Lead Pastor
Sermons by Wade Allen (Page 26)
The way we drive, the clothes or jewelry we wear, or a number of other things have the potential of communicating a different message to others than what we want to convey. When we think about all the nonverbal communication that happens each day in our families, what message are we sending their way? Everything I do… everything I look at… everything in my home should be pleasing to God! My daily witness is most often done without words. What message am I promoting?
As we consider the moral and spiritual issues we face in our culture today, it is essential that we return to a biblical concept for influencing our families and children. The moral and biblical lessons we are imparting to our children and families need to be taught in those every day, teachable moments wherever you are and whatever you’re doing. To do this, we must demonstrate authentic faith in every aspect of our lives!
As we continue through this passage in Deuteronomy 6, we discover that the modern church has incorporated a great deal of secular psychology and parenting methods into the ministries of our churches. Churches today have taken on the responsibility of teaching the Bible to children and students through age-graded programs and special ministries designed for specific age groups, but the Bible is clear that it is the responsibility of parents to teach the Bible to their children. So what should parents do to teach their children?
People today are fanatics when it comes to their favorite school or sports teams. This fanaticism has been engrained in them since birth! This is the kind of commitment that we ought to have for Christ, but many parents never take the time to instill a biblical worldview in their children. God’s desire is that the Bible be implanted in the hearts of His children. He wants our basic life assumptions to find their foundation in Holy Scripture. He wants His Word to “be on your heart.”
God said that this was the most important thing in the entire Bible—love Him with all our heart, soul and might. Learning to love God teaches us how to love others! The problem is that we have a skewed understanding of what it means to love one another. The three Hebrew words used in Deuteronomy 6:5 (translated heart, soul, and might) provide a clear biblical definition of love: Love is an act of the will accompanied by emotion that leads to action on behalf of its object.
How can we achieve a family life that always brings honor to God—a family life where God has no rivals? I believe that the book of Ephesians gives us six suggestions for how to keep God as our priority in our day to day family life. They are: 1) watch our walk, 2) steward our time, 3) understand God’s will, 4) submit to God’s Spirit, 5) focus on family worship, and 6) submit to one another.
When did priority become priorities? How can multiple things be the “most important” thing? The fact is that our culture today pushes the idea of ‘priorities’ but our effectiveness is drastically limited when our priorities are multi-faceted. In this message, we try to lay aside our pre-conceived ideas about priorities in our lives and look to see what God’s priority is in Scripture. Simply put, God’s priority is for us to be conformed to the image of His Son. But as Voddie Baucham explained, “Instead of striving for godliness and multigenerational faithfulness, many Christians have settled for just getting by. Unfortunately our children are paying the price.”
Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary? These are all crucial questions that we must ask ourselves before we hit send! In this final message of the series, we are going to consider the last crucial question—“Is it clear?” Dr. Eggerichs writes, “We need to be clear in our own minds as to where we are headed in what we are saying; otherwise, those on the receiving end will be more confused. As pastors, we say, ‘If there is a mist in the pulpit, there’s a fog in the pew.’”
“People hear your words of truth, but the feel your words of kindness… I am defining kindness as being a loving and respectful person” (Before You Hit Send page 63). Our first concern in communicating with others is to be truthful; but when you communicate truth without love and respect, you are not communicating at all because people will not listen to someone who is disrespectful and rude. In this message, we will look at several motivations for communicating with kindness.
Over the next four weeks, we are going to look at some biblical principles of communication. Of course, it is important to think through “all the possible consequences of your tweet, email, or Facebook post before hitting ‘send,’ [but] the true maxim the title represents is ‘Think before you speak.’” In his book, “Before You Hit Send,” Dr. Emerson Eggerichs suggests that we should ask four important questions before we choose to communicate with others.
1. Is it true?
2. Is it kind?
3. Is it necessary?
4. Is it clear?