"Never Too Young? Misleading Our Girls About Beauty"

Read this article from Al Mohler's blog. He describes where our culture is headed towards with regards to what young girls are being taught concerning beauty.

http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=1106

Gospel Growth through Hospitality

Two weeks ago we had the privilege of having one of our neighbors over for dinner. His name is Don. He is an 80 year old man whose wife passed away about 5 years ago. I remember when we first sought to build a relationship with this man and his wife. We had only one child at the time and we went to their house during the 2000 Christmas season to share some Christmas cookies in the hopes of building a relationship with them. He and his wife were so appreciative. And to top it off my 2 year old daughter at the time sang three Christmas carols that was piercing to the ear, but they loved it and it melted their heart. Since then we have continued to build a relationship with Don and have had the opportunity on different occasions to share the gospel with him. But he is a skeptical man. He reads his Bible as a literature book and with a critical eye. Since his wife passed away our family would have him over for dinner on a regular basis. And during the course of dinner our conversation would lead towards a discussion about the Scriptures. He would usually raise a question about the character of God, namely in how God is seen in the Old Testament. And I, in turn, would eventually take our discussion to the story of the gospel. At this moment is when he would get most critical and condescending. My children would listen to him (with eyes wide open) sentence by sentence mock the story of Christ. In their minds they were probably thinking, “How could this man say such things about something we hold on to so dearly?”

We have been gone for nearly 2 ½ years while I was attending The Master’s Seminary in Southern California, and had lost contact with Don. However, during the Snow Storm 2008, I had the privilege of rekindling our relationship with him as we were both shoveling our driveways. As we stood at his newly shoveled driveway, I asked him, how he was doing. And the first thing he said was, “I haven’t had a regular meal with meat and potatoes in a long time.” Sadly, my thoughts initially didn’t go towards asking Don to come over for dinner. I actually started thinking about how I didn’t want to have him sit at our dinner table because he would probably mock the story of the gospel. And then my heart was suddenly convicted, that’s exactly why we need to have him over for dinner. So I asked him if he would like to come over that week and he said yes. I told my family that I had invited Don for dinner, and we all took a deep sigh (even the kids). As we anticipated sitting with Don at the dinner table this actually drove us as a family to our knees to pray for him. That week, we prayed that our aim would be to show him the love of Christ through our hospitality. We didn’t want to get in some kind of debate over something we hashed through in the past. We simply wanted to give him the best meat and potatoes meal so that he would sense that we genuinely loved him with the love of Christ. LaNae and the kids made a great meal, and we actually had an enjoyable time with him. We found out that he is a Civil War buff. In fact, this sparked Cade’s interest because he is taking a class right now on the Civil War. He invited Cade and me to come over his house some time to look at his Civil War collection, which we plan to do some time. He made an attempt to bring the Bible into our conversation during the course of dinner in a rather skeptical way, but I had resolved to simply display the love of Christ to him through our actions. He heard the gospel before on many occasions, and we realized that it wasn’t going to be more information that would penetrate the heart of this man, but rather more actions.

The evening ended and we felt like not much had changed with regards to Don’s heart towards spiritual things, but we were ok with that. We know that in the Lord’s time He will work on Don’s heart. We will continue to pray for him and continue to have him over regularly for meals.

Teaching your children difficult doctrines

This week we are studying Romans 9 in our small groups as well as in our Sunday school classrooms. I often find it hard to teach such a difficult doctrine as the doctrine of election to my children. When you mention to them that God chooses whom He wishes to choose into His family there is a bit of confusion that is seen in their eyes. And then when they follow up that confused look with, “Daddy, doesn’t God love everyone?” This was the conversation that took place last night during our family devotions. My reply to the follow up question was, “Yes, yes, God does love everyone!” But the follow up question wasn’t asked, “why doesn’t He choose everyone then?” But I realized why the follow up question wasn’t asked. Children are able to take what the Scriptures teach at face value. Often times we are the ones who limit them from diving into the depths of Scripture because we think that they will not get it or somehow we will confuse them even more. So last night I asked a question, “Is God merciful?” To which my children responded, “Yes.” Then I asked, “Is God sovereign over whom he chooses?” They replied, “Yes.” Then I asked, “Is God merciful when he chooses some and not others.” And they said, “Yes.” They believe it because it’s what Paul teaches in Romans 9 to 11. Why do we need to be afraid to teach difficult doctrines to our children? The response our children need to see and hear from us is summed up in the words of Paul in Romans 11:33-36. When Paul reflected on the wondrous work of God in saving sinners from His wrath, he replied, “O, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’” That’s what our children need to see and hear. They need moms and dads who worship God for the infinite display of His worth in showing mercy to undeserved sinners like you and me.

