[0:00] So Proverbs 22.6. Do you know this by heart, Greg? Can you quote Proverbs 22.6? Can I get the first word? Train up a child in the way they should go. And when he is old, he will not depart from it.
[0:15] All right. So Thursday night, Awana, we're really focused on Bible memory. That's not Greg's thing on Sunday morning. Train up a child. The way they should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
[0:27] But, and so they say kids grow up slowly, but they leave quickly. And there's some days that they seem to grow up slowly. Like, I just don't take advantage of the opportunity because I'm like, oh, I'm always going to have another chance.
[0:41] I'll have another Friday night. But in other ways, you look at it like, wow, that happened so quickly. Did you do a lot of sledding growing up in Ohio? A little bit, yeah. Yeah? Do you call it a toboggan, the thing that you get on?
[0:53] No. Does it slap your head? I know. We call it, that's a toboggan. Some people, if you're watching, put in the comments if you think a toboggan is a thing that you get on or a thing you write on your head. I think this is a thing that people are confused about.
[1:07] But enjoy sledding. You know, you get to the top of the hill. Your mom has put in tons of layers of clothes on you, you know, multiple gloves. We were always putting our shoes in, like, plastic bags or our socks and then putting the shoe on to keep them dry.
[1:23] And we have a lot more snow in Kentucky than we do here in Georgia. But you get to the top of the hill, you can make all the preparation that you want. But then when you push the kid, they're gone. Like, I mean, you can't change anything.
[1:35] They're just, whatever direction they're set in, it just seems that they are gone. And so when you think about parenting, I just feel like with my oldest, Thatcher's 13, I feel like we're getting close to the top of the hill.
[1:48] And in a little bit, however well prepared he is, he's gone. I've asked him to move out a few times. But, you know, I just joke him. But I just know it's happening so quick.
[1:58] He's already the same size as me. He outgrows stuff and gives it clothes to me. And it's just happening quick. And so about that three middle schoolers, I think about this a lot.
[2:10] Training a child means we prepare the child for future responsibilities. I know that God has good works that he has created my son for and daughters, sons and daughters.
[2:22] Last Sunday night, I read a quote that I love. I'm going to put it on my computer monitor, which is, God gifts us with incredibly gracious dignity of real responsibility.
[2:34] Real responsibility. I know that there's a work for my sons and daughters to do in this world. That God has for them. And some of them, I already know what it's going to be. The Bible outlines it.
[2:44] And some of them are going to be unique to them. So I think there's a lack of understanding when it comes to the word train. Because we don't see it much. We don't live in a society where your kid just does what the dad did.
[2:57] In India, I would imagine it's like Nepal. In the light and the darkness video, I asked the guy what he wanted to do when he grew up. And he's like, what do you mean? I did what my dad did. And he did what his dad did.
[3:08] And my son did what he did. Is that pretty common in Nepal? In the family business? And so that kind of apprenticeship. And we don't see a lot of that in America. Everybody gets to be their own person.
[3:18] So this idea of apprenticeship or interning or following in your dad's footsteps is not seen as much. When this word is used in Hebrew and Old Testament, it's often seen as dedicated.
[3:32] In Deuteronomy 20 verse 5, it says, An officer shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that has built a new house that has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest they die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.
[3:45] There, and other times, house of the Lord, house of God. There's a time in Daniel to dedicate images. That's the same word in which we have this training, this setting aside this responsibility.
[3:57] It's an idea of setting aside or narrowing or hedging something in. Narrowing a child's conduct away from evil and towards godliness and starting them in the right direction.
[4:11] So that's why I think the sledding example works pretty good here, is because we're positioning and setting them up for a time where they will have their own responsibilities and they will be on their own.
[4:25] And so an emphasis is given in providing direction through guiding them and disciplining them. When the Bible speaks about discipline, it's referring to discipling, to correct the behavior, to guide, to shape them, like an arrow's in shaping them.
[4:40] Seen clearly in Proverbs 10, 17, He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction, but he that refuseth reproof erreth. So this guide rails and the guiding of a kid and trying to help them go in the direction, to choose life over death, to choose wisdom over folly and help guiding them.
[5:00] Which one of your kids, they're not watching, Paul, you can tell this, which one of your kids is the hardest headed? It just doesn't want to listen. It's the oldest. The oldest? Firstborn. The firstborn. That's how it works.
