Biblical Truths Regarding Relationships

Good morning and Would you please join with me For prayer as we ask the Lord to help us in this moment of need, let's pray. Dear gracious Father, we just come before you this morning, we have worshiped you in song. Lord, we have worshiped you in communion, and Lord, we are now wanting to worship you and listening to you speak to us from your word. Father God, we acknowledge the fact that we have sinned and fallen short.

Lord, we also acknowledge the fact that you came, not for the righteous, but for the unrighteous. We thank you, Lord, that we therefore qualify for your salvation. What a mighty savior you are, that, oh God, you would be willing to send your Son into this world to die in our place so that we might have life. And Lord, part of your purpose was not just to reconcile us to Yourself, but to reconcile us to one another, that you might be glorified in the context of relationship.

Lord, I pray that you would help me to give expression to your heart here this morning for your glory and for the growth of your people, we ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. I want to begin this morning by sharing with you all a personal sin that I have struggled with. It's not just a sin that I have struggled with, but it is one that I continue to, to a degree, to struggle with, and it has to do with doing things.

Let me illustrate. Oftentimes, my wife, Marcy will ask me to go to the store in order to fetch her some groceries. She might ask me to, to get some spaghetti sauce and noodles and whatnot in order for her to make a spaghetti dinner for us. And so, so what do I do when she asks me to run these errands?

How do I respond? I happily go and get the groceries. I don't have a problem at all with that. And so you might be wondering, well, Carlos, what do you mean then that you have a personal sin to share with us?

What do you mean that you have a sin struggle? In what way is that a sin struggle? Well, here is the problem. The problem is that I choose to go to the store alone rather than take one of the children in order to build a relationship.

The problem is that I by nature tend to want to do things by myself on my own, and so that when I am given these tasks to do, I have no problem doing them. I have no problem going to the store, but my default setting is to go and to do it by myself on my own. And in the process I fail to take advantage of a God-given opportunity to build relationship with another person. In this case, that would be a relationship with my son or with my daughter or with my other son.

There are many things that I do that can easily be turned into relationship building opportunities. For example, when I do the yard work, I do not have to do the yard work alone. I can bring my son along with me, and together we can do the yard work together, and I can seize it as an opportunity to minister to him and to talk to him and to help him to understand things of the Lord. I could also, for example, wash the car together with my children as we did yesterday.

I'm growing. I could, I could also, when cooking a meal, I can choose to allow my children to come along with me and that we can cook the meal together, you see, I find within me though that when it's time to cook a meal like yesterday I was flipping hamburgers on the grill, I much rather prefer to do it alone. I'd much rather to just do it by myself because I'm pretty proficient at flipping a hamburger patty. but the, the, the thing is, the problem is, and it's not a problem, it's my own problem, but the problem is, is my little boy Caleb, he's 3 years old.

What is he doing while I'm flipping the burgers yesterday? Well, he's got his hands on top of mine, giving me direction and guidance in flipping the burger. Now I could easily respond by that by saying, No, no, Caleb, you're too small, I'm going to burn your hand. Stay away.

Or I can respond to that as an opportunity for the glory of God to build relationship between me and my boy. Yesterday I succeeded. Yesterday, I let my boy flip the burger with me and what? He loved it.

He enjoys that. He wants a relationship with daddy. I believe he was hardwired for it. The problem is that many of us, myself included, default to individualism.

Isolationism and self-sufficiency, all of which are contrary to God's glorifying gospel-centered biblical-based relationships. God gives us ample opportunity, and the question is, is do we seize the opportunities to build relationships to the glory of God? This morning, I want us to consider some biblical truths regarding relationships. And in the process, I will be referring mostly to, to the Book of Genesis chapters 12, and 3.

So let us jump into this. What, what are, what are the biblical truths, what are some biblical truths regarding relationships? Well, truth number 1, truth number 1, the biblical concept of relationship is rooted in the character. of God.

This is absolutely essential that we wrap our minds around and that we understand the very character of God Himself, because that is the basis upon which we have relationship with one another. We must understand the character of God and this implies that we have right thoughts about who it is that God is. We need to understand that our God is holy, that He is independent, unchangeable, eternal, infinite, self-sufficient, dependent upon nobody or nothing. Our God is omnipresent.

He is everywhere present at once, and he is present with us even now as I speak. Our God is omnipotent, all powerful, the one who Spoke all of creation into existence by the very word of His power. Our God is omnipotent. Our God is sovereign.

