Family Connection 01.05.2012

Happy New Year!
Family Connection
01.05.2012
“The commandments I give you today must be in your hearts. Make sure your children learn them. Talk about them when you are at home. Talk about them when you walk along the road. Speak about them when you go to bed. And speak about them when you get up.”-Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (NIrV)
Have you ever heard the phrase, “do as I say, not as I do”? Maybe you even had your parents say something similar to you when you were a child. If so, how did that work for you? If you are like me, it didn’t work out very well at all. The reality is values are caught more than they are taught; and that is exactly what God was talking about in the above passage.

As a dad, I realize that I am responsible for teaching my own children how to live for God. I can do this by preaching at them (trust me, this doesn’t really work) or I can live out my faith in front of them (this is far more effective). But do you know what? This isn’t only true for me; it is also true for any of us who have children in our lives we are responsible for.

Did you know that Sun Valley Kids (the children’s ministry of Sun Valley Community Church) exists to equip and encourage parents to train up their children in the ways of the Lord so they can become fully devoted followers of Jesus and to see children grow from knowledge about God into a growing relationship with Him through a personal commitment to Jesus Christ? We are here to teach children about the Lord but we want to be a resource for parents as they teach their own children how to learn to live for God now and follow Him for life.

This week I encourage you to start small and talk with the children in your lives about spiritual/faith matters at least three times this week. Maybe you could talk about what you learned from the weekend message or from your own Bible reading. Maybe you can ask your child/children what they are learning. Maybe you read the above passage to them and talk about ways you can live this out together. I would love to hear back from you to see how you put some new things into practice this week.

I am glad to be here and part of the spiritual development of your children!

Walking by your side,
Brett Humphrey
Pastor H