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[0:00] Home Improvement. Home Improvement. It's the kind of show that people like watching these days, isn't it?! Home Improvements. I know some of you are a bit of a home improvement.

[0:12] ! There's some doer-uppers that you might have that you're working on. I know someone I know here present that's doing just that. And Home Improvement's a type of show that is very popular at the moment where there's this house that's a bit run down and needs doing up, needs restoration, rebuilding.

[0:30] I know Julie and I were driving past this old broken down cottage near our place and we thought, well, that's a doer-upper for sure, isn't it? What that could be if it was done up.

[0:41] Home Improvement. I'd like to urge us today to consider some home improvement as in talking about the family, the home, the family. How can our homes, our families be strengthened?

[0:54] That's a very important consideration, isn't it? And we're living in a world where the family, homes, the family unit is under attack.

[1:05] It's a battle. It's a battle out there. And right before Paul talks about the family unit and the God's design and purpose for the home, the Christian home, he talks about, just after that, the armour of God.

[1:22] Well, it's an interesting correlation, isn't it? Ephesians 5 talks about the family. Ephesians 6, and then Ephesians 6, he goes on to talk about the armour of God.

[1:33] Put on the whole armour of God. And I put to you today that when the family is strong, society is strong. The community is strong. The church is strong.

[1:45] The nation is strong. When families are strong. When families can be strengthened. And it is the case, I put to you, as we're living in a day where the family unit is under attack.

[1:58] And when the family fails, society fails. The community fails. The church fails. The nation fails. The devil loves just that, doesn't he?

[2:08] God defines marriage. He defines what the family is. He shows us clearly, men and women have different roles. The world will say, no, there's this kind of fuzziness now.

[2:23] Where it's almost like you can't say someone's a male and someone's a female. It's all some airy-fairy fuzziness about all of these things which are plain and obvious truths.

[2:35] And there's a lot of these essential truths that are under attack today in the world that we're living in. What does the Bible say about the family?

[2:46] About relationships? About responsibilities in the family? In the home? Home improvement. We've got a big need for that, haven't we? I know I could do with some home improvement.

[2:58] Every home could see some improvement. And turn with me to Ephesians 5, starting from verse 21. Ephesians 5, reading from verse 21.

[3:10] That verse says, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. But really the starting point, the starting blocks, if you like, for this race, this mission for home improvement, is that it starts with humility and servanthood.

[3:29] Paul says, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Male, female, it doesn't matter. One to another, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

[3:41] There's that kind of corporate, that congregation-wide submission. That humility he's called us to. Who is the Lord Jesus? He's the chief servant, isn't he? He's the one who took the towel and girded himself.

[3:53] He bowed down and washed dirty feet. That's our Lord. He took the place of humility of the great servant. And he stepped down from heaven's glory, took upon him human flesh, was made such as we, yet without sin.

[4:10] And he is the ultimate example, the ultimate role model of a servant. And so home improvement, improving our homes, our families, starts with this truth, humility and servanthood.

[4:25] Ultimately, who is the head of the home? Christ. Christ is the head of every godly Christian home. Christ is the head of the home.

[4:35] Christ is the head of the home. Sometimes it seems that in a home, a house setting, a family setting, there's this kind of power struggle going on. And the world feeds that, doesn't it?

[4:47] It feeds this animosity, this, yeah, an antagonism even between husband and wife, parents and children. There's this kind of, the world wants us to all be in conflict and in this kind of selfish way of thinking, a power struggle.

[5:07] It's the opposite of humility, isn't it? It's pride. What the devil would have. And we read on, verse 22. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord.

[5:20] There's a like verse, Colossians 3, 18. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Ephesians 5, 23.

[5:31] For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

[5:48] Now, these verses kind of rankle some people. Although it sounds like, for some, it's counter-cultural. It's the way that the world would have us to be thinking.

[6:00] And there is an aspect where some might take these to say more than what they do say, too. What is it saying? It's saying, wives, you are not to submit because your husband demands it, but because the Lord has ordained it.

