The ABCs of Family - Part 2

0:37 And part one last couple, two weeks ago, I guess it was, was entitled The ABCs of Family. And I'm going to pick up with part two. Tell your neighbor, today is part two. look at your neighbor and say whatever you do don't fall asleep while pastor's on part two I'm going to rehash a little bit of what I covered two weeks ago. I want to thank the helps ministry. They've been here for three services. How y'all sit through these three sermons, I don't know. I'm preaching them and I'm trying to stay awake.

1:27 I'm going to rehash a little bit what I've covered and then give you part. Now, today's message is a narrative message. Somebody say narrative. So I don't have any points. I mean, I have points, but I'm not identifying. Normally when I talk to you, I say, here's point one, here's point two, here's point three. I got a lot of points, so I didn't number them. So y'all just pick whatever the Holy Ghost say to you, write it down. Go ahead, tell your neighbor, whatever the Spirit of the Lord says to you, write it down.

2:03 Okay. Genesis chapter 2 is where I want to start. And what I covered a couple weeks ago, I talked about... The A for the ABCs talked about Adam. Adam, God gave Adam an assignment. Say assignment. That's what the A said for it. And I said to the single ladies last week, let me see where the single people are. Where the single people are. I said, don't engage with a man who don't know what his assignment is.

2:44 God should know what his life purpose is. He knows what his life purpose is. He can't figure out what the purpose is for his family. So I said, you should have assignment. I also said, I think I said this last week, I forget what I said because, you know, when you're preaching two and three times, you forget what you said the word service so if I said it already it's okay I'm gonna say it again because I've heard the choir sing that song many times I'm not throwing no shade. I'm just saying if y'all can sing Giants multiple times, I can preach the same sermon multiple times, right? If it's worth saying the first time, it's worth saying again. I also said that the assignment God gave to Adam was to tend and keep the garden. That was his assignment.

3:42 God put him in a garden, told him to tend the garden and keep it. The word tend means to serve it, work it, work the garden. And to keep the garden means to protect it. And I think I told the single ladies, if you date somebody or court somebody, find out, do they know what their assignment is? And while you're finding out whether they have an assignment and know what their assignment is, find out if they are tending to their mama or their mama is tending to them. Yeah, find out whose name the car is in that he's driving. Y'all didn't say, they didn't say nothing on that point. I didn't hear no amen. So this, oh, this is the crowd there. This is the group I got to talk to. That, yeah, I want to know who's paying the insurance on the car.

4:37 Whose name is the car in? Amen. So assignment, somebody say that, assignment. The B in ABC stands for boundaries. That everybody should have boundaries. God gives us boundaries. God gave Adam boundaries. God said to Adam, you can eat from all of these trees, but this tree here in the middle of the garden, leave that one alone. He gave him some boundaries. Everybody should recognize that God gives us limitations and boundaries. And you got to learn to respect and honor those boundaries. In chapter 2, did I tell you I go to Genesis chapter 2? Who did I tell you? Genesis chapter 2, the Lord God commanded the man saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.

5:35 God gave Adam boundaries, and we all have boundaries, restrictions, limitations. And then I talked about a companion. The C in ABCs of family stands for companion, that God wants you to have a companion. It's said in Genesis 2.18. Let me read Genesis 2.18 to you. And the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him. The fact is, God said it's not good for a man to be alone. The word alone means, that word alone means that it's not good for a man to be the chief of a city by himself. and that's an important point because here's what God is saying because right after that he made Eve created Eve and connected them together God recognized that God never intended for a man to run the affairs of the world or of his family by himself and men need to recognize that God never intended for you to make all the decisions by yourself without your spouse's help Thank you.

6:47 Thank all 15 of y'all for that. Amen. That's an important deal because a lot of families, you know, men don't recognize they need the help of their wives. Yeah, I'm appreciative for the help. My wife.

7:09 See, the women are clapping. Some of the women are clapping. My wife makes our home, our house a home. Yeah, I need her and appreciate her, what she brings to the table. She brings a lot to the table. It's a home because of her. I don't, you know, at Christmas time she brings out the Christmas decorations. she dresses the house up and stuff I don't really care about you know I don't care about flowers and you know all this stuff signs and plaques and all of those things appreciate it I do appreciate it.

