Sermon "Thicker Than Blood" by Rick Shabi, June 12, 2021

well today i want to i want to talk to everyone in the audience and get the attention of everyone that is listening in whether you're an older adult whether you're a young adult whether you're a teen whether you're a pre-teen whether you're married or single whatever whatever your situation that what i'm going to talk about today applies to every single one of us and there will be an application to every single one of us you know as we have lived through many things this year and as we will live through many many more things in the years ahead of us i think we are all increasingly thankful to god and grateful to god for what he has called us to for what he provides for us for what he does for us things that we can't even possibly enumerate if we were to go down the list uh we would probably spend the rest of our lives enumerating them god is just has been a tremendous father to us jesus christ has done more than we can ever imagine anymore that we can ever repay and he has made us as we have talked about many times he has called us and as we have yielded to him and been baptized he has made us part of his family he's made us part of his family you know those words just fall off of our mouth and sometimes we don't think about what what all that means that god has made us part of his family he is our father every day when we pray we say our father he's our father jesus christ is our older brother all of us we say are brothers and sisters but we are all part of one family and there is some tremendous significance to that when we pause and think about it and contemplate it whenever there's been a tremendous privilege given our our way and anything it also comes with a tremendous responsibility and it also comes with accountability and i want to talk about that today because the responsibility that we have to god the responsibility that we have to jesus christ the responsibility that we have to the family and the accountability that comes with it is something we should all be mindful of you know as we as we have lived in our lives and all of us whatever our family situations have been you know we had a mother we had a father or we had parents we had siblings that we grew up with and there was a responsibility and accountability that was in that physical family as well when god created adam and eve and he said become one flesh and be fruitful multiply fill the earth there was that family the building the basic building block of society that god ordained and he was very wise in doing that because it's a picture of what he is doing with us spiritually as well so as we're in that classroom that we spoke of a couple of weeks ago as we're in that classroom of our lives in that classroom of the families that we are part of physically we learn many things god defines the roles of that family there is dad dad is supposed to be the spiritual head of the family he's supposed to be the leader he's like the ceo he's the one who provides he's the one who makes sure the family has what it needs he sets the standard and he makes sure that the family is moving forward in that way mom is like the operations person right she's she without without a ceo and without a person who runs the operations businesses fail families fail mom is responsible she's the one who keeps the home the home is a very important place in god's family in the family that he designed she's working with the children she's seeing and carrying out what the family stands for the religious teaching the upbringing making sure the children are developing the the traits that they need to be successful adults who can have their own children and raise them to be christians and raise them to be productive members of society armed with a character armed with the the sense of responsibility that all of us need to be successful in this world to be successful in our racial relationships with each other she she is a key and she is a help mate to her husband in more ways than just keeping the house and just making sure that food's on the table and making sure that the laundry is done and nurturing the children all those things so so important so so important but she's also a help mate in more than just that and talk about that a little bit and then there's the children the children are like us in god's family they're there and the bible instructs them to to be responsive be responsible to the to the parents be responsible to the teaching obey the parents trust and know that they are giving you the right instruction that they are giving you the way to a life that is good and beneficial and blessed have that yielded attitude so that you grow up armed with everything that you need that you can function in your family the way that god had intended for all families too if they are going to be joyful that they are going to be productive if they're going to be the supremely happy places that god intended them to be you know with with physical families you know no matter what our family situation is there's that tie of the blood the blood that binds us you know no matter what friends we have to develop you know over the years the blood the blood of the family is important it gives us a bond with our family members we love them as we're growing up we watch out for each other we may have our skirmishes we may have our arguments we may have our bouts here and there but overall we want each other in the family to to be successful brothers and sisters may quarrel a little bit but they also help each other and they'll defend each other they're there for each other there's an old saying that says blood is thicker than water and you know that's true that's true blood is thicker than water that's the way god created it there are those family ties and when we have that bloodline between us it is an important thing and it links us for life families have one name two generally a little bit more despair than the age that we live in today but there's one name generally and the way god created it all the family would have that one name that they abide by so that you know you're the permar family and everyone bears that last name or you're the shady family and everyone bears that last name and as people know the family name and know of them we also identify that name with not just the sound but with what we see of that family family members have a responsibility that that name has honor to it every single family member has the responsibility that that name that when people hear that name they think of it positively it's a family that has character it's a family that obeys god it's a family that is resolute there's a family that is hard-working it's a family that does things the right way the children are the children are well behaved the children are where they need to be mom and dad are doing their things and you have a positive feeling about it proverbs if we turn back to proverbs 22 and verse 1 we see the we see the emphasis that god puts on having that family name and there's a responsibility that every member of the family has toward that name that that family bears excuse me proverbs 22 verse 1 says a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches loving favor rather than silver and gold a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches how important is that and those of us who have have lived in lives and as we've seen things that have gone on with other families or even things in the news and we see family names that we may respect and then someone moves out of the what you expect in that family and it damages the reputation so you don't think of that name in the same way anymore i could come up with another you know a number of them probably if i thought about it but i know i was putting together this sermon the one that that came up in my mind was bernie madoff remember bernie madoff he's the one who had it all he was there on on on wall street he had a hedge fund and he was moving along very wealthy man wife two sons everyone looked up to bernie madoff i think his sons thought you know our father our our dad is a good businessman he's provided everything we need mom was a socialite and then bertie madoff you know the cover came off of what he did look how many lives he destroyed from his ponzi schemes look at how many how many um well even his own son if i recall correctly committed suicide as a result of what dad was doing apparently the sons and the mom had no idea what mr madoff was doing but when it was uncovered that name was no longer one that was held in high repute everyone that knew that name he destroyed it he failed in his responsibility to his family he failed miserably when we look at the word name in proverbs 22 verse 1 it comes from the hebrew word shame or s-h-e-m however it's pronounced and it means an appellation as a mark or memorial of individuality by implication honor authority and character so when we hear a name we think about what that name means we don't think about how is it pronounced how is it spelled all these things but when we hear a name there's something that rings in our mind what do we think about that person what is their reputation like it's similar with the bible you know jesus when we hear the name jesus what do we think of you know some people get hung up sometimes on should it be jesus or should it be something else when we think of the name jesus that god has given us in the english version of the bible the english language we speak of we know what we think of savior messiah sacrifice perfect love the perfect example wants mankind and gave his life so that mankind could live eternally that's the reputation he has and everything that he did when he while he was on earth everything that christ has done since then points to that it's a name that he bears well and our father our father has a name and he says he'll put his name on us that name has honor that name has merit that name means character that name means complete truth complete complete commitment to mankind even in the face of what we've done to disappoint him along the way still committed to what his plan is for mankind still committed to the family that he's calling and he's putting together so the name is very very important certainly our physical name certainly the spiritual name that we bear when we become members of god's family as well let's turn back to joshua joshua 7. look at a man here in the old testament who brought such dishonor such dishonor to his family name we've talked about achan before in joshua 7. you remember the story about aiken israel has marched into the promised land god has told them they will conquer jericho follow the commands that he says and he tells them don't take anything from jericho leave it all behind don't take anything for yourself wipe it out and the man aiken decides oh i can keep a little bit you know here's some clothes that look very nice here's some silver gold if i just hold this and don't tell anyone about it isn't that okay i mean does god really want all this stuff destroyed and if i keep a little back for myself isn't that okay and you remember the story do you remember the story it's not okay it's not okay if we look at joshua 7 and verse 12 you know here they've conquered jericho and they're marching into this little city of a.i such a small city with such a small army that they say we're only going to send 3 000 men against a.i if god conquered jericho he can certainly he will deliver ai into our hands with just a few men and when they go out to battle they find out just the opposite happened 36 men die as a.i routes israel it would have to be considered if we put in sports sports terms the upset of all time right the upset of all time that ai could send israel running and 36 people die and god lets joshua know there's a problem there's a problem in his family his family that is called the congregation of israel at that time there's a problem and that's why someone has brought dishonor to israel and what god had intended for that body that family on earth at that time to be let's look at verse 12. therefore he says the children of israel couldn't stand before their enemies but turn their backs before their enemies because they become doomed to destruction