Parenting – Serminutes – Sermon in a Minute

Making More Out of Our Children

September 7, 2011July 23, 2018R. Mangold

MakingChildren While Woodrow Wilson was president of Princeton University (1902-1910), he is reported to have made this speech to a group of parents. (Source Link: Holman Old Testament Commentary)

I get many letters from you parents about your children. You want to know why we people up here in Princeton can’t make more out of them and do more for them. Let me tell you the reason we can’t. It may shock you just a little, but I am not trying to be rude. The reason is that they are your sons, reared in your homes, blood of your blood, bone of your bone. They have absorbed the ideals of your homes. You have formed and fashioned them. They are your sons. In those malleable, moldable years of their lives you have forever left your imprint upon them.

Our 28^th President of the United States seems to have struck a nerve and verbalized what every good Sunday School teacher, preacher, and pastor has been saying for years – We can only do so much in the time we’re given at church. As parents we could unrealistically expect our pastors and teachers to miraculously do in a couple of hours a week, what we fail to do with the remainder of our time with our children.

Training up a child in the way he should go takes a commitment. Trainers must train themselves as well. If we’re inadequately training ourselves to be good Christians, how could we even think we’re equipped to train our children. The best way to train them? By example. Children will follow our lead…good or bad. Make each moment count with them and don’t expect your pastor to do it in just one or two services a week. The investment your make in your child doesn’t impact just them, but generations to come; for the promise is unto you AND your children.

Related Topics

Children – Loving, Parenting, and Cultivating Them for Success

“Serminutes” – Sermon in a Minute. One Minute Spiritual Sermonettes and Sermon Ideas for Busy Christians, Pastors, Teachers, and Bible Students! Visit our ABOUT PAGE for details on what exactly that is. Thank you for visiting today! May the Lord richly bless you. Rev. RD Mangold

You Are Who You Are

August 4, 2011R. Mangold

You are who you are for a reason.

You’re part of an intricate plan.

You’re a precious and perfect unique design,

Called God’s special woman or man.

You look like you look for a reason.

Our God made no mistake.

He knit you together within the womb,

You’re just what he wanted to make.

The parents you had were the ones He chose,

And no matter how you may feel,

They were custom-designed with God’s plan in mind,

And they bear the Master’s seal.

No, that trauma you faced was not easy.

And God wept that it hurt you so;

But it was allowed to shape your heart

So that into his likeness you’d grow.

You are who you are for a reason,

You’ve been formed by the Master’s Rod.

You are who you are, beloved,

Because there is a God!

Poem by Russell Kelfer 1933 – 2000. He was a layman and business man who taught for over 25 years. His timeless lessons on living the Christian life major on practical application and continue today to be heard, seen, read, and taught by others around the world.

Protect the Source

August 3, 2011R. Mangold

If a bird’s nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: 7 But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days. Deut. 22:6-7

Why would God even bother to include such a seemingly trivial commandment in the law that Moses was to deliver to the people? Because, protecting Mama means protecting the source of new life – the birth, protection, and continuation of the species.

In God’s wisdom, protection of the source of life is paramount. There will be casualties, and there will hard decisions to be made, but ultimately we are commanded to protect the source…the source of life. Destroying the source means the elimination of a generation, the elimination of a species, and possible extinction. We MUST protect the source.

Because this isn’t just about me getting what I need in my life time, this is about the continuation of the species…

There must be future Christians
There must be future Sunday School Teachers
Worship Leaders
Musicians
Preachers and Teachers

By protecting the source, we ensure the procreation and the propagation of another generation…THIS MUST OUTLIVE US!

God commanded Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply.” That is our duty – we must give birth to another generation of believers, another generation of life givers, another generation of truth!

From Grief of Mind to Peace of Mind – Training Our Generations

July 26, 2011R. Mangold

And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: ³⁵Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah. Genesis 26:34-35

Trampling underfoot the direction of his grandfather Abraham (Gen. 24:3), Esau married two “Canaanite” women who grieved the mind of Isaac and Rebekah. Esau was bent on bucking the values and mandates of his forefathers. As generations progress there is a propensity for challenging things we may not have been properly taught to respect and revere.

