Passing The Torch (Part Two)

Good morning Church!

Announcements:

We will be baptizing several after our morning service today!!!

I am also proud to announce that Bro. Terry Hicks was voted in as our newest member last week!

Any youth going on the “Catching Fire” retreat we’re having a get-together with the other churches at the park in Watertown next Sunday, October 23rd, at 1:00 PM. See Keshia or I for more details!

We will be having our Harvest Festival here at the church on 10/29 at 4:30. There is a sign-up sheet in the foyer for all of those who want to bring soups, chilies, or desserts. We are having a bond-fire, hayride, and also a message from God.

We have also decided to team up with Lighthouse Christian Camp this winter for their Christmas Missions Project. We will be taking up unwrapped Christmas presents for boys, girls, and even adults. These gifts will all be placed in their gymnasium with price tags. The kids are given so much monopoly money to buy gifts when they arrive, but so much of their money has to be spent on someone else within their family. They are given large trash bags to go around and collect/or buy, the gifts that they want. The kids are also fed in the fellowship hall and then also read the Christmas story by local pastors while there.

All donations are due by Sunday, November 13th. See flyer in foyer for gift ideas.

They also welcome volunteers to help with the children during these events as well, so please let me know if you are interested in serving during this Christmas Missions Project.

Praise Reports:

Prayer Requests:

Mrs. Dorothy Duggin

Unspoken

October is breast cancer awareness.

those affected by the hurricane.

Jennifer has breast cancer

Darryl Counts has bladder cancer

Harvey/Hale family

Terry’s sister Lucy

Tithes

Children’s Church

Doxology:

This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart that I might not sin against God! Amen!!!

Open Bibles To: Proverbs 22:6

Last week, we looked at Deuteronomy 6, and we talked on the topic of Passing the Torch. We are going to continue with Part 2 of that message today as we look at this one verse in Proverbs.

Context

The last chapter of a book usually brings all that has been written or discussed to a conclusion. Sometimes, the author summarizes all the material presented. Other authors include epilogues after the last chapter, closing sections that contain summaries or final comments.

Although this section of Proverbs is not the conclusion of the book, it is a major transition in the book. These sixteen proverbs mark the end of the wise sayings written and contributed by Solomon. The remainder of the book consists of proverbs collected from and written by other individuals as well as proverbs written by Solomon that were later discovered.

In a sense, then, this section draws to a close all that Solomon has written up to this point. Picture Solomon reviewing his work, trying to decide how to most effectively conclude his writings.

Struggling with the decision, Solomon finally chooses to make his last chapter a summery of the former chapters. These proverbs are a recap of what Solomon has already said.

We are going to hone in on just one of them: Proverbs 22.6

Proverbs 22:6 NKJV

6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.

Solomon gave a great deal of this book to this topic. Matter of fact, he gave the first half of his writings to this topic of teaching and raising our children.

Will you flip back with me to the beginning of the book? I want us to walk through this together!

Solomon had a lot to say concerning raising our children. This verse we have before us today, is a summed up version of all that he said in the first 9 chapters of this book.

With all of that being said, let’s begin to unpack this verse!

Are you ready? If you are ready, say Amen!!!

Content

The Concept of Training

Dedication

This Hebrew word is only used 4 times throughout the OT. This is the only one out of the four that was translated “Train up”. The other three verses translated this word as “Dedicate”.

To first thing that every parent must do, is dedicate their child to God, who is the maker of them to start with.

Before we can adequately raise our children, we must realize that they are not our own. They are created by the hand of God. They have been entrusted unto us by God. It is our duty to now raise them from that perspective, as stewards of something that is not our own.

When we have this mindset about our children, it helps to solve a lot of issues that we are confronted with in our homes.

It provides clarity for our purpose and remain focused on what is most important.

It provides accountability for everyone in the home.

It allows me to give my utmost attention to them, knowing that they are the gift that keeps on giving.

To dedicate our children to God is not to disown them. It is also not to say that God is going to make sure they learn everything they need to, so that we can shirk responsibility. We are to be vessels that God pours into, which in turn gets poured out on them.

Instruction

Now this goes back to what we looked at last week, as well as what we surveyed in the first nine chapters of this book.

