by Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
I. We know that Satan is always looking for ways to destroy the works of God (I Peter 5:8)<\/p>\n A. Sometimes his attacks are direct, but often they are subtle, so subtle that we often\ncannot pinpoint when the change took place and we started to stray from God’s\npath.\n B. Satan doesn’t attack from just one direction, he use a multi-prong approach. (Eph.\n6:16 – fiery darts) We may deflect a few darts, but if one or two get through and\nwound us, then Satan can tear us down.\n C. To destroy the church, Satan doesn’t just attack each individual Christian, he is also\naltering the fabric of society that had allowed the church to flourish in the past.\n 1. Have you notice that the church is not growing like it once had? What has\nchanged? Certainly, it is not the message.\n 2. There are forces in society at work that make it difficult for the seed of the\ngospel to take root and grow.\n 3. Those forces not only affect reaching the lost with the gospel, but it also\naffects those in our own families.\n 4. Think of the amount of damage Satan can do if he prevents Christians from\npassing on their faith and knowledge to their own children!\n
II. Changing the definition of a family<\/p>\n
A. What constitutes a family?<\/p>\n 1. Not too long ago the idea was clear — a family was generally made of a\nhusband, wife, and their children. Extended families included other\nrelatives by birth or marriage.\n a. Some families experienced tragedies that took a member from them,\nbut the basic structure remained the same\n b. Not everyone met the standards, but everyone acknowledged the\nideal.\n
c. Genesis 2:24 – The husband and wife is the core of the family.<\/p>\n
2. In the 1960’s, there was an effort to blur the idea of marriage<\/p>\n
a. Unrestricted sex outside the bonds of marriage<\/p>\n b. Alternative marriage arrangements, such as communes, mate sharing,\nliving together\n c. These were glorified in textbooks as social experimentation (I have\ntextbooks)\n 3. Some faded out because they are unworkable relationships, others continue\nin mockery of God’s institution.\n
a. Living together – the Bible calls it fornication<\/p>\n
b. Communes and mate sharing – the Bible calls it adultery.<\/p>\n
c. But the people don’t want to hear of it – Isaiah 6:9-10<\/p>\n
d. Isaiah 28:9-13 – The people don’t want to live their lives by rules<\/p>\n B. The blurring continues with the push to accept homosexual relationships as just\nanother alternative to the marriage of husband and wife.\n 1. I don’t think people in the 1970’s would have imagined that in 20 years that\nspeaking against the sin of homosexuality would be considered wrong, but\nthat our society has legitimized it with insurance benefits and talk of state\nrecognized marriages!\n
2. Let’s face the facts, the people love to have it this way! – Jer. 5:21-31<\/p>\n
III. Who is in charge?<\/p>\n A. The altering of the rules which govern society have their predictable results, our\nsociety is rapidly becoming more violent\n B. What is interesting is the response, instead of saying “Opps, we made a mistake! \nLet’s go back to safe ground.” we have people saying, “We told you there were\nproblems, we need even more fixes.”\n 1. I have heard and read where people are blaming today’s woes on the\nChristian principles that our society use to follow!\n
C. Man cannot direct his own path – Jer. 10:23<\/p>\n
1. We must have a higher authority to answer to.<\/p>\n 2. Pr. 20:24 – How can man understand his own path? He can’t see the full\nconclusion. He hasn’t traveled that way before.\n
D. Have you noticed society taking over aspects of the family?<\/p>\n
1. Father isn’t an adequate provider, so the government will help.<\/p>\n
2. Parents are too busy working, so we have government sponsored child care.<\/p>\n
3. Social experimentation is advocated in schools.<\/p>\n 4. Superintendents are now telling parents that parents have no say what\nhappens to their children while they are in school.\n
IV. What are we teaching the children?<\/p>\n
A. Pr. 22:6 – Train a child when young and it will be a habit when he is old.<\/p>\n
B. What the schools are teaching<\/p>\n
1. Sex outside of marriage is okay, so long as you are careful in how it is done.<\/p>\n 2. People can’t help being homosexuals, they are born that way, so we must\naccept the practice.\n 3. Independent thinking is good, so don’t listen to parents their ideas may not\nbe your ideas.\n 4. Situation Ethics — there is no absolute right or wrong, it depends on the\nsituation.\n
C. What society is teaching<\/p>\n 1. There is too much child abuse, so we must eliminate all forms of physical\ndiscipline.\n
2. Abortion is a legitimate form of birth control.<\/p>\n
D. What the media is teaching<\/p>\n
1. Sex outside of marriage is common and acceptable.<\/p>\n
2. Foul language is the normal way of talking.<\/p>\n
3. Homosexuality is a major media event.<\/p>\n 4. Commercials that glorify near nudity and the public display of\nundergarments as fashion statements.\n
E. What kind of habits are we forming?<\/p>\nV. Nothing has happened overnight, we are seeing the accumulations of years of small\nchanges.\n
A. They won’t stop. Most likely it will get worse given the past history of mankind.<\/p>\n
B. We need voices of reason. – Phil 2:15-16<\/p>\n
C. Perhaps we can reverse a trend.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I. We know that Satan is always looking for ways to destroy the works of God (I Peter 5:8) A. Sometimes his attacks are direct, but often they are subtle, so subtle that we often cannot pinpoint when the change took place and we started to stray from God’s path. B. Satan doesn’t attack…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[173],"class_list":["post-62387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-family"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55181,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/beware-of-satans-tactics\/","url_meta":{"origin":62387,"position":0},"title":"Beware of Satan’s Tactics","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Rickey Shive via\u00a0Lost River Bulletin, Vol. 58, No. 2, June 8, 2008. The book of Job is a marvelous piece of ancient, Scripture Although scholars are uncertain who the author of the text actually is or the exact time period when it was written, they have speculated that it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41708,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/creeping-toward-sodom\/","url_meta":{"origin":62387,"position":1},"title":"Creeping Toward Sodom","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Genesis 13:1-13 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lot\u2019s problems began when his herdsmen could no longer get along with the herdsmen of Abram - Genesis 13:5-7 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This is often the first sign of problems among brethren \u2013 they are no longer able to be of one mind \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I Corinthians\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88828,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/satan-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":62387,"position":2},"title":"Satan (Gibson)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 21, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson How much do we know about Satan? Second Corinthians has quite a bit to say about him. What does Paul say in this letter about our enemy, the devil? Knowing how Satan works is essential. \"... so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63459,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/seven-facts-about-gods-providence\/","url_meta":{"origin":62387,"position":3},"title":"Seven Facts about God\u2019s Providence","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ephesians 6:10-20 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are questions we have regarding how God works in the world today for which we have no answers \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We cannot see the spiritual realm \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We cannot measure the influence the spiritual realm has on our thoughts \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God hasn\u2019t told us everything\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37121,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/resist-the-devil\/","url_meta":{"origin":62387,"position":4},"title":"Resist the Devil","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: James 4:1-10 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When we are faced with temptation, it is a struggle to resist \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The urge to give in seems overwhelming. Even when we know we should not, too often we do it anyway - Romans 7:14-15 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Since the action goes against what we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3691,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/satan\/","url_meta":{"origin":62387,"position":5},"title":"Satan (Hamilton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 1, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ezekiel 28:12-19 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For a being who has plagued mankind since the beginning, it is surprising how little people know about Satan \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Some declare he really doesn\u2019t exist. To these people, he is just the personification of evil in mankind. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Others imagine a character with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}