someone in your midst one family one man has not lived up to the responsibility that it was to be a member of the congregation of israel that was to be following god living by his laws living by his standards obeying him completely one man and god said the family's been dishonored and i'm not i can't tolerate this this is not what we are this is not the family that we're putting together we go on in verse 12. neither will i god says to joshua neither will i be with you anymore unless you destroy the accursed from among you well that says a lot about what god expects of you and me that says a lot about the responsibility that you and i have when we become members of god's family whether we're baptized or not whether we're one year old or 18 years old still living at home or older than that living at home when we're members of god's family he has a there is a responsibility that we bear he opens our minds to truth he opens our minds to eternity he gives us the door to eternity this is what you do to follow into it you will become my family and the honor that is associated with that is beyond anything that compares on earth but there's a responsibility and we see here there's an accountability that goes on with it aiken aiken brought death to israel he brought embarrassment to israel he didn't live up to the standard he was the weak link and god said to joshua unless this is removed unless you deal with this i won't be with you anymore that's what our father who has the right and who has set the family rules in place says to us because to be a member of his family pale is beyond anything that we we could compare it to and that's what he says just like physical fathers will say these are the standards of this family we live by the bible we live by the word of god god is our leader god is our standard he is the one we look to and nothing comes before him and obedience to him so aiken as you go down through the story you know they don't know at this point in verse 12 what is going on but it comes down to aiken aiken is the man that god shows is the weak link aiken has done something that has disrupted the entire family of israel if we drop down to verse 19. we see something that god says here that is an interesting thing he says josh or joshua said to aiken my son speaking to akin i beg you give glory to the eternal give glory to the eternal you know our our lives are to bring glory to god what we do what we say how we behave in the workplace at school in the neighborhood with each other is to bring glory to god we don't need to turn to first corinthians 10 31 it says in everything you do give glory to god bring glory to god and here we have what joshua's saying as akin is brought forward as the man who has dishonored the family name my son i beg you give glory to the lord god of israel and make confession to him and tell me now what you have done don't hide it from me bring glory to god confess your sin acknowledge your sin turn back to god don't try to hide it don't try to cover it don't try to justify it don't make excuses just acknowledge it acknowledge aiken what you have done and that you have transgressed against god it tells us a lot about god how is he glorified he knows our frames he knows our minds he knows we're weak he knows we're sinners he knows what our lives have been been like in the past he knows the intents and the motives of our hearts he knows those things it doesn't excuse us that he knows those things but he is glorified when he sees us acknowledge and turn to him sacrifice self and not cover it up with the way of satan with the way of the world oh this oh that i can justify it by this i can take this and and i can give you every excuse on the earth why i didn't do what you said but god is glorified when we acknowledge and we turn to him it's a responsibility of every member young and old of the family of god and there's accountability for it aiken faced the accountability from god god made it known and aiken and his family paid a steep price stated a steep price for deliberately going against god's will so if we keep that in mind that we bring how we bring glory to god's name we sing praises to him we worship him we obey him jesus christ said several times if you love me keep my commandments the father our father who is literally our father he says obey me and i will i will give you and i will have put you on the high hills of the earth he will give us his kingdom if we follow him if we yield to him if we sacrifice self to him if we become members of his family and so we can take the physical families and we can take that the step further of what you and i have become god the father of the family has called you and me and everyone that is listening to this and the children that are listening to this that are with their parents and the young adults who grew up in the church whether they're living at home or whether they're living on their own whether you're young whether you're old whether you're single whether you're married whether you're whatever god called i want you to be part of my family and all that means and we said yes we said yes and when we said yes there's a responsibility that goes along with it we did it if we're been baptized we did it and we said i bury the past self i'll bring glory to god by rejecting self and choosing to follow your way counting the cost and determining in my heart i will follow the law and the way of life of my father if i'm going to be in his house in his family i will do his will and submit to that and even if we haven't been baptized and we know the truth there's a responsibility there's a responsibility that comes with the truth there's an accountability that comes with knowing the truth when god has opened our minds and he has certainly opened our minds he expects his family which would include the congregation here in orlando the congregation in jacksonville the congregation of wherever you attend of all those who are listening around the world his greater family that is in different locations where he is working with families his families in those areas he's training us he's rearing us he's