From His Heart

Dr. Jeff Schreve: We've gotten so far away from what God says and we've created our own standards of things. And now families deal with all sorts of problems and we wonder why we have the problems that we have. We are building in so many homes today on a cracked slab. We're building on a foundation that can't sustain a home, that can't sustain a structure. All of us know that you can't do that when it comes to a house, yet we do that when it comes to our families; we build on a cracked slab.

Larry Nobles: When you build anything, you start with the foundation. And the integrity of that foundation is critical. And so it is with a godly home. This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve, who today will begin a revealing series that poses this important question for families: Are you building on a cracked slab?

It's from Pastor Jeff's series, Modern Family: God's Wisdom for Today's Families. If you miss any of these messages we'll be airing the rest of this month from the series, you can listen again or download a free MP3 of any broadcast by clicking the listen link at fromhisheart.org. Right now, open your Bible to the book of Psalms as Pastor Jeff shows you how you can know for sure you are not building your family, your marriage, and your life on a cracked slab.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Well, in October of 1957, a brand new situational comedy hit the airwaves. It was a story about a middle-class family, father and a mother and two sons. The dad's name was Ward and the mom's name was June, and they had Wally and Theodore. The show was called Leave It to Beaver. Popular, popular show.

You know, it was a wholesome show, it was a good show, it was a pretty funny show. And it talked about just the antics and the problems of life growing up as the Beaver, as Wally. And really, when you look at that show, it's a slice of life back in the 50s, what life was like in America. Problems weren't all that huge.

Now, modern families have problems that are much bigger. They're more intense, they're more immense. You know, on Leave It to Beaver, I never saw the episode where they sat down at the dinner table and Ward told the kids that he and June were getting divorced. Did you see that episode? No. You never saw the episode where June found a crack pipe in Beaver's backpack. You never saw that one, did you? "What is this, Beaver, a crack pipe?" They didn't know what crack was back then, right?

You never saw the episode where Wally told his parents that he hated them. You never saw the episode where Wally said, "My girlfriend is pregnant." Those weren't problems that people really dealt with back then. Why is that? Well, back then, people had a much stronger foundation of what was right and what was wrong. And families were intact and families had a value system that was based on the word of God. Today, it's not like that.

We've gotten so far away from what God says and we've created our own standards of things. And now families deal with all sorts of problems. We have problems with teenage pregnancy. We have problems with sexual abuse in the home, with domestic abuse. We have problems with drugs, we have problems with alcohol, we have problems with depression. And depression's hitting people at a younger and younger age. We have problems with no communication in the family. We don't talk anymore; what we do is we text. We're at the dinner table and we're texting our family member because we don't really talk anymore, we just text.

There's no respect for authority. One of the things you notice in Leave It to Beaver and Father Knows Best and those sitcoms of that generation of the 50s and 60s, there was a respect for authority. There was a respect for mom and dad, there was a respect for teachers. But all that seems to be gone today, and we wonder why we have the problems that we have. To quote the immortal Dr. Phil, "How's that working for you?"

You've said no to God and you've come up with your own value system. And the scripture says in Jeremiah chapter two, the Lord says, "My people have committed two evils: they have rejected Me, the fountain of living waters, and they have hewn for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which can hold no water." Two evils: they were forsaking Me, that's a big evil, and now they've created their own water pots, but they don't hold any water. And they say, "We'd rather have this than the fountain of living waters."

We are building in our generation today, in so many homes today, we're building on a cracked slab. We're building on a foundation that can't sustain a home, that can't sustain a structure. Now, everybody knows that you have to have a good foundation in order to build a structure. Because if you have a bad foundation, it's not going to work.

And definitely, if you're building a house, if you go out there when they lay the foundation and you see there's a big crack in the slab, you wouldn't keep going. You'd say, "Hey, this isn't going to work, Mr. Builder. We got to fix this because we can't build on a cracked slab." That's all of us. All of us know that you can't do that when it comes to a house, yet we do that when it comes to life. We do that when it comes to our families; we build on a cracked slab.

