so important that we get along
Look, I'd rather fight with
Everybody in this church
But be at peace with my wife
Than for me to get along with everybody at church
And be fighting with my wife
Because I see my wife every day
Hours and on
And every day
With you, we go home our separate ways
And I have to see you for a whole week at least
Or a month maybe
But my wife, I have to see her every day
I'd rather get along with her
I'd rather get along with all of you
But why do we want to live a life
Where we're just angry at the person
That we have to live with for the rest of our life
How about we just say, hey, you know what
Let's just find a way to get along
Let's just remind ourselves why we fell in love
What was it that I loved about you
What was it that you loved about me
Let's ask these children, let's make it work for our children
You know
Because we see here just how much damage it does cause
To children when parents are fighting
Or broken
Come with me to Ephesians chapter 5 please
Ephesians chapter 5
What I want to talk about now is
The Father's authority
God created Adam first
And Eve was created to be a help
To Adam
Okay
Listen, you're not going to hear this in the world
You barely even hear this in churches now
But the man is the head of the house
Amen
The man has authority in the house
Look, no one really debates
Myself as a pastor
To have authority in this church
I mean some people have debated that in the past
But generally speaking, right
People don't want to debate because they know
Look, it makes sense that there's authority within
An institution
When you go to work and you work for your boss
Your supervisor, your manager
You may not even like your manager
But you're not going to argue that he's got the authority
That it makes sense to have someone
Who calls the shots, that gives direction
That shows a vision
And other people get behind that and accomplish that task
No one's going to argue that
When we talk about the nation of Australia
Once again, as much as whether you like the government
Whether you like our politicians or not
No one's going to argue that it makes sense
And it is biblical that God has instructed
There to be governance
There to be laws, to punish wicked people
You know, to make sure that
The nation can operate with
Righteousness and without corruption
No one's going to debate that there ought to be
Authority within a nation
But for some reason when it comes to family
People have a hard time to say
Well, there must be authority within the family as well
And the reason why there must be authority within family
Ahead
Is because we already saw within the nature of God
We have the Father who gives the Son instructions
We have the Son who submits his will
To the Father's will
We see the Father who sends the Son
And then who sends the Holy Spirit
There is a chain of command, there is authority
This is within the nature of God
Look, God is perfect, he's righteous
He's a good God
It's good to have authority
We live in a strange society
That wants to rebel against authority
It doesn't make sense
Authority is within the nature of God
We have a society that wants to rebel against family
Family is in the nature of God
We have a society that wants to rebel against authority
Authority is in the nature of God
You're rebelling against God
When you're rebelling against these things
There is authority within family
God's created man
The husband to be the head of the wife
Not 50-50 authority
That's not the truth of God's word
Not 80-20
100% to the man
Both husband and wife have authority over the children
Don't get me wrong
But the one who's in charge
And in charge doesn't just say I call the shots
In charge means you're now responsible
You're accountable
To the family below you
If you're responsible
You're responsible
If I'm the pastor of this church
And everyone's reading from the NIV
Instead of the King James Bible
I'm accountable for that
God's going to hold me accountable
Why is your church reading from the new international version?
Or if you're running a business
And your employees
Don't know how to do the job
The boss who trained them
Who employed them
Is responsible
Are you going to train these people up?
Are you going to get them to accomplish the task they need to accomplish?
Or are you least going to fire them and get someone that does know the job?
Because you're accountable
Fathers, yes you call the shots
You have authority, but you're accountable
If your family
Aren't living the way that God wants them to live
It's on your shoulders
It's your responsibility
That comes with authority
I want to call the shots
But I want to take accountability
Then you're not the leader that you ought to be
But Ephesians 5 please
Ephesians 5 23
For the husband
Is the head of the wife
Just in case you thought it was just my opinion
There it is
What's another interpretation of that verse?