got us in a classroom so that when we become adults and when we're ready to take over take over what his he has in mind for us as the our ultimate responsibility we're learning that now just like our children as we're yielding to our father as we're allowing him to discipline us to correct us all out of love and bringing glory to his name when we don't fight back when we don't when we don't well frankly irritate him i guess when we make excuses and justifications for why we don't do what he says that's what he would have us do just willingly yield to him as good sons who have said we would do that that we will do that we want to be part of your family so there's a collective responsibility just like there was for ancient israel and the family that god has put us in but there's also their individual responsibility as aiken learned in a painful way in philippians 2 philippians 2 and verse 12. paul says this he says therefore remember when we read the word therefore go back and read the verses ahead of it see where the conclusion he's coming to is therefore my beloved as you have always obeyed not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling there's a responsibility and there's an accountability that each of us have individually to do those things to be what god wants us to be we have a responsibility to each other as part of the family we don't want to be the weak link like aiken is we don't want to be the cause of god's family being held back because god is displeased with what some members of the family are doing we have an accountability and sometimes that accountability may be brought to you if there is something going on that is apart from the standards that our father the head of this family has brought to us in romans 14 verse 12. romans 14 verse 12 paul writes each of us each that's me that's you that's every individual out there each of us shall give account of himself to god each as part of what we've been called to that's part of what we do that's part of what we're doing every day we're not in this as a sabbath only attentive church but a 24 hour a day seven day a week family that we're part of when god if we've been baptized put his dna in us as we talked about a few weeks ago when his holy spirit was put in us that made us part of his family it gave us his mind it gave us the power the love the sound mind that god wants us to have that we could understand his things and have the strength to obey him and be part of his family a productive growing member of his family that has the goal of being born into the kingdom of god and serving god in the way that he has determined and serving whoever it is that he wants us to serve for eternity in however he determines he's made his he's put his spirit in us and that spirit binds us together i mentioned the saying that blood is thicker than water the holy spirit is thicker than blood the holy spirit is thicker than blood we are the family of god we are his children and when we and we obey our father in heaven first we all have the blood ties we all have those those family ties that we have and we go out of our way many times to do what our family wants us to do and that's good we should have good relationships with our physical family they should see the type of christian you are even if they don't agree with your beliefs even if they think that you've gone off the deep end because of what you do and how you live they still should see us as the people in jerusalem looked at that ax2 church and say you know what they're good people they're good people and i hold them in high esteem i hold them in high esteem even though they do keep a day that i don't want to keep and holy and in other days that that i don't understand that should be our reputation that's out there those ties are those ties are deep the ties to our spiritual family are thicker and if god our father says do something it transcends or it supersedes anything else we do what our father says first the holy spirit is thicker than blood we know what we do we're part of the same family we have responsibilities to each other and there is accountability that goes along with it just like accountability in the classrooms that we talked about a couple weeks ago that we went to an elementary school you had attendance list you had tests you had scores you had report cards your parents knew what you were doing if you were sloughing off on the job and your report card didn't come home the way you want you knew you were going to pay the price you were going to get a lecture or worse because we always adhere to the highest standards to uphold the family name how much more when you and i have taken god's name when we were baptized in the name of the father son and the holy spirit when we've taken his name and god said don't you take my name in vain don't you take it lightly you make sure that you are paying attention to the family that you've been part of and you understand your responsibility to the father and your accountability to him to jesus christ and to each other just as it is in a physical family we have the physical we have that responsibility and their accountability toward each other turn back to ezekiel 14. look at a few examples here this first example will be about children ezekiel 14 we're going to pick it up in verse now let's pick it up in verse 17. it begins in verse 12. anytime god repeats things many times it does bear our attention but you can go back and you can read verses 12 through 16 and see what he's saying in verse 17 of ezekiel 14 he says or if i bring a sword on that land and i say sword go through the land and i cut off man and beast from it even those these three men were in it as i live says the lord god they would deliver neither sons nor daughters but only they themselves would be delivered what he's saying there is each will give an account of himself before god if these three men verse 19 or verse 20 we see and verses before that that's noah daniel and job three men who are very good examples of physical fathers physical or and obeying god and giving their lives totally unholy over to him you know one of those