How to Build a Christian Home Joshua 24:14-15 11/04/2007 Dr. Dane Boyles

How to Build a Christian Home

Joshua 24:14-15

11/04/2007Dr. Dane Boyles


Introduction• The home in America is under assault!

One of every two marriages end in divorce.

The median age for divorce is 34 for men and 30 for women.


In 1960, one of every 10 households was maintained by a woman with no husband present; in 1986, one of every 6 households was maintained with no husband present.

Today, enough teenagers to fill the Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, and the average Super Bowl will practice prostitution to support drug addictions.


One million teenage girls will get pregnant out of wedlock this year.

Five hundred thousand of those girls will abort their babies.

Of all the fourteen-year-old girls alive today, 40 percent will become pregnant by their 19th birthday.


60 % of all church-involved teenagers are sexually active.

66 % of American high school seniors have used illegal drugs.

Every 78 seconds, a teenager in America attempts suicide

-- Steve Farrar, Point Man, 17-18.


• Remember,Sin takes you farther than you wanted

to go.Sin will keep you longer than you

wanted to stay.Sin will cost you more than you

wanted to pay.

-- Steve Farrar, Finishing Strong, 84.


• PARENTS, we know that.

• What are YOU going to do in your HOME so that this doesn’t happen?


14 ‘Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:14, NIV)


15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Josh 24:15, NIV)


Commit Yourself to Serve God. (“as for me”)• Joshua was a man that didn’t just talk

about serving God.“What you do is what you believe;

everything else is just religious words.”


Joshua possessed core values.

– It’s what people do that counts.

– Values are demonstrated by behavior.

You must lead yourself, before you can lead your family.


• How can you do this?It goes back to who we are as people.

• Characteristics of a person who is committed to serving God.


1. You must be saved.5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. (Romans 8:5, NIV)


6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. (Romans 8:6-8, NIV)


2. You must be a Soldier.9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.” (Exod 17:9, NIV)


10 So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. 13 So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. (Exod 17:10-13, NIV)


If we are going to serve God, we must realize that we are in a battle.


3. You must be submissive to authority.13 Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. 14 He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.” (Ex 24:13-14, NIV)


He willingly served!He submitted to the authority in his life. Submission to authority is strength not

weakness. 32 Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city. (Proverbs 16:32, NIV)


4. You must spend time with God.11 The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent. (Exod 33:11, NIV)

The Tabernacle was the tent of God (the dwelling place of God).


5. You must take a stand.6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes (Num 14:6, NIV)


7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. (Num 14:7, NIV)

They were not intimidated because they were outnumbered.

They believed and trusted in God.If you stand for nothing, you’ll stand for

anything.


6. You must be spirit-filled. 18 So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him. (Num 27:18, NIV)

Every man who was used of God had the Spirit’s power his life.


Cause your family to serve God. (“and my house we will serve the Lord”) • Joshua not only committed himself to

serving God; He caused His family to do so as well.

• Three important principles:


1. Put God first.14 “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. (Josh 24:14, NIV)


2. Be a whole person.1 Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, (1 Peter 3:1, NIV)


Your family does not need a dictator; they need an example to follow.


3. Teach and train.7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deut 6:7, NIV)


6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6, NIV)


Challenge Others to Serve God. (“choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve”)• Joshua’s family was like a fork in the

road--when people met them they had to make a decision.


“Make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.”-- Jim Eliot


ConclusionContinental Flight 1713 from Denver to Boise—November 15, 1987. (Point Man, pp.157-160).


Joshua 24:14-15

11/04/2007Dr. Dane Boyles

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How to Build a Christian Home Joshua 24:14-15 11/04/2007 Dr. Dane Boyles