We could easily allow certain boundaries and traditions in our walk with God to fall to the wayside relegating them to old fashioned, burdensome, and narrow-minded. As strict or loose as you live for God, your children, and grandchildren could, if not properly taught and trained, start to allow some timeless standards, traditions, and values to drop off feeling they’re antiquated.

God commanded Israel to teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up (Deut. 6:7).

For every one time you teach your child something is right or wrong, there’s a wicked world out there telling them, “If it feels good do it!” We need to be relentless in our love, teaching and training of our children and even our grandchildren; essentially transforming them from a “grief of mind” to a “peace of mind.”

“Serminutes” – Sermon in a Minute. A one minute spiritual pick-me-up for busy Christians! Visit this POST for details on what exactly that is. Thank you for visiting today! May the Lord richly bless you. Rodger Mangold

A Piece of Clay – Forming While it Counts

July 19, 2011R. Mangold

I took a piece of plastic clay
And idly fashioned it one day,
And as my fingers pressed it still,
It moved and yielded at my will.

I came again when days were past;
The bit of clay was hard at last,
The form I gave it still it bore,
But I could change that form no more.

I took a piece of living clay,
And gently formed it day by day,
And molded with my power and art
A young child’s soft and yielding heart.

I came again when days were gone;
It was a man I looked upon;
That early impress still he wore,
And I could change it never more.

(Author Unknown)

Digging Wells of the Past – Special Dedication

July 17, 2011R. Mangold

And Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. Genesis 26:18

The legacy we leave to our children is of utmost importance. A prime example was Abraham. Even God said, “I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment (Gen. 18:19).” Abraham’s legacy went beyond wealth and prestige, it instituted a perpetual generational blessing. Many times over God described Himself as the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” What a testament to the integrity and longevity of Abraham’s dynasty!

As important however, was Isaac’s continuation of that dynasty. When the malevolent Philistines filled the wells Isaac dug with his father, Isaac never hesitated, he dug them again. Yes, water in Isaac’s day was paramount, but his purpose for unearthing those wells “ran much deeper.” You see, Isaac was a pivotal figure in the propagation of God’s purpose. He was the inescapable link between the past of his father Abraham, and the future of his son Jacob (later named Israel).

They may have just been wells to the Philistines, but they represented far more to Isaac. The wells represented a perpetuation of God’s blessings; flowing from the past in which they were promised, to the future in which they would come to fruition.

NOTE: This Serminute is dedicated to my grandson Gavin Rodger Mangold. Born April 21, 2011, weighing 9.15 lbs. and measuring 23″ long. Today Gavin will be dedicated at our church, Grace Apostolic Church of Clawson. May his father, Nathanael Rodger Mangold, continue to allow the flow of God’s perpetual blessings from my generation, to Gavin’s. I’ve carried this legacy as it was handed down to me by my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. To God be the glory!

Mountaintop Experiences – A Different Lesson From Abraham's Sacrifice

July 12, 2011R. Mangold

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. ²And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.³And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Genesis 22:1-3

For almost 25 years the only real promise Abraham and Sarah were clinging to was they’d have a son. When the glorious day arrived, true to His Word, “laughter” returned to their household in the form of a bouncing baby boy named Isaac! But, just several years after the promised arrived, a parent’s worst nightmare became Abraham’s reality.

The promised child was now being demanded by the very God that had promised him to be sacrificed! Our instinct would be to offer ourselves rather than our child. But there were no counter-offers, no bartering, no bargaining, just simple obedience by Abraham. If reading this story in today’s headlines, our inclination would be to cry child abuse, religious fanaticism, or dementia. Abraham knew when it was God speaking and had no doubt God would provide himself a lamb.

There’s little doubt what was going through Abraham’s mind and heart, the same God that had provided a son in his old age, would continue to provide. Thankfully, God hasn’t asked us to sacrifice our children, yet are we? No, it may not involve a knife, an altar, and fire, but the altars of greed, success, and selfishness line our country’s landscape. We spend countless hours chasing a pipe-dream of financial security, a bigger house, or esteem amongst our peers.

Abraham trusted God for everything, doubters would say to an extreme, including the promise of making him a great nation. Our goals and dreams are important, but never at the expense of our children, for our children often are the avenue by which God will bring about the promises He’s spoken into your life. Don’t sacrifice those special moments in their lives in exchange for the fleeting broken promises of this world.

Part of the Mountaintop Experiences Serminute Series

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: