HOW TO ANNOY YOUR FAMILY: Part 3 - God Can Heal Your Family’s Pain

Two Causes of Pain within Families:

Disrespect: Attitude of rebellion against Parents
Disobedience: Actions of rebellion against Parents

REALIZE there is HOPE for your family

1. God CARES about your pain more than you do
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is the Father who is full of mercy. And he is the God of all comfort. He comforts us every time we have trouble so that we can comfort others when they have trouble. We can comfort them with the same comfort that God gives us (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

2. God CAN HEAL every wound
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people
(Matthew 4:23).

If anyone belongs to Christ, then he is made new. The old things have gone; everything is made new! (2 Corinthians 5:17).

REWRITE your role in your family relationships

1. DRAW near to God
When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed”
(Mark 5:27-28).

Come near to God, and God will come near to you. You are sinners. So clean sin out of your lives. You are trying to follow God and the world at the same time (James 4:8).

2. Discover GOD’S PLAN for your life
“I know what I have planned for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you. I don’t plan to hurt you. I plan to give you hope and a good future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

3. DON’T give up
I ask the Father in his great glory to give you the power to be strong in spirit. He will give you that strength through his Spirit . . . I pray that you can understand how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is . . . Christ’s love is greater than any person can ever know (Ephesians 3:17-18).

No matter what your pain is:

1. You are not alone
2. There is help available

Pastor Joe

HOW TO ANNOY YOUR FAMILY: Part II – Are You Part of the Problem or the Solution?

WIN - LOOSE

Philippians 2:3-4
Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don’t just think about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and in what they’re doing.

Me First Attitude or Others-Centered Actions
1. You can TEAR DOWN and lose or you can BUILD UP and win with your words

Why don’t you ever understand anything I tell you?
You’re so dumb!
His mom/his dad let’s them do this.
Why can’t you be a little bit more like them?
Why can’t you be a normal parent for once?
I hate you!

Ephesians 4:29
When you talk, do not say harmful things. But say what people need—Words that will help others become stronger. Then what you say will help those who listen to you.

Proverbs 12:18
Careless words stab like a sword. But wise words bring healing.

One kind word a day – for the more advanced let’s try a sentence.

Don’t look at your mom and say you don’t look so heavy in that dress…

Like you walk by your brother and go, NICE!
I love you, Mom.

Remember if you want to lose have "a me" first attitude…if you want to win have an others first attitude.

2. You can be UNGRATEFUL and lose, or be THANKFUL and win

It’s amazing to how deserving I think I am sometimes.
How much I think I deserve to get and the need to be served by my family.

Growing up how unthankful I was. US News did a study and on a middle income family it takes 1.5 million to raise a child in the US.

1 Thessalonians 5:18
Give thanks whatever happens. That is what God wants for you in Christ Jesus.

Candy Handout

Write a letter this week: #1 Dad Shirt/Letter

You can be ungrateful and lose or you can be thankful and win.

3. You can be BITTER and lose or you can FORGIVE and win

I can give you a multitude of reasons why you are bitter at your mom, dad, brother, sister, grandmother, etc…

I can tell you that forgiving is a very difficult thing

Those of you that are Christians, you are never more like Jesus than when you forgive.
Begin to annoy and shock your family by just offering forgiveness.

Mom, I was thinking about something I said to you the other day and I’ve got to tell you I am sorry…will you forgive me?

Ephesians 4:31-32
Stop being bitter or angry or mad! Quarreling, harsh words and dislike of others should have no place in your lives. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God has forgiven you because you belong to Christ.

You want to win in your family you have to learn to forgive.

Closing:

You can do this on your OWN and lose or you can ask GOD for wisdom and win

Colossians 1:9-10
So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better.

Pastor Joe

Inside MY Weekend

Friday:
Day off with Colin
Follow-up doctor visit for Colin’s ears
Dentist appointment for me
Home Depot visit for new water filter
Went shopping with the Family

Saturday:
Mowed my yard
Colin had a t-ball game
Colin and I got hair cuts
Got 4 train books from the local library
Had some friends over for dinner…tried a new steak marinade (not so good)
Watched Toy Story-Great Movie
Fell asleep early

Sunday:
Great worship this morning
Pastor taught Colossians 3:18-4:1
Reminded me the greater role that I have as a husband
Had a meeting after church – Discovering Lakeside (designed to inform people in the many ways they can understand and partner with us)
Writing this blog and waiting for our high school students to show up for our varsity life group.
Will have family devotion time tonight
Excited about the week…

Pastor Joe

HOW TO ANNOY YOUR FAMILY: Part I Making Radical Changes That Will Surprise Everyone

Parents are Clueless – Let me explain

1. God CREATED families (Cain and Able . . . trouble since the beginning) There is a start to humanity
Brother kills brother

Sister Story

Family is the one thing that will influence you for the rest your life

Broken Family

Pain
Anger
Distrust
Yelling
Hurt
Loneliness
Disconnect
Turmoil

This picture is not God’s design for the family

Love
Fun
Memories
Hope
Trust
Laughter
Safety

2. God has given GUIDELINES for families

· Drivers Ed
· Mission Mexico
· Skydiving

God’s given us guidelines not to quench fun, but to give us freedom.

