Parenting Seminar 2026 - "Biblical Dynamics of Family: Benefit & Byproduct" by Glenn Hitchcock

He has done a bunch of preaching throughout his life, served as

an elder, has done a lot of work in social work, is trained in

that area, and has been helping us as we look at our relationship to one

another as a family, but primarily doing our parenting seminar on Friday and Saturday.

I believe those lessons have been recorded for those who weren't able to be here

for that, but we're thankful that he's going to be teaching our Bible class this

morning and also will have the sermon to follow. So turn the class over

Good morning. For those who don't

know me, am I too loud already, huh?

79 inches is the answer.

People ask, well, how tall are you?

First time I came to Texas, it was amazing

because I was stepping off the aircraft

and there were these 3 very sophisticated

elderly ladies,

and one of them turned around and asked me the question,

my, my, they sure grow 'em tall in Texas, don't they?

And I responded, well, ma'am, frankly, this is my first time

in Texas and I'm from Virginia, and so far I haven't seen

a tall Texan yet.

And she said, oh, oh my, well, welcome to Texas.

But we're glad to be in, in Kentucky,

glad to be back here at this great congregation,

glad to see your smiling faces. For those who attended

for the seminar Thank you. And for those

who were not at the seminar,

welcome. Some of the things that we have to say

will be repetitious to some, important to others,

and challenging for the most part to many.

Reading a quote: When little people are overwhelmed

by big emotions, it is our job

to share our calm not our chaos with

our children. This reinforces emotional

stability, and it gives them a sense of

calm and ease

knowing that God is in control and

that their parents aren't really crazy as I seem to

be because they're not joining me in my chaos.

And life goes on. Today we want to talk

about the benefits of

the Christian family. These are some terms

that we covered introducing the biblical

dynamics of the, of the family. There are 6

dynamic ones beginning As

it relates to God providing the family,

the family just didn't show up one day.

God is the giver of family,

beginning with mom and dad, and gifts in

the form of two-legged children that

will challenge each and every one of us from time to time.

The bubble, the protective feature of the family,

is so important also. Many of you remember

fond and lasting memories in

the bubble of your family, in the protection of your family.

There are boundaries. We discussed the boundaries, the parameters being

the Scriptures, based upon submission to God.

And folks, the part that many have trouble with,

it seems— not all, but some— the

behavior stage for all

of us, not just our children but also parents.

You know, if parents misbehave with their children,

no wonder children are crazy as you think that they are.

You know, I had a— I had some crazy parents.

Yeah, I was— got a little crazy too. But thank

God there was something that could comb through that craziness to

weed out the things that I didn't need and to

help fortify the things that I really needed.

It was the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Romans 1:16,

Romans 1:16

Paul says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why?

It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believed, to Jew

first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of

God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall

live by faith. 4 reasons why we never ought to be ashamed

of the gospel when it comes to our families and living before the world.

We ought never to be ashamed of the gospel because of its origin. I know

I'm off right now, but I'm coming back. Because of its origin.

The gospel originated with God. Didn't originate with man.

We trust it to teach our and train our children.

We use the gospel to help reproduce a world

of faithful Christians that the world may be a brighter place because

we're the lights of God's people, Matthew 5:16-17.

Matthew 5:16–17

And so we are not to be ashamed of the gospel because of its

origin. Not to be ashamed of the gospel

because of its operation. Paul says the gospel is an operation

of power. It's related

to like dynamite. It could just obliterate

whatever it needs to obliterate. And the biggest thing that needs to be obliterated

in our day and time, folks, is a word that starts

with an S and it hisses— sin. Isn't that right?

The gospel can remove that. So whatever

problems we have in our families, the gospel can help to comb it out and

fortify what's left. So I'm not ashamed

of the gospel as a member of God's family because

of the operation of the gospel. I'm not

ashamed of the gospel because of its outreach. The gospel

reaches out to all family members. Whether on

the earth or in my household, the gospel we

are amenable to. There's not a person here that's exempt

from the call of the gospel as

it relates to becoming a member of the family of God. We've— and I'm not

ashamed of that. I'm glad to know that I can relate to you this morning

because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, regardless of how short you

are or how tall you are or what you look like.

