{"id":300485,"date":"2018-12-07T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-07T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/%series%\/teaching-kids-to-love-god\/"},"modified":"2024-10-07T22:41:40","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T02:41:40","slug":"teaching-kids-to-love-god","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/teaching-kids-to-love-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Kids to Love God"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>guest: Dennis and Barbara Rainey | Series: The Art of Parenting: Relationships | Do your children know who God is? Dennis and Barbara Rainey remind us what Jesus said when he spoke about the greatest commandment to &#8220;Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.&#8221; A parent&#8217;s assignment is to demonstrate for their children how to respond to the love of God. This takes more than just teaching the Word; it takes modeling day-by-day what a relationship with Christ looks like.Show Notes &#038; ResourcesHow to Know God<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dennis and Barbara Rainey remind us what Jesus said when he spoke about the greatest commandment to &#8220;Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.&#8221; A parent&#8217;s assignment is to demonstrate for their children how to respond to the love of God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":294104,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Dennis and Barbara Rainey remind us a parent&#039;s assignment is to demonstrate for their children how to respond to the love of God.","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"https:\/\/web.familylifetoday.com\/fl2018-12-07.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"00:28:36","filesize":"26.18M","filesize_raw":"27451811","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":""},"categories":[2850,2806],"tags":[4650,4648,4611,4654,2209,4653,4651],"podcast_series":[7271],"cwp_profile":[3051],"series":[2101],"class_list":["post-300485","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-character-development","category-spiritual-development","tag-appreciating-others","tag-grace-based-parenting","tag-intentional-parenting","tag-modeling-christianity","tag-parenting","tag-sharing-christ-with-your-children","tag-siblings","podcast_series-the-art-of-parenting-relationships","cwp_profile-dennis-and-barbara-rainey","series-familylife-today"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg?w=508","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2023\/02\/image-scaled.jpg","download_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-download\/300485\/teaching-kids-to-love-god","player_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-player\/300485\/teaching-kids-to-love-god","audio_player":null,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/familylife-today\/id212174303?mt=2&app=podcast","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0j5UaKdQOHQCuo1bt0ebEm","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/feed\/podcast\/familylife-today","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"BYaaWn7WCK\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/teaching-kids-to-love-god\/\">Teaching Kids to Love God<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/teaching-kids-to-love-god\/embed\/#?secret=BYaaWn7WCK\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Teaching Kids to Love God&#8221; &#8212; FamilyLife\u00ae - A Cru Ministry\" data-secret=\"BYaaWn7WCK\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg",508,508,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"kfairris@familylife.com","author_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/author\/kfairrisfamilylife-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Dennis and Barbara Rainey remind us what Jesus said when he spoke about the greatest commandment to \"Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.\" A parent's assignment is to demonstrate for their children how to respond to the love of God.","meta_box":{"show_notes":"","transcript_url":"https:\/\/transcript.familylifetoday.com\/fl2018-12-07.pdf","transcript_content":"<strong>Bob: <\/strong>As parents, we want our children to be skillful in relationships; but there\u2019s one relationship that matters more than any other\u2014that is our children\u2019s relationship with Jesus. Barbara Rainey says that\u2019s something that, as parents, we can\u2019t engineer.\n\n<strong>Barbara:<\/strong> It\u2019s not our responsibility. I think that\u2019s where parents get confused\u2014I know I felt it. I felt like it was my responsibility to teach my kids and to make sure they had a relationship with Christ, but that\u2019s not it. My responsibility was to present the truth to them and to model a relationship; it\u2019s God\u2019s responsibility to call their hearts. I think that\u2019s where we get mixed up, as moms and dads\u2014we own what is not ours.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> This is <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> for Friday, December 7<sup>th<\/sup>. Our host is Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. As parents, how can we prepare our child\u2019s heart so that, when the seeds of the gospel are planted, they can take root?\n\n<strong>1:00<\/strong>\n\nWe\u2019re going to talk more today about our responsibility, as parents, to introduce our children to Jesus. Stay with us.\n\nAnd welcome to <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>. Thanks for joining us. I had kind of an \u201cAha\u201d moment\u2014this was a number of years ago\u2014but I remember reading in Romans, Chapter 1, where it says that, since the beginning of time, it\u2019s been obvious to everybody that there\u2019s a God. That\u2019s not new news for anybody. Anybody who can look around and see the world\/anybody who\u2019s aware of their own existence\u2014\n\n<strong>Dennis: <\/strong>This is the Lepine paraphrase of Romans 1.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yes! This is what Romans 1 says: \u201cIf you\u2019re alive and you can take a breath, you know, deep inside, you\u2019re here because there is a God.\u201d\n\n<strong>2:00<\/strong>\n\nThe \u201cAha\u201d moment for me was\u2014as I raise my kids, my kids <em>know<\/em> there\u2019s a God. The issue is\u2014I don\u2019t have to convince my kids that there\u2019s a God who exists\u2014I just have to introduce them to the God they already <em>know<\/em> exists. Or my assignment is to explain who this God, that they know already, is; so they can have a relationship with him.\n\nWe\u2019ve been talking this week about relationships and how that fits into parenting and the priority for us, as parents, to help our kids know how to do relationships\u2014to build strong relationships with our children to help them know how to relate to one another. At the core of all of this\u2014they need to understand the God who created them and what it means to have a relationship with Him.\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> A listener recently wrote us, Bob, and said something very similar to that. She said: \u201cYour broadcasts, in general, are so helpful; but a blessing to my life. First, as a follower of Jesus Christ.\n\n<strong>3:00<\/strong>\n\nBut secondly, now that I\u2019m 36 years old, I don\u2019t have the wisdom and the training to disciple my kids and to know how to pass this truth on to my family. You guys are equipping me with those biblical principles and spiritual growth so that our kids don\u2019t wither when they go out into the world, but they know how to thrive.\u201d\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Well, we ought to say, \u201cThank you,\u201d right here, at the beginning, to those who, not only listen to <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>, but to those that make it possible for listeners like this to get the help and hope they need for their marriage and their family.\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> And as we\u2019re here at yearend, I just need to turn to you, as a listener, and invite you\u2014and may I also say, \u201cchallenge you\u201d\u2014to join with us, financially, in this broadcast. Help make it possible so that others\u2014not only you and your family\u2014but that others can benefit from this broadcast as well. We need you right now to pull out a checkbook or a credit card\u2014\n\n<strong>4:00<\/strong>\n\n\u2014go online or get an envelope and put that check in the mail to <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>\u2014so that we can be on air with stories of redemption and hope that do give wisdom to those who are in the trenches. Bob, I think that\u2019s what marriages and families need today\u2014is that practical biblical help and hope that <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> can be counted on to provide.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Well, as I\u2019ve said, this is a particularly good time of year for you to make a donation; because we\u2019ve had some friends of the ministry who have come along and offered to double every donation we receive. They\u2019re going to match it, dollar for dollar, up to a total of $2.5 million. For us to take full advantage of that matching gift, we need every listener, who has benefited from this program over the course of the year, to be as generous as you can be so that we can end the year in a strong position.\n\nYou can donate, online, at FamilyLifeToday.com; or you can call 1-800-FL-TODAY to donate. When you do, we\u2019re going to say, \u201cThank you,\u201d by sending <em>you<\/em> a copy of the movie, <em>Like Arrows<\/em>, on DVD.\n\n<strong>5:00<\/strong>\n\nThis is the movie we produced this year that was in theaters a few months ago. It\u2019s not available for purchase yet, but we have a limited supply we\u2019re making available to those of you who can help support the ministry this month. Again, you can donate, online, at FamilyLifeToday.com; or call 1-800-FL-TODAY to donate. Thanks, in advance, for supporting the work of <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>; and thanks for listening to <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>.\n\nIn fact, we want to focus today on what moms and dads can do to help raise the next generation.\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> That\u2019s exactly right. Earlier, we talked about how this big idea of training your kids in relationships begins with you. As parents, you\u2019re a mirror of how your kid is to love another person\u2014you train them; you teach them; you instruct them; you coach them; you correct them.\n\nWe brought the number-one coach in the country in to this broadcast, Bob, to help us know how to best train our kids to love God.