The 24/7 Godly Parent
Duet. 6:4-9
August 10, 2003 Baby Dedication Service Mike Fogerson, Speaker
Introduction:
Psalm 127:3-5
DT 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [5] Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. [6] These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. [7] Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. [8] Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. [9] Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
ETS: The parents of Israel were told to be godly parents to their children.
ESS: Being a godly parent is done deliberately.
OBJECTIVE: I hope my listeners will take their responsibility for being godly parents.
Probing Question: What are you doing to be a 24/7 godly parent?
Transitional Sentence: Let’s look at the two responsibilities of being a godly parent.
Conclusion:
Alexander the Great was asked how he conquered the world. He said three words, "By not wavering."
How will we put God into our kids? By not wavering.
How will we teach our kids about God? BNW
How will we reach every available Chester household for God? B.N.W.
How will we bring America back from the brink of moral bankruptcy? BNW
I The first responsibility of a 24/7 godly parent is to get God inside of them. (v.4/6)
A God commanded the nation of Israel to love Him with everything they had.
a Love God with all your Heart, Soul, & might.
(Love God with all of your Heart & Soul...everything you’ve got!)
b Hos. 4:6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.
*My people are ruined/destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have turned your back/rejected. . .
*For over 2,000 years Israel was exiled,. . .1947 Israel became a nation once again. What would have happened IF they wouldn’t have forgotten the love God with heart/soul?
B If you’re a single mom/father/grandparent. . .the message is the same for all of you. You must love God with all of your heart & soul.
a A *hunger, thirst, lust, craving, longing, passion for God from Sunday to Saturday.
b 94 Million men in America, 68 million do not attend church. (Facts & Trends, May 2003)
*Attending church IS NOT the only way to show God you love Him, but tell me a more visible, measurable, public, scriptural, easier way of showing your love to God! (IF you love God with your heart & soul your going to be at church on Sundays.)
C Lake (my 3 year old) and I have little way of measuring our love for one another. a I ask him how much he loves me and he stretches his arms out and says, I love you this much, Daddy." And then I say, "Is that all?" Then he spreads his feet as wide they can go, while holding his arms out and says, "I love you with the leg too, dad!"
b That’s loving God with all your heart & soul. He wants us to love him with the leg too!
T.S.: Being a godly parent starts when you let God inside you, but it doesn’t stop there.
II The second responsibility of a 24/7 godly parent is to get God inside of your kids. (v.7-9)
A The parents could not give to their children that which the parents themselves did not posses.
(IL.)Each time you fly you’ll hear a little spiel that almost anyone can recite. "In the unlikely event that we should lose cabin pressure, an oxygen mask will drop in front of you. Place the mask securely over your nose and pull firmly to activate the flow of oxygen. If you are traveling with a child, place the mask over your face first, then proceed to place a mask over your child."
*If WE’RE not breathing, we can’t help our kids!
a Israel was told to make loving God a part of your kids life from breakfast time to bed time.
b For millenniums jews have worn phylacteries on their foreheads and wrists with the shema printed on them.
*Wrists: Actions/behavior *Forehead: Thoughts/conscience
B Moms/Dads...after you’ve got God inside you, your life’s mission is to get God inside your kids.
a If a child gets saved first there is a 3.7 % probability that the rest of the family will get saved.
Mom. . .17%, Dad. . .93% (Facts & Trends, May 2003)
b I’d like to see Lake & Ridge go to Harvard but my life’s goal is see them go to heaven.
How? TEACH THEM ABOUT GOD!!!
aa Be there for THEM.(When you’re there for them...BE THERE. Don’t bury your head in a paper, computer, television, book.)
bb Be there for HIM. (Live the life of a Godly parent at home, work, community, church)
C It is my job to BIND my children to my God.
a My boys do not have the option to whose god they will serve!!!
*Why not? Because the bible doesn’t give me the option to give them the option!
Eph. 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
b Some of you are either already giving your kids the option, or your thinking about giving them the option.
*Sunday School, Church, Awana, Impact, VBS, Worship. . .
*Some parents idea of "binding" looks more like "granny knot".
Granny knots will not hold your children to God when. . .
the raging hormonal storms of adolescence hit.
there sitting at SIU when a curly headed prof tells them that there is no GOD.
there at a party and they’re asked, "What are you having?"