And so I'm not ashamed of the gospel because

of its outcome. Paul says the gospel

and its outcome is salvation.

Isn't that what we want for our children?

Isn't that what we want for our grandchildren, for generations yet

unborn? We want them to be saved.

We don't have a magic wand, but we do have a

mighty story to tell to our children,

to each other. And so we have the gospel

to help to curb our behavior as parents

as we submit to it and apply it to ourselves first

and to our children. There's the benefit,

which is what we're going to talk about this morning. You didn't think I'd get

there, did you? The benefit. One day your children are

going to grow up and guess what? They're going to leave home.

And some of you folks will say, well, then I'm going to get

into basket weaving because I'm going to call myself a what? An empty

what? An empty nester.

I didn't do that. I celebrated. I did.

My wife celebrated more so than I did. I hope my daughter don't

see this. You know why? We could finally

get our house clean again. Say amen when you can.

And we could take all of that stuff— high

school, private school,

kindergarten, those Disney things and stuff—

and just box them up and say, here, sweetheart, take this

with you. We're glad that you can

come back and see us, but take all of that with you.

Dad needs the space. No, Mom needs the space.

Dad has a study, but Mom's gonna get a study now.

You're gone, you're promoted. We did our

job. Isn't that right?

If you're honest, you'll do this. That's right.

Oh, we're gonna miss you. And just to let you know,

we're gonna give you a bus token so you can come back and visit whenever

you want to. And she does. She called us

the other— I guess it was last night. Mom, I'm at your house.

Guess what I'm doing? Washing clothes. Why?

Dad didn't fix the dryer yet. Okay. What does

the dryer have to do with her washing clothes at my house?

Wash your clothes and bring them— oh no, Dad, it's easy if I just bring

it all over to your house. You know, it's a nice laundromat you have.

I don't have one like that. So you still get the joy of promotion.

We'll also talk about the byproducts. I know the bell's gonna ring before long,

so let me get, get with this. There's the benefit of Christian parenting.

You know, Rebecca,

the Bible says her sister said

to her— she's— well, it says, and they blessed Rebecca

and said to her, our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of

10 thousands, and may your descendants possess the gates of

those who hate them.

Isaac was on a mission. Rebecca was the target.

When it was time for her to go, she left. Why?

Promotion. She left the household. She was prepared

by her parents to go on a mission,

to live her life, to leave,

cleave, and achieve for God and for her

family. That's what promotion's all about. There's a benefit

in promotion evangelistically. You know, we have a problem sometimes in the Lord's church.

Elders, we talk about this a lot. How can we get

more families to come and be a part of the body of Christ?

But the unique problem with that is when your

young mothers will

say, one day I want my son

or my daughter to grow up and marry what kind of a Christian?

Starts with an F. Faithful Christian. Well, where are

you going to find it? Where are you going to find faithful Christians?

In the Lord's church, right? Well, why do they go other places?

You know why they go to other places? Because when they look in the Lord's

church, what kind of people are there for them to date,

marry, and talk to? For the most part,

well, where we are, we have a lot of old people. We have a lot

of kids. But I don't want my 20-some-year-old

daughter dating a 57-year-old dude.

I don't want that.

Compatibility issues. Many compatibility

issues crop up because many

congregations are not reproducing people

from the world. They're not seeking and saving the lost.

And we began to look around and say, well, who is

that to date? I might as well send them here or

there or something like that. And we lose, we lose our kids,

or we lose the benefit of

having to celebrate Christian marriages.

I want to challenge this congregation to continue to be evangelistic

I tell my daughter all the time, if you want a Christian man,

if you want to marry a Christian man, you're going to have to help cultivate

one. You have to go out there along with the rest of us,

seek and save the lost,

evangelize. 2 Timothy 2 and verse 2, the things that you heard of me,

the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to

teach others also. The who shall be able to teach others also.

