The Christian Home-Principles That Wreck The Home 1. Prayer Our Father we bow before you, we give you praise for the way you have brought us to this point again in this program together with our listeners. Our Father, we are praying that You will continue to give wing to this message, that it will go forth with your power, it will go forth with grace; it will go forth with your very presence that Lord as people listen to us it might do them good, that it might cause a definite measurable change in their walk and in their experience with you. Our Father we are asking that today particularly you might grant us entrance into your Word that it might bring light and life into our lives and cause each one of us to walk in the light of Your wisdom. Thank You Father for hearing us for we know that You are going to help us since we have prayed in Jesus Name. Amen. We want to praise the Lord for this opportunity God is granting us again to relate with you on this program. We are trusting God that as we come your way from week to week that the Spirit of God will continue to create a cumulative effect of His will in your life as you listen to the Scriptures. We are trusting also that you will become responsible as you listen to these messages, that the Spirit of God will use you, both in your own life and in your community to reflect the glory of God. Our desire is that whichever place you are coming from, whichever denomination you belong to, whatever be your affiliation in life that Jesus might be formed in you and you yourself might become a blessing to several others. In this way we are trusting that as you listen to today’s message you will pray along, you will open up your heart and ask God to teach you. There is a reason why you are listening to us today: may that reason and the purpose of God for bringing you to His Word today come to pass in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen. We have been on this program for some weeks now and we thank God that the Holy Spirit is still moving us to look at the Christian Home. By the time we were ending last week, I began to introduce you to an interruption that wrecked, that destroyed and that changed the pattern of the family in Genesis Chapter 3. Therefore almost all marriages (in fact every marriage) can either fall in Genesis 2 pattern or in Genesis 3 pattern. For the vast majority of us, what we grew up to know as marriage is the Genesis Chapter 3 kind of marriage. So today I will be dealing with the Genesis 3 marriage under the title: “The Principle that wrecks and frustrates the Christian Home.” This is the issue I would like to draw your attention to as we study the Scriptures. It is the Genesis 3 interruption that brings about the issues of divorce, the issues of struggles, the issues of what Paul called “trouble in the flesh” as we are going to see in several Scriptures as we go along in our study in this series. To begin our study, I would like you to look again at Genesis chapter 2 and we shall read verses 24 and 25 and then continue to Genesis chapter 3 verses 1, 6, 7, and verses 9 to 20. Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Gen 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. Gen 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? Gen 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. Gen 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? Gen 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Gen 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Gen 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Gen 3:16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. Gen 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Gen 3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thouart, and unto dust shalt thou return. Gen 3:20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. May God bless His word to our hearts in Jesus Name. While we were signing off last week and the last edition of this program, we noted that the Genesis 2 marriage had a beauty, we saw what God wanted: we saw that the man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife and the two shall be one flesh. We saw that God’s eternal purpose is that the husband and wife is to cleave, is to hold tightly together so that nothing comes in between them and that they are no more two but have become one; they no longer live separate, they no longer think separate, they no longer plan separate - they are one: they are willing to embrace each other and there is no difference between them. They were one flesh. They have cleaved! The weakness of the husband has been made up by the strength of the wife and the lack in the wife has been supplied by the husband. The Bible said “And they were both naked, the man and his wife and were not ashamed.” The husband was naked, the wife was naked - they were both open, they were both relaxed, there was nothing in between them, there was no problem and no reason to be ashamed. None of them looked at the other one and said ‘So you are like this, unh, if I knew you were like this I would not have married you.’ There was nothing like that! They were living together, they were both naked - the husband and the wife - and they were not ashamed!!! I want you to note that in Genesis chapter 2 the wife was called woman and the simple reason is because she is taken out of man. I believe that God can bring each one of you listening to this message into the kind of Genesis chapter 2 relationship where there is nothing you don’t know about your wife and there is nothing you are hiding from your husband! Everything is open and everyone is naked: it is not as if the husband is insisting for the wife to bring all her salary yet he is hiding his own salary. There was nothing like that! The two of them were both naked, they were one flesh: nothing in between, nothing to separate them! They were together and were rejoicing, there was total and complete acceptance between these two people. They were living together in the presence of God. And do you know what happened? God’s presence was with them, every evening at the cool of the day, God came to fellowship with them, God came to share with them. They were always having a good communion with God. T-h-i-s is what Genesis 2 marriage was supposed to have done in our lives. We were supposed to have lived together in total openness, complete nakedness and total acceptance of each other and yet in the presence of God, having communion together with God, relating with God, and getting to fulfill the call of God and the purpose of God in our lives as a family; rejoicing and you know going hand in hand as one flesh, planning together, living together; facing life together not differently not separately - having a common friend! They were one flesh. That was what the Bible