Families for Our God - Brendan Hurley - 6th Sep 2026

But let's pray, let's ask God for help as we

look at his word now. Father, thank you that

you speak to us. Thank you that your word is

living and active. We pray that your word would

strengthen us, comfort us, challenge us and change

us as we look at it now. And we ask these things

in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, years ago, I took

up a new hobby. It didn't quite pan out into

a career change. I won $20 at the Broken Hill

Fair, but that's as far as it went in terms of

financial benefit. My new hobby was painting.

I took up painting because it was so fun and

good for your mental health. And what I would

do is I'd find the cheapest canvases I could

find. You know, here's one I prepared earlier.

And I'd find a cheap canvas and I would... I'd

look at it, I'd look at some different ideas

on TikTok or YouTube as to what I can do, and

then I'd just paint. And like I've got here,

these are some of my creations. If you talk to

Wendy, she does really good realistic painting.

Mine are all just abstract, kind of throw some

paint on a canvas, but she's actually really

good at proper, they look like the thing. So

I'm very jealous of that. This is what I like

to do. This is my hobby. And when I get a blank

canvas, it's interesting to sit there and try

and work out what am I going to do with it? Because

each canvas is so unique. It could literally

become anything. It's full of potential. And

there's kind of an evolution as I paint. Some

end up like a masterpiece and some end up pretty

bad and childish and start again. Now, this might

be a bit of an oversimplification, but to some

degree, people are like that, aren't they? When

a child is born, cute little baby, they're like

a blank canvas, aren't they? To some degree.

There's different styles of canvases at the art

shop. There's different styles of people, aren't

they? We've all got different genes. We've got

different heights, different sizes and attributes.

There's a nature element to us, isn't there?

Each of us is full of potential because of our

genes and those sort of things. Yet, how we're

nurtured shapes us all very differently, doesn't

it? It shapes the person that we become. In one

sense, parents are painters, aren't they? They're

painting on these blank canvases, imprinting

and ... painting a certain way of living. I mean,

think about who you are today. That didn't happen

in a vacuum, did it? You are who you are in a

lot of reasons because you were nurtured a particular

way, whether for good or for ill. How our parents

parent us conditions us greatly. It shapes our

thinking, our insecurities, our habits, how we

turn up in relationships, and also how we turn

up as parents as well. Actually, there's a brilliant

aspect of psychology called attachment theory

that speaks into this, and again, I found this

cool thing, attachment theory, so I had to paint

it. I made a painting about it called Unhealed

Wounds, and it's actually sitting in my psychologist's

office. It's about childhood wounds. So that

little kid on the left -hand side, he's there,

he's got these wounds, and those wounds plague

him as he grows up into a man. And he's got to

work out how to deal with that and how to heal

that. See, how we're nurtured, how we're cared

for as kids is so important, isn't it? But I

want to ask a crucial question about this. Is

this just how it is? Are we enslaved to our childhood?

I mean, awesome if you've had great painters,

you know, if you've had great parents who've

just done an epic job of raising you. But if

you haven't, well, is that just how it is? Can

we actually change how we see ourselves and how

we turn up in relationships? Can we heal so much

so that it breaks cycles within ourselves and

with our own kids as well? Our passage today

doesn't just tell us what kids should do or how

to parent. It actually shows us some deeper things.

It shows us how to reparent ourselves. But before

we dive in, because we've been moving around

a bit, we've got to remember where we are. If

we'd been doing this in order, we'd be in Ephesians

5, and at the end of Ephesians 5 we're told,

do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery,

instead be filled with the Spirit. And Paul then

goes on to list a bunch of things that it means

to be filled with the Spirit. What's it mean

to be filled with the Spirit? Well, one of them

is that you submit to one another out of reverence

for Christ. Part of being filled with the Spirit

is submission. And there's three things that

Pauline goes into. This is often called by scholars

the household code. There's wives and husbands,

and how the power dynamics of a marriage work,

and parents and children, and how the power dynamics

of that work, and slaves and masters, and in

the ancient world that was a big thing that was

kind of what we think employees and employers,

and how the power dynamics of that work. So that's

where we're up to. And we're looking today at

parents and children. And here's the big thing

I hope you'll take away from today. Relationship

with Jesus transforms how you relate. Relationship

with Jesus transforms how you relate. How you

relate to God, how you relate to your spouse,

how you relate to your kids, how you relate to

your parents, your staff, your boss, even yourself.

