Let's turn to Malachi, the second chapter. We've been dealing with the great wisdom of God in building His church, the establishing of His kingdom on the earth as we pray continually, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). We're looking for the kingdom of God to just continue to manifest itself in this hour. God's original plan for man was to "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth" (Genesis 1:28, 9:1). Man was created as God's representative: "the son of God," he was called when Father first created him. It wasn't good for him to be alone so He gave him a help meet [for him], and they were to have dominion over everything that moved upon the face of the earth. Sin came in, as we know, and broken order: the curse. The delegation of positions was now necessary: man was to become the head of the woman because the woman was deceived, not the man; and the wife was to delight in her husband (Genesis 3:16). All these positional things that were put into [proper] order, and the seed that was now born [in sin], were not God's original intention. Originally, God intended for the propagation of a holy, pure, innocent, seed, which He could fellowship with and walk in the cool of the evening with. But that relationship was broken because of sin, and we see the consequences of it in the fruit of Adam and Eve: these two brothers who came into conflict. Cain killed his brother because of jealousy, because of a covetous spirit, because of spiritual pride and identity, because of the refusal to recognize God's desire to be worshipped in an orderly manner, that man can't set his own mode of worship. Because Abel's [sacrifice] was accepted while Cain's was rejected, there was a jealousy, and there was strife, and a schism, and the breech that came in the family, which has been constant since that hour (Genesis 4:1-10). God has called us, as a fellowship, to walk in unity and in harmony, with one God, one Father, one Spirit, and one baptism, in the midst of all this (Ephesians 4:4-6)...
The Godly Seed, Part 2
August 13, 2006 • Pastor Star R. Scott
Let's go ahead and pick up where we left off this morning, talking about the great privilege that we have of representing the faithfulness of God before this next generation. That's basically what we're doing as parents and elders who are teaching the younger among us. We're just representing the faithfulness of God. We're saying, "Look, we've been headed this way for a long time. You're going to hit some bumps, and there are going to be trials, but God is faithful. You can trust Him, praise God! What you've committed to Him, He's going to keep against that day." I don't think there is any greater lesson or instruction that we can give our children and the young people among us than the fact that God is faithful. If we will be faithful and obedient, He is the faithful God to those who love Him and keep His commandments. So, we just instruct them by example and by our testimonies of all of those good things.
As you look at the Scriptures, you see these promises of God over and over throughout the Word. As I was looking at some of these verses and refreshing my mind, it was just such a blessing! I never get tired of reading those great promises out of Deuteronomy 4 and 6, where God is speaking to generations (through the current generation's faithfulness) by setting in place a people that know Him and are able then to represent Him further into that next generation.
Psalm 78 speaks toward that; let's turn over there for just a second. Beginning at verse 3, there's a really beautiful passage of Scripture that speaks along these lines. It is in the midst of judgment, in the midst of the wrath of God being represented before the disobedient. And in the midst of all of this, it talks about our responsibility of protecting the glory of God and also representing the awesomeness and the fearfulness of this God that we serve, so that there's not a commonness in our midst...
The Godly Seed, Part 3
August 16, 2006 • Pastor Star R. Scott
Amen. Let's see if we can wind [this] up. We've been a good time now on just the family and God's purpose for building His kingdom-that it's not good for man to be alone, and He gave him the helpmeet, as we've spent a lot of time talking about, and told them to be fruitful and multiply, to replenish the earth.
As we were talking a little bit on Sunday we saw, then, that under the curse, of course, in God's great plan, we didn't see children born into innocence that Adam and Eve had, but born into sin, and because of that we see the hatred and jealousy and strife and all that is in man. We see Cain killing his brother, the Scripture says, and why? Because his brother was accepted; his sacrifices were accepted. Now, what made them acceptable was his obedience. He was following God's plan. Cain thought he had a better way and was going to offer up something that was of his own labor, of his own efforts, the fruit of the field, and we know that without the shedding of blood there isn't any acceptance in the presence of God.
So because of that the judgment came down, the hatred, the jealousies, and from that time on we've seen the heartbreak of parents in dealing with their children and the responsibilities that have been given to us, then, to train them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. Your kids aren't going to get it right in the natural. We see that there are certain [ones that are] more moral than others in our midst and in the natural, but man's righteousness is as-say it-filthy rags [Isaiah 64:6]. So we're not talking about raising moral children; we're talking about raising godly children. Amen? I think some of us miss that. You know, some of us are very content if our children are moral, disciplined, diligent. They need to be godly. So we want to look at what it is that makes us a godly household, because as we saw in the study, we're to be raising up that godly seed. That's what it's all about...
