With Words for Families Today, Dr. Michael Youssef. Believing moms and dads. Listen to me. Your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of your family.
Should be the kind of faith that never gives up, the kind of faith that never doubts God's promises, the kind of faith that would not be deterred by the circumstances. It should be the kind of faith that would insist on taking God at His word. Do you Thank you for taking time to listen to Dr. Michael Youssef and leading the way. When the kids are young, it's relatively easy to get the family to church.
But as they mature into young adults, Battles often take shape, and that is when parents' prayers become even more intense and necessary, crying out on behalf of the entire family. Today, I'm leading the way, a look at the significance of prayer for your household. Want to learn more about Dr. Youssef or leading the way? Make note of this website.
ltw.org Or put this number in your phone that way you can speak with a ministry representative any time. 866. 626 Four three five six. Or later, right now. Listen along with me as Dr.
Youssef shares this life-changing message. If you listen carefully to the secular media and the education elite. You'll find a great deal of emphasis on children. And you say, Well, Michael, it's not good. Not necessarily.
Not necessarily. That's why I said if you listen carefully. Because their agenda Is not the well-being of children. But the indoctrination of children with their propaganda. Their agenda is not the wholeness of children, But the brainwashing of them with their own humanistic doctrine.
There Aim is not The success of the child But rather what they call a child feeling good about himself or herself.
Now sadly There are well-meaning churches that have adopted this deadly approach. Listen to me, please. When the main emphasis is on significance and not the Saviour. When the main emphasis is on pride and not salvation. When the main emphasis is on independence and not dependence on God.
When the main emphasis is on believing in the children and not the children believing in God. When the main emphasis is on the children believing in themselves alone, then that could not be very good for the future of the children. Today I want to give you a biblical example. of a man. A father.
who believed God on behalf of his family. Turn with me to John chapter 4, beginning at verse 46. It tells us about a man. of whom we know very little. And he himself, this man, Might not have understood a great deal about the faith.
He may not have known a great deal about the Bible. He did not know much, probably, about anything, but he trusted Jesus. His faith in Jesus Christ on behalf of his Son was unshakable. His faith in Jesus on behalf of his family was unwavering. His intercession on behalf of his family would not quit and would not give up.
And, beloved, listen to me. This is what I've been trying to tell you, Sri, this series of messages. Call upon me. That this is the kind of persistence in prayer that honors God and God honors. This is the kind of consistent, persistent at the feet of Jesus.
that will produce answers to prayer. This is the kind of worship and adoration in faith that brings heaven to earth. It is this kind of worship. that God is looking for. Once the parents come to Christ, He or she must intercede on behalf of their family.
I know that in some cases when the children are believers and the parents are not, there are struggles, there are attacks from the very people that you would hope to support you, from the parents. And I have seen it too many times. But nonetheless, I have also seen that when these young men and women persist and prove their faith in Jesus Christ, the parents give themselves to him. In fact, I read the other day about the young teenager. Who gave his life to Christ and he was on fire for Christ, but his skeptical father always made fun of him.
Always kind of gave a snide remark here or there. One time he came back from church and he said, Son, What did the preacher teach you today? He said, well. He taught us Uh about Moses. We learned how Moses went behind enemy lines and rescued the Israelites from Pharaoh.
Then how Moses got some engineers to build a pontoon bridge And then, after they built it, they got the Israelites to cross on that plantoon bridge. He would send bombers back to bomb that bridge. And then, as the Egyptian tanks came in, and Father stopped him, he said, Son, son, did the preacher really say all that? He said, No, but if I tell you what he said, you'll not believe it. Philosopher Kika Guard.
Who said that it is Very Hard to believe. because it is very hard to obey. Let me repeat this. It is hard to believe because it's hard to obey. And the reason so many people in our culture, in our society, and anywhere in the world, they refuse to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and put their faith in Him as the Savior of their soul and the Lord of their life is because they don't want to surrender to Him, they don't want to obey Him.
But for believing moms and dads, Listen to me. Your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. On behalf of your family, should be the kind of faith That never gives up. The kind of faith that never doubts God's promises. The kind of faith that would not be deterred by the circumstances.
It should be the kind of faith that would insist on taking God at his word. John chapter 4, beginning at verse 46. This high-powered government official. Who is nameless? was a man of power.
that to him a lot of people bowed and scraped. When he came to the gate of the palace, people bowed to him. And yet he comes to Jesus in humility, and he bows to Jesus. He came to him. with faith that was born out of a crisis.
