Family Day at the River
(Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
Tomorrow is Memorial Day, a day that is the unofficial start of the summer vacation season. School is out and all the kids say, “Yea!” And all the parents go, “Ughh!”
Memorial Day was originally called “Decoration Day,” and widows of the Civil War placed flowers on the graves of their loved ones. The holiday has grown over the years to include the remembering of all of those who have died. Many people travel and put fresh flowers on the graves of their loved ones. But Memorial Day is mostly known as the day we honor and remember those who fought for our nation’s freedoms.
We want to take a moment to honor and remember those who have served our country and those who fought and died to protect our freedom. I’d like for us to take a moment to recognize any person here this morning who has either served or is now serving in our American Armed Forces. Would you stand so we can honor you? Thank you.
Now we’d also like to recognize those of you who have family who have served our country and who are no longer with us, will you please stand so we may recognize you?
Amen and amen. Thank you so much. Be sure to take time tomorrow to again thank God and remember.
If you have a Bible, open it to Deuteronomy chapter 6. And if you don’t have a Bible, let not your heart be troubled. This passage is a familiar one and very easy to recall.
I’m just going to spend a few minutes teaching through this passage in Deuteronomy 6. The food looks good and smells good and the weather’s great. So, as Elizabeth Taylor said to her 8th husband: “I won’t keep you long!”
- Deuteronomy chapter 6. Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
- Pray. “God help us learn to treasure Your Word and teach Your Word, in Jesus’ name, amen.”
We’re encouraging everyone to pick up one of these Summer Family Activity Books today. Some of you have your copy from last year and these are also available online. Just visit our website and click on the banner that looks like this, has a sun on the cover of it; says “Midweek Summer Schedule.” There’s even a “Grandparent Activity Book” available at our website. Again, just click on the picture of the sun; it’s the first banner that appears.
If you still have last year’s copy then you can pick up an updated appendix. These are available separately. If you don’t have one of these family activity books be sure to pick one up today.
On the inside cover is the passage of Scripture we just read. And the whole activity book is based upon and structured around Deuteronomy 6. That’s why we’re studying this passage today.
This passage is known in Hebrew as the “Shema.” How many of you have heard that term, Shema? It’s called the Shema because Shema the Hebrew term for the first word in verse 4, the word “Hear.” “Hear O Israel…” The word “Hear” in Hebrew is Shema. This passage is recited by the faithful Jew twice a day. Two times each day, the passage we just read is recited.
Verse 4, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” This is a statement referring to the exclusive One True God of the Bible. The point is, “There is no other God!” That is the point of verse 4; there is no other god, but the one true God of the Bible.
Then verse 5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” The point is, “Your total being is involved in this love for God. Even today we say, “I love with all my heart,” my total being.
Verse 6, “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.”
The “words” about which Moses is speaking include the 10 Commandments from the previous chapter, chapter 5, as well as every word God spoke to Moses and commanded him to pass along to the Israelites. These “words,” Moses says, “shall be in your heart.”
There’s a “heart” connection between these two verses. The key to verse 5, loving the Lord with all of one’s heart, is found in verse 6, having in one’s heart all of God’s commands. Keep God’s commands, His Word, in your heart and you are able to love God with your heart. Cool connection, huh? Key to loving God with your heart is to get His Word in your heart. Get His Word in your heart and you’ll love Him with your heart.
Verse 7, “You shall teach them (the commands; the Word) diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”
Parents and grandparents and others in the family not only love God with their hearts, but pour God’s Word into the hearts of their children and grandchildren (verses 7-9). So if you want your child or grandchild to have a heart for God, you must first get God’s Word into your own heart and always be pouring God’s Word into the heart of your child, your grandchild, your niece, your nephew.
So the passage breaks down into two halves; Treasuring God’s Word and Teaching God’s Word.
The first half applies to every single one of us, whether we are mothers or fathers or singles or whomever. So first:
- We Must Treasure His Word (4-6)
Remember the connection: Love the Lord your God with all your heart—verse 5—by keeping God’s Word in your heart—verse 6. You love God with all your heart when you keep God’s Word in your heart; treasuring His Word.
So often people want to experience the power and presence of God! “I just want to experience God!” There is power in the Word of God! You read the Word and you feel God’s power and presence!
The first appendix in the Summer Family Activity Book, Appendix A, gives a number of different reading plans for you and your family. Ways to treasure and cherish God’s Word.
