Radical Shift In Parenting

Introduction

Good evening. Good evening, everyone. Let’s open our Bibles to the book of Proverbs. It’ll be in Proverbs a lot. We’re going to start in Proverbs 12, and I’m going to stitch together three verses. Beginning in Proverbs 12 and verse 15. Need you to open a Bible right now. As you are, in fact, doing that. Let me just say a word or two about this series as we get underway in earnest today and especially tomorrow. I want to remind you especially about Tuesday night’s lesson. And I want to reassure any of you who are not here this morning. I know that’s a sensitive subject. We need to be careful about that, but it’s an important subject. Again and again, we see the age that young people are exposed to the filth and vileness of pornography in our world today.

It just seems to drop in every survey all the time. We need to be prepared about that, Mom and Dad. We need to know what’s going on in our world. We need to be ready to help our young people. And I hope that you’ll be extending invitations, and I hope that you’ll be here on Tuesday. Tomorrow night, especially, we’ll talk a lot tomorrow night about what Adam failed to do in Genesis the third chapter. That’ll be a lesson that will help us as men as we step forward to be the kind of leaders that God wants us to be. Right now, I’m in Proverbs, the 12th chapter, please. In Proverbs chapter 12, and I want to put together a couple of verses. We’ll read three verses right in a row.

In Proverbs 12 and verse 15. The way of a fool, the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. Look at Proverbs 19 now. Proverbs 19 and verse 20. Proverbs 19 and verse 20 tells us. Listen. Proverbs 19 and 20. Listen to advice and accept instruction that you may gain wisdom in the future. Finally, then look at Proverbs chapter 27. In Proverbs chapter 27 and in verse 9. Love to hear those Bible pages turning. Proverbs 27 now, verse 9 says the following. Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel. Let’s just begin straight up by saying. It’s obvious from the reading of those three passages just how wrong the Bible is.

I’m sure you notice that right away. Obviously, a counsel of a friend, a friend is not sweet because he gives counsel. A friend is sweet because he keeps his mouth shut. And of course, wisdom instruction don’t make you wise. What makes you wise is when you go your own way. Now that’s the thing to do. If somebody offers you counsel and advice, certainly don’t take it. Don’t listen to other people. Nobody can help you. Do your own thing. Now, about now someone’s thinking, Mark, have you lost your mind? What are you talking about? The things that you just read in Proverbs are, they’re manifesting obviously true. I mean, in every aspect of life, we enjoy getting the counsel and the advice of other people. Other folks help us.

That’s an important part of our life. Getting ready to buy a new car. You see somebody who drives the kind of car that you’re maybe interested. Well, how do you like that car? What kind of miles per gallon is it? We want to get some advice about it there. Get ready to move, maybe into a different school. Do you like the teachers there? Is that a good district there? We ask advice even about trivial matters before we go to the movies. Hey, have you seen this new movie? What did you think of it? We’re always asking people counsel, getting wisdom from others. Everybody wants to know what other people see, want to get advice all the time. Except in what is arguably the most critically important area of life.

The raising of children. Isn’t that true? Certainly that’s true. You get a bunch of young parents standing around together talking about what’s going on in their life, and it won’t be very long until they start to talk about how hard it is to raise kids. Get all those young parents together, they’re whining. No, they’re sharing their struggles together. You know what I’m talking about? How difficult it is, so many things going wrong in the world. It’s just almost impossible. We’ll talk about that this morning to be a parent today. Someone begins to talk about a specific problem. They’re having their child’s acting out in a specific way, and then someone says, Your kid’s doing this and so. Hey, let me tell you what to do to stop that.

Uh-oh. You didn’t just do that, did you? You did not jump in there and actually dare to say, here’s what you ought to do about that situation right there. You’re not trying to tell me how to parent my kid, are you? What you need to do is you keep your mouth shut. You need to be quiet. You need to mind your own business. This is my child, and I’m doing it my way. Isn’t that the attitude of most parents today? Directly contradicted the numerous passages, three of which we just read, that tell us wise people listen to instruction. That’s why I want to talk with you this evening about a radical shift in parenting. A shift away from lone ranger parenting. Don’t talk to me, keep your mouth closed, to an idea that we are all the people of God.

