| The First Family #6: Building A Family Alter For The Next Generation (by Liz Hartensveld) |
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| Written by Administrator | |
| Monday, 25 September 2006 | |
SermonFamily Altar What does a family altar look like anyway?
The significance of the Altar is found in the Bible in the lives of many patriarchs who have lived their lives in the early days of history. Some of these people who built altars are…
If we look briefly at the life of Abraham.
Genesis 12:1-9 1 The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. 4 So Abram left as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he was sent out from Haran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “ To your offspring I will give this land.” So HE BUILT AN ALTAR there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he went on toward the hills of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. 9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev. 10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was so severe. The Bible not only tells us what a great man Abraham was but tells us that he was HUMAN. Genesis 12:1-9 is Abraham Believing but if you read 12:10-20 we read about him BACKSLIDING. There was famine in the land and in the time of famine Abraham turned to Egypt. Tragedy! Abram lied to gain financial security.
Egypt represents
Abram went to Egypt to visit
The point is this…
However, God gives Abraham a second chance and we read about it in Genesis chapter 13.
Further generations are blessed. God’s hand of mercy followed Abram and as he made the altar of obedience alive God’s blessing returned to him. By the end of Genesis verse 26:24, 25 The Lord appeared to Isaac and spoke words of promise to him. After he did that Isaac then built his ALTAR , he called on the name of the Lord, he pitched a tent and he dug a well.. God intended to have a man who would know and serve him.
II. Practice building your altar
Take time to evaluate what kind of altars you are actually building in your family. Some altars are built to foreign gods and idols. III. Practical ways to build the family altar. Deuteronomy 6:6-9
More research Abilene Christian University researchers, Dr. David Lewis and Dr. Carley Dodd have recently concluded a cross-generational study (six different tests) to measure fathers’ positive and negative influences upon teens’ spirituality. They found that "every time" dad’s role "as teacher came out be the most important predictor." Among other top predictors of adolescent spiritual maturity, as related to dad, were his: commitment to Christ, spiritual well-being, prayer life, boldness in discussing issues of faith, genuineness and emotional closeness. Of those teens whose fathers expressed their love well, 84% had a high spiritual maturity, but among teens whose fathers had difficulty doing so, only 39% had a high spiritual maturity. Lewis said, "If a father will take his child on his lap and look her in the eye and say ’I love you,’ he will double her chances of being spiritually mature." (Foster Letter 6/97) More Ideas on family altars
More ideas
Benefits of eating together… Teenagers whose parents eat with them at least 5 times a week are significantly better adjusted (i.e., least likely to be on drugs or depressed, most motivated to excel at school, etc.) than classmates who dine alone, according to research by psychologist Blake Bowden of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Memorize scripture together Choose a whole chapter and take it verse by verse. Use motions and intonation to make it fun Quote it in times of warfare In closing today..
GO QuestionIntroduction question: OK, let’s test our memories: Who can recall Liz’s definition of a family altar? NB: Half a point for the person who can tell what it is NOT ;o) Answer: “The family altar is a place in your life that you give priority to God and receive the blessings of covenant, obedience and sacrifice.” Here are five things that you can consider doing with your GO group: Personal Quiz If we don’t pay attention going to church and attending GO group becomes the only time in the week where we worship, read the bible (if at all), and discuss and reflect the things of God. To give us some perspective on our own family altar, take this short quiz:
Please let every member share one point that spoke to him or her. Leadership of men Looking back to history, Noah, Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Gideon, David, the prophets, all the big guys build altars for God in their life. And… (almost) all of them were men. Men of ICA, how are we doing as altar builders in our family? Do we lead the way and take initiative and responsibility in this area? Or has this become something of lesser importance and is therefore given to our wives… (sorry for asking!) Example of our parents This topic relates back to Jeff’s previous sermon about default settings in the family. He stated that we normally copy the ways our parents did things and repeat these ways when we have a family of our own. With this in mind, what did (does) your parents’ family altar look like? What have you learned from them in this respect, what are things you’d like to copy and what are things you’d like to change? Removing altars for idols and foreign gods Liz spoke boldly about removing altars for idols and foreign gods. If you see an altar as “a place in your life that you give priority to God or gods”, is it possible that you have built an altar for something else than God? Is there a place in your life that you give priority to money maybe, trust in gmat stones, feel secure in praying to ancestors or doing certain rituals in order to get peace of mind? If so, can you get rid of that? Practical ways to build a family altar Some practical ways to build a family altar are:
Which one(s) would you like to use for your family? How would that benefit your family life? Please share other ways that work for your family as well. Feel free to change or add to these questions as you wish, Have a blessed fellowship! Jos Koevoet – Go 2 Gather |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 27 October 2006 ) |
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