said. But you see the Scripture in Genesis chapter 3 verse 1 introduces a stranger. That is the beginning of the Genesis chapter 3 type of marriage which we want to deal with now. Let’s look at Genesis chapter 3 Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. It looks to me as if every-time God is about bringing men unto a joyful relationship, unto a fulfilling married life - the serpent more subtle … comes in. I would like you to know what the Bible said about him: “he was more subtle than any beast in the field.” Which means the devil is never straight forward: he will never come and attack your home directly as the devil!!! He comes in a subtle manner, he comes with a cunningness that you will never suspect. It is this cunningness that has spoilt many homes, it is this interruption of Satan that has turned the husband against the wife, people that used to live together, discuss things together, share things together now cannot see eye to eye. Some of you listening to me have separated your bedrooms: you used to sleep in the same bedroom before but now Madam sleeps in one room and you the man of the house sleep in a different room. And what is the matter? What are you doing that now your wife has become a disturbance to you? What exactly is the problem? What is now in your wife’s life that you can no longer tolerate her, that you are saying ‘Keep to your room please and if you want to see me you have to take permission.’ Things are as bad as that in some Christian families. I want to say to you: maybe you should take note that the serpent, that enemy of yours had already eroded your family life. You will notice that Adam was not around when the devil came in, Adam was out when the devil was interrogating his wife! The devil is always looking for an opportunity to come in when your partner is absent. The devil sometime has interrupted your family with a strange woman when your wife went out of town on a training course. Do you remember what I am talking about? That it was when your wife went to a University for one Diploma course for just one year and before she returned things have changed! Some have slept with their house girls, some brought in even the close friend of their wife and have slept with them, some have committed terrible atrocities that if those things were known, the earth itself would not be able to bear it. Some have gone into all kinds of mischievous things in the absence of their partner. For some others, it was when your husband travelled that some of your relatives came in and poisoned your mind. The serpent! I want you to note that his activities must not escape your perception if you want to fulfill the purpose of God for your marriage. As we continue to look at Principles that wrecked the home, let me show you something. Adam was not around when Eve was tempted. Adam was away when Eve was tempted! I don’t know what happened, I don’t know why Eve stayed back. I am not preempting or presuming anything but I just want to say to you that if the devil must not have a space in your relationship, you and your partner must learn to go together, you must learn to walk together, you must learn to relate together. I have seen so many couples - the husband is living in Lagos and the wife is living in Kaduna; I don’t know how serious your business is that will make you and your wife separate yourselves over a period of time thereby giving the devil an opportunity for the devil to poke his nose into your home. I want to note here that it was when Adam was away that the devil came in. Some of you may not know that the thing that wrecked your home is this separation, this business that you keep going up and down for. Madam! I don’t understand why you have left your home and you left your husband for three months, four months, five months! When you return he behaves to you like a stranger and you keep wondering what has turned the heart of your husband? I must tell you it is the serpent!.He always looks for a loop-hole, he always looks for a problem! I want you to watch it! If your home will not be destroyed I want you to take note how the devil will want to sneak in when your partner is absent. There are times that in discussion with someone outside your marriage that person says (to you) ‘Excuse me please there is something I want to say to you, I don’t want your wife to hear about it.’ A person that says such is an example of agents of the serpent; they are very subtle. What is it that someone is saying to you that your wife cannot hear? Don’t you think the serpent is crawling around when that is the case? What could anyone say to you that your wife cannot hear about? Such a person wants to split your life! The serpent is more subtle than any other beast in the field! I want you to know that the devil is much more subtle and wiser in his own conceit than any creature. Don’t give him a chance, otherwise your marriage that is joyful today may enter into the Genesis chapter 3 type without your knowing it. Let me say something to you: you will notice it in Genesis chapter 2 verse 25 Gen 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Right at the end of that chapter we didn’t hear anything again, the whole place was quiet. The next chapter we saw was chapter 3 when the man was away, the devil came in. There is no stage at which the devil cannot interrupt a marriage! Are you hearing me? Some people have been married for 10 years before the devil started coming in. Some people were married for 25 years before the devil started coming in. Some people have even given their first daughters in marriage yet the devil came in to scatter their marital relationships. Why is this? It is because at any point in your life the serpent can always come in. I want us to move on because it looks to me today that the first Principle you must mark carefully if you will not let your home spoil is the “Principle of the serpent-lurking-around,” the serpent who looks for the absence of your partner, who looks for a loop-hole, who looks for a time when your spouse is not around to create misunderstanding! Let’s quickly see the next principle that destroys the home; I want to be chronological as I study Genesis 3 with you. When the woman disobeyed God and sin entered into the life of the man and the woman, there was no way the marriage could hold together. I need to say this to you now: Genesis 2 marriage is only based on the fact that God is relating with the man and God is relating with the woman! When your relationship breaks down with God as a man, it must affect your marriage. Are you listening to me? When the relationship of the woman with God breaks down, her marriage will be affected. There are some of you listening to me; maybe because your husband is so loving and you are enjoying him that is why