As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. – Josh. 24:15 Keith Waaraniemi Congregation and Youth Evening LLC Winter Services, Phoenix February 22, 2013 Home pic

Choose you this day whom ye will serve…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. – Josh. 24:15

Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. – Josh. 24:14 Joshua instructs the people

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. – Josh. 24: 15 Joshua instructs the people

 How do we serve the Lord in our homes?  Are we straying to serve other gods? Serving the Lord

Serving in Marriage  Holy Estate  Lifelong Covenant  Faithful in good days and bad  Bed of roses?  The holiness and permanence of marriage brings security.

 The home is where family members spend time together sharing both joys and sorrows.  Put the best construction… Serve with joy

Christ’s dual commandment of love guides us: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”(Matt. 22:37-39). Serving the Lord is taking time for each other

 Everyday pressures can cause us to be physically, but not mentally present. “Here, but not here.”  Children not looking for “quality time,” but adult presence in everyday life.  Make time management choices for the family’s well-being?  Does our selfish, entertainment society influence us? How do you spend your time?

 Friends are also important.  Excessive social interaction outside of the family can affect the family  An overuse of social media, Internet Balance in Social Relationships In our time, connections to relatives and dear ones can weaken. We must work to maintain them.

 Materialism in society can also affect and burden believers.  Focus on material things can cloud faith.  Temptation to compare  God's Word guides toward a moderate way of life.  Temporal struggles do not mean that God’s blessing is missing.  We can each ask God for a content mind. Moderation in Work and Careers

Reasonable Responsibility  Ever-increasing demands on time.  Reasonable responsibility – that which we can reasonably do is enough!  Overwhelm, depression, and burn out can be the result of trying to do more than possible.

 Does my spouse have time for my thoughts?  Do I have time for my spouse’s thoughts?  Is everything else more important than time for the marriage and family?  Are we drifting apart?  SING SHZ 420:3 Lack of time together can cause growing apart

With selfishness and hurry, / how blinded we become. / We scarcely even notice / our dear ones’ needs at home. / But then we pray, dear Father, / and share our stress and burden / within the care of Christ. Song 420:3

Marriage: the Family’s Foundation  Believing parents wish to accept children as God’s gift.  God is Lord of life and death.  Foundation for family is the relationship between spouses.  Limits are love.  Parents’ responsibility to teach children God’s Word

“That they might set their hope in God” –Ps. 78:4,7 “We will not hide them from [our] children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done…That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.”

Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when Thou risest up. – Duet. 6:7 Teach God’s Word at Home

 The authority of God’s Word is questioned.  Basic teachings of our faith questioned, even among believers.  Creates questions and confusion, and causes burdens in homes and families.  Blessing in obedience to God’s Word! Values of the home are threatened

Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death. Prov. 8:32-36 Blessings of obedience

 Read the Word  Speak of the way and journey  Pray  Sing  Care for the conscience Values of the Home

We need faithful escorts Love the fallen

 Services  Bible Class  Sunday School  Camps  Discussions  Visiting Take time to hear God's Word

Trust God who doesn’t need our counsel! Abraham’s Example

 Do we dare to love in the truth?  Does the influence of the world sometimes make us “too understanding”?  Are we afraid to speak of sin?  Do we parents try too hard to explain with human reasoning?  Do we parents dare to hold the line in love and truth or are we swayed by what other families do? Serving other gods

 Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls – Jer. 6:16 Seek the “old paths”

Korah and his followers did not listen. “He that hath an ear”

How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. – Ps. 84:1-5 But Korah’s children rejoiced of their Mother’s Beauty

 Joshua was God’s mouthpiece  It wasn’t just that “old preacher” talking – it was God through him  Do we believe that God speaks through His congregation?  Korah and his followers said, “It’s just Moses and Aaron,” and rejected God’s instruction. “He that hath an ear”

 Are we embarrassed of our mother?  Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. – Is. 49:15 Our Congregation Mother

 Above all, living faith keeps hope and the future in our sights.  In the midst of all stages of life we can have childlike trust that God will help.  The Old Testament prophet expressed the thoughts of the Lord toward His own - thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give them a future and hope. (Jer. 29:11) The Goal is Heaven

 Why do we have too little time for each other?  What are the gods of our time?  What does it mean when we say “that which we can reasonably do is enough”?  What does moderation mean regarding material goods?  Can we become slaves to the social media and Internet?  Are we too proud to ask for help? Discussion Questions