Bro. Bob's Points on Parenting

Note: This is an outline of a sermon preached by a dear pastor friend of our Bro. Bob Jennings. When we visited his home (a few states away from us) several years back, I asked his wife for her granola recipe. She jotted it down and gave it to me. When I looked at it I noticed that she had written it on the back of a paper with this outline printed on it. I keep it in my Bible and read it when I'm feeling insufficient or frustrated as a parent.

1. Christian parents are ultimately cast upon the grace of God.
     A. Samuel, 1 Sam. 8:1f
     B. Hezekiah

2. Parenting is a joy, a great blessing. Psalm 127:5, 128:4

3. But parenting is also a challenge with responsibilities. It can be a grief. 1 Kings 1:6

4. The child's self-will must be broken. Proverbs 29:15

5. Reprove firmly, mean what you say. 1 Sam. 2:23, 3:13

6. Reprove with kindness; nobly, not cheaply. Psalm 141:5

7. Beware of hypocrisy. Luke 12:1, 1 Peter 5:3

8. Don't exasperate the children. Col. 3:21

9. Teach the children to be tough, to endure hardship without complaints and even taking it cheerfully. 2 Tim. 2:3

10. Instill a spirit of disciple 2 Tim. 1:7 NAS

11. Teach them to be hard workers. Gen. 24:20

12. Let the child be needed and feel needed. 2 Tim. 4:11

13. Do all you can together as a family. Acts 2:46

14 Father and mother must show deep unity. Psalm 133:1

15. Overall, you are teaching them that it is God with whom they have to do. Psalm 34:11

You can see a video of Bro. Bob preaching a sermon on parenting here.

The Cutest Thing Around

"Isn't she just the cutest little thing!"

If you have children, you've probably heard simlar things when you are out and about. People love to see cute little children. I admit I've even said the same thing to many moms myself. The words themselves are relatively harmless. However, there can be a real danger in the attitude behind the words.


We've been inundated with "self-esteem" propaganda. Teachers are highly trained in creating a high self-esteem in their students. Parents are often worried that their little one will feel badly about himself. I've even read that it can be damaging to your baby or toddler to tell him his poopy diaper is stinky. After all, he might feel bad if you tell him that something that he did is <gasp> yucky!


But is this really a healthy way to raise children? Not if we want them to see their sins. Not if we want them to realize their need of a Savior.


Now, I'm not saying that children should be belittled, criticized or verbally damaged in order to be saved. Not at all. But they do need a healthy dose of reality. And the reality is that they were born sinful.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

And in sin my mother conceived me. 

                Psalm 51:5 (NASB)

The natural tendency of all human beings is to be egotistical, self-centered, self-serving. And it begins from the very beginning.  I never had to teach my children to lie to me. Or to hit their siblings. Or to take things that aren't theirs. On the contrary, I have to teach them to not to do those things. 


Ultimately, we as parents have the responsibility to teach our children to deny themselves. To serve others. To humble themselves. To see their need for Christ. That they indeed aren't  the cutest thing around.


**I got the title for this post from this sermon I posted a few days back. I had heard the sermon before when he preached it at another Bible camp I was attending. I watched the entire thing again and it was definitely worth my time. Please take the time to watch it and hear what this dear brother shares from the scriptures about raising children. 

                   

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Godly Parenting - by Bob Jennings

For Weary Mothers

"Mama!"

"Stop!"

"She took my toy!"

"I had that first!"

I must hear this and so many similar things at least 100 times a day, or so it seems.

But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good. 2 Thessalonians 3:13

"Weary" seems to be my middle name some days. Seven children have a way of weary-ing a mama! It is physically exhausting to care for those kiddos, as well as mentally, emotionally and even spiritually!

But the Bible exhorts us to not grow weary of doing good. And raising our children to fear and honor the Lord is a good thing!

How can we battle the weariness that seems to follow so closely at our heels?

• Spend time in the Word.  I can certainly feel the difference when I'm not reading my Bible as I should! The Bible is our sword (Eph. 6:17) and without it we leave ourselves defenseless against the work of the evil one. 
• Prayer. God tells us that when we need wisdom we can ask for it and He will generously supply it (James 1:5). He also tells us to cast our cares upon Him, because He cares. (I Peter 5:7) How refreshing to know that the Maker of heaven and earth cares about my problems!
• Fellowship with the Saints of God. I'm talking about uplifting, spiritually-helpful fellowship. It soothes the soul!
• Reminding myself that this is my ministry. It is what a mother is called to do. I don't need to have my "me" time. I just need to remember that the Lord has given me a mission to fulfill. I need to keep my eyes on the goal of raising my children for Him and keep pressing on. 

