Lesson from 3-27-14: Disconnect Part 3 "Follow your heart"

Good afternoon parents! My hope is that after Sunday's sermon on discipleship, you have taken it upon yourselves to spend 20 minutes a day with your kids in spiritual training! If not, it's never too late to commit! Like I said on sunday, it is the job of the church to equip the family; it is the job of the parents to disciple their kids. More than providing financially, leading spiritually is the number one calling on parents. It's not about being gifted enough, smart enough, or spiritually mature enough, it's about being committed enough. And someday your children will thank you for it.

As I challenged everyone on sunday, I encourage you again to take a good look at your life, and ask honestly what kind of disciple you are. Doing so will help you realize what kind of disciple you are making in your child as they follow your example. If you are lackadaisical in your faith, your children probably will be too. If you lead them daily in spiritual fervor, they will likely follow in your footsteps. It's not simply about protecting your children from poor influences (although that is important), it's more about being the good spiritual influence on a daily basis. So stand strong and lead well! Remember that I'm here to help in any way I can.

Last night's lesson was from Jeremiah 17:7-10.

We live in a culture that admonishes us to "follow your heart." Its in the music we listen to, the movies we watch, the books we read, and in the conversations we have with others. It sounds so romantic, so true. Culture makes it sound like if we don't follow our hearts, we're limiting our potential and selling ourselves short. That if we don't follow our hearts, we'll miss out on all we could experience in this life.

But is that true? Will following our hearts lead us to the emotional utopia that the world promises? The biblical answer is no. In verse 9 of the above passage, Scripture tells us that the heart is deceitful and wicked. Our hearts are corrupted by the sinful nature. Our emotions are different every single day. And our hearts deceive us into believing things that simply aren't true. If we follow our hearts, we will be led into sin and ultimately to a destructive end.

In last night's lesson, I admonished the students to follow the heart of God instead. That is the only way to know that our path is correct. And we are promised that if we trust in him and place our confidence in him, he will make us like trees with deep roots planted by a stream. Instead of following our emotions and feelings, instead of following after whatever our heart wants, let's instead frame every decision we make on a daily basis through a commitment to follow after the heart of God.

To watch the video from last night, click HERE. To download a copy of the powerpoint, click HERE.

below you will find your daily prayer and discussion guides for this week.

Thursday:

As usual, this is a good time to view the lesson together with your kids. Even if they were there and heard it in person, it's always a good idea to watch it a second time and pause and discuss whenever necessary.

Ask your kids if there were any parts of the lesson that really stuck out to them. Was there anything they could identify with? When listening to the example about Sweh dating "Kathy," could they see themselves ever being in a situation like that? Talk about what it means to follow God's heart instead of our own.

Ask your child what you can pray for them about. Talk about how tomorrow (Friday) is the last school day of the week, and ask them if there are any deadlines, or special things happening that you can bring before the Lord. Tell them what they can pray for you. Ask them to pray out loud for you, and then you pray out loud for them. Tell them how much you love them and tell them that you're proud to be their parent.

Friday: 

Review the week with your kids, and evaluate how things went spiritually at work, at home and at school. How did you feel as a family each individual did in representing the Lord?

Read Jeremiah 17:9. Talk through the idea of the heart being deceitful and wicked. Ask them if they've ever been so convinced of something that wasn't true, because it felt true at the time. Share examples from your own life.

Read also Mark 7:20-23, and Jesus words that from the heart come all sorts of wickedness.

Pray together. Pray for clean and pure hearts that follow the Lord instead of sinful desires.

Saturday:

Read Jeremiah 17:7. Discuss what happens when a person trusts in the Lord. Do bad things still happen to people who trust in the Lord? Yes. But are they destroyed by those bad things? No. Bring up slide number 18 from the powerpoint and discuss what is there.

Do something fun as a family today or tonight. Watch a movie, go out to eat, play a game, do something! You won't regret doing that instead of another chore.

Ask your kids if there's anyone at school that they could invite to church tomorrow. Offer to pick up and drop off whatever friend they choose. It's important to get them in the habit of reaching others.

Sunday:

At lunch after church, discuss the sermon. Talk about any points that stuck out, and share what you learned.

Send your kids or take your whole family to the youth group outing to Sweet Frog and the movie God's Not Dead! 

That's right. This is fun for the whole family. We're planning on meeting at Sweet Frog at 6, and going to the movie at 7. And here's even more to sweeten the deal: I told the students that if they bring a friend that does not go to church, both them and their friend will get their dessert and movie free! If your kids need a ride, I plan on taking a van from the church. We will leave promptly at 5:30 from the church, so make sure you're there before then. The movie will probably last 1.5 hours, so we should be back to the church by around 9, if not sooner.

When you get back from the movie, discuss it! What was your favorite part? What did you learn? What was the moral of the story? What should we as christians do differently in our daily lives now that we've learned from this movie?

Pray together. Ask your kids how God blessed them this week. Discuss some of the things that you're thankful for. Talk about what's coming up this next week, and pray over those things.

Monday: 

Read Jeremiah 17:10, and bring up slide 20 from the powerpoint. Talk about the difference between belief and action. Why does God judge us according to what our deeds deserve rather than what our mouths say? Does God expect us to be perfect? Why not? (Talk about the fact that God doesn't ask us to be perfect, but he asks us to be committed daily, in not only word but action).

Pray together. Ask your kids how their day at school was, and if there are any challenges they faced that you can pray about. Share with them about your day as well.

Tuesday:

Today would be a good day to go back over any days you've missed together this week. Life happens! Don't worry if you miss a day. The important thing is remaining committed. If you haven't missed any days, that's awesome! Take some time to just pray together, or sharing what God taught you today when you had your quiet time (your time spent alone reading the bible and praying).

Wednesday:

Take your kids to youth group! I can't emphasize this enough. The daily discussions will be aided so much by their presence in the group. They'll be able to connect with other believers their own age, and they'll get to have good clean fun. If your kids aren't interested in youth group, do everything you possibly can to convince them! Or, you could always do what my parents did: You're going whether you want to or not :-)

When they get home, ask them how things went. Tell them to give you a recap of the lesson. It'll help them retain what they've heard if they have to immediately summarize it verbally.

Pray together.