
Parenting with Purpose
Relationship Goals
October 31, 2021
God’s plan is that parents have the primary role of teaching their children to love God and live for Him.
These are the commands, decrees, and regulations that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. You must obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy, and you and your children and grandchildren must fear the Lord your God as long as you live. If you obey all his decrees and commands, you will enjoy a long life. Listen closely, Israel, and be careful to obey. Then all will go well with you, and you will have many children in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. —Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord. —Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged. —Colossians 3:21
Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” —Matthew 28:18-20
The purpose of parenting is to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
1. Establish who is in the center.
“Jesus came and told his disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth…”
2. Teach for heart change, not behavior change.
“Teach these new disciples to obery all the commands I have given you…”
3. Remember who is with you.
“… And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
4. Before you can make a disciple, you have to be one.
“Jesus came and told his disciples…”