\n\n<strong>6:00<\/strong>\n\nBarbara Rainey joins us, again, on <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>. [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Congratulations!\u2014number one in the country. I didn\u2019t know that!\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Coach of the year!\u2014coach of the decade!\n\n<strong>Barbara:<\/strong> [Not sounding convinced] Yes. [Laughter] That doesn\u2019t feel quite right, since I know my failures so well.\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> We just finished a book called <em>The Art of Parenting<\/em>. In that book, we\u2019ve got four big ideas: relationships, character, identity, and mission. We\u2019re wrapping up the relationship side\u2014just reminding listeners that we, as human beings, are made to relate to God, as Bob has just said; and we are to relate to one another. Jesus pointed this out in Matthew 22\u2014He said, when asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s the greatest commandment?\u201d: \u201cYou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: \u2018You shall love your neighbor as yourself.\u2019\u201d And He summarizes: \u201cOn these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.\u201d\n\n<strong>7:00<\/strong>\n\nIn case you didn\u2019t get it, loving God and loving others is where parents ought to start as they train their kids; and it\u2019s not natural for them to know how to love God. Here\u2019s why\u2014because it was God who built the bridge to your kid. First John, Chapter 4\u2014if you haven\u2019t read this, read it to your kids: \u201cBeloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.\u201d He goes on to say we didn\u2019t love God first; He loved us first and, as He loves us, we learn how to love Him in return.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Barbara, I would think that, for every mom and dad who knows Christ, the desire to introduce their kids to Christ\u2014to see their kids come to faith\u2014that would be central for all of them.\n\n<strong>8:00<\/strong>\n\nOne of the things I read in your book is\u2014you\u2019ve seen statistics that said this is not a priority for a lot of believing parents.\n\n<strong>Barbara:<\/strong> Yes; we ran across this statistic and put it in our book. It\u2019s a George Barna stat; and he said, \u201cSeven out of ten Christian parents today don\u2019t think salvation is an important outcome for their children.\u201d\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Now that\u2019s astounding to me.\n\n<strong>Barbara:<\/strong> Oh, it was astounding to me when I read it, too; because that was my number one goal for my kids, because I want to be in heaven with my children someday.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Right.\n\n<strong>Barbara:<\/strong> I want them to know Christ; because I know that, without Christ\/without a relationship with Him, their life isn\u2019t going to work. Their relationships aren\u2019t going to work; their marriage\u2019s\/their job won\u2019t work. None of it\u2019s going to work, because He is the One who holds everything together. So, if they want a marriage that\u2019s going to go the distance, they need Jesus, who holds everything together. If they want kids, who will grow up and be mature responsible adults, those children need Jesus, who holds all things together.\n\n<strong>9:00<\/strong>\n\nSo I was shocked by that\u2014I know Dennis was, too\u2014but what we\u2019re saying in our book is what I just said. It is the most important thing that you can teach your children, because you can\u2019t teach them how to love without them knowing Christ.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> The problem is\u2014we can teach them how to have a relationship with God, but this is not something we can make them do. This is on them to make that decision. This has got to come from inside of them; right?\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> A good friend of ours is Robert Lewis. I\u2019ll never forget\u2014we were going through a dark set of days in our parenting journey; and he said: \u201cLook, you can teach your kids to do what\u2019s right. You can teach them to love God; but it takes God to, ultimately, put it in their heart and then <em>them<\/em> to respond to Him and to love Him in return.\u201d\n\nHere\u2019s what I want parents to hear\u2014\n\n<strong>10:00<\/strong>\n\n\u2014your assignment is to teach, and demonstrate, and instruct\u2014and teach, and teach, and teach how your child is to respond to the love of God. Your lifetime assignment is to teach them how they should love God in return.\n\n<strong>Barbara:<\/strong> And I totally agree with that, but it\u2019s more than just teaching. I think that\u2019s where\u2014I think that\u2019s where a lot of parents make the mistake\u2014they are heavy on the teaching and the instruction: \u201cHere\u2019s how you invite Jesus into your heart\u2026\u201d; but they forget that they\u2019re modeling what that relationship looks like.\n\nSo, if you want your children to want to know God and you want your children to love God, then you have to show them a relationship with God that\u2019s attractive. I\u2019ve heard people say, who grew up in Christian homes: \u201cI never considered not wanting to become a Christian, because I watched my parents. Their relationship with God was so attractive, and convincing, and real that I wanted it for myself.