https://www.bible.com/events/49135930

Church of the Nazarene – East Rock

Family Values Part 2

God’s Word as the foundation of family

Today we continue our teaching series called “Family Values” where we are taking a deep dive into strengthening our family relationships.

Family is so important. Though often challenging, family can be some of our deepest and closest relationships- and those matter!

We believe your family matters, and perhaps most importantly, your family matters to God.

Family Values is about walking out faithfulness to God within our families. Over the next few weeks we will consider what it takes to build strong family relationships.

Whether you are a son or daughter, husband or wife, brother or sister, aunt or uncle, your family relationships matter to God.

Throughout this series, we are clinging to two truths that we believe can change everything for our family relationships.

There is hope and there is help.

Today as we continue in Part 2 of our series, we are looking at the truth- literally. Today is about the importance of God’s word for our families.

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. 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.

There are three commands here in quick succession:

1.Love God with everything you are

2.Keep the commandments on your hearts

3.Teach them to your children.

There are several reasons God created the family, but we see here that one key reason is that the family is to be garden for God’s word.

God’s word as the foundation of our family doesn’t mean that we occasionally fact check using the scriptures, or we only run there when the messiness gets out of hand.

The word of God as a Family Value means that we allow the scriptures to shape us, to shape our family relationships. And it’s a commissioning for us to pass that on to those whom God has entrusted to us.

In a healthy family, the bible isn’t just something, it’s everything.

What Family Values are you passing on to your family, to the ones God has entrusted to you? Is the word of God foundational in your life?

Deuteronomy 6:4-5

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.

You may recognize these words from Jesus’ teaching that this was the single greatest command in all the scriptures. Love the lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Our response to the overwhelming reality of who God is, is to be one of absolute love and devotion.

Quite simply, the Lord deserves our all

Deuteronomy 6:6

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.

To base your life and your family on the word of God- we must get it into our hearts. Moses here is calling the family of God not only to hear and to know the commands of the Lord, but to allow them to penetrate their hearts. To meditate on the precepts and commands of the Lord, to allow them to move from mere memorization to heart transformation.

But the commission to be transformed by God’s word doesn’t stop with just our lives-We are to pass that on to others.

Deuteronomy 6:7

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.

In these few verses, we realize the importance of our response to God, and the call to love him with our all. But we also see the command that we are to share that life with our family.

“Talk about them when you’re at home, when you are going down the road to work or to school, when you are resting and vacationing, when you are getting up to go.”

Deuteronomy 6:8-9

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.

The heart behind this command was not literal bibles on our heads- The idea is that God’s word, his revealed will and plan for life and salvation would be in the very forefront of our thinking. It would be visible through our actions.

Every sphere of life is to be shaped and influenced by the word of the Lord.

Seeing the word of God as a family value is a commissioning, a commitment to shape your life after the word of God. Today, will you take that step of faith by engaging his word in your family relationships?

Will you accept the commission to see the word of God spread through your family relationships, those closest to you?

Coming to know the word of God as the foundation of your family probably won’t happen overnight. It won’t happen perfectly, we will probably miss opportunities, but we can begin that journey now.

We can begin that journey with his help, and His hope.

Giving at COTN

If you ever have questions or need help with online giving, please let us know: finance@cotnaz.org

Thank you for your partnership in the Kingdom of Christ!

Giving

https://www.bible.com/events/49132749

Church of the Nazarene – Harrisonburg

Sep 3, 2023

Family Values Part 1

How am I loving my family? The call to make Christ the center of your family is a call to love like Christ.

Today we begin a new teaching series called “Family Values” where we are taking a deep dive into strengthening our family relationships.

Family is so important. Though often challenging, family can be some of our deepest and closest relationships- and those matter!

We believe your family matters, and perhaps most importantly, your family matters to God.

“Family Values” is about answering the question, ‘what does it mean to be faithful in my relationships with my family?’.

Whether you are a son or daughter, husband or wife, brother or sister, aunt or uncle, your family relationships matter to God.

1. Everyone has family

-This series matters for everyone. While it will look different for each individual, it is truth that everyone needs.

-Each of us have relationships with family, and those relationships matter.

2. Family is messy

-When it comes to family, there’s no such thing as “normal.”

-For some this is messy because it’s incredibly painful: the memory of loss, the reality of brokenness or other hurts that have come from our family.