And this is especially true for families. So

what do we see for families? Well, we see children

honour your parents. That's the first thing we

see. And secondly, fathers nurture your children.

So let's have a look at the first one. Children

honour your parents. If you've got your Bible

there, please come with me to Ephesians 6 verse

Ephesians 6:1

1. Children obey your parents in the Lord, for

this is right. Now, we've got to stop and pause

and go, isn't this amazing? Paul is directly

addressing the kids here. That tells us something,

doesn't it? It tells us that kids matter. God

has something to say to kids. You know, Jesus

said, let the little children come to me. He

wasn't one who rejected the kids. Kids matter

in church. And that's why we try and do kids

talks and kids spots and have kids, because we

want to say kids matter. And we need to be investing

in them and caring about them and teaching them.

But Paul here says to them, obey your parents.

That's how you honour your parents when you're

growing up. You value them. You value them and

you obey them and you listen to them. And obeying

here implies that these kids have moral agency,

that they have responsibility. Sometimes at home

with our kids, now and again, it can break into

World War III. And you know what our kids love

to do? They love to play the blame game. It's

usually after they've played some other game

and it's gone horribly wrong. And then they play

the blame game. It's very, very like Adam and

Eve in Eden, you know, it's the woman you put

here with me, and no, it was the serpent, and

it's the blame game, isn't it? You point at other

people and you say it's their fault, and then

you've got three fingers pointing back. That's

the hard thing, isn't it? But our kids love to

play the blame game. But I want to instil in

them, you've got responsibility. You need to

be the sort of person who takes responsibility

for what you brought to the table. You can't

always be playing the blame game. And I think

it's really important to instil that into kids

to say, yeah, when you didn't obey here or you

didn't do the thing you were meant to do, you've

got to take responsibility for that. Because

if, as a parent, I don't instil that into them...

Then as an adult, they'll grow up into the sort

of person who makes excuses and gets stuck in

sin patterns because they won't take responsibility.

It's so important, isn't it? But obey doesn't

just imply that we take responsibility. It's

a call to actually obey. To do what we're told.

To do as we're commanded. Now, like with all

obedience, God's Spirit gives Christians a different

mindset and a different motivation. So, let's

take obeying parents. Many kids today will disobey

and disregard their parents. Some do obey, but

they do it apart from the Lord. I mean, I'm talking

generally in society. You know, they'll obey

their parents because they bond to their parents,

because they think it's wise to. They might obey

because they don't want to lose screens. They

might obey because there's some reward they'll

get out of it. But Christian kids, I mean, those

aren't bad things, but Christian kids, they should

also and primarily obey their parents in the

Lord. That's what it says, doesn't it? Obey your

parents in the Lord, for this is right. What's

that mean? What's it mean to obey your parents

in the Lord? It looks like this. Imagine if a

parent, a Christian parent, says to their kids,

clean your room or brush your teeth. How should

the Christian kids see their parent when they

say that? They should see Jesus standing behind

them, nodding along with the parent. I want you

to obey them. That's what Jesus is there standing

behind the parents saying. He's saying, I'm Lord,

I'm King over everything. I died on the cross

and forgave all your sins. I'm your saviour.

I've given you my spirit so that you can joyfully

worship me by obeying me. And I've put these

folks here in charge of you. They're your parents.

And so if you disobey them, you're disobeying.

Now, there are limits, right? There are times

where Jesus would be shaking his head going,

don't do that, even if your parent tells you

to. If a parent asks a child to sin, they shouldn't

sin. But the norm is to obey parents because

of Jesus and his gospel, not just because you'll

get iPad, not just because you'll miss out on

TV, not just to get a reward or whatever it might

be, but because of Jesus. That's the key primary

motivation. Now, you know what this means? Well,

for kids, it means they need to see mum and dad's

instructions differently. They need to try and

see for themselves that these instructions aren't

just coming from mum and dad, they're coming

from Jesus through mum and dad. And for parents,

that means we need to try and instil that into

our kids. We need to remember Jesus is standing

behind us and we need to instil that kind of

outlook in our kids. So it's right to say to

your kids, you know, things like, hey, look,

I love you, I care about you, but Jesus has put

me in charge of this family and I need you to

listen to me because that's the right thing to

do. To teach your kids that submission is a good

thing. That's a healthy right thing to do. I

mean, you watch a Disney movie, that's the last

thing they ever do, isn't it? Have you noticed

that every Disney movie seems to be about some

sort of rebellion against authority figures?

