CHOSE

Christian Home Seminar

Session 1: GOD’S VISION OF A FAMILY

Introduction

1. God is the creator of the institution of the family. He has a vision for it. Like a sailing ship, it has to
have a compass or radar for it to reach safely its port of destination. So thus marriage, it has to have
a vision according to the design and standard of God to accomplish its purpose and calling

JEREMIAH 29:11 “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you - oracle of the LORD - plans for
your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.”

a. Every family need to come up and start with such vision. This vision must be known to every
member of the family, understood, and embraced for the family to be one heart-one mind-one
spirit.
b. Every family need to work on it like there is no other.

2. Building a home for Christ is a parental pastoral priority. This is what God wants among parents. This
pastoral task is not easy but possible by devotion and dedication.

MAT 16:26 ”What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what
can one give in exchange for his life?”

Christian family is God’s design.

God designed the family as the basic unit of society.

GEN 1:27-28 “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female
he created them. God blessed them and God said to them: Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and
subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that crawl
on the earth.”

God created man according to His divine image: male & female. Yet many families today are

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experiencing troubled relationships, pride persists and personal wants and desires prevail that disturb
the unity in the family. It takes reconciliation, forgiveness and healing. Man needs to go back to God’s
original plan.

God’s plan for the family.

1. THE HOME
a. The home is the place where each member of the family is to experience love from one
another.
b. The home is the primary venue for teaching, drilling, and disciplining children through good
example of the parents.
c. The home is the earliest training ground for leaders according to God’s standard.

2. SCRIPTURAL BASIS FOR THE FATHERS

a. 1 Tim 3:4-5 “ … 4He must manage his own household well, his children under control with
perfect dignity; 5for if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how can he
take care of the church of God?”

3. HOME: THE DOMESTIC CHURCH

a. FACTS:
 As in any community, there must be the head. The father is to fulfill this role as pastor of
his family.
 In a home, there is a king – Jesus the King – who is to be honored and glorified. The
father is the God-assigned steward to serve and care for the members of his family.
 God is the designer-creator of the family. He alone knows what is best for the family,
thus His will takes precedence in everything.
 The Word of God sets the standard in the family, thus God’s Word is to be studied,
valued and acted on.
 Parents have the duty to introduce God to their children that they may know who God
is.
 Children need models. The parents need to be the first model of Christian living to their
children.

DEU 6:7 “Keep repeating them to your children. Recite them when you are at home and
when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up.”
 Repeating: (visual-drilling)
 Recite: (audio-drilling)
 Anywhere … Anytime … Anyhow

DEU 6:8-9 “Bind them on your arm as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead.
9Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.”

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  The stewardship over children is a priority in the family.
 Be constantly reminded:
- Arm (when we use our strength)
- Forehead (when we use our mind)
- Doorposts/gates (wherever we are)

THE IRONY AMONG FAMILIES TODAY:

1. The Lord God is not anymore the center of the homes. Altars are now replaced by big-screen TV.
2. The children are not anymore taught and disciplined in the ways of the Lord.
3. The lost its identity as the domestic church. CHURH.

EPH 6:4 – “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up with
the training and instruction of the Lord.” … More parents today choose the ways of the world in
growing their children.
 
4. PARENTAL ROLES: Husbands and wives fail in their God-given roles.

EPH 5:22-28 22Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is
head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. 24As the
church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.
25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her 26to
sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, 27that he might present to himself
the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without
blemish. 28So [also] husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife
loves himself.”

One fatal deception about this reading is this: The world interprets this as RANKs - the husband as
higher in position over than his wife. But God designed this as the ROLEs for order and governance
of the family where the parents take the role as a governing team in the spirit of stewardship and
servanthood where the husband and wife are equal in standing and dignity before the Lord – but
only different in roles.

5. Today, Satan is on his strategic onslaught against the family.

1 Pet 5:8 “Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion
looking for [someone] to devour.”

Parents need to understand that if they do not take care of their children, the world will, and we
know it will be a disaster.

6. Satan’s strategy
a. To destroy the society: “I WILL DESTROY EVERY FAMILY.”

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 b. To destroy the family: “I WILL DESTROY THE PARENTS FIRST.”
c. To destroy the parents: “I WILL MESH UP WITH THEIR ROLES AND PUT ENMITY BETWEEN
THEM.”
d. The destruction of the children naturally follows.

REALITY TODAY:
1. If Satan is on his strategic onslaught against the families, what are options?
a. Shall we just sit back and allow Satan to systematically devour our families, our children, and
our children’s children?
b. Are we to become mere willing victims to this onslaught?
c. Shall we remain neutral and allow him to destroy God’s people?
d. Or, Spirit-filled, shall we declare an active spiritual warfare against our enemy? Shall we out
a formidable defense of our families? Shall we take the side of Jesus and win this battle?

FORMULA OF SURE SUCCESS TO STOP SATAN ON HIS ONSLAUGHT:

JOHN 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,
because without me you can do nothing.”

Know that every spiritual battle is of the Lord, as in the days of Joshua, Jehoshaphat, and Gideon. God’s
victory is ours. We just have to join His mighty army. .

CONCLUSION:

Our complacency makes Satan is a sure winner. Complacency makes us the willing victims opening our
doors for Satan to step in for his onslaught. But if we put up a fight by deciding to build our homes
founded in Christ, by building Christian homes for ourselves and for our community, we can repel
Satan’s attack by the power and might of our Lord Jesus Christ who has already won victory for us on the
cross. Let’s be one together as families. In unity, we have more moral and spiritual support to quell
Satan’s vicious attack. The Church has already provided us a formidable fortress for our benefit (among
others is the BEC – the neighborhood communities, “THE WAY OF BEING A CHURCH”).

We are God’s fortress. Start with your family.

PSALM 127:1 “Unless the LORD build the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over
the city, the guard stand watch in vain.”

God wants your family to be happy; discover God’s way to it. He wants every member of your family to
be safe and end in heaven.

GOD BLESS!