We all have the same goal in mind for our children, and therefore I would seek and covet your help. I would earnestly desire your counsel, your wisdom, your advice, so that I can raise my daughters to know and love the Lord. That’s a pretty radical shift in parenting today, isn’t it? And yet it seems to me that as the people of God, not only should we be interested in such, we should demand such. Turn your Bibles now to Titus the second chapter. In Titus chapter 2, read with me there, please, in verses 3 and 4. In Titus chapter 2 and verses 3 and 4. There, the text of Scripture tells us, Titus 2 and verse 3. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine.

They are to teach what is good and so train the young women to love their husbands and children. What I’m advocating this evening is not just a good idea. I’m advocating something mandated in Scripture. What about that? It seems to me that if we want to build strong families, we want to be open to the assistance and help that other good, godly people can give to us as we’re involved in the raising of our children. And that’s exactly where we’re going this evening, and exactly what we want to talk about. This evening I want to show you biblically why we must get others involved. And the way I want to do that is to just talk a little while why we don’t get others involved. Watch carefully this evening and see if you don’t find yourself somewhere in all of these kinds of ideas that we use to push people back out of our lives and particularly out of our parenting.

1. Counsel Given Poorly Makes You Feel Stupid

Why? Why don’t we listen to advice? When the Bible repeatedly says the wise man listens to advice, why don’t we listen to advice? Well, let’s just start by saying, sometimes the counsel that’s given, well, it’s just given poorly, and it makes you feel very stupid. Does that ever happen to you? I remember when we were expecting our first child, Rebecca. Dina was great with child, and a very nice, uh, two very nice uh uh elderly sisters took us out to dinner. They were just being so kind, and they began to talk about this terrible neighbor they had, and what horrible children they had, what horrible parents they were. And then they began to talk about how these kids play in the street all the time. She’s not saved.

Finally, one of these dear old sweet sisters looked at me and she said, You’re not gonna let your baby play in the street, are you? Well, you know, I’m I was a new dad. In fact, I wasn’t even a dad then, and everybody hates the dad that knows everything before the kids even get there. I already knew though, don’t let your baby play in the street. I had that down. I didn’t anticipate it any time. Dina’s saying, Where’s our baby? Well, I let her crawl on the tollway. No one told me. Sister Hattie told me. Why wasn’t I listening to her? That happens all the time, though, doesn’t it? People tell us stuff that just makes you feel really stupid. And I’m convinced that a lot of advice giving, not just in parenting matters, falls on deaf ears because of the way the advice giver offers it.

The tone of voice, the facial expressions, the gist of the advice all combine to say, you are an idiot. You need to listen to me before you make things worse, you stupid person you. What a shock that that kind of advice is not well received. In Proverbs, please, in Proverbs chapter 25. In Proverbs chapter 25, read there with me in verse 11. In Proverbs chapter 25 and verse 11. There the text says, in Proverbs 25 and verse 11, a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. You know who Abigail is? Abigail is the one who mastered Proverbs 25 and 11. Read the story of Abigail in 1 Samuel 25, how she confronts an angry, furious man, David, and with her wise counsel and wise ways, turns him from doing a great wrong.

She knew how to give advice. And I need to say this evening, if we’re going to offer advice and encouragement to parents, we need to be careful in what we say and when we say it and how we say it. You know, Job’s counselors were doing fine for seven days until they opened their mouths and made a miserable mess out of things. Maybe, in fact, if you think about Job, maybe he was a sinner. That’s what the counselors say throughout the entire book of Job. You’re just wicked. That’s why these bad things are happening to you. But when a man has lost all of his wealth and his children all in one day, is that the time to show up and say, you’re just a bad man?

2. A Lot of Judgment in How to Rear Children

What kind of counsel was that? Candidly, giving advice is a skill. It is an art. It involves knowing the right thing to say. And more, it involves knowing how to say the right thing. And on top of that, it knows the right time to say the right thing in the right way. Yet too often we don’t think. We’re not careful. We don’t plan what we’ll say, when to say it, we just blow them away. You’re doing a bad job as a parent. And I don’t know why you’re doing a bad job, because you don’t do it the way I did it. And isn’t that why, secondly, sometimes we don’t listen? Because there is an awful lot of judgment in how to rear children. What’s the Bible say about whether you should give your children an allowance?

