Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Proverbs Chapter 22.
I’m beginning this morning a new series of messages called 20 Things We Need To Tell Our Children.
Over the next few weeks you and I are going to look at some important truths that we need to communicate to our children, our teenagers, and even our young adult children.
These are important principles that we as parents, grandparents, or anyone who is in a position of influence need to give to our children as they attempt to navigate through the pressures and problems that many of them are right now facing in their young lives.
Over the next five or six weeks I will be challenging you to memorize specific verses of Scripture and encouraging you to implement some of the things I give you with your child or young person.
Let’s get started…
Proverbs 22:6
Here is our first memory verse.
Proverbs 22:6 King James Version (KJV)
6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Before I give out some of the principles, I need for you to understand a couple of things.
1. Our children are under assault by an unseen enemy.
I need you to understand something this morning...Its not easy for our young people today.
The truth is, it's different than how many of us grew up. I think the battle that is confronting today's teenagers are taken far too lightly by the adult world. A typical adult's attitude seems to be,.. Well I made it through my teens and I turned out okay. Today's kids just need to suck it up, get to work and deal with it. The sooner they figure out there are no free lunches, the better off they’ll be.
With that many parents leave their children to deal with the pressures and and problems by themselves hoping they will somehow navigate their way through life without any major hiccups or roadblocks in the way.
But I want to tell you that’s not true…our children are under assault by an unseen enemy.
They are under attack. We need to understand that. There is an enemy out there that wants to destroy them,
that wants to hurt them, that want to kill them.
That unseen enemy is Satan and just like the recruiting poster by Uncle Sam that says I Want You, Satan is right there targeting our kids saying, "I want you."
Satan wants to destroy our families our marriages and our children’s lives.
Look what the Bible says about Satan.
1 Peter 5:8 King James Version (KJV)
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
John 10:10 King James Version (KJV)
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Let me give you an example…
In Job, Chapter 1 we find God talking with Satan about Job.
Look at verse 8. Heres what God said.
Read 8…
Look at Satan's response to God in verses 8 and 9.
Now this is what Satan would like to do to our families if he was given the chance.
Look what he did to Job's family..
Read verses 18 and 19.
Here we see Satan attacking Job's family…his children…
Satan's objective is to attack our families.
He has a deliberate, willful and intentional plan to bring harm to our children, our marriages and our lives.
He can attack us physically, mentally, economically, spiritually, and relation-ally.
Unless we guard ourselves against the devil and resist him, we could end up being severely wounded.
There is a war for the hearts and minds of our children, And in this war we're not exactly winning.
Consider this. ..
Every day our children are facing an assault.
Every day in the US...
1000 unwed teenage girls becomes mothers.
Every day 1,106 teenage girls have abortions
Every day 500 teens begin using illegal drugs.
Every day 1000 young people begin drinking alcohol.
Every day 135,000 kids bring guns or other weapons to school.
Every day 3,610 teens are assaulted.
Every day 80 teens are raped.
Every day 630 teens are robbed.
Every day 16 teens are murdered.
Every day 15 teens commit suicide.
Everyday 3,000 kids watch their parents get divorced.
Every day 8,000 teenagers become infected with a sexually transmitted disease.
Look around, you're seeing casualties from this war everywhere you look.
You wont see bloodied bodies lying on the ground but make no mistake, the war is real. The battlefield is littered with our children. And millions of teenagers are burying their pain by self medicating with chemical substances or painkillers.
Like a cage fighter stalking his opponent, Satan looks for the right opening then leaps on our children and starts pounding their head in the grond with blow after blow bringing every kind of temtation imaginable to tempt them with.
So what can we do?
Do we stand idly by…doing nothing?
No.
According to the Bible...
II. We have been given a mandate from God to teach and train our children to protect them from the enemy
I came across this story a while back that really made me conscience of the tremendous responsibility that we as parents have in protecting our families, our wives and our children.