There is no interpretation of the verse
Just read it, that's what it says
For the husband is the head of the wife
And it compares this
Even in the same way
As Christ is the head of the church
And the saviour
Of the body
You see Christ is the head of the church
You're the saviour of the body
Husbands, fathers
Yes you're the head of your wife
But you ought to be the saviour of your family
You ought to be the one that looks after them
That gives them security, gives them stability
Gives them everything they need in life
To do well
That's your job
I'm the head but I'm not going to take care of my family
You're not even doing half the job really
But that's what the Bible says
And if you go to
Go to Ephesians 4 please
Sorry, Ephesians 6
Ephesians 6
So husbands, fathers, you've got to throw in your family
Ephesians 6 verse 4
And this is the other one
I really want fathers to
Absorb please
Because I know fathers sometimes
We say yes I know I've got to provide, I've got to go work
And take care of my family needs
And so I'm busy and so therefore
I'm going to leave my wife to take care of the children
That's good as well
But sometimes what happens with men
Let's read it, verse number 4
And you fathers, so if you're a father this is for you
And you fathers provoke not your children to wrath
Look at this, but
Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord
It doesn't say fathers
Just leave it up to your wife to bring up the children
Oh I go to work
So my wife is the one that raises the children
No, it says there, fathers
Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord
See fathers you also have the responsibility
To get involved in your children's education
In your children's understanding of the Bible
In your children's direction of life
In passing down instruction and teaching to your children
You can't just leave it up to wife
I mean that's a good thing to do
Mum's going to be around more hours than dad
Generally speaking
But you can't be like oh that's just her responsibility then
I'm going to go to work, I finish work and I'm going to hang out with the boys
Now you come home and bring up the children as well
You help out with the family
Because that's what some fathers think that
I've provided
Now I can just do my own thing
I'm going to go hit the gym, hang out with the boys
Honey I'll see you tonight
Come home, bring up the children
In the nurture and admonition of the Lord
Meaning they're going to have to hear you talk about the Lord
They're going to have to see you open up the Bible
And teach them something of value
Let me read another article to you
Another secular article
It says here
Children from fatherless homes
I'm talking about fathers specifically here because of the other head
But children from fatherless homes
You say pastor I just can't get along with my wife
I think I'm going to leave her
You know we just don't see eye to eye
Why do I want to live a miserable life
I think I'm just going to go
Oh let her have the house and she'll have everything
Kids will be taken care of, you'll all be good for them
No no no
This is what the research shows
Children from fatherless homes
Are more likely to be poor
Become involved in drug and alcohol abuse
Drop out of school
And suffer from health and emotional problems
Boys are more likely to become involved in crime
And girls are more likely to become pregnant as teens
That's true
I've seen this
That's true, I've seen this
You know when you look at these people
Involved in drugs, falling pregnant
Single mothers, you look back
Was dad involved in life?
No they weren't
They weren't there
So dad you've got to get along with mum
You have to fix your marriage
You've got to sort it out
I'll be the best father I can
I'll make sure they've got everything but I'll leave them
Well then you're increasing the chances
That your children are going to turn out to be derelicts
Okay, destroy their lives
Let me just read another one
It says here
I want to make it very clear
These are just secular articles
About research on families
Make that very clear
There's another article that says
Fathers like mothers
Fathers like mothers are pillars
In the development
Of a child's emotional wellbeing
Children look up to their fathers
Look up to their fathers
This is what a secular article says
You're not going to hear this in school
You're going to hear this from the researchers
I want you to pay attention
Children look to their fathers
Not mothers, to their fathers
To lay down the rules
And enforce them
Children expect
Dad, what are the rules?
Dad, how are you going to enforce
Dad, I broke the rules
I need a smack
Yes sir
Your children want this
I promise you
Your children are saying
I don't want that dad
They do want this
And I'll tell you how I know they want this
Children that do not grow up with any boundaries
Children that do not grow up with any discipline
They become spoiled kids
They become angry kids
They become rebellious teenagers
They become haters of mother and father
But when you discipline them
And you give them a little pain
And you give them a little pain on the behind
And they cry some tears
And then they say sorry
And then you hug
And you forgive them
Guess what happens immediately afterwards?
Happy, joyful, all forgotten, back to normal
Because within the child
They must, they demand
Dad, give me the rules
And dad, when I break them
Can you correct me?
Because they're learning, they need development
They need instruction, they need guidance
And they're looking at that from dad
Because they think dad is a strong one
Dad's the one that's going to enforce the rule, surely it's going to be dad at least
I mean, mum should get involved as well
But dads, you can't drop the ball in this area
It says they also look to their fathers
To provide a feeling of security
Both physical and emotional
Children want to make their fathers proud
And an involved father
Promotes inner growth and strength
Involved fathers
Not just working all day, never saying
Never see the kids' fathers
Involved, involved in their lives
You promote inner growth and strength
Studies have shown
That when fathers are affectionate
And supportive
It greatly affects a child's cognitive
And social development
It also instils
An overall sense of wellbeing
And self confidence
Father, you've got a massive responsibility
On your shoulders
I've got a massive responsibility on my shoulders
If I want my kids to
You know, we homeschool the kids, right?
