11/11 Sermon on Wisdom, Part 3

Last Sunday at The Family Church here in Gainesville, senior pastor Philip Griffin delivered the third installment of his Wisdom message series, focusing on the Old Testament book of Proverbs.  The topic was about raising children...unfortunately I was unable to attend, and the usual link to a video recording of the message wasn't available on YouTube.  Instead, I viewed a recording of the live broadcast, which did not feature the sermon notes.  Consequently, this summary will be a little less formal...

Proverbs 15:6 reads as follows: The house of the righteous contains great treasure, but the income of the wicked brings ruin. Pastor Philip chose the first part of this verse to focus on, and he applied it to how children need to be brought up. Many parents want their children to be happy...don't we all...but the main aim in their development should be to raise them to be Godly, not necessarily happy.  And that means not trying to avoid the inevitable unpleasant conflict scenarios that can happen whenever discipline and correction are necessary. So how do parents accomplish this? By demonstrating through their own example their faith in the Lord and displaying the Godly behavior and speech that they want to impart to their own...after all, as our pastor continued, the children are always watching their parents and will find themselves adopting their behaviors later on in their adult lives, even without intending to do so.  In other words, example is stronger than admonition, and admonition if not accompanied by a constructive, discerning discipline will not work since children in general are masters of noting what is not enforced.  And since they often play one parent off against the other, a united front is also needed regarding the rules and consequences for violating them.  Throughout his sermon Pastor Philip kept going back to that Proverbs verse and the treasure of the house of the righteous: our children need that treasure that only a Godly home will provide them.  And, he added, we cannot outsource the spiritual upbringing of our children as we would with karate or piano lessons: church is not an adequate substitute for the home as mothers and fathers carry much more influence over them than even pastors...

The Family Church is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street, holding its Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30.  There is the weekly message, wonderful praise and worship music, prayer, lots of friendly folks, and a hospitality room featuring free coffee before and between services. You can join small groups and discipleship classes that take place other times on Sunday and during the week.  And in connection with this particular message about children and parents, I'd like to add that our church has some foster families who shared their outlooks and experiences, encouraging others to follow suit...our pastor considers this to be a kind of home-community missions work that doesn't necessarily require travel abroad...