And throughout the activity book are these really helpful family reading activities that are built around fun summer activities you can do right in your home. Like (page 16) this one says:
Raid each other’s closets and put together a silly outfit to wear. Turn on music and have a fashion show with each person modeling an outfit. After the show heave everyone share which outfit was their favorite and why. Then talk about the kind of clothes God tells His children to put on.
Read Colossians 2:12-14: “put on tender mercies, kindness, humility…above all these things put on love…”
Then questions are provided for dad to read to the family, or granddad or Uncle Bob or, a single mom can read, easy questions like:
Are there any word in these verses you don’t recognize or understand?
What does the writer tell God’s children to “put on?”
What does that mean?
What’s the hardest for you to put on? And why?
Really helpful for families this Summer to treasure His Word.
We treasure His Word by reading it, studying it, memorizing it.
There are cool suggestions in here about how to memorize God’s Word. If you can memorize your phone number or lyrics to a favorite song, you can memorize Scripture. And what a blessing it is to have that Scripture in your heart! God brings it up to your remembrance time and again.
So you’re feeling discouraged and wondering what God’s plans are for you, and the Holy Spirit calls up Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declared the Lord, plans not to harm you, but to help you, and to give you hope and a blessed future!” Amen!
Feast on the Word of God! Read it, and take it in, the way you feast upon or take in a favorite food or drink.
When our mission team went to Thailand and Laos, Jacob loaned me his Aeropress coffee maker. It’s like a portable French Press that allows you to make a perfectly extracted cup of heavenly coffee. A real necessity for coffee-loving travelers. So I got that Aeropress, and I got a coffee bean grinder, and I had some fantastic freshly roasted coffee beans from Central Africa and I was ready for that mission trip. I even had an electric kettle with an AC adapter/converter so I was ready for any country! And I’d get up each morning, get my tools together, find a little place in the room, and make that perfect cup of coffee and so enjoy my little spot of heaven! Just take a moment to smell it (breathe in) oh, yeah! Then take a small sip and let it just roll all over my tongue and palate and treasured every single ounce of it, slowly and joyfully!
Treasuring God’s Word is a lot like that! You have to plan ahead for it. Get up in the morning, get your tools together, your Bible, your little place there in the room, your little spot of heaven, and you “plug-in” to the Word of God, and enjoy it, savor it, taking it in slowly, letting it get down deep into your heart, feel its truth and savoring its goodness!
**INTERRUPTED BY RAIN!!!!
The following was not preached at the park:
II. We Must Teach His Word (7-9)
If you have children—moms and dads—here’s what you are to do, verses 7-9, teach God’s Word diligently to your children. And if you don’t yet have children, perhaps one day you will. And if it’s not God’s plan for you to have children, there are kiddos in your extended family and church family. Verse 7:
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
The idea is to always be teaching your children and grandchildren the Word of God. Remember parents and grandparents are the primary faith trainers of their children and grandchildren. Look how important this is, verses 8-9:
8 You shall bind them (the commands of God) as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
The Jews take these verses literally. They literally—verse 8—bind the Word of God as a sign on their hand and on their foreheads. Some of you may have seen Jews wearing these small boxes called phylacteries. It’s a small black, calfskin case containing God’s Word from this passage and that little case is fastened with strings to the forehead or to the left hand or arm.
The Jews do the same with verse 9, same thing. God says in verse 9, “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and your gates.” The Jews place a couple of passages of Scripture in a protective case called a mezuzah and they hang these on the doorposts of their homes. Actually several of these cases are affixed to the doorpost of each room in the house as well as at the place of business—constant visual reminders to themselves and others of the need to walk in the ways of God no matter where they were, indoors or outdoors; at the home and outside the home.
This summer we’ll have opportunities to love God and treasure His Word and teach His Word both indoors and outdoors. This Summer Family Activity Book is an exceptional help in treasuring and teaching the Word indoors and outdoors.
There’s a lot of fun stuff in here! I read one activity a moment ago. Other suggestions:
Celebrate Christmas in July. As a family, remember and celebrate the coming of Jesus by setting aside July 25 as “Christmas in July.” Decorate, throw a party, invite folks over and read the Christmas narrative in Matthew chapter 1 and Luke chapter 2 and thank God for sending Jesus as the Promised Savior.
