Greetings to you, friend. How can parents bring up their children to be faithful to the teachings of God? How can they teach them to become Christians? How can parents know their children and bring them up to love God? Well, that’s Phil Sander’s subject for today’s lesson. I’m sure he has some help for every concerned parent. And we’d ask you to stay tuned.
Oh say, friend, it’s so good to have you with us for Bible study today. Ours is a Bible study program, you know. We’re In Search of the Scriptures for the Lord’s Way to be saved, and to live like Jesus taught us to live. Oh me! It’s as the Philipino man said --whose letter I read to you recently, there are so many, many ways to salvation and peace with God offered now in the airwaves, that’s it’s confusing, isn’t it? We can be absolutely sure and safe, though, with doing what the Bible says, because you see, it is God’s word.
We’re sponsored here by some friends of yours in some churches of Christ in the broadcast area of this station, who would just simply love to have you study the Bible and worship with them at your first opportunity. If you’ve just been waiting for an invitation to do that, I’m inviting you now. If you need help locating such a church, or if you think you might want a free CD, audio cassette tape or even a printed copy of Phil’s message today, write us or call us at once. Our toll-free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. Our address is In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083 and our email address is searchtv@searchtv.org. Or you may access it on our website at www.searchtv.org.
I don’t see much day-time television because I’m at work. But, I do watch some evening news programs. And I’m hearing a lot about “problem children.” I’m wondering. Could it be possible that these are “problem parents?” Well, Phil Sanders is a Bible student, and he and his wife Jackie have four lovely, faithful Christian daughters that bring them lots of pleasure and much happiness. I’m sure he has some good words for us today. Listen to him. What do you say? Ken Helterbrand will lead us in a hymn now and then Phil will be here to read Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4-9 and then he’ll pray with you.
Thank you, Mack. Our reading today comes from the book of Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4-9. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart; you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” That’s from the New King James Version. Let’s pray together. Oh, Lord we are grateful that you are our Father. And Father we are grateful for our children. Help us heavenly Father to be good parents, to teach them to love You with all our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. This we pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.
The inspired, apostle John wrote in 3 John 4, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” We don’t know whether the apostle John had a wife or became the father of any children of his own, but these were his spiritual children. Whether spiritual or physical, parents love their children and they want what is best for them. John rejoiced because his spiritual children were walking in the truth. They were living their lives in accordance with the truth that was revealed by Christ and His Holy Word. Christian parents want to know their children are pleasing to God. I have seen John’s joy in other parents whose children were faithful and unfortunately I’ve wept with parents whose children strayed from the truth.
The Lord blessed Jackie and me with four lovely daughters. And with the birth of each child we felt the full responsibility of parenthood. God made us responsible to feed, to clothe, to train and to protect our children. We had been given charge of them physically, intellectually, socially and spiritually. And, from the first time we saw them, we loved them as our very own souls. We had such hopes and dreams for each of them. We wanted them to be happy, healthy, smart, and successful in life. And, more than anything else, Jackie and I wanted our children to be faithful Christians who were right with God. We wanted them to know God and to appreciate Him. We wanted them to respect God and obey Him. We wanted them to love God and to serve Him.
We hoped our children would follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Perhaps you remember the verse that described how Jesus grew up. Luke 2 and verse 52 says, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” Well, we certainly hoped our girls would grow up like that. We wanted them to increase in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. And we pray they would make wise choices in life. That they would be healthy, and that they would find friends and be a friend to God. In all our dreams for our children, however, we tried never to forget the word of Jesus in Matthew 16 and verse 26, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
How can we bring up faithful children? How can we help them to know and appreciate God and the bible? How can we help them to love God and serve Him? Well, first, raising faithful children starts at the very beginning. When Christians learn they have a child on the way, they should begin praying every day for the child’s welfare and for the wisdom to know how to raise the child. New parents don’t get a child with an instruction manual, and every child is different. They need God’s wisdom to help them know how to deal with each child in a way that will bless that child. The Bible says in James 1 and verse 5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” Now this is not some special revelation but it is the everyday wisdom that we all need to live our lives faithfully.
Second, Christian parents should sing hymns with their children in their arms. A little child may not understand all the words that their parents say, but they do understand their tone of voice. They can sense the love of parents. Children learn to love God from their parents, and the best way to start out a new life is to sing hymns of love for God. If you want God to be in the life of your little child, then he must also be in your life. Some of the happiest memories that your child will ever have is of those precious moments as a little child singing songs of praise to God.
Third, from the very beginning decide that you are going to worship regularly with the church and take your children with you. The Bible says in the book of Hebrews chapter 10, verses 23-25, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and so much the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Assembling with other Christians regularly keeps you strong spiritually. Your child will be influenced for good by loving and faithful teachers and Christian friends at church. If you want your children to love the Lord, then make sure they assemble with God’s family regularly to worship and to learn about God.
Fourth, parents, you must assume the primary task, YOU must assume the primary task of spiritually training your children. Now you cannot leave that to others. God gave the charge to spiritually train the children He gave to you, and no one has a greater opportunity or responsibility than you do to help your child get to heaven. The Bible says to fathers in Ephesians 6 and verse 4, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Now, as the spiritual head of their homes, fathers can do much to influence their children to love and live for the Lord. It is a tragic thing that many fathers are absent. Many children, sadly, never know their fathers. Some are orphans, but more often than not the fathers are absent for other reasons. In those cases, mamas, mothers have to do all they can do to help their children know the Lord. Now, mothers can do much to lead their children to the Lord. You remember that Timothy became the Christian man he was, because of the women in his life. The apostle Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 1 verse 5, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.” You see, according to Acts 16 and verse 3, Timothy’s father was a Greek. Now, it fell to his mother and grandmother to teach him about God; and their faith became Timothy’s faith. Mothers if you do not have a husband to help you, or if your husband does not share your faith, don’t let that stop you from doing all you can to bring your children up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord.
