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I want to start today with a familiar passage from Romans Chapter 1.
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. – Romans 1:18-20
This passage came to me as I was thinking about a hike we took on Tuesday with Mimi’s family. We took the hike to Oconee Station Falls, off of Highway 11. It was an absolutely perfect day for a hike, with mild weather, hardly a cloud in the sky, and gorgeous fall scenery. There was a breeze, and at times, so many leaves would come down at once that you could make a game of trying to catch them as they fell. Although the water levels were low, the falls were still quite impressive. Oconee Station Falls have moderate height but impressive width, and even with the low water, the water fell at full width.
Today I want to look at some verses, mostly from the Old Testament that speak, I believe, into what a family looks like that is devoted fully to God. Before I really begin, though, I want to acknowledge the situation in which one or more members of a family, perhaps the spouse, or perhaps a parent or a child, is not a believer. This is a terribly difficult situation, and I will talk about this in the second part of this message.
When it comes to the topic of strengthening fellow Christians within a family, one of the passages I want to look at is Deuteronomy 11. Now it is important to put passages such as this into the context in which they were intended. This is part of a long speech made by Moses near the end of the 40-year passage of the Israelites through the desert. Recall that their being made to wander for 40 years was a punishment for rebelling against God. This punishment came as a result of them refusing to enter the land the Lord had promised to give to them. After they heard the sentence, they tried to take the land anyway, and were defeated.
Today, Nov. 11, has been declared the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. As I thought and prayed about how to bring the reality of persecution against Christians “home,” it struck me that every story of persecution is a local story. To say that millions of Christians are undergoing persecution is hard for us to grasp. But to hear of individuals and what they are going through is easier to understand. For this reason, I am going to read from news articles just in the past two weeks or so that focus on individual instances of persecution. These stories are abridged from stories on www.christianpersecution.info.
What we are doing reminds me of a repeated scene in the Wizard of Oz series of books. Glinda the Good has a giant magic book that records everything that goes on in the world. If you turn to the most recent page, you can watch the words magically fly on the page as the events happen. This is actually a pretty good analogy for something talked about in Scripture. The Bible really talks about a book that records everyone's deeds, good and bad. Praise God that we are not judged by the content of that book, but by the sacrifical blood of Jesus Christ!
As we continue in our series on the overcoming Christian, the focus this week is on what it means to overcome in the area of stewardship.
My main passage today is from I Chronicles 29. This passage is about the building of the Temple of God. David, you may remember, wanted to build the temple, but God told David that it was to be his son Solomon’s job. David gave Solomon detailed plans, revealed to him from God, and encouraged Solomon, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”
In every sense of the word, Solomon was to be a steward. What is a steward? It is an overseer, one who carries out tasks appointed to him. A steward is entrusted with much: money, decision-making ability, and even the reputation of his master, so as to bring honor to his master.
I want to start today with a familiar passage from Romans Chapter 1.