Now, in Psalm 89, we get insight into the right foundation for a life, for a marriage, for a home, for a family. The scripture says this: "The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; the world and all it contains, You have founded them. The north and the south, You have created them; Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name. You have a strong arm; Your hand is mighty, Your right hand is exalted. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; lovingkindness and truth go before You. How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! Oh Lord, they walk in the light of Your countenance. In Your name they rejoice all the day, and by Your righteousness they are exalted. For You are the glory of their strength, and by Your favor our horn is exalted. For our shield belongs to the Lord, and our king to the Holy One of Israel."

In the verses that I read, it speaks of joy. It speaks of rejoicing. It speaks of protection as God's shield will protect. It speaks of light. It speaks of blessings. It speaks of good things. Now, is there anyone in here who would say, "I don't want joy, I don't want blessings, I don't want light, I don't want God's protection in my life, in my home?" Anybody that would say, "I don't want any of those things?" All of us would say, "Yes, that's what we want. Yes, that's what we need."

Well, because all of us would say that, our hands would go up if I had asked the reverse, "Who wants that? Boom, I want that. I want those good things from God." How do I get that in my life, in my home, in my family? How does that happen? Well, it happens when you have a firm and a solid foundation.

Now, verse 14 is a key verse because it gives us wisdom and insight into how God sets things up. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne. Lovingkindness and truth go before You. That's God's sure foundation: righteousness and justice, lovingkindness and truth. So, if you, if I, want to have a life, want to have a home that is solid, that is sure, that's not a cracked slab, we need to build like He builds.

We need to have a foundation like He has a foundation. Here's our question: what is the right foundation to build your life and home upon? Two pieces of the foundation. Piece number one: build on the Lord's righteousness and justice. You want to have a good solid foundation? Righteousness and justice. That's the foundation of God's throne; that can be the foundation of your life and your home.

Now, the word righteousness, *tzedek* in the Hebrew. We read in the Old Testament how God told us His name. The name of the Lord is Jehovah Tsidkenu, Jehovah Tzedek, the Lord our righteousness. It means that which is morally and ethically right and straight and true. It's akin to the word holy. And God is a holy God. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory."

And the word for justice, that means judgment. It means a verdict. It means the manner of law. When you go to court, if you ever go to court, one of the things you want for certain is a righteous judge, a just judge, because a just judge will give a just and righteous verdict. You don't want a crooked judge, because if you go up in the court of law and the judge is a crook, then the guy you're up against, he might have paid that guy off and that judge takes bribes and you're going to be a ripped potato chip. Why? Because he's not just.

God is a righteous judge. God is a just judge. God's throne where He rules is founded on righteousness and justice. Now, it used to be where people accepted what God said was right. That's how it was even in the sitcoms in the 50s, even in Leave It to Beaver. If you watch any of those Leave It to Beaver shows, Ward is basically teaching the Ten Commandments to his kids.

"You shall not steal, you shall not lie, you shall not covet, you shall not bear false witness." All that kind of stuff. He really didn't talk about "You shall not commit adultery" or "murder," they kind of knew those that you didn't do that. But that's the show. And those things were just universally accepted in America, God's standards. And right and wrong weren't considered subjective issues.

But they are today. They are today. People look at right and wrong and they say, "Well, that's your definition of right and wrong. That's your truth, that's not my truth." You mark it down: right and wrong are not subjective issues. They're not, although we like to think that they are. We like to pretend that they are. And so what do we do? We reject the fountain of living waters, Jeremiah 2:13, to go after and hew for ourselves cisterns that can hold no water, broken cisterns. It's like, what kind of a moron would leave the fountain of living waters for a pot that can't hold any water? But that's what we do. And we build on a cracked slab because we go our own way and we say, "We know better than You do, God, as to what is right and what is wrong."

Larry Nobles: You're listening to the message, "Are You Building on a Cracked Slab?" from Pastor Jeff Schreve's series, Modern Family: God's Wisdom for Today's Families. It's the first lesson from this series that we'll be in for the rest of this month. And family and money are two of the topics we've covered this month. Pastor Jeff had much to say about money in the series we aired earlier called God and Money: What the Bible Says About Managing Money.