men's i'm going to go ahead man i'm going to read verses 19 or in 20 to finish finish this section up verse 19 it says or if i send the pestilence into that land and pour out my fury on it in blood and cut off from it man and beast even though noah daniel and job were in it as i live says the lord god they would deliver neither son nor daughter they would only deliver themselves by their righteousness what does it tell you young people what does it tell us about the way god works each will give an account to himself each has the responsibility of living up to the family standards each has the responsibility of being bringing glory to god's name the family name by the way we live and by when we mess up acknowledging it and turning to god more and more completely as we grow up and understand more of what our father expects you know job job is is interesting if you remember back in the first chapter of job you know god said job was blameless you know he obeyed what god said he was he was completely committed to god but he had these these sons and these daughters and you remember in in the first chapter that he would talk about they would do these feasts they would do these feasts and they would go on i guess for days or whatever and job would take the time to sacrifice for those sons and daughters in case they did something that displeased god job was doing what any of us as physical fathers would do we would very much like to give our lives for our children if we could say god do it for mice do it for my son do it for my daughters have them in your kingdom i'll sacrifice my life for them we would do it we would do that in physical situations as well god says it doesn't work that way each one by his righteousness it's tremendous if you have a mother and a father who are committed to god and you have that example but even if you don't you have no excuse you know the truth of god and you know what his standards are and as much as we would like to do it for our children as much as children would like to say i could just write on my parents coattails it doesn't work that way as we become older as we grow up there's a responsibility to live god's way on our own there's accountability to live god's way on our own to be committed we have to develop that same character we have to develop the mindset of god we have to commit ourselves sacrifice selves and do the things that god wants us to do it's just part of the way the family works so children those of you are still at home listen to your parents use that classroom at home understand what god's will is he wants to give you eternity he wants to give you everything good don't neglect it don't resist it don't look at the world and say oh it looks so attractive it's not it's not take the blinders off and let god take the blinders off and look at things from god's eyes your father's eyes and your parents eyes if you're young young people it's great that you come to church come to church but understand understand there's a responsibility god is looking for us to become part of his family and to be accountable and be responsible for what he has opened our minds to see let's look at another example in acts acts 5. you know as we've been going through the book of acts at bible studies there's things that we're learning about the new testament church in chapter 2 chapter 3 chapter 4 we've talked about that new testament church and what god is looking for is he builds that family things that you and i can look at today and say is his family today doing things the way that the family did then that god said he was very pleased with as it did then when the people from the outside that weren't part of the family looked in and said you know what they are good people they were held in highest aim they were bringing honor to god's name by the way they lived in the way they were able to be in one accord with one another we came through to chapter five and we find this this lesson of accountability and responsibility come our way in the form of ananias and sapphira as god shows there is a responsibility and there is an accountability for what we do and in his church in his family their standards that we adhere to i'm not going to read the whole story of ananias and sapphira we did that on bible study you know the story ananias and sapira looked at what the people that were doing others were selling their land that they were giving it all and laying it to the apostles feet they wanted to be seen in the same guys they had some kind of motive some kind of intent only god knows what that is but what they did together was conspire to lie to the family god is not about lying god is not about game playing god is not about hypocrisy god is about the truth and what he says ideas i are truth in the inward part but here comes ananias and sapphira and interestingly enough they come individually not together as a team ananiaris appears lays down the money peter looks at him is this what you sold your property for ananiaris who has conspired with his wife says yes peter under the inspiration of god knows you brought dishonor to god's name you're sitting here you've been baptized you have god's holy spirit and you're lying to god that's not of the family that's of the other family of the world ananias pays a steep price he dies three hours later his wife comes safyra she doesn't know her husband has died and so peter asks her is this what she sold the land for well she remembers the agreement she made with her husband and perhaps perhaps now i won't say perhaps because we know what she did she said yes she lied to she lied to and the same thing befell her and peter told her how could you conspire to lie against god lie to the holy spirit lie lie and think you could get away with it that's not the family that you are in now and she dies and she's carried away there's an accountability there's a responsibility that we do what god says but ananias and sapphira failed each other as well husband and wife conspired together whether it was ananias idea who said you know what let's just tell them we're going to give half or whatever the percentage was