That's our responsibility as parents and

as candidates looking for a Christian husband or a

Christian wife.

I've got to be in a teaching position, not just in a dating position.

Many of us are just in a dating position. You think it's just gonna fall

out of the sky, boom, there he is.

And Lord help the poor fellow who first gets here,

you know, he's new, he's maybe going to the university here or something like

that. Handsome young man told his girlfriend back home he'll see

her in the, you know, next semester and stuff. And all of our eligible

candidates, whoop, jump on him like, how you doing?

Hey, come on, let's go eat and do this. That's fine, nothing wrong with that.

College students, you're here, you know what I'm talking about.

That's great, but we have to

make sure that we can leaven

the church by keeping our eyes on the prize.

As I said on, I guess it was Friday night,

maybe it was yesterday, I don't remember now, but we

have to have the priority of viewing God's

creation as souls that

happen to be in a body rather than

a beautiful body that happens to have a soul.

What does a man profit if he should gain the whole world and lose his

own soul? The church

must grow evangelistically,

and that leaven is not just going out in

the community, but it takes place right here in our families.

The father, who is the initiator of love in the family,

is the primary disciple maker. Parents are the primary disciple makers for

their children. And if you disciple your children

properly, they will grow up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

And they will have an evangelistic attitude about

others that they see compatible, and they will target

people to try to teach them the gospel, of which they are not ashamed

of. And the church can grow that way also. So we talk

about the benefit of God's family from the standpoint of evangelism,

from the church going out and and from the

family teaching within. And when we do

that, we have a plethora of opportunities for

having compatible candidates for our children,

and we won't have to be

so worried, which is something you shouldn't do,

Philippians 4:6,

Philippians 4:6

and overly concerned about those things. Let God do

what God's gonna do. Well, let me move

on. I'm running out of time. Matrimonially, Christians marry Christians

to propagate the legacy. Oh, young people,

if I could only tell you some horror stories.

You won't listen to 'em, so I won't tell you that.

But one of the great truths of it all is There's

a great benefit when Christians marry Christians and

they submit to God's will. Ephesians 5:1—

Ephesians 5:1

well, the whole chapter there, basically. 5:21, submit to

one another in the fear of the Lord.

Because we love the Lord, we submit to one another. And to grow

up like that— I told the story how Mercedes and I were first married.

I was not a faithful— I was not a Christian.

Well, when we got married, I was a Christian, but just before we got married,

I obeyed the gospel. The first time I heard it, I obeyed it in Warner

Robins, Georgia. My wife grew up in the church.

She and her family had targeted me for an opportunity

to teach the gospel to.

It wasn't difficult for me. I was already enamored by everything

that I saw in her. But spiritually,

my appetite was satisfied with what I heard.

The words ring true in Romans 10:17,

Romans 10:17

therefore faith comes by hearing and

hearing by the Word of God. I heard the Word of God, I obeyed

the Word of God, got married about,

not too many days afterwards.

We subscribed to the New Testament, to the Bible,

to help resolve any difficulties that we had.

It was a little hard at first, but thank God

for our church family that supported us,

for loving elders who took care of us and shepherded

us. The benefit of

promotion socially then— the world needs lights.

And the lights of the world are brothers and sisters

in Christ who love one another. Fathers and mothers

in love with God affirming it with a great

yes is what family's all about. We are the light

of the world. The world will not be changed

by someone else. It has to be God's

people. Economically, the world

will be changed. The benefit of the Christian family,

their sense of stewardship, it started when they first married

and had their first child. God gave them,

entrusted them a precious gift.

Children are gifted by God.

They are not TCK,

trophy case kids. Trophy case kids

are kids that are enamored with materialism because their parents

treat them like they are material. They pull them out of the cage

when they want to, or out of the trophy case when they want to,

and they show them around. They put them back in the trophy case from time

to time, and they will give them a little money or some more gaming action

stuff to keep them satisfied while they go and do their thing.

Thing. That's poor stewardship. Christian parenting

is about stewardship in the fear

of God, where we view

our kids as God does.

