As For Me and My House | Together Better Week 6

Gen Z: Less institutionally christian - only 37% claim Christianity and 66% of those in church leave after high school. 

“The single greatest reason why we are losing our young people today is that the home is no longer the place where faith is transferred.” - Pastor Tony Evans

Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

The direction of your home today

will influence the destination of your children tomorrow.

We don't just raise kids, we consecrate them.

If we don’t initiate our kids into the things of God, the world will gladly initiate them into something else.

1. Consecration begins with belonging.

This child belongs to God before they belong to me.

When you understand your children belong to God, you parent with open hands.

A child you think you own, you will control or even neglect. A child you know belongs to God, you will steward. The goal is to raise kids who know and seek the Lord.

2. Consecration requires intentional formation.

Kids do not drift into Godliness. They drift into whatever is normalized.

Thats why Deuteronomy 6 commands parents to talk about the things of God when you sit in your house, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you rise.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, 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. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of

your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:5-9 ESV

As you do them, teach them.

In order to model it we must be reliable and relatable.

What time in my week is strategically and intentionally given to my relationship with God and my family’s relationship with God? What are my spiritual disciplines?

They are watching more than they are listening.

What you normalize is what you are training.

3.Consecration includes cleansing, not just

conduct.

In other words its about the heart not just behavioral modification.

You are not raising sinless kids. You are raising kids you know what to do with sin.

What children hear repeatedly eventually becomes the voice inside their heads.

Picture of podcast

Family discipleship happens through time, moments, and milestones.

Time is about building intentional rhythms into your family’s life where the gospel is seen, heard, and lived.

Moments are the everyday opportunities God gives you for gospel-centered conversations.  Milestones are the meaningful moments you stop and mark because they remind your family of God’s faithfulness.

Time shapes us.

Moments teach us.

Milestones remind us.

The goal is: “I want this child to know the Lord, walk in truth, and be empowered by the Holy Spirit for whatever God has called them to do.”

Because the hope of this sermon is not that perfect parents produce perfect children. The hope of this sermon is that Jesus redeems what we surrender to him. Imperfect people surrendered to a perfect savior and king

The invitation today is bigger than “Lord help me be a better parent.”

The invitation is “Lord consecrate this home again.”

Cs Lewis quote: “Children aren't a distraction from more important work, they are the important

work.”

As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.