Things are happening in many different areas
of ministry, and we thank God that his blessing
is on them, and that includes mops. The Gaithers
have written so many fine songs that express
our love for the Lord and our gratitude for his
goodness in our lives. One of them is 138. I'd
like for us to sing that a cappella. Perhaps
you know the words. It's one of the more familiar
ones, the family of God. I'm so glad I'm a part
of the family of God. If you need the word, there's
138. I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of
God. I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed
by his blood. Join us with Jesus as we travel
this sun. For I'm part of the family, the family
of God. Thank you. It's good to be a part of
God's family through faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it's good to be a part of a family
here on earth as well, where we are nurtured
and raised. We're studying together in Ephesians
chapter 6, the first four verses this morning.
I'd like you to turn there and look at your copy
of the Word of God as I read Ephesians 6, verses
1 through 4. Children, obey your parents in the
Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and
mother, which is the first commandment with a
promise, that it may be well with you and that
you may live long and be worth. And fathers,
do not provoke your children to anger, but bring
them up in the discipline and instruction of
the Lord. Warren Wisby tells the story of a husband
who, after watching a TV presentation, about
rebellious youth, turned to his wife and said,
what a mess. Where did this generation, or where
did our generation go wrong? And his wife looked
at him and said calmly, we had children. But
perhaps you feel that way sometimes. We're living
in a tough day for families. Homes are being
torn apart. Husbands and wives are divorcing.
Parents are, in some cases, abusing or neglecting
their children. And children, on the other hand,
are often in rebellion against their parents.
What is the answer to the home problem? Is it
another social program funded by our tax dollars?
Is it legislation? Is it education? All of these
things may have a part to play. But the real
answer is found not in any of these, but rather
in regeneration. That is in a new heart, creating
a new person who has new life and new ideals,
new motivation and new power. The Apostle Paul
has been telling us in the book of Ephesians
that we are a new people in Jesus Christ and
that we have a power that is resident within
us. It is the power of his spirit, God's spirit.
And so he says, be filled with the Spirit of
God. And in light of that, he says, we are to
treat one another as husbands and wives, as parents
and children, as employees and employers in certain
ways. The greatest gift a father can give to
his children is to love their mother. That attitude
of self -giving exhibited in behavior, which
seeks her good, and sets her apart as the most
special person in the world, which protects her
faithfully and provides for her tenderly, that
love will do more to give children a healthy
home than anything else could. It will go a long
way toward producing emotionally healthy and
balanced children. It will further give them
an appreciation for God. as their heavenly father.
It will give them an appreciation for him which
no theological training can give. It comes from
the home and the way the father loves the mother.
Likewise, the greatest gift that a mother can
give to her children is to submit to her husband's
headship or his functional authority which God
has assigned to him. That spirit of subordination,
cooperation, and respect will set a godly example
which the children will tend to follow when they're
growing up. And it will show them how to respond
to the God -ordained authorities that they will
have throughout their lives. Now, to be sure,
the foundational relationship in the home is
that of the husband and wife. But in many homes,
it's not the only relationship, because in the
blessing of God, children come along. And a new
relationship is created, that of parent and child.
When that new relationship comes into being,
there is a new pressure that is put on the marriage,
which tests and matures the husband and wife
in their roles, and which creates a new role,
really, for each of them to fulfill. The Holy
Spirit's enablement is just as critical in this
role as parent or as child as it is in the role
of husband and wife. Biblical commands to children
and to parents, if practiced through the filling
of the Holy Spirit, will result in balanced and
healthy homes. I do not mean pension -free homes.
I wish I could mean that, but I don't mean that.
I do not mean homes that are without problems.
Because Christian homes where the Holy Spirit
is controlling the people where Jesus Christ
is Lord still have problems. But those can be
worked through with satisfying results when the
word of God is obeyed. Now to children, the word
of God instructs, obey your parents. Keep in
mind that children and women were not important
in the Roman culture. The Apostle Paul, in directly
addressing both women and children, exalts both
of them to a proper place. It is significant
that he directly addresses them. What does he
mean as he says to the children in the congregation
who will be listening to this epistle, obey your
parents? Well, the word obey means to hear under.