Should you give kids an allowance? Yes. No? What’s the Bible say about that? Specifically, the Bible doesn’t address that, does it? Should you buy your kid a car when he turns 16? The Bible, some of the 16-year-olds are like, say yes, say yes, say yes. No. Bible doesn’t explicitly address that, does it? What about homeschooling versus public schooling? Bible doesn’t explicitly address that, does it? There’s a lot of judgment in how to raise children. What does the Bible say about raising children? Ephesians 6, probably the definitive passage. Ephesians 6, we spent some time there this morning. I assure you, this entire gospel meeting will not be built on Ephesians 6, but we need to say a few words there from Ephesians 6, verses 1 and 4 for a moment here this evening.

In Ephesians 6, verse 1. Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, for this is the first commandment with promise that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Well, that’s pretty much it, isn’t it? Parents are teach their children to obey them as they love, nurture, and discipline their children. That’s pretty much what the Bible has to say about that. Now, there’s a lot more in the Bible about parenting than just that. There are principles. The Golden Rule, for example. That works in parenting. There’s great Old Testament biblical examples like Noah.

I mentioned that this morning. But when you get right down to specifics, that’s pretty much it. Ephesians 6 pretty much covers what you need to know in a specific kind of fashion about raising children. Yet what happens when people give advice? People give advice all too often, and what they’re doing is they’re not telling you what the Bible says. They’re imposing their judgment on you. It’s do it their way, or you’re doing it wrong. What do you mean you’re giving your children an allowance? Oh, man, you’re just going to turn them into greedy money monongers. What do you mean you don’t give your kids an allowance? Don’t you want to teach them the value of a dollar? Teach them how to work? What kind of parent are you?

See the kind of judgment people often offer? Sometimes that gets emotional, and some of those issues get volatile and difficult. Do you want to jump in the middle of the homeschool public school debate? A couple of years ago, I held a gospel meeting in a church where everybody homeschooled. Gulp. Dean and I. We didn’t homeschool. By the end of the week, I felt like a pagan. Brother Roberts. You’re not one of those horrible, godless parents who sends their children to public school, are you? Well, we have, but I’m repenting. It was horrible because there was an issue of judgment there, and people were pounding me with their judgment, and there was no room for me to say, hey, that may be working for you, that may not be working for me.

No. Do it my way, or you’re doing it wrong. We need to be careful about that. We’d be very careful about imposing our judgment on others. That said, can I say this? Since there isn’t a lot of judgment in raising children, doesn’t that mean that we ought to be seeking more advice and counsel? Rather than being closed off to that, shouldn’t we be looking to those who are godly among us, particularly those who are older among us, and asking them for their judgment so they can help our judgment be better. We’re looking to get an education here. What did you do? How did you do? What worked? What didn’t work? I realize that may not play in my situation, but I want to know about it because there is a lot of judgment in parenting, and I don’t want to get on the far end of the parenting equation and realize my judgment was lousy.

And I wrecked it because I never sought anybody else. Look again at that passage in Titus chapter 2 that we talked about a moment ago. Isn’t this passage talking about seeking people who have some judgment and asking them to assist us? In Titus II chapter, verse 3 again. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wives. Teaching what is good, training young women to love their husbands, to love their children. In fact, if you look across the page in chapter one, there’s discussion there about elders and about how they must qualify themselves in the whole so that people will what? Trust their judgment. Yet I must tell you quite candidly, I don’t see people doing that very often. Now, if somebody knows a lawyer on a first name basis, if they get in legal troubles, they call.

If somebody knows a mechanic on a first name basis, and their car starts making a womp and a womp and a whoopty sound, they call. But when a kid starts giving us all kinds of problems, nobody calls. I’ve been preaching more than 20 years now. I am yet to ever see an occasion where a man grabs some elders and said, We’re having some really tough times at the house. I want to visit with you guys and talk to you about what we’re going through because I need some help. I need to hear what your judgment would be in this matter. The next time that happens, for me, will be the first time that’s ever happened. In fact, I’ve known parents who had manifestly problem children. We’re talking about kids who threw tantrums and refused to obey.

Right in the middle of church, everybody could see things were going wrong. And the parents refused to ask for help. I’ve known teenagers who ran away from home, were using drugs and alcohol. Mom and dad refuse to ask for help. And yet, of course, Brother Bob knows this. Some of these elders know this. If it finally gets bad enough with that teenager at 17 or 18 or 19, what’ll happen then? Then the parents come down and say, I need to talk to the elders about this. That’s like calling the fire department after the house has burned down. Show up, guys, and hose down the foundation. That’ll really help us out here. Why don’t we ask for help? Why don’t we say to these people who have manifestly good judgment, please assist me?