It's just what we do in today's society. It's

all like, you know, submission can never be good.

You know, thank you, Disney. But what we need

to do is instil in our kids, no, submission's

a good thing. You know, there's times where you

shouldn't, for sure. But it is a good thing to

submit to authorities. We need to help our kids

be gospel -driven in their obedience. And when

adults have that approach, it gives a home more

order, more peace, more safety. It helps give

kids a secure and healthy foundation for their

lives. But that's not all that the gospel does.

It also gives us hope. Look at verses two to

three. Honor your father and mother, which is

the first commandment with a promise, so that

it may go well with you and that you may enjoy

long life on the earth. So Paul quotes number

five of the 10 commandments, honor your father

and mother. Honoring parents is about respecting,

revering and valuing them. And I don't know if

you've sat back and thought about it, but this

is a serious enough command that it's in the

Big Ten. It's there with don't murder and don't

commit adultery and all these other things. This

is a big deal, because it's so key to households

running well, society running well. There's just

so much that goes with this. When parents are

honoured, it is a really good thing. But Paul

here says this command is incredibly profound

because this command is a package deal. It comes

with a promise. Do you see the promise? That

it may go well with you and that you may enjoy

long life on the earth or in the land, depending

on your translation. This is a promise to Israel,

right? With the Ten Commandments, but so how

then is it for us? What land are we being told

here? Well, remember in Ephesians chapters two

and three, we saw that the promises to Israel

are now for Gentile Christians too. And I think

it includes this one. Blessings, the promised

land, eternal life, are available to us if we're

non -Jewish. Not by works. We've seen in the

whole book. It's about grace, isn't it? And so

honouring parents, that's part of grace at work,

isn't it? Honouring parents is an expression

of faith in God's grace. A few years ago, I took

our older boys zip lining in Illawarra. That's

not my older boys, but I wanted to give you a

picture of what the zip lining looks like. And

what they do is they put a whole bunch of harnesses

on you and straps on you to keep you safe. And

you sit there and you go, well, I know I'm safe.

I've got all these harnesses, you know, attached

to me. My boys and I intellectually believed

that the harnesses would hold us. But you know

what? As we got to that platform, each of us

were a little bit tentative to jump. Why? Well,

because it's scary. And because this is not just

an intellectual exercise, it's will the harness

hold person X, right? Will it hold me? And the

action of jumping shows, well, you know what,

I really do trust the harness. I really have

faith that the harness will hold me. Not jumping,

if you stay there glued to the platform and they

have to come up and get you down with a ladder,

that shows you got no faith at all, doesn't it?

And it's the same when we seek to honour our

parents in light of the Gospel. Not that we're

perfect, but real faith will produce action.

And so obeying this command is an expression

of our faith in God's grace. It shows that we

trust that Jesus is our Lord and Saviour. Now

this will play out differently for each of us

depending on our situation. What's it look like

to honour your parents, depending on your situation?

Because we're all different. I mean, if you're

an adult out of home, you still need to honour

your parents, don't you? It doesn't mean that

you obey them in the same way you did as a kid,

but you still need to honour them. You still

need to respect and provide for them and value

them. You've got to work out what does that look

like? What is pleasing to God in that situation?

Well hang on Brendan, what if I'm an adult but

I've got dishonourable, toxic parents? What do

I do then? Well there's no little asterisk in

the command that says, you know, if your parents

aren't honourable, don't honour them. We're still

to honour them, but yes, you've got to work out

how. That's going to be tricky. Boundaries are

appropriate. You've got to be careful in how

you talk to them. Sometimes you need to give

yourself distance. to protect yourself. That's

healthy and wise. But make sure you pray for

them. Make sure you forgive them. I think that's

probably the key thing with parents like that.

Because if you don't do those things, you're

not going to want to honour them in any way,

will you? So pray for them, forgive them. If

you're a kid with a non -Christian parent, and

most of the kids have left, but, you know, You've

still got lots to learn from your parents. You

shouldn't despise them. You should honour them

and learn from them. It's an opportunity to grow

by listening to them. And if you're a kid with

a Christian parent, what a head start you have.

What a great thing. Make sure you're listening

to them carefully and obeying them. But whatever

our situation, what's the key? The key is to

trust Jesus. and seek to honour our parents in

an appropriate, wise way. It's trusting the Gospel.

