But let's pray, let's ask God for help as we
look at his word now. Father, thank you that
you speak to us. Thank you that your word is
living and active. We pray that your word would
strengthen us, comfort us, challenge us and change
us as we look at it now. And we ask these things
in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, years ago, I took
up a new hobby. It didn't quite pan out into
a career change. I won $20 at the Broken Hill
Fair, but that's as far as it went in terms of
financial benefit. My new hobby was painting.
I took up painting because it was so fun and
good for your mental health. And what I would
do is I'd find the cheapest canvases I could
find. You know, here's one I prepared earlier.
And I'd find a cheap canvas and I would... I'd
look at it, I'd look at some different ideas
on TikTok or YouTube as to what I can do, and
then I'd just paint. And like I've got here,
these are some of my creations. If you talk to
Wendy, she does really good realistic painting.
Mine are all just abstract, kind of throw some
paint on a canvas, but she's actually really
good at proper, they look like the thing. So
I'm very jealous of that. This is what I like
to do. This is my hobby. And when I get a blank
canvas, it's interesting to sit there and try
and work out what am I going to do with it? Because
each canvas is so unique. It could literally
become anything. It's full of potential. And
there's kind of an evolution as I paint. Some
end up like a masterpiece and some end up pretty
bad and childish and start again. Now, this might
be a bit of an oversimplification, but to some
degree, people are like that, aren't they? When
a child is born, cute little baby, they're like
a blank canvas, aren't they? To some degree.
There's different styles of canvases at the art
shop. There's different styles of people, aren't
they? We've all got different genes. We've got
different heights, different sizes and attributes.
There's a nature element to us, isn't there?
Each of us is full of potential because of our
genes and those sort of things. Yet, how we're
nurtured shapes us all very differently, doesn't
it? It shapes the person that we become. In one
sense, parents are painters, aren't they? They're
painting on these blank canvases, imprinting
and ... painting a certain way of living. I mean,
think about who you are today. That didn't happen
in a vacuum, did it? You are who you are in a
lot of reasons because you were nurtured a particular
way, whether for good or for ill. How our parents
parent us conditions us greatly. It shapes our
thinking, our insecurities, our habits, how we
turn up in relationships, and also how we turn
up as parents as well. Actually, there's a brilliant
aspect of psychology called attachment theory
that speaks into this, and again, I found this
cool thing, attachment theory, so I had to paint
it. I made a painting about it called Unhealed
Wounds, and it's actually sitting in my psychologist's
office. It's about childhood wounds. So that
little kid on the left -hand side, he's there,
he's got these wounds, and those wounds plague
him as he grows up into a man. And he's got to
work out how to deal with that and how to heal
that. See, how we're nurtured, how we're cared
for as kids is so important, isn't it? But I
want to ask a crucial question about this. Is
this just how it is? Are we enslaved to our childhood?
I mean, awesome if you've had great painters,
you know, if you've had great parents who've
just done an epic job of raising you. But if
you haven't, well, is that just how it is? Can
we actually change how we see ourselves and how
we turn up in relationships? Can we heal so much
so that it breaks cycles within ourselves and
with our own kids as well? Our passage today
doesn't just tell us what kids should do or how
to parent. It actually shows us some deeper things.
It shows us how to reparent ourselves. But before
we dive in, because we've been moving around
a bit, we've got to remember where we are. If
we'd been doing this in order, we'd be in Ephesians
5, and at the end of Ephesians 5 we're told,
do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery,
instead be filled with the Spirit. And Paul then
goes on to list a bunch of things that it means
to be filled with the Spirit. What's it mean
to be filled with the Spirit? Well, one of them
is that you submit to one another out of reverence
for Christ. Part of being filled with the Spirit
is submission. And there's three things that
Pauline goes into. This is often called by scholars
the household code. There's wives and husbands,
and how the power dynamics of a marriage work,
and parents and children, and how the power dynamics
of that work, and slaves and masters, and in
the ancient world that was a big thing that was
kind of what we think employees and employers,
and how the power dynamics of that work. So that's
where we're up to. And we're looking today at
parents and children. And here's the big thing
I hope you'll take away from today. Relationship
with Jesus transforms how you relate. Relationship
with Jesus transforms how you relate. How you
relate to God, how you relate to your spouse,
how you relate to your kids, how you relate to
your parents, your staff, your boss, even yourself.
