Brandon Phillips

Family

Developing a Family Mission Statement

PHILLIPS KCRU

4 “Hear, O Israel:TheLordour God, theLordis one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  Deuteronomy 6:4-7

and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 3:15

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ Mark 12:30

Every company has a mission statement. This generally is the "WHY?" behind the company's existence. The company will go to great lengths to make it memorable and share it with the world. As important as this is for companies. I believe it is also just as important for our families.

Does your family have a mission statement?

Families exist, according to the bible, to love, obey, and serve God, see Deuteronomy 6, 2 Tim 3:15, and Mark 12:30. For a family to accomplish this purpose it will need to be intentional at doing things that show it. That's why a mission or purpose statement is important to guide all we do as a family.

A mission statement help you decide what to do and what not to do. If you know your mission and an opportunity come up that is contrary to your mission then you pass on that. In other words it help you focus your family only on activities hat help you accomplish your purpose.

How do you come to a family mission statement?

  1. Gather the family together
  2. Ask everyone to come up with words that describe or words you want to describe your family.
  3. Choose bible passages that support those words or qualities.
  4. Craft a statement that is a biblical picture of what your family wants to strive for.

I say strive for because this is something you and your family can grow towards. When you set expectations and goals to accomplish you have a place to go. When you set those in front of your family it is something you can become. NO family is perfect but have a mission statement helps you move towards a goal together.

Here is what our family came up with a few months ago. I cannot say we always live up to these values but it is something we are striving for. May God grant us favor on this quest.

Phillips KCRU.

Kindness

Compassion

Respectful

Uplifting

As a family we seek to be respectful to our parents and authority, live with compassion, show kindness to all, and show the love of Christ by being uplifting to those around us.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29

I am praying for you and your family and may you find this helpful. Remember we are on a journey together. No one has arrived, It feels good to be on the journey with others.

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Devotional

The Inner War

innerwar

There is a battle raging. It is not a physical battle that we can see. It is one that is going on inside of us.

We are all born with a soul at war. The war is between the sin nature that we are born with and the awareness that there is a personal creator who loves us and desires us to live a certain way. We learn more about this as we grow in Christ likeness but it is even there from the start.

There is this great sense that we were made for a greater purpose. That is God and his general revelation to us throughout the world. We see Him at work even if we are unaware. We see him working in the lives of those around us. We see his work in creation. It is there and it is obvious.

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Romans 1:18-20

So how do we win the war inside?

  1. We seek the things above.

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Colossians 3:1-2

The way of this world is easy to follow and contrary to what God wants for our lives. As we seek Christ there will be plenty of distractions. We need to make sure we are doing all we can to eliminate those distractions and seek Christ in His word.

  1. We find others who are seeking Christ as well.

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

We were never meant to live this life alone. As Christians God gave us each other to experience life with. We will have trouble in this world. Trouble with our circumstances and trouble with sin. When we have others to share with, we will make each other better as we seek God together.

  1. We publicly worship with other believers.

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

CHURCH YALL! The church is God's family. As we each individually seek God and worship him it is also important to share what God is doing in our lives with other believers. We gather for corporate worship to give God glory and celebrate what he is doing. The more we focus on him the more we see what he is doing. As we gather and share what God is doing we encourage other believers who may be going through a similar situation. We NEED each other.

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Uncategorized

Thinking About You

I have been spending a lot of time thinking about me. Not in a narcissistic sense but in a sense of evaluation seeking to understand why I am the way I am. I want to be better for the people around me.

I want to be the kind of person that others want to be around. When I encounter someone I want to be a source of encouragement not a source of discouragement or frustration. The most important person I need to think about it my wife. I need to consider her above all others. How does she see me? What am I giving to her when I finally do get to see her.

Our life with four kids is extremely busy and complicated with work, school, church, and other extras we have been spread thin and have not been able to spend much time together. So I need to make that time count. I need to make sure that she is getting the best me. That’s where this route comes in.

When I choose to think negative about myself because of my failures or bad encounters of the day then she will experience a bad me. It is only normal to take our experiences and process them but sometimes this processing can lead to the voice in our head leaving us down and broken. When we come down and broken we need someone to fix us. And to honest our spouses don’t have the time or emotional energy to fix us. That’s not what love is about.

