Fortify Your Family
Tony Schachle
Fortify • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 43:45
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· 152 viewsThe devil is doing everything he can to destroy the biblical definition of marriage and the family in our society. But there are some things that we can do to strengthen our families and defend them against the attack of Satan. We need to Fix the Foundation, Remove the Rot, Eliminate the Emptiness, and Guard the Gates. Listen in to this message and discover how to apply these principles to you and your family.
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SCRIPTURE
SCRIPTURE
1 Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain.
OPENING
OPENING
Satan is real and he is out to steal, kill, and destroy. And Satan is working overtime to destroy marriages and families. The LGBTQ+ movement is nothing more than a demonic attack on the biblical principles of marriage and family. From homosexuality to transgenderism, we are watching the rapid degradation of biblical principles that were once the foundation of our society here in the United States of America.
But Satan is using more than just the LGBTQ+ movement to destroy families. He is using every evil scheme that he can come up with. That is why it is vitally important as Christians today, that we recognize and take a stand against the evil schemes of the devil.
And this morning I want to give you a biblical approach to standing on the principles of the Word of God in this evil generation in which we live. I want to give you the biblical tools you need to Fortify Your Family against Satan’s attacks.
Fortify means “to make strong; to secure; to protect or strengthen against attack.” We need strong families. We need to protect them against the attacks of the devil. I know every single one of you want that for yourself and for your family. So let’s talk about a biblical approach to Fortify Your Family.
MESSAGE
MESSAGE
Fix the Foundation
The most important part of building a house or any structure is the foundation.
Without a solid foundation, the structure has a greater possibility of failure at some point in the future.
And the same thing is true with our homes and our families. Without the proper foundation, there is a greater risk of failure at some point in the future.
So what is the proper foundation that we must build our homes and our families on? Well Jesus answers that question for us.
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Notice a few things about this parable that Jesus told:
Both men built a house.
We can assume they essentially built the same kind of house.
Both houses eventually experienced a storm.
But one house weathered the storm, while the other house was destroyed.
Why? What was the difference? The difference was the foundation.
The wise man built his foundation on the rock, while the foolish man built his foundation on the sand.
So what is the application for us?
What is the difference between building on the rock and building on the sand?
Jesus said those who build their lives on the rock are those who hear Jesus’ teachings and do them.
Those who build their lives on the sand are those who hear Jesus’ teachings and do not do them.
Fix the Foundation
What about your foundation and the foundation of your family?
What is it built on?
Is it built upon the foundation of God’s Word?
Are you both hearing and doing what Jesus said?
If not, it is time to fix the foundation.
This is the process of SALVATION.
Remove the Rot
If you live in this world for any amount of time, corruption is going to creep in.
If you have a leaky roof, or joints in the building that are not sealed, eventually moisture is going to get in and is going to start causing problems like mold, mildew, and eventually rot.
The same thing is true with our lives and our families. If we have leaks in our family structure, eventually the devil is going to find his way inside.
And if we don’t address it, the devil is going to cause some mold, mildew, and eventually rot to begin to develop in the family.
There is a scripture in Leviticus that talks about this is a physical sense, but I think we can take some spiritual truths from it as well.
34 “When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and I put the leprous plague in a house in the land of your possession,
35 and he who owns the house comes and tells the priest, saying, ‘It seems to me that there is some plague in the house,’
36 then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goes into it to examine the plague, that all that is in the house may not be made unclean; and afterward the priest shall go in to examine the house.
37 And he shall examine the plague; and indeed if the plague is on the walls of the house with ingrained streaks, greenish or reddish, which appear to be deep in the wall,
38 then the priest shall go out of the house, to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days.
39 And the priest shall come again on the seventh day and look; and indeed if the plague has spread on the walls of the house,
40 then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which is the plague, and they shall cast them into an unclean place outside the city.
41 And he shall cause the house to be scraped inside, all around, and the dust that they scrape off they shall pour out in an unclean place outside the city.
42 Then they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other mortar and plaster the house.
Even after we Fix the Foundation, there may be some damage that has already occured that needs to be addressed.
The first step was to empty the house. This was done so that nothing else in the house became contaminated with the plague.
Then the next step was to inspect the walls, the structure, of the house for any signs of the plague (greenish or red streaks).
If there was a sign of the plague in the house, some demo work had to be done.
The infected areas had to be removed.
Remove the Rot
We’ve got to reach the point where we are willing to recognize the damage that has already occurred or is continuing to occur in our homes and our families and be willing to address it.
It is not enough just to Fix the Foundation, you’ve got to Remove the Rot.
You can patch the holes in the roof, but if you don’t address the rot, it is going to continue to spread.
You’ve got to be willing to demo the damage that has already been done.
This is the process of SANCTIFICATION.
Eliminate the Emptiness
You have to empty some things out in order to Remove the Rot, but you can’t leave it empty.
The devil likes empty spaces.
Have you every heard “and idle mind is the devil’s workshop?”
You can Fix the Foundation. You can Remove the Rot. But if you leave your spiritual life and your families’ spiritual life empty, and don’t fill it with the things of God, the devil is coming back.
Jesus described how the devil works in Matthew.
43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.
44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.
45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”
If you just Fix the Foundation and Remove the Rot and don’t fill your life with the things of God, you are just giving the devil an open invitation to return.
Maybe you’ve experienced this and wonder why your life seems to keep going to in a cycle.
You find yourself in a mess. You come to God and repent and Fix the Foundation. You work on getting your life in order and Remove the Rot. Only to find that a short time later you are right back to where you started in the beginning.
It is because you need to take the next step.
Fix the Foundation, Remove the Rot, and then it is time to Eliminate the Emptiness.
Eliminate the Emptiness
Don’t give place to the devil.
Don’t leave empty places that he can come back to occupy.
Eliminate the Emptiness by being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18 “18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,”
This is the process of being BAPTIZED IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Guard the Gates
Even after we Fix the Foundation, Remove the Rot, and Eliminate the Emptiness, we still have a job to do.
Even with the best preparations and defences, it doesn’t stop the enemy from attacking.
On our homes, we can put security systems to help us keep watch and protect our property.
We can put up cameras and devices on our doors and windows to alert us to an intruder.
We do things to secure the physical, but what about the spiritual?
What are we doing to secure our homes and families against the threat of the devil?
20 My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart;
The writer of Proverbs warns us about keeping watch over two important gates in our own lives and the lives of our families.
“incline your ear to my sayings” - in other words we have to guard the gate of our ears.
“Do not let them depart from your eyes.” - in other words, we have to guard the gate of our eyes.
What we allow in through our ears and our eyes ultimately affects our hearts - “Keep them in the midst of your heart.”
Guard the Gates
What are we allowing into our hearts through our eyes and our ears?
What are we allowing into our children’s hearts through the things that we allow them to watch and listen to?
Are we doing enough to Guard the Gates?
CLOSING
CLOSING
Fix the Foundation (Salvation/Repentance)
Remove the Rot (Sanctification)
Eliminate the Emptiness (Baptism in the Holy Spirit)
Guard the Gates (Keep Watch)
ALTAR CALL
ALTAR CALL