FAMILY FX Schedule
March 24: We finish up our series on the Ten Commandments with a very important lesson on how to bring your children to Christ and keep them there. Also remember we will be doing a prize drawing from those who have said the Ten Commandments this month.
March 31: No Wednesday night activities due to Spring Break (Except for Worship Community rehearsals)
April 7: Special Presentation of our Preschool’s Spring Play: "Walk Thru the Bible"
April 14, 21 & 28: Head to Heart Series
May: Prayer FX and Final Celebration for this semester
"Letters to God" movie opens April 9 - www.letterstoGodthemovie.com
Family Campout April 9 & 10 - http://www.btycc.org/ http://www.fellowshipinthefield.org/
This month in Family FX we have been focusing in on the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments reflect God's standard of holiness for everyone. Since God is the universal authority of moral conduct, all of humanity is subject to His standards.
- You shall have no other gods before Me.
- You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
- You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
- Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
- Honor your father and your mother.
- You shall not murder.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.
- Commandments 1-4: Love God-Honor, Respect & Keep Boundaries
- Commandments 5-10: Love Your Neighbor-Honor, Respect & Keep Boundaries
According to the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus did not come to get rid of the law: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." He went on to explain that "hatred" was equal to "thou shalt not kill" and "lust" was equal to "thou shalt not commit adultery." In fact he raised the bar so high that you quickly come to the conclusion that everyone has violated most if not all of the ten commandments.
So what is the purpose of the Ten Commandments? Is it to make us feel guilty, to defeat us or put an unatainable goal in front of us? The Ten Commandments are given by God show us our need for Him. It is the School Teacher to teach us that our own righteousness is not "good enough." It is the yardstick that shows we fall far short. It is guardrails to show us we are getting off track – "So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith."Galatians 3:24
For many, the 10 Commandments are symbols of condemnation that point to our faults and mistakes. Some feel so guilty that they believe God will never accept them. Others simply choose to reject God because His Law is impossible to obey. Ironically, the 10 Commandments were never given by God to condemn humanity, but rather, they were given to convict humanity. The 10 Commandments act as a mirror to "reflect" the condition of our souls. When we examine our life in light of the 10 Commandments, we realize our shortcomings and our need for redemption. Jesus Christ is our redeemer. Therefore, God gave the 10 Commandments not to condemn humanity, but to show us His love for us. For, "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8)
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:1-4