On the other hand if I choose to not allow the negative experiences or thoughts in my mind to turn on me, then I can be a better version of myself for my spouse. Many of these negative thoughts come from the soundtrack the world is playing on repeat. If we can drown it out and change the sound track we will come out with a different mindset.

That’s why Paul says in Romans 12:2 “do not be conformed to this word, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

We can easily become distracted or conformed to this world by listening to the soundtrack of the world. However when we take the time to renew our minds in God’s word, His voice will drown out the noise of the world.

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Devotional

Men – What are you thinking?

Men.

If you are like me you are stubborn, a creature of habit, and have a problem with pride. As I write those words I don’t think there is anything wrong with those characteristics necessarily except they can cause you to be selfish, immovable, and want your own way. These can be barriers in relationships. 

Any good relationship takes time and intentional effort. Relationships that don’t receive the time and attention needed can drift and be unhealthy. I don’t want that in any of my relationships. Especially my marriage. 

What does it take to have a good marriage?

It takes work. And if you are willing follow me for a moment. 

What do you think about your marriage? Where do those thoughts come from? Do they come from societies view on marriage? Do they come from examples you saw in your parents or grandparents? 

Our preconceptions about marriage come from somewhere and they are not always bad. But for some they can be damaging. They can lead you to toxic thoughts about your spouse or what marriage is supposed to be. Even when we don’t mean too. 

Our thoughts have a mind of their own. In fact a lot of the time they are on auto pilot. We don’t know how we got to thinking about the things we think about and even occasionally an inappropriate thought will show up. We didn’t go looking for it and we don’t know how it got there. Our thoughts really can have a mind of their own.  

If you have ever been a victim of this mind roller-coaster I want you to know there is hope. The Bible gives clear instructions and commands to help us win the battle of our thoughts before they run away. 

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2

  1. Do not conform to this worlds ways. Your thought patterns ,your words, or your actions. Because it is unclean and unholy.
    1. To conform means to form to a mold, for example following the worlds ways and ideas that are contrary to God’s Word. 
  2. Instead be transformed or changed by renewing your mind with God’s word. As you renew your mind you are stronger and know what to think about things of this world. How to respond to affliction and difficult situations, etc…
  3. When trials or questions come up because you know God’s Word it will be easier to make your stand for faith and the right or good acceptable and perfect, decision.   

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

  1. We need to remember that we are battling forces we cannot see. 
  2. The influences of this world pull us in every direction but what is right. 
  3. We do have the power in Jesus to stay with the truth. 
  4. So we take captive bad thoughts, and replace them with truth from God’s word. 

Next time you find yourself thinking in the wrong direction. I hope this helps you steer your thoughts in the right direction. I know it helps me!

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Love is…

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

I cannot help but reflect on the love passage on Valentine’s Day. It is a passage that does say a lot about love. It speaks to the qualities that define love and to the type of character a loving person should have.

In addition to the passage above I wanted to list three things that I have been learning and praying through for myself. I have been reading books, articles, and attending marriage focused events and these points have stood out to me, probably because they are where I need the most work and growth in my life.

Work on the one in the circle.

This one will hit you right between the eyes. If I am honest, I think that my ways are the best ways and that most of the time if there is a problem then it is the “other” person’s fault. This reminds me that I do not have the power to change anyone but myself. I should submit myself to God and allow Him to work in me and show me the areas I need to improve.

work on yourself

Fill your house with gratitude.

Our society is very cynical, and it carries over into our homes. I snap back insensitive comments and hurtful corrections when accidents happen, or something is off. This does not give my home the “warm and fuzzy” feelings that I want. Instead, it breeds negative attitudes and bad behaviors.

I need to be thankful for the people in my house. I am thankful, but I am not good at saying or showing it. I need to speak words of gratitude and positive reinforcement to my kids and spouse. When I do this I begin to see a change in the mood of everyone in my home.

gratitude

Be a servant and cheerleader.

If marriage show me anything it shows me just how selfish I am and how far I have to go. Choosing to be a servant in the home sets an example that others can follow. I also should support and encourage in their passions and gifting. That means practicing with them, listening to them play off key, or looking at their latest creation.

It is amazing the smiles that come from being a servant and cheerleader. The people we choose to serve this way respond with joy and it fills the house! It also just feels good to be living in a home with positive reenforcement, support and encouragement.

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