What do your older kids think about negative Obama church signs?

(Added note: We apologize to readers who have thought that we at Christian Parenting Daily are agreeing with or condoning this sign. We DO NOT agree with this sign or the people who wrote it. Our purpose for posting this blog is to give Christian parents the Biblical framework they need in order to have a thoughtful conversation with their kids about why posting a sign like this DOES NOT agree with what the Bible teaches. The ambiguity comes from the fact that this was not meant to be a blog on the topic but a list of conversation starters. Again we DO NOT AGREE with content of this sign or the posting of this sign.)

We’ve been hearing a lot in the news about churches posting negative signs about President Elect Obama. One reads “Obama, Osama, hmm, are they brothers?” It hit the news and the pastor said that he was just trying to get people thinking. A conversation starter of sorts.

We heard about the latest one from Rick Sanchez on CNN. A church put these words on a large marque sign outside the front of their church, “America we have a Muslim President, this is a sin against the Lord, Ex. 20:3.”

Needless to say, it’s causing a stir. Although we do not and cannot agree with or condone the sign, we at Christian Parenting Daily think that this news story can be a conversation starter for Christian parents and their older kids.

Here are some talking points:

The sign uses the Biblical reference Exodus 20:3 which is the second commandment “Do not worship any other God’s besides me.” Do you think that America has violated this command by electing Obama?

Jesus derided the religious/political leaders of his day because they claimed to be following God but were not. However, he used their own written teachings and a special revelation from God about what their heart’s looked like to confront them, not suspicion and hearsay. Do you see a difference here?

Next, Obama himself has repeatedly said that he is a Christian and not a Muslim. Many Christians feel that the church Obama attended for many years has some funny ideas but it’s still a Christian church. Some people believe that Obama cannot be a Christian because of his stand on issues such as abortion. What do you think?

Did you know that President Lincoln was a Christian when he was elected but it wasn’t until years later during the civil war that he really became passionate about prayer and his Faith in God? Do you think a person can be a Christian but still have wrong ideas or make mistakes?

How do you think this verse should apply to this situation? “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,” (1 Peter 3:15)

The Apostle Paul wrote these words when the wicked emperor Nero was ruling the Roman Empire , “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone–for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:1 – 4)

No matter who you voted for, Obama is now the President Elect. What do these inspired Bible verses penned by Paul show us that we should do now? Why?

Have a great discussion and remember it’s better and more effective to help your kids think through the issues critically and Biblically then it is tell them how to think.

Here’s the link to the news article and video on CNN.

Speed Racer

SYNOPSIS: Story of Speed Racer, who’s Mach 5 vehicle can jump, go under water and clear trees. When he’s not racing, he’s battling villians with his girlfriend Trixie, kid brother Spritle and pet monkey Chim-Chim.

GENRES: Action/Adventure, Science Fiction/Fantasy and Adaptation

TIME: 2 hr. 15 minutes

RATED: PG for sequences of action, some violence, language and brief smoking.

 

 

OUR THOUGHTS ON THIS MOVIE

(Recommended Age Group: 10+ years)

We watched the movie ‘Speed Racer’ thinking it was a kids movie. We are very glad to announce that there were no young children present when this movie was reviewed. It is NOT a movie for kids under 10 years of age. If you watch it with your tweens, we suggest that you make mental notes as you watch and talk with them about it afterwards.

We don’t recommend this movie for children for many little things. Remember, we as Christian parents need to look beyond the surface method of using amounts of violence, nudity, scary stuff and swearing to measure its suitability. Speed Racer contains many little scenes and comments that promote non Biblical ideals and taken together they add up to trouble. For example the youngest boy in the movie is constantly doing what he wants to do without regard to what he’s told. The writer’s portrait this behavior as normal and cute and make the dad look bad for expecting him to actually obey.

We’d normally go further and provide you with ‘What The Bible Says About That’ discussion topics for you to use with your children but since we’re recommending you pass on this one for the kids we’re going to take this another direction.

We actually will recommend this movie to you, parents and young people who will one day become parents. Why? Well first of all, for those of us who are old enough to enjoy a movie while ignoring Hollywood’s lack of Biblical morality and Christian world view, it contains a parenting lesson that we’d like to push a little further.

