Daily Focus

               The world is a very dangerous place. We live in a lion's den. We walk among spiritual cannibals. We pass through a world full of sin and its power. That doesn’t mean we are subject to it. However, unlike the Gentiles under the old law, without hope, the world has hope. Christ is waiting for every soul to obey His gospel. We need to be calming souls with the truth. We need to be rescuing souls from utter destruction with the words of the gospel. Reach out and help the spiritually deaf, dumb, and blind before they find themselves in eternal darkness. We are the only ones that have a love of God and love for souls that they need. Sanctify the World. “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.   Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.   As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” John 17:15-18 NKJV

               Church, sin is a destroyer. Sure, it is not some massive army marching on our kingdom’s borders. It is not an all-powerful Emperor striking down nations that stand in his way. It is not a weapon of massive destruction aimed at enemies. It’s a paper cut on the soul that when left unattended, it festers and rots a human being from the inside out. It affects and infects those around that soul. It’s a plague. If we don’t take care of it in our families, it will bring us to our knees. Deal with sin as it should be dealt with. Flee sin for sin is a reproach to any people. “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a revile

                Noble community living is living and having a family that generates a good testimony among the community. Noble living is not about making everyone happy. It is to be known for being good, kind, God-fearing, and righteous. It takes work. It takes carefully placed words and extreme self-control over emotions. It’s a difficult task that takes mindful work. The level of difficulty it takes to execute a command from God does not absolve us of keeping it. Do what it takes to have a good testimony among those whom you live. “Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.” 1 Timothy 3:7 NKJV

                 I have often heard the phrase, “I don’t owe … anything.” That is true to a degree. I mean if you have done your part and they are trying to drain the milk cow then you need to put a stop to it. However, we do owe all humanity somethings. We owe those around us rejoicing and weeping with those who are rejoicing and weeping, within the binds of righteousness. We owe them the light we are to be in this world. Your family needs to keep its debt paid. Pay what you owe those around you; their souls depend on it. “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” Romans 12:15 NKJV

              “You are the company you keep” and “Birds of a feather flock together,” she would say as I talked about friends, school, teammates, and co-workers if my mother uttered those phrases once she said them a million times. I never forgot them. I have come to learn how true they are. I have watched great people go down that were led to their demise by “friends.” Why? The flesh drove their lives. Being driven by the flesh can happen to anyone. As God makes it clear in James beware lest you too be corrupted by sin. Protect your family. Do whatever it takes to keep the evil company in its place because the evil company corrupts good habits. If you don’t, it can destroy you. “Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” 1 Corinthians 15:33 NKJV

              We cannot sacrifice our family’s righteousness to mingle among our community. We are in the world but not of the world. We cannot become hermits and hide from it all. How do we stay different, be lights to them, and co-mingle with the people around us? Give the community what is theirs. Pay your taxes, your dues, your time, your work, and your debts to whom it is due. Keep your word and keep the requirements that come with what you sign up for. When righteousness is infringed on, and it is often, hold fast to the standard the Lord has called us to live. Stand your ground when they make it seem that you must conform or be removed. “They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”   Matthew 22:21 NKJV

              God speaks of spiritual darkness that the world is immersed in. A darkness that makes them blind to God, deaf to His voice, close to His touch, and ignorant of His truth. The best visual you can get it to see someone deaf, dumb, and blind. This is the spiritual state of every lost soul you meet. You and your family must be light. We must be sensitive to this spiritual atrocity in the lives of others. We must be the flavor of their life. A light to guide them through the darkness. A city on a hill that is full of shelter and safety. Your works are to draw them in. Your whole family needs to keep this in mind when you step out into your community.   “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstan

The families that have obeyed the gospel and are faithfully living make up God’s family. We make up the body. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. That old phrase “ It takes a village to raise a kid” come true in raising our children in the family of God. We all work together to keep God’s intended plan for the family. We all work together to be the family God wants us to be in Christ. “but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15 NKJV

Elders and Deacons must have a family according to God's plan. Their leadership skill is seen and honed in that environment. If they don’t rule their home well how can they rule the church well. That doesn’t mean they have families for us to critic them about. They have families to follow God’s plan. In being the leader of their home following God’s plan, they learn how to best shepherd the family of God. “This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;   one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence   (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);” 1 Timothy 3:1-5 NKJV “Likewise deacons must be reverent, not dou

     God did not expect ministers to give up their families. Some people in manmade religions believe He did. Minister families should be a great example of what a Godly family should look like. Sometimes the souls that ministers minister to forget they have souls they are responsible for. Let us honor that. Ministers exemplify God’s plan for the family. Church lets support our minister and their families in every way. “Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?” 1 Corinthians 9:5 NKJV

There is a chain of command in the family. It has been this way since the Garden of Eden. Some choose to ignore it and the family shows. There are consequences to breaking this chain and doing it your way. Your children will bear the results. There is great blessing in keeping God’s chain of command of Christ, the man, the woman and then the child. This is His design for the blessing He gave us, the family. Are you keeping your family structured like this? “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” 1 Corinthians 11:3 NKJV “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Ephesians 6:1 NKJV

Your sin consequences can spill onto others. Your family is catching the brunt of its damage.  Just think about how many souls have been lost because one generation decides adultery is better than marriage. The spiritual carnage that is left is seen in grandchildren of the adulterers, not even knowing the truth. All because two people decided that sin was right and God was wrong. There are many more examples that can be made. Just keep this fact in mind when you are being tempted. Keep this in mind as you strive to keep God’s plan for the marriage. “And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done:   When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.” So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent;