Our Character as Parents
 Pastor John Barnett

Laws of Parenting

The later you stay up, the earlier your child will wake up the next morning.

For a child to become clean, something else must become dirty.

Toys multiply to fill any space available.

The longer it takes you to make a meal, the less your child will like it.

Yours is always the only child who doesn't behave.

If the shoe fits...it's expensive.

The surest way to get something done is to tell a child not to do it.

The gooier the food, the more likely it is to end up on the carpet.

Backing the car out of the driveway causes your child to have to go to the bathroom.

The more challenging the child, the more rewarding it is to be a parent...sometimes.

My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.  "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you ...because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.  Hosea 4:6

 . . . "young people are growing up in churches where they are being mostly entertained. The Camp directors told me they couldn't compete at all with what the churches are doing to attract and hold the kids. But the tragic result is Biblical illiteracy and spiritual starvation. They are excited and bright and spiritually unprepared for knowing what they believe, what God has revealed in His Word, and how to appropriate that truth into their lives.

Has the God of the Universe marked the pathway we need to stay on for raising our children? The good news is that He has. And in the map book called God's Word is a clearly marked trail for Parenting and Grand parenting our Families in Godliness. May I just trace that map through the Bible with you today? You may want to mark some of these verses, or note them on paper so you can use them to see where you are or should be on the Road to Godly Parenting your Families and Homes!

Mile Markers on the Road of Godliness in Parenting

GODLY LIVING

GI WILL LEARN TO LIVE FOR GOD EACH DAY. Titus 2:11-13

I WILL NOT CHOOSE TO LOOK AT WHAT GOD CALLS EVIL. Psalm 101:3-4 

I WILL NOT USE MY MOUTH TO SAY WHAT GOD CALLS CORRUPT. Ephesians 4:29 

I WILL SEEK TO PLEASE GOD IN ALL I DO. 1 Corinthians 10:31 

 
 
OOUTREACHING Matthew 28:18-20  

I WILL SAY TO THE LORD ALL THROUGH MY LIFE - HERE AM I LORD SEND ME.  Isaiah 6:8 

 
 
DDISCIPLINED: is defined by the Greek Dictionary as "a virtue, which consists in mastery of the appetites and passions, especially the sensual ones." The only force that can control our flesh is the Holy Spirit. When yielded to Him we become vessels that are worshipful sacrifices to Him no longer to self. I want to be graciously under the control of God's Spirit of Discipline. 

I WILL LEARN TO BE DISCIPLINED IN MY EVERY DAY LIVING.1 Timothy 4:7

I WILL BE ORDERLY: 1 Corinthians 14:40

I WILL BE LOVELY:  Philippians 4:8 

I WILL BE HARD WORKING:1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 

I WILL BE DEPENDABLE: Psalm 15:4b

 
 
LLOVING: Colossians 3:14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. LOVE is the absence of selfishness. I want to be less selfish and self-seeking than I was last month.

        
 
IINTEGRITY:1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light 

I WILL OBEY GOD EVEN WHEN IT LOOKS HOPELESS. Genesis 16:9,13 

I WILL OBEY THE LORD WHEN ALONE, FAR FROM HOME, AND EVEN WHEN NO ONE CAN EVER FIND OUT WHAT I DID - EXCEPT GOD. Genesis 39:9

 
 
NNOBLE: Philippians 4:8 I WILL SEEK WHAT IS - noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things.
 
EEXEMPLARY LIVING: 1 Timothy 4:12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word (what I say), in conduct (what I do), in love (what I give), in spirit (what I feel), in faith (what I believe), in purity (what I resist).

I WILL DEVOUR GOD'S WORD.1 Timothy 4:13 

I WILL SERVE CHRIST'S CHURCH. 1 Timothy 4:

I WILL EXCEL IN SPIRITUAL THINGS NOT MERELY IN TEMPORAL THINGS LIKE SPORTS, THE ARTS OR ACADEMICS.1 Timothy 4:15  

I WILL RUN FROM SIN IN ANY FORM.2 Timothy 2:22 

 
 
SSPIRIT-FILLED: Ephesians 5:18, 21 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God. Spirit-Filled living makes us submissive in every area of our lives:

I WILL OBEY MY PARENTS EVERY DAY I LIVE IN THEIR HOME, AND HONOR THEM ALL OF MY DAYS ON EARTH. Ephesians 6:1-3 

I WILL HONOR MY BOSS AT WORK. Ephesians 6:5  

I WILL KEEP THE LAWS OF MY COUNTRY AS A TESTIMONY TO MY LORD. Romans 13:1-2  

I WILL HONOR MY LEADERS AT CHURCH ALL MY DAYS SO THAT I MAY SOMEDAY HAVE THE HIGH HONOR OF SERVING Christ's CHURCH. Hebrews 13:17 

 
 
SSACRIFICIAL: Romans 12:1-2

I will sacrifice self for Christ's sake  - Instead of loving myself most I am willing to love Christ best and others more than myself. The moment I deliberately do something definite either for God or others that costs me something, I am expressing love. Love is "selflessness" or "self-sacrifice" in contradistinction to "selfishness." Most of us know little of living like this or being "led" in this right way. But once a person discovers the delight of doing something for others, he has started through the gate being led into one of God's green pastures. 

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