There is not one renegade molecule out there outside of the sovereignty of our God. He is sovereign over everything and every detail of life. See, we need to wrap our minds around these truths about who God is, our God. God is omniscient.

He knows everything. He is wise, just, merciful, compassionate, gracious, and kind. Now these are truths about God, and it is good for us to understand these truths, and these attributes move us a long way in the right direction in our understanding of God, but Our understanding of God is ultimately deficient, insufficient. If we stop there.

It is imperative that in our understanding of God, we, we, we also include the fact that our God throughout eternity past without beginning, and even without end is triune. He is triune, meaning he is one God eternally existing in three persons. Our God is one God eternally existing in the form of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We must understand this about our God.

In other words, our God is relational. Our God is relational, and we catch a glimpse of his relational nature when we look at Genesis 1:26. Feel free to look at that passage with me, Genesis 1:26. We read that God God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness.

The operative words here are us, our, our. We've got God speaking, and God is speaking within the context of the Trinity. You've got God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit involved in a divine conversation with one another. Let us make man in our image.

God says. And so each person of the Godhead has existed in perfect relationship to one another throughout eternity past. I would like to read for you a quote from Brother Paul Tripp, as he speaks of the topic of God Himself and how God is a God who exists in relationship. Have you ever wondered why living in community is so important?

Your immediate response probably emphasizes the personal benefits of good friendships. While these are valuable, the most important reason for community is the reality that God Himself lives in community. Does that sound strange? It shouldn't.

God lives in community with Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Lived in perfect harmony, love and unity, and this was true before creation began, brothers and sisters. We begin our discussion about the importance of community or relationship, if you will, where all good theology begins, and that is with the very character of God Himself. When we do it radically alters the way we think about relationships.

They become God-centered and Not people-centered. I submit to you that it is important that we wrap our minds around the relational nature of God and that we understand that God has existed in a loving relationship apart from creation throughout eternity past. Listen to Jonathan Edwards, Paul Tripp quotes Jonathan Edwards here in 1 Corinthians 13, Jonathan Edwards preached a series of 16 sermons and the last sermon he preached He wanted to direct his people to an understanding of God Himself as the fountain from which love does exist.

God is the fountain of love as the sun is the fountain of light, and therefore the glorious presence of God in heaven fills heaven with love as the sun, placed in the midst of the visible heavens in a clear day, fills the world with light.

The apostle tells us that God is love and therefore seeing he is an infinite being It follows that he is an infinite fountain of love, seeing he is an all sufficient being. It follows that he is a, that he is a full and overflowing and inexhaustible fountain of love and in that he is an unchangeable and eternal being. He is an unchangeable and eternal fountain of love. We got to wrap our minds around the fact that our God is a God of love apart from creation.

There even in heaven dwells the God from whom every stream of holy love, yeah, every drop that is or ever was proceeds. There dwells God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, united as one in infinitely dear and incomprehensible. And mutual and eternal love. And there this glorious fountain forever flows forth in streams, yeah, in rivers of love and delight, and these rivers swell as it were, to an ocean of love in which the souls of the ransoms may bathe, the souls of the ransom may bathe with the sweetness with the Sweetest enjoyment and their hearts as it were, be deluged with love.

You see, the basis for our ability to love one another is rooted in the very character of God. And if we are to understand the biblical concept of relationship, we must affirm that it is rooted in the very character of God. This leads us to the next truth, to the next truth. Number 2, man was created to reflect God's image in the context of relationships.

Man was created to reflect God's image in the context of relationships. We cannot reflect the image of God outside of relationship with one another. Back in Genesis 1:26, once again, notice that God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. So clearly, God is creating man in His own image.

And later there in verse 27, God created man in His own image and the image of God, He created him, male and female, he created them. And so the point I want to make here again is that man was created to reflect the very. image of God Himself in the context of relationship. Follow along with me in Genesis chapter 2 verse 18.

Look there with me. We have an astonishing statement in chapter 2, verse 18. God is going to say something here. He's going to make an observation here that he did not say that he did not observe before.

Here in 218, God, the Lord is going to say, it says then the Lord God said, it is not good. It is not good. Now backtrack with me. During day 3, what does God say when he beholds what he created?

It is good. Day 4, it is good. Day 5, behold, it was good. And at the end of day 6, he will eventually say, and he saw all that he created, and behold, it was very good.

But here in the midst of day 6, after the creation of the man, and before the creation of the woman, what is said, It is not good. It is not good for the man to be alone. Why, oh God, was it not good? Because man cannot reflect the image of God in isolation from another person.

We cannot do this God-honoring thing all by ourselves. It is impossible for us to do this God-glorifying thing alone. We will never mirror the image of God in isolation from relationship with brothers and sisters in Christ. It is absolutely impossible.

That's why it is not good for the man to be alone. And so God provides the solution to the problem. He goes on to say here in verse 18, I will make him a helper suitable for him. And you all know the account.

God is going to begin by having Adam name all of the animals. As he sees them walking in twos, he's going to name them and eventually over the course of time, Adam will come to discover in his experience what God had already said. It's not good for the man to be alone, and Adam will come to discover in his experience that indeed it is true. It is not good for me to be alone.

And so then, then what does God do? He causes him to fall into a sleep, and then he takes out of his body a rib, and from his rib, he forms for him a person with whom he could have relationship with. He forms a woman for him. And look at me please at Genesis chapter 2.

Verse 2 2, it says, and the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which he had taken from the man and brought her to the man, and then in verse 23, we read, and the man said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. For this cause, a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh, and the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. There was no distance between them.

In terms of their relationship with one another, no shame, openness, honesty, transparency, nothing to hide. They lived in perfect relationship with one another. Adam received her as the blessing that God intended her to be. He was absolutely ecstatic over what God had done in his life and giving to him one like him with whom he could have a relationship with.

And it is not until then, after that moment, that God is finally able to say, at the end of day six, behold, behold, it is very good. Why is it very good? Because finally man can live in the context of relationship, which is necessary for man to be able to reflect the very image of God Himself. He cannot do it alone.

He must do it in the context of relationship. And let me also add this, that when God created the man, he said, be fruitful. And multiply and fill the earth. God's intent is not just that Adam and Eve would reflect His image, but that all of creation, that all that, that all of every single person after them, every person after them would also reflect the image of God in the relationships that they would have with one another.

OK, so God is envisioning a world full of people, reflecting the very image of God, reflecting the very relational nature of God Himself, reflecting the love relationship that existed among the members of the Godhead, that same love relationship being experienced among humanity as they fill the earth and the earth is full of the glory of God. This is what God had envisioned. God wants you and I to live in relationship with others in such a way that his image is being reflected.

Satan knows this and will not merely sit back and allow for such relationships to exist, and this leads us to our next point, Truth number 3 concerning relationships.

Satan hates God honoring relationships and seeks to attack and destroy them. If we had the time, we would read Genesis chapter 3 and, and follow the account there, but suffice it for me to say this. That Satan attacked and destroyed man's original relationship to God. He undermined man's original relationship to God by deceiving the woman and she gave to the man and he sinned against God, and as a result, the fall occurred.

And so Satan attacked and destroyed that relationship. Satan attacked and sought to destroy the first marriage relationship. Think about the relationship between Adam and Eve after the fall. Oh, how it had changed.

Oh how it had gone off course. Oh how it was not what God had intended it to be before. God at the end of creating and was able to say very good, but after After the fall, they became isolated from one another. It was not good.

They recognized their sin and they covered themselves with, with their own handmade fig leaves. They cover their loins. They're distancing themselves. They sense the shame, and so they are, they are withdrawing from one another.

They are distancing themselves from one another. In fact, Adam goes so far as to blame the woman for his sin. God, the reason I sinned is because of her. No longer is he seeing her as a beautiful, wonderful gift of God with whom he can have relationship, but instead he sees her as his enemy, he sees her as his problem, and so you can see how as a result of the fall, relationships get mangled and marred and become less than what God ordained them to be.

As a result of the fall. So he destroyed, he attacked that first marriage relationship. He does the same with the first parent-child relationship. No doubt, Adam and Eve were God glorifying even after the fall, they had experienced forgiveness.

God showed them through Giving to them the animal covering, slaying the animals, he, he helped them to understand that there is a place of restoration and reconciliation with them between God and between one another. And so Adam and Eve understood that, and so here they are raising their first son, Abel, in the ways of the Lord. Abel was a man of God. Abel was a man who offered the very best that he had to the Lord.

Abel was no doubt a good son to his mom and dad. He was a source of great pride and joy to Mom and Dad. But what happens? Satan goes after him because Satan hates God glorifying relationships.

Satan hates it when relationships reflect the image of God. And so he sought to destroy it and he raises up Cain. Cain is the brother of Abel, and Cain slew his brother Abel because he was jealous and angry and he ultimately murdered his brother. You see how Satan's fingerprints are all over relationships here from the very first relationship.

throughout history, Satan's getting his hands dirty. I submit to you, he seeks to destroy our relationships as well. He does not want you, husband and wife, loving one another in the way in which you should. He does not want the image of God reflected in your relationships with your children.

