"Walking with Our Children

May 7, 2023

FBC Baxley

am service

____________________________________________________________________________________

Welcome radio and online guests…

*It’s ok if you’re broken, unfaithful, lost, we are too and we are here seeking God’s will and way and plan.

We are all prodigals here…

Some rescued….Some Not..

All Loved…

*Acts 4:12 (repeat)

*John 3:16

Sermon Title: “Walking with Our Children”

Scripture Passage: Deut. 6:1-15

“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it,

2 that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.

3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

10 “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build,

11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full,

12 then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

13 It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you—

15 for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

PRAY

Four Points:

Internalize

Verbalize

Memorize

Visualize

Introduction:

Walking with Our Children, spiritually is of utmost importance. In fact today, I would say it is critical!

We are definitely in crucial times in our society. A biblical worldview has almost been lost.

There are many responsibilities that God has given parents, but one of the most important is the responsibility to teach their children about God. This is a responsibility that parents cannot afford to neglect!

Background:

As the Hebrew people were led by God out of Egyptian bondage,God instructed Moses to inform the people of their responsibility to teach their children about God.

The children of Israel had experienced great hardship in Egypt. However, God delivered them from that hardship and bondage.

As they were about to enter the promised land, Moses told them the importance of teaching their children the ways of the Lord. He pointed out that their tendency would be to enjoy their newly found prosperity and forget God. Their failure to teach their children about God would lead to destruction.

It is clear in this passage of scripture that parents have an obligation or responsibility to teach their children about the ways of the Lord.

God wants each parent to accomplish this task.

The question is how are we to go about teaching our children the principles and instruction found in the word of God?

1. Internalize

Verse Five, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

The first way to teach your children about God is to internalize the word of God.

Before we can teach our children about God, the word of God must be a part of us! We must ourselves love God with all of our heart, soul, and might. How do we measure up to this?

Alot of us would have to confess that we fail to love God with all our heart, soul, and might.

Jesus asked Simon Peter,”Do you love me?”

I think Jesus would ask us that very same question. To learn to love God we must sit at his feet and come to know him.

Illustration: “ You are what you eat!”

2. Verbalize

The second way to teach your children about God is to verbalize the word of God.

Read verse six, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.”

Before we can begin to verbalize God’s word, we must have God’s word in our heart.

For it to be in our hearts we must be dedicated in reading God’s word.

Psalm 119:11 says, “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.” If God’s word is not hidden in our hearts, sin will be evident in our lives.

But how are we to verbalize the word of God to our children?

Read verse seven, “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

We are to do whatever it takes to teach our children about God.

Verse seven says to talk about the ways of God with your children when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you get up.

In other words, we are to talk about the ways of God with our children every chance we have in every day!

God holds parents responsible to bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Ephesians 6:4 says, “ And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

All through the scripture there is a great deal said concerning the responsibility of parents. Proverbs 22:6 says, “ Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

That does not mean to train him the way you want him to go. It means that God has a way for him to go and you are to cooperate with God.

That means as a parent you are to stay in close fellowship with God.

Another way we are to verbalize the word of God is that we are to apply God’s word to every area of our lives.

We are the greatest example our children could possibly ever have. Also, parents can have the greatest impact on their children’s lives, more so than anyone else!

Children spend more time around their parents than any other people while they are growing up. As parents, we need to be verbalizing the word of God.

3. Memorize

Verses 8 & 9, “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

The third way to teach your children about God is to Memorize the word of God. We are to keep a knowledge of God in our memory.

Again Psalm 119:11 says, “ Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

If we are to share God’s word with our children, we must memorize it.

Jews during this old testament time used to carry around with them small containers called phylacteries.

They kept scripture in these containers. Some of the same scripture we read is what they carried. They wore these containers on their forehead, on their hands, and sometimes around their neck.

This was very interesting to me because today it is hard to get anyone to bring their bible to church much less to ask them to take it anywhere else.

However, we must do more than just carry God’s word around. It must be part of us and evident through our lives.

We see all around us today, many types of advertising. It’s no wonder that America today is turning to everything in the world except God to try to fill the void in their lives.

Young people turn to alcohol, sex, and drugs because those are the things that greet them every where they turn.

God wants his word to be taught to his people just like that. It should meet them everywhere they look. Why? Because the human heart is prone to forget God and His ways!

4. Visualize

The fourth way to teach your children about God is to visualize the word.

We should declare to the world that we are God’s children and we belong to him.

If we are to teach our children about God, we must put vision and action to our speech.

Verses 10-12 tell us of the many things that God had provided for the Hebrew people in the promised land. God provided these things to the Hebrew people without any work required on their part.

Then in verse 12 God warns them to not forget who provided these things for them.

God knew that their tendency would be to forget where their prosperity came from.

We are very much like the Hebrew people. Many times we get caught up in our prosperity and forget who has freed us from the bondage of sin.

Isn’t it strange that when people are blessed, they tend to forget the one that blesses them?

As parents we must not forget the one who blesses us. We must teach our children about God, by doing more than just verbalizing and memorizing the word.

We must teach our children about God by sharing Christ through our example in actions and visions. A parent’s example weighs more than you realize. Let me share some statistics with you:

72% of adults today are faithful in S.S. whose both parents attended S.S.

55% of adults today are faithful in S.S. when only their father attended S.S.

15% of adults today are faithful in S.S. when only their mother attended S.S.

6% of adults today are faithful in S.S. when neither parent attended S.S.

As parents today, we need to realize the importance of our example in our children’s lives. We can’t sit back and expect someone else to teach our children about God.

We must take the responsibility ourselves to show them by our lifestyle, the way of the Lord!!

Action Steps:

Internalize: Hw is your prayer and devotion life?

Verbalize:Family devotions?

Memorize: What verses have you learned together?

Visualize: When is the last time your child saw an act of ministry or you sharing Jesus?

PRAY

Invitation

“Are you born again?”

Is your name written in the Lambs Book of Life?

“Have you surrendered/repented to Jesus?