[5:12] I'm the youngest, so I can say that. That's true. And we know who's worse than the oldest or the youngest? The only child. This guy right here. We're also the best. The best. Yeah? The best and worst.
[5:22] Being the only child. That's right. One of us, no competition. The best child. The most humble, the most proud. Yeah. We have certain kids, you know, at times that guiding them is easier than others.
[5:34] And then there's some that when you tell them to do something, they're very much set on the other one. And so the form of correction and discipline need them. And when we have a baby dedication service, a baby and parent dedication, because they're both being dedicated to work, we give out a book by Paul Tripp called Shepherding a Child's Heart.
[5:54] And the reason I love giving that book out, knowing that a lot of people don't enjoy reading as much, is that just the title of that book alone can help parents. As they see it and think, I have to shepherd my child's heart, lead them and guide them.
[6:10] And so when they see that book, it will remind them. And so it says, trade up a child and the way they should go, which is outlined for us in the Bible. What are, you know, what are some of the ways that we know that a child should go when we dedicate a child according to the way that God would have?
[6:26] What are some? Which one of my children could I get to come up here? How about nobody? How about somebody else's kid? Let's see, Tinsley's looking. I don't want to mess with her. All right.
[6:37] I don't know. I mean, I don't want to mess with Miss Natalie. She's in here, Pearson, because Natalie is helping us with a project for Medical Missions Outreach Sunday. You're going to hear more about it.
[6:47] She's collecting stuff. She is the chair lady for that group. And we got a banner ordered, and we got too much in for me to upset her. But I got my nephew, Chase, here.
[6:58] Chase, why don't you come up here? Chase, missionary on deputation. Tim snowed out of his meetings today. But this would be a good example. I'll let you have a seat here, Chase. And let's see.
[7:09] It took a lot of... Let's pretend to have a seat there, Chase. Chase is on his way, his path to South Africa. But for him to get to this place in life, it took a little bit of correction as you were growing up, huh?
[7:24] A little bit. A little bit. And so I didn't think to get you a microphone. I didn't have a plan for this. And it just means... Hey, Thatcher, will you grab that microphone from Brother Andrew there? And so before we get the microphone, but let's say Chase now, he's a...
[7:40] Let's go to 16 years of age. Let's take Chase back to 16 years of age. Feel free to take your time, sir. Come on, Thatcher. We need you up here. Come on. All right.
[7:51] I don't run in church. All right. All right. Let's... Thank you, sir. And there you go. 16 years of age. I'm not going to answer anymore. You two guys are going to answer. At 16, we didn't know that Chase would be a missionary to South Africa.
[8:05] A few months ago, he didn't know where God was going to lead him. He prayed about different places. We didn't even know for sure that God would have him to be a foreign missionary. I mean, just because parents raised him where, that doesn't mean that guarantees it.
[8:17] God might have had a different plan for him. What are the non-negotiable things that we knew would be true about Chase as an adult that he was going to... in the way that he should go?
[8:28] What are some of the ways in which we know the 16-year-old Chase would need to go? What do you got, Paul? What are something you know that's going to be true about your kids?
[8:42] I think the passage here, reading over it as you've been talking about, verse 6, is talking a lot about financial things and generosity, a love of people and not having our...
[8:58] He says in verse 2, The rich and poor meet together, the Lord is maker of them all, that God is Lord. And it's not...we don't find fulfillment in riches of this world, but in God and Him as Lord of our life.
[9:12] It has to be true for all people. Right before I go to Greg, we learn two things here. One, that Paul reads ahead when I was speaking earlier. I was reading ahead in your notes. And then secondly, that your parents would want you to be a generous person.
[9:28] And I know that to be true about you. But that doesn't just happen accidentally. There's a shaping that would have to help him be generous and to learn. And he made his first dollar. Or in South Africa, you had what?
[9:40] Rand. Rand. Rand. All right. And so what happened, you learned to do that. And now as an adult, taking care of Ms. Ashley here, those financial matters. What are some of the things that maybe you've done to prepare financially for your future?
[9:55] I got some advice from Parkey Thompson. That's right. And so I've also taken some financial classes with Dave Ramsey. And so my parents told me that I need money in order to survive.