And this is especially true for families. So
what do we see for families? Well, we see children
honour your parents. That's the first thing we
see. And secondly, fathers nurture your children.
So let's have a look at the first one. Children
honour your parents. If you've got your Bible
there, please come with me to Ephesians 6 verse
1. Children obey your parents in the Lord, for
this is right. Now, we've got to stop and pause
and go, isn't this amazing? Paul is directly
addressing the kids here. That tells us something,
doesn't it? It tells us that kids matter. God
has something to say to kids. You know, Jesus
said, let the little children come to me. He
wasn't one who rejected the kids. Kids matter
in church. And that's why we try and do kids
talks and kids spots and have kids, because we
want to say kids matter. And we need to be investing
in them and caring about them and teaching them.
But Paul here says to them, obey your parents.
That's how you honour your parents when you're
growing up. You value them. You value them and
you obey them and you listen to them. And obeying
here implies that these kids have moral agency,
that they have responsibility. Sometimes at home
with our kids, now and again, it can break into
World War III. And you know what our kids love
to do? They love to play the blame game. It's
usually after they've played some other game
and it's gone horribly wrong. And then they play
the blame game. It's very, very like Adam and
Eve in Eden, you know, it's the woman you put
here with me, and no, it was the serpent, and
it's the blame game, isn't it? You point at other
people and you say it's their fault, and then
you've got three fingers pointing back. That's
the hard thing, isn't it? But our kids love to
play the blame game. But I want to instil in
them, you've got responsibility. You need to
be the sort of person who takes responsibility
for what you brought to the table. You can't
always be playing the blame game. And I think
it's really important to instil that into kids
to say, yeah, when you didn't obey here or you
didn't do the thing you were meant to do, you've
got to take responsibility for that. Because
if, as a parent, I don't instil that into them...
Then as an adult, they'll grow up into the sort
of person who makes excuses and gets stuck in
sin patterns because they won't take responsibility.
It's so important, isn't it? But obey doesn't
just imply that we take responsibility. It's
a call to actually obey. To do what we're told.
To do as we're commanded. Now, like with all
obedience, God's Spirit gives Christians a different
mindset and a different motivation. So, let's
take obeying parents. Many kids today will disobey
and disregard their parents. Some do obey, but
they do it apart from the Lord. I mean, I'm talking
generally in society. You know, they'll obey
their parents because they bond to their parents,
because they think it's wise to. They might obey
because they don't want to lose screens. They
might obey because there's some reward they'll
get out of it. But Christian kids, I mean, those
aren't bad things, but Christian kids, they should
also and primarily obey their parents in the
Lord. That's what it says, doesn't it? Obey your
parents in the Lord, for this is right. What's
that mean? What's it mean to obey your parents
in the Lord? It looks like this. Imagine if a
parent, a Christian parent, says to their kids,
clean your room or brush your teeth. How should
the Christian kids see their parent when they
say that? They should see Jesus standing behind
them, nodding along with the parent. I want you
to obey them. That's what Jesus is there standing
behind the parents saying. He's saying, I'm Lord,
I'm King over everything. I died on the cross
and forgave all your sins. I'm your saviour.
I've given you my spirit so that you can joyfully
worship me by obeying me. And I've put these
folks here in charge of you. They're your parents.
And so if you disobey them, you're disobeying.
Now, there are limits, right? There are times
where Jesus would be shaking his head going,
don't do that, even if your parent tells you
to. If a parent asks a child to sin, they shouldn't
sin. But the norm is to obey parents because
of Jesus and his gospel, not just because you'll
get iPad, not just because you'll miss out on
TV, not just to get a reward or whatever it might
be, but because of Jesus. That's the key primary
motivation. Now, you know what this means? Well,
for kids, it means they need to see mum and dad's
instructions differently. They need to try and
see for themselves that these instructions aren't
just coming from mum and dad, they're coming
from Jesus through mum and dad. And for parents,
that means we need to try and instil that into
our kids. We need to remember Jesus is standing
behind us and we need to instil that kind of
outlook in our kids. So it's right to say to
your kids, you know, things like, hey, look,
I love you, I care about you, but Jesus has put
me in charge of this family and I need you to
listen to me because that's the right thing to
do. To teach your kids that submission is a good
thing. That's a healthy right thing to do. I
mean, you watch a Disney movie, that's the last
thing they ever do, isn't it? Have you noticed
that every Disney movie seems to be about some
sort of rebellion against authority figures?