That's what heals us, strengthens us and empowers

us. That's what shifts our thinking to help us

do what is right and pleasing to Jesus. So we've

looked at kids of all ages, what they should

do, how it's right and beneficial for them to

honour their parents. But what about parents?

What should parents do? Well, that passage tells

us fathers nurture your children. Fathers nurture

your children. And we'll see how mothers fit

into this too, don't worry. But it's telling

us fathers nurture your children. Have a look

at verse four. Fathers do not exasperate your

children, instead bring them up in the training

and instruction of the Lord. or the discipline

and instruction of the Lord. Now, why are fathers

addressed? Because fathers are the ones in the

household who should set the tone. They're the

ones who should lead, they're the ones who initiate,

they're the ones who should drive things. And

the wives, as we see in the passage before, they're

to submit to that. But the men need to be the

ones in a house setting the tone. Now, if you're

a single mum, can I just shout out to you? That

is a tough gig. And I want to say you are doing

something incredibly amazing and challenging

and well done to you. That is really, really

tough. And we need to encourage our single mums

because that is a really hard thing. But men

here are meant to be leading the home well. What

tone? What tone are they meant to have? What

tone are they meant to set? Well, it tells us

here, do not exasperate your children. Instead,

bring them up in the training and instruction

of the Lord. So don't exasperate your kids. Hang

on, Paul. Have you seen how exasperated I get

from my kids? Are you sure? Did you get it right?

Is there something in the Greek there? No, no,

no, that's right. We're to manage ourselves.

We're to help our kids learn to behave and manage

themselves, too. And the way we do that is not

to just lose it every time our kids lose it,

and look, I struggle with that as much as anyone,

but instead we're to bring them up, literally

nurture them with loving discipline and with

instruction about... the Lord Jesus. How do we

do that? Well, there's something subtle here

that underlies all of this, right? You can't

nurture your kids if you're not growing yourself.

You can't nurture your kids if you're not growing

yourself. You can't give to someone else what

you don't have. And so what is Dad's job? Well,

he can't do his job if he's not growing himself.

His job is to lead the family. He can't do that

if he's not growing in Christ. So godly parenting

is fundamentally not managing the kids, but above

all managing yourself, leading yourself, growing

yourself so that you can do a good job of managing

and leading the kids. Picture this. It's Friday.

Dad comes home from work and oh, it's been a

day. He's stressed. And to top it all off, the

kids are ratty. Wifey is spent. She's been doing

a bit of work too and she had to pick up the

kids. But Dad walks in the door. What will Dad

do? I mean, they're there in the lounge room

and the spot fires start to begin. What's dad

going to do? Is he going to be the gasoline?

You know, he's just going to make everything

worse. He's going to escalate everything out

of proportion. Easy to do that as a dad, I know.

But as a dad, you want to be the extinguisher.

You want to bring everything down to a place

of calm again. Or it's dinner time and the tantrums

are just everywhere. Do you know why there are

tantrums? because how dare mum put something

green on the plate? Can you believe it? What

was she thinking? And the kids lose it because

they don't want to eat anything green, they just

want anything brown. What's dad going to do?

Will he be a blowtorch who just loses it at the

kids and is critical of them and... There's a

time for constructive criticism for sure, but

that's not what I'm talking about. He just loses

his Nana. Or will he be a balm? Will he soothe

them? Will he calm them? Will he be firm with

them but loving? Or on the weekend? You know,

what's going on on the weekend? Hey, you know,

sometimes you just need a screen day because

you're sick or whatever, but is that always the

pattern? Screens all the time. Or is Dad there

seeking to connect with his kids, model Christ

to them, teach them about Jesus? Is he finding

time in the week to do that well? Now, I'm not

saying it's easy. I think it's hard being a parent.

You've got to learn how to balance harsh and

indulgent, don't you? There's a middle ground

that you're trying to hit all the time. You don't

want to go to those extremes. And you face constant

challenges and pressures as a dad where you've

got to balance life and being a parent and your

marriage and, you know, your own relationship

with God and, you know, doing a bit of exercise

once in a while and all these things. It's hard.

But the only way you're going to do that is if

you bring your best self to the table, isn't

it? And a lot of that depends on how you were

raised. This is one of my favourite paintings

that I did. It used to sit in my girl's room

in Broken Hill. I got a bunch of balloons. This

is the genius of TikTok. I got a bunch of balloons,

blew them up and dipped them in paint and that's

a cool way to make flowers. So there you go if

you want to try something next weekend. But if

you were to get up close to this painting and

look at it... you'd see there's weird bumps and

lines all over it. And you go, what's going on

there? Well, with this painting, I didn't start

with a blank canvas. It was actually one I'd

already painted. And I painted over it. I painted

over something old and made it into something

new. And it's the same with ourselves. Your childhood

shaped you, but it doesn't have to define you.

