Talking the Talk - Teaching the Next Generation Lesson

Wow - what a busy, whirlwind weekend. I had gone back and forth several times to Maranatha Bible Camp to do music for the Jr. Bash (overnighter for kids), so I don't think I was mentally with it enough to say everything I wanted to Sunday morning.

I guess this class is my heart for Christian families. I have banged my head against the wall so many times trying to help kids with Christian parents understand basic Bible concepts. Why have so many parents believed the lie that someone else would teach their kids the Bible?

Maybe it's because we have all of our priorities and basic assumptions out of whack. I heard Os Guiness on the radio the other night - there's a guy that is trying to help people, as he says, to "think Christianly." He said there is a four step process that lead's us away from God and His Word into the ways of the world.

First there is ASSUMPTION - because we watch and listen to wordly messages and inundate our lives with commercial marketing strategies, we begin to assume that the world has something better than God does. This goes against God's Word, which says,
"You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." James 4:4

Then, there is ADAPTION (or ADOPTION) - this is the point where we try to combine God and the world - a little compromise here, a little there - it doesn't seem like that big a deal. The James 4:4 verse seems more powerful here, for we are, an "adulterous" people when we move down the slope of compromise into the quaqmire of the world.

Third, there is ABANDONMENT - this is the point that so many compromises have been made, that it is easier to just go whole hog and forget what God has said. The sad part about this is that many Christians allow their children to get to this point by their own bad choices, and then panic when they see this in their kids.

Fourth, there is ASSIMILATION - this is the Star Trek "Borg Collective" idea - that in order to fit in with the culture, we have to act like the culture does in everything.

It is time for Christian parents to stop this cycle of decline into worldliness by teaching children in an authoritative way, what God's Word says, and how it applies to their lives. I'll finish this lesson next week, with the idea that 2 Timothy 3:16 tells that Scripture has real life usefulness and application.

I'd love to hear any comments or questions!

Click Here for Sunday's lesson - Talking the Talk Part 1- Teaching The Next Generation."

If you don't have the Free Adobe Acrobat Reader, you'll need to get that here.

Acrobat reader will enable you to read the document (and any PDF file) This link takes you to the Glendale Christian Church website where I keep my teaching stuff. (I also have the same link on the sidebar.)