There is help.

There is hope.

-“Family” is, first and foremost, God’s idea, stemming to the very earliest days.

-Family is not a cultural creation. It’s not something that we created. It wasn’t our idea.

-Back in Genesis 2, we see God creating man and woman to be together.

God says it wasn’t good for man to have to be alone (Genesis 2:18).

-This is not just an account of creation, it is God creating family, establishing deep connection.

We begin today by focusing on an essential component of healthy families, being centered on Christ.

But what does that mean practically?

While it can mean many things, first and foremost it means to committing to Christ-like love.

John 15:9-13

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

“Love each other as I have loved you”

You really can’t talk about making Christ the focus of the family without talking about His love. Jesus’ call is to love others as He has loved us.

How did Christ love?

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

We see that ‘Love embraces’

Embraces what?

-Patience (is patient)

-Kindness (is kind)

-Truth (rejoices with the truth)

-Resilience (always protects)

-Trust (always trusts)

-Hope (always hopes)

-Endurance (always perseveres, never fails)

But also, we see that ‘Love resists’

Resists what?

-Envy (does not envy)

-Boasting (does not boast)

-Arrogance (isn’t proud)

-Rudeness (it does not dishonor others)

-Selfishness (not self-seeking)

-Anger (not easily angered)

-Resentment (no record of wrongs)

-Evil (does not delight in evil)

There is a whole lot about family you can’t control. But one thing you can do is commit to make Christ the center.

When we allow His love to so fill us to overflowing, when we remain in His love (John 15:9), we begin to allow that love to flow through His. Christ-like love overflows into our families.

Verses for further study/reflection:

Ecclesiastes 4:12

Genesis 18:19

Exodus 20:12

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Other Scriptures specific to family:

Psalm 68:6

Psalm 103:13

Psalm 127:3-5

Proverbs 22:6

Malachi 4:6

Matthew 7:11

Mark 3:25

Colossians 3:18-21

Ephesians 5:25-30

Ephesians 6:1-4

1 Timothy 5:8

Titus 2:3-5

Giving at COTN

If you ever have questions or need help with online giving, please let us know: finance@cotnaz.org

Thank you for your partnership in the Kingdom of Christ!

Giving

https://www.bible.com/events/49132667

Church of the Nazarene – East Rock

Family Values Part 1

Christ at the center of Family.

Today we begin a new teaching series called “Family Values” where we are taking a deep dive into strengthening our family relationships.

Family is so important. Though often challenging, family can be some of our deepest and closest relationships- and those matter!

We believe your family matters, and perhaps most importantly, your family matters to God.

Family Values is about walking out faithfulness to God within our families. Over the next few weeks we will consider what it takes to build strong family relationships.

Whether you are a son or daughter, husband or wife, brother or sister, aunt or uncle, your family relationships matter to God.

Genesis 2:18

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

From the very beginning, family was God’s idea.

God has given man the vocation, the task, of tending the garden- to work it and take care of it- he was a partner with God in creation- all that was good, but man alone, God said it was not good.

The first family relationship, Adam and Eve, was addressing this need. As soon as Adam laid eyes on Eve, he knew the “good” the Lord had given through this family.

Genesis 2:23-24

The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

This was the beginning of family. Certainly, family is much more than a marriage relationship.

Jesus himself was never married and yet we believe that he perfectly embodied what it meant to be human.

It’s important to identify two key truths as we embark on this journey together.

First-Everyone has family

A teaching series on family might look differently for each one of us.

You might be married with Kids.

You might be a single parent, or grandparent.

You might be the best aunt or uncle in the world

You could be the coolest cousin

Everyone has some relationships with family, and they are important.

Second, family can be messy.

Every family has issues

Every family has challenges- even the one’s with the matching pajama’s on their Christmas cards- they have real problems too.

We also recognize that for many of you here today, family is a really hard topic.

If you follow the creation narrative into the very next chapter of Genesis, you will find the devil beginning to entice Adam and Eve, the first family, into sin and rebellion against God.

It’s just 12 verses after the creation narrative we have the first family feud. Sin, guilt, shame, denial, blame, all enter the family story.

Family got messy and it still is today.

As we begin this journey together talking about family, I want you to hear two things, two truths that I believe can change everything for your family.

There is hope and there is help.

This series is not specifically about self-help, life hacks, or quick fixes- There are lot’s of books and resources out there for that.