[6:15] It's God's plan. When we follow God's plan, then he'll bless. When we follow God's plan, when we do what he ordains us to do, what he directs us to do, that's a place of blessing, isn't it?

[6:34] Be in his will. And really, the husband, when he asks his wife on this vein, he's saying, as someone has expressed it here, I ask for your honour and submission so that I can love you with all that I am and all that I have until my very last breath.

[6:55] Because there's a correlation between the submission of the woman and the love of the man, which we'll get to. Here is that sure fulfilment. The husband is asking for honour and submission so that he can further express his love with all that he is and all that he has, giving his life unto his wife.

[7:18] That is God's perfect ideal I put to you. And that is where sure fulfilment in marriage is found. There is this God-ordained order to things, and marriage included.

[7:34] There's this beautiful partnership. That's God's plan. It's ideal. A beautiful partnership where the husband and wife are complementary to one another. Marriage as God intends it is meant to have this divine order, a partnership of functions or roles under God's authority.

[7:56] And he's a God of order. He's structured everything. We see the universe, the planets, the solar system. God is a God of order. He set everything in its place.

[8:08] And he's laid out for us his plan for the family, for home improvement. Ephesians 5.2, Paul says, walk in love. That sets the context here.

[8:19] God's plan for the home is based on Christ's love, the perfect love, that love that gives and keeps on giving no matter any response, really.

[8:35] Christ's love is love that is, I don't think of the word, it's not conditional love, it's unconditional love, isn't it?

[8:47] Christ's love is love that gives and keeps on giving. That's the kind of love that the word of God tells us of, of God's love. And Paul says, walk in love.

[8:58] Walk in love. God's plan for the home, what is it? This plan for home improvement. We see if we turn back to the very beginning in Genesis, we see God's plan for the home.

[9:08] It began in Eden. And he shows us there his high and noble purpose because the one who tells us of marriage, he is the designer of it.

[9:22] And what did he intend it to be? A holy union. A man and a woman to the exclusion of others for a lifetime. A union created by God.

[9:34] Marriage is God's plan. He started it. And he lays out what it is. Marriage. It belongs to him. Now the world today, governments today, would seek to redefine marriage.

[9:50] It's not their place to. Government doesn't define marriage. The Australian Parliament doesn't define what marriage is. God does. Amen.

[10:01] God says what marriage is. One man, one woman, one flesh. One marriage. One unity. This complimentary giving of a man to a woman and a woman to a man.

[10:16] In that holy matrimony. God's plan. He's the designer. It started with him. He defines it and he sets the rules.

[10:28] He outlines the jurisdiction. He outlines his blueprint as the designer of marriage. And friends, we need God's perspective, God's plan for marriage.

[10:42] And I'll put to you the recipe for a godly family starts with a generous helping of submission. Humility.

[10:54] As Paul started here in Ephesians 5, he says, submitting yourselves one to another. Submitting yourselves one to another. Submission. It's a powerful thing, isn't it?

[11:05] It's a good thing. Imagine being in a place of employment where there was no submission. It would be chaos, wouldn't it? If there would be no one who's in charge, then there would be no rules.

[11:18] Imagine if there was no police force as much as sometimes we wish there wasn't. If there was no police policing the streets and keeping law and order, there's that necessary submission that we have to the laws of the land.

[11:34] Imagine if there was no submission. It would be total chaos. And so submission and order is a good and godly thing. And it's God's design right from the start, back in Genesis.

[11:46] And Adam was the one who carried the can, wasn't he? Adam. Adam was the responsible leader at the very beginning of the first family, back in the garden.

[11:59] God placed Adam as the responsible leader at the head of the first family. And that was the design God instituted. The submission there that we're talking about here in the word of God and the submission of a wife to a husband and really the submission that is mutual is a submission that's talking about order and rank.

[12:22] You know, think of the military. There has to be order and rank. There has to be some structure. And likewise in the family, in the home, there has to be some responsibility, some leadership, some servant leadership I put to you.

[12:40] And it's a yielding to one another in love. That's the sense of it. The husband is not one who's got a big thumb on top of his wife, as it were, and she's under his thumb.

[12:52] He's some kind of domineering dictator who, a despot. Not that kind of leadership, but a servant leadership.

[13:02] A leader who serves, who models what is godly and rightful. A leader who is himself submitted to God. And there is this God-ordained responsibility for the man to lead, and sacrificially so.

[13:18] Not that that leadership will go to his head, that he would become some ogre, but that he himself is willing to lead, willing to serve sacrificially.

[13:35] It's the same in the church, really, too. I'm not the boss. I'm the chief servant. I am the ultimate servant. That's how I am meant to be.

[13:47] And that's how all of us who serve, when we have some responsibility in the church, we are servants, merely that. And as the parable puts it, unprofitable servants, we could say of ourselves that we are only doing that which is our duty to do.

[14:06] And so Adam has that kind of leadership, not a leadership of a big show-off, big boss, but the ultimate servant.

[14:17] Men, husbands, we are to serve our wives, aren't we? That's what we are meant to do in such a way that we lead by example.

[14:28] And there's this God-ordained responsibility for the man to lead. It's not meant to be an abuse of power, as we would see some that would take these verses and make them say something they don't say.

[14:42] Marriage is a most significant relationship. And God sets the rules for it to work. As I say, marriage is called holy matrimony. There's something special about that, isn't there?

[14:54] It's holy. God has instituted it. He designed it. He's instituted it. Christ blessed the wedding at Cana. God says it's something special, something holy, and to be praised.

[15:08] I heard once that someone said this, marriage is when a man and a woman become as one. The trouble starts when they try to decide which one. It's not how it's meant to be.

[15:19] There's some kind of argy-bargy, some kind of fighting one another. But we are to be one, a husband and wife to be of one mind, to be of one accord, to have that one motive, that Christ be the head of the home.

[15:34] And God's desire is that the home be a haven. It should be a haven where we can come together. It's a safe harbour for our children, for our family, our loved ones, where we can retreat, as it were, from this Christless, godless culture, this hell-bound, God-hating world, that we can be a haven for God to bless.

[15:56] And to reflect those attitudes within the home, our home lives, that is godly and harmonious, where we learn to forbear with one another in love. There was a fellow who wrote to a Reader's Digest, and he said this, I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror one evening, admiring my reflection, when I posed this question to my wife of 30 years, will you still love me when I'm old, fat and balding?

[16:24] And she answered, I do. You know, there's that sense where we had this bigger impression of ourselves that we somehow are more than what we are. And yet our wives love us despite all our faults.

[16:40] God helping them to have grace to do so. But marriage shall be filled with grace and forgiveness, shouldn't it? That we should love one another, and even as we grow old gracefully, hopefully gracefully together, that we all still love one another as we love.

[16:56] And we'll love in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse. That that's the kind of commitment we make to the one we say, I do too. Amen. Marriage should be filled with grace and forgiveness, shouldn't it?

[17:09] Now, of course, as a preface to this, I should say, for you that are a believer tonight, marry in the Lord. Marry in the Lord.

[17:21] You know, it talks about being unequally yoked together with unbelievers. That's a no-no. Don't go there. That you should be yoked together with a believer. Of course, if you've already married and you're married to an unbeliever, God will give you grace and help to work on that, to pray for your spouse that they can be saved.

[17:44] Let's go to Ephesians 5.25. As we talk through some of the guidelines, some of the instructions for this home improvement, Ephesians 5.25, it says this, and Paul's addressing the husbands.

[17:56] He says, husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.

[18:23] So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.

[18:39] We can gloss over these words here. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church. That's amazing, isn't it?

[18:49] How did Christ love the church? It killed him. Basically, he gave his life for us, didn't he? That's the kind of love we're called to have, that he might sanctify and cleanse it.