It's just what we do in today's society. It's
all like, you know, submission can never be good.
You know, thank you, Disney. But what we need
to do is instil in our kids, no, submission's
a good thing. You know, there's times where you
shouldn't, for sure. But it is a good thing to
submit to authorities. We need to help our kids
be gospel -driven in their obedience. And when
adults have that approach, it gives a home more
order, more peace, more safety. It helps give
kids a secure and healthy foundation for their
lives. But that's not all that the gospel does.
It also gives us hope. Look at verses two to
three. Honor your father and mother, which is
the first commandment with a promise, so that
it may go well with you and that you may enjoy
long life on the earth. So Paul quotes number
five of the 10 commandments, honor your father
and mother. Honoring parents is about respecting,
revering and valuing them. And I don't know if
you've sat back and thought about it, but this
is a serious enough command that it's in the
Big Ten. It's there with don't murder and don't
commit adultery and all these other things. This
is a big deal, because it's so key to households
running well, society running well. There's just
so much that goes with this. When parents are
honoured, it is a really good thing. But Paul
here says this command is incredibly profound
because this command is a package deal. It comes
with a promise. Do you see the promise? That
it may go well with you and that you may enjoy
long life on the earth or in the land, depending
on your translation. This is a promise to Israel,
right? With the Ten Commandments, but so how
then is it for us? What land are we being told
here? Well, remember in Ephesians chapters two
and three, we saw that the promises to Israel
are now for Gentile Christians too. And I think
it includes this one. Blessings, the promised
land, eternal life, are available to us if we're
non -Jewish. Not by works. We've seen in the
whole book. It's about grace, isn't it? And so
honouring parents, that's part of grace at work,
isn't it? Honouring parents is an expression
of faith in God's grace. A few years ago, I took
our older boys zip lining in Illawarra. That's
not my older boys, but I wanted to give you a
picture of what the zip lining looks like. And
what they do is they put a whole bunch of harnesses
on you and straps on you to keep you safe. And
you sit there and you go, well, I know I'm safe.
I've got all these harnesses, you know, attached
to me. My boys and I intellectually believed
that the harnesses would hold us. But you know
what? As we got to that platform, each of us
were a little bit tentative to jump. Why? Well,
because it's scary. And because this is not just
an intellectual exercise, it's will the harness
hold person X, right? Will it hold me? And the
action of jumping shows, well, you know what,
I really do trust the harness. I really have
faith that the harness will hold me. Not jumping,
if you stay there glued to the platform and they
have to come up and get you down with a ladder,
that shows you got no faith at all, doesn't it?
And it's the same when we seek to honour our
parents in light of the Gospel. Not that we're
perfect, but real faith will produce action.
And so obeying this command is an expression
of our faith in God's grace. It shows that we
trust that Jesus is our Lord and Saviour. Now
this will play out differently for each of us
depending on our situation. What's it look like
to honour your parents, depending on your situation?
Because we're all different. I mean, if you're
an adult out of home, you still need to honour
your parents, don't you? It doesn't mean that
you obey them in the same way you did as a kid,
but you still need to honour them. You still
need to respect and provide for them and value
them. You've got to work out what does that look
like? What is pleasing to God in that situation?
Well hang on Brendan, what if I'm an adult but
I've got dishonourable, toxic parents? What do
I do then? Well there's no little asterisk in
the command that says, you know, if your parents
aren't honourable, don't honour them. We're still
to honour them, but yes, you've got to work out
how. That's going to be tricky. Boundaries are
appropriate. You've got to be careful in how
you talk to them. Sometimes you need to give
yourself distance. to protect yourself. That's
healthy and wise. But make sure you pray for
them. Make sure you forgive them. I think that's
probably the key thing with parents like that.
Because if you don't do those things, you're
not going to want to honour them in any way,
will you? So pray for them, forgive them. If
you're a kid with a non -Christian parent, and
most of the kids have left, but, you know, You've
still got lots to learn from your parents. You
shouldn't despise them. You should honour them
and learn from them. It's an opportunity to grow
by listening to them. And if you're a kid with
a Christian parent, what a head start you have.
What a great thing. Make sure you're listening
to them carefully and obeying them. But whatever
our situation, what's the key? The key is to
trust Jesus. and seek to honour our parents in
an appropriate, wise way. It's trusting the Gospel.
