Parents: Are your lives "OUT OF ORDER"?!?

I challenge you to watch this message http://www.tcabc.com/series/outoforder/outoforder.html

because it will radically change the way you view your marriage, parenting, the family unit, your priorities in your life, & your children!!! It challenged me a great deal today as I watched it during the kids naptime. Yes, it's long, but I promise you it is GOOD STUFF. EVERY parent, single adult, married couple, etc should listen this series by Alex Himaya. Alex is the Lead Pastor at The Church at BattleCreek in Tulsa, OK where Brian & I had the privilege to serve on staff at several years ago back at the beginning of our marriage. Alex always has great sermon series...but this is GREAT! I promise!

If you watch it, please leave me a comment & let me know what you think!

For those of you who won't watch it, here are some quick notes that I wrote down while watching this this afternoon...maybe this will give you a little taste of just how good this is! :)

In a culture that calls mothers, "Super Mom" & leaves us living a life of complete chaos with our children running our Day Planners, what does the Bible have to say about Parenting....

BIBLICAL DEFINITION OF PARENTING:

"Parenting is teaching & training your children to leave. "

1.) TEACHING: Deuteronomy 6:6-7 "And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up."

-Do LIFE together with your children. It's not about a family devotion time, but about teaching them about the Lord and His word as you walk through life together.

2.) TRAINING: Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."

3.) LEAVE: Genesis 2:24, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."

There is an origin to parenting, but what is our destination?

To raise children who are independantly dependant on their God!

But this is secondary to the marriage which should be our main priority as parents.

God's design for Life's "GPS" is really "GSP" -- God, Spouse, Parenting! (AND YES, IN THAT ORDER!!)

Two Poor Parenting practices the Enemy has deceived families with today:

1) Making your children the focus of your attention. "The whole world revolves around me!" mentality.

*"Attention is something they desperately need, just like water. But too much water can make them drown!"

*Married couples... "Keeping your children first in your household will create A.D.D. (Attention Deficite Disorder) with your spouse."

2.) Organizing our schedule around our children.

* We are all guilty of focusing on our children getting to experience things that we ourselves were unable to experience as a child. We've been guilty of this for generations, but we are to the point now that we have created a generation of children who are "experience rich" yet they are "relationally poor".

The enemy has taken our affection & twisted it to be more concerned with our children's experiences in life at the cost of being/teaching them to be relational.

Make a priority as a couple to Re-energize, Re-focus, & Re-connect with your spouse DAILY. Put the kids to bed at a decent hour so you have quality time with your spouse and keep your priorities in order!

Main thing to do to keep your marriage in the #1 spot in your life:

DATE YOUR MATE!

Protect this time & let this be the rule & not the exception. Invest in your marriage!!