Learning to live in a Family Culture within your Church

Harvest Chapel, currently is trying very hard to teach all that come there to learn the blessings of living within a family culture while at church and then taking this culture with you when you leave. 

If you think about it, God invented the family.  Adam and Eve were the first parents, the first mom and dad, if you would, with an amazing father of their own in God.  But something that we all need to remember is that God is, to this very day our Dad, Daddy, Father, Abba Father...there are so many different forms of this same name.  So whatever you choose to opt for, just make sure that you do call on him.  Call on Him several times a day and speak to Him often.

Since this is a gift from the Father, we really need to cherish it as a blessing.  When two people meet and court, and realize that they are meant for each other, when they keep the Lord as the central figure in their relationship they will succeed.  You cannot fail when Jesus is central.  Okay so two people meet and eventually marry, keep your marriage a trinity with the Father as the head.

Now we are going to expand on this just a little.  Pastor Don was teaching us about the cross a bit in that the upright post of the cross is our main beam to the Father and I had a thought that the cross beam could represent the husband and wife.  We must keep the Father as the center of our marriage and at the center of our individual lives.  And when we grow up and marry, if we have kept Christ at the center, He will continue as the center of the marriage and family.  And what could be better than this.  

Ephesians 5 

New King James Version (NKJV)

Walk in Love

5 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. ² And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.  When you read these verse, don't just read them, take them into yourself.  Have you ever been in a quite session with God and had an amazing aroma drift up your nostrils?  That is the aroma of God. Make sure that you walk in the love of Christ...oh our God is so good.

And 5: 8. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light....if you say you are a Christian then behave as a Christian.  Here is an example of what I am speaking of.   I am driving down the road and I have bumper sticker or, in my case I have a decal on my rear window for Lancaster Bible College, so this kind of identifies me as a follower of Christ.  Alright now close your eyes and envision someone like this on the highway.  The speed limit is 65, and you are traveling down the road at 65 and a vehicle with a logo or Christian decal passes you at quite a good clip, well over the speed limit of 65.  Now think about this from two directions.  The first is this, we are to follow mans laws, God has told us this, what is this speeding kind of driving saying to the people that you are passing.  Hmmm...he sure isn't behaving like a Christian.  If you have an emergency that requires you to get some where quickly then put your blinkers on and drive quickly and safely.  Otherwise, maybe you should leave a little bit earlier.  Okay now from another direction, the person that you are passing is on the fence about accepting Christ as their Savior, what kind of example are you being.  If you are going to tell the world that you are a Christian, than behave like a Christian.

Well it's that time of day...go and be a blessing, God is so good!