A Theology of Parenting | Pastor Ryan Coggins

well good morning and welcome to Life

Church how many of you this today are

honest enough to say that daylight

savings snuck up on you you normally

come to the nine o00 any anybody all

right it's okay it's okay it's all right

um the last service they were all the

people that are crazy that think that we

should have a 7 a.m. service that were

it was finally their time but uh it's

good to have you here like Luke said

we're continuing we're actually

concluding a series called loveology and

we've been looking at different types of

relationship ships if you were here last

Sunday Pastor Aon talked about uh the

marriage relationship today we are

talking about what it looks like to

raise Godly children now I have two high

schoolers that were in the last service

and I could hear them occasionally going

hm you know there's a couple of amens

almost so kids don't mess with your

parents today but I am going to talk

maybe a little bit more to your parents

today but I'm going to talk to everybody

because we all have a responsibility in

this but uh I'm not breaking any news

when I say this but the world has

changed dramatically over the last 20 30

years and what it looks like to parent

has changed a lot in fact I don't know

if there's a 30-year period of time that

it has changed more than these last 30

years and so I let let me just give you

a couple of examples come with me back

to when I was a kid back in the

1900s long time ago and I was kind of a

kid of the '90s I'm 40 years old so the

'90s were my de decade of growing up and

back in the 90s life was just very

different and so like for

example what a summer day looked like in

the 90s was different than today I would

wake up I'd eat a bowl of cereal maybe

watch a cartoon and say to my mom I'm

going to go play with friends now and

she would say be back by

dark sometimes that was like 13 hours

away you know like just fend for

yourself live off the land for the next

13 hours and we would go just do crazy

things we would rope swing into the

Mississippi River which I can't even

imagine if my kids told me they were

going to do that we didn't ever tell our

my mom might be finding that out right

now if she's listening uh we would do

things we would shoot BB guns at each

other with no eye protection uh we you

know we would do we would bike to the

grocery store at like 9 years old three

miles away and I didn't own a bike

helmet I we didn't even know what those

were it was just like a foreign we'd

occasionally see one and make fun of

people who wore bike hel it's just a

different day and age that we lived in

I'll give you another example going to

the store I always loved going to the

store with my mom because we would get

to the store and she would just say meet

back here in an hour so there was a

clock I would find i' try to keep track

and I'd go to the toy section I would

wander around that's why back in the in

the 9s you would often hear an

announcement over the loudspeaker that

would say would so and so K you know

would so and so's parents come claim

your kid at customer service they're

like in a holding tank you know there's

all these kids just missing all the time

and uh you know that's why like today

that that would just never happen you

never hear that announcement today I

heard it once recently and I was like

whoa that's bad parenting right there

you know like you keep your kids close

to you in stores or uh another example

were road trips this is I I tell my kids

they have it so good you have it so good

uh when I was a kid we had two options

on road trips of what to entertain

ourselves with you could either look out

the window or you could go to sleep that

was

it and I would try I had a tough time

falling asleep in in vehicles or

anything so like I would try really hard

and I never could and it was just like

eight hours of boredom you know like

today you get movies and all this so I

have lots of righteous indignation with

my kids sometimes I'm like back when I

was a kid we had

nothing uh but also we didn't care about

seat belts like we uh you know we didn't

really use them as like my dad one time

we went to Florida and we we drove to

Florida he took out all the seats in the

back and just put in a

mattress just marbles rolling around

back there and just but it was a good

time we had we had fun uh my grandpa

actually when they first got seat belts

in his car day one he cut them out he's

like we're not I don't know what kind of

safety features these are but we're not

rolling like this or uh Sports is

another big one sports I I tell you when

I was a kid

you had you played Little League in the

summer but during the school year there

really weren't a lot of sports there

were some like club sports that were

starting to come onto the scene but like

it was middle school before you really

got involved in sports and all the

parents said amen because there was a

bus that took your kids to and from

everything or whatever uh now today it's

like if you're not you know specializing

in a sport and lifting weights by second

grade probably never going to make the

varsity team someday it's just a it's

just it's it's a honestly that is a big

challenge it is one that as parents it's

like how do we navigate all of these

different things and you want to give

your kids a good experience but also

it's like this is madness all the the

practice times and everything going on

so and I I'll say this there it's not

all been bad changes there's some good

things that have changed since the 90s

give you one of them when you walk into

a restaurant the first question they ask

you is not would you like smoking or

non-smoking my kids can't even believe

believe that that was a thing like we

just there's no such thing as a

non-smoking section it's the secondhand

smoking section it's just we didn't know

a lot about dissipation back in the in

the 90s or or the internet I'm I'm

grateful that that it's not the process

that it was it right around Middle

School I think is when we got dial up

internet and anyone knows that if you

were on the internet which took 10

minutes to get on to by the way uh and

somebody picked up the phone I mean

World War 3 would break out in your home

you're like what are you doing I'm

trying to get on to AOL instant

messenger and I need to check my mypace

account immediately uh very big

important things but uh all of these

changes all the like the parenting

landscape is vastly different uh than it

was even 20 years ago just very

different and there's a lot of new

challenges that honestly my generation

if you're somewhere in that you know

late 30s early 40s you didn't grow like

I didn't have a cell phone until I was

in college so I don't exactly know how

to parent toward like how having

responsible use of self like I'd never

experienced that as a kid there's just

new challenges the world has changed

dramatically And yet when it comes to

the advice given to us in Scripture that

advice is the exact same that it was in

the 90s it's the exact same that it was

2,000 years ago it's the exact same and

I'm so grateful that we can anchor Our

Hope as Christ followers to something

that doesn't move you don't want to

Anchor to something that is moving along

with the current you want to Anchor to

something that is not going to move and

so today I want to look at a scripture

it's a it's an old scripture in

Deuteronomy chapter

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

6 and this is this is meant to be more

of a almost like in Judaism it was

almost like a pledge of allegiance it

was something that was said daily it was

it's called the shama and it was very

much a part of Jewish culture even to

this day it's said daily by kids it's

memorized this is this is really what it

means to follow God but it also within

that gives us great Insight in what it

looks like to raise Godly children if

you have your Bibles Deuteronomy chapter

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

6 it's also going to be on the screens

but starting in verse four it says this

here o Israel the Lord Our God the Lord

is one you shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart with all your heart

