A Biblical Family - a Tool in God's Hands (Part 2) — Erlo Stegen

Take this service, Lord, let it be in your hands. Work in a wonderful way, touch every heart. May our meeting together not be in vain, but bring forth much fruit. Amen. So this is the final service in this weekend conference that we've had.

The Biblical Family and Parental Responsibility

And I'd like to continue with the theme of the conference, the biblical family. Which is a tool in God's hands. I'm not going to read the verse, I'm just starting. Because I'm actually going to make reference to many different verses as I speak.

In speaking about the family. It is important for every parent to remember that God will visit their iniquities upon their children, their offspring.

Very often the children have got to bear the consequences of their parents' sin. Never forget that. Up to the third and fourth generation. That should lead every parent, father and mother, to repentance with godly sorrow and strong crying.

Repentance for Secret Sin and Generational Consequences

Say, oh God, please blot out my sin. Don't treat them casually and superficially. You may say, well it causes me a little pain now, it doesn't really trouble me. But it will sting you in later years. When you see those sins in the lives of your children and your grandchildren.

When you see those sins in the lives of your children and your grandchildren.

Therefore parent, be thorough, be serious about every single sin. Turning from it, repenting from it. Lest you sorrow and you are stung as you see it in your offspring in the future. It's good to repent and to thoroughly deal with sin.

Otherwise you'll find that it will come back to haunt you. And when you are exposed before the world as to what you've really been up to, deal with secret sin. So take note of that mother, father, grandfather, grandmother.

Repent thoroughly of your sin, deal with it. Go deep with God in thoroughly parting from your sin. That it would be blotted out. For God has said that he visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the third and fourth generation.

So ask God to remove the consequence, to remove the curse upon your offspring. And to those who love the Lord, God blesses to the thousandth generation. Let me illustrate for you what it means. A certain woman had a baby in hospital.

Now that baby, after birth it was still a few days old, it was crying and shrieking. Right from birth it was crying, it could not be stopped.

The doctor was at a loss, didn't know what to do. The little child doesn't speak. Is it maybe stomach cramps? In his loss he asked for a specialist to come.

The specialist came. Eventually there were four or five doctors encircling the bed of this baby. They were at a loss as to what the cause was of this child crying so.

So they did not know what to do. The entire family was crying. This is the truth.

Then one of the doctors had an idea, he went out to the visitor section and asked if anybody had a cigarette, he got that and could light it and then he blew smoke upon the face of this child, it immediately relaxed, it was at ease and the cause was, it was suffering from withdrawal symptoms of nicotine.

If you smoke as a mother, your child is influenced. Maybe you are promiscuous and you mess around with children, you abuse girls and you will find that as you have children, they will grow up with that multiplied and you will suffer terribly when you see how they are promiscuous.

Sin, Consequences, and the Call to Sanctification

Now we are, we reap today.

Researchers say that children, one in three children are in South Africa has been sexually molested before the age of 10 years.

Just imagine, children under 10 years, every third child has had sex already. Because such a thing, South Africa is a cursed country, but praise God for those that are upright, pure and clean, but a third is ripe for hell.

Seventeen percent of young children, teenagers have spread AIDS already in South Africa.

Seventeen percent of young children, teenagers have spread AIDS already in South Africa.

Sixty-six percent of children under the age of 18 have been sexually involved. That accounts to 15 million people in South Africa, under 18 years, are morally rotten. Don't treat these things lightly.

As sure as there is a God in heaven, you reap what you have sown unless you repent properly and don't confess your sins superficially. Going to the dentist, a tooth is troubling you and he pulls it out.

You think, oh my, thank goodness everything is gone. At night you can't sleep, why? Next day you've got to go back to the dentist. He digs with his fork, oh there's still a root that remained. In your confession, be honest, truthful and confess everything.

Don't withhold a mite or a trace of anything.

Don't withhold a mite or a trace of anything. Don't withhold a mite or a trace of anything.

Don't withhold a mite or a trace of anything. Don't withhold a mite or a trace of anything.

Twelve to fourteen thousand children are born every year with a certain syndrome which makes them, they are born abnormally because of the alcoholism of the parents.

Even your selfishness and your greed, you pass on to your children and they suffer because of it, because of the father and the mother.

Sanctify yourselves, be thorough that the curse would be removed from you and from your offspring, the generations to come.

Family Responsibilities and Spiritual Leadership

That's the first point. Secondly, don't ignore your family responsibilities. Don't ignore your family responsibilities. Don't ignore your family responsibilities.

