I Wanna Be Just Like you
Notes
Transcript
Handout
(S1)
Mother, father, grandparent, teacher...in some way you are shaping little lives; by what they hear you say and see you do and how you live.
“Some little one is watching every move you make”
“Some little one is watching every move you make”
Series— It Starts at Home
“Built on Bedrock”— Digging the trench of our own faith (shoveling bedrock) — Christ in us, so we can teach Christ in our children
(S2)
Intentional in teaching key principles (doctrine) of faith
Make your Joy in Christ visible to them
Present the Gospel everyday in different ways
If we don’t teach our children to follow Christ, then the world will teach them not to.
Bibles—Pray
(S3)
Ask a child what they want to be when they grow up—doctor, lawyer… firemen (pulls his pants up). Certainly as parents we can influence our children...
The world teaches our children not what do you want to be, but who do you want to be like? Providing limitless role models...
Young people today are starving for good role models, someone to look up to—It starts at home! Children grow up wanting to be like someone. While there are so many great rewards in parenting; who would not want to hear those most heart-warming words from their child...
(S4) — “When I grow up, I wanna be Just like you!”
“If we, are not our children’s role model, than someone else will be.”
“If we, are not our children’s role model, than someone else will be.”
Everything, our children see and hear us do, teaches them something. The questions to consider; What are we teaching them? What kind of examples are we? Who are we becoming like? Who is our role model?
The prophet Malachi speaks of a day, when it will be clear who has listened to God and allowed themselves to be refined by his holy fire—they will be remembered.
(S5)
Malachi 3:16 (NIV) A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.
We have our children for such a time as this…They are watching, listening and learning, taking to our every word and our every action.
Forms of addiction, abuse, unhealthy habits passed on...
The apostle Paul gives us a radical idea regarding parenting
Every detail in your lives - words, actions, whatever you do– let it be done in the name of the Master, Jesus. (Message) Colossians 3:17
Faith-filled parenting, begins by first by learning to trust in God and follow Jesus. Then confidently teaching our kids what it means to have a relationship with Jesus, not just going to church
Help Them Understand The Why
Help Them Understand The Why
Former Hollywood bad boy Martin Sheen says watching his son, Charlie Sheen, lead a similarly decadent life fills him with remorse. He worries that he learned to be a father too late. He particularly regrets his failure to share his faith.
"I never lost my faith, but I felt for a time that I had outgrown the church. Now it is a bone of contention in my soul that I did not share my faith with my kids, as my parents did with me. It was a source of grace when I needed it. I have been greatly nurtured and inspired by my faith. A faith I wished I would have passed on.” Martin Sheen
(S6) — What parent, grandparent...would not want to hear...I wanna be just like you!
I am sure many of us are or have been great influences on children, but what if our goal was to become like Christ, so that “being like you,” means being like Jesus! What if as parents our sole purpose is to turn the hearts of our children to Jesus?
Hear these last recorded words from God, to the people for four hundred years, written down by Malachi…
Read 4:4-6a
The Lord is speaking through the prophet, to the “faithful few,” those who feared God, and stuck together, heading his instruction so they could remain in a place of his blessing—as his treasured possessions (17)
Because of limited writings of the law of God (OT) and few could read, faith-teaching in the home or community would depend on sharing verbally instructions of God and there history with God...
“Traditionally, Jewish families start teaching children from the age of three to recite the blessings on various foods and some basic prayers. There’s an obligation for a father to teach his sons Torah…as soon as a child begins to speak.
Nonetheless, as a sage once proclaimed: “It is an absolute duty for every person to spend a half hour every day education of children, and to do everything to inspire children to follow the path along which they are being guided.”
Susanna Wesley—The Mother of Methodism—Daily regemint
(S7)
“6 days a week the children had class at home from 9 to 12 am and from 2 to 5 pm. As soon as a child turned five, Susanna started their education: Girls and boys alike. Apart from teaching her children, Susanna spent two hours a day in prayer. One hour was fully dedicated to prayer for her children and the other hour was for her personal faith where she studied the Bible and journaled.
(S8)
Every evening she took each child aside to talk about matters of their hearts. They could ask questions concerning their faith and share their thoughts with her. She listened to them and counseled them through whatever they were dealing with.”
