Discipleship; The Family Is Where It All Begins
Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Key truth: The most powerful gift our church can give our children and youth is a spiritually growing mom and dad.
Debunking the spiritual urban legend: A godly home guarantees godly kids.
The truth: As parents, we do have a responsibility for how we raise our kids. But we have no ultimate control over how they turn out and God makes no such promise to us as well.
1. God still places a high priority on parenting.
2. The primary context for discipling our children is the home.
3. The ultimate responsibility for initiating the spiritual nurture
of the children in the home is the father.
Some practical ways on how to teach and model for your children what it means to follow Christ:
1. Make your faith in God a priority.
2. Don’t compartmentalize your faith in Jesus Christ.
A. Refuse to have a Sunday morning faith and a Monday-
Saturdayatheistic lifestyle.
3. Find practical ways to have gospel conversations at home.
A. Be careful not to only bring up God in the disciplining phase
of your children’s life.
B. Tell and demonstrate God’s love, forgiveness, mercy and
grace.
C. Share with them your failures and victories in your
spiritual walk with God.
D. Help them see that Christianity is not just a set of rules to
be obeyed but a relationship with God that is to be enjoyed.
Taking It Beyond the Walls: Ask God to give each of us the grace we need to lead our families to love and serve Him and His church. Pray that we would see our need to develop our own relationship with God, and that His work in our personal lives would overflow into the way we lead our families.
CONNECTION GROUP HOMEWORK
Looking back at your notes from this week’s teaching, was there anything you heard for the first time or that caught your attention, challenged or confused you?
Who was the primary teacher of Bible truths in your life? When you became a Christian, was there anyone whose example you sought to follow?
Read Judges 2:6-10: What might have been the disconnect from one generation to the next knowing the LORD?
Read Proverbs 22:6: Have you taught or heard this taught as a promise from God? How can a misunderstanding of this Proverb lead to guilt or pride in the life Christian parents.
What aspects of your daily life might need to change in order for you to truly lead your family to love the Lord in all areas of life?
How have you seen your view of church passed down to your children and family?
How can we encourage our families to love and serve the church better?
Pastor Felton stated, “The ultimate responsibility for initiating the spiritual nurture of the children in the home is the father.” As a wife or mother how does that make you feel? As a father how does it make you feel?