The Bible makes it clear that everything belongs to God and we are to be wise in our stewardship of His resources. As that relates to you, how are you understanding and managing your family finances? Is it in a way that pleases the Lord and brings you peace and joy? God and Money: What the Bible Says About Managing Money is a three-lesson practical series where he shares three priorities that we should all have as it relates to money management, and how important it is to be faithful with what the Lord has entrusted us to have.

This is a really wonderful practical series that will empower you to make the most out of your money for the Lord and for your peace. Pastor Jeff is a volunteer for From His Heart. Everything you give to support us goes to getting these programs on the air on stations around the world. Your partnership really matters. And when you make a gift to support this outreach this month, we'll send you the series on USB flash drive, CDs, DVDs, or an immediate MP3 download.

Again, the series is God and Money: What the Bible Says About Managing Money, and you can call 866-40-BIBLE, or go online to fromhisheart.org. And know that we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your faithful support that helps us to reach this great nation and around the world as well. Now let's get back to today's part one of the lesson, "Are You Building on a Cracked Slab?"

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Proverbs chapter 14 verse 12 and chapter 16 verse 25, same verse, it says this: "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." There's a way that seems right, but it's not the right way. But it seems right to you. The last verse in the book of Judges is a telling verse. It says this: "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." In his own eyes. It's a subjective thing. "It's what I think is right, I'm going to do what I think is right." Hey, there's a way that seems right to a man, but the end is the way of death.

The word for "right" literally means straight. There's a way that seems straight to a man. But man can't see straight. I have up here a little device that's used in building, it's used in hanging pictures. It's called a level. You know, a level's just got a little bubble in it and you kind of mark it. If you're trying to build a fence or you're trying to hang a picture, you put this thing on it to try and get it level, or you put it this way to try and get it straight.

Well, here's the problem that you have and I have: we are sinners, and so our bubble is off. We don't see things the way they are really. And so we think, "Well, that's straight. Doesn't that look straight?" But my bubble's off. And it may look lined up to me like that's straight, but everybody knows that this isn't straight. Or do we? God knows it's not straight.

God says, "Hey, here's My standard. Boom." But we say, "No, I like this standard better, that looks straight to me." Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. When I was home from college one summer, I was having dinner with my parents. And I used to like to drink a lot of orange juice, and so I had a glass of orange juice there that I was going to have with my dinner.

And as we sat down to eat dinner, it was I think we had some kind of roast and baked potato. And my dad, he was messing with his baked potato and then he looked at my orange juice and he snapped his finger and he just pointed and he said, "Give it to me." I said, "What?" "Give it to me." "Give you what?" He pointed at my juice. "Give it to me."

I was like, "Get your own," you know? I mean, "This is mine." I didn't say that. I just was kind of incredulous. Like, "Go to the refrigerator and get yours if you want some so bad." Snapped like three times. "Give it to me." "All right, here you go, take it. I'll go get my own." He takes the orange juice and he pours it all over his baked potato. I looked at him and I said, "What are you doing?"

He said, "I'm taking the melted butter and I'm putting it on my baked potato." I said, "Melted butter? That's orange juice!" And you know what he said to me? He said, "Why did you let me pour that on my baked potato?" I said, "Hello, McFly! Were you not here? Give it to me! Give it to me! You're the one that wanted that." I thought you were going to drink it, I didn't know you were pouring it on your baked potato. What a dope.

There's a way that seems right, but it wasn't right. That's the way we are with so many things. Right and wrong are not subjective things. Right and wrong are defined by God. He is the author of morality. He tells us what is right and what is wrong. He's the one that says, "This is straight, this is righteous, this is true." And this is not. We get that from God.

You know, God was the one who gave Moses the Ten Commandments, written by the finger of God, written on tablets of stone. It wasn't written on the sand, subject to erasure or amendment. They're not the ten suggestions. They're not the "Ten, hey might want to try some of these sometime." They're commandments. And as one pastor said, "Hey, you don't break the commandments, you're broken on them."

God set up the world to be run a certain way and there's a morality built into the world. And if you say "phooey on You, God, I'm going to do my own thing" and you reject God and go after the broken cisterns which can hold no water, you're going to have distress and destruction and disaster because life doesn't work that way. And why do we have so many problems in our modern families? Is it not that we're building on a cracked slab? Of course. That covers so much of it.

