Family Is Essential

How did our country get so upside down? Look at the idea of family. Family has fallen by the wayside in our culture today. God has a high view of family! Family is the vehicle through which God brings heaven to earth!

With a country divided, the Republican risk and morality being redefined, it’s time to gather round the camp fire.
Get back to basics and spark the revival that this country so desperately needs.
This is the American Camp Fire revival with Cook Cameron.
I want us to talk tonight about, About this, uh, we’ve been talking about liberty about self governing followers of Jesus and how important church is and and how important government is, but that those are not the places where power rests, real power rests in the hearts of people like you and me.
And then people of character and faith can then be responsible with the authority vested in churches and state governments.
But how did our country get so upside down?
Well, I think that one place that we ought to look, which should be really helpful, is to look at, look at the idea of family.
Family has, I don’t know, kind of fallen by the wayside when I look at at culture today, and some people have a a view of family that’s, um, pretty low.
And, uh, and and yet god in his word has a very high view of family.
Family is the vehicle through which god brings heaven to earth.
Family is a it’s it’s a hospital for 6 sick people.
It’s a school where we learn how to live and love like Jesus.
The family is a place where we learn about government and law.
The family is like the building blocks of society and culture.
And I think that a lot of the problems that we see in our culture today may stem from the breakdown of the families that we’ve grown up in.
And the further we get away from god’s view of the family, I think the further we get away from our blessings.
And so I want to talk about a view of family that comes out of god’s word And, uh, it is such a glorious picture that the Bible paints of family that some people have never even seen it.
It’s it’s imagine imagine, you know, those who feel like, you know what?
Hey, let’s just, you know, I like you, you like me. Let’s just live together.
What’s the big deal about marriage?
I mean, why get into a contract gonna cause us problems later if we don’t if we this doesn’t work out.
And and and again, this is the ideal view of marriage that I’m about to share with you and the ideal view of family And and some people are like, you know what?
Let’s get together. Hey, let’s have a kid. Let’s have a kid.
In fact, we don’t even have to really be in love. What if we just have a kid?
Because I wanna have a kid and, uh, you know, we can but but family and the traditional view of family, that may or may not be for us.
Whatever your view of family is, whatever my view of family is. Okay.
We’re each entitled to our own views and opinions, but tonight I want to look into God’s word in the Bible, and just paint in full color the Rembrandt photo that are painting that god wants us to see there.
Imagine that that it’s like somebody who’s only seen stick drawings And suddenly, they’re introduced to a rembrandt, uh, Mozart, not Mozart, um, who’s I thinking of Picasso, Monet, painting and they’re like, wow, this is like detailed and in color, and while this is all together different than a stick drawing.
So check this out. In god’s word, uh, in the book of Genesis, that’s the book of beginnings in chapter 2, God tells us this.
He says, for this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and he shall be joined to his wife and the 2 shall become 1 flesh.
That idea of one flesh is is amazing. It packs. It’s packed with so much meaning.
Uh, it check this out. So the the idea is that the first attraction of two people together, uh-uh, like my mother and my father, uh, me and my wife uh attracts us to one another and we become a couple.
And that’s a good thing. And and we want to really just make that permanent and so we become married, and that marriage then becomes the the basis and foundation for the family.
But a family, according to this biblical picture, is much more than just two people coming together who really like each other in a romantic kind of a way.
In a Christian family, the man and the woman make a covenant under god that they will honor one another and they’ll stay together until death.
Think of that. That is a lifelong commitment.
And again, many of us didn’t grow up in homes like this, but this is god’s picture of a man and a woman covenanting together under god.
This is a sacred promise saying we will not leave one another until death.
Think of the of the security and the stability that that would provide if we could live up to that.
That’s the ideal It’s a combination of love and faith.
That’s the cornerstone of the family.
So not just love, romantic love, not just uh, feelings, but also a faith in god and a faithfulness to one another that forms god’s view of the family.
And that the family is the basic idea, the basic place where we get the idea for law and education.
Think about that. The families where we first learn about law and about education.
It’s the first place where children encounter laws and rules of conduct.
And the concept of law is primarily formed in the family.
Think about that kids see their dad laying down the law.
Little toddlers hear their moms laying down the law, and they get their first view and concept of law.
They’re also learning things long before they ever go to a formal school. They’re learning language. They’re learning behavior.
They’re learning all kinds of things in the family that set the stage for their understanding of law and education later on.
And a child’s concept of law learned in the family shapes their attitudes towards other institutions.
How how one reacts towards church and school and the government and and society depends on what the child learns in the family through parental authority.