[19:06] He loves you, the church of God. He loves you more than words can express, doesn't he? He loves you still, that he would give his life for us. And we should love husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church.

[19:21] How can we fathom that? Brothers here tonight that are married, that we should love our wives so. And as men love their own bodies. Now, I know some of you men are better looking than me and must spend a lot of time down at the gym and building up those muscles and getting that lovely suntan, that complexion and all the health foods you eat.

[19:45] And such that you look after your body so well that you're a stunning example of manhood. And, you know, God's saying here that just as we love our bodies, we should love our wives.

[19:56] That we should have such a love as we look after our own health and well-being, so we should look after our wives. Because no man ever hated his own flesh, but he nourishes, he cherishes it.

[20:08] He looks after it as God, the Lord, looks after the church. Colossians 3.19 similarly says, Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them. So, you can see husbands, love your wives is a very clear, repeated challenge.

[20:25] God has given the wife to her husband to care for her. Sorry, given the husband to the wife for him to care for her, to protect her and to provide for her needs.

[20:38] You know, men of God here today, husbands, Christian husbands here today, you are called to care, to provide, to defend your wife.

[20:50] And you must be willing to lay aside your rights and give everything such that you're willing to die for her. Such a love. Husbands, we're called to give up ourselves for our wives.

[21:02] And we are to honour them, it says in 1 Peter 3.7. Peter challenges in 1 Peter 3.7. He says, Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them, your wives, according to knowledge, giving honour to the wife, as unto the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered.

[21:23] Now, as much as the world would try to say otherwise, the fact is, generally speaking, men are stronger than women. Men running races generally run faster than women running races.

[21:39] There's a sense where men, we are to be a support to our wives. It's not to say that our wives are weaker in their capacity or in their intellect or in their abilities, but there's a sense where men, we should be, as the stronger we should be supporting.

[22:00] We should be uplifting. We should be encouraging. We should be defending our wives. We call to that. Friends, God's plan works best.

[22:11] And men want real respect. Women want to be loved sacrificially. It's a two-way, two-fold. It's a complementary dimension, isn't it?

[22:22] As the woman honours her husband, the husband will love sacrificially his wife. What a blessing that would be if that was the case.

[22:34] Of course, we know the reality is it doesn't always happen. But we that are the godly can do what we can, do our part.

[22:45] And God will help us. It's how God has made us to be, how a marriage will work best. When we follow these plans, God helping us, we know sometimes a marriage breaks down and it is irreparable.

[22:57] We know that can happen too. I'm acknowledging that today and I know the sad situations that some of us may be in tonight. But we're looking at the plan. God helping us that this is the plan we can adopt for such that are yet to marry.

[23:11] That we'll marry in the Lord. We'll marry wisely. And we'll fulfil the plan. We'll live according to this blueprint God has set for us. It goes on, Ephesians 5.30, it goes on to say, Love as Christ.

[23:51] Husbands, husbands, wives, reverence your husband. So do you honour. You might think, well, he's not worth much honour.

[24:03] God can help you to find something, something to reverence him. How to have a reverent spirit, a humility. You know, Peter talks about how a wife can win a husband through her holy conversation, her way of living.

[24:23] In fact, as people of God here tonight, we know the world is full of dysfunction. And there's dysfunctional families. And we might be in such a situation. I know there's families in my family circle that we've seen great tragic things happen.

[24:39] And it grieves my heart as a father to see what can happen. And the sadness that it gives to me of what has happened.

[24:51] We can only pray for situations like that. And the fact is, people of God, Satan has been attacking families right from the start.

[25:04] Right from the beginning. May we pray for godly relationships in the home. For home improvement. God will help us to improve whatever our own situation is right now.

[25:14] And dysfunction has been our lot since Adam and Eve. There was dysfunction in Adam and Eve's family. In their home. Where brother killed brother.

[25:25] What can you think of that's worse than that? And we read on further and further. We see, as we see this husband and wife relationship.