What do people say?
How are they going to learn how to be social?
Isn't that what they say about homeschooled kids?
Are they going to be socially awkward?
No, the more involved dads in their lives
The better they're going to be socially
According to research
Let's just take them to the school systems
Away from mum and dad
So they can learn how to be social
They're going to learn how to be antisocial
They're going to learn how to be awkward in that environment
They're going to learn how to be pressured
Into what their peers want
Rather than being strong
And making their own correct decisions
Under the guidance of mum and dad
So we talked about
A family that
Go back to Genesis 2 now please
We talked about the family that you're born into
And the importance of family
So that's the first family, right?
The first family is the one that you're born into
And then of course
Generally speaking
People find a spouse
They find a partner
And then they get married
And this is now your second family
Please don't make the mistake
Of thinking it's just
You know
Sometimes when two people get married
The in-laws might say
Well I've gained a son and I've gained a daughter
That's true
You have, you've gained a daughter in law
You've gained a son in law
You've not gained a son
You don't have authority over that person
You've just gained a son in law
And a daughter in law
It's good, it's a good thing for families to grow
And to care for one another and all these things
But what you must understand
At marriage it's a new family unit
You know, Isabel's my eldest
When she gets married
I no longer have authority over her
Her husband has authority over her
The husband is the head of the wife
Dad's not in the head of
The son in law and
The daughter that he got married, married off
No, he gave his, her hand in marriage
Remember that tradition that we do?
You know, fathers you give your hand, your daughter's hand in marriage
You hand over the responsibility
Genesis 2.23
And Adam said
This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh
She shall be called woman
Because she was taken out of man
And remember
Adam's got no earthly mother or father
But he says, therefore shall a man
He goes, this is what I need to do
Leave his father and his mother
And shall cleave
Unto his wife and they shall be one flesh
When you get married
Biblically
You have left mother and father
I don't encourage you to live
With the in-laws
I don't encourage you to do that
Look, at a specific time
Emergency situation
Temporary time, yes I understand
Things come up, maybe you have to do that for a period of time
But let me encourage you, if you're going to make that decision
Let's get married, you better be ready to leave
Mother and father
Trust, leave the home
Leave and understand
You're now under a new family unit
And
Wives, when you leave mum and dad
And there's problems in the house
Don't run to mum and dad
They've handed you over
If there are problems in the house
You go talk to the head of the house
The husband
And if your husband doesn't listen to him
Go on your knees and pray to Jesus Christ
Say Jesus you are his head
Can you fix my husband
And not just that
But men, when you've got problems
Okay
Don't run to your parents
Don't run to her parents
And say hey, you're the one that gave it to me
To get married and I can't sort out these family issues
That we have in, can you sort out your daughter please
You're the head of your wife
How crazy is that
How crazy, right
You're running to McDonalds, I'm the manager at McDonalds
I've got an employee who's not performing well
So I'm going to go to the KFC manager
Down the road and say KFC manager
Can you sort out my employer over here
That's how ridiculous it is
When you go, after you've taken the wife
Who you're the head of, and you run to her dad
And say dad can you sort her out
Because I can't sort her out
You're the head, you're in charge
You're accountable, take ownership
But you create a new family
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with mum and dad
In-laws
You know, why do some of the in-law problems
Develop in family
Is because the in-laws get too involved
You've got to leave mother and father
And look, I see my mum and dad
Every time I travel here
Sometimes I travel with the family, we stay with my parents
But look, my mum and dad
They barely know, really
They know some of the things, especially with the grandkids
They know a bit about their lives and stuff
But they don't really know about every little argument
I've had with Christina
Mum, I just had another argument with Christina
You know, can you please pray for us
And sort us out, you know
It's my responsibility
Pastor, pastor!