with all your soul and with all your

mind might and these words that I

command you today shall be on your heart

you shall teach them diligently to your

children and shall talk of them when you

sit in your house when you walk by the

way when you lie down and when you rise

in other words you should teach these to

your kids all the time in everything

that you do everything you should do

should be about teaching your kids what

it looks like to follow God more

specifically there's three distinct

objectives that are that are kind of

outlined in this passage of what it

looks like to raise Godly children and I

believe that if we'll Implement them I I

know that it's challenging I know that

it's a it's not easy raising Godly kids

raising just parenting in general very

difficult there's a lot of challenges

but I believe that these things right

here can begin to set up our home well

to raise children who love and serve God

the first one if you're taking notes we

should parent towards

Community parent towards community every

Jew would have understood that when

Moses was was saying this to them uh

that he's talking about us collectively

as a community he's he wasn't saying

that uh parenting is isolated to just

Mom and Dad they're the only ones who

can pour into the kids it was it was

very much it takes a village type of a

mindset we read in Deuteronomy 6:4 it

Deuteronomy 6:4

says right out of the gate here o Israel

the Lord Our God the Lord is one meaning

I'm talking to all of Israel I'm not

just talking to the parents here today

and today I know there's a lot of people

in the room you're trying to figure out

okay I'm my parenting days are over or

my I I'm not I don't yet have kids or

may you know wherever you are maybe you

are a kid we all have a responsibility

in what it looks like to raise Godly

children in fact at Life Church we have

37% of those who attend Life Church are

under the age of 18 now just for a

little context in America 24% of the

population is under the age of so we

have like more than 50% more than what

the you know average Community would

have we got a lot of kids a lot of

students and they're watching you not

just Mom and Dad but they're watching

adults on how they worship God how they

interact with each other I'm keenly

aware whenever we have people over to

our house we had a life group at our

house last night they're they're

watching how we interact they're

watching how we do life with one another

and everyone in this room plays a role

in what it looks like to raise Godly

children what does that mean more

specifically for us as parents I would

ask you the question are you surrounding

your children with Godly Community is

that something that is of value to you

now I know that I am preaching to the

choir you guys are here on daylight

savings Sunday your people who you know

are are clearly church is a huge part of

your life but we should constantly be

surrounding our children with Godly

community there was a study done several

years ago where it it it looked at How

likely is somebody to attend church as

an adult now I understand attending

church is not the end all Beall

attending church does not make you a

Christian however if you make Church a

priority mom and dad 72% of the time

your child will

follow if just dad makes it a priority

but not Mom it's

15% if just Mom uh excuse me it's it's

55% I inverted that if it's just Mom

it's 15% and if neither mom or dad go to

church then the children will go to

church as an adult just 6% of the time

just right there if we just simply said

let Let's ignore everything else I'm

going to say okay if we simply make

Church a priority our child is so much

more likely to follow in our footsteps

when it comes to our faith now we add

all these other layers to it and I'm

telling you it's it it I it is very like

that your child will grow up to love and

serve God if we will simply implement

the things outlined in

scripture if all we do is make Church a

priority is so much more likely that our

children will adopt the faith for them

for their own uh I'm grateful that I

grew up in the type of home that made

Church a priority it it was a

non-negotiable like I've talked about it

before in sermons I mean it's like it

didn't matter if you were throwing up

like I'm glad today if your kid is

throwing up keep them home okay we got

you can watch online but but like we

would just go no matter what I missed

game six of the 1991 World Series that

my team was playing and turned out to be

one of the greatest baseball games of

all time because we had Sunday night

church and it was like it was we're

going to church I'm like we got to

cancel this what are we doing here no

but my parents made it a priority we're

going to be a family that goes to church

I wasn't allowed to do certain things as

a kid because if it interfered with

church like I really wanted to play

hockey as a kid all of my friends played

hockey and I was not allowed to because

of the weekend drive that of what would

happen it's just it's not compatible and