In the movie the dad, played by John Goodman, has three sons all born about eight years apart. When his oldest son is basically an adult, he makes a decision about his life that dad really opposes. When dad realizes that he is no longer in control and that the son is set on this particular course, dad makes a classic mistake in a last ditch effort to turn things around. He basically says, “If you walk out that door, don’t ever come back.” Ouch!

We won’t tell you what happens (no spoilers here) but the results of dad’s ultimatum are disastrous and he does learn his lesson (in a well scripted way) before the end of the movie.

When our children are young they need discipline, direction, training and consistent boundaries that are all (for the sake of our children) loving but authoritative. When our children become teenagers, our role as parents must change. We need to gradually stop being authoritative and progressively (as they prove responsible) hand our children the control of their own lives. If we do it right, by the time they are ready to leave home, we should be in a supportive and advisory role only.

We may claim that we would never give our child such an ultimatum, but if we seek to control them as oppose to guide them, when they get to an age where they need us to help them make their own decisions, the result is the same. We will push them away from us.

The Bible teaches that children must “leave their parents” and become responsible adults in their own right. We must let go. The best way to accomplish this is to do it very gradually helping our children to mature and take over small bits of responsibility at a time. The process should start when they’re tweens and hopefully be complete before they leave home.

Continuing to use an authoritative parenting method on teenagers will always result in head butting and possibly, in the end, a parting of ways.

Jesus said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” Once we are God’s children, our Heavenly Father commits to walk with us and help us grow up no matter what. God will never give us an ultimatum that makes us reject him. Love never gives up on someone. So even if we find ourselves at odds with or even extremely against something our older teens or young adults are choosing, shutting them out and attempting to use our affections as a method of controlling them will not work and is not right.

We need to follow God’s loving example and never withhold our love and support. We may need to gently make it clear that we don’t agree and explain why but then move on to let them know that we love them and will always be there for them no matter what.

Enjoy the movie and watch what happens to dear old dad in the end. If you’ve seen the movie then post a comment, if not come back and do it after you’ve seen it.

If you watch this with your tweens and teens spend some time talking about the above parenting lesson. It may be a great opportunity for both you and them to talk about the gradual shift of responsibility and authority. Your kids will always feel like they don’t have enough autonomy. Help them understand that no one gets more authority and freedom just because they want it but because they show themselves mature and responsible enough to handle it.

Study links exposure to sexual content with teen pregnancies

The RAND Health research staff conducted a study and concluded that teens who watched a high level of sexual content on television were twice as likely to experience a teen pregnancy.

As soon as this article hit the street, the media gobbled it up and it seems to be held up as some kind of break through.

While we here at Christian Parenting Daily applaud the study, the conclusions are not new. Solomon taught that we should guard our hearts with all diligence because our life will eventually reflect what we cultivated there. (Proverbs 4:23) One of the key points of Jesus’ teachings was that, who we are on the inside (our thoughts our conclusions, our beliefs) is what’s important because that’s who we are. Our behavior comes out of what’s in our hearts. (Luke 6:45) James taught that our actions are a direct result of the inner desires that we choose to cultivate. (James 1:14 – 16)

Another thing that we applaud the study for is that in it’s conclusion, it recommends that parents watch television with their children so that they can help guide them through what they see.

Here’s the short three step Christian parenting guide to helping your kids wade through the garbage constantly placed before them.

1. Limit your child’s exposure. If the television show or movie in question contains wrong ideas that they are not mature enough to navigate through and make right conclusions about, then they should not be watching it.

2. Take time to intentionally teach your children the Biblical view of sex. Make sure you don’t just tell them what to do and what not to do, but also teach them why God’s way works and the world’s doesn’t. There are a ton of helpful Christian resources out there that can help you with this.

3. As your child matures and is exposed to more, be sure that you’re there watching with them and discussing the content. In this way you help them to think through what they see and they learn to guard their own hearts with God’s truth.

You might want to discuss this study with your older kids, it’s a good way to get the conversation started or to keep it going.