When men and women can offer thoughtful advice and experience, when they will help us weigh our options and decide between often contradictory and competing priorities that can help us negotiate the difficulties of parenting. Why wouldn’t we want that? I am certainly, understand me. I am certainly not discouraging parents from talking among themselves. Young women are very good about that. Get all the kids together and they’re talking together about parenting. But let’s be honest about that. What you have in that situation is a bunch of amateurs who are talking and sharing their lack of knowledge about what’s going on. How about we get an older woman in the middle of that, and she can help with some advice and counsel? And men, men don’t do that at all.

3. My Child Is So Different

We talk about sports. We don’t talk about parenting, much less actually asking another man, could you give me some advice? Yes, there is some judgment in parenting. That needs to temper what people say and how they say it. But it also ought to drive us to seek those who have good judgment and ask them to help us. Someone says, Mark, you know that sounds all great, but you know, the truth of the matter is, my child is so different from everybody else’s child. And of course, that’s exactly so. In the Bible, there’s lots of kids. I think about Jacob and Esau. Genesis the 27th chapter tells us Esau loved to hunt. Jacob was a mama’s boy. Just as different as they could be, same mama, right there, just kids just totally different.

And your kid is not the same as anybody else’s kid. And in fact, we need to understand that. It’s a principle of scripture, and see how that works. No two children are the same. Not going to belabor that point. I think we all understand that. And so let me just say a word or two in that direction. First, I do wish that advice givers would get a hold of that. Look in Proverbs 18 with me, please, in Proverbs 18 and verse 13. In Proverbs 18 and verse 13, the text there says, Proverbs 18 and 13. The Bible says there, Proverbs 18 and 13, if one gives an answer before he hears, it is to his folly and to his shame. Probably my number one complaint against child rearing advice is that people write out a universal prescription based on the problems that they solved with their children, and they start handing that out to everybody, whether those children are anything like their kids or whether it would work for them or not.

But my kids aren’t your kids, and I need to be working with my own children. When I open my mouth to help somebody, I sure do need to be thinking about that. But secondly, that doesn’t mean all advice is of no value. I realize that every kid is different, but there are some constants in parenting. We talked about that this morning in the Bible class, and then again in the lesson hour. Ephesians 6 1 says, children obey your parents. That’s not just some kids. That’s all kids. I don’t care if your kid’s different than my kid. Your kid still has to do Ephesians 6 1. I don’t care if your kid is tired or going through a phase or died, it doesn’t make any difference, does it?

All children must do Ephesians 6 1. So while we use this sometimes to hold ourselves apart from everybody else, my child is so different, it really doesn’t make any difference how different your child is. There are still some things that must be done. Yet if a child is acting out, maybe after church we’re all standing around, and the kids flicking the light switch on and off in the auditorium. We have a big switch at West Side that controls all the lights, and the genius general contractor located it right at a convenient height for small children. And so all of a sudden we’re all talking after services, and bang, let there be darkness. Bang, let there be light. Dark light. And so here, Dad says from across the room, Johnny, stop that.

4. The Bible Word for That Is Pride

And then Johnny does that 17 more times. What happened there? What happened there is that Johnny didn’t obey his dad. That’s exactly what happened there. And the only way to slice that. Dad said he didn’t do. But if somebody jumps in there and says, you seem to have a problem with obedience. Your child isn’t obeying you. The world’s going to stop. How dare you? Why? Because I don’t want to admit that my kid messed up. Because then I’d have to admit that I messed up. We tie our egos into our children, don’t we? And we want them to look good in front of everybody else. And when they don’t look good in front of everybody else, we want to pretend that nobody noticed that. And we sure don’t want anybody to call us on the carpet because that would be embarrassing for us.

Why is it that people who have children who throw temper tantrums kicking and screaming, banging on the floor to get a toy at Walmart? Or the teenager who’s using drugs and out. Why don’t those parents come see the elders? Why don’t they come talk to them? Because they don’t want to have to admit things aren’t going real well. We don’t seem to be getting this done. We seem to have problems with our kids. What’s the Bible word for that? The Bible word for that is pride. Pride. That’s exactly what that is. Look in James chapter 4 with me, please. Been so much in the Old Testament Proverbs. How about the New Testament version of Proverbs? In James chapter 4, I’m reading there in verse 6. In James 4 and verse 6.

