The Home Under Construction
Psalm 127:1
Red Skelton had some advice to keep marriages together:
1. Two times a week, we go to a nice restaurant, have a
little beverage, good food and companionship.
She goes on Tuesdays, I go on Fridays.
2. We also sleep in separate beds.
Hers is in California and mine is in Texas.
3. I take my wife everywhere.....
but she keeps finding her way back.
4. I asked my wife where she wanted to go for our
anniversary. "Somewhere I haven’t been in a long time!"
she said. So I suggested the kitchen.
5. We always hold hands.
If I let go, she shops.
6. She has an electric blender, electric toaster and electric
bread maker. She said "There are too many gadgets and no place to sit down!" .. So I bought her an electric chair.
7. My wife told me the car wasn’t running well because
there was water in the carburetor.
I asked where the car was; she told me "In the lake."
8. She got a mud pack and looked great for two days.
Then the mud fell off.
9. She ran after the garbage truck, yelling "Am I too late
for the garbage?" .... The driver said "No, jump in!"
10. I married Miss Right. I just didn’t know her
first name was Always.
11. I haven’t spoken to my wife in 18 months.
I don’t like to interrupt her.
12. The last fight was my fault though.
My wife asked "What’s on the TV?"
I said "Dust!"
13. Remember: Marriage is the number one cause of divorce.
Simon and Chana Taub seem to agree on only one thing: The house is mine.
The couple wants a divorce, but both of them refuse to move out of their New York home. To solve the matter, the court ordered a sand-colored wall built through the middle of their living room.
Simon can only get to his dining room by going up a neighbor’s outside stairs, stepping over a balcony, and climbing through a window. Chana has easier access to the second floor, but she complains that Simon still makes her life a nightmare by yelling, banging on walls, and turning off her heat when it’s cold out. They each vow to stay in the house until the other moves—but it doesn’t look like that’ll be happening any time soon.
Anyone can build a house, but building a home is a far different matter!
Three Institutions created by God:
1) The Home
2) The Government
3) The Church
Three questions you should ask when building your home:
1) Who is building your home?
Psalm 127:1
1 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain….
(NIV)
2) Where is your home being built?
Matthew 7:24-27
24 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."
(NIV)
1 Corinthians 3:10-11
10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds.
11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
(NIV)
3) What materials are being used?
The more valuable the materials,
the more valuable the finished product.
1 Corinthians 3:12-15
12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,
13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.
14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.
15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
(NIV)
Is your home “fire-proof”?
Satan has a bulls-eye painted upon the back of your family. His plan is to “Steal, Kill, and Destroy” your family.
John 10:10
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy….(NIV)
Nothing would please Satan more than, when your family’s name is called in Heaven, there would be heard a deafening silence because no member was present! All because of the choices of the parents!
God has a far better plan for your family. His plan is to prosper and protect your family and to give you hope and a future:
Jeremiah 29:11
11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
(NIV)
The future benefits of God’s plan for your family result in blessings for generations to come and beyond:
Exodus 20:6
6 … showing love to a thousand [generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments.
(NIV)
Think of it: when you choose the right builder, the right site upon which to build, and the right materials with which to build, your great, great, great-grandchildren will receive the blessing resulting from the good choices you made!
Our daily decisions
determine our children’s
destiny!
There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence.
Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.
Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.
The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same.