I will obey your teachings forever and ever. So I will live in freedom because I want to follow your orders (Psalm 119:44, 45).

Some Basic Realizations Regarding Success with Your Family

1. Realize that a healthy family BRINGS LIFE

Maybe you are the Problem

Children, obey your parents the way the Lord wants. This is the right thing to do. The command says, “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first command that has a promise with it (Ephesians 6:1-2).


2. Realize that you can control YOUR ATTITUDE

Here is my rule of thumb for counseling…You live under your parents roof…OBEY Your Parents.
Each person among you must respect his mother and father . . . I am the Lord your God (Leviticus 19:3).

Pastor Joe

Easter Family Picture

Hey Friends, I just wanted to share with you a family photo that was taken this Easter on the porch of our church. I remember when my mom used to make the comment “honey, time flies as you get older". As a young boy that seemed crazy...now as a young man :) it makes total sense! It seems like yesterday that we were bringing Colin home from the hospital and look at him now.

Believe it or not time does fly. Yesterday seemed like Y2K, this past weekend I was in a retreat with two guys that I went to school with. Maybe that does not seem like that big a deal but we started school together in 1st grade. This is what blows me away...we graduated together in 1985...yikes. Live each day like there is no tomorrow...why? Because time sure does fly!

Pastor Joe

Music // Worship without Interuption

Tonight at 24.7, we had an entire night of musical worship. No message, just 10 songs, an offering and some closing announcements. It has been a long time since I have been able to lead an entire hour of music. I really miss it.

Music creates such an instant connection. You say something over and over again and people won't get it, but put it in a song and somehow information transforms. "Conjunction Junction what's your function? Hooking up words and phrases and clauses..." communicates so much better than "an uninflected function word that serves to conjoin words or phrases or clauses or sentences." It's so easy to say or instruct "surrender everything to God" but when you sing "Jesus, I surrender" it somehow penetrates the soul. That's because for most people, singing is honest. It is hard to sincerely sing without being sincere. We can lie in prose, but somehow melody forces us to tell the truth.

Tonight there were students kneeling and crying out to God. Sincere prayers that were not coaxed or prodded - there was no come to Jesus speech. The spirit of God used the music to move them. I could hardly hold back tears as I tried to sing. It was incredible. It was also tiring.
After a 10 song set, I am completely exhausted. There is something about crying out at the top of your lungs that will wear you out. It is a special exhaustion that is brought on by worship. Not just worship in the form of music either, but most forms.

I worked construction for many years with my father and would often come home exhausted; however, my exhaustion was mainly physical, sometimes mental, but my spirit never felt the impact. It was like there was something inside of me that wanted to "do more" even though my body could not handle it. I have also worshiped through construction. Various missions or church projects have given me more than my share of days doing manual labor and somehow the exhaustion from those days is different. At the end of those days when you rest it is like you are really resting. Your whole self is on the same page and sleep feels good.

I know that sounds weird, but for me, sleep doesn't always feel good. It does not hurt or anything, but it takes me a while to fall asleep at night. My mind, my spirit, tend to keep me up as they wander through my day and my future. I find myself asking, "Why do I need to sleep? There is so much more to do." So sleep becomes less rest and more a "if I don't do this I'll die" thing.

But tonight, I do not think I will have trouble sleeping. You see, I don't have to think about the day or the future. By exhausting myself through worship, I have fulfilled my day. There is nothing better that I could have done with my day. As for tomorrow, who worries about tomorrow when they had such a great today?

What if in Mathew 6 when Jesus says "do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own", he wasn't telling us not to worry as much as he was telling us to make today count.

Worry that tomorrow could be like today? On a day where you feel you have completely fulfilled your destiny, you do not worry, instead you have hope of seeing another day of the same.
Perhaps this is why the bible says that the true act of worship is to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. (Rom 12:1) Whether through song, justice or whatever God has called you to do, when you have pushed your body to exhaustion through worship it is worship in the truest form.

Pastor Ron

Jesus Crucifixion // Very Graphic

Hey Friends, we have just finished a series called "Famous Last Words" at 24.7. Each week we were able to show the G rated version of the crucifixion. I have posted the crucifixion scene from the passion of the Christ. Please note that the video below is very graphic! This is what Jesus did for you...