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
