TITLE: Honoring Parents
SCRIPTURE: Exodus 20:12
PASSAGE: Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
THOUGHTS: This commandment doesn’t set an age limit.

It doesn’t say anything about honoring your parents until you hit eighteen or move out of their house.

This commandment doesn’t have an expiration or maturity date. Fulfilling it goes past childhood, past adolescence, beyond the teenage years…..into adulthood. Fulfilling it occurs for the rest of our lives.

What does honoring your mother and father really mean?

Honor places great value on another person.

Biblically speaking, honoring our parents is to give them the same devotion of heart and life in the human realm that we give the Lord in the spiritual realm.

Honor also puts another person in a respected position.

Parents are to be honored because of their position. In His plan, God has established a high regard for parents. But it’s because of their position…..not because of their perfection.

A perfect parent doesn’t exist.

Only perfect children have a right to demand perfect parents.

Even though some parents may not have earned the right to be honored, the highest form of love bestows honor on someone who doesn’t deserve it.

The only way to have real freedom from the effects of a dishonoring parent is to honor that parent.

How can we honor our parents?

First, we can honor our parents by listening carefully to their guidance and direction.

Children of every age needs and can benefit from the wisdom and experience a parent can give.

Second, we can honor our parents by praising them.
Even though we shouldn’t fabricate praise….we should pledge ourselves to look for qualities in our parents that are worthy of praise.

Third, parents can be honored by appreciating them and letting them know you appreciate the efforts and sacrifices they made for you?

Parents, like children, are a priceless treasure.
For a lot of us, we are where we are today and who we are today because of our parents and their influences and efforts. They deserve respect because of their position….. but for most of us…. They’ve earned respect because of what they’ve done for us.

They’ve provided us with life, wisdom, guidance, and instruction. And, for a lot of us, they’ve pointed us toward God.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Title: The Enemy's War Against The Family
Scripture: Ephesians 6:4
Passage: Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Thoughts: America is in danger of losing an entire generation of young people.

Why???

I believe it's because of a lack of parents standing up and being real parents, rather than friends to their children, and even more specifically, the lack of male leadership in the home.

There is a war against the family with extremely high stakes. And the key to winning this war is leadership.

We need parents, and especially men, to enlist in the war on the family.

Now, if you are a dad, I know you're probably willing to lay down your life for your children.

But my question to you is this: Are you willing to live for your family?
Are you willing to sacrifice your life now for your children?

What our children need today are men of spiritual quality who are devoted to their families… real men who raise their children both with strength and sensitivity, and who are in tune with their children's needs and aren’t afraid to be the parent God expects them to be, even when it is unpopular.

Here are a few ways to do this…

· Don't show favoritism or compare your children to each other.

· Offer encouragement, not discouragement, but direction and instruction.

· Don't force your child to be something he or she is not.

· Spend time with your children as a family. Show them you love them. Love them enough to do the right thing even when it’s the most difficult thing.

· Raise your children with strong spiritual direction. That means we're to provide protection, correction, and instruction.

· Teach them to be accountable for their choices and actions.

As dads, we should have a passion for excellence in parenting.
We have the responsibility to bring our children up with the training and admonition of the Lord.
They need to know about rewards and consequences. But we also need to nourish them.

We only get one chance to raise our kids and someday we will all stand before the Lord and answer for how we’ve raised them.

Children need dads who show affirmation and who are not afraid to say, “I'm sorry.”

They need dads who will teach them the rules, regulations, and provide a moral compass.

Dads.....are you the leader of your house?

Are you God's man in your home?

Parents---are you willing to sacrifice and live for you family?

Then raise them with Biblical standards and hold them up constantly in prayer!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Title: Wait On God.....Expectantly
Scripture: Philippians 1:6
Passage: And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Thoughts: Just like this verse says, you can be sure that God has good things planned for your life!!!
Not only are we supposed to wait actively, patiently, and silently for God's best in our lives, we're also supposed to wait expectantly.

We're supposed to live in eager anticipation—looking forward to--- of what God is going to do next.

Don't say, “God, when are You going to start working in my life?” Because He already is working in your life.
It's just a matter of believing it.

Now, the world says seeing is believing. But the Bible says believing is seeing.

We can begin to see how God is working as we wait on Him and trust Him.

But so often we want an explanation for what's going on in our lives.

We ask God why.

I guess it's not wrong to ask God why. Jesus Himself asked God “why” on the cross.

And there are times when we’re to ask for wisdom and direction. God may choose to give us an answer.

But for the most part, the question isn’t “why”.

It’s “how”.

How are we going to respond to what God is doing in our lives?
How are we going to respond to the circumstances of life?
How are we going to allow God to work in us, forming and developing our character?

You know, most Christians are like photographs, they develop best in the dark.

And character is what we are in the dark. Character is who you are when only God is looking.

