Friday, October 16, 2015

October 17, 2015

“The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.Proverbs 28:1

When I played baseball I was a good contact hitter. I had a wide stance and a short quick batting stroke which meant I hit a lot of line drives and seldom struck out. In fact, during my first two years of college ball I didn’t strike out at all. I didn’t hit any home runs or many extra base hits either.

Going into my senior year I decided I was going to start swinging for the fences. Sure, I struck out a few more times but I also got more extra base hits!

I share that to say this, how can you be a Home Run Kid if you don’t swing for the fences? As I close out this series on Raising Home Run Kids I am going to challenge you to raise kids who live out their faith boldly in a rapidly deteriorating culture.

How can you raise kids who swing for the fences unless you are willing and ready to go deep as a parent? You must be willing to swing for the fences with three bold parenting decisions. Tomorrow I will share those in greater detail and share practical suggestions to help you with those decisions.

Solomon says that “the righteous” are bold as a lion. What does he mean by that?

Here are a few thoughts on boldness.

Those who are righteous have the peace of God. If He has made you righteous you have made peace with your past through His forgiveness and grace. You can also have peace in the present because He is with you! And you can have peace over your future because He has said He will be with you always!

The righteous can be bold because they have the presence of God! When you have His presence you also have His power, so why fear?

When you are righteous you can claim the promises of God. You know what God has done for His righteous people in the past and His Word promises what He will do for His righteous today and tomorrow! You can live with courage when you trust His promises!

Righteous people have the partnership of other believers! Everything that righteous people have individually they also have corporately as they worship, fellowship and serve together! We have each other’s back and God has all of us covered! Why should we fear?

To Raise Home Run Kids who swing for the fences, kids who are bold as lions in believing and living their faith it will require bold parenting on your part and bold pastoring on mine.

I pledge to live righteously before you and before them. I pledge to call you to righteousness through the Word in my preaching and teaching and leading.

Together, let’s help them to know the peace of God in a world of strife and turmoil!

Together, let’s cherish and nurture God’s presence in our lives in everything we do at FredWes!

Together, let’s help them know the promises of God through the Bible and by making bold decisions based on God’s promises for the church and in our individual lives!

Let’s make bold decisions that will show our kids what happens when we trust God courageously and He comes through in supernatural ways for His glory at FredWes!

You can’t have a Home Run Life or Home Run Kids if you aren’t swinging for the fences!