I'm having a fight with my husband, can you please talk to him
Hey, you talk to him
That's the man of the house
And again, who is his head? Jesus
Yeah, I'll pray for you, but you better be praying too
The one that can fix him is Jesus
I can't fix your husband
I can't fix him from behind the pulpit
I'm not going to go to your house though
And sort him out, that's his authority, that's his place
And by the way
Let me just say, fathers
You know, honestly
If I preach something from God's word
Alright, and let's say you don't agree with me
Alright, you think
Well, that's actually pastor's opinion
And you're driving home with your family
So you know what kids, I did not agree with pastor on that issue
This is what I believe we ought to be doing as a family
You know what I say to that family
Obey the head of the house
Listen to him
Because he's the one that has authority over the house
Not me
I do the best I can to preach God's word
But at the end of the day, every man has authority over his own family
Now
You're going to start a new family unit
That's your second family that you get involved in, generally speaking
I looked up another source
I said, what do women look for in a husband?
What do women look for in a husband?
I'm not talking about Christian women
I'm just talking about a woman out there
Okay, that
Lives a normal world of life
When she says, I want to get married
What qualities, I've got ten qualities here
Of what she's looking for in a husband
So this is what women look for
And I agree with every single point on this list
And these aren't Christian women
And so men, if you're a single man
And you're wanting to get married
Then if this is what a woman is looking for
This is what you need to be able to do it
This is what you need to achieve, this is what you need to do
So you're eligible to be someone that can get married
But
I'm going to start from
So these are ten things, I'll start with ten and work my way down
But at tenth place
She wants him to be a good financial prospect
She says, I want my husband
To be in a good financial position
Because I'm going away from
Under the authority of my parents
And I need this man to be able to take care of my needs
Okay
Is he working a job, is he able to provide
Is he saving, is he responsible
With the finances
Is he set up, is he able to take care of me
And if I fall pregnant with children
Is he able to take care of children
That's number ten on the list
And by the way, in this top ten
None of this was his appearance, believe it or not
Okay
Number nine, the next thing that she's looking for
Is a man with good health
Okay, why is that?
Because
She wants to make sure that he's going to be alive tomorrow
Okay
Not only is she going to be under his authority
But you know, she's going to live a life
Ideally they might live till they're 70, 80, 90 years old
100 years old
And she wants to make sure that man's around for the majority of that time
The man has good health
Right, I mean if a man is obese
And you know, bad health
She's not going to feel like that person
That man's going to be able to take care of me
The next thing that she's looking for
Number eight, is a man who's ambitious
Or industrious
Okay, a man who's productive
A man who gets out there
A man who just goes and like what God created a man to be
A worker
Alright, someone that just gets out there
Gets things done
She's not looking for a gamer
Okay, she doesn't care
If you're number one in Fortnite
Or Minecraft
People still playing Minecraft, I don't know
That's not what she's looking for
She's looking for a man who's ambitious and industrious
Number seven, she's looking for a man
Who has a pleasing disposition
Meaning that you're positive minded
You're positive minded
You know, you're generally a happy person
You know, within your company
You know, you lift her spirits
You know, you're not just a downcast man
Oh, life sucks
Because you're just going to pass that on to everyone else in family
She wants someone who's positive minded
A pleasing disposition
Number six, and this is men, I think we struggle sometimes
She's looking for a man
Who has social
I can't pronounce this
Sociability
Or social
Let's put it that way
She's looking for a man who's social
Meaning, honey, I've just worked eight hours
Ten hours at work
Come home, leave me alone, I just want to have rest
She wants someone to be a companion
A friend
Where she can socialise
That's why it's so important, men, that we take time sometimes
To take our wives out on a date
And spend time with her, that's what she's looking for
Number six on the list
So as we keep going down this list
We're actually going up the list
These things become more and more important
For the woman's desire for a husband
Number five, she's looking for someone with education
Or intelligence
You know, if the husband is going to be the head of his wife
She wants to learn from her husband
You know, she doesn't want to be talking to
An airhead man
Right?
She wants a man who knows something
Knows something about the world
That knows something about life
Especially a Christian woman
A man who knows the Bible
A man who can give direction and wisdom in life
Education, intelligence
And believe it or not
This is number four
We're talking about the top four
A secular source
Because again, society does not tell you this
But she's looking for a man
Whose desire is for home and children
Unsaved women
Within the top four desire for a man
She wants a man who has a desire
For home and children
Even though society says
Women forget the kids
They're a waste of your time
Within a woman
She wants a family, she wants a home
She wants children
And she wants a man who's going to love that family
We're not talking about Christian women here
Number three
She's looking for a man who
Has emotional stability
And maturity
Emotional stability and maturity
Why is that?