We need to learn to look past our problems to see the promises of God today.

When we do, we'll become the people that God has called us to be!

THANK GOD FOR HIS PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE, EVEN IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS YET!

ATTENTION:To the Lady who recently E-mailed me

To the lady who recently e-mailed me thru FlockFinder.com:

I received your e-mail and was anxious to respond but was unable to since your e-mail address was not made available thru FlockFinder.
I've been looking forward to meeting you and hope you'll give us a call or e-mail again soon at Pastor@nffw.org
If your e-mail address is included I would be happy to reply. I would love to talk with you.
You have been in our prayers!

Blessings to you!

Pastor Larry

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Title: God Is In Control And On His Throne
Scripture: Isaiah 6:1
Passage: In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Thoughts: Are you worried about the future… about our nation… about our leaders?

You're not alone. According to the Scripture, Isaiah and the rest of the Israelites were really troubled because their earthly king was dead.
They were grieved… and they were worried about the future.

But God gave Isaiah a vision of His glory and holiness.

This prophet describes how he saw Him “sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.”
Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on the throne of the universe.

When Isaiah entered into the presence of the Lord, he realized that there was a greater One than any earthly king sitting upon the throne of the universe. His name is holy God, the Lord of Hosts!

Like the Israelites, it's easy to worry about the future… and wonder what's gone wrong and what will happen next in our world.

But as believers in Jesus, we don't have to wonder!

We don't have to bite our nails and worry because we know that our God is sitting on the throne of the universe.

Remember there’s no worry or panic in heaven… only plans.

God never walks up and down the streets of heaven wondering about what He's going to do next.

So no matter what's going on in your world… no matter how out-of-control things may seem… remember that God is still on His throne!

I want to encourage you to get your mind off the earthly and temporary and fix your eye of faith on your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who is gloriously reigning and ruling on the throne of this universe!

God is in control!!!!!!!!! Amen!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Title: Rise Above The Circumstances
Scripture: Genesis 50:20
Passage: ...you intended evil to harm me, but God intended it all for good...
Thoughts: Everybody faces adversity from time to time. Someone loses a job. Bills are due, but there’s no money to pay them. A relationship is strained and in trouble. We feel misunderstood and get stressed out.

How we handle these situations can say a lot about our faith in the Lord.

Look at Joseph. In his case, his problems started the moment he fell for his brothers' "we've got a really neat pit to show you" trick.
They sold him as a slave to some Ishmaelites that were passing through the area in an attempt to get rid "the dreamer" (Genesis 37:19). Finally Joseph was able to gain a good standing with Potiphar and was put in charge of his house. But then later, when things were going pretty good, Potiphar's wife tried to seduce Joseph and then falsely accused him of adultery. Joseph ended up in prison as a result of the lies.

Joseph had plenty of opportunities to complain about the injustices he was facing. He had plenty of chances to complain about the treatment he'd received from his brothers.

He could've easily become bitter when the king's cupbearer was released from prison and forgot about him.
But these kinds of actions and attitudes would have just brought Joseph to complete hopelessness.
Instead, Joseph allowed himself to be used by God to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. Then Pharaoh took him out of prison and put him in charge of Egypt, where he organized a plan to store grain before the famine happened.

Finally, Joseph was reunited with his brothers.

What was intended for bad was used by God for good.

Another translation of this Scripture that I like says it like this:
Even though you planned evil against me, God planned good to come out of it.

Obstacles have the ability to take us out of contention, but we also have the opportunity to rise above them.

We can cry, complain, and live in misery because of our struggles and the circumstances and the adversity we face......and that would be easy to do and..... might even be justified sometimes.

Or we can react like Joseph—allowing God, in His timing, to bring something good out of our circumstances.

Are you allowing God to help you land on your feet?

He loves you and wants to do it. Let Him do it!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Title: An Attitude Of Worship
Scripture: Psalm 66:4
Passage: All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.
Thoughts: I want to ask you a question……..
When God looks at your life, does He see genuine worship or does He see a counterfeit?

Does He see something real or something phony?

The bottom line is that each of us were made to worship God.

And until we realize the true purpose in life... which is to worship Him and enjoy Him forever… we’ll always be unfulfilled.

We’ll always be frustrated because worship is the central purpose of life!
It’s impossible to be a productive, positive Christian without participating in meaningful, genuine worship!

And I’m not just talking about corporate worship.

Worship is more than just something we do... worship is a lifestyle!!! Amen??

It’s an attitude that we carry with us every day.

It’s an activity and an attitude that reveals our inner heart and recognizes the value we place on God in our lives.

That’s what worship is!!!!!!

So I want to encourage you and challenge you to make your life a life of worship... an exclamation
and testimony of the glory of God!

Think about this for a moment and take inventory to answer this question… Do you have an attitude of genuine worship?