To hear under. That is to listen and then to
submit to what is said. The same word is used
in Mark 4, 41, where the wind and the sea obeyed
Christ. It is also used in 1 Peter 3, 6, where
it says Sarah obeyed Abraham. It is used in Hebrews
5, 8, where Christ obeyed the Father. And in
Luke 2, 51, where it says Christ obeyed his parents.
In fact, the Greek goes the very same as in Ephesians
5, 21 and 22, where it says that he submitted
himself to his parents. God has placed parents
in a child's life as representatives of his authority
over them. To obey one's parent is part of a
child's service to the Lord. For the apostle
says here, obey your parents in the Lord. And
to further explain what he means, he calls upon
the Old Testament and brings to our attention
the fifth commandment of the ten. And he quotes
it in verse two, honor your father and your mother.
To honor means more than to obey. It is a broader
concept, which means to revere. to honor or to
count as valuable. This is the first of the Ten
Commandments, which dealt with the horizontal
relationships. Of the ten, the first four dealt
with the person's relationship to God, the final
six, the relationship to other people. The very
first one that deals with society and the follower
of God deals with the child's relationship to
his parents. I believe that that shows the bedrock
importance of obedience and honor in the home.
Why should one do this? Why should one obey his
parents, honor his parents? Well, he seems to
give us at least two reasons. First of all, in
verse 16 he says, it is right to do so. That
is, it is proper that we obey our parents. It
is in accordance with God's righteous rule. over
his universe. God has said to do it, therefore
it is right. Parents in the first place beget
their children. That's another reason that it's
right. The life of the child comes from the parent,
and because of the fact that they are the origin
of the child in a human sense, therefore it is
right that they, the children, should respect
their parents. Furthermore, Parents are more
experienced. Therefore, it is right to honor
them. The Eastern culture is much better at this
than our Western culture. That does not mean
that the parent is always right. It doesn't mean
that the child will always agree and be glad
to do what the parents say. But it does mean
that the child is to do it and with a right heart
attitude. honoring them, reverencing them, because
the parent is the parent, and because the parent
is wiser, more mature, even though the child
may not be able to see it at that point, and
because God has said, do it. Therefore, it is
right. In Colossians 3 .20, the apostle says
that this is well -pleasing to Christ. And then
a second reason that the child is to obey his
parents is because it brings blessing to do so.
Notice that it says in the last part of verse
2, this is the first commandment with a promise.
And then it says in verse 3, that it may be well
with you, that you may live long on the earth.
Now the promise and the blessing that is involved
here in obeying and honoring one's parents is
that of a satisfying and full life. Now keep
in mind that this is a general principle. There
are some very godly children who die at a young
age. And there are some very wicked children
who live out a full length of years. The principle
is a general one here. But the point is this,
that obedience in a child produces character
in that child. A character that causes him to
adopt a lifestyle that tends to make life more
secure and enjoyable. He tends to avoid sin,
which corrupts and destroys his life if he learns
to obey as a child in the home. Again, I quote
Warren Wisby who says, Sin always robs us. Obedience
always enriches us. The lack of discipline and
respect for authority tends to place a child
later on in life in circumstances that tend to
shorten the life and to make it less secure and
stable. So the point is that if one learns obedience
in the home, it tends toward a long and satisfying
life. That is a promise and a blessing that God
gives. So why should a child obey his parents?
For this reason, the blessing that we've just
described. Now whenever this is talked about,
there are some questions that arise. One of them
is, does a child absolutely have to obey his
parents? Only in the sense that we talked about
the wife submitting to her husband. If a parent
commands a child to do something that is illegal,
or immoral than a child is not obligated before
God to obey his parents in the Lord. Because
there is a higher principle that comes into play,
and that is the principle of obeying God rather
than men in those cases. But the general principle
is one of obedience. Then the question is, how
long must I obey my parents? I'm 45 years old
now. Do I have to obey what my mother and father
tell me? The honor aspect of it, the reverence,
is lifelong. As children, we are always right
to reverence and to respect our parents. Until
that day that they go to be with the Lord, let
us be careful to give them the kind of reverence
and respect which they deserve because they're
mom and dad. There comes a time when you can
no longer give that kind of respect and reverence
to them. And I urge you to do that. I urge you
to do that. Of course, I speak out of my own
personal experience. A couple of years ago, I
did something that I am very grateful now that
I did. When I turned 40 and got over the hill,
on my birthday, I wrote my mother a long letter.
