Family

There's a saying that I heard long ago. It goes like this. We spend the first half of our life trying to get away from home. Remember Matt Davis' song years ago, Lubbock, Texas, in the rearview mirror, getting away from home. The saying goes, we spend the first half of our life trying to get away from home and the second half trying to get back.

And there's a lot of truth in that. In 1993, moving to Huntsville, Alabama, for me was like moving back home because Huntsville, Alabama was only two hours from where I grew up just across the Alabama state line on the Mississippi side of it. When I found out we were being transferred from Amarillo to Huntsville, Alabama, I called home and Mom answered the phone. I didn't say anything. When she picked up and she said, hello, I didn't say anything. I just started singing because my home's in Alabama.

She squealed. She squealed because she knew I was calling about being transferred because it was time for me to be transferred. She knew that was coming up and so she knew what that was about. And she said, where? I said, about two hours away, Huntsville, Alabama. What? What? You wouldn't kid me about that, would you? Would you? I said, no, Mom. I wouldn't be so cruel as to kid her about that. I said, no, I wouldn't kid about that. I wouldn't. But it was almost like, again, that it would almost be too good to be true because it would just be two hours from where I grew up with mom, dad, my brothers, my cousins, aunts, uncles, all of them.

We'd moved out west back in 86. We'd moved out west not long after dad had had a major, a major stroke. And, of course, at the time that we moved shortly after he had had that major stroke, I had no idea how much time that he might or might not have left.

And then while we were away in Texas, my mother developed cancer. You know, as I look back through the years, there are certain coincidences and things that just kind of pop up here and there. Dad was 42 when I left home to go to college. I was 42 when I came back. Dad was 46 when I finished college and went into the ministry.

I was 46 when dad died. Actually, the last day I was 46, or you could even say 47 because the way God counts birthdays from sunset to sunset, dad died on the beginning of the sixth, the way that God counts time, dad actually died on my birthday. I had almost four years with my mother, a little over four years with dad. And that time was very special and very precious to me. I remember one time I had come in and I didn't... I had to make a quick trip. I don't even remember what the reason actually was. I went by myself because it was a quick trip and I don't even remember what it was about.

But I do remember that I had to come in and I did not let them know that I was coming. And I stopped in Fulton, Mississippi. That's where I went to high school. I stopped in Fulton, Mississippi about 20 miles from home. And of course, no cell phones, you know, those days, just to pay phones. So I went to a pay phone and I called and mom answered and I just said, I sure wish I could have one of your grilled cheeses. And she said, well, I sure wish you could too.

I said, well, how about having it ready in about 20 minutes? Where are you? I was known to do some things like that from time to time. I said, in Fulton, Pastoring God's people in Huntsville, Alabama allowed me also to have opportunity with my family that I had not had since I was 17. And as I've gotten older, I have more fully understood and appreciated, truly, and identified with something that my mother used to say.

And the first time I heard her say it, we went on vacation. My brothers, their families, we were all there in mom and dad's big den. And we were all sitting there and laughing and just having a good time. And mom said, my happiest times are when I have my family around me.

And I've really come to understand that more and more and appreciate that more and more as I've gotten older. Along with God, family was her life. Family is life. Life is family.

When I came to Alabama, came back to Alabama, I had served in Montgomery years before. But when I came back to Alabama almost 29 years ago, family was the very first subject. I mean, the very first subject that I spoke on because it is so central to God and to God's plan.

So central to His being. And at that particular time, I did something that I won't do today, but I played a song that I identify with very strongly because it speaks of family.

It speaks of times. It speaks of the times and the life of my parents and my grandparents and aunts and uncles and of my early years, my formative years in life. And it still has the power to take me down memory lane. When I'm traveling, if I turn on the radio in the car, if I bring up some country music, you know there's a museum over there in Fort Payne, Alabama.

And it's for a band that really made it big. Some old country boys, young country boys, that went not just national, they went international. They made it big. And when this particular song and other songs I've got too, but this particular song comes on, it just takes me down memory lane and to the basic bottom line reality of how valuable and important family is in our lives.

And I know if I did play it, which I'm not going to, you would recognize it. It's the song, High Cotton. But let me just read some of the lyrics. We didn't know the times were lean.

Around our home, the grass was green. It didn't seem like things were all that bad.

I bet we walked a thousand miles chopping cotton and pushing plows and learning how to give it all we had. As life went on and years went by, I saw the light in Daddy's eyes and felt the love in Mama's hands. They kept us warm. They kept us fed and taught us how to look ahead. Now, looking back, I think, I understand, we were walking in high cotton. Old times there, not forgotten. Those fertile fields are never far away. We were walking in high cotton. Old times there, not forgotten. Leaving home was the hardest thing we ever faced. A very moving song, and again speaking of a time. It takes me back to another time, but even as it does, it bears out the ever-present value of family. I miss some of the old days, as far as TV.

I miss some of the old days of being able to turn on and find programs that make you feel good, that are uplifting, that really have redeeming value to them. You know, one of the most popular shows of all time was The Waltons. John, Olivia, Grandpa, Grandma, John Boy, Jim Bob, Jason, Ben, Mary Ellen, Erin, Elizabeth. Three generations under one roof, all pulling together to make it during hard times, depression times. It was interesting, that show ran for years. We watched their kids grow up. Some of our kids grew up with them, and it's interesting, we felt a rapport with them from the beginning. We felt a part of them because there was a power there.

There was a value. There was an appeal, something that was both tangible and intangible, something of real value, something sensed and seen, a value, a power, a functioning, a way of functioning, that many identified with and desire, but too few have anymore. And it's sad. There was a nostalgia involved for a time and an entity that is rapidly crumbling, and since those days it's really, really rapidly crumbled. Been doing it for decades now. If you'd like a title, it's one word, family. You know, a little while back I gave a sermon on God's basic marital design, and then I followed it with that with a sermon on the family of God. And today I just want to talk about family. Of course, weaving family and God's family in together, obviously on it, because it's the subject just of family. The power and the appeal of the family, it's a formula that works. It works. And in TV, back in those years, they repeated it in more ways than one, but remember, okay, they had a little house on the prairie.

What a hit that was. Charles, Carolyn, Mary, Laura, Carrie, Grace. But as we know, TV has changed.

The shows have changed. They reflect certain fundamental changes in our society, and especially regarding the family. Gone are the Waltons, gone are the Ingalls and the little house on the prairie, but what is not gone is the value of the family that that appeal to so much, the need for such, and it's an important place. And even the fact of the consequences we're seeing rampant in society today, due to the breaking down of it, the abuse of it, the breakdown of it, bear out the value of that which we're losing. And we each have opportunity, however much we're limited, to do it in what I call the family way, whether we're speaking of physical family or we're speaking of church family, the power and appeal of family, the need, the value cannot be overestimated.

If you read Malachi 4 in verse 6, you can't help but note that there's an aspect of family value here, Malachi 4. And these last two verses in Malachi very specifically are related to the time of the end.

I'll pick it up in verse 5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And what's going to be germane or intrinsic to the work of this Elijah that yet will finish out the job? He shall turn the heart of the fathers, the parents, to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers. That's familia. That's family. That's relationship. It's very important. And obviously, there is an application at the physical level of family, but there's also an application at the spiritual level or plane of the church. And there's more than meets the eye in this statement.

So I'm not going to probe it beyond a certain point, but it is talking about relationship.

And it's a family-type situation, and it's valuable enough that except that type of work go on, the earth would be doomed. He says, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse, and what it's actually talking about is allowing the curse of extinction to take over the planet. If you do a search on it, the connotation to that word curse in the Hebrew, the connotation, if you search it out, is a planet doomed to extinction. That's the connotation. And what are we told in Matthew 24-22? Except for the elect's sake, there would be no flesh saved alive, except for the elect's sake. That's the church. But because of the church, the family of God, Christ will intervene in time to save the planet. But again, just the whole verse here and what it's actually talking about speaks to the fact of the value and power of family.

Now, when I talked about the family of God, I said the church is family. God's family on earth.

I mentioned a couple of scriptures like Ephesians 3.15. I'm not going to go back through what I did at that time, but I do want to touch upon two or three. Ephesians 3.15, where it talks about the whole family in heaven and earth. The whole family in heaven and earth, God the Father, Jesus Christ. And on a certain level and a certain way, you could obviously include the holy angels of God in that family, in that sense, that have stayed faithful and loyal to God. And on earth, of course, obviously on earth, the only place where God's family is, is the church. It's the church. And we went through that and showed that. When I read through Revelation 2, Revelation 3, chapters 2 and 3, and I read those messages and how each of those messages is named, it comes as no surprise to me that anybody who reads them carefully would say, well, if I could be labeled with one of those names, I want the name Philadelphia labeled across me.

