June 3 2012 Rekindling Love In The Home

Rekindling Love In The Home

Revelation 2:4-5 - You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the tings you did at first.

Three Things To Do
•  Remember the good times.
•  Repent or change your attitude
•  Do the first things again.

Five Steps To Rekindle Your Romance:

1. You must give attention to your mate.
Philippians 2:2-4 -Live together in love, as though you had only one mind and one spirit between you, look to each other’s interest, not merely your own.

The first enemy of romance is a busy schedule.

2. There must be affirmation.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 - Give encouragement to each other and keep strengthening each other.

Proverbs 12:10 - Take delight in honoring each other.

3. There must be affection.
Ephesians 5:25 - Husbands be affectionate.

Ephesians 5:28 - the love a man gives his wife is the extending of his love for himself to enfold her.
Genesis 26:8 - Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.

4. Your marriage needs adventure.
Ecclesiastes 9:9 - Enjoy life with your wife, whom you     love.

1 Timothy 6:17 - God provides everything for our enjoyment.

5. Your marriage needs accordance.
1 John 1:7 - If we are living in the light of God’s presence, then we have wonderful fellowship and joy with each other.

How To Develop Spiritual Oneness:
•  Pray together

•  Share your life.    

Five Areas of Oneness:
•  Intellectual intimacy

•  Emotional intimacy

•  Physical intimacy

•  Recreational intimacy

•  Spiritual intimacy

April 22 2012 How To Storm Proof The Home

How To Storm Proof The Home

Matthew 7:24-25

Matthew 7:25 - The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall.

1. Be prepared for the culture you live in.

Romans 12:2 - Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed.

Exodus 23:2 - Don’t follow the crowd in doing wrong.

2. Prepare for the crisis you will live through.

Isaiah 43:1-3 -Don't be afraid when you go trough deep waters and great trouble. I will be with you when you go through rives of difficulty, you will not drown.

Three Things To Remember

• Relax in God’s Plan

• Recognize God’s Presence

• Rely on God’s Protection

3. Be prepared for the changes you'll live through.

Four Options

• Reject it

• Resist it

• Resent it

• Relish it

Philippians 4:11 & 12 - I’ve learned to be content whatever the circumstances may be. I’m ready for anything through the strength of Christ that lives within me.

Three Things Needed

• Contentment

• Flexibility

• Faith

1 Corinthians 3:11 - God has placed Jesus Christ as the one and only foundation and no other foundation can be laid.

April 15 2012 Six Ways To Grow A Healthy Family

Six Ways To Grow A Healthy Family

1. (F) Fun

Ecclesiastes 9:9 - Enjoy life with your wife.

Proverbs 5:13 - Be happy with your wife and find joy with the girl you married.

Psalm 127:3 - Children are a gift from God.

2. (A) Attention

Philippians 2:2-4 - When you do things, do not let selfishness or pride be your guide.  Be humble and give more honor to     others than yourselves. Do not be interested only in your own life, but be interested in the lives of others.

Philippians 2:5-7 - Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus…did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.

Romans 12:10 - Love one another, out do one another in     showing honor.

3. (M) Ministry


1 Corinthians 16:15 - Stephanas and his family were the first to become Christians in Greece, and they are spending their lives helping and serving Christians everywhere.

Acts 16:33 - The whole family was filled with joy because they had come to believe God.

Romans 12:13 - When God’s children are in need, help them out.  Get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner, of if they need lodging for the night.

4. (I) Insulate the members from the storms of life

Proverbs 14:26 - Reverencefor the Lord gives a man deep strength, his children have a place of refuge and security.

3 Kinds Of Storms

1. Change.

2. Failure.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 - Two are better than one, if one of them falls down the other can help him up, but if someone is alone and falls, it’s just too bad because there is no one to help him

3. Rejection

5. (L) Learning Center

Psalm 14:12 - May our sons, in their youth, be like plants that grow.

Ephesians 6:4 - Fathers, don’t exasperate your children, instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the     Lord.

Luke 2:52 - Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and with man.

Isaiah 38:19 - One generation makes known your faithfulness to the next.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 - These commandments impress them upon your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

6. (Y) Yield to God

Joshua 24:25 - Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of your forefathers or the gods of the Amorites, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Philippians 4:8 - Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and dwell on the fine, good things in others.

April 8 2012 Building Hope In The Home

Building Hope In The Home

I Peter 1:3 - In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

THREE STEPS TO HOPE

STEP ONE - Build hope through your commitment.

HOW

1. Focus on Christ.

a) Matthew 28:9 - Suddenly Jesus met them.

Resurrection Principle #1

No home is complete without Christ.

b) Acts 16:34 - The whole family was filled with joy

Because they had come to believe in God.

c) Psalm 127:1 - Unless the Lord builds the house, it’s builders labor in vain.

2. Focus on each other.

a) Philippians 2:4 - Don’t just think about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and in what they are doing.

b) Ecclesiastes 4:12 - One standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back to back and conquer.

STEP TWO - Build hope through communication.

Matthew 28:10 - Jesus said to them, do not be afraid.

HOW TO COMMUNICATE

1. Talk to each other daily.

a) Ephesians 4:26 - Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.

2. Show your appreciation.

a) Example - Mark 14:8 - (Jesus said) she has done a beautiful thing to me.

3. Learn to forgive each other.

a) Ephesians 4:32 - Forgive each other as God forgave you in Christ.

Resurrection Principle #2

Communication builds hope in the home.

STEP THREE - Build hope by being consistent.

a) Psalm 145:17 - The Lord is righteousness in all His ways.

b) Psalm 145:13 - The Lord is faithful to all His promises.

c) Malachi 4:6 - He will turn the hearts of the Father’s to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers.

Resurrection Principle # 3

Honesty promotes consistency.

STEP FOUR - Build hope through confidence in God.

Verse 6 - (The Angel said) He is not here, He is risen.

HOW TO BUILD

1. Remember Jesus is available.

Matthew 11:28 - Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.

2. He is adequate.

Jeremiah 32:17 - Nothing is too hard for God.

Resurrection Principle #4

He is always available and adequate.

YOU CAN BUILD HOPE IN YOUR HOME

February 20 2011 Five Conditions Of Answered Prayer

Five Conditions of Answered Prayer

(John 15:7 - If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.)

Five Conditions

I. Have an honest relationship with God

(John 15-7 - If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.)

Three Evaluation Questions

1. Have I refused to admit anything, that's wrong in my life, to God?

(Psalm 66:18 - If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened)

(Isaiah 59:2 - But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.)

(Proverbs 28:13 - He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.)

(1 John 1:8-9 - If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.)

2. Am I ignoring any of God's principles in my life?

(1 John 3:21-23 - Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.)

3. Do I want God's will for my life?

(1 John 5:14-15 - This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.)

II. Have a forgiving attitude towards other people.

(Mark 11:24-25 - "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.")

(Hebrews 12:15 - See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.)

(1 Peter 3:7 - Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.)

III. Be willing to share the results

(Proverbs 21:13 - If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.)

(1 John 3:17 - If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?)

(James 4:3 - When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.)

IV. You must believe that God will answer

(James 5:5-8 - You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you. Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near.)

(Mark 9:29 - He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer.")

V. Pray in Jesus' name

(John 14:13-14 - And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.)