But that faith did not stay there. It went from a crisis faith all the way to being a contagious faith. In fact, if you look closely at this story, look at it again, you're going to find a five-step letter. Step after step after step one, You see a crisis faith. Step two, there is a continuing faith.
Step three, there is a confident faith. Step four, there is a confirmed faith. And step five, there is a contagious faith. All of our faith must move from crisis faith to being a contagious faith. And the reason we do not have believers in this day who have contagious faith is because we have so many believers who live in a crisis faith.
I want to explain that in a minute. Very often, our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is born out of a crisis, and that's fine. You see, God uses crises in our lives to bring us to Himself. It is fine. He used a crisis in my life to bring me to Himself.
And that's fine. I thank Him for that crisis. But that's the first step. That's a baby step. It must not stay on that level.
It is like the crisis in a mother's labor. that produces a beautiful child. It is often a crisis that brings us to rebirth and regeneration, just like a labor paying. And that is why Jesus calls it that you must be born again. And here in chapter four, Verse 46 and 47: This high-powered government official came to Jesus in desperation.
Out of a crisis faith. Please listen to me. You must not stay in the crisis faith. You must move on. Because your own testimony, your reward in heaven is dependent on moving away from crisis faith all the way to contagious faith.
Christ's faith is for children. And that's understandable. But not for somebody who's been walking with the Lord for a long time. This member of King Herod's cabinet, who could have afforded afforded all of the medical facilities that money could buy, he could afford all the medicine that was available. And yet, this illness of his son was beyond human help.
Yet this crisis faith birthed A baby face. But the wonderful thing about this man, his baby faith did not stay there. It did not remain a crisis faith, but it moved on to be a continuous faith. Look at verses forty seven, forty eight, and forty nine. The Bible said he implored Jesus to come and heal his son.
Literally, because that is in the continuous Tense. Here's what it means. It means he continuously besought Jesus. He continuously persisted in his request. He continuously implored Jesus.
And on the surface, if you look at that verse, you think Jesus was rebuffing this powerful man. But Jesus was, of course, addressing the crowd as well as testing this man's Christ's faith. Look at verse 48. Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe. Do you know some people who would say, I'm not going to believe unless I see a miracle?
I want to tell you a secret about those people. If they see a hundred miracles, they're not going to believe. It's the truth. This man said, I believe. Therefore he saw the miracle.
Not the other way around.
Someone said that if you want to increase your faith, You must consent. to the testing of your faith. Did you get that? If you want to increase your faith, you must consent to the testing of your faith. Let me ask you this.
Have you tested your faith lately? Have you actually taken steps To test your faith. Has the Lord tried to test your faith and found you wanting? Only you can answer that. Jesus was testing this man's crisis faith to see if it is a continuous faith.
Now, question. Did Jesus not know? that this man has a continuous faith? Absolutely not. He knew he knows everything.
He knew everything. But the man needed to know. The man needed to know. That he had moved from crisis faith to continuous faith. He needed to know.
that his faith was not temporary but permanent. If his faith is fleeting or firm, he will need it to see if his faith was a crisis faith or a continuous faith. Hit me right on this one. It's very important. Our intercession on behalf of our family.
Must go from crisis to continuous. You say, why? Because continuous faith is not only exercised when you're in trouble. And you need God, but on a daily basis, it is exercised. Not only when you need something from God, But day by day by day.
And this nobleman's faith went from Christ's faith. To continuing faith, To confident faith. Look at verse 50. Jesus replied, You may go. Your son will live.
And the Bible said, the man believed Jesus and went his way.
Now, listen to me. Confident faith takes God at his word. Did you get that? Confident faith trusts God even when you cannot see evidence. With your own eyes.
Confident faith does not doubt in the dark what God has revealed in the night. Confident faith kneels on the promises of God and would not let up and would not give up. Confident faith is constantly uprooting that like weeds and throwing them out. One of the tragedies From what I read Is that it has become fashionable in some Christian circles. to welcome doubt.
Oh doubt. is only human. Doubt. Uh should be embraced. Doubt should be accepted as part of the Christian life.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Listen to what James said in chapter 1, verse 6. A doubting person is unstable in all he does. How do you develop confident faith? Listen to me.
By having a vision for life that is as big as God Himself. Hear me right. Exercising your continuous faith means that you don't just live in the faith of yesterday. It does not mean that you live on somebody else's faith. You have to have yours and you have to have it daily renewed.
