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Category: Gospel and Culture
Discipleship Begins at Home
Winfield Bevins provides parents with a helpful list of practical ways to pass along the Christian faith to their children. I have made a few edits to his list.
Develop Gospel Family Rhythms
- Develop family rhythms around the Gospel, predictable times of worship, prayer and Bible reading. Consider doing them around meals, a time when the family should be gathering together free from the distractions of media.
- Don’t isolate the gospel to predictable times; integrate prayer, worship, and Bible into every day life. When we isolate we program our children for legalism. Show them the gospel in everyday life.
Bible Practices for Family Rhythms
- Read from a good children’s Bible. Remember to have fun with your children while learning the Bible.
- Avoid being uber serious and unrealistic expectations. Keep the time brief to hold the child’s attention.
- Get some Scripture flash cards to do over a meal. We use cards from DGM, but if you know of cards with better pictures for small children let us know!
- Use the verses in context, applying them to everyday life for instruction.
- Put the verses to music or rhythm. Your child will enjoy singing and clapping their hands.
- Get a Scripture Song cd to play in the car. We use this one.
Gospel 3D Video
I am experimenting with some home videos…
Three Types of Prayer
We had a great time of teaching on prayer and praying together on Sunday. In the sermon we discussed three types of prayer and mentioned some resources. Note that the three types of prayer are present in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. Here they are:
Prayers of Communion (Matt 6:9-10) – fellowship with the triune God through worship and thanksgiving. Prayers of communion are lingering over God’s greatness and goodness with gratitude.
- Praise God for his attributes: immensity, sovereignty, trinity, mercy, kindness, goodness,
- Thank God for his acts: creation, provision, salvation, protection, suffering, trial
- Meditate on his promises:
Prayers of Confession (Matt 6:12) – confession of sin, repentance, and hopeful faith in Christ. Being honest with God about who we are (sinners) and who he is (Savior).
- Confess sinful thoughts, actions, or feelings towards God or others
- Repent from valuing, cherishing, desiring, trusting in that person or thing or event
- Receive God’s perfect forgiveness and grace for our God-belittling sin
- Trust in the truth and grace of the gospel, that Christ is more desirable and trustworthy than these other things, no matter how good they are
Prayers of Petition (Matt 6:11, 13) – requests for all kinds of things in Jesus name for Jesus’ fame. Prayers of petition are an opportunity for our desires to be aligned with God’s desires, not our will but his will (Matt 6). All of our requests, in the end, should move us closer to his will.
- For wisdom
- For healing
- For provision
- For mission
Here are some helpful books I mentioned on prayer, including one by Tim Chester. The primary book I referred to is A Praying Life, by Paul Miller. Here is a blog post I wrote on Jesus, the Most Dependent Human Being Ever inspired by Miller’s insights.