Here’s the link to the Rand study.

CHRISTIAN PARENTING DAILY

God Understands

God understands. He will always listen, understand, and respond to our children, no matter what happens in their lives. God is always right there for them. He understands everything they feel and go through, and he’s always ready to encourage them to go forward, to give them wisdom, and to help them out. God is on their side.

The New Testament book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is fully sympathetic, understanding even the toughest things we go through because he also went through them. Sometimes we forget that Jesus was once a child and then a teenager. (The Bible even records a time when his parents didn’t understand him!) Jesus had to be obedient to his parents, go to school, do chores, and grow up in a community of friends, neighbors, and family. The single incident from Jesus’ childhood included in the Bible – something that happened when he was twelve years old – seems to have been recorded to show us that Jesus had to grow up just like everyone else. Read more

Helping your kids include everyone

The YouTube video attached is one of my all time favorite animated short films. The little blue birds are so into their exclusive ‘only our kind’ club and eliminating all threats to uniformity, that they’re blinded to what’s going on around them.

Children left to themselves tend to act exactly like that. She’s too young to be with us, he’s a boy, she’s my sister not my friend, they aren’t part of our class, club, team, school etc. If we’re not careful we can excuse this behavior as normal childhood antics. However, if we do, these seemingly innocent weeds can lead to full blown exclusive adult attitudes and behaviors such as prejudice and a lack of compassion and empathy for those that are different. Read more

Hilarious retelling of the Bible’s big story

Someone sent me the following as an email forward. The email gave no credits or links, so I’m not sure who it was written by. However I do know that it’s hilarious. It was reportedly written by a young person who was asked to do a book report on the Bible. Enjoy.

The Bible

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, The Lord thy God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that. Anyway, God said, ‘Give me a light!’ and someone did. Then God made the world.

He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren’t embarrassed because mirrors hadn’t been invented yet.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden. Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn’t have cars.

Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.

Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something. Read more

What does it mean to be a Christian parent?

THE GOOD NEWS (The Gospel)

Why this section?

The main thing that all Christians have in common is that they at one point or another became a Christian. Contrary to some funny ideas in our culture, no one is a Christian because they were born into a Christian family or country. You cannot just be a Christian because you go to church and/or you try your best to be a good person. In order to be a Christian you must have, at one point, become one.

We wrote this section for a few very important reasons. First if you cannot recall a point where you made a decision to become a Christian this section will help you understand what being a Christian is and will help you take the next step. Which is VERY important if you plan on successfully raising your children as Christians.

The second reason is a very simple one, this is the most essential thing that every Christian should know and understand yet many do not. Many of us came to Christ by hearing the Good News and understanding it enough to have experience God’s wonderful forgiveness. That is great, however in order to grow as a Christian, in order to share our faith with others, and more importantly for this web site, in order for us to raise Christian children we need to understand it more thoroughly.

So please, get a cup of coffee or tea, sit back and take the time to read and understand this section and come back and re-read it and perhaps look up the scriptures and study it until you understand it enough to explain it to others, especially to your children.

To those of you who are about to click away because you think you already understand the Good News, stop and read it anyway. You may be surprised at how much more there is to the Good News than we often hear.

 

God’s Plan

It is important that we understand that yes in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1) but before that he had a plan.

The Bible teaches that God realized before he started creating the earth that humankind would make the wrong choice and that he would have to send his own Son to die. (Matthew 25:34, Hebrews 4:3)

 

God’s Love

Think about the love involved in that. If before you had a child you were told that he would be REALLY difficult and cause you a life of grief but that in the end he would turn around and live happily. Would you be tempted to perhaps skip the pain and just not have children? God chose to still move forward for our sakes.

Think about this, Jesus has always been. He was there before, during and after creation (John 1:1 – 4). The Bible says that, “by him all things were created”. So Jesus chose to create us even though he knew that he would have to suffer in order to bring us back to God.

We can all quote John 3:16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son… he made that decision because he loved us before any of us were created.

