April 16-17, 2005, Selected

DESPERATE HOUSELIVES!
CHILDREN WITH PURPOSE!

How can we raise our children with purpose?

Begin with the end in mind.

What character traits & skills do you want your child to have as an adult?
-Love God & growing faith
-Tell others about Christ & own testimony
-Well-disciplined
-Independent
-Show kindness, forgiveness, care
-Know gifts & how to use them
-Servant heart & attitude
-Know God’s value for life
-Able to communicate well & ask good questions
-Master basic life skills (laundry, budget, etc

Grow in them a heart for the lost.

2 Cor. 4:5-6 “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (NIV)

KIDS WILL SAY IT WHEN THEY HEAR IT

Feed their hunger for fellowship.

1 John 1:3 “We are telling you about what we ourselves have actually seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” (NLT)
Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (NIV)

KIDS WILL WANT IT WHEN YOU DO.

Plant the seeds of Spiritual Growth.

Deut 11:18-19 “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds…teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (NIV)

1 Cor 3:6-7 “Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. My job was to plant the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God, not we, who made it grow. The ones who do the planting or watering aren’t important, but God is important because he is the one who makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work as a team with the same purpose. Yet they will be rewarded individually, according to their own hard work.” (NLT)

TEACHING THE WORD TO CHLDREN BEGINS WITH
YOU BEING IN THE WORD.

Guide them to use their gifts and serve others.

Matthew 20:27-28 “Whoever wants to become first among you must serve the rest of you like a slave. In the same way, the Son of Man did not come to be served. He came to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many people.” (NCV)

John 13:15-16 “I did this as an example so that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, a servant is not greater than his master.”

CHILDREN SERVE BECAUSE WE SHOW THEM HOW

Model a life-style of Worship.

Romans 12:1-2 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” (NIV)
Romans 12:1-2 “Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.” (MSG)

AN ATTITUDE OF WORSHIP IS CAUGHT
MORE THAN TAUGHT