He does not want the image of God being reflected in your relationships with your brothers and sisters at church. He does not want any of this. And he will do all that he can to destroy these relationships, to undermine these relationships, to put distance between the people of God, and to isolate the people of God, and to bring us to the place of fragmentation where we are not known and where we don't know one another and where we are not glorifying God together. That's what he would do.

Let us move on to the next point. Truth number 4, man's ability to reflect God's own image, or to reflect God's image in the context of relationships is greatly marred by his own sin. See, we can't just blame the devil, but we have to blame our own flesh. Through the fall we inherited sin and we are sinners by nature, and apart from God's redeeming work in us, we will never be what God.

wants us to be, and the image of God will never be restored to the degree that it is meant to be restored. So man's ability to reflect God's image in the context of relationship is greatly marred by his own sin, and our sin is expressed in various ways. Here are a few ways that sin expresses itself, and we see these as a result of the fall. Wrong thoughts about God.

And this will inevitably affect our horizontal relationships. Disobeying God's commands, Adam and Eve had one command to obey, but they disobeyed it. We have a lot of commands God calls us to obey, and when we disobey God's commands, that is simply a reflection of our sin and our depravity and our self-centeredness, our autonomy and isolation, covering up our sins so that others cannot see our shame, covering our sin. Living a secret life of sin, and then no one else knowing about it.

And in our heart of hearts, we feel wretched inside because we know this is not the way it is meant to be, but we cover ourselves up and we don't allow others to know, to know us. Running from God, blaming others, failure to value others as precious gifts from the Lord. When we fail to realize how good God has been, and that he has given to us husbands and wives and children and brothers and sisters in Christ, and when we don't identify these folks as God's gifts in our lives, that is an expression of sin in our lives.

God wants us to be thankful for all.

He has given us, even those people that we do fellowship with, in subordination to God's creation order, Adam's failure to lead, Eve's desire to rule over him, and we see insubordination in humanity ever since. Sin expresses itself in jealousy, anger, and murder. Sin expresses itself ultimately in, in our, in our Push toward autonomy, individualism, isolationism, and self-centeredness. We see this with the first family.

We see this with Adam and Eve, and there is within all of us this push towards an individualism, this push towards an autonomy. There is within every single one of us degrees in which we want to be left alone. That is not my friends. How God designed us.

That is not the plan of God for us. Let us move, To the next truth, and here we find hope. You see, as we look at our depravity and our sin, and we look at ways in which we are isolation, isolationist in our approach, we look at ways in which we withdraw. We can get to the place of despair when we consider our sins, but truth number 5 tells us that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the solution to the sin of man failing to have and maintain God-honoring relationships.

The crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Christ is the solution, brothers and sisters. We must forever be reminded, as we have been this morning, of the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross in our place to reconcile me to Him or us to Him. I believe he had in mind to reconcile a people of God to Him and to Reconcile that people of God one to another as well.

His sacrifice of the cross, yes, was individual, but it was corporate as well, and so he suffered and died on the cross so that we would be reconciled to one another and that in the context of relationship, we would reflect the very image of God in our lives. That, my, my friends, is accomplished through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Let's take a look at a few passages. Don't turn here, but let me just jog your memory.

Many of you were here when we went to Ephesians, but in Ephesians 4:1, Paul says, I therefore entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. I therefore, therefore is there because of the 1st 3 chapters, and essentially what Paul does is he gives to them the gospel. And in verse 7 of chapter 1, for example, he says, in him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace. OK, and so there he's laying down the gospel, reminding us of the gospel.

He gets to chapter 4, verse 1, and he says, therefore, in light of the gospel, walk in a manner worthy. Well, what does this worthy walk look like, Paul? Well, he will give us some hints with all humility. That's a relational term, and gentleness.

That is a relational term. We can't be humble and gentle outside of the context of relationship with others to whom we need to be humble and gentle with. With patience, he says, with patience. showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent, being hardworking, applying you your all to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.

This is all relationship terminology, brothers and sisters, and he gives to us the gospel as the foundation upon which we can have these qualities. of relationships. In Romans 12:1, he says, by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice. Well, what does it mean, Paul, to present my body a living sacrifice?

What do you mean? Give me an example. And later on in verse 10, he gives an example, be devoted to one another and brotherly love. You see, Paul understood.

