Greetings to you, friend! I’m Mack Lyon. The program’s “In Search of the Lord’s Way” and you know of course that “the Lord’s Way” is found only in the Bible. So, ours is a Bible Study. Stay tuned. You’ll be glad you did!
A very hearty welcome to you, my friend! We’re greatly encouraged by to having you with us for Bible study in search of the Lord’s way of salvation and His way of life. We pray we’ll both be blessed.
Our brother Phil Sanders has prepared four messages about rearing children to be faithful Christians. Today’s message is the second in that series, and it’s titled: “Keeping Teens Faithful.” At the end of the program they will all be available to you in one of these little booklets. You’re going to want one of these. I’m sure you are! If you think you will, please make a note of how to make your request. Our address is: In Search of the Lord's Way; P.O. Box 371; Edmond, OK 73083, or searchtv@searchtv.org. You may use our toll-free telephone number if you like and we’ll pay for the call. That number is 1-800-321-8633. They’re free! Everything offered on this program is free. That is made possible by some caring Christians in some churches of Christ in the broadcast area of this station. Oh say! They would dearly love to have you visit one of their Bible study classes or one of their assemblies, too. I hope you’ll do that right away; will you; if you still have time today?
It’s been a long time since I was a teenager. I’m sure my parents often thought of me as one of those “terrible teens,” too. But, they taught us children, all of us, four of us, some values such as honesty and integrity and responsibility and hard work and all of that, for which I’m sincerely grateful to this day. Brother Sanders’ topic today is “Keeping Teens Faithful.” And after Ken Helterband leads us in a hymn, Phil will be here to read Proverbs chapter 3, verses 1 to 8 along with you.
Thank you, brother Mack! Our reading today comes from Proverbs chapter 3, verses 1 through 8. “My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.” That is from the New King James Version. Let’s pray together. O Lord, help us to trust in You and not lean on our own understanding. We are thankful, Father, that You gave us Your Word to help us to be better parents with our children. O Lord, help us to be faithful to all that You ask of us. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
God gave us the book of Proverbs to help us spiritually train our children as they grow older and begin to face the struggles of life. I think that being the parent of a teenager is perhaps one of the most difficult challenges of all life. But this book is a rich resource for parents who want to help their teenagers remain faithful to God. We know that God’s Word in the Bible teaches us how to succeed in life as a follower of Christ. Solomon says, by inspiration, “My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.”
I tell you, parenting is a lifelong role. And when God gives us children, we begin to consider what we will do to raise our children responsibly. As Christians we want them to be more than good citizens. We want them to live godly, committed lives in the service to God. Every godly parent has this great passion to see his or her children stay close to God. The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Colossae, “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance and understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2, verses 1 through 3). I tell you, hands-on parenting begins at birth, but it lasts until the child has reached maturity; and even when a child marries and establishes his or her own home, you know a godly parent never stops having a deep concern for the spiritual welfare of his children. Now, three of our four children are in their thirties; and my wife Jackie and I still watch for their souls. My 90-year-old mother still prays for the souls of all my brothers and sisters, and all of their children, and even though we ourselves as her children are grandparents. Loving our children means working to create in them a hunger for righteousness. We want to influence them to serve and obey God.
The first thing that you can do to influence your teenagers to serve the Lord is for you, parents, to lead the way. Parents, you have got to make a commitment to a daily walk with the Lord Jesus. You can’t lead your children to serve the Lord, if you are not willing to serve Him. Now, if you are half-hearted as a Christian, or if you’re a bit of a phony, or if you are only a one-day-a-week Christian, you won’t be able to lead your children to be fully committed to Christ. There are no perfect parents, I understand that, but parents who put the Lord first in their lives have the best opportunity to reach their children for all of their lives. Solomon said to his son in Proverbs 23 and verse 26, “Give me your heart, my son, and let your eyes delight in my ways.” Parents, do your children delight in your ways as a Christian? You see you have to set the example of the life that you want them to live. And if you want them to be moral, then model for them a moral lifestyle. If you want them to clean up their speech, then you must clean up your speech. If you want them to avoid bad habits that can hurt them, then you show them how to abstain from destructive behaviors. Your children will learn how to live and how to react to life from you. If you get angry often, why would it surprise you when your child gets angry? If you hold a grudge when your teenager misbehaves, how will he learn forgiveness? You see, your teen will live out his Christianity not only by how you live but also by how you treat him or her. Sadly, some teens quit the Lord because of the way their “Christian” parents treat them.