Because again, generally speaking, women are more emotional
Women have the highs and they have the lows
They're more up and down
Because of their hormones, the way they're created to be
And God's created them in that way on purpose
Because they're more
What's the word I'm looking for?
They're more attuned when children
Are not doing well
They might identify things about
Individuals that parents, fathers
I don't know, I think they're fine, leave them alone
There's something wrong
And usually that intuition within women is because they're more emotional
They're more in touch with feelings
But she's looking for a man
Who's not overly emotional, up and down
He's a rock, he's an
Emotional stability, he's got maturity about him
So when mum's
Getting all worried and upset about the situation
Instead of
The husband going, just calm down woman
Just relax
You ought to be calm
And you can give her the calmness
Encourage her, you know what things are going to turn out alright
Don't worry about it, you don't need to worry about it that much
I think this is just normal procedure
You don't need to get overly concerned
Or this is not our responsibility
Don't worry about that
Let's just focus on the things that are our responsibilities
That's number three
Number two, she's looking for a man
With dependable character
Dependable character
And number one
Number one should be obvious
Number one, she's looking for love
A man who loves her
In fact that is the number one instruction that God gives to the man
Husbands love your wives
That's what God says
Husbands love your wives
That's what she's looking for
This has nothing to do with the Bible, I just read you
And yet this top ten list, I say yes 100%
That's what a woman is looking for
Even if she says she doesn't
Deep down this is what she's looking for
And if you want to get married one day man
If you're single then this is what you ought to be aiming for
I have to be a man in a good financial prospect
I have to have good health
I need to be ambitious, industrious
I have to have a pleasing disposition
I have to be social
I need to educate myself and have intelligence
I want to show that I have desire for a home and children
I need to be someone who's emotionally stable
I want to be someone who's dependable
And I want to be someone that shows love
Toward that person
You've got to be working towards this man
Even married men, we've got to be working towards this
If we've dropped the ball in the area of our life
The decision of who you will marry
Number one, of course, we talk about a Christian perspective
You ought to marry someone who is a believer
Someone who is saved
Why is that so important?
Because there's many reasons why
But I'm going to quickly read to you from Malachi 2.15
Malachi 2.15, the question gets asked
And did not he or God
And did he or God make one
Talking about marriage, you know, one flesh
It says
Yet had he the residue of the spirit
And wherefore one
Why did God make one? Why did God make family?
That he might seek a godly seed
Therefore take heed to your spirit
And let none deal treacherously
Against the wife of his youth
So the reason God created family
In mankind
Is that he would seek a godly seed
So the reason it's so important men and women
That we work on our marriage
Is because we need our children
To love the Lord, to be saved
And then to serve the Lord all the days of their life
That's what God wants
That's ultimately the key there
And then they get married
Then there ought to be bringing forth a godly seed
Etc, etc
But you ought to be making the decision to marry
Someone who is a believer
Women you ought to be looking for a man who has proven
To love and provide
You know
A man who you're willing to be subject under
So I don't think I should be obedient to my husband
Then you should have married
You should have made that decision a long time ago
If I'm going to marry this man
And for young girls
When you decide to marry a man
You're saying hey I'm willing to be under his authority
For the rest of my life
And if you say I can't do that to this person
Then that's not the person you ought to get married to
And again divorce is not an option
Don't let divorce be an option
Like don't even consider it
Don't even let it come out in arguments
Oh then we're just going to get divorced
I didn't mean it, okay but it came out of your mouth
Because the bible says out of the abundance of the mouth
Sorry out of the abundance of the heart
The mouth speaketh
The heart is in your heart
Why speak about divorce?
God hates to put it away, God hates divorce
Alright so
Family is so important to God
That it's the testing ground
On taking an office in church
You know when it comes to becoming a pastor
One of the qualifications, I'll just read it to you quickly
In 1 Timothy 3.5
For if a man know not how to rule his own house
How shall he take care of the church of God?
