FAMILY PRIORITY

FAMILY PRIORITY

Learn Deuteronomy 6:5, 7 - Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.... Impress these commandments on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Main Idea

The second core value of our series Christian to the Core is “Family Priority”. Being christian to the core means you recognize the most important relationships in your life are with your family, and the most important work that you will ever do is within your family. God desires for you to be a blessing within your family. Family is where we first learn the skill of relation to others, where we learn to love and receive love, to listen, and to express our needs. God desires for the family to be a trusting and secure environment. In the family, we learn about authority, and hopefully, we learn healthy lessons about the consequences of disregarding that authority. God designs the family to be the place where babies are born and children are nurture.

Know What

God looks for men and women who are convinced that the family is God’s building block for society and give their family priority in their lives.

So What

The Lord gives you a family so you an lean how to love him and others. As we grow in our ability to relate to those closest to us, we are able to take those skills into the broader community.

Now What

This week, identify the strengths and weakness of your relationships within your family. What can you do today to begin to work on those weakness?

Discuss…

1.     Think about the family as a gift, a place of service, and a responsibility.

2.     Analyze how common is “God-talk” in your home.

3.     Evaluate your commitment to your family.

4.     Evaluate your spiritual life as a family.

5.     Name 2-3 blessings for every specific member of your direct family.

Next Steps…

This week, discuss with your spouse and/or other families members where your family is strongest and where is weakest. Try to create a moment you and your family or family member will cherish for the rest of your lives. Remember to love those that god gives us to love. 

Let’s pray… Dear God, you plan placed us in families. This act of grace reveals your wisdom. In families we learn to love. Even though some families are broken, your perfect will is wholeness. You have provided for us grace, mercy and forgiveness to restore and heal. For that which we have received from our families, we give you thanks. Help us by your grace to love our families as you have loved us. And as you give yourself to us, may we also give ourselves to our families so that they too, may learn how to love. In Jesus name, Amen.

INTIMACY WITH GOD

Learn Exodus 33:7-11 - Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.

Main Idea 
This week we starting a new sermon series called “Christian to the Core”. In four weeks we will study four core values that could help us to understand what it really means to be sons/daughters of God. To be Christian to the core is to have an intimate and growing relationship with the God of the universe. God looks for consecrated men and women who live life from an intimate relationship with God. The bible is filled with images of God’s desire for a personal relationship with individuals. In Exodus 33:7-12, we read of a powerful account of God meeting with Moses as he led the people toward the Promised Land. Just as God spoke to Moses face to face, he desires a personal relationship with you and has provided a pathway of spiritual disciplines to help you overcome any barriers to going deeper with him. The path is found in spiritual disciplines, which include worship, Bible study, prayer and service.

Know What
 God longs for us to have his mind and see things the way he sees. He promises to meet us if we choose to go deeper in our relationship with him.

So What 
We develop intimacy with god intentionally as we walk each day with God. The journey enriches us with moments of profound insight, life transforming guidance, and personal experience of God’s love.

Now What 
This week, consider your relationship with God. What can you do today to begin mowing towards greater intimacy?

Discuss…


1. Think about each of the four primary disciples, and think what can you do in each area to move more toward deeper intimacy?

2. In worship I will…

3. In Bible study I will…

4. In Prayer I will…

5. In service I will…

Next Steps…
 This week, talk with another Christian as discuss how he or she maintains a vibrant relationship with the Lord through worship, Scripture reading, prayer and service. Based on the feedback you receive, write down three suggestions that will help you develop a more intimate relationship with God. Think of how you will apply these to your life.  

Let’s pray… Almighty God, give me the strength and wisdom to prioritize my relationship with you. Help me spend time in quietness and reflection. Open my heart and speak to me. Take me deeper in my relationship with you so I might experience the fullness of your presence in my life.