"The Ten" (Week 1)

What is “the Ten?”

   A few weeks ago Barkef started CBF on a journey in the book of Deuteronomy. He has reached the point in the book where Moses gives the ten commandments. Many of us have heard the ten commandments, but right now without looking, how many of them can you name? DO NOT TRY TO CHEAT, GOD IS WATCHING YOU! If you are anything like me, you still struggle to remember all ten off of the top of your head. In fact when I think of the ten commandments, I quickly see Charlton Heston saying in a deep voice, “Let my people GO!”

   Starting this past Sunday, Barkef is going to be preaching on each of the ten commandments. This past week, he started with Commandments one and two. If you have not heard the sermon yet, you can go to the church website (http://coppellbible.org/493781.ihtml?OrderBy=3&OrderDescending=1) & listen or download the podcast from ITunes. Each of the following weeks, Barkef will tackle the commandments individually. Along with this, there will be a devotional guide with daily Scripture readings and a prayer thought for your personal time with God. There is also a “family resource guide” that has the passage side by side in the New Living Translation, the New American Standard and commentary notes take from the Bible Knowledge Commentary.

   The challenge for the CBF congregation is to study these passages in your quiet time and take time as a family to talk about these verses. Recent statistics show that families discuss spiritual matters less than one hour out of the 168 hours in a week. One of the challenges that Barkef shared in his sermon is that we are supposed to pass these things on to the next generation. Think about how many hours a week you spend on homework, attending extra curricular activities and watching television! We wonder why children are walking away from the faith after they graduate high school. Less than one hour a week is not going to work. We need to change this number. I know you have to do homework to pass school but think about your schedule. Pray and ask God, “What could you move, change, give up so that you can spend time as a family and have these spiritual conversations?” Before you do that, be careful. God may ask you to give up something that you do not want to, so are you really up for the challenge? When you are ready to give up on the challenge, just remember 1/168!

How to use the family resource guide

   The family resource guide is a simple tool that is used to equip you in your quiet time and help assist you with faith talks with your child. If you do not know where to start, then begin by reading the passages and make five observations. Then pray through and look through those observations. Now write down one way that you could apply that passage to your life. Take a moment to pray, confess to God if you have been neglecting to apply this to your life and ask for God’s help as you apply this to your life.

How do I do a family devotion?

   I have painful memories of my parents trying to start family devotions when I was a kid. It seemed like my parents were trying to pull teeth out of all our mouths at once! When you feel this tension in your family, you have to press on through it. It is always hard to start a new habit. Here are a couple of other recommendations:

- Start with prayer

- Read the Bible

- Be creative (have family devotions at a child age level. There is not a 4 year old in the world who is going to listen to a 30 minute sermon on the first two commandments. Have them act out a Bible story, get on the internet and print out coloring pages for a passage, or apply a passage by doing something loving for your neighbor like bake cookies for them.)

- End with prayer

Extra Challenge (Couples Devotion)

   Make a list of things that are most important to your family (or if you are single, make a list of your own personal important things) and briefly write down why they are important. For example, one that you could put is mom or dad’s job because it pays the bills and puts food on the table. If you have children, ask their opinion of what they think is important to your family. Take a look at your list and ask, “Where does God fit in this list?” Is He at the top, bottom or middle of what is important to your family? Maybe your busyness or your schedule has become your idol. You are so consumed with work, social activities, your child’s extracurricular activities or your television shows (that includes what you have on TiVo) that you are too busy for God. I have heard the saying several times over the last few weeks that “if the devil cannot make you bad, he will make you busy.” Instead of asking “where does God fit in your schedule,” ask “where does my schedule fit in with what God wants to do in my life (and your family’s life)?”

   If God is not at the top of the list, evaluate your priorities to see what needs to change so that God can be at the top. You may need to stop participating in some activities, start praying with your spouse, or reading the Bible together as a family, or maybe all of the above.

One final thought...

Goals are so easy to accomplish and to keep striving for. Wrong! It is extremely difficult to follow through on goals for one reason…LIFE! Just ask the people who set the same New Year’s resolution every single year. Each January they start out wanting to complete a noble task of losing weight, watching less television or spending time with God every day. Then something happens. Life gets stressful, and you do not want to go to the gym; you want to get away from life with the lull of the television or hit the snooze button too many times so that you are running too late to spend time with God. So, how can you expect to accomplish your goals when they craziness of life starts to ramp up? Here are three key concepts that I hope will encourage you with your goals.

Make a plan & be intentional
“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 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. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:7-9
As you look at your goals, ask yourself, “how are we going to accomplish this?” If you set a goal, but you do not put down ways you plan to accomplish the goal, then nothing is going to happen. For example, if I set a goal to run in a marathon this December, then I would set out a daily work out plan so that I would be in shape to accomplish that goal. If I just show up and try to run a marathon, then I will fail. If you have set a goal of having your child be a strong believer who is developing disciples when they are out of college, then think through how that is going to happen. It is more than taking them to church on Sundays. It takes time praying, reading the Bible together as a family, doing service projects …basically it is more than Sundays. If you do not come up with a plan, then you will fall back into your old routine of life, and your goals will be long forgotten.As you look at Deuteronomy 6:7-9, it talks about impressing God’s commandments on your children. Then it says to talk about them when you sit & walk at home & along the road, when you lie down & get up; it even says to make it a part of who you are & where you live! As you implement your plan, you must be intentional on everything you do. When you are driving on the road, talk about God’s creation - how God made it and how God created and loves your child. Also, remember to have fun. Plan family nights where you play games or watch a movie. Just doing this act shows your child that family and relationships are fun and important.

Evaluate constantly
As you go through the implementation process of your goals, you are going to make mistakes and want to go back to your old routine. It is important as a couple to constantly be evaluating and holding each other accountable. How do you know if you are following your goals? Here are a couple of suggestions:
Pray together every dayThe Holy Spirit is good at convicting people about things. In fact, the Holy Spirit may even point out that one of your goals needs to be changed or completely done away with. He may even prompt you to add more goals or raise your goals to a higher standard.
Look at where you are spending your timeTake a look back at your week and see how many hours you put towards your goal. If you want your child to make good grades so they can go to college, you would see how many hours he spends doing homework or reading. If you want your child to be walking with God spiritually after high school, see how much time you actually spend investing in that. That includes “faith talks” that come up as you are driving down the road. Research shows that the average Christian family spends less than 1 hour out of the 168 hours in a week talking about spiritual matters. If you want your child to be walking with God after High School, that is not enough time!As you evaluate though, it is VERY IMPORTANT to be very gracious with one another. This could be a complete change in your lifestyle and can be very difficult, but it will become easier over time.

Live it out
As mentioned in the previous post, high school students who have attended church are leaving at an alarming rate once they graduate. Their number one reason is the hypocrisy they see especially at home. If you want your child to strive for the goals you set for them, then you must be living them out yourself. What does that look like? If you want your child to grow up and have a good family life, then you have to live that out in your life. Show your child what a Godly marriage looks like. Love your wife like Christ loves the church. Take her out on dates & show her that she is precious & an incredible gift from God! If you want your child to have a growing relationship with God after high school, then you need to model that for them. Spend time daily in the Word, pray daily, pray with your spouse daily. Your child is going to live out what you model for them, whether you want them to or not.

Press on!
This is not going to be easy. Jesus never said following Him would be, just look at Luke 14:25-35. You and your spouse will have to rely on God, and that is the only way you can accomplish this. Do you think that the evil one wants you to be intentional about raising your child? Especially, if you want your child to pursue Christ when they are out of your home? Remember Philippians 4:13,” I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”