February 23, 2024

Joining God’s Work in the Lives of Your Family

“Whatever else may be said about the home, it is the bottom line of the life, the anvil upon which attitudes and convictions are hammered out.  It is the place where life’s bills come due, the single most influential force in our earthly existence … We must make the salvation of our children our number one priority.  Nothing else is more important.”

– Chuck Swindoll

If you ever want a practice that will make you feel your age, consider these thoughts.  Teenagers these days do not know a life without the internet, YouTube, smartphones, or texting.  They have grown up constantly comparing their lives and themselves to the examples they find on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and other social media platforms.  Their exposure to music has always been digital and would think that a CD is a miniature frisbee to be thrown around in the back yard.  They find themselves desperate for role models and the world around them is pointing them towards individuals that can’t seem to write a four-minute song that doesn’t objectify women or glorify drunkenness, recreational drug use, and painting the picture that sex is nothing more than a weekend hobby or pastime.  If you spend any amount of time among some groups of teenagers, you will likely experience their limited vocabulary and their inability to form intelligent thoughts without the presence of words that would never have been even considered appropriate for public communication even ten years ago.  It is difficult to find public television shows that do not normalize same sex relationships, push political agendas, and highlight matters that break the heart of God. 

I know there is likely someone reading this who is younger than me and you’re saying right now, “Wow, Pastor Brandon has turned into a grumpy old man who doesn’t understand culture and society.”  In some respects, I suppose that is a fair statement.  However, in the over four decades of life experience, the decline of the moral fiber of the world around us is undeniable.  The evidence of it is everywhere. 

What you won’t hear from me is pointing fingers at politicians, a lack of positive role models, the influence of pop culture, or what used to be everyone’s favorite scape goat, “that rap music”.  Instead, I’m more convinced than ever the decline of the moral fiber of today’s young people began when we stopped putting necessary emphasis on the family as God designed it.  The only hope we have to restore some semblance of moral fiber back into the culture our young people will live in is that we must make the choice to JOIN GOD’S WORK IN THE LIVES OF OUR FAMILY.  We do our kids an injustice if we merely want them to meet our expectations.  Instead, we need to be aware of God’s desires for our family and our kids, and join God in that work in and through our families. 

I pray that you can join us this Sunday as we wrap up our Experiencing God series and take a deep dive into how we can join God’s work in the lives of our family. 

Grateful,

Pastor Brandon