I'm I'm not trying to beat up if anyone

plays hockey here today but my mom was

on staff at the church that we attended

it was like we're we're not going there

uh when I got a job in in high

school uh I had told my boss early on I

can't work Sunday mornings and I can't

work Wednesday nights those are times

for church and occasionally I would get

scheduled on one of those days is and my

mom would see it and she'd say are you

going to call your boss or am I but

you're not working it was just very

black and white and and I never you know

sometimes as parents were so afraid to

make it that black and white because

it's like I don't want the child to

rebel I don't want to I'm just telling

you kids are resilient they'll figure it

out but they will learn to become

grateful later on in life as I have that

they had parents who made it a priority

and said we're going to set boundaries

here we are going to be a church uh

we're going to be a family that makes

Church a priority makes Godly Community

a priority that we are to parent towards

Community second thing if you're taking

notes parent towards

purpose parent towards purpose our job

as Mom and Dad is to raise our kids to

discover their god-given

purpose and in Deuteronomy chapter 6 it

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

lays out maybe more concisely than any

other verse in all of scripture what it

looks like what a good mission statement

if you want to call it that for in the

life of a Christ follower and somebody

who follows after God looks like

Deuteronomy 6:5 it says you shall love

Deuteronomy 6:5

the Lord your God with all your heart

and with all your soul and with all your

might you need to love God with all of

your heart which means with W with your

passion with your affection with your

soul meaning from the depths of who you

are and with your might meaning in

everything that you do that's what we're

parenting towards is that purpose

there's times where I think it's

important as as parents especially if

you have kids who are little and you've

just started to you know you're starting

to process through what do you what do

you see them becoming as an adult I'm

not so much talking about

occupation what does it look like like

at the end of their time with us those

18 years in the home what does success

look like even begin to write that out

just you and your wife you and your

spouse that you that you could begin to

just jot down what does success look

like maybe it's we want them to love and

serve God we want them to marry somebody

who loves God we we want them to have

healthy relationships we want them to

you know maybe it's graduate high school

and go to college or you know some of

these things that you see as this is

what success looks like and then back up

and say are we parenting toward that is

our parenting helping them in that is

our parenting you know guiding them

toward that

end we're also responsible as parents to

uh to protect our children and help them

navigate things that could derail them

from their god-given

purpose let me just give you one example

but it's probably the biggest example

it's the one that I talk to a lot of

parents in a lot of Life groups and we

you know talk a lot about parenting and

it's the number one thing that I that I

hear parents struggling with is phones

and social media

how do we as parents navigate this it's

tough to navigate something that was not

even a thing when I was a kid I have no

context of what it looks like to be in

high school and have a phone and social

I have no context on that whatsoever how

do I parent My Children Well in that um

I'm currently reading a book uh called

anxious Generation by Jonathan height

and I'd recommend it if you're you know

parenting right now I think it's a good

read it kind of gives a lot of the

Insight it's more of a scci the

scientific background of all of this but

a lot of studies that are in the book

but it really talks about um the main

object or the main thesis of the book is

that over the last 20 years parenting

has changed

dramatically and what's happening is

parents are overprotecting in the real

world in the physical world and under

prototec in the digital world that

Dynamic right there is causing a lot of

confusion and Chaos for children

and it's what a lot of studies are

showing that it's responsible for a lot

of the rise in anxiety and depression

and just all of the things that kids

deal with today even suicidal ideation

that is on the rise a lot of that again

not to get too much into the book and

all these studies but a lot of it comes

down to we're overprotecting in the real

world and under prototec in the virtual

world in the digital world and kids need

they there's certain developmental

things that happen I know I joked about

it back in the you know 1900s we used to

just do all sorts of crazy things but

there is some truth to kids need a

little bit of that they need a little

bit of that freedom they need a little

bit of the time away from Mom and Dad to

develop certain there's even fears that

they overcome early on and age the fear