The second thing that you can do to influence your teens is to pray for them every day and to pray with them. Let them know that you pray for them. Let your teenagers know that they are important in your heart to the point that you will pray for them every day. Ask God for wisdom in raising your son or daughter. Now each child is different, and what works with one may not work with another; and you have got to love them all, and to love them properly you have got to know them and what they need. Now, a good way to get to know your children is to pray with them about the most important matters of life. The third thing you can do is to keep the main thing the main thing. Don’t let the distractions of life build a wedge between your family and God. Now, the Lord Jesus said, “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6, verses 31 to 33).
Families are so, so busy! They are busy with activities here and there, and you know what, they can so easily drift away from the Lord. There is school, and sports, and other events, and classes; and all these things can take up so much time that little is left over for the Lord or even for the family itself. Parents must learn to say no to what is wrong or to what crowds out God. My friend, if you love your children, and I know you do; love them enough to teach them the truth and to correct them. Love them enough to tell them what they most need to hear, and not allow all those things to crowd God out. You see, love means telling your teens what they need to hear and not just what they want to hear. Parents who try to be pals usually lose sight of what really matters. Parents who love God and love their children, they are not going to compromise their faith or their morals just to get along. And they are not going to let good things get so in the way of their service to God that they lose sight of who God is!
The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to urge Timothy to “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness”-- those six things. This is found in 1Timothy 6 and verse 11. You know if we spend all our energy on other things and give God only what’s left over, we are going to miss what is really important. Some parents worry more about their children getting into a prestigious university than they do getting into heaven. Your high school student, parents, he knows that. And why then, will it surprise you that he’ll think more about getting a good job than staying in church? What you pursue determines where you and your family will go. Where, my friend, do you want your children to go? The wonderful thing about Christian education is that a child can pursue his goals, educationally, in a Christian environment with Christian teachers.
The fourth thing that you can and must do if you want to influence your teenagers for the Lord is to teach and train them in the will of God found in the Bible. “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.” That is from Psalm 119, verse 9. You see, the number one thing young adults say kept them faithful to the Lord and His church through their twenties was the teaching and training they received growing up; that’s teaching in the Bible. God urges us, “like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.” That is from 1 Peter 2, verses 2 and 3. Again, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6 and verse 4). You know much of the harder questions come when children get old enough to ask those difficult questions about life. Parents, you have got to continue to grow in your knowledge of God’s Holy Word so that they, you parents, can help your children answer those harder questions. Have you ever wondered why God chose Abraham to be the father of the faithful? In Genesis 18 and verse 19 the Lord said to Abraham, “For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” Well, that’s a great promise and a great thing He has done for Abraham.
Now, as parents, let’s consider our great responsibility of how to train our children to know and obey the Lord. We all have that responsibility. I have often thought about the prophet, who is also a priest by the way; his name was Ezra, and the Bible says that Ezra “set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.” That’s Ezra 7 and verse 10. Now, every godly parent should set their hearts to really study and practice God’s teaching to train their youth in the Lord’s way. One of the books that I would recommend to you is the book of Proverbs. Every parent needs to read through the book of Proverbs several times. And if I had a child who was a teenager at home I would have them reading through the book of Proverbs, too. You see, there simply is no substitute for reading and studying God’s Word everyday! The Word will nourish and strengthen our hearts to know and to do what God wills.
