October Sermons 2024
10/6 - “Yom Kippur”
Leviticus 16 :29-32 +16:7-8
1 John 1:6-10
10/13 -” A New World”
Genesis 12:1-3
2 Corinthians 5:1-8
10/20 - “Living With Thorns”
Psalm 23
2 Corinthians 12:6-11
10/27
Welcome Tiffany Hays, a missionary with UNTO ministries
SOME THOUGHTS ON RELATIONAL PRIORITIES
I often encounter people who are in lockstep with God’s Word—until they have a child or close friend who chooses otherwise. Over the years, I’ve been astonished at how quickly and rapidly many of them have abandoned their fidelity to God’s Word for a watered-down Gospel. I recently read these words from Jesus:
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26).
That sounds harsh. Most people assume God is pro-family, and there’s much in the Bible to support that idea. God created marriage (Genesis 2:21-22); He’s against divorce (Matthew 19:8); He commands us to honor our parents (Exodus 20:12); and He provided a family for Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:18).
But if God is pro-family, He’s even more pro-Jesus. We’re commanded to follow Christ—even at the cost of losing our family. Many Christian wives have been rejected by their unbelieving husbands, and many Christian husbands have been rejected by their unbelieving wives. Many Christian children have been rejected by their unbelieving parents, and many Christian parents have been rejected by their unbelieving children.
In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus said:
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36).
When Jesus said we're to hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, He didn’t mean we're to wish them harm. Instead, He meant our love for Him should be so great, it reduces all other loves to hatred by comparison.
I’ve always told our children there’s nothing they could ever do to cause me not to love them. But if they made my acceptance and celebration of their disobedience to God a condition of my relationship with them, I pray—by the grace of God—I'll always choose Jesus. I encourage you to do the same.