[25:36] We read on further now in Ephesians 6. To see the other dynamic of the parent-child dynamics. What does God say about that in his blueprint? In this plan for home improvement.

[25:49] God lays out the plan for every aspect of the home. Husband to wife. Wife to husband. And now parent to children. Children to parent. God lays out his plan for the home.

[26:01] And we can learn to apply these principles. God helping us in our own home situation. What does God say in Ephesians 6 of the children? He says, Children, obey your parents in the Lord.

[26:16] For this is right. And the like verse of Colossians 3.20 it says, Children, obey your parents in all things. For this is well pleasing unto the Lord.

[26:29] Then Ephesians 6.2 goes on, Honour thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long on the earth.

[26:41] Now we may not always agree with what our father and mother says. Of course, my father and mother are so perfect, I always agree with them. No, it's not the case, is it?

[26:54] Sometimes we differ. Sometimes we see things differently. And sometimes we might have an argument even. But we can still have a reference to our father and mother, can't we?

[27:11] No matter how old they are. And you might say, My father and mother are so elderly now, and they may not even know the Lord. And yet there is a sense where, as it says in Ephesians 6.2, which is one of the ten commandments, Honour thy father and mother.

[27:29] It's the first commandment with promise. There's a blessing there, that it may be well with thee, that thou mayest live long on the earth. Now think of your mother and father.

[27:41] How can you honour them? While they're still living, would be a good time to do it, wouldn't it? While they're still alive. And sometimes people wait to honour their father and mother, till the funeral. Let's not do that.

[27:52] Amen? If you've got a living father and mother, show them honour. Show them respect. Give them love and care. Talk to them. And as godly parents, what should we do?

[28:05] As men and women, mums and dads, let's be a good example for our children, such that they'll see what we do. You know, as the saying goes, it's not so much what you say, it's what you do that people follow, isn't it?

[28:20] It's the sermon that you live, not just the words you say. And, you know, we can say, I can think back to, you know, situations where, you know, parents might be smoking or drinking and saying, don't smoke or drink.

[28:37] I mean, it's pointless, isn't it? Because they see what you do. They see what you do. And may we set a good and godly example. Little eyes are watching us all the time as mums and dads.

[28:50] And let's be that godly role model. May we be strong families. And it starts with us as parents, setting a good example. And what a testament it is when we see godly families with their children following the Lord.

[29:04] And what a blessing, what a joy that it brings to your heart. As you get older and your children follow the Lord and then your grandchildren follow the Lord, what a joy that is. And what the converse of a joy it is when they don't.

[29:19] Parents, our children are watching us. They're watching what we put on social media. They're putting what we're putting out there in our conversations, in our actions, when we do things, when we say things, how we treat others.

[29:34] That says much more than anything we can say as some kind of words of counsel to them. It's what we do matters, isn't it?

[29:45] It's the example that we're setting. So husbands, fathers, let's lead our families in godliness. Let's be that role model. Let's be like Christ to them. God helping us.

[29:56] And when we fail, let's acknowledge it. Let's be as Christ would be to the people that we love in our lives. That we would live our Christian walk day by day.

[30:10] And you know, there's times when I look back as a young dad when I probably did things and said things I shouldn't have done or said in front of my children. You can think that. How could I have done better than what I did?

[30:27] You can have regret. Parents, let's endeavour to set biblical standards. Now think of the context here of Ephesians 5 and then Ephesians 6.

[30:40] The husband, the wife, the wife, the husband. The parent, the children. The children, the parent. And then Ephesians 6 talks about put on whole armour of God.

[30:53] Friends, we're in conflict. And there's an enemy that wants to take our children. Wants to destroy our families. Wants to divide our homes and wives against husbands.

[31:04] Husbands against wives. There's a story about a little boy who went swimming one day. It was a hot summer day in Florida and he decided to go for a swim.

[31:15] There was a kind of water hole near his house and he was in a hurry to go and jump in to the nice cool water and as he ran out the back door he left behind his socks and shoes and his shirt as he went and he jumped into the water not realising as he swam into the middle of the lake that an alligator was swimming towards the shore.