you are compromising your personal walk with God and you compromise your personal quiet time when you listen to God and God ministers to you, you are cutting it for your husband and your relationship: I want to say to you that you are destroying the basis for the sustenance of this home that God is raising for you. The basis of any Christian Home is a working and a functional relationship of each partner with God!When this breaks down because of sin, marriage also cannot survive. If you want your home to stand well, as we are looking at Genesis 3 you must avoid disobedience to the word of God and you must also avoid the problem of sin. When your husband is not walking with God let me tell you there is no way he can work well with you. When your wife is no longer obedient to the word of God there is no way she can be submissive to you. The major issue you have to watch in your relationship as husband and wife is that each one of you must remain in constant communion and in an unbroken relationship with the Lord Jesus in your life. Every day, every evening there must be communion between you and God. Mark that something happened in this Scripture: the woman broke her relationship with God, the husband also broke her relationship with God. Therefore their marriage also broke down! Let’s quickly look at something else in verse 7, hope you are following me. The Bible says in Genesis 3: 7 if you have your Bible please turn to it quickly. Gen 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. That really touched my mind because in verse 25 of Genesis chapter 2 the Bible says “And they were both naked, the man and his wife and they were not ashamed.” But then in verse 7 of Genesis 3 the Bible says “the eyes of them were both opened and they knew that they were naked, they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves apron.” There are few things that are touching my mind as I draw your attention to some more issues : the Bible says the eyes of them both were opened. The next principle that destroys and wrecks the Christian home is what I would call the Principle of open-eye: open-eye will not allow you to relate together: open-eye (personal wisdom) will not allow you and your wife to be together. As your husband is talking I hear you also saying “Do you think I don’t know what I am doing? Do you think I am a foolish woman? Do you think I am just here for nothing? I know what I am doing please, don’t tell me that!” Before your husband has said one thing, you have said two; before your wife can explain anything you will stop her and say “Keep quiet please, don’t tell me what I should do, don’t advice me, you can’t be controlling me; my eyes are also open, I know what you are doing, I know where you are going and I also know what I am going to do to you!” Open-eye!!! This principle of open-eye will always break a home. Madam! it is your open-eye that will not allow you to have a stable home. Some of you are listening to me today, open-eye is not allowing God to bless you, it is not allowing you to submit to your husband. Open-eye is not allowing you to trust your wife again. Open-eye: Open-eye of civilisation. Open-eye of association of so many women outside; many of you now come back from your many ventures outside and say you are now civilised because you have gone to meet those women that have no home, that have no husband, that have married two, three, four, five husbands! Right now such women have nowhere they call home, right now some of them their lives have scattered and they are planning how to scatter yours! Such people are the ones that tell you “How can you allow a man (or a woman) to be riding you around like a horse!” I want to say to you, one of the subtle principles that destroy the Christian home is this principle of open-eye. I told you before that the Christian home that God is setting up for us is not competitive, it is not a ground for fighting and rivalry. It is not a matter of “Whatever my husband knows I must know it.” No! That is not the issue. The issue is that you are brought in to complement each other, you are brought in to support and stand by one another, that as the two of you fit into each other’s lives, things will turn around and God will bless you. God will cause your life to break forth in the way God wanted it to be! It looks very clear that (in this episode) I may not be able to complete these Principles of Genesis chapter 3 marriage: Principles that wreck the Christian home, Principles that bring trouble into the Christian family. (Albeit) I would like to yet draw your attention unto these issues - that God wanted your home to be trouble-free, God wants to bless you but look at these principles I am talking about: Satan is seeking an opportunity to come-in in the absence of your partner. The devil is seeking an opportunity to sow a wrong seed into your heart in the absence of your partner. Sometime it is some wrong news that the devil will bring into your heart about your partner, some other time it is some kind of incursion that the devil will bring into your life in the absence of your partner. As I stop here, I want you to look into your life: Is there any of these principles I have been able to deal with today that is dealing with your family in a wrong manner? Is there any of these Principles that you have allowed namely the Principle of separation (both the separation from intimacy with God in your personal life and the separation of your minds from each other as husbands and wives) that allowed the devil to come in? I want you to bow your heart now. I believe that your home is not beyond repairs, God can turn things around but these principles that God is revealing to you, you must take note of them and repent of them. You must surrender them to the Lord and let us see what God will do with your life. Bow your head as I pray with you right now. Prayer: Father in heaven, I just want to present each of our listeners to you especially those that are crying to you personally, they have noticed this Principle destroys the Christian family and they have noticed how it came into their lives subtly: may You touch their hearts to confess it to You; to repent rather than criticise one another, and to confess one to another so that You the Lord may come in and heal them. Those of them that have broken their relationship with you and are no more walking with You and no more relating to You, sin has broken their lives in Your presence. God I ask as they repent, step back into their lives, restore them to Yourself from today. Thank you for hearing this prayer, in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord we pray. Amen
Posted on: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 20:31:14 +0000
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