\u201d\n\n<strong>11:00<\/strong>\n\nThe burden of proof, so to speak, is on mom and dad to demonstrate a relationship with Christ that is infectious, and contagious, and attractive so that your kids will want one too.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Well, and the other side of that is\u2014a lot of parents could harden the hearts of their children\u2014\n\n<strong>Barbara:<\/strong> Yes; that\u2019s right.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> \u2014by professing one thing\u2014\n\n<strong>Barbara:<\/strong> \u2014but living another.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> And kids grow up with that kind of hypocrisy and that turns them away from wanting to have anything to do with Jesus. You know, a lot of adults today, who would say: \u201cHere was my experience when I was a child. I prayed a prayer\u2014I invited Jesus into my heart.\u201d\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> \u201cI walked the aisle.\u201d\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Right; and then they say, \u201cBut when I became a teenager, I kind of fell away; and I ultimately had to find my way back.\u201d Kids will often demonstrate some kind of spiritual interest when they\u2019re children.\n\n<strong>Barbara:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> I think, in part, because they know: \u201cIt would please Mom and Dad if I act this way,\u201d or \u201c\u2026believe this way,\u201d \/ \u201cI want to be like Mom and Dad, so I want this to be true of me.\u201d\n\n<strong>12:00<\/strong>\n\nHow did you guys or how would you coach parents to help their kids along this journey, so that it\u2019s not just imitative behavior; but it\u2019s really something that God\u2019s doing in their heart?\n\n<strong>Barbara:<\/strong> Well, I think it\u2019s really important for parents not to be shocked. We talk about this in our book\u2014don\u2019t be shocked when your kids question their faith, because all of us question our faith. If we don\u2019t, then maybe it\u2019s not genuine. We have to evaluate what we believe and decide if it\u2019s true or not. All kids are going to do that. I went through times of doubt; doubt is normal.\n\nI think, when parents react when they see their kids doubting, that freaks out the kids; and it creates a dissonance in the relationship. I think the main thing to do is to allow your children to process\u2014engage with them; talk with them; answer their questions. Give them positive feedback when they\u2019re asking questions, so that they don\u2019t feel like the fact that they\u2019re doubting is really wrong.\n\n<strong>13:00<\/strong>\n\nThere\u2019s nothing wrong with doubting.\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Barbara and I had a great vacation last summer. Sometime, during the vacation, we started noodling on this. We started talking and discussing what had become crystal clear to us; and that is, we wanted our children to see us experiencing God, not just on Sunday between the hours of 10:30 and noon; but we wanted our children to see us experiencing God seven days a week\u2014and bringing Him into our discussion with them so they caught a picture: \u201cThis is exciting. This is not some hum drum everyday journey that\u2019s boring; but we\u2019re serving the God of the universe\u2014experiencing Him. He\u2019s intersecting our lives.\u201d\n\nCertain things, Bob, become clear as you get older. I am seeing certain things more clearly than I have <em>ever<\/em> seen.\n\n<strong>14:00<\/strong>\n\nAnd that is this\u2014as parents, you need to share your experience with God and His Word and what He\u2019s doing in your life\u2014how He\u2019s convicting you of sin; how He\u2019s encouraged you to reach out to somebody you don\u2019t like; how He helped you defeat bitterness and forgive. Kids need to see their parents exemplifying the Christ-like life of Jesus living in and through us.\n\nIn fact, Barbara and I started talking about writing, not another book\u2014but doing a Bible study that would be like Henry Blackaby\u2019s Bible study, <em>Experiencing God<\/em>\u2014but put it this way: <em>Experiencing God in Your Family<\/em>. I think that\u2019s where we were first meant to experience God. I think the reason young people today are leaving the church, when they graduate from high school or college and they\u2019re not showing up again, is because they saw one thing on Sunday from their parents; and they didn\u2019t see much of <em>anything<\/em> of experiencing God the other six days of the week.\n\n<strong>15:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> One of the key elements here is that your time in God\u2019s Word and your time together in prayer, as a family, be something that is real and regular in your home. I\u2019m thinking of the movie, <em>Like Arrows<\/em>, that is connected to the <em>Art of Parenting<\/em><sup>\u2122<\/sup>. It\u2019s a movie that shows a family that was kind of nominal and marginal. They were going to church, but there wasn\u2019t really a life of faith being lived out in the home. They got confronted with that, later in life, and started to make a transition. It made a difference in the dynamic of the family.