May 2003 Sermon Notes
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May 4, 2003, Ten Values That Build Strong Families Part 7: Affair Proofing Your Marriage
May 11, 2003 Ten Values That Build Strong Families Part 8: Prospering With Integrity
May 18, 2003Ten Values That Build Strong Families Part 9: Telling the Truth
May 25, 2003Ten Values That Build Strong Families Part 10: Learning To Be Content
May 4, 2003
Ten Values That Build Strong Families
Part 7: Affair Proofing Your Marriage
Exodus 20:14 John 8:1 - 11
Follow God’s laws during dating and courtship
It is God’s will that you … avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable … and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. I Thessalonians 4:3-6
Restrict relationships with the opposite sex
Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? Proverbs 6:27 – 28
Friendships must change after marriage
Avoid prolonged eye contact
Do not discuss marriage struggles
Resist touch that conveys interest
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! I Corinthians 10:12
Gain victory over lust
“ You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. Matthew 5:27 - 30
Consider the consequences
But a man who commits adultery … destroys himself. Proverbs 6:26
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Hebrews 13:5
Build your marriage
Has not the LORD made them one? … And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. Malachi 2:15
Meet needs
Resolve issues
Forgive hurts
Cultivate friendship
Forgiveness and Restoration Is Possible!
May 11, 2003
Ten Values That Build Strong Families
Part 8: Prospering With Integrity
Exodus 20:15
Make an honest living
He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.
Ephesians 4:28
Pay employees what they are worth
Do not take advantage of a hired man Deuteronomy 24:14
Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. James 5:4
Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness … making his countrymen work for nothing, not paying them for their labor. Jeremiah 22:13
· Work hard for your employer
If a man will not work, he shall not eat. We hear that some among you are idle. … Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. II Thessalonians 3:10 – 12
One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys. Proverbs 19:8
· Care for the poor
When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God. Do not steal. Leviticus 19:9 - 11
Make restitution
A thief must certainly make restitution Exodus 22:2
If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep. Exodus 22:1
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “… if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount. Luke 19:8
Make the Lord your top priority
“ Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty. Malachi 3:8-11
May 18, 2003
Ten Values That Build Strong Families
Part 9: Telling the Truth
Exodus 20:16
Types of Lies
Perjury Deuteronomy 19:15 - 21
Gossip
Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Leviticus 19:16
Silent lies
· Withholding information
If a person sins because he does not speak up when he hears a public charge to testify regarding something he has seen or learned about, he will be held responsible. Leviticus 5:1
Body language
A scoundrel and villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth, who winks with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers, who plots evil with deceit in his heart— he always stirs up dissension. Proverbs 6:12 – 14
Flattery
Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception. May the LORD cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue Psalms 12:2 – 3
Truth telling is a matter of credibility
Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit …You have not lied to men but to God.” Acts 5:3 - 4
Truth telling is a reflection of relationship with God
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire … there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44
With people
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. Ephesians 5:24
Truth telling is a function of our heart content
You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Matthew 12:34
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14
Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. Psalm 141:3
May 25, 2003
Ten Values That Build Strong Families
Part 10: Learning To Be Content
Exodus 20:17 – 21
Covetousness is the uncontrolled desire to acquire
· It is an issue of our heart
· It is the domino value
II Samuel 11:1 – 17 10 –7 – 8 – 9 – 6
I Kings 21:1 – 16 10 – 9 – 6 – 8
Covetousness causes …
· Fatigue
Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Proverbs 23:4
· Debt
· Worry
The abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep Ecclesiastes 5:11
· Conflict
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. James 4:1-2
· Dissatisfaction
Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. Ecclesiastes 5:10
Understand God’s power
Laws stimulate desire
For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. Romans 7:7-8
Grace stimulates self control
For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:3 - 4
Embrace God’s provision
Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God. Ecclesiastes 5:19
Philippians 4:14 - 19