You know parents must often think through again what God’s teaching in a lot of important matters. They should know what God wants us to believe and they should also know why. And that is why I would say to you parents build a spiritual library. Get a concordance, get a topical Bible, get a Bible dictionary; get books about the existence of God and other Christian evidences. Parents should find books that will help them learn what the Bible says about the topics that come up each day. They should be like the noble-minded Bereans and receive “the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether those things were so.” That is from Acts 17, verse 11. My friend, if your children, your teenagers, ask you a Biblical question, parents don’t rest until you can find God’s answer to that question. Don’t discourage questions from your teenagers, because that’s how they learn. Help them find answers that will sustain their faith.
The fifth thing that you can and should do is to get involved at church. Teens face tremendous spiritual and moral challenges today at school, from the media, and from their peers. And they need the encouragement of their parents and other godly teenagers. And I tell you, it helps to know that there are others who share their faith in Christ and moral values. God gave us the church and He gave us the Bible to help us through the challenges of life. Now, when Christians gather to worship, and to study, and to serve the Lord, their faith and their commitment grows much stronger. It helps to know that many wise and highly educated people believe in things like intelligent design and the creation of the world. It helps teenagers to know that other people may say no to sin as well. Many people face an awful lot of temptation and it helps to know that there are other Christians, both adults and teenagers, who avoid sexually-explicit movies and drinking alcohol. And it helps to hear Christians express their faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and in the inspiration of the Bible. My friend, it helps to see love in action as the church serves those who need help.
A preacher friend of mine said he wanted to do something to help the church. And he asked me what I thought he could do. Well, churches have always been proud of their Bible classes and youth programs, and I’m thankful for them. But God didn’t give the preacher, the youth minister, or the Bible class teacher the primary responsibility for spiritually training your children. He gave that responsibility to you parents, and especially to fathers. Well, the church’s responsibility is not so much to replace the parent. Rather the church should train the parent in how to train their children spiritually. Church leaders, I’m speaking to you. If you want to help the church, train parents in how to train their children spiritually.
We must all help our teens to know the Lord and to love the Lord. The church is always just one generation from falling away from God. Parents, start early training your children. Devote yourselves to the task of leading your children to trust in and to love God with all their hearts, with all their souls, with all their strength, and with all their minds. Children who love the Lord like that will gladly repent of their sins, and when that time comes they will confess the name of Christ before others, and be baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. And they will stay faithful to the Lord and they will live with Him forever. Oh, my friend, nothing else could be so important than to see your children to love the Lord, to want to obey Him, and to live with Him forever and ever. Let’s pray together. O Lord, we are so grateful that You in Your grace have given us our children. Help us, heavenly Father, to be good parents and to help our children through the toughest times of their lives as they grow into adulthood. Father, help us and be with us and give us the strength to do what is right. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
Thank you, thank you, brother Phil for the reminder to parents of teens to “keep the main thing, the main thing.” I guess that pretty well sums up what you had to say today, doesn’t it? Friend, I don’t know what else he has in the next two weeks, but I’m sure that you are going to want one of these little books. Now this is not the cover that is going to be on it because this one is the one that we usually print and with our special lessons, and I have asked him to do four lessons this month, continue this subject. And he is preparing those so we will have a cover from the publisher very soon, perhaps by next week so we can tell you what it is going to be looking like. And I know you are going to want one of these little booklets with all of this information in it. And you need to let us know now, so as to know how many that we need to have published or printed. Now we are having to reprint some of our booklets because we didn’t print enough.
Our address is “In Search of the Lord's Way;” P.O. Box 371; Edmond, OK 73083 or searchtv@searchtv.org. Our toll-free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. Visit our website at www.searchtv.org, too. This message, along with the other messages on this subject and other information can be accessed there. We are so happy that you were with us today, friend. We hope you have been blessed. Will you be with us next week? God bless you. We love you.
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