and let's just tell them it's everything to make us look good to make sure we are on the same level as everyone else peter tells him that wasn't required you didn't have to give anything you came forth with it if it was ananias's idea sapphira had the responsibility as a help mate to her husband to say ananias we're not going to do that if we're going to give half we're just going to tell them you know what we don't this is what we're comfortable in giving right now and it'll be okay you know help mate means more than just i'm keeping the house well i'm taking care of the kids and i got the groceries in the store and even the spiritual education when you see husband or if it was sapphira whose idea it was it was ananias's responsibility say no way no way we're going to keep this straight this is what god said we have to do it his way and if we decided not to give it all we're going to be up front and say we're not giving at all it would have been fine husbands and wives you have a responsibility to each other if one is is seeing things incorrectly you have a responsibility to say no we're going to do it god's way i'm not going to reason with you i'm not going to agree with you remember it's our father first his way first not husband's way first not wife's way first father our father in heaven's way first that's what a good helpmate would be that's what a good leader would be no we're not doing it that way we're doing it god's way adam and eve fell into the same trap didn't they back at the beginning of human history we see the pattern of what could happen here's adam and eve you know the story so well they're in the garden of eden satan in the form of a certain serpent comes and he begins sweet talking eve all the clever little clever and charming little things that he would say all the way that he appeared is just this angel of light this very friendly person who is going to try to help her feel good and real and help her to see what she had the opportunity to do the bible tells us that eve it worked in her mind worked and worked on her mind until she finally took of that forbidden fruit she bit it she bit it she didn't have the strength to say no she didn't have the strength to say no even though she knew god even though she was walking in the garden even so they saw the beautiful things that god had provided for them adam wasn't with her at that time or if adam was eve didn't take the time to consult with adam and say what do you think about this honey the serpent has some interesting things to say do you think we should take of the fruit or should we reject it and follow what god said she took it upon herself she made the decision for the family we reject god we choose satan the pretty big decision wouldn't you say something she should have consulted and adam and eve they should have talked together about it the bible tells us in first timothy i think it's one verse 14 adam wasn't deceived he knew what the truth was it was leave who was deceived he knew better but in genesis 3 verse 17 we can turn back there genesis 3 17 we see what god said to adam to adam god our father he said because you've heeded or listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which i commanded you saying you shall not eat and then all these curses are going to be upon you life is going to be difficult what was adam's sin he put eve before god family ties are great god wanted adam and eve to be one he wants every man and woman that gets married to be one flesh he wants you and me as family to become one in accord but adam chose eve over god i'll follow her instead of you god that was his statement eve said i'll follow satan before i follow you god adam said i'll follow eve i'll choose blood over what should have been thicker than blood the relationship with god they both suffered they both got ushered out of the garden of eden they all lived much more difficult lives than probably they could have imagined but they were cut off they were cut off from god they simply did not do and live up to the honor of living by god's standards maybe you and i have done some of those same things maybe you and i have transgressed decided to follow someone else or something else and put it before god it's something that we've all done at some time in our lives hopefully as we grow older we realize and we stop and think i honor our father in heaven before my father on earth if my father on earth is asking me to do something that's different or that would transgress the will of my father in heaven something we might want to pause and think about every time we're confronted with that because we know what the standards of the family are god makes no bones about it it's crystal clear what he wants we just have to accept it acknowledge it work toward it if we're going to be part of his family he's made it clear as we read back in joshua 12 and as he makes today as he tells us in the new testament to be part of his family we need to become like jesus christ who was jesus christ he obeyed god in every form even to the point that he was willing to sacrifice his life because that was the will of his father for us if we over the course of our lifetimes don't show god the same willingness to follow him in whatever we do and to sacrifice what this one wants or that one wants or what our heart wants or what our desire wants or what we're led to if we aren't looking and using god's holy spirit in our minds to discern good from evil right from wrong to give us the strength to say i choose god even though i really want this before i turn from acts 5 we should have read acts 5 verse 29 you know the lesson of ananias and sapphira as peter says you know as they're even confronted as peter and the apostles as we've talked about and the sanhedrin the powers that be of that day said we don't want you talking about jesus christ anymore forget his name modern day cancel cancel his name cancel his message we don't want to hear hear it peter rightly says something we should all understand is part of our responsibility and we will be accountable to god for verse 29 acts 5 we ought to obey god rather than men no