We started with a reminder that despite that today we focus
on families and raising children that everyone can apply this—singles to their
future or to nephews and nieces with whom they may interact, grandparents to
their grandchildren.
Family is a picture of who God is. God paints a picture of Him being the Father
throughout the Bible. The Holy Spirit is
described as the female side of God and nurturer. Jesus is referred to regularly as the husband
and bridegroom, which could be difficult for men to relate to but is very
important. We don’t choose the family in
which we are born, but despite them we can choose to love the family we
have. We can also choose the family we
want to surround ourselves with in life, beyond just our blood family.
Unstuck Factor # 1—focus my family with daily prayer and Bible
Study. This may be difficult to do, but
start with a level higher than what you’re doing now. Of course, praying together as a family for
hours a day is probably not realistic.
It would not fly in my family.
Instead, we want to set a tone that God is a part of all we do and is
our partner in life. Sometimes the
prayer might be a prayer before bedtime.
You can approach Bible study by asking the kids what they learned in youth
or talking about what was taught in children’s church. Every day will be different, but make God an
integral part of your family so that you develop a foundation for them in their
lives to have always seek to know God more (1 Chronicles 16:11). We want to teach our kids to pray and talk to
God (pray) but also study and let Him talk to them (study). There are many great families whose kids go
astray. This proves that you cannot
control your child’s future—their decisions, etc. But if they have a foundation, if they stray,
you pray and know they will come back to the foundation that you put in
place. What I want to emphasize also is
(if Mom and Dad are both in the home) that it’s great if Mom sets the tone for
God being the center, but it is POWERFUL if Dad set the tone. God set the father as the priest of the
household, so the power of this direction is stronger when it comes from Dad. Studies have shown that if Mom initiates
taking the kids to church, 30-40% of them stay in church, but if Dad does it,
75-80% do. If you are a single Mom,
remember that God can be the perfect Father to your kids.
Unstuck factor #2:
involve my family in church. That
means you are not just there but ENGAGEd in church. Kids need to see VALUE in church in their
parent’s lives for them to see value for it in their lives. Some kids make the choice not to come despite
a great example from their parents, but that’s when we pray and know we have
set the right foundation in place (Proverbs 22:6). I encourage people with kids over around 10
or so to have their children in church with them about once a month. They can see what YOU do in church and see
how you are applying it to your life.
You can also teach them how to listen to God and hear what He is saying
to them. I would also encourage you to
volunteer together in the church together as a family. This is very important for them to learn as
well.
Unstuck factor # 3—readily forgive our family when
necessary. We should demonstrate that we
forgive readily despite what the other person did. They should not hear us talking bad about
aunt so-and-so or other family members but instead should see us walking in
forgiveness. Ephesians 4:32 urges us to
forgive because we were forgiven first.
Proverbs 17:9 says that we don’t want to expose sin but instead cover
over it. Love wants to see the person
become better, stop the sin, and bring restoration. We can still be honest and talk to the person
about an issue, but there’s a different between that and exposing their faults
or getting revenge. Romans 5 says that
when we were at our worst, He was at His best, dying for us to forgive our
sins. Romans 12:18 says we should, as
far as it depends on us, live at peace with others. At a young age, we not only emphasize that
our kids apologize when they do something that hurts a sibling, but that also
the offended party says “I forgive you.”
This instills at a young age the principle of forgiveness.
Unstuck factor #4—schedule family celebrations
together. I always say “families that
party together stay together.” If we
just live life and get stuck in routine, we can grow apart. We must enjoy life together, even if we have
to schedule it in order to do it. I’d
encourage you to plan one night a week as a “family date night.” It doesn’t have to be anything special or
expensive as long as you do it together.
Everyone turns off the phones and computers and does something
together—watch a movie, play a game, etc.
Celebrate birthdays together and make them special. Schedule a vacation. We have had times when we’ve had good times
financially and could have a big vacation, but other times we did something
more simple. You can do something in
town, set tents up in the living room or back yard, etc. It’s the principle that counts. Celebrate your parents. Exodus 20 says that we should honor our
parents and that if we do, we will live a long life in the land God has for
us. We honor them because they exist and
gave us life. This will bring a lot of
fruit in our lives. We don’t want to
talk bad about grandma and grandpa in front of the kids but honor them in front
of our kids.
Unstuck factor #5—trust God with our family. Proverbs 3:5-6 says we need to trust God and
let Him make our path straight. Our kids
need to see us doing all we know to do and then trust God for the rest, they
will see Him provide. One way for them
to see that is through tithing. Despite
what we have or don’t have, we give to God and trust Him to provide, we can
show them that God will always provide what we need as we tithe and trust Him
with our finances. This will leave a legacy and inheritance to them of trusting
in God and seeing His provision.
To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on
online media. To learn more about Living
Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.