Paul understood that God intends man. To reflect his image. Part of what that means is being devoted to one another in brotherly love in a way similar to our triune God Himself, who prior to creation was devoted to one another. God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, devoted to one another in love, and we are to reflect the very image of God Himself and our relationships.

Please look in 2 Peter 1 with me. I'm gonna ask you to turn there. 2 Peter chapter 1. Verse 5.

An interesting and very powerful passage. Peter himself understood that the gospel was central to our ability to have relationships with one another. 2 Peter chapter 1 beginning in verse 5, he says, now for this very reason also applying, applying, applying all diligence, give your all to this in your faith, supply moral excellence, in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness.

Verse 7, verse 7, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, relation.

terminology, and in your brotherly kindness, love, OK, he knows that God wants his people to express brotherly kindness and love in the relationships to one another. Continue in verse 8 with me. He says, if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, then he goes on to say, for he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted. What do you mean blind or shortsighted?

Give me an example of what you mean being blind or shortsighted while he unpacks that for us, having forgotten the cross, having forgotten the gospel. Having forgotten that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died so that we might be reconciled to Him and to one another, having forgotten the nail-scarred feet and the nail scarred hands and the crown of thorns pressed upon his brow with blood dripping to the ground, having forgotten the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ the King of glory on the cross, writhing in agony and tormented and hurting physically there, as well as spiritually on the cross.

He says, for he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

The reason why Peter would say, the reason why we struggle with brotherly love, the reason we struggle with brotherly kindness and love with one another, the reason we struggle relationally, It's because you are failing. In your experience of the gospel. And so he would counsel those who struggle relationally. To put your face down there at the foot of the cross and stay there.

Until you are at a place where you have love to give to your brothers and sisters in Christ because you understand the greatness of God's love for you and how He wants to express it through you. In your relationships with your spouses, with your children, with your brothers and sisters at the local church. Well, this brings us to truth number 6. I'm not gonna say much here, let me just say that the eternal state marks the future time in which redeemed man will have and maintain God-honoring relationships.

We have a blessed hope, brothers and sisters. The day will come when we will no longer struggle with the sin that we struggle with now. The day will come when I will no longer wrestle with individualism, isolationism, and my tendency to want to go to the store and do things alone. The day will come when I will effectively mirror the image of God and my relationships with one another perfectly.

To God be the glory. That is a guaranteed day to come at some point, yet in the future, and in the meantime, we are called to be about the business of our Father. By way of review, we have considered some biblical truths regarding relationships. Relationship is rooted in the character of God Himself.

Man was created to reflect God's image in the context of relationship. Thirdly, Satan hates God-honoring relationships and seeks to attack and destroy them. Fourth, man's ability to reflect God's image in the context of relationships is greatly marred by his own sin. 5, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the solution to the problem.

Number 6, the eternal state. The future time in which redeemed men will have and maintain God-honoring relationships. Brothers and sisters, we must be passionate about and committed to God glorifying, gospel-centered, biblically-based relationships in which we are reflecting the very image of God in our relationships to one another. Let me end by asking and then briefly answering a question.

The question is this. How can I grow towards having these types of relationships? What must I do so that one could look at my life and see from my life, a life that is characterized by relationship building? What can I do?

Well, the first bit of counsel is this, embrace the cross. I can think of no other explanation as to why we struggle relationally other than the fact that we fail to embrace the cross. When we embrace it and understand it and comprehend it and experience the gospel and all of its fullness. That puts us in a place in which we are able in our relationships with one another to demonstrate brotherly kindness and love and to reflect the image of God.

Embrace the cross corporately as a body here. I would encourage all of us to be embracing the cross together. Embrace the cross. Secondly, remove the obstacles.

Remove the obstacles. There may be a number of obstacles that can interfere with our ability to do relationships with other people, family members and brothers and sisters in Christ. Remove the obstacles. Those obstacles may include personal sin, keeping you distant from God and others.

Do that, that our sin separates us from our God? It breaks off that fellowship and it serves to distance us from one another as well. Whatever sin you are struggling with is not an individual sin, it is a corporate sin, because as a result of the sins you struggle with, your ability to do relationships with others is impaired. It fractures relationships.

And so remove the obstacles, remove sin, remove the obstacles. Those obstacles may include heart idols, your job, there are some folks out there, some men out there, they will work 80 hours a week. And not that that in and of itself is sinful, but when that same man could easily work 40 hours a week, make less money, but have more time for family, therein is a problem. Remove those obstacles that prevent you from relationships to the glory of God.

