Fight for Your Family The Battle

Fight for Your Family

The Battle

The people came out of Babylon in hopes of God’s promises

They needed to realize they had to change

Nehemiah came to direct them in rebuilding the wall

Building the wall was not only physical

But came with the threat of violence

From those who did not want God and His people in it

Their struggle to rebuild the wall meant each person

Had to hear the word of Nehemiah 

"Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."

There is a battle all around us, Babylon is not only around us, but in us

Our inward battle is not a battle of compromise

It is not a matter of “The ends justify the means”

Our fight is to restore the Kingdom of God in our lives and our families

The family needs structure and structure takes discipline

The structure comes from the Word of God

Let’s do it right

Not a compromise of Babylon and God’s Kingdom  

The Battle

Choices

As parents we make a lot of choices.

Many times we choose on the

bases of the lesser of two evils.

I know a mother, who is now a grandmother.

I have a lot of love and respect for this woman.

But two things she has told me

over the years have troubled me.

Many years ago she was working with
a grandchild who hated reading.

She found a kid’s book that was

very controversial in church circles.

She was able to get her grandson to read it

and it helped develop reading skills in the boy.

I asked her about her choice

of the book and she told me…

“I would use anything to teach him to read.”

I know she would not have used Playboy

to teach her grandson to read…

 But Playboy has probably got a lot of young

boys to read who find no interest in school books. 

Does the end justify the means?

This grandmother who I love and

respect has fostered many children.

She has seen the countless cases where

women were pregnant who did not want

to be and did not have the skills to

take care of themselves, let alone a baby.

She did her part to adopt and foster as many children

as she could and feels bitter that the church

and others do not do more to take on the lives

brought into the world that have no

means of support by the parents.

I was surprised to hear her answer to the problem.

She strongly believes in abortion for unwanted children.

Yes, she believes in God and teaches in a church.

Yes, she has done more for children

than I have as well as most people.

We are not talking about an off the cuff opinion.

This woman spent her life
on the well fare of children.

So with all due respect and love for this

amazing woman I share my concern.

Although I have not asked her…

 “If abortion is the answer, which of

her foster children would she aborted?”

 

 She has seen the lives she has given hope to

and has stories of unwanted children that

she parented and now live productive lives.

Because we live in a world that promotes

sex as a recreation, like baseball or football.

Because lifelong commitment bonds of marriage

no longer fit our definition of freedom…

Does this give us the right to kill

every unwanted person in the womb?

The structure of family is broken.

The pains of the broken family are all around us.

The question is what will we do about it?

 Will we abort more children, build more prisons?

Or, will we fix the broken structure?

Nehemiah was working with the people of God.

 Many had grown up in the system of Babylon.

They came back to the Promise

Land with walls destroyed.

The structure of the people coming out of Babylon

looked much like the walls that lay in ruin.

The people came out of Babylon

in hopes of God’s promises.

They needed to realize they had to change.

The structure of the temple had to be rebuilt.

The Word of the Lord had to be reestablished.

And Nehemiah had to direct them to rebuild the wall.

Building the wall was not only physical…

 But came with the threat of violence from

those who did not want God and His people in it.

Their struggle to rebuild the wall meant

each person had to hear the word of Nehemiah…

 

"Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."

There is a battle all around us,

Babylon is not only around us…

 But in us.

Our inward battle is not

a battle of compromise.

It is not a matter of

“The ends justify the means”.

Our fight is to restore the

Kingdom of God in our lives.

  From the days of John the Baptist until now,

the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing,

and forceful men lay hold of it.

Matthew 11:12

The family needs structure and structure takes discipline.

The structure comes from the Word of God.

Let’s do it right.

Let’s fight for…

The righteousness of God.

Not a compromise of Babylon and God’s Kingdom.

  

Scripture Reading

 Nehemiah 4:12-14 NIV

12 Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, "Wherever you turn, they will attack us."

13 Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. 14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."