They are the precious gift from God. We talked

more about that in Psalm 127. As arrows in

the hand of a mighty man, So are the children of our youth.

Blessed is the man who has his quiver— what?

Full of them. That means all of them. You know,

all of our kids a little different, isn't that right?

Raise your hand if you have a favorite child. Don't do it, don't do it.

You violate the gift of the quiver. The gift

of the quiver says I have no favorite children unless

it's all of them. Isn't that right?

You're looking at me funny, let me move on. Morally,

that's Christian compliance. Because Christians

submit to the will of God, they are

least likely— I'm not saying that it's unlikely,

but they are least likely to

commit heinous immoral acts

and atrocities in the world. That's the kind of person

I kind of want to be married to. I don't want to

be married to a serial killer Mercedes. I don't want

to be married to a serial killer. Do you?

God says Christians are

some of the greatest people on the face of the earth because of their morals,

because of their sense of stewardship, economics,

because of their influence socially,

because of their family matrimonially.

They have a legacy. They're not looking for something temporary.

And they help to grow the world for God evangelistically

like leaven. And spiritually,

Christian maturity. I want to marry someone who

is mature in the faith, who is growing in the faith.

None of us have arrived, believe me, but 2 Peter

2 Peter 3:18

3:18, we're growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and

Savior Jesus Christ. Spiritual growth and spiritual

maturity is what is benefited

by being a part of, of the Christian family.

Our altar is in our home And

it goes out of the house into our worship on the Lord's Day.

It goes into the office on Monday through Friday.

It goes wherever we go. It goes with us on vacation.

I don't put my spirituality aside because I go on vacation.

I'm glad to be a Christian.

I'm glad to be a member of the Christian family of

saints that meet all over the world because

I know I can grow with them.

I'm a part of their legacy. I have

influence with them and they with me.

They're loyal. They are good moral

people and they are growing spiritually.

And if I had to recommend them to my child to

marry, I'd say, sic 'em! That's who you want.

And that's what this seminar has been about all this week.

The benefit also is about succession.

The goal of family lifespan development is succession.

Children grow up and become whatever you instill in them.

I better say that again. Children grow up and become whatever you instill

in them. There's a proverb that says,

when your children are born,

they resemble their parents, but when

they die, they resemble their choices.

What do you think of that? The goal of parenting

is to remember that they become whatever you instilled in them.

And I go back to the quote that I said, that I began with: when

little people are overwhelmed by big emotions, it is our

job to share our calm with

them and not our chaos, because one

day They're gonna have to be discerning about

life after you're gone.

And whatever they— you've echoed in their ears,

it's going to be what their choices have eventuated

into being. So my question,

will their structure hold based upon submitting

to God? Will they be secure based upon

living in the bubble of security in your house?

Will they submit to the Scriptures because we started early

with them? I talked about the cradle roll.

I love cradle roll. Now, I don't— I don't normally teach

in cradle roll, folks, I'll tell you that. I don't want to I don't want

to scare them little babies.

But Jesus loves me. I learned that in cradle roll.

The B-I-B-L-E, cradle roll.

And God is alive and God loves me, cradle roll.

Put your babies in cradle roll.

Let them learn submission early on.

And you continue to work on your submission,

and your family will improve drastically.

Will they succeed in a family? Will your kids

be promoted into society and

make a mark for Jesus? Will they glorify God

in all that they say and all that they do because of what you told

them? Will they be suitable for someone to marry based

upon what we've taught them? What questions

might you have? That was quick.

Here's the byproduct of families. In Genesis 2:24,

Genesis 2:24

a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,

and they shall become one flesh. The byproducts of procreation

Character, suitability. Believe because of submission.

That's your faith. We talked about that in Romans 10:17.

Romans 10:17

Leave because of security, the fortitude of knowing that God

is with me. Jesus cares for me. 1 Peter 5:7, cast all

1 Peter 5:7

your cares upon him. Why? Because he cares

for you. I have the faith and

the fortitude to walk anywhere in the world knowing that my God is

with me. And I know that I can trust

what I've been taught by my family and

by the Word of God. I can take that anywhere in the world

and never be ashamed because I'm a child

of the King. Cleave because of the Scriptures.