Now, parents have certain responsibilities which they must fulfill regarding their children.

Spiritual leadership must, must, M-U-S-T, begin at home. Take care of your children. Treat them well.

Use discipline. Use proper discipline at home. Now, you of the Zulu nation, you shouldn't wonder as to what that means, but the problem is you've all lost your culture, you've become like the white man.

In the old Zulu tradition, there was proper discipline, self-discipline, and the men who would go and work far away in the cities, even if they were away for a long time, they knew what it was to be self-controlled.

Today, all that is lost and you find that they will go to prostitutes. Teach, train your children. I can't cover all the territory that we've already looked at in this conference. You need to train your children.

If you cannot lead your children, you cannot lead the church.

The Lord Jesus never denied his responsibilities concerning his own family. His earthly family. His flesh was like our flesh, but his blood wasn't like our blood. His blood was divine. A child doesn't get a drop of blood from the mother, only from the father.

The rest the child gets from the mother. So he had divine blood. He was a true man and a true God. Both in one. It's not difficult to understand. And that's why his blood is called the precious blood.

Precious blood. His flesh was like ours, but not his blood. The life is in the blood. And if he would have had our blood, he'd be a sinner just like you and me.

Christ's Earthly Family and the Duties of Parents

The Lord Jesus never denied his responsibilities concerning his own family. His flesh was like our flesh, but his blood wasn't like our blood. The rest the child gets from the mother. His flesh was like ours, but not his blood.

The rest the child gets from the mother. His flesh was like ours, but not his blood. The rest the child gets from the mother.

His flesh was like ours, but not his blood. It seems that Joseph, the husband of Mary, passed away quite quickly. And that Jesus took up the responsibilities of leadership in the home.

In spite of being the son of God, not Joseph. Not the first Adam. He was the second one. The son of God. He didn't shun his earthly responsibilities. And if we do that, we are worse than the heathen. If you can't take care of your parents and just send them to an old age home.

If you can't take care of your children. You're just like a wild animal. But the animals may be still got a higher standard.

You know the ostrich? That very tall animal, the ostrich? Bird? And when it has young? Now it is said that the baby was walking with its mother, ostrich? Crossing the road. And a car arrived on the scene.

And it so happened that the father ostrich, as it was crossing the road with its young. As this car approached, it stood in its way. It opened its wings and it stopped the car in its tracks. Until the babies were able to cross.

Now just think, that's just an animal looking after its young. Some people are worse than wild animals. Some men just have babies and they don't care about them. They don't look after them. Or they'll take a wife and they don't look after her financially.

They just ignore her. And that is an absolute scandal. It is a shameful thing.

Matthew 15 verse 4.

In Matthew 15 verse 4, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and said, Although you know the scriptures say that you should care for your parents. What you do is, you make light of it. And you use an escape clause.

To say, well actually I need to use my financial assets and that to help the synagogue. And do this and that, instead of caring for them. If you claim that you're supporting the church, or supporting the spreading of the gospel.

But you cannot take care of your own family and of your parents. Well Jesus names you with the Pharisees. If you claim that you are supporting the church or supporting the spreading of the gospel but you cannot take care of your own family and of your parents, well, Jesus names you with the Pharisees.

If you claim that you are supporting the church or supporting the spreading of the gospel but you cannot take care of your own family and of your parents, well, Jesus names you with the Pharisees.

If you claim that you are supporting the church or supporting the spreading of the gospel but you cannot take care of your own family and of your parents, well, Jesus names you with the Pharisees. Is there little bit of money to support the children?

That's the generation of Sodom and Gomorrah. Even on the cross, while hanging there, Jesus thought of his family. He said, mother, this is your son, and son, this is your mother. If we cannot support our families and take care of the financial security of our families, we are just going to be food for the devil.

We are worse than the heathen.

Now, I leave that point and go to another.

The Spiritual Family and the True Meaning of Oneness

Much has been said about the family, but it would be an awful mistake to ignore this point now, which surpasses all others. The spiritual family, that is of greatest importance.

Not just the unity of your earthly family. Not just that a couple are made one flesh.

Being one flesh means nothing. The monkeys in the bush, the cattle on the hills can be one. The great thing is our spiritual relationship, the spiritual family. And an essence of fire, a beautiful couple, one in heart and one in soul, but both were damned.

Herod, and his wife, who he had actually stolen from his brother,.