\n\nThis is something that parents need to prioritize: introducing our kids to the Bible, reading the Bible with them, praying with them\u2014making this a part of the life and fabric of your family. I know, Barbara, a lot of moms and dads feel like failures in this area; because they\u2019ve tried to do family devotions or whatever\u2014it hasn\u2019t worked well. The kids roll their eyes\u2014\n\n<strong>16:00<\/strong>\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Well, they rolled their eyes at us; okay? [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Barbara:<\/strong> Oh absolutely. We felt like failures, too; because we had this image of family devotions, where everybody was sitting politely around the table and paying attention.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Right.\n\n<strong>Barbara:<\/strong> Our kids didn\u2019t pay attention or, at least, they didn\u2019t seem to be paying attention. But as they got older, we would catch little things that they would say, where we knew: \u201cOh! They really\u2014they picked that up when we did that family devotion; so they were paying attention.\u201d\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Remember the tape we played for one of our children\u2014\n\n<strong>Barbara:<\/strong> Yes; for Laura; yes.\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> \u2014about modesty?\u2014right?\n\n<strong>Barbara:<\/strong> He brought it home, and he played it for Laura. She rolled her eyes; and she said, \u201cOh gosh, do I have to listen to this?\u201d We said, \u201cYes; you have to listen to this,\u201d and so she did. We didn\u2019t see anything for a while. After she graduated from high school, she had a job at a girls\u2019 school. Part of her job was to check the girls before they got on the bus in the morning before they had a day of service in the community. She called me one day and she said: \u201cMom, you are not going to believe these girls.\n\n<strong>17:00<\/strong>\n\n\u201cI cannot <em>believe<\/em> what they are wearing to get on the bus in the morning to go off for their day of service. I sent some of them back to change clothes.\u201d [Laughter] I just had this sense of vindication as I heard her say this; because I thought: \u201cShe got it. She got it!\u201d [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> I want to point our listeners\u2014on our website, at FamilyLifeToday.com, we\u2019ve got an excerpt from an interview that we did a while back with Don Whitney, who wrote a book on the spiritual disciplines of the Christian life. He talked about having family devotions; he said he thought his kids weren\u2019t paying any attention. He was doing this\u2014he felt like a failure in the whole thing\u2014until his daughter\u2019s graduation from high school, when she got up and, in front of the whole high school, started crying about how faithful her parents were to read the Bible every day. He said, \u201cI thought she was hating it; and yet, this was a part of what God was stamping on her heart and her life.\u201d\n\nYou can hear him tell the story [on our website].\n\n<strong>18:00<\/strong>\n\nIt\u2019s a powerful story and a great reminder that our faithfulness\u2014\n\n<strong>Dennis: <\/strong>Right.\n\n<strong>Bob: <\/strong>\u2014in just taking our kids to who God is: taking them to the Bible, spending time teaching them how to pray, praying with them, reading Bible stories, pointing them to Jesus\u2014this is the chief assignment we have, as parents. If we fail at all kinds of other things and succeed here, that covers a multitude of sins; doesn\u2019t it?\n\n<strong>Barbara:<\/strong> It\u2019s not our responsibility. I think that\u2019s where parents get confused\u2014I know I felt it. I felt like it was my responsibility to teach my kids and to make sure they had a relationship with Christ, but that\u2019s not it. My responsibility was to present the truth to them and to model a relationship; it\u2019s God\u2019s responsibility to call their hearts. I think that\u2019s where we get mixed up, as moms and dads\u2014we own what is not ours instead of trusting God to do the work in their hearts.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> We talked, earlier, about the bridge that parents need to build toward their children so that there are these open lanes, where we can take unconditional love and where we can take pursuit and forgiveness.\n\n<strong>19:00<\/strong>\n\nGod has built that bridge toward us; hasn\u2019t He?\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> He has; and because He first loved us, we love. We start building a lane back to God and a lane to others\u2014that\u2019s what your assignment is.\n\nOne of the things we\u2019re talking about here\u2014and I\u2019m just thinking of Barbara, looking across the table at her\u2014she has been the passionate one about this passage\u2014is Deuteronomy 6: the command to parents to pass on <em>their<\/em> experience of God to the next generation.\n\n<strong>Barbara:<\/strong> Right; it talks about\u2014uses these verbs, in Deuteronomy 6, to talk about God\u2019s Word when you walk, and when you sit, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. It means that in every part of your day, no matter what you are doing, you\u2019re supposed to be talking about God\u2019s Word\u2014living it out\/practicing it\u2014so that your kids <em>see<\/em> that you belong to Him. They see what that looks like; and they can, therefore, imitate it.