Now, here's the big, big issue. When it comes to knowing the difference between right and wrong, you've heard the old saying, "Well, let your conscience be your guide." Don't let your conscience be your guide. Let this book be your guide. God is the one who tells you what's right and what's wrong.

What does God say about one of the big problems that we have in our world today, in our homes today? It has to do with authority, respect for authority. In the 1950s, we had great respect for authority. If you ever watch those shows back in the 1950s, if you ever watch Leave It to Beaver, he never said anything disrespectful to his teachers. If he did, Ward would have come unglued. I mean, it would have been a rough show. "Beaver Gets Beaten" on the next Leave It to Beaver. I mean, they just didn't do that stuff, right? There was respect for authority.

We're going back to school tomorrow. Now, I want to challenge you kids and I want to challenge you parents. You lead the way in respecting your kid's teacher, in respecting your kid's coach. So many parents go nuts when it comes to their kids playing sports. They say, "Well, I know my kid is the next Tim Tebow, I just know it. I mean, he's just great."

Your kid's 5'2" and he's got a club foot. I mean, he's not going to make it, right? He's got a different gift, a different talent, he's just not going to be there. "Well, he ought to be the starting quarterback." Don't do that. You support those guys. They want to win football games. You know what? They're not trying to see, "Well, who's the crummiest guy I can put out here? Yeah, put him out there."

"I got the all-star, Michael Jordan sitting on my bench. Why would I play him? I'd rather lose." Hey, you're going to play the good players, right? So respect authority and let your kids see, in this home, we respect authority. Well, why did God put "Honor your father and mother" in the Ten Commandments? Because He wants you to teach your kids from early on, "This is the authority in the home. You honor that authority that it may go well with you, that you may live long on the earth."

You don't respect your parents, you don't honor authority, and God says your life's going to be cut short. That's a huge thing for God. Well, who came up with that? It comes from God. "Shall not steal, you shall not lie, you shall not commit adultery." All those things reflect the character and the nature of God. That's why He says, "Those things are repugnant to Me, they're so opposite of Me, don't do them."

We have a society today when it comes to partying. "Oh, well, I mean, I want to party. Party like a rock star. You know, I'm just going to have a big time." Does the Bible say anything about that? Yes, the Bible says something about that. Because most of those "partying like a rock star" involve alcohol, involve drugs, involve letting loose.

The Bible talks about letting loose. The Bible calls that carousing. Says it's a deed of the flesh. Says those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Talks about getting drunk. It says, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise." It's a big deal to God.

How about premarital sex? It's one of the issues that is in our world today and so many people, they're like, "Ah, you know, it's not a big deal. I mean, every show you watch on television, people are sleeping together, it's not a big deal." I still remember a family member told me, this is back in the 80s, she was going to go with her boyfriend to Cancun for a little trip.

And I said to her, I said, "Well, how are you doing your sleeping arrangements?" She goes, "We're just getting one hotel room." And she looked at me like I'm a Neanderthal. And she said to me, "Get with the program, this is the 80s." Oh, silly me, I didn't know it was the 80s. You know, but God said it was a long time ago when God said that the marriage bed should not be undefiled, for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

Yeah, that was a long time ago. Because God has changed things now because it's the 80s. It doesn't change. "I am the Lord, I change not." And because morality comes from the character and the nature of God, and God doesn't change, His word doesn't change, and morality never changes. And God's standard and His bubble of right and wrong, they never change.

Larry Nobles: And God's unchangeability is one of His attributes that we really ought to praise Him for, as we're learning in this all-important message today called "Are You Building on a Cracked Slab?" from Pastor Jeff's series, Modern Family: God's Wisdom for Today's Families. Now, you can find out more about this series and today's message when you go to fromhisheart.org, click the listen link.

And for a gift to From His Heart this month of any amount, we want to say thank you by sending you this new series, God and Money. Just make your gift when you call 866-40-BIBLE, or go online to fromhisheart.org. I'm Larry Nobles, trusting you'll join Pastor Jeff next time for part two of this message entitled "Are You Building on a Cracked Slab?" when we'll again open God's word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from His heart. Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Find out more at fromhisheart.org.