And her daughter Herodias.

What a beautiful couple. How the daughter was one with her mother, and how they were one with Herod. And when the mother spoke, the daughter was obedient. No matter what she asked, the daughter would do it.

But it was a oneness out of hell. May God grant that your family will never be a deceived family. Will be a family with a hellish oneness. The spiritual family, a family that is spiritual, is of great importance.

If you look at the other side, you miss the whole thing.

Jesus said, I haven't come to bring peace on earth, I've come to bring a sword. Though there are five in a family, I come with my sword, there will be two on one side and three on the other.

I haven't come to bring peace, I've come to bring a separating sword.

So you Christian parents, don't be derailed spiritually. If a child of yours or more of them go off and go in their own direction, Jesus said, I've come to separate.

As long as you're not under one blanket and under one roof with those people. You can only be one with them in spirit and in Christ. A spiritual family. And the Bible teaches us quite clearly that when a person is born again, then he is in God's family.

And so if we pray, we pray our Father. We're not united with those children who are rebellious and living their lifestyle of sin. No, we don't speak of a similar father, we're not in the same family there.

That's why I said to these gentlemen, these fathers here, we are now in one family. We have our earthly fathers, but we have our heavenly father. There is one spiritual family. And so what is of greatest importance is our heavenly father.

Your earthly father, the Bible tells you to honour him.

In that verse, it doesn't say that you must obey him because he might tell you things that you cannot obey. But regarding our heavenly father, we are told not just to honour him, but to obey him.

God says, you honour your father. Honour him, even if he's an alcoholic, a drunkard. But the father in heaven, be obedient and don't obey your earthly father if he tells you something wrong. You say, well God says, I must obey him.

No, rightly divide the word of God. You must honour him, but don't obey him. But the one up there, obey him at all costs.

Your heavenly father, the Bible tells you to honour him. But the father in heaven, be obedient and don't obey him.

Our heavenly father, the Bible tells you to honour him. But the father in heaven, be obedient and don't obey him. But the one up there, obey him at all costs. Your heavenly father, the Bible tells you to honour him.

But the father in heaven, be obedient and don't obey him.

Faith Passed Through Families and the Church as God's Household

You see how he had the faith from his family. His mother was a believer. So Eunice was a Christian Jewess who had married a Greek man. We don't know about his faith, but he certainly got the faith from his mother.

The father in heaven, be obedient and don't obey him. But the father in heaven, be obedient and don't obey him. So, you can say he was a Kölnite as well, he was a mixture, like my children, they mixtures.

I had an English wife. And her father was a Norwegian. They all pastors, but not bad pastors, they hybrids. I hope that they've got the best of every nation. I hope that they've got the best of every nation.

There is only one real family, and that is the Church of Jesus Christ. They are the family of God the Father.

In Ephesians 3 .15, it says that he is the father of all families and of the heavenly family.

In one translation it says, he is the father of all the offspring of God. The family of God consists of his offspring.

His church is his family. If you are born again, repented, forsaken your sin, you remember of the greatest family, where God himself is the father. And we are all the heirs, what a family, the best family.

In one translation it says, he is the father of all the offspring of God, and we are all the heirs, what a family, the best family. When Jesus was told, hey, here's your mother and here are your brothers, he said, what do you mean?

Who are my mothers, who are my brothers? Those who do the will of God.

Are you conscious of the fact that you belong to that family? What does it mean to you? Does your earthly family mean more than that family? That shows where you are, outside. You're not inside, make sure that you belong to the right family.

You belong to that family outside that does know the presence of their heavenly father. And the blissfulness and blessedness of being one with your brothers and sisters, we're born of God. Jesus, in spite of the fact that he cared for his earthly family, his spiritual mother, and spiritual brother was dearer and closer and meant more to him than any carnal bond or fleshly relationship.

That is why Jesus said, he who loves his father or mother or wife more than he loves himself,.

Or children or anyone more than me is not worthy of me.

Maybe it would be good if we stop for a while and pause for a while and give you a chance to weigh your family and the spiritual family. What does mean more to you? What is more precious to you? Maybe you'll be shocked when you see where you stand in reality.

You read Ephesians when you are at home, 3, 15 to 18, 20. You'll marvel at the greatness, the glory, the blessedness of being part of the spiritual family of God.

Ephesians 3, 15 to 18, 20. You'll marvel at the greatness, the glory, the blessedness of being part of the spiritual family of God.