I still have small children (a lot of small children), but I also have some who are old enough for me to realize just how quickly they grow up. I see the day fast approaching when my first-born will stretch out his wings and leave my nest. I see that the little ones coming up behind him will follow soon after. 

Oh, that I may not grow weary of doing good.

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My Story

I am the mother of 7 children. But I didn't plan it that way and neither did my husband.  Of course, the Lord knows all things and He knows the path He has for me. It is a very different path than I would have ever imagined for myself.

My husband and I were college sweethearts. We met in an Old Testament class our first semester of college. We got engaged during the summer after our freshman year and got married the next summer. We didn't plan to have children right away since we still had a few years of school left and with both of us in school, we were poorer than poor.

I graduated college while pregnant with my first baby. We decided I would stay home with him and I thoroughly enjoyed being a mom that first year of his life. I started my teaching career when he was exactly a year old. When he was 2.5 years old I became pregnant again and knew right away there was no way I would be able to leave my infant with a caregiver. I knew that I would have to quit my job. It was a very difficult decision since my income was quite a bit larger than my husband's. But God provided. Not only in a financial way, but by giving us the faith to trust Him.

I settled into the role of stay-at-home mom and began homeschooling my son, who was now 3. Homeschooling was another large change for us, since I was a public school teacher and had NEVER thought I would homeschool. (After all, homeschooling is for weird people!)

It was in this season of our lives that I decided that I had my hands full with 2 children and we would not have any more. At least not for a long while.  I had big plans for myself to get completely involved in our homeschool group leadership. I really needed a place to dedicate my time and energy into a worthwhile cause.  *chuckle* I'm not sure why I never saw the extremely worthwhile endeavor God had literally placed right inside my own walls. 

As usual, God had a plan in mind for showing me this very worthwhile cause that was right before me. I decided to sell all my baby things in a yard sale since we were "done", at least for several years.  I just needed to take a quick pregnancy test to be sure before I did it.  I was certain it would be negative. WRONG!  I was pregnant!  I couldn't believe it! This was NOT what I had planned. I spent that entire pregnancy in complete denial. I was even trying to think up field trip plans for our group to take place the week of my due date.  Then I would catch myself and think, "No, I can't do it that week. I have to have a baby." Boy, did God have some real changes ahead for me!

My sweet baby girl was born on a beautiful spring day in May and within an hour I had a tubal ligation.  I regretted it before I even woke up from the anesthesia.


**To Be Continued**

Read Part 2 here.



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Teach Them Diligently

Children are little sponges, soaking up all sorts of information each and every day. They get those messages from friends, family members, television, internet, magazines, books, etc. As parents it is our job, our responsibility, our privilege to share Scripture with our children. There is nothing more important, more necessary, more essential in our children's lives and educations than Scripture.

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"You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up." Deuteronomy 6:7

"You shall teach them" -  We are to spend time teaching our children Scripture. Children have excellent memories. And childhood is the ideal time to memorize Scripture. Make it a game. Issue a challenge. Do what it takes. One way we like to memorize Scripture in our home is by singing it.  We love the cd sets that we purchased from Sonlight curriculum, called "Sing the Word"!  Scripture set to music!.

"You shall teach them diligently" - We are to be constant in our efforts to teach the truth of Scripture to our children. Just as we feed them food everyday to keep them strong and healthy, we must feed them a constant, daily diet of God's Word in order for them to grow in the knowledge of God. And our part is to make it happen. We have to set aside times in our daily lives to read His Word.  In our own home we have Bible reading at the start of each school day. We read one chapter from the Old Testament and one chapter from the New Testament.  We began reading Genesis as a part of our assigned reading in our curriculum.  And then we came to Exodus.  At the end of that book, I told the children that I would like to read another book, but wasn't quite sure which book to choose.  My 7 year old daughter very wisely said, "Well, let's just keep reading." So we did.  We just kept going straight through the Bible. We are currently in I Samuel and I Corinthians.  When we finish the entire Bible I plan to start over.  I'm really looking forward to having read aloud the entire Bible!

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We also have a devotional time at night. We try to make it happen each night, but we do occasionally miss it if we are not home or if we get home late, or if we are exceptionally busy.  However, we try hard to keep the missed nights at a minimum.  We have lots of little ones, so we are currently reading through a wonderful children's devotional..  It, too, was part of our homeschool curriculum.  It is not assigned this school year, so we have chosen to use it as our devotional text.

"and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up" - We are to make Scripture a part of our every day, all day conversation. Our children should hear us continually quoting verses to them, discussing texts, exhorting each other, teaching each other and encouraging each other with Scripture.

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"and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. 3:15

Share Scripture with your children, that they may be wise unto salvation.

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