HOW TO SURVIVE A BROKEN HOME
Isaiah 57:18
Pastor Jeff Seaman
Have you watched the new hottest show SURVIVOR? High TV rating, people are really into survivors and how will make it.
Why is this show such a success? It was different, it was new, but I think that people tried to imagine themselves in that situation. What would I do to eat? Would I eat a worm, rat? Would you?
What would you do to survive? Would you sell out a friend, share, take chances, and trust others? This was done to see who would win the million dollars. That will cause people to do just about anything. I think the real success of SURVIVOR is the picture of real life it provides. The show displayed nothing more than a picture of real life. People struggling with each other in everyday society and are willing to destroy one another for money.
It was interesting that the whole drama became the story of relationships. They got along; they formed a friendship, an alliance. They didn’t get along, they didn’t like each other, they conspire, they gossip, they fight, they shout. Sounds like a real family doesn’t it.
Unfortunately many people live in a home with a bad relationship with someone. Or maybe for some friends that have had a falling out. The Bible says, Mark 3:25 (LB)"A home filled with strife and division destroys itself."
To night I want to tell you of two people who can from a broken home, and one survived and one did not.
The first young persons name was Mike Stanford. I was the youth pastor at my first church, and Mike can one night to a compel night we had, and he gave his life to Jesus. Mike can from a very different home, his mom was a real witch, and the night he would go to youth, she would go and do her thing. His father did not want anything to do with Mike; his father would always tell his he was a loser.
When Mike got saved he had a lot of things in his life that he and I were working on. Every time that he would have a problem with his dad he would go out and either get drunk or sleep with a girl friend. That was his way of dealing with the pain in his life.
Mike would call me up at 2:00 in the morning and would just cry because of all the pain in his life, and I would go and pick him up and would pray with him and tell him to give it to Jesus.
There came one night when Mike had a real big fight with his dad, he had just got his report card and was proud to show his dad that he did not have any D of F on it. But his dad started to yell at him and tell him that he was a loser because he got some C’s. Mike lived to please his dad, that all he wanted in life was for his dad to be proud of him.
That night Mike could not take the let down any more, he when into his room and when into his closet and he hung himself. I got the call and had to go over there, his mom was a wreck, and the first thing she asked me was is he in heaven. Mike had an impact on his mom, but he did not see it because he did not see his dad love him.
On Dec. 23, 1990 we did his funeral, he did not know how to survive living in a broken home. He was saved, but did not know how to bring Jesus home with him.
Now I want to tell you my story and how I can from a broken home, but most of all, how I survived a home were home was were the hurt was…
I came from a home were both of my parents drank and did drugs. I was a drug baby, I was only 2Lb. When I was born. I grew up in a home when I was sexually abused at the age of 8 by some one how was baby-sitting me while my parent where in Los Vegas.
My parent split up after all of this came out. My dad would tell me that his life is all messed up because of me.
I lived with my dad for most of my life, and my dad was a very heavy drinker and would take it out on my brother and me. He would come home at 10:00 at night drunk and would start yelling at us. He would throw things at us and would break all kinds of thing in the house. The police would come over to our house all the time.
I lived in all kinds of abuse in my life, and I am here to day because I made some decisions that help me survive at home.
WAYS TO SURVIVE A HURTING HOME
1. I GAVE MY HEART TO JESUS.
Prov. 28:13 (GN) “You’ll never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them give them up. Then God will show mercy to you.”
Heb. 11:6 “Anyone who comes to God, must believe that he exists and that he rewards those earnestly seek him.”
Rom 8:32 “God gave us His own Son. Can we not trust such a God to give us everything else that we need?”
The bible says when we give our life to Christ that if we believe we are saved. But the word believe is more then a head knowledge, it’s a place of trust a place of surrender and a place you can cling to.
2. I PLUGGED INTO GOD.
Isaiah. 43 “When you go through deep waters and great troubles I will be with you. You won’t drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you won’t be burned up.”
Young people if you are going to survive a home where it hurts, you must plug into God’s power. I remember going into my room and going into my closet and praying for God to help me. He gave me the strength in needed that day to make it.
Jesus when teaching on prayer, said Lord give us this day our daily bread, he did not say this week.
You must learn how to get a holed on God, to get the power for the day that you will face. I learned to trust God, and plug into God for strength.
3. THE CHURCH AND A GOOD FRIEND BECAME MY SUPPORT
One of the reasons that I was able to stand in time of hurt was God gave me a friend that was like a lifeline for me. He became my mentor in life. And I always went to church
Prov. 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”
Heb. 10:25 NLT “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warm each other, especially now that the day of his coming back is drawing near.”
4. FORGIVNESS MUST BE A WAY OF LIFE
WHAT IS GENUINE FORGIVENESS?
1. REMEMBERING HOW MUCH IV’E BEEN FORGIVEN
"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you." Eph. 4:32 (NIV)
2. RELINQUISHING MY RIGHT TO GET EVEN
"... Never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for He has said that He will repay those who deserve it." Romans 12:19 (LB)
3. RESPONDING TO EVIL WITH GOOD
"... do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you." Luke 6:27-28 (NIV)
"Love keeps no record of wrongs." 1 Cor. 13:5 (NIV)
4. REPEATING THE PROCESS AS LONG AS NECESSARY
"Peter asked, `Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?’ `No.’ Jesus replied, `seventy times seven!’" Matt. 18:21-22 (NLT)
WHY OFFER GRACE TO OTHERS?
1. GOD IS GRACIOUS TO ME. Eph. 4:32
2. THE ALTERNATIVE IS BITTERNESS.
"Be careful that none of you fails to respond to the grace which God gives, for if he does there can very easily spring up in him a bitter spirit which is not only bad in itself but can also poison the lives of many others." Heb. 12:15 (Ph)
3. GOD EXPECTS ME TO DO IT.
"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." Matt. 6:15 (NIV)