[31:36] There was an alligator there and his mother in the house was looking out the window and she saw the two as they got closer and closer. She saw the alligator swimming towards her son.

[31:48] She yelled out as loud as she could telling him about the danger and he got the word and he turned around and started to swim back to his mum but it was too late and just as he reached her the alligator reached him and there she was from the dock the mother grabbed her little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs and then began this incredible tug of war between the two.

[32:20] The alligator was much stronger than the mum but the mum was much too passionate to let go and a farmer happened to drive by he heard the screams and he raced from the truck and he took aim and shot the alligator and saved the day.

[32:35] Remarkably after weeks and weeks in the hospital the little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal and on his arms were deep scratches where his mother's fingernails dug into his flesh in her effort to hang on to his son that she loved and the newspaper reporter went and interviewed the young lad after the trauma and asked if he would show him his scars so he lifted up his pant legs and with obvious pride he showed the scars left by the crocodile the alligator and then he said to the reporter but look at my arms I have great scars on my arms too I have them because my mum wouldn't let go my mum wouldn't let go and parents tonight mums dads we want to hold on to our children we want to reach out to them to our children to our grandchildren great grandchildren we want to reach and keep on reaching out don't we because the devil wants to take hold of our families the devil wants to pull them away into the world the flesh and the devil and do we love them enough as that mum loved her son enough to wrestle with the alligator to not let him go we've got a parent parents we've got a vital role to play that we are defenders for our children and our families are under attack you know the crosshairs of the enemy is constantly hovering finally who can he pick off of our family and it's happening right now at the level of the family unit you might say

[34:15] I can identify with that preacher it's happening for me it's happening in people I know it's happening in family and friends that I know and these words as I say about what God's home improvement plan is are right before he talks about put on the whole armour of God is that just coincidental how are we going in this spiritual conflict that we're waging at the home front how is the spiritual health of our own families mine could be better it really could I grieve for my children and grandchildren some of them think they're not where they ought to be is it my fault perhaps in part it is perhaps I did not do enough perhaps I did what I ought not have done let's make make looking forward a decision point for what can I do better next for what I have what time

[35:23] I have left how can I honour my father and mother how can I minister to those in my family circle even those I'm a bit estranged from God helping me how can I be Christ to them Ephesians 6 4 it goes to read about fathers it says and ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath don't get them angry but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord there's a nurture there's an admonition how can we nurture other people such that we our children as fathers how can we nurture them how can we embrace them and hold them and love them and and see them grow fathers we've been given an important direction here how can we set and be a godly example bring them up in the nurture and admonition it's talking about admonition talks about training this talks about counsel train them what does the word say a familiar one proverbs 22 verse 6 train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it you know there's a sense where what we're doing now as young fathers has a payoff doesn't it has has ultimately something to show the fathers what can we do for the now let's surrender our lives to Christ let's make that first and essential step to trust him for our own salvation and to be a surrendered vessel to be a surrendered father parents mums dads are we modeling godly standards for our our lives for by our actions is

[37:14] God building your house your household Psalm 127 1 it says except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it except the Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain it's got the sense of the house has to be built by the Lord our family let it be that Christ is the head of your home you know some like to display a little plaque to that effect that Christ is the head of this home and making that statement by faith may we likewise seek after God that we can be such a people that for our family unit we're wanting to have godly ways and godly principles that we pray for God to watch over our families and that we faithfully plant and water godly seed and there can be a multi-generational aspect of course we know we have to trust Christ for ourselves don't get saved as a as it were as a grandchild of God you know just because your mum and dad are a Christian doesn't make you a Christian you know there's a sense every person has to individually come to trust Jesus for themselves personally and you might have a good godly parent and get all the right upbringing and all the right information but if you don't trust Christ for yourself then you're lost you're either lost or saved and we're not saying you can kind of have this by virtue of having a Christian parent that makes you a Christian but there is that sense of this intergenerational thing that we can in our generation we can have an impact on the next generation and even the next generation we see that for example in 2 Timothy 1 verse 5 where we see this legacy that lasts we see that Paul tells