My fidelity— 1 Peter 4:11— I want to speak

1 Peter 4:11

as the oracles of God. Wherever I go,

whatever I do. I want to have a Bible

answer for a Bible question, and I want to put it

in such a way that my children will always understand me.

Because I am the initiator of love in that family,

it's my responsibility to train them,

because I'm the primary discipler of my children,

not the Bible class, not the Church of Christ, but parents

are the primary disciple maker of our

kids. And we test the quality

of their teachings when they come to Bible class. We follow

up on what they've been teaching. We make sure

that they're being enhanced with God's Word

and not the rhetoric the vain teachings

of false philosophers and men.

Achieved because of structural unity. Listen,

we're family. There's nothing we can't do as God's

family and as a Christian family as long as

we're focused on God. I mentioned yesterday our

family focus is either BK or KFC.

BK. You know what BK usually stands for? Have it what?

You said Burger King, but what does Burger King— what's their motto?

Have it your way. Have it your way. A lot

of families, they want to have it their way. You know, you do what you

do, you come when you come, we don't do this. It's just do your thing,

baby. You know, back in the '60s

we had baby burn, baby burn, but today when they got have it your way,

Well, I don't want to have it my way, because if I let my kids

have it their way, you know what will happen? Don't answer, don't, don't answer,

but there'll be chaos, confusion.

And this is no knock against your kids,

but there's a better way, and that's KFC.

What's the motto of KFC? I don't know.

What do you mean KFC, man? You crazy?

Look at Matthew 6:33.

Matthew 6:33

Say it again.

Kingdom-first Christians.

Write it down. Kingdom-first Christians.

KFC. Does that match with Matthew 6:33?

Matthew 6:33

Somebody do this. Does that match with Matthew

Matthew 6:33

6:33, Neil? Okay,

Hiram, does that match? Okay, if I

got Hiram and Neil doing this, I think I'm okay. I trust

those fellas anyway. I go to war with those fellas anytime. That's KFC.

When we put the kingdom first and beckon

our kids to follow us as we make that march towards heaven,

The choices that we make while we live

will reflect the teachings that we receive

from God's Word, and it

will continue to influence even after we've died.

Why? The Word of God is powerful.

It's alive. It quickens.

Hebrews 4 and verse 12. We don't,

as members of the Church of Christ, as members of a family

of Christians, we don't practice Burger King

leadership— do it, have it your own way philosophy.

We just don't do that. We communicate to each other.

We care for each other. We take time for each

other. We worship to God— worship God together.

We pray together, not just at the church building but at home also.

We set a spiritual legacy for our kids and

for ourselves that won't fade away.

I'm running out of time.

Byproducts— reproduction. Let me go

back here. Be a disciple maker, a soul winner.

Be an example. Be a hearer and doer of the Word. Be a symbol.

And I've kind of pushed all this together in these frames because I'm trying

to do an overview of a lot of things that I've talked about 2 days

ago. And you're looking at me funny, like, man, that's a lot of material,

Glenn. What else can you tell us about it? Go back, and I think they

recorded some of these, but The byproduct of reproduction

is twofold. It's spiritual from

the standpoint of being a soul winner. Replenishing the

family of God comes through soul winning, both within

the family and without the family.

Within the physical family, the home.

Without the spiritual family, the church,

we go out and seek and save the lost. But whether

in the home or in the church, we're to be symbols

doing what we read and study, being doers

of the Word and not hearers only. Practicing what you preach.

And the world knows the difference. And guess what?

Let me let you in on this little secret. Your kids

know the difference too. Your kids

know if you are a doer and a hearer,

and they know if you're just a hearer of the word also. You do it

because I say so, not because I, you know— kids

are smart. They know us.

So here are 5 takeaways that I presented yesterday.