That's what heals us, strengthens us and empowers
us. That's what shifts our thinking to help us
do what is right and pleasing to Jesus. So we've
looked at kids of all ages, what they should
do, how it's right and beneficial for them to
honour their parents. But what about parents?
What should parents do? Well, that passage tells
us fathers nurture your children. Fathers nurture
your children. And we'll see how mothers fit
into this too, don't worry. But it's telling
us fathers nurture your children. Have a look
at verse four. Fathers do not exasperate your
children, instead bring them up in the training
and instruction of the Lord. or the discipline
and instruction of the Lord. Now, why are fathers
addressed? Because fathers are the ones in the
household who should set the tone. They're the
ones who should lead, they're the ones who initiate,
they're the ones who should drive things. And
the wives, as we see in the passage before, they're
to submit to that. But the men need to be the
ones in a house setting the tone. Now, if you're
a single mum, can I just shout out to you? That
is a tough gig. And I want to say you are doing
something incredibly amazing and challenging
and well done to you. That is really, really
tough. And we need to encourage our single mums
because that is a really hard thing. But men
here are meant to be leading the home well. What
tone? What tone are they meant to have? What
tone are they meant to set? Well, it tells us
here, do not exasperate your children. Instead,
bring them up in the training and instruction
of the Lord. So don't exasperate your kids. Hang
on, Paul. Have you seen how exasperated I get
from my kids? Are you sure? Did you get it right?
Is there something in the Greek there? No, no,
no, that's right. We're to manage ourselves.
We're to help our kids learn to behave and manage
themselves, too. And the way we do that is not
to just lose it every time our kids lose it,
and look, I struggle with that as much as anyone,
but instead we're to bring them up, literally
nurture them with loving discipline and with
instruction about... the Lord Jesus. How do we
do that? Well, there's something subtle here
that underlies all of this, right? You can't
nurture your kids if you're not growing yourself.
You can't nurture your kids if you're not growing
yourself. You can't give to someone else what
you don't have. And so what is Dad's job? Well,
he can't do his job if he's not growing himself.
His job is to lead the family. He can't do that
if he's not growing in Christ. So godly parenting
is fundamentally not managing the kids, but above
all managing yourself, leading yourself, growing
yourself so that you can do a good job of managing
and leading the kids. Picture this. It's Friday.
Dad comes home from work and oh, it's been a
day. He's stressed. And to top it all off, the
kids are ratty. Wifey is spent. She's been doing
a bit of work too and she had to pick up the
kids. But Dad walks in the door. What will Dad
do? I mean, they're there in the lounge room
and the spot fires start to begin. What's dad
going to do? Is he going to be the gasoline?
You know, he's just going to make everything
worse. He's going to escalate everything out
of proportion. Easy to do that as a dad, I know.
But as a dad, you want to be the extinguisher.
You want to bring everything down to a place
of calm again. Or it's dinner time and the tantrums
are just everywhere. Do you know why there are
tantrums? because how dare mum put something
green on the plate? Can you believe it? What
was she thinking? And the kids lose it because
they don't want to eat anything green, they just
want anything brown. What's dad going to do?
Will he be a blowtorch who just loses it at the
kids and is critical of them and... There's a
time for constructive criticism for sure, but
that's not what I'm talking about. He just loses
his Nana. Or will he be a balm? Will he soothe
them? Will he calm them? Will he be firm with
them but loving? Or on the weekend? You know,
what's going on on the weekend? Hey, you know,
sometimes you just need a screen day because
you're sick or whatever, but is that always the
pattern? Screens all the time. Or is Dad there
seeking to connect with his kids, model Christ
to them, teach them about Jesus? Is he finding
time in the week to do that well? Now, I'm not
saying it's easy. I think it's hard being a parent.
You've got to learn how to balance harsh and
indulgent, don't you? There's a middle ground
that you're trying to hit all the time. You don't
want to go to those extremes. And you face constant
challenges and pressures as a dad where you've
got to balance life and being a parent and your
marriage and, you know, your own relationship
with God and, you know, doing a bit of exercise
once in a while and all these things. It's hard.
But the only way you're going to do that is if
you bring your best self to the table, isn't
it? And a lot of that depends on how you were
raised. This is one of my favourite paintings
that I did. It used to sit in my girl's room
in Broken Hill. I got a bunch of balloons. This
is the genius of TikTok. I got a bunch of balloons,
blew them up and dipped them in paint and that's
a cool way to make flowers. So there you go if
you want to try something next weekend. But if
you were to get up close to this painting and
look at it... you'd see there's weird bumps and
lines all over it. And you go, what's going on
there? Well, with this painting, I didn't start
with a blank canvas. It was actually one I'd
already painted. And I painted over it. I painted
over something old and made it into something
new. And it's the same with ourselves. Your childhood
shaped you, but it doesn't have to define you.
