Sermon Notes (Family Vacation: the Road So Far )

Sermon Notes (Family Vacation: The Road So Far…)

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

4“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Dt 6:1–9). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Irony – Irony is when the minister leaves for a family vacation in the middle of a series titled ‘family vacation’, only to return next Sunday and finish the series ‘family vacation’ while probably bringing up details about this current family vacation.
This week on “Family Vacation” we are going to be dealing with ‘The Road So Far…’ and that means we are going to be talking about the actual traveling, the journey, the car ride across the U.S. Mark talked last week about some Do’s and Do not’s before we go, and this week we are talking about the actual travel to get to where we are going.
Point One: LISTEN to the GPS!
Moses lays out the map in vv. 1-6
In vv. 1-3 he is stressing how important what he is about to tell them is. YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS BECAUSE THIS IS GOING TO BE A BUILDING BLOCK WHEN REACHING THE PROMISED LAND.
Moses and the Israelites were on a journey as well. A little less of a family vacation, but a journey nonetheless.
Longer, more ups and downs than your average family vacation probably.
All the Israelites are getting the directions in this passage. Moses is trying to make it so obvious, that there can be no confusion. He is typing in the right destination on the GPS and handing it to them, then he hands them a map with the correct route highlighted with a big, bold yellow highlighter, then he gives them the best compass that you can have. They have all the tools to reach their destination smoothly. Are you doing that with your family? He is saying to all of them, “THESE ARE THE DIRECTIONS. FOLLOW THEM TO GET THERE. THIS IS FUNDAMENTAL. THIS IS THE GUIDANCE FOR YOU SPIRITUAL LIFE.” And ultimately for us, for us, our GPS and our guidance, our map with the highlighted route on it, is Scripture.
Psalm 119:105 says this about Scripture: “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (ESV)
Scripture is our GPS. It is lighting up the path and our feet so we can see where we are going, even in a world of darkness.
So, if you have a light to look at your feet and the path you are on, why not use it?
If you have a flashlight, and you are walking but you keep it straight ahead, at eye-level, you will see the things that are far off, but nothing right in front of you. Why is scripture lighting in our path and our feet? Because it is not only showing us where we are walking and going, but it is also showing us the road ahead as well.
Going back to Scripture being our guidance and GPS, if you don’t read it and know it, you are going to be unfamiliar with it. And if you are unfamiliar with it, you may be making the wrong turns.
If you are making wrong turns, you may end up going to a different destination.
YOU CANNOT EXPECT TO GET TO THE DESTINATION BY DOING THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT THE GPS IS SAYING.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 is the GPS Moses is laying out for the Israelites. It is a pretty all-encompassing direction, but it is a good one nonetheless because it is one that will impact your relationship with God and with others.
If you love the Lord with all your heart, His love will pour into you and through you. You will have a compassion for the widow, the sick, the needy, and the lost.
If you love the Lord with all your soul, you will desire to study Scripture, to pray, to be in here in church to learn more and to fellowship with other believers.
If you love the Lord with all your might, you will be called to action. You will go out and do something (just because it says ‘might’ doesn’t mean you should go curl 300 pounds (“you’re not superman ya know” – Aunt May in Spiderman with Tobey McGuire I believe) but that might means that you will go out and have a call to action, a physical expression of how much you are will to give to God.
That is some pretty heavy and convicting stuff.
That leads us to the next point: YOU are on a PATH.
If you are on a path, your vehicle is on a path.
Vehicles have passengers!
Family
Friends
Think of who is in your vehicle in your life.
You are setting an example for the ride for the others that are in the vehicle with you, and other families that are driving by.
Think about little children who have learned to talk. A lot of the time, they will be repeating things they have heard somewhere.
What do you want for Christmas?
Since you are on a path, what kind of path have you led your vehicle down?
That question will set the tone for where your family vacation will go.
Determining the path you are on, will determine your destination.
It is going to be fairly easy to get to South Carolina on 77 South, but it is going to be impossible for me to get to California on 77 South. Finding out that I am on 77 South is key to figuring out where I am going. The same goes for your Spiritual journal, determining what path/road you are on, will determine if you will grow, and where you will go.
Let’s look at vv. 6-9
6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
What words should be on our hearts? What words should we teach to our children? What words should be constantly talked about in our houses and seen through our houses, our discussion?
The words he told in vv.4-5.
That is part of our path.
Now we are going to talk a little bit about ‘Frontlets’ and what Moses is referring to here:
Frontlet (Holman Bible Dictionary) – “Objects containing Scripture passages worn on the forehand and between the eyes, primarily at prayer times. Jews followed scriptural commands, literally, writing Exodus 13:1-16, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 11:13-21 on small scrolls, placing these in leather containers on their forehead and left arm. By NT times, the frontlets were known as phylacteries. Jewish men wore phylacteries during prayer times, except on the Sabbath and feast days. Phylacteries were bound with straps to the forehead, though some were worn on the upper arm so when a person crossed his arms the Scripture would be close to his heart.”
So why say that? What do ‘frontlets’ and ‘phylactery’ have to do with this?
It all goes back to you living out verse 4, and that it is you through and through. Because whatever path you are on, and whatever example you are setting, is the one your family sees and reproduces. Check out this video. (WARNING: this video is very emotional, and I did cry when I first watched it, and it really takes a lot for me to cry.)
In the video, the father set an example for the son, and the son remembered that and reproduced that for his son. THE EXAMPLE YOU SET IS WHAT YOU WILL GET.
For a ‘family vacation’, wouldn’t you want your whole family with you?
I know sometimes you think about how annoying the kids can be at times, and trust me it goes both ways, but in the end, when you are gone on a vacation and someone isn’t there, you miss them. Now, will we be able to miss people or know they aren’t there when we get to heaven is not the question or topic right now, but wouldn’t you want all the members of your family that you could get there to be there?
I think the first thing you must do is get them in the car (or drive the car by). By that I mean you show them the example and tell them about what God has gotten you through.
For someone else’s heart to change or want to change you have to show them that you have been changed!
Someone is not going to be interested in someone who is coming to church on Sunday morning, but you were at the bar on Saturday evening.
If you set the example, show them that you have changed by your actions and lifestyle, showing that you are authentic, they will be more interested than someone who goes through the motions and isn’t that much different from their own lifestyle they are already living, except that you go and sleep through a service on Sunday mornings.
I feel like this is what it would feel like to forget someone for your family vacation.
Speaking of which, I also think this was what it was like when Jesus’ family left him at the temple in Luke 2)
Don’t SLEEP through the RIDE.
I sleep on a lot of vacation trips because it makes the travel time shorter (or I bring something to do to not focus on it)
But that is something that I don’t want you to do for your family vacation. Pay attention to what is going on, pay attention to who is in the car, pay attention to the turns you are taking and the path you are on. Because if you pay attention, and you miss a turn or you take the wrong one, you can correct it and get back on the right track.
If you are preoccupied (you let things like work, nights out, get in the way of your spiritual life and your family life, you are going to be far less likely to see where you are going because you are not looking at the road. Whatever you are preoccupied with is now driving, and you don’t know where you are going because you are staring at what is in the driver’s seat.
Really think about the example you want to set for your family (children and grand-children)
Worship class this past Spring
Connection Card
Be the example for your family (and to do that doesn’t mean you must be the oldest, the father, the mother. Reach out to others, appeal to their care for you (don’t hold it over them), but invite them with you, and sometimes that’s all it takes. Hey, do you want to come with me this morning? Or maybe introduce them to our messages online or through iTunes, get them listening, get them interested, then get them here.
June is decision month
Closing prayer