Psalm 127

Parenting with Conviction

We see a couple things in this passage that I want to point out really quick, I promise, it’ll be quick

Firstly: Parents, we must let God build our houses for us. We must let God lead our families. Otherwise, we are parenting in vain as verse 1 says.

We are powerless apart from Christ

So logically, we are powerful when we are training our kids in Christ

The most recent statistic is alarming when it comes to parents engaging and guiding their kids in their spiritual walk.

85% of Christian parents say they are not engaging their kids at all.

85%!

Secondly, your kids, as you are all well aware, are gifts from the Lord.

Sure, some days you probably wish you hadn’t opened the gift, but still, they’re gifts!

What does Solomon mean that children are arrows in the hand of a warrior?

Well, he means that our goal in parenting, shouldn’t be anything but raising kids to live on mission for Christ.

J.D. Greaar says this, “The ultimate goal of the family is not to protect your children from harm, but to mobilize them for the mission of God.”

And he’s 100% correct.

We do that by teaching our children daily to choose Christ over everything else

We do that by teaching our children daily the truths of God’s Word

And we do that by modeling for our children daily what living on mission looks like.

Thirdly, what does this look like?

Well, there are two main places your teen can see this play out: The home and the Church

Home

Your guys houses are the primary places your teens should be hearing the Gospel and seeing the Gospel on display.

We’ve been going through D6 on Sunday mornings as i’m sure a lot of you have as well....

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

Your teens have on average, 8736 waking hours every year in your house.

Contrast that with church, if they come to all of our gatherings, it sits at around 130.

So, how are you doing in this?

Church

The church, this youth group is vital to your teens though

The statistics don’t lie:

Teens with at least 2 adults from a church who make an investment in their lives were more likely to stay in church upon graduation

5 or more were far and away more likely

The church also provides relationships with other like minded families where friendships and community can take root.

Translation: You know the types of families and kids your teens are hanging out with

You know the saying, “Show me their friends, and I’ll show you their future”

Where your kids find community, will determine where they head

The church should be the place that this happens, where they find their belonging

Now, I know this is hard, I can see it even in young kids like I have, so....

I want to help you guys help your kids by providing some tools for you to use at home.

Each week, I’ll be providing these Family Discipleship Guides which are making their way around to you as we speak.

The whole goal of these is to provide you, the parents, with a devotion that you can lead your family in around the dinner table once (or twice) a week.

It provides:

A passage to read

Details on that passage

Questions to ask

Topics to pray for

Verse to memorize

I hope you’ll consider taking these weekly and prioritizing your family’s walk with Christ over everything else that life has to offer

Secondly, I want to encourage you to involve your kids in our Sunday night and Wednesday night meetings, as well as our events.

I know it’s hard to make all of them

But this community of like-minded teens who find their identity in Christ is vastly more important than anything else.

We are a group where God’s Word is taught

Teens are encouraged to think and ask questions

And relationships are encouraged through breakout groups and events and service projects

We have a lot to offer, we’re here each night, and we’d love to have your students join us.

I hope you’ll prayerfully consider it.

We’re starting a series on Acts tonight, which is a book all about making disciples

Our Wednesday night series is Multiply