 

God’s Responsibility

Some ask why God chose to send his own Son? Why if he planned it all ahead of time would he decide to do it this way? Well one of the reasons lies in the word ‘responsibility.’ Even our laws hold a parent responsible for the actions of their underage children.

If God knew ahead of time that we would go off track and he still (for our sake) decided to go ahead, then he needed to be responsible for that decision and pay the price himself for bringing us back. That is the loving and responsible thing to do.

 

God’s Step-By-Step Plan

It is important to know that God had this all planned from the start because the Bible is a progressive revelation of God’s plan for humankind. For example the Old Testament writers did not fully understand God’s plan. So when we read the Old Testament it can be difficult to understand unless we look at what we are reading in light of the fact that the writers did not fully understand God, his heart or what he was doing.

When Jesus came he showed us what God was really like and brought the key part of God’s plan into play through his birth, life, death and resurrection. Then the New Testament goes on to explain fully all of what God was doing through the Old Testament and what he did by sending his Son. (God knew that the Bible would start in Genesis and end in Revelation before he started inspiring the first writer. He intended it to be a progressive revelation of himself and unless we read its parts in the context of its whole story and God’s plan we won’t understand it.)

God was never winging it. He knew the beginning from the end and we can be confidant that he is still in control and that we are in the middle of his master plan for us.

 

God’s Garden

Now that we have established that let’s dive into the story. God created the Heavens and the Earth and he created Adam and Eve in his image and breathed into them his life. He created us to be his children.

God spent time with Adam and Eve in the Garden, loving them, teaching them, directing them as a loving Father with his children.

He blessed them and told them to be fruitful and multiply and subdue and manage the Earth. Although he knew that sin would temporarily interrupt the program he gave us a peek into his ultimate intentions for us by showing us a bit about his relationship with Adam and Eve in the Garden.

We were created like God in many ways as his children and he has awesome things in store for us but the ultimate thing he has for us is a relationship and partnership with him. We were meant to walk with him, learn from him and move out and do great things with him.

However because God loves us he gave us a choice; would we love and trust him and receive his love and help or not?

 

God’s Love Lets Us Choose

In order to understand sin and where we went off track we need to look closely at what went wrong in the Garden.

What did Satan do in order to lure the first two away? He called God’s integrity and intentions for them into question.

Genesis 3: 2 - 5 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”  ”You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.  ”For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Basically, Satan told them that God was lying and that he really could not be trusted to look out for anyone but himself. That is where humankind went off the rails. We chose to doubt the one who lovingly created us, so we disobeyed him instead of trusting him.

We have to understand that, yes, sin is disobeying God, but the root of disobedience (and the key issue) is not trusting God. If we trust his love then we know that what he tells us is always what is best for us. Sin is merely the fruit of doubt and/or distrust.

 

God’s Separation Plan

God had promised that Adam and Eve would die on the day that they ate the fruit. We know that they did not die physically that day, (although sin caused that to happen eventually as well) so what was God referring to? Paul tells us that the death that took place that day was a spiritual death, (Eph. 2:1) which happened when Adam and Eve listened to the father of lies and chose sin.

Adam and Eve’s separation from God or spiritual death was demonstrated by God sending Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. God showed us that it was his desire for Humankind to grow with him and fill and manage the Earth. But we chose to do it on our own terms, so we started out to do it on our own, outside the garden.

It is interesting to note that although we separated ourselves from God and we were spiritually dead (separated from God in our hearts) God never left us. Remember, God knew the beginning from the end. When Adam and Eve’s son killed his brother God spoke to him.

Genesis 4:10 – 14 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

Notice that Cain added to what God said. Cain said that he would be hidden from God’s presence, God didn’t say that. God loves us all, sin got in the way but he had a solution for that before he started.

When Adam and Eve sinned all humankind became sinful. Their children and all children ever born were born (like their parents) outside of the Garden and separated from God. Paul explains it in Romans saying that by one man’s sin, sin passed to all humankind (Romans 5:12). Sin gave birth to what the Bible calls the sin nature. When we are separated from God, his light, life and presence we are in darkness. Jesus described it by saying that our father is the devil and we end up wanting to carry out his desires (John 8:44).

