Get There First
February 25, 2023

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children,
and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-9

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:27-28

Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Genesis 2:15-17

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3:8

God Gave Them Significance (Genesis 1:27)
God Gave Them Security (Genesis 2:15)
Through A Personal Relationship (Genesis 3:8)

Two Questions At The Heart of Every Child
Do You Love Me? – This Is The Question of Significance
Do I Have Value?
Where Are My Boundaries? – The Question of Security
Do You Love Me Enough To Protect Me?

Significance and Security Are Absolutely Essential For Childhood/Adult Development

Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.
Proverbs 13:24

THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!
Biblical Love Corrects with Consequences
Biblical Hate Is Careless and Unconcerned

How To Win!

Define The Success!
1. Obedience

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
John 10:27-28

Obedience Defined
Obedience is Coming Under The Authority of God’s Voice and Obeying His Commands With Healthy and Godly Boundaries Through A Relationship With God

Defining Obedience For Our Kids (Next Generation)
Obedience is Teaching Your Child To Come Under The Hearing of Your Voice With Healthy Boundaries Through Relationship

What Does Successful Obedience Look Like?
You Have Won The Obedience War When Your Child’s Primary Love, Submission, and Dependency Is Transferred From YOU to JESUS CHRIST.

Always Remember!!!
You’re Not Raising Kids
You Are Raising Adults

Provide Them With The Resources of Success
The Resources For Your Child’s Obedience

Principle of Godly Convictions
Love + Knowledge + Wisdom = CONVICTIONS

Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6

Principle of Readiness
Only Teach Children What They Are Mentally and Emotionally Capable of Learning

Principle of Responsibility
Never Habitually Do For Your Children What They Can Do For Themselves

The Problem
God
The Perfect Parent
With Perfect Provision
In The Perfect Place
Yet They Chose The Wrong Path
And Became Imperfect People

Parents and Guardians Must Understand, It’s a Developmental Process

And even though Jesus was God’s Son, he had to learn from experience what it was like to obey when obeying meant suffering.
Hebrews 5:8 (TLB)

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Luke 2:52

Always Celebrate The Victories
Five Characteristics of Righteous Children
1. They Make Wise Decisions
2. They Keep Their Commitments
3. They Care Genuinely For Others
4. They Display Godly Convictions
5. They Love and Live For Christ’s Glory