Fifth, make the Word of God a part of your everyday life. Deuteronomy 6 verses 4-9 reveals a powerful key to raising faithful children. God said through Moses: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 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. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Now, according to Deuteronomy 6, verse 24 and 10 verse 13, God gave us the Bible for our good. When the words of God, the words of the Bible, live in our hearts, they help us in a multitude of ways to grow in faith, to make right choices, and to avoid the moral pitfalls of life. According to Romans 10 and verse 17 “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Nothing, and I repeat, nothing is more important to your children’s spiritual development than a knowledge of God and His word, the bible. God’s word will nourish your children with the truth that they need to live a faithful life. It will teach them what to avoid and how to avoid it. It will keep their hearts tender toward God and shape their consciences for good.
The word of God teaches us how to treat our neighbor, and how to love our enemies, how to forgive the wrongs that we suffer. The word of God points people toward sacrifice instead of selfishness, toward a work ethic instead of laziness, toward responsibility instead of blaming others, toward authenticity instead of hypocrisy, toward love instead of apathy, toward kindness instead of passing by on the other side, and toward the truth instead of error. The Word of God teaches people that we are created in God’s image, not the product of random accidents. The Word of God explains to us where humans came from, why we are here, and where we will go after we die. Faith in God gives our lives identity, meaning and purpose. You cannot give your child anything more valuable than a knowledge of God in the Bible. I shudder to think how empty and how sad our lives would be without God and His Word. Those who are trying to push God and the Bible out of our society are really enemies to your children. They are cheating your children out of the blessing of their Christian heritage. When Israel rejected God and turned to idols, God sent them prophets to bring them back. One such prophet was Hosea, and God said through him in Hosea 4 verse 6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge (that is knowledge of God), I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”
Parents, the surest way to raise faithful children is to keep them reading and studying the Word of God, from the beginning all the way through; and the surest way to destroy your children’s hope of a better life is to reject the Word of God. Wherever the Bible is read and respected, people grow better and wiser. Wherever the Bible is ignored, life grows meaningless and evil. It turns inward, selfish, and immoral. The further people get away from God – the farther they get, the uglier they become to one another. When people get far away from God life becomes cheap, and people begin to abuse the old and the children. I don’t want a spiritually dark world without God for my children. I want them to walk in the light and the love of God.
Sixth, parents teach your children respect and reverence. Children who are respectful learn how to obey and in time how to discipline themselves. Children who do not respect their parents or God find their lives full of heartaches and failure. The parents also find their lives full of heartache over their children. Parents must establish loving authority over a child early in life. If they do, they will find their children happy and secure. But if parents don’t gain their children’s respect early, they will have a battle with their children for years; and no one will be happy. Proverbs 29 and verse 15 says, “The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.” The Bible again says in Isaiah 33 verses 5-6, “The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.” When children learn to respect and to revere God, they find life is stable and abundant. Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. Nothing is more crucial than knowing that we are accountable to God for the lives that we live.
Seventh, give them your love and blessing. Little children often come to understand their heavenly Father through their relationship with their earthly parents. If children have the security of their parents’ love, they will learn to trust the heavenly Father’s love. Children who never feel valued by their parents will find it hard to feel valued by God. Children who never find forgiveness from the parents have a harder time believing that God can forgive them. Children who have parents that reject them often think God might reject them too. Children can arrive at the wrong conclusions about God, when their parents don’t love them as they should. I’ve known some children who had to wait until adulthood and they left home before they ever understood how much God loves them.
When your child reaches the age where they know right from wrong, you must lead them to the Lord. Help them to understand God’s will for their lives. God saves us, and we can’t earn our salvation; but God gives us conditions for salvation. God expects us to love Him and to trust Him. And we are indeed saved by His grace through faith (Ephesians 2 and verse 8). And that faith and that love leads us to turn away from sin in repentance and to confess Christ as Lord. In penitent faith one who loves God will want to be baptized and have his sins washed away. And I pray that is what you wish to do and what your children will do. Let’s pray. O Lord, we pray that you will help every parent to act wisely and to lead their children to follow you and to love you all the days of their lives. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Thank you, thank you brother Phil for bringing to the attention of some young parents, some things they can do to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. You know, the older we get, the more we love children. And we’re especially concerned about the future and the eternal destiny of our children –and our grand-children –and others of us –even-- our great-grand-children. Phil, you’ve helped us all and we thank you.
If you’d like a free printed copy, or a CD or an audio cassette tape of the message on “Raising Faithful Children,” please address your request to www.searchtv.org or to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Our toll-free telephone number for this purpose is 1-800-321-8633. It’s free. We’re a non-profit ministry for Christ. We’re in our 30th year supported by some members of some churches of Christ in the area of this station, so, we’ve never asked our radio or television audiences for money. Say, it’s been good to be in your home today. I hope we can do it again next week. You know that our sermons are published monthly in this little book. But what you may not know is that Phil has prepared four of these messages about child rearing and they will be published at the end of this month in a little book similar to this. Maybe not exactly like it, but it will be similar to it. And you will want all four messages. I’m sure you will. And so, you may request them now. What do you say? Well, we love you.
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