That makes sense. Right? We’re priming them for the real world. They’re not just little kids. They’re future adults.
And they’re learning their concepts about law and government and education in the future institutions like their college or their uh, being citizens of the nation and how they’re going to react and behave in those kinds of societies.
The family is a child’s first basic school where they learn to be good civil servants and to become productive members of of society.
They learn that there is an order to life in the family And this is called family government.
So government doesn’t start with, uh, Washington, DC or or the state, the government starts with self government.
I’ve gotta govern myself and in the ways that god has made for me to govern myself.
And then there’s family government and children begin to learn that in the home.
The children are to be governed by mom and dad and the parents in this form of family government are also responsible to the children.
So not only our children uh, they have responsibilities to perform for the parents, but the parents have responsibilities to perform perform for the children according to god’s view of this.
Uh, the the mom has unique responsibilities to her husband and to the children, and the father has unique responsibilities to his wife and to his kids.
By protecting them, supporting them, providing them with a good example of leadership and responsibility that leads to a strong family.
That’s leading by example.
Not just do as I say, but not what I do, but follow me as I follow God setting an example for responsibility and leadership, providing the basis for a strong family.
And a child born into the biblical idea of a family has an inheritance, uh, a treasure passed on to them that they can pass from generation to generation that cannot be matched by the government or any other institution taking the family’s place.
Our kids receive a treasure when they’re raised in a home like this that they’re able to pass on to tuition can provide and there’s a reason for that.
Here’s why for a man to be the the head of his family and to gain their respect he must provide for his family and cherish private property.
But you never heard that before. The idea of private property is something to be cherished.
It’s a blessing from god. And if we don’t take care of the things god’s given us and we don’t protect those things, they’ll be stolen away from us and we won’t be able to pass them on to our children and use them to bless others by being generous.
So we cherish his private property.
The head of the this the the government and the welfare system can try to replace the family and sometimes They do, but they are inadequate because they remove the responsibility that family members have toward one another that creates a safe and loving atmosphere that encourages respect for each other that will support and strengthen each member.
You see that? I have responsibilities toward my life and toward my children, and my children have responsibilities to me and to my wife and my wife has unique responsibilities toward her toward her kids and to me.
And because of that, that creates an atmosphere of love and respect and support for one another.
And gratitude, that’s not replaceable. That is an irreplaceable institution.
And again, many of us come from broken homes.
And many of us have not experienced this, but but what a beautiful picture of what it could be what it can be.
I’m gonna keep reading here. The Bible also teaches that god is powerful. He’s strong and mighty in conflict.
Traits that are generally associated with men. Now I understand this isn’t always the case.
Some of us have wives who might be able to whoop us in a wrestling match I don’t know.
Maybe we need to join a gym but the Bible also teaches that god’s uh is also kind and gentle and and relationally focused and sensitive and loving and caring traits that are generally associated with women.
Not exclusively, but you get what I’m saying.
Put man and woman together in a marriage, and now you have the whole that represents the complete attributes of god, strong and powerful and protective and loving and sensitive and kind and relationally based That’s the whole.
And that fits exactly with god what god says in the beginning.
God created man, both male, and female, mankind, male, and female. How beautiful?
What an amazing picture I I I just love this. What do you think of that view of the family?
Many of us didn’t grow up in a home like that and and And and and I wonder how much of that affects our view of government, our our view of school, our view of how we behave as citizens in our nation, what do you think?
How did what kind of family did you grow up in?
Did you grow up with a mom and a dad? Did you grow up with one parent?
Did you grow up with, uh, relatives?
How did that work out and how did that shape your view of rules and government How did it shape your view of learning?
Did it discourage you from learning or did it did it just light your imagination and your love for learning on fire?
Our family structure has so much to do with how we view God and the church.
And some of this may have come to a point where we say, you know, if I could do things all over again, I might like to get a lot closer to that stick that to that to that model.
Well, guess what? God is also the god of new beginnings, and it’s never too late to get in partnership with god and take tiny steps in a new direction.
Whether we’ve got kids or grandkids, uh, or great grand great grandkids, we can partner with God and begin to, uh, build a legacy of faith and blessing by just being there with our kids, listening to our kids, asking them great questions, modeling for them the kind of faith and character that we’d like to see in them, staying in relationship with them and pointing them to the truth of their maker and their savior.
Continue to pray for each other. Lots to pray about.
And, uh, I will be praying for you as well. God bless you.
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If you’d like to learn more and join the Movement, visit kirkcameron.com.