"A Home Where Children Thrive" Series

“A Home Where Children Thrive”

Psalm 127

Central Zion Baptist Church

June 9th. 2013

Salutation

Welcome

Reason for this sermon – The purpose for my being here at this pulpit today is to come alongside parents and those who work and care for children on a daily or regular basis. I am here to encourage you to stay the course.

I will be one of the first to admit that good parenting is hard work and parents need help -encouragement – I believe that you need to know that others appreciate and understand what you are going through – what you face – I am here to also remind you as parents that the church supports you and is behind you in this difficult task of parenting.

I want to encourage our young people who are still in school to delay parenting until the godly appointed time of marriage.

But I have stopped by today to tell all of us that all is not lost because we serve a God who still loves us despite our failures and shortcomings.

And so it does not matter whether you are a young parent, a single parent, a parent in transition, a step-parent, a grand-parent, an adoptive parent - whatever bracket of parenthood you find yourself in today, God loves you and your child or children and he still wants what’s best for you. God has a plan for them…And as a church, we will continue to stand beside you and support you as you seek to raise your children in a way that pleases God.

“A Home Where Children Thrive”

In Dictionary, Thrive means to grow vigorously : flourish. 2: to prosper. 3: to progress toward or realize a specific goal -

But what does God have to say about raising children – well a whole lot, but for the few minutes I have left I just want to look at psalm 127 and leave with you two or three encouraging principles that will hopefully help us as we move ahead.

Background.

Say: if you notice in your Bible the title says “A song of accent or degrees” – Also called Pilgrim Psalms - These psalms were to be sung when the children of Israel came to Jerusalem and ascended to the top of Mount Zion three times a year, where they would hold a feast before the Lord.

I want to add something that I believe is significant to what God would say to us today - In our Bible there are 15 of these Psalms beginning at psalm 120 and ending at Psalm 134.

Of interest to us today is the fact that psalm 120 sits right in the middle of these fifteen psalms – 7 before and 7 after.

That’s no accident – right in the middle of these psalms is a psalm that addresses the home and the family – the home and family are important to God.

But I want to take it a little further and point out something in this Psalm as it relates to children – the focus of today’s events and my message. Look in V-3 – right in the middle of this Psalm that speaks to the health and wellbeing of the home is this verse that speaks to the importance of children who will occupy this home.

Smack in the middle – no coincidence – God again is showing us that children are important to him and ought to be important to us.

And so the Bible says that unless the Lord builds the house, we are wasting our time.

That’s the first thing I want to bring to your attention today is that a home where children thrive is one where….

1. God is always at the Center of the Family - v-127-1

Parents must do all that they can to make sure that the children know that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior in the home. God is first.

What I mean is this, everything that goes on in that home is centered around a relationship with God. The home operates according to the plan and principles designed by God.

When the text says that unless the Lord builds the house, of course it is not referring to the physical structure that we live in, it is talking about a place where the Holy Spirit is free to operate and children are being brought up to love and respect parents and thereby learn what it means to love and respect God –

It’s talking about an environment – an institution where God is revered and glorified -

Parents, we have moved away from God’s ideals for the family and we are having serious problems in our homes and in this society and I believe in this hour that God is calling us back to homes where God is the central figure. What I mean there is more than just a God consciousness, there is genuine desire to cultivate serious relationships with God and yielding ourselves to the leading and direction of His Holy Spirit.