Family Ties Series

Family Ties

How to Appreciate More Than Just One Person in Your House

I. Introduction

A teacher was trying to teach her class a lesson about fractions. After the lesson she tested one of the boys who was in a large family. Johnny, she said, There are six people in your family. Your mom bakes a pie, and she cuts it up for you, what percentage of the pie will you receive?

Johnny thought for a minute and said, “One-fifth.” The teacher said, “Now, remember there are six people in your family, how big would your piece of pie be?” And, again the boy said, “One-fifth.” The teacher said, “No, you don’t understand fractions.” Johnny respectfully said, “You don’t understand my mom. She would have said that she didn’t want any.”

There’s a whole lot more to your family than just being a help with fraction problems. Tonight, you’re going to learn how to appreciate more than just one person in your house: you. You’re going to learn about family ties, the ties that bind…or should bind together the hearts of a family.

II. A Few Good Men

Genesis 18:17-19 “And the Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."

Two things about Abraham that I want you to see tonight. Abraham was a father. Abraham was a good father. Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them and so are you, so let’s just praise the Lord. Right arm. Look again. God knew Abraham, that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord. Abraham trained his family to love God. He trained his family in the principles of righteousness and justice.

If you’ve got a dad, I hope that’s him. I pray that he’s like that, raising you and the rest of his family to serve the Lord, no matter what everyone around him is doing. There are very few fathers like that, and if you’ve got one of these, consider yourself very blessed. If your dad checks up on you every night, if he grounds you because you missed curfew, if he blasts you for being rude, if he teaches you the right way when you did things wrong, then consider yourself loved. If that’s your dad, you need to start appreciating him. If your dad doesn’t care what you do, if he doesn’t care that you’re here at church, if he’s nowhere to be found, then consider yourself having an opportunity to pray for him. I had a great dad when I was growing up. He loved us and we knew it. We thought everything was super duper ok. But my parents got divorced last summer. Dad messed up. Mom forgave. Dad messed up again. Mom wanted out. She had every reason to want out. Dad messed up. His first mistake was that he ran away from God. And there was a time that I was very bitter against my dad, so much that one day, I went to my aunt’s house, where he was staying, with the sole intention of cleaning his clock. We were going to throw down. He had lost his job and had been sleeping the day away. I was going to drag him out of bed and beat the living daylights out of him. I was bitter and I was angry. But when I got to the house and walked in to his bedroom, all I could do was cry. I knew I went there for the wrong reason, but I left with a new purpose. I was going to pray for my dad until his life turned around. I ate lunch with my dad this past Monday. He’s finally getting a job. His life is finally turning around. But it all began that day when I decided I wasn’t going to hate my dad, but I was going to pray for him. I saw the opportunity, after a while of being blinded by bitterness. But I finally took that opportunity, and I prayed. And then I communicated to my dad that I loved him, and I prayed some more, and now a life has been changed because of it. So, if your dad isn’t one of the few good men, there’s still hope, take the opportunity and pray.

Now, let’s look at the ideal family.