There the text tells us. James 4 and 6, he gives more grace. Therefore it says God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Mark it down and mark it down for certain, Mom and Dad. When we’re too proud to ask for help, God opposes us as parents. You think parenting’s tough now, you get in a situation where you’re beating against the Lord in his way. It’ll really be hard now. And of what value is such pride? We’ll let the boat sink or the battle be lost simply because we don’t want to admit that we don’t have this all worked out perfectly? I truly do not understand this. When you get a bunch of parents together and we’re all talking about how tough it is to parent and so forth, if somebody said, hey, I’m superparent, man.

We haven’t had any problems over at my house. Everything’s going great. People would say, what are you doing? What do you? You can’t act that way. That would, oh no. When a bunch of us parents are together, and we’re all talking about how hard it is, it’s actually cool to go ahead and say, oh, you’re strict. Oh, this parrying thing is so hard. I tell you what, my Johnny does this and this. He was flicking the light bulb bob and off. Now the preacher’s going all over the country telling people about it. It’s horrible. We love to do that. But if an elder happens to breathe through that conversation and say, you have some problems again with Johnny, I’ll tell you what. Get you a cup of coffee.

I’ll bring my Bible. You bring your Bible. We’ll sit down and talk about how to help your child obey you. Um, you know, I’m real busy this week, but we didn’t, you know, we’re gonna try to do that on the second Tuesday of next month or something, you know. We’re not real interested in that, are we? Because our pride is getting in the way of accepting the kind of godly counsel and advice that could make an eternity’s worth of difference to our children. Sometimes we forget the goal here. It’s really not about you. It’s about that child. And someday they’re gonna stand up in front of Almighty God. And yes, they are absolutely a free moral agent, and yes, they’ll absolutely be responsible for their own decisions, but yes, you and I as parents have enormous impact on how they exercise their free moral agency and the kind of decisions that they’re gonna make.

And you know that, and I know that. And we need to be thinking about that. Did I help or did I hinder my children as I raised them to know the Lord? And was I too proud to ever ask anybody for some assistance so they could serve the Lord? Or will they ultimately pay for my blunders? Because I wouldn’t ask for help. And I think all that helps us in some ways to see why it is that you can have a whole room full of Christians who all will nod their heads up and down when we say, Yeah, we want a kid to go to heaven. And then if anybody opens their mouth and says, hey, let me help you with your child, the world comes to a complete stop.

5. Don’t Use This Lesson as a License; Evaluate Myself

Let’s see if we can make application of some of this in a very specific kind of way. Let me share with you a couple of ideas I think are helpful. First and foremost, please don’t use this lesson. As a license to go around telling everybody how to do. Did you hear that Sermon Sunday night? Woo-hoo! I just can’t wait. Get my gospel gun and load it up. I’m gonna start banging away here. That’s not going to work, is it? If people don’t ask you for your counsel in advice, how open are they going to be to hearing what you have to say anyway? The wise man says that he who meddles in a problem not his own is like a man who takes a dog by the ears.

One of my favorite proverbs. Don’t be grabbing dogs by the ears. You insert yourself where you’ve not been asked, you’re just going to make trouble and hard feelings and difficulties of every kind. You can’t help people who don’t want to be helped. And I would remind you in all of this that the best way to offer advice to anybody, parenting or otherwise, is always what? Always to listen first. Always to seek to understand what’s going on. We’re so ready to tell. I do, after all, know everything there is to know about parenting. I just start on you right away, get you fixed for the next three minutes here. No. No. I need to listen. Instead of answering a matter before I’ve heard it, I need to listen.

How’s that parenting thing going? What do you find to be a struggle? What are you really working with? What have you found that doesn’t work? What have you found that works a little bit? I need to listen first. But jumping in where I’ve not been asked isn’t going to help anybody at any time. Secondly, let me suggest that we need to do some real evaluating. And the evaluation needs to be of myself. The problem with this kind of lesson is that everybody sits out there and picks out some other set of parents. Boy, I certainly hope Mr. and Miss Hitler heard that sermon. They need some help with Adolf there. He’s just not a very good kid. You need to know. I don’t know, Brother Bob, this will hurt their feelings.

You need to know that somebody is on terms thinking about you, thinking, well, I sure hope you heard that sermon. See, we’re all thinking something, but that’s not where this is going. What really helps us is what? Thinking about ourselves. My child obey me.

