Minister's Blog

Living/Communicating the Gospel at Home
I believe heaven and hell are real places and every person will enter irreversibly when they die. I believe Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. If I truly believe these, it should instruct all I do in every arena of my life, especially my family. There are many things I can teach my family, but what teaching has higher stakes? What can we practically do to communicate faith in the Gospel and its ramifications for this life and eternity?
We can live it. There is no substitute for authenticity. Are you saved? Would your life be able to check the boxes of assurance we have been studying in 1 John, which indicate you are truly saved? Do you believe the Biblical Gospel, walk in the light and not in darkness, obey God’s commands, love your brothers and sisters in Christ, and demonstrate the anointing of the Holy Spirit?
We can talk about it. We talk about the things we love. I am taken aback when I evaluate the content of the conversations I have throughout the day. Many times, they are worldly and focused on things that reveal misplaced passions. I am angry at a politician or decision, upset or enamored by the performance of a sports team, or just simply caught up in some mundane subject. Deuteronomy 6:6-9 states, these words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up... How often does Jesus come up in your family conversations? Are you taking seriously the command of Paul in Ephesians 6:4? Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
We can prioritize corporate and family worship. One of the ways your children know what’s most important is the priority you give to it. How easy is it for you to miss worship? Is it easier than it is for you to miss other obligations in your life? Do you give greater priority to regular worship than you do to school, sports, and/or recreational activities? Or does just about anything keep you from the weekly worship gathering? Have you instituted family worship? This would include family prayers and devotions. We make sure we eat, bathe, get to practice, and get homework done. Are any of these very needful things of greater eternal weight than spiritual worship and instruction? We show the priority we give to worship by preparing for it and actively participating in it. Parent, do you bring your Bible to worship and open it during the sermon? Do you sing and pray? Do you lead your family in regular prayer and devotions?
We can embrace the mission God has ordained for us. Are you a parent? Are you born again? Read Deuteronomy 6, Ephesians 5-6, Colossians 3, or 1 Peter 3. There is a reason the 5th command has a promise attached to it. Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, Exodus 20:12. The Promised Land was the foreshadow of God’s salvation. It was the fulfillment of His promise to Abraham. It was God’s plan for the parents to pass down the word, the Law, and the stories of God’s faithfulness. Honoring parents (if they were faithful to God) would/should show faith in God. I want to parent in such a way that my children will never doubt my greatest desire for them is to know, serve, and glorify God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.