BLESS THIS HOME
Wk 1 - Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness
PASTOR TIMOTHY PORTER
TEXT: MATTHEW 5:6
INTRODUCTION:
let me get a little participation. How many of you would love to have your homes and families be blessed, raise your hands up high.
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There are some that do not have your hands up. So, I'm guess you want yours cursed?
No.
We all would love to see our homes and families blessed.!
But when you look at families today, in general, the first word that does not come to your mind is the word "blessed." Right?
?When we look at so many families today, rather than say, "Man, they're really blessed," more often, we say, "Wow, they're really struggling."
?"Their marriage is not what it could be"
?"raising the kids it's more difficult than they thought"
?"financially, Man, we're, you know, we're kind of living paycheck-to-paycheck."
And admittedly, there are a lot more temptations today than in the past.
There's the challenges of more and more blended families, which can be a blessing, but then you're raising your kids and her kids, and our kids. And both exes and it's complicated.
We see a record number of single parents today which can be so difficult when you're trying to support a family on one income and there's only one of you to carry all the load, and the discipline of raising the kids is overwhelming at times.
?So, what we're going to do is we're going to let Jesus teach us from Mathew, chapter 5, when he taught on what is known as the beatitudes, from the sermon on the mount.
?We're going to put application from several of the beatitudes into our homes.
?Now, some of you may say, "But I'm a student or I am not married. I don't have a family yet."
Oh, my gosh, this is the best time to prepare your heart for future blessings.
I would have given anything to have learned stuff like this years and years ago.
So, I believe it will speak to everyone.
And let me tell you where we're going to go in this series.
? Next week 2, we're going to look at the teaching of Jesus when he said, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God." Most of our homes would not be characterized by the word "pure". But for many, it would be "impurity" Of all the sins and temptations and struggles that we get into. How do we have homes full of people that are pure in heart?
?At week 3, we're going to study when Jesus said "Blessed are the peace makers."
?And the fourth week is my favorite week. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. For theirs is the Kingdom of God."
What I'm going to do is I'm going to be real transparent in this message series.
There are times when I'm going to tell you things that have worked from our home.
But I want to tell you our family is so far from perfect.
?It's always funny to Abby and I, when people from The Bridge see us somewhere, and something goes wrong with our family, they're so excited about it.
They are like, "Oh, I'm so thankful your family is not perfect.
" I'm like, "Duh! Duh! I mean, we are not perfect.
" When my kids are misbehaving, I don't just break into a hymn and speak KJV and they all stop and start worshiping; it's just not like that."
?And so today, let's look at Mathew 5:6 for our first of the beatitudes we're going to study.
READ TEXT
The Sermon on the Mount introduces a series of five important discourses recorded in Matthew. This sermon exposits the law masterfully and assaults Pharisaic legalism potently, closing with a call to true faith and salvation. In it Christ expounds the full meaning of the law, showing that its demands are humanly impossible.
When you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you will be filled, and yet so many homes today are not filled with what matters most, most are searching and striving for anything that would bring meaning and comfort.
[Jesus did not come to comfort us, He came to confront our unrightenouss]
Why is that?
Because we're filling our lives with things that don't matter, and we're not as blessed as we could be because we're not hungering and thirsting for righteousness, for right living, for doing the right thing in the way we live to please God, by faith and by the way we live.
?So, here's a question that I want to ask all of you just for application, and I want to dare you to be really, really honest.
Here's the question:
In your home, what are you hungering for? In your life, in your dorm/school, at work, with your friends, what are you pursuing? What matters most to you?
A lot of you would give me your Sunday school answer - God—Time & Energy - friends?
What would your kids say? Comfort, Fun, Image, Popularity (Social Media), Win, Best.
?So, what do we do when we realize that we are hungering for the wrong things?
What do we do when we realize that we have an appetite for things that do not satisfy and are not best for us?
Well, we change our appetites.
?ILL. Change appetite. I Hunger for Ice cream coconut cake cream cheese danish and these things are not good for me.
I need to hunger for walks, eating the right thigs, plenty of water and being in the gym daily.
Why don’t more hunger and thirst for righteousness?
Here's the thing, if you start pursuing God and you start seeking God, suddenly, you're going to see the benefits of walking, led by the Spirit of God, empowered by his presence and His Spirit. And suddenly, you'll long for more of him, and the junk food of this world, which distracted you, wasn't good for you and didn't satisfy you isn't going to be at the top of your cravings because now you're developing an appetite. For the good stuff.
