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Hope for the Dysfunctional Family Series
Prov. 15:6 In the house of
the righteous is much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble.
Proverbs 21:12 The righteous man wisely considereth the
house of the wicked:
but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness.
Part 1
Intro: In our
text, we see that our house can be filled with either treasure or trouble.
·
The word treasure in verse 6 means strength and
riches.
·
The word “revenues” means outcome or final
product.
·
The word “trouble” means a stirring up or
disturbance; a calamity
·
The word “wicked” means “guilty of a sin”
The home is under attack.
But it has always been under attack.
The very first home was busted up by Satan and became
dysfunctional.
I think it would be safe to say that the large percentage of
families are dysfunctional.
When we think of dysfunctional families, we automatically think
of the many serious problems that plague families today.
1. Divorce
- In America,
there is one divorce approximately every 36 seconds.
- That’s 100
divorces per hour.
- That's nearly
2,400 divorces per day, 16,800 divorces per week and 876,000 divorces a
year.
- The average
length of a marriage that ends in divorce is eight years.
- The divorce rate
in America for first marriage is 41%
- The divorce rate
in America for second marriage is 60%
- The divorce rate
in America for third marriage is 73%
- Roughly 50% of
marriages end in divorce, but that number is off because so many people
live together and are not married.
2. Addictions
·
Nearly 24% of Americans are struggling with an
addiction problem.
·
Illegal drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol,
tobacco (1 out of 5 deaths in America are related to tobacco), gambling,
pornography, etc. are destroying marriages and families.
However, though these elements definitely do an enormous
amount of damage to the family, there are many homes that have not experienced
these elements that are dysfunctional.
DEFINITION OF
DYSFUNCTIONAL: not performing normally, as an organ or structure of the
body; malfunctioning.
ANOTHER DEFINITION:
the condition of having poor and unhealthy behaviors and attitudes within a
group of people
Bottom Line:
Satan hates anything that God builds.
His desire is to destroy anything that God does.
If he can’t destroy it, he will pervert it and use it to
further his own agenda.
All he has to do is cause us to disobey God’s plan for the
home, and it will become dysfunctional.
I. The Origin of
the Family
Let’s be clear about one thing: God created the first
family.
Experts today are falling all over themselves to define
marriage and the family.
They cannot re-define what God has already defined.
They can’t re-create something that God has already created.
The Federal Government did not create the family.
The Supreme Court did not create the family.
Hollywood did not create the family.
The talk shows did not create the family.
Lobbyist and lawyers did not create the family.
Evolution did not create the family.
God Almighty created the first family, and He gets to define
what makes a marriage and a family!
·
Genesis
2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one
flesh.
Since God created the family, He knows how it should
operate.
If we second-guess His Divine structure for the home, we
will spiral into a dysfunctional state.
If we know His plan, but devise our own plan, we will spiral
into a dysfunctional state.
If we think we can ignore the counsel of Scripture, we will
spiral into a dysfunctional state.
If we rebel and willingly go about it our own way, we will
spiral into a dysfunctional state.
If we get lazy and neglect these basic guidelines, we will
spiral into a dysfunctional state.
