Experiencing God With Your Children
Sermon Outline
30 Oct 2021
Big Idea: God wants children and parents to experience him together!
Luke 2:41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” 49 And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
God entrusts human parents with his kids.
Psalm 139:13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. … 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
- God has a plan and purpose for every one of his children.
- Parenting God’s kids is a life-long privilege.
Parents’ role is to help their children experience God and fulfill his purposes for their lives.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
- This goes beyond merely teaching children about God.
Parents must advance God’s agenda—not theirs—for their kids.
Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Isaiah 54:13 All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children.
- What is God working in my child? How can I join him? What adjustments must I make?
Kids of all ages should let God work through their parents.
Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”
- What is God working in me through my parents? How can I join him? What adjustments must I make?
Strategies to Experience God with your children:
Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
- Strategy #1: Model an “experiencing God” life to your children.
- Strategy #2: Talk about God’s activities with your children.
- Strategy #3: Encourage your children to join God’s work.