of heights just climbing trees the they

need to understand that and and

appreciate things like fire and how to

you know do that responsibly I we just

were we had we were burning a bunch of

sticks in our backyard yesterday and and

I wanted to show the boys how cool it is

when you throw a Christmas wreath on a

on a

bonfire I was like I'm going to be right

here it's going to be fine but you need

to see this don't do this when I'm not

around but like there's little things

like that that children they actually in

the book goes into great detail about

that but then at the same time while

we're overprotecting trying to Bubble

Wrap in the physical world we'll give a

child sometimes an eight-year-old

unfettered internet access on a on a

device you know and I'm not not here to

pass judgment on that but I would I

would encourage you as parents as Mom

and Dad have you had a conversation and

if you if your kids are not old enough

to have a phone yet and that age by the

way will vary depending on who you ask

in this room I think it should be like

40 but anyway that's just that's just me

uh but have you had a conversation about

what age are we going to allow this in

our home what AE what kind of parameters

are we going to put around this what I

often hear here and I can be guilty of

this too is on this topic there's a lot

of venting that happens as parents and

there's a place for venting believe me I

I get very frustrated about some of the

challenges in parenting today but

venting is not productive in terms of

coming up with a strategy and I my

encouragement to you would be this are

you researching are you talking to other

parents are you seeking out resources

cuz the these are new challenges these

are new things that some of the things I

don't even know you know what it's

probably going to be different 10 years

from now okay so you constantly are you

leaning into that as a parent and say my

responsibility is to protect my children

from things that could derail them from

their purpose not overprotect I'm giving

them boundaries to to with when when

they're in the four walls of my h house

I want them to at least face some

challenges and face some risks and make

decisions but am I guiding them properly

as a parent

it's so important that we parent towards

purpose uh lastly if you're taking notes

here today parent towards

faith we are to parent towards Faith

ultimately this is our main

responsibility as parents is to guide

our children into a relationship with

Jesus now I know Pastor Aon says it all

the time that we're not rock sakam

robots right we're again back to the

1900s uh we're not robots that we have

free moral agency

yet parents can be highly

influential in in showing our kids what

faith looks like Deuteronomy 6 6-7 it

says and these words that I command you

today shall be on your heart you shall

teach them diligently to your children

and shall talk of them when you sit down

in your house and when you walk by the

way and when you lie down and when you

rise your child's Faith begins with your

faith one of the one of the most

sobering realities as a parent is that

you reproduce in your kids who and what

you are all of the good all of the bad

like they they are often a reflection of

you now there's exceptions to that I

know people that did not have good Godly

examples in their own life growing up

and they they were able to you know

Blaze their own trail I I know there's

exceptions to this but by and large your

children will be a reflection of your

faith that that's very um that's

something that should wake us up a

little little bit and say I got to make

sure I'm living this out and not

Perfection that's not that's not the the

measurement and we'll talk a little bit

about that in just a minute but at Life

Church we have your kids for maybe one

hour a

week at home they're there for 167 hours

a week you are the primary teacher of

what it looks like to have faith in God

now let me just give you a few examples

of things that I think that we can do

because uh really the life of a Christ

follower the life of a parent as a

Christ follower is to produce in your

kids a hunger and thirst for God and I I

think that's a good way to frame it up

you look at the um the psalmist David

that he constantly writes about having a

hunger and thirst for God he you know

the famous verse that as the deer pants

for water so my soul Longs after you he

writes in this language all the time

like the reason why I seek after God is

because I have a hunger for him I have a

thirst for him and as parents how do we

create a home in which our kids have a

natural hunger and thirst for God not

just here's what you're supposed to

believe and not more of a lecture type

format but how do I create this hunger

in my kids I'll give you a few ideas

examples things that I think can be

really really helpful first of all make

talking about God a normal thing in your

home and that's something that you have

to be intentional about uh look for

opportunity

to talk about God in your home I know

