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Mar 23
Love0
How Can Parents Exasperate Their Children?

How Can Parents Exasperate Their Children?

By Parenting: Early Years, Parenting: Teens and Beyond

In the article from a few weeks ago, we saw that Scripture commands our children to honor us (Ephesians 6:1-3). But God also has instructions for us as parents. Positively, we are to bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). I unpack how to do this in the Parenting with Confidence material. But before God gives us the positive exhortation, he gives us a negative command. Don’t exasperate your children. Some versions translate this verse as, Don’t provoke your children to anger. Colossians 3:21 is a parallel verse. In it, fathers (and all parents) are commanded not to embitter or provoke our children,…

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Feb 23
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Brett McCracken – The Wisdom Pyramid

By Discerning Culture, Podcast

We are raising children in the information age. We need a new unit of measurement- the exabyte. Experts predict in 2025, 463 exabytes will be created online every day. That’s the equivalent of over 270 million DVDs. Even more amazingly, that data is all available from a device I carry in my hand. But what if all this information was not making my family more wise, but instead more foolish? In today’s podcast we are going to talk to Brett McCracken about his book, The Wisdom Pyramid. In it McCracken lays out a vision for living a wise life by…

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Mar 09
Love0

How Can I Expect My Children to Honor Me Since I Am a Sinner Too?

By Family Discipleship, Parenting: Childhood, Parenting: Early Years, Parenting: Teens and Beyond

I was recently asked this question at a conference. Have you ever wondered the same thing? Certainly, as parents, we blow it. Can we still ask our children to honor us? God has put children in our lives to shine a floodlight on our own need to grow. Time and time again we see our own sinful actions and reactions in our family. Yet Scripture also calls our children to honor us. How can we ask them to do this us when we are so sinful? (And I would add, are we calling them to honor us at all? I believe this…

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Mar 04
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Are You Believing This Myth?

By Family Discipleship, Parenting: Childhood, Parenting: Early Years, Parenting: Teens and Beyond

We live life based on the Ideas that we have. Sometimes we pick up those ideas consciously and sometimes unconsciously. This week’s article will help us look at the #2 myth that intentional Christian parents believe. The following is an excerpt of page 20 from The Disciple-Making Parent. Are You Believing this Myth? Myth 2: The ultimate goal of my Christian life is to have my children follow the Lord. Some parents need the reminder of the beginning of this chapter, that they themselves are primarily responsible to disciple their children. However, at the other end of the spectrum are the parents who would do anything for the…

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Mar 02
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Thoughts on Choosing a College

By Family Discipleship, Parenting: Teens and Beyond

I was recently about my thoughts on how Christians should choose a college by a father with three young teens. I remember my nervous feeling as I approached that period in the parenting and discipleship of my children. I felt I had a pretty good strategy for the young years and the teen years. But when it came to further education I did not have much of a plan. Factors In Walking Away Why is college a time of walking away? Scripture tells us that we are rightly influenced by our parents, pastors, and friends. This is part of God’s…

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Feb 09
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Filling Your Home with Music

By Family Discipleship, Parenting: Childhood, Parenting: Early Years, Parenting: Teens and Beyond

Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting. Ps 147:1 Two of the strengths Sharon brings to our home is her love for and talent with music. She has a beautiful voice and has used it to honor the Lord in worship for many years. When we first started raising children and thinking about discipling our family, what we hoped the culture of our family would be, we both wanted to have a home filled with music. Music is a Gift Scripture makes clear that…

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Jan 21
Love0

Collin Hansen – Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ Is Essential

By Podcast

Christians usually take church attendance for granted. That is, until Covid struck in March of 2020. But the pandemic merely exposed some of our unclear thinking. After all, why should we go to church? With all the pressures on us as parents, why make church a priority? In this today’s podcast  we are going to talk to my friend Collin Hansen about the new book he coauthored: Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ is Essential.  That’s exactly what we will talk about. Why is being part of a church essential to our lives and essential to the discipleship of our…

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Jan 19
Love0

Seven Ways to Pray for Your Children

By Family Discipleship, Parenting: Childhood, Parenting: Early Years, Parenting: Teens and Beyond

In Chapter 20 of The Disciple-Making Parent I have a whole chapter on praying for our children. Prayer is both a duty (as in difficult work) and a delight. The Lord gives us access to his throne room based on the blood of Jesus. Yet often we find it difficult to pray for our children. Here are seven suggested ways to pray for your children and for your family. 1. Pray with thanksgiving. Paul began his letters with giving thanks. Even when writing the problem-filled church of Corinth, he started with thanking God for them. Thanksgiving has a way of altering…

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Jan 12
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Levels of Communication for Family Discipleship

By Family Discipleship

The purposes of man’s heart are deep waters but a man of understanding will draw them out. Proverbs 20:5 I can’t remember where I first encountered the concept of communication levels, but understanding this has helped me shepherd more skillfully in my family, marriage, and church leadership. I think it can help you too. We find the seed principle in Proverbs 20:5. In that verse, God’s word tells us that a person’s thoughts are deep down in his heart. A skillful person can draw out the deepest part of a person’s heart. This is an excellent verse for counselor, pastor, or parent…

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Dec 22
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The Gifts the Messiah Brings (A Christmas Sermon)

By Podcast

Dear Friends, Lord willing I am hoping to get back into podcast swing. This year has been a year of opportunities and also schedule upheaval. But I am going to jump back in. And we will do that by posting a sermon I just preached in my home church on Isaiah 9:1-7. It is a fascinating passage and one of the most famous incarnation passages. That’s why it is so appropriate around Christmas. I don’t want to give away all the surprises, but in this sermon Isaiah is writing from the mid-700’s BC. But he writes and speaks as if…

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