Because, boy, that's a good classification. And it doesn't mean we don't have to fight sin. It doesn't mean we don't have to overcome. It doesn't mean that, you know, we have the same personal responsibilities everybody else does of God's people, God's church, etc. But there's no indictment. And it's a good name. And certainly in the end time, I want that label on my forehead, so to speak. I do not want led sin stuck up there. I want Philadelphia tattooed on me, so to speak. But what is Philadelphia as a name? And why did God speak of that part of His church as Philadelphia? It's a family name. It's a familial name. It's a relationship name because it means brotherly love. That's what it means, brotherly love. 1 Peter 2 and verse 17.

Notice these instructions. This is admonishment. Now again, I want to be labeled Philadelphia. So I want to do that which will, let's say, qualify me, make me worthy of being designated as a Philadelphian. Okay? Since the name means brotherly love, and God doesn't misname things, He can't stick that name on me if I don't have brotherly love. If I have brotherly love, He can stick that name on me. If I don't have that name, I mean, I don't have brotherly love, then it would be a lie to put that name on me. Okay? 1 Peter 2 and verse 17. It says, Honor all. Man is an italics, which means it's not in the original. It doesn't take away the meaning to put men in there because they put that in because it's like, well, this is obviously implied and it doesn't contradict the meaning of the word, but it limits it. Honor all.

Men, women, elderly, young, kids, honor all. That's very important. But then it stepped up a level, a major level. Love the brotherhood. Honor all. It's a good way to live. But love the brotherhood.

First and foremost, to the church, the brotherhood, the family of God, but also to all.

Do we read certain verses carefully according to priority?

For instance, Galatians 6 and verse 10. Let's read it according to priority.

See, Peter put a priority on it. He says, honor all. That's important. But step it up.

Step it up to a higher level, a higher grade. Love the brotherhood. In Galatians 6 and verse 10, it says, As we have therefore opportunity. We don't always have opportunity, but as we have opportunity, notice what it says, let us do good unto all. And again, I'll just leave the men out because all is comprehensive. Let us do good unto all. Again, write in line with what Peter said.

And also write in line with what Peter said, but just with different words, especially emphasize, highlight, and bright neon yellow, especially to them who are of the household of faith. It stepped up to a higher level. Philadelphia, brotherly love, signifies family love of family. And we must learn how to live in our individual family units in that way to the best that we possibly can. And in so doing, we teach it to others by example. God has a family. Our resurrection is into a family. God doesn't say, I've got, let's just use a real stretched out figure. I've got one trillion planets. I'm resurrecting one trillion of you, and each of you gets a planet where you can be by yourself for eternity.

It doesn't work that way. Our resurrection is into a family, the universal eternal family of God.

And we put so much focus on the kingdom of God, and rightly so. But I heard years ago, the most succinct and yet comprehensive, thorough definition of what the kingdom of God is, simply stated, number one, it is the family of God administering, number two, the government of God. And you can't come up with a more succinct and yet thorough, comprehensive definition of the kingdom of God, the family of God administering the government of God. Or in other words, a universal eternal government administered by a universal, all-powerful, eternal family. And our goal, in reality, is to be part of that family, isn't it? And there's an awful lot about how that family functions along with its values and its power and its needs that we need to learn now, about ahead of time. And such we learn through our individual family units and the church as a family unit. I've often thought, I often wondered, how powerful, how powerful will the functioning of the church as a family be to our success?

Have you ever just simply asked yourself, how powerful and significant will the functioning of the church as a family be to our success? You know, 2020 had some hard times.

2021 had some hard times. This year has some hard times. In 1989, in 1990, in 1991, in 1992, in 1993, in 1994, in 1995, they had some hard times.

Hard times that have occurred are not the hardest times that are going to occur. The hardest years and the greatest challenges upon society and especially upon God's church, upon you and me, lie between now and the resurrection. And the challenges of the years ahead, in terms of the good and the bad and the ugly, are going to maximize.

