Christian before marriage: I am first a Christian then I am married, then I earn money, then I have children. I am a Christian then I am a father / mother.
Parenting mistake: (Pastor John and Pastor Sharon choosing the best education for their children first and then helping their children to stay Christians. Pastor John assumed that because he managed to walk his Christianity through his school career, his sons would have the ability to do the same). I decide that my children’s walk with God is the primary thing in their life and then they must get well educated. It’s a different approach completely. Pastor John is not talking about what education I choose for my children but that they are first Christians, that should get educated. The way I lived life is very different to the way my children live life and how they are impacted by life. I can’t make a decision as to how life is going to impact them. I live with them as life is impacting them, this is where my parental role is very important
Protection: “But the education process in the way that your mind is exposed to many things, not just what you’re learning, not just what your degree is teaching you. The campuses are breeding grounds for all kinds of spirits”. The Light is stronger than darkness and I teach my children never to be afraid of their ability to go into the darkness and be the Light. The darkness cannot overcome the Light. “But I will say this to you that that the enemy of God has begun to program the world system so, that young people are being affected by the power of the world spirit at such a young age that it’s very difficult to protect them from what is being talked about in the world”. My home is an essential part of that protection. The Church is an essential part of that protection. If I want my children to be protected, I’ve got to have them in a good church, exposed constantly and continuously to good teaching of the Word of God and allow them to be exposed to other Christians that I’m connected with, that are living examples of Christ-living.
Hear and see: “Part of what happens in the home is that when children come home and see a different standard at home than to what they’re hearing, then it becomes a challenge to them and they get confused”. If I say I’m a Christian and I’m serving God with all my heart but I’m living a life that is a compromised lifestyle – living for myself in the way I want to live at home, then my children will go after what I do, not what I say or what is being said at church.
Authentic: “It is also important that in the connection process of the organic Church that we are living in, that we are authentic together, real Christians that speak the same language, that have the same emphasis on living in the Word” because when my children get around this environment, they see everybody’s talking like this and that this is the way the Church is supposed to be. We share Christ in each other and with each other then it becomes a healthy environment for my children to grow into. When they’ve got that Light I have got much more confidence for them to go into the world because they have a standard that they are observing, touching, that is becoming part of them and when it’s part of them, then they go into the world and say, “Now I see the darkness.” But if the darkness is also at home and in the world, then my children won’t know what’s happening and will think “Church is just the church, what I live is different”. Then it will be the same in business, in marriage and in the way they behave with their friends and come to church.
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