You can repaint and reparent yourself. But Brendan,

how can I do that? How can I grow and reparent

myself and be different when I'm stressed, tired

and stuck in not great patterns all the time?

I'm barely surviving and you're there adding

another thing onto my plate. Come on! I get it.

It's tough. It'd be nice if you were just a blank

canvas again and you could just start from scratch.

That'd be great. But none of us are. And actually

the best environment to grow in and work all

this out is the current one that you're in. Look,

I don't think you can really reparent yourself

by a pool on your own in Bali. It doesn't work.

Because the tough environment that you're in

exposes the wounds that need healing. So what

do we need to do to heal and grow? Well, we need

to get curious. What are the things that trigger

me? What are my insecurities? What are my sin

habits that I need to deal with? We need to get

support. You know, friends who can keep you accountable

and who can encourage you. Maybe if you've got

some deep wounds and scars, maybe a psychologist

is needed. But here's the big one above all.

You need to bring the gospel to bear. on your

heart. Bring the gospel to bear on your heart.

Prayerfully bring the gospel to bear on your

heart. You know, when you're stressed because

you're always worried about things, you need

to prayerfully bring the gospel to bear on your

heart and say, Jesus is in control. He loves

me. I don't need to worry about this. I can see

things differently because of Him. Or when you're

just so exhausted and you've been trying everything

with your kids and you just, you feel like you've

got bruises on your head because you've been

banging your head against a wall so much. And

you just think, I don't want to try anymore.

This seems impossible. Bring the gospel to bear

on your heart. The gospel says God can do more

than you think, ask or imagine. The gospel says

that you've got a power within you, resurrection

power. You can change and be different. Go back

to that gospel, let it refresh you, revitalise

you, strengthen you again. What about the times

where you're there and you feel incredibly guilty?

You've lost it at the kids, you haven't been

barm dad, you've been fireworks dad, you've blown

up, it's not good. Bring the gospel to bear on

your heart. All that guilt, all that shame, go

to the cross. See that Jesus paid for it all.

That he's taken the punishment for it all. And

let it fill you with thanksgiving and joy. See

the gospel has the power to change you in the

deepest ways possible. It just takes thought,

time and work. But it's worth it. Not just for

you, but for your kids as well. Because what

could be better than seeing a dad and a mum who

do that? So let's recap. We asked, are we enslaved

to... Thanks, Siri. We asked, are we enslaved

to our childhood? And the answer is we're not.

Relationship with Jesus transforms how you relate.

How you relate to God, yourself, your parents,

your kids. Yep. And with a gospel brush we can

repaint what is already there. Your childhood

doesn't have to define you. You can let the gospel

define you. Through Jesus you have a new father.

who loves you and cares about you. You have a

new home in heaven. You have a new heart with

a clear conscience because you've been forgiven

by him. But what's this mean for each of us?

If you're here today and you're not a Christian,

I don't know what your childhood was like. And

I'm very sorry if it was traumatic, especially

if you had Christian parents, because it should

have been awesome. And if they let you down and

were hypocritical, I am so sorry. It shouldn't

have been like that. Yet Jesus is offering you

today the love you should have got. Actually,

he's offering you infinitely more. In him you

are cherished and precious. In him you can find

healing. He's offering you hope of a new world.

where the wrongs of the past will be made right.

I want to ask, what are you going to do with

that? Are you really going to reject that? Today's

the day to come up the front and pray and receive

it for yourself. Come talk to me or come pray

up the front here and bring Jesus into your life

and get the healing, the hope. and the forgiveness

and the love that we all need. But if you're

a Christian, I hope you've been challenged today

to see that the priority is to bring the Gospel

to bear on your heart, to work on yourself. And

we all need to do that, no matter which group

we're in. I mean, some of us here are kids, or

maybe we want to tell our kids this. But I mean,

as a kid, it's hard being told what to do. But

I tell you what, it's easier to do it when you

see that your parents have been put there by

Jesus. When you're thankful to God for your parents,

I'd encourage, I want to encourage all the parents

here to encourage their kids to do that, to honour

their parents well. But... All of us here, we're

children of somebody, aren't we? And if our parents

are alive, this is a challenge, too, for us to

honour them. Every month we do a service at Infinite

Care, and it's a lot of fun, and I really enjoy

going. But it's actually very sad sometimes seeing

people who've been just put away in a nursing

home and tucked away there and forgotten about.