So just like Adam, Eve and Cain most of humankind has been running from God and his presence, trying to do it their own way, steeped in sin and darkness ever since.

 

God’s Foundation

At first humankind’s rampage of sin took them so far into darkness that God had to step in like the loving parent of a very disobedient child who needs to be spanked so that they understand that bad behavior has consequences.

God found one guy on the planet that was not actively running from his presence but was choosing despite his sinful nature to trust God. His name was Noah and the flood was the spanking.

Have you ever heard someone refer to the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament? It almost makes it sound like they were two different Gods. But remember the Bible is a progressive revelation of who God is and his plan.

Because humankind had a sinful nature they needed to be treated like a rebellious child and given boundaries with strict consequences to prevent them from completely running amuck while God was putting his plan in place. It was never God’s intention to have this kind of rebellious / punishment relationship with us. It came as a result of our sin and/or lack of trust.

After the flood, humankind (on the whole) went back to their old ways but with a little more caution and with the sinful nature somewhat restrained.

 

God’s Chosen People

The next part of God’s plan was Abraham. God chose a partner man who became a partner couple, then family and then a partner nation to help bring his plan to pass.

God’s plan was not to single out one nation to be his favorites. It was to single out a nation that would assist him in bringing about his ultimate plan of bringing the world back to him. He told Abraham from the beginning that through his seed the nations of the world would be blessed. Paul tells us that the word ‘seed’ is singular and referred to Christ.

Later God appointed Moses to set up some boundaries and consequences for his people to reveal his holiness and expectations to them and to try and keep them on track. So the Old Testament law was put in place. (Paul described the law as a schoolmaster until Christ came.)

 

The Old Covenant

The law became the foundation for a covenant (or a legal agreement) between God and Israel.

The deal was simple. God told Israel that if they obeyed the law and did all that God told them to do then he would be their God, which meant he would teach them, provide for them, protect them, lead them etc. So essentially God outlined the deal this way, if you do your part, I’ll do mine (Jeremiah 11:2 – 5).

It is important to see that through the Old Testament story of God’s dealings with Israel, their disobedience is linked with their trust. Just like what we saw in the Garden of Eden. When Israel and/or individual Israelites did not trust God, they disobeyed God.

Again, God knew the beginning from the end and he knew what the results of this covenant would be. The law could not bring people to God because it couldn’t solve the sin nature problem and trust cannot be demanded. So except for a few shining examples of Israelites who chose to trust God, the law failed to bring the Israelites close to God.

 

God’s New Deal

God spoke through his prophets and announced a New Covenant.

Jeremiah spoke about the New Agreement (Covenant) that was coming and what its terms would be.

“The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.  ”This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. (Jeremiah 31:31 – 33)

The prophet Ezekiel also wrote about the terms of the new deal.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:25 – 27)

So although the prophets did not fully understand it, they announced that it was God’s plan to somehow move the deal from ‘You do your part then I will do mine,’ to I will do my part and I will change you from the inside out and cause you to do your part as well.

This could only be accomplished if sin could be defeated, the sin nature cured and if somehow we could be brought back into God’s presence and if our performance after that could be guaranteed.

The Bible says that the prophets longed to know how God was going to accomplish his plan. Let’s see how it unfolds.

 

God’s Only Son

So when the time was right God pulled the switch on the centerpiece of his plan and Jesus, who always was and always will be God, was born to Mary a virgin.

Why a virgin? For a number of reasons. If he was born of a human sperm he would have been human and he would have had the awful human generational virus called the sin nature. He would have been born a sinner.

Jesus being born without an earthly father shows that he was God’s Son and that he was born without sin or the sin nature. Which was essential because if a criminal is sentenced to death another criminal also sentence to death cannot offer to die in his place because his life is already spoken for to pay for his own crimes.

God established in the Garden from the start that the penalty for sin is death, (spiritual and physical). Remember every one of us was born in sin, separated from God, children of Adam and Eve with a sin nature. Before we sinned once we were sinners and sentenced to death. We are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners.

