Elevate Monroe
Mother's Day & Child Dedication (Firm Foundation Week 5) MAY 10
Matthew 7:24–27
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.
THE DIFFERENCE IS IN THE DOING
BIG IDEA:
A life of obedience doesn’t just hold in the storm TODAY
— it becomes a blueprint for the next generation TOMORROW
Deuteronomy 6:4–9
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
The Shema
The original confession of faith, describing who God is and what the duty of His people is toward Him.
Deuteronomy 6:4–9
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Your children don’t necessarily inherit your BELIEFS — they adopt your PRACTICES
More is caught than taught. The faith of a parent is more transmitted through the texture of daily life than through formal instruction.
— James K.A. Smith, You Are What You Love
2 Timothy 1:5
I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.
Here, then, is the secret. You must impart to the young your own soul; you must feel as if the ruin of that child would be your own ruin.
— C.H. Spurgeon
Joshua 24:15
But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Joshua is nearly done with life. He has one last thing to do — not fight a battle, not build a city, but plant a flag. He declares before everyone: this is the direction of my house. Not a feeling. A direction.
— Ray Pritchard
Psalm 78:4-7
We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders. For he issued his laws to Jacob; he gave his instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, so the next generation might know them— even the children not yet born— and they in turn will teach their own children. So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.
Elevate Monroe
Firm Foundation Week 4: The Hardest Bricks MAY 3
The difference is in the DOING
Matthew 7:24-27:
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.
The most costly demands of discipleship involve our connections to community
Relational Obedience requires (at least) 3 Things:
Compassion
Confession
Community
Romans 13:8
“Owe no one anything except to love”
The debt isn’t paid from your RESERVES, it’s paid from what you’ve RECEIVED.
1 John 4:19
"We love because he first loved us."
"The debt of love is the one debt which we must continue to owe. We are never out of debt to our neighbor because we are never done loving him."
— John Stott
Romans 12:18
“As much as depends on you, live peaceably”
Matthew 5:23–24
"So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."
There Is No Relationship With God Apart From Relationships With Others
Galatians 6:2
"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."
Christ’s commands are not practiced in private, they are consecrated in community
There is a gap between the community we imagine and the one God gives us.
James 5:16
"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed."
When we release the fantasy of relationships we can receive true fellowship