Today’s sermon by Daddy was on God’s providence. However, I am not going to start with this morning’s sermon, but with last weeks instead. Last Sunday morning was on “The Twelve Principles to Influence Our Children 100 Years from Now”. Keep in mind that whatever we do WILL influence our children and grandchildren and future generations, but the question is, how do we influence them for good instead of evil?
Here are the 12 points:
1. Believe that the people of God have a victorious and glorious future on this earth.
Anotherwards, hold a victory orientation in mind in line of everything you do!
2. Believe that God has entered into a covenant with His people in Christ down through their (His people) generations.
Deuteronomy 7: 9 says, “Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His loving kindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments”. Also, there are two sides to the coin—therefore to those who hate Him and leave His commandments behind, those He is angered with, down to the third and fourth generations! Why? B/c children (and adults) imitate that which is around them—that which they see and know!
3. If you are w/in child-bearing years and are married, have lots of kids!! If you aren’t married, pray earnestly for a godly spouse that shares the goal to have lots of kids!!
Almost all of our culture today, including many to most professed Christians think it is ridiculous to have many children, seeing them as a burden upon the wife and husband, or just not “into kids”. However, that view is relatively new, within the last century or two, especially in Presbyterian and Catholic denominations. Why do I say that? Because in previous years, if you had a big(5+) family, people would assume you were either Presbyterian or Catholic, b/c they were KNOWN to have big families—for the Catholics, b/c they believe that birth control is wrong. For the Presbyterians, it was a worldview—they recognized that the more children they have; the more God has given them the chance to spread the Gospel through their (L.W.) godly offspring! They had a victory orientation in mind! Ever since I was really little, my parents taught me to pray for my future husband. We’ve prayed not only that he would be a godly leader in our home and over me, but that I would become a godly submissive wife and “help-meet”. Genesis 24:60 is a blessing Rebekah’s family (Rebekah that married Isaac) gave to her, saying, “May you, our sister, become thousands of ten thousands..” WOW! What an amazing blessing to bestow!
4. Create a material, spiritual, intellectual inheritance for your children’s children.
I hate the stupid bumper sticker that says “I am spending my children’s inheritance”. “Nuf said.. God has not told us to live for the present, yet that is what most of the world does today—including many Christians! But more about this later.. What do we mean by a material, spiritual, intellectual inheritance? Here are some examples:
Material: I love what Mr. Howard Phillips, a great man, does for his children—whatever age they are turning, on their birthdays he gives them that amount of books! Wow- talk about an incredible library by the age of 20! Other examples of material inheritance: gold, silver, investments, houses, LAND, books, and so on and so forth. Not dollars—personally, the fact is that paper money is daily decreasing in importance- b/c we can always just make more of it. What makes something valuable (besides sentimental value) is how rare that something is. The rarer it is, the more valuable it is. Gold will not lose its value b/c there is only a certain amount of gold in the world. Only God can make more of it, not man. Therefore I truly believe America should go back onto its gold standard. Anyways, to get back on track:
Spiritual inheritance: love for the Reformed faith, distinctively believed and applied. What do I mean? Don’t just teach your children to love “the reformed faith”—teach them what it is! Teach them the specifics, as in the 5 points of Calvinism, the Westminster confession of faith, the Westminster Catechism, and so on and so forth. Teach them not only what, but why.
Intellectual inheritance: give them a Christian education. Get them out of government schools—don’t put them in Christian schools that use the same books as the govt. schools, or books that don’t have the correct worldview immersed in them!
5. if at all possible, purchase land and keep it within your family!
Give your family roots!
6. Obey God’s Word on how to raise your children, particularly as in Genesis 18:17-19
“The Lord said, ‘shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great and might nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.’ “
7. Give your children a distinctively Christian education and teach them to do the same.
We are taught today that everything is relative to each other. WRONG- however, everything IS relative to God and accountable to His Word and Law- teach your children, through math, history, science, English, and every subject what Gods word commands, and how they may apply it to life and the future.
8. Pray for your children, grandchildren, and the future descendants that you will never meet- frequently!
9. Work hard to reconstruct this evil culture that we live in so that someday our children might live in a less evil world and culture than we do now.
Don’t focus on the present, but instead learn from the past and strive for the future, so that your present will be spent will the victory orientation of winning the world to Christ! J
10. Guide your children regarding whom they should marry.
II Corinthians 6:14 says “Do not be bound together with unbelievers, for what partnership have righteousness and the lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?” My parents have also taught me to make sure that whomever I marry has the same beliefs about our faith—not just that he is a Christian, but that he shares my beliefs about , for example, the 5 points of Calvinism.
11. Teach your children AND grandchildren to live with their focus on the future.
Proverbs 12: 7: “The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand.”
Proverbs 14: 11: “The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish.”
12. The more the church and this world is brought to Christ, the longer our future generations will have to witness to their future generations:
Isaiah 65: 20 “No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his days; for the youth will die at the age of one hundred and the one who does not reach the age of one hundred will be thought accursed.”
So what does that say about those who are in their “old age” if you are “young” when one hundred??
Ok, well, I need to get ready for evening service and such, so ill put up today’s sermon notes later on L.W.
ttyl L.W.
B/c He Lives and Reigns
Posts