 

Jesus’ Life and Death

Jesus was not in the clear yet though. In order to die in our place he needed to be God for the reasons of love and responsibility. He needed to be born sinless and he needed to live a completely sinless life. That was another of God’s purposes for the law. Jesus’ life was to be measured up against it. If he sinned in his life by breaking God’s law (demonstrating mistrust) then again he would be captured by sin like Adam and Eve were.

Fortunately for us, Jesus lived a sinless life and when it was time for him to be falsely accused, beaten and led to the cross, he was ready.

Just before Jesus died he said, “It is finished.” He had done what he had decided to do for us before he created us. He lived, suffered and died in our place. He took responsibility for his children and died in our place for our sins so we wouldn’t have to.

Jesus did not just die for some sin. He died to pay the price for every sin ever committed or would be committed by every human ever past, present and future. That was necessary because his death absolutely stripped sin of its power. It can never again cause an Adam and Eve and remove any of his children from his presence.

Is that justice? Yes, as Paul explains it in Romans five, by one man’s sin (Adam’s) sin ruled over everyone. We were sinners when we were born. But as Paul continues to explain, by the actions of one man (Jesus) sin’s rule was ended. So through Adam we were separated from God through no actions of our own and through what Christ did we can be forgiven and made right with God, again by no actions of our own.

So does that mean that everyone everywhere is saved and on their way to heaven? Sorry, no.

 

Choosing To Trust God

There is a second part to the famous John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

We are back where Adam and Eve were. Because Jesus died for us we have the ability to choose to believe and trust God and put our lives in his hands or not. The difference is now, sin cannot take us down because it has been stripped of its power.

Everyone, everywhere now has the ability to choose to become God’s child and have him be their God and Heavenly Father, loving them, directing them, growing, teaching and caring for them.

The words of John 3:16 were spoken by Jesus when he was talking to a Jewish leader named Nicodemus. He also told Nicodemus, “I assure you that unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God.”

Remember that God told Adam and Eve that they would die the day they ate the forbidden fruit. They died spiritually that day because they were separated from God. Everyone born physically since then has been born spiritually dead, separated from God.

Now through the death and resurrection of Jesus we have the opportunity to reverse the process. When we choose to trust God and believe that he loves us and sent his Son to die for us, he forgives us, removes our sin and reconnects us to him as his child. At that moment our spirit becomes alive again, we are born again.

Paul described the process this way, “For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the father but by me.” Some take this as too exclusive. They look at this as an organizational, religious, cultural and sometimes even ethnic exclusive. In other words they view it as a narrow-minded statement that says our group is right and everyone else is wrong.

It is the exact opposite. This famous statement of Christ’s was probably one of the most inclusive statements ever spoken. Remember it was God’s plan to create us as his children and he has awesome things planned for us. He chose the Israelites and gave them an important part to play in his plan to reach all nations.

Jesus died for everyone everywhere no matter what their ethnicity, religious upbringing, culture, no matter their what their sin or past or life or anything else all are invited to come. Jesus was opening up the door to absolutely everyone and he wanted everyone to know how to get in. Not how to get into a different culture or a certain church but how to be forgiven and become a child of God.

 

God’s Invitation

If you have never been born again you are invited right now. No matter who you are, where you are from, what you have done or what you have been through. NO ONE IS EXCLDED. God loves you and his Son Jesus died in your place. You can pray right now no matter where you are. Tell God that you believe in his Son Jesus, ask him to forgive you and make you his child. Put it in your own words, he knows your heart, he will respond to you like a loving father running to meet a son or daughter that he has not seen in awhile and misses terribly.

If you just prayed that you are a child of God, your sins have been forgiven and God has connected you with himself by putting his Spirit in your heart. He now wants to start that relationship with you that he gave us a glimpse of in the Garden. He wants to show you his love, guide and lead you, teach you, grow you and care for you. He wants to hear from you in prayer and start walking with you in your life. You are now part of the New Covenant.

 

Back In The Garden

We have talked earlier about the Old Covenant, and what the prophets said about the New one coming. In the Old God said you do your part and I will do mine.

