Fighting For Your Family - Part 1 Series

Fighting for Your Family Message # 1

OPEN: Today we are starting a Brand New

Series called “Fighting For Your Family”.

Notice I didn’t say “Fighting WITH Your Family”! You probably don’t need any help on how to do that.

JOKE: Speaking of family.....- A young boy brought home his report card heavy with poor grades. His mother asked him, "What do you have to say for yourself?" The boy replied,

- "Well, at least you know I ain't cheatin’!”



• TODAY’S MESSAGE WILL BE MORE OF

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE THINGS WE

ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT OVER THE

NEXT FEW WEEKS

• TALK ABOUT THE COMPLEXITY OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

• TALK ABOUT THINKING THE BIBLE SHOULD BE THE GUIDE

oMANY, MANY MESSED UP FAMILIES IN THE BIBLE

• SO I THOUGHT IF ANYONE WOULD HAVE THE “PERFECT FAMILY” IT WOULD BE JESUS

oIMAGINE BEING IN JESUS’ FAMILY  IMAGINE A GUY BRAGGING

ABOUT HIS BROTHER

 BUT YOUR NAME IS JAMES AND

YOU ARE THE HALF-BROTHER

OF JESUS (ELABORATE) oTAKE YOU TO A SCRIPTURE THAT

WILL BLOW YOU AWAY!

oI MEAN IF ANYONE HAD A PERFECT FAMILY, IT WOULD BE JESUS RIGHT? WRONG!

TEXT:

Mark 3: 20 Then Jesus entered a

house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he

and his disciples were not even able to eat.

21 When his family heard about this, they went

to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out

of his mind.”

• Basically Jesus’ family was saying “YOU DONE LOST YO’ MIND”

• THEN IN VERSE 31 IT SAYS

• NOW THIS WAS THE ORIGINAL “INTERVENTION” (HAVE YOU EVER WATCHED THAT SHOW?)

mother and brothers arrived. Standing

Then Jesus’

outside, they sent someone in to call him.

• JOHN 7:5 “...EVEN HIS OWN BROTHERS

DID NOT BELIEVE HIM...”

• SO EVEN JESUS DIDN’T HAVE A PERFECT FAMILY!

• AND THAT’S MY FIRST POINT TODAY....

# 1 – THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A

PERFECT FAMILY

• THAT SHOULD BE A RELIEF TO EVERYONE IN THIS ROOM

• LOOK, 3 CHAPTERS INTO THE BIBLE RECORDS THE FIRST ARGUMENT BETWEEN A HUSBAND AND A WIFE. ADAM BLAMES EVE FOR WHAT HE DID

• THEN IN CHAPTER 4 WE HAVE OUR FIRST SIBLING RIVALRY, WHICH LEADS TO CAIN KILLING ABEL

• THE BIBLE HAD SOME JACKED-UP FAMILIES AND WE HAVE SOME JACKED UP FAMILIES

• AS MUCH AS WE WANT TO BE LIKE WARD AND JUNE CLEAVER, OUR



FAMILIES ARE PROBABLY A LITTLE MORE LIKE EDITH AND ARCHER BUNKER, IF NOT THE SIMPSONS

• There is no such thing as a perfect family!

# 2 – ONLY FAMILIES THAT LIVE BY

GODLY PRINCIPLES SURVIVE AND

THRIVE

• If I were to ask you “what does it take to have a successful family?”, every attribute you could name would be an attribute from God

• For example “love”, “forgiveness”, “peace”

• One famous Father understood that it takes Godly principles for a family to survive and thrive. One day he stood before hundreds of thousands of people and said, (paraphrasing), look, you do what’s right for you, but “as for me and my

• MOTHER TERESA SAID “What can you

do to promote world peace? Go home and

love your family.”

house, we are going to serve the Lord”

(Joshua in Joshua 24:15)

• (Many of you probably have that saying

on a plaque near the entrance of your

house

• Joshua understood that it doesn’t take

perfection to make a great family, but it does take God!

TRANSITION: WHICH LEADS ME TO MY THIRD POINT,

# 3 - IT DOESN’T TAKE PERFECTION TO

MAKE A GREAT FAMILY, BUT IT DOES

TAKE WORK

• I LOVE WHAT COMEDIAN GEORGE

BURNS SAID ABOUT

FAMILY...“Happiness is having a large,

loving, caring, close-knit family in another

city.”

• OUR MARRIAGES TAKE WORK • BEING A PARENT TAKES WORK

• DISCIPLINING, TEACHING AND GUIDING OUR CHILDREN TAKES WORK

• BEING A GOOD BROTHER OR A GOOD SISTER TAKES WORK

• BEING A GRANDPARENT TAKES WORK

• BEING A FATHER-IN-LAW OR A

DAUGHTER-IN-LAW TAKES WORK

• INTERACTING WITH ANNOYING FAMILY

MEMBERS TAKES WORK

• 1 TIMOTHY 3:12 TALKS ABOUT THE

RESPONSIBILITIES OF A GODLY MAN.

• LISTEN TO WHAT IT SAYS:

• 12

(IN OTHER WORDS....IT TAKES WORK!)

REVIEW:

A deacon must be faithful to his wife and

must manage his children and his

household well.

# 1 – THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A

PERFECT FAMILY

# 2 – ONLY FAMILIES THAT LIVE BY GODLY

PRINCIPLES SURVIVE AND THRIVE

# 3 - IT DOESN’T TAKE PERFECTION TO

MAKE A GREAT FAMILY, BUT IT DOES

TAKE WORK

CLOSE: SO HERE IS MY QUESTION FOR YOU......HOW MANY OF YOU ARE AT LEAST WILLING TO WORK ON YOUR FAMILIES?

NEXT FEW WEEKS:

-Ten Things Husbands Should Never Do in Their Marriage -Ten Things Wives Should Do in Their Marriage

-How To Discipline Your Children Without Alienating Them

-Gaining Control of an Out-of- Control Teenager