That's going to be true in society. It's going to be true upon the church. And think about it. We can best deal with what lies ahead of us in an individual family unit, especially if you're on the same page in God's church, on the truth. But the church as a family, functioning as a family, a close-knit family, and again, whether we're talking about individual families, units, or church family, the basic principles and parallels are the same. One of the truisms in life is that it's hard to survive in life in general without family support. Have you ever noticed that?

It is hard to survive in life. Why did the Chinese limit one baby for years?

We know it was population control. We understand that.

But they limited families to one baby. Why did so many baby girls, when they were born, be done away with? So they could go back to zero and try again for a boy. Because the boy was their old age support system. That was the main thing. It was a security security thing. Family support, support system. And the way realities drive things sometimes generate worse realities. It is true that it's hard to survive in life in general without family support. Family is the most powerful of entities, structures, and formulas. It's a source of strength. It's a source of support and security, especially in time of need. Go with me to Ecclesiastes 4 and verse 12.

Ecclesiastes 4.

And verse 12. It says, And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him. Someone is standing there alone, and somebody's against him. And a friend, a member, a family member, a friend, joins the one that's being, let's say, assaulted. The one that is doing the assaulting, let's say, is winning. But then, someone joins the one that's being assaulted. If one prevail against him, two shall withstand him. And a three-fold cord is not quickly broken. I'm going to drop over a cliff on a rope and let myself down 100 feet.

And the rope is a one-corded rope. Uh-uh, not going to try it. Double it. Two cords. Well, I think that, you know, it says that one maybe would hold, but the two definitely should hold.

But no, let's put a third one. I want to be sure. I want to go down this knowing that this rope will support. So make it a three-cord rope. Proverbs 17, 17.

Proverbs 17, 17. It says, A friend loves at all times. And that's true. A true friend. A true friend. A real friend. A true friend does love at all times. And a brother is born for adversity. Some people think that means, well, your brother is born to give you trouble. In some cases, it seems to be, sadly, the truth. But what does it actually mean?

What is it actually saying? A brother should be there for you in your adversity. A brother is born for adversity. A true brother is there for you when you have trouble.

My youngest brother, Rudy, lives over in Mississippi, attends the Tupelo-slash-Foulton congregation of United. He started developing knots under his skin when he was a senior in high school. Didn't pay much attention to them. Just knew it was something going on. Long story short, turned out he had Durkheim's syndrome, which is a nerve disease where tumors grow around nerve endings. They can be pea-sized, bb-sized, or cat's eye marble size. And they grow under the skin. They grow on those nerve endings. They can grow on organs. They can grow in internal organs. There's no way of knowing where all they grow. But there have been a couple of times where he's had to surgically have 14 or more of them taken off of the back of his arms or thighs, places that would have contact sitting down or bumping because they would trigger reactions. And then on top of that, he developed multiple sclerosis and had to deal with that. And it's interesting that he worked for a year longer than he was actually able to work. But he was trying to get on disability and it took three years to get on disability. How was he supported? He had a young wife, he had two little boys. How was he supported for those three years? They had to pay bills, they had to eat, his physical family, his blood family, we, which were also church family, too, for that matter because we were all in the church, but his physical blood family and his church family beyond us in the form of a certain measure of assistance. We carried him. Church family and physical family carried him for three years so they'd be fed and clothed and sheltered until he finally, he was recognized by the top board of Social Security that he was qualified and he's been on disability ever since. In 1999, late spring, his wife came in one day and said, I want a divorce. They were coming up on their 25th wedding anniversary that fall. She wanted a divorce. There was no talking or out of it. Her mind was set.

That summer, in the aftermath of that, Rudy couldn't eat. He lost 40 pounds. He couldn't sleep. As I said, I was in Huntsville, Alabama, two hours away. There was many an afternoon evening, many an evening. It might be eight o'clock in the evening. I would get in my vehicle and I would drive over to Mississippi across the state line and I would sit with Rudy for two hours out in the swing, out in the yard, or just walk with him a little. Spend two hours with him, sleep at about ten o'clock, and then drive back and be home at midnight.

I did that because I lived close enough I could. I did that because he was in my power to do it. I did that because he's my brother. A brother is born for adversity.

And, of course, his other brothers were assisting him, helping him too, in family.

But it was an extremely rough time in his life. And it helped to make a difference because he couldn't have been in a rougher spot. It was the hardest thing he'd ever had to deal with.