that that sounds so basic well yeah you

got to do that but like do you do that

do you look for opportunities to weave

God into conversations and you have to

be intentional about that they're not

it's not just going to happen through

osmosis it has to you have to actually

think about like one example is

sometimes I'm reading in scripture and

I'll come across kind of an oddball

story there's just some old testament

stories that I'm like I don't really and

I'll bring it up with my kids can you

believe that that that isn't that a wild

story and just in term that it shows my

kids that I'm reading scripture for

myself and it gives them a curiosity

maybe I should do that as well it's one

reason why I actually this past year I

used to do a lot of my Bible reading on

my phone there's nothing wrong with that

inherently uh however my kids think I'm

looking at my phone and I'm actually

reading scripture so I'm like I actually

have gone back over to a physical Bible

that I keep in a certain place it's

there all of the time I actually have

like a journal with it that is always

there and my kids know that that's a

priority that it's a regular part of our

home another thing that you can do um is

just even this is something that we do

at our house every every time we go on a

trip as we're leaving the driveway I'll

ask one of the kids to pray just hey

just pray for safety and it's not like

some long you know like 5 10 seconds

just a real quick hey keep us safe today

and it's just another way to constantly

be redirecting toward

curiosity in God a a hunger and a thirst

for God we can also I I talked a lot

about it earlier but just simply making

church a priority creates a hunger and a

thirst in your child making it just a

regular part of the rhythm of your

family we're a we're a family that goes

to church we make this a

priority serving

together when's the last time your kids

saw you serving somebody else maybe in a

formal setting maybe you volunteered

somewhere together maybe you volunteered

here at Life church together or at the

popup shop at the Milwaukee campus or

you know there's a lot of different

opportunities but sometimes it's even

just a nonformal setting you see a need

maybe there's a neighbor maybe there's

somebody on the side of the road maybe

there whatever it may be and you take

your kids along for that journey and say

we we've been blessed to be a blessing

we're going to step in and help right

here and you actually show your kids

expose your kids to what generosity

looks like and helping others serving

together that a like that that stir up a

hunger in your kids like nothing else

when they see you serving other people

there's things we can do as parents to

not dictate to our kids what faith looks

like and I'm all for a Bible lecture I'm

all for like Hey we're going to we're

going to talk about this right now I'm

going to teach you this or whatever I'm

all for

that but is it just a normal thing in

your household to create a hunger and a

thirst for God with your kids we need to

parent towards Faith now I want to give

you one just quick word of encouragement

and then we're going to be dismissed but

I talk to a lot of parents and I I can

see it in their eyes often I can hear it

in their voice that there are a lot of

parents and some of you are here today

I'm

sure that you are just weary like it is

a daunting task to raise kids it's

challenging it's expensive it's

stressful it I get it it it really is

and uh some of you are just exhausted

today some of you beat yourselves up

over mistakes that you've made you know

maybe in the past it's like I wish I

would have done that differently I wish

I would have known that I I I wish I

wouldn't have you know I I blew it with

my kids on that situation I lost my

temper I you know whatever it may be you

have

regrets some of you that feel like

you're losing the battle the older your

kids get they're closer to leaving the

nest and you're you're concerned you

lose sleep you're you wait up night

after night waiting for him to come home

and you just have a lot of um it's just

a an exhausting thing you feel like

you're losing the battle and if I can

just be vulnerable with you for a

moment I can be impatient with my kids

like I can have a short fuse from time

to time I'm not that way in any other

area of life like I don't get

um I don't get animated when I'm playing

sports I don't get animated like in work

I'm very chill and steady yey all the

time but there's something in parenting

that will sometimes just ignite a fuse

in me and I will get amped

up I uh don't function well on low

levels of sleep and so I'm telling you

early on in the baby days uh when you

are just struggling to get 6 hours or 5

hours or 4 hours or whatever it may be

and you're just kind of walking around

like a zombie at time like I get and I

appreciate that that that can be so

challenging I sometimes make up Petty

rules as a parent I don't know if anyone

does this like there's rules in my home

that when I really think about it why is

that a rule like why do I care about