8:01 It makes the house warm, she says. She's talking to me now. So he's telling me. Now, you know, I think I should talk about this because some, you know, if you don't marry the right person, your life could be jacked up. Can I get an amen from anybody right there? Yes, some of y'all making decisions about who you're marrying based on the wrong things. I'm going to probably talk about that one of these messages, how you determine who you should marry. I believe that God gives direction for your life to give you clarity about who you should be married to. Yeah.

8:53 one of the cornerstone verses of my life is Proverbs 21.1. I have made so much has helped me with Proverbs 21.1. The king's heart is in the hands of the Lord and like the rivers of water, he turns it wherever he wishes. So God used the authorities in my life. That's what the king means. The king is a person in authority. God uses the authorities in my life to give me a sense of direction for my life. and I'm grateful that my parents and the authorities in my life, but in particular I talk about my father. My father helped me discern that Trina was supposed to be my wife. And I'm grateful when he said to me one day, I'm so glad you chose Trina.

9:40 Yeah. And here we are 44 years later. 44 years. and I'm grateful because that he said that because he helped bring clarity because you know I had hundreds of women chasing after me I was having difficulty trying to weed through all of the choices. But sometimes people make choices about who they marry based on the wrong things.

10:17 You should make a determination by who you marry, ladies, not based on what kind of car he drives. And not even how much money he makes. That's the wrong basis for deciding who to marry. and brothers don't make a decision about the woman you owe Murray based on her her booty or her breasts Y'all act like y'all got tension with that point right there. Yeah, you've got to make decisions much better. I'm going to talk about how you decide and what choices you make later, but not today.

11:05 But God wants you to have a companion. Somebody say companion. A helper, somebody to help you. And I think I said this last week too. So my wife brings flavor and life to our family. And she went on the, we had our first women's retreat. She was retreat. She was gone for several days. I had the kids babysitting the kids.

11:37 Ooh, Jesus. When she came back home, I kissed the ground. She was walking on. The first day, I think I said this last week, the first day the kids said, hey, Dad, are we going to eat today? So, Genesis chapter 2. Did I tell y'all that Genesis 2 already?

12:07 Here's what God said to Adam. Verse 16 and 17 of Genesis chapter 2. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat. Verse 16. But of the tree, verse 17, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. Y'all see that in verse 16 and 17. God gives the boundaries to Adam. Gives him clarity. And then in the next verse, he created the woman.

12:47 put Adam to sleep, took a rib out of his side, created the woman, and they were made one. And the next thing we read when we get to chapter 3, can you all go to chapter 3? They're married, and now... we have a problem.

13:10 Because I want to talk about unauthorized voices speaking into your marriage. Can I talk about that for a moment? I want to talk about it because what has destroyed a lot of marriages is you listening to people outside of your marriage and bringing their ideas and their suggestions and listening to them. You let them bring these thoughts into your marriage, into your family. And it's problematic. Somebody say, it is problematic.

13:48 Amen. It's problematic. It's problematic. It's a problem. It is an issue. It's a challenge. In chapter 3, there's a voice. There's the devil, Satan, talking to Eve. Verse 1.

14:11 Now the serpent, verse 1, chapter 3, starting at verse 1. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, has God indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it lest you die. Y'all see that right there? Now that's important. Let me pause for a moment. She clearly knew what God has said to Adam.

14:50 And the reason she knew it is because Adam told her. she was not there when God told Adam she wasn't there so God told Adam and Adam told Eve now that's an important point because what that teaches me and what we ought to learn is that it's the man's responsibility for teaching his family God shows you something you teach it to your family that's important it's very important that men you don't have to be a brilliant person You don't have to be smart. You don't have to be a Bible scholar, but just whatever God communicates to you, whatever God says to you, whatever God speaks to you, shows you, you teach it to your family. You say, well, I don't know. But hey, you don't have to teach what the, what, slow down, pastor, just slow down. I think it's important that when you attend a church like ours, we are teaching the word of God.

15:49 We won't come here and open up a Bible, have you open up a Bible, read a verse, close the book, and don't talk about the Bible no more. Every Sunday, Sunday after Sunday, y'all got a pastor teaching you what the Word of God says in the Bible. Now, what bothers me are these jokers that come to church, don't bring their Bible, don't bring no paper, don't bring no pen, don't even have their phones open and take notes. Now, that's what's irritating. We're trying to give you truth, but you're too arrogant to open up your Bible and take notes. So one day God might want to use you. Go on and preach, Pastor. God want to use you to teach your family. Look at your neighbor and say, you can't handle the truth.