Our purpose of existence as parents is to

disciple our children.

Deuteronomy 6, Ephesians 6 both gives the

outline, gives the authority for

us doing that. You do it regularly, you do it consistently,

you do it from the standpoint of glorifying God.

You take time to do that, and you cannot farm it

out to someone else.

The pattern example as parents, we're to be hearers

and doers of God's word, not just

grandma's word, somebody else's word. We take

our lead from God. Why? Because we're KFC

Christians. From the standpoint

of priorities, our kids need to know that we're

devoted to God and to each other and especially

to them. We have to be.

Providentially, each and every one of us who

are KFC Christians have signed a declaration

of dependence on on God's sacred oracles and

are submitting to them. And in that submission,

it will involve some sacrifice.

In that submission, it will involve doing some things that maybe you don't

feel like doing or you don't want to do, but you do it out of

love for Christ. Ephesians 5:21-22.

Ephesians 5:21–22

And you do it like Christ did it for the church. He gave himself

He made the sacrifice and he served the church

by being head of the body, and through which we're

able to have life today. As initiators of love

in the family, as the head of the house where I reside,

it's my job to make sure that I'm that living sacrifice

for my family, that I'm serving my family,

And I'm doing it in word and in deed because

I've signed a declaration of dependency on

God. It may not always feel right.

I may not like it sometimes, but I do it because I've signed

a declaration of dependence on God, with God,

as I prepare them for eternity. And again,

one day, I don't know when, and this

zip code will no longer exist. The elements

shall be burnt up,

and the only thing left will be a legacy.

How did I train my children?

They looked like me at birth. Will their choices

resemble me in death?

These are the 6 dynamic features that we discussed

this weekend of the Christian family.

I haven't heard the bell yet, so I'm ready for questions.

Well, the other matter that

I want to say to you is parenting has never been

easy, and you know that. But what

makes it pleasurable is the fact that I have folks that I can lean upon.

In the Lord's church, we have a network that

we can lean upon. Sometimes I call it the SWAT network.

I may say more about that later.

We have godly men and women in this

congregation that really do care

for you.

And you should not act as though your problem

is bigger than their solution, than God's solution.

God is faithful,

and he's not willing that any should perish.

But we can find a solution to our problems.

You may say, yeah, preacher, but you don't understand my problem.

Oh, I mentioned life has 3 problems:

guilt, grief,

and the grave. Jesus is the answer

to all 3 of those problems. And representing

Jesus Christ here on this earth are the scriptures

and the body of Christ. And brethren,

I, I'm, I'm honest enough to tell you, I believe that between the scriptures

and my brethren in Christ, we can help you to find a solution to your

problem. But you're going to have to come.

You're going to have to yield. You're going to have to submit.

Submit to your elders. Submit to someone that you trust

talk to, because this old world won't

give you the answers. Look around you.

1 John 2:15,

1 John 2:15

lust of the flesh, addictions.

Lust of the eye, attractions. The pride

of life, ambitions. Your ambitions, your addictions,

And your attractions can be a problem for you.

But Jesus has an answer. The antidote to addictions,

attractions, and ambitions is

a submissive knowledge of the Word

of God. And it will not fail you.

But you have to come humbly and submissively,

recognizing that you're not stupid,

you're not dumb, you just need some help from time to

time. That's why God placed his

body, and part of that body has hands to receive those

who are in need. I thank God for

the Lord's church. I thank God for you.

You, the Lord's people, took me

in at a time when I don't think anybody else would have

me and taught me a pattern

example of what parenting should be about.

Oh, I'm nowhere near perfect. I'm just still broken-down old Hitchcock,

but my daughter will tell you I

had fun growing up. My parents were old.

She went to the Christian school and she knew the Motown sounds

and records before the teachers. The teachers said, what is that? Mercedes said, well,

those are— you know, she grew up with old parents.

Nothing wrong with that, but life was

a legacy of love and learning,

and that's all we're doing. Creating a legacy of love where

we can learn together how to go to heaven together,

because that's what it's all about. Thank you