that if my kids aren't in this one so

that's probably for the best they can't

say Amen to that but like like giv an

example I really don't like when the

it's loud in the car at all that's

probably like a good there's a I I say

that there's like a safety thing like a

dad needs to pay attention or whatever

but like I just I just can't handle it

when there's a lot of noise in the car

and I'm like why am I so uptight about

that why am I so high strong about that

if I'm really to be honest there's many

days where I can be very selfish where I

would rather watch some you know watch a

game on TV than play a game with my

kids I have those days I'm right there

with you

there's many days where I feel

inadequate as a dad just to be honest

with you like am I am I am I handling

that right and my you know I second

guess things all the time about H what's

the right age to learn about that what's

the right you know all of those things I

I'm constantly thinking about it and

second guessing and sometimes if we're

not careful we can work ourselves up

into a frenzy to the point where we

completely ignore that we have access to

the grace of God in our parents

that we can humbly approach the throne

of grace with confidence and say God

help me in this I don't have all the

answers I don't I'm I don't have

Perfection here but I serve a God who is

perfect and can make up the difference

that there is going to be a gap between

this idea of what it looks to be a Godly

parent and sometimes where I measure up

is not all the way there and God I need

your grace to make up the difference and

some of you just need to hear that today

that's all I'm communicating is you need

to here that there's so much grace that

you can approach God and it should be

something we do regularly God make up

the difference I'm not perfect as a

parent I'm never going to be perfect as

a parent help me be the best example

that I can be but make up the difference

that's what Grace is I love this quote

by Paul David trip it's in the book A

book called parenting uh and it's a very

good book it talks a lot about

Grace but he says this here's the

humbling conclusion that God in Grace

led me too I am more like my children

than unlike them and so are you the

reality is that there are few struggles

in the lives of my children that aren't

in my life as well

materialism relationships wanting my own

way attraction to the world subtle

idolatries this admission transformed my

parenting instead of approaching them

with self-righteous outrage I move

toward them as a sinner in need need of

Grace needing to confront a sinner in

need of Grace God's plan is to make his

invisible Grace visible to children by

sending parents of Grace to give Grace

to children who need Grace and parents

who know they need Grace tend to want to

give Grace to children who are just like

them it's okay that that you make

mistakes it's okay that there's days

where you regret how you handle the

situation God just says lean into my

grace

my grace is sufficient in your weakness

is what scripture says and my prayer for

us today is that God would strengthen

all of us today as as parents that as we

try to parent towards community and

purpose and Faith but also that when we

do make mistakes when we do mess up when

we don't measure up that we lean heavily

on God's grace in fact out of any lesson

that your children learn from you while

they're under your roof the lesson of

leaning into God's grace is number one

if they see a parent who is constantly

leaning into God's grace and I'm not

talking about you know Paul talks he

warns against this he says you can't

just abuse Grace and just make mistakes

and then Grace will come that's not what

we're talking about but there are times

where we legitimately we just need God's

grace some of us today the Bible says

that his yoke is easy and his burden is

light and parenting does not feel light

and and and and easy at times you need

to cast your cares upon God that he

cares for you and so I'm I'm with you

I'm praying for you I'm standing with

you I'm in the I have two high schoolers

two Elementary schoolers I'm right in

the thick of it but I believe that we

can that we can set a Godly example for

our children that we can especially when

we lean upon his grace would you pray

with me

today Father God we thank you for your

grace that we can lean on it as parents

that we need to lean on it as parents

and in doing so we are teaching our kids

such a valuable lesson that they too

need your grace that we're never going

to measure up we're never going to be

this perfect

parent God we need your grace we thank

you for this church community that we

all play a part in that we all have a

responsibility to raise this next

Generation to love and serve you that

our example would be one that never uh

that never brings anything that is never

a stumbling block to this next

Generation that they would see men and

women who love you with all of their

heart and lean on your grace in every

situation God we thank you for it it's

in Jesus name we pray amen