16:35 Yeah. The least you can do is take notes. Maybe you don't need it today, but one day you're going to need what we're telling you here today. Don't depend on your mind, your memory. You can't remember everything. Y'all can't handle the truth up in here, can you? That's the hammer. That's the point for men and women, by the way. Show God that you're paying attention. Show God that you're listening so you can go back and rehearse and reread and learn what it is that God is saying to you. And Eve knew it. She knew what God said. Here's what it says in verse 3. She repeated, you shall not eat it. Matter of fact, she added her own little flavor to it. She says, don't eat nor touch it. Now, when God spoke to Adam, he didn't say don't touch it. He just said don't eat it.

17:28 She added her own point to it, don't touch it, which is okay. It's all right. Even though God didn't say, she know I better not even go near it. Yeah, so she added that to it. And it's okay that she did that. And then verse 4, then the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die. for God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. God didn't really mean what he said that you're going to die.

18:00 God didn't really mean that. That's a big challenge to our families is we reduce the impact of what God is saying. We minimize it. We say it's not a big deal And we're real good at that. Black people are real good at reducing what God said. Somebody say, we reduce what God said.

18:29 Don't do that. Tell your neighbor, don't do that. Satan questions it. Now here what the devil does. He's good at highlighting the pleasures of disobeying God. He minimizes the consequences. She rejected God's command and ate it. She received the instruction from her husband where she didn't listen to it. Her husband told her what God said and she didn't listen to it. And she went on and disregarded it. I'm almost finished. I'm coming to a close. I'm bringing my plane in for landing. I'm just trying to get you clarity. So when the woman saw, verse 6, let me go to verse 6. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

19:25 Now listen to this. She maximized the benefits and minimized the consequences. She said, it's good for food. It's pleasant to the eyes. It'll make me wise. She took of its fruit, and she ate it. And here's the trouble. Here's where I have a challenge. She gave it to her husband. He was right there while the devil was talking to her. And guess what? He didn't say nothing. Men, the worst thing you can do is to know that something's wrong and don't say anything to your family about what they're doing that's wrong.

20:02 Y'all notice how the claps are getting lower and lower and lower. I'm trying to press you. I'm trying to push you. I'm trying to get you to understand that don't do that. Tell your neighbor, don't do that. Tell him on the other side, don't do that. I don't know how Eve communicated with the devil, the serpent. Now, you know, some people believe that the serpent talked out loud with a voice. And some people might believe and think, and I'm not sure which one it is, but maybe the way the devil talks today, the devil talks today by placing thoughts in your mind. how many of y'all have ever heard something in your head and you knew it didn't come from God every voice you have everything you hear in your head didn't come from God sometimes what you hear in your head came from the enemy and so that that enemy's voice made the suggestion the problem I have is Adam was standing right did with her. And he saw her reach for the fruit. He saw her take it off the tree. He saw her bite into it. And he saw her after she ate, give it to him. And he followed right along. Ladies, please use your influence to get your men to do the right thing and not the wrong thing.

21:26 He was standing right there with her and he ate. I wonder how many of you have stood right there and saw your family, your spouse, do something they didn't have no business doing and didn't say nothing.

21:51 I asked a question. Eve was listening to the voice of the enemy and she listened and gave it to her husband and he ate it. And the problem I'm having, and I'm coming to a close. I'm bringing my plane in for a landing. I'm about to stop. I was hoping somebody would say, take your time, but nobody did. I gave y'all space to say it, so nobody said, it is okay. I ain't mad at you. I know it's tough. It's tough to hear the truth sometimes. It's tough to receive it. What should have Adam said? What should he have done? He should have said, what are you doing, girl?

22:30 You know God said, don't eat of that tree, and here you are fooling around. What you doing, girl? You're going to die. You're going to die. But that's not what he did. she gave it to him and he took it the fruit he knew he wasn't supposed to touch and he ate it I'm almost finished, I'm coming in for a landing he should have said you shouldn't have done that he should have said I'm going to have to talk to God about this I'm going to have a conversation and maybe God might give you another chance he should have said you know what I don't want you to die so what I'll do is I'll ask God to let me take your place and I'll die in your stead Can I say to the women in here, don't date no man who's not willing to die for you.

23:36 Thank you. Amen. Are y'all listening to me? Adam didn't do it, but here's what I'm shouting about. Here's what I'm praising God for. Here's where I'm about to leave and give God the praise. Adam didn't do it, but Jesus said, I'll die for you. Y'all ain't hear what I'm saying. He took our place. He came in and said,