[10:10] And so I got a job. And I did all of that. Yeah. And both of those things. As being a student training center, he went to financial advisor that helps us.
[10:21] Then his parents and all those courses. But that's the responsibility they had in raising you. Because people just don't naturally know. There's some really good people who don't have that understanding. What's another one?
[10:31] Teach them to be generous. It doesn't have to be from the passage. It's something we know the Bible will tell us that we need to prepare our kids for. Church. You'd be in church. You'd be in church. It's a faithful church member. Church attendance. I believe that'd be.
[10:42] That's a biblical principle. How would a parent teach that? By modeling it. That's right. Yeah. Not just telling them, but showing them from God's word. Generosity. Faithfulness to church.
[10:53] What are some other ways in which we would know that they should go in life? Being a disciple maker. We would want that.
[11:03] That's something I think a good bit about. To be a student of God's word. Mm-hmm. Prayer. To be a student of his word. When you first started reading it, you needed help. We all need help understanding it.
[11:14] Prayer. That would be given. In all these areas. Have a heart for the world, you know? Choose friends. How to interact with the world. Mm-hmm.
[11:26] We got a lot to do. We do. We do a whole lot. I mean, what does a kid come out knowing to do? Fall in nature. Yeah? Yeah. There's a lot of crying.
[11:36] You know? No. Just crying. I mean, they just cry and just lay around. They only know how to be a soccer player. Just kidding. No. That's not true about soccer players. They do a lot of that.
[11:47] No. All right, Chase. I'm sorry. He's my nephew for those that wondered. But since you're up here, why don't you take a moment and give us an update on your deputation trails? Okay. Well, deputation is going phenomenal.
[11:59] We began in August. I began as a single man, but now I'm married. And so pastors actually like me, which is very great. But all throughout my travels, the Lord has provided through his people.
[12:11] They've taken care of us. And then we're raising up money for the church plant, our very first one already. We've had some donations towards that. And we just reached 15%.
[12:22] And so we're super excited about that. We just heard from a couple new supporters as well. And so I'm trying to get hooked up for the year and get on it. All right, man.
[12:32] That's awesome. And I'm glad that you're here. We're going to see you guys often. All right. Thank you, Chase. We're going to get back to this. But there's a great example of somebody who was blessed to have parents who trained him and helped him.
[12:45] And so here's a few that the Bible would have. Help them to avoid the snares and thorns by addressing the forwardness of their heart. Proverbs 22, 5. Thorns and snares are on the way of the forward.
[12:55] He that doth keepeth so shall be far from them. There's a lot of things in this world. And I'm grateful for people like Greg and others in Children's Church to help reinforce the fact that there's things that we need to avoid in life.
[13:08] Places to go to avoid, people to avoid, things to avoid. Another one here. Proverbs 11, 5. The righteous of the perfect shall direct his way, but the wicked shall fall from his own wickedness.
[13:19] Help them see that God shall be directing their steps and not emotions or lust. Meaning that how to make a good decision. How to calm down, look past the emotions, look to God's Word on things that the Bible doesn't specifically outline for them.
[13:36] How do you make those types of decisions? Help them maintain a healthy fear and reverence of God and live in integrity. He that walketh in his uprightness, Proverbs 14, 2.
[13:47] Feareth the Lord, but that is perverse in the ways despises him. Help our kids live when nobody's watching in a way that has integrity by having a healthy fear and reverence for God to live in that God is watching.
[14:02] And that's a wonderful thing. Another one, Proverbs 16, 17. The highway of the upright is to depart from evil. He that keepeth his way preserveth his soul. So help them to see the long-term and costly ramifications of being in the presence of evil.
[14:17] And help them see that when they're processing things that are happening in the news or they hear about and say that the wages of sin is death. That there is a, that be sure your sin will find you out.
[14:28] Help them, help them recognize that. So they need us. The Bible says that they're young. They lack judgment, Proverbs 7, 7. And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youth, a young man void of understanding.
[14:40] Did you have any of that as a young man? Your dad wrote me happy birthday. I really appreciate that. I wrote him back. Yeah. There was, there were times that you were void of understanding that you needed some help? Yeah, many times. Yeah, you think many times?
