BringUp

www.scatteredchristians.org

Another Sermon for the Starving Bible Believing Christians All Over the World Wide Web
2007 - KJV Bible Believers Church in Touchet, Touchet, Washington - Pastor Mike Paulson - 2007
Expounding the way of God more perfectly - Acts 18:26 - with the Scriptures Rightly Divided - II Timothy 2:15

Train Up or Bring Up

As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you,
as a father doth his children,
That ye would walk worthy of God,
who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.
I Thessalonians 2:11,12

Train up or bring up?
Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Great Commission Christianity tends to look at children like they are little pets - slaves - over-used servants - boat hands - employees - workers that need to be trained.
I can see in the OT how that had to be because of the law, etc. - but with Paul, we see the words BRING UP!

Ephesians 6:4 - And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

I see more and more parents not showing respect for who their children are - their children.

Not in a way of authority or little gods or lord of all's, (Galatians 4:1), but still, the children are "family."

Maybe the godly definition, direction and design of family has fallen by the wayside these days.

Family trends are wrongly divided profane and vain babblings

homeschooling curriculums
Focus on the Family - (going ok with homosexuality)
Old Paths churches
Vision Forum (promotes the Geneva Bible now)

I shudder some times when I hear a dad use the excuse 'family' to demand what he demands, not truly knowing the damage that he is doing to his children.

A family must be in all godliness and honesty! I Timothy 2:2

A family must be designed around Ephesians 4, etc.

Yes, God is not a respecter of persons, but He also sees children as His heritage!

Psalm 127:3 - Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
Matthew 19:14 - But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Our Older Kids

Maybe our older kids are the way they are because of the failure of the family; the failure of our spiritual training that we passed on to them; the failure because of a wrongly divided Bible when they were children!
Can we as parents ever take that stuff and root it out, pull it down, destroy it and throw it down? Jeremiah 1:10
Will the kids when they get older ever take whatever we gave to them and root it all out, pull it down and throw it down?

WORTHY?

I Thessalonians 2:11,12 - As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

A Worthy Name?

We ought to be able to see in I Thessalonians 2:11 that we ought to be able to make our children worthy of our name.
So, we must first have a name that is worthy!

that has godliness and honesty attached to it (I Timothy 2:2).

Then we can't train them, we must bring them up!

I wonder, just how worthy are parents today?
Is it too late for some?

More and more I see us parents have no clue - families today exist just to build their ship and make money with it and go on to another ship!

Moms work outside the home.

They are too tired and busy to be a mom - in all godliness and honesty!

Kids are busy -

and are too tired and too busy to be a family member - in all godliness and honesty!

Everybody has to do their part to build the family ship,

but none are ever close enough to enjoy it properly - in all godliness and honesty!

Even dads work!

Most homes have outside the home working dads, but that is all they apparently do.
No spiritual guidance from them! They are too busy!

- and if God is even allowed to be involved in the homes, they just run a Great Commission religious ship - with all hands on deck swabbing and working, only to see the ship wreck in later years. They are being trained, but not brought up!

Worthy Fathers

Based on I Thessalonians 2:11,12, we should learn from Paul how he and his fellowhelpers bring us up, so then, we can see how a father should bring up his family, not just train them!
Training can provoke your children to wrath, but bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord through Paul with a rightly divided Bible will make them what God wants them to be - when they 'die spiritually' then they can be created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.! Ephesians 2:10, etc.

To us here!

We have seen it happen here - we have grown up little by little as we have been shown this stuff in a nurturing fashion. Not by me, but by the Book and how it all came about little by little.
We have learned that Paul is all about growing up -

I Corinthians 13:11 - When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
Ephesians 4:14: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
I Corinthians 14:20 -Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
Are we?
Have we?

The quitters!

There are those who have left during it all.
They have rejected the motive, of what sort it has been, the manner, the ministry and even the minister.
But - it has worked for some of us.

Will there be more quitters?

That will be up to the man of the family - if he wants to be one or not!

We have learned in much detail how much Christ has loved us...
...and we have seen and experienced how much Paul has nurtured us.

It is time to grow up, men!
(actually, for us here, it past time!)
1Cor:16:13: Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
But be strong according to Paul, not all that we have learned from our past!