Perhaps entertainment is an obstacle. TV. How many people out there struggle with watching hours and hours and hours of TV and all the while you are missing opportunity to advance relationship between you and family members and you and brothers and sisters in Christ. Remove the obstacles of TV, the iPod, video games, internet, surfing, perhaps goals in life.

Some people have good goals, but if those goals cause me to not be able to live in relationship to fellow brothers and sisters, those goals need to go. I might want to get a PhD, but if that's going to prevent me and my relationship with others, I have to forsake the PhD. OK, remove these obstacles. No doubt you can think of other obstacles that get in your way of being able to have godly relationships with brothers and sisters.

the, the next bit of counsel, increase the facilitators, increase the facilitators to Relationship. Let me begin with an exhortation to the families and especially to the men of God, the husbands and the fathers. Increase the facilitators. One wonderful way to do that is to worship God together as a family, family worship.

there was a day in the history of the church in which it was common. That if a man did not leave his family in family worship daily, that man would be excommunicated from the church. And so in times past, they understood the value of family worship. And what?

We can do everything right when we get together on Sunday. But if we are not as families worshiping God together in the context of family, we are failing miserably in what God calls us to do. We must worship God in the context of our family. Men of God, lead your wives and lead your children, help your family to lay, to, to, to lay hold of a great view of who God is, glorious and majestic, holy and awesome and worthy of all.

All of my praise, help your kids to understand children, this is why we live for the glory of God, because He has been so kind to us. He has met our needs. He has given to us His Son to die on the cross, and fathers and mothers, help your children to understand how great our God is and lead them so that they have an understanding that God is worthy of their lives. This isn't easy.

I know. I, I'm want to speak as I'm speaking to you, I'm speaking to myself, but this is what I know God wants from us. And this is what the desire of my heart is for my family that I as a man of God grow in my skill and ability and commitment to lead my family. I want Andrew and I want Emma and I want Caleb, and I want the little one on her way to have an understanding that they have a great God.

That the great God chose to save Daddy so that Daddy in his feeble efforts can seek to rear them in the ways of the Lord. And how kind is God that He would work in my life, the first one saved in my family, so that we can begin to work on the generation and the legacy of God-fearing people. I want to encourage you, family worship, that is a facilitator. The overflow of that is, there's no telling what will happen as a result.

Work together as a family, cook meals together as I shared with my little boy. Caleb, cook the hamburger with your little boy or your little girl. He just wants to get in on the action. Don't allow, I don't, I don't want to allow my selfishness and my self-centeredness and my tendency towards isolation to push him away and say, no, Caleb, you're too little, you can't do.

It might burn your hands. He's my boy. I'm his daddy, and he wants relationships. He wants to do things with me, and I've got to understand that, if it takes me an extra 10 minutes, that's OK, because this is precious opportunity that if I don't take advantage of it, it is time wasted.

Because God is less concerned about my burger being done right than he is about my relationship with my boy, and me using the cooking of the burger as an opportunity to build relationships. This is challenging. This is hard, as I shared before, my personal sin. I default to individualism.

I need my wife to remind me, honey, take one of the kids with you. what, I do a lot better now. But it wouldn't have been so if it hadn't been for God using a person in my life, my wife, to remind me of these things, and slowly but surely I am getting better through the accountability of my wife, my helper. Let me also encourage you.

In terms of things that you can do to facilitate relationship, participation in the local church and in the ministries that that local church provides, give yourself and your family and together as a family, minister within the context of the local church. Have that as the goal and move your family in those directions. Open up your lives to others and allow others to encourage you and to hold you accountable. You see, this is hard.

This requires a sacrifice of time. It requires a sacrifice of resources, and it requires selflessness and service. There are times in which, to be honest, I'm, I'm lazy. And I really don't want to spend the time with my boy.

I've had a hard day at work or whatever. I've got things on my mind, and there's that tendency to want to just get self-absorbed in my own little world. And what God says? That is sin.

That is sin. And that is why I sent my Savior to die for you so that you can be forgiven and freed from the power of sin in your life, free to have relationships to the glory of God. Here's the last thing I want to say. Something for you to think about.

The quality of your relationship with the Lord can be determined by the quality of your relationships with other people. We can say it differently. The quality of your relationships with people can be a gauge whereby we know how you are doing in your relationship with God. And so let me end by asking the question.

How are you doing, Carlos, how are you doing?