A household like this was unheard of in the 17th century—Modern homeschooling
But not all were in this camp; many had spoken poorly of God, grumbled against him and were beginning to live their lives as they pleased.
18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.
There will be a day, when it too will be clear who has chosen to serve God and those who have not— God’s Judgment — None of us are exempt from it
Psalm 96:13 “Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.”
Their problem? First what they were saying about God. Second that God was listening—Like a child listens to us
Read 3:13-14
God heard of their arrogance and saw their lives were examples of it. He saw the people who didn’t recognize his many blessings; their haughtiness and failure to faithfully serve God who had lead them out of bondage and set them up to prosper in their new land
Certainly arrogance is not a trait we intend to pass on to our children yet, living for only the rewards of this life while neglecting to teach them that the greater reward has eternal consequences.
Not listening God warned them it only would lead to their destruction.
4:1 “The day of judgment is coming, burning like a furnace. On that day the arrogant and the wicked will be burned up like straw.
(S9)
Yet to those who were listening and heading God’s word he promised present and future blessing...
16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke with each other, and the LORD listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name.
That’s a book I want my name recorded in…
In their homes they needed to continue to teach reverence or a deep love for God, and by this to always bring honor to his name. God heard those who feared him…
17 “On the day when I act,” says the LORD Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.
(S10) — My interpretation
Blessing is yours! Yes, it comes from me, but it begins with YOU—It Starts in your HOME!
Blessing is yours! Yes, it comes from me, but it begins with YOU—It Starts in your HOME!
A parent who truly loves their children, child or grown, realizes that they are watching their every move. They first attends to their own spiritual lives (digging the trench), then teaches them to fear God and follow Jesus…..by the way they live (shoveling bedrock)
“I wanna be just like you! An even greater reward is when they say, “I wanna be just like Jesus, because I see the Jesus in you.”
Lord, I want to be just like You
'Cause he wants to be just like me
I want to be a holy example
For his innocent eyes to see
Help me be a living Bible, Lord
That my little boy can read
I want to be just like You
'Cause he wants to be like me (Phillips-Craig and Dean)
400 years latter, these words of God through the prophet became a bridge from the past to the future. Speaking of one who is to come...
16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
God broke through the silence of 400 years in a big way—John the Baptizer would proclaim that Jesus the Lamb of God is come—Jesus the way to teach our children!
As parents we are a bridge the present and the future, one that looks much better when learn to follow Jesus…
The mission for the faithful today, not just parents but the believer (church), is to turn our hearts to the Lord, so we can turn the hearts of others, including our children, so that they to will receive Christ’ blessing and follow Jesus.
How do we do this? Through Christ in us; as we become his reflection and that spills over into every area of our lives, so that our kids see him in us. For the faith-filled parent it means showing them Jesus by our words and our actions.
(S11)
Every detail in your lives - words, actions, whatever you do– let it be done in the name of the Master, Jesus. (Message) Colossians 3:17
To be holy examples for those innocent eyes to see. To be living bibles that our child can read, it means being like Jesus, so our children want so desperately to be like Jesus
When the many who were arrogant were asking, what good does it do to serve God, they were really saying, “what good does it do US to serve God, what is our reward? The question to ask is, what good, does it do honoring God by living like Jesus, for the children and those around us?
The answer-
1. God remembers our faithfulness
2. We become his treasured possessions
3. God’s promise
Malachi 4:2 (MSG) But for you, sunrise (a new day)! The sun of righteousness will dawn on those who honor my name, healing radiating from its wings. You will be bursting with energy, like colts frisky and frolicking.
A happy home and a hopeful future is more than being their role model, its teaching children the WHY of following Jesus
(S12)
You see, it’s not such a radical idea, because God commanded it and Jesus lived it so we can too. Our task is to give them something to see?
We won’t be perfect but they will know the one who is— It starts at home!
If we are not their role model, someone else will be….Every move we make matters, cause little ones are watching...
Teach them to be just like you, so they will want to be just like Jesus
Teach them to be just like you, so they will want to be just like Jesus
http://www.itstartsathome.org/familynight/