Missiology

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Family
Family A Dire Warning
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Family A Dire Warning
Statistics Canada March 9, 2005

• The divorce rate in Canada rose year after year
  to 38.3 per cent of couples who have been married
  for less than thirty years. The peak divorce
  period occurs within the first three years of
  marriage.

Family A Dire Warning
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Family A Dire Warning
Divorce Law and Divorce Rate (2006)

• New empirical research reviewing divorce rates
  between 1995 to 2006 indicate that new no-fault
  or uncontested divorce laws have boosted divorce
  rates by at least 10 per cent in the last 5 years.

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Family A Dire Warning
CBC News Sept 12, 2007

• About one out of every four families with
  children in the Toronto region is headed by only
  one parent, according to 2006 census information
  that shows the continued decline of the nuclear
  family across Canada

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Family A Dire Warning
Family A Dire Warning
CBC News Sept 12, 2007

• In the Metropolitan area of Toronto 24.0 per cent
  of families with children are headed by a single
  parent, more than 80 per cent of whom are women.

Why?
The warning, if we care to hear it, is that the
Family as a basic unit of our social structure is
in serious trouble.
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Family A Dire Warning

• Because, the Family is more than just a social
  way of defining a people
• It is Gods way of defining humanity from the day
  of Creation.

The warning, if we care to hear it, is that the
Family as a basic unit of our social structure is
in serious trouble.
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Family A Dire Warning

• (Gen 127-31) So God created man in His own
  image, in the image of God He created Him male
  and female He created them. God blessed them and
  said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number

It is Gods way of defining humanity from the day
of Creation.
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Family A Dire Warning

• (Gen 127-31) God saw all that He had made, and
  it was very good. And there was evening, and
  there was morning--the sixth day.

It is Gods way of defining humanity from the day
of Creation.
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Family A Dire Warning

• Notice that Family is defined from the day of
  Creation as

And from the Garden of Eden to Courtrooms of our
Nation,
It is Gods way of defining humanity from the day
of Creation.
Are you wise to the warning?
it has always been Satans plan to rob humanity
by destroying Gods design and negating Gods
blessing
The Covenantal Blessing
God-designed and God-blessed
through the spiritual war he wages against the
Family
In essence, the Family is more than a social
unit it is a spiritual entity.
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The Covenantal Blessing

• When Adam and Eve gave in to the war against
  their soul, the Family fell apart.
• Brother killed brother
• Polygamy crept into marriages

The Covenantal Blessing
Children were born from illegitimate unions
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The Covenantal Blessing

• Then God intervened
• (Gen 121-3) The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave
  your country, your people and your father's
  household and go to the land I will show you

people
Hb. mowledeth
FAMILY - people of your birth
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The Covenantal Blessing

• Then God intervened
• (Gen 121-3) I will make you into a great
  nation and I will bless you I will make your
  name great, and you will be a blessing

Hb. mowledeth
people
FAMILY - people of your birth
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The Covenantal Blessing

• Then God intervened
• (Gen 121-3) I will bless those who bless you,
  and whoever curses you I will curse and all
  peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

peoples
Hb. mowledeth
Hb. mishpachah
people
FAMILY - people of your birth
FAMILY - a circle of people you call your own
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The Covenantal Blessing

• Then God intervened

by restating Family no longer as people related
by blood, but people who are related by an
intentional desire to include each other in a
circle called love
peoples
Hb. mishpachah
FAMILY - a circle of people you call your own
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The Covenantal Blessing

• Then God intervened

by restating Family no longer as people related
by blood, but people who are related by an
intentional desire to include each other in a
circle called love
(Psa 685-6) A Father to the fatherless, a
Defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling
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The Covenantal Blessing

• Then God intervened

by restating Family no longer as people related
by blood, but people who are related by an
intentional desire to include each other in a
circle called love
(Psa 685-6) God sets the lonely in families,
He leads forth the prisoners with singing.
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The Covenantal Blessing

• Then God intervened

by restating Family no longer as people related
by blood, but people who are related by an
intentional desire to include each other in a
circle called love
(John 111-13) He came to that which was His
own, but His own did not receive Him
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The Covenantal Blessing

• Then God intervened

by restating Family no longer as people related
by blood, but people who are related by an
intentional desire to include each other in a
circle called love
(John 111-13) Yet to all who received Him, to
those who believed in His name, He gave the right
to become children of God
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The Covenantal Blessing

• Then God intervened

by restating Family no longer as people related
by blood, but people who are related by an
intentional desire to include each other in a
circle called love
Notice that God defines Family not by blood ties
or by human agency, but by Covenant.
Whats your Family like?
(John 111-13) children born not of natural
descent, nor of human decision or a husband's
will, but born of God.
True Family, Family that lasts, is Family that is
built on a Covenant of love that originates from
the heart of God.
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The Covenantal Blessing

• If Family is Gods Design, then Family has to
  start with God in
• the priorities of our Family
• the activities of our Family
• the instruction in our Family

Getting It Right
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Getting It Right

• 2. If Family is Gods Blessing, then Family must
  focus on godliness in
• the language of our Family
• the attitudes of our Family
• the friends of our Family

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Getting It Right

• If Family is a Covenant, then Family must
  maintain
• a deep honour towards each other
• a quick forgiveness in times of hurt
• an ethic of kindness in all we do

Are We
?