SABBATH AFTERNOON

Read for This Week's Study:
Exod. 29:38-42; Prov. 1:8; 22:6; Matt. 28:18, 19; John 8:31; 13:35; Rom. 8:28; Eph. 6:1-4.

Memory Text:
'All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children' (Isaiah 54:13, NIV).

The Week at a Glance:
Parents are called to lead their children to embrace godly values and to introduce them to the Lord.

~Ren

Sunday

Parent Disciples
Jesus commissioned His followers to go everywhere and make disciples. Earlier, He had defined what He meant by disciple. Study the definitions Jesus gave. In what way does His teaching about making disciples and being disciples help define the mission of the Christian home? Matt. 28:18, 19; John 8:31; 13:35; compare Deut. 6: 6-9.

What is the prerequisite for parents before attempting to guide children spiritually? Deut. 6:5, 6; compare Deut. 6:18.

Why is it more important to rear children to know a perfect Savior than to rear perfect children? Think about your personal experience with the good news of the gospel. What is your testimony of faith you would like your children to know about?

~Ren

What is the prerequisite for parents before attempting to guide children spiritually?

That we walk in obedience. That we lead by example.

I think we must realize that parenting extends beyond the walls of our home, and into our extended family, into our neighbours, friends, etc. When we see ourselves as our brothers keeper, we then begin to see our larger role as shepards. It is then that the question arises...how can the shepard lead along the right path if he himself is not following the right path.

We must therefore humbly seek the Lord and operate in complete surrender to His Word and His Will. Then we can truly lead.

Any other thoughts?

~Ren

[ January 29, 2006, 03:58 PM: Message edited by: razorren ]

I heard it said more than once and by more than one person that Christianity begins in the home.

If Christianity isn't in the home, then how can it truly be outside of the home, such as in the church, at the workplace, etc.?

Child Guidance, pp. 521-522
In our efforts for the comfort and happiness of guests, let us not overlook our obligations to God. The hour of prayer should not be neglected for any consideration. Do not talk and amuse yourselves till all are too weary to enjoy the season of devotion. To do this is to present to God a lame offering. At an early hour of the evening, when we can pray unhurriedly and understandingly, we (p. 521) should present our supplications and raise our voices in happy, grateful praise. {CG 520.4}

Let all who visit Christians see that the hour of prayer is the most precious, the most sacred, and the happiest hour of the day. These seasons of devotion exert a refining, elevating influence upon all who participate in them. They bring a peace and rest grateful to the spirit. {CG 521.1}

Children to Respect the Worship Hour.--Your children should be educated to be kind, thoughtful of others, gentle, easy to be entreated, and, above everything else, to respect religious things and feel the importance of the claims of God. They should be taught to respect the hour of prayer; they should be required to rise in the morning so as to be present at family worship. {CG 521.2}

Make the Worship Period Interesting.--The father, who is the priest of his household, should conduct the morning and evening worship. There is no reason why this should not be the most interesting and enjoyable exercise of the home life, and God is dishonored when it is made dry and irksome. Let the seasons of family worship be short and spirited. Do not let your children or any member of your family dread them because of their tediousness or lack of interest. When a long chapter is read and explained and a long prayer offered, this precious service becomes wearisome, and it is a relief when it is over. {CG 521.3}

It should be the special object of the heads of the family to make the hour of worship intensely interesting. By a little thought and careful preparation for this season, when we come into the presence of God, family worship can be made pleasant and will be fraught with results that eternity alone will reveal. Let the father select a (p. 522) portion of Scripture that is interesting and easily understood; a few verses will be sufficient to furnish a lesson which may be studied and practiced through the day. Questions may be asked, a few earnest, interesting remarks made, or incident, short and to the point, may be brought in by way of illustration. At least a few verses of spirited song may be sung, and the prayer offered should be short and pointed. The one who leads in prayer should not pray about everything, but should express his needs in simple words and praise God with thanksgiving. {CG 521.4}

In arousing and strengthening a love for Bible study, much depends on the use of the hour of worship. The hours of morning and evening worship should be the sweetest and most helpful of the day. Let it be understood that into these hours no troubled, unkind thoughts are to intrude; that parents and children assemble to meet with Jesus and to invite into the home the presence of holy angels. Let the services be brief and full of life, adapted to the occasion, and varied from time to time. Let all join in the Bible reading and learn and often repeat God's law. It will add to the interest of the children if they are sometimes permitted to select the reading. Question them upon it, and let them ask questions. Mention anything that will serve to illustrate its meaning. When the service is not thus made too lengthy, let the little ones take part in prayer, and let them join in song, if it be but a single verse. {CG 522.1}

Pray Clearly and Distinctly.--By your own example teach your children to pray with clear, distinct voice. Teach them to lift their heads from the chair and never to cover their faces with their hands. Thus they can offer (p. 523) their simple prayers, repeating the Lord's prayer in concert. {CG 522.2}


~Ren

Monday:

Spiritual Education at Home

How does Moses convey the all-important need for parents to focus their attention on sharing God's truth with their children? Deut. 6:7. What special challenges face latter-day parents who stand near the border of the heavenly Promised Land?


"Teach diligently" or "impress" (NIV) is the same as "whet" (Deut. 32:41) or "sharpen" (NIV). As mothers and fathers share their spiritual experience with their sons and daughters, they "sharpen" these young "arrows" and help prepare them for the spiritual challenges they will face. The pairs of expressions "sit"—"walk" and "lie down"—"get up" convey that the sharing is incessant and persistent and involved with all life's activities. Faith sharing takes time.

What does Solomon say is the intent of his parental instruction? Prov. 2:1-9, 3:5-8

Education, p. 52
In his childhood, Joseph had been taught the love and fear of God. Often in his father's tent, under the Syrian stars, he had been told the story of the night vision at Bethel, of the ladder from heaven to earth, and the descending and ascending angels, and of Him who from the throne above revealed Himself to Jacob. He had been told the story of the conflict beside the Jabbok, when, renouncing cherished sins, Jacob stood conqueror, and received the title of a prince with God. {Ed 52.1}

A shepherd boy, tending his father's flocks, Joseph's pure and simple life had favored the development of both physical and mental power. By communion with God through nature and the study of the great truths handed down as a sacred trust from father to son, he had gained strength of mind and firmness of principle. {Ed 52.2}

In the crisis of his life, when making that terrible journey from his childhood home in Canaan to the which awaited him in Egypt, looking for the last time on the hills that hid the tents of his kindred, Joseph remembered his father's God. He remembered the lessons of his childhood, and his soul thrilled with the resolve to prove himself true--ever to act as became a subject of the King of heaven. {Ed 52.3}

In the bitter life of a stranger and a slave, amidst the sights and sounds of vice and the allurements of heathen worship, a worship surrounded with all the attractions of (p. 53) wealth and culture and the pomp of royalty, Joseph was steadfast. He had learned the lesson of obedience to duty. Faithfulness in every station, from the most lowly to the most exalted, trained every power for highest service. {Ed 52.4}


~Ren

Thanks for the posts, razorren.

Truly edifying!