[39:12] Timothy he says I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice and I'm persuaded that in thee also so Paul saw in Timothy he had a godly mum Eunice and he had a godly grandmother Lois and that there was an influence there down through the generations so when we see if we get right with God for ourselves we seek to be a godly parent a godly husband godly wife we can be a godly mother a godly father such that we're planting seeds for the future and I know we can all think as we get older that the tribe that we have I know like my mum and dad like to say how many is it 30 like we came to Australia in 1971 and now there's 30 odd 30 odd odd of us on this in this continent as we really strangers and pilgrims from the motherland of

[40:18] UK that we now we see this multiplication and likewise for all of us isn't it for all of us there's a multiplication of our family members and I know for some of you with large families that that's even more so the case and think of the sowing of the seed for the meantime that we're planting for a future harvest aren't we as godly mums and dads godly husbands and wives and we pray for home improvement amen don't you want to have a home improvement that there will be a lasting impact for the now and for the lifetime and for beyond our own lifetime are we redeeming the time such that we're setting an example for our children and our grandchildren of what matters what counts are we demonstrating godly priorities before our children we're called to encourage to uplift to nurture that takes some effort doesn't it to be a nurturer you know to nurture something takes application of determination doesn't it to I'm going to decide to nurture something I know I always like to admire my my mum and dad's garden and

[41:36] I'm sure that they put a lot of time into nurturing that and whereas my garden is so so yes sort of needs a bit more nurture but you know think of our lives think of our families are we nurturing our children our grandchildren I know that you do care for them I know it's great to see our family when they can come isn't it they can come and we can encourage them when we can reach out to them we can love them how can we as parents nurture them and and bring them up in the in the nurture and admonition of the Lord how can we be like Eunice and Lois that saw Timothy saved the young man don't we want that I know I want that I want to see some of my children really commit to follow the Lord to let go of what's holding them back and and our grandchildren likewise I fear for them life is short I'd like to really go gung-ho and talk to some of them when there might be some resistance there because it's too important not to not to reach them isn't it too important not to say something may the Lord grant us grace grant us grace as we commit to continuing this home improvement amen may God give us grace friends it's an it's they're under attack there's an onslaught against Christian

[42:59] Christian family foundations Christian principles Christian families and really to take it right back are you a Christian that matters that's that's essential that's the starting block that you trust him for yourself that you know Jesus is my Lord my Savior and God helping you he'll help you with your situation whatever your family need is at this time and the principles are here for us to take hold of and seek to apply God helping us even when and like I say I'm not in your shoes whatever your family situation here today some are not easy to fathom situations people find themselves in one thing's for sure God loves you and your family he loves your children your grandchildren you have a message for them you've got a mandate to reach out to be a godly witness to them God helping you let's have some prayer now Lord we pray for grace we know Lord we need you we pray if there's any present here

[44:11] Lord that knows you not they might not put it off another moment to say Lord I trust you I love you I trust you I give my life to you receive me Lord as your son your daughter that I might be yours for eternal eternal eternal future Lord help us to be a people that cry out Lord we pray for our families our children our grandchildren our spouses Lord even for those family members that we're somewhat estranged from Lord help us to still continue to shine shine the love of Christ to them to be a godly testimony to them that in whatever situation and circumstance we find ourselves that we will be godly in Christ Jesus that we will war this warfare that we're waging knowing that our battle is not against flesh and blood even though there might be some some situations of falling out with some we can show forgiveness and love we can show forbearance and peace we can be gracious we can be a servant we can have a servant heart a humility of soul and we can love unconditionally love and extend your grace Lord help us to be witnesses to our family members

[45:34]  Lord help us to reach out to older and younger ones that are our family that we can take time to touch them for you in Jesus name we pray amen