This series is specifically about seeking the Lord-

We believe God has help for us.

And we believe He has hope for us.

Today We want to begin our series by focusing on the one central element, really the thing that must be true in our family relationships- and that is Christ. Christ must be the center of our families.

So what does that look like to focus on Christ?

It means a commitment to being Christlike in our families. It means we are committed to bringing Christlike values, actions, and principals into our family relationships.

John 15:9-13

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Jesus is sharing with his disciples about the love that he has received from the Father, and the love he has shown them. He uses that example as the standard for the way his disciples were to love one another.

If we are to see Christ as the center of our families, then his love is the standard, the patter by which we must love our families.

“Love as I have loved you.” Jesus said

The truth is, we really cant do family the way it was intended apart from Jesus and his love powerfully at work within us.

Remember, there is help, and there is hope. Jesus called us to remain in his love- We must begin there. We cant make Christ and his love the center of our families if we aren’t experiencing it ourselves.

The beautiful thing about making christ the focus of our family is that we experience his love, as we are called to give it to others- Dwell in His love, allow him to give you strength and grace as you step into your family relationships.

We can’t always control what happens to us in family. There might not even be a whole lot we can change. But we can choose to make Christ the center of our relationships

We can commit to loving others as he has loved us.

Family Values begins with Christ- let’s commit to centering on him.

Giving at COTN

If you ever have questions or need help with online giving, please let us know: finance@cotnaz.org

Thank you for your partnership in the Kingdom of Christ!

Giving

http://bible.com/events/49128225 

Church of the Nazarene – Harrisonburg

Aug 27, 2023

The Seven Churches of Revelation Part 8 (2)

Church in Laodicea

Today marks the final message in our series, The Seven Churches of Revelation from chapters 2-3. Looking back, here is where we’ve been:

> Part 1: Chapter 1 – It’s all about Jesus.

> Part 2: 2:1-7 – Ephesus: Re-capture your first love.

> Part 3: 2:8-11 – Smyrna: Be faithful, even when facing death.

> Part 4: 2:12-17 – Pergamum: Repent soon

> Part 5: 2:19-29 – Thyatira: Stand your ground against sin

> Part 6: 3:1-6 – Sardis: Wake up before it’s too late.

> Part 7: 3:7-13– Philadelphia: Don’t let anyone steal your crown.

Today, we conclude the series with another challenging message. This one to the church at Laodicea.

Revelation 3:14-16

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Laodicea

“Laodicea was a successful and well-ordered city with proud, arrogant and self-satisfied inhabitants. They were accustomed to leisure, pleasure and entertainment…”

The implication of Jesus’ water metaphor: Be intense, passionate, all-in (“hot”) about your life in Christ, not half-hearted, apathetic, lukewarm, on the verge of being “spit out.”

“You shall love the Lord your God with ALL your heart and with ALL your soul and with ALL your strength and with ALL your mind.” (Luke 10:27)

Prophetic Interpretation of the Text

Each of the seven churches represents a particular period in church history. The Church in each age is like its counterpart in the Revelation text:

> Ephesus represents: The first century church

> Smyrna represents: The persecuted church of the 2nd and 3rd centuries

> Pergamum represents: The world-influenced church infected by Roman culture in the fourth century

> Thyatira represents: The church during the Middle Ages

> Sardis represents: The near-dead church during the Protestant Reformation

> Philadelphia represents: The revived church of the late 19th and early 20th century.

> Laodicea represents: The lukewarm church at the end of the age

Revelation 3:17-18

You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

It’s sobering to think of what could happen in the end times to deceive us. To bring our temperature to the safe and comfortable and deadly and lukewarm middle. Are we fully alive? Or are we failed Laodicea?

Revelation 3:19-22

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

The Story of Jim and Elizabeth Elliot

Someone once asked Jim Elliot, one of the martyrs of Ecuador, if he thought every Christian had to be a missionary. His famous answer was. “Yes. To their families, their neighborhoods, their workplaces and their schools. If not to Ecuador, then the lost and lonely, broken and afraid. If not across the world, across the street.”

Then Elliot said something that I think about most every day.

He said, “Wherever you are, be all there.”

Perhaps that is the most important lesson Jesus wanted to deliver to the Church at Laodicea, and to us.

