Harvest Pointe Christian Church, Milford Ohio is a non-denominational Christian Church (Church of Christ) on the Eastside of Cincinnati OH

Making a Difference in My Home| Series: Harvest Pointe's Vision Statement| 10-12-08

Harvest Pointe Christian Church Vision:  Making a Difference
In My Home
Acts 16:17-34

 I. Jesus loves every person in a broken home.

 II. Jesus can make a difference in my home.

III. There are no guarantees.

Full Text 

Paul and Silas began a Church in the city of Philippi.
 Philippi was a Roman colony in northern Greece.

There was a slave girl in the city
 who was possessed by an evil spirit.
She made a huge amount of money for her owners
 by telling fortunes.

We read in Acts 16:17-18, "17This girl followed Paul and  the rest of us, shouting, 'These men are servants of the  Most High God, who are telling you the way to be  saved.' 18She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul  became so troubled that he turned around and said to  the spirit, 'In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to  come out of her!' At that moment the spirit left her."

Well, her owners had just lost some major bucks.
 They were not happy, to say the least.
They had Paul and Silas illegally
 arrested, beaten, and thrown into prison.

At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns
 from the inner cell of the jail.

Suddenly, a fierce earthquake struck.
 It shook the prison so violently that
  the doors of the prison flew open and
  the chains on the prisoners came loose.

The jailer rushed out and saw the open doors and
 immediately thought all the prisoners had escaped.

Philippi was a Roman city.
 The jailer was a Roman soldier.
The Romans believed that
 if a crime was committed,
  someone had to pay.

If a prisoner escaped,
 the jailer had to finish his punishment.

If more than one escaped,
 he had to take the punishment of all of them.

If he did not survive,
 his oldest son would be taken next, and
  then work the way through the family
   until all the sentences were served.

But if the jailer died during the escape,
 the family was exempt from punishment.

So the jailer drew his sword to commit suicide,
 to protect his family.

Verse 28.  "28But Paul shouted, 'Don't harm yourself! We are all here!'  29The jailer called for lights, rushed in and  fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30He then brought  them out and asked, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?'  31They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved-you and your household." 32Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his  house. 33At that hour of the night the jailer took them and  washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his  family were baptized. 34The jailer brought them into his  house and set a meal before them; he was filled with JOY because he had come to believe in God-he and  his whole family."

Notice, when Jesus became a part of the family, they were filled with JOY!!! Jesus made a difference in their home. We can only guess what the home was like before Jesus.

The head of the house was a Roman soldier
 who was in charge of the jail.

There was a lot of pressure
 to make certain no one escaped.
He constantly dealt with hardened criminals.

So you have a hardened man under a lot of pressure.
 Which meant he was probably short tempered.

He probably ran the home like he did his little prison.
 He ruled with an iron fist.
 Hard punishments were dished out for
  breaking even his little rules.
 He would yell and bark orders constantly.

The home was filled with fear and hurt and anger --
 until Jesus entered the home.

In the short time I have been alive,
 I have watched the family in America go from
  Leave It to Beaver to Two men and a Half Men.

In spite of the laughs at the shows,
 many families are filled with hurt, anger, and fear,
  just like the jailers family.
Let's take a look at a real life break-up of a family.
VIDEO:  BluefishTV- Struggling_with_Parents_Divorce.mpg

"I would trade everything.  I wish we could just rewind, go all the way back, and start over."

So many people would trade everything if they could just rewind, go all the way back, and start over.

But you can't.

I want you to know today that,
 no matter what your family situation,
  Jesus can make a difference in your home.

I. Jesus loves every person in a broken home.

There is a verse that I believe
 has been taken wrong by so many people
  through the years,
 including myself in years past.

Malachi 2:16 reads, "'I hate divorce,' says the LORD God of Israel..."

So often that is taken as meaning that
 divorce is the ultimate, unpardonable sin.
That God is ready to zap all divorced people
 with all kinds of horrible punishments.

But the more I have seen in life,
 the more convinced I am that
God hates divorce because of what it does to people.

People say it only effects the 2 of them.
 No.  It effects everyone who cares about them.
  And the effects last a life time.

People think that divorce will
 end the heartache of the marriage.
But that other person will never be totally out of their life.

Divorce creates grief, hurt, anger, and financial problems.
 That's why God hates divorce.

So what is God's attitude toward divorced people?

In Matthew 19:3-9 we read, "3Some Pharisees came to him [Jesus] to test him. They asked, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?'
  '4Haven't you read,' he replied, 'that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' 5and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother  and be united to his wife, and the two will become one  flesh?' 6So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore  what God has joined together, let man not separate.'
  '7Why then,' they asked, 'did Moses command that a  man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?'
  8Jesus replied, 'Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9I tell you that anyone who  divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and  marries another woman commits adultery.'"

Jesus says that marriage is sacred and
 should not be broken.
That is the way it was established
 when man and woman were created.
But Adam and Eve sinned.
 Everything, including marriage was corrupted.

So Jesus says that if your spouse is unfaithful,
 which is not part of God's plan for the marriage,
  you can divorce and remarry.

In I Corinthians 7:15 it is talking about
 if a Christian and an unbeliever are married and
  the unbeliever decides to leave.
It says, "...A believing man or woman is not bound in such  circumstances...."