And he told me, he said, it would have been easier if she had died because he said all my good memories would have been intact. But everything was trashed. It trashed the memories and everything. So a brother is born for adversity. Romans 15 and verse 1, you know, these scriptures, they carry deep meaning for me.

I'm not young anymore. One of my aunts told me recently, he said, you're young. I said, no, I'm not. He said, oh, yeah, you're young. I said, no, I'm not. I said, I'm not old, but I'm not young either. But I've lived enough life to truly know what matters and what counts.

In scriptures that mean an awful lot like Romans 15 and verse 1, we then that are strong.

I was blessed of God to have strong adrenals. A lot of times I could be shot as far as sleep was concerned, but I could drink another cup of coffee, crank up and go again for a number of more hours. God blessed me with strong adrenals. They're not as strong as they used to be, and I don't have to wonder why they're not. But I was blessed with health and strength. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. I had the physical strength and energy.

To leave at 8, drive over 2 hours, get there at 10, stay 2 hours, come back at 2 in the morning, or leave at 6 and get over there at 8 and spend 2 hours and leave at 10. I had that, and again, I knew that at least it would help some. Ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. So important. And see, you think about it, the threefold cord, brother born for adversity, strong bear the weak, and a true family, a true family. This automatically kicks in.

This automatically kicks into play out of genuine concern for each other. These words of Paul in Philippians 2.4. These words are there because of their spiritual meaning to God, how valuable they are to God and what He wants to see incorporated into our lives. Look not every man on his own things. Don't just be concerned with their own welfare. Is it okay to be concerned properly, responsibly, with their own welfare? To where we take care of ourselves and do what we should to take care of ourselves? Because in taking care of ourselves, then we're able to do more for others and for God. Yeah, I mean, there's nothing wrong with properly taking care of ourselves. But are we exclusive in that?

And we're only concerned about ourselves and nobody else. Well, obviously not.

Look not every man on his own things. His own welfare only, exclusively. But every man also on the things or the welfare of others. And you know, it is true. We do become our brother's keeper.

We do become our sister's keeper. You think about it. Cain and Abel were brothers, but they weren't family. Not from Cain's standpoint. From Abel's, yes. But from Cain's standpoint, they weren't. And the way we stick together as a church, through thick and thin, serves as a witness to those around us. See, John 13, 35. John 13. And verse 35, this is not in any sense just a passing love or superficial love or shallow love when it says, when Christ said, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one to another. The concern, the awareness, the support. See, family provides an instrument, a vehicle for learning eternal basics. It's not like when we're resurrected, God says, just wipe everything off the slate. Everything that you learned while you were a human being, just wipe it away because none of that applies now. This is our training ground. This is when we're learning the eternal basics, the eternal foundational things, the eternal things that are going to be there forever. And we're learning the formulas and we're learning the way that things operate because that's the way they're going to keep on operating, the way that they operate that produce the peace and the joy and the happiness that God does want us all to have. And I've often thought sometimes there's an angle that we might do well to consider because of the times especially that we live in and what yet is coming ahead of us at some point.

When you live the truth, there is going to be a certain amount of rejection to one degree or another by sometimes the ones you love the most. There's going to be a certain amount of rejection to one degree or another. It can vary in its intensity that you're going to run into with friends and loved ones. And it's going to be that way for some time, and certainly from time to time. But I want to read Isaiah 66 and verse 5. I want to go somewhere with this. Isaiah 66 and verse 5.

Verse 5, Hear the word of the Lord, you that tremble at his word. Who do you think he's talking about? He's talking about you and me, his people, the first fruits who tremble at his word.

Then notice what he says, your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, and who said, and they can be very sincere, they can mean very well, they can think they're doing the Lord service. Let the Lord be glorified. What we're doing glorifies the Lord. You're a cult. You're controlled. You're this, you're that. That's anathema. You know, that's garbage. Come out of that, or we're not going to have much of a relationship. Come out of that, or we're not going to have any relationship. In fact, we don't want anything to do with you. It can range all across the scale in terms of the resistance to it and the rejection.

