Thank you for being here today! We call this “Holding down the Fort” while many in our church are up at Franklin Lake having a campground service.
And thank you for the gift of time you gave us last week as we enjoyed a time away in Door County. Last week Lori, Luke, and I attended a church service on our campground where the speaker encouraged me to think about living life focusing on 7 F’s. Faith, Family, Friends, Finances, Food, Fitness, and Fun. I thought I would share some more thoughts on each of these with you today as we start saying goodbye to summer and begin to head into our fall season and routines.
First, let’s start with …Faith. Faith is involved in all of mine and Lori’s decisions about the other F’s of family, friends, finances, food, fitness and fun. We should never forget that Hebrew 11:6 reminds us that “Without faith it is impossible to please Him,” If I would say it this way, we need to find ways to faithfully live our life in a way that is pleasing to God.
A 10 year old boy was riding a city bus home from church one Sunday afternoon very proud of a card he was given. It was a picture with a caption on it that read “Have Faith in God.” As the bus was going down the street the card flew out the window. The boy cried out to the driver “Stop the bus I’ve lost my faith in God!” The surprised driver pulled over to let the boy retrieve his card. One rider commented on how cute his innocence was. Another person said “We all should be more concerned about our faith.” Are you concerned about your faith? Do others see your faith?
All throughout Scripture we see people’s faith in God guiding them through the realities of earthly life, sometimes joyfully, sometimes desperately.
In fact, faith should be seen in every believer’s daily life. When people see you, they should see your faith. Faith should be consistent. It should not be fair weather. Faith should be strong even when it is not convenient.
As an ambassador for Jesus Christ, people should see your faithfulness when you walk, and talk, and in your actions especially thru adversity. Adversities come to each and every one of us. How we handle our troubles, reflects our real faith in God. We all have troubles in our lives when our faith could be challenged. We need to pray that God will help us during these times. Since God sent His son to die for our sins then we should believe that He will bring us thru whatever comes our way. Our faith should be seen as a witness for Christ.
The next time we read through the hall of faith in Hebrews chapter 11 remember that they are examples, because of the fact that each person came through a great trial, but found God faithful to be trusted and they moved forward.
So, if Faith is the very foundation of life, we are then exhorted in 2 Peter 1:1-11, to have our faith become the cornerstone of all we do. Turn in your Bible and to this passage and let’s read it.
Family,
So, moving into the next F, Family.
On the first night of a family camp, the camp director informed the families of the schedule for the week. When finished, he asked if anyone else had anything to say. A young girl stood up and made a passionate appeal for help. She shared about her little brother—a boy with special needs—and how he could be a challenge to care for. She talked about how tiring this was for her family, and she asked everyone there to help them keep an eye on him during the week. It was an appeal born out of genuine concern for her brother and her parents. As the week went on, it was great to see people pitching in to help this family.
Her appeal was a gentle reminder of how easily we can all get wrapped up in our own world, life, and problems—to the point that we fail to see the needs of others in our family. Here’s how Paul described our responsibility: “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4). The next verse reminds us that this is part of the example of Christ: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
Our caring displays a Christ-like concern for each member of our family. May we rest in God’s grace, trusting Him to enable us to serve others in our family, in our home.
Our definition of love is “doing what is best for the other person.”
Let’s read Ephesians 5:21-6:4. Jesus told us to love Him by our obedience. So as we make our plans for our families, let’s resolve to keep our family faithful to God and help others to do the same, by following the pattern in Scripture.
Friends,
It’s been said that a true friend, is someone who knows all about you, but loves you anyway!! This is the idea found in Proverbs 17:17 “A friends loves at all times”
John Chrysostom (347–407) was one of the great preachers in the early church. He was given the name Chrysostom, which means “golden-mouthed,” because of his eloquent sermons.
Here is one of his insights on the value of friends: “Such is friendship, that through it, we love places and seasons; for as . . . flowers drop their sweet leaves on the ground around them, so friends impart favor even to the places where they dwell. With friends even poverty is pleasant. . . . It would be better for us that the sun were exhausted, than that we should be without friends.”
God has designed us to be relational and to have Christian fellowship and good friends. He made us for companionship and good friends can be one of life’s greatest sources of love, healing, joy and encouragement!” Consider Proverbs 27:9 that says “A Sweet Friendship refreshes the soul.”
Spend some time refocusing on this part of your life and try to be the kind of friend in Proverbs 18:24 “A man who has friends must himself be friendly and there is a man that sticks closer than a brother.”
Living our lives hurting others around us is never worth the cost. I like the phase that says “live each day so you don’t have to pay for yesterday.”
Finances;
The Scriptures have a lot to say about this subject. Over 2,000 verses relate to our financial lives.
Here are just a few that sum up what should be our focus:
Proverbs 3:9 “Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the first-fruits of all your increase;”
Philippians 4:19 “And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus”
I Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Proverbs 30:7-9 Two things I request of You (Deprive me not before I die): Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches — Feed me with the food allotted to me; Lest I be full and deny You, And say, “Who is the LORD?” Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God.
So our finances should always reflect our faith, by obedience to God’s principles and realizing where the balance is. We all need money to live, but the love for money will lead people astray.
Food and Fitness,
We will put these two into the same category, since they both lead us to honor God with our bodies like we find in I Corinthians 6:19-20. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
A friend of mine is an Olympic gold medalist. He often is asked to speak at banquets. He found that he speaks to them about his training and conditioning as an athlete, but then he is surprised that the food served is not the heathiest for your body. For example one time he spoke at a father son event and they served hot dogs as a main course.
Spend some time learning to enjoy these two areas of your life. God definitely made food for us to enjoy!
Aren’t you glad that He chose to make this so pleasurable? We could eat manna or one particular food all our life, but we have an endless variety to choose from.
We noticed this week that Trig’s is introducing a new hot pepper called the hatch pepper…. So maybe we will try it! We all need to be truly thankful one bite at a time and then we will find ourselves satisfied with less. Because God has given us so much enjoyment and variety in the foods we eat, we sometimes find more satisfaction in our meals, than in God Himself. Throughout Scripture God has reminded us that He is the ultimate satisfaction for the human soul.
Psalm 63:1-5 A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah. O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
Our goal for our body is to glorify God in all that we do as we find in
1 Corinthians 10:31 “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
So together we can all focus on being more healthy, so we can do more for God!
FUN;
God’s not against fun, but He is against disobedience (sin)… so make sure that your fun doesn’t come at the price of doing what’s right.
Proverbs 17:22 says “a cheerful heart is good medicine!” So make sure you plan time in your schedule for fun and for rest. Since Creation Week, God has taught that a scheduled, consistent period of rest is a good thing. He stopped and let His newly-formed creation rest. An example was set forth as to the way man should live: balancing work and rest.
A doctor told one of his patients, “I’m afraid you only have three weeks to live.”
“Okay then,” the patient replied, “I’ll take the last two weeks of July and the week between Christmas and New Year’s.” (Van Morris, Mt. Washington, Kentucky; www.PreachingToday.com)
Most people want to have the time of their lives in the time God gives them. The question is how? How can you really live? How can you enjoy a full life? I suggest focusing on the 7 fs of life and on God’s will for your life 24/7. Bring them in line with…
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”
Colossians 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men; knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”