With One Voice, Because of Your Love, Good Good Father, So Faithful, What A Beautiful Name to Shout to the Lord Medley

What’s one of your best memories with your family? How can you help make your next family encounter one of the best memories your family members will look back on in the future?

“Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, 2 so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 O Israel, you should listen and [a]be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.4 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”

As we end our series on BIBLICAL CULTURE, we take on the last Core Value of CCF: ENGAGE THE FAMILY.

This core value has to do with our stewardship of relationships and influence. Spirituality is developed at home. To engage the family means, to get involved in the lives of our family members. The family is the most basic foundation of human society, and as Zig Ziglar once said “As the family goes, so goes the nation”. Furthermore, John Unwin, a British anthropologist who analyzed civilizations and families, Edward Gibbon, an English historian who studied the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, and Carle Zimmerman, an American sociologist who studied the correlation between the rise and fall of civilization – all agree on different times and different studies that when the family declines, nations disintegrate. The family today is indeed falling apart. We must engage and disciple our families! CCF believes that Every Family is a Discipleship group (EFAD). Discipleship begins at home. Our Christianity must be lived out at home. Our spirituality is tested at home!

The importance of assuming responsibility in the family is emphasized in the failure of the priest, Eli, to disciple his sons (1 Samuel 1:3). Hophni and Phinehas were “worthless men” who did not know the LORD (1 Samuel 2:12). Eli was so busy doing his duties, that he wasn’t able to disciple his sons. He did not even know that his sons did not know the Lord and were not walking with the Lord. They did not steward their influence, and their family was disgraced. Deuteronomy 6 is in the context of the Israelites about to take on the Promise Land, where God commanded Moses and His people to follow His commandments–¬ fearing the Lord, keeping His decrees, with the purpose of them being able to enjoy long life, to obey so that it may go well with them (Deuteronomy 6:1-3). This is the heart of God – His purpose for His commands is not to kill our happiness but to guard us and help us put boundaries so that we will not mess up. The purpose of God’s rules is for our protection. Verses 4-6 show that the first thing God’s people need to teach their family is to love the Lord their God with ALL their heart, soul, and mind. The core values of CCF are biblical. If you love God, you will obey Him. If you love Him, you will love other people and choose to do right. The nature of love is that it must be 100%. Everything we do should begin with love. The command was given in Deuteronomy 6:7 to disciple or train others in the ways of God, and pass this on by choosing to “teach them diligently” as they sit, walk, lie down, and rise.

To do this, we follow the MRI Principle.

1) MODELING

Children copy us either positively or negatively. 1 Corinthians 11:1 has Paul’s command for the Corinthian believers to be imitators of him just as he imitates Christ. Does the way we live show Christ living in us? There’s no way that we can be a model like Jesus if our lives are not surrendered to Him. We can model humility, most especially in how we respond to corrections that we receive. Modeling is not about perfection, but about authenticity. Learn to admit mistakes, work on changes, and be very intentional. We can ask what we must start doing and stop doing in terms of how to model Christlikeness.

2) RELATIONSHIP

The closer the relationship, the greater the influence. Jesus understood this principle – in Mark 3:14, Jesus chose 12 disciples and spent time with them. The people we spend time with have an important role. 1 Corinthians 15:13 tells us that bad company corrupts good morals. The power of influence is proportionate to the closeness of the relationship. The closer children are to their parents, the less they are influenced by their peers. The more peer-oriented the children are, the less they will be influenced by their parents.

We are social beings. We must provide that venue for relationships to grow stronger. How do we do this? We can find out what others enjoy doing and spend time doing these with them. We must learn to listen to the people we want to build relationships with. Spend time with them, and even with our busy schedules, we yearn to have their hearts. How is your relationship with your family members? Do they want to spend time with you?

3) INTENTIONALITY

Good results seldom happen by chance. They are a product of intentionality. If we want to build something, we must have a plan. We must follow a design. To be intentional is to be deliberate, and purposeful, and avoid haphazard, accidental interactions.

Proverbs 22:6 gives us a command to TRAIN UP (direct one’s appetite towards a specific direction) children. It has a sense in which we break self-will; to learn to follow God’s will. This takes great intentionality and discipline. We are to TEACH our family important topics like identity, the truth about the world, family, friendship, marriage, and more importantly, all things about God.

Sooner or later, we will depart from this life. We must ask the question: what will we leave behind? What kind of influence will be your legacy? Is it eternal or temporal? Is it good or bad? What are we leaving behind? CS Lewis said “Christianity, if false, is of no importance. If true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” We need to take seriously who Jesus is and take living according to His ways seriously. We are not being asked to leave a legacy of religion but of a real, deep love toward God and the relationships He entrusted to us, beginning with our families.

What should you stop and what should you start to your family or disciples?

How do you think you can improve on the relationships God has entrusted to you? What can you do to help restore any broken relationship in your life today?

What can you do to be more intentional in discipling your family, friends, and other relationships?

Pray for your family members and other families around you, that they will encounter the love of God through you and other believers.

Be a model of what it means to love God with everything you are.

Share the gospel, first with your family, and then with other people so they too can be part of God’s family

• Worship God for who He is, what He has done, and what He will do in our lives.

• Upright and moral governance of public servants; repentance and salvation for government leaders and citizens for a Christ-centered Philippines.

• God’s help and comfort for the Sudanese people caught in violence and conflict.

• War in Ukraine to end, loss of lives prevented; tension in East Asian and Middle East countries to stop.

• Continue to pray for the rest of Israeli hostages to be restored back to their families safely. Pray for Israel and the war with terrorists to end according to God’s purpose and for His glory.

• For the recent political and social upheaval in the US to result in spiritual awakening in the church and a great spiritual harvest.

• That CCF Members would honor and love God and make disciples.

• Elders, pastors, dleaders, and families (holy, humble, harmonious, happy, heart-working).

• Ministries and churches expansion worldwide.

• Worship and Training Center

• Prayer Mountain

• Deeper intimate relationship with God.

• Righteous living.

• Salvation of family and friends.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up