GOD-ORDAINED PATTERN

God’s ordained pattern for:
1) A lasting Legacy
2) True impartation
3) Succession Process.
4) The purpose of Pastoring and parenting,
5) Genuine fellowship
6)  Prolonging generational blessing and values
6) Prolonging a godly heritage
7) Genuine fellowship.
“Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it”. Prov.22:6
 
A child should be trained the way he should go and not the way he wants to go. The training is not meant for just training purpose and the effect is not temporal.
 
Jer. 35:1-19
“…Go to the house of the Rechabites, speak to them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink…and I said to them, Drink wine…But they said, We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, You shall drink no wine, you nor your sons, forever…Thus we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters…and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us…Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he commanded you, 'therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before Me forever”.
 
The responsibility of a true father is to exercise his authority within the context of God’s word-within godly counsel.
 
As a child of God, any instruction that runs contrary to the word of God, you are not held bound by it but any instruction that is of God, you are held bound by it. God’s authority supersedes all.
 
Looking at the life of the Rechabites, they held to the instruction handed down to them by their father, such that, God promised they would not lack a man to stand before Him forever. They obeyed their human father and God is a Father to us, heeding His instructions should not be hard for us.
 
In The Home
- Parents are supposed to train their children. If you are not ready to train, don’t give birth to them. This training is discipleship. It is more important than paying school fees.  It is more than giving instructions. A parent ought to be a coach.
- Children ought to own this training, develop it and never depart from it just as the children of the Rechabites didn’t depart from the instruction of their father long ago. As children, your first goal should be to get all you need to get before you leave your parents’ home rather than be eager to want to live, to be independent. The process of parenting is the process of apprenticeship.

- As a child, you are an apprentice. Just as the apprentice lives by what he’s taught, so children are to live by the upbringing given by their parents, no matter where you find yourself.
- What you have come to own is seen in your choices and decisions. When a child owns the training, it builds/develops the character that matches the mandate which that child is to fulfill.
 
Every mandate has a Character.  Sometimes we miss opportunities because we do not have the character needed. One should be able to look at a child, and tell the kind of home he comes from. Children are to live by the training they have received.
 
In application to the Church
The same principle and order that governs the home governs the church also. 1 Pt. 2:2, Is. 9:6, 1 John 2:13-These scriptures clearly shows us the same line of thought in the home and for the church.  God uses family terms to pass across His message. 1 Tim. 1:1, 2 Tim. 1:2, Matt. 6:9. God is our Father, Jesus is the Son.
 
Jesus was never referred to as a child of God. The contention has always been because He called Himself the Son of God. This is because the Jews understood who a son is meant to be. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given”.  A son goes through training and process, has grown, he’s subject to his father and takes responsibility. A son is a representative of the father, he can take and make decisions in the stead of the father.
 
The home is the small church; the church is the big home. The same principle governs both. Eph. 5:32-the kind of relationship that exists between the man and the wife is the same relationship that ought to exist between Christ and the church.
 
- If the home is a training ground, then the church is also a training ground.
 
These are the last days, stop playing Church. God’s word is God, stop taking His instructions for granted. If you have decided to serve God, serve Him.
 
It was God that set up the home and church institutions. You cannot think of running the institutions of God the way you like and not expect to incur His wrath. 1 Cor. 4:15, Acts 2:42.
 
The home/church is a family affair. We were not called to live a life of independence but interdependence.
 
What’s the Take-Off point?
“But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth”. 1 Tim. 3:15 (Eph. 4:8-12-14)
- The big church is a training centre for the effectiveness of the small church.
- The first take-off point for ministry is the home.
- You must be trained to train effectively. The training of life doesn’t jump on a man, it does not come by age, There’s a deliberate part you have to play. You must be discipled to disciple.
-Luke 2:51-52. Jesus subjected Himself to His parents’ authority in God. Jesus went through a process. He wasn’t a man of Himself.
 
As a part of the body in a local assembly, you should be subject to the authority there under God.

Action steps
 
Whatever you are not interested in, you will never know.
 
LEARN TO ASK WHY. If you don’t ask why, you will not know the reason why. Learn to ask why certain persons are the ones in your life. For example, learn to ask why is your spouse the one God gave you, why is this Pastor, the Pastor of the church you are attending or why are your parents the ones He gave you, why am I a Nigerian and not an American, why is Buhari our president? When you know the reasons and answers to these questions, it will make you to stop opposing and criticizing what ordinarily should make for a smooth working relationship.
 
If you interpret wrongly, you will resist what you need the most.
 
It is God you need to ask the why and when you do, He will begin to show you. Matt. 8:9-many times, we want men to be subject to us but are not subject to the authority of God. If you know you want to give orders that must be taken, you have to be able to take orders. If God can instruct you and you accept it, you also will be able to instruct and it will be accepted also.
 
“Thus says the LORD: "Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it”. Jer. 6:16

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls”. Matt.11:28-29
 
If it is Jesus we are learning from, we ought to take His yoke (instructions/training…) because therein lies the rest we are seeking.
 
"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me”. John 15:4.
 
We must abide in Jesus if we want the rest we so desperately seek.
 
See the home and church differently.  Be careful how you deal with authority.
 
Once the Lord Jesus (the word of God) is out of the equation, it is vain, empty. For Jesus said, without me, you can do nothing.
 
Stop blaming others for your state, take responsibility.
 
Learn to ask why, so your destiny in God will find expression