The prophets said that in the New Covenant God would take away our hearts of stone, give us new hearts and put his Spirit inside us. They said that he would be our God and we would be his people, that God would write his laws on our hearts and that he would cause us to walk in his way.

Paul said that the Good News (Gospel) is the power of God at work saving everyone who believes. He goes on to say that this Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight and that this is accomplished from start to finish by faith. (Romans 1:16 – 17)

Here is the real Good News. Jesus not only died to get your ticket to heaven punched, through Christ’s death and resurrection he has called you into his presence to be his child and he is not just waiting to see if you are going to live up to his expectations. As you trust him he has promised to teach you and change you from the inside out and cause you to walk in his way and to become all that he originally created you to be. In the New Deal he has promised to do his part and he has promised to cause you to do yours as you trust and allow him. The Good News is from first to last, the same power of God that brought you into his Kingdom will work in you and take you victoriously through this life no matter what great things and hardships you encounter.

You are better than back where Adam and Eve were in the Garden. You have the choice again to walk with God and go out with him, learning from him and expanding the Garden instead of having to leave it. Only through what Jesus did, you cannot fail.

 

God’s Win/Win Deal

God’s plan is so awesome, he had to give us a choice because he loves us and even though he could see that we would walk away for a time and that he would have to suffer, he knew that it would be worth it for us in the long run so he went ahead.

But he planned it so that the very thing that could trip us up, sin, could be made powerless forever. Then to ensure that even our own apathy or inability would keep us from all of what God has for us for all of eternity he undertook to not only guarantee to do his part but to work in us and cause us to do our part!

No wonder the Bible says that God is love!

 

Now What?

I started this section by stating why reading and understanding the Gospel is so important to Christian Parenting. If you have prayed and asked God to make you his child you already can see how essential this step is to you and your children.

If this has happened to you please email us and let us know. But more importantly if you know any Christians that are close to you, tell them and let them help you get started in your walk with God.

If you are a parent, stepparent, grandparent or even planning on being a parent it is very important that you know how to help your children/stepchildren and/or grandchildren understand these foundational truths.

You should be able to get started just because you now understand it more thoroughly.

However if you want to know how to put it simply in a way that kids will understand and also to be prepared for their follow up questions, I highly recommend the book ‘801 Questions Children Ask About God.”

You can sit down with this book with your kids and find the answers to pretty much any question they have about Jesus and their salvation. In doing so you will start those of your children who have not yet become Christians on the road to that decision. And for those who are already Christians you will help strengthen their Faith and put them on the road to understanding it more thoroughly and being able to share it with others.

Happy Christian Parenting!

It’s the economy, mom and dad

Listening to all the news about economy lately has got me thinking about an old friend. Anyone remember the best-seller, ‘The Coming Economic Earthquake’? One Amazon review, written last month, says this about the book, “This book clearly outlines why the recession is here and it was written in 1991 predicting it.”

I had the pleasure of knowing Larry Burkett and being able to call him my friend for several years before he left us to be with our Lord. He was a wonderful person, a faithful friend and an awesome man of God. He studied the Bible and understood perhaps better than anyone what God’s Word says and teaches about money.

I met Larry shortly after he wrote ‘The Coming Economic Earthquake’ and although I didn’t understand all of what he was saying about where the economy was going, we talked about something that was near to my heart. Him and his son Allen Burkett Jr. wanted to help parents teach their kids Biblical financial principles so that Christians and the Church in the generations to come could stand strong during tough times.

Larry showed me the conclusions of a nation wide survey that tested the financial IQ of high school seniors. The director of the report summed up the results by saying that our kids were graduating financially illiterate. He also shared with me statistics that showed that 85% of young couples who divorce site financial issues as the reason for their marital breakdown. That discussion led to Larry and I co-writing the book ‘Financial Parenting.’ I also went on to work with both Larry Sr. and Jr. to develop many resources that help parents teach their children financial principles.

The Bible tells us that as parents we are to bring our children up in the instruction of the Lord. The Bible doesn’t just teach us about God, love and salvation. Moses, Solomon, Jesus, Paul and others were all used by God’s Spirit to teach us about stewardship and proper money management. It’s our job as parents to safeguard our children’s future by intentionally bringing them up in these truths.