You know men if you're not accomplishing your responsibilities
As a husband, as a father
As a provider
As the emotional stability
The emotional stable person in the house
Then you're not ready to become a pastor
Okay
It's so important to God that this part of life
Gets sorted out first
Before you take on an office as a pastor
That's how important family is to God
I hate it when I see pastors
Neglecting their families
I hate it
I hate seeing pastors that break up with their wives
Get divorced, commit adultery
I hate it when I see pastors' kids
Hate their parents
Hate the church because mum and dad
Were always involved in church and they were never there
To support them and give them acceptance
That is the worst way
God wants us to make sure our family comes first
Okay
And I promise you this
If my ministry is hurting my family
I will step down as a pastor tomorrow
Today
If it's hurting my family
Because that is my ministry
That is my purpose
I'm trying to raise a godly seed
That's why God has given me a wife and family
Come with me to
Ephesians chapter 3
Ephesians chapter 3 please
Ephesians chapter 3
So girls just make sure
You know there's a few girls here
Even young ones but
When you grow up and you're ready to date
You know have this mindset
Look this person that I'm going to date
I'm going to go out with
This could be my husband one day
You know
Does he have the qualities that I'm looking for in a husband
Does he love me, take care of me
Or is he just involved in a relationship
Is he just involved in playing games
You know is he not serious in life
He's not serious
Look he still could be the husband that you might get
But he's probably not ready at this point in time
You know just make sure you
Do things right
Be careful, be mindful
It's a big decision in life
Like why would you date someone
As a Christian, how many Christians here
Why would you date someone that you think I'll never get married to
Just prepare yourself
And when you're ready to say hey this person
Meets the criteria that I see
In a spouse
This is a man that can take care of my needs
Or this is a woman who's willing to
Put herself under my authority one day
You know
Then I'll date that person, then that's the person
That I'm going to make the decision to have
A relationship, emotional attachment
Because the end goal
Is to get married
But
Here in Ephesians chapter 3
Ephesians chapter 3 verse number 14
Ephesians 3, 14
And this one is the last one
This is the third family that we're part of
And this is of course the family of God
This is in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 14
Okay so Jesus Christ has a father
Okay and we bow ourselves to him
We worship him, but verse number 15 says
The earth is named
What a wonderful thing to be saved
Not only that you're on the way to heaven
But God gives you a family
A Christian family
You know the people in this church this morning
That's your family
You know that's your brother
That's your sister in the Lord
God has given us a family
And even those that have gone before us
Those that have passed away that are saved
That are in heaven, that's our family as well
It says here, of whom the whole family
In heaven and earth is named
Brevin we've got a big family now that we're saved
A big family
Look maybe you grew up in a broken home
Maybe your parents never wanted to be involved in your life
Maybe you've been hurt by human beings
Because we have a sinful nature
Hey maybe your marriage is on the rocks
Maybe you've made major errors in life
Okay and you feel like your marriage has fallen apart
You don't go, man I've stuffed up family
But you know, hold on
You're saved, you also have the family of God
You also have the family of God
If you're saved, you have a father
That approves of you
Because of his son
Because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ
You know you're a sinner
You know you've messed up life
But the heavenly father still approves of you
Because he sees you in the righteousness of Jesus Christ
Whom you trusted, whom you believed upon
Okay
Come with me to Matthew chapter 10
Matthew chapter 10
And while you're turning to Matthew 10
I'll read to you from Mark 3 32
And the multitude sat about him
And they said unto him, behold
Thy mother and thy brethren, without seek for thee
So Jesus Christ is teaching
And then his mum turns up
And his brothers and sisters, they turn up
Someone says hey Jesus, your family's turned up
Verse number 33
And he answered them, saying
Who is my mother? Or my brethren?
And he looked round about on them
That sat about him and said, behold
My mother and my brethren
For whosoever shall do the will of God
The same is my brother and my sister and mother
Who's your mother, your sister and your brother?
Right here
And all believers
Every church that is made up of saved people
They have Christ at their head
Every saved individual is your brother or sister in the Lord
They've done the will of the father
What's the will of the father?
None should perish, but that all should come to repentance
Everyone that has been saved
Everyone that has believed in Christ
Is your family
I asked you to turn to Matthew 10
Did I?
