Building

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Building Spiritual Homes
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Bible Homes Good Bad
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The Choice Is In Our Hands
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Teaching Generations to Know God

• Deut. 49 Perpetual teaching of the law
• but make them known unto your children and your
  childrens children
• Deut. 67 Constant teaching of children
• and you shall teach them diligently unto your
  children, and talk of them when you sit in your
  house, and when you walk by the way, and when you
  lie down, and when you rise up
• Deut. 1118f Words repeated of above text
• Deut. 3113 Children hear come to know
• that their children, who have not known, may
  hear, and learn to fear Jehovah your God

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Failure in Teaching Generations to Know God

• If parents cease the teaching of Gods will by
  word example, what takes place?
• Judges 210
• And also all that generation were gathered unto
  their fathers and there arose another generation
  after them, that knew not God, nor yet the work
  which he had wrought for Israel.
• It only took one generation without teaching
• It still only takes one untaught generation

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Some General Observations

• Proverbs 226
• Train up a child in the way he should go, and
  even when he is old he will not depart from it.
• General rule is true, though exceptions exist
• More often than not, apostasy starts in homes
• Fail to ground in Gods word for depth in truth
• Show an example contrary to Gods will
• Have indifference towards spiritual things
• Manifest a love for the things ways of world
• General departure sign of troubled homes

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Good Homes in the Bible
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Teaching Truth to Timothy

• 2 Tim. 314-17 Equipping the man of God
• He had learned been assured of truth
• Example seen in two generations before (15)
• Teaching process began early (brephos - toddler)
• Respect taught for sacred writings of Scripture
• Wisdom salvation sought from Gods word
• Origin of all Scripture stressed as inspired of
  God
• Doctrine, reproof, correction instruction from
  it
• Able to completely furnish to every good work
• Scripture was part of Timothys daily life

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Abraham Faith Towards God

• Hebrew writer sums up evidences of his faith
• Left home went told land unknown (118)
• Lived as a sojourner all of his life (119)
• Accepted the promise of son through Sarah (1111)
• Willing to offer up that son of promise (1117)
• Had faith that God could resurrect Isaac (1119)
• In each case, Abraham does not elevate his will
  or thought over Gods, but submits in trust
• Thus, God had confidence in him (Gen 1819)
• Contrast with Lots approach (Gen. 1310-13)

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Hannahs Life Is Good Example

• Hannahs life in service to God (1 Sam 1-2)
• Hannah worshipped God even in adversity
• Hannah trusted in God to answer prayer
• Hannah was constant in prayer
• Hannah sought for best of Gods cause, not the
  satisfying of her own desires
• Hannah gave son to God as she promised
• Hannah was not idle in grief after giving Samuel,
  but continues faithful service to God as before
• Our children must see these qualities in us

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Principles from Moses Family(Exodus 2
Hebrews 1123)

• Resisted ungodly law to kill child (Ex. 122)
• Recognized priority of obeying God over men
• Situation like this is real today in China
  others
• Parallel seen in refusing abortion in America
• Provided for the raising of Moses in truth
• Sister sought out mother to be the nurse of Moses
• Gave opportunity to impart principles of right
• Identified with people of God when he was grown
• Good homes provide for life of body soul

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Bad Homes in the Bible
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No Authority The Home of Eli(1 Samuel 2 3)

• Eli protested the evil of his sons (222f)
• Confronted their immorality at tent of meeting
• Said they were guilty of sin made others sin
• Brought out consequence of sin against God
• Sons did not change their conduct (225)
• Note during this time Samuel grew in service
• One can be pleasing to God amidst wickedness
• Eli condemned for he restrained them not
• Authority instilled by discipline, not mere
  protest

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Failure to Instill Authority Breeds Rebellion in
Conduct

• If there is no consequence for wrong conduct, it
  continues intensifies
• Happened during reign of evil kings during Bible
  time
• Same pattern is repeated in secular history
• Anti-Establishment generation of 60s 70s is
  now in time of leadership
• The church will suffer from the same affliction

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Present Generation Authority

• Many parents, elders preachers in churches
  today were raised in time of rebellion
• Principles of authority taught instill when
  institutionalism fought, not heard for years
• Many have grown up without understanding of Bible
  authority
• Lack of respect for authority of Scripture is
  being heard among brethren today

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The Birmingham News (4/12/2002)

• One of those is Lord I Believe, a group formed 15
  years ago by Hill Roberts, chief scientist at
  NASA and defense contractor SRS Technologies,
  through his church, Weatherly Heights Church of
  Christ "My faith is that nature and the Bible
  both come from the same author and hence will not
  be in conflict," Roberts said. For example,
  Roberts doesn't see a conflict between the Bible
  and scientists who say the Earth is 4.5 billion
  years old. The Big Bang theory that the universe
  was created with one big explosion doesn't pose a
  conflict with many scientists who believe it's
  really an explanation of what happened after God
  commanded the formation of the universe. "The
  Big Bang doesn't violate Genesis 1 at all," said
  Roy Young, a NASA astronomer in Huntsville who is
  working with other space agency centers on a way
  to deflect near-Earth asteroids. He is one of the
  speakers for Hill's group.