[14:51] Yeah, many times. Yeah. I know for sure. I know that for this guy as well, right? I saw his mom and dad work pretty hard keeping him as he's grown up and grateful. If we let people to themselves, they'll bring shame upon themselves.
[15:07] Proverbs 22, 15. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from them. And so it's loving. So the Bible would warn us against passivity.
[15:17] We should be involved in their lives. Proverbs 19, 18. The Bible warns us against passivity in our parenting. And it says there's an urgency.
[15:29] While there's hope, while there's still chance, while you still have that influence in their lives, you need to help your son and your daughters and do that. And then just that hard warning. Proverbs 132 tells us that turning away from the simple shall slay them and prosperity of the full shall destroy them.
[15:47] And that there is a way that people chase after foolishness and it just will bring death to them. And so we have such an incredible responsibility in raising of children.
[15:58] So some decisions need to be made. I'm going a little bit long, but kids, thank you for watching here. I'm not talking to you adults as kids. I mean, I think there's probably some kids on the couch there.
[16:08] But in closing, there's two things I want you to think about. The Proverbs here is not a promise. We must admit that there are, but when most children are raised in a Christian home and environment and influence, they will follow after that training.
[16:21] There are times that that doesn't happen. Because Proverbs is also very clear that every young person, their future depends not only on their parents' guidance, but on the personal decisions they make.
[16:33] So parents, you have a decision to make in training. But kids, if you're watching, you need to joyfully submit yourself to your parents' guiding and training because they love you and they care for you.
[16:45] But more importantly, that's God's plan for you as God gave instruction to give them guidance. Proverbs 1.4, to give subtility to the simple, to the young man, knowledge and discretion.
[16:57] Teaching our kids is not just knowledge, but how to apply that and have discretion. And so you should guard your life from the crooked. Paul mentioned about choosing right and wrong friends.
[17:09] Proverbs 22.5, thorns and snares are the way of the forward. There's friendships that are going to bring problems in your life, and so you should be mindful. So you need to understand when your parents' guides say, these are some good friends and these are ones to look out for.
[17:23] They want what's best for you, what God has for you. And don't follow after the wicked. And you need to choose to dwell among wisdom. Proverbs 21.20, there is treasure to be desired in oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man spineth it up.
[17:38] There's places you can go and conversations you can have young people with older people where you can gain wisdom, and you should look for it. Some of them are scheduled and they're formal.
[17:48] There's the Monday night young men's Bible study, and they have a, not only do they teach the Bible, but they have a man's minute, a minute, men's minute, a moment about what it means to be a man of God and what that should look like in our lives.
[18:03] And you can find people that have that wisdom. Kids, you have a decision. Parents, we have a decision. Ephesians 5.15-16, see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.
[18:17] Redeeming the time and walking doesn't really seem to go together. I mean, redeeming seems like urgency and panic. But if we live our lives at such a fast pace that it's difficult walking in a careful manner.
[18:29] Jeremy Hall, Chase's uncle, he was here a few months ago. And Paul, you could relate. This is how we, he wanted to get his kids out to the van. And so he's like, we got to go, we got to go.
[18:41] And he started screaming and yelling. We're not yelling. We're not screaming. He was loud. He wasn't angry, but he was like real frantic, you know. He was like, we got to go. And the kids started running out to the van. I'm like, hey, Jeremy, it's like, is there something wrong?
[18:53] It's like, no, it's like the only way I know how to move this many kids. It's like creating a sense of urgency. And I get that. That's true. Sometimes we just live our whole lives at this constant frantic and panic.
[19:04] And we don't ever walk circumstantially and slowly and carefully and point out things to our kids and teach them. Galatians 419, my little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.
[19:17] Paul's prayer for people to travail in birth again that Christ be formed in them. So with so much to do, it seems, as we talked about informing our kids and the busyness of life, we need to have a definite aim, which is to form Christ in them.
[19:32] And so I have here three things real quickly. One is block out unhurried time to invest in the discipleship of children. Psalm 90 verse 12 tells us to teach us the number of our days.
[19:43] And the numbering of our days, if your kid's eight years old, Paul, you have 3,652 days until they are 18. You got to number those.
[19:54] All right? They're going quickly. So we should block out time. And then tell stories. Take time to tell stories. Christians have the best stories because they're part of the best and most glorious story of Christ.