matter who those men are no matter what office they hold no matter what line in our physical families they might be we ought to obey him rather than god or rather than men that's our individual responsibilities but you know part is a family the family that god has put you and me in here in orlando here in jacksonville here wherever you are is we have a responsibility to each other he makes that very clear i'm not going to turn to hebrews 10 verses 24 and 25 because you know you've heard me say that so many times he says consider don't forsake the assemblings of yourselves together consider one another to stir up love and good works be there for each other encourage each other to honor your father bring glory to his name to do the things that god wants you to do to be accountable for that accountable would be where does god want you to be at the times he says to be there how does god want you to handle this situation who do i choose to obey first man family employer neighborhood school schedule whatever it might be who do i choose to obey first acts 5 29 tells us very straightforward language can't confuse it can't make any excuses for it god doesn't give us a list of excuses well you don't have to do this if xyz happens no he's pretty clear if you are going to bring glory to my name if you're going to bear my family name don't take it in vain do what i say in the book of galatians 6 it lets us know that we have a responsibility to each other we have a responsibility to god of course we have a responsibility to jesus christ of course we will be accountable to him each one of us will give account to god in galatians 6 we see that we're responsible and accountable to each other too we're building the building that god wants the temple he wants he wants us to be strong links no one wants to be the weakest link i hope i hope that's what we're here for galatians 6 1 brethren if a man is overtaken in any trespass you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness considering yourself lest you also be tempted if we see our brother failing in some way if we see the laxity we never approach anyone with a sense of judgment or superiority but in gentleness how are things going we missed you i've seen this or i've heard this and i'm concerned about i'm concerned about you because you don't seem to be doing the things that you need to do and you may hear a litany of excuses hopefully you would hear someone who's converted and with god's led by god's holy spirit who would acknowledge it and say you know you're right thank you thank you for helping me to see what i'm doing and help me to get back on the track in fact maybe you could help me if you see me doing this again call me email me i need someone to work with me to help me do what i know that i should be doing sometimes i need and i know god is with me and i know his holy spirit will be there but sometimes i need someone else to just give me that pride to be accountable for you know i would say that to you of myself if any of you ever see anything that is not right in your eyes if we're ever doing anything or i'm doing anything that you say or think you know that shouldn't be done that way let's look in the bible please bring it to me that's part of your responsibility i'm part of my responsibility to you it's not pleasant it's not pleasant but i can guarantee you i can guarantee you if you bring something to me i'm not going to jump down your throat i'm not going to be mad i'm not going to cut you off and not talk to you anymore i'm going to be thankful we will sit down and we will look at it and we will do it the way god says none of us are perfect all of us can make mistakes and i don't mean mistakes doctrinally but if even if you have a question on that we go back to the bible and look at it so don't ever be afraid to bring something up we are part of the same family we are all working toward the same for we're all in the same family that god the father our father has called us to you know as you look through the bible you know verse two here i'm gonna read before i make this next comment says bear one another's burdens bear one another's burdens contemplate that for a while what it means another familiar verse bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of christ part of our responsibility as family members as members of the family of god part of our responsibility to do that watch out for one another consider one another to stir up love and good works look at what others needs are physical yes but spiritual as well you know what's interesting as you look through the bible and you see god working in groups of twos so many times as he used moses to bring lead israel out of egypt you had aaron right there by his side moses was this is the the commander if you will aaron was the high priest down through the nation of israel you had a king and a high priest you had two that were working they should have been working with one another so that the law of god the way of god would always be there king might have an idea high priest would say that's not in the way of god we can't do that high priest might take some interpretation but king would be like wait a minute is that the way that god the father our father would have it done because sometimes we need that ironing sharing that sharpens iron and we need each other to say what about this and what about that let's go back to the bible let's do it good god's way that's good you see moses and aaron you see paul and barnabas you see paul and timothy you see jesus christ when you're sending out the disciples of 70 and then 2 and 12. what did he do we send them out two by two he didn't send them one out because sometimes one making a decision all by himself can go totally off of the deep end if we just keep our things to ourselves and we make all the decisions by ourselves without any kind of input from anyone else we can be deceived even if we think we're praying to god and we think we think he's leading us we sometimes can confuse our will with god's will and justify what we would do but two working together or three as it says in ecclesiastes four three