?When, You're hungering and thirsting for righteousness you're being filled and satisfied, you begin knowing, serving and doing the will of God.
?Now, why doesn't this happen more in our homes? Why don't we see more homes that are blessed?
??Let me tell you what works and what doesn't work when it comes to building a home centered around Christ. And we'll start with what does not work.
If you're taking notes, there are two
Things that do not work.
The first thing is legalistic Christianity does not work.
The second thing is lukewarm Christianity does not work.
WHAT DOES WORK?
• WE ARE NOT JUST A CHRISTIAN FAMILY.
• WE ARE A CHRIST-CENTERED HOME.
What does work, if you're taking notes, write this down:
"As a family, we are not just a Christian family. Instead, we are a Christ-centered home." Let's all say this aloud, . Let's say both statements. "We are not just a Christian family." What are we? "We are a Christ-centered home."
Not part, If you Call yourself a duck—quack—don’t lay eggs like a chicken, not a duck.
"You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. Ps. 63:1
Ps. 63:1 You God are our God, earnestly we seek you; we thirst for you, our whole family longs for you… Ps 63:1 (edited toward the family) TPV
Can I carry this deeper? This sums up meaning 2 thimngas Law and Spirit
The law was added b/c of transgressions . You don't know you are tresspassing if you don't know the property lines.
?Law Given
There was a sond fron Heaven
there was fire
written on tablets of stone
3k people died
?Spirit Given
Sound from Heaven
Fire
written on tablets of flesh
3k saved
The law = Death The spirit = Life
2 Timothy 2:13 (NKJV) 13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
What are you hungering and thirsting for in your home?
THREE WAYS TO CREATE HUNGER FOR GOD
1) INVOLVE GOD IN YOUR DAILY CONVERSATIONS.
Look at how God has blessed us.
HOME
CARS
FOOD
CLOTHES
FRIENDS
FAMILY
CHURCH FAMILY
2) MAKE CHURCH NON-NEGOTIABLE.
Kids don’t want to miss Bridge Kids and After Shock if you keep them coming. Especially in a non-legalilistic atmosphere
Sunday rolls around no matter what you get up get ready and come to the bridge
if you want to hunger and thirst for righteousness, is make church a non negotiable. If you're a Christ centered home, guess what you do? You make the priority of the worship of your God something that is non negotiable. To take one hour a week to honor the creator and sustainer of this universe who sent his son, Jesus, to hear the proclamation of the word because faith comes from hearing and hearing from the word of God. And you say to your family, "We're going to go to church, period."
If you can't make it you are " lazy bumb" lol
You can make it. And it's part of who we are. The fellowship of the believers.
3) SHOW HOW SEEKING AND SERVING GOD IS FUN.
Quiet times are a part of our culture.
Skookie prayers
Monoply
Let you family see you reading your bible and praying
Do fun things while serving others.
I don't ask my family to read and study their bibles. I don't have to it's just our culture.
This may sound crazy to you but I've got a 28-year-old daughter a 18-year-old daughter, and a 12 yr. old daughter
Abby and I never told them "Don't have sex with boys, don't party."
We never told them, "Don't party, don't drink, don't do drugs." We never told them that, never one time did have we told them that.
Here the thing. We don't have to tell them to be good when we are already seeking the one who is good.
That's so good I'm going to say it again. I may tweet it later on. Okay?
We don't have to tell them to be good when we are already seeking the one who is good.
We seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, Matthew 6:33 , and then everything else will be added to you.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness because they will be filled." Matthew 5:6
Ping-pong ball Illustration
You can have what God wants you to have if you will pursue God, period.
Gentlemen, get up off your butts and lead. Lead toward a Christ-centered culture; lead toward it. Lead toward it.!
You say, "Hey, I don't even know where to start."
We made it as simple as we can.
1 Can you show it's a blessing to serve God? Yes, you can.
2 Can you make church a priority? Yes, you can.
3 Can you involve God in your conversations? Yes, you can.
And I love what Joshua said very simply. He said this in Joshua 24:15: He said, "Then choose for yourselves" what? Say this phrase aloud. He said, "Choose for yourselves" what? He said "Choose for yourself this day." Say it again. He says, "Choose for yourself this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my household," whom are we going to serve? He said, "We are going to serve the Lord."
