I was shocked by a recent news event, Mary Ann from Gilligan’s Island was arrested for possession of marijuana, what made this so shocking was, she is 69 years old. This tells me that the generation before us has not left a healthy example for us, so if we want our children’s generation to do better we must begin when they are young and train them right.

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” In his book Transforming Your Children Into Spiritual Champions, George Barna presents research that confirms this timeless principle. That research indicates that a person’s lifelong behaviors and beliefs are generally developed when they are young—particularly before their teenage years.  In essence, the book notes, “what you believe by the time you are 13 is what you will die believing. Of course, there are many individuals who go through life-changing experiences in which their beliefs are altered, or instances in which a concentrated body of religious teaching changes one or more core beliefs. However, most people’s minds are made up and they believe they know what they need to know spiritually by age 13.” 

I have just started a new teaching series on the Ten Commandments called “God’s Plan for the Family.” Moses spoke to the Hebrew fathers and said, “Never forget these commands that I am giving you today. Teach them to your children.”  With each message I will supply a discussion guide for your family to use to talk about the message. You will be encouraged to look deeper into verses or to examine a timeless principle a little more. I want to encourage you to use these tools to help your family grow in the Lord. Several years ago we started using a logo for our church which says “Worship God family style” So for the next few months lets work on starting a lasting habit of Studying God’s Word family style!