
Family Matters
At the Crossroads
*FAMILY MATTERS BIG IDEA: *
To Let the designer and His design to define the relationships that we desire.
*1. Understanding our season. *
a. Crossroad:
i. A road that crosses a main road or runs cross-country between main roads.
ii. A central meeting place.
iii. A crucial point especially where a decision must be made.
b. Crisis:
i. A time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger.
ii. Catastrophe, disaster, mess, upheaval, drama, fix, hell on earth, spot of bother.
- We can overuse the word crisis.
- Validity of the crisis has everything to do with the maturity of those involved.
- Experiencing rough seasons, persecution and spiritual warfare are not automatic signs of a crisis.
*2. Common characteristics of crisis. *
a. They disrupt your life.
b. They cause you to evaluate everything.
c. They strip you down to your core beliefs.
d. They demand you change.
-Experiencing crisis without a truly understanding the full definition of crisis will lead to fear, withdrawal, bitterness, and a life of running.
*Genesis 50:20
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. *
e. Crisis continued:
a. A time when a difficult or important decision must be made.
b. The turning point of a disease when an important change takes place, indicating either recovery or death.
Matthew 6:21 NLT
Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
- Failure to move forward from crisis often reveals a misaligned or a misguided value system.
*3. Our Current Season. *
a. Culture is changing.
Ephesians 4:14 NLT
Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.
b. The Judeo and Christian Values that once shaped us are no longer the same values that shape us now.
c. Your Christian beliefs and values about life’s issues is different than the world around you.
d. Homefield Advantage is gone.
*4. In the face of a failing society, God is raising up a standard. *
-Isaiah 59:19
So shall they fear The name of the LORD from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.
-Psalm 11:3-4 ESV
When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”[a] 4 The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.
-Jeremiah 6:16 NIV
This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.
5. 5 Standards in a failing society.
a. Build your life on the Rock of Jesus’ Word.
-Matthew 7:24-27 ESV
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
a. Trouble is promised by Jesus.
b. We will build and trouble will come knocking.
c. The promise is stability for those who do His word!
*b. Make Jesus your Lord, not your good luck charm. *
a. He is your shepherd, and He will guide you.
Psalm 95:7-8 NIV
For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice,8 “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
*c. God is your source and He will meet your needs. *
1 John 2:15-17 NIV
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father[a] is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
*d. Tell your Story to the next Generation. *
Deuteronomy 11:18-21 NIV
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
a. As we share our story, experiences, and ways of the Lord, the next generation they will experience the positive effects from having the right value system.
b. Our children don’t have to recover from us and the pain that we caused them.
e. Prioritize the House of the Lord.
Psalm 26:8
LORD, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells
**
Discussion Questions.**
Describe a time in your life that a crisis brought you change, transformation or healing?
How does a crisis reveal our value system?
How can we build our lives so that they can withstand a storm?
Read Jeremiah 6:16. How does walking in the good way lead us to peace?
Describe a time in your life that God led you as your shepherd. How did having His leading guide you through your tough time?
Are there any values in your life that you have gotten away from, that God is calling you back to?