\n\n<strong>20:00 <\/strong>\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> This most important thing we\u2019ve been talking about\u2014introducing our kids to God\u2014this is not something we can do unless our faith is real. We can\u2019t expect our kids to have a real active vibrant faith; and so the starting point for each of us, as parents, is to pull back and say: \u201cWhat\u2019s my own relationship with God like? How central is God to everything that I\u2019m doing in life? Is it clear to my kids this is what matters most to me?\u201d If a parent, listening today, is unsure about their relationship with Jesus, what do they do?\n\n<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Well, I think, first of all, they need to realize that God is love. He has reached out to them in love through the person of Jesus Christ. He became flesh\u2014it\u2019s why we celebrate Christmas\u2014He dwelt among us. He did what we could not do for ourselves\u2014He lived a perfect life and, then, He sacrificed His life on a cross so that He might become the payment for our sins\u2014\n\n<strong>21:00<\/strong>\n\n\u2014that we might have God\u2019s forgiveness through Jesus Christ <em>if<\/em>\u2014<em>if<\/em> we place our faith in Him.\n\nIf you\u2019ve never done that\u2014if you\u2019ve never passed from death to life, if you\u2019re not spiritually born again, if you don\u2019t know where you\u2019d spend eternity\u2014why spend another day doubting or worrying about that? Why don\u2019t you settle it with God?\u2014and cry out in faith and say this prayer: \u201cLord Jesus, I need You. I need a Savior. I need You to do for me what I cannot do for myself. I need You to forgive my sins. Now, come in my life. Live Your life in and through me; and give me eternal life that I might pass it on to my spouse, my children, my nieces, my nephews, my grandchildren.\u201d\n\nI want to tell you something\u2014it is <em>the<\/em> greatest adventure of a lifetime to know the God of the universe.\n\n<strong>22:00<\/strong>\n\nHe is up to big things in our little lives. Why would you <em>not<\/em> want to be a part of that?\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> We\u2019ve got a link, on our website at FamilyLIfeToday.com, that explains how to know God. You can go to FamilyLifeToday.com and click on that link and find out more about what it means to be a Christian\/to know God personally.\n\nAgain, our website is FamilyLifeToday.com. That\u2019s also where you\u2019ll find information about Dennis and Barbara Rainey\u2019s book for parents called <em>The Art of Parenting<\/em>. It\u2019s now available, along with the DVD series that\u2019s great for small group use. Find out more about these resources when you go to FamilyLifeToday.com\u2014get a copy of the book; or call to order: 1-800-FL-TODAY is the number\u20141-800-358-6329\u2014that\u2019s 1-800-\u201cF\u201d as in family, \u201cL\u201d as in life, and then the word, \u201cTODAY.\u201d\n\n<strong>23:00<\/strong>\n\nSpeaking about <em>The<\/em> <em>Art of Parenting<\/em>, we created a movie in conjunction with <em>The<\/em> <em>Art of Parenting<\/em> that was in theaters a few months ago. That movie is not yet available for purchase on DVD; <em>but<\/em> during the month of December\u2014for those of you who can help support the ministry, as you talked about earlier, Dennis\u2014we\u2019re making the <em>Like Arrows<\/em> DVD available as a thank-you gift. Keep in mind your donation is going to be matched, dollar for dollar, this month up to a total of $2.5 million.\n\nIf God has used the ministry of FamilyLife<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> in your life this year, can we ask you to be generous and make a yearend contribution to help support the ministry? Your donation will be doubled, and we\u2019ll send you the <em>Like Arrows<\/em> DVD. Donate, online, at FamilyLifeToday.com; or call 1-800-FL-TODAY to donate.\n\nLet me ask you one more thing. Pray for the hundreds of couples, who are going to be joining us this weekend at the St. Louis <em>Weekend to Remember<\/em>\u00ae marriage getaway. Pray that God would meet with them this weekend and would do a work in their marriage. That\u2019s our prayer every time when couples go to the <em>Weekend to Remember<\/em>\u2014\n\n<strong>24:00<\/strong>\n\n\u2014that they would leave the weekend with their marriage more strongly rooted in Christ than when they came.\n\nWe hope you have a great weekend. We hope you and your family are able to worship together in your local church this weekend and then join us back on Monday when we\u2019re going to pick up right where we left off today. We\u2019re going to talk about how we can know if our children really know Christ. Terrance Chapman is going to be with us to talk about that. We hope you can be back with us as well.\n\nThanks to our engineer today, Keith Lynch, along with our entire broadcast production team. On behalf of our host, Dennis Rainey, I'm Bob Lepine. Have a great weekend. We will see you Monday for another edition of <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>.\n\n<em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas; a Cru<sup>\u00ae <\/sup>Ministry.\n\nHelp for today. Hope for tomorrow.\n\nWe are so happy to provide these transcripts to you. However, there is a cost to produce them for our website. If you\u2019ve benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would you consider <a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/donate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">donating today<\/a> to help defray the costs?\n\nCopyright <sup>\u00a9<\/sup> 2018 FamilyLife. 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