“And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the land of the Philistines for forty years.”
Judges 13:14
How Could They...
My church has been going through a sermon series on the book of Judges for the past several months. Previously, I thought how could the Israelites be so foolish and wicked, especially considering all God had done freeing their ancestors out of slavery from the Egyptians and saved them from their enemies.
There are so many examples of God showing mercy to them despite their wickedness and adopting the Canaanite practices that He had so bluntly warned them about in Deuteronomy.
Parallel Worlds
This sermon series has rocked my own world and has shown parallels with the same issues in our own country.
Child sacrifice offered up to the god Molech in hopes of having fruitful harvests, rain, and fertility. Over Sixty-three million children have been aborted in the United States since 1973 for various reasons.
Worship of Baal and Ashtoreth (Canaanite deities) involved sexual rituals. The pornography industry brings in more revenue each year in the U.S. than all professional sports combined. Additionally, more new shows on Netflix, Prime Video, and Apple plus (to name a few) contain highly sexualized content that we willingly bring into our own homes.
Israel stopped worshipping Yahweh to focus on other gods and material success. Additionally, they stopped giving back to the Lord and failed to pass on their faith to their children and grandchildren. Materialism is one of the greatest struggles that American Christians face. Roughly 75% of children raised in the U.S. Christian church leave the faith when they go off to college and the overwhelming majority do not return.
The Biggest Reason Why
Jeff Swart, at the most recent MD5 Lab, told us that the biggest reason students told him (after speaking at a Youth event) they do not take the Christian faith seriously is because they don't see the relevance in their own parents’ lives.
Thad Hardin focused on the importance of this as well as teaching the evidence for the Christian faith to our children at this same MD5 Lab.
Challenge Yourself
Ask God to reveal to you and your bride how our culture has infiltrated your homes and pray for the strength and obedience to repent of any sin.
Make your faith evident to your children and grandchildren of the relevance of your faith in Christ in your own homes. This will mean that you will have to look and act differently than those around you in your community. Our communities are ravaged by “Cultural Christianity” rather than changed for Christ by “Convictional Christianity.”
Teach scripture, the Christian worldview, and evidence for the Christian faith to your children and grandchildren.
Be mindful of what entertainment you consume. It has more of an effect on you and your family than you realize.
Attend MD5 lab on the last Wednesday of each month from 6:30am to 7:30am at Antioch as a good refresher of our responsibilities as husbands, fathers, and most importantly disciples of Christ.
Make an Impact
I remember vividly, as a junior high and high school kid, seeing my dad attend the Promise Keeper rallies for four straight years in Dallas with other men from our church. I saw how God transformed him from a Luke-warm Christian to the man I know him to be today. If you do not think that seeing the relevance of his faith had an impact on me as his son, you would be wrong.
May our children and grandchildren see the relevance of our own faith in our own homes.
John Gore
MD5 Facilitator
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