You'll marvel at the greatness, the glory, the blessedness of being part of the spiritual family of God.

Earthly Families and Allegiance to the Heavenly Family

So if you pray the Lord's Prayer, if you say, Our Father, you are including only those who are part of the heavenly family, even your own children. If they're not part of God's family, then they are excluded from the Our Father.

If your child is following the devil, then you should rather be praying, Oh Father, please save my child. Give them repentance because their father is the devil. Oh, how awful it is when parents just assume that their children are Christians.

They treat them as if though they belong to the heavenly Father and secretly the child is living in sin. Maybe having a relationship with their boyfriend, using the cell phone to conduct their relationship.

And you think everything is fine and we are a nation being destroyed. I'm drawing to a close.

Dear father, dear mother, don't be happy with your children because they are one with you. And you've got an intact family, a family that stands together. That means nothing. It can be worth nothing more than a rotten egg.

That which you, that egg that you won't take and put it into the frying pan and enjoy it. The only worth of that egg is give it to the pigs and feed the pigs. Children or a child or a father or a mother who isolates himself from the spiritual family is far away.

And if you parents are happy about your child being one with you, one with the rest of the family, but not one with the church, you are deceived. Maybe just as rotten as your child is. You read Ephesians 3.

Plus minus 18. People who isolate themselves from the church and the spiritual family, cut themselves off from real life, the great love and power of God. According to Ephesians 3, if that letter doesn't lie and if it's true what it says, God promises his great love and power and blessing to his family.

And if you don't want to have anything to do with that family and not having fellowship, I needn't tell you where you are presently and where you'll be in the future. And woe to you if your earthly family means more to you than your spiritual family.

In doing that, you are disqualifying yourself. I can't understand you in English. If you understand that, never forget it. The spiritual family is tens of thousands of times more valuable than the family of doctors.

The spiritual family is worth a thousandfold, ten thousandfold more than the earthly family. And the wonderful thing is we can be part of the heavenly family right here. And not only are we part of the present family, the church of God, but we are part of all those who have passed on who are part who belong to the Lord.

Part of this family is up there. The other part is here and soon will be together. But those that say, no, I can't have fellowship with those, I needn't tell you where that person belongs to. And if you accept it and rejoice because of that, you deceive yourself or a demon or a devil has deceived you.

Be one with those who are members of the heavenly, the spiritual family. And may the bond with those be closer than any earthly bond.

Closing Exhortation to Obey the Word and Bear Spiritual Fruit

He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit says and what the word says. Let's bow our heads and pray. Pray.

Help us, Lord.

Help us, Lord, not just to be those who honor the word or respect the word, but to obey and do what the heavenly father says. That we wouldn't be hurt in any way by a word, but instead rejoice greatly and be delighted at the majesty and the greatness of being part of the heavenly.

Family. Amen. Christians for truth, go and stand for the truth and shout it out to all the world that it will be clear that everyone who heard, hears the sound will understand what you are saying loud and clear that all the world will know the message.

So the Bible speaks about an unclear trumpet call that can be confusing. And some people might.

Not know what does it mean? Is it a call to battle or to lay down arms? And it's confusing. Christians for truth, go out and speak what is clear and let it be something that is truthful, obvious. Let's not just be the chaff of the earth, but have the real thing.

Our message should be crystal clear that even the blind can see it. And those that have got hardened and stiff-necked hearts and necks should be touched by it.

So don't waste any more time from now on, from today, be a true Christian for truth, not one that is just rubbishy.

Redeem the time, the time is short. You can't afford wasting your time. You'll have to give account before God, not only of the words, idle words you have spoken, the deeds you have done, but even your time, how you spent it.

Now may the grace of God be with you all, the grace that is greater than any sin, where sin abounds, much more the grace of God. May you experience that. The love of God be poured out in your heart that you love what he loves and hate what he hates.

And may you know what it means to live with the Holy Spirit in his presence, that his fellowship, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, would be a reality in your life so that he can lead you into all the truth.

And that you won't be a member of Christians for truth, but can't bear children. You can't win others and the next time when you come and God has still kept us, you'll bring somebody along who wasn't here today.

Every woman who can't bear children feels something in the heart. And if you can't bear spiritual children, much more you should be upset by it and cry to God because of it. And if you haven't got earthly children, God has paid you of many things, rejoice.

And the Bible says, many more the children of him or her who didn't bring children into this world, many more. Yes. Bye.