Christian Parenting - Praying the Psalms

Have you struggled with how to teach your children about prayer and how to pray?  I have.  All Christians want their children to have vibrant prayer lives.  We want them to talk with God, hear from God and express their emotions to God but we are uncomfortable when our children are angry and pray with angry words.  What is a parent to do?

Turn to the Psalms.  There are 150 prayers God's people in the Psalms and they cover every possible human emotion in a way that brings glory to God.  There are prayers seeking God's judgment, prayers of thanksgiving; and prayers looking forward to the coming of Jesus.  There are psalms that begin with pain and end with joy, and vice versa.  Prayers of desperation and of confidence, joy and sorrow can all be found.  Even prayers that ask "where are you God?"  The psalms can teach us to teach our children to pray by studying them with our kids and helping them to see the progressions which occur.

Where's Jesus? the story of Jacob fleeing from Laban (Genesis 31:1-55)

There are three places where the story of Jacob fleeing from Laban gives pause for reflecting on the ministry of Jesus Christ.  First, Jacob's treatment by Laban was hard and deceitful.  Some have argued that he deserved it for his earlier treatment of Esau.  Maybe, maybe not.  But the truth of the situation, from Jacob's own mouth, is "God has not allowed [Laban] to harm me" (v.7b).  So it is for the Christian, our arch enemy roams around seeking whom he may devour (1Peter 5:8) and many evil people plot harm for the follower of God, but Jesus secures his people from all the deceitful schemes of the devil and his minions.  In fact, Rom. 8:28  tells us

Galatians - An Overview

We are entering in to a New Year, and this year we will be spending a significant amount of time in Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians.  Since this will be our first week in what Martin Luther called, “my epistle. To it I am as it were in wedlock. It is my Katherine.”[1]  It seemed wise to me that we review the entire contents of the book today.  In the hope, that we will get a bird’s eye picture of the epistle Luther spoke of with such endearing terms, even comparing it to his beloved wife. 

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q5

Q.5. Can you live up to all this perfectly?

Aš No. I have a natural tendency to hate God and my neighbor.

Monday

Perfection is a tricky thing.  Some of us struggle with the need to be perfect more than others, but none of us can ever perfectly love God and our neighbor.  Our sin always seems to get in the way – one time it may be our pride.  Another time it is our selfishness.  Either way, sin always rears its head and keeps us from living up to God’s law. God is the only one who is perfect.  Read 2 Samuel 22:31-34.  God is perfect and the one who alone can make us perfect.  David understood this, which is why he said; “It is God who makes my way perfect.” 

Christian Parenting - Teaching our Children to Fast

Fasting.  What is it and why would I want to teach my children to fast?  Fasting has a long history in the Bible.  Let me rehearse a little bit of it:  Moses before receiving the 10 commandments (Exodus 24:18), David praying for his child (2Samuel 12:16), Elijah for 40 days (1Kings 19:8), and Christ in the Desert (Matthew 4:2).  Furthermore, all Israel was called to fast on the day of Atonement in Leviticus 23:26-32.  Literally they are "to deny" themselves, everything in life is to be removed in order to focus upon God and the offering for sin that is being made.

Where's Jesus? the story of Moses striking the rock, again (Numbers 20:10-12)

Do you remember the Where's Waldo books?  On each and every page, Waldo is hidden in the picture.  Such is the case with the Scriptures. In each and every story, Jesus is present, either literally or in a prefigured state.  Such is the case with our text today.  Kerry Hasenbalg does an excellent job of showing us Jesus both in the striking of the rock and how that relates to our calling today.  I will quote from her devotional Hope for the Journey- an adoption companion, pg 15:

The Misery of Man – incurably Syncretistic (2 Kings 17:24–41)

NOTE: I didn't deliver this sermon. The text presented here is what I had intended on delivering but God changed the message significantly before I delivered it.  You can listen to the actual sermon here.
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This morning I want to look at a passage from 2 Kings.  It is not too often that the church hears sermons from these historical books. In fact, the Revised Common Lectionary, which I love, only has 5 passages from the entire 25 chapters of the book and almost ignores the entire testimony of 1-2 Kings and 1-2 chronicles with only 17 passages total for all 112 chapters and 500 years of monarchy, give or take a few years.  But the real reason I am preaching on this text, today, the first Sunday of the New Year is because it relates to New Years resolutions.  Particularly, to the kinds of resolutions and reflections we must be concerned with.  I say that b/c the resolutions and reflections we make, fail to make, or just don’t take the time to make and implement in our lives will have effects on our children and grand children.  The very words that close our passage end with a sobering reminder that to this day the children and the grandchildren continue to do as the fathers did.  So as we enter the New Year, let’s consider carefully a passage that brings to light the greatest tragedy which can be passed on – the tragedy of syncretism.