6. Good Advice Comes Because We’re in Good Relationships

And for other adults. Am I raising my child on task towards the goal of them submitting to the authority of God? It’s not about what anybody else is doing. I don’t answer for you. I want to answer for your kids on the day of judgment. I answer for Beck and Sarah. God forbid I should answer, try to answer for anyone else, or even think about anyone else. We got our hands full with our own kids. Ask yourself. Make application to your family, not somebody else. Thirdly, good advice always comes because we’re in good relationships. When I see some lady in Walmart and her kid is just throwing nuclear fusion on her in the cart because she won’t buy that kid a candy bar, I don’t say anything to that lady.

I know some people think preachers just wander around randomly dispensing advice. No. I don’t know that lady. She doesn’t know me. She doesn’t know anything about me. She wouldn’t listen to me. I don’t know anything about that situation. I’m not talking to that lady. I got nothing for her. I can’t help that situation at all. Where can I help? Somebody who I really know. Someone that I have over my house. We played dominoes or settlers of Catan or watch a ball game or hunt together or play golf together, we built a relationship. That individual knows that I care about them. And that I care about their kids. And that means that if I do dare to open my mouth and begin to start, how’s that going?

Saw Johnny in church. Man, it looked like that was that wasn’t going good. What are you doing about that? How’s that working? What other ideas have you got about that? They know that I’m not just trying to get on them, but that I care about them. It seems to me that one of the things that Christians need to be doing is building those kinds of relationships. If there is nobody in this room who you know well enough so that they could say to you, I saw that scene with your kid. That didn’t look good at all. Then you don’t have the kind of biblical friendship you desperately need in this parenting relationship. Don’t wait. Don’t wait till somebody else asks you over, invites you out for coffee or go to dinner.

Start. Start. Start building those relationships. And as you do that, show yourself open. Open. There’s lots of people at West Side, some of whom I can talk with and have these kinds of evaluations and discussions with, and some I can’t even start with. Why? Because when I first tried just one time to talk, I got the door slammed in my face. No interest there. No openness there. I don’t like having the door slammed into my face. I’m stupid, but I’m not that stupid. I figure that out pretty quick. Be open. Build real relationships. James 5 talks about praying for one another. Is there somebody that you can pray with about your kids? What a great start that is. We humble ourselves before the Lord and say, we don’t have this covered, God.

We don’t know what we’re doing here. We’re terrified, we’re going to foul it all up. Help us, Lord. We need your counsel through the word. That’s a powerful kind of relationship. And of course, as we’re doing those kinds of things, we’re certainly going to want to involve our shepherds a whole lot more in shepherding our families, shepherding our children. Someone says, Mark, you sure are making a lot of work for the elders. You listen to me carefully. I know I speak for the elders here and everywhere on this planet. When I tell you they sure would rather help a five-year-old than try to rescue a 15-year-old. It doesn’t have to be a big deal where you’re coming to an elder’s meeting and that’s a formal situation.

It can just be as simple as in the foyer grabbing an elder or grabbing an elder’s wife. We did a little rough smile over at our house this week. Did this and this? Johnny was doing that. That just didn’t go good for us. What would you do about that? That’s all you need to show your shepherds you’re willing to be shepherded. You are open to the wisdom and counsel of God’s word. You’re open to someone else. You may see something in Scripture that you’ve missed. You’re open to someone else sharing their judgment with you. Is there anything that could make a more radical shift in the parents at the South Bumbi Church of Christ than if every parent was ready and willing to seek the help of the godly men who pastored this church.

What a huge difference that could make.

Conclusion

I told you the Bible was wrong. No. No. The Bible is right. The Bible is absolutely right. And it is particularly and powerfully right when it tells us that only fools think they know everything. The wise man will listen to advice. I hope and pray that your heart is open to the counsel of Scripture. So that you will be open to the counsel of others who want so much to help all of our children arrive safely before the throne of God. Let’s pray about that. Would you pray with me, please?

Mighty God and Father in heaven, we come before you, Father. Admitting and confessing that all too often our pride gets in the way of everything. We want to pretend and we want to put on a mask, that everything is under control and that everything is perfect. We want to look the other way when things are not and hope that no one notices. Defeat our pride, Father. Break our foolish spirit that causes us to ignore the good advice and counsel that those of age and experience could share with us, particularly, Father. We ask a blessing upon the shepherds of this good congregation. So they reach out and try to help parents raise their children to obey and to know what it is, to submit to authority that they might obey you someday.

We ask every blessing that all of us would work together, that we’d be careful in the advice that we give.