We are all from a broken
family because we have all been broken by sin.
1. Give me.
Every child starts in the
give me stage. It's all about me. We start here spiritually
too. God doesn't resent it because He doesn't expect more out of
babies.
We get saved out of
selfishness. We get saved because we want God to get us out of the mess
that we're in.
Marriages start in the give
me stage too. We want our spouse to meet our needs. Some of our
needs only God can meet.
Luke 15:12 NKJV
12 And the younger of them
said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that
falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood.
Matthew 26:14-15 NKJV
14 Then one of the twelve,
called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What
are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they
counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.
2. Use me.
Some of us want to be used so
that we can be seen. We get saved because of selfishness; however,
we ask God to use me out of selfish ambition. According to the Bible, ambition
is self promotion.
Philippians 2:3 NKJV
3 Let nothing be done
through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind
let each esteem others better than himself.
Strong’s: Ambition is
electioneering for office. A desire to put one’s self forward, a partisan and
fractious spirit. A self-seeking pursuit of political office by unfair means.
Selfishness or self-promoting in your heart.
Acts 8:19 NKJV
19 saying, “Give me this
power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
If another person cannot make
us happy, then we do something to make us happy. A lot of people divorce
in this "use me" stage. A lot of times this happens about 10 years
into marriage.
God did not create marriage
to make us happy. God knows that the only way to be happy is to die to
self. God helps us to die to self through marriage. We must
surrender our rights to the other person. Dying to self makes us happy.
Luke 15:13 NKJV
13 And not many days after,
the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there
wasted his possessions with prodigal living.
3. Search me.
Luke 15:17 NKJV
17 “But when he came to
himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and
to spare, and I perish with hunger!
When the prodigal son
searched his own heart for sin, he began to change. If you want a blessed
marriage, fix yourself. I'm responsible for my own actions and
reactions. God is focusing on what I'm doing not what people are doing to
me that's causing me to react.
Psalms 139:23-24 KJV
23 Search me, O
God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And
see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way
everlasting.
4. Make me (a servant).
Luke 15:19 NKJV
19 and I am no longer worthy
to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired
servants.” ’
Luke 15:29 NKJV
29 So he answered and said
to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never
transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a
young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.
The older son had the same
attitude that the younger son had, but never left home. The older son was in
the "give me" stage.
Luke 15:31 NKJV
31 “And he said to him,
‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.
It's not what God can give
me, but God wants to be with me. Blessed means happy. Some people
feel guilty when God begins to bless them. God wants to bless you because
God loves to give. However, He loves to be with you more. Quit thinking
why would God want to bless me? Start thinking why wouldn't God want to
bless me because He is a good God?
Excerpts taken from Robert Morris, Gateway Church
http://gatewaypeople.com/ministries/life/events/blessed-families-a-gateway-series/session/2018/10/27/from-broken-to-blessed
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