Now, throughout my life, I have tried at various
times to say things to her to communicate my
gratitude for the person that she was. And I
think I did a fair job of doing that, both in
verbal speech and in written notes on cards that
I would send. But when I turned 40, I wrote her
a long page -and -a -half type letter in which
I wrote down, in one place at one sitting, a
variety of thoughts that I had regarding her
and expressed my love and respect for her, my
gratitude. for the way that she raised me as
a child. I had no idea, of course, that two years
later that the Lord would take her so suddenly,
as he did this last August. But I want you to
know that it has been a great source of comfort
to me to know that at one point in my life, at
least, I put into a condensed form my feelings
for her and showed her my respect and reverence.
By my words. Now I say that and I share it with
you, though it's rather intimate, because I would
like to encourage you who have mothers and fathers
to do the same thing. It has likewise been a
comfort to me to go to a written document where
in black and white I can know that I said certain
things to her. Because after they're gone, one
of the things that comes to your mind is, I wonder
if mom knew this. I wonder if she knew how I
felt. about that. And there in black and white,
you know that you've said it. And it's a great
comfort. And so if you can use that hint and
apply it to your life, I hope that you will do
that. Throughout our lives, no matter how old
we may get, as long as they're with us, we owe
them respect and reverence. But obedience is
a little bit of a different matter. Because as
a child matures, As he becomes more independent
and less dependent upon the parent, obedience
likewise diminishes. That obligation to obey
diminishes after a child has left home, and certainly
once that marriage has taken place, because a
new home is then formed. A child's attitude toward
his or her parents really does reflect his or
her attitude toward God. Rebellion and disobedience
towards one's parents is sin. Not just sin against
them, but sin against God who has commanded us
to obey them. Obedience and honor toward them
is pleasing to God and passes his test. He says
it is well pleasing that we should so honor them.
And then there's a word to fathers. Actually,
this is addressed to parents more generally,
but it says specifically the fathers, because
in that day the father was the absolute ruler
in the home, sometimes in the pagan culture at
least, in a rather despotic sense. For example,
if he desired to reject the child and walked
away from the child, the child actually could
be left in the elements to die, uncared for,
if the father chose to do that. And so the fathers
are addressed by the Apostle Paul, but in a broader
sense to parents. And I think that what he's
saying here, I'm going to use my word, he says,
Parents, shepherd your children. Shepherd your
children. What does that mean? Well, in the first
place it means, as he says, do not provoke your
children to anger. Colossians 3 .21 puts it this
way, Do not exasperate your children. That's
in the present tense here. It means do not practice
or make it a habit in your life to create deep
-seated, ongoing hostility. There are times that
children will become angry and upset. They have
that right. They're human beings. They have to
learn how to control their anger and to express
it in a right way, and we have to teach them
that. It is not good for them simply to suppress
their anger and for us to try to force them to
suppress their anger. There are times when children
will be angry with what we do because they do
not understand in their immaturity. But the point
the apostle is making here is this. We are not
to purposely create anger. We are not to gird
our children into resentful, angry responses
so that they become resentful, angry people.
That's what the apostle is saying. How does a
parent do that? Let me suggest ten ways to create
an angry, resentful child. If you would like
to do that, I want to give you ten ways that
will be full proof to do it. First of all, by
establishing rules that are unreasonable. Establish
rules just for the sake of having rules or for
proving your authority over them. Rules that
have no sense or reason to them. And you will
create an angry child. By blaming and never praising
them. The second way to do it. And firstly, blame
them for your problems. Say when something goes
wrong with you in your life or your circumstances,
you turn to the children and say, this is your
fault, in essence. You say, oh, that kind of
thing never happens. Yes, it does. Yes, it does.
Third, by nagging. By overcorrection of children.
Being too harsh with them in discipline. Fourth,
by playing favorites. Now not everything in life
is equal and fair. I suppose you parents get
the same thing that we get. That's not fair.
And kids have to learn not everything in life
is going to be fair. Not everything in life can
be cut exactly in equal portions. That's the
way life is. But on the other hand, we ought
not to play favorites with our children. As I
was growing up, when I was about nine or ten,
my grandmother was still living. And for some
reason, she especially liked me. I think it was
because of my pleasant personality and delightful
childhood. I do not know why, but she especially
liked me and favored me. over my two brothers
and sister. And that would be very tangible at
times, at birthday time, or we'd go to her house
and there would be treats, or whatever. It was
made very clear that Galen got the bigger portion,
or got more. And finally my mother had to sit
down her mother and say, stop it. And she didn't
do it a day too soon. So whether it's mom or
dad or grandpa or grandma, there's no place for
playing favorites. And then by setting too high
a standard, you can create a resentful child.
