Sermon Tone Analysis

16 years ago, this little guy popped out.

It’s crazy to me to Levi is going to be 16 years old in a couple of weeks.

By the way… Our church family is invited to Levi’s Super 16th birthday party on August the 27th.

But this photo was taken… I think about 6 hours after he was born.

He looks calm and peaceful… doesn’t he?

I was not calm and peaceful.

You couldn’t tell it from the smile on my face, but I was FREAKING OUT!

Do y’all remember when you had your first child?

Like, I don’t know if y’all did this… but when they released us from the hospital… I remember getting in the car… looking at Becky, who is in the backseat of the car and saying… Here we go!

But on the inside… I’m thinking… I can’t believe they’re letting us leave with this kid!

Apparently they don’t realize that I have no earthly idea what I’m doing!

Aren’t they supposed to give us parenting classes or something?

I mean… when we got into that car, there was just this overwhelming sense of… I am now responsible for another human being’s emotional, physical, and spiritual well being.

And it scared me half to death!

I believe the ride home from the hospital in Farmington to Park Hills was the most defensive driving I’ve ever done.

It’s probably the only time my hands have ever been at 10 and 2 on the wheel.

I didn’t take highway 67 home… because that was too dangerous… I took the outer road where I could drive slower.

I remember that feeling of the weight of the world being on my shoulders now.

16 years later… I don’t know, I guess the jury’s still out on how good of a job we’ve done… We’ve tried our best with the many challenges there… and we’ve made some pretty huge parenting blunders… but I am so glad that God’s grace covers our parenting.

We’re continuing our series called Tough Issues this morning… with a second sermon on parenting… specifically today, we’ll be talking about Raising Christian Kids in a world that is hostile to Christ.

Today we’re basically thinking about that overwhelming pressure as we try to raise our kids to know Jesus Christ, in the hopes that they’ll follow Jesus.

And so, today we’re going to look at some guardrails of parenting… Some things that may help you frame your parenting around the gospel.

Look… If there’s one thing that I hope that you’ve learned from me… If you haven’t yet, I hope that you will.

In America, especially, there is a difference between a “Christian”, church going person… and a person that lives for the gospel.

And my prayer is that you are a person… a family that lives for the gospel… not just a church going family.

And that is the first guardrail in parenting.

Be a parent that lives for the gospel… lives out the gospel.

And to do that… You must understand the gospel.

*T-Shirt Illustration*

Ok… Now what are the implications to this?

There are several… and I’m just going to kind of quick fire through these…

1.

We Parent On Mission Through The Power of the Holy Spirit.

In his final moments physically on this earth, Jesus gave some instructions to His disciples.

We see that interaction in a couple of places.

Matthew 28…

And then also Acts 1…

What Jesus says there is it is our duty, as followers of Christ… as gospel-centric people… to be His witnesses through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And where does it start?

Jerusalem.

And then… into Judea… then to Samaria… and then to the uttermost parts of the world.

In other words… Jesus says it starts at home… and moves out.

Last week we read Deuteronomy chapter 6… Let’s remind ourselves of that…

Parents… We need to stop seeing our job as making happy, healthy, obedient, respectful children… and start seeing our job as missionaries at home.

Our job is to share the gospel with our children.

No matter their age… that is our duty… that is our responsibility.

We parent on mission through the power of the Holy Spirit.

2. It means We Live Out The Gospel.

We don’t just share it… we live it out.

The word worthy there comes from the root… balancing the scales… what is on one side of the scale should be equal in weight to what is on the other side.

So if you have the gospel of Jesus Christ on this side of the scale… this is what your life should look like.

That, however, does not mean perfect.

Stop trying to be the perfect parent.

Your kids, young or old, do not need a perfect parent… They need a parent who is real and honest about your own journey with the gospel.

It’s amazing.

Our children have this radar detector… it’s called a hypocrisy detector.

And there’s a real danger that if we are not living out the gospel… if we come to church on Sunday and we say one thing, but we don’t live it at home… if we don’t let the gospel manage our lives… our marriage… our work… Listen… your kids will notice that and they will begin to think… Well, if it’s really not good enough for dad… or mom… then I guess it’s not good enough for me.

If my parents can get along with just saying it, but not living it, then I can too.

Let me encourage you… be honest with your kids about your own struggles in an age-appropriate way.

Find moments to talk to them about how you’re wrestling through the faith.

When you blow it as a parent… live out the gospel in those moments.

Look, better than anyone, our kids know how to push our buttons and get us to fly off the handle.

Let’s just all admit… we blow it sometimes.

Those are beautiful gospel moments where you can say… I’m sorry dad flew off the handle… please forgive me.

Live out the gospel… Don’t just share it… Live it.

3. Our third guardrail is A Web Of Christian Influence.

Turn over to Hebrews chapter 10 with me.

Hebrews 10 gives us, perhaps, the strongest sense of “we need each other” that there is in Scripture.

If we’re going to make it… if we’re going to persevere, we absolutely need one another.

Look at verse 23 of Hebrews 10.

Parents… You need a Bryan Mills… A Barbie Huffman… and a MG Sitze in your kid’s life.

When I went into 4thgrade, Bryan Mills was my teacher.

Bryan was a young man who has just begun teaching, but he was also called to the ministry.

My parents knew Bryan… and knew that he was a godly man… so they requested the school to put me in Bryan’s class.

My parents wanted me to have a godly influence while I was in school.

Turns out, the next year he moved to 5th grade.

Guess who my parents requested as a teacher for me?

The next year, he moved to 6th grade… For 3 years straight, I had Bryan Mills for a teacher.

And for 3 years, Bryan got to speak into my life… not just Math & Science… but godly influence as well.

When I became interested in music, my parents got me piano lessons with Barbie Huffman.

Barbie is a well known piano player and songwriter.

Many southern gospel groups sing Barbie’s songs.

You see, for my parents, piano lessons weren’t just piano lessons… it was another godly influence in my life.

We attended church with MG Sitze.

MG was also my barber.

And everytime I would get my haircut, MG would talk to me about God and the church.

When we would go to church, MG would always invest time in me.

Maybe that was just a minute or two… but every Sunday, MG was there… encouraging me.

Parents of younger children… Pay attention to who is influencing your children.

Request godly teachers at their school.

Surround them with people who make much of Jesus.

Let me also point this out.

On purpose, our church does not target young hipster couples.

There are churches out there that do that… but we don’t.

On purpose, we are not a church that targets the 30 to 40-year-old crowd.

We’re also not a church that just targets older people.

We are a fairly well blended church of all ages… and we think that’s a wonderful thing.

We love it that there are 20 year olds worshipping alongside of 70 year old folks.

We love it that you worship alongside of people that are in different stages of life’s journey.

So I want to say something to our young at heart, but perhaps older in age folks.

Y’all that don’t have children at home.