Focus On Time Series

INTRODUCTION

A group of expectant fathers were in a waiting room, while their wives were in the process of delivering babies. A nurse came in and announced to one man that his wife had just given birth to twins. "That’s quite a coincidence" he responded, "I play for the Minnesota Twins!" A few minutes later another nurse came in and announced to another man that he was the father of triplets. "That’s amazing," he exclaimed, "I work for the 3M company." At that point, a third man slipped off his chair and laid down on the floor. Somebody asked him if he was feeling ill. "No," he responded, "I happen to work for the 7-Up company

• Those of you who have children graduating may feel a special sense of pride and accomplishment. Your young ones have grown up; they are well on their way to adulthood. This is a time when we get to see if we prepared them for the world they must face. It is also a great time of change for you and your children, life, as you know it with them will be different.

• Why do we have children, what does it take to prepare them for this life and the life to come. I want us to also look at a man who the bible says was “a man after God’s own heart.” This was a highly successful man in many ways, but when it came to his children he really did not have a clue.

• As we pick up with our Focus on the Family series, today I want us to consider our children. Today we are going to Focus on Time.

• As we look at David in the latter part of the message, I want us to see one thing that David did not give to his children.

• God gave us his example in the scriptures as a warning of what can happen when we neglect to understand why we have children and what it takes to prepare them for life.

• Let’s talk about our children for a few minutes.

SERMON

I. VIEWS ABOUT CHILDREN?

• I know there were times when my parents asked that question, what about you? There are many reasons to have children and not all of them are necessarily good.

1. We are supposed to have children.

• This can lead to resentment because we may or may not really want what we have been blessed with, we will see them as a burden instead of a blessing. We feel the social pressure to have children.

• I have heard men complain wondering why they had so many children.

2. Children are an accident.

• This is the reason for so many abortions; people don’t want any consequences for their actions. They will say that unwanted children are better off dead. This is weak!

• When we have children before we plan to, it can still work out for good.

3. Show pieces.

• We want children because we want something to show everyone else what we have. This is one of the scariest reasons to have children. We the bad things that can result from this when a parent starts to push their kids to live out the life we wanted for ourselves. This happens in sports, music, and a variety of other areas.

• You hear of these parents who from day one raise them to be something they may or may not want to be.

• Many of the reasons for having children end up with them being a burden if they do not perform the way we want them to.

4. Children are a blessing from God to us.

 PSALM 127:3-5 Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate. (Matter of survival)

 When we receive a blessing, we handle it in a different way than if something is a burden, we will invest ourselves into that blessing. We will love the blessing.

 If our children are a blessing from God, we will do what we need to raise them up in the Lord. We will instruct them in God’s word. Deuteronomy 6. We will want to keep them on the right path. PRO 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.

 We will be glad to provide for our children.

 1TI 5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.