Parenting on Purpose: Parent’s Priority – Week 1
Speaker: Daniel Erasmus
Worship and check-in: As part of worship, listen to “Great are you Lord” by All Sons & Daughters. Let us take time to acknowledge who God is and what He does. He gives life and hope. He restores the broken-hearted and brings light to the darkness. And the one thing we can do is to give Him our praise. So, spend some time giving him thanks and pouring out your praise to Him!
Check-in: As part of your check-in, share one step you took to plant or water a seed in the life of a Next Gen person and how did it go? If you haven’t taken this step, have you identified anyone?
Bible Readings: Deuteronomy 6:1-2; Deuteronomy 6:4-5; 6-9; Proverbs 3:9-10; 13:20; 4:24; 6:6-8; 23:7; 11:25; 1:7
Preparation and Discussion for Group Time:
There’s no denying that raising another human being is a challenging assignment. Ps Daniel shared on Sunday, as written in Deuteronomy 6, that it’s a parent’s priority to gradually transfer a child’s dependence away from the parents until their dependence rests solely on God. But how do we do this? There are also two fundamentals wrapped up in this portion of the scripture
- The first important point is to “Love Your God” Deuteronomy 6: 4-5, Not just loving Him a little bit but with your whole heart. It needs to be evident in our lives who our main priority is. Not just saying that we love God but to display this as well. Take some time to reflect on this and then discuss what loving God with your whole heart should look like. Then share if it’s something your child/grandchild/godchild/niece/nephew, etc, can clearly see in you. Or does your lifestyle display a love for other things? If so, what needs to change?
- The second thing we can learn from this portion of scripture is to “Lead our Families”. This calls for intentional leading (where you set the standards) and is displayed by putting God first, then our spouse, then our kids. We, therefore, need to intentionally lead our kids to God. The following scriptures in Proverbs indicate how we can train our kids: 1. To manage money (3:9-10); carefully select friends (13:20); watch their words (4:24); be responsible (6:6-8); guard their minds (23:7); be generous (11:25); fear God (1:7). If you’re struggling in any of these areas then it may be difficult to model it to your kids. Share with your group which of these you find challenging in your own life, read the corresponding scripture then go around praying for each other in this regard
Check out and Prayer:
Read Deuteronomy 6:6-7 “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lied own and when you get up.”
Check out: Share one thing you’ll be doing in the upcoming week/s to model a God-first behaviour with your young ones, or your nieces/nephews/godchild/grandchild, etc.
Prayer: Commit each other to prayer as you close, including those single parents (perhaps not in your group) that may find parenting very hard, and couples who are struggling to conceive.
Love God:
- Meditate on Deuteronomy 6: 5 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
- For personal study check out the following devotions on YouVersion:
- When the World Wakes Up – a great devotion to do with your little ones.
- Help, I’m a Parent
- Parenting Scriptures
Love People:
- For upcoming next steps in your discipleship journey; like Baptism or serving. Sign up online at Church Center/ the website.
