21st February, 2010
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
Acts 5:17-32
Main Idea: Obey Authorities
Objectives: To teach adults and children to obey authorities.
A. Introduction
- I believe all human beings love their children. Do you love your children? You do.
- You always desire to give them the best, right? What is your best gift to your children beside eternal life?
- You may give all kinds of valuable things to them but the most important thing you must give is Jesus. You must disciple your children to be Christ-like.
- How to do help your children to be Christ-like? Train him in his Christ-like characters; godly characters. Christ-like character building is much more important than anything on earth. You need money, education health and other very important things and values, but if you miss out characters, you cannot be a successful person. Do you want yourself and your children to be successful persons? Do not use the wrong yardstick to measure success. The fundamental factor to work on for success is character. Do not use money, high qualification, connection with the influential, etc, to measure success.
- The character I like to focus on this morning is obedience. I believe this is one of the areas where parents cry out for. I pray that my sermon this morning is not for your information only but it is very much for your application. And for it to happen, you need to spend time with them.
- The character of obedience is a mark of Jesus disciples like Peter and other apostles. In their early of ministry and mission, they were being persecuted by jail sentence and even death for preaching Christ and his teachings. Despite warning not to preach Christ, and I believe even threat of death, they did not give in. They declared in verse 29, “We must obey God rather than men!” Such was the character of obedience of the early disciples.
B. The Character of Obedience
- What is this character all about? Let us read out the definition: Quickly and cheerfully carrying out the wise direction of those who are responsible for me.
- The character of obedience can be represented by a kind of bird called wood ducks. Wood ducks are attentive to their parents’ voices, even before they hatch. Twenty-four hours after hatching, they must obey their mother in jumping from their high nest, or they will be left behind to die.
C. Applications.
- Obedience in the home includes: (let us read it out)
- 1. Establishing practical guidelines of good character for the family.
- 2. Parents teaching their children why an activity is right or wrong.
- 3. Children understanding the purpose of guidelines and the consequences for failing to obey them.
- 4. Sons and daughters having the boldness to reject wrong actions in order to obey parents, despite other pressures.
- 5. Parents being role models to their children by honoring their own parents.
- 6. I will: obey my authorities immediately; have a cheerful attitude; complete all that I am expected to do; go the “extra mile”; not obey the wrong command.
D. Rewards of Obedience
- 1. Protection. The road to success often includes painful lessons that obedience protects us from repeating.
- 2. Provision. Parents and other other authorities enjoy rewarding an obedient spirit in those under them by giving to needs and wants.
- 3. Direction. An obedient spirit in sons and daughters motivates their parents to give the wisest possible counsel for the decisions they face.
- Thomas Fuller says, “Obedience is much seen in little things than in great.”
E. Conclusion
- Obey God in the person of Jesus by obeying authorities.
No comments:
Post a Comment