Your brethren that hated you. Remember how Christ had said in Matthew 10 that sometimes your adversaries, your enemies would be those of your own household? Because of the truth. They cast you out for my name's sake and said the Lord be glorified, but He shall appear to your joy because you'll be changed into a spirit being, and they won't. And in due time, whether it's at the beginning of the millennium for those who survive, or when they come up from the general resurrection, you're there and they're not, and they'll realize you were right, and now they can get right so that they can join you in eternity in due time. But He shall appear to your joy and they shall be ashamed. Oh, I wish I... Oh, boy! What was I thinking? I guess I was just spiritually ignorant. I guess I was just in darkness. Wow! I'm sure glad that I know better now, but boy, I feel ashamed of the way I acted towards you back there. Yeah, that's part of it. Think about family. Everyone needs a sense of belonging, of being a part.

Where do you get that? Family?

I have had people say to me at times over the years, I've had folks say, nobody, nobody cares whether I live or die. There's nobody on this planet, nobody on this earth who cares whether I'm alive tomorrow or I'm not. Nobody cares what happens to me. And to the degree that that is truly felt and meant by somebody, that's tragic and that's sad. Well, guess what? Guess what? Family counters that kind of feeling because family gives a place, family gives a belonging, family gives a value, family gives an involvement.

I did not have perfect parents and all you got to do is talk with Jonathan or Leanne or Lauren down in Australia and if they're honest with you, they will tell you that they didn't have perfect parents either, starting with their dad.

But there's one thing I always knew about mom and dad, they loved us. And there's one thing that our three children know about their mother and me, we love them. We always love them, we love them, and we shall love them. Family gives a place, a belonging, a value, an involvement. You know, I go back to Ecclesiastes 4 again and this time, verse 10, Ecclesiastes 4 and verse 10 where it says, "'For if they fall,' well, I could back it up to verse 9, "'two are better than one, two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow, the one will lift up his fellow.

But woe to him that is alone when he falls, for he has not another to help him up.' In the church, as a family, you have several someones. Family is strength.

My family, the 1940s, my mother, a teenager, the oldest of five kids, listening to Mr. Armstrong back in the radio, Church of God days, 41, 42, 42, and dad began listening also when he began dating mom later.

But involved with the church, her whole side, and the dad was the only one off out of his family called. But on mom's side, basically, for the most part, it was a whole family.

And with one of the early Bible studies we attended in Memphis, Tennessee, and then in the process of beginning to think about establishing a congregation in Tupelo, in the initial Bible study or two, there was something like 26 of us that were family there. So church was a church family affair and a physical family in the church affair as well. And I have very fun memories of caravanning five, six vehicles or so snaking along the highways to Jackal Island or to Big Sandy, Texas. And we always had to put, we called him Popol, mom's dad. He was the one that had all the family listening to Mr. Armstrong. We had to put him in the middle of the caravan. We couldn't put him up front. He would take the wrong road. And we couldn't put him in the rear because we wouldn't know that he got lost off from us. But put him in the middle. And every so often, he would still take the wrong road and split off from the line, and somebody had to go chasing him down. And the rest of us would wait until they got caught up with him and did a U-turn somewhere and brought him back because he was so busy looking at all the scenery he was driving along that, you know, there they went and he just kept going this way.

So, but a lot of fun memories. We worked together. We worshiped together. We played together.

We planted our gardens together. I remember many a time finishing getting plants set out and planting with the moon coming up and shining on us as we were finishing up, and then going in and all eating a big late supper together. Saturday night, fishing times, whereas sunset, soon as sunset came, my brothers, cousins, and myself, we would jump in the pickup and head all of our fishing gear and go down to the creek and back up to a good spot and set up camp and put out trot lines and run trot lines all night and just have a wonderful time. Pasture softball. Pasture softball is great as long as you watch where you step, you know, and some balls aren't retrievable. You just get a new softball. Those that have played pasture softball know what I'm talking about. Sunday dinners.

I mean, the whole family down there at my granddad's, his country home down there out in the country, big old silver maple trees ringing around the house. Boy, the spread that was put out. And then maybe have five or six homemade ice cream freezers going under one big silver maple. You don't like vanilla. There's chocolate in that one. You don't like that. There's vanilla. There's strawberry in that one. You know, just variety. Saturday night popcorn, games, ice cream. Not only do I have very, very fun memories, but those were formative. And they helped me to understand an awful lot about family. And because of family background, I have a much more concrete, tangible idea of how great the world tomorrow can and will be as a family place. It's going to be the greatest, most wonderful family place that has ever been, where all the factors that are conducive to the family will not only be there, will be continually strengthened. And my personal experience with family has strengthened that vision in me. It's a very alive and vibrant vision. See, life is so designed.

