POWERING A SUSTAINABLE FAMILY GENUINE FAITH

POWERING A SUSTAINABLE FAMILY GENUINE FAITH

Welcome, beloved friends, to today’s broadcast. I praise GOD for you that you have been consistent in listening to these life-transforming messages. It will do you good if you’d take proactive measures to act on them or take responsibility where it is required.
You may call on us if you have any question to be answered. GOD bless you as you do so…in JESUS Name.

Today’s message is titled: “Powering a Sustainable Family Genuine Faith.”

POWERING A SUSTAINABLE FAMILY GENUINE FAITH

We shall read two passages in the Bible: The first is from Deuteronomy 6:6-8.

Deuteronomy 6:6-8 – and I read

6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

We shall also read 2 Timothy 1:3-5

2 Timothy 1:3-5
3 I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, 4 greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy, 5 when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.

 

Let us pray.

PRAYER

Our Heavenly FATHER, and thank YOU for the gifts of families. Forgive our lapses in bringing up our children in the fear of the LORD and sustaining Christian faith. Grant us that YOUR Word will motivate us to change and to do YOUR will…in JESUS Mighty Name we have prayed. Amen!

One thing our LORD JESUS CHRIST is pointing out in recent times in the church and among bible-believing Christians is hypocrisy. No church may claim immunity to this cankerworm, although its incidence may vary from one degree to the other, according to the teaching of some churches. It is a fearful thing for Christians to live in hypocrisy. The LORD JESUS did not spare the propagators of hypocrisy in the scriptures but condemned them – pronouncing woes to them.

It is the height of delusion for any person to deceive himself to believe that he will equally be spared of this hypocrisy.

The family is a place where hypocrisy destroys Christian legacies. We are now producing second to fourth generation Christians. What legacy of faith are you leaving behind? You presented yourself to the church to be wedded, and before all that gathered you made vows. Are you keeping your vows as husbands? Are you keeping your vows as wives? Are you growing in your relationships? Are you actually becoming one progressively? Faith, apart from being an individual family matter, is also a family matter.

In Exodus 3:13 GOD made HIMSELF known to Moses and Israel as the GOD of your fathers. The faith Israel was to know and the GOD they were to worship had already been known by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. GOD had revealed HIMSELF to the patriarchs and expected them to make GOD known to their offsprings. This is what sustainability means. In the agenda of GOD HE wanted to ensure that future generations will know HIM: HIS love, HIS character and HIS ability. To accomplish this GOD mapped out series of strategies for achieving this.

Let’s go back to our text in Deuteronomy 6:6,8. The first strategy is to know the Words of GOD first by the parents. You know the parents have to know the Words of GOD. May I comment that it is this gap in knowing GOD that hinders parents and guardians to communicate the virtues of GOD to their children in the home.

The second strategy is Christian education in the home. The Word of GOD says, you are to teach them diligently to your children. Teach the knowledge of GOD to your children in the home.

The third strategy is to talk about them. Weaving the attributes of GOD and HIS requirements to the children in everyday conversation brings the lessons to the core and ensures proper Christian education in the home. The first strategy is the use of posters to highlight scriptural verses and important virtues in the home. Our homes are filled up with portraits but not with posters or banners highlighting important verses of the scriptures. We display the posters and stickers of our respective churches but not the Word of GOD.

In the New Testament Apostle Paul spoke of Timothy’s faith as a legacy from his family: the grandmother and the mother and then to Timothy – 2 Timothy 1:5. Timothy’s faith was based on the foundation of GOD’s Word. Speaking of Timothy’s training in GOD’s work Paul later said that, from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures: 2 Timothy 3:15.

Friends, the lesson today and the major content of this message is that parents must take care to impact faith to the children entrusted to them by GOD. This kind of faith must be built upon the firm foundation of God’s Word. It is not an easy task and therefore requires diligence. This is to ensure that children will emerge from the home with faith, fear and reverence for GOD. Christian values and knowledge of GOD’s Words and will is important. This is one area prospective husbands and wives must commit themselves and play the role of sustaining Christian faith – otherwise we will have children who will see nothing wrong in converting to other religions. Parents must promote the presence of GOD in their homes.

A little boy reading a framed picture on the wall in their house said to his father, “If JESUS is the head of this family why is there no place for HIM?” Parents who come out and promote family altar while theirs is broken down should be ashamed of themselves. Husbands and wives who do not pray together with their children do not represent a Christian home.
You are failing in one of your duties if you are not teaching Christian virtues in your house. There is need for repentance and change to do the right thing.

What can you do to promote sustaining faith in your home?

1. Establish and revive and maintain an effective family altar where you communicate Christian faith to your children and wards.
Let me chronicle to you the advantages of having a family altar:

  1. It shows that yours is a Christian family – so that you do not answer Christian family in the mouth alone
  2. It is a place of family worship. The family altar is a place of family worship.
  3. It is a platform to tell GOD your needs and cry unto HIM for intervention.
  4. It is a place of bonding. We say that families that pray together stay together.
  5. It is a platform for teaching values and faith.
  6. It is a place of unity.
  7. It is a place of repentance.
  8. Lastly, it is a place of intercession and spiritual warfare.

A family that prays together stays together. One will chase a thousand; two or more will chase ten thousand. Revive your family altar if it has broken down. Start one if you have none. Have you yielded your life to JESUS? You cannot communicate the faith that is sustainable if you do not have any.

Let us pray.

PRAYER

Heavenly FATHER, I pray that YOU would save my hearers who are committing their lives to YOU. Help all those who are deciding to establish the biblical method of communicating faith: the faith of our LORD JESUS CHRIST – to their children…in the Mighty Name of JESUS CHRIST. Our gracious FATHER, as many as are coming back to YOU in repentance, please save them today. Give help and revelation to those who through this message will like to pass their faith to their children for sustainability…in JESUS Mighty Name I pray. Amen!

Once again, this is your brother, Pastor Amara Uwaeziozi. Feel free to contact us for spiritual help. GOD bless you.

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