IN THE MIDST OF THE STORM

SFC Family Evangelization Month Chapter Teaching

Objectives
1. To understand the essential role of SFC members as instruments in unifying the family.
2. To understand the importance of living in a family that is united with love, respect, and
confidence with one another.

Dynamics
1. Registration
2. Worship
3. Teaching of Songs
4. Talk Proper
5. Closing Prayer

Speaker’s Profile
1. The speaker (can be a FTW, SFC Couple Coordinator, or CFC leader) who has experienced
a storm in the family and has been instrument to keep his family united in the midst of it.
2. The sharer (SFC leader), who may be experiencing storms but sees to it that he/she is
putting faith, hope, and love in his/her family.

Anchor Verse
“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his
family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heirs of righteousness that comes by
faith.” (Hebrew 11:17)
 IN THE MIDST OF THE STORM
SFC Chapter Assembly Teaching for September (Family Month)

“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his
faith he condemned the world and became heirs of righteousness that comes by faith.” (Hebrew 11:17)

I. Introduction

Since God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden, the family has been
the basic unit of society – a father, a mother and children are God’s plan for a family. Because of
the importance God has placed in the family, it is constantly under attack by the devil. This is why
we have family problems, age gaps, disagreements or broken families.

As SFC, our role is to keep our family united in God, especially during times that our families are
tested. Noah kept his family safe and united by building an ark in preparation for a great storm.
Let us learn how we can be “Noah’s” of our own family by striving to build an ark of love, faith,
and hope in the midst of the storms in our lives.

II. The Storm That Ruins

Our families today are subject to a lot of things. Although we do not realize it, our families are
slowly being brought to the midst of a great storm. Storms that can hurt, inflict pain, cause
division among family members.

(Note: speaker should share own experiences within the family)

A. The Storm of Disagreements

We’re used to having petty arguments, with our parents, with our siblings. These may
seem all petty at first but even these petty fights may all roll into one big argument of
pain and hurt. It could cause siblings to grow apart from another, and cause children to
have hidden resentment against their parents or vice versa.

B. The Storm or Sickness and Financial Trials

These things we can never avoid and some may not be our own fault. Although this is so,
it could cause the family to be disheartened, failing to see God in each other. This can also
be a source of arguments as to who is to be blamed for all these things.

C. The Storm of Our Own lives

We may not realize it but most of the time we are focused on our lives. We are focused
on our work, business, our friends, our own problems that sometimes we fail to interact
with our family members. Some of us may have been branded as a “dormer” (someone
 who treats his house as dorm) by our own parents, always out of the house and only
comes back when it’s time to sleep. There are times that we don’t share problems with
our families. As a result, we grow distant to one another.

III. The Ark that Saves

Even though we feel that our families can be drowned in the midst of these storms, God gives us
the grace and the ability to save our own family from sinking. Just like how He instructed Noah,
He is also instructing us to make an ark that will save our family. The storms, if handled properly
can make the family stronger and more united.

A. An Ark of Faith – Heb 11:6-7

Faith is confidence and trust based upon evidence that is seen, heard and experienced in
the family. (Heb 11:6-7) Our families are subjected to a lot of crisis and most of the time;
it is when our faith is tested. We have tendencies to respond to these trials with rebellion,
depression, anger, and bitterness.

God is asking us to build an ark of faith and influence our whole family to place our trust
in God and His promise. With faith and Christ‘s presence in the home, our Biblical
response to crisis should include family prayer time, perhaps fasting always and
attendance at worship to give praise to God.

B. An Ark of Common goals – Gen 6:13-14

Although we have our own lives to live, we should remember that we are in living in the
midst of our families. It is our goal to live in harmony with the rest of them. Our parents
maybe setting goals– for the children’s needs (e.g. education, health..), to own one’s own
home, an exciting vacation, a common time spend for Sunday mass, etc.

As SFC we need to respect and honor our parents for keeping goals for the family to grow
in a loving relationship with one another. At the same time, we are called to inspire and
help set spiritual goals within the family as well.

C. An Ark of Unity – Gen 2:24

Things may be getting hard and trials can cause us to walk out on our own families. What
we should always remember is our families are gifts from God. There may be a lot of
things to turn to but our families will always be there for us. Though imperfect, though
slightly dysfunctional, it is given to us by God and we should do all things to keep it united.

We should:
 Accept whatever happens, the good and the bad and keep on loving still.
 Accept that you have your own responsibilities within the family.
 Accept that storms are part of our lives. We need to put our trust and faith in
the Lord that He will deliver us through it.
IV. Conclusion

God has told us that another disaster awaits this world, our family may not be spared
from this, and you need to be prepared like Noah prepared for the flood. We must always
invest on love and unity in our families so that when storm comes, we are strong and we
are intact.

As SFC, we need to realize that no matter what, our families will always be God’s gift to
us. We always need to be an instrument of love, joy, peace and unity in our homes.

Our family is God’s gift to us. This is part of our covenant. Our family is our covenant.
The love of the Lord should not end in us. It must be shared most especially to our
family. This is also our way of living both the vision of SFC and CFC. Our families are
included in the every single man and woman who should experience Christ. And in turn,
leads to Families in the Holy Spirit renewing the face of the earth.
If we do this, God is pleased, because, if there is love, joy, peace and unity in our families,
God is there.

Guide Questions:

1. What are the storms in your family right now?

2. How can you be a true instrument of unity in your family? What kind of ark does your
family need?
3. What kind of goals do you feel need to be set for your family?

(outline is based in the CFC YFC Manual. This has been revised to tailor-fit the SFC members)