Make Your Children Proud
Proverbs 17:6
INTRODUCTION
I. Personal Experiences
A. B. C. (Before Children)–All the Answers.
B. A. D. (After Diapers)–Not a Clue!
II. Before Birth
A. Gung Ho!
1. Painting the room
2. Buying all the necessities
B. Still had all the answers.
III. Baby placed in my arms.
A. Now what do I do?
B. How exactly do these diapers work?
C. You can’t cry again, its MY TURN!
IV. Just when you think you’ve got things figured out.
A. They begin to crawl, walk, run, and talk back
The Proverb says that parents are the pride of their children. Let’s look at three ways we can make our children proud using the only manual we can trust.
MAIN BODY
I. Train your children. Proverbs 22:6
A. What is the way he should go? Toward God!
B. How do we point a child toward God?
1. When going somewhere we have never been before we turn to a map. A guide which we follow to find our way.
2. When pointing a child to God we cannot expect them to find Him without some help!
C. We point them by teaching them to read the map.
II. Be an example for your children. 1 Timothy 4:12
A. In Speech - especially concerning biblical matters.
B. In Life - Our behavior toward others.
C. In Love - Affection
1. Show your children personal love.
2. Let them see you loving others, especially God’s family.
D. In Faith - Your own reliance upon God.
E. In Purity - Pure, morally blameless, ceremonially consecrated
1. Through Jesus we can become Holy and blameless in the eyes of God.
2. Be an example of purity for your Children by being a Christian.
III. Follow the Biblical model of a father. Eph. 5:21–6:4
A. Head of the House
1. “As Christ is Head of the Church”
2. Like a director who sets the pace or tone of the house.
B. Lead with Extreme Love
1. Like Christ loved the Church
2. Enough to die for it just so that it could exist.
C. Leadership not Dictatorship
1. Christ doesn’t force anyone to obey him.
2. He has willing followers who do so because they know he has their best interest at heart.
3. Fathers and Husbands should be followed because of the love that they show first.
D. Don’t exasperate your children.
1. Aggravate - agitate - anger
2. Opposite: soothe - calm
3. Make your children proud that you are their Father by “bringing them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”
CONCLUSION
Fathers and Mothers should strive to be the pride of their children by following the teachings of God’s word. If we follow God’s pattern of leadership then we can eventually all become something to be proud of.