Matthew 10, 34
One of the sad things
I grew up in a Christian home
And I've got a Christian wife, I've got Christian children
So I'm probably never going to experience this
The same way some of you guys have
And it makes me sad when I hear stories
About this, but
It says here in verse number 34
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth
I came not to send peace
But a sword
For I am come to set a man at variance
Against his father
And the daughters against her mother
And the daughter-in-law
Against her mother-in-law
Jesus Christ says look when I come
I'm not bringing peace
Like just because you get saved
Doesn't guarantee that you're going to have peace in your family
In fact it could set variance
It could very well be a sword
A sword of division
Because it says here in verse number 36
And a man's foes
Or a man's enemies
Shall be they of his own household
Hear that love of father and mother
More than me
Is not worthy of me
And hear that love of son or daughter
More than me
Is not worthy of me
You see sometimes
You may have grown up in a non-Christian home
Or a broken home
Or a home of another religion
A false religion
And you get saved
You hear the gospel
You hear the good news
You're excited wow salvation
It's a free gift
It's not of works it's by faith alone
And you believe the truth of God's word
And you think surely my family is going to be excited
Just like I was
And you go to your family and you share the good news
And they hate you for it
They hate you for it
Some of you know what I'm talking about
Because you've got broken relationships
In your own families
Simply because you trust Jesus Christ as your saviour
And for them it's a slap in the face
You've gone against the family religion
Or whatever it is
Or you're saying we're not good enough
To make it on our own and you offend
The message is offensive
We think it's okay because we're all sinners
I'm a sinner too we're all sinners
But they get offended
You sound like good enough
And then it causes divisions
It causes conflicts within families
Jesus Christ says this is going to happen
This is definitely going to take place in life
Come with me to Matthew 19
Matthew 19
And verse 29
Matthew 19 and verse 29 please
But I want you to remember this promise
From Jesus Christ
I can't fully understand it
I can't fully explain it to you
But it's the truth of God's word
It says
And everyone that have forsaken houses
That's basically
Well let's keep going
Or brethren or sisters
Or father or mother
Or wife
Or children or lands
For my name's sake
Look at this
Shall receive an hundredfold
And shall inherit everlasting life
You see if you
Get saved and your family rejects you for it
And you just can't
Make peace
You just can't sort these out
You know you're hated by the family
And you say well you know what I'm making a decision to follow Christ
I'm making a decision to live after him
Even if it upsets my family
Even if I get rejected by my family
Even if my wife hates me for it
Even if my husband hates me for it
Christ is going to reward you
You're going to receive an hundredfold
I can't really understand that brethren
That's a decrease
That's like a bank telling you
Deposit a hundred dollars
And you'll get
A hundred percent
A hundredfold
A thousand
Yeah deposit a hundred
And tomorrow you can
Withdraw a thousand dollars
A hundredfold
That's ten
Ten thousand
Okay
Okay honestly like if someone says right
Look guaranteed because Jesus Christ
What he says is guaranteed right
We're not talking about speculative trading here
Putting money into shares or crypto or anything like that
But you know someone comes up and says look
Put a hundred bucks down today and tomorrow
You get ten thousand dollars
Guaranteed
You're going to be like yeah let's do it
In fact here's a thousand dollars
In fact here's a million dollars
This is what Jesus Christ says
A hundredfold in heaven rewards
Doesn't make like you know we can't fully understand this
We can't fully comprehend this
But you know one
I'll tell you the truth
One factor that gave me the confidence
To leave Sydney
Go to the Sunshine Coast and start a church
Is this very verse
It says and every one of you that have forsaken houses
I'm going you know what Lord I'm not going to stay
Where I'm comfortable
You know I know Sydney
I've got family and friends here
I've got my house
I'm comfortable
I need to go and start a church
I'm going to go to the Sunshine Coast
Because your word says you're going to reward me a hundredfold
If I forsake my house
If I forsake my comforts
To serve you for your name's sake
That was one determining factor
You know what it's worth it
Alright it's worth it
People talk about the property market
Get invested in the property market because it's always going up
It's not always going up but sometimes it goes down
If I forsake my house so I can get a hundredfold when I get to heaven
Sounds good to me
Because Christ is making me a mansion in heaven
He's making me a home in heaven
That's the housing market that I'm interested in
Where the builder and maker is God
That sounds like a good housing market to get involved in
But the reason I'm saying this to you brethren
Is sometimes your family is going to hate you
You know you're not going to have the luxury
You're not going to have the blessing
