All youth and parents are invited to the six14 ice skating fun event.
Please RSVP to Rosie Mertens so that she can book the group reservation. The cost per person may go down, depending on the size of the group.
In our most recent six14meeting, I recommended that all parents consider using the book Worldliness in their discipleship of their teens. Worldliness includes contributions from C.J. Mahaney, Bob Kaulfin, Dave Harvey, Jeff Purswell and Craig Cabaniss on very practical topics like media, music and clothes. Each chapter also has a set of discussion questions that target the mind, heart, and life (provided at the end of the book). Parents, I’d encourage you to make this book part of your family library and to read and discuss it with your teen. You can pick up a copy at the resource center on Sunday, or you can order it online.
As we talked about in our last six14 meeting, the fear of the Lord is the key to knowledge and wisdom in the book Proverbs (see the “motto” for the entire book: Prov 1.7). Fearing God will help us approach issues like that of influence (Prov 13.20) in a God-glorifying way. Jerry Bridges’ book The Joy of Fearing God would be a great read for youth (and parents) to grow in fearing and loving God.
I also saw that the GirlTalk bloggers had a helpful post on the fear of the Lord; I commend it to you.
How do we get the fear of the Lord?
The answer is in Psalm 34:11. “Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.”
How exciting! God, in His perfect holiness, was once opposed to us because of our sin. But if we have repented and believed in His Son, he has become our heavenly Father. Now he beckons us to come, sit at His feet, and learn to fear Him.
I’ll be honest: gaining the fear of the Lord will not be easy. In fact, if we try to do it on our own, we will certainly fall short. But the good news is that God has promised to teach us.
Learning to fear the Lord begins with prayer. It’s how we respond to God’s invitation to come to Him. “Teach me your way, O Lord,” we must ask, “that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name (Ps. 86:11).
God also teaches us to fear Him through His Word. As one author explains, the Bible is like “a textbook on the fear of the Lord.” If we study it faithfully we will learn to fear God.
If you have a godly mother, God also wants you to learn the fear of the Lord from her. She can help you learn how to apply the fear of the Lord in the every day trials and struggles of teenage life.
The Bible promises that if you make it your life goal to obtain the fear of the Lord, you will find happiness, security, riches, honor and rest (Pr. 28:14, 14:26, 22:4, 19:23). Everything that teenagers are longing for is only to be found in fearing God.
Fear the Lord and you will have no fear for your future. For the Lord “will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure” (Isa. 33:6).
Sorry, friends, for being slow with these Thursday Thoughts; they’ve often been on Friday, or not appeared at all! Here’s the good news though – I found the whole discussion guide for Thoughts for Young Men online. One of our related churches had it posted as a resource for youth and parents. You can download it right here.
Again, I would encourage you to consider utilizing this resource. There are many good resources out there, but this is certainly something of a time-tested classic – and there aren’t many of those out there!
Because you’re getting the whole thing, I’m looking for ways to serve you (parents and youth) with our Thursday Thoughts. Please send a comment with your suggestions; I would love to hear them. My goal here is just to serve you any way I can.
Grateful for you!
Hi, everyone! It was great being with you on Saturday night for another parent-youth corporate meeting. We started a new series of messages that we’re calling “My Peers” to get God’s perspective on this important arena. And we began with Proverbs 13.20 instructing us about the reality of influence in a young person’s life (and in all of our lives!).
Here’s the manuscript of my message in case it serves you to review it.
Also, below you will find the discussion questions and the parent-youth fellowship points that were handed out.
I hope these items serve you.
DISCUSS – with your discussion group
APPLY – in fellowship with your parent(s)
Suggested fellowship points to continue the conversation…
Parents and youth, our next corporate meeting is this Saturday at Plank Jr. High!
We will begin a new series entitled “My Peers” and, in our first installment, we will talk about the reality of influence in our lives. We want to see how, as Charles Bridges put it commenting on Proverbs 13.20: “It is not left to us to determine, whether there shall be any influence; only, what that influence shall be” (from Proverbs, his commentary on the book – which I would highly recommend).
We’ll also enjoy some games, singing, and fellowship together. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. (pizza will be available for $3 per person), and the meeting will start at 6:14 p.m.
Hope to see you there!
Tab
Donald Whitney (whose outstanding book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, is being read by many of the high-schoolers) has created the following 10 questions to consider for the start of a new year, or for a birthday. I thought they would provide some helpful grist for conversation when pursuing parent-teen fellowship. In case they serve you, the questions are below.
But let me add one thing: in all these arenas for new effort and new growth, let us examine them in the shadow of the cross. It is the finished work of our crucified and risen Savior that frees us from our sins, empowers us for lasting change, and gives us the appropriate grace-motivation for pursuing such change. So, a follow-up question might be: how might the gospel give you hope for pursuing this change and faith if you fail to make this change?
Ten Questions to Ask at the Start of a New Year or On Your Birthday
Once, when the people of God had become careless in their relationship with Him, the Lord rebuked them through the prophet Haggai. “Consider your ways!” (Haggai 1:5) he declared, urging them to reflect on some of the things happening to them, and to evaluate their slipshod spirituality in light of what God had told them.
Even those most faithful to God occasionally need to pause and think about the direction of their lives. It’s so easy to bump along from one busy week to another without ever stopping to ponder where we’re going and where we should be going.
The beginning of a new year is an ideal time to stop, look up, and get our bearings. To that end, here are some questions to ask prayerfully in the presence of God.
1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
2. What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?
3. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?
4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?
5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?
6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?
7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?
8. What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?
9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?
10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?
The next Growth Group meeting (for participating high-schoolers and their parents) will be Saturday, Feb. 7 at 8 a.m. at the Trainors’ house. Here’s the assignment for that meeting:
Hi, everyone… I thought it might serve you to have a recap from our Age of Opportunity parents’ meeting last Saturday. We covered part of an interview with the Mahaney family, the audio of which can be found here.
The basic theme was that of cultivating relationship and fellowship with our teens. Here are some of the main points, along with some discussion questions. Please consider these points and the questions below (including a point of discussion for couples), as you pursue this vital area in your parenting. Thanks for your example and desire to pursue your teens; I respect you so much for that!
What are your fondest memories as a family?
How have you sought to capture your children’s affections?
What sins of your own have you become aware of in your parenting?
Questions for application:
