I have a question for you….
Imagine it with me: You are home and your house and there is a big fire… Everything is burning and you only have 1 minute to leave the house.
What would you take with you?
You have so many things… Your Laptop, fridge, money, your phone, microwave, your new 50 inches TV, video game… All the clothes that you love so much…
You only have 1 minute… what should you take with you?
Come on… Quick! The house is burning down… you have no time left…
What is your choice?
If your answer is: I’d take my family, you’re on the right path…
If you thought of saving your kids, wife, husband…. you areon the right path because today the title of our message is:
PROTECT YOUR FAMILY
Now a days people are finding more pleasure in material things, in their careers or hobbies than their own family!
The bible is full of examples of families that were good and families that were evil…
And today, I’d like to read a passage that teaches us a great lesson about Family!
My desire is that by the end of this message, you’ll be loving your family again, giving your life for them and protecting them from this evil world. Amen?!
Let’s read 1 Samuel 30:1-4
“David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way. When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep.”
David and his soldiers were living in Ziklag!
Say with me: Ziklag. You will understand the of it meaning later…
David was living there with his family, but one day David left His family in Ziklag and he went off to fight a war. While he was trying to plan a war agains the enemy, the bible says that the Amalekites went down and attacked Ziklag. As they had no soldiers there, they destroyed the city with fire and took all wives and children as captive.
When David arrived in Ziklag, he saw the fire, everything burned to the ground and his family was had been taken captive…
Family is a blessing from God
After your salvation, family is the most important thing we’ll ever have here on earth! Family!
You can have friends, they are special, they bring joy to you, but one day they go away….
You can have a job, you can make a good amount of money there, but one day the company will close… or you’ll get fired or retire…
You can have a beautiful house, you may be very happy there, but one day it’ll need maintenance and you might think: it’s better to simply move to a new house….
But family is forever! Wife, husband, children… They are forever… They are with you on your good days, your bad days… You can learn so much from them, you can teach them the way of heaven…
Other things may change us, but we all start and end with a family.
Friends move away, jobs change, but family remains forever… Amen?!
The bible says, that if you fear the Lord, you will be happy with your family.
“Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine Within the innermost part of your house; Your children will be like olive plants Around your table. Behold, for so shall the man be blessed and divinely favoured Who fears the Lord [and worships Him with obedience].” Psalms 128:3-4
Blessed family!
But in the story we see that David forgot about the protection of his own family…
He was so worried about the war that he forgot to save his family.
And what a lesson we have here…
Family is more important than everything else in this life
Today , we can see many people changing things…
They are making war against the enemy but losing their families…
They are taking care of others, giving so much time to people and friends, but they have no time for their families…
They spend 8 hours working, but they cannot spend 2 hours per day with their families…
How many people are good business men, they are successful men but their own families are a failure…
Even in the Church of God, how many leaders, Pastors have a nice Ministry, they are good preachers, but their family are destroyed, their marriage are failing…
Why?
Because they are making war, working, investing a lot of time in other things rather than their own family! It’s dangerous!
David didn’t take care of his family. He was too excited to make war, to work for God, that he forgot about his family, and it’s a risk…
The bible says:
“If anyone fails to provide for his own, and especially for those of his own family, he has denied the faith [by disregarding its precepts] and is worse than an unbeliever [who fulfills his obligation in these matters].” 1 Timothy 5:8
You are denying the faith if you are not taking care of your family!
So, today, I want to remind you that if you are a human, you have a family.
If you are a husband, you have wife
If you are a wife, you have husband
If you are a parent, you have children
If you are someone’s child, you have parents.
God gave you treasures. Your family is special. Take care of them, amen?!
So, David came back to Ziklag and when he arrived there, he found everything destroyed and burned down by his enemy. And, his family had been taken captive. David and his soldiers wept until they had no strength to weep more. It was so frustrating to find Ziklag destroyed, and their families gone. Oh My God, I can not imagine what they must have felt…
They cried a lot. And it was good because they realised what they had done… They left their town unprotected. They didn’t think about their families.. they were soldiers, and soldiers should think about this stuff, but they didn’t. But this feeling of desperation was good, because few minutes after, they started coming up with a plan to get their families back.
Look at what they did after crying:
“David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.” 1 Samuel 30:6
First, the men cried for their families, and later, they found someone to blame: David.
DO NOT BLAME OTHERS FOR THE WORK YOU MUST DO!
We always find someone to blame when things go wrong in our family. But this guilty one is never ourselves… It’s always someone else…
It’s so easy to deal with things like that…
It’s your problem…not mine.
So, if my kid has difficulties in school, we say: I think they should change this teacher. She is not a good teacher;
If my kid gets into a fight with someone, I think to myself: Where is that child’s father? My child is an Angel… They would never do anything like this..
If my married is not going well, it’s the Pastor fault. He didn’t teach me well enough…
If my kids don’t want to go to Church, it’s the Church’s fault. They don’t feel well there… the environment, the people…
Come on… we must accept the blame! We have to take the blame and say it out: it’s my fault if my family is not at Jesus’ feet!
Don’t be proud!