I can't even relate to some of you
It breaks my heart
Because I grew up in a Christian home
I grew up with me as a pastor
I've got a Christian wife
My children, most of my children are saved
The older ones
And I don't see this conflict
Developing in my own family
But some of you
Your parents hate you
Your brothers hate you because you got saved
Because you were in church this morning
You get rejected
I just can't comprehend
But I'm telling you this because God wants you to be encouraged
And comforted
You've got a spiritual family that loves you
You've got brothers and sisters in the Lord
Even if you're the only one
And as sad as it is
Even if you're the only one in your earthly family
That gets saved
You're going to have a spiritual family in heaven
A great family
Brothers and sisters in the Lord who love you and care for you
And a heavenly father
Not an earthly father that makes mistakes
But a heavenly father that will never leave you
Nor forsake you
I'm going to read
One more passage to you
If you can, come with me to Romans chapter 8 verse 14 if you can
Romans 8, 14, but I'll just read it quickly
Romans 8, 14, it says
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God
They are the sons of God
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear
But ye have received the spirit of adoption
That's why we cry Abba Father
Abba means father
Verse 16
But then look at this, verse 17
That makes sense
You know when earthly parents pass away
They leave the inheritance to the children
Well, if you're children of God
Then you're heirs of God
You get to inherit what God has
And if children then heirs, heirs of God
And joint heirs with Christ
So if be that we suffer with him
That we may be also glorified together
Boy, if your earthly family reject you
Hate you
If your parents hate you so much
That they cut you out of the will
No inheritance for you
Well look, you're going to be
A joint heir with Jesus Christ
In the kingdom of God
You're going to have great riches in heaven
Because you're children of God
So brethren, three families
The family that you're born into
Great
Now, you have no control over the family that you're born into
But you do have control
Of the family that you get married into
Make the right decisions
Say, pastor, I did not make the right decision
If you said I do
That's the person, till death do us part
Now make it work
And if you need help, get on your knees and pray to God
And say, God, can you please fix my family
Because I'm at my wits end
Alright, go to God, get his help
Make it work, raise your children to love the Lord
Get them saved
Teach them about God's word, God's looking for a godly seed
But you say, pastor, I've messed it all up
Not only the family that I grew up with was broken
But I've really stuffed up my marriage
We're divorced and we can't make things work
Well, remind yourself that you've got a spiritual family
Okay, be excited about eternity
Don't put your eyes on the earthly things
That are going to pass away
Set your eyes on everlasting life
Set your eyes on your heavenly home
Set your eyes on your spiritual family
And try to be a blessing to your brothers and sisters
As much as you can
Alright, let's pray
Heavenly Father, Lord, I just want to thank you for your word
Lord, I thank you that we're part of your family
Not just salvation, not just saved, Lord, saved from hell
But that we get to inherit all things with Jesus Christ
What a great blessing
And I can't even comprehend what that means exactly, Lord
But we know it's going to be great and it's a great promise
Lord, I thank you so much for creating family
Lord, we've been talking about stability and identity in family
Lord, I just pray that we would be people that would strengthen our marriages
Lord, that we would value the family that you've given us
Our children, our spouses
Even our mums and dads, Lord
If we're children, Lord, help us to live a life that pleases you
And that we would always honour you through our family
So Lord, please fix every marriage that is broken
Please fix every relationship that is hurt
Lord, every child that is emotionally damaged from the sufferings they've received
Growing up, Lord, we just pray that you step in, Lord
And heal us and heal our broken hearts
And heal our broken homes
We pray these things in Jesus' name
Amen
Alright, take your hymnals now
And turn to hymn number 82
Hymn number 82
My apologies for going over an hour
But I don't get to preach too much to you now
Hymn number 82
When he cometh
To make up his jewels
All his jewels
Fresh as jewels
His love and his own
Like the stars of the morning
His bright crown adorning
They shall shine in
Their beauty
Bright gems for his crown
He will gather
The gems for his kingdom
All the pure ones
All the bright ones
His love and his own
Like the stars of the morning
His bright crown adorning
They shall shine in
Their beauty
Bright gems for his crown
Little children
Every demon
All the jewels
Fresh as jewels
His love and his own
Like the stars of the morning
His bright crown adorning
They shall shine in
Their beauty
Bright gems for his crown
Like the stars of the morning
His love and his own
Like the stars of the morning
His love and his own
Like the stars of the morning
His love and his own
Like the stars of the morning