Influence Your Family Moral Warehouse
5/21/06 AM
Pastor Brad Dyrness
Sparks Nazarene Church
Point your kids in the right direction— when they’re old they won’t be lost. -The Message
We can succeed at a lot of things and fail at the most important ones:
being Godly people, committed spouses & successful parents.
Success at work alone will, without a doubt, leave you empty and hungry for something different.
Eli
succeeded at work. He was the priest of Israel, but he failed to “restrain” his
own sons and lost his family’s call to be the priest of Israel.
God has called us to train and restrain our children.
How?
There tend to be two kinds of parents –
Authoritarian and Permissive
Sometimes a balance is hard to find.
Here are some principles that will not only apply to how we train our children, but also to how we restrain ourselves.
Psalm
119:11 – I have hidden your word in my
heart that I might not sin against
you. –
I’ve banked your promises in the vault of my heart so I won’t sin myself bankrupt. –The Message
How do we bank on God’s Promises?
Action - Hiding the promises and commands of God
Object – God’s Word - Making God’s Word the basis of my life
Place – My Heart, our heart is a moral warehouse of sorts which: Receives instruction, stores instruction, and can retrieve instruction.
When parents help a child by placing virtues such as honesty, respect, fairness, wisdom, honor, gentleness and patience in his heart, the conscience can begin to do its work; it knows what is right before God and can respond accordingly.
Knowledge does not guarantee moral conduct but moral conduct will not naturally happen without knowledge.
How does our conscience work?
Warning and Accusing or…
Prompting and Confirming
Man’s heart is the ethical command post of life.
How can we place these truths in our children’s hearts?
By setting a clear standard
Through trusting, loving relationships
If you’re not investing in your children’s moral warehouse, someone else is!