How about this one: For one week this summer, have your family fast from all TV, movies, video games, social media and time spent on mobile devices. See how the absence of these things affects each person’s mood and the amount of time you spend together. Spend time that week going on a walk or bike ride together as a family, play board games, make some cards for people you know who need to be encouraged.
Here’s another: Open your home to the nations. Invite someone from another country over for dinner. As you get to know that person, ask them to tell you about their country and culture. Maybe invite one of the families from our Hispanic ministry.
Related to that one is this: international food experience. Find a recipe from a different country or go to a restaurant that serves ethnic food. Before your meal, visit operationworld.org to research that country or part of the world. Talk about what you learned as you eat…and after dinner spend some time praying for both Christians and unbelievers who live in that part of the world. Pretty cool idea, right?
There are ideas about how to take the gospel to your neighbors. Someone said, “Many of us know the names of the cars in our neighborhood, but we don’t know the names of the drivers of the cars.” So, ways to get to know your neighbors and bless them are included here.
Listen to this one: what to do when you’re waiting. As you plan to head out to an amusement park or similar place, write Romans 8:18 or Jude 1:21 on a note card or on your cell phone to bring with you. As you spend time waiting in line for rides, redeem the time by pulling out these verses and talking about how waiting to get on the ride can be a picture of waiting for the return of Jesus.
Look thorough photos from your wedding. Tell how you met each other and laugh at how different you looked then. Spend time laughing as a family! The Bible says in Proverbs 17:22 that laughter does the heart good like medicine. Laughter is good for you! Besides, if you laugh a lot then when you get older your wrinkles will be in the right places. So look through photos from your wedding and then talk about marriage as a picture of Jesus’ love for the church family.
Here’s a cool one: If you are on a boat—maybe fishing or something like that—try to imagine what it would have been like to for the disciples who saw Jesus calm the storm. Pay attention to the water you’re on—how you feel when it’s calm or choppy. Then together read Mark 4 about Jesus’ calming the storm. Then there are questions: What do you think the disciples saw, heard and felt as the storm came upon them? Why did the wind and waves obey Jesus? What other things is Jesus in charge of? What other things does Jesus save people from? How does He save people from sin and death?
In the appendices there’s a suggestion for how you can plan to make the most of your Summer. There are even these months June and July where you can write on them as you plan. Planning is important! You’ll never “find” time for anything, you must “take” time. Because time zips by, amen? The longer you live the quicker you can live a year!
There are special dates to remember like VBS week, Family Night, Swim Party, and so on.
Theres a community calendar. Did you know this coming Saturday is National Donut Day? God out as a family and enjoy a donut in Jesus’ name!
Reading in the Park, stories read at Freedom Park and Audubon Park Tuesdays and Thursdays; lunch provided. I’ll bet many of you didn’t even know about that.
$1 Summer Movie Schedule and (turn page) Places to See around Kentucky.
You won’t be able to do everything in this Family Activity Book. You’re not supposed to do everything. You pick things that interest you. Things that sound good for you and your family as you treasure and teach God’s Word. It won’t always go right. We’re all sinners, amen?! You’ll have one particular thing planned and it turns out to be a dud. So what?! At least you tried. There are a gazillion other things you can try out.
We’ve got to be intentional about our Summer. No one stumbles into intentionality. You have to think ahead and plan. Remember: You’ll never “find” time for anything, you must “take” time.
- Stand for prayer.
In a moment we’ll be singing words of surrender. We’ll sing:
All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.
Let me invite you this morning as you sing those words to surrender to Jesus your family. Surrender to Jesus your time so that you endeavor to both treasure God’s Word and teach God’s Word to your family.
You may wish to pray right now a simple prayer like this, “Dear God, help me to lead my family wisely. Give me the grace I need to schedule a regular time of Bible reading. Grow my desire to treasure Your Word. And then grow my desire to teach God’s Word to my family and to live it out for Your glory.”
Some of you may not be saved. You have not trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Surrender your life to Christ this morning. Just say to Him, “I surrender. I will ever love and trust You, Lord. I will live in your presence daily.”
Sing.
We’re going to have the blessing for our food in a moment, but before we do Rich is going to come and give us our instructions about getting our lunch.
Hey, if you have spiritual questions of any kind, I’ll be hanging out here for a long time. Come talk and we’ll pray together. Also, we’ve got these free daily devotionals that answer most of your spiritual questions and questions about the church. I’d love to give you one to take home. Just come see me.
Let’s say a prayer of blessing and then we’ll go eat.
- Prayer
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