[20:06] And so when you're thinking about why Jesus died, you can tell the story of the Passover and Exodus. When they're facing hard times in life and they wonder what God is wanting to teach them and what he's up to, you can talk to them about Joseph and Genesis.
[20:20] When they feel doubtful that they're making a difference for Christ, you can tell them about the witness of a girl who was a slave, Naaman's slave girl, 2 Kings chapter 5.
[20:31] It's what Greg's doing in Hebrews 11. He's telling them the great stories, the best story. When it comes time to talk to them about marital relationships, Genesis 2, you can walk them through it.
[20:42] That God has the stories that we should tell them. So block out unhindered time to invest in the discipleship. Be busy about telling stories when you're with them. And then lastly, we should model joy for them.
[20:53] Everyone is looking for joy. People are searching for joy as much or more than they are seeking for truth because they're not finding it. And so everyone's looking for joy and parents, this includes our kids.
[21:05] They're going to find it. Some kids are going to go off to college and they're going to find some professor that has answers, the things that we never talked about. But that's not as common as some kids will go off to college or off to their adult life and they will find some semblance of joy in their friends that they didn't find in their home.
[21:24] And that's a real shame. We should be modeling joy for them. The world gives counterfeit everything out there. And so that starts with us recognizing the own joy in our lives and we can reconsider what we allow in our courage our kids towards and then let them ask why we do things, what the motive is.
[21:45] But not only should we let them ask us why because we're talking about joy and we're talking about motives of why we do stuff. Like why did your parents want you in church so much? What was the motive? Is it because God will be mad at you and is this pleasing or is it because they want to be around God's people?
[21:58] Because they want to be around God's Word. That motive really made a difference in Greg's life. But not only allowing them to ask why, but us ask them why. So why did you do that to your sister?
[22:09] Why did you do this thing? Why did you cheat on this test or whatever? Because in looking at the motives, then we're really shepherding their heart. We're not just programming them as robots, but we're really programming them.
[22:21] And we're really shepherding them and not programming them. And so there's a training that must take place inside the context of the family. There's certain words that you don't fully know or appreciate that can't just be taught in a classroom.
[22:35] Unconditional love needs to be seen and experienced. Forgiveness, grace, mercy, and all those things are best taught in the context of a family. Which brings me to this, Greg.
[22:45] And what I appreciate what you do, not just in our church, but in the community. Is what will we do for the kids who do not have a home that will teach them about the principles of God's Word?
[22:58] And so I've got three thoughts here. Next Sunday night, Orange Sunday, when we meet, we're going to have 30 minutes in here. Then we're going to break up into two 20-minute groups. There's going to be four groups going on, and you get to pick from two of them.
[23:11] See if I can make it as complicated as possible. But Greg, back-to-back, is going to teach on involvement in kids' ministry and our community. Because there's kids like myself, being raised mostly by a single mom during the formable years of my life, who had me in church.
[23:28] But if it wasn't for people helping, there's things that I would have never seen and learned that I learned outside of the church building in the context of watching a family, and I'm grateful for it. So Greg's going to give some ways we can be involved in that.
[23:42] Right, Greg? Yes, sir. Yeah, pretty excited about it. He pushed for that, which was good, because he's always looking for a chance because he really believes it, and he's really out there doing it and helping kids, helping them go through tough stuff.
[23:54] They call him because they don't have anybody else to call in their life, and I'm so thankful that they have somebody to call that looks like God's Word. So I just have three thoughts about that. What will we do for the kids who don't have a home that will teach them these things?
[24:06] One, we need to become very serious about our witness to their parents. When we meet a kid with unbelieving parents, we need to make it the rest of our life a matter of prayer, and not just prayer, but constant engagement with them.
[24:20] Every chance we get, we want to be around them. Second, provide discipleship out in the real world with them. They should not, my kids and your kids and your future kids aren't limited to just learning about the things of God and Christianity inside of this building, but they get the chance to see it lived out in real life.
[24:38] They should as well. They should get to see it lived out in different ways and spend and be spent for them. Story of Good Samaritan, we'll look out next week, says that we ought to live in a cost, we ought to give costly and practical ways to help other people, not just small ways, but whatever it takes, spend and be spent for them.