You Do Not Live by Chance, You Live by Design

Sermon outline

A blessed family does not happen by chance but by design, built by keeping covenant, following the Holy Spirit, blessing one another with our words, and teaching God's ways to the next generation.

1. A righteousness received by faith

   The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; we did not work for it but received it, imputed to us through faith. When God looks at a believer He does not see the man, He sees Jesus, because Jesus paid the price. Two natures cannot live in one body: you were a sinner, but now you are the righteousness of God, even if your behaviour has not caught up. The word is a mirror that shows your true identity and renews the mind, and the Holy Spirit retrains our thinking so we walk with authority rather than staying in a prison whose door is already open.

   Illustration: A prisoner told the doors are open and he may walk out, who stays inside because he still sees the bars and the chains.

   “When He looks at me and you, He doesn't see Tommy or Leo, but He sees Jesus, because Jesus is the one that paid the price.”

   • Romans 1:17
   • 2 Corinthians 5:21
   • Galatians 2:20
   • John 15:3
   • Colossians 1:13
   • Romans 8:1

2. We do not live life by chance but by design

   Nations are made of families, so God changes nations by changing families. A good marriage or family does not happen by chance because two people love each other. Sin was never God's original plan; He wanted a people walking in dominion and fruitfulness, and Jesus, the second Adam, came as a pattern Son to show us how to live. We build by wisdom, knowledge, understanding and counsel.

   Illustration: A freshly trimmed lawn is beautiful, but left alone it fills with weeds, dead leaves and roots. A family has to be maintained in the same way.

   “We don't live life by chance, but we must live life by design.”

3. Watch yourself, and teach your children

   Israel, newly out of Egypt, was given decrees so they could possess the land, and told not to add to them or take from them. When an instruction is followed to the letter there is a blessing on the other side, as Naaman had to dip seven times, not six. They were to watch themselves so that what their eyes had seen would not fade from their hearts, and teach it to their children and grandchildren; that is how the blessing is transferred. When a father hears that the church is gathering for prayer or discipleship and decides the family will stay home and watch TV, he is teaching his children that it is fine to disobey spiritual authority.

   “When you follow the word of God to the T, and you're given instruction, there's always a blessing on the other side.”

   • Deuteronomy 4:1-14
   • 2 Kings 5:10-14

4. Commandment one: be a person of covenant

   Work out your own salvation; be a person of covenant yourself. Ancient tribes cut covenants in blood, or mixed their salt so it could never be separated again, and God is a God of covenant. Malachi calls a wife a companion by covenant, made one so that God might have godly offspring. Be in covenant with your family, your church, your pastor, the body of Christ and God's vision for your family. Its secrets are to listen, keep and obey, and it carries a shared vision, which is what cell leaders will carry into other people's homes. If you cannot attend a meeting, be accountable and say so.

   Illustration: In a salt covenant each party poured salt from his own pouch into one container and mixed it, so that no one could tell whose salt was whose.

   “You're not an island on your own that's just operating on your own, but no, you are the one that's walking in covenant.”

   • Philippians 2:12
   • Malachi 2:14-15
   • Ephesians 5:29
   • Joshua 24:15

5. Commandment two: be guided by the Holy Spirit

   In the flesh it is hard to love and forgive and easy to see faults. By default people are selfish, but the Holy Spirit changes us through the washing of the word, and God, having invested His gift in us, looks for fruit that lasts. How do you know a spiritual person? Not by how loud or long they pray or the suit they wear, but by their love walk at home, behind closed doors, where the people who live with them can testify whether they are patient or snappy.

   “How you tell a person's a spiritual person by how they live at home.”

   • Genesis 1:28
   • Ephesians 5:26
   • 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

6. Commandment three: bless every member of your family

   The man makes the woman who she is, and the woman makes the man, so watch the words that leave your mouth. It is a husband's duty to bless his wife and children daily, and a wife's to bless her husband and children; avoid sarcasm, insinuation and offensive words. With the same mouth we bless God and curse people made in His image. Character left untreated does not stay private: the children see it and repeat it.

   Illustration: He recounts a story from one of Kenneth Hagin's books of a travelling minister who stayed with a pastor who preached powerfully but was harsh and angry at home, was warned and would not listen, and whose son grew up to treat his own wife the same way, with tragic consequences.

   “We can't be one person at home and another person at church or in the marketplace.”

   • James 3:9-10

7. Commandment four: build a generation for God

   If you obey His voice and keep His covenant, you will be His special treasure, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Teach your family the ways of the Lord, and when it is time for church or cell, let your household serve the Lord with you. Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, and so is a family, and so is a nation.

   “Through the blessing of the upright, a city is exalted.”

   • Exodus 19:5-6
   • Proverbs 11:11
   • John 13:35

In this message