Family: The Lord Makes & Satan Takes Series

1. Chuck Swindoll tells the story of a man who backed his bright, shiny new Cadillac out of the driveway and headed for the freeway on his daily commute to work downtown. He was busily shaving himself as he drove--a normal operation for him. I suppose he had his radio on, and he was listening to the news and traffic reports as he made his way to his office. Witnesses say that suddenly he reached up behind his neck and slumped over the wheel. The car swerved and went into a culvert, and he was killed. His car was completely demolished.

An autopsy was ordered. Ad they began to put together the details, a keen-thinking physician noticed a small pinprick behind the man’s ear where a wasp had probably flown from behind the seat, or some part of the car, and had stung him, temporarily paralyzing a particular area of the nerve and blinding him with pain. He slumped over the wheel, lost control of the car, and died. Normally a grown man with normal strength can just swat away a little wasp with no problem. But when the wasp struck its mark, it led to a fatal crash. (Swidoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes, pg. 180)

2. When we are on guard against potential disaster to our families we are able to fend them off. What happens when we are unaware or have been conditioned not to notice? Former FBI Agent, W. Cleon Skousen wrote The Naked Communist published in 1958. Among the 45 Communist pans of that decade were:

• #26 – Present Homosexuality, degeneracy, and promiscuity as “normal, natural, and healthy”

• #40 – Discredit the family as an institution; encourage promiscuity and easy divorce

• #41 – Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents; attribute prejudices, mental blocks, and retarding of children to the suppressive influence of parents

3. Whatever God makes, Satan tried to break

a. Family –

27 So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1.27-28

b. Church

c. Government

4. Consider:

I. Family Was Designed by God

A. Remember – God is the Focus of the Bible (not People)

1. The Bible assumes the existence of God – it was not intended to be a book of proofs

2. It is not a self-help book; history book; or book of practicalities alone – focuses on God as:

a. Creator

b. Instructor – 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Ephesians 6.2-3

c. Existing in Community (3 in 1??)

B. God is the Foundation of Family

1. This is a Vital Community –

18 Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,

because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Genesis 2.18-25

2. Support

Author and speaker Zig Ziglar loved golf and once took his son with him out to the golf course. His son was still relatively new to the game, so Zig was very impressed by his son’s performance on one of the par 4 holes.

At the tee, the boy lifted the ball straight and true down the fairway. A second shot got him onto the green within 14 feet of the cup. Wanting his son to succeed, he went to great trouble in sighting the shot for him and gauging the lie of putt and then told his son just how he ought to play it. His son stepped up to the ball and putted the ball perfectly into the cup just as his father had taught him. His first birdie.