Putting the standard up here when the child doing
his very best can come only to this point. There
are times when we try to live out our frustrations
from our own childhood by placing upon our children
certain expectations or burdens. We ought never
to do that. but to allow them to be themselves.
So never set too high a standard that leads to
frustration, whether it be in memorizing scripture,
or it be in athletics, or in academics, whatever
realm of life it may be in. Be careful of doing
that. Set the standard high enough to challenge,
to be sure, so the child will do his best, but
give that child a sense. of having accomplished
and pleased you too. Oh, that is so important.
Do you know that there are adults sitting here
today in this auditorium who are still striving
to hear from their parents one time, you did
a good job? That's tragic. Parents need to reassure
their children that they've done well, that they've
met the standards. And then by disciplining in
an inconsistent and unloving manner. you can
create an angry child. A child that does not
know what the standard is. And then discipline
comes raining down upon his head, inconsistently
and without love. We need to treat our children
with respect in this sense. Let them know what
the standard is, what is expected of them, and
then be consistent and loving in the application
of discipline. And I don't think there's a harder
thing for a parent to do than that. At least
for this parent to do than that. And then by
failing to keep your promises, you can create
an angry, resentful child. It's important to
follow through. Yes, you'll have to put up with
statements like, but you promised at times. And
there are times when you cannot fulfill a promise.
Children need to learn that. That there are times
because of circumstances out of your control,
you cannot do what you said you would do. We
never fail to keep a promise just because you
are, dare I say it, too lazy to fulfill it. A
child is able to read that pretty quickly. And
then by never admitting a mistake, you can create
an angry child. We have to be able to say to
our children, I'm sorry, I blew it, will you
forgive me? I had occasion last night to discipline
two of my children. Not unusual at all. I don't
point it out because it's unusual. But I point
it out because I disciplined them in anger. I
was tired, and I was not ready to put up with
what I had to put up with at 10 o 'clock at night.
And about 15 minutes later, as I was studying
my message for today, I realized that I was going
to have a wonderful illustration for this point.
And so I went in, and I did what's difficult
for all of us to do, but important to do, and
I said, and I won't tell you who it was, but
I said, I'm sorry. I disciplined you in anger.
I don't like what you did, and I'm tired, but
I should not have become angry when I disciplined
you. Will you forgive me? Well, it took a while,
but finally there was a yes response, so I was
glad for that. and then by mocking their childish
concerns. Can you imagine a parent doing that?
That's foreign to me, so it's hard for me to
imagine it. It's like it may be foreign for some
to imagine a parent getting angry when they discipline.
But I can't imagine a parent mocking a child,
but I know of parents who've done that. We don't
have to play games with our kids. I have a dear
friend who's in heaven. who had two daughters.
And this fellow dabbled in psychology. And so
he experimented on his two kids. I don't think
I've ever forgiven him for this. Probably should.
And I do, if you're listening. With one daughter,
he would frown and in a gruff voice say, I love
you. And with the other daughter, he would smile
and in a warm and tender voice say, I don't like
you, or say, I don't like you. And so he would
use the opposite expression on his face and voice
with what he was trying to communicate. Now you
know why I had a hard time forgiving him. I think
that that was a real mistake, and I think he
learned it too. Don't play games with your kids.
Finally, by exhibiting hypocrisy in your life,
you can create an angry child. How long do you
think it takes a child to see through? Well,
you go to Sunday school. You go to Sunday school
and then you go out for a cup of coffee. I've
known parents who've done that. Oh my, a memory
comes to mind. We used to have a group of parents
who did this in the church in Kentucky. They
would drop their kids off in Sunday school, and
about a block away there was this little restaurant.
And every Sunday morning during Sunday school,
they would go over there and drink coffee. So
one Sunday morning I left the class that I taught,
and I walked out of the church a block and went
down there in the restaurant and greeted all
of them in the restaurant, turned around and
came back to the church. You know what? It stopped
their behavior. They finally realized what they
were doing. That kind of hypocrisy will tear
up a child. We have to live consistently as possible
before our children. We tell them that they need
to respect God, they need to respect the church,
and then we criticize other believers, and we
gossip and criticize the church. What is that
going to do to a child? You know what it does.
These will break a child's spirit. Now the opposite
of what we're talking about is encouraging, shepherding
a child. So you take those ten rules that I've
given you, reverse them, and you'll have a marvelous
pattern for shepherding and encouraging your
children. The apostle goes on here to say, bring
them up or nurture them, that is, provide tender
care. The responsibility of a parent is to bring
a child to maturity and to independence. As we
learned so effectively at our seminar last weekend,
our goal is, by the time they're 18, to make
them independent as human beings. After going
to do that, the Word of God tells us that there
are two actions that are involved. First of all,
there's discipline. And then there is instruction.
Discipline refers to child training or to education.
It refers to correcting... A child with regard
to established rules. The emphasis here is upon
action that we take with them. Exercises that
we may put them through. Experiences that we
may take them through. That we may discipline
them. Hebrews 12 verses 5 through 13 speaks at
length regarding this aspect of bringing up a
child. It means to place them under restriction.
It means to send them through exercises in life
that will show them by action what it means to
obey. No one naturally likes to be restrained.
No one likes to have rules, but that's a critical
part of development. Character is produced in
the crucible of loving discipline. And that's
our responsibility as parents. And secondly,
by instruction we bring them up. The word instruction
deals with admonition, encouragement, or rebuke.
Here the emphasis is upon training by word as
well as action. And the key text undoubtedly
is Deuteronomy 6, and I'd like you just quickly
for a few seconds to look back there, Deuteronomy
chapter 6. Now this is the commandment, the statutes
and the judgments, which the Lord your God has
commanded me to teach you, says Moses, that you
might do them. Notice in verse 2 he says, to
keep all his statutes and commandments. Verse
3, be careful to do. So the first thing we have
to understand that as we teach our children verbally,
it's not just to communicate facts to them, but
we are seeking to get them to act upon those
facts. That's important. He is not simply saying,
give your children certain knowledge, but get
them to go to the next step, to act upon what
you have told them. And verse 4 says, Here, Israel,
the Lord is our God. The Lord is our God. The
Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul,
with all your might. And these words which I
am commanding you today shall be on your heart,
he says, and you shall teach them diligently
to your sons, and shall talk of them when you
sit in your house, when you walk by the way,
when you lie down, when you rise up, and you
shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they
shall be as frontals on your forehead, and you
shall write them on the doorposts of your house
and on your gates. What he is saying here is
that our Christian education begins in the home,
not in the Sunday school class, not in the Christian
school classroom, but in the home. That's the
foundation of Christian education. Parents are
to teach. That means to transfer certain concepts
to change the child's life. Now, he tells us
that we are to communicate who God is. The Lord
is God. He is one God. We are to teach who God
is, and we are to teach what God says. We are
to teach who God is so that they might respect
him. We are to teach what God says so they might
obey him. Do those two words sound familiar?
Respect, obey. And then notice how he says to
do it. He says, when you sit, you walk, you lie
down, you rise up. In other words, in the ordinary
course of life. We are to teach our children,
first of all, by role models. In the ordinary
course of life, we are to set before them the
pattern of how our lives should be lived in obedience
to who God is and what he said. And then he says,
you shall bind them as a sign in your hand, the
funnels in your forehead. He's saying here, I
believe, that we ought to use object lessons.
There need to be physical and tangible reminders.
or illustrations or pictures for our children,
because that's how they learn. They're big on
that. They need to get it through the eye gates,
object lessons. And a third way that we teach
them is through what he says in verse 9. I'm
calling that public witness. He says, put on
your doorposts and on the gates of your house
these things that God has said. In other words,
there is to be a certain public declaration.
that this home follows the Lord, that Jesus Christ
is Lord in this home. It's public witness. If
you want to have an impact upon your children
and bring them to spiritual maturity, it must
be by discipline and by instruction. Discipline,
putting them through the paces, learning by action,
instruction, teaching them by word, who God is,
what God says, and doing that through our role
model, object lessons, and through a public witness.
on our part that we are the Lord's. One of the
greatest examples of a parent that can be found
in church history, I think, is Susanna Wesley.
She was married to Samuel. They had 19 children.
Eight of them died in infancy or childhood. So
there was a lot of sorrow in their home, but
11 lived to maturity. Two of them were John and
Charles Wesley, the founders of Methodism. They
were very disciplined men, and they learned that
discipline in their home. Now, it brings Susanna
Wesley to your attention for a specific reason,
because she was, at times at least, a single
parent. She and her husband did not get along,
although he was a preacher in the Church of England.
In fact, they were separated for many months
at one time. As I recall, it was for 14 months.
He left her and lived elsewhere because his wife
refused to pray for the king of England. She
would not do that. He insisted she do it. She
would not. He left home. And she was left with
the kids. We can imagine what kind of a marriage
that was because there were other occasions like
that. On one occasion, she wrote, to him. The
children of this family were taught, as soon
as they could speak, the Lord's Prayer, which
they were made to say at rising and bedtime constantly,
to which, as they grew bigger, were added the
short prayer for their parents and some collects,
a short catechism, and some portion of scripture
as their memories could bear. They were very
early made to distinguish the Sabbath from other
days before they could well speak or go. They
were soon taught to be still at family prayers
and to ask a blessing immediately after, which
they used to do by signs before they could kneel
or speak. This was begun, she said, the custom
of singing psalms at beginning and leaving school,
morning and evening. Then also that of a general
retirement at 5 o 'clock was entered upon. Can
you imagine retiring at 5 o 'clock in the afternoon?
Then the oldest took the youngest that could
speak, and the second the next, to whom they
read the Psalms for the day, and a chapter in
the New Testament. And in the morning they were
directed to read the Psalms and a chapter in
the Old, after which they went to their private
prayers before they got their breakfast or came
into the family. And then she writes, once a
week she would converse with each of her children
separately concerning the things of God and their
spiritual interests. To quote her, she said,
I take such a portion of time as I can spare
every night to discourse with each child separately.
And here is a woman who had a marriage that was
less than happy, and at times was a single parent.
But she stands before us all today as a mother
who set a good example. History records that
she was not especially an affectionate person.
She was a woman who knew how to communicate important
things to her children. And literally because
of the faithful raising of her children, particularly
Charles and John and their lives, she shook the
whole Western world. to the revivals that came
about because of their ministry. Now we live
in a different day. We can't use all the same
methods that Susanna Wesley might have used.
But dear folks, let's follow in her train with
the methods that work today, shepherding our
children. Both of these commands to parents and
to children are given in the Lord. That is, he
must be the center of the home, and he must be
the Lord. What is at stake in our doing this
or not doing it? The answer is very simple. The
next generation and maybe the history of our
whole culture. Dave Simmons said, there is a
transgenerational commission as well as a transcontinental
commission. We talk a lot about the commission
to go to other continents. But likewise, there
is in the Word of God a commission for one generation
to impact the next for Jesus Christ. And we who
are parents have a unique opportunity of doing
just that. But for us to do that and for children
to obey us requires the Holy Spirit to enable
us. Oh, may the Holy Spirit work in our lives
today. Creating in us, first of all, a deep desire
to do what God has said. And then a faithful
dependence upon him to do these things. Let's
bow together. Our time is gone. There's no more
time for singing. No more time for sharing together
in... worship. But as this time comes to a close,
there is still time for response. I hope that
this message has not laid a guilt trip on anyone,
at least without also giving the answers to what
to do about it. There are no perfect parents
any more than there are perfect children. But
God has set before us a command. And if he gave
us the command, he expects us to be able through
the power of the Holy Spirit, to essentially
obey it. Right where you're seated, as a child,
and everyone here is the child of someone, if
you can still show respect and honor to your
parents, will you commit yourself to God to do
that? That may mean making a phone call or writing
a letter. To ask forgiveness. To make the relationship
right. Will you do what you can so that your
parents are respected and revered? And then for
those of us who are parents, who have children
small or grown, the relationship with them remains
the same, although our responsibility for them
changes as they grow older. Do you have the kind
of relationship with your children that honors
God? Particularly those of us who have small
children. Would you today join me in a fresh
commitment to nurture them, to bring them through
the process of maturity to be men and women of
God? Father, we today call upon you. for the
strength that we need the consistency that we
need the humility that we need the example that
we want to set i pray that you would live through
us as children live through us as parents as
that applies so that we might obey this word
and in so doing bring glory to you and have an
impact upon the next generation. In Jesus' name,
amen.