Someone said, faith is like a toothbrush. Everyone should have their own. And use it regularly. Should not use somebody else's. When the crisis faith gives way to continuous faith, it will produce confident faith, and only then.
Will you be able to see confirmed faith? This powerful man, this powerful member of the cabinet of King Herod, he trusted God. For his family, he took Jesus at his word on behalf of his son, so much so that he did not go home that night. Did you notice that? He didn't go home.
I mean a doubting person, I mean he is going to get the fastest camel or donkey, whatever he can get, and he was going to go home as fast as he can in order to see if that really happened. A doubting man would have said, unless I see, and until I see with my own eyes, I will not believe. But this man checked in a hotel room and spent a night. He didn't go home. Let me ask you.
Are you interceding on behalf of someone, on behalf of a family member? Are you interceding on behalf of some of your family for salvation? Are you exasperated for not seeing answers to your prayer? Let's be honest now. It can get exasperating when it takes so long.
Gahon And read the promise of God in 1 Corinthians 7, verses 14 to 16, and have confidence. in God. and in the promises of God. If God had heard the prayers of Abraham interceding on behalf of Lot and his family, will he not accept your confident faith in him on behalf of your family? If God blessed Solomon because of David, Will he not answer your prayers of confident faith?
Some of you are probably saying, Well, Michael, how do you know that this guy spent the night in the town and did not go home?
Well, it's in the book. He did not run home to check on the healing of his son. Verse 51 of John 4. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. Look at verse 52.
When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, And here it is, you ready? Here it is. The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour. Yesterday. He didn't go home.
He trusted Jesus. He slept like a baby. All the worries and anxieties gone. Jesus spoke. And I believed him.
But I can imagine these servants, these people who worked for him, and did this big. Honcho, you know, this big shot. I mean, these guys probably were staying at the gate of the city waiting for him. I mean, they can't wait to tell him the good news. They stayed up all night.
I said, What's holding him back? Why is he not here? Man, we wish we have a Twitter or a Facebook that we can just send him a text message and tell him the good news. And they didn't have any of that stuff, so they were so excited. They waited at the gate, they couldn't wait until he came.
I said, Wait till the boss hears this. He's not going to believe it. It's incredible. The boy was almost dead.
Now he's alive. And yet when he gets there, And they tell him and with excitement they tell him all the news and he says, What time did that happen? Hey, boss. Who cares? What does it matter what time it happened?
Ain't you getting excited? Oh, yeah, I got excited yesterday when Jesus told me. What time did it happen? Does it make a great deal of difference? Yes.
It makes a great deal of difference, he said, because that is the moment Jesus gave me his word. That is the moment Jesus gave me his promise. It makes a lot of difference because that is the moment my confident faith trusted in God. Boss, does it really matter? Yes, it does, because this is not a coincidence.
This is not a happenstance. This is not an accident. This is not positive thinking. This is not possibility thinking. This is not wishful thinking.
That was the moment he said And I believed it. When a crisis faith becomes a continuous faith, and develops into confident faith It produces confirmed faith. Then it is naturally You don't have to work at it. Naturally. it becomes a contagious faith.
Verse fifty-three. When the nobleman confirmed the time of the healing of his son, the Bible said, So he and all his household believed. I know, I know that this is contrary to our rugged individualistic Western culture, but please listen to me. God blesses families, that God deals with families, that God wants whole families to follow Him. And so in the book of Acts chapter 10, when Cornelius believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, the very first Gentile, and he believed in him, that his whole household got baptized.
And Acts 16, when the Philippian jailer believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible said his okinos, that is his entire household, got baptized. When Lydia believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, she and all of her household were baptized. God wants us to trust Him not just for ourselves, but for our family. He wants us to believe him. On behalf of of our families.
Thank you for taking time for leading the way audio with pastor and Bible teacher Dr. Michael Yousaf. If you'd like to know more about living a victorious Christian life, let me encourage you to dig deeper into the resources available at the Leading the Way website. There are products you can order, there's content for watching and listening, as well as links to valuable podcasts with intriguing, encouraging content. The website is ltw.org.
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What you do with the cross is your choice. Chegunegiraftor Shomobo Salib and Techobeshomost. But you must understand that there are consequences to your decision. Boyat beda nit ketasmi meshoma, avo kebirobedunbolchahandosht. Eternal consequences.
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