A young father, while loading his two children in the car, had set the infant carrier containing his three-month old son on the roof of the car. Then the unthinkable happened. He got in the car and drove out of the parking deck with his youngest son still sitting in his carrier on the roof of the car. He made it all the way onto the expressway before he heard the sound of something scraping on the roof of the car. Just as he realized what he had done, he saw the infant carrier slide down the back window, across the trunk, and disappear out of sight onto the expressway, into the path of oncoming traffic! Miraculously the infant carrier hit the pavement and skidded upright until it stopped in the expressway. The person following the car slammed on its brakes, turned his car sideways in the lane to protect the child, and held it until the father was able to back up and retrieve his son. His son was completely unharmed. I read that story and I thought we're just like that car turned sideways in the lane to protect our children and families from the path of the oncoming traffic. That car did whatever it could do until his father was able to get his son back.
Look at our verse this morning.
Proverbs 22:6 King James Version (KJV)
6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
As parents we are instructed to train our children and to teach them.
Ephesians…6:4 is another verse.. Read
Ephesians 6:4King James Version (KJV)
4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
We are instructed to teach our children godly principles from the Word of God. .
The Great Shema for the Jews. It is one of the greatest prayers the Jews pray…
In Deuteronomy 6, Moses stands before the people of Israel. He gives to them a mandate from God that as fathers we are to teach our children and lead them toward spiritual maturity.
Let's read it…. This gives us insight in how we are to teach our children.
Read Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 King James Version (KJV)
6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
When you sit in the house…
When you walk by the way
When you lie down
When you rise up. Teach them.
What is this saying?
Anytime there is a teachable moment sieze it and use it to your advantage he is saying.
This is our responsibility.
We must make it a priority.
We only have a window of opportunity.
You have to make it a priority…
Susannah Wesley, mother of 17 children, two of which were john and Charles Wesley spent one hour each day praying for her children. In addition, she took each child aside for a full hour each week to discuss spiritual matters. No wonder her children were used of God to bring blessing to all of England and much of America. The heartbeat of a mother is to be more interested in her children's souls than in the clothes they wear.
They are more interested in their chidlrens eternal life than their success in this life.
More interested in their relationship with Jesus than their popularity in the world.
More interested in their childrens spirutality than their intellectual musical or athletic accomplishments.
That’s the heartbeat of a godly mother.
Make no mistake your child is going to learn about life from somebody.
Ask yourself is your son or daughter being tutored by the world or by you?
.
III. If we instill Godly principles in their lives we have a much better shot at raising godly kids who follow after Him.
Look at our verse. Proverbs 22:6King James Version (KJV)
6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
What is the blessing that is attached to Proverbs 22:6?
When they are old they will not depart from it.
You know that is our goal in rearing children. That they will love God and follow after Him .
Now again every child makes their choice in how they are going to live their lives. You have a much better shot at rearing godly kids if you instill God's principles in their hearts at an early age than not doing anything.
Several weeks ago I came across a statistic that really caused me to be concerned.
Research show that Christians are theologically losing the next generation. More than 90% of born again kids today are rejecting the absolute truth their parents embrace.
That’s 9 out of 10 children that will walk away from the faith.
That means we are failing in our responsibilities as a parent to teach our children to love God with all of their hearts and all of their souls and all of their minds.
For too long we have depended upon the church to instill the godly principles our children need.
Though the church does help with instilling godly principles, it is the home's responsibility to teach our children.
We cant depend on somebody else to do it for us.
Now the task of teaching our own children, our grandchildren is not easy.
It will take work and a whole lot of wisdom.
I can't tell you how to implement the things I will be giving you over the next few weeks, but there is one thing I know you can begin doing right away.
IV. Pray for your child and ask God to give you teachable moments with them.
I want to remind you of something, that prayer is a powerful weapon to use against Satan in this war for our children’s lives. Satan's objective is to attack our families.
He has a deliberate, willful and intentional plan to bring harm to our children, our marriages and our lives.
He can attack us physically, mentally, economically, spiritually and relation-ally.
Unless we guard ourselves against the devil and resist him, we could end up being severely wounded.
