Here I Am - Part 2
090517 Here I Am – A Response to a Rare Word
Part 2
1 Sam 1:22,28;2:19
Tim Franklin
Introduction:
· Review
o Quick Lessons
o Hard Questions
§ In presenting your children to God, what do you have to do to make them the best they can be when presented?
§ How do you prepare your child to not come home with you?
o Going Deeper—we looked at Hannah’s life to glean lessons. Prayer, worship, consistent, and full of faith.
· In part 2 today, I want to go deeper with that first question.
· Hannah made a vow to God that if He gave her a male child she would give him back to God. Faced with that fact, Hannah now has the challenge of instilling in this child, Samuel, the character traits that he will need in order to be God’s minister. She had to be intentional!
· What must we do to raise a child who will recognize the Word of the Lord and treat it as precious? I want to start by showing us three areas we must be intentional about.
1. Our Life Must Have Influence. Godly Influence.
A. We must realize the power of our own personal influence. Your children are watching.
i. The old adages:
a. Children learn more from what is caught than what is taught. Ie. Isn’t it interest that we see Eli’s sons in 1 Sam 2:12 doing evil and Eli does not rebuke them? Samuel is raised there in that atmosphere. Then later we see that Samuel in 1 Sam 8:3 also has sons that do evil and Samuel does not correct them. What was modeled to Samuel he lived out.
b. “Do as I say, not as I do.”
c. Children learn to resolve or not resolve conflict in the home. They don’t learn that in school or in church. They learn it at home. How they see you respond to conflict will most likely be how they will respond to conflict.
(i) If you run from conflict. They will learn to run from conflict.
(ii) If you attack and put down, they will learn to attack and put down.
(iii)If you go into your shell, your quite ignoring place they will do the same.
(iv)If you have outburst of rage, they will have outbursts of rage.
(v) If you model how to resolve conflict they will be committed to resolving conflict. This faith of ours has to work and it has to work at home first.
d. Children learn morals at home. They hear you speak of them but they have to see you walk them out too. If you walk in integrity they will learn to walk integrity.
e. Children learn to relate to God by the way you relate to God.
(i) If you are selfish, they will be selfish.
(ii) If you are generous they will learn to be generous.
(iii)If you are loved by a loving God, they will be loved by a loving God.
(iv)If you love the word they will be lovers of the word. It is the one thing that impressed me about Herman my late father in law. He loved the word. That impacted me.
ii. What we model if powerful. Ie. John 14:9-10Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? NKJV
a. Jesus modeled a Kingdom life before the disciples.
b. When Philip did not get it, Jesus took the message deeper and addressed his doubt.
c. If I want my children to have a passion for Jesus they I have to have a passion for Jesus! The disciples were influenced by Jesus passion for the Father. Jesus was always praying. In Acts they are always in a prayer meeting or on the way to one.
i. Our lives need to be consistent before them. We can give them a steady diet of God and act like the devil before them.
a. It confuses them—What is right?
b. It hurts them because now they have to think of you as a hypocrite, the very thing they want to avoid becoming so they toss out their faith. They want the security of stability.
c. It breeds rebellion.
d. It also breeds mistrust.
e. On the other hand if we are consistent with our words and our message we bring stability, faith, and security to them.
B. The home provides the primary concept of God for our children. Abraham is looking for the purposes of God the city whose builder and maker is God. Isaac follows in his father’s footsteps. So much of the father view of God is learned in the home.
C. Build a family vision. Get vision of how you want to influence your children. Your vision will help you be intentional.
i. What does it mean to raise kids who hunger for God? To create a strong desire to know God intimately and fulfill his purpose for their lives. Challenge is to raise spiritually passionate children. We do not want to go through the motions of doing the right things. Mature –Webster’s—“Brought to perfection; used of plants. Completed; prepared; ready.”
ii. When you are with child-what music do you want them listening to? What books do you want to read them while in the womb. What are you going to speak over them there? “You make me miserable or you are my joy and delight.”
iii. When they are in the womb you have to begin to envision them at 1, and 2 years of age. What do want to impart to them at age nine, thirteen etc.
iv. Often I think parents loose the vision and life then run over them. Rather than being the influencer of good and Godly passions. We end up driven by the world.
2. Our instruction must have influence.
A. Focus on what to instruct them on.
i. Ephesians 6:4 …bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. NKJV
a. Training--The words paideía and paideúœ relate to the upbringing of children, who need direction, teaching, instruction, and discipline. It combines the ideas of moral "rearing," correction, and culture. It carries the thought of interpersonal relations and may refer to the training of the people as well as personal upbringing. (from Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, abridged edition, Copyright © 1985 by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. All rights reserved.)
b. Admonition—Greek-- The verb means "to impart understanding," "to set right," "to lay on the heart." The stress is on influencing not merely the intellect but the will and disposition. The word thus acquires such senses as "to admonish," "to warn," "to remind," and "to correct." It describes a basic means of education. (from Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, abridged edition, Copyright © 1985 by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. All rights reserved.)
B. Our purpose to raise radical disciples.
i. Lies we must overcome.
a. We have to have a greater goal than to just see children raised drug free, STD free, and educated for a good job. Again this relates back to our vision.
b. Many parents just want their children to be good children. They do not care what they believe as long as they are good kids. “Do they love Jesus? No, but they are good to their wife and kids.” If they are good we have a relative hassle free life.
c. You don’t want to impose your beliefs on your children—no, if it means lock them in their room until they believe as you do. Do not let them navigate troubled times by themselves.Not to be ruled by emotions.
ii. Parents are first and foremost to provide spiritual instruction for their children. Don’t send them away to church to get that. By all means bring them to church but make sure you are the primary teacher of spiritual things.
iii. We are grooming our children for their calling. This is not just ministry calling. Whatever they express interest in as a child start feeding. What gifts are required? What character traits will be required? –boldness, mercy, creativity, etc.
iv. Teach them how to create a proper atmosphere in your home. Home is where your kids get the greatest influence to have a passion for Jesus. Il – media fasts. Use daily happenings as teachable opportunities. Our home has always been an atmosphere of learning. We worked to keep peace and openness. We worked to keep lines of communication open.
3. Our Oversight Must Have Influence.
A. Life is a daily learning center. Use life constantly to teach and instruct your children.
i. Life is full of drama. Friend problems, personal problems, family issues. Drama is what I call a life intensive learning situation.
ii. Purpose to explain life as it unfolds to your children. Ie. Cooking, yard work, how you pay the bills, all are opportunities for learning/influence.
B. Discipline. Must be consistent and it must be equally met with love.
C. Everything I have mentioned today requires some common threads.
i. Honest Communication
a. From the heart considering the heart. Dreams, feelings, love.
b. Affirming. For the purpose of building up. Most everyone could have been better in life if we would have had more affirmation. We would have tried more, and tried more often had we had it.
c. Used to connect not separate. Connect to each other and to connect to God.
ii. Godly Purpose
a. Finding Gods vision for our lives, for our children is so powerful.
b. Knowing the purpose of problem solving.
c. Discovering God’s purpose together.
iii. Personal relationship. The Bible really defines success in life as success relationally.
a. With God
b. With each other
Conclusion:
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