Giving at COTN

If you ever have questions or need help with online giving, please let us know: finance@cotnaz.org

Thank you for your partnership in the Kingdom of Christ!

Giving

https://www.bible.com/events/49127708

Church of the Nazarene – East Rock

The Seven Churches of Revelation Part 8

Church in Laodicea

Today we conclude our teaching series called “The Seven Churches of Revelation”

Over the last few weeks, we have been seeking to understand the importance and relevance of this text in our lives today. Just like the rest of our Bible, we believe that Revelation is valuable and integral to our faith- It’s there for a reason.

Through this study we have sought to hear and understand the warnings and instructions to these churches. As we do that, we also want to discern how we can learn from these warnings in our lives and through our local church.

Our desire is to renew and refine our vision of life and what the church should be. Our series has been specifically focused on Jesus’ words to the 7 Churches in Asia minor

Revelation 3:14-16

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Can you imagine hearing that from the Lord?

Of course, the English word there is really being nice.

In the original language, it was more like “I am about to vomit you out of my mouth”

Revelation 3:17-22

You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Today we conclude our teaching series The 7 churches of Revelation where we have studied Jesus’ words to 7 different first century churches.

Some words of encouragement, some of rebuke and warning, but each containing a hope-filled invitation to life with him.

I don’t think it should be lost on us today that the Lord’s last words to the Seven Churches is filled with disgust and a warning against being lukewarm. We must look that truth head on today.

Jesus is knocking at the door, inviting you to relationship with him- Will you answer?

Revelation 3:15-16

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Laodicea, for all its wealth and extravagance, did not have good drinking water. They had to use open troughs to funnel water from miles away to sustain life in the city and by the time the water arrived it was lukewarm, dirty, and very hard.

The message begins likening the church to their drinking water.

To be lukewarm spiritually is to be in the middle of the road- like a crazed squirrel darting back and forth, uncommitted to any direction.

It is a picture of a fluctuating soul, seeking a little bit of Jesus, and a little bit of fulfillment from the world. Not committed to follow Jesus exclusively, yet not ready to deny him completely. Stuck living in the middle of the road.

Jesus says of lukewarm believers- I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

This is a warning that Jesus is about to be completely done with these lukewarm believers if something doesn’t change.

Revelation 3:17

You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

Laodicea was wealthy and self-sufficient, and that attitude made its way into the heart of the church.

Jesus says- “But you don’t realize, in reality, you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked”

One of the stark lessons to be learned from studying the 7 churches of Revelation is that there can be a stark difference between how we see ourselves and true reality before Christ.

The Laodicean’s were giving their lives to the pursuit of worldly things, and they were quite successful- Perhaps it even seemed like they had it all- health, wealth, and fashion.

White picket fence, two-car garage, trampoline for the kids.

However, in their pursuit of the good life, they were forfeiting their soul. They became lukewarm, middle of the road Christians, not fully committed. Jesus calls them to act before it’s too late.

Revelation 3:18

I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

To the people who thought they had it all- Jesus says come to me and find all that you really need. Christ alone is the remedy to their lukewarm state. He alone is the life they need

Revelation 3:19

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.

The turning point of this letter begins with is this message from the Lord- I love you.

To those facing the reality of hearing that they are lukewarm, middle of the road Christians, feeling the weight of conviction on their chest: Jesus says “Those I LOVE I rebuke and discipline”

If you feel that weight of conviction, realizing that you are living a lukewarm faith- you need to hear this. God disciplines and rebukes those that he LOVES.

Revelation 3:20

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Is there a more inviting, encouraging, compassionate word from the Lord?

Here I am… here I am

“I am standing at the threshold of your life, I am knocking.”

The hard news is that, at this moment, Jesus is on the outside of your life…looking in.

The good news is all it takes is a turn of the handle on that door.

iii.Look what he promises- To the one who will open the door, I WILL COME. Not I’ll think about. Not I might.

I WILL COME and eat with that person, and they with me.

This passage began with the vivid and harsh warning “because you are neither hot nor cold- I am about to vomit you out of my mouth”. But it ends with an invitation to feast with Jesus.

Revelation is a Jesus letter and in that there is great hope today. He is knocking- Will you open the door?

Giving at COTN

If you ever have questions or need help with online giving, please let us know: finance@cotnaz.org

Thank you for your partnership in the Kingdom of Christ!

Giving