We can pray for our children, our marriages and our families.
Look what Job did in verse 5…
Job 1:5King James Version (KJV)
5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
Did you see that he would rise up early in the morning and would offer up burnt offerings for all of his children.
Job did this continually..
He prayed for each of his children.
I believe there is great power in prayer. I believe we can help shape our children's future when we pray for them.[ I believe we can pray God's hedge of protection around our children.
Job 1:10King James Version (KJV)
10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Our children's lives don’t ever have to be left to chance. We don’t have to pace the floor anxiously biting our nails, gnawing our knuckles, dreading the terrible twos or torturous teens. We don’t have to fear of what dangers might be lurking behind every corner, nor do we have to be perfect parents. We can, this very minute, make a positive difference in our child's future. It doesn’t matter if the child is three days old and perfect or 30 years old and going through a third divorce because of an alcohol problem. At every stage of our children's lives our children need and will greatly benefit from our prayers. The key is not trying to do it all by ourselves all at once but rather turning to the expert parent of all time, our Father in heaven for help. There is great power in doing that far beyond of what most people imagine. . Do not underestimate the power of a praying parent. .
Here is a powerful prayer you can pray.
It is found in Malachi 4:6
Ask God to do this.
Malachi 4:6
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.
What kind of prayer can you pray for your children from Malachi 4:6?
Take the things you will learn over the next few weeks, digest them, then schedule a series of face to face parent-to-son, parent-to-daughter talks.
Carve out some time in your busy schedule and talk to them about these concepts.
I also want to remind you of something.
V. The teachings you leave behind will affect generations..
I came across a powerful quote….Children are the living messages we send to a time that we will not see.
How you are living your life right now affects generations to come.
I am what you would call a first generation Christian.
My mother knew nothing of God as a little girl.
She was brought up Greek Orthodox.
She said, rarely when they went to services, it was all in another language.
It was not until later that my mother as a young woman was converted in an insane asylum when my mother visited her sister who found Christ there.
It was there in that asylum my mother found Jesus Christ.
My mother went to see her sister because her mother had abandoned her there.
My mother came out of that insane asylum a changed woman and she vowed she made a promise to God that If she ever had any children she would raise them for the glory of God.
Her faith was passed on to me a second generation Christian and now I am passing it to my children who will by God's grace pass it down to their children.
If we hide it the price is to awful to think about.
I can only shudder to think what would have happened if my mother had depended upon my father to pass on a godly legacy.
Explain Dad's side of the family.
No spiritual moorings.
Many of my half brothers and sisters died without God.
Many of them went into cults mainly Mormonism.
How tragic that they did not think it important to hand down a spiritual legacy to their children.
If it were not for my mother's insistence of transferring her faith to her children, I may never have come to Christ.
Allyson Felix, running the second leg in a heat of the women’s 4x100, dropped the baton before she could hand it to English Gardner.
The United States women's 4x100 relay team will run by itself on Thursday night, rerunning the morning race that momentarily dashed the Americans' hopes for a medal. During the race, Allyson Felix collided with a runner in the next lane during her hand-off, losing the baton in the process. The United States team, however, finished the race -- a requirement of filing a protest.
That protest was successful, with the IAAF deeming the American team was interfered with during the hand-off. The 4x100 team ended up running a time trial. They needed to beat China's time of 42.70 seconds, and they did so easily, running 41.77 in their solo run around the track.
The race sparked immediate controversy, as Felix seemed to be knocked by the competitor the next lane over just as she was about to hand off the baton.
I like the resolution that says I Do solemnly resolve before God that I will protect my children, serve them, and teach them the Word of God as the spiritual leader of my home.
I will pray for my children and teach them to love God with all of their hearts , all of their minds, and all of their strength.
Father, I submit myself to You I realize that parenting a child in the way You would have me to is beyond my human abilities. I know I need You to help me. I want to partner with you and ask that you give me wisdom discernment revelation and guidance. I also need your strength and patience with a generous portion of Your love flowing through me. .