You can repaint and reparent yourself. But Brendan,
how can I do that? How can I grow and reparent
myself and be different when I'm stressed, tired
and stuck in not great patterns all the time?
I'm barely surviving and you're there adding
another thing onto my plate. Come on! I get it.
It's tough. It'd be nice if you were just a blank
canvas again and you could just start from scratch.
That'd be great. But none of us are. And actually
the best environment to grow in and work all
this out is the current one that you're in. Look,
I don't think you can really reparent yourself
by a pool on your own in Bali. It doesn't work.
Because the tough environment that you're in
exposes the wounds that need healing. So what
do we need to do to heal and grow? Well, we need
to get curious. What are the things that trigger
me? What are my insecurities? What are my sin
habits that I need to deal with? We need to get
support. You know, friends who can keep you accountable
and who can encourage you. Maybe if you've got
some deep wounds and scars, maybe a psychologist
is needed. But here's the big one above all.
You need to bring the gospel to bear. on your
heart. Bring the gospel to bear on your heart.
Prayerfully bring the gospel to bear on your
heart. You know, when you're stressed because
you're always worried about things, you need
to prayerfully bring the gospel to bear on your
heart and say, Jesus is in control. He loves
me. I don't need to worry about this. I can see
things differently because of Him. Or when you're
just so exhausted and you've been trying everything
with your kids and you just, you feel like you've
got bruises on your head because you've been
banging your head against a wall so much. And
you just think, I don't want to try anymore.
This seems impossible. Bring the gospel to bear
on your heart. The gospel says God can do more
than you think, ask or imagine. The gospel says
that you've got a power within you, resurrection
power. You can change and be different. Go back
to that gospel, let it refresh you, revitalise
you, strengthen you again. What about the times
where you're there and you feel incredibly guilty?
You've lost it at the kids, you haven't been
barm dad, you've been fireworks dad, you've blown
up, it's not good. Bring the gospel to bear on
your heart. All that guilt, all that shame, go
to the cross. See that Jesus paid for it all.
That he's taken the punishment for it all. And
let it fill you with thanksgiving and joy. See
the gospel has the power to change you in the
deepest ways possible. It just takes thought,
time and work. But it's worth it. Not just for
you, but for your kids as well. Because what
could be better than seeing a dad and a mum who
do that? So let's recap. We asked, are we enslaved
to... Thanks, Siri. We asked, are we enslaved
to our childhood? And the answer is we're not.
Relationship with Jesus transforms how you relate.
How you relate to God, yourself, your parents,
your kids. Yep. And with a gospel brush we can
repaint what is already there. Your childhood
doesn't have to define you. You can let the gospel
define you. Through Jesus you have a new father.
who loves you and cares about you. You have a
new home in heaven. You have a new heart with
a clear conscience because you've been forgiven
by him. But what's this mean for each of us?
If you're here today and you're not a Christian,
I don't know what your childhood was like. And
I'm very sorry if it was traumatic, especially
if you had Christian parents, because it should
have been awesome. And if they let you down and
were hypocritical, I am so sorry. It shouldn't
have been like that. Yet Jesus is offering you
today the love you should have got. Actually,
he's offering you infinitely more. In him you
are cherished and precious. In him you can find
healing. He's offering you hope of a new world.
where the wrongs of the past will be made right.
I want to ask, what are you going to do with
that? Are you really going to reject that? Today's
the day to come up the front and pray and receive
it for yourself. Come talk to me or come pray
up the front here and bring Jesus into your life
and get the healing, the hope. and the forgiveness
and the love that we all need. But if you're
a Christian, I hope you've been challenged today
to see that the priority is to bring the Gospel
to bear on your heart, to work on yourself. And
we all need to do that, no matter which group
we're in. I mean, some of us here are kids, or
maybe we want to tell our kids this. But I mean,
as a kid, it's hard being told what to do. But
I tell you what, it's easier to do it when you
see that your parents have been put there by
Jesus. When you're thankful to God for your parents,
I'd encourage, I want to encourage all the parents
here to encourage their kids to do that, to honour
their parents well. But... All of us here, we're
children of somebody, aren't we? And if our parents
are alive, this is a challenge, too, for us to
honour them. Every month we do a service at Infinite
Care, and it's a lot of fun, and I really enjoy
going. But it's actually very sad sometimes seeing
people who've been just put away in a nursing
home and tucked away there and forgotten about.
