Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Psalm 127:1

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1 Inspire Instruct Instill these biblical truths in your family. Talk and pray through these items during the week Prepared by Jeff Footer SBC staff member and experienced youth/family pastor Week of 11/27/17 Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Psalm 127:1 Inspire Building a Vision. Why is this important? Cain, one of the first children to ever have lived, was facing temptation. He had issues with sibling rivalry, anger, and the proper worship of God. We can only speculate as to why God was not pleased with his offering, but more than likely the problem was his attitude toward God. His worship was something that he had to do, but there wasn t any willingness to it. It could be said that he had a religion, but not a relationship with God. In Genesis 4:7, God comes to Cain and says, If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it. The phrase crouching at the door is a vivid picture of an animal ready to pounce on an unsuspecting victim. Sin waits for your child. Quietly. Secretly. Patiently. Ready to jump on them and destroy them. Temptation lurks. Sin s desire is contrary to what God has planned for them, and they must learn to rule over it. Contronym - a word that means its opposite. A word that tries to have it both ways. Here is a list: Sanction (via French, from Latin sanctio(n-), from sancire ratify, ) can mean give official permission or approval for (an action) or conversely, impose a penalty on. Oversight is the noun form of two verbs with contrary meanings, oversee and overlook. Oversee, from Old English ofersēon look at from above, means supervise (medieval Latin for the same thing: super- over + videre to see. )

2 Overlook usually means the opposite: to fail to see or observe; to pass over without noticing; to disregard, ignore. Left can mean either remaining or departed. If the gentlemen have withdrawn to the drawing room for after-dinner cigars, who s left? (The gentlemen have left and the ladies are left.) Dust is a noun turned into a verb meaning either to add or to remove the thing in question. Only the context will tell you which it is. When you dust are you applying dust or removing it? It depends whether you re dusting the crops or the furniture. Seed can also go either way. If you seed the lawn you add seeds, but if you seed a tomato you remove them. Trim as a verb predates the noun, but it can also mean either adding or taking away. Arising from an Old English word meaning to make firm or strong; to settle, arrange, trim came to mean to prepare, make ready. Depending on who or what was being readied, it could mean either of two contradictory things: to decorate something with ribbons, laces, or the like to give it a finished appearance or to cut off the outgrowths or irregularities of. And the context doesn t always make it clear. If you re trimming the tree are you using tinsel or a chain saw? Cleave can be cleaved into two homographs, words with different origins that end up spelled the same. Cleave, meaning to cling to or adhere, comes from an Old English word that took the forms cleofian, clifian, or clīfan. Cleave, with the contrary meaning to split or sever (something), as you might do with a cleaver, comes from a different Old English word, clēofan. The past participle has taken various forms: cloven, which survives in the phrase cloven hoof, cleft, as in a cleft palate or cleaved. Resign works as a contronym in writing. This time we have homographs, but not homophones. Resign, meaning to quit, is spelled the same as resign, meaning to sign up again, but it s pronounced differently. Fast can mean "moving rapidly," as in "running fast," or fixed, unmoving, as in "holding fast. If colors are fast they will not run. The meaning firm, steadfast came first. The adverb took on the sense strongly, vigorously, which evolved into quickly, a meaning that spread to the adjective. Off means deactivated, as in "to turn off," but also activated, as in "The alarm went off." Weather can mean to withstand or come safely through, as in The company weathered the recession, or it can mean to be worn away : The rock was weathered.

3 Screen can mean to show (a movie) or to hide (an unsightly view). There are people that are like contronyms. They try to have it both way. They want to be a Christian, but yet they want to live anyway they want. Instruct Building a Biblical foundation. Teaching to know and to follow God. Romans 6 gives us insight how to rule over sin, and it starts with our attitude toward it. The question is raised; since God forgives sin, what difference does it make what I do? I can sin all that I want. It doesn t matter. God will forgive me. Romans 6:1-4, What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Verses 1 and 2. Are we to continue in sin? By no means. People claiming to be Christians, and yet wanting to sin freely have the wrong attitude toward Christ. They see Christ as a way to get out of hell and eternal punishment. Just like with Cain, they have a religious experience, but they have missed what it means to be a Christian. What can dead people do? Nothing. If we have died to sin we have turned from sin. True faith is demonstrated by repentance. Jesus said, repent and believe the gospel. (Mark 1:15) Repentance is not feeling bad about sin. Or feeling bad that you got caught in sin. Repentance means to stop or turn from sin. This is to say after salvation a Christian will never sin again. Christians will sin, but they should not have a willful, sinful lifestyle. Verses 3 and 4. Baptism symbolizes death. Death to sin and self. Christ s resurrection shows power of death, and in the same way it symbolizes a Christians power over sin. We can walk in newness of life. This means that sin doesn t have power over us. In other words, when we sin it is a choice we make. Romans 6:5-14, For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in

4 order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Verses 5-7. Christians are set free. Sin enslaves, but through Christ we have been set free. It is interesting that Paul says free from sin. Paul is known for his teaching on justification. Justification is God s declaring those who receive Christ to be righteous, based on Christ s righteousness being imputed or given to those who receive Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Paul speaks frequently about justification, but here he speaks about freedom. Why? Justification doesn t make us righteous, it means that we are declared, or consider righteous by God. Our sins justified because we now have the righteousness of Christ. But to be free from sin means that our sins are more than covered. They are not a part of our lives anymore. Verses Believers have a choice. Sin does not have to reign. Non-believers do not have such a choice. Sin will reign in their lives. Since Believers have a choice, they should choose to instruments of righteousness. One of the best ways to break free from habitual sin, is to replace it with a righteous activity, i.e.. Bible reading, prayer, journaling, serving, etc... Instill Building a Legacy. Passing faith to the next generation. Parents Tell your kids how you met your spouse. Tell them how you decided that you should marry them. If it is appropriate, tell them about a former boy/girlfriend and how you knew marrying them would have been the wrong choice. Tell your kids how you overcame a particular sin or habit. What are you doing now to make sure that you don t go back? Pray for your kids to flee from sin and temptation.

5 Choices matter. Decisions make a difference. We need to understand that there are consequences for the choices we make. This is true when making a choice about college, who to marry, or what color to paint the living room; but this is especially true when it comes to making decisions about temptation and willful sin. Sometimes the choices made will affect us for the rest of our lives. We need to realize the seriousness of sin and the consequences of sin. We need to teach our children the devastating effects of sin, and the fact that they can be free from sin through Jesus Christ. If you are into object lessons: Nail a nail into a board. Take the nail out. The damage to the board is done. Sin works the same way. After sinning, we have the ability to repent, but the damage from that sin is still there. Should we continue in sin? By no means.