17
Berean Spirit List (4/03/2002)

• I believe that false teachers provide a useful
  and beneficial service to the church as they
  provoke intellects to study Biblical subjects
  with renewed diligence and cause common folks to
  question their assumptions and religious
  preferences. The church needs false teachers to
  break Christians out of outdated traditions and
  futile customs. There are so many benefits
  resulting from false teachers that I cannot
  actually call them "false."

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Berean Spirit List (4/03/2002)

• I suppose that "false teachers" are teachers of
  the truth as they understand it, however distant
  from the mainstream their ideas are they remain
  legitimate as they are consistent with their own
  knowledge of the Scriptures. "False teachers" do
  not teach out of malice in order to deceive
  anyone, they don't even deceive their own self.
  The "false teacher" is merely stating his or her
  own religious convictions as eloquently and
  convincingly as possible in the hope of leading
  fellow Christians to the same conclusions.

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Berean Spirit List (4/03/2002)

• Not only should the church fellowship false
  teachers, the church ought to protect their
  freedom of expression and allow them equal
  opportunity to argue on behalf of their beliefs
  No efforts should be made to punish or penalize
  the false teacher. Intolerance oppresses the
  church, doing more harm than good, because
  Christians fear punishment Christians who
  appoint themselves watchdogs or guardsmen do more
  harm than good If you want to find the truth,
  tolerate error. If you want Christians to search
  for the truth without hindrance, don't penalize
  anyone for having unconventional thoughts.

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Berean Spirit List (4/2/2002)

• Nonetheless, unity is essential to the church.
  The unity that I advocate can and should include
  the denominations because from a practical
  standpoint we are identical to them. We are by no
  means perfect today, and the church of the past
  was polluted with the sins of society.

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Berean Spirit List (4/2/2002)

• If you observe the behavior of families you will
  discern that people get divorced for many
  differences reasons, none of them related to any
  preacher's MDR doctrine. If the church does not
  accept and welcome these sinners, they are either
  going to live in sin outside of the church or
  they will join a denomination. In either case,
  they are lost to the church forever. Do you
  really want to exclude such a significant group
  of people from membership in the church and
  thereby, according to your own reasoning, condemn
  them to hell?... The church must minister to
  sinners, including homosexuals. The only other
  alternative is to exclude everyone from the
  church until only the sinless remain.

22
Berean Spirit List (4/1/2002)

• Comments posted regarding Luther Blackmon
  article Narrow-Mindedness from Gospel Guardian,
  1949
• Luther Blackmon fails to recognize that there are
  Mathematical questions which are not subject to
  resolution, there are historical questions which
  are open to many different valid
  interpretations. Truth is sic "every other
  field" is not narrow and dogmatic. Luther
  Blackmon is mistaken in saying so. Biblical truth
  is susceptible to interpretation because slight
  changes in philosophy or interpretation will lead
  to radically different conclusions about what the
  Bible teaches. The mere existence of
  contradictory message does not prove that there
  is false doctrine. Perhaps both sides are correct
  in their own minds, interpreting the Scriptures
  in a legitimate and rational manner within the
  confines of their own religious preconceptions.

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Berean Spirit List (4/01/2002)

• In response to the question of whether we should
  accept Unitarians or even those in Judaism into
  our fellowship, one member of a NI congregation
  replied on the list
• Yes, we should We should have them in our
  fellowship because there are things that they can
  teach us, if we would only listen.

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AMAZING!!!

• UNBELIEVABLE!

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Homes of Solomon AhabEffect of False Religion
in the Home

• Solomon helped introduction of idolatry
• Married foreign women of idolatry (1 Kgs. 11)
• They turned his heart away from God
• Solomon built places for idolatrous worship
• Ahab Jezebel given to evil (1 Kgs. 16f)
• False religion of Baal, Asherah others
• Loved evil - told he had sold thyself to do
  evil
• Jezebel stirred up Ahab to do more evil
• More evil than all before (1 Kgs. 1630)

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Immorality Home of David

• Problem began with estrangement of Michal (2 Sam.
  616-23)
• Davids adultery with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11)
• Spiral of problems come as a result of sin
• Death of the child born of the sin
• Death of Uriah
• Rape of Tamar by Amnon
• Revolt of Absalom
• Hosea Gomer another example of adultery

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Are Our Homes Teaching...

• Scripture as the complete inspired guide?
• Are we teaching all to rightly divide it?
• Authority demanding adherence to it?
• Not enough to teach right allow wrong
• A deep spirituality which seeks God first?
• Where is our time, effort money going?
• Morality which is a light to a dark world?
• In dress of modesty
• In rejection of dancing, petting lasciviousness
• In refusing to partake of intoxicants

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We Have A Serious Responsibility

• Serious for husband father as head
• Serious for wife mother serving as example
• Serious for grandparents
• Serious for child sisters
• I am either helping my family towards heaven or
  hell - which am I doing?
• We will all answer before God for our actions