So here we have another Scriptural reason for
 divorce and remarriage.

But what about all those people who
 did not have a Scriptural reason for divorce?
Are they doomed?

No.  God still loves them.

Unscriptural divorce is a sin.
 But it is no different than any other sin.
It can be washed away by the blood of Jesus.

People ask, "But what if I was already a Christian
 when I got a divorce?"

What do you do when you commit any other sin?

When you realize how badly you've blown it,
 you repent --
  you determine you will never do it again.
 And you ask God for forgiveness.
Even if you are divorced,
 God still loves you deeply.
 He still wants you to be His child.

For those of you whose parents have been divorced:
 God loves you, too.

Often kids tend to blame themselves
 for their parents divorce.

But kids, most of the time
 the divorce would have happened
  even if you were never conceived.

You may be the victim of being used as an excuse,
 but the fact is, your parents conceived you in love.
Your parents made some unwise decisions.

Don't blame yourself.
 Remember God still loves you deeply, too.

II. Jesus CAN make a difference in my home.

As we saw last week,
 it is through the Church that Jesus works
  to change lives.

And it doesn't matter if your home is broken or intact,
 Jesus can make a difference in your home.

The wisdom of the ages is found in the Bible.
 The more we learn about life,
  the more we realize the accuracy it holds.

The Bible gives an honest look at life.
For instance,
 in recent years it has been discovered that
  men and women have a basic difference.

If we were to divide this room
 with women on one side and men on the other,
and we asked those that worked outside the home
 if they had to make a choice,
  would rather be loved at work, or
          respected at work.

If we called for a show of hands,
 almost without exception,
  every woman would want to be loved and
  every man would want to be respected.

That old cliché that
 the only difference between a man and a woman is
  the plumbing
 is so not true.

Men and women are different and have different needs.
 Each has their normal strengths and weaknesses.

But since God created us,
 He has always known that.

Ephesians 5:25.  "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."
Ephesians 5:28.  "In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself."
Colossians 3:19.  "Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them."

Husbands, did you get the message?
 Your wife NEEDS you to love her!

Treat her as God intended you to treat her.
 Keep on dating her!

And wives, your husbands need for you to respect them.
 Ephesians 5:32.  "The wife must respect her husband."
It doesn't get any plainer that that!

There was a group of us guys talking one day and
 one of them was having trouble with "his woman".

I was appalled at the advice everyone
 was quickly giving him.
One guy seriously told him
 he needed to slap her around a little.

When they started calming down,
 one of them said, "John!  You've been quiet.  You always give good advice.  What would you do?"

I said, "Hey.  I treat my wife like a queen and she treats me like a king and we don't have those problems!"

After a few moments of silence,
 (guys have to think these novel ideas through)
the one having the trouble said,
 "You know, it might just work!" 
And a few others said they might try it, too.

Men, love your wives.  Take walks and give flowers.
Wives, respect your husbands. 
 Show it in how you act and talk.
You'll be amazed at what it can do for your marriage.
Now for the parent/child relationship.

Ephesians 6:1-3.  "1Children, obey your parents in the  Lord, for this is right. 2'Honor your father and mother'- which is the first commandment with a promise- 3'that it  may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on  the earth.'"

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that
 when children are obedient, every one is happier.

There is no yelling, screaming, punishment or tears!
 Kids get to do more and
  are encouraged to take responsibility, like driving.
Parents are happier and do more fun things.

But again, there is a balance.

Ephesians 6:4.  "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."

Parents should not be too hard on their kids.
 And parents need to be consistent with their kids.
 Do not punish in anger.
  Punish out of love -- because you care.

Parents, don't exasperate your children.
 Exasperated kids can be a handful.

III. There are no guarantees.

It is important that you realize that
 when you deal with people,
  you cannot control the outcome.
There are those that will tell you that
 if you treat your spouse this way,
  they will respond this way.
 If you treat your kids this way,
  they will grow up to be this way.

Even though our environment does affect us,
 it does not control us.
People make their own decisions.

You cannot control people.
 They are not robots responding to commands.

The advice today stacks the cards in your favor.
 It does not guarantee the results you want.

Sometimes the hurt runs so deep,
 a person will never recover from it and
  will never become that
   loving, respectful person you want them to be.
Some relationships are beyond repair.

Sometimes there is such a desire to sin,
 that the child will never respond to your guidance.

Some people are just so set in their ways,
 they will never change.
They have no desire to change.

It's hard to be the only one in love.

But you do your part and
 leave their response up to them.

It is God who is their judge, not you.
Romans 12:18.  "If it is possible, as far as it depends on  you, live at peace with everyone."

Folks, you do your part.
 And when people disappoint and hurt you,
  lean on Jesus for comfort.

He knows all about rejection.
 He was rejected and crucified for you.

If you need a relationship with Jesus,
 it's simple.

Believe Jesus is the Son of God.
Repent of your sin.
Confess Him before others.
Be baptized into Him.

If you are ready to take this step of faith this morning,
 come forward as we sing.
We'll help you every step of the way.

Or maybe you've all ready done this and
 would like to place your membership with us.
Then come forward as we stand and sing.
we stand and sing.