Again, it's never a one-person show. The functioning of life with its energies and powers, it's a family affair. Eternity is a family affair. It always will be. Family in the first place, you think about it, family is the first place a human being interacts with others and learns how to interact with others. This is why if you can break it down, you can break down all the society. The entire fabric of life can be rotted and crumbled.

You know, God, by His very nature, is a God of growth. He's a God of expansion. He's a God of increase. He's a God of family. And this has always been a fascinating verse to me, scripture to me in Isaiah 60 verse 22. It speaks to that about God, which is, call it a virtue of His, a trait of His, something programmed in His own makeup. It speaks to His nature of growth and increase and expansion.

Isaiah 60 verse 22, it says, "...a little one shall become a thousand." Now, you want to talk about growth. You want to talk about descendants. You want to talk about a family spreading out like these family trees, a tremendously broad-based tree.

"...a little one shall become a thousand and a small one a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in His time. You and I cannot fully comprehend." How great and how wonderful the world tomorrow, comprised of the millennial reign and the last great day of the general resurrection, how great and wonderful that actually is going to be. But family is a formula that works. It's a powerful formula. I want to take the word family. As I wrap this up, I want to take the word family, and I want to use it as an acronym.

We'll take each letter of that word and let it stand for something. So, let's start with F.

We could throw some words out like fun. A family should contain fun, shouldn't it? It should contain, to the degree possible, certain fullnesses, yes.

But let's emphasize the word fulfillment. A family should be fulfilling. Fulfilling in all of the things that it's intended to be, worth, value, connection, belonging, all of that.

Fulfillment. That's a good word to describe what F most stands for because there's work, there's worship, there's play, there's fun. Fulfillment. Because it's designed to accomplish some things. What would you say A should stand for that would be very realistic?

Well, in a family, you're assisted, yeah. In a family, you're kind of armored. What's a good word? I'll tell you an excellent word that A stands for, anchored. A family anchors you.

You're anchored to life. You're anchored. You have your feet on the ground. You're anchored. Family anchors you.

What about M? Well, you could think of words like methods. You learn how to do things a certain way. You could think about materials that are supplied in a family. You could think about, well, money, it takes money, you know, to meet the needs, yeah. But you could roll those all up in a phrase that M stands for, management of life. That is your first and foremost training ground for how to manage life, management of life.

And then I, well, you could say a good word would be involvement. Yeah, yeah, that'd be a good word because in a true family, you're involved. In a true family, you're interrelating. There's others besides yourself. You're having to interrelate. And actually, when you think about what involvement is and you think about interrelating, I think the word that would kind of pull both of those together is interaction. Interaction. You're constantly having interaction. You have to interact with each other. It's required, as I said, the family, it's a training ground and it's a formula that works. Now, L should be obvious because what must be in a family to make it really be worth wanting to be in that family? L-O-V-E. Love. Love. Concern. Life is worth living. I've looked back through the years from the time I was growing up till I left home and even through the years of my early ministry in particular and even up to this day. And I can still testify to myself how powerful family support has been to my success. And why? You might say, well, that's kind of a little, maybe kind of a hard one, but what would why? Okay, think about it. In a family, there's more than one person. You've got to interact. You've got to show love. You've got to work together.

You've got to have some teamwork. You've got to have some cooperation. What is required?

You have to yield. Well, I didn't want to do that. Yes, but your brother wants to do that, and we did what you wanted to do last time. So you've got to yield the floor. You've got to yield your way. We'll do that the next time. You have to yield. You have to consider others, as far as operation of behavior sometimes, better than yourself. Well, I got to do that last time. It's fair that we do that because that's what he wants to do now. So I yield. Yeah.

And you can apply that across the board. So, L for fulfillment, A for anchored, M for management of life, I for interaction, L for love, M for love. Life for yielded. You think about it. It's a very comprehensive definition of family.

God's form of government is the family. Nothing can or ever will take its place, and what's eventually in store for us is a family so close and so unified that it will never be broken and that we'll pull together and produce forever in fun and happiness and joy and peace through ages without.