We are to teach what God’s Word says.

We are to teach how to live it out in our lives.

We are to instruct. That means to guide. We are to walk alongside them, giving directions along the way. We are to show them, help them, oversee them, and pray for them.

Motivation

This word is very unique. It is given in a positive fashion, unlike how we tend to use it today.

In its origin, it is a birthing term. When a baby was born, it did not know how to eat. The midwife would take a little milk and put it on her finger. She would then let the baby suck the milk from her finger, and then transition the child over to nurse.

This word literally means to put the taste or desire for something within a child so that they are internally motivated to do what God wants him to do (rather than externally compelled).

Are we living our lives in a way that our children see a desire to serve God in us? Do they see the happiness that God brings into our lives? Do they see us internally motivated for God?

The Recipient of Training

Child - Any young person.

Translated as boy, servant, and even man.

This particular usage would be better defined as dependent.

Regardless of age, we are to be actively training our children until they are no longer dependent on us.

This changes how we currently view our involvement in our kids lives.

God defines a child as someone who is dependent on their parents. God defines the parents as those who are actively taking care of their children.

As of now, we train our children up to their teenage years and then begin to cut them loose, so that they begin to make their own decisions.

According to God’s Word, I am to actively train my children, instruct my children, and motivate my children, until they are no longer my children.

When they are to the point of doing life on their own, then we give them back to God and hope that we have prepared them for the life that they are about to live.

Too many teenagers are being let go of too soon. They are allowed to be put into situations that they are not emotionally, mentally, or even spiritually mature enough to make. They make very bad choices, and then we punish them for it. The fault was ours, not theirs.

The Content of the Training

“In the way he should go”

This word is translated as a road, a journey, or heading towards a certain direction.

It isn’t just a pointing in a direction. “Go that way.”

It speaks of a beaten path. It speaks of a consistent traveling to where the path is trodden down and formed from repeated and consistent travels.

It also comes in present tense. It is the act of pressing down or treading down. It is the act of bending the bow.

To form a new way, we must fight against the grain of the old way that is already formed in our hearts.

When there is an established creek where water runs. It will run the same way every time, because for years the water has followed the same path and now has worn a groove into the ground by which it travels with ease.

If we are to change the direction of the water, we must give full attention to it and put forth effort to make it happen. We cannot simply tell the water to take a different path. The path that has been traveled for years has bow formed boundaries that will not allow the water to go any other direction.

If we are to change the direction of the water, we must physically get in the creek, fight the current of the flowing stream, build a dam to shore up that water, and then even build a new pathway for it to go. Then, and only then, can we expect that water to come out to a different pool.

Maybe the pool we are filling right now is a pool that we don’t need.

Maybe the pool we are filling right now in our children’s life is a pool of shame and regret. Maybe it is full of anger and fighting. Maybe it is full of flesh and bone. Maybe it was formed by living for years in the world and having traditions formed that are not necessarily Godly. Traditions that do not bring glory to God.

It is time we shore the water and form a new pool of water for this stream to dump into. We need a different pool to draw water from.

IF we are going to form a new pool, we must redirect the stream. If not, the pool will only hold water as long as we keep carrying water and filling it up. But, if we change the direction of the stream, it will remain full at all times, and will sustain the entire family for generations to come.

Commitment

Notice that God’s Word many times, couples a command to a promise. Now let me explain something real quick to you, because I do not want to do God, His Word, or the Church any disservice here.

Proverbs is full of what we call truisms. A truism is an essential truth that proves to be true in most cases. It is not a foolproof account that will pan out every single time, but if followed, provides that most assured way to gain the certain expectation.

Every person sitting in this room has a free will to make decisions for themselves, and that includes your kids. Even if we put forth every effort imaginable to raise our kids in the way of righteousness, they must still make their own decisions.

But if we do what God’s Word has asked, and prepare them for the way, then they will be as equipped as they possibly can be to make that decision. Then we can give them over to God, by whom they came to us in the first place, and have assured faith that God will take them the rest of the way.

We can have hope that God will go with them through the parts of the journey that we cannot travel.

We can rest easy knowing that all that could be done, has been done from our account and that God will be faithful to His Word and take them from that point on.