Take the blame and get moving! Do something to change the situation!
David’s men chose to blame him… But it’s wrong…
But what did David do?
…But David found strength in the Lord his God.” 1 Samuel 30:6 b
Today, I invite you to take the blame, present it to God, find strength in the Lord and do something to save your family!
Do not accept the way your family is going…
Find strength in the Lord, your God. Amen?!
When Davi found strength in the Lord he ran to take his family back., and look what the bible says:
“David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back.”1 Samuel 30:17-19
Now, we have a practical things to learn here.
David fought, he recovered everything the enemy had taken, he brought his family back. He brought everything back.
PROTECT YOUR FAMILY
Protect your Ziklag!
Ziklag here means your house, your whole family!
Protect them! Learn it from David. He made a mistake, he accepted the blame, and he ran to fix his mistakes, to bring his family back.
So, Now I want to talk to the parents!
Protect your family: Be a parents
Parents, there is some things you need to do.
You are a father, you are a mom, so this is your role.
You have to protect your children. You are the one that sets the limits, you must tell them what they need to do, what do YES, NO and ENOUGH mean! Kids that grow up without parents, they have no limits, they don’t know what is good or evil… You are the one who must tell them: Go, stay, yes, no, enough!
And beware:
If you are not a strong enough parent, the world will teach them.
If you are not a good influence, someone else will take your place!
Someone else will lead them to wrong things, even the technology will do your role, and it’s dangerous!
You don’t want that for your kid, be the real parent they need.
Because today, many parents are giving a gun over to their kids.
What does a gun bring? Destruction.
A child is not the right person to have a gun, because they can not manage it.
But today they have guns.
A gun called Phone, Internet, Social Media, Tiktok.
Many kids are dying because of this powerful gun called: the Internet!
You probably don’t know, but Satan is using bad people to put many ads between cartoons and movies for kids, and these ads lead them to homosexual and sexual contents.
Did you know that?
But, Paulo, I am supervising my kids, I know what they are watching. That is good, but not enough.
Between one video and the next, they can see bad jokes, porn, sexual stuff… it’s serious Church!
One research says: Did you know that never in human history has there been such a sharp decline in cognitive abilities? Did you know that just thirty minutes a day in front of a screen is enough for a child’s intellectual development to start to be affected?
Contrary to what the press and the technology industry tend to say, the use of screens, far from helping the development of children and students, causes serious harm to the health of the body (obesity, cardiovascular problems, reduced life expectancy), to the state emotional (aggressiveness, depression, risk behaviours) and intellectual development (impoverished language, difficulty concentrating and memory).
30 minutes can affected the kids intellectual development
Do you know what’s the average time of a teenager on a phone?
5 hours a day.
30 minutes affect their intellectual development…. can you imagine what 5 hours a day can do?
What are they are watching?
What they are feeding their minds with? Their souls?
There are so many children with depression, in sadness…. This is The reason… Too much screen. Take them off the screens.
You don’t need to take it to zero. But control it..
Put a limit. 30 minutes, 1h per day is enough and during this time you have to check what they are watching..
One day,I saw a child from Church using an App calls Omigo, an app for adults to have friends, and do you what happened? This child swipes and there was a man without his pants… Yes, on a screen with a child behind it.
Protect your family: Check their phones and reduce their screen time!
So, I invite you to take the phones from your kids, your teenager, your youth and have a look. Check it.
Forget what the world says: you are not disrespecting their privacy. Privacy? Inside of my home? No, you are protecting your kid!
I challenge you to take your kid’s phone and have a look. You be shocked!
Even YouTube for babies, you can not trust it anymore. You put a playlist, and then in between you will watch a immoral ad trying to get into your kids head.
Church, protect you kid!
This is your role! You are a protector, a guardian of this great treasure that God gave you: Your family!
Protect your family: Bring them to the Church!
You tell me that your kid doesn’t want to come to church, to kids ministry, to youth ministry and you say: That’s fine! It’s your choice! Why?
So, they can choose not to go to Church, but when they don’t want to go to school, you force them to go… When they have appointments, they also have to go.. So, why can they choose if they want to come to church or not?
It’s wrong! Don’t forget this. You have the role to show them the way, to lead them on the right path, to take their hands and bring them to Church. You are the father! You are the mom! It’s your role! Show them the way.
The bible says:
“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6
“These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Deuteronomy 6:6-7
Protect your family: Have a Church at home!
Impress them
Devotional time every day
Talk about the commandments when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, get up… Everyday.
Have a time for your family every day. Sit around the table before you go to bed, or in the morning, before school, pray together, read the bible together, and you will see your family been blessed by God and protected by Jesus. Amen?!
Family is a blessing from God
Family is more important than everything on earth
Do not blame others for the work you must do
Protect your family, be a parent!
If you are not a good leader for your kid, the world will take your place.
Protect your family, check their phone and reduce their screen time
Protect your family: bring them to Church
Protect your family: Have a Church at home
Challenge 1: send a message of love to your relatives right now.
Challenge 2: Pray now with your family. They are here. You are their leader; they need you. Hug them and pray for them… Protect them with prayers and help teach them how to navigate this world.