Quality Time: Building Bonds That Don't Break (Part 3) Series

Quality Time:

Building Bonds That Don’t Break

(Part 3, Building a Stronger Family)

We have looked at some important things this month that dealt with building stronger family lives. We have laughed a lot, maybe some have cried, (especially when relating to the washing of Styrofoam plates), but in all of this, there is a serious side of the family life. It is not so outspoken as say, communication issues or finances. It deals with the harder side of reality; with what you will prepare your family for in the future; what routines become traditions and rituals, and what you do today with your family will be remembered tomorrow with either good thoughts or bad thoughts. I’m talking about the bonds that you build within your family today, that are unbreakable. Do you have those kinds of bonding moments with your family members?

What is the most recent memorable thing your family did together? (get response)

With whom, or what are you spending most of your valuable time? This makes a difference in the kind of bonds you build within your family and the family of God.

In a lifetime the average American will spend:

Six months sitting at stoplights

Eight months opening junk mail

One year looking for misplaced objects

2 years unsuccessfully returning phone calls

4 years doing housework

5 years waiting in line

6 years eating

Can you say that your time is equally, if not more than, spent with the Lord? We need to look at the time we are spending, bonds we are making, or not making, in this family building foundation of Quality-Time. The first cornerstone we will look at today for building this foundation is…

Cornerstone 1: The Bond of Righteousness

Do you spend quality time with the Lord?

I Peter 4:1-11 (pg. 859)

Pay attention to verse 3 there, We have spent enough time doing the things of the world, our quality time has been spent elsewhere in the past. We have to make an effort to spend time with the Lord. I cannot make the emphasis on this harder without screaming or something. As people in the church, as people seeking a way out of this past way of living, as people who are troubled by what is happening in the world today, as people who have been faithful to Christ for as long as they can remember, the answer to what ails you is Quality Time spent with God.

Today, in America, there is a significant change happening right in front of your eyes. You may have noticed it if you are an observer of the culture and the modern movements of the culture, but in the world today, what was perceived as being unconstitutional, religiously biased, politically incorrect, is now being given a second glance.

1. Prayer in schools is now being looked at as a viable option.

2. Parents are now looking for the kind of values in their lives that teach their children what is right and wrong.

3. People have a new attitude for truth and its meaning.

4. They are realizing that “In God We Trust” and “one Nation under God” are not just phrases made popular by some over-zealous bigots with just the white-man in mind, but they are truths that have been too long forgotten.

We need to see that the church in America has a new point of attack. It is to be in the forefront of evangelistic efforts to bring to a questioning world the answer for what ails them. The church needs to spend quality time with God. This is a wake-up call, not to America, but to the church of God. God is asking you; His church; His bride; His children; to spend time with Him.

It is time for the church in America to become alert, it is time for the church, you and I, the person sitting next to you and yourself, to be a watchman on a hill, to be a lighthouse for those lost, to be a foundation for those who need to stand, to be catalyst that combines the members of the church into a strong family of God. This will happen when we turn to God and seek his face. God expects His children to spend quality-time with Him. Spending time with the Lord is a cornerstone that the church family needs to build its foundation upon. The risks are too high, and the consequences too heavy to neglect this part of our daily lives.

Martin Luther once said, “I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first 3 hours in prayer.”

Colossians 3:14-17 and 4:2 (pg.834)

We would become the church God wanted if this were the standard in the church today. What is holding you back from making God’s church the place most sought after regardless of the circumstances we live in? Are you spending quality-time with God?