Leaving a Spiritual Legacy for the Next Generation

This past Sunday I had the privilege preaching on Sunday morning. Since coming on staff to FBC as the Family and Children’s pastor, I have taken the time to meditate on Psalm 78:1-8. This is the passage of Scripture that we wave around as the banner passage for Family and Children’s ministry and it is the passage that I constantly go back to when I want to be reminded about what I must leave behind for my own children. We are called to leave behind a spiritual legacy so that the next generation sets their hope and confidence in a God who saves. This passage reminded me that when I instruct my children whether it be formal Bible instruction, informal everyday instruction, and in corrective instruction, I need to constantly remind them of the gospel. The gospel is not only the hope for unbelievers, but it is the hope for believers as well. The gospel that saves is the gospel that sanctifies. This passage also reminded me of ways that I might be concealing the glorious deeds, the mighty works, and the wondrous works of God from my children. What are the glorious deeds, mighty works, and wondrous works of God? Again, it is the gospel. These three phrases describe the totality of God’s work in redeeming His people. It describes His salvation. We could say it is a description of the most infinite display of God’s glory, namely the cross. What are ways in which we might conceal the glory of the cross from our children? I came up with a several thoughts.

1. When we get more excited about peripheral things than the cross (i.e. sporting events, scrap booking, decoration, a big house, a nice car, etc…)


2. When they don’t see mom and dad regularly studying their Bibles and quiet times with the Lord.


3. When we fail to extend mercy when correcting them or administering discipline. (The gospel is all about mercy towards us. God demonstrated justice on His Son so that we would be recipients of mercy. Therefore, should not the recipient of mercy be the first to extend mercy.)


4. When we fail to recognize evidence of grace (or the fruit of the Spirit) in their lives. (This is a clear indication of God’s work of grace in their lives; therefore we must constantly affirm them of that grace when we recognize it.)


5. When we fill our weekly schedule with so much activity that we have no time to formally instruct our children in the word of God (aka – Family Devotions)


6. When gathering with the saints on Sunday morning is not the highlight of our week.


7. When we fail to serve together as a family.

I’m sure there are more, and as I meditate on this a little more, I trust that the Lord will bring things to mind that will challenge my heart.

Getting Ready for Sunday

Sunday morning, “the Lord’s Day”, should be the highlight to every believer’s week. It should be the day that we all look forward to the most because it is the one day in the week that the church is gathered corporately to hear God’s word and to engage in fellowship with the saints. A.W. Tozer said,

The highest expression of the will of God in this age is the church which He purchased with His own blood.

Paul said in Ephesians 3:10, …through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. All of God’s heavenly hosts are watching how the church functions because in this organism they see and behold the wisdom of God continually unfolding right before their eyes. If the church is that significant to the angelic realm, should it then not be that much more significant for us who are a part of God’s church.

Our children’s view of Sunday morning is shaped by how we view the gathering of believers on Sunday. If our view of the Lord’s Day is something we simply tack on to the end of our weekend, then our children will grow up with the “I can take or leave it” attitude regarding the church. How we prepare them for Sunday morning worship (on Saturday night) affects their perspective on this meaningful gathering. My concern is that our Saturday’s are so full of activities that by the end of the day we are exhausted, that all we can think about is getting everyone to bed after a late Saturday night event. Therefore when Sunday morning comes we merely roll out of bed, wash the sleep from your eyes, make a mad dash to get everyone up, maybe grab a small bite to eat, get the car started, and perhaps get to church on time.

About 10 years ago, I heard someone make the following statement; Sunday morning worship begins Saturday night. Then it dawned on me, I have a responsibility to prepare my family for the Lord’s Day. This means that Saturday nights, on a regular basis, must be used to help my wife and children get their focus on what we will be learning on Sunday morning. This means I have responsibility to talk to my children about the Bible passage they will be studying in Bible School. This means finding out what the teaching pastor will covering in his sermon. This means taking the time to pray as a family for all the ministries of Sunday morning. This means praying for any unbelievers who might be attending the service. This means praying that our hearts would be ready to hear God’s word and then apply it. This means reflecting on the substitutionary atonement of Christ on the Sunday’s we are planning on celebrating the Lord’s Table. And this means going to bed at a reasonable time so that we are not fighting sleep as we’re being fed God’s word.

As parents we set the tone for how our children view the church. Let us not hinder them by having a low view of the gathering of believers on Sunday mornings.