I think that's something that happens in the
West, not so much in other cultures, but in the
West we do that, where we put our parents away
and we forget about them, and I don't think that's
honouring to parents. I think Christians need
to love and care for their parents all through
life and honour them well. But what's this saying
to you if you've lost a father or if you've If
you're estranged from your kids, I mean, those
things are incredibly hard too, aren't they?
Well, I hope you've seen today that you have
comfort in the Lord Jesus and comfort in knowing
God as your Heavenly Father. I'm not saying it's
easy, but I'm saying there is hope, there is
comfort there that you can draw on and be strengthened
by. And if you are estranged from your kids,
Can I encourage you, I think one of the most
important things you can do is to take responsibility.
I'm not saying that you did everything horribly
wrong or anything like that, but there are things
you probably didn't do well, or none of us do.
And the best thing you can do is own your failures
before your kids, I think, and love them as much
as they will allow. It's tricky, it's complicated,
but I think that's one of the key things to do.
But there's also people here today who aren't
parents who want to be. And maybe it's that in
time, God will allow that. And if that's the
case, I hope you've got greater clarity today
on what parenting looks like. But there are some
people here who want to have kids and can't,
and that brings a deep grief. And I'm very sorry
for that. But can I encourage you, please don't
bottle it up? Share it with God, share it with
those around you. Feel the joy of being in the
family of God's people who love you and support
you. And don't lose sight of the role you do
have to play. Ephesians 4, if you remember back
to what Pete Hughes said on Family Camp, shows
us that we're a body and that we build each other
up. And that includes the kids in our church.
You know that old saying, it takes a village
to raise a child. I remember growing up when
my parents got divorced. I didn't see my dad
very much, but there was a guy in our church
who took it on himself. He was single and he
took it on himself to be a dad to a lot of kids
who just didn't have a dad. And he taught me
how to drive amongst others, but he taught me
how to drive. He led a Bible study that was great
that just really helped me grow, he did a lot
of things. And I think for all of us, if there's
opportunities in church to invest in kids who
have a tough family life, maybe just teaching
in kids' church could be one way you could do
that. But finally for parents, I want to encourage
you today as well and encourage you to think
about the shape of parenting. We've thought a
lot of things today, but I want to leave you
with this. We've got our five M's for church.
Well, here's my five C's for parenting. It's
Christ. That's the foundation, isn't it? But
then there's other things we want to do. We want
to be, and especially the dads, this is our job.
We want to have calmness in our home. We want
to have consequences. We want to go, yeah, there
are real boundaries and you need to learn. There
is real discipline here if you don't do the things
you're meant to do. But we don't want it to just
be consequences. We want it to be connection.
You know, kids actually respond so well when
they feel connected to their parents. And so
it's key that we build that connection with our
kids, isn't it? But not just that. It's not just
that we have one good day a week. We want to
do that consistently. I want to get better and
better at doing this more and more and more.
So I think that's a helpful way to just think
about the different areas of parenting, going,
yeah, how am I going with the Christ bit? Am
I modelling Christ to my kids? Am I teaching
them about Jesus? How am I going with the calmness?
Well, I lost my Nana last week. Yeah, OK, that's
something to work on. Consequences, yeah, we
need to be a bit firmer with a few things. And
you just think into each one, don't you? but
also think your needs too. That's key, isn't
it? Raising kids is taxing work. And I often
feel like a failure as a parent, especially when
I get a snippy comment or change is slow or something
like that. And carrying guilt ain't helping.
So what I do is I try and take it to the cross.
And I try not to give up. I try to see that I
can make a difference. And most of all, I try
to keep reparenting and repainting myself. Because
I think that's the best thing I can do for my
family. So I hope you'll let the gospel transform
you as well. Let's pray. Father, we want to thank
you so much. for all the good things you give
us. But thank you most of all for your gospel.
And we ask that you would help us to repaint
and reparent ourselves. That you would deal with
our fears, our insecurities, our sinful habits.
That you would change us to be more like Jesus.
And that you would help those of us here who
are parents, especially the dads, to lead their
families well. And we ask this in Jesus' precious
name. Amen.