the threefold cord cannot be broken understand we have responsibilities to each other and to do those we need to know each other we need to understand each other we need to know that and we need to know that each other loves us let's look at james 5. james 5 here there's in the last chapter here of james there are some interesting verses along this way in verse 16 of james five as he's wrapping up the book james under the inspiration of god says confess confess your trespasses to one another remember what joshua said to aiken glorify your father glorify the lord god by confessing your sins to con confessing your sins confess your trespasses to one another doesn't mean we need to tell them to everyone we certainly confess them to god sometimes we might need to ask someone else to help us in something confidentially confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed and that healing isn't just physical but it's also spiritual and we all need none of us are completely spiritually whole we all have a ways to go there are healings and spiritual healings in our life that you and i are going to have to face going forward the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much don in verse 19 brethren if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins does god ever give us the opportunity to be responsible for our brother he does he does he gives us opportunities all along the way to fulfill what his will is our father our father has the standards and he wants his children working with one another learning to trust one another as the spirit leads them working with one another to keep us all on the path of what our father's will is and sometimes he gives us that opportunity how do we handle it you know in the millennium the very first thing the bride of christ will do is work with people who have to be told that's not the way to do it that's not the way to do it got to be done this way now's the time for us to be learning how to do that right with gentleness with humility with love with concern literal concern and not a superior attitude like i saw you doing this therefore i know you're wrong no out of concern for that person because you want them to be born into the kingdom of god as a spirit being just as you would want your child your physical child to do that god gives us the opportunities it is part of our responsibility it is part of our accountability to each other we're all here to ask god and to yield to him that his body would be as strong as he wants it to be i turned from james you're still there look at look at verse 9 james 5 verse 9. verse 9 says don't grumble against one another brethren you know don't talk about one another not one of us is a judge not one of us has the right to say oh look what you did and look how you're doing it and i'm so much better than you every single one of us has things we need to work at work on and every single one of us could have someone coming to us and saying do you know this do you know do you do this or or whatever don't grumble against one another brother unless you be condemned behold the judge is standing at the door let god be the judge let us not be the judge that's his that's his job proverbs 28 proverbs 28 and verse 13. says he who covers his sins will not prosper now there's a responsibility if we're having trouble with something you know ask for help a couple weeks ago i mentioned counseling don't be afraid to ask for help believe me believe me we are here and the church of god is ready to help we're ready to pray we're ready to use the word of god to help in whatever way we can because we want everyone that god calls into his family to be there when jesus christ returns and to inherit that inheritance that he gives us if he who covers his sins will not prosper but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy sometimes to god sometimes we need each other we know how to help each other and maybe we need a friend who we can talk to about things and just again not judgment involved not judgment involved but genuinely helping each other and those who would have something brought to them to handle it in the correct way as jesus christ does not in a condemning way not in a superior way not in a judgmental way and praying for that purpose praying for that person and working with that person and helping them to be accountable even if they say could i call you every week and talk about something whatever we need to do to help each other along the way well i think that we see what it is that god wants us to do we have a tremendous responsibility as far as fellow members of god's family tremendous accountability you know we we are our best i think in humans when we're doing something for someone else jesus christ lived his life for you and me we are at our best when we are serving and living our lives and as paul said esteeming each more highly than ourselves i willing to sacrifice so that the body is edified let's keep some of these things in mind let's remember who our father is and that the holy spirit is thicker than blood it binds us together and god's will is we are one in his name and that name you and i have a responsibility to uphold and to glorify in every way that god says to do it in the things that we do and the way we present ourselves and even in the way we are willing to confess and acknowledge our sins because god is glorified when he sees a sinner turning from his sin to the way of god let's complete let's conclude in 1st john 1 john 4. first john 4 21 you know christ said you know we are our brother's keepers the apostle john said it this way in first john 4 verse 21 this commandment we have from him our father that he who loves god must love his brother also that he who loves god must love his brother also family the responsibilities the accountability that go with it let's be about our father's business let's be the responsible accountable family members that god would have us become

Channel: United Church of God Orlando

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Length: 62min 56sec (3776 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 12 2021