I think that's something that happens in the

West, not so much in other cultures, but in the

West we do that, where we put our parents away

and we forget about them, and I don't think that's

honouring to parents. I think Christians need

to love and care for their parents all through

life and honour them well. But what's this saying

to you if you've lost a father or if you've If

you're estranged from your kids, I mean, those

things are incredibly hard too, aren't they?

Well, I hope you've seen today that you have

comfort in the Lord Jesus and comfort in knowing

God as your Heavenly Father. I'm not saying it's

easy, but I'm saying there is hope, there is

comfort there that you can draw on and be strengthened

by. And if you are estranged from your kids,

Can I encourage you, I think one of the most

important things you can do is to take responsibility.

I'm not saying that you did everything horribly

wrong or anything like that, but there are things

you probably didn't do well, or none of us do.

And the best thing you can do is own your failures

before your kids, I think, and love them as much

as they will allow. It's tricky, it's complicated,

but I think that's one of the key things to do.

But there's also people here today who aren't

parents who want to be. And maybe it's that in

time, God will allow that. And if that's the

case, I hope you've got greater clarity today

on what parenting looks like. But there are some

people here who want to have kids and can't,

and that brings a deep grief. And I'm very sorry

for that. But can I encourage you, please don't

bottle it up? Share it with God, share it with

those around you. Feel the joy of being in the

family of God's people who love you and support

you. And don't lose sight of the role you do

have to play. Ephesians 4, if you remember back

to what Pete Hughes said on Family Camp, shows

us that we're a body and that we build each other

up. And that includes the kids in our church.

You know that old saying, it takes a village

to raise a child. I remember growing up when

my parents got divorced. I didn't see my dad

very much, but there was a guy in our church

who took it on himself. He was single and he

took it on himself to be a dad to a lot of kids

who just didn't have a dad. And he taught me

how to drive amongst others, but he taught me

how to drive. He led a Bible study that was great

that just really helped me grow, he did a lot

of things. And I think for all of us, if there's

opportunities in church to invest in kids who

have a tough family life, maybe just teaching

in kids' church could be one way you could do

that. But finally for parents, I want to encourage

you today as well and encourage you to think

about the shape of parenting. We've thought a

lot of things today, but I want to leave you

with this. We've got our five M's for church.

Well, here's my five C's for parenting. It's

Christ. That's the foundation, isn't it? But

then there's other things we want to do. We want

to be, and especially the dads, this is our job.

We want to have calmness in our home. We want

to have consequences. We want to go, yeah, there

are real boundaries and you need to learn. There

is real discipline here if you don't do the things

you're meant to do. But we don't want it to just

be consequences. We want it to be connection.

You know, kids actually respond so well when

they feel connected to their parents. And so

it's key that we build that connection with our

kids, isn't it? But not just that. It's not just

that we have one good day a week. We want to

do that consistently. I want to get better and

better at doing this more and more and more.

So I think that's a helpful way to just think

about the different areas of parenting, going,

yeah, how am I going with the Christ bit? Am

I modelling Christ to my kids? Am I teaching

them about Jesus? How am I going with the calmness?

Well, I lost my Nana last week. Yeah, OK, that's

something to work on. Consequences, yeah, we

need to be a bit firmer with a few things. And

you just think into each one, don't you? but

also think your needs too. That's key, isn't

it? Raising kids is taxing work. And I often

feel like a failure as a parent, especially when

I get a snippy comment or change is slow or something

like that. And carrying guilt ain't helping.

So what I do is I try and take it to the cross.

And I try not to give up. I try to see that I

can make a difference. And most of all, I try

to keep reparenting and repainting myself. Because

I think that's the best thing I can do for my

family. So I hope you'll let the gospel transform

you as well. Let's pray. Father, we want to thank

you so much. for all the good things you give

us. But thank you most of all for your gospel.

And we ask that you would help us to repaint

and reparent ourselves. That you would deal with

our fears, our insecurities, our sinful habits.

That you would change us to be more like Jesus.

And that you would help those of us here who

are parents, especially the dads, to lead their

families well. And we ask this in Jesus' precious

name. Amen.