We Will Serve The Lord

People sometimes ask me how long it takes to write a sermon.  The answer for today's sermon would be 28 years (that's the age of our oldest child).  I was reluctant to preach on parenting when the children were small thinking that the ideal time would be when they were grown.  Now that my children are grown, and the world has changed so much, I'm thinking parents really need help from someone much more in touch with the challenges of today's technology. 

But I preached today's sermon knowing that the basics of parenting never change.  That's why I love Joshua's declaration so much, "As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."  No matter what age you live in, no matter what's going on in the culture around you, this is surely where godly parenting always begins. 

Today's sermon was not intended to be deep or profound.  I seriously doubt anyone learned anything they didn't already know.  I decided to combine movie clips with personal testimony to encourage parents to do what they already know to do but to do it with conviction and sacrificial leadership.  There is not a single sacrifice Liz and I made in raising our children that we regret.  The three word sermon outline of Time, Talk, and Walk was truly a statement of our priorities.  My prayer is that every Christian family might make them theirs as well.

I'll Need You Dad

After the sermon one dad told me he asked his teenager, "What would you say is the most important thing in my life?"  What a great question to ask.  That was exactly the response I was hoping for from dads.

Passing on faith to the next generation will never happen by accident.  It must be done intentionally.   Our faith must be Lived and Taught.  Our children need to See and Hear the message of Christ.  Godly parenting is not about perfection but direction.  What direction are we pointing our children?  What would they say is the direction our lives are moving? 

As one who now has all three children grown and on their own; I can personally testify that there is no greater joy than knowing that my children are walking in the truth.  I love that they are stable financially and successful in their chosen fields of work; but the most heartwarming satisfaction I have is knowing that at the core of their being they want to be faithful to Jesus Christ our Lord.

As we dedicated all those babies to the Lord this past Sunday my prayer for them is that their parents and the church might take the vows they made seriously.  May all of us work together to see that our children Know the Lord, Love the Lord and Obey the Lord!