I don’t know if the ‘Economic Earthquake’ as Larry saw it is here yet but I do know that if we want our kids to survive financially, now and in the future, we need to spend some time teaching them what God’s Word says about money.

The Coming Economic Earthquake, Financial Parenting and the other resources we developed for kids have been selling well and helping families for years but perhaps they are even more relevant and more important now.

Although Larry Burkett is no longer with us, every book he wrote was based on God’s Word and therefore timeless and very relevant today. I highly recommend the following books and any other’s with my friend’s name on them.

            

 

 

(RICK OSBORNE / Christian Author, Speaker & Bible Teacher)

Romancing your family

During the worship service in church we sang a song from Psalms 84. When I sang David’s words, “better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere,” it struck me that David romanced God. He sang to him, he danced before him, he yearned to be in his presence, he wrote many psalms pouring out his heart and feelings towards him and he showed him his love with extravagant displays of adventurous obedience.

After having that thought, my mind jumped immediately to the same question that yours just did, “Can someone romance God? Isn’t romance reserved as a wonderful dance between a man and a woman?” So I looked up the word romance. While it is true that the word romance has, for the most part, come to refer to the expression of love between lovers, its origin and breath of meaning reveals other possibilities of use for this powerful word.

The word originally referred to a type of popular stories that were written in the Roman language; fanciful stories of extravagant and surprising adventures, featuring heroes and heroines, stories that carried their readers away. A romance is a story. It seems that over time the word began to be used of the romance or the adventurous love story between a man and a woman. Unfortunately, for many of us, the word has merely come to mean taking our significant other out for a dinner or buying them flowers once in awhile. However, what it should mean to us, is to intentionally weave and build your love relationship into a wonderful lifelong tale of expressed love and shared adventure.

Knowing this and seeing that the word’s definition is not just confined to the love between a man and a woman, I rethought David. His whole life story was a romance, full of adventure and all built on the foundation of his love for God and his expression of that love. David’s life was a romance with God.

Wow! I started thinking right away of how I could romance God. Sing him a song, write him a poem, stop more often to thank him and find more ways to demonstrate my love; unexpected, not required, from-the-heart, just-because-I-love-him ways. I want to intentionally build a love story, an unexpected romance between God and myself.

Now stay with me because my musings took me one step further. Jesus said that when we express our love to others, giving to them, caring for them and helping them, that he takes it as if we were expressing our love for him (Matthew 25:45). One way we can romance God is by loving and serving those around us.

When I think of romancing my wife (and now God as well) I look for thoughtful and unexpected ways to surprise with an expression of my love. These expressions begin to build our story or romance.

So one way to romance God is to look for unexpected ways to surprise those around us with expressions of our love for them. I’m calling it ‘Romancing your family.’ Here’s how; stop at the store and pick up your kid’s favorite chocolate bar, hug them when they walk by, write them a nice note, sit down beside them and be interested in what they’re doing or tell them something you love about them etc. Every thoughtful and unexpected expression of your love will build your relationships and begin weaving a wonderful story out of each of them.

My wife has called me a romantic but I want to take this to a whole new level. As I live my life romancing God directly and by loving others, my prayer is that God would weave each effort together so that one day the story of my life can be looked at like David’s and called a romance.

What can you do today to romance God by surprising each member of your family with an unexpected expression of your love?

For more quick and easy parenting tips for bringing change to your family, we recommend “Parenting at the Speed of Life”

(RICK OSBORNE / Christian Author, Speaker & Bible Teacher)

How to get your kids to listen

In the very beginning of creation God announced that it wasn’t good for man to be alone. That announcement led to the first marriage, the first family, the first friends and the first community.

God created us to function in and be blessed by relationships. Not only in relationships with others but also in a relationship with him.

Jesus stated that the two greatest commandments were to love God and also to love others. Since God is love and therefore void of selfishness, his two greatest commandments should carry with them the greatest secrets of an